I love bug paraphernalia. It's cool. I love bug prints on fabric, bug art, rubber bugs, bug stickers, movies about bugs, so on and so forth. The bugs themselves are cool (dragonflies, house flies, beetles, and praying mantises are especially cool) but the IMAGE of bugs is even more appealing to me.
Spiders are NOT cool. Ever.
I simply assumed that my love for all things buggy would rub off on the babe. Nope. She screams at flies and gnats and mosquitoes and ants and ladybugs. She tries to kill them all, or re-kill them. She used my shoe to put a sickly earwig out of his misery this morning.
I found Alice the other day shrieking in the garage, pointing and dancing at a smooshed cricket. Her signs and cries of "buh, buh" somehow made me think she was sad it was dead. Silly me, I quickly pointed out another cricket that was very much alive. Alice lost it! She ran away screaming and crying, then came back trying to STOMP on it. I told her not to kill an innocent bug and that I would take it outside.
I scooped the cricket into a cup and took it around the back of the house to let it go. When I got back, I found Alice with my rolling pin attempting to roll over the first cricket's carcass.
Oh, little girl, will I ever explain to you that your room is actually decorated in dragonflies, not "flowers" as you have so innocently assumed?
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Sunday, October 12, 2008
What a week!
Just a few pictures from our crazy-fun week.
Alice playing in her red "tuck" on a day when clothes just weren't on the agenda. This girl hates to get dressed, though she's quite practical when it comes to protecting her feet.
Close-up of the babe!
Her first skinned knee. She didn't cry a whit, but she's been trying to wipe the scab off ever since:
Friday evening we set up the bounce house. I stumbled upon one at a garage sale last week. It will be a perfect activity to break up the winter doldrums. It's small enough to fit in our living room or our garage, yet large enough to accommodate 3-4 toddlers and/or preschoolers at once. We had the Jarvies over for dinner to celebrate Marianne's birthday. Alice loved jumping around and Spencer loved smashing his face against the mesh.
Saturday morning, a friend from our church put on a tour of the Dairy Cattle Research Facility at the U of I. He's working on a PhD, but we were all interested in the cows. I was shocked to realize how big Holsteins really are (Alice is as tall as their heads are long) and that each cow has a name. I found Suzanne, but couldn't identify an Alice in time. The adults were a little shy. The calves were curious.
Alice's 3 favorite things about the dairy facility tour: 1) the crab apples on the ground out front, 2) the water buckets in the calves' pens, and 3) the fountain of urine she witnessed streaming from a cow's rear end.
And finally, a little movie clip from last weekend. Alice and her cousin Will play around after a Sunday brunch with family:
[flv width="400" height="300"]http://evansfamily.powweb.com/movies/2008/AliceWillCars.flv[/flv]
Alice playing in her red "tuck" on a day when clothes just weren't on the agenda. This girl hates to get dressed, though she's quite practical when it comes to protecting her feet.
Close-up of the babe!
Her first skinned knee. She didn't cry a whit, but she's been trying to wipe the scab off ever since:
Friday evening we set up the bounce house. I stumbled upon one at a garage sale last week. It will be a perfect activity to break up the winter doldrums. It's small enough to fit in our living room or our garage, yet large enough to accommodate 3-4 toddlers and/or preschoolers at once. We had the Jarvies over for dinner to celebrate Marianne's birthday. Alice loved jumping around and Spencer loved smashing his face against the mesh.
Saturday morning, a friend from our church put on a tour of the Dairy Cattle Research Facility at the U of I. He's working on a PhD, but we were all interested in the cows. I was shocked to realize how big Holsteins really are (Alice is as tall as their heads are long) and that each cow has a name. I found Suzanne, but couldn't identify an Alice in time. The adults were a little shy. The calves were curious.
Alice's 3 favorite things about the dairy facility tour: 1) the crab apples on the ground out front, 2) the water buckets in the calves' pens, and 3) the fountain of urine she witnessed streaming from a cow's rear end.
