Rub Me The Right Way

We tried to do a lot of kid-friendly things to counter all the walking and museums. We went down in the Crypt at St. Martin of the Fields Church and made brass-rubbings of different famous people. Basically you pick out a brass plate that you use colored waxes to rub on top of black paper to transfer the image.



Here is Georgia with Queen Elizabeth I and Brody with his King Robert the Bruce of Scotland.

London Calling

London calling at the top of the dial, after all this won't you give me a smile? Got to love The Clash.....

Brody showing off his little red bus

I was diligently looking for a place to go skiing, when some international deals caught my eye. Chris is not usually into spontaneous travel, much less to another continent, but he went along with the plans. So a week and a half later we found ourselves on a plane to London. The kids slept through most of the seven hour flight and we finally got stamps in our passports--since those darn Canadians don't stamp if you drive over to see them.

Chris, Georgia and Brody by the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben

London is an interesting place and definitely has a pulse. It is really different to see a building or fort from the 11th century nestled among gigantic glass skyscrapers with red double-decker buses flying by on the street. History is all around you and being able to actually see and touch places that you learned about in school was cool. Westminster Abbey and the Tower of London were especially interesting. The intricacies of the marble statues were just amazing. I was kind of bummed that you could not take pictures inside because it is so beautiful and difficult to describe. Georgia answered a question correctly about the queen's flag and was allowed by one of the priests to pass a rope and sit in the queen's chair in the Henry VII Chapel. She thought it was kind of a hard seat but was assured that when the queen sat there it was made much more comfortable. She also uses a hand-written prayer book that is almost 300 years old.

Kacee and Georgia at Westminster Abbey

Georgia really got into Queen Elizabeth I and King Henry VIII and was just a sponge wanting to know more and more. I guess reading Philippa Gregory and watching The Tudors can come in handy. She also thought the Crown Jewels would be very nice to take home.
We viewed the city near sunset from a massive glass enclosed ferris wheel called the London Eye.

We breezed in and out of several museums, spending most of our time with the mummies. The kids loved riding "the tube" or "windy train" as Brody calls it, and had a great time at Trafalgar Square. They bravely climbed up to a platform that is about five feet tall to sit on one of the lion statues and Brody amused himself by chasing some of the famous pigeons.

Brody and Georgia on one of the lions guarding Nelson's Column

Brody chasing pigeons in Trafalgar Square with the National Gallery in the background

Wacky Hair Day

Georgia sporting her hair-do for Wacky Hair Day at school.

Dr. Eyeball

Brody has been in this literal stage lately. Ever the little professor, he constantly asks questions about how things work or what people do at their jobs. I confess I have run scrambling for the Internet a time or two to find an answer that was acceptable to to him. There are a lot of "Whys?" coming from that child. He equates people's jobs by what they literally, not generally do. He says things like "that's a corn man (farmer)" or "the stamp lady (our sometimes foul-tempered post office worker)."

Today, I had to go for an eye exam and this is what was said while we were waiting.

B: What is the man going to do to you?
Me: The eye doctor will make sure my eyes are healthy.
B: He looks at your whole eye?
Me: Yes.
B: Your eyeball?
Me: Yes.

So when my doctor comes in to the room, Brody yells, "Hey! It's Dr. Eyeball! Yeah!"
He's a young guy and goes to my gym. I think I will yell that to him over the treadmills this week.

Green Bean Tee Pee

I have had small container gardens in the past, but that stopped a few years ago when a dog who shall remain nameless (you know who you are) started systematically pulling the plant markers and then the seedling out of the pots. I don't know why said dog would think that a jalapeno pepper plant would be a good snack so it is beyond me.
Regardless, Brody is my gardening helper in the flowerbed world and really wanted to plant things to eat this year. So we got the little greenhouse last week and planted green beans and carrots to watch them grow (or hatch according to Brody). They hatched quicker than I thought, so it was time to transplant. I am taking a risk because we are not past our last frost date in Illinois, but we live on the edge. They are vining beans, so we built a trellis, planted, and rescued one that the dog decided to take for a snack. Here is Brody with his bean plants. He calls it the Green Bean Tee Pee.

Happy Heart Day

Look! I made such pretty cookies for Georgia's class party. I really wanted to keep them and eat them all myself.

Georgia's 7th B-Day Party (#2)

Jenna, Georgia, Ally, Carlie, Addison, Amaria, Lexi and Emily

Georgia's party this year was an Almost Sleepover. This is basically a slumber party where the kids don't sleep over, but they eat, make squeals that dogs can hear in the next county, run around, eat, have dramatic episodes, eat and open presents. We added manicures with sparkly decals, a movie and games to the mix. Thank goodness my mom was there to help with the "mini-spa" and had the sense to snap a few pictures. Policing 8 first graders that are beyond excited is exhausting work. Trying to keep them all in one central area was tough enough!

8 girls plus 1 Brody party crasher

Georgia's 7th Birthday #1

Georgia's birthday seemed to go on and on this year....for days. She celebrated her actual birthday with pink and white Hello Kitty cupcakes with her class at school. We later opened gifts at home and went to dinner at her usual pick, Biaggi's Italian. She received lots of nice cards with a little something inside,

a Hannah Montana sleeping bag from Brody, a few books and a pink iPod shuffle from Mom and Dad. She was excited. Can you tell?


G.P. and Honey flew in the next day because they have not yet missed one of her parties. She blew out candles on the cake that I had made the day before but no one had eaten because we were so stuffed--plus she got a huge sundae at the restaurant because it was her birthday.

Want a Piece of Meat?

Brody has gotten a healthy jolt of testosterone from somewhere recently. He and his best friend, Brandon have resorted to looking like rock 'em sock 'em robots when they greet each other in the mornings. I try really hard not to laugh and tell them 'hands are not for hitting' and keep your hands to yourself.
Since I have another older boy who loves to play this way with his three-year old, we end up with some interesting sayings in the house. Chris started play fighting with Brody one day and told him "do you want a piece of me?" I don't remember what movie he was quoting, but Brody in typically kid-fashion did not totally hear what he said. Lately, he has been wanting to play fight with light sabers, wrestling, what have you and says " Do you want a piece of meat?"

Heard around the sensory table.......

A mom of one of Brody's friends told me something interesting today. Miss Angie had let her know the day before that the boys were standing around the sensory table at preschool discussing what cuss words their parents said at home. She quickly redirected their attention onto something else, but not before she had a good laugh. Hmmmm. I wonder what we say at home? Watch out! Someone is always listening.