What-What?! Week of June 25th

Well, the weather is finally nice!  It is lovely and warm... and should hit 93 degrees today.  So time to bust out the squirt guns and sprinkler, I guess.

Friday night, the husband and I cleaned out the dryer ducting, because the dryer wasn't doing anything.  That was fun -- the ducting makes a total of four 90 degree turns, so it was difficult to get anything out.  We bought a brush on a pole thingy, which is advertised to bend around corners, but we couldn't get it through the ones at the far end... so then the husband crawled under the house, disconnected the ducting before the third turn, and I operated the brush thingy while he gathered up the refuse in a sack.  We got a fair amount of lint out, so I'm hoping that it will be massively improved.  But we haven't found out yet -- that is for later.

Last week, I went to Target and bought myself a Lego set with my birthday money:

Rosalyn's Healing Hideout, which features a dragon, a goblin guy with trap and cart, the elves Rosalyn and Naida, and Rosalyn's house.  I have one other Lego Elves set that also has a dragon -- I like that there's a lot of articulation, which allows a lot of expression.  Lego always includes a lot of nice details -- the cookpot and fireplace are great, as is the lookout on the second story of the house.  There is a hidden place to store treasure, and the branches on the tree swing inwards to 'hide' the second story lookout.

Osric and Corwin helped me build the first part:

Helpers.  Corwin would not make a normal face in any of the pictures I took, so here he is with big eyes.

And I built the rest in the evening while enjoying some drinks.

Overall, 10/10 would do again.

I plan on putting it up on the shelf that we put up in the living room that's our 'not-mantle'... after I make space for it.  >.>

What-What?! Week of March 12th

I forgot it's Daylight Savings, that archaic event that we, for some reason, still enact each spring.

Masochism, I suspect.

Anyway.

The Lego Batman Movie

Yesterday, we took the family to go see Lego Batman.

The children generally liked it -- the two boys especially.  Saffron thought that it wasn't as good as the original Lego Movie, but overall was still pretty good.

The husband and I enjoyed probably the first two-thirds of the film of the best.  I thought a lot of the lead-up and explanation were hilarious -- there were tons of great scenes with nods to other Batman films and comics.  The ending of the film was a let down -- in my opinion, some of it is exactly like watching the Lego Movie again.  There's also a plot hole, which I will not reveal.  But it's there, and it's highlighted by the ending, too.  That in particular is disappointing -- I've watched enough Lego-related made for TV films and TV shows that I know they can be excellent at continuity... they just forgot that when they made this film. xP

By far, though, the most irritating thing to me about the entire film was not the plot hole, not the Lego Movie ending, it was everyone's smartphones -- they are all very largely branded with the Apple logo.  I don't have an example of this, since none of the promo images I can find show it, but it is so obvious.  It honestly makes me think a lot less of Lego.  My kids don't need to see that branding, I don't need to see that branding -- it's obvious what those items are even without branding.  I know Lego has been making tons of money recently.  How much did Apple pay them?  Do they really need the money from Apple?

Overall, not a bad movie.  I did enjoy the most of it, and the children liked it.  Not sure this will be one that we buy, though.

What-What?! Week of June 12th

So I didn't post on Thursday because I couldn't find any pictures.  Imagine that?  The kids have been too busy outside, or reading, or playing with toys.

Last weekend, it was sunny, so we decided to plant some plants.

First, the husband put up the canopy.  The children watched.

Because we don't have a place to put the plants yet, we made some starter containers out of apple containers from Costco.  The husband punched a hole in the bottom of each, so there would be drainage.

Then we lined the containers with newspaper, and added dirt.

 

We planted radishes and cucumbers.  Wednesday, the husband went to the store and picked up lumber to make a planter box, but we haven't gotten round to putting that together yet.  The radishes have already sprouted!

