Ewan's own Netflix Queue
More and more Ewan has been wanting to choose his own movies to watch. He's no longer content watching the girly stuff his older sister watches or the older stuff his brother watches. Often Aspen would take Ewan to her own Netflix queue and help him pick out movies and then add them to her queue for him; however, when Ewan was gone she would either move them to the bottom of her list or remove them entirely so that they would not supersede her own movie selections.So we setup Ewan with his own Netflix queue and today he got his first movie, Buzz Lightyear of Star Command. Enid tells me that "you've never seen a child so happy as when he got his own movie in the mail."
posted on Monday, February 01, 2010
Sledding
I took Ora 5 and Aspen sledding this afternoon. The hill by our church is a long hill and very popular, so many people had gone down it and packed the snow down. We had a great time. The first few runs were not very long as I was getting used to sledding again. Once a remembered how to steer a sled, we had good runs that went all the way down the hills (about 250-300 yards).Aspen saw the teenagers taking jumps over a ramp that they had built and decided that she wanted to try it. I sat as at the top of the hill and I started to get cold feet; the hill dropped quickly, got very bumpy and icy and then up the ramp. The guys who were going down as fast as they could were getting some good air on their jumps; some of them 5-6 feet. I asked Aspen if she was sure she wanted to do it and she said yes. So down the hill we went. I successfully steered us over the icy bumps and we hit the ramp well and we got air. We came back down hard and I heard Aspen, but I wasn't sure if she was laughing or crying. When we stopped she wasn't doing either and exclaimed "I hurt my bottom." Nevertheless, she wanted to do it again.
We had a great time. One of the more interesting sleds was the top half of a car-top carrier that had two skis attached to the bottom of it. They were able to take 3-4 people down at a time and took it over the ramp a few times.
posted on Sunday, January 10, 2010
Enid Explored Again
The picture you see here reached #16 on Flickr's most interesting photos today.
Labels: Aspen, Enid, photography
posted on Thursday, January 07, 2010
Home School Starts Today
Enid begins homeschooling Ora 5 and Aspen today.
Update: Enid reported that they had a good day of school. The kids were excited and very engaged. Aspen didn't show signs of having lost any of her reading skills over the summer. (We read to them so often that we sometimes forget that they should be reading to us!)
We also began new reading books this evening. Enid read chapter 1 of the first Box Car Children book to Aspen and I read an Aesop fable to Ora 5 and a Newbury Honor book called Red Sails to Capri. It was a great first chapter to end a great first day of school.
posted on Monday, September 14, 2009
Discovery Home School Academy Starts Today
The kids' home school academy starts today. Once a week they go to classes at a local mega-church where they can interact with kids their own age and get some of their extra-curricular classes (spanish, PE, art, etc). Plus it gives Enid a day off.
This is Aspen's first year and she will have the same kindergarten teacher that Ora 5 had. She is very excited. She picked out a Tinkerbell backpack to carry her stuff.
I have the day off work today, so it is one of those rare times that I will get to drop them off and pick them up from school.
posted on Tuesday, September 08, 2009
KC Ethnic Enrichment Festival 2009
We went to the KC Ethnic Enrichment Festival today. I took a wrong turn and had to go into Swope Park thru the main entrance instead of on Gregory. That would normally be okay, but a lot of people showed up and we were in bumper-to-bumper traffic for about 20 minutes as we tried to get into the park. It was a beautiful day and I overheard one guy saying that he had never seen so many people at the festival: "Usually it's 100° or raining."
The festival was a lot of fun. As we walked in the kids picked up "passports" and each country with a booth had a stamp. The kids loved going from country to county getting their passports stamped. At the Chinese booth, they wrote the kids name in the passports in Chinese. (I assume mandarin, but I don't know.)
After visiting all the booths we ended at Tanzania and spent a long time looking at pictures a teacher had taken while visiting sponsored schools in Tanzania. Kansas City has a sister city in Tanzania and we have a particular interest since on of our Compassion kids is in Tanzania.
