a little 5.66

Here is some Foofie stuff at age 5 and two-thirds.

She almost always cuddles a doll in bed ...
or two ...
Foofie made a facebook page ...
Foofie is currently into "scribing". It began with copying Bible verses over and over and over ... and over and over ... and then she started scribing storybooks as well. She often leaves papers such as this in her trail ...

{She cut up the Bible verses before I got a photo of them ... and stuffed them in various cards and envelopes for some lucky recipients.}
She likes to sew little paper books. She always puts a heart on the cover and titles it "JOURNAL BOOK".
She makes lots of birthday cards ... whether it's even close to your birthday or not makes no difference to Foofie :) Oh ... and she often puts a bar code on her stuff ... see the back of the small card???
And here she is ... growing up much too fast, of course!
I love you, Foofie! Love, Mommy

a little posing

And this little piece of cute is sick again -- he was posing for me a couple days ago :) -- now, however, he is about as sick as I've ever seen one of my kids. He threw up at least ten times yesterday and twice today so far. He has a fever ... is constantly drifting in and out of sleep ... and can't keep anything down :( Praying for his healing ...

a little RRR -- II

Welcome to the second installment of Recent Random Reports ...

I. I was just finally looking at pictures from Christmastime and it turns out that our family Christmas pictures were not so good. But my parents' picture was good :)II. Do you happen to have a Northwestern Bookstores plastic gift card? I have two -- and there isn't a store close by us -- so I haven't been there for a couple/few years. I was thinking of going there recently, however, and was checking online the other day to see if they had some certain books ... and it turns out they've been bought out. I called to see if they would still accept the gift cards ... and was informed that they won't. They supposedly have no way of verifying the balance. Hmmm. Bummer I guess. If you have a paper gift card -- those are newer {a year old or so} -- they might accept it ... I think she said you need a receipt for it though.

III. Halo lost her purse -- so her library card was also missing. She bought a replacement card for two dollars. While we were at the library, Buddy decided to photocopy his library card in case he ever lost his -- since a dime is much cheaper than two dollars :) Then, he tried his paper copy at the checkout scanner and it worked.

IV. Little Buddy's vocabulary has exploded over the past couple of months ... and it's so fun! One night he said "I luh boo" to me -- I love you :) So precious!

V. I don't often have a book to recommend ... but I do today :) A super good book I read recently that most everyone would probably like ... Gods and Kings by Lynn Austen. Excellent storytelling.

VI. I survived helping Buddy write his very first research paper. The subject was Davy Crockett. I'm thinking we'll do a family research paper this summer for extra practice -- Halo, Buddy, and I. Don't mention it to them just yet ;)

VII. A few other forgotten pictures from last fall ...

VIII. Our pal at Chipotle -- the restauranteur, per his business card -- gave Halo and Buddy a tour of the kitchen and whatnot recently. {Those pix are on the phone ... and not so good.} Foofie was a little shy about his offer ... so she stayed behind. He also gave us the inside scoop -- sister and bro-in-law who live up north -- that they're opening up a Chipotle in your neck of the woods this summer :)

IX. I switched over from Google to Bing.

a little February fullness

February was, of course, a short month ... but it turned out to be a very full month for us -- even without a vacation.

Little Buddy was sick with fevers/flu many days this month and I was slow and limping around many days due to plantar fasciitis. I guess the timing worked out good ... I was able give Little Buddy the holding he needed and rest my foot at the same time.

On the upside ... we went bowling this month -- twice actually -- and we (Jeff and I) hadn't bowled in at least twelve years! (I think the other bowling pix are on Jeff's phone ... ) Jeff took the kids on a field trip to the "physics circus" or something like that. We also had a phy. ed. afternoon at a community center pool with friends from "school".

There were a few parties in February as well. A couple of birthday parties. Halo went to a sledding and frosting-cookies party. I went to a bunco party -- my first. And finally, Buddy had a birthday this month as well :)

P.S. The ice cream photos are from the Mongolian BBQ restaurant -- one of the kids' favorite places simply because there is a self-serve ice cream machine :) I like it for the stir fry ... and the ice cream!

a little strawberry snack

Today was beautiful!!! Lovely!!! 52 maybe??? The kids were having a spontaneous vacation day because I am so behind on everything and because it was nice enough to play outside. I ended up going outside too ... and somehow got sucked into our never-ending garage disaster. Where did all of this "stuff" come from??? Well, enough about that -- it's not blogworthy.

