These kids are not afraid of heights.

Posted on June 26, 2008 by ~L

Dave finally got our new climbing wall finished. Actually, he’d had the wall built for quite a while, but we finally got the grips in the mail and he put them up last night while the kids and I were out for ice cream and park time with our Chesso friends.

Of course, the girls had to climb today even in the slippery and cold rain. They’re natural-born monkeys, and I had to bite my tongue to keep from squealing when they turned to wave from half way up the wall, leaving them hanging one-handed while they waved their arms.

I convinced them to come back inside because my camera was getting damp, but they had to finish one last climb before we left the rain behind.

I’m so proud of my crazy monkeys, and we’re all proud of Daddy for building them the awesome climbing wall.

He Didn’t Even Get Dizzy!

Posted on April 10, 2008 by ~L

Tonight Nate was surprised with a prize basket at gymnastics for the most cartwheels or forward rolls in the boy’s division during their yearly fundraiser. More than 50 in two minutes!! Dave and I had known for a few days, since Dave had a peek at the results sheet, but we managed to keep our excitement a secret.

He was so thrilled that his little smile was a mile wide. Nate’s the child in our family who rarely gets recognized for outstanding achievement. He has only recently been able to blend and achieve positive results socially, especially in things like organized sports.

His prize was a huge Super-soaker type water gun, a slingshot with three balls and a roll of Shocktarts. I hope that this is the first in a long line of successes for our boy Nate.

Why, yes, we DO homeschool!

Posted on April 7, 2008 by ~L

Just a little tidbit from the homeschool trenches:

Me (to Anna): What is the opposite of fast?
Anna: SLOW is the ossopit of fast.
Me (to Anna): Yes, slow is the OOOOPPPPIIIISSSSIIITTTT of fast.
Me (to the big kids): What is another term we use for words that mean the opposite?
Em (proudly): Oh, that’s easy, it’s an ANTONYM.
Me (to Em): Yeah! Great Answer! So, what is the antonym of antonym?
Nate (looking up vaguely from Super Smash Brawl): You’re kidding, right?
Me (curious): Nooo? Do you know the answer?
Nate (bored): DUUUUHHHH! The antonym of antonym is……..

CINNAMON.

I’m still laughing 15 minutes later. P.S. I did tell him that the word is synonym, not cinnamon. He’s still not speaking to me because I laughed.

Sticky, Squishy, Sweet and Gooey

Posted on April 7, 2008 by ~L

PisecoBabe can alway be counted on for a fun playdate, and she’s more than willing to share her sticky, gluey gooey fun with us. The kids had a great time making yucky artworks and then squishing them back into blobs.

Princess DibbleDibbleDoo had no interest in the dough after a couple of minutes, and fell back to her favorite passtime…eating!

What was she eating, you ask? Well, pretty much anything she could get her fingers on, but the treat of the day was Rice Crispy squares made from PisecoMom’s recipe and decorated by my three rugrats prior to our playdate.

All-in-all, not a bad way to spend a Monday.

Old McDonald Had A Farm…

Posted on April 4, 2008 by ~L

We spent our day today visiting farmers and their animals and wares in the most unusual of situations. Today was the annual Farm Days celebration inside the local shopping mall.

Our friends the Piseco Peeps were supposed to pick us up and explore the festival with us, but they were having bouts of feeling generally unwell, so we made it out on our own….

OR SO WE THOUGHT.

We started in the mall proper, and the kids took a quick ride on petal tractors near the doors.

After a moment, we made some crafty cotton ball sheep.

It was just after taking that picture with our fuzzy sheep that Nate began freaking out and bouncing around and screaming, “JediBoy, JediBoy and PisecoMom”* at the top of his lungs. I thought he had seen them somewhere in the mall because they’d decided to join us belatedly, but then realized that he wasn’t quite seeing what I’d expected. Instead, we’d found the following on the board the kids were posing in front of for their photo op.

After our excitement wore off, we continued through the mall and enjoyed such varied activities as tasting Stone Soup and watching a sheep get her winter coat sheared.

It was a grand day, and we came home with loot bags full of crafts, snacks, and assorted treasures.

