A bit of January randomness:

 Edward's art teacher selected his Nutcracker drawing for a small art show this month sponsored by the UI College of Engineering. It's an annual show in memory of the wife of one of the professors, who was a local art teacher for two decades. Ed's teacher said she appreciated his attention to detail in his drawing, which was based on his class field trip to a local dance school's Nutcracker performance. He said he used watercolor, crayon and glitter pen to create it.

 Here we see the Christmas sweatshirts from Grandma employed as defense against the Arctic January 2014. The boys have their sweatshirt hoods up, masks down, and ski-mask hats over them topped off with jacket hoods.

This craft project completed with Grandma last night is as perfect a window into our boys' individual personalities as we may ever see. The one on the right completed exactly according to the specifications of the kit, each step meticulously followed in order. (Edward) The one on the left, all the same pieces but placed according to the whim of the craftsman (Daniel) who never met a direction he didn't want to question.

A few days before Christmas and right at dinner time, Daniel came to ask if he could do some construction with toothpicks and marshmallows. I told him that is a fun project and a good idea, but it wasn't the right time. "In fact," I said, "That's a great thing to do during your winter break from school when we have all day to play!" However, winter break hadn't yet started and he was just SURE we'd forget.

"Well, why don't you write it down then," I suggested. "We can make a list of things you want to do over the break." He got right down to business:

• Mrshmelo and tuthpiks
• pool (to go swimming)
• ice skate (I think he must have made me write this, though my writing isn't much better!)
• Ice crem (he reminded us that we hadn't made good on our standard reward for passing a swimming level)
• Move nitt (movie night)
• Monopoly (it took almost the whole break to complete one game; we can only play in short spurts)

I'm pleased to report that all items on the list were accomplished during our two weeks plus two days of break. (The Polar Vortex, with daily high temps in negative double digits and wind chills in -30 to -40 range, hit right when they were supposed to go back to school so the first two days were canceled.)

Soon after returning to school, Edward and his classmates all researched or interviewed family members about what school is like in other countries. Edward interviewed Uncle Joe over the phone about school in Brazil, where he and Aunt Brenda lived for two years before their current assignment in Mexico City. At left are the notes he took and a right the final report. Note the green school bus and the students in uniforms (pink/purple was not specified by the interview subject--artistic license by the reporter.) Boys are identifiable by the blue hats.

 

His writing is improving, but to help decipher it reads: 

In Brazil the children wear uniforms, and the school buses are not yellow. They go to school from 7:30 to 1:00 and then come home for lunch. Parts of their schools are outside and their summer break is in December and January.

It always feels weird to me to send Daniel to school on his birthday because it's so different from the type of day Edward has on his. But off he went with a bowl full of pineapple cut into star shapes to share with his Kindergarten class.

By quirk of calendar, an all-school fun night sponsored by the PTO at our community gym fell on Daniel's birthday this year. On the one hand--the whole school is having a party on your birthday, yea! On the other hand, there's not much time between the end of the school day and the start of the fun night and you still have to fit in presents and a pizza dinner with Grandma and Grandpa. Thankfully, they were gracious about our lightning speed celebration and dash out the door.

I wish I had video of Daniel opening gifts because even these smiles don't capture his pure joy in shouting, "Oh, wow, this is great! THANK YOU!!" as each present emerged from its wrapping.

 

 No more squabbles over taking turns on Edward's Razor scooter!

This is our attempt to indulge Daniel's rhythmic and musical interests while somewhat preserving our sanity (and hearing.)

Even with a box full of Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars, we didn't have any planes! I never even realized this, but Grandma always seems to find just the item to fill a gap in our collection.

Edward was much more restrained about Daniel's birthday this year--sign of maturity? Whatever it is, we'll take it if it just means a scooter cruise around the living room rather than a full body meltdown!

Just after Christmas, John received a reminder of a Groupon for Coldstone Creamery that was about to expire. Daniel, who is still very susceptible to any suggestion made in a breathless "you won't believe how lucky you are" tone, helpfully agreed to an ice cream cake for his 6th birthday.

When it looked like he was ready to plant his face in his plate so as not to leave any remnants, I handed him a spatula. I mean, a boy only has a 6th-birthday ice cream cake once, right?

Well, actually, this cake was so rich (and not gluten-free--sorry, Grandpa!) that half of it was stashed in the freezer so he ended up enjoying it twice.

So then on to the school party--bounce house, roller skating, and running around like maniacs with his friends for two hours. A very happy birthday indeed. Actual birthday party with friends forthcoming in the summer, when we can celebrate 6 1/2 in the best possible way--OUTSIDE!

Edward got bored while we were watching the Hawkeyes play the Outback Bowl and was being distracting/annoying. I suggested he go play with Lego if he didn't want to watch the game with us.

"What should I build?"

House. No. Skyscraper. No. Boat. I already have my Lego Coast Guard boat.

Football player? Yes!

Then he asked who we thought was the best player on the Iowa team. We suggested defensive lineman James Morris.

Although the Hawks ultimately lost the game, I'd say the day was a win for Edward and Lego James.

Yes, he's aware that defensive players don't see much ball carrying time, but when you have the pieces to approximate a Lego football, you just gotta run with it. Also, the helmet was hinged so it could flip down over the face.

No detail escaped his attention. The white piece here is supposed to be the towel he noticed players keep at their hips.

Edward requested a Lego cake for his birthday, so of course that led to me spending some time shaking my head at the insanity of the results of a Google search for "Lego cake." Once again, I stumble upon descriptions and "how to's" that include sentences like, "It took me 13 hours, but after seeing my kid's face light up it was all worth it." No. No it wasn't. Your kid would have liked you to spend 12 hours with him and an hour ordering a cake and picking it up. One person even described measuring Lego bricks to ensure her cake was exactly to scale. No. Just, no.

