Gametes In Love

My parents brought a gingerbread house to make with the kids while they were here. It’s Christmas Eve. We’re home. What else better to do?

I offered G the job of beating the egg. He practices on the boxing bag a bit fist. And then gave the egg a talking to. Given how long it took it to get stiff in the KitchenAid, and Griffin’s first inklings of “I’m bored”, I’d still say the egg won ;p

The house didn’t last long. Kids wanted to eat it as soon as it was assembled. Verdict on the gingerbread? Good. Verdict on the fondant peoples? Well, just check out Storm’s face below.

Also, getting a “sweet” picture of these two together today? Apparently not happening. But… it is who they are, so unadulterated expressions are it.

Griffin. You have to choose your words pretty carefully with him, because he’s REALLY good at finding the line between what you say and what you mean. This SO does not bode well for us. Let’s share a story.

I’m in the car with the kids driving to school.

Me: Hey guys. I have a challenge for you. Should you chose to accept it…
Griffin: What is it?
Me: Ok, you have TWO days to complete this. If you see a kid in your school that is feeling down or sad, I want you to make them feel better. You know… lift them up.
Griffin: (after some pause) Can it be ANY kid, from ANY grade?
Me: Sure!
Griffin: Good! Cuz it’s pretty easy to lift a kindergardener. You just go behind them and pick them up.
Me: (head smack). No! “Lift up!” as in “lift up their spirits”. Make them happy, if they’re sad. No feet, on the part of the recipients can leave the ground.

Here is now where I’m seeing I also need to be more explicit.

Me: You’re also NOT allowed to make them sad first so you can make them happy.

Meanwhile, I know kid is cackling in the back. Sigh!

Three years ago I heard about Bethlehem A.D. It’s a re-enactment, of sorts, of the nativity story… except on a super big scale. Missed it the first year. Missed it the second year. This year, I set a reminder for myself to check out the event schedule and I put it on the calendar. Mom and Dad came in last night, and given the rain prognosis for today, last night was it. We hit up Old Spaghetti factory in downtown RWC for dinner. Shane had Griffin convinced for a little while that they didn’t actually serve spaghetti there: it was just called that (like “One Hour” dry cleaners…. how they’re never done in an hour?). Also that if they DID have any spaghetti, it was from left-overs… hence the “old”. G was borderline believing it.
Part of our dinner program included a study of Roman Numerals. Also a massive cheating scandal on Squares, where Griffin volunteered to play on my behalf, but did not honestly represent me. I* ended up with four squares, while Storm appropriated over 30.
We headed to after. Honestly, I had no idea what to expect. The long line was a bit of a surprise, but it moved quickly enough and it wasn’t too bad. The setup was really impressive. Clearly this is a massive production, with lots of community volunteers. I was very impressed. Storm was in awe of everything, and that just makes me happy: not too often to get a chance to show our kids genuinely different.

Oh, I will stop here and tell you that Storm did not pay his taxes. We are awaiting the Roman guard to come arrest him any minute.

I am also so impressed with the little kid that played Jesus. There was aa strong light pointed at it, so many people walking through, loud music…. and kid totally kept it together. It was even asleep at one point. Say whaaaat????

Note: Photos are barely edited… but these days, it’s how I roll. Better this than nothing ;p

G has been home for the past 3 days. He came home early on Mon complaining of a stomach ache. No fever. Then he came home yesterday because he decided that showing people the contents of his stomach while on the playground was a good idea. Ya, he yacked. So he stayed home today, observing the 24 hour rule. Can you tell he’s a sick kid?

I managed to keep him away from the screen time until after lunch. I’ll admit he was awesome about it: he helped me clean the room my parents will be staying in, rested a bit (ha!) and then helped build a robot.

Oh yeah, pretty sure this is not how you use boxing gloves ;p

Polina and Lidat came up for Thanksgiving. One of their requests was to spend the day in the city… specifically Pier 39, playing Pokemon Go! Griffin is into it, so I thought, “Why not?”
It was fun!
We went to the aquarium, had lunch, and the kids played until my battery went just about dead. Perfectly timed with my car parking spot meter in 4 hours 🙂

At the aquarium, I told the boys they could buy something under 10 dollars, but they had to share. They picked a shark tooth necklace, which I’m sure was inspired by seeing Moana just the day before. Also, they had to work out the purchase through photos — which makes all both happy: they get something they want; I get something *I* want ;p
Their bigger toys came as gifts from Polina and Lidat. They both took stuffies home to boot, and as you can tell, pretty stoked about it. Storm named his otter “Watery”.

