basketball and perspiration

Miss Muffet is working on her jump shot

Natalya played basketball with Coach Lauren yesterday. They played outside and it was pretty warm. On the way home Natalya said, "Mama — I think I'm sweating in places where a girl shouldn't be sweating!"

She really has a way with words sometimes...

Looks Can Be Deceiving

Miss Muffett came home from school with white-out all over her hands.

Me:  What's with all the white-out on your hands?

Muffett:  I painted it on my hands on purpose when I was in class.

Me:  On purpose?

Muffett:  Uh huh. It makes it look like I've been working hard.

Miss Muffett in San Francisco with a "P" shadow

2010: What Happened?

I was woefully lacadaisical this year in posting to my blog so before I write about 2011, let me recap the year that was 2010.

We celebrated Shmoopie’s 50th birthday in March with a party at the beach in Aptos, CA. We stayed at a resort called Seascape. Andrea’s parents and their partners came as well as her sister Karen and her family. All of the planning was worth it because the weekend went off without a hitch and Andrea was really pleased with her birthday weekend. She ate her annual bacon and eggs breakfast surrounded by her loved ones. We got really fun party favors for the everyone who attended: reusable shopping bags with a cartoon drawing of Andrea printed on them and the phrase Would you trust your mental health to this woman? (She’s a psychotherapist.) Everybody loved the bags!

In early April my folks treated our family as well as my brother’s family to a week at a resort in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. We celebrated my parents 50th wedding anniversary there. Everyone had a blast! The weather was great and we did lots of fun activities like jet skiing, zip lining, boogie boarding and just plain being lazy on the beach. The only down side of our Mexico trip was that it happened to coincide with the Women’s College Basketball Play-offs. I still can’t believe I told my parents that it was okay to schedule the trip during play-off season! I must’ve been multi-tasking when they asked me.

My brother Eric and me in Mexico

Shoreline Amphitheatre was my home away from home for the summer. I finished my 24th season there. Highlights of the season included meeting Elvis Costello, the return of Sarah McLachlan and Lilith Fair, and meeting the American Idol Finalists. Their publicist is an old friend of mine so she invited Natalya to hang out with the Idols before the show. When I asked Natalya if she wanted to hang with the Idols her eyes bugged out of her head. She was speechless (very rare). Needless to say, Natalya had a blast backstage with the gang (and so did Andrea and I). The Idols were really sweet to Natalya and talked to her about following her dreams etc.

Hanging out with the 2010 American Idol finalists

Natalya spent her summer days at school (Bowman is a year-round school). However, she did spend one week at the Stanford Women’s basketball camp. I was just as excited for her to attend the camp as she was -- maybe more so. She had a great time and got to meet and play ball with some of the Stanford players. The week of intense basketball definitely improved Natalya’s game.

Natalya and her favorite Stanford basketball player, Kayla Pedersen

We took Natalya to Disneyland for her ninth birthday and after that, began our search for a dog. We’d promised Natalya several years ago that she could have a dog when she turned 9 -- so we had to make good on our promise. After weeks of searching we rescued “Olive”. She was 4 months old; a Lab-Basenji mix. We really lucked out because she’s a fantastic dog. Very sweet and well-behaved for the most part.. We’re taking her to puppy classes and having lots of fun with her. Now if she would just stop chewing everything in sight life with Olive would be perfect.

Olive at the park

And finally, a moment I will never forget,  the Stanford Women's Basketball Team beat the UConn Huskies on December 30th at Maples Pavilion. The win ended UConn's record-breaking winning streak of 92 games. Shmoopie and I were so elated by the win that we opened our New Year's Eve bottle of champagne a night early to celebrate. Go Cardinal!

Stanford celebrates its big win

this is the thing...

Natalya with Michael Jackson's star in Hollywood

A couple of weeks ago we had Miss Muffet's parent teacher conference. At Bowman, each student participates in their conference. The students prepare ahead of time and bring some of the work they're particularly proud of to show to their parents.

In her oh-so-Natalya way, Miss Muffet presented a science project and described it as, “this is a thing I did and I learned that this is the thing that’s part of that thinga-ma-jiggy.” 

Just imagine how proud Mishy Mama and I felt after the presentation :)

KFC

Miss Muffet made quite a discovery. On the way home from school yesterday she said, "Guess what Mama?! When I stick my fingers in my armpits and then smell my fingers it smells like chicken!"

Still not sure how to respond to this one...

2010 is our Year of the Dog

We just celebrated a two-month anniversary with our dog Olive. She's a Basenji/Lab mix born in Taiwan of all places. A rescue group in Southern California works with a rescue group in Taiwan. Apparently there's a major stray dog problem there -- lucky for us because otherwise we wouldn't have Olive!

