First Day of school in the new room

Now that we have had the official ceremony we are 'free' to use the room. School is taking place in here, laundry is getting done, and there is even some ironing, crafting and sewing taking place - this is truly a multi purpose room. The view makes me want to spend all my time there.... as long as someone is willing to clean up the back yard.....

Ribbon Cutting Ceremony

Ribbon Cutting Ceremony a thinly veiled excuse for a get together with good friend and a reason to have ice cream.
Lukas and Noah were armed with scissors to cut the official ribbon. They obviously had some issues with either the ribbon or the scissors.. but finally it got cut and we are now officially in and using the room.

Laundry shoot

Lukas and Noah have discovered the laundry shoot..... Ie shooting white socks from across the room into the open washing machine. Another laundry shoot can be war - Lukas vs Noah using socks as weapons. There is no wonder our socks have holes in them.. these are multi tasking socks...

Home economics or water conserving cleaning?

Lukas and Noah baked on Saturday. We had a party to prepare for, and in their opinion making cheesecake just was not good enough. Lukas pulled out Cooks Magazine and set out to make the perfect Lemon Bundt Cake, and Noah pulled out one of his favorite books: If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. In the back is a recipe for peanut cookies, that I think Noah has memorized.
The boys measured and mixed, dolloped, and baked but I think they got the most enjoyment out of licking. Had it not been for the grease shine from the butter, I am not sure I would have noticed that they needed cleaning. A new water conservation method maybe now that water rates are going up again.

Hide and Seek

Lukas and Noah played hide and seek the other morning while helping me watch our next door neighbor Isabel. Noah was not to be found
but had to make sounds and noises to even get people to look in the right room. Finally, he stuck out his head from the bottom shelf of our cabinet in our new family room. He had crawled in behind the 25lb bag of flour - don't ask :-) - and the 10 lbs of sugar. To make sure his cover was complete he grabbed some open cereal boxes to close off the entire front. Maybe he has a future as a contortionist????

House builders

Lukas and Noah designed and built a small house complete with furnishings for Ducky and Ratatouille the other morning. I had no idea that paper plates, craft paper and straws could make such a fancy dwelling. The boys were not satisfied until the animals had new bed coverings which they sewed and stitched using both sewing needles and the sewing machine. The new construction is now dispensed from the ceiling using a complex system of pulleys and winches. It sure looks like the animals are enjoying their new living arrangements and the boys had a lot of fun in the process.

Grateful

It is that time of year when we begin to reflect more intentionally on the many blessings we have, and the many things we ought to be grateful for in our lives. Noah helped set up our Thanks-giving tree and quickly put up a leaf with the thing he is most thankful for right now - Lego. I look forward to seeing what will end up on the tree this year apart from Lego.

Playground time

Every Thursday Noah gets to play on the playground while Lukas has his piano lessons. A few times, we have had friends come by and play, but often Noah and little Joseph are the only two boys there. Noah then gets to be the big boy, whom Joseph imitates and follows around. Quite the change for someone who has an older brother.....

Let's try this

When there is a question that Mamma cannot answer, there is always the Internet... I miss having to pull out the large encyclopedias, I got a bonus bicep curl exercise each time.... not so much with the computer.

Tower of Money

Since California collects a Cash Refund Value (CRV) on certain beverage containers and since there are some in our family who consume relatively large amounts of certain beverages, we end up with a lot of cans. Noah and Lukas are responsible for sorting the cans and counting them out before we take them to the recycling center. The person who counted and sorted gets to keep the cash.
Noah can often be counted on to come up with creative ways to accomplish his tasks, and this was no exception. He stacked the cans to make it 'easier to count, Mamma.'
He did earn $2.50 for his efforts and he seemed to have fun in the process.

Lukas 9 years old

We started this blog about two years ago, around Lukas' 7th birthday. Today he embarked on his 10th year, and I cannot wait to see what this year will bring.
Happy Birthday to our Lukas Johann!

Music and fire

Noah surprised Lukas by playing Happy Birthday on his violin. He learned the song only that morning when he asked his violin teacher to teach him how to play it for his brother. Since he could not practiced beforehand, he did it a few times to get it just right - what a precious and thoughtful gift.
After music and ice cream sundaes, the boys headed outside in the dark evening to light their fire. Before dinner they had proudly constructed a rather large log cabin type fire set up in our back yard fire pit. The wood was old, the construction done well so once lit it quickly soared toward the sky. Bob became the fire marshal and sprayed the air with water to prevent a natural disaster. The boys had so much fun watching the wood go up in flames, it was the first time I saw them sit still all evening as they watched the fire slow down and turn into embers. Amazingly, the offer of smores was rejected unanimously - there is a bottom in even these boys when it comes to sweets! I had a chance to take some fun photos while sitting outside under the dark night sky, warmed by the glows of a fire - a great way to spend an October evening in Monterey.

Although we brought out sweatshirts, the fire was so warm that shorts and t-shirts was the appropriate attire for this part of the festivities. Next up was pjs, sleeping bags and movie number two, this time presented on our lap top in the new family room.

The last noise was heard at 2:15 am... and nobody stirred before 7:30 am this morning....... I am predicting an early bed time for everyone, parents included, tonight after this fun filled celebration.

Party time

Lukas had grand plans for this celebration;
Mirror Maze
Laser Tag
Chinese Food and pizza for those not liking Chinese food
Cake - yellow cake with vanilla pudding and Nutella in between the layers and topped with whipped cream
Movie at the neighborhood theater - aka our friendly and kind neighbors who have a large screen set up
Ice cream sundaes with too many toppings to count
Bon fire with smores
Another movie and pop corn
All this washed down with soda



Lukas and Noah helped with the party prepping, pouring, crushing and organizing the many toppings for ice cream sundaes. Lukas made the vanilla pudding and helped put together his own cake, 'I want to, Mamma.' he said when I offered to make it for him.

Five boys soon filled the house with noise, laughter, more noise and squeals of delight. They had fun at the maze and brought home attractive glasses which Lukas happily donned for the photo. Soda was consumed in large quantities, and the line to the bathroom grew, and grew....

Birthday Boy opening a few gifts in the morning

Lukas has been eyeing the pile of gifts and cards that were arriving this week. Before Bob went to work he was able to open just a few.
Lukas squealed with delight as he opened soft packages from Grammy and Pappy, and even wanted to wear one of the shirts right away. Too bad it is so sunny outside that long sleeve is a bit much. The cash falling out of the funny card was a great surprise. Lukas also opened the gift that his brother so carefully selected a while back. It is amazing that Noah was able to keep this fabulous present a secret this long. Lukas is now the proud owner of a dremel tool and only because the errand in the morning involved party preparation did neither boy protest too much when told they could not try out the tool right away.

Reading Time

Four boys, four books, four Popsicles, beautiful weather = peace and quiet!