Back in April one of Cami’s drawings was selected to be displayed at an art show in our town. She was very excited as only about 5 kids had been selected from her school. We were excited for, and proud of, her as well. She loves to draw and I think she is very creative.
Here she is posing in front of her drawing.
It’s hard to believe but it’s Easter again. Time is really flying these days.
This year the Easter bunny brought treats and a couple of stuffed puppies. And of course…chocolate! Woohoo! Daddy helped himself to some of the kids' candies.
The kids had a great time coloring their eggs. Most of the eggs were just dyed but then the kids realized that they could get more creative with crayons and the clear wax pencil thingy that came in the dye kit.
This is Cami’s favorite egg. She drew a picture of Remy, her Nanna’s dog.
This is Ian’s egg. He used the wax pencil to make a nice message to his mom.
We also had a great time doing our Easter egg hunt. Below is a short snippet of some of the hunt.
This year our school held a science fair. Cami participated but Ian didn’t. We thought, based on the flyer we received, that Ian was not eligible to participate based on his grade level, but when we arrived there were kids in his class that had displays. We were bugged by this. Oh well, maybe next year.
Anyway, Cami did a write-up about the life cycle of the Red-eared Slider Turtle. Here she is in front of her display.
I helped out a little with typing stuff into the computer for the text, etc., but she chose the pictures and helped write the words.
She did a great job…
For Ian's car cut the block in half top-to-bottom. 
Ian's car had a more detailed shape, so cut that shape to save ourselves some time. 
Cami's was an easy shape to cut, but we were a little spazzy while doing it so we power sanded it to remove the wavy cut. This picture is before the wavy cut was sanded off. 
Ian's required major sanding to make it round. Daddy hand carved it using a carving knife and then the sanding wasn't so bad. 
Once it was sanded we spray painted it gold. 
Cami painted her block as a piece of cheese, and prepared it for the mouse.
Ian's car was so light that we had to hollow it out and add as much weight as we could.
Here are the final cars. They both looked really cool and the kids were happy with them, but as I said earlier Ian wasn't happy that his did not win. He was also sort of upset that his design award was lame. He won the "Rocket Car" award. I have to agree that the Bishopric could have been a little more creative. 
Last night was the annual Terrace School Talent Show. Once again this year Cami participated with her Girl Scout troop. They did some little dance about peeling bananas. The video above is a short snippet of it.
There are a lot of talented kids at the school and it makes me feel like a bad parent that I haven't gotten our kids more involved with something where they can develop their talents, but we're working on it. We're hoping that next year Ian will be able to play his bagpipes or maybe they can do a skit together. We'll need to get Cami involved in something she can do. She has expressed an interest in bagpiping. Woohoo!
One of the worrying things about the show is the number of young girls who dance to some of the latest pop music. Some of the music has some unhealthy messages for young girls, and some of the dances and lyrics are sexually suggestive. I remember one dance where three girls turned their butts toward the audience and started to sort of grind them around and there was a loud whoop of approval from the parents that were in attendance.
Here is Cami with her participation award. She was very excited about the show and she was very pleased that she and her group did a great job and had fun doing it.
Last night the kids put out some Leprechaun traps. Cami's had a ball of aluminum foil that was supposed to entice her Leprechaun up the ladder and then he would fall into the hole at the top of the box. Ian's trap was a hole in the ground that was surrounded by sticks. In the hole was a couple of screws and some peanut butter crackers.
Well, St. Patrick's Day is on a Thursday this year, so it is mostly business as usual. The kids had to go to school and Daddy had to go to work. Bah, humbug. But, a small treat is the ability to wear goofy green attire and knick knacks. The kids had green feather "ears" and blinking clover necklace thingies.Last night the boys finished their go carts that they started a couple of weeks ago. They had a blast pushing each other around in the church parking lot. This little snippet of video shows Ian, in the background under the post light, taking a major dive when the kid he was pushing did a weird zig zag manouver. Ian wasn't hurt, at least not seriously, and it was funny not so much because he fell but because of all the other mishaps that had occurred up to that point. The adult leaders were getting sort of giggly.
Scouts is a lot of fun because of this very thing. By the way, sorry about the quality of video but it was very dark out. I'm surprised that my camera caught as much as it did.
A few weeks ago Cami's Brownie troup (pack, gaggle?) made some tie-dyed shirts and bandanas. She wore them to school today because they had a dress rehearsal for their school's talent show. I haven't seen the skit (or song) they're doing, but I saw it in print and it has something to do with peeling bananas and squeezing oranges. Whatever it is I'm sure it will be cute. I'll post what pictures and/or video I get. I think the show is later this month.
We had a very serious clog in one of our sinks the other day and I had to make a special trip to the hardware store to get some plumbing parts. While there the kids once again exercised their creative spirits by using various plumbing fixtures as headwear. I'm not sure what they're wearing but they looked like floppy hats. Even Cami's puppy looked good in one.
