NiklasAndZoe.com

Cuddles knows the street with the good candy.

Niklas will tell Zoe the names of all of these buildings, even if he has to make them up.

May 2014

2013-10-15: So, I've got a headline for ya; "Local Man Is Lazy". Also, I've, done a bit of work and we're deep into the busy horror movie/beer drinking season. Anyway, things have been good here. Niklas went through a brief period of separation anxiety about going to school in the morning (along with about half of his class), but he's over that now. He got straight A's on his progress report (half report card), so he continues to set the bar pretty high for himself. Zoe, meanwhile, continues to get "Happy", "Chatty", "Friendly" and "Busy" on her daily reports at Chalk, so her tradition of acting good as long as Niklas isn't around continues.

Yesterday, Niklas had a day off from school for Columbus Day (or possibly Canadian Thanksgiving; most likely Columbus Day, though), so he went with me and Zoe to Zoe's t-ball class. Zoe tore it up, as is per usual, and made all the three year old boys look like chumps while Niklas read some books about ninjas. Later, we watched Monsters University, played some games and bought exotic deserts (a frozen smore for Niklas and a pear pop-tart for Zoe) from a bakery in an alley. Today, Niklas went to his friend Eli's house afterschool. As is usually the case when Niklas does stuff with kids who aren't Zoe without Zoe, Zoe was super furious about this. Anyway, here are some new pictures. You'd think there'd be a lot more, it being so long since the last update, but you know.

2013-10-17: So, today was Zoe's turn to watch Niklas practice baseball for his fall league. She's not quite as patient as he is, with the watching. Other than that, today was pretty laid back. Niklas did a bunch of Chinese homework to make up for what he missed in class when he was sick a couple of Fridays ago. (I guess I haven't mentioned Niklas's brief illness until now; I'm pretty sure we just had some poison milk that no one drank but Niklas. He's pretty ok with the sick experience, though, as it involves setting the small tv we had in Bermuda up in his room so he can watch dvds.)

Yesterday, I took the kids to the driving range. When Niklas has his mind right (which is to say, he sets himself for his shot and keeps his eye on the ball), he can smack it pretty good. Zoe can, too, but she only bothers to set herself up right once or twice every ten balls or so. Mostly she drives her club into the ground and curses the ball, the game of golf and the very nature of existence. Still, a good time was had by all.

Here are some pictures, most of which aren't new but have rather been hanging out in my email.

2013-10-20: Well, the weekend was full of weekendy weekendness. On Saturday, Niklas had a baseball game and Andrya took Zoe out to a pumpkin patch in the suburbs. She got to ride a camel, see a pumpkin-eating dragon, run about a playground and play with a baby. (It was one of Lynn's babies, not some baby that was wat the pumpking patch for the purpose of playing with little girls.) She also got to play with Karen's daughter Haley, so that was fun.

Today the kids had swimming. Niklas can pretty much swim now, though there's a comically exaggerated breathing portion of his stroke (right, left, right, breeeeeeeaaaaaaaaath, right, left, etc). Zoe's still working on swimming with her face in the water, but she can move herself about the pool pretty well while using the swim bar thingy. I have a few new pictures up here. For what may be the first time in three years there are more of Niklas than Zoe.

2013-10-22: So, yesterday, Niklas's friend Eli came over to play after school. There was a lot of the Wii, shooting me with dart guns and yelling by Zoe because she wasn't allowed to play with the boys. A fine time was had by all assuming all does not included a furious Zoe. Today, Zoe had a much better time as she went to school where there are people here age to play with. She was, as is per usual, friendly, chatty, busy and happy.

Fun Halloween Fact Of The Day: Zoe looooooves the Disney version of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow as evidenced by her repeated requests to watch it and also her throwing things at me that she pretends are flaming pumpkin heads.

2013-10-27: Yesterday the kids went trick or treating at businesses along Clark Street. This is the third year we've done that and we learned an important lesson: if you go early, there's better candy and fewer people. FYI, Niklas is Iron Man (you should know that) and Zoe is Izzy the pirate (I'll comp you that one). Anyway, the kids acquired a buncy of candy and Zoe didn't start melting down until we had been out for an hour and a half or so, so success.

The rest of the weekend was packed with baseball, swimming, Sunday School and, my favorite, a trip to the Goose Island. Here are some pictures, though I don't think there are any of the aforementioned activities.