Homegrown popcorn fun

We grew miniature blue popcorn in the garden. 

Before the first frost we picked the cobs, opened them, and hung them to dry around the house. They made some fun fall decorations.

Yesterday we thought they were dry enough so we removed the kernels from the husks and popped a bunch up for a snack.

What fun!

Although the kernels were blue, the popcorn looks completely normal.

The kernels that were heated but didn't pop, turned the color of regular popcorn kernels.
Pictured: unheated kernel, heated, unpopped kernel, and popped kernel

How conversations look at the end of the day

Luke: I have a republic against polar bears.

Me: What, honey?

Luke: I have a republic against polar bears.

Me: A republic is like... a kind of government... like how a country makes decisions.

Luke: Yeah, I have one against polar bears.

Me: ...

Luke: Because they eat seals.

Me: ...

Luke: (nodding definitively)

Me: ...okay.

PODCAST!!!

I love podcasts. I've been listening to them since This American Life switched from radio to podcast. I, now, regularly follow over a dozen, and I've even gotten my kids hooked on a few.

When I was asked to come speak about parenting on a local podcast, I was psyched!!!

Dave was pretty excited for me, but for him, it was similar to any other speaking engagement, so I felt he didn't quite express the excitement I felt a spot on a podcast!!! deserved.

Ally, however, expressed it perfectly.

When she came home from school, I told her the news. Her eyes got big, and she exclaimed,
"O. M. G, Mom! That's amazing!"

Spunky Ally

Oh, Ally.  Ally, Ally, Ally.

She's got spunk.

Every kid is so different.

Kate never really gets mad at me. She gets emotional but never angry at me.  Anna gets mad, but it's more a general anger, and it kind of takes time to build up. Ally, however... at the flip of a switch, Ally gets mad at me, and she just lets it all out.

We're working on it. And, for the most part, she's doing better. She's nine, and our goal is to have her somewhat under control before we hand her off to a husband some day. (Just a joke... mostly.)

The other day, I told Luke and Ally that we had to leave for piano lessons in 20 minutes. They didn't want to go to piano. Luke preceded to whine and Ally preceded to debate. I responded by repeating, "We'll leave at 4:50," and walking out of the room. They followed me and continued to argue that they shouldn't have to go and that piano wasn't doing them any good. I ignored them. They started to complain about their teacher and how strict she was. I nodded. I'd heard it all before. Ally told me she'd do any other instrument, and I still ignored her.

Then she said, "You call yourself a Parent Coach!?!  You should call yourself a..."

I looked at her. She stared at me angry, "...a..."

She pursed her lips. I waited. She furrowed her brow as she thought of the worst insult she could lay on me, then she hurled it, "...a... Bad Coach!!!"

I know I shouldn't have, but I burst out laughing. It wasn't the right reaction, but come on. All that build up, and that's the best she had.

This kid

Kate is the most ambitious kid (maybe most ambitious person) I've known. 

She's also organized, persistent, kind, generous, and patient.

 She's everything I strive to be but haven't quite achieved.

I told her she should earn half of the money it cost to go on her DC trip. 

She set to work saving her babysitting money and, by the end of the summer, 

she was over two thirds of the way there.  

She had about $200 to go.

She was concerned she wouldn't have enough time to babysit to earn enough money for the rest, 

so she decided to have a bake sale. 

She would sell cookies by the baker's dozen (13).

She ended up baking about 350 cookies, 

earning the last $200 she needed 

and donating $47 to the scholarship fund 

for kids who needed a little help paying for the trip.

First day of School

First dDay of 6th Grade

First Day of 4th Grade
Their last year at our Elementary School

First Day of 8th Grade,
But She Has to Start Each Day at the High School for Advanced Math
(And, that means she leaves at 6:45... So this picture was a reenactment after school)

Raising monarch caterpillars

Earlier this summer, one of my friends asked us to “babysit” her monarch caterpillars since she knew we grew milkweed in our front yard.  W

hen she came over to drop off her caterpillars, she showed the kids how to recognize eggs and tiny caterpillars on our milkweed.  We were hooked.

I bought a big screened in habitat, and we started raising monarch caterpillars.  It’s been fascinating and wonderful!

