a little peek

Here's a glimpse of what my husband has been up to lately ... with a couple of other things thrown in as well.

Removed fiberglass shower "insert" ... tiled the shower ... replaced the door ... re-tiled the floors ~ did this in another bathroom too. Also, replaced the toilets ... and has yet to put in new faucets and towel bars.


Rustic beam/log light he is constructing ...


Finished and lighted ...

New chandelier hung ... lots of light :)


Built this wall (behind the cupboards) and put cedar on it ... so the cupboards on the outside wall won't have to be hung on the logs anymore & makes it possible for a backsplash now.

Ripped out old floor and laid this floor ... hand-scraped hickory.

A portion of the trim he's varnishing and sanding ... for doorways, windows, baseboards

Extended this wall ... and is putting new cedar on ... wired it for three wall sconces ...

New ceiling boards ... not the beams ... but the cedar in between (is covering what was plywood).

Replaced this window and its trim ...

"Utility Room" ... new ceiling, floors, cedar walls ... cupboards of course too (they included installation though, thankfully!)

island and cute corner cupboard/hutch ...

new lights still to come for the kitchen ...








two smiling faces showing off the new island ... "It's looking nice in here, Daddy," said Foofie.

the remainder of Foofie's latest head injury ... it is healing nicely! (I love her smile here!)

The girls made gingerbread cookies ... I took this picture with Halo's new camera!

a little stitching

All of my children wanted to stitch pictures on cardstock tonight ... it was rather cute to see them all concentrating on their stitches ... and it was mighty peaceful as well :)

Guess who made the police car???

a little pretending

Halo and Foofie played choir this afternoon. Halo was the director and Foofie was the choir. Halo had Foofie practice this one song about six times in a row ... Behold, Behold, I stand at the door and knock, knock, knock .... (I was surprised that the "choir" was so cooperative!)

Later on, the "big kids" set up a detective agency. Foofie promptly brought a problematic Cabbage Patch Kid into their office. "Susanna broke into my kitchen," Foofie began. "You need to 'rest her and put her in jail for three months!"

Finally, this evening, a darling little three and a half year-old came up to me and said, "Would you like Italian or soup?" I leaned over to kiss her cheek and the little girl said emphatically ... "You can't kiss the waitress! And I'm being the waitress!!!"

a little Merry Christmas

All of the kids helped with the wood-hauling this afternoon ...

a little bit more

I forgot to include a few of our crafting items in my last post.
Buddy's snow-mask to protect him from the elements ... and yes, he did use it once :)

Foofie's bird ... I've been doing some cross-stitching and she wanted to sew too. I just punch a design into cardstock and she sews in the holes. Easy ... and the kids really enjoy it. Foofie is amazingly good at it! (In the past, we've done flowers, trucks, and so forth.)

Finally, the votive I crafted for my pig-loving mother-in-law.

a little house

Our most recent craft project was little paper "Christmas houses". I helped Buddy and Foofie each make one last night. I cut ... they colored ... I assembled ... then we glittered. (Halo missed out because she volunteered to help Daddy move some things ~ I think she was too restless to sit still and craft.) Anyway ... she wanted to make one today ... and I made one too ... and Buddy and Foofie each wanted to make another one. (Foofie's second one isn't pictured though ~ she didn't finish it yet.)

Here are the houses designed by the girls ...

Here are Buddy's houses ...

And here is our little neighborhood ...

Some other recent paper~crafts we've done ... lots of red cardinals (the kids have given some away), snowflakes (I love making snowflakes), and swedish hearts. I wasn't sure if I remembered how to make a swedish heart ... but I figured it out after all. It's funny how something so small ... the swedish heart in this case ... can remind one of so much.

