Category Archives: child’s play

All I ever needed to know, I learned in kindergarten.

We’re a few weeks into our first school year and all is well…unless you count the daily underwear battle.  Oh wait!  Not only does he HATE wearing underwear, he also thinks pants are just as unnecessary.  Oh, the issues of my 5-year-old son.  But once he’s at school, he LOVES it and that’s what makes this mother’s heart happy at the end of the day.

Did you know that ‘kindergarten’ in German, literally means ‘children’s garden’?  Noah’s first words after his first day of kindergarten were…”I love this place!  They have WAY cooler toys!”


 

 

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“You think this is about SUSHI?” –Celia from Monsters Inc.

I’ve been wanting to make these since our trip to Victoria a year and a half ago.  The boys visited the Victoria Bug Zoo — not sure how I got out of that one;) and were sent home with the recipe for BUG SUSHI! Everyone in our family loves sushi, even Noah, in spite of eating a large glob of wasabi one time thinking it was bubblegum!  I don’t think he’ll make that mistake again…

Mock Sushi

1/4 cup butter                                                               6 cups Rice Krispies

4 cups mini marshmallows                                       Candy-swedish fish, sour strings, gummy worms….

1-2 boxes of fruit leather or fruit by the foot

Line baking sheet with wax paper.  Melt butter in a large saucepan.  Add marshmallows and stir until smooth.  Remove from heat and stir in the rice krispies.  Place plastic baggies on your hands and spread a thin layer on to baking sheet.  Place a row of candy an inch from the edge. Roll marshmallow mixture over the worms just enough to encircle the candy.  Stop and cut the log away from the rest of the mixture.  Continue with this method to make as many logs as you can.  Wrap each log with fruit roll up.  Slice each log into 1 inch thick slices.

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In a state of Sunshine

So I’m a little slow at posting images from my spring vacation in Florida.  Our plans consisted of spending the first week moving around to a few different locations.   The second week we met up with David’s parents and sisters family.  Here is the condensed version of our two-week vacation.

We flew out on Noah’s birthday so a few days later we treated him to Disney World.  It wasn’t initially part of the plan until we heard about the ‘Give A Day, Get A Day’ program through Disney.  Volunteer for a day through an approved agency and voila, free tickets to a Disney park!  How great is that?

Auntie Jenn, you’re not the only one addicted to the blue fluffy stuff!

Daytona beach—home to Nascar, crazed spring breakers and vehicles driving on the beach.  None of which I’m crazy about!  This Nervous Nelly didn’t do much relaxing here!  The sand was gorgeous though, so fine and squeaky.

By the end of the first week we were down in Fort Lauderdale skimming over the alligators!  I’m telling you priorities change when you have little boys.  Say goodbye to outlet malls and hello to holding baby alligators and iguanas!

Ahhhhhhh…..Palm Coast.  We finally are going to stay in one spot for a week!  This is where we met up with David’s family.  Last time we’d seen our nephews was 3 years ago.  We would spend our mornings down by the water hunting for treasures and the afternoons at the pool swimming and chewin’ the fat.

Coquina–our beach was made up of this wicked cool stuff.  The only time I put my camera down was to load my pockets with it!  It’s mainly composed of mineral calcite, often including some phosphate, in the form of seashells or coral.  Blah, blah and blah…wikipedia gibberish…

Snapped off a few family pics for my sister-in-law.

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the COOKE boys

On one of those long drives somewhere, we decided to play a game with the boys to teach them plurals…

“What do you call more than one mouse?”  “Mice!”

“What do you call more than one goose?”  “Geese!”

Then David gets smart and asks “What do you call more than one T-Rex?”  “SCARY!!!!”

I decided it was my turn to be silly and ask “What do you call more than one Cooke boy?”  Noah replies ever so serious….”Chefs!”


Noah….such an intense child.  His body has been on the go since day one.  A bit of a challenge I must confess.  There were times that I definitely missed my mommy!  He’s passionate in everything from his anger and frustration, to his love.  He repeatedly tells me that he loves me all the way to China and back or around the moon 4 times or shows me using his fingers, toes, knees and elbows.

There hasn’t been an animal yet that he hasn’t loved and wanted to take home.  If he and his father had their way we’d be running a petting zoo in our backyard here in the city.    He’s headed to kindergarten this fall, and he just informed me that when he grows up he’s going to be a wolverine ninja.   I’d better make sure he has all the right classes so that he can achieve his dream.

Simon…my food lover and affection hater.  “Snack….snack…snack…” is his constant mantra.  We have countless pictures of him eating.  He’s the messiest eater ever but hates to get his hands dirty.  “Nahkin, nahkin, nahkin…pees.”  He’s quite opposite from Noah when it comes to showing his love.  It’s a rare occasion that he gives out any hugs or kisses.  Good thing for that smile–he’s rarely short of those!  It came as a relief that he wasn’t quite as ‘busy’ as Noah.  I’d probably be committed somewhere if that was the case.

He’s well into his 2’s now so we’re dealing with the independence issues.  It takes 3 years to get into the Jeep,  4 years washing his hands and 10 years to ride his bike half a block.  He’s into throwing everything, including his fists and is experimenting with a second language, often referred to as potty talk.  David asked him the other day if he was poopy and he snaps back “I’m not poopy, I’m Simon!”  Then he calls me “Boots! I call you boots, that’s not potty talk.  Boots!”  Smarty pants!

I am speed

First we need to talk clothing.  I always said I would let my children dress how they wanted, of course within reason.  Noah at 3 yrs old wanted to wear his potty training toilet ring around his head to the library.  I did have to say ‘no’ to that one.  He has worn his tux out for pizza and grocery shopping and I can handle that but I’m sooooo sick of camouflage.  My child LOVES camo EVERYTHING!  I’m just glad he didn’t wear his camo pants with his camo shirt today although I’m sure he would have told you they would have made him go that much faster!

the rider


the scene


stretching is crucial and so is strategy

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh………………..so worth it!

Good thing for the helmet and bike!  Almost couldn’t see him because of the camo;)

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