On Saturday, while we were working on the frozen car, the girls got a bit bored and started playing with the hose while I worked. I didn't want to leave as I had ended up in a peaceful zone and didn't want to leave it.
As I was working, I suddenly heard Sydney say to Sarah "Let's play How It's Made and learn how to make mud. (How it's made is this really cool show where they show you, step-by-step, how different things are made. Then I hear "Let's play Dirty Jobs now.
On Sunday night, we had ice skating. Sarah has been working very hard this session and finally passed "Basic 3." It has taken her three sessions, but the first one really didn't count and the second one I couldn't convince her to practice with me. I've passed through Basic 4 when I was taking lessons about 10 years ago. I might have to start lessons again so I can keep up with Sarah's skills. Sydney wasn't happy that she didn't pass. She wasn't at all comforted by the fact that she passed Sam 1 and 2 in August and that her skating really improved this session. I know she'll pass in August.
One night, I was in the living room after the girls had gone to bed. DH came in and said "I just walked past the bathroom and Sarah was sitting on the toilet reading a book. I asked her what she was doing and she said she was going to the bathroom."
What Sarah didn't realize was that it's hard to convince us that she is going to the bathroom as opposed to trying to stay awake longer reading when she doesn't take her one piece jammies down. Yep, her footie jammies were still zipped up!
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Busy week in review
Last weekend the girls and I went over to help the frozen car artists. We have had two visiting artists here for the past month who have been working on a frozen car sculpture. The original concept was very different that the (almost) finished product, the original plan was to encase a 1970s NOVA muscle car in ice to represent our 'frozen' dependence on oil for our cars (meaning that since the oil crisis from the 70s we haven't changed much of our attitudes in the past 30 years.
Here are the girls working on the project:
The usual stuff happened in the beginning of the week, Monday's meeting didn't work and so I spent my day off on Tuesday trying to figure out fix the problem by emailing on an off all day and not cleaning the house the way I wanted. We had invited the visiting artists to dinner on Thurs so I needed to clean.
But, I did get the dining room cleaned (and started prepping the walls for painting.
During the course of the week, I did successfully clean the house (well, the living room didn't quite get done, but was good enough).
Thursday the artists joined us for dinner. The girls grabbed them as they walked in the door and pretty well monopolized them until bedtime.
Friday, I relaxed a bit in my almost clean house.
Friday night Sarah and I had mommy/daughter book group. We were reading The Borrowers. We didn't quite finish it. I quickly made mini lemon poppy seed muffins for the dinner at book group.
Saturday was Sydney's swimming birthday party. Friday night, after book group, I baked the cake (and found out Sat morning that I burned on round). Sat was a quick trip to the store for more cake mix and while it was cooking I made the frosting. Sydney wanted a Tinkerbell swimming pool cake. I had a 10 in and 8 in round cakes that she decided she wanted put in a figure 8 for the big pool and little pool. She wanted sprinkles to be punching balloons in the pool (like we were having at her party) so I punched round holes using my scrap booking tool from non-stick parchment paper and used that to poor sprinkles into the circles. Then gummy lifesavers around teddy grahams because swimmers. I cut a tinkerbell from the party plate and she stood behind the pool (pressed into the icing).
The party was fun and outside of forgetting the camera and the ice cream, went off with out a hitch. I was going to run home to get them, but decided instead to go next door to walmart for a disposable camera (so you will have to wait for pictures).
Today we have ice skating show practice. We need to figure out how to manage it as Syd's practice is 5:00, Sarah's at 5:30, and the group number at 6:00. It's mainly do we have Joe bring Sarah later or just hang out.
Now to keep the house clean and finish with declutter/cleaning the rest of the house.
Here are the girls working on the project:
The usual stuff happened in the beginning of the week, Monday's meeting didn't work and so I spent my day off on Tuesday trying to figure out fix the problem by emailing on an off all day and not cleaning the house the way I wanted. We had invited the visiting artists to dinner on Thurs so I needed to clean.
But, I did get the dining room cleaned (and started prepping the walls for painting.
During the course of the week, I did successfully clean the house (well, the living room didn't quite get done, but was good enough).
Thursday the artists joined us for dinner. The girls grabbed them as they walked in the door and pretty well monopolized them until bedtime.
Friday, I relaxed a bit in my almost clean house.
Friday night Sarah and I had mommy/daughter book group. We were reading The Borrowers. We didn't quite finish it. I quickly made mini lemon poppy seed muffins for the dinner at book group.
