Five Excellent Things That Happened Today

In no particular order...

Excellent Thing Number 1:
I'm the proud owner of the best picture ever!
Alex says that his class was busy putting together a going-away gift for him, so while they were working, he got to go sit on the cushions and color.  He brought home several adorable pictures today, one of which might be my favorite Alex Geels Original, ever. It's a picture of Superhero Alex and his best friend, Super Mouse. Apparently, Superhero Alex's power is being able to turn into a mouse, too, so that he can talk with his best friend and all of the other animals.

I wonder if it's Swiss German that his mousie friend speaks.

But Alex, haven't you heard? No capes!

Excellent Thing Number 2:
My child can sing songs that I can't even begin to translate!
Alex apparently didn't get enough of drawing today. He came home and made more pictures, ones to illustrate a song his class has been singing lately.  Unfortunately, I haven't the foggiest idea what he's singing, since the song is in Alex's secret language.  Well, only the foggiest, since "Schneeman" means "snowman" in High German as well as Swiss.

Excellent Thing Number 3:
We gave away lots and lots and lots of stuff!
Dennis circulated an album around Google of all of our furniture and most of our belongings, large and small, and we've managed to give away all but about eight items on our list.  Unfortunately, some of the things that we haven't been able to give away include our largest and heaviest possessions, like our bed and our wardrobe and our couches. Most people in Zürich just don't have an easy way to transport that sort of thing. But our cleaning company promised they'd be able to haul those things away if we're really unable to find homes for them, so it's no great emergency.

Interestingly, Dennis said that the most popular items on our list, far and away, were our cheap little Ikea baking pans. Something like twenty people wanted our free muffin tin.  That tin was much, much more exciting to Googlers than our free flat screen television.

Excellent Thing Number 3:
A Rocket That Explodes and Shoots Toys Everywhere!
Alex Geels, I'll never doubt you again!

If you'll remember, Alex told us that, at the party he attended this past week, the hostess shot off a rocket that exploded and shot toys everywhere. Surely not, I told my son.

But this morning, while Joey and I were at the grocery store, we saw exactly that in the New Year's Eve party shelves: rows and rows of firecrackers filled with toys.

So of course I bought one.

And, not only that, but we lit the fuse.

The instructions on the rocket said that it was safe to ignite indoors and, trusting souls that we are, we believed. Because what could possibly go wrong with lighting a rocket indoors, one that apparently explodes and flings small plastic toys about?

Excellent Thing Number 5:
Magic!

So, among the party hats and noise makers and teensy tiny board games and all the other assorted plastic detritus inside our exploding toy bomb were some magic tricks.  So our day ended with...Magic!  Cue "The Final Countdown," please....

A magician never reveals her secrets, but a mommy might. I love Ella's off-camera slight of hand with her first card trick.

Her second trick is that oldie but goodie, the Magic Calculator. If you hand the magician all the cards listing any given secret number (from 1–63) the magician can magically divine the number (by adding the top left numbers in all the selected cards.)

Ella and Alex still need to polish their act.  What you're seeing is the oh-so-natural fourth, using the same number each time.  In the first attempt, Alex missed handing Ella a card; in the second, there was a slight addition error; and Ella lost her cool in the third take when Alex upstaged her, selecting his "random number" with a little too much flair.

But the fourth take was perfect, if not spontaneous.