"Take 10 Interesting Pictures"

We have an "I'm Bored" jar - a jar with about 50 little slips of paper with different activities on them.  If any kid says, "Mom, I'm bored." she gets to pick out a slip and has to do the thing on that.  Some are chores, like "help fold laundry" some are fun like "do hopscotch outside".

This morning Erin was bored and got the "Take 10 Interesting Pictures" assignment.  Here they are:

Girls with Power Tools

For the first time, our school's girl scout troops get to do their own pinewood derby. Look it up. It's cool.  Because (a) girls are good at design (b) girls are good at using tools and (c) girls are good at applying physics concepts. 

Erin learned how to use a sawzall:

Chiseling: 

Belt sanding (not shown) and other cool stuff. 

Robin was content to color her block rather than shape:

And then gave us all a riveting rendition of the "Roses are Red" poem, beat-poet style. 

I love Girl Scouts!

Gains by Barter

Lately the girls and I have been bartering for things.  I have a small box on my dresser with interesting odds and ends -  mostly little broken pieces of fun jewelry that I'll never get around to fixing.  I don't remember who came up with it, but we have been "trading" for things in that box for awhile now.

Tonight we took it up a notch.

I have bags full of costume jewelry, trinkets, and fun stuff I've collected literally my entire life.  I brought out one bag and asked who wanted to trade.  I got this:

In exchange for things like this: (note that most of the "good" stuff - rhinestone necklaces, anything bearing a heart - had already been swapped)

When the girls ran out of things to trade, they made me pictures and cards.  This one was by Robin, and shows a Shark (the twisted thing) about to eat a fish (the bubbly thing) and the caption is "SHARK!"

Totally worth it.

LIfe, the Universe, and Everything

Tonight's discussion hovered around the new supernova discovered in the galaxy M82.  

So, of course we discussed what a galaxy is, what it is made one - planets, stars, black holes, etc. 

Erin: A galaxy is where, like where we live, goes around and around, all the away down to the center, and that's where the black hole is. 

Robin: MOOOOMMM!!! DAAAAD!  When are WE going to see a black hole ?!?!?!?!?!?!

Notice Anything?

I was surprised at how much the loss of one tooth pulled at my heartstrings.  The loss of her first baby tooth felt much the same as the arrival of that tooth.  When it first pushed out five years ago, her sweet, gummy smile changed from marking her as a tiny baby to a growing infant.  When that same tooth popped all the way out it kind of feels like the little kid is changing to the big. Or at least means we're nearly in middle-childhood already.

Happy Father's Day 2013

What says "Happy Father's Day" more than running 26.2 miles?  Not much.  Brian ROCKED the San Francisco Marathon today, with a time just shy of 4 hours.  Fantastic! The girls and I hustled out to meet him at the finish line.

With flying feet and big grins, B finished one of the toughest 15 marathon courses with a fantastic time.

The girls were ecstatic to see the medal him at the end.

And because he is hardcore parkour, we went to the SF zoo afterward with my folks to spend some quality time with the carousel and petting zoo. 

Happy Father's Day y'all! 

Gotta Take The Bad With The Good

We went to a restaurant tonight.  And it was insanity. We left before finishing our meal, cutting the grilled-cheese dinner short and nearly threatening to never take the kids out to dinner again.

Later that evening I went my monthly Mom's evening get together.  There were 6 moms.  This is what everyone brought:

Yup.  Perspective. Again. 

How To Make A Scientist

OK, we bought this kit from a friend's recommendation.  It came with everything you need on a wet bench: a beaker, flask, funnel, goggles, test tubes, test tube racks (very important), tweezers, beaker, magnifying glass.  And 10 experiments outlined on laminated cards. Granted, we'd already done every experiment on the cards, but because we now have the official tools of the trade, the experiments took on more luster. 

I walked them through 4 or so experiments on the cards, a bit concerned this would be a play land flop - an expensive toy that has about 5 minutes play time before ending up in the recycling bin.   

Then, a few hours later, the girls took the lab equipment into the bathroom and started running their own experiments. 

This is what I'd hoped for. Forget the laminated cards, we're gonna need more vinegar, baking soda, and food coloring!!!!

Parenting Tip 104: Supine Supervision

Hat Tip: Uncle David.  Sometimes the best way to play with your kids is lying down.  And letting them jump/climb/wriggle/scribble/sticker/whathaveyou all over you.

Extreme Teeth Brushing

Do you read the blog Crappy Pictures?  You should.  The writer/mom has limited artistic skills and a fantastic sense of humor.  She posted this a few days ago about brushing teeth.

Which brings me to this:

Extreme, backwards-off-the-couch, bend over teeth brushing with light-up toothbrushes.  Yeah, it was an inspired parenting night.

Nothing says January 4...

Like an Easter egg hunt.

With all the parties and festivities....

...... someone finally got tired.

Big Candy Cane

Today Erin comes home with the biggest candy cane I've ever seen.  Well, maybe not the biggest, but the biggest one she's ever had.

I say, "Erin, that's about 15 times more candy cane than you've ever had. It's a lot of candy.  What do you think we should do?"

Erin thinks for a few seconds, then replies, "Mom, I'm going to split it and share it with Robin.  Because she is my best friend!"

OK, I guess you guys can eat the whole thing.  You're already too sweet.

Mom Trick: Free Fruit!!

The kids have their own snack shelf - I fill it with kid-friendly snacks and they can help themselves as they see fit. It also houses their plates and cups, with the hope they'll pour their own water and put their food on the plate.  Well, one can hope.

The drawback to the snack shelf is fresh fruit.  I don't trust my brain to check it every day, nor do the kids feel motivated every day to go grab something from there.

So...

a simple solution we've found is the fruit bowl.  Placed on the low table on which the TV also sits, the fruit bowl is filled with 4-6 pieces of fruit in the morning. Most days it is empty by the evening.

Of course, if it's little apples or pears, I'll find half-eaten gifts all over the house.  But at least they're getting *some* fruit. 

Pirates!!!!

The girls had a pre-bedtime pirate adventure. They sailed their "leaf" ship and found treasure sprinkled throughout the room.

Note Erin's hook hand and Robin's spyglass.

The transit time....

... of a penny through the entire alimentary canal of a 2.5 year old.


Can you guess?

2 days, 40 minutes. In case you ever needed to know.

Dad and Joey.

Erin started her morning cuddling inside Brian's oversize sweatshirt.

Dream vs reality

How I imagine my house is:


How it really is:

Outsmarted by a 2.5 year old - again

I caught Robin picking off an entire bunch of grapes, throwing them on the ground, then stomping on them.  OK, I know it's really fun for a toddler/preschooler because (1) the grapes bounce and (2) they feel really interesting and squishy under the feet.  But c'mon.

So I asked her to clean them up with me and got a grin and another grape stomp.  Rather than totally loose it, I sent her to her room for a minute.  I told her to stay there for a minute, and I shut the door so I could gather my thoughts.

A few seconds later I hear crying, fake crying, and "Help, help!  There's a fire in here!  Help!  There's a fire!"

Robin 1, Mommy 0.

Inspecting the basement. . .

. . . always goes more smoothly when done upside-down and held by the ankles: