Cousins, swords and Easter eggs

My cousin Cathy and her family came into town for Easter weekend.

On Saturday we hit the Cherry Blossom Festival in SF. They had lots of martial arts performances which we thought would be fun for the kids to watch. But mostly, they were into eating and looking at all the funky little toys at the Japanese stores in the Japan Center.

Lucas scored a wooden sword, which he proceeded to wield about on the empty downtown streets as we walked back to the BART station.

On Easter morning my sister's family came over too. Here are all the kids together in one photo, miraculously, everyone's looking at the camera.
The Easter egg hunt was mostly just Lucas and Milan. Cassidy and Connor also picked up their fair share of candy, there was definitely plenty to go around. Of course Lucas was very concerned about being able to find the most, while Milan is still at the age where the few that she finds is just fine with her.

Take me out to the ballgame!!!

I got four free tickets for the SF Giants opening day from work (thanks Clif Bar)! Since Lucas had never been to a professional sports event, I figured this would be a big treat.

We invited Miles, and Lindsey, his mom, would join us at the game.

It was raining this morning, pretty hard too, but we hedged our bets and headed out to the BART station anyway.We got there via BART and Muni, with about an hour to spare before the game started. So the boys inhaled their hot dogs as we sat there. Lucas was marveling at the enormity of AT&T Park. They boys were trying to guess how many people could fill up the seats. I think they agreed on somewhere between one million and 350.

We still had time to kill before the game, so the boys cajoled me into getting cotton candy.

The boys were pretty excited with the opening ceremonies - the fireworks, the unfurling of the big flag, the singing.

But then the game started. We weren't even at the bottom of the first when they started asking me, "Is it over yet?" I told them that we had to wait for Lindsey before we went to the big slide in the kids area. About every 5 minutes, one of them would say, "Is it over yet, when will it be over?"

Thankfully Lindsey arrived somewhere during the 2nd inning with garlic fries in hand. We snacked on garlic fries then we left during the 3rd inning to hit the big slides.

As the boys waited in line for the slide for the second or third time, Miles looked at Lucas and said, "This is so much more fun than watching that boring game." Lucas heartily agreed.

Spring soccer!

Unlike the last time when Lucas played organized soccer, this season looks much more promising for him. He's really into it and is like a magnet with that ball.

Pets = siblings

I love driving the morning carpool to school. I get to be the "fly on the wall" listening to a five year old, six year old and seven year old.

Lucas to Bella: Why don't you have a pet?
Bella: Because my mom says that even a fish is too much work to clean the tank.
Marlee: Really, even just one fish?
Bella: Well I have a sister (age 4) instead.
Lucas: A sister is not a pet.
Bella: If you don't have a pet, a little sister is kind of like a pet. I can tell her to follow me and she will. Plus, she has hair that you can pet, kind of like a dog.

Interview with Lucas

This was one of those Facebook quizzes that was passed around. I thought Lucas' answers were so cute, here they are:

Kid Questionnaire
Ask your child(ren) to answer the questions and type their answers in.
Tag other moms with older kids who might have fun with this. :)

Lucas, age 5.5


1. What is something mom always says to you?
Time for breakfast

2. What makes mom happy?
When I’m being nice.

3. What makes mom sad?
When I wipe your kiss off.

4. How does your mom make you laugh?
By telling me funny jokes or doing your Yoda voice

5. What was your mom like as a child?
You liked to play in school

6. How old is your mom?
38

7. How tall is your mom?
I don’t know. 100 pounds? (I love this boy!)

8. What is her/his favorite thing to watch on TV?
We don't have a TV

9. What does your mom do when you're not around?
Take a nap

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
Telling the truth

11. What is your mom really good at?
Napping and being funny

12. What is your mom not very good at?
You don't like guns

13. What does your mom do for her/his job?
Make Clif Bars

14. What is your mom's favorite food?
Ice cream

15. What makes you proud of your mom?
Giving me things to eat and playing with me

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
Mickey Mouse

17. What do you and your mom do together?
Play basketball and kickball

18. How are you and your mom the same?
Our skin

19. How are you and your mom different?
You’re bigger and I’m smaller.

20. How do you know your mom loves you?
Because you always tell me that and you come to see me when I ask you to.

21. What does you like the most about your mom?
Your laughing

22. Where is your mom's favorite place to go?
Tahoe and Sketch Ice Cream

All Star Wars, all the time

To say Lucas is in a Star Wars phase is an understatement. He lives, breathes, draws, and plays Star Wars - all the time.

He goes through so much paper drawing various Star Wars characters in different acts. He said to me one day, "Mommy, I think I was born to draw Star Wars characters." (photos to come)

His LEGO building is also all about Star Wars. After making dozens of fighter ships, rockets and such, he made this. I thought it was nice that he took a break to make something different - the Star Wars Cafe.Clone Trooper #475: Fighting those Rebel forces sure is hard work.
Clone Trooper #7935: I agree. Hey, I think this hot cocoa could use some extra chocolate.
Clone Trooper #475: I think you're right. Someone's got to do a better job training these droids.
Clone Trooper #7935: No time for it now. We have to get back to our Clone Trooper Fighter Ship and finish this battle.

Peace and love

Lucas has been walking around the house singing this little song:

"Peace is sharing
Peace is caring
Peace is filling the world with love"

I love hearing him sing when he doesn't think anyone is listening. When I asked him where he learned the song, he said he wasn't sure where he knew it from. But sources say it's a song they have been singing in school.