Kira's best buddies.

 We will sure miss them.

Open House!

Last night the kids school had an open house. So we got to go see all the projects they have been working on, see their classrooms on a tour given by them, and most important of all pick up their Six Flags tickets. ;) (They both won them for doing 6 hours of reading in the month of February. So easy for our little book worms!)

First we stopped by Kira's classroom. 

This is her wooden spoon doll.

Her Dinosaur egg with facts about dinosaurs written on there.

Some of her art.

Mrs. B and Kira. I could not have asked for a better teacher for Kira. A match made in heaven. I will really miss her. I know Kira will too. She is just wonderful and so amazing at what she does.

Next we went to Evan's classroom. It was decorated to look like we were under the ocean. :) (I had a picture but it had too much information in it to make me comfy so I took it down, but the blue paper was draped in rows from the ceiling to look like waves! So cute. Then turtles, jellyfish, dolphins and whales were hanging down from it.

The kids were scuba divers in the sea.

Showing daddy around the room.

This was good for them both. I volunteer every week, so I see a lot of this already. Shawn never gets to see it. So I chatted with the other mom's and let Evan have some time with his dad.

It was fun. Kira even cleaned her desk for us. :)

I totally remember doing that so my parents could see how tidy I was at school.

Bespectacled Children

The glasses came in today!

I tried to get some pictures of the kids. As usual, not very cooperative. Go figure. ;)

But here are some of them anyway.

I kind of think they are cute. I might be biased (mommy goggles will do that) but I think I might be totally right about this one. ;)

Two Silly Buddies.

Today on a whim I picked up Evan and his best buddy George for a playdate.

Flat Stanley is visiting us from Arizona so we took him out for an afternoon of fun!

 (From Wikipedia) Flat Stanley a 1964 children's book by Jeff Brown: Lambchop and his younger brother Arthur are given a big bulletin board by their Dad for putting pictures and posters on. He hangs it on the wall over Stanley's bed, but during the night the board falls from the wall, flattening Stanley in his sleep. He survives and makes the best of his altered state, and soon he is entering locked rooms by sliding under the door, and playing with his younger brother by being used as a kite. Stanley even helps catch some art museum sneak thieves by posing as a painting on the wall. But one special advantage is that Flat Stanley can now visit his friends by being mailed in an envelope. Eventually Arthur, who tires of all the attention Stanley has been getting, reverts Stanley to his proper shape through an air pump used for footballs.)


The boys were super silly today, but that's ok. The last hour I had them at the park, I laid out on the grass at the park and read my Kindle while they ran and played and ignored me for the most part. It was luxurious!


First we went to the retro McDonalds to have some lunch. Flat Stanley ordered a cheeseburger and fries. 

Then we went around town a bit, and took some pictures .(*for obvious reasons I won't be posting those. ;) )
After our healthy lunch we hit the bakery for some junk food. It's how I roll. It can't *all* be healthy. ;0P

Then I tried to get the boys to take a picture together. I was thinking frame worthy for Evan when we get back to Arizona...

I think I actually got one! Didn't this turn out adorable!? (His shirt is from school, so that's why it's blocked out. It won't be like that in the frame and I think I'll touch up all the water drips on Evan's shirt in photoshop before I print it up, but you know, I got two 6yo boys to smile and look at the camera at the same time. That's a gold star for me!) 

I just love these boys.

Kira's Interview 2010

1. What is something mommy always says to you?
"I love you" 2010: "Keep your voice down"


2. What makes mommy happy?
"Me" 2010: "When I say I love you"


3. What makes mommy sad?
"When I'm away from her" 2010: "When someone dies in her family"


4. How does your mommy make you laugh?
"When you laugh at me" 2010:"When you tickle me"

5. What was your mommy like as a child?
"Me" 2010:" Ummm...sweet" (she sounded doubtful though, it was more like "Sweet?")


