The Addition

A few years ago, after saving for quite a while, Paul and I bought the plans and hardware for this play structure. We bought the wood, redwood (a pretty penny I might add) and my dad helped Paul cut and drill all the pieces. Eventually we got them all sanded and treated and the play structure was built, pah! It has been loved and used ever since. So now, we've added Isaac's own personal suite at the bottom by turning the never used sandbox into a fort. We started by adding floor joists and decking.

Next siding and the window for the east wall. At the end we went back and made a shutter that can close so he can have the window open or closed. Tomorrow we hope to add the latch to keep it closed, as well as a handle to help him close it from the inside.
Next we added the door, with a lock as requested by the boy. From the second picture you can see that the door actually works! Yay Grams! Lastly we added the front (north wall) which is just that, a wall. The back (south) wall was already existing--the climbing wall. Next up is treating the wood for our crazy dry heat, sanding the older portion of the play structure and re-sealing it. Then maybe a glider for the last open slot on the swing beam. As of now Isaac has decided the only people allowed in the fort are myself, Paul, Grams and of course himself. I have a feeling the first time he has a friend over that'll change...Isaac is so excited to have his own key (to unlock his fort). It's interesting what make things "holy cow" cool for him.

War

So, what, you may ask did innocent water play between Isaac and Grams turn into? All out water war. How could such a thing happen in hot Tucson after a day of working in the sun, who knows. I was out taking their pictures, capturing their precious moments, when Isaac squirted out the contents of a water balloon onto my back as I went into the house. I was a little miffed, but whatever. Then Paul got doused and we decided it was war. We skipped over water balloons and spray bottles. I got a bucket and Paul a pitcher. First we went for Isaac, then Grams joined Isaac's team and before you know it, WAR.
From the pictures, you can see who the war was really between and who was smart enough to get the camera and stay out of the thick of it. When I went for the hose, Grams got ahold of it too and pretty soon we were wrestling it between us, spraying each other and occasionally aiming it as Isaac. We were laughing so hard that we often could do little with the hose besides hold it, because there was no strength to fight each other for it. Isaac did his part with water balloons and the bucket. In the end the three of us were SOAKED. It's a good thing we were all already wet because we laughed so hard we may have wet ourselves, just a little.

It was so much fun and all that laughter was just what we all needed. In the last picture you can see that I am tending to Isaac, he got scratched in all the mayhem. So what did my mom do? Poured a bucket of water over my head. This made Isaac laugh hysterically and the whole scratch situation blew over. Gee, thanks Grams.

Grams and Isaac

Grams came for her first visit since December--we missed her!--and it was high time we got some pictures of them together. Yesterday at the beginning of their water play (which turned into way more, see next post) one of the full spray bottles fell right on Grams' toe. To help her feel better Isaac gave her an awesome hug, I was there with the camera. Don't think they could love each other more! The late afternoon light helped to make a soft, sweet picture.


This is another picture that Grams took inside Isaac's new fort. Ever since I was in college my mom and I have always called pictures we take of the two of us, pointing the camera back at ourselves, "Thelma and Louise" pictures. Why? I dunno, but that's what we call them. Over the years we've both gotten a lot better at getting the camera aimed back right. Isaac is signing "I love you" just for good measure.

Two Sides of Isaac

Yesterday while Grams and Isaac were having water play, AKA water fight with spray bottles, I decided to get out the camera and take some pictures. Once Isaac noticed me taking his picture, this is the funny fake attitude he gave me. Sometimes when he puts on this act it feels like he is 6 year-old boy going on 13 year-old girl. But I think when he's 13 most of what I'll hear is "Hrph," "I dunno, " "Whatever," etc. You know, teenage boy talk for "leave me alone you're embarrassing me in front of myself, mom."

This is the other side of Isaac, the one I see most. Smiling, happy, caring Isaac. My mom took this picture of Isaac while they were inside his newly added fort on his play structure. The bottom of his play structure was supposed to be a sandbox, but he has long since outgrown playing in the sand. Instead of waste the space, we added a floor, walls, a door and window so he has his own special hideout. Hopefully it will provide several more years of play, imagination and fun for him.

The Graduating Class

I think I managed to get everyone in this one and you can see most everyone's face. Isaac is on the right signing "I love you." Aren't they so cute?

Kindergarten Graduation

Isaac is a first grader now! Didn't get the best pictures, but it was inside and the flash insisted on going off and without it all to be had was blurry photos. In the first picture you can see Isaac standing in front of us all with his hand water-colored diploma with his teacher Jo in the background.
After Isaac's class graduated, they sat down while the other kindergarteners got to get their diplomas. In the second and the last picture you can see the too cute caps the kids made: bulletin board border around with hand decorated paper and homemade tassels on top. Gotta say, it's so fun to watch him grow and develop, but it's just like "they" say, it sure goes too fast! We are looking forward to next year, another great year with Jo!

Our Saguaro

In our front yard we have a beautiful saguaro cactus. The best part is that one of the arms curves down and ends up with the end just about waist high. That means that this time of year, when everyone else is gazing up and admiring the crown of flowers on the tops of their saguaros we can walk right up to ours and see them up close. For me this means lots of beautiful pictures. Thought I'd share a few here, especially for those who have never seen one, who can't see them anymore because they moved away, etc. As you can see from the last picture, the flowers grow around the end of the arm like a crown of flowers, too cool and amazingly beautiful! Enjoy!

