Arcade Escapade December 22, 2008

It’s coooold outside! We’re exploring indoor activities and went to the arcade with our friends the Quinns!

Microscopic Adventures December 22, 2008

Sadie had accumulated several collections of random natural materials: dirt, feathers, rocks, leaves, etc. With the microscope that Elijah got for his birthday, the kids examined the collections more closely.

We decided to go out (on this very chilly day) to find more specimens to scrutinize.

We brought them back to the garage to set up shop and escape the wind.

We made a little field journal by cutting a sheet of paper into fours, punching a corner hole in them, and securing them together with a paper clip. Drawings were made of each specimen: a burdock-type plant, a soft, fluffy frond, a fire ant with some of his mound, and a maggot (which we caught by accident on one of the other specimens). Descriptive words were written down for each one and we played a game in which I listed the words and the kids had to choose from the line-up of specimens which I was describing. Their descriptive words were very detailed so they were able to identify every one without issue.

Hmmm… December 22, 2008

I left to teach a childbirth class and when I returned these pictures were on my camera. We’re left to draw our own conclusions…

Rough and Tumble at the Gardens December 22, 2008

After seeing Rudolph, we met some of our friends at the Ft. Worth Botanic Gardens for a picnic/playdate. It was a chilly day and physical play abounded. Is ninja fighting and wrestemania how children keep their bodies warm? It was today.

And, of course, daddies were made for this kind of stuff. We just happened to have one on hand! Oddly, it doesn’t seem to matter whose daddy it is- the abuse imparted is not tempered.

This was all-out fun and exhausting!

Elijah is 6! December 22, 2008

Elijah anxiously awaited his 6th birthday and we shocked him with his cake (a giant chocolate chip cookie by request) and presents the night before. You can see by his face that he was pleased with this arrangement. Why, you say, does his cake have a 5 candle on it? Well, the store was completely out of 6 candles and this tradition cannot be repressed. Elijah decided that 3+3 and 5+1 could be substituted since both of these have a sum of 6!

When I went to get Elijah’s gifts from the closet, they had disappeared! In their place was a list of clues to their whereabouts. He found them all swiftly and zealously.

By far, his favorite present was MarioKart for the Wii. He has since achieved tremendous mastery of a system that mystified him previously. He gives Daddy a run for his money!

This is a common scene in the house. There is much fun, excitement, and learning to be had with a steering wheel in one’s hand!

He’s even gotten Mema to play!

Christmas Preparations December 22, 2008

We had a lovely Thanksgiving with friends involving lots of delicious food, card games, video games, playing with their kittens, and general chatter. I missed it all with the camera but the memories remain!

On to Christmas decorations!

The kids ran this operation with very little assistance from me. They sorted all the branches into piles and proceeded to place them in the appropriate rows. I was the tree ‘fluffer’… which takes a long time!

Building the tree takes a close 2nd to the kids’ favorite part of the tree festivities- ornaments! We have ornaments from almost every place we’ve been or special occasion we’ve celebrated (weddings, births, pets, previous homes) and others with their own stories of their origin. The kids can now tell us a lot of the stories and have recall of many of the memories that go with the ornaments.

Toying with shutter speed and trying to get the kids to sit still so that the open shutter can take in the lights on the tree without creating blur from children’s movement is a trick. We managed it here but clearly were lacking in photo preparedness.

Another fantastic Casa Manana production! We went to see their rendition of Rudolph and were not disappointed. Both kids (and Mama) loved it and were captured for the whole show (no complaints about length of feature this time).

On a chilly December evening, we checked out Santa’s Village in Richardson. The lights were beautiful, the music festive, and the child-sized buildings with crafts, cookies, and characters were delightful!

Elijah decorates his ’stop’ sign at Frosty’s house. His turned out to be entirely blue which he decided meant, ‘caution- water ahead’.

Sadie tells her Christmas wish to the princess fairy.

The kids take a sleigh ride pushed by an elf!

