What Not to Do With Your Brand New "Best Picture" Oscar…

09. March 2011 · Comments Off on What Not to Do With Your Brand New "Best Picture" Oscar… · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: ,

A story published in the London Telegraph online brought me a smile this morning.  The co-producer of this year’s Best Picture, The King’s Speech, Simon Egan, was celebrating the movie’s Academy Awards success at a Hollywood party with his 15-month-old daughter Lara in attendance.  Another party guest let Lara hold the Oscar so folks could take pictures.  As expected, that statuette slipped right out of her hands!

You can view the video through this link.

Mr. Egan immediately contacted the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and was relieved to learn that the Academy has a program for repairing damaged statuettes.

Lesson learned — unless you’re Walt Disney with 26 Oscar statuettes to spare, think REAL hard before letting your 15-month-old loose on your symbol of the pinnacle of your career!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

14. February 2011 · 2 comments · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , , ,

Happy Valentine’s Day friends!

We enjoyed a special Valentine’s Day-themed Build and Grow project at Lowe’s last Saturday!

My boys awakened this morning and were greeted with these little gifts for Valentine’s Day:

They had asked for them for Christmas, but I’m glad we waited till now, I think that Valentine Puppy sure is cute!

I’d backed off significant gifts for Valentine’s Day over the past couple years, but I’d kept these Pillow Pets in the back of my mind this year.  They’re about $20 each.

I found the Valentine’s ones at Walgreen’s.  You wouldn’t think of it, but you can whip together a pretty nice Valentine’s Day experience at your local drugstore.

I also found some M&Ms Star Wars gifts…$5 per kid.  The lightsaber on the left in the bottom pic has LED lights, you press a button and it stays on for about a minute.  More M&Ms stuffed into the handle of that toy.

Shameless Pitch #576: Build and Grow Workshops at Lowe’s

11. January 2011 · Comments Off on Shameless Pitch #576: Build and Grow Workshops at Lowe’s · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: ,

Jacob has to complete a number of achievements to earn his “Wolf Badge” for Cub Scouts. Those with scouts know exactly what I mean here…and those who don’t have scouts, well, these are tasks associated with being healthy, honest, righteous, and all around good citizens.

One of the achievement sub-tasks is to build a birdhouse or something similarly useful, after learning about tools for building. I got a tip from another parent in Jacob’s new Cub Scout den about simply showing up at a “Build and Grow” workshop at Lowe’s one Saturday morning. They’re usually offered twice per month, on Saturday mornings. Lowe’s provides the kits, loaner tools and workspace free of charge! You receive an apron to keep (and allegedly safety goggles too but my boys didn’t get those), and a patch to add to the apron after finishing each task.

You can sign up online to guarantee a kit being available, but the workshops are first-come, first-serve with the kits that are left if you just want to take your kids without committing one way or another. It’s recommended for kids in elementary school (although I saw many preschoolers getting in on the action).  We were there about 1/2 hour, and the environment was very laid back.  As soon as you arrive (after signing a waiver, tee hee) you get a kit and get to work.  The employees are there to help only if you need it.

The website will show what the kits will be for the next two workshops. So if you click on the link between now and about January 22, you’ll see a beanbag toss board and a music box (as a Valentine’s Day gift) as the next two projects. I happen to know that the February 26th project will be a wooden replica Lowe’s NASCAR car — such as the one pictured in the cartoon above, complete with a pull-back mechanism, I guess to celebrate the start of the 2011 NASCAR season.

I’m thrilled that my boys are old enough to enjoy this program — and we’ll be sure to keep it in mind as a Saturday morning free activity!  Enjoy some quick pictures I took of our fun morning!

