I know I'm way behind on posts but here you go.  I'm dipping back to Halloween here folks. My apologies.  But we've been busy as you can see.  Alisa's had a busy busy fall making Phoebe's costume and followed that with sewing a new skirt and shirt Phoebe wore to her winter piano recital.

I've been brewing a lot with my good friend Mark (and enjoying the outputs), working a lot writing professional development curriculum and mentoring two young and very talented teachers at a local German Immersion Charter School.  I spend a lot of my evenings writing and it's tiring yet very fulfilling and fun.  I'm learning a lot and getting the opportunity to tap a lot of the research I would never otherwise due to time.

My neighbor Rolf and I took our girls (and his older son and another
neighbor boy) climbing over the Christmas/New Year break.  They loved it.
It was fun to dig out my old harness and consider how many years I need
to wait before getting my kids out on real rock!  

Phoebe's life is packed: swim lessons, gymnastics, piano, cross-country skiing lessons, and school.  Peter, well, he just spends his day dumping liquids from pot to pan and unpacking everything but his own toys.  He's awesome, but he's a lot of work.  We have busy days around here to say the least.

First visit from the tooth fairy happened a couple weeks ago!

Last week we visited "Ice Castles" down in Eden Prarie.
Very awesome.  There are a few across the US.  The kids had
a lot of fun for the hour we were there.

We've been trying our hand at some double/imperial
ales lately.  On the right is a Double Black IPA (Cascadian IPA)

My winter office.  It's great having the basement to work, but soon
I will be kicked out by a need to start our garden--the grow lights are
good office lighting for now

Our family photo for church.  This is as good as it gets folks. 

Eli came over for a good chunk of the day a couple weeks
ago and showed up with his shovel.  His dad (Mark, who's
finishing the cement in the purple shirt below), told him I needed
help digging out my sidewalk for forms.  They made a good dent
in the first 4' of 80'

Forms running along the side of the house

A lot of time was spent thinking about water run off in the
design here.  I'm mostly proud of my curve mixed with some
polygons.  I thought for sure Alisa was going to call me on that
and ask for all smooth curves or all polygons.  As a
geometry teacher, I wanted both in the project.

We all learned a lot this day.  A lot.  Like mainly
that I bit off more than I should have and got
lucky because I have amazing friends
and neighbors who helped finish this job.

I'm pretty sure I've shed some pounds lately prepping and pouring this new sidewalk.  We poured 3.5 cubic yds yesterday (260 sq ft).  Cement is my kind of work.  There's no time to think.  There's massive pressure to work fast.  I love that.  Seriously.  There was a point yesterday where I started remembering things people were asking me and I know I wasn't responding.  I was in a complete zone and it was pretty cool.

All that said, I clearly took on more than I should have.  But we pulled it off.  I spent a few weeks prepping the yard: digging out the path.  Building forms.  Packing the dirt base.  But yesterday Mark and Matthew showed up an hour early and I started to think we weren't going to pull this off.

The driver was a godsend.  He coached me/us through a few different points in the project and told us when to shift to different roles based on how hard the cement was getting.  A couple neighbors jumped in and did a lot of the finish work and cut all the seams.  I asked the driver "so, you have seen dumber than me and this crew, right?"  He smiled and with a raise of the eyebrows: "Oh yeah!"  Thats all I needed to know  It turned out great.  Pictures to come.

Next, we landscape.  Right now we're having a near flash-flood type rain and I have no silt fence out there.  Pretty good chance that dirt yard you see is mostly in the street and on it's way to the Mississppi.  But the new sidewalk is shedding water like a pro!  Go concrete! :)

Alisa's been picking out some plants and we hope to just mulch and plant--no more grass.  If we do put some done, Prarie Moon offers some varieties with deeper root bases that will hopefully help drainage and not need as much mowing.  But we hope to cover the yard mostly with prairie plants and whatnot.

In other news, Alisa's been at her new job a few weeks now and it seems great from my point of view.  She's been home for dinner more often and has Tuesdays off!  It feels a bit more in balance already, but we need to give it a few more months as we adjust to this and of course Kindergarten.

