Gwyn's Valentine's Party

Little Gwyn made a sad face after Miriam's birthday and said "I've never had a friend party."
Jesse and I looked at each other and realized "she's right!"
Oh, what a sad first six years.  A December birthday has some major drawbacks.  No friends.  So sad.

This year we shook things up and had a Valentine's party for G and her friends.  A Friend Party!  Yay!
We started by making cards.  The girls were busy for 45 minutes.  They would not be budged. 

We played some games.  Pin the Nose on the Snowman got turned around and became Boring Horse to Fancy Unicorn. 

We decorated pink sugar bombs aka cupcakes. 

We had a little lunch of sandwiches, veggie tray, apples, and apple juice.  We sent the bombs home with the kids so very little sugar was eaten on our premises. 

This was the easiest party ever.  I loved that there were no gift bags, no gifts, just FUN.  I believe we may have started a new tradition! 

Sweet Maple Goodness

I needed a little project this winter/spring to keep me out of trouble.  Something productive, fun, and sweet.  Since my friend Rixa taps her maple tree for syrup, I figured I could, too.  Not her maple of course, mine!  So with some info from Rixa,  and spiles from tapmytrees.com (I know, isn't that the greatest url ever?) I'm on my way to making maple syrup.

Here's the 411.  I drilled a hole in the tree about 3 feet from the ground.  Rixa said to angle the hole down.  Which makes sense and I'm glad she told me to because I'm sure I wouldn't have. 

 

The kids and I jammed the tap in with a mallet.  Rixa gave me some tubing that connects from the spout and into a gallon jug. 

 

I bought the spiles and not the buckets because I'm way too cheap.  The tubing gets the sap into the jug and hopefully keeps all critters out. 

So far I've gotten a quart of sap which boiled down to about 3 tablespoons of syrup.  Not impressive, yet.  But those three tablespoons are the best maple syrup I've ever tried!  I need to ask our neighbor if I can tap their tree in which case we will be swimming in sap.  Not so much syrup, but that's ok.

First Time

photo from here

So we haven't gotten an offer from the school, but if we do, we'll most likely buy a house.  I can't say it very loud because it's SCARY.  We've been serial renters our entire marriage, so buying a home seems like a very big step. 

Here's what I've learned so far:
-I think our piti should be less than 25%.
-Lots of houses are in foreclosure right now.
-And there are lots of other houses on the market.
-A lot of them are dumps, especially the ones that will be easy to afford.
-I don't mind a kind of fixer upper.  I'm not sure about a gutter.
-Jesse and I are not in complete agreement about what kind of house we want to get.
-I don't know anything about buying a house.


So what do you know?  What do you suggest?  What has your home buying experience taught you that I should know?

Happy President's Day

I don't remember a lot of political talk growing up.   But I do remember this book.  And wishing that Jack and Jackie would take me sailing with them.

I had a Kennedy fascination that had everything to do with that book.  I remember watching a made for tv mini-series about the Kennedys.  And being even more enthralled than ever. 

So on this President's Day, I salute Lion Books and the first president I ever met through them.  When my mom had us go through our books this summer, I snatched this one and held it tight.  I'm glad that there are people who want to be president.  I'm glad that we get to vote for that person.  I'm glad that people write books for kids about politics.  Because kids should be glad, too.

Turkey Runs Again

Before the snow melted last week, we went to Turkey Run State Park to see if we could fall off a cliff or two while slogging through the snow.

Mention a hiking trip and there is sure to be whining.  It can get very disheartening very quickly.  This trip was no exception.  Although five minutes into it Gwyn said, "I'm behind because I'm looking at how beautiful it is here."  Finally!

J didn't try to pick trails with sheer cliffs and only slabs of ice to walk on, but alas, that's what happened.  We had hiked each of the trails previously, but never when they were covered with snow/freezing rain/ice pack.   Needless to say, we made it back safely.  No one was injured during this adventure.  And we will stick to less cliffy terrain for our next snow hike (if there is one this season).

G became very interested in reading the map to figure out where we were.  It was so very Jesse like.

We sure wish any of you had been there with us.  It wasn't even that cold!  And it was Beautiful, just ask Gwyn.

A Very Happy Ninth

This is just a touch late.  Not even a month yet.  Yay for Mom's who finally download pictures! 

Spoons was less of a hit than I thought it would be.  Maybe in a year or two.

I'm not sure how it happened, but we can't be super pumped for anything here.  Miriam's party was incredibly mellow, even though there were 10 kids, tons of balloons, presents, and raucous games of duck, duck, goose and spoons.  Two hour parties are short, fun, perfect. 

Pin the carrot on the snowman. 

 I had a mini breakdown because the cake got stuck in the pan.  A whole bunch of frosting, a mess of gummy worms, and no one was the wiser.  Crisis averted, thank you calmingJesse.  He's like one of those herbal teas.  Perhaps we can package him and market him to stressed party planners everywhere.

We ended the party with Lego building.  Everyone made some sort of creation.  Yay for 43 pounds of Lego fun!