For many years, the Covenant Church my family attended when I was a child had a grand swedish festival one Saturday in December ... Lucia Day. There was swedish food, music, decorations. I think they sold Swedish crafts as well ... little blue and yellow horses, hearts bearing the words "Gud Jul", and the like. The childrens' choir dressed up as little elves and gingerbread ... and we sang and danced. Some of the older girls would wear white gowns and the traditional crown adorned with candles ~ fake ones if I recall correctly. It was always such an exciting day ~ partly because we'd have to get up super early ... maybe five in the morning ... to get there on time. It would still be dark out ~ and painfully cold, of course ~ but it seemed rather adventurous to a child.

a little about naming

I'm not the most decisive when it comes to naming children. Our first experience was fairly easy because I was set on a girl's name and thankfully ... we had a girl! Our son, our second child, was named pretty quickly ... but I wavered over his middle name and we ended up changing it several hours later. Our third child didn't even have a name until she was a week old! She arrived ten days early and I wasn't prepared for that ... but it's likely I would have struggled with naming her even if she arrived on time.

So ... now I'm expecting number four. My children ~ and my oldest daughter especially ~ have tried to brainstorm names a few times already. The last time went something like this ...

"So ... do you want a fancy and intelligent name like Victoria or Anitadene or Audrea?" Halo questioned.
"I don't think I want fancy," I replied.
"You know ... Victoria is a queen's name," she continued in her persuasive manner.
"Do you want a regular kind of name?" she asked next. "Like Bob or Harry or Larry or Jerry?"
(Now I'm thinking 'Veggie Tales' ... you know, Bob & Larry.)
"No ... I don't think so," I answered.
"The baby should be Kelly," said Foofie.
"How about Rick or Todd?" asked Buddy.
"No thanks."
"Kelly," blurted Foofie.
"But those are the names of the Polly Pocket boys! I like those names," he continued.
"They are fine names ... just not what I have in mind."
"Kelly. I want the baby to be Kelly."
"No, I don't think Kelly is the right name either," I concluded.

Don't tell my kids ... but I'm going to figure out names by myself ;)

a little bird feeder

My hard-working husband worked right through supper last night and was going to eat later ... after he finished what he wanted to finish. So ... the kids were restless and we needed a project to occupy us. How about milk carton bird-feeders? They're definitely not fancy ... but they're super simple ... and the kids thought it was really cool that they could make a bird-feeder on their own ... no saws, hammers, nails, wood. (It's a bit difficult to cut a milk carton though ... so the younger two needed some help.)

How to? Just cut "windows" in opposite sides of a milk cartion ... close up the top with staples ... poke a hole through the top and insert string or ribbon or a pipe cleaner ... fill the bottom with bird seed ~ that's the best part ... and voila!

We were hoping to hang them up today ... but it was cold, windy, and snowing heavily. Maybe tomorrow ...

a little DNR encounter

This afternoon, the kids asked if they could shovel the snow off the lake so they could play around on the ice. Sure! Why not?

Then, my dear husband had to suggest plowing a patch of frozen lake with the ATV instead ... you know ... men and their love of motorized toys. So ... he and our two oldest kids climb on the ATV. They get driving at the wreckless speed of 5 mph ... and who should they immediately encounter at the end of the driveway? A DNR dude, of course, doing his best to ensure all lawbreakers are caught.

Jeff promptly learns that the ATV isn't registered, the children must have helmets on, and there can only be one passenger.

"Ummm ... it's my Dad's ATV. I never thought it might not be registered. He is always on top of things ... always registers everything ... this probably just got overlooked. And, as for my kids, I'm way more concerned about their safety than you are ... I was only going five miles an hour ... and I didn't even know they had to have helmets on."

Jeff's defense fell on deaf ears.

So ... how much did this little episode cost us?