Phoebe loves her school and her teacher.  The class assistant gave a great compliment the other day about her.  She's very into school and it's super great picking her up each day.  We walk or bike to school and Alisa is biking to work now.  It all seems to be coming together.  We are very happy with the life our location allows us to live.  I'd love to get rid of a car and just be a one-car family (so that one can sit and collect dust too!) but Alisa is assuming she'll need to drive this winter.  We don't live in a good place for transit, unfortunately.  All the good busses and all trains are just a bit too far to walk to.  Anyway, someday.

Peter saw Phoebe do this with her bowl.  Now he thinks this
is just an acceptable way to eat from the get go.

Peter's been wanting to drink my coffee.  This
is just water.  I'm hesitant to give him a taste of
coffee as he may like it.  I tried that with baking
chocolate (thinking he'd never want choc again)
and he wanted more. 

The tag-along has been the preferred way to get to school.
Alisa's been carrying on to her new job most days.
We talked the other day about how satisfied we are living
where we are, having Phoebe close to home at school and
now Alisa biking to work regularly--I'm still trying to
convince her that winter biking is pretty fun.  Help me out please.

I'm getting blasted with ice . . . of course. 

On her way to her first day of Kindergarten.
Her school is awesome.  I love picking her up
and seeing many close friends there with their kids
too.  

July Away from Home

Samuel, Phoebe, Ado, and Abrahm on Bald Mtn

July was crazy.  We left on the 9th and returned on the 29th.  It was a very long time to be away from home.  Alisa had 5 weeks between her last job and her current, which she just started and it seems to be going well.  So we bummed around here for the 4th and some days after, flew out to Boston, drove up to Farmington for a couple weeks with Alisa's parents and her sister and family, drove to Acadia National Park for 5 days of camping and hiking, and returned for two days before heading back down to Boston to fly home.  

Peter missed his bed.  He didn't sleep much which made us fairly miserable.  While camping, he woke between 3:40 and 5:30 each day.  It was nuts.  The pack-n-play is over--he clearly was uncomfortable.  But when we got away from camp and went on a hike, the kids were awesome and we enjoyed ourselves a ton!  Acadia is a must see--an amazing national park.

Top of Bald Mtn

We hiked up Bald Mtn near Alisa's house she grew up in.  We took a trip to a state park beach and enjoyed the ocean.  We went to Acadia and camped in a busy park, hiked a lot (Phoebe began calling herself "Mountain Goat Spotter" becaumse it was tough to find the blue blazes on the trees and rocks!)

We saw a lot in 3 weeks and enjoyed the outdoors.  Our time around the house or in a tent was tough.  But we loved it.

Lot's of wild blue berries to pick on most of our hikes in July!

Popham Beach

Popham Beach

Peter spent a lot of time on my back.

The carriage roads in Acadia were quite nice!

Top of Gorham Mtn

"Wonderland"  An amazing beach.  At low tide there was a lot to explore and pick up.

 It's been two months so I hope I'm not getting back to my old habits.  We've been busy as we move into summer: I've been biking a bit and working on various projects around the house; Phoebe's wrapping up pre-school and getting excited to be a kindergartner; Alisa is working a lot but sees the light at the end of the tunnel (at least for this chapter of her working life); and Peter is, well, I guess we should say very happy . . . but a lot of work for us.

Abrahm and Samuel arrived for a visit to their grandparents
for a couple of weeks.  We got them out on the river road and
saw Minnehaha Falls and had ice cream (I had a liquid
sugar treat instead).

Alisa's work ends soon and we're looking forward to some family time to travel and be around here together.  It'll go fast I'm sure as we hope to go to Maine for more than a week and I am going to do a week-long consulting gig.  After all that, it'll be time for Alisa to start her new job and Phoebe to start kindergarten!

We've been preparing the garden for veges.  Last week Phoebe and I put the final touches on the blueberry bed, adding a half a cubic yard of shredded pine bark.  We put in 6 bushes and they're beautiful little plants.  I'm sure there will be some fans of the fruit in time to come, but I look forward to the plants as landscape as well.

We already have a well established raspberries, rhubarb, and I've got 3 different hops rhizomes growing (Chinook, Centennial, and Willamette, for those of you who know anything about beer and hops), two of which are doing great.  Last year I brewed a bit more than one batch of beer (2 cases of bottles or about 4 gallons) and in a few years I should be able to brew about 5 times that.  A nice bonus since hops are the most expensive factor in brewing beer.

