Our Graduate

Daniel graduated from preschool this week! His graduation ceremony was held Thursday night and even though it is June, it was cold!! Grandma and Grandpa Engelhardt and Tonto (Aunt Lisa) were able to join us for the festivities. Daniel was so proud and so serious! We all had a great time celebrating Daniel's academic accomplishments.

Daniel's class with their teacher Ms. Wadewitz

The graduates listen to the speeches

Daniel's two teachers -- Ms. Wadewitz and Ms. Hansen -- address the graduates

Daniel receives his diploma (be sure to have your sound turned on)

Ms. Hansen presents Daniel with his diploma

Grandma and Grandpa Engelhardt and Tonto

The proud family (Abby wasn't quite willing to put the cookie down for the photo...)

Our wonderful graduate with Ms. Wadewitz and Ms. Hansen

And now Daniel moves to his kindergarten classroom on Monday for a fun-filled summer camp.

Valentines (A Bit Belated)

Given that I managed not to update the blog in February, I've decided to play catch up...

Abby went with a snake theme for her Valentines this year.

And Daniel went with Star Wars. (That's a glo-stick attached to the card.)

Baby Fish

On Tuesday, Abby yelled excitedly that she saw a baby fish in our aquarium. I came running and was just in time to see one of our fish eat the baby. Abby and I groaned. We did see a few other babies and I was able to catch one in a net. Will and Abby went to the fish store and bought a breeding box to protect the baby.

The photo below shows our aquarium. It is a 30 gallon tank, so pretty big. The red arrow points to the breeding box that floats at the surface of the tank (anchored with a suction cup).

I was able to get the baby into the breeding box. This was no small feat given how TINY it was. The photo below shows a close-up of the breeding box. The red arrow points to the baby. TINY, I'm telling you! Abby named the baby Oh-Little-Blueberry.

The next morning I was looking in the tank and actually saw another baby (we thought they had all been eaten). I caught it and added it to the breeding box. Daniel named it Oh-Little-Strawberry.

The photo below shows Oh-Little-Blueberry and Oh-Little-Strawberry a few days after we found them. They are still tiny, but are growing. We are not certain what kind of fish they are, but they are either mollies or swordtails. Abby thinks they are starting to look like mollies, but I still think they are too small to tell.

Abby's First Car

Yesterday we said goodbye to Abby's first car and purchased what very well may become Abby's first car. Confused? Let me explain...

When Abby was three days old, we brought her home from the hospital in our Mazda 626. She cried at first, but eventually fell asleep.

Over the next couple of months, she spent a lot of time sleeping in that car as we drove around DC.

The Mazda was old when we brought Abby home in it, so we eventually bought a new car. It has been our primary car since Abby was quite young. We brought Daniel home in it, but now it too is getting older. It was time for it to become our secondary car.

So, yesterday we said our goodbyes to the Mazda 626. We all loved that car and affectionately named it Mama Beluga. Abby said her sad goodbyes.

And Will and I posed with the Polaroid picture taken when we bought the Mazda fifteen years ago (it was three years old when we bought it).

With our goodbyes said, we were ready to say hello. Daniel approved of our new car. Although, he and I really liked the red Corvette parked next to it...

As we explained to Abby, this will be the car she learns to drive in. And possibly her first car -- maybe she'll drive off to college in this car??

We posed for a family photo...

...and we were off on our first road trip (to Decorah for lunch with Grandpa and Grandma Engelhardt)!

Daniel quickly decided the new car is nap worthy.

And I decided that Minnesota winters should indeed be accompanied with seat warmers!

Broccoli Boy

We call him Broccoli Boy!

Cleaning the Tank

Abby and Will are busy cleaning the aquarium!

Out

Saturday morning tennis and swimming lessons wear a boy out!

Swimmer of the Week

What is Abby's favorite thing about being Swimmer of the Week, you ask? The giant chocolate bar!!!!