Anyway, as the kids were tooling about on the dry and clear driveway and I was in the garage ... the FedEx truck pulled up. The FedEx man delivered a box which said, "refridgerate immediately". Now, this is blogworthy ;) So ... we opened immediately opened the package ... and discovered some fancy strawberries from my in-laws :) Yum! Then, we decided to have snack-time immediately :) Foofie wasted no time in pointing out which berry she wanted ...
Eating strawberries outside in February is fabulous! Seems like spring is on the way again!

a little valentining

I thought one of the reasons I signed up to homeschool was so that we could get out of making Valentines and all that goes with it ;) Oh, and prom too ... Valentines and prom. But alas, we are in two homeschool groups this year and so we need ... Valentines. 99 to be exact. We used several store-bought ones ... Hello Kitty and Spiderman ... and then Foofie and I made some homemade ones today. We made 26 hearts like this -- for Halo, who was working on a research paper ...
to glue onto white cardstock like this ... Little Sweetheart helped by smudging the glitter around and snatching the scissors at every opportunity :)
Foofie made 32 sweet little "hello" cards ... and then she taped a pencil on each one :)
Also ... I spent many hours sitting and cuddling Little Sweetheart over the past week. He had lots of fevers ... much listlessness ... and required lots and lots of holding -- even while asleep. So ... while he napped in my arms ... I began cutting out tiny hearts and birdies -- since Valentines Day was on the horizon. I realized I like hearts more than I thought I did ... and the color red -- well, it turns out I like red more than I thought as well :) Then, I made this little love tree. I might decoupage it on a pencil jar or something ... for whatever ...
Happy Valentine's Day :)

a little medical mystery

Today, I am thankful to be able to stand ... and walk. Late last night I could do neither.

I was down in the construction-zone basement getting a couple of things and was about to go up two sets of stairs to take a shower before bed. {I always have to shower before bed -- I just do.} Anyway, I have no idea what happened ... but seemingly out of the blue ... I got this TERRIBLE ankle pain ... and was reduced to crawling on the dirty floor. It was as though my ankle stopped functioning and the pain was enormous ... the only greater pain I can recall ever experiencing was labor.

So ... my husband had to lug me to the shower ... shower me up ... and haul me into bed. I was about as helpless as I've ever been. I attempted to brush my teeth -- dry -- while laying in bed. I was in way too much pain to get any clothes on. The pain was centralized in my ankle ... but it went almost to my knee and all through my foot. It was sooo bad that I was nauseated and having trouble breathing. It hurt constantly ... even when I was still.

Husband gave me four ibuprofen and then asked me lots of questions ... Is it hot? Yes. Is it like shooting pain? No. That rules out a bone spur. Your ankle hurts when I'm touching your leg? Yes. Maybe it's a vericose vein thing??? I don't know. So anyway ... it hurt really bad ... insanely bad.

Husband then googled "spontaneous ankle pain" ... and said maybe it's rheumatoid arthritis??? Or maybe ... he guessed ... you have a degenerative ankle ... you know, how your aunt has a degenerative shoulder. Could a muscle spasm cause this magnitude of pain??? I really don't know.

All we could do next was pray. So we did. I pleaded with God for healing. It took forever for me to get somewhat comfortable ... for my shaking to subside ... and for sleep to claim me. And as I lay there ... praying and pondering ... I was thinking about prayer. We don't really know how it works -- but we're told to pray nonetheless. God could have just instantly healed me last night ... or He could heal me over time ... or not at all. What would God do??? Why wouldn't God heal me immediately??? And then I thought, if He heals me I will boast about it ... about Him. And then my next thought was ... and if He chooses not to ... I still have to boast in Him. And that's the challenge ... the praising God and saying "God is good" when things don't seem so good from our perspective.

