Faces only a mother (and father) could love

Some time ago (May 13th) Simon posted a little film about our industrious though messy Blue Jay (the Western Blue Jay, native to these parts which are real bullies, not the little fat ones as seen in all Disney movies) couple who made a home above our security light just outside our backdoor. We did not see much of them for a while and Thomas became anxious, alternatively worried that they were dead and that they had moved away. Then, the other day, Simon noticed these faces looking out at him when he came home from work.
There is a third one, too, but he (or she--it's hard to tell at this stage) is tucked at the back of the nest right now. I don't think they are THAT ugly (click on the picture twice to see them close up)...but they do look a bit peevish, and they certainly keep both their parents busy, as both are flying back and forth, all day long with treats to eat for their little peepers.

Chloe's Birthday Party

The day after school got out, Frederick got an invitation to a birthday party from classmate Chloe. Emily was off at a wedding in North Carolina, so we couldn't verify whether or not she would be willing to throw herself on this grenade, so we would only say, "Well, maybe," when Frederick would ask about it. (Which he was NOT happy about.) As the days went by, Frederick became birthday obsessed--singing "Happy Birthday To You" as he went through the day, talking about going to Target to buy birthday presents for a certain "birthday girl," casually mentioning "blowing out candles," and several times a day he would bring up birthday cake. FINALLY Emily returned and we asked if she would be able to take him to the party-YES! Frederick practically leapt out of his skin, he was so excited. He made Chloe this card the day before. Here he is in the Target parking lot, just after buying presents, getting set to go to the party.
Just making sure the presents are still in the bag. They are.
Frederick really is excited to be there, just not sure about smiling for a camera. Chloe is thrilled to pieces to see Frederick--she practically squeezed the blood out of his arm. (Every day she drew a picture for him in class and gave it to him to take home--we have a stack inches high.)
As I said, Chloe likes to draw.
Chloe has a bounce house which Frederick LOVED! Here she is tickling Frederick, which he also likes.
There is Derek, another classmate (notice Valley School t-shirt just to prove it).
Chloe opening one of Frederick's presents. This one is a set of glittery stickers, musical instrument themed. I'm not too sure how much she liked them but he thought they were just the greatest thing ever. He also got her a little mermaid with bright green hair, which (according to Emily) she really flipped over, so that was a success.
As you can see from the pictures above, Chloe is just SLIGHTLY smaller than Frederick, so all the toys are on a SLIGHTLY smaller scale, yet he seemed to enjoy them nonetheless. Here he is in a Lilliputian house.
Frederick and Emily left for Target to pick out presents around 10 and arrived back home around 3 with Frederick looking absolutely spent. Emily said they got to the party around 11 and he partied heartily until just after 2:30 when the cake came out but, since it wasn't gluten free and he couldn't have any (and that didn't go down well with him), they had to leave. I had sent along snacks but they were no substitute for a cake with icing and all the works. Next time I'll have to send along a little GF cake with a candle but even with that, it will be hard. Aside from that one set back, the party was a success. Frederick and Chloe are firm friends and I am sure they'll have good times in school next year together.

Frederick and the tiny horses

This is a minature horse farm out by Emily's mom's house. Frederick LOVES farm animals (his favorites are the sheep and goats, I hear). Apparently these horses are usually quite feisty, but this year an especially docile horse is around so Emily has a plan for taking Frederick to the farm to have him learn to take care of the horse. So they go out there several times week to be with the horse and do horsey things (whatver that entails) and then, afterwards, go swimming at Emily's mom's house or take care of her goats, sheep and ducks and so on.

Again, if we didn't see the photographs, we would have no idea any of this was going on because Frederick doesn't tell us any of it.

