Ice Princess

I took the boys ice skating a month ago and left the girls behind. While at the rink, I noticed several very tiny tots darting around on itty bitty skates. "I wonder if Roo is old enough for this," I thought. I asked her about it and she said she wanted to go. So we decided to go again and take her. She loved it!

I'm not sure which she loved most: wearing pink mittens, being the center of Cousin Cynthia's attention, or the actual skating. We never did get her to actually stand on her own, but she did get more and more comfortable with the ice and a little bit better at bearing her own weight. Mostly it was just fun to have her there because she was so cute.

As for my fearless, fantastic boys, they gained a lot of skating skill by going skating twice in within a few weeks instead of our typical once a year. It was fun to watch them go from wobble to whiz within a short space of time. They love ice skating!

I hope we can do it more often. I'm even tempted to sign Roo up for lessons. The Badger and I have been talking about how she doesn't get much exercise. Hmmm... maybe we should all take skating lessons!

It Was a Blast!

This evening we went out to launch the model rocket Bean got for his birthday. The kids were excited about the concept of model rockets, but they didn't have a clue how totally nifty it was going to be until they saw it go up the first time.

Then they were pretty much hooked.

There was a bit of a wind blowing, and on our third launch the rocket left the park and landed in a tree belonging to a house across the street. We had to go knock on the door and ask for the homeowner's help in extracting our rocket. He got a ladder and we got our rocket back. He said he was always rescuing kites and frisbees and other flying debris out of his trees. (I guess that's something to keep in mind if you ever consider buying a house right next to a park!) Our rocket survived the ordeal, thankfully. These kids can't stop talking about when we're going to go launch it again. (Rocket engines are going in the family store!)

Tired and Wired

As the evening wore on at the ward campout, my boys got more and more wired. This was mostly because as soon as the campfire was built they had access to all the marshmallows they could get their little paws on.

If you enlarge this picture you can see that each of my boys is roasting quite a few 'mallows on their stick. This is only one of many, many trips to the fire pit.

My Roo, on the other hand, quickly started to wind down once it got dark. The Badger really enjoyed snuggling her on the swing.

On the way to the campout, Roo got two big gobs of bubblegum in her hair (I HATE bubblegum-- anyone know how to get it out of Sunday pants?) The first thing we did upon arriving was to procure some margarine and remove the gum. She spent the whole evening running around with oily hair, getting dirtier and dirtier. When we got home late that night (we did not stay overnight!) I thought it was so cute to see how curly her hair was from all the oil.

Water Creatures

I married a sea creature and it is becoming more and more apparent that my boys are taking after their father.

Our ward (church congregation) had a campout on Friday night. It was held at a privately-owned lake, which meant we had the swimming dock and the boats all to ourselves. All the kids there had so much fun swimming, boating, and diving. My boys especially loved the kayaks. They paddled them around for hours.

It really struck me how they just looked like they were exactly where they belonged.

And when I say "boys" I mean this one too:

It was especially fun to watch Fish. Just barely six years old and he had total control over his kayak. I was impressed. I also think it did a lot for his confidence and self-esteem. He even took one of the girls in his Primary class for a romantic little cruise:

A Party to Remember

I suspect that most people have situations which give them irrational anxiety. For me, it's company. When they're actually here I usually really enjoy them, but before they come I always get anxious and after they leave I realize I am emotionally drained. The degree to which this happens depends on the type of company. Family and close friends are fine-- if I have any anxiety it's negligible. Casual friends or acquaintances give me enough anxiety that I don't invite them over very often, but when I decide to do it the anxiety doesn't get in the way. Children, however, send my anxiety levels up to something I have to really struggle to deal with. I've been working on this for the last eight years since I gave birth to a highly social child who craves company. The worst possible situation for me, which sends me into an almost paralyzing state of anxiousness, is hosting a child's birthday party and inviting a group of children over to my house.

It took me three years to get up the nerve to have this party. I tried to put my boys off again, but since Bean was turning eight (a big milestone in our culture) I decided to face my fears. It hung over my head for weeks. Every time I thought about planning it, choosing games, buying favors, or making invitations, I just wanted to go to bed and suck my thumb. But I bravely went forward.

The funny thing is, I'm actually pretty good at throwing a party. I thought I was pretty creative with the party games and everyone had a good time. On one level, I was even having a good time, even though I was counting down the minutes until it ended.

The theme of the party was submarines. Could I possibly be the only person in America who has ever made three submarine cakes in three days for non-commercial purposes?

We started out the party with a craft: decorating their own sailor hats with fabric markers. These also served as name tags, since many of the kids did not know each other. Once everyone had arrived and made a hat, we played "shark tag" in the backyard with a costume shark fin I had bought. Then we had a fish-spearing contest with Swedish fish and toothpicks. After that we played "pin the octopus on the submarine." Finally, I got out my giant parachute and we played parachute games for quite a long time. There's a lot you can do with a parachute to keep a hoard of wiggly boys busy. When I finally ran out of parachute game ideas it was time for cake and ice cream and presents. The boys got lots of really awesome presents.

