eKeehn

Friday Foto

2012-01-27T19:53:00.000-08:00

Snow Angels!!

Friday Foto

2012-01-20T20:54:00.000-08:00

We had a play date all day long today. : )

Will and Maggie

Sam and Beatrice

Friday Foto

2011-12-16T20:57:00.000-08:00

We took the girls to their first ceili dance last night. It was so awesome! Beatrice was very befuddled by some of the moves, but we all laughed and had a great time. It was an excellent Christmas Party to go to and I'm looking forward to more ceili dances as the girls progress through their Irish Dance class. : )

Friday Foto

2011-12-02T19:45:00.001-08:00

In Minnesota, you have to wear your winter boots to bed!

Friday Foto

2011-11-04T18:33:00.001-07:00

Friday Foto

2011-10-28T15:07:00.000-07:00

Here's a picture of the kids crowded around Maggie as she disassembles an old electronic thing. Bee's holding the 7 inch spring that was inside the antenna.

My Big Boy

2011-10-19T17:49:00.000-07:00

Well, Obie turned three on Monday. I know. I can't believe it either. He wanted to have his birthday meal at Chuck E Cheese's with Grandma and Grandpa Supan. We went whole hog! Pizza, official Chuck E wacky straw cup, and lots and lots of tokens with lots and lots of time to spend on spending them.

Obie and his dad enjoyed this speed boating game. You can see that this boy is serious about his job of shooting the booster button.

After food and games, we went home to open presents and have cake and ice cream.

1. I do not want to go home.

2. I do not want to take a picture with my sisters.

3. I do not want to go home.

Robot Birthday Cake

(with Twix bars for easy arms and legs. Clever mama.)

Presents! Obie got some great presents this year: A giant Mario and matching blanket, a bunch of Thomas trains and track, a matching mama kitty and her kitten (that are all his and not stolen from his sister), and a Leapster game system and Thomas game to go with it.

And after the festivities were all over, he got to go spend the night in the "camp car" with Grandma and Grandpa - which is always a big treat, and a great way to end a great birthday.

Happy Third Birthday, Obie!

Friday Foto

2011-10-07T18:03:00.000-07:00

Bee's art projects were getting out of control - she makes a new one every day and wants them all taped to the wall. So, I decided to make them neat and tidy. Pretty soon they'll be taking over all the walls in the dining room, but it gives us something interesting to look at!

The tally is...

Obie - 1

Maggie - 3

Beatrice - 14

Friday Foto

2011-08-19T17:35:00.000-07:00

We're running out of summer days, but this evening was perfect to spend around the fire pit. We had hot dogs, katydids, and roasted marshmallow perfection. They were seriously the best marshmallows I've had in forever. Crispy and gooey and we didn't bother with s'mores. Just marshmallow goodness. I'm looking forward to more of this in the fall.

Let's all pray that fall lasts a while this year.

This one is actually from last Saturday. We went to the St. Paul Irish Fair and had a great time. The kids got Irish Balloon animals. What makes them Irish? I don't know... um... Maggie chose a green snake and St. Patrick drove all the snakes out of Ireland.

We've also decided that the girls need to start taking Irish Dance lessons. Anyone out there want to sponsor them?? Please??!

Bee-isms

2011-08-16T13:25:00.000-07:00

We got a big bag of Kettle Cooked Popcorn from Trader Joe's yesterday and I've been trying to make myself share some of it with the kids. So we took it to the park to snack on while we did a little school work. The kids are all very interested in the super sugary pieces and dig through the bag to find the best ones. Beatrice pulled out a little unpopped portion and said:

HEY! Look at this sugary corn-el.

Not a kernel of popcorn. A corn-el. LOL!

Friday Foto

2011-07-29T19:00:00.000-07:00

Here we are enjoying a bedtime snack of sweet summer strawberries!!!

Friday Foto

2011-06-10T16:29:00.000-07:00

Obie and Teddy, Beatrice and Poppy, Maggie

Friday Foto

2011-06-03T16:56:00.000-07:00

Today is National Doughnut Day and to celebrate it our excellent local bakery offered all of their doughnuts for $.25. How could we not take advantage of that??

When we got there is was pretty busy. The kids took lots of time trying to decide which doughnut to get, but there were really only three types to chose from: powdered sugar, vanilla with sprinkles, and chocolate with peanuts. I decided to make everything easier I'd just order 4 of each for an even dozen and that way if anyone changed their mind we'd have plenty. So our turn comes and I tell one of the harried counter girls, "Four of each, please." She goes and gets a box and starts to fill it up. Just a moment later, the baker comes out of the back with several more trays of doughnuts and before I could flag down the counter girl, I had two dozen doughnuts. But for a quarter a piece, it wasn't a mistake I couldn't afford!

We still have 19 left, but we haven't had our after diner doughnuts yet and we also have company this weekend, so I'm pretty confident we can reduce those numbers before they all get too stale to eat.

Next year I'll know that there are dozens of doughnuts to chose from and won't limit myself to just what is showing when I walk in the door! Happy Doughnut Day!

The Chickens

2011-05-18T10:23:00.000-07:00

We've recently become close friends with a family who is doing what we want to be doing in the near future: living off the land. They are very gracious and inviting and have taken us under their wing. Mostly under their chicken's wings...

We're raising 50 broiler chickens with them this summer, providing half of the capital and as much man-power as they need, too. We go to the farm to take care of the chicks at least once a week and Rob and Paul built two "chicken tractors" which will be the home for these chickens as they reach maturity. They'll spend their last 3-4 weeks out in the pasture in the sunshine feasting on bugs and grasses and having about the best life a soup-pot destined chicken can have.

