Say Cheese

David with his Uncle Will, who drove in all the way from Iowa City just for the party.  We love this guy!

Our amazing nanny, A., and her boyfriend, Z.  They were so awesome with the kids at the party.

We had David's 6th birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese on a crazy-busy Saturday winter afternoon there.  It was jammed wall-to-wall with screaming kids hyped up on cake and overstimulation. I felt like they should hand parents an "I Survived Hosting a Birthday Party for Thirteen 6 Year Olds at Chuck E. Cheese" t-shirt along with the bill.  David had an incredible time, and his face was priceless throughout.  When I mentioned this to my dad, he told me that David is the kind of guy who would have fun at a funeral (so true!)

David very sweetly and enthusiastically greeted each of his friends with a ginormous bear hug, laughed hysterically at the Chuck E. Cheese show and greeted the mouse himself like the arrival of royalty.  All in all, a great day to be 6.  And now I am going to pour myself a glass of wine.

Hand-me-down

I found this old hat in a storage bin in the basement with the $14.99 sale tag still on it, never worn.  It looks better on her anyway!  Who knew we could share clothing so soon? Before I know it, we will be sharing shoes, too.

A Girl and Her Dog

It's official.  Charlie is The World's Most Patient Dog.

Mastermind

We know who the true mastermind is around these parts!

Iced

We are now the proud owners of a backyard ice rink.  Constructed entirely by Joe.  We didn't even own skates before he built it and the kids had never skated before.  I saw something on a blog or the internet last summer and mentioned offhand to Joe that it would be cool to have a backyard ice rink, not thinking it would ever happen.  But one of the best things about Joe is that once he sets his mind to doing something, it. gets. done. He was dogged this fall, spending weekends shuttling back and forth to the home improvement stores, setting up a frame made of plywood.  When his dad came in October, they spent hours out there perfecting the plywood frame.  And then it was just a matter of waiting until it got cold enough to really keep it frozen.

In a weather twist of fate this year, we had a crazy cold November and then one of the warmest Januarys that anyone can remember.  In mid-January, he filled it and we enjoyed an awesome day learning to skate on our own private rink.  That's day, singular, not days, plural.  After the initial feeling, freezing and euphoria of a rink in the backyard, we have had a few weeks of a pond and then a slushy mess.  The next day the temperature in Iowa got to 50 degrees, which never happens, and then stayed there. For weeks.  And went up to 58.  I think it might have been the warmest January of my life. We ended up taking the kids downtown to the outdoor ice rink for four weeks of lessons to get the basics.

Who would ever have thought I would be rooting for the return of cold temperatures?!  But it is back to the reality of a Midwest winter now and Joe was out there today with his homeboni (a true device--a home zamboni that he bought on the internet), resurfacing the ice and getting ready for the weekend.

I read a book recently called The Five Love Languages that talks about the different way people express their love for one another. One of the ways is through what the book calls acts of service, or doing things for other people, from paying the bills to cooking dinner to things like this backyard ice rink.  Acts of service is definitely one of the primary ways that Joe expresses love.  I am hoping the kids will remember skating on their own backyard ice rink when they grow up and how much work their dad put into it for them.

Wild Thing

It's been a while since I've sang a love song here about kid art.  AJ's art class made wild things inspired by Where the Wild Things Are.  This is his Wild Thing.  I think if I had to do it over again, I would consider a career as an elementary art teacher.  How cool is it that this is someone's job to teach kids how to make art?

Love Chain

Julia and my mom helped with these Valentine decorations.  The stores are overrun with commercial holiday decorations these days, but I think some of my favorite holiday decorations are homemade.

Slip Sliding Away

We had a fun four weeks taking ice skating lessons downtown at the outdoor Brenton Ice Rink.  I wish they had this place when I was a kid.  How cool that there is somewhere to skate with a view like that one above?  Things like this are making Des Moines into a great city.

Card Craze

The boys suddenly became obsessed with football cards this winter.  They each have a three ring binder with their loot and take them to school to trade. I have no idea who any of the players are, but I am thrilled with this development because they both will read to me now at bedtime.  We have an official exchange rate of reading one book equals you get one football card and it works to motivate them to read.  When they figured out that they get one card per chapter read in a chapter book, they suddenly became very interested in those as well, especially the ones with short chapters.

Weird Science

The boys each did a science fair project this year.  I love the science fair and want them to do it, but always have to gear up mentally for it.  AJ did it last year and I found it takes about four weeks to do the work, spreading it out a little bit over each weekend so they don't get overwhelmed and I don't get frustrated. They do all of it themselves, even the typing, so it takes patience (where's the "a" key again, mom?)  But they are so proud in the end that I am glad we did it. And they love getting their medals at the school assembly for participating.

Here is AJ with last year's project (Symmetry in nature and rainbow loom bracelets) and both boys with this year's projects (AJ with How the Width of an Airplane Wing Impacts Flight and David with Acid or Base?)

Winter Wonderland (and the Time Grandma Julie Got on a Ladder to Clear the Snow off the Roof)

We had an awesome blizzard for Superbowl Sunday weekend.  It was beautiful.  Of course, I can only say this because we only had one blizzard, not five in a row like the east coast did this winter.  The kids had fun with Grandma Julie making two snow forts and bird watching out our kitchen windows. We put in two bird feeders in the back yard and sometimes have 25-30 birds feeding at a time, including doves, cardinals and woodpeckers.

My mom is so incredible.  On Superbowl Sunday, the boys were crazy with excitement to watch the big game.  They have been obsessed with NFL football all fall, following teams and quarterbacks.  Each week they sit down with our nanny to make a list of the week's games and then query Siri on the iPhone to find out who won each game and what the score was.

So imagine their reaction when we went to turn on the pre-game and the tv said no reception because the satellite dish was blocked.  Sure enough, we look out the window and see five inches of snow on top of the dish on the roof of the garage.  Joe was out of town, so my mom says "Where's your ladder? The big orange one!  And a broom, please."  I told her I didn't think that was a good idea, but she said "You just hold the ladder.   I have been climbing on roofs since I was two years old." This is a reference to the time she climbed out through an attic window when she was two and the neighbor called the fire department, which came. Her mother climbed up on the fire department ladder and got her down.

So my fearless mom made a plan with the boys to call a code out the back door when the reception game back on.  Sure enough, after she goes up there with the broom, David hollers out the back door "Mission complete! Good job, Grammy!" I hope I am half as adventurous when I am a grandma.