At one booth they had belly dancing outfits for sale. I encouraged Enid to buy one, but she settled for a few pictures:
Then we ate. Every booth had ethnic food, but no samples. So if you wanted to try something you would have to spend $1-3 at each booth. Times 47 booths and that's a lot of green. We each picked out what we wanted to eat: Ora 5 had Vietnamese chicken kabobs. I took the vegetables off for him. Aspen and Ewan weren't hungry for supper so they had baklava. Enid had trouble choosing between German and Israeli and chose a sample platter from Israel. I had a gyro from Greece.
Then the kids wanted souvenirs: Ora and Ewan got marionettes from the Mexico booth:
Aspen got a Hello Kitty spoon from the Japanese booth. Enid got a purse, but I don't remember where from.
Labels: Aspen, Enid, Ewan, Ora 4, Ora 5
posted on Saturday, August 08, 2009
"Do you have any money? Or a snake?"
Aspen walked up to Ewan and asked "Do you have any money? Or a snake?"Ewan must have answered in the negative because she walked over to me and asked "Do you have any money?"
"No"
"No, silly. Pretend money?"
"Oh, in that case, here's a million bucks."
Labels: Aspen
posted on Wednesday, July 29, 2009
"John's Reindeer"
Aspen saw a green tractor and asked Enid "Is that John's reindeer?"Labels: Aspen
posted on Monday, June 22, 2009
Buy some money
Aspen was quite insistent that we eat at a restaurant today. After Enid's purchase of a new camera, I had declared a no-spending weekend, so I explained "we can't go out to eat today; we don't have any money.""Then go buy some," she insisted (loudly).
"Buy some money?"
"At the bank!" She then pointed a finger emphatically at the car and declared "Go!"
Labels: Aspen
posted on Saturday, June 13, 2009
"...and I'm the Princess"
Aspen was helping set the table for dinner and asked "Why do you always sit here?""I'm the head of the family so I sit at the head of the table," I explained.
"Daddy, you're not the head. Your the king."
I can live with that, I thought.
"And mommies the queen and I'm the princess."
Labels: Aspen
posted on Sunday, April 12, 2009
"I guess I'll be 5"
Today is Aspen's 5th birthday. Boy the years have gone quick. But she doesn't believe it is her birthday because we are not having her party until Saturday, when family can be here. "I'm still 4!" she's says with a bit of attitude."So, I guess I can still give you $4 for your allowance?" I asked. (Her allowance is based on her age.) She thought about that for a moment and responded:
"I guess I'll be 5."
Labels: Aspen
posted on Wednesday, February 04, 2009
Extended-Family Christmas
Every other year we spend Christmas with my Mom's side of the family. I had just bought a new camera and 2Gb cards for it, so I filled it up taking lots of pictures and playing with the video function. Here's some videos from it:Great-Grandpa and Ora playing with electronics:
Aspen, Eden and Ansley playing:
Mitch playing with Ewan and Eden:
Labels: Aspen, Ewan, Ora 5, vacation
posted on Saturday, December 27, 2008
"That is soooo cute!"
After some Christmas shopping this evening, we pulled into Sonic for drinks. In front they had an inflatable Santa. Aspen exclaimed: "Look. That's soooo cute. Look at the Santa. And Look at the candy cane in his hand. It's soooo cute!."Labels: Aspen
posted on Monday, December 08, 2008
"Look, a party hat."
We were on our way to do some Christmas shopping on Metcalf, so I pointed out the large building with red and green lights shaped like a wreath. Aspen noticed on top of another building the cone shaped green lights that are supposed to look like a Christmas tree. "Look, a party hat," she exclaimed.Labels: Aspen
posted on
"Can I help you hatch that egg?"
