Last week I had to give up my beloved Washington state plates.

It was Graham’s birthday.  I wrote a post about him.  Thank you to all of you who commented or emailed.  I appreciate all of you.

Birthdays around here mean lots of treats.  There was ice cream at the best place in Berkeley.

Cupcakes in the classroom.  (Some of the kids didn’t like the frosting.  WEIRD.)

There was a birthday cake with two kind of homemade ice cream, chocolate glaze and homemade toffee.

The boys started karate.  When they first came out in these outfits, I almost died.  They were so proud.

Their favorite part of that experience was the fact that we went through a drive-thru and they got to have french fries.  Their first fast food.  Spencer said, “Mommy, why do these taste so good?”

In other news, I have a persimmon tree in my backyard.  Unfortunately these are the type of persimmon that need to be super ripe to use and the birds are eating them before I can get to them.

It was a spectacularly rainy weekend in the Bay Area.  Like scary rainy.  There were rivers off rain pouring off the Oakland hills and puddles the size of small lakes on the streets.  Our house held up with no flooding and no leaking.  Phew.