The Wonder Years

My boys' answer to the questions many a sage has asked: What is a jock-strap? Their answer is a quote from the pilot episode of The Wonder Years. Thank you for the giggles Kevin Arnold.

Cutest Team Ever

I know I say this every year, but seriously, this has been the cutest team ever. Go, Coach Bill.

Rockin' William

To make rock'n'roll, technology is the least important thing.
Keith Richards

Good thing too. With a $30 cash and 3 month time investment, William can now rock on his handmade guitar. Out of the blue he decided he had to have a guitar, and he wanted to create it himself. He picked all the materials, all the paint and had a very clear vision of rockin' and rollin' William style.

The Spring Project

Spring is nature's way of saying, "Let's party!" ~Robin Williams


Let's get it started, already. I am sure Ms. Manners would agree: Spring should never be fashionably late to it's own celebration! But now it has shown up and it is time to let loose and get outside.






After a long week of work and school, my 3 men were ready to be turned loose in the great outdoors. We all needed to see some signs of life.








My boys came to life. Dirt covered clothes and hiking shoes: the sure sign of a wonderful afternoon playing, enjoying perfect weather.








Lazy late afternoon sun is best enjoyed on a rock in the water of a duck pond.












What better way to finish the night, than with a watermelon juice cocktail? Shirtless sticky sugar rush.











Personally, my week was not as stressful. 3 hour long walks looking at blossoms clinging to trees and clear azure sky is a luxurious way to spend a day.




Walking for hours through my favorite neigh-
borhoods in the state means finding gems hiding in plain sight, like these three hanging out on a window sill daring me to stand in a stranger's yard and capture them. I have a hard time turning down a challenge.

The Ubiquitous Mr. Romney Love Groove's Alphabet

You have no idea how long I have been waiting to use that
DEAD CAN DANCE song title in a blog post. I finally have my chance. Romney came home with what I can *unbiasedly* say is the most uniquely creative alphabet book in the history of 2nd grade alphabet books. Inspired by a Bare Naked Ladies song in which the band sings an alphabet song about obscure words that start with the letters but don't sound like they do (think: C is for czar. B is for bdellium.) Romney churned out a 2nd grade verbal masterpiece. (Looking at his cover, you can tell he may not grow up to be an artist, but his chances for scrabble champion, at the moment, look marvelous.) Here is the alphabet according to Romney.

Argyle is a type of style

Bane is to destroy things

C is for cod which is a fish family

D is for dike which is a dam

E is for earnest which is to be serious

F is for fone which is a type of wind

Gist is a main point

H is for hydrophobia which is fear of water

Ichthyology which is the study of fish

J is for jaded which is to be tired

K is for karat which is a tool that measures how pure gold is

L is for lollygag which is to not listen

Manifold which is to have many talents

N is for nut which is an egyptian goddess

O is for ornamental which is to be decorated

Poppydied is to be not restrained

Q is for qat which is a type of wind

R is for readiness which is to be eager

S is for sag which is to be sad (ok, not really he later told me, but you do sag when you are sad.)

T is for taboo which is to be banned

U is for ubiquitous which is to be many places at once

V is for verve which is to be hyper

W is for will which is when you give stuff when you are dead

X is for xylem which is woody tissue

Y is for youth which is when you are young

Z is for zed zed top which is a band (ok, he stole this last one from the BNL song.)

How I Earned My Mother's Day

My mother's day this year was heaven. Sleeping in, breakfast of a gorgeous fruit salad and my requested pumpkin waffles, a seitan stew for dinner and a lot of dishes and laundry that I did not have to do. Perfection. Sometimes, I just don't feel worthy. Sometimes. And then I remember how I earn my keep around here. After listening to William stress to the point of collapsing on the ground, with a hula-hoop around his waist, in a heap on the floor, exhausted of hula-hooping overload, I agreed to email his teacher who is grading him on his hula skills tomorrow. This takes some guts, and some humor and is an example of swallowing my pride in the name of love.

Mr (blank):

My son William is in your Lifetime Sports class and has been stressed about the Hula Hooping "test" coming up on Monday. He has spent hours (yup, I said hours) practicing to try and make that hoop stay up on his non-existent hips. He is worried his grade will suffer because of his lack of hooping skills.

I am giggling as I type this and I am hoping you are getting a chuckle out of this email as well, but I thought you should know that regardless of how long that hoop stays up on his hips, there was a tremendous amount of effort put into the exercise.

I can hear the snickers in the staff room from here. . .

Oh, William, my perfectionist, how I love thee.

First Sleepover

What happens when an 8 year old boy gets invited to his very first sleepover birthday party? Let me recap for you. Telling the boy he is invited to an overnight birthday party=shouts of joy accompanied by dancing around the kitchen and hugs. Packing the boy up for the experience=bossy pants behavior about what he does and does not need. ( ie: Needs at least 3 stuffed animals. Does not need clothes for the next day. Needs a sleeping bag and pillow and electronic Pokedex. Does not need toothbrush or list of phone numbers in case something goes wrong. ) Getting dropped off at party=goodbye equivalent of: "See ya' later, sucker." Phone call saying "goodnight" and "how are you" during party="Why are you calling me, Mom"! Obviously, this was a much bigger milestone to me than him. He had a wonderful time. What kid wouldn't with eight school friends, a trampoline, a tent, a campfire, a pinata, tofu burgers, s'mores, a water fight, tie-dying bandanas, and a gift bag at the end.

Retro Fabulous

We survived a week of workers at our door at 7 a.m., no access to 1/3 of our home, strangers feet away from us working 14 hour days, not being able to walk in the other 1/3 for all the "stuff" piled up waiting for its new home, as well as 2 meals a day eaten outside of the home (Ok, so that wasn't really all that hard, just fattening.) The result is a very beautiful work of art that we get to walk on. The kitchen doesn't seem old and shabby anymore, just retro and fabulous.


Bill keeps asking me if I want to redo the cabinets and countertop. I have always said I hated them, but now they seem to "fit" the vibe we got going on . However if he offered up a set of these appliances (in white of course), I wouldn't turn them down. Too bad they would cost more than the floor, the cabinets and the countertop combined.