Posts in Category: events
New Year’s Day hike
Out on a great jaunt with 5 other families – 11 kids and 11 grown-ups!
Thanks guys – that was fun!
At Treehouse Cafe afterwards. Our poor waitress – we did call ahead and let them know that 22 people were coming..
Christmas!
These cute boys were so excited about Christmas they could barely sleep and were up before dawn! We hope you had a wonderful Christmas with friends and family near.
The last week or so in pictures.
Tedeschi Trucks Band with Dave! It was awesome!
Chopping some wood together! Sam is finishing this one off with Dave’s axe.
Ben’s first solo split! What is so cute is that after he did it, I wanted to take his picture so he set up this pose all by himself, sinking his axe into the wood then grabbing the piece he’d split and putting his leg up. Entirely on his own!
The elves were busy finding perfectly good used toys to donate. We do this each year, filling an Amazon bag full. We then circled the bag and held hands as we said a prayer over the toys, thanking God for our blessings and praying that they would bring happiness to another family.
Off to ACE for some holiday bows and things!
Sam loves having his picture taken!
I miss my brother and Mary and Isabella. Boo hoo.
Out on a jog this morning – this is my “Monday route” around to the beach and Bay Hay. Doug jogged with me last Monday – I’d been looking forward to taking him on my route for so long. It was so great to have him with me, and to show him off! I miss you, Doug!
Little Esther was watching our soccer game with great interest!
Ingunn even got out on the “field” to play! She is awesome – the funnest mom and neighbor. She’s an excellent tree feller, wood stacker and chantarelle hunter, too.
Kai and Sam made travel mugs of tea and hot chocolate over at Kai’s house, then came back and hid behind a bush, making strange hawk sounds. I was out playing soccer with Ben and got concerned for the chickens. I immediately started looking around, spotted something blue in the woods…but pretended not to notice. I called out to Ben “Hey, Ben! What is that noise!? Do you hear that strange bird?” Then the boys bounded out of the woods to “get” me!
Esther, it was so nice to have a cheerleader for the big game! Remember – it tied 8 to 8 🙂 Or “acht to acht” – is that how you spell 8 in German? We had our stammtisch today so German was on the brain.
Christmas is here!
We got our tree!!
In the Nov album there are several new videos of the boys playing guitar and ukulele…enjoy!
Thanksgiving 2013
We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We sure did. So sorry to see it end, but the pictures kept me company today. Love to all our family and friends!
“Harrins Pufinchin” (Harrence Puffinchin)
Benji and little cousin Isabella! Doing stump dancing 🙂 That is my brother, Doug, Isabella’s daddy. We were trying to remember a character Ben came up with one night at bathtime- Harins (pro “Harrence”) Pufinchin. He just spelled it out for me. Ben says he’s a guy that he calls on the phone sometimes. “I do work calls with him. I do inventory work. It’s kind of weird.” Ben says he mostly calls Harins. We just said goodbye to Doug, Mary and Isabella – so sad. boo hoo! Pictures to come.
Some fall scenes :)
Sam is the first to go to the doctor. He’s relaxing with his cube while waiting for his throat culture. I remember taking Sam to the doctor and laying him down on the exam table to get measured. Eight years have passed and my has he grown!
Pretty typical containment strategy for about three weeks.
Ben is the next to go to the doctor. Eagle came, too.
Walking my big babies home from the pumpkin patch. I really miss having my boys in the stroller. The big pumpkin is 65 lbs! That is how much weight I gained with Sam. That is funny.
Harvest Fair creation. Both boys were sick that week, and Sam was out of school so Ben made the creation that morning. It’s a patty pan squash from our garden.
Out on a jog down Sunrise I spotted this rose. Loved the grey wall behind it.
On a trail which is part of one running route. These mushrooms are very colorful.
More beautiful Japanese maple leaves in fall color.
A farm down near Manitou beach, also on a running route of mine. See the tractor in the background to the right?
Ben’s parent teacher conference
At the pumpkin patch. Poor guy was pretty sick but really really wanted to go. Later he told his teacher he didn’t know what a pumpkin was. (huh?) Read for the rest of the story.
