Boy in a Box

Well ... the title pretty much sum this up. We had the world's most versatile toy the cardboard box. BigE decided that he couldn't hide in it with the full sized lid. So he taped it up and made a smaller hole in the side to hide.


Of course he was enjoying his box so much he decided to "sit" in it while watch a show


What more can I say?

Going for a Ride

We're fully into tummy time with Peanut. At least when we remember. I've recently blown up the tube play toy. Peanut seems to enjoy it.


After Tubing BigE has decided that Peanut should enjoy the fun of tubing



Now isn't that what big brothers are for or what?

Honk If Your ...

This gave me a chuckle. Maybe if my employer goes bankrupt I can get one of these!

Quote of the Day

Mama, I'm glad that we went on vacation.
Why?
Because I needed a break from school.
Really?
Yeah, I'm really tired from the crafts and drawing we have to do.

There you have it folks, who new that Senior Kindergarten was so demanding.

Tubing

After the Wedding some of us headed to Mt.Tremblant. Thursday we went tubing and Big E didn't stop smiling.

The first few times he went in a group and then he got brave and started racing people down the hill.



Here are some of the positions that Big E tried out while he was going up the tube tow. Going up the hill seemed to be almost as much fun as going down.


Mama and Peanut at the tubing hill(picture taken by Big E).

Auntie Bevie and Scotts Wedding

We are all back from Autie Bevie and Scotts Wedding at the Ice Hotel in Quebec city.
Auntie Bevie was a very beautiful bride and the Ice Chapel was lovely.
Scotts Neice and Cousin I were the Flower Girls.


Big E and Cousin J were the Ring Bearers and as you can see from the picture they took thier jobs very seriously.

Here is Dad walking Bev down the Isle.

Her is our large extended family (minus Dada because he had to be in Ottawa write an exam).

Peanut Found Her Feet

This is milestone that Mama has eagerly been awaiting (because it's so cute). Little peanut found her feet about 2 weeks ago, we've just been a little slow with the post.

Congratulations Auntie Bevie

A quick note now that I'm home (which means not watching kids or getting things ready in a panic) everyone had a good time at Auntie Bevie's wedding.

Except of course anything to do with the GPS and its directions. But I'll save that for another day.

Peekaboo

16 seconds of giggling goodness

Quote of the Day 70

Dada and BigE snuggling

Dada "You remember that I have school tomorrow night"

BigE "Yeah, since its on the same nights I remember"

Dada "Did you know I don't have classes this summer?"

BigE "Yeah"

Dada "I do have to do a project though"

BigE "What kind of project"

Dada "We're going to look a product for a company and see how they can do a better job selling it"

A confused BigE

BigE "That doesn't sound like a good project. A project is ... like ... the lego we're building downstairs. Building the Lego island. Now that's a project!"

Official tBF Announcement

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The Managment staff of tBF.ca would like to official state for the record that at no point are we the sister site of anyone. Big Brother sure. Your Daddy, possibly. Sister No way!

*

The Timbits Jamboree

Today was a fun day for BigE. He got to go to Scotia Bank place to place on the same ice as the Senators. I'm not sure he fully grokked what was going on. We got to use one of the big dressing rooms. They got to walk out through the players entrance and long their bench.


We played our game against our IP 1 partners the Mighty Green. We had 12 skaters. So we ran two shifts and put one person in net on each shift. Playing goal was in high demand.

Our bench was the penalty box. Which was about the right size for 6 kids and one or two adults. A funny note. The bench must be seated quite high. The kids couldn't get up on it on their own. So after we'd help shuffle the new line onto the ice, the old line onto the bench then I had to go down the line and pop them up onto the bench.

The Green have some really good skaters. So most of the play was in our end. Give the kids credit. They started to figure things out by the second half of our 30 minute game. They even got a couple of goals. BigE started to make plays for the puck. He's still tentative and lacks a strong stride so its hard for him to get into the play. All in time I guess.


