We interrupt this summer re-cap. . .

. . . to bring you a short blog survey.

Do I need to change my blog title now that I no longer live in view of Mt. Hood?

Or should I just adjust the subtitle & photos?

School Is Cool...Even in the Summer

We moved into our new house the weekend after Adah and Maggie finished school in Milpitas. Monday morning I was still busy unpacking and the kids were ready to go back to school. Well, they at least were interested in making their own school at home.

Teacher Adah (or "Mrs. Ashburg"--notice her name badge, just like a real teacher) set up the living room as her classroom. She's also looking official in her tie. She used the chalkboard on Maggie's easel for lessons and had stacks of leftover workbooks and other school materials.

Student Maggie has on her pleated skirt and is also wearing a tie. I think they were part of the official school uniform. Adah began reading Johnny Tremain aloud to her students and gave Maggie the homework of writing a summary. This was serious school, I tell ya.

Nine o'clock was the announced time for the second day of Adah's school to begin. Gunnar, in his obligatory tie, was very excited. He got up, ate breakfast, brushed his teeth, got dressed, donned his backpack, and then sat on my bed to wait for 9:00.

He was sitting on my bed because that way he could stare at my clock. You can't make it out in this photo, but the clock says 8:17. He was very eager. I think I finally convinced him to do something else for the next 40 minutes...or maybe I convinced Adah to start school a little earlier that day.

The kids kept at their school pretty seriously for many hours those first two days and made grand plans to continue it all summer long. However, by day three there were conflicts over a proposed teacher co-op (i.e. Maggie wanted a turn to be the teacher; negotiations with Adah did not yield a solution satisfactory to all parties) and some classroom management issues. School was disbanded. While I loved the teaching, learning, and cooperating going on, I convinced them that it was okay for them to take a break from school and to just really take a vacation from school during the summer. 

They finally agreed.  Stay tuned for reports on all our summer fun.

The 2nd-Best Thing that Happened Memorial Day Weekend

Holly's birthday was during Memorial Day weekend. That was, of course, the best thing about the weekend. However, the 2nd place winner was a near-tie. We found a house! After scouring craigslist for many weeks and seeing house after house that just wasn't right, we were despairing of ever finding a new home to rent. We wanted to leave Milpitas for a more amenable school district, and hoped to improve Damon's commute.

Then, finally, we came upon this beauty:

It's just around the corner from a park that is adjacent to the neighborhood elementary school. It's on a quiet, shady street. There are four bedrooms, a living room, and a family room. The kitchen does not have tile countertops (the bane of my Milpitas culinary existence)! It's an older home, but has been well cared for and was in very clean condition when we saw it.

Just the day before we'd looked at a house on the other side of the same park. It only had three bedrooms, and they were just too small to accommodate two kids each. And it was at the very top of our budget. I really liked the neighborhood and the less-than-five-mile distance from Damon's work, and as we drove away I thought, "We just need a 4-bedroom in this neighborhood, but all those houses are going to be too expensive." The next morning I got on craigslist--again--and saw the listing for a 4-bedroom house that was $500/month LESS than the one we'd just seen. When I mapped its location I was amazed. It was in the same neighborhood! I couldn't believe it. It was just what I'd asked for the day before.

We saw the house that afternoon (Friday) and by Saturday afternoon--in the middle of Holly's party--the owner was calling us and asking if he could cancel his Sunday open house. He liked us. We liked the house. It was a done deal. We signed the lease on the morning of Memorial Day, and slowly began moving our things over as Damon took a truckload to work each day.

We officially moved into the house on June 8, and for the next few weeks were visited by this welcoming committee: a flock of wild parrots!!

They are mitred conures and frequented the tree above our driveway (at the top right of the house photo above) to munch on seeds most mornings.

 

We've also been warmly welcomed by the neighbors, having met more of them within our first week than we did our whole nine months in Milpitas. The next-door neighbors are original owners of the house and have lived there for 48 years! Everyone is friendly and seems to look out for each other, which is a nice change from our very private neighborhood in Milpitas where we really only knew the neighbors on either side of us.  We feel really blessed to have found such a wonderful situation. We know our many prayers were answered, and I am looking forward to a fresh start here in California.

Our Little Lady(bug) Turns Three

This fuzzy little girl turned THREE at the end of May!

Her birthday was on a Saturday, so everyone was in their jammies for opening a few pre-party presents. In fact, they stayed in their PJs until after lunch. Knowing that they'd be putting on swimming suits for the party, I just couldn't convince them to get dressed any sooner.

Holly LOVES Hello Kitty. This is a MegaBlocks (like Legos) Hello Kitty schoolhouse that we gave her. It was a big hit.