This will be the first time I've been around chicken butchering since I was about Maggie's age and while I think it's important to raise our own food, to know what goes into it (literally, like the aforementioned bugs and grass), and to respect it in a way you can't do when you buy a slab of sterile meat at the big box grocery, I am not looking forward to the carnage that's in these chickens' future. I have a soft heart for animals. And I love to eat them. It's a hard dichotomy to work with.

Happily, especially for my girls, there are also 8 new layer hens who do not have the same fate as the broilers. The girls know that they can spoil and pet the layers and that they will not be Sunday dinner. I think that will create a little bit of comfort for them. This is a hard life lesson, that food sometimes comes from the death of an animal. It used to be common place.

I hope to instill in my kids the respect for food that has been lost in the last few generations as we move further and further from the homestead and animals become cogs in a machine, arriving in our refrigerators faceless and nearly bloodless. I hope my family will approach mealtimes with more reverence, that less meat will be left on plates, that left-overs will be eaten with gratitude instead of a grudge. It may be too much to ask.

But I don't think that it is. Have you hugged your food source lately? You should.

A Matter of Size

2011-05-17T17:36:00.000-07:00

While sitting at dinner yesterday Beatrice was talking about the sizes of the people in our family. We've been talking about how Maggie is growing up and about how big Obie is getting and she hears these things and computes them in her odd little mind. So at dinner she's looking at everyone's plates or cups or something and starts going through how big each person is by how big their item is. She starts, "Obie is big. I'm bigger. Maggie is biggest!" Then she stops for a moment. "And Mom is, uh, uh, biggest..er. And Dad is most biggest of all!!"

Biggester. I'm not sure that's a title I want to live up to.

A Big Week for Margaret

2011-05-17T17:33:00.000-07:00

This week has been full of surprises for Maggie... and for her parents, too. It started last Wednesday when Rob took the one remaining training wheel off of her bike and told her it was time to learn how to ride. Maggie's pretty nervous about trying adventurous things and did quite a bit of complaining, but she and I went out to the road to practice. First she pushed with her feet to practice balancing, then we went a little ways with me holding onto the seat and the handlebars, then ever so gradually, she tried to get both feet on the peddles and push before losing balance. And then eventually she got it.

(Remembering how to balance, and worrying that Obie's in the way. He and his cow are unconcerned.)

Because she's so timid, I had to stay with her pace for pace, yelling wonderfully encouraging things like, "You have to peddle faster if you want to stay balanced!" and "You're doing it, keep going!" and "Aim for the middle of the road!!!"

(Racing with Beatrice.)

And once she got it, it was amazing. There goes my little-big girl riding her bike for the very first time. I knew she felt like she was flying and that made it seem like I was flying, too. Chest-bursting high flying.

Although Maggie flies with much more consternation than most.

She's been practicing everyday and asking to practice when we're not practicing. She rode her bike all the way around Frontenac yesterday while I pushed Beatrice and Obie in the big stroller. She has fallen down several times and she scraped her knee to the tune of two band-aids, but she keeps getting up (albeit wailing) and gets back on her bike. I'm awfully proud. I sent out videos on my phone!

But bike riding isn't the only milestone she's had this week. The night after she first practiced riding she came to me and said, "I really think this tooth is loose." She's been hoping for a loose tooth for at least a year and is often telling me she thinks that one is loose. And this time it actually was! She wiggled it vigorously back and forth all that evening and the next day when she wasn't wiggling it with her fingers, she was pushing it way forward with her top teeth. Then yesterday I asked her if she could twist it around, so she tried that for a while. It didn't take much of that, though, and mere moments later her first little bitty baby tooth was sitting in her hand. She didn't even cry! I was amazed.

(Taking a Congratulations Phone Call from her Aunt. A very young-lady thing to do.)

It's only been a month since she turned seven, but so much has already happened. I think I have to stop calling her a little girl now.

Maybe she'll even grow...

Friday Foto

2011-04-29T12:07:00.000-07:00

Today has been a classic example of spring. We spent the morning going to garage sales and then went and rolled down a big hill. Hooray for SPRING!!

Friday Foto

2011-04-22T18:01:00.001-07:00

It's Good Friday! The Supan clan is in town to celebrate Easter and also Maggie's 7th Birthday. Here's a Friday Foto showing the post-present chaos (added to the normal chaos of our living room!) with cousins Aayden and Elexa. (I know it's not a great picture. I need a new camera. Please put in a good word about that with my husband.)

And here's a bonus picture of Obie and that iconic sign of Easter commercialism: The Peep.

Happy Easter!!

Friday Foto

2011-02-25T17:21:00.001-08:00

Friday Foto

2011-02-11T18:53:00.000-08:00

Milk and Cookies before bed!

Friday Foto

2011-01-28T19:38:00.000-08:00

Friday Foto

2011-01-14T18:16:00.000-08:00

The Clean Squad

Friday Foto

2010-12-24T18:35:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve Friday Foto! (Obie is on meltdown.)

On Eggnog

2010-12-24T11:50:00.001-08:00

Maggie: Well, it's not... awful...

Beatrice: I like it!! Dad, I like Eggnog!!

Friday Foto

2010-12-17T14:57:00.000-08:00

Maggie has strep throat. But don't worry, she's been on anti-biotics for 24 hours now, so you won't catch it. Hopefully those other two in the picture won't catch it either. (The nurse came back in as I was snapping this photo and I felt like I'd been caught doing something naughty. Why is that??)

Friday Foto

2010-12-10T14:19:00.001-08:00

The Holiday Express Train came through Lake City tonight, so the Library had the local model train enthusiasts put on a display. The kids watched the Polar Express, made a train craft, and best of all stayed safe and sound at the library for two hours while Rob and I went to Bronks for nachos and quesadillas.

