The Toothbrush Song

Adventures with Nick and Sally No Responses »
Nov 082011
 

When we had kids and they started getting teeth, we had to figure out how to brush them.  It’s not the easiest thing to keep a toddler occupied and interested.  We had learned early on that we should be brushing their teeth until they are 7 or 8.

One day when I was brushing, I started singing, and between Stephen and me, a song eventually emerged.  It’s now sung at least twice a day.

So, I asked Stephen to help me type of the words to “The Toothbrush Song”.  Nick has a dentist appointment this week and I hope the song is paying off.

(Sung to the tune of “Here We Go ‘Round the Mulberry Bush”. I scrub 1/3 of the upper or lower arch with each verse, so that every tooth gets its share of brushing by the time the song is done. – Stephen)

The is the way we brush our teeth,
Brush our teeth, brush our teeth.
This is the way we brush our teeth,
To make them clean and shiny.

Isn’t it fun to brush our teeth,
Brush our teeth, brush our teeth?
Isn’t it fun to brush our teeth,
And make them clean and shiny?

Because we don’t want cavities,
Cavities, cavities.
No, we don’t want cavities,
So we’ll make them clean and shiny.

So we’ll brush away yucky plaque,
Yucky plaque, yucky plaque.
Yes, we’ll brush away yucky plaque,
And we’ll make them clean and shiny.

The is the way we brush our teeth,
Brush our teeth, brush our teeth.
This is the way we brush our teeth,
To make them clean and shiny.

Isn’t it fun to brush our teeth,
Brush our teeth, brush our teeth?
Isn’t it fun to brush our teeth,
And make them clean and shiny?

The end.

Sarah’s Sweets Open House

Adventures with Nick and Sally No Responses »
Nov 062011
 

Today, my friend Sarah had her annual dessert open house.  She has a sweet business and has an open house so customers can sample the goods and place orders for the upcoming holiday season.

Since Stephen was running a marathon (26.2 miles!) today, I took the kids with me.  The best part of the event is getting to see friends.  Most of them don’t like to be photographed.  But, my kids are used to it.

I brought along our portable DVD player to keep them occupied.  They also tried a few sweets.  I’m finally back on track again, so I didn’t partake.  I did however bring my own piece of homemade honey caramel which was delicious.  It was nice to be in a supportive environment without any pressure to EAT!  That being said, I did spend time at the table getting things for the kids and telling newbies how awesome certain things were since I had tried most of them last year.

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Here’s just a sampling of the delicious treats!  It’s also my first try at posting a collage.

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We had a great time despite the lack of naps for the kids and can’t wait for next year!

A Trip to the Observatory

Adventures with Nick and Sally No Responses »
Nov 022011
 

Today, we made a trip to the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.  Like many of our Wednesday evening trips, we ate outside by the dinosaur.  Sally had fun running around in the leaves.  It was a perfect fall evening.

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At 6:15PM we had a scheduled trip up to the observatory.  The observatory is open Wednesday evenings from 8:30PM until 11PM weather permitting.  Since Nick and Sally go to bed earlier than that, I made arrangements with Clyde to see it earlier.  We timed things perfectly and got to see the moon through the telescope before the clouds rolled in.

Nick had wanted to see the observatory ever since an episode of Bob the Builder where they built an observatory to see the comet.  It’s amazing the things that are learned from some of the PBS shows.

With the end of daylight savings time coming soon, we should be able to go to the observatory a few more times this winter.  Hopefully, we’ll be able to see Jupiter and a few of its moons on a future visit.

We love being members of the museum.  There’s always an opportunity to see something new and different.  It never gets old.

A Visit to the Wind Turbine

Adventures with Nick and Sally No Responses »
Nov 012011
 

Last Tuesday, the weather was beautiful.  We aren’t going to have too many more bright and sunny days before the snow flies.  We had seen the last piece of the Lincoln Electric wind turbine on a truck heading west on route 6 one day a couple of months ago.  Since then, we had seen the turbine from the highway on I-90, but we had seen it close up.

(Hi, this is husband Stephen. I’ll pick up the story here…

Back in March, we were in Willoughby Hills when we saw a strange and large truck drive by. It was hauling a huge industrial storage tank, or so we thought. “Let’s follow it and see where it’s going,” said Lyn, to my relief, because that’s exactly what I wanted to do! Nick and Sally initially didn’t understand, but once the  changing traffic let them get a good look at the truck, they threw in their wholehearted support for our mission.

