By the Way

One of the reasons I went with a public blog this time is so that you can sign up for an RSS or Atom feed. If you are a Bloglines or Google Reader user this feed will notify you every time there is new content on my blog. Scroll down to the bottom and click on "Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)." Very handy. Enjoy!

Yoda's Back!

The plastic Yoda you see here is from a Taco Bell kids meal sometime in the late 1990s.



This Yoda has a long and wonderful history. At some point shortly after I got him, my family started playing "Hide Yoda." He would turn up in the oddest places: your sock drawer, your cereal box, inside a decorative wreath. If you found him, you got to hide him next. We had so much fun with him. My favorite memory was New Year's Eve 1998 when my sister contrived to hide him in my piece of Black Forest Cake. We all laughed so hard! Another good Yoda finding was when my parents left on their mission to Boston in 1997 and I hid him in the small box of things my Mom took along to make the mission apartment feel like home. When she found him, she cried.

Sometimes he has turned up missing for quite awhile. We hadn't seen him in a couple of years and I was starting to wonder if he was ever going to turn up again. But that's the great thing about moving-- you lose the weirdest stuff but you also find the weirdest stuff. While we were looking for our phone (we had a live jack for 2 days before we could locate a handset to plug into it) Yoda showed up.

So, Readers, where should I hide him next????? (Leave Comments!)

Snow Day!

Fish has been so excited to move back to a place where it snows. This morning we woke up to a beautiful white world, so of course the boys spent the entire day going in and out and in and out and enjoying the snow. Here they are fresh in from outside enjoying a cup of hot chocolate:

Downstairs

We gave the boys the basement family room as a huge bedroom/playroom. This has been a mixed blessing.

As you can see, they can quickly turn the entire space into a zone of total destruction (and you only see half the room in this picture.) It's a lot of work for me to clean it up, even with their "help."

But! They have been playing more imaginatively and happily and in general have been more out of my hair since we moved here. They've really been getting into the huge bucket of Legos they got for Christmas (Did you know that Santa buys old Legos on ebay?) They have been making dozens and dozens of space ships. I think having the large space to move around and spread their things around frees up their creativity.

Missing the Couch

We had to leave our couch behind when we moved. (I do not know what we are going to do next time we move because there's no way we're ever going to fit into a 26-ft Penske truck again!)

I've been haunting Craig's List, but nothing good has turned up yet. So the only thing to sit on in our living room in my glider rocker. And when you need to take a nap, you have to get a little creative....

Welcome to My New Blog!

Welcome to the prairie! I'm new here myself. I just moved to the Great Plains after 14 years on the other side of the Continental Divide. I'm excited to be here! I feel like putting on a calico dress and a sunbonnet and buying a windmill. Maybe I will, just watch and see! One of my friends, when I told her I was moving out here, said "I can totally see you on the prairie." My first thought was a sarcastic "gee, thanks!" but then I decided she was right. I think I am going to thrive here, and if any tornadoes come my way, I'll chase them off with my trusty mop.

Ermm, I'd better finish unpacking so I can find my trusty mop first! Or maybe my kids ran off with it. Kids? KIDS???

My Oak Trees

I am so happy to have OAK TREES in my yard!

The one in the front yard is perfectly framed by our bay window.

When I look out my kitchen window, I get to admire the one in back. Oaks are so cool. They have a beautiful shape, beautiful leaves, and ACORNS!!! I love acorns! Plus, oaks just have this feeling about them of timelessness, strength, wisdom and awareness. They're the kind of trees I really wish I could talk to because I know I could learn a lot from them.

The boys have had a blast in the backyard on mild days playing with the leaves that are all over the place. They wish the oaks were better climbing trees, but they love the leaves and are enchanted by the acorns. We should all remember to be enchanted by acorns, don't you think?

Hop on Pop

Daddy got all three kids on his lap the other night. I ran to get the camera, but before I could get everyone to smile....

...the situation deteriorated rapidly....

...but they had a lot of fun anyway.