More Bike Riding

It’s been all wheels all the time around here lately. On Sunday I took the boys over to Hamilton Park so Ezra could enjoy the wide open space. He loved it.

E&F riding at Hamilton Park

Riding

After a few minutes of riding, he came over to me and said, “Mommy, I really like the big space here. I feel so … free.”

He also loved the little paths and being able to try to negotiate new corners. (I guess going up and down our straight sidewalk isn’t that exciting after all.)

Ezra

This week of school for Ezra has been all short days to accommodate parent-teacher goal setting conferences, so we’ve been riding a lot. Ezra learned how to do a little jump off of a break in the sidewalk. I’m sure it’s only the beginning.

And on Tuesday we went to a new park that ended up only having dirt paths. The boys were very happy to ride for the two hours we were there. Here are a couple of shots.

Finn comes to a stop

Ezra's first trail ride

“Charlotte”

We discovered we have an orb weaver spider just outside our back door, and as much as she sort of freaks me out, we’ve decided to let her be. In the mornings, her web looks like this, but during the day she eats most of it and hangs out on the roof above it.

Our Charlotte

The boys love watching her and seeing her web change from day to day. Bruce, of course, figured out a way we could be more active participants in her life: he and the boys hunt for beetles and then throw them into the web and we watch her go after them. She’s amazingly fast at poisoning them and then wrapping them up in webbing.

As one of my friends said when I posted the video on Facebook: “If only I could make dinner that fast.”

Mom’s a Pizza

The other night at bedtime, one of the books we read was William Steig’s Pete’s a Pizza, which tells the story of a sad little boy whose parents pretend to make him into a pizza in order to cheer him up. The boys love this story, and of course, they wanted to play the game as well. But I was exhausted, so I told them I just didn’t have the energy to make them into pizzas. Then Ezra said, “What if we make you into a pizza?” So even though what I really wanted was for them to go to sleep so I could do the same, I said yes.

So they set off to cut up some paper (two different colors) that would serve as the cheese and pepperoni. Then, just like in the book, they sprinkled it all over me.

Mom's a Pizza

They used flashlights as cooking instruments.

Cooking

Cooking

And then once they realized I was taking pictures, they started hamming things up a bit. Here’s my toothless wonder.

Toothless chef

And my “van-pire.”

Orange

Believe it or not, at some point they actually did go to bed. And I got a little satisfaction knowing that I, at least a little bit, lived the spirit of this poem, which I love.

how to really love a child

Apple Sale: Done

Last week marked the end of the apple sale and all that remained was “pack-out” where a bunch of Cottage parents take over part of Whole Foods and pack all the apples we sold into bags so purchasers can pick them up. I had a great plan for that day — Finn was going to be at Cottage, Bruce took the day off to help with pack-out and then take over my carpool and kid duties in the afternoon while I finished at Whole Foods. As they say, the best laid plans …

Bruce ended up with a stomach problem overnight and because there was vomiting (worrisome with his heart condition) his doctor wanted to see him right away Thursday morning. Luckily, Cottage moms are the best and my friends flew into action. Cari took Finn from Aveson over to Cottage and then she, Jerri, Emily and a host of other wonderful moms handled the first two hours of pack-out without me while I took Bruce to the doctor. After an EKG and exam, the doc decided it was unrelated to his heart and they gave him shots of Compazine and Benadryl to alleviate the nausea and basically knock him out. It worked. It took a few days, but he seems to be back to normal now.

As for pack-out, by the time I got there (about 11:00) the Mom Brigade had packed 300 of the 500 bags of apples we sold. Here is a fraction of them.

Lots o' apples

What I enjoyed the most was just how unprepared the produce guys were for the speed with which moms can get stuff done. They never in a million years thought we’d get it all done and they were scrambling to keep us in apples. Go, moms!

Sleeping Cuteness

I heard some noise coming from the boys’ room last night so I went upstairs to check it out. It’s usually Ezra roaming around in his sleep, but this time when I opened the door I saw that Finn wasn’t in his bed. A little worried, I looked for Ezra and here’s what I saw.

Nighttime cuteness

Apparently, they needed to be close last night. Crawling into bed together is not something they usually do, and it warmed my heart.

Saturday

We had four items on the agenda Saturday: 1) go shopping for a range (shopping trip #2); 2) attend Chapin’s birthday party; 3) send Bruce off to work after the party; and 4) send me off for an evening out with some high school friends. We managed to get 3 out of 4 done.

Our shopping trip got delayed because we had an unplanned visitor in the morning. Meet Popsicle.

Visitor

Popsicle, you have to go outside!

She just waltzed in the house and came upstairs to find us. Ezra loves her. Finn does, too, but only from a distance. We had a hard time keeping her out of the house, despite the fact that she seems to have her own house a block away. I guess it doesn’t help that Ezra keeps leaving bowls of milk out on the porch for her.

Finally, we tore Ezra away from Popsicle (whatever you do, don’t call her “the cat”) and headed for the party where a good time was had by all. When it was time for ice cream, Bruce sat down with Finn and they were joined shortly by Finn’s friend from Cottage, Marietta. She seems to have taken a liking to Bruce, too.

Bruce and friends have ice cream

Bruce never did get to work because we went shopping after the party (which we stayed at way too long because everyone was having so much fun). But I got to go out with some old friends and we had a blast. A pretty darn good day.

Dinosaurs

One of my favorite things to do is to eavesdrop on a game the boys play with Bruce called Dinosaurs (as in, “Papa, do the dinosaurs!”). They usually play it in the morning just after waking up. Bruce magically turns each of his hands into a dinosaur — Nice Dinosaur and Mean Dinosaur. (As an aside, Mean Dinosaur sounds exactly like Dick Cheney. Well … like Jon Stewart’s impression of Dick Cheney actually.)