We had tonnes of sugar yesterday too. Mini doughnuts for them (since I don’t eat anything that has “doughnut” in the name); a crepe for me, and the boys’ first exposure to funnel cake. It was greasy as hell, and Storm couldn’t put it down.

More than anything I’m super stoked about how we timed out the rain just right. It was fine walking to the aquarium — started raining as soon as we got it; ended right as we got out after lunch. Started drizzling right in time for funnel cake — ended as soon as we were done, with enough time to get back to the car. Back home we pulled up to the gas station to pump, ended right as we needed to get into the grocery store. Rain had my back, I tells ya’!

Storm caught 4 pokemon yesterday. Griffin took down a gym. I’d say a good time was had by all. And here’s a tonne of photos to keep my album book happy. They’re barely edited, but I figured I’d take that over eternity in write-up.

For Storm’s birthday my sister asked me if it would be OK to get him a robot model kit. It didn’t involve any gluing, so I was willing to give it a go.

She warned me that it was for a slightly older age group, and I’d likely need to help him out. It was 15+.
She warned me the instructions were in Japanese.
She was really selling me here… can you tell???

Since Storm and I were looking at an unexpected Sunday at home, we decided to go for it and build it. My job? Take the pieces apart and hand them to him: his job…. assemble said pieces. Honestly I was preparing for this to become a project he would get 2-3 steps into and then realize was too hard & quit. One the ultimately *I* would end up building.

I was wrong.

Storm built the whole thing. By himself, save 3 steps that required some specialized snapping. In 4 hours.
I’m super impressed. We have another kit of a larger model. I’m thinking Christmas break fun-time.

Zoe needed to get in on the building action, but then realized it wasn’t really her jam, so she retreated to her cat-tree for a nap, knowing her people were close by.

Griffin had his last club soccer tournament last week-end. His team made it to the play-offs, but alas didn’t win.

This was the first game I attended this season, and sadly the only, since the following morning Storm woke up with an ear ache, and I took him home to confirm an ear infection. Oh well!

Griffin loved Gatorade. Not sure he realized what he looks like afterward. I call this the “I kissed a smurf and I liked it!” shot

Followed by “I ate it!”

Griffin came home from school yesterday really enthused about the upcoming election. They had covered the electoral college in his grade. Later that night he was telling Shane how their teacher exclaimed that many people choose not to vote. He didn’t understand why. Shane gave Griffin an absolutely amazing explanation on why voting is important.

(What follows is a conversation overheard in bits, but mostly relayed via Shane.)

Shane: Ok — so imagine we are about to vote on dinner for the following night. The choices are between hamburger and pizza.
Let’s say that YOU want pizza, and Mommy wants pizza, and I want pizza. Storm, however, wants hamburger.
Given what you know, what do you think we’re going to have for dinner tomorrow.

Griffin: Pizza!

Shane: Right. Ok — so all the votes have to be in by 5pm the night of dinner.
Now, it’s 4:30, and I’m upstairs busy, and I’m not able to come down to vote. (all voting has to be put in downstairs in the kitchen by 5pm). But I know that you’re going to vote for pizza, and Mommy is going to vote for pizza, so we’re ok even if I don’t vote.
Meanwhile, Mommy is doing something in the kitchen, and she’s thinking “Shane is going to vote for pizza, and Griffin is going to vote for pizza, so we’re fine. I don’t need to stress it if I don’t vote.”
You are playing basketball, and don’t want to stop just to go vote, but you know that if I vote for pizza and Mommy votes for pizza, we’re having pizza. So you don’t vote.
Meanwhile, Storm casts his vote for hamburger.
Guess what we’re having for dinner that night?!?!

Griffin: (sad) Hamburger.

Shane: That’s right. That’s why you gotta go vote!

So… you heard it here folks. Go vote! Or you’re going to end up with hamburger for dinner.

Our littlest is 6 today.

