Christmas treats

 I convinced the boys to help me make Chocolate Balls today.  Adin was eager and Erik was willing, until he saw what we were putting in the bowl - coffee, butter and oatmeal?!  Yuk!  Once we started forming the balls, he recognized them and remembered how good they are.

 Adin did not want to wait until the photo shoot was done to sample the product.

Happy helpers.  I'm saving the leftover cocoa sugar mix.  I think it would be good on lefse. 

Lasagna

When the kids were little, I looked forward to when they would be able to read so that they could read me recipes.  Today I was making lasagna and Erik asked if he could help.  While I browned the meat, he started the layers.  He was pretty grossed out by the cottage cheese (I don't blame him) so I had to do that part.  When he had to do a layer of meat or cheese and wanted me to tell him how much was half, I told him that I think it's more important that there was some meat and cheese in each bite than that it was evenly divided in half.  Erik wanted to help shred the Parmesan, so Adin did the last layer of noodles and sauce.  Erik read the final instructions and told me to put on 8oz of Parmesan.  Whew.  Our hands got tired shredding that much cheese!  I regretted not using the food processor.  After I'd done about half the brick of cheese I double checked the recipe.  Oops, we only needed half a cup!  I guess having the kids help has it's benefits and drawbacks. 

Our Cub Scout

 

Can someone explain how this little fellow became...

 

 this guy, who is now...

this Cub Scout?

Erik's ice bucket challenge

My friend Andrea challenged me yesterday to dump a bucket of water over my head and give a donation to charity.  As I was discussing this with Joe this morning, Erik said he wanted to do it too.  He got money out of his piggy bank and gave it to me to add to my donation.  He teared up a little giving, because it was a large amount for an eight year old, but insisted that was how much he wanted to give.  Here's what happened next. Congratulations, Erik.  We are very proud of you.

Big day at the nature center

The Friends of the Arts in St. Louis Park sponsored a six week drawing class this summer.  Last week I went alone, but this week Erik and Adin came with me.  We gather around a table outside the Westwood Nature Center and the instructor shows us some of her sketches and other work.  She gives us advice and an assignment and then we find a place to draw. 

The kids brought books to read and their own paper for drawing.  Adin read about World War II and then drew some battleships and airplanes.  Erik read for a while on his own and then joined us.  By that point, the kids were starting to get rambunctious and I didn't want to disturb the artists, so we left the more populated area and went up the hill to where there are bird and squirrel feeders. 

 As soon as we entered that area, three adolescent turkeys joined us!

 They walked around, not particularly bothered by our presence.  They just stayed a couple minutes, left, walked around on the path, into the woods, and came back again.  After they left the first time, Erik was excited to find a large tail feather on the ground.  Adin looked and found a softer feather.  We enjoyed looking at these. 

When it was time to join the group back at the table, we decided to bring the feathers with us.  At the table, the artists show their work, if they like.  I do not show mine, because many of them are professionals.  Erik however, was excited by this and showed a Lego Star Wars man he had drawn.  He was very proud when they passed around his notebook just like the other artists.  There was an eight year old girl who had brought some paints and she showed the nature scenes she had painted.  Now Erik is very excited to come back next week and show off more drawings!

Pay off!

Joe and Adin have been working hard this summer on biking.  It's mostly about gaining confidence.  They've been working off and on, but today was the big day.  Adin is incredibly proud of himself.  After he met with success, he just wanted to keep biking and keep biking.  He needs help getting going, and stopping is a bit rough, but he can bike the length of the block now. 
Yay, Adin!

There may or may not be videos attached.  If there are, sorry they are sideways. 

