Strong genes

Andrew's dad has been scanning pictures and we sat down last Sunday to look at the pictures he put up on a Picasa web album...I just need to get access to that album. But here's one I pulled from Facebook.

On the left is Benjamin (February 2014—about 20 months old) and on the right is Andrew (sometime in 1987 (I guess late summer/early autumn because Katharine is sitting up fairly well, though I cropped her out)—around three years old). Obviously it's not a great comparison since they're still a year apart, but the similarities are easier to see than when they're 27 years apart.

Benjamin's hair is a little more unruly, the little fuzz-head, but perhaps we'll be able to tame it by the time he's three, and Andrew's parents are obviously better at keeping clothes on their children (though, again, by the time Benjamin's three we'll hopefully be able to convince him of the merits of clothing as well—and honestly this is an eating-naked-on-the-back-deck picture juxtaposed with a seating-at-a professional-photographer photo. I'd probably put clothes on my kids for a professional photographer, too. Oh, and Benjamin's not really naked. He's wearing a diaper).

You can clearly see they've got the same nose, the same eyes, the same goofy grin, the same little cheeks. Benjamin is certainly Andrew's mini-me. And aren't they just adorable?

Goodbye to Grandma

We sent Grandma home today—after spending the day with her first, of course. We were pretty boring. We went grocery shopping and then Grandma took the girls on a lunch date to McDonald's. When they came home it was time to say goodbye.

Benjamin gave Grandma the sweetest hug and kiss.

Tadpoles: Day 33

After a bit of online research (here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here, but especially here, here, and here) we've determined with some degree of certainty that we're raising spring peepers.

They have lateral eyes (meaning they're on the sides of the head, not the top), they have translucent bellies so we can see their internal organs, the rest of their bodies are light brown with flecks of gold, they have a clear tail fin, and they're all about the right size. (They also look virtually identical to the ones on this website, which was kind of the tipping point for identifying ours as spring peepers).

Our water's been getting pretty gunky in spite of changing it out every so often. It probably doesn't help that we're using rain barrel water so it's starting out a little nasty as it is. Anyway, that same helpful website suggested using a turkey baster to suck out all the gunk—you know, the poop and the...dead bodies. Yeah, our tadpoles went a little cannibalistic and ate the tails off several of their siblings, leaving their heads to roll around the bottom of the tank. It's been lovely to look at. But I think I managed to suck most of them out.

We never use the turkey baster, anyway.

I've been trying to match their mouth shape to pictures in this pamphlet but I'm pretty sure I just don't know what I'm looking at.

Benjamin: Day 682

I figured since I've been updating on our frogs so frequently I should at least dedicate a post to Benjamin, who is also rapidly developing. He's 1 year, 10 months, and 13 days old today.

We're currently working on both weaning and potty training and are about equally successful with both. Benjamin is fully potty trained—with only an accident or two every day. He's also fully weaned—with only an accident or two every day. In other words, he's neither weaned or potty trained but, by golly, we're getting there.

Saturday's Surprise

Several weeks ago Rachel was texting with Grandma and Grandma asked her to ask me if she could plan a special surprise for April 12th. We told her to go ahead and plan her surprise. Deep down inside part of me was hoping for a grand adventure sometime within these few weeks of spring break like anything to break up the monotony of the semester (which is over tomorrow—alhamdulillah).

Unfortunately, Andrew's schedule didn't allow for any out of town trips. Fortunately, part of that reason was because he agreed to teach statistics to some Kazakh government officials and was paid (what we consider) a healthy sum of money to do so. So, though we were stuck in town we had a good reason for it. And we did get to have Grandma and Grandpa come to explore our own little neighbourhood a little closer.

Camping and beach trips will have to wait until later, I suppose.

Anyway, Grandma built up a lot of hype around her surprise and had us all anxiously guessing. Every now and then she'd let a clue slip—it's a place we've never been! It's going to be a bit of a drive away. It's something we'll do in rain or shine! The girls were guessed just about everything under the sun but they didn't ever guess what it was—a trip to the New Hope Valley Railway: The Triangle's Train.

"Are we here?" the girls asked as we pulled into a gravel parking lot.

"What is this place? There's not even anything here. It's just empty. It doesn't look very fun," Rachel sniffed as she got out of the van. But just then a train came roaring past.

"A train!" she said. "We're going to ride a train!"

"Not that train," Grandma said, since the train that was roaring past was a freight train and was not stopping. "But, yes, we'll be riding on a train!"

The kids were super excited. We got there a little early, so before riding the train we went through the train museum, which was made up of old rail cars. The inside of each was set up with how things really would have been inside—they even had a coffin with a "dead body" inside the baggage car as well as a safe (made me think of The Great Train Robbery).

Friday in Hillsborough

Grandpa is someone who always likes to have a plan—in fact, he was asking about "the plan" before they'd even left the airport parking lot—so while much of this first week with Grandma was spent working around the house, going to the park on a whim, or just sitting around playing and reading, this weekend was full of Plans.

Friday's Plan was to explore Historic Hillsborough. Our first stop was at the visitor's center to get some information. The kids enjoyed exploring a few of the trees that are finally in bloom. Spring is out in full force now, everything is covered with a fine dusting of pollen and, although my family is suffering with allergies, it's beautiful!

Tadpoles: Day 30

I finally managed to entice a tadpole to stay horizontally enough long enough to measure it. It's amazing how much better developed their legs are after just a couple of days!

This one is about 2.5 cm long from tail to snout; he's enjoying some freshly microwaved lettuce.

I actually fed the frogs before my children this morning, getting their breakfast ready with a baby on my hip. I must be losing it...

Easter Egg Hunt (round one)

The annual neighbourhood Easter egg hunt was this morning so even though we woke up a bit late we got ready to go in a rush and were able to make it on time. I forgot to get the Easter baskets down from the attic when I was up there last night (to get out the double air mattress that we didn't know we'd need until Grandpa suddenly showed up) so I made some up for the kids while they ate breakfast. I was worried they'd be a little small—because I made them out of lunch bags—but they ended up being a wonderful, generous size (in my opinion). Some kids had huge bags which they filled with eggs. I can't even imagine having that many eggs in my house. I think my kids got at least ten eggs each which was plenty enough.

I was happy to have Reid and Karen come with me (Andrew was running a fever all through the night so he was home in bed) because my kids were split up into three different groups. Two and under. Three through five. Six and above.

I had friends around who could have helped supervise my six year old on the hills next to the 45 MPH road but grandparents are a little more attentive (since they didn't have their own children to worry about). I think the six year olds were pulled back into the playground at the last minute, anyway, because there weren't many 3–5 year olds there. 

The baby egg hunt was over by the parking lot so Benjamin and I headed over there, leaving Grandma and Grandpa to watch Rachel and Miriam. Grandma said that Miriam was hilarious—she was stepping over eggs trying to find other eggs, not even realizing she was passing eggs up. 

Benjamin was also pretty hilarious. I told him he could pick up an egg and he was all, "Now what?":

Tadpoles: Day 28

Sometime in this busy week our tadpoles sprouted legs! We just noticed them this evening. I'm not sure the littler ones have them yet but the bigger ones certainly do. For some reason I thought the legs would be bigger but they're just little tiny things sticking out behind them.

Bits and pieces from the week

On Tuesday I planted the flower gardens in the front and side of the house. We still have to fill the planters we got for our herb garden. Andrew is looking forward to a bountiful harvest of basil.

While we were out in the yard one of the neighbour boys came over to play with the kids.

"Do you want me to find a four-leaf clover for you, Miriam?" he asked. Then he swooped down, ran his fingers over a patch of clover and pulled out this: