Sledding

Did you know we had a blizzard last week?

Studmuffin had the grand idea that he would rocket down poised on two trash can lids.  Yeah, it was a rather glorious tumble down the hill.  I'm only sorry I didn't get pictures snapped of it as it happened!

Thursday I got to stay home with the family.  They had all been trapped in the house since Monday night, as our roads were impassable, and I'd been held hostage at the hospital.  We decided if I could make it 20 miles home, then we could surely brave the roads to go sledding!

I had bought a genuine old fashioned sled complete with wood and metal runners a few years ago for two bucks at our town wide garage sale.  Studmuffin sneered and wondered when I would ever use the thing.

Well, it worked great!  However, since we are a family of four, we had to get creative on sledding gear.  We used this lovely blue laundry basket, circa 1996. 

How do I know what year it was bought?  Well, Gentle Reader, it was the laundry basket we bought after we got married!  We had both always just used laundry bags to get back and forth from college.

Notice it is navy blue.  Remember in the mid 90s when everything was navy blue, burgundy and hunter green?

We actually ended up sledding for two hours.  We were all a little sore the next day from trudging back up the hill with sleds in tow...

Well, and crashing may have added a small measure of soreness.

Please refrain mentioning how dwarfed that sled looks under a full grown woman!

I was also sore due to the fact that I had a wipe out of epic proportions...

On my way back to the pickup!

I was carrying my trusty trash can lid, and as I walked up the slope to the pickup grass was showing up through the snow.  I allowed this to mislead me into believing I had traction.  The next thing I knew, my feet flew out from under me, I did a 180 in the air, and landed on my shoulders, bonking myself in the head with the corner of the trash can lid!  I rolled my ankle in the process, and my upper body landed on the pavement...

I laughed.  Loud and long.

What else are you going to do?  Let's be real.  There is nothing funnier than a good fall.  Especially after you force yourself to hold in the laughter until you ascertain the person is not seriously injured.

Then it is laugh until you cry and cross your legs to avoid wetting your pants.

Because falling is funny. Don't pretend you're above laughing at others expense!

Other people were using cardboard boxes.  The best cardboard box was rapped in duct tape.  That sucker went farther and faster than any contraption besides the actual sled!  Popcorn was trying out a box while she let someone else use the trash can lid.

I would have no readers of this blog if you did not enjoy laughing at others misfortunes!

I will end this post with an embarrassing picture of my husband who laughed lovingly at my fall and repeatedly asked why I did not drop the trash can lid before bonking myself with it...

Because clearly, any quick thinking individual would be able to plan falls more gracefully than I did!

And can I please have a show of hands for all who gleefully tromp their kids at Twister?  My beloved mother scolds me for "not even letting your kids win at Twister."  My answer to that?  There is no glory in a hollow victory!

And I hate to lose.

Oh, and since I know many of you have been holding Oliver up in prayer during this trying winter, I thought I'd post a picture letting you know how he's doing...

I'd say he's fair to middlin'.

Family Time is Fun Time

Have I told you how frustrated I was that Bookworm was not required to learn her multiplication tables in 3rd grade here in Oklahoma? I'm especially concerned now that we are considering a move back to Texas where she was learning multiplication in 2nd grade. What if we get there and she is expected to have memorized the fact families for multiplication and division by now? Well, never fear we made multiplication flash cards. We've been very sketchy on working with them.

Yesterday as we were swimming I had inspiration. Since we are in the pool every day, we should make a point to review multiplication at the beginning of each swim session! And, to mix things up a bit, every time she gets one wrong, she gets flipped off of her floaty! She loved it! And, turns out my infrequent quizzing is doing more than I thought. She really only struggled with the 9s. What's up with that? I always thought 9s were easy because all answers add up to 9.

Then, continuing with the fun time is learning time, we created a game where I asked them Bible trivia. If they missed it, they had to try to get away from me on their floats, while I swam after them, and attempted to dunk them. Popcorn did not like this game as much as her sister. Turns out she's never heard of David, Ruth and Naomi, Sampson, or many other fairly common Bible stories. I can tell you one thing, if that girl is gonna "read scripture to her kids in the morning, in the afternoon, and at night," she better be paying better attention at church herself!

We continued our day-o'-fun after dinner. Friday is supposed to be family game night. I gotta confess we haven't had one in a few months. Hopefully we will be more consistent on the routine now. We played Pictureka and Disney Scene It. I made fresh squeezed limeade. We had raspberry sherbet with chocolate sauce for a snack. It was great to hang out as a family and pretend I didn't have dishes to wash or laundry to do. Okay, in reality I pretend that every day when I choose to spend 2 hours swimming with the kids. Then, I come in and I'm tired, so I have to rest. Then, it's time to cook dinner. Then, I go walk with my neighbor, and I'm no good for housework after that. So, in all honesty I have no problem pretending there's no work to be done.