The elaborate effort involved was fascinating, even for something as simple as turning a corner. The truck had to stop while people from the escorts made adjustments to the rear wheels. Then it inched around the corner with close monitoring from the crew and sometimes more adjustments. Here, it just finished a turn onto Richmond Road:

Wind turbine in transit

We started following the truck at 7 o’clock. At 7:20, we said, “OK, ten more minutes, that’s all!” By that time, the truck started down a lonely industrial parkway. We still had no idea where we were going, but we tried to guess from the corporate signs out front. With that quiet road, though, there was no way anyone could think that we just happened to be going the same way any more!

Wind turbine in transit

The truck eventually reached Babbitt Road, where it crept under a railroad bridge with mere inches of clearance, after the escort crew made a bunch of adjustments to the wheels. Perhaps they lowered the suspension, or even let air out of the tires, so it would fit.

After this long, we were dying of curiosity to know what we were following. A storage tank for bulk plastics? A section of grain silo? We had no idea, but it was close to 8. (Ten minutes? Who said ten minutes?) Nick and Sally were tired and we needed to go home. Just before we turned back, we spotted a man in business attire taking pictures of the operation. We asked him, and he enthusiastically explained that we were watching the arrival of the last piece of Lincoln Electric’s new wind turbine. I don’t think it took much more than the words “wind turbine” for Lyn to resolve to take Nick and Sally to see it when it was finished.

Lyn picks up the story from there…)

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The turbine located at Lincoln Electric’s world headquarters at East 222nd and St Clair in Euclid.  We packed a picnic and set off for a visit.

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It’s a mammoth sight to see up close.  It’s 443 feet tall and can produce enough energy for 686 homes.

We lucked out since one of the Lincoln Electric divisions had a nice picnic site out front.  It was especially nice for the kids since the other direction they could see trains.

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The wind turbine, trains, sun, and a picnic made for a great outing!

Making Play Dough

Adventures with Nick and Sally No Responses »
Oct 312011
 

Today has been a different kind of day.  It started last night when my friend went into labor and 3 additional kids came to stay with us.  Since my two kids were already in bed when the others arrived, we had a calm night.  Nick and Sally woke up to find their friends at our house.

We had a busy day at home with stickers, coloring, games, blocks, and trains.  We also read books and watched shows such as Bob the Builder, The Cat in the Hat and Curious George.

Before the day really got going (and while Stephen was still here), I made play dough.  I had never made it before.  My sister and mom always tell me how easy and inexpensive it is.  Today, was the day!

I never got a chance to ask my mom for her recipe of choice, so I searched around on line and made a combo of standard recipes.

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup water
  • 1T vegetable oil
  • food coloring
  • 1T cream of tartar
  • 1/2 cup salt
  • 1 cup flour

I took a regular sized sauce pan and added all of the ingredients except the flour.  I heated and stirred  it on medium until it was hot and well mixed.  Then, I added the flour.  I stirred until it was thick and well combined.

I took it off the heat, plopped it in a bowl and let it cool.

I made yellow, blue and green.  Each batch was quick and easy.  I think each batch took about 5 minutes.  I was surprised how easy the pan cleaned up in between batches.

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The result was lots of fun in the kitchen.  I also read to store it in the fridge in a Zip Loc bag or other airtight container.  It should keep for a few weeks.

The kids are staying again tonight.  We are in the process of calming them down and getting them ready to sleep.  It’s been a fun albeit nontraditional day and we’ll do it again tomorrow!

Trunk or Treat

Adventures with Nick and Sally No Responses »
Oct 292011
 

Our church hosted a Trunk or Treat Halloween Party tonight.  We had never been to it before and our kids were the perfect age this year.  They had a great time.  There were plenty of volunteers from the church and the key club and the kids loved all of the attention.

Sally was a baker and Nick was a firefighter.  The first order of business was making and eating a witch hat out of a cookie, lots of icing and a sugar cone.

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Sally got a kick out of using the knife to ice the cookie.  She played this game where you have to throw the ball into the hole.  After 4 tries from 2 inches away, she made it!

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The hall was filled with games and kids in costume.  Sally enjoyed making a finger puppet.

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A pumpkin photo shoot was available.  Then, you could make a frame and leave with your framed photo.  The evening ended with indoor trunk or treat down the hallway.  (Apparently, the trick or treating happens outside when the weather is nice.)