. . . as were the other fun things she got later at her pool party. Her Wangsgard cousins & uncle and her preschool friends' family came to our neighborhood pool for swimming, hot dogs, corn on the cob, watermelon, and birthday cake. I was apparently too busy swimming to take any pictures of the pool or any of the party-goers.

Well, here's one of Holly's buddy Danielle watching the gift-opening. Here Holly was opening an Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked DVD from Grandma and Grandpa. That movie got such serious playtime in the weeks following her birthday that at one point I had to ban it until July! The kids all love it.

Holly loves ladybugs, so I made her a ladybug cake. (If I remember correctly) I baked three 8-inch rounds and used two layers for the body. Then I cut the third cake in half and trimmed it to make the 2-layer head. I found chocolate-dipped Oreos for the spots and covered the head with crushed Oreo crumbs. Marshmallow-and-mini-chocolate-chip eyes & straw antennae finished the job.

Oh, and the frosting was a regular buttercream that I colored with a little food coloring and strawberry freezer jam. So, the cake was chocolate with a strawberry frosting. Yum! And, it was the perfect combination of three things Holly loves: chocolate, ladybugs, and pink.

The birthday girl blew out all her candles, & we all had a wonderful time celebrating our little Holly.

 

A Little Arboreal Excitement

I never posted these photos of a little episode in our backyard on a windy April afternoon.

The neighbor's tree broke off right at ground level and came tipping over the fence onto our patio! Maggie saw the whole thing. When I went out to investigate by peeking over the fence, I almost couldn't figure out where the tree had been. There was no broken trunk. No stump. Nothing. Finally I spotted a place in the ground where the tree had been. It was pretty strange.

It just missed the patio cover and, surprisingly, didn't damage the fence at all.

Our neighbors were still at work when this happened, and when Howard came over that evening after spotting a tree trunk hanging over his back fence, Damon really enjoyed giving him a hard time about it. We weren't really worried about it. No harm done.

Their gardener chainsawed the whole thing a few days later and after a bit of sweeping, that was the end of it.  It sure was a strange view out our sliding glass door that week, though.

 

Young Authors' Faire

Maggie really swept away the competition this year at school. After being selected as a winner in the Young Artists' Faire she was ALSO awarded a trophy at the Young Authors' Faire. 

After being introduced by her teacher, Maggie announces the title of her book as the principal, Ms. Doi, waits to present her with a trophy.

Everyone in Maggie's class wrote, illustrated, and "published" (i.e. made it into a bound book) a story. Maggie's classmates selected Maggie and one other student to be honored at the Faire. (The Artists' Faire was judged by some teachers, but apparently for the Authors' Faire the kids got to vote.) 

Maggie poses with her book Vanessa is a Monkey Girl.

We're so proud of all the great work that Maggie did in second grade. It was a rough beginning for her, having to switch schools and be the new girl twice, but she managed beautifully and really found her place at Zanker. Her teacher Mrs. Kim made each day fun. She thought Maggie was such a joy and brought out good things in her.

At the end of the school year a few weeks later, Maggie used the above photo to make a truly unique teacher gift for Mrs. Kim. This was ALL Maggie's idea--very clever and creative.

We printed the photo and stuck it to a magnetic board with clear contact paper. Then Maggie drew different accessories on paper, put them on the sticky side of some adhesive magnets and trimmed around them. All of the magnets could be stored in the pocket below the magnetic board or simply stick to the borders. We also left a portion of the magnetic board empty at the top so that Mrs. Kim can stick other things to it, making it useful AND entertaining. No matter how Mrs. Kim chooses to store the magnets & use the board, she'll always have a funny way to remember her silly student.  

An Overnight Guest

Damon often goes for walks during his lunch hour. His office is near park that has paths through a marshy part of the southern tip of San Francisco Bay. He spots all kinds of shore birds, frequently finds lizards, and occasionally sees snakes.

There's also a canal adjacent to the office parking lot. The canal connects to the bay marshes and is also a source of wildlife spotting.

One evening Damon brought us home a little visitor that he found on the bank of the canal.

 

 

This red-eared slider (Trachemys scripta elegans) is a semi-aquatic turtle that is actually not native to California. (I just learned that reading the Wikipedia article linked above.) We only had the turtle stay one night in our bathtub and then Damon returned him to the wild. I guess maybe we might have done the ecosystem a little favor if we'd kept him out of there (according to Wikipedia--the red-eared slider is becoming invasive in California!).

Everyone got a thrill out of his visit, and I got a bit of a spook when I heard him clunking around in the bathtub upstairs after the kids were all asleep and Damon was out of the house. I forgot he was there and couldn't figure out what that noise was! Luckily, as I creeped up the stairs to investigate I remembered. Then I just added a little more water to the tub and we were both happy.