Saturday was Sydney's swimming birthday party. Friday night, after book group, I baked the cake (and found out Sat morning that I burned on round). Sat was a quick trip to the store for more cake mix and while it was cooking I made the frosting. Sydney wanted a Tinkerbell swimming pool cake. I had a 10 in and 8 in round cakes that she decided she wanted put in a figure 8 for the big pool and little pool. She wanted sprinkles to be punching balloons in the pool (like we were having at her party) so I punched round holes using my scrap booking tool from non-stick parchment paper and used that to poor sprinkles into the circles. Then gummy lifesavers around teddy grahams because swimmers. I cut a tinkerbell from the party plate and she stood behind the pool (pressed into the icing).
The party was fun and outside of forgetting the camera and the ice cream, went off with out a hitch. I was going to run home to get them, but decided instead to go next door to walmart for a disposable camera (so you will have to wait for pictures).
Today we have ice skating show practice. We need to figure out how to manage it as Syd's practice is 5:00, Sarah's at 5:30, and the group number at 6:00. It's mainly do we have Joe bring Sarah later or just hang out.
Now to keep the house clean and finish with declutter/cleaning the rest of the house.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Frozen Fun
You may remember that the other weekend, the girls and I helped to make a ice tower. The other day, I realized that the building was being dismantled and being moved to a new frozen project in town - two artists who were freezing a car as performance art piece.
Here are the girls inside the tower.
And outside. The row they helped with was the one just below Sarah's glove.
It seems that the artist who was working on the towers got sick and was unable to finish the project. Instead of letting the ice just melt, the city council decided to donate the ice to the car project (as their original design wasn't working). So, I quickly took pictures of the girls with their towers before they were completely dismantled.
As I was leaving work to pick up the girls, I saw the two artists who were freezing the car and chatted with them for a while. When they learned how much the girls liked working on projects, they offered to let the girls help with their car project.
Yesterday, they were working on the car as we were driving home from school, so we stopped by to talk to them for a few minutes. Here is a picture of the girls helping to put some more ice on the car.
Tomorrow, there will be more to do (and I will get pictures that better show the project), so we are going back at 2:00 - with extra clothes and better dressed for the elements. The girls can't wait.
Here are the girls inside the tower.
And outside. The row they helped with was the one just below Sarah's glove.
It seems that the artist who was working on the towers got sick and was unable to finish the project. Instead of letting the ice just melt, the city council decided to donate the ice to the car project (as their original design wasn't working). So, I quickly took pictures of the girls with their towers before they were completely dismantled.
As I was leaving work to pick up the girls, I saw the two artists who were freezing the car and chatted with them for a while. When they learned how much the girls liked working on projects, they offered to let the girls help with their car project.
Yesterday, they were working on the car as we were driving home from school, so we stopped by to talk to them for a few minutes. Here is a picture of the girls helping to put some more ice on the car.
Tomorrow, there will be more to do (and I will get pictures that better show the project), so we are going back at 2:00 - with extra clothes and better dressed for the elements. The girls can't wait.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Sarah's birthday party
Sarah's party happened in spite of a blizzard warning and negative degree temps. Of the four parties scheduled at the bowling alley Sunday, we were the only party that didn't cancel. We had the alley almost to ourselves and they gave us three lanes since no-one else was using them. The kids had so much fun!
I can't show many pictures because I won't post pictures of other people's kids without knowing it's OK - but here are two!
Sarah's birthday cake
(A funny story about her cake - I had stopped by our bakery to order her cake and my friend who works there helped me write out the order and describe the vision I had. When I picked up the cake, I called 'E' to tell her how wonderful the cake turned out. She didn't call me back and I didn't see her until the next day. 'E' used to be the cake decorator at the bakery, but had moved to a different product to give her hours that would allow her to be home when the kids got out of school. So, when I saw her, I told her how perfect the cake was and how wonderful it had turned out and that was why I called the day before. Then she told me that she had done the cake for me. I didn't know it when I called!)
Here is a picture of the girls bowling. They had so much fun!
Sydney has already decided that she wants a bowling party next year. It was the easiest party to put together - invitations, cake, goodie bags - the bowling alley supplies the rest!
Kirsten
I can't show many pictures because I won't post pictures of other people's kids without knowing it's OK - but here are two!
