What did you do this summer?

Well, now that school has started, perhaps I should show you what Nathan did this summer.

He read.

A lot.

I took a few documentary pictures.  Please don't consider what he's wearing too carefully, as it usually occurred to me to take a picture first thing in the morning-so he's in jammies in almost all of these.  (And at our house, jammies for big boys consist of comfy shorts and a t shirt-no matching necessary.)  

So, yeah.  Nate read.

He read while he ate.

He read on the front porch.  I have no idea why.

He read in the garage.  (Can you see him back there, tucked in amongst the boxes?)  Again, NO IDEA why.  Change of scenery, I guess?  (But this was before our garage got some serious organizing done-I need to post about that, too...)

This area under the desk at the top of our stairs was his official reading nook.  He discovered it at the beginning of the summer and would take piles of books and pillows and a lamp in there.  He'd stay there for hours.

He read to Cody.  (What a nice brother.)

He just read and read and read and read.  He read every single Magic Tree House book this summer (at current count, I think there are 43 of them.)  He read about half the Boxcar Children series, as well as a ton of various other little chapter books. 

This is my reading boy.  I love that about him.

1st

Always cool as can be.  Doesn't bother him that it's his first day in a new school in a new grade, with no friends in sight.  Doesn't bother him at all.  Oh, sure, it bothers ME a little, which is why I'm anxiously awaiting the report on how the first day went...

Better get out the Podge.

I'm trying to be a good mom, you know I am, so I decided I should do the whole "Meet the Teacher" gift thing.  Never done it before, but it seems like it's the right thing to do?  So I thought I'd give it a try.

I wanted a gift that says, "Hi.  I'm Nathan.  And I'm ready to be your favorite student this year.  And also, you should know that my mom is awesome."  That's kind of the vibe I was going for. 

I think we've accomplished our goal, don't you?  Here's the tutorial.

Pretty cool, huh?  I showed it to Ryan, and he responded with a sincerity and enthusiasm I am not accustomed to, "Wow.  That's actually really good."  Hm.

Naturally, you recognize the fabric, yes?  Scraps from Little Leah's Skirtsie.  See what scraps can do, mom?  (And she was going to throw them away.  Please.)  And I did it all while the daddy took the boys to the library-meaning it was pretty QUICK!!  Oh, but I should mention if you actually go to her tutorial, I found an apple that didn't have those little balls one it-one step easier for me, and my apple had a nice, perky green stem.  Another step easier for me. 

Now the question is, will I really give it to his teacher???

Oh.  And since I'm kind of tooting my own craft horn, here's a little something I did awhile ago, but strangely never posted it.  Well, actually, I guess it's not that strange.  It was a couple of moves ago.  Bah.

But I've done a few of the organza flower things.  You tried that yet?  Can't mess 'em up.  Good times.

It's All Relative

So the boys were driving with daddy in the car.  Cody turned to Nate and said,

"Daddy's not scared of anything.  Not even giants.  And he's stwonger than anything."

Nate:  "NO.  He's not.  Do you think Daddy's stronger than a house?"

"Yes.  He is." 

"What about a sky scraper?"

"Yes.  He is stwonger than a sky scraper."  (Odds are that Cody has no idea what a sky scraper is.  But that's okay.  The point is the same.  Moving on.)

That's nice.  That's sweet.  Daddies like it when their little boys think they are the world.  But Ryan soon discovered that Cody's perception of strength may be somewhat relative.  Because then Cody went on to say,

"Nathan's stwong, too.  He's stwonger than Superman."


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So, uh, yeah.  If Nathan, I mean this hulking specimen of muscle bound mass:

is stronger than Superman, I mean this whimpy weakling:

Source

Then maybe Ryan really is stwonger than a sky scraper.

My Own Personal Sweatshop

Admit it, if you had access to your own personal sweatshop, you'd use it too.

Well, I do have one, staffed by only one person (talk about poor working conditions!) and it so happens that she's turning 53 today.  It also so happens that she just spent a week with us, during which time we did many fun things-like floating the river, playing games, going to 2 movies, Roaring Springs, Idaho Discovery Center, going out to eat multiple times and you want to know the only picture I took?

This:

Because I thought Cody looked cute in his little Krispy Kreme hat.  But that means that I don't have any pictures of my mom to be showing you, so I thought I'd show you a montage of her most recent handiwork. 

She can make a little Alice in Wonderland getup (out of actual vintage material-you should see it close up.  It's so sweet!)

"Now where did that white rabbit go??"

From White Rabbit straight to Mod Babe.  Made, I should add, from a vintage pattern, but with modern fabrics.  Don't lie to me, the combo is devastating.

You've got to see the back, too.  It's so stinkin' cute.

From Mod Babe to Preppy Pretty.  For her this is just a simple skirt to whip up sans pattern.  Yeah.  'Cause that's no big.  I should take this moment to note that most of these pictures are taken before church Sunday morning.  That alone is noteworthy, because carving out time to take pictures before church is tricky.  You may note a small stain on the front of her shirt.  That's a little dose of Sunday morning reality.

