bend it like beckham

Little Miss J has been going to Soccer Tots. The whole thing is fairly comical. The first session, Coach Dennis explained some semi-complex instructions to a sea of blank-faced toddler stares, and I had to laugh out loud. Here she is stretching out and getting warmed up.

One of the drills is spreading out the cones. Little Miss J hasn't quite got the hang of it. She prefers to stack them.

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The grand finale of each session is the obstacle course. David managed to get it on video. As you can see Little Miss J has a tendency to get a bit distracted.

It's not entirely clear whether she is having fun, but I certainly love watching her do all these things. I imagine some day she will assert some independence and perhaps rebel against Soccer Tots. I'm going to enjoy it while it lasts!

we are family

This past weekend the whole Berglund clan (minus a few) was together to celebrate our Grandma's life. It isn't often we can get everyone together. In fact, the last time we had this big of a Berglund crowd was at Grandma's 85th birthday. It was a busy weekend, but it was nice to reconnect with cousins, aunts, and uncles. It was particularly fun to get to know some of my cousins that I didn't know very well growing up - hearing their stories of my mom, Jean, as well as their memories of Grandma and Grandpa. Little Miss J made her debut by applauding and yelling YAY! after the opening hymn at the memorial service. She was pretty impressed by all that singing!

Here's my Dad with his brother and sister.

Even though we are unable to see each other often, we are family and we definitely had a nice time this weekend!

club can't handle me

I went to Target a couple weekends ago to get Nutella because I was making roasted banana cupcakes with Nutella icing. I am a DOMESTIC GODDESS mom whose kid all of sudden decided she didn't want to eat a banana every morning and I needed to do something with all those brown bananas. Anyhow, I was browsing the aisles because there is ALWAYS something at Target that you absolutely need even though you hadn't quite thought of it yet. A bunch of evil geniuses working at Target, I tell you. Of course, this trip was no exception. As I was weaving through aisles looking at greeting cards, candles, three-ring binders, and gift bags, I hear one of my favorite Flo Rida songs - Club Can't Handle Me. I follow the music to an end cap where there is a toy monkey, dressed like a pirate (obviously), that is shaking its groove thing to my favorite Flo Rida song. This falls into the category of items described earlier. CLEARLY. I mean you can't honestly say that you've ever contemplated the desire for a pirate monkey that danced to Flo Rida. Or maybe you have and this one item on clearance at Target is about to make all your wildest dreams come true. Seriously. Once you see this, you would be like me and MUST. HAVE. IT. And do you want to know what is better than a monkey in a pirate costume dancing to Flo Rida? Little Miss J dancing along with said pirate costume wearing monkey. Obviously.

saturday in the park

*singing* you'd think it was the 4th of July. Just kidding. A bit chilly this morning so we put on some jackets grabbed the soccer ball and headed for a morning in the park. Little Miss J starts Soccer Tots next week and Gus wanted her to practice kicking the ball around. He's not competitive or anything. *sarcasm font* It was also not a bad idea to run her ragged in a field so she'd be ready for a good long nap.

Here she is doing wind sprints back and forth between me and Gus. Gus called it conditioning. She'd run to one of us, we'd pick her up swing her around, and then tell her to run back to the other one. This lasted for a good 10 minutes. But don't worry, after her "practice" she had plenty of time to play.

As Little Miss J would say - WHEE!

almost there

It is almost the weekend - and by "almost" I mean that mere hours stand between me and this weekend. This has been a particularly tough work week for me. I am juggling projects in Arizona and California and being away for a week at a time makes the return week pretty hectic trying to get caught up and keep everything straightened out. Earlier in the week, I didn't think I was going to make it, but Friday is finally here. Amen. Today I decided to treat myself to a walk across the bridge and a leisurely lunch outside at Romancing the Bean - BLT on multi-grain, cup of gazpacho, raspberry iced tea, and the most delicious peanut butter chocolate chip cookie for dessert.

The best part of my week? Being able to carpool to work with Gus for the past three days. It gives us probably an extra hour of time together to chat and catch up. It also means that I get to both drop off and pick up Little Miss J from daycare, giving me an extra few moments to enjoy my little girl. After work, it means that I sometimes have time to workout before Gus arrives to pick me up and when we get home the whole family (Carl Rove included, of course) can go outside together for a little playtime. Little Miss J loves a quick ride on the swing or down the slide before dinner. Having just a little more time to spend with my family definitely leaves me more centered and relaxed.

