Sierra School Pumpkin Patch Field Trip

Today was the first field trip of the year for Leo's school.  Since it's a small private school, the parents drive for field trips instead of using a bus.  I packed my car with five kids and the teacher.  

 It was chilly when we got there.  Here are the fourth and fifth graders lined up before we went in to the pumpkin patch.

 We've actually visited this patch before.  The first time was when Serafina had a broken leg.  The second time was an outing so we could spend a little time with our ski housemates before our first ski season.

 Santa was the train conductor!  Seriously.  His name tag said "Santa".

 The entire kinder - 5th grade elementary school fit on one train.

 Santa didn't make the train fly.  I was disappointed.

 The entire elementary school also fit in one tent to watch a video about pumpkins.

 Leo and Lily.  She is one of the other 5th graders and is very sweet.

 Here's Liel (5th grader), Alex (4th grader) and Leo.

 Here's the entire class.  Just a whopping 11 kids.

 Tractor ride.

 Gorgeous marigolds.

 Pumpkin pyramid.

 The pumpkin purchases were cash only and I only had a little bit of cash so I only got a few pumpkins.  I wish I had known and brought more money because I would have bought a lot more pumpkins.  We loved these huge pumpkins.

 My pumpkin king.

Happy 11th Birthday, Leo!

I feel like every time one of my kids has a birthday I say "it's hard to believe [kid] is already [this age].  He/she was a little baby just yesterday."  Today was no different.  I marveled that my little baby boy is 11 years old.  He is such a deep feeling, complicated, hilarious kid.  I'm very lucky to have him in my life and thankfully, he isn't too cool for me yet.  He's still my bubba.  

He didn't have school because of a teacher in-service day, which worked out perfectly.  Serafina had to go to school, but Leo slept in a little and took his time in the morning.  We headed to the best donut shop on earth for some birthday donuts.    

 We took them to Nana's and after eating, we headed to the mall.  He wanted Air Jordan shoes and his Nana said she'd get them for his birthday.  We thought he might change his mind about this request but he was steadfast and he found a pair he liked.  He was a happy kid.

The shoes are my size so I'll eventually get my kid's hand-me-downs so that a bonus.

 This evening we headed out to dinner to celebrate and Nana joined us for the meal.

He had a good day and that's all I wanted for him.

Leo's Birthday Party

 It's hard to believe my baby boy will be 11 tomorrow.  I gave him extra hugs at bedtime and told him this was the last time I would hug my 10 year old son.  He's becoming very grown up in a lot of ways, but he still my little bubba and I'm very glad he isn't too cool for me quite yet.

A while back we discussed how he wanted to celebrate his birthday.  He had a very small guest list since parties and too many people stress him out.  I know the boys he invited very well and they are all big video game enthusiasts.  I found a video game place at a nearby mall that has a ton of recliners, screens, controllers and headsets.  You pay by the hour for the kids to play games and they have a large selection of games to chose from.  It was a no brainer.  One of his invitees was out of town (they'll have a playdate together later this week), so Tom and I just took Leo and two friends to the gaming place.

Here's Leo all set up to play.

 At first they weren't sitting together but as people left, they were able to shift around and sit together.

 Here's Kyle (closest to the camera), Elouan and Leo.  The best part was that the boys were fully entertained and taken care of by the staff so Tom and I were able to wander and shop at the mall.

The boys had two hours of playtime before we headed home.  Pizza was delivered right after we arrived at the house.  And after pizza we had a tiny little ice cream cake.  It was perfect for Leo's tiny party.  

All and all, a successful party.  He had fun with his friends and it was easy on me and Tom.  We will continue to celebrate this sweet boy's birthday on his actual birthday tomorrow.

Vollyball Clinic

Serafina really enjoyed volleyball camp this summer so I signed her up for a volleyball clinic.  An old friend of mine runs the program and another mom I know is a coach.  There were lots of girls Serafina knew in the clinic with her and each week they had a dress-up theme.  She really liked it and said she prefers this program to the one she did this summer.  I think it's mostly the friend factor that's influencing her decision.

Today was the last day she attended for this clinic and they all wore their Mountain View Volleyball Club shirts.

 Every time I saw her play during clinic (which was only a handful because I was able to arrange carpool with all the friends we had there), Serafina took what she was doing seriously.  It was great to see her put in attention and effort to a sport she likes.

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass

Every year, our friends head up to Golden Gate Park in San Francisco for a free outdoor music festival called Hardly Strictly Bluegrass.  It's an all day outing and they have wanted us to join them in the past but it hasn't worked out.  Today Tom and the kids finally got to be part of the fun.  I stayed home because I'm still trying to get fully better from my extended illness. I got sick a month ago and was diagnosed with bronchitis two weeks later.  I'm still not 100% but I'm almost there.  Staying home let me catch up on cleaning and laundry and all the things that slipped away from me while I was sick.  

Tom and the kids had fun without me and I'll try to make it next year.  

 Some of the pictures are screenshots from the various photo sharing apps used to post the pictures.

Leo's birthday bike

Serafina had completely outgrown her bike by the time she got one for her birthday.  Leo was in the same boat.  He would ride my bike instead of his because it was too small.  He wanted a nice mountain bike for his birthday and Tom found a good one that he ordered online and was delivered to our local sporting good shop.  He wanted to give it to Leo early, just like Serafina got her bike a little early.  After I picked Leo up from school today, we ran a quick errand and then I headed to the sporting good store.  Leo was blissfully unaware where we were going because he was reading in the backseat.  When I pulled into the parking lot, I saw Tom riding around on the new bike.  I said to Leo "look at that grown man riding a kids bike.  What a weirdo".  Leo finally looked up and said "hey, that's dad.  He rode his bike here?  Wait, that's not his bike."  And it all clicked and he got very excited.  Tom was nice enough to dismount the bike and give Leo a turn.  He was really happy with it.  

 And yes, it is giant.  It's bigger than my bike.

 We went back into the shop to have the bike guy check out the sizing, but he assured us Leo would be just fine on this size while he grows into it.

Student Council Representative

Leo was chosen to be the student council representative for his grade.  He said "well there are only four of us fifth graders, but it's still pretty cool".  I'm very proud of him and the shirt is cool too.