Shane's Birthday!

We celebrated Shane's birthday on Sunday. He doesn't like parties much, for himself, but it worked out that his mom and dad stopped by on Sunday with an ice cream cake and a gift. It also worked out that his sister Kim had her baby the next day, his actual birthday, so it was good we got the festivities in before Grandma and Grandpa headed out for Eastern WA. the birth went well. 9lbs, and as of yet she does not have a name. The kids are excited to meet their newest cousin soon.
I won't say how old he turned, but it was more than the candles we had for the cake.

His mom and dad gave him a thermometer for outside our kitchen window. Now we can tell if its cold enough for snow. It came complete with delivery and installation.

Past two days I've taken the kids shopping. Audrey is usually more inclined to save her earnings, Cyril typically has a hole in his pocket, or he loses his money. He lost two teeth in the last week and as the tooth fairy did not seem to be hit by the economic downturn, he was eager to look for anything "boy".

I'm not sure the best way to teach the kids about money and the wise use of it. I think right now we are on the lesson of if you spend it, its gone. Cyril did remark how if he had not bought such and such, he would have had enough to get the really big thing. As it was he picked out a super anoying gizmo. One of those little voice changing things which makes it impossible for you to not say "Luke, I am your father." I warned him before he purchased it, that it might be one of those toys that stays in his room.

So, I wasn't too sad when he brought it down yesterday and said Audrey had dropped it and now it wasn't working. So we took it apart and he found where a wire had come undone and said we needed to solder it back in place. So then we had to rummage around in the garage until we found everything we needed. Then we needed to decide who was going to hold the wire still and who going to wield the soldering iron. After a couple trial runs it seemed best for me to hold the tiny wire in just the right spot while he soldered in place. I guess I am happy he had a successful experience diagnosing and fixing a problem. And that no one got burned. But now it works again.

She reminds me of a Dr. Who character. "Are you my mummy?"

Kateri found a little kitchen set, and as it was only $5 and I know how much she loves to play cooking, we got it. The next morning I came down and she a bowl with melted butter, the flour, vanilla, and soy sauce all ready.

Just like in the picture. Although personally, I'd like to see her picture on the box. You might want to add just a splash of some dish soap, bleach, and ammonia to taste.

I was out of eggs, but as it was the feast of the Annunciation, we celebrated by making Russian Tea Cakes. This morning she was excited because I had bought eggs and she was sure there was no limit to what she could make now. I have such a hard time because when everyone needs breakfast, and we have school work to do, and tons of laundry, I do not feel her enthusiasm for starting out the day late and with a big kitchen mess. But I do love how excited she is and totally get the wanting to cook "just like in the picture". So we made a stove top version of Dutch babies, but more like polacinta ( not sure of the spelling)- it actually came out fine. A very eggy chewy crepe, which we put jam on and rolled up. And it solved the "what do I make for breakfast?' dilemma as well. Although she told me afterwards I could wash her dishes. And clean up the egg whites.