Morning Cartoons

One of Clara's only gripes about the beginning of the school year is that we are back to the old routine of watching TV only on the weekends. So, since they don't get to indulge from Monday to Friday, they make the most of the TV time they have. It's a win/win situation, since Chad and I get to sleep in on Saturdays and Sundays, while the kids veg. I made the mistake of telling them how much I like "Charlie and Lola" though, so now they wake me up to watch it with them. How could I refuse kids that look this cute and snuggly? And I do love "Charlie and Lola"....

Lest you think that we never make it outside, here's proof of fresh air being inhaled. Trevi made this golf course more vertical than most:

He was able to get the ball in the bucket, by the way, and decided that it's the best sounding golf hole he's ever made.

Making Cakes

Three cheers for imagination! I just love the way both Clara and Trevor can play with tan bark, water, and empty chalk containers, and somehow manage to turn it into a cake shop. I guess it's not so bad to have a bunch of junk lying around in your backyard!
Right above the cake shop, there happens to be a bird's nest. A robin has been busily working on her nest for weeks now, and she freaks out every time someone walks by. The nest is on top of the big, rectangular light under the eaves.
Here it is up close:
We are all really excited to watch the nest over the next little while, but what on earth is a robin doing building a nest at this time of year????

Ping Pong and Homework

Chad and Trevor played ping pong at the local mini golf/arcade place today, so Trev came home and built a ping pong table of his own. That red box is the net, and Tinkertoy sticks served as paddles. Just the sticks! It was not easy to return a serve.

Clara toiled away on an, "All About Me" poster she had to do for homework. Most notably, she said that horses are her favorite animal. News to me.
Note the pained expression on her face. We don't like homework around here.

Back to School!

Last night, Clara had everything ready for the big day.
This morning, she hopped out of bed at six, and was ready to go in a flash. I love that this girl wastes no time lamenting the end of summer. She is ready to begin a new chapter: 2nd Grade!
She came home with an apple from the teacher, and lots of enthusiasm about her first day.
This is the face of a happy Second Grader (who doesn't have homework until tomorrow!)

Golden Clara

Clara was just sitting eating her lunch, talking excitedly about the new school year, and she looked so golden (despite the buckets of sunscreen that we used this summer). It's this angelic glow that I need to remember in the less-than-angelic moments. :)

Soccer Girl

Okay, so I guess technically I'm a soccer mom now, since Clara played her first game today. She ran her little heart out in the hundred degree heat, and I beamed from the sidelines, trying not to be one of those irritating parents who cheer too much. Clara has not been ultra-enthusiastic about this whole soccer thing, but I think it is finally starting to grow on her.

Look for green number 4, with her hair in braids:

And Grampy took us out to dinner at Chili's after the game. Score!

Last Day of Summer Camp

What a great discovery this Parks and Rec summer camp was! Clara got to spend her afternoons swimming and playing games with a bunch of kids from all over the city. Awesome. We'll be back next year!

Trevor spent his sister-free time today inventing. This machine is a "Toy Chooser". You drop a coin in the slot, and the flag stick pushes a toy out from underneath. When the toy comes out, it knocks over one of the robot books that is leaning up against the machine, and you have to read the book to the inventor before you can play with the toy. Sounds fair.
PS: Note how proud he is in this picture.

A Freak Accident

No matter how careful we all are, every now and then one of the kids comes "this close" to really getting hurt. This time, it was one of those freak accidents that makes you run the what-if scenarios until you just have to let it go, and be forever grateful to the powers that be. So, here's the deal: Trevi was in the bath, lying down on his back as he loves to do. I had just washed his hair, and had placed the shampoo bottle back up on the little shelf in the shower wall where it always goes. But, I guess it was a bit soapy up there or something, because the bottle fell off the shelf. It was top-heavy, because I had just used it, so it fell cap side down, and landed right on Trevi's eyebrow. The thing was heavy...about half full, and it really hit him hard. I got him out of the bath and Clara got an ice pack...no blood, thankfully, but he had a nice big welt just half an inch from his eye. Half an inch from his eye. After the initial shock and pain wore off, Trevi really enjoyed the TLC, as you can see here:
The shampoo will never go on that shelf again.

Mamma Mia!

