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Sierra Outdoor School

Biscuit and I spent the first half of the week at Sierra Outdoor School on the big second grade field trip. Two nights away, in the dorms, with programs from morning till bedtime. It was loud and chaotic but the kids loved it and I actually had a lot of fun too.

The first day involved a 3+ hour nature hike with several stops for exploration, explanation and journaling.

The culmination of the hike was the "silent mile" where kids walked alone across this aqueduct. It looked like this when you were walking on it.

The walk across the water spaced the hikers so they could just barely see the person in front and behind and then they walked for about 15 minutes in silence observing nature. It would have been great for meditation but I enjoyed the scenery and then got bored ;)

The evening program included a "hill billy hop" and dissection of owl pellets (which was Biscuit's favorite activity)

The second day involved a lot of riding busses on very, very curvy roads. But no vomit! At Calaveras Big Trees the really big stump was a hit--they had a mini class with all 17 members of Group D (and several parents) seated on top of the stump. It was really big.

Mercer Caverns was a good mix of scary and exciting for the kids.

The day ended with a campfire and skits interspersed with traditional songs. All 75ish kids had been broken into little groups and practiced a short skit. It was great! A few were skits/jokes I'd seen before but most were new and many were funny even without the kid mistakes ;)

It was fun to be away and spend some time with Biscuit (aka "Redwood" her nature name) but it was great to come home to these two cuties.

 

While waiting for the dryer to stop

I have to wait up for the dryer because it contains my t-shirts and Biscuit's socks that we need to pack for her two-night school field trip to the mountains. We leave at 7 am tomorrow.

This is where I would post a really cute photo of Oscar petting a big pig but the camera is packed and I didn't download images. Today we went to Farm Day at Soil Born Farm in Rancho Cordova and, wow, would I recommend that event to locals. Tons of people but it was so spread out it didn't feel crowded. Lot's to see and learn. Not surprisingly Oscar liked looking at the animals and somewhat surprisingly Biscuit got really interested in the tour.

This is where I would post a really cute photo of my dad reading to Oscar (see above). It was a really busy week! Yesterday we drove to my parents' house to visit them and some family friends for dinner. Yesterday was the first time all week I was feeling up to doing anything at all. I got a random case of strep throat/tonsillitis Tuesday night and sheesh that just wasn't any fun at all.

I realize this post is utterly pointless but I spent most of my computer time tonight trying to set up my Etsy shop with automatic pdf pattern download and heck if I couldn't find the images I needed. In the course of the search I ended up trolling through old blog posts and I really do like having this record of what we've done.

Since you made it this far, a random photo of the kids trying to figure out the slip-n-slide. Did you know they come with little blow up boogie boards now?

The dryer still isn't done but I am. I bet the clothes are dry enough. Recap post when we're back on Wednesday.

Me Ma

Lately Oscar has been saying Mommy over and over. "Ma Mee Ma Mee Ma Mee" and at some point it became "Mee Ma Mee Ma Mee Ma" Kinda cute. He also calls shadows "dadows" (both the cat named Shadow that lives at daycare and actual shadows on the ground).

So, Mothers' Day. We mostly celebrated Saturday with my mom which was good because Sunday I woke up to a very sore back and I"m still hobbling around. Nevertheless I was able to go on a Mothers' Day family bike ride and enjoy lots of lounging around with Tylenol (turns out you're supposed to take ibuprofin for a sore back).

Back to Saturday. We went to the Discovery Museum in Sacramento and it was great. Crowded (they were having a special event for Intel) but great. The planetarium show was fun and who wouldn't love a little rocket man?

 

And look, we all launched on Space Quest

It was great to spend the day with my parents and finally go to a museum that's 5 minutes from home but we've never visited as a family.

Mr. H got me lovely flowers--you can tell from Oscar's expression how good they smell! :) and Biscuit decorated and together they brought me breakfast in bed.

which I had to eat at the table so I could appreciate the homemade streamers :)

Then I did a lot of nothing all day partly due to sore back and partly due to Mothers' Day. Not a bad day at all. But now I'm done with back pain thankyouverymuch.

Birthday season

Late May is birthday season around here. Two out of four Haworths will get a year older. So will my dad. So a triple party for the three boys is in order. This year's theme, gardens. I finally got the favors planted.

