Hallowe'en revisited

Mostly, it's revisited because (if you read my previous post) I finally got the pictures that I took on  Hallowe'en into my computer, so I can POST them.

Son number one did not deign to come with us to visit Aunt J, Uncle M, Ruby and Nikki.  He decided to stay home and go play game cube with a friend instead.

So it was just me and son number two.  We didn't dress up.  We just wandered down the road to San Jose to visit and schmooze and also attend the neighborhood yearly party around the block from where my sister lives.

It was fun. 

It was kitch-y.

It was silly.

And there was FOOD!

Little Nikki (who is a premie) isn't so little anymore.

Ruby taking her turn at the Pinata.  She really looks like my sister.

Son number two decimating the pinata.  His second turn up, he couldn't wait for the candy ANY longer. A gentle hint to strike at the neck did wonders.  And boy does he have a MEAN swing.

They finally sat down.

The thing about pictures of THREE young people -- you never get ALL of them paying attention.

Open wide and say Ahhhhh....

No work done today due to the third doctor visit in a week (yes, let me think about that.... last Friday, this Wednesday....and today. )yup, three in one week's time.

First, son number two came down with a sinus infection. Nothing new around this house (and surprisingly, the first of this new school year -- usually he gets one the first month of school).  Then son number one caught it and added on bronchitis.  Again, nothing new -- we have allergies and asthma. We get stuff. We deal with it.

BUT ...

Wednesday was the last day of meds for son number two and he was feverish, tired, cranky and not exactly a picture of wellness.

So, after waiting a day just to be sure .... he woke up this morning with a HUGE (according to him) headache, the coughing was non-stop and he was still tired.  So, doing the good mom thing, I took him in.

This time it's a virus.

On top of the bacterial infection of last week.

Nothing we can do but let it take its course.

So instead of working (in truth, I WAS working, as I did some reading for review while plunked in the waiting room of the doctor's office... and when I got back from the rounds of driving thither and yon, I did start MAY'S  taxes... which is GOOD)  I carted son number two around to doctor, pharmacy, here, there and everywhere.

In other news, I'm trying to decide if I want to attend / exhibit at the Pasadena Book Fair.  I've done it the last three years & it's been decent -- but -- the schedule changed this year from June to December.

There's booths available.  Hotel prices are better than expected (really!)  and I have a MONTH to get my mind around the idea (and pack, etc).

Anyone have an opinion?

I'm going to decide by the end of next week if I will or not.  Right now, I'm leaning towards going.

let me know what you think.

AND

keep your fingers crossed that I don't get the gunk running around the house.

Fishing... with friendly DAWG....

Since we weren't able to make it to the Boy Scout camp out last weekend (due to illnesses which have persisted, unfortunately), son number two INSISTED on going fishing at our favorite spot.

We drive out into the foothills around Sonora (well, actually  before you get to Sonora) at a place called Knight's Ferry. The oldest covered bridge on the west coast still sits there (repaired and replaced several times after flooding,  but still old), the Stanislaus River runs under the bridge, and there are walking trails and spots to do fun things like swim and FISH!

We headed out as usual, fishing pole, tackle box, food and sundries in hand to the easy fishing spot.  We had been there about ten minutes when a lady and her dog, Zoe, wandered up. The lady was looking for a spot to do a bit of gold panning (as I saw another person carrying gold panning gear as well -- it's the lure of $1500.00 an ounce for gold right now) so we shared a quiet, warm spot.

Son number two tired of fishing early on in exchange for helping with the gold panning. (She was a very nice lady who had grand children, so knew just how to deal with a curious helper).  The best part though, was her dog. Zoe, the dog, decided that watching out for son number two was her job, which meant following son number two around, sitting on his lap (they're about the same size, really) and playing in the bushes.  As we have no dogs, it was lots of fun.

The thing is, fishing is a WET business (if you're son number two) and by the time I finished getting the fishing pole untangled for the third time, his shirt was soaked, so I gave him my extra to wear. (Yes, he does have shorts on underneath).

By the end of the day, we had learned lots about gold panning we hadn't known (and that son number two wants to get a gold pan of his own to try out -- either that or a metal detector), got to play with a cool dog, and had a great afternoon.

Number Two Son started his own blog...

Scary thought, that.