From
From 2011 01 08 Build and Grow at Lowe’s

From 2011 01 08 Build and Grow at Lowe’s
From 2011 01 08 Build and Grow at Lowe’s
Proud Papa!
From 2011 01 08 Build and Grow at Lowe’s
The boys received aprons, certificates and patches for completing this project.
From 2011 01 08 Build and Grow at Lowe’s
The completed “Game Box”.  Great first project!
From 2011 01 08 Build and Grow at Lowe’s

It’s a GREAT DAY in the Vollmer House

23. December 2010 · Comments Off on It’s a GREAT DAY in the Vollmer House · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: ,

After some 3 years of trying, Jacob finally got the hang of riding his bike! He said that the hills in Nebraska made it really hard, and to be honest, he simply wasn’t as interested. But with only about 2 minutes of holding on, he took off with ease this morning!

We are SO PROUD of him! Family bike rides, here we come!

Now to figure out what Timmy wants to do next. He got really upset during all of this, sobbing in the garage. Not sure if it’s envy of riding with no training wheels, or envy of the positive attention Jacob was getting. I think Timmy can do this quite easily, he’s always ridden his bike with more speed and confidence than Jacob.

Stay tuned!

School Supply Shopping

29. November 2010 · Comments Off on School Supply Shopping · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , , ,

Today I learned one of the impacts of a mid-school-year move.

This afternoon I ventured out for the school supplies the boys need for their new school.  Their first day is tomorrow.

Dave brought home the school supply list last month after he registered the boys for their new school.  Whoa!  Not only was the list much longer, and had many “collective classroom” items, but it was also extremely specific.  “Crayola crayons”, “Fiskars scissors”, “Mead composition notebook”, “4 plain plastic folders with 3 prongs and pockets”, etc.

Fortunately, the Super Walmart right up the street from their new school has everything on the list neatly arranged in a single aisle, right down to the brand names.  It wasn’t hard to find at all.

This whole thing got me thinking: I was seriously spoiled in Nebraska!  My boys’ school supplies list in Bellevue was short and consisted of the basics: crayons, glue, scissors, pencils and a pencil box.  Bellevue Public Schools provided a LOT of the supplies for the entire class…especially the collective items, like tissues and hand sanitizer.  Homeowners in Bellevue will tell you that they’re definitely footing the bill, though 🙂

I’m sure for many of you reading this (such as my sister in central North Carolina), you’re used to it.  I also understand that my boys won’t be denied an education if I chose NOT to provide these items.  However, the thought of the teacher having to provide many of these items out of pocket for every student who is unable to provide everything gives me the chills.

And I certainly wasn’t ready at all to buy everything at full price!  A consequence of starting my boys in a new school mid-year.  I know what many of these items will cost during the August Back-to-School sales and I’m pretty certain in the future these school lists will cost us about 1/3-1/2 as much.

Timmy’s school supplies.  Note the FIVE boxes of crayons in the front.  And the ream of card stock.  Definitely unusual items.
From 2010 11 28 New School Supplies
Jacob’s school supplies.  His list was just as long, but his items apparently were smaller.  There’s a purple box under the markers filled with pencils, erasers, glue and scissors.
From 2010 11 28 New School Supplies

Everything is bagged up and ready to haul into school tomorrow morning!

Heartbroken….

30. October 2010 · Comments Off on Heartbroken…. · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , ,

Jacob and Timmy wore their Halloween costumes to school today. It turns out Jacob and another classmate both happened to have “Luigi” costumes. In fact, I got a picture of the two of them!

From 2010 10 29 Timmy Jacob Halloween Parade 2010

The boys had a good time with their Halloween parade at school, and their respective Halloween parties. But after school Jacob asked if he could wear another costume to go trick or treating…his classmates told him he didn’t really look like Luigi as well as the other young man in the picture.

Jacob also claimed that he never really wanted to be Luigi, but that simply wasn’t true. The boys were super excited all month at how easy it would be for Jacob to be Luigi because he was tall and skinny, and Timmy would be Mario because Mario is shorter and less-skinny. It was also evident the first two times he wore the costume, he was having a great time.

At first I was ready to just run to the store and buy Jacob a polyester unitard of his choice…I guess Jacob’s getting to the age where individuality is going to be trumped by popularity. He’s getting older, and I think I’ve been lucky that he’s rarely expressed strong opinions in what he wore up till recently. I think he’d have felt better in the store bought version of the costume.

