June 28: Happy Birthday Oma!

Happy Birthday to Ebee!

Dear Ebee, Happy birthday!
I know you will be having a wonderful time in Alaska documenting the longest kayak race in the world (www.bloomingtonauticia.blogspot.com) ...and being glad that you are the journalist! I'll look forward to celebrating with you when we are together! Enjoy your day.
Love, Dr. HF

Nice Undies!

This picture, of William pointing out the fact that Margaret is wearing his Spongebob Squarepants "Big Boy Underwear", is going in my folder labeled: " Motivation techniques/blackmail during adolescence/Margaret".

Big Brother and Little Sister

Snail Sex

Just in case you ever wondered, snails are hermaphrodites and do not need to mate to make eggs. They do, however, prefer to mate - as is witnessed nearly every morning in my kitchen during the last few weeks! My children are learning slightly more than planned from having "pets". Time to take these things to the clinic to get them fixed before we have a population problem - or have to resort to eating them with garlic and oil!!

Dr. Hausfrau had a birthday!

I had a great 34th birthday. I had a party and invited a lot of friends. Some of my friends are children and some of my friends are their parents. None of the adults felt like getting their picture taken on June 15,2008...so here are the pictures that I took! The children look so peaceful at the table eating cake. That picture was taken early on in the party, before the pirate with a table saw got going!

Margaret is a "big boy", too!

Just a couple months after the final struggle to get William fully potty trained, Margaret has jumped on the bandwagon - perhaps because she wittnessed so much intstruction and so many incentive programs in the very recent past! She now requests to use the potty- and goes - several times a day! William is so proud of her! He hugs her and gives her "high fives" and tells her she's a "big boy", just like him! Good job, Margaret!

Thanks for the car, Grandpa!

The new nap time.

Nap time is no more. Sadly, Margaret showed us she didn't need a regular nap time anymore by screaming every night until 10:30pm and waking every morning at 6:00am. So we took nap time away and now they both go to bed at 8pm and wake up at 8am. It's like a dream come true! Of course, I am a morning person and wake up early anyway but it means I get to DRINK MY COFFEE ALONE in the morning, one of the most beautiful things in the entire world.

No more nap time also means I have to work a little harder to carve some peace out of the day. On Friday after Judo ( which William still thinks is track and field and tries hard every week to "win"...), I took the kids on a long bike ride until they finally succumbed to a few minutes of rest while I got some exercise.

Then I came home and took pictures of how great my bike ride had just been!

Birthday Song

CONGRATULATIONS TO DOCTOR RICHEY BRANSCOME, PhD!

Dear Ebee,
Just a very few minor revisions stand between you and your FINAL DRAFT of your dissertation. You nearly blew your defense committee away with your brilliance (and a tornado)! Congratulations on all your hard work and ceaseless reading and writing that have paid off!
Love, Family HF

Happy 5th Birthday, William!

Happy Birthday, William! You had seven friends over and they all brought really cool presents.

You requested chocolate cake, and everybody got a piece.

The cake was good, but the ambiance a bit overwhelming.

We first played musical chairs and Claire provided the music! Then we went out on the balcony to play "Eierlauf". We walked from one end of the balcony to the other balancing plastic easter eggs filled with treats on spoons. Your friends got to keep the treats AND the eggs ( because for some reason we had a surplus!).

Again! Again!

Then we played "Topfschlagen". Each child wore a blindfold and had to find a pot by banging a wooden spoon on the floor. Under the pot were hot wheels cars! You got the "wrong" hot wheel car and had to spend 25 minutes crying about it in the bathroom. Your friends continued to play. Later, you recovered and joined the rest of the party.

Where is the pot?

Warmer! Warmer!

What is going on here?

Katy the Insubstantial? Margaret the Querulous! Sean of Withering Glance!

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: Grand Duchess Katy the Insubstantial of Heffton St Mallet Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

Margaret's Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: Lady Madame Margaret the Querulous of Fishbourne Sneething Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

Sean's Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: His Excellency Sean the Decent of Withering Glance Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

William's Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: Count-Palatine William the Prickly of Divine Intervention Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

The cat's Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: The Most Honourable Gus the Dulcet of Hoptonshire by Leer Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

The pet snail's Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: Viscountess Snakey 1-13 the Herbaceous of Giggleswich Lanken Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

Birthday, Part One

For his birthday, William wanted to go to Berolino - a fun indoor playground in a neighboring town. So we picked up his best buddy, Darien, and headed there when it opened on Sunday morning. Brilliant timing - it was almost quiet and calm there - everyone else was at the city-wide annual flea market (no, Ginny - we didn't go. But you'd totally love it!)

Race cars!

It was relaxing !

It was relaxing until...

...William and Darien declared "war" and started throwing balls at us.

Margaret can ride a "Laufdreirad"!

And she can shoot nerf balls from an airgun! No pictures of Sean today - he was behind the camera - thank you, Sean!

Well - it's 7am and Wm and Mg just woke up, so blogging is over for the morning - but the actual birthday has just officially begun!!!! Happy FIFTH birthday, William!! WOO HOO!

Jump!

We have new pets!

William collected several snails from the garden a couple of days ago. He declared them his "Haustiere" (pets), became quite attached to them, and they wound up in my colander on the balcony. So I could drain pasta again, I bought him a terrarium. There is a surprising amount of information on the web when you Google "pet snail" - and we are doing our best to be good pet owners. (MOM: we've got the surgeries lined up for next week!) Wm and Mg have been occupied for hours looking at their new pets. He's taking them with him to Kindergarten on Monday. When one "stops moving", we put him back outside and find another one! So practical! So much easier and slower moving than a hamster! They are all named "Snakey", which also saves (some) confusion.

We come from librarians and woodworkers.

William and Margaret relax in their handmade wooden chairs (Grandpa McCrea) on each side of a handmade bookshelf (Grandpa Hartman) which has been filled by lots of librarians and teachers!

How many times do we need to review this, people?!

William, Margaret, and I have reviewed our "Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed" book at least once daily for the last several months- or has it been years, now? We do the fingerplay. We chant it from memory. It is amazing how often it seems relevant to current activities or just happens to come up in conversation. I thought we had mastered the concept.

But just yesterday, after prompting, I began again: "Five little monkeys jumping on the bed. One fell off and bumped his or her head! The responsible adult called the doctor and the doctor said..." I waited expectantly for the answer....... Each child gave an answer. But it is clear we need to review the rhyme again for meaning and content.

William: " No more mama's calling on the phone!"
Margaret: "More! More! Monkeys! Jumping on the bed!"

Daily Breakfast

Just Pick One! Funny Political Video

http://www.videowired.com/watch/?id=917715782