Tofu the Whale

Today we ventured up to New Hampshire (okay - we live about 10 - 15 minutes from the MA/NH border) to visit Tofu the Whale. I'm a fan of the Seacoast Science Center on Facebook. We are members and donated money to help bring Tofu the Whale to the Science Center. The new exhibit just opened up and my four-year-old insisted we visit Tofu. She's been talking about it for days. So, today, we went.

Tofu's Fluke- she was named tofu for her almost all-white fluke

On-line there is a slide show that tells about Tofu and her short life and her eventual journey to the Seacoast Science Center.

Watching informational movies about Tofu and whales.
The back of this bench is a life-size model of Tofu's flipper

Inside the science center is her skeleton, a bunch of new interactive exhibits about Tofu as well as the touch tank, tanks with fish, lobsters, seahorses, and other exhibits about the area.

The touch tank.

Lucy holding a sea urchin in the touch tank.

The kids and I love visiting here. We can spend a day on the rocky beaches (not good for swimming) searching the tide pools for crabs, mussels, hermit crabs, periwinkles, and whelks. We have seen loons and ducks. We are told seals hang out here but haven't actually seen them yet.

Lola posing in a boat inside the Seacoast Science Center.

Today, the girls collected rocks. My husband also helped collect garbage that was in the ocean as well as the rocks. I usually keep a plastic grocery bag in the car to collect refuse when we visit beaches but didn't have one today. Seacoast Science Center is located within Odiorne Point State Park. Thankfully the park had garbage cans (as well as bathrooms) so our refuse collection found a home in the proper receptacle.

Lucy posing as the tide comes in.

We found a net amongst the rocks. It was the perfect thing to hold Lola's rock collection.

Beach Therapy

I love where I live. I grew up in New Jersey and going 'down the shore' was always an ordeal. There was always traffic. Expensive parking on peoples lawns (yup, they will let you park there all day - if you pay them). Etc.


Living on the North Shore of Massachusetts has given me a new appreciation for the beach. We are 20 - 30 minutes from countless beaches. I love them all. They all offer different habitats for my kids to explore. And, after breathing in the salt air, frolicking in the barely tolerable water, and digging in the sand food tastes better and kids sleep better.

Today we found a moon snail.

Mussels.

And, as we were leaving, we passed this woman who was playing her violin on the beach.

Hope y'all are enjoying some fabulous weather and perhaps some beach therapy yourselves...

Happy Birthday Lola!

My baby turned four yesterday. What better way to end a year than with a birthday?

Her 1st birthday - four people - one large cake.

Birthday number two - chocolate cake!

Birthday number three.

Happy Fourth Birthday Lola!

The Netherlands

I won one of the giveaways on Giveaway day. It was some ribbon and an ornament (which my one daughter claimed for herself and immediately hung it on the tree) from Muriel! The best thing about her post for giveaway day was - she had an ABBA video on it. Gimme, Gimme, Gimme a man after midnight. My girls LOVED it. The little one was just singing the song this morning at breakfast. Ah - what they must think of me over at her preschool when she struts in singing that song wearing her lime green hat.

Anyway - this is my favorite song / video.



Muriel - thank you so much for sharing with me your ribbon as well as ABBA! Beth

First Snow!

We received our first snowfall today. Well, more of a dusting but snow is snow round here. As soon as the girls spied the frozen precipitation outside they hugged each other and chanted snow! snow! snow! snow!

They asked if they could go out to play in it after they ate breakfast. Who could say no to children that ask to eat breakfast before they play?

After posing for 'pretty' pictures the girls asked if they could be silly. Again, how can I say no when they ask nicely? I really think the above photo should be our Christmas card.

Actually, at this rate, I'll be sending out Chinese New Year cards. I'm a little slow with cards this year.

Hope everyone had a happy day! Beth

Gobble Gobble

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I cooked for the four of us (five if you count the dog since she did eat some of the dinner too). One 14 lb turkey. Three pies for dessert. Yup - the numbers were just about right.

I asked the kids what they were thankful for and Lola said:

"All the pretty flowers that grow in my garden."

And Lucy said: "That Vampires aren't real."

To which my husband added he was thankful that: "Zombies aren't real either."

I am eternally grateful for family and friends - both near and far and the bloggy kind, that I can now create Christmas cards featuring Lucy and her missing maxillary central incisors, and that I was able to whip up a new not quite perfect apron before I started cooking.

