Quote of the Day

Boylee: Art is anything.

A Jubilee

Yesterday our playdate got cancelled, so Boylee and I went cherry picking. (Dad has to work.) First, we drove about 60 miles away to a place called the Leona Valley. Then we found the specific orchard we were looking for -- there are many in that valley. The helpful greeters armed us with two big buckets, pointed us in the direction of the most heavily-laden trees, and off we went.

It was very, very hot, but it didn't take us too long to find a tree just bursting with hundreds and hundreds of Ranier cherries. And other trees laden with Bings. Boylee got a bit knackered, and we probably stayed in the orchard for less than 45 minutes. But we emerged with 5.3 pounds of mixed cherries. (No stems -- we were shown how to pick them without plucking the stem from the tree, the loss of which could damage next year's crop. I guess professional cherry pickers know how to pluck the stems properly without injuring the tree.)

The 5+ pounds of cherries only cost us $16, which is a huge bargain...except that 120-mile round trip's worth of gas. But it was fun.

Last night I made a clafoutis, in the authentic French way -- which means you don't pit the cherries. But we probably still had 4.5 pounds left. As of now? I'm estimating 1 pound left. We love cherries!

I'm Sensing a Pattern

It is officially Summertime.

Today's activities: playdate + swimming

Tomorrow's activities: gymnastics, then playdate + swimming

None of this is happening at our house yet. Our pool is still chilly and won't be fit for anything other than a Polar Bear Swim until it gets really hot and starts staying warm at night. Then it's great.

A Crisis

When Boylee's not in school and I want to go to the gym, he comes and hangs out at the "Kids Klub" (the Ks, I know, are krazy). The main highlight there? VIDEO GAMES! He loves them so much that it's hard to get him to leave when I'm done. It's pretty much a perfect situation.

But today we found out they've taken away the video games and they're not replacing them. This is a big problem. Add to that the fact that today, of the 20 kids at the Klub, 15 seemed to be around two years old and the rest, other than boylee, were three-ish. There's a TV, but it was on some very babyish show. Egad, this is really a big problem. I have no idea how I'm going to get my boot camp, kickboxing, bodywork and cardio in for the next twelve weeks without those freaking video games!!

Scott said, "Should we buy him a DS?" And as much as I wanted to say yes, I had to say no.

More About The Last Day

Boylee had made a scrapbook page for Mrs. Richards, and we had contributed to our group gift card for her. But I asked Boylee if there was anybody else at school we needed to thank or recognize at the end of the year. So we thanked our great principal. Boylee went out of his way to say "Have a nice summer" to Mr. Greene, the janitor. We said thanks to the 3rd grade teacher, a great guy who gave Boylee a recording and sheet music of the song his class sang at the Spring Concert, just because Boylee said he liked it. (That teacher got laid off, by the way, strictly because of his lack of seniority. Apparently he's a wonderful teacher.)

And Boylee made a card for the librarian, Mrs. Cain. Her job is up in the air -- she'll probably be reduced to half time, and spend half her week at another school. Technically, it could be any school, anywhere in the city. And though she's been working for the district for about 15 years, she says she's not very senior in the world of librarians. So her spot at our school might get taken by someone else. And she's a really sweet, gentle lady. Anyway, Boylee wrote her a card that said, "Thanks for letting me be a bookworm." She had tears in her eyes when he gave it to her.

The Last Day

Today was the last day of school. It was bittersweet, of course. The kids in Boylee's class wore their PJs today, and got to watch a movie and eat popcorn. (There's a TV in his classroom, and today was the first time it was turned on all year, except for the morning of the inauguration.)

Today's highlight was the transformation of "Kenny the Caterpillar" -- on the first day of school, Mrs. Richards showed the kids a caterpillar head she'd made out of cardboard. She taped it high up on one wall, and said that they'd be constructing Kenny's body day by day, with one numbered segment for each school day, and that by the end of the year it would stretch all the way around the classroom. And they did, and it did.

Until today. When we walked in the classroom, the enormous caterpillar was gone. And in one corner of the room -- a cocoon!

And then, after lunch...a butterfly! The kids were enthralled.

And yes, Boylee did have perfect attendance.

Boylee's Award

Graduation Day!

Boylee and his classmates graduated today! Well most of them, anyway. (The Mountain Child didn't, but that's a story for another day.)

First, he picked out his outfit:

At the ceremony, Boylee presented a painting that shows what he wants to be when he grows up -- a piano instructor.

And the kids sang "First Grade, First Grade," to the tune of "New York, New York." And he was given an award for his creative writing. And then he got his diploma!

And then we all had lunch in the kindergarten yard. Mrs. Richards teared up several times, and I completely came unglued when presenting her with the gifts we'd made/bought for her. She was quite grateful.


The only reason I didn't totally fall apart is because it's only Tuesday, and we still have three more days!

More pix to come when I get a hold of Scott's camera.

Last Week of School!

Today the kindergarten kids got ready for 1st grade by doing the morning line-up with the rest of the school! Up until now we've been lining up in a quiet, separate area.

