pirates!

Auntie Leann and Uncle Frank sent some pirate gear to help us celebrate Gasparilla, Tampa's big annual pirate festival. So this afternoon has been all about being a pirate. Butter knives work great as swords, and with a little more practice they should have the one-eye-closed pirate eye down pat.

giraffe surgery

Nate loves giraffes, and has quite a collection of them. Yesterday Nate found this guy at the GW and instantly fell in love. He named him Diamond, since he was found on a diamond day at the Goodwill (to help you understand this term, I refer you to the November post of 'A Diamond Day'). Well, Christopher was playing with him and twisted his neck, and that was the end of his upright posture. Nate was sad, so there was only one thing to do----surgery!
Here is Diamond with his broken neck.
Here is Diamond in a fully upright and perky position after a few stitches, and about 20 cotton pads were stuffed in his neck. Nate helped me with the procedure. Can you see his scar? He's as good as new,--- or should I say good as used? :)

a penny saved is a penny earned

Today was Chris and Nate's first lesson in the fine art of banking. They had been sorting all of the coins in their piggy bank, so we decided that it would be good to take it to the coin-star machine, then make a deposit at the bank into their savings accounts.Here is Chris dumping his coins and pushing them down into the coin counting abyss. He was a little bit sad about giving the bank all of his 'monies', but he decided it would be best to give it a try.
Nate's turn! The boys divided the coins themselves, and said that it was "'even-steven". Each boy carried his own loot into the Safeway and ran to the coin-star.
As you can see, it really wasn't very "even-steven", since Nate only came away with $9.24, and Chris had $13.35 However, it didn't seem to be an issue.
Then we drove to the bank and went inside, which was a huge excitement in itself. My boys have only ever seen the bank from their carseats at the drive-thru window. Our favorite teller Tyrone was working at the counter today. He took the money, and put it into his big safe!
Deposit slips in hand, each boy was excited to tell everyone on the way out about their "aposit" into their bank account. As luck would have it, Chris found a penny on the ground, so this was the start of the next round that we'll bring to the bank in a few months.

to infinity.....and beyond!

Chris Moore as Buzz Lightyear. When he pulls down the face mask on his helmet, he's a dead-ringer for the guy.

little guys

I was cleaning out my "kathy downloads" file on the computer yesterday when our internet was not working, and I came across this little video that Dan put together in 2005 after we got our new laptop. A little stroll down memory lane is always good for the soul, and really makes me realize just how quickly time does go by. What cute little fellows!

mmmmm........donuts!

This morning I flashed back to 1977 in Salem, Oregon. I have fond memories of these donuts that my mom would make for us on the weekends. The recipe was VERY easy, and in hind-sight, VERY bad. Vegetable oil, Pillsbury pop biscuits, powdered sugar. That's it. Heat up the oil, make a hole in the biscuit by stretching the dough, and then toss into hot oil. Shake the sugar on them in a bag. I remember that we had a school carnival at our elementary school (go Brush College Bulldogs!) and that we introduced the Slater family donuts to half of West Salem. People took turns frying these things and selling them for .5cents each at the carnival---a big money maker! I have not had one of these little gems for probably a good 25 years. It all changed today though when I realized that I had some tubes of the Pillsbury dough left over from a recipe last month. Time to use them up! The boys thought it was so much fun being donut makers. Their important job was shaking the powdered sugar to coat them. They loved them! I guess this is how traditions carry on.

the weather and the moon

This is a weather station that Dan ordered for our house. It's mounted in the dining room and the boys just love this thing! It shows us the outside temperature, inside temperature, time, humidity, and the phases of the moon. Oscar the boy will dress appropriately, so as you can see it's only 38 degrees outside right now, so he is wearing a coat, scarf, hat and carries an umbrella. They check this thing probably 15 times a day. Their favorite part is the phases of the moon in the lower left hand corner. They are completely enthralled with the moon. Did you know that today is a waxing gibbous???? Well, it is. :) Anything about the planets and the moon are real hits around here!

Here is a big 48 piece puzzle of the planets that grandma got for them at the Gilbert House. Puzzle+Planets = the perfect combination!

the boy knows how to write!

I guess that knock to the noggin didn't do too much damage---- I found some of Nate's writing last night after I was picking up the basement. I just couldn't believe how great it was, and he wrote the word Dan, too. Nobody helped him with this. I had first graders who couldn't write their names this beautifully! Ah, such a proud mama. :)

Ouch!

Poor Nate! Today the boys had their first day at a soccer class at the community center. They were both sooooo excited! Unfortunately, on the first drill of running the length of the gym and back, another boy was a bit faster at running it than Nate, and when he turned around to head back he ran smack-dab into Nate. Yikes! I saw it happen and it was a real OUCH. He cried some good tears, I held ice on his head, and by the end of class he wanted to go back into the group and do the huddle. There's really nothing more sad than seeing your child splayed out and injured in the middle of the gym floor. My sister Susan reminded me that this may be the first sports injury, but it surely won't be the last. You're one tough boy, Nate!

Happy Birthday, G'ma!

Today is Grandma's birthday, so the boys and I drove down to Salem to take her a gift and spend the morning with her. They love to play with her castle, which is an old-school Fisher Price one from my childhood. They always know right where to find it in the closet! After we played for a while, we went to get lunch at the new Panda Express in West Salem.
After we were done eating, the boys wanted us to read their fortunes in the fortune cookies that they got. Instead of reading what was actually inside, I told Nate that his said "you will have a great time at the Gilbert house." Chris' fortune cookie said, "You will learn new science things at the Gilbert House museum." (which is where we were heading after we finished our meal) Well, the boys just couldn't believe the truth that was found in these cookies!! How could they possibly know???? So Nate hopped right out of his chair which was near the front of the restaurant and ran to the counter yelling, " HEY MR. CHINESE MAN, HOW DO YOU KNOW THE TRUTH IN MY COOKIE?" Well, the 'Chinese man' was actually a Chinese lady, and I don't think she had any clue what Nate was trying to say to her...so he said it again, even louder. "HEY MR. CHINESE MAN, DID YOU KNOW MY FORTUNE COOKIE WORDS?!?" It was actually so funny and I happened to have the camera out on the table so I snapped this picture. He never did get his answer, but he did give us a really good laugh. A really good laugh. Nate, Grandma, and Chris sitting in the King and Queens chairs. Happy Birthday!

cute little dinosaur

How cute is this picture???? I just love it! Christopher drew this dinosaur this morning and brought it upstairs to me when I was making breakfast. Such a cute little face and wonderful little ears!

my little artists

Today Chris and Nate did some watercolor painting. They're very consistent---Nate always paints splotches, lines and squiggles, and Chris always fills in every last bit of white on the paper. Both are works of art in my eyes.