After watching Mamma Mia with Grammy, and being treated to a copy of the soundtrack, Clara is an instant ABBA fan. Since I haven't seen the movie, she was shocked when I came into the room and joined in as she was singing along to "Dancing Queen". I immediately introduced her to the original recordings, and she's now working on dance routines to several numbers.

ETA: I went to see the movie a couple of weeks later, and LOVED LOVED LOVED it.

Hall Store

I'm unsure of the motivation behind setting up a store in the hallway, but this is where Clara and Trevor spent most of their morning. For once, Trevi got to be the main guy, and Clara played a variety of roles. I kind of like this picture because it demonstrates how I've forced my love of lime green on my children.

Happy Birthday to Me!

I turned 39 today. Not a bad age, I guess, but I do find it weird that my skin regimen consists of Sea Breeze and Oil of Olay. Is it fair that I am simultaneously fighting zits and wrinkles?

Am I Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?

Clara started quizzing me on all kinds of State facts today, and I realized (with only slight panic) that I have a fair amount of brushing up to do. It's easy to fool 1st Graders into thinking you're the smartest teacher on the planet, but 5th Graders aren't so gullible. Good thing for me I'm best friends with Google. I'm also an expert at refusing to answer a question and implying that I know the answer, but requiring my students to practice their research skills and find the answer themselves. Heh heh heh.

The Sleepover

A spontaneous sleepover plan led to huge disappointment tonight, when Clara's friend got homesick and had to leave before the sun was even down. We had already made up the guest bed (otherwise known as the extremely uncomfortable cheapo fold-down couch), so Trevor gallantly stepped in and offered to be the guest.

It was quite a step down for Clara, but Trevor didn't mind being the consolation prize.
PS: Clara's on her 23rd Jigsaw Jones novel of the summer, with no signs of slowing down.

Robie

Trevi made Robie the Robot at preschool today. They both enjoyed Boca burgers for dinner. (with organic ketchup)

After dinner, Robie was tired, so he and Trevi invited Tommy the Robot to go camping. If you look very carefully, you can see Tommy there in the Barbie bed to Trevor's left, and Robie's goggles peeking out from the blue blanket to Trevor's right.
The Trader Joe's bag, by the way, is full of important camping supplies such as marbles, fridge magnets, crayons, and underwear for all.

I Love Water

Isn't water just the most wonderful thing? I try to never take it for granted.

Xeriscaping Update

Everything except one tree is in the ground now, and we are weighing our mulch options so we can finish up the project. It looks lovely, and the butterflies and hummingbirds seem pleased.

Kid Fears

Trevor is scared of car washes. He wants to like them. In fact, he points them out whenever we drive by them, but he is terrified of the brushes. Like all kid fears, we know he will grow out of this (Clara can now laugh about how she was once petrified of people in larger-than-life costumes) so for the time being we just drive dirty cars.

Lately, it seems that Trevi is doing some self-treatment to combat his phobia. He plays car wash all the time, thus employing the psychotherapy technique known as "flooding".
His toy cars and trucks sparkle, in stark contrast to the real ones in our driveway.

Happy Birthday, Chad!

I have eight whole days to gloat about being younger than Chad before I catch up with him, so that is certainly cause for a celebration. Clara and Trevi have been excited for weeks, although I sense that their enthusiasm is mostly cupcake-related.

Today Trevi was the head chef while Clara was at camp.

Then, Clara frosted and sprinkled.

Chad made a wish for sufficient lung capacity to pull this off.
Happy 39th! I'm still 38. Ha ha on you.

Organic Ketchup?

Chad (the family shopper) claims that he didn't realize it was organic. He just grabbed the ketchup that was on sale. And it was Heinz, which is what we always get.
Now, I don't have anything at all against organic foods. We would buy them all the time if they weren't so expensive. But organic ketchup is just too funny. Another funny thing was the look on Clara's face when she saw me taking a picture of the ketchup. Also, the word ketchup is starting to sound a bit funny now that I have said it so many times. But the funniest thing of all is the list of ingredients. You see, in order to make organic ketchup, you need (and I quote):
Organic tomato concentrate made from red ripe organic tomatoes (as opposed to the green, unripe kind), organic distilled vinegar, organic sugar, salt (automatically organic?), organic onion powder, organic spices, and natural flavoring (curiously not organic).
Bring on the french fries and diet coke!

