adventually

We had a great Thanksgiving with the Sheplers and I do intend to post some more pics soon especially some very cute ones of Ellis giving baby Devlin a bottle. Instead, here is a little project we did in this model.

 It's an advent calendar made out of a mini-muffin tin. I enlisted all the boys to help and so it didn't turn out exactly I was envisioning. I'm pretty much the worst when it comes to this kind of stuff...I want it to look the way I want it, not the way anyone else does it. I probably ought to just do it myself, but I feel like it should be a family activity. It pretty much just turns into an exercise in taking deep breaths for me. Gah! Don't even get me started on what happened when we tried to set up the Christmas village.

And done! I'm filling each muffin cup with some holiday activity- some that we'd probably do anyway- a mix of fun stuff, gift giving, and service stuff. Cause even holiday joy needs to be carefully scheduled around here basically just to undermine my natural scrooge-tendencies.

auroras

This year we begin in earnest something I have long dreaded....school projects. At his preschool, Ellis did have to complete an annual "International Day" poster. But we're talking about printing a few pictures out after a google search, gluing them onto a post board, and then throwing something together for the all-countries potluck.Waiting a four-year-old to eke out all those letters in Germany was the worst it got. This year his first big project is a display and demonstration of the Northern Lights. There are color changing LEDs, there are plastic figurines, I had to dig out the glue gun for pete's sake! And we haven't even started the demonstration component of this mess. Trey's taking the lead on this one and it's likely to involve a hammer and some wintergreen Lifesavers. Just what we want  to be putting the hands of grade-schoolers, I think.The hardest part of this for me is helping without helping too much. I want him to be happy with what he's done but feel that he has ownership. As a grown-up it's so easy to see how things could be more precise, more polished, more impressive. And it really doesn't matter what I think. So I just try to remind him we can make changes if we try something and don't like it and most of all, just keep my mouth shut as he glues 80% of the plastic animals into the diorama with their butts facing the viewer. And look...taking pictures is just what I need to keep my hands from reaching in there.

For Old Time's Sake

Well I am back in Heidelberg on business, a little less than four years after returning to the U.S. For old time's sake, a bulletted list of my impressions looking back and some interesting things from the trip:

• My German was probably much better than I thought when we lived over here. Based on how easily I have been able to conduct conversations in restaurants and stores on this trip, I must have been pretty close to fluent and or at least functional. It has worked to my advantage in business as well, as one of our meetings was with people who didn't realize I could understand their side conversations. 
• Heidelberg has become even more touristy, especially in the old city. Seasonal treats are available year round and the souvenir shops seem to have expanded. Of course, the things that attract tourists haven't changed and they are indeed very interesting historical sites.
• There has been a big expansion in ethnic food available. We had Kebap, one place for middle eastern food and that was about it. There are several new Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai and Lebanese places and even some places advertising some terrifying looking Mexican food which seems to be Kebap meat dressed with Mexican trimmings. Sushi is all over too.
• Had several discussions with old friends over meals. It was interesting to note that my Swiss friends feel as out of place in Germany as I did. Some of my other friends who originated in Southern Germany even said they felt very out of place when they visited the north eastern part of the country.
• Interest rates on a mortgage for a normal sized house are below 3% here right now. It seems that 5% is considered pretty high, even when the European central bank isn't fighting to keep rates low.
• This morning I saw more than 30 bikes stopped at a light waiting patiently to continue their journeys on to work. The critical mass of bikers to keep the cars vigilant AND to get the bikers to obey traffic lights properly probably has something to do with the fact that not a one of them had a helmet.
• According to nearly everyone I have asked, the weather here this past year or two hasn't been as seemingly abnormal as what we have had in the states.
•  I have heard some interesting things from people as far as sentiments about Greece. My sample is limited to highly educated people, but they see a difference between the Greek government, the Greek people and the Greek banks. They seem to see reasons to help the government and the people of Greece, but feel that the Greek banks aren't trustworthy and should be allowed to fail even if that means that the European Central Bank has to insure the deposits of individuals.
• Austerity is beginning to make people nervous.
• There is intense interest in the American election. Most, of course, prefer Obama. It seems that W. gave the Germans a very bad feeling about how an America with a Republican in charge would behave as a citizen of the world. It seems the "Yosemite Sam" caricature of W. has stuck. 
• Beyond the Presidential race, it is amazing how closely congressional elections are being watched. Can you name one member of the German Parliament?
• Imagining travelling on the train with Maddox makes me shudder although I am sure both boys would totally love it.
• For Pete's sake, why can't we get some decent trains?
• Would I come back to live? It doesn't sound too bad looking back and thinking about what it might be like if I was happier in the job I was doing. Depending on the election result, maybe we will have to  consider returning to exile.
• Happiness is a memory.
• Did I mention that America needs some decent trains?

