Thur. 2/23/12, Part 2 :: Poker Face

One of the games Todd had taught Matthew was poker, and as more family began arriving Thursday evening, an intense (and apparently very entertaining) game got underway.

Thur. 2/23/12 :: New Old Treasures

Grandma Karyl brought out some (mostly costume) jewelry that had belonged to my dad’s mom to give to Kaylee this morning. She had a lot of fun exploring it all.

The green shoe box was full as well.

I think she’s set for jewelry for a while. :)

Wed. 2/22/12 :: Card Sharks

Uncle Todd spent some quality time with his nephew, teaching him card games. And then Matthew taught him one that he and his friends have played. Todd swore he was just making it up as he went along. ;)

I’m pretty sure those cards they’re using are ones my parents brought back from their Vegas trip in the 1970’s.

Kaylee was watching that TV in the background…

She looks so excited. ;)

Tues. 2/21/12 :: Revisiting Abe

Up in Illinois, we slipped away for a few hours for a return trip to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum. It’s a very cool museum, but mainly Mark wanted to see their Ghosts of the Library show again, which uses an old magic trick as the basis for its presentation.  We all saw the show once, and then Kaylee and I looked at the gown exhibit and hung out in the kids interactive area while Mark and Matthew saw it two more times.

Thur. 2/16/12 :: I’ll Miss You, Dad

Love & miss you every single day.

Wed. 2/15/12 :: Practice Party

Done with her homework early, Kaylee volunteered to listen to Matthew practice his sax without even charging him one of the coupons she gave him for his birthday. She even sang and danced along.

The look on his face in this shot cracks me up. :)

Tues. 2/14/12 :: Sweet Thing

Kaylee, at her class Valentine party, enjoying a sugar cookie (and refusing to look at the camera). The kids raced in groups to pass out their Valentines and then got to enjoy their treats. They frosted and decorated the cookies themselves.

Mon. 2/13/12 :: The Sand Man

We had another lecturing magician stay with us this weekend, Alan Sands. He had a little time off between stops, so he was able to hang out an extra day and keep Mark occupied. ;) Even got down on his hands and knees and worked on trying to refinish one area of our wood floor that is especially scratched up. I swear it was all his idea. We don’t normally put our guest magicians to work doing home improvements. LOL

He left behind a little souvenir as well. Can you tell what part of his lecture covered? :)

Sun. 2/12/12 :: Cookie Time

We got our load of Girl Scout cookies today for the orders that Kaylee sold, and then spent the rest of the afternoon sorting them out and getting everything organized. (I’m kind of glad she didn’t sell significantly more. LOL)

Sat. 2/11/12 :: Rockin’ the Braid and Bling

Kaylee’s Girl Scout troop participated in a Spa Day and badge workshop this morning. She got her hair and nails and makeup done, and then they did activities to learn about fitness and nutrition. Beautiful inside and out. :)

Fri. 2/10/12 :: Yet More Gaming

Matthew, in his room, playing a bit of one of his X-Box card games (Yu-Gi-Oh I think) that he doesn’t play on our newer X-Box because it doesn’t have all his progress saved. He’s been playing this one a lot recently. It seems that he goes in waves of diving into one game or activity for a few weeks and then will abandon it completely, eventually circling back around to dive back into it weeks or months later.

Thur. 2/9/12 :: Borrowed Boredom Buster

One of Matthew’s friends had left these Munchkin card games behind last weekend, so he and Mark decided they would see if they could figure them out and play a bit while we have them here. They spent the better part of the afternoon and evening reading rules and analyzing strategy and explaining thing to each other, and I think they might have actually gotten to play a little bit too. ;)

Wed. 2/8/12 :: Outgrown Games

Mark decided to do a little closet rearranging/clearing (to make more room for his magic, of course), so we went through our game closet and pulled out all most of the games the kids were too old for. We were able to free up a lot of space and had quite a large pile for our next charity pick-up when it was all done.

Tues. 2/7/12 :: Q & A with the Counselor

Kaylee had to interview a woman in her life about roles as part of a Girl Scout badge. She chose to interview Mrs. Dantzler, the school guidance counselor, who she knows pretty well from various programs she’s involved in. There was a lot of prep involved in the badge work. Kaylee had her questions all ready, and I videoed it for her so that she wouldn’t have to worry about trying to write answers down. Kaylee pretended they were on TV and did a great job, injecting a lot of her own personality. And I was very impressed with how patient and elaborative Mrs. Dantzler was. I think a counselor was a good choice for an interview subject. :)

Mon. 2/6/12 :: Magical Math

Kaylee asked me for help this afternoon with her math homework, which described dealing cards in a certain complex order, resulting in a specific sequence of the cards that were dealt. The problem was to determine what initial order the cards needed to be in to achieve that result. Mark overheard us and immediately chimed in with, “oh, that’s the Australian Shuffle!”, and told her it was used in magic a lot. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen him so eager to jump in and help her with her homework. LOL I think they must have spent nearly an hour on that problem until she finally understood. I wonder if the homework was harder or easier for the kids who don’t have a magician for a parent. ;)

Sun. 2/5/12 :: Thank You Breakfast

As a thank you to Kaylee for loaning him one of her magic tricks to use at the David Blaine show, Matthew surprised her with donuts this morning. I wish I’d had my camera out to capture her hugging him like he’d just saved the world when she found out. LOL

Sat. 2/4/12 :: Post Performance

Matthew, after his band ensemble competition at one of the other area middle schools. It was his first competition outside of the full band ones. Only three out of the six members of his ensemble showed up, but they still nailed their performance and scored a “I” (one or first or whatever).  Way to go! :)

Fri. 2/3/12 :: Demanding Movie Watcher

Since we have TiVo units on the TVs in the family room and master bedroom, the TV in Mark’s office is the only one that has a fully functional cable box. So it’s the only one that is able to access the “on demand” programming. Kaylee often goes out there to catch episodes of her favorite shows. Tonight she curled up and watched the Disney movie “The Color of Friendship”. This area is pretty multi-cultural, and she really doesn’t think in terms of race, so I think she found the premise a bit odd, but she said it was a good movie.

Thur. 2/2/12 :: Day at the Dentist

Kaylee got this happy yellow balloon when she went to the dentist for a filling today. It’s the first filling she’s had in a very long time, and the first time at this particular dentist. She is a worrier, and she’d worked herself into quite a state by the time the appointment rolled around, even convincing herself that she couldn’t breathe with the “piggy nose” on that they use for the laughing gas. It got to the point that we were going to have to reschedule for another day when she could be given a sedative before the appointment. When she heard that, she was absolutely crushed. She didn’t want to have to go through more worrying; she just wanted it over with. So she decided to try the nitrous oxide again.

I braced myself for another round of anxious fidgeting and whining, but she handled it like a champ, was completely cooperative, and made no complaints at all (other than when the hygienist accidentally pulled her hair). After only a few minutes with the gas, she was happy as a clam, and by the end she even said she LOVED having cavities! LOL She was quite disappointed when they finally turned the gas off, and was a bit less enthused once the effect wore off, but hopefully, any future appointments will go much more smoothly!

Wed. 2/1/12 :: Beady Bracelets

Kaylee spent the evening in her room making bead bracelets, one for her and one for her best friend, which she plans to give her on Valentine’s Day. Shhhhh. It’s a surprise! :)