David and I are big readers. We pretty much prefer reading over most other activities. (Most of the time.) But Nathaniel — not so much. He’s the social one and would prefer to play with friends or toys or imaginary games over reading. Given a good book, he will happily sit and read, so much of my time is spent searching for good books for him. He likes funny books that are series. Not a genre I know too much about.
For his birthday, his friend Ryan got him the 13-story treehouse, its sequel and a gift certificate to buy more. I hadn’t heard of this book, but apparently we already had it. So we went to the the store and exchanged the new one for the two sequels, so now we had all four books. Nathaniel spent the weekend reading all four without stop!
When we heard the author (who is Australian) was visiting our local bookstore, Nathaniel and several of his classmates all went to the reading. It was his first book reading and it was such a delightful one to start with because the author was hilarious, kind, and genuine. He made us laugh and laugh and laugh. And then he signed his books.
It was an absolutely incredible experience for the little boy. I am so glad we did it!
PS: As it turned out the next book in the series was already out in Australia (though not coming here for another year.) so when it turned out that I had to go to Sydney for work, Nathaniel’s one and only ask was the next book!
Stories from 2016 is a year-long project for 2016. You can read more about my projects for 2016 here.
Every year when it’s time for Valentine’s Day, I find myself struggling to put something together for my kids. For reasons I am not sure of, I am not willing to buy Valentines for my kids’ classes so I always end up making them with the kids. As he grew older, David’s class now makes Valentines optional and he’s opted out of making them but Nathaniel is still young so his full class brings valentines for everyone.
I always end up spending quality time with Pinterest, looking for Valentine ideas that are suitable for boys, that don’t involve any candy (our school doesn’t allow candy) and that we can do relatively easily. This year, after a lot of searching, we landed on these Fortune Tellers.
Here’s the link to where we got it.
They were relatively easy to make and were a big hit in Nathaniel’s class. So if you’re like me and always scrambling for some last minute ideas, here’s one to add to your list.
Another one I had liked but didn’t buy my supplies in time for are these cute pencil ones. Maybe I can use them next year.
Stories from 2016 is a year-long project for 2016. You can read more about my projects for 2016 here.
If you’ve read here for any length of time, you’ll know that David is very into Physics. Specifically Quantum Physics. Yes, he’s too young to know what that really means for now but he understands quite a bit more than your average grown up already. It’s quite wonderful to see how much he’s really interested in the field.
There is one and only one board game that’s all about Quantum Physics. He’s asked for it for years but we didn’t think he was old enough to really understand the game well enough to play it. This year, we finally broke down and got it for him. And it was so worth it! This is a gem of a game.
I am so grateful for my science-loving son!
Stories from 2016 is a year-long project for 2016. You can read more about my projects for 2016 here.
A few weeks ago, I was flying back from Zurich to San Francisco and as part of the lovely service on Business class, they pass a cheese plate. Last time I flew business, I decided to sketch this cheese plate so when the lovely crew member gave me the new one, I started drawing again and I showed her my drawing from the last time since it happened to be in the same notebook. I was trying to show her how the platter had changed so little from the last time. And how it was fun to compare. She was so kind and delighted to see my drawing that she sent a few other crew members to come look at it. And then she said she wanted to give me a gift.
She asked me if I drink wine and I said thank you so much but I don’t. She said that she’ll just put something together for me. A few minutes later, she came with this lovely bag filled with chocolates, crackers, cookies, truffles, and a lovely beautiful Moleskine notebook designed for Swissair. I couldn’t believe my eyes. This was the first trip to Switzerland where I hadn’t bought any chocolates to bring home and now I had boxes of chocolate. It was one of the kindest gestures anyone’s ever done for me. She even gave me her email and asked if I could email her my photos.
Their kindness and this incredibly wonderful gesture was definitely the highlight of my trip.
Stories from 2016 is a year-long project for 2016. You can read more about my projects for 2016 here.
Last year was the first year David (and two friends) decided to do the Tech Challenge. They signed up really late and worked very hard for three months putting their building together. At several points last year, it seemed like David wasn’t sure about doing this. He did persevere and their team ended up building the building and it withstood all the earthquakes. It was a major triumph for their team.
But since he was spent, I wasn’t sure he’d want to take it on again this year. Especially with middle schools looming in our pile of work.