Peace, love and happiness to all - Beth

An oldie but a goodie

My parents have been visiting while my husband is in China. All weekend Lucy was fighting something. Instead of running around outside we all settled on playing Monopoly. The kids were practically jumping out of their skin with excitement when they saw we owned the game. Now, they said the babysitter had played it with them before so I don't know how they didn't know it was ours but they're kids. Who knows. I guess they thought she brought the game with her.

We played Monopoly two days in a row. Thankfully one girl won one day and the other the next. Actually, both girls were unbelievably gracious losers. I was so impressed with their behavior. Really, they usually don't lose gracefully!

Monopoly, by the way, is a great game for helping children learn to read as well as math skills. Counting the dice, learning about rolling doubles, buying property, knowing when someone lands on your property, reading the Chance & Community Chest cards as well as having monopolies!

I know what board game we're going to play on Thanksgiving - can you guess?

For my husband

The Fairy Princesses say Ni Hao. The oldest insists you said she could play Spore. Could you please confirm or deny this rumor?

Hugs & kisses - from your ladies.

Family

This weekend the hamlet of Georgetown had their annual Horrible's Parade. Everyone that wanted to dressed-up in costume and marched from the High School down to the local park. There was then a costume contest, lots of food to buy as well as playing with your friends at the park.

And here is the first family photo we have had taken of the four of us in at least two years. I'm the chief cook on a pirate ship (notice my spiffy apron), Lola is a Blue Princess Fairy Godmother, My husband is Indiana Jones, and of course Lucy is Hermione Granger.

Kids, Cookies, and Frosting

Really, could there be a better combination?


One of our holiday traditions here in the van Duzer household is to create a Halloween Gingerbread House. I usually buy a kit at one of the local grocery stores. This year they don't seem to be carrying the kit. I did see one at JoAnn Fabrics (of all places). So, today, I purchased one.

This evening I gave the girls the choice of going to a fundraiser at McDonald's (wear your costume and proceeds from all sales benefit our local preschool) or building their cookie house. The cookie house won hands down. (Now - I should let you know - my children do not like McDonald's food. The only thing they ever ingest from that quick service restaurant are their milk shakes. If the fundraiser had been at Wendy's or Kentucky Fried Chicken though I'm sure I'd be posting photos of them in their costumes.)

This is the first year I was actually able to build the house without them destroying it in some fashion.

Here they are decorating the...wait - why are you eating the frosting and candy? What about the house?

Using the frosting bag. I'm sure this is a great use of her fine motor skills.

Voila! One Halloween Gingerbread House.

I'm not sewing costumes

I sew. I like to sew. I've made my children costumes in the past. One year, a fellow mother said to me "I know you want to make their outfits - it's your thing." This mother, whom I don't really like, had a good point. It was my thing. Sewing is my thing. It is my outlet. It helps me keep my sanity. And, heck, I might even make a few dollars from it.

Right then and there I decided, if my children ever wanted me to not make a costume I would listen to them.

As Halloween approached I pitched my idea to my children - we could all dress-up as characters from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. I wanted the older one to be a tall Alice and to walk around with a container that had a Drink Me label on it. I wanted my little one to be the short Alice and to walk around with a cake that said Eat Me on it. I would be the Queen of Hearts and my husband could be anyone he wanted from the book - most likely the Mad Hatter. The children flat out refused. I said we could buy costumes. Nope. No way. No how.

My older one is going to be Hermione Granger. She has her cloak, tie, a plastic cauldron to collect candy in, a wand, a lantern and Hedwig. As a surprise I ordered her an hourglass necklace to complete her look.

My little one is going to be a Blue Princess. Her dress lights up.

My husband is going to be Indiana Jones. We spent the day purchasing the majority of his costume (a new leather jacket, shirt, khaki pants - all necessary and wearable again on non-Halloween days).

Me - ummmm - do the devil ears I wore last year count? I called myself a MOMster.

Autumn Musings

My daughter's class took a field trip to a local farm. It was a lot of fun. A hayride followed by the children digging up potatoes. Wait - what's this?
Oh - see all the other children (primarily the boys) in the background? They're gathering the potatoes. My daughter. She has a snake. Not one potato was picked by her. And - the majority of the girls were hovering around her. Each asking to take a turn to hold the snake. Yup. Just another day with Lucy.


And, this is for Lori. I do own some Halloween decorations - they're just outdoor decorations. This witch has been around for at least three years.

And this witch - she glows in the dark. I think we've had her for five years.

Ironically, I do own Thanksgiving decorations (well, maybe just one or two). I put the one out on November 1st. I know, you're all going to wait with bated breath to see what it is.

get lost?