I love our library.

Obie loves trains.

Friday Foto

2010-12-03T14:41:00.000-08:00

Friday Foto

2010-11-12T12:17:00.000-08:00

Almost Two

2010-10-16T18:28:00.000-07:00

Friday Foto

2010-10-15T17:22:00.000-07:00

Obie's Word of the Day

2010-09-27T20:00:00.000-07:00

Obie's word of the day: Diesel (Shouted at a passing train. Someone's been watching Thomas the Tank Engine.)

Friday Foto

2010-09-24T17:15:00.000-07:00

Deep Questions with Beatrice

2010-09-24T11:09:00.000-07:00

Beatrice pretty much talks non-stop. The only time she stops talking is when she's reeling in pain because she has just walked, run, jumped, slipped, slid or otherwise collided with something bigger and heavier than herself. All day long she's talking to herself or bruising herself.

Last night while I was making brownies she shouted from the other room, "Brownies!!? Why would the Browns talk to the Knees??!" Then of course she laughed uproariously for about five minutes.

Some things are just funnier when you're a four-and-a-half year-old hopped up on adrenaline.

Friday Foto

2010-09-17T14:11:00.001-07:00

Another classic Beatrice face...

Obie's Word of the Day

2010-09-16T06:58:00.000-07:00

Obie's word of the day: Spice, 'Weet, Sauce. (He knows hot sauce and identifies it by "spice", but was a little thrown off by the red strawberry syrup we put on his pancakes. It took a while to convince him it's a sweet. He also calls catsup 'sauce'. )

When Beatrice was little she'd sometimes leave her juice cup sitting around for too long and then take a swig of bubbly juice. She called this "picey" and I think it's funny that she left of the 's' at the beginning while Obie leaves off the 'y' at the end.

Obie's Word of the Day

2010-09-15T17:21:00.000-07:00

Obie's word of the day: Crayon (Obie likes to dwaw with a trayon or makah.)

Obie's Word of the Day

2010-09-14T10:08:00.000-07:00

Obie's word of the day: Coin. (Said while pinching his thumb and first two fingers together on both hands, as if holding coins. The big black pirate at the renaissance faire gave him two plastic gold doubloons and now he has to have one in his pocket at all times!)

Friday Foto

2010-09-10T19:24:00.000-07:00

I haven't managed to get a Friday Foto up here in three weeks, so here are three fotos from our trip to the zoo today:

Como Zoo

St. Paul, MN

Obie's Word of the Day

2010-09-08T19:55:00.000-07:00

Obie's word of the day: Dere 'e is!! Deeeeee!! (exclaimed as the cat, Dee Dee, came bolting down the stairs.)

Obie's Word of the Day

2010-09-07T16:14:00.001-07:00

I'm way behind. Obie repeats everything he hears lately, so it's hard to come up with just one word of the day, but while playing with Beatrice and his train set he came up with this one and it's great!

Obie's word of the day: Oh, man! (complete with smack to the head!!)

Friday Foto

2010-09-03T18:37:00.001-07:00

Friday Foto

2010-08-13T07:59:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was way too hot to stick around here in our old house, so we headed out to find some air-conditioned fun.

House of Bounce

Rochester, MN

Obie's Word of the Day

2010-08-10T20:46:00.000-07:00

Obie's word of the day: Red. (I pulled a row of icee-pop popsicles out of the freezer and asked him which one he wanted, just like I ask the girls. He pointed to the red one and said, "red." He is a brilliant 22 month old!)

Obie's Word of the Day

2010-08-06T18:44:00.000-07:00

Obie's word of the day: Not me!! (Who forgot to flush the potty?? Not ME!!!)

Friday Foto

2010-08-06T18:36:00.000-07:00

Here's my band of happy ragamuffins.

Warm summer days certainly seem to make them filthy. I can't even identify half that dirt. Or the location of Obie's other shoe.

Obie's Word of the Day

2010-08-05T16:21:00.000-07:00

Obie's word of the day: Bless You. (Today is a high pollen count day, everyone is telling mama bless you.)

Obie's begun stringing words together in sentences lately. Of note, "C'mon, kitty." He also says Beatrice, Maggie, and Mommy instead of their shortened versions. He adds lots of y's to the end of words. My favorite is "gummy" when he wants a piece of candy.

Obie's Word of the Day

2010-07-19T09:33:00.000-07:00

Obie's word of the day: Michael. (He also shouts, "Hi, John!" at Michael's brother.)

Friday Foto

2010-07-17T18:06:00.001-07:00

Okay, okay, I know it's already Saturday, but I was planning to post this yesterday.

It's too good to pass up!

Obie's Word of the Day

2010-07-15T19:15:00.001-07:00

Obie's word of the day: Bang!! (said while brandishing an orange cap gun.)

Obie's Word of the Day

2010-07-14T07:56:00.000-07:00

Obie's word of the day: Trash. (He doesn't want Bee to throw away the empty floss container. "No trash!")

Obie's Word of the Day

2010-07-12T06:03:00.000-07:00

Obie's word of the day: All Gone. (Pretty self-explainatory, anything that he's eaten all of, used up, was empty to begin with, or has disappeared from sight is all gone. Usually said with both hands palm up at his shoulders.)

Sand Castle vs. Obie

2010-07-11T06:22:00.001-07:00

Last week we went to Hok-Si-La beach to build sand castles as part of the reading program. For some reason it didn't enter my mind to bring towels or swim suits or water or any useful thing that you would normally bring to the beach, except for small shovels and rakes - to make the castles with. We did put on sunscreen, though, and I brought the camera.

