First night of Hanukkah

For the first night of Hanukkah, we had some of our favorite friends over for dinner. I made tasty latkes and served them with crock-pot applesauce, greek yogurt, smoked salmon, and salad. Jessica and Jules brought donuts for dessert. Sara and Jon brought an activity for the kids, which was a candle-making kit: you roll sheets of beeswax around a wick, and voila. The result was so delightful we lit one whole full menorah of them even though it is just the first night. The other menorah was more proper. Here are the children imitating the candles.

It's fun looking back at past Hanukkahs (2008-1, 2008-2, 2009, 2010). And I think our life here just keeps getting better and better.

Chore chart

The boys requested that we have a chore chart, and who am I to say no to that? They thought up the chores that they feel need doing. (Their choices were clearly guided by what they hear us complaining about.) I made a fun sign for the fridge, which I think helps us all be more invested in the system. They go about their tasks cheerfully and vigorously, almost every day.

School photo

Our seven-year-old. I love it.

Not for the squeamish

Dale happened to be downstairs, and one of the children flushed the toilet, and water went on Dale's head. Ew. He checked it out and found a big hole in the toilet waste pipe, as in, you could poke three fingers in there. Except that you would not do that.

It's a plastic pipe. The hole looks to me like a rat hole. It also looks like it's been there a long time, because there is a lot of sediment around the opening. Did I say ew?

Dale ductaped it. That's a start. When the sewer guy comes back to address our very own sinkhole in the backyard, we'll have him examine this as well.

Our basement has always been a little stinky around the laundry machines. Lots of people have stinky washing machines; we wondered if maybe the former owners washed a lot of cloth diapers, or something. It wasn't usually that bad. Now that the major sewer work outdoors has been done, the basement is noticeably less stinky. Our neighbors initiated the sewer work because of sewer gas coming into their basement...maybe we had it too and didn't realize. Ew. And maybe we have poop-pipe gas too.

Violations

1.

Aaron threw a shovel at a friend at school on Thursday, giving the other kid a good whack to the head. The injured party was very cheerful about the whole thing, declaring "I know it was an accident, Aaron! I still want to be your friend!" But there has been a certain disregard for safety lately so we felt a need for followup. As part of making reparations Aaron wrote a letter of apology ("Dear Evan, I am sorry for throwing a shovel at you. Love, Aaron.") and made a lego airplane for his friend as a gift. At school the next day, Dale supervised a short ceremony in which the two kids sat in opposite chairs and the card and gift were presented. The event attracted a small crowd of other children. Evan was delighted with the whole thing, especially the lego airplane. The other kids said, "Aaron, if you hit me on the head with a shovel will you make me a lego airplane too?"

2.

I was giving Jordan and his friend Watson a ride home after basketball last night. I told Jordan that Grandma would by joining us for dinner, and Jordan cheered. Then:

Watson: Why do you like your grandma so much?
Jordan: Because she's really nice. She does fun things. And when we go to her house she has a Wii. And she makes yummy dinners.
Watson: Oh. Sounds good.
Jordan: We get to have sleepovers and it's really fun. In her apartment she sleeps in the upstairs part and Aaron and I sleep in the downstairs part. She goes to sleep and Aaron goes to sleep and I am still awake. I wiggle Aaron and I say "Aaron!" and he doesn't wake up. So I get up, and I go silently into the kitchen, and I steal a cookie. It's so easy.

Kitchen done

The kitchen is done! Looks like the painters did a great job. Beyond that, they were prompt, friendly, communicated well, cleaned up perfectly, and got done early. It's looking great in there.

Hmm, hmms

Rachel: What are those circles over your head?
Aaron: Those are my hmm, hmms.
Rachel: Your thoughts?
Aaron: That's right.

Painting prep

The kitchen is all cleaned out in preparation for painting tomorrow. It's like we're just moving in.

I left out a few things for breakfast (the toaster, the butter, the honey), and the bread machine is still doing its thing.

Cleaning a room out for painting feels intimate to me. I spend a lot of time in the kitchen, and it felt good to clean off every single surface and get into every little corner. (But not inside the drawers or cabinets, for now, except for the freestanding cabinet, which they will have to move. Ugh.) Tomorrow afternoon the kitchen will be the same color, but without the white splotches left there from two years ago when we had the new lights installed, and greatly freshened up all around.

Everything that is normally on the countertops, on the walls, or hanging from baskets or the pot rack is now in the basement. 

These shelves are normally my pantry, but not normally so full.

Thumb art

How do you help kids not suck their thumbs at night? Over the past two years (sigh) we have had a series of increasingly elaborate rituals. (Only Jordan sucks his thumb, but Aaron is included in everything, just because it's easier all around.) The first attempt was the nasty nail polish, painted onto thumbs at night. Then we moved to nasty nail polish painted onto a band-aid on each thumb, so that it could be removed in the morning. Then we moved to wearing gloves at night, with a red X drawn on each thumb in washable marker so that we can tell if the gloves were removed. One night I drew hearts instead of X's, and since then, it's been four miniature artworks in washable marker every night. They tell me what to draw and I do my best.

For ten days in a row Aaron has requested (1) a potato and (2) a rotten pineapple. I can't explain why these are so satisfying to him.

Jordan thinks up something new every night: a tree, a cheetah, a car, a musical note, a bull. Tonight he asked for an eyeball and the word "me."

Theoretically they get points for showing their thumb-pictures in the morning, and the points can be traded in for legos. We are not all that consistent about this... we let them record their points, and occasionally we buy them some legos, but the economy is not a well-defined one. This keeps it from becoming a chore.

Not what he would call it

Aaron was at the table drawing, and I asked him to help clean up the living room. No response. When I eventually gained his attention:

Me: Aaron,  I think you were ignoring me.

Aaron: I was not ignoring you.

Me: Oh. What would you call it?

Aaron: Taking liberty.