Today's Tidbits

This evening Aidan and Esme were playing restaurant - Esme was the cook and waitress, and Aidan was the customer. Esme, with an apron on and carrying a notebook and pen, took Aidan's order and then went to her little kitchen. She came back with a RAISIN cookie instead of the CHOCOLATE CHIP cookie that the customer ordered - so Aidan asked to see the general manager. Jim teaches the children a lot of very important things - one of which is apparently how to make a complaint!!!

Jim took the children fishing on Monday evening for the first time this year!!! It was cold outside but the fish were sure biting, because both kids caught their limit - 4 fish each! They didn't even have to get worms - the fish were hitting really well on hot dog strips.

Yesterday Mason came over after school, so the boys could manufacture their Marketplace Day product - chocolate lollipops - for their company, Happy Pops. We had a few setbacks, but we had fun! We learned the following things:

• Candy colors don't always dissolve completely. They make little grainy bumpy things that clog the nozzle of the chocolate dispenser bottles. This makes it impossible to fill the molds! We did much better with plain white and plain chocolate.
• When the package of candy melts says to use 50% power when heating them in the microwave, it's really best not to forget that little detail. I ruined a whole bottle full of candy melts by cooking them too hot. I also ruined the bottle. Thank goodness I had two.
• Don't wash plastic candy molds on the bottom rack of the dishwasher. It's not just the chocolate that will melt...
• Keep toothpicks on hand for clogged nozzles.
• When the bottle starts to run low on chocolate, don't tell the seven-year-olds to "shake it like a bottle of ketchup". This is what caused me to spend the next twenty minutes wiping chocolate off the walls.
• Seven-year-old boys are GREAT at putting lollipops in little baggies. They also make good taste-testers!

The awards night for Aidan's AWANA club was tonight! Aidan was the only Spark to complete all three books in one year. He received a blue First Book ribbon, a red Second Book ribbon, and a wood-and-brass Third Book plaque. We hung them all up in his room and we're rixtremely proud of him! Good job, buddy boy.

Tomorrow Esme will be "screened" by the kindergarten teachers at the elementary school, to determine whether she belongs in regular kindergarten or developmental kindergarten. Esme's preschool teacher has already recommended that she proceed to regular kindergarten; however the elementary school requires that she be screened because she has a late birthday. We hope the screeners won't make a snap judgement based on her birthdate and her physical stature (i.e. "short")! Esme is a good reader (typically reads quite well at first grade level) and can add as long as the addends are five or less (after that she runs out of fingers). She prints the letters well and gives spelling a really good try. Esme is one smart cookie!

LOST!!!

Yesterday Esme lost the little silver and turquoise ring that my grandpa made for me when I was her age. Needless to say, I was furious. Every time I let her wear it I lecture her sternly about NEVER taking it off her finger. She noticed it was missing when we were riding home in the car, back from Grandma Margie's house. We had been to church, to lunch at Camille's Sidewalk Cafe, to Walgreen's, and to Grandma's house, but didn't go inside there.

The last place I knew for sure that Esme had her ring on her finger was at Camille's, while she was eating her peanut butter sandwich. Jim questioned her closely, trying to jog her memory about where she might have taken it off, and asked her, "Did you show your ring to your cousin Mariah at Grandma's house?" Esme remembered, "Yes! I did!" So after Jim made a couple of quick calls to Camille's and Walgreen's to ask them to look out for it, just in case, he and Esme went back to Grandma's house to look around in the yard and driveway for the ring.

They had been looking for about ten minutes when Camille's called our house to tell me that someone had found Esme's ring in the bathroom and turned it in to the counter. I thanked them profusely and called Jim, who was at this point thinking seriously about buying a metal detector. He had finally gotten Esme to stop standing in one place looking for her ring in the sky, and to start walking around looking on the ground. He said to her without any preamble, "When you went to the bathroom at Camille's, what did you do?" She said, "I took off my ring, put it on the side of the sink, washed my hands and dried them." "Esme, did you leave the ring on the sink?" "Yes." "Okay, it's there and we're going to go get it now." Esme, still concentrating on looking for her ring on the ground, said: "Okay." "We can go now, Esme. The ring is at Camille's." "Okay." (Still looking!) "Esme, it's not here! We know where it is now!" "OH! Okay!"

So! I guess one can never really know what is going on in Esme's brain, not even herself! All's well that ends well and the ring is back where it belongs. Whew!

