"TWIN"BEARZ

Ok, so who's good at math?

2012-01-27T18:13:00.000-05:00

Fenton got this cute little penguin puzzle for Christmas, which the whole family has taken a liking to. Some days Fenton likes to dump all the pieces and stack them back up again. Other days he likes to dump all the pieces and use the base (that has a wooden rod to hold the pieces in place) and bang away like it's a hammer. While it does make a good hammer, I wish he wouldn't use it to pound imaginary nails into my knee. Kids and their imaginations these days!

But the rest of us feel the irresistible urge to see how many different ways we can arrange Mr. Penguin. Indeed, it seems that every time I walk by him, he's a changed man.

So this got me wondering: should I vacuum today or tomorrow? Oh, wait, that's silly of me. Why was I wondering that? Of course I need to vacuum both days. Pshaw! As if!

But I was also wondering: just how many ways can we arrange Penguin Jr? As I spent some time thinking about it, and consulting with Damon, I quickly realized that this is not only a complicated question, but it just might require that thing called math! [gasp!] I know, I know! I wasn't ready to face that fact either. I know I need a break already, how about you? Yes? Ok, break time. So everyone watch this video and then come back.

Feel better? Yeah, Star Wars dogs rock!

Ok, let's see if we can tackle this, shall we? Our mission, should you accept it, is to see how many ways we can arrange Senior Penguin.

So let's start out with the facts. Just the facts, ma'am. Ok, there are 7 pieces to the Perky Penguin puzzle - not including the blue hammer/base. Let's leave that out since it doesn't really factor for possible combinations, since it can only be on the bottom (or flipped upside-down to be on the top).

Are you still with me? It's going to get even more complicated in a minute, so if you need a short nap, I understand. In fact, let's just all go ahead and take a little siesta.

[Time passes... Snoring... Wiping off drool... Massaging keyboard prints off forehead...]

Oh, are we all back? Ok, good. Now where were we? Oh yes. So how many ways can we arrange The Penguinator's 7 pieces?

I think we need to think about what we are really asking here. More specifically, are we asking if it would be better to order a pizza or just make macaroni and cheese? Both have their advantages, obviously. Pizza = easy. Mac N Cheese = cheap. Oh, why can't I get Mac N Cheese delivery? Woe is me...

Oh, right. Sorry. My husband think my son's ADHD tendencies may come from my side. I don't really know what he's talking about. So have you solved the problem yet? You know, the Persnickety Penguin problem?

No?

Ok, fine. I guess I have to sit here and walk you through it. Did you understand the part about having 7 pieces? Yeah, ok good. So thinking about all of this, and searching through the Land of the Internet, I realized that if you type in "Gingrich" the first hit you get is "Mitt Romney for President." No joke...

Well played, Romney, well played.

I also realized that what we are dealing with here are permutations (not combinations). Permutations focus on the arrangement of objects with regard to the order in which they are arranged, whereas combinations focus on the selection of objects without regard to the order in which they are selected. For example, consider the letters A and B. Using those letters, we can create two 2-letter permutations - AB and BA. Because order is important to a permutation, AB and BA are considered different permutations. However, AB and BA represent only one combination, because order is not important to a combination. (Thank you, StatTrek!)

Got that? I just threw a whole lot at you. Sorry about that. Do you need another break? How about before we go on, we get a little refresher on math? I think we'll feel a bit more confident in our selves if we do so...

Oh man, I don't know what to say. I mean, math is really pretty easy after all, isn't it? I feel so much better.

Let's continue.

If we have 7 pieces, how many different ways can we arrange our Wacky Waddler? It turns out we need to work with something called a factorial (don't ask me how I know, I just know). Say it with me... ffffaaaaaccctttooorrriiiaaaalll. Good! A factorial really is just a fancy word for "a non-negative integer n, denoted by n!, that is the product of all positive integers less than or equal to n." Who knew? And I thought it was complicated math term.

For example, the factorial we'd use for our 7 piece puzzle would be:

7! or (7)(6)(5)(4)(3)(2)(1) = 5,040

Great! Wow, 5,040 is so many combinations.... err... sorry... permutations. I'm so glad I didn't try to take a picture of each one.

Oh, but I still am wondering something... No, it's not about vacuuming or pizza. Come on people, stay focused! What I'm wondering is what if we turn some/all of them upside down? The factorial we just did only is if everything is just one way. But we can have all facing up, all facing down, or 1 up/6 down, or 2 up/5 down, etc.

Wow! Ok! So what does that mean? Well it means things just got a whole more complicated. Yeah, I know... Need another break? Ok...

Back? Good. Let's think this through... So there are 5,040 permutations with all facing up. And there are just as many permutations with all facing down. And I'm guessing that each up/down set would also have 5,040 permutations. If I'm thinking this through right, it would be something like the following, since each piece can ONLY be up or down:

5,040 permutations of 0 up/7 down
+ 5,040 permutations of 1 up/6 down
+ 5,040 permutations of 2 up/5 down
+ 5,040 permutations of 3 up/4 down
+ 5,040 permutations of 4 up/3 down
+ 5,040 permutations of 5 up/2 down
+ 5,040 permutations of 6 up/1 down
+ 5,040 permutations of 7 up/0 down
--------------------------------------
= 40,320

Ahh! So our answer is 40,320. Excellent work everyone.

What? Say that again? That's not right. Almost right? What!!!

Ok, let me rephrase what I'm hearing you say: That's not taking into account each piece. Let's take the head, for example. The 1 up/6 down scenario works if you just take one piece, say the head, and use it as the only "up." But you could have just as many permutations if the "1 up" is the feet. Or the black bottom. Or the weird rubber flippers. Etc. And then for the 2 up/5 down, you'd have to do the permutations for each combination of twosies/fivesies.

Oh man, oh man, oh man! What have we gotten ourselves into? Is that a vortex opening up? I think I need to lie down.

[Lying down...]

Oh much better.

What? You still haven't solved it? Do I have to get back up? Fine.

[Getting up...]

It's obvious at this point that we are also working with event multiples. Yeah, I didn't know they existed until about 3 hours ago. Apparently it would work something like this:

We have 7 events (items), and each of those events can be either of two ways (up or down).

When you calculate the event multiples for this, you get 128. I can't really say what the formula is to calculate that, but trust me...truuussssssst me...I know what I am talking about. (Also, StatTrek has a neat calculator - go ahead, try it. See?)

Ok...so what does 128 have to do with the 40,320 we came up earlier? Hmmm....sounds like break time!

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All right. I know I feel better. Ok let's get this finished up. Re-runs of Three's Company are about to start and I can't have math on my mind for that. Are you with me? Who's with me!? Oh, you are. Good.

Ok, so I think what all this crazy stuff means is that there are 128 ways we can stack our lovely 40,320 Pretentious Penguin permutations. Does that sound about right? If I'm right, then there are 5,160,960 different ways we can arrange Papa Penguin.

Let's say that again (just for fun): 5,160,960. Or as Damon puts it, a ridiculously* huge number. Yeah, huge.

Now if I haven't thought this through right, and you think my calculations are off, please comment. I mean, really, what the hell do I know. Math is hard.

.
* You know what he really said.

A kid's view of paradise

2012-01-24T18:08:00.000-05:00

[Updated! I got some info back from my parents about the pics and have added them below! Amazingly, I was spot on for most of the pics, though totally off on some.]

I had a rough childhood. I was forced to live on a desolate island in the middle of nowhere for years. I had to suffer through extreme hot and cold temperatures ranging anywhere from 72 and 74 degrees. I had no choice but to go sailing or to the beach every weekend. I remember the burden of climbing palm trees and eating fresh coconut, or having to hike up trails just to see a waterfall. Yeah, it was a tough experience, but I know that it has only made me stronger.

But now that I am grown up, and now considered a 'mainlander' by many, I occasionally think back to my years as a child in Hawaii. My cousin just got married and went there for her honeymoon and she sent some pics of the house I used to live in, so I went ahead and dug through my pics from when I was a kid and thought I'd post some of them.

Of course, this was back in the days of film, so you know I have a total of 67 pictures from my five years in Hawaii. I know my parents have more, but I'm just working with my stash that I scanned a while back.

So yes, let's take a tour, why don't we?

This is me at the beach. Annoying sand and sun everywhere, which I had no choice but to play in all day.
[June 1978 Barber's Point. That puts me at age 4.]

This is me doing a cartwheel in a friend's backyard. I was really good at cartwheels. Apparently, this is one of those 'use it or lose it' skills.
[1978 My mom say's it was our front yard, but I think it was a friend's back yard. But since I did cartwheels all over the neighborhood, she's probably right.]

This is the side of a cabin we stayed in when we visited one of the other islands. One time, when we went to some other islands, we rode on a military ship because it was free or cheap or my dad thought it would be fun or something. It was hot on the ship as there was no shade. It may sound neat, but when you're floating at sea with the tropical sun pounding down on you, it can be a little annoying. We all kept swaying back and forth for like a day after we got off the ship. It actually was a cool experience, looking back on it. I don't think that this trip was the 'ship' trip though.
[1979 Big Island: KMC (Kileaua Military Camp). If you go to their website, it looks like they have upgraded their cabins.]

This is the door of the cabin...because, you know, the only thing better than a picture of the side of a cabin is a picture of the door. I think this cabin had a fireplace, because I guess in some places - even in Hawaii - it gets cold sometimes.
[Same as above.]

This is a picture of some cows crossing the road. I had never seen anything like it before.
[1979 Big Island: Parker Ranch. One of the largest ranches in the U.S. Wow, who knew?!]

This is another picture, but mostly I got my dad's camera in the shot. He gave me the camera years later and I still have it.
[Same as above.]

I guess this is some field we went by. I can't make out what is in the distance. Some cliffs maybe?
[1979 Big Island: KMC. Kileaua crater in the distance, about 500 feet from the edge of the camp main gate.]

We visited the world's largest macadamia nut orchard. Macadamia nuts are pretty yummy.
[1979 Big Island]

This is a pic of one of our times out sailing, I think. I suspect that we had seen dolphins or something, as it looks like one has just gone back under (in the bottom left of the pic). It's hard to tell, so I'm probably just making things up.
[1980 Sailing trip out of Hickman Air Force Base in the ocean.]

There were lots of places we would drive by that had black rocks - probably lava rocks - on the side of the road. This place also had white rocks for some reason, and people would stop and spell out cool things. I spelled my name. I thought I did a nice job. I'm sure it's still there, too.
[1980 Big Island trip on the road from Hilo to Kona (south side of the island). This was a lava field that also had a lot of coral rocks along the side of the road (probably used when they made the road). Everyone would stop and do their name or some type of graffiti. Looks like people still do this 'lava graffiti'!]

This, I believe, is a volcano crater. I lived there back before the volcanoes became active again, and we actually walked across one of the craters that is now active today. I'm not sure if this is Kilauea, but the pic further down is.
[1980 Kileaua crater steaming away.]

This is me, standing in the crack of a road that we had to hike on to get to wherever it was we were going. Judging by the order of these pictures, I'm guessing it was on the way to the crater. But it's also possible that this was taken months later, so who knows. And you think you've got bad pot-holes where you live.
[1980 Big Island: KMC trip. Road damaged due to 1974 earthquake; closed to car traffic.]

More hiking - probably to another (or the same) crater. I guess the bulge in the land is due to the ground moving from a previous lava flow or eruption or something. I don't know, really.
[1980 Kileaua crater with lava bulge.]

Ok, so this is Kilauea*. If I was anything like my kids, I'm sure I complained constantly during this hike, not appreciating for a second that I was walking over a volcano that would begin erupting again one day.
[1980 Kileaua crater.]

*Although my pic is a bit blurry, it does look a lot like this pic on Wikipedia of Kilauea at Hilo:

This is a picture of a car we rented on one of our trips. I have no idea why we pulled over to the side of the road. Maybe to look at something? I dunno.
[1981 Kauai trip.]

Maybe it was to look at the pretty flowers. It was quite pretty there. It's also possible it was a pee break.
[1981 Kauai trip.]

I remember seeing topiaries like this a lot there. This one had all kinds of zoo animals.
[1981 Local landscaping in Kauai]

Ahh, yes...the waterfall. Another tortuous hike, I'm sure. Climbing up flowery, wooded paths, with the birds calling and roar of the water in the background. I know I made it as miserable for my parents as possible. Sorry about that.
[1980 Big Island: Akaka Falls (over 420 feet).]

My mom used to make homemade popsicles that were awesome. Full of sugar and fun to eat. I also liked to pretend I had an enormous tongue. I know, I was strange.
[1980]

Speaking of strange, I also liked to take tennis balls to...err...enhance my figure. I really have no idea what I was thinking.
[1981]

This is our front door/carport. I took a picture of one of my dolls, sitting at the bottom of the step. I liked that doll because it's face and hands were made of soft plastic, and you could pull down the back of her outfit to wipe her butt (also soft plastic). I though that was cool. Our Oldsmobile Cutlass was pretty cool too.
[Our house]

I'm not sure really what this is, other than cows in a field. Let's mooooove on. (Ahem...sorry...couldn't resist)
[1981 Kauai. 'Laura those are horses!!!!"]

Oh...more cows in the field...alrighty then...
[Same as above.]

This is someone's elbow, and also a neat bridge thing. It's possible they were doing maintenance on it, since I see a crane or something. I have no idea why I took the picture, really.
[1981 Kauai. On our trip to the North Shore of Kauai we had to go over a one lane bridge and this is it. Hope nobody is coming the other way!]

This is the view from somewhere of something. I think I liked seeing the farm plots and the stream in this cute valley in what seemed like the middle of nowhere. I wonder what they were farming.
[1981 Kauai. Taro fields (that they make poi out of.)]

Here is a second picture of it. Considering film was a precious commodity to be used very scarcely back then, I must have really liked this to take two pictures of it.
[Same as above.]

Some picture of a mountain, taken from the car. I can tell this wasn't our car, because our Cutlass was two doors (with a dark green interior), and here you can see I have my own lock on the door that I could control. Mmmmwwwhhhaahaaa.
[1981 Kauai. This is the Sleeping Giant mountain. ]

Yes, another waterfall. Seriously, they were everywhere, often in random places.
[1981 Kauai: Wailua Falls, located in the middle of a cane field. These falls were used in the opening photos of the TV show Fantasy Island.]

And another one. A double one, even!
[Same as above.]

Two waterfalls, two pictures!
[Same as above.]

Ahhh...telephone wires mixed with the defrost lines on the back windshield. I actually think it's kinda cool, even though I'm sure it's not what I intended.
[1981 Kauai trip. "Your guess is as good as mine as to what you were taking a picture of."]

Finally, a picture at the marina. Must have been a sailing day. One time I went sailing with some people and had to pee sooo bad that my Mom and I raced to the bathroom after we got back and I made it all the way there without going, but couldn't get my pants down in time so I sat on the potty and peed through my pants. True story.
[1982 Hickman Air Force Base Marina, where we would rent Rhodes 19 sailboats.]

Someone forgot their anchor. I'll watch it for them until they get back.
[1982 Hickman Air Force Base Marina]

I just noticed what awesome shoes I have on. If I had them today I'd be what you call a 'hipster.' Of course, if I had those pony tails today I'd be what you call a 'dork.' A dorkster?
[1982 Hickman Air Force Base Marina]

Boats on the dock. Probably the boats we would be using that day. Look how yummy-delicious that water looks! I'd jump in right now if I could.
[1982 Hickman Air Force Base Marina]

You can't tell, but I think that my brother is sailing that boat. Yeah, he sailed too. So did my mom. My dad could also sail. We all knew how to sail. It was like riding bikes in our family, except that I didn't know how to ride a bike, and it was probably more expensive. And ropes and sails were involved. I'm sure there are some other differences, too.
[1982 Hickman Air Force Base Marina. My brother would come here for sailing races on the weekends.]

