Peter's 10th Birthday

Maybe you know about Peter and Paul's tradition of going down to the cafe (there's only one in town) and having breakfast on Peter's birthday.  Paul also 'surprises' Peter with a gift or two.  After eight birthdays in this cafe (which has had almost as many different owners and unique names), it's more of an expectation than a surprise.  The cafe's current name is The Laughing Cow.  Serious.

The opening of the gift.

A pocket knife.

Paul did not tell me about this gift because he thought I would disapprove.

Ask forgiveness instead of permission I guess.

Well I fooled him when I showed zero disapproval.

But as it goes with ten-year-olds and their pocket knives,

Peter's was confiscated (by Paul) within the week.

On to birthday pancakes with a candle.

And now the gift he was really hoping for.

The newest in Lego.

The cafe doesn't seem to be too busy.

On Peter's list of things to do before we move

was to go to Chic-fil-a.

So I suggested it for his birthday.

What he doesn't know is that it was my ploy to avoid a Chuck E. Cheese birthday,

which was also on his list.

Being naturally indecisive and easily influenced,

Peter was all for a Chic-fil-a birthday lunch.

Uncle Steve met us there.

And Nana and Papa.

Then we went to Nana and Papa's house for a third helping of birthday food.

Since we are moving and taking very little with us,

his cousins gave him great gifts of his favorite foods that he can eat before we go.

Great idea.

This is a giant cookie,

just like his Dad requests on his birthday.

And now he's ten.

How One Loses His Transportation

Have you ever done it?  Lost your transportation?  I have to pause to laugh...

This afternoon the boys and I went to the garage to mount our bikes and strollers for an excursion uptown.  Peter declares, "I can't find my bike.  My bike's not here."  Hmm.  He's totally right.  Bike gone.

My first thought was that someone stole it.  But then I remembered that he is his father's son.  So I asked him, "Did you ride it somewhere recently and leave it there?"

He thinks for a moment then replays yesterday's solo trip to the market.  "I rode my bike to the market to buy meat for dinner...  And then I walked home."  I smiled hugely in disbelief that he actually did this.  Because...

More than once, Paul has been out and about driving somewhere and he ends up at the local cafe, which is a two minute walk away from our house.  After spending hours solving the world's problems with the farmers, he heads out and, forgetting that he drove the car, he walks home.  Then later in the day one of us goes to use the car and we don't know where it is.

"Oh, heh heh, I left it at the cafe."

See how funny and ridiculous this is?  It brought great humor into my life that Peter, never knowing that Paul is also prone to losing his transportation, took a one-way trip on his bike.

The truly sad part of the story is that his bike is gone.  It was not at the market when we went to retrieve it today.  I'm hoping that it will magically reappear, but I imagine one of the nocturnal youth who traverse our town in the darkness of night took it for a joy ride.

Cue Reuben's act of mind-blowing kindness.  He told Peter that he could ride his bike any time he wanted and that he would ride his scooter.  Yes, Reuben.  You're amazing too.

In California

(The computer I'm using doesn't like blogger as much as I do, so the format is a bit funky.)

Day 1

                                                                Paul so lovingly escorted us to our gate.
                                                                       He's joining us next week.

                                                   Mini M&Ms, mini muffin liners, and pipe cleaners = fun on the airplane.

Charlie took the initiative of wiping down the seats at the Phoenix airport while we waited for our next flight.

Day 2

No pictures.

We went to Target, did our school lessons, and ate tostadas.

And rode bikes.

With helmets on.

Day 3 - Today

Reuben wanted to climb the mountain outside Granny's window.

So we did.

At 8am.

Three hour time zone change means we're up at 5am and ready to go.

                                                                                   They live in the desert.
                                                                        We kept an eye out for rattlesnakes.

                                                                                       Water break.  It's hot.

                                                                    Stopped to throw rocks down the hill.
                                                     I just kept thinking about the sleeping snakes they were waking.

                                                                                      Totally asleep.

This afternoon we went to play at the community pool.
Splash pad, large pool, and playground.
And clean bathrooms.
And a friendly lady named Chris with whom we chatted with for hours while our kids played together.
And misters.  Not men, but things that spray mist on you as you recline in lounge chairs.  Not that I got to recline much with Charlie roaming.  But still.  I imagine the misters are very nice.

                                                            Debbie - Thanks for the cute swim shorts for Charlie!

Charlie's current status.

Totally out.

Which is a total bummer because he conked out at 4:30pm,

which is his exact bedtime at home (7:30pm),

but could result in an unfortunate wake up call in the wee hours of the morn. 

Oo, time for turkey burgers!



Photos of the Boys

If he becomes fluent in Turkish before the rest of us, we'll know why.

 He's loves this little Turkish dictionary.

 Ice cream!

 Brothers in the sand box.

How the sand got on Reuben's head.

 

 Brothers in bed.

Brothers in the kitchen.

Charlie likes to eat peanut butter by the spoonful.

 

 Making a sassafras burger.

