November 29, 2009

This afternoon Ben wrote to Santa....

"Dear Santa,
I have been good most of the time.
I would like an electric guitar, a Wii, a Rubic Cube and a Nerf Football.
I will bake you some cookies.
From Benjamin Ross"

November 28, 2009

The damned Christmas tree almost ended up thrown over the deck. While Bill cooked Ben and I set about decorating the tree. Ben's job was to hold the lights and walk behind me while I put them on the tree, all was going well, until I realized Ben had been walking in the opposite direction to me and at least half the lights were now tightly wrapped around the tree's trunk. Of course, Bill thought it was hysterical to listen to me bitching and moaning while I untangled the lights.





Ben did a great job putting all the ornaments on the tree...where was Jonathan while all this was going on....hiding behind the sofa repeating over and over again "I no yike the Christmas tree"

November 28, 2009

Today was the annual trip to the Christmas Tree farm. As always Bill and I have this idea of the 4 of us arriving at the farm, selecting the perfect tree, loading it on the car, and this year, we also added a picnic lunch - and as always - it never happens.



Yes, we did arrive at the farm and set out to find the right tree, Jonathan in his usual stubborn style refused to walk with us and set off down a hill, then argued about walking back up the hill. The more we walked around the farm the more Jonathan whined, Ben, on the other hand, was loving every minute, picking out possible trees. After checking out lots of trees we head back to the first tree.

I had hoped to get a great shot of the Ross "men" stood in front of the tree, Bill stood in position, Ben stood in position, Jonathan had to be bribed (if you don't stand next to the tree you don't get the picnic)

I wanted both boys to point to our tree - well, 1 out of 2 boys doing as they were asked isn't bad....(no clue what Jonathan is pointing at)



Once Bill chopped down the tree he needed help to carry it to the car, Ben held Jonathan's hand to help him over the rough ground - in less than 10 seconds there was tears, Jonathan had fallen over....and he cried.....and cried.....and cried......



Oh, and as for the picnic - even that wasn't a success - it was really windy, Ben complained he was cold, Jonathan got mad because his Pringles blew away....maybe next year we'll have more luck

November 16, 2009

Tonight after Bill picked up Ben from school he called me...the phone call went something like this...

B: Ben lost his tooth
L: Really, that's great
B: No, he really lost it
L: What do you mean
B: It fell out at school, he had it when he went to the office to pick up a 'tooth box', but by the time he got to the lunch room he'd lost it.

Hmmmm, does that mean the tooth fairy won't come. Ben thought if I took a photo of him and e-mailed it to the tooth fairy she would still leave him some money.

Shower time arrived, while Ben was in the shower I unpacked his backpack, there, at the bottom I found a crumpled box, inside was the tooth.

At bedtime Bill told Ben to not make a sound if he saw the tooth fairy - if he frightened her she may fly away and forget to leave him anything.

Ben put the tooth in a ziploc bag and put it under his pillow....then Bill-who-thinks-tape-fixes-everything had the bright idea to tape the bag to Ben's sheet. Before I went to bed I had the job to play tooth-fairy, you try peeling the tape off a flannel sheet without waking a child who's head is about 3 inches away (let's just say, Bill heard loud and clear that there will be no more taping when the next tooth falls out).

Very early the next morning Ben was wide awake, I went into his bedroom to find him clutching the note from the tooth fairy along with 5 crisp $1 bills - the first thing out of Ben's mouth "hey Mom, she left me a letter and $5, I thought she'd have left me $6 though because I'm 6"

Oh, and Bill said he saw the fairy, well, he saw her wings. At school Ben told his class the tooth fairy came to his house - and, his Dad had seen her.

The Rain Forest Project

Ben's class is studying rain forest animals. Each child has chosen an animal to research. Ben's animal is the anaconda, we discovered this is possibly one of the least known rain forest creatures - which meant it was a challenge to find any information either online or in books. The grand finale of the unit was each child had to create their chosen animal from modeling clay and also create a habitat for them. Yeah....Ben had chosen a snake, so much easier for him to make a snake than an eagle (which his best friend had chosen).

The snake was made in 2 parts, firstly Ben modeled the clay, then it was left overnight to dry. The next day he set to work painting the anaconda. Who knew making an anaconda was dangerous work, not only did Ben insist on wearing his painting smock, but he also "needed" protective eye gear.