Little League 2014

Erik's had a decent year of Little League.  He was enthusiastic during spring training and the beginning of the season.  They had a series of losses, however, and his enthusiasm waned.  They won a game last week, so he said that game was fun.  Then Sunday's game the score went back and forth and I actually think they ended up losing, but Erik thought they won and I certainly didn't want to correct him.  He said that game was fun, too.  Last night however, was a dud.  No one seemed to have much energy and his team never got a run.  I was proud of Erik, he made a couple of nice plays.  In one inning, he played second base and a ball went over his head into the outfield.  I don't know where the centerfielder was, but he wasn't in center field and didn't come over to get the ball.  Erik ran back and got the ball and threw it in.  As far as I could see from the stands he didn't make a fuss about it either, which is nice.  I enjoy going to the games and chatting with the other parents, but I'll be glad when the season is over, too.

Bon mots from Adin

We went for a family bike ride yesterday and Adin was on a bike that attaches to the back of mine so I got to hear an entertaining running commentary during the ride.  You'll have to imagine it all in his sweet little Junior Asparagus voice.

We started out and he looked at the road and told me, "I'm looking at my shadow and it's looking at me."

Towards the end, we were talking about how the size of a bird compared to a car and a train.  I said a train is pretty big compared to a bird.  He said, "A train is pretty big not compared to a bird, too."

I forget the context of this one, but we were talking about a bruise or scratch or something and he told us, "It's been there since tomorrow." 

Piano lesson #2

The boys had their first piano lesson last week.  Last week's was a little exciting, because the teacher's neighborhood was flooding.  Driving straight to her apartment was fine, but when I missed the turn and went an extra block the road was closed off because it was flooded.  The lesson went ok.  It is a little confusing for the boys that she teaches in her home, so they feel they should be able to eat her bananas and play her Monopoly game. 

They were not terribly excited to do their homework this week, but she raved about how well they did when she had them show her their progress, so that made them feel good.  They had groused a bit during the week, saying they didn't want to take lessons.  They are somewhat motivated to learn to play though, ever since Joe bought a book of Star Wars songs for the piano. 

Adin had the first lesson.  He stayed more focused than last week and when he was done she gave him a sticker.  During Erik's lesson Adin wanted to get started on his homework.  When we drove home he said he loved it and wanted to have a piano lesson every day!

Erik was able to cover even more ground in his lesson.  She was really impressed and asked me if he'd learned the material in school.  I had no idea; Erik tells us nothing about music class, but when we asked him he said yes.  We'll have to tell his music teacher in the fall how it gave him a boost in piano lessons! 

Ready for action!

Adin's soccer team has it's first scrimmage at a Jamboree today!  He was never very excited about T-ball, but he's always excited to put on his soccer uniform and go practice. 

Growing up

Tonight Erik was asking a lot of questions about how he can get rippling abs.  He didn't know what to call it though.  He would point to his stomach and ask how to make those things so you can see them.  He did a few sit ups before bed, in hopes that would help.  I told him 8 year olds aren't really supposed to have visible stomach muscles. 

Adin was having a little trouble getting to sleep.  I offered to play one of our CDs that help the boys relax at bedtime, either "The Sleep Fairy" or Putomayo Lullabies.  He said "no, I'm too old for that."  Pierce my heart, why don't you?  He's not to old to snuggle in my arms on the couch while I sing a lullaby, though. 

A Kinder Birthday Tradition

When Erik turned six he had the boys from his class over for a party.  We always coach the kids before gift opening on how to be a gracious recipient, but who knows what a little kid is really going to do when they see a gift!  It turned out two kids gave him the same Capt. America shield.  When he opened the second one he looked up and said, "I can give this one to Adin!"  We were so proud.

Fast forward two years.  Today we had a bowling party and each of them invited three friends.  When Adin opened his gifts, he received two stomp rockets.  He suggested he could give one to Erik.  Proud again, especially since both boys spent a fair amount of today somewhat grumpy and squabbling over everything they could think of. 

After the bowling party, we took all the new outdoor equipment to the park and tried it out.  It was very fun.  It was pretty windy, so when Erik threw the boomerang one time it got stuck really high in a tree.  We threw balls at it to try to get it down (without the balls hitting the car parked under the tree).  An older boy was playing basketball by himself, and he came over to help.  After he got the boomerang down, he played with us.  It was really fun!

