Abbreviated Cleanup?

when asked to help with putting things away (interrupting lego creation time), seimi grabbed the items to take downstairs, then hollered over his shoulder, "hopefully that's all, because i really need to make something deadly!"

Merry Christmas!

Cozy v.4

2007 picture

2010 picture

2012 picture

Early 2015 picture

Christmas Cozy!

And just for fun, a couple outtakes...

Weekend

Tonight Ela in inquired if the Mayor had to work this weekend. It's been a year with a lot of work on weekends and holidays and the Mayor was happy to report that he did not have to work tomorrow.  Ela replied, "Oh good! That way we can use your phone for multiplayer Minecraft."

Ant Man!

The Mayor and Hobbit Wife were just finishing watching "Ant Man" when guess who came sprinting out of his room with an enormous grin on his face?  Our very own Ant Man finally managed to escape his room.  His little heart was racing from the thrill of finally accomplishing this feat, and he was rewarded by getting to watch the final scenes of the movie.

Early Boxing Day

The Mayor worked from home today and we all took advantage of a break in the weather to go outside and enjoy the sunshine.  We broke out the boxing gloves and focus mitts for some good practice.  Here's a summary of the hobbitling boys' current boxing skills:

• Boookie gets the boxing timer set for three 2-minute rounds and he's got pretty good cardio to keep going through all three rounds.  He's got a decent jab with the left and a really solid right hand.  He occasionally punches so hard that he hurts his hand, even through his training gloves.
• Seimi gets the boxing timer set for three 1-minute rounds.  Seimi does nothing but crazy punching combinations, most of which end with a kick to the Mayor's shins.  The Mayor has a hard time making it three rounds with this kind of treatment and ends up doing a lot of dodging in the latter rounds to avoid kicks from his 5-year-old robot-boxer-boy.
• Eejee picks the gloves up, puts them on, smiles triumphantly, and then gets distracted and moves on to something else.

Hearts' Delight

One of the best part about the return of delicious winter oranges is the phrase the hobbitlings use when selecting their fruit.  They pick up each piece of fruit and carefully consider, "What is my hearts' delight?"  When they successfully pick a delicious piece of fruit, there is much rejoicing at the satisfaction of a desire fulfilled.

Next time you're picking out fruit, don't forget to pick your hearts' delight!

Happy Halloween!

Although (or more likely Because) Halloween was not a big thing for the Mayor and Hobbit Wife in their growing-up years, it's one of the big holidays around Michael Delving.  Costumes are a year-round, all-season thing around here, and Halloween is the big chance to do a really good costume.  Saturday morning, Ela was really wanting to do princess dressup, so Seimi (being the amazing little brother he is), consented to do dress up with her.  The pained smile on his face tells the whole story.

Eejee got to wear his rightful costume and went as Baby Hulk.  He quickly figured out that he just had to hold onto the bucket and walk around and people would give him candy.  He lost it big-time when the Mayor asked Boookie to grab his bucket from him at the end of things.  After all, he'd worked hard to collect all that candy!

Seimi's costume was the first completed this year.  He announced he wanted to be Atom from "Real Steel."  With some cardboard, duct tape, window screen, and a pair of boxing gloves, his ensemble was complete.

Ela and Boookie decided they wanted complementary costumes and they decided to go as the Maximoff twins from Avengers: Age of Ultron.  Ela was Wanda Maximoff, "Scarlet Witch."

Boookie was Pietro Maximoff, "Quicksilver."

Quicksilver's best friend, a vampire, came over for the day.  The Mayor lined everyone up and called, "Action," and they all went into character immediately.

 The Mayor, "Wolverine," of course, and "Baby Hulk" waiting in line for Trunk R' Treat.

Boookie got to celebrate the rest of his tenth birthday.  He got some of his celebration in August and the rest of it last night, including a new Hulkbuster LEGO set he'd been dreaming about.

Eejeeball

Around Michael Delving, we have a new game called Eejeeball.  The rules are simple: the teams are everyone versus Eejee, and the goal is to keep Eejee from getting the "ball" (himself) into harm's way.  For instance, here he is, successfully flipping the latch on the window and doing his best to open the window.

He spends his days finding ways around every safety measure that can be implemented. 

