First-time Ice Skating

We took Ethan and Caty to the local park today to try out ice skating! They have a nice big area made into an ice rink, and we had decided about a week ago that we needed to try something new during this rather long and snowless winter. We have snow, that's not the problem. The problem is that the snow is about a month and a half old, and majorly hard and nasty. So we found Caty ice skates at Play It Again Sports, Ethan's size was on clearance at Target, and today the weather was finally not bitterly cold and windy. Caty was really not looking forward to this adventure, but once she got some encouragement on the ice, she didn't want to stop! Ethan was excited, then he freaked out once his skates hit the ice. After some "forceful" encouragement for him, he got the hang of it too, and loved it! We brought a couple of kid-size chairs along for them to push, but Caty definitely preferred having her daddy helping her out. It was fun, a perfect day for it, and we even had some friends join us for skating/sliding around. They were the fun family, with hockey sticks and pucks! Maybe we'll have to find some used equipment for the kids to play with on the ice. Anyway, that was our grand adventure for the weekend. The kids are already asking to go again tomorrow!

trying to fix this...

So, as you can see, I'm trying to customize this blog a bit. But this header is not centered! Do any of you have a clue how to center it? I've looked at a few sites with different HTML codes, but none of them are working...

The Mind of a Child

I listened in on this conversation during lunch today:

Ethan: "Caty, when you grow up, you're going to get married, then you'll have a baby in YOUR tummy."

Caty: "I'm going to marry you, Ethan."

Ethan: "Well, the dads get to decide who they're going to marry, and I haven't decided yet who I'm going to pick."

I couldn't help but giggle. Not sure where he got the idea that only the guys decide. Caty had no response to that one. Poor girl.

Here's a sampling, just a smidge, of ALL the questions we've been fielding over the last 24 hours from the kids. It's exhausting! ...

*Where is heaven?
*Is heaven on a cloud?
*What is in the sky? ... No, what is IN the sky?
*What is in the sun?
*Can we walk on the planets? (apparently I'm ignorant on planet walking. Jason informed me that Mars has still not been walked on.)
*Where do the rockets start?
*When can we ride to outer space?
*Is a rocket as fast as a cheetah?
*Is it bumpy in a rocket?
(intermission so we can watch Ethan run as fast as a cheetah.)
*Do cheetahs like to race people? (I laughed at that one.)
*Where is the train? (as we cross a train track)
*Why is that place called Monkey Joe's?
*Mom, when are you going to die?

Seriously, this is tiring! I think his mind is going more than a mile a minute! I think 98% of those questions were from Ethan!

Candy and Coupons. That's my day so far.

Take a 3-year old to a candy store? What, am I crazy? I don't know, but that's what I did this morning. It was actually a field trip, believe it or not. Caty, her "classmate" Kaylynne, Michelle and I went to VandeWalle's for a tour of how they make their candy/chocolates/caramel/etc.! It was very fun, but we missed the third "classmate" Peter. Us girls were able to see the melted chocolate being stirred in huge bowls, candies being covered in chocolate on a conveyer belt, and all the little molds they can use to shape the chocolate. Then on to see the long blocks of caramel being squeezed like snakes, then put through their very own cutting/wrapping machine to go for distribution. Then it was into the cooking/recipe room, where there were big copper kettles to mix the fillings, or the the caramel for popcorn, or the fudge, or whatever! Finally we saw where they do the baking for bagels, breads, cookies, cakes, and all the other fun stuff that they make. We sampled two yummy chocolates, and then each got our own ice cream cone from their own selection of ice creams. SO good! It was a fun field trip, but you should have seen my little girl by the time we were done. She was definitely on a sugar high, and couldn't stop running, talking, or making silly jokes. Thank goodness there's a "crash" that comes later, right? I think she's sleeping it all off right now. What a fun morning.

Ethan didn't believe her when she first tried to tell him we were going to a candy store for our field trip. I didn't push it, since I didn't want to deal with the jealous whining that he couldn't go. I mean, HE got to have a pajama party at school today! Wow, these kids have it good. They even watched a video. Not just any video. It was VeggieTales. For those of you who know Ethan, you know this is RIGHT up his alley. He was pleasantly surprised to hop in the car after preschool and find his very own BLUE rock candy that we picked out for him, and he finally believed us when we told him where we went.

