Family Happenings...

You know, I'm not really sure anyone reads this thing anymore, but I thought I'd write a bit of an update just in case.

Everyone is doing well. Gabe and Chi are both taking gymnastics this fall. Gabe really made some strides this last week. He's never been able to climb the rope and he managed to climb halfway up on Thursday. Halfway is actually very high as the gym is a lofted warehouse type structure. The major difference between boys' and girls' gymnastics is that boys have to spend a lot of time building upper body strength before they can really do many of the apparatus. Chi's class is a preschool class and he's the only one signed up this session. I'm sure he'd like some friends, but it's kind of nice that he gets a private lesson for regular price. He's doing really well and he loves it. 

Chi recently faced the reality that only boys have penises. He is aghast. How can I go through life never being able to pee standing up?! But he feels the need to discuss his new found knowledge at length. In public. "I have a penis. Daddy has a penis. Gabe has a penis. But girls don't." Very loudly. I am truly amazed at the number of times he can utter the word penis in a short amount of time (kind of like what I'm doing now. ;) ).

Gabe participated in Adams Art Week at school. He went to an art appreciation workshop on Monday and then they had a program on Friday. We heard about their activities and had student presentations, then got to wander around and check out all the creations. It was nice.

School is going well for both boys. Chi now stays for lunch twice a week so he feels very grown up. He is doing really well with letters and letter sounds and has now read three simple phonics books. Gabe's class is still in the beginning of the year review. They start after Labor Day, but he's getting impatient. This is the first year of standardized testing, so they have been practicing the test as well. Don't even get me started on that. At least he likes his teacher and classmates. But I'm tired of most of his worksheets being works of art. I ask him how he has so much time to draw, and he's says it's all too easy and he always has lots of time left over. So that's a conversation for parent-teacher conferences.

Matt has been busy teaching, but he's enjoying the semester. He's in his tenure review year which is where they decide if he's likely to get it if he applies next year which would be the actual tenure year. It's like getting the green light or a caution before you go up for it and possibly get denied. It's going smoothly and we are not particularly worried.

I am taking a couple classes, working on my thesis and TAing for an American history class. I've been extremely busy this semester, and I'll be relieved when I am done with October, provided I survive it. :) 

Corn and Black Bean Salad

This recipe has been requested several times and Grandma White suggested I just posted it to the blog and I thought that was a good idea.

Corn and Black Bean Salad

2 cups corn kernels
1 cup diced red bell pepper
1/2 cup thinly sliced green onions
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 can black beans, 15 oz., rinsed and drained

1/4 cup red wine vinegar
2 teaspoons canola oil (I typically just use extra virgin olive oil)
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
Dash of salt

1. Combine first five ingredients.
2. Whisk vinegar with remaining ingredients in a small bowl. Drizzle vinegar mixture over corn mixture and toss well. Cover and chill for 30 minutes.


Eat as a salad, serve with tortilla chips as a dip, or use a relish.
Option: if you want more acid, add the juice of half a lime.

Gabe's Birthday Party

[This is a lot of "how-to" type info that I posted on my other blog, but I wanted to show you the party too in case you don't read Domesticated Nomad.]

 Gabe turned eight last week, so we had a party. You may know from the past we always invited his whole class, and that is a lot of people. This year we made him chose just a few friends to invite, and that made it easier to have an elaborate mission for them.

But first, invitations. I took manila folders and cut them in half, then I trimmed the open edges to make it folder-like proportions again and just used scissors to cut the tabs that manila folders normally have.

The glue stick is there for scale.

I used the computer to type a little message with party details, inviting the kids to be special agents and come to spy training. I did glue the top of the paper into the mini folder just so it wouldn't get lost, but I added a paper clip because that seemed more office memo-ish.

I printed TOP SECRET from the computer and cut and glued them to the outside. And that was all that was.

When the kids arrived, I snapped a picture of them, a head shot, if you will. These were to go into their passports with their aliases. I made up the passports ahead of time and just had to print the pictures and glue them in while Matt began to train them.

I'll give a tutorial on passports in another post (or this one will be ridiculously long because this one is already ridiculously long).

Training included code-breaking. They practiced Morse code and learned about invisible ink. We used baking soda-water, which is base on the pH scale, to make messages. Once dry, they used acid either in the form of grape juice or vinegar to reveal the message. We also showed them some other codes they needed to complete the upcoming mission.

We had a "laser" maze made with string and duct tape. Part of training was to practice going through, and this was probably the part that had them most excited. They all loved it.

We also had them do target practice with water guns. This was also exciting, but honestly, go with the laser maze if you have to pick one. It was by far the highlight.

