We Call Him Robot Man

Daniel got a drum kit for Christmas, but instead of making music, he prefers to wear it on his head! It's quite funny to see him come around the corner like this! We call him robot man, but he simply says, "hat on!"

Science Fair

Today was Abby's school's science fair. The science fair is mandatory for the fourth and fifth graders, but optional for the younger students. Abby chose to participate. Her experiment focused on finding a good way to clean birds' feathers that have been covered in oil in an oil spill.

Abby made her oil spill (vegetable oil mixed with cocoa to represent crude oil).

She dipped a feather in the spill.

She tried to clean the feather. She tested water (this picture), rubbing alcohol, scrubbing the feather with a tooth brush, no-tear shampoo and Dawn dish washing liquid.

Abby's hypothesis was that the no-tear shampoo would work the best, but her two separate experiments proved that Dawn dish-washing liquid was the most effective in cleaning the oil from the feathers.

And today Abby took her research to school. She received a certificate signed by her principal, the green ribbon in this photo and a cool shiny pencil that says SCIENCE WHIZ! Her evaluator's Comments said, "Very nice project about an important problem. I enjoyed your explanation and the display."

Abby told me this evening that she loved being in the science fair. I asked her what she loved about it. She said that she sometimes gets bored at school in the afternoon and today with the science fair she got to leave class to go talk to the evaluator. She thought that was great! She's already planning on participating next year!

Four Months with the White Stuff

The grandparents and a few others might wonder why Abby is barefoot in this photo and find themselves worrying about pneumonia and other such ailments. But really, after enduring four months of snow (our first snow was October 12) and looking out the window to see the white stuff falling once again, you just sort of become immune to it and say, "what the heck!"

Reading

There is a lot of reading taking place in our house these days. Will and I read a lot to Abby and an increasing amount to Daniel. (I never thought books about trucks could be so fascinating!) Abby is reading on her own more and more as well. And now, sometimes when Abby and Daniel seem far to quiet and we go to check on them, we find the two side-by-side with Abby reading a book to Daniel!

Snow Picnic

The East Coast recently got a lot of attention for all of its snow, but here in Minnesota, we simply quietly deal with it. Picnic anyone?

P.S. I think most smart midwesterners put their picnic tables away before the snow falls.

Happy Children

Abby and Daniel are just great children and love each other. Abby loves to make Daniel laugh and Daniel loves ALL THINGS ABBY!

Could Daniel be any cuter?

Abby Loses Another Tooth

Abby's third tooth fell out in her bath yesterday. According to Abby, "I heard a little crack and then I wiggled my tooth back and forth and it just fell out!" She was so excited, but worried that she was going to lose the tooth in the bath water.

We both thought it was pretty cool that her tooth fell out on her Grandpa's birthday. Abby joked that maybe it was a "73 year-old tooth!"

We made a little box for the tooth and Abby went to bed with great anticipation of what she would find under her pillow in the morning.
This morning she came into our room to show us what she had found -- two books wrapped in a pretty ribbon.

Happy Birthday Grandpa!!!

Happy Birthday Grandpa!!!

Love Abby and Daniel

Proposals

Abby and I often have interesting conversations in the car as we drive to pick up Daniel and then Will. Tonight was no exception!

Abby asked if I proposed to Will or if he proposed to me. I answered the question. And the conversation progressed and eventually Abby asked how babies are made (this has been a favorite topic of hers recently). I answered the question directly, hoping the conversation would end quickly.

It did.

There was silence and then Abby said, "I wish children could propose." I said, "Oh! Is there someone you would like to propose to Abby?"

She immediately responded, "Yes, Brycen! I love him!" And then she giggled.

After we picked up Will, I caught him up on the conversation. Looking at me, Will said in a very serious voice, "What do we know about this Brycen?"

I asked Abby what she loved about Brycen. Her response, "I love his jokes. He makes me laugh."

(I'll admit, I like Abby's choice! Brycen is cute and seems very sweet. He's missing several teeth, and if I remember correctly, has freckles! Abby's magnetic name tag fell off her locker the other morning and Brycen immediately picked it up from the floor and handed it to her. A real gentleman!)

Dumb Parenting Idea #284

I took a personal day on Tuesday because Rochester schools were closed due to weather. Abby and I spent a good part of the day working on her Valentine's Day cards for her classmates (check back on Sunday for the reveal).

Abby expressed concern that the cards were too big and would not fit in some of her classmates' card boxes/bags. I insisted in my Mother In-Charge sort of way that the cards would be fine.

We pressed on and Abby took the cards to school yesterday. Only a couple hours into the morning, I received an email from Abby's teacher informing me that Abby had been very frustrated and had shed a lot of tears over the cards not fitting in many of her classmates' boxes/bags. On top of that, the cards didn't hold up so well and were falling apart!

Just when you think you are having one of those Great Mom moments, you learn that in fact you've just subjected your child to public embarrassment!

Poor Abby! Dumb Mama!

Happy Birthday Granddad!!

Happy Birthday Granddad!

Love -- Daniel and Abby

Has It Really Been Since November?

So, you keep coming back to Lots-O-Stotts hoping you'll see something new, but since November, it's just been Daniel in the laundry basket. Well, here's a new post, but the photo was taken in 2009 -- December 31st to be exact. So much has happened since that lovely day on Carmel Beach, but I won't even attempt to chronicle all of it.