Look-a-likes?

People frequently comment on how much my kids look alike. 

While they share momma's eyes and chunky thighs and daddy's forhead, as their mother, I think that they each look quite different from one another.

Whether they look alike or not, it's fun to compare the munchkins...

An Unconventional Family Portrait

The other day, Brock was busily playing with Legos at the table. Casually, I inquired as to what he was building. 

Knowingly, he responded, "I'm getting my guys ready for their family picture."

Duh, mom.

 I almost choked on my Diet Coke, but managed a, "Oh, that's great. Do you want me to take their picture?"

"Yes, but first we need to turn off these lights and find a good background."

Hehehehe.

Well, Hello Gorgeous

Meet the newest See family investment. 

I want to name her Betty (enter catcall here) because she is gorgeous, 

but I doubt Clarke will embrace my nerdiness.

He may roll his eyes and tell me I'm weird.

We called our expired computer "the Mac."

How tragically unoriginal!

Betty is 27 inches of awesomeness!

As we were in line at Best Buy, a fellow shopper began ogling Betty. (wouldn't you?)

We started talking about computers and he could hardly keep his eyes off of Betty's box, or a smile off his face. His wife was slightly less impressed.

I started numbering all the advantages of choosing an iMac...

and get this....I SOLD him on buying a Betty, or, er an iMac for himself! 

(insert open jawed amazement at my mad saleswoman skills here).

Beaming with a profound sense of pride at having convinced a random stranger to plunk down a big chunk of change on a computer, I relayed my experience to the guy in the blue shirt behind the Best Buy counter. 

"You should totally give me a commission. Or a discount."

And then get this...

He responded with, "we don't work on commission." 

So boo hoo for me. 

Because apparently I'm a savvy saleswoman with no commission or discount to show for all my fancy talk. But let's face it, Betty did most of the "talking" anyway.

And now, in celebration of the fact that I am typing this on the world's most amazing monitor EVER, and because I am avoiding real work (i.e. editing client images), here are a few gems I captured this afternoon...

An Untimely Demise

In the midst of what feels like a whirlwind of a month on fast-forward, we stumbled into a hot mess this past week when a much loved member of our household's technology family met its premature death.

On Wednesday night, our 1-year old Mac fell victim to hardrive failure (which we've been told is rare for such a "young" computer. Chalk it up to bad luck on our part?)

LUCKILY, I had almost everything backed up, as in about 99% of tens of thousands of pictures for business and personal use, but "almost" doesn't cover everything and I won't find out what MacLife was able to recover until later today. Gulp.

Worst case scenario is that I will have to re-edit my latest client sessions asap, which amounts to about 20-30 hours of work, while raising two very high maintenance children or giving up sleep, which is often times one of the same.

While this is a very costly and untimely predicament, we count ourselves fortunate. Many people don't double or triple back up their imformation and often lose much of it when (not if, but when) their computers fail. But not us. Whew!

So the moral of this story is: BACK UP YOUR PICTURES

(and sadly Macs can die young, just like a PC)

Because This Girl Can Never Have Too Many Cameras....

a'>http://www.rafflecopter.com">a Rafflecopter giveaway


Someone has to win giveaways, I suppose. Never having really won anything before, I felt my luck was better left untested whenever a favorite site or blog offered a giveaway. However, when I found out that one of my favorite sites, GroopDealz, was giving away a Nikon camera, my inner shutterbug did the happy dance. Even if I don't win, at least I tried, right?

Surviving Summer: a Bucket List

Growing up, the prevailing thought amongst parents was that summer vacation was akin to acute torture. As a child, I couldn't wrap my head around the idea that parents wouldn't want to spend every second of their summertime planning out and implementing activities that would keep us entertained and happy until  school commenced. Now, that I'm a mother of a 6-year old school boy, I know exactly why the last day of school spelled dread for parents everywhere, because let's face it, entertaining school aged kids is an exhausting, full-time job.

What am I going to do with you all day...

Each day, Brock will have 3-4 daily chores (make bed, brush teeth, clean up toys and etc) that have to get done first thing in the morning. In addition, everyday he will complete one weekly chore (like wash the sliding glass door window, dust living room, sort his laundry or emptying the bathroom trash cans and etc.). He is also going to read every day in his goal to read 100 easy-to-read books this summer. This will be especially beneficial as he will be participating in our library's summer reading program. And, of course, summer wouldn't be summer unless you throw swimming lessons into the mix!

This morning, Brock and I sat down and discussed how we would structure our summertime schedule so that he'd learn to work (earn allowance) and to play, but more importantly continue learning so that he'd be set for the challenges of first grade. As a solution, we came up with a daily theme and created a summertime bucket list.

Make it Monday ~ crafts

Treat Tuesday ~ cook/bake a special, healthy treat & visit library

Wet and Wild Wednesday ~ swimming, water balloons, sprinklers... 

Take a Trip Thursday ~ visiting a museum or a park, go on a picnic...

Fun & Games Friday ~ invent games, create costumes, puppet shows...

