Beets, Legos, and Love Tokens
This week we finally decided that the kids were old enough to enjoy the 10 gallons of Legos Mike has saved since his childhood, so we've taken them out on about three different occasions and let them play. Rea and Sara enjoy putting people on the horses and setting up barns and pastures. Timmy watches Mike build space ships and then flies them around with whooshing noises and smashes them into things. It has been very enjoyable.
A neighbor gave us a large bag of beets this year. She gives us all kinds of garden bounty and we're very grateful for it, but Alison is the only one who really loves beets. So Alison spent a lot of time and effort this week trying to find new beet recipes. Probably the best-accepted one was beet-stuffed ravioli in a cream sauce. Beet hashbrowns aren't bad either.
We did a lot of Halloween things this year. One night we had a fire in the fireplace and ate donuts and drank apple cider; that's not exactly Halloween, but an important fall ritual in our house. We also had a library Halloween party, Mike's work Halloween party, and actual Halloween, so the kids have completely overdosed on candy. Sara eats it all in one sitting, doesn't get sick, and then tries to do Rea and Timmy out of their candy. Rea carefully lets herself have one after each meal; if she eats more, she soon has a stomachache, so hers lasts a long time. Timmy wasn't quite sure what to think at the beginning of the week, but now he's very clear on what a candy wrapper is for and brings them up to parents begging for them to be opened.
Friday afternoon the kids reminded Alison that Rea and Timmy were owed Goal Day parties, so they went to the zoo. The "gift" for achieving a goal is a trip to the zoo and a family ride on either the carousel or the train; since we were having a double party, we did both. It might soon be worth it to get the zoo pass that allows unlimited rides. They earned their party for being really good at following instructions and accepting answers of "No" for one week (Rea) and starting to walk more than crawl as a means of locomotion (Timmy). Sara was not too happy to have to walk around the zoo, but she did just fine. The rides were the most exciting part, but they enjoyed seeing most of the animals and were really excited by the set-up for Zoo Lights. We might have to attend this year. As we left, Sara informed Alison that "we need to come back because I really want to stay at the zoo for more than three hours!"
As we looked at the African Safari animals, Alison mentioned the book Swiss Family Robinson and how one boy tamed an ostrich to ride. Rea was interested, so now we're reading it aloud as a family. It's got pretty complicated language, but Rea's keeping up very well. We discuss a lot of vocabulary and learn about a lot of plants and animals. It's fun so far.
Friday night was our play at the Pioneer Theater. It was "Outside Mullingar," a sort of romance-novel play. It was funny and pretty enjoyable, although not our favorite ever. Scott and Sheila watched the kids for us, and we'll take theirs this week. Mike was confused because the murder mystery that he was expecting turned into a romance novel.
Saturday we got a lot done. Mike made sure to spend some solid time playing Legos with the kids in the morning, because last week they complained at Family Meeting that they didn't get enough time with Daddy on Saturday. But he also managed to finish rearranging the 3D printer room (it looks so nice!), attempted a Brie (it failed utterly and was paneer'd instead), and put the new back door in our kitchen (which has been sitting there for about a year). The kitchen is so light now!
We went to Church late this evening for tithing settlement and so Mike could do the computers for tithing settlement; we sat and read stories while he worked. It meant that our Family Meeting was short and didn't really come up with anything to work on this week, and our interviews had to be five minutes apiece, which prompted some tears. We stayed up a little late to get Team Clean all the way done, but the kids are all asleep at last.
Finally, Mike has been 3d printing up some tokens for his various games. They are coming out surprisingly good (although they are a hassle to print.) Printing two colors with one extruder means that you have to swap out filament half way through the print.
The heart shaped ones are 'Love tokens' from 'Sorcery, Inc.'
A neighbor gave us a large bag of beets this year. She gives us all kinds of garden bounty and we're very grateful for it, but Alison is the only one who really loves beets. So Alison spent a lot of time and effort this week trying to find new beet recipes. Probably the best-accepted one was beet-stuffed ravioli in a cream sauce. Beet hashbrowns aren't bad either.
We did a lot of Halloween things this year. One night we had a fire in the fireplace and ate donuts and drank apple cider; that's not exactly Halloween, but an important fall ritual in our house. We also had a library Halloween party, Mike's work Halloween party, and actual Halloween, so the kids have completely overdosed on candy. Sara eats it all in one sitting, doesn't get sick, and then tries to do Rea and Timmy out of their candy. Rea carefully lets herself have one after each meal; if she eats more, she soon has a stomachache, so hers lasts a long time. Timmy wasn't quite sure what to think at the beginning of the week, but now he's very clear on what a candy wrapper is for and brings them up to parents begging for them to be opened.
Friday afternoon the kids reminded Alison that Rea and Timmy were owed Goal Day parties, so they went to the zoo. The "gift" for achieving a goal is a trip to the zoo and a family ride on either the carousel or the train; since we were having a double party, we did both. It might soon be worth it to get the zoo pass that allows unlimited rides. They earned their party for being really good at following instructions and accepting answers of "No" for one week (Rea) and starting to walk more than crawl as a means of locomotion (Timmy). Sara was not too happy to have to walk around the zoo, but she did just fine. The rides were the most exciting part, but they enjoyed seeing most of the animals and were really excited by the set-up for Zoo Lights. We might have to attend this year. As we left, Sara informed Alison that "we need to come back because I really want to stay at the zoo for more than three hours!"
As we looked at the African Safari animals, Alison mentioned the book Swiss Family Robinson and how one boy tamed an ostrich to ride. Rea was interested, so now we're reading it aloud as a family. It's got pretty complicated language, but Rea's keeping up very well. We discuss a lot of vocabulary and learn about a lot of plants and animals. It's fun so far.
Friday night was our play at the Pioneer Theater. It was "Outside Mullingar," a sort of romance-novel play. It was funny and pretty enjoyable, although not our favorite ever. Scott and Sheila watched the kids for us, and we'll take theirs this week. Mike was confused because the murder mystery that he was expecting turned into a romance novel.
Saturday we got a lot done. Mike made sure to spend some solid time playing Legos with the kids in the morning, because last week they complained at Family Meeting that they didn't get enough time with Daddy on Saturday. But he also managed to finish rearranging the 3D printer room (it looks so nice!), attempted a Brie (it failed utterly and was paneer'd instead), and put the new back door in our kitchen (which has been sitting there for about a year). The kitchen is so light now!
We went to Church late this evening for tithing settlement and so Mike could do the computers for tithing settlement; we sat and read stories while he worked. It meant that our Family Meeting was short and didn't really come up with anything to work on this week, and our interviews had to be five minutes apiece, which prompted some tears. We stayed up a little late to get Team Clean all the way done, but the kids are all asleep at last.Finally, Mike has been 3d printing up some tokens for his various games. They are coming out surprisingly good (although they are a hassle to print.) Printing two colors with one extruder means that you have to swap out filament half way through the print.
The heart shaped ones are 'Love tokens' from 'Sorcery, Inc.'
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