all he wants....

for easter (?) is his two front teeth.

i'd have liked to have sang the other version to scout leading
up to christmas, but those front teeth of his were barely loose
at the time. 

fast forward a month or two, and he's officially lost his two front teeth,
and oh is it cute.  there's been lots of teeth falling out and the tooth fairy
has been usually busy.  finn's lost 7 teeth in 3 months last year, and he lost
2 more last week and has another that's 'wiggly'.

losing the first tooth is a HUGE deal for kids and for parents
the tooth fairy brings our boys with a little more for that tooth than
all the others that will follow.  {$1 is her norm}

this momma gets excited when any of the boys' teeth fall out,
but I especially enjoy the gummy grin of two missing front teeth.
since finn's fell out one at a time. {we lovingly called him snaggle tooth
for a few weeks}. i was thrilled when scout's fell out within a week from
each other.

i missed photographing him when he was ALL gums.
now his teeth 1/4 of the way in.  still, better late than never.
last week i took him to park around the corner tonight to let him play
and to capture a few photos of this milestone.

there are lots of milestones during childhood,
but losing those front baby teeth is the last bit of 'little boy' visual that
parents get beyond the children growing taller and eventually hitting puberty.

oh how i'll miss this gummy smile!
i'm savoring every minute of it,
including the little lisp he has because he can't use his
tongue against his teeth to pronounce certain words.
{so adorable}

here's to childhood and all it's cuteness!

~ i must share this sweet 7 year old just made the competitive
soccer team, riptide! though he assures us he's ready for the
commitment, c and i aren't sure if we are. *wink*

all you need is love....and heart-shaped pancakes

happy valentine's day!

i woke up to little boys asking for a 'special 'breakfast'.
weekends is the only time i make full breakfast,
because i simply don't have time before i go to work.

i pulled out my cookie cutters so they could have
heart shaped pancakes {finn also got alien shapes too},
and we all swapped valentine cards too.

they were all a bit mushy this year {the boys know what mom likes},
and scout's artwork was a very sweet surprise. artwork is becoming more
rare as the boys get older.

this pretty piece is hanging in the kitchen and will probably stay there for
some time. notice his lightning bolt 'S' in his name? he tells me that's the
way he writes it because he's a harry potter fan}. *grin*

i'd have loved to had a lazy valentine morning, but that wasn't in the cards.

scout had tryouts for our community's competitive soccer team!
we missed the first tryouts, as c and i weren't fully onboard with this as
it requires more practices and travelling on the weekends.
he's already signed up for our recreational soccer {what he's been playing for years},
but he insisted he wanted to try so i was on the field at 8am.

the santa anas blew had blown in, so it was usually warm.
still, the coach gave these 7/8 year old boys an INTENSE bootcamp
like practice. they must have ran over a mile overall and they did lots of
situps, pushups, planks, drills, etc. for 2 hours. two boys dropped out,
and the rest worked their booties off.

scout did fantastic, but being that he missed the first practice,
and has never played competitively, the chances of him making this
team are slim. there are just a few slots as most boys are returning players.
we'll see. if he's serious about competitive soccer, we will try again next year,
and get him playing more  in spring and summer soccer camps.

though my valentine's day wasn't overly romantic, casabalanca was
still lingering in my mind and c and i did enjoy a night out together. 
we usually avoid going out on the actual day, but this year the boys were
invited to a birthday party. how convenient for us and all the other parents.
free babysitting!

we went to the restaurant cape town, that serves south african cuisine.
the food was so interesting and the wine yummy too.  we let our server know we'd
be there for quite a while, so he gave us a corner table tucked away from everyone,
and we sat for 3 hours! we ate, drank, and talked about everything from the boys,
our endless house projects, to the upcoming art from the heart event at explorer, etc.
it was so nice to get time together like that.

that was how the boys and i spent v-day. 
i hope yours was lovely!!

~ and i remembered to continue the new tradition of writing all the boys a letter,
and without me reminding mr. gerber, he wrote too. {love when that happens} 

here's looking at you kid

if you are over 30, you are probably familiar with this
line from one of hollywood's most romantic films ever made.

yes, it's from the beloved 1942 film, casablanca,
spoken by rick {humphrey bogart} to ilsa {ingrid bergman}.

christopher and i sat down on the eve of valentine's day
and watched it together, something we hadn't done in several
years {probably since scout joined our family}. 

it's one of our favorites...ok, it's one of my old time favorites,
but it's one he actually watches without a fuss.

i thought about why this one movie gets so much attention.
maybe it's the beautiful black and white cinematography and
that it combines unrequited romance with sacrificing one's self
for a higher cause....two themes that resonate with so many people.

whatever the reason, it was the perfect way to begin valentine's weekend.

valentine's treats

valentine's day celebrations came a day early for my coworkers.
it's now a tradition for our marketing group here in san diego
to bring in donuts on v-day or the nearest work day to it.

this morning, i was up at the crack of dawn to pick up a few boxes
of krispy kreme donuts and a coffee for me {it was early...i needed it}. 
i was thrilled to find a new donut design: a heart ladybug. so cute!!
the employees loved them and tina and i were happy to put a few smiles
on some faces today and to indulge along with 'em.

