GIRL WITH A CAMERA

Maddy took these pictures. Then the battery died. Makes me wonder what she would have come up with if she had a little time...



Levi in the glorious sun.




Kevin and Davan sharing their day with us.




The beautiful ocean through Maddy's eyes.

AND WITH A GLINT IN HER EAR...

Did I mean "a glint in her eye?"

Nope, her ear. Notice anything new?

That's right. Madigan has 2 more holes in her head. Filled with sparkly faux jewels. G, Maddy and I went shopping today to get running shoes for Maddy (cross country team training starts on Tuesday) and we decided to check out the ear piercing thing. We'd been talking abut it all weekend. We decided not to give it as a gift for her birthday as we didn't want her to feel pressured, in the event that she wasn't ready. I had explained that, yes, it would hurt. That it might be loud and startling. That it would stop hurting right away (because of the adrenaline) but that it might hurt a little later. Nothing a couple of Tylenol wouldn't help. I also told her that she could back out at any time. No problem. (Which, as it turns out, was a lie. Hmmm. What does that say about me?)

So, when we get there there is a girl, about Maddy's age, sitting in the piercing chair. She is straight-up dodging the piercing gun. Her mom is stressing, the piercing lady working at Claire's is stressing and telling her, "You have to keep still! I don't want to pierce you in the wrong place! Stop pulling away!" She is near tears. It's a beautiful scene. Madigan is being scarred just being in the room with them. I'm figuring that this trip will be a bust. Oh well.

So that fussy girl's mom finally says, "Forget it! Get down from there! I'm never doing this again!" igniting a flurry of emotion resulting in the girl's tears, and her ultimate piercing. "That's it?" she said when it was all done. Maddy notices this. Maybe there is hope yet.

So we shop for a few minutes and Maddy gives the go ahead. In the time it takes the piercing lady to get set up Maddy starts shaking and she turns pale. The piercing lady is at her wit's end and tells Maddy to stop stressing. I'm sure that tactic works for you as well as it did for Maddy. The lady brings the gun to Maddy's ear and that's when Maddy starts combo mumbling and whining, "No, no, no, no, no, No, NO, NO!"

And I say, "DO IT!"

She was fine. They look great.

And even though I suggested that a pierced tongue would be a huge hit with all the chicks in first grade (you know how the first grade girls are), Levi politely declined my offer and has no additional holes anywhere on his body.

He just looks so summertime delicious I wanted to share.

ONE DECADE DOWN

Madigan turned 10 today. I can hardly believe that she has been with us for that long, because it seems to have flown by. On the other hand it is hard to remember my life before her. It feels as though I have always loved her. (Some days more than others, you know.)


Today we have a family gathering. She decided she wanted to have banana splits rather than a cake. And she chose some Lilies for the table.


We started with gift opening, G's favorite part!


Levi and Bumper tried to stay cool.


G took some time for a tickle.


Grandma arrived a little later and she brought the whipped cream for the sundaes.

These are Maddy's new sock monkey satin PJs, and new monkey slippers.



The jammies are perfect for a snuggle with Pop.


This cool monkey tag will be great on her backpack or luggage.


This is the new book that she was really pining for. She also got five other books from Pop and G. Perfect for the new Principal's reading club. And a HSM2 game, a Justice gift card, an outfit and a bunch of other girlie things.


This year is off to a great start.

Next week - slumber party. Levi has requested to go away to Pop and G's house for this event. Do you think they would let me come, too?

A STUDY IN BLUES AND GREENS

Over the past couple of years the kids have painted a number of canvases with oil paints. They clearly have a preference for the cool palette.


"Frog" by Madigan and "Dinosaur in Water" by Levi




"Tall Tree" by Levi.



"Foggy Beach" by Madigan.



And lastly we have "View From the Deck" by G (top), Madigan (middle), and Levi (bottom).

