Coco Leibowitz

Coco has a talent for observing things from unique perpectives. This is evident in her photography, which I find absolutely amazing. Here's a series I found on my camera that Coco had taken one day when I lent her my camera for a field study. They were taken on the playground in the park blocks. (Speaking of playgrounds: stay on the lookout for photos from playgrounds across the city--it's the next project area for Coco's class!)

Monica

Mina

Torran

Supermarket Sweep

Regular readers of this blog are familiar with the project-based approach at Coco's school. Recently, her class finished their last study area, supermarkets. At first I was skeptical about the value of studying supermarkets, but was pleasantly surprised at the results.

The students visited ten supermarkets across the city from the vegan Food Fight to New Seasons, Whole Foods, Safeway, Fred Meyer, Uwijamaya, and Don Pancho's. They learned about what stores stock, how many employees they have and everything in between.

For their open house they presented their data in the form of a supermarket quiz show and also put on a play about supermarkets. You can tell Coco is from a restaurant family: one of the questions she came up with for the quiz was "What does Trader Joe's sell the most of? A. Meat, B. Bananas, C. Two Bucks Chuck" You guessed it. Two Bucks Chuck is the answer. This reflects the fact that you'll find us at TJ's buying Two Buck Chuck (cheap wine) by the case for the cafe!

Torran's mom, Regan, and crew...

That's Phoebe's dad, Daniel, on the right.

One of the data charts:

Coco's First Basketball Game

Coco joined the all-girls 8-11 y/o basketball league at the community center this season. She is on the same team--The Storm--as her good friend Ariel. They practice Mondays and Wednesdays and have games every Friday night. These girls run! Here are some pics from the first game.

(Apologies for the poor photographic quality--my camera takes crappy indoor action pictures.)

Even though she's a head shorter than anyone else on her team, Coco is a defensive specialist! She runs really fast and sneaks up underneath the tall girls and steals the ball! She had some great turnovers this week and she's proud of her contribution to her team's win (even though, officially, they don't keep score). Coach Paul is a real gem--along with the really sweet girls on the team, he's made Coco feel very welcome.

Future Globetrotter?

A House Full of Funny Cats

Coco's prone to the ocassional photoshoot. Witness, "Gert in Leopard":


The kitten, well, he watches us shower:

Shabbas/Sabbath/Family Day

We've tried something new this year. We reorganized the restaurant schedule so Nick has Saturdays off. Sarah stays off the computer, off the email, and keeps her head out of books. Coco stays home--friends come over, but she tries to stay home as much as possible. We do things purposefully, kindly, and together this day. We are keeping a journal of our activities, which so far include nature walks, breakfast excursions, and movie marathons. (Don't let anyone tell you the Eighties weren't awesome cinematically-- Johnny Dangerously, you fargin iceholes?)

Here's a shot from what might just be the best breakfast Coco's ever had:

Emerson School: Mid-Year Conferences

Coco's school hosts student led conferences halfway through the year. It's an opportunity for the students to prepare and share their best work with their loved ones. Here's an excerpt from Coco's conference:




(Click image to enlarge.)

Now, We Have A Way With Pets...

Some of you may recall the serious outlay of cash/investment our family made in the once lame, now deceased Poppie Iannarone (RIP). Well, the whole pet thing doesn't seem to come too smoothly for us. We lost Alice B. Toklas Iannarone in mid-October to mysterious causes. (Gertrude Stein Iannarone stoically keeps on keeping on.) Well, Brother Cosmo came along and wasn't with us six weeks before he busted his leg (and but good) jumping out of a plant. Yes folks--he jumped three feet to his almost death. Grace has never been an adjective proffered generously on our kin. Another grand later, we have a no longer broken, but still somewhat gimpy kitten lurking around our home. Here are the pictures of his "cast" in the early days before it was covered with "stuff" from the litter box.

Our One Snow Day of the Year--Boo Hoo

My little Angel:

Budding Photographer:

Snowballs of Fury:

Why Gert Loves Snow Days:

Among our Favorites--The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

"The time is always right to do what's right."

Blue Mako

And you thought a Blue Mako looked like this:



Think again. Coco joined the Blue Makos swim team at the Mt. Scott Community Center down the road a piece from our house. She kicks some serious fin--swimming twenty, thirty laps a practice. She's really progressed. Maybe next time around we'll get up early enough to actually attend a swim meet, something we agreed wholeheartedly we were not interested in doing since neither Coco nor Mama enjoy waking before 9 and swim meet was scheduled for 8AM on Sunday across town!

The Big Eight

Coco had a sleepover party to celebrate her eighth birthday. Many (too many) friends were in attendance. Fun was had by all--except Mom and Dad, who ended up sleeping in shifts.

Feline Advent--Part Deux

Feline Advent

New Kitten Cosmo arrives in time for the holidays. He came a week early; otherwise, he'd have had to stay all cooped up in the bathroom on Christmas morning and that wouldn't have been any fun, now would it?

They Don't Call it "Make-Up" for Nothin'

I see a trend emerging here. Busy family. Takes photos when able. Transfers them to disk somewhere. They go unreviewed, unprinted, and unposted until next school vacation when said parents--overworked and underwhelmed--regain the strength to do the whole "post photos to the blog for loved ones" thing.

Well, we love you, and here it comes: another three months worth of photos demonstrating how quickly our family is growing.

Fashion Show

Coco's class just finished up their fashion project with a big open house and a fashion show of their designs.

Emerson Auction Photos

For the school auction, Coco's class undertook a photo essay of the Park Blocks in NW Portland. Below are a few of the photos that the class selected to display (and sell) during the Emerson School Auction. Click forward to Flickr to enjoy the rest. If you'd like to bid on one, let me know and I can be your proxy at the auction.

www.flickr.com

Emerson School End-of-Year Picnic (May 07)

This is me, Monica, and some other kid hanging out on the playground in the park blocks after we got our faces painted. We look scary, eh? Speaking of scary, do you like my new blog? New school year, new look. Pretty fancy.

2:2 (Second Day of Second Grade)

Coco informed me that this is a special day--the second day of second grade. In the rebellious spirit of grammar school, I'm opting out of posting our summer pics chronologically so you can see Coco in all of her Second Grade glory.

This is actually the first day of school.

Gertie has been trying to get in the car every time we open the door. Maybe she's decided she wants a dog's life (who doesn't). I think she'd go off to school with Coco if we'd let her.

Actual photo (unretouched--wow!) of Coco's Second day of Second Grade. Coco didn't grant permission for me to snap this shot, so I had to do it surreptitiously. Maybe she'll forgive me when she finds out. Anyway, this will be Coco's classroom for the next two years (combined 2nd-3rd grade class) and she's very happy to be reunited with some of her friends from her kindergarten year, including Claire, Adia, Kayleigh, and Rory. Teacher Allegra seems very nice and Coco is looking forward to her focus on mathematics. Although Coco and her bestest buddy Monica are in different classrooms this year, they'll still hang out during recess and carpool and any time in between they can get! Here's wishing Coco a safe, fun, productive Second Grade!