Enid was making dinner and Aspen saw she had the eggs on the counter. "Can I help you hatch that egg?" she asked.Labels: Aspen
posted on
Christmas Decorations
The rule at our house is that Christmas decorations can't go up until after Thanksgiving. Well, it's after Thanksgiving, so the decorations went up:
posted on Sunday, November 30, 2008
Halloween Costumes
posted on Friday, October 31, 2008
"That is soooo cool!"
I don't know where she picked it up, but Aspen has learned a new phrase: "That is sooooo cool!" She said it several times today.Labels: Aspen
posted on Sunday, October 26, 2008
Aspen's Spiritual Birth
Aspen asked to read her Bible tonight for her bedtime story. She flipped through a few pages and then said that she wanted to see the picture where Jesus died. I turned over the pages until I found the 2 pages that showed a distant hill with three crosses on the top."Which one is Jesus?" she asked.
"The middle one. Do you know why Jesus died on the cross?"
"Yes." From there I asked her if she understood sin, if she was a sinner, asked her again why Jesus died and if he stayed dead. She understood everything correctly. I asked her if she believed all those things and she told me "yes." I told her that since she believed those things, she can live in Heaven some day with Mom and Dad and Jesus. Then I led her in prayer where she confirmed that she believed the salvation message.
Hallelujah!
In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents. (Luke 15:10)
but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea. (Matthew 18:6)
Labels: Aspen
posted on Thursday, October 02, 2008
Homeschool Year Begins
Today is the first day of the home schooling year. It seems a bit later than all the other schools that started mid-August, but we hate the idea of starting before Labor Day.The state requires that Ora 5 have 1,000 hours of school. 600 of those 1,000 hours must be in 6 core subjects and 400 hours of those 1,000 must be in our home. (There can obviously be some overlap of the 600 and 400 hours.)
Enid is going to start Aspen on the Kindergarten curriculum and Ewan will have his own reading times as well.
Labels: Aspen, Enid, Ewan, Ora 5
posted on Wednesday, September 10, 2008
"I'll give you a kiss, Ora"
When we were leaving Wal-Mart, where Ora 5 was denied his request to buy Tic-Tacs (he had already spent his allowance), Ora said "I need Tic-Tacs in case my girlfriend comes over." Ora has been infatuated with a couple of different girls so it was unclear who he was talking about, but I though it would be interesting to see where this went:"Why do you need Tic-Tacs if your girlfriend comes over?" I asked.
"So my breath smells good."
"Why do you need good smelling breath for your girlfriend?"
"In case she kisses me."
"Have you kissed a girl before, Ora?"
"No."
Then from the backseat of the van Aspen said "I'll give you a kiss, Ora."
posted on Tuesday, August 19, 2008
"Are you going to get out of bed?"
We were sleeping in this morning and Ora 5 and Aspen came into our room this morning. Ora climbed into bed into between Enid and I and then Aspen looked at me and asked "Are you going to get out of bed?" Thinking that she wanted me to get up with her and make her breakfast, I said "Yes" and got up. Aspen promptly laid in the spot that I had vacated and pulled the covers over herself!Labels: Aspen
posted on Sunday, August 03, 2008
Yellow and Polka Dot Jerseys
We've been watching the Tour de France almost every night and cheering for the Garmin Chipotle team, so I guess it shouldn't surprise me that the kids have grown fascinated by the jerseys. Ora 5 pulled out his yellow shirt and declared it his yellow jersey. Apsen watches the race looking for the polka-dot jersey (best climber) which is her favorite.posted on Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Independence Day in Havensville
For years we have spent the weekend before Independence Day at my parents because my small home town celebrates big. This year there were a couple of new activities. Danny brought his motorcycle, so everyone got a ride:
And Ora 5 and Aspen found picking cherries to be a fascinating time:
They picked enough cherries that we made cherry ice cream and brought enough home to make cherry pie.
