Musing about possible April Fool’s pranks, Julia asked me how hard it would be to rig a bucket of water to fall on someone’s head. Thankfully, she and Vivi went in another, tamer, drier direction. (The dress color and the last line in the description are the jokes.)
Entries Tagged as 'girls'
Pranked!
April 1st, 2013 · No Comments
Tags: art · borrowed content · diversions · girls · miscellany · Northfield · parenting · spring
Vivi’s Newspaper
March 15th, 2013 · No Comments
Vivi wrote this newspaper while I was traveling earlier this week. Click on it to see a more legible version. It’s worth the time:
Tags: art · borrowed content · girls · miscellany · parenting · winter
Kid Art, Mysteriously Named
March 4th, 2013 · No Comments
When I was racing the other weekend, Shannon set the girls up with a dish-soap painting project. Here are two of the paintings they made, each with a mysterious title. When I asked them about the titles, they said almost in unison that I’d told them that artists sometimes gave their works strange names, so [...]
Tags: art · borrowed content · diversions · girls · miscellany · parenting · Shannon · winter
Genevieve Language
February 11th, 2013 · No Comments
Genevieve spends a lot of time talking about “Genevieve Land,” where the natives naturally speak “Genevieve Language.” Luckily for those of us who might have to travel to this locale, she’s started a lexicon with important entries like Mama, sweets, vegetables, and birthday:
Tags: borrowed content · diversions · girls · miscellany · parenting · winter
Happy Birthday, Shannon!
February 8th, 2013 · 1 Comment
Today is Shannon’s forty-xth birthday. As chief birthday officer, I’m glad to report that everything went well. The gifts were well chosen and well received, and the girls and I acquitted ourselves well in the kitchen, making a workmanlike dinner of bacon grilled cheeses and apple-celery salad and – get *this*! – a chocolate cake. [...]
Tags: girls · miscellany · Northfield · parenting · photos · Shannon · winter
Quite a Bedtime
February 6th, 2013 · 1 Comment
At about 7:15, Vivi decided that she wanted to read in bed under the covers with a headlamp she’s appropriated from me. We headed into her room, where Julia decided to join in the fun (in her own bed). Everything went fine until it was time for actual lights out at 7:30. Vivi started crying [...]
Tags: girls · miscellany · parenting · winter
Penguins!
January 15th, 2013 · No Comments
The cover of Vivi’s nonfiction book on penguins. The interior pages display an excellent sense of the most useful balance between facts and images. In this work, she only used secondary sources, so I suppose they’ll do some primary research – field work on the Ross Ice Shelf? – next year.
Tags: art · borrowed content · girls · Minnesota · nature · Northfield · parenting · photos · winter
The Sun Burning Out, or Julia Gingrich
January 9th, 2013 · No Comments
After breakfast today, Julia asked me, “Do you know how long it takes light from the sun to reach the earth?” I said no, slightly ashamed that I didn’t. “Well, guess!” she told me. “Uhh, one minute.” “No, more. It’s a surprisingly long time.” “An hour!” “Way less.” “Fifteen minutes.” “Close!” “Uhhh, seven and a [...]
Tags: borrowed content · girls · miscellany · parenting · politics
Tunneling!
January 7th, 2013 · No Comments
The only thing better than a giant snowbank is a giant snowbank with tunnels in it, and the only thing better than that is a snowbank tunnel from which emerges a smiling first grader!
Tags: diversions · girls · Minnesota · miscellany · nature · Northfield · parenting · video · winter
Snowbanks!
December 29th, 2012 · No Comments
God, I love a big snowbank. I think back to when I was a little kid in the U.P., where snowbanks reached up to the eaves of some buildings and we could sled down off the roof. The banks around here aren’t quite so big, but they’re decent, and today Julia and Genevieve enjoyed playing [...]
Tags: diversions · girls · Minnesota · nature · Northfield · parenting · photos · winter
Vivi’s Christmas Eve Song (Video)
December 26th, 2012 · No Comments
With Christmas now winding up, I think the song that Vivi created on Christmas Eve does a good job of summing things up:
Tags: borrowed content · diversions · girls · Minnesota · Northfield · parenting · video · winter
Vivi Reading “The Night Before Christmas”
December 23rd, 2012 · No Comments
I’m not sure what exactly is going on here, but…
Tags: art · borrowed content · diversions · girls · miscellany · parenting · video · winter
Toofleth
December 20th, 2012 · No Comments
Few kids have longed to lose a tooth more than Genevieve Rose. For pretty much the whole time that Julia has actually been losing teeth, Vivi has been imagining that she’s about to lose one – or several. Today, after a couple weeks of wiggling and waggling, Vivi finally lost a tooth – at school, [...]
Tags: borrowed content · diversions · girls · miscellany · parenting · photos · winter
Reading with Fluency and a Bright Voice
December 18th, 2012 · No Comments
Vivi had a hard time late this evening, getting frustrated with her attempt to line up dominoes for a chain-reaction knockdown and then stubbing her toe when she stomped off. After a few minutes of snuggling with her mom, she calmed down enough that I could take her to her bedroom for a story. But [...]
Tags: borrowed content · diversions · girls · Minnesota · miscellany · parenting · winter
Winter Poetry
December 12th, 2012 · No Comments
Julia brought these two items home from school this week – a lovely little poem about snow and a nice piece of descriptive writing – complete with illustration – on her favorite cocoa mug: The drawing is pretty accurate! Here’s the real thing:
Tags: art · borrowed content · girls · miscellany · narcissism · nature · parenting · photos · winter