Perhaps this sounds a little serious for "spontaneous ankle pain" ... I know it wasn't life or death ... but it was horrific ... and seriously painful beyond description -- very writhe-worthy. Anyway, when I woke up this morning, I was at about 85%. It was tender ... and a little painful ... but I could stand on it and move around!!! So ... allow me to boast in Him ... PRAISE the LORD! Thank you God that I could stand and walk and move around today. Sitting is fine here and there ... but being able to move around is much more desirable. I sure hope I never have to go through that again ... Husband probably feels the same :)

Now then ... does anyone know what I had {what I have}??? And what should I do??? Just take it easy??? Husband joked, "Bet you'll get a lot of great advice!"

P.S. I'm not going to the doctor -- not yet anyway ;)

a little *w*o*n*d*e*r*f*u*l*

We had ourselves a little getaway last weekend+++ ... and it was *w*o*n*d*e*r*f*u*l*. Nothing exotic or tropical ... but wonderful just the same -- simply because I desperately needed a break from it all. We played lots of games ... and Clue quickly became a new family favorite. These two are playing Othello ... it's a clever game ...
Little Dude became more proficient with the spoon ...
Little Dude positioned himself on this couch here ... plopped the hat on ... and then somehow told Daddy he was looking cute and ready for a picture ... so Daddy took one with his phone. Also, when wearing this shirt ... he frequently point to it and says "bus" :) And the way he says it ... and his tone ... well, it sounds like he has been sucking in helium -- says Daddy.I even picked up my knitting needles ~ after two years off ~ and made a little purse :) Both girls want it ... guess we might need another little getaway so I can do more knitting ;)More stuff happened, of course ~ like cooking and dishes {thank you Halo!} and laundry ... and sleeping and reading and a little sledding ~ but I only turned on the camera a couple of times. And yes, all four of my kids have a thing about cowboy hats.

Oh ... and one more thing ... MY FOOT! One night after supper ... Halo asked if she should throw away the leftovers. The "leftovers" were rather substantial ... so I said,"Throw it away??? My foot!" My response was met with gales of laughter all around. My foot??? Did you say my foot??? The kids thought this was especially hilarious. So ... now Buddy has adopted MY FOOT as his new catch-all response ... and frankly, it's gettting old. Be careful what you say, I guess ;)

a little snowflake

I don't really love winter. I could probably get along just fine in the South ;) But I'm here ... in this cold, snowy land ... so I was pondering, albeit briefly, what is good about winter. Here's what I came up with ...
1. no yardwork -- unless you count shoveling
2. you can make your own parking space -- if there's room
3. cute hats to conceal crazy hair -- and we've definitely got some crazy hair!
4. snowflakes -- aren't they fascinating???
This here snowflake landed on Little Blondie's coat while he was in the Target shopping cart. "Look," Buddy exclaimed ... "It's just like the ones you make!" {I enjoy making paper snowflakes with the kids.}
Of course sledding and other outdoor activities are fun too ... provided it is relatively warm outside -- like 30 degrees at least for this wimpy mama. Okay ... maybe 28.

What do you find redeeming about winter???

a little hat-making

It was "crazy hat night" again at Awana. Every year, it seems that one of my kids ends up with a hat that obscures their vision ...
Halo's first design plan failed and so she resorted to a gift bag adorned with crepe paper ...
I got in on the action too. I just can't resist paper and scissors ...

a little 35!!!

Happy Birthday, Mommy! This post is a little dated as this birthday was in 2010 ... several weeks back ... but you all know how December is ... insane. Anyway, I still wanted to share the birthday banners my kids made me :) I can't believe I'm thirty-five now ... I'm growing up so fast! It was a happy day ... it began with breakfast prepared by Halo and ended at my parents' place for supper. A blessed day :) I just love Little Blondie's sweet expression here ...

a little briefcase

I flew into Sam's Club yesterday to grab some fruit. As I was whisking by the front entrance lady and waving my member ID card in her general direction ... she said something to me. I guessed that she didn't see my ID card ... so I slowed down some and flashed my card at her a second time.

"I was wondering if you had something to return," she called.
"Nope," I answered.
"Oh ... I just thought ... the ... bag," she continued and gestured towards this ... this stylish, ultra-cool, bag slung over my arm ... with random stickers for the "finishing touch" ...
"No. Nothing to return. I just have a ... very ... strange ... purse." That was the first thought that came to mind. I didn't tell her that I've been calling it my pink briefcase.