posted on Saturday, June 28, 2008
"Banana Jones"
Aspen seems to have trouble saying "Indiana" so she goes around saying "Banana Jones".Labels: Aspen
posted on Friday, June 06, 2008
Kansas City Literature Festival
We went to the Kansas City Literature Festival today. It was a lot of fun and we came home with free books, free bookmarks, free bags and Enid bought a shirt that says "Don't judge a book by its movie."Wonderscope, the local childrens' museum had a large hands on area. Here Ora is decorating a book:
They're writing on windows. They must be math geniuses:
Kansas City Bus where they had story time with kids' books read by the authors:
Labels: Aspen, books, Ewan, Ora 5
posted on Saturday, May 17, 2008
A Visit from Grandma and Grandpa
My grandparents trekked from Ohio to visit all of us "true" midwesterners. (Contrary to what CNN election coverage says, Ohio is not the midwest.) The stopped by yesterday for a visit and had gifts for the kids. Aspen got a tea set and she played tea party with Grandma.Aspen pours the tea:
Aspen stirs the tea with her finger:
Aspen and grandma drink up:
Labels: Aspen
posted on Sunday, April 27, 2008
Enid's Birthday
Enid's birthday is tomorrow, but we celebrated today. We surprised her with gifts and a cake. Ora 5 handed his gift to her and Aspen said "It's a necklace.""Aspen, don't tell me," Enid told her.
"Shh," I scolded.
Enid opened Ora's gift to reveal a necklace.
Aspen handed her first gift to mom. "It's a candle."
"Aspen, don't tell mom what they are," I reminded her. Enid opened her candle.
Aspen handed the next gift to her. "Now, don't say anything," I reminded Aspen. Enid opened her gift without being told what it was beforehand.
I handed my gift to Enid. "Now, don't say anything," I reminded Aspen again. Enid began to open her present. In the few moments of silence as Enid opened it, Aspen said "It's a flute."
posted on Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Ewan says "Aspen"
Very clearly, Ewan said "Aspen" tonight.posted on Saturday, January 12, 2008
"Don't Hatch It!"
After Bible study this morning I decided to make french toast and scrambled eggs for the family. Aspen asked if she could help and I told her she could. After getting out the supplies, I grabbed the first egg. Aspen reached for it, obviously afraid that I would crack it instead of letting her and declared: "Don't hatch it!"Labels: Aspen
posted on Saturday, January 05, 2008
"And big ears"
Aspen was drawing while in church. She looked at me and asked "Do you have two eyes?"I didn't realize that she was talking to me so Enid answered her: "Yes, daddy has two eyes." Aspen proceeded to draw two eyes inside a small oval that was obviously meant to be my head.
"And one nose?" Aspen asked.
"Yes," Enid answered. Apsen drew a nose.
Enid didn't hear what she said next: "And big ears." She then drew two large ears that where larger than the oval that was my head. "Daddy looks like a mouse," she declared.
Enid looked down at Aspen's progress and began to laugh.
posted on Friday, November 02, 2007
A 6-Mile Bike Tour
I had today off work for Columbus Day, so we decided to go for a bike ride. It was a good chance to test out Ora 5's new ability to bike. We put Aspen and Ewan in a trailer behind my bike and took one of the city's biking/walking trails. We had a good ride and when we were done I looked at the trail map and found that we had bike 5 miles.We then let Aspen and Ewan play on some playground equipment where our car was parked and Ora 5 did a half-mile loop. He did it twice! So Ora did a 6-mile bike ride today. I would not have dreamed he would have the stamina to do that.
posted on Monday, October 08, 2007
"Is it day yet?"
As I preparing for church this morning, I heard Aspen call "daddy" from her bed. I went in to check on her. She looked at me and said "Is it day yet?" I could tell she had been awake a while, but unsure if she could get up since it was still dark.Labels: Aspen
posted on Sunday, October 07, 2007
More biking
Ora 5 and I worked on his biking some more this morning. He is doing very well, but stopping is still a problem particularly as he begins to pick up speed on the gradually downhill of our street. We worked on braking without coming to a full stop. I ran with him a bit as he did this and then let him try it once on his own with almost disastrous results. He couldn't stop himself fully as he went down the hill and as I watched and yelled he almost entered a busy intersection. So we worked on coming to a full stop for a bit.After about 10-15 minutes he had this mastered as well. There's nothing more for me to teach him.
