“Mommy, if I could be president, I would make it a law that nobody could kill any more babies.”
~Lucas Dalton, age 7
‘If I Could Be President’
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Category Archives: Family
Lucas Is Seven!
Happy Birthday to Lucas Sebastian! Seven years old!! Woohoo!!!
Looney Toons, the awesome Science Center, milkshakes and smoothies, Mass, friends and family, and playing at Chick-fil-A.
What a day!
Purrfect Puzzlement
When Lucas picked out the 700-piece puzzle, I thought about redirecting him toward the 100-piece ones. We have a ton of puzzles, after all.
But Lucas has been a puzzle-master for years now. He can pick out a matching color faster than I can sometimes, and he has a killer eye for shapes. It’s like he has that missing piece’s edges imprinted in his mind, and other similar pieces click with that template: “Oooh! This may be the one!”
Plus, since we now have an actual dining room table, we’re free to use the old slate/wood coffee table for play, which means that the puzzle wouldn’t have to be completed today.
And if it lingers, all the better.
The boys and I have come to the table off and on all afternoon, all of us intrigued by the developing whole.
Although Kevin doesn’t love puzzles, he pulled the stool over and played the Les Paul (I mean, Josephine) for a long while.
I don’t think piece-hunting is aids my song-lyrics memory, but I’m definitely more into singing some lead when I’m seeing the line. π
Lucas’ Latest Invention
Introducing the magnetic beard!
The longest it’s stayed on is about ten seconds, but hey, as Lucas says, “I’ve finally got a beard!”
Happy Anniversary!! :)
We took this one right after we got married.
I know that I knew I was where I needed to be,
but I had no idea just how right he was for me.
Jo <3 Kevin
Bible School Day Camp
It’s Pandamania!
The boys had an awesome time! They were all, “Do we get to go back tomorrow?”
Thanks to Amanda Esparza and the rest of the volunteers!
Endings and Beginnings
Today was Attie’s last day of preschool camp, both a happy and sad occasion.
None of us can believe that these four weeks are over already!
On his first day, we had to enlist my parents to get him to and from school because it was the day the moving company moved most of our stuff into the new house β which is, by now, more like the we’ve-always-been-here house β only it’s not a house at all now; it’s Hawke Haven. π
The second day of preschool, and all the other days since, Attie has ridden bus 48 to school. We thought he was going to be a little hesitant, especially after he’d expressed concerns about school buses not having seatbelts.
But he wasn’t at all. He said “bye” and stepped right up there like a big boy!
And now, four weeks of 9-to-1 have passed like lightning, leaving way too much stuff still not in its place here (and way too little time left before I go back to work). Streak!
Academically, Atticus probably didn’t learn a whole lot. He already knew his letters, numbers, colors, shapes. (This is the kid who’s been reciting Latin for a year and has the equivalent of a photographic memory for songs, lyrics and key.)
But he learned a lot of new cool songs to go along with them from Miss Lane’s “board.” (We found most of the songs he’s been singing at HarryKindergarten’s YouTube profile. Check him out if you want to jumpstart your little’s learning. π
Also, socially, there was so much he needed to learn: raising his hand to contribute to class discussion, working quietly, staying seated, cooperating with other kids, walking through the cafeteria line with a tray β all with teachers who expect some mess-ups and are trained to help kids learn from them.
Kevin and I went to the school today for a pizza party program. His teachers, paraprofessionals, principal, nurse and secretaries all knew Atticus and told us how much they had enjoyed him.
Miss Lane said he would come up to the Smart Board and read the short words before the whole class watched and sang along with the videos.
The principal, or site coordinator, Ms. Harris said Atticus had helped her write the word “Finish” on the sidewalk for last week’s tricycle races. And then he just had to show her how to write his brother Lucas’ name, too. π
In a few short weeks, Atticus will start kindergarten.
There will be new people to meet, new places to see and fit into, new processes to follow and remember, new skills to master, but we know he’s ready, and he really can’t wait.
Today, when he came home on the bus (he wanted to ride it one last time, even though we offered to drive him home), he broke down on the sofa, crying his heart out because preschool was over.