Yeah, that's my brother. I'm not sure who he's sailing with, but it reminds me of a joke my brother told me that his sailing buddy told him about the Purple Gorilla. He said it took 3 hours to tell the joke. I can tell it in about 3 minutes. Amateurs.
[1982 Hickman Air Force Base Marina]

I was never good back then (or now) about waiting until people moved out of my shot, so I now forever have a picture of some lady looking at some cool mountains.
[1982 Kauai: Waimea Canyon - the Grand Canyon of the Pacific.]

Oh, that's better.
[Same as above.]

One time I got to take a tour of a submarine, and we all got a picture to take home. This is the periscope, and I had just looked through it. I remember thinking "Man, you really can't really see shit through these things."
[1982 Periscope in the Sub Base Museum.]

My brother would build these crazy things with the broken tree limbs in the backyard. I tagged along with whatever he did. Here I am wearing my Midway shirt, which was one of two shirts I wore as often as my mom could wash them. This was my blue outfit - the other being my red outfit. I wore that shirt forever, and there is a good chance I still have it somewhere.
[1982 One of the many building projects me and my brother did in the backyard and on the hill. "Wonder if anyone ever found those buried metal lunchboxes that you put in the hilltop with little treasures." Oh cool that I did that! How sad that I don't remember doing that.]

These next few pics are of some harbor (quite possibly Pearl Harbor) that we are looking down on as some ships come in. I remember it being very windy. My dad was in uniform there, so I think there was some event going on.
["I don't know where you took these photos because you are up high but you definitely have a navy ship coming in."]

Oh, and here are the pics my cousin sent of what our house looks like now. What strikes me the most is how all the trees are gone. We had coconut trees along the right with a grass side yard with a lime tree. All that's paved over now. Also, we had a whole bunch of trees and plants in the front and left side of the yard - now all gone. Those pictures earlier of me with the popsicle and the boobies were taken in our front yard. And from what I can see, the back yard has been cleared since I can see that tank in the background which was blocked by all the trees before. Much different than what me and my brother would play in. But I guess it looks the same otherwise. That bedroom in the front (on the left) was my room. Our house had this cool wall mural inside that someone painted before we bought it. It had a rainbow and a turtle and some other stuff. I wonder if my parents have a pic of it. It was pretty neat.
["The type of windows have been changed and they are smaller openings that what we had. The roof is cedar shake and we had shingle. Yes, the plants are gone and a big fence is in place. Lots of junk sitting around in the front of the house. The side yard and lanai are gone and replaced with an ugly driveway. Two mailboxes....Maybe they made an apt. in the large back section of the house - the part that was an add-on when we bought it. Anyway....it looked a lot prettier and greener when we lived there. The big tank on the top of the hill was not even visible from the street because of all the plants."]

Well, folks, I'm pau. Huh? What? What is 'pau'? Oh, yeah, sorry. Speaking of which, have I ever told you my 'pau' (pronounced 'pow') story? In the 9th grade, I was in the bathroom with some girlfriends and I asked them if they were pau. They had no idea what I was saying. "You know...All done? Finished? Pau?" My questions were only returned with blank stares. The fact that I only realized this was a Hawaiian word when I was in high school - and had been using it regularly up till then - probably accounts for some of my uncoolness that lingers to this day. ("Can you believe she said 'pau'?") Yeah, I'm sure that's it.

Anyhow, I did leave out some pics that had my family in it, sparing them the embarrassment of being seen on the web with 70's hair styles (you're welcome). Maybe some day I'll post some pics from California, although I have nearly 300 pics from that era, and even more from Maryland, so I'll have to pick through them for the gems.

A hui hou.

I declare

2012-01-18T18:09:00.000-05:00

I've never really understood, and therefore followed, New Year's traditions. Does that surprise you? It shouldn't if you've been reading this blog, and I'm suuuuurrrrre you've been reading this blog every day, so you know that I don't know about these things. Right? Right.

In fact, writing this post I had to go look up what new year's superstitions there are since I admit I don't really know any. Did you know that you aren't supposed to throw anything away on New Years? Oops. Or that you shouldn't do the laundry, lest a family member be 'washed away.' Crap! Or that eating black-eyed peas brings you good luck and fortune. Really? Guess I'm 0/3.

But this year I kept hearing things like "what you do on the first day of the year is what you'll do for the rest of the year." Have people always been saying this? Why have I never heard this before? And if that's true then that's pretty depressing. Is this some sort of Groundhog Day phenomenon that actually happens to people? And I don't mean the look-at-your-shadow groundhog day, but the real groundhog day.

Gives new meaning to the phrase Same Shit, Different Day, doesn't it?

If what we do on New Year's Day is a predictor for the rest of the year, then, first of all, I would have probably planned my day a bit better. Let's see...on the 1st I was dealing with all three cabin-fever kids by myself (and had been for days, and would be for many more days to come) because Damon was uber-sick and quarantined in the office for what ended up being over a week. I had to drag all the kids to my office to use the computer because our Internet was down at home and I needed to pay the mortgage, only to find that when I got to my office and finally logged on the computer while trying to keep Fenton from drawing on the walls and Kestian from using the phone and Adelaide from running down the hall, that they actually gave me until the 3rd to pay it. Gee thanks! (I paid that sucker anyway that day, just for spite. Ha! Take that, online mortgage paying website, you! I win!). Yeah, and that was just like 1 hour of that day. If I am doomed to repeat those events for the rest of the year, then this year will be pretty sucky.

But you know how I know it's all a superstition? Well, I know mainly because even though I have shitty days here and there, I seem to get a nice variety of shitty days. (Different shit, different day?) The universe likes to keep it interesting, and I apprecriate that. Thank you!

"You're welcome!"
"Wait - you're not the universe - you're the Internet!"
"Same difference."

So now we are well into January, and over the past few weeks I have been thinking about resolutions. I've also never really been into resolutions, but I've seen some other people post theirs and thought maybe this was as good a time as any to resolve something.

Thanks, Facebook, for making me feel better about myself yet again.

But it's not really about making resolutions. We all have things we want to do. Lose weight. Stop smoking. Eat more...err...less bacon. I guess it's more about thinking about what you want to do...being a tad bit introspective and all that crap. I'm so often torn in so many directions that I forget to think about what I want to be doing. And even after thinking about it, I still don't really know. But I guess there are a few things.

One is running. I've run here and there over the years, but nothing half-way serious since before Fenton was born. I've been thinking about getting back into it, and one day recently I finally did. I joined a running group and have started their Couch to 5K program. I'd like to run farther than 5k, but it's a good start. I'd like to run the 10k again this summer, and it would be cool to run a half marathon at some point, but I don't know when I'll be ready for that. (Actually, it's not running a half marathon that I can't envision - it's running for however long it takes to run a half marathon. Is that like an hour or two? That is something I can't really envision.) But I'm so serious about it that I may even go so far as to sell my soul to the Beef Council - or at least let them sponsor my race fees if I wear their jersey. Because, you know, running and burgers go hand in hand.

Your point?

Another thing I'd like to do is learn to draw. My mother's award-winning artistic talents have completely skipped a generation and left me with drawing skills that my 6-year-olds regularly mock. It's about time I learn to draw something better than stick figures and suns with happy faces.

"Happy Sun" - by Laura Orsetti, age 38

So I've been looking online here and there and found a website that walks you through some of the basics. Maybe one day I'll actually take a class. Maybe one day I'll sit down with my mom and she can show me herself.

Other than that, though, I don't think I can take on much else. There's the usual not get so stressed out by the kids, or clean less/play more things that we all work on, and I'll try to do all of those boring expected things. But maybe I can do them while drawing a picture of myself running.

What's old is new

2012-01-17T17:55:00.000-05:00

Speaking of cameras...I've got this new app on my phone that makes some fun ye olde tyme style pictures. I can change the lens and the flash to make it look all old-school. I've been having fun taking pictures of the kids with it, so if you see some new-but-really-looks-old-and-a-little-bit-crappy-but-in-a-cool-sort-of-way pictures...that is why.

Here are some fun ones just playing around with it:

And this one I just had to include because it is so awesome.

It totally reminds me of that scene in Sixteen Candles where the guys are trying to take a picture of the Prom Queen in that Rolls Royce as proof that the Geek was out with her and get the picture all screwed up.

Yeah - this is an awesome app!

Give a kid a camera

2012-01-13T17:38:00.000-05:00

Every now and then, for kicks (both mine and the kids), I hand the kids a camera and tell them to go for it. One of these times was when we went to McConnell Springs recently (if you call November "recently"). I promised to print out the pics for the kids - and I still mean to - but when I looked at the pics on the computer I was pleasantly surprised by what I saw. I uploaded the pics to some Facebook albums, which I think you can see if you click here (you do NOT need a Facebook account to view these albums):

Adelaide's pics from McConnell Springs

Kestian's pics from McConnell Springs

Here are some of my favorites...

Adelaide

Kestian

Buses, bread, and baloney

2012-01-09T17:58:00.000-05:00

When I was growing up, I never rode the bus to school. At least not until high-school. I either was in a carpool or I walked to school. I always thought it would be cool though to ride the bus, and when I finally did, I learned to curse it. Mostly because I had to be at the bus stop at some godforsaken hour because school started at 7:15. High school? 7:15? Where is the logic in that? Never in my life have I had to get up as early as I did for high school, even now with two kids to drop off at school, a third to daycare, and getting myself to work by 8am. But actually I didn't mind the bus. I didn't have to navigate the nightmare that was Rockville Pike during rush hour and I got to chill with my friends on the ride.

Damon, however, did ride the bus when he was younger. Not always, but sometimes. And I guess when you ride buses you start to ponder odd things. Not just things that a typical kid would ponder, like what would you do if you met a jibboo, or will my pee really smell funny if I eat asparagus, or will I die from the cherry seed I accidentally swallowed last night and if so, how long will it take, and if not, will it hurt when I poop it out? I'm sure he pondered these things, as we all have, but he would also think about things like what his bus looked like - other than, well, a bus. He tells stories of how he always thought of this bus as a bread bus...

Not because he'd always ride past the bread store and dream of semi-fresh day-old bread, or because the fragrance of the adolescent tweens on the bus collectively emitted an aroma that smelled awesomely good like fresh-baked bread. Rather, because the front of it was flat and so it looked like a loaf of bread...

Even when I did ride the bus, I don't remember thinking that flat-fronted buses looked like bread. Heck, I don't even remember flat-fronted buses. I always remember buses like this...

Still, I never thought of what food it looked like. It was just, you know, a bus. Of course, this whole bread-bus thing comes from someone who thinks that the things that hold up power lines look like people...

Yeah, I guess so. I never really thought about it, but I can see how they look like people, in a headless, robot, coming-to-kill-you sort of way.

So a while ago, when Damon was telling the kids about how he thought the flat-fronted buses looked like loaves of bread, they countered with what traditional buses look like...

Yes, baloney. They call them baloney buses, I guess because of the way the front sticks out is sort of like the way the meat sticks out on a package of baloney. But, honestly, I think I am making assumptions. Indeed, I asked them yesterday who came up with the "baloney bus" label and both vehemently denied it, nor can either one say why it could have been chosen. There have also been occasional, yet just as passionate, discussions of what buses look like that included pickles, so I really can't say what the hell they are thinking.

I can say though, once again: I live with weird people.

Fenton Favs

2012-01-07T09:12:00.000-05:00

We are getting to point now where Fenton is starting to wear more and more of Kestian's old clothes. Before we knew about Fenton, I had been getting rid of a lot of the kids' clothes, but there are some bins of clothes that never sold for one reason or another.

So the other day I broke out this little outfit:

I went back through some pics to see if I had one with Kestian wearing the same thing. Indeed:

Ok... Fenton is about 20 months old here. Care to guess how old Kestian is in the pic above?

Would you believe 3?

Yes, this pic was taken on the kids' 3rd birthday:

Of course, Kestian could have well been wearing this before his 3rd birthday, but this is the first picture I found of him in it. The outfit is 2T, and the (older) kids were so small for so long that I'm sure Kestian as a 3-year-old was still in 2T. Heck, he was still wearing 4T just last year.

Since we are on the topic of Fenton, I thought I'd throw out a few more Fenton favorites. We all know Fenton loves balls. But did you know he also like the bottle brush and the blue cap....

He will often use the bottle brush to hit his balls to make them roll (always goes back to the balls). And the blue cap...I have no idea. He just wears it on his hand for kicks I guess...

And when he's not playing with those, he can always be found with a pencil/marker/crayon and paper...

And speaking of favorites, also note the slippers. This is his second pair. He wore out the first pair. Not outgrew...wore out.

On the twelfth day of Christmas...

2012-01-06T17:56:00.000-05:00

...I finally get around to writing about Christmas.

I wonder if there is a statute of limitations when it comes to posting about Christmas. Surely if it were July then it may be too late, but one year I didn't take down our holiday wreath off the front door until October, so there is precedent in our house for wrapping up loose ends a bit late here and there.

However, since today is the Twelfth Day of Christmas, it seems appropriate to reflect on the holiday. And since I most certainly did not get 12 drummers drumming this year - again - (or any of the other birds, rings, dancers, or musicians on any of the other days), I'll just nurse my hot chocolate here and take a minute to wrap up the holidays.

So yes, Christmas came and went again this year, just like it always does in that predictable, calendarish sort of way. We tried to keep the stress levels down to a mild meltdown around here and attempted to tackle our short-list early. Of course, the kids were so excited about Christmas that it's all they've been talking about since before Halloween. Between baking cookies, making crafts, listening to music, decorating the tree, watching endless Christmas DVDs, shopping and wrapping presents, sending and receiving letters, going to parties, and seeing Christmas lights I think we all got quite our fill. If our kids had any more holiday cheer there is no doubt that we'd have to sedate them. I sometimes wonder if it's a bit too much as it is, even already with marginalizing Santa and not doing the Elf thingy and just trying to stay low-key all around, but I know the kids would refuse anything less. Indeed, there is no shortage of Christmas spirit in our house, even despite our best efforts.

So as I dust off the last metric ton of holiday cheer, here are some highlights from our holidays...(and yes, the kids wore the hats all month...and still are wearing them...)

Twins Club Party

Around the House

Christmas Morning (and the days after)

Southern Lights

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T13:26:00.001-05:00

I hope everyone had a great 2011 and has a great 2012.

Unrelatedly, I was reading some Far Side and came across this:

So awesome!

Happy new year everyone! 2012: Bring it!

Last post of the year

2011-12-31T10:56:00.001-05:00

Well, what a year, huh? I'd say that overall 2011 has been pretty good to us, as in a "we didn't get totally crapped on" sort of way. I guess there were some good things and some not so good things, but I'm happier to remember the good stuff.

Next year looks to have some exciting events as well. Hopefully we'll sell the house, move to PA, and start a life there. But since we've stayed here this winter I've been finding myself thinking about some of the things I'll miss. Things like the people we know, knowing all the ins-and-outs of the city, knowing the kids have a pretty good school. What will our new home bring? But it's all good. I've moved many times in my life, and most often the benefits have outweighed the negatives.

Anyway, I'm not going to dwell on it all here. Our Internet is down and our computer repair man (aka Damon) is sick with the flu (even though we got our flu shots) so I am posting with my phone. While it's nice that I can do that, it's not the easiest to do.

I'll post more about Christmas when I have better internet access. Meanwhile I'll leave you with a few pics for fun. It's been a nice holiday. I took this last week off and majorly cleaned the house. I never realized we were living in such disorganization. I guess you let those things slide when you have kids.

One major project this break was reorganizing the playroom so all kids could use it. Here's the before pic:

Here's after:

I think even our realtor would be impressed. And I think the kids are really enjoying the new room, so much that Adelaide has renamed it the Sharing Room. Here they are busy playing this morning.

And since I've spent so much time cleaning this week, I have nothing to do this weekend. What will I do instead?

Happy New Year everyone. Hope to see y'all next year!

Merry Happy Days of Jubilee

2011-12-24T09:38:00.000-05:00

To you and yours...(from us and ours)

Hint: If you are trying to read the newsletter, click on the image to see it full size. If you are using Firefox, you may get swtiched to the image viewer (where it may still look blurry)...if so, then right-click while in the image viewer and select 'View Image' to see it full-size.

