Samuel's 6th Birthday - The Star Wars Celebration

Samuel requested a Star Wars birthday this year.  He wanted to decorate the house like the death star, or some such.  We never got too far in that discussion - house décor isn't really my cup of tea. 

 

And I know how one can have a vision in one's head about how something should look, and be very disappointed in how it turns out when you try to translate that into reality, since that's pretty much why I completely gave up on artistic endeavors.  So I told Samuel that if he had a vision for party decorations - he was welcome to create them.

 

But - I did get it into my head that I could dress all of his guests up as Jedis and create a Jedi training camp for them.

And so began several consuming nights of Jedi robe assembly. 

 Lucky for me, I have Steve to help me translate my understanding of how patterns work into numbers and shapes.

 He insisted on documenting my undertaking.

 And kept saying - are you sure you want to set this high a bar for future birthdays?  It was such a cool idea - how could I not do it?  And sending each child home with his own robe and light saber for a party favor? 

And then I realized what Steve meant.  OMG, what if he expects me to do this every year?  And what am I going to make for Shira's birthday if she asks?  I may be setting myself up for utter failure for every birthday after this.  But I'm still really freakin' proud of my Jedi robes... And the utter bliss exhibited by Samuel and Shira when they realized they were getting their own Jedi robes - well, that can't be beat.

 I invited Darth to the party, of course.

 

  

Samuel is clearly ready to do battle with the bad guys

 

 

 Here is my other favorite Jedi

 The Jedis decided the best place to eat birthday snacks was under the obstacle course.

 

 

 What better place for light saber wars?  Throw them on the trampoline - also referred to, in our home, as The Cage.

 

 

  

 

Green frosted banana cupcakes, per Samuel's request to remind us of Yoda and the good guys' light sabers. 

 

 

 

  

 

I would never have thought of putting together Legos as a birthday party activity, but the 6 year old boys have schooled me in this area.  Here are Yildiz, Laszlo, Samuel and Nicolas (Mason in the background), diligently working together to put together, what else - Star Wars Legos.

 It wouldn't be Samuel's birthday if he didn't get to play some catch with Dad (this was after the party guests had left, of course.)

Samuel just had to try out his new catcher's uniform, courtesy of Denise. 

 And the morning after the birthday, still more light saber battles.

Can't resist these pictures- love my Jedis running around in their jammies. 

 

 

 And we're off for our family tradition - celebrating Samuel's and Shira's birthdays with a day in the city.

 This year we did brunch in Nob Hill, followed by a cable car ride to the brand new Exploratorium.  Here I am trying to utilize one of the new exhibits - a drinking fountain in a toilet.  Grossed Samuel out too much - he didn't allow me to do it.

 

 This might have been Shira's favorite exhibit - magnetic sand.  Samuel was a big fan too.

 

 

 

Spinning circles

 

 

 

 Building marble runs

 

 

 We spent most of our time in doors, and missed the chance to check out the outdoor playgroundy type exhibits. But we got a membership, so we'll be back.

Spring Garden 2013

I'm so thrilled with how our garden is growing.  It's been so much fun watching it mature, and seeing how much the kids enjoy it.

Here is one side of the garden. 

 

Here is the other side of the garden

Shira and Samuel love the swing, as do most kids who show up at our house.

I've been working on planting the front walk with flowers.  I still have a few holes to fill in, but we're getting there.

I love being able to say, "Ours is the house with the enormous artichokes in front."

I didn't think it was possible, but we actually have more artichokes than we are able to eat in time, though believe me, Shira and I are doing are best.

The peas are really going strong this spring, as well.

After 3 years (or was it 2?) the blueberries are producing.  Unfortunately, in a fit of pique I pulled out our other two blueberry plants, convinced they were all dying.  Feeling like a pretty big idiot right now.  They were $30 plants too. 

The orange tree is looking gorgeous.  Lucky for it, it is much more difficult to pull out, since we are still waiting for fruit ;).  Maybe next winter?

Those white flowers are on our blackberries.  There might be some pie in our future.

The pear tree is looking very happy.

Here is a close up on some of the pears growing now.

This is the stone fruit tree.  It has a wee bit of leaf curl, but otherwise looks very healthy.  So far all four of the fruits are growing - plums, peaches, nectarines and apricots.  I can't wait until they ripen and we can eat our own stone fruit from the garden.

And some of the harvest.  Above are one day's worth of sugar peas.

 And this is just one afternoon's haul of artichokes.  I've been picking at least 4 every other day, and sometimes this many for the last couple of weeks.

Swimming Lessons

We just restarted swimming lessons a few weeks ago and Samuel and Shira have both made amazing progress already.

To start with, Shira agreed to go to swimming lessons.  That is a new development in and of itself.  I've been asking Shira every couple of months if she would be interested in swimming lessons and the answer has always been a resounding no.  Then, suddenly, it was yes.

So we looked around for a new place to take lessons, since the swim school we used to go to seems to have ceased to exist.  We ended up at a place that is very close to our house, and has the benefit of being indoors without feeling like an indoor pool.  It is in a warehouse, has lots of windows, and has big roll up doors that can open up a whole wall on nice days.  It is very light, and not humid and chlorine smelling.

I'm especially pleased with how the teachers interact with the kids.  At her first lesson, Shira had me tell the teacher that she didn't want to put her face in the water.  The teacher just smiled and said that she didn't have to.  The next week, Shira had me tell the teacher the same thing.  This time he smiled and said that she would put her face in the water, but that she wouldn't mind it.  Shira was definitely anxious, but he put her at such ease, and had already created such a good rapport with her, that she smiled back nervously, and did everything she was asked. 

And just a few weeks later, look at her! 

 She spends most of her lesson with her face in the water.

I am completely blown away by her progress and the ease with which she went from being terrified of putting her face in the water, to totally comfortable.  And not a single tear!  Much different from Samuel's first swimming experience.  After the first week of class, Samuel and Shira both requested a second lesson per week, which Bubbie happily obliged getting for them as their Chanukah present left over from last year.

 This week Shira's instructor commented on what amazing lungs she has.  He said she can hold her breath longer than any other student he has.  All that screaming is really paying off in lung capacity.

When it is someone else's turn with the teacher (these are group lessons), Shira gets the rings, puts them on the steps and practices searching for them with her face in the water. 

The other great thing about this swim school, is that they have multiple lessons of differing levels going on in the pool at the same time, so Samuel and Shira are both taking their lessons at the same time from different instructors.

As you can see here, Samuel realized that Shira had found diving rings, and came over to acquire some of them for himself, while he was waiting his turn.

Samuel's swimming skills are really progressing, as well.

He is working on side breathing and really getting him arms out of the water. 

  

 So excited for our pool experiences this summer!

May the 4th be with you

The library had a little event for May the 4th be with you day.

 I think Samuel had a pretty good time, don't you?

 

 Oy.  Just what I need, a picture of my son holding an enormous gun.

 

 Some robotics students came to show off a robot they made.

 Apparently it can shoot frisbies at people.

 As you can imagine, they weren't actually allowed to demonstrate it.

They made Yoda and Wookie phone cases.  I thought they were puppets.  Why would little kids need a phone case?