22 February 2009

A new kindergarten holiday has sprung up recently-- the 100th day of school. Abe's class celebrated by bringing 100 items to school (Abe brought dried beans) and eating 100 snacks (fruit leather, popcorn, raisins, Rice Chex, candy hearts, fritos).


Our kids have been nomads the past week while Brandan continues to install wood floors, sleeping wherever there has been room to put down some mattresses: the family room, the library, swapping between bedrooms. Thank goodness they're flexible!


Brandan keeps assorted nail guns, chisels, saws, hammers and other dangerous items in the portable crib so they're accessible and out of reach at the same time.


Brandan let Sophie have a go at using the power stapler. He makes it look easier than it is. You have to hit the stapler hard and squarely to get the staple to come out right.

Gibson loves to be with Brandan and if he can play with tools at the same time, even better.

Sophie played a piano duet with her friend, Josh, during Sacrament Meeting today. They played "I Feel My Savior's Love." It's a good thing the song is short since Becky didn't breathe the whole time. No worries, though, they did a great job.

15 February 2009

Sometime in the last eleven years, Valentine's Day has become a big family celebration for us. So many sweethearts to love! Helen made Valentines for her friends and family.


Sophie prefers handmade Valentines to store-bought and spent several days making Valentines for her class. She had a little meltdown after making 24 of them and said the job was too big. She soldiered on, though, and finished 14 more (that's right, there are 37! kids, a teacher and an aide in her class.)


Abe decorated sugar cookies for his class Valentine's Day party. The school strongly discourages bringing homemade food for parties, but Abe got permission to bring some cookies that he could eat. You'd never guess these delicious cookies were wheat, egg and dairy free.


Gibson decorated his own cookie.

Our tradition is to have a candlelight breakfast on Valentine's Day and exchange homemade Valentines with each other. We had chocolate waffles with strawberries, cream and hot fudge sauce. Oh my!

Cookies downstairs, carpentry upstairs-- it's been a bit of kid heaven around here this week. Brandan started work on replacing the flooring in the kids' bedrooms this week. First he pulled out the carpet. We were amazed with the amount of dust let loose by the carpet.

Brandan started installing the wood floor on Saturday. He borrowed an air-powered stapler to speed the job along. Brandan got about 2/3 of one room done, before Helen fell and split the back of her head open on the piano downstairs. Then he set aside his handyman skills to be Dr. Dad and stitch Helen up. Helen was anxious about the shot he gave her to numb her head, but relaxed and actually fell asleep while he sewed her up. Helen got 6 stitches.

8 February 2009

Our kids have a magnetic attraction to sticks. They've never met a stick that didn't demand to be picked up and waved around. Gibson found a great stick to play with on a warm Tuesday afternoon.



We've been poring over seed catalogs, trying to decide what to plant in our vegetable garden this year. Everything looks so good and the descriptions are mouthwatering. We're drawn to the unusual- purple carrots, variegated beets, baby pak choi. We asked Helen what she'd like to grow in her garden bed. "Bacon."




Helen's playgroup friends came over on Thursday and the girls made love bugs out of Valentine's candy. Food crafts are Becky's favorite. The girls had fun creating bugs from candy. . .


. . .and then they ate their creations, leaving nothing to try to display or store.

Saturday morning we went to a Chinese New Year parade. It was such a great small town parade, mostly civic groups dressed in vaguely Chinese clothing. The oddest entry was the Scottish bagpipe band (dressed in kilts, not Chinese clothing). Our favorites were the lion and dragon dancers. Sophie took this great photo as the dragon went by. This is the year of the Ox so if you were born during 1925, 1937, 1949, 1961, 1985, 1997 or 2009, expect this year to be filled with hard work, patience and steady progress.

1 February 2009

Abe reached a big milestone this week. He lost his first tooth on Monday!


Gibson plays with play-dough almost every day while Becky cleans up after breakfast. He especially likes squishing the play-dough through a contraption that looks like a garlic press.


If she's home and awake-- and sometimes when she's sleeping-- it's a good guess that Helen is dressed like a princess.


We've made all the easy changes for our kids' allergies and Abe still has horrible eczema. Our next step is to replace the carpets in their bedrooms with something easier to keep dust free. We bought some prefinished oak flooring for Brandan to install. Right now the wood is hanging out in our house, acclimatizing to the temperature and humidity before it gets nailed down. We'll show more photos in a few weeks. On Saturday, Abe and Helen helped Brandan stain the wooden heater vent covers to match the prefinished planks. Let the 2009 projects begin!