My Sentimental Hoarder Wanna Be

Michael and I took the front door off to sand it, re-stain, and replace the hardware. Noah wondered out to the garage (he must have been incredibly bored). He asked what we were doing and I explained it to him. He saw the old hardware sitting on the work table and asked if he could have the old knob and we told him no.
Fast forward to this morning. I was relating the story to Rachel. Noah heard his name and came into the living room. Rachel rolled her eyes at the story and she was not surprised. Noah stated boldly, "It was an awesome door knob, and we were all used to it!"

Be afraid...very afraid.

"I Love to Laugh...Loud and Strong and Clear...

Last night after family reading time Rachel asked Michael, "Do you know how a Venus flytrap closes?"
To wit he replied, "Quickly?"
Rachel says, "Ugh... I didn't ask for an adverb!"
She went on to explain how the cells on one side grow to twice their normal size, then close up overlapping the meal.




(After this point is Rachel writing. I was going to just write and pretend that I was mom, but it's too weird to write in third person...)
Noah recently had his 11th Birthday and while he was laying down on the floor in mom's room and he said "The skin on my hand is really dry and peeling off." And because Noah is especially fun to mess with I responded,
"Noah, you're going through your eleven year molt! Ahh... I remember my eleven year molt. Cleared it away before you knew about it had to keep it a secret." And then mom began playing along and it was much fun!
Rules of the eleven year molt:
*It happens overnight when you are eleven.
*Much like pulling teeth the parent clears it away and leaves behind a dollar under the pillow.
*It happens to everyone. Much like puberty. ;D
*You can have it pulled, but it hurts.
* Kids below eleven aren't allowed to know about it until they turn eleven.
(Going to put some money under Noah's pillow now!)

Boys and Their Toys...

********************End of an Era**********

Noah and Michael have been working on Noah's last Pinewood Derby car:

****************************Cupcakes and Book Club************

Book Club time, again, for Eve's 2nd grade class. Here is a sample of the book mark I made for the kids to remind them of our meeting dates:

I used some fun graphics and alphabets from Lettering Delights .

Last week I took a box of Whole Grain Goldfish for a snack because in the book Peter goes to a birthday party where the kids get real goldfish as a present. I warned the kids to NEVER give pets as a gift at parties because the animal might be injured, or inadequately taken care of if the parent has no warning when the animal is taken home. This week I made cupcakes with homemade chocolate frosting because in the book Peter's little brother, "Fudge", celebrates his third birthday with a chocolate frosted cake with yellow roses. I decided what to make at 10:30am and had them baked and frosted by 11:45am. I put extra frosting in containers and grabbed my spatula, then off to school. When I got there I promptly banged the container into my steering wheel as I tried to exit the car. They all toppled over...not pretty. I also managed to drop my bag with the book and containers of frosting in a puddle next to my car. I grabbed the book and wiped it off, then the containers and through them in the bag. I opened the container and righted all the cupcakes. Luckily, the flavor doesn't change when the frosting is mushed. I guess the moral tale to tell is take a photo before you travel.

Michael said the frosting tastes exactly like his Granny Vone's. That is a compliment, people.

********************Piano Lessons**********

Eve and I just got back from piano lessons. Her teacher was pleased as punch that she decided to memorize all 3 pages of her recital piece. She has been trying really hard. We are pleased as punch too.

Later, gators.

Checkmate

Noah's Cub Scout leader called and asked him to bring his chess set for their activity last night. Noah wanted to get in some practice before the evening, so when Michael came home he played some games with Noah. Out of those games came this exchange:

Noah: "You want to play again?"

Michael: "That was 4 games, Noah."

Noah: "It was? (pause) It felt more like 4 losses."

It Makes a Momma Proud...

...when her ten year-old asks for help on coming up with a jingle for class about suffrage. First we watched this for inspiration:



He made it clear that we could not plagarize anything (proud, again!)

When we asked for Michael and Rachel's two cents they broke into this song, separately:

This was the final product:

You trust us with your house.

You trust us with your kids.

So you should trust us to help the government.

:::::::::::::::You are What You Read::::::

I was in the waiting room while Aaron had his dental cleaning yesterday and picked up the January 2011 issue of The simthsonian and was introduced to the painter Guiseppe Arcimboldo. I was surprised and intrigued by his use of still life objects...fruits and vegetables to great portraits. He used other objects, such as, sea creatures and books. I am completely enamored with this one:



Time for Girl Scouts...later, gators!

Naivete...Taylor Style

Adventures in Conversations with my kids:

First:

Noah came in after watching some show we picked up from the library and started explaining how someone might survive a fall from 100 stories. It entailed standing on top of a plank of wood and jumping up at just the right distance from the ground to avoid a deadly impact.

My response: "Your superhero days await you."

Noah's reply: "I wouldn't try it...I'm not sure what a survival distance from the ground is?

Michael then explained to him that no one would survive a fall from that height. Apparently, Noah couldn't figure out how he would be able to jump up from the board during the fall.

Second:

We will be selling Girl Scout cookies by the end of the week and I was picking Rachel's brain for some ideas for the annual ad. I thought a retro, or vintage style ad may be fun. Eve was hanging out with us by the computer.

