Sunday, April 29, 2012
Such a cutie!
Over the years, we've gotten so many cute photos of Maddie. But I'm just amazed at this one because I took it with my iphone!
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| From 2012-04-29 |
Monday, April 9, 2012
Personal foray back to 1940
The release of the 1940 census records on April 2nd prompted me to dig into my family history a bit. After all, my parents were both born in 1940 -- just a couple months after the census takers would've knocked on my grandparents' doors. I wondered what life was like for my two, very pregnant, grandmothers. I knew one family was poor, the other quite well off, but the census records showed me just how different their lives were.
I published a story in today's paper about my little adventure back in time.
Here's the Census form where I found part of the Sylwester family (see the first line). My grandfather and great-grandfather were on the page before:
And some pics...
My grandfather, Erv Wolff holding my mother in summer 1940:
My father in the middle, with his older sister (left) and an unidentified cousin, probably in about 1942 or 1943, I'm guessing:
I published a story in today's paper about my little adventure back in time.
Here's the Census form where I found part of the Sylwester family (see the first line). My grandfather and great-grandfather were on the page before:
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| From 1940 Census |
And some pics...
My grandfather, Erv Wolff holding my mother in summer 1940:
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| From 1940 Census |
My father in the middle, with his older sister (left) and an unidentified cousin, probably in about 1942 or 1943, I'm guessing:
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| From 1940 Census |
Sunday, April 8, 2012
Happy Easter 2012!
Photos from Easter...
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| From 2012-04-08 |
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| From 2012-04-08 |
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| From 2012-04-08 |
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| From 2012-04-08 |
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| From 2012-04-08 |
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| From 2012-04-08 |
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| From 2012-04-08 |
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| From 2012-04-08 |
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| From 2012-04-08 |
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| From 2012-04-08 |
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Potty training
We've finally made serious progress on the potty training front. Ben has been wearing underwear during the day -- full time -- for almost two weeks now, without any accidents. And the first thing he does every morning is run to his closet to get clothes and underwear.
Maddie is a bit more reluctant. She was insisting on diapers all the time until last week when I gave her an extra incentive. I gave Ben a wrapped present -- a book about trucks that he had been wanting -- and told him it was because he had gone a whole week wearing underwear without accidents. He was thrilled, of course.
Maddie started crying and ran upstairs and came back down with a pair of underwear, insisting that I put it on her. She thought that by simply putting on underwear, she would get a present, too.
It took awhile, but eventually I got her to understand that she needed to go a week wearing underwear and then she'd get a present, too. So the next day, she was quick to get some underwear and she did a pretty good job all week. A couple accidents, but mostly dry.
So yesterday they both got a small present and they were super excited.
The hard part is nap time. We want them to be in a diaper or Pullup for nap and that kind of derails the whole underwear thing. Most days we have a bit of a battle to get them back into underwear after nap. Ugh.
Maddie is a bit more reluctant. She was insisting on diapers all the time until last week when I gave her an extra incentive. I gave Ben a wrapped present -- a book about trucks that he had been wanting -- and told him it was because he had gone a whole week wearing underwear without accidents. He was thrilled, of course.
Maddie started crying and ran upstairs and came back down with a pair of underwear, insisting that I put it on her. She thought that by simply putting on underwear, she would get a present, too.
It took awhile, but eventually I got her to understand that she needed to go a week wearing underwear and then she'd get a present, too. So the next day, she was quick to get some underwear and she did a pretty good job all week. A couple accidents, but mostly dry.
So yesterday they both got a small present and they were super excited.
The hard part is nap time. We want them to be in a diaper or Pullup for nap and that kind of derails the whole underwear thing. Most days we have a bit of a battle to get them back into underwear after nap. Ugh.
Ice cream!
I stole an idea from our ECFE class to make a homemade and cheap ice cream play set for Ben & Maddie.
The set consists of:
1) Pompoms as ice cream (from JoAnn)
2) A cleaned-up ice cream tub
3) Cheap plastic scoops (from Walmart)
4) Cheap plastic bowls (from Walmart)
5) "cones" made out of brown construction paper
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| From 2012-03-25 |
The set consists of:
1) Pompoms as ice cream (from JoAnn)
2) A cleaned-up ice cream tub
3) Cheap plastic scoops (from Walmart)
4) Cheap plastic bowls (from Walmart)
5) "cones" made out of brown construction paper
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| From 2012-03-25 |
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| From 2012-03-25 |
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Spring is here! (we sorta skipped winter, I guess)
It's been so awesome having the kids outside yesterday and today!
Yesterday was the moms of multiples garage sale, so I not only unloaded a ton of our old stuff, but also got a few new things.
The big purchase was two scooters. Ben & Maddie tried them out right away yesterday afternoon -- including their new bike helmets.
And here's Maddie wearing one of the two fire chief hats I got them (Ben is really into fire trucks)
I also got Ben a play tractor with a trailer. The thing is pretty big and he fell in love with it instantly. This morning he nearly had a meltdown cause Maddie tried to play with it. For Maddie I got a play cash register (with money!). Yesterday she kept opening it up and then pulling out a piece of money and divvied them up between me, Ben and Jamey.
And I found this picture from awhile ago -- whenever we got that last snow. I took the kids out sledding and they wanted hot chocolate when they came in. However, they don't really want the hot chocolate they want the marshmallows. So I just gave them each a small bowl of marshmallows and then sat like this on a two-tiered step stool next to our fridge.
Yesterday was the moms of multiples garage sale, so I not only unloaded a ton of our old stuff, but also got a few new things.
The big purchase was two scooters. Ben & Maddie tried them out right away yesterday afternoon -- including their new bike helmets.
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| From 2012-03-03 |
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| From 2012-03-03 |
And here's Maddie wearing one of the two fire chief hats I got them (Ben is really into fire trucks)
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| From 2012-03-03 |
I also got Ben a play tractor with a trailer. The thing is pretty big and he fell in love with it instantly. This morning he nearly had a meltdown cause Maddie tried to play with it. For Maddie I got a play cash register (with money!). Yesterday she kept opening it up and then pulling out a piece of money and divvied them up between me, Ben and Jamey.
And I found this picture from awhile ago -- whenever we got that last snow. I took the kids out sledding and they wanted hot chocolate when they came in. However, they don't really want the hot chocolate they want the marshmallows. So I just gave them each a small bowl of marshmallows and then sat like this on a two-tiered step stool next to our fridge.
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| From 2012-03-03 |
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
More entertainment from Maddie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PF9QBGPvn1s&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Saturday, February 18, 2012
My latest: vacant homes & foreclosures
My latest story (a collaboration w/ another reporter) is in the Pioneer Press.
Read the story here:
http://www.twincities.com/stpaul/ci_19991033
See the interactive maps and searchable database that I built here:
http://extra.twincities.com/car/foreclosures/
And read more about how it all came together in my work blog, The Data Mine:
http://blogs.twincities.com/datamine/2012/02/18/vacant-homes-and-foreclosures/
Read the story here:
http://www.twincities.com/stpaul/ci_19991033
See the interactive maps and searchable database that I built here:
http://extra.twincities.com/car/foreclosures/
And read more about how it all came together in my work blog, The Data Mine:
http://blogs.twincities.com/datamine/2012/02/18/vacant-homes-and-foreclosures/
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