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We were able to limit the sugar rush and both kids are now in bed.  Everyone had a great time!

Moving the PNC Smart Home

Adventures with Nick and Sally No Responses »
Oct 242011
 

The Smart Home was built on the Cleveland Museum of Natural History this summer for use as an exhibit about passive houses.  Since we frequent the museum, we watched the house being built over the course of many Wednesday evenings.  A few weeks ago, we learned that the house was being moved to its permanent location today.  Despite the rainy weather, the kids and I headed to Wade Oval to watch the production.

The first photo is the lot where the house was going.  It’s about a mile from the museum.  The route was clear except for a few utility crews that were working to make sure the house would clear lines.

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We arrived to the museum area just before 9AM and set up shop.  The kids loved the big umbrella.  We did make a trip back to the car for mittens a few minutes after this photo.

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After while, the rain subsided and the kids ran around.  It was wet and muddy.  I was glad that I brought clean, dry clothes (and shoes).

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Seeing the house up on the truck was amazing.

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I was in awe watching it move.

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The museum photographer took a photo for us.

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It was a good thing that tree cutters were on hand.  This tree was trimmed just a few yards from the starting point.

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Around 11AM, we headed for home.  This photo was taken from the front of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.  The house had made it just across the oval.

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I’m sure it would have been great to see it arrive at its new home, but we didn’t really know how long the move would take.  I suspected it would arrive during nap time.  I had plans to see Michael Pollan tonight, so we spent the morning at Wade Oval and headed home.  We definitely saw the most exciting part for the kids.  It was a great exhibit!

Akron Zoo

Adventures with Nick and Sally No Responses »
Sep 142011
 

This afternoon, we met up with friends at the Akron Zoo.  It was our 2nd afternoon outing of the week.  It worked out well since Nick and Sally both took naps first, and then we headed to Akron around 2:30PM.  My parents live in Akron, so we made plans to visit them after we finished at the zoo.

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Nick and Sally love animals and ran from exhibit to exhibit.  It was a perfect day and time to visit.  It wasn’t hot out, it wasn’t crowded and everyone was in a good mood.

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This carousel lion was a hit.  NIck and Sally climbed right up.

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We were only at the zoo around an hour and that worked well.  We dined with my parents and enjoyed some time with them this evening.  My mom gave the kids baths and that was nice for me since Stephen’s out of town until Friday.  He’s enjoying a couple of days off before I leave for Hawaii.

Cooking with Kids–tomato juice

Adventures with Nick and Sally No Responses »
Sep 072011
 

Nick and Sally love to help in the kitchen.  Sometimes, I have a really hard time figuring out things that they can do.  It’s especially hard to find things that are a real help instead of busy work.

In yesterday’s CSA, we received a couple of packs of slicing tomatoes.  Although they weren’t paste tomatoes, I still wanted to make sauce.  Actually, I want to make ketchup, we it all starts with juice.

I decided to set up the food mill and see what happened.

I sliced the tomatoes, Sally filled the tray and Nick pushed them through.  It worked like a charm.

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The kids had a great time and I was glad that this practice session worked.  It’s almost applesauce time and I am hoping that they’ll be able to help.

Nick’s First Slumber Party

Adventures with Nick and Sally No Responses »
Sep 042011
 

Yesterday, we went to a friend’s birthday party.  The birthday girl was turning 4.  The party was outdoor picnic style with fun and games for the kids.  Food included hot dogs, brats, veggies and fruit.  The kids enjoyed a bounce house, sand box, parachute and more.

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The little girl definitely loves her princesses.  She couldn’t wait to put on this dress.

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She helped her mom make this castle cake.  It was so cute!

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After the party died down.  Sally and I headed home and Nick stayed at the party with Stephen to camp out in the back yard with the other kids.  By then it was dark, so I don’t have any photos, but there were 4 tents set up.  Stephen texted me around 9PM to tell me that they were playing with glow in the dark chalk and having a great time.  Soon after, another text told me that Nick had requested to go to sleep.

Unfortunately, the night was cut short when thunderstorms rolled in.  Around 2AM, I received another text that they were on their way home.  They packed up enough to come home and went back this morning for the tent.  Nick had a great time and already asked when the next night in a tent will be.  I think his first sleep over was a success, even if it was only a few hours long.

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