A Belated Birthday Celebration

Ron's birthday was yesterday, but since he was out of town, we decided to celebrate tonight. His plane was scheduled to arrive @ 3:20 this afternoon.

After picking Danielle up from preschool this morning, the kids and I headed to the store to buy decorations and gifts. Then we hurried home to bake a cake. I figured we had just enough time to bake a cake, wrap presents, decorate the house, & decorate the cake. We finished everything around 3pm. 20 minutes (+ driving time) to spare. Then Ron called...

His flight ended up being delayed over 3 hours and didn't finally land until 6:50 tonight! The kids usually go to bed between 7 & 7:30, especially on school nights, but there was no way I could put them to bed after waiting ALL day to see Daddy & to celebrate with him.


I know Ron was tired, but he was so good with the kids. They were so excited to give him their gifts. They were much more thoughtful this year, too. Danielle wanted to buy Ron “a football or a buckeye costume – but it will have to be a really big costume so it will fit.” Fortunately for Ron we found a football first. Tyler decided to get Ron a bag of spicy Doritos and a 2 liter of Diet Coke (just in time for the Super Bowl). Not too bad.


Here are some pictures from today.








I gave the kids a little more freedom with the crepe paper today.




































I love the way Danielle is anticipating Ron’s reaction (which was perfect).

I Feel Like a...

Tyler was being a bit mouthy about feeding the dogs this afternoon and said "I feel like a..." He trailed off at that point because he was probably going to say something like "idiot" or something involving "butt" but caught himself before the words actually came out of his mouth. (Hey! We're making progress!) After a second, he said, "I feel like a ape."

I don't know why, but that reminded me of the game "I went to the zoo and I saw..." where you say a different animal for each letter of the alphabet, and you try to remember all the animals that were mentioned previously. So, I responded, "I feel like an ape and a ... Tell me an animal that starts with the letter b. " I can't believe how that simple game captured his attention. Danielle came running in to play, too. At first the kids just thought it was funny that I was trying to remember all the animals, then I think they were impressed with themselves for being able to think of an animal for each letter. I was amazed at how quickly they thought of them (especially Tyler). The only ones that caused them to pause were U and X. The only one I helped them with was U! I thought that was pretty impressive. Some of the animals Tyler came up with (without missing a beat) were pretty impressive, too. And, Tyler finished feeding the dogs without even realizing he was doing it.

Here is our list (in case you're ever playing):

Ape

Bat

Cheetah

Dog

Elephant

Flamingo

Goat

Horse

Iguana

Jellyfish

Kangaroo

Lion

Monkey

Newt

Octopus

Parrot

Quail

Rabbit

Snake

Turtle

Unicorn

Vulture

Whale

Xray fish

Yak

Zebra

Love in a Box

Danielle came home from preschool today with a song in her heart...which she sang all day...loudly. A couple times she finished it with "His love is bubblin' out" or "bubblin' over" or, my favorite, "making a big bubble". (It was supposed to be "So His love will come a bubblin' through") She was very happy today. I guess having a happy song in your heart about Jesus' love will do that to you.

Making Crayons

This afternoon the kids and I made recycled crayons.

We sorted through all our crayons and picked out all the broken and non-Crayola crayons.

Tyler enjoyed peeling all the paper off. Danielle thought it was more fun to break the pieces into smaller pieces.

I have made crayons using muffin pans before, but I read about melting the crayons in the microwave and using candy molds instead. I thought that sounded like fun, so I took the kids to the store this morning to pick out their own candy molds. Danielle picked out some zoo animals. Tyler picked out dinosaurs. He thought these would work best because they came to a point at the end and would write better. It turns out that this isn't a very practical way for young kids to get involved. The measuring cup I melted the crayons in was so hot I could barely hold it with a pot holder. Other than the prep part, they didn't really get to do much to make the crayons in the molds. (This method was messier to clean up, too.)

They enjoyed pounding the pieces to fit in the mini-muffin cups, though.

They also enjoyed watching the crayon pieces melt.

Our recycled crayons were still a bit too soft to use yet tonight, but they turned out pretty good and we enjoyed making them together.

Today's Life Lessons

When you're thirty-something, you can't stay up until 1am playing a video game with your spouse & not feel the effects the next morning.

It makes you feel even worse to accidentally run over an animal (specifically a squirrel) when your inquisitive kids are in the car.

When a case of MRSA breaks out at your child's preschool and the letter they send home says several times not to panic, it makes you feel panicky.

Adding a Bible verse in the midst of the letter admitting the MRSA exposure does not make it better.

Tyler's "pee bubbles" often resemble certain objects. Once today they "looked like a smiley face" (or so I was told).

Chapstick leaves grease spots on EVERYTHING when it's left in your son's pant's pocket and laundered.

The smoke detector will blare endlessly when the fish sticks are left in just ONE minute too long.

You can do all sorts of fun and exciting things throughout the day, but the one thing the kids will rush to tell Daddy about when he gets home is the one brief moment you'd rather forget (like running over a squirrel).