Of course, if Ben has homework, Jonathan also insists on doing homework too

Halloween 2009

Halloween started a day early, Ben's school had a huge halloween celebration. 10:30am there was a halloween parade. Each class took a turn to parade around the playground, not sure if Ninja Ben was happy we were there to watch him or if he was totally embarrassed.



Halloween night we went to the Houston's. The boys had a blast, running from house to house...but, just like last year, there was one house that scared them to death. Both Ben and Bryant pretended to be brave, and walk up to the door, but, the whole time they were looking over their shoulder as to what might jump out at them. What you can't see in this photo is the scary movie the homeowner was playing on a screen, complete with scary noises



Jonathan loved the night, (even though we thought he would never put his costume on, it took both Bill and I to force him into the skeleton suit) he was very confident walking up to each house, knocking on the door; although he refused to say "Trick or Treat" he did always say "thank you" when the homeowner put candy in his bag.

October 23 - 25, 2009

It was my 40th birthday weekend. Our wonderful friends Bev and Arnold invited us to spend the weekend with them at their vacation home in Fiddletown. What an amazing surprise when we arrived at their home to learn, Bill and I would not be staying at their cabin, instead we would stay at the guest cottage of their friend and the boys and dogs would spend 2 nights with Bev and Arnold. It was perfect...Bill and I were across the street, we spent the days as a family of 4, but could relax each night in peace and quiet - no kids yelling, no dogs taking up all the room in the bed.



The boys didn't need the backpacks of toys and books - they had so much fun digging in the dirt, searching for acorns, pretending to make traps for the coyotes.






Saturday we headed to a local pumpkin farm - complete with corn maze (albeit a somewhat flattened maze thanks to a recent wind-storm). Ben decided to lead the way, he loved to know we were all following him, but, what he didn't know was Bill had hid behind some of the corn - the look on Ben's face was priceless when Bill started shaking the corn stalks, Ben really thought there was a "monster" lurking in the maze. When he found out it was Dad he wasn't sure whether to be relieved or mad.



Although the week earlier we'd bought the pumpkins we'd carve, we did pick out some mini-pumpkins to take home.



Saturday night Bev and Arnold had arranged a pizza party. Bill was head pizza chef with Ben as his Sous Chef.



Before leaving on Sunday morning, we all took a walk - it was definitely the best 40th birthday I could have ever had.

October 20, 2009 - Field Trip, San Francisco Academy of Science

Today was field trip #4, this time we headed North to the San Francisco Academy of Science. As usual I had 5 crazy, loud, excited 6-year olds in my car. I am happy to say, all the kids were great, they all stayed together, didn't get too distracted, somewhat followed directions. We only had 1 casualty...at lunchtime a girl thought rocking on her chair would be fun - that was until the chair went over backwards and she ended up with a bloody lip. As she's laid on the floor in complete shock because what we had warned her would happen actually did, Caid, Ben's best friend asked me "is she dead?"

We started off in the Rain Forest Exhibit, which all the kids loved. The butterflies were amazing - so beautiful.



Then it was down to the aquarium...



By the end of the trip I could have fallen asleep stood up, but, it was all worth it - the kids had a blast.

October 18, 2009

After walking the dogs on the beach we headed to "dino" park (we hoped if Jonathan ran around for a couple of hours he would tire himself enough to take a nap - we failed in that mission).

Benjamin has not shown any interest in his skateboard for a few months, but today he wanted to take it to the park

Of course, everything Ben does, Jonathan needs to copy....

We also took Ben's bike to the park, once he'd done a few laps with it, Jonathan decided he should take a turn. He has no idea he's not big enough to ride a bike "I can do it myself"

After playing soccer it was time for the swings. Today was the first time Jonathan had sat on a big-kid swing, and he LOVED it, not in the slightest bit scared. He squealed with delight and shouted "higher, higher"

Ben; however, takes after me, he knows there is a chance everything could pose a possible danger "Mom, don't push me too high..."

October 16, 2009

Tonight was Movie Night at Lexington School. You would never have thought at the beginning of the week we had the worst October storm in over 40 years - the weather was perfect....warm, not a cloud in the sky....

