New neighbors

Last summer and fall, I was so excited to figure out that the five baby birds growing up in my garden were Eastern Bluebirds. Ben and Jon stayed at my parents' with my dad while I went to the MOPS convention in August. -While they were there, Dad "helped" them build me a bluebird house, I hung it on the fence in the garden, and I've been hoping they would come back and nest.

I was beyond thrilled to see a male and female checking out the house, but each time I opened the roof, I was a bit disappointed to see nothing inside. This week, I heard a racket in the garden one morning, and looked out to see those two bluebirds chasing away some bluejays. I peeked a few days later, and, sure enough, they had started a nest. It has been fun to watch her go in and out with her beak full of small twigs. I can see from the backyard, but its even more fun to sit on the stairs in the house and watch out the window that is right near the birdhouse.

Today, I watched the male and female dive bomb a squirrel who was getting a bit too close to the nest, and that inspired me to 1.) get my camera, and 2.) come up with better names for our new friends than "male" and "female."

Here is Sialia, the female. I had to laugh when she peeked out of the house to look at me. Her head kept tilting with her questions of what I was doing. I hope to soon get a picture of Silas, the male, but I haven't seen him around today. My dad should be happy with the names I chose :)

PS - the scientific name for the Eastern Bluebird is Sialia sialis; that's how I chose her name.

If I Were President

Will recently brought home an assignment he did in February for Presidents' Day. I thought I would record it now, and see what changes through the years. These are his words:

IF I WERE PRESIDENT...

"I would portect peopel's lifes.

I would be kind to a lot of peoples.

I would make a lot of speeches about our contry is neat!"

Encourage ZING!

Jon: Mama, your hair looks pretty today.
Me: Thank you, Jon. That is sure a nice thing to say!
Jon: I know... I am encourage ZING!
Me: Do you mean "encouraging?"
Jon: Yeah. Encourage zing.
Me: Do you know what encouraging means?
Jon: It means I use my nice words to make people feel good.

How does my heart NOT melt when my day starts like that?

Spring Break Adventures - Day 5

Today was Allen's birthday, and the last day of our vacation. We finished breakfast and started packing up the car. We were on the way out of Hot Springs at 9:00 and planned a mid-trip lunch stop at Historic Washington State Park.

This little town was NEAT!! We stopped at the park headquarters (the courthouse) and decided not to do the three hour tour of all the open buildings. We didn't think the little kids would have the attention span to look at antiques and listen about the history of the town for that long. Instead, we opted for the drive by tour of all the buildings -- mostly because I thought the kids would enjoy riding a horse-drawn surrey over the dirt roads.

We all enjoyed the ride and it finished the tour right in front of the tavern at lunchtime. It couldn't have worked out better! We had a leisurely lunch and headed for a mini tour of a home and the blacksmith shop. Our tour guide, surrey-driver highly recommended both.

It was quite interesting how easily I was taken back to another time in this town. They have protected, maintained, and refurbished homes, stores, barns, courthouse, and much more to be as close as possible to what it would have been like in the nineteenth century. Many of the same buildings were there about the time that Arkansas was the wild frontier and Texas was Mexico. The home we visited had an old man acting the part of the Jewish immigrant who actually built the house. He did his best to keep the kids' attention, but they were more fascinated by his white gloves and cane than the story of why his family settled here and how well the walls were insulated. Then we crossed the street to the blacksmith shop where a blade smith was working. He showed us a bit about what all the blacksmiths did, how they used their tools, and some of the things they would have created. Then he talked about his specialty -- the knives. The blacksmith shop is actually where Jim Bowie's famous knife was made on his way to Texas. They had a replica of it there -- he had  it specially made because his hands were huge...likewise, the knife. It is the biggest hand-knife I've ever seen.

We had a great trip and we are already planning the next one. It was a great confidence-booster that Allen and I didn't go crazy trying to keep up with the kids. It was quite different than at home when we all have activities that give us a bit more space than we had this week. But, all six of us enjoyed the places, things to do, and each other.