Ben is a funny guy. Both boys are very funny in different ways. Sam specializes in physical humor, Ben in verbal wit. His parent teacher conference yesterday is one example. His teacher writes down things he says from time to time (she does for all students) to communicate to parents. When he was asked to help read in a read-along book, he recognized “The” right away and read it. The next word was “cow.” He said “That’s not one of my sight words” and refused to try reading it. His teacher doesn’t know yet that he knows all the letter sounds and could totally sound that out because she also noted that during “zoophonics” time – where the kids act out and say letters, their associated character name and gesture – Ben sits there with his jaw slack, just watching. He doesn’t participate. So she doesn’t really have a good read on what he does or doesn’t know from time to time, even though I shared with her that he’d worked his way through the second level of Fry’s sight words (so about 200 words he can read, and he can sound out pretty well – the word “instinct” the other night, for example). Anyway – Dave and I laughed pretty good at that. It really sounds like Ben!
So tonight I thought I’d just casually find out what the zoophonics characters are from Ben (as a way to see if he knows them and just doesn’t want to engage with the activity for whatever reason). He knows all of them, their names, the letter sounds and the sign/gesture! I asked why Queenie Quail has the little hook sign and he said that is because male quails have that. (But it is a queen quail which is female!) I would be so confused :0
Anyway then I asked something else – like when two letters make a sound together, what is that? I couldn’t remember the term. I said like “ch ch – is that Charlie Choker?” and made a gagging sound. He loved it. I said – so what is that called when two letters make a sound together? Ben said “That’s a biophobatic.” “What? How do you spell that?” I said. (Pause) “B I O F O B A (pause) T I K” he said. Five syllables spelled phonetically. This guy is funny. I asked later – so where did you learn about biophobatics? “Mrs. Pratt. She taught us.” (Mrs. Pratt is the school counselor – there’s no way she said anything like that!)
Do you see what I’m dealing with? We have a big rule in our house about honesty and not lying on big or little things, but he knows the difference here. I really believe he’s just  messing with me and he knows I know. I don’t know how his sweet teacher is going to deal with him this year except for keeping her sense of humor and not believe him if he professes to not know something. He enjoys it when I make things up. Like I asked what a quail was. I said I thought it was a huge balloon and he laughed hard, then corrected me. That is how I get the straight scoop sometimes.
Ben, Ben, Ben. You are so funny!
Two other funnies from a few months ago that I don’t want to forget. We were prompted to ask the boys “Why do zebras have stripes?” So we did over dinner.
Ben first. “Because they are mag-NI-fi-cent!”
Sam. “So that you can tell them apart from other animals. Like donkeys.”
Soooo Ben
At the pumpkin patch the last time we saw the sun. Well, no, I exaggerate. I think it came out yesterday. But we get about an inch of rain a day it seems! Summer ended with a BANG!
This is an email I sent to Ben’s teacher the other day:
From: Alli Krug
Sent: Monday, September 30, 2013 8:54 PM
To:Â Ben’s teacher
Subject: Ben’s tall tales
Hi XXXXXX!
So I was asking Ben how school was going and a few things about his day. I think he spun some yarns. J Â Perhaps a T/F quiz would give you a laugh?
- He reads in a reading group with Eli and Deliah (sp?). They “read as fast as mom.”  T   F ?
- All the students do EPGY in the Art Room on Tuesdays, using laptops. He described it all in detail.  T   F ?
- He never uses a slate (white board) for number talks on the rainbow rug.  T   F ?
- He uses XtraMath – there are smiley faces and a teacher.  T   F  ?
—————
I saw her today and in passing she said: “Um, the answer is false to all of the above, but I wasn’t sure if you were for real or not at first!”
—————
In other news, poor Sam has a nasty nasty cold and was home with me today. We had to go to a meeting so he was in a district administrator’s office doing some math games on her computer while I met. She had to disinfect afterwards. Isn’t she gracious? Same office that Ben always went to for meetings with me last year. You can draw right on her wall, and she gives out candy when you leave. She’s awesome. But anyway, say some prayers he feels better soon. Also say one or two for Dave who was up all night last night taking calls and then left at 5am this morning for work. A guy in his office already has the flu. Everyone is asleep right now so I am heading there, too. Mom must stay healthy!!!!
