Questions and Answers

Aidan and Leo came up with some really great questions they wanted answers to tonight. Aidan suggested that we find the answers on the internet. So here you go...these are mostly Aidan's questions:

1. Why do mosquito bites itch?
A: Normally when you get a cut, the blood clots up. Otherwise, you would bleed to death from a little tiny cut. This is a problem for the mosquito, because the mosquito wants to suck your blood, not get stuck in a clot! So the mosquito injects some chemicals that prevent clotting. A side effect of those chemicals is that they cause itching. It is interesting that humans have more of a problem with this than, say, rabbits. Many animals don't have any sort of an allergic reaction to mosquito bites. -see Scholastic for answers to other cools questions about insects.

2. How long do ladybugs live?
A: A ladybug can live from one to two years, but the life cycle, from egg to adult, is about a month. - WikiAnswers

3. Why do horses wear horseshoes?
In the wild, horses walk on meadows, dirt and other softer surfaces. But horses in captivity walk on gravel, roads, rocks plus they are carrying an extra weight. The horseshoes provide protection to the hooves and maintain a relatively flat surface.  - WikiAnswers

4. Does marking an "X" in a mosquito bite stop the itching?
There doesn't seem to be much concensus on this one. At least that we could find in the 10 minutes we spent searching the internet. eHow suggests that you should "get yourself a butter knife and place it directly on the mosquito bite. Press down and make an X with the knife. This spreads out the protein in the bite and stop it from itching for about an hour or so. Works just like your fingernail, just cleaner. Unless of course you have completely sanitized your fingernails."  - Read more: How to Stop Itching Mosquito Bites. Other people have given other explanations like it distracts you from the itch and pain, spreads out the pain into q"quadrants" and all kinds of other silly things. For some (40!) great tips and remedies for mosquito itch see tipnut

5. How does liquid soap turn into foam?
A: The process is incredibly simple - the foaming pump works because it injects a bunch of air into a small amount of soap as it pumps. --And to discover how to make your own soap solution to refill the a foam pump click on the link.

Leo had some great questions too but much more difficult to answer:

1. Why is this (binder) clip so hard to push?

2. What is stuff made out of?

3. Why do airplanes have wheels?--Aidan answered this questions: so the bottom of the airplane does get scratched.




 

Favorite article of clothing

I am getting ready for bed. I undertook my usual ritual of walking in the door after getting home from work, heading upstairs to change out of my work clothes and putting on my comfy clothes, usually my pajamas. So I look into my closet and my go to shirt is an OLD, OLD shirt. It is a nursing shirt from when I had Leo! I know! It is totally OLD. I love it. It is black, loose but not long, light weight, three quarters sleeve and it is the softest cotton I have ever felt. I don't know why I love it more than any other shirt that I own but I wish I could keep it forever. I CAN NOT keep it forever. It is so much better than an old t-shirt. I have never really had a favorite old t-shirt.

What is your favorite article of clothing? The article of clothing that you wish would last forever. That you could wear every day if could?

I'm upstairs sitting on our bed. Leo is sleeping, snoring actually. He feel asleep at about 6:50pm. Jason is downstairs playing Wii FIFA Soccer with Aidan and he is losing. Aidan just ran upstairs saying he beat Daddy.

Weekend Entertainment

Over the past couple of weekends we really have tried hard to do nothing and we have succeeded! Work is so incredibly draining that I have absolutely zero energy by the end of it. Thank goodness the rest of the family is on board.

On Friday, I got my haircut. I had rescheduled the appointment twice. Jason had a horrible migraine. I took the metro to Grosvnor and then a cab to the White Flint mall. Doris picked up Aidan and Leo and they met me at the mall and we had dinner at Bertucci's. Apparently when Doris picked up the boys Jason barely even acknowledged that they were leaving. While Doris and Aidan are fumbling around trying to figure out the car seat thing Jason was throwing up he was so nauseous. Poor Jason. Meanwhile Doris is cracking up outside putting the boys in the car. We tried to stay out as long as possible so Jason would have some peace. Aidan, Leo and I slept downstairs so we didn't bother Jason.

On Saturday, Jason felt much, much better. Even still we did absolutely nothing during the day except I went to the grocery store with the boys quickly to pick up the needed ingredients to make dip. For Bec's birthday she was throwing a dip party. It was so fun. Bec's and Jake always throw the best parties. The party started at 5pm but at 2 o'clock Leo said, "I'm ready to go to Becs and Jake's house now." Becs made a delicious Moroccan carrot dip and a spinach dip, Doris made her 6 layer dip, Sarah made delicious spring rolls with a peanut dip sauce, there was edamame hummus, warm bean dip, shrimp dip and to top it all off there was a beautiful and super yummy big bowl of peach, strawberry, vanilla, coconut ice cream. Leo especially loves their house because of "Reggie" the cat. Leo loves Reggie. He wants to constantly watch him and follow him around. And I love Liam and wanted to constantly watch him and follow him around. Liam is Sarah and Kevin's adorable 1 year old son and he is always so super happy, curious and loves everyone. I taught him about light switches and "on" and "off". He's fantastic.

