Maximum Grace

A Small Peek Into Our World . . .

Maxie fell asleep on the couch. Sean was still at work. Grace was in the bath.

Grace: I saw soldiers on the news.

Mom: Oh, really?

Grace: Yeah. Are soldiers good guys or bad guys?

Mom: Um. Er. Well. Hmmmm. I mean. Ummm.

My final not so brilliant answer: "I guess it depends on what side they are on."

This did not end the conversation.

Of course it didn't.

So I tried diversionary tactics.

Mom: Hey, when you get out of the bath do you want to read The New Yorker with me? (I know, I know. But it *just* arrived and I needed a break. There might be kids in the world who find it fun)

Grace: No way. The New Yorker is totally boring. (Verbatim)

Mom: Well, what if you read a book and I'll read that right next to you?

Grace: Moooooooooooommmmmmm.

Lots of negotiations ensued. Grace ended up selecting her "How A Bill Becomes A Law" coloring book (I swear I did not give it to her) and tried to figure out a law she wanted to propose.

I proposed "when mommies want to read magazines, girls should be quiet." It didn't pass the "house."

Grace: So, are soldiers good or bad?

Summertime

This week Grace is at a day camp where she made 3 friends her first day. No real surprise there for those who know Ms. Personality. Maxie and Gabby are home with me.

Camp Mather

Take Me Out To The Ballgame

Happy 4th!

Pictures for now, commentary later

Soccer Star

Yesterday marked Day 1 of Maxie's soccer career! She may only be 3, but she is focused, determined and a great kicker! She awoke this morning asking whether today was "soccer day" again. (It's Mondays only, unfortunately).

Hip hip hooray and Mia Hamm watch out!

Pre-Birthday Cupcakes and Last day of School!

Grace's birthday falls a week after school lets out, but that didn't stop us from having a cupcake-fest in class! (Yeah, they graduated on Wednesday, but school didn't let out until yesterday.)

Incredible props must go out to the fabulous, the inimitable, the sweet, the loving, the firm, the calm, the lovely in all ways Ms. Lee. Seriously, we could not have conjured a better teacher to introduce Grace to school. I'm pretty sure no teacher Grace ever has from here on out will measure up.

Grace's class was full of wonderful characters as well. Here are most of them . . .

The Graduate (and future author - check out the award!)

This Just In

Toothless Theresa, as she is currently known, has lost another tooth. However, this was the first one that came out by itself (as opposed to pulled out by dentist to make room for fast growing replacements). It came out right in the middle of school and she and Fanny (the bathroom monitor) went to the office and bathroom to rinse out her mouth, etc. It was very exciting.

So, we had a little celebration, singing "Happy First Tooth That Came Out By Itself Day To You.

All Right, Where Were We?

So what has been going on? Let's see.

We voted on Tuesday and were very excited that Proposition A passed as Grace and Max and I had diligently hung "Yes on Prop A" hangers on doorknobs on our block a few weeks ago.

With resignation, we took our Hillary sign down. We are getting on the Obama train. Grace says that "Obama is ok, because he is on our team too." ;-)

We've had all sorts of interesting discussions, including one regarding the nature of God. Yeah. Anyone want to try explaining that to a 5 and 3 year old? Grace wanted to know what God looked like. We discussed whether God was a man or woman. Or something else. We talked about how maybe God was in everything, like trees. Max offered hopefully that maybe God was in make-up. Where did this kid come from is all I have to say on that. ;-)

Grace had her long anticipated pajama day when she got to wear (you guessed it!) pajamas all day long at school. Max has hers this week. Apparently, this trend is sweeping the nation. Or at least the Sunset.

We had a jam packed Saturday with the Family Day at Grace's school, complete with BBQ, face painting, dance lessons, poetry readings, etc. followed by the Spaghetti Dinner at Max's school, complete with yet another round of face painting.

Sunday was the Sunset Magazine Festival. Lots of fun.