Hokeilen Paintings

Most of you know that I love to paint and have been playing with oils and acrylics for many years.  Lately I've finally had the time to do some more painting - here are some recent works: 

I painted this one of a friend's four boys on the beach last spring, just before moving to Alabama.

Painting horse-butts: not at difficult as I feared.

Having fun with color and abstract form.

Experimenting with motion.

My niece, Kelsey, spinning to music when she was 6 years old.

Tree at Night: I really like these colors together.

I'll post more paintings in a few months when I have a new crop (hopefully).

Huntsville Space and Rocket Center

Also while in Huntsville, we visited the Space and Rocket Center.  This brought back many memories of not-one-but-two summers at space camp as a teenager.  We played inside and out, exploring spaceships and astronaut displays and lunar landscapes.

Calvin, pointing up at the Saturn V displayed in the Rocket Park at the Space and Rocket Center.

Calvin standing in the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU) for astronaut Extra-Vehicular Activity (EVAs).  Someday you will fit in this nicely.

Family picture.

Just the guys: Calvin, Matt, Bryan.

Admiring how big the external tank and solid rocket boosters for the Space Shuttle were.

"Look mom, footprints on the moon!"  We then slow-motion hopped/walked all over like we were on the moon.

Manning his own space ship/station.  I can't wait to send him to space camp!

Unfortunately this ended up side-ways.

Family Pictures in Huntsville, Alabama

Earlier this fall, we vacationed in Huntsville, Alabama with some long-time friends, Matt and Jessica and Joshua and Jaclyn.  Jaclyn is a professional photographer based in Knoxville, TN, and she and her husband, Joshua, spent some time taking a series of amazing family pictures.  Here is a sampling of the pictures:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the way home from pre-school the other day...

"Look, mom, that's an advertisement.  Hmm... I'm hungry, lets go to Chick-fil-a.  It worked!"

Starry Nights and a 3-year old's Confidence

With Calvin's help, I have been developing an astronomy program for kids while living in Alabama.  I test some concepts out on him, see what he understands and what goes over his head, what he remembers and talks to us about.  We sing songs about the planets going around the sun, and the moon around Earth, and he laughs hysterically when we mix them up.  "The sun goes round the Earth, the Earth, the sun goes round the Earth." meets with laughter so hard that he can hardly breathe.

Then, we meet about once a month with other families whose kids (mostly about 3-7 year olds) are interested in astronomy and spend some time look up at the night sky.  Each night has a topic, but most of the time is spent talking about what stars, constellations, and planets we can see.  The kids love it (or maybe I love it - hard to tell if I'm projecting).  Some are clearly already little astronomers themselves - they can recognize Venus in the evening sky, they know what the big dipper looks like, they can spin like the Earth.  We practiced spinning with a tilt (not easy to do!), I showed them how to find the summer triangle of constellations, and talked about how the stars have names, that night time is when we are on the shadowed side of Earth, and that every year we make another trip around the sun.  With such a mix in ages, some of this is lost on many of them.  But not all of it.  And regardless, the kids love going out at night.  It is a magical time to run around and play, the stars shining above, the cool quiet air surrounding.

These nights give Calvin an opportunity to help lead the show.  On our first night, we gathered around in the darkest part of the neighborhood park where we were meeting.  As the group settled down, Calvin called out "Can everyone hear my mommy?  Can everyone hear my mommy?"  It was so sweet, and impressively confident.  Then on the second night, after a tired meltdown over not getting an unknown-before-I-gave-it-to-another-boy-but-now-clearly-coveted red flashlight, Calvin rejoined the group and declared that it was his turn to explain how the Earth spins, rotating the demo ball so that the picture I had taped to the side moved from day to night to day, in and out of the flashlight's/sun's light.  He repeated everything I had just finished saying, pointing out that the Santa Claus picture I had taped on top was the North Pole, etc.  He was stealing my show!

This kid has more confidence than I would expect his 3 and a half years had earned him (not that I'm complaining - I'm just amazed).  He has no fear standing up to a crowd of peers and their parents, many of whom he's never met before, and talk with full confidence about all sorts of topics, sometimes astronomy-related topics that we had reviewed the night before and many nights before that, sometimes random and completely-made-up stuff that make Bryan and I both scratch our heads.  Mostly, though, we are just impressed with Calvin's confidence and are enjoying learning about this part of his personality.