We did.

At the Kimball Farm Corn Maze.
This year's maze was bigger and better.

Eight Acres.
Five miles of paths - if you actually walked all of the maze.

32 questions direct visitors through the maze. Answer the question correctly and you find the next question. Answer it incorrectly and hit dead ends, paths that loop back to the question, etc.

It was so much fun! It took us about an hour to walk through the maze.

We have been taking an annual pilgrimage to corn mazes for a few years. My children know, because I'm sure I repeat myself ad nauseum before we enter, about respecting the corn. No pulling on the corn. No forcing your way through the corn to another part of the maze. That sort of thing. When my children encountered a young boy that was not respecting the corn they immediately told us. Then, they told the boy "You shouldn't pull the corn."

His parents were not really doing a good job of watching him. And - we caught him tugging on some of the signs that have the questions on them. Some of them were on the ground.

The father of the boy complained to his wife about us following them. Ummmmm - it's a corn maze. Not like there are that many ways to go if you answer the question correctly.

I truly believe my husband had to have been a tracker in a former life. He knew the correct paths to take to leave this family in the dust. Once we exited I let the staff know that signs were down in the maze that would need retaping. When they inquired further I simply stated there was a boy that wasn't being very respectful in the corn maze.

Children of the Corn

And - the scary thing - I frequently say "Children of the Corn" to my kids. Wait until they find out about the movie...

Lime Green Hat

Lola has been wearing her lime green hat from Jace / his mom Sherry (he was her partner in a kid's swap) to school all week. On the first day she kept it on all the time they were outside - the staff thanked me saying it was easy to keep track of her (if you need to know why they want to keep track of her click here). On the second day - they would see the green hat and say "Lola's over there." and then they would see her on the other side of the playground. It seems she took great pleasure in hanging her hat on every pole she could reach. After hanging her hat - she'd run away. So - the hat is loved by Lola and her teachers, when it's on her head.

Locks of Love With a Twist

My one daughter seems to be obsessed with hair cutting. This time she didn't cut her own hair. She cut hair off of wigs and other dolls to give hair to dolls that didn't have any. It was her own version of Locks of Love. This was fine with me. It showed compassion. That was until I saw that she also cut some of her sister's hair as well. At least it wasn't her bangs again.

First Days

Today was my little one's first day of preschool. Before this she had 18 months of an Early Intervention playgroup that was in a preschool-like setting one day a week. It ended when she turned three (eight months ago). She has been dying to go to school ever since. Today, she put on her backpack and demanded to stand at the bus stop with her sister to see her off for school in an outfit of her own design. Project Runway - look out for Lola!

During our orientation yesterday the teacher, whom my older daughter also had for preschool, told all the parents to make sure they say good-bye to their children on the playground before we entered the school to put their back pack away.

I walked Lola over to the playground this morning. She agreed to stand still for one picture. We turned the corner and she tore off through the gate into the playground. I stood there shouting "Good-Bye" very loudly and waving my arm up over my head enthusiastically. She didn't even look back. She couldn't have cared less if I was there. It made my heart so happy to see her leave and not look back.

At pick-up she was at the end of the line. Still dressed in the same dress and shoes she had gone to school in (I sent two changes of clothes and a spare pair of shoes to school - just in case of an accident).

The teacher looked at me and told me that during rest time Lola asked to go to the bathroom. She seemed to be taking awhile so the aide went to check on her (there is a bathroom in her classroom - I was expecting them to tell me she was naked or had fallen asleep in there but...). She wasn't there. They immediately rang the office and had them announce over the loudspeaker to the whole school "WE ARE LOOKING FOR LOLA." No last name. I guess one Lola is all they have. One of the other teachers found her. She was in the first grade wing. Seems she remembered there was a pink bathroom across from the cafeteria and that was the one she was determined to find and use.

All's well that ends well and I am crying and laughing at the same time because - she had a mission. She knew where the pink bathroom was and she found it on her first day of school. And, most importantly, she is fine.


For my oldest, on her first day of school I was in the principal's office and had a voice mail (as well as met) the new guidance person. Which, was an improvement over last year when the school bus didn't drop her off at the right school and no one told me. Lucy did on our drive over to gymnastics.

First days seem to be very exciting for my children.

I guarantee the staff is hoping I don't have any other children at home waiting to go through the school system.