Third "Baby"

This morning I put my son on the bus to the second grade. I drove to another school and took my daughter to her preschool class. And then I took my datastick, loaded up with my 424-page book, to the publisher. As I left there, I felt quite sad and nervous, and it occurred to me that it was somewhat like sending a third child off to school. Not AS big of a deal, of course, but a "thing" nonetheless - no longer under my control. It is done. From the cover page to the index, it's done. I ordered thirty copies to start - I sure hope there are at least 29 people out there who want to read it...!

When I woke Aidan this morning so he could get ready for school, for some reason out popped "Up and at 'em, buddy." This must have been some sort of genetic code that just manifested itself - though fortunately said quietly and calmly, not bellowed from the bottom of the stairs. (Thanks, Mom!) Aidan's response? "Up and at WHO?" Now this struck me as quite amusing, as I never thought of it that way, even though probably half of all the mornings of my childhood began with that phrase. Although I must say that for MANY years, I thought Mom was saying "Up and Adam," which of course made no sense, and therefore required no response. Ahh, the thinking I get up to when there are no adults around here to talk to...

In other Mom news, Mom is entering some quilts in the Fort Wayne (Indiana) Quilt Show this year. Among them is the one she made for Esme's 4th birthday - an adorable A-B-C quilt with scenes from the classic Mother Goose illustrations, and blocks that have geometric interest, as well. Go Mom!

It's official. Aidan has earned a grand total of thirty-one AWANA Sparks awards - all that are possible in one year. Three rank patches (Skipper, Hiker and Climber), twelve Red Jewels (for memorizing verses), twelve Green Jewels (for crafts and mission studies), and four Blue Jewels (for club attendance). Hooray, Aidan!

He and Mason have also finally decided on their business plan for the second grade Marketplace day. They are going to make and sell smiley-face chocolate lollipops, and their company is called Happy Pops. Did you know Wilton makes a microwavable plastic bottle with a mouth large enough to accomodate candy melts and a screw-on squirt top? They do, which is good, because otherwise I wouldn't have voluteered my house as their lollipop factory. Wish the boys luck on their business venture!

Play Ball!

During Esme's school trip to the Meijer Gardens, we saw some really beautiful flowers.

Esme was quite impressed with the pussywillows - but I think she was unsure whether they were animal or vegetable!

This is my favorite sculpture in the whole park. There are much more impressive pieces of both abstract and realistic sculpture, but this one is the best in my book. Isn't he cute?!?

Aidan is a great batter, provided the poor adult pitcher (aka his mother) can get the ball to him...

Esme thinks baseball is about being cute...

...but she can be focused, too!

You go, girl!

Aidan and Esme played "PIG" for a little while. It went on a lot longer than I expected it to; they were both better at shooting baskets than I imagined!

His technique may not be all that perfect, but he makes it look good!

Aidan is a good pitcher, too. I think he's used to pitching to someone taller.

When Esme gets on base, she takes a break!

Go, Aidan!

Though Esme was feeling great for a few days, her runny nose and cough came back on Tuesday morning, so she is still on antibiotics (this is the last refill, so we hope it goes away this time). She missed school yesterday, and for the most part kept herself occupied quietly and productively. Consequently, the playroom is a disaster area! She is obsessed with her hair, now that it has been cut. She can be found in the bathroom several times a day, brushing it, changing her headband/barrette/hair clip, and generally primping. I believe the novelty will wear off, but I don't know when!

Aidan is finally off of antibiotics and has been back on his allergy medicine. He woke up this morning with a slightly sore throat. He has no other symptoms and his throat is neither abnormally red nor swollen, so he and I are hoping it is just a bit of morning dryness. School is beginning to get to that hectic time of year - even for second graders! He has a lot of things going right now - including the usual homework and spelling words, his animal research project (on the cheetah), and his marketplace project. He has already done the research for his cheetah project, so tomorrow he is planning to get started on the "placemat of facts" that he has chosen to make. He and his friend Mason are business partners for the marketplace project, for which I THINK we have them talked into making and selling their own candy. Their original idea, making models of their school, was just a little too ambitious!

Jim is working hard on the IBM project at Bank of New York - Mellon. He's even been spending part of the weekend on conference calls and working a bit - but at least he gets to be at home then! Some laptop problems cropped up recently but he has had his hard drive, A/C adapter, and battery replaced (along with a new backup battery) - and everything seems to be working fine now. We miss him and will be glad to see him again tomorrow.

We're finally (hopefully!) coming to the end of the spring maintenance projects around the house. I've had the recall on my car done, and also had a small dent fixed. The irrigation meter has been installed on the outdoor plumbing system, the deck has been cleaned and sealed, and a plumber is coming today to fix a burst pipe in the sprinkler system. (I don't have any idea how THAT happened, as we very carefully drained the system in the fall.) The landscape company will be coming by the end of the month to replace the spruce tree that died - the other four trees we had planted last year are doing just great! Our lawn hasn't yet been mowed, but it is just now beginning to need it. Nate will probably be by on Friday to take care of that for us. The first fertilizer of the season was applied Monday.

