A View of Lisa's World

Back to school...

I'm not even going to talk about my lack of blogging...suffice to say, my Dad is good, life is good...I haven't blogged...the end.

Now... Todd started 3rd grade on August 24th and while it was not a huge milestone, by any means, I've felt bummed out that I didn't document it anywhere. I have blogged every first day of school since the beginning...Pre-School for the first time, Pre-School the year he busted his lip open before 10am, Kindergarten, First Grade and Second Grade.

So I have to blog about Third Grade. After all, he will only (God willing) have a first day of 3rd grade once!

Tucked away in the way too many personal photographs that I take but do nothing with, were the traditional first day of school photos that I did manage to take that morning.

I didn't get any photos of him walking to school, because he is way too cool to have his Mom busting out the camera at the school path. I look at these photos and can hardly believe how grown up he is. We all know that he has seemed "grown up" since he was a peanut...and in many ways he is still a peanut...but he really is changing so much. I knew this, but going back through the blog archives to find the other "first day of school" photos really brought it home for me. Made me realize how important documenting everything really is...made me wince a little bit because I miss that 3 year old, and that 5 year old...made me smile too. Reminded me I should write about how much I adore this 8.5 year old...how much fun he is and honestly,that I just think he is freaking amazing. 

So here he is on the first day of 3rd grade. I'm so mad at myself that I didn't get his shoes in the photos, because Lord knows my boy loves his shoes and they are a very particular part of any ensemble...but still, I love that he picked out his shirt, love that he is wearing his watch, and that he "gooped" his own hair...and that he was excited and ready to get to school.

About a week after this we went to "back to school night" and I am very excited about Todd's teacher this year. I think it is going to be a great year for him. I was also thrilled to see little pieces of him in the classroom...and which things he is choosing to share. I loved that I could whip out my iphone and grab some shots around the classroom...I find myself using my phone to grab photos so often and I love it. For example, they were able to decorate their names for their desk and I thought the fact that Todd put "jiu jitsu rocks" on his nameplate was awesome.

 

I also loved that he wants to improve his penmanship...because that is a Mommy pet peeve...and that his silver medal from Jiu Jitsu back in April (which I also missed blogging about...ugh) is so important to him.

 

One of my favorite things was this little number...now I know why he asked me if I thought it was ok to use "dude" as an adjective...since I use "dude" for so many many things, I said yes...clearly he went with it...

And finally...the greatest thing...his Summer Memory. He was so excited for us to see it because he worked very hard on it, and on his penmanship. Love it. Once I got past his intitial dissapointment that he didn't have any big trips to foreign lands to report on, or anything "really amazing" to report on. He decided to settle on a random day with Matt. He considered other options like the Giants game etc. but he felt like he had "more details" to share about this particular day. I literally guffawed outloud when I read the sentence about the funeral.

I love that in the end it was a simple little morning with Matt that meant the most to him...love it more than I can find words to say. Love that it is yet another reminder to me to document and remember the little things my little family is up to without giving a crap about any of the crap that keeps me from writing it all down here.

And now, speaking of school, it is my favorite part of the day...the part where school gets out, and I get to go wait for this beautiful boy to come bounding down the path...

Easter

Easter is not a big holiday around here. We enjoy a little egg coloring, the bunny brings some goods. We talk a little bit about Jesus and Heaven and Gratitude and we hang out with the parople we love most. I know it is probably blasphemy, but my favorite part is the coloring eggs. It is our one little family tradition...the three of us making a mess and randomly colored eggs. I these photos of stained fingers that are no longer pudgy and small...goofy smiles that have gaps from teeth falling out instead of coming in. I love that we have this time and hope that even though Easter is a pretty mellow holiday and my boy is more big than small, that we can keep this one little tradition for many years to come.

 

Fun in the sun?

Well this could have been fun in the sun, because there actually was sun this afternoon. Lots of it! But by the time the slip and slide party got going with Todd and his friend it was almost 8 at night and the sun had been replaced by fog. But, have no fear...the kids wore wetsuits! 

Todd was lucky to be given his friend's old suit and he was so excited to have a wetsuit that he didn't even mind that much that it says "Roxy girl" all over it. She was a more experienced slider than Todd and was pretty good at striking a pose at the end of her run!

 

Todd just jumped up and hooted and hollered....which led to blurry photos that I loved anyway.

So much fun on a foggy night. Reminded me to let go a little more often. It was a totally impromptu thing and ended up getting started a little later than I had thought originally. As they walked in the door I thought "it is too late", "it is too cold", "the fog came in"  blah blah blah...but they were so cute and wanted to do it so badly. So I gave up being the stick in the mud mom for a change.

And they were fine...and they had blast. 

