Category Archives: Samuel

Ambulance Rides and A Curious Look Back

Our Spring Break is off to a rocky start. What started out as a nice, sunny morning, quickly became a scary situation when Kei was taken by ambulance to the hospital after suffering an allergic reaction to some medication. He’s OK now, but I was very worried. The up side? The kids were with him and experienced their first (and hopefully last) ride in an ambulance. Thomas said it was cool, even if they didn’t turn on the siren.

Side note: It hurts a little that, in an effort to save money I arranged a series of childcare swaps with friends rather than sign the kids up for day camps. It was a fantastic plan (and still is) but, sadly, it looks like that money will be spent on medical bills instead. Don’t get me wrong, the ambulance ride was absolutely necessary in this instance. I just wish it didn’t drain our bank account.

Let’s change the subject, shall we?

I was looking through my photos from the past few weeks and realized that apart from the red couch pics, I hadn’t shared the rest of our photos from our recent visit to OMSI. While I used to take Thomas to the science museum a lot when he was a toddler – they have a baby playroom – I realized I hadn’t taken them to check out the museum since they have been old enough to really enjoy and understand it. A school holiday seemed like the perfect opportunity.

After my kids asked me what this is…

…we made a stop in the ball room where the they had to build tubes and then use forced air to move balls through the tubes. Samuel showed me around.

And, honestly, I think they were a little delusional with this sign.

We then wandered around learning about balance and earthquakes and all things physics. I may have even learned a thing or two.

This was so much fun – paper, a pen and a pendulum.  think we made about six of these drawings.

Sadly the boys wouldn’t let me take any pictures of these with their static electricity hair, but this was the next best thing.

We built perfectly balanced arches…

Played with some puppets…

and looked for fossils.

We even sorted some recycling, although Thomas looks a little perplexed by this potato.

It was a great day – so much so that we stayed for about five hours and were forced to eat in the OMSI cafeteria. I have to say, though, that the food was actually very good. I’ve eaten in a lot of museum cafeterias and was incredibly impressed by the quality and the reasonable prices. I’m tempted to go back even without a museum ticket.

I’ve determined that 7 and almost 5 are great ages for OMSI. At this age, the boys have just enough curiosity that they’re not easily jaded by things like electricity and, well, puppets. I think we’ll go back agan soon although I think a trip to the Planetarium might be on the cards. I think the boys would really enjoy it and, to be honest, I might too.

My Little Magpie

Samuel has a very special eye for all things shiny and sparkly. Almost every day he comes home from school with something new that he found on the playground that he just can’t wait to share with me. Items that I have been presented with so far include: colored beads of every shape and size, charms from necklaces and bracelets (although nothing that could pay for my retirement), a handkerchief (ewww), about a dozen hair ties that were especially for me, and at least a couple of dollars worth of pennies. In fact, he found 4 pennies just by crawling under the table while we were out for dinner a few nights ago.

It definitely pays to go through Samuel’s pockets before I do the laundry.

I love that we’ll be walking down the street and all of a sudden he’ll stop and pick up something shiny that he spotted on the ground. Well, most of the time anyway. Sometimes I have to tell him it’s something we should leave on the ground (foil from a candy wrapper, for example, or more hair ties).

Who knows? Maybe he’ll strike it rich one day and that plastic gem he picks up will turn out to be a diamond. I’m sure that’s part of his plan. This kids knows the value of a penny.

Todays Photos of Lego Mania

On Saturday afternoon, while Kei played a leisurely game of golf in some gorgeous sunshine, the boys and I headed to the oregon convention center. While I was disappointed that we weren’t out enjoying the sun, we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to check out some amazing lego creations at Bricks Cascade.

The boys (and Thomas’ friend from school) loved it all but by far the biggest highlight was a super-sized Hogwarts Castle. Kei finished reading the second book to them on Friday night so we coincidentally enjoyed a post-lego convention viewing of the The Chamber of Secrets. More (better) photos of the Hogwarts Castle can be seen here if you’re interested. Apparently it’s quite famous.

But Hogwarts was only the tip of the iceberg…

Name that movie.

I kind of want to build this one.

The boys in front of Portland’s “Union Station”. Some were more excited than others.

Lady Gaga in concert.

A cute little camp ground… with a freight train running by (relaxing).

And, possibly my favorite (apart from Hogwarts), an ode to The Wizard of Oz. This is Emerald city, of course.

And Munchkin Land..

This one’s for the Geeks (including my husband)

And I’m only posting this one because my kids get so much glee out of the fact that their Mother is deathly afraid of spiders. I fought my fear and stood within just a few feet of this giant (lego) creature.

And, finally, a little flashback to legos from my childhood. My kids still play with this set when we visit my parents in Australia. I just love that toys from my childhood are now considered “classic”.

The best part about the day is that Thomas and Samuel immediately went home and started building things without using the instructions. The first thing they built? A home for their new Dobby minifigure…of course.

How He Rolls

Samuel has been dressing himself for a long time now. And, if you know my child at all, you won’t be surprised to learn that he’s very particular about what he wears. He’ll sometimes spend a frustratingly long time digging around in his drawer for that one exact shirt that he needs – sometimes it’s the one with the breast pocket so he can carry his pen. Other times it has to be a plain shirt with no pattern or picture or not THAT Star Wars shirt, the OTHER Star Wars shirt.