On Sundays, Brock will choose two items from our bucket list to complete each weekday, in addition to chores and outings. This will give me time to collect necessary materials ahead of time and give Brock something to look forward to each day. It sounds like we're over-planning our summertime, but rest assured there will still be plenty of down time for movies and Wii and, more importantly, spontaneity.

Here is our bucket list (understand we probably won't accomplish it all)...

glow sticks activities     work on spelling using licorice strings    fossil hunting

finger painting   baking soda volcanoes   make a book     balloon tennis

ding dong ditch    make puppets and put on a puppet show    learn to draw angry birds

animal report    play hotel (clean room)     create a silly holiday    

blow up balloons with vinegar    bug hunt    make a candy necklace

watercolor paint    lava floor    melted crayon hot rocks    melted crayon art

sleep on trampoline    balloon faces    indoor picnic    outdoor picnic

play school    write and mail letters to family members    learn about the world/read maps

obstacle course with streamers   play dough dino fossils    make a japanese hanging fish

fly a kite    go geocaching     popsicle stick puzzles    make giant bubbles

go swimming    handprint art    ice cube paint    make your own mailbox/play mailman

go on a hike    homemade lava lamps    mini marshmallow construction

make pizza    paint/roll marbles    potato stamps    make bird feeder 

make playdough    nature scavenger hunt    build a fort   make pop-rock cupcakes

decorate for july 4th    tin can windsocks    july 4th rockets    lego quest    fingerprint art

nature paintbrushes    bouncing bubbles    glow in the dark slime    glow in the dark swim

coloring pages    make flubber   make origami    balloon ninjas    paper sculptures

paint with straws    pasta collage    quilting magnets    tie dye t-shirts    pool noodle baseball

lego stamping    popsicle stick airplanes    edible paint popcorn    

yarn and tape laser obstacle course   make bouncy balls    handprint monsters

sidewalk paint    cloud dough    bubble painting    painted bread    shaving cream painting

dice stamping (math)    snow paint    fruit loop patterns    corn syrup + crayon art

carwash/sprinkler    sandpaper/crayon transfer    glow in the dark silly putty

sprinkler+trampoline    summer sponge balls     watch a movie    make ice cream

go to splash park    flashlight tag    water balloon tag on trampoline

glow in dark mountain dew paint     make stepping stones    paper mache    paint rocks

bean mosaics   make bookmarks    kid wash/pvc sprinklers    water pinatas

The End of an Era

Kindergarten graduation is a most supercilious ceremony if you stop to think about it. What is so challenging about learning your numbers and letters and identifying colors and shapes that makes a kindergartner more worthy to don a graduation cap than say a first grader? Or how about 6th grader? The answer to this question is simply this: kindergarten graduation is not for the kindergartners. After all, my son was more enthusiastic about the cookies served post-ceremony than he was to walk across the stage and accept his certificate of completion. No, kindergarten graduation is for the parents. It's a pat-on-the-back for having taught your kid to get out of bed each day, brush their teeth, tie their shoes and make it to the bus on time. Kindergarten graduation is a rite of passage that tells parents that if they could survive the trivial complexities of kindergarten, they can survive the next twelve years of school.

It is with a bittersweetness of spirit that we say goodbye to Brock's kindergarten year. I'm not sure if it's because Brock is our firstborn or if it is because for so long we labored under the impression that he would be our only child, but so many of Brock's accomplishments are a mix of maternal joy and mourning. My 6-year old thrill seeker anxiously looks forward to first grade adventures while I grapple with the idea that he is no longer a kindergartner. I feel a sense of loss where he feels a sense of accomplishment and it makes me wonder if it's just me or do all moms feel this way as their kindergartner stands boldly before an audience of parents, in a paper graduation cap and bids farewell to their first year of school?

Let us not forget, however, that kindergarten graduation is also a photo-op...

Brock is easily the TALLEST kid in kindergarten... 

Can you guess what's on his mind? Cookies, probably.

The kids sang two songs for their parents. 

First was the Indian Creek school song, sung to the Addam's Family theme song.

Second was 'Grand Old Flag' Yes! My kid learned a song about the AMERICAN flag in a public school...perhaps there is hope after all. Whew! 

You see, it's all about the cookies for this one...

God bless kindergarten teachers like Mrs. Hubbard! I honestly want to pull my hair out sometimes when dealing with my own 6-year old, and an entire classroom of 6-year-olds would make me certifiably crazy! 

While most of Brock's fellow kindergartners aspire to become doctors and teachers and moms and one little girl even expressed an interest at working at McDonald's, my son's wish is to become a ninja when he grows up. In truth, we were slightly surprised by this revelation as it was our belief that he wanted to fight the forces of darkness as a Star Trooper. Or a soldier. Nevertheless, it makes my heart happy to know that reality hasn't gotten the best of his imagination. Because that is when childhood truly expires.

Next year Brock is going to attend the charter school, so kindergarten graduation was more than just a "see you in first grade," it was a real goodbye to the school, the teachers and Brock's classmates and friends. Perhaps that is why it feels like a real end to an era...and the beginning of a new adventure.