Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving at Nana and Papa's house this year. Jan made a fabulous Thanksgiving feast. The kids had a blast terrorizing Shasta, running laps around the house, exploring in the huge back yard, and checking out all of Papa's garage treasures and trophies. I got a chance to do some relaxing and reading, and Jay, of course, talked cars and sports with John.

A Girl and Her Shoes

Emma LOVES shoes. She loves to wear them; she admires them at stores; she points out other peoples shoes and comments on their color, design, and prettiness; she puts hers on first thing in the morning and leaves them on until bedtime. She truly is a shoe girl, so it comes as no surprise to us when she pulls out our shoes and parades around the house in them, but it always cracks me up to see her tiny feet in Jay's size 14's.

Good mommy strategy...

This morning, while I was driving to school, just minding my own business, Cody blurted out a very serious question. The conversation went something like this...

C- Mom, remember when Emma was in your tummy? Well, how did she get out?
Me - Uh. Um. Uh. Um. Cody why don't you count to 100 while I think about that. (I thought this was a pretty clever diversion which would cause him to forget his question for at least a little while.)
But alas...
C- (after counting to 100) So Mommy, did you have a chance to think?
Me - Um, what was your question again?
C- How did Emma get out of your tummy when she was a baby?
Me - Oh, right. Well, um, the doctor got her out of course.
C- Oh, OK!

Thank goodness he's five and was totally accepting of my answer. I know someday I'm going to have to tell him the truth, or at least something closer to it, but I'm totally unprepared for that conversation. As a matter of fact, I think I'm too immature to handle it. I may have to send him Daddy's way when the subject comes up again. (hee,hee)

The Saddest Halloween Ever...

Last night was Halloween - every child's favorite night, and the Rowan children did not get to participate in the festivities. As we were getting ready to go trick-or-treating with friends, Cody began to complain that his stomach hurt. About 5 minutes later, the throwing up began, and then continued every half hour all night long. At one point, during a calm moment, Jay asked Cody if he wanted to get his costume on and go trick-or-treat next door. His response was so sad, I almost couldn't bear it...(with tears in his eyes) "I don't think I can make it Daddy." This morning Cody woke up and the reality of what had occurred hit him full on. The first thing he said to me was, "Can I go trick-or-treating today?," followed by, "Did I really miss Halloween?" Poor little boy.

Emma however, never misses an opportunity to dress up, so though she didn't get to go trick-or-treating she donned several outfits for the occasion.

testing out brother's cape

sporting the ghost shirt

Anyone wanna jitterbug?

scrambled brains

A conversation about between Cody and I on the way home from school today.

C- "Mom today we learned that rugs are bad."
Me - "Rugs?"
C- "Yeah. Mrs. Downey said that rugs can scramble up your brain like an egg."
Me - "Do you mean drugs?"
C- "Nope. I'm pretty sure she said rugs."

A farewell to summer

We celebrated the end of the unbearably hot Sacramento summer days this afternoon. For the last time until next year we lounged by the pool, barbequed with friends, and swam in the cool water. The weatherman is calling for a big cool off, and frankly we are ready for it, but it was nice to have one last hurrah.

The coolest thing...

So yes, I am a teacher, and Cody is my child, but I swear I witnessed the coolest thing today...

"I see Ancn in his sip."

Translation: I see Anakin in his ship.

My son wrote that! When we came home from school today he said, "I learned a new word today Mom. I learned see. Does that mean I can write stuff now?" So I got out his journal (which up until now has been used to practice the alphabet and his name), handed him a pencil, and stood back to watch what he would do. It was awesome! He started by writing the words "I see", words that he has learned in kindergarten. Then, when I was getting ready to step in and help him, he continued to write on his own. At one point he even erased because, "I forgot to leave a finger space." When he was finished, he looked at me with a huge grin on his face, and said, " Want me to read you my story Mom?" It gets better...he proceeded to read me his story while pointing at his words on the paper! Now, I know that I am a teacher, and that Cody is my son, but come on, that is COOL!

Who makes the rules?

Today I took Cody to his friend Evan's birthday party. The boys had a great time running, jumping, and playing together. The only rule at the facility was that children had to wear socks at all times. Of course that meant that at fairly regular intervals, every 10 minutes or so, one or another of the boys would come up and ask if he could take his socks off - Murphy's Law. At the party's end as we are packing up to leave Cody turns to me and says, "Mommy, why did President Obama have to make that rule about the socks anyway?"