We finished the day with Allen's favorite enchilada meal with a birthday candle wedged into the tortillas. The pecan pie will follow tomorrow after I can get to the store ... now on to conquer enormous laundry pile.

Spring Break Adventures - Day 4

Today was a BEAUTIFUL day!! The sun finally came out and warmed it up a bit, so we were outside a lot. Allen took all the kids out, one at a time, on the pedal boat.

We got back to the park to do all the outside tour and trails. We got to fill up our waterbottles with hot spring water. I used mine to keep my hands warm, but the kids had fun tasting the water and daring each other to drink it hot (rather than waiting till it cooled off first.) Yes, it really is hot (around 140-degrees, so hotter than my shower) and it tastes just fine.

Back at the cottage, all of us took afternoon naps ... really LONG naps. We had thought about going back for old fashioned photos and duck tour (one of the tank-looking busses that turns into a boat,) but we slept too long. We ended up playing horseshoes in the yard, making a campfire, and eating PB&Js and s'mores for dinner. The kids played with glow sticks and ran around the yard until we decided we were worn out enough to put everyone in bed.

We had a couple more funny conversations today. Ben keeps collecting rocks in his pockets. No matter how many we take out of his pants or jacket, he still seems to grow them in there. Everytime we got in the car or went into the house we had to ask, "Are there rocks in your pocket?" Sometime along the way it got shortened to, "Do you have rockets?" It will probably end up being part of our normal Kaiser-vocabulary now.

One of the times I helped him empty his rockets, we started talking about the rocks.

Ben: Mama, I really like rocks.
Me: I know you do! Maybe someday you will be a geologist and learn more about rocks.
Ben: I can't be a G-ologist, Mama. My name starts with B so I'll be a B-ologist.
Me: Really? That's sounds interesting :)
Ben: Well, maybe I will learn about all things and just be an ALLololologist.

Spring Break Adventures - Day 3

Before we left the cottage this morning, I looked out the window to see if all the kids had hats and shoes, and I saw the boys relaxing on the porch. I could tell by their expression they were having such a serious conversation, but I couldn't hear a word of it. Will had his feet propped up on the rail, and Jon had to improvise to copy his brother.

We headed into town to Hot Springs National Park -- we drove over the mountain, saw the city from above, and even spotted a few deer.

We chose this location for vacation because the national park had a junior ranger program. Will had first done the kids-oriented workbook when he and I went on a trip to Natchitoches. Last summer, he worked through another at LBJ National Park, but it was even more special than the first because the park ranger swore him in. This time, all four kids got a workbook when we went into the Fordyce Bathhouse that serves as the park headquarters. We toured the three-story building and were fascinated to see how bathhouses operated in the early- to mid-1900s, to see the interesting bathing tools and steam contraptions, and to see the beautiful stained-glass windows that decorated the bathrooms. Every chance they could, the kids found a flat surface to work on the booklet. I eventually quit taking photos of the bathhouse and just snapped pics of all the weird places the kids found to work (PS - these are all rooms in the bath house, so they are bathrooms, but I didn't let them lay on the floor of a restroom that people actually peed in.)

We tried doing some of the self-guided outdoor tours of the bathhouses and park, but it was bitterly cold and windy and we weren't having any fun. We packed everyone into the car and went for lunch. The kids were thrilled to have lunch at The Purple Cow, especially since we let them each pick their own flavor of ice cream. The kids' naptime was during a two-hour drive through the Oachita National Forest, and when they woke up we played indoor mini-golf in a black-lighted jungle of fake dinosaurs. Initially, when the t-rex roared from the dark corner, the little kids were nervous. When the dino quieted, we taught them how to play, and they had fun. Somehow we ended up with the whole place to ourselves, which was nice because we didn't have to enforce the rules of the game. We just had fun together ... in the dark... with roaring robotic lizards... and we didn't even keep score (or get many decent pictures.)

