Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Gradual update #9 -- Toothless Beauty
Looks like I'll have to wait until I'm on leave to catch up on the more recent photos and updates...especially since I still need to pack for the trek. So, once again, here's another update from the fall.
MacKenzie is really growing up…she lost another tooth shortly after Halloween (not at all related to the hordes of candy she accumulated that night). This tooth loss created a symmetric look in her mouth with a gap between her bottom permanent teeth and her baby teeth beside them. She's since lost a other one, and the permanent teeth up top are finally becoming more predominant. She's definitely growing up!
MacKenzie is really growing up…she lost another tooth shortly after Halloween (not at all related to the hordes of candy she accumulated that night). This tooth loss created a symmetric look in her mouth with a gap between her bottom permanent teeth and her baby teeth beside them. She's since lost a other one, and the permanent teeth up top are finally becoming more predominant. She's definitely growing up!Labels: MacKenzie
Thursday, June 15, 2006
Gradual update #8 – St. Martin’s Walk
I know, I know...you're all waiting for more recent updates. My time has been getting away from me lately, although I couldn't honestly tell you where it's disappeared to. Sooooo, here's another fall update to tide you over a little while longer.
On Nov. 8, the first and second graders participated in a St. Martin’s Walk, reenacting the good deed performed in the 4th Century by Martin of Tours, later a monk and then the Bishop of Tours, who cut his cloak in half to share with a beggar who was dying in the cold. It was a rather chilly night, but MacKenzie had fun on the walk carrying a lantern that she had made in class...and spending extra time with her classmates…Emma is in the top photo with her, Natalie in the one below. It certainly is interesting learning about and participating in German traditions and customs!
On Nov. 8, the first and second graders participated in a St. Martin’s Walk, reenacting the good deed performed in the 4th Century by Martin of Tours, later a monk and then the Bishop of Tours, who cut his cloak in half to share with a beggar who was dying in the cold. It was a rather chilly night, but MacKenzie had fun on the walk carrying a lantern that she had made in class...and spending extra time with her classmates…Emma is in the top photo with her, Natalie in the one below. It certainly is interesting learning about and participating in German traditions and customs!
Thursday, June 08, 2006
Gradual update #7 -- Halloween
I still haven't made progress on the more recent photos, so I figure this is an opportune time to update with the rest of the Halloween story. Enjoy!
Benjamin was excited about Halloween, mostly because he was going to dress up like Blue from Blue’s Clues. He tried on the costume a couple days before Halloween, and absolutely loved it--he had such a wonderful expression on his face, like he couldn’t believe that HE was actually Blue! Too cute! He even wore the head, shoe covers and velcro clue, and hardly moved with the costume on…as if it would fall off or the magic would disappear and we’d realize he wasn’t really Blue.
MacKenzie decided to continue in her “princess” costume theme. Thus far she’s been Snow White, Cinderella and Belle, but this time opted to go a little more generic: a “princess bride.” She loved being allowed to wear lots of makeup and looking like she was going to get married (!!!).
Zachary waffled back and forth whether he wanted to go trick-or-treating or simply stay at home and hand out the candy, and eventually opted to being grown-up and handing out the candy. He even bartered with our neighbors to get some "good" candy for himself and some other candy to save for MacKenzie and Benjamin. What a wonderful big brother to look out for them like that!
When it came time to join the ghosts and goblins outside, we did a quick supper (hot dogs and chips) while getting changed into costumes. I don’t think we’ve ever made it home, changed and headed back out the door in less time. But, then again, the clock had already started ticking and precious time was wasting in the quest for candy. The nice thing about on-poat stairwell housing though is that everyone came downstairs and stood outside each building to distribute the candy. At some buildings, this equated to as many as eight candy stops consolidated into one! Talk about Halloween candy overload!!
Benjamin didn't say "trick-or-treat" once when we were out trolling for candy. Instead he said "more" every time! There was even one place where the adult wasn't watching her bowl, so he stood there and took three pieces...one at a time. Contrary to his behavior a couple days earlier, he didn't want to wear his head or the velcro-clue. He also had me carry him the entire evening, but he immediately wanted down every time he realized there was "more" candy to be had. He had a death-grip on his pumpkin all evening, which made it even more cumbersome for me to carry him. He absolutely refused to let me carry his pumpkin for him though, even when he could barely carry it two-handed because it was so heavy and full of candy!