 

 

 

 

the lovely liz turns 40

there are SO  many things i want to post about but i simply can't get to all of them.
i did however want to post that my dear friend liz, who i've known since our 20s,
celebrated her 40th birthday last weekend!

we had a griffin come over to watch the boys until late.
griffin's sister used to be our sitter, but she's off at college so her little brother now
gets all her sitting jobs. the boys adore him.
{he came with harry potter wands for them to play with last time}.

liz' fiancé threw her a BIG birthday bash that was tons of fun!
it was attended by nearly every friend in our pb group.
{and that's no small feat to get us all together}.
we were all there to celebrate this lovely lady as she said
goodbye to her 30s and hello to her 40s.

i was thrilled to learn the surprise band was her fiancé's new band,
and even more surprised when the birthday girl sang with them!
they played some original material and also did some fun covers. 
listening to them was truly the highlight of my night.

i chose to leave my camera at home because i wanted to party,
but i did snap a photo from a wall that was covered
with my cell from a wall that was decorated
with dozens of photos of liz. here is the lovely liz,
who grows more beautiful every year!

when i got some time alone with her,
i asked how she felt going into this new decade and her answer
made me smile.  she said, she has no regrets and is looking forward
to the next decade.  i loved hearing that. {she understands the secret
of life is enjoying every day and the passing of time}

i look forward to celebrating many more birthdays with this lovely lady.

~ i was SO head over heals with liz and the band's performance that
i asked if they would play in our backyard sometime this spring.
i told her we didn't need an special occasion....just getting together with
long-time friends is special enough.  they agreed!!
{now the band needs to come up with a name} *grin*

the things we handed down

i found this draft post that just had to record. 

years back when i was pregnant with scout and finn was a toddler, 
we started making weekly visits to our neighborhood library. 
finn would pick out books and bob the builder videos
{he hadn't discovered science and space quite yet},
and I would peruse books or music.

one day i found a cd titled songs from a parent to a child.
art garfunkle was on the cover with his young son and i was
very excited about my find as art is one of favorite musical talents from
my parent's generation.  i grew up listening to him and paul simon and
their concert in central park album as early as i can remember.

i wasn't surprised that i fell in love with the music on this cd too.
i loved all the songs but one in particular titled the things we handed down
resonated with me. originally it was written by mark cohn,
after he learned his wife was pregnant.

maybe it was because i was pregnant and my hormones were in overdrive,
but the song became the song i associate with while pregnant with scout.
the music is beautiful, but it was and is the lyrics that made me think about
what my parents handed down to me, and what i'm handing down as well.

there are so many things my parents gave me but had no control of: the genes
responsible for my thick wavy hair, my green eyes, my freckles, or my energy level,
BUT they did have control of other things...teaching me right from wrong, about music,
about perseverance, hard work and so much more.   

i thought about what i was handing down to my boys, and made me more determined
than ever to do a better job with the things i do have control of.

recently, i came across the cd i bought when i was pregnant with scout,
and have been listening to it in my car all week.  over the years, i've introduced
it to a lot of people: christopher, my parents, mommy friends, and i even bought a copy
and gave to my sister, leslie when she was pregnant with her daughter aria.

if you haven't heard the song yet, let me be the first to introduce to you.

 

date day with scout

somewhere along the way, the monthly dates that the little guys
and i used to have together went away.  it wasn't intentional, we
missed one and then another and slowly they dwindled to just a few
times a year. 

scout brought the subject up about a month ago and said he wished
we still did them. i responded that i wish we did too and that it was time
to bring them back. he asked if he we could go rollerskating, and i say sure,
and reminded him that all our 'dates' won't be things that costs....some will be
bike rides, hikes or even picnics at the beach but on occasion, we can do
activities that cost. {both want to do laser tag}

i was excited, and started looking for something to do with our youngest
scout reminded me that finn was the last to go on a 'date' with me,
so it was his turn.  {good or bad...kids remember everything}

i learned that the musical annie was playing at the lyceum theater so i bought
tickets {for a great deal} for scoutie and me. it was on my mind because we
had recently seen the original movie and he loved it.  I thought a stage production
based on the original would be enjoyable for him. 

he absolutely LOVED it...though he mentioned there were tons of girls in
the audience {yuck}. if we were seeing oliver, i bet there'd have been more boys.

this show was performed by one of san diego's many junior theater groups.
so the cast was made up all young people, ranging in age from 7 to 19. 
{scout seems to engage more watching junior theater than watching adult theater}.  

all the orphans were adorable and talented, but the 10 year old girl that played annie
and the teenager that played ms. hannigan were the stars of the show.  these girls could
very easily go on to do BIG things on stage!

we had a wonderful few hours together and enjoyed a sundae afterwards.
scout said he definitely likes date days. me too.

scout benjamin, age 7



finn's alien themed birthday

finn oliver gerber is eleven!

he chose 'aliens' as his birthday theme
which was really fun and simple.

after a decade of birthday parties,
i've learned to keep things simple.
it's less stress which means i'm happier,
and when mom is happy, life is easier for the boys.

here's what went into this birthday:
simple cupcakes from vons {easier than me baking them}.
i put toppers on them, purchased from the same etsy designer
that did the invites.  i picked up a dozen green balloons and put
black eyes on them using double stick tape, and last, i bought alien
shirts for finn and scout from this etsy shoppe. that's it.

as always, mr. gerber was in charge of the cake.
he made a green alien with a big head an long limbs.
as always, he did a great job, meaning it was loved by finn.
the kids loved eating various body parts from it.
by the end of the night, it was headless and legless.

finn had about 10 of his 5th grade friends to celebrate with him.
before it got dark, they took turns on the zip line, ate pizza,
cake and then watched earth to echo outside under the stars. 
it was a hit.

i knew the movie was over when a pillow and popcorn fight broke
out using the sectional cushions. fortunately, they all pitched in to
clean up before their parents picked them up so our work was minimal
the following day.

as i snapped a photo of finn and all his friends in the  backyard,
i noticed how big some of them had gotten just this past year.  a few are
my height {5'3 isn't very tall but it's a bit of a shock to stand next to these
boys i've known since kindergarten and they look directly into my eyes}.

tonight i am thanking heaven for our sweet boy who is eleven.