In other news, I finally got around to putting together the Lego set the husband got me for my birthday:

The dragon is adorable!  And very articulated.  It's now living perched on my computer monitor.  I really love this set -- it has a lot of neat little details.  Seriously thinking about getting the kids each their own dragon set for Christmas.

What-What?! Week of June 5th

Osric's arm is doing better.  He finally started actually using his arm again last Tuesday, though it wasn't until I actually wrestled the splint off him on Wednesday that he really started using it.  Now he's back to normal.  So that's good.

Lake Goodwin Park

Last Sunday, on a whim, we headed out to Lake Goodwin, which is maybe a 15 minute drive from our house.  It's a lovely park with a playground, boat launch, and wading area.  We didn't go wading this time, but most likely will in the future.

A view across to the near side of the lake.



Across to the far side.  It's a big lake.

Looking at the ducks:

There were a ton of ducklings, all going 'peep, peep!'



This big climbing thing was pretty fun.  The husband climbed all the way to the top.

There was also a big firetruck thing to climb and play on.  I thought I took a picture of the outside of it, but apparently not.

Last weekend, the husband and I also put together a big World of Warcraft Mega Blocks set:

Corwin built the catapult, though.

It has been played with a lot.

What-What?! Week of March 6th

This week was long, and I didn't do much.  Work was pretty busy, since things are now getting fixed, which means things have to get tested to make sure that the fix actually fixed things (sometimes it doesn't) and that it didn't break anything else (sometimes it does).

Lego Myths

Recently, we've been watching old seasons of Mythbusters, which has been enjoyable, and something nice to watch with the kids.  This week, we watched the Youtube Special, which features a myth where a giant (seven foot diameter) Lego ball rolls down a street and into a car.  An edited version can be seen here:

So that evening after I got home, I challenged the kids to see who could make the best Lego ball.  We each made our own design (though poor Oz needed help, since his was just a square), then rolled them down the hallway to see who's would roll the farthest.  The husband won overall, but Ozzy got the award for toughest, since my ball hit his and left it completely unscathed.  This was a fun activity that got the kids thinking, and everyone had a good time.

Not Hiking

Yesterday, we were supposed to have people over, but then that fell through.  So we decided to go hiking...  But then we went to the park.


Whatever, we had fun anyway. :P

Mostly I took pictures of Osric, because he was the only kid who wanted to stay with me.

But sometimes other kids are snuggly too.

I love this picture because none of the children are looking at the camera.

Tried to take a picture of the plants... kind of sucked at it. :P

What-What?! Week of January 31st

We did a buncha stuff this week!

Osric has is suddenly very interested in letters; he's been making them out of Legos, drawing them on the magna doodle, and pointing them out at the grocery store.  So that's cool.  It's odd sometimes how interests like that can just spring up from nothing.

Portage Creek Wildlife Area

Walking single-file to stay out of the mud.

Yesterday, we visited the Portage Creek Wildlife Area in Arlington.  It's a large wetland area, home to lots of birds and small mammals.  This time of year, it's pretty desolate; the tall grass is all dead, the many deciduous trees (mostly birch) have no leaves, and it's extremely muddy in places.

This place also happens to be near the airport.  We saw this plane go round several times while we were there.

We didn't see much wildlife, but what we did see was birds; some ducks, and a couple of songbirds.  The kids went back and forth between being excited to be there, and whining about going home.


Corwin was really excited about this fallen tree.

Later in the day, I asked the kids what their favorite part was.
Osric:  Using binoculars
Corwin: Seeing the birds
Saffron: Walking out to the pond
Overall, it was a good time.  The husband and I have decided that we would like to get back into hiking and those sorts of activities again, and this was a good start.

Klutz Lego Chain Reactions

My parents gave this book to the kids a few weeks ago, but we are just now getting it out.  Corwin and I sat down and started building, first making the Quintopple.  This one was pretty simple, and Corey only needed a bit of help.  He had a great time, and both he and his siblings are looking forward to making more.

What-What?! Week of December 27th

Happy holidays everyone!