I said: "I need to find a vintage Girl Scout picture."

Eve matter of factly: "Go to vintagegirlscout.com"

Rachel quipped: "Like that would work."

I googled the terms and got a link to vintage girlscout.com.

Eve said: "I told you."

New Year Noahism...

We plied Eve with 2 tsp. of Advil and she and Noah went down to watch Dr. Who. About an hour later Noah came into the room and very matter of factly said,

"Hey dad, the way I see it ...if a guy takes out one of your eyes and you take out one of his eyes eventually all you will get is a lot of blind people!"

Michael asked Noah to come over and stand by him because he wanted to show him something on his laptop. Michael pulled up this quote by Gandhi, "An eye for an eye, only ends up with the whole world blind."

Hear, Hear!

Happy New Year!!!

The Heart of the TARDIS is...

made of yellow cake, marble cake, and buttercream frosting. Who knew?

Time And Relative Dimension In Space

Michael uses a square fondant cutter to make the windows of the police box.

He places the window panes of white fondant into the blue walls.

Rachel observes her dad's handiwork.

I printed the Police Box signs on my computer.

I suppose we could have done a cake to look like fishsticks and custard, but we nixed that idea in favor of the big blue box.
Happy 13th Birthday, Rachel!...and many more!!!

ExterminEIGHT!

Yep! I, purposely, misspelled exterminate.
























Eve requested Chinese food for dinner, so we went to Hunan's on Chamblee Tucker. The owner is such a cut up. He brought Eve some fried pineapple for dessert and led us in singing in a birthday song. Eve, especially, loved the spring rolls and moo goo gai pan. She kept hunting for more water chestnuts.

::::::::::::::Morning Silliness::::::::

This morning Rachel and Noah had a lip-sync contest when Word Girl came on PBS. They were hilarious. Rachel declared victory, but Noah did not acquiesce.



:::::::::Cool Kid Podcasts::::::

Aaron's World

I love that Aaron and his helpful computer do the talking in this informative podcast about dinosaurs. The episodes are just over 5 minutes and Aaron's approach to learning and teaching others is engaging.

:::::::::::::::Bee Cake Pops::::::

Well I am off to make cake pops with the Beehives at church. Check www.Bakerella.com to see what I mean.

Later, gators.

Philmont

Getting around to some layouts of Aaron and Michael's trip to Philmont:

What's Up?

:::::::Zoo Trip from Last Week:::::




























:::Book Reviews::::


Some bizarre and interesting facts mixed with some conjecture about creatures we live with on Earth. Some amazing adaptations and some that are rather freaky make me think that being human is not to shabby.
A sad, but necessary cautionary tale of human intervention in Florida has to do with people putting an abundance of bird seed out to encourage birds to visit their gardens, but it causes the birds to produce young too early. The adults can eat the seeds, but the hatchlings need grubs and larvae, so they often die of malnutrition.
One of my favorite stories was about the male lyrebird from Australia. The lyrebird's ability to mimic sound has me in awe!
Another great story is about sheep not being all that dumb. There are sheep in Yorkshire, England who would run and then tuck and roll to get over the cattle grates to raid the farmers gardens.
Another interesting fact that no eels have been witnessing reproducing in captivity. Eels...who would have thought they would be the masters of restraint?
A quick and enjoyable read.

::::::


Paul Yeager injects a lot of personality along with his informative book about weather. He dispels many weather inspired myths and clears up many queries on why the weather does what it does. He explains that though we Southerners perceive humid air as heavy it is actually lighter than dry air. He states, "It just feels heavier because we feel warm, clammy, and disgusting." (He speaks the truth about that perception, indeed). He also dispels the myth about "heat lightning"...(hint: there is no such thing). A great gardening tip from p. 198, "water the garden after it rains". This promotes deep root growth and conserves water. Yeager states that if you are certain on a light rain will fall you can water while it is still raining, "Ont only will it have the same effect on the garden, but it will give the neighbors something to talk about." A wonderful book for understanding our world.


:::::::::Piano Lessons:::

Eve is enjoying her piano lessons. She is experiencing some frustration with reading the notes consistently. The pattern is the same as we see with her with reading books. I have taken to sitting with her during her practices and trying some different strategies. I have her tell me what note she sees. I have her tell me what notes to play. Then she plays the piece. She goes through it about 3 times to play it consistently. Part of her reading problem has her recognizing the note immediately, then forgetting the same note a few measures over. I think it is part confidence part developmental delay. She gets claps, hugs and kisses with each success. I am having to remember the lessons I had as a kid. I could never get my left hand to play staccato correctly with my right, so I gave up lessons. Michael is our fallback since he reads music.
Eve also picks up Aaron's guitar... (it is a lonely guitar and likes the gentle stroking). Michael and I plan to trade it in and get a 3/4th size guitar for Eve as a Christmas present.

:::::::::::Dr. Who::::::::


Just wanted to give a shout out to Matt Smith for being, yet another, enjoyable Dr. Who. His take on the Dr. is pretty cool. Our entire family like his portrayal. We also like his companion, Amy Pond. Their was a collective sigh of sadness when Rory was absorbed into the crack in space.

Later, gators!