6. How old is your mommy
"I don't know, I know you are in the 30's" 2010:"33"

7. How tall is your mommy?
"5ft" 2010: "Umm 5.4"

8. What is her favorite thing to do?
"Be on the computer" 2010: "Be on the computer"

9. What does your mommy do when you're not around?
"Be on computer, watch t.v. and clean" 2010:"Works on the computer, and watches TV" (man, my kids think I'm so lazy!)

10. If your mommy becomes famous, what will it be for?
"A show. A ballet show"2010:"Being President...well *running* for President." (I said, "you don't think I'd win?" She just chuckled and looked away)

11. What is your mommy really good at?
"Cuddling me" 2010:"Editing Photo's"

12. What is your mommy not very good at?
"Doing yard work"2010:"I don't know"

13. What does your mommy do for a job?
"take care of me" 2010:"Take care of me and my brother"

14.What is your mommy's favorite food?
"Shrimp" (She got this one, not sure where Evan came up with cake. I hate cake) 2010: "Healthy food"

15.What makes you proud of your mommy?
"When you let me use your computer"2010: "When she cuddles with me"

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
"You would be the little mermaid" 2010:"Hmmm...I don't know, who is your favorite character?" 

17. What do you and your mommy do together?
"Go swimming in the summer time, watch tv" 2010:"Hang out and cuddle"

18. How are you and your mommy the same?
"We the same skin, we wear earrings, we have rings, we like to do crafts" 2010:"We are both girls"

19. How are you and your mommy different?
"I watch tv alot and you just like the computer alot" 2010:"We have different colored hair"

20. How do you know your mommy loves you?
"Because you give gifts to me" 2010:"She cuddles with me"

21. What does your mommy like most about your daddy?
"He goes to work to get money to pay to live in our house" 2010:"His voice"(I DO love his voice!)

22. Where is your mommys favorite place to go?
"Walmart" 2010:"Starbucks"

2010 Interview with Evan

I did this on facebook last March and I've been meaning to do a follow up for two months now!

My sister did this for my nephew and so I'm copying here and hope to remember to do it each year. Though as they get older I'll have to think of some different questions.

1. What is something mommy always says to you? "I love you."   2010: "I love you"

2. What makes mommy happy? "Cake and when I give you hugs." 2010: " What makes you happy is when I do my chores and don't complain"

3. What makes mommy sad?
" When I don't listen" 2010: " When I complain or don't do my chores and don't eat my dinner and I play at bedtime"

4. How does your mommy make you laugh?
" By tickling me" 2010: " By tickling me, that was easy!"

5. What was your mommy like as a child? "Me" 2010: "I have NO IDEA!"

6. How old is your mommy "Uh...how old are you? I don't know. What's your number? (I answer 32...he says"THIRTY TWO!" 2010: "Um, I don't know, I don't know that answer to that" 

7. How tall is your mommy? "Oh that's another one I don't know, I don't know your number or how tall are you." 2010:"Five feet tall? I'm right!? You're five feet!? Awesome!"

8. What is her favorite thing to do? "Driving in town" 2010: "Hang out and have a good time"

9. What does your mommy do when you're not around? "You make food, watch TV" 2010: "Ummm...goes to sleep? (followed by giggles)"

10. If your mommy becomes famous, what will it be for? "By wearing a princess dress" 2010: "For work, pharmacy work"

11. What is your mommy really good at? "Excercising" 2010: "Let me think, I have no idea" 

12. What is your mommy not very good at? "Ummm...she's not that good at...what are you not good at mommy? I can't solve this riddle." 2010:" Mario Kart Wii, but you are kind of good you totally beated me once" 

13. What does your mommy do for a job? "Running" 2010: Nothing, you don't go anywhere!"

14.What is your mommy's favorite food? "Marshmallows" (?) 2010: "Pizza"

15.What makes you proud of your mommy? "Being nice to me" 2010: " You make cookies"

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be? "Lady" 2010:" Uhhh...Phineas and Ferbs mom!" 

