tales from a far-land

 Here are Madilyn's ten  year old interview responses.   What has been your favorite moment as a ten year old?  Vacationing in Avila Beach, CA. One word to describe you would be _______.  Smart. What do you love most about your sibling?  That Aiden plays with me often. What was your favorite activity this year?  Cheerleading. What was your favorite family event this year?  Surfing in Avila Beach. Can you tell me a bit about your birthday party from this past year?  We learned how to train dogs. What did you like about it?  I liked that I had all of my friends and Sadie at the party. What would you like to do differently next year?  Less yelling. What was your favorite story book?  Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls. Is there a character from one of the books you read that you still think about sometimes?  Harry Potter What qualities about this character do you admire?  Brave, scared, and weird. What is something ...

It's a new year.  While reflecting over the year, I realized I haven't interviewed the kids in over three years.  Ugh!  Time passes so quickly.  So, I interviewed them.  Here are Aiden's age nine  interview answers : What has been your favorite moment as a nine year old?  Playing Super Smash Bros. on my birthday with my friends. One word to describe you would be _______.  Talkative. What do you love most about your sibling?  She helps me. What was your favorite activity this year?  Going to friend's houses for playdates or sleepovers. What was your favorite family event this year?  Jumping and climbing rocks in Wyoming. Can you tell me a bit about your birthday party from this past year?  Very small.  Oliver and Owen came over to swim and play video games. What did you like about it?  Playing video games.  I received a new game called Super Smash Bros. What would you like to do differently next year?  Have *...

Besides all of the sports events, school activities and travel schedule, our fall was also full of other miscellaneous moments of fun and craziness. This fall seemed to be a particularly rainy one.   Now that the kids ride the bus, they had to walk to the bus stop with umbrellas one rainy morning.  I am also happy to state that our pool survived all of the rain and we didn't end up having a mud-pit again this year. Our backyard during one of the rain storms The kids walking in the rain Our kids also used this fall to build cardboard box forts in their playroom.  They really enjoyed creating doors and multi-room forts.  They spent many a fall weekends living and sleeping in these creations.  I love how creative and imaginative their minds can be when they are not glued to their electronic devices. Some of the kids' forts Lastly, this fall, Aiden *finally* lost his first tooth.  He was such a late bloomer.  Most of his fr...

Thirty years ago, in the summer of 1988, a five-week performing tour was taken by a group of thirteen kids (ages 11 to 17) and two adults.  I was lucky to have been one of the selected kids.  Theater Works, a community theater in Glendale, Arizona, was our sponsoring organization and led by David Wo, who was one of our adult leaders.  Our production (songs and script) was themed around social issues of peace and justice.  On our tour, we primarily performed in churches and social gathering settings, although we were known to sing on a street corner or by a national monument if David felt compelled to do so.   Before leaving on tour, our group rehearsed for months.  We also participated in a peace education course which challenged us to learn about peace and conflict resolution so that we could apply it in our every day lives.  Plus, it helped provide us more context about the songs that we were performing.   Lastly, the tour was...

My kids are obsessed with YouTube Kids.  This is an actual childhood phenomenon.  From what I understand, most kids my children's age are obsessed with YouTube Kids.  And, we parents, do not understand.  Especially, because some of the channels my kids watch are painful to watch as an adult and yet, they love them.  One of my kids' favorite YouTube video channels is Ryan's Toy Review.  This kid has one of the most popular YouTube channels.   The premise of the channel, as the name implies, is that Ryan reviews toys. He provides his thoughts on the selected toy.  Then, he “unboxes” the toys, sets them up, and plays. That is the concept of the entire show until he signs off with a simple wave and says, “See you next time.”   Really!?! Here is a glimpse of Ryan's channel: Baffling, right?  My kids love him.  They will sit for hours, if we allowed them, watching Ryan unpackage toys and review them.  It is mind numbi...

At the end of January, Aiden experienced another childhood rite of passage.  A cast!  We are not 100% sure how he fractured his elbow, but the story that we were told involves a Saturday play date with some of his friends and the playroom couch.  He may or may not have fallen off of the couch. He may or may not have been pushed off of the couch.  Or they may or may not have been wrestling on the couch.  Either way, after two days of icing, ace bandaging, and medicating the situation, we decided that a trip to the urgent care was in order where it was determined that he did, in fact, fracture his elbow.  The urgent care visit was a less that optimal experience.  In fact, it was miserable.  After we found out he did have a fractured elbow, they recommended a semi-permanent cast until we could visit an orthopedic surgeon.  Aiden didn't want to get the semi-permanent cast.  He fought the entire process.  At one point, the nurse even to...

Thirty years ago today, I was sitting in Mrs. Mills' fourth grade classroom.  She was not my homeroom teacher that year (I had Mrs. DeSoto), but all of the fourth graders had gathered together in one classroom to watch the NASA Space Shuttle Challenger launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida. We were all excited, especially the teachers.  This was to be an historic event.  This was the first time a teacher would have flown in space.  Sadly, the launch became historic, but not for the reason that was intended.   I remember sitting on the floor with all of my fellow classmates.  We all participated in the launch countdown.  And then about a minute after takeoff, the shuttle broke apart in mid-air. We all sat there completely shocked, and honestly, confused.  I am not sure we all really understood what had just happened, but our teachers' eyes, some filled with tears, told the whole story.  We had just witness a national tragedy -- my *first* nati...

This past holiday season, Josh received a very fun gift from me.  We call her "Alexa", but the actual product name is the Amazon Echo. She is pretty amazing. Here is how she is described on Amazon: Amazon Echo is designed around your voice. It's hands-free and always on. With seven microphones and beam forming technology, Echo can hear you from across the room—even while music is playing. Echo is also an expertly tuned speaker that can fill any room with immersive sound. She has become a part of our family. We can add items to our shopping list. She plays us our favorite musicians and updates us on the latest news and weather of the day.  She plays games with the kids.  She can even shop for us on Amazon Prime.  And someday soon, she will be able to control the lights in our house.  She is changing our lives. One of the kids' favorite things to do is to ask Alexa to play their current favorite song:  "Shake It Off" by Taylor Swift.  They w...

One night in the past month as Josh and I were tucking the kids into bed, I walked into Aiden's room to kiss him goodnight and found him laying in his bed like this: I asked him what he was doing and he exclaimed,  "Chicken feet!"   I started laughing *so* hard.  I love how funny, silly and creative he can be at times.  Where did he come up with this!?! I ran to get the camera and recorded this video: I am still cracking up as I watch this video again and remember this exact moment in my mind -- the night my son wore red gloves on his feet waiving them in the air exclaiming, "Chicken feet!" Aiden, man, I love you so much.  I hope that you continue to make Mommy laugh as we grow older together.

Tonight the kids decided to build LEGO "Ships".  It kept them entertained for hours.  Gotta love toys that encourage pretend play.  I might be a little biased, but we may have some pretty talented LEGO builders. Check out Aiden's!  I am not sure that I would be able to create such a detailed and well thought out LEGO Ship for my favorite superheroes. Aiden's "Ship" ~ He constructed it all on his own; no assistance!  Aiden and his "Ship" Aiden explaining his "Ship"  The kids with their masterpieces  Madi with her "Ship" Madilyn talking about her "Ship"