We started looking for a rescue dog in September and made a connection with a dog via Doggie Protective Services. They accepted our application and helped us find "Melina" a one year old Basenji/Lab mix. Needless to say, Natalya was off-the-charts excited about meeting Melina.

Unfortunately, when we got to the adoption fair at Pet Food Express we were told that Melina had been adopted the day before.  Poor Natalya! She was heartbroken. She ran out of the store sobbing. Andrea ran after her and I stayed with the Doggie volunteers. They told me to hang around because a litter of black puppies was coming in. The problem was that we didn't want a puppy :)

Then the puppies came in. Three of them. Two girls and a boy. They were about 5 months old. Natalya got permission to get into the pen with them and Olive (named Malika at the time) walked right over to her and started sniffing and kissing her. The other two dogs ignored Natalya. So let's just say that Olive chose Natalya. Two hours later we were back home with the newest addition to our family: Olive Peterwak!

olive's first day at home with natalya

a dancing partner

Yesterday Shmoopie and I were in the car with Natalya and she asked us if we were going to get married. We explained that when we're "allowed" to get married we would.

Natalya:  Who are you going to invite to the wedding?

Me:  Family and friends.

Natalya:  So I'll be invited?

Shmoopie:  Of course!

Natalya:  Can I bring someone?

Me:  Sure who do you want to bring?

Natalya:  I wanna bring a hobo.

Me:  A hobo? Why a hobo?

Natalya:  So I'll have someone to dance with.

We made Natalya ride her bike to see Wicked -- her broom was out of gas :)

happy new year!

natalya in michigan with her red and green braces

Natalya and I made a fruit smoothie the other day.

Me: What do you think of the flavor?

Natalya: It’s a little off-balance but not too bad.

Here's hoping that 2010 is a balanced year for you and yours!

another gem from natalya

Natalya and I were looking at a website today that outlined some of the things that happened over the course of 2009. She was particularly interested in the Michael Jackson stuff so we scrolled through the MJ photos. Natalya stopped at a picture of Lisa Marie Presley and Michael Jackson together and said, "Wow... this picture is cute... and kinda gross at the same time."

Out of the mouths of babes...

say what?

Natalya and a friend at the aquarium

Natalya has a nasty blister on her left palm. She spent too much time on the monkey bars at school. Last night I was putting a fresh dressing on her wound and we had a funny conversation.

Natalya: are you going to use goose tape on my hand?

Me: Huh?

Natalya: You know -- goose tape.

Me: Do you mean "duck tape"?

Natalya: No. I mean goose tape.

Me: No. I'm using this tape and the other tape is called "duct" tape not "duck" tape.

Natalya: Oh. Then why does everybody call it "duck" tape?

Me: Because when people say "duct" it sounds like "duck".

Natalya: And what about when people say "goose"?

Me: Umm -- it sounds like "goose" doesn't it?

mastercards and milky ways

Natalya strikes a pose at the San Francisco Pride Parade

Earlier this week while driving Natalya to her summer day camp I noticed that she was unusually  quiet. (She usually serenades me in the car with the latest Radio Disney hits.) I looked back at Natalya and she appeared to be deep in thought.

Me:  What's up Natalya? What are you thinking about?

Natalya:  Candy.
And -- credit cards.

Me:  Huh?

Natalya:  I said candy and credit cards.

Me:  Oh. What about candy and credit cards?

Natalya:  Can you use credit cards to buy candy?

Me:  :)

natalya finishes first grade!

natalya and her dance partner jacob wait for the music to start

Natalya finished First Grade yesterday. We're really proud of her. The last few days of school were jam packed with parties and performances. The entire First Grade at Bubb School participated in an International Dance performance one evening. Natalya and her dance partner looked great together and of course, Natalya wasn't nervous about performing in front of over 100 people :) She really seemed to enjoy herself -- and we certainly enjoyed watching her!

natalya shows us why we could hear her voice over all the others

jacob swings his partner

When my brothber and I were kids, my parents took us out for ice cream after we finished the last day of school. I've continued that time honored tradition with Natalya.

natalya enjoys her ice cream sundae after school
(and mom waits for the chocolate and sugar to kick in)

bathtime chats

Bath time with Natalya is something that I usually look forward to. We tend to have some good conversations while she bathes. Sometimes we use it as an opportunity to just be silly or sing little songs that we make up together. And sometimes she says things that leave me speechless.

The other night, Natalya and I were chatting about her day at school while she was in the tub. At one point she looked down at herself in the water and then looked up at me and asked "Mama -- When am I going to get cubix hair?"

