Rainbow loom craze is at my home

Both Rosie and Dash have been making Rainbow Loom bracelets and necklaces on their looms. Even though I'm finding little rubber bands in random places all over my home and am regularly fielding demands for new colors, I'm glad that it's a craft that crosses the gender barrier. 

Rosie and her loom

Loop colors, separated in a compartmentalized bin

Dash's bracelets

A complex bracelet Rosie made for Grandma I

A yellow and green bracelet that Rosie made for Dash (his fave colors)

The kids have a few books that show how to make different designs and sometimes watch YouTube videos to improve their craft. I'm impressed with their dedication!

Balancing your child's school lunch

Anyone who knows me or who has read earlier articles on this blog knows that I struggle with feeding my picky children healthy foods. I've tried various ways, some even deemed ingenious, to get my kids involved in choosing healthier options and balancing their portions. My kids have seen a nutritionist on a few occasions and I've educated myself a great deal on the protein, fat, and carbohydrate ratios in many foods. The majority of the foods we buy are raw, unprocessed, and contain whole grains; vegetables and fruits are primarily served raw, and we make attempts to prepare meals to keep vitamin content intact, with minimal added salt or sugars. After Monkey was diagnosed with gout a few years ago, I needed to become even smarter about his trigger foods and learn what proteins to avoid in foods on his behalf.

I can't imagine how I would feel if my kids' school sent home a note like the one below, and attached a monetary fine for not including one arbitrary item, in this Canadian mom's case: grains. What if my kids had eaten more than their daily allotment of grains in their breakfast cereal that morning and I was compensating that overage by leaving it out of their lunch? I would be outraged if a school had force-fed them fatty and processed-grain heavy Ritz crackers!

From the Weighty Matters blog out of Canada:

From Yoni Freedhoff's blog entry:

"Apparently if a child's lunch is deemed 'unbalanced,' where 'balance' refers to ensuring that a lunch conforms to the proportions of food groups as laid out by Canada's awful Food Guide, then that child's lunch is 'supplemented,' and their parent is fined.

Blog reader Kristen Bartkiw received just such a fine.

She sent her children to daycare with with lunches containing leftover homemade roast beef and potatoes, carrots, an orange and some milk.

She did not send along any 'grains.'

As a consequence the school provided her children with, I kid you not, supplemental Ritz Crackers, and her with a $10 fine."

Outrageous and crazy! I know some of us aren't as informed as others regarding proper nutrition, but what if you didn't have the money (or didn't get/have access to the store that week) to provide all food groups, or if your child has serious allergies, or if you have valid, personal reasons for not providing certain foods that are none of the government's business? If I were fined for providing a non-compliant, but healthy lunch I would be rightfully livid.

Weegee, the Senegal parrot

Weegee is our oldest and noisiest pet. He's 16 years old, and while it's not likely that he'll outlive us, he's probably going to be around after our kids leave for college. That's fine with me, because he's pretty entertaining.

The parrot version of the cat-sitting-on-the-newspaper-you're-reading.

Weegee has no fear of consuming food three times the size of his head.

Weegee and Dunecat, via an iPad

Weegee keeps an eye on the bunnies from above.

Post-birthday sleepover

Seven girls stayed the night after Rosie's party. Auntie M took Dash to have a special auntie-nephew sleepover at her place. Last night, four of the girls played Wii "Just Dance" until around 8, when the last three arrived. I put "Monsters University," on and made popcorn for them. Around 9, a few girls claimed to be "starving!" so I heated up and passed around chicken nuggets and ketchup. Two of the girls needed to be up by seven in the morning, so I threatened the girls around 10 pm, to go to sleep, or else! They actually stayed quiet. 

They must have been exhausted. Three of the girls ran a two mile race yesterday morning, two others had been in a soccer tournament, and almost all had been to Rosie's swimming party (they swam for an hour, then played tag for 30 minutes after pizza and cake). Active girls!

It's 8 a.m., two girls already left for part 2 of their soccer tournament, all the girls have finished breakfast and are playing a another rousing round of Wii Just Dance! Their parents should be picking them up in an hour or two. Happy extended birthday to Rosie. 