Sarah's birthday cake
(A funny story about her cake - I had stopped by our bakery to order her cake and my friend who works there helped me write out the order and describe the vision I had. When I picked up the cake, I called 'E' to tell her how wonderful the cake turned out. She didn't call me back and I didn't see her until the next day. 'E' used to be the cake decorator at the bakery, but had moved to a different product to give her hours that would allow her to be home when the kids got out of school. So, when I saw her, I told her how perfect the cake was and how wonderful it had turned out and that was why I called the day before. Then she told me that she had done the cake for me. I didn't know it when I called!)
Here is a picture of the girls bowling. They had so much fun!
Sydney has already decided that she wants a bowling party next year. It was the easiest party to put together - invitations, cake, goodie bags - the bowling alley supplies the rest!
Kirsten
Monday, February 11, 2008
Saturday, February 09, 2008
Snow babble
We spend many hours talking about the weather where I live. Growing up in Maryland/Virginia area, weather discussions were "polite conversation" when you didn't have anything else to discuss. Here, weather is a serious discussion:
How cold is it, how much snow is expected, how much snow has come, etc.
I read the other day that our snow total for the year is 180 inches. Because we've had enough warm days, enough snow has melted that we have not yet needed to shovel the roof. The general rule is that you clear the roof of snow every 100 inches. But, if enough melts you don' need to.
In the years we've lived here, we only needed to clear it once. I was proud of myself for managing to help.
They are predicting a blizzard and really cold temps (but not too cold) for the next 24 hours. I don't mind the cold, but I'm hoping that the blizzard stays away because Sarah's birthday party is tomorrow and we are hoping the weather doesn't chase too many people away.
I picked up her cake today. It is very cool. I'll post pictures another time.
How cold is it, how much snow is expected, how much snow has come, etc.
I read the other day that our snow total for the year is 180 inches. Because we've had enough warm days, enough snow has melted that we have not yet needed to shovel the roof. The general rule is that you clear the roof of snow every 100 inches. But, if enough melts you don' need to.
In the years we've lived here, we only needed to clear it once. I was proud of myself for managing to help.
They are predicting a blizzard and really cold temps (but not too cold) for the next 24 hours. I don't mind the cold, but I'm hoping that the blizzard stays away because Sarah's birthday party is tomorrow and we are hoping the weather doesn't chase too many people away.
I picked up her cake today. It is very cool. I'll post pictures another time.
Sunday, February 03, 2008
Learning the unexpected
I just spent the best hour with the girls.
A local snow sculpture came to our town to build an ice building. He invited the local public to help. So, after church the girls and I stopped on our way home to see if we could help.
The girls helped mix snow and water to make 'morter' and measure the blocks of ice used for bricks.
They helped set the bricks checking that they were level (reading the level) and put the morter between the bricks.
Basically, they did everything except cut the blocks of ice with the chain saw.
It was such a wonderful learning experience.
I wish I had brought my camera. But, when they are finished I'll go take a picture of the finished product they helped build.
A local snow sculpture came to our town to build an ice building. He invited the local public to help. So, after church the girls and I stopped on our way home to see if we could help.
The girls helped mix snow and water to make 'morter' and measure the blocks of ice used for bricks.
They helped set the bricks checking that they were level (reading the level) and put the morter between the bricks.
Basically, they did everything except cut the blocks of ice with the chain saw.
It was such a wonderful learning experience.
I wish I had brought my camera. But, when they are finished I'll go take a picture of the finished product they helped build.
Texas and other adventures
(most of this I meant to post yesterday, but things were a little busy)
Friday night at dinner, Sydney announced that she wanted a haircut tomorrow. DH said we'd get one when we could, I called to see when G had an open appointment. She had one at just the time we needed for our Sat schedule.
So, Syd and I got into the car and on the way, she said she wanted her hair long enough for piggy tails, but didn't need it long enough for a pony. Her next sentence was "I want it like my friend Katie's hair." Katie's hair is pretty short. I mentioned that Katie's hair was too short for piggy tails but she informed me that sometimes Katie wears short piggy tails.
Then she told me that her hair cutter wouldn't know what Katie's hair looked like. I told her that the haicutter would since G also cuts Katie's hair. Syd said "my friend Katie?" and I said "yes, Katie and Miss Amanda."
When we got their, I insisted on Syd showing us a picture of how short she wanted her hair. Yep she wanted it short.
She grinned as soon as she saw her haircut and hasn't stopped since.
She did have me put in piggy tails as soon as we got home.
Then, she rolled around on the floor singing "My haircut is really fun"
Before
After (with piggytails)
In the realm of irony - I called my friend Amanda to tell her that Syd had cut her hair short like Katie and Amanda informed me that Katie has been growing her hair long like Sydney. I think I've read a few stories like this. Gift of the Magi comes to mind.