Hopefully there will be nice seedlings by party time. Or they'll be gifted pots of potting soil. Today I finally finished the invitations. The actual invite is just a photo. I added text in PicMonkey (found via While She Naps) and printed them at Costco. 19 cents each done and done. The photo isn't perfect but it had the perfect amount of background space and it was in the garden so good enough.

For the envelopes I made seed packets.

The design was done in PicMonkey and I used a photo I actually liked better-Oscar with his favorite veggie fresh from our garden.

Best of all, they're finally in the mail.

Stream of conciousness

I find that when I'm working on projects I think a lot of blog posts. But rarely post. I've decided the month of May is my month to catch up on scrapbooking/photos etc. I'm trying to do a little each day pasting photos into books, printing photos, organizing/deleting photos on my computer. Ideally by the time Oscar turns two (later this month) I'll have is first year scrapbook done. Heck, my standards are low right now, I'm not doing fancy layouts, just pasting photos to pages in a book so maybe I'll catch up to the present day.

In trying to catch up on scrapbooking I've found this blog is useful for reminding me when we did what so I feel I should note that this weekend my sister and her fiance stayed at our house. We spray painted Goodwill vases gold for wedding centerpieces and then spray painted terra cotta pots with laquer for birthday party favors. So basically it was a weekend of spray paint. Oh, and wine. We went wine tasting and then did a good bit of wine enjoying. It was an absolute delight to have them in town.

They formally asked Biscuit to be their flower girl (she accepted) and Oscar to be their ring "bear"er (he will do it) and me to be a bridesmaid (bridesmatron?). So it should be a good wedding. But then Oscar threw a series of little tantrums today leading me to worry about him fulfilling his important ring-related duties. Maybe if he doesn't have a cold and gets lots of sleep the night before we'll be okay. Fingers crossed.

In unrelated news, I made 14 jars of strawberry jam this evening and I'm reading the book Gone Girl. Have you read this book? My friend heard I was reading it and is anxious for me to finish so we can discuss. I'm about 2/3 done and I understand her eagerness. I want to discuss. It's crazy. I'm off to read and really, it's time to stop this rambling.

Good night :)

Good riddance

April was not a very good month. Not terrible but just not very good. I'm looking forward to May when I have grand plans for doing some scrapbooking, planning the triple birthday party for Oscar, Mr. H and my dad, gardening, sewing and generally having fun and being productive.

To kick off a new month, a photo of Oscar which should be excellent blackmail material in the future. Princess tiara--check. No pants--check. Chickens--check.

Kid was in his element :)

Family photos--most days

I am mostly keeping up with my photo-a-day challenge for 2013.  A photo-a-day of a family member. I think I have missed 2 days this year. Needless to say they're mostly of the kids. Mostly of Oscar. But here are a few of my favorites from April.

Kid has a total shoe obsession. No idea where that came from!

little temper tantrum in his new outfit.

I'm willing to ignore the giant camera strap for that cute photo of the kids in Biscuit's book nook.

A rare one I am actually in and I love it. The expression on Oscar's face! Priceless.

Daddy's new watch.

That blue shadow! I didn't notice it until I uploaded the photos.

Anyway, I'm having fun taking snapshots but thinking that at some point I'll try to focus on a few portraits. Melissa of All Buttoned Up posted about a photography book that looks interesting. And clearly I need to do a better job photographing Mr. H. He's cute too!

 

Nicer

It's been an overwhelming few weeks. Usually I feel like someone who can handle a reasonable level of busyness but lately, no, I can't. Just too many things at work and home and all I want to do is avoid the endless laundry and to-do lists and minor irritations and hassles and go to bed. That's not an especially useful approach but at least you're rested.

I have been feeling overwhelmed but I do know that, really, things are really good. I was thinking that I was still acting okay but have received the feedback that in fact I've been a total grump. Oops. So I'm working on being nicer.

You know it's bad when your kid makes a detailed flow chart to "Make Mom Be Nicer." The "and dad" was added as an afterthought. On one hand, I feel bad that she needs a flow chart to have a nicer mom. On the other hand, if she followed these diagrams I totally would be nicer. Imagine your seven-year-old randomly asking, "Do you want me to help you with anything?" and then saying, "okay, I'll do it right away!"