If you would like your own autographed copy of our picture and/or newsletter, send a self-addressed stamp enveloped containing your address and an iPad2. Please allow 4-6 weeks for delivery. Due to mail room restrictions, the iPad2 will not be returned. We apologize for any inconvenience.

20 random pictures

2011-12-22T17:55:00.000-05:00

*some pics taken by Damon

School pics!

2011-12-19T18:02:00.000-05:00

This is totally unrelated to the holidays, but we finally got the kids' school pictures back. Actually, we got their pictures back a while ago, but I wanted them to sit for the retakes. It's the retakes that we just got back last week... So here they are!

This was Kestian's first take. It's pretty nice, but he'd been chewing on his collar that morning, so it's...uhhh...damp.

This is the retake. Love this! This is exactly how I see Kestian.

Here's Adelaide's first take. I like it, but she looks a bit too happy-surprised. We had her sit for the retake in case it came back even better.

Here's her retake. It's OK, but I think her first picture is better.

Don't worry Grandparents...I will be sending you some prints of all these in the next few days.

I bah-humbug! your bah-humbug!

2011-12-15T17:57:00.000-05:00

I've been suspecting it for a while, but last night's conversation now has me convinced:

Papa: What am I supposed to do with the "reindeer food" you made at school today?
Me: You're supposed to leave it out for the reindeer.
Papa: The reindeer?
Me: Yeah, the reindeer.

Even though they have been saying it for as long as I can remember, I know better. My parents keep saying annoying things like: "Brush your teeth" or "Wash your hands after you poop" or "You know, Santa's not real..." I mean, seriously, it's quite obvious. I see the man everywhere, and each year he hands me a present! It doesn't get more real than that, people!

Yeah, and let's just take for example all the stuff we see on TV. Are you going to tell me that isn't real either? I mean, we see in The Santa Clause how Santa is just some guy in the wrong place at the wrong time who put on the suit and starts to grow white hair all over his face at an alarmingly abnormal rate. The adults are all too busy with stupid jobs and whatever to notice what's going on. But it's obvious that the man is living amongst us. I mean, his lists are FedEx'ed to his townhouse for Christ's sake!

Or in Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer how everyone tries to keep Rudolph from playing in all the reindeer games just because he looks different. Only when Rudolph has something of value to offer Santa is he seen as something that can contribute to society. I mean, every day this shit goes on in our world and too many people are treated poorly just because they look different. Yeah...discrimination is real. And so is Santa.

Or at the Twins Club party, where Santa always shows up to hand out presents. My parents say stuff like "We gave the present to 'Santa' to give to you." I mean, what the hell is that all about? Huh! Trying to take credit for something that someone else does? Didn't their parents teach them that lying is bad? (Yeah, I'm talking to you Grandma, Grandpa, and Grandmama!) I get put in time-out if I try that shit. I swear, they are so grumpy and annoying.

I don't mind, really, if they keep saying annoying stuff like "Santa's not real, but some people like to believe in it and that's OK." It's their way of coping with some deep-seated childhood disappointment that has now manifested itself into this compulsive lying paranoia. I'll let it slide because I know better. As long as the jolly red man keeps handing me the loot, and I keep seeing him in every Wal-Mart and Sears, and every other normal adult asks me what I want from Santa, and we make reindeer food in a school-sanctioned activity, and NORAD tracks his progress on the radar on Christmas Eve via Google Earth, then I'll continue to believe.

I mean, it's not like there is some world-wide conspiracy to fool children. Yeah, that's not real.

Where YOU are the writer! (Finally, it's your chance!)

2011-12-08T18:01:00.000-05:00

I'll get around to writing a post soon, but until then I thought we could mix things up a bit and instead of me writing a post for you, you could write a post for me!

Uh, Laura...that sounds like work.

Well, yeah, these things don't happen by themselves.

Yes, they do.

No, they don't.

Yes, they do.

Ok we could argue, but it won't help anything.

Yes, they do.

What? What does that mean? Are you even listening to me?

Yes, they do.

I give up...If you decide that you do want to write something, here are some pictures for inspiration...

Yes, they do.

How do you like them apples?

2011-12-01T17:54:00.001-05:00

Did you know that the Golden Delicious apple has over 57,000 genes? Do you know how many genes humans have? Would you believe about 30,000? Did you know that 35% of all apples are grown in China (7.5% in US)? Did you know apples are a member of the rose family? Did you know it's really hard to research apples with the whole iPhone thing? (Other fun facts!)

When I was a kid, I remember three kinds of apples:

Red Delicious

Golden Delicious

Granny Smith

If you wanted to make a pie, you bought the Granny Smiths. If you just wanted to eat an apple, you bought the Delicious. There were many more than that, but those varieties seem to dominate the market years ago.

I never was a fan of apples. I always felt a bit deceived by the Red Delicious, because although they were red and they looked delicious, I often found them tart and bitter. I never could eat a whole one. Indeed, Roger Yepsen notes some of the Red's less desirable qualities. "The skin is thick and bitter and has to be chewed vigorously... this apple ranks close to the bottom when cooked... sold year round, so shop with skepticism. Delicious retains its cheerful good looks long after its flavor has departed."

Nowadays, though, we eat a lot of apples in our house. I know many people eat a lot of apples, but I'm talking like nearly every meal. And none of those apples have been the ones mentioned above.

Recently, at least for Damon and I, it's been like rediscovering apples all over again. There seem to be so many more varieties these days - indeed varieties like the Honeycrisp and Ambrosia were really developed in the 1990s. And not just that there are more varieties at the orchards that you can go to. There are more and more varieties in the stores too.

Here at our local Meijer we can buy: Red Delicious, Fuji, Granny Smith, Gala, Golden Delicious, Braeburn, Ambrosia, Honeycrisp, Jonagold, and I think a couple more that I can't remember or read the sign in the picture [Cameo too, but they haven't been in season recently. -D]. Fuji, Gala, and Braeburn are staples in our house [and Cameo! -D], but we tasted a few others at the orchard recently (like Jonagold, Honeycrisp, and even the Golden Delicious which was better than any Golden Delicious I have ever gotten from a store, BTW) and really liked them.

Lately we got some Ambrosia and O. M. G. what an awesome apple! Very sweet and very crisp. It makes the Fuji and Braeburn taste a bit blah and mealy. I could eat those all day. Which is good. Because we seem to eat them all day. [Note: I actually much prefer the not-as-sweet ones like Fuji, but then again I also like my pears under-ripe. -D]

Out of all this, we seem to have created some little apple connoisseurs. Before the kids eat any apple, they must know which kind it is. Sometimes Damon can even get them to correctly identify which kind they have. I can tell the Ambrosia apart from most others, but still get the Fuji, Gala, and Braeburn mixed up. Perhaps I need to do a side-by-side-by-side taste test.

With all these types of apples, I often wonder how many varieties of apples there will be when the kids are grown up. I heard on NPR a story about the newly developed Sweet Tango that has to be licensed in order to be grown and sold. We have often talked about planting some apple trees when we move back East, but I'm guessing that's one we won't have in our yard. Perhaps the world of apples is moving in a whole new direction. I plan on keeping an eye on the apple industry, partly out of curiosity but mainly just so I can taste all the wonderful varieties along the way.

Turkeys. Lists. Trees.

2011-11-28T18:11:00.000-05:00

Turkey. Gravy. Mashed potatoes. Stuffing. Rolls. Pumpkin pie. This was our simple Thanksgiving menu this year. We were also supposed to have green beans, but we forgot the buy them. I also wanted to make a sweet potato casserole, but I was sick and didn't have the energy to make it - or eat it. Overall, it may look like a meager meal considering the holiday, but this dinner didn't have anyone overcooking or overeating or overcleaning. A good meal with a few days leftovers was just perfect.

And as I mentioned, I was under the weather. The Sick Gods took mercy on me this year and instead of being sick on Thanksgiving, I was sick the two days before it. Last year - strep throat. This year - the barfs. Well ok, one barf. But I don't do barf... Alright, alright...I won't talk about barf anymore, but it's a week later and my appetite and energy are still not back yet. I guess that's a good way to go into the holiday season, actually.

Speaking of the holiday season, I guess we're headed into it and there's no going back now. I'm in the holiday funk already even though I don't have too much to stress about. But I still feel very stressed. It's easy to avoid Black Friday, but Cyber Monday has got Ms. Bargain-Hunter drawing her preferred weapon and walking 20 paces away from Miss Penny-Pincher. It's just a matter of seeing who turns and makes the first move. I love a good deal, but I also don't want to spend money just because it's a good deal. While my inner self has a joint therapy session, I'll just move along. I'm sure I'll get and update later.

But like I said, I don't have much to stress about, so I'm not sure why I am stressed. I've been buying the kids' toys here and there on clearance for months, so I have a decent starter-stash to work from, but looking over the items and then at the Christmas Wish Lists that the kids made (without prompting, mind you) leaves me overwhelmed with wonder of what to buy and when to but it. Can it just be New Year's yet?

Here's Kestian's list (originally about 3 feet long - mostly blank - but then he trimmed it back):

Diego toy
Transformer
Stuffed rhino
Stuffed dinos
Stuffed gerigan (dragon)
Stapler
Pencil sharpener
Crayon sharpener
Monster toy
Cheese

Yes, that last line says "Cheese." That's Kestian for ya! And aside from not knowing what a "Monster toy" is other than maybe just a toy monster of some sort, these are all easy gifts. I still need stocking stuffers, and the stapler and pencil sharpener and even the crayon sharpener (if I can find one) would be great for that. I already got him a Transformer toy, and a Dino Pillow Pet Pee Wee. I can probably dig out of the attic a Beanie rhino I have. A small Diego toy is easy enough too, or I can probably talk Adelaide into getting that for him. Of course, I can also get him his own stash of cheese. I just am really thankful that of all the toys out there these days, this is the kind of list he gives me.

And Adelaide's is just as awesome:

Blanket (presumably orange and purple striped)
Scissors
Pen
Scarf
Boots
Socks
Stuffed rhino (?)
Stuffed dinosaur
A Pony Book
My own stapler
Stuffed giraffe
A beach towel with pony on it

Ok, she's probably not going to get the blanket, or the beach towel. It's too late to put an order in with our resident quilt maker (Hi Mom! - Don't worry, you don't need to make this), and where am I going to find a beach towel this time of year? She has a ton of scissors, so I have no idea why she is asking for more. Do you think I can dig them out of her desk and give them to her again? I actually already got her boots for the snow (unless she means a different kind of boot?), and the scarf would be easy enough. Socks - uh, okaaayyyy....although I just bought her like a dozen socks this weekend. I'm not sure what the deal is with the stuffed rhinos and dinos with these people, but I have a few other dolls I already got her so maybe that will do. And yes, I'll get her a pen and a stapler. A pony book is easy too. Maybe I can get Kestian to get her the giraffe.

Now mind you, we exercise full veto power with these lists. We are upfront with the kids in telling them that they will not get everything on their lists. This is a good little safeguard for us in case they put something down like "iPad" or "car." So lately Kestian has been saying "I really want the stuffed toys and the cheese the most" I guess to help us know which items he wants above all others. Yes, cheese. I get it - you like cheese. I live with weirdos.

And, let me tell you, the kids have the fever. In our house, we try to be low-key about the whole holiday business, and still we have a bunch of Christmas maniacs in our house. All weekend long Kestian kept asking when we were going to do "Christmas preparations" to the point where I thought they would melt if they went one more nano-second without a tree.

Our dilemma was what to do about the tree while having a 19-month old always hanging out at our house. We considered getting a small tree that could be put up on a table (but we'd have to buy a small tree). We considered putting the tree in the office (but no one would ever see it). We ended up just putting up the tree right where we always do, sans breakable ornamenets.

I wasn't sure, really, what we were going to put on the tree, but we started with some bows that we used to decorate the tree with back when we didn't have any ornaments, and soon found other handmade ornaments that we have collected over the years.

I think it turned out pretty nice. Note: aside from a few ornaments on the top, and a few reminders that the front isn't the only side of the tree, the kids completely decorated the tree themselves.

Surprisingly, the Little Christmas Monkey has been leaving the tree alone. Who knew!

Ok. I guess that's about all for this first-of-the-new-blog-millenium post. Off to work on our annual Christmas letter, our Christmas picture, figuring out what gifts still to buy, finishing crafts for the grandparents, wrapping gifts, and whatever else. Or maybe I'll just sit here. Yeah...sit here. Will anyone notice if I just sit here until January 2?

1000

2011-11-26T12:30:00.000-05:00

Whew! We made it! 1000!

Who knew back on July 25, 2006 that I'd still be blogging strong 5+ years (and 1000 posts!) later. I surely never did. But I guess things like this drive themselves. Since the blog serves as a self-serve update system for friends and family, I keep doing it not just as a convenience to others but also as a convenience to myself. Back when the kids were younger, it soon became all too difficult to email everyone this and that and remember who I told what to. As they've gotten older, I seem to rely on this more and more.

Of course, as often stated on the blog, I want something that the kids can read one day. Some people journal or scrapbook...I blog. One never knows if the "blog" as we know it will still be around in 30 years when the kids might start to have an interest in all of this, so I am sure to also print all of the posts and pictures into a book every year. I only print one copy at this point and I often wonder if I should print one for each of them. But I also wonder if it would be a bit weird to present to them one day a box containing "This Is Your Life" Volumes 1-29. While their therapist will appreciate it, of course by doing so will only guarantee that they will be seeing said therapist. So, meh, they can fight over the books when I am dead.

OK, so where was I? I won't totally recap the blog here, since you can just as easily click on the archives and read what you want. Now of course, you know that I like pouring through data, and I have been going through it for this post, hoping to glean some cool info to share with you. But we use several sites to collect data and they all collect data differently and starting at different times over the course of the blog. Of course, because of all that, there is no simple "Top Queries" or "Most Visited Pages" because it differs among all of them. I also didn't think you all really cared as to what data there is on TWINBEARZ. Even for me it is a bit tedious. So I guess at this point I really won't go into all. But I will say that we've had visitors from all over the world over the years. I guess it's nice that all kinds of people come here. Who knows, though, if they actually read it or are more like "Oh crap! What the hell is this? Soooo not what I wanted to read..."

So lets's at least look back at the kids over the years. I mean, seriously, that's really why you are here, right?

November 2005

November 2006

November 2007

November 2008

November 2009

November 2010

November 2011

Well, folks, that's all I got. I know it's not much. No big fireworks (too complicated). No big jet flyovers (couldn't get the insurance). No big giveaway (can't rely on the post office anymore). Just plain ol' wonderful blog. Here's to 1000 more posts...

Last one before the big one

2011-11-18T15:42:00.001-05:00

Ooooo! It's like Christmas Eve, New Year's Eve, and Your Birthday Eve (?) all wrapped up into one! This post makes for 999 and I know everyone has been lying awake at night for weeks, filled with anticipation for the TWINBEARZ 1000th post! Yippeee! And, of course, I have to throw up some crappy filler post here just so we can move along to the good stuff, right?

What could be on the 1000th post? Will it be cool (yes)? Will it be fun (yes)? Will you win something (no)? Well, nothing like an iPad, but there will be pictures of the kids, data analysis, reflections, and more pictures, and that's really a win-win, right?

Actually I really don't know what the big 1000 will have in it. Sadly, in this regard, there doesn't seem to be much you can do in a blog post other than, well, blog. Of course, though, I will take suggestions! Meanwhile, I'll have to let the creative juices flow and see what happens.

Until then, like getting to open one present on the night before the big day, here are some little treats for our devoted followers (only one per person please)...

Crash
Fenton: Uh oh...
Damon: Don't go "uh-oh", Fenny, you know what you did you little liar!

Someone (not Fenton) ...uhhh..."breaks wind"
Fenton: Uh-oh, da poo?

