Best Friends

Sharing conversation, apples and peanut butter...

(photo taken 4/24/07)

Michael said...
Names, please? :D

Serena said...

Oh! (Duh.) Justin and Ian. Justin has been Ian's best friend for about three years now.

I'm busy.

So, how do you scold your child for not getting dressed when they got distracted by a book?

(photo taken 4/24/07)

Michael said...
No, no, no. You do it with a loud shriek and a blast to the side of the head. Didn't you learn ANYTHING where you grew up? ;-)

Serena said...

And I missed this golden opportunity!

BPO

Every year for an early Christmas present, Ma presents Ian and me with tickets to the BPO's Family Series. It is a series of concerts completely geared for children.



Before the show, in the Mary Seton Room at Kleinhan's Music Hall, they have "Instrument Zoo" where the children are permitted to 'try out' various instruments. They have sections arranged for percussion instruments, string instruments, and wind instruments.

The woman showing Ian how to handle the flute was impressed - Ian was able to blow across the flute properly to make sound on the first try. She said there is a trick to it, and most little ones don't get the hang of it quite so quickly. Apparently you have to blow across the hole, not into it like other wind instruments. Very cool.

Ian was also interested in the violin, and has been all season. Unfortunately, the lessons are unbelieveably expensive.

Michael said...
How expensive?

Serena said...

The only place I could find that would teach a child Ian's age wanted $4,500. I keep checking around. Most places start lessons when the child hits 3rd grade, which means Ian has another two years to wait. We'll see.

Becky and Betty

(photo taken 4/21/07)

Uncle Gene's Birthday

April 21, 2007: Aunt Marlene asked Uncle Gene if he wanted anything for his birthday (as she does with her JW relatives every year), and he said, "Yeah! I want a birthday cake!" So, after Yovela's shower was over, Aunt Marlene pulled out a sugar-free Angel Food Cake topped with strawberries for Uncle Gene. We heathens stood around, sang "Happy Birthday" at the top of our lungs, and Uncle Gene blew out the candles for the first time in a LONG time. Way to go, Uncle Gene!

62 candles wouldn't fit on the cake - even if the Elma Fire Department would allow it!

It appears that the "sitting at the bar" tradition starts quite young in our family...Devon is 4!

Michael said...
And he huffed, and he puffed, and his dentures flew out and hit the cake...

Fambly

Uncle Ben

Aunt Dennie (with Xzavier, Doreen's youngest)

Xena

Yovela (Very pregnant with daughter, Suraya)

Zahlia

(Photos taken 4/21/07 at Yovela's Shower)

Easter Sunday

A new family tradition.

The Artiste at work.

Michael said...
Bravo!

Mimicking

Sometimes I feel like I have to remind my son that he is a little white boy from the suburbs.

(Photo taken 3/26/07)

Michael said...
I used to say the same thing to Eric: "Boy, what color are you?"

Paul and Anne

My parents, Paul and Anne, on February 9, 1957.

Phi Theta Kappa

I was invited to join Phi Theta Kappa. I'd never heard of it, so I called Ma, who immediately said, "Congratulations! That's wonderful!" At first opportunity, I checked it out on the web.

http://www.ptk.org/about/today.htm

Wow. Them 4.0's mebbe payin' off.

JT said...
and they said bein smart wasn't cool! lol

Quote of the Month

"Mommy, will you count with me to infinity?"

Oh, yea.

At 3/31/2007 9:55 PM, Michael said…

Why of course, dear! After all, I have nothing else to do...

JT said...
Sure, if you can do my Limits Proofs in Calc..

Quote of the Day

"Mommy, I'm real good at hockey when nobody is playing against me."

At 3/05/2007 8:52 PM, Michael said…
Oh, if only that worked in "real life!"

Hey! I'm great at writing essays when nobody is correcting them!

Wind Chill

The formula for calculating windchill:

C=35.74 + 0.6215t – 35.74 v(4/25) + 0.4275tv(4/25) (the fraction 4/25 is the power of v; this blog won't allow me to write it as a superscript) where C is the windchill in degrees Fahrenheit, t is the air temperature in degrees Fahrenheit, and v is the wind speed in miles per hour.

In English, Windchill equals 35.74 plus 0.6215 times air temperature minus 35.74 times wind speed raised to the 4/25 power plus 0.4275 times temperature times wind speed raised to the 4/25 power.

Isn't that cool? (no pun intended...)

At 3/01/2007 1:50 AM, Michael said…
Never pass up an opportunity to pun. As Hamlet might have said to Ophelia,

"Get thee to a punnery!"

