Our Stories

Annika received the Student of the Month award for December. In her school they pick a trait that they think that student has really shown in the month. For Annika it was Self-Control.

Now I love my daughter dearly and wouldn't change her for the world. But self-control? Really? Have they met her?! I guess that's why it's good for her to be at school. She has no history there. They don't know that she spent the entire summer eating Klondike Bars and hiding them under the couch. The didn't realize that she climbed the pantry shelves and even fell off one time, but still didn't stop doing that because there is candy up there. They don't know that we installed a lock on our pantry door to keep her out. She of course, figured it out two days later.

On the other hand, we haven't caught her sneaking food this week. Maybe she is showing more self-control now that she's got the reward. Hmmm. How else can I use this?


Oh, and she was really upset about this award because she thought she was getting a different one--the BUG award for kids that were Being Uncommonly Good. I had to tell her that she was just regular, everyday good. I can't imagine why it didn't stop her tears.

(I'm kidding about what I said, but not about the award.)

No one wants me to post a different status to Facebook every twenty minutes, so I thought I'd collect all of the random stuff that's been floating around in my head here instead. Aren't you glad you clicked over?

My computer is really, really loud. It kind of sounds like it's going to take off at any moment. Jason constantly (and I do mean constantly) teases me about it as if I could do anything to fix the sound.

My car is also really, really loud. And not at all in a nice way. It sounds like there are kittens being ground up in the engine. (How's that for imagery.) Needless to say I'm not driving right now.

As soon as it became apparent that I couldn't drive my car, I had a sudden, deep-seeded urge to go to the library, right now. But I can't because of the poor kittens. My children will grow up illiterate because of my car.

I hate my car. But I don't really because most of the time it gets me where I need and want to go with no problems. I think it's just that I don't understand my car and it scares me not to be able to fix anything on it. Maybe we should go to counseling together.

For some reason Sam spells my name, Momma. All of the other kids spell it Mama. On the plus side I will always know which notes are from him even if I forget to label them.

I have a new phone. Call me on my old one or email me if you want the number. It's a cool phone and even better, one that I'm allowed to talk on without worry that I will run out of money in the middle of a call.

Jason's car is in the shop right now. For about a year his car has overheated if he's gone further than seven miles from home. It also had a window stuck in the down position. You might giggle and think that it's a good thing we live in Southern California. And it is, but it's been really, really rainy here lately. It's sad for me to think of Jason driving his seven miles to and from work and getting completely soaked. He fixed the window, now he's taking care of the engine thing. Have I mentioned that his car is 14 years old? He got it while we were dating.

I have the greatest husband ever. There, I said it. It's on the internet so you know it's true. And even if you don't believe me, I don't care. It's true in my world.

Of course, after this post, you are probably glad you don't actually live in my world, aren't you.

So, I know it's Christmas, at least for another 3 hours. But I was holding Emma just now, reading to her from Sugar Cookies: Sweet Little Lessons on Love and finally found what I wanted to say about her turning three.

Sam turned eight on November 21st and that meant he got to be baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was so excited--he talked about it in every prayer he gave for the two weeks before the actual day. He was also really ready. It can be hard to imagine that an 8 year old knows enough to make this kind of commitment, but the more kids I talk to of that age, they know what they are doing. It's really impressive.

Sam did great, he smiled and enjoyed himself. We had a lot of friends there, which he loved. And we had lots of cookies, which everyone loved.

It was a wonderful, Spirit-filled day and I am so proud of and impressed by Sam to make this step toward going back to our Heavenly Father.

Look, pictures of Tiny Harry!


And for comparison, this is 9 years and 358 days:

Not quite so tiny anymore.

Well, yesterday...

Harry was born. I wanted to post a picture of him when he was teeny tiny, but that was before we had a digital camera. But needless to say, he was absolutely adorable. Last night we told him stories of when he was born--he loved that I threw up on the doctor. (Way more than the doctor did.)