At the end of the party we gave out favors. The way we did it ended up being one of the highlights of the party. The favors were simply a little squirting shark and some bubblegum gold coins in a cellophane bag. I put them all in a chest I have that looks like a treasure chest. I put this under the parachute. We all stood around the parachute and shook it while the boys, one at a time, put on a diving mask and dived under the parachute to get their treasure out of the chest.

When they were all gone the house was suddenly very quiet. It was also a wreck. The Badger earned my undying gratitude by moving the entire dining set and scrubbing the dining room floor on his hands and knees.

I just went to bed and lay there, wondering when I was going to stop twitching.

The boys are already talking about their next party, and Roo's got hers all planned out. Will these ever get any easier for me? I hope so. I want my children to have as many wonderful childhood memories as possible. It would be somewhat helpful if I didn't end up in the psych ward in the process.

Boys Live Here

It's obvious everywhere I turn.

Fabulous Firework Fun

This ended up being one of the funnest years for 4th of July fireworks that I've ever experienced. It was the first time I'd celebrated the 4th on the prairie, since last year we were in Utah during this time. I wasn't sure what to expect.

My cousins came over and we went out to the end of the driveway to light off the fireworks they brought over.

Then we discovered that there was a big fireworks show going on over at the country club, which is less than 1/2 a mile from our house. By moving our chairs over to the neighbors' driveway, we could see the big ones and still do ours at the same time. I had fun playing with the "Fireworks" setting on my sister's camera:

The boys were in boy heaven.

And when I say "boys," I mean the Badger too. Here he is doing his wacky sparkler dance:

But what really made the evening extra fun for me was all the illegal fireworks my neighbors were setting off. There were 4 or 5 people within half a block of us on all sides who were constantly shooting really cool stuff into the air. It would suddenly go off right behind us, right in front of us, or right off to one side or the other. We were right in the middle of it, instead of watching it from a distance. I've never experienced fireworks quite that way before, nor has any other place I've lived done quite the volume of fireworks that I saw and heard in my neighborhood that night. It was really fun.

It's That Time of Year Again!

We went strawberry picking this morning. Mr. Eeyore, who runs the u-pick farm, insisted that the crop was terrible this year. However, I still came away with thirty pounds of utter heaven. Okay, they were a little small, but small sometimes makes for better flavor.

At least ten pounds were picked by my two boys, who actually worked constantly and un-complainingly the whole time we were in the field. I didn't have to coax them at all. They just dove in and filled their buckets. Starting them on berry picking when they were tiny tykes seems to have paid off (Fish has been doing this every year since he was ten months old).

Strawberry picking is becoming quite the well-loved tradition in our family. And if it wasn't fun enough by itself, there's the strawberry eating afterwards. My kids and I all had red, sticky, happy mouths and fingers at lunch time today.

Story Time

Country Boys

Our country friends' younger boy is Bean's age. When we go out there he and Bean and Fish usually head off into the muddiest corners of the chicken coop or rabbit hutch and appear some time later absolutely filthy, with big smiles on their faces.

KIDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Three Things I Love

1. Lowes Build 'n Grow clinics. They do them twice a month on Saturdays and they are free. The kids get to hammer and build stuff. My boys adore them. This time around they built a jewelry box.

This is what it looks like when it's closed:

This is what it looks like when it's open:

There's even a mirror inside. Fabulous. Next time they're doing race cars. Can't wait.

2. Crayola Window Markers

Get you some. Let the kids go crazy. Just check to make sure they don't write "Help! My parents turned me into broccoli!" on the front window (that would never happen at my house though.)

3. My new pants size. I'm now only six pounds from my goal.

NO NO NO NO NO!!!!!!

STOP RIGHT NOW, BOYS!!!!!

(What they won't think of next!!!!!)

A Merry Christmas Morning

Last night after the kids went to bed I got out all the presents hidden in the garage and various closets and stacked them under the tree. (We can't leave them under the tree all through the month because the kids wouldn't leave them alone, so they don't appear until Christmas morning.) I was shocked at the enormous size of the pile. How did we get so many presents? This is totally out of hand! But then I thought about what was in them: things like clothes and homeschool stuff I'd bought on clearance and at garage sales for the last six months that I could have just given to the kids but decided to save for Christmas so they could have the fun of unwrapping them. Most of it was simple and inexpensive. Even the kids' main presents cost no more than $30 each. Therefore this huge pile does not represent an obscene amount of money spent. And we sure had a lot of fun with it.

Here's the boys opening their stockings:

And here's a great shot of a seven-year-old experiencing intense Christmas morning happiness:

And here's a great shot of a 33-year-old experiencing intense Christmas morning happiness:

Okay, so the Badger's present was neither simple nor cheap. It's a Garmin Nuvi 350 GPS and he's so excited. He needs this because of the nature of his job, but he had NO idea I was buying it for him. It is very difficult to surprise the Badger like this and I feel very gleeful that I actually pulled it off.

Merry Christmas everyone! Hope you're all experiencing both glee and gratitude this morning.

An Important Ingredient

When you make sugar cookies, please do this for me: add a bit of grated orange peel to the dough.

You will like it.