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Elia January 2020

We’re working to get caught up in our blogging. At this time it is May 17, and we are nine blogs behind. We have never been this far, and for history sake we should explain that Albert’s job is in existential concern, and the start of the pandemic has made it hard to keep everything going. In early March Erin fell and got hurt which also lent to just doing the minimum to have enough brain space to get things done. We have not updated our picture gallery since November also, which will have to wait until we get caught up in some writing. The worry is that we keep not remembering because we are always behind. One plan is to write the current blog and catch up slowly on these. We have not started that yet.

Continue reading “Elia January 2020”

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Curie December 2019

December seems like a long time ago and we should say that it is in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic as we write this in May. So back in December we had worked out that we would see Erin’s family for Christmas in New Jersey having just seen Albert’s family in Atlanta for Thanksgiving. The idea was to find a place that was equidistant and an easy drive for everyone, including Julie and Steve. In fact we had planned to rent a large car or van to make it easier to drive. Continue reading “Curie December 2019”

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Elia’s Painting

May 28, 2020 Sometimes you see modern art where you say a six year old could do that, what happens when your six year old does something that you don’t think you can do? Oh yes that is an Anker box.
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Chengineering May 2020

May 16, 2020 Chengineering with Duplo
May 25, 2020 Time between Elia and Albert today meant more Chengineering. Megablox and Kapla. For those of you who don’t know what Kapla is, (it is not a “good day to die” in Klingon), they are identically cut blocks that you can make crazy things out of if you work out the physics. If you recall when Curie was little there is a picture of a Kapla tower taller than she was, now we have one taller than Elia. The bridge was much harder though and Elia did learn some of the physics around it.
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Zen

Topic: Zen. This is a year old, something I don’t think I posted. The left is a Fujifilm picture that fell perfectly in the joint in the hardwood and stuck upright, the second is our Solo Stove Bonfire, the third is balancing rocks at the Mosaic district. What calms you?
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CurieBear and EliaCub Lullaby

April 5, 2020 We record the CurieBear and EliaCub Lullaby. A little history, we wrote CurieBear when Curie was a baby and you can still find the version with the video on our website. When Elia was born we had intended on writing her own, but we didn’t and Elia learned the CurieBear song. A year ago we wrote the last three verses and gave Elia her own part. This is the first time we recoreded it. I tested this earlier so it should work if you click on it:

You can find the lyrics and recording here:

Children’s Lullaby

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This time of craziness

New addition March 19. After hearing someone do it on NPR I wrote my hairdresser on Facebook and offered to pay for 5 haircuts in advance. Erin fainted yesterday and really scared me, we think it is because she was dehydrated – she has a broken knee. I’ve been the caretaker and that is okay but I am grateful that Reggie made an effort to give me some space to recover a little. 

March 12? Here are two stories during the strangeness that is our new normal. Continue reading “This time of craziness”

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Chengineering 3.8.2020

Elia and Curie were playing with the tall tower and, well, “deconstruction” happened, so we decided to build a mansion out of the two previous towers. The end result is our best work yet, as high as the previous tower, but now on four base plates, with 20 rooms but still one bathroom. Elia wanted to blow it up with a Nerf gun, but we convinced her to keep it up for one night.

Chengineering 3.8.2020 Part 2. The kids wanted to get the train set out and even cleaned a space in the living room voluntarily. So Albert carried up the tracks (the kids brought up the trains – only spilled once) up from the basement. We were tired and wanted to say”no” but how much longer will the kids want to play with trains?

Albert explained to Curie the mechanics of entering and leaving a circle and they got to building. Curie was interested in building, but Elia just wanted to play, so Hero was on the track pulling coal as the”Master of the Railway” and the strongest engine before it was done. Albert, of course, got sucked into building the elevated portion of the track.

When going to bed we asked which was better, building the Lego mansion or the track, Curie said “both,” Elia said “the Lego mansion,” which incidentally still stands on the dining room table. Here’s to cherishing while we can.

Two things, another thank you to Suephy, Ed, Jared, and Dylan for the train set, and you forget how little the girls are until you see them on something like the little couch.

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Chengineering February 14, 2020

Erin and the girls won’t let Albert take apart the 6 story tower we built at Christmas (on the left) so it lives with Curie’s Hogwarts clock tower and Lego Friends townhouse to play with. You may know that Albert has been under a bit of stress as of late so he spent a few hours making a 9 story companion piece while the girls slept – it is good therapy for him. The top is a Taj Mahal-ish gazebo, a spinning and turning windmill, a secret room, and a tower. We’ll see if it survives getting furnished tomorrow.
Chengineering February 2020 Part 2. This morning with more decorations, if you look at the right hand picture, you can see the advertisements and some of the new walls. The center and left show the scale next to the old tower, with the Hogwarts clock tower on the left and the Lego Friends townhouse on the right. It is much harder to see all the little playgrounds and things the girls have built around the buildings #nolegomodels #freebuild #timewiththekids