Monkey Bar Master

Look at him go! Such a big kid.

Pew Pew Pew

Badguys Beware!

Games

Conan loves to play games.  He frequently beats adults at Uno, Connect 4, and Memory.  He loves Sorry, War and Chutes & Ladders.  He learns rules quickly, understands taking turns and scoring points, and he can plan and pull off simple two turn strategies to set himself up for a win.

Recently we got a game called Blood Bowl, which, simply put, is a card game where monsters* play football.  According to the box, it's for ages 14+.  It's quite complicated, with several decks and a gazillion little chits and tokens.  Naturally, Conan really really wanted to play it.  So they set it up and played.



Conan loved it.  It took nearly an hour to play, which is an eternity in 4 year old time.  He keeps asking when we can play again.

*Yes, I know that Warhammer is a lot more than monsters, but I had to sum it up in one word from a 4-year-olds vocabulary, Ok?

Tree Climbing

I got Conan a couple of pairs of "real" gardening gloves, the kind with a rubber grip coating on the fingers and palms.  He immediately declared them super duper tree climbing gloves and has been monkeying around in our big fir tree like an expert tree climber.  Which he clearly is.

Farmer's Market Duel

So this was a lot of fun...

Birdsong

A large flock of red-wing blackbirds arrived about a week ago, and have been hanging around our birdfeeder ever since, singing for their suppers.  You can't see them in this video, but you can sure hear them!



Our wetland is a perfect nesting area for the red-wings, so we generally get to enjoy hearing their songs all summer, though not in the numbers we have currently!  These are probably migrants and will continue heading north in coming weeks. It's sure nice that they stopped to sing for us for a time.

Whew.

It's been a while since I got around to updating the blog, and of course now it's harder than ever because I feel like I have to "catch up" all the things that have passed before I can post the current stuff.  I'm not going to do it though.  I'm going to summarize the last few weeks and then move on; I'll go back and expand on some of these later if I find the time.  I just have to break the log-jam and move ahead now, or I never will!

So, since the last time I posted, the following exciting and important things have happened:

• Cary turned 40, and we celebrated with a grand party on January 19th.  Friends came from far and wide and we had a terrific weekend - not just the big party Saturday night, but also great visits and huge breakfasts and dinner feasts on Friday and Sunday as well.  'twas truly an EVENT.
• On January 23rd, my Dad suffered a hemhorragic stroke and was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.  I joined him, my mom, and my aunt Pam there for the next three days while they tested him to ensure that there was no further danger (luckily, it seems to have been a one-off event) and then further tests to determine the extent of the damage.  Again, we were very fortunate: he suffered no damage to his physical abilities, no loss of memory regarding his life or relationships, no change of personality.  What he did lose was his ability to read, do math, and some aphasia that effects his ability to remember the correct words for things.  He's home now and making great improvements in all these areas through cognitive therapy.
• February 1st we went to Olympia for a visit with the Taylors and Eric and Miriam.  We spent a fun few days with them and especially enjoyed visiting the health club pool and the new Olympia Children's Museum.  Except for the part where we brought the flu with us (and then left it behind for them to enjoy - sorry guys!) it was a great visit.
• Feb 5th we drove from Olympia to Portland where I attended the Organicology conference while Conan and Cary explored the city for 5 days.  The conference was good, but the boys had a lot more fun than I did; they went to the zoo, the children's museum, Powells, several parks, the farmer's market, and generally had a great time riding the streetcars and the train, not to mention the gondola!
• Back home again lastSunday night, we settled back into our regular weekday routine and Conan resumed his swimming lessons, which are going very well.  He's really turning into a water baby, and loves jumping in and paddling around with his water wings on.  He even puts his face in the water sometimes!
• Last night we hosted a party for Charlotte's 35th birthday, which was great fun.  We even had Karaoke!  Everyone took a turn, including the children: highlights included Cohen's rendition of the ABC song, Conan belting out Twinkle Twinkle, and a group effort on Down by the Bay.  

So, there you have it.  Eventually I'll get the pictures off the camera from our time in Portland and Olympia, and there may even be some pictures from the birthday parties.  I have a lot of thoughts about Dad's stroke and the wake-up call that has been for me; it feels like I've entered a new phase of life, similar to leaving home or becoming a parent myself.  It's the Age of Knowing That Your Parents Could Die, with a side order of Recognizing Your Own Mortality.  I'm not ready to write that yet though, it's still percolating in my brain.  

And now, as a reward to anyone who actually read all the above, here's a video of another milestone: Conan has mastered the juicer.

A boy and his Kitty

Tiberius and Conan have forged a strong bond. Conan caries Tiberius around constantly and frequently sings to him. I finally caught the cuteness on video! Surprisingly, Tiberius seems to really enjoy the attention and even purrs while being manhandled and forcibly snuggled. It's very sweet.

