How We Carved Our Pumpkin

This morning after Brian went down for his morning nap, Elizabeth and I carved her pumpkin. We weren't able to go pumpkin picking this year, but Elizabeth chose this beauty at Trader Joe's this week. Here's a photo journey through the process:

1. Elizabeth drew a picture of the face she wanted on paper.

2. I drew that face as best I could onto the pumpkin.

3. We cut around the top of the pumpkin.

4. Elizabeth pulled the top off.

5. We removed the innards.

6 & 7. I cut the face and Elizabeth pulled out the pieces. Then she put the top back on.

8. We took a picture of the two of them together!

Have a safe and fun Halloween!

Precious Moments

Elizabeth is too sweet with her little brother, very protective and very tender. Brian, in return, is always very excited to see her in the morning when she wakes up and very happy to tackle her if the opportunity arises during play. (Elizabeth always enjoys these moments too!)

The video is from yesterday morning, right after E woke up. The photos are from this morning; they were watching Dora while I folded laundry.

Right after I took the above picture,
Brian settled into this position for a short time.

Mind you, they do fight sometimes. Brian pulls hair and destroys Elizabeth's things now and then. But I am extremely grateful that that's not the norm and that they get along so well.

Diwali 2009

This weekend Elizabeth and I participated in the Indian Diwali festival. Our friend, Pooja, had invited a group of girls to learn a dance to preform for the event. But in the end, enough girls couldn't be recruited, so the moms joined the dance troupe. We've been practicing several times a week over the last month and this weekend performed. There were two events, one for just folks that live in our complex and another that was campus-wide and in the main campus auditorium.

The young performers:
Rehaab, Snee, Elizabeth, Vrinda

This little girl sang beautifully and inspired the girls to dance along.

And here is our dance!
The word on the street was that the stage performance in Kresge was better.
But this is what we have on video.

Update

It seems unlikely that my current illness is H1N1. I have yet to spike a fever and I'm not completely laid up. Presumably I just have a chest cold. I have something, but I don't sound or feel sick, really. Very odd.

Given the cold and the fact that I feel behind in pretty much everything, this will be a slow blogging time. Maybe my enthusiasm for it will pick up soon, but it's not there right now.

Later.

Unclean! Unclean!

I think I might have H1N1. I'm still not caught up from being away; seriously, our house is a MESS! And Elizabeth and I are supposed to dance in two Diwali celebrations this weekend with some of our Indian neighbors. I'm pretty sure if I think I have H1N1 I'm not supposed to go out. Could chest tightness be anything else this time of year?

I do have lots of DC pics. If you know me on facebook, they're all posted. I'll get around to a blog post sometime.

Oh man, I really hope no one else in the family gets sick....

Capital City, Here We Come!

We (read: the kids and I) depart this afternoon for Washington, DC to spend a long weekend with friends from college and high school. In the moment, my excitement about seeing them is overshadowed by the usual preparation anxiety, the fact that Brian woke up at 4:15am, and my pessimistic expectation that the flight will go terribly in the kid department. It will be good to get there this afternoon, give Christine and Scott hugs, get the children to bed, and enjoy being with friends I have not seen in quite a while.

Brian's still not completely well. He had a low fever again last night before bed. In fact, the day after starting the antibiotics, his fever got really high. It's been a long week and we're all yearning for a full night's sleep. Brian seems like his happy self this morning and was last night, too. I'm hopeful that we're nearing the end. I think the early waking is due to not eating enough, so he's starving by 5am. When he wakes up he goes straight for the fridge to get his milk. (I really need a video of his tired toddler walk to the fridge; it's so stinking cute!)

Elizabeth is very much looking forward to seeing the sights in Washington. Sadly the weather is going to be cold and rainy. Who knows how rainy, when it's a 50% chance, but unless it's torrential, we'll be downtown tomorrow morning! I don't remember the last time I was in DC, so I share Elizabeth's excitement.

Well, I feel like I should be doing something preparatory, now that I've finished my cereal. Have a good weekend, folks. Stay tuned for posts about our trip!

It's Fall!

My favorite thing about the fall? The crunchy, swishy sound of the leaves on the ground as you walk through them. Lovely. There are many other things, too: crisp morning air, the colors of the leaves, exchanging t-shirts and shorts for jeans and sweatshirts, fall activities, the novelty of the first cups of hot chocolate.

Earlier this week, we headed outside to gather up some leaves to jump in. Our neighbor Pavan was out and he joined in the fun! The tree, whose trunk is in the picture below, has only a handful of leaves clinging to its branches. So there were plenty on the ground to sweep into a large pile.

