Making This World a Better Place, One Toad at a Time

That's right, with a gene pool like this it would be cruel to deny the world another little Toad. Our newest Toad is coming our way next Spring.

When we told the kiddos about it Abizella immediately burst out into tears. In some cosmic way I deserve this. As a child I actually once refused to come downstairs to hear an exciting family announcement. I knew big family announcements meant one thing, and in our family they came in pairs. After a bit of coaxing from my Dad, I came down to find that the new family addition was our first computer, not another set of twins. The good news is, after the initial shock of the announcement Abz has been the most excited about the addition and is full of some really interesting questions.

Superkid on the other hand played it cool. When we asked him how he felt about a new baby the first thing he said was, "We'll, I guess we better come up with a new sleeping arrangement around here" , which is kind of the understatement of the year. We've been knocking around a few ideas and here is one of our more recent arrangements...

With innovation like this we are crossing our fingers for TWINS! -Hey, it runs in the family, make that both families.

Grandma TIME!

Grandma popped into town last week to play with us! After picking her up from the airport we rushed to Superkid's school open house. We had a great time showing off our Grandma to the world.

Nobody escapes a trip to New England in the fall without a trip to the orchard. All of the best excursions involve heavy machinery.

And we are always up for a good hay ride!

Believe it or not, this was Pop's first trip apple picking (except the trip where we picked apples out of some one's front yard in RI). Since he was the tallest among us, he picked the biggest juiciest apples, and was rightly proud of his picks.

We all agree that the best part is sampling each tree to find the best one. Sometimes it is a labor of love...

But it is worth it!

Here is Superkid demonstrating his twist and pull technique...

Look at our haul! This was the first picking experience where the kids didn't get tired before the bag was bulging.

We never miss a chance to play "pumpkin head" either!

The pumpkins were a little "too heaby" for some of us to heft.

We have spent the remainder of our time with Grandma doing some of our favorite things, i.e. watching lots of movies, eating tons of candy, telling Knock Knock jokes, playing games, being silly and reading every book in the house at least twice every day!

Grandma has to go home tomorrow. It is going to mean major heart break around here! At least we can console ourselves with the tickets we bought to go and visit!

We love you Grandma! Please come again and come often!

Temple Going Toads

I love to see the Temple, I'm going there TODAY!

Last week we took advantage of our Primary's family field trip to the temple. In the end, the little Toads can give a pretty decent critique of temple cookies.

My Dream Come True... well, almost

In my youth, I was a braid enthusiast. I remember being kind of a braid snob. I taught my self how to do a few different kinds of braids and I was always looking for subjects to practice on. Funny how a girl can have 3 (yes 3!) younger sisters and still always be for want for a willing head to braid. I don't know what their problem was, who wouldn't want to sport one of my fancy styles (even if it did take me some time to figure it out). The consequence is that I became really good at braiding my own hair, and not so good at working on others. Remember these were the days of big bangs and bigger bows. Here is where an archival pic would be good.

Flash forward 25 years and enter my unsuspecting daughter. When we were last at the beauty salon together, Abz's hair stylist offered to put a braid in her hair and Abz didn't even know what the lady was talking about. Then it hit me that I had my own little subject right before me. The following Sunday I set at the task of putting two tiny french braids in my fidgety (yet surprisingly cooperative) daughter's slippery hair. I didn't dare take them out for a second shot (a lesson I learned from my sister's misery), so while they weren't perfect they sure were stinking cute.

I think my sassy little subject knew she was cute stuff because she was working it for the camera!

I have been trying to play it cool, you know like I don't care either way, when I occasionally ask Abizella if she would like some braids. So far I haven't had a taker. bummer.

Experimentation and Observation

Much like many genius scientists, Superkid suffers from the ignorance of those supposedly beyond his own understanding.

First, Experimentation:

Pops was helping Superkid make his bed a couple of days ago when he happened upon a baggy containing a Superkid experiment involving the effects of decaying grapes *fortunately* contained in a baggy. Superkid's findings include:

1. Not only do grapes turn to puddles when left in a baggy for about a week, but they make a nice soup for life. About a billion little fruit fly lives that is. The experiment will have to be repeated with closer daily attention to fully determine how many generations a small baggy of grapes will support. Pops and Superkid can vouch for at least 2 as they observed both maggots and adult flies.

