How to Spell "Orange" - courtesy of Adelyn Sophia

Here's the song about how to spell "orange" which she learned in her Mom's Day Out class. Love hearing sweet little voices sing.

A Deathly Table and a Cooperative Desk

I have been wanting to know how to refinish furniture for quite a while.  Mom has done quite a bit. Scott did our kitchen table when I was pregnant for Adelyn.  I had to opt out for that reason.  So when we decided it was time to do the dining room table, passed down from my grandpa's sister, I was extremely excited. 

 I went off of Scott's knowledge of what he remembered from the last time.  We began during June. I had no activities going on and neither did the kids.  We got our stripping stuff, the scrubbing things, the sanding tools, wood staining brushes, and Pecan wood stain.  I knew nothing about stain so I assumed the color and brand was fine.  The stripping and sanding were very tiring and I had to take a few breaks. Doing the table legs was difficult with the amount of creases and cracks in them. When we got to the staining part, it went on super thick regardless of how hard we tried to put in on thin.  It was kind of a redish color as well. It looked nothing like wood stain and more like we had painted it. So we decided to try again. We had sanded before stripping which is backwards.  

Round 2

Stripped the table.  Sanded the table. Stained.  Still looked painted. Sigh. Called Mom.  Mom said she always used Minwax.  Thinking about redoing the thing again sounded exhausting.  I showed a few people who were also very confused.  My neighbor Brandie discovered that the color may be the problem.  So I went for it.

Round 3

I went out and got an Oak color from the Minwax brand.  Brandie also loaned us her electric sander which made a huge difference. I still had to do the table legs by hand with all of the creases.  We got it completely ready for staining. After wiping it with water/vinegar, I took a break.  When I went to apply the new can called Weathered Oak, I saw that it went on looking like wood and looked completely different! Yes!  My friend Kari, who was visiting, thought it looked much better as well! Brandie came over and confirmed our thoughts. So I took a couple of days putting on coats and letting it dry.  Mom and Dad came to visit and they helped me work on it AND start on a desk for the kids that needed to be refinished. Mom and I were putting finishing touches on it and noticed that the color looked more gray when put on than it did previously.  We couldn't figure it out, but we finally was ready to put the polyurethane on. Yes! I was ready.  After working on little details with sanding and staining I was ready. 

After Mom and I put a coat on though, it left gray dots on the table. Uhhh, why? We tried to fix it, but it smudged. Um, no. This was not happening. Seriously?  I tried to re-sand it the tiny spots and re-stain but the color did not look the same.  It had the really gray look.  I was fuming.  I was not about to re-do this table again. Dad tried to do a different color but sanding it even more made the wood look different.  Fail.

Round 4

So after Mom and Dad left I tried to re-do particular parts but that Weathered Oak did not look the same as it had the very first time.  The other color dad tried was not staining as dark as it should have.  I tried a 3rd color that also did not stain as dark as it should have. I went for it again, but this time just the top. There was no way I was doing the detailed legs again.  I re-sanded and made sure the wood all the same. I decided to get the darkest color I could find and went with Dark Walnut.  I put the first stroke on.  Much better!! I covered the table in a couple of Dark Walnut coats.  When it came to put the polyurethane, I was feeling a little paranoid.  If this table got messed up again, it possibly would have to go to the junk yard.  We had considered it a few times at this point. I polyurethaned with a foam brush. I wasn't and still am not particularly thrilled with the brush marks that I can still see but it was way better than what it had been before!!  

Here it is below.  Began in June of 2013 and brought back in the house in September.  After 4 rounds of sanding and staining. The top is ever so slightly darker than the legs and I can see a few brush strokes but at this point...I'm good.

Here is the desk Mom and I started while waiting for the stain to dry on the table during round 3.  It took 3 days. So much easier and so much more cooperative. No problems with polyurethane.

Darth Adelyn

The lines below were my post on Facebook back in August.  It made it to Fail Blog somehow.  Definitely made me laugh.  

http://cheezburger.com/7731731968

Funny Blips

So we have encountered a few funny lines from the kids since the last time I wrote and I've tried to write some off them down.  The first one begins with Zachary after a few Tiger Cub meetings.