Why the pink briefcase purse??? Several months ago, back when it was nectarine season, I had a nectarine in the tote bag I was currently using. {I am a washable tote bag kind of gal ... no fancy designer purses for me.} Anyway, one of my children happened to kneel on my tote bag and the nectarine got squished of course ... and made a fine mess in the tote. In a pinch and in a hurry, I temporarily transferred most of my stuff into this plastic pink gift bag. I also have blue and green gift bags just like this one ... all ready for the next fruity fiasco ...

But alas ... my out-of-town in-laws ... who didn't even know about my plastic pink briefcase ... gave me this darling tote for Christmas. So I guess it's time to relegate the pink briefcase to the trash can. Farewell ...

a little RRR

Recent Random Reports ...

I. Little Dude has discovered how to operate the volume on the boom box ... and he likes it loud :/ While listening to music, he often sits on the floor and taps his right foot ... to be more accurate, he thumps his entire right leg.

II. Little Buddy likes chap-stick. With the cap on, he'll pretend to put it on his lips. He is quite cooperative when I apply it around his mouth {which has been rashy lately}. His fondness for chap-stick is generally a good thing ... except for when Little Buddy tried the glue-stick out as though it was chap-stick.

III. Several days ago, I bopped into Sam's Club while the rest of my family waited for me in our vehicle. All I was planning to do was purchase a few gallons of milk. {We go though about six gallons per week. Maybe it's time for a cow???} Anyway ... as I was aiming for the back of the store and the milk coolers ... I heard this announcement being made ...

"Come on over to aisle thirty-five. Every shopper in the store will get a free knife. That's right. Ev-er-y shopper. No purchase necessary! Just head on over to aisle thirty-five and pick up your free, yes free, knife!!! Each and every customer can get a free knife. Come on over!" Now ... I like free stuff! I know you do too :) So ... I veered off the milk track and headed instead ... for aisle thirty-five. When I got there, lots of other people who like free knives were there too ... as well as a saleslady ... and a cloth-covered table. I could not, however, spot a single knife ... free or otherwise. Then ... she, the saleslady, began her spiel ...

Apparently, we had to listen to a little sales talk in exchange for our free knife. Apparently, I'm a little gullible ... and apparently, there's no such thing as a free knife. Now you know :)

IV. Speaking of milk and cows ... do I really want a cow??? No. I was talking to a couple of friends recently about some farm-fresh milk they've been buying. When I inquired about the milk, one of the gals replied, "Well, it's not pasteurized. And it's really creamy ... because it's whole milk. But it's kind-of chunky ... and it tastes ... a little bit ... like ... straw."

V. I drew my very first lego mini-figure this morning per Halo's request. The kids deemed it "famous". Then, I played around with enlarging it and made photocopies so everyone could color one :)

a little Thanksgiving

This was Thanksgiving ... although you might not guess that from the pictures :)

Little Stoic and Grandpa ...
Give him a ball and he'll probably smile ...
The third-borns ... dressed up and parading about ...
And the cookies ... no, I'm not having a baby. But my sister is! She made these darling cookies and handed this tin around as their "announcement"! Isn't that clever??? It's extremely exciting as they have been hoping and praying ... and waiting ... a long, long time for this blessing.

a little perch

We had, as most of you know, the most wonderful fall ~ nicer than any I can recall. And here is Little Dude about a month ago ~ on one of those lovely fall afternoons ~ sitting on the front step. He is quite happy to perch himself here ~ probably because it's just the right size "bench" for him :)

Anyway, as I mentioned, the autumn days were overwhelmingly beautiful ... and it almost seemed like the cold and the snow might never arrive. And then Saturday came ... and we woke up to several inches of *S*N*O*W* ... and it was beautiful too. For a few brief moments ... it was beautiful ... until I started to feel a bit trapped. Then, my husband suggested I venture out into the cold and shovel. Oh joy! I guess winter is here after all ...

a little firstborn

Happy ELEVENTH (oh my!) Birthday to our precious Halo!!! We were telling her a bit about the day of her birth today ... and so I got the idea to blog about it for posterity ... for when Halo is older ... and the details are more fuzzy in my mind. So if you're not up for a birth story ... or if you've already heard how we got our precious Halo ... then come back for my next post :)

So ... Halo's due date was November fourth. I don't remember what time I went to bed on November fifth. Probably late ... as I'm prone to be a night owl. Anyway, it was a Friday night. I think I was just laying in bed for a while in a state of uncomfortableness and then I was suddenly in agonizing PAIN. Anyway, by 1 am ... maybe 1:30 ... on November sixth ... I was writhing around on our bedroom floor. Insane pain in my back. After having more children, I now know that we should have been heading straight to the hospital at this point. But no, I was told to call the nurse hotline when I thought it might be TIME. So I did.

