bosco's rocket

and he's very proud of it

hidden valley

the shoe toss:



sack race




too bad the camera battery died before the candy toss

recess

pepper comes home for lunch twice a week. she says it's like all the fun of homeschooling with none of the work :)

she might be wanting a bra at school, but at home she's still a child who wants to play. how nice that she gets to do both, and be both people, as she manuevers her place in adolescence

pepper and her cats

dave & malcolm gave her the first 2 - snowball and muffin - when she was young, maybe 2 or 3 years old. we set up the video camera on a tripod that christmas and let it run all morning. the footage shows her absolutely captivated by them: posing them, talking to them, talking for them.

and now that she has a real cat - it's another plaything to pose...

and what's in that bag?

...well, what else could it be if:

1. it's in pepper's room
2. pepper has just started grade 7
3. it's a La Senza bag

yes, my little girl is firmly placing a foot toward womanhood with her request for a bra.  it's the first time the line: but mom, everyone in my grade has one has worked on me (granted, it's also the first time she's used that line)

of course i advised it was nothing but a cage for breasts... but i easily acquiesced and off we went: a girly adventure to the mall.  and, as i helped her choose (not the bright pink one - it will show through your clothes and folks will know you've only got 2 bras... not that one with cups - they aren't comfortable, and if you get big like auntie net-net you'll be sorry you never had a chance to wear this more relaxed style) and as i went in the changeroom with her... i couldn't help but be thankful that we were doing this together.  with no embarrassment, no resentment.  she may be yearning to enter her teen years but for now we talk, we laugh, we share.

i've always known that having a daughter lets me relive my memories, and now i see it can rewrite those memories too, heal them.  she asked.  i heard her.  i helped.

the memory of her first bra will be a happy one,
for both of us 

climbing up the ranks

we've done 5 terms with beestar and, much to our satisfaction, fierce is starting to show up in the medal standings :)
here he is as an 'honorable mention'

and, the following week, here's a yee-haw! silver medal -