Our Doings, Including Some Birthday Things

Yesterday:

• Xander listened to the introduction to The Story of the World
• Xander copied a phrase
• Xander did math work with the More M&Ms Math Book
• I read more of The Hobbit to him
• Erik took Xander (who was riding his bike) all the way up to the convenience store closest to us
• Xander helped me do a quick cleaning of the house, without complaint
• Xander did a quick cleaning of his room, 2 minutes long, before bedtime
• I ran 20 minutes, a little faster than my last several runs
• I took Nick on a "cool-down walk," a long loop around the block with him and Winnie the Pooh in his stroller

I don't know if I mentioned it, but I also went out a run, 18 minutes long (jogging pace), on Saturday evening.

On Erik's birthday, he took Xander to Lego Kids Fest at the convention center downtown. They both loved it. Also, throughout the weekend, Erik did a TON of work with Xander re-organizing his Legos and storing some in the garage. Of course, there are some nice built sets on display on Xander's new handmade shelving unit.

I am pretty amazed at how Xander picked out gifts and things for his dad. He insisted on getting a present, a card, and a cake. His gift would have totally captured his dad for months (a computer game) if it had not had some compatibility issues due to being an older game (we got it at the used book store - my fault). Xander wrapped the present very well with my tips to help him. The cake he picked came in handy when my homemade cake ended up being richer than Croesus. All in all, I think Xander is becoming the holiday expert around here.

Here are photos from Erik's birthday and the days before:

picture by Xander; putting flowers in vases after grocery store trip

Xander wrote on our new message board and said it was Chinese characters

some Lego creations from Xander

building a set Dad got for him at the Lego Kids Fest

look away if you're a vegetarian; this is meatloaf (Erik's favorite) with ketchup writing

a few other birthday dishes: sweet tea, homemade macaroni and cheese, and boiled new potatoes

a few gifts and cards waiting for Erik

the cake Xander picked for him

the cake I made; recipe from Our Best Bites website

the icing was more like caramel-flavored fudge, as the friendly lady at Our Best Bites warned

opening gifts (what's in that one, I wonder?)

I got him (us) Wine for Dummies, a wine tasting notebook, a bottle of Bordeaux, and an invitation to start a little wine tasting group, just the two of us. We had our first tasting that night while playing Pandemic. Two victories, even with the Virulent Strain added to the second game!