2 DOWN, 178 TO GO

Day one and two have been very good. Hot, new, different and good.

Levi's teacher called tonight to let us know that he is a joy to have in her class. I'm pretty sure she called everybody, but I think she meant it with him.

Madigan is making friends. Her homework tonight was to cover her fancy new social studies book. New book and easy homework. So Mrs. Billingsley can't be all bad.

Tomorrow Pop will pick up the kids so we can go to back to school night. We'll have the dirt on the teachers then.

I'll keep you posted!

I CRIED MORE THAN THEY DID

This morning was considerably more morose than last night. Quiet concern bordering on mild freakout for the 5th grader. Verbal complaints all morning from the 1st grader.

When we got to the school we checked to see if their teachers were around (they weren't), and then we wandered a bid. I observed a couple of 5th grade girls spot Maddy and turn to one another and whisper "That's her." So did Maddy. Ouch. So she crossed her arms and we walked some more.

We ended up walking to Maddy's classroom where her teacher, Mrs. Billingsley, was was now standing. She told us that there were a couple of other new kids in 5th grade. She took us to the spot where her class will line up and there Maddy met Elle. Another new student. Very cool! So they sat and chatted. And we broke away to go see Levi off at Mrs. Babcock's class.

Levi did great. He got in line with the crowd. He took off his hat and put it into his backpack (hats are not allowed in class). And then she took them in to their new class and off on a tour of the school. He was fine the last time I saw him. He'll be fine in an hour and a half when we pick him up. They will both be fine.

I cried. Out of site of the kids, but there were more tears than I could handle without tissues on a hand-full of occasions. I'm ridiculous.

But I'm going to be fine, too.

SUPER SAD CHILDREN : CANCELED

Well, after all the anxiety over the past few days I have to say, I really thought it would be harder tonight. The night before new school. Turns out my kids think school and friends and music and PE and learning cool new things and field trips are pretty OK. So they are not, in fact, sad.


And so, we were hanging out in Maddy's room listening to music (HSM1) and writing and chatting.


Not a ton of snuggles and soothing words. Cause nobody needed them. Just hanging out and chatting. And photos.


Oh, yeah! And Maddy showed off the shirt that she will be wearing on the first day of school! Cool. And cute. Picture it with a low belt. Perfection.

Oh, as it turns out I do have a sad display! Here is the school supplies list for Levi's class this year:

First Grade (Do not label with name)
2 pencil grips
2 boxes unscented baby wipes
1 small bottle of Elmers glue
Crayons (unleaded), small 16
1 watercolor set (8 colors)
6 pink erasers
12 small glue sticks
Water color marker sets (fine and wide)
1 set colored pencils (12)
2 rolls paper towels
24 pencils - Papermate American #2
Scissors - Prefer Fiskars-type

Utterly ridiculous!

I laughed too, Maddy, until I saw yours:

Fifth Grade
Pink erasers - 12 each
Black & white hard cover composition book
1-1/2 inch binder, no zipper (max. 10-1/2" wide)
Pocket dividers (pkg of 5) with tabs
Zipper bag for binder supplies
6 - Glue Sticks
Scissors - preferable Fiskars type
2 sets colored pencils (12 colors)
Ruler, plastic or wood (inch/cm combined)
White 1/4" graph paper
12 Ultra-fine black sharpie pens
12 Fine point black sharpie pens
Highlighters -2 sets -yellow, blue, green, pink
Protractor
Binder paper (wide ruled)
Unleaded pencils -16 #2
Post It Notes- 3"x3"
(2) 100 ct, college ruled spiral notebooks
2 containers of disinfecting wipes
Adult pocket Dictionary

Sakes Alive. If every student is bringing all this stuff, we could run a side business as a mountain office supply store.

Actually, it doesn't really matter. They are asleep now. Both of them.

And really, we could reschedule the sad if necessary. Let's hope it doesn't come to that.