But as soon as the museum announced this year’s theme, David emailed his friends and started talking about it. After some iterations, they are now a team of six and they are well under way. They have been meeting weekly and working hard on building the gliders, the set, coming up with ways to steer the plane, and putting together a story.
It’s been really inspiring to watch David as he goes through this. I know there’s still a long way to go and there might be some tough and stressful times ahead but I love watching how excited he gets. How much he’s learning through this process.
I am so very proud of him.
Stories from 2016 is a year-long project for 2016. You can read more about my projects for 2016 here.
My boys have loved Minecraft forever. It’s one of the few videogames they play together (when they are not fighting about it) and I love that they share the joy of building and exploring in this virtual world together. Even though I am not crazy about computer time, and I don’t understand how this over-pixelated game is the most popular game, I still love that it’s about creating. It’s about doing it together. It’s a shared language they have that makes me smile.
A few weeks ago, we were at Walgreens looking for something (I can’t remember what it was but I bet it was chocolate) and we saw these tiny Minecraft figures. Nathaniel immediately started begging to see if he could have them. I bought a few for him that day and then a few more for Christmas. And then a few more the next time we were at the drugstore.
And next thing we know, we have a ton of these little figures.
It’s one thing when real-life things become digitized and yet another when digital things come into the real world. I love how the boys have been playing with these little figures every single day. They love them a lot. Especially right now, when Nathaniel is not allowed any computer time.
I see more Minecraft figures in our future. I love how much imaginative play Nathaniel has and I love seeing them all lined up on the floor.
Grateful for these little bits of life.
Stories from 2016 is a year-long project for 2016. You can read more about my projects for 2016 here.
Every single day of Christmas Break, Nathaniel said he wanted to go to UMe. He kept asking if we could go. I kept telling him that I was happy to take him there but I wouldn’t play with him so was he ok playing by himself. Then he would ask David, who said no. Then he asked Jake, who didn’t want to say no but you could tell it pained him since Nathaniel often runs around like a crazy person and it’s really hard to play with him when he’s there. But he also doesn’t like to play alone.
So days passed and we never went.
Then, on the very last day of break, David decided he would go play with Nathaniel (anything to postpone having to do a bit of Algebra) so I took the boys and they ran around and played while I read my book. It was really fun to watch them play together even though it was pretty clear they were both too old to be there. Even Nathaniel. All the other kids there were in the 1-3 year old range.
But the boys didn’t seem to care. They ran around, they played, they were smiling the whole time. When I told them it was time to go home, they asked if they could build a fort before we left. I relented and they spent the next few minutes building a fort out of foam blocks. There was so much laughter, so much cooperative work, and so much fun that it made my day.
I was very glad to have made Nathaniel’s little wish come true and even more glad that David chose to share it with him.
Grateful for these two boys.
Stories from 2016 is a year-long project for 2016. You can read more about my projects for 2016 here.
At the beginning of Christmas Break, Jake mentioned that we really didn’t go skiing at all this past year. We had one very dismal attempt early in 2015 and it ended up being such a disaster that we never went back. He was quite upset that we let the whole season pass without doing anything.
This month has been an exceptionally good month for snow and Tahoe has had many many inches just in the last few weeks. So the Saturday before school was to start, we decided to have one final adventure. We all woke up at 5am and headed out the door to Kirkwood (which was around 3.5 hours of driving.)
When we got there, we all rented snowshoes and went on a 2.5mile hike. It was stunning and painful. It would have been hard enough for me to walk on flat ground for 2.5 miles, let alone doing it uphill/downhill at high elevation in my snowshoes. We all whined a bit (well, except Jake!) but we all did it.
After we were done with the hike, we drove to the ski area and had lunch. Jake and David then rented skiis and a half day pass to go downhill skiing. Nathaniel and I sat in the cafe a bit longer and then played in the snow for an hour or so. When Jake and David came back, they were super-excited and had an absolutely wonderful day.
Since it was already 4:30, we headed back home and made it back in about three and a half hours. All in all, it was a lovely day with lots of fun sports, fresh air, and family time. We decided that day trips to Tahoe is something we want to try more often. It feels less stressful to not have to worry about packing/scheduling anything even if it means we have to get up early and drive a bunch in one day.
Here’s to more snow-time in 2016!
Stories from 2016 is a year-long project for 2016. You can read more about my projects for 2016 here.
