A New School Year

After what seems like just a flash, our summer has come to an end with Norah's first day of school this week. I was a little nervous back in the beginning of June about keeping her busy during her break, but we all fell into our summer routine (that is, lack of routine) quite nicely. Norah's "Box of Summer Fun" provided fifty days of activities and outings... and even a little bit of learning. We started with the ABC's, but at Norah's request added some number projects and more "Daddy Activities," bringing us all the way from the Monday after school got out to the Saturday before school started. I'm glad she was so enthusiastic about our projects. Thanks to Pinterest and some mommy blogs for some great ideas. So here's a quick recap of some of the favorite activities not mentioned in past posts...

For "E" day, we did an "E"xperiment with "E"ggs. We tried the classic dissolving eggshell test, where an egg + vinegar + eleven days = a egg that will bounce (at least a little bit). Norah had fun making her observations every day or so and was amazed (and a little grossed out) by the end result. The egg did, in fact bounce... but only if dropped from a low height. Dropped from too high, the egg splatted into a gooey, vinegary mess. (Luckily we tried this part of the experiment outside!)

"B's" activity involved making our own butter. This usually easy (but very time-consuming) project took a turn for the worse when Norah sustained a butter-making injury. She was so excited about shaking the jar (at least for 30 second bursts during the 15-20 minutes of shaking required for butter to form) that she hit herself in the face with the jar. She started crying, which made Maddie start crying, which made for a big teary mess. Everyone recovered, and we finished the butter. We even added some fresh herbs from the garden... so delicious. But please note: butter-making is more dangerous than it first appears!

While some days involved somewhat elaborate activities (as in "E" above), others were pretty simple - but still much enjoyed. "Q" brought Norah the chance to be queen for the day. Her royal proclamation: an extra dessert at dinner. For "S" day, we went to the park and counted how many things we could find that begin with "S." "W's" activity was a water-balloon fight.

We even took our projects on the road. During a long weekend in Aptos, we did a few days of "Beach Activities." We went berry picking at a local farm, and then headed to the local cage-free egg ranch to buy eggs from a vending machine and watch the dancing chickens. (Yes, it was a little hippie dippy, but it's Santa Cruz, after all.)

Back in Fresno, we took a field trip to the San Joaquin River parkway to learn about the wildlife...

...and then ended the whole thing with a final Daddy Activity. After Dan's backpacking trip a couple of weeks ago, Norah wanted to try sleeping in a tent, so she and Dan spent the night out in the backyard. They cooked hot dogs and s'mores on the grill, then enjoyed sleeping under the stars.

Maddie wanted to get in on the fun the next morning. Norah made it through the night with no problems and was ready to do it all over again the next night. (Dan decided one night was enough for now!)

So that was our summer of fun. This is the first year we've had a true summer off with Norah - since I always worked through the summer before - and I do have to say we were all a little sorry to see it end. Norah was, however, also VERY excited to go back to school this week. She is a Prayerful Panda this year, and her class has about half of her friends from last year plus a lot of new kids. We're looking forward to another great year!

Happy Birthday Sweet Maddie

Maddie celebrated her first birthday last week - how time flies! We had a fun day with her, including cake, presents, and lots of play time. She was a little unsure of how to get into the presents at first, but she was pretty quick to dig into her cake... and kept eating it until we had to take it away.

Norah was happy to help her little sissy, and the two of them had lots of fun playing with all of Maddie's new toys. (And yes, as you saw from Norah's concern in the video above, we eventually did give her some cake.)

In honor of her first birthday, we wanted to do a review of all things Maddie. She has developed a cute little sense of humor, which mostly involves her putting things on her head and laughing at herself...

...or blowing raspberries on my arm and laughing at herself (apparently the silliness of toot jokes is recognized early!).

Her favorite activities are climbing...

...and climbing some more.

Favorite foods are yogurt, cheese, applesauce, and popsicles. (Oh, and the crumbs she finds on the floor and the occasional snail from the garden. Luckily I caught the snail before she got it into her mouth - though it was quickly heading in that direction - but I don't always catch the crumbs.) And her favorite person in the whole wide world is her sister. (Especially when she gets to be in her sister's room and play with her sister's toys, but even when her sister "borrows" the toy she is in the middle of playing with. Oh, the toils of the youngest child)

It is fun to see Maddie develop her own personality. She is sweet, cuddly, curious, observant, and loving. We are so blessed to have Maddie in our lives. What an amazing year it has been!

