Sean, meet Shawn

My Sean has a new friend in town, and his name is also Shawn.  They are just 2 weeks apart and are both pretty busy boys.  I have a hopeful feeling these boys will be friends for a long time.  Today they got a chance to play together while they both waited for their brothers to get out of school.  Shawn showed Sean how great it is to take your shoes off when playing, so my Sean, showed Shawn it is even more fun when you remove your shirt as well.  They both then proceeded to play in the mud puddle on the playground.  I can tell already these are going to be fun years watching these two navigate through childhood together.  

I couldn't hear what they were saying, but knowing Sean, he was telling Shawn to just remove his shirt like Hulk would. Only because that is how shirts are removed in our house daily.

With the entire school yard at their finger tips, the small mud puddle is the toy of choice.

We Get All Crazy When Tom is Gone...

 

We turn on the heat when it is Cold.

Kira wears excessive MakeUp.

And ClawFoot Tubs appear in our Garage (my latest project).



Dear children's underwear makers...

Please print the superhero photos on the front of the underwear. Since you don't, Sean insists on wearing his underwear backwards. I know Sean is not the first kid to insist this (at least that is what I am telling myself) so you would think it would make the most sense.  You know you have a problem when kids would choose to have a Melvin constantly rather then miss out on seeing Superman at any given moment.   

Sincerely,

A Mom who has decided this is not a battle worth fighting. 

As you can tell, we have started some serious Potty Training in our house.  Wish us luck.

Happy Birthday Tom!

Don't worry about Tom. We did finally celebrate his birthday a day after with cake and ice cream.  Also, don't even think we ventured out and did something different.  Enchiladas, strawberry cake with cream cheese frosting, same dorky grin, and the Olympic Movers T-shirt is there, just under the Giants sweatshirt this time. 

Happy Birthday Tom!  

I love you, and glad to be working my way through life with you as a partner.

One Busy Saturday

This weekend was a blur. 

One of those weekends where you wake up Monday morning and feel like a weekend never happened.  It was that busy of a weekend. 

First after dropping Kira off at 6am for her Band Competition in Cupertino, we headed to Milbrea Pancake House for a little birthday celebration for Tom and Andrew's friend Luke.  Luke was born on Tom's birthday and I think Tom has always been a little bitter they didn't name Luke Tom, or at least use Tom as his middle name.  Reggie made up for the error by buying breakfast.



Here is the gang that went, minus me who is taking the picture.  I am pretty sure the Pancake House employees were cheering when we left.

After breakfast we headed to Ocean Beach for Andrew to participate in a Sand Castle Build competition that his class at school was involved in.  This was the third and last year he will do this so it was a little bitter sweet.  Andrew LOVES this competition as you can tell from the photos. 

 This years castle is a Cheese Rocket blasting away from a planet that is being sucked into a black hole (I think).  Only a group of 4th and 5th graders could come up with this one.



Yes, that is Andrew on top.  Always right in the middle of the action.

 

After returning home, I spent an hour in line at Little Luca's Sandwich Shop to get Tom a much deserved birthday sandwich.  We then spent the evening waiting for Kira who needed to be pickup up at midnight.  Needless to say, we were all glad to just go to bed at some point on Saturday.

My Latest Endeavor...

is Strawberries.

This is the second of many edible plants that are going in in our backyard.  My biggest problem is not the lack of sun in Pacifica (surprisingly) but the squirrels, or squares as Sean calls them.  Out of 6 plants, one has been destroyed by an animal, assumed to be a squirrel.  Even with Sean's repeated screaming at the squares through out the day, there is one stubborn one that keeps returning.  My solution, Cayenne Pepper.  This squirrel is going to wish that he messed with some other woman's strawberries.

Hopefully with the help of the pepper, we will have mature plants by Thanksgiving and then Strawberries through out the year.

Outdoor Ed - Andrew You will LOVE It!

Today was the big day, Andrew left for Outdoor Ed for the entire week. He has been looking forward to it since Kira went and came home teaching him all the songs.  I can't think of another kid that is more ready to go.  He is so ready, he may even spoil some of the surprises for the other kids.  He knows all about the night hike, a lot of the songs, and even knows what clubs he is going to join.  

Have fun Andrew!

Stay safe and be sure you kiss the right end of the banana slug.

The reason I love Outdoor Ed so much is because I have experienced myself the great and rewarding week that it is.  I never went as a student, but as a teacher back in 1999.  I took my 6th grade class to outdoor Ed, my first and last year teaching, and it was really the best part of the job.  If I could have spent every week at Outdoor Ed I would have more likely remained teaching.  Above is a picture of me with some of the kids from my class.  I bet a lot of you never knew they let me teach a class full of kids.