A Picture Says a Thousand Words

I got an e-mail forward from one of my fellow PrObama neighbors today and I really enjoyed it. So I'm posting it here in case it doesn't get around to you.

Fall Foliage

Our friend, Allison, sent us some lovely photos of the fall foliage in Finland where she is living with her hubby and two kids. I thought I would share some of ours! I've been too busy lately to get out and get the big trees so for now the ones on my street will have to do. They're little (about 9 years old) but still pretty.

Hey, Look! It's Me!!

Brian actually took a photo without being asked!!! I'm so lucky.

Into Everything

Parents talk about their toddlers "getting into everything." In my case, the phrase can be taken literally.

Getting into the closet. He learned to slide the doors, Owen put some stuffed animals in there and it's now his favorite place to be.


Getting into the kitchen cabinets. He usually just withdraws a pan lid and deposits a toy.


Getting into the bookshelf. He practiced this move over and over again and only fell on his head once. And even then he laughed about it. Nutty kid.

And sometimes, he's ON TOP of things. And yelling at me while he's doing it!



And then there are the times he plays and does the normal cute baby/toddler things and I think, "Whew. What a relief!"


He throws the ball and kicks it too. He's watched more than his fair share of soccer practices and games from the sidelines.

Oliver at 7 Years

Wow. Seven years old. I can't really say it doesn't seem like it's been seven years. I guess I just never imagined myself with a 7 year-old. That's a full-on wild and crazy, dirty, little boy! Gone are the days of cute doings and sayings. Instead I get to go to school conferences and hear all about what a wonderful student Oliver is. His teacher told me, "Oliver is very patient with me." Which means she knows he's bored with what she's teaching.

I appreciate that she is doing her best to challenge him given that there are around 24 other kids in his 1st grade class. He tests at nearly a 5th grade reading level already. His teacher says he tests highly because his vocabulary is so large. I guess all the reading we do to the boys has paid off! I fully expect Owen to be a great reader as well. He's already able to get through early readers with little help. It's amazing how quickly a child progresses once it clicks for them.

So Oliver is in a separate reading group with other advanced kids (although none of the others are quite as advanced as he *puff puff*) and he sits at a separate table during math with one other boy to work on 2nd grade math problems. Now that Oliver has reading under his belt he has become a math fiend! He's great with addition, working hard on subtraction and oddly enough has a pretty good grasp of fractions for his age. He can tell time pretty well and count money. He does some multiplication and is trying to figure out division as well. Total sponge.

Okay, enough bragging about his brains. Now I'm going to show off how handsome he is. ;o)

Scout Uniforms!

Oliver got his Cub Scout uniform last weekend. The boys are required to be dressed in uniform when selling popcorn (fundraiser). Doesn't he look cute?


As Den Leader, Brian has to wear a uniform too. It's not as bad as I imagined. You can't read it in the picture, but Owen's cap reads "Little Scout Buddy." He can attend everything but den meetings.

The Scouts led the Pledge of Allegiance at a re-dedication ceremony for this monument in front of the capital. It's called Winged Victory and it honors WWI veterans. It was a really boring half hour and I was proud of Oliver for remaining still the entire time. Many older boys were not so still and well behaved. Tsk tsk.

An Amazing Photo of the Milky Way

My friend, Genny, sent this photo to me. At first glace, I thought "Whoa." Then I thought, "Wait a minute, this can't be real!" So I did some digging online and to my surprise it is indeed a genuine photograph. The photographer is also an amateur astronomer. His name is Wally Pacholka and he had to make 5 separate 1200 mile round-trip journeys to this cave in Utah before getting the shot right. According to Pacholka, the cave is so wide he had to take 4 single 25 second shots and then stitch them together. That's Jupiter you see to the left. It's beautiful and I am awestruck. This photo takes me back to being twelve years old and wanting desperately to grow up and explore space. Thank you, Mr. Pacholka. And thank you, Genny, for sending it to me!

The Tiger Cub Scout Banner

Well, it's not the work of art I hoped it would be but I guess it's pretty cute. I especially love the one with the whiskers that looks like a fish. Alas, I could not be there with my handy measuring tape to tell the kids exactly where to glue down their tiger. Brian asked the other dads and kids not to glue down until everyone was done, but they didn't listen. So while the spacing is uneven and the placement fairly willy-nilly, it's not as bad as it could have been.

The question now is where will the new kid's tiger go? We just found out we might be getting another cub. Uh-oh. His tiger might have to be pea-brained.

The Beauty of Randomness

Get a load of this:


When I saw this ad, I wrinkled my nose and thought, "What???" I couldn't grasp that this was a real product. I mean, who? why? And better yet, I want to know what marketing genius designed this ad?

