Game by Emily

What in the world.............?


Ah.


Of course.






Occasionally I find gems left on our kitchen table
at the end of the day. Not just dried food, I mean.

First Snow

The first snow of the season fell Friday night.
There was a lot of it, and very wet.
The trees were literally burdened under the weight of it.


The kids were thrilled.


They went out to play.


And they made a snowman (Dave helping).


And then we went sledding downhill in our backyard.
But not for long, because people started losing
entire boots and complaining of the cold and wanting
hot chocolate and all that. It will be a leeetle while
before everyone gets their snow legs and builds the
stamina needed to enjoy the winter. Before you
know it, we'll be picnicking, running in shorts at
zero degrees, shoveling snow with one hand and
knitting with the other, and downing scalding coffee
without batting a (frozen) eyelid.
Here in Minnesota, the people are nothing if not stoic.


Last photo:


No, that's not a snowball - it's our bird feeder,
impersonating an atomic bomb cloud.
See? There is humor even in the winter.

Operation Christmas Child 2010

Last weekend we packed our shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child 2010.

The girls did a lot of the shopping with me and this year, even Kate was old enough to help. And help she did, although she was not above playing with some of the toys before packing them away. Emily told her, rather emotionally, "Those are not for us, Katie! They're for the kids who have no toys!"

To facilitate the process of filling our shoeboxes, and to contain the manic excitement, we set up a sort of assembly line.

The girls were very pleased. Miraculously, Kate understood enough to not rip the wrapping paper off the shoeboxes.


This year we called in early enough to land a place on the tour of the processing center. This Saturday Emily, Jenna, I, Emily's friend Rena and Rena's mom, will get to see what happens to our shoeboxes when we drop them off, and learn a bit more about the whole process of getting these little treasure-filled gifts to the Kids Who Have No Toys. We are also bringing with us the money Emily and Rena raised from selling tiles. It feels a tad overdramatic, and I doubt if I will make this a yearly tradition, but it is a powerful learning experience for the girls to see the outcome and destination of their fundraising efforts.

These lovely, washed-out, flash-heavy, missing-body-parts photos were the result of the Mother being behind the lens, not the Father, incidentally.

See here and here for previous years' photos. Probably not much better than this year's.

Reading To My Sisters

image from www.amazon.com

Tonight Emily read to Jenna and Kate while Dave and I finished up dinner. She is very proud that she can read, and even prouder that she can read to her sisters.

We are still reading to Emily, of course (and Jenna and Kate). May we never stop.

Kateism

"Can you change my diaper, mum?" asked Kate this morning.

"Yes, of course," I said. Then, looking at the laundry that was all around me, I asked her to go get a new diaper from upstairs for me.

"But my will miss all the fun!" said Kate.

"What fun? It's laundry!" I told her. "Now go get a diaper."

"Ohhhhhh-kayyyyyyy. But don't start the fun without me!" she said, and ran off to obey.

The two days this week when Kate (along with Emily, Jenna and Dave) was sick were probably the most peaceful and restful days we've had since she gave up napping in the fall of 2009. She asked to go to bed early, she did go to bed early, she sat quietly on the sofa resting or reading, her voice level never rose beyond normal indoor conversational level, she played peacefully - she was a perfect, if sick, angel. Emily, Jenna and I got to sit and do coloring and reading and other undisturbed activities, marveling at the silence and calm, and by how much we got accomplished.

"Who kidnapped my baby?" I thought. "And left this cooperative, compliant, placid i.e. weird child in her place?"

By Thursday she was back to being good old Kate. I am back to beating off the crazies* with promises of tea and cookies and maybe a sweet(er) treat or two. Sometimes it takes a bug to get a break. Who would've thought it?

* The Crazies = that time of the day about an hour and a half after lunch when boredom rears its ugly head and instigates small children to violence. It is usually cured by an elaborate afternoon snack.

Photo of the Day

Kateism

The family has been ill this week from a fast-here-fast-gone-very-sick-during stomach bug. A natural consequence is about 10 loads of laundry done within a 24-hour period. Very exciting, but it is mostly over now and we are no longer ill, only a little tired.

This morning, I was indulging in a few more hours of convalescent sleep-in and the kids were ordered to leave me alone to enjoy them. Kate ran into the room and said, "My have a tummyache in my mouth!"

Thought I'd better wake up and pay attention, in case we were having a relapse.
"How come, Kate?" I asked, not making much sense to myself or anyone.

"Because my want to sleep with you!" said Kate and plopped down beside me, snoring loudly.

Hm.

So I asked her, "Do you still have a tummyache, Kate?"

"No" said Kate, and ran off.

It appears we are truly on the mend, if we are back to our tricks.

Photo of the Day

Royal Goings On

The girls are playing royal family today. Not The Royal Family - just princes, princesses and horses.

Kate is in her princess dress, with a pink tiara on her head. She was crowned by Jenna, her prince, who consulted me, the Queen Mother, as follows:

Prince Jenna (PJ): I need a pink tiara for my princess. It's a girl colour. Do you have a boy colour for me?

Queen Mother (QM): Er, we have purple and white. What about white?

PJ: Yes, that's good. (And she puts it on, never mind that princes in general don't wear tiaras - of any colour).

Emily: I have a purple tiara on! I'm a princess too!

Princess Kate (PK): No, you're not! You don't have a pwincess dwess on! You have day clothes!

Then, grandly, the Prince and Princess decide they need to get married. They gallop off on horses, back to the palace.

PK (loudly): Mother! Can I mawwy my Pwince?

QM: Yes, you may.

PK: Hooway! We can get mawwied!

PJ: Mother! Can I marry my Princess?

QM: (wearily) Yes, you may.

PJ: Yay! We'll be married in the morning!

They are now consulting their princess story book for the next royal story to enact.