Came across this when working on the following post.

I LOVE IT!

Dayna and I recently went out of our comfort zone and attended a concert at Clutch Cargo’s.  It is an abandoned, 100 year old church, turned into a concert hall.  It’s in downtown Pontiac and frequented by Goths and Emos (not ‘Elmos’ you old people – totally different color scheme).

However, we had tickets to see Katy Perry.  Dayna really likes her music; I enjoy her music (and may have noticed her 40ish, pinup girl persona…I dunno). 

Anyway, the concert turned out to be a blast.  The opening act was good (The Daylights from LA) and Katy put on a great show. 

http://www.katyperry.com/

http://www.clutchcargos.com/index.php

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAp9BKosZXs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-LhyAVzDBI

As you know, spring brings rain, worms on the sidewalk, yard work, Motorcycles (and ‘yes’ I think that should be capitalized!) and, of course, the kids birthdays.

Grandma and Grandpa Britton raised the stakes for Mom and Dad with a very generous electric guitar for Brody.  You should hear Brody’s ‘Smoke on the Water’ (or ‘Amazing Grace’ for that matter) with full distortion and whammy bar use.

He’s pretty much focused on a new DS game and all associated accouterments.  We picked those up for him last night at your friendly, neighborhood Gamestop.  While there we were informed of a brand new type of Nintendo DS (the DSi) that comes out this week.  Surprisingly he mentioned it at breakfast this morning…let the whining begin! (at least we know what to get him for x-mas and thankfully there is a 70$ trade in on his current one!).

So he’s pretty much set (he’ll also like the wee ipod we got him).

Mo is a tough one to shop for: she really doesn’t play with much.  When she does play, other than riding her bike, she doesn’t use a toy…she plays with a stick, a broom, a nasty discarded liquor bottle in the street…whatever she can find.

She did however write up a nice little list for us:  Included, for those who cannot read ‘Kindergarteneese’: Dog Notebook, Flip Flops, Sun Dress, Tattoos (yipes!),  DS and DS Games (referring to a Pink Nintendo DS – thank goodness she doesn’t know about the DSi) and Earrings.

I am regularly amazed at what the kids learn in school.  The science, history, mathematics and spelling they learn is impressive.

Brody, in third grade, just completed a unit on economics.  They learned about production, producers, consumers and even marketing. 

As part of the homework assignment they had to work as a team, and develop a breakfast cereal. 

They had to survey friends on their parents buying habits and their personal tastes.  They did research on the cost of ingredients and supplies, production and distribution. 

They finished up with the total cost.  The working included seventeen different cost considerations from market research to promotion to distribution, the costs of add-ons (coloring, raisins, reduced fat content) to the cost to license a fictional character (the choose ‘Daffy Duck’); finishing off with profit to manufacturer, profit margin for retailer and then the final cost of the product!

WOW!

As Mo does writer’s workshop, the focus isn’t so much on spelling, it’s on getting them to sound out words and become comfortable with composition.

In this one, rest assured she is not playing with Bras, (it was supposed to be Bratz).

Brody just last year, thanks not only to his own effort but to the patience and support of his Mom, mastered the two-wheeler.   I don’t know if second grade is early or late: I know pre-schoolers who can do it and fourth graders who have yet to figure it out. 

While I’m not certain if Brod was early, late or just right, I’m going to put Mo down squarely in the early column.  Just this past Sunday she rode a two-wheeler.  She went from ‘not really being able to’ to ‘kinda afraid’ to ‘riding like a pro’ all in about 20 minutes.

The catalyst was her neighbor, of the same age, learning to ride.  This motivated Mo to want to try again.  So on Sunday morning, we were all at the track.  Brody took off on his, determined to ride three miles total (which he did!). 

Mo tried but was quickly scared and discouraged.  She set on the side of the track and pouted.  I went over and just sat next to her, tossed some pebbles and gave her both encouragement and our support should she wish to not do this for a while…but I did make it clear that we weren’t putting on and taking off training wheels all the time.  If she didn’t want to try, the wheels went on and they were there for the next several months.

Finally she decided to give it a serious try.  Suddenly the little girl who wouldn’t let me let go, said after about two short passes, ‘let go!’.  She then rode a quarter of a quarter mile.  The next time, with a little push, she went further, and again.  I eventually got tired of following her and then Brody, like a good big brother, would follow her and give her the wee push needed to start.  That was lap 1 and 2.  By lap three she could start, ride and stop all by herself. 