In general, I’m still heartbroken. I may just have to absolutely turn Jacob loose with the choice/shopping/assembly of his costumes from now on…with zero input from me.

Sniff…sniff…my babies are growing up…

Jacob’s Birthday Cake

14. September 2010 · Comments Off on Jacob’s Birthday Cake · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , ,

This past weekend my oldest son turned 8. I had a great time working on his birthday cake. Since his 4th birthday, I’ve always taken on his cakes as a challenge each year, and this year was no exception. Jacob’s first soccer game was this past weekend also, so I thought it would be fun to do a soccer ball cake.

I picked up this Wilton Sports Ball Pan with a coupon at my local Michael’s Craft Store. Looked like a fun cake to make…

But seemed sort of small, so I decided to make a field to sit the ball on…

So here’s the field, a 9″ x 13″ cake left in the pan (I’ll explain why in a minute).

From 2010 09 12 Jacob's 8th Birthday

Then I had to put the ball hemispheres on, one piece at a time, sealed together with some icing. You can see the 3 dowel rods I used to support the ball…so the ball wouldn’t smash down the field.

From 2010 09 12 Jacob's 8th Birthday
From 2010 09 12 Jacob's 8th Birthday

Next, I iced the ball with a “crumb coat” which is a thin coat of icing just to keep the artistic stuff from getting messy:

From 2010 09 12 Jacob's 8th Birthday

Next, I used the guides in the directions to trace the soccer ball pattern. This got a little messy, the crumb coat came up as I peeled the paper.

From 2010 09 12 Jacob's 8th Birthday

The plan was to pipe in blue and red pentagons, and all the hexagons would be in white. The blue icing wasn’t as well mixed, and clumps of powdered sugar kept blocking the piping tip. So I didn’t use the blue as much as I’d hoped.

From 2010 09 12 Jacob's 8th Birthday

The finished cake:

From 2010 09 12 Jacob's 8th Birthday

From 2010 09 12 Jacob's 8th Birthday

I kept the cake in the pan to make it easier to transport to The Amazing Pizza Machine, where we celebrated Jacob’s birthday with the family and two of his closest friends here, Dean and Drake.

Happy Birthday Jacob!!!

From 2010 09 12 Jacob's 8th Birthday

Now is Time We Talk About Our Feelings….

18. August 2010 · Comments Off on Now is Time We Talk About Our Feelings…. · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , ,

Before I get going with my Colorado blog posts, I’m going to take a moment to discuss my feelings.

“Really? You RARELY talk about your feelings….you fill this blog with things you’ve seen, things you’ve done, things you would like to do….”

Yeah, I guess you’re right, my dear imaginary blogosphere friend. I think the only emotions you ever see out of me are:

“I’m so excited we got to do ^insert activity here^!!!!!!”

or

“Would you believe folks eat ^insert high fructose corn syrup, trans fat-laden food here^?”

So now I’d like to discuss the Inner Mom Peace emotions I’m feeling.

“Aww….how sweet! Whatever do you mean?”

I mean this:

Feeling the peace….

I don’t think I realized it until yesterday, the first day of school for my boys.

Yes. Boys — in the plural! My little Timmy started Kindergarten yesterday!!! Jacob’s old hat at this now, and he had no problem making his way to school almost on his own.

From 2010 08 16 First Day of School & Timmy’s 1st Day of Kindergarten

From 2010 08 16 First Day of School & Timmy’s 1st Day of Kindergarten

Yes, it was emotional for me as Mrs. Brockhaus read the Kindergarteners “The Kissing Hand“.

So…after the 30 minute parents’ time in Timmy’s class, Dave went on to work and I was left with a house to myself.

All.

Day.

Okay, so it wasn’t really all day — but it was 6 1/2 hours! And today, it was 7 hours!

And for the first time in a long time, I was finishing things around the house without one of the kids interrupting me in some way. Whether it’s the two of them arguing, one of them asking me a question, or my having to stop everything because it’s mealtime or snacktime. Part of being a Mom, I know.