halloween, no hurricane

Early last week Vermont was expecting the remains of Hurricane Sandy. Given how the region was unexpectedly pummeled by Hurricane Irene last year, I think people got a little carried away. School actually let out early on Monday and was cancelled on Tuesday. I had visions of being trapped in the house with the kids (with Trey on a different continent) without electricity while rain poured down. I could only console myself by thinking about the Laura Ingalls Wilder stories we read last year. In short...this was no "long winter" and we'd basically be in the lap of luxury where the biggest problem was trying to get all my pawns "home" in the 4th game of Sorry!

Fortunately, the storm didn't really make it all the way to Vermont and Halloween was chilly but dry. Ellis's school had a Halloween party on Wednesday afternoon. Unfortunately the only picture I got of him was seconds after finished his face paint in the cubby area. He's so much like Trey in wanting to get things just perfect (though I've never seen Trey this serious costuming choices) and then do what he's supposed to be doing (i.e., attending the party in the cafeteria).

 Maddox, though, takes more after me:

 He seriously spent the whole party sitting on a stool eating popcorn out of that tub. To be fair the cafeteria was kind of loud and the games were oriented for bigger kids. But to never even go back out and look at what was going on? The kid is hard-core. The popcorn wasn't even fresh!

We went candy hunting with the neighbor girls, who are fortunate to have grandparents in a close-packed, candy-heavy neighborhood. Maddox a bit hesitant at first showing me every piece with a "look at dis! look at dis!" before moving into full on collection mode. He even managed to spit out "say tick a teet" at a few houses. Speech therapy must have been successful if he can now talk strangers into giving him candy, right?

Now thank goodness I can be done embarrassing myself over the sewing machine for another 11 months!

coming soon

Trey is in Germany and in the 12 days he's gone, the remains of hurricane Sandy will pass over Vermont (maybe taking our electricity along with it), the kids will go trick or treating in an inevitable downpour, I will start my new part-time job in tech transfer at the university, Ellis will have to instruct me in properly tying him into his hockey gear, and America will choose the next president. I'm tired just thinking about it.

fruit fly invasion

It's strawberry season here in Vermont and for the first time Ellis was a legitimate help with the picking this week. While he managed to throw a few berries in the box last year, it was more of a race between me trying to fill the flat and Ellis whining with increasing intensity about how much longer we had to pick. Not only did he pick a substantial amount, he offered this little nugget: "I guess last year I hadn't figured out that if I don't like picking but I do like jam, I should just do the job anyway." Indeed. What next? Asking to take a nap?

I tired a new "fancy" recipe for strawberry jam, which included raspberry juice, balsamic vinegar, and black pepper. It ended up with a much more cooked flavor, but it was an interesting experiment; the vinegar and black pepper are pretty subtle, though I suspect Ellis will detect and reject. So we're also making a few batches of "regular" strawberry jam. I've been collecting rhubarb from anyone who mentions they have more than they can handle (we don't have our own after 3 failed attempts at getting a plant started). No matter how careful I try to be about not letting syrup or fruit sit out, I always end up with millions of fruit flies around this time of year. It's bad this year as it looks like we're developing a whole ecosystem- there's a tiny spider web behind the compost container where a spider is growing plump on the fruit flies buzzing around the compost. Thanks for nothing charcoal filter.

