Eye Spy 2

I saw a grey hair in my eyebrow this morning. That's just not right!

Marshmallows Coming Your Way

M is the Den Master for our Cub Scout pack and we had our first meeting last week. The big activity for the meeting (besides me leading a song for thirty boys and thier parents!) was to make marshmallow shooters. Never heard of them? Well, take a look at these nifty little things. M cut the pvc pipes and together we sorted them and put them into kits for each boy.

Here is T testing out is shooter at the work-table before we headed outside.

Here is R shooting the other team outside.

The boys that were left in the end decided to all attack M (in the middle) :>

That's What I like To Read

I opened my email this morning to see this wonderful note from R's teacher:

Mr. & Mrs. Smith,

I just wanted to send you a quick email before I head out the door about R. He is SUCH a wonderful listener. Whenever I have asked the students something from the previous day(s) he knows the "exact"
words that I have used. He is by far one of the best listeners/rule followers in the classroom. Also, he is a very hard worker!

It has been a great two weeks in class. I am very glad that R is in this classroom.

Sincerely,
Miss S

Ya gotta love that, right! What a nice teacher, to send a little note like that! (It's nice to see that his wonderful photographic memory is alive and well in the classroom too!)

School Days, School Days

Two boys all ready for the first day of school... T is in first grade and going to all-day school for the first time (taking a lunch and everything.) R is in third grade and in "upper hall" for the first time. I took the morning off to take them to school on the first day. R said, "See ya later mom, I can do this on my own" and took off towards upper hall. My heart broke a tiny bit knowing that he's so big and doesn't need me as much as he used to. I asked T if he wanted me to walk him to his class room or did he want to go by himself. "You can take me there and hold my hand too, it's crowded in here." My heart soared --- yay, I still have one that needs his mommy! I have a feeling that next year, both boys will proudly and bravely walk to their classrooms without me. I guess it's just another step towards their independence, of which there will be many in their lives.

Shady Shores 2007

Remember two years ago when we had a great time on Labor Day weekend at our friend's cottage at Shady Shores?(see link below:)http://keepingupwiththesmiths.blogspot.com/2005/09/cottage-life.html
Well, we got to do it again and it was great! My friend who used to work for me at my old job was there (his cousin owns the eight adorable little cottages all in a row) and we got to see his sister and cousins and their kids, just like we did last time. Here's our cute little cottage. It's about 400 square feet, with two small bedrooms, bathroom, tiny kitchen and sitting area. Isn't is so cute?

We all had a great time -- kayaking, swimming, sand castle building, and boogie boarding (M and the boys did this one, not me). Oh, we also collected Petosky stones -- a cool stone native to the area.

Below is a picture of T catching a wave with the kayak. The waves were about 2-3 feet and the boys were thrilled. When there were no waves, T would paddle way out far (it was pretty shallow) saying that he was going to go all the way to Canada!

All of the boys had fun body surfing or boogie boarding. I love M's face in this picture and I love how R is looking at M with a big smile on his face too.

Cowabunga, Dude!

All of the kids at Shady Shores (there were six kids) helped make the breakfast and deliver it to each of the cabins. They used the tips that they got to buy ice cream on Sunday afternoon. R was very proud that he flipped the pancakes all by himself and said that he'll make pancakes any time I need them at home! (Thanks to KS for the photo below, which he emailed to me at the office today.)

T was one of the official dish washers. I hear that he only broke one glass in the process of washing dishes for 25 people over two days.

At night we would watch the moon-rise and then have a bonfire. In the mornings, M and R watched the sunrises. The weather was perfect -- sunny and 80 degrees the whole time. We always had the entire beach to ourselves. It was such a wonderful, beautiful, relaxing vacation for all of us!

Life With Boys

T was standing right in front of me, gave me a goodnight kiss, then walked away.

Me: T, did you just toot in my face?
T: (giggling) Yeah, was it stinky?
Me: Yeah it was!
R: (from upstairs) Dude! That was awesome! Give me five!

