Book Review

Cecilia wrote and illustrated a "how-to" book as part of a school project, and then the finished products were posted in the 2nd grade hallway. The title of her book is How to Dive Off of a Diving Board. We were presented with this book at conferences (this post is long overdue), and Cecilia's teacher wanted to point out something special about Cici's book: someone had read it in the hallway and then wrote a little note on the back flap. The note reads:

I read your book while waiting for my grandson to play in a chess tournament. It was delightful! I enjoyed reading it very much. Great job Cecilia! - Ben's Grandpa

We don't know who Ben's grandpa is, but we thought it was pretty cool that he took the time to write a burgeoning writer such an encouraging note.

Jokes.

Dadam here – I have been derelict of my blogging duties as of late, but now that my marathon training is over I hope to do more posting here. My race was this weekend, and I was so touched at how many people came up to Duluth to support me – not just Momlissa and the girls, but representatives of all branches of our extended family as well. Thanks to all of you for making it so special.

As Momlissa already noted here, the girls were big boosters for me as I got ready for the big day. The Duluth race is known as “Grandma’s Marathon,” which led Ruby to tell Momlissa one day that soon I would be running in “your mom’s long race.” (Get it?)

One of the highlights of the weekend was the drive up, during which the girls were trying their hands at joke-writing. The results were sometimes amusing, sometimes painful, as Cici has almost but not quite wrapped her head around the concept of puns. (Typical example: “What do you call a coffee machine that attacks you? A killer cuppatino!”)

And Ruby’s contributions, as you might expect, were hilariously abstract:

RUBY: Why did the cow sit on the chicken’s eggs?
DADAM: I dunno, why?
RUBY: Because the chicken was on a date!

RUBY: What did the skeleton say when he got his birthday present?
DADAM: What?
RUBY: “Swordfight!”

Seeing Spots

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Dadam is running in his first marathon very soon, and lately his training runs have been intense. Last week he completed a 20-mile run and came home pretty wiped. He also had the misfortune of some serious chaffing and bled through his t-shirt. He's healed and now knows how to best prepare for chaffing issues in the future.

Today I was talking to Cecilia about our marathon cheering plans and how we should all wear the same color shirt to make it easier for Dadam to spot us in the crowd. Wanting to include my lovely girl in this process, I asked what she thought would be a good color.

Cecilia: I know! We should all wear plain, white t-shirts and color two bright red circles on the front!

[Hysterical laughter from Cecilia. And maybe me a little bit, too.]

I think we're going to go with plan B.

5th Birthday in Photographs

With princess hat.


Posing with presents and reacting to presents.

Opening presents from friends at the pool party.

Posing with pool party cake. (The bakery cake was part of the package deal, otherwise her mother would have baked her a proper cake with real ingredients. Anyway...)