Andy's Alphabet

Andy's fascination with letters continues. We have these wooden letters (from a Melissa and Doug set) that Andy likes to line up on the floor, over and over and over. He's been spending quite a lot of time lining up letters. He'll complete the alphabet, then come and get me and I sing it for him while he points to the letters, and then he starts over again.



I'm impressed that he never gets the b,d,p, and q mixed up.

He also picked up the sign language alphabet from watching videos on youtube. We got this video of him finger-spelling himself to sleep on Daddy's lap.

Saying Goodbye

Our neighbors the Kim family are moving. We are sad! They moved in when Andy was just five months old, and we've enjoyed having them in the complex.



I made them this little book for a going-away present. I've made four photo books now, all printed at different places.  I got this one done at WHCC.



It was a quick job.  I didn't think I had enough time to design the pages scrapbook-style, so I just arranged the photos on a black background.  I had some that included other kids from the complex, and some that were just our kids--memories of things we've done together over two years.






I didn't see an option to choose endpapers.  They came black.  (That's one thing that I like better about sharedink--they have lots of endpaper choices.)  The printing isn't quite photo quality but it's very good.  It did seem to print a little cooler than the colors on my monitor.  I'll have to remember that.

I had the book less than a week after placing the order.  Very quick!  I was impressed.  The Kims loved it. 



The girls brought over some kim bap for us. After I convinced Kate that there was nothing in there she didn't like (except the cucumber, which I picked out for her) she agreed to try it. She said, "This is good! I want to make this some time!" Andy wouldn't even look at it. (This was surprising--Kate's usually the picky one.)

We will miss our friends! Kate will especially miss having Glory and Hanuri around to play with.

It just needs tidying up a little

Becky Higgins posted a challenge to take a picture of how your desk looks right now. So I did. And then I started cleaning it up a bit.

So, why was there a Playmobil tree stump next to my keyboard?

I really couldn't say.

a girl and her feather boa

We went to "Junk in Your Trunk" in the church parking lot. Didn't get rid of any of our own stuff, but came home with a few articles of clothing and a green feather boa. Kate was just thrilled when she saw it. ("It's so fluffy!")




Feather boas shed. I've been picking up green feathers everywhere.

March of the Penguins

Summer Solstice

We celebrated summer with a little picnic at Snake Lake.  It was a bright sunny day with not a cloud in the sky (okay, maybe a few around the edges), which is definitely not the best conditions for taking pictures.

I thought at first that we could eat our lunch by the play area (Discovery Pond), but it quickly became apparent that this would not work, so we relocated to the picnic area and found a table in a nice shady spot.



Andy enjoys his sandwich.  (Almond butter!)

At the picnic area we ran into Liberty, who reads my blog. (Hi Liberty!) That was pretty cool. (I know she wasn't stalking me because she was there first... perhaps I was stalking her!)



After eating we headed back over to Discover Pond and turned the kids loose.



(Well, for a certain value of "loose.")



There was a big stand of clover with hugely long stems, so I made a clover chain crown for Kate.





Squinting in the sun.

We had "corn and the cob" (that's what Kate calls it) for dinner.  Very summery.  The next day it was all cool and cloudy again. Isn't it nice to have variety in weather?

Kate's Dragons

I had this idea a while ago. We gave it a try yesterday, and it worked out really well!

Kate and I went outside and took some pictures, and then we uploaded them onto the computer and Kate added dragons (and other things) in Photoshop.




I love the teeth and tongue on this one.



I showed her how to paint on a new layer and how to undo.  She's going to be proficient in Photoshop before she hits middle school. She used my graphics tablet and pen part of the time, and just drew with the mouse for the other part. She's pretty good with both!







Kate really had a blast doing this. We've already taken more pictures that she's going to work on.

Kate sings for Daddy

A song for Father's Day!

This thing called Summer Vacation

This is our first summer as parents of a school child who is out of school.  The transition is rather jarring. Suddenly every day feels like Saturday.

Wednesday was the last day of school.  Thursday morning Kate went to a birthday party for a boy from her class.  As we were leaving, one of the moms said, "This totally doesn't feel like a Thursday."  It didn't.  Friday we went down to Titlow Beach at low tide (12:42), hunted little scuttling crabs and threw rocks in the water.  Later, back home, I had the thought pop into my head, "Oh yeah, tomorrow's not Sunday!"  One more Saturday to go.   Today Kate and I went and saw "Captain Jack Presents 'Bugs of the World'" at the library.  That was pretty cool--we got to hold a giant cockroach from Madagascar, a wood scorpion (which is not a scorpion) from Tanzania, and a violin mantis from India.

Kate was always pretty good at self-entertaining before.  Coming out of school, though, she's used to more structure and busy-ness.  I guess we'll be looking for lots of fun things to do.

We got some video down at Titlow Beach.  Andy got bored with throwing rocks and moved on to throwing seaweed.  This was just as messy as it sounds.  He had to have a bath before his nap. 

Fridge Magnets

Our letter "O" is missing.

School's out!

We're all done with Kindergarten! Here's Kate coming out of school on her last day, dragon costume flapping. (She's been wearing her dragon costume to school quite a lot lately.) They had a half day today, with a special assembly in the morning. I went for the end-of-the-year slide show. (They used a few of the photos that I took.) It was funny to hear the kids' reactions throughout the show, as each photo got some kind of response--a murmur of recognition or a roar of laughter. And at the one photo that was sideways, everyone in the auditorium tipped their heads simultaneously.

Kate has loved school. She seemed to have mixed feelings about her last day--excited for summer but sad that her Kindergarten year was over. She really loved her teacher and made some good friends in her class. We got a few phone numbers so hopefully we'll be able to arrange some play dates. (Kate is already planning a "Summer Party" at our house. She'll have to clean her room first.)

The Kindergarten classes had a day at the park on Monday, where I got a nice picture of Kate with her teacher.



I ran into her teacher the next day at Fred Meyer, and she told me how much she's going to miss Kate and her imagination. It's been a fun year.

Waily Waily Waily

Andy sure has been emotional lately. I hope it's just a phase. Maybe he's feeling the impact of not being able to express himself.

and still more painting

I painted five days a week for the past three weeks. Yay! Making progress.

A few details:





I finished listening to The Name of the Wind today. Next up will probably be White Cat, by Holly Black. My brother Peter said he enjoyed it a lot, despite a rather egregious plot hole.

Angler Fish Ice Cube

You know those weird stalagmites that you get on ice cubes sometimes? Or maybe you don't, I don't know--this site says that they form best with distilled water, which is definitely not what we're using, but we do seem to get them fairly frequently. It's just some freak thing.

Anyway, we went to IKEA yesterday and picked up this little tray for making fish-shaped ice cubes. Later we found this in our freezer. Angler Fish!



(It was already melting a little at this point.)

There's a video here of a huge ice spike that formed on somebody's deck.