Not because I'm worried about HIM, but I'm worried about what he'll inflict on other people.

Well, not really. Mostly I'm proud he's got the chops to give it a try.

Currently, (and this is a good thing) I seem to be the only person in the world following his blog (as a good mother should).

Son number two has always written things. Ever since he was two and half / three years old (if the creaky brain is remembering correctly and isn't indulging in overweening motherly pride).

His brother has always drawn things -- Blues Clues was the BEST show in the world for him as it helped him learn techniques for drawing.

Son number two draws with the same exuberance as cats yowling -- mucho enthusiasm -- not so much understanding from the viewer (and please don't think I'm being a rotten, mean nasty person. I DON'T tell him that I really can't figure out what one spikey stick thing is compared to another spikey stick thing -- I CAN'T DRAW EITHER. I'm lousy at it.) I admit it freely. And he knows that his art work isn't going to win him prizes.

However, he's been a story-teller / book writer from the moment he realized that it was possible. When he was little, his brother would try to draw comic books -- but with no words. Son number two would have to then OUT DO him and have me put together a booklet of clean paper (stapled, of course) and I would either write what he said, or spell the words out for him so he could write them down, and then he'd illustrate the whole thing.

His stories have always been about bombs, castles being blown up, death, destruction and mayhem (I may have mentioned this before). PLUS, anything that he recently read, or watched on TV came into play.

This being the case, he recently heard lots of talk about blogging. One day this week he says that he's thinking about a blog. The next day (and mind you this is without ANY intervention from adults or older brother) he's got one made and has five blog entries put up.

Man - he puts me to shame!

The thing is, I read the posts.

Then I told him (as nicely as I could) that if he used text speak, run-on sentences, and misspelled words, he'd probably not get too many followers. So he's working on it. Today he wanted me to freshen up one of the posts....

I hope he continues to write them.

It's a great peek at what a nine year old is actually thinking ...

sort of.

New School - New Day

Son number two started school today -- at a new school -- and on a new schedule. The schedule is what in California (or at least our school district) is called a "Modified A Track" schedule. Which is a change from what had gone on in the years prior (before $ cuts from the state.... let's not even get into THAT fiasco).

Previously, the elementary school near us had three "tracks" which meant that they could shove more kids into each school per year since our district was bloated with kids and rather lean on extra classrooms and teachers ($$ looms again) plus there was a bonus for the schools that had a limit of 20 students per class for grades K - 3(?). At any rate, now that the budgets have all been cut students are shoved in any which way to fit the building (36 students per class is now not unusual -- at least that's what I've heard from some of the teachers in the area ), so the schedule didn't have to go all wonky -- BUT -- it wasn't going to go back to a "Traditional" school year.... why, I don't know.

Son number two is used to a traditional schedule -- and for that matter, he's been going to a private school since Kindergarten. This year (4th grade) the economic situation meant that a school change was necessary.

So far, things seem ok. He did say that the stuff he's starting with is stuff he learned way back at the beginning of 3rd grade, but that might be just review. We'll see where things fall as the months go on.

For me, it means one less family member home during business hours -- which is change from summer vacation. The rest will be going about their business / school by the end of August & I'll be back to WORK with out too many interruptions! (what an awful Mom I am.... :) )


And if that wasn't good enough, this afternoon, in a fit of efficiency, I'm actually starting to tackle March's monthly totals / taxes.

Field Trip Number Two in two days...

Well -- The thing in the middle of the picture is an Australian Skink (on the small side). The fuzzy stuff at the bottom of the picture is someone's hair and then there's the pair of knees at the top of the picture.

This is one of the very few photos that came out (I keep telling you, my skills with the camera are shaky at best) of the first part of a two part field trip last Friday. We visited a local natural history museum where there were mock-ups of different California habitats (with real stuffed animals staring nose to nose at you -- including a full sized Puma / Mountain Lion / Cougar..).

The second portion of the trip was a nature walk in a semi-local State park with a guide. It was GREAT! Unfortunately, many of the kids were either unimpressed or spent their entire time worring about dirt getting on them. Rather sad. Most of the parents enjoyed it, and number two son (who had come last year to the same park with the same guide for a walk for cub scouts) was having a great time getting more detail than he had absorbed last time. Too cool.