He's the only one born in Maryland so he really can't picture the hospital or where it was, but I reassured him that it was really, really cold and the food at the hospital was really, really bad. He thinks it's funny that the hospital was right next door to Jason's work so Jason could go to work when he got bored. Of course, that never happened. I'm pretty sure we haven't been bored even one day in the last 3,650.

Instead we've played, sung, danced, giggled, tickled, occasionally slept, and all kinds of other fun things. Harry started this whole Motherhood ride and I'm so glad he did.

Happy 10th Birthday Harry (a day late, as usual). I love you more than you will ever know.

Harry is learning about poetry and the different ways words and sounds are used to create images. The book we are using is great, but the assignment at the end of each chapter is to use what he's learned and write a poem. This is not easy for Harry who can talk 'till the cows come home, but has a really hard time coming up with something original.

The assignment for this chapter was to pick a sound or a couple of sounds and use them throughout his poem. He chose the hard 'c' and 't.' The poem was originally about playing with legos, but it quickly became about the bear that lived in the lego forest.

Bear's Kingdom
by Harry

Pick green like grass,
A brown tree trunk.
Click green brick to brown brick.
Bear tosses rocks,
trees creak and fall.
Salmon tricked bear into
picking soft illusion.
Back to the bricks
creating the bear's cave.


Coo, huh.

So every year I look back at Sam and marvel at how far he's come in just a year. He's always been smart and cute and wonderful, but this year I am amazed at how comfortable he is around other people. He's never going to be the kid who wants to be the center of attention and that's fine. But he's way more willing to put himself out there and be with other people. I am amazed. Sam is really making his own way in the world. I've seen it here and there throughout the years, but this is different. This is Sam growing into himself.

And there is a lot more I want to say, but the fan on my computer is about to stop working and I don't want to fry my hard drive....so goodnight.

Happy Birthday Super Sam. I love you.

I get really carried away. We had Sam's birthday party today (he is 8! tomorrow!) and requested a Harry Potter party. If you know us, you'll know why that's kind of funny. But his request is my command and I give you The Harry Potter Party to End All Harry Potter Parties.

Like I said, I got kind of carried away. For instance:

I made this Platform 9 3/4 sign. Along with the brick wall into Diagon Ally:

Each child got a wand and a snitch:



Potion's Class was really fun:


I don't have pictures of the kids because we were too busy using Powdered Unicorn Horn and Dragon's Blood to make a concoction that was both hard and squishy! We also made fireworks in a jar using Liquid Slime, Liver Oil and Essence of Rainbows. That was cool.

Harry really helped when Volde...I mean, "He Who Must Not Be Named" stole the Sorcerer's Stone. Without his quick thinking and clues, I don't think we would have ever gotten it back.

The kids were hungry so we went to The Three Broomsticks for a snack:


And before they left, the kids went shopping at Honeyduke's Candy Shop:


We also had Seeker Tryouts--the Snitches all disappeared and we had to find them fast. They also took their turns flying around the backyard on brooms. We would've played Quidditch but it was too wet.

Harry inducted the kids all into Dumbledore's Army by teaching them a bunch of spells too. I think I've been disarmed about fifty times today. Which would've been great, if I were a Dark Wizard or had an actual wand.

It was a fun party and we played some exciting games and yes, I did go a bit overboard. But in all honesty my favorite part was after the kids got their snacks. They all sat down around the table and chatted while they ate. I was in the kitchen listening while moving stuff around so they didn't really pay attention to me. It was really nice to hear them all talking about things they like and books and movies and even video games. They just sat around and chatted like the friends they are. I think I'm really lucky that Sam has the friends he has.

Oh, and one last thing. The cake:


Oh and the blobby thing to the side--a Snitch. Really.

When you fall asleep on the kitchen floor:


Someday I'll do a post with pictures of all of the strange ways my kids sleep.

That's my Emma-girl.

Everyday Jason goes to work in the morning and comes home later at night. He misses all of the running around I do and doesn't see me clean up the kitchen only have it messed up ten minutes later. He misses the times that I sit down with two little girls vying for space on my lap and when I explain something to Harry and Sam and can see it click in their minds. He misses both the good and not-so-good part of our days. And he does it all for us. So that we can live the life he wants us to have.

