I’m so impressed with how these parents handled a very tricky situation with their son. I only hope some day to have the patience, quick thinking, and just an overall ability to handle a situation like that. (Oh, and to be able to say what the Dad did without wanting to haul off and hit the bully! That, too!)
And the maturity and grace of their 10-year old is surely proof that they are doing an incredible job with him.
Go take a read if you have a moment.
Isn’t it astounding to think there are some things our kids will never have the pleasure of knowing or using – like cassette tapes, VCRs, window cranks, live television, pay phones.
We did have the pleasure of playing with a pay phone over the weekend, however. Two, in fact. These old British phonebooths are tucked in a little courtyard near where we had lunch. The girls found them fascinating.
Dueling phonebooths
How cool is this?
You rang?
There is a phone in here…with a cord!
Hello?
Uh…huh. Yep.
Sometimes it is the little things. And this is why I always have my camera with me.
For more WW. Happy Wednesday.
It has been a bit of a dry crafting week. Aaaagain!
Oooh, oooh! Wait! We have been baking, can I count that towards being crafty?
J. found a new choco chip recipe for us to try last week. So we did. You know it took so much coercing, too.
They were really yummy except that the walnuts were a little old. Did you know walnuts can go stale? Yeah, that is the tip of the day. Probably ought to buy walnuts more than just once a year. So we are going to attempt the cookies again this week, sans nuts.
Tonight I made some blueberry crisp since two little girlies (who shall remain nameless) convinced me that we had to have two pounds of blueberries, and then said little girlies didn’t seemed to want to eat any blueberries. But bathed in a little sugar, oatmeal and butter, they are delicious! I forgot to take a photo, but I’m eating some now as I post…and trust me, it is good.
I know, I’m really grasping at straws here with the baking, and I did manage a few birthday cards, but I can’t show them yet since…well, they are still waiting to be stamped and sent out.
Which, by the way, today is my best friend Kimmer’s birthday today! (Um, hi Kimmer! It is your card that is still sitting on my desk…it is coming, sorry!) Will you pop on over and give her a little birthday love, for me? Sending happy thoughts your way today, Kimmer. Four more years! Eeeeee!!!
And in return for doing that little favor – I promise to have some real crafting for next week!
k-thanks-buh-bye!
We took a trip to J.’s office on Friday for a little dinner and fun. While we were there, the girls cleaned out Daddy’s change drawer and he had a few of these old juice bottles floating around, that they managed to abscond with as well.
On our way home I hear Em say to Addie –
E: Addie! Just open up the top, like this…
A: Yeah?
E: Then laugh into the bottle.
E: And then quick put the cover on the jar so you can trap your laughs inside the bottle!
And Addie obliges. Of course.
I was trying to get these shots from the front seat without them knowing – so they are not perfect. But when I look at them, I love the idea of bottling up those laughs for someday down the road when I really need to hear them again.
Find out what has everyone else giggling over at Tracey’s today.
Whew. The loooongest week ever.
Between the “earthshake,” some tired (therefore crabby!) girls, and the jam-packed days that this summer seems to be providing, it has just been a long, long week.
I did pull out a new game that I had saved over from Christmas to give the girls when a diversion was needed – and it has turned into an obsession!
Every morning, every evening, every tiny moment of “down” time – “Mama will you play Hi Ho Cheerios with us?”
Addie couldn’t believe I was taking the photo above without a “star” in it, so she had to provide a sweet face.
Today was our last day of swim lessons for this cycle. Addie seems pretty bored with the whole thing and would rather just spend her time in the baby pool.
Em’s instructor (Staaaanley! Whom she has a minor crush on and can’t say his name without being completely starry-eyed and giggly. She’s five. FIVE!) pulled me aside before we left though and said that she and one other kid, were the only ones who completed all of their Tot level requirements – one of which was swimming the length of the pool, unaided (40ft!). He said if she does maybe one more cycle, and gets her side breathing down, she can move up to Advanced Strokes.
Of course the entire time he was telling me this she was just looking at him like he was the most fascinating creature ever. GAH! And then after we walked away she kept asking me, “What did Stanley say, Mama? Did he think I did a good job? Is he so proud of me?”
Double GAH!
So anyhow, I need a break. I think we will take the next two weeks off, and then at least Em will probably do the last cycle of swim lessons before school starts. I think next year she will be full-on, ready to move up.
She keeps asking me when we are going to go school shopping. I promised each of them their own “day” with Mommy where we would do a little “Back To School” shopping. I used to love the start of school, searching for the right supplies to take in my backpack on the first day of school. Mmmm…the smell of new unsharpened pencils and the fresh, untouched sheaths of notebook paper. Yes, I was a bit of a nerd in school, too.
