God's Coconuts

I made play dough this AM for the kids to play with, and Jacob told me about his sculpture:

"Some hunters used the coconuts and the leaves. Did you know God makes coconuts? They grow into round balls on the tree and then when God touches them, when she touches them, they turn into coconuts!"

I'm not sure I believe in God, but if God does exist, I'm glad God is a "she"!

Notes on our new routine

Photo caption: This is Casey riding a trike in Port Hadlock, but you get the picture....


Well, things are different around these here parts, and one of the biggest changes is the fact that Casey has her own wheels! Today is the 4th day of the new semester, and this week the day has worked like this:

6:30 The kids wake us up
6:45 I make Josh coffee
7:00 The kids and Josh watch Avatar while Josh wakes up
7:15 I go to work!
7:30 Josh feeds and dresses the kids!
8:30 Josh takes Jacob to his school at Carriage House
9:00 Josh walks Casey to Cyert, while Casey RIDES HER OWN BIKE!
9 - 3:30 Josh and Kathy work hard!!!! Casey and Jacob play hard!
3:45 Kathy picks Casey up at school. It takes a LONG time for us to get home, b/c Casey has to ride her bike .5 miles uphill! She rides on the sidewalk next to a busy street, so I have my heart in my mouth the whole time! Casey keeps saying: "It's OK, mom. I CAN DO IT!"
4:15 Casey and I walk to pick up Jacob
5:00 Josh walks home to meet us for dinner!
6:00 We eat dinner on the porch!
6:30 We play outside and take care of the yard!
8-8:30 The kids go to bed!
9:00 Josh and I collapse with exhaustion!

We started this new routine as a way to give Jacob and Casey shorter days at school and daycare. Starting next Thursday (when Jacob starts 1st grade), Jacob will take leave for Linden from a bus stop close to our house around 8:45 AM, and I will meet him at the bus stop at the end of the day, around 3:40 PM everyday! Then we'll pick up Casey and play until Josh comes home!

I love getting to work early every day, and I've had more time to cook and hang out with the kids before dinner. I hope we can keep it up!

Kid talk

There are so many funny things being said right now by our two children that it's hard to keep track of them all. I'll try to jot a few of them down.

1) "The hotter." This is the name Jacob has given to the meal thermos I bought for his bagged lunches at Carriage House. The truth is it's not exactly a thermos---it's a container designed to keep food (as opposed to beverages) hot for a few hours before lunch. So, really, I think calling it the "hotter" isn't too off the mark.

2) Chest. This is what Jacob calls the game of chess. I know he'll get it right eventually, but it cracks me up. He also calls a cliff a "clift." I don't know where that "t" comes from.

3) Casey has an odd habit of reversing word order in a two word phrase. So for a while she called toilet paper "paper toilet." She called her new night gown a "gown night." I'm trying to think of other examples, but for now I can't.

4) Casey likes the Eagles of Death Metal song called "Cherry Cola." At our family meeting tonight we all went around said what we wanted more of. Casey said she wanted more music in the car, and especially "Ch Ch Ch Ch Cola." It was very cute.

5) When Jacob was 3 years old and we were living in Nashville we got a vacation rental on the river in Chattanooga. Grandma Gregson taught Jacob how to fish, and she also bought him a bathing suit on that trip. As a result, Jacob started to confuse "bathing suit" with "bait." He still calls his bathing suit his "bait," and his use of the word is so persistent that even Casey will sometimes call her swim suit a "bait." It still cracks me up!

6) I got the kids Pez toys when we were in Seattle to use as travel toys. Casey got one in the shape of a Princess. She started calling it her "Princess Pezzer." I hear from Brenda that the name caught on, and that now Zarni is calling his Pez toy a "Pezzer." Go Casey!

7) When we were on Cape Cod we showed Casey some lobsters in a lobster tank at a fish store. Casey began to get very afraid that she might step on a lobster when we were walking in the ocean. When we were on a nature walk sponsored by a Cape Cod kid's nature museum Casey asked me: "Mom, am I going to find a lobster under a rock?"

Creative Pronunciation

Brief conversation after watching 101 Dalmations...

Casey: "Why did gorilla the vill want those puppies?

Me: Who is gorilla the vill?

Jacob: Mom, she means Cruella De Ville!

Cracklin Rosie Makes Casey Smile Too!

Last week I was driving with Jacob, Casey, Brenda, Thihan, Zarni and Ayar in Seattle. Thihan's CD compilation with Neil Diamond's "Cracklin Rosie Make Me Smile" came on. I started talking about how this song was one of my first musical memories, but how I was so young when I first heard it that I didn't really understand what the song meant. As I was blathering on Brenda started cracking up. "Um," she said, "I think Casey understands what the song means." See for yourself!

More to come

Jacob and Casey and I had a wonderful time in Port Hadlock and in Seattle. We were there for almost 2 weeks. I have many more pictures to post, but for now, here is a darling picture of Jacob on the beach in Port Townsend, and Casey showing off a night gown ("night down") that Nana bought her on Nana's trip to Italy. I promise there will be more to come!

Monkey Ears and Circus Tortilla Bites (by Brenda Newman)

My sister has a lot of energy. In preparation for our visit today she prepared "monkey ears"---hot dogs serrated and curved into a "U" shape with ketchup and mustard for face and features. Also tortillas with cheese and cut into circus animal shapes. The kids LOVED their food. I stood by and, well, took the pictures. Someone's gotta record it.

Four "benders" at Fort Flagler

OK, so I'm not going to go into the whole Nickelodeon cartoon series "Avatar The Last Air Bender" thing in too much detail, but let me just say this: it is awesome. Three seasons have been made, and each season has 18 episodes. They are nicely drawn, complicated, multi-layered stories with an anti-war theme, and still plenty of action. The main characters are learning how to "bend" or control the four elements, earth, air, water and fire, and they are children. I love this show and so do my children and my niece and nephew.

The process of "bending" is like a series of Tai Chi movements and so when Ann and Larry took the kids to Fort Flagler this week Ann commanded them to show off their "bending" skills.

Don't they look great?