I hugged him close, dried his tears, and reminded him of the new experiences he was going to have soon.
None of that would be possible if this didn’t end.
It’s a hard lesson for all of us, isn’t it?
Remembering NYC: 2007
Our third NYC trip together, July 2007, was the year we first visited the Shanghai Cafe in Chinatown.
As you can see by Kevin’s perfect expression above, some of the food’s a little hot. π
Sure, none of the people who work there speak much English; they only bring you a fork if you ask for it, and they don’t take credit cards, but they have the best chicken fried rice we have ever tasted. Ever.
Some other things we remember about our action-packed 2007 trip:
- We saw Julie Brown‘s one-woman show at Joe’s Pub and got to talk with her afterward!
- We followed a self-guided tour through Greenwich Village that included a number of Bob Dylan’s hangouts.
- We ventured uptown to Harlem to find the place where the Savoy Ballroom used to be. The home of the Lindy Hop, the Savoy was one of Ella Fitzgerald’s usual hangouts in the city. It’s now a park with a monument.
- We saw “Phantom of the Opera” for the second time. π
- We also saw “Spamalot.” I love some Monty Python; Kevin thinks they’re a little too silly, but he enjoyed it because it was a spoof on the Arthurian legend.
Remembering NYC: 2006
As you can see, I was very pregnant by the time our second trip to NYC rolled around. Just two months later, our Atticus was born. π
The picture’s bad, taken with a cell phone, and recaptured by my Droid tonight from a print. (What happened to those files?!)
Here are some things we remember about this trip:
- We were only there two nights, July 26-28, the shortest stay so far.
- We saw “Rent” at the Nederlander Theatre. Awesome production!
- We stayed at the New Yorker, which was nice enough, but way too far away from any subway stops.
- We stopped in St. Bartholomew’s on the way to St. Patrick’s. Remember, I was pregnant and it was late July…hot!! This stop changed our lives … long story (to come)!
NYC Wedding Trip :)
This year marks the first in many that we won’t be spending the end of July in New York City.
Usually, we save up all year long to take a few days alone, Kevin and I, exploring the city. This year, however, all savings went toward a downpayment on our new home. Totally worth it, yes, but we’re still in #miss mode.
We decided to take this week, when we’d originally planned to make the trip, and document the years we’ve enjoyed.
Six years ago next week, we sold whatever we could — jewelry, a guitar, a knife collection, etc. — and scraped together the money to spend a few days in Manhattan … and get married!
We left Danville on Monday, July 25, 2005.
Although I’d been twice (once with students to Columbia’s journalism camp and once to sing with a band at the Hard Rock Cafe), it was Kevin’s first time in New York. You should’ve seen his widened eyes and dropped jaw! Or his panicked look when we rushed onto the first subway car at the last minute. So precious! π
That first train ride took us from near the Howard Johnson’s on 8th Avenue, where we stayed that trip (it’s another hotel chain now) downtown to City Hall, where we waited in line sweating like crazy in the heat to get our marriage license.
After we explained their marriage code to them (long story! :P), we finally left with that license, but it was so late by then that we had to wait until Wednesday to get married…
At 10:20 a.m., on Wednesday, July 27, 2005, we were married in the Manhattan City Clerk’s office. Our witness was a lady who lived in Harlem and got married just before us.
When we left City Hall, we walked right into a “Law and Order: Criminal Intent” set.
We headed up to Times Square, had lunch at TGI Fridays, and experienced “Phantom of the Opera” for the first time!!
After crashing for hours at the hotel, we rushed down to the Empire State Building, getting in line just before 11. We knew they took the last elevators up at 11:15, and we wanted to be up there on the night we were married, so we’d bought our tickets in advance.
So when the guy in charge of the line, already on a major power trip, told us they were closing early, I got pretty upset to say the least. I got on the phone, called directory assistance (no smart phones at the time), and called the manager of the Empire State Building to complain. π
Within five minutes, that manager had come down personally to escort us to the elevator!
We spent the final 15 minutes of the day we got married on top of the world. π
And then we ran uptown to Central Park and found the last carriage ride of the night.
It was definitely a day we will never forget. π