We're taking a little break from the Kid's Astronomy Nights until it warms up, which I expect will happen fairly soon for us in Alabama.  I look forward to co-leading our next astronomy night with my little apprentice!  

Superheros unite!

(Yikes!  I forgot to post this after Halloween.)

With the exception of a few days this fall when Calvin said he wanted to be a dinosaur or a spider, there was no question that he would be a superhero for Halloween.  Being one of the only kids not dressed up at a superhero story time at the library a month before Halloween pretty much sealed the deal. 

For a long time Calvin was certain that he would be Stupendous Man (a Calvin and Hobbes reference and what we call Calvin when he puts on his generic superhero mask, cape, and arm bands).  But somewhere in the month leading up to Halloween he got caught up in Spiderman fever and decided that Spiderman was what he wanted to be.  Not that Spiderman is a new obsession for Calvin.  However, despite all of the spiderman-themed clothing he owns, we had no Spiderman costume.  Fortunately, finding one was not difficult.  

Calvin in his Spiderman costume at the local library's story time.

Spraying Spiderman webs, complete with his own sound effects. Psssh, pssshhh.

This year seemed to have a bumper crop of superheros wandering the streets, libraries, and festive gatherings.  Although maybe that is always a popular costume and I just haven't paid proper attention.

I'm pretty certain that Calvin had no idea who this little boy was, but as soon as these superheros saw each other, they were best buds for at least 5 minutes. 

Superheros unite!  Calvin (on the right) sits with his friends Supergirl Savanna and Superman Brendon after trick-or-treating through the library earlier Halloween week.

So excited to begin trick-or-treating on Halloween, Calvin strikes a pose. 

And then they were off, running at full speed down the sidewalks, capes flapping, giggling and laughing and racing to the doors.  By the end they were all dragging their feet, bags suddenly heavy with the weight of candy and nighttime.  Of course, they got their second wind when the got home and filled up on sugar.  Calvin slept in his Spiderman costume that night and has worn it many times since. 

Happy Halloween!

My pumpkin is the upper-left awkward last-minute change of plans while carving a completely different picture because the tool I was using broke in the absurdly thick and tough pumpkin that was clearly not meant to be carved.  Bryan did the shark on the lower left.  Calvin and Bryan carved the jack-o-lantern on the right. 

Fall is Pumpkin and Apple Time

Like the rest of the country, fall time in Alabama means pumpkins are everywhere.  The many new and unusual varieties this year were fun to see and we got a couple of strange ones in addition to a few normal orange ones, including a pale Long Island Cheese (good for baking, evidently), some kind of white pumpkin that was not fun to carve, and a blue pumpkin that was even worse for carving.  For a while I considered getting a large one just for fun.  But Calvin always picked out the smaller pumpkins, ones that he could lift and carry, ones that were just his size.

Posing with the giant pumpkins at the local farm stand (Oct 8).  We went home with a small orange baking pumpkin instead.

Fall also brings apple season.  When a group of other Air Force spouses were heading out to a local orchard for a morning of apple-picking, Calvin and I joined them. 

At the apple orchard, Oct 17.

It ended up being too rainy to actually go out and pick apples, but we got a couple of boxes of just-picked golden delicious and have been enjoying them ever since.  I've made apple sauce, apple butter, apple pancakes, apple bread, apple oatmeal cookies (a failed experiment), and two batches of apple cider.  We still have a drawer full of apples in our fridge.  Maybe two boxes was too many, but they are delicious.

We have been enjoying a wonderfully mild fall this year - a benefit to living in Alabama!  Warm temperatures stuck around until late last month, and we are just now getting some fall color.  I still have a tomato plant in a pot in the backyard that is happily growing tomatoes, and a few potato plants that hopefully will provide something for us to collect before it starts getting too cold.  Will it get too cold for potatoes?  I'm not really sure.  The bugs are still chomping away at my herbs and tomato plant leaves, though - I figured they would stop by now and got lax on inspections.

For a while I was worried the fall color would miss us (I don't remember the trees changing color in Florida, and I wasn't sure if we were far enough south to have green trees all year or not), but now the trees are in full display.  Beautiful.

Our favorite places: The Montgomery Zoo

Another of our favorite places to visit is the Montgomery Zoo.  This small zoo is only about 15 minutes away, and with season passes it is an easy place to go for a quick outing before lunch or a stop on our way home from errands in Montgomery. 

