Soccer in the Rain

After having had soccer practice in the heat, then going to a birthday party on a ropes course Julie was outside in the rain kicking the ball against the garage. I wish I liked doing anything as much as she likes playing soccer.

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Categorized as Sports

Thanksgiving Story

Assignment: Choose one word from each column and write a creative sentence about Thanksgiving

Julie: The turkey sat on the table scared of what might happen next. The farmer sat at the table, ready to eat. The farmer yelled at the turkey, it’s time to eat you.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Daddy-Max Trip: West Point

Over spring break, while Julie & Brittney headed to Germany to visit family (those pics coming later), Max & daddy had their first all-boys sight-seeing trip. Max is very interested in history lately, especially wars and armies. He likes to play Risk, have battles with his miniature army guys and listen to the Hamilton soundtrack with Brittney. So Mark took him to West Point, about an 1.5 drive North. Max read calmly in the car both ways and handled a yucky traffic jam better than his dad.

Max is a very curious boy; he was attentive on the tour and kept up with the group on a long walk.

They ended the day with ice cream at a local shop.

PS Max got glasses; we found out he is very near-sighted. The lens go dark in the sun so he looks cool.

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Categorized as Trips

Snow!

Julie has been talking about her plans for a snowy day since September. One Saturday in January, they all came true.

Snowball fight!


The girls made a snowman. Julie named him ‘the Abominable Snowman’ (she saw Rudolph at a neighbor’s last month). Hanukkah gelt for the eyes. We were worried the squirrels would eat the chocolate but they stayed away.


The girls also went sledding by Julie’s school. Julie was very brave and liked going on long, fast runs, especially if it meant running into a fence. Both girls suffer a little from the ‘one-more-time’ condition so we were there until sundown


Meanwhile, the boys played Risk and Max worked on his Snap Circuit rovers, one of his favorite Christmas/Hanukkah gifts. He puts electric circuits together to make different actions and sounds, pretty cool. He says he wants to be an engineer when he grows up; we’ll take it.


9 inches of snow predicted for tomorrow and school is cancelled, so more snowball fight pictures coming soon…

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Categorized as Snow

Halloween 2016

Happy Halloween!
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Holidays often start at our house with themed pancakes.
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Max wanted to be Darth Vader and talked about it for weeks, telling anyone who did or didn’t ask (after first asking them, ‘Do you know Star Wars?’). Halloween was on a Friday, so I picked him up at lunchtime to come home and get ready for the school’s parade. As he was putting his Darth costume on, he saw his Robo-knight costume he wore for Julie’s princess birthday party in May in his closet and decide he definitely wanted to be that. Not sure what it is exactly, he just liked it when we searched on Amazon for knight costumes. I think it’s a Power Ranger?
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After picking up Julie from school, we threw on her costume and went to a party at a senior center. Both kids were very friendly. When the activities director asked if any kids wanted to introduce themselves and explain their costumes, Max and Julie were eager and articulate on the microphone.
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There was a guitar player that played Halloween songs on a stage (including ‘Five Little Pumpkins’ which made Max very excited because he had acted it out aat school as he let everyone know). When the music was over Julie claimed the stage for an impromptu dance performance.
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Time for trick or treating! They had been practicing for days. Max decided to use the light saber from his Darth costume, further confusing onlookers.


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Our block is on a hill and each house requires many stairs to access, but they still got lots of candy. Many houses gave out two pieces or more, and we had to have a talk about not asking for more if they only got one piece of candy.
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Max was most excited about handing out candy (he would only go trick or treating when we assured him Mark’s friend Dave would hand out in our absence) so after about two blocks he and Mark headed home while Julie and I hit a few more houses. She loved all the decorations.
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Her princess thank you curtsy. Love her hairdo, a collaboration between the two of us.

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We finally made it home and she passed out on the ground.
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Cinderella chillin. Halloween is hard work!
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We convinced them to just have two pieces of candy that night. Max’s favorites are Butterfingers and Milky Way. Julie is into fruity chewy candy like Dots and Starburst. The next morning Julie woke up late and grouchy and screamed for a while that she wanted three pieces of candy before breakfast, but after losing that battle she and Max have been ok with one or two a day. Already talk about next years costumes…

Click here for more photos

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Categorized as Holidays