Mother's Day

So thankful to be the mother of these two boys.

Home Bound

I am going on day four of being couped up inside the house with a feverish boy.

It hasn't helped that we've been having beautiful warm days.

At least I can work in the garden.

It started on Monday morning with Sammy.

A bad headache and an almost 104 fever.

Poor little guy was miserable.

Tuesday his temp was down, but he was still not feeling great.

Wednesday back to his chipper self.

This morning I was glad he could go back to school.

Then Daniel came down stairs crying that he had a headache.

Yep, it was the fever.

So Sammy when off to school and Daniel stayed home.

Another gorgeous day today too.

Hopefully by the weekend Daniel will be back to his old self.

We'll have to see about Dan and I.

A Cub Scout Hike

Yesterday afternoon some of my cub scouts and I went on an adventure. Some of the boys (they don't all go to the same school) had this week off for Spring Break, and I wanted to do something out of the ordinary to break our routine, so I decided to push them a bit and have them hike up a mountain. To be more precise, Cowles Mountain, the highest point in the city of San Diego.

We got to the trail head just before 4pm, with some threatening clouds in the sky, and some threatening looks from the parents. Totally kidding on the second part of that. One thing that has been great about cub scouts from the very beginning three years ago has been the friendship with the other parents. They have been great, supportive, helpful, willing to put up with some of my crazy ideas (like take their little angels up a 'mountain').

Four scouts were with us, Cameron, Daniel, David and Malachi, and a fellow parent, Dave, was going up with me. The boys haven't seen each other all week, so there was much to share on the way up. Dave and I were amazed at the unending conversation between the boys. Suzy later asked what they talked about. I have no idea, but it never stopped. Never is too strong a word, the only time it stopped was when one of them biffed it trying to scramble up a steep part. I tried upping the pace to see if I could tire the conversation out of them, no go. All the way up, all the way down.

There was one more situation where it got quiet, both times we crossed the first bridge (going up and going down) the boys all were eerily quiet, probably because every other hiker we saw had mentioned the rattlesnake seen near the bridge. I was disappointed that we didn't actually see (or hear) the aforementioned rattlesnake, but the boys sure loved the drama. Cameron's first thing he said to his dad when we got down was, 'I am so glad that i'm alive!'. His dad gave me a bit of a look, and then got the story in a rush.

I had a great time with the boys, and seeing their happy faces at the top of the mountain is one of the main reasons why. They had some boyish confidence at the bottom, trusting that us adults wouldn't push them past what they could take. However, when we would point up and say that's where we were going they seemed rather doubtful. When they at last turned the final corner and saw that we were at the top, it was one of those moments as a parent that you cherish, happiness.

UPS!

For those of you whom work in a small business you will know what that sounds like. A man or woman enters your location, calls out in a loud, questioning voice, 'UPS'. There is a nuance to the call. A practiced office worker can tell a lot about the mood of the driver just by the sound of his/her (I throw the /her in there but in reality I can recall only a short two or three month period in the last fourteen years when our UPS guy was actually a UPS girl) call. The place I work, RCK Controls, has changed locations twice in its history and once since I have been around, call it Fall of '97. In all that time we have had, to my admittedly shaky memory, four, maybe five, regular UPS guys.

A big chunk of my time working here I was the closest person to the door, so I was most often the person that responded to the call. For a multitude of reasons I felt like I should treat the UPS guys with a lot of respect, and try to get to know them a little bit. These are the guys who bring everything to us, from our new computers, to the Christmas presents for our much loved families. Be nice to the guys who bring you birthday presents for your wife.

Last week the people who are normally the first line of response for the UPS! guy in our office were off for lunch. I, being all the way down the hall, was the first responder to the call. When our guy (do they even have names?!?!) made it to my office I signed the pad, exchanged greetings, and as he was leaving he said something that struck me as bizarre,

'So, what's all for sale?'

My quick-witted response, 'Uh, what?'

'I saw the sign, it said, 'Everything for sale.''

Me, again, with the snappy repartee, 'Sign?'

My brain was spinning and the UPS! guy was growing tired with the game. I searched for anything possible, and that is when I went into my default mode, if I am confused, blame it on my kids.... Got it!

'Oh', I said, 'You mean a sign in the window at home!'

'Yeah, it looks like you guys are having a pretty good sale.'

'Yeah, I think you're right, come by and talk to the boys to see what they'll charge you for some Legos.'

'OK, see you later.'

'Have a good one, bud.'

About three weeks ago Daniel and Sammy had a garage sale. If I recall it was raining pretty good, so the foot traffic was lower than normal in our cul-de-sac, but that didn't deter them. A bunch of toys (I think they even tried to sell some of my scrap wood, they were very excited when I gave them permission) were laid out, signs made, all the things you need to make a little side cash. Unsurprisingly nothing was sold. I think that they may have seen two humans during those three hours on a Saturday afternoon that didn't live under our roof. But, it occupied them nicely for an afternoon, and they didn't burn anything down (that I know of, remember the rain?), so it was a win all around. Unfortunately not all the signs were removed. In our studio window, clearly a prominent position for advertising in the neighborhood, was in bold print,



San Diego being the small town that it is, my home UPS! guy is also my work UPS! guy, so when he saw the opportunity to get a good deal he jumped at it. If you are looking for some cheap stuff, come on by. The boys would be happy to sell you some scrap wood or mostly fine army men. Forget Craiglist or Ebay, come see the Walls boys, they would be happy to hook you up.

