Writing By The Eldest

I was going through Gret's homework and came across her poetry book. She really enjoyed poetry this year at school. I thought I would post some of her writing but I haven't asked her permission yet... I don't think she will mind and if she does it is easier to beg for forgiveness than ask permission, right? Most of these were written before she turned nine. 

Love 

By Greta 

Love looks like sweet smiles from family and friends. 

It sounds like beautiful, perfect music. 

It smells like fresh roses in the garden. 

It feels like a white, silky soft scarf. 

It tastes like my dad's delicious creole. 

(Jeff loved this poem. Creole is Greta's favorite meal.) 

If I Were In Charge Of The World

By Greta 

If I were in charge of the world, I'd cancel shots, Summer school, allergies and spiders. 

If I were in charge of the world, there'd be free credit cards for people of any age, homes for everyone and magic. 

If I were in charge of the world, we wouldn't have celery, watermelon or sorbet ice cream. 

Or waiting in traffic.

You wouldn't even have traffic. 

If I were in charge of the world, Ghirardelli chocolate would be a fruit. 

All people would have a cat. 

And a person who sometimes forgets to do their homework would still be allowed to be in charge of the world. 

Greta 

by Greta 

Smart, towering, beautiful and funny. 

Daughter of Jeff and Raylene. 

Lover of family, books and the beach. 

Who likes cats, basketball and acting. 

Who feels cheerful most of the time, grumpy sometimes. 

Who finds happiness in books, sunshine, my cat and crafts. 

Who needs happiness.

Who gives smiles and help to people. 

Who fears big spiders. 

Who would like to see Paris, London, Scotland and New Mexico. 

Who likes to wear shorts, a short sleeve t-shirt and nikes. 

Fieldin Whistles Because.....

 HE LOST HIS FIRST TOOTH! 

 And he is VERY excited. The first thing he did was run to the mirror and then tried to whistle. 

 Showing us his tooth one more time

 Then into the yoda tooth pillow I made him. He can sleep better knowing a powerful jedi is watching his tooth. Protect your tooth, I will..mmm.....

Then he was wondering if the tooth fairy is going to leave him $90. 

Sister stayed up past her bed time to watch, hold his hand and cheer him on while his tooth was pulled. As you can tell she was proud and excited for him. 

Fieldin just hollered downstairs that it is time for Jeff and me to go to bed since the tooth fairy may not come if we are awake. 

Better go. 

Pie #3: Peanut Butter Raspberry

These two are enjoying time in the kitchen. Fieldin as always wants to help Greta with her pie but this time he was content drawing and watching her. They talked and laughed and told stories as she rolled her dough.. There is just something special about making a pie. 

 we pre-baked the crust and the next day she made the filling with help, this pie was a bit hard. Fieldin had to watch her make jello.. yes it had jello and she also had to make a milk custard. 

 here is the peanut butter base 

 Greta ate the last bits of the milk custard.. and then Fieldin joined in. 

 The finished pie. It was good. The jello didn't set as well as we hoped because we used frozen raspberries we picked last season and I think they had too much juice. We all thought it tasted like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. It was a fun one to try and not your average type pie. In the picture below not sure if you can notice but I can tell because I'm her mom but she has dirt, strawberry juice and grape Popsicle all over her face :) 

The pie making has been good for her, she helps with dishes once and awhile and is making her own breakfast now. She wanted salad the other night for dinner so she cut it all up and made it herself. She's not really good at doing chores so I think we need to rethink it and have her help in the kitchen instead. :)

The Last Of The Strawberries

We didn't need any more strawberries. 

I'm a bit strawberried out but the kids love to pick them and the strawberries are almost done for the season. (raspberries are ready now) 

We picked more yesterday and they were the most beautiful strawberries I'd seen in years. 

 The kids usually never eat strawberries while they are picking them, even though we've been telling them it's ok for years. But yesterday was different and I caught them eating some.. finally. 

Our last flat for the year. We dried some, ate alot, froze some and gave some away.  

Around Here

Around here Greta would rather curl up on the sofa or porch swing with a book than do homework. Two more weeks to go and I think she could use a break from homework but she is sad school will be out. 

Here she is starting the last Harry Potter book, as I type she is one the porch swing finishing the few last pages. 

 Swimming lessons are ending and then starting up again soon for Fieldin. 

(above: Greta practicing strokes with her class and Fieldin, the water boy, he just passed a level and is so proud)

 Hanging with some special people

 giggling at the sunday comics

 

 The week before last Fieldin had a BAD bug. He was laid up for a few days. The cat stayed and kept him company through the day. 

 It must be tough to be Chompers

 Little man is still building every day. 

 Fieldin was a little upset Greta's been doing all the baking lately so he strung rhubarb and learned to cut it and made a strawberry/rhubarb crisp. He wanted to make a pie like sister but we told him he wasn't ready for making pie crust yet :) He picked the strawberries this morning so extra love into his crisp. 

 one of my new flower loves, the Hawaiian blue

 Greta makes pudding and Fieldin makes a whip cream mountain top on each one

 one of my favorite time of the year.. dragonfly time. I love seeing them all over the yard!

we are still loading up on strawberries. This flat cost $7.50 doing U-Pick. To buy them pre picked it is $22 a flat. 

Pie #2 Chocolate Cream

You win some, you lose some. That quote is true in life and pie making. 

 The crust was beautiful and was prebaked the night before. 

 Here she is pricking the bottom

 The problem was the inside of the pie didn't thicken. Greta said "This looks like hot chocolate" and it did. No amount of cornstarch helped. Oh well. I think the problem was we had nonfat milk in the fridge instead of whole milk. Last night she wanted to make us chocolate pudding instead so we stopped at the store for whole milk just in case. The pudding turned out great. Lesson learned. On to the next pie. 

Preschool Graduation

Lil' man is ready for Kindergarten. 

Actually, he can not wait for kindergarten. 

He graduated from preschool on Friday morning. 

 Story time in class. 

 Waiting to sing their two songs and then graduate. 

 Getting his diploma from Mrs. Dole

 And congratulated by Mrs. Gleason

 He was very proud. We got him a small graduation gift. Legos of course. 

 He is official he has a diploma now. 

 We HAD to make a trip to frozen yogurt and get extra toppings of course! 

This was a bit hard for me. I've realized the last few weeks I won't be able to peek in on him as I pass by his class at work. I will miss that. I got to see how he acted in a different environment and loved it. I will miss driving to work with him and his hugs before class as he walks down the hall saying "the hands on the two!" which meant it was 9:10 and time for him to go to class to start his table job. I knew it was special but still think I took seeing him at school each day for granted. I will miss him reading the board to me in the morning, waving at me down the hall and helping me setup class. Not seeing him on the playground will be strange. I won't be able to see him at school much next year but I guess having him so close this year should make up for that. 

Your journey is just beginning buddy. You are so smart and responsible. I can't wait to see you karate chop kindergarten. :)