All of our traveling contributed to the disorder in my mental being, I’m sure. It was a fun-filled, action-packed summer, but the return to routine is very welcome!

It isn’t really the physical tasks of doing things around the house that’s bringing me the peace, it’s the mental part of it — that my brain isn’t getting flooding with other things. I’m not thinking “Oh my gosh! I have to get this done NOW!”. I know that these things will get done eventually while the kids are at school.

Yesterday I caught up on yard work, laundry and cleaning floors. Today I caught up on filing paperwork — I had a stack of bill statements, medical insurance statements, military paperwork, even stuff from taxes last winter…a single stack that was growing and growing since New Year’s!!! I used to file this stuff MONTHLY! I also put the boys’ completed schoolwork in a pile in our office area…I later decide what stuff to keep, what stuff NOT to keep (remember, we’re a military family, we can’t keep everything!).

This feels great! And it couldn’t come at a better time as I have to start preparing for our move this fall. We’re planning a yard sale for much of our unneeded stuff, but I’ve also discovered that some of our items will sell well on Craigslist or eBay. I feel like I have time to do all this now.

It’s a nice feeling.

Jacob’s Video of Howie

31. July 2010 · Comments Off on Jacob’s Video of Howie · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , ,

Jacob asked me to share this with you. Jacob thinks that Howie seems to perk up at the word “Rhino”…and he does. But I’m not sure it’s the word as much as the inflection in his voice.

Jacob enjoys watching funny dog videos on You Tube. His favorite series of videos is of Mishka the Talking Husky.

He asked me to upload this to You Tube and has been tracking the hit count all day. We’re up to a whopping “7” as of this writing. Help us up the numbers some!

Nebraska Discoveries 14: Kool Aid!*

15. May 2010 · Comments Off on Nebraska Discoveries 14: Kool Aid!* · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , , ,

*Yes, you read that correctly!

I introduced Kool-Aid to the kids recently.  I guess they’d had it before at birthday parties and stuff, but I never made it for the boys the good old fashioned way: the little packet, 1 cup of sugar (give or take) and 2 quarts of water (give or take.)

It got me thinking (can you smell the smoke?) about Kool-Aid in general.  How much I grew up with it as a kid — there are dozens of pictures of me as a kid with Kool-Aid mustaches, and I tried to find one, but I couldn’t find one easily.  But I did find this picture from April 1977:

From 1977 04 California-to-Hawaii

See? That’s how much I must have loved Kool-Aid…

Or was it that my Mom made me so much Kool-Aid, she sent in 50 envelopes for a free t-shirt? I contemplated doing that with Mr. Bubble for my own boys…

Anyway, I got to thinking about the history of Kool-Aid, and I happened across this website.  Go about 2/3 the way down the rather verbose history and you’ll see the breakthrough information…Edwin E. Perkins introduced Kool-Aid to the world from Hastings, Nebraska in the late 1920s.

Well would you look at that? Kool-Aid was invented in Nebraska!  The city of Hastings is about 2 1/2 hours west of where I am now. And look what else! In August there’s a Kool-Aid Days right there in Hastings! That sounds, um…INTERESTING. Not sure if I’d make the big trip west expressly for that, but I’ll stick it in my hip pocket if we’re desperately looking for something to do the weekend before school starts…but I’m guessing we won’t.

Back at the home front, I broke out my two-quart pitcher and whipped up some grape Kool-Aid for Timmy. He guzzled the first cup down so quickly! In fact, I had to chide him for gulping too loudly! “Glug, glug, glug!” Ha ha!

That batch lasted about 2 days, and yesterday I made fruit punch and even poured some into two cups for popsicles.  I should try to find some legitimate molds, but for now plastic cups and craft sticks are working just fine…

I like the idea of my boys enjoying Kool-Aid. It’s cheap to make (20 cents for the packet, about 30 cents worth of sugar, the negligible cost for the water). So 2 quarts for less than the cost of 1 16 oz. soda or Gatorade.  Without the high fructose corn syrup.

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