juliloquy

my dinner with Shmooie

Several weeks ago, Shmooie surprised me by saying "sometime I'd like to go somewhere, just you and me. Maybe to grab a bite to eat or something." (He has already mastered the art of romantic-yet-casual date-asking! Ready for college!) We finally got around to our night out last week. When I asked him where he'd like to go, he said, "there's this store? Where you can get food and eat it there or take it home? I think we've only been there once, but there's one near Grandpop and Bubbe's house." I figured out what he was talking about -- a new-to-Frederick regional upscale grocery store. We went there right after school.

  be still my heart

We had a perfectly upper middle class suburban evening.

Guess whose box is whose?
(Hint: the only green thing Shmooie consumed was the "mint chip" milk.)

Shmoo discovered a kids' seating area within which the Disney channel was playing, so it was kind of like dinner theatre. I was glad I always pack something to do in my purse.

22 across: MINOT! I believe this is the first time I've ever seen my hometown as a crossword clue.

After we ate, Shmoo helped with the grocery shopping.

And learned how the sticker-printing scales work while getting some special treats.

 

HPR and Roo had their own fun time at home, baking a double batch of cookies and Roo getting a bath all by herself. So a nice time all around!

I have a draft post about Shmoo's 7th birthday, but in the likelihood that it will never get published, here is a photo of the first annual punkin' chunkin event that was part of the early November festivities.

Put a post up on your dumb blog already

Heya. School has started! Shmoo began first grade on August 29th.

His best friend and one other student from last year's class are with him. I got a really cute picture of the three of them, but I don't want to post it w/o the other mom's permission. But here is when Shmoo and Alicia found each other on the first day.

 

Roo began preschool on August 31. She has Shmoo's teacher from last year (mixed-age 3s, 4s, and kindergarten). Whereas Shmoo still goes through 4-5 cycles of kiss/hug/"I love you"s, Roo heads into her classroom with nary a backward glance.

Also in the photo above is our new-to-us car, Steffi. This is what happened to poor Bucky the Saturn this past summer.

Bucky's the one in the front. The four of us were OK (as was the driver of the other car, except for a badly sprained ankle) and we kept a memento of Bucky (photo comes in landscape for some mysterious Typepad reason).

We did a lot of fun stuff over the summer. I'll leave with a cute kid photo from Shenandoah.

Goldilocks

I was looking through the library shelves lately, saw this, and had to check it out.

Ruth Sanderson, how did you channel my daughter's image? If Goldie's eyes were olive-green-brown rather than the blue you see here, she would be complete match of da Roo. The book is a cute retelling of the classic story, ending with [spoiler alert!] the three bears and Goldilocks making blueberry muffins together (after G remakes the beds and fixes Baby Bear's chair).

I see that I have also been remiss in parent-bragging. Shmoo's artwork was selected for display in a county-wide student art show at the Delaplaine Arts Education Center. He was one of 6 students chosen from his (K-8) school. Photos are on flickr here. Needless to say, we're very proud.

first date

Alicia, Shmoo's best friend, turned six yesterday. That morning, her mom contacted me, asking whether they could pick both kids up from Kindergarten and take Shmoo out to eat with them to celebrate Alicia's birthday. After running it by HPR, I agreed.* We both predicted (correctly) that Shmoo wouldn't like the surprise switch in plans, but that he would be fine.

Alicia's mom livestreamed the date! I posted one photo on facebook, but thought I'd put the other here.

Alicia's mom said Alicia wants to go to the same college as Shmoo. The subtext is that she heard people often meet their spouse at college. She's a planner!

And here is Shmoo's picture of his friend. Too bad her name isn't spelled phonetically.

*It was actually quite convenient, because I'm still sick and the two-mile round trip to school by bike/foot is a bit much for me at the moment. But I went to the doctor today and she gave me an antibiotic scrip to fight what apparently is bronchitis.

age progression

Shmoo receved his Kindergarten school photos! The older photo is from when he's about 2½.

Shmoo's happiest place on Earth

As we did last year on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, here is where we spent the day.

We learned from our mistakes. This year, we were properly blood-sugared. It was awesome.

 

algadr

Shmoo for the longest time wouldn't draw. I think he was intimidated—he knew he didn't have the skill to reproduce what was in his head. Then he started drawing machines. Usually baking machines. He tried his hand at robots and then stick figures. The other day, he came home with this: [click to embiggen]

 

phoning it in

I've got nothing tonight. I try not to post about being sick (cough cough cough). So.

I took the kids to Despicable Me at the cheap theatre tonight. Six dollars total for tickets for the three of us, and $6.10 for the large, refillable (once) popcorn. This is the fourth film we've seen at the cheap theater. I love it that they're old enough now to sit through a feature film, mostly. This one really captured their attention. Shmoo wanted to leave at a few points during the film—he's very sensitive to suspense. (These were also places where I could tell he was feeling empathy for the characters, which I was glad to see. Empathy hasn't historically been his strong point.) But I assured him that there would be a happy ending. Threw in a lollipop to sweeten the deal.

HPR didn't join us because he was working on his final project for his Masters degree. Just a few weeks left on that! Other Tuesdays he volunteers at our Earth and Space Science Lab. So the cheap theatre is a nice option for dark and stormy evenings.

Shmoo's birthday mix

As part of the party favor goodie bags, as mentioned, we followed my friend Niki's lead and made CDs of Shmoo's favorite tunes. You will see that we rely heavily on a few albums of kid-directed music. We threw in a few extra toe-tapping and sweet tunes to round out the mix. Click on the links to see videos or hear the tunes.

We're Going to Be Friends - Jack Johnson

Bling-Blang - Arlo Guthrie

Electric Car - They Might Be Giants

In the Car - Justin Roberts

Are We There Yet? Trout Fishing in America

School - Milkshake

Yellow Bus - Justin Roberts

Meet the Elements - They Might Be Giants

Rocketship - Justin Roberts

I Am a Paleontologist - They Might Be Giants

Jump Rope Jive - Beth Andrien

Bottle of Sunshine - Milkshake

Roy G. Biv - They Might Be Giants

Daydream Believer - Shonen Knife

(They Long To Be) Close to You - The Cranberries

Bluebird - Milkshake

Red, Red Robin - Rosie Flores

Philadelphia Chickens - The Bacon Brothers

Cookie Day - Shonen Knife

What Makes You Happy - Liz Phair (sorry, parents, for the inevitable question "what's a bastard?")

Dance The Night Away - The Mavericks

My Best Day - Trout Fishing in America

Love Train - Keb' Mo'

Fishin' Blues - Taj Mahal

When You Wish upon a Star - Tony Bennett

so you know

The ideal music to accompany the frosting of four dozen cupcakes is Paul Simon's Graceland.

And the ideal drink is Bushmills, neat.