kirstencan

Backyard - Monday

On a day when we had several friends over playing in our backyard.

So shady and green!  I'm really really glad I got the camera out on this day.

iPad

So, about the iPad (in case you're just seeing part of this in Google Reader - comments welcome!).

Aaron and I are late tech adopters.  We wait until the buzz has died down, bugs are fixed, prices dropped.

So, no, iPad's aren't new anymore.

But I got one, so it's exciting to me!

Anyway, I wanted one for me originally.  For fun.  But when I looked at what apps I'd like to get... I found some amazing educational ones.  And I decided I wanted it for the kids for school.  Don't tell them, that, though - they think it's mine.

I had been looking at android tablets, and Aaron still thinks I kinda joined the dark side by buying Apple... but it's pretty awesome.

The reason I went with the iPad was that the app Articulation Station is not for android.  And I had to get Articulation Station (a speech therapy app - it's AMAZING).

The kids are having a ball - getting their school boxes done quickly so that they can have a turn with it.  And I've heard the girl say 'Mom, can I please do more chemistry?'

Um, yes.

Anyway, it's pretty awesome.  And you may or may not find it propped up in a kitchen cabinet so I can watch 30 Rock while I make dinner (Netflix!  Saved my weekend when I was sick last - I watched all of 24 season 1 in like 3 days).

I'm putting a list of app's we're enjoying here (not just 'educational' ones, just ones we like) - but feel free to recommend more to get!  I'm specifically looking for good telling time and counting money apps, a math app that Thomas might like (no luck so far - he's doing Touch Math worksheets and something like that would be great) but all recommendations welcome!

We haven't had any issues with the kids being rough/dropping it, but I have my eye on an 'armor' case... we'll see if it's necessary.

And in case you're curious...

And it's the 'new' iPad (3).

I probably won't go to the trouble of making all of these links - just look them up on itunes:

Articulation Station

Electric Company (the one about feelings - which is awesome for my spectrum kiddo!)

idress - because they get mad at ME when I make them wear pants, not shorts.  Now it's not me telling them.  They don't get mad at the ipad.

US Puzzle map - awesome!  Thomas went from a time of 8:08 to 2:34 a week or so later.  Crazy.

Brain Pop - we're not subscribers, but the kids love the free movie of the day.

Sushi Monster

Nova Elements (wow - cool!)

Rootology

Move the turtle (remember LOGO?)

Math blaster (meh - and it's probably the most expensive one i've bought so far!)

Kingdom Rush

Spongebob Diner Dash

Pit Droids

World of Goo (can't say enough good things about this one - physics, artsy, awesome.  We have it on our computer and I've beat it already -but I had to buy this again).

Scribblenauts Remix (probably could have done without this since we have the 2 ds versions - but spelling!)

AG Shave Ice

Toontastic (the kids are hilarious with this, making their own cartoons - I love that it teaches them to use a story arc)

Build a Train

I also use it for:

Netflix

Surfing/Email

PDFs for school (better than printing them out)

Goodreads (i LOVE that I can just scan the barcode!)

And may or may not occasionally sling some angry birds (just got Space today).

Now, seriously, what else would we like?

 

First World Problems

Well, last week started out with me catching the stomach bug (it was inevitable) and our little car dying.  Then our computer got it's desperately needed reinstall, and everything is weird now.

Aaron calls these First World Problems.  So true.  But still, they are inconvenient, aren't they?

The week ended with a trip to the local amusement park (that I have carefully avoided for the past 11 years) for me and the girl for her first (and probably last) dance competition.  We were mean and left the boys and Aaron at home.

I've done fine at Legoland and Seaworld, but every ride here made me sick.  And most of the rides are very 'spinny' so I was really selective about which ones I rode.

Also I'm apparently more afraid of heights than I thought I was. Who knew! Granted, this is the hugest ferris wheel I've ever seen and they have spinners on them so they can spin like teacups.   I wasn't too hapy, but don't ask the girl for details on that, please.

It wasn't the worst day ever, even just sitting around waiting most of time.  The weather was nice (after the morning being cloudy and in the 40's - we brought the girl's winter coat to put on over her costume while she was warming up - those poor girls were freezing), but I'm sure everyone thought I was no fun at all!

Thank goodness the girl had a friend to go with, because  I only rode about 4 rides and pretty much regretted all of them.  I don't know if it was having an iffy stomach this week or what, but holy cow, I don't even want to look at these pictures.  I was so sick.