Olympia

This past weekend we went to Olympia for Eric's "Barty" celebrating his completion of the Bar Exam. He looked far more relaxed than I've seen him in the past several years - it's good to be done with school and tests!

 

Our visit also happened to coincide with the "Paddle To Sqauxin" with canoes from as far north as Alaska arriving in Olympia Sunday morning for a day of ceremony and celebration. We went down to the beach to watch them come in.

 

Some of the canoe crews sang beautiful chants as they came into the inlet. I caught a little bit on video:

We also spent some time at one of Conan's favorite pastimes: looking under rocks for crabs.

 

Morgan is sure growing up. She's 3 now, and so confident and independent!  It's really neat to see her turning into a big girl.

 

Lots of people were out to watch the canoes come in, including large flocks of kayakers. It was very festive.

 

Back at Casa Taylor, the backyard fun complex was very popular. Conan and Morgan played together for hours.

 

It was wonderful to sit in Gabe's lovely gazebo and listen to the kids playing happily.

 

It's a long drive to Oly, but it's always worth the trip. We'll have to visit more often!

Another day at the beach

We spent Sunday at Whatcom Falls Park swimming with Uncle Eric and Auntie Miriam in the cool, refreshing water. Our favorite swimming hole is the one we call "the hottub" because the rocks form a rectangular tub (with jets!) across the stream.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Although this was not technically the FIRST time Conan had been in Whatcom Creek, it was the first time since he became a big kid; old enough to go out into the fast moving water, even if just for a moment. He's never been much of a water baby, but after watching everyone else frolic in the stream he finally asked to be carried out into the deep water.  It was a fun moment.

 

Pretzels

The most recent issue of Big Backyard magazine had a recipe for Starfish Pretzels, and Conan really wanted to try it. It didn't look too hard, so we gave it a go. Not only was it a lot of fun to make the pretzels (and didn't make too much of a mess), but they were really delicious too! In fact, in case you were wondering why Conan's wearing two different shirts in the pictures below, it's because they were so fun and easy and good we made them again the next day.

The first thing we had to do was proof the yeast. Conan thought it was really interesting to watch the yeast wake up and start making bubbles once we added it to the warm water.  He loved the idea that there were tiny "sleeping" organisms in the yeast packet that would wake up and make bubbles.

Then we mixed the flour in to the dough, kneaded it for a couple minutes, and then it was time for the good part: rolling it out.

A long snake cut into 5 peices makes a starfish shape.

We also made a number of other shapes: twists, knots, loops and even logs!  Once the pretzels were shaped, we painted them (lightly!) with egg, and then sprinkled them with salt before putting them in the oven to bake. 

 

Ta-da!  They came out great.  Despite (or perhaps because of) the extensive and enthusiastic handling of the dough, the pretzels were tender and delicious, with a nice crisp crust.  We'll be making them again & again!

The recipe is:

1 pkg active dry yeast

1 1/2 c. warm water

3/4 tsp table salt

1 1/2 tsp sugar

4 c. flour

1 egg 

2 tbsp. coarse salt (for sprinkling on top)

Stir the sugar and table salt into the warm water.  Mix in the yeast and let it sit until the yeast begins to foam

Stir the flour into the liquid gradually until it is all incorporated into the dough.

Knead the dough until it is elastic, about 2 minutes.

Portion the dough (we found splitting it into about 8 pieces made pretzels about the right size).  For starfish, roll each portion into a long rope, then cut the rope into 5 pieces about 3 inches long.  Stick them together into a star shape on a baking sheet.

Beat the egg.  Lightly paint the pretzels with the egg, then sprinkle with the coarse salt.

Bake at 400F for 25 minutes.

Trixie's 2nd Birthday

Trixie is two!  We had a delightful time at her party yesterday.  Conan and Kiah played several games of chess on Will's giant chessboard.  Kiah knows the names of several of the pieces and also knows that you can take other players pieces (she's a little fuzzy on how, but she knows she gets to do it).  Conan didn't like having his pieces taken, so he very sensibly put them in his shirt.  The kids had fun taking turns on Trixies swing, but most of all, they played on the NEW TRAMPOLINE!

Spelling Game

One of Conan's current favorite games is "spelling" words with the alphabet magnets on the fridge.  He chooses a word, and I write it down in block capital letters on a scrap of paper and put it up on the fridge (with a magnet, of course).  Then he finds the letters and assembles them in order to spell the word with the magnets.  He can spend quite a long period of time at it, and he's really creative with the words he chooses.  It's lots of fun, and pretty impressive for his age.

