Jack is turning 6!

Jack’s birthday theme.  

I got some strange reactions to my invitation that stated “breakfast and cake provided.”  Yeah well, I waited until the last minute to book it…sorry.

Jack found a shirt that he loved at Target – the reason for the birthday theme in the first place.  Unfortunately, the only size left (in the state of Washington!) was a size Large (he is XS) so I cut out he pictures and make his special birthday shirt. 

Amy and I though it would be funny for her to wear a matching shirt, so we went back to get another t-shirt and I made one for her that Jack didn’t know about. 

Jack was so excited to see Amy at the party, but a little leery of her wearing a “birthday shirt.”  “I’m the birthday boy?” he confirmed.  And was happy when she agreed. 

(Amy has been 29 on birthdays for um, a few years)

 

Jack was adamant about only inviting a few friends from school, and some other select people…  We could have had 25 kids at the place we rented, but had only 12-13, but it was a great size party.

Obviously I wasn’t up to my normal party standard, and bought a cake and rented a bouncy house.  But Jack loved it, and it was so much easier!!

Christmas Project

I saw a little project idea in a craft store and picked up the materials for the boys.  Both boys were excited  (that there were candy canes to eat…)   After being allowed to eat a candy cane, they started on the project and quickly made their own reindeer and admired it.

Both decided they wanted to make enough for all their classmates and energetically continued.  After two reindeer, Jack became frustrated because he had such difficulty getting the bells on the reindeers’ antlers.  Owen was already on his tenth or eleventh reindeer and Jack hates to fall behind. He just cannot understand why he can’t do everything as well as Owen.  Jack felt sad and Owen (in beautiful Christmas spirit) made Jack the “most jingly reindeer of all!”  

That made Jack perk up.  He happily hung around listening to Christmas music, suggesting the bell colors for Owen’s projects, and experimenting with new animals that don’t require bells on their antlers. 

A joyous shout rang out and Jack proudly displayed his perfect alternative:

“Rudolph the Red Nosed Rhino!”

Christmas Card

(To the tune of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer

  Don’t be shy, sing it in your best voice!)

 

Owen and Jack are happy

(to) tell about the year they’ve known

And if you chance to see them

You will gasp and say, “They’ve grown!”

 

All of their work in French school

Paid off on a trip to France

Crepes, Luxembourg, and Monet,

Eiffel tower, ninja dance.

 

Owen’s now in second grade.

Loves to read and play.

Spy gear, Legos, are just right

Origami, Jedi fight!

 

Then kindergartner - Jack-Jack.

Dancing, singing, full of glee.

Reading , concocting stories,

Ninja kicking, so silly!

Halloween Photos

At the last minute we decided to bond with Charlotte and Bridget this year.  It was the sweetest, and most simple trick-or-treating we have done – so reminiscent of my childhood.

The boys wore the exact outfits as last year, but Owen didn’t want his cape.  His winter boots happen to be black with red spiders which looked cool.  He left his mask at a friend’s house and he was sad, but had a good attitude when we didn’t have time to pick it up.

Camping?!

The boys and I went camping last Thursday.  We were the sole tent in the entire campground so I am fully aware that it was a slightly crazy activity.  If you feel that you need to read me the riot act about the dangers camping by myself with they boys in late October, several people have fulfilled that duty for you…

But we had FUN!

The boys explored while I set up camp and got the fire going (twice.) We cooked on just the fire-pit which was more fun than using a camp stove.

We explored the beach of Deception Pass, and the boys collected so many rocks in their pockets that they gained 10 pounds each and had little rock-projectiles flying out from their coats as they ran and jumped over driftwood.

I asked Owen what was a reasonable number of rock souvenirs to bring home.  He decided that 7 would be great since he was 7.  Jack wasn’t keen on going with age, and he went with “a small handful”.  It is so interesting to watch the boys ideas of fairness emerge.  Jack loves tiny things, so his “must-have” rock collection came to 11 or 12.  Jack looked at his pile and Owen’s pile (of 7 much bigger rocks) and declared them fair (if not equal.)  Owen, who is a numbers guy, had a very difficult time calling a quantity of 11 rocks equal to a quantity of 7 rocks.  “Mom!  That’s not fair!”

I encouraged Jack to explain his his ideas.  Owen eyebrows furrowed at Jack’s explanation that explored size/weight/volume.  Owen slowly nodded, seeing that the space that Jack’s rocks took up was less than the space his own rocks took up.  He agreed the two different groupings were acceptable as fair.  But Owen still kept his firmly-held number theory.  Owen’s rocks were “more” when it came to occupied space.  Jacks rocks were “more” in quantity.  Each rock-group was “more” under one method of measurement, and 1 win=1 win, therefore the decision was fair.

