Two much

Our little Miss Sunshine turned two on October 28th. I had planned to take her and some of her friends to the Santa Barbara Zoo for a picnic but after having been evacuated, spending three nights in a hotel and then returning home to pack up the last of the house and move into the new rental, it all proved too much. I was psychically exhausted. I canceled her party and sort of left it at that. I didn't even have the energy to order her toy kitchen. Jack and I made a pilgrimage to Toys 'R Us but I couldn't manage to select one. Brain dead, I left the store with a glittery purse and accessories box that contained plastic keys, cell phones and glasses (pink girly stuff I never in a million years would have purchased for her before she came into our life). Jack chose a plush Barney toy (another banned character when he was a baby,) I grabbed a couple of puzzles and called it a day.

EM was concerned. He knew how much I relished birthday planning and there was nothing to plan because nothing was going to happen. He asked, "You're at least going to get her a cake, right?" I shook my head, "Too many carbs." He encouraged me to call a couple of our friends and invite them over for lunch (remember I have no kitchen) and sing "Happy Birthday" to Makena. Of course he was right, I couldn't let the day go by without celebrating it in some small fashion and so I went into psycho/nervous breakdown mom mode. I called 3 friends (less than 24 hours notice) attempted to drive 40 minutes to Los Angeles to pick up a store-bought cake from this amazing bakery and drive back but I forgot that I had agreed to let Jack go to a friend's house on a sleep-over -- thirty minutes away, in the opposite direction. By the time I retrieved him, the special cake the whole party was being built around, was nixed. The two Chinese restaurants I had planned on getting take-out from were closed for lunch! So I ended up at the supermarket purchasing an ice cream cake and a handful of Barney, Dora and Elmo balloons and then headed to KFC for some fried chicken. That was it.Can I just say that the look of pure glee that spread across Makena's face when she saw the balloons (of course, I don't have a picture of that,) made it all worth it (as did the look of horror on my friends' face when I served them the Colonel's secret recipe). That was the best gift of all. That was all she needed and she was overjoyed.She loved the cake even though it was half-melted by the time she blew out the candles and the "entertainment" part of the party was when Jack decided it would be amusing to do a face-plant into the cake and did. I was slightly horrified but then glad because he couldn't come up with an excuse not to shower. Ha!

It was a great day.


Happy Birthday Makena Rae Lihan. You are truly our beautiful gift of Sunshine.

We love you sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much!


Isa-Mama, 'dee and Jack.

Grandpa Ray

Mak and Jack's Grandpa turned 85 last week (before the fires,) and because Grandma was in the hospital (she is doing much better) and EM was sick, I got Makena's nanny to spend the night and I took Jack to San Bernardino on an overnight, to do something special for him to celebrate the occasion.

Jack and I decided to take Grandpa out for Japanese food for dinner. The evening quickly became a success when we assured him that he wouldn't have to eat anything raw. The following morning we took him out for a breakfast buffet and then followed that up with two courses of mini-golf. Grandpa showed up dressed for the sport and ready to play. I suspect he didn't hear the "mini" part in mini-golf. We thought he looked rather chic and stylish and not a day over 49. I looked haggard and disheveled and not a day under 45 -- ergo, no pictures of me.After figuring out that the game was less risky as long as we set the ball down for him and picked it up at the end of a round, he played thirty-two holes in all!We had a great day.

Happy birthday, Ray. We love you.

Isa - daughter in-law.

Almost over.

I feel like the accidental tourist. I'm in Santa Monica for 48 hours and so close to so much shopping and I can't find my way into any store because of the lure of the news coverage on TV. San Diego county is devastated -- which is making the Malibu fires look like a camp fire. One of Jack's best friends had the fire fighters camped in his driveway fending off the flames at the top of Las Flores canyon, last night. His dad stayed behind to play hero and we don't know if their house is still standing, so we're thinking about them. We heard from a neighbor who snuck back into our hood that our house is fine. It has a lot of soot and ash everywhere, as well as broken branches scattered about, from the wind damage (not to mention the hole the truck left behind). So we have decided to stay here one more night because I don't want the kids breathing in so much soot and residual smoke.

And now my attention is turned to the Arrowhead and Running Springs fires wondering if I need to start worrying about our place in Big Bear Lake. This "Mercury in retrograde" is starting to really annoy me.

On another note, I had a long standing appointment with an allergist yesterday, for Makena, because of her constant runny nose. She tested her for 24 different allergens and Makena reacted alarmingly to shrimp and outdoor mold. So no seafood for Mak and she has to be on daily doses of Astelin until further notice and I have to be really careful feeding her Chinese food! I also have to change her out of her clothes after every visit with the horses. I'm thinking of having her run around naked for the next three years -- which is something she would much prefer, anyway.

Her two-year check up is tomorrow. I'll have a better idea of her growth. At 18 months,she had crept up to the 43rd percentile for height (up from 5% at 10 months when we first got her) and 46th for weight. We're aiming for 50th. Which is straight down the middle -- exactly where I aim to keep my parenting skills (no more or no better than any other mother). Ultimately, I think I sleep better that way.


Is-average

PS Happy birthday to Stefan. I did manage to grab your present when we left and I will post it to you soon. xo.

Holy smokes!

There's nothing more unsettling than waking up in the dark, smelling smoke -- which is what happened yesterday. I bolted awake and ran outside to smell even more. The power was out so I ran down to the corral using my cell phone to light my way. I checked on the horses and went out onto the street to see a convoy of cars driving out of the neighborhood. My neighbor was out as well freaking out because his driveway gate would not open (it was electric). He told me to start gathering stuff and get out! So I called my hauler (waking him up) and asked him to please get over to me and evacuate the horses. I ran back up and woke up EM (by then, it was 5AM)and we fumbled around gathering adoption papers, passports, insurance papers, photographs and then we woke Jack up. He was really scared and upset so we had him wait in the car while we grabbed some paintings and rounded up the tortoise and the dog.

Cops showed up, telling us to evacuate just as the hauler arrived. I loaded the horses onto his trailer, got a vague idea of where they were being taken to and then went back to the house to get Makena (who slept through all this) while EM and Jack made a made dash to the new house to rescue the Geckos. We were supposed to move into the new house last night, so all our clothes had already been moved there along with other personal items.

Figures that the truck in the kitchen wasn't enough excitement for our family. We had to add the fires to it because things were simply starting to get boring.

I'll post more later.


Isa -flame