Actually, I can imagine that. Biscuit is a kind and helpful child, the challenge is mostly in follow through. Saying you'll "do it right away" and actually doing it are pretty different. But the concept is good.

Mr. H (the science teacher) says she'll be good at cladograms in high school. So that should serve her well :) I was thinking of the conversation prompts used in call centers. Telemarketing is another career option....

Tennis star

Just over a year ago our not-especially-athletically-inclined daughter declared that tennis is her sport. And then she asked if we had any tennis bats so she could play :) I said, "I think you mean raquets."

We signed her up for a few lessons through Girl Scouts and played on the courts at the park for a while and then our tennis playing dropped off for summer vacations and rainy winter.

This year she's signed up for Girl Scout tennis and lessons through the local park district and lo and behold she's suddenly, actually a tennis player.

Last night the bar was set at a rally of 15 hits with her dad (trip to Dairy Queen) or 17 hits (trip to Leatherbys Ice Cream). Keep in mind their previous record was 13, a total outlier, and most rallies were under 5 hits.

They made it to 25 hits! And then Mr. H screwed up due to uncontrollable laughing. The ice cream sundae she chose was enormous.

What a fun evening.

"I knew I could do it!" she said when we complimented her focus and practice.

(I'm pretty sure it was the new tennis skirt.)

Oscar, again, because I like him

Right now I'd like to be curled up in bed reading (I just started Code Name Verity and so far it seems good) but I sat down to write....something....because at the end of the day I like having this blog. Haphazard and random as it may be I like keeping notes about the kids and tracking craft projects and generally keeping myself amused.

As for what to write, I think I'm due for an Oscar update. This morning he was a total delight. Mondays, while Biscuit is at school, are our mornings together. Usually we go grocery shopping (the ladies at Trader Joe's are very nice to him) but today was shaping up to be lame so we went on a coffee date instead. It took some convincing but then he really liked the berry streusel coffee cake. I never get baked goods at Starbucks and it was pretty good. I was too cheap to get him a milk but I did share the cake and he was a perfect gentleman sitting in his chair and then wiping up his crumbs. Daycare has taught him well because lord knows he has terrible table manners at home.

After caffination I made what was certain to be an annoying call to the DMV. They have a new service where they will call you back and you don't have to be on hold so we went out and planted some beets and beans in the garden. He really likes sprinkling the seeds (or putting them in the holes I made) and then patting the dirt. Unfortunately he also liked digging up the rows and stepping on my tomato seedlings. The DMV eventually called back and assured me that, sadly, I had to handle my issue at an actual DMV. Luckily, after getting my number and learning of the ~2 hour wait I was able to take Oscar to daycare (the one diaper and two pieces of fruit weren't going to make it--especially over naptime). This is when I am really pleased we pay for full time care even if we don't technically need full time care (I only work three days a week). What would have been a total DMV nightmare turned into a chance to run several errands and then read a few pages of Code Name Verity and then it was (finally) my turn and the person helping me was quite pleasant and overall the entire thing sucked but not as much as I expected.

Then we had a bizarre 30 minute rainstorm at the exact time of Biscuit's tennis lesson so that got cancelled and instead we went to Target to return the 2 pairs of shorts I bought for her and buy 2 pairs of shorts she picked. It'll be all jean shorts this Spring and Summer. But, really, the girl was only convinced to go to Target at all because I told her I saw some shoes she might like (while buying the first pairs of shorts). Then she was out the door like a flash and we held out and did shoe browsing as a reward after shorts trying-on.

I want to pause at this point to be annoyed with Typepad (eating way too many posts lately); iPhoto (seemingly incompatible with Firefox running); and my computer (slow, perhaps bogged down by the 4 gazillion photo files). Anyway, annoyed.

So back to Oscar.  All of the sudden in the last 2 weeks or so he's talking. It's 95% incomprehensible to the passerby but they are clearly real words for real things. Many accompany the sign he already knows (like, car or up, or out) and many are words for things he doesn't have a sign for (wheel and who knows what else.)

He is also really cute at drawing. He does teeny little scribbles then big looping ovals then he runs off with the pencil (or sharpie) and tries to color on the wall/cushion/etc to get attention. Works every time :)

At this point I'm realizing I wrote an Oscar update rather recently so this might be boring. Oh well, better luck tomorrow.