The day after Christmas, I was sitting with Jake, trying to decide what we should do for the following week. We hadn’t really had too many adventures over the holidays and I wanted to see if we wanted one last hurrah. Nathaniel mentioned he wanted to play with snow so I asked Jake if he knew of a place relatively closeby that had snow. After some searching we found this farm which was about a hour and 20 minutes away.
Nathaniel really wanted to build a snowman and David wanted to ice skate. I wanted to see the lights. We decided a Tuesday afternoon would be considerably better than New Year’s Day so we got on the road around 2pm. As it worked out, between construction and traffic, it took us much longer than 75 minutes. But we persevered. When we got there, the little mountain of snow the farm owner mentioned ended up being really hard, fake snow. Not ideal for making snowmen.
We tried and tried and tried but then after realizing how hard it was going to be, I told Nathaniel that maybe we should just aim to make a sinking snowman instead. So we finished off his head, gave him a nose, eyes, some buttons and called it a day.
Not the best but sometimes you have to make do with what you have.
We then ice skated for a while, the kids raced some cars, got some cupcakes, and I got to have my light tour. The drive back home was considerably less painful and we all enjoyed our lovely little adventure. Here’s to more adventures.
Stories from 2016 is a year-long project for 2016. You can read more about my projects for 2016 here.
If I had to pick a winner for what took up the most of my time during Christmas vacation, the hands down winner would have to be the Rubik’s Cube.
A few months ago, Nathaniel started saying that he wanted to get a Rubik’s cube. He asked if we could get him one. Then he asked if he can take the little one David had to school. I noted it down in my memory as a Christmas present for him and right when I was buying presents, David mentioned he wanted one, too. So I got a cube for each of the boys. A simpler one with no stickers for Nathaniel and semi-seethrough one for David.
When they opened their presents, I decided I wanted to see if I can solve it. As a kid, I had tried it many times but given up. I figured I could never, ever actually do it. When I opened the instructions for the cube, I almost laughed out loud. The paper said the first step was to make a white cross, and then it said “This step is easy, we have no tips for you.” Well, that was helpful. NOT.
After I spent hours and hours and hours on it, I was finally able to consistently get the white cross and the white corners. (Which are steps 1 and 2) but then, not matter how I tried, I could not get the next step (which is finishing the 3rd and 2nd layers. After another few hours (I literally spent my whole Christmas day on this and now we were on the next day.) David showed me a video he was using to learn.
Which finally did the trick.
I watched it again and again and then after I was able to complete it three times, I wrote down notes so I could remember what to do. I then solved it so many, many times that I can get to the sixth step without having to look at my sheet. Maybe if I keep at it, in a few weeks I can memorize those steps too.
I know this might seem pointless to many people. I was angry with myself on Christmas night for wasting my whole day trying to solve this crazy cube and not being able to. But now I am proud of myself. Not because I can solve this and not because I memorized a bunch of moves. But because I stuck with it. Because I showed myself again that hard work always pays off. Always.
Oh, and, solving the cube is always a neat party trick isn’t it?
For future reference (for me), here are the steps and moves I wrote on my paper:
- The White Cross
- If you have to flip the edge, do: F(CC), U(C), L(C), U(CC)
- The White Corners
- The Sides – (while looking at the yellow side, line up a non-yellow side so it makes a T and then look at the direction you need to move)
- Left to Right: Face left, Bottom Right, Right forward, Middle Right, Right backward, fix the white face
- Right to Left: Face right, Bottom Left, Left forward, Middle Left, Left backward, fix the white face
- The Yellow Cross
- If you have the bar: Clockwise (FRU), Counterclockwise (RUF)
- If you have the hook: Clockwise (FUR), Counterclockwise (URF)
- The Yellow Corners (to get to fully done yellow)
- The fish tail faces to the top right: RU(C), R(CC), UR(C), Up 2x C, R(C)
- Now line up the corners of the top layer:
- R(CC), F(C), R(CC), Back 2x, R(C), F(CC), R(CC), Back (2x), R(2x)
- Final Step:
- Clockwise: R2, URU(C), RURUR(CC), U(C), R(CC)
- Counterclockwise: R(C), U(CC), RURUR(C), URU(CC), R2
Stories from 2016 is a year-long project for 2016. You can read more about my projects for 2016 here.
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projects for twenty twenty-four
projects for twenty twenty-three
projects for twenty twenty-two
projects for twenty twenty-one
projects for twenty nineteen
projects for twenty eighteen
projects from twenty seventeen
monthly projects from previous years
some of my previous projects
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