The Steal Game

Grace & Clara and I (dad) created a game we play at home called the Steal Game. It evolved from horseback rides and other "climb on dad" games we play at home. The premise of the game is this; I steal one of the girls and the other girl chases after us around the main level of the house trying to catch me and save the stolen girl from the robber. Seems like a simple game, right? How it has gone from being just another chase game to an opportunity for me to identify each child's unique personalities is what makes it fun for me.

Take for example, Grace's technique. Once I steal Clara from Grace and start running around the house, Grace will attempt to chase after me immediately. She plays the game like a glorified version of tag. She relentlessly runs after me and laughs the whole time she does it. Grace will oftentimes get close enough to touch/tag me but will let me get away just to continue the game. For Grace, the fun is in the running around.

Clara, on the other hand, treats it more like a hunt. She will often run in the opposite direction in an attempt to cut me off from a different angle. One technique she employs is to stop moving entirely just so she can listen to my footsteps and attempt to determine what direction I am going in so she can cut me off. There have been many times we've played the game where I have turned a corner only to see Clara waiting for me.

Someday they will be too big to play this game both physically and emotionally. But for now, I know what to do when I hear one of them say, "daddy, steal me".

Now that Clara is 4 – she is all grown up!

It’s funny how much a number means to a little girl when her birthday is approaching.   For Clara so many things were going to happen when she turned four.   She would be able to do so many more big girl things and be so much taller and bigger.   We have been hearing about this birthday for the past month at least and have been told she wants everything any commercial on TV happens to peddle to children.    Most of all, she wanted a rainbow watch – not even sure if this was on the commercial or she came up with this one on her own.

 

This year for Clara’s birthday and our anniversary we celebrated in Yankton, South Dakota.   For those not familiar with the area Yankton is about a ½ hour from my hometown.  Next to Yankton is a very large dam built on the Missouri River making it more touristy than other towns in the area.  I had a lot of fun going around the area seeing different sites that I hadn’t seen in 20+ years and even searching out new ones to explore like Devil’s Nest (abandoned ski resort which my Urbex/Rurex loving husband found out was near and became one of the must stops on our trip). 

Devil's Nest Ski Resort

Devil's Nest with Missouri River in background

 

It’s always fun doing tourist things in times when they are quieter – although we did run into plenty of attractions that closed beginning of October.   The Visitors Center that overlooked Gavins Point Dam was completely empty to run around in and enjoy.  The fish hatchery gave us a huge bucket of fish feed to take out to the rainbow trout in their ponds and feed.   The trout were in some cases over a foot long and really made you want to catch one as close up as they would come.   The golf courses overlooking the dam were also empty and picturesque.  

Fishing with Grandma



    

Feeding trout at the fish hatchery

 

But enough about the overall trip we need to talk about the birthday girl and what she enjoyed most about the trip.   Basically there were three things that made her birthday memorable:  kitties, presents and balloons.

We stayed in a cabin across from Lewis & Clark State Park and the office at the site had baby kittens – Clara would beg anyone and everyone to go see the baby kitties with her.   Luckily Grandpa Brodersen has a soft spot for baby kitties also so he was suckered more than anyone to trek up to the office and check out the kittens with Clara (and also sometimes Grace).   We constantly heard about how cute they were and how they were SO Adorable!!!!

 

 

Birthday girl and her favorite meal - breakfast!

The aforementioned watch was also a big deal.    I had gotten both her and Abby her cousin the same watch – and although I had hers wrapped – Abby’s was not.    When she found Abby’s she was sure she found her birthday present and was not happy to hear Abby was getting her watch (btw Katie if you read this – the watch will be in the mail soon).   So Clara’s first fit of being 4 was over her cousin getting the rainbow watch she had been asking for for sooo long.   Her mind was taken off her misfortune by Grace and Jason setting up a treasure hunt for her to find her birthday presents and looking throughout the house playing hot & cold to find them.    In the very last present was a rainbow watch!!!!!   It has been on her wrist ever since (except for baths).
 