Thanks to Don DeJong, we also have a bunch of new plants in the garden! He very generously brought us a whole bunch of two different kinds of irises, four different cuttings of ornamental grass, a peony plant, several daylilies, and a lilac bush...all from his own yard! There's a lot of green in the garden now, and it won't be long before it will be a riot of color. I had to take out the two burning bushes that I planted last year - they didn't survive the onslaught of deer and mice during the winter. They were completely stripped of bark and about a third of their original height!

Today's agenda includes all sorts of things - five or six loads of laundry, sweeping and scrubbing the tile floor, dishes, and filing (where did all these papers come from?). I might even be able to finish the index on the Glander book. Then it will be ready for its LAST proofreading before I take it to be printed. Whoo-hoo!

Diagnosis: Busy

The last few days have been really hectic.

My Chevrolet HHR was recalled (nothing serious), so Tuesday Esme and I took it in to the dealer for its appointment. The mechanics were done in one hour on the spot, so they did exactly as promised...and they even washed the car, which was above and beyond the call of duty. I was quite pleased with the service I received. Esme was not. She was mad she had to wait SO LONG!!! Four-year-olds are not known for being the souls of patience.

Wednesday, after Aidan got on the bus to school, I quickly dragged Esme out of bed, pajamas and big wad of hair notwithstanding, and she and I went to Hansen Collision, so we could leave the HHR for its second appointment of the week - to have a dent repaired. We waited just a few minutes for the Hertz representative to bring us our rental car, and then we were quickly back home with a Mazda 6 for the rest of the week.

Then, Esme got her haircut! (See pictures below.)

Aidan had AWANA Sparks on Wednesday night, and he has only one Jewel left to go! By next Wednesday, he will have finished the WHOLE Sparks curriculum - Skipper, Hiker & Climber - all in one year! We are really proud of him - and for those who aren't familiar with AWANA, this is a HUGE accomplishment. Most children start Sparks in kindergarten and take a whole year to complete one book. Aidan has done all three books in one year.

Thursday Esme's preschool class went on a field trip to Frederick Meijer Gardens, and I went along. Esme was excited but unfortunately underwhelmed, as we visited the Gardens as a family not long ago. She also neglected to eat the breakfast that I so carefully laid out for her, so she was hungry...and crabby. Only a few minutes into our visit, she tripped and fell in the cactus room, scraping her knee on the concrete floor and landing with both hands on a particularly vicious golden barrel cactus. When she stood up, her hands looked like they were morphing into two itty bitty porcupines. We got all the stickers picked out and after a couple minutes she was okay. At the end of the visit, she was mad because she couldn't ride the bus home with the other kids, as I drove so I wouldn't HAVE to ride the bus! So...when we got home, after Esme had some lunch, she had a nap.

Grandma Margie came over Thursday afternoon and took us out to dinner at the Olive Garden! Thanks, Grandma! By the time we got home, Aunt Lori was here to take care of the kids while I went over to the elementary school for the 2008-2009 Kindergarten parent meeting. They had a great time playing outside, Aidan finished his homework, and the kids were all ready for bed when I got home. Aunt Lori is SO GOOD to us!

Today after a trip to the chiropractor (ahh, much better), I went to the urgent care office, as I wasn't able to reach my regular doctor. The sinus pressure of Sunday, the mucus of Monday, the fever of Tuesday, and the coughing of Wednesday and Thursday had not improved at all, so I figured I'd probably better get medical attention! I was diagnosed with sinusitis and bronchitis (big surprise there...), picked up my antibiotics and came home.

The IBM contract Jim is working on with the Bank of New York-Mellon requires him to work most of the week at Mellon headquarters in Pittsburgh. Internet access at the contract site is sketchy at best, and has lost even more reliability as the winter cloud cover has dissipated. Internet access being crucial to his work, Jim got approval to purchase an air card for his IBM laptop, and then spent almost all week this week trying to get it to work...only to discover that it wouldn't. Verizon apparently has no product compatible with both their service and Jim's laptop. So today we spent quite a bit of time changing over to AT & T - new service plan, new phones, a data system that actually operates properly, the works. Fortunately our cell numbers won't change!

I picked up the HHR today, also, and you can hardly tell there was ever a dent. Yee-ha!