I followed the directions at BettyCrocker.com, baking a 9x13 cake, cutting it in half and then cutting one half into the smaller bricks. Halved marshmallows create the brick bumps.

Edward picked the frosting colors and we were off to the races. This cake is not Pintarest-worthy, but it was taste-bud worthy and it absolutely fulfilled the vision of our newly-minted 8-year-old. I call that success.

Daniel is so into gift opening that his appreciation and admiration extends even to gifts for others.

Once again, Edward's Christmas/birthday cup overflowed--so many great new games, toys and books. And this year, even luckier to have Great Grandpa with us to celebrate (even though we somehow managed not to capture this in the photos.) We were glad that, even at 93, Great Grandpa remains adaptable enough to accept baked potato soup for Christmas dinner--Edward's birthday request.

Fancy glass, celebration plate and eight candles on a Lego cake = a happy birthday boy

Christmas morning brought the highly-anticipated 2013 Lego request: Coast Guard boat and rescue helicopter. (This is also, apparently, the best photo of our tree this year.) I've been reluctant to add more Lego to our collection since each new set ultimately ends up in pieces. There is lots of creativity at work in turning all the pieces in to new creations, but we really have no need of any more pieces! However...

... Santa did not disappoint.

A few weeks before Christmas, Daniel asked for help creating a superhero mask out of construction paper. While John was very resourceful and patient, the results lacked a certain sturdiness required of an item that must be taken off and on multiple times depending on whether a superhero is his mild-mannered self or his alter-ego. There may have been some tears over ripped masks (not John!) so we found these and wrapped them as one with stern Santa instructions that the set was for both boys to share, not one mask for each (and subsequent fighting.) So far so good.

Even with an hour-long interruption to attend Christmas Mass, all the Lego was assembled by lunch time, but then there were lots of rescue scenarios to play out. And of course the day wasn't over yet.

On to the 8th birthday celebration!

Anticipation was running high by Christmas Eve, but we still had to find ways to fill time before heading to Grandma and Grandpa's for our traditional late-afternoon gathering. Captain Underpants by the Christmas tree

Daniel got into the reading act once we got to Grandma and Grandpa's, sharing Pete the Cat with Great-Grandpa, an appreciative audience. This was Great-Grandpa's first Christmas trip to Coralville and we were so glad to have him with us to celebrate.

Some of us considered the delicious Christmas ham the main event and feasted until we could hardly move. But the boys would not let us forget that the true highlight was still to come as they dashed downstairs to open presents. The reactions here would be the same if any of the evening's gifts were photoshopped in. This electric circuits set and Lego book were highlights.

And the Ninja Turtle and Superman mask sweatshirts were put into immediate wardrobe rotation.

 Little did we know that most of the next month would actually be TOO cold for new sleds?! The words "polar vortex" were not yet part of our vocabulary.

 

And finally, we had to weigh the rudeness of plugging oneself into headphones while in a social setting against the blissful silence that accompanied their tuning into their new iPods, pre-loaded by Dad with all their favorite songs.

A very Merry Christmas for all!

December, as usual, was busy, busy, but we still had time for some fun and some traditions. Edward's class spent time learning about several different winter holidays and brought home a dreidl, which the boys found quite fun. I was amused by the juxtaposition of them spinning it next to the advent wreath!

Daniel has the same Kindergarten teacher Edward had, and her lead-up-to-winter-break traditions include an afternoon of crafts (graham cracker gingerbread houses, bead necklaces, sock snowmen) followed by a pajama day the last day of class. I helped out on the craft afternoon, once again confirming that there is a special place in heaven for Kindergarten teachers and that I was SOOOO right all those years ago when my high school guidance counselor offered me two career options, "Nurse or teacher," and I said, "Neither!"

I should know myself better by now than to attempt anything even vaguely Martha-Stewart-y, but since I did, I might as well document it. Some good friends of ours are working as a family to eliminate sugar from their diet, so a traditional plate of Christmas cookies seemed inappropriate this year. Looking for alternatives, I (foolishly) Googled, "edible wreath" and "edible Christmas craft" and found what looked like a reasonably simple but cute idea for a tree with an apple base, and grapes all around.

 Already we can tell that Martha and her ilk must scour the produce aisle for perfectly straight carrots and grapes of equal diameter. Me--I just flow with the irregular and end up with the leaning tree of Pisa. It was still a nice thought and our friends were appreciative (who knows if they dumped it in the garbage as soon as we left?!) The pineapple star idea was a hit though--slice a whole pineapple horizontally into discs and then use a star cookie cutter to cut the fruit. We ended up using this for Edward's class party and for Daniel's class birthday treat.

On Dec. 5, the boys left their shoes out for St. Nicholas, a tradition we added to our jammed December last year, when Edward learned about it in his Religious Education class. Luckily they are easy to please, though it did require an 11th-hour trip to Kohls for Christmas ornaments (ironically, during Edward's weekly R.E. class!) Helpfully, St. Nick left the rest of the bag of Dove dark chocolate bites hidden in a kitchen cabinet after putting a few pieces in each shoe. I'm pretty sure the metal rack was set up as a sort of trap in hopes that St. Nick would kick it, thereby making enough noise to wake the boys so they could catch him in the act. He's pretty nimble though and maintained his mystery.

Daniel got a guitar ornament;
Edward's is Perry the Platypus

Finally, we continued our December tradition of decorating Will's memory tree and sharing the ornaments with friends and family. This year's ornaments were drums, a nod to Daniel's current affection (obsession?) for the instrument. I like to think Will would have had similar interests to his brothers so it seemed appropriate.