Space Oddity

Today I finished a craft project (that is where the 'oddity' in the title comes in. I never finish craft projects). I had the inspiration recently to make some planets that Brian could play with- we have several books about the solar system, but nothing really hands-on. My original thought was to make them out of felt and get a flannel board . . . but I just wasn't sure that would be durable enough for my boys. Then while Lily and I were wandering around Hobby Lobby, she suggested I do magnets instead- brilliant! I glued pictures of the planets on heavy-duty craft foam, and painted everything in Mod Podge. Then I made the sun, and used some pictures that Andrew took to make galaxy and nebula magnets. We also had some stars that I threw in. I have to admit I am pretty excited about how the whole thing turned out . . . and Brian LOVES it!!

Here he is playing with them:
And putting the solar system in order. He knows the planets backwards and forwards. Those are Andrew's pictures on the bottom right.
EDIT: Well, since Lisa loves to post blog entries with (sometimes obscure) music titles, I have to step in and post a video of this - one of my favorite Bowie songs. Enjoy.

-Andrew

Like a Rollin' Stone

So I'm a huge Bob Dylan fan. He's the best musical artist ever, no question. I have been able to see him in concert twice. When Andrew and I met, he had heard of Bob Dylan . . . thought vaguely that Bob Dylan was maybe one of the Beatles? Rest assured his musical education has made great strides since then. Well, I think that my extensive Bob Dylan collection has started to rub off on my son- check out Brian singing part of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star".


Now, I have to cut Brian's singing some slack for a few reasons:
1. It is late at night and he is tired (which for Brian means wound up).
2. He has a minimalist's style when it comes to talking/singing. He does not bother with all of the words in a sentence, or all of the syllables in every word. If Mommy & Daddy gets his meaning, that is good enough for him.
3. He has ME as a mom, thus has inherited my pathetic singing abilities. Sorry buddy! But if you continue to sound like Bob Dylan, you are okay in my book.

Dream of Space, Part 6.1 - Special Request

At the risk of coming across as a total geek - whether it's true or not - I have to honor a request for some of my latest pics. Even if it means posting twice in one week.

So here are the results of last weekends' star party - and what really dark skies can produce. And be sure to click on the pics to see the full-sized shot, in all it's geeky detail.

My first attempt at the Flame and Horsehead Nebulae - maybe the most recognizable picture in astronomy, but ironically, one of the hardest to see through an amateur telescope:


The Crab Nebula:


M79, a Globular Cluster, containing thousands of stars, in our Galaxy. Kind of a small and faint example; summer is really the good glob season:


M78, a dark reflection nebula. It's a huge cloud of coal-black, star-forming dust. The bright core is from the reflection from close-by stars (like headlights in the fog), but the lack of stars surrounding it show how big it is (about as big as the full moon in apparent size, 4 light years across in actual size):


The Pleiades, a bright cluster of stars sometimes mistaken for the Little Dipper. It also shines through some nebulous dust seen in long exposures:


And finally, the crown-jewel of my nights' effort, the Orion Nebula. In contrast to M78's "headlights", the dust in this one is so hot that it glows, producing it's own bright light. This one you can see on a dark night without a telescope:


A normal-sized shot I took, with a regular 50mm lens, of the Orion constellation with the locations of three of my pics:


And just so Lisa doesn't think I'm spending my Saturday nights with my mistress and then Googling these pictures, here's a shot someone else took of our get-together (besides, Friday night is my standing date with Starla). That's me in the blue coat, setting up my stuff:

Don't worry, be happy

Brian has not really cared for drawing/coloring lately- although he does love to paint. So I was surprised when he was playing for quite awhile with the magna-doodle tonight. And then I was doubly surprised when I watched him drawing . . . he has always liked to draw circles, but he is reluctant to try to draw other objects- he gets frustrated when he can't. But tonight he drew some excellent 'happy faces'! Complete with eyes, nose, mouth, hair, ears and feet. He did these pictures all by himself, and told me all about them. Along with the 'circle' motif he is in right now, he likes to draw the letter 'O'. He is also quite clever at finding letters in the funniest places. He will hold two sticks together and make 'X', 'T', 'Y', etc. Or hold a candy cane upside down for a 'J'. He even found a ball and a feather outside and put them together to make a 'Q'. Nice work Bri.

Dream of Space, Part 6 - Great Galaxies

Here are a trio of galaxies I shot last night.

