Kids Say the Darndest Things...

It has been very wet with near continuous rain for the past week. All of us, especially the dog haven't been outside for a long time. Fortunately, we had a break in the weather with a day where we saw the sun. So hubby and the girl headed off for a hike in the nearby foothills, while the boy and I took the dog for a walk. The boy and I were walking for a few minutes when he turns to me and we have the following conversation: Boy-"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Me-"Probably not." Boy-"If you were a kid you would be thinking it would be fun to walk in the puddles" Me-"Your right, go for it". We both were wearing rain boots. Boy-"This is a lot of fun, you sure you don't want to do it?" Me-"I shouldn't, the dog would follow me in." Boy"Kids have a lot more fun than grown ups do." How true!

Meanwhile... When the girl and hubby had hiked to the top of the foothill and were looking down the valley they have the following conversation: Dad-"Wow, it sure looks pretty nice down there." the girl-"If you were a fancier person you would say it looks picturesque."

Here's to picturesque puddles!

Merry Christmas!

We hope you have a wonderful Christmas. The kids are all tucked into bed, awaiting the arrival of Santa and his reindeer. They put out cookies, milk and enough carrots for each reindeer.

May the joy and wonder of the season be with you.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Today is my Dad's birthday.  He is no longer with us, but I see him in his grand kids.  My kids get their love of music, especially the Beatles from him.  They also come by their sense of adventure through both of their Grandfathers, who passed it onto their parents and to them.

This is my favorite picture of my Dad as a kid.  He is the middle stair step.  

Here he is on his beloved motorcycle.

Thank you Dad for raising us to be independent and for teaching us it is important in life to take risks.

You are missed.

Saints Alive

The 2nd grade class puts on an annual Saints play.  The boy was St. Leonard.  Each child speaks a few lines about their Saint.

Here is the boy with some of his friends before the play started.  







If you look closely, you can see the boy as he is delivering his lines.  He is in the black hooded robe with the blue "V" neck.

I find it amusing that his Saint's costume is actually a space alien costume I bought him for Halloween next year.  How's that for getting my monies worth. We left the glowing green mask at home :).

This is the boy and his two best friends F and AJ. 

St. Nicholas Day

Today is St. Nicholas day.  It is celebrated at school the traditional way. The primary school kids take off one shoe and leave it in front of their class room first thing in the morning. St. Nicholas comes by and leaves a tangerine and candy cane in each shoe. 

To include some of the elder parishioner's in the fun, the kids in the boy's class made construction paper boots that they filled with candy canes and chocolate kisses.  They put them in the pews to surprise the morning mass parishioner's with. The kids were so excited about surprising the grown ups.

Cookie Pops

It is storming out, so the kids and I decided to make cookie pops after school.  How do you make a cookie better?  By putting on a stick and decorating it with sprinkles of course.  Can you tell which ones the boy did?  Hint...he likes chocolate in any form.

Inquiring Minds Want To Know

The boy lost another tooth this week. So he has a Jack o Lateran smile going on. Evidently, his previous letter to his tooth fairy left him with additional questions.

In case you aren't able to read it, here it is: Dear Tangle Goblintwist, I want your real age like 10, 12 like thoose ages. So Tangle Goblintwist can I call you Tangle G for short. What do you do with the teeth. Your friend the boy. And here's a movie for you called Monkey and Monkey. (He drew a movie scene below the letter.)

And here is Tangle G's reply. The boy, Another tooth so soon? I am ancient, that is my real age! I am so old I can't remember my age. I have been a tooth fairy for over 200 years. I was even George Washington's fairy. Yes, you can call me Tangle G. I take your tooth and make it into a star or star dust for really small teeth. The better care you take of your teeth the brighter star it is. Love, Tangle G. How many teeth do kids loose? I see an ongoing trend!

Busted!

This is what I found last night when I opened the boy's door. He was supposed to be sleeping. He has an led candle he uses as a night light and evidently as a flash light. He is currently heavily into The Diary of a Wimpy Kid series.

Model Behavior

The girl had a modeling gig yesterday. There is a local swim suit maker that asked the girl's race team for some models. They make swimsuits for race teams (think speedo's) and they wanted a few girls to be size/pattern models for their new line. So, they made an appointment with us and off we went after school. It was really interesting to see a small part of the process that is involved in clothing manufacturing. They took the girl's measurements and had her try on a sample suit. Then, they looked it over to see where it needed to be altered. Since the girl is tall for her age, they liked using her. They wanted to make sure the suit would be comfortable on taller girls. The entire process didn't take to long and the girl got to pick out a new race suit for her participation.

Sent from Yahoo! Mail on Android

Important Questions

The boy lost a tooth at school this week. After he put it in the tooth fairy box that night he brought me a letter he wrote to the tooth fairy.