Today Sunday we all woke up after 9am. I got up at 6am with Aidan and Leo sleeping in our bed. Leo was close to me with his head near my feet and his feet near my head. I was worried about kneeing him in the face so I went downstairs to sleep some more and woke up at 9:30! I couldn't believe it. I have not slept in until 9:30 since I had kids. It felt glorious. Right now, we are all watching iCarly, I'm making dinner and we are relaxing.

Hope you all had a great weekend!

How we beat the heat

It has been so hot this July. I have been sleeping in the basement for most of the summer. Aidan and Leo take turns sleeping with me downstairs. I'm not sure why they like it so much but they do. I suppose it's like camping for them. I don't know how Jason does it but the heat doesn't really bother him at night. I can't stand it but he makes fun of me because I like to sleep downstairs where it is so cool that I have to use three blankets. I just think the blankets covering me make me feel cozy and comfortable.

This past weekend the boys stayed cool while spraying each other with the hose. The wanted to do it on both Saturday and Sunday. We don't have a front yard really but we know how to make the best of it. All the while making sure our plants are watered too.

Right after the boys got done playing outside with the hose we got this crazy, tornado storm that flashed through the city in about 15 minutes but left over 200,000 households without power including ours. We lost power at about 3pm on Sunday and didn't get it back until about 1:30am the next morning. That was totally lucky because Becs and Jake and Dorisita just got their power back today (WEDNESDAY!!). When we lost power we decided to all sleep downstairs because it was way hot upstairs. When the power came on, the washing machine started, the TV upstairs was blairing with static, practically all the lights were on upstairs--it was crazy and really bright! The storm cooled things down for a couple of days which was great but its hot again today.

The boys have been trying to stay busy but also find things to do that are outside the house. Jason is super good at thinking of things to do that allow them to stay cool while entertained. They went to the Baltimore Aquarium yesterday after swimming and today they took advantage of the free movies and saw Night at the Museum: Battle at the Smithsonian.

The boys need to get to bed so I'm going to stop here. Sorry I didn't have a chance to reread the post.

Nighty-night.

DC United versus Seattle Sounders FC

DC 0 - Sounders 1

Sad.

Jason and I went to the game last night. We weren't sure who we would root for but as it turned out we wanted DC to win. In the 89th minute Seattle scored their one and only goal.

Doris babysat the boys. She is nice to help us so much. We are so lucky to have Doris in our lives. When we got home at 10:45pm she was sleeping on my side of the bed, Leo was sleeping close to the bottom and Aidan was sleeping on Jason's side. They made a triangle of sorts. The TV was playing Princess and the Frog. The were so cute!

It was so hot at the game even though it was at 8pm. We were sweating just sitting. At 10:45 at night it was still 77 degrees. Feeling hot, hot, hot!

Earthquake! Yes, I said "Earthquake"

We had an Earthquake in Maryland this morning at 5:04am. The epicenter was located in Gaithersburg (by the target we go to...you know the man-made lake, Hamburger Hamlet, shopping area, etc). It was a 3.6 and Jason and I both woke up to experience it. I only woke up because there was a loud boom and Jason woke up from the boom and he felt the house shake.

Everything is fine. Many people didn't even feel it including Doris (to be fair, she had a really stressful week and needed some serious, knock-me out, sleep). The metro was fine-miracle of miracles-because Metro is affected when it rains, its too hot, or a feather falls on a track.

I was late getting in today because I was watching the news for too long because I just couldn't believe we actually had an earthquake.

Living the Good Life

 

It's summer vacation and life doesn't get better than this. Eating popcorn, laying in sleeping bags, and watching Scooby-Doo Marathons on a Monday night no less. 

When did we stop enjoying life like this? Was it when we got a job? Gained a car payment? Took out student loans? Got a credit card? Started to get headaches? Back aches? Had children? Started planning for retirement? How did it happen?

This looks way more fun. Maybe we should all get out our sleeping bags this weekend and eat popcorn and watch old reruns of Family Ties, Facts of Life, Three's Company, Flintstones, Silver Spoons, smurfs? Or perhaps more realistically we should just put the kids to bed early, lay in bed, eat popcorn and watch a movie so we don't wake up with a backache.