“Play-with” Lego sets

Published by
Merriweather
at Nov 17, 2008 in The Toy Box. 0 Comments

Lego sets fall into three categories: 1) those that are fun to play with; 2) those that are for display and 3) those that should be played with, put don’t hold up to the stress. For his birthday, Peabody received the Port of Lego City which is one of the best play-with sets we’ve seen. There is so much in it that encourages story building: multiple minifigs, cargo truck, security kiosk, working crane and a massive ship. Peabody also spent some birthday cash on the Lego garbage truck set. Unfortunately this set falls into the third category: it looks great, but doesn’t function well as a toy. Blocks break off when opening and closing the rear door and storage container separates when “unloading” trash.

Election Day Eve

Published by
Merriweather
at Nov 3, 2008 in Doings. 0 Comments

Before dinner, Annabel and I went through our ballots discussing the pros and cons of candidates and propositions. Nettie let us know where she stood on library expansion and animal protection. Even though I’ll just be dropping off my ballot, she’ll be coming with me to voting station tomorrow. And then we’ll be up late watching results come in.

Saturday Market

Published by
Nettie
at Nov 1, 2008 in Berkeley. 0 Comments

Yesterday was the first time in months that it rained and today it rained even harder. Today was also the Saturday Farmer’s Market. Peabody and I usually do not like to go to the market, but since it was raining, and because it is SO much more fun to walk in the rain, we decided to go. Our market does not soud as crazy as Nicholas’ market, from the book Nicholas in Trouble (coming soon). Of course, Nicholas’ market did not have a six foot Chicken Woman shopping.

Mario and Laura Ingalls

Published by
Merriweather
at Oct 31, 2008 in The Costume Trunk and The Workshop. 0 Comments

Continuing her tradition of choosing characters from literature, for Halloween 2008, Nettie was Laura Ingalls Wilder. She sewed the entire costume, including the bonnet, to match the description in the Little House books. She’s a whiz on her Hello Kitty sewing machine. Peabody’s Mario costume was just a little easier to put together. A felt “M” glued to an old St. Louis Cardinals baseball hat, fake mustache and overalls assembled with blue duct tape and old jeans (even Oshkosh doesn’t sell overalls for boys anymore). A cardboard Shooting Star Mariokart completed the ensemble. It was a gorgeous night for a walk and the kids brought home a record amount of candy (now counted and sorted). We’re already thinking about our next costumes for next year.

Daruma-san

Published by
Merriweather
at Oct 31, 2008 in The Workshop. 1 Comment

In honor of our family members spending their first Halloween in Tokyo, we carved a Daruma Jack-o-Lantern. Daruma is a Japanese good-luck charm. We like him because he’s also a symbol for trying hard and being brave. Nettie carved a cat, Peabody carved a silly face and our firend Melissa carved a groucy old man using the pumpkin stem as the nose.

The Earth Goes Around the Sun

Published by
Merriweather
at Oct 29, 2008 in The Classroom. 0 Comments

With two other classroom birthdays last Friday, Peabody decided to have his Birthday Circle yesterday. In this ceremony, the student holds a small globe while orbiting a candle representing the Sun. The kids sing, “The Earth goes around the Sun, the Sun. The Earth goes around the Sun: One!” At a full revolution, the student stops and the parents tell a story from that year. The kids sing again and shout “Two!” for the second year. After making six orbits, Peabody blew out the candle and the teachers sent the kids off to the day’s first projects.

Six Laps Around the Sun

Published by
Merriweather
at Oct 24, 2008 in Doings. 0 Comments

Peabody celebrated his birthday today with sushi and a chocolate malt cake. It’s a Derringdo tradition that you get to choose your birthday menu. We’ll be spending at least part of tomorrow building his new Port of Lego City.

Echidna Screen Print

Published by
Nettie
at Oct 22, 2008 in The Wardrobe. 1 Comment

In art we have been learning how to do screen printing on t-shirts we brought from home. I wanted to do an animal called an echidna, which has a long nose and quills. Since I wanted the body of the echidna to be brown, but the quills black, I had to do two layers of paint. First I did just the solid brown body with a blank spot for the eye. The second layer was part of the eye filled in with black, and some quills. I hand-painted the rest of the quills. This is a really fun and easy way to make your own t-shirts!

Who You Kudu?

Published by
Merriweather
at Oct 21, 2008 in San Francisco. 1 Comment

The San Francisco Zoo is running a brilliant out of home advertising campaign at bus shelters around the city. White posters with human-sized animal features are purpose made for pedestrian interaction. People are encouraged to pose as the animal and upload a picture to the Zoo’s gallery. Peabody the Kudu is pictured above. See others and try to find Nettie here.

Indian Corn Crunchers

Published by
Merriweather
at Oct 20, 2008 in The Grounds. 0 Comments

Annabel is being driven crazy by the sound of squirrels munching Indian corn. Peabody had the idea of taking what is left of his gift and hiding it around the yard “to see how smart the squirrels are.” Annabel will be happy.

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