My latest curiosity (as of today) is about clipping coupons. My friend just posted a link to www.krazycouponlady.com, and it is very interesting. Apparently, I could really save some money! I have always been terrible at checking coupons, prices, or anything, so this would be a HUGE life change if I decided to start this. Any feedback? The lady on the website says to get multiple copies of the Sunday paper, but I feel like even that is rather pricey. Trying to get this all figured out...

Well, it's time to say adios to the computer for now. Kids are waking up, and I have 45 minutes before it's time to leave again and meet with our financial guy. Hmm. Maybe HE'LL have some coupon suggestions! :)

Juggling session

Mom W., you'd be proud. We've had a ridiculously boring day, it's after dinner, and still WHAT TO DO? So, I reminded Jason about your suggestion to teach Ethan to juggle, and that's happening in the living room with clementines right now. Unfortunately, Ethan can catch a clementine with his left hand, but not with his right. And then Jason shows off more of his skills with juggling. Very impressive. Maybe we can keep this up and Ethan will be juggling by the time he's six. Ha! That'd be awesome. Then they could do tricks back and forth.

Are we leaving sickness behind, or in the middle of passing around germs?

I've been trying to upload some pictures and videos on here, but for some reason it's VERY DIFFICULT! I don't know if it's me, or the computer that is showing it's age. Which means my solutions are one of two things: my husband, or a new computer. One of them will be here tonight. The other one is only a distant dream.

Ethan has been battling a cold this week. He's been battling hard, and I'm always amazed at how well kids handle sickness compared to adults. If it were me, I'd be laid out on the couch, very much feeling sorry for myself. He's been a trooper, despite the stuffiness, the constant dripping, and the racing for tissues every 10 minutes. Yesterday was rough - we had to cancel plans for the Children's Museum and AWANA, which made the kids very anti-mom. Today, though, we made it back to preschool, I had a lovely coffee-date with a new friend, and the world is looking brighter. Until someone else gets hit - I think Caty is next. Today's cough is not sounding good.

I'm starting to compile photos that will go into a "portfolio", to be used to show people who would be interested in a photo shoot. I'm still not sure if this is a direction I want to go, but it's a start. I can't believe how much I've learned over the last couple of years of photographing people! In looking at early shoots versus recent shoots I can see how much I have grown, but I have a lot of learning yet to do. We'll see where this takes me.

Well, I was hoping I'd have pictures and videos to share in this post, but that is not the case today. All you have is my "Happy Wednesday!"

Cupcakes

Jason is upstairs packing for CA, and I'm in the basement waiting for edited pictures to load onto Flickr. It's at 29% and slowly climbing. I have no one else to talk to except you. We've had a blessedly slow weekend, but that also means boredom started to set in with the kids. Jason made an executive decision tonight - we would make cupcakes! I think Caty can claim "idea first", since she saw the Martha Stewart magazine I had from the library, with a lovely picture of cupcakes on the front. She wanted purple frosting like in the picture. So, that's what we did. It was actually my first time making cake batter from scratch, and I must say it wasn't that hard! Very similar to making cookies! I did much of the behind-the-scenes work while Jason and the kids poured ingredients and mixed. And Jason and Ethan actually did the dishes for me! Then they got to play games while I attempted a new frosting recipe. An hour from "go-time" we were decorating cupcakes with purple, blue, and white frosting, adding sprinkles, and occasionally placing on a piece of leftover candy from Christmas gingerbread house projects. It was fun, until Ethan asked to have a cupcake, promptly sneezed all over the one he was decorating, and proceeded to pout about the fact that I was making him eat THAT one. He finally decided he didn't want it. So, it has been carefully labeled so that he will be eating THAT one tomorrow. Lucky him.

Flickr is now at 63% complete.

And...I can't think of anything else interesting at the moment. Maybe I'll see how well blogspot loads pictures. 'Cause I LOVE loading pictures... (I'm rolling my eyes, can you tell?)

a fresh start

No, it's not a New Year's resolution. Just some time on my hands again, a realization that people actually do occasionally want to hear about what we're doing, and a frustration with our previous blog. We'll see how this works. If you want to check out our previous stories and pictures, go to www.xanga.com/jenboon. Will be updating again soon...