Our sweet Boy

This was taken during one of C's soccer games:)  With his favorite ball and taking a break from playing his own game on the sidelines.

Wow Time Flies

I have been diligently carrying my camera to every single one of Max's Parent Participation Classes to get a shot of him and his life this fall; playing with friends, enjoying cooking and stories, playing in the swings and garden - all that good stuff.  Suffice it to say, I have no pics - none.  AND I felt a need to share anyway. SO...

Max has blossomed in the last year and boy does it show now.  He walked up to the gentleman behind us in line at Subway today and said "Excuse me?  Hi, this (pointing to decoration on the wall) is a witch.  She's scary but it's ok it's for halloween."  1 year ago he would have said nothing, run to my legs and wrapped his arms around my knees so I couldn't move without extracting him and sucked his thumb.  Wow!

He's also big into dress up, today he was Santa dropping Clio off at school, yesterday he was a pirate and the day before that he was a King.  Mostly it's just hats or accessories that determine this for the world to know but his acting of the part is at full tilt and it is adorable!

He yearns to play soccer "like Clio", and go to New Dawn "like Clio".  That said, he also adores "teecher Patisa" and Teecher Julie a ton!  He's still big into his cars, and balls...  He also likes to sing in the car (at full volume - sooo cute) and rock out.  His favorite way of rocking out this month, is listening to the "monster song" which is the song for the Kraaken on the Pirates of the Carribean 2 soundtrack, and he lunges around, snarling, claws drawn and ready to the music.  What's funny is when he tries to do this in his car seat.

He has shot up a good bit and looks more and more like a boy than a toddler - which is to be expected but still shocks the heck out of me daily:)  AND then there's potty training...

This is probably why there are no shots of him at school yet - he's been potty training since Clio started school.  And unlike when Clio potty trained and we could sequester ourselves to the house and drill, praise, drink, eat, pee and poo to her little drum so to speak, we have bee potty training Max while going full tilt with life.  So FINALLY we are at the point of 2 days with no accidents!  Anywhere. Not at home, not in the car seat, not at soccer or school.  Not at New Dawn or friend's houses or even at Grandma's.  Nowhere.  Now I am not saying we are in the clear, but I can say I have REALLY enjoyed the last 48 hours on that front:)  And to all my friends who have been so easy going with this journey I can't thank you enough.  

I will get some shots together of Maxito soon to share but I didn't want to wait and miss something in the mean time.  

Soccerista

Wow, it's been a time-flyin month with school(s) starting and all!  So here's a quick post with some shots of our Soccer girl during her first game.

Clio Starts Kindergarten

Wow, so the day has come - Clio started Kinder today.  She is going to a Montessouri school here in Cambria called New Dawn from 9 - 2 Monday - Friday.  She was quite excited this morning as well as a bit apprehensive: "Will they like me?"  "Will they call me names?" "What will we do today?"  With some assurances, a killer ensemble, a good luck charm & a kissing hand she was all smiles when we gave hugs goodbye.

Sounds like a good day albeit a quite one for her:  she spent much of the day observing how it all works and who her classmates are.  I hear she and Kayla played and worked together much of the day as well as with a girl named Reese.  She played with the boys some too and "it was fun."  

Once we got home and she relaxed a bit (so a few hours later) she confessed that school wasn't all she thought it would be, she misses me and thought I was sending her away because I didn't love her.  Wow.  She had a good cry, as did I and we ended up laughing talking about how she had to go to school and that was why she was going, that I loved her very much and that I missed her too, and that if she just hangs in there she may find that some day school will be fun.

She was back to herself after that and we finished up the evening with the dinner of her choice (cheese pizza and ice cream) and her picking out clothes for school tomorrow:)  Ah, the roller coaster of life is back at our house;)

Meanwhile Max was stoked to have me all to himself but we burned the candle at both ends and over exhausted him by 12:30 - soccer, playground, beach, trip to Paso a 50's diner for lunch, a sweet shop for a treat, chasing birds in the park and a quick trip to Target.  Then we picked Clio up from School.  Wow, I think we will take it s

lower tomorrow:)  And as much as he loved the 1 on 1 time, he was sure thrilled to see Clio when school was over.

Labor Day - a journey back in time

For Labor Day, Clio, Max & I joined my Mom and a handful of other volunteers in walking in the Cambria Pinedurado Parade for the Light Station.  The Board Member in charge of the period attire purchased late 1800's costumes for both Clio and Max.  They had as much fun wearing it as we all did in seeing them in it.  It was a hike for little legs but Clio walked the whole 2 1/2 miles, waving and handing out candy with Grandma while Max rode in style in our Radio Flyer and was pulled by Mama and volunteers, waving and smiling the whole way.  Needless to say we had a blast!

There is an athlete among us

Today was Clio's first soccer practice and boy did she love it!  Surrounded by friends from the last few years the kids all had a blast (almost as much fun as the mom's did:)  It was great to watch them even get a little "game" time in at the end.  

The buzz was all about Kinder, who's started, how did they like it as well as just plain fun.  The playground next to the practice field is a big hit and was enjoyed before and after practice. 

But this team isn't just about work - we look forward to playing too!  Talk has already begun amongst the families of some BBQ etc at practice:)

To fun for words...I think the only one somewhat bummed was Max - he didn't get to play with the big kids on the team - but he loved being able to practice on the sidelines for when he can:)

Parent Participation Garden is Ready to plant!

Thanks to the help of so many families, on Saturday the 23rd, we were able to move the equivalent of about 10 cubic yards of compost into the beds!  We also received a donation of stone and built and Cory Paul set quickly to work to create our herbal spiral!  It will be next to the ships deck once that is built.

We also received enough stone to create a burm that the kids can walk up to be able to pump the hand pump on the eco well once that burm is built and the well installed.  Thank you Hendrix's for the stone and benches!

AND  Jenny, Jeannette, Teacher Sally, Teacher Patricia and more helped to dig out our dry river bed - it looks fantastic and ready to receive it's bridge and rock.

With the Preschool starting today and PPP classes starting the week of the 18th, it is wonderful to say that 3 volunteer days over the summer have us ready to plant 1st thing this school year!  

Thank you to everyone's support and hard work... and don't worry there's still more fun to be had so keep your eyes and ears out for upcoming solicitations.  Happy start of the school year!

[ The pictures with all the wonderful volunteers are coming, I will send them out soon:)]