Speed Bump

I made a New Year's Resolution to eat more veggies , not just for me but for the whole family. It's a simple goal with layers of benefits. Of course, the health benefits of eating more vegetables are at the top of my list of motivating factors. Eating a variety of vegetables is a surefire way to get all the nutrients, vitamins, and fiber we need in our diet. Plus, the more we fill up on healthy vegetables, the less of other not so-good-for you foods we will eat. I am a terrible dieter and as soon as I try to restrict or cut out certain foods, I immediately feel deprived and the effort backfires. A positve approach to healthy eating works much better for me - so by virtue of trying to eat more vegetables, I will automatically eat less foods that offer little nutritional benefit.  I want my kids to have a positive approach to food as well. I don't want any foods to be off limits or completely banned (like I posted last week , French Fries are fine if you have them only o...

Whew. This week has flown by and I'm not sure where it went. It was another short week with the MLK holiday and no school for the kids. We went to Crown Center for the day and checked out Kaleidoscope - a place I went to when I was a kid. It still exists! And it's free! What a fun creative outlet for kids and from what I could tell during our visit Monday, we have a few more years to enjoy this place. The rest of the week was busy with medical school teaching, basketball and a few sleepless nights (one was self-induced and the other due to a certain almost 3 year-old living under our roof). It's somewhat ironic that to this day I keep myself up until all hours of the night worrying about things - something I did as a child, torturing my own parents. Now, my daughter is keeping me up at night with her sleep issues. Ah, karma. One of my resolutions for this year was to eat more veggies - and I am! That goal has been easily attained thanks to a couple new...

Was it really 60 degrees out this past weekend? The warm weather was a beautiful reprieve from Winter and we burst out the front door and onto the lawn to just mill around. My flower child was content to wander the yard in her tulle dress and cowboy boots. She had no agenda. She was content walking, looking, being... Charlie takes a different approach to being outdoors. He has to be busy, playing ball, chasing things, running.  She is a free spirit, moving to her own beat. She can be serious and angry just as naturally as she can be silly and carefree. She loves fairies, tutus, and everything pink. She picks out her jewelry with great care and is over the moon if I agree to paint her nails.    Charlie is intense, smart, and sensitive. I love to surprise him with something -even something very small - and watch every inch of his face light up, hear him laugh out loud with joy. He is stubborn, kind, and loud. He notices everything a...

And just like that, here we are - at our first basketball practice. Charlie was very excited and couldn't wait to get to the gym. He left with a new jersey, a new basketball, and a big smile!    He will have three weeks of practices, twice a week, and some games towards the end. The coach is really good with this age group and I think Charlie will learn a lot. We were impressed with how well he listened and followed the coach's directions.  And then there is this one...perhaps the world's best younger sibling. She brought some books in her backpack to keep her entertained, but most of the time she was content to watch Charlie and his team play.  Your turn is coming little one. 

This is the Geiger Lab Family of 2014. The people that work with me, and the families that support them. I'm grateful for them all. Charlie and Izzy are both regulars in the lab and they know this group well. Izzy and Ashley haven't seen each other in well over a year while Ashley was living in Spain. But somehow they picked up right where they left off - the best of friends. I'm pretty sure Iz would have gone home with Ashley that night if we'd let her. Ashley is a Fulbright scholar and working towards her PhD - Izzy knows a good role model when she sees one. Last year we had our holiday lab gathering in the party room of our loft building. What a joy to have everyone in our new home this year!!

No school for these two today, so instead they went to see Sesame Street Live with Gram! I think they had a good time... Thanks Gram!! 

Charlie has become really interested in letters lately. In the car we talk about what names begin with various letters of the alphabet, and he notices letters on signs and asks what words they spell. This is a picture from school of Charlie and a few of his friends working on writing down the rules for using a ramp (with cars) in the classroom. The teacher has written down the rules and the kids are annotating the rules with drawings that help them remember the rules. Charlie has drawn three people (images to the left above) as one of the rules is that only three people can be at the ramp at a time. He is then signing his name to the pictures - and it looks pretty good! I love that he is looking at his name printed on his water bottle to know how to spell it. He is also getting better at holding a pen or marker in his hand, and I can see from this picture that he is trying to hold it the correct way. He is pretty smart - watch out kindergarten! We've been practicing at home...

This is my favorite Christmas present. I was more excited than the kids when Ryan set it up on New Year's Day. Perhaps it is because there is so much detail in each piece, or that the furniture is modern and simple. Ryan would say I like this house because of all the little things that go with it. (I do like little things - little bowls, little cups & vases, little finger puppets...) How cute are these little family pets?! Perhaps I like it because it is not all pink and purple, a hard find in the land of play houses. I think perhaps the reason I like this little house so much is that this sort of play is in my wheelhouse. After 4+ years of doing my best to crash trucks and race cars, build with blocks, and act the part of my favorite superhero - this is a world of play I am familiar with. I can come up with story lines for the family that lives in this house all.day.long. I really hope the kids like this house as much as I do, because I really ...

I'm not sure exactly how many of these New Year's Eve dinners we've had, but at least 6 (every year Ryan and I have been engaged/married, and I've gone through two of them pregnant - a little less fun that way for sure). They've changed a little from the first couple years when our friends Mark and Jason (both excellent chefs, one professionally trained) made the entire meal and would over-night foie gras and other fresh ingredients from far corners of the country. Jason and his wife moved from Kansas City and in the last few years the meal has become much more of a group effort with each individual or couple responsible for one or two courses. The creativity and variety of dishes is amazing year after year and makes for a really fun dining experience. The dinner takes place at Mark's home, also known as The Atelier, on New Year's Eve. This year we had our smallest group with at least three people home sick, and another couple that couldn't f...