The other day Melani caught Sophie busy ripping something. Melani noticed she had one of the kid’s lamb decorations that they had made at home the other day and asked what she was doing. Most of the “wool” was removed from the little lamb and Sophie explained, very matter-of-factly & like it was patently OBVIOUS, that she was shearing the sheep!
Now mind you, sheep and giraffes are her favorite animals so I am sure she wasn’t trying to hurt the sheep. But where did she get the idea? Well, sometimes when we are earning our Bing points – we search for sheep (see Adventure Update #023: Unplugging to Recharge!) – and inevitably we see some pictures of sheep being sheared. So I am pretty sure that is where she got the idea!
Rubik’s Cube
The kids have really run with the entire Rubik’s Cubie thing! Gracie was the first to be able to solve the Rubik’s cube without any instructions or hints – but Dominick was close on her tail! I few days later (ten to be precise) – Dominick achieved the same proficiency – and now they have contests to see who can solve the cube the quickest.
Last I heard they had both gotten under 2 minutes to solve it and were fast approaching less than one minute! Sometimes I mix up the cubes in an identical manner – so as to make sure that neither has any advantage. They are having fun and now telling me that to even FURTHER improve their times they really need some SPEED cubes….
Birthday Girl!
Somebody had a birthday! It was Melani’s birthday mid month and the kids and I did our best to make it special for her. We baked a two-tiered chocolate cake for Melani and even put a pudding layer in between – to make sure it was super moist! It turned out pretty well – but the frosting was a little runny – since we didn’t have any heavy cream. Everyone really enjoyed it!
The other cake on the table was made by Melani’s mother. It was delicious too – but it wasn’t chocolate….
Miscellaneous
Helpers
The older kids have been helping me around the house quite a bit lately. Gracie helped me build a shelf in the kitchen – miter cut, gluing and all. She also helped me replace an outside outlet for my electric grill. The kid definitely has an engineers mind!
The kids have been helping me mow the lawn as well. I think I will have to have them relegated to just helping me in the BACKyard for the time being….
Word Games
The other day I played the “Definition” game with the kids. I gave each of them 4 SAT type words and asked them to come up with 3 fake definitions for each word – in addition to the real definition. I told them the goal was to make the fake definitions sound as legitimate as possible – and that whoever was able to trick the most people to vote for a fake definition would win. It was a lot of fun – and I ended up winning by only one point! You can see the game here – and can even try it out yourself! (Quiz Time #002: Vocabulary)
Flowers
Linda has the office looking really nice lately! We have been bringing the flowers in at the end of the day (unfortunate theft issue…) – and the unintended consequence is that the office smells really good lately! Amazing how fragrant flowers can be!
We’re a little sad to think that we will soon be getting back to “normal” and will be running the kids around to their various activities. Although it has been a trying time for the world – the silver lining has definitely been the extra family time. It may just make us rethink the extent that we keep the kids involved in so many activities…. It has been really enjoyable keeping them all to ourselves!
Sincerely,
