Kateism

Two new Kateisms that I want to record here before I forget them:

1 Row up [verb]: to arrange in a neat line
e.g. "I rowed up my bunnies at the foot of my bed."

2 Bellyflopness [noun]: the condition associated with landing on one's belly on the water in a dive
e.g. "My stomach hurts. I think it's a bit because of the bellyflopness at swimming today."

Orchids

A bit poor on the photo updates, but it's hard to take photos of kids who are in school or in the pool most hours of the day. Instead, here is a photo of my orchids, which remind me of Singapore. Five of the six bloomed this year, beginning in March, with the last one opening on Mother's Day, even. The sixth plant is either dormant or dying. Sad.

Pampering

I have to show you this:

It's Bunny at the spa, some weekends ago in January, with cucumber slices on her eyes, and her ears in rollers.

Also a mud mask

She also got a manicure.

Behold:

Before                              After

All comfortable and relaxed.

Here's more: goggles

for a dip in the pool.

Then some stretching (or yoga, or whatever is fashionable among rabbits these days),

and creative expression.

We also captured this on video, because it was too good not to, but the pictures were better.

Kateism

Readative: [adj] of having a great interest in reading.

e.g. "Whenever I bring books to school, the kids in my class who are readative always take them to read."

Lefse!

Made lefse this week.

First time ever. And it took ALL day.

The children helped, and we had a blast. 
There was flour everywhere.

The Saturday before, I attended a lefse-making class. That was a blast, too. But I was the only non I-Grew-Up-Inhaling-Lefse-Like-Oxygen-Because-My-Norwegian-Grandmother-Made-It-All-The-Time participant. When we were introducing ourselves and explaining how much we couldn't live without lefse, I said that I was there for the husband, who, unlike me, is Norwegian, and whose grandmother did indeed make it.

Then came home and whipped up (in a manner of speaking) a batch while the instruction was still fresh in my mind. Needs some tweaking, I think - our lefse is more like flatbread than the popiah skin  I'm used to seeing on the dinner table when the in-laws get together for Thanksgiving or Christmas. Emily says our crispy version is reminiscent of roti tisu. 

I suppose there's a lefse for every culture. And starch.

My favorite is the sweet potato kind, with brown sugar and butter. Which we also made. Yum.

It's That Time Of The Year Again

Yes, the children are off to school.

New shoes, new backpacks, new bus drivers, new classrooms, new friends, new teachers - tremendously exciting for everyone. Except Bunny, who sits on the stairs as she did last year, slightly pining. Or maybe that's me. 

What a summer we've had. Packed till the very last day. Yesterday, we went swimming at the water park and stayed till they blew the whistle to close the season for the year. Nothing like hanging on to the very last seconds to show how much we've loved being in the water.

But while the holidays are over, we get to enjoy the weather for at least a couple more weeks. And the kids are jumping into a new routine of after-school sports now that term has begun again: swimming (of course) and ice-skating. They'll think they're still on vacation (if not for the homework). We can hardly wait!

And I have about 30 errands to run and jobs to do. I've been making lists since last week, because I've put work on hold for 3 months to enjoy being with the girls. Now it's caught up with me and there are dolls and toys to sew, bags to document and blog about, costumes to draft, people to call, stories to write, and food to cook. And lap swims begin again at the indoor pool, as do the cool-weather 5Ks and 10Ks so I must put away the bikinis and dust off the racing suits and swimming caps and running shoes. 

But first, I'm giving myself an hour to marvel at the unnatural stillness in the house, and pray for the kids and give hugs -and baths -to all the suddenly-companionless stuffed animals. If only they'd hug back - I already miss the little voices and busy feet and dancing. 

This is just the First Day of School. Tomorrow, it will feel like we've always woken up at 7 am (instead of 9) and I'm always packing lunches (instead of eating them with children) and the house is always exactly the way I left it 5 minutes before. How quickly we find our new normal.

School Art 2014/15- Kate

Some school and home art by Kate -

Sometime in the school year, Kate decided she needed to attend art enrichment class, so she had me sign her up for an after-school community art program. Normally very socially-motivated (i.e. "I'll only go to this-and-that if my friend X is also attending") she was so determined to do art that she didn't care if she was the youngest in the class, or if she didn't know anyone in it.

These first five images are her work from that class. 

Father's Day art.

More Father's Day art.

Mother's Day school art.

Mother-and-child squid home art that Kate drew for me.

Close-up of the bunnies that Kate's head is ostensibly full of.

Clay turtle, handformed. I got to help in this class, too!

Kate updates: Like her older sisters, Kate is enjoying ice-skating lessons. Being the youngest and least self-conscious, she tried the most enthusiastically initially, and fell hardest and picked herself up the miserablest and continued the uncaringestly. And now glides on the ice the bravest.

Together with Jenna, Kate resumes swimming lessons in the fall. She still does a lot of home art, and her latest craze is drawing Minecraft skins (players' individual online avatar outfits). She still does wicked still life and regularly begs to "do crafts". We'd tried to pull together a plan to have her and a close friend attend a summer clay class at the nearby art school but life got in the way.

This is also the summer that Kate is fully and independently riding her bike, so we've been enjoying family bike rides to nearby parks and around the neighborhood. 

Writing-wise, Kate is continuing her suspenseful Detective Bunny series (she's up to Book 4), in which the intrepid sleuth solves mysteries and thwarts the dastardly plans of evil villains. And Bunny herself, Kate's beloved white floppy sidekick, still goes on every single one of Kate's real summer adventures.