I love the mind of a child!

My baby...

Five years ago today I lay in the hospital eager, frightened, and overwhelmed by emotion as your dad and I awaited your arrival. Within moments of entering this world, you forever changed ours. We were so in awe of you. You awakened feelings of both hope and trepidation. You made us question everything that we believed. You forced us to reevaluate and reprioritize. You made us laugh, cry, and tremble with both an immeasurable amount of love and an immeasurable amount of fear. You joined us closer than we have ever been, and changed the dynamics of our relationship forever. You transformed us from a couple to a family. You are our miracle - our beautiful, perfect, baby boy. Though we celebrated your 5th birthday today, I cannot help but remember that night and how you burst into our lives and made us whole. We are so lucky to call you our son. We love you sweet Cody. Happy Birthday!

Celebrate!

Today was Cody's 5th birthday. With gifts coming in the mail from Grandma, and Auntie Meems, baking cupcakes for his class, planning and preparing for the party, and the general buzz of excitement that accompanies the approach of another birthday, it has been hard not to celebrate all week long. Our official celebration though took place yesterday. Cody invited about 8 of his friends over to bounce in a giant Hulk shaped bounce house, eat a ton of junk food, play, laugh, and have fun. It was a great party!

First Day of Kindergarten

My baby started kindergarten today (sniff,sniff)! He has anxiously been awaiting this day for weeks, and could hardly sleep last night for all his excitement. He was up, dressed, and ready with the sun. Unfortunately school didn't begin until 9:25, so he was left to wait for a few more hours. Jay and I (and Cody too) feel fortunate to have the option of sending Cody to my school. I love this for the obvious reason that I get to see and be near him every day, but also because of the relationship that I have with his teacher, Mrs. Downey, a dear friend of mine. Jay loves that he's "off the hook" as far as transporting Cody back and forth to school, but also loves that I'm just a hop, skip, and a jump away, and that I have the insider track on teachers, curriculum, and our little monkey's daily behavior. And Cody, well, he's just SO happy to finally be a kindergartner!

Cody and Mrs. Downey



Cody and his second grade buddy Jayke

This morning Jay and I got to spend the first chunk of the day in kindergarten with our boy. We helped him to familiarize himself with the classroom, complete projects, and meet a few of his classmates. When the time came for mommy and daddy to leave, well let's just say there were tears...and the weren't from Cody.

End of Summer Campout

You may find this shocking, I know I did, but I actually volunteered to take my family camping again after our Easter camping experience. This time we packed up our gear and headed to the Ocean Cove campsite in Gualala for some fun, food, and friends. The kids had a blast running around, playing, and getting dirty. I had a nice time chatting with the girls, watching the kids run around, and gorging on yummy camp food and wine. Jay may have had the best time of all the campers though. Our second day there was opening day for abalone season, and Jay was the king of the divers. He caught his limit of 3 abs both days. The other guys also caught a few, but Jay was referred to as the guy who, "made a wetsuit look cool." We all enjoyed the abalone for dinner, and were very pleased to reap the rewards of the boys' hard work. Overall, another fun and successful camping trip. Who knows I may become a real camper yet!

Cody and Jayke

Cute little camper!

Suzanne, Kristy, and me

The girls

The boys

The divers

Just in case.

Watching the big boys dive.

Look! It's a starfish!

King of the divers.

The Countdown Begins

For weeks now Cody has been waking up asking, "is it time for Kindergarten yet Mom?" In order to help him with the elusive concept of time, we sat down this morning and made a paper chain to aid in his countdown. He has already counted the links multiple times, and can hardly wait until bedtime so he can take one off. In case you're wondering - 19 days ... and counting!

Stranger Danger

It has become increasingly clear to me as these summer days pass that Cody sees Emma and I as sub par replacements for the busy, friend and fun filled preschool days to which he has become accustomed. So, this week we decided to send Cody to day camp through our local park and recreation department. He loved it! Each day held some new exciting game, activity, or field trip, as well as a large group of kids to play and interact with. He came home each day full of stories to tell about songs and games that he had learned, friends he had met, and once, "some really bad news"...

Tuesday 9:00 AM

Tuesday was the day that all of the campers got to go to the big pool for a swim party all afternoon. Cody was very excited! He double and triple checked his backpack to make sure that I had put in his lunch, his water bottle, his towel, and his sunblock. When I dropped him off he was practically giddy with anticipation. I couldn't help but smile as he kissed me goodbye and raced inside to talk to his friends about the days' events.