The Andromeda Galaxy - the farthest object you can see with the naked eye:


For comparison, this is the pic I tried to take of the same galaxy a few months ago (without the fancy equipment):


And a pair of galaxies a bit farther away. M81- Bode's Galaxy, and M82 - The Cigar Galaxy. See if you can guess which is which:


They're not quite magazine quality, but I'm learning. Plus, professional pics are taken with several hours of exposure, from observatories in places a bit darker than our backyard, and with really expensive equipment. So until Lisa lets us move to a mountaintop in New Mexico and spend $50,000 on a new telescope, I guess I'll have to be happy with this. :)

The Best Things in Life . . .

Do you know what is even better than getting great bargains at garage sales? Getting great stuff for free! And living on military bases, I'm in the unique position to be surrounded by nice families who have to move frequently . . . and often are looking to get rid of stuff before they move. So I have gotten many cool toys absolutely gratis.

At Vance, we used to have a group of gals that went walking every morning- and we found so many 'treasures' that people had set out at their curb because they were moving. I got a bike for Andrew, a bike for Brian, a small trampoline, camping chairs, and much more. One of our best finds was this exersaucer for my friend Laura. It was in near-perfect condition, and retails for about $90!
And we in our turn have happily gotten rid of piles of usable toys and furniture. Win-win.

I responded to a 'free stuff' ad on craigslist- a guy on base here at Dyess was giving away a child's bike, and these other ride-on toys:
One night while we were doing Andrew's home teaching, we passed a house throwing out this bike:
Super nice, heavy-duty Tonka bike. For free. And then tonight while doing my visiting teaching I found this huge Power Wheels truck for the boys. Clayton especially loves it! Of course it is beat up and does not run or anything, but my boys couldn't care less. The fact that the 'truck bed' is full of dirt is a plus in Clayton's eyes.
Good thing we have a big back yard! At this point you are probably thinking that we have way too many toys at our house, and boy are you right. I am currently organizing a garage sale with my friends here in Abilene for this spring. I figure, if I can get some toys for free or cheap, let my boys enjoy them awhile and then sell them for $1 or 2, life is good! Andrew used to think it was pretty crazy that I would bring home other people's 'garbage', but he has come to think it is kinda cool. I just remind him that we can use the money we save towards telescope equipment.

Shave and a haircut . . . two boys!

Lots of people ask me if my boys are 'good friends' or 'love to play together' since they are so close in age. Well, 'good friends' might be putting it a bit strongly. They play side-by-side fairly well, and occasionally interact. Since they are both in the 'learning' stage of sharing, it's just as well that they do their own thing most of the time.

That said, the other night they were actually having a ball together- wrestling on Mom & Dad's bed. Clayton kept tackling Brian, and Brian thought it was hilarious. Andrew and I thought so too.Also, the photos above are from the night before their haircuts. Check out the after photos:


Brian has a horrible fear of getting his hair cut- which is why we procrastinated it so long this time. I tried for a while to cut both boys' hair, but it did not work out. I need both hands just to distract them/pin them down. Plus I hate cleaning up the mess. So I admitted defeat and now take them in to the barbershop.

Brian is perfectly fine going in the door and watching other people get haircuts (we thought watching Daddy would help ease his fear, but no dice). But the minute he gets in the chair he freaks out. This time I promised him if he was good he could have an ice cream cone- that helped a bit. He still hates it, but we managed to get through it. Clayton- although he is never a big fan of sitting still, is not scared at all. He kept trying to grab the clippers/comb/scissors to see what was going on.

It's not the years. It's the mileage.

Last night I went to Walmart for a few groceries (it is worth shopping at 10:00 pm if you don't have to bring your kids). I bought myself an item I've been wanting forever- or at least since first becoming pregnant. Nothing expensive- but I was mildly embarrassed to buy it.It's called a 'Gopher', and it's made for 80-year-old ladies to pick up stuff off the floor or reach up to tall shelves. Or . . . for 28-year-old ladies who are pregnant with their third huge baby in a row and are having a really hard time picking up the crayons/trains/balls/blocks 16 times a day. Andrew laughed when he saw it and teased me about being 80-years-old . . . but he didn't tease too much. He's smart. He knows that it's either this or he'll have to clean up the toys every day. So the Gopher it is!

I tried it out this morning, and let me tell you- it's my new favorite thing. So handy. I love it. And hey- maybe it'll last until I'm 80.

Tough guy!

On Saturday we put the boys down for naps . . . they usually fuss/babble for a while, then go to sleep. They were being pretty quiet- but all of a sudden we heard a big thud and Clayton screaming. Andrew raced up the stairs and found Clayton underneath his dresser. He had climbed up the drawers and pulled it down on top of himself. Andrew got him out, and miraculously he was fine. We were scared to death, but we couldn't find anything wrong with him except a scratch on the cheek. He had stopped crying after about 30 seconds. He is one tough kid.

