How do you catch a wave upon the sand?

Because I bet trying to catch a wave upon the sand is easier than trying to give this kid a haircut. And he's quite devious about it- he holds still up until you're just about to make the cut and then he turns his head faster than lightening so that you might cut a few eyelashes instead of the back of his hair.

And lets not even get into the double cowlicks. He could definitely throw a whirling dervish out of whirl.

Too much winter?

Last night I dreamed I was a groundhog burrowing in the dirt and eating fresh green grass on a beautiful spring morning. Now that is pathetic. Even more pathetic is that I took the time to photoshop myself into a groundhog.

An apple that didn't fall far from two math trees

Bryn wanted to do some maths because Peter was busily engaged in his Analysis homework (don't worry, I only help him a little with it). So he printed her out a worksheet he found online and she sat herself up at the table importantly and began.

Today she wanted to know if a million plus a million was "a finity." When we said no, she said, "well how about a million plus a hundred and two?" I told her to keep adding 1+1+1+1+1+... forever, and that was infinity. She didn't like that much.

The other day she was doing a seperate math worksheet (I promise she asks for them- we're really not those kind of parents) and she was supposed to add 4+5. She mistook the + sign for a - sign, and called out, "how do you spell negative one?"

Humtata No. 1

While I lay feverish in bed this morning with the flu, Bryn made the most of her time by composing her very first Symphony in five movements. She did everything herself and surprised me with it as I stumbled out of bed.

It's a bit minimalist and dogmatic, but hang in for the fourth movement- quite exciting. For added fun, you can look at the score while you watch the performance.

The Full Score:

Sneak preview of the teenage years

Bryn was angry yesterday because Calvin was following her everywhere (intentionally and successfully trying to annoy her). A few minutes later, after she had asked for some tape, I went down the hall and found this:

V-Day Vs

Peter and the kids drew me some cards and I made them a heart-shaped cake. Woo!
The shapes above the hearts on the left are confetti (or as Bryn puts it, "stuff you throw up."

This is a detail that wasn't visible on the first scan of Calvin's Valentine. I think it's a profile drawing because Cal informed me that I had one eye and one ear. Either that or he's a budding Picasso.
This beautiful work of art is chocolate cake from scratch with a sour cream chocolate frosting (and if I see that someone nominated it for a cake wreck, I'm going to be peeved). Seriously folks, I went all out. I got frustrated at the grocery store because every tub of frosting has trans fat in it, hence the homemade kick.

Will work for chocolate chips

Back in the days of yore, Bryn had an elaborate sticker chart that culminated in a 20-dollar "Gordon" train once is was completed. Calvin? He gets a chocolate chip (as in one per filled sticker chart). Oh the lot of the second child. But hey, it worked just the same.

A Plague of Turtles

Our house was recently infested by turtles (presumably driven indoors by the frigid weather). Luckily they were slow-moving and I was able to eradicate them with ease. Anyone know a good recipe for turtle stew?

Greeting the day

It's hard to be mad at winter on mornings like this morning.

Something is different: Day 1

Deep breath. Here we go.

Citizens of the Imagi-Nation

Sometimes I feel bad that I haven't built elaborate play structures or three-wheeled sailing contraptions for my kids, but then I watch them playing with an empty storage bin for hours at a time and I realize that maybe they'll be okay without all that jazz for a little while longer.

They were also delighted by the Windows Media Player Visualizations to Peter and the Wolf for at least 20 minutes.