Maggie was disappointed that the sand wouldn't pop out of the castle-shaped bucket in a perfect castle shape, so she soon abandoned castle making to gather seaweed. She constructed a T-Rex nest, heart shaped, you know, because a mama T-Rex surely has a tender side.

Beatrice went for the scooping-sand-into-a-mound style of sand castle and then collected trash, ahem, treasures to decorate it with.

And here's Obie standing next to the one semi-successful attempt to dump the sand out of the bucket in a shape. Beatrice stood next to her castle for pictures, so he wanted to stand next to this one.

And Maggie sat in her nest, so Obie wanted to sit in this castle, too. I said, "no, no, no". But he wanted to sit down anyway.

Can you guess what he's thinking?

Friday Foto

2010-07-09T13:34:00.001-07:00

We had our last three days of the Summer Reading Program this week and I just happened to snap pictures of all three kids at all three events! WOW!

Building sand castles at Hok-Si-La Beach.

Playing in the gazebo at Patton Park.

Coloring pictures while waiting to cash in their Splash Bucks.

Obie's Word of the Day

2010-07-09T11:52:00.000-07:00

Obie's word of the day: Me!!!! (At breakfast time he ran into the kitchen yelling, "EAT!!!!" and when I asked, "Who wants cereal?" Beatrice and Obie both said, "ME!!!")

Obie's Word of the Day

2010-07-06T17:16:00.001-07:00

Obie's word of the day: Yuck, Ewww, Gross, Flush (Yep, still potty training. He hasn't had an accident all day, and we left the house for four hours!)

Friday Foto

2010-07-02T13:30:00.000-07:00

Obie's Word of the Day

2010-07-01T16:45:00.001-07:00

Obie's word of the day: Pig. (Pronounced pee-ugh. The book read at library time today was Pigs to the Rescue.)

Obie's Word of the Day

2010-06-28T08:40:00.000-07:00

Obie's word of the day: Bye-bye, Poopie. (That's right, Potty Training is going GREAT!)

A Busy Week

2010-06-27T12:31:00.000-07:00

Here is a little glimpse of all the things we had to do this week. Actually, I don't have any pictures from Maggie's Art Camp, so it's not "all the things" we had to do this week, but several of them. On Wednesday the girls and I got to take a spin on the local paddle boat, The Pearl of the Lake, as part of the summer reading program. The girls were very excited to go on a boat ride, especially since we drive by the boat everytime we go to lake city and they always sigh from the back seat, "I wish I could ride on that boat!" One life goal down!

Riding on a boat, even for just half an hour, made me seasick. I spent the evening with a headache! But the girls enjoyed the first few minutes of it before they got bored and hungry.

This weekend was the Lake City Water Ski Days festival. We took the kids into town on Saturday and looked the event over, got a big lemonade and a funnel cake, and let the kids ride a few rides and spend a dollar to bounce in the inflatable house.

Riding around on the carousel for three minutes also made me seasick. I also got a mean sunburn on my neck. I'm quite a sorry case.

And today was the wrap-up for Vacation Bible School. Here are Maggie and Bee with all of their food themed crafts that they made this past week. They each stood up with their class and sang three songs and said their memory verses. Then they got to proudly display their things to all of the congregation. Beatrice is still trying to gnaw her way through her stale froot loop necklace!

Next week we still have some things to do for the reading program, but it will be much slower. And with zero humidity and temps in the upper 70's, I'm looking forward to a nice relaxing week!

I'm also planning not to get seasick.

Obie's Word of the Day

2010-06-27T06:45:00.000-07:00

Obie's word of the day: Notebook. (Thanks, Blues Clues!!)

Obie's Word of the Day

2010-06-26T15:19:00.000-07:00

Obie's word of the day: There you go. (Pronounces Deh jee goh and usually said as he's handing someone something they may want - like a toy - or may not want - like that chewed up piece of meat he just spit out.)

Obie's Word of the Day

2010-06-24T04:59:00.000-07:00

Obie's word of the day: Watch. (As in watch as I climb to the top of the couch and roll off, or watch as I fling myself down in the bathtub and create a tsunami!!)

Obie's Word of the Day

2010-06-22T08:33:00.000-07:00

Obie's word of the day is: Please. (Pronounced peeesh.)

Toad Games

2010-06-22T06:09:00.000-07:00

This week is a busy week. Maggie has Art Camp in the mornings, both girls have VBS in the afternoons, and all three kids have numerous events for the Library's Summer Reading Program (most exciting of those: a ride on the local paddle boat tomorrow!!). While that means a lot of running around and gallons of gas zooming out of the minivan, it also means that for two hours in the morning Beatrice gets to be the biggest girl in the house. (And for two and a half hours in the afternoon, I get to put Obie down for a nap and be childless!! Childless!!!) Beatrice is a girl who really likes her space. She loves her brother and sister, but you can tell that she really enjoys, relishes even, the time she gets to play just by herself with her imagination. She hosts Pet Shop Tea Parties, rescues Zelda from the dungeon, joins the circus, or just gathers up every stuffed cat in the house (all nine million of them) and lines them up and has them all carry on intricate, squeeky-voiced conversations. Her imagination is boundless and those cat conversations are usually hilarious!

So yesterday she was spending her morning quality alone time outside and I didn't bother to check on her. She's safe here, she knows the rules and boundaries, and I don't worry too much. When she finally came in for a snack I asked her what she'd been doing. "Playing toad games," she said. My girls can find a toad within 2.5 seconds of going out into the yard. So I asked her, "Oh, did you find a new toad," because the one from the previous day was left out in the sun and even though we'd had a lengthy conversation that morning about how to take care of toads, where not to leave them, when to let them go, how they are our friends and good for our garden, and how it makes mommy really, really angry when they let a toad die from negligence, I didn't really trust that Beatrice had remembered all of that conversation. She said, "No, with the dead one." I said, "Ew. Go wash your hands." And I didn't think much more about it, except possibly that I needed to go find the dead toad and drop it in the mulch pile.