Finally balloons.   Not much explaining to do with this one as what kid does not love balloons.    I think we started with five balloons in the pack – only one was pink though so that was the first of the problems.   Then they started popping and I gave a couple away to a friend’s daughter.   By the end of the trip – Clara was saying goodbye to just one Mr. Balloony – thank goodness we convinced her to leave it here and not have it travel back to Missouri with us.

So all in all it was a good time.   One more highlight of the trip (besides the beautiful fall weather) was walking the old Yankton Bridge from South Dakota over to Nebraska.   This bridge used to be how we drove to Yankton but it has since been replaced and now is used for pedestrians.   It was over a mile walk to one side and back and both the lower and the upper portions of the bridge are open for pedestrians.   The girls did great walking the entire bridge – with the incentive of an ice cream cone if they made it across and back.

 

 

 

The ice cream thumbs up!

Survey Time! What do you think of Mom?

The long awaited Part II of surveying Grace and Clara about their parents -

1. What is something mom always says to you?
Grace -  I love you

Clara – I don’t know

2. What makes mom happy?
Clara – when I clean up the room

Grace – listening to mom the first time she asks something

3. What makes mom sad?
Clara – not cleaning up the room

Grace – not listening to mom

 

4. How does your mom make you laugh?
Grace – Tickling me

Clara – doing funny jokes

5. What was your mom like as a child?
Clara – watched cartoons and videos

Grace – I don’t really know but I am guessing it is like this – you liked hanging out with your mom and dad.

6. How old is your mom?
Grace – seven eighty teen

Clara – I am tired of playing this

7. How tall is your mom?
Clara – a lot

Grace – like 70  lbs

8. What is her favorite thing to do?
Grace – talking to daddy

Clara – doing the computer

9. What does your mom do when you're not around?

Grace – work

Clara - work


10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
Grace – because she wears fancy clothes (but you really don’t wear fancy clothes)

Clara – because she would wear a dress

11. What is your mom really good at?

Grace – doing projects
Clara - painting

12. What is your mom not very good at?
Grace – doing gym
Clara – the computer

13. What does your mom do for her job?
Grace – she makes animal food
Clara – she makes dog and cat food

14. What is your mom's favorite food?
Clara – Bacon!  And Eggs
Grace - Asparagus

15. What makes you proud of your mom?
Grace – she never takes off her ring
Clara – using your imagination

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
Grace – She would be a news character
Clara – Elsa (or Ana)

17. What do you and your mom do together?
Clara – Do projects
Grace – we hang out with each other

18. How are you and your mom the same?
Grace – we both eat asparagus
Clara – we both like projects

19. How are you and your mom different?
Clara – We don’t play frisbee
Grace – We have different colored hair and eyes

20. How do you know your mom loves you?
Clara – gives me kisses and hugs
Grace - - because she cares about me

21. Where is your mom's favorite place to go?
Grace – go into the sunroom
Clara – to the ice cream place

Survey Time! What do you think of Dad?

This may seem like an easy exercise - but for a three year old it was occassionally quite difficult to get a few of these answers.   But it is really fun to see their perspectives.

1. What is something dad always says to you?
Grace -  I love you

Clara –  I love you

2. What makes dad happy?
Clara – giving him a hug

Grace – good listening

3. What makes dad sad?
Clara – not cleaning up our room
Grace – not having someone come upstairs to help clean up their bedroom

4. How does your dad make you laugh?
Grace – tell him funny jokes
Clara – um, I don’t know

5. What was your dad like as a child?
Clara – he liked baseball
Grace – he liked football players

6. How old is your dad?
Grace – 18 years old
Clara – 17 with 16

7. How tall is your dad?
Clara – 3

Grace – like 80  lbs

8. What is his favorite thing to do?
Grace – play with us and have fun with us
Clara – doing the computer

9. What does your dad do when you're not around?

Grace – work
Clara – I don’t know

10. If your dad becomes famous, what will it be for?
Grace – having children
Clara – I don’t know

11. What is your dad really good at?

Grace – playing sports
Clara – I don’t know (me:clara are you always going to say I don’t know?  Clara:  eh!)