Serena said ...

<grooooan>

The Trophy

Stream of Consciousness

I have no idea how my child's mind works.

We were grocery shopping tonight. Nothing unusual or special, nothing seen of particular note, nothing weird jumped out at us...

And then out of the blue, he starts talking.

Mommy, do frogs need air? I think they can stay in water. But if they stay in water ten thousand ninety six seventy seven years, they'll die. So they need air too. ("Yes, honey, I think they need both.") What do orange and red make? Can you turn the radio down so I can help you look for signs? Look! A toaster car! I don't like dogs very much at all. Can I watch some TV when we get home? I want to see the new video. ("No, honey, you need to take a shower to get the red spike out of your hair.") Okay. I need new shampoo. How many books can we read? We need to put this song on my MP3 player. I'm hungry. Can I have some gum? I need a jumprope.

He just amazes me...

At 3/01/2007 1:52 AM, Michael said…
Artists struggle, with different levels of success, to recover and access that wild wonderment, and channel it into some form of communication.

Serena said...

Very often, when he starts talking, I just don't say anything. I'm afraid if I interrupt, he'll lose his train of thought and stop. So I just let him roll.

The Race

It is Race Day, and we got to Klauder Hall early to make sure we got good seats. The whole thing was really pretty amazing.

I had a chat with Ian before the races to make sure he was okay with the whole thing – win or lose. I reminded him that the whole point of the race is to have fun, and that is exactly what we did (once I got past the nightmare of the block of wood). We learned a lot about cutting wood, sanding it, painting it, and weighing it. The nice people at the Village of Kenmore Post Office deserve special thanks for weighing “Thunder” so many times near the end of the process.

This is a very serious event. Every care is taken to make sure the race is fair.
First, the track must be assembled.
Yes, folks, that is a laundry basket.
“Thunder” (Ian’s car) is 3rd from the right.
Check out the first car in line – turns out that thing was Fast! I have no idea how they got it into that shape, or how they made it heavy enough. I think it belonged to Jack and his Dad from Ian's den. (I think it's funny - you can tell just by looking at the cars who spent the most time on them!)


And here is my little Scout.


Race 1 results – “Thunder” won! Ian’s car is #116. The judges place the cars in this “shuttle box” in order of the winners. (There are four judges, by the way.)
Race #2 – “Thunder” won again!
Race #3 – “Thunder” won again!
Race #4 – okay, we’re getting tense now, and occasionally I have to remind myself to breathe. I found I was actually holding my breath for the results. “Thunder” won again! And for Race #5, I missed the shot, but “Thunder” won yet again!

Race #6 – “Thunder” took second! Tension is getting pretty thick.
In second on the track…

…and he takes second again! This got Ian into the final four.

The final four cars race four times, once in each lane. “Thunder” started out in Lane #2…
and here he is in the lead…

…and he took first place Again!

By this time I am completely speechless.

Here he is in the starting position in Lane 3 …

…and he won Again!

He took third in Race #3, and I started to breathe again, but then there was one final race to go… and it was a close one.

The Judges took a lifetime to make their final decision on the placement of the cars for the final race. It was Very close.

And the Winner is:

The final result of a month’s worth of blood, sweat and tears:


We learned so much while making the car, but let me tell you, the cuts on our fingers where our skin dried and cracked from all that sanding sure feel a whole lot better now!

I'm going to have to have another 'winning isn't everything' talk with Ian someday again soon, but tonight, he can bask in glory all he wants. He worked hard for this.

Impounded!

This Derby Car thing is QUITE serious.

On Saturday, we attended the Official Weigh-In.

The car must fit into a certain area (I have forgotten the exact measurements, aside from the fact that the wheels can be no more than 1/32" away from the body of the car), and is then weighed. It must weigh no more than 5 ounces. After the car is weighed, the number is applied (Ian's vehicle is #116), and the car is then impounded. This is the "lot" (Ian's car is in the middle):

I asked why they impound the cars. Get this - the parents cheat! After the official weigh-in, it was discovered that some over-ambitious parents altered the weight on their son's cars in an attempt to win. So now, once the car is weighed, the pack leader keeps the cars until Race Day.

Race Day is Friday, January 26th, Time 6:45 p.m. After all the work Ian put into the car, I hope he at least places. There are prizes for first, second and third places, and there are about 50 kids. We'll see!