Here's sample dialogue taken from actual gameplay:

Seimi: Hey!  Eejee's doing No-No!  He's moving furniture!  (or pulling over a chair, or tipping over a table, or throwing toys)

Coach Jesse (from Crossfit): Um, Whitney?  Do you think he can flip that thing?  (Eejee had grabbed a climbing rope at the gym and was pulling his pack-n-play so it had almost tipped over)

Ela: Eejee was being so bad so I had to put him back in his crib.  Note that even the crib isn't necessarily escape-proof, as we discovered Eejee had almost-completely removed several bolts.

And of course, the most common dialogue:
Everyone (together): Eeee-jeee!  Noooo-noooo!

He may look like he's boxed up and ready for shipment (in his NEW favorite box, which replaced the previous three boxes that he destroyed), but this wonderful, mischievous, loving toddler isn't available for trading to any other team.  We're putting our franchise label on this one.

T.H.A.G.S.

This year for school, in addition to the standard subjects of study, each hobbitling student also gets to study their own T.H.A.G.S. (Three Honored and Great Subjects - borrowed from the delicious "Wingfeather Saga.").

 

Booookie's THAG is Invention; he is focusing on programming and robotics at first, but other avenues of Invention are also fair game.

Ela's THAG is Form; she is starting with painting but will also be exploring other artistic expressions of Form through the school year.

Seimi's THAG is Place; he is enjoying making and studying maps and other expressions of Place.

Eejee's THAG is Boundary; he enjoys a constant exploration of boundaries, especially exploring beyond said boundaries into the delightful realm of No-No.

Through the Window

Today is the first real day of fall for the residents of Michael Delving, as the Mayor returns to work after a delicious two week vacation.  The hobbitlings are all excited to dive into the new schoolwork in the refreshed school room.

Welcome to the Bathtub!

Seimi and Eejee started taking their Saturday baths together.  This evening, Seimi started belting out his own version of the Guns N' Roses classic:

Welcome to the bathtub!

We've got submarines!

::unintelligible singing::

Sha-nah-nah-nah-nah-nah-nah-nah knees, knees!

I want to watch you scream!  (This line belted out as Eejee was getting his hair washed)

Note: Boookie was reading over the Mayor's shoulder and commented, "It's not AC-DC - it's Guns N' Roses," so the Mayor made that correction.

All Terrain Baby

Here are an assortment of pictures of our All Terrain Baby.  He is a wonderful and mischief-loving baby (for example, the Mayor got this far into the post before having to go rescue him after he became stuck between the crib and the wall as he was attempting to access the "no no drawer" from the back side of the crib).  Below is a picture of him with his favorite toy, his bucket.  He destroyed said bucket with too much love.

Playing on the rock pile with Seimi.  He lost rock pile privileges because those rocks just look too tasty and he can't keep from chewing them.

 Testing out the new gate with Ela, shaking it vigorously until it fell over.

First trip with Daddy to the hardware store to get new rubber tips for the gate.

Being a goofball in his half of the room.  The Mayor and Hobbit Wife installed a fence across the room with a gate to Ela's side.  Eejee notices immediately if the gate isn't latched all the way and will sprint across the room, tear open the gate, and try to get his mitts on as much of Ela's stuff as possible before he gets caught.

More goofball.

Eejee has earned the affectionate nickname of "Chum Bucket" for his eating habits.

We love our wee beast!

Eejee's silliness is something that really must be seen to be believed!

Boookie's 10th Birthday

After his birthday dinner, Boookie was sent to check the mail, where he discovered he was invited to a Treasure Hunt.  Puzzling over the first clue:
Out of the gate
Along the edge
The treasure you seek
Is under the _____

Having found the second clue under the hedge, Boookie and Ela started really getting into this:
It's big and it's green
It's been known to float
The treasure you seek
Is under the ____

Too easy!  Third clue:
The squirrels used to eat here
When we used it, it smelled gross
The treasure you seek
Is behind the bins of _______

Compost!  Fourth clue:
A silver shiny box of flame
To cook meat good to chew
The treasure you seek
Is in the ________

This one took awhile, particularly when Boookie decided the answer was "stew" and insisted the treasure must be inside.

The clue was eventually found.  Fifth clue:
A lofty perch to say awhile
(This clue, it doesn't rhyme)
The treasure you seek
Is in Boookie's ___ _____ (2 words)

Boookie delightedly reading the final clue, taped to the roof of the tree house:
While you've been busy finding clues,
You'll need the master plan
The key to all your treasure
Is back where this all _____

"Started!!!" he shouted and ran up the hill.  Not the word that the rhyme would suggest, but it worked :-)

LEGO Quinjet!

We are blessed indeed to have had this amazing lad in our family for ten whole years!