Road Trip to Alberta Canada

My brother is trading in 80 degree temperatures of Arizona for 8 degree temperatures of central Alberta.  Intrigued by the small town farm life that my brother was headed towards (and motivated to get his boxes out of my garage…) I agreed to drive him from Seattle to his new home near Edmonton, Alberta.

You know it is seriously cold when your car grows it’s own winter coat while you drive…

(an up-close view of the frozen water “fur”)

My brother’s new home is on a beautiful expanse of grass and thin trees.  Pregnant cows and hay bales dot the landscape.

pets…

The prego cows - Bobby will help deliver their calves this spring.

The drive both ways was dotted with animals through Jasper National Park.  We saw moose, elk, massive birds and the goats blocked the road in both directions.  (I think they are goats anyway)

I can’t wait to take Owen and Jack  for a visit this summer.  Though, for that trip, I will take more than one day to drive the 750 miles!

First Day of School

Our school theme this year is “It’s Time…” 

For Owen it’s time …to tell time (he got a new Darth Vader watch with hands)  …to be on time.  …to make new friends. (he is nervous about this and really wants to become better friends with some of his classmates, especially one little boy who is really into math.

For Jack it’s time…to join the big kids at school.(And is he ever excited about this!)  …to have fun. (I am hoping I can come back to this one when he worries that other kids are “better” at him  at reading, or French, or whatever.)  There is one more for him, but it is slipping my mind –grr.

Eric brought over coffee and vanilla milks.  I made eggs  and bacon and toast and no one cried that they hated eggs.  It was beautiful!  Jack was happy with Owen’s old backpack especially when Owen said, “Look Jack, you got a new backpack – it’s cool!”

Both boys were excited to go to school.   Owen’s teacher is a man, which he thinks is great and Jack was able to visit his teacher last year, so that helped him.  I walked them to class even though we are not supposed to.  I used to hate it when parents felt that the rules didn’t apply to them, but I am frustrated that there is no meet and greet.  I want to at least look at the person and the room in which I am leaving my boys for the day! 

After school, the boys were all smiles.

Jack yelled, “It was AWESOME! AWESOME!”

Owen sat quietly in his seat for a few seconds then said, “Well, I can’t say ‘awesome’ or ‘amazing,’ but I will say, ‘great.’”

I am surprised that Jack is the one who likes school and Owen is more hesitant.  But I laugh, because their answers reflect their personality so fully.  Jack a bundle of excited energy, Owen carefully exploring the situation. 

It could have easily gone:

Jack: I am NEVER going to that dumb French school AGAIN!

Owen: I expected it to be great, but it was even better than my expectations.  I would say, “Awesome” or even, “Amazing!”  (Actually, this is almost a quote from him late in the day when he chose peppermint ice cream)

I love my boys!

After school, we headed to our little wooded hide-away…

Bags Are Packed

We leave the apartment tomorrow, and all of us are feeling a little sad.  Owen cried when he realized that it was the last night that he was going to see his friend from across the street.  Jack wanted lots of hugs and stated, “It is hard to leave.”   And it is.  It has been a good summer – full of lots of activities and excitement.  I worried recently, that it has been too busy and we haven’t relaxed enough.  Then I remembered that I spent almost every day of last summer at the pool and I worried then that the boys weren’t getting enough stimulation.  I guess I will be happy with the idea that the two summers added together are a perfect balance.

I let the boys pick what they wanted to do for their last full day.  They chose to eat crepes for breakfast, go to Parc Floral for the day, and have dinner at a restaurant that they really liked.  At the park the monkeys did the ropes course again and played at the playground.  We also played a mini golf game that had mini versions of various monuments in Paris.  It was a very good last day.

We have one night in a hotel before an early flight in the morning.  I can’t believe we are going to be home so soon!

Rentre (Back To School)

Today I took the boys clothes shopping for school.  There are two stores here that I have wanted to go in, and we were able to find a few thing.  Jack and Owen each tried on pants, with, “nah” and “I don’t like them” for several.  Then they each tried on a pair that they LOVED!  It was funny (but not surprising) to see them know exactly what they wanted.  Owen’s was a pair of skinny jeans and Jack picked a pair of dark plaid pants.