17. What do you and your mommy do together? "Go to town, cuddle and watch tv on the couch" 2010: " Hang out together, like cuddle on the couch"

18. How are you and your mommy the same? "We aren't, you are different. You have long hair I have short, you are a girl, I'm a boy, we are different" 2010:"What! That's a hard question! We both cook, I cooked once and you cook"
19. How are you and your mommy different? "Because I already told you" 2010: "Different? Um...she's tall, I'm short."

20. How do you know your mommy loves you?
" I don't know." 2010:"Cuz I'm in her heart"

21. What does your mommy like most about your daddy? "Him tickling you!" 2010:"WHAT? What's that question about? Ummm...I have no idea. You like when he's nice I think"

22. Where is your mommys favorite place to go? "Mine is McDonalds, yours is Target and In and Out" 2010:"Target"

The last of the pictures.

If anyone reading this knows more information about what is in these pics would you let me know for labeling? I cannot remember half of what I heard! (Ben! That would be you, you recorded it all! ;) Or Denton, you *said* it all.)

Thanks!

Kira watching our "private" screening. ;) She was "bored". I don't feel too sorry for her though.

If you look at the next picture you can see what the ceiling above us here looks like. Pretty cool.

Severs. I know you are so excited. (I bet the IBMers think this is cool though. ;) ) But they take geek to a whole new level. ;) 

Ok. So I'm sorry this is really lame since I can't tell you much about things. Hopefully someone smarter than me will hop on and share the information, and next time I'll take a notebook (or do like Ben and just record the tour, *that* was smart!)

A trip to see a Particle Accelerator!

Ok. So geek is maybe my middle name. I secretly want to be a scientist when I grow up. ;)
But I've met enough scientists to know that that specific line of work and the people who do it are waaaaaaaay out of my league in terms of brain power. I admire it for sure, but I'm not that "kind of thinker" if you know what I mean.

So let me start at the beginning. Shawn met some nerdy guys online playing nerdy online first person shooter games.

Two of them came up for a visit last night. Ben and his wife Katrina stayed with us since they came up from Indianapolis, and then Denton drove up from a suburb south of us. They gamed and I took Katrina to IKEA for some fun. Then we all sat around and had dinner and talked for a few hours. Then the guys gamed a bit more and Katrina and I went to bed. (Crazy guys, Katrina and I called it quits and midnight and Ben and Shawn just kept going)

Denton invited us to his home for lunch and a tour of Fermilab where he works. They have the particle acclerator there and so we got a fantastic tour. Denton is extremely passionate about his work and SO smart and he told us some amazing facts that I wish I had written down now.

Anyway. I took a bunch of pictures and I'm going to ask him about some of them so I can add some proper information later. But for now here are some pics from  our day.

Looking out from the 15th floor.

In the center of the photo you see a berm with what looks like a steel track on top? The accelerator is under there. It is four miles around. For comparison the Hadron Collider is 17 miles around. 

So this is what it looks like on the inside, those large blue rectangles are the magnets. (this is just a mock up).

This copper starts out like this and gets stretched out until all the little parts in the middle (cannot recall the term, tired brain sorry) are as thin as a strand of hair. They are inside that tube and about the diameter of a pencil maybe? Maybe a little smaller than that.

Denton worked on this in New Mexico, we thought this was cool. 

In a control room. They were so nice to let us in while they were working. One of the guys even gave the kids money for the candy machine (like the gumball machines) so they could have some Skittles.

Three geeks and one in training. :) 

Denton, Shawn and Ben.

Thanks Denton, we had a WONDERFUL time, the tour was fantastic!

I have more pictures I will get up tomorrow, I took some on my little camera too, but the battery died and it is still charging before I can dump the camera.

Thanks for looking! (Sorry I don't know any of the technical terms for stuff. What I should do is have Denton narrate for us! :) )