$120

(You know ... tickets always stink because it feels like such a waste of money. You get nothing for your money ... except frustration.)

a little sticky situation

This afternoon Foofie started playing with Grandma's "sticky tack" (a.k.a. poster putty) ~ which was being used to keep an old hutch door shut. She thought it would be neat on her ears ... as earrings. By the time I was aware of this, it was already a sticky, matted mess in her hair. I decided to try the old peanut butter remedy before resorting to the scissors ~ and thankfully, it did the trick!

a little shower art

Buddy showered first tonight and he left behind a finger drawing on the shower door. Then, Halo went into the bathroom to get cleaned up and called, "There's a guy on the shower door!" "I know," Buddy answered back with a grin. "It's Daddy ... with a big beard!"

a little ice cream

I'm pretty particular about my ice cream. It's actually gotta be ice cream ... not some sad imitation concocted with who knows what. The local store here doesn't carry the ice cream I usually buy ... so I had to make my own!!! My in-laws have been trying to pass the homemade ice cream making tradition onto us for a few years now ... but I never really had the oomph to do it until last night.

First, I googled for recipes a bit until I couldn't stand the 42.6 Kbps internet speed another moment. (I was trying to find something slightly healthier than my in-laws' tried and true recipe.) Then, I called my friend who regularly makes homemade ice cream. She gave me her grandma's recipe and I decided to try it ~ with minor revisions. She said, "it's good," and then I imagine that she shrugged ... but she should have RAVED about it ~ it's beyond delicious!!! Jeff picked up the cream and the whole milk for me this afternoon and I made it right away ~ even though it was almost suppertime. It was very tempting to skip supper and go right to dessert!

YUMMY VANILLA ICE CREAM
4 pasteurized eggs ~ beat until foamy
then add:
2 c. sugar
1 quart whipping cream
3 c. whole milk
1 T. pure vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. salt
mix well

*put in ice cream maker (takes about 40 minutes) and ENJOY*

a little grilled pizza

Last night, due to a desperate desire for good pizza (since last week's pizza outing was so-so), I attempted to grill a frozen pizza. When I googled "grill frozen pizza", I was bombarded with links saying things like, "whatever you do, don't even think about grilling a frozen pizza". I discovered that most recipes for grilled pizza call for quickly grilling the crust first (no thick crusts allowed), then slathering on some sauce, and finally, throwing on the toppings ~ which must be minimal to cook properly ~ as fast as humanly possible. Unfortunately, I didn't have an oven or a fresh, unassembled pizza. I had a grill, two Carbone's frozen pizzas, and determination.

After a little more searching, I finally come across someone who said, "I don't know why the internet is full of failed attempts at grilling frozen pizza. It worked for me." Then, he shared how he did it. Turn all burners up high to preheat. Then, leaving on just one burner, put the pizza in and let it cook with indirect heat (not over a flame). Rotate a bit every several minutes and try to maintain the temperature around 400. Sounded easy enough and it worked okay ... but because it was so cold out, it was hard to keep the temperature over 325 ~ even with two burners going. It eventually got cooked and it was mighty tasty ... but ovens are definitely easier :)

a little policeman

My six and 3/4 year-old son was reduced to tears tonight. He likes to play that he is a "real pretend policeman" and this requires his vest, several badges, usually a whistle ... handcuffs and a gun ~ the last two each have a felt holder that he strings onto a large, flat lace and ties around his waist. He doesn't know how to tie bows though, only knots, so often there is a problem of trying to unknot the lace around his waist. This being said, he doesn't know how to tie his shoes yet either. He's had velcro or 'slip-on and cinch' style shoes for most of his life and we keep forgetting to take the time to teach him how to tie.

Tonight, however, after unknotting his waist string Daddy said, "You can't wear this string anymore until you learn how to tie so you can get it off by yourself." He immediately started crying ... "Then I can't be a policeman!" Sob ... sob ... sob. "You can be a policeman as soon as you learn how to tie your shoes," said Daddy. "It's too hard! I can't!" Buddy blubbered. "No, it's not hard. You could learn how to do it tonight," Daddy encouraged. "I can't do it!" More tears. "Yes you can ... and you are going to learn to tie your shoes right now," declared Daddy.