2. Perhaps one's bed is not the best place for experiments involving decay (okay maybe that is my finding, not sure Superkid minded).

3. It is WAY better for Pops to find experiments that involve decay and small creatures than Mom. Seriously, I am amazed that I actually worked in a worm lab for two years. ICK!

Observation:

Superkid has grown tired of me badgering him about what he does everyday during kindergarten. I am naturally curious as it is the first time he has been in the care of an adult I don't know. After getting several days of unsatisfactory responses I started asking him what happened first. Then what happened exactly after that and so on. I was obviously driving Superkid nuts. Last Friday after school he came up with a solution. He said, "Mom, I will bring a notebook to school and write down my observations for you." I was amused, but didn't think much more about it. Sure enough, after getting home from school Monday he produced a notebook with the following observations:

1. Snack time is about the best part of school (unless it is a recess day).

2. His teacher does not appreciate him taking notes during class. He made this inference when she asked him to put the notebook in his cubby. Now that he knows she doesn't like it, he said he would just keep the notebook hidden on his lap under the table so he can continue keeping notes for me.

3. He is a genius! Okay, that is my observation. Superkid came home with a coloring page with the New England Patriots Football Team logo (which he for sure has never seen or even heard about in our house). The teacher was lecturing about football and Superkid wrote, "fotbol" on his page. After relaying the story to my cousin I realized that he misspelled "football". I asked him if he copied the letters from the board and he told me that he just sounded the word out. Genius!

I better go check on my little genius now, I heard him musing about what other animals he could grow with a little fruit. YIKES!

We Try To Have A Little Fun Around Here...

I got a little nervous about the Kindergarten schedule taking over my life for the next two years so we spent the last week of summer vacation trying to cram it ALL in.

Starting with a little nature hike in a nearby preserve...

And all great hikes have great snacks. A little trick I learned from my Uncle D who always packed the BEST snacks and broke them out only at the TOP.

We didn't make it to the TOP of anything, but we did stumble on this fabulous lily pad pond. Somehow I think the kids appreciated the splash of a fist full of rocks over the grandeur of a vista.

We, of course, had to make a pit stop at the beach to refill our dump trucks (and our swim trunks).

Then we hit the rails and headed into BEAN TOWN!

We took in a little splish splash at the fancy new Rose Kennedy Greenway. Just when you thought it wasn't safe to run around between lanes of traffic in downtown Boston.

And we fulfilled a life long dream for Abizella. We made her a FIRE FIGHTER for a day. Ever since she could talk she has insisted on being a firefighter when she grows up. This would greatly please her Great Grandpa who actually was a fire fighter. Nonetheless, Pops has worked ardently to change Abizella's career path to match his own. Not so much because he loves what he does (which he is crazy about) but because he dreams of spending the day with her when she grows up. He finally had convinced her that she would grow up, take the train in with Daddy and be a lawyer... until...

...she actually got to BE a fire fighter. Well, at least dress like one.

It wasn't wasted on the other Toads either. I still can't believe that we pried Tadpole's hands from the steering wheel without a tantrum.

And since we were getting it done, we stopped by Pop's office to help him get something done around there.

We also stopped by Canobie Lake Park to hone the children's driving abilities. I am amazed how many rides involve steering wheels. Let's just say it was our kind of heaven.

...even if sometimes we had to wait.

Superkid's amusement park tastes have matured. He LOVED the log flume (Abz DID NOT!) and he even took a spin on the old rickety BIG KID roller coaster. The thrill of his life!

After 5 Years of Not being Affected By the School Calendar...

...we are plunging back in! Superkid has started Kindergarten! We are so proud of Superkid, not only is he for sure the most intelligent, most friendly, and most creative kindergartner EVER, we are sure he is the best looking.
And while I look forward to Superkid making friends, learning, and enjoying life, I am going to miss hanging out with my little buddy. He is one of my favorite little adventurers.