Zachary came home with several patches to start off the uniform.  I have not used my sewing machine in a while.  I tried to pull it out and sew one on the sleeve. I ended up yelling at the machine, taking 15 minutes to wind and thread the bobbin, and then sewed both sides of the sleeve together in one spot. Sigh. So so Zachary tells me as we are leaving his school one day says, "I know you don't like sewing much but I am going to have a lot of patches to sew, so you need to start getting in the habit of it." Really? Well...Great, I'm just glad that you understand what habits are.  Good first step for life!

We have been fostering my "stepsister" Fiona while Mom makes a lot of trips to Louisiana and Dad is working his rotation.  Yes, she is the brown and white furry one who has a bad habit of dribbling water all over the floor after drinking and has a whole lot of energy that I wish she would share with me.   Fiona also has a habit of scoping out the kitchen counters when she comes in.  You know...just to make sure they are clean.  A few weeks ago she happened to be scoping out the sink.  When I finally noticed and barked at her about it, she hopped down.  Sweet Adelyn, however, took up for her and said, "Fiona was trying to wash her hands."

This halloween we are planning to all go as the Skywalker family.  I am like BEYOND excited.  Yes, they are some of my favorite childhood movies.  Zachary and Adelyn will be Luke and Leia.  Scott and I will be Anakin and Padme.  Works well! Sandy looks a lot like Yoda so one Saturday morning we discussed him pretending to be Yoda.  The question then came up about who Fiona would be.  Scott suggested Jabba the Hutt.  Zachary thought about it and said, "Yes, because she is kind of like a criminal anyway."  Scott laughed.  Umm, ok, well, just don't tell her parents.

My last neat memory of lines from the kids is from Zachary.  We have been discussing good germs vs bad germs and why we need to have some germs/bacteria in us.  As I was going through the bedtime routine with them, Zachary pipes up and says, "So I've got this theory."  Shock of silence from Mom. Really? 6 yr old Zachary has a theory?  "You do?" I say.  "Yes.  I think that bad germs are what causes pain when we are hurting."  Wow. Well, you may be on to something kid.  How many other theories have you not shared with us yet?

Captain America's Beverage

It was the end of the school year. There was lots of social activities needing to happen. One of them happened to be a going away lunch for Zachary's friend Tyler, his brother Cameron and mom. I knew Lisa like Pepsi so I got a few individual ones for the lunch. It had not dawned on me though that Zachary had never seen a Pepsi in his life. We always seem to get Coke. Nothing against Pepsi, just a habit. He does however know who Captain America is and what his red, white, and blue shield looks like. So when Zachary walked in the kitchen after returning home one day and saw the Pepsi's he said in a very excited voice, "Hey Mom, who are those Captain America Cokes for?" A very logical conclusion on why our cokes suddenly were red, white, and blue. 

New Favorites for Zachary as of March

Zachary has altered his "favorite things" a little over the past 2 months.  It all started when Scott convinced me it was okay for him to watch Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.  One things led to another and...well...now we have a Star Wars junkie.  I can't imagine who he might have taken after here.

He was asking questions about the general plot of the story BEFORE he started watching it.  He moved onto asking basic questions that I knew the answers to such as " What planet does Luke come from?", " Why does Han owe Jabba money?" and "Why does Luke have to sell his speeder?"

He then moved on to the next question asking level with questions such as, "So Anakin was Darth Vador's name before he went to the dark side?", "How did Anakin start becoming bad?", "Did Luke become a Jedi when he went to see Master Yoda again or while he was fighting Darth Vador?" and  "Did Master Yoda fight in the Clone Wars?"

Now he's moved onto questions that I really have to think about like, "How did they build the death star?", "How did Leia become the princess", and "How did they make Anakin part of a machine?". 

I suppose we will need to check out the book series one day. Or maybe just send him to my brother n law Matthew.  Those two would have very interesting conversations.  I'd be delighted to hear them.

Anyhow, as a result of becoming a big time Star Wars fan we now have a new list of favorites.

