Lex decided to do the Periodic Table puzzle again. He set it up on his desk and has been working on it for awhile now… maybe a week or two or three. Eve helped off and on. They both say it is very calming and relaxing. I agree!
All smiles!
On Sunday we went to visit the Brick Fair, basically a Lego expo, but not sponsored by Lego. People brought amazing Lego creations they’d made and had them out for display. There were also a bunch of vendors selling Legos and Lego related stuff. It was really a fun time.
A model of the Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station.
A cool scene.
A “cake” that someone made to celebrate a First Lego League anniversary.
A rotating restaurant.
“The Great Ball Contraption” – This was super cool. A group of people built a long chain of contraptions that carry little plastic balls all the way around the loop. Alan took a long video of the whole thing. It was amazing to watch.
No kragle here!
A big city. They had fun little Lego pigs and Godzilla and Ninja Turtles and other silly things all throughout the displays. The kids had fun finding them.
A map of New England.
They had some pretty cool Lego artwork. This one is about 24″x24″.
Extra, extra, read all about it!
Eve makes such funny faces in all her pictures.
The biggest bouncy house ever! I didn’t love how dark it was inside and how few windows there were, but the kids had fun.
This coloring table was set up next to the bouncy house for the parents to color. :)
We left the show around 4pm and headed out to find some dinner. We ended up at the Portland Pie Co. and had a super delicious meal. We wanted to sit on the patio to enjoy the day, but the painfully loud motorcycles and stinky smokers that kept going by quickly changed our mind. We settled instead in a quiet back room and thoroughly enjoyed our meal. After dinner we walked up the street a bit further in search of dessert. Good thing ice cream was just around the corner!
Everyone loves Ben & Jerry’s! Notice his shirt? It’s his First Lego League Team shirt. He thought it would be appropriate for the day. :)
This wild one really liked her chocolately chocolate Chocolate Therapy ice cream! Then she ran it off for awhile.
On the way back to the car we stopped by to say hello to the giant inflatable Lego man.
A nice, old-fashioned “us” picture to end the evening. :)
Then we headed home, tired and happy.
If you’d like to see more pictures of cool Lego creations, check out the rest of the photos.
Happy May!! It is here and with the new month came beautiful sunshine and flowers!! It is amazing what a difference the sunshine makes in my life.
We celebrated our anniversary a bit early last night by dropping the kids off at an open art studio “kids night out” and going to a new restaurant for dinner. I felt super mature ordering mac and cheese for dinner, so I added a glass of Cabernet to classy things up a bit. :)
Alan and I had a nice dinner and the kids had a great time crafting. Eve made cool paper jewelry, but refused to let me take a picture of it.
Today the sun is shining again and the temps are in the 70’s! Life is good. Eve’s Girl Scout troop participated in Clean-Up Day and worked together to clean up one of the local parks. While she was doing that I took Lex to karate. Then we all went to school where they were holding a community-wide “yard sale” in the parking lot, complete with bake sale and book fair. Both kids brought some money and bought a few little things. From there we headed to the local ice cream stand that opened today! They opened at noon and we were there at 12:05! Happiness is. (I was going to take a selfie of all three of us eating ice cream, but we met some friends there and I got distracted. You’ll just have to imagine Lex and I also equally excited for our ice cream!)
When we got home everyone was hot and tired so we headed to our corners. Lex bought a Lego book/kit from the book fair so he has been in his room building that and Eve headed outside to build a squirrel trap. Let’s hope it isn’t a very good one!
I am planted in front of the computer writing cover letters and applying for jobs. I have five applications out there, so I hope I get some responses soon… but not too soon as I’m not totally ready for interviewing yet. I hope to finish my portfolio and get things ready for interviews this weekend so I can be ready if (um, I mean WHEN) the calls start coming in!
This is how Lex is currently sleeping. I never know what I’m going to find when I check on the kiddos at night!
Lex came downstairs this morning and told me he had a loose tooth. He was pretty concerned about it because he thought he was done losing teeth. I reassured him that it was all fine and normal and he relaxed.