Harvest Mania

Can you believe this harvest? This picture is from yesterday and doesn't even count the 5 ripe big and 23 cherry tomatoes that we got today. (Yes, that's Mackinaw sniffing at the harvest in the bottom right of the picture.) Now I need to make some more zucchini bread to go in the freezer for winter. Also, what can you do with more cucumbers than you can handle? I know, I should pickle them, but they're huge. What else can you do with them?

It's just me and the boys this weekend 'cause M is sailing in a three-day race. We went and saw the movie, Underdog, yesterday. It was cute. T and R laughed their patooties off during most of the movie. Today we went to the farmer's market. I had read in the paper that there was going to be an arts and crafts show and a car show at the farmer's market. T was soo excited about those extras. Alas, I read the date wrong and it's over Labor Day weekend. But, he handled the disappointment well. After they played in the park, we went grocery shopping. Then out for the most delicious garlic cheesy bread ever for lunch. Then we drove a half an hour to the next town to go paint pottery (which I have been promising T that we'd do all summer long.) I checked the times online last night and knew that they would be open from 1--5. We got there at 2:00 and the place was closed with a sign saying they were on vacation for four days. Poor T! A second disappointment (he says that it's a third disappointment because the arts and craft show was number one, the car show number two, and the pottery place number three.

We went home and I asked him if he wanted to do a craft with me, so he looked in my "ten minute craft book" (yeah, it's a cool book) and chose to do the paper-mache-on-a-paper-plate craft. We did the paper mache part today and will paint it tomorrow. By the way, I had a big brush to paint the paste mixture on and he asked if he could do it the way he learned how to do it -- which was to drag the paper through the paste and then push the excess off with his fingers. He had such a smile on his face as his hands got all messy! What a cutie.

Then, we made our own pizzas for dinner. We included bell peppers, tomatoes, and basil all from our garden. The boys had a little of the aforementioned veggies, but mainly put on cheese and little pieces of sliced ham (we forgot pepperoni when we were at the store.)

I let them stay up late to watch the National Women's Gymnastic competition ("Holy Cow! Look what she just did! R said over and over) and now they're tucked in bed and I'm headed for a nice long bath.

Birthday Weekend Number Two

Well, I didn't realilze that this picture was so dark when I took it, but you get the idea. It's M and his folks. We were so lucky that they came to visit for his birthday weekend last weekend. Here's what we did...

Friday

They arrived just in time for a great dinner of grilled tri-tip (the meat was part of my father's day present to M), grilled asparagus, a great salad with feta dressing, corn on the cob (picked that day), and blue berry cobbler (my contribution to the dinner.) After cobbler, M opened his presents and we played Pegs and Jokers.

Saturday

M made a tasty crustless quiche that was really tasty. After breakfast we took off for the club. M's folks took the kids in their car and I'm sure had an earful on the one hour drive. Speaking of the drive, about twenty minutes into it, M asked me if I turned off the coffee maker. Nope. We called his folks in their car to see if they turned it off. Nope. M and I turned around and made the trip home to turn off the very-hot-coffee-maker-that-would-have-burned-down-the-house while the kids and grandparents hung out at one of those really big truck stops and had a nice time waiting for us.

At the club, we had a really wonderful time - swimming, sailing, sunning, and catching frogs. We had a picnic lunch of sandwiches, watermelon, cherries, and carrots at around 2 pm. At about 6pm we left the club and checked into this awesome two bedroom condo that we had rented for the night. It had a spectacular lake view from every room. (This condo is just minutes from our Club.) We went out to dinner and headed back to the condo just in time to see the sun set. Nice.

Sunday

Brunch was at 10:00 at the club and it was great. Made to order omelets and breakfast sweet breads. Everybody was in heaven. M and his dad headed out to race the first race. Something went wrong on a jibe and they ended up capsizing, took on too much water, and had to be towed in! I was standing on the beach, when I heard some friends yell, "Hey S, isn't that M being towed in. What a bummer!" Then I looked and saw the poor sailboat with its stern completely underwater and M's dad half in the water and half out, trying to put weight on the stern so the bow wouldn't go under too. M and his dad bailed and bailed in time to get out there for the second race. The boys, gramma and I swam and played all day. We went out to dinner at the little place on the lake and then went our separate ways. It was a nice weekend.