This was one of Luke's favorite caterpillars.  We found him as an egg.

We were surprised how much these little guys can eat (and poop) in a day!

We got to watch this one make her chrysalis.  It was amazing.
It looked like it was trying to squirm into a sleeping bag.

This was the first one we watched emerge from her chrysalis.
We didn't realize that their bodies looked so big and their wings so little when they first came out.
I was worried something was wrong with her.
But, she was perfect.  We released her a few hours later.

Anna letting Ally have a chance to hold the butterfly before we put her outside to let her wings keep drying.

Our third released butterfly letting her wings finish drying in the sun.

Lombardy trophy

One of Dave’s friends gave him a couple preseason Packer tickets to take Luke to see a game at Lambeau.  Luke loved it.  When they were there, Dave showed Luke this sculpture.

“This is the trophy you get if you win the Super Bowl,” Dave explained.

Luke was shocked, “It’s that big!?”

Mrs. Cho

This morning at breakfast, Ally was telling me about one of her summer school classes.

"Who teaches that?" I asked.

Ally answered, "Cho, Mrs. Cho."  Then she added, "She calls herself 'Cherry Cho.'"

I was surprised, "She does?  Is that her name?"

Anna piped in to explain, "It’s 'Cheryl.'"

Ally insisted, "It’s C-H-E-R-Y."

"L," I added.

"Oh."  Ally said, a little sheepish, "I must have thought that was an exclamation point."

Ally sharing her Baba and pillow with Riley.

French Day Idea

We were having French onion soup with steak for dinner, and the kids started talking about French fries and how they may actually be from Belgium, not France.

I joked, "We should an all French day.  We could have French toast for breakfast, French onion soup and French fries for lunch, French bread for dinner..." Then to tease Kate, I said, "And we would French kiss..."

"Mommy!!" Kate said.

"What's French kissing?" Ally asked.

"It's when someone puts their tongue in your mouth!" Kate explained.

Luke and Anna looked disgusted, but Ally looked intrigued.  Ally came over by me and wanted to try it.  I tickled her and told her no way.  She walked over by Luke, and said, "Lukey, open your mouth and close your eyes."

The kids with Dave in a Colorado hotel on Father's Day.
It's one of my new favorite pictures.

Well trained

Luke was laying next to me before bed last night and he said, "Thank you for being such a good mommy."

I'd been having a hard time with Anna the entire evening, which had left me feeling really down, so I thought it was a sweet gesture.  "Thanks, buddy," I replied, "I haven't been feeling like a very good mommy tonight."

"But, you are," he told me thoughtfully, putting his hand around my neck. Then he said, "I'm just glad I have a phone."

I nodded, a little skeptically, trying to think of where he was going with this.  He has one of our old iPhones for music, Kindle, and the occasional game.  He gets to use it 40 minutes a day on non-school days, and this has been the cause of some complaints.  I hoped he wasn't angling for more phone time.


He continued, "My friends Facetime each other and stuff, but I'm actually glad I don't get to.  It makes me more well trained."

This expression made me laugh.  I couldn't help it.  I gave him a squeeze and said, "Well trained!  You're well trained."


He laughed, too, then said, "Do you know what I mean by well trained?"

"Like disciplined?"

"Yeah," he continued, "Sometimes I think I'd like to text my friends, but then I think, 'I'm not that old.' I mean, I feel like I've been alive forever, but then I think how long people live, like 80 or 90 years, right?"

I nodded, "Yeah, somewhere around that."

"So, then I think I'm not that old and I have a lot of time to be bigger and do that stuff.  So, it's kind of crazy that they get to do all that when they're so young."

What deep thinking from my little guy!  I love him.

A lunch date selfie from a couple weeks ago.

Fortune cookies

Luke was sick with a fever yesterday, but he was feeling better by lunch time.  Dave and I usually have Tuesday lunch dates, so we took him with us.  We went to a Mongolian restaurant, and Luke loved the option to make his stir fry with less veggies and more noodles.  That kid loves his carbs.

But, his favorite part was, of course, the fortune cookies.  He got to have all three of the cookies.  As we were driving away, Luke opened the second and third.  He read them and commented, 

"I like these fortunes.  They're all so positive."