My favorite part is "COLORFULLY EMBROIDERED. -- Not Just a Patch!"

I get tears in my eyes every time I read it.

_________________________________________________________________

The list below was written while driving (Silly woman driver! Pardon my messiness and misspelling.) and discussing with Owen what he wanted to be when he grows up. After we got home, he snuck off with the list to add the last item.

What a great day. I got to cry from laughter not once, but twice!

Breathe In... Breathe Out.... Repeat.

The last month has been a complete whirlwind. I can't remember ever being so busy. Ever. I mentioned joining the PTO board in a previous post. I won't bore you with the details but it looks like the really, really time consuming part is over with already and I can breathe again. And pay more attention to what Elliott is doing. That boy will empty out his dresser and bookcase faster than you can say boo!


Soccer

Soccer is going well. Actually, not just well. It's going GREAT! When the Os played two years ago we had to bribe them to play. They pretty much hated it. This time around they are a couple of wild men out there. Their competitive spirits are shining through, much to the chagrin of opposing players. Their division plays 3-on-3 with no goalie. It's supposed to be just good ol' fun with no competition involved. That means nobody keeps score -- except of course for Owen. And once Oliver realized Owen was keeping score, he had to join in to make sure Owen was counting correctly.

Oliver is a ball hog so we have to remind him to pass to his teammates. Oliver has also (sadly) inherited my loud, obnoxious behavior. While I'm a bit embarrassed about it, Brian thinks it's great because Oliver uses it to his advantage to intimidate the opponents. For example, during kickoff last Saturday, Oliver runs at the ball full steam ahead, arms are up in a 'V' with index fingers pointing up and half-yells-half-growls the whole way. I think a couple of the kids actually took a step backward. Who knew my half-pint could be so fearsome?

Owen is a sorry winner. When he or one of his teammates scores a goal, he pumps his fist in the air for about a minute solid. But my favorite sorry winner move he does is when he plays air guitar and mimics guitar sound with his mouth to the "CHARGE!" tune that they always play at baseball games. That one rules. And he made it up himself which makes even more hilarious.

The stupid league didn't order enough small shirts. So my little guys had to wear MEDIUM shirts! Grrr.

You can see Oliver saying, "Pass it to me, Owen!"

Go Watkins boys!

SCORE!!!

Cub Scouts

Tonight is Oliver's first cub scout den meeting. Brian is den leader along with another dad. It's proving to be quite a bit of work but I know it will be worth it. They're going to have a great time. Brian was in Scouts for many years and loved it. Oliver and Owen peruse the Tiger Cub handbook and ooh and ahh over all the fun things there are to do. The rocket ship derby and cake auction are coming up soon and those sound great.

For the craft at tonight's den meeting, Brian will have the boys make a banner for the den. It took about 6 hours of prep work from me (not including the time it took to go and get the materials) and will probably only take the boys 20 minutes to complete at the meeting. I told Brian he better enter those boys in every parade this town has so they can carry MY banner! I know Brian appreciates it though so that makes me feel good about the time spent. I'll post a picture of it when it's completed.

I must say I was quite surprised that Oliver didn't mind the whole popcorn selling thing. (Scouts sell popcorn for their primary fundraiser the way Girl Scout sell cookies.) I gave him a clipboard, his selling sheet and a pen and off he ran to the houses around us. I think he hit about eight houses and sold to three. One told him to come back the next day. Not too bad! I had him give me his sales pitch before going out. He was so dang cute! He's so serious.

Hi, my name is Oliver. I live over there. I'm selling popcorn to support my cub scout den at McKenny Elementary. What would you like?

I almost fell over. That kid has too much confidence. I couldn't and wouldn't sell things when I was a kid. Come to think of it, I still don't think I can. Too much fear of rejection.


Oliver's 1st Mariner's Game

Here are some photos from the Mariner's game Brian took Oliver to for the special father-and-son birthday thing. They had really good seats and I believe someone hit a homerun that night. Oliver was totally wowed.

Intense, isn't he?

They went with a couple of Brian's friends. The woman had this little cake made as a surprise. Oliver was obviously thrilled.

Awww.

Elliott at 13.5 Months

Elliott is walking briskly. It won't be long before he starts trying to run. He loves to be chased. He knows a few signs: more, all done, eat, milk, up, diaper change, book, light and moon. He says mama, dada, cracker, ok, uh-oh, night-night, and something resembling Oliver and Owen (Awah and Oweh). He pants for animals. He used to mimic my growl when he dropped his cup from the highchair. This has been replaced by the "uh-oh." He also has the iron grip of death as you can see in the photo below.


Elliott finally started giving hugs back... sort of. He still doesn't use his arms but at least he snuggles his head onto our shoulders.

Couldn't you just eat him up?