The New Gap

Connor passed another milestone of childhood today when he lost his first baby tooth. We were all very excited for him!



Last week, Connor's cousin Chase was here and saw Connor wiggling his loose tooth. I explained that his tooth was almost ready to fall out. Chase got a terrified and disgusted look on his face and said, "WHY?!" I tried to explain that everyone's baby teeth fall out, but he was having none of that. He declared that if his teeth fell out, he'd put them back in.

This week was Pirate Week in Connor's kindergarten class, to conincide with the letter of the week, "p". He came home with a pirate hat and telescope, looking SUPER CUTE.

Soap Carving

Dylan found a soap carving project in his Cub Scout handbook. He used his Cub Scout knife and some Popsicle sticks to do his carving. Here's his best end result, a bear:



He went through 18 bars of soap in a few days. At least they're still functional for hand-washing, too. And what a great activity for a nine-year-old boy.

Please Don't Stop the Music

I can't get enough of Rihanna's newest single, and it's been on repeat on my iPod since I bought it a couple of weeks ago. It's a delicious club song with a back-beat borrowed from a 25-year-old Michael Jackson song, "Wanna Be Startin' Something". I always loved that song, and especially the "mama-say, mama-sa, ma-ma-ku-sa" at the end, which is the part that Rihanna's song uses. My copy of Thriller was well-worn, so I recognized it right away.

Here's Rihanna's song:



Here's Michael's song. Said section goes from 4:40 through the end.

Pinewood Derby

Today was Dylan's Cub Scout Pinewood Derby race. He made an awesome Harry Potter-themed car this year. He built and painted it to resemble Mr. Weasley's enchanted Ford Anglia.

Not only was it a cool design, but it ran fast, too. He ran six heats, finishing 1st twice, 2nd twice, and 3rd twice. He's now proudly using his blue ribbon as a bookmark.

Soccer Socked

Today was the last day of Connor's indoor soccer session, and not a day too soon for him. Even though he was excited to be able to play this year, he lost interest after a few weeks. He announced that soccer was boring and asked how much longer he HAD to go. Connor's not an aggressive soccer player, but he does get in a kick now and then.

I think activities like soccer are good for physical, social, and emotional development. Dance class does the job really well, too, but I can't convince either of the boys to do that.

Snowbird Labor

Winter this year seems to be busier than last year for Mom and Dad. While many days last year involved happy hour and scenes like this:

this year looks like this:

They are helping their friends build an addition, which looks like a significant project. I think it's keeping them quite busy.

At any rate, we miss them just as much this year as last.

Pom Pons Down

I came across this little nugget recently and got a chuckle. It's the 1983-84 Hughes Pom Pon Girls dance team. Dig those satin costumes! Reversible with tails and briefs. On my first day of practice as an 8th grader, the captain laid out a costume, traced it onto newspaper, and told us to take the pattern home to sew out of green and white satin.

I knew from the moment I was aware of school dance team that I wanted to be a part of it. Many of my school memories are my dance team memories. We danced to "Everybody Wants You" by Billy Squier; the second year we danced to "She Works Hard For The Money" by Donna Summer. I can still remember the beginning of my first try-out dance to "Another One Bites the Dust" by Queen.

Hughes is no longer a junior high school, and the Pom Pon Girls are now called the Adajios, but I still have the memories, the photos, and my giant pom pons.

My Grammy Moments

Brad and I watched the Grammys (mostly in fast forward) Sunday night. I noted a couple of things:

Daft Punk joined Kanye West on the song he sampled from them, melding their two versions nicely. (Also ties in with my recent post about the song.)

The steel guitar player in Brad Paisley's band was wearing a Pac-Man sweatshirt, which I first heard about on Shari's blog. (Note to self: check out more Brad Paisley. He was really good, and funny, and kinda cute.)

Cher still looks terrific. How does she do that? I couldn't say as much about that getup she was wearing.

Kat Giantis is a celebrity fashion columnist. I don't usually care too much about celebrity news, but her reviews are just so entertaining. Here's what Kat Giantis had to say about Cher at the Grammys:

"Cher and Cher Alike: We've long believed that when the apocalypse comes, the last ones standing will be some hardy cockroaches and the irrepressible, replacement-parts-filled Cher. Now, thanks to the time-rewinding pop-culture icon's appearance at the Grammys, we know exactly what she'll be wearing to the end of the world, which more than likely will be triggered by the cumulative effect of her five decades of deliciously epic fashion disasters. Cher descends on the ceremony in her post-Armageddon finest, wrapping the crumpled remains of a Toyota Prius around her waist and sporting a versatile moth-eaten mesh and chain-link blouse, which can easily take her from a daytime dance sequence with a "Love Is a Battlefield"-belting, rag-wrapped Pat Benatar to a night out with Mad Max at Thunderdome. As for her Duracell 'do (you know, copper top -- and yes, we're seriously sorry for that), we figure the wig's purpose is twofold: It'll keep her looking fiercely wacky in the stylist-free wasteland that is the future, and it will protect her noodle from any peckish zombies on the prowl for brains."