Anyhow, I think that Em is really just excited for a “date” with Mommy. And I expect we will have to fit that in next week before she drives me crazy with the incessant questioning.
Speaking of fall, I just threw up the last of my July photos in Flickr yesterday….today we have to create an August set!
Summer is drawing to a close, and I need to get off of this computer and back to soaking those last few moments up.
Stacy’s challenge for today was to show some style and our mad skills while fashioning our photo shoots. I had intended on putting together a little “shoot” with the girls, but kind of ran out of time. (Always with the excuses, I know.)
So, I started perusing the archives and trying to find some examples of our more fashionable shoots.
Um…I think I perhaps, subconsciously, wanted to have twin girls because, ah…I have years of photos with the girls in matching, or at the very least, fully coordinated outfits.
Like this one…
Or this one…
(Even the same backdrop, the ‘ol blue chair!)
And this one, not just coordinating outfits, full-on matching! The same dress (and white sweater!)…
And apparently whenever a holiday comes along it is the perfect time to dress them alike.
Like Easter…
Halloween…
And, of course, Christmas!
Unfortunately I think my days of coordinating their fashion are numbered. Apparently (who knew?) they are not twins, and they are very much their own little individual selves, with opinions on what they should be wearing. A lot of opinions.
Doesn’t mean I’m not going to keep trying to stage perfectly fashioned photo opportunities, though.
No, I’m not hanging up my running shoes for good. But I do think that the days of throwing the girls in the jog stroller and hitting the pavement for an easy workout have sadly come to an end.
Let’s do the math here.
One double job stroller = over 20 pounds.
One solid almost 3-year old = nearly 30 pounds.
One willowy 5-year old = nearly 40 pounds.
That is nearly 100 pounds of mass that I need to push, while trying to propel my own, ahem…substantial body forward. For at least three miles. (Yes, Dad. I’m aware that the math doesn’t actually add up to 100 pounds – but believe me the difference between 90 and 100 pounds is pretty negligible when it comes down to it.)
It is kind of sad – it really was an easy way to get a workout in especially when it was too nice to be stuck on a treadmill in the gym. Plus the park is about 1.5 miles away, so I would run there, let the girls play and then run back. Everyone was happy.
Saturday, however that happiness faded just a bit.
J. was gone and it looked nice outside (about a block into our run I realized it was actually pretty darn hot and we should have left about an hour earlier) and I told the girls that we were heading to the park.
“Why aren’t you running Mommy?”
(Um, I will when I get this 100 pounds out of the driveway to the sidewalk.)
“Hey, run faster, Mommy!
“Are you going to run faster, Mama?”
“FASTER!”
It was like having two drill sergeants yelling every step of the way. And on the way back…
E: “Addie do you hear it? Clip clop, clip clop!”
“Mama! You sound just like a horsey.”
Fantastic, that is exactly what I want to hear. I sound like a horse when I run.
Needless to say, I went out for a run on Sunday, too. This time…alone.
(J. took this one on his iPhone at the Grove the other night. It cracks me up every time I look at it!)
More Wordless Wednesday fun.
…under my feet. Literally.
Yes, we definitely felt the “earthshake” (as Emma calls it) today. We are all fine, in fact I don’t think there have been any injuries anywhere reported yet. But let me tell you, it is one of the “trippy-est” (Is that really a word?) things I have ever felt.
They are speculating that the epicenter was in Chino, which is actually about 30 miles east of where we live, and where the girls and I were when it happened. But J. said they felt it and evacuated their building and he is another 25-30 miles further away than we are. They said the earthquake was felt as far away as San Diego and Las Vegas. Trippy, I tell you!
The girls and I were actually in the pool at swim lessons. I didn’t really realize what was going on until I looked up at my friend who was out of the pool and she looked like she was kind of shaking and I saw the fence behind her rattling. And then there was a really loud “BOOM” and I turned to look at the parking lot to see if anything was happening to the cars, I truthfully, thought it was a bomb or some sort of explosion. And as I was turning back towards the steps the bottom of the pool seemed to tilt. I was holding Addie and could feel that more of her body was underwater, and the pool sort of “sloshed” around a little bit.
I hopped out of the pool with Addie and made a beeline over to the other edge to get Emma where they were evacuating all of the kids and Emma was just so mad!
E: “But why do we have to get out of the pool, Mama? Our swim class isn’t over? We didn’t get to do our jumps from the side of the pool!”
M: “We are having an earthquake, Em. We need to get someplace safe.”
E: “And then can we go back into the pool?”
The girl has a one track mind!
Anyhow, besides a few end tables moved around and some pictures toppled over – nothing was broken and we are all just fine. I am heading to Target and getting the rest of the things on my Emergency Kit list that I’ve been putting off, though. Right. Now.