Four Siblings

I look at this picture occasionally and think, "Wow. My Dad really looks like he's full of mischief." (Left to right are Aunt Dennie, Auntie Marlene, Uncle Gene and Dad.)

He's going to see how much he gets back at tax return time and figure out if he has enough to go see my brother in Seattle. That'd be so cool if he can swing it.

Hope he calls Mike and fills him in on his plans.

:D

Derby Car Update

Lesson number 6 (or is it 7?) : Quarters and nickels weigh the same: .2 oz.

We went to the den leader's home this morning, and he drilled out the bottom of Ian's car so we could stuff enough nickels in to make weight.

Lesson number 7: Drilling out wood means loss of some weight.

That's okay, though. Ian's car now weighs 4.7 ounces, and since he is supposed to be at a maximum of 5 ounces, we can stuff another nickel under there and be as close as we're going to get.

Busted!

I remember my mom telling about my brother getting really, really, really quiet once, and when she returned to the dining room, he was artfully using his spoon to fling Jello onto the ceiling. Way to go!

So here I am, upstairs putting the laundry away, and suddenly I realized it had gotten really, really, really quiet downstairs. That much quiet and one little boy can only mean one thing - Trouble.

However, I, grinning like an idiot, am armed with my new Nikon digital camera, and I am going get photographic proof of whatever he is doing.

I snuck down my stairs, camera poised, and CAUGHT HIM IN THE ACT:

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. I just love my kid.

Pinewood Derby Car lessons.

I just realized I haven't been on-line 'recreationally' since before Christmas! People are going to think I dropped off the face of the Earth.

I signed Ian up for Cub Scouts. We are working on the pinewood derby car, which is a HUGE event in the Cub Scout world. Each Cub Scout is given a block of wood with two grooves in the bottom (for the axles), four nails (the axles), and four plastic tires.





The goal is to turn this block of wood into a derby car that will win on race day. It is supposed to be fun. It certainly has been an experience. I may actually have to invest in some power tools.

The dads in the group really get into this thing, and I think the point is lost. I overhear them talking... "I'm going to put [this item] on it this year," or "I got a new [tool of choice] that I can use to [whatever]." The dads are extremely competitive about this thing, and one even said to his son, "NO! I'LL do it!" It's supposed to be a learning experience for the child. It certainly has been a learning experience for me.

The den leader offered to take Ian out (with his own children) to his father's wood shop in Orchard Park. His father has all sorts of wood working tools, and he was going to use his father's tools to cut out his children's cars. It was a great idea, and it took place the weekend Ian got strep. We ended up using a hand saw to painstakingly cut out Ian's car design.






Lesson number one: No matter what disease du jour Ian has next year, if someone offers use of a power tool, we're going!

We then have to sand the piece of wood so it is smooth. The den leader gave me some sand paper to use, and Ian and I were in business. Ian spent a solid hour and a half sanding this car, and I sunk another three hours into it.





Lesson number two: Sanding something until your fingers bleed is not fun. Lesson number three: There are different kinds of sand paper. Get a courser grit next time to start with, and use the fine grit to finish. We'd have spent less time sanding if we'd have used an emory board!

Now the car needs to be painted. The den leader assured me you can get paint at any hardware store. So, on the way home one day, Ian and I stopped at Sears Hardware. I went to where all the paint cans are stocked, found an older gentleman who works there, and said, "Hello. We're making a pinewood derby car..." and he cut me off. His children, and then his grandchildren made pinewood derby cars, and HE used to.... Well, after a bit, I snuck into the conversation the fact that we needed paint. He recommended a can of acrylic spray paint (Ian chose silver), and then, because Ian wanted to paint a lightning bolt on his car and call it "Thunder", we chose the smallest can of glossy white we could find. Ian will have silver and glossy white cars for his entire Cub Scout career. Lesson number four: K-Mart has a craft section that sells LITTLE cans of spray paint and LITTLE jars of paint that are perfect, and less than 1/3 of the cost.



There is a trick to spray painting. Ian and I went to the home of a friend of mine with the can of spray paint and the derby car. He said, "Wait a minute. You lived on the west side for a while. You don't know how to spray paint?!?!" Very funny. Lesson number five: Don't get too close, and don't hold the can in one position too long or you end up with drips. Use a sweeping motion and small spurts on the button for an even coat of paint. Oh, and you can't hold the car while you paint it, duh. Set it on another can of something so you can work around it.

Here is where we are today:

Today we are going to the den leader's home to weigh it. It has to be no more than 5 ounces heavy. According to my diet scale, we are six quarters short. But hey, this is fun!