Our first Christmas in our own house!  Yeah! :D

I have a million pictures.

Playing MarioKart with the family.  Ozzy is actually gunning for the husband here.

Early on Christmas Eve, we had the barest breath of snow.  The kids woke us up yelling "It's snowing, it's snowing!".  They were quite disappointed when it stopped.  But not too disappointed -- we played board games and videogames, and had a pancake dinner.

We had about a million presents this year (and we especially appreciate that our families out of state sent us so much!).

So, I have no pictures of children unwrapping presents, because it just didn't happen.  Would have been blurry anyway. :P

The kids played with their newly-gotten Legos extensively, though:

Corey and Daddy building Minecraft Legos.

Osric taking a break from building in order to savagely rip the head off his skeleton guy.

Saffron building a bed and accessories for her Lego girls.

Saffron is already on chapter two of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows!  You can also see the hand-painted bookmark that my brother made for her... more pictures of that next week, since all the photos I have of it right now are rubbish.



I got Corwin a Minecraft shirt, because how could I not?

My sister got the husband a Dorkness Rising shirt.  Which is awesome.

And she got me a Kiki's Delivery Service shirt, featuring Jiji.  Looking at the Wikipedia page, I have just found out that it is based on a novel.  Might have to pick up one now...

And she also gave us a squirrel bathmat, which is adorable.  My mother actually specifically asked for a picture of this after I told her about it over the phone. :B

And my husband got me some My Little Pony books... which is so nerdy.  I will talk about these more in another blog post.

Not shown is all the cooking things my parents sent us.  The husband used the chef's knife to carve our Christmas roast, and it was like going through butter.  Nice to have a sharp knife.  They also gave us some Bobby Flay dishtowels, which have a really nice texture to them.

Christmas Dinner

And as I've just mentioned, we had FOOD!  I didn't take any pictures of it, because we just ate it.  I don't think any of it was really too photogenic, though, except for maybe the Yorkshire pudding straight out of the oven (all puffed up!).  We had a beef roast, Yorkshire pudding, mushroom gravy, and cranberry sauce that was too tart for mere mortals (Saffron and I still liked it).  It was all delicious, and a nice change of pace, considering we haven't had a proper beef roast in quite a while.

For dessert, I made chocolate pudding pie, peach pie, and maple pecan pie.  The chocolate pudding and peach pies were nothing particularly special, though good all the same.  Next time I make peach pie I'm going to do a crumble topping instead of a pastry top, because it'll add some variation in texture.

The maple pecan pie is one I haven't made before -- I don't make traditional pecan pie because the recipe always includes corn syrup, which I don't keep in the house and can't be bothered to buy just to use once or twice a year.  I followed the recipe exactly, and it came out looking like a pecan pie.  The very top of the pie formed something close to a pecan brittle, which gave a nice crunch to offset the maple custard.  Overall, the flavors were very good, though it could do with a bit of help -- the recipe is a bit soupy.  The maple syrup/brown sugar combination actually soaked into the pie crust, which fused it to the pie plate.  We haven't been able to pull even one nice looking piece out of the pan.  I think maybe even just a tablespoon or two of extra cornstarch or flour would fix the problem.  Other than that, I was very pleased.  This is one that I will definitely make again!

What-What?! Week of December 13th

Today we're celebrating Corwin's birthday!  He's having a Minecraft themed party, and is way excited.  I still have tons to do before guests arrive, like decorating the house and cake.

I had stacked up all his presents last night before I went to bed, so when he got up this morning, he could see them all.  He's just finished shaking all of them.  Most of them rattle like Legos. >.>

I wanted to show everyone Saffron's new shirt.  It says "sparkle glitter dazzle shine", and totally reminds me of Rarity.  It fits her personality perfectly.

Osric made this robot a few days ago.  He begged me to add a face to it, so we did two; a nice face on this side, and an angry one on the other.  Then his head spins around just like Bad Cop/Good Cop from the Lego Movie:

Anyway.  Next week I'll have lots of pictures of Corwin's party!