Aidan's school had their Diffendoofer Day party today - a reward for the students' great accomplishment of reading over 448,000 minutes in March! Aidan reported that he played a racing game on the Wii, had a snack, got his face painted (a big blue "M", of course), and watched a Scooby Doo movie. No parents were allowed, just kids and teachers. The teachers all looked pretty tired when I went in to pick Aidan up... It was worth it, the kids all seemed really pleased with their party.

After we picked Aidan up from school, we got hot dogs and went over to the airport to watch the planes land and take off. You would have thought Jim had enough of that sort of thing (he was on six different flights this week), but it is much more relaxing to WATCH than to actually DO. It was quite busy this evening, lots of planes coming in, a few leaving, and a helicopter practicing taking off and landing whenever there was a break in the action. Cool!

As we are winding down for the evening, Aidan is playing Lego Racers 2 on his computer, and Esme and her dad went out to get some supplies for Operation No Robin Nest!!! We have a very determined robin who really wants to build his nest on one of the pillars of our front porch. We don't want him to, so we are trying to encourage him to go somewhere else - but he doesn't take hints well. We have swept his pile of brush down five or six times, sprayed all the pillars with Lysol, scared him away from the porch many times...but he just keeps trying to rebuild! Hopefully Jim's carefully thought-out scheme will work.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Photos: Chef, Zoo, Haircut!

The children, as previously mentioned, have been watching episodes of the first season of The Muppet Show. They are both endlessly amused by the Swedish Chef, and have been saying "Bork, bork, bork!" while throwing kitchen utensils in the air. Thus, our own Esme, as the Swedish Chef:

And Aidan, too, of course!

As I wrote in a previous post, we went to the zoo on Sunday for a while. We bought a membership (anyone want to go to the zoo?) as we were there three times last year and already planning several trips this year - plus we get reciprocal priviledges at other zoos. Here are the children in front of the bald eagle nest.

Inside the penguin house there wasn't much going on. But this little guy seemed to be posing!

What is THAT??? Big Ugly Eel.

The wolverine was busy that day! See him in the background?

Oooooh, cougar.

The snow leopard seemed quite comfortable in the chilly spring weather.

The bald eagles were hanging out right on the nest.

This particular llama seemed happy to have his picture taken.

Eeewww...poisonous tree frog...eeewww.

Hello, Tom Turkey!

We finally went through with it. Esme got her hair cut.

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Here's the actual process! Esme had a great time. Miss Heidi was very sweet and patient.

Esme had a hard time NOT looking in the mirror.

It's getting shorter!

Ta-da! Doesn't she look PRETTY!?!?

Back to the Usual Routine

Spring break is over, school is back in session, and the usual gamut of errands and appointments is back in full force. Aidan had a hard time getting up and getting ready this morning, but he did make it on the bus on time. He got up fine, but couldn't get his motor running and ended up sitting in the tub staring at the wall for about twenty minutes! The only sacrifice he had to make was of about 20% of his breakfast, for which he just didn't have enough time.

I have some kind of cold or allergy thing going - it started in the sinus cavity under my left eye on Saturday night, and has already gone through the runny nose and eyes phase, through the sore throat phase, and has settled into the mucus phase. Hopefully it will be all gone tomorrow! Anyway, Esme and I are taking it easy today, reading and playing with Groovy Girls.

Esme just read to me the whole Go, Dog, Go! book by P. D. Eastman. Not the baby board book, either, the sixty-page version. Her attention span is improving. Yay for our reading Esme!

I have just finished reading Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt by Anne Rice. It is fiction, supposed to be about Jesus' life for about a year, around when He was seven or eight years old. It is obviously not scriptural, but it is a good story and an interesting premise.

Jim had to work most of the weekend, for the first time in several years, but at least he was home! Saturday the Dennies were over and we all had a great time as usual in spite of the rain and cold.

On Sunday Jim was able to take a few hours' break from conference calls and emails and we went to the zoo. Many of the animals were still "put away" for the winter, but the ones that were out were very active! We have never before seen the wolverine doing anything but sleeping, but yesterday he was agitated about something and running back and forth in full view of the visitors. The kids particularly enjoyed the reptile and amphibian house - and even I don't mind seeing the snakes and crocodiles as long as they remain safely behind the glass! The frog section of the aquarium will be open next week, the stingrays will be out in May, and the new lion exhibit opens in June.

Temperatures are increasing here and today we have a nice sunny day. We're hoping that spring weather might actually be here to stay!

New & Exciting Entertainment...

Coming in July is Kate Dicamillo's latest Mercy Watson adventure: Mercy Watson Thinks Like a Pig. Visit Kate Dicamillo's website to learn more. When last we saw Mercy, she was wearing a princess costume and coming off a Halloween Butter Barrel binge. We can't wait to see what she'll do next!