Holes

Did I mention that the soil around here is pure clay? Great if you're a potter, but seriously inconvenient if you're trying to get things to grow.

We've been digging fairly huge holes, and filling them up with Chad's specially-researched mix of soilish stuff, so that our little drought tolerant darlings have a fighting chance.

Today, we tried hosing down the clay to soften it, but the result was a bunch of little mud lakes (a painful demonstration that we have absolutely no drainage whatsoever). The whole thing gave me some insight into the ancient "AHA!" moment when the idea of the clay pot was first conceived. I can imagine some thirsty ancestors discovering that the ground they walked on was completely impermeable. They must have been stoked. I just hope they were smart enough to know not to try to plant their crops in it.

If you were Trevor, do you think you could have resisted the urge to explore the mud lakes?
It reminds me of a song my dad taught me:

Mud, mud, glorious mud!
Nothing quite like it for cooling the blood.
So follow me, follow,
Down to the hollow,
And there we will wallow in glorious mud!

Funny Little Kids

They just make me laugh sometimes. Today, Clara was on a mission to teach Trevor how to dress Barbies. Even with velcro and whatnot, it is still tricky to get those pointy little feet into the pant legs, and those sticky rubber arms through the tiny little sleeves.
At some point, Trevor said he was getting really tired from all of that Barbie work, so Clara did what any loving sister would do, and built him a mini-fort in which to rest.

On the subject of kid funniness, I also want to make note of a few more Trevi pronunciations and expressions:
1. Gomma gave him a little wooden carving of a wart hog, which he calls a "work hog".
2. Maracas are called "ramacas".
3. Binoculars are called "Beenoclee-ers".
4. A piano is still a "pliano".
5. On hot days, he loves to go topless, proclaiming, "Mans don't wear shirts!"

It's Coming Along

We added a few more touches to the painting today. Soon, it will be ready to grace our wall. Now, we just have to decide what color to paint the actual wall.

Finger Painting

Clara was off to a friend's house again tonight, and Chad was speaking at a Relay for Life event, so Trevi and I had a little art party. We got out a bunch of paint pens and glitter glue, and Trevi went to town. He's a big fan of concentric circles, and tends to use each available color only once on any given day.

He is making this particular face because we had just heard a "far away train".

He has a thing lately about trying to poke the camera lens, which would not have been cute if he had succeeded.
And another thing:
I cut Trevi's hair by myself yesterday, and I think I did a pretty good job. I saved $14.00, and I can rest assured that my customer has absolutely no opinion whatsoever about his hair.

X is for Xeriscape

One of the ideas I'm stealing from Trevor's preschool is engraved on a wooden plaque on their wall. It lists "The ABC's of Life. Now, normally I think those kinds of things are totally dorky (except for All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten...that one rocks) but I read this one over and it actually made me all verklempt.

It goes like this:

Accept differences
Be kind
Count your blessings
Dream
Express thanks
Forgive
Give freely
Harm no one
Imagine more
Jettison anger
Keep confidences
Love truly
Master something
Nurture hope
Open your mind
Pack lightly
Quell rumors
Reciprocate
Seek wisdom
Touch hearts
Understand
Value truth
Win graciously
Xeriscape
Yearn for peace
Zealously support a worthy cause.

Verklempt again. Is it just me?
Anyway, the teacher in me got to thinking. I will be leaping up to 5th Grade this year (after eight years in Kindergarten), and here I had stumbled upon a lovely little document that pretty much sums up everything I want to say to my students. My mind is going wild with writing prompts, role-playing, readers' theater, literature connections....I feel myself morphing into a 5th grade teacher already!

There was only one little question in my mind, which was easily answered by wikipedia: What does xeriscape mean? I grinned a goofy grin when I saw the definition. It means exactly what we are doing in our front yard right now!!!!! Getting rid of a water-sucking lawn, and planting drought-resistant ornamental grasses, herbs, and other native plants.
It doesn't look like much yet, but we will be xeriscaping like crazy over the next few days. I'm going to dedicate myself to C and R this week, as well.