In the end, we dumped all the candy out on the table and divided it three ways...paying particular attention to what Benjamin could have while allowing Zachary and MacKenzie to select a few favorite pieces. Benjamin had a field day! He had seven small lollipops open at once, plus three pieces of chocolate, two tootsie rolls, M&M minis and a package of smarties! Figure it only comes around once a year, so why not. He didn’t finish a single thing he had opened, but instead was quite a fan of sampling the variety of treats. I think he liked the lollipops best…mostly due to the shear number of them that he had opened, and the fact that he was acting like a two-fisted lollipop connoisseur sampling several flavors intermittently.
The real surprise is that all three of them were in bed before 8:30! Don't know how I managed to pull that off, but it worked out well since I was in the midst of an exercise at work and had to get them up in the wee hours of the morning so I could get to work well before what is sane or normal!!
Overall, they all had a good evening trick-or-treating and devouring candy…and seven months later are still working on their Halloween loot!
Benjamin was excited about Halloween, mostly because he was going to dress up like Blue from Blue’s Clues. He tried on the costume a couple days before Halloween, and absolutely loved it--he had such a wonderful expression on his face, like he couldn’t believe that HE was actually Blue! Too cute! He even wore the head, shoe covers and velcro clue, and hardly moved with the costume on…as if it would fall off or the magic would disappear and we’d realize he wasn’t really Blue.
MacKenzie decided to continue in her “princess” costume theme. Thus far she’s been Snow White, Cinderella and Belle, but this time opted to go a little more generic: a “princess bride.” She loved being allowed to wear lots of makeup and looking like she was going to get married (!!!).Zachary waffled back and forth whether he wanted to go trick-or-treating or simply stay at home and hand out the candy, and eventually opted to being grown-up and handing out the candy. He even bartered with our neighbors to get some "good" candy for himself and some other candy to save for MacKenzie and Benjamin. What a wonderful big brother to look out for them like that!
When it came time to join the ghosts and goblins outside, we did a quick supper (hot dogs and chips) while getting changed into costumes. I don’t think we’ve ever made it home, changed and headed back out the door in less time. But, then again, the clock had already started ticking and precious time was wasting in the quest for candy. The nice thing about on-poat stairwell housing though is that everyone came downstairs and stood outside each building to distribute the candy. At some buildings, this equated to as many as eight candy stops consolidated into one! Talk about Halloween candy overload!!
Benjamin didn't say "trick-or-treat" once when we were out trolling for candy. Instead he said "more" every time! There was even one place where the adult wasn't watching her bowl, so he stood there and took three pieces...one at a time. Contrary to his behavior a couple days earlier, he didn't want to wear his head or the velcro-clue. He also had me carry him the entire evening, but he immediately wanted down every time he realized there was "more" candy to be had. He had a death-grip on his pumpkin all evening, which made it even more cumbersome for me to carry him. He absolutely refused to let me carry his pumpkin for him though, even when he could barely carry it two-handed because it was so heavy and full of candy!
In the end, we dumped all the candy out on the table and divided it three ways...paying particular attention to what Benjamin could have while allowing Zachary and MacKenzie to select a few favorite pieces. Benjamin had a field day! He had seven small lollipops open at once, plus three pieces of chocolate, two tootsie rolls, M&M minis and a package of smarties! Figure it only comes around once a year, so why not. He didn’t finish a single thing he had opened, but instead was quite a fan of sampling the variety of treats. I think he liked the lollipops best…mostly due to the shear number of them that he had opened, and the fact that he was acting like a two-fisted lollipop connoisseur sampling several flavors intermittently.
The real surprise is that all three of them were in bed before 8:30! Don't know how I managed to pull that off, but it worked out well since I was in the midst of an exercise at work and had to get them up in the wee hours of the morning so I could get to work well before what is sane or normal!!Overall, they all had a good evening trick-or-treating and devouring candy…and seven months later are still working on their Halloween loot!
Labels: Benjamin, MacKenzie, Zachary
Monday, June 05, 2006
Gradual update #6 -- Carving Pumpkins
OK, yes I'm back from my 11-day TDY to Berlin, and yes we went to Legoland Deutchland this past weekend...but I haven't completely downloaded or sorted through my photos yet. Soooo, here's another gradual update to tide everyone over until I get the more recent photos and narratives ready. Enjoy!
