finally a long awaited day arrived -- the celebration of uncle tom's bday. woo hoo.
friday night, sarah came over and played with the kids. they had had disappointing days at school (though it did not show when we picked them up). both cabooses and engineers (younger and older preschoolers) had a big (but close) field trip planned for the pool. when they arrived all dressed in swimgear with towels and safety discussions tucked away into the nooks and crannies of their brains, they found the gate LOCKED. the pool was overchlorinated and was closed by park officials. the kids recovered well enough. we brought them home and they sat down to eat dinner. they both sat down for a yummy meal of spanokopita, faux chicken patties, french bread, and parrano cheese when sarah arrived. while k was not happy with this, she did adjust eventually. r was excited. he likes hanging out with her. and all three seem so relaxed and happy together. when we came home, the base 10 math manipulatives (counting blocks) were strewn across the living room and there were little feet scampering upstairs. with a few more books from mom and sarah, both kids settled into bed and fell asleep.
saturday morning is sleep in morning and now that we know that we will NOT be getting up for school at 5 am to get r to school by 7:30, we can not feel too guilty about getting downstairs until 9 every once in awhile. so today, it was an 8 am rise with a snuggle in the family bed until 9 am. we got out breakfast made and everyone dressed to head out to creative kidstuff. today was the day that the toy store hosts its annual make our own fish t-shirts. this art form is known as gyotaku -- it involves painting fish and other marine life with paint and then pressing it to the material. in this case, it involves the kids painting a frozen fish with fabric paint and pressing it on a tshirt for uncle tom. both made shirts for themselves and then worked on uncle tom's together. we made them last year as well and we really enjoy them. our next stop was the pool at the park! since it was 85 degrees -- hot and sunny -- we decided that time with the ho-chens (mira, auggie, jeff, and karen) would be a good way to break in summer. children splashed, teeth chattered, sand was moved from one place to another, water dynamics were tested, and many smiles abounded. august looks much better; his eczema is improving. lunch was a grumpy affair as children were suboptimally compliant (we discussed suboptimal in the car today). afterwards the much awaited rokenbok remote controlled vehicles were set up. children moved construction vehicles around the living room with varied levels of interest and skill. with no naps and some frayed nerves, there were some flare ups along the way. let's just say no one received a cooperation star. r played some more trucks, k did a clifford puzzle, r drew in his mad arts book (yeah). then everyone got in the tub. some body parts were cleaned, others weren't. finally it was time to get dressed for the much hyped birthday event. k wanted to wear "party clothes" and chose a dress. r wanted "pretty clothes" too and complained that none of his clothes were fancy enough. he requested to wear a dress. so we gave him an orange one. it was simple orange gingham with a green gingham trim and a simple orange flower on it. he liked it very much and was sure that everyone would say that he looked ready for a party and looked beautiful. he just glowed.
we made it to dinner at punch and the kids ate almost 2 and a half pizzas between them. it was quite funny. it was nice to see tom and seema after so long. k enjoyed having uncle tom blow on her pizza but not on her. r and k snagged masee's bracelets and proudly dangled them from their arms. after a massive feast, we headed home. since it was nice and we were waiting for masee and tom to come over, we let the kids ride the bike. lots of neighbors were out (since it is finally summer). it was a nice evening. finally uncle tom blew out his candles, the kids gave uncle tom his shirt and card, and dad tricked tom about him present. the kids stayed up way way past their bed time. but tom and seema helped get them ready. finally they crashed and fell asleep. tomorrow is father's day and more festivities await.
all in all a good day.
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