A Thing of Beauty

I took this photo for the bartender who gives me crap because I complain that Tailgate never has decent beer. But in the winter, they getÂ GuinnessÂ and Newcastle. Why they can’t have at least one of them all year long is beyond me.

Dinner Conversation

Dad (unaware like the rest of us): Liam, what happened at school today?

Liam: Â I cried

Dad (and others): Why?

Liam: Because I got hurt

He tells us that another boy ran into him and he hurt him mouth. Yep, he has a bruise inside his mouth. He decided against telling his teacher.

Ice Skating

At Minnehaha Academy in Minneapolis. For the first time, their classes are not at the same time, so Helena and I skate for 30 minutes and then Liam and I skate for the second half-hour. Liam is finally getting a little speed. Helena plays with her friend Olivia and Liam is hanging out with two girls from his kindergarten class and has made a friend who goes to Hale.

Tai Chi

Dalen: Helena, do you want chai tea?

Helena: Yeah

Ada: I want tai chi

Helena: That’s kung fu, honey

Putting Up The Christmas Tree

Our tradition is to put it up while Dalen makes dinner. I’m not sure which takes longer sometimes.

While cleaning the dishes, I cut my finger pretty badly on a can. Not only did I cut the finger while trying to get the remaining half of cream of mushroom soup out of the can, jerking my hand back once I cut it made the soup splash all over my shirt.

I was pleasantly surprised to find $45 worth of never used ornaments when I unpacked the goodies. I bought them on December 26th last year, so the kids had lots of new “toys”.

Blank Slate

Violin

New Santa

Cleaning Casualty

Having Fun

Serious

Branching Out

Ada Talks to Herself Lots

More Music Playing – “Take My Picture, Take My Picture”

Six of these were placed next to each other

Final Product

Dad Drunk Behind the Tree

Liam’s Locker

Liam is pretty neat. He keeps his room clean (makes his bed most mornings) and he gets upset when Ada changes into her pajamas in his room because she leaves her clothes on the floor. Â Downstairs, he’s a lot more messy, but he does keep his room neat. He even lines up the growth charts that he has up there against the wall in the exact same manner.

His locker at Minneapolis Kids is also neat. They have to clean them out each night, so it is a clean slate in the morning, but he takes his lunch box out of his back pack (or “pack pack” as Ada calls it) and puts it on the bottom shelf. I taught him to push his jacket and this bag into the locker at the same time so one doesn’t stick out and he does it every day.

Ada Reading

Ada reads to others now. This is Paul.

Liam’s Teeth

Liam lost his third tooth last night. By morning he had forgotten about it. Only when Dalen asked how much money did he get did he remember (along with his sister) and they ran upstairs to find $1.25.

Liam had come to me a few days ago telling me that his tooth was loose and asked me to pull it out, but it didn’t seem that loose to me so I told him to wait. On Saturday he asked again, and a gentle pull got it out. He didn’t even notice that it came out, so he was excited when I showed it to him. Funny how he wants me to pull it out.

Ada in Bed

Ada isn’t much for going to sleep when it is time. She doesn’t mind getting into bed, but she doesn’t stay there. Last week I came upstairs after doing school work in the basement to find her sitting next to the couch reading books in her little fort built by moving two kids’ chairs around her. When I asked her what she was doing (since it was ten o’clock and nobody else was up) she said, “I reading”.

The next night, while Dalen was working on her laptop on the couch, Ada was quietly sitting on the stairs. Dalen never noticed that she was there. When I was going upstairs to bed, I said, “What are you doing?” She just turned around and went upstairs with me behind her to tuck her back in.

She often gets out of bed to use the bathroom – sometimes three or four times in an hour after she is to go to sleep.

So last night Dalen was gone and I put the kids to bed at 8:45 and was going to stay upstairs to read for awhile. I told Ada that I didn’t want her to get out of bed, like I do every night. And I told her that I was going to be in bed, too, so I’ll hear her if she gets up. She never did get out of bed that I could hear. At about 11:00 I finished reading and went to use the bathroom. Whenever I get up I check on the kids. Liam doesn’t have to be wrapped up because he doesn’t move once he’s in bed. Helena is usually wrapped up well and can do so herself anyway. Ada is never wrapped up. She kicks her blankets off the bed or at least to the foot. So I go pick her blankets up and put them on her. As I’m doing so, I realize that she looks a bit different. She had drawn with an orange marker all over herself.

At least she didn’t get out of bed.

Hair Cuts – End of an Error

All three kids have now cut their own hair. We found Ada’s for a couple of days.

Halloween

I didn’t go with the kids this year because Dalen told me a few minutes before that Sophie and Zoe were going to come with us. So I have no stories to tell other than the fact that the kids seem so excited about Halloween – much more so than I ever remembered being. They’ll talk about it for months beforehand.