An hour later when we went to get Maggie from class, I popped out the door to find this waiting for me on the sidewalk:

Toad Games, indeed.

*Sigh*

Obie's Word of the Day

2010-06-21T14:07:00.000-07:00

Obie has hit the stage in toddler development where he learns a new word almost everyday - sometimes several new words in one day. In the past week I've noticed him saying bubble, spicy, cold, choo choo, book and many others I can't think of right now. I thought I'd try to document the new words he's learning so that one day I can tell him all about how smart he was.

Without further ad0, Obie's word of the day is: Apple

Friday Foto

2010-06-18T05:49:00.000-07:00

It's time for the summer reading program at our library. The theme is "Splash Into Reading" and one of the projects was to make a paper bag fish. You can see that Maggie made a shark and Beatrice made a princess fish. And Obie really likes saying, "Cheese!!!"

Friday Foto

2010-06-11T18:28:00.001-07:00

Eating popsicles and playing Nines with Grandma Supan.

Slightly Modest

2010-05-25T08:13:00.000-07:00

It's hot here. Very hot. Waaay to hot to live in a hundred year old house without Air Conditioning. So to get through these next two days of heat wave I bought a little plastic pool for the kids to splash around in. As soon as breakfast was over this morning the girls were in their suits and out the door.

Obie wanted to go too and brought me his swim trunks, but he must be feeling a little bit self conscious around his mama because when I stripped off his diaper he shouted, "No Nake!!" and grabbed the closest thing to him to cover up with.

Who would have guessed that a little pink Polly Pocket princess dress would fit right over a toddler winky??

Friday Foto

2010-05-21T13:41:00.000-07:00

Monday Movies!

2010-05-17T18:07:00.000-07:00

Here's a little movie I took at Maggie's soccer game this past Saturday. I used our regular camera, but it came out alright. Maggie is number 1. She did a lot of falling down during the game. Mostly she stopped the ball by sliding into it. This week at home we're going to work on running and stopping before she falls down. The kid has hustle, though, that's for sure!

Hailey is number 6, and Avery is number 4. The other kids on her team are Mackenzie, number 2 and Maggie's friend as well as the coach's daughter, Sam is number 5, and Caleb is number 3. The team we played this week was pretty equal in skills to our team. Last week Maggie made a break away goal! (The team they were playing wasn't very good.) The week before that the team they played was very good - with a couple of very big boys who seemed to have been born playing soccer. So this last game was fun because neither team was being beaten to a pulp. Maggie has two more games and I'll bring the video camera next week to try and get a better movie.

Enjoy!

Friday Foto

2010-05-14T18:17:00.000-07:00

MN Children's Museum

2010-05-12T09:58:00.000-07:00

We took a trip up to the Twin Cities last Sunday to celebrate Mother's Day and Rob's Birthday. In between what Rob wanted to do and what I wanted to do, we squeezed in something for the kids: The Minnesota Children's Museum.

Look! A Mouse!!

Excavating!!

Maggie Turtle

Beatrice Turtle

We bought a season pass and I'm certain we'll be going back often!

Go Ask Your Dad

2010-05-11T09:53:00.000-07:00

Maggie (from the bathroom): "Mom... yesterday, there was something that I ate... and after I ate it, today my poop's very sloppy. What was it??"

Why is it that this is the sort of conversation starter that my days are filled with? There was a time not so long ago that I had real conversations... about literature, art, theology, even current events. Now I discuss poop with my children. The texture of poop. The color of poop. What kind of poop comes from birds and bugs and reptiles. Why poop stinks. Why food turns into poop. Why does an apple help you poop but a banana stop you from pooping. Poop Poop Poop. I'm evidently the answer man when it comes to poop because the questions keep coming.

And while I sit here pondering the lack of intelligent conversation going on around here, Obie toddles in with a half chewed tortilla that he just stuck too far in his mouth and then gagged back out. He hands it to me and, well, what's a mom to do? I take it. So I have poop on the brain and masticated mush in my hand. This is not quite the job I signed up for, is it???

But he did say, "Jee Ju", which means thank you. See... being a Stay At Home Mom isn't a thankless job after all.

Friday Foto

2010-05-07T20:00:00.000-07:00

I've gotten behind on the blog again lately. I'm still trying to get on here to do an update about Obie being 18 months old. Pretty soon it'll be 19 months!

Here's the Friday Foto from last Friday. The kids were watching some YouTube videos, possibly of the Swedish Chef.

And here's today's Foto. I wanted to get all three kids into Obie's crib now that it's set up as a Big Boy Bed. Unfortunately Obie won't get anywhere near his bed unless I'm tossing him in and running like he's a bomb about to explode.

Which actually works really well as a process for getting him to sleep through the night in his big boy bed. I turn out the lights and set him in bed. He screams for a moment while hoping to gain my sympathy, but then tiredness takes over and he goes to sleep. Sometimes he gets out of bed to bang on the door, but that also only lasts for a minute before he gives up and climbs back into his comfy bed to sleep. He's been sleeping from bedtime until at least 5 a.m. That's pretty remarkable considering two weeks ago he was still waking up several times a night to scream and maul me.

Oh, how's the weaning going, you ask. Let's just focus on the new bed for now...

Our Polyphemus Moth!