And finally, a little movie clip from last weekend. Alice and her cousin Will play around after a Sunday brunch with family:
[flv width="400" height="300"]http://evansfamily.powweb.com/movies/2008/AliceWillCars.flv[/flv]
Bobby's Sunday Summary
This week was a somewhat busy week, but a good one. The week was spent finishing up one project and starting on another. I am quite happy with how the first project turned out. We have been working on a replacement for an application that crunches lots and lots of data. Before it took at least 4 hours to run. The guys who wanted the project done said it would really be great if we could cut it down to 40 min. We hit 30 min and I am sure with a bit more work we can get it down below 20. Luckily, we are just putting it on hold and will come back to it, so we can. OK enough about work.
The weekend was a busy one. Susan is writing about part of it on the blog so stay tuned for that. I will fill in what we negotiated that she is not going to cover, so I could. Saturday we went to a cider pressing party. A friend of ours has a lot of land with fruit trees. Another friend recently gave them a cider press so they threw a dessert party. We had apple cider doughnuts, pumpkin cake, a frozen fluffy strawberry dessert thingy, apples with caramelly dip, trail mix, and of course apple cider we pressed ourselves. It was a lot of fun.
Alice even enjoyed it a lot too. She got to eat lots of yummy things and even get in a game of foosball with a friend.
The weekend was a busy one. Susan is writing about part of it on the blog so stay tuned for that. I will fill in what we negotiated that she is not going to cover, so I could. Saturday we went to a cider pressing party. A friend of ours has a lot of land with fruit trees. Another friend recently gave them a cider press so they threw a dessert party. We had apple cider doughnuts, pumpkin cake, a frozen fluffy strawberry dessert thingy, apples with caramelly dip, trail mix, and of course apple cider we pressed ourselves. It was a lot of fun.
Alice even enjoyed it a lot too. She got to eat lots of yummy things and even get in a game of foosball with a friend.
[flv width="400" height="300"]http://evansfamily.powweb.com/movies/2008/foosball.flv[/flv]
Saturday, October 11, 2008
New Projects
A few new projects in the works this Fall. I sure love projects, especially food-related ones.
1. Cold Frame in the garden: this is a scaled down greenhouse-like box that sits over the ground. It moderates the winter temps a bit so you can grow some cold-hardy veggies through the winter. I'll be experimenting with spinach, kale, and leaf lettuce this year. Maybe I'll have grown a salad by Thanksgiving, eh? The chard in my regular garden bed is also an experiment this year...will it grow through the snow? Can't wait to see. My friend Denise has all the tools and construction know-how to build the frame itself (lucky me!) so I get to learn about lumber, hinges, plexiglass, and framing DURING the project, not before. That means I get the cold frame 2 years ahead of schedule ;)
2. Root Cellar: it turns out my garage maintains a pretty "moderate" temperature throughout the winter. I'll be storing a few root veggies in there this year to see if it's worth the hassle. Different root veggies have different storage needs (temp, humidity, grouping, etc.), but I'm hoping it's not as complex as the books make it out to be. Worst case scenario: rotten veggies. Best case scenario: eventually growing and storing my own root veggies to enjoy all winter! How cool is THAT?!
3. Remodeling our bathroom: pricer than the other two projects. More complex, too. I'm REALLY nervous about this one, but motivated. I think. Anyone ever replaced a tub before? Yikes. Maybe I can fly my parents out sometime to help me...
1. Cold Frame in the garden: this is a scaled down greenhouse-like box that sits over the ground. It moderates the winter temps a bit so you can grow some cold-hardy veggies through the winter. I'll be experimenting with spinach, kale, and leaf lettuce this year. Maybe I'll have grown a salad by Thanksgiving, eh? The chard in my regular garden bed is also an experiment this year...will it grow through the snow? Can't wait to see. My friend Denise has all the tools and construction know-how to build the frame itself (lucky me!) so I get to learn about lumber, hinges, plexiglass, and framing DURING the project, not before. That means I get the cold frame 2 years ahead of schedule ;)
2. Root Cellar: it turns out my garage maintains a pretty "moderate" temperature throughout the winter. I'll be storing a few root veggies in there this year to see if it's worth the hassle. Different root veggies have different storage needs (temp, humidity, grouping, etc.), but I'm hoping it's not as complex as the books make it out to be. Worst case scenario: rotten veggies. Best case scenario: eventually growing and storing my own root veggies to enjoy all winter! How cool is THAT?!