(grilling dinner at Turkey Run)

 Um, sassafras please.

(Sassafras is a tree out in these parts.

The leaves can be 3 shapes:

a dinosaur footprint, a mitten, or a football.

Isn't that neat?  A tree with 3 different leaf shapes?

The boys look for them when we hike and snack on the edible leaves.)

 Brothers all together.

So Paul's out helping a drunk woman whose husband has kicked her out.  He's been gone about an hour and I just heard a police car siren.  So maybe he'll be home soon.

I, on the other hand, just enjoyed a cup of ice cream with chocolate chunks and am ready to share some recent happenings.

We've got The Naked Ladies at the Art Museum, or The Bloody Pool, or The Sweaty Drive.

I know, The Naked Ladies.

We went to St. Louis last weekend for a family reunion, during which we spent a day doing touristy things like visiting their free zoo and equally free art museum.

*Tip - Even though you'll be tempted to go to the zoo when it opens at 8am to avoid the heat and holiday crowds, don't.  All we saw for 2 hours were the zookeepers cleaning out the habitats.  Bummer.

So Charlie fell asleep on our way to the art museum.  He snoozed on a lovely leather couch in the foyer while the other boys toured the museum.  To quench my boredom of sitting next to a sleeping child, I read a brochure about the museum.  It listed several famous artists and their paintings that were housed in this building.  One was Henri Matisse's work called Bathers and Turtle.  Do you see where this is going?  No?  Let's continue.

After a while, the boys return and I ask Peter if he saw the VanGogh or the Monet or the Matisse one about some bathers.  He said he had and he wanted to show me.

So Paul stayed with Charlie while Peter led me through rooms.  "Here it is, Mom."  Yep they are definitely bathers with a turtle.  A large painting of three large naked female bathers looking at a turtle.  Here...

So my nine-year-old son and I stood there to take in this early 1900s work of art.  Of naked women.  There was no shame or embarrassment, except the giggling I was hiding inside.

Then I turned around and Paul, Charlie, and Reuben had joined us and Paul pointed out another Matisse.  A sculpture.  Of a naked woman.  So our sweet little conservative family encircled the piece to gaze at its artistic wonder.  "What is it?" Reuben asked.  "A woman," I said.  "Oh."  Uh-huh.

And then I took a moment to look around the room.  All paintings of naked women.

I had sent my son on a hunt for naked women.

I could see this being a fun game when he's a teen.  I'll say, "Hey, Pete, did you see that one by So-and-So called Swaying In the Wind?"  And then he'll take me on a hunt for it and he'll get all embarrassed when it ends up being naked women.  And he'll say something like, "Ah Mom, not naked women again" and turn all red and then I'll giggle.

But for now, it's all art and we're all mature about it.


Paul's back.  The sirens weren't for him.  He said it was trippy and after much screaming, all is apparently well for the evening.

The other stories shall come henceforth another day.

Peter Turned Nine

On February 6th at 10:19pm California time, Peter was released from the warm watery darkness of my womb via knife and scalpel.  Since that grand event was in the Pacific time zone, he technically did not become nine until February 7th at 1:19am out here.  But we went ahead and celebrated anyway.

Look at him laugh...

Paul's mom brought him a Star Wars Mad Lib book

and something about a potato fork in one of the stories cracked him up.

Here they are filling in a post-birthday-dinner mad lib.

His dessert request was a giant Wookie Cookie.

The week before his birthday we took him to the Lego Store

to pick out his own gifts.

You could pick up a box and take it to this scanner

and it would show you what the finished product looked like.

He's got his shopping list in his hand there.

Wall o' Legos.

Counting out the moola.

Thank you Lego store for a fun afternoon.

Then they played at the mall's indoor play space.

Then to Burger King, per the Birthday Boy's request.

It was a rare day to not be in a hurry.

They are putting together a little rollercoaster that came with the kid's meal.

Back home and time to build.

Reuben's first Lego build.

It was a dino scene.

It has since diappeared into the vents, under furniture,

and into the general collection of Lego pieces.

He's okay with that.

I think Peter bought five Lego sets.

He put them together over the following week and a half,

purposefully wanting to spread out the joy of building.

Now we're on to anticipating Paul's birthday.

Then Charlie's.

Then Reuben's.

And I'm last.

I know this because Reuben keeps track

and let's us know whose birthday is next.

He wasn't very happy that Charlie jumped in there

between him and Paul.

Charlie's Cute and We Like To Eat Fun Food

Let's start with a cute picture of Charlie...

 Poor guy gets to use the pink cup because

he doesn't know he's not supposed to like it.

Pink bib is one I made from a skirt project

that didn't quite turn out,

but made a nice bib.

 The latest Star Wars cooking creation...

 See if you can guess.

A piece of banana dipped in white chocolate...

 

 Rolled in crushed peanuts

and Kit Kat legs attached to the sides...

 See it?

See R2D2?

Uh, huh.

 Very tasty.

 But nevermind the banana.

And we'll end with another cute Charlie pic.