2010-05-07T11:31:00.000-07:00

Do you remember last August when I found an incredibly fat green caterpillar in our yard and brought it inside for the girls to see and it immediately made its cocoon?? We kept it in a big jar on the front porch all winter long and Rob and I were both convinced that it had frozen to death. But low and behold:

It Hatched!!!

The girls really enjoyed petting it's furry head and thorax. We got online and learned that this one is a girl because it has small antennae, not the feathery ones that the males have. We also learned that these moths have no mouth parts. Once they hatch they have only the energy stored up from their larval stage to get them through the last few days of their lives. Kinda sad...

The girls were incredibly enamored with her but soon wanted to play games with the moth. It was a truly blustery windy day and I had hoped to keep her on the back porch for one night until the wind died down, but she was too much temptation and after a little damage to her wing I decided she was safer in the wind than in the house with two girls! I took her to the bushes in front of our house and she stayed there for a while, but once we took our eyes off of her, she was off! I hope she laid her eggs nearby and that we can find another fat green caterpillar this summer!

BTW: Maggie named her Polly.

And here's the address for the first post about our adventures with this moth:

The Newest Member of the Family, 2

Monday Movies!

2010-04-19T19:48:00.000-07:00

When I was in fifth grade we each had to choose a Shel Silverstein poem to memorize and recite in front of the class. I picked "Too May Kids". The girls have recently been enjoying Mr. Silverstein's work and Beatrice has picked up on my favorite of his poems. Silliness abounds!

Friday Foto

2010-04-16T17:23:00.000-07:00

Beatrice was in rare form tonight!

Monday Movies!

2010-04-12T12:49:00.000-07:00

One of Obie's sweetest little habits is his tendency to sing throughout the day. Mostly he sings the Bye-o Bye-o lullaby that I sing to him at nap times, but I've heard him hum other little ditties, too. It is just too adorable for words to have a singing toddler. The boy can barely talk, but he is a wonderful singer!

That's Beatrice in the background giving her two cents.

I also love that the first frame of this movie is Obie giving us his Harrison Ford half grin. What mama wouldn't love a boy who looks like Han Solo??

Friday Foto

2010-04-10T05:33:00.000-07:00

Obie has learned to slide and he loves it! All day long he stands at the door begging and pointing to go out to the playset! Grandpa fixed some handrails so that he can go down all by himself, but the girls still like to catch him at the bottom.

Action Shot!!

I'm Cleaning My House!

2010-04-09T05:22:00.000-07:00

And you can, too!! Here's a link to an encouraging blog that's helped me to get my kitchen under control this week. It's not entirely under control and it won't be until all of my children are logical, responsible beings but the organization has been wonderful! If you want to get some organizing and cleaning done but don't know where to start, or need someone to support your efforts, check this out!

http://christianhomekeeper.org/blog/5-weeks-to-a-clean-and-organized-home-week-1-begins-today/

And enjoy your clean house!!

Maggie's Birthday Extravaganza: Sushi

2010-04-07T12:52:00.001-07:00

Here are the pictures from the main event! I am so glad everyone loves sushi! It's a really fun, hands on meal for the kids. Even Obie was really interested in eating.

The Miso Soup was a little hot.

Obie liked it. He especially liked the seaweed and the edamame.

Maggie specifically requested the "little balls" for her sushi. Yup, that's fish roe. It came in two sizes - you can see the little orange ones on her plate and the great big one on her chopstick. The menu said they were Salmon Roe and Flying Fish Roe. I have no idea which is which. They love roe because it pops between their teeth. (And as much as I love sushi, ICK!)

Here's Beatrice dipping her roll in soy sauce like a true expert!

Happy Birthday, Margaret!!

Maggie's Birthday Extravaganza: Playland

2010-04-07T08:50:00.001-07:00

Maggie's main request for her birthday was that we all go get sushi. The closest sushi restaurant is in Rochester, which is an hour away. So we decided to make a whole afternoon of it! We started at the indoor playland at the mall. These things are popping up in all of the malls and I think it's a great idea. Especially because I don't want to take my kids to a fast food restaurant in order to give them some play time - fast food and exercise just don't go together! So here are a couple of shots of the kids playing. I mostly took pictures of Obie, even though it was Maggie's big day. Sorry Mags!

Sitting on a Fish!

Pointing to a Frog!!

Action Shot!!!

Grandma treated the girls to a ride in the motorized ice cream truck. It's a good thing we only had three quarters between us or we may have been at the mall a lot longer.

I really tried to convince Maggie to push her socks down.

After the playland we got ice cream from Coldstone Creamery. YUM! (We did the same thing on my birthday. I really like their cake flavored ice cream!) Then we wasted a little more time by hitting the ol' Hobby Lobby to get yarn (not Maggie's choice), and then stopped by the pet store. All the kids love the pet store. Obie was old enough this time to pay attention to all the "tweets" and "meows." Very cute.

Up next: SUSHI!

Maggie's Birthday Extravaganza: Presents

2010-04-06T18:53:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Maggie's 6th birthday a little bit early this year. Grandma and Grandpa Supan came up this past weekend for Easter and birthday fun.

Rob and Obie documented the singing, candle extinguishing, cake eating, and present opening.

Here's Maggie with her "Mario Surrounded by Lumas" Birthday Cake. It's a Super Mario Galaxy thing. Don't worry if it doesn't make sense. Grandma did a great job and the girls were both thrilled that they got to eat the Lumas. Maggie got both of the g's.

This year Maggie got a lot of books for her birthday! Big informative books on her two favorite topics: Pokémon and Dinosaurs. She's been pouring over them since she opened her birthday gifts last Saturday. She also received several kiddy cross stitch kits from me and two Littlest Pet Shop playsets from Grandma and Grandpa. Here are some pictures, in no particular order...

Maggie and her pile o' gifts

DINOSAURS!!