At the end the kids lined up on the center ice line and got their Timmies participation medal. (Boy that thing was heavy). You can see the red ribbon by BigE's elbow.

Back to the dressing room to change and eat timbits.

Gettin' a Job

A former Wired writer take a job at Wal-mart to see what it is like.

FLY ON THE WAL: UNDERCOVER AT WAL-MART, THE HEARTLAND SUPERSTORE THAT MAY SAVE THE ECONOMY

The story is mainly about getting hired, in store practices and anecdotes from existing employees. It tries to shine a little light on working at Wal-Mart. Its an interesting read.

However if you don't want to read the whole thing at least check out the conclusion:

I found myself reaching an inescapable conclusion. Low wages are not a Wal-Mart problem. They are an industry-wide problem, afflicting all unskilled entry-level jobs, and the reason should be obvious.

In our free-enterprise system, employees are valued largely in terms of what they can do. This is why teenagers fresh out of high school often go to vocational training institutes to become auto mechanics or electricians. They understand a basic principle that seems to elude social commentators, politicians and union organizers. If you want better pay, you need to learn skills that are in demand.

...

To my mind, the real scandal is not that a large corporation doesn't pay people more. The scandal is that so many people have so little economic value. Despite (or because of) a free public school system, millions of teenagers enter the work force without marketable skills. So why would anyone expect them to be well paid?

Quote of the Day 69

Snuggling at bedtime

BigE "You know Dada your head is shaped like a jelly bean!"

The Sleep Over

Monkey from the WBFamily spent the night. Marking the first sleep over for boys. Things went well. BigE wasn't in the mode to watch Wallace and Grommit. (A little too scary). But we did knock down 4 episodes (15 mins each) of Turbo Dogs.



As an added bonus for Monkey it was junk night. BigE has been on the rewards system for now whining this week. He aced the week so it was a full compliment of junk. After the previous pictire I tried to get one with them both "facing" the camera. Notice how Monkey has his eyes on the TV. But he did comply with the spirit of the request. Nice work.


I wasn't able to grab a good shot of Arnie on the mouch because everytime I fired up the camera he ran out of the room! Go figure.

A Crown for the Princess

BigE had been wearing a crown around the house all week. He'd been kind enough to offer it Peanut. Obviously it was a little big. So BigE volunteered to make her a crown. A quick cut, some tape, red & blue for the "rubies & jewels" and we had a crown:



Here BigE is hanging out pleased with his work

The First Feeding for Peanut

Today was a momentous day. Peanut had her first solid food. Sweet potato. All in all I think she had a spoonful. The first spoonfuls of solid food went into the mouth and then immediately out.



You can see this on the video.



The food that was ground up, well, lasted longer. Mainly I suspect because it wasn't as easy to spit out as the solid food. As Mama noticed it was not hard to tell when she swallowed. It was a decidedly confused look when Peanut actually ate something.




But boy did she enjoy playing with the spoon!

Scurvy Pirate 10

For christmas I had picked up some Wooden Boat Kits from leevalley.com. I thought they would make a fun little project with BigE. After all his fun with Pirates I thought he might enjoy seeing a ship go together. That was mostly correct. There was a few too many peices and weak instructions to hold his interest. But he really did enjoy the finaly result.

Note by weak instructions I mean every piece had a number on every connection. Two peices with the same number were to be connected at those joints. The issue was that there was no real over all guide. I started with the keel and just worked my way up. It made it a little frustrating. All the pieces were pre-cut on the four sheets.

Here we are early on. You can get a glimpse of the instruction sheet and the precut pieces. This is where we started to slow down.


Here we are with some decking installed


And the final assembly ... minus the rigging.

BigE decided to name it the "Scurvy Pirate 10"


I'm not sure that will be going on. It might make those masts a little sturdier so I might do it. We're thinking about using some construction paper or cardboard to fill in the sides. It will give the other Playmobil pirate ship something to fire at.