This Week in IN

J's home from his interview in Wiscansin.  He said it went well.  Will we be cheeseheads? I tried to explain the concept of a cheesehead to the kids, but they didn't believe me.  I guess we tease them often enough that they're suspicious.  (Really.  Who would wear a piece of cheese on their head?  Do we look stupid, Mom?)

The weather has been weirdly warm.  Spring like.  The snow has almost all melted into a muddy mess.  A big boo to global warming!  I'm afraid my bulbs are going to think it's time to appear only to be frozen dead.  

If you want a mess, try figuring out if you're a resident, non resident, or part time resident.  The taxes this year really make me hope we don't move again for a very long time.  I'm very confused trying to figure it all out.  I see why people have it done professionally.  It's really easy when you only have to fill out the EZ form.  Then it gets really crazy really fast.


And after this week hiatus, I have a few posts up my sleeve.  Well, they're still in my camera because the pictures haven't been downloaded.  But if I could pull them out of my sleeve, I would.

I'll leave you with a picture of me.  I still eat my cake like that. A big thanks to my Dad who scanned and downloaded all of these great pictures. 

Happy Birthday Mom

The best thing about this day.

My Mom was born.  She's so cool.  She's a wonderful grandmother.  Super easy to talk to.  The nicest mother in law.  And she pulls off this muumuu like no one else can.  Happy birthday Mom.  (The blonde is my mom's sister Wendy.  Also looking awesome with those glasses.)

My Funny Valentine

We have little affection for the holiday.  Our first Valentine's day, we broke up before.  (The one where Jake and Mighty got together and he gave her nun's orchids in a vase he made.  Swoon.)
Our next, we must have been engaged.  I have no memory of it.  I'm sure it was wonderful.
Last year, Miriam was baptized and we had a great dinner with my Mom and our family.  That was fun.
This year, he'll be in Wisconsin on a job interview.
So what to do?
Well, again, flowers seem odd as we're in the middle of a cold snap.  A bouquet of icicles, maybe. 
Chocolates?  Love 'em.  Really don't need 'em. 
Solution:  A subscription to The New Yorker Magazine (plus the free tote bag.  score.)  A present for both of us.  Isn't it romantic?

Lego Fans of the Midwest Unite

Mark your calendars Lego friends.  Brickworld Indy is happening March 19-20. 
Giant sculptures made out of Legos.  Tons of kids and adults who play with Legos.  Can you say FUN?
You know we'll be there. 

Fab Finds

We're off to swimming lessons in a bit, but just can't help telling you about a few finds this week.

The LL Bean Signature catalog came on Monday.  Oh how yummy.  I want these shoes.  And these ones for J. You know I love LL Bean because they're from Maine.  And they employ a lot of people there.  And they're using old patterns to make new fab fashions

And in kitchen fashion, these produce bags make me want to run to the grocery store right now!  I also love their napkins.  And best of all, Oh Little Rabbit is from Oregon, just like me!  I AdOregon!

It might be fun to make our own painted napkins.  Hmm.  A project, you say?  I do need to make a trip to the craft store anyway...

Toasty Legs

I've been working on these beauties the last two days.  The extreme freezingness of our house in addition to the latest heating bill was all the inspiration I needed.  Jesse thinks they are grandma-y.  I think I might crochet a matching headband and put on a Jane Fonda aerobics video.  Beta, preferably. 

Fun facts.  I used this pattern for a three year old and just made everything a lot bigger.  I used wool yarn that I got from the Goodwill Outlet in Indy.  It's like the bargain barn in Santa Cruz where they weigh your purchases and you pay by the pound.  Needless to say, I did not spend much for these lovelies.

The Finished Castle

Here's what the castle ended up looking like. It reminds me of the Moorish outposts along the Tejo in Lisbon.
We've been looking online at different organizing techniques and projects that other adult Lego fans have posted. It's quite an interesting world. And there, Lego pluralized is still Lego. Who knew?

What We Do After the Kids Go to Bed

I Hear It's That Short Month. The One With Candy.

Is it over? 
I mean January.
And Winter Storm Watch.
And Ice Storm Watch.
And school cancellations.

Besides the births of my first born and my life partner+.  I find January a highly over rated month. 
This monster storm (no Thunder Snow here.  bummer.)  was more annoying than monstrous.  It was kind of cool in a way. 
"It's raining ICE, Jesse."
"It's called sleet."
"No.  It's like little pieces of ice falling from the sky."
"Sleet."
"Whatever."

Until you have to use a pick ax to chip it off your car, it's neat in a not-used-to-winter-weather kind of way.
I miss our garage.  Let's get us one of those again.  They are an excellent idea.

School cancellations are great for one day.  You can do the homework you forgot about Monday night. 
The second day?  Yikes!  You kids are still here?  And why don't we have a television?
J came home for lunch so I went outside to shovel snow because there were too many people.  I kind of like my alone time during the day. 

From the call I got from the school today, it is indeed not January.  They told me that tomorrow is February 3rd and the kids are going to school (albeit after a 2 hour delay). 
Thank you robocall man. 

And the clear skies mean no snow.  Just really cold.  I can deal with that.