Damon: What was Dinosaur Train about?
Me: Oh, Elasmosaurus I think
Kestian: That wasn't an Elasmosaurus. It was a Plesiosaurus. They look similar, but there is a difference!

Kestian: Papa, even when you plan something, it doesn't always work out that way.
Damon: I'm tellin' ya, Kessy....

Adelaide: I love walking!
(There was no response to this. I was as dumbfounded as you are.)

Me: What should we do with the Christmas tree this year?
Adelaide: What do you mean?
Me: Well, because Fenton will get into it.
Adelaide: We could put it in my bedroom.

Yes, this is how my kids decorate cookies.

Fear not those damn projectile sprinkles!

Often-forgotten thankables

2011-11-14T14:26:00.001-05:00

We all have so many thing we are thankful for. And this time of year many of us like to take a moment and reflect on those things that are important to us. But, in addition to the standards (friends, family, food, freedom), let's talk about all those little things that often go unappreciated. This is my list of the often-forgotten thankables...

Lists
Elastic
Indoor flushing toilets
Magic Erasers
The iPhone
Corrective lenses
Not having to kill the meat I eat
PBS programming
Compression stockings
Major household appliances
Those easily-removable wall hooks from 3-M
Online bill pay
Balls
Radio station presets
My grandmother's ring
Burt's Bees lip balm
Not being on fire
The Shazam app
Chocolate-containing foods and beverages
Comments on the blog (hint hint)
Canned pumpkin pie filling
That key fob thing that lets me unlock the car doors remotely
Lined Post-It Notes
Coupons
Those Teflon-coated cloths that clean your glasses so well
Fruit-flavored Tootsie Rolls
Portable hard drives
Silence

Copy cat

2011-11-14T14:01:00.001-05:00

I posted this on Facebook before remembering that some of our beloved audience who are not on FB would enjoy this...

Kestian has been trying to time his outfit for weeks to match Fenton's. Finally everyone's clothes were clean on the same day. And for some reason, Fenton now crinkles his nose when I take his picture. I'm going to have to frame this.

Having a ball

2011-11-07T16:32:00.004-05:00

Since the dawn of sometime late last year...

Fenton discovered "ball"...

And found that ball is good...

Nowhere would Fenton be...

If ball was not nearby...

And amongst all balls...

Who can choose a favorite?...

Little ones are nice...

But so are big ones...

Especially when you need a seat...

But "soccer" is right on top...

Especially at the park...

Or in the car...

The pink one is fun too...

Again, as a seat...

Or just to kick around...

Or for some chillaxin...

But there are other balls...

Which are welcome any day...

Anywhere...

Thank god for balls!

Insufferableness. My apologies in advance.

2011-11-03T18:20:00.001-04:00

So often I write about how the kids are evil this and obnoxious that. Of course, it’s all meant in a light-hearted manner, because even though they do annoying things, they are just doing what kids do. (Kids are annoying.) I still love them, though. I can have the most frustrating afternoon with them, then, when the I’m-Done! moment has passed, I go right back to looking for things to do with them, like an addict to my drug of choice. (Kids! Don't do drugs!)

But today I'm not going to complain about the kids. Rather, I'm quite proud of them these days and it's about time I write it down. But before I go on, let me just say that while I am writing this to keep with the blog mission (letting family and close friends know about what’s going on with the kids, and recording the events of their lives for them to look back at one day), I'm writing this all down because this post contains many things that I’m not going to really tell the kids about – for now. This is going to be one of those they’ll-learn-about-it-later things. That’s not to say that I’m not going to tell my kids how awesome they are (because I am!), but they don’t need to know the details.

So the kids. Yes, the kids. The kids are in first grade this year, and they love school. They had a great kindergarten year with a fantastic teacher, and again they have a fantastic teacher this year. We have been lucky. But luck is a small part of it. The kids enjoy school, and we make education a priority.

Now before you start groaning and eye-rolling (there’s plenty of opportunity for that in a minute), I’ll forewarn you that this is going to be a post about annoying education stuff. Stuff that is important to us, that is important to many other people too, but I find that when it gets brought up it up often gets interpreted as snootiness. But why should that be? It's like there is some taboo when talking about education. As soon as someone says “I value education for my kids” they get dropped in the “Oh, those insufferable parents” pigeon hole. Well, screw that. I’m here to talk about education and my kids. Education is important for success in life, and as a parent you have to be committed to it if you really want your kids to do well. Why should that be poo-pooed? Right? Good!

So yes, Damon and I are those parents. Those of the mindset that it’s not just up to the schools to educate our kids. It’s a partnership. They do some; we do some. We both benefit from the other's commitment and input. And let me say, also, upfront, that trying to do well in school is an expectation in our family. Now that may seem a bit strong, but really it’s one of the many basic expectations many of us have - just like we expect the kids to be kind to others. Or expect them to be honest. Or expect them to be a good sport. These are all things that we just do. Damon says it best when he says that the culmination of raising kids is when you have created good people. Education is one facet of it. And, because it's an expectation, we don’t reward (like give the kids $ for grades) for doing well in school. I mean, does anyone say "Great job on not stealing from Wal-mart today. Here's $5."? No. Instead, we focus on encouraging and supporting, congratulating and recognizing, while avoiding bribes and prizes. And it's important for us as parents to set these expectations, because if we left it up to the kids, everyone would be expected to know how to draw every kind of dinosaur and be fully knowledgeable in all things Junie B. Jones. I just don't think many places are hiring for those skills. So, yes, while we set the expectations for the kids (trying hard in school, or being kind or honest), for it to carry throughout their lives, we are also trying to teach them that motivation and reward comes from within. If they learn that, they will be set up to succeed at many things.

Let me just say though, in case that did not come across right, that it’s not doing well in school that is expected, but rather trying to do well. If my kids try hard every day and come away with B’s on their report card, and I know that is the best they can do, that is great and I will be so proud of them. Proud because I know they tried and that’s what’s important. But not C's. If they are getting C's then they are a failure in my eyes. I will disown them. (HA! Kidding people!!!) But if I know that they can do better - whether they are getting C's, B's, or even A's - and aren’t putting in a good effort, then I want them to try harder. That is the expectation.

I’m guessing by now the eye rolling has started and you’re thinking “Yes, yes, Laura. We get it. Blah blah education. There’s more to life than school...” But, I’m sure you will agree that there’s an opportunity for learning in everything we do. And you can often find a way without hitting someone over the head with it (as opposed to my post today - booyah!!). We spend much of our time with the kids trying to teach them and instill in them a love of learning. I could go on and on about all the things we do - in fact I did, but then I deleted it, because that's not really the point here...

Ok, ok. If you are still with me, let’s continue. So this year, as I mentioned, the kids are in first grade. They don’t really have grades on their report card, but rather: Above Level / On Level / Below Level / Not Evaluated. Last year on their report cards they got On Level for everything even though the teacher told us that the kids were doing very well. Even the written comments were the same for both of them. I guess they just phone it in sometimes. This year, the teacher actually did assess the kids some so we could see where their strengths are.

But, report cards really don't tell us much. So recently we also had a parent-teacher conference which revealed a bit more about the kids. (I say “reveal” because while we suspected how they were doing, we couldn’t base it on much. Do your kids talk much about school, even when you ask them about it all the time? Yeah, neither do ours. Why is that?) The kids recently sat for the MAP test. It’s some standardized test that kids take several times a year (they didn't take the test last year since I think they had a different standardized testing regime). I don’t know much about the MAP test, but I’m a bit skeptical of any standardized test and how teachers can be pressured to teach to the test. But, as Damon says, we need to trust our teachers, and then work with our kids at home to make it the best all around. And, at this age, we don’t really have any other measure of how the kids are doing except for the report cards that we get. (I’d be interested in hearing what my teacher-friends think about the MAP test!)

Now, according to the NWEA website, the MAP test is setup something like the SATs, in that “the difficulty of each question is based on how well a student answers all the previous questions. As the student answers correctly, questions become more difficult. If the student answers incorrectly, the questions become easier. In an optimal test, a student answers approximately half the items correctly and half incorrectly. The final score is an estimate of the student’s achievement level.”

The kids’ teacher said typical scores for 1st grade (at least in KY) were 160 for Reading and 163 for Math. When discussing Kestian’s scores, her comment was “Well, he blew it out of the water.” Ha! I'll say! He scored a 210 in Reading and 208 in Math. Adelaide is right behind at 191 for Reading, and 204 for Math. They were #1 and #2 in their class, respectively. Their teacher said that when looking at their scores on a national level that they were given an “*” since they were off the chart.

Now, since this is not some scale based on 100, and one’s score seems to be determined by some algorithm, it’s a bit difficult to interpret it all (although, since the FCPS site does not have any MAP information posted, this site helps some: http://www.phpta.org/MAP.htm ). If you look at this document http://www.nwea.org/sites/www.nwea.org/files/resources/State%20Proficiency%20Tables.pdf (scroll down to Kentucky) you can see where the kids fall:

Reading

Kestian: 210 = 7th Grade Proficient / 4th Grade Distinguished
Adelaide: 191 = 4th Grade Proficient / 2nd Grade Distinguished

Math

Kestian: 208 = 8th Grade Apprentice / 5th Grade Proficient / 4th Grade Distinguished
Adelaide: 204 = 7th Grade Apprentice / 4-5th Grade Proficient / 3-4th Grade Distinguished

Actual scores aside, I'm somewhat surprised that Adelaide scored lower than Kestian on reading. Between the two of them, she seems to have more interest in reading. But I also know that she gets nervous on tests, not wanting to put down an answer unless she’s sure it’s right, often second-guessing herself. It’s quite possible she got spooked during the exam. It will be interesting to see how she does next time.

However, the fact that Damon also scored insanely high on standardized tests in elementary school leaves me not too surprised that this is going on with the kids. (I don’t know how I did back then…Mom, Dad: do you remember? Surely some of their genius comes from me - :).)

Now, if anyone is still here reading this (thanks for hanging in there!), you probably have a headache from excessive eye-rolling [Note: Damon does -DMO] and are garnering some unwanted attention from the other people in Starbucks for all the groaning and smirking. Sorry about that. You are probably even yelling at your screen “Ok. Whatever! We get it! Get over it. Who cares?” But like I said earlier, I'm writing this for the kids to look back on later, something that I want them to know that we are very proud of them for, because (any natural abilities aside) we know that a lot of this comes from how they work hard every day at school and home. I don’t want to tell them exactly how well they did (just that they are doing well) to keep them grounded. I don't want them to compare themselves with each other or brag about it to their friends, or think that by having these high scores makes them better than others, or that they can skate by in school because it comes easy to them, or that they don't have to try their best even when half-assing it would probably serve them just fine. I want them to be well-rounded kids, instilling in them that school is fun, that trying your best is what’s important, and that learning is something to always work on.

And it’s not really about what grade level they seem to be functioning at with these tests, but more about the fact that they given where they are, what the hell do we do with them? Their teacher recognizes that they could benefit from some additional guidance and already has them pulled out for advanced reading with a paraprofessional. Damon texted me a list recently of the spelling words for their regular class (all, call, fall, wall, ball, tall, on, not, so, of) vs what the reading group was working on (stuck, funny, lucky, branch, fluffy, humble, hugged, running, pumpkin, umbrella). Awesome, right? (Sadly, there is no advanced math group, so they are stuck with adding/subtracting single digit numbers even though at home they can carry/borrow numbers, and do multiplication and division in their head). The kids’ teacher has set some higher goals for them (Kestian to reach 227 Reading and 217 Math; Adelaide to reach 208 Reading and 214 Math) by Spring, which we think is reasonable (always strive to improve!). Both we and the teacher submitted paperwork to the Gifted and Talented Office for the Primary Talent Pool, and they start that this Friday. We hope that they will be getting more opportunities with the program.

[Damon mentioned to the kids that they will be pulled out a few times a week for some "extra learning." When Adelaide kept asking what he meant, he said it was something called "Primary Talent Pool with Ms. B." Adelaide's response: "Oh, PTP. Yeah, I know what that is. Cool." WTF?]

All right. Enough of my blathering! We know we have quite a few education-based readers on this blog (at least 2 out of the 4 people who read it, I'm sure), so feel free to give input of insight into education with anything mentioned above.

[Note: this is entirely Laura-written as this isn't something Damon would ever write -DMO]

All things Halloween

2011-11-02T20:15:00.001-04:00

Yeah, yeah. I'm finally getting around to posting the kids' Halloween pics. In fact, I have so much Halloween-related reporting to do, I'm just going to cram it into one glorious post!

To start, on Saturday we went to the Salato Wildlife's Walk with the Animals thing-a-ma-bob. The kids got to dress up and then walk around the wildlife center looking at buffalo and bald eagles while collecting candy and apples.

The kids had fun, but I was ho-hum about it. First of all, it was packed, so we had to wait in long lines at the "stations" to get one or two pieces of candy. The fishing game netted Adelaide a spider ring and Kestian a bouncy ball. They were happy, but I wasn't impressed so much. And even though I should be used to it with all the pumpkin patches around here, I wasn't thrilled that I had to pay $5 for each adult to get in. Uh - where's my candy? I'll let it go, though, since it benefits the Center and that's not a bad thing. Still, I'd be reluctant to go again if there is a better alternative. Here are a few pics from that outing:

However, Kestian starting feeling like crap on Saturday and by Sunday was glued to the couch. That's saying a lot for Kestian. We wanted to carve pumpkins on Sunday, but Kestian didn't budge...

So Adelaide helped gut the gourds...

Prep the pumpkins...

And carve the creations...

Adelaide picked the witch, Kestian picked the Headless Horseman.

With the candy bought, the pumpkins carved, and the day finally here, Monday night we got ready for Trick-or-Treating. Kestian was still sick and didn't even go to school that day, so we weren't sure if he was up to the task. Adelaide decided at the last minute to ditch the witch costume and found being a princess to be preposteous and came up with her own little number...a beautiful ballerina (dressed warmly for outdoor weather)...

Fenton went as Winnie the Pooh...

And Kestian went as a couch...

Actually, he did muster up some energy to put on his fireman costume and go to a few houses...

So off we went...

It wasn't too long before he putterd out, but he seemed happy to get a bunch of candy, a glow bracelet, and a toy compass. Not bad for about a dozen houses. So he sat with Damon and "helped" pass out candy while I took the other kids around the block.

I must say that I really love Halloween. Everyone is roaming the neighborhood in great spirits and having a good time. It seems even more fun now than I remember as a kid, and it was pretty fun when I was a kid. That's why I was glad that Kestian got to at least do a little even though he wasn't feeling well. It's something you just don't want to miss at this age.

A few hours later and we were all back at home, snacking on candy and getting ready for bed. A great day!

Bring on Thanksgiving!

Hap Birt Fen Go Ors

2011-10-29T09:58:00.001-04:00

Fenton just recently celebrated his 1 1/2 birthday, and of course we celebrated by taking him to the doctor for a well visit (including shots).

Fenton is at that precious age of knowing all too well what's going on, but having no idea why it happens. He happily played in the lobby. He was charming to the nurses. He pointed to the dogs on the TV and the fish in the tank. But then he realized what was going on. Once we were in our room, the nurse came in and he was a bit unsure. When she brought out the measuring tape to measure his head, he was sure. Sure he didn't want to be there. Sure something bad, real bad, was about to happen.

After getting his height measured...

After a torturous height and weight measurement, she left and he calmed down, only to have the doctor come in and, get this, listen to his heart with a stethoscope! And if you thought that was bad (he did), looking in his ears might as well have been removing his fingernails. The poor guy was crying, clutching his Doodle Board as his only means of security (never mind that I am holding him), shaking and sobbing.

Finally, because no one could really talk over the screaming, the doctor left and Fenton started to regain his composure. But then the nurse came back in for his one single shot (and last one until he is four), which even though it took 1.2 seconds, you might have thought he was being stuck with needles for hours.

Despite all the fuss, the resilient little guy was happily squeaking on his walk back to the car, pointing out birds and squirrels.

Happy once again...

Data-lover that I am, here are the stats:

80% for height / 50% for weight. Yep...typical Orsetti spaghetti-monster kid.

