Finding Balance in San Francisco

Christmas cheer

2009-12-27T16:04:50-08:00

We've been all a-bustle with the holidays. Nana came on Tuesday to visit

and she brought welcome new quilts for the boyz, cleverly incorporating a lot of

black because Shasta usually sleeps with Quinn

We all went down to my parents for Christmas Eve-

a little caroling boat ride and then San Francisco cracked crab for all: Christmas carols by boat 2009

from kathy hassanein on Vimeo.

and even Santa came to visit for a bit: Santa pays a visit to us from kathy hassanein on Vimeo.

My mom came up with a "Twas the Night before Christmas Game" where she passed out a word to everyone and then

when your word came up you got to open a present. Fun.

We also squeezed in a few side adventures, like to the Farralon Islands visitor center at Crissy Field

and a made a trip to the Y, with dog. There were dozens of pix like this one, where the boys opted to make funny faces rather than smile.

I'm considering a separate post with various "faces" poses.

and then the whole crew came back up to our place for Christmas brunch Friday morning.

The 4 cousins are already good friends, which brings a smile to all of our faces. Happy holidays!

Ok, it's officially Christmas vacation

2009-12-21T04:48:35-08:00

Well, it's officially Christmas vacation for the kiddos.

We had dueling winter sing-a-longs and early dismissals on Friday, and thank goodness for grandparents so each kid could have family members cheering them on. I went to Quinn's school show (the top photo is Quinn in costume with his good friend Sean)

and my parents went to Montessori to watch Jordan's school show, which I hear went great

Quinn's Spanish bilingual class did a performance of Feliz Navidad. Those little Kindergarteners up on stage singing and dancing really made me smile. It's a lovely send off into Christmas vacation.

Feliz Navidad, with Kindergarteners from kathy hassanein on Vimeo.

Now we have 2 weeks without school, which the boyz are delighted about (me- not necessarily). I'm feeling like I need to get creative about what to do, especially because it's been raining here in San Francisco, and expected to rain again tomorrow and I'm sure the various museums are overrun with kids on vacation.

Happily, Ryan's mom (Nana) is coming Tuesday- she's always a welcome distraction and up for adventure. Looking forward to seeing where our Christmas vacation adventures take us this year.

My Santa Promise

2009-12-18T14:23:43-08:00

A few weeks ago the kids and I were at the Y and the people at the front desk breezily mentioned that Santa would be coming to visit the Y on December 17th at 10am. We smiled and nodded... and then magically that date and time were burned into my 5 year old's brain.

We've been talking about Santa coming to the Y for weeks, and I did agree that we could go see him. Then yesterday was scheduled to be a really busy day at work for me and I had every intention of blowing off visiting Santa at the Y and catching him somewhere else instead.

Well.

Quinn excitedly mentioned unprompted at breakfast that it was December 17th, then pointed to the calendar and cheerfully noted that at 10am Santa was coming to the Y. I sighed and explained about my meetings and that I might not be able to make it in time and that we could see Santa a different time- but the look on his face when he said in disbelief "what!?" drove it home that I needed to try my darndest keep my promise.

This was one of those times, one of those moments among all the other moments when it really mattered that I not blow off what was originally a casual commitment to my kid. December 17th at 10 o'clock was when Santa was going to be at the Y, and though I'd not written it in blood, I'd promised that we'd see him- meetings notwithstanding.

On the drive to school, Quinn was full of ideas about how I could get out of my meetings. Finally he settled on the concept of me just simply telling everyone that I could answer the rest of their questions tomorrow because I needed to go and see Santa. I told him I'd try my best to do just that.

Happily, I made it work.

Ho Ho Ho. The pride I felt was immense. We stayed a grand total of about 5 minutes with Santa, but those were important, trust-building minutes. Quinn's eyes really lit up when he saw me standing there at his school- he even let out a "yes!" accompanied by a little hop- and I felt like a a shining beacon of a promise keeper.

I'm sure there will be times in the future when I disappoint him, but for now I'm still on top of the world.

Christmas tree shopping with kids in San Francisco

2009-12-11T15:28:08-08:00

We went to get our Christmas Tree last weekend, at the Guardsman lot in Fort Mason. I highly recommend it for kids. There's music, 2 jumpy houses, a "hall of fame" tree area, sleighs to climb into... and just a good all-around vibe.

Here's a video from our Christmas Tree excursion:

Tree shopping with the Guardsmen from kathy hassanein on Vimeo.

and a couple-a photos:

one more video, of Quinn doing this crazy flip in the jumpy house- unfortunately I didn't actually catch the flip- a nanosecond too late, I was. So you'll have to use your imagination:

Quinn doing a flip off a jumpy house slide from kathy hassanein on Vimeo.

Happy tree shopping and ho! ho! ho!

I'm almost 40- guess I should be fabulous

2009-12-06T19:09:55-08:00

Hard to believe (for me, anyway), but in 2 days I'm going to be 40 years old.

I've been feeling a little more emotional about this birthday- I guess because I'm officially crossing over into middle age. Not only am I not an ingenue, I'm now 15-20 years past ingenue. The whole thought of being middle aged has been a little scary and daunting- not that the alternative is any better!

Happily, my friends and family have really been there to help me celebrate the milestone. This weekend my husband Ryan took me to the Claremont hotel in Berkeley, where we spent the night Saturday night (and dined at Chez Panisse!). My parents kept the boyz overnight for a sleepover party at their house and then brought the boys up to visit and celebrate with me this morning.

Girlfriends can be a powerful salve when you're feeling insecure or down. A group of girlfriends arranged a brunch for me at the Claremont, which left me feeling fabulous and ready to cross this big milestone with my head held high.

The spread at the Claremont brunch is really something. Champagne, made-to-order eggs, gorgeous fresh fruit arranged beautifully, fancy and exotic fare- tables and tables of delicious food, including a shellfish and sushi section that was to die for.

It was SO GREAT to have these wonderful women around me, filling me up with nice words and affection. I felt very loved.

As my friend Sunny said, if you're going to be 40, you have to embrace it and feel fabulous. If you feel fabulous and confident then your 40s can be great. Well- I'm gonna try. I'm so grateful for my friends and family- hopefully my 40s really will be fabulous.

Thank you, girls, for helping me ring in my 40s in style!! You're the best!