Rosie's 11th Birthday: The Party

Math tutor

Wish us luck! I just hired a math tutor for Rosie. Last year, I had several friends and family suggest that we should hire a tutor and I'm finally following up on that advice. 

Fairfax County schools have had some low scores on overall math comprehension at elementary levels, and several of Rosie's classmates' parents have expressed concern about their child's skills. All that combined with the fact that the 5th grade math skills review period is over and I'm concerned that Rosie will be falling behind. 

We start next week!

Forever home for our bunnies!

Cookie, sweet and adventurous

I haven't explained yet how and why we still have the bunnies, have I? Looking back through my more recent posts, I realized that I said we just had them for the summer, etc. But, nope, they are still with us! Here's how this happened.

Honeybun, dominant and a little set in her ways

During the school year, Dash's classroom had two rabbits, two guinea pigs, and two turtles that I know of; there may have been more. Mrs. C. loved her animals and the enrichment activities (animal care and feeding) that they offered for the students, who of course adored all of them as well. Dash, in particular, begged us to get him a bunny as a pet for months. Watching them over the summer was, in my mind, a trial run to see if our household could support a rabbit or two.

Bunnies sharing a snack

I heard some rumblings from a parent or two over the summer about the rabbits, with comments like (insert comically musical voice), "Ohhhh! So *you* have those rabbits, hm? I was woonderiiing how that was goooiiing!" But it wasn't until I caught the parent of one of Dash's classmates at the grocery store in August that I found out what the tone behind the comments meant and why Mrs. C. had been so quiet all summer.

Because of all the mess that six animals (especially the large rabbits who were often left running wild in the room, to be sure) were making in the small classroom, the school custodians had held a meeting with the principal. They were tired of cleaning all the animal feces. The students created enough of a challenge for them, and they hadn't signed on to be zookeepers as well. The ultimatum the principal had given Mrs. C. was "no more animals."

So, the bunnies couldn't go back to the school. Where would they go if we tried to return them? With the "bad rep" they had gotten with the other parents (that is, messy and stinky), would any of them step up? I had litter-box trained them and we all had gotten pretty attached to them. The idea of our rabbits going to a shelter... well, not going to happen. After a family meeting about the bunnies, we agreed to keep them. I insisted that we would get them spayed and change their names, since they were ours now! I was never a fan of the name "Mary Potter," and even less fond of "Bugs Bunny" for a female rabbit. Their new names are respectively Honeybun and Cookie (with prior names as nicknames when they slip out).

They're still not free range in our home, just because they chew on everything. They occasionally escape through a door left cracked open, and we end up chasing them under a bed or couch. It's working out just fine to corral them to the back hallway/bathroom, or alternately, the kitchen as needed. Just for fun, I sometimes let Cookie have an adventure in Dash's bed, hopping over all of his toys. I've tried it with Honeybun, but she seems more stressed out by the change in scenery than loving it. They do love getting their faces scratched! Over time, I'm hoping they'll get comfortable enough to get more snuggly with us. If not, there's plenty of love to go around! We all enjoy Cookie and Honeybun's company. Well, maybe except for Weegee the parrot. He's still not sure what to think.

Happy 11th Birthday, Rosie!

Rosie, what a beautiful girl you're becoming! You're so fun to be around, so graceful and goofy, and so devoted to your family, friends, and pets. I'm very impressed with the way you've advanced in your Tae Kwon Do class and your tap dance teacher tells me that you're really getting it this year! You're such a great companion when it comes to doing crafts projects: you like sewing, Rainbow Looms, lanyards, origami, and have even tried knitting (we'll get there with the knitting).

We had a bumpy road with academics last year, but your 5th grade teacher really thinks you're working hard and doing well. I'll support you in your studies as much as I can from home, but it's really up to you to to excel in your studies. I'm sure you'll do very well if you keep up your great work — you're so much more focused this year.

You're a loving girl who really cares about the people around you and I hope your friends see that. Keep staying on your own track — you don't need the approval of the popular girls or need to do what everyone else is doing.

We all love you very much, sweet Rose! I hope 11 is a great year for you.

Dash's 8th Birthday Party

While making plans for Rosie's party, I am reminded that I forgot to post photos from Dash's 8th birthay party (I did this last year, too didn't I?). No matter, it makes for a great additional November post!