Thank you, Jason.

It's November which means that all around us people are trying to think of what they are thankful for. It's never a bad thing to be thankful--counting your blessings helps us recognize all of the wonderful things in our lives. But too often my list reads like this, "I'm thankful for Jason and the kids and my house and blah, blah, blah..." It's a good list and I am grateful for all of those things, but I'm trying to get beyond this be more specific in what I'm thankful for.

Every morning Emma wakes up happy. She comes downstairs to find me and tells me, "I awake, Mom!" She's excited and happy and has the craziest bedhead. I love it. That's what I'm thankful for today.

So I'm a little late this year. That happens sometimes, especially when you kind of forget that you have a blog in the first place. But oh well.

This year we had a Quidditch playing Harry Potter :


a Penguin from Madagascar:


a Beautiful Butterfly:


and a Pretty Princess:


I'm almost positive that our Princess would not be a benevolent ruler when she became Queen.

Jackie! It's a composter for the garden. We had a metal one, but eventually metal rusts and falls apart. So Jason built this one. It still needs the front panels, but Lowes doesn't sell the right wood for them, even though Jason got the instructions from their web site.

I'm actually really afraid of chickens and all poultry. I'm pretty sure it wants to kill me. And we have enough rabbits trying to eat our garden without adding any more.

Julie, the girls do fit, but thanks to the lock Jason installed, I don't think we'll need to get that extreme. Then again, ask me next week. There's a good chance Annika will have figured out the lock.

It was a very good rainy day.

over the weekend. It's actually not quite finished yet. He is planning to put a top on it.

Question for you: What is it?

If you get it right I'll send you a small prize. Really. Don't enter if I've already told you what it is. Oh, and by the way, it's pretty cool that my husband built that, isn't it?!

in what homeschooling looks like in our house, I've actually been updating my Wonder House blog:

http://wonderhouse.blogspot.com/

This includes all of the exciting things we do every day, all day. Complete with pictures of...the boys' math workbooks.

I know, you can't stand the excitement.

I try not to be too serious on this site. It's a record of our family, but what I post are usually little pieces of our day that strike me as fun or cute.

But today...

Jason fixed the van's brakes on Saturday, apparently you aren't supposed to drive a car when you hear metal grinding on metal. Who knew? So he fixed the brakes and things have been okay. Until today. On the way home from Annika's dance class I started to feel a shudder that came from the back passenger side. I figured that I'd tell Jason about it when we got home and he'd fix it. No big deal.

But the shuddering got worse and worse and the whole car started to make a weird, loud noise. We weren't far from home, so I kept thinking that I just needed to make it home. But in the back of my mind, I also kept thinking that I should stop. But it didn't ever seem like a good place to stop and we were really close to home. Finally though, the noise was so loud and the shuddering was so bad that I pulled into a mobile home park to figure out what to do. I was about a mile from home, but we have to go over a bridge in order to get to the house and I just didn't think it was a good idea to try.

I pulled into a space and tried to decide who to call. Harry had a playdate scheduled with a friend that would pass by where we were on the way to our house, where we weren't. So I tried to call her and she rescued the kids. I waited for another friend who always rescues me and she told me that her husband would look at the car as soon as he could.

A few hours later they came back, my van in tow. Apparently the back tires weren't tightened all of the way and were about to fall off. If I had tried to drive up the bridge to my house, they would've fallen off and we would have been in serious danger.

I very rarely do this in this space, but I am so grateful for that voice in the back of my head that told me to stop. I am so very grateful for friends who dropped what they were doing and came and got the kids and me. And I'm grateful for a friend who can and will look at the car and tell me what it needs. That voice in the back of my head was not loud, but it was insistent. It's that voice that reminds me time and time again that the Gospel is true and that Heavenly Father loves me. Today listening to the Spirit saved my children from real harm. Tomorrow, hopefully, it will not be so dramatic, but it will always lead me in the right way.

