Day 30 – January 30, 2010 :: Lip Lines

Kaylee, sporting traces of the powdered sugar donuts she had just finished.  She has always had a huge sweet tooth and consumes more sweets than she probably should, but donuts of any kind are a very rare special treat. :)

She is still sick with what I think is just turning out to be a pretty major cold (so no party tonight after all). A very low-grade fever is still lingering, along with a decreased appetite, much less energy than usual, and the cough comes and goes, but the nose is the big problem now.  She went through an entire large box of tissues today.  Anything involving her nose is cause for extreme drama, so the whining has been at a very high level the past couple of days.   We’ve been giving her cold medicine and trying to keep her distracted in an attempt to make her comfortable… and maintain some degree of our sanity.  :-b

Day 29 – January 29, 2010 :: “They’re Elites and Grunts, Mom!”

Matthew’s had Christmas/birthday money burning a hole in his pocket, so Mark took him out shopping after school.  He came home with a Transformer and three new Halo Wars vehicle block sets.  He got right to work on this “Covenant Ghost” and completed it pretty quickly.  What cracks me up most is how he goes on and on about the different vehicles and character types and such like I actually should know what the heck he’s talking about. LOL

Day 28 – January 28, 2010 :: Under the Weather

Kaylee woke up several times during the night (unusual for her) and was sniffly and coughing a bit.  By morning she had a low-grade fever and the cough was worse, so she stayed home from school. She spent the day on the couch watching movies, drawing, and playing cards.  She only got a little bit teary when she realized this meant she might not get to go to the birthday party this weekend.

(Please ignore how terribly dirty this photo makes this 19 year old couch look.  It’s not quite that bad in real life… almost, but not quite. ;) )

Day 27 – January 27, 2010 :: Ambiance

I was extremely tired this afternoon. The kids finished their homework early, so I went to lie down for a nap. While I was sleeping, Kaylee apparently devised an elaborate plan to play “restaurant” tonight; she was going to be the rock star waitress.  Unfortunately, a shower meant she had to take off her “uniform”, and our quick post-karate supper of leftover lasagna didn’t fit with the menu choices she had arranged. But she still insisted on music during the meal and this lovely centerpiece of an old silk rose in her little pink plastic Cinderella vase. :)

Day 26 – January 26, 2010 :: Can I go? Can I go? Can I go? Can I go? Pleeeeeease, can I go?

Kaylee came home from school with an invitation for a classmate’s birthday party this coming weekend. It was all she could talk about the rest of the day. She already knows what gift she wants to get her (written in detail on the back of the invite) and wants to know when we can go get it (probably Friday) and if she can stay the entire four hours (um, not likely… it runs an hour past her weekend bedtime).  Since Mark already has plans to have his friends here during the party time, I’ll be the lucky one who gets to take her and hang out at a stranger’s house.  {yippee}  LOL

Day 25 – January 25 :: Homework Woes

Matthew had a bit of a heavy homework load today.  He had a rough draft of a lengthy writing assignment to do, reading, and here he’s looking up facts on the French and Indian War.  So he ended up skipping karate tonight.  He worked pretty steadily right up until supper, which was later than usual, and then went right to bed. Hopefully, he’ll get some good sleep, since he’s still dragging a bit from Saturday night.

Kaylee had her own issues …

She finished her written homework and then went to start her reading.  The book she has (“Valentine’s Day from the Black Lagoon”) was her latest from the school book orders, and it arrived today. She grabbed it and went to try to find her timer, which has been missing since last week. After several minutes of looking, she gave up and went to borrow Matthew’s, only to realize that she no longer had the book and it was nowhere to be found.

After several more minutes of she and Mark and I all looking, I told her she was lucky her head is attached (which I had to explain to her, since she had no idea what that phrase means LOL) and to go read something else. Mark, being more patient and determined than I was today, later had her retrace her steps, and they finally found the book.  It was in her once again totally chaotic room … under an old Sit ‘N Spin that she is much too big for but refuses to give up. How the book got there, I have no idea.

She was ordered to spend 15 minutes working on cleaning her room after her homework was done. She still hasn’t found her timer. :-b

Day 24 – January 24 :: Rah! Rah! Sis-Boom-Bah!

The boys cramming in as much additional video game play as they could this morning, while Kaylee cheered them on in the background. Kaylee didn’t do a whole lot with the boys while they were here, but I was surprised at how relatively un-shy she was around them.

Day 23 – January 23 :: The Mathematics of Boys

Matthew had two friends from school sleep over as his birthday party.  I have decided that the noise created by a group of boys in an enclosed space is not, as one might think, in fact a linear relationship, but instead requires a complex exponential equation along the lines of

N ≈ (b ^b) (v ^s)

Where: N = the noise level, b = number of boys, v = number of video games, s = amount of sugar ingested by said boys.

