Little Pumpkins

For the sixth year in a row, last weekend we celebrated Lorelai Miller's birthday, pumpkin-patch style, at a fabulous farm in Wheatland.  Between a train ride through the farm's fields, a hay ride to pick out our own special pumpkins, a chance to get up close and personal with baby goats and chickens, and generally rolling around in the dirt and having fun, this is a party that we never want to miss!

This says it all!

 

But if you want the long version, you need only consult Joey's weekend recap, which he wrote up on Monday morning in class. For a little man of relatively few words, he is surprisingly verbose when he's writing. According to his teacher, this weekly exercise nets a couple of sentences, tops, from most of the students in the class, but Joey routinely fills two pages... and needs even more room than that sometimes! Here's his account of the day:

 

 

Here's all those "grles."

 

 

Luckily, Joey likes the birthday girl enough to hang with this crowd!

 

 

Plus, isn't that pretty much the story of his life? ;)

 

 

 

 

Joey flexed his boy muscles and picked out the biggest and roundest pumpkin of the bunch...

...while Clara chose, fittingly, a "medium-size" pumpkin.

And finally, our littlest pumpkin got in on the action for the first time!

 

 

 Happy birthday, Lorelai! We sure love celebrating with you every year!

 

 

Media Darlings (Or, the Day Joey Got Caught on TV Playing Hooky)

"October Madness" Parenting Lesson:  When calling your son's school on the day of a major playoff game and informing them that he has a fever, know that he just *might* be captured in pictures and video on six different media outlets, looking quite healthy and holding a sign reading, "Dad Said Skool Can Wait."

 

Yes, a sign that almost wasn't  -- Tim decided to make it at the last minute before heading to the last regular-season A's game, where the team clinched the AL West division title -- landed Tim, Joey, his best friend Andy and Andy's dad Eric in the media spotlight.

 

 

 

It turns out Tim may have missed his calling as either a master sign maker, or a PR guru.

 

The boys knew their sign was going to resonate with a lot of people when they were barely twenty feet away from their car in the parking lot, and random fans started taking pictures of the two hooky-playing 6 year-olds.

 

Minutes later, they were interviewed by the KTVU morning news, and a crowd of Oakland fans waiting in line for the Coliseum to open started chanting, "School can wait! School can wait!"

 

 

 

 

 

 

Click here to see the beer-swilling fans applauding our little truants. One of our finest parenting moments.

 

That was just the beginning. Soon after, their photo was posted on Oaklandish's Facebook feed, with the caption, "We've got goosebumps over here." It garnered almost 4,000 "likes" and 90 comments. That's a lot of street cred for two Moraga boys!

 

 

 

 

Once in their seats (right above the A's dugout!), they made the Comcast SportsNet pre-game show coverage and were featured later in the game, too, after they caught a glimpse of themselves on the Jumbotron. We were even told -- but haven't confirmed -- that they were on SportsCenter that night!

 

They excited a lot of fans at home! We were texted or emailed a lot of images of our friends' TVs:

 

 

 

 

At that point, the cat was REALLY out of the bag. But we figured there might still be a chance that the boys' school principal had missed the hoopla. We didn't count on the Contra Costa Times featuring them in the Local news section the following day!



 

 

 

The newspaper clipping -- of course -- made it to the bulletin board at the boys' school, and their principal took a look at it and laughed at the poster.

 

Then she did a double take: "What, those are OUR boys!!" 

 

Luckily, she has a sense of humor, and, even better, is an A's fan!

 

 

A Tempest and her Teapot Party

 

Despite routinely burping at the table, littering conversations with words like "poop," "diaper," and "fart," Clara has been obsessed with teapots and teacups for quite a while, thanks mostly to Fancy Nancy, Pinkalicious and Strawberry Shortcake.

 

So against all china-preserving instincts, I decided that cultivating this interest in manners and propriety couldn't be a bad thing. After much hemming and hawing (a gymnastics party at the gym seemed so much easier!), I agreed to throw our brand-new 5 year-old a "teapot party" in her own backyard, complete with tea sandwiches, faux tea and 24 china teacups.

 

Miraculously, all the little girls were on their best behavior, and no teacups were harmed while producing this party -- not even when we broke out a metal baseball bat to bust open the star of the show, a teapot pinata.

 

 

 

 

We had the party on a Thursday afternoon, capturing the after-preschool crowd and any moms who wanted to stay for the madness, and simultaneously saving a score of dads from two hours of pink frilly craziness.

We kept the girls busy with crafts, including decorating teapot frames (thanks to Uncle Kyle for speedily printing out photos of each girl in their party finery!), and personalizing goodie bags to hold candy from the pinata.

Speaking of that pinata, these ladylike little girls had a blast abandoning their teacups and taking turns with a bat.