The both wanted v-neck sweaters, and Owen found a winter coat that he really liked.  He was disappointed that it didn’t have fur around the hood like the jacket he has been wearing for the last two years.  I am fine with that…

Jack found a coat that he fell in love with, but I was hesitant to buy it.  It is a sport coat/suit jacket with patches on the elbows.  I finally bought it for him when they didn’t have the correct size at the first store and he was willing to walk to another store a mile away and then wanted to wear the coat in the store even though he was dripping in sweat.  The coat isn’t really going to work in the coldest months, but Jack can wear Owen’s old fur lined one then.  

No photos.  There was no way that was happening…

Orangerie and Giverny

It is hard to appreciate artwork when you only ever see a photo of it in a book.  I have seen Monet’s “water lily” paintings many times, and I found them pretty, but my interest ended there.  When I saw some real works by Monet two years ago, I was shocked at how different and utterly beautiful the real paintings were.  I actually though I had seen the water lily paintings, and had no idea that the ones most people are referring to are massive paintings in a museum called the “Orangerie.”  There are 8 canvasses in two huge oval rooms.  Half of the canvasses are 50 feet long.

Yesterday the boys and I went to the museum to see them, and the three of us were shocked.  All of us sat in complete silence for a long time.  Finally Jack stood up, and I got up to follow him out.  But he simply went to the other side of the room and sat down again.

“I want to go to where Monet was when he painted these!” I whispered to the boys.  “Yeah.”  they both whispered back.  Even later when I explained that we would have to take an long train ride to get there, and give up our plans for the next day – the boys were in.

The town where Monet painted these was called Giverny.  The gardens were his back yard that he designed and gardened.  The y were stunning – I have never seen anything like them.

I did recognize many flowers from grandmother’s yard, and wished very much that she could be there with me.  She would have loved it so much!

The second garden is the one including the bridges, pond, and weeping willows.  The boys and I sat on a bench for quite awhile just enjoying being there.The boys definitely enjoyed the visit, but were much more interested in the “wildlife”  - all the bees on the flowers including the massive bumblebees,

snails,

And a little brown duckling that was so light it hardly weighed down the lily pads when he walked on them,Monet’s funny chickens (Jack named them something funny, but now it slips my mind…grrr)

As the gardens got crowded, the boys got antsy and Jack said, “Ok, we’ve see everything.  The water lily things and all.  Can we go now?”  A large group of 70-somethings got a kick out of this.

But when I showed the boys that I had some art supplies, they were really excited to return to the pond bench and try their hand at creating a masterpiece.

Jack experimented, but was frustrated with the discrepancy between Monet’s talent and his own.  Owen was very serious and focused and was quite pleased with his piece.

We finally left Monet’s lovely property and headed back toward the bus.  The boys started playing in this tree until I realized that the bee that kept bothering Jack was actually a large number of different bees, and there was a hive in tree…

So I found a spot in a grassy field by a brook with a small waterfall. I sat on a little blanket and read and dozed while the boys ran in the field and played spies in the edge of the nearby woods.

Later Jack ordered a cappuccino and hot chocolate for us at a little stand near the bus stop.  It was the best coffee that I have had my whole time in Paris!  The boys’ drinks were amazing too.

It was one of those unexpectedly perfect days that makes you glad you are alive.

Bowls of Hot Chocolate

We started off with a lazy morning at home, and extended it by going to my favorite café for bowls of hot chocolate and coffee and fresh baguettes with butter and homemade jams.

Owen as Pinocchio.

So happy!

We walked and scootered quite a ways (but all downhill!) through town to go to a department store that promised a good selection of toys.  They boys finished their French books, and I promised them something.  While they spent a great amount of time looking in the Lego section, they each ended up with new nai-nai guy (stuffed animal) that they were very happy about.  I was much happier buying something French that will be more of a memory than Lego.

The store we bought the toys at had a roof-top seating area that a wonderful view.   The boys showed it to their new friends.  The big building behind the boys is the opera house.  There are supposed to be beehives on the roof that we were hoping to see, but did see any…. 

Um, this is the inside of the department store!

I really wanted to fit in another activity today – We have a short time left and the boys have a long list of things they want to do before we leave.  I don’t want to cram the last week, and take away the relaxing feel that we have been here for a long time and are comfortable.  I really tried to keep our time in Paris as “we are living here for the summer” rather than, “we were on vacation".”  This has helped me to keep more relaxed with a focus on the boys rather than on the city.  And it has help the boys from expecting ice-cream and carnival rides every day.   So instead, we headed home and chilled out.