3. Remodeling our bathroom: pricer than the other two projects. More complex, too. I'm REALLY nervous about this one, but motivated. I think. Anyone ever replaced a tub before? Yikes. Maybe I can fly my parents out sometime to help me...
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
The Opera!
I am *this* close to making a spangly paper chain counting down the days to November 22nd!
My friend Julia invited me to see Madame Butterfly with her next month! I have been inwardly giddy with anticipation ever since! May I take a blog entry to express to you how MUCH I love a good, tragic opera? Ahhhhhh, so dramatic! My first live opera was La Boheme, thanks to my sister Heidi asking if her little sister could tag along with her high school class. When those trumpets sounded the tragic discovery of Mimi's death, my heart broke into a million pieces. I had NO IDEA music could pierce a person like that. I've been hooked ever since.
Heidi and I later purchased season passes to the opera series held at the Capitol Theater in Salt Lake City, Utah. What a treat! I soon learned that not all opera is equally good and that I REALLY like the romantic tragedies best. My ultimate favorites being La Traviata and Madame Butterfly.
I actually have a cassette tape of "Highlights from La Traviata" that I've blasted during late nights at the lab and while painting the nursery in anticipation of Alice's arrival. In utero, Alice heard me narrate the subtle intrigue, the blossoming romance, and the bitter deception that culminates in the most striking finale I've ever witnessed on the stage.
*sigh*
I should listen to that again today.
Julia introduced me to the Merry Widow, which is the only operatic comedy I've attached myself to so far. Thanks, Julia. I'm sure there are more out there I will come to appreciate in time :)
On a semi-related side note:
I remember my freshman honors English teacher in high school taking our class to an opera once. She told us quite solemnly that "It's important to appreciate the arts young, for YOU will grow up to be the people attending these events regularly." At the time, I thought she meant we "honor students" would grow up to be the affluent upper-crust of our society, mingling at tea parties and schmoozing with political and economic big wigs at these artsy functions. That's not what she meant at all, of course, but I didn't consciously realize that until...uh...well...this second. Hm.
Now what would a Madame Butterfly paper chain look like?!
My friend Julia invited me to see Madame Butterfly with her next month! I have been inwardly giddy with anticipation ever since! May I take a blog entry to express to you how MUCH I love a good, tragic opera? Ahhhhhh, so dramatic! My first live opera was La Boheme, thanks to my sister Heidi asking if her little sister could tag along with her high school class. When those trumpets sounded the tragic discovery of Mimi's death, my heart broke into a million pieces. I had NO IDEA music could pierce a person like that. I've been hooked ever since.
Heidi and I later purchased season passes to the opera series held at the Capitol Theater in Salt Lake City, Utah. What a treat! I soon learned that not all opera is equally good and that I REALLY like the romantic tragedies best. My ultimate favorites being La Traviata and Madame Butterfly.
I actually have a cassette tape of "Highlights from La Traviata" that I've blasted during late nights at the lab and while painting the nursery in anticipation of Alice's arrival. In utero, Alice heard me narrate the subtle intrigue, the blossoming romance, and the bitter deception that culminates in the most striking finale I've ever witnessed on the stage.
*sigh*
I should listen to that again today.
Julia introduced me to the Merry Widow, which is the only operatic comedy I've attached myself to so far. Thanks, Julia. I'm sure there are more out there I will come to appreciate in time :)
On a semi-related side note:
I remember my freshman honors English teacher in high school taking our class to an opera once. She told us quite solemnly that "It's important to appreciate the arts young, for YOU will grow up to be the people attending these events regularly." At the time, I thought she meant we "honor students" would grow up to be the affluent upper-crust of our society, mingling at tea parties and schmoozing with political and economic big wigs at these artsy functions. That's not what she meant at all, of course, but I didn't consciously realize that until...uh...well...this second. Hm.
Now what would a Madame Butterfly paper chain look like?!
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