Rocket Camp - Launch Day

 

Launch Day for Rocket Camp was yesterday. Zach woke me up at 5:45.

Z - Mom the bus leaves at 6:00.
Me - No - it leaves at 9:00
Z - You are WRONG!! I am going to miss my launch.
Me - dragging out of BED - get the info paper and show him.
Z - The paper is wrong - they said 6:00 - we have to go! (He was MAD)
Me - Zach, you heard wrong, and when we get there and the bus is there - you are apologizing for getting so mad at me.

Driving up the the camp, bus parked in front.

Z - Sorry Mom - with a huge smile on his face.

The Launch was out at UC Davis.

Sela didn't like the sound when they launched... but once it was all over and Zach was running to pick up his rocket, Sela leans into me,and says, "Mama I love our running Zach." She was proud of her big brother (And glad it was over!)

Dear Tooth Fairy

I lost my tooth. I think I might have swallowed it. I wonder if you have a tooth detector? I hope it is still possible to get a prize for my lost tooth. Thank you,
Love, Zach

PS.. Just a little tip... look in the toilet!

Tooth Fairy - Zach is telling the truth. Look in his mouth on the bottom. Signed Zach's Mommy.

Oh my boy is hilarious... We have had a day - he'd been worried ALL day about that tooth. He woke up realized it was gone and got all nervous. "My tummy hurts." "How will it come out?" "What about the tooth fairy?" "What am I going to do??!"

I'll post pictures of the smile with the hole tomorrow.

Zach's Graduation

 

 

 

 

Our Zach had his kindergarten graduation yesterday. Mark and Sela and I got there early so we could get a front row seat. It was pretty cute. They sang "You Are My Sunshine" and "Take Me out to the Ballgame". There was a slide show and then the graduation ceremony. 80 little children who now know the basics they need to move forward in their lives. 80 little children whose lives can be ANYTHING. Keep dreaming big my little man - and you can be a submarine driver and a astronaut and whatever else you dream of. We love you and are so proud of you!

A Sweet Moment

 

 

It seems like I have been saying , "zach don't push your sister, Sela don't hit your brother so much lately." I was so happy to be able to capture this sweet moment between the kids the other day while they were waiting to go into a bounce house.
Yah! For sibling love!!

Zach's Soccer Games and Sela Being Silly

 

 

 

 

Zach has had such a great experience playing soccer this season. His coach is great... patient but also teaching the kids so much about Soccer. They had their end of season party last week and their last game today. I snapped off these pictures last week at his game. He loves playing goalie - and I was especially proud that he didn't let the other team score once! He also scored a goal - so that was fun!

I also had some fun with Sela snapping off some shots of her entertaining herself during the game.... pretending to be a butterfly and just plain being silly.

When I asked Zach is he had fun playing soccer he said, "I would have more fun if we would win more."
Me, "But Zach - this is about having fun - not about winning."
Zach, "but Mom - winning IS fun!

He is definitely got my competitive gene - poor child!

Letter to Zach

Oh Zach;
My boy who I love so deeply. My boy who can get under my skin like nobody else can. I can't believe it is almost time for me to drop you off at your first day of kindergarten.
You are so ready. You know all the "stuff" you need to know for school... your numbers (to 10 hundred gazillion million if I let you count that long - without asking you to take a rest), your letters, your sounds, how to sit and listen to the teachers.
You know how to be a caring boy. Too caring I worry. Please don't let the other kids make you cry... because they can be mean. And please don't make other kids cry... remember to be your sweet self.
Zach, I know I tell you to hurry up probably a 100 times a day... do me a favor and keep not listening... and I will try to slow down and savor these little every day moments that make up life.
I am so proud of you, and I don't tell you enough, but I think I am the luckiest mom in the world to have you for my son.
Now go do great in kindergarten - and when you are packing away childhood memories, please don't remember me nagging you to pick up your toys... remember the laughter of us tickling eachother, or how you can never get or recieve a kiss without rubbing it in. Always have that unrushed curiosity - to explore bugs and think about how things work. File away the special times of reading books together at night, because I know in a blink of an eye you will be telling me you can read your own book. Oh, and Zach, even if you need me less, every now and then, let me do little things for you, that let me cherish being your mama. I love you.

Zach - World Class Pie Maker

Last week Zach was in a Little Chefs Camp. He had a blast. The first day he brought home a plate with some stuff for us to try... but every day after that he scarfed down EVERYTHING he made... most of the other kids were going home with plates... and his teacher just said - he ate it... he liked it! ...until Friday when they each made an apple pie. (and the teachers didn't let them break into it... good thing or we would have surely gotten an emply pie tin!) It was delicious too! He just looks so proud in this picture. I love that it captured this little summer highlight for him!

I was scared-ed!

I have to write these little conversations down, because I know I will forget them, and when the kids get older they will laugh!