From Preppy Pretty to Weepy Easter Egg.  Hah!  Sorry Lewis.  You're too cute when you cry.

You should probably see the back, too, 'cause it's pretty cute.  "Let me in!  Please!  She won't stop taking pictures of me even when I cry!!"

"Hm.  I've noted that you're trying to take pictures of me in this new outfit."

"In that case, SEE YA!"

I got her to stop for one picture. 

At least it's easy to snap pictures of the back when she's running away from me.  (Look at those buttons!!  Perfection!)

Whoops, I'm sorry, are you still there?  Or did you just FALL OFF YOUR CHAIR AND DIE FROM CUTENESS???

Perhaps you were so distracted by the STINKING CUTENESS of the girl to take a good look at the outfit.  So I'll give you a shot where she's not blinding you directly with her cuteness.  Look at that thing.  Little bows on the bloomers.  Get out of here.

"Ok, see ya!" 

And I might add that these are just the outfits that fit Miss Leah currently.  My sweatshop I mean mom is a genius.

Happy Birthday, mom!  Thanks for coming-we had a great time!  Hope your birthday's great!  Love you!

Neighborhood Block Party

So last night, my neighborhood had a block party.  A block party.  Can you believe it??  I have never lived in a neighborhood where someone bothered themselves to get ice cream and toppings and prizes and arranged to have the FIRE TRUCK come.  Get.  Out.

Nathan, smirkly as usual.

Cody, just happy.  As usual.

Ryan liked it.  And Leah was having such a thrilling time that she couldn't bother looking at the camera. 

So, you wanna take a tour of my 'hood?  You're not sick of me talking about The Great Papaya, are you?  I can't help it, I love this house and I love my neighborhood!  AND, I think once you see where I live, you will see that The Great Papaya is not so out of place here.

Ok.  (How many pictures do you think you can stand?  Because I took kind of a lot, and it was too hard for me to decide.  And these are only some of the cool houses in my 'hood.  Only the ones I thought I could surreptitiously take pictures of.)

Let's just blatantly start with my favorite.  Hello, you beautiful casaba melon, you.

Hello, Toasted Hazlenut with Whipped Cream and Dark Chocolate Sprinkles.

Hello, Lemon Lush.  I wish I'd taken a picture when they had their Americana bunting up on their porch railing.  Nothing looks more cheerful and American than this.

Wham!  How 'bout a gorgeous candied apple?  See?  My papaya can't be so out of place among its friends here.

And actually, it's not!  It's got a papaya twin!  (But let's call this Peach.  Or Pumpkin, take your pick.)

There's just something so inviting about a beautiful blond pineapple, isn't there? 

But we can't forget our greens!  Chives with cream cheese, if you please!

Alright, so I know of no fruit, vegetable, nut or seed to match this house, but I couldn't leave it out.  This is a slate gray that I might even consider eating, it's so beautiful.  Oh, what seriously sad injustice I have done to this house.  I can not capture it's amazingness on camera.

Dear woman with the fantastic slate gray house with white trim that sings to me, please don't hate me for doing such an injustice to your amazing house, your beautiful landscaping and your statues that you weld yourself.  Someday, let's be friends, okay?

This is my only right next door neighboor--see?  Hello papaya in the background.  See?  He's not out of place.  The banana next door is very friendly. 

And so is the radish across the street.

The whole thing just has a fantastic feeling-can you tell?  I mean, why don't you try being gloomy when you drive into my neighborhood?  Hm?  No.  I think you can't.  And now that I've lived here for only this short time, I think something has happened to me.  I think I've become a color snob.  Living with real colors does something to you.

A little bit you like it too, don't you?

Well there's one for sale... We can see this sweet Mango out our playroom window...  Think it over.  :)

Prepare to be Amazed

Did you know that when Nathan was a baby--like, a year old-- he could snap.  Snap, do you hear me, snap.  But that was before the time of blogs, and I never got it on video.  And then later, he forgot how for awhile, so my claims seemed unbelievable.  But history has repeated itself, and now I've got it on camera. Turn up your volume and listen close now. 



She's Snappy from Bethany Weed on Vimeo.


(She even takes a bow at the end.)

 Are you amazed?

Storytime

Lately, Cody has enjoyed telling me stories.  The characters vary, the length of the story varies, but the ending is always the same. 

A short one:

"Once upon a time, there was a pig.  And it went down to the water.  And then it got eaten by a shark!!"

A medium one:

"Once there was a little boy.  He went for a walk out in the woods.  And then he decided to go to the water to throw sticks and rocks.  But then a shark came and the shark was eating up all the sticks!  And then, the shark ate the boy."

 A long one:

"One time there was an elephant and a giraffe, and they went to a zoo.  And there was a merry go round at the zoo.  And there were bears and monkeys and tigers, too.  And a leprechaun.  But then there was a big huge storm!  With thunder and lightening!  And lots of rain.  But the animals were asleep so they didn't hear it and they weren't scared.  But then the tiger went up to a cliff.  And then he fell off the cliff into the sea, and he got eaten.  By a shark."