Then they got a message. They were needed for a top secret mission. Former KGB agent Boris Prosorov had stolen nuclear material and was threatening to destroy a city if the UN did not pay him eight billion dollars! Gasp!

We filmed a congratulatory message for the end of the mission. They will run back to back if you watch the video (complete with outtakes.)

Here's how we did the mission:

They had to get to Switzerland, so they grabbed their passports and guns and ran out our side door where Matt loaded them into the "plane" which was just our car with all the seats folded down so it was more like a cargo plane. He got in and put on a "pilot's hat" and rolled them down the driveway (at like 2 mph). Ta-da! They had "flown" to Switzerland. I was waiting to stamp their passports and give them a clue as to where to start.

They ran to the side of the house and read a message telling them they had to shoot down all of the clues from behind the line (it was a mine field that would only deactivate once all the clues had been released).

Attached to each streamer was a letter. All the vowels: A, E, I, O, U, and (sometimes) Y. Each letter was a color of the rainbow. There was also the addition of a Morse code message. The vowels were clues they had to save that would become clear later. The Morse code message led them to the next clue. They had to shoot their water guns at the streamers. We weighted the letters a bit, so that when the streamer got wet, it would break and drop the letter.

The next location was our mailbox. Inside they found a PVC pipe with what looked like a ribbon of gibberish letters. But when they wrapped the the ribbon around the pipe the letters lined up to make a message which read:
Red is a warning.
Green makes up hop.
Snow does nothing.
And tar makes us stop.
This clue told them what the different "bomb" wires did, so to "diffuse" the "bomb" they had to cut the black. (Red made a buzzer, green sped up the clock and white did nothing.)


To get directions on where to go next, they got a call from Headquarters. (I changed my phone so that calls from home said "Headquarters") This sent them to Geneva, and we had a sign on our fence that said Geneva (Clever, huh?). 

At the fence, I quizzed them on their passports, something easy like their alias's last name or birthplace. I told them, "I hear the Russian cafe is delicious."


So they ran to the deck which was set up with a table and chairs. Matt came out of the house with an apron on and presented them with a menu. The menu had an invisible ink message hidden, and so they had to order the grape juice to reveal the message.

The message said, "Time falls like sand. Connect the dots." They could see bocce balls sitting in the sandbox. They were numbered, so they had to use the rope to play connect the dots, and at the point of the arrow, they dug to find a box with a clue and wire cutters. (This was taken directly from Ruff Ruffman, so Gabe knew it as soon as he saw it.)

The clue was missing it's vowels, and those spaces were replaced with colored boxes. They figured out the rainbow colored vowels they received before were the key, so they began to fill in the box. 

It was message from Boris taunting them about understanding the clues about how to diffuse the bomb. 

It's really just a  simple electrical circuit that Matt made look messy.

And there was an address in french. A little jaunt over to the laptop to type it into Google Translator and they knew that they had to go to the Alley beside the Garage.

But, gasp! They still had to get through a laser maze to reach the bomb which was hooked up to the nuclear material (green jello).

So they followed the clues from the pipe code to figure out that they needed to cut the black wire.

It was hilarious how stressed they were watching the lights count down. Clearly they were in to the make-believe. After they successfully diffused the bomb, they got the congratulatory message from the DVD and they "flew" back to headquarters.


Matt had taken away the training supplies and set the table for cake and ice cream during the mission. The cake was a old-school round bomb with a curly candle for the wick.

We also set out Twizzlers since they kind of look like wicks and M&Ms just for fun color. And that was all we did for food. Our party was late afternoon so I figured we were already spoiling their dinners; we did not need to push it. :)

I'll give you a cake tutorial in another post as well, but I can tell you it was sooo simple.


It was a really fun day. They were thrilled that I sent them home with their water guns and passports. Were we doing this again, we'd simplify it a bit or plan for a three hour party instead of two. We came down to the wire with the timing. 

Almost summer...

We are so close to having all of us off for summer, and I really can't wait. I was sort of off, but then a professor asked for help, so I've been TAing all week. Long story, but it will help me in the fall which is why I agreed.

Matt has been done and he's teaching the second summer session so he's been doing projects around the house. This week he managed to get the vegetables in the garden and change the front garden bed. Plus we bought the new baseboards, so that will commence after Memorial Day weekend.

Chi's good. Sometimes a little bored and wishing he could be in school like Gabe, but he's had some play dates and overall has been entertained.

And Gabe, well...