The "good" news is that one of her team's dances got a 1st place award and qualifies for 'Nationals'.  Which is next Saturday.  At the same place.

Goody.

Blurg!

Folks, it's been one of those weeks.  And it's only Tuesday.

 

Oh well.

I'll surface soon, catch you on the flip side.

1912

Aaron's grandma turned 100 last week!  She was born a few days after the Titanic sunk, isn't that amazing?

We headed up for her party, and I came up with a photobook for her gift.  Aaron's parents found photos of her when she was younger and scanned them for me, and I asked all of her children and grandchildren to send me some.

I love the sailor dress + bows!

Her children were adorable, too.  I included pictures of Emma when she was young, when her children were young (and then teenagers), a photo of each of her children's families when they were younger, and a photo of each of the grandchildren's families.  All her people in one place.

It was a surprising amount of work, but I'm pleased with how it turned out.  I used Shutterfly (I always use Shutterfly) and the quality was excellent as usual (not a sponsored post, I just like them).  Their new customized pages are SO cool and make my life easier.

Since I don't know Emma that well, it was fun to look through all these pictures and put this together for her.  I also don't get to do much family history at this point, so that felt good, too.

So anyway, we drove the 6 hours and let the kids play in the hotel pool the night before the party.  I chuckled because at 9:30pm there were 13 kids in that pool.  They were probably stuck in the car all day, too.

We brought up our birthday buntings (they've served us well over the years, we have used them for every birthday (they're reversible) for... 5 years? and they still look great) and I made a little accordian 1912 book for the table.

I just researched facts about 1912, and (hurriedly, not my best work) put them together for people to read.  She shares her Centennial birthday with LifeSavers, Oreo, Girl Scouts, and stainless steel.

Of course, the above photos were taken by Aaron with the point and shoot, a camera not really worthy of the occasion.  Why?  Because the girl and I were quarantined at the hotel all day and missed the party!

Yep, she was up half the night with a stomach bug.  Bummer!  There are worse things than spending a day holed up in a hotel with a nice TV, comfy duvet and your Nook (thank goodness for my nook!) but I missed talking to people we don't see too often, plus being there for Emma.   I also missed taking photos of the whole thing.  From all accounts it was a fun party and the birthday girl was thrilled.  That's what matters.

I ordered extra copies of the book for our family and Aaron's parents, and his siblings will all get one for Christmas (shh).  The kids love looking through it and saying 'THAT's Papa?'

Families are cool.

My mom calls my kids 'nerdy' and other random stuff

*That's right.  Their own grandma.  We've talked about this before, but she was just laughing because the boys ran out to get the mail yesterday and we could hear the redhead yell 'YES!  National Geographic!'

*I love the violins the boys drew recently.

*We tried another Russian recipe last night.  This time it turned out Russian, not Indian.

*Time for the garden to wake up.  We're trying to get the kids out there helping more this year. 

*Aw, cute fabric.  There are few things better to get in the mail.

*I found this book on sale at Evan-Moor and it has some fun thinking activity ideas.  We've done a few and the boys like them.  In this one, the eggs are filled with different things and they had to shake them and match which ones had the same item inside.

It was harder than you'd think...

*Bless the girl who wrote this post about bad baby names.  I've been wanting to write one myself and even have a page in my notebook dedicated to them.  But she did it for me.  And the names are horrific.  What are people thinking these days?

*This is what some of the boxes + makedo turned into yesterday:  An awesome cardboard fort.

In the living room.

Complete with turret, flaps for sticking out nerf guns, a door that closes...

And stocked with essential supplies, like a notebook and socker boppers.

And WHERE do we put this?  Because I'm kinda dying to vaccuum at this point...

*Oh, and Apple just sent me an email that my new ipad shipped.  I'm trying not to freak out and obsessively track it...

Monkey's Seventh

My baby is seven.  For you newer moms or not-yet moms, I'll bet you get tired of everyone saying how fast the time goes.  But it goes SO FAST.

When I started this blog, this kid had just turned 1. He was my baby.  He's still my baby.  But he's seven.

We got him a set of Makedo and a bunch of boxes we'd been saving for him to build with.

Makedo is as cool as everyone says it is.  For the right kid, anyway.  This kid is STOKED about it.

He is also pretty excited about these snap circuits.  When one project played Happy Birthday to him - that was just a bonus.