The shoe-tying lesson and practice session took about twenty-five minutes. Buddy was thrilled with his accomplishment and got his "police string" tied on all by himself! He thanked us and then made me seven little pictures (birds, a loon, and a gingerbread person) with "I LOVE YOU MOMMY" on the back of each one :) The small "love" notes were rather special because generally he just draws sheriff badges, walkie talkies, POLICE license plates, and the like ... to cut out and play with.

a little evening "up north"

We hit the town tonight ~ dashing to and from buildings because of the chilly temperature of 14 degrees! We found the local library and thankfully it was still open for another 17 minutes! It was much nicer and larger than I expected, considering the size of the town. We scurried to find as many Boxcar Children books as possible and a couple of police books for our future police officer ... plus whatever else caught our eyes. (Halo is going to be able to survive a few more days now. She's been desperate for something to read!) Then, we had pizza at Rosalini's ~ unfortunately, it wasn't as good as it has been in the past. It was definitely overcooked ~ dry crust, dark at the edges, cheese more brown than golden. It was good to be out of the cabin, however, and the kids enjoyed the Christmas decorations in the restaurant and the festive lights on the streetlamps. Finally, we stopped at Paulbeck's Market to get some groceries and paper goods. Back at the cabin, we raced inside and Jeff hurried to get the fire roaring again.

"I feel like a real wood-burning heat person!" Jeff exclaimed after adding some logs to the fireplace. "Isn't it amazing that we're basically heating this whole place with wood? I mean, the whole power grid could go down and we'd be just fine because we're heating with wood!!!"

"You're like a real wood-burning heat person?" I clarify for my blog :)

"Yep. I'm going to start keeping track of how much wood we go through every day." Such exciting things we're doing here :)

P.S. Halo loves to help haul the firewood and stack it near the house and fill the copper tub when it gets low ... it reminds her of Laura Ingalls ~ who we are so fond of!

a little chicken

Last weekend, my mother-in-law kindly made a batch of her BBQ Chicken for us. It's one of my favorite things that she makes (perhaps my most favorite thing) ~ and it was exactly what my pregnant self was craving! It's a bit spicy ... and reminds me of Asian food (but it's probably missing some key ingredients that would make it such) ... nonetheless, it's delicious and the recipe is definitely worth sharing.

BBQ CHICKEN

8 - 10 chicken breasts or tenderloins (more if using tenderloins?)
flour
2 T. oil

dredge chicken pieces in flour and brown in oil. place browned chicken in shallow baking dish. mix the following and pour over chicken. bake at 350 for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

1 c. ketchup
1/4 c. 57 sauce
1/4 c. Worcestshire sauce
1/4 c. sugar
1/4 c. water
1 - 2 T. cider vinegar
3 garlic cloves ~ minced
1 medium onion ~ minced
1 tsp. salt

a little about Barbie dolls

I'm not overly fond of Barbie dolls. I wasn't into them as a child either. Nonetheless, I allowed Halo to purchase one this summer ... and she played with it a couple times at most. Then, she asked for more Barbies for her birthday ~ and she received two. She brought all of them up to the cabin with us this weekend.

As Halo was opening the boxes, she read, "Barbie and friends are all about fashion, style, and friendship." Oh, wonderful ... I think. Then, she informed us what each of her dolls have as their fashion motto (according to the boxes). "A touch of sparkle works with everything." "It's all about the shoes." And, "Never underestimate the power of the perfect outfit." What wisdom!

The first thing the Barbie dolls did when they were all unboxed and ready for play, however, was go to church. Halo sang as she danced them around ...

When the sun comes up ... when the sun goes down ... I'm gonna walk in the light of Jesus all the way ...