For those of you who were curious about the frog on T's head...this is the day that he caught that particular frog and decided to carry it around on his head for awhile. "He likes it there, Mom. It's kinda cozy for him." is what I was told when I suggested he put it back in the creek.

I Spy With My Little Eye

Summertime Flowers

These are some of the flowers in our front yard. They make me so happy to look at them as I arrive home each evening :>

Birthday Weekend Number One

My baby boy turned Eight last Thursday. I know, it's hard for me to believe too. He's such a great kid. We've been celebrating his birthday everyday since. He says "I love extended birthdays!"

Thursday - The Big Day

We let him open his presents before breakfast so that he could play with them all day. After opening presents, I said "what would you like for breakfast -- eggs, cereal, pancakes, or cake and ice cream?" He started jumping up and down and asked, "are you serious mom! Alright, cake and ice cream please!" So that's what we had for breakfast. (As we were eating the chocolate cake, I couldn't help but think about the Bill Cosby skit in which he gives his kids chocolate cake for breakfast and then gets in trouble by his wife.) Anyway, he had unlimited play time with all of his new toys, including his video game that uses a light saber to fight the bad guys -- "I killed Darth Mal mom!". For dinner, he wanted pizza, so M bought frozen cheese pizzas and we had a make-it-yourself topping bar. (I had fresh basil and farmer's market tomatoes on mine. Yummo!) That night he snuggled into bed with his new Ice Hockey quilt that my mom made him.

Friday
We took off early for the two-hour drive to an amusement park that has "two parks in one" - a water park and an amusement park with roller coasters. We had a really lovely day, getting there when it opened, having lunch in the car for a break, and staying until it closed. We got the tip to rent a cabana in the water park, which allowed us to have a rest/nap for an hour in the middle of the day -- nice! We all went on lots of rides together. R and M went on all of the terribly scary rides -- one that M never wants to go on again (picture three "Ss" on there sides - up, down, up, down, up, down...with no time to breathe in between. ) T and I went on all of the spinning rides and he even went on a roller coaster by himself (it was a smaller, kid roller coaster.) R also went on all of the high, high slides in the water park, one that was STRAIGHT DOWN!. He calls himself "danger boy."

Saturday

We spent the day at the beach on the Big Lake near us. T was disappointed that there weren't big waves like there was the last time we were there -- we brought our boogie boards and everything. They did ride some tiny waves, made a HUGE sand castle, and made some friends. It was a really nice day at the beach.

Today, we were supposed to go to a baseball game, but it got rained out. So we played a bunch of board games and introduced the boys to Raiders of the Lost Ark. In between all of that, I did five loads of laundry. Now we're ready for the week. I'll go to work and the boys will go to South American Art Camp -- perfect for my kids. T loves any kind of art. R doesn't love art, but is fascinated by different cultures and history. Nice combo.

T's Future Plans

T and I were having another one of our heart-to-heart talks, which have been happening frequently lately. We had just gotten back from a tourist town that had beautiful flowers everywhere and had lots of tourist things to do.

T said: I love that town. When I grow up I want to live there.
Me: That would be great. What would you do for work there?
T: Oh, I'd be a stay-at-home-dad and just play with my kids.
Me: Cool. Hey, I thought you wanted to be a pilot and an inventor.
T: Oh yeah, after the kids are in college, I'll be a pilot. I can invent things anytime. I just love that town and want to live there.
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Another thing about T: he has an obsession with my breasts. He likes to pet them, sometimes "accidentally" sometimes on purpose. If we're sitting next to each other, he'll lean over and kiss one -- like it was the closest thing to kiss. This has been going on for a couple of months, but has increased in frequency lately (I think because of my recent business travels.) I was just ignoring, figuring it would stop, but now with the increased attention "the girls" are getting, I've started telling him that those are mom's privates and he shouldn't touch them. He's now just doing the "accidental" brushing of them -- which I'm sure is good practice for when he's a teenager.