So, Gabe bit another student at school yesterday. He was never a bitter so that was a bit of a shock. Apparently some girls grabbed him and wouldn't let go, so he bit one of them. We had to have a talk about using words. He lost recess for the rest of that day and today. I'm totally cool with that punishment, but the principal said she would normally have sent him home. Really? For a first ever offense that didn't even hurt the student? And, even though the girls put their hands around Gabe's neck, they received no punishment. It's a little frustrating because we've also witnessed with others how boys usually get punished more severely than girls. Don't get me wrong - Gabe deserved his punishment and I finding biting someone to be unacceptable. But clearly the girls were not behaving either. Shouldn't they have lost at least one recess? But I also remember getting away with more as a child than the boys did, so unfortunately, I think the differing expectations are here to stay.

I'm really ready for Gabe to be done. He's in an awkward place where he doesn't like playing sports with the boys because he's not that good at, and he likes playing make-believe with the girls but some of them are bossy-pants and he gets frustrated. I think he just needs a break from recess drama, and maybe this summer we can work on his sports skills so he feels like he has more choices. 

Snow Day!

Well, we finally have some good packing snow. All the boys (including Matt) got the day off from school. Nothing like Mother Nature waiting until the end.

The boys made a snowman, doing most of it themselves.

And they made giant snow balls for bird feeders.

And just so Chi can try to break it with a bat.

As I post they are attempting a sort of snowball-henge.

DS'es and Monkey Pants

I'll fill you in on our questionable parenting. Malachi broke Gabe's DS. Not on purpose and not in one go. He just kept mishandling it, partly because he kept trying to get away with having it when he wasn't supposed to.

He wanted his own so badly because he was always getting left out. The neighbor boys all have them and many cousins. Gabe could play and Chi could not. He kept asking for one and I told him to save his money. He's four. How much money is he likely to save without allowance? Apparently $100.

Y'all kept giving him money and he saved it like a champ. Gabe would blow his money as fast as he got it, but not Chi. He wouldn't even throw a fit in the toy department when we left without anything. I would just have to say, "Do you want this toy or do you want to save for a DS?" Without another glance back, he would leave.

So, Chi saved enough money, and we went ahead and replaced Gabe's and let Chi buy his own. He would probably want me to tell you that Gabe's is blue and Chi's is red. This is a very important part to them. I know what you are thinking. Didn't he just break one of these? And, isn't four a little young for a DS? 

Yes and yes. That's the questionable part. The teaching savings part was spot on. :) Yeah, we are a bit worried, but we've reviewed with Chi how to handle it, i.e., not dropping it or smearing food on it. And we told him that if he breaks it, we will not replace it. And, I don't like the fact that at four he is capable of playing games on it, but he is. Actually, just drawing on it is his favorite part. We just have to limit the amount of time he can have it. I just wish Nintendo would make more educational games for it for the younger set.

As part of the set up, you have to enter your name, so when you chat with someone, it shows your name, and if you and a friend have the same color, your name tells them apart. I stared to enter "Gabe" and Gabe said, "Wait, you don't have to just use your regular name. I want something cool." I looked at him and said, "Like what? Joe Coolio Monkey Pants?" Very seriously Gabe responded, "No. That's too long; it won't fit."

Ah, my child. His only problem with Joe Coolio Monkey Pants was that it wouldn't fit. Not sure whether to laugh or sigh.

Hola

I am barely getting school work done, let alone finding time to blog about anything. So sorry these posts are few and far between.

Malachi wanted a "Robin Cake" for his birthday. Not the bird. And not Batman. Just Robin. So that was interesting. I had to ponder that one for awhile. I finally decided to just make a round cake and have it look like Robin's face. 

He was happy with it.

We also had a "milk bar" where everyone got a choice of chocolate milk, pink milk, or white milk. That was a big hit with both boys.

He, of course enjoyed opening his presents.

Those pictures just cracks me up.

In other news, the boys are both in swimming lessons right now and will be through March. They are doing really well and they like it. 

Matt has been busy at work because he is chairing the search committee for a new professor to replace someone who is retiring. We are both hoping that the process is almost over, but it's hard to get people in that department to agree on anything.

My semester is already busy. Each professor is assigning about 300 pages of reading a week and I have three classes. Then I have to also find time to get my research going, which isn't going anywhere fast, unfortunately. 


At Gabe's school, they have Spirit Days sprinkled throughout the year rather than a whole week. So last Friday was Dress Like a Rock Star Day. I thought he was quite handsome. :)

And then here are pictures of Christmas:

Gabe was a Star Boy for St. Lucia at church. The Star Boys help St. Lucia pass out treats and also offer everyone a star for Jesus (representing his light).

It was cute, good food and Gabe had a huge crush on our Lucia. :)