Since then we have been putting him to sleep in the crib, until such time as I can attach his dresser to the wall. Today he babbled for almost two hours before finally going to sleep . . . I guess you could say he was 'resisting a rest'. Here is how he finally ended up; looks like he lost a battle with the crib bumper?
How can anyone sleep like this?
Oh, and this is the cute girly bedding I bought for Dory. I found the bumper, dust ruffle, valance and hamper at the thrift store for $18. Not bad. Here is the stock photo of what the whole set looks like.

Dream of Space, Part 5 - New Year, New Gear

It's a strange paradox to be married to a wife who can find out-of-this-world bargains at Saturday morning garage sales - like a nice film SLR camera for $10 - but who lets me spend a small fortune on silly astronomy stuff. I don't know what I did to deserve such patience in a wife. Or what Lisa did to deserve such an impulsive husband.

Anyway, here's the new rig, and in celebration of 2009 being the UNESCO International Year of Astronomy, here are a couple inaugural pictures (wispy clouds and full-moon notwithstanding):




The Orion Nebula - pretty washed out from the moon and city lights. Click on any of the photos for a closer look.


A quick exposure of a colorful double star-cluster.


Saturn, with it's rings nearly edge-on.


And Venus . . . during the middle of the day! Yep, it's bright enough to see during the day, if you know where to look.


With some darker skies and a little more practice, I hope to get a little more high resolution pictures of some galaxies and other sky wonders in the months to come. Lisa thinks they'd better be worth the money we spent so I'd better impress her. :)

But seriously, I can't believe she's so supportive of such a nerdy and expensive hobby. She's the best!

Clayton's First Words!

I thought that Clayton had been imitating sounds lately- but since he babbles all the time and I'm anxiously awaiting his first words, I thought it could just be my imagination and did not want to get my hopes up. However- today he had a session with his speech therapist and she said "Hey! He's using words!". So since she is the expert and has confirmed it, I can officially say that Clayton has said his first two words! They are:

"Cracker" (Crr-crr). Clayton could eat goldfish crackers three meals a day. He likes the colorful ones.
and "Drink" (Dee-dee).
I am so excited and happy that Clayton is finally talking! He is also using a lot more signs- he recently learned 'cracker', 'airplane', 'ball', 'eat' and 'bike'.

10 Photos in 15 Seconds . . . Go!

Then I tried to do the same thing with Brian, but he thought it was a hilarious game . . . in which Mommy tried to chase him down with the camera. So here we have "Four photos in 60 seconds".

Boys will be boys. And girls . . . ?

Here are a few random shots of the boys. Clayton basically never makes the same face twice.

This face above is a new one. He bites his tongue so it looks like his lower lip. Clayton, you are a weirdo.

And here is how Clayton fell asleep for his nap today. I felt like I was taking pictures of a crime scene.

Below, the boys are painting outside with water (great idea, Mom!). They had fun, and I enjoyed not having any paint to clean up.

Today I had a little moment of panic. I finally started washing all the clothes I've bought for Dory at garage sales. By the way, I have bought NOTHING new for this girl. Everything is from garage sales. Is that pathetic, or just frugal? Not to say I won't buy her anything new- once I go through the stuff I have I'll see what I still need.
Anyway, back to me panicking. I realized looking at these cute clothes that I am going to have a girl. After 3 1/2 years of airplanes, mud, cars and balls (or 6 1/2 years if you count Andrew) I cannot imagine having dolls and dresses around the house. Plus, I am worried about the responsibility of dressing a little girl. I have the fashion sense of Mr. Magoo. Other girl babies I see are dressed to the nines . . . whereas my boys are lucky if their clothes are clean. Brian gets to pick his own clothes (except on Sunday; I do have a smidgen of pride) and he has a positive genius for picking the least-matching outfits possible. But maybe that means Dory's clothes will look cute by comparison? Oh well. Ready or not, here she comes!

ABC's and Art

Here are the boys painting pictures tonight- Brian is reciting the ABC's. You might have to turn it up if you want to listen to it; he is not talking very loudly. Clayton is experiencing some artistic frustration.


Here are their finished paintings. Brian requested that I help him draw an "A" and a "Zero" (on the left side) and a heart (upper right corner). Here is Clayton's. He really did seem frustrated tonight- can you sense all the emotion in this piece??
The other day we cleaned out our 'storm shelter' downstairs that we've been using for storage. It is basically a large closet. We decided to put a changing table in there, so it'll be easier for me to change diapers downstairs. Anyway, we took out a large mirror and the boys thought it was cool. Brian's response to me asking "Who is that in the mirror?". Glad my son has a good sense of self.