Beatrice paitently waiting for her turn. Happily, Easter was the next day!

HOW TO DRAW POKÉMON!!

POKÉMON VISUAL GUIDE!!

She's already used up several sheets of paper drawing pichus and clefaries. Again, if you don't understand, don't worry. Even those of us who do understand only smile and nod when she starts talking about it. She also started her first cross stitch kit, though I think I need to get bigger cloth to make it easier for her. But she's really excited about it. And of course all of the kids have played with the pet shops!

Monday Movies!

2010-04-05T20:20:00.000-07:00

Here's a little glimpse of our Easter Egg Hunt. The weather was beautiful for Easter this year and we took advantage of it! Enjoy!

I'll get more pictures from Maggie's Birthday Extravaganza soon.

Friday Foto

2010-04-02T18:39:00.000-07:00

I got all three kids into the boat at the playland at the all in Rochester, but that was as far as it went. We went there as part of the first day of Maggie's Birthday Extravaganza!!

Monday Movies!

2010-03-29T08:03:00.000-07:00

Here are two videos of Obie tooling around at Grandma and Grandpa Keehn's house. Our visit there was Obie's first taste of Spring as a walking, talking, adventuring, discovering little boy. He got to chase birds and throw balls and dig in the dirt and sniff flowers. All of the kids had a great time playing outside - all day long Maggie and Bee were playing in the clubhouse or the wooded hills. Every so often I'd hear the front screen door slam shut and know that they were still alive. And when better to be alive than Spring??

Possibly, though, the best part about visiting down south for their Spring was that when we came back up north Spring had started here, too! This is the first March in over a century that it hasn't snowed once the entire month! We have crocuses blooming and daffodils and tulips shooting up out of the ground. There are robins and other Spring birds every where. It is amazing!

I've always loved Autumn so much, but when you live in Minnesota Spring definitely takes the cake!

Palms

2010-03-28T13:16:00.001-07:00

Today is Palm Sunday, so Maggie and all of the other Sunday School students brought palm leaves into the sanctuary and up to the altar in celebration. After the service the teachers passed the palms back out to the kids. Maggie snagged an extra one for Beatrice. They've been playing with them all morning. We picked a leaf off of Bee's branch to share with Obie, too.

Dinner with Beatrice

2010-03-26T19:40:00.000-07:00

Tonight, dinner was a hit with all three of the kids. I put pork ribs in the crock pot and since we were out of barbeque sauce, I smothered them with teriyaki marinade. They smelled throughout the house all afternoon, Maggie repeatedly came to ask me if it was time to eat ribs yet, and we were all salivating by the time I had the plates on the table.

The ribs came out tender and juicy and delicious. Each of the girls took a special joy in loosening the bones out and slurping on them. They thought it was a riot that there was an extra bowl on the table just for tossing those bones in. They kept saying over and over and over, "these ribs are so good," or "this meat is delicious", or "can we have this every night".

Then, as she was diligently pulling a chunk of meat from a bone, Beatrice turns to me and asks, "Mom, are these ribs from a person or a pig?"

I'm slightly alarmed that she would have continued to eat them either way.

Friday Foto

2010-03-26T10:58:00.001-07:00

We've been way behind on Friday Fotos lately. I could blame it on the two weeks we spent visiting friends and family at the beginning of March, but what about the weeks before that? Or the weeks since then?? You see, I just don't have an excuse. We'll have to go on and just get back on the ball!

This is a photo I intended to get up on Friday the 26th of February. It's now the 26th of March. Seriously, where does the time go? This was taken at an Olive Garden in Rochester, MN. We went there for lunch after visiting the planetarium with the Home School group. We were waiting for the bill and I got out the camera in a attempt to keep the kids quiet. It worked for Maggie.

And this is today's Friday Foto. Beatrice is wearing make-up that she put on herself. She proudly announced, "I look like a clown!!" To me she looks like she was just pulled out from under a pile of rubble, but that's just me. Maggie and I seem to be the only ones still interested in weekly photos. I have to work on little miss headstrong's attitude more. And more and more!!

Bee-isms

2010-03-15T12:58:00.000-07:00

Beatrice: "Mom," *sigh* "I don't like bunnies because they're not cool."

Me: "Yeah?"

Beatrice: "Yeah, they're just silly."

Monday Movies!

2010-02-22T18:52:00.000-08:00

Here we have Obie doing all of his tricks. He's starting to talk and he can definitely parrot. The only thing missing from this segment is "nooo!" which he says a lot. At the Y tonight the woman in the babysitters said she had him saying red and green. By this time next week he'll be reciting nursery rhymes!!

Friday Foto

2010-02-19T17:22:00.000-08:00

Monday Movies!

2010-02-15T13:51:00.000-08:00

Of course, today's movie had to feature Beatrice's 4th Birthday! Here she is blowing out the candles and enjoying her cake and ice cream!!

Somewhere the girls got the idea that Bee wouldn't actually be four until she blew the candles out on her cake. You can hear her tell us that she's four now! (You all remember, though, that her birthtime was at 1:57 am, right?)

Oh, and Happy Birthday to our new baby niece/cousin, Avery Jane McElya!! She was born early this morning to a very happy Aunt Carrie and Uncle Mike. She missed Bee's birthday by a fraction, but it's still a very special day!!

Ariel

2010-02-15T08:30:00.000-08:00

Here's Ariel all dressed up in the ballerina outfit that Beatrice got for her birthday. Isn't she lovely??

Beatrice's Fourth Birthday

2010-02-14T12:10:00.000-08:00

Beatrice has turned four. She got really dressed up for the occasion, note the tutu and the tufted fleece hat. You know that's classic party wear!