I love my family.

happy easter!

After being sick all week, I was pretty happy that I felt well enough for Easter brunch. Three-course champagne brunch with three toddlers was pretty interesting, to say the least. Of course, Little Miss J was the least well-behaved of the bunch. Life is so different with a toddler. Going out to brunch used to be one of my favorite things, but it's hard to enjoy your eggs benedict with a feisty Little Miss J awkwardly wielding a fork trying to eat your potatoes rather than hers. This is probably why we stick to food courts and buffets. Nonetheless, Little Miss J was looking darling in her Easter dress and it is always fun hanging with friends! Happy Easter everyone!

soup, sandwich, salad

Soup, sandwich, and salad - or any combination thereof, is the perfect lunch. With the exception of Monday, I've managed to find a few great places for said perfect lunch in Sacramento. Monday was an epic fail due to the prolific use of honey mustard at two independent dining locations. As a girl who has never liked mustard, honey or otherwise (but particularly honey mustard), you think I would know by now to ask about sandwich condiments prior to purchase - as it turns out, I apparently do not know. But really, who puts mustard on a turkey, bacon, avocado sandwich?

My redemption has been in subsequent lunches. Creamy tomato bisque and a caprese baguette sandwich at Estelle's Patisserie. Estelle's also had macarons and a pain au chocolat for which I have been saving my calories. Cream of mushroom soup with shaved black truffles and brie and proscuitto on a baguette at La Bonne Soupe Cafe, where they also had several other soups I would like to try including (but not limited to)french onion or butternut squash with coconut milk. Today, I wandered across the street to Capitol Deli, where I learned they serve bi bim bap on Mondays. The Korean gentleman working the register said "good for you" in a way that seemed to imply that I was somehow lucky enough to score a Korean husband despite only being an adopted Korean. I will try not to be offended. I had the turkey cranberry sandwich, which doesn't compare to the one at Lund's in Minnesota - but was still OK, but the tortilla soup was pretty darn delicious and just what my sore little throat needed. Offensive Korean gentleman or not, I will definitely be back on a Monday to try the bi bim bap.

I realize after writing this, that there really is no salad to be had in this post. I do like a good salad, but I think since I haven't been feeling very well this week that I've continually opted for the soup.

indulgence

Since Little Miss J is our first child (and perhaps only), we tend to overindulge her a bit. The best part of my weekend was a side trip to Target where we told her to pick out a toy. This came about because it was brought to my attention that the other week when I was in California, Gus had taken her to Target every. single. day. He told me that she had picked out a watering can from the toy aisle and he bought it for her. Since I missed out on the whole toy-picking process, I wanted to see her do it.

For starters, she refused to sit in the part of the cart where little girls are supposed to sit, so she has already been indulged and allowed to sit in the basket of the cart. In the toy aisle, she stands up in the cart and picks out the watering can again. Gus tries to tempt her with a bucket instead, at which point she decides she wants the bigger bucket, the one that comes with all sorts of other toys inside. Unfortunately, Gus can't seem to talk her down to the smaller bucket again. Even the compromise of a smaller bucket that comes with extra toys inside can't dissuade her from the big bucket. So, we leave the toy aisle and walk around Target some more eventually circling back to the toy aisle. By now, she has quit asking for the big bucket and is now asking for this inflatable ball pit (which personally I thought looked pretty awesome). She keeps saying "please," and when Gus holds it up to ask if it was what she wanted she nods her little head so hard that I think she might get whiplash. I actually think Gus was mere moments away from acquiescing until he realizes the ball pit only comes with 20 balls (despite the picture on the front that shows at least 250 balls) and he will have to buy another set of balls bringing the total cost to something astronomical considering this is really just an exercise in indulging Mom and letting her see how Little Miss J picks out her own toys. Well, we managed to make it out of there with no ball pit and more importantly no tears. She finally picked out a shiny gold and silver pinwheel and the look on her little face when she sat in that cart waving that thing around was priceless.

Throughout the whole process, Gus and I just kept looking at each other and cracking up because every time she picked out a new toy it was a bigger more expensive one. Seeing her express her preferences in such an insistent manner, had us thoroughly entertained at Target. I get the feeling that this little cutie is going to be getting away with murder. No parent of the year awards for us, but fun times nonetheless. Little Miss J has brought us a lifetime of joy and entertainment in just 18 short months.