"Let me take your picture", say Mom

So it started out innocently enough. Mom says, "Let me take your picture".
I try to get a picture of them together at least once a week--well I am trying that lately.

Then the giggles begin..............
" Just smile for me, both of you, look at the camera" Mom says



Aww, that's a good one!
Full on laughter! I absolutely love this picture of them. So them. Bean giggles and chuckles when he laughs and Yaya is full -on -hearty-throw back the head laughter.

Will they still be like this in a couple years?

Sharks, goats, boats, and the Reds

We had a grand adventure the other weekend--it was the Friday after Bean had started school--which he had off--and we decided to surprise him by going to see some sharks. He has been asking all summer to go see some sharks, so we decided it was time. There is an aquarium outside Cincinnati called the Newport Aquarium http://www.newportaquarium.com/ located in Newport, Kentucky. Just over the river from downtown Cincinnati--about a 2.5 - 3 hour drive from Athens. So, we headed out without telling the kids where we were going--was to be a surprise for them. It was! They were so excited to see sharks and all the other amazing animals there


We stayed the night in Newport and took the ferry over the river to a Cincinnati Reds game. Interesting enough. We all enjoyed the Cracker Jack and the fireworks at every home run--there were four that night.



Next day we headed the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Gardens. Now, as some might know already, I have mixed feelings about zoos.

Being a bear--looking at Irving and Muktuck. who were not being too bad this particular day--it was hot and there were no blueberry muffins around, I guess.



Oh and are your still curious about the goat part of things? Is this not the cutest picture of Yaya? I love it!

Kindergarten continued

Have not updated and meant to for some time. A few more actual first day kindergarten shots of bean.

Kindergarten

Really? Kindergarten--really? Oh, am I ready? I really don't know. I do know that Bean is so ready and will do great! He has been asking for weeks when does kindergarten start. He is so ready to learn new things, meet new people, explore new things. He cannot wait to learn to read, have music class, art class.

He knows several kids in his class from the CDC and there are a few boys from the neighborhood that are in there too. I am glad to see some of the neighborhood kids in his class and hopefully we can get them together more and they will have friends to run about and play with.

Those are some of my fondest childhood memories--running around the neighborhood in a pack with all the others kids. Not really causing trouble but being outside and having fun, making up games and using our imaginations to occupy our time, exploring the woods and digging in the dirt, catching tadpoles and playing kickball or riding bikes. I so want those memories for my children.

We have been in the neighborhood for about 3 years, going on 4 years, and up until now there really hasn't been much connection with with neighborhood kids. Not for lack of wanting to get to know them, just that M and I work and some of the other parents do not and all the kids are all over the place with preschool and different activities--it just did not ever come together. We would see other parents our--usually at the park across from our house--and say, "we should get the kids together, blah, blah" we would mean it but it never seemed to come to fruition.

But now I am hoping that it will! Will take some work from all of us, but I think the other parents, who appear to be all around M and I's age, might actually be looking for that sense of community and neighborhood for their kids as well.

Wait...this was suppose to be about Bean and kindergarten. I am not sure I am ready. I am for the most part, but I get these little pangs of heartbreak as my little baby boy grows up before my eyes.

All the best to you Bean as you head into kindergarten and a whole new world opens up to you. You will do great and I cannot wait to hear what new things you learn every day.

LBATS!

LOL!

“When the music is really fast, I pull my socks up all the way and dance.”- Luca

Garden Party 2010

Had a lovely time at this year's CDC Garden Party.

Yaya

Shark boy gets a haircut

So, Bean has been wanting to grow his hair "long like his cousin Chloe's". Therefore, we have not cut it in some time. We got it trimmed a while back so it did not look so scraggly, but he has been letting in grow. I decided that I don't really mind what his hair looks like--not something I am ever going to battle my children about. No point, cause it just hair.

This is him as of yesterday morning. He decided this weekend that he wanted to get it but like Shark boy, from the movie Shark Boy and Lava Girl. All spiky and sharky looking. So, we went yesterday and got a hair cut.


.

Ponytail

She has unruly hair--super curly and I have not a clue what to do with it. She never let's me comb or brush it, put into any sort of hair accessory, hate when I even try to wet it down to make her look at little less like Albert Einstein.

What, let me ask my mother, is this familiar behaviour????? I would venture to guess that my little girl is very much like me--very much! I suppose it is payback! LOL

So an update....my mom says I was just like this!!!

Shark Boy and Lava Girl

This summer has been a Shark Boy and Lava girl summer. Bean says he is turning into a shark and really wants to go see some sharks. He also learned how to swim! One step closer to becoming a shark, according to him. We have also watched the movie "Shark Boy and Lava Girl" about a gazillion times. Every day, I have to check for gils and a dorsal fin. Too funny! I love his imagination and sense that it could quite possibly happen (but might really know that he won't really turn into a shark). What a wonderful age to be! We should all have that sense of the impossible just might being possible--one of the joys of being a parent.

Pure summer

I love these pictures of the kids--says summer to me. Bean is this bronzed little boy whose hair is turning blond from the sun and chlorine. Yaya--what can I say about her and this picture. Wet, ringlet hair, polka-dot bathing suit, Popsicle all over her face and running down her arms.

Blueberry Crumb Bars and Cream Puffs

I had a need to bake the other day--I really want to bake english muffins and make foccacia and other bready products, but those take more time than I have these days. Therefore, I decide to bake some sweets for they are less time consuming and well loved by the fam. I really wanted to make something with blueberries, since they are in season and I went a bit overboard and bought way to many. Smitten Kitchen http://smittenkitchen.com/2008/07/blueberry-crumb-bars/ had this very yummy looking recipe for blueberry crumb bars that I had to make. Unfortunately my pics don't look as good as hers, but I bet ya money they the bars tasted as good as SK. They were fantastic!!!!!

Cream puffs--my go to wow dessert I make. They are like mini boston cream pies actually and M loves them. So, I made some of them as well.

This helped slightly, but I still have the need to bake more!

Releasing the frogs

It was time to release the frog, or the tadpoles that were almost frogs. We watched a few turn into frogs and the remainder need to be let go. The major problem we had was that the water was gone from the wet area up at the park. So, that meant a trip to the creek--again--to let them go. Hopefully they will make it!

On another note about the creek, I cannot believe how little kids could care less how cold the water is, they plunge in anyway. It was actually on the cool side the morning we went out and the water was very cold. But that little Yaya jumped right in, clothes off as soon as she could, and was happy as a clam--even if her lips were blue and her teeth were chattering :)

(can you tell that I really like this place--so glad we have it to go to).