Warms My Soul

Tonight T and I were making deviled eggs to go with our dinner. He loves them and is a pretty good help with making them. As we were mashing up the yolks,

he said: Mom, I love being with you.
Me: I like being with you too, T
T: I said I LOVE being with you
Me: Oh, I love being with you too, is that better?
T, with a big smile: Yeah, that makes my soul feel better!

Check This off The List

I neglected to post this cool picture of R taking the hook out of his fish. You can check that off the list of the "things you need to do to prove that you're growing up". I love the look on our freind's face -- I can just hear her thinking, "EEuuuww, you're TOUCHING it!"

The cottage life is a good life!

We stayed at a cottage on a lake for a whole week and had a blast. We had lots of boats there -- sail boats, kayaks, and even a motor boat that pulled tubes. There was also a lot of fishing going on there. I had my scrapbookingall set up for the whole week and even got some pages done. (I think I got about 20 pages done -- I'm up to the summer of 2005 now.) This cottage had no tv and no phone -- it was truly an escape even though it was only an hour from our house. We stayed with another family who has an 8 year-old girl and a 10 year-old boy. It's never totally easy sharing space with another family, but we did pretty well. (This cottage has two suites upstairs -- each with three bedrooms and one full bathroom.)
It was so nice just to wake up and see the beautiful lake sparkling out the window and have nothing to decide except what fun thing to do that day. We all got a good dose of fresh air, nice sun, and lots of time in the water. Here are some pictures so you can feel like you were there too :>

At first T wasn't so sure about baiting his own hook, but that's the rules -- you gotta dig deep and figure out how to bait your own hook.


Then he got the hang of it and didn't mind stabbing that squiggling worm to death!

He caught the biggest fish of the day - a catfish. He also caught about 15 sunfish and blue gills that day. It was all catch and release.

I can't believe how ugly that thing was!

R wasn't allowed to have his Nintendo DS with him on the trip, but he could bring his Leapster because it's educational. He looks pretty good chillin out on the wicker divan, doesn't he?

M and the boys having fun on the lake. R's kayaking in my kayak, while T jumps off of the float.

I asked R to smile so I could take a picture and this is what I got. What a ham!

T was pretty good at kayaking considering the paddle is way to big for him.

M and the boys fishing off the pier. Just hangin' with the boys.

This is my scrapbooking table all set up in the sun porch, with the beautiful lake for a view while I scrapped.


We had great weather, with beautiful blue skies and 80 degrees everyday, except one day of off and on rain. It was wonderful to watch the storm across the lake. Check out the sunset behind the thunder-clouds.

Industrious Young Men

The garage sale was a success! And we were able to shut down at 1:00 pm, an hour earlier than my 2pm deadline. We sold all of our "big ticket items" (jogging stroller, bike trailer to haul toddlers around, and indoor tunnel and fort set.) Everybody in the family earned forty bucks. After we closed up, we loaded up the truck and took the leftovers to the Good Will drive-thru -- very easy and painless

R and T did a great job at their lemonade, water, and cookie stand. They sold about 20 bottles of water and three pitchers of lemonade. M took the opportunity to teach the boys about business -- how important location is (they were right at the end of the driveway); the key to timing (selling cold drinks on a hot day); and marketing (the sign has their products -- water on one side and lemonade on the other with prices). He also taught them about the cost of doing business. The boys had to pay for the ice and bottled water out of their sales. They didn't mind this at all, since they were solidly in the black. I think that they made about thirteen dollars just from the refreshments that they sold.

They sold a few cookies, but not much. As T said, "people don't like to eat cookies when it's hot." The boys waved to all of the cars going by, and after one stopped and "ordered" one water from the car window, R declared "we have drive thru too." R was the hawker, yelling "get your water and lemonade Heee-ear" to each car that drove by and each person that walked by. M and I were amazed that anybody could pass up these adorable boys! But some just drove on by. There were plenty of folks that made up for those drive-bys -- like the man who declared that the lemonade "was better than any he's had before" as he paid for a second cup. And there was the lady that asked how much the lemonade was, after hearing that it was fifty cents apiece (prices went up from twenty-five cents at about 11:00) she said to the boys "here's a dollar; buy yourselves each a glass of lemonade." T excitedly ran up to me and said, "can we really buy ourselves a glass, mom?" He was thrilled. About three people overpaid by fifty cents and told the boys to keep the change -- which the boys loved.

