4th Grade & My birthday weekend

First day of 4th Grade at Tomales Elementary

Grady started 4th grade today and moved up to the middle school campus.  He was quite nervous and he let us walk him to class.  The boys were all gathered together playing on the play structure, while every single girl in his glass was in a group chatting & walking together.  Let the separation of the sexes begin.

He was a bit disappointed to learn that Mr. Risley had moved to Bodega Bay Elementary School and wouldn't be his teacher this year.  However, his third grade teacher, Mr. Demsher, moved up to the middle school and it would be his second year teaching G's class.  All is well.

My mom sent a box of goodies to commemorate the beginning of the school year.  New shoes, cool shirts and shorts and a sweet grandmotherly note.  He loves receiving mail from his Gigi.

Sweets & my birthday bracelet from the guys

My birthday weekend was full of sweets & sweet people.  A birthday brunch at Suzann's house with a few of the gals kicked things off and we had a low key BBQ on the eve of my birthday with Scott & Jill.

As I put together this post, I recognize that I rarely feature my handsome husband.  He's not one for a posed picture, but I do think he needs to show up in this space more often!  He made me coffee and a double batch of waffles on my birthday.  What a guy.

We offered to watch Johnnie, the cutest dog in the world, on my birthday.  This was more of a present for Grady, but oh how I loved watching them together.  Johnnie is a love and Grady read to him for hours, quickly going through his dog book collection.  I found both of them napping on the living room floor and had to snap a quick picture.

After we delivered Johnnie back home, we went up to Jenner to watch the USC vs. Hawaii game with the Rangel family.  Steph served courses of delicious football food, the kids had a water fight, we sipped champagne & watched the movie Grease.  Sophia prepared a lovely fresh fruit galette for dessert to round out the most perfect birthday I've ever had.  I say this every year and I mean it.

On Sunday of Labor Day weekend, I decided to take G to the Legion of Honor in San Francisco to catch the Man Ray - Lee Miller show.  It was mostly photography, but he found a few things that caught his fancy.

We enjoyed perusing the permanent collections at The Legion and the painting above was G's favorite of the day.  He's not a fan of the title of the piece, but loved the painting.  Dead animals.  Hmm.  Should I be concerned?

He gasped aloud when he entered Rodin's sculpture rooms.  His favorite sculpture was the severed head of John the Baptist (again, should I worry?) and The Mighty Hand.  He appreciated the sculptures, but said he would never want to make sculptures.  We'll see.

My little artist made me the above drawing as my birthday present.  I'm always asking him to draw me flowers, but he usually talks me into wanting a bird instead (this is his way of drawing what he wants and that's okay with me).  I was moved to tears by this drawing.  He said he knew I loved flowers, the color orange and circles - so that was his inspiration.  He called it "The Pot".

The boy is up to 262 books read for the year.  Tintin was his passion this weekend.

The Thinker by Rodin & Little 'Ole Me (The Forgetter)

I had a very mellow start to my 42nd year.  I was able to spend time with those who mean so much to me, enjoy a new museum, see my goddaughters in their USC get-ups, laugh a lot and really soak up the goodness that surrounds me.  It's not lost on me how very lucky I am to have the family, friends and life that I have.

I feel grateful and loved.  I can't wait to see what this year brings.