Family Survival Kit

Dave had to go to Russia for work and has been gone for 2 weeks. He left just as the kids were getting out of school and I dreaded him leaving. To help me out and help the kids deal with his leaving, he came up with the greatest idea and gave a big present to the kids the night before he left. They opened it and found it was a "Family Survival Kit" for us while he was away. Here were his instructions:
"This box contains 13 different "packets"-o-fun that are designed to help the family survive while Dad is gone on his trip to Russia. Starting this evening, you get to open one packet per day. You must all agree on who will open the packet on each particular day otherwise you can't open it!

By opening the packet, you agree to abide by the rules of this box! That means:

-Tomorrow you must do the activity!
-There can be no whining or fighting!
-Mom gets two "trump" cards taht allow her to move the activity to a different day if it will conflict with current plans
-At least every other day, you must post a picture to our blog of the activity you did. This way I can see the fun things you are doing!
(We followed every rule but the last one and I was so busy I totally failed on that one! Sorry Dave!)

He then gave the kids clues for each day so they could be thinking ahead and see if they could figure out what we would be doing. The box has been a lifesaver and it has been a countdown for the kids. We have loved it and I have so appreciated Dave's thoughtfulness to prepare such a wonderful surprise for us! It was also a great way for Dave to show the kids he loved them even while he was halfway around the world. So here are all the fun things we did while Dave was away.

Day 1: Trotter and Redenbacher
We got to watch "James (Trotter) and the Giant Peach" and eat popcorn the first night.

Day 2: Glowing tails and golden arches
I didn't have to make dinner! We had a gift certificate for McDonald's and then came home to catch fireflies in our backyard.

Here are some firefly catching pictures!

Nate, the expert catcher

Look Seth, isn't it cool?!

I got one!

Seth was sad he couldn't catch one himself so we made him the official spotter and he did a great job of spotting and tracking all the fireflies for Jessica!

Day 3: Upside down rain

We got a new bendable sprinkler in the mail this day so the kids could run around and cool off without breaking it (we just lost a rainbow sprinkler last week because they accidentally fell on it while jumping). Not only is it a fun toy, it also works great for directing the water on my flowers.

Day 4: Tome time

We got to unwrap a box of Whoppers and then eat them while we had a read-a-thon! So fun!

Day 5: "If you change your mind" time with frosty sweetness

Dance party! Our family loves to have dance parties so we turned on our favorite songs and everyone danced then we had rootbeer floats after. Dave had hidden rootbeer and ice cream in the basement.

Day 6: Epistle to the Isles ala mode

We got packets of really fun stickers in the mail this day and then the kids got to use them to make pictures for their grandparents serving a mission on the isle of Scotland. Then we had ice cream after!

Here are some pictures of the sticker fun:

Day 7: Cold and Set

Today we got to have smoothies and a game night (we like to play the game Set). I got us a new game so we broke it out today - Sequence for Kids. We had a great time.

Day 8: Ahhhhh! They're trying to eat me.

There was a bag of Skittles attached to this envelope and we got to play "Don't Eat Pete" with our cousins that night! It was hilarious.

Day 9: Dirty Little Secret with pepperoni

This was my kids' favorite clue and they are still repeating it. Dave arranged for us to go to Katie and Mike's house and play rockband and order out pizza. One of my kids' favorite songs on rockband (much to my chagrin) is "Dirty Little Secret." It's a very catchy song and they all love it. It just isn't the best thing for your kid to start singing during church when the sacrament is being passed (which has happened more than once!). Oh well, what are you going to do, huh? :-)

This was on last Friday night and it was such great weather that we decided to make a whole night out of it so we took our tent up and slept out in Katie's backyard, played rockband, swam, had pizza, had a campfire in her firepit, did smores and looked at the stars late into the night. It was such a fun night. Sadly, in my packing, the one thing I forgot was my camera so I'll have to get some pictures from Katie. Shockingly, I was even a little cold, in July, in my tent! It was awesome weather and a great start to our 4th of July weekend.

Day 10: Arhhhh - Where's me ship?

An awesome 100 piece floor puzzle was delivered to our house for the kids to put together. They put it together with their cousins then we all had dinner and went off to see the fireworks. Lucky for us, we also had my cousin, Laura, and her husband Marty who drove up to visit us for the 4th of July, as well. So we had a real party and the fireworks were great!

