Times and Sorensens

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Tuesday, September 25, 2007

baby pumpkin


On our grocery shopping trip this morning, the boys and I were delighted to find that Henry's is decorated for fall! For me, this is the unofficial signal that autumn really is here. For Joshua, it is the signal that Halloween really is coming. There was a beautiful display of pumpkins, gourds, corns, squash, etc. atop several bundles of hay. Daniel picked out a miniature pumpkin and wouldn't let go. Since I love autumn so much, I decided to let each boy pick out a pumpkin, and I picked out a miniature corn for display at home.

Daniel and his baby pumpkin have not parted since they met. As you can see, it was treated to a special ride on the tricycle:


Daniel was especially attentive to it, making sure it did not fall off:




And he must have decided his baby pumpkin was just as tuckered out as he was!

Monday, September 24, 2007

Another funny statement...

We've done pretty well as far as avoiding moments when our kids say something embarrassing in public. The worst has been Joshua asking something like "What is SHE doing?" and pointing after a guy with long hair. Usually the guy doesn't notice (or doesn't acknowledge it) and, well, people should accept the consequences of the hairstyle they choose.

But you can just never anticipate what they might say*:

Daniel: "There's a ghost!"

Leslie: "No, honey, he's just really old."

---

* Fortunately, this didn't happen in public. Daniel was pointing to a character in a book Leslie was reading to him, but I live in fear that one of the boys will belt out something completely unanticipated and embarrassing like this in public.

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Yo ho ho!

The boys' Halloween costumes arrived today and I pretended for a minute or two that I could hold off until the actual holiday to show them, but who was I kidding? I'm sure I'll post plenty of pictures from the Halloween events we'll be attending, but here's a preview!





Joshua told me a while ago that he wanted to be a pirate for Halloween. Daniel had talked about wanting to be a ghost, which I would have honored, but I ended up finding a really cute Buccaneer costume in his size and asked him what he thought (I really liked the idea of them both being pirates). He was really jazzed about it, so we went for it!

The boys didn't want to take the costumes off for bedtime and Joshua mentioned in his bedtime prayer something along the lines of "please bless that we can play pirates again tomorrow."



The last several installments of Grandma's Book Club have included pirate-themed books (thanks Mom!) and I am sure this contributed to their costume decision for Halloween '07. Fuel to the fire and all. These are books that I absolutely loved as a child and what memories they bring back! Especially Look Out For Pirates! and Goofy and the Pirate Treasure. I can tell they are sparking the kids' imaginations the way they did mine at their age.



Talk about timing for this post -- my Dad told me that today is International Talk Like a Pirate Day!

Monday, September 17, 2007

oh so Wicked!


Some friends and I had a Mom's Night Out on Saturday and had a fabulous time! I should mention that Emily, Isa, Ruth and I all have wonderful husbands who were more than happy to have the kids to give us a chance to go out. Thanks guys!

We started out in Venice Beach and had Italian at a great place called C&O Trattoria. I had what just may be the best Italian dish I have ever had -- Penne Sausage (sweet Italian sausage, roasted red pepper, smoked mozzarella, cream and parmigiano). The flavor was amazing -- I may need to go back some time just to have it again!


For the main event we headed over to Hollywood to see Wicked! The Pantages Theater is beautiful and I really felt transported to another place and time. The production was absolutely amazing! I had been hearing so many great things about Wicked and wanted to find out for myself what all the fuss was about. It was so justified. If you at all like musicals, this is a must-see. Of course me being Leslie, I had some issues/questions with the storyline, but the performances were PHENOMENAL, so all is forgiven. I cannot over-emphasize how amazing Eden Espinosa was as Elphaba. She was just so powerful and endearing and made my heart melt for the Wicked Witch of the West. It was truly a pleasure to witness such talent.

It was a long drive home, but so fun to analyze the play and just have great conversation. Good times!

Friday, September 14, 2007

Redefining Bedrock



This picture's not recent, but I thought you might like to see it anyway (and yes, those are shadows of Joshua's legs). I needed something in addition to this Daniel quote from yesterday to make a decent blog post:

"I smell like a pirate!"

No longer -- I gave them a bath tonight, even though it delayed their bed time. I considered waiting until tomorrow, but after getting a good whiff of them I had to agree. They were beginning to smell like pirates. If pirates used sunscreen, that is.

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Sometimes it's hard to remember...

... why you took a picture:



When I saw this picture I took a year and a half ago, I couldn't figure out why I would take a picture of Daniel's backside and his pants on the floor. Then I realized I'd tried to capture an event: Daniel's pants are (still) frequently sliding down, but this time he actually managed to crawl right out of them. Apparently he has no problem with leaving them behind.

Anyway, the picture is much better when you know what's going on in it. Daniel was a cute baby, but much cuter when you see him from the front!

Thursday, September 06, 2007

First day of Preschool


Yesterday was Joshua's first day of preschool! He's enrolled in the preschool on UCSD campus (we find it somewhat humorous that both Jake and Joshua are UCSD students at the same time:). It's a co-op preschool meaning there are plenty of opportunities for parents to be involved. I'm serving on the Board of Directors and I get to help out in the classroom twice a month, for example. I signed up to co-op yesterday because I thought it would be good to be there on the first day of school. It turned out really well -- Joshua enjoyed having me there, and I was able to observe him at play with the other kids and interacting with the teachers (while of course pretending I wasn't watching). Several of his friends from graduate student housing and from church are in his class, and it was neat to see them all having a great time. I'm excited that there are lots of new friends to make as well. It seems like this will be a great start to a long and illustrious school career for Joshua. Once it starts, I hear it never stops...

Sunday, September 02, 2007

Child of Mine

I came across a cd at the library called "The Sun Upon the Lake is Low." The title caused something to stir inside me and since I tend to like folk music, I decided to give it a try. I liked it and it turned out to have a real gem of a song that touched me very much. It turned my thoughts, of course, to each child of mine:

Child of mine, you are the wildest wind
And the dearest dream I will ever know
Love's lasting light shines out from deep
Within this mother's heart as I watch you grow

Child of mine, you are the break of dawn
And the brightest star I will ever know
Love's lasting light comes shining on and on
From this father's heart as I watch you grow

There is a road and that road is all your own
But we are here you need not walk alone
To face not fear each coming new unknown
Is the way to lift your wings

Child of mine, you are the sweetest song
And the greatest gift I will ever know

Child of mine, where spirits fly above
There is but one that belongs to you
So let it grow and it will thrive on love
For it is love that sees us through

You have the hands that will open up the doors
You have the hopes this world is waiting for
You are my own but you are so much more
You are tomorrow on the wing, child of mine


Bill Staines, 1996 Mineral River Music (BMI)