So, our hamster, Rhino left us in June to serve in the Hamster Army, ridding the world of cobras. Ever since he left, he occasionally sends Sam emails just to update us on how things are going in battle.

The first one came shortly after he left:

Hello Sam,

I hope you are doing well. Say hi to Harrry, Annnika and Emmma. Also tell your mom and dad hi. I will send you occasional emails as I can find computers. You big hairless hamsters often leave them on. Besides providing a toasty resting spot, they are an good method for hamsters to communicate. It is much easier to punch the keys then to hold a pencil. Plus stamps are too tasty to keep around.

Today I arrived in Damascus. I caught a 747 out of San Diego and than a Airbus 380 from New York. Very big airports and lots of feet to avoid. Lucky for me, I am in very good shape and the security guards all sleep at night. I ate lots of honey peenuts on the flight, they are very yummy. Damscus is a busy city in the heart of Syria. My great great great grandfather lived here before coming to America. I will be meeting with general leading the fight against the sand cobras tomorrow. Since I am just starting I have been given the rank of private first class. I will give you an update as soon as I can. Be sure there are no ssnake sspies around. Also no lizards, some of them are double agents.

It is almost morrning so I will be going to sleep soon. Good morning.

RHINO

(Apparently hamsters don't study spelling.)

Sam emailed him back:

Dear Rhino
How are you? How were the honey peanuts? I liked it when you where here. be careful. Sam P.S when will you come back?

(Sams don't either.)

It took a while for Rhino to find a computer, but he did update Sam on his latest doings:

Dear Sam,
I am doing well. No peenuts here. But they do have yummy chick peas and olives and sometimes I even find a falafel, yumm, yumm, yummy.

It is very hot here, but much coooler in the night. It would be nice to have a hamster car here in the city, but I am doing alright. I will be in Damascus for a little while. I will be in training before going into battle. Must learn the proper way to scout and fight the sand cobras. They are invading the hamster dens in the east so the call went out for volunteers to do battle for our homeland. The cobras sneak in during the day when we are sleeping and try to eat us up.

I am training with seven other hamsters. This forms an attack squad. We we travel and fight together since cobras are much biggger than we are. I will let you know how it goes.

Be aware of mouse spies. Some of my friends have told me there may be mousies at our old homes trying to find our secret identities. If you find any, make sure they don't get away and keep them away from the computers.

Bye,
RHINO

Not long after that last email, we did find a couple of mice in our yard. We took care of them and made sure they weren't able to use the computers. Sam emailed him back:

RHINO ,
We caught two mice today. Have a fun time beating up Cobra,s when you,r done training.What kind of weapon,s do you have?


It took a while, but Rhino just emailed Sam letting him know that he is okay. It's a pretty long email, especially for a hamster.

They must have been the spies. It is a goood thing that you got them. Make sure they do not escape - they not nice.

We have been away in the desert for a couple of months. we are learning the desert. We trained just south of a town named Shabha which is hamster or place of many holes and there are lots of holes here. This is an old hamster city with many hamster catacombs to practice in. We have trained using the thumpers and stickers and flicker. The cobras can sense heat so one hamster is the flicker and carries a torch to attract the evil nasty cobra. Once he finds one he runs back to where the thumpers are. The flicker has to be very fast and brave and so I volunteeeered.

There are 5 thumpers and they carry big hammers. Once the cobra is close they circle the cobra and start pounding the ground to confuse him while the flicker runs around the circle. The cobra can't tell how many hamsters are around and what direct they are coming from so it keeps moving back and forth. Then comes the dangerous part.

The final 2 hamsters are the stickers and they have long neeeedle nails. They must sneak up and pound the nail through the cobra to stick to a spot in the ground. They have to be very sneeaky and not squeeeky.

Once the cobra is sticked, the thumpers move in and start thumping the cobra and then the flicker uses the torch to burn out the cobras eyes.

The team has to practice a lot to make sure everyhamster knows their job and works together. If any of them messss up we all could die.