Aspen, seeing that Ora was riding now, decided she wanted to try her bike which she has shunned up until this point. So I took her out into the road and we worked on pedaling, braking and turning.
posted on Saturday, September 29, 2007
"It doesn't have any pictures."
I decided to read the "Little House" series of books to Aspen. She is about the age Ora was when I began reading him the Chronicles of Narnia. As I began she looked at the book and said "It doesn't have any pictures." I explained that you had to imagine what was being said in her mind. She looked at me incredulously.I began reading, but was interrupted and had to leave the room. When I came back, Aspen had flipped forward several pages to a page that had a picture. "Read here," she instructed.
"We'll get there, but we have to start back here," I said flipping back.
I continued reading and we soon came to a part about wolves howling outside their house only feet from the front door. Pa woke Laura and showed her the wolves outside the window. "I want to see the wolves," Aspen interrupted.
"You have to imagine the wolves in your mind," I explained. She gave me the same look as earlier.
We continued to read and soon came to a part about a bear that tried to eat the family hog. "I want to see the bear," Aspen said.
"There's no picture of the bear," I said patiently. "You have to image the bear in your mind."
"Maybe there's a picture of the bear later."
"I don't think so," I said doubtfully.
We continued reading and the situation repeated 1 or 2 more times although I do not remember what she wanted to see in those cases. We finished the chapter and as I turned the page to the next chapter, a picture of a bear sat alongside chapter 2's title.
"See," Aspen said as she pointed to the bear.
Labels: Aspen
posted on Monday, September 10, 2007
A Day at the Dairy
Enid took the kids to the church home school group's field trip to a dairy farm today. The pictures below are from that trip:
posted on
"I wanna brownie."
"I wanna brownie. I wanna brownie," Aspen continually repeated."McDonald's doesn't have brownies," Enid explained.
"I wanna brownie."
"Do you mean hash browns?"
"Yeah!"
posted on Monday, June 18, 2007
Hiking the Hollow Fox Trail
We took a hiking trip this afternoon. There's a new trail that has been a couple years in the making. We walked a bit of it. Here's some pictures for you.
This is me and the kids at the beginning of the hike.
Ewan's first walk in the carrier.
Whenever you find a rock that is hanging, you are obliged to get a picture of someone holding it up. Here's Aspen.
And Here's Ora.
This was at the bottom of the hike before proceeding up a hill to return to the nature center. The bridge in the background is Gregory Blvd, just East of the entrance to the zoo.
The Martindale men.
Labels: Aspen, Enid, Ewan, Ora 4, Ora 5
posted on Sunday, April 15, 2007
Aspen's been Googled
Enid received an email tonight from a Martindale family in Canada. (I wonder how closely we're related.) They have a daughter named Aspen as well and found our website when Googling their daughter's name.posted on Tuesday, April 03, 2007
Meet the Martindales in 3D
We went to see Meet the Robinsons this morning and as you can see we got the goofy glasses.
The movie was great. Some parts were very predictable, but I didn't see the end coming. One interesting side affect of 3D glasses is that the villains are scarier. The hat is a villain and in a couple of parts flies toward the screen. This scared Aspen a bit.
At first I was looking at the screen and trying to decide if the whole movie was 3D or if only seemed that way because it was a 3D animated movie. I quickly realized that the entire movie was going to be 3D and wondered how the did it. I soon saw the answer on the Disney Channel: When animating a 3D movie, you create a scene by placing all the characters into a set in the software. You can manipulate them however you want to create the scene. Then you place virtual "cameras" in the scene to capture what is going on. By adding a second camera beside the first, you create a 3D affect. One camera records the image the left eye will see and the other records the image the right eye will see. The further you pull the 2 cameras apart the more the objects appear to pop out of the screen. Using this technique, it is easy to make any computer animated movie 3D. The only changes that have to be made is deciding how far apart to place the two cameras for any particular scene.