 

Happy birthday sweet Maddie... we love you so much!

Family Time

Is it really August already? We're getting ready for Maddie's big birthday tomorrow and enjoying the last couple weeks of Norah's summer vacation. More on Maddie in our next post, but first, pictures from our trip to Festus.

We were lucky to be able to head to Missouri in mid-July to catch up with Dan's family, introduce Maddie to everyone, and give Norah some time to play with her cousins. Norah, Ember, and Autumn spent lots of time playing, giggling, and swimming - fun to watch them reconnect!

 

As part of Judie's birthday present, Dan and Matt organized a tea party and a trip to the Magic House, which is a children's museum in the St. Louis area. The girls all came up with princess names for their tea party, and enjoyed fancy (PB&J) sandwiches and fizzy drinks served up by the daddies. (Maddie decided to take her morning nap in lieu of the tea party, since she wanted to stock up on energy for later!) Then it was off to the Magic House, which had play spaces for kids of all ages. Maddie especially loved the climbing equipment for babies (no surprise there, since climbing is her favorite activity ever), and Norah, Ember, and Autumn had fun in the play village - where they could play in a pizza shop, serve pretend ice cream, go fishing, drive a car, and more. The highlight of the day for the big kids, though, was the three story twisty slide, which they went down over and over again. We were all pretty tired by the end of our trip... but luckily we had a nice car ride back to Festus to take naps and get ready for more swimming with Granny Franny that evening.

 

The fun continued the next day with a trip to the St. Louis Zoo. We chose a VERY hot day for our zoo adventure (we're just not used to the humidity!), but we still got to see lots of animals, check out the sea lion show, and ride the carousel. Norah loved the sea lions and penguins, and Maddie was just happy to be along for the ride.

 

The best part of the trip was being able to spend time with family, since we don't get to see them nearly enough. We're so grateful for the time we do have together, and love watching Norah and Maddie get their Grammy/Grandpa/Granny/great-grandparent/aunt/uncle/cousin time. We're already looking forward to seeing everyone next time!

 

When we got back home, we had some monster zucchinis waiting for us in the garden. (We missed some heat in Fresno, too, which made the squash grow and grow and grow.) Once zucchinis get big, they're not good as good for eating, but they are still good for baking. The one zucchini below was enough for two loaves of zucchini bread, a big pan of zucchini brownies, and four dozen zucchini chocolate chip cookies. Now if only I could come up with enough recipes to keep up with all of our peaches!

Dan followed up his trip to Festus with a backpacking trip to Yosemite with Jake (Maggie's fiance) and Mike (Laura's boyfriend). While I love hiking, spending the night in the woods is really not up my alley, so Dan was glad to find other people to share this interest with. (Norah wanted to know why she couldn't go, but after a short explanation of the [complete lack of] bathroom facilities, she quickly changed her mind.) The guys arrived home smelling pretty manly and with a few blisters, but overall had a great weekend and saw some beautiful scenery.

And last, we finally made it to our first baseball game of the season (and Maddie's first ever) this week. The weather has cooled off just a bit, so it was a perfect night for baseball.

Love to all!

The fun keeps coming.

Hey everyone!  This is Dan making a rare blog entry.  Kristin's been doing a fantastic job keeping everyone up to date on our family's adventures, and so far it has been a pretty great Summer.  Norah's activities have continued in the last two weeks and they have been pretty entertaining for her and us.

"X" was bound to be a difficult to find an activity for, but a treasure hunt fit the bill (because "X marks the spot". Get it?).  Norah helped Kristin follow the treasure map in the car all the way to my office.  It was great to have them all visit, and I was able to hide a special treat in my office for her to find.

"H" was an opportunity for Maddie to get in the fun too.  It was crazy Hair/Hat day for the girls.  There were no trips to my office or into public places in this getup :-)  They did have a very good time at home though.