Favorite Color: Blue
Favorite color light sabre: Blue
Favorite Movie: Star Wars
Favorite books: Star Wars Easy Readers
Favorite Music: Star Wars
Favorite Pretend Game: Star Wars
Favorite super hero: Luke Skywalker (I have to say...I definitely agree!)
Favorite form of transportation: X plane
Favorite Star Wars character: Luke Skywalker
Comforter on the bed: Star Wars
Night Light in room: Light Sabre night light
Birthday Theme Party: Star Wars

Good thing Star Wars has a great lesson: Don't let your emotions (specifically anger) take over your actions. 

May the force be with you!

Would You Like YOUR Name on a Towel?

My mom was giving Adelyn a bath last night here at our house. My mom asked her about her new towel which has Minnie Mouse and her name.

Gramsie: You have your name on your towel?
Adelyn (beaming): Uh huh!!
Gramsie: Wow I love it! Did Granna and Pop2 give it to you?
Adelyn nods yes with a smile and then says "Would you like YOUR name on a towel?
Gramsie: Oh I would love it.
Adelyn: When I get big I will get you a towel with your name on it.

Conversation about a Sports Jersey

Zachary and I had a conversation the other day as I was helping him get some clothes out of the closet.

Me: Do you want to wear the Astros jersey Gramsie and Pa-pa gave you?
Zachary: No, I don't want it. I don't like the Astros
Me: Why don't you like the Astros? They are from Houston.
Zachary: I like the 49ers.
Me: 49ers are football. Astros are baseball.
Zachary: Oh.  Well I like another team then.
Me: What team do you like?
Zachary: I don't know. Just not the Astros
Me: (Sigh) Well can I have it?
Zachary: Yes you can have it.

Another day
I walk into the room with my new jersey on.
Gramsie (my mom): That fits you well.
Me: Yes Zachary did not want it.  He does not like the Astros
Me: Parrain (Berch) likes the Yankees.
Zachary: I like the Yankees.
Me: Okay then.

Joy Upon Waking On a Saturday Morning Part II

The following Saturday after the last post, I heard the kids wake up before 7 again.  Adelyn came downstairs and gave us a bubbly good morning and then announced that she would go back upstairs to read in her room until her clock turned green. Yes! Sounds great!  I can't remember who spoke first between Adelyn and Zachary but they eventually began looking for Tow Mater Saves Christmas.  Oh dang. I had moved the holiday books to another book shelf in the craft room due to overcrowding.  I tried to call several times to tell them where it was but they did not hear me and I wasn't feeling up to getting out of bed yet.

Zachary came across another book about Louis Pasteur and believing in yourself.

Zachary: Do you want me to read you this book about Louis Pasteur?  It's about a chemist.  I'm going to be a chemist when I grow up.

Adelyn: I fought you were going to be a poweece occicer.

Zachary:  Well I have plenty of time to think. It's my choice, okay?

Zachary reads her what he can remember is on each page.  I have to say, I was very impressed with what he remembered.  It's kind of a long book.  He got to the part about Louis Pasteur finding a cure for rabbis and told her:

"Some people got bacteria in them.  This was a bad bacteria. There is good bacteria and bad bacteria".

Scott with his eyes still closed: I'm pretty sure some adults don't know that.

Sometime during the book Adelyn said she wanted to be a police officer.

Zachary: Are you sure?

Adelyn: Yes

Zachary: Well, it's kind of tough.  I don't know if you can handle it.

Adelyn: Can I just be Adewyn?

Joy Upon Waking on Saturday Morning

This morning I heard Zachary and Adelyn get up at about 6:45 or so.  They remembered that they needed to stay in their room until the clock turned green at 7:00 b/c I heard Adelyn suggest a few things to Zachary such as reading books.  Zachary said, "Let's talk".  I was extremely surprised and I smiled to myself.  I enjoyed pieces of their little conversations over the next few minutes.  My favorite was when Zachary asked, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" I'm going to be a policeman". Adelyn said, "I'm going to be a bunny" and then I heard her demonstrate.  "Hop. Hop. Hop" she said while hopping around the room.

Brahms Concert on Jan 31

Just wanted to share the duet video clip from the Brahms concert for those of you who asked about it.  We are singing Wie Des Abends Schone Rote which is the 4th movement of 18 Liebeslieder Waltzes by Johannes Brahms.  There is about a 20 second delay after you push the "play" button so fear not...it's coming.