Pinewood Derby

Today was the Cub Scout Pinewood Derby.

They boys made race cars and then raced each other.

This was Sammy's first year doing the Derby.

He made his race car into a pack of gum.

Sammy is in the first track.

On your mark, get set...

Go!

Sammy came in 2nd place.

Amazingly there were no tears.

Then it was Daniel's turn.

His car was an e-racer (eraser).

His is in the first track.

He also came in 2nd.

Sammy with his den.

Aren't they cute?

Daniel and his den.

Big smiley Sammy face.

Don't ya want to kiss it?

Book Bed

How cool is this bed?

You can close it up during the day.

At night open it up, crawl under the pages and fall asleep.

Sammy would love this.

by Yusuke Suzuki 

Sammy Rides a Bike

Sammy learned to ride his bike without training wheels today.

It took all of about 10 minutes for him to learn.

Here's the story:

Daniel and Sammy come back from riding their bikes (Sammy with training wheels) around the block. Daniel says he wants to ride by himself because it is too hard to stay with Sammy (because Sammy is too slow). Daniel likes to ride fast and as he likes to say, "fell the wind in my hair". Sammy, not one to be left behind, basically says, "That's it, I'm taking these training wheels off." Dan is all excited and starts whipping out the tools to detach the wheels. "Wait a minute, Sammy," I say (the voice of reason), "You don't know how to ride yet." "Yeah I do," Sammy says confidently and Dan proceed with the training wheel removal. I have to admit I was pretty skeptical. It took Daniel a while to learn how to ride and the best place to learn is in a big wide open space, not our small cul-de-sac. Well, Sammy jumps on his newly de-wheeled bike and Dan pushes him around for a while and the next thing I know Sammy is riding on his own. You can tell how excited he was by the big smile on his face. Way to go Sammy! You amaze me every day.

Things Sammy says...

Sammy says some of the funniest things.

Like just now he said, "This thing is as stubborn as a yak!"

I had no idea yaks were so stubborn.

And the other day he asked, "Mama, do you want me to crush this bug like a bug?"

This kid cracks me up!

Video: Friendship

Be scared, be very scared...

Sometimes it is a little scary living in a household dominated by male genes.

You can find Nerf guns, swords and light sabers in almost every room.

And I often find notes and pictures like these scattered around:

 Yikes! Definitely don't want to do any 'evsedrop"ping here.

 Or else what? I don't think I want to know.

Sammy loves drawing an inventory of weapons. I love that he included pans and cheese as part of his artillery.

A Short Film by Sammy

Once Sammy saw Daniel's stop motion film he decided to make one of his own. It includes two of his favorite things: baseball cards and rocks. I think the two Lego figures are bragging about whose collection is better. I love Sammy's little voice.

Film Debut

I got some books for Daniel's birthday about movie making and stop motion animation. Here is his first creation.

On the Art Table

I founds these little pieces of paper on the boy's drawing table. It looks like a Lego game Daniel was making. I love coming across these little bits of creativity by the boys.

Tutu's Tea

Daniel loves comics. Loves to read them and loves to draw them. I especially like it when he makes up his own comics. They are very funny.

Well, Daniel inspired my to try my hand at it. My Mom (Tutu) loves to drink tea - probably because my Dad is cheap and doesn't like to turn on the heat so it gets cold in their house. We like to tease Tutu because she is continually heating up her tea and then forgetting about it. If Tutu is around there is almost guaranteed to be a cup of tea sitting in the microwave. I can't tease her too much though because, like mother like daughter, I do the same thing. And like father like daughter, I don't like to turn on the heat either.

9 Years Old!

Yesterday Daniel turned 9 years old!

 We had such a fun day.

 Chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast.

 Daniel made a list of 'to dos' for the day.

1. Eat breakfast

2. Legoland

3. Go home

4. Shoot papa (with nerf guns)

5. Create-a-war

6. (my favorite) Mama & Dada play spin the bottle

 Sammy gave a Daniel a drawing of TinTin (a cartoon character Daniel really likes) he drew for Daniel.

 It was a beautiful day.

 9 years old!

 Tutu, Papa & Nana came with us.

Lots of rides and playing.

Hot fudge brownie sundae for dessert.
Perfect ending for a perfect day!

Thursday Evening Happenings

Cub Scout meeting for Sammy tonight. They made posters for a popcorn sale.

Played a 'sit on a balloon to pop it' game, which they loved, of course.

They were so light they needed help popping the balloons.

Even the Moms got in on the fun, although we didn't need any help popping the balloons.

We walked out to a beautiful sunset.

 Walked down to a little taco street a block from school for dinner.

And ate so much our bellies ached.

2010 Year in Reveiw

1) celebrating Daniel's 8th birthday at Legoland - 2) 100th day of school - 3) park day at Balboa Park - 4) Disneyland getaway - 5) a blue ribbon at the speech meet - 6) Dan & Suzy visit Chicago - 7) 4th of July in Portland - 8) Hawaii with the family - 9) church camping trip - 10) celebrating Sammy's 7th birthday at Corvette Diner - 11) drumsticks at Thanksgiving - 12) Disneyland with the McLaughlins

Wow, what a year, 2010!