Year Outta Here

We decided that a family road trip to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum would be a desire-abe-le way to cap the year. This marked the second time that Olivia has been to the museum, but the first dressed as her favorite president. Reed and I tinkered mostly with Lincoln logs—of course—in the children’s play area, while everyone else logged time in the rest of the marvelous museum.

On the way out, we took the requisite family shot with the Lincoln family. If you look closely between G and Reed, you’ll see the menacing John Wilkes Booth, who Olivia immediately recognized when we first stepped foot in the plaza. I exaggerate not: the kid knows more at age six about Lincoln than most adults do, including yours truly.

Creating Buzz

This has been long overdue because of his long over-do (as in hairdo): we finally took Reed in for his first haircut. I guess you know it’s time when friends and family work a reference of his mangy mane into every encounter. He got through his clipping better than his older sister did for hers, but similarly the pacifying nature of a sucker got him through the ordeal. (The only part that stirred his ire was when the hairstylist used the electric hair clippers by his ears.)

Does Not Shun from These Words

One of the signs of how well things are going for Olivia in school this year is how often she builds on her school assignments at home. For instance, her teacher recently taught the class to look for words that end in –tion, which they call shun words.

As you can see, vacation was no obstruction to the completion of her enumeration.

Reed: Cover to Cover

When not dumping every single book from the bookcase in his room onto the floor, Reed’s bringing us the literature he wants for story time.

Present(s) Tense, Part II

Nearly two thousand years span the celebrated date of Jesus’ birth and the actual one of my wife, but it’s only a dozen hours or so that separates the opening of Christmas gifts from the evening of proffering birthday gifts to Beni. Olivia actually helped me select her mom’s birthday gift this year—a fashion scarf—and so she was insistent on being present to present her present to her.

In the Present(s) Tense

Just your typical Christmas here:

Aunt Liz, G, and Beni score a win in pajamas tic-tac-toe…


…Reed eats himself sick on corn nuts…


…the Christmas nachos are made…


…and Olivia becomes a fan of factbook.

Did you know that a great white shark can weigh as much as 15 gorillas?

(Sick at) Home for the Holidays

When your child misses out on the last-day-before-break holiday coffeehouse at school because of an illness, you must bring the holiday coffeehouse to her, and that’s exactly what Beni did for her ailing daughter this evening. As you can see, Olivia’s spirits rose like the steam off her hot chocolate.

Wrapper's Delight

Grandma Randi—or Gamma, as Reed calls her—played not-so-secret Santa for Olivia and her brother before she heads out to Ohio to spend Christmas Day with her other grandchild. She kept the elves at our local toy store busy, and the kids had a great time discovering what was under all of that wrapping paper.

Flit of Foot

Take a Turn for Rehearse from chris k on Vimeo.

Watching One's Steps from chris k on Vimeo.

In the fore-shadow of the winter solstice exists the winter dance recital, a chance for the girls—and one boy—from Olivia’s dance studio to demonstrate all of the hard work they’ve put into their routines over the course of the fall session. I videotaped her troupe’s routines during the rehearsal because I spent the recital at home attending to a certain toe-tapping toddler. Adrian, Aunt Liz, and Grandma Randi were honored guests at the evening performance.

First(Grade)-Class Experience

(Photo courtesy of Olivia's first-grade teacher)

As a retired educator, my mother is quite at ease in a classroom. She spent a majority of her career doing what many would consider the impossible: getting eighth graders excited about history. And so it must have been child’s play for her to spend a couple hours as a volunteer in Olivia’s first-grade classroom.

Living High on the Hug

The only thing better than being wrapped in a warm towel after a bath is to then be wrapped in the warm embrace of your mommy.

Crate Expectations

I think it was Tony the Tiger who said “There’s CRRRR-ATE!” (Or something like that.)

Playing Her Cards Right

A collector is someone who collects things as a hobby. A hoarder is someone whose obsessive collecting goes beyond what can be considered a hobby. Olivia is someone in between.

Her collecting means a couple things: her room’s closet doors are impossible to shut, and she gets mad when she finds her drawings and writings in the recycle bin. There are, of course, upshots to her gathering ways. The main one that we notice is that her stuff gives her an outlet for her creative mind. Want to play post office? No problem – let me create the mailboxes and packages from the stack of empty boxes sitting in the art-scrap section of my closet. Can’t find Uno? Easy solution – let me put together my own version using cut-up paper and business cards I’d gathered from places I’d frequented with my family.