All in all, it was a successful day.

Getting Rich on a Garage Sale

Our neighborhood has an annual garage sale. We haven't participated it in the two summers that we've lived here, much to the boys' chagrin. Last year I promised them that we'd participate this year. For the past two weeks we've been scouring through toys, books, clothes, and odds 'n ends to find things to sell. All of the Rescue Heroes are going (sad, I know) because R's been tired of them for two years and T never got into them. That means that we're selling three command centers, five vehicles and about 30 action figures themselves. We have a lot more toys to sell besides those. The whole idea of garage sale pricing is lost on the boys -- they want to sell things for their brand-new retail value. We've gotten it down though, and price stickers are on -- action figures for twenty five cents, vehicles for one dollar, and command centers for five dollars -- we are priced to sell! It's supposed to be 93 degrees tomorrow and I want to be cleaned out by noon -- or two at the latest. In addition to all the stuff we're selling, T is running (with R's help) a lemonade and cookie stand. I had to talk him down from the one-dollar-a-cup price he was going for (we're down to a quarter a cup) and he's pretty excited.

For those who can't comment:
You need to open a Google account, just like how you opened a Blogger account two years ago. Blogger has sold to Google and they require you to get a Google email. Don't worry, you never have to use it and it's free. You just have to spend the two minutes to set it up and you're good to go. I miss hearing your comments :>

The Deal

R was waiting with his dad and T for me to finish shopping for some shoes a few weeks ago. They wandered into a video game store, where R played "the most awesome game ever!" He asked if he could use his own money to buy the game. After all, he told us, he had eight five dollars in his piggy bank. (I know, it's hard to believe that all of that birthday, Christmas, and other random holiday dollars add up to so much.)

M and I talked about it and decided that he could use half of his own money and he could earn the other half by helping out around the house. He was a tad bit disappointed at first, but then quickly warmed up to the idea. We also told him that in order to earn any money, he had to do the assigned job with a great attitude. He enthusiastically said, "sure, no problem!"

I must say that the next day was a blast -- he'd do anything that we said, and with a happy attitude. His video game will cost $30, so he needed to earn fifteen bucks. That first weekend, he earned three dollars and was thrilled -- "only twelve dollars more to go." He's been helping to clean out the toys in the basement to get ready for the neighborhood garage sale this weekend, he's cleaned the bathrooms, mopped the kitchen floor, vacumed a few times, weeded the garden. We don't tell him how much a job is worth, but award him what we think is appropriate based on the difficulty of the job, his attitude, and how good of a job he does. He doesn't always get paid: for example, today he was supposed to pick up sticks in the back yard before M mowed the lawn. It's a tough job because there are hundreds of sticks after the wind storm we had over the weekend. He didn't even get half of them picked up before he gave up and "got distracted, dad." So, he didn't get the money. What's great is that he understands that. I asked him how his day was and he said that it was good. "I earned two more dollars for cleaning the two bathrooms, folding the towels and putting them away, and helping dad move the furniture back in the living room. But, I didn't get anything for picking up the sticks because I didn't do a good enough job."

He's now only "a buck and a half" away from his goal. He thinks he can get there by this weekend. I think he can too.

Kayaks, Sailboats, and A Thunderstorm

Yesterday we decided to go to "the club" on the lake for an afternoon of fun. I packed up a picnic lunch (ham sandwiches, Cheez-It Twisterz, pears, and Rice Krispies Treats) and we headed off. It was a really hot day for this time of year (87 degrees) and we were looking forward to spending the afternoon on and in the water.

In the car on the way, R was telling us about a friend who has four video game systems, which R though was really cool and was a bit envious of. M talked to him about how that friend of his doesn't get to spend any time with his parents and they don't go on the adventures like we do. He explained that having things isn't as important as spending time as a family.

As we were driving, the sun started to disappear behind a variety of puffy white clouds. Then the clouds got greyer and greyer. Just as we pulled onto the street that the club is on, a HUGE THUNDERSTORM burst -- with rain pounding down on the windshield, thunder cracking and lightning lighting up the very dark sky. M and I looked at each other and started laughing "nice day for the beach" we said to each other.

