Author: ChristyG

Make that the Moision/Beck/Lagerspets/Devine/Oklejas/Gottardi BBQ Extravaganza in honor of Jokke and Merja’s visit to California. Yesterday the rest of the Moision+ family came up for the afternoon to meet — or in Bob’s case, get reacquainted with — our international visitors. As a side note, Ezra and Finn are thoroughly enjoying having Jokke and Merja in the house — mainly because they are additional audience members for their “joke” telling. (Finn almost got a knock knock joke right today.)

A good portion of the group:

Bruce made some oobleck (a strange-acting combination of corn starch and water) that captivated children of all ages:

Cottage has a day every year where the kids get to have a special friend or relative come to school for a potluck and some play time. This year we invited Jamma, and since I was working in Finn’s class I was there the whole time as well. Because there are so many families this year with children in both the Rainforest and Mulberry classes, they opened the gates between the big and little yard and combined the two classes. It was a bit chaotic but fun. Here are some pictures of the day and a video (“Hot Butter”) from music time. Check out Finn’s big finish on the drums (well, on the colander).

It’s 57 degrees and rainy here, so what better activity for an otherwise boring afternoon than making lemon sorbet? Finn had never seen the ice cream maker in action, and he was floored by how cool it is. (Ezra, on the other hand, is an old pro since we used to do this a lot the summer before last.) Their favorite part, of course, was the tasting session they got once I’d scooped out the majority of the sorbet to freeze for later.

I took the boys to Descanso Gardens this morning, and braved the cold (Eek! 58 degrees!). We had walked up to see the ducks in their usual hang-out, but none were there. As we walked back along the road, we discovered a goose and two ducks wandering around. Then they formed a line — the goose first, then the ducks. Ezra and Finn couldn’t help but join in, and soon they were in line behind the animals, flapping their arms, Ezra shouting “Quack, quack!” and Finn shouting, “Cack, cack!” I only had my iPhone camera with me so I wasn’t quite fast enough to capture the best moment, but these pictures will have to suffice.

The boys decided they wanted to do a little “cleaning” today, so after fighting over the Swiffer WetJet for a while, they finally settled on scrubbing the kitchen counter. It started off fairly tame — despite Finn yelling constantly for me to turn the water on higher — but by the end the soap usage was off the charts and there were suds everywhere. I’m certain that portion of the counter has never been cleaner.

This week has been weird as far as weather goes. Monday morning it poured; yesterday it was sunny and mid-80s. The boys were delighted with the rain and dressed in all their rain gear Monday for our outing to one of the local indoor playgrounds. Ezra ran straight to the car, but Finn lingered to fully utilize his umbrella under the area where the roof comes together and creates quite a stream of water. I just can’t get over how cute he looks in his rain gear.

Like father, like sons.

We had the Heffs over for a play date yesterday and decided to do some egg dyeing. Ezra had done this at school on Wednesday, but this was Finn’s first time. He was, as expected, not the most patient egg-dyer. His eggs came out very light colored, and instead of using the little wand to retrieve them, he just stuck his whole hand in the cup. It was pretty comical — and messy — and a good time was had by all.

Finn goes fishing while Charlie patiently waits

Ezra only wanted to do blue ones

Ezra shows off the bounty

Finn peeling his egg:

This week’s gymnastics class had a big finish — the kids got to swing out over the pit on a big rope, while, theoretically, other kids threw big foam blocks at them. Fun ensued.