One of these things is not like the other

Where's Maxwell?



Where's Jack?

Eva's pose

Momma, take a picture of me with the gorilla...

knights and princesses

birthdays birhdays oh my

Tuesday, March 11 Samuel turned 8! Wowee! Can you believe it? He has been planning planning planning his birthday for several weeks now and I think he really enjoyed his success. Samuel loves to plan and set up a scene and his birthday was no different. There was a robot cake that he helped to decorate (thanks Kate for the recipe!) and we made card board robot cut outs for decorations that he painted and decorated on his birthday eve with lots of red and blue, his favorite colors du jour. We bought 20! helium balloons from party city (they put a boost in the balloons to make the helium last longer and there are still two up in the air today!). I had not considered how to get them back home (although Samuel had) and it is amazing how much you can fit into a honda civic. Samuel was in the back seat with all twenty of the balloons and said he felt like he was in a balloon cage. On his birthday Samuel's friend Jack came over to play and for cake and a treasure hunt. Later Ellen and Evan came over for Thai food and a marshmallow toast and fireworks and of course a game of chess! Everyone went home with a balloon hand picked by Samuel.

This year Samuel asked for a piccolo for his birthday (his is silver) and has decided to take lessons (if I can find someone willing...remember the whole piccolo saga?). He has also been thoroughly enjoying his new Mars Mission sets from lego and his Dragonology book.



Samuel with 20! helium balloons!



Giant robot (based on Samuel) with cut out in hand for weapons to take in and out; robot cake!



Decorating robots the night before; et voila, the robots! (they hung around the house looking their best for the big day!)



Samuel and Jack before cake; marshmallow toast that evening.

nutella II

So basically Nutella is really good. It is good on crackers and it is good on apples and it is good in a bowl with a spoon.

This morning-
Eva- "Momma, can I have some of that penitentiary? It was really good!"
Me- Thinking to myself, "Hmmm...I wonder what penitentiary is?" (I mean, I know what penitentiary is, but what does Eva mean right now when she says penitentiary?)
Eva- "Momma can I please have some penitentiary. You know, the stuff in the jar? Can I have some in a bowl?"
Me- "Ah ha! Nutella!" And I give her some in a bowl with a spoon.

This afternoon-
Eva- "Momma, can I have the marsupial?"
Me- Thinking to myself and squinting my eyes and puckering my lips and trying to u-n-d-e-r-s-t-a-n-d (discern the hidden meaning within) what marsupial is...I conjure up images of stuffed creatures and little plastic creatures and look around and wonder what we saw at the store yesterday that I came home with but am not remembering right now.
Samuel- Sensing my confusion, says to Eva, "Eva, what sort of thing is marsupial?"
Me- I smile. "Yes! Exactly! What sort of thing is marsupial? Thank you Samuel. Good idea!"
Samuel- Nonchalant, "Sure." Back to whatever robot he is looking at but with an ear for the conversation...
Eva- "You know, that stuff from the grocery story?"
Me- "Ah yes! Nutella!" Relieved!
Eva- "Yes. Can I have some in a bowl? With a spoon?"

Later-
Samuel- "Hey, that stuff is pretty good. Can I have some Drusilla?"
Me- "Yes!"
Samuel- "Is that what it's called? Drusilla?"
Me- "Nutella!"
Samuel- "Huh, that was pretty close!" Big smile!

Later-
Eva just calls it Drusilla now!

nutella

Anyone had nutella lately? I was feeling festive today and bought nutella and almond butter and they are such a wonderful match. I don't think I have had nutella since I was in Russia and at the time we thought it was so divine. It still is! Eva and her babies had a tea party with green tea and nutella on toast. They just licked the nutella off the toast. She asked for some in a bowl next time, no toast.

We also bought several colors of decorating icing for Samuel's robot cake, as well as candles (pink with sparkles!) and a #8 candle for the center. And marshmallows for a marshmallow toast on his birthday. And we are going to have a treasure hunt (my surprise!). It is getting close now and the excitement in the house is palpable to say the least.

I have to say I am really enjoying living with a rat. Charlie is a lot of fun to have around. He gets up every morning and gets all excited for his eggs. He comes when I call him if I have let him run around. He sits on my shoulder and chatters. And he gives kisses. When we adopted him, the woman at the adoption place told me he gave kisses but he has been quite modest up until recently. Sure enough, if I make little kiss noises at him when he is on my shoulder he will kiss my face. So sweet.

More photos from our recent life-



Here is a photo of Eva's most recent dinosaur. He is quite tall- over a foot high- and when you press his left arm he gives a mighty T-Rex roar. And I just found about 15 more pictures of him in different poses and close-up mode. I won't upload them all, but if you are interested, Eva was very thorough!



Charlie!

hmmmm...

Well, let's see. Grandpa came to visit and we had a lovely time. I just cleaned up the large installment Shadow game that Samuel enjoys playing when Grandpa comes to visit. There are knights, of course, and robots and dragons and castles and hover crafts and bombs and many many many lego pieces. We played miniature golf and had pizza and sorbet twice and brownies twice and chocolate chip cookies that Tammy sent along and Jack had so many dog treats he didn't eat his food for days on end. There are new bionicles and coloring books and dvds and books and sad faces now that he is gone and Jack is mopey mopey mopey.

We finished up Mr. Ape by Dick King-Smith and I have to say we all loved it. Such an inspiring story about finding what you love and doing that instead of anything else. Samuel wants to be a Gypsy and have lots of rabbits and chickens and live in a caravan...

And now we are busy getting ready for the big birthday month, plus Easter. Samuel will be 8 on March 11th and Eva will be 5 on March 20th. So of course there are many many fun ideas floating about the house for the celebrations to come.

I have a whole slew of photos...



Sparrow watching as Eva puts peanut butter in her kong. Sparrow with baby and Eva!


Eva making sorbet for Samuel (as it turns out this is now his favorite kind- orange!)



Jack and also Charlie on Eva's shoulder. She gets all wrapped up to avoid his itchy scratchy claws...