Chocolate Cake Day

Yesterday in the car on the way to school the guy on the radio told us that it was Chocolate Cake Day. The boys asked if we could have chocolate cake today and I said yes. They were so surprised.

They only have one after school club this week, which means we have lots of extra time in the evenings since we aren't rushing around. So after school we made a chocolate cake from scratch. Double-layer. We even made the frosting from scratch. It was fun and delicious and I was so proud and amazed. When we sat down for dinner the boys couldn't believe their good fortune. They were getting pizza and chocolate cake in the same night! It was a pretty awesome evening.

We had extra time this evening too. We had time to play two games of Yahtzee and one game of Sorry and there was hardly any fighting or cheating. Success! For dinner we had macaroni and cheese, vegetables, and mini hotdogs wrapped in pastry dough. (I know, but they were left overs and c'mon, it made the boys so happy.) Of course chocolate cake for dessert.

I think my favorite part of the night was when we shared "sports facts". I said Mia Hamm scored more soccer goals than any professional American male player (although I'm not entirely sure that is true). Jett rattled off about 5 Brett Favre stats, including number of attempted passes, number of completed passes, and number of touchdown passes. I looked them up online as he recited them to me. He was very close in every category.

We played the mirror game where we mimic each other's movements and Kai almost did the splits. He is really close.

Then I put them to bed and they told me they loved me. Jett wrapped my arm around him. Kai held my face in his hands.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2015

Today we had a day off of school and work (more or less) in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. We spent most of the day working around the house, playing board games, and negotiating screen time with the boys. They had soccer tonight, which finally got us all out of the house.

I always think, at random times throughout the year, that this year we'll do a service project with the boys on MLK day. You know, make it a day on not a day off. The trouble is that I never get around to actually planning a service project, and the day slips by and we've done nothing.

So to make up for it Charlie and I talk with the boys about Martin Luther King Jr. and they rattle of the facts they've learned about him at school, and that is that. This year wasn't that much different, except this time we acted like 21st century parents and used the internet and it was so much better.

First we watched The Story of Martin Luther King Jr. by Kid President. (Thanks for alerting me to that, Twitter!) At the end of the video Kid President mentions the book My Daddy, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, written by Martin Luther King III which the boys remembered reading in kindergarten. Kid President also encourages kids to "book it forward" by which I think he means to donate or share books. So the boys and I went through their books and picked out some they were ready to donate.

I had to talk them in to going through their books. They were afraid we were going to make a big mess by pulling all of the books off the shelves, and they didn't want to clean it up. But we kept running across books that we loved when they were little. Kai read and sang to himself the entire song in Down By the Bay. I found the counting book that Jett loved as a toddler. Memories! Cleaning up the books wasn't so bad, but giving some of them away is hard for me. I have to admit that I saved a couple. At any rate, we are going to donate their outgrown books to BooksFirst!. Each book they donate goes towards building a library in a Chicago Public School that does not have a library but does have a homeless population of more than 25%.

While cleaning out their bookshelves we ran across several books they haven't even read yet, including Mr. Lincoln's Way by Patricia Polacco. That book ties in to Martin Luther King Jr. day very well, so we read that too.

Charlie has started a tradition of reading from Wonderopolis at dinner some nights. So during our before soccer snack he read us Who Was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. which prompted a discussion about Rosa Parks who the boys knew about. Then we started talking about protests, so during bath time and dinner we read another Wonderopolis segment called What Was the Sit-In Movement.

In between all of this talking, watching, and reading we folded laundry, took a nap, fought, made up, played Clue and Twister, put kindles away, and negotiated the quantity of candy it would be ok to eat. Hopefully our conversations are sinking in amidst the noise of daily life. Still, if their teachers asked them what they did on MLK day, I know all they'll say is that they played wii. Kids!

Open House Chicago

Today I dragged the boys to Open House Chicago. Open House Chicago is a self-guided tour of 150 architecturally-interesting spaces that are normally closed to the public. The sights are laid out geographically on a map, and the boys and I picked three nearby to visit.

First, Jett and I visited my selection, Ignite Glass Studios. I wasn't sure what to expect. Were we just there to admire the building, or would we see artists in action? Would it be interesting for kids? Would it be crowded?

Artists in action, yes, and no. We loved it!

The space was pretty awesome. We walked up a cement path decorated with long colorful rectangles of glass then we entered their front yard through a wrought-iron and stained-glass gate. The lawn was decorated with bales of hay and pumpkins both real and glass, which you could purchase. Charming!

Walking in to the building, we went straight back to watch the glass blowers in action. We saw the glowing orange kilns and watched the glass change from liquid to solid right before our eyes. Mesmerizing! 

