The last day of school

Yesterday (Wednesday) was the last day of school for Chris, so naturally, on Tuesday night we went by the schoolyard and scattered more "crystals" as well as a dozen bouncy balls on the schoolyard.

I must say that I experience sheer joy as I throw all those colorful glass treasures over the fence. Chris and I laugh as we feel like secret fairies scattering pixie dust across the grass. I feel an even deeper sense of satisfaction, when on the afternoon of the last day of school I get an email from one of the teachers that says:

I wanted to let you know a little boy from our class found a crystal on the grass at lunch. It couldn't have happened to a better kid, as he has a tough time at home AND at school. I told him it was his lucky day and it must mean he is going to have a wonderful summer. I wish you could have seen the expression on his face... total excitement!

Hurray for us!

Mermaids

Mermaid tagging is not a competitive sport, but if it was, my friend Kacie would be the winner.
Having just introduced her to the concept of toy tagging last night, she caught on quickly, and managed to place this pink mermaid on our friend's shirt- without our friend even knowing!
I took a photo with my phone before someone told her she had a mermaid hanging from her blouse.
Way to go Kacie!

Mundane errands in my day are just more fun when I am leaving tiny treasures everywhere. The local grocery store is full of mermaids and no one knows- Chris and I look up at the places where we put them days before to see that they are still there! Eventually, when the employees do some dusting or re-organizing, they will find them....in the meantime, Chris and I giggle every time we shop, and leave more mermaids.

Shiney Happy Mermaids everywhere.

We have been having fun leaving secret mermaids wherever we go. They are in the streets of Hermosa Beach, Redondo Beach, Hollywood and Los Angeles.
Mermaid on a bumper- This is the car that belongs to my old boss from a restaurant I worked at.

Mermaids swimming about the streets of Hollywood:

See the orange speck in the ivy that is growing on the light pole:

it's a mermaid:

The perk that is Chris

Being Chris' Mommy comes with a lot of perks, like long hugs, and snuggling. I also love getting to hear about his dreams in the morning and his impression of the day's events as he gets tucked into bed.

Chris is also very wise and tells me things like: "Teach me slow, so I can learn fast". A quote I should have trademarked...

There are also perks that make my life more convenient, like when he tells me people's names when I forget (which is more and more often these days).

My son makes me proud every day, and amazed and motivated and overwhelmed and inspired and joyful and.. well, there are just so many perks .

Well, today, there was a different perk- a monkey perk.

Today Chris had a photo shoot for Post cereal. For something to do with "Night at the Museum" which then led us to the pleasure of meeting Crystal the Monkey- who stars in that movie.

Chris spent the day in a Hollywood photo studio with an amazing photographer named Dani Brubaker. The four boys enjoyed working with her and had a lot of fun on the 7 hour shoot, and it's pretty darn hard to keep four boys concentrating on anything for that long!

The trainer, Tom, was such a nice guy and let all the kids have Crystal on their shoulder and even let me video tape as she did her famous Monkey Slap on Chris. When Crystal wasn't having her photo taken with the boys, I follwed her and her trainer around asking questions and playing with her- she really seemed to like my phone and I loved looking and her cute tiny leathery hands.

Thanks Chris, for being such a special guy! And thanks for the special day! As charming as little crystal is, Chris is still my favorite monkey.

And, in case you are wondering; there are now at least a dozen little plastic mermaids living on the streets of Hollywood!

Random acts of Fluffy-ness!

We went down to the school again to leave more "Shiney things" or "Crystals", as I've been told the younger students call them. We decided to add a little fluff to the event by tossing in a few tiny chicks.

I had a feeling that the chicks would be too light and fluffy to toss over the fence, so in true Dennis the Menace fashion, I brought along my son's slingshot. This just sent the chicks high into the air and back down at us, which made us all laugh. Dad eventually had to hop the fence and run around the schoolyard depositing fluffy chicks into blank spots in the grass. I'm glad school is almost out for summer, so I can spend my days with my son, but we will miss leaving treats on the school yard .

The last 3 mermaids (for now)

Mermaid on surfter statue in Hermosa Beach:


Mermaid on a friend's car window:

Mermaid on the coffee bean stairs:

Now, I am out of mermaids. We'll see what comes up next VDub.....

Little Shiney Things

Chris loves little shiney things and has a bunch of them.

Sometimes we need to share them with the world so we put some in a bag

and take them to the schoolyard and throw them on the grass.

When the children go to school the next day, they find them as they play on the grass, and pretty soon it's like a glass easter egg hunt for them during recess. I like to drive by and watch all the kids get excited as they find shiney little things on the lawn.
I love the acts of kindness that are random and shiney!