It was amazing!

Brody loves his toys.  He can sit for hours and play with Galactic Heroes, Legos, his books and of course the DS. 

Mo…not so much.  The other day she was outside with her friends and of all the toys they have, they were playing with the big shop brooms!?

In the house, she does like playing school, she’ll set up her room with a teacher area and then a makeshift desk for herself.  She especially likes doing math problems (contrary to Barbie’s assertion that ‘Math is hard’.)

However, more than anything, she likes playing with Brody’s toys.  Possibly because there is some novelty there, primarily because it bugs the shit out of Brody.

So it was that she wanted one of Brod’s toys to play with.  After some protest on Brod’s part, he relented.

It’s still in her room and I think it’s cute as heck that she uses this for princesses!

Recently Brody had to make a diorama for school.  Dayna purchased some modeling clay so Brody could design some of his own pokemon.  It came out great.

The other day Brody went to a friends for the night, so we wanted Mo to have a good time at home.  She loves play doh!  Me, not so much.   It’s a pain to clean up and rarely does one make something interest or value.  However, we gave the modeling clay a shot.

Mo made a lovely little heart which she gave to her teacher.  Dayna, a fantastic cat, and I a portrait.

We don’t normally allow cats on the table, but we do make exceptions for Maura’s guests.

My bad – it has been some time since I’ve blogged.  I’ve been doing this for four years and don’t want to stop.  I’m going to start getting these little memories put into books each year soon.

It’s been a busy month, but I’m back, I’m sassy, and I’ve got pictures! 

So read on faithful reader and enjoy.

Mid-winter break came and went pretty fast.  The kids only had a couple days off; I took a day off and Dayna couldn’t enjoy it much, or get much done as we kept getting sick and needed her TLC.

We did however squeeze in a couple local trips.

One was to the Michigan Historical Museum.  It’s right behind the capital in Lansing and was really nice.  They had a display on road side attractions in the state.  Some we’ve been to as a family (The Cherry Hut) and others D and I have been to as kids.  I think I would have enjoyed that exhibit had my parents been with me for more insight and memories. 

The kids were at time inpatient, but all-in-all they did great.  Mo stopped to make some weaving crafts, Brody loved the replica mining tunnel.  Part of the museum was Michigan through the years, so periodically you’d see what a house was like in the 1800’s, the 1920’s, the 1950’s and so on.  I accidently scared Brody as I pointed out some sort of barbaric medical equipment and identified it as an early 20^th century dental device.  Turns out I was wrong, it was to do perms or something…anyway, he’s a little more frightened of the dentist now (whoops!).

We also had occasion to visit the Sloan Museum in Flint.  Brody had been there a few weeks ago to discuss communities and land formations.  He was excited to return.  We saw a very interesting exhibit on magnification and atoms.  There was also another on how physicians can irradiate cancerous cells in a body and then remove them one by one.  That was followed by the usual historical stuff about Flint…in the fifties section, there was a lot of cars, trailers and house wares I really wanted to steal! 

When finished we went across the street to the Flint Institute of Arts (WHO KNEW?).  They had an exhibit on comic art.  It wasn’t just comic books, but mostly comic strips.  It was very neat to see original Sunday funnies hand drawn by the artists.  There was also original art by Bob Kane (Batman) and Schuster (Superman) as well as some Alex Ross (my favorite comic painter).  The rest of the museum was quite good considering it’s size.  We did go through a 15/16^th century section…I fear Brody may be growing up as the topless women in the paintings seemed to capture his attention more than the horrific Old Testament story paintings.

While you have to drive a 100 miles to find a decent restaurant in Flint, two thumbs up for their cultural center.

Lately the kids bicker like there is no tomorrow.  Not that they’ve always been ‘buds’; there’s been sibling rivalry since day one.  Almost all of our videos of Mo have Brody popping his head in constantly, annoyed that someone other than himself is being taped.

So last month, when bickering, some mean things were said. 

Thankfully, all on their own, guilt and remorse do pop up on occasion.  The note below was written, by herself, and taped on Brody’s door.  (Dayna added the sub-titles).