Three African elephants at the Montgomery Zoo.

Pretending to be an elephant.

Big stomps, big trunk, big elephant.

We'll usually cover a third to half of the zoo on a visit, though sometimes we head straight to the playground, seeing only the tigers and rhinos on the way. 

A ferocious beast at the playground!

On the big slide.

Several times we have picnicked at the zoo, and we almost always ride the small train. 

Together on the train.

Since the zoo is so small, the limited space given to the animals is a bit less than I wish it was, but it is well maintained, the exhibits look natural, and the animals seem happy and active.  Best of all, we are able to get very close to the animals, there never is a line to get in, never a crowd to wade through to see the animals, and often times no one else at all on the shady paths that circle the "continents" of animals.  The lions and tigers perk up when we walk by, the mountain lions walk a little closer and meow when we approach, while the Canadian lynx nervously take a few steps back.  The female rhino recently had a baby, and the two prehistoric-looking animals are so close to us while they nap in their shade or nurse in the sun that we can see the wrinkles on their tough skin.  We sometimes feed a special straw to the giraffes from cups, their long black tongues expertly pulling the food up from Calvin's double-gripped offering.  The bison wander a grassy plain with caribou and other North American grassland animals, while another grassy area is filled with antelope, a pygmy hippopotamus, Kudu, and other African grassland animals.  All while exploring this zoo, we feel like we have it to ourselves.  Sometimes other people will pass by, and usually there will be a few other kids at the playground, but never have I needed to park anywhere other than the very first row, mere steps from the entrance.

spelling

Tonight at dinner Calvin started spelling something.  "s-g-t-m-v-a-b-c." he said matter-of-factly in his almost constant stream of chatter. 
Bryan and I paused and looked at him.  "What does that spell, kiddo?" asked Bryan.
"Snake!" said Calvin.  Then he spelled it again.  "s-s-s-r-r-r-r-t-t-t-u-u-u-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v.  Snake."

Our favorite places: The Montgomery Museum of Fine Art

One of our favorite places to go is the Montgomery Museum of Fine Art.  They have a fantastic children's art space where kids can play in a variety of super-creative ways, from building blocks and light filters and shadows to printing and drawing and computer art programs to manipulative/interactive versions of real art in the museum.  We easily spend hours just playing; it is probably the most requested destination for Calvin.  I love it!

These magnetic shapes are so much fun to build.  Bryan and I can't help but build our own structures while Calvin works on his own.  Here Calvin is building a tower crane.  Face painting courtesy of Michael's Arts and Crafts kid-craft project earlier that morning.  We were having an artsy day!

Building tower cranes with daddy, complete with operator cab and counterweight.

Calvin is painting with watercolors during an art class on another visit to the museum.

Making a tall, tall tower.  We always end up at the magnetic shape table.

There really is a lot more to this museum than the magnetic shapes, but this is evidently the only thing we take pictures of.  Calvin and I have both taken classes at the museum, and we have explored the exhibits outside of the children's art space a little - I hope to see more soon.  I am so happy to have such a fantastic art museum so nearby!

sandwiches

One day Bryan and I were sitting together on the couch when Calvin walked over, asked us what we were doing, and squeezed himself in between us.

"Oh look," I said "its a Calvin sandwich!"  To which Calvin responded by squirming out and moving to the outside with me in the middle.

"Ha ha ha, now its a mommy sandwich!"  We all giggled a little and snuggled in tight, loving the family moment.  Then I heard a quiet "yum yum yum" from my son.  This of course was followed by a "blah!  Mommy's back."

my koala bear

I walked into Calvin's bedroom one morning a couple of months ago to help wake him up only to find him already awake (or in the process of waking up).  Usually he gets up and comes to our room to wake us up (the best alarm clock ever, so long as it is not before 6:45am).  But on this particular morning, he was slow to get out of bed.  I went in and sat down on his bed, saying good morning and asking him how he slept.  He mumbled a few words and crawled up into my lap for some cuddling time, as he often does.  I held him and called him my cuddle bug, as I often do.

But this time he laughed and said "I'm not a bug!".

I said "You're not my cuddle bug?  Okay, silly goose."

"I'm not a goose!  You're being silly, mommy". Ha ha ha.

"Oh ya?  What are you?" I asked?

"I'm a koala bear."

"Oh!"  Of course you are, kiddo.  What was I thinking. 