It has been far too many years since my college engineering classes, so I’m sure the equation as proposed is flawed, but I believe the essence is accurate. Proof of this formula will require extensive additional data collection, case studies, and analysis… for which I will not be volunteering.

Day 22 – January 22, 2010 :: Finale Face

A horribly blurry picture (I didn’t want to distract her by using the flash), but I couldn’t resist the look on her face.  We’d watched The NeverEnding Story for a movie night a week or two ago, but Kaylee had fallen asleep before the end.  So we put on the last half again tonight after supper.  As it got close to the end, I positioned myself and waited for her reaction to the fun surprise twist. :)

Day 21 – January 21, 2010 :: Keeping On His Toes

When the kids get home from school, they have half an hour to relax, play, have snacks, etc. before they start homework.  Yesterday I found Matthew looking through his new Magic the Gathering cards and watching TV while sitting in this rather interesting position. :)

Day 20 – January 20, 2010 :: Player 3

We have family game nights when we can.  Lately we’ve been on a Mario Kart kick.  If everyone is done with their homework and Matthew didn’t have late karate, we  often sneak in a few races between supper and the kids’ bedtime.  That’s me – Player 3 (signified by the position of the blue light on my controller).  I’m pretty terrible at the game; I usually finish last.  But it’s still a fun way to end the day together. :)

Day 19 – January 19, 2010 :: Make a Wish

Matthew turned 11 today.  His party with a couple of his friends will be this weekend, but we had a small family celebration this evening.  When it came time for the birthday (cup)cake, I could tell he was really thinking about what he wanted to wish for.  He took his time and then finally closed his eyes and blew.

This is the look on his face when he opened his eyes and realized the blue candle hadn’t gone out…

And this is the look on his face after he tried again and the candle still didn’t go out. LOL

It wasn’t a trick candle, I swear!  That sucker just didn’t want to go out.  Even after he finally got the flame to go out, the wick glowed for a long time, and it put off a ton of smoke for such a small candle.  I think we may have gotten a defective candle. LOL  Hopefully, it won’t have any impact on that wish coming true. ;)

Happy Birthday Matthew!  I hope you have an amazing year! :)

Day 18 – January 18, 2010 :: Aaaaand they’re off!

It’s was a pretty nice day weather-wise today, so we headed over to the park late this afternoon.  We had a bit of a rough start.  The wind took Matthew’s little RC plane right at Kaylee – the plane broke, she cut her thumb a bit defending herself, and the propeller got tangled in her hair.  Then a few minutes later, she got hit right in the teeth by a Frisbee ricochet.  She wasn’t hurt badly, but was very shaken up.  Matthew was already upset about his plane, and then he got blamed for the Frisbee thing, so they were both in tears.  Poor kiddos. :( 

Fortunately, Mark is good at distraction and rallying the troops, and after a few hugs from me, soon they were all running around, having races, laughing and playing silly games… thankfully, with no further incidents.  So it ended up being a nice afternoon  after all. :)

[ETA: More  photos on my other blog here.]

Day 17 – January 17, 2010 :: For fun it’s a wonderful toy

Matthew and Kaylee got traditional metal Slinkys* in their Christmas stockings. Somehow the kids were completely unaware of the magical stair-walking properties of The Slinky.  We have no stairs in our house, so I decided to demonstrate on Matthew’s bunk bed ladder, not really expecting it to work, since the ladder is pretty steep and has a slightly slippery surface.  Surprisingly, it actually worked fairly well.  The kids spent quite a long time after that playing with the Slinkys on the ladder, and then moved on to using them to make laser sound effects. :)

What walks down stairs
Alone or in pairs
And makes a slinkity sound?
A spring, a spring!
A marvelous thing!
Ev’ryone knows, it’s Slinky!

It’s Slinky! It’s Slinky!
For fun it’s a wonderful toy!
It’s fun for a girl and a boy,
It’s fun for a girl and a boy!

(You’re singing now, aren’t you. LOL)

* “Slinkies” seems like it would be the correct plural spelling, or maybe even “Slinky’s” but on the manufacturer website, in the only plural usage I could find, it is spelled “Slinkys”.