In case you can't read the writing it says: Dear Tooth Fariy, can you tell me your name please. How many kids do you have to do. How old our you. Can you tell me. Well, it's time for me to go to bed. Our you a boy our a girl. Love, The boy. open and write. I know he needs to incorporate question marks and get a refresher on the difference between our and are. Other than that, I was impressed. Until recently, he didn't enjoy writing.

Here is the tooth fairy's answer: Dear Boy, What good questions you ask. My name is Tangle Goblintwist. I am a boy fairy. I really like your tooth! I have kids all over that I am the tooth fairy for. It changes every night, since not all of the kids loose teeth at the same time. I am so old that I stopped counting my birthdays. Sweet Dreams, Tangle Goblintwist Your Tooth Fairy the next morning, he was more excited about the letter from the tooth fairy than the money he left. To my sis-I am hoping to post the kids Halloween pictures soon. I dropped my phone in some water and it isn't working. I am keeping my fingers crossed that once it dries out I can retrieve the pics and post them. Hubby did a great job on the girl's costume.

Picking grapes

Last weekend we went camping, near a friend who owns a small vineyard. The last varietal of grapes had yet to be harvested so he invited the kids to harvest a bunch.

We pressed the grapes ourselves into grape juice - wow, nothing at all like the grape juice in the store. Very sweet, and much more like apple cider than juice.

Halloween Party

Today for the girl's Girl Scout Meeting they went in costume and had a party. The girl is in the back row in pig tails. She went as a nerd, both the candy kind and the type like her Dad ;). She has asked me to make her a nerd costume since last Halloween. Now, crafty things is not my forte. Those projects I leave up to hubby. So, for her actual Halloween costume she will be a box of nerds candy. Hubby and I are still in the process of making it. For this party, she dressed up as a nerd with pig tails and glasses. I also bought a Halloween bag of small nerd candies. I emptied them out, with a lot of help from the kids. I then glued them onto a t-shirt I bought. The girl added leggings and saddle shoes and a double nerd costume was created. I was happy to hear all of the girls and the parents that dropped them off go "Ah, I get it your a nerd and a nerds candy". Who knew parenthood would involve actual work!

Are You Ready For Some Football...

This Sunday the boy was the quarterback for the first half of his football game. His team is the Chiefs. He really enjoyed playing QB.

Here he is throwing a pass that was pretty impressive. The coach on the opposite team congratulated him after the throw. I really like how positive all of the coaches are in this league. The boy's coaches made sure every kid played in the game and had opportunities to run for touch downs. Except for the boy, as he was QB.

The second half of the game the boy played defense. His team won 7 to nothing. It was a good game, as the teams were fairly evenly matched. Since it was in the 90's that day and the kids all had an ice cream bar after the game, it didn't officially feel like fall.

Nostalgia

Hubby took the girl out camping on Saturday, so it was me and the boy. We spent some quality time at a local arcade where the games are only a nickel (or several nickels) to play. They have an air hockey table, so of course I challenged the boy to a game...or three. He won the first, I won the second and he squeaked by me and won by one point in last game. I loved playing air hockey as a kid. I am glad it is still around and hasn't gone the way of jukeboxes. Hubby and I had explain to the kids what a jukebox is. The boy also happens to be wearing a shirt he knows nothing about. Obviously, I bought it for him. He asked me what KoolAid is one day. I told him about KoolAid and Hawaiian Punch. I even went so far to demonstrate the Hawaiin Punch commercial. The kids just looked at me funny. Maybe one day I will go crazy and tell them about Atari!

Friday Night at the Races

Last night the girl went to her first race team event. She was nervous about the race during the week and before her first event. We are so proud of her, even though she was nervous she overcame her fear and got up on the block for her first race. She was allowed to pick two events to race in. She chose the 50yd freestyle heat and the 75yd breast stroke heat. Once she made it through the first race, she smiled, relaxed and enjoyed herself. Her brother was at the edge of the pool cheering the loudest for her during her races. I really like the swim team she is on. The philosophy of the program is to do your personal best.

First Day of School

Today was the first day of school. The kids didn't have a full day, so we decided to do something after school.

I caught a picture of the boy on the fly. He and his friends don't sit still very long.

The girl and some of her friends. They are much easier to photograph.

My kids and a close friend ended their first day of school in the pool at my Aunt's house. Thank you Auntie!

And So It Begins

The boy received this letter in the mail today. It is from his second grade teacher, letting him know that he is in her class and what they will be working on for the year.

The boy has the same second grade teacher his sister had. We knew she was going to be his teacher, as she told us at the end of the school year that she requested him. He is looking forward to her class. I can't believe the kids are in second and fourth grade...how did that happen?

The girl also got the teacher she wanted.

They start school on Monday. It seems like summer flew by. They were only out for 9 weeks.

The Race is On

Yeah! The water sprite is off the wait list. She got a spot on the racing team.  She is so excited, especially after watching all of the Olympic swim events.

The girl loves Missy Franklin.  She picked a good role model.  What a grounded and gifted young lady Missy is.