On Saturday morning, Sarah auditioned for a part for the spring dance show. I don't know if she will get one. There are only a few parts and lots of girls auditioned. But I'm proud of her for trying.
Since we were in Grad school, a few of us (three male, two female) started what is called the Bardin Alert. Typically, the Bardin alert is activated when "Top Gun" or "Days of Thunder" is on, but one of the other ladies and I occasionally would activate the alert for really girly movies just to see reactions.
When the alert was created, it was activated via telephone, but with today's technology, email has been the prefered method. It worked better because B worked in Europe and we didn't want to wake him.
At this point, BG is on the East Coast, we are in the midwest, and B is in Texas. L has dropped out.
So, the other night, at 8:03 we discovered that Top Gun was on so I sent an email to the group. At 8:22 the phone range, it was B. It seems that at 8:04 BG called B - nobody had checked email yet. So, I walked into the office and was chatting with B and DH. I made some comment that BG was in the East, we were midwest, but I didn't know what to call B's location because he wasn't West and he wasn't midwest. I hear two voices say "It's Texas" simultaneously.
I tell you those two sometimes are scarey the way they are of one mind.
I"ve never been one to track "anniversaries." I pretty much know three milestones from my life with DH. I know the day we were married. I know we got engaged in June, but couldn't tell you when. I know our first dutch date was December, the first time he really asked me out was, well Nov but I didn't realize it so not until Jan. And I know the date he first told me he loved me.
Friday night, we were snuggling and I realized it was Febuary 1st. Thirteen years prior, DH told me he loved me for the first time. (and I didn't believe him)
Friday night at dinner, Sydney announced that she wanted a haircut tomorrow. DH said we'd get one when we could, I called to see when G had an open appointment. She had one at just the time we needed for our Sat schedule.
So, Syd and I got into the car and on the way, she said she wanted her hair long enough for piggy tails, but didn't need it long enough for a pony. Her next sentence was "I want it like my friend Katie's hair." Katie's hair is pretty short. I mentioned that Katie's hair was too short for piggy tails but she informed me that sometimes Katie wears short piggy tails.
Then she told me that her hair cutter wouldn't know what Katie's hair looked like. I told her that the haicutter would since G also cuts Katie's hair. Syd said "my friend Katie?" and I said "yes, Katie and Miss Amanda."
When we got their, I insisted on Syd showing us a picture of how short she wanted her hair. Yep she wanted it short.
She grinned as soon as she saw her haircut and hasn't stopped since.
She did have me put in piggy tails as soon as we got home.
Then, she rolled around on the floor singing "My haircut is really fun"
Before
After (with piggytails)
In the realm of irony - I called my friend Amanda to tell her that Syd had cut her hair short like Katie and Amanda informed me that Katie has been growing her hair long like Sydney. I think I've read a few stories like this. Gift of the Magi comes to mind.
On Saturday morning, Sarah auditioned for a part for the spring dance show. I don't know if she will get one. There are only a few parts and lots of girls auditioned. But I'm proud of her for trying.
Since we were in Grad school, a few of us (three male, two female) started what is called the Bardin Alert. Typically, the Bardin alert is activated when "Top Gun" or "Days of Thunder" is on, but one of the other ladies and I occasionally would activate the alert for really girly movies just to see reactions.
When the alert was created, it was activated via telephone, but with today's technology, email has been the prefered method. It worked better because B worked in Europe and we didn't want to wake him.
At this point, BG is on the East Coast, we are in the midwest, and B is in Texas. L has dropped out.
So, the other night, at 8:03 we discovered that Top Gun was on so I sent an email to the group. At 8:22 the phone range, it was B. It seems that at 8:04 BG called B - nobody had checked email yet. So, I walked into the office and was chatting with B and DH. I made some comment that BG was in the East, we were midwest, but I didn't know what to call B's location because he wasn't West and he wasn't midwest. I hear two voices say "It's Texas" simultaneously.
I tell you those two sometimes are scarey the way they are of one mind.
I"ve never been one to track "anniversaries." I pretty much know three milestones from my life with DH. I know the day we were married. I know we got engaged in June, but couldn't tell you when. I know our first dutch date was December, the first time he really asked me out was, well Nov but I didn't realize it so not until Jan. And I know the date he first told me he loved me.
Friday night, we were snuggling and I realized it was Febuary 1st. Thirteen years prior, DH told me he loved me for the first time. (and I didn't believe him)
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