Day 16 – January 16, 2010 :: Babies & Bunnies

Kaylee doesn’t often play with her baby dolls anymore, but today she decided to get out four of them, both of her strollers, and her baby carrier.  She made a very big production of how hard it was to take care of FOUR babies.  LOL   Then she decided to make the babies their own “room” on the loveseat.  The purpose of the bunnies (and duck) lined up on the floor below?  A safety cushion in case the babies fell. :)

I love the little Spiderman stuffed doll tucked in the corner.  Matthew very generously gave that one to Kaylee today, along with several other stuffed animals he decided he could part with to make room for Mark’s extensive collection of “Magic The Gathering” cards on one of his shelves. She later put a doll diaper on Spiderman specifically just to torture Matthew.  No good deed goes unpunished. ;)

Day 15 – January 15, 2010 :: Collaboration

Mark’s been sorting through some boxes of random stuff that had gotten shoved into a corner of our bedroom.  One of the things he pulled out this week was an old set of Crayola “Jumping Colors” markers with special 3D glasses.  They’ve been sitting on my desk for a couple of days, and Kaylee’s been just itching to try them, but it’s been too busy with homework and such.  She and Mark finally got a chance to try them out, working on a test drawing together.

I have several shots of her drawing where you can actually see what she’s doing, and ones of each of them looking through the silly glasses, and ones where the focus point is something other than the top of Kaylee’s head, but I just loved Mark’s expression and body language in this one. :)

Day 14 – January 14, 2010 :: The Face

We took the kids to their new doctor’s office after school today to get their H1N1 vaccinations. We let them unwind for a while after we got home before starting their homework. Kaylee had put “Wizards of Waverly Place” on TV, and Matthew was sort of half watching. Kaylee is very into assigning programs (and other things) as being strictly either for girls or for boys. So I jokingly asked Matthew if he was watching a “girl show” and he gave me a very emphatic, slightly exasperated “noooooo” and shot me this look.  LOL   It reminds me a bit of the “you’ve lost your mind” look Sheldon gave Raj this week on “Big Bang Theory” (my absolute favorite show, and no, the kids don’t watch it). ;)

Day 13 – January 13, 2010 :: Gettin’ Clean

Kaylee always complains and protests and drags her feet when it’s time for her to take a shower, but once she gets in, she has a blast playing in the water. :)

Day 12 – January 12, 2010 :: D&D&H&R

After completing his homework, Matthew got on the kids’ computer. Upon being discovered, he launched into a very earnest, enthusiastic, and detailed explanation of what he was doing. Mark has been a Dungeons & Dragons guy basically since the game came out 30-something years ago.  Recently, Matthew has shown a lot of interest, so Mark has been teaching him some of the basics. Apparently, Matthew decided D&D is a little too complicated, so to make it “simpler” he’s creating his own version of the game using elements of Halo and Risk as well.  The document he was typing up is the rules of his “HALO the Fall of Flood”.  He’d only finished the first three rules, and it’s already over my head. LOL

Here’s his explaining face…

:)

Day 11 – January 11, 2010 :: Coming Home

Mark went out to meet the kids’ bus after school today.  I decided to surprise them and take a picture of them coming back in. This is not the shot I’d hoped to get of their smiling faces, but it is very typical of the way things often go, with Matthew being very serious and “official”, taking charge of the door and sort of ushering Kaylee in.  And then Mark bringing up the rear and just trying to get everyone inside and out of the cold.

The temperatures actually have started coming back up. I think it got up into the upper 40’s-ish today, which is better than the 20’s/30’s/low 40’s we’d been having.  It still doesn’t really feel that warm yet though… especially when you’re standing out there waiting for the bus to arrive. I always take the morning shift though, while it’s still dark out, so Mark gets no sympathy from me on the days he goes out in the afternoon. ;)  (And, yes, I grew up much farther north, so I know some of your are laughing and shaking your heads at my idea of cold, but I’m a fully acclimated  southern wimp now. LOL)

Day 10 – January 10, 2010 :: Kaylee Goes Green

We attempted a web cam call to Grandma and Grandpa this evening, but the network wasn’t cooperating.  I left the camera up while we made a regular call instead.   Kaylee continued to look at herself on the monitor the entire time she was on the phone, often making very silly faces… which I didn’t mange to catch.  I still liked this shot though. :)

This is another shot where the white balance was waaaaaaay off.  I’ve tweaked this a lot; the original was very, VERY yellow.  The color of the web cam image on the screen is pretty accurate however, even without editing.  It’s an older web cam and the colors on it are very wonky.  I had played with it enough to get a wider shot looking almost normal, but when Kaylee leaned in close to the camera, the image was still that nuclear green… which she loved. LOL

I’m still getting the hang of this P365 thing.  We actually went to a birthday party for a friend of Mark’s today… and I forgot to take my camera. LOL  Mark and I did grab a few snaps with our phones, which I may post later on my other blog. :)