And I even blogged about it the same day it happened....miracles all around!

Nature Walk

The other day my mom gave Todd her old camera. It is a great little camera and looks much more like a DSLR than a regular little digi camera. He was so excited, he has pretty much slept with it since he got it. He told me how happy he was that now he didn't have to wait to ask Santa for his very own REAL camera.

This boy of mine has actually shown an interest in photography for a while and he has always liked telling me what he thought would make a good photo. So on Weds. after basketball camp he and I grabbed our cameras and went on a little nature walk.

I can not tell you how much fun we had, just he and I finding cool things and pointing them out to each other. That evening we did the editing together too, he requested editing that made things more "old fashioned" and "brighter" and some he wanted "deeper." He would tell me when to stop on each adjustment and he was quite pleased with his results.

This is one of my very faves:

He was also the designer of his watermark!

Now the best part for me of this nature walk, besides being out on a beautiful day with my beautiful boy, was taking photos of my boy taking photos. He had all of the moves and approached each photo with such seriousness (big surprise). He couldn't believe that we saw a real monster truck tire.

and he thought the caution cone looked "cool in those weeds"...

We talked about different angles to take photos from and he thought that was pretty cool to try too.

and he knows what he likes. We walked along and I pointed out some pretty flowers and he told me that he thought the "one red leaf that looks like it doesn't belong is more interesting"

He also found this red leaf...

I love this photo. I love how he got close up...and how he noticed that there were a "lot of different shaped leaves in one place" and how he liked the "curl" on the edge. It was so amazing for me to see what he saw.

I wanted to take a close up of one of these blooms and Todd thought that they looked cooler all together. I think this was the moment when he actually said to me "you take your photos and I'll take mine!"

So we did...
I think we were both right.

He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the fence with moss on it...I helped him compose from an angle that didn't show that it was a public bathroom fence and then I put the kibosh on going into said bathrooms to look for "anything interesting" to photograph.

Every tree we saw was cooler than the next...

and I still love this bridge to pieces...

And Todd was dying to get a photo of a bird...I was not too keen on sticking around while these cat sized ravens zoomed around and then called each other to do Lord knows what, but he did manage to snap one quick one before bubble wrap mommy made him change locations.

and finally, we had to do this...

We were out for about 45 minutes total, but it felt like such a special little getaway. The best part was that he thought it was special too. He kept hugging me and telling me how happy he was...and then he wanted to know if we could do it again...and if we could do it "forever, just the two of us". 

Heck yeah buddy...heck yeah!

for crying out loud...

I'm lagging again.

I started a post about Todd finishing 1st grade I don't know how many times...it is saved as a draft with a note that says I started it 6 days ago. 6 days?? What the heck is up with that? It really shouldn't take me 6 days to create a blog post...especially when I'm going to dump the draft and start over anyway. Ugh.

This is the photo I wanted to share of the big soon to be second grader. I don't think it shows how much he changed this year, but change he did. First grade wasn't the easiest year for him. The school work part was easy, but the behavior not so much, plus it was just a rough go with his teacher etc. The last month or so he has been amazing.  Matt and I keep talking about what a great phase he's in, and Todd himself told me the other day that he is glad that he "changed his ways" and decided to "go down the good road"! It has been pretty great around here lately and he is excited to have a fun Summer.

At the moment he is having quite the good time in his room that is finally clean. At one point he was working on some organizing and yelled out from the room, "I'm never going to make it Mom. I might as well just plan on sitting on a street corner and asking for money!" I'm not quite sure where he got that one, but I'm glad he realizes the influence a clean room has over his future, maybe I can use that to my advantage one of these days.

The most awesome thing he said today though is that he thought I was "the coolest Mom...you know? like chill and cool." And I wasn't even buying him anything or letting him get away with anything. Sigh.

how to turn lemons into lemonade

No really.

Step 1: Notice that you have a tree in you yard that is full of lemons. Consider that instead of just saying "hey, there are a lot of lemons on our tree" you could actually make something out of said lemons. Remind yourself that lemonade doesn't actually come from a can or a carton. Search internet for recipe.

Step 2: Hire some help to pick the lemons.

Step 3: Admire your stash of lemons...(in a cute colander of course)

Step 4: Cut in half. Do not let 7 year old wield the knife no matter how much he begs to do so.

Step 5: Do let the 7 year old put the elbow grease into juicing. Hope that there will be a cup's worth at the end of the process.

Step 6: Pat yourselves on the back when there is indeed 8+oz of lemon juice. Pour it into pitcher, add 1 cup of sugar and one cup of water.

Step 7: Stir, stir, stir until the sugar melts and then add 5 more cups of cold water. Feel free to put your knee up on the counter if you require more leverage.