Happy 8-year-old Dash

Here's a photo of the birthday boy on the day of his 8th birthday! He's wearing a shirt that he was particularly fond of — one of his birthday gifts. We had about 50 guests this year, equally divided between adults and kids.

Before the hunt, all the guests had plenty to eat, including pizza, ribs, and Monkey's special grilled chicken wings. Many of our usual favorite guests arrived to celebrate!

Pre-scavenger hunt Dash and Carter, eating dinner

Michael and Matthew, eating pizza

Brent and Chris, two of our favorite party guests

The theme for his 8th birthday party was "scavenger hunt." We had a list of items that the kids were to find in the yard, with additional prizes for winners. It was a bit of a blur, but I think brothers Alex and Adam were the winners.

Gina holding Aoife (Brent & Chris's baby girl)

Along with the hunt, there was also a moonbounce; coupled with a warm June day, there were a lot of sweaty boys by the time we offered Dash's special donut tower.

Trevor, eating pizza

Alex, winner of the scavenger hunt (with his brother,
Adam, far right), sporting his medal!

Singing the "Happy Birthday Song"

Blowing out candles over the donut tower
— hope your wish came true, Dash!

 

Nick and his delicious forbidden donut!

Two generations of String/Twines!
Nick, Dom, and Alex are Monk's nephews and Dash's 1st cousins.

Many of our guests asked several times over the course of the party, "Where's Rosie?" She was holed-up in her room with a few of her friends the entire time. Only the rarest glimpse was caught of her, sneaking out to get a drink or use the bathroom. She had a good time, nevertheless!

Veterans Day

We thank all veterans for their bravery and their service to our country. 

Rosie and Dash's school had an outdoor assembly to salute Veterans today and I happened to arrive while all the children were lining up. After a moving speech, all the students staked their little flags into the soil all around the sidewalks. It was very sweet. 

New year, new portraits

Rosie and Dash, 2013 school photos. I think the photos turned out great this year!

Rosie, age 10, in 5th grade

Dash, age 8, in 3rd grade

Well, maybe Dash should have had a haircut! Aw, he's just naturally fuzzy and adorable.

Rosie's Rainbow Scarf

On September 29th, Rosie and I went to Crafty Bastards Arts & Crafts Fair together and among the many amazing purchases we made was a beautiful skein of hand-dyed rainbow yarn from Folktale Fibers. I just finished knitting it today, and just in time; Rosie's 11th birthday is Wednesday! After knitting the first skein, I realized that the scarf was too short, so I had to order a second one, which delayed its completion. Rosie loves rainbows and she picked out the yarn, so this is her perfect scarf. It looks lovely on her, too.

I spread the scarf out so the beautiful reds, oranges, and pinks can be seen. She likes the purples best, so I made a point to end the scarf with the purples in front so she could enjoy them. Rosie's modeling the scarf next to her signature rainbow hairband. I'll go back to check, but I think in almost every school portrait of her back to Kindergarten, she's wearing her rainbow hairband. Now she'll be pairing it with her matching scarf!

Need that party RSVP tracked down? I'm your woman.

(A disclaimer: all names of friends below have been changed. This post is part of a series of coincidence-related posts that I've written. For related stories, read: this one, these two, this one, this one, or this other one, and a flashback one.)

Rosie will be turning 11 next week and we're planning her party. She gave me her guest list and I sent out the Evite, like a good mom/party planner. There was one guest that I've had trouble reaching in the past, so I felt determined to make sure I had the right contact information for her this time! Rosie had requested play dates with "Emily" in the past and her mom, "Cheryl," didn't respond to emails; also, to add to my frustration, their phone number listed in the school directory didn't have voicemail and nobody's ever answered calls I've made to it.

Rosie had visited Emily's house only once before, six months ago, and it was a pretty odd situation: a precociously professional 10-year-old Emily had phoned me to give the time, address, and other details necessary for the play date. When I dropped Rosie off, nobody answered the door or the phone, but several girls including Emily were playing in the yard. I had errands to run, so I left Rosie to play with the (possibly feral) girls. When I returned to pick Rosie up, the girls were in the street, running around or on scooters. No one was harmed, but I never did see a single parent.

