Saturday, July 31, 2010

weekend

Lucy is great at helping me out around the house.
Don't get me wrong, after her vacuum chore, we still had
balls of animal fur rolling around.  Thorough she is not BUT she has
the right attitude and a desire to be a working member of the household and
for this I am so blessed.

the child love animals, and they love her too

the dog was totally pouting because his #1 girl was totally
cheating on him with the cat

Friday, July 30, 2010

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lucy got off the waiting list for our #1 choice of public schools!!!  I swear it's because 1st the cosmos wanted me to accept and be excited about our #2 choice AND it's also possibly because just yesterday grandpa and auntie/uncle went shopping and bought all the school supplies off of Lucy's kindergarten checklist (these supplies may or may not pertain to the new #1 choice school).  

So I got the phone call in the middle of a Friday afternoon 3 hour community collaboration meeting (a lot of odd coincidences, one being, a woman in that meeting happen to be at a meeting with me months ago when I got the letter saying Lucy didn't get a kindergarten spot at that school, and this womans kids go to that school)...  anyways, got the call ... accepted the position and proceeded to not hear a single word anyone else said for the last hour of the meeting.

Why am I so excited???  
1. 14 kids in each class, it's K-8 and there is only one class at each grade level
2. it's a social justice focus
3. every one who i have talked to who's kids go to this school or who have been americorp vista volunteers at this school have amazing things to say about it.

Let me provide you with some quotes from their website:
a small urban K-8 program that meets the needs of a culturally and ethnically diverse population by engaging children in critical thinking and problem solving, involving children in political and social activism

We focus on a social justice curriculum that teaches students to be independently-minded citizens who respect themselves and others. Our commitment to civil rights and social justice has fostered a curriculum that develops children who are leaders in their communities and the world.

Our goal is to create a learning environment that reflects our values:

•Freedom from racism, sexism, classism, homophobia and cultural biases
•An opportunity for educational excellence regardless of income
•Involvement in issues of social justice
•Diverse cultural identities are honored
•Our community as an extension of our classrooms
•Community members are encouraged to participate in our programs

Just had to share!!!  I am very excited about this opportunity, and while I was 100% ready and willing to switch Lucy whenever they had an opening at this school (even if it was mid school year) I am so very thrilled that she can begin her public education here. 

Oh and more good news!  Lucy totally rocked at Kuk Sool Won tonight.  Even her teacher came up to praise her.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Now that it's been 1 million degrees outside

Lucy has actually found a practical use for her three year old pink elephant nightie, she wears it to bed!


this was in 2008

2007, when she was obsessed with dressing up in this

she was so little!

She loves her silkie nightie, it's been nice to get three years of use out of one nightgown. 

Saturday, July 24, 2010

road trip

This morning after wavering between totally doing nothing, cleaning & organizing, letting Lucy swim in our back yard pool, and again doing nothing, I very spontaneously decided to do a road trip to Duluth.  I called Mel and she was in so off we went.  Thankfully she had his bike in her trunk and we were able to fit both bikes in my new (to me) swagger wagon.  Yup, I am a minivan mom and totally loving it!!!   So we popped a DVD in the built in player and off we went.  

First stop was the Munger bike trail, accessed through Jay Cooke State Park.   This fun easy bike ride on a designated bike trail turned out to be more complicated then letting her ride on the sidewalks of s. Minneapolis.  HOLY CRAP, the spills these two took, it was amazing there wasn't a broken limb or three. 

They did amazing (spirits wise).  Turns out Lucy wasn't too good at brake application.  Her training wheels weren't overly stable and well, the combination of the two issues had her at one point flying into the foliage on the side of the path so fast and hard that she almost completely disappeared.  She came out angry, and i was mad too (mostly scared) that she refused to let me show her how to use the brakes again, and instead took off peddling down a pretty big hill.  The spill did serve a purpose, she used a lot more caution after this spill.

They (mostly Lucy) were so dang competitive.  The focus on the other also caused a few spills.

But it was mostly fun and good exercise for everyone.  Before they could fall their way down all those hills they had to peddle hard UP all those hills.




a well deserved drink after a long, hard, scary bike ride.


we stopped at Leif Erickson park to throw rocks at the water.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

perspective

Looking back on this photo from two years ago, it's hard to believe that she was giving me such a DAMN HARD TIME!  She looks so little, barely capable of anything but causing love and joy.  Yet, I very clearly and with vivid pain remember her at three years old.  No wonder people thought I was nutz, all they could see is what I see in this photo, a sweet, adorable, can't do nothing wrong beautiful baby girl.  

I want to remember as often as possible, that two short years from now, I will think that the current Lucy is still so young and little.  Though, I could hold on to the 5 year old stage for a long time. 