Here she is with all of her gifts.

A new box of crayons!! Beatrice spends hours coloring each day, so she always needs new crayons. She also got some new coloring books.

And YOSHI!!

Here's her cake, just like the one she picked out off of the internet. It was Grandma's first fondant cake and it was a success!

Here's the birthday girl with her cake, pre-fire.

And here's the blowing out of the candles action shot! She has awesome technique!

Beatrice had a great birthday. We started it off with Grandma and Grandpa Supan coming in to Frontenac on Thursday. You always know the party weekend is getting underway when the Grandparents roll up the driveway. On Friday we went to a little Valentine's Day party with two fellow Home Schooling families. The kids all got and gave Valentines and also got to decorate cupcakes and sugar cookies with pink icing and lots and lots of sparkles and sprinkles. Of course, they ate a ton of sugar, but also got to play a lot of it out of their systems.

On Saturday we went to see some of the sights in Red Wing - mostly the big antique outlet in the historic RW Pottery Factory building, with a stop off at the chocolatiers and also the bakery for lunch. Then we came home for an afternoon of Super Mario on the Wii followed by Beatrice opening her gifts. She loved them all - the pegasus from Maggie; the dress and sweater, paper doll set, coloring books and play dough from Grandma and Grandpa; and the Ariel doll with matching dress-up dress for herself from Mom and Dad. And of course, YOSHI! Then we had her birthday dinner: this year Bee wanted Chicken and Dumplings, which I'd never made before and the dumplings sort of dissolved, but it still tasted pretty great. But then it was late in the evening and time for bed, so we held off on the cake and ice cream until Sunday afternoon. That was her actual birthday day, and besides, I like to stretch birthdays out as much as possible!

Sunday was a pretty lazy day. We sang happy birthday, ate lots of cake and the ice cream, had left over chicken and dumplings, played card games and video games. Some of us even got a nap. Oh, and the kids all got Valentines Day gifts from Grandma, too.

So now that Beatrice is Four Years Old how will life change for us? In crazy and wonderful ways, I'm sure. And, I'll be sure to let you know as it does!

Hope you had a wonderful Valentine's Day, too.

Friday Foto

2010-02-12T18:32:00.000-08:00

Obie decided not to cooperate for this week's Friday Foto. He noticed that I had on my jacket and realized that he was about to be left behind. He pouted. But I got him anyway! (I also got to have a wonderful Valentine's Day dinner with Rob! It's great when Grandma and Grandpa come into town!!)

It's the last Friday Foto with Beatrice as a three-year-old. But, honestly, I haven't thought of her as a three-year-old for a long time. She's so four-years-old. Happy Birthday, Little Bee. Nice face.

Friday Foto

2010-02-05T17:35:00.000-08:00

A Couchful of Keehns!!

Monday Movies!

2010-02-01T17:53:00.000-08:00

Uno has become a very popular pastime in our house lately. Both girls love to play and know all the rules. We've been playing with every one's cards face up so that we can keep the game flowing. Beatrice loves to play the skip card. Maggie loves to win. Here's a movie of a recent very long game.

Gone, Baby, Gone

2010-01-27T11:17:00.000-08:00

Last week I finally had to give in and take Beatrice to get her hair cut. It was way too long - in her face, in her bum, in huge tangles it was so long. Here she is post beauty salon:

Yes, the girl knows how to rock a pose, huh? And sure it looks nice and everything, but still I'm heartbroken. Some how her head of big, beautiful banana curls has turned stick straight. Just like mine.

I've wanted curly hair my whole life. Those round, bouncy ringlets just make me crazy. My hair is limp, thin, and straight as an arrow and I tried mercilessly as a kid of the '80's to get it to hold a perm, to curl with the big rollers or the hot iron, even to crimp. And it will for about as long as it takes to get from the bathroom to the hallway. I wasted a lot of time trying to make my hair hold a curl, then gave up, got married, and started having kids.

Imagine my utter joy at having my second daughter come along with exactly the hair I've envied forever. Oh, those banana curls melt my heart. I would comb it with awe, especially as it got longer and curlier. People would stop me in stores and exclaim about her beautiful hair and I would beam.

But then I noticed about a year ago that the stuff on top wasn't quite as curly. I figured her hair was just so long that it was weighing down the rest. So I took her for a trim. As the stylist took a couple of inches off the bottom we both knew that it wasn't a weight issue, her hair simply wasn't curly anymore. And still I pretended that it wasn't so. I almost tried to will those curls to grow back in. And I also refused to cut Bee's hair just incase those were the last of the ringlets. I still loved them and wanted her to be my curly-headed daughter. But the thing about hair is even if you don't want to, you simply have to cut it eventually.

So, with angst and a heavy heart I took her back to the stylist a year later. And now the curls are all gone. Just straight hair. But at least it's thick. Maybe she'll have more luck with the curling iron than I ever did. Besides, I suppose it's really not fair to Maggie if Beatrice gets all of the luxurious curl. Now they're on even hair terms. Always a good thing for sisters.

Here's a tribute to Little Bee's Beautiful Curly Tresses. I miss them so.

Friday Foto

2010-01-22T16:39:00.000-08:00

Rob recently requested that I knit him a scarf - a really, really long scarf. A scarf of Dr. Whoian length. Well, you know I'm always up for a new knitting project. He chose the colors (from yarn I approved) and gave the general idea for width, number of cables, and pattern. What you can see here is half way done. (Children added to show scale.) I think the end result will be 2.75 beatrices long. Possibly three.

You can also see in this picture that Obie is learning to talk, or at least to parrot. He figured out to say "Cheese" along with his sisters tonight. It sounded more like "Deee-Sssss" but we all know what he meant.