Easter Eggs, Pokemon Cards, Carrots and Spinach

Will and Abby had to wait for the eggs to cool before they could dye them. So, they read some Harry Potter and then decided to trade Pokemon cards!

And as they do every year, they mixed all of the colors at the end and made the ugly egg!!

Before going to bed, Abby left a plate of organic spinach and carrots out for the Easter Bunny!

Finally Two Smiling Children in the Same Photo!

I find it nearly impossible to get a good picture of both Abby and Daniel in the same frame! By the time I took these photos tonight, Abby, Daniel and I were all grumpy!! (But, I think the photos are pretty good!)

Dancing Stott Children

Abby and Daniel had such a wonderful time dancing tonight to the Carolina Chocolate Drops. I got a little dizzy just watching them!

The Unknown

Abby wrote the following poem for her school's creative writing publication -- the Falcon Tales. Initially, she was resistant to writing anything, but Will and I strongly encouraged her to write something. She came up with most of the poem in the car on our way to pick up Daniel yesterday. She finished the poem tonight! We love it and think it is VERY ABBY!!!

The Unknown

by Abigail Rose Stott

Trilobite, trilobite, what did you eat?

Did you eat meat?

Crinoid stem, crinoid stem, what did you drink?

Did you drink pink ink?

Plesiosaur, plesiosaur, where did you lay your eggs?

Did you lay them on pegs?

Brachiopod, brachiopod, where was your home?

Was it in a poem?


Dinosaurs, dinosaurs, how did you die?

???

Fossils, fossils where do you lie?

???

One Year Ago Today

Exactly one year ago today we left Korea as a family of four!!

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.

So Much Laundry

There is just always so much laundry to do in the Stott house!

Fifty Years and Counting

Abby and Daniel's grandparents celebrated their 50th Wedding Anniversary on November 28th. Abby and Daniel had a great time at the party! (And the grandparents did too!

And the Tooth Fairy Adds to her Collection

Abby asked her dentist to pull her tooth on Wednesday. Her dentist told Abby to go home and bite into a carrot. Abby actually did that even though she is not a fan of vegetables. It didn't work. She tried biting into an apple. That didn't work either.

I decided to take matters into my own hands because I was tired of Abby's complaints that the tooth hurt. It took me all of a second to pull the tooth out.

And thanks to me, tonight the tooth fairy will finally be able to pay Abby a second visit!

The Tooth Fairy is Impatiently Waiting

I'm convinced this tooth is actually no longer physically attached to Abby! However, she refuses to give it up! Little does she know what the tooth fairy has hidden away just waiting, and waiting, and waiting...

Things that Make Daniel Cry

Daniel's been crying quite a bit recently. He has an estimated eight teeth breaking the surface and has had a fever off and on for the past two days. To add insult to injury, his mean parents insist on occasionally taking his beloved shoes off his feet (you know, like at bath time). This is a sure bet way to make Daniel cry. Tonight I discovered a new way to make Daniel cry -- I took the red crayon away from him that he was using to decorate our sofa. He was not at all happy about this and cried and cried.

Poor boy.

Poor sofa.

Smile

Is this the face you'd expect to see after saying, "Smile?"

How about this one?

Yeah, I didn't think so! Me neither.

Ouch!

I'm completely swamped with work these days. Each morning I drop Daniel and Abby off at their schools and as I drive home, I cross my fingers hoping that both will stay healthy and remain in school the whole day (it is flu season, you know). I get home, go to my office and start to work. Each time our home phone rings I cringe, hoping it is not one school or the other telling me that my child has a raging fever, is vomiting and needs to be picked up immediately. (OK, so this may sound crazy, but I'm simply being honest and sharing my daily thought processes with you. Be kind, be supportive! Don't judge me -- these are trying times.)

I have an 8:30 AM conference call each Tuesday, so Will takes the children to school. This morning when my call ended, I dove right into all that I needed to accomplish today. The phone rang at about 10:45 AM. I initially thought it was a telemarketing call and was not particularly polite when I answered. I soon learned that Daniel fell on the playground and cut his eye. It had bled quite a lot and the school was concerned that the cut was deep.

So much for work!

Luckily, the cut did not require stitches. Daniel is fine. He's happy and tonight, one Mayo doctor, one Mayo physician's assistant, and two Mayo nurses go to sleep having been charmed today by a brave little boy who survived his impromptu clinic visit by talking to and laughing at his beloved shoes.

Sweet sister Abby was so concerned when she saw Daniel's eye. She's always a lovely sister, but tonight she was the star, repeatedly pushing Daniel through the hallway on his lion scooter. They both laughed and laughed.

Dirtball

Daniel, Daphne and I were hanging out on Sunday. (Will and Abby were swimming.) Daphne headed upstairs. Daniel walked to the stairs and started calling out. It was obvious that he was calling for the dog, but I could not figure out what he was saying. It definitely didn't sound like Daphne or Daffodil (a name I sometimes call the dog). I kept listening as he repeated the word over and over. And then it hit me!! My son was calling the dog "dirtball!" I got a grand chuckle out of this (I'm laughing again as I type)! I confess, I do sometimes call the dog dirtball, but in the most loving way of course! I just didn't realize I called her dirtball often enough for Daniel to pick up on it! Today he looked at her and said, "No, Dirtball!" Good stuff!

Abby's First Grade School Picture

We were delighted to see Abby's first grade picture! We are unabashedly biased, but we think this girl is CUTE!