Our Little Cowboy

Will's a single dad for the next three days while I'm on a work trip. He started the day off well by putting together this outfit for Daniel's preschool's cowboy/cowgirl day.

My BFF and Me

I spent my day hanging out with my BFF watching the inaugaration festivities! I do love our democracy!!

This Cracks Me Up Everytime!

Daphne so would love to get through the cat's door to steal her dinner...

Brats

Abby is a fussy eater. She used to love brats, but recently has decided that she HATES brats. Sometimes it is difficult to keep up with Abby's dietary likes and dislikes.

But in the last week she has made it EXTREMELY clear that she HATES brats. Given how completely melodramatic she has been behaving, we couldn't resist having a little fun at her expense...

This is Abby giving the evil eye to the brat that Will set before her at lunch today.

And this is Abby's reaction a few seconds later when Will told her that she was actually having a hot dog for lunch instead of the brat.

Chapter Book Number Two

Earlier this month, Daniel and I finished reading The Mouse and the Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary. Tonight, Will and Daniel finished reading The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner.

Monopolization -- Abby-Style

 Abby LOVES to play Monopoly and she LOVES to destroy her opponents! She has one strategy and one strategy ONLY. She doesn't buy anything she lands on until landing on the two properties that we think of as Boardwalk and Park Place. (In the Star Wars version we played last weekend, they are known as Jabba's Palace and Ziro's Palace.)

It's seems like a risky strategy, but EVERY.SINGLE.TIME it somehow works and Abby's opponents go bankrupt and she GLOATS!

Mira (and Daniel too)

Our cat Mira is getting old and frail. Sometimes when I see her lying on the couch in an awkward position, I lean in to make certain she is still breathing. Sometimes she opens her eyes and fusses at me.

We still have a few Christmas boxes sitting about and I've been reminded that for whatever reasons, cats (and Daniels) like to sit in boxes!

Our Little Athlete

Last Saturday, Daniel and Will had their first father/son tennis lesson. They had their second lesson this morning. Daniel thinks it is great and told Will that he (Daniel) is a pro because he knows what he is doing. (Daniel is also taking tennis once a week during the school day through his preschool.)

And this morning he also started swimming lessons again. He wasn't very keen on getting into the water at first. But once he was in, he grinned the entire time -- even when going under water. Will grimaced and said he wished Daniel would close his mouth when he goes under! But Daniel came up still grinning and didn't seem to mind at all!

Baking

Grandma and Grandpa Engelhardt gave us their new church cookbook for Christmas. (They both have recipes published in the book.) Recently, Abby has been testing their recipes and has proven to be a pretty good baker!

After putting Grandpa's banana bread in the oven, she called to let him know she had just baked it.

A few days later, Abby made Grandma's peanut butter cookies. She forgot to add the brown sugar, but they turned out rather tasty anyway!!

Reading by the Fire

Yesterday Will finished reading the Lord of the Rings trilogy to Abby. This was the final of three series Will wanted to read to Abby (Chronicles of Narnia, Harry Potter, and the Lord of Rings). Abby wants Will to start another series, but he is unsure what that will be. (Any suggestions would be appreciated.)

Tonight I watched Abby at the bookshelf, curious what she'd choose. She selected The Two Towers (the second book in the Lord of the Rings trilogy). The girl loves to re-read her favorite books -- over and over again.

The dog seems to enjoy it too.

Delicious Apple Pies

I had a great chuckle today as I was checking Abby's homework. She was supposed to fill in the blanks, but also felt compelled to edit one of the sentences...

In case you are wondering, the list word for the blank was "homemade." And yes, Abby's grandma does make delicious homemade apple pies and Abby's mother does not.

Who Knew?

Who knew an hour long BBC Documentary about the renovation of a British Airways 747 could be so darn fascinating?

Daniel and I watched a bit the other night and finished it tonight. It really was quite interesting!

Did you know that on average, every airplane gets struck by lightning once a year?