Characterizing the kids

2011-10-28T13:31:00.000-04:00

Today the kids got to dress up for school as their favorite book character. The school did not want any store-bought costumes or anything fancy. The kids were to have to talk about their character, so it had to be from something they read.

Adelaide chose to be Junie B. Jones from Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus:

Kestian chose to be the fox from Do Like a Duck Does!

Don't make fun of me. I didn't have much to work with and only a few days notice. I'm just glad Kestian happened to already have a pair of orange pants and an orange/grey shirt.

Creating a martyr

2011-10-18T18:45:00.000-04:00

I just know I've told this story before, but I'll be dammed if I can find it on the blog. I've written several posts on the kids' memory, and I feel like this story is a seminal piece to any memory/guilt discussion on the kids. But neither this post, nor this post has any mention of it, nor can I find anything about it with some other searches. Strange. Very strange.

"Whatever are you talking about, Laura?"

Oh, hi! I didn't realize you were there! What am I talking about? Oh. Computers. I'm talking about computers. Well, not "computers" but these Leap Frog things that Kestian thinks were computers. These things:

It's a Leap Frog reading thing, where you have these books and cartridges and you, as the "reader," can read along by using the pen to select things. I got these used at a consignment sale, and they were only moderately well-received by the kids. I was annoyed with them because they ate batteries and we've never really liked Leap Frog things anyway. So I put them out of sight and, since no one seemed to notice, a few months later I put them in a yard sale.

You'll note from this post I did about the yard sale that it was September 29 2008. At that time the kids were about 3 1/2. In case you have been wondering lately whether someone can really have clear memories from when they were 3 1/2, I am here to tell you: Yes. Oh yes.

So yes, we were having this yard sale and most of the stuff was clothes, a bunk bed, and whatever else. But included were some kid's toys that I didn't want around any more. Since no one seemed to miss the Leap Frog thingies, they were put in the sale too.

Everything was going swimmingly until someone started looking at the Leap Frog things just as Kestian, who up until that point was more interested in running up and down the driveway than anything else, noticed. It was like the Perfect Storm.

"Miss, how much is this?"
"Mommy, are you selling that?"
"Uh, 5 bucks for the two."
"Mommy, why are you selling that?"
"Sure, I'll take it."
"Great! Kestian, what's that over there?"

Soon he was distracted by other things, but not too long after he started asking, "Where is my computer? Did you sell my computer at the sale?" (Did I mention that he had not seen this thing for months and not once asked for it? OK, good. I need a witness.)

When he wouldn't drop it, I looked him squarely in the eye and said, "Ha! As if it was anything like a computer. Son, don't you realize it was some crappy toy? Go bug your father."

Ok, I never said that, but something more like "Well, we just didn't need them anymore and you can play on real computers. Real computers! Aren't real computers so much better?!"

"No, I want my computer... You shouldn't have sold my computer."

And that's where it still stands today. This conversation has been replayed now, every few months, for the last 3 years! This child will not let it go. I know deep down he holds this resentment towards me for selling the toy. The toy he only occasionally played with. The toy that wasn't a big deal until I tried to get rid of it. The toy that was not anything close to a computer.

And believe you me, I've learned my lesson. These days, if I ever tell them that I'm getting ready for a sale, Kestian (and now Adelaide gets in on it too) makes me pinky swear that I am not going to sell any of their toys without their permission. And they are serious too. The only reason we don't have a notary present is because they are not yet aware of its existence. And while I think Kestian remembers the yard sale and all that went down that day, because his memory is just that awesome, I also think a part of his "memory" is based on these repeated discussions, much like the way our ancestors would tell stories to keep memories and traditions alive.

Yeah. Great tradition. That is what we have now. A story firmly and completely locked into the Orsetti Family Lore, never to be forgotten. A whole playroom of toys, but this is what he always brings up. Let me tell you, I break out in hives now every time I think about throwing away a crumpled piece of paper that they scribbled on. "Mommy, why did you throw away my art? Don't you love me?"

So the other day, as the kids were getting in to bed, I saw an old deteriorating toy. A toy that was mine long before the kids were ever thought of, thankyouverymuch! A toy that I never see them play with! A toy that is not a "computer." Trying to stay true to my word of never getting rid of anything of theirs without talking to them first about it, I casually mentioned that maybe it was time to let this one go.

"What do you mean let it go?"
"Well, you know, like get rid of it?"
"Get rid of it? Why should we get rid of it?"
"Look at it. It's really old and the stuff is falling off his jacket and hat."
"No, we can't get rid of it. Why would you do that?"
"Well, just think about it. We don't have to do anything right now."

I thought I ended the conversation well. No tricks, no deception. Everyone was in the loop. We were working together.

Then last night, Kestian brought it up to Damon, who after comforting his nearly-in-tears-son, asked me "Did you say you were going to get rid of Kestian's toy?" Oh God. It seems that I forgot the other half of how things work around here. That Kestian will think and think about something, long after no one else seems to be thinking about it, his mind brewing like an Owensboro burgoo. And also much like burgoo, once the notion is brought up, it will always exist somewhere in his mind to be brought up later, over and over, just to grind the guilt sword in a little bit deeper. (Huh? How is that like burgoo? Oh hush! Go eat some burgoo. Burgoo! Burgoo! Burgoo!)

And this is why I can now never get rid of Mr. Penguiny.

aka Detective Penguin

Propensities

2011-10-17T23:35:00.002-04:00

I don’t have hair hanging down in my eyes. I haven’t had it for most of my life, yet when I am stressed I will run my hands through the front part of my hair in a slight grasping way as if it was still falling down my forehead. Even now, with my hair probably no more than an inch and a half long, when I do it I feel like there should be much more there. But it isn’t. It hasn’t been for about half my life.

I would think I do this because of all of those years with horribly shaggy haircuts as a kid giving me the habit, but I’m not so sure now. Kestian does something similar by moving the hair off his forehead, and his hair has rarely been very long. Even with a fresh haircut he does that, and it is very obvious when he fusses over it when he lets me brush his hair (though he refuses any hair brushing anymore, even after a bath).

So I think my hair thing wasn’t due to my ragged mop of hair when I was a kid, but instead is just some propensity that I have and that I seem to have passed it on to Kestian.

I can see lots of the propensities that my kids have inherited from me. Little things that obviously they didn’t learn, and are not any OCD things (and I assure you, I can tell the difference). (Oh, Adelaide has taken to using “I assure you” in conversation lately, which undoubtedly is learned but is definitely from me).

I have never been a breakfast eater. Literally, never. As far back as I can remember, I just haven’t liked to eat much breakfast, and I can distinctly remember realizing this when I was in first grade (the kids’ age!). It is a combination of things, including probably some acid reflux issues (being on Zantac increases my ability to eat breakfast), but even then I just don’t like much in the morning. Heck, mostly I just get something to drink and skip it altogether.

So when Adelaide explains that she just doesn’t like eating in the morning, I totally understand. I mean, she has to eat something, but I am not going to force her to eat the ungodly huge meals that her brother eats (seriously kid, you’ve had three pieces of cinnamon toast, two bowls of serial sans milk, and a banana and you are still hungry?). The way she acts and the what she says makes me totally understand that she is just never going to be a breakfast person; she is just like her father.

Well, except for drinking. With Adelaide, having a cup of liquid with a meal is obstacle that is not usually ever tackled until after everything is eaten, and even then after we remind her. I cannot even FATHOM doing that! I drink a lot, and I do mean a LOT. No, not alcohol (sometimes, but I don’t drink alcohol a lot when I do drink it...screw you Paul!). I mean water, juice, soda, tea. I drink multiple cups with every meal, and I drink along with the meal (even though I don’t drink much wine, I totally get that it is part of the meal). All throughout the day, I always have a cup with me and I will refill it a lot. Today, for example, I peed five times before 10:00 NOT including my first pee of the morning, and that isn’t unusual since I probably drank 50 ounces of liquid in that time.

Kestian does that too. Ok, maybe not the drinking as much as me during the day, but he definitely drinks during the meal and will often have seconds (or more) of drink. Is that because he likes the sugar? Nope, our kids drink water probably 75% of the time.

I love the weird amalgamation of food behaviors that they share with me. I would make a chart, but instead here is a little list!
-Morning Meal
-Kestian: Big morning appetite (not like me)
-Adelaide: Small/nonexistent morning appetite (like me!)
-Drinks at Meals
-Kestian: Drinks a lot (like me!) during meals (like me!)
-Adelaide: Drinks if reminded (not like me) after meal (not like me)

Come on kids, why can’t one of you be exactly like me in all things eating? Adelaide actually requested a pickle at dinner and ate it (pickles are great!), but she also likes tuna sandwiches (so much disgusting there). Kestian likes all kinds of cheese, and the other day wanted super extra Romano cheese on his pasta (like me!) but complained because the pasta sauce had meat in it (not at all like me!). They also have differing views of broccoli and cauliflower, with one wanting it steamed and the other wanting it raw, and I’ll be damned if I know which one wants what (I do know, A: steamed, K: fresh), but it is weird because I love them done either way but for different reasons. Even when we have the same tastes, we don’t.

These amazing miracles of little people are part me, sometimes in very different and almost complementing way with each other. I am reminded of this every time I am stressed and run my hand through my hair; there is not a better way to encapsulate this than with hair. Adelaide has my color but not my texture or thickness. Kestian has my texture and thickness, but not my color. Seriously, Adelaide’s hair color is pretty much a good match for mine, and Kestian’s everything else (swirls included) is EXACTLY like mine. Let us hope that is the extant of their similarities to my hair.

I say "Fenton," you say "The Ball"

2011-10-17T18:48:00.000-04:00

Everyone always comments about how Fenton looks so much like his older brother. I used to think so too, but more and more he looks less and less like him, especially when you look at pictures where they are the same age:

Kestian - 1 1/2

Fenton - 1 1/2

Sure, there are similarities, but I think he looks more and more like Adelaide, except blonde...

Adelaide - 1 1/2

At least I think so. I'm sure one day soon he will grow tired of these comparisons, but even he tries everything he can to be like his older siblings.

That being said, Damon has been going through the blog from when the kids were Fenton's age (holy crap! that's five years ago!) and it has been very interesting to see just how similar Fenton is to when Kestian and Adelaide were his age. Here is a post from October 2006 where I talked about the words that the kids were saying. Is Fenton right about where the kids were at his age? Let's compare!

Words that K and A Were Saying	Words that F Says
Uh-oh	Uh-oh (more like "Uh-oooo")
Bobbee (bottle)	(Hmmm...I don't think he ever says "bottle." He knows what it is if I say it, but usually if he wants something to drink he'll say "muh, muh" which I guess either means "milk" or "more" or something in between)
Puppy	(Amazingly, Fenton LOVES dogs but doesn't say "Puppy" when he sees one. All he can get out is a high-pitched squeal with lots of finger pointing)
Ckkcckkcceeee (cookie)	Crkkrrr (He doesn't say "cookie" but does say "cracker")
Cccrrrccrrr (crayon)	(nope...nothing even close)
Moh (more)	Moh (more)
Bah (ball)	The Ball (No, not "Ball" but "The Ball". Being that it's his favorite toy, it's also one of his favorite words. When he's not playing with one, he's usually calling for one)
Mommy/Mama [They say this, but don’t call me it]	Mama (I'd say that he sometimes calls me this, but sometimes I think he's referring to the shirt I am wearing)
Daddy/Papa [They say this, but don’t call Damon it. Interestingly, in our house we only use Papa, as that is Damon’s preference, but they still say Daddy fairly often. I notice it because when they do say it, Damon is always trying to correct them: “Daddy.” “Papa.” “Daddy.” “Papa.”…]	Papa (He'll sometimes say Papa, but still I don't think he's using it to refer to Damon, although he does often look at Damon when we say "Papa" to him)
No	No (this is a new one for him)
Uh-uh	(Not sure if he says this, but he does nod in the affirmative to just about anything you ask him)
Baby [Addy calls her teletubbie Laa-Laa this, without ANY prompting – her idea completely – and yes, she is still pretty attached to it]	Baby (more like "Bay-beeee")
Daghkaaaa! (Your guess is as good as mine. I'd say that this is actually probably Kes' first word, as he started saying it loooong before anything else. There are other strange words that they both use,but I just can’t figure out what they mean.)	(WTF?)

There are some other words that Fenton says on a fairly regular basis too:

Book (and he says this as well as you and I say it)
Bye or Bye-Bye (including hand wave)
Purple (more like "Prh-plll" usually in reference to one of two puzzle pieces he is always carrying around, the other being orange)
Me or My (more like Meeeeeeeee or Myyyyyyyyyyy)
KihKih (trying to say Kestian; he doesn't have anything for Adelaide yet)

There may be others, but I can't remember any more right now...

Signs
The kids also knew some sign language back then, and so does Feton...:

K and A	F
More	More
Eat	(He never does "eat" when he wants to eat, but instead goes to the pantry, gets a box of graham crackers out, and does "more")
Done	Done
Please	Please
	Baby
	Ball

So I guess Fenton is right about where the older kids were at his age. I was starting to think that Fenton was behind in his speech, but kids develop speech at different rates and I shouldn't be comparing Fenton to other kids (only to Kestian and Adelaide!).

Now, according to family lore, we've always said that Kestian and Adelaide's first words were "Uh-Oh" and "Down" (for each of them). It's true that early on those were some of the first things they would say ("Uh-oh" in reference to something falling or dropped, "Down" because they used to always stand on this toy and we'd always yell "Down! Get down!"). I don't know what we'd say Fenton's official first words are. We have this list above, and some words he was saying before others, but sometimes we can't tell it's a word until later on when we realize what's he been saying all along. If I had to pick a few first words from the list, I'd have to go with: Bye, The Ball, More, Uh-Oh, and Baby, perhaps with The Ball and More being The First.

Interestingly, the same post five years ago refers to how we had just moved the kids out of our bed into their own beds. Fenton still sleeps in our bed and I'm holding onto that as long as I can. His babyness seems to be slipping away every day.

So ridiculous

2011-10-14T17:28:00.000-04:00

As in ridiculously cute!

We just got Fenton's pictures back from picture day and I just love these. I know, I am biased...but they turned out pretty well. Why can't I get him to sit still when I want to take his picture? Oh, I mean, besides the fact that I don't have a good camera, I don't have some big shiny lights, I don't have some cool backdrop, and I don't have 100 other kids doing the exact same thing so as to add a little peer pressure to the situation. Other than that....

"A Pumpkin Patch Post"

2011-10-12T08:34:00.000-04:00

Another weekend, another pumpkin patch. Such is our life...

This round we went to Evan's Orchard. We've been a couple of times, but I guess we haven't been in a few years. This year it was packed and I swear they have doubled their playground. Here's a post from 2006 where we got a few pumpkins and played in the hay maze. Then we visited again in 2008, and they had built more slides and some others things and the kids happily played. Damn, they were so cute back then!

Ahh, but this year it was a madhouse. We wanted to pick some apples, but sadly all the good ones had been picked and we only came home with about a half-dozen. The rest of the time there was spent in the playground area. That may not seem like much, but we probably spent two hours just in the play area. Here are the remnants of my picture sifting...

"Don't Squish the Squash"

"Little Lady Adelaide-y"

"Ol' Sideways-Sitten' Kestian"

"God is a Scarecrow"

"Season Reflections"

"Trail Blazers"

"Slim Pickin'"

"There's Gold in Them Thar Hills"

"Bee Keen"

"I Got Nothin"

"An Ode to Georgia O'Keeffe"

"Queen of the Mountain"

"Does Your Mother Know You're On This?"

"Peek But No Boo"

"Bushels of Fun Playland"

"Crazy Maze"

"Any Which Way You Can"

"Bapple Fider Mider"

"One"

"Two"

"Whee"

"A Hill of Beans"

"Rat Racers"

"Ditto"

"This is Tiresome"

"The Apple of My Eye"

"I'll Begrudgingly Stand Here; Are You Happy Now?"