Life's Little Victories

Joe and I enjoy reading to the kids at bedtime, and as they've gotten older the books have gotten more complex and interesting.  There are many series available at the library, which are often good, but sometimes more enjoyed by the kids than by us.  The superhero books can be difficult for me to stomach, not because of the storylines but because of the trite writing.  So when I'm at the library, I keep an eye out for new books, especially series, that will be interesting to the kids and better written than the superhero books.  It's a very low bar, let me tell you.  Last time I was there I picked up a book called, "The Templeton Twins Have an Idea".  I liked the cover art and I have a friend from Madison whose last name is Templeton.  The art that catches my eye, however, does not catch the eyes of my children, so they never picked up the book at bedtime and requested it.  Erik even put it in the pile of books to return to the library Friday, but I pulled it out.  Joe finished reading "Treasure Island" to them yesterday and I pulled out the Templeton Twins tonight. 

They love it.

The first few pages are pretty silly.  There's a lot of tearing down the fourth wall so the narrator addresses the reader directly, interrupting himself, asking rhetorical questions, etc.  At the end of each chapter is discussion questions, which tend to be silly, too.  The kids couldn't stop giggling at all this silliness, and I was mildly relieved that the author eventually did start the plot line. It's gratifying to have my book instincts confirmed.

A change in his smile

Erik had a doc appt after school, so I picked the kids up when school was out at 2:55.  I was standing with Adin at his locker, he was talking and since I was looking down at him I could see his bottom teeth, and I said, "Adin!  You lost a tooth!"  He said, "No I didn't." as he touched the space.  He was so excited, he told everybody we passed in the hallway, which embarrassed Erik and he got grumpy.  Adin doesn't know when he lost the tooth, so I suggested maybe he swallowed it during lunch.  That is now the story he is telling people.  I also asked if one bite of his cheese enchilada was crunchier than the others and now that is also part of his official story. 

Science Fair

 This is Adin's poster.  He tried to make an egg float in water.  On the left he drew the regular water, on the right is the salt water.  At the bottom he wrote Why? Salt makes it float. 

This is Erik's poster.  He tried to make an orange float in water.  He agreed to ink in his writing so I think you can read it.  It floated with the peeling on, and sunk after we peeled it.  The tiny dimples in the peeling collect air pockets which is enough to make it float. 

The Science Fair is tomorrow.  I'm excited. This is our first time doing an experiment for it.

Questions the kids asked me on the drive home from the yogurt lab.

Are all animals solids? 
Are there any gasses that are heavier than air?
Is fire a solid, liquid or gas? 
If there's no air in space, what's in space?

December photos

 We went to brunch at the St. Paul Hotel.  They have some fancy trees, including this one with two peacocks at the top. 

 Last Saturday, we took advantage of the last day of warm weather.  Joe and Erik went skating.  Adin and I went snowshoeing.  Someone else had made the larger snowman in the back.  Adin and I made this small one.  We found long tree needles to use as hair.  Adin thought it looked pretty cute.  He thought it was cuter than he is!

I've made about five of these paper snowflakes.  Erik is modeling them for me, but isn't sure how to hold them.  Actually, maybe I'm asking him to hold them sort of they way he is, but he wants to use them as shields or something. 

January photos

 Adin was pretending to get ready for school.  He put on his winter coat and boots and grabbed his folder.  He thought it was pretty funny to go to school w/o pants. 

 After dinner, Erik ate about 5 cuties (small oranges).  Not to be outdone, Adin then ate about five oranges.  I cut the first two for him, he cut the rest for himself while I was helping Erik in the bath.

 Erik after his bath.  He loved this special towel wrapped around his head like a turban.  He is pretending to be a character from the TV show "Word Girl", who always yells, "Help, someone's robbing the jewelry store".  You can see some of the new tile in our shower/bath.  The new tile is white, and we used some of the old blue tiles for an accent line.

Adin loved his new hair do.