When the presentation was over Jett and I designed our own glass tile masterpieces. (Jett's is the jack-o-lantern and mine is the one that says BOO below.) The Jett decorated a Halloween cookie. It was a perfect event for an eight-year-old and his mom and I was so glad that we went.

Our second visit (after stopping home to pick up Kai) was The Conservation Center, where artists conserve and restore art. Jett picked this one because I told him that conserving art involved chemistry and art. I think he was excited about the science part. After our awesome experience at Ignite Glass Studio I was really excited to see what we could do and see at The Conservation Center, but unfortunately all they had planned was a short introductory speech about the work they do. They had nearly the entire room roped off so we couldn't even explore. We didn't get to see many examples of their work, look through the microscopes or look in the "hood" (where they make the chemicals). Jett made a valiant effort to listen to their speech, but Kai was out of his mind with boredom. Back to the car.

Then we made the best decision of the day.

 Threadless Warehouse and Headquarters

The office is a playful space with murals on the walls, t-shirts hanging from the ceiling, and games.

We toured the warehouse and office, played with lego figurines that an employee left sitting out on her desk, and played with all of the games in their lobby. Everyone visiting Threadless seemed laid-back and relaxed. One guy played a video game with Jett (who was looking longingly at it but hadn't asked me for money for it yet) and no one seemed to mind our errant ping-pong balls. 

He won the point but lost the match. Then I accidentally beat both Jett and Kai, but they were good sports about it, probably because they still had darts and foosball left to play.

 He was too short to pretend to pee in it, which is what all of the grown-ups were doing!

It was a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon!

Back on our Bikes!

The weather is nice and the forecast is beautiful so we finally hauled the bikes out of storage and got them ready for spring! We put air in the tires but had to take Kai's in for a minor repair. Here we are on the way to West Town Bikes.

While waiting for the repair to be done we headed over to Humboldt Park and ran in to two friends along the way. I love running in to friends at the park!

This morning we biked to school. It's 1.5 miles away and took us about an hour. Once Kai graduates to a bigger bike I think it will go faster, but he really loves his bike and doesn't want a new one. Yet. Besides, we'll never be too fast as there are so many alleys and crosswalks to stop at. Ah, city biking.

Happy St. Patrick's Day Weekend!

It is crazy in Chicago on St. Patrick's Day weekend, especially when the weather is a balmy 40 degrees after a week in the 20s. Parking was crazy, pedestrians were everywhere, and my parents (who are visiting this weekend) and I had to dodge several festive groups as we walked, and they wove, down the sidewalk at noon.

It was too cold for us to go downtown to the parade on Saturday, and given the crowd that was out and about in our neighborhood I had no interest in meeting the crowd at the parade. Jett had a writing workshop near home anyway so we dropped him off there and then walked through the neighborhood stores. We had a relaxed, nice day of board games, dinner (corned beef on rye!), and movie night at home. We pumped up the air mattresses and popped popcorn and everything to watch Cool Runnings. It's a good post-Olympics flick.

Today was busier. We watched the boys play soccer and then ate brunch at Wishbone. After that we headed to the art institute to visit The Thorne Rooms because Jett and I are reading The Sixty-Eight Rooms, which my mom got Jett for Christmas. Jett and I had a blast looking at all of the rooms that Ruthie and Jack visit in the book. Next time we have to remember to bring the book with us, because we started getting confused about some of the details, and we couldn't remember everything that we wanted to. We also haven't finished the book yet, which would have helped. It was still fun though and I'm looking forward to going back after we finish the book.

We also headed down to the family space and spent some significant time creating our own still-life. We tweeted the picture of Kai's still life and Jett's still life to the art institute and the pictures showed up on a scrolling screen in the room, which was pretty cool. It felt pretty good to be able to touch things and move around freely after spending an hour just looking.

Of course we stopped by the Chicago River to get a picture of it while it is so green.

Finally, tonight before bed the boys constructed some fairly elaborate Leprechaun Traps. We are hoping to catch a leprechaun tonight, or at the very least we are hoping that we find some of his gold. Kai had trouble falling asleep because he is both excited to find gold and freaked out about catching a leprechaun. Jett had trouble falling asleep just because he's so excited. I don't think I will have any trouble falling asleep, but I do hope there is gold in the traps when I wake up!

No Homework!

On Monday both of the boys' teachers were absent and neither substitute sent home any homework. It felt like a holiday! The boys had time to play, I had time to cook dinner, it was wonderful.

What did the boys do with all of their free time? They played Pokemon all evening. Every morning this week they've woken up and continued the game. They've been so into it that we even let them keep the cards spread out on the floor until this morning. They don't have the Pokemon game board, so they have had to make up their own version, which is somewhat impressive. It's fun to listen to them play.

At least the pizza is good!

A school fundraiser at Chuck E. Cheese is both genius and a total PITA. Thankfully I had a lot of friends there too!