It was a joy to arrive at school and watch Ben immediately run off to play with his friends. It's hard to believe he's been at the school less than 2 months.

The proceeds of tonight's event will help pay for the 4th and 5th graders Science Camp - the kids were busy selling glow in the dark bracelets, cakes, cookies, popcorn, pizza, etc.



We thought the movie was Toy Story, but it turned out to be Monsters vs. Aliens - a typical animated movie.




Ben watched the entire movie, almost glued to the screen the entire time. Jonathan was glued to it until he ran out of popcorn, then he was more interested in standing on his chair and trying to tip it over.



Both boys were exhausted by the time the credits rolled.

September 13, 2009 - Playtime after apple picking

After apple picking we headed to the picnic area. Once we'd eaten lunch the boys played, and played, and played.

September 13, 2009 - Gizdich Ranch

Today we went apple picking at Gizdich Ranch in Watsonville.








We got completely carried away and ended up picking 29lbs of apples!

September 12, 2009 - The Joys of Boys

Leave 2 boys to entertain themselves for a few minutes and this is what happens - who needs toys when you can wrestle on the sofa....

September 11, 2009

Today's was Ben's field trip, in a moment of madness I'd volunteered to be a driver/chaperone. I ended up with 5 very noisy boys in my car (and another Mom). The trip was to ride on CalTrain to Palo Alto, go to a park for lunch/play, then the train back to the station. The night before we did a search online to check where the station was located, I quickly glanced at the directions and was pretty sure where we had to go - big mistake. We ended up at the Santa Clara Station, when we should have been at San Jose. Ooooops. Turn the car around, head over to the right station, lots of parking spaces (good sign), where was the machine to pay for parking? I was told it was in the station - OK - no problem - every machine I tried was broken, panic is setting in, this is my first field trip, I can't miss it. I finally found a working machine, went outside to join the kids - no kids. I ran to a train, wrong train, it was going to Los Angeles. Then another Mom ran to me - quick Lucy - the train is leaving - follow me. Not a good start to the trip.

Once on the train you wouldn't believe the noise level, 2 classes of very excited 6 year-olds, already some of the parents looked frazzled.

Trying to take a photo of Ben was almost impossible, he thought when I put the camera to my eye it meant he had to hide, pull a goofy face - you name it, he did it. Out of the close to 100 photos I took, these are the only OK ones - and even those aren't great.





Once in Palo Alto we walked a couple of blocks to a beautiful park. There was a great climbing wall, which Ben (with help from a Dad) managed to climb up.





I was terrified one of my 5 kids would wander off, and I soon learned trying to watch them all was impossible. Time for lunch, we walked to the picnic area - the sound level decreased dramatically (even if it was only for about 5 minutes while the kids munched on lunch). Back to the play area for an hour. Then it was time to leave, but before we left we had to do a final bathroom break. You have no idea how much fun a public bathroom is - almost every boy came out soaked - washing hands meant throwing water at each other. Not to mention, herding the kids from the furthest area of the playground to the bathrooms meant they had to stop at each climbing frame/rocker/spinning bars - aaaggghhh.

Back at the station the teachers produce lollipops for all the kids - very smart - kept the little people busy for a few minutes. Of course, the train was running a little late and as one of the teacher's said, 5 minutes for a tired 6-year-old is like an hour. Oh, they did all find one area to entertain themselves. Between the 2 ticket machines each kid insisted on sniffing the disgusting smell where the homeless people pee.

Back at school, I didn't realize how tired I was until my kids were back with the teacher. I don't know how teachers do it.

September 7, 2009

Today we went to Shoreline to the kite flying park. When we arrived we only saw one kite - and that was wrapped around a lamp-post - not a good sign. We attempted to get our kites in the air - and failed in our mission, so we decided to take a picnic lunch break then try again later. It worked. The wind picked up, we managed to get not 1, not 2, but 3 kites in the air!!!

Of course at one point there was only Bill and I flying the kites, Ben was laid on the blanket whining that he was too tired to stand up and fly a kite, and Jonathan refused to go anywhere near the kite. After threatening that the 2 of them could go to the car and sit by themselves they decided maybe they should start to have fun.





When the boys were stood next to each other I asked them to point and show me where the kites were....notice they're both pointing in completely different directions.