watch me watch me are you watching me are you?

...the summer emmett and mac become one with the pool
silas is still beach, all the way...

where the wild things are

ok, everyone loves this book right?

(thank you again Maurice Sendak)

I made a felt story of it when I was in
6th grade...cut out monsters and all the
scenes and even small felt letters...
I performed it for the kindergarteners
and 1rst graders (got to skip class
to do it too)
and I still have the felt-boy in my trunk.

I mean this is just a great book.

And now,
with Silas,
I even have my
very own little wild thing.
I can't believe how good this movie looks
but even if it isn't, the trailer is awesome.
watch it ---> HERE.
The music sounds great too.

thanks mom for the quote of the day...

memory lane....Mac and friends!

(click to enlarge the goodness!)
2-3 years old! magic years! and check out Megan and Max and Bebe and the Aida smooch!
thinking of you baby fee!

spring to summer growth, before and after

...and here's Silas enriching the compost!! ;)

I LOVE HALF BLOOD PRINCE. (and...I am such a mush.)

We went to see Harry Potter (and we are taking Nana again tonight!) and this was my very favorite movie so far.
But what is really interesting to me is that I am in love with the characters so much, as is the world, that I cry at the drop of a hat thinking about them. Just weird.
For instance, my throat gets tight when I think of them leaving Hogwarts or growing up. It's like a little bereavement thinking of there being no more books or movies. I was very happy to hear that the last book will be two movies.
Of course much of this is tied to our kids and their friends and all the growing up that has happened since we stretched out to read the first book...changing right along with Harry, Hermione, Ron and Ginny...and Luna, and Neville and Hagrid and Dumbledore (waaaaaaaaa!).
They are so damn cute in this movie.

the only rain I'm gonna get ...turn up the first two minutes loud!!

"extremely loud and incredibly close", another amazing read!

"Succotash my balzac, dipshittake!"

Emmett thinks this is the most brilliant almost curse of all time.

Thank you Jonathon Safran Foer.

(so I blogged it afterall Caline! hahaha)

ok, three things...

#1 I watched "A Little Romance" with Mac and Emmett tonight and just went back in time. I saw the movie for the first time when I was 11 or 12...as Mac is...and the main character played by Diane Lane is turning 13. Lawrence Olivier is also in it. Such a sweet movie. And half way through we had an amazing realization. The boy in the movie looks so very much like Pablo it's crazy...without the curly dark hair.











#2 is about a book... "Everything is Illuminated" by Jonathan
Safran Foer that I am reading thanks to Caline's recommendation is soooooo good. The first chapter is hands down the funniest first chapter ever and the rest is completely wonderful and beautiful and hilarious. Too good not to share!














#3 is another first in the family... I am not supposed to make too big a deal of this but Mac babysat for the first time tonight at someone else's house for someone else's kids. (Thanks Polly!) She is so incredibly ready and prepared for being a great babysitter (she has had Megan after all!) and we are just P-R-O-U-D!!

the Creek in Idyllwild

1985 Maybe???

Kids, do as we say, not as we did.

July 4th Party and Attempted Robbery, No Kidding...

So Mama, Mac, Emmett, Silas and I went to San Marcos for the 4th of July fireworks party we have been going to for many years. Lauren, Eduardo, Pablo, Aida, Rachel and Miles joined us there. We had some food, lots of laughs, the kids ran around and we had a great time. Silas hid under a blanket during the show but was okay because he could see the show, filtered by the blanket. We know this because a bunch of us got under and watched the show with him.


The crazy part of the day was on the way home, across the street from Lauren's house we witnessed a robbery in progress when we saw a bicycle hurled into the middle of the street and two guys attacking a girl on the sidewalk. Annie, the super hero super mom, started yelling out the window for the robbers to , "Stop It!" Then she tried to get out of the car, soccer ball in hand (no kidding, she really tried to get out of a moving minivan with a soccer ball in hand and break up the robbery).

I yelled at her to get back in the 'effin car (the kids were making fun of me later for dropping the F bomb) and I got out. The robbers, two juveniles most likely, had run off. The victim was a 27 year old lady bring some beer over to her friends house. She said that while she was getting robbed, she saw the silver van go by and a woman yelled and the robbers ran off. Go Annie!
Lauren and Eduardo pulled up, got some ice for the victim, she was okay, Lauren drove Annie and the kids home while I waited for the cops and helped the girl make the report. What a day!

The Ball Game!

Emmett and I went to the Ball Game Today! The San Diego Padres vs the Houston Astros!. We sat in the first row on the third base line. The best seats I have ever had for a ball game in my life. We ate huge amounts of junk food, got sun burn and had a really great time. The game had a delay in the top of ninth, a swarm of bees formed in left field and landed in the ball girls jacket right in front of us, we had to evacuate the section. No worries though, the Padres were losing 6-1, so we packed it in and went home.

PS I know we had a really great time because Emmett just woke up and threw up blue raspberry icee/slushees all over the living room floor at 2:30 in the morning. America's past time, bees and some barf, a perfect day. One of the best days of my life.

Papa

noble faired long-haired sleeping gnome in our garden green

moments before the stingray attack...

..turned my back to the shore, all the buildings and the cars and faced the ocean...

This may just be my favorite mama picture yet. Erica said it perfectly,
"she definitely has the mama stance goin on: kickstand legs spread apart
for balance, hip popped out to hold up babe, arms clutched tightly together."
Bad for the posture, but powerful stuff.

Lauren, thanks for the shot.
I have been "awww-ing" over the Miles pictures too. Tell Rachel I have
to meet him!

mosquito fish giveaways...

...if you have a water saver barrel, the city gives free fish away to eat the mosquitos.
We got two at the City Farmer...little tiny guys that will hopefully live and grow and not die and stink and come out the hose when I water the spinach.
The kids named them "Chelax" and "Cracken"...the funniest names I have ever heard....they are hoping they will have babies....the planned names are "imp" "ump" and "amp".
hahahahahah.

Dream Garden

growth and expansion and secret places...

...so, on my birthday Mac, Emmett and I were driving in the alley behind the library and found 2 colorful chairs we decided to scoop up (NYC dumpster days?) and use on our side pathway to make a secret hideout place. We also found some wooden chairs, a glass and iron sun, an old painting of a girl, a redpainted dollhouse and a dollbed (I think we will grow shamrocks on it!) from Pat's junk store and grabbed a bunch of other stuff from the garage to make a really cool "house". We especially love the shutter over a hole in the door of the gate to peek out. Add Emmetts succulents, some radishes and beans and a few nasturtium seeds and its just so cool!






















Silas of course added his two cents by requesting a hammock.









The best part of all this is that for my birthday my mom got our lawn guys to cut out about 1/3 of our lawn (THANK YOU, THANK YOU MAMA!) and we used landscape bricks to make a retaining wall ...so now we have 3 new sections for garden...bigger than our whole kitchen garden! WAHOO! (go hog wild!)

This part of the garden leads up and into the gate where our secret (now not so secret!) hideout lives so it really feels hidden and wild when you're in it.

Roses, veggies, herbs and teepee's are in the plan. Mostly seeds at this point! Very exciting. I will update with pics...of course....because it's all I think about right now! (And I am humming new songs all the while.)