After "church", Halo went back to reading The Bobbsey Twins while her little brother and sister played Barbies. Buddy promptly made a wakeboard for the girl in the swimsuit out of blue cardstock. He also constructed a boat to pull her behind ~ it worked somewhat. Then, Foofie wanted to put the bikini on another doll and she was having trouble getting the bottoms on. I told her that Halo said the swimsuit didn't really fit the other two dolls very well. "Yes, it does," she said. "I got her top on already. See? She has bumps too!"

a little excitement

Today was an exciting day for us! My husband FINALLY finished his first rehab house and got it listed! It's still a bit unbelieveable ~ sort of like a pregnancy ... how it often feels like the baby will never arrive ~ it felt like this house would never really be completed. But it is! Hooray! And to top it off, our realtor got a call ~ within just four hours of listing ~ for a showing this evening!

Other excitement: Halo turned nine today ~ she's growing up too fast! We went to Olive Garden for supper and then to the mall for a bit. (She had a lovely party this past Sunday at Grandma T's.)

a little harvest fest

The kids whooped it up at the Harvest Fest at our church this evening. We had a ballerina, a pirate (Disney's Captain Jack Sparrow ~ I hope he's a good pirate), and Snow White with us. Unfortunately, we didn't get a good picture of our beautiful ballerina.

a little more foofie

As I was helping my three year-old in the bathroom today, she said, "Be careful wiping my butt ... because my butt is special."

Later, we were talking about an old doll of mine, named Twinkie.
"I got Twinkie when I was a little girl," I told her.
"Was I the Mommy then?" Foofie asked.
"No."
"Was I a kid?" she questioned.
"No."
"Where was I?"
"Nowhere yet," I responded. (only in the mind of God, I thought)
"I was somewhere," she insisted.
"Well, where do you suppose you were?" I questioned.
"In church or in heaven."

a little mishmash

Hello!!! It's been awhile ... so I've got several stories and snippets to share from the past few weeks.

One afternoon, after some shopping (and trying items on) at the mall, we were finally back in the car. Foofie declared, "That was sucking me out!" "Oh," I replied. "You mean it was stressing you out?" "No, it was sucking me out." She repeated.

A few days later, Foofie was studying a ruler that has photos of all of the U.S. Presidents on it. After a bit, she came running over to me and pointing to President Eisenhower, she exclaimed, "That's Pastor King! That's Pastor King!"

Last week, we went to visit Great-Grandpa. There was a traveling petting zoo at his nursing home. After seeing the cow, the llama, the pony, the sheep, the goats, the chickens, the ducks, and the rabbits ... Foofie asked, "Are there elephants here?"

A few nights ago, Foofie ended her bedtime prayer with, "And thank you for the yummy squash. Amen." "But," I reminded her, "You didn't eat any." (She didn't even try it.) "I loved it!" She told me. "Buuuuut ... I didn't like it. But I did see YOU eating it!!!"

Just this evening, we were watching the Presidential Debate ... and Foofie asked what someone's name was. "That's Mr. Brokaw." I answered. "Why did God made his name Mr. Brokaw? Is he broken?" She asked.

This is somewhat obvious, but most of my current funny stories are about my three-year-old ... mostly because she's three. Really young kids often aren't even aiming to be humorous ... they just are ... partially because they have a smaller vocabulary and understanding of things. My older two provided me with plenty of comical sayings and doings to record when they were two and three and four. All this to say, I have less anecdotes at present about my two older kids. Here, however, are a couple of stories about my son and one about my oldest daughter.

We were in the restroom at Target last week. Buddy said, "I remember when I used to be scared of the black-seated potties." (I never knew!)

I was trying to squeeze a bit of a walk in one evening last week. It was almost dark and I was just going up and down our street several times. Buddy was biking by me and a neighbor girl was following along with us. Buddy started singing, "K. T. I. S. Come, now is the time to worship." Then he said to the neighbor friend, "I have a radio on my bike."