Brrr, It's Cold

Photo credit - BismarckMandanBlog.com

With air temps well below zero and wind chills hovering around the minus 30 range, it's cold! Clint took this photo of a Bismarck statue that someone had adorned with winter gear. I love stuff like this. But don't their feet look cold!

Adidas Oasis

Quoted from the poster on YouTube: "[This is] a new Adidas TV ad campaign that charts the company's development from its origins in founder Adi Dassler's workshop to its status today as a global sports and fashion brand.

The ad campaign, which breaks this week, features references to famous tie-ups or fans that Adidas has had down the years, including Liverpool football club, Liam and Noel Gallagher from Oasis, Bob Marley and Muhammad Ali."

The Gallaghers make a brief appearance at 0:39.

Perfect 10

In the summer of 1976, I was infatuated with Nadia Comaneci. She scored a perfect 10 on bars, which was a first at the Olympics. I remember playing "Nadia" with my Barbie doll on a set of uneven bars I made out of Tinker Toys.

I came across this really cool Adidas ad that blends footage of her uneven bars routine with video of a more recent gymnastics phenom, Nastia Liukin. The ad aired during the 2006 Olympics.

Pajama Mama

I got these new Victoria's Secret pajamas for Christmas from my parents. I knew I needed new pajamas, but I didn't realize how much I'd LOVE my new pajamas. In fact, lately, I've come to think of the moment when I put on my pajamas as...THE BEST PART OF MY DAY.

Were it not for the social stigma and the smell, I would wear them all day every day. In fact, I've gone a day or two since Christmas without taking them off. They are similar to a pair of grey sweatpants I had in 7th grade. They were my favorite sweatpants for several years thereafter, even after I had to replace the drawstring when it broke.

Thanks, Mom, for giving me a daily dose of "Yesssss!"

Swear Jar

I'm not a Bud Light drinker, but this ad made me laugh until I cried. I wonder it if ever aired.

"Poop!"



Link

Allergy Test

Connor had his skin test for food allergies today. After his brush with the cashews in November, we wanted to find out exactly what the situation is.

He already had environmental allergen testing done in 2006, so this time they just tested a few foods. He had small reactions to peanuts, beans, peas, walnuts, hazelnuts, and almonds. The doc said he probably isn't allergic to those. He had a big reaction to pecans and a huge reaction to cashews (the large welt on the right).

We left with a prescription for an EpiPen. I hope we never have to use it.

Congratulations Rachel & Darius

Long overdue notice:

Baby Benno was born January 10. He's gorgeous! I hear that Mom and baby are doing well.

Congratulations Rachel & Darius! I can't wait to meet him.

Benno with big sister Josie:


Benno with big sister Tess:

Stronger

This Kanye West song was big last fall, and I dug it every time I heard it. In fact, I had to go buy the album.

My favorite lines:
"You know how long I been on ya,
since Prince was on Appolonia,
since O.J. had Isotoners.
Don't act like I never told ya."

I also like how he rhymes "wronger" with "longer" and "stronger".

Here's the video. I don't get it at all.



Link

Kanye's "Stronger" is built around a sample of a Daft Punk song called "Harder Better Faster Stronger." I don't have a problem with artists who borrow and build on bits of other people's songs. In fact, I think it's a true talent to take a semi-obscure, French song from six years ago and create something interesting and fun out of it.

Here's a wild video of the song made by a Daft Punk fan. It starts out slow, but things start to get crazy around 1:40.




Link

Just For Kix Winter Show

Tonight was our big Just For Kix Winter Show. Between the Bismarck North and Mandan programs, we had 350 dancers. That's a lot of kids!

Things went amazingly well: we rolled right along through 20 performances in 65 minutes, the kids were very well-behaved, and they danced beautifully. Marcy and I work so well together, and my assistant, Leandra, was a huge help behind the scenes.

GO JFK!

Check

We've been going to a weekly chess club at the library, and Connor has learned how to play. He can even beat me; I'm not much of a strategic chess player. He asked for a chess set for Christmas, and after much searching, we found a Pirates of the Caribbean chess set. It's really cool because the pieces are modeled after characters from the movie. One side is the good guys, with Captain Jack Sparrow as the king piece and Elizabeth Swann as the queen piece. The other side is the bad guys, with Lord Cutler Becket as the king piece and Davy Jones as the queen piece. It's just as fun as Dylan's Harry Potter chess set.

Speaking of Dylan, here's the update on his EEG last week:
The EEG still shows abnormal brain activity, though less than last year's EEG. This abnormal activity is mainly on the left side of his brain, but sometimes includes the right side, too.

He hasn't had any daytime seizures for 20 months, but he still has occasional nighttime episodes of distorted vision, which his neurologist believes are seizures. Since the goal is to have a completely normal EEG and no seizures, she increased the dose of his medication again. Other than that, we're kind of in a holding pattern. He's doing very well otherwise, so we just keep chugging along.

Family Portraits

Here are two family portraits from Christmas. We take a candid shot every year, and it's fun to look back and see how we are changing.


This year's photo of Brad's side of the family includes our newest family member, Leah.



Here's another impossibly cute photo of Leah:

Happy New Year

Best wishes for a happy and prosperous 2008.

Thanks for stopping by,

Michele