Waiting for the fireworks to start! Seth was quite nervous about them and very scared as they started but after he got on my lap he enjoyed them more.

The aftermath! We really wore these boys out and the drive home from the fireworks put them all to sleep.

Day 11: C is for . . .

We got to make cookies for ourselves and take a plate to someone who could use some that day. Dave had bought a tub of cookie dough at Costco so we just scooped some out and made cookies the easy way! No mess! The kids thought about who to take cookies to and Jessica made a list of possible families for us. After they all talked about it, they decided to take it to our primary chorister's family. It was very fun for them to deliver the cookies to an unsuspecting family just because!

Day 12: That makes my lips pucker!

Inside this envelope was a Chick-fil-A giftcard so we could all go get some fresh squeezed lemonade! Dave knows it's my favorite. We were heading up to another 4th (now 5th) of July barbecue with our cousins - are you noticing a theme? - so we opted to defer this one and use it in conjunction with the last day's activity.

Here are pictures from our 5th of July swim party and barbecue:

Day 13: Like the Metro on Dixie plates

Inside this envelope was a giftcard for Subway! Do we didn't have to make lunch. We were supposed to have a picnic with it but today we had a very hot day so after we picked up lemonade and Subway sandwiches, we had a picnic inside in our basement! It was delicious!

And now we have made it! We survived 2 weeks without a dad and he comes home tomorrow! None of us can wait! Thanks, Dave, for making our time without you not only bearable but fun, too. I also can't thank Katie and Mike enough for letting us crash at their house so much while Dave has been gone (and even when he's around!). It's great to have family close.

Welcome home Dave!

Seth Is Three!

It was so fun to celebrate Seth's third birthday with our cousins. We had a great party with a yummy dinner, lots of presents and a Diego pinata. Then we all went out to see the new Toy Story 3 in 3D movie at the theater!

I think all the kids are as excited as Seth to open the presents!

The wind up . . .

He blew them all out in one try!

He loved his castle cake! He wanted it to be his favorite color, red, but I told him that in frosting red usually looks pink so he went with his second favorite color, orange. He also requested a castle cake decorated with candy just like Jessica had. Luckily, we had some creative girls to decorate it and it turned out great! Thanks Jessica, Brooke and Megan!

Happy Birthday Seth! You are growing up too fast!

Boys will be boys!

So, on Father's Day, the boys decided to see how many steps they could jump down. They laid out cushions at the bottom landing of our basement steps and started jumping. Well, long story short, Nate won the competition and the prize was a trip to the urgent care/ER. Seth was jumping up to 5 steps, Caleb jumped 7 and Nate jumped all 11. He made it a few times but when he showed Dave and I, he was a little distracted and landed with one foot a bit on top of the other. We waited a few hours but when he was still in a lot of pain before bedtime we decided we'd better check it out to make sure it wasn't broken.



An ER visit and x-ray later, the radiologist said it was just badly bruised and the pediatrician said it was broken. So we had to take him to a specialist in a few days to see who was right. He went to the last week of school on crutches and was quite the celebrity.

Luckily, the specialist said it was not broken so he could go to cub camp the next week and enjoy a full summer of swimming and fun!

Needless to say, we've opted not to have any more jumping competitions down our stairs!

Jessica's 7th Birthday!!

This year we had a great party planned for Jessica's birthday . . . the boys were going camping for the Father's and Sons Campout so the girls were going to have a fun girl's night with ice cream and painting our toenails while watching "High School Musical." Then the next night, the whole family would go to Chuck E Cheese with the Bairds and Henry and Ellis (cousins staying with us) to celebrate her birthday. However, the day before the campout, the boys in our house started getting sick and by Friday night all of them were sick and couldn't go camping. This really messed up all our birthday plans.

Though she was sad about changing plans, Jessica was nice enough to let us rearrange her birthday party. So on Friday we had a family party (not wanting to get anyone else sick) and had pizza and made our own ice cream shakes while we watched "High School Musical." Then she opened her presents!

She got a Generation Girl Doll, Eva, which was her favorite present!

She loves her new umbrella and danced in the rain with it the next day.

She even got a jewelry box from Germany that Dave brought home from his last trip.