12. What is your dad not very good at?
Grace – playing the wii
Clara – fishing

13. What does your dad do for his job?
Grace – he makes the yogurt stuff
Clara – he works

14. What is your dad's favorite food?
Clara – Lucky Charms with Marshmallows in it
Grace - Guacamole

15. What makes you proud of your dad?
Grace – he likes to go golf and running

Clara – riding bikes

16. If your dad were a cartoon character, who would he be?
Grace – A knight from any far away castle
Clara – Christoph

17. What do you and your dad do together?
Clara – Play hide and seek
Grace – we go out for ice cream

18. How are you and your dad the same?
Grace – we both like soccer
Clara – we like baseball (Me: do you like baseball? Clara: Yeah sometimes I do)

19. How are you and your dad different?
Clara – I like popsicles
Grace – I don’t like juice

20. How do you know your dad loves you?
Clara – gives me kisses hugs and backrubs
Grace - - I have a really good one – from caring about me

21. Where is your dad's favorite place to go?
Grace – golfing
Clara – to the ice cream shop

Grace's First Day of Kindergarten

First Day assignment

                We hit a milestone at our house. Grace had her first day of Kindergarten at Oakbrook Elementary today. We have heard nothing but positive comments about Parkway school district and in particular the elementary school Grace is attending so it reinforces why we moved all the way out into the ‘burbs if the district lives up to its reputation. So far so good.



                
                School activities began early in the summer when Oakbrook sponsored Literacy Night at the school.    This was a chance for the kids to come and get accustomed to the classroom while the parents got a chance to learn a little more about the routines and ask questions to the administration.  Next came Popsicle night a few weeks ago where the kids played on the playground for a bit while parents chatted.   The week before classes started had bus safety with Buster the Talking Bus.   This was actually very cute – a fun little interactive time for the kids to learn about bus safety.   After learning the rules they took the kids out for a bus ride on the big bus.

                The most stressful pre-kindergarten activity was school shopping.   By chance we picked tax free weekend to do our shopping.  (This is an annual event each year for school supplies and clothes to be tax free for a weekend prior to classes starting.)   The department store was packed with other parents and kids working through their school lists.  The school lists are much different than Jason and I remember.   The lists are very very specific – like red & blue plastic folders no brads, pipe cleaners and Expo markers – Broad Chisel tip.     All I remembered of school supplies was getting crayons, paper, pencils a trapper keeper and the box of Kleenex (yes, kids still need to take a box of Kleenex to school at the beginning of the year – I like thatJ).

Grace and her friend Evan

The official first day photograph

                Finally the big day arrived.  Grace wanted to go to bed early for the big day.   It didn’t quite happen.   But no worries – she still woke up in time and in a good mood.  Grace was so excited for the arrival of the bus and hoped she wasn’t going to be late for the bus stop – she wasn’t.   The next door neighbors also had two of their boys getting on the same bus so it was not scary at all for Grace and she barely had time to pose for a picture outside the bus before leaving.   

                There were no tears from any and we even got a nice note from her teacher saying she thought Grace had a nice first day.   At the end of the day we assumed we would get a download of the day right after school – but nope Grace was too busy going over to the neighbors and playing with the other kids.   A new phase of our lives is beginning and it is the ditch parents phase.   I am totally fine with this growth.  
 

Clara photobombing on Grace's big day

                An interesting side effect to the first day of Kindergarten was Clara’s attitude.   She was super-duper excited about the day too.   She enjoyed waiting for the bus with all of us and kept singing over and over “Go America Go!” (Not sure why this was the chant for the day other than she was checking out a flag in our yard).   She agreed to walk to school with Jason instead of driving and she was a chatty Kathy after school when Grace was at the neighbors.   I think Clara is enjoying not sharing her parent time with a sister.

               

Not So Picky Eaters

There has been one thing we have been more than fortunate with in parenthood which I know many others struggle with....The Picky Eater!