Interestingly, none of his clothing selections are based on one thing looking good with another thing. It’s always a practical choice and it’s always for a very good reason.

Samuel still hasn’t shared his reasoning behind yesterday’s outfit, but I’m dying to understand. Prepared for an emergency Hippie Soccer convention, perhaps?

 

Words of Warning and a Love of Literacy

We’ve been on a reading and writing frenzy in our house lately.

Thanks to Pre-K, Samuel has discovered a new passion with writing and our evenings are often spent spelling out words so he can write us a love note or two (or five). He loves periods (puts them between every word) and his favorite words to write are like and love.

For Thomas, the second half of first grade has seen an amazing improvement in his reading ability. Now, anytime we leave the house, we have someone who reads every single sign, headline or menu out loud. It truly feels like he was struggling with his reading one day and the next day he suddenly just got it. I’m sure Pokemon has a lot to do with this improvement, as much as I hate to admit it. (Ever read one of those books as a bedtime story? Painful.) The Pokemon character names are often spelled phonetically and Thomas has spent months learning the details of every single one. I’m so excited that he has this new skill. I just know Thomas will love reading and this opens up a whole new world.

While we’re on the subject of reading and writing, I want to share a couple of signs that I found posted to the boys bedroom doors a few weeks ago. We had a bunch of people over for the Super Bowl and Thomas decided that it was a good opportunity to set some ground rules for his guests.  I love how he put’s the “can’t do” list first and then follows it up with the “can’s”. For the record, jumping was accidentally put under the wrong list (he has a bunk bed and low ceilings).

Samuel was a little more direct.

“No girls in my bedroom”.

Here’s to making things crystal clear thanks to the written word.

Today’s Photo Taken by Thomas

I’m back at home after a few days in Seattle and playing catch up. I think the tooth fairy must be feeling a little overwhelmed as well because she forgot to stop by our house last night for the second time this week. I blamed an overabundance of toothless seven year olds requiring her attention.

The weekend will be spent catching up on a few things around the house and, hopefully, some good old fashioned laying around. I need a recharge.

I leave you with a photo that Thomas took a couple of weeks ago. Happy Friday!

This is Four and a Half (don’t forget the half)

Inspired by a post I read on Ali Edward’s blog, I decided to interview each of my children. You can my interview with Thomas here. Today it’s Samuel’s turn.

Samuel at Four and a Half

My favorite food: Watermelon, pizza, kiwi, candy
My favorite movie: Peter Pan and Star Wars
The coolest person on earth: Wizards
My favorite thing to do at school: Making stuff and writing letters
The thing I do most awesomely: Being good
If I could go anywhere in the world, I’d go to: The ice cream place and Disney World
My favorite color: Blue, Gold, Yellow and Silver
When I grow up, I’m going to become: A Ninja
The thing my parents are too strict about: Me being too mean to Mummy and Daddy
My favorite band: The Beatles
The book I’m reading: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Two words that describe me: Smart, Good at Soccer
When I was little, I used to: Suck on everything
My favorite season of the year: Winter
The snack I could live on: Candy, raisins
The food that makes me want to puke: Tomatoes
My best friend: Xander
If I had one wish it would be: Defeating every bad guy in the world
My best memory is: When I first became Xander’s friend

Excuse the crop on the photo but Samuel was a moving target and I was determined to get a photo of him in this outfit. He’s all dressed up for an emergency soccer game should the need arise, but also for the chilly weather. Smart kid.

Screw You St. Valentine, but Thanks for the Love Notes

For me, Valentine’s Day isn’t about love and flowers and chocolates (although I unexpectedly received some chocolates this year). o, for a mother of two school-age children who happens to live in America, Valentine’s Day is about making a last-minute stop at the store to buy packs of Valentines that are really just cleverly disguised advertisements for superhero merchandise. It’s about making your children write their name and, for Thomas someone else’s name, on 25-27 valentines over three evenings because that is just too many to do in one night after school. It’s about the crazy mess that is distributing said valentines to individual envelopes at 8am when you’ve already missed the first school bell. I also carpool so add one more child to the mix and that’s at least 75 valentine cards to be distributed before 8:30am.

Somewhere, St. Valentine is sitting up in the clouds and laughing at the chaos he created. It’s enough for me to come up with a Bah Humbug! alternative for this very special, most romantic, day of the year.

Still, this year did bring a couple of unexpectedly sweet Valentine moments thanks to a couple of boys who now have the ability to write and who have way more sentimentality than their mother.

Like this little surprise message from Samuel. Who says you can’t say it on a post-it note?

And he was kind enough to give me really long legs.

Thomas wrote a very special Valentine for his crush. Translation: To Sabrina. From Thomas. 2013.

It came complete with a photograph of himself, of course. I love that he calls out the day and date of their last playtime.

And then finished off with a heart.

Both boys have been working on letter writing at school so I also want to share a couple of special notes that we’ve received over the last few days.

From “your friend” Samuel. I’m particularly impressed by the hiragana.

And this one from “your son” Thomas.

Receiving letters from my boys may be my new favorite thing, but I don’t need them with a side of candy hearts.