Boylee happened to be the first in line -- lots of families had forgotten and gone to the wrong area, but eventually everybody showed up. And then, for the first time, we saw what the rest of the school has been doing every morning as school starts. Mr. Klein got on his microphone and welcomed everyone and said it was a special day -- because the kindergarteners were there! And then...he said the kindergarten was going to lead the rest of the school in the Pledge of Allegiance...and then he grabbed Boylee...and handed him the microphone! And with a proud, strong voice, Boylee told everyone to turn their eyes to the flag, and put their right hand over their heart...and then he said the entire pledge!

I know they've been doing the pledge every day in kinder, but I didn't now that he actually knew every word. Some of those words are hard!

Some People Are Different Than Us

Sorry I haven't posted lately. Things have been busy getting ready for Boylee's kinder graduation. As the Official Room Parent I have been in charge of coordinating teacher gifts. For the first gift, I very delicately asked families to donate any monetary amount they felt comfortable with, so we could pool the money for a gift card.

Most families gave $20. Great!

The single mom gave $10. Fabulous! I know she works hard.

One mom gave $20 on behalf of another mom who is in the midst of a divorce and doesn't have a job. What friendship!

One mom gave me $250. Wow! She says she's so grateful to our wonderful teacher, and I concur.

One family, who just purchased a vacation home, gave $7. Hmmm.

The second part of the project is a scrapbook. To make it easy on everyone, I went out and bought scrapbook pages, and gave each family as many as they wanted. They turn the completed pages back in to me, I take it to kinkos and have it all bound together, and voila -- beautiful, handmade gift that costs parents nothing more than their child's time and a little bit of creativity. I made it very clear that any artistic effort is accepted -- coloring, writing, scribbling, photos, stickers, whatever. And the pages are extraordinarily, sweetly cute. Some were clearly done only by the child. Some were done mostly by the parents. Doesn't matter -- they're all nice.

And then there are the three families that gave no money and have not participated in the scrapbook. And it's not just that they haven't participated in this -- these three families have participated in nothing for the entire school year. These are parents I've never seen at school, never seen at an event, who have never volunteered for anything, never responded to an email or note I've sent home. Nothing. I know some people are very busy, especially in these times. But to never show up for your child's Thanksgiving feast, holiday concert, Open House -- nothing? In kindergarten? That's just sad.

Go Blue

Think Blue

All it started with was some basic dialogue:

Mama: Let's go to a Dodger game.

Papa: Okay. Should we go to a day game?

Mama: I think Boylee is old enough for a night game.

A few weeks later there was this:

Papa: I got the tickets. And it's a Friday night game, so there will be fireworks afterwards. Let's not tell Boylee in case he can't stay awake that late.

Mama: Okay.

Simple, right? Just Papa, Noni, Boylee and I going to a baseball game on a Friday evening.

But what it turned into was anything but simple. Here's a little preview:

More to come!

Our 2nd Field Trip of the Week

Wow, two field trips in one week! Today we had an amazing day at the Audubon Center at Debs Park. We hiked, birdwatched, sang, weeded, watered plants, had lunch, played, and learned a lot, especially about birds. Here are some of the highlights:

Boylee demonstrating "quiet coyote," which is the center's staff's way of asking the kids to be quiet and focus. His hand is making the coyote shape. The coyote's ears are up, so he is ready to listen, and his mouth is closed, so he's not talking.


When a facilitator asked what plants need, Boylee answered "water," so he got to portray water in a little dramatic scenario. Here he is, feeling excited and getting ready.


Here he is, raining indiscriminately on the plants. The girl in pink is a weed and she was crowding out a tree seed.


Ready to look for birds. We saw several on our walk, including a red tail hawk, some towhees, a scrub jay and some Bewick's wrens. We also had a quiet moment to sit in silence and listen to birds.


And one more from Field Day. Boylee with his medal.

More About Field Day

What with all the squatting, I didn't get much chance to take photos. But another dad got a few of Boylee: (Click on any pic to enlarge; recognize Boylee by his massive head of hair.)

Arriving at the park


Setting off on a three-legged race


Oops


Not the greatest picture, but this is it -- the entire school engaged in fun athletic activities, around a big circle, at a huge park. Not pictured: the foot race that ended the games (everybody got a medal) and the (free) lunch of sub sandwiches. All of it was paid for by pledges made to a teacher who ran the marathon, plus a little extra from the PTA, and funds for 1 bus that the principal found somewhere.

All School Field Day

Today the entire school -- meaning, the ENTIRE school -- went to a big park for a day of athletic endeavors and school spirit-building. I'll write about it tomorrow, because right now I'm too tired. I'm so tired because I picked exactly the wrong volunteering station. Somehow I thought overseeing the Three Legged Race would be fun. I didn't take into account the idea that for every group of two kids, I would need to kneel down to fasten the two straps on their legs. Then stand up send them on their way, then crouch down to strap up the next group of kids. And then frequently stop and help the ones who'd fallen over. And unstrap the ones who'd fallen over and couldn't get unstrapped, etc. And it was HOT. I actually felt faint at one point.