My Two Front Teeth

At last, Joe's wobbly front tooth fell out.  It had been hanging on by a thread for a while, kind of creeping Julie and Ted out every time they saw it wiggle when he ate. Joe doesn't have a great track record keeping the teeth after they fall out. This time, the story goes, Joe realized it fell out while eating lunch and was able to retrieve it from his mouth. He got to go to the nurse who gave him a little plastic treasure box in which to keep it. At pick up Ted grabbed Joe's backpack which was open and stuffed with all his possessions and the little container dropped on the floor.  Ted almost left it behind thinking it was a toy piece belonging to Kids Place or had dropped out of a neighboring bag, but he held on to it and caught up to Joe to ask him about it.  And so Joe was able to leave something for the tooth fairy to claim his prize.

Go Fish

Yesterday at Wolfe Park, Joe, Clara and Ted visited the fishing dock where a man was fishing and actually catching fish. This of course sparked Joe to request a fishing trip.  So today we found the poles and Joe practiced casting in the front yard (the table as dock was his unsafe idea). We also collected worms while planting in the gardens, so by 3pm we were ready for our adventure!  Clara stayed home so it was just the boys, but we walked to the dock and tried our luck with the worms. No luck. We think the tiny fish nibbled the skinny worms off the big hook. We tried some lures-still no luck. A girl about 10 managed to catch two bass while we fumbled around, so it wasn't the fishes' fault. We finally gave up, then Joe climbed on the rocks until he stuck his foot in the water and got upset.  All that was our fishing trip where all we caught was frustration.

Hair, Paper, Scissors

Sort of punk.

Fans, we have a rule at Casa Blanca: scissors and markers are used with and on paper only.

You all know where this is heading already, don't you?

We recently moved all scissors to a high kitchen cupboard such that the bambini must ask for help if they would like to use a pair. When this rule was announced, Joe protested: "Why?????"  Julie replied that she wasn't convinced everyone understood that scissors were only to be used to cut paper and paper derivatives. He protested, again: "I do!!!!!" Julie hissed, "Not. You." He got it. Finally.

Clara last had a hair cut two months ago. (Julie was wondering if she could skip a month between trips to the salon.) About two weeks ago, she thought to herself that she really couldn't. Birdie's hair was looking jagged and laying funny, and then Julie shrugged it all off. Not long after, she was helping Birdie pick up her room when she discovered a nest of blond wisps in Birdie's Frozen lunch box. And it all came together, Fans. It all came together. Julie's suspicions were confirmed when she curled Birdie's hair for spring picture day and thus had to deal with all kinds of oddly placed layers, clearly the work of an amateur.

Birdie denied any involvement of course, laying blame at the feet of an anonymous boy in her class. Naturally. Julie took her queue from the ladies on the front of the lunchbox and let it go. But she rounded up the scissors and exiled them to a kitchen cupboard.

The markers are destined to go the way of the scissors as just this morning, Clara colored the inseam of on leg of her leggings with yellow highlighter. Julie spied the evidence as the Birds were walking, as fate would have it, to get Clara's haircut. Clara was lagging behind Julue on the sidewalk. Every time Julie would stop and turn to urge Ckara on, Birdie would stop, too, and clamp her legs together. Well. Julie saw the flash of yellow and the jig was up.

The Yellow Highlighter Incident followed a kerfuffle earlier this morning when Julie demurred in the face of Clara's request for a permanent marker with which to enscribe "Squirrel" on the squirrel house Birdie was making out of an old shoe box. Julie took all the Sharpies out to the garden with her after denying Clara's request, not trusting Birdie not to take matters into her own hands.

So it was that on the sidewalk Julie silently congratulated herself for this forforethought  because it was clear that after having her request for a permanent marker denied, Clara had abandoned her squirrel real estate designs to color her leggings--and the bottom of her feet.

We've got a live one, Fans. Katy, bar the door. And the scissors and the markers.

Post-clean-up.

Weather

If there is one thing Minnesota leads in it is analyzing/planning/discussing the weather. And so it was that all the forecasts for Sunday were for extreme weather - tornado watch, hail storms, and heavy rain. Having had our garden shredded by hail about five years ago this same weekend, and having just planted dozens of new plants in our new garden bed, this family was preparing for the worst.  Julie woke up early and decided to move all potted plants and window boxes into the garage, then used empty containers to cover the new plants like little hail bunkers. We then planned for a day inside, cleaning out the old toys for the upcoming garage sale, craft projects and some tv shows.  So naturally, nothing ever came of this storm except for some light rain at about 4pm. 

The upside is our plants got to wear hats all day, and Ted could walk the kids to the park for the city wide ice cream social. The organizers also saw the forecasts so had moved the festivities inside, but we still got our free ice cream cone and an assortment of giveaways. The highlight was getting to go in the police car and fire truck afterwards. And then playing at the park and going to the fishing pier, where the kids talked up a guy catching a fish on literally every cast (a well stocked lake!). Joe even got to hold a fish which quickly flopped on to the pier. Stay tuned for an upcoming fishing trip if Joe stays interested.  

Turned out to be a beautiful day!  

Imagination

Last week was our second go at the annual Imagination and Inventors Fair.  If you recall, last year Joe made a bird hotel made of milk cartons.  This year Joe was apparently of the mind that a milk carton should be used for his project, but he had a spark when he saw his apple sauce pouch top which is in the shape of a helicopter spinner.  So Ted had Joe sketch out his idea and create a materials list.  He also suggested making a diorama from a shoebox, which is something Joe does on his own occasionally. 

On assembly day, the boys had to change up the design a bit, incorporating a clothespin for the landing gear and to hold the rear spinner, and some balsa wood for the main spinner.  Joe colored it based on a picture found on Google. And the diorama was a city scene with a helipad.  

At the fair Joe got interviewed and was able to describe the project well. Meanwhile Julie was off interviewing other kids having been roped in to volunteer again.  Clara did her best not to get overwhelmed, but she will have her own project next year!

Joe with helicopter and missing front tooth lost that very day.