He chose donuts for breakfast, a trip to the library before lunch (deviled eggs with leftover piroshki), and pizza for dinner with Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Kellie.

His birthday shirt:

Not the best picture - but he draws dragons all the time.  In fact, he has a notebook he titled '[Monkey]'s book of Deadly Dragons' and he regularly adds new ones.  So I made a freezer paper stencil based on a two-headed dragon he drew.  He critiqued the placement of the eyes, but otherwise approves.  That's okay, he critiqued his monkey birthday shirt, too.

More building.  And he still wears the birthday crown Grandma made him when he turned two.  All my kids get their crowns out and wear them all day on their birthdays.

He is such a random, creative, silly stinker of a kid.  You never can predict him.  Those deviled eggs he asked for lunch?  He originally asked for them to be in a pinata. 

I know.

We love him to pieces.

He blew out the candles in his coconut cream pie before the birthday song was over.  Typical.

And Grandma and Grandpa brought him more boxes.  So this is what my living room looked like last night after they left. 

We're so classy.

We need an inventing room...

Multicultural Cuisine

Dinner tonight was YUMMY so I thought I'd share.

We tried piroshki (filled rolls, Russian recipe).  Been meaning to do this forever, ever since having them at our (Russian) friend's house.

This time we used frozen roll dough - easy peasy.

Two different fillings.  One a very simple ground beef, onion, garlic (as requested by the kiddos), and the other...a potato samosa filling (oh.my.).  Aaron did the potatoes with this recipe (he made a few changes) and it's killer.

Letting them rise...

The first batch (meat).

The potato ones are to die for.  Seriously.  Granted, this potato dish will become a staple, as it would be awesome by itself (or with a fried egg, says Aaron).

I made more cucumber salad (the Thai-style one I told you about here) instead of a chutney.  It filled the place nicely.

So our attempt at Russian food turned into Indian food with a Thai salad... not sure how Vladimir would feel about this, but it was AWESOME.  Like samosas but not fried and an excellent Sunday dinner.  

Next up I want to try making some simple ham + cheese or boiled egg + rice piroshki as something easy to keep in the freezer as a before-dance snack. 

Celebratory French Toast

Today we met a family goal and wanted to celebrate.

A small private party was in order.

We decorated a little, and the kids built lego candle holders for their candles.

The thing is, we wanted to go out to eat or something tonight, but the boys are in the post-stomach-bug-sensitive-tummy-stage, as they've been sick this week. 

What can they eat that's festive that the non-sick people will also think is yummy?

Aaron came up with the solution:  french toast with sprinkles.  The best idea.  Simple, yet festive.

I do make a mess when I cook - I just do.

None of my photos of the end result look appetizing, but they turned out great. I just shook some sprinkles onto the wet-side of the bread as it was cooking.   Easy.   We'll definitely do this again.  Celebratory French Toast.

Family parties are fun.  I love hanging out with my goofy people.

We ended the evening with a family movie night.  We finally rented Hugo, and I must say it's one of the few cases where the film is better than the book.  (And Asa is going to be Ender!  I approve!).

Ye Olde Colonial Projects

A few projects we've been up to lately as we study Colonial America for history:

Candlemaking.  I really wanted to dip candles (Princess and I did this a few years ago), but I'm not sure that will happen.  It might.  In the mean time, we did rolled beeswax candles.

I ordered a couple of kits from here, and they were just right to play with.

They each made a bigger taper + a few small candles and could use some pieces to decorate if they wanted.

Monkey got the most creative, making the 'russian guy candle' above on the left, and the 'alien candle' below.

We rolled hoops.  The girl came out, wet hair and all, to show us how it was done.  She's done this before.

Monkey had fun, Thomas did not.

Have you seen the opening of the old movie Pollyanna?  Man, that kid can roll a hoop.

We made tin can lanterns.  I wasn't sure how to do this safely, but then I read the directions (duh, Kirsten!) from our history program - which are pretty smart.  She has you freeze water in the can first, then hammer through it.

All done (Monkey's on the right was the first one we did, and we put the nail holes too close together).

And glowing.

Yesterday, we made butter.  We had very limited success with this last time, but this year I was determined.

So we shook (and shook and shook) the cream in a jar, and when they got tired I threw it all in the food processor.

And we waited more.

Aha!  Finally - progress!

It's way tasty.

Good (olde) times!