Today Lucy asked me what color my arm was.  Interesting question given that I know she was asking in the most literal sense.  Uhhh, ummm, sort of pink and yellow??? Uh it's hard to say.   Lucy laughs, "you have YELLOW skin???  ha ha ha"     A few weeks ago she had her face painted and she went up to (a total stranger) someone and said, "look at my face, it used to be brown but now I am a puppy".    Then later when I told her it was time to do hair she started throwing a fit and when I said, "Lucy, it's no big deal, we all need to keep our hair neat and clean"  she counters with "it IS a big deal mom, you are NOT like me, look at our skin! Mom, who IS like me?"  I was sooo thankful that we have many children and adults in our lives that I could quickly name off who are "like her".    

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Week-end End

Sadly we bid faretheewell to yet another weekend.  Lucy's love of the animals continues.  I need one more weekend, attached to this one.


Auntie Jen got Lucy some ear protection to prep her for rocking with out hearing loss! 

Thursday, July 15, 2010

YIKES!!!

After a "heads-up" phone call from a friend I decided to double check the Minneapolis Public School calendar and much to my dismay I found out that kindergarten starts BEFORE labor day.  What???  My baby has to grow up like several days faster then I am ready for, also our little "last hoorah" camping trip before the big-bad world of public education actually turns into our "we both survived the first couple days of public education" camping trip. 

she's just a tiny baby.  how will we ever survive this?

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Mehaber

We got back from our vacation in Door Cty and 20 minutes later our Mehaber guests walk in the door.  My Mommy Brain forgot that we were expecting overnight guests.  At first I didn't think I could handle it but as it turns out it was a perfect perfect way to end our vacation!


after eating dinner Lucy and the boys hopped in the pool to get out some energy seeing as every one of us were in the car a good portion of the day.

Og hangs on for his life.



later Og and Zep hang out.

Og and his mommy made some delicious cupcakes for dessert.

the next day we were off to the Mehaber.  The best Mehaber yet!

had a nice little picnic in a shady area

we met the Peep - Eye crew!!!!!


Dinkeneh was a little out of it, or mabe he was so overwhelmed in the company of Lucy that his eyes couldn't fully open.

Morgan tired to take off with Dinkeneh, he actually wanted the soccer ball but since D would not release the ball Morgan had to take both of them.

Lucy and Mo enjoy some dessert.
I was far too tired to take very many Mehaber photos. 

Door County

This summer instead of camping/cabining, the boys, their mom, Lucy and I decided to kick it up a notch and head to Door Cty Wisconsin.  Above is a photo of the view from our hotel balcony.

After a long drive, a nice evening swimming off energy at the pool the kids slept well and we were all in good moods as we headed to our first destination.  Washington Island.  In the above photo the kids are on the ferry. Isaac and Nathan were a little weary of potential fog horn blows so they kept themselves protected.

When we left the peninsula it was fairly cloudy, but we could still see the island from the pier.  Very quickly a thick fog rolled in. 

Here we are on the island. The fog disappeared and the sun came out. We had crazy good luck with weather considering that every day called for rain.  Above is a photo of Lucy and Jacob on the Cherry Train tour.  Folks, it wasn't a train at all, it was a trailer being pulled very fast through the streets of Washington Island by a SUV.  I loved the tour, it was just a little anxiety producing considering there were no carseats, no seat belts and we were pretty much in the open air.   Not to worry, Lucy made sure Jacob stayed safe.


One of the Cherry Train stops was a historic farm.  Lucy loved the animals.

Another stop was Schoolhouse Beach, famous for its smooth rocks. Lucy spent our time here collecting and hiding rocks in the forest for other people to discover.

The train stopped at another farm.  Lucy just loved the chickens. 

On Thursday we headed to another farm on the peninsula. The kids really seemed to love all the open space and freedom to run that this farm offered. 

For lunch we discovered PC Junction a train themed kid friendly restaurant in the middle of nowhere. It was fun to let the kids play and explore the play area while waiting to be seated.

they had a play house, lucy immediately got to work cooking soup for all the kids.

After lunch we headed to a state park to swim at their sand dune beach. Water was cold.
Friday morning before heading out the kids got their last swim in the hotel pool.  They loved jumping into the pool doing tricks. 
Lucy was able to swim all the way across the pool with no help.

Monday, July 5, 2010

Chao

We are heading to Door County WI for a few days.  We'll be vacationing with the three boys we babysit and their mom (and a few bottles of wine).  See some of you at the Mehaber on Saturday!
standing so still trying to get a butterfly to land on her

come on butterfly land on my not-so-patient finger

so very close

if you wont land on me, maybe I'll just land on you

Sunday, July 4, 2010

A Girl and Her Dog

these two love each other so much
seriously they can't leave each other alone
Zep is her protector
aren't they too dang cute!