Grace eats better than many adults.  She is willing to try most foods and has little to no aversion to vegetables eating bok choy (which is much harder to find in STL than it was in EC), asparagus, and fresh spinach with gusto.   She uses a thumbs up ratings system to let us know how much she enjoys different foods.   I actually really like this rating scale as it gives you a definition as to if it is good or really good in her mind.   She may like vegetables but her caloric downfall is creamy dairy such as sour cream, mayonnaise and ranch. (I know I didn't eat much sour cream or mayo until I was an adult!)   She will ask for butter on her pancakes or corn on the cob or whatever, then she will also ask for butter on the side. Grace also likes her protein - one night was complaining as there was no meat in the meal and all she wanted to do was eat an animal - she didn't care what animal it was.   Not very PETA like (which overall is fine as long as long as she learns the difference of how to raise animals humanely and where to buy the meat from these sources).  She did once tell me she wanted to be a vegetarian as she didn't want to hurt animals - but that lasted a whole day as in her own words - they just taste so good!    Like her mother, she really could care less for marshmallows.

Clara doesn't love all vegetables like Grace but she still eats fairly well for a three year old.   Her favorite food - Chicken Noodle Soup!   She can eat a whole can of  Progresso brand soup some days.  Spaghetti goes over well and so do french fries (Grace barely touches these).   Another one of Clara's favorite foods - Lucky Charms!   Of course she picks out the marshmallows and only eats the cereal on days she truly is hungry.     Clara also really doesn't know how to differentiate bored vs. hungry.  We hear "I'm getting hungry" several, several times a day....Often I have decided she is bored.   I try to satiate the hunger with fruits and vegetables as snacks as much as possible as it is hard for me to just refuse food requests.   On the way home from Tulsa Oklahoma though we hit a new level of "I'm getting hungry"   Clara ate 2 apples, about 15 baby carrots, some cereal, grapes and still ate spaghetti at lunch.  Did I mention before we left the hotel she also ate breakfast?!?!   I assume she will grow about 2 inches taller soon.  

The other odd food choice for kids these girls both love is tomatoes.   They eat them like they are candy!    Cherry tomatoes are the favorite and can be given as a snack any time.   If I get a salad at a restaurant, they always get the cherry tomatoes off of it (I really am not a huge tomato fan).    Grace has loved tomatoes since before she was two I think as I remember her eating tons of diced tomatoes at a Mexican restaurant one day.   So tomatoes are a healthy snack in front of the TV and so are cold peas.    This was something I used to have in my childhood and brought forward to theirs.   Cold peas (aka frozen peas) are the best kind of peas to serve them.   Sometimes when Jason is travelling I just make up a plate of random foods for them to snack on - such as cold peas, tomatoes, fruit, cheese, lunch meat and let them share the plate.   They think this is a great treat to have snacks as supper and it makes my dinner time fairly pain free also.

So for all those out there with picky picky eaters.   I am sorry.   I lucked out and hopefully these girls will keep being adventurous in their food choices throughout their lives.

Garden Helpers

This year in our new house I started a garden.    In Eau Claire there was such an amazing farmers market and we had so much shade in our yard I never tried too hard to make a garden.   Down here I am glad we have been able to get fresh vegetables from the backyard daily.   

This spring I invested in 10 bags of topsoil and 10 bags of compost with manure and started a raised bed garden.  This first step of mixing the soil and compost was by far the best step for both the girls.   And it really helped Jason and me out to have two human mixers rolling around in the soil to mix it up.  Once again, we were too busy working and being dirty to grab a camera so you just need to envision head to toe dirt on the two helpers.

After dirt mixing came planting.  One helper stood out at this step and has pretty much been the star garden helper since then – Clara.   She has enjoyed the process greatly.  When planting, she added the fertilizer to each hole to give the plants their “vitamins”.   She made trips with me to Lowe’s to pick out the flowers for the whiskey barrel and she watched the early stages of the growing process closely.   While Clara would be helping me plant, Grace had other interests that would come from the garden – worms and bugs.   Digging in the dirt was great fun for Grace as all the worms in that rich dirt had a chance to be exposed and examined.   She really has loved anything creepy and crawly and her first instinct is to go pick up a crawling thing the moment she sees it.

Both girls loved watering!   An excuse to play with the hose and get things wet.   Occasionally the watering of the garden would turn into just spraying each sister with water – but they both enjoyed it and no harm there.