6th birthday extravaganza

Ellis's major birthday celebration was last weekend when we hosted 12 of his friends at an Olympics-themed party. I think this theme worked out pretty well, despite some of the kids not really knowing what the Olympics was. So perhaps it would've worked out better for a September party after kids had been exposed to the summer games this year. Ah well. I was largely freaking out because the chances of rain climbed from 20% to 100% over the course of the week leading up to the party. And everyone we invited RSVP'd (including 3 kids in the 48 hrs leading up to the party). So, 13 5-year-olds in our house for 2+ hours, what could go wrong?

We started off by dividing the kids into teams and having each team color a flag with fabric markers. The kids seemed to like this, but as soon as they finished coloring, they starting wandering off to destroy our house. We tried letting them run off some energy in the tents we'd pitched in the yard ("The Olympic village") . I envisioned them moving from tent to tent like little forts, but instead they created a mosh pit in the center of one of the tents and had to be forcibly removed.

So we soon made our descent to the basement where the first event was balloon popping. The kids had to pop their balloons using their bodies only, with the goal being to pop as many balloons as possible in 2 minutes. In that 2 minutes, they popped 88 balloons. Then they started screaming to celebrate the popping. Yikes. The next activity was quieter- build structures from marshmallows and toothpicks. They seemed to like this, but had a little trouble organizing themselves to build much more than marshmallows blobs. Trey noted we were lucky they didn't think of sticking the mallows together with spit. Indeed.

Next, we moved to the porch for a couple relays (1 in which they had to pass a handful of sand between their hands and see how much it weighted and 1 in which they threaded a spoon attached to twine down their shirts).

After the relays were complete, there was cherry spitting and throwing a pool noodle "javelin" through a hula hoop target. These worked pretty well, except for on kid who didn't like cherries and so spit the fruit on the porch. At least Trey finished the new railing in time and no kids fell off the porch! 

Finally time for cake- we had a small chocolate sheet cake and some cupcakes in ice cream cones designed to look like Olympic torches. All the kids chose the torches and I was a bit surprised that 1) the kids made very little mess eating them and 2) several parents couldn't figure out how I'd made them.

Present time!

The party wound down after this, with kids taking advantage of a brief period of sunshine to play outside and then eventually depart. So, other than the stress of planning all the events and last minute run to the Dollar Store to get new gold medals, very little damage was done. Ellis seemed to have a good time, but I hope we never have this big of a party inside the house again!

happy birthday ellis!

Ellis climbed into our bed this morning and whispered, "It's my birthday!" Hard to believe, but Ellis is 6 today. We had a unreasonably big "friend party" on Saturday, about which I will post next. If recovering from that weren't enough, Sunday night was a no-sleep zone with Ellis throwing up most of the night and Maddox spiking a 103º fever. So Monday was spent in PJs watching Busy Town Mysteries prior to a doctor's visit. Ellis is back at school today and Maddox is antibiotic-ed. So all is well, but taking cupcakes to school and doing the annual birthday walk will have to wait another day. Ellis doesn't seem to mind as he's still on a toy high from the presents he received on Saturday. Oh for the days that new paint and a Lego kit could make one so happy!

Mowing in Reverse

This week I broke down and bought a brand new riding lawn mower. This was very difficult for me. I don't usually buy brand new motorized anything, whether said motor is electric or internal combustion. I am, though, happy with what I got*, as is Ellis. In fact, Ellis is very happy. So much so that he rode on my lap for an entire mowing this week which led to a pretty funny happening.

The transmission is hydrostatic so you push a pedal with your toe to go forward and one with your heel to go backwards. (There is a linkage so that you can't engage it in both directions at the same time and potentially unhinge the hydraulic universe.)

Anyway, as we are mowing, I put my heel down expecting to go backwards, but I go nowhere.
Me: What the heck is the problem?
Ellis [inaudible over the motor]: Mumble, mumble, mumble.
(I try again, pushing my heel down harder. Nothing.)
Me: What the? Why aren't we going backwards?
Ellis[louder but still inaudible]: Mumble, mumble, Dad, mumble.
(I try again, mashing my heel down really really hard. Still nothing.)
Me: Arghghg?
Ellis [Turning now and fueling his lungs with a massive exasperated breath]: DAD...THAT...IS...MY...FOOT!