Last but not least, my oldest daughter planned a spelling bee. Actually, a spelling match ~ between herself and Daddy. She was going to spell some of her school spelling words and Daddy was going to spell words from a list she made. Some of his words were: microsoft, outlook, document. She was sitting at his desk :) She also selected some words from the dictionary. Buddy was the scorekeeper. Daddy officially won, but Halo did very well. She's a swell speller :)

a little sick

Foofie has a cold. Tonight as I was holding her at bedtime she said,
"If I'm just a little sick then I won't go to heaven. If I'm a lot of sick
then I have to go to heaven ... ... ... Mama, am I a lot of sick?"
"No, honey." I answered. "You're a lot of cute."

a little about autumn ~ a little bit early

I love tank tops and flip flops ... ice cream and baked beans (especially if my Mom made 'em). So, I'm a little sad that summer is already saying farewell.

The cool, fall weather seemed to arrive in a hurry. I don't think I've ever used my car seat-heater in September before!

My first thoughts about autumn are: less sunlight, cooler temperatures, squash, back to school, and shopping ~ because the kids have outgrown most of their clothing. The best things from this list are squash (I love it!) and school. The "big kids" were bubbling with excitement to go back to their homeschool group on Tuesday ... and we started our own school on Wednesday. A new beginning is always nice!

Here's a little story about the last item on my fall list ~ shopping & outgrown clothes.
Foofie and I were going through some of her old clothes.
She would pick something up and say, "I can wear this!"
"That's too small now." I'd respond.
Then she'd find something else. "This is good for me!"
"No honey, that's too small now too."
(This continued on for a while ...)
Finally, Foofie grabbed some green pants and hopefully declared, "These are not too small now, Mommy! These got big and fat! See? BIG and FAT!"
They were too small, but I didn't want to quash her enthusiam.
"Perhaps we can just fold them up on the bottom and you can wear them as capris now." I offered.

a little tumbling

Today I accomplished something very trivial ... but it was something that delighted my kids immensely. I did my first headstand ever! And not just one ... but five! The longest headstand lasted for ten seconds ~ maybe eight if I was counting a tad fast.

How this came about is that the kids were doing a bit of tumbling and trying to help each other do handstands by lifting up each others' feet (as they'd seen Mr. Ericksen do with Lars). I told them to work on tripods instead and then maybe ... they could try to do a headstand. (It seemed safer than dropping each other on their heads.)

So, as I showed by example how to do a tripod ... and then how to transition into a headstand ... it went better than I ever imagined possible ~ I actually got my legs up in the air!!! My children immediately began screaming and squealing as though I was a "limpian" (as Foofie calls the Olympic athletes) ... then I crashed on the floor ... and Foofie ran over and jumped on me and yelled, "Ma-meeeeeeeeeeee!" Then, of course, they clamored for more :)

The repeat performances were like the "replay" button. I did the headstand, the kids hooted, Foofie landed on me, "Ma-meeeeeeeeeeee!". Replay. Replay. Replay.

Did I mention my sore head???

a little perspective

Nothing brings things into perspective like death does ... particularily the death of a child.

One week ago, some good friends of ours lost their precious seven year-old son ... and I can't imagine a more difficult valley to go through. I was thinking of journaling about how unpredictable and fragile life is ... how our family has been impacted ... how it's difficult to balance living in this physical, temporal world with knowledge of eternity ... the importance of the true gospel ... and probably more ~ but it seems like too much to sort through just now. Scripture, however, is superior to my musings anyway ...

"It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting." Ecclesiates 7:2

"The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD." Job 1:21

"For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom."
1 Corinthians 1:25

a little cabin life

Our time "up north" has provided much to blog about. Here's a few snippets of our cabin life:

Friends ...We had some friends up to visit and I asked my family what some of the highlights were. My husband said, "Iron-sharpening conversations and late-night games." To my surprise, the "big kids" both said water-skiing ~ even though it brought them both to tears and they wanted to stop right away. Foofie said, "Having friends here." One of my highlights was swimming across the lake (and it's a good-sized lake) with Mrs. Johnson. It was just scary enough to be exciting. We swam for at least 75 minutes ... maybe closer to 90. We almost had to do a repeat performance because we forgot to time it ... but alas, we were too sore. The next few days felt like I'd done a half-marathon without any training.