I told the nurse that the pain in my back was so crazy that I couldn't determine when the contractions were beginning or ending. The nurse then instructed me to get in the bathtub, try to time my contractions, and she would call me back in about an hour or two to see how I was doing. Oh ... and Jeff was supposed to pour hot water over my back. Okay. Here I am ... past my due date ... in TONS of pain ... and I'm being directed to get into the tub??? It was time for the baby to come! What else would it be? I'm past due. But no ... I needed a dip in the tub.

Sooo ... how does a full-term pregnant person WITH BACK LABOR get in and out of a bathtub??? Not easily. No ... not easily at all. Nonetheless, we followed the nurse's orders. We had never been through this labor and delivery stuff before ... and so we knew very little. The bathtub idea was disastrous ... and I ended up on the carpet again ... continuing to writhe. When are they going to call back??? When are they going to call back??? That's all I kept asking whenever I was able to utter anything.

Finally, they did call back and gave me permission to proceed to the hospital. My lucky day! When I arrived, I was too far along for the epidural ... so that decision was already made for me.

So ... back labor ... we heard about it in birthing class and that "it's so rare" ... so I figured it probably wouldn't happen. But it did. We had brought our Brookstone Thumper Massager along and Jeff used it on my back for a half hour or so ... until it blew up. Then ... pop cans! We recalled from the birthing class that pounding pop cans can help alleviate some of the pressure from back labor. So ... Jeff spent the next hour or two pounding full pop cans into my back. I was quite bruised after all of this ... but he couldn't pound hard enough! I wanted it harder.

Then came over four hours of pushing. The top of Halo's head kept peeking out and then slipping right back in. The blood vessels in my face were shot. My eyes had changed shape. I did not look like myself. By this time, two nurses and my husband were constantly holding my limbs ... nearly holding me together ... I was so weak. Next, my midwife decided to give me another fifteen minutes to try and get the baby out ... otherwise she was going to resort to suction, vacuum, whatever it's called. {I, however, didn't know about the fifteen minutes and suction.} But ... lo and behold ... Halo came out in the next fifteen minutes! 11:52 in the a.m. Praise the Lord! She was 8 pounds 12 ounces and I can't remember her length anymore ...

Then, I looked at Halo and called out, "It's a boy!" In celebration, Jeff repeated after me, "It's a boy!" I think I was anticipating a boy ...

"Um, no. It's a girl!" said someone. Probably a nurse.

I was very happy about that. Way back then, I felt a bit unsure about having boys. I have two boys now though ... and they're wonderful ... of course :)

"Well ... I would rather run a hundred miles in my bare feet ... tomorrow ... than ever have to go through that again." That was the next thing I said. My commentary on labor and delivery. And I was determined that next time ... I would make sure to get to the hospital in time for an epidural. Did I??? No, but that's the story of Buddy ... and I'll save that for February.

a little bravado

One day last week ~ I can't remember which day anymore ~ was a busy and full day. Like most days. And the sun ... it set hours before I prefer it too. And so it was evening ... and it was dark ... and I was still hoping to cram a walk into my day. I announced I was going for a walk and Foofie said she wanted to bike along. Then Buddy ... trying to practice his male role of protector ... informed us that he was coming too. He didn't really want to go ... but he wanted to keep me safe. What a son I have!!!

So ... we bundled up a bit and set out. Not long into our jaunt, Buddy spied something and remarked, "Mama, I see a figure."

Now most kids would have said person ... instead of "figure" ... but if you are an eight-year-old who reads lots of mysteries and obsesses about legos ... then you say "figure". The correct term for lego people, by the way, is "mini-figure".