Day 9 – January 9, 2010 :: Camera as Distraction

Mark has some friends over for gaming today.  One of Mark’s friends was bringing his son along, so that he and Matthew could spend the day together (mostly playing video games). They were running a little late getting here, and the kids, Matthew in particular, were getting very antsy. So, to distract him, I pulled out the camera and started snapping a few pictures.  First he gave me a bunch of his standard fake smiles with waves. I turned the flash off to take some more, but they were coming out blurry.  So I told him he had to keep still or he would be blurry.  This, of course, led to him experimenting in Intentional Blurriness Special Effects, and Kaylee, of course, had to join in. :)

Day 8 – January 8, 2010 :: Breakfast with a Rock Star

This is the result of the project that was in the background of yesterday’s picture.  They had to decorate the provided cardstock figure to reflect what they want to be when they grow up.  As you can see, Kaylee is still sticking with her “rock star” aspirations.  The letter that comes home with it requests that the parent help and make it a “sharing” project. LOL  I did the cutting and gluing and such, as per Kaylee’s instructions.  The actual drawing and design are all hers. :)

Since the figure doesn’t stand on its own, I had Kaylee hold it up for me while she was eating breakfast before school this morning.  She was being a stinker and wouldn’t take her eyes off the TV to cooperate for the picture. The mischief explains the look on her face. LOL

I need to work on my white balance… in reality, the plate is much more purple, and the twill strips on the blinds are green, not blue. How Kaylee didn’t come out looking like a Smurf, I have no idea.  LOL

Day 7 - January 7, 2010 :: Abandoned Cow

Kaylee won this little cow from one of those claw machines at a restaurant in Illinois when we were visiting family last summer.  She had him join her for breakfast this morning, and left him there, so I snapped this later while she was at school.  The pencils and drawing on the table in the background are for a school project she was working on. 

Day 6 – January 6, 2010 :: Book Buddies

A rare quiet moment.  Kaylee was doing her daily reading homework.  Matthew had finished his homework early and curled up on the couch next to her to read his new Halo Encyclopedia (another Christmas gift).

Day 5 - January 5, 2010 :: What a Doll

Kaylee's best friend at school this year went to Bangladesh over winter break (I'm assuming to visit family).  She left the week before break, and Kaylee was dramatically distraught that she wouldn't be seeing her friend for such a long time.  The kids went back to school today, and Kaylee's friend had brought her back this doll as a gift. She also wrote a cute little note to Kaylee and drew a picture of the two of them.  So sweet.



(Shhhhh... don't tell anyone I cheated and included a second photo! LOL)

Day 4 - January 4, 2010 :: Risky Business

Another of Matthew's Christmas gifts... the Halo Wars version of Risk. He and Mark spent a long time over the last few days going through the rules and trying to figure out how to play with just the two of them, since it's supposed to be for a minimum of three players. Kaylee's too young for it, and I don't play games that involve having to think that much! LOL Anyway, they set it all up and did their first run-through this morning, devising some alternatives to try next time.

By the way, this pic is also a good representation that my kids did not inherit my... chilliness. It's been very cold here lately (we're in for some predicted record lows this week). I'm constantly bundled up in sweats and blankets, and I still can't get warm. The kids are often running around dressed like it's the height of summer, and they complain when I make them put more clothes on! LOL

Day 3 - January 3, 2010 :: The Face of Drama

I had a really hard time choosing a photo from this set. This little adventure began by me singing some silly nonsensical made up melody, which reminded Matthew of a tune he heard in the movie "Space Chimps", so he started "singing" that one (it doesn't have words). I remembered that the song also happens to be in "Beverly Hills Cop", so it didn't take me long digging online to find that it was Harold Faltermeyer's "Axel F." I found it on Playlist and cranked it up on my pc, much to both Matthew and Kaylee's delight.

Kaylee decided this required her to put on this hand-me-down leotard from her cousin and begin dancing around the family room. I do have a series of her in various dance "poses", but the first thing she did when I pulled out the camera was launch into a variety of these odd dramatic faces. :) For some reason, this one reminded me a bit of the poses Hollywood veteran John Calvert suggested for our photos when he stayed with us last year. Maybe she's channeling some 1950's movie star. LOL

Day 2 - January 2, 2010 :: Dart Day

One of Matthew's Christmas gifts was a magnetic darts calendar. The "dartboard" is actually just a photo. The top portion of the calendar has a magnetic backing. We hung the calendar in his room on the 2nd, and he and Kaylee spent a good chunk of the day coming up with grand plans for their "Dart Club". There were decorations, and rules, and some sort of complex scoring system in which points could be accumulated for prizes. There was play involving two darts magnetically snapping together into a double-sided "dart saber" wielded by "Dart Maul", along with dramatically acted invitations to "Come to the dart side". LOL

Day 1 - January 1, 2010 :: Chocolate Boy

Hot chocolate was part of our New Year's Day festivities. Matthew had his right before bed, after it had cooled. It had gotten a bit thick, and provided him with quite a funny chocolate... um... beard?