We went out to eat sandwiches for lunch, and Zach dropped his napkin. He politely asked for a new one, and Mark got him one.
As we are leaving, I ask Zach to go pick up the napkin he dropped on the floor. I have this thing about not trashing a restaurant when we go there and I am trying to teach them to be responsible. There were some people sitting right there, and someone that worked there was talking to him, and he said to me, I'll get it. And I said, "No thanks, He dropped it, he can pick it up."
So Zach starts getting all wiggy. (Pulling away from me and tripping)
I ask him what's wrong and he say, "I got scared-ed." He always puts that extra "ed" on scared for some reason.
So I pick it up and we get them out to the car.... and ask what that was all about... and he just says I was scared-ed. (To which Mark makes a snarky comment that only I could hear about napkins being super scary.) I guess he got nervous when the guy who worked there started paying attention to what we were doing.

Then Sela chimes in.... complete with her expressive hand gestures.
"I'm not scared... of dragons or spiders, or loud fireworks. I'm not scared.... I'm a big girl."

Zach's reply? "Ohhhh! Sela! You are too scared of those things!"

Sela, "no - I not scared! I a big girl!"

Yep... that Sela - she pretty much put a little pink skirt on her big brother with her comments.

ok... This is like 2 months late...

I never finished all the layouts for Jessica Sprague's - Digi in Deep class... This assigment is a bit of a cheat, because part of the assigment was to set up a mini photo shoot - But that just wasn't going to happen in my world at this time.

These pictures my husband took when we were in Monterey. Other than the cold breeze it was a perfect day at the beach - especially for flying kites. It was an awesome afternoon and I felt like my special moments with my kids were actually caught on film - and I'm grateful for that - even if I had bad hair!

Arrrr - Zach's Pirate Invitation

Finally I got to my blog to update it. It has been a little wild around here working on my grant proposal and keeping my family happy too.

Here is Zach's Pirate Invitation that follows the Save the Date I sent out. On the treasure map portion, I took a map of our nearby streets and superimposed them onto the map so that the X lands on our street. It was quite fund and I was happy with the results. I wanted to put them in a bottle with a bit of sand and pretend jewels... but I had to tell myself just get them out and spend the extra time on the party. Now I have to plan the treasure hunt, which should be fun.
So we stay green, we'll be making pirate telescopes out of old paper towel rolls as one of the party activities. The pirate chest will be an old box that we decorate, and I am going to stop by Whole Foods to buy the "earth friendly" paper plates. I read recently that there are 700,000 birthday parties every day in the US... imagine the amount of garbage that produces.... eww.
So... I'll try to do my small part.

Still putting together ideas for the pirate loot bags - if you have an idea leave me a comment!
Hope you all are having a fantastic week... and I promise to be here more with new posts soon!
Oh... and the credits for the invitation are:
khadfield pirate doodles
hroselli yohoyoho pirate kit (Sweet Shoppe Designs)
font: CK invitation

Arrrr Mateys - Get Ready to Sail

I'm so thrilled with how this turned out... Zach just decided what kind of party he wants on Friday... and he likes "nice" pirates... it is less than easy to find cute pirate stuff... so I was so happy I found this clip art and was able to play with it. I extracted Zach's picture from some shots of them playing in the front yard.... and turned him into a pirate. (This is the save the date notification - and I will get the invitation done later this week.) And YAHOO - my LOAD layout for today is done because I will definitely include this with his birthday pages! Thanks for looking and thanks ladies for all the nice comments... I'm luvin' the luv!

Credits: Paper M Mareda Home(recolored), KHadfield Pirate doodles, paper tears - Jen Caputo, font: CK centurion

My mom is coming to watch the kids today so I can get my grant draft completed for my first grant submission for reCREATE... trying to pump myself up to get it done.

Snow cute

Ok... the truth is I should be putting my little boys invitations together for his birthday... but I'll do that as soon as I throw this together (I mean THROW together a layout). I promise to be better tomorrow and make a prettier one... the picture makes up for my lazines on this one! This was Zach't first trip to the snow and he was all smiles.

Credits: Lriordan blog white paper
font:2peas fixin to
Frame: K Pertiet Crystalized edgers

Pullin' out the Baby Pictures

I really might take a break from this challenge tomorrow - I must admit I hate to quit things - so even though I need to be focusing my time on other things I'm still pushing myself to get a page done every day..... anyone else doing the challenge feeling that way?!
This layout is of Zach at 8 month - these pictures reminded me of how much fun we had that month... I had just quit my job and Mark was gone, so it was just Zach and I - we napped and played and had such a nice time. I need to strive to be that mom that focuses so well on each moment with my kids, that I was then. Feeling like I have been too grumpy and distracted as of late. Will try and be better tomorrow!

Layout Credits:
EMerritt - Doodled Words in title
SP.com Festival Scallop Border
Frame - Tia Bennet New Growth Brushes
Font: CK Renaissance
Thanks for looking!

While you were sleeping....

The story on this layout happened a few weeks ago for the first time. Then last week Zach did it again. I swear he melts my heart - and it takes a lot to melt my heart if I am woken up!