They often like to bring toys in so that the toys interact with the dinosaurs. Today, Finn brought in his stuffed puppy, Ruffy. I overheard him introducing Ruffy to the dinosaurs and then explaining to them that dogs wag their tails and it means they’re happy. Then, because he didn’t want the dinosaurs to overhear, he whispered to Bruce, “Papa, I’m pretemming that he’s wagging his tail.”

Brotherly Love

A couple of weeks ago, Bruce made swords for the boys out of cardboard, newspaper, tape, whatever. Finn got his out today for both sword fighting and some modifications. First was the blue-tape belt Bruce made for him. He was very proud.

Proud sword fighter

Next, he asked me to take a video of him explaining the soon-to-be modifications (black spray paint and an F on the handle). The audio is a little low, but really my favorite part is Ezra trying to interrupt and Finn’s expression as he pushes him out of the shot.

Finn’s Apple Sale

We tried a neighborhood approach to our apple sale this afternoon, but instead of going door-to-door, we thought we’d set Finn up in front of the house and see if we could drum up any business. The boys turned an old cardboard box into an apple sale booth.

Making the booth

Finn decorates

Ezra decorates

Bruce decorates

I made some apple muffins as a sales incentive.

Bribery

And both boys took turns manning the booth.

The result!

It was kind of a slow afternoon, unfortunately, but we sold one bag of apples and got a $2 donation from someone who just wanted muffins. Moreover, Finn had a great time and we met a few new neighbors, so I’ll count it as a success.

We have until October 6th to take apple orders or donations, and Cottage’s online store explains the details and makes it easy. We are really trying to bring in the dough this year (Finn’s last year at Cottage and my year as Fundraising Chair), so any and all help is much appreciated. And if you’ve already donated, thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

Little Doggies

I got a blast from the past today from Erin when she found this video of the boys at her house. I can’t tell exactly when it was, but I think they were 4 and 2.

Untitled from Erin Bates on Vimeo.

See, we don’t actually need a dog. We already have two.

Catching Up

It’s been an extremely busy week here so I’m playing blog catch up today. First, the kids:

Ezra lost his fourth tooth — this time an upper!

Lost tooth #3!

Nothing like a blurry, bed-head kind of photo, huh?

Finn has become obsessed with typing — on the computer, the iPad and my phone. He types out a bunch of letters, says it’s his new superhero name and makes me email it to Bruce.

Finn typing

The kids discovered the wonders of three-part forms when I brought home some old silent auction bid sheets after a clean up day at Cottage. I would have loved these when I was a kid. And they did, too.

Kids test out the three-part forms

Now, if you’re wondering why it’s been such a busy week, I’ll tell you — it’s Apple Sale time! Thursday night was the official kick off of Cottage’s apple sale (for Finn’s preschool) and I’m the fundraising chair. I’ve been working on this all summer so I’m relieved to have it finally start. Bruce (husband extraordinaire) helped me with my presentation at the all-school meeting Thursday night by doing some drawings to illustrate how the sale works.

Super Husband working on the Apple Sale presentation

The presentation turned out great — adding a little humor to my speech about the sale details went over very well. Hopefully that will translate into a very successful fundraiser. For more details or to make a donation (please?!?!!) go to cottagecoop.org/apple-sale. C’mon, how can you resist this face?

Bag o' apples

Apples!

Labor Day / End of Summer

On the long-awaited last day before school started, we took a hike in the Arroyo to play in the creek with a few friends from Aveson. It’s a kid’s paradise. They caught frogs.

Blurry frog

And put them in water bottles.

Capturing frogs

Then showed them off to the parents, who took pictures, of course.

Ezra shows off the frogs

Happy Ezra

They eventually let the frogs go and moved on to swimming and playing in the water. Finn found a stick.

Finn: a stick!

Ezra found a bigger stick.

Ezra in action

And fun was had.

Lots o' kids

Aveson kids at the creek

Later, I took the boys to Slaw Dogs for lunch while Bruce worked.

Ezra at lunch

Even though it’s his favorite place, a napless Finn still looked grumpy.

Finn at lunch

Even later, we let Ezra pick a place for dinner to celebrate First Grade. Growing up too fast.

The night before first grade

Crazy Mud Day

The new gardeners have been doing a fantastic job cleaning up the yard and Ezra — the boy who has loved to dig since he was a baby — is very pleased with the loosened soil in the planter beds. I didn’t really want him digging up the front yard but a boy’s gotta dig, so we needed a compromise. I decided to offer the backyard. The sheer delight in his eyes when I answered “Yes” to his question: “Can we make mud?” was priceless.

So, I gave them some parameters (let’s keep to one spot, please) and went back inside to continue working on the Apple Sale stuff. Pretty soon I heard, “Mommy, can we take our clothes off?” “Yes, just keep your underwear on.” More delight.

When I came down to check on them about ten minutes later, this is what I found.

Muddy boys

And as if they weren’t covered enough, they started re-covering themselves just to be certain.

Mud bath

And then they wanted to do a video about how to take a mud bath.

I decided to let them have at it (while taking periodic peeks out the bedroom window) and after a while they’d used the hose to [almost] clean themselves up. They still needed a bath but this was probably the easiest mud-play cleanup we’ve ever had.

Clean up time

Silly Moisions

Silly Papa.

Silly Papa

Silly Ezra.

Ezra gets into the lollipop act

Finn, on the other hand, had a much more conventional use for his after-dinner lollipop.

Finn has a better use for his lollipop