Poetry

Summer's Freshman Honors Literature homework last night was to write a poem about herself. It had to be at least 20 lines. She was stuck not knowing how to start, but my muse was in full force, so I offered to help.

This was my first effort.

I suggested she alter this to her taste and write four more limericks, which would give her her twenty lines.


There once was a in high school,
And she wanted to think she was cool,
So she braided her hair,
And wore, not one, but a pair,
Of brown, fuzzy, loafer-like shoes.


She said, "Mo-o-o-other, that would be embarrassing!"


So,I tried again.


Here was my second effort.


My name is Summer.
I don't drive a Hummer.

I wish my mom would,
To carry her brood.

Yep, there's a lot.
From teen to tot.

I'm the teen,
Cause I'm fourteen.

I have one brother
And he's a bother.

At two and a half
He gets in my stuff.

Sakes alive
Of sisters, I've five.

They're fun and cute.
The baby's a hoot.

I play the cello.
I feel so mellow.

When I read a good book.
Now there's a quick look,

At me, I'm Summer.
I don't drive a Hummer.


For some reason, which is unfathomable to me, she declined my help and wrote her own poem, which she says I am NOT allowed to put on the blog. She knows me too well :)

Rodeo Drive

I made a deal with Summer that if she finished the summer work for her honors classes by Monday, I'd take her on one last shebang outing before school started. I suggested the zoo and she wanted to go to the mall, so we compromised and went to Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills.

We drove on the LA freeways (maybe that took care of the zoo part).

We parked on th 5th level of a municipal parking garage.

We drooled.

We drooled some more...and you can see the salesman in the mirror coming to tell me,"No photography in the store, please."

Naomi found some shoes in Gucci that she liked, or maybe it was the bear.

Rachel liked this pleated purple dress in the Dior window.

We were all fascinated with the underground window displays at Prada.

What cute kids. I'd take them over a Tiffany diamond any day.

Lastly, here the cuties are again in front of the building designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

Rachel lost a tooth this week.

It got pretty loose before it fell out. It was hanging by one tough thread for a couple days and she wouldn't let the resident tooth fairy get near her to facilitate the process. This is understandable for two reasons -

One - the tooth fairy around here has been known to go to great lengths to remove teeth from mouths. Lengths that can make a sensitive girl squeamish.

Two - Once the tooth fairy helps get the tooth out, she sort of slacks off. Teeth have a tendency to sit under pillows for nights, if not weeks with no action.

It was not as if Rachel could count on getting some moolah in the near future if her tooth came out, so it was easy to procrastinate. The tooth fairy bothered her enough with promises of, "Just ONE try," that she finally gave in and let me...I mean the tooth fairy...at her.

As anyone in this family who has lost a tooth would have predicted, there was no money in the morning AND we swept together and picked up Rachel's room the next day AND the tooth went missing into a trash bag full of soggy ice cream napkins and dirty diapers. Needless to say, no one wanted to go after it, so all pretense flew out the window just like a gallionic tooth fairy and I gave her the money in the light of day. It was the least I could do...

P.S. Naomi says, "Hi!"

Gwen is Eight :)

Happy 8th Birthday Gwen!!!

Here's the birthday girl with her new birthstone necklace (peridot).


She had lemon meringue pie for her birthday cake.

She had spaghetti, corn on the cob and baby dill pickles for her birthday dinner (her choice).

Naomi was a excited to get a hold of her dad's leftover corn cob!

Back to the Beach

We went back to the beach on Saturday. This time, instead of being relatively healthy and taking muffins, we reverted to our traditional beach food and took a whole 9x13 pan of brownies with walnuts and chocolate chips. Yum! We also made some egg and cheese breakfast burritos. An excellent combination - brownies and burritos on the beach.

While we were walking down the path to the sand, we noticed this group of martial arts students and teachers below, jogging the length of the beach and back.

They got pretty sandy as the did their "hiya HA" thing by the volleyball courts and I was feeling sorry for the mothers that had to launder those karategis...

...but the next exercise took care of the bulk on the sand they had ground into their white uniforms.


We had fun people watching, eating brownies, swimming, exploring the tide pools, playing frisbee, and flying a kite. All in all a great morning.

I found lots of sea urchin bits and spines.

Naomi got sand on her pacifier.



Gwen took a nap.


Rachel is at the bottom left in her red swimsuit.



Yep, we ALL have fun at the beach!

Chickens

The chickens are getting bigger and we are not the only ones watching them grow. A few weeks ago, Stan was woken up at two in the morning by frantic clucking. He went outside to investigate and saw two young possums in the neighbor's yard. Where was their mother?

Twice, I've been outside while the chickens have suddenly run for cover into the coop while making worried sounds. Both times a hawk was sitting on the fence waiting for it's chance at a chicken dinner.

Lastly, amazingly, in the middle of our city neighborhood, we've seen a coyote hanging around lately. It isn't very big, but we've seen it jump a six foot fence.

So...we lock them up each night and hope for the best. :)

Naomi's New Skills

Naomi is growing up and learning lots of new skills.

She eats her toes.



She eats solid food.



She can make a mean raspberry sound.

She can bounce...

...in her sleep.

Backyard Swingset

Swinging is fun for all :)