The Little Man

Is now a year older....

Enjoying his free dinner from the Old Spaghetti Factory Birthday Club

Yes, spumoni is fun and yummy!

The family party on the Sunday before his birthday

on the joy of finding money!

A very fun cake from the store... Winnie the Pooh, we have been reading the collection of stories the past month. What a sweet and innocent time in life.

He knew and planned, about all year, which cake he wanted.

And this year we obliged and made it one of his gifts, those are toys on top of that cake!

5 candles carefully blown out.

BUNCO

Sweet time with Fun Friends

Bunco with my friends is a highlight on the calendar each month

Our common bond is that we are all homeschool moms,

teaching our kids each and every day in our homes

Protecting the identites of the innocent,

maybe she is in the witness protection program,

or was it a technical challenge for someone helping?

The lower tables at play, or were we just chatting....?

Our hostess for the evening

hmmm, guess this is me concentrating on my strategy

time to switch tables

well, I didn't switch tables, losers stay until they can win and move toward the "head table"

Great friends, new and old

The friendly cat, caught sneaking to join us.

We laugh a lot!

We ate every bite of the pomegranate chipolte brought by the lady in pink

Good friends

Did she have enough of the camera? Are you pointing at me?

Busy talking... so much to catch up on and get to know new friends!

The littlest member, just a month old - the only man we allow!

It was a great evening, one of the most fun Bunco nights!

Economic Reality

Mary Hunt has been one of my favorite finance advisors. She has walked the talk and didn't take any short cuts to end her debt. She is so wise and knowledgable about how the markets work and how to view the recent issues. Please check out her blog entry below, it was a good reality check:

http://www.moneyrulesdebtstinks.com/?p=392#more-392

Air rockets ROCK!

I bought all the pieces for the newest daddy-obsess...err, "educational project" last thurs and assembled the air rocket launcher this weekend. I followed the pieces/plans in my handy-dandy much loved latest issue of Make Magazine.

(you can see a video of their rocket assembly/launch here: http://www.makezine.com/15/airrocket )

Oh. My. Goodness.

Four pumps - FOUR - probably around 20psi - and the rocket went higher than any of the water-rocket launched soda bottles. (albiet without the satisfying soaking of the launcher person..) Ten-12 pumps and the rocket was almost out of sight. The recommended max of 18 pumps (70psi) and the rocket WAS out of sight.

Fortunately, it was paper, and without any recovery system it just nose dives straight back down. Usually to within about a 30' radius of the launcher.

Even after repeated nose dives into the asphalt, it straightened back up and flew real nice.

On our first launch, we completely lost (couldn't see) the rocket with it being a light sky and a masking-tape colored rocket. So we wrapped it in blue painters tape. I figured next time we'll do that, spray paint it, magic markers work well. (I plan on having the kids decorate the next template with crayons/markers and then using clear packing tape to wrap it so their deco's show through)

I didn't take any assembly pictures (sorry...too excited) but here are some shots of the finished thing.

http://picasaweb.google.com/aaron.backer/DasMakeMagazineAirRocketLauncher#

Action shots, coming up!

Let's just sweep this one under the rug...

(note: Today - Sept 19th - is national "Talk like a pirate day". You have been warned.)


So the other day, C (the 6-year-old male, remember that. The 6 year old bit. It's important later on.) Anyway C is cleaning/tidying the bathroom. Which is his usual chore.

It bein' a Saturday and all, he was also instructed to sweep and "wet swiffer" (aka mop) it.

So out comes the broom and he sidles in there. Shortly afterwords he calls "done dad, ready for inspection!"

I come in and, lo and behold, it looks swept.

"Great!" says I, "you've swabbed the head most proper. You're released to shore leave."

He makes to walk off. "Avast and ahoy me son!" I suddenly cry. "Where be the dustpan?!"

(for I notice'es he's twirrlin the broom like god's own walkin' stick dontcha know..)

"it's out in the garage..."

At this point, me nose begins to twitch.

"So..." I put it to him slowly, "where be the grub and dirt ye swabbed..?"

(can you see it coming?)

Caleb slowly...slowly...points to...

the heating register.

Oh. My.

"So you just lifted it out and swept the dirt in there...?"

"Uh-huh".

I can tell the ... inappropriate destination that this is, is suddenly dawning in his 6 year old male brain.

"And how _long_ have you been doing this for...?"

"A couple weeks..."


We got it straightened out. He mucked out the bilge with the vacuum. And was sternly told to use the dustpan from here on out, or risk keel hauling.

Twins at 60

Happy Birthday Dad and Uncle!!!

My dad is an identical twin, see the resemblance?

Dad is on the left my, so my uncle is on the right.

Their birthday is actually on Sept 8th, we celebrated a day early.

Each making a wish and blowing out those two big candles on their own corners.

My husband uses the large yard to provide ooodles of entertainment.

What is it that makes my youngest boy grin so big?

Ohhh, that is the water rocket being rapid filled with the air compressor.

Whatever happened to the bicycle pump that it was desinged with?

And here is Miss J, all sweetness, she fills the water bottles and keeps the boys in rockets.

And here is Mr. C getting into his own action, how high will this rocket go?

My mom and aunt P.

ahhh, I love to snuggle this one, Mr N. is a cuddly bud.

And here is my girl, thrilled with her homemade tart and a piece of birthday cake.

The newlyweds, my sis, and my newest little brother, they're so cute!

Happy 81st Birthday Grandma

Grandma and her children, except an uncle out of state

My mom and dad - silly or what?

Grammy just heard the new baby news!

Four generations: grandma, my mom, me and my daughter

My sis and her hubby

Grandma and some of her great - grandchildren

A beloved hug as we ended a fun party.

Celebrating our New Baby

We are so happy that we are expecting a new baby,

so we had a family celebration!!!

Here is dad mixing the drinks

Brew of choice for the evening

Quite pleased with her fizzy drink

TOTALLY thrilled with his, see the foam growing in the cup?

Cute Smiles

How many babies are there?!?!?

Just lovin that root beer float.

Dad is sloshin up too.

It is a happy toast, 5 cheers for our new baby - May 16th?