I showed him his 6th year video, and after we watched several from years past. It moments like that when I realize just how much he’s grown. He’s gone from a Lego obsessed, costume wearing, Christmas-music listening, snuggly, picky eater to a Lego obsessed, story-writing, snuggly, picky eater. Ok, so maybe not too much has changed 🙂

This past year Storm experienced quite a few milestone firsts: first bike riding, kindergarten, first sports team, and first trips to some cool vacation destinations. It’s been a big year for sure. See some highlights here:

Now… onto

What is your name?
Storm
What is your full name?
Storm V R************
Do YOU know what the V stands for?
Viktor

How old are you about to be?
6!

What’s your favorite color?
Turquoise.
What does turquoise look like?
It’s like… it’s green. To make the color, equal yellow and blue together.
Really? How do you know that?
I tried it!
Did you know that turquoise was one of my favorite colors when I was your age?
Actually, turquoise is not my best, best color. Taze blue is my favorite color.
Oh wow! Say that again!?!
Taze Blue
Taze Blue? (anyone getting flashbacks of the Yao Ming AMEX commercial here?)
Taze-z-z-z-z
Taze?
You, you say Tay- then, you say—
I’ve never heard of this color. How did you hear about it?
It’s actually some of the Lego boxes — they tell you the colors. And there’s this one color. It’s taze blue. It’s the awesomest blue I saw. It’s pretty awesome.

Who is your best friend?
I have pretty much three.
You have three best friends? Alright who are your best friends?
One is Parker. Danny. Who is the next one? Who is it? Oh yeah — Dominic and Justin.
That makes four. Ok!
No! No! No! No! It equals three because Dominic and Justin are twins.
[laugh] But they’re not the same person!

What is your favorite book?
I don’t know the title, but I like it.
Why don’t you tell me what it’s about? Maybe I’ll remember the title.
I think you never read it.
Ohhh-ok!

Alright then, what’s your favorite movie?
Movie… Do you know …. Do you know I pretty much know half of Jurassic Park?
I guess because people are telling you what it’s about. Why don’t you tell me what your favorite movie is?
Jurassic World!
You’ve never seen it! Tell me something you’ve seen.
Ok fine! Kubo and the Two Strings.
Ok! Why do you like that movie the most?
I like the part where he gets the armor.
When he gets the armor?
Uh-huh!
Ok!

What is your favorite TV show?
TV: Pokemon!
Why?
Hmnn.. I like it because… because there are lots of pokemon everywhere.
Ok
…and we can catch them.

Storm, what is your favorite animal?
My favorite animal is ugh… is ugh… I have two
What are they?
The red fox and the Snow Tiger.
What does the fox say? HAHAHA! So tell me why those are your favorite animals!
Oh the red fox; I like the red fox because it’s the name of my school. Fox part. And I like snow Tigers because they blend in with the snow.

What is your favorite food to eat?
Pumpkin bread.
Pumpkin bread? You just had that for the first time today!
I really like it!

Storm, give me a piece of advice.
Of what?
I don’t know — give me your best piece of advice.
Ok, it’s a way to make origami. It’s a tip if you have a hard step. If you have a hard step…. No. No — it’s about reading. If you have a hard step about reading, just skip the word.
Oh! Ok! Alright!

What’s your favorite toy?
My Iron Man shooter. No, my NERF gun.
So all of your toys can go away as long as you have your NERF gun?
Hey!
That’s what I mean; what’s the ONE toy you can’t live without?
Pretty much all of my toys.
All of your toys? Alright!

What is your favorite shirt?
My Safari shirt.
Your Safari shirt?
Yeah; it reminds me of Safari Run.

What kind of job do you want to do when you grow up.
I don’t know what they’re called, but they help … like … ugh… I wanna be a worker
What kind of worker?
I want to be a person that helps make toys.
What kind of toys?
Kid toys
What are you going to do? Design them; build them; or what?
I’m going to draw them and make them real!

(I have no doubt you will, Bud!)

We went back to Arata Farms last week-end, and brought some friends.
I gotta admit — the maze was much harder this year than I remember, and getting through was only made more complicated by a gaggle of 8 yr olds determined to guide the expedition. Without a strategy (other than just running ahead) it drove the adults bonkers. We finally made it out though ;p I WILL go back next year, just need to figure out a plan first.