35W Bridge

I was looking for something on Google maps the other day and wondered if they had any street view images of the 35W bridge and low and behold they did. I'd definitely say this bridge looked "structurally deficient."

Picking up from school

Found this little clip on my cell phone, I think it is from September of 2007.

Ron Paul

So next Tuesday being “Super Tuesday” we will be traipsing off to the polls to cast our vote for the candidate (Republican in our case) we believe should be the nominee for the party - not an easy thing to do considering this field of choices. We’ll be casting our votes for Ron Paul. Will he win? Probably not. It’s been tiring to watch the press portray him as such a fringe oddball candidate though - being oddballs ourselves we can’t help but take exception to this :-)

Booked Flight

Just got done booking the flight for Maya's Brown Grandma - she'll be arriving on April 4th, just in time for the baby. So by mid April Maya will have a White Grandma, Brown Grandma and new brother or sister in the house... This house of ours seems to be getting smaller and smaller all the time.

What's wrong with this picture?

Reading at Desk

Unfriendly Amazon

This is pretty funny. You know how Amazon always sends you recommendations based on your earlier purchases - well, this seems a little harsh:-)

Famous Dave's

Saturday after violin lessons we went to Famous Dave's.

Safe Baby Tips

Thought this would be helpful information for our readers who have or will be having a baby (which accounts for a lot of our readers right now) - they are all found in the book Safe Baby Handling Tips.

Forced Practicing

Maya was throwing a tantrum over having to practice this afternoon so instead of fighting with her I stuck the camera in her face, started recording and made her even madder - heh heh heh. You can tell by the bright shiny smile on her face that she is really enjoying the process. She thinks that she can start to whine and cry making me so angry that I'll give up on the practice session, well she better think again. If it's a contest of wills she's looking for - I say, bring it on.

Back to School Again

Unfortunately this smiling little face will not be home all day starting Wednesday as she is back to school after a two day vacation. Boy these kids get a lot of days off - when I was a kid....

Trailer for Macheads Movie

Macheads - the movie (trailer)
Uploaded by brunogarattoni

The Anti-Hitcher

Thought Maya's Grandpa would get a kick out of this, (being that he likes to wax nostalgically about when he was a kid, and he'd hitch rides on the back of car bumpers in the winter time) it's an ad from a 1936 Science and Mechanics Magazine that shows how to rig your car to electrocute children when they grab on. Ah, it was a different time in America....

Link

Playdate

Maya's off from school today and is having a play date over at Claire's house.

This weekend we didn't do too much, mostly sat around the house and tried to stay warm. Tonight Maya and Zaheeda are making apple turnovers so that should keep her busy when she gets home.

Cold

It is a cold one out there today. Maya was bundled up on the way to school (less her scarf, which she recently lost). She has group class tomorrow and then I think we are going to stay home for the rest of the weekend, no sense going out if we don't have to.

Homework

Busy night of homework - spelling and alphabet research - mix in a little violin and Maya's had a busy night.

Clean Desk

Maya got her desk all cleaned up tonight so she has a good place to study. She even sharpened all her pencils because like her grandma says, a sharp pencil is the sign of a sharp mind.

Rhyme Time with Maya #6

New Rhyme Time is up - here.

Sleeping in a box

Maya has been spending a lot of time inside a box. The box that came with the stroller has become her new home - she plays in the box, reads in the box and as of last night began sleeping in the box. We were a little concerned about what we were going to do with the sleeping arrangements when the baby comes, but Maya is opening our eyes to lots of new possibilities.

Swedish Body Heat

More of our continuing coverage of odd Swedish news... Came across this story about the Swedes harnessing body heat from Stockholm Central Station patrons to heat an office building. Oh the Swedes.... after perusing the picture below I have to say I don't see a lot of heat being generated there. They must be banking on the fact that the Swedes being Swedes, they will rarely ever be stopping to talk to one another - after-all you really shouldn't be standing around talking when you need to be walking around generating body heat.

Babies "R" Us

Did some of our first baby stuff shopping last night and got one of those all-in-one stroller, car seat things like Haylynn has, it seems very handy and we are anxious to start wheeling it around the mall, all we need is someone to put in it.

Dog Shooting

As odd as this story is I have to say that while watching it all I could think is - ya know I could really see something like this happening to Maya's Grandpa. It would almost be a poetic end to an already curious list of unfortunate incidents:

Falling out of a tree
Cutting off finger in snow blower
Being knocked out cold by an exploding couch
only to be ultimately shot dead by a dog.

New Deal

Yesterday I told Maya I would add to our practicing agreement saying that if she does all her practicing every day for four weeks I will take her to Chipotle for a burrito. Keep in mind this is in addition to our already agreed upon deal of getting rewarded for every two new pieces she completes, so it was basically me just sweetening and already pretty generous agreement. Her question was whether she would also be getting chips and salsa with her prize. She's always been and always will be a master manipulator.

Back to the Routine

Back to a full week of school again. lately Maya's been on a vacation in more ways than one, she's taken a break from her violin, podcasts, home study and just about everything else that could be deemed productive, but she is back in her routine now. Yesterday she did a bunch of work in her spelling book and tonight she's getting back on her regular practice schedule and we should have a new podcast up soon. So, everything is getting back to normal.

This is a picture of her at Highland Grill, with her ice tea and word find - she's kind of developing a certain lifestyle.

Maya & Her New Artwork

Maya proving once again that if given art supplies she will create stuff. In this case it was series of super hero kids done in oil based crayons. My office space has taken on a whole new super dynamic vibe.

Dancing Pregnant Lady

This afternoon Zaheeda was doing some post holiday clean-up and I put on some Indian music, suddenly she started dancing around like a crazy pregnant lady in pajamas. The prospects of getting at least one normal person in this family still seems very slim.

Putting Covers on New Books

Here she is putting protective Brodart covers on her new books so they will last for generations.