*I don't expect any of my relatives with "real tractors" to approve of my choice, but it does what I need to do and came at a decent price.

easter redux- more than i can handle

Gah! Blogger's redesigned its format. Also, things got pretty dicey last week when Maddox went on some bizarre sleeping strike (mean go to sleep time= 10:29, mean wake up time = 4:47). Throw in some 2 am wake-ups and variable napping and it was pretty craptastic for a while. Plus we are heading to DC tomorrow for a long overdue visit to the mighty Ganno! But, we had a great time having Aunt Lindsey here so I present the following shots of Easter-y goodness without comment. Except to say a big thank you to Grandma Lise for the supply of toys, candy, and assorted goodies.

this is an actual picnic

Last Saturday we decided to risk the weather and take a short hike in Red Rocks Park. This is a wooded, not too hilly park that overlooks Lake Champlain in Burlington. To keep the kids motivated, we made some calzones, sliced some apples, mixed up some Kool-Aid, and threw everything (plus a bit of Easter candy) into a backpack. And now, pictures.

all their food has to be pre-cut by adults anyway

Did I mention Ellis and Maddox got "kids' chopsticks" in their Easter basket? Here is big brother vs. little brother on this new technology...

Oooh, this is tricky.

No, it's easy for big kids.

Success! Check out this enormous piece of cheese!

I'm bored.

I'm hilarious.

fate's answer to ambivalence OR the rooster's final days

Tuesday 10:18 am- Maddox and I enter the chicken yard to collect eggs. Maddox walks along the fence, and the rooster promptly heaves himself toward him, flapping his wings and attacking Maddox's face with his beak and feet. Do I need to mention that I kicked the crap out of the rooster at this point?

Tuesday 1:37 pm- I inform Trey that honestly, no kidding this time, we have to get rid of the rooster.

Wednesday 9:12 pm- Trey and I discuss the relative merits and feasibility of wringing the rooster's neck, shooting him, building a killing cone out of flashing, eating or not eating the meat, and simply leaving the jerk outside the coop at night (Trey hypothesized he would simply take up residence in the kid's playhouse).

Thursday 7:58 pm- While reading Ellis's bedtime story, I hear some commotion outside followed by Trey shouting "Go on, get out of here." I assume that one of the neighbor's steers has once again wandered into our yard. When I arrive downstairs a few minutes later, however, Trey reports that a red fox had come into the yard at dusk and set to chasing one of the chickens. Trey describes it as "like a cartoon". He has located 5 of the 6 hens and glimpsed the rooster across the road. We give them a bit of time to calm down and eventually discover a giant pile of black (rooster) feathers near the garden. By the time it's dark, all 7 of the chickens are back safe and sound in the coop with no apparent damage.

Friday 7:49 am- I discover the rooster on the floor of the coop standing very still and slowly letting his head sink down to the floor. I try to nudge him or get him to come outside, but he shows no interest.

Friday 2:39 pm- I find the rooster has not left the coop, eaten, or drunk all day. I suggest to Trey that he has PTSD from the preceding night's attack. Then I suggest that seriously, he's not going to recover from the internal bleeding, infection, or whatever has disabled him, and "we" (=you) better put it out of it's misery.

Friday 4:27 pm- Trey commences to search for the key to the gun case and appropriate ammunition. He huffs around the house until...

Friday 4:58 pm- Trey leaves the house with a loaded gun, returns 10 minutes later to with the job complete, and heads back out to work in the garage.

Friday 5:15 pm- Ellis slips mysteriously from the house.

Friday 5:18 pm- Trey yells this from the garage "Rachel, did you tell Ellis that I was supposed to show him the dead rooster?"

Friday 5:27- Sensing Ellis may need some help processing this whole event, I asked him if he felt strange or sad when he looked at the dead rooster. "No, I felt happy. He chased me and I hated him." Ah.

count down to easter

The chicks are back for a brief visit at school today. I must say their charm is already wearing off. Perhaps the kids will manhandle them so severely that they'll give up on life. But failing that, we're going to have to get together some kind of outdoor habitat for them. A plastic box on the dining room table is not going to cut it for much longer.