"Seriously, Mom"

"What, Dear Billy Goats, is a Gruff Anyway?"

"You Don't Have to Take a Picture of Everything I Do"

"Geez, I Have a Headache. How Many More of These do I Have to Think Up?

"Swing Low, Sweet Chariot"

"C'mon Buddy. We'll Take a Vacation. I'll Get us a Ticket at Pteranodon Station"

"A Room with a View"

"No Title. So There!"

"If Only Those People Weren't in the Background"

"Dazed in the Maze"

"Frick and Frack"

"Perhaps That Was Not the Best Place to Park the RV"

"Done. And Done"

2-H20 2011

2011-10-07T15:29:00.014-04:00

Last weekend we trekked over to Bi-Water Farm with the Twins Club for another pumpkin patch outing. I've always liked Bi-Water Farm for all its charm...

As Damon pointed out, shouldn't it be "Kenducky Derby"?

I think this is supposed to be a haunted house. Fenton and I skipped it so as to avoid any tears. I still think though that I could have handled it.
Turkey in de straw, turkey in de straw
Roll 'em up an' twist 'em up a high tuc-ka-haw
(Ok, the turkeys are in the bushes, but there's no song called "Turkey in the bushes...")

The kids did the balance-on-long-tube things. I think at one point Adelaide climbed through one. Luckily, we didn't need any lube to get her out of the tube.
First it was packed around these things...then everyone just disappeared. They all probably went into the Lost Pumpkin Mine. Just to taunt me.
It's hard to get all three kids in one place at the same time. Fortunately no one argued over who drove the train. It was at this moment that I realized: Yes, there can be peace on earth.
Ah, Fenton. Over here...
According to Damon, these are not the most butt-friendly slides. The kids didn't seem to mind. The kids don't seem to have much of a butt either. Probably because of the slide.
The kids are looking at bunnies behind the fence. I'm looking for something to cover my nose. Stinky bunnies.

The club gave every kid a pumpkin to decorate. They told me I was not a kid.
I just love how Kestian decorated his stickers with a pumpkin. So creative!

Fenton was not exactly thrilled. Probably because they did not give his mommy a pumpkin. He's so protective of me.

Adelaide is the one on top. It's hard for me to tell, too.

Snack time. Why can't everyone smile at the same time?

Do you think this scarecrow has had a background check to work with children?
Another not-everyone-smiling picture. Sigh...

The meeting of the men minds...

This picture reminds me of the AT&T commercials with the non-bars bars in the pictures. You know what I'm talking about.
This chicken was equally harassed by all children in the animal area. He seemed happy enough to run away. I'd run away too if I were being chased by children.

Come on now...you can do better. "Corn Maize" anyone?
Here I am being all artsy-fartsy with the shadows. Let's just say someone wouldn't hold still. It must be hard for Fenton to have to stop for 1.5 seconds every few hours.
Last time we went all the corn was dried out and a lot was bent over. Much like Adelaide. Except for the dried out part.

The little guy has no idea where he's going, but he goes anyway. Shouldn't we all?
Jungles come in all shapes and sizes.
A hayride is just a hayride. Except when it's not a hayride. In this case, it was a hayride.
A basketball star in the making. Those other four balls on the wall were thrown by someone else, I think.

Take me out to the pumpkin patch,
Take me out to the fields.
Buy me some cider and apple crisps.
I don't care if I ever blah brisps.

Pitching lessons from Papa. Remember son: "A diamond is forever." "Be all that you can be." "Breakfast of Champions."
This sign doesn't seem to measure up. (I know. I could do better...)
Last try to get a good shot of the kids. That fourth one with the funny nose is not mine.

Fall into fun

2011-10-05T15:11:00.010-04:00

Ahhh....fall. It's one of my top four favorite seasons of the year. I just love fall. The cooler air brings relief from the scorching summer. Fun new activities come round again, like pumpkin patches and trick-or-treating. The leaves are so beautiful to look at. The occasional scent of burning wood from someone's fireplace wafts through the air. I just drink it all in.

Now that October is here, we are now unofficially in the Official Orsetti Busy Season... or OOBS as I like to think of it. And who wouldn't like to think of OOBS, really?

So with the start of October, Damon brought down from the attic our one lonesome tote of Halloween junk. Mostly trick-or-treat pails, pumpkin carving stuff, and a few decorations. We have so little, though, that there is also Easter stuff in the bin (which we also have hardly anything of, but for different reasons).

So we went through it for fun. Much to my surprise, I discovered two Halloween costumes that I saved for Fenton. I had been wondering for a while what I was going to do with Fenton for Halloween, since he's too young to trick-or-treat, which doesn't make it worth it to buy him a costume, but since the older kids will be T-O-Ting it would be fun if they all dressed up. Who knew I was so organized that I nicely packed them in there so that Future Laura would one day find them? It almost sounds like something I would do. Way to go Past Laura!

This discovery quickly led to a spontaneous Halloween dress-up party, with all Orsetti kids invited. We hung up what few decorations we have...all three of them:

And the kids donned one of their costumes. Adelaide, the witch...

Kestian as Darth Vader (sans helmet, but with a fireman's axe)...

And Fenton, as Winnie the Pooh...

(He LOVES playing on the scale. He also LOVES his red slippers. Makes this pic ridiculously cute.)

The rest of the pics are my more or less successful attempts at capturing the fun...

(Notice the scale...again...)

It looks there will be several dress-up opportunities this month, so stay tuned and you just might see Generic Princess, Axe Wielding Fireman, and Mini-Batman.

Fenny, Bene

2011-09-29T15:07:00.008-04:00

I've been meaning to put together a post that is all things Fenton, since so many of my recent posts have been about things related to Kestian and Adelaide. So, yes, let's talk about Fenton. (Please pardon my pathetic poetry...)

A bucket for a hat,
Whatsa matter with that?

He sleeps on a cot,
A big boy, is he not?

Silly, silly pumpkin head,

What would you wear instead?*

Comfy, cozy hiding place,
Everybody needs their space

What ever brother does, I do too,
It only means "I love you!"

A ball as a seat,
It sure is neat

Ahh...a ball as a seat,
Mmm...crackers we eat!

A hair cut for you,
And you're not even two!

Run, run, fast as you can,
You can't catch me, I'm Kestian and Adelaide**

A teletubbie necklace...blah blah spurst***,
You're just mad you didn't think of it first

Rub a dub dub,
Drinkin' water from the tub

Broomba, Vroomba,
Yeah - I Zumba!

Cleary, this is not him fishin',
But hmmm...somethin's missin

Ah yes. The Ball.
The ball. The ball.
The ball at the park, with me it goes everywhere.
Gee, I didn't realize how long is my daughter's hair****

And if it's not a ball I like,
It's surely a puppy named Spike*****

Can I go outside, pretty please,
I need to play ball among the trees
I'm taller than a table,
Just don't call me Abe Able

Clickity, clickity, clack goes mommy's shoes,

Only, they are brown and my clothes are all blues

Whew! Found my ball. I didn't know what to do,
If I didn't play with my ball, I'd surely stand there like you

The Ball. The Ball. Ball. Ball. BALL.******

*Is it me, or does the couch in this picture look like it's folding in on itself?
**What? Who said poems had to rhyme?
***What? Why can't I make up words?
****Sounds awkward I know. This is harder than it looks!
*****This puppy was not named Spike
******"Ball" in case you did not guess, is Fenton's favorite toy and word.

An apple (a) day...

2011-09-28T14:49:00.006-04:00

For years now, soon after the autumnal equinox passes, we've made our annual pilgrimage to the local pumpkin patches. My childhood memory lacks any recollection of going to these places. I guess Hawaii and California don't have a lot of pumpkin patches. Damon also never went to pumpkin patches as a kid, and because neither of us went to places like these as a kids I think we enjoy them just as much as the kids do. [Although I sometimes wonder if we would enjoy them more (or less) now if maybe we had. It's like My Little Pony or G. I. Joe. Do we think of them fondly because we enjoyed them when we were young, or because they were cool for what they were?]

Anyhow, these days, the pumpkin patches have gotten (or maybe they always were...) so gimmicky that I have grown somewhat tired of them. Of course, some are better than others, both in what they offer, and how much they charge. Some places charge a hefty admission fee (for all family members) just to walk in the gate - often $10 a person or more! The nice side of that is that it's all-inclusive. No extra charge for the hay ride or the corn maze or the play ground. While it costs a lot, I do like the Disney approach here. Other places have the orchard/pumpkin patch free to access, but charge separately for the playground, hayride, pony ride, petting zoo, face painting, tax filing, etc. Going with kids to these places can cost just as much, if not more, than the one-price-for-all places, with the added treat of being reminded that you are spending money every time you turn around to do something. And don't even try to tell me "Oh, but you don't have to do all that other stuff..." Hahahaha! Really?

Last year, we tried to mix it up and went to a corn maze for the first time, and didn't do any of the other pumpkin patches. It was still one of those places that charge you admission just to get in, but it was a nice change.

But this year, even though we will be going to one of the take-all-your-money places with the Twins Club (who is helping with some of the costs) I was looking for a true pumpkin patch or apple orchard, with nothing more than a patch/orchard, a country store, and a port-a-potty (remember, we have kids...).

A bit of hunting and I found Reed Valley Orchard. The fact that they had a pretty crappy webpage confirmed that this was a low key operation. PERFECT!

Soon we found ourselves on the back roads of Kentucky, passing tobacco and corn fields, horse and cattle (and alpaca) farms. Yup, that's tobacco...

After winding our way to the orchard, including a charming "dirt" road (dirt = large rocks), which led to an impromptu "buh-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h" sing-along with the whole family, we found the orchard...

Just in case you weren't sure, parking is available...

We checked out the little store (OK, I only got a shot of Kestian on the porch, but it was a cute little store)...

And we headed out. This was a gimmicky as it got. Can you find Kestian peeking through one of the holes?

I just love the cute little signs...

The kids each took a wagon and we started on our mission...

Some apples were in better season than others, so Damon led the way to the best rows...

The kids happily picked away. I have to say, it is very tempting to just keep picking apples, but unless you have some major pie-making or canning plans, you really have to keep yourself reigned in. We tasted samples of apples in the store and decided on three varieties (Golden Delicious - which taste nothing like the Golden Delicious in the store...much sweeter, Jonagold, and Russett). We let the kids pick 3 each of the variety. Even though we left with 18 apples, we could have picked apples for hours...

Jonagold...

Golden Delicious...

Just a side note... you may have noticed that a lot of these posts lately have been about what we have been doing with Kestian and Adelaide. Of course, Fenton is always included in our activities as much as he can be. It's just that at 17 months, he's not able to really get involved in many of these things. I don't think he really appreciates the zoo or the orchard like the older kids do. I'll be writing about him soon....

We also checked out the chickens they had for sale. The lady there said we could take the rooster if we could find him. "If he hasn't been eaten already, we'll be eatin' him when we find him."

Now, in the grand world of twindom, you have to understand that the expected level of fairness is constantly hopped on goof balls. I mean, even more so than for non-twin siblings. If something happens (or doesn't happen) for one kid it had better happen (or not happen) for the other. The kids' sole role in life (other than to not listen to anything I say, and trash the playroom, and never stop talking) is just to make sure that this rule is strictly enforced. And when something goes awry....well, it's all out Armageddon. (Mom, Dad, stop laughing...)

This outing included such a tragic, unfair event. Specifically, Adelaide saw alpacas out her window, but Kestian didn't. So we told Kestian that he would see them on our way home. Only we took a wrong turn and ended up going a different way home. It also didn't help that the kids were hungry. So what do you do with an upset, grumpy, hungry boy after a wonderful get-back-to-nature outing? Why, McDonald's of course...
In the end, we were happy with our haul. We went the weekend before last and are just now finishing up the apples we brought back (eating them almost every meal!)...
Until next time...

Zoo-rific!

2011-09-27T15:35:00.000-04:00

Whew! I need to get caught up, now don't I? We are days away from the unofficial kick-off of the official Orsetti Busy Season and I have several things I've been meaning to post. So grab your hot chocolate, a comfy snuggie, and indulge in the next few picture-heavy posts.

As part of a reading program from the Lexington Public Library, we scored some awesome coupons (free child per paying adult) to the Louisville Zoo. Going to the zoo is hard anymore. Just walking in the door costs about $50, plus all the overpriced food and godforbid if you want to ride the carousel or train. But with the coupons, it was way more reasonable. So off we went.

Now, I've given up on taking pictures of animals. While it seems like a good idea at the time, rarely do I ever look back fondly at a picture of a zebra behind a fence. So anymore, my zoo pics tend to be just of the kids, with an occasional animal thrown in as evidence of the zoo visit.

The kids, however, insist on sitting on every animal statue that exists, hence...

There's really no need for me to post all these 'kids on statues' pictures - other than, of course, future embarassment when they bring their beau over. You gotta think ahead!

But there were some pics that did not involve statues...

I tried to take a picture of just Kestian, but he refused, so this was the best I got...

And, of course, the requisite animal pic...

And let's not forget the little guy!

A successful visit, even if Fenton couldn't stay off the phone for even five minutes for a picture...

Exhausted...

Next: Apple pickin! Stay tuned...

When a picnic is more than just a picnic

2011-09-16T17:24:00.001-04:00

Yesterday the kids had Family Picnic at school, which seems to be something that they do each year. Even thought it's just an informal lunch thing, it's one of those things that I don't want to miss with my kids. Still, while there were a lot of other parents there, there were way more kids without parents than with, which surprised me. I know parents have to work, but I just thought more would be there. (Also, I just found out about the picnic the night before, so poor communication was also probably a factor.)

The "picnic" was inside because it was a freakin' 53 degrees at 11am (30 degrees colder than the day before, mind you) and everyone was just too chicken to brave the arctic conditions. I brought Chik-Fil-A, which seems to be the annual Family Picnic tradition now. We enjoyed a nice lunch with the kids while they chattered between bites. I could tell the kids were so glad we came.

I had a good time there, but I found myself strangely distracted by a boy further down the table who was without anything to eat and looking forelorn. I guess he was waiting for his mother, but she had not come. He looked so sad, but I tried not to worry about it. I mean, I should be spending time with my kids, worrying about my kids, right? But I couldn't help looking over to him as he sat with his chin resting on his folded arms on the table, starring at the door. The lunch aide also noticed and went to go get him a lunch "just in case" Mom didn't make it. I guess there were several of us feeling bad for him. But happily, at that moment, his Mom showed up. I was relieved. I don't know why. Like I said, I should be worrying about my kids, right? They need my attention, my energy. Lord knows they get so little with all the other things going on.

I find moments like this happen every now and then, and when it does it catches me off guard. Like another time recently when we were at a Lowe's workshop, and there was a small baby in a carseat that the mother or grandmother had put in a cart. The cart was next to the family as they worked on their project. The baby was crying and the mother/grandmother was busy helping the sibling with their craft. The baby kept fussing and crying, while they occasionally tried to shove a paci in her mouth (which she clearly did not want). I just couldn't stand it and was grateful for the hammering and commotion to help mute it out. But I kept looking over to the mother/grandmother, screaming in my head "Just pick her up! JUST PICK HER UP!" while they ignored her. I found myself so consumed by it that I could hardly work with my own kids on their project (also I was wearing Fenton which makes it slightly difficult to wield a hammer) and almost had to leave. I don't remember how it all resolved - if the baby fell asleep, or if the mother/grandmother finally picked her up (most likely, I was just trying to get the hell out of there) - but it left me rattled all day.