What’s Christmas without house decorating? With graham cracker houses being a complete calamity last year, we opted to step it up with a kit. Putting the house together is frustrating enough without the whole baking, measuring, and cutting bit. Maybe next year…

The house lasted one day and is now 1/2 a roof and a wall with candies strewn about. Gingerbread goes fast in this house!

So there’s a catch up on Christmas prep. Activities that the camera missed: Yard decorations (which blow down regularly and need to be replaced), several family car rides in the evenings to check out local Christmas lights/decorations (Texas makes up for lack of snow with tremendous light displays), winter house scenes (the kids helped with the big one AND made their own this year using poly-fill snow and a set of tiny houses and trees), and Christmas cookie making. Activities left out so as not to ruin Christmas surprises: many and varied gift-making endeavors with each grandparent and great-grandparent in mind. It’s not Christmas yet so there’ll be more prep and excitement to document!

 

Mush! December 22, 2008

We overestimated the amount of charge Sadie had in the ATV battery before leaving the house for one of our regular around-the-block ‘walks’ (the dogs and I walk, Elijah scoots on the wiggle car, and Sadie rocks the ATV- usually). About 1/2 way around it was clear that Sadie’s chariot was not going to carry her the rest of the way home. I can’t carry it (esp. not with 2 dogs in tow), it won’t fit in the back of the car (even if we ditched it and came back)… what to do? Sadie thought Lulu could pull it. So with the throttle pinned, we hooked up our own sled dog. She was more than happy to pull Sadie home and had a big smile on her workin’ dog face when we got there (and proceeded to sleep the rest of the day ).

Austin! December 16, 2008

We took an overnight trip down to Austin for Chris to meet with renowned tattoo artist Bart Willis of South Side Tattoos. While the boys chatted and got down to business, the kids and I explored Congress Street in Austin to the fullest. We spent that first afternoon shopping, eating, checking out the rescued puppies, and wandering. After being shopped out, we weighed how our next day would be spent. We tried to check out The Republic of Texas Museum but, alas, it was closed. So off we headed to the Austin Nature Center. We were quickly deterred by signs for a dinosaur exhibit at the Zilker Botanical Garden. It’s wonderful to be flexible!

We followed the walkway of pictures and descriptions depicting the different eras of dinosaur life and the progression of evolution.

The kids walked a mile (or about 15 feet) in dinosaur “shoes”.

Elijah was really interested in the archeological dig. Once the children that were there with him had gone, he completely recovered all the bones so that we could make all of the discoveries ourselves.

There were dinosaur statues with informational plaques set in the gardens!

We wandered about in the Japanese garden for quite some time. The kids chose the direction at each split and we had quite a beautiful and interesting journey. Water plays an important role in Japanese gardening and Elijah loved to follow the path of the water as it made its way through, around, and about.

Here the kids place leaves in the stream to watch them flow with the current. Just another fun trip to Austin!

Takin’ Care of Chickens December 16, 2008

 

Some friends of ours went on extended leave to visit family so we manned the urban henhouse! The kids really enjoyed feeding them grain, filling their water, and tossing out kitchen scraps which they immediately devoured. Thanks for the opportunity! It was fun!

Come On Over! December 12, 2008

Somehow we had playdates two days in a row at our house. The kids have been asking to have friends over for a while and it happened all at once!

We needed a ladder for painting the high ceilings in the stairwell and we got a great day, too! The Kanes came over for a playdate (and dropped off a ladder- thanks Christa)!

Sadie wanted to share soap making with her friends. Here she shares her soap making expertise with Kaylee and Kenzie.

We made our way to the playground around the corner. The playground apparatus was amusing for a time but the drainage area proved to be much more thrilling!

Kenzie and Sadie managed to transport some of the tremendously mucky mud back to our driveway for mud stew concoctions.

Our friends, the Quinns, were going to be over in our neck of the woods. Yay! Come on over! The kids played spies, rode wiggle cars in the driveway, made general mayhem, and ended up outside building interesting things on which to climb, catapult, and balance.

Sadie hops on a board testing her ball catapult.

Declan tests out his balance board.