Stella's "Children's Place" Photos

The photoshoot for Children's Place was last fall at "The Pasadena House". Stella had a great day and the photos prove it. I think they were singing "Itsy Bitsy Spider" to her when the second shot was snapped.

The Easter Party

What a great day! I've been daydreaming about having an easter egg hunt here at the Altman Ranch ever since I first walked the property. Our lot is long and narrow, oddly shaped but magical, none-the-less. It does seem to go on forever, further and further back, winding around to end with a little grassy back yard. The front yard is decorative and sunny. Lots of tropical plants like sago palms, bird of paradise and tropical ferns hint at the Spanish ranch tucked behind the little front gate. inside the gate, there's more tropical trees, but camellia's too, a fig tree and giant mulberry tree. the next section of the property is a brick patio with a container garden. fifty or more pots are full of a wide variety of plants. past the patio, there's a sweet little shady, woody area with azaleas, cactus and ferns, culminating in an herb and cutting garden. then there's the little patch of grass at the very back. So there's lots to explore, especially for a three year old.
After a brunch of bagels, fruit, egg bake and coffee cake, it was time to hunt eggs. Several of the adults, and some of the older kids (Devyn and Jarrett) hid them outside while I read a story about a chick and a bunny to Alex's playgroup and a few other friends.
The hunt itself lasted about ten minutes. All the children ran wildly around collecting as many eggs as they could. Surprisingly, no one was hurt and not a tear was shed. Many of the kids re-grouped for a session of egg dyeing. Of course, Alex didn't use a spoon and relied on the agility of his own hands to dye his eggs - every one green. His hands were green for the next 24 hours.
Before everyone left we did finally sample David's gorgeous bunny cake. It was delicious, of course - one of the many highlights of the morning. David truly outdoes himself each time he uses his vast creativity.
Spring's been beautiful so far. We're trying to spend lots of time outside right now. It will be sweltering hot before you know it!
Happy Spring!!

Green Eggs and Hands

david's amazing bunny cake

easter party

"i'm three. and that's bad-ask."

"no. thanks."

stella says no!!

So if you ask Stella anything right now her immediate answer, is NO!! "Stella, do you want to take a nap?" "Nnnno!" she says without a moment's hesitation. She'll walk over to me, raise her arms high in the air and say, "up, up up!" and I'll say, "Stella, do you want me to pick you up?" "Nnnno!" she says as her arms reach up to me with little pulses of urgency.
A I sit here typing, Stella has approached me with her empty sippy cup, sucking the straw until a little airy noise is all it provides. "Stella, do you need more water in your sippy cup?" I ask as kindly as possible. "Nnno." she says as she hands me the cup. I go to the sink and fill it, hand it down to her grasping fingers. "Thank" she says and I'm beyond impressed, beyond proud that my feisty little girl who loves to say "NO" also loves to say "thank you". Both phrases will serve her well in life once she understands the appropriate usage.

Alex, meanwhile, is picking up on everything his father and I say. Much of this is good and quite hilarious. Some of it though, gently reminds me that a few short years ago I could say whatever the hell I wanted. Now, I can merely say whatever the heck I want. Alex loves to use big words to express himself. He'll announce that's he's " really frustrated" instead of simply angry. Potty training is finally done. Alex most often describes his poops to me as gigantic and enormous. sometimes they're elephant poops, even! Marshall's been lavishing Alex with praise over his new-found bathroom habits and once referred to Alex's success as "bad-ass". Why he chose this phrase, I have no idea. It's obviously more appropriate during Marshall's recording sessions with young (childless) musicians. Regardless, Alex didn't seem to notice. But our kids hear everything. And a few hours later as I was changing Stella's stinky diaper, Alex was dancing around her room, saying, "Stella, that's bad-ask!" nice.

stella walks!!

wow. thanksgiving, stella's birthday, christmas, alex's birthday, marshall's birthday and my own birthday have all passed by and been enjoyed immensely. but, sadly, the past few months have flown by with so many distractions, my journaling was been abandoned for a bit. but there's much news to write about, so i better get started.
first off, stella, my little tiny girl has been walking for a little over a week. she took her first steps for the nanny, tracy. i was there in the room, mind you. distracted, as usual, by something else, when suddenly tracy called out, "she's walking!!" i turned to see stella's last of three full steps. and then plop! she was on the floor. she's thrilled about her new mobility. she's into even more trouble than ever. oh boy, so i have my hands full with this one!

