Working on Valentine Cards

We are attempting to do the lollipop valentine cards...which meant I had to get the boys to hold still for photos with their hands out.  (The lollipop then goes through their hands on the card and so appears huge).
 I read a hint from a fellow blogger to tell the little ones to "pretend like they are punching the bad guy" to get their hands out stretched.

And this is what I got from my goofballs...

I think I got something I can work with...

And I did get a chance to flex my creative muscles again by making their valentine shirts.
Jude wanted a tow truck and Tamlin wanted a robot.  No problem! 
Tam's shirt is just a bleach job over a stencil he helped to pick out.  I like that the deep maroon shirt turned the cool pink shade with the bleach.  Jude's shirt began similarly with bleach but the red only faded a little.  I then went back with the stencil and painted the design with white fabric paint.
I love how both of them came out and I loved the smiles they gave me when I showed them the results!

Birthday parties?

Tamlin has been going to preschool for several months now.  He is there three full days a week with about 15 other kids.  They always seem to be having fun when I go to pick him up.  Well, I am now getting a glimse into next year and real school. 

Tam has been invited to his first birthday party held by a classmate...a girl classmate.  I am so not ready for girls.  Luckily, Tam just says they play together. However, he couldn't tell me what she likes to play with, which was very unhelpful when shopping for a birthday gift.  I kept asking if she would like a doll or a barbie or a my little pony and he would just say that HE would like that thing.  Ugh. What do 5 year old girls like besides princess stuff?   In the end, Tamlin chose a cute barking dog toy because he thinks she likes doggies.  I don't even know the proper etiquette for these things.  Do I stay at the party?  Do I drop him off?  Well, we'll just see how it goes...

Popcorn

Sometimes it is the simple things that make me smile.
Like popcorn and a moving and snuggling with my family.

Now the popcorn is key.
It must be made on the stove top and not microwaved.  It should be red corn kernels or local kernels.  Real butter should be used as the topping.  Okay, so I'm a little picky about my popcorn.

Every time I make popcorn, I think of my dad.  I remember him making some after I had gone to bed...but if I woke up, I might get my own little dish full.  I remember eating popcorn at his houses in the years after my parents divorced.  It seems it was one of the few things he could cook and that we kids would eat. I also recall him spilling the popcorn into the burners on the gas stove...which meant that the next few suppers had kernels popping unexpectedly at times.  Aunt Brenda asked him how to make popcorn and Dad answered, "You just throw it into the stove and Pop...Pop,pop,pop!"

 I remember him telling me how to make the "perfect" pot of popcorn.

The first secret is to always place three kernels in the oil while it is heating up.  When these few test kernels pop, you'll know that the oil is hot enough.  And, of course I think of Monty Python and the Holy Grail at this time...

"Then, shalt thou count to three. No more. No less. Three shalt be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be three. Four shalt thou not count, nor either count thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three. Five is right out." (From the scene with the Holy Hand Grenade of Anticoh).

The other secret is to ALWAYS shake the pot from start to finish.  This keeps things moving inside and lowers the chance of any burning going on.  Brian always say he likes it when I shake things .

This is a rambling post about popcorn.  But that is just it, popcorn is more awesome when it is shared :-)

Paper Airplanes

For Tamlin's last birthday, Nana got him a book about folding paper airplanes.  Now I can fold the simple basic airplane and it had impressed the kids.  Both boys loved attempting to launch them into the air and watching where they land.

This book is awesome. 
The instructions are really easy to follow and it comes with a whole stack of cool paper to use.

Well, lately we have been forced inside because of wicked cold weather or rain or snow.  Tamlin brings out this books and asks for the spaceship airplane done up with the planet/stars paper.  Of course, if brother has one, than Jude wants one too...with leaf paper.
Moments later, we have two cool airplanes to fly in the house.

A fun feature of our new house here is the carpeted stairs.  Ok, the actual carpet is crappy retro green plush.  But, having stairs in the center of house with carpet is a novelty.  The boys have discovered the fun of sliding down the stairs...on their bum or belly (but I I refuse to let them go down head first!) And we have discovered the coolness of launching toys down the stairs, like cars.

Airplanes soar marvelously down the stairwell :-)

 Oh we had a glorious time flying our planes.  We love cheap entertainment in our house:-)

Can you tell we did this after dinner?  