On the trail.

Next steps: I checked the cc line in Rosie's classroom email that went out to all parents at the beginning of the school year. You'd think that would be accurate, right? The email did list Cheryl with the email addy that I have, but the ID gave a last name different from Emily's: a clue! I did a quick search on Facebook for mutual friends with kids in Rosie's grade to see if "Cheryl Jones" was in any Facebook circles. Facebook was a bust.

As an Internet search for anyone named Jones would obviously be fruitless, my next tactic was to Google that email address. Nothing. I get TONS of hits with my email address, so, kind of shocking, right? By a bizarre coincidence, that morning I had taken a phone-photo of the school directory to get the contact info for one of Dash's friends, with an "L" last name; Emily's last name starts with "M" so her details were on the same page. I googled their street address and managed a few hits.

Closing in...

There was an LLC business license registered with that address in 2003, with Cheryl listed as the CEO. I did a search on the business name "ABC Associates, LLC" and got several random hits with similarly named businesses across the United States. I narrowed it down to Virginia-only and found a LinkedIn profile with the correct business name, and someone named Cheryl, but her last name was "James." An honest mistake by the teacher? Maybe.

A quick recap: so far, I've had one wrong phone number and two wrong last names for this person. Should I give up? Nope, I clicked over to her LinkedIn profile.

Found her, complete with freaky coincidences!

I quickly scrolled down the profile to see that the details on the LLC were accurate to the online registry. Yep. I scrolled up slowly, curious to see where she'd job-hopped since then. When I got to the top it took a double-take before I realized that Cheryl James and I work for the same tiny, little 100-employee company. Seriously. I've been arm's length from the person that I haven't been able to contact for months. We have actually emailed each other on work projects!

I pulled up my company's intranet and found her email address and phone number, completely different from any other that I had before. I called the number listed for her. She answered.

Contact.

After establishing that I was a colleague, I ventured into the odd coincidences that our girls were not only in the same school, but the same grade and in the same class. When we exchanged work details, it turns out that she is working on the same contract that my old company used to have (and I worked), in a location that I worked in 2010. She's on site with people that I used to work with. I think we were both a little baffled by it all and the fact that as far as I know, we have never met.

I'll meet her at Rosie's party.

Dash and "Family Jam Time"

Dash and Flippy the manatee at the piano

Rosie's been taking cello since fourth grade, and as Dash has expressed interest in music (he begged for a theramin for his 8th birthday), we thought that he might like to get some professional training with an instrument as well. He's a big fan of banging on our piano so that was a no-brainer. No additional instrument rentals!

I learned that the mom of one of Rosie's friends was teaching piano out of her home just a block away, so also crazy fortuitous. Dash started lessons with Marilyn mid-Summer and has been picking up all the theory very quickly. One amazing thing about Marilyn: if Dash misses a lesson, she offers video lessons that she'll post on youtube. I'm very grateful for this, as we don't have much wiggle room in the calendar to reschedule.

We moved the piano, the cello, and a few other random instruments into a consolidated spot in our rec room that Dash coined the "family jam area." Even Flippy joined in (see photo, and not really)! Sometimes in the evenings, Dash will announce, "It's family jam time!" and we will all collect ourselves in the music area and start a cacophony. I'm terrible at improvising, but maybe with practice I'll get better?

I'm just glad the kids are learning more about music and the arts. I feel strongly that it's a crucial part of their development.

Just awesome.

Happy Birthday, Monkeyrotica!

Monk with his boy, Dash

Much love on his birthday to my main squeeze, Monkey! We just celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary in September and are still going strong. Over the past year, Monkey has managed to keep his gout attacks mostly in check (our trip to Chicago notwithstanding), is learning to support an ADHD diagnosis in one of our kids, survived a government shutdown/an active shooter on base, finally broke down and bought a gas grill, and has been doggedly perfecting his pizza making skills. With Rosie and Dash, he's fostered the love of quoting movie lines, Greek mythology, practicing family "jam time" on various instruments, writing to "vomit on the page and edit later," and shows them every day that they are part of a loving family unit. We added two new pets to our home this year and despite some reluctance to embrace the bunnies as family additions at first, is now fully enjoying their fluffy antics. Weegee the parrot and Monk have also come to a positive understanding somehow; Weegee wants to hang out with him all the time and seeks him out to request head scratches! Better than screaming and bites.
 