Yesterday I tried to get a picture of the large black carpenter Bee that was buzzing around the mock sweet pea (I think) bush in front of the house yesterday, but again.... my skills with a moving object...

here's the best shot:




The plant is the one with purple flowers. The bee.. well even as big as it is to my eye, you can hardly see it here... it's to the right of the plant and it's the black flapping thing on the underside of one of the flowers. Boy do I wish I had a real camera with a telephoto lens and some real skills. Nice plant though.

Yesterday was supposed to be a finishing day to get the books covered and boxed for the Book Fair this coming weekend. Well, I spent two hours covering, but not boxing and the bookcases which were supposed to come down & get stacked ready for the van haven't been. I'll try and get some more done after this. Right now I'm sending out my monthly newsletter with a note about the fair. Probably way too late, but that's the way it's going around here this month.

Hopefully, I'll spend more time tomorrow boxing and preparing than trying to enter new books into the database. At least, that's what I NEED to be doing.

Now it's off to baseball.

Field Trip Season

Hopefully I'll have at least one usable photo of our field trip today. We'll see. I do TRY to take decent pictures, but, you know...

We took two classes of fifth graders on an hour long trip to Sacramento (our state capital) to visit Old Sacramento and the Railroad museum (by the way, if you get the chance to visit the Railroad museum -- AWESOME!!!)

This time I got to sit at the back of the bus and be the dampening influence on the rowdy bunch. Yippee. And the bus had a distinct tendency to jounce (especially at the rear end of the bus) which got to be very interesting after a while. The nice thing about fifth graders is that they still somewhat obey the voice of authority. Somewhat. Especially when it comes from a body the same size as theirs.

Next year, I'll have a bigger problem being proper parental authority when they are definitely bigger than I am. But then, for a bunch of these kids (mainly the boys) I either have worked with them in Cub Scouts, know their moms (horrors... and I can tell tales on them :) ) or I can use my bony heels on them to good advantage and no one is about to tell the teacher on me.

Or.... or.... or.... I could start wearing five inch heels. Nah. That's never gonna happen.

I will try and check the pictures I took with my phone later to see what came out. But I can't really do it right away as the NEXT field trip is TOMORROW.

Luckily, that field trip is closer to home, and it is with son number two and the much sunnier, sillier bunch of third graders. I can still face them down any day. Hopefully, I'll take incriminating pictures there too.

Wish me luck.

Baseball season is here!

I promised son number two that I'd put this up -- his brother got an entry post the other day, so he wanted one. I wanted to take a picture of him by himself, but....

SO the game....

the first game of the season....

Total score was 17-14 (other team won, unfortunately, but overall, a great first game). By the way, we've moved up from coach pitch to kid pitch and WOW...

NOBODY got injured. Only one child walked due to being hit. My son is pitching and he's fairly decent. Hopefully as the season rolls along, they all will be doing better.

The weather was MISERABLE. Last week, it was 100 degrees in the shade and no breeze in the air to cool people off. For this game (and NONE of the kids wore extra layers) it was 55 and blowing at a steady 10-20 miles an hour. At 7:00PM, we FROZE.

I talked myself into being a scorekeeper which is a fun job, but not as easy as one imagines, and then you can't really enjoy the game as much (though I did shout encouragement as much as I could through the wind).

Great first game. Hopefully the one on Saturday will be less WINDY!

Son number one's first game is Friday, but we have a practice game tonight. I'll see if I can get more pictures.


As far as book business goes --- well, the wind is up again today which scrambles my brain, I've got an appointment to go to at noon and all I've done today is send in a scholarship application for the Colorado Antiquarian Book Seminar. Keep your fingers crossed for me that I get it. There's NO way I'll get to go without a scholarship. Not this year at least.

what a wedgie!

Honestly, I couldn't pass up getting a picture of son number two giving himself a giant sized wedgie...

He's constantly crowing about how little he weights (which, lately, as I'm having no luck with getting rid of a bit of excess weight, makes me grit my teeth). But he's cute (most of the time) and he loves to do strange things with clothing.

If you can't tell, this is a pair of sweatpants -- yes, those ears flapping out to the sides are actually the pockets. Oh to be eight (nearly nine) again.

Don't try this at home -- unless you're very limber and fifty pounds dripping wet.