Who Needs To Go To The Gym?

Evidently, the dog feels I should be upping my daily amount of cardio (who am I to argue with a dog). He helps me get a cardio/step workout while I am cooking. When I am in the kitchen, Deacon insists on laying in the middle of the floor. This way, I have to step over him to get to the fridge, back to the stove and step over him again to get to the sink. The more I cook the more cardio. Deacon is ever hopeful that something will miraculously fall to the floor for him to eat. Since he is now weighing in at 63lbs with long, gangly legs I am going to have to start jumping farther to get meals made.

Day Trippin

Since summer is almost over, the kids and I are doing a couple of day trips while we have the time.

Yesterday, we drove to a small town where a large part of American Graffiti was filmed. I hadn't been there for years and forgot how charming and full of things you would want in a small town it is.

We toured a sticker factory. This is the only place we were allowed to take pictures, in front of the sticker wall. It was very interesting. I had no idea the amount of large machines and processes that were involved in making stickers. At each stop along the tour the kids got stickers.

My favorite part of the trip was finally getting to visit this seed bank. I order seeds from their catalog every year and have wanted to shop at it since it opened a few years ago. It is in a beautiful old bank building.

There are aisles of heirloom seeds of every imaginable type of vegetable and a lot of fruits. The kids each picked out a packet of seeds for our winter garden. I tried to restrain myself and not go overboard on seeds. I know, it is nothing but excitement hanging around me. Luckily, the kids were patient while I oohed and aahed to my heart's content.

Their reward for their patience was visiting a local pie shop and splitting a mini lemon pie. They are their Father's kids.
After the sticker factory tour and visiting the seed bank, we decided to walk downtown and explore a bit. Imagine my surprised when the kids wanted to go into an art gallery/antique store. We got their 20 minutes before they closed, but managed to see most of it. The kids pointed out different paintings and antiques they thought I would like. The best part was they managed to do this without actually touching anything...yeah!
Next, we visited a local creamery that had the best tasting organic cheese and ice cream. So you know we had to buy both. The creamery and farm have been in business for over 90 years. They had some uncommon flavors for ice cream. I ended up getting the lavender, which was delicious. The kids got cookie parade, a big hit and peppermint patty. I know, pie and ice cream in one day. You would think I was FSD. In my defense, the pie was truly a mini, miniscule, microscopic one bite pie. Also, we walked a lot (like my rationalization?).

Later, we visited the local farmers market and stocked up on fruits and veggies. The market also had a booth with some reptiles. The kids enjoyed the snake and turtle.

In case you notice the wrap on the girl's arm in the pictures, she has a sprained wrist. She was riding her bike and cut a turn to fast. She broke her fall with her hand. The Doctor said she should be back to her daredevil ways in a few weeks.

Week In Review

By now anyone who has read this blog is well aware of my sporadic blogging abilities. So, I will once again inundate you with pictures and a little bit of an explanation to go with them.
Monday, the big event of the day was the girl's swim team try outs. She had to swim freestyle two lengths of the pool, backstroke one length and breast stroke one length with no breaks. She did it and qualified for the fall swim team. Unfortunately, she is on a wait list. The coach told us that there had never been a wait list in July before. She thinks there are so many kids trying out for swim teams because of the Olympics. We will keep our fingers crossed.

Tuesday, was one of the funnest days the kids and I have had in a long time. My Aunt C, Uncle A, their kids and grandkids had rented a beach house and invited us to join them. Since my cousin A and his family live in Washington and his sister E and her family don't live nearby it was great to hang out with them.
Heading out in the surf.

Luckily, all of my cousins and their kids are half fish, so there were lots of adults and kids riding waves with some of us wading in the waves to watch. I wasn't fast enough to get a picture of all of the grown up boys and little boys when they rode onto shore at the same time.

Uncle A and the boy having a serious conversation.

A new way for the boy and L to warm up after boarding for hours.

The kids dragged their parents on almost every ride at the boardwalk. The boy is above the 52 inch mark, so he is able to ride almost every ride. Including my favorite wooden roller coaster. He and his cousin L, who is older by a month were the only two kids to want to ride it. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of their faces. According to them "It was awesome". Those little daredevils.

Most of the family waiting in line for the carousel.

The girl trying to throw the brass ring in the clown's mouth.

Cousin A riding a pretty horse.

Wednesday, we spent the day at the water park with the girl's friend K. Those kids love water slides.

The kids Thursday morning getting in a little reading. Obviously, they are in the girl's room.

On Thursday, my friend and I traded babysitting duties. I watched her daughter K for several hours and she watched my kids later on. Since it was a nice day, we went to the park.

At the end of the week, The Godfather (of the boy, who insists he be referred to that way) was brave enough to bring his girlfriend around us...finally. We went out to dinner and had so much fun that we invited them over for dinner the next night. We take it as a good sign that she didn't "run for the hills" after the first get together. She is a keeper! The kids love her.