For more pictures, you can check out the album…

Like Clue…only BETTER!

Posted on March 7, 2008 by ~L

We’ve recently begun hosting a Saturday night board game gathering for our grown-up friends (and their wee ones, too). We gather and play games together while laughing, snacking, and generally having a grand time being social. Many of our gatherings are themed, but some are just “let’s play something awesome” type of nights.

One of my favorite games from our recent nights is Mystery of the Abbey. PisecoBabe did a great review of it over on her blog that I thought I’d share with everyone. I absolutely love deduction games, and Days of Wonder makes some great games in this genre. PisecoBabe does a great job with her game reviews, too, as well as having a generally adorable family.

Happy Leap Day!!

Posted on February 29, 2008 by ~L

And Happy 2nd birthday to Cousin Kendall, who was born a week after Em, but is 6 parties behind her in the present-opening race.

We celebrated the LEAP day but doing lots of jumping around the house, off the steps, and in and out of various hoops. Dinner was a celebration at Moghul, where we ate far too much lovely Indian food. There were more tikka masala, paneer, and naan variations than our family could eat in two days.

Here’s for a great and peaceful March into Spring.

Swimmingly Good Times

Posted on February 24, 2008 by ~L

The big kids celebrated their birthdays last weekend in a joint YMCA swimming pool party. We had a small crowd, mostly girls, and lots of great fun. The PisecoClan came, with PisecoBabe hauling her wonderful camera. There was great enthusiasm about the swimming, the home-made cakes, and the gifts.

Those wacky Pisecofolk also gifted Emily with the promise of a future Daisy Rock guitar (shipping times were lagging and it did not arrive for the party) to match the Hannah Montana wristwatch in her gift bag. She was ecstatic when she found the note on the back of the watch after the party was over.

All in all, it was a wonderful way to spend an evening celebrating the completion of one more year of crazy living for two of our growing monsters.

Kung Hey Fat Choi/Gong Si Fa Cai

Posted on February 6, 2008 by ~L

May you all have a happy, prosperous and wonderful New Year.

Anybody else celebrating Chinese New Year tonight/this week? We had a wonderful New Year’s Eve tonight, and my kids finally crashed after midnight which, according to tradition, means DH and I should live long lives.

Tomorrow we’re eating a huge veggie feast and playing games all day. I’ve hidden the brooms, knives, and scissors and gotten the last of the dishes clean before putting out the disposable dinnerware. Everyone bathed and I’ve ironed and laid out the new clothes for morning. There are 2 dozen GORGEOUS roses on my dining room table, and a stunning orchid in our living room. Oranges, clementines, mangos, coconut, sesame balls, lychee, and candy are tucked in into their red and gold boxes on the table.

The kids went to bed happy and tired, and clutching their lai see (hong bao if you’re Mandarin-speakers) in their hands. According to them, they’re “richer than kings today”.

Tomorrow there’s no cleaning or cooking and I’ll be trying to abstain from internet since I’ve promised myself that I’ll try my best to be completely in the moment with the family during this holiday, which is the most important one of the year for most of our family. It will be good to feel almost obligated to simply enjoy time with family and not be rushing around to sweep up crumbs or wash dishes or do another load of laundry. Of course, I’ll pay for that on Saturday when I have a 2 day backup of everything….but that’s Saturday and today is the first day of the New Year so I’m not going to dwell on tomorrows until I’ve fully experienced today.

Here’s a link to see the dragon:
Dragon Dance

Sweet dreams and, again, Happy New Year to all of my friends!
~L

How about some cuteness?

Posted on February 1, 2008 by ~L

Christmas came and went in it’s normal whirl of insanity, and I forgot (again!) to get cards ready to send in time for the holiday. I think I’ve made the mistake of trying to do it all myself, from photography to design and printing, for the last time.

The Purple Stork is a great place to get custom designed holiday cards, party invitations and adoption or birth announcements.

Rosemary is creative, affordable, and her work is always professional. Next year, with help from The Purple Stork, I think I’ll have my holiday cards out just after Thanksgiving. It will be a holiday MIRACLE!

Sparking To Learn

Our Big and Little Lives in the Fast Lane

Author Archives: ~L