Pipe Cleaner Zoo Animals

I don’t know about you, but Sundays in our house are for constructing pipe cleaner zoo animals! Nothing gets the adrenaline pumping faster then twisting and turning small wires with fuzz into elegant  beast of beauty.

What we have here is a rare breed of zebra know in the safari as the “Mullet” Zebra. And next to him is the endangered “Afro” Giraffe.

Good times.

Mini Veggies

This is the result of my gardening. The 2 things that survived the groundhogs this summer. 1 carrot and 1 onion.

At least the kids thought it was cool, abby said she didn’t know I was growing mini veggies!

The Cricket In Times Square

Read the last chapter of the “Cricket In Times Square” last night to the kids. They really enjoy reading before bed, most night they beg me to read.

last night we read one chapter, and I was closing the book  and mentioned we only had one chapter left. Both jack and Abby started pleading ” Please Dad we need to know  how it ends”

So I caved in, we finished the book. I just put the cartoon on hold from the library, they love that when we get it.

I think the next book we’re going to read is “The Indian In The Cupboard” I remember that one from third grade.

2 More Home Brews

Pale Ale (left) Lemon Malt (right)

So I have two new home brews fermenting.

A Basic Pale Ale on the left. It doesn’t look so pale, because of the crystal malt 40º, gives it almost a amber color.

And a malted Lemonade on the right. Kind of winged this recipe because I couldn’t find a good one. The color of lemonade comes from the malt extract.

I checked them this morning and both are starting to bubble, a good sign the yeast is active.

I’ll give them a few days and them rack them into new jars.

Emery is 4!

Today is Emery’s birthday

He’s four, and proud of it.He even feels taller today.

And since he’s 4 now he’s going to start using the bathroom, and spitting out his toothpaste when he brushes his teeth.

Thats the price you pay for being a big kid.

9th Anniversary

Today is my 9th Wedding Anniversary

The years go by fast, especially when your chasing 3 kids.

I’d have to say we’ve have done quite well for ourselves, and I’m pretty happy with who we have become.

Though we are not the same people we were when we got married.

My wife has become more just a friend, she’s the one person I feel completely comfortable to be myself.

I don’t have to censor my thoughts, hide my feelings, or pretend everythings ok.

I would trade just about anything for those moments when we are both 16 again, being silly, and just enjoying ourselves.

That’s what makes 9 years go by so fast.

Reading The Tale of Despereaux With My Kids

We just finished reading “The Tale of Despereaux”.

Every night after the kids get ready for bed and have brushed their teeth, we pick someones bed to set on, and we all cozy up. normally I read three to four chapter a night.

I wasn’t sure if they would be into it, but they all seem to enjoy, especially Jack. You can tell he’s using his imagination while your reading. At the end of every night I summarize what happened that night, so the younger two can get a handle on the story.

The other night we only had two chapters left, after we finished for the night and they were begging me to finish it. So I decide to go ahead and finish the book.

The story was building up to a confrontation between the rats and Despereaux in the dungeon. the kids were a little extra close to me, so they could see the pictures. They were gasping, and clinching my arm, the anticipation was mounting.

At right at that moment where the story should climax, and your waiting for Despereaux to kill the rats, the princess pipes up and says “lets all go upstairs and eat soup” and then it just ends …

I could tell Jack was disappointed, so we talked about the book and what they liked and didn’t like. Jack tells me

“I thought there was going to be a war with the rats and Despereaux, and then they all eat soup together, it’s kind of girly!”

I promised him he gets to pick out the next book.

But at least now we can go watch the movie.

Weekly Walnut Issue #3

Talking Machine!

Emery has been an animal lately talking, which if you read the Weekly Walnut you would know.

We are trying to get him to say everyone in the families name, which is a lot harder then it sounds. Mainly because he doesn’t talk.

So a couple days ago he had 4 out of 5, and the only one he couldn’t say was Jack. He has a hard time with the “J” sound.

So Tammy told him that if he would say Jack, she would buy him a krispy Kreme Donut.

Sure enough, he said all 5 names in a row, followed by signing the word “brown” and “Big”.

Telling us what kind of donut he wanted, a big chocolate one!

The Weekly Walnut …. Hot Off The Press

The first printing for the Weekly Walnut

This is what homes school kids get to do, instead of sitting in a chair mindlessly counting down the clock until school’s over.

Jack came up with all the story ideas, took the pictures, loaded them onto the computer, I showed him how to convert them to black and white, and how to import them into indesign.

He wrote all the stories, did the research for the Piranhas on wikipedia, and commissioned abby to draw the comic.

I simply gave him some advice when he asked, created the papers logo, and helped him format, all of which at some point he could do him self.

So lets recap, he learned to use indesign, photoshop, and iphoto, used the Internet for research, we used email to sends things back and forth between us, and best of all he got the satisfaction on Sunday morning of showing mom his first newspaper.