My I Spy Bags

I finally used my sewing machine for more than a doll pillow! I saw an ad awhile ago for an "I Spy Bag" and thought about making one. I didn't progress past the "thinking" stage, though, until I saw one at my neighbor's house the other day. After inspecting theirs, I decided to attempt it.

I found a couple sites online that had instructions and pointers, gathered my materials, gulped, and pulled out my sewing machine.

I can't sew straight, but I think these turned out pretty good anyway. The kids were thrilled with them. In addition to trying to find all 60 items in each bag, the kids made up games with them. One of the games involved catching & throwing them, and THE BAGS DIDN'T FALL APART! Hooray for me!

I still need to print out a little card showing all 60 items in each bag & attach it to the bag so the kids remember what they're looking for. In addition to inspiring impromptu games around the house, I thought these would be good for car trips, when they can't fall asleep, or when they just need to quiet down a bit. Hmmm...maybe Tyler should take one to school with him. ;)

Pavlov & Tyler

Tyler's #1 responsibility around the house is feeding the dogs. Every evening around 5:30 he feeds the girls. He grabs their bowls and inevitably bangs them together, just waiting for the predictable "Tyler! Stop banging those bowls!" This happens with consistency 6 out of 7 nights a week.

Tonight Hunter was taking forever to finish her business and come back in. It was dark, it was cold, and I had better things to do. Usually she comes, slowly but surely, when I call her. Not tonight. She headed to the opposite end of the yard. Finally, in a moment of brilliance, Ron jumped up and grabbed the dogs' bowls. He held them outside the sliding glass doors and banged them together, Tyler-style. Hunter immediately whipped around and ran back to the house.

I guess Tyler has us all well trained.

My Dear Daughter

Unfortunately, Danielle's personality is often overshadowed by Tyler's. I guess that's one of the drawbacks of being second born. There are moments, though, when her true (i.e. not directly influenced by Tyler) personality shines through and we are struck by her humor, her charm, and, well, just by her. We had some of those moments today. Here are my favorites:





Tyler's spirograph:











Danielle's spirograph:





We were playing a Barbie game on the computer this afternoon. An evil spell caused all the flowers to die & colors to fade in the enchanted forest. Watching the gray spread across the forest, Danielle said "Wow. The forest is really in dis-compare." [disrepair]




Before bed tonight, Danielle suddenly jumped into her "fighting stance". I've never seen her do this before and didn't even know she knew what a fighting stance was. It was hilarious.

Gelatin Oranges

My February Family Fun magazine arrived the other day with lots of good activity ideas. Today we tried making the gelatin oranges. (I looked for a link to the article, but I couldn't find one.) I couldn't believe how much the kids enjoyed this activity! It was super simple, albeit a little sticky, but it was the first thing they told Ron about when he walked in the door after work.

First we scooped all the orange out of the peel. We all got squirted & we giggled a lot. Then we mixed up some orange gelatin and poured it into the cleaned out peels (which were being supported in the jumbo muffin pans Ron gave me for Christmas). We cut up little chunks of oranges to add to 2 of the gelatin "cups". Then we placed them in the refrigerator to set. The kids enjoyed eating pieces of the oranges while we were making them, but what they enjoyed the most was squeezing the juice out of the pieces and into a cup. They certainly don't get that excited about orange juice when I pour it from the carton! We cut these up for dessert after dinner tonight and the kids just loved them!

Tyler the Artist

Tyler brought a note home from his art class yesterday indicating he had some artwork on display at the local library, so we stopped by to see it today while we were out running errands. Although it looked like several classes of kindergarteners had their artwork displayed too, he was so proud of his picture and the fact that it was hanging up for "all" to see.

They were supposed to make a picture using "real" features (but exaggerated, I think). Here is his picture with the "real" eyes, nose, & mouth.

Vincent Who?

At dinner tonight Tyler excitedly told us about today’s art class. He told us all about an artist they learned about. According to Tyler, the artist is very famous, not alive (i.e. dead), lived far away in a different country, and made his paintings by using lines rather than solid colors. He told us about a painting of a bedroom and another of a tree (that “kind of looked like a castle”) with circle stars. We were really impressed by how much he remembered, but he couldn’t remember the artist’s name. Ron and I couldn’t figure out who he was talking about (those History of Art classes were years ago!). He kept scrunching up his forehead, trying to figure it out. Still frustrated, he finally said, “Well, I know his last name, I just can’t remember his first name!” Ron said, “Well, tell us his last name.” Tyler replied, “Van Gogh.” Ron and I both cracked up. I said, “Is his first name Vincent?” Tyler practically jumped out of his chair, “Yes! That’s it!” Still laughing, Ron tried to explain that this particular last name was all that was necessary. It really was very funny (probably more in a “you had to be there” sort of way). It seems unreal to me to be sitting at dinner discussing paintings by Van Gogh with my six year old son.