For the rest of the day, Calvin was my koala bear.  He rode on my back, holding on tightly with arms and legs, snuggling in against my neck.  I'm not sure where he got the idea, but I loved it. 

Being a koala bear lasted for a few days and then he decided that we were something else.  I forget what he chose instead (there have been so many), but we're often mommy and baby caterpillars, lady bugs, butterflies, spiders, frogs, fish, snakes, dinosaurs, lions, elephants... always with some kind of appropriate sound or movement or behavior.  Our mommy and baby roles usually last the whole day, and sometimes several days.  For the last few days Calvin has been the very hungry caterpillar, pretending (and actually) eating all sorts of fruits and leaves (greens), and then promptly pretending to get a tummy ache (he doesn't follow the script exactly).

The hardest role is the frog (grown ups are not meant to hop like a frog all over the house).  The one I'm most lost in is the lady bug (what do you do as a lady bug except pretend to eat aphids?).  The strangest and funniest is the spider role and watching Calvin pretend to make a web.  But my favorite is still the koala bear.  Now, whenever I need him to ride on my back (like when we've been somewhere too long and he wants me to carry him in my arms, which is too difficult with how big/heavy he has gotten) I ask him if he wants to be my koala bear.  He climbs on my back and says sweetly "Mommy koala bear..."  and I reply "Calvin koala bear..." and we're off.

Calvin's Banana Pancakes

We've been eating a lot of banana pancakes lately - Calvin loves to "make" them, and it is a great way to use up the over-ripe bananas no one will eat anymore.  Here's our recipe.

Wet Ingredients:
* 2 eggs
* 2 cups milk (skim, 1%, whatever)
* 1/4 cup applesauce
* some vanilla (1/2 tsp?)
* some bananas, the riper the better, smashed with a fork, ~ 2 cups

Dry Ingredients:
* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 4 tsp baking powder
* 1/2 tsp salt
* some sugar (about 1/3 to 1/2 cup; the banana and applesauce add sweetness too, so you don't need a lot.  But I like to not need syrup with pancakes - less mess, less rules while eating, easier morning, happier kid, better day.)
* optional: cinnamon

Measure and mix all of the wet ingredients in a medium bowl. I usually do the measuring and let him pour it into the bowl and mix.  He likes to crack the eggs, but that skill is still a work in progress.

Measure and mix all of the dry ingredients in separate a larger bowl.  Calvin likes to sample everything.

Stir, and then pretend you are an excavator and dig a little hole in the dry ingredients...

 Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir until combined.

 

This kid is so hungry, he thinks flour tastes good.

 Now its my turn.  Cook pancakes and enjoy!

This makes a lot - it is basically a double of the pancake recipe in the Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book (my go-to for basic recipes), with applesauce replacing the oil, and added bananas, vanilla, and cinnamon.  We usually have a breakfast feast and then freeze the leftovers - they are great reheated and make an easy breakfast for those mornings that don't go so smoothly.  And boy are they yummy!

Tiny Tigers Karate

After swim lessons ended and a few weeks went by, we decided to sign Calvin up for Tiny Tigers Karate.  His friend Brendon was doing it and so we thought we'd give it a try.  I am so glad that we did! 

It is so much fun watching Calvin and Brendon learn their moves.  And he looks so cute in his uniform!

 

Brendon and Calvin pose for a picture.

 Ms. Hand (the instructor) has the kiddos do some exercises (jumping jacks, pushups, situps, running, etc)...

jumping jacks.  Calvin is second from the left.

push ups.  "One ma'am, two ma'am, three ma'am..."

getting ready to run.  Calvin is on the left.

Calvin (left) and Brendon (right) running in Tiny Tigers class.

 ... and teaches them some moves (block, kick, punch, duck, etc).

Calvin's turn to go through the movements with Ms. Hand.

kick!

But best of all she teaches them what to do if someone tried to take them (yell "your not my mommy!!!" over and over, scratch your ear to get out of a grab, run to another mommy or store worker or person in uniform, keep yelling until you have help), or what to do in a fire (good ol' stop, drop, roll).  I love the practical safety stuff - things that I'm not really sure how to teach him.  We've got crossing the street safely down, but stranger-danger is more difficult.  Calvin thinks that good people look nice and scary people look scary and all neighbors are good people and scary people are green and look like monsters-skeletons.   Oh boy.