Elizabeth particularly enjoys creating leaf showers.

Happy fall to all of you!

Ear Infection #3

Brian hasn't been himself for the last five days or so: eating less, waking really early, cranky, longer naps, etc. I've been in denial about an ear infection, hoping we could avoid another round of antibiotics. But, the doctor's office is closed tomorrow and we fly to DC (just the kids and I) on Thursday, so I had to face reality. Brian did have a fever yesterday. So, when the wake-up call was at 4:40 this morning and the fever was still present, I decided it was time to visit the ER.

Turns out 5:30am is a lovely time to be there! We were in and out in an hour and had several nurses stop in to enjoy Brian's cuteness. And this is the thing (thankfully) about my kids when they're sick; the majority of the time, you'd hardly know it. But, seriously, I'm ready for a full night's sleep, and oh yes, I do care about my little boy feeling better soon. (Just remember, he gets to nap during the day and mama doesn't!)

The Bubby is back in bed now, and will hopefully sleep until we leave for church. We're spending the afternoon with our friends, the Orfanidis, which I'm really looking forward to. I may need to sneak in a little nap on their couch!

And now, some photos of the little man as a reward for reading this (pretty boring) post - these updates are mostly to keep the grandparents informed. :)

Perhaps This is Why We Have a Credit Crisis?

While walking along the sidewalk at a strip mall, Elizabeth was naming the kinds of stores: Dollar Store, ... Hair Cutting Store, ... Clothes Store, ... Money Store.

Yes folks, the Money Store, also known as an ATM kiosk.

Me thinks it's time for a unit on spending and saving!

Togetherness

The Beauty of Creation

We've begun a unit about trees. I found this idea online of making a "Know/Wonder/Learned" chart. You pick a topic and write down what you know, what you wonder about it, and what you've learned after your research. I don't actually know why the leaves change color, so I look forward to learning about it. My exchange with Elizabeth went like this:

Me: I wonder why the leaves change color in the fall.

Elizabeth: Because when it's autumn, they want to look beautiful, and put on their fancy clothes.

It will be fun to learn the science while all the time enjoying the beauty.
Happy fall to you all!

Good Morning?

It's 3:47am. Elizabeth has a bad dream and comes into our room. This wakes Brian who makes noises (talking, fussing, screeching) every 10-15 minutes from then until 5am, when I get up for the day and he joins me. Elizabeth is still in our bed, and never goes back to sleep. After Brian is up, she tries to go back to sleep in her bed. She joins us at 5:30 to watch the Little People and start her day.

It's almost 8am, when our school day begins. Brian went back to sleep at 7:30. What will today look like? One can only guess, but I'm imagining a lot of lounging and reading books. And, oh yes, coffee! But this little mischief may foil my "lazy day" plans.


I'm thankful that God's giving me a more positive outlook than I've had the last couple of days. Let's just say I've been a bit moody. Just. A. Bit.

Some photos just for fun.
Man, even though they wake me early,
I sure do love these kids!

Museum of Science FAIL

Monday morning the kids and I packed up to spend the morning at the Museum of Science, before meeting my friend, Jenny, in Kendall Square for lunch. We rode the MIT shuttle to Kendall and then hopped on the Cambridgeside Galleria bus, which stops close to the museum. It was going to be our first museum visit with our Friends of the Nebraska State Museum pass. (By the way, if you don't have one, it's $45/year and gets you into most major science and children's museums around the US. Check it out here.)

Waiting for the shuttle.

The night before I'd set the pass on the shelf by the door and thought I'd grabbed it before we left. Turns out, I'd shoved a restaurant coupon (similar shape and color) into my back pocket, not the museum pass! And this was discovered as we were approaching the entrance. Pooh.

Fortunately, Elizabeth is a trooper and, though sad, she didn't throw a fit. We used the restroom, walked up and down the musical stairs, got E a sweet treat for her pleasant behavior, and headed to the mall. We had time to kill; so we looked for (and found!) rain boots for both the kids, played with balls as we strolled through Old Navy, and spent some time in the kids book department at Borders - where we found a US floor puzzle at a reasonable price. All that money I saved by not paying for admission at the museum was well spent supporting our economy! You don't have to thank me.

We stopped for a little climb before going into the mall.

We have a family policy of not letting the kids ride the cars.
(That is reserved as a treat from grandparents.)
But we do let them hang out in them when we have time.