Happy birthday!

A's birthday is February 11th, but we had the party today. She had a great time with her friends and I think the parents had a nice time, too.

SNOW!!

School was canceled and the kids had fun playing in the snow today. Of course, the snow is already gone, but it was fun while it lasted!

C-O-L-D

Oh, let me tell you. This Arctic front needs to GO AWAY. We were having such a nice time in our shorts this weekend. And now, it is 18 DEGREES OUTSIDE with the wind chill from -5 to 0. People here usually start talking when we dip down into the 40's during the day...

So this is my Southern attempt to Northern-ify my children this morning before school.

Noops

She is kind.
Smart.
Determined.
Thoughtful.
She is mine.

Every night when I tuck her in, this is what we say to each other:

M: 'Who loves you?'
A: 'Mommy.'
M: 'When do I love you?'
A: 'Always.'
M: 'What do I love you with?'
A: 'With all your heart.'

We love you, little A!

C Q C Q ...

That's what you say in 'radio talk' to talk with someone. (Like seek-you, seek-you)

I joined in on the HAM radio club action yesterday with the kids and it was interesting. A. didn't like it so much. She was ready for her rest and snack time.
HZ got into it along with 8 other friends. Someone from Virginia answered back, but we lost the signal rather quickly.
At one point, the teacher mentioned Morse code and the Titantic. HZ blurted out, "OH, do you mean the same Titantic that sank in 1912?" Sometimes HZ's comments remind me of Cliff from Cheers. Just the other day he was telling our neighbor about a Circus accident that happened in 1988.

Anyway, back to HAM radio. I SO wished I had taken a picture, but but there wasn't a good opportunity to do so. Next time!

The past few posts have been about HZ, so now it's A's turn! We'll have plenty of opportunity to get some great photos/stories of her with the big 6 coming up.

No pictures this morning, but I do have an HZ story. Last night the kids came to the dinner table as usual, but HZ took 2 of the chairs to make a 'bench' and proceeded to lie down on his left side. He told me that he just read how the Ancient Romans would lie down to eat. After telling him to sit up, I googled it and he was right! Did you know this? Sure, I have the iconic image of a guy in a toga lying down while eating his grapes, but I didn't know that it was a customary "thing".

HAM radio club for the kids after school. I hope to have pictures of it this afternoon. They are both super excited.

-L

The Lie Detector

The kids got a cool circuit board kit for Christmas and this is HZ after building the "lie detector". The theory is that if you are lying you will sweat, thereby increasing the conductivity as you touch the board and turn on the light bulb.

Or you could just lick your finger and fake everyone out.

We grilled HZ with questions like: "Is Brooklyn your girlfriend?" and "Do you like My Little Pony?"

Call me a Chinese tiger mother if you will, but we believe in interrogating our children at an early age. It builds character.