"No, you don't. It's probably a sign." I disagreed.
"No, it is a figure. I know the difference between a sign and a figure! It even has the form of ... legs and a body and a head and stuff." Buddy continued.
"I don't see any figure. You're just imagining things," I insisted.
"There is a figure, Mama. And it's moving now. And ... it's ... watching ... us," he said.
One might think he was trying to frighten his little five-year-old sister ... but he wasn't. He was definitely convinced he saw a figure ... and he ~ our protector ~ was just a wee bit scared.

Next, Foofie piped up ... with rather impeccable timing ... "I had a nightdream the other night. We were on a walk and a bear was coming at us!"
"Don't talk about that! You're giving me the creeps," Buddy ~ our protector ~ said.
"What color was the bear?" I asked ... wishing to hear more of her nightdream.
"Seriously! Don't talk about bears right now! I'm cold and I'm ready to go home!" Buddy stated.

Needless to say, our walk wasn't terribly long. Lord willing, Buddy will have a greater supply of bravado in a few years ... and we will be able to go on evening autumn walks with more confidence :)

a little mist

So ... back to facebook :) A couple weeks ago ... I was on facebook and this guy I knew from my junior year of high school ~ this was the only year I attended a private school ~ had posted an album with old ... er vintage ... pictures. We aren't "friends" ... but the reason I could see his album was because he "tagged" {facebook lingo} a gal in one of the pictures that I am "friends" with. As I was clicking my way through the album ... to my surprise, I came across a picture of myself!!! It was of me and the guy I went to prom with ... almost half a lifetime ago... AT PROM! Kinda funny. So ... I thought ... I wonder what he {prom date} is up to these days ... I wonder if he ever got married ... stuff like that. He was one of those charismatic whirlwind types ... full of energy and big ideas ... a disarming smile ... always fun to be around.

So ... I tried to look him up on facebook ... and from what I found, I was guessing he and his wife maybe shared their facebook. Then, I was looking at their friends ... and I could see someone had posted on their own facebook to pray for the wife of their friend from a certain college. It sounded drastic or serious or something. I can't remember the exact wording ... but this guy {prom date} went to that college and I got this funny feeling in my gut. So ... next, I googled ~ what an age we live in ~ his name to try and figure out something more. And I did.

He died. Back in May. Pretty shocking. I couldn't find out any cause of death online. I contacted a friend and she had heard that he perhaps had an unknown heart issue.

Why am I writing this? I don't know exactly. I think to remind all of us not to get hung up on the little things. Our life is but a mist. It was just so weird ... when I saw our picture from prom and began looking him up ... I assumed he was still alive. You know??? He was thirty-four and one just assumes that thirty-four year-olds are usually still living.

The next day, a friend of mine told me a story. I can't remember it too clearly anymore ... but here is the gist. A friend of my friend realized she had never really had any family photographs taken. So ... she arranged a portrait sitting for her family to remedy that. One of her children, a son, happened to be engaged ... and his betrothed, however, was not invited to be in the photo. When his betrothed found out about this, she was really mad ... outraged ... and the future mother-in-law was in the doghouse for a long, long time. Seriously??? Waging war over a family portrait??? Our life is but a mist ...

a little "pregnant lady"

Today, during a lovely Saturday afternoon walk, a neighbor darted out of his house and chased me down, bearing a large tomato in each hand. "Oh thanks!" I said appreciatively. "We're getting down to the end here," he said ... by way of explanation for he wasn't offering me eight or ten of the red spheres like he had on other days ... earlier in the summer. "Say ... what's your name?" he asked.

This man lives on the street that my street connects to and I have walked past this man's house dozens ... probably hundreds ... of times and we {and his wife} have exchanged many a pleasantry. I've admired their gardens and they've admired my kids ... but we had never exchanged names.

So ... I said, "Dana. And how about you?" "Dave," he replied, "and Wendy," he added ... pointing towards his house. "Good to know," he continued, "We've always just called you the pregnant lady." "That's funny," I said ... with a laugh and a wave.

As I was continuing on homeward ... now holding a large tomato in each palm ... I laughed again when I realized we had been calling them "the tomato people" ... or "the tomato guy" and "the tomato lady".