The teapot turned out to be a formiddable candy-holder. Luckily, Clara has a Daddy who was only too eager to impress all of these little ladies with his baseball skillz.

 

 

Clara had quite the assortment of preschool buddies, cousins and second cousins, girlfriends and smaller siblings to help her gobble up cupcakes, down raspberry "tea," and smash the pinata. Thanks to all who helped celebrate!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

"Clara's Being Annoying"

Sharing a room is already getting old for Molly May, at the tender age of 2 and a half. Tim heard whining coming from their room at 9 p.m. last night, and walked in to interrogate the whiner in her crib. She was the only one awake, but kept insisting that a certain someone was "being annoying."

Even in her sleep, Clara can apparently cause problems. 

Jack o 'Lantern Joey

Here's what first grade school pictures look like after losing (sniff) seven baby teeth!

And here's what our crazy-toothed boy does when he's told to stand up straight and put his shoulders back.

Joey loves everything about his class this year, especially his amazing teacher, who just started teaching again after staying at home with her three kids (7,5 and 2) for many years.

But his favorite part of first grade is, by far, recess! He's pretty sure he'll be going to the Olympics in 2024 as a star member of the U.S. Kickball Team.

Caught in the Act

The Wheels on the Bus Go... to Our House!

Our Transportation Department has undergone a momentous change in recent weeks.

Previously, our operation was manned by just one (frazzled) woman with many carseats, a huge amount of debris on the floor of her vehicle, and two little girls who needed to be napping when first-grade boys are released from school.  

Enter our brand-new team member. It's been rumbling through our neighborhood for two years, oblivious to the excitement it elicited from both children and dogs inside our house.

It's "big and yel-yoh" (in Molly-speak), is always on time, never yells at children, and is now shuttling one very happy boy home from school every day.

I'm not sure who is happier -- our big boy with his big-boy after-school adventure every day, or his mom, who merely has to wait outside on the front porch for him to be deposited beside her mailbox, all while her other charges snooze away inside.

She may even be experiencing a small crush on the school bus driver, who not only puts up with the crazy antics of her son on the bus, but also heroically shepherds him across the street with a fancy stop sign. His best trait, however, is definitely the fact that he was instrumental in getting a new bus stop approved directly in front of her house.

He even tolerates paparazzi.

Mini-Reader in the House

Even though Clara already had completed two of her reading lessons yesterday from our awesome, Joey-tested learn-to-read book, she was game for two more last night... with Joey as her teacher.

There's not much cuter in this world than watching your 6 year-old ever so patiently lead his little sister through her "homework." Just wish this video wasn't sideways!

Clara is gobbling up words left and right, and is a total joy to sit down with for reading lessons! She loves sizing up a word, digesting it in her head quickly, and then shouting out the "answer." Even with less than ideal working conditions (read: Molly crawling on top of her book), she powers through and focuses completely on her task at hand. I can't wait until she gets even more nimble with her decoding and can start reading her own small chapter books like Joey!

This definitely beats putting her in time out!

A New Routine

It's been a busy two weeks, with a new morning routine of rousting sleepy kids and feeding them and dressing them in time for school. Backpacks need to be filled, lunches and snacks packed, hair combed, teeth brushed, and shoes tied, all before we head out the door at 8:15. I think I might be having the hardest time with the transition from our summer schedule!

But all that morning hustle is worth it, because for the first time since becoming a stay-at-home mom five years ago, all of our kids are in school for at least a few hours per week. Joey now has a longer day at school in first grade, Clara goes to Pre-K three mornings a week, and even "Baby Molly" is joining the school crowd in the "2s room" at Clara's preschool for Tuesday and Thursday mornings.

What a luxury it is to be able to drop everyone off, take a deep breath, and know that I have about two hours to myself twice a week!

Alone, I can accomplish super-human feats, unencumbered by the diaper bag, the stroller, slow walkers, squirrelly toddlers, and little people needing to poop or pee.

I can seriously conquer the world. I'm not sure when this rush will fade, but for now I'm almost drunk with giddiness after dropping off drycleaning, getting Starbucks, returning library books, running to CVS, dashing through the grocery store, getting gas, and going to the post office ... all in the space of 45 minutes.

Best of all, I feel like a better, re-charged mom when I pick up my two little girls at noon, and collect Joey from his bus stop at 2. Running errands and cleaning the house in peace and alone is its own kind of awesome, but nothing beats greeting my little munchkins after a few hours away, and heading back to the house or the car hand-in-hand, balancing backpackes, lunchboxes, school artwork, sweaters, and yes, the diaper bag.

They can even dawdle all they like, because there's no place I'd rather be. 

Back to School Trio

I'm pretty sure there has never been a more handsome trio headed off to school.

 

 

Joey, first day of first grade

 

Clara, first day of Pre-K

Molly, first day of preschool!

 

Excuse me while I go shop for the perfect frame for this back-to-school bunch!