What-What?! Week of November 29th

Happy weekend-after-Thanksgiving!

We've had our first Thanksgiving at our new house, which was immensely satisfying.  I am so thankful for all the help we've had getting here.

The spread, with waiting children.  They were super excited!

And I did a lot of cooking... actually, I should say that we did a lot of cooking, because the husband and I always cook Thanksgiving dinner together.

Dessert was pumpkin pie (not shown, looked like pumpkin pie), mini apple pies, and lemon tart things.  The pies were delicious!  I really liked being able to just pick up the apple pies and eat them out of hand.  I am going to do that again, for sure.  The lemon tarts were a disaster, because they fell apart and just needed help.  Next time will be different.  I already have a plan.  And a lot more lemon butter, too:

I still feel like I should've made a double batch, though.  The stuff is scrumptious.

Now, something that's not food... not food... Not?  Food?  Hm.

How about Legos?

Osric made all of these robots.  He builds robots all the time.  We had to clean them all off the dining table so there was enough space for Thanksgiving dinner.

In other news, my daughter has an extremely loose tooth, so today I'm sewing her a tooth pillow.  It'll be rabbit-shaped with some pink patchwork bits.  Will post a photo next week, for sure. :3

What-What?! Week of November 15th

Not too terribly much happened this past week.  It has been pretty cold here, with highs in the upper 40s and lows in the mid 30s.  And living in a plain 60s era house, this means that it's cold in the house as well.  Blah.

Lowe's Build and Grow

The kids did the Lowe's Build and Grow project yesterday, which was a pull back racecar.  Oz finished his first, then proceeded to drive it all over the rest of us while the big kids did their own.

I taught the kids how to play Checkers.  They've been having a good time with that.  It's also a nice change from the other games we have which use a million little cards, like Candyland.  Those always turn into a huge mess.

And now, how about some Legos?

This is Osric's robot, which is remarkable because it's the first robot he's build with moving parts -- he bends at the waist!

A tiny robot Corwin made.


And a catapult thing, because why not?


And his missile system, which features frequently in his robots.

Hopefully next week will be better.  It probably won't be warmer, though. :P

What-What?! Week of June 28th

This post is late because I was sleeping.  I have no regrets.

It has been legitimately hot here.  In fact, I think that this is the first time since we've moved that it has been this hot; mid- to high-80s.  By Thursday, it's suppose to be up to the 90s.  Happily, it cools down pretty quickly at night, but we have an old house; leaky windows, and no A/C make it uncomfortable during the day.  At least it's not 100 degrees or whatever like in California.

Yesterday, I took the big kids to Lowe's for the Build and Grow thing.  The project was Captain America's motorcycle, and the second part of a six-part Avengers set.  This was probably one of the poorest designed projects we've done a these events; there were various parts that came glued together, and in the course of hammering everything else together, they tended to fall apart.  Otherwise, the kids had fun.

The husband picked up a little kit to do with Ozzy, so they made a pirate ship together:

It has a retractable plank.

The husband also picked up a Viking hat from the thrift store:

He insisted on yelling "BLASTOFF!" the whole time I was taking pictures.

When we were playing with water yesterday, the kids started to fill it up and dump water on people.  Well, actually, no, that's what the husband and I were doing.  To Oz.  But he paid us back for it; he surreptitiously filled the hat up with water left over in the hose, then snuck up to us grown-ups, and dumped it!  It mostly got me wet, but the husband's arm got a bunch too.  But we deserved it, so you know. :P

Found some pictures of the big kids too (just in case you thought Ozzy was my favorite :P ):

There were other things I was going to post, but I have forgotten them all.

Oh!  Lego has announced another set of female scientists: LEGO Reveals Female Scientist Minifigures.  I'm pretty excited about the paleontologist, but then I would be, because dinosaurs are awesome.