I'm looking forward to our next year together, enjoying our family and friends, staying active, encouraging the kids academically, cooking awesome food, watching movies, and generally being a bunch of goofballs. Many hugs and kisses for weekend coffee in bed, keeping me up to date on current events that I wouldn't otherwise investigate, constant reminders that I am loved, and being my partner in crime. 

Golden Hong Kong — weekend Dim Sum

The dim sum cart filled with hot dishes!

We tried out a new dim sum restaurant in Springfield, Virginia this past Sunday and enjoyed the experience. Instead of repeating what's already been written, I give you an excerpt from Monkey's review (enhanced by my photos):

"Unlike most dim sum places in Wheaton or Seven Corners, this place is clean and well-lit. Nice koi pond by the door, plenty of seating, and a restroom that didn't look like a disaster area. Arrived at 11:30 a.m. and carts were already rolling the standard dishes for the dozen or so seated customers: shui mai, pork buns, bbq pork, steamed pork, sesame rolls, crepes. etc. They have a dim sum menu, so if you don't see what you want, they'll bring it to you from about two dozen choices.

Golden HK's Chinese broccoli with oyster sauce

Also, unlike most dim sum places, everything we got was hot; other places, half of what you order off the carts ends up being cold. The service was snappy without being intrusive. Two adults and two kids left full and happy for $45. Checked the regular menu on the way out and they have LOTS of interesting Hong Kong items, including tripe dishes, frogs legs, casseroles, noodle soups, etc. And since they serve dim sum all week (carts only on weekends), this will definitely be on rotation."  

Golden HK, clean, well-lit and not crowded

Dash spots the koi in Golden HK's pond

Music enriches the 10-year-old soul

Rosie started playing cello in 4th grade and stuck with it over the summer. After a rough start with her first rental (the bridge kept falling off), she's really enjoyed the instrument. In the 5th grade strings program, many of the students previously in strings moved over to band (it wasn't offered in 4th grade) and it's more of an elite group now. Rosie is one of four cellists, and there aren't any bass viols at all.

Hopefully that means more hands-on attention for the remaining strings players! I'm looking forward to many years of watching her improve her playing. :-)

A note from a boy

Just a quick post for today, it's been a busy Saturday. Every schoolday, Dash is ready way before Rosie, so he entertains himself in the front yard. Earlier this week, I found this sweet note written into the condensation on my car. Cutie!

NaBloPoMo, and Happy All Saint's Day

It's National Blog Posting Month again! I'll have to admit that I'm feeling pretty rusty at writing, but I'll plow into it. For Halloween this year, we went as a family to the elementary school's Halloween Fun Night. As usual, it was crowded and warm, but the kids were glad to run into and socialize with their friends.

Dash, in the "hooded scream" costume, found his buddy, Max, who was wearing some sort of Norse god costume. They're adorable!

Rosie was dressed as an "Artist Vampire" and didn't want her photo taken. I snapped the photo below before she had a chance to dive out of my camera's way! Dash has been carrying a camera around with him lately and told us that he was thinking about being a paparazzi — he'll get plenty of training just by trying to get a shot of Rosie. She's wily!

Rosie did her own makeup for vampire teeth and blood and was pretty proud of her work. Funny, for our actual trick-or-treating, we didn't have a chance to get the makeup on (for anyone's costume actually; gotta stay on schedule...), and without the teeth, everyone guessed that she was Little Red Riding Hood. Understandable, don't you think?

It was dark and rainy on Halloween night, but we made the best of it. We brought umbrellas, I wore a big hat, and had plenty of glow-sticks and flashlights. The kids had quite a haul, as the places they visited had plenty of candy! There seems to be fewer and fewer trick-or-treaters on our street—we only had 6-8 visitors—and I'm not sure why. There are plenty of kids on our street. I'm thinking that the parents take them to parties instead or a busier neighborhood and just hang out. I don't blame them. Dressing up and getting candy is fun, but when it's cold and wet? It's nicer indoors.

Is trick-or-treating going strong where you are? Or is it on the wane?