You may notice that the text is in German so if you do not speak German and could not figure out what the words are, that is why.  Many of us in the choir got a bit flustered at times, with the German.

During our concert we also sang Der Fiedler, Brahms's Ave Maria, folk pieces by Bela Bartok and several others.

Next concert is our Pops Concert on Sunday March 17th at St. George the Marionite Catholic Church hall.  The theme is Hollywood Red Carpet: Movie Hits from the 1920s to present day.  This concert will include pieces from Annie, The Wizard of Oz, Grease, and popular tunes, Don't Rain on My Parade, Don't Stop Believing (Glee version) and 42nd Street plus much more!

You're a big helper.

I love that 2 yr olds love to help around the house.  Adelyn rushes to the dishwasher when she sees me unloading it.  "I'm a big helper" she told me tonight after dinner as Scott and I were cleaning up the kitchen.

"You are right.  You ARE a big helper" I told her.

"You're a big helper too" she told me a few seconds later.

Hmm. She's right.  I'm a mom. I AM a big helper.  Thanks for the confidence my little sweetheart.

Snow!!

So back in January I wanted to take time to go visit Tricia and Scott (Eilers) before Zachary started school again.  Tricia and I talked and decided it would be good for us to go the Thursday after New Years.  The kids and I could spend the night.  Sounded like fun to me!

I began to notice on the weather news that it was suppose to be really cold in San Antonio and Fredericksburg.  At one point it showed that their may be snow flurries in San Antonio that night!  I didn't want to miss that!  I checked Fredericksburg weather and saw that they had an even better chance!! Woo hoo!! I packed hats, coats, scarves and mittens!  We were going to be set to play in the snow.

I arrived there that evening and we had a grand old time cooking, entertaining the children,  and catching up.  Zachary and I would get to sleep on a day bed and trundle bed in Addison's room and Adelyn would sleep on a pallet next to Zachary.  We read the kids a bunch of stories, tucked them in and then got convinced by Tricia to stay up till mid night.  Her Scott and I both fell for this.  I went to bed knowing I would be exhausted in the morning.

The kids awoke bright and early. Like 6:30?  Drat I was really hoping they would sleep in.  I did not want to lift my head.  At our house I would have said "you can watch PBS or shows on netflix" but it's always different at someone else's house.  I had gotten up during the night once and I had not heard anything that sounded like snow falling from the sky so I was really afraid that I would have very disappointed children.  "Did it snow? Did it snow?" Zachary was asking.  I managed to find my glasses and trudge to the window feeling doubtful.  But as I pulled back the blinds, my face lit up and my energy level trippled.  "OH Zachary, it DID snow!!", I said.  My excited children and I looked out the window and danced around the room trying to pull on warm clothes to go outside.  As we were coming out I heard that Addison was awake down the hall.  Scott was getting ready for work but he got Addison dressed so he could come outside with us. Tricia got herself up too!

So these are the pictures from all of the fun we had in the snow in Fredericksburg.  My Scott said we didn't get anything at all in San Antonio so that trip worked out for the best.  Visited friends AND got snow!

Looking out of the window from our room.

Adelyn looking out of the window.

Zachary, Adelyn, and Addison

Scott E. taking photos before work

This stuff is cool Mom! (No pun intended)

Snow Angel...or...mud angel

Sand toys turned snow toys

Adelyn and I still playing after everyone else went in for hot chocolate.

This is Scott E. at work...well maybe!  They got more snow where he works.

Restoring Eyes

Here is a story I forgot to write down. It probably happened back in November or so.  

Zachary got this white bouncy ball  with an eye ball printed on it somewhere...maybe from the treasure chest at school.  We know that bouncy balls are great fun!  He was enjoying it all weekend and brought it with him to church on Sunday which I realized as we were going in.  As we sat down in one of the second rows, I let him know when we sat down that if bounced away then I would have to hold it during Mass.  We had not even gotten to the Gloria, or maybe it was during, but that little ball got away from Zachary at that time.  Our church is round and the floors slants as you go down the isles so that people in the back rows can still see.  The altar is right in the middle of the church at the bottom of course.  The priest and deacon sit in one of the front rows.  So as we are singing that little white eye ball rolled all the way down to the altar.  Oh nice. Let me try to convince myself that this is not embarrassing at all. I was going to wait until the kids were called to the front to go to children's liturgy to go retrieve it but a kind altar server went and got it and then gave it back to us later. 