Since we had ice cream shakes on her birthday, we didn't make the cake until the next day. Jessica helped design and decorate her own cake. She decided to build a castle out of candy so using Kit Kats, a graham cracker, Rolos, Whoppers, a Ding Dong and lots of frosting, we constructed her castle! Looks good Jess! She even got the lucky penny!

She had to wait a whole week but we finally even got to go to Chuck E Cheese to finish celebrating her birthday. She had the choice to bring one friend with her and she chose to bring her cousin, Megan. We actually brought the whole Baird family and we were lucky enough to have Ben and Jenn extend their vacation in D.C. (after returning from England and Scotland) so their family was there, too. We celebrated Ben's birthday at Chuck E Cheese that day, too!

We all had a great time and even though it was spread over a week, we got all the birthday party plans in! Happy Birthday, Jessica!

Berlin (and Bourne)

Last week I was in Berlin on a business trip and had a brief chance to look around this very interesting and history-rich city. I would love to spend more time there--that is, when work is not getting in the way, and I am definitely putting it on my to-see-with-Kara list. To the right are a few pictures I snapped with my blackberry. From top to bottom: (1) Reichstag Building (historical parliament building built in 1894). More on that ... (2) Brandenburg Gate (Monumental entry to Unter den Linden leading to the palace of the Prussian Monarchs). More on that ... As a Bourne and Matt Damon fan, I also could not resist snapping a few pictures from locations used in The Bourne Supremacy (3) Westin Grand Hotel on Friedrichstraße (near where Checkpoint Charlie was located). This is the hotel used by Pamela Landy and the CIA when they set up shop in Berlin. You should recognize the interior terrace levels - a shot which features a couple times in the movie. (4) Alexanderplatz (big shopping plaza). This is the location of the scene in which Jason Bourne uses the protesters and trains running through the plaza to "kidnap" Nicky for information. (5) Train Station at Friedrichstraße. This station, which spans the Spree river was used as part of one of Jason's escape scenes. He times the trains just right, jumps the tracks, jumps off the bridge onto a barge, scales back up the bridge, and then doubles back to the train station to escape the police pursuit. Man, makes me want to watch the movie again. And yes, besides the Bourne Supremacy film locations, there is a lot of other cool stuff in Berlin and the surrounding region (e.g., Potsdam). I highly recommend making a stop in the area if you have the chance.

The Darndest Things ...

Anyone with a child knows that some of the most memorable moments at home are those times in which your child becomes an unintentional--or even intentional--comedian. You all know what I'm talking about--the times in which your child's total honesty combines with his or her less-than-complete mastery of language and social norms to produce absolute and impromptu hilarity. It's what's meant when we hear people remark that "kids say the darndest things."

Well, multiply the opportunity for "darnest thing" moments by four times (Lucy isn't quite contributing yet) and, well, you get the picture ... Here are some of our favorite "bits" from our kiddie comedy troupe over the years.

(This is a Dave & Kara Collaborative Post)

• I'm a meatball. Recently, Seth has started into the "silly" phase in which he likes to be the center of attention and therefore likes to make people laugh. Often it's a fairly slapstick show, but sometimes there are comic gems. Take for example, the time when Kara told Seth he was being funny and acting like a goofball. He promptly replied: "I'm not a goofball mommy, I'm a meatball!" We couldn't agree more.
  
  
• Pound the Corn (5/29/10). Dave took Jessica and Caleb to do some grocery shopping and because they had been so good he let them "help" choose the produce and put it into bags. Aside from the fact both the potatoes and apples ended up on the store floor at one point, it was a fairly successful venture. (Although one mishap was caused by Jessica pretending to be Santa and "throwing" the bag of apples over her shoulder to carry it to the cart.) When they started bagging the corn, Caleb asked "Dad, do we need to pound the corn"? Dave responded, "Do you mean shuck the corn"? But Caleb replied, "No, no, do we need to pound the corn ... on the scale over there"? We had just finished weighing the potatoes, which had tipped in just over 5 pounds (Lbs). I guess Caleb wanted to know how much the corn weighed by "pounding" it. Way to make your own verb, Caleb!
  