Needless to say, this was one of those speechless times for me.

natalya's refrigerator messages

Natalya is campaigning for a dog. She wants a dog more than anything in the entire world. Everyday she says Mama -- I still want a dog. If I catch her staring off into space it's because she's thinking about having a dog.

Andrea and I want a dog too but for various reasons, we're not getting one in the near future. We promised that we would however get a dog someday. Natalya replied that Someday means never. I told her that we'll see means never and that someday means later.

In the meantime, Natalya has taken her dog campaign to the refrigerator. She's been leaving us messages on the door. We get a new message about once a week.

You have to admire my daughter's persistence!

E.T. phone home

We watched the movie E.T. with Natalya the other night. She'd never seen it before. There's a scene where Elliott calls his older brother Michael "penis breath".

When we heard this Andrea and I just looked at each other and gulped nervously waiting for Natalya's reaction. Natalya started laughing and said "That was funny!"

Me:  "What was funny Natalya?"

Natalya:  Elliott called his brother "peanut breath". That's really funny Mom.

Me:  (breathing a sigh of relief) Yes Natalya -- it's hilarious!

a gem from natalya

The other day Natalya asked me about breasts and how old you are when you "get breasts". We talked about breasts for a little while and then I said something like, "you like boobies don't you?"

Natalya answered, "I don't like boobies Mama -- I like cleavage!"

natalya rocking out on-stage at shoreline

Farewell 2008

Happy New Year everyone! It's January and time for me to list some of my favorite things in 2008.

Kaari's Favorite Things: 2008

Movie: Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Humorous. Great dialogue. Amazing cast: Javier Barden, Scarlett Johansson and Penelope Cruz. Interesting, complex characters. Woody Allen at his best.

penelope cruz in 'vicky cristina barcelona'

New TV Series: True Blood on HBO
I've always loved vampire stories and True Blood delivers a fantastic story in every episode. There's also an amusing and interesting gay sub-text thanks to Allan Ball the man who brought to us Six Feet Under. Example dialog: "What's the world to do now that all the Vampires are out? The next thing you know they'll what the same rights as humans." And really -- how can anyone say no to a handsome vampire named "Bill"? :)

my favorite new television show

Concert: REM at the Greek Theatre, Berkeley
Gorgeous night in the great outdoors. Special seats thanks to my connections :) I've seen REM several times. Some shows were fantastic and some were just okay. Michael Stipe really brought his A-game this time! Are you surprised that I didn't choose the Madonna show in November? Well, the sound quality at that show was pitiful. So -- sorry Madonna -- I'm going with REM this time.

andrea enjoying one of our thrones at REM at the Greek

Restaurant: Cascal in downtown Mountain View
Sitting outside with friends enjoying the California weather. Excellent food and unbeatable service.

Spanish fries at Cascal -- Yum!

Favorite Natalya Moment: Watching Natalya meet the Jonas Brothers
The look on her face was truly priceless! This favorite moment is followed closely by the time that Natalya told me that she loved me "as much as a jellyfish".

natalya and her new best friends

the first of many halloween parties this year

Natalya attended her first Halloween party of the "season" last Friday. Miss Muffet has a couple more parties on her schedule. She took her Rock Star outfit but ended up wearing this Sully costume instead. Pretty cute :)

first day of first grade

natalya and andrea walking to school on the first day

Natalya started first grade last month. So far she's been really excited about going to school. Aside from recess, her favorite part of the day is Writing Workshop -- she's becoming quite the little story teller. 

natalya and her back to school pie

My parents were in town when school started so my mom made Natalya a back to school pie otherwise known as Lemon Meringue (made with lemons from the tree in our backyard). Thanks Grandma Elaine!

there's a snake in my boots!

Natalya has a talking Woody doll (Woody is the cowboy from the Toy Story movies). Last week she told me that Woody was talking to her in the middle of the night. She wanted to throw him away because he was broken. I rescued Woody from the trash and put him in our closet. Around 2:30 in the morning I awoke to a voice saying "Howdy Partner!" I chuckled to myself and went back to sleep. Then at 5 a.m. I heard "There's a snake in my boots!"

That was the last straw -- I wasn't going to let Woody wake me up again. I took him downstairs and stuck him on top of Natalya's toy box.

We didn't hear from Woody again for at least three days and then suddenly one evening Woody exclaimed once again, "There's a snake in my boots!"

Currently, Woody is perched on a chair in the garage. Every once in awhile we hear him say hello and complain about the snake in his boots. Now we think that Woody is trying to worm his way back into the house. Lately the only thing we've heard him say is, "You're my favorite Deputy!"

That's really nice Woody -- but you're still not coming back inside! :)