got glasses?

.



as of last week, Jed does.

Score another point for the public school system. Every year the district sends around vision and hearing technicians to test all of the kids at the elementary schools. This year the note came home with Jed urging us to have his vision checked. Sure enough, he has pretty much the same diagnosis that Harriet had when she was 5 1/2. Except his weakness is in the opposite eye from her. And, happily, he doesn't have to patch like she did.
Another difference? She was thrilled to get glasses, couldn't wait to be the first one in her Kindergarten to show up wearing them. Jed, however, was far less enthusiastic upon getting the news. When we went last week to pick up his nifty new blue camo pair, he slowly warmed to the idea, and was even excited about the cool case that came with them.
The next day at school he basked in the attention from his friends, and several kids were even heard to say "I want glasses too!".
The novelty wore off quickly however, and it has since been a struggle to get him to wear them for longer than a few minutes.

Harriet got a new pair of glasses as well, again much to her delight.

Here she is holding a photo of Taylor in her lap.
It will have to do until April when she goes to Australia and gets to hold the real thing.



The other excitement of the week was, of course, Valentine's Day. The kids celebrated in their classrooms much as I remember doing in my school when I was young. They make and decorate some sort of mailbox, and then everyone brings in a Valentine to pass around to everyone else. There is a Valentine's Day party in the afternoon complete with games and snacks, and the district's strict "no sugar" policy pretty much goes out the window.

Because Valentine's Day is on a Saturday this year, and due to an extended four day weekend celebrating President's Day, the kids all had their classroom parties on Thursday, the last day of school for the week. Thursday is the day I normally spend working in Henry's classroom, so I was able to participate in all the excitement.

Which meant I didn't make it over to Jed's class party, although I did see them all briefly outside sitting in a circle eating cupcakes. Here he is coming out of his classroom with his Valentine's envelope full of loot. Any guesses as to who the character on the front is supposed to be?

After coming home and unpacking his backpack I discovered the Valentine's Day gift that Jed's teacher, along with one of the parents in the class, herself a professional photographer, had cooked up for the kids to give us.
It was placed in a black paper frame with a red ribbon tied around it, all wrapped up in cellophane.

And it looked like this:

That's right. A vintage, sepia-tinged photo, with just a splash of arty color.
And a newsboy cap to top it all off.

Obviously this was taken before Jed got his glasses.
The one thing that the mom said to me when I was thanking her for her effort later was "Your son really did not want to hold that rose!"

Way to go Jed.

As previously mentioned Valentine's Day proper was on Saturday. In the morning Jack had batting practice for the upcoming Little League season, and Henry was invited to a Valentine's Day party at the house of one of the girls in his class, but the afternoon was for lovers.

Pete and I had plans to go to Dana Point to Olamendis, which is a local restaurant owned by, of course, the Olamendi family. The daughter of the owners is a teacher at Pete's school and we have been meaning to try it out for some time. However, Cupid's arrow must have missed its mark and somehow ended up in the front tire of my van. So my hero changed the flat tire, and then took it to the local Goodyear center to get it fixed. This set us back considerably time wise, as we were planning to meet up with friends at the Newport Beach Temple for ward temple day. So instead we went to the nearby UCI campus and had burritos and soft tacos at this place:

The Arriba! Baja Grill, complete with a 10 item salsa bar.


The food was fine and the temple was beautiful, but the best part was coming home and having our babysitter, 17-year-old cousin Kenzie, able to drive herself home in her used Honda with her newly minted driver's license. Way to go Kenzie!




And here are just some photos to round out the weekend, Sunday afternoon dinner at Grandma and Grandpas, complete with cousins and a visiting Grandma Irene, in Laguna Beach.

Pete fixes the weather vane on top of the house, victim of some recent blustery weather.

Jack and Porter getting some important cousin bonding time before dinner.


And finally Dave and the boys show that it is possible to have a snowball fight in Laguna Beach.

The Coe crew ready to hit the road.
Thanks for a great weekend everyone!