Tuesday, October 17, 2017

April 2017

All-Around Annika
—Sleepover City:
This is the era of the sleepover party, and there were two good ones this month. The first was Alana’s birthday party, where she was greeted in the hallway by a six-foot-tall inflated stormtrooper (which she appreciated much less than I did). The second was Raina’s, with a Harry Potter theme that her family put an immense amount of effort into — there was even a nighttime scavenger hunt through the neighborhood — and Annika pronounced “the best party ever.” The third was Anna and Ella’s birthday party, which was the usual chaotic fun time for all.
—Los Alamitos Idol: Once again, Annika has decided to perform in the school talent show, so she press-ganged another friend (Jasmine) into doing something with her (actual act TBD).
Lukas Life
—Friday fun: We got the TK Boyz together, with assorted siblings, for an afternoon at Amato & the park — first the pizza, then the dashing around while we moms enjoyed a beer.
—Family Fun Night: There was a school fundraising thing at Blaze, a pizza place, so we moms took the kids, got everybody fed & picked up dinner for all of our husbands, and hung out; the evening ended with the kids all doing foot races on the sidewalk with Annika the judge of winners.
—TK/Kinder farm field trip: I went on the bus with Lukas’s class for the same farm field trip that Annika’s K class had taken; these kids liked the pigs and chickens a lot more than her friends had, heh. Lukas actually fed the chickens from his own hand, thoroughly thrilled and proud of himself — so cute! 
Family Stuff
—Spring breakin’:
No trips this time — we stayed close to home and did our thing, which included a fair amount of screen time but also fun stuff like baking bread several times from scratch, and spending a loud crazy afternoon at Chuck E. Cheese with Manir’s family — all in all a nice change from the school-day routine.
gilroy gardens - Lukas rides quicksilver,
—The Multicultural Faire: This year, there was another actual Finnish family, so we handed over the poster-board making and artifact-providing to them, and showed up to help staff the booth. Our new friends were very very nice — it was really good to get to know them and their two daughters (one of whom is in 3rd grade) a little bit.
—Garden 2017: Annika & Dad went out one warm weekend morning and selected the plants, then came back and got to work making this year’s garden: Basil, green beans, bell peppers, eggplant, jalapeño peppers, and lots of tomatoes. Can’t wait till we get to harvest whatever the squirrels don’t take!
—Movie night: The kids and I had seen it, but R. hadn’t, so we fired up a movie night with Moana — which is now my favorite recent Disney/Pixar joint. It was a good one for all of us!

Quotable:
—“I hate school - it interferes with my screen time.”
—Annika, with her priorities straight
—“Octamus Prime is the strongest one of all.” —Lukas, re: the Transformers
—“What’s under the cracks in the pavement? Lava and tornados.” —Lukas asking and answering his own question
—“Why are there green cracks on my skin?" —Lukas wondering about the veins visible in his chest