Yes, that is pizza sauce all over Jude's face and undershirt.  He had already coated his long-sleeve shirt with lunch.  

Don't you think Jude looks like such a little rascal?!

2014 New Year Resolutions

I recall that last year my resolution was to "move forward."  I kept it simple...but in actuality it was so difficult to do.  However, I feel I was successful in completing this self-imposed task.

How so?

I moved forward in my work...by changing employment direction completely.  I went from college professor to orchid grower.  I went from lecturing under-motivated students to caring for baby plants.  I went from bringing my work home and grading student exams for hours to leaving my work at work and using home time as family time.  I went from thinking of my work as "blah" to loving what I am doing.  I went from facing tenure that was based heavily on student evaluations and then years of little to no advancement to a growing work team with room for moving up as we expend. 

I moved forward in our dwelling place.  As a family, we moved from a large city to a small town.  We moved from traffic congestion and a sea of traffic light to a town with rush "minutes" instead of hours.  We moved from a neighborhood where we barely knew our neighbors to an area where the neighbors are uber friendly (we love them!)  We moved from a city where we felt that everyone was out for themselves to a small town where everyone looks you in the eyes and smiles and wants to help.  We moved from 7+ hours from family to 2 hours from family.  We moved from the city that was 60 miles from Lake Michigan to a home that is 5 blocks from Lake Erie.  We went from a huge house with lots of storage space to a small cottage home.  We learned what we had accumulated but could do without. 

I moved forward in my health, sort of.  With my new employment I am constantly moving around, either walking, riding a bike, or shoving around tables of plants.  I lost weight...quite a bit of weight.  It feels great!  I am drinking more water, a ton more water during the day.  However, my blood pressure hasn't improved yet.  I am hoping it is just a bit of a lag and that it will drop soon too.

I moved forward in family togetherness.  I announced that I wanted to move, and Brian agreed.  I dove into the searching for employment field, floundered for awhile, cried in disappointment for awhile, but eventually was successful.  Brian held me steady through the highs and lows.  We brought the boys from their friends in the big city to a new town we knew little about.  We went through rough months of showing the house (unsuccessfully), madly cleaning, madly packing, many phone calls, many bills, moving, painting, painting, painting, cleaning, unpacking, storing stuff...and still finding time to be together as a family.  We spent so much of the summer in chaos, but also in quiet moments playing at the beach.  Exploring our new habitat as a family was wonderful...and we continue to do so every week.

I feel a bit more at peace now in my soul...and once the house sells, I will be even more at peace :-)


Now what about a new resolution?
1. Get back into music.  I miss handbells and want to get back into it or into drums or something.  There seem to be a couple of opportunities locally that Brian and I have to explore to find a fitting out for our musical talents.

2. Help my kiddos grow. I want to get them more involved in groups, perhaps into a sport or something.  I want them to interact in a group setting that will help them build their skills. 

3.  Keep growing as an orchid grower.  I feel more invested in this employment than I have in a long time.  I want to do well.  I want the plants to grow well.  I want our orchid team to be successful.

4. But not lose my outdoor plant knowledge.  I want to keep this aspect of my knowledge alive...perhaps looking to participating or hosting walks/ talks in the local nature centers. 

Wow...from 1 resolution to 4...I must have high hopes of being successful this year.  Let's keep our fingers crossed.

Hotwheel Track by Daddy

 Tamlin asked to set up the hotwheel tracks one night.  Of course, the nugget-head asks for this right before bedtime.  I had to disappoint him by saying no tracks that night, but that we could play with them tomorrow.  Well, the next day we went to the library after school and work instead of playing tracks.  Tamlin was very sad and so was his brother...you should have seen the sad faces!  I did the best that I could by saying I would ask Brian to set the track up the next day for us.  This stemmed from the few times I remember my parents setting up the blocks or building a castle from legos for us while we were sleeping.  (I thought that was so cool).
 Luckily, I did remember to ask Brian to do this...
and awesome dad that he is, he set up an equally awesome track for the boys to play with when they got home after school. 
Daddy's track started at the top of the stairs...
Through a tunnel...
Down the stairs...
and into the car bucket!
There was also a side track with loops and curves.

Oh my.
The little ones had such a blast sending ALL of their cars down the track and seeing which ones survived to the end or fell off in route.

My wonderful car-nut boys :-)