Little Man’s Best Friend

‘Tis the season of sharing: Reed shares a school of his goldfish crackers with his favorite four-legged friend.

The Dynamo-ic Duo

The energy expended by our kids is mindboggling. They wake up when roosters crow and resist naps, yet their movements and mouths remain tireless. So rare is it they’re holding still or playing tranquilly on the floor, that I had to document this occurrence in photographic form.

ご冥福を祈ります

The title, pronounced gomeifuku wo inorimasu, roughly translates to “rest in peace” in Japanese.

Nearly two years to the day of his cancer diagnosis, my grandfather passed away today at 3:07 p.m. Tokyo time. He was 93 years old. My dad, who flew out to Japan a week ago to provide support, reports that his dad died in his sleep peacefully.

May you continue to rest in peace, Grandpa.

Goody-Two-Shoes

If the shoe’s fit to eat, eat it.

Snow-How

Reed, for whatever reason, makes the “s” silent when saying words that begin with that letter. Spoon becomes ‘poony, socks are ‘ockies, and snow is ‘no, which is also the sound he made when I asked him if he’d like gloves to go along with his powder-blue snowsuit.

As you can see, the extreme cold biting at his fingers left him ‘uper ‘ad.

Yes, Olivia,..

...there is a Santa Claus.

And yes, Santa, there’s a six-year-old who’s eager for you to receive and read the handwritten letter detailing her good deeds and gift wishes.

Joker Face

The ones from the cutting-room floor of our holiday card project:

Ten Carrot Go

This punny title isn’t worth its weight in gold, but this picture’s worth a thousand laughs. (That container he's pushing down the hallway? His diaper pail.)

Cous and Effect

Whenever Reed and Olivia get together to play with their sole cousin – Quintin’s a cool guy, so I guess he’s also a soul cousin – the fun, smiles, and presents ensue. After Turkey Day hosting duties of their own, Uncle Erick and Aunt Danielle paid us a visit this weekend. It’d been since Easter that we’d seen them, and so it’s been great catching up. To boot, my brother has a job interview on Monday in the city over from ours, which means that if all goes well, we will soon be able to spend more time together beyond the occasional holiday weekend.

Over the Topper

A star is born bound: Olivia affixed the starry topper to the Christmas tree this evening. When decorating the tree, we had to leave the bottom third of it bare because Reed insisted on grabbing all the spherical ornaments within reach. He would place them on the ground as if he were setting up penalty kicks, and yelled “goal” any time he sent one rolling.

Not Thankful for the Thankflu

Three-quarters of the whole lot of us was sick this Tofurkey Day, which meant that we had to cancel our dinner plans with friends. Beni and Olivia were bed- and couch-bound with flu-like symptoms, and Reed’s temperature was at a fevered pitch. My guess is this wave of non-wellness probably had something to do with the Lions being on national television.

House of Pain

The truth hurts, but so does catching the side of your head on a corner. The truth is that the little guy calmed down quickly after the hard knock, especially when we got him looking like his favorite musical artist.

Back to the Featured

(Photo courtesy of Olivia's first-grade teacher)

Last week was Olivia’s turn as her class’s “Featured Friend,” a program her teacher has implemented so that each student is highlighted and celebrated for a whole week at some point during the school year. The kids are given a poster board to create and share a timeline of their lives, and they are encouraged to bring in other materials and persons of significance. Beni and Reed made an appearance early in the week, and I stopped by for an origami demonstration and question-and-answer session that left me as baffled as Sarah Palin after a Katie Couric interview. (Sample questions: What is your second-least favorite color? Can you say something in Chinese? What is your third-most favorite mammal?)

Speaks (at High) Volumes

A glimpse of our mornings, afternoons, evenings, and occasional middle-of-the-nights:

Call of the Wild Child from chris k on Vimeo.

Family Treat

Perhaps they should rename it the Festival of Cookies: Beni took the kids to the annual Festival of Trees fundraiser, where they participated in the annual noshing on festive cookies. When not licking off the frosting, Reed spent most of his time parked in front of the Plinko board.