Archive for the 'kids' Category

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Edward Hopper at the SAM

November 27, 2008

I invited Kennedy to go see the Hopper exhibit at the SAM (Seattle Art Museum) today.

She got more excited over this than I imagined she would. In anticipation of our date this afternoon, she woke up at 2 AM. Holly had to send her back to bed at 5:30 AM. Needless to say, when we finally got to the SAM this afternoon, she was low energy. They only had a few Hoppers on display and Nighthawks–my favorite–was not among them.

Kennedy and I enjoyed what was there. We also enjoyed the lobby of the SAM, which has some crazy sculpture of cars flipping through the air.

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We had a snack in the restaurant. I tried to imagine Kennedy as a girl in a Hopper painting.

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My Favorite Water Polo Game by Kennedy Elhajj

November 25, 2008

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Here at Present Tense we’re mightly proud to present a memoir by Kennedy Elhajj.

Not only is this Kennedy’s first published work, it’s her first shot at writing memoir. This essay is the result of a fifth grade project done by her entire class. The press is claiming that she fabricated parts of this non-fiction essay, but don’t you believe it. As her father, I can vouch that every word of it is true. My little girl is the real deal.

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My Favorite Water Polo Game
by Kennedy Elhajj

The swimmer was racing toward me while my teamies swam their hardest behind him. It was all up to me now, I was GOALIE! It seemed like slow-mo.

The ball came racing toward me! I WAS TERRIFIED! I tried to tread my hardest; it felt like my legs were going to EXPLODE! The player got ready to cheer. Then… SPLASH! I went underwater. A mysterious pain throbbed in my hands. When I bobbed to the surface my eyes were covered in water. When my eyes cleared the first thing I saw were my teamies cheering.

There was 1 second on the clock! I felt rushed; the score was 10-10. I looked behind me expecting to see the ball. But it wasn’t there; I looked in front of me. THERE IT WAS! The ball was sitting right in front of me!

I was proud and excited at the same time. I had saved the game, I felt good. The clock blared as loud as a siren.

The crowd stood up and cheered. I had saved the game, I felt very powerful at that moment. I got lots of hugs and kisses (even Aaron gave me a hug, when we got home of course, and that made me feel extra good).

But back to game! I got high 5’s from my teamies.

As it turned out my dad had taken a picture of me saving the goal, he took another picture of me and Aaron shouting at each other (after the goal) in a good natured, happy way. My dad made a joke about it and I laughed so hard, that when I was done laughing I was out of breath.

That was my favorite water polo game ever.

THE END

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Orthodontia: Expensive, But Worth It

October 27, 2008

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Kennedy got her braces off Friday. Just in time for Halloween treats!

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Drama in the Deep End

August 20, 2008

Aaron and Kennedy are playing water polo this year. Above is Aaron getting pulled as Kennedy guards the goal at the deep end.

Watch what happens.

The opposing team takes a shot and Kennedy propellers (this is what they call moving your feet to gain elevation in water polo) herself up to block. Aaron watches with mild concern.

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The block is good. Aaron exults.

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Kennedy acts like there was never any doubt, but I know she loves hearing her brother cheer for her.

Saved

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How to Make a Girl Who Just Joined the Swim Team Happy

July 30, 2008

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With an athlete like Aaron in the family, Kennedy is always getting the short shrift. It’s not that Kennedy isn’t an athlete. She just has a much different approach to sports than Aaron. But swim team is the right sport for her. With all the kids milling about, the meets feel more like afternoon picnics than sporting events, and Kennedy really thrives in this kind of environment. She’s also pretty fast in the water.

I was explaining all this to my in-laws last week at the reunion. Kennedy was within earshot. I said I remembered standing on the side of the pool and noticing an enormous rooster tail of water making its way from one end of the pool to the other.

Grandpa Jim raised his eyebrows and nodded his head.

I told them I couldn’t figure out what it was, but it looked like a motor boat and it was getting all the parents in front of us wet. The rest of the swimmers were cheering.

I asked Holly what it was and she said, ‘Silly man. That’s your daughter.’

All the in-laws smiled and politely shooed off my tall tale, but I didn’t care. I was watching Kennedy, who looked up at me with her googly eyes and a smile that just wouldn’t quit.

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In Celebration of Weapons of Mass Destruction

July 15, 2008

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Aaron has a knack for hitting the ball. He’s so good, his nickname is A-bomb. He made it into the Little League All Stars this year, so earlier this month, we deocrated all our cars for the big tournament. Recently I’ve been getting strange looks at stop lights.

On my driver’s side rear window, I drew a little mushroom cloud and wrote, “GO A-BOMB!”

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Ten Year Olds Are the Best Year Olds

May 23, 2008

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This morning I kept leaping into the living room as my 10 year olds were getting ready for school. I was wearing my floppy rain hat, humming the first few notes of the theme song for Indiana Jones, and making a whip noise with my mouth. Whoopersh! Whoopersh!

They loved it.

Too bad they can’t make it the entire way through Raiders of the Lost Ark. We get to the opening scene where Indy finds the corpse impaled on the spike booby trap and they turn to quivering jelly.

“Turn it off, turn it off. Oh, my! Oh, no!”

That’s okay. One day they will be all grown up and when I leap into the room and make whipping noises they will just sigh and roll their eyes.

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Every American’s Right

May 13, 2008

Yesterday I was in my living room complaining about a letter I got from my health club. The kids were watching TV. I told my wife I was going to call the health club and complain. I must have been expressing myself too forcefully, because Aaron looked up and asked if it was legal to call up and complain.

“Son,” I told him, “as an American, it is your God given right to complain. Anytime you feel you are treated poorly, you should always complain.”

I hope I didn’t just create a monster.

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Mother’s Day Dyn-O-rama

May 12, 2008

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For Mother’s day this year Kennedy and I made a dyn-O-rama. I am not even sure where I got that name, but that’s what we’ve been calling it.

Earlier in the week Kennedy told me she wanted to make Mom a little three dimensional scene like the nativity scene we put out at Christmas. Kennedy often makes off-beat suggestions like this and I have learned to go with the flow.

She suggested we work with wood. I suggested cardboard (sometimes you have to buck the flow). When Holly and Aaron went to the game Friday night, Kennedy and I got busy.

I let Kennedy pick out the materials at the craft store. When we got to my work, I asked her to draw some figures in action poses. She drew Holly reading a book and herself dunking a basketball. I created a picnic table for “Holly”  to sit on and a backboard for Kennedy’s avatar. We used the office color printer to print family photos from my flicr page and then cut and pasted the heads on our avatars.

We finished up late and then came home to ended the night watching Oklahoma on an old VCR tape. I told her how much fun I had with her and she agreed.

“I thought it was going to suck,” she said, without the slightest bit of malice.

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Yard Work is Hard Work

May 1, 2008

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I taught Aaron how to mow the lawn two weeks ago. He was excited. That was two weeks ago. This week his excitement seems somewhat diminished, but now I’m excited. It’s much easier to get the lawn done with his help. I’m paying him five bucks (a five dollar buck, as he calls it) for the front and the back (roughly 2000 square feet).

If you’re paying your child more, please just keep it to yourself. 

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