Thomas Models at the FIA

I (Jami) am taking a mosaics class this summer Tuesday evening and the instructor, Amy, asked me this past Tuesday if Thomas would be willing to do some modeling. I was skeptical, but intrigued. Apparently a former FIA student has gone on to hit the Big Times and become a really big deal photographer in New York (http://www.ericogden.com/). He has a plan to do a show in New York about Flint and wants to photograph the meaningful places of his childhood, one of them being the FIA. (He attended Whittier Middle School and then Flint Central High School, both of which are a stone's throw from the FIA and both of which have since been closed down.) Thomas was very nervous about the whole thing; apparently he envisioned 50 or 60 kids lined up out the door (something like a film audition, I guess). But only 5 kids were asked to show up: one 4 year old, two 8 year olds and two 12 year olds. The photographer was not anything like I imagined. I imagined a real asshole--getting all my material out of Hollywood films and TV shows--but he was really nice and got along with the kids really easily, putting them at ease quickly. He asked them what they liked to do, and let them set up their preferred materials (water or oil paints or drawing or pastels) while he putzed about with his camera--which was HUGE, about 5 times the size of my Nikon. There were giant studio lights set up on the lawn outside and all the lights were shut off inside so that instead of flourescent lights it looked like there was a setting sun. When we showed up the little 4 year old girl was being photographed, then a boy and sister went. The whole time Thomas was waiting he was nervous about what he was going to do--he was worried that his art talents were not up to speed--that his drawing skills were inadequate (that whole "scribble scrabble Thomas" taunting from pre-school was replaying in his hinter mind) but painting seemed too fussy and too much work. He also couldn't think of a theme. In general, he felt panicked and stressed as per usual.

Suddenly, it was Thomas' turn. When Eric Ogden came over to introduce himself and ask Thomas what art medium he prefered and Thomas piped up, "Drawing," I almost fell over. But Thomas insisted that a Muse has visited him and that was that. Eric complimented Thomas' hair and they set to work. I'm not sure what exactly was going on between those two, but they were really working away together. The other kids were done in rather short order, 10 or 15 minutes tops. But Eric used at least 5 rolls of film on Thomas. After what had to have been 3 rolls he said, "Just one more." And then there were at least two more, all close ups, which I know he didn't take any of the other kids. (Here is my NOT arty photograph of Thomas getting ready to go. Note gauzy light coming through window. In fact, it was a dreary rainy day today.)

There is Eric Ogden on the left. I wanted to get a photo to prove we have a brief touch a person who has a touch with fame. Eventually, he is going to send Thomas a copy of the picture he took of Thomas. It will probably be the most valuable thing Thomas ever owns.
There at the bottom of the picture are some of the "proofs" of the pictures he is taking of Thomas. He took tons of pictures. I don't really understand the camera he was using--he talked about rolls of film yet he was able to look at proofs like with a polaroid which you would not be able to do with a film camera OR a digital camera.

It's Hot

Suddenly it's summer, so the pool had to be set up. Today it's 90 F and tomorrow it's expected to be 95 (and the humidity is about the same since there are massive rain storms on the way--it's miserable, like living through a Tennesee Williams play). Frederick, as usual, was the first in when there was less than 3 inches of water in the pool. Thomas came out to see what all the squealing was about and quickly got his swimsuit on when he saw that we had gotten the pool set up--and his excitement quickly faded when he got in and his ankle bones ached from cold and his lips turned purple. Frederick is completely immune to the cold but Thomas has more feline sensibilities. But, being a good sport, he put on a brave face and was determined to amuse Frederick, which he did. An annual favorite, Thomas has mastered the pratfall, and Frederick still thinks it hilarious. Will they still do this in 20 years? What about in 40?
Thomas tried to pick up and toss Frederick about but, since there is only about 8 pounds difference between the two, he couldn't quite manage it. Frederick is a slippery little dickens; Thomas tried several times to flip and roll him but no dice. (Note ducks giving the boys hard stares. They don't mind us in the back yard but, they want us to know that this is, after all, THEIR yard and all this splashing about is rather annoying. Ducks are incredibly curious birds. If I do any yard work it is not too long before I find them within a few feet of me. Moreover, their stares are a strange mix of interest and disapproval.)

So Thomas resorted to a tried and true method: kamakazi style attack. He grabbed Frederick and dropped, pulling him under the water with him and it worked, they both sunk like a stone. Of course I yelled at Thomas for being reckless but obviously Frederick loved it.

WHAT, exactly, is so hilarious about being whipped about by Thomas while he leaps about in the pool like a a monkey on LSD, I'm not sure, but Frederick finds it all endlessly hilarious and it keeps him amused for hours in the hottest, most tedious parts of the day (that dreaded, "dead" part of the day, 4-7 pm when we have to prep dinner when we are hot, tired and it's too early to send anyone to bed though we would desperately love to go to bed).

I don't remember last year's June being so hot but, last year at this time we were having endless car and other troubles, so perhaps it was this hot and we were so crazed we didn't know it. But if this is any clue as to what this is what summer is going to be like, roll on Autumn 'cause this blows big time.