Now it is time to harvest.   Like many other projects involving kids under 6, the garden has lost some of its luster.   Occasionally it is fun to pick the ripe cherry tomatoes and eat them right away but only Mom seems to enjoy hunting for cucumbers and zucchinis among the vines.   I remember back to the days of picking snap peas and beans on the farm and not really enjoying all that went into maintaining the huge garden we had then.  But now I realize it was valuable to see how things grow and eat what you have grown.  It’s a lesson I am glad to be sharing with my daughters.

Northwoods Vacation 2014

For the fourth consecutive summer, the family will be spending at least 1 week in the Wisconsin northwoods. This summer, we spent the week on Little St. Germain Lake along with extended family members. Poppa Dan, Grandma Karen, Aunt Kim, Uncle Andreas, Cousin Jackson, Unlce Andy and of course, Baxter, all spent the better part of the week of June 14-21 in a lake front cabin. We all love spending time up there and enjoy the opportunity for the entire family to get together, which is so rare as we are spread across the country.

Typical activities include fishing, boating, jet skiing, swimming, hiking, grilling, eating/drinking, lounging along the lake and just about any other –ing related activites one could think of.

Memorable moments from Grace and Clara’s perspective would include catching fish without any help from Poppa or Dad. Watching Poppa filet a few of the fine catches and the kids discovering exactly what happens to poor fish once they’ve been caught for food. Riding horses with Dad for the first time (usually Mom takes them out on the horses). Riding in the boat is always a special treat for the girls as they enjoy letting the wind blow through their hair as the boat speeds along the cold lake water.

Grace had a mini-meltdown on the last evening of our stay. Grace appreciates alone time and with a house full of people (all 3 kids shared a bedroom which even included a loft) and constantly having to share everything with her sister and to a lesser extent, her cousin, Grace decided she had enough. On our way to dinner at Black Bear Lodge, she became distant and sullen and while we were waiting for our table, she covered her face with her hoodie and began to sob. She couldn’t explain to us why she was so upset but it didn’t end until she convinced mom to take her back to the cabin cutting their fish fry dinner short. Turns out she just needed some alone time and didn’t know how to accomplish that.

Additional memories in no particular order:

-          Clara’s nickname – Rebel

-          Grace’s nickname – Penny

-          Dancing to music and Madonna specifically

-          Fireworks on the last night there

-          Miniature golfing (Clara, Jackson and Grandma Karen played. Dad and Aunt Kim supervised and Grace decided to just wander around the empty course)

-          Reading books to the kids before bed and Jackson was able to read a few to the girls as well

-          Hiking on a tick infested trail

-          Grace and Grandma had special time reading her Butterfly Book she HAD to have at Cracker Barrel in Bloomington, IL on the drive up

Through the eyes of a 2 and 4 year old - Eau Claire

So as we just got home from vacation in the northwoods, many may think our next blog post would be about being up north where it was cool and the mosquitos plentiful.  Short diversion - both the girls know the Yeah Yeah Yeahs song Mosquitos - suck your blood which is fun to hear in the backseat while you are driving.

But no, I am behind but really feel the need to get a post out - so instead I am using their own work as inspiration.    We gave Grace an old digital camera a year or so ago to take pictures with and here is some of Grace and Clara's photo work.   It is interesting what becomes important subjects for them and how sometimes they hit the mark with their composition.  

I am sure I will do more installments of this type of blog as we have many pictures saved from the camera - it was easy to do the cut off with time in Eau Claire.

First group of subjects:  Food - just like people on instagram - the girls like taking pictures of food and drinks:

You can only see so high next to the stove

 

Then next comes people - friends and family abound!  Although not always centered....

Mom's friend Steph

Mom's friend Abby

You can only crane your neck so high to see Dad

Ooops, a little low - it happens

Cousin Jackson at the cabin 2013

Poppa Dan - cabin 2013

The favorite place to be to watch TV in the old house

Grace's friends from Daycare - a teacher probably took this one

Mallory the babysitter in Eau Claire

 



Next comes Scenery:

The park near our old Eau Claire house

Cabin picture - 2013

Owen Park

I actually liked this one quite a bit and put it in B&W on our wall

 

Finally - still lifes and cat pictures.  We have soo many pictures of Willow - she will never be forgotten!

The pineapple on my robe

The cover of a Rolling Stone

Awesome Packer plane toy

Hope you enjoy the world through the eyes of my girls!