Mother's Little Helper

Beckham has gotten into the bad habit of grabbing Bella's binky...and he just loves it...can't get it away from him...sigh...one way to get rid of the 10,007 binkies we have lying around...don't want Belly to be resentful towards Becks...remember how we made Alex throw away his binkies when they went "bad" (amazing what a little hole in them does to the necessary suction process...flat, baby, flat)...he stood in front of the window when the garbage truck went by screaming, "MY Binky!!!" Did that spare us any orthodonture expenses?? I think not! Well, we have to get rid of it...as soon as those Evil Bicuspids come in...until then, Becks, our Ever Helpful Canine will help us out.

And for those of you who haven't seen Bella with Becks, yet...here you go...Mother's Little Helper times two!!!

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Saturday in the Park

"Saturday in the park

I think it was the Fourth of July

People dancing, people laughing,

A man selling ice cream...."

Okay, it was Sunday...but I have that Oldies but Goodies theme going with the titles...I grant you, this one's a stretch...in between turning pages of the latest Harry Potter (80 more to go...and I don't want it to end), we discovered a great park, Callaghan Park, to be exact...nestled in the foothills of Mt. Rose...it has shade, grass, a creek, picnic tables and two great play structures for the kids to play with. We brought Becks...who did his best David Beckham imitation and sat on the bench for most of the play time.

Okay, he went down the slide *once* with Alex...notice how they mirror each other's expressions? Both cautious and playful...at once??

A handful of families came and went but we stayed for a few hours squeezing those last few moments of twilight. I have a feeling we'll have many more "Saturdays" in this Park.

"And I've been waiting such a long time

For today...."

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The Boys Are Back in Town

They say "third times the charm..."...well, Alex is soooo super-duper lucky...he has all his guy friends in his class, can you believe it? We can't! Yup, they are all there. And nope, there's no picture of them...we were in a frenzied run to get to school on time with the five us freshly pressed and trying to look respectable...there's Mrs. Martinez (on the left in a black top and black and white skirt...if you double-click on the image, it'll get bigger)....the new Saintly Teacher...we've been lucky there as well...all good even dare, I say it...great teachers so far....

Alex with his friend, Ali...they've been in the same class since Kindergarten!

Note the slouched shoulder...the resigned tilt of the head...it's Third Grade, bubby, lighten up! (he's the light cap in the foreground).

And then I ran in to get a shot of the classroom...he's the kid in the back just under the globe...sitting next to his BF, Ryan in the navy shirt...He was a little embarassed to see me as I mumbled something to Mrs. Martinez about Alex being our first kid and how I just have to stop sneaking into his classroom on the first day of school to snap a photo...thus the blurriness...in my eyes and on the lens..."Ah, geez Mama I have to grow up sometime...that's my job."...Love you Bubby..."Bye Mama!"

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Endless Summer

Summer does have an end...unfortunately...and ours ends on July 9th when Alex goes back to school and starts (yikes) Third Grade. It's a Love-Hate Thing I have with this Year Round, Multi-Track School Calendar. But in the mean time, our What We Did on Summer Vacation List is almost done -

Basketball Camp was a blast this year. Alex missed his buddies from last year but actually placed second in something called Knock Out. He's running in the background left...

Then as a total surprise...our Baka came to celebrate a Very Important Birthday with her grandkids...the treat was a yummy lemon butter cake from Joseph's Vienna Bakery. Kata ate all the lemon candies, Alex taste tested the cake before the candles were blown out and Bella, well, Bella, just helped herself to fistfuls of icing. Yum!

Then we headed out to Bowers Mansion's pool for some cooling off...

Alex managed his first dive off a diving board! After two tries...the third one counted!

And Baka, who is not a canine's biggest fan...fell for Beckham...as you can see...Puppy Love...in its purest form.

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