I also noticed that 3D technology has changed a lot over time. This was my first 3D movie (not counting theme park rides like Spiderman, Terminator and Captain EO), but before the movie they ran a 1953 Disney short film with Donald Duck and Chip & Dale. I took my glasses off briefly during the short and you could distinctly see the 2 images that were on the screen giving a very blurry affect. When I did the same thing during Meet the Robinsons, the 2 images were much closer so it looked out of focus, but you could still watch it. (Now that I know that they can move the two cameras apart for certain scenes, I'm curious if those scenes would look much more blurry than the scene I saw without my glasses.) Now, both movies use different degrees of separating the images; however the same glasses worked for both. My children both had "kids packs" and on the back was the older style, blue and red 3D glasses. I tried watching the movie with those. I saw 4-6 separate images which made it so blurry that I couldn't see a thing.
Anyway, very cool movie! Very cool experience in 3D.
Labels: Aspen, Enid, Ewan, movies, Ora 4, Ora 5
posted on Saturday, March 31, 2007
"Yes, it is."
I asked if something was Aspen's tonight and she replied "Yes, it is." I stopped and wondered what causes a 3-year-old who is still learning to speak to answer with a full "Yes, it is" instead of simply "Yes"?Labels: Aspen
posted on Thursday, March 29, 2007
Looking Cool
Aspen put her sunglasses on Ewan. Boy did he think he was cool:
posted on Saturday, February 10, 2007
Say Good Night Gracie
Aspen brought me a banana and asked me to open it. Knowing that she hears the Spanish word for open on Dora all the time, I said "Can you say 'Open' in Spanish?""Open in Spanish," Aspen replied.
Labels: Aspen
posted on
Aspen's Birthday
Aspen's 3rd Birthday is tomorrow, but we celebrated today.
She got to pick out her own cake and chose Disney Princesses:
Labels: Aspen
posted on Saturday, February 03, 2007
Fickle Kids
We went to the grocery store and Ora and Aspen got to pick out their own cereals. Ora picked Chex and Aspen picked Apple Jacks. When we got home they both wanted a bowl of cereal and acquiessed; however, Ora wanted the Apple Jacks and Aspen wanted Chex!posted on Monday, January 29, 2007
Are we home yet?
A while back I grew tired of hearing "Are we there yet?" I told Ora, I would no longer answer those questions and I now remain silent when either Ora or Aspen ask.Today, Ora found someone else to answer:
Ora: "Are we home yet?"
Aspen: "No."
Ora: "Are we home yet?"
Aspen: "No."
Ora: "Are we home yet?"
Aspen: "No."
Ora: "Are we home yet?"
Aspen: "No."
Ora: "Are we home yet?"
Aspen: "No."
Ora: "Are we home yet?"
Aspen: "No."
Ora: "Are we home yet?"
Aspen: "No."
All the way home.
posted on Saturday, December 16, 2006
Mom's Day Out
Enid took the kids out today. The first went to JC Penny's and looked for shoes for Ora.She then went to McDonalds and found that Aspen was missing a shoe, so back to JC Penny's. There was no sign of Aspen's shoe. Enid said that the shoe department was such a mess, I imagined her asking if they had found a missing shoe among rows of unshelved shoes and getting disbelieving stares.
While at JC Penny's, Enid noticed that Aspen's diaper need changed, but no diapers! So she drove to Wal-mart and bought new shoes and diapers.
What a day!
posted on Thursday, December 14, 2006
Baby U-an
Aspen said Baby Onion tonight and I wondered if she could say his name correctly. "Aspen, can you say Ew-an?""U... an"
Now whenever she says his name she'll say "Onion," I'll ask "What's his name?" She'll then pause, think about it and say "U... an."
posted on Friday, November 24, 2006