Eve and I went out for grocery shopping and errands this afternoon and I when I got home Lex told me his tooth fell out. All calm and laid back. I said, “WHAT?! Already?!” He swears he just noticed it being loose this morning, and when I felt it it was definitely loose, but not “hanging by a thread” loose. Then he showed me his mouth.
Alan told me this is too gross to post, but I’m gonna be a rebel and to do it anyway. It’s my blog and I can post what I want to! :)
Look at that other tooth in the hole? Usually you have a bit of time between falling out and growing in, but that tooth in there was halfway in before it knocked out the baby tooth. Craziness! :) For some reason Lex is a little unsettled by the whole thing. He’s not sure what to do with the tooth (no tooth fairy for him) and just seems a little “meh.” I’m not sure he believes me that it’s normal to still be losing teeth. It has been awhile since the last one and he really thought he was done.
Ice cream and lemonade – coming soon to a neighborhood near you!
Although it’s a blustery 40° outside, the kids are in the thick of summer planning! They are making their plans, drawing up signs, writing out lists, and even just ran upstairs to decide on a secret handshake (upstairs so I don’t see it!). I think we are ready for a little summer around here!
We have created a monster! In, out, in, out, etc. We finally closed the door at 6:30pm and wouldn’t let her out again. So she wandered around, meowing mournfully. I just now got her to settle down in Lex’s room when I put him to bed. Now we see if a tired kitty really does sleep through the night or if instead she’ll be scratching at the door again soon. :-)
We took Daisy to the vet on Friday (routine check-up) and had a long discussion with her about letting Daisy be an outdoor kitty. After some deliberation at home Eve decided that we should let Daisy explore the great outdoors. With great trepidation (on my part!) we opened the door today and let her go!
Away she goes!
She spent awhile sniffing around our house, learning our house so she could find her way home again. That’s how Alan explained it anyway and it sounded reasonable.
Exploring the back of the house
Exploring the front of the house
Then she decided to explore the rest of the neighborhood! We were all outside playing and doing some spring yard work (the joys of homeownership!) and watching Daisy explore. When she left the yard Eve and I had to remind ourselves and each other that it’s ok and (hopefully) she would be back. I was happy to see that each time something loud startled her she ran right back to our house. That was a good sign.
Away she goes, exploring the neighborhood!
Fun with the bow and arrow. I think Eve needs some new summer clothes. Everything she puts on is too short!
Queen of the mountain!
She wandered around the neighborhood and came back home a few times. Once Eve and I took a walk down the cul-de-sac to find her. She was three houses down, exploring their garden. She ran when we saw us. A few times she came to the mudroom door and meowed, but we wanted her to come to the front door instead. Once she came to the front door, but when Alan opened it she ran away. After about two hours she was ready to come home. Lex propped the door open a bit when she was near the front porch and she slipped right inside! Yay! She headed right for her food bowl, ate a bit, then went right back to the screen door and meowed to go out. Alan let her out and she has repeated the process three times now! Out, explore, home, eat, out again. She is training us well. Silly kitty.
It’s good to know that she will come home again, but it makes my chest a little tight when she goes out. After some deep consideration (what else is there to do when raking the lawn?!) I realized that Daisy being out is just one more thing for my mothering heart to think about. One more thing to keep track of and one more thing to add to the ongoing risk analysis that my brain is always running. But she seems happy and the kids aren’t worried, so I guess all is well.
(Now we are one of those people I always complain about, with their pets outside, pooping on other people’s lawns! Now when I find cat poop in the backyard I can no longer blame it on the neighbor cats… though I’m sure it will still be their fault. My lovely kitty is well loved and cared for and would only use her proper litter box. She’s a very polite kitty. Right?!)
Today we made maple candy from the sap from our trees.
Starts off as sap...
Ends up maple candy! We were going to put it into the flower molds, but the candy hardened too quickly so I put it in a bowl instead.
There were several steps in between that I also photographed, but for some reason my camera doesn’t hold on to all the pictures it takes. I don’t understand at all. I hear the click and see the little preview, but when I go to find the picture later they aren’t there. It happens a lot. Darn technology. Anyway, the maple candy came out ok. Not perfect, but not bad for a first try!