Family ... I learned how to ride the motor scooter and used it to fetch the mail one afternoon. That was a hoot! I almost crashed ... but only once ... after that I was just fine!

We celebrated another "happy anniversary" ~ complete with lakeshore dining!

My husband likes the small town feel here ... and stopping at the local bakery when he has an errand to do. He's getting to grill a lot ~ and it's a treat because we don't have one back home. He enjoys the expanded viewing options via satellite ~ we saw Flip that House for the first time last night. (It's a rehabbing show that a few people have mentioned to us ~ kind of interesting.) And of course, he is very energized about the remodel he is working on ~ it'll be quite a transformation!

Overall, we are just relishing the slower pace of life ~ it's calm & peaceful here.

Fishing...We took the kids out on the boat to go fishing on Thursay night with corn, marshmallows, and a few worms for bait ~ no success. On Friday night, however, Halo and Buddy each got three sunnies right off the dock ~ using bee larvae (grubs) for bait!

Daddy had sprayed a big bee hive on Thursday night and took it down Friday afternoon. Then for a science lesson, we took it apart and examined it. The hive is made of a paperlike substance. And there was two combs inside full of bees-to-be. Daddy popped them out ~ and the fish sure gobbled 'em up!

On Sunday, we used a saning net and caught a few dozen minnows to use as bait ~ this minnow catching was exciting in itself. Then this evening, the kids tried the minnows ... Buddy caught a small large-mouth bass (too small to keep) and then he had a larger large-mouth bass (about a pounder) ... but it got away. Halo decided to put one of the minnows in the tank with Bubbles (her beta fish). So ... Bubbles now has a pal (or enemy?) named Flossie. Halo thinks its beneficial because Bubbles is getting exercise by being chased around a bit.

Fun ...Halo & Buddy have discovered that they enjoy fooseball ~ and they're very competitive about it. Halo also located a Monopoly game ~ a character in one of her books likes Monopoly ~ and she promptly started hounding us to play "Mon-Poly" (rhymes with Ron-Jolly). We played an abbreviated game so she could get the hang of it ~ she thought it was pretty neat. Now she is trying to teach her brother to play it with her ~ great idea!

Furry Captive ...We captured a chipmunk in one of Grandpa's traps and it became a constant topic of conversation for the kiddos ~ here's a small sample ...

"It didn't even bite me when I put his water bowl in."
"He's cute. We're keeping it."
"His name is Chip."
"He is not afraid of me 'cause I'm the one who always feeds him."
"Look at him laying on his side and resting."
"Can I take a picture of him?"
"He might get cold in the night."
"I'm gonna make a leash for him."
"I opened his door for five seconds and he didn't even try to come out."
"Can I feed him some more sunflower seeds?"
"Maybe I can shoot at it."
"No, we have to keep it to show Jed and Grandma & Grandpa."
"They've seen a chipmunk before."
"He loves it when I put a stick in there with peanut butter on it."
"Do you think he's friends with that other chipmunk?"

After catching it, we didn't know what to do with it ... and that became a big discussion. The cage is designed for drowning the pests you capture ... but Daddy thought that seemed kind of cruel. He also thought we shouldn't let it free because it's familiar with our kids ~ and might not have enough fear of us now ~ and would be more bold to follow us into the garage or something. Anyway, Daddy decided to free the chipmunk (so he'd have a fair chance at least) and then shoot at it ~ but Daddy missed ~ so it's free now after all. Halo thinks it is probably still afraid of us though because it was shot at. This afternoon, the big kids had some shooting practice ~ and Buddy can't wait to do it again!

P.S. Daddy said he missed because the gun is off.