So far we have fought 4 cobras. The first one was a small one and I almost got bit because he was so fast but I got to the thumpers just in time. The other three we attacked with 2 other squads and were able to quickly dispatch them, but one of our stickers got hurt when the cobra smacked him with its tail. I was able to help him stick the cobra and them pulled him out of range He is recovering in hospital. He was lucky to not get bit. I got a scratch on my paw but I will be ok soon.

We are back in Damascus for a rest before we go on our next tour of duty. I even got me some more honey peenuts. I like them very much. I don't know if we will go back to Shabha or got deeper into the desert next time. I did make some good friends with a coupe of lizzards, it turns out that many of them are nice and don't like the cobras either. I have been promoted to squad leader so I am now a lutenant.

How are you? Any thing new happening back in (your town which will not be named)?

bye Sam,
RHINO


Of course Sam just sent a message back this evening.

Rhino,
I broke my arm!! How are you? I am good. But i`m okay. do you live in a big hamster hole? Some our friend`s are nicer than they use to be. How are the honey peenuts? I`m in a club called the VGC. bye Sam.


I hope it doesn't take Rhino another four months to get back in touch. We do miss him and it's nice to know how things are going in the desert.

Last week, on our Big Trip, we went on a hike. I know that's probably not a shock to anyone who knows us and our vacations, but we did. We were up in the Montano de Oro State Park--it was beautiful even if Harry wasn't impressed (you couldn't boogie board there).

Jason picked out a hike that went straight up for two miles and then, of course, straight down for two miles. The best part of it was the little rocks that would roll when you stepped on them.

Annika is ready for school on a rainy day:
Of course Emma isn't quite as ready. Thankfully I have a few years to get her ready for kindergarten. It will definitely take that long.

Annika isn't the most aggressive kid on her soccer team. She'd be happy standing near the goal, hoping the ball doesn't actually come to her ever. In fact, last Saturday she did just that. She stood inside of the goal, just ready to do...well, something. It was pretty funny. Unfortunately they don't have goalies at her age, so she actually has to be on the field, ready to touch the ball.

Then today she caught a breakaway, dribbled the ball down the field and shot it right into the goal. I didn't have the camera with me, of course, but that's okay, I got to actually see her make it rather than watch on my camera's screen. And my friend, Suzanne, took a picture shortly after so we can remember the moment.

It was a good game.

This morning I woke up to Annika about six inches from my face, telling me,

"Harry called me Candy Stealer."

"Um, ok, well, were you stealing candy?"

"Well, yes. But he called me a name."


It was 6:30 am.

is why Jason should never, ever go out of town again.

Parts of it didn't make sense, it rambled everywhere and I even misspelled "way."

Impressive, right?!

Oh, and Panda Express isn't even the worst thing I fed the kids while he was gone. I'll leave that one to your imaginations. I'm off to Panda Express, because now it's my kids' favorite.

(Julie, I would never judge, we do what we have to in order to feed our kids. Although, my kids were really impressed when I told them that you have an orange chicken recipe. I promised I'd get it from you.)

My afternoon looked like it was going one day and then veered oddly off to the right. Now the day is almost over and I want to tell the story. So stay with me and I'll tell you the story in all of the gory details.

I took my van in last month for an oil change and to have the tires rotated. When I picked it up, the steering wheel shook and it hasn't stopped. I finally called the dealership to complain and the said it was probably that the tire rotation threw off the car's balance and that I'd have to pay another $50 if I wanted them to balance it. I was really irritated because they led me to assume everything was finished and in order to really fix the car I'd have to pay a lot more money.

This afternoon, I picked Sam up from his class and took him and everyone else over to the dealership, thinking it would be a quick in and out thing--I'd get my money back or they'd un-rotate the tires and I'd be on my way. And since I thought we'd be out quickly, I planned to feed the kids after we finished. Of course, this being real life, nothing ever goes as planned.