Foraging with a friend
Out hunting chanterelles with Ingunn and Esther! Thank goodness we had expert guidance. Hunting edible mushrooms is not something we take lightly!
A recipe for soup made from chanterelle mushrooms from my friend Ingunn:
1.5 lbs chanterelles
0.5 onion
Garlic
Butter
Salt
Pepper
Fry for 8-10 minutes while stirring
3 cups chicken stock
Add and simmer for 10 minutes
1/2 cups half-and-half
Add
1/2 cups sour cream
1 tbs corn starch
1 egg yolk
Mix together and whisk into soup, heat but do not boil after this. (I skipped the egg yolk)
I also added green onions at the end
Enjoy!
Kitchen chemistry – it’s early release Monday
Wow – the sugar melted, then it formed a hard crystal when it cooled! How cool! You know Sam is REALLY into crystals right now! I never anticipated how much this would thrill him. Tapping it made a cool sound.
Melting sugar – well, carmelizing it – to see what happens. It’s edible chemistry! I hope we can clean the pan!!!
This is Sam’s which he is ready to eat.
Racing ice cubes. One was melted on the bottom (really scooted) and the other wasn’t.
We saw little hexagons and even things that looked like cells.
Checking it out now!
And Ben has a hunk! A hunk for a hunk 🙂
I think Fall is here!
I have always wanted to know if I could jump these signs. Now I know! We went back to school on Friday to check it out. Very funny. My friend (who shall remain nameless) says I jump like a horse. No surprise!
Friday fires! Sam cleaning pine needles off the picnic table for pizza with our neighbors.
Out on a bike/run with my boys. Sam found some nuts and washers on the side of the road, so of course we ran home with those in hand. Ben is learning to brake – there are a LOT of hills here. Serious ones. He’s on a bigger bike with a hand brake now.
Ben caught a little crab! It took some doing – those little buggers are fast! Sam found a rock with pyrite in it. Such a variety of rocks wash up on our shoreline.
Sam is sprinting toward us at the end of the ride. We did just over 4 miles.
Mom sent these decorations and Sam helped gather some flowers and greens from the garden and forest. Love the colors 🙂
First day of school!
First day of school for Sam!
First day of K for Ben! (See pictures below for Sam’s first day of 3rd grade, and click on this picture for the rest of Sept. so far.)
First day of school for Sam in 2011 – first grade. He’s wearing an Eddie Aikau surf shirt.
2012 first day of school! Second grade.
Ben at school ready to go in to class!
Going in for his assessment before the first day of school. Doesn’t he look cute? And see all those great sunflowers?
Congratulations, Dave!
This afternoon, the boys and I were invited to Dave’s office to pin on his new oak leaves as Lt Commander. Here is the oath he and two other officers reaffirmed during the brief ceremony:
I, [name], do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.[1]
We had never been to Dave’s office in 7 years of service with Naval Reactors, so it was a pretty big deal for us to get to see his work space and go down to an area of the shipyard where you would not normally be able to go. We had to be escorted the whole time and no cameras (or smartphones or any other photo taking device) were allowed. Some pictures were taken by a fellow officer, so we look forward to getting those and will send them on.
As we drove home, we talked briefly about the oath. They got to see their dad hold up his right hand and repeat the words above, while wearing his uniform (they rarely see Dave in uniform). We talked about what that means and how proud we each are of LCDR Krug. We talked about what the Constitution is and what it means to serve, doing one’s duty without hesitation or complaint. Dave is about the most steadfast person I know. No matter how much he’d love some down time, he gives 100% to the task at hand, always picks up the phone to answer a call with good spirit (somehow even in the middle of the night he manages to sound awake), never sounds annoyed and goes into work on weekends without a single complaint, not even in private. I really think he is remarkable in that regard. I’d go, and I’d do my duty 100% or more, but there’d be some complaining if it were me! The boys have quite an example in their father and I couldn’t be more proud of my men. (He would be embarrassed if he knew I was writing this, such is his violent opposition to any spectacle being made of such things.) But every now and then it is our right to be publicly proud of you, Dave! 🙂
The only bummer – no cake this time. I really need a cake fix. The wetting down is still to be planned, though…so there’s hope!