Turtle Back Zoo

I grew up in New Jersey. I remember visiting the Turtle Back Zoo in West Orange, NJ when I was in the third grade. It was right after I fractured my wrist. My mother made a point of asking the doctor if I could go on my class trip to the zoo. His reply "She can climb Mount Everest if she wants to." I went to the zoo and climbed a rock. A chaperone told me I shouldn't be doing that. I repeated what the doctor said and stayed on the rock.

This week I drove down to NJ and visited the Turtle Back Zoo with my children along with three of their cousins. It was huge. Much larger than I remember it. It was clean. There was a train ride (free with admission), Pony Rides ($2 per child), and you could feed budgies ($2 per stick of food). The prairie dogs had 'observation' areas where anyone could stick their heads up into plastic domes and look up close and personal at the critters. And, the carousel is beautiful. Full of hand carved creatures to ride upon. My daughter chose a dragon.


The kids had a great time. The only not so great thing there was the food. I didn't bring any with me so we had to stand in line to purchase food. No one ate the chicken nuggets. The fries seemed to be the most tasteful item. So - if you find yourself visiting the Turtle Back Zoo - remember to pack a lunch.

Laughter Therapy - a short play

My entire family lives in New Jersey. My parents usually visit us at least once or twice a year – whenever my dad can get time off from work. However, since my mother is currently not working I like to run down to NJ every so often and bring her up here to Massachusetts for some therapy. Laughter Therapy. My mother says she doesn’t laugh anywhere else like she does at our house. Every so often I call her up and ask her if she is prepared for her laugh of the day. She quickly sits down before she has me regale her with a story. Tonight, I called her to prep her for what her therapy would be like once I pick her up later on this week. Without further ado, a quick laughter therapy session for everyone to enjoy:

Characters:

Mother, 3-y-o (three-year-old daughter)

Scene opens with a mother sitting on a window seat typing e-mails on her laptop. A blond-haired three-year-old girl is heard by the mother entering and exiting the bathroom. A few minutes later the three-year-old walks up to her mother.

3-y-o: Mommy, I pooped.

Mother: I’m sorry. What did you say? (as mother looks up from her laptop and raises an eyebrow at her offspring and hits the send button hoping her e-mail is complete and makes sense)

3-y-o: I pooped on the brick.

Mother: You pooped on the brick? What brick?

3-y-o: The brick in the house.

Mother: (is seen thinking – the only brick in the house is around the fireplace) Can you show me where?

3-y-o: I pooped on the fireplace. Come (gives mother her hand and a cherub smile). I will show you.

The two make their way to the computer room via the kitchen so the mother can pick up some disinfecting wipes as well as a small garbage bag. Once in front of the fireplace the mother notices a dark stain on a brick – but no poop.

Mother: Honey, did you clean it up?

3-y-o: (proudly) Yes.

Mother: What did you use?

3-y-o: A towel. Mommy, I was trying to put Knuffle Bunny on the couch, on the brick couch when I pooped. I didn’t mean it. It was an accident.

Mother: (as she is scrubbing the stained brick) It’s okay honey. You did the right thing to try to clean it up and to tell mommy about it. (once it has been cleaned mother stands up and looks at offspring). Let’s put you in the tub.

The pair make their way to the bathroom via the kitchen so the mother can throw the small garbage bag into the large garbage can and put the container of wipes away. Upon entering the bathroom the mother spies a bath towel on the floor that is crumpled and looks stained in spots.

Mother: Honey? Is this the towel you used to clean up your mess?

3-y-o: (very proudly) Yes mommy. It is.

The girls that come to breakfast

I love the girls that come to breakfast. They are loving. They share. They eat. They say their pleases and thank you's. They clear the table without being asked. They paint each others toe nails. They are a joy.

I'm not really fond of the girls that show up around 6.00 pm. They scream. They take toys away from each other. They demand dessert. They say not so nice things to each other. They don't listen. The joy of their presence is practically non-existent.

I think there has been a little too much togetherness. I think the fact that they are having a playdate with a friend and are excited to play 'school' tells me they are ready for summer to be over. They are ready to go back to school. I'm ready for them to go. Just to have a bit of silence for myself in the middle of the day.

Safe Swimmer

This is how my three-year-old goes swimming at a friend's house. She wears a floating vest, arm bands, an inner tube and goggles.

The good part is I don't actually have to be in the pool the whole time with her which is a nice change from last year. I now get to play lifeguard and sit by the pool while I drink pink lemonade. She gets tons of exercise because she isn't hanging onto mommy. The best part, for me, is bedtime is a dream.

Ahhhhhh - if only every bedtime could be as easy as one after a day swimming with friends.