Tuesday 4:00 PM

When I returned to pick Cody up after camp, he again was excited to tell me about the days' activities. We talked about the pool, about the games he and the other boys played, and about how he, "touched the bottom" all by himself. Throughout the conversation he was animated and happy. It seemed to have been another fantastic, carefree day at camp.

Tuesday 7:30 PM

After brushing teeth, getting ready for bed, and picking out books to read, Cody looked at me with sad face and said, "Mom, you are going to be really sad about this." Then he continued, "Today when we went to the pool, my camp teachers made me ride in a big car, I mean a big bus, with a STRANGER! I told them I wasn't supposed to do that, but they said I had to if I wanted to go to the pool. Then they said that you wouldn't be mad, but I knew you really would, so I didn't tell you for a while. Sorry mom." As I looked at his sweet face all scrunched up with both sadness and shame, I did what any parent in my place would do. I grabbed my sweet boy in a huge hug and laughed until I couldn't catch my breath. When I'd finally pulled myself together I attempted to explain "stranger danger" a little bit more clearly, as I had obviously left out some important things in my first attempt.

Almost a Super Hero

It has been extremely hot here this week! Since it's too hot to play outside, we have been arranging afternoon play dates in comfortably air conditioned venues as often as possible. Unfortunately this afternoon we found ourselves with nothing to do so we decided to make a big bowl of popcorn and watch one of Cody's favorite movies - The Incredibles. The Incredibles is about of family of superheros all of whom have awesome powers. The son can run faster than the wind, the daughter can become invisible, the father has superhuman strength, and the mother is super stretchy and can take the shape of pretty much any object. At some point during the movie my adorable son looked at me and said, "Mom, you're kind of like the mommy Incredible. You can do A LOT of cool stuff-except you can't really fly, and you're not really bendy-but you're still really cool." If that's not an awesome compliment from a 4 year old boy, then I don't know what is.

Happy Birthday America!

The Rowan family loves the 4th of July. For us it means playing in the pool, BBQing, making s'mores, and doing fireworks with all the neighbors and their kids. Fun! Fun! Fun!

Emma in her cute 4th of July outfit.

Swimming with Daddy.

PLaying with sparklers.

The grand finally.

Magic!

While at his cousin Jake's house, Cody was introduced to boxer shorts. No big deal right? Wrong! Apparently boxer shorts are magic...I know, who knew. But apparently they enable four year old boys to sleep through the night without wetting the bed or wearing a pull-up. Amazing!!! Thank you cousin Jake for enlightening us. We are now enjoying our second week of pull-up free sleeping!

I'm not convinced...

This afternoon after enjoying the local bounce house extravaganza, Cody tried to convince me that he no longer needed to take naps. Literally less than five minutes later this is what I found...

Second Honeymoon

Though we certainly didn't plan this trip as an official "second honeymoon," that is most certainly what it became as soon as we boarded our plane. Our resort was amazing, the weather was phenomenal, the activities were awesome, and my date was handsome, charming, and fun! We truly had an extraordinary experience. We logged six SCUBA dives, including a night dive (which freaked me out, and I never want to do again). On these various dives we saw all kinds of fabulous creatures, as well as some truly beautiful coral. Some of our favorite sightings were the 2 sea turtles we saw on the second day, the tiny seahorses, the lionfish, the splendid toadfish, and the crazy, creepy, batfish. Besides SCUBA diving, we spent a day out on the catamaran snorkeling, sunning, and drinking margaritas. We spent a day in town bargain shopping, walking around town, and drinking margaritas. We spent lots of time in the hotel pool swimming, making friends, and drinking margaritas. We also spent lots of time at the beach napping in the tiki hut, swimming and snorkeling, resting in the hammocks, and drinking margaritas. It was truly a perfect vacation, and as much as we missed our children, we were sad to say goodbye to the alone time, the sleeping in, the fun in the sun, and yep, the margaritas!

The view from our room.

At the restaurant on the beach.

Pretty sunset!

On the catamaran going to and from snorkeling.

At the fancy restaurant.

Margaritaville

Super strong margarita..hee,hee!

This one's for Cousin Kurt-

you now occupy a place of honor at the bar inside Margaritaville, Cozumel

(or at least a buck with your name on it does.)

Hamming it up with the band!

Now this is the life!