Splash Park with Isaac's Class

On Tuesday Isaac's class went to the Splash Park for the second half of the day. Luckily, my school had finals and I was done in time to go meet them there. There was lunch, then lots of playing in the water, playing on the play structure, more water play followed up by popsicles. I was one of the only parents with a camera, so I felt obligated (ha, I would have done it anyway) to take pictures of everyone. Let me tell you how hard it is to get a picture of 6 and 7 year -old boys! But eventually I got good pictures of everyone. For starters is a picture of Isaac on the play structure. He is getting so tall, and for now it all seems to be in the legs. Though Paul isn't especially tall, my dad is 6'4" so we'll see how tall Isaac ends up.
Just LOVE this picture of Isaac eating his popsicle. Crazy post swimming hair, happy face...how yummy!
















Here Jo huddles together with some of the kids from her class as the bucket of water overhead fills and tips over. Such a fun picture when I caught the water at just the right moment. I can't tell you how much Jo's kids adore her--she is the most amazing teacher!










Lastly, a group picture, the goofy one. I always like goofy more than the serious ones. They're so much more memorable! What a great group!

The Way to a Mom's Heart

On Sunday, while I spent 7 hours on my hands and knees pinning and basting together the chameleon quilt (which by the way is kind of like toilet paper: really handy at the time but an irritating waste when you throw it away. All that time pinning, just to baste it so you can take out the pins, so you can quilt it and then take out all the basting) Isaac used some of the extra batting and my sewing scissors to make this "banner." He went right to work and managed to cut these block letters out and spell it all right without help. Gotta love it! Better than any Mother's Day present you can buy, no doubt!

The Other Quilt

When Isaac first attended Satori, he was in Brenda's 3's class. Toward the end of school, she asked me if I could sew together some kind of quilt (she had learned that I sewed over the course of the year). I agreed and promptly found and bought fabric that when with their class name "Los Penguinos." The quilt turned out so nicely (and sold for $700 in the auction) that Brenda made me promise to make her class quilt every year after, until...forever. So I made a deal with the Brenda, and have kept up my end of the bargain. Last year it was "Los Carros," this year "Las Mariposas." Luckily, so far she has managed to pick themes that I can find on fabric. Here is this year's quilt. Only 28 or so hours into this one.
Not perhaps the best pictures, but you get the idea. Brenda uses fabric paint to print their hand prints as the centers of the squares. This year my dear friend Tonya had the idea of making their hands prints into butterflies, and I think they turned out really cute. For something different I hand appliqued three butterflies onto the top of the quilt. I like this quilt pattern because it looks like the hand prints are in the panes of windows.

Quilt Details

Okay, so that blog post was driving me nuts trying to get it to look the way I wanted with the info next to the pictures that I wanted. Over an hour now and it still wasn't working and I started over twice. I was about ready to throw the computer out the window and then just decided to post the pictures and separately post the info about the pictures. I know you'd all understand and it is saving my sanity.
It is finally DONE! I've been working on it for a while, but the last few weeks have been a major effort in embroidery. The center square of the chameleon took 36.5 hours! Isaac's class name this year was the Chameleons and they have spent the year studying all different kinds of change. Each of the kids used fabric markers to draw chameleons for the centers of the quilt squares. I sewed them all together and added the center square of the chameleon. On the bottom right of the quilt I also embroidered a square with the name of the teachers, the class grade and year, as well as the name of the class.
Next is the whole center square, followed by a closer picture and then a really close picture of the face to show the detail of the embroidery. The background is hand appliqued, as is the chameleon's body. However, all of the detail on the chameleon is hand embroidered.
Next is Isaac's square. I acknowledge my bias, but I also think Isaac's is one of the best. I like that he used the whole square, bright colors and accurate details of what a chameleon looks like.
After that is the square in the lower right corner of the quilt, before I sewed it into the whole quilt. The one below that shows the detail of the embroidery. 19 hours into this square. Never thought it'd take so long, just like the chameleon square. But they turned out just as I imagined them, so with all of the work behind me, I'm glad I did it.
Lastly, I finally signed a quilt. It seemed strange, oddly felt egotistical, but after 13 or so quilts I guess it's time to start signing them. Since the kids all wrote their names on the frame around their squares (you can see this on Isaac's square) I thought that'd be the place for me to sign as well.

THE Quilt

Birthday Party Fun AKA Holy Cow!

So it has taken me forever, but I am finally getting to posting pictures from Isaac's birthday party nearly 3 weeks ago. I've been caught up in quilting mania, and that post is next. The first three pictures show Isaac opening presents--it was a successful year for him! He made the same "WOW" face each time (like below) and then loudly pronounced "Holy cow!" Sitting by Isaac is his buddy from school Sammy.
This year's pinata finally wasn't a disaster. Two years in a row it hasn't worked out, but this year, whew. It started to go wrong when the loop to hang it from came halfway out, but luckily JP was there to save the day; he held it while the kids pulled their ribbons, which actually worked this year. And Paul was quick enough to catch the candy shower with the camera!

Lastly there is the cake. It was a Fantastic Four themed party, but the store where we always get his cake (mmmmm...) didn't have any Fantastic Four decorations, Isaac and I had an impromptu idea of flames going across the cake, like Human Torch, and the Fantastic Four symbol (shockingly, it's a 4). Turned out pretty good!