THIS BOY'S LIFE

Let me take a moment to tell you a little bit about my boy. Levi is 6. The monkey around his neck is Bob. On Monday he starts first grade at his new school. Tonight we are going to the Root Beer Float Social to meet some classmates and see his class assignment. Good stuff.

This is his Stuffed Menagerie. In this picture you will see Bob (monkey), Scotch (German shepherd puppy), American (eagle), Clover (goat), Nuzzle (squishy brown dog), Clifford (tiny Big Red Dog), Boo (bat), Larry (turtle), and a number of others whose names I cannot recall at this time. Levi has always had stuffed sleeping companions. Long ago he graduated from a "Lovie" to Scotch. From there his stuffed animal zoo has grown at, what I consider, an alarming rate. We have instituted a moratorium on new stuffed friends. Let's focus on making human friends at the new school, shall we?

Here is his super fun fort bed. You can see how the top mattress is bowing from the weight of all those animals.

Here is Levi's play table. You'll see Legos and Lego instructions, a snap bracelet, a back scratcher, a shell necklace from Hawaii, and a dump truck. This is a great representation of his daily in-room play.

And this is the sign on his bedroom door. We made this for his Lego themed 5th birthday to help people to find our house.

So there you have it. A snapshot. A look into the life of a mountain boy's space. The summer has been filled with such amazing fun and changes for my boy. I just wanted to save this precious moment in time. Because in a flash it will be gone. Replaced by soccer practice and play dates and new, bigger boy adventures. And I will miss this time. Cause this time is great.

WHAT HAPPENED????

Madigan got in a fight with an elliptical machine, and apparently the elliptical machine has been in a few more scraps than Maddy, because after it was all said and done the machine was fine. Not so much with Maddy. She has a fractured wrist.

When my work got wind of her situation they sent her this beautiful bouquet in a happy face mug. With balloons.

So while she rocks the blue and pink striped cast - the one that she can shower in, mind you - she'll see and smell some beautiful well wishes. (Whatever happened to white? And wrapping your torso in a plastic bag to take a bath - cause there was no shower! Kids these days have it so easy!)

Thanks for all of your kind thoughts sweet words. Maddy is great.

PICTURE THIS!

Our family vacation was apparently just one big series of photo opportunities. And who am I to deny the world these amazing photos? It might just be a sin. On that subject, this first image is at the Mission Santa Barbara. (I'm a master of the segue.)

Here it looks like the Zamora Kids are praying. (Praying for more crayons is more like it.)

The Whale's Tail restaurant has a big whale in the front. I'm pretty sure we are the first ones to take a picture with it, though. We like originality in a vacation picture. And spontanaity.
Maddy and the bay. Or estuary. Or whatever.
Big shoes at the shoe store. Again, I'm pretty sure we're the first to snap a pic of a small person standing in those. We're clever. And Levi is cute.
We hiked to the top of a little mountain above a golf course. The view was amazing. A full 360 degrees of the valley and the rock and the estuary. But we don't have pictures of all of that.
What we took are pictures of our children. Clearly we made the right choice.
At the perfect little beach in Santa Barbara we buried our children. The way they beg us to.
And these are seaweed mustaches. I've seen worse mustaches. Seriously.

Oh yes.
That's right.
Any day. Any time.
We will stick our heads in plywood cutouts of characters. And we will take photographic evidence of said event.
I have to say, I really did like the soup. Cause pea soup is delightful. So that kinda makes this picture more valid, I think.

That is our trip in a nutshell. Our picture-taking fingers are worn out. And we are now living with piles of laundry from all of our adventures.

Life is good.

OUT TO LUNCH

And breakfast and dinner...

We are on our vacation and will be back soon...

Love you, miss you!

HOT FUN IN THE SUMMER TIME

This week Maddy is attending the Legally Blond camp at The Dance Affair. She is dancing and singing and acting and will be displaying all of these talents at a Friday evening performance at the studio. We are all very excited! On the heels of her big Garlic Festival win, we are all looking forward to seeing her mad skills again.