Riley and Anna

These two...

Lots of energy.  A little bit of mischief.  Lots of fun.  

I love them.

Left wing, right wing

I'm trying to play pick up soccer once a week, just for fun.  However, aside from a brief and disastrous experience in high school, I have no experience at all playing soccer.

So, I was asking Luke a little about it.  I was confused about what side of the field was called left or right.  Like, is it when you're looking at your goal or at the goal you're going for.  So, I asked him, "When you're supposed to play left or right, how do you know what side that is?"

He held up both his hands, shaped as "L's" and said, "Like this."

Stage fright

The twins' class is having a performance on Friday and Ally is singing a duet.  This morning, we had this conversation.

Ally - I'm so excited to sing my solo with the other person on Friday.
Me - Your duet.  Yes!  I'm so excited to watch you, too!
Ally - And, Luke... I don't know if he wants it to be a surprise...
Me - He has a speaking part!  He told me.  How exciting!
Ally - He was talking and talking and talking about it.
Me - Is he excited?
Ally - No, he's nervous.  Really nervous. But, I was giving him ideas about how not to be nervous.
Me - Oh, yeah?  What did you tell him?
Ally - To pretend he was talking to his stuffed animals.
Me - I like that!  Some people say to picture the audience naked.
Ally - Ugh!  But wouldn't that make you more uncomfortable, really?

Yep, I think it would.  I mean, if I went to teach tonight and everyone in the audience were naked... I'd be really uncomfortable.

Me - Excellent point, Als.
Ally - And, I also told Luke that if he messes up three times, I'll give him $5.  That way he won't feel as bad if he messes up.  Maybe I should make it two times...

I love those twinnies.

Gardening with a side of OCD

My grandpa was a great gardener.  He grew beautiful flowers all over his yard, and he had a weed-free, well organized vegetable garden.  I loved to look at his garden and to snack on freshly picked green beans in the summer.

I've had my own garden consistently since I was 24-years-old, along with a disappointing garden a couple summers when I was in my teens.  (Tomatoes don't grow well under a gigantic shade tree and I got sick of hauling water from the house.)

When I was sitting down to plan my garden a few weeks ago, I looked at the spread before me and shook my head at myself.  Gardening is supposed to be relaxing.  It seemed wrong to plan a garden using two computer programs, three sheets of graph paper, and another sheet of notes.

I thought, this is gardening with a side of OCD.

But then I thought of my grandpa.  The man counted and recorded every bean he picked (along with everything else, as well as the temperature) as long as I knew him.  And, I realized my anal-retentive gardening technique is truly a tribute to my grandpa!  That, in addition to the pickles we make most summers using his and my grandma's recipe with our garden cucumbers (which will be grown in precisely 7 square feet of space in the northeast quadrant of my garden).

Toast

For the last few years, I've been a little unsure about the effects of wheat on the body.  (I am constantly reading about food and getting myself paranoid.)  So, my kids haven't had a lot of bread products, aside from homemade ones made with almond flour or other grain-free substitutes.  Lately, I've been opting to let my kids be more mainstream (read: less deprived), so we've had more bread around.

The other morning, my kids had made themselves cinnamon toast, one of my childhood favorites.  I was cleaning the kitchen when I heard this exchange.

Luke:  Toast is so good.
Ally:  Mmm hmm, whoever made this up is smart.

Ice water

My parents love drinking their water well iced.  Although I loved ice water when I was pregnant, in the last several years, my teeth just can’t take it.  

The other day, after my parents had been visiting, Luke filled a cup with ice and put it in the microwave for three seconds.

I asked, “Buddy, what are you doing?”

“I'm wanting it to melt a little so I can have ice water,” he explained.

I thought it was a little odd, and then I figured it out, “Are you trying to drink ice water like Oma and Opa?” I asked.  Then explained, “They just put some ice in and then add water.”

“Ha!” he laughed, completely surprised, “That's strange!”

This girl is on fire

Kate has, once again, been on fire!  

She won the Scholastic Writing Award for a short story she wrote.  She was competing against kids in high school!