By some cosmic accident, I found out about the new Doctor Who spinoff just hours before the series premiere aired on SCIFI this evening, and so managed to get it on DVR. The Sarah Jane Adventures seems to have been written either by or for my dad, or possibly both! I know he's always liked Sarah Jane, so I hope he enjoys the new show.

In related news, the fourth season of Doctor Who premieres next week on SCIFI - April 18 at 8:00 p.m.

Speaking of entertainment, the children were forbidden to use their computers for a full week - from Friday last week until today. They have been getting in touch with all their "old" toys and having more fun than they've had in months of screen time. Today they were both allowed one hour on their computers - and no one complained when the hour was up. They both quit and shut down, then went on about their Legos, Groovy Girls, and increased artwork production. See, it wasn't that bad!

Also in entertainment news, Aidan and Esme have had a lovely introduction to The Muppet Show. They watched a few episodes from the first season at Grandpa and Grandma's house early in the week, and since then have watched a few more at home. I guess a couple years ago when I bought that DVD, they just weren't ready. Now Aidan LOVES it - he laughs and laughs. And Esme plays along - she at least gets most of the physical humor, anyway! Hooray for old-time fun!

Spring Outside to Play!

My sister Melissa works for the Minnesota Department of Forestry. She spends some of her time aloft - here she is in a plane getting ready to take pictures through the floor.

Esme got her first two-wheeler! She is doing pretty well with it, but is afraid to ride downhill because she's not used to the back-up brakes yet.

Aidan and Esme spent a fair amount of time at Grandma and Grandpa's house wearing Grandma's new rubber work boots. They come up above Esme's knees, so she can barely walk in them!

The kids spent a lot of time wandering through Grandpa's woods. They walked the A & E Trail, and around the perimeter of the woods so they could see the fields.

This spot is a particular favorite - it's the highest point of the property, and you can see a long way. Plus, the neighboring farmer has planted winter wheat, so the kids enjoy checking on it to see how it's growing.

A Vacation from my Vacation?

We've been busy, but we're having a good time!

Monday, after a long string of delays including sleeping in, extra-long baths, and picking up a prescription we were supposed to get the day before, we drove to Grandpa and Grandma's house for a couple of days.

When not otherwise occupied, the kids spent a lot of time yelling and running in the house, behavior in which they don't normally engage and which is typically not tolerated. So we tried to keep them otherwise engaged. After lunch, we went into town to the ice-cream place and the kids had slushes - nothing like a little hummingbird juice for children who are already hyper! -and then went to the park to play.

After the park, we walked down to the end of the lane with gloves and a bucket, and helped Nee-Nee rake, dig, scrape and lift a lot of gravel out of the yard. Sometime during the winter, someone who was "helping" to clear the driveway ended up spraying a lot of gravel instead, so we got a start on clearing the gravel out of the grass.

On Tuesday, Papa stayed home from work! He cooked us a great breakfast - French toast and sausage patties...mmmmmm. After baths, the kids went out to "work" with Papa in the woods. They actually just fooled around but at least they gave the appearance of assisting with the work! After solving two of Mom's three most recent computer problems, she and I went out to help, too - we cleaned up some of a very large pile of grapevines, and a really old woodpile that was partly rotted away. Dad showed me around the woods afterward. To my knowledge he has no map or other visual aid, and yet he seems to have a plan for every tree in the woods - some will be cleared and burned, some will be firewood for the house, and some will be pruned or in other ways rescued as part of the forest.

Aidan and Esme helped Grandma bake chocolate chip cookies and they were REALLY good. The third and final computer problem solved, we watched some episodes of The Muppet Show and had pizza for dinner. Then we had to hop back in the car and come home.

The Fortunas were kind enough to invite the three of us all over for lunch and playtime today! We all had a good time and good food. Mason and Aidan played Legos, computer games, and talked and talked - I hope they will know someday how lucky they are to be such good friends! Esme and Shea played with all sorts of toys and jumped on the trampoline, in between their little spats - they don't get along nearly so well as their brothers! And Brooklyn played happily without fussing the whole time.

So...I've been so busy and so not home for the last few days, I'm really behind on everything! The laundry's not done (washed, dried, 4/5 folded, but not put away), the bathroom of the week hasn't been cleaned (when one's home has 4 bathrooms, one is obliged to clean one every week to avoid spending a whole day cleaning bathrooms), and I haven't worked on my book all week. But HEY!!! IT'S SPRING BREAK!!!