Picture Day

Today I helped at Child #1 school. It was picture day and I volunteered to help do all those little things that need to be done to help move kids along and keep them looking their best. I had black combs and a spray bottle of water, and as I occasionally used the water bottle I thought "oh, if your mom could see you now, standing still while a stranger combed your hair"!! I know kids and spray bottles don't usually go together.

I enjoyed my time and find (once again) that I really enjoy schools and kids. I still have the teacher look (and a few kids got it today and it was all they needed to correct their behavior). I was able to reassure a few little ones who were so nervous and I was able to direct and sort the chaos that come with lots of kids. It was nice to have a  first hand look into this school that Child #1will attend for the next 5 years?!

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Perk of the day - my child got a fancy, expensive photo package because I helped ! Unexpected but nice - I am not sure what I am going to do with LOTS of photos (and his smile was so-so) but if you're family and reading this - expect a school picture in the near future!

Funny thing of the day - a little girl's (4th grade) envelope has a very clear handwritten note "Please encourage my child to have a natural smile not a forced smile". I had to chuckle at that and then I had her show me her natural smile.

Best part of the day - taking Child #1 out of school early (he had a substitute and another teacher suggested it or I would have never would have thought of it!) I picked up Child #2 from our friend and then we got some lunch. After that, we went and saw the rabbits and chicks at the local feed store! Fun day!

Explanation:
I have been meaning to explain why I have been absent for so long...
I  always assume when a blog isn't updated for a long time that 1. They are pregnant 2. They need a break from blogging or 3. They are traveling... (Most of the blogs I read are moms...) I fall under reason #1. I have been feeling quite yucky for a while and while I still spend 50% of my day in bed, I am much better. I am at week 14 and if all goes well the baby is due in March. After 4 ultrasounds, all looking great, I am hopeful... but I do have in the back of my mind my "advanced maternal age" and that fact that our last pregnancy miscarried at 16 weeks. I suppose that is where faith comes in and I am faithful that God wanted us to have more children and if things don't work, that my faith will sustain me, just as it always has.

Hopefully, I'll be posting more regularly but more than that, I hope I'll more regularly be out on the sand finding some sea glass. I can't remember the last time I found some..... Kirstin

Take-A-Trip Tuesday was a bust!

So the plan was to go into the city (SF) and go to Golden Gate Park. So much to see (bison, flowers, ponds) and to do (enjoy the open spaces, play in the parks).

Well, you can't win them all. We found the bison first thing and with about 5 different wrong turns finally found out way to the back of the field where they were laying down.

And it went down hill from there.Then after about 40+ minutes of driving around, trying to read the map I had printed off and use the GPS on an iphone, and find what street we were on, we gave up! We did find one park but by that time one child was asleep and there was no parking. Shortly thereafter the other child fell asleep.

We rounded out the trip by stopping at McDonalds and then went to a local park to get some play time. That seemed to help the kids forget the pointless trip.

On a happier note, I'll include a few photos from last week's adventures.

Masterpiece made by Child #1. He thought it up himself!

Enjoying the rides at Happy Hollow on AnyThing Thursday:)

Another Happy Hollow perk - the slingshot swing!

Waiting for the 4th of July Parade - don't you love the coat and sweater?!

My Country, 'Tis of Thee

Sometimes as I walk along the beach, the quiet of the day brings phrases and melodies into my mind. This was the stanza that began to form in my brain and I walked home singing it to myself. I feel every word!

My native country, thee

Land of the noble free,

Thy name I love;

I love thy rocks and rills,

Thy woods and templed hills.

My heart with rapture thrills

Like that above. 

-Samuel F. Smith, 1808-1895

 - Kirstin

PS Found some sea glass this morning... it was a beautifully low tide, not much glass, just lots of smooth sand!

 

A Review of our Week

On Monday we painted birdhouses for Masterpiece Monday.

Finished product with shells added on. Thanks to my favorite sea glass store, the owner gave my children each a scoop of shells. They were a perfect addition to our masterpieces.

Tuesday was Take-A-Trip Tuesday.

We took a picnic and then went for a short hike through the redwoods. It was a little part of our area I hadn't been to before and it was lovely!

Wednesday was Water Wednesday. The sun decided to come out and we headed to a really mellow beach in the area.

The quote of the day was, "I really felt the spirit!" from Child #1. This was said when he caught a good wave. I wasn't sure if he was referring to the "spirit" in a religious sense or in the spirit of the sport of boogie boarding. It was a fun hour!

AnyThing Thursday was full of all sorts of "anything"!
We made these:

 They are chocolate covered bananas. The recipe came from this favorite children's magazine. (Note: my kids only ate the chocolate part of the frozen treat and left the banana.)

I discovered my pumpkin plant grew a flower... pumpkins could be in our future!!

 Laundry from our Wet Wednesday was hung out to dry!

And rocks painted to be reminder rocks. Also from The Friend, our favorite children's magazine.

To finish the day, we ran errands to the store, the bank, the post office and the library. It certainly was  an "Anything" kind of day.

Friend Friday
A friend (age:2) came over to play while her mom unpacked at their new home and packed for their upcoming vacation. She is a darling little friend and I see we are going to have to have more friends over as Child #2 was less than polite! (Sand throwing, grabbing, shouting and declarations of "I'm not sharing my toys"...Yikes!!)

So there you have it - our week!
Kirstin

Father's Day Gift

In going through some boxes in the computer room my husband found a box of photos. He asked me if I could arrange them into some sort of album. Because I am not creative in that area, I bought 6 very simple photo albums and put them in. The real find were a series of photos of doors, really cool front doors that he photographed on a trip to Europe. There were so many, I decided to get creative and make a photo collection. The best part was his surprise and that he liked it (so often I strike out!). Here is how the collection looks from above:

Here is the arrangement, three slender frames with multiple photos

Here is are some of the photos up close

More photos. There are 15 doors in all!

And of course, I can't let the post go by without a photo of a recent find....the past few mornings have shown some great rock washes!

Water Wednesday

No these are not beautiful pieces of sea glass - it is our collection of water balloons. This afternoon in the sun, we threw them about and watched them splat! (The best was the one that we threw up on to the roof!) Then we followed it by a smoothie at Jamba Juice and a trip to the library.

Lest you think we are always this fun, Child #2 looked at me strangely, when I announced that we were going to Jamba Juice. Then she asked, "why are you being so nice to us?" I told her because I loved her but since she was in her underwear, she did need to get her clothes on! She had expected a scolding for not having clothes on and I surprised her by talking about smoothies - sometimes the best way to achieve compliance is to distract or bribe. I admit to using both! Have a great Wednesday!

Masterpiece Monday

On Mondays this summer we are working MASTERPIECES! (It is part of our summer plan.)

To a 5 year old a graham-cracker-ginger-bread-house photo in a cookbook is a masterpiece. So that is what we made on Monday.

Gingerbread houses in June!

Take a look at how they turned out:

The following picture is last week's masterpiece.

Can you tell what it is? (I am referring to the red thing with black tentacles.)

  

A paper mache Squid!

Yes, a squid!

 I know it doesn't look like one but that is because you can't see the gray eyes on the sides.

What a MASTERPIECE!

And what fun!!