Waiting for Friday

It usually starts on Monday, sometimes Tuesday...Madeline starts asking how many days until the no work, no school days. I work Monday-Thursday right now and so we have all day Friday, Saturday, Sunday together. Although she loves school and her friends, she LOVES to be off. She is good at keeping track of the days off also, she'll say this is day two, we still have one more. As a dedicated weekend lover myself, I can certainly understand her!

Since we are taking a break from My Gym on Friday mornings we have been relaxing around the house and yard in our jammies until noon. Not doing anything much, which is the point. After being up and at it early all week, Friday is our day. We usually start with coffee (for me) and juice (for kids) on the deck. The juice is a big treat in and of itself, since I don't let them have it very often. It is a little selfish on my part, I found that if I let them have juice I have more time for coffee. After juice and coffee we usually move on to breakfast, it has to be soldiers. This is a strange name for a Creighton family tradition, soft boiled eggs and strips of toast for dipping. I thought Jack was too young so I had only been making it for Madeline. Of course, he let me know that he was ready by screaming and pointing, "My, my, my, my," he was ready and loves soldiers and could eat 3-4 eggs, if I let him.

The pictures are from our Friday last week. Despite the fact that it was about 75 degrees at 9 in the morning, Madeline likes to dress for our days, usually some sort of princess outfit or winter outfit (hat, gloves, etc.). There was a squirrel in the palm tree that Jack was obsessed with so I had to take his picture too. It was not the most peaceful breakfast since Jack spent the whole meal screaming at the squirrel and trying to get out of his high chair, but it was our Friday and it was fun. After breakfast Madeline put Jack in the ball tent and drug him around the yard, sounds kind of mean, but he loves it and was again screaming for "Mo, mo, mo, mo."

The tickle/tackle monster

Well, it's official we have a monster in the house. It all became obvious to us two weekends ago when we decided to take a little road trip. After several weekends of being responsible home owners and lawn mowing, washing windows, washing cars, etc. we couldn't take it any longer and decided to get the heck out of dodge for a little while, at least the day. So, we packed up the kids and the car and decided to head to the Malibu Country Mart for the day. For those of you who have been there you know that it is a nice combination of adult enjoyment and child entertainment, meaning there are several nice restaurants and shops and a great playground in the middle.

After a nice lunch we spent some time at the playground. There is a little sand area that is surrounded by a cement ring, keeps the sand and small kids in. Heath and I were sitting enjoying some coffee and watching the kids and all of a sudden this little boy next to Jack bends down to scoop up some sand (seemed innocent enough) and Jack runs at him from behind and tackles him to the ground. Then, while the poor little kids was on the ground Jack gets his tickle fingers out and starts with the "tick, tick, tick" that he loves. He was smiling and laughing the whole time, the same cannot be said for the poor little boy that was pinned underneath him. Heath and I tried to contain our laughter (we didn't want to look like completely horrible parents) and we went over and took Jack off the poor little boy. The little boy and his mother both were not laughing. Back to the sand they all go, two seconds later Jack is at it again. For some reason every time this little boy bent down, Jack would tackle him to the ground and then tickle him. Turns out the little boy was FOUR!!! Either he was really small for his age or Jack is really huge, I am hoping it was a combination of the two. The age difference makes Jack seem like even more of a brute.

We decided enough was enough and walked across the street to the beach. It was a beautiful October day and both kids decided they needed to go in the water, I hadn't brought suits so Madeline went in her panties and Jack in his diaper. Heath thought this was awful, but he is a little uptight about this kind of stuff.

Turns out that Jack does this at school all the time also. On Monday, I made the mistake of asking his favorite teacher, Wendy. She is so sweet, she looked at the floor and kind of had a nervous laugh and then replied that yes, Jack had a problem with this. I was not sure how to handle this, Madeline was not a tickler or a tackler. I kind of laughed and then dashed out the door, making some excuse about being late for work. In retrospect, I realize I should have asked her how to stop it, etc. Today, when Heath went to pick Jack up, he was in trouble because he was trying to wake a little boy that was sleeping on the mats by tickling him. Apparently, every time the teach would turn around Jack would bend down, put his face right up to the little boy's face, and tickle him under his chin. As soon as the teacher would say anything, he would run. At least he is smart enough to know not to be caught in the act! I guess all the wrestling that Madeline and Heath do with Jack have had a real impact! Great!!

Madeline wanted me to post the picture of Heath and I, she took it!

Gardening

Well, everyone has been talking about blogs and for a while I must admit I didn't even know what a blog was. But here I am starting one. I have really enjoyed keeping up with friends that live close and far away, reading their adventures with new babies, preschool, bottles, etc.

I decided to also start a garden (I guess I didn't have enough to do). Anyway, I thought it would be fun for Madeline and Jack to see that food actually grows in the ground and not just at the Farmers Market or Trader Joe's. Since we are so lucky to be blessed with so much construction in our neighborhood (yeah right!!) I thought I might as well benefit from the noise and dust and take some of the extra wood. Heath and I asked the workers and they okayed it and we hauled away enough wood for two planter boxes. Since all the grass (new grass, I might add) on the side of the house has died or been dug up by skunks or raccoons I decided that would be the perfect place for the raised beds. I read several books on gardening and attended a couple of classes/workshops and felt pretty ready.

One of the classes I attended gave me a lead for free compost out in Alta Dena (a long way away) and we drove out with the wagon and filled 6 bags with compost (horse poop and other yummy stuff). To complete the day we thought we would have lunch in Old Town Pasadena as long as we were out that way. So off we went off for some lunch and shopping for a couple of hours, did I mention it was 100 degrees that day? Did I also mention that the six bags of compost were still in the back of my wagon? Several hours later the valet guy pulls the car up with all the windows down, he jumps out of the car gasping for breath and gives all of us very dirty looks. Let's just say the car smelled like you know what... Hasn't smelled the same since. Oh well, all in the name of gardening.

I should mention that we went to Il Fornio for lunch that day, not really my first choice. However, everyone was starving and it was the first place we stumbled onto when we got out of the car. Anyway, of course Jack was being a little boy (and a little beast-like) and wouldn't sit and wouldn't eat (surprising) and wouldn't anything. The table of old people next to us kept making comments (old people sometimes completely forgot what kids are like) and it was not pretty. All of a sudden the waitress brings out two huge plates with flour and pizza dough! Hallelujah! It saved the day and made it the best lunch ever, we even managed to have espresso and dessert, something that almost never happens.

In our garden we have one raised bed that is full of lettuce, edible flowers, onions, and garlic and the other has radishes, sweet peas, broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots. We will keep you updated on our progress. Here are some pictures brining in the compost and Jack playing with the compost (lovely)! I should mention that the reason Jack is dressed so warm is because the fog had rolled in and it was cold, the reason Madeline is not dressed warm is because she insisted she was not cold and refused to put anything else on.