Bridge Building

The audio is troublesome on this movie, due mostly to the weed-whacking going on in the background.  Conan is explaining that he is building a bridge, and it needs lots of hammering because many of the parts are still too loose.  But you hardly need him to explain that, since it's obviously a bridge.  Right?

New Big Bed

Conan just got a new, big (twin) bed, and he's loving it.  He has room now for all his stuffed animals.  Or does he?  

Music!

Last weekend Conan and I went to Plain to visit Grandma Debbie and Poppy.  Conan and his cousin Chloe had a lot of fun playing together, including an impromptu duet on the piano.

Conan also performed a few solo singing numbers.

Playdough: It's Easy!

So it turns out that playdough is actually as easy to make as everyone says.  Who knew?

Well, OK, nearly everyone.  Despite frequently being told that it was super easy to make, I always thought it would be hard to get it to turn out just right.  This is probably because I have a vivid memory of my Mom making a disastrous attempt at playdough when I was a kid.  I'm not sure what we did wrong back then, but whatever it was, I was able to avoid it this time.  Our playdough turned out absolutely perfect, without a doubt every bit as good as the store-bought stuff.  And Conan loved helping to make it.

 

Cooking this stuff was pretty strange.  At first it really didn't seem like the goo in the pot could possibly work out, but after a few minutes stirring it on the stove it quite suddenly changed texture and voila! we clearly had acheived playdough.

 

The recipe said to add the color to the water, which did make it super easy to blend it in, but it also meant that all the playdough was the same color.  I used yellow, and then took about half the finished dough and worked in some blue coloring to make green.  (I would also have made some orange, but then I discovered we have no red food coloring - I think it all got used to make fake blood a couple Halloweens ago.)  It was pretty easy to work the color through, and kneading the dough while it was still warm helped to work it smooth.  Next time I don't think I'll worry about coloring the whole batch, and instead split it up after it is cooked and make several colors.

 

Conan's favorite thing to do with the playdough is to make cookies.  If I set him up with some cookie cutters, his toy rolling pin, a plate and a spatula, he'll really crank them out!

 

He's quite serious about the cookie-cutting process.  Here's a quick instructional video, in case you needed some pointers on how to make cookies from a real expert.

With cold, rainy weather settling in and lots of indoor playtime in our future, I'm really glad to have finally taken the plunge and made my own playdough.  Seriously, give it a try!  Take it from me: it's as easy as everyone always told you.

Here's the recipe we used:

Cream of Tarter Playdough Recipe

Ingredients:
2 cups of plain flour

2 cups of coloured water
1 Tbsp. of cooking oil
1 tsp. cream of tartar
1 cup of salt

Directions:
Place all of the ingredients in a medium size or large pan. Cook slowly on medium-high and stir it until the playdough thickens - just a few minutes. Keeps best in the fridge in plastic containers.

Superboy C!

Conan got all dressed up in his finest Superboy outfit today to go to the Bellingham Comic Con. As you can see, he was well prepared to whack any bad guys that might be there.

Play & Imagination

Conan's imagination is really blossoming. His playtime includes lots of chatter, dialog and play acting both with real and imaginary participants in his games. I love it.

Here are a couple of recent examples:



Serving Cake & Ice Cream is one of Conan's favorite games. You can have it in a bowl, on a plate, or in a cone, your choice! Usually it is chocolate or 'nilla, but sometimes it is wild and crazy flavors like sunshine, grass, or purple.



Wee-Haw, ride'em cowboy! Cowboys know a lot about horsies. And they have hats.

Update: Since I had to re-upload both of these, I thought I'd go ahead and add a couple more:



Conan's new fingers come in lots of colors. I had to help him put the last two on, he tried for a really long time to do it himself but his new fingers just aren't as dexterous as his old ones. They do look neat tho!



Here he is combining riding his trike with tying knots in his "catchin' rope". Knots are really interesting to Conan, and he spends a lot of time tying and untying them. He still doesn't pedal his tricycle, but he's getting better at steering while pushing with his feet. And he loves to wear his helmet, whether he's going for a ride or not.

Fruit Festival 2011

Sunday we went out to Cloud Mountain Farms' fall fruit festival, and it was a blast.  Conan got to eat an ice cream cone, put an apple through a cider press, paint a flowerpot, and pick a pumpkin - in that order.  We also brought home some delicious apples (Karmijn de Sonneville - a variety that's been on the top of my planting wish list for quite some time) and a bunch of nice squash and potatoes.

We also did a bit of dancing.  Conan was very eager to dance, and insistent that I join him, although he's a much better dancer than I am.




By which I mean I can't believe how silly I look. I'm pretty sure I was MUCH more rhythmic and graceful in real life.  But hey, I may look like a total dork, but I look like a total dork dancing with the cutest little dancer anywhere.  And we were having a great time.

 :)