6.5

We thought about just giving him half a cake for his half-birthday, but decided to go with the real thing...

skater boy

J decided he wanted a skateboard. We told him he had to save his money for one. Not easy for a 6-year old who is easily tempted by Legos. But, he managed to save enough and he's been in heaven learning to skate. Cool kid.

love him!

He made me promise not to put this picture on Facebook. He didn't say anything about the blog...

so much for collections

This is what happens when he decides he no longer needs his state quarter collection. (I think Big Sister may have something to do with it when she counted them and informed him that he had $19 in quarters.) One trip to the toy store later...

Also, in Great Kid Quotes, this is what the youngest asked very indignantly upon driving up to the store:

"Hey! Where those people put my binkies?"

(He had used all his binkies to "buy" a new tricycle last month.)

blueberry boy bait cakes

School ended on Wednesday, which meant that the kids and I went into a cooking frenzy to make treats for their teachers. This year we decided to make Blueberry Boy Bait Cakes from my very favorite cooking blog. A trip to Sur La Table (aka my very favorite store) resulted in 10 paper baking molds, which made them easy to give away. The recipe will fill 2 molds, so we just doubled it. 3 times. It was a baking extravaganza.


A was in charge of measuring, J did the mixing, I did the pouring and we all helped lick the bowl numerous times.


They looked pretty yummy. Sadly, we didn't make an extra one for ourselves. Soon.

school's out for summer

School ended on yesterday. It was a full day of Kindergarten graduation (complete with a mini-concert), a "stepping up" ceremony for both kids, a trip to the yogurt shop and a houseboat BBQ with friends.


Another one done with Kindergarten. I may have cried a little.


Our new 1st and 4th graders.

six

J turned 6 a week ago. He counted down the days for a month, though at one point he became convinced that we somehow missed it. His birthday was great fun, as all birthdays should be. There was...


new legos...


shark cupcakes...


mad bowling skills...


at least one strike...


and friends!

Happy 6th birthday, Guapo. We sure do like you!

self portraits

The kids have the best art teacher ever. Ever. It makes me happy because they love art so much and she is not only teaching them technique, but she is teaching them to see and like who they are through their art.

We've had a few self-portraits come home this year. I'm definitely going to need some more frames. These are the latest:

17 May 2005

Happy 6th birthday, little man.

more quotes

J, talking to a friend of mine last week: My dad's birthday is Friday and we are getting him underpants.

Today, outside Kung Fu, where a dying pigeon was seen floundering near the door:
Heidi (a friend of mine): Maybe the pigeon got hurt.
C (Heidi's son): Maybe it is old and dying.
J: My mom is 37.

i know i'm bad in math, but stil...

Me: A, how is your geometry project at school coming along?
A: You know what geometry is?
(Note: Is it that obvious that I'm clueless when it comes to math?)
J: There are squares and rectangles and trapezoids and octagons and triangles and octagons and parallelograms.
(Note: I definitely did not know about that when I was in kindergarten.)

recent conversations

Me - A, where are your glasses?
A - I don't know.
Me - When was the last time you had them?
A - Well, I was reading in class and they were on my face and then suddenly they weren't there.
Me - OK. (I mean, what else can you say to that?)

While talking about the State of the Union Address to the kids...
Me - ...so Congress is kind of like in Star Wars where Senator Amidala used to go and talk to all those people and make laws and decisions.
J - So, President Obama is going to talk about Star Wars?
Me - Probably not.
J - Aawww...

just because i haven't posted pics for awhile...

sleeping at nana's house

We went to visit Nana and Papa last week for Thanksgiving. We walked into the bedroom one evening and found our two social sleepers all snuggled up together...



now listening to: o come o come emmanuel by sufjan stevens via rhapsody

it's not even december yet...

J already has his Christmas list done and hanging on the fridge. Among the items he's asking for this year are:

- Star Wars sheets
- a Star Wars sticker book
- a Star Wars poster
- an Ugly Doll
- a globe
- a Millennium Falcon that really flies
- and a little penguin statue

(A few thoughts here... a) evidently the Pottery Barn Kids catalog was open while he was writing his list, b) this kid kind of likes Star Wars and c) I have no idea what a "little penguin statue" is.)

J and I were reading "Where's Waldo" tonight (wait...is that something you can actually say you are reading?) when I noticed one of the pictures had Santa in it. I told him he had to think about what to ask Santa for this year. "Well, I already made my list" was the reply. "Yes, but Santa only brings you one thing," I countered. "But I want Santa to bring me everything!" Then the tears came. For 5-minutes. Sigh. We tried to convince him that other people would buy him gifts (hint, hint to any grandparents, aunts or uncles out there) and that Santa had far too many kids to deliver toys to, with a limited amount of space in his sleigh. "But Santa's toy bag is SO big!" How can I argue with that?

Meanwhile, A successfully cleaned her room by throwing everything into her closet and Z had reoccurring meltdowns for 2.5-hours straight, with a small break to tuck Curious George into bed (thereby looking completely adorable and helping us to remember that we actually like him.)


now listening to: i'm yours by jason mraz via rhapsody

dia de los meurtos

J's class celebrated Day of the Dead on Tuesday. (Kind of appropriate that it took place on election day, given the results. That's another post, though.) Anyway...this is what it looked like at the end of the day...



now listening to: jailbird by m. ward via rhapsody

verb conjugation

Like all 5-year olds, J was asking us about verb conjugations this week. (Not that he was using that term. If he was then he would be even more brilliant than I already think he is.) Anyway, he wanted to know if he added a "t" at the end of a word to change it. Nope, we said. It's actually an "ed" and it will mean it happened in the past. Judging from the message I found on the fridge, he understood what we were saying...



now listening to: fisher of men by m. ward via rhapsody

we were in a parade!

This was our first Halloween in our new town and it turned out to be our best one yet, hands down. I gotta say, we kind of love Halloween. I mean, you get to dress up and then people give you candy just for knocking on their doors. What could be better?

We had our 2nd Annual Z-o-ween party, which was much smaller this year but just as much fun. We have cool friends. When we saw people in costumes walking down to the business district a block away, we headed down and joined in the parade. Literally. It was pretty magical - gypsyish violin music, crowds of kids and their adults marching down the street, costumed dogs everywhere, the Giants game on radios all over the place - it couldn't have been better. A and J hit the neighborhood for candy (and toys) and then we came home to find our friends had returned and had brought more friends back. We watched the Giants win, ate more food, then put the kids to bed (all crying from candy overload). So. Much. Fun.


Buster Posey, Cowboy, Flamingo

now listening to: the boogie monster by gnarls barkley via rhapsody

when the kids get the camera

now listening to: mercy by duffy via rhapsody

important life lessons

Me: J, tell me something you learned in school today.
J: I didn't learn anything. But in Kung Fu I learned how to jump if someone wants to kick you in the privates.

(At least he's learning something in the one place that actually costs money.)

now listening to: radioactive by kings of leon via rhapsody