The dealership didn't want to just change the tires, they wanted to go over the car to make sure it was just the balance issue. That was fine, but I told them I wouldn't pay for it. Thankfully they agreed. The kids and I went to the waiting room, where everyone rolled their eyes and sighed to see four kids invading their territory. We hung out there playing with the toys and doing nothing at all for as long as we could and then decided to take the kids to the nearby outlet mall for some food.

At this point I was rolling my eyes and thinking that if I could just get some food in the kids (it was 1:30 and they were hungry) the day might be salvageable. We were on our way to Panda Express (don't judge, I didn't have much money on me and we were in a hurry) and I decided to make a quick run into the Merrell shoe outlet. I'd bought some sandals there last year and they were falling apart.

As we entered, I started thinking out loud that I wanted new sandals but I didn't want to pay their price for some that would just fall apart in a year. I showed the lady who worked there my shoes and she was very surprised that they were only a year old and she said there might be something they could do about it. I was surprised, but grateful. I thought they might give me 10% off of some new shoes and decided that I still wouldn't buy new ones because I wasn't looking for new sandals and it wasn't cheap enough.

This is probably a long and really boring story, but....a few minutes later the lady who worked there brought me another pair of sandals and traded me for my old ones. That's right, the Merrell store gave me a new pair of replacement sandals for free! It was the coolest thing ever. And absolutely unexpected. I went into the store to look for sandals for Harry and mentioned my shoes as an aside. I wasn't really upset and didn't ask for anything. I was bugged that I needed new sandals just a year after buying my other ones, but I was still willing to wait a bit. It was so nice of them to do that.

We got back to the car dealership and they had balanced the tires, fixed another really minor thing and lubed the squeaky door for free. Again, amazing. That was exactly what they said they wouldn't do for free when I talked to them on the phone. The afternoon was exhausting, the kids were hungry and a little grumpy, but bearable and these two companies that didn't have to be so kind, were. It was all so unexpected and nice.

Without hesitation, I can recommend the Merrell Outlet store at the nearby outlet mall. I won't tell you which mall, but if you are reading this, you can probably guess. You should definitely buy your next pair of shoes there. The car dealership...well, yes, you should go there for your oil changes because they wash your car afterward, but maybe not for tire rotations.

Her Negotiating Skills:

"Mom, if you make me eat this dinner, I won't go to Kindergarten tomorrow!"

Well, dear, I guess I'll be making an early-morning phone call.

And she's just realized that Kindergarten is boring. Apparently all they do is centers--different learning stations all day long. And even playing on the playground doesn't make up for it completely.

Well, how could it? Recess/snacktime is only twenty minutes.

Anyone want to take bets on how long before she begs me to bring her home? And maybe another bet on whether or not I will. I kind of like the quiet.

Remember last week when I told you that I make four cakes a year? Well, I actually made an extra cake yesterday for Book Club. It's called a Tropical Carrot Cake and if I do say so myself, it turned out perfectly.



I am clearly not a food photographer, but that's okay. I made that cake and it turned out just the way it was supposed to. Yay me!

In August I bought Annika a backpack from Costco. You can see it in the picture from her first day of school. I knew it would be big for her, but I didn't realize it would be so big. It banged against the back of her knees and was really awkward.

I got her a new one from Lands' End--they were on sale and it was a pretty good deal. To sweeten the pot, I also got her a new lunch box that matched. The new backpack is purple with checks and is really very cute. But I knew she had bonded with the other one, so I had to be careful about how I introduced it. The backpack came last Friday, so I showed it to her and she had the predictable reaction--no. She was not going to be anywhere near the new backpack. I told her okay, no problem, we'll just put it away. So we put the new backpack in the closet and later that night I came and took the old backpack out and hid it.

She really wanted her old backpack and told me every time she saw the new one. I started to get worried, but tried not to show it. On Monday morning I took out the new one and started to get it ready for her to take. She told me that she wasn't, so I said that was fine. But I also showed her all of the secret spots in the backpack.