  
• National Arburrito! (3/23/07).While getting ready to visit the National Arboretum in Washington, D.C., Jessica exclaimed: "Let's go to the Arburrito! (Incidentally, one of Jessica's favorite early sayings was "Aye yaye yaye!")
  
  
• "I Gor-fot!" For a while, Seth used to say that he "gor-fot" something when he had "forgotten" it.(Try saying that outloud. It almost sounds like a bad thing.)
  
  
• Good Decisions (2/09). In joy school, Caleb had been learning about good decisions. One day after school, Caleb and I were sitting on the couch and Seth walked past. Caleb turned and said, "Mom, I made a good d.. (pausing to think of the word)." "A decision?" I said. "Great, what was it?" He responded: "I didn't trip Seth." (Should that really have to be a decision?)


• Stranger Danger Misapplied (9/16/07). At the beginning of the school year, we had a refresher course in stranger danger for both Nate and Jessica. We had been working on not hitting other people (especially siblings), so we wanted to clarify that if a stranger ever tried to take them or touch them, they were supposed to hit and fight them and scream as loud as they could. Nate said that he would hit them in the stomach, and I told him that it would actually be better to hit them in the nose and make their eyes water and get away. Over a month went by and the topic did not come up again. Then we went to a party with some friends ... The kids were playing nicely when one of our friends informed us that Nate had just punched his kid in the nose. We were obviously shocked. Come to find out, the boys had been roughhousing and Nate's friend said that he was going to tackle Nate as hard as he could. Nate told him not to, and said,"If you come near me, I'll punch you in the nose, then your eyes will water and I'll be able to get away." The boy apparently ignored Nate's warning, and Nate made good on his promise.
  
  
• Statue of Delivery (11/5/07). Caleb's favorite site on a family trip to New York. "I see it mom, the Statue of Delivery!"
  
  
• 1pm Tee Time (1/8/07). Nate had been having a hard time getting up for school lately and it came to a head one morning. When trying to wake him up that day, he grumpily replied, "I didn't get any sleep last night and I'm going to sleep in and play golf this afternoon!" He then pulled the covers over his head. I stood there for a minute laughing ... then dragged him out of bed (literally).


• I'm a Stinker (4/25/06). At a picnic lunch, Jessica would not sit down for 2 seconds to eat. She kept running away from us all over the park. She finally ran back up to us and with a cute smile on her face said, "I'm a stinker!"


• I'll be Gorgeous (5/25/06). After begging to do her hair in curlers after a bath, Jessica remarked, "Now when I wake up I'll be gorgeous!"


• Woof, Woof (12/07). For a while, Caleb believed that if he ever got in trouble (i.e., was getting scolded) he would make everything better by pretending he was a puppy dog and saying "woof, woof." He was so cute that it almost worked!


• Aaaaachoooo! (2/08). After sneezing four times in a row, Caleb turned and said, "Mom, I have the bless-yous!"


• It's Cold Outside (12/05). One winter day when Nate was in kindergarten we were all piling into the car to go somewhere. I remarked, "It's cold out today." From the backseat, Nate, responded, "No, mom, it's D@$n cold outside." Thinking we misheard him, we asked what he had said, and he responded, "It's not cold, it's D@$n cold oustide." The things kids pick up at school! We then had a nice chat about avoiding certain types of adjectives.


• Let Them Eat Cake (3/09). Caleb: "Mom, I'm going to invite you to my birthday party because I need a cake."
  

Wrestle Mania (Small Fry Style)!

With three boys in the house, let's just say there are plenty of analogies that cross my mind in the midst of the noise, destruction, and chaos ... "three-ring circus," "herd of elephants," "Lord of the Flies" ...

Recently, however, the "main event" with Caleb and Seth has been bare-chested, mixed martial arts wrestling. It all started one evening during the routine bedtime rituals. The boys were changing into their pajamas, when half-way through they started to wrestle around. It reminded us of WWF and we burst out laughing at these two boys -- who were quite seriously wrestling with their shirts off -- and because they got a lot of attention the first time, they now feel the desire to put on a show for the family regularly. Hope you enjoy some of the pictures we snapped.

In this corner, weighing in at 30.1 lbs -- Seth the Sledge Hammer Ludlow

In that corner, weighing in at 44.6 lbs -- Caleb the Bone Crusher Ludlow