We've been biking a lot now that Peter can ride very independently in the Chariot (I was nervous all of last year even though we did it).  Our van has less than 7000 miles on it as we approach 2 years of ownership.  2000 of those are from road trips.  More biking will hopefully lead us to eliminating a car some day when the Corolla/Matrix dies.  A couple weeks ago, I rode a Gran Fondo (100 miles) with a few friends.  It was a fun community ride (not a race) put on by a local brewery celebrating their expansion and new facility in NE Mpls.  A great ride, nice weather, and a lot of fun.

Peter has no words yet.  But we're not concerned--he knows EXACTLY what we're saying to him.  Especially when we say no, he laughs at us and runs off and does exactly what we don't want him to. It's cute.  And it drives us crazy.  When he's awake, he needs 100% monitoring.  He's a physical kid who likes to keep moving and explore.  It's great and exhausting at the same time.

Phoebe's loving her books.  She and I have been reading the Magic Treehouse series together and she's taken to reading ahead of me on her own.  She just smirks and now thinks it's funny that I'm missing out.

So, that's us for now.  I'm sure summer will go by way too fast, but we hope you all are a part of it.

Soren, Sophia, and Phoebe.  I guess what happens
when one little girl decides to play dress up--Soren
ends up with two brides.  

After a long, long winter, Peter absolutely loves
being outside.  He is content with dumping water
and digging in the garden for hours.  There's
a lot of wailing and flailing when it's time to
go in for a nap.

Phoebe and Grammy rented Frozen in April when we visited.
Phoebe has been quite into the story since, but has never
asked if she can watch it again--let's keep it that way.

All Spring, Peter was determined to swing on these.  Finally, I
added an extension and our neighbors gave us a kiddie seat.

Phoebe's getting close to riding on her own.  Currently, we get
out about once a week.  I run behind her and keep her from
tipping (note the broomstick wedged in the back--a great
idea thanks to my neighbor).  She had some pretty long
stretches today.

We had 3 windows in our basement with some sort of
plywood over/in/on/etc . . . covering light basically.
I've ripped out 2 of the three so far and am putting in new.

This one needed a header.  I think I kinda over built it, but better
safe then sorry.  The old window was a piece of sheet metal.  I
wonder what the R-value of sheet metal is? 

This other window was merely 1/4" plywood and sheet metal.
And all the wood was completely rotten.  I tried my hands at
mortar and glass block.  I found the work quite fun and very
easy.  I built the window in an even, tore out the old in an afternoon,
and mortared this in after the kids were in bed.  Slick.

Spring . . . finally!

Peter continues to push the limits, testing when I will tell him
"no".  I didn't say anything about this one.  I gotta pick my battles.

Both the Children's Museum and the Science Museum
have dinosaur exhibits on right now.  Phoebe loved that
the volcanos that were a part of these.

 

We've been up to a lot of the same around here: museums, craft projects, playing games, and going a bit crazy being stuck indoors.  But that last bit changed this week with temps in the 40s and 50s.  Yesterday, Phoebe went for a 2 mile bike ride while I tried to keep up with Peter on my back.  It's so very great to get fresh air again and to see the snow disappearing.

Phoebe has been doing dance at pre-school every Thursday this year.  Her teacher has been great.  She encourages a lot of free dance and let's the kids really play and be themselves, balanced with some formal dance education.  Phoebe spends a part of every day dancing to the Nutcracker here at home.  

Peter wasn't supposed to be a part of the performance, but I couldn't keep him seated.

Polar Vortex, Peter Vortex, and Phoebe Vortex

Reflecting on my 2.5 years as a stay at home dad:
I know I usually post more pics--sorry for all the writing and thinking this time.  I won't make this a regular thing 

It's been four years since I was home with Phoebe living in Arlington, VA.  After that year, I taught for 2 more years in WBL and have been off for another 1.5 years.  It's been great for the most part, and I don't want to do anything else at this time.  But these last 5 months have been more challenging: Alisa is working a ton more than she'd like, Peter is a very active little boy, Phoebe is learning how to negotiate and thinks everything needs it, and I am starting to feel disconnected from the stimulation of professional life that I experienced for the previous 15 years.

