Adoption vs. IVF

Much has been said about the anniversary of the first child born as a result of in vitro fertilization. My wife and I went through a series of fertility treatments, including in utero fertilization, but fell into that category of infertility known in doctor-speak as "I dunno".

The result of our long journey is our two daughters. While this response to an article on National Review Online does not mirror our experience exactly, it does reflect many of our experiences and certainly reflects the feelings we have toward our daughters.

Make meals interesting

Sometimes when feeding the kids it can be helpful to make a meal a bit interesting. This doesn't have to be a major project. For instance, this simple arrangement (shown before the corn dogs were added to the plate - yeah, a real gourmet meal) is easy, but got a rating of "Cool!" from the girls.

Now, before you get the idea I think I am a presentation genius, I should direct you to some real pros in the field. The Japanese serve lunches in cute compartmented stackable Bento boxes, Bento being a single-portion takeout or home-packed meal. The creative cooks make their lunches resemble people, animals, cartoon characters, landscapes, and the like. This style is called kyaraben, and one example is shown below.

You can click on the picture to go to a blog with more examples. I don't recommend the blog for the kiddies, as some entries have questionable language. The page with the examples of creative food is safe, and well worth a visit.

The Periodic Table on Video

Very interesting set of videos on the different periodic elements. British professor, enthusiastic lab assistants, and some exciting experiments (sodium is a natural). Our 5th grader was somewhat interested; our 1st grader bored after the first glance ("Is that a wig?" was the remark on seeing the professor's wild mane). I think it is neat!

Deadly plants

This is an interesting link to a description (and pictures) of some of the deadliest plants known. Some important information, especially since some of these are decorative plants readily found. Our youngest just returned from a trip to Idaho, along the Snake river. There are plants growing in the marshlands that are quite poisonous, and that yield seed pods that look deceptively like pea pods or green beans. It is important for kids to know what they can and cannot eat.

Idaho adventure

Our youngest daughter just returned from an eight-day trip with her grandparents. She is an adventurous type, and aside form some slight homesickness (and a bit of disobedience that caused Grandma second thoughts) she did quite well. Got to spend some time with my sister and her husband, who live at a distance, and some time with distant cousins, and even rode a horse.

Her sister has made this trip in past years, and was more homesick. That may be part of the reason she preferred to stay at home this year. Also, she got her own room for a whole week. She doesn't like to admit it, but I think she missed her little sister.

As usual, your humble author figured on having some free time, since the little one was gone and the older girl likes her independence. Free time means time to work on my business, and on projects of my own choosing. I was wrong again. Between Vacation Bible School at the church, and an unexpected call out of town to attend our Diocesan Synod, I had less time than usual. Always seems to work out that way.

Well, we are glad to have our baby girl home. All is back to normal... complete chaos.

A classic save

OK, one more video. I am not a huge baseball fan, but almost anyone can appreciate (and enjoy) this tremendous, unbelievable save.

An exciting dinner

My girls invited two of their friends over this evening. It has been in the planning for a week. The four girls (ranging in age from twelve to six) fixed a very impressive dinner for the two sets of proud parents.

My girls have been interested in cooking since they could sit on the counter and help us make meals - pouring, stirring, whatever they could do to help. As they get older, they do more. Our ten-year-old makes entire meals with minimal help. In fact, she created a basic spaghetti sauce recipe that is truly one of the best I've had. There are the occasional kitchen disasters, or meals that just don't quite come together, but overall her skills are impressive.

In this case they used a couple of recipes from Cat Cora's book, Cooking from the Hip".

We were able to meet Cat last year at The Taste of Colorado, a local celebration where restaurants provide samples of their specialties, musical groups perform, artisans set up stalls, trade groups hold court (the girls got some neat educational materials from the mining industry), and companies hold promotional events. Cat was promoting Sensodyne toothpaste, and part of the promotion involved free cookbooks for those who could answer cooking related trivia questions. Your humble author had a right answer, and sent his excited daughter up to collect the autographed book and meet Cat Cora. Understand that the Food Channel is one of the few television channels we allow our girls to watch, and they loved the Iron Chef America program when Cat was involved. Wow, talk about a kid who couldn't quit grinning for quite a while! The Sensodyne rep who was kind enough to take our daughter's picture with Kat and email it to us. Cat was a great treat to meet.

At any rate, the dinner tonight was terrific. The kids had fun, the parents had a fine meal, and the girls got some experience as cooks and hostesses. As I type this, the four girls are upstairs having a sleepover. Bless their little hearts, and thanks be to God for such a wonderful blessing.

A couple of videos for fun

Here are two videos. The first is just for fun. I am no fan of rap, hip-hop, and the like (my girls are not allowed to enroll in hip-hop lessons), but this is a fun video. The music is innocuous, the footage is vintage - no misogyny, cursing, drug use... it is just fun.



This next video is a result of my error - that is, I told my inquisitive ten-year-old that cheese can be made easily. So on-line I go, and I found this remarkable blog with a video to match!


I will let you know how it goes.

Are our kids too busy?

My wife and I have been having an ongoing discussion about dance and gymnastics. Our oldest girl is ten, and a very fine dancer. She seems to have a natural talent for it. Our youngest is six, and has a talent for gymnastics. They both are involved in each, but the ten year old has been invited to participate in a competitive dance group, and the six year old has been invited to participate in a competitive gymnastics team.

The problem is this: each of these groups require a tremendous amount of time. We declined to put our six year old in competitive gymnastics because it would require between seven and twelve hours of gym time each week. For a kid in kindergarten! Likewise, dance became an issue this week as our ten year old was invited to a more advanced dance company. This requires at least five to six hours per week. We negotiated with the school, and she will be going for one hour per week during the summer. We decided that she needs time to play with other children in the neighborhood - you know, time to be a kid.

Dance and gymnastics have been great for the girls. They enjoy the activities, the recitals, the exercise. But sometimes a kid needs unstructured, undirected, random chaos... I mean, fun; the type that can only be provided by fifteen or twenty screaming kids of varying ages.

Perhaps coincidentally, the very morning we are dealing with this, I read an article in National Review about the same topic. We are fortunate in our neighborhood. Seldom are the children here indoors (except when studying).