We're one step closer to Maddox getting some visits with the speech therapy. Public health services seem to be pretty deluxe in Vermont, but, jeez, do those people love planning meetings. They're not super concerned about his speech delay, particularly because he's communicating so well with signs in conjunction with simple sounds. But the fun of "Signing Time" is wearing thin. The other day when I said a new, specific word to him while scratching my cheek, he adopted the cheek scratch as the sign for the word. At least he's learning fast, I guess.

This week we're happy to be expecting a visit from Aunt Lindsey, who will join us in Easter celebrations on Sunday. I have a few toys and art supplies ready for their Easter baskets, but have to consider the quantity of candy. Last year, I waited till the very last minute and so that decision was made for me...there was so little left that anyone would want to eat! Ellis's children's choir will sing at church and I'm optimistic that he'll actually sing at this one, rather than standing up there checking out the view. Since we'll have a guest, we might do an actual Easter dinner. Typical Sunday night dinners are pretty much popcorn, cheese, and fruit or the much beloved ham and pea pasta. Ellis will likely lobby for a pavlova. We made one to take over to dinner with a family in which the mom doesn't eat gluten. Ellis was pretty smitten with the photos in the cookbook (mine didn't necessarily quite match those). So maybe we will try a chocolate one like this...goodness knows we have the eggs.

chicks ahoy

What is it about having chickens that makes you want more chickens? It's bizarre, and it made us think that picking up a free rooster on craigslist was a good idea since it would be an easy path to getting more chickens. Ellis's school was also interested in hatching some eggs and so we decided it would be fun to send some eggs there. The teacher and children carefully turned them everyday, and Ellis came home with lots of information about eggs.

Finally, on the 23rd day, 7 of the 12 chickens hatched. After 24 hours at school and the near death of one of the chicks, Ellis's teacher was too nervous to keep them there anymore. And so home they came.

Sadly, two more chicks died over the next 48 hours, but Ellis took it in stride. All the chicks are black, like the rooster, which is too bad because Rhode Island Red chicks seem cuter. But such is chicken genetics, I suppose. Ellis doesn't really care for holding the chicks (too wiggly, too sharp of toenails) and Maddox wants to, well, love them and squeeze them and name them George. Trey and I fear we're going to have to take turns guarding them at night so that Maddox doesn't wake up, slip downstairs, and kiss/eat them.

warm spring, spring colds

We're mostly sick around this house this week. Poor Maddox also got his first ear infection and what a doozie...double ear infection and one ruptured ear drum! So he's on antibiotics, but still sleeping pretty terribly. And that means Trey and I are exhausted and sick as well. Fun!

Maddox still had his evaluation with the speech pathologist, which went well. He played and was social and they said he's language delays will likely resolve themselves and suggested a few exercises to help him develop his sounds. A speech therapist will come and visit a couple times a month if we want it to make sure he keeps making progress.

We did a bit of work around the yard, just the first bit of spring clean up. The amount of thawed chicken and dog poop is as disgusting as it sounds. Trey also uncovered several toys including one (now ruined) board game that somehow escaped into the snow this winter. How does this stuff happen? It's nice we can all be outside for longer periods of time now. Ellis reported being threatened by the rooster yesterday, but there were not witnesses. This is a child that gets scared by Finding Nemo, though, so it's not clear how aggressive the rooster actually was. I'm hoping this was an inflated report and/or the result of unusual spring feistiness. Otherwise, it may chicken and dumplings around here before long.

home sweet homediddly-dum-doodily

Some of you know that Maddox is a bit behind with his talking. As she's said at the previous visits, the doctor told me at his 2 year check-up that she thinks it's nothing to worry about and he'll be talking soon. But she also said that, since this is an important time for language development, it was worth getting his hearing checked again (VT checks all infants' hearing at birth) and talking to some of the early intervention folks about whether he'd benefit from some early speech therapy or something. So today we get an evaluation visit and, I know this stuff is supposed to have washed out by the second kid, but I have this tiny irrational part of me that is convinced that they're coming to check out the messiness of my house and my failings as a parent. And ultimately, they'll hand me some report that includes (á la Marge Simpson) comments such as "Toilet paper hung in sloppy, underhand manner."

winter break

It's a quirk of the Vermont school calendar that there is both a winter break (late February) and a spring break (End of April). I suppose it's because school doesn't let out until close to the end of June. Or maybe because people really like time off to ski; I don't know. At any rate, Ellis's winter break coincided with Trey's trip to San Diego for work. Grandma Lisé to the rescue!