She went to State in Forensics!

She also won Student of the Trimester at school for her all around academics and behavior!

Here she is at Grl Pwr,
an event to empower girls to be their best selves,
with two friends a few weeks ago.

This kid is something else!

Skiing with my funny little weirdos

We went skiing in Michigan for Spring Break.  I had been nervous about going, since I spent this winter still vacillating between being scared to ski and finding it somewhat fun.  But, I'm happy to say, the trip pushed me over to the “fun” view.

That said, I’m still a very cautious skier.  It’s simply a different sport when you learn when you’re 40-something instead of when you’re six.

Luke doesn’t understand this, though.

At one point, he said, “Mom, you know how you can go faster?”

“I don’t want to go faster.”

He looked slightly taken aback and then tried again, “Okay, but when you’re older and you want to go faster...”

One of the things I find really fun is an app Dave found for our Apple Watches that tracks our distance, number of runs, altitude, and speed.  I love numbers, so it adds a whole new dimension to the skiing.

I got really excited when I broke the 20 mph barrier.  (For reference, Luke went 38 mph when he borrowed my watch, and Dave hit 44 mph on a run.) When we got on the lift with Luke, I excitedly said, “Buddy, I went 21!”

He laughed.

I realized how ridiculous my speed sounded to him, even though it was honestly exciting for me.  So, I teased him a little.  I put on a hurt expression and, pretending to be confused, asked, “Why are you laughing?”  

He quickly realized I’d been actually excited about my speed and made his face very serious and explained, “I don’t know why I was laughing.”

This cracked me up.  He’s such a sweetheart!

Speaking of Luke being a sweetheart, his twin is not.

The hotel had a double headed shower.  So, one day after we’d been swimming, I shared the shower with her.  I washed her hair then turned my back to her to wash my face.  Next thing I knew, the kid had turned around and was gently smacking my rear end singing, “I like big butts, and I can not lie.”

She got a severe tickling for that one.

She’s pretty funny.  And I learned that she’s also kind of like me with her love of numbers.  Whenever I’d ride up the chair lift with her, she’d look at the number of the chair in front of us and add one to figure out what number chair we we were in, and then she’d play with the numbers.  If we were in 38, she’d say, “We’re in 11...or 5... or -5... or 24...”. 

And in case that wasn’t a weird enough trait of mine to inherit, Anna confessed to me that she when she’s skiing, she imagines her goggles can hone in on objects and give her directions.  I think she envisions it like an Iron Man suit.

I can’t comment, because I was at least her age when I made myself a Batman outfit and rode my bike around as fast as I could with just as crazy imagery running through my own weird little head.

Poor, strange kids!  Boy, do I love them.

Eleven

Anna had quite the eleventh birthday.  

She and Dave spent the weekend in Chicago.  

Then last weekend, 

she got to have her four closest friends over for a game night.

I love this kid.

A Tuesday

The kids had another day off of school due to weather on Tuesday.  

They'd already missed one for snow and two for cold.

Since Dave has Tuesdays off, we headed to Cascade Mountain to go skiing.

It was my third time going this year, and we went twice last year.  

For the first time, I had a little fun.  

Normally, the only good feelings I get are the little adrenaline rushes of, 

"I didn't die going down that hill."

But this time, instead of "this is so ridiculously scary," 

I actually had a little thought of "this is kind of fun."

Baby steps.

It's all fun and games...

Riley got spayed at the beginning of January.  Before that, Dave and I were dreading her recovery.  We remembered Mason and Finley so pathetic in their cones after their procedures.  To lighten the mood, I'd bought a coffee mug for Dave that said, "It's all fun and games until someone ends up in a cone."

The day I took Riley in, I brought along the "nice" soft cone we'd bought for Finley, which she'd seemed to hate a little less than the plastic one.  The receptionist told me that they didn't use cones anymore.  I guess cones are "so five years ago"... ?  

The receptionist explained they often don't use anything at all, but if Riley started to chew at it, we can use shorts.  I asked where I'd get those for her.  She looked at me like I was a little crazy and said, "I don't know.  Target?"  

"Okay," I said, "In the dog department?"  

She said, "No... the clothing department."  