That got her interested in it. We put a pencil in the first secret spot we found. But magically I found another one--we put her Curious George doll into it. Her interest was growing. Finally I showed her the last one. Books fit into the last one. So she ran to get a book to put into it. Of course she chose Fancy Nancy. Those went into the front pocket. I asked her if Curious George was going to read the books while she was at school and she looked at me like I was insane and told me in no uncertain terms that Curious George isn't real and even if he was he couldn't read.

But, she went to school with her new backpack on, full of pencils, monkeys and books and never looked back. I took her old backpack out of its hiding place and returned it to Costco. And that's my tale of Annika and the two backpacks.

One of the many things I learned from my Dad is that if you are going to throw a party, then throw a Party. Don't do it halfway. Get the big sushi boat and all of the mini-quiches they sell. There are other things he's taught me over the years, but the party thing, that's stuck well.

Last week Annika turned five and the theme was cupcakes. We had big cupcakes, regular cupcakes, cupcakes in ice cream cones. Even the snack was made in a cupcake pan--mini-pizzas. One thing you have to remember--I am not a baker. I am a good cook, but I have no patience for baking. And cakes have proven in the past to be my Waterloo. Case in point, Annika's fourth birthday cake and her third. It's sad, really. But every year I persevere. I make four cakes each year, one for each of the kids. Jason doesn't really like cake, so he gets a pie. (I actually make a really good apple pie.) Anyway...back to the subject at hand.

This year I made three large cupcakes and they turned out okay, especially compared to past cakes:



The kids decorated their own smaller cupcakes. Here's Annika's:


She only ate about two bites of it in the end. The decorating was way more fun than the actual eating.

I made a big cupcake so we could play Pin the Cherry on the Cupcake:


Don't laugh. I'm a better baker than artist and that's pretty scary really.

I don't have any pictures of one of my favorite games. I had Harry and Sam hide cupcake ingredients outside for the kids to find. I took some stuff from Annika's play kitchen and what she didn't have, I printed pictures of. So when they found everything, I brought them in and told them that I needed their help to make the cupcakes for the party.

We got our pretend bowls and put flour in them, along with baking soda and salt. In the other pretend bowl we put the wet ingredients and stirred everything together. Finally we baked them in our pretend oven and frosted them when they came out.

This doesn't seem so fun, but four and five-year-olds still live in a world of pretend. So when I told them to pick up their bowls, they did. It was the cutest, funniest thing ever. They were so serious but at the same time having so much fun. I wish I had someone video it, but it was a spur-of-the-moment thing. It turned out to be the most successful part of the party.

Anyway, the kids took home the cupcakes they decorated, an ice-cream-cone cupcake and a cute little cupcake bank that they decorated. I made little bookmarks for them too. It was a fairly small goody bag, but I hope they liked it. I had fun, Annika had a good time and we were able to send the kids home just as they were crashing from all of the sugar.

I think my Dad's legacy of amazing theme parties lives on. And I never want to see another cupcake again.

if not Humbling.

Remember when I waxed poetic about Emma telling me my hair is beautiful?

Well, today she told me that her goldfish cracker is beautiful.

Yay. At least she doesn't try to run her fingers through the cracker. Although I'm pretty if I let her have the box of goldfish she'd try.

Just a couple more things before I do to bed. Yes, it's early, but I get up while it's still dark.

Look what I did to my running shoes? Not at all exciting if you aren't a runner, but these shoes are trashed. Sadly I'm pretty sure it's from doing Jillian's 30-Day Shred on the rug and not from running miles, but still. Pretty impressive, right. There's an actual hole in one and both of them are worn completely flat.

In other news...Ever wonder what a homeschooler does all week? Well, let me enlighten you a bit. I've posted week-in-review posts over at my other blog. They are long and there are a bunch of pictures of worksheets the boys did, but you might find it semi-interesting. And if you don't, that's okay too.

http://wonderhouse.blogspot.com/2010/09/back-to-school-harry.html

http://wonderhouse.blogspot.com/2010/09/back-to-second-grade.html

I won't promise to do one every week, but it's a nice goal to have.

And now I'm off to bed.