The kids had fun selecting and getting pumpkins ready for Halloween, although MacKenzie and Benjamin were a little hesitant when it came time to scoop the guts out of the pumpkin. MacKenzie had made a jack-o-lantern in school with her class and had already brought it home, so she was more than willing to help Benjamin with his pumpkin...except for sticking her hand inside, that is. Benjamin carefully watched at first, but slowly got the hang of the operation, although he preferred using one of his spoons to scoop the guts out...and was working at a feverish pace of about two to three seeds per scoop. I had to step in and help speed things up a bit, otherwise he wouldn't have finished his pumpkin before Christmas! Zachary, on the other hand, made quick work of his guts, and was ready to dive into personalizing the face well before MacKenzie and Benjamin were ready with theirs.
Since we didn't start this project until October 30, we decided to go the quick and easy route...meaning we didn't actually carve these two pumpkins, but rather pounded colored pegs through the shells to decorate them. Zachary opted to still make a jack-o-lantern with a face, but Benjamin opted to create a ghost on his pumpkin (from a pattern...he didn't come up with the idea completely on his own). 
We only had two miniature mallets (one per peg set), so Zachary ended up using a larger one we already had, while letting MacKenzie and Benjamin wield the smaller ones. They were all pretty good at hammering the pegs in! And, more importantly, they had fun doing so!! However, I didn't realize until it was time to toss the pumpkins just exactly how hard they had hammered the pegs in... It was quite a chore to get the pegs back out so we can reuse them in the future.
But, ultimately, we reached the desired endstate of having three carved and decorated pumpkins sitting out on the front steps in time for trick-or-treaters. Whew!
The kids had fun selecting and getting pumpkins ready for Halloween, although MacKenzie and Benjamin were a little hesitant when it came time to scoop the guts out of the pumpkin. MacKenzie had made a jack-o-lantern in school with her class and had already brought it home, so she was more than willing to help Benjamin with his pumpkin...except for sticking her hand inside, that is. Benjamin carefully watched at first, but slowly got the hang of the operation, although he preferred using one of his spoons to scoop the guts out...and was working at a feverish pace of about two to three seeds per scoop. I had to step in and help speed things up a bit, otherwise he wouldn't have finished his pumpkin before Christmas! Zachary, on the other hand, made quick work of his guts, and was ready to dive into personalizing the face well before MacKenzie and Benjamin were ready with theirs.
Since we didn't start this project until October 30, we decided to go the quick and easy route...meaning we didn't actually carve these two pumpkins, but rather pounded colored pegs through the shells to decorate them. Zachary opted to still make a jack-o-lantern with a face, but Benjamin opted to create a ghost on his pumpkin (from a pattern...he didn't come up with the idea completely on his own). 
We only had two miniature mallets (one per peg set), so Zachary ended up using a larger one we already had, while letting MacKenzie and Benjamin wield the smaller ones. They were all pretty good at hammering the pegs in! And, more importantly, they had fun doing so!! However, I didn't realize until it was time to toss the pumpkins just exactly how hard they had hammered the pegs in... It was quite a chore to get the pegs back out so we can reuse them in the future.
But, ultimately, we reached the desired endstate of having three carved and decorated pumpkins sitting out on the front steps in time for trick-or-treaters. Whew!Labels: Benjamin, MacKenzie, Zachary
Friday, June 02, 2006
Gradual update #5 -- New Glasses
At a school vision screening in the fall, we discovered that MacKenzie was having difficulty reading. So, we took her in for a more thorough evaluation and discovered that she’s far-sighted and needs glasses. She had a difficult decision between a pink pair and a purple pair (I vetoed the strange-looking red pair she initially selected), and eventually settled on purple. However, when we picked them up, she noticed that they have tiny (miniscule) cars on the sides of the frame that we didn’t notice when we selected them, so now she says they’re “baby glasses” and doesn’t like them. Thankfully, they look good on her and she only needs them to read and do classwork, so she’s glad she doesn’t have to wear them all the time. Now, if only she’d remember to wear them without reminders from me and her teacher…and remember to bring them home on weekends and when she has homework!Labels: MacKenzie