Stella's Palm

I was nursing Stella before bedtime tonight when she lifted her little hand into the air in front of my face. She held it high and flat, showing me its tiny size. Even at full extension, her palm is about the size of a quarter. After marveling at its minuet-ness, I quickly noted the three main lines: love, health and life. You see, I used to read palms every once in awhile. It was kinda my silly party trick. But, truthfully, most of the time my readings were right. Right enough that I often caused shivers.
So here's what I saw in the very brief moment that I looked at my little Stella's lines: her life line is long and strong. Hallelujah! Her health line is clear. (Note to tell Marshall who worries endlessly about every cough.) Her love line was the one of interest. I saw immediately that she loves deeply, will fall in love hard and a few times. I hope that first time is with me.

Alex's first day at preschool

I'm just getting caught up in my posting. This is one of my favorite pictures. It was taken Septemeber 6th , Alex's first day of preschool. He and his friends Fifi and Lily love it there. Of course, I do too. Alex always comes home covered in paint, glitter and smiles after an afternoon there.

I'm such a proud mom!

The December issue of Parents magazine is finally on the stands! And there's my little covergirl, Stella. I was so sure the shoot would be a disaster, the pictures blurry (Stella's pretty squirmy), the outfit not quite right for a magazine cover. I was wrong! We arrived at the shoot right before Stella's naptime. As is usually the case, she had to wait a little while (half and hour?) before it was her turn. They were shooting ten babies and toddlers that day for the cover. One had a meltdown and wasn't shot. So Stella's chances were one in nine. Wardrobe tried a deep red kimono top and pants on Stella but it was too big. The next choice was this striped sweater onesie from Old Navy. I immediately thought it looked like prison (I seldom dress my kids in stripes for this reason). Anyway, after becoming a bit cranky while getting dressed, Stella lit up when the camera pointed at her. I put my face right next to the photographer's and sang Stella's favorite song: "Stella Bella Bo Bella, Banana Fanna Fo Fella.." during the entire shoot. And there she is.

90 degrees in autumn?

Wow - halloween's a memory and Thanksgiving is just a few days away. Once again, fall is zooming by and suddenly the pressure of Christmas decorating, gifting, partying and card sending will be full-on. But for now, I really just need to focus on Thanksgiving. I have to admit, though, that it's a little tough to get excited about this huge, lovely meal when it's still 90 degrees outside! That's right. 90 today in the valley. What will we do with our (hot) selves? I'm thinking a trip to the Gelato store on Tujunga is in order. mmm... Pistachio gelato. That's atumnal, right?

our fall weekend

our friends roy, claudia and lily came over saturday morning for bagels and a photoshoot. i'd asked claudia if she would take a few pictures of us for our holiday card this year (she shot our card two years ago). once again, we had a cloudy, misty morning which was perfect for our fall photo. lily and alex had so much fun playing and eating bagels while the "grown-ups" chatted about life. alex loves roy and was thrilled to be thrown in the air, over the sofa and onto the trampoline by him. the photoshoot was quick and easy - i can't wait to see the pictures and get started on the holiday cards! wow -i have so much to do with all the holidays and birthdays coming up. this mom business is more than a full-time job!
i digress - back to our weekend. alex, stella and i went on a walk to woodbridge park in the afternoon and stopped at the gelato shop on the way home. mmm.. the pistachio is amazing!
maritza and brian came over at 6:00 to put alex and stella to bed so marshall and i could see a movie! yipee! we saw "the departed", eating popcorn and reeses pieces for dinner while we watched nicholson, dicaprio, damon and whalberg give outstanding performances on a fantastic script.
this morning (sunday) we had marshall's artist, kate voegel, her mom, betsy and john pikus (her a&r rep from myspace records) over for bagels. marshall and kate start recording her record tomorrow. based on her previous work, it's bound to be beautiful.
after alex's nap today, we'll go to andi's block party. it's still fabulous fall weather out so it should be a gorgeous afternoon.