It was just one of those days I kept giggling over things the kids were saying (even when it was a "serious" moment.) At one point, Ben walked over to me as he waved his arm in my face. "Mama, I am skinny. Look at all this skin all over me!" I decided he had the perfect definition and maybe the only one I'd use for myself :) I'm going with it!

Jon disappeared while the others were reading or playing in the living room. When I found him reading alone in a back bedroom I asked if he was okay. His answer surprised me: "Yup. But I am just being like Pickles ... sometimes I just want to be away from all those kids and by myself where its quiet." (Pickles is our cat that rarely makes it to the photos because she hides while our kids are awake -- she really doesn't like kids.)

Just before we got the mini-golf place, Jon woke up cranky and was upset that we were not going back to the house. I couldn't contain my laughter as he had a carseat tantrum yelling, "I don't WANT to go somewhere FUN!! I just want to go back to the CABBAGE and rest!!" I guess that's what we get for always staying in cabins, but calling this one a cottage. We tried to explain the word to him, and after that he kept saying he still wanted to go to COLLEGE. After a few days, all the little kids were calling our vacation home "the cabbage," but by then we understood what it meant :)

After things calmed down and the kids were ready for bed, Allen worked on more of the ranger book with them and swore them all in as Junior Rangers of Hot Springs National Park. They were so proud to get to wear the little badges the real ranger had slipped to me when she realized we wouldn't finish the booklets during her shift. (PS -- the booklets are geared toward kids ages 6-12, so we changed a few of the requirements for the little ones.)

Spring Break Adventures - Day 2

We knew when we headed out that we were probably going to see some storms this week, so I had a few indoor activities planned. The kids had trouble with the fact that the house has three televisions, yet we said we would not turn any of them on all week. Thankfully, we did bring along the Leapsters, and they were thrilled to get a little bit of screen time while Allen and I enjoyed coffee and books taking our time getting going since the MidAmerica Science Museum didn't open until 10:00. We stayed long enough to see the 12:30 Tesla demonstration. It turns out that we got to see the world's most powerful Tesla coil (Guinness Book of World Records 2009) -- it can produce 1.5 MILLION volts of electricity! They also turned on the Van de Graaff generator. You know... that thing that makes your hair stand up! (We are two nerds trying to train up a few more.) At first they were afraid to try it out, but then Will got in line to try it. Not to be out-dared by  Big Brother. Ben skipped ahead of a few nice ladies to try it... then Maddie wanted to try it, too. Before Ben got up there, Will may have been the youngest to try it. The few adults near Ben were on edge; we were a little nervous he might let go too soon (and get zapped!), but he did fine. Ben was probably the most entertaining to the crowd, not because his hair was standing on end, but because the electricity flowing through him was lighting up his sneakers. When everyone started chuckling about the shoes, one lady asked him if he knew he had them on backwards. He answered as I knew he would, as he does everyday -- with huge grin and "Of course; I like them that way!"

We went to McClard's Bar-B-Q for lunch. It was a small hole-in-the-wall we never would have found had we not seen it listed in 1000 Places to See Before You Die (United States & Canada.) After a tasty meal, we headed back to the cottage for nap time. The rainy, stormy day made it easy for us to get good naps. We spent the rest of the day snoozing, reading, and playing games.

Somehow Ben still had dirt under his fingernails and it was time to fix that just before bedtime. Ben HATES for his nails to be cut. He understands it doesn't hurt, but he still has an aversion to the process. I jokingly explained, "Ben, your nails are so grubby you probably have creatures living in them." As I started to clip them, he pushed my hand away and very seriously pleaded, "Mama, don't cut them! You'll break up their homes." That sweet comment made the kids' bedtime games a bit more bearable :) ... or maybe its that Allen and I had our lights out by 8:30, too.