Laundry reprise

The laundry video is the favorite of a few people. Here is another look at my staff in action.

More fun

Nora and her aunts did some baking on Friday. Nora is very good at adding ingredients and helping flatten cookies on the baking sheet. Note the Finnish aprons everyone is wearing.
Henry cuddling with the big blue dog.
On Sunday afternoon we decorated our very small tree. But it provides plenty of joy.

Thanksgiving

Liisa, Anja and Steve came over to spend Thanksgiving. It was a fun day. Before we "celebrated lunch" Nora taught the visitors to play Tier auf tier, her animal stacking game.
We made lunch our big meal to fit in with the normal routine for the kids. Nora made a jello salad to contribute to the meal. Nora enjoyed finding things to be thankful for and started in the car on the way over with "bread and cheese." Throughout the day she would add items: "broccoli, peanut butter sandwiches, turkey, milk" among others made the list. Most of her gratitude was food related. She finished the day with a monologue in her bed. "I'm thankful for corn, I'm thankful for peas, I'm thankful for people, what else?" "I'm thankful for turkey sandwiches..." It went on for about 15 minutes and was funny to listen to.

Play Dough

It was a gray, wet morning. Nora and I made play dough. Then she and Henry tried it out. Nora felt it was very important to have a lot of "tools" for working with the dough.

Here is the recipe we used.

In a saucepan combine
1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
2 tsp. cream of tartar

Stir together.

Slowly add 1 cup water
1 Tbsp. oil
food coloring

Stir until smooth.

Cook, stirring, over medium heat until dough comes together in a ball. Cool and knead until smooth. Will keep in an airtight container.

Aunt Vickie came to see us

Kirsti's aunt came up from California for the weekend. She brought bubble wrap which was a huge hit with the kids. They spent a lot of time hopping around on it. Nora could pop quite a few when jumping and even Henry was occasionally successful. She read books and was a good audience for stories.
Another highlight was lunch at the airport before she left.Henry points out the airplane visible through the window and other restaurant attractions.

Happiness is... a cement mixer

We joke that if Henry could pick his career now he would choose garbage man or long-haul truck driver. Iso (Kirsti's dad) is adding on to his shop (the affectionately nicknamed "industrial complex"). So today we went over to see some of the men at work. Henry uttered a deep "ooh, ooh" as he caught sight of the action and spent the rest of the time in awed silence. He could hardly tear his eyes away.The end of an era; this pile of debris was my chicken coop.

Trick-or-Treat

It was a banner day. There were treats at playgroup (and pizza). After resting we went trick-or-treating downtown. There are about 3 blocks where merchants stand outside and give out candy for two hours in the afternoon. It is just perfect for little ones; it is still daylight and there are other kids to look at. Nora's technique improved with practice. She started out barely opening her sack, but was a pro by the time we finished. Henry was less impressed with the outing, although he did like the firetruck in the plaza.After dinner Mark carved a jack-o-lantern for Nora. She helped by stirring the seeds and making design decisions.Then they had popcorn while supervising the rest of the operation.
Here they model the face Nora requested the pumpkin have. It turned out to be a pretty good likeness.