So ... is there anyone that you've made up a name for???

a little doctoring

On Saturday afternoon, after Foofie abandoned her doll playing and headed outside ... I discovered this ... Foofie's poor dolly had needed some doctoring. It appears that dolly got a "smooosh" on her chin ... just like Foofie's "smooosh" :) Some snipped pieces of kleenex and blue tape were the bandage. See the bed dolly is laying on? The bed was a puffy book supported by a candle on one end ... and then a toy cup with a roll of blue tape stacked on top to hold up the foot of the bed. I don't know what else befell dear dolly ... but apparently it wasn't good. Dolly also needed a tube in her mouth attached to a silvery vial. The tube was made out of bendable, gummy eraser and the vial was some foil-wrapped nail polish. Poor little dolly ... And another little Foofie story from just yesterday ...

"There's only two big boys in our family ... because one of our boys is a baby. But there are THREE big girls. You are big and Halo is big ... and I am big."

"Oh yeah? How big are you???" I teased.

"Oh ... like 42 ... or 41 ... or 43 inches .... probably."

a little Hermie {by Halo}

On Monday afternoon, my Mama found a HUGE, HUGE ... I’m talking HUGE, people ... caterpillar! She named it Hermie. It was really neato. It had a light green body with spiky orange, yellow, and blue knobs on it. We only had it for ONE day until it started making its cocoon! This morning, it was already fully encased in the cocoon. How cool! I hope it will be a butterfly ... but Daddy is guessing a moth.

P.S. This is a jumbo-sized peanut butter jar ... 40 ounces I think ~ Dana {Mama}

a little smooosh

It was the first day of officially being a kindergartner for Foofie ... and her second experience of racing off to get stitched back together :( She had a biking accident this evening. Apparently her brilliant older siblings constructed a little makeshift jump with some scraps of wood that were lying around ... and you know Foofie ... she just had to give it a whirl.

The doctor called her injury a "smooosh". He said it with seriousness as though it's a technical term, but I'm guessing it's not. A "smooosh", he said, is more hole-like ... versus a wound that is like a split, or a line. Poor little Foofie ...{PHOTO TAKEN THE FOLLOWING NIGHT}

a little speaking

Last night, I went to the annual kick-off meeting for the home-school co-op that we belong to. "Co-op" sometimes confuses people ... it's just a group of families ... we don't trade seeds or granola or anything. When we first started homeschooling and my kids would get asked where they go to school ... they would say, "we go to a co-op". This reply often raised some questions ... if not eyebrows. Rather quickly, the answer changed to ... "we're home-schooled".

Anyway, I went to this meeting ... and for the fifth straight year ... listened to all of the teachers give their little talks and then each of the board members shared a bit too. Every year, when I hear the speech teacher speaking, I think something like ... she's neat ... I like her ... I bet my kids will enjoy her class. She teaches seventh through tenth grade ... so I hadn't had any reason to make her acquaintance thus far. Last night, however, the speech teacher and I just happened to find ourselves at the snack table at the same time {getting cookies, of course} ... and I said, "I think you're so neat and I'm looking forward to having one of my kids in your class." She thanked me and then I added, very spontaneously, "You know ... when I was in school, I never had the chance to be in a public speaking or speech class ... maybe you could offer a little elective class for the moms sometime." Where did this idea come from??? It seemed totally out of the blue ... I had never even thunk this thought before ...

Then, tonight, my mother called me and we chatted about this and that and some nonsense too, I suppose. We were about to hang up when she said,

"Oh ... I've been meaning to tell you about this guy that I met at Savers a few weeks ago ..."

"Yeah?" I encouraged.

"Well ... there was this guy with a cart full of yellow tee-shirts ... new shirts. So I asked him what he was going to do with all of those shirts. And he said he was sending them to Africa. So I told him that my daughter {that would be me} had been to school in Kenya for a semester. And I found out that he is the pastor of a church. And he said it would be great if you would come speak to his young people."

"Hahahahahahahaha." This was me ... LAUGHING.

"Are you kidding??? Did you tell him I was there like fifteen years ago???"

"There's plenty of things you could talk about." Mom encouraged. "He gave me his business card so you can call him."

"Hahahahahahahaha. That's really funny. Really funny," I said. "Actually ... you know what makes it even funnier?" I continued ... and then, I proceeded to tell her the story, from just the night before, of my asking the speech teacher to offer a speech class for the mothers.

"See? God's lining it all up," Mom declared ... half-kidding ... half-not.