Last night was the 2011 Blue and Gold Banquet for our Cub Scout pack. It was a lot of fun and a lot of work to pull together, but our Cubmaster did the lion's share of the work. She deserves a lot of credit. Thankfully my wife reminded me to get her a small gift to thank our Cubmaster at the end of the ceremony. It was just a small gift but at least we were able to publicly thank her for her efforts.
Cami likes to wear hats. She has a fair number of them at the house, but today she forgot to wear one when we went to the hardware store. Not to be outdone, she found some suitable headwear (headware?) in the plumbing / electrical isle. I would have bought it for her if it wasn't so expensive, or if it had been hailing outside.
I was walking to downtown Evanston today and I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw some plants popping up from underground. I didn't expect to see any for at least two or three more weeks, basically I didn't expect to see any until around the middle of March.
This Valentines Day was on a Monday, meaning that it was too busy for any dinners out, so we had dinner in. My folks came over, because my dad wanted to take me to the hardware store and buy us some new shutters for our house, and they brought KFC with them! Woohoo!
A few days ago my friend Brian ("Uncle Brian") gave the kids some really cool Star Trek stickers. There were all sorts of "Radiation" and "No Personnel", labels and the like. The kids found some "Poison Gas" warning labels and their creativity (such as it is) went to work. This is the result.
Cami has several passions in life. One is staying warm and another is looking good. I think this morning she has achieved both. Oh, and a third passion is eating some of Daddy's donuts. If you look closely you'll notice some white powered sugar around her mouth.
The other night we were going to visit mommy in the hospital and the kids drew her some pictures. The pictures were big so we needed big gift bags. The one Cami chose was so big that she could fit inside of it. You can see Ian trying to get into his gift bag, but it was smaller...and he is bigger, so it wasn't working for him.
Woohoo, Christmas is finally here! This year, as in most years, we spent Christmas Eve at Nanna's house. The dinner she prepared was very tasty indeed, and as you can see the kids had a great time opening their gifts. Mommy's brothers live in different states but they always remember to send gifts for the kids and this is when they get to open them. Mommy's brother's (and sister) are very generous with our kids.
This picture was taken at Macy's shortly after the kids wrote their letters to Santa (see my other post). We were all pooped out and needed a break. We sat and watched the crowds as they hustled past us and wondered if we looked as worn out as they all did.
This year we went to Macy's in downtown Chicago for a fun day among the cheerful holiday crowds. Our real goal was to see Santa and get the appropriate pictures. However, this entry is mostly about the letters to Santa that the kids wrote. I'll post an entry with the Santa photo later.
We love Winter! Well, Daddy does anyway. Cami isn't so sure. She hates the cold but she loves the snow. Ian likes winter. He runs around outside without a coat and he doesn't seem to notice when snow gets into his shoes. He just loves to roll around in the snow and I also think he enjoys it when his Nanna is yelling at him to come in the house and get his snowpants on.
The kids wanted to start a fire in our outside fire pit, but it was really cold out. Not to be diverted the kids asked if I would build a fire in our fireplace. Of course I will! Within a few moments the kids were roasting marshmallows (and maybe hotdogs, but I'm not sure of that). They had a great time and I got a few moments rest while their attention was focused on the fire.
Ah, we love that first snow. Cami was determined this year to make a great snowman. Actually, now that I think about it Ian helped her, so they should both get credit. She couldn't find coal for the eyes and a carrot for the nose, so instead she used cheese. Chunks from a slice of American cheese to be accurate.
The kids really like pumpkin pie, so much so that I bought some extra ones this year. I thought the kids were going to eat them. Imagine my surprise when I came into the kitchen and they are instead wearing them on their faces.
This year Ian and I once again attended the Chicago Tardis Doctor Who convention. We were extra excited this year because Uncle Brian was able to attend with us. He's been ill the last couple of years.
We love Halloween! This year the weather was decent, but a little cool. People with sharp eyes will notice that Cami is wearing a different "kitty" costume than the one she wore to school. This one was handmade by Mommy. It's made of some thick material that kept Cami warm without her having to wear a coat.
This year, the kids carved their own pumpkins with minimal help from us. I have a bunch of pictures of the kids carving their pumpkins, but because of the mess, they did it while just wearing their underwear. So, I'm not putting those pictures up.
It's Costume Day at school today! Cami was excited, but Ian wasn't. I'm not sure why. Perhaps he's sick. He's good looking nonetheless. Cami really loved her "kitty" costume, as you can tell by her pose.
After a year's hard work Ian has finally earned his Wolf badge. I think Daddy should get one too, seeing as how he was the driving force behind getting the things done. We're very happy for him that he stuck with it and got it done. Now, he's on to earning his Bear badge.