I guess when you are a Mom, you get fine-tuned into certain things. But it is strange. Strange how I can feel such overwhelming empathy for someone else's kid. Of course, many people who see a kid in a sad situation will have their heart strings pulled. But this concern I sometimes feel for other kids sometimes grabs me but the scruff of my neck and carries me away. I think, at least for me, I ending up feeling this empathy, a sort of an "uninformed empathy," towards someone I don't know anything about - simply because I don't know anything about them. My brain tries desperately to fill in what it doesn't know, like how it compensates for your eye's blind spot. My imagination goes wild sometimes. I start thinking "That poor boy's mother just doesn't see how important she is to him. Standing him up like that! And probably not the first time either!" When probably the mother is really thinking "Dammit, I didn't know the McDonald's line was so busy at 10:45 and the milkshake machine is broken and oh how I wanted to bring my special boy a milkshake today!" Or when I think "That poor baby girl is just needing some love from anyone right now. Won't someone just love her!?" When mom's thinking "My son has been waiting all week for this workshop, and Sissy has kept me up all night and is so colicky and unhappy all the time, and I really just need to spend a few minutes with all my attention on my boy since Sissy takes up all my time."

Well, you see what I mean. Empathy for other people can go a long way. It's what drives charity and Good Samaritan acts. I don't ever feel that my feelings are misplaced. But when I find myself with these strong feelings towards kids I don't know, I am reminded to be more patient, more accepting, more tolerant with my own kids. That any empathy I feel for other children is probably more a reflection of how worried I am about not disappointing my own kids, about always wanting them to feel needed, to feel loved. My kids are the only ones I have to raise, and no one can do a better job for them than I can. I sometimes need to remind myself of that.

How, exactly, do you plan a blog party anyway?

2011-09-14T14:26:00.000-04:00

You may not have noticed, but the blog has been undergoing some fine tuning lately. (And even if you did notice, the blog has been undergoing some fine tuning lately. Ha! That joke never gets old!) Just organizing links and pics and stuff. Do you like it? I think it's a nice, albeit subtle, improvement. This is all in preparation for the 1000 Blog Post Celebration coming up in just 20 short posts. Why 1000? Everyone knows that any number that ends in zero is certifiably important. And we all know that since 1000 contains exactly three zeros, it is exactly super duper uper important. Duh.

So in recognition of this milestone event, I thought I'd let you know about some of the exciting things I have planned. Oh, yeah, it's gonna be a party and you are all invited! There will be tons of free giveaways, things like: free paragraphs to read, free statistics to mull over, a free poll to take, and maybe - just maybe - a free pic to look at!. Who knows what you'll walk away with! I can hardly contain myself!

But best of all, you will be there. You'll see first-hand the blog become a full-fledged, card-carrying member of the 1000+ club. (Again - why 1000? Really? We've already been over this...ugh!) We'll reminisce together over the good times and the bad times, over the celebrations and the tribulations. Over all the wonderment and weirdness that has been shared over the years.

To make it even more special I need your help. Please submit your favorite blog post of all time to be included in a "Fans Favs" list. I know I have a few that I am proud of, but let's hear from all of you that make writing this blog fun. You can browse through the archive, or do a search on your favorite topic like "birthday" or "poop." Some of my favorites include: Survival, Surviving the Wild, and Stream of Consciousness - and not just because they start with "S." Would it help if I gave you a deadline? Oh, it would? Ok...how about Friday by 11:18PM? Sound good? Huh? Why 11:18PM? Well I thought it would be fun to use a random a number - unlike 1000.

The return of anonymous comments

2011-09-14T12:37:00.000-04:00

Now, come here kids. I want to talk to you. I noticed that you've been really good lately, and so I think you have earned this. I think it's a good time to tell you how proud I am of you, and too often these moments get passed by.

So as of today, I have decided that - if you are good - you can have it back. I want you to take care of it and show me just how wonderful and responsible you are. I know you deserve it. Make me proud! But be warned - slip up and you will get a red ticket!

Now let's get this party started! Caption this:

Half-Birthday Gala Ball Celebration

2011-09-06T12:15:00.005-04:00

Yesterday was the older children’s half birthday (happy 78th month kids!) and so we honored it the only way we knew how: we measured them.

We’ve been meaning to do that for awhile because we can tell they are about to have a growth spurt come on. They’ve been eating a LOT, sleeping full nights and still are tired, are grumpier than normal, and seem to be putting on a bit of chub (I don’t see it as much, but Laura swears the last is true). We wanted in on the front end of the growth spurt to see how much they actually grow in a short period of time. We’ll have to check back every couple of weeks to see.

Kestian: Height 3’11” (53%), Weight 44.5 lbs (27%), BMI 14.2 (12%)
Adelaide: Height 3’9 3/4” (33%), Weight 44.5 lbs (33%), BMI 14.9 (40%)

They both are skinny and they both weigh the exact same amount (which is odd because Adelaide is shorter than Kestian and I SWEAR she feels lighter), are similar in height, and have skinny little BMIs (both in the healthy range though).

I love the oddities of Adelaide’s percentile being the exact same for both height and weight, and how two kids who are the exact same age and exact same weight have such different percentiles due to their sex. That will only change even more dramatically as they get older.

But, damn, both of them are close to 4 feet tall. I remember when I was their age, of course, but I also remember when I was 9 and 4’ 7” (it was on my baseball card for little league!) which isn’t that much different to them at all. They are growing up and have their own little minds and their own opinions on things. Now I even have to tell them not to let their belches rip during dinner (I blame the mother).

So now they are of an age to know lots of stuff (but still not wander the streets at night selling rocks), it is curious what they call different things. No, I’m not talking about saying horrible southern dialect things like ‘sucker’ for lollipop or ‘pop’ for soda. I’m talking about, you know, personal things.

When I was growing up we had to call things that deal with private parts or bodily functions stupid things. No, not stupid like "wee-wee," but stupid like embarrassing to say around other people. Poop is such a nice, serviceable word that doesn’t have the connotations of "shit," but it was considered a bad word in our house. We had to call poop "bowel movements." Seriously, that was the ONLY thing we were allowed to call them.

For years I thought that poop was crude, but it is totally not. It is the default word, and the reason why some people don’t like it is because ANY word for poop is bad to them. Crap? Oh, that was considered a cuss word. What the crap?

Fart? Oh, another bad word that we were not allowed to say because it is "crude." But, again, ANY word that means fart would be crude, so why even bother? A note: both fart and poop have a long illustrious history in the English language, and we should celebrate such ancient words that succinctly and unambiguously convey what we mean. Anyway, instead of fart we had to call them "gasses." Which is stupid.

In our house we say fart and poop and butt (which we also weren’t allowed to say!). We have not ever taught the kids the euphemism of 'cut the cheese,' but that is because we have such a fun time when we have actual cheese and we ask the kids if they want us to cut the cheese for them. Oh, I assure you I NEVER want them to find out what that means because it is limitless entertainment to hear them say "yes, please cut the cheese for me" and "did you cut the cheese yet?"

We also say penis for the penis and vagina for the whole vagina-y area, but when Kestian gets older (and Fenton!) and starts calling it his dick, I won’t correct him. I will tell him some uptight people think that is crude or even a dirty word, but seriously, that is what guys call it 95% of the time.

What we do not have, however, is consensus on what to call the whole testicle/scrotum complex.

This came up last week, and me and Laura were talking about it. What should we have them call that? What we need now is YOUR input! Yes, we need you to give us some feedback on what we should call it! Here are the options we are thinking of:

-Testicles. PROS: can’t be confused with anything else; is widespread enough that people know what you are talking about; vaguely Greek and goes with the older ones’ middle names; doctors will understand you. CONS: not something kids actually say; sounds overly clinical. NOTES: This seems to be Laura’s choice.

-Balls. PROS: it is what most everyone actually calls them; Kestian agrees that they look like balls. CONS: Some people think it sounds crude. NOTES: This is my choice.

-Nuts. PROS: some people call them this; has the whole ‘start of life’ thing relationship of nuts and sperm. CONS: Some people think it is crude; not really shaped like nuts; Kestian is allergic to nuts already so it may make him itchy. NOTES: Nuts, to me, sounds like something 11 year olds in remedial classes call them.

-Nads. PROS: Short for gonads which is all scientific and all; sounds sort of cool in a rebellious sort of way for a 10 year old. CONS: Gonads actually refer to either sex’s organs, so it isn’t actually scientifically accurate; no one actually says this. NOTES: I chuckle when I call them ‘nads.

-Bollocks. PROS: Goes back to Ye Olde English; sounds all refined because it sounds like what a British person might say; is referenced in one of the seminal punk rock albums. CONS: Please, who actually says that? It’ll sound ridiculous. NOTES: I have never heard someone call them this in real life.

-The Family Jewels. PROS: References the Simpsons back when it was good. CONS: Too silly; obviously not something anyone really says; with modern piercing practices it is too commonly literal anymore. NOTES: Do NOT google “prince albert.”

-Nards. PROS: Makes it easy to quote Monster Squads “Wolfman’s got nards!” CONS: sounds made up and no one actually says it. NOTES. Here is what I am referring to.

-The Sack. PROS: THERE ARE NO PROS TO THIS!!! CONS: It is totally stupid. NOTES: I was forced to refer to it as ‘my sack’ growing up, GAHHHHHHH!

Not quite cage free (what I really tried to post but Blogger screwed it up)

2011-09-02T18:13:00.000-04:00

Please excuse this seemingly double-post of the same thing. Blogger, for some reason, posted an early draft of this. I have attempted to "fix" it from memory, as I don't have the final draft. If it's any consolation, I added a few more pics...

Every day, the kids ride the bus home from school. Every day, Damon is the only parent there to pick up his kids. Every day, we ask what is wrong with these people?

Some of you may have seen/read things from the blog Free Range Kids. It's a blog about "common sense parenting in uncommonly overprotective times." I don't often read the site, even though I link to it from the blog, but I do (on some level) agree with a general free-range philosophy in a seemingly overprotective world.

One of the things on this blog recently was a link to another blog that posted about a book reprint that talks about what a typical 6-year-old should be able to do. (Got that?) This book was written in 1979, and included a list of questions you can check off, such as "Can he draw and color and stay within the lines of the design being colored?" or "Does your child try to write or copy letters or numbers?" Uh, yeah...like 2 years ago. Then there is this one: "Can he travel alone in the neighborhood (four to eight blocks) to store, school, playground, or to a friend's home?" Are we still talking about 6 year-olds?

Reading the post and comments got me wondering more about this whole issue - something that Damon and I talk about all the time. Now probably every generation is guilty of stating: "Back in my day, things were so much safer..." and depending on where you lived, this may or may not be true. But what is true is that everyone these days thinks things now are much less safer than ever. With all the news reports about terrorists, all the amber alerts, all the Nancy Grace hype, it is easy to see why. The news never reports about how millions of kids had nothing bad happen to them today. That would be boring and tedious. It's more fun/entertaining/news-rating-worthy to talk about tragedies ad nauseum. And sure enough, it makes us gather up our families for a round of hugs before we go back to watching some horror that happened to someone else.

But truth is, we are a pretty safe society these days. Damon, a while back, read this book called The Culture of Fear. I haven't read it yet, but I think after I finish Mother Tongue it will be next on my reading list. But Damon often talks about it, how much of the danger we think is increasing is really on the decline, like how schools are more safer now than they ever have been (despite all the attention on things like Columbine).

I bet you are wondering right now where I stand on all of this? Do I let my kids run around outside all hours of the day? Do I keep them locked up at home? Would you be surprised that I fall more into the latter category?

It may seem at first glance that I am a bit hypocritical, or at least contradictory, when I say that I am all for free-range kids and think that society has gone overboard on the whole fear thing, yet I keep my kids under close watch. Even I think it's a bit strange.

Now here in the K. Y., at the kid's school only kindergartners have to have an adult pick them up from the school/bus. After that, kids are on their own. Am I the only one that finds that odd? And Damon talks about it too - how in 1st grade he would walk to/from school with his brother, because, you know, he was in 4th grade. We talk about how in the right circumstances that would be fine, but in the wrong circumstances it very well may not. How can you know which it will be?

Back when I was my kid's age, I was living in Hawaii. I remember, as a daily ritual, coming home from school, throwing off my annoying shoes, and running barefoot outside to play until dinner or bed. My brother was often out there with me, and if not him, at least some of the neighborhood kids. We'd toss balls, play hide and seek, climb trees, and do whatever (except ride bikes). Other than a few lessons on how to cross the street properly, I don't remember my parents being out there with me. That's not to say that they didn't know what I was doing, but I just probably didn't notice.

I also remember walking by myself to the pool down the street, which strangely when I look up the ol 'hood on Google maps, I don't see the pool where I thought it was. Looks like there is now a Veterans Center. However, if you look at the map, you can see another pool (East Foster Village) a hefty walk away (to the Northeast); I remember walking there too.

I remember walking down the street to where some friends lived. I remember jump-roping around the block. My parents surely knew - at least in general - where I was. Right? Maybe. And Damon, too, was a free-ranging kid, often haunting the nearby woods for hours at a time by himself. We both look back on these times with a fond eye. So why is it that we do not let our kids roam as we once did?

Well for one thing, there's the practical reason of how my kids seem to get confused as to exactly where we are even when we walk around the neighborhood. I think the curved streets and hills throw them off, and I know if they were to try to walk somewhere alone, like the nearby park we go to every week, they'd hit a wrong turn. I don't expect that most 6 year-olds would easily navigate around where we live.

Another reason has to do with the street we live on. Even though we are in a 25 mph neighborhood, our street is a main access in and out of the neighborhood. It's also curved and hilly. So cars often come around the bend at a quick speed that doesn't give much time for anyone to react. It's not so much that I don't trust my kids about crossing the street as that I don't trust the drivers that come through there.

However, none of those reasons seem to be a factor for some of the kids up the street - including someone Kestian and Adelaide's age (and her younger sister!) - roaming around all hours of the day. One night, a gang of them rang our doorbell at 9 o'clock asking if we'd like to buy some rocks. Damon told them to go home. It's not so much that these kids are out ringing people's doorbells, but that their parent's have no idea what they are doing. But is that so much different from when I was 6? You could argue no, and I'd have to agree.

But I think what it finally comes down to is that I can't buy the whole "it was OK when I was a kid, so it should be OK now" argument. I hear this all the time: "I never wore a bike helmet when I was a kid, and I turned out OK" or "My parents never had car seats for us, and we were fine." It's not so much that everything worked out all right for you, it's that we know it didn't work out so well for so many other kids. (For an annoying post on specifics vs. generalities, click here.)

Of course, we then get back to the whole other argument that things are safer than they used to be. I know that things are safer now, but we also have to consider that my world, where my kids get easily distracted (might not look both ways), can dawdle too long (take too long crossing the street), and can very easily follow each other or a cute little bunny far off and not find their way back. Curiosity leaves no room for homing skills in their little brains. (Do you find it ironic that in the last paragraph I was chastising people who ignored generalities, and now I am carelessly defending myself with specifics? Yeah...that's how I roll.)

I want my kids to enjoy their childhood, much as I did mine. But does a fondness of one's childhood have to include unsupervised outdoorness at such a young age? Does being free-range imply some antithesis, or even some solution, to playing indoors or keeping an eye on your kids? Am I doing something wrong by keeping close tabs on them - the same kids who just learned to tie their shoes and still need to be reminded to not run backwards through the house while wearing a bucket over their heads? Instead of playing unsupervised, could their free time include card games with their Papa, putting together massive puzzles, playing Legos, building forts, drawing dinosaurs, and dressing up dolls?

Every day I try to give my kids a bit more independence, trying to balance what's reasonable for their age with what I can cope with, all with a heavy dose of logic. As they get older, developing more skills and responsibility, I slowly let the strings relax - albeit more slowly than some, but also not as slowly as others. And during all this, I can hold my kid's hand in the street, but let them race ahead to the stop sign. I can ask that they don't roam the store without me, but send them ahead to check out the latest and greatest juice boxes. Every day they do more and more things on their own, always able to roam free in their slowly, but ever-growing, range. Of course, on some of the "red ticket" days sending them out on their own doesn't sound so bad.

The Firstest Grade of All!

2011-08-24T15:43:00.009-04:00

I like to think I was a smart kid, at least that is what people used to think. I didn’t get that label, however, until second grade, so my time in first grade was spent toiling away as just another student.