"Oh!" I said, finally starting to understand, "like human shorts?"

Now she looked at me like I was completely insane, "Yes."

Well, she could have been clearer to start.

Anyway, when I went to pick Riley up, the vet tech said that shorts are better for male dogs, but with the spays being higher, shirts work better.  She told me just to tie a t-shirt at the back for her if she started to chew.  Surprisingly, Riley didn't mind her shirt at all.  Maybe it was because we made it a super hero costume?

Yesterday Riley and Finley were goofing around and Ally warned them, "It's all fun and games until someone ends up in a shirt."

My little proponents

My kids are so wonderfully supportive of me.  I'm so grateful for them.

Kate is so incredibly empathetic.  If I'm having a hard day, and I mention something that's bugging me, no matter how petty, she'll always reply something like, "Oh, Mommy, that sounds really frustrating."

In all the studying I do of how to better respond to kids (and any human being) when they're frustrated, I've learned that this is certainly the best response.  But, I'm still working on remembering and applying it.  Not Kate, though.  She's got it, just naturally.

Kate made these frosted rice krispie treat hearts for her friends at school.

Last night, Anna and I were talking about something I'd said at a meeting at her school.  We're holding lunchtime gatherings where we talk about how we can help everyone feel included to prevent social isolation.  

I asked her if she thought anyone really thought about something I said or if they just heard "blah, blah, blah..."  I was worried, with a group of adolescents, it might have been the later.  Anna said, "No, Mommy.  Don't think that.  You can touch people's hearts like no one else!"  She said it with such fervor and absolute belief that it made me tear up.  I'm still not sure I reached the other kids, but with a daughter who will back me like that, it doesn't matter as much.

Then this afternoon some flowers arrived, as a thank you from an organization for which I volunteer and put on an event last week.  

The kids ran in as I opened the flowers and asked, "Who are they from?"  

I hadn't opened the card yet, so I replied, "I don't know."  

Anna said, "Probably someone who appreciates your work."  

That made me giggle.  My "work."  How complimentary to even phrase it that way.  I don't generally feel I do all that much to be appreciated, but apparently Anna does.  So sweet!

Here's a picture of me and one of my biggest fans (Anna)
at an art exhibit after we did Yoga at the Museum

Last week I learned to play catchball (a sport like volleyball that's very popular in Israel that an Israeli-American partnership brought here).

Luke took a picture of me playing the game.  I'm just not sure I'm actually in the picture... eh, details.

Yesterday we had a tournament.  After watching a few games, Ally told me, "Mommy, you should jump up and throw it straight down by the net, so the other team can’t get it."  

Luke said, "I don’t think she could do that."  

Ally argued, "Yes she could. Mom is really tall... and she also has a monkey arms."

As if that comment wasn't funny enough, Luke said, "I know she does.  I just don't think that the rules allow that."

Apparently my monkey arms came in handy, because our team actually won the tournament.  

After we won the championship game, they played Queen's "We are the Champions."  

Ally and Luke were out on the court celebrating with my team, hugging me and cheering.  It was oddly touching.  

When the line "We are the champions...of the world" played, Ally said, "Of the world!?  Mommy, you're the champion of the world!?"  

I laughed and said, "Yes, of the world!"  

She said, "Of the whole world?" 

It didn't dawn on me then that she had actually taken the song lyrics as a serious commentary of the situation that just took place in a gym of the Milwaukee area Jewish Community Center.  In my mind, it's a song I've heard a couple hundred times.  I thought she was just being silly.  So, I said, "Yes!  Your mommy is the catchball champion of the world!!!"

Then we went on to celebrate and get our medals.  Later, Ally mentioned how she was so proud of me.  I thanked her.  She said, "I can't believe you're the champion of the world!"

I felt like such a jerk.

My medal.  Luke tells me it's not real gold. :(

My team and our Israeli coaches

I love my sweet spectators.

Cold

It's going to get cold here.  I'm talking "40 degrees below with windchill" cold.  

So I took the dogs out on the last day when it was warm... like only about 15 below with windchill.  

Finley seemed to think it was a bit excessive to walk in such weather, 

but Riley was as exuberant as ever.