We arrived at the club as the rain pounded even harder. So, M pulled the truck up to the lake and we had a "car picnic" in the truck while watching the storm on the lake. We prayed that the storm would pass so we could at least unload the kayak and put in on the stand (where it will stay for the season.) Luckily, the storm did pass and we were able to get out and about. R started riding his bike and T chased him around, stomping in puddles. M and I got the kayak up and M began putzing with the sailboat, fixing something or other. I grabbed a dry chair, put on sunscreen and sat on the beach for a bit (it was now completely sunny where we were.) However, we could still hear thunder all around us, so we didn't take the sailboat out.

After awhile, we didn't hear the thunder anymore, so I took the kayak out for a spin. After falling off four times while trying to get on (and being oh-so-dainty in the process!) I was on and went for a half-hour paddle -- nice! When I came back, M had the sailboat all rigged and the whole family went for a sail. It was a lovely time and everybody had fun and got a chance at the helm.

Just as we were cruising back into the dock, the skies got dark again and thunder started clapping. We got the boys ashore, while M and I docked the boat. Well, we actually didn't dock the boat as easily as we should have. I guess with the stress of trying to race the storm, we couldn't get our act together in rolling up the mainsail, so M tried to stand on our boat lift (something he's never tried before because he feared it wouldn't hold him) and we heard a SNAP and the boat and lift dropped about two feet. Uh Oh. By now, it was pouring rain and we couldn't get the boat tied up safely. M sent me to the truck to look for pliers. I didn't find any, but I did find some wire cutters and cable ties (I figured that you could fix anything with cable ties or duct tape.) M was able to use two cable ties to fix the situation and we got the boat safely secured. We were so relieved! And ready for a drink!

We went to the local restaurant, had a margarita, ate dinner, and were good to go. What a fun family adventure we had (that I'm sure beats any video game)!

Camping for Mother's Day

I know it's weeks late, but here is my second post about our Mother's Day. M asked me in February if I thought that it would be too cold to camp on Mother's Day; I told him that it would be great -- we have a heater and lots of warm blankets if it was cold. He knows that I LOVE to camp (been doing it all of my life.) With summers beeing relatively short here (compared to So Cal where I grew up) we end up having really busy summer weekends and have only camped twice each summer that we've been here. M and I figured that we could get a weekend of camping early and maybe we'd get to camp more this summer. So, after one of the busiest weeks in our household, we (meaning M) got the camper all ready to go. I went shopping and packed my and the kids' clothes. There are tons of places to camp within a mile of our house. We figured that we might as well go to one of them, since it would be too cold to swim in "the lake" (which is where we usually go camping in the summer time. We found a nice family-owned camp ground that has "day campers" as well as "seasonal campers". We took the truck (that's another story -- we have a truck) and M secured all four of our bikes in the bed of the truck.

What fun we had!! Campfires with S'mores, bike riding, playing on the beach, playing catch with a baseball and mitts, playing chicken feet dominos, and walking to the camp store for ice cream. Lots of good memories were made that weekend.

One of the best parts for me was on Mother's Day. I slept in while "the boys" made breakfast and set a pretty table. Here is M cooking an amazing breakfast of pancakes, eggs, sausages, corn beef hash (for M) and muffins.

Here's M's system for keeping the sausage and hash warm while cooking the pancakes -- it worked really well.

What a beautiful table I saw when I came out of the camper. The boys set it while M cooked.

A close up of the presents and flower that was on the table.

The boys and M insisted that I sit and read while they did the dishes :>

R, looking pretty happy and serene at the campfire. (We had to start the campfires when it was still light out. The sun is setting after 9pm here, which is waaayy too late to start a campfire with boys who are supposed to go to bed at 8pm! I think we got them to bed by about 9:15 both nights that we camped)

On Mother's Day, we rented kayaks and had a wonderful time kayaking down the river. We had two-seater kayaks; I had R with me and M had T with him. It was a really nice two hours spent on the river.

What a great weekend!