Finally, Wednesday was the last of the Box of Summer Fun.  It was the last Daddy Activity, to boot.  Now, some would say that my activities are less focused on "education" and more focused on "danger" or "cool stuff".  However, I'll stand behind the academic rigor of my selections.  For instance, this activity taught Norah about wind resistance and aerodynamics.  In our study of "things that fly" we made different paper airplanes and tested them.  We also used a very brave toy bunny as a volunteer to test our homemade parachute.  Some might say you could test these things on the ground, but what fun is that?  So, onto the roof we went!

 

We worked our way through the Summer Fun box very quickly, but there is still some vacation time left.  Coming soon... fun with numbers.

In case anyone thought Maddie was getting easier to keep up with, you would be very wrong.  Maddie is no longer interested in easy climbing.  Our little over-achiever is pushing boundaries every day and going even higher.  And, she's not even walking yet!

Chair to table - trying to make her way to the desk next.

Hope everyone is having a great Summer! 

Hot, hot, hot!

We've been enjoying the (somewhat) lazy days of summer, though the last week has been blazing hot here in Fresno. We escaped to the beach for a long weekend, but it was back to reality come Sunday night. The house was 88 degrees inside when we got back... and Sunday wasn't even the worst day of the hot spell.

Our activity-of-the-day project continues. Monday was appropriately "P" is for popsicle and pool - perfect for a hot summer day. Norah got a Zoku popsicle maker for Christmas, and we've been having fun coming up with flavor combinations. Monday's creation involved chocolate fudge and bananas (hold the bananas for Dan and I and the chocolate for Maddie). The pops were delicious and enjoyed by all.

While searching for recipes for Norah's project, I found some decidedly more adult-friendly pops and also a whole book about "Poptails," conveniently available from my local library in e-book format. I think the mojito posicles may be on our 4th of July menu later today. Norah won't mind of we borrow her Zoku as long as we make something (else) for her.

Our super hot weather is making most of my garden sad, but it's making my tomatoes grow like crazy. Dan got me a dehydrator for my birthday, so now we have homemade "sun"-dried tomatoes to go along with the tomato sauce, salsa, bruschetta, salads, etc. We're thankful for the temporary slowdown of the zucchini and patty pan squash production, since we were running out of new ideas of what to do with those. Since I'm home a lot more now, I've really gotten into my garden this year and have expanded from the usual tomatoes and herbs to also include summer squash, butternut squash, green beans, Swiss chard, carrots, peppers, strawberries, onions, etc. It's giving me an outlet for both my creative and nerdy sides. (I think it also gives me the subconscious feeling that I'm still providing something concrete for my family.) Dan says I've gone down the rabbit hole, but I think it's really interesting to learn about companion planting, vertical gardening, edible flowers, and safer ways of managing weeds and pests. Plus, it's making us get more creative with our meals as we figure out what to do with our bounty. Dan and Norah are being really good sports about trying zucchini brownies, borage lemonade, and microgreens. Norah - the kid who refuses to eat most sauces (ketchup and syrup notwithstanding) - pops nasturtium and borage flowers into her mouth without batting an eye. And Dan - who was wary of most vegetables when we met - now harvests Swiss chard in the mornings for his omelets. Dan did draw the line at getting a chicken, however. (In reality, while I am on board with the concept of backyard chickens, those of you who know me know that I am definitely not in favor of cleaning up after said chickens. Not to worry Dan - chickens are not in your future!) Either way, I'm having fun and we're getting some good veggies in the process.

A few of our tomatoes... feeling overrun!

Not a chicken, but a goat instead

Maddie turned 11 months old on Tuesday, thus entering her last month of babyhood (sigh). She's a very adept crawler, so we seem to be a bit away from walking yet. She is, however, perfecting her climbing skills. She spent hours this past weekend at the beach house going up and down the two steps from the kitchen to the family room... which has given her the confidence to explore greater and greater heights. She has a curious streak, this one! While at least now she has figured how to get herself down, she's still definitely keeping us on our toes.

 

Norah and Maddie are becoming quite the playmates. Maddie just laughs and laughs at her big sissy, and she's still a pretty good sport when Norah "borrows" her toys (right out of Maddie's hands). While they were playing the other day, I snapped the below picture...

...which reminded me of another picture we have hanging in our hallway.

I guess boxes really are one of those timeless toys. We're so thankful for both of our beautiful, happy, loving girls. Happy 4th of July to all!