So the week was filled with the typical kid activities of science museums, outside play and indoor crafts. Mom was scheduled to arrive mid-day on Friday. Unfortunately, our mild winter ended mid-day Friday with a snow storm (though not a large one by VT standards). Following several delays and a bus ride from New Hampshire, she finally made it to Burlington at 3:00 am on Saturday.

On Monday we visited the Montshire Museum and the King Arthur Flour Store. We picked up some St. Patrick's Day cookie cutters and promptly made use of them.

Grandma also helped with some painting projects including updating an old desk for the guest room (pictures later) and working with Ellis to decorate a cookie jar and a new utensil holder (my previous glass crock was lost in a tragic Bluesy accident).

Luckily, the now made getting kicked outdoors more of a treat than a punishment. Maddox typically loves being outside, but this was his first chance to really play in the snow. He loved it and wanted to be out longer than Ellis each time. He was even willing to give in and submit to wearing mittens so he could really get busy. And Ellis's number one Christmas gift request (well, tied with jumping monster trucks) get a real workout. Check out those perfectly spherical snow balls!

Trey returned late Wednesday night so we had one evening with just the kids and me. I guess Ellis wasn't feeling too confident in my abilities as the sole responsible adult. We were sitting on the floor during the 30 minutes between his bedtime and Maddox's bedtime and he was getting a little nervous about all the noises in the quite house.

Ellis: Mom, what was that sound?

Me (half-listening): I think probably just the boiler or something.

Ellis (very alarmed now): You think?! You don't know? What was it?

official entry to the terrible twos

Maddox turned two on Monday and we felt the inevitable combination of "didn't he just come home from the hospital yesterday?" and "hasn't he always lived here with us?" We decided we'd get a fish tank for his birthday. He usually smiles, shouts, and points when we see the fish tank at the library, and I thought it would be something the whole family could enjoy picking out and adding more fish every so often. Trey was rather hesitant, but then he realized he could geek out on researching the various options. On Saturday, we were off to PetSmart for a LED-lit, 3 part filtered 20 gallon tank. And success!

We hoped to add the fish on Sunday, but then received from poor advice from a sales clerk and returned to Google for real answers. The key to a healthy aquarium is establishing the nitrogen cycle, people! And so we bought two mollies and two guppies. All decorated (including a backdrop by Ellis) with castle, rocks, and fish! All the boys in the house seem pretty satisfied and I often find Maddox with his nose/mouth pressed up against the glass.

For Maddox's birthday supper, we had red beans and rice plus sweet potatoes. Pretty basic supper, but I did put bacon in the beans, so that makes it a celebration, right?! I tried to incorporate Ellis into the planning of Maddox's birthday celebration with the idea that it's nice to, you know, think about what other people like. So when I asked what type of birthday cake we should make, Ellis responded "Catherine loves trifle for her birthday cake, and Maddox loves Catherine, so he would probably want trifle, too." Quite so.

Unlike last year, Ellis expressed some real jealousy about Maddox's birthday this year. Most over the fact that Maddox was getting hundreds of presents and he never get presents. Arg. Trey maintained he was upset because Maddox's presents look appealing this year unlike the baby toys and clothes he got last year.

Regardless, Maddox seems to enjoy his birthday supper and cake. He vastly expanded his Duplo collection courtesy of Aunt Lindsey and Grandma Audrey and got a variety of cute toys and books from his maternal aunts and grandmother. His check up is next week so I may post about developmental stuff then, but I will say he's still not talking much. We do have definite words for Scout, Mom, Dad, cracker, and all gone. Adorably/ scarily he even has this special screech he uses when he opens the screen door and summons Scout. Even more unbelievable, that crazy pooch actually responds. He keeps adding to his signing vocabulary; pretty much as fast as I can teach him, he get them. Maddox is up to all sort of mischief lately, of course. But he also gives these super cute, really tight neck hugs and kisses first thing in the morning. Too bad they rapidly degenerate into stomping on our heads and rabidly demanding bananas ("bahn-bahns") or graham crackers ("cacks").