Step 8: Fill glasses with ice and add a garnish if you are that type, any my 7 year old insisted we had to be that type. Add a straw and admire your work before drinking.

 

Step 9: Enjoy

Step 10: Put the kid to bed and enjoy another glass while updating the blog for the first time in way too long.

creative...

not me...my boy.

Lately he has been really being creative...probably because the TV has been severely limited, and he's bored out of his skull after being sick and off of school all week...but whatever the reason, I'm loving it.

This evening it was dixie cups (lots of dixie cups)...and lego guys.
We love lego guys around here.

The best part was that first he wanted me to "take a picture and post it on my blog"...but then he decided that he wanted to take some photos himself. I heard him asking Matt if he could use his little point and shoot "because Mom's camera is heavy and if I drop it her head will explode!" (so glad he gets it).

I wonder if he gets that tongue out thing from me?

He took some pretty great shots of his castle though...I love that astro boy is protecting it from the giant wooden crab...

 

And that there are lego guys around the whole perimeter.


Speaking of creative...last night he decided to hold a "press conference"...hmmm...I wonder if that is because he happened to watch a certain someone give a big apology yesterday morning? I have nothing to say about that someone in particular...but believe me, I did hold him up as a big example for my beautiful boy that doesn't always follow the rules.

Anyway...later last night Todd started moving around furniture so that he could read us a story that he wrote. I'll have to share the story itself tomorrow, it is pretty cool...but nothing is as cool as his step for behind his podium.

Man, I love this kid...

Happy Valentine's Day!

Reporting on the weekend...the bad news is that Todd is under the weather...again or maybe it is still. Lots of coughing...some here and there fever, which seemed to be down today so I'm hoping that we are on our way. The good news is we had a nice quiet weekend at home, watching the Olympics and drinking coffee with hearts on the cup.

We had our Valentine's dinner last night, which was special because it was on "real" plates and served with candle light.

It is so funny because in an old life I had so many candles and candle holders it was ridiculous...now, not so much. But our plate full of votives turned out to be quite lovely and festive.

Today I got back to training and was shocked to learn just how much harder it was after 4 days off with the bum foot. It made me extra proud of myself for starting in the first place. I learned more new things today, tried more things I never thought I'd do and just reaffirmed that this is the right path for me. I'll be sure to remind myself of that tomorrow when my sore muscles have sore muscles.

So that is the weekend report...no school this week, so it should be interesting!

still here...

bad blogging the last few days...and not so great blogging tonight because I don't have some of the photos I've been thinking of taking but haven't. I was going to take a photo of the discipline chart that Todd has made (and I will) it is a reproduction of the one he has in his classroom---the one that he has had a really hard time staying on the right part of lately.

I was also going to take a photo of the book he finished reading tonight. He has had quite a bit of time to read since he has been grounded since Tuesday from any and all things with a screen. He was so excited when he finished. It is his first "real " book and after all, "it has 217 pages".

I know that there were at least a few other photos I thought of taking, and a few other stories I thought of telling these past few days, but I can't quite remember what they were at the moment.

At the beach...

Tonight was so beyond gorgeous that we had to give the great Christmas card photoshoot a first run. I think we got a few things that might work, but I'm not totally satisfied quite yet. The good news is that it isn't even Thanksgiving, so I'm feeling rather ahead of the game for even trying. Here are a couple that I love even though they won't be seeing the front of my cards this year.

 

I just think this image is so dreamy...Pearl had a ball running at the beach with Todd and something about their feet in midair, I can almost feel the smiles on both of their faces (yes Pearl does smile).

And speaking of faces, I did capture a face that pretty much sums up my boy at almost 7....too smart for his own good. I've got so many stories from the past few weeks, I really need to get back to writing them down. I guess I'll start with an example from today.

On the way to school Todd always runs ahead of me on the path. Today was no exception and I saw him stop a woman as she walked past him and chat with her for a minute. I recognized her as a mom from school but I couldn't figure out what Todd could be talking to her about, I wasn't that far behind him. He ran off ahead and when I caught up to her I asked her what it was he needed. She said that he stopped because he wanted to "have a talk with her" about her son. Apparently her son is a 4th grader and according to her "can be a bit of a bully". So Todd and this boy have had words in the past (news to me) and apparently Todd wanted to tell the woman that he hadn't seen her son around lately and was wondering why. She asked if Todd was having any other problems with him or anything and Todd expressed to her that he was just fine, just wanted to know if her kid was in trouble or anything since he hadn't seen him. It just cracked me up...not only is he not afraid of the 4th grade bully, but he isn't afraid of the 4th grade bully's mom either.

Confidence never has been something this boy of mine has had to work on...