During the sign of peace, Deacon Gene came to give us peace and then told me that his grandson had a plastic pumpkin once that rolled all the way down from the back row under neath the pews. I had to laugh at that one with him.  

I guess thought the best part of this story is that the gospel reading was about Jesus restoring sight to the blind.   

No Problem Mom!

Sunday was a start to a not so great week.  The morning was great. It wasn't until I was trying to leave for a birthday party at Chuck E Cheese that I realized I had left my keys under our seat at church.  Church is 20-25 mins away.  Awesome.  We had been watching a lively game of the 49ers vs the Falcons and we needed to leave at about 1/2 time for the party.  Chuck E Cheese was actually on our way to church. I considered dropping Zachary off first but no...I was not up for hauling everyone inside and then having to get back in the car.  So I drove all the way there, retrieved my lost keys, and then hurried the kids back in the car.  We were almost 45 mins late.  We fortunately did not miss the cake, food and presents.  We did have a good rowdy time hanging out and playing games.  Pizza is always good. After the party as we were driving home I asked the kids if they had a good time and also thanked them for being patient with me and apologized for being late.  Zachary said it was okay and then Adelyn piped up with "no problem Mom!"  :) It is so nice to be loved. I am beginning to wonder how often we say that during the day.  

The other day I called Adelyn to see where she was.  "I'm doing my stickers" she told me. Oh ok.  Sounds appropriate enough. She is in the love of sticker phase for sure.  It was only later that both Scott and I realized that she had lined Scott's side of the quilt with stickers.

Favorites

Zachary's Favorite as of January 2013

• Color- blue
• food- pizza, hot dogs, carrots, celery, pb on bread
• Candy- sour patch kids, reeses peanut butter cups
• Book- Berenstain Bears
• Show- Curious George
• Movie- Cars II
• Super Hero- Power Rangers, Batman, Spider Man
• App- Angry Birds, 
• Pretend Game- super heros, rocket ship
• Comfort Object- Teddy, Blue Blanket, Cute Doggie, Clifford, Monkey, Piglet, Piggie
• Sport- soccer, t-ball, basketball, football
• Sports team- San Fransico 49ers (courtesy of Uncle Kevin)

Most recent interesting thing said: "Why don't islands float away?"

Adelyn's Favorite as of January 2013

• Color- purple
• Food- lasagne/pasta, hot dogs, brocolli, pb on bread, ice cream, chips, chocolate chips and marshmellows
• Candy- chocolate chips
• Book- Berenstain Bears, Llama Llama, 
• Show- Caillou, Super Why? Mickey Mouse, Curious George, Clifford
• Character- Minnie Mouse, Elmo
• Pretend game to play- Babies, Grocery Store, Church
• App- Signing Time, Shapes, Toy Story Memory
• Comfort Object- Elephant, Bunny lovie, Bubble Blanket, socks on her feet

December Christmas Parties

Here are pictures from our December Christmas events that took place during Advent. We had a Winter Wonderland activity night at Zachary's school, Adelyn's Christmas Party, and Zachary's Christmas party.

Winter wonderland card making

Winter wonderland bowling

We got pencils!

Zachary's decorated classroom door.

We're having a blast with all of these activities!

Zachary's stocking at school

Winter wonderland decor

North Pole picture

Mommy loves this!

Winter wonderland decor

Decorated door

Computer classroom door

Adelyn's special party

Singing carols for the parents

What's next??

Christmas Story

Zachary's classroom 

Classroom tree

Zachary's cubby

Adelyn entertaining herself while Mommy helped set up

Adelyn feasting before the kids arrive

Make a Christmas tree activity

Christmas bingo (ran by English and Scott)

Playing Christmas bingo

Zachary's very fun teacher!! She's playing pin the nose on Rudolph

Christmas bingo

Feasting!!

Santa visits the school. I wish I had a recording of Adelyn's excited voice calling "Saannta!" and her little legs running to see him.

Zachary and his awesome teacher.