Two weeks ago, after a weekend of me stomping around here like an overgrown man-child, I nearly admitted I can't handle this full-time parenting business.  Not really, but I was being a serious baby.  As always, Alisa is the most patient women (far more patient that she should be with me) so she put up with me until I figured out how lame I was being.  I've also been starting nearly every conversation with my friends and acquaintances with eye-rolls and rants about the nuttiness of our home.  So this entry is an apology to all of you to whom I whine far too much.  And since Alisa's parents are currently visiting, I have a bit of time to think--so it's also a bit of therapy for me.

Last Sunday, during an after church presentation in our fellowship hall, my friend Matthew and I were hanging out in the back with Peter.  Peter ate some banana bread with Matthew and then giggled at Matthew who was playing with him.  As I watched this, I realized that I spend so much of my time negotiating, chasing, wiping spills, removing dangerous things from reach, explaining, and on and on and on--so much time that I forgot how damn fun and cute my kids are.  I needed this little moment to lighten up.

I've been thinking about this since.  This is the blessing and the curse of being home with kids during the coldest stretch of 5 weeks in my lifetime.  Cabin fever is real and hard.  Phoebe get's punchy when she doesn't have regular play out of doors.  She missed a number of preschool days due to cold temps.  I get grumpy when I have to wrestle Peter into a snowsuit, making him miserably sad, just to take Phoebe to preschool.  I long for the days when Phoebe would cuddle with him in the bike trailer and we'd have a nice bike ride to preschool.  Or I could run with them in that stroller!  The thought of getting exercise while transporting kids is so far from my mind with this harsh winter.

But I know I'm not the only parent feeling the pressure from this tough winter.  I know most of you who have kids are chuckling as you read this because you're having fond memories of when your life was chaotic like mine--I know I'm not special.  I've also had many friends remind me that my kids are at the toughest of ages as far as supervision/parenting workload goes.  I need that balanced perspective.

So here are a few great stories from the last week . . .

A couple days ago, I painted Phoebe's nails.  She always wants to paint mine so I let her this time.  She wanted to do orange.  I thought it'd be subtle.  But when I went to the YWCA to swim this morning, I was struck by how blazing bright my toes are.  As Phoebe was painting them, polish was getting spilled on the floor, all over my feet, between my toes.  As I started to tell her to take it easy and slow down, she fires back: "Dad, I'm just a little girl--I'm only 5.  It's not like I've been doing this for years and years and am super good at it."  (this is the result of her asking why I was so quick and good at something compared to her--it's come up a few times--me explaining that I've been doing it so many more years than her).

A week ago, I grabbed the skillet to start cooking a pasta sauce for supper.  I pulled the lid off and found that Peter had been cookin up some letter magnets before.  He loves the pots and pans more than any toys we've ever bought.  Lately, he's been into storing them here.  This is the kind of thing that makes me smile.  And I need to remember that this is great rather than being annoyed by the 10 extra seconds it takes me to dump them back into the play bin next to the fridge.

Last week, Peter decided he wasn't having anything to do with eating the foods we'd like him to.  He stuck to an all dairy diet and swatted, inverted, or threw everything else away.  He'd remove handfuls from his plate and drop them to the floor while looking like this (below), refusing to make eye contact, then periodically turning to point at the leftover pancakes on the counter and yelling at us.  Yeah, boy, we'll just let you eat pancakes because you don't like potato-kale soup. 

But I was nicely surprised at how much fun going to IKEA with the kids would be.  On a Tuesday at noon, it was very quiet.  I needed a stool for my workbench in the basement.  So we had an outing on a cold day.  Phoebe thought it was as fun as a museum with "a lot of different play zones" (her words for display areas modeling kid bedrooms and play rooms).  Here's one such "play zone" they both enjoyed.

In summary, being home with my kids is WAAAAAY harder than teaching middle or high school math.  Thirty-five 14 year olds who don't want to do math for an hour?  Easy.  But this is way more rewarding because it's centered around my love for my family.  This is a massive test of my patience.  And this is why it is good for me. I would not want to be doing anything else.

The next time Phoebe does something that sets me off, like how she always leans up against the screen door and overextends the hinges (drives.  me.  nuts.), I'll just remember the wisdom she shared:  "Dad, I'm just a little girl--I'm only 5.  It's not like I've been doing this for years and years and am super good at it."

So there you go.  I feel better now.  Thanks for reading.  Sorry if I've been a whiner lately.  Love ya all.