Levi, on the other hand, is at Pop and G camp. So far has attended Bonfante Gardens (now called Gilroy Gardens) and has upped his catch record with Pop from 5 catches in a row to 8 catches in a row. He's the man. And I love him a lot.

Next week we are taking a family vacation. We will be traveling to Santa Barbara. We are referring to web articles from Sunset Magazine and Family Fun Magazine to plan the perfect amount of lolly-gagging with just the right amount of scheduled fun. We'll let you know how that whole thing works out.

LAUGHING SONG

By William Blake

When the green woods laugh with the voice of joy,
And the dimpling stream runs laughing by;
When the air does laugh with our merry wit,
And the green hill laughs with the noise of it;

When the meadows laugh with lively green,
And the grasshopper laughs in the merry scene,
When Mary and Susan and Emily
With their sweet round mouths sing "Ha, ha he!"

When the painted birds laugh in the shade,
Where our table with cherries and nuts is spread:
Come live, and be merry, and join with me,
To sing the sweet chorus of "Ha, ha, he!"

WE HAVE A WINNER

The Gilroy Garlic Festival had it's first KIDPALOOZA Talent Show. Here is the winning number:




She won a pink cowboy hat and a $100 Target gift card. So there you have it.

TOO YOUNG FOR HARRY

The kiddos are still a bit too young for a book as big as Deathly Hallows, but that doesn't mean they aren't devouring their own books every chance they get. Besides they would have to wait a while for the 2 copies of Harry #7 that we have. G is reading one and I am reading the other. Get in line, kids.

What are the Kiddos reading now you ask? Well, let me show you:



Encyclopedia Prehistorica: Sharks For Levi



Me and the Pumpkin Queen for Maddy




Also, The Spiderwick Chronicles are in regular rotation for Maddy-girl.

Tricky Mindtrap Puzzles are a treat for the whole family. At the dinner table, in the car, wherever!

Favorites of all time? There are too many to list. Here is just a sampling:

The Missing Piece is Levi's all time favorite. So very sweet and laugh out loud funny for kids and adults alike.

The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy Watching my daughter get so lost in a book was a dream realized. We've given this book as a gift multiple times because she loves it so much. (Not her copy, mind you.)

Flotsam No words, just delicious illustrations that "reward close examination" (as Jen from Jen Robinson's Book Page would say). Conversations abound when his book is open.

The Cookie-Store Cat This sweet story about a cookie store and the cat who lives there has been a family favorite for years. The best thing is all the recipes for the cookies mentioned in the story! Our favorite is "Father Eugene's Scotch Chewies."

We all have wants. I tend to indulge book wants more than some others. Here are the new fascinations of the moment:

The Aurora County All-Stars is the book Madigan wants next. This one is so new it is not yet in the catalog at our library. We'll see if we can't hook her up with a new book. Maybe for our vacation.

Levi likes DK books on all science-y and scary topics like Sharks, Dinosaurs, Bugs, etc... but if you can hook him up with a Glow in the Dark Sticker Book about Night Creatures - that boy will be yours forever!

What are your favorite childhood books?

PHOTO EVIDENCE

Levi is riding his bike - here is the proof!

(In this photo there is also proof that Levi's helmet strap was a little too tight and his solution was to unclick it. My attention was on his riding and not his helmet, as I didn't realize he did that until I saw the pictures. Nice. Way to be on top of things, mom.)

This is his new bike. It is silver with black and with bright green and orange. He says, "I feel good. I like it. It's fun for me."

So there you have it.

RAT-PATOTIE

This is Remy. He is a rat in Paris. We went to see his movie. He is a wonderful chef and has inspired us to try to cook some new dishes. None of which is ratatouille. Blech!

In the event you haven't seen it I recommend it, it is fun. It is a little long, but worth it.