Now my own kids, however, are smart! Of course they are, since every parent thinks that about their own kids! Actually, my own opinion is that however they are perceived to be (and I am well aware of what things teachers look for in ‘smart kids’), we have a baseline expectation on academics for them that we’ve cultured their entire lives. If a teacher ever says to us “wow, your kids are at X level in math and X level in reading, they are so smart!” we might silently take the compliment, but deep down we will think “wow, it is so sad that that level in math and reading is not the expectation for the other children.” To excel in academics and be an intellectual as a lifestyle is not any more of an achievement than eating three meals (and a snack!) a day that are heavy in fruits and vegetable. Both are admirable, but both are what you are supposed to do.

What expectations are in our house? Well, play time is important, and we always make sure they have plenty of that. We also encourage reading, and for years have read to them before bed (it is less consistent this last year) and they are free to read when they want to. Art is also important, and the kids spend lots of time doing art projects (oh, they can certainly be projects) that they think up in addition to drawing and coloring and, overall, creating. This is almost always self-driven for them (sometimes I’ll give them something to do art-wise, but 99% of the time they just think of stuff). We encourage music (to a limited degree, but it is expanding as they get older) and language (Italian now, though they resist).

We also encourage their working in workbooks. I want everyone to note the word ‘encourage’ because one thing we do NOT do is act like Tiger Parents and push our kids to do things and excel. We encourage and expect and reward, we do not demand and punish. To succeed you need: aptitude, opportunity, and desire. The last one, desire, is probably the most important thing; without desire you get people that can do really well without doing anything meaningful. Being a Tiger Parent drains your child of the desire (many may not have the desire to do certain subjects anyway) and, ultimately, leads them to a life of unfulfilled competence. At that point the parent has failed.

It becomes difficult, however, if your child SAYS they don’t want to do something, but it just isn’t true. Kestian, for example, will loudly complain about doing workbooks, and I always remind him that he doesn’t have to do them. Seriously. Now, granted, we don’t watch TV for our hour in early evening if he doesn’t (not applicable on homework days), but if he doesn’t want that reward he doesn’t have to do it. But the funny thing is that he will (almost always) start working on them about 5-15 minutes after complaining, and not just because he wants his little bit of TV. He really does enjoy doing them (and he even says so while doing them!), but sometimes he needs to just start it to realize it.

I guess we are lucky in that we do not have a Wii or X-Box or anything like that. I see people with kids our age casually mention about their kids on Wii or (even worse) World of Warcraft and I totally cringe. If THAT is what your kids are doing, is it any wonder if they don’t want to read or play such mundane things as cards or puzzles? If their expectation is that they’ll be able to watch TV all day or play computer games, then I think the parents have not done their job. BUT, it is good to know that those kids will be the ones competing against ours to get into Princeton and Cornell in 10 years. Good luck with that!

This long meander needs to get back to me, because I am comparing our kids to me by way of my handy first grade composition book. Let’s see what little six-year-old Damon was up to:

Oh, wow, 9/11. On what is now such a poignant day, what was young and innocent me doing a full 20 years before the attacks? Did I learn anything interesting? Did we talk about something that really caught my imagination and made me think? Did I put down some great original writing?

Nope, we made goddamn Jello.

I apparently do not know the rules for capitalization, except perhaps there was a rule that I capitalize everything except “b”, “d”, “e”, and “j”. I also break out the linguistics to inform everyone of the schwa pronunciation Jello. Oddly, I get the “j” backwards on one page, but correct on the other page. Also note how my writing moves up and down with disregards for the actual lines on the page? Yeah, I still do that.

At least the Jello was Yum-m-m-m-m-y.

How does this compare to the kids at the same developmental stage? Well they brought home THEIR composition books (though this is not a common occurrence). Did they make Jello? Was it strawberry?

"My baby brother can
open doors and I share
Toys with him sometimes
he gets in the wei [way] but
I still love him I play
with him I go to the stor
with him. he is the best
when he plays with me I
Love him so much baby
brothers are so nice when
they play with you. The end."

Jesus fucking Christ, they wrote actual stories that they had to come up with themselves! Oh, my education was SORELY lacking.

Kestian wrote about his brother Fenton and, in all seriousness, there was no doubt that his first story would be about Fenton or dinosaurs. I’m just surprised he didn’t somehow work dinosaurs into it, though give him time and he’ll find a way. The best line of the story: “Sometimes he gets in the wei but I still love him.” So true, so very true.

"The funy [funny] man
I sol [saw] a funy man.
He had a funy car.
And a funy pet it wus [was] funy.
I like this man because
I like funy pepl [people] a lot.
I like funy pepl because
I like funy.
And funy is good.
Wuns [once] I sol him havang [having]
a pnik [picnic] anthen [and then] I went to
the pnik it was fun.
I wen't [went] on a wide [ride?] and
I sol the funy man.
And I had a grat [great]
prdy [party] and it was a lot of fun.
The end."

Adelaide’s is interesting for many reasons. First, it is a fun little non-fiction piece (and, wow, she has quite an imagination for stories if you ever talk to her), but it is also modeled after something from her work book.

Note I said modeled after, because it has only a little resemblance to a poem she read at least a month ago. Her story is The Funny Man (it even has a title) and its similarities to The Silly Man are that line and the line about having a silly car. The rest is pure Adelaide. I am so proud, not only of the fact that it is a fun piece that she composed, but also that it was inspired by something but made entirely her own

There really is no comparison between my ‘work’ as a starting first grader and theirs.Perhaps we should reward them with a Wii?

Blog press test

2011-08-23T19:02:00.001-04:00

Testing out Blog Press...

This test in no way is an attempt to boost post numbers in order to get to 1000 faster. Any resemblance to such attempts is based on fictional characters and can only be a coincidence. Please take all questions to your
local service desk. Thank you.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

If it were opposite day in OUR house

2011-08-23T17:54:00.003-04:00

We were recently at KET and Steve from Steve Songs performed in the studio. The kids had a great time with all the music and dancing. One of the songs he sang was called Opposite Day, which, as you can imagine by the title, is all about what life would be like for kids if things were the opposite. You know, stuff like spending the day in PJs and going to bed dressed. Playing with toys before starting homework. Kids sleeping in their parents bed, while parents sleep in little beds. Pure wackiness!

This got me thinking about what our house would be like if it were opposite day. I don't think it would be as fun as Steve's song. I'd imagine it would be something more like this:

Fenton would wipe my butt after I pooped, while I would stand up and pee on the carpet before he can even get the new diaper on (even though it was right next to him at the ready)
The kids would spend 20 minutes happily cleaning up their toys. Note: "20 minutes" and "happily"
I would get to play with Legos all morning, and then yell and scream when the kids tell me it was time to wash my hands for lunch
We'd go to McDonalds for lunch and Damon and I would get the Smurf toys, while all the kids got was boring sandwiches. Then Damon and I would complain that we wanted different Smurfs and be grumpy the rest of the day
Kestian would cut and print coupons, while Adelaide goes out shopping. Damon and I would go along and try to ride on the cart, beg for candy, run down the aisles, whine that we can't get Transformer toys, and beg to ride the pony
Adelaide would grill a nice chicken dinner and Damon would complain that there is black stuff on some of it
I would try to steal my kid's teddy bear, blocks, and toy vacuum cleaner, but couldn't care less for my iPhone, TV remote, or glasses
During dinner, I would smear sauce all over my hair, scream to use the spoon to eat applesauce but get more on my clothes than in my mouth, complain that I am "all done" just as the kids start dinner, then get out of my chair and try to get someone (whom I randomly pick) to get out of their chair so I can stand on it and knock things over on the table
Fenton would let Damon hold him
I would get a time-out for hitting, then complain when the chore I had to do was "clean playroom" even though I'm the one who trashed it, and I would complain and moan all day as I "cleaned" while Kestian and Adelaide get to do cool stuff like do 5 loads of laundry, wash dishes, mow the yard, and take the trash out
I would pull out all of the wipes, blowing my nose on each one before placing them in a discard pile, then put them back in the box. Repeat 8 times
Damon and I would argue about who gets to pee first
At bedtime, Fenton would fluff my pillow, turn on some House, and hand me some hot chocolate

Yeah...life at our house...

The "short" list

2011-08-22T17:23:00.003-04:00

For some reason, I have been working on this post for over a week. I'm not really sure why. It started out as a quickie to fill in the blog since things are busy. Yet, every time I work on it, I get deeper and deeper in thought about it. Still, I'm not sure why. It's just a list. A list of things we'll miss and won't miss when we leave Lexington. I find it curious that I have spent so much time on this. Does that mean anything?...

Now that interest rates are at a rockin' low point, I just know, know, that someone will buy our house - soon! As a friend reminded me recently: it only takes one, right?!

So with that in mind, I've been thinking about what we might miss (and won't miss) when we leave Lexington. My "won't miss" list isn't a summary of what I hate about Lexington - I mean, we all have things we love and hate about where we live - but it's just a list of things that won't make me long to return to the Bluegrass. And my "miss" list isn't all the Lexingtonian things that I can't live without - but rather things we have enjoyed while we have been here. I do, however, find it interesting in terms of what our family does/doesn't like to do here, and what it indicates about what we miss from other places we have lived (or will live). Anyways, in no particular order, here goes...

Things we will miss about Kentucky:

Things I will NOT miss about Kentucky:

Killer seasonal allergies
The things living under our awesome house
Being far away from family
The kids not getting in to Maxwell
Ivy
Double diamond crossovers
Being far away from the beach
Mitch McConnell
Having to drive at least an hour and a half to get to a zoo, museum, or IKEA
The Hamburg
It not getting dark until almost 10 in the summer
Living in state ranked last for education, and first for fatal child abuse, and record numbers of meth labs
Rand Paul
Fayette County Public School's policy on birthday party invitations
Having to pronounce "Versailles" as "vurr-SAILS" and "Athens" as "AY-thinz"
Tailgating
A university who puts sports (ranked third for basketball) far ahead of education (ranked 128th by US News and World Report) with an impractical goal of becoming a Top 20 university by 2020
Hot Browns
Camp Kenwick

You may disagree with my lists, but either way I'm looking forward to making a new list of things I like/don't like about the next place we live.

You WILL laugh

2011-08-22T15:41:00.002-04:00

Found this on my phone. Totally forgot I recorded this. Please pardon the crudeness...

Monday's Menu

2011-08-16T17:53:00.005-04:00

Breakfast

Special K bar – strawberry
Pop-Tart – strawberry
Fresh strawberries
Water

Lunch

Juice box
Yogurt
String cheese
Cheese sandwich or bologna
Pretzels
Grapes
Fruit snacks

Snack

Apple slices (1/2 an apple each)
Fig newtons
Pretzels
Water

Dinner

Chicken fingers (6)
Celery (cut up, whole stalk each)
Cucumbers (roughly 1/3 a whole cucumber each)
Strawberries (only 2 left each)
Banana
Water

Dessert

Popsicles or lollipop
Sour Patch Kids (they call them "salt bears")
Pringles
Pretzels

"I'm still hungry."

The First Day of First Grade, Part 2

2011-08-11T18:24:00.009-04:00

Whew! After Damon's post today, I'm not sure I can write anything half as interesting. But, then again, most of my posts aren't halfway interesting... [Insert "Aw Laura, your posts are 'interesting'!" here. Aww shucks, do you really think so? Insert "Oh yes! Just because we don't comment on your blog doesn't mean we don't love you!" Gee, thanks! I always thought the lack of comments meant the blog sucked. Insert "Oh no. The lack of comments on your blog has nothing to do with how much your blog sucks."]

I don't exactly remember my first day of first grade, but I know I lived in Hawaii at the time. I believe I was going to the nearby public school - at least for a time - until my parents moved me and my brother to a private school since the public school sucked or something. I sometimes went to school in a bus, but not a school bus...a VW bus. It had yellow/orange plaid curtains, and I always felt so cool on those days - not that our own Oldsmobile Cutlass wasn't awesome in its own way .

I must have been at the private school for most - or at least the end - of first grade since I have this picture...

Can you find me? I'm on the left (4th row) in the green shirt with long pigtails.
[Ooo! Seeing this pic reminds me: Years later we had moved to San Diego, and about the end of my 7th grade year this boy came up to me, saying "Laura?" Turns out it was the kid who was above me in the picture. I think his name was Lee. Totally weird. He had recently moved to the area. Unrelatedly, we moved away soon after that.]

I also vaguely remember that there was a strike and trash was not being collected, but I'm not sure that has to do with anything. (Holy crap - there really was a strike back then! [The title of this webpage is "Garbage in Paradise: A History of Honolulu's Refuse Division." How awesome is that?] The weird things we remember...) I do remember cutting my bangs one day, telling my friend (who possibly egged me on) that "I can cut my own hair if I want to. See?" The teacher talked to my Mom after school but I don't remember being in real trouble. I did, though, have an awkward hairstyle until it grew back in. Maybe my Mom thought that was punishment enough. I don't know if that was 1st grade though or not, but since I have some pretty serious bangs going on in the picture above, I'm guessing it happened some other time.

I also don't have strangely handy my composition book from back then. Damon doesn't have much of anything leftover from his childhood (except psychoses), but this he has? It's a wonder it survived. It's a wonder that he found it after 5 minutes of looking. I wonder if my parents have some of my art or notebooks from then. I wonder if they gave it to me already and I don't remember.

As you know, today was the kids' first day of first grade. They've been excitedly talking about it this week, although probably none more than Damon. Adelaide kept saying "I just can't wait for first grade!" while Damon kept saying "I just can't wait for first grade!" Kestian was pretty quiet about it all; at least he hasn't been saying he "hates school."

I personally am not sure how I feel about having first graders. I'm still waiting for it all to slow down - this whole kids growing up thing. I mean, now that they are in 1st grade, it's only a mere 12 years until they will leave me. In a life where I often cannot see farther ahead than after lunch, I can already picture my kids going off, waving "Later, Mom!" Oh, no wait - that was this morning. (Sigh.....)

So today we got the kids up and ready for school. Damon packed their lunches...

Adelaide won't eat sandwiches, so she gets "meat." Bread, however is a staple of Kestian's diet, so he gets his favorite: cheese sandwich.

And then the kids stood for the requisite pictures...

These days the kids pick out what they wear, so we don't have any cute, adorable, pretty, handsome new outfits for the first day of school. I reserve veto power only for school picture days.

Adelaide picked her blue retro "Berry Berry Good" shirt, purple-striped skort, and pink chucks. I love her style!

Kestian chose his Blue Angels shirt, red shorts, and tie shoes.
Little did we know that this would be the last time we'd see Kestian smiling this morning. :(

Soon we arrived at school. The kids agreed to let us walk them in today. How nice of them!

We snuck in the side entrance so as to avoid all the paparazzi.

We went to their complex...

Complex A - as in A for Awesome!

Adelaide went straight into her class...

"Excuse me! Coming through!"

Whereas Kestian wanted to make a fashionably late entrance...

"Uh - I'm not going in there!"

Adelaide found her cubby and put away her backpack...

"OK - let's get this day started!"

While Kestian...didn't...

At least he made it into the room.

Adelaide sat down to color...

Always start with pink!

While Kestian tried to blend in and become one with the cubbies...

At least he made it to the cubbies.

Adelaide...more coloring...

More pink...

Kestian...more not...

At least he made it to his desk...

Finally, Kestian started to color...

Ahh! Always start with green!

Time for the parents to leave...

Kestian: one last hug from Papa. Adelaide: busy...coloring.

Have a good day!...or not...

Kestian was left hiding in his jacket, crying. He did look up at one point and wave 'bye,' but then went back into hiding.

Time passes...

I spent the day miserable at work, thinking only of how sad Kestian was when we left him, sobbing in his jacket, probably desperate to be anywhere but there.

Then Damon picked the kids up from the bus stop...

Apparently they did not have a good day. They had a GREAT day! Both were all chitter-chattery on the phone, telling me about how they did worksheets, read books, made friends, and rode the bus home. I can tell they really liked it - aside from the fact that they each told me "I really liked it!"

So onto another year...bring it on!