Just in time for cake

We arrived in Duluth last week just in time to share birthday cake with Grandma Margie. Naomi and Zada picked out the cake, a birthday ballon and an Ariel doll. Hmmm, I didn't know my mom was so fond of mermaids...

Zada was all excited to show Grandpa her "new" T-shirt from Ryan and Lukie.

It may look like a sticker, but it is a Boost band-aid. Darby vs. closet door, point to the closet door.

I think the sugar is kicking in!

Fine fishing weather

Who doesn't feel like resuming their summer activities on the first warm day in February? Not a very long video, but I think you'll see why...

Skating's cool

Santa brought Zada her first pair of skates last Christmas and I think he would be glad to see how much she's still enjoying them. Zada is enrolled in a weekly skating group, which has become the social highlight of our week. Outside of her learning how to skate, it's a bonafide moms meeting for me and for Darby, an opportunity to hang with the boys and wrestle with the willing. The way these kids greet each other, play together and say goodbye for a solid 20 minutes truly warms the heart, but unfortunately not the feet.

Hi Aris!

Jack, Darby's brother from another mother

Zada! Zada! Zada!

Guy, TJ and Aris

Watching from a safe distance, not a bad plan

Anyone see this coming?

If not lemons, then lemonade

So the upside to Darby's insatiable appetite for granola bars and Zada's spilling her whole cup of milk at lunch today is that I had once again the makings for a totally kick-butt homemade guitar. A couple days ago the kids and I were at the YMCA and saw a groovy guitar made of a Cheerios box, rubber bands, tape and a paper towel roll. Saturday, we cleared the latest round of Cheerios and had a wrapping paper tube around (for occasional sword-fighting, one never knows when pirates might abound) so I constructed our first guitar. Zada was pretty stoked about the new instrument, as were the rest of us, and now, due to today's unexpected and somewhat frustrating events, I found myself alone at naptime with an empty granola bar box, paper towel roll, packing tape and rubber bands.

I don't know if this is how Les Paul got started but I am hoping the guitars will last at least through the babysitter's visit tonight. It would be nice if the kids didn't fight over them either, since I don't think they will stand up to much abuse, but knowing how bandmembers can be, I heard even Keith and Mick are on the outs again, I will not be holding my breath. I will instead be shouting "Free Bird!" at every opportunity and looking up cardboard drum schematics on the Internet.

Cool, I wonder if I'll ever get a turn with it?

Valentines all year long

There really is so much to enjoy as a kid, your birthday, Easter, Christmas, Halloween, Valentines Day, about every two months another party springs up. We have been celebrating Valentines Day for about a week now. It started with a package in the mail from Grandma Margie and Grandpa Buzz and carried on through more cards and stickers from loved ones. Friday, we made M&M cookies for Troy, and ourselves really. Saturday, there was a church Valentines party and nursing home visit and now today the grand event, Zada's school Valentines party.

As a special allowance she wore her pink party dress "with the two flowers" to school and her red/pink shiny shoes. She's been sharing some of her candy with her brother, though not as much as he would like, and the Halloween bags have resurfaced as a way to corral the candy away from the seams of the couch, the swirly pattern on the rug and the greedy mitts of two young children. (Also makes it handy for mom and dad to steal a kiss -- the Hershey kind, of course!)

We can only hope your Valentines Day is as filled with genuine sweetness, or at least high fructose corn syrup, as ours is; here's to love.

As much as they both want to sit on the counter they aren't all that comfortable doing it, judging from their "W" sitting. Our speech therapist told me sitting that way is insurance against falling over.

Divvying up the goods

Makes one glad these cookies will be sent into a hot, hot oven

Burrito night

I love this particular bean burrito recipe and apparently the kids do too, just look at these satisfied customers:

Walking down freedom road

When I was a wee lass of 21 I spent three months in Europe. I lived with an Italian family in Milan, assistant taught English in a high school there and toured a handful of cities on the weekends. Often my friend, Tenni, and I were in charge of the planning and navigation for these weekend excursions, although we were usually four girls traveling together. Typically armed with a free map, a Let's Go Europe book and our own fearless sense of direction and purpose we toured the grand rounds of Paris, Rome, Florence, Venice, Heidelberg, Salzburg and Verona. We also learned the secret handshake of Garmisch, Germany and spent New Year's Eve 1998 skiing in the Alps.

I had the opportunity to reclaim some of that sense of adventure this weekend, when Saturday morning Troy took the kids swimming at the hotel and later to the Boston Children's Museum. I embarked on a walking tour of Boston, following the Freedom Trail to sites of historical significance. Again armed with a free map and my optimistic sense of direction I headed out, though the weather was unpromising and the walking treacherous. Along the way I saw the U.S.S. Constitution "Old Ironsides," visited the Bunker Hill Museum and Monument, walked across the Charlestown bridge, toured the Old North Church and pondered the curious hilarity of the word "wharf." I missed my traveling friend and the times we'd had, but took pleasure in setting out on a sight-seeing adventure unburdened by my usual charges and inspired by the road ahead. I felt 21 again, well, almost.

U.S.S. Constitution, "Old Ironsides"

Tudor's Wharf

View of Charlestown, the Boston neighborhood surrounding Bunker Hill

Colonel Prescott and the Bunker Hill Monument

Paul Revere Park with Boston TD Garden in the background

Most of these markers were obscured by the above-pictured snow, ice and slush

Old North Church