Hey, speaking of avoiding work...I just finished a fantabulous book. It's The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom. It is her autobiography about living in Holland during occupation by Nazi Germany and her work in "God's Underground." It is truly amazing how God worked miracles in her life to enable her and her family to continue His work. Even after being placed in a concentration camp after being betrayed, she and her family continued to trust God and seek His purpose in their imprisonment. Read it. You will love it, I promise.

Well, I gotta go. We're continuing family fun today. We're having my in-laws Brett and Anita and their kids over. Also, Anita's sister Linda and her family are coming for swimming and hot dogs and hamburgers tonight. The kids are pretty excited, and I've decided that I at least need to scrub the bathroom before they come. No point in cleaning floors, everyone will just track in grass and dirt when they all descend. But, I should at least fold our laundry...

Christmas Morning

Have you ever seen such an underfed cat? He's actually lost 4 pounds since we moved. The Starlings were dive bombing him and not letting him eat. It took me awhile to figure it out, but we've fixed the problem. So, he should be back up to fighting weight again soon.

Popcorn woke up at 2:30 am Christmas morning. She came in to see if she could get up and play with Kelsey. She wasn't going to play with toys. Just Kelsey. Promise!!

The next morning she admitted she'd checked out her toys (really? I never would have guessed that one!) She ended up sleeping with me. I got up at 5:30 because I was so hot smacked between her and Studmuffin.

They both slept until almost 7am after that. I couldn't believe it. I never slept that late on Christmas morning until I was a teenager. I still struggle with instant gratification.

The girls both got baby dolls from Santa and porcelain tea sets from us. They had great fun having tea parties Christmas day.

We had a great day as a family Christmas day, just the 7 of us. (7, you say? Yes, including the dogs and cat!!!) Bookworm got me the new Operation game (perfect for a nurse), so we played that. Bookworm got Life, so we played that. Studmuffin gave me a game called Pictureka. That was fun too. Popcorn got a game called Pass the Pigs. We spent the day playing. I didn't do a lick of house work. Unless you count 3 loads of laundry and cooking 3 meals housework. But, Studmuffin helped clean up after each meal, so it didn't feel much like work.

Hope everyone had great Christmases! I'll try to get better about posting more frequently now that the holidays are nearly over. The girls are at my parents until New Year's Eve. I have to work tomorrow, but today I'm going to tackle the abyss called their room. I tried to get them to go through everything with me before Christmas. They kept putting me off, so now they've forfeited all rights. If it's gone when they get back (they know I'm cleaning it), too bad!!!! At least that's what I'm saying now. We'll see how my story changes when I see their sweet little faces begging for something I've packed away!

Popcorn and Bookworm

My beautiful girls need online names. I've been pondering this for a few days. When they were littler we referred to them as Number One and Number Two when they were in the room and we didn't want them to understand who we were talking about. I originally thought this would work online, but where's the fun in that? And, what does that tell you about their little personalities?

When you name your child, you have no idea what kind of person they'll be. The amazing thing is, that once you meet them, and their little personalities develop, you can't imagine calling them by any other name. Well, I'm saying you, but I guess I better take ownership of my feelings, and quit pushing them off on you, dear reader. I think my little darlin's names are perfect for them, but today I get to be creative and give them new names. So, welcome to the christening of Bookworm and Popcorn... Aha! You already have an immediate image based on these descriptive names, yes? Well, let me tell you a little about my little girls.

My oldest daughter, Bookworm, is... a bookworm, and all of the personality traits inherent in bookishness. She is intellectual, careful, and has a very dry sense of humor. Did I mention she's a tad dramatic? Don't know where she got that from! She actually has a crazy sense of humor, but not everyone gets it. I, of course, being a master in humor fully understand her.

Now, don't you need a story to fully grasp her? Of course you do! Take the Loch Ness monster. The amount of knowledge about a mythical creature in her little noggin is amazing. "Did you know it is probably a plesiosaur? It lives in a lake, called a loch in, like Ireland, or Germany, one of those places." I ask you, how many 8 year olds know that if Nessy exists it's probably a plesiosaur? Or, how about this one. "Mom, the reason my hair looks like I don't brush it is because it's swept." Hmmm....not sure I understand...."You know, it's windswept!" Is that a bookworm word, or what?

Now for Popcorn. She also loves to read, but she is much more...explosive... in her personality. I decided on Popcorn, because I'm never sure when she's going to explode into action. Why walk? Skipping is better. Why sit on your bottom for a movie? Lying on your back and continuously bicycling your legs in the air is way better. This is also the best way to practice spelling words. I guess this helps the blood flow to her brain. She can spin a tale out of almost nothing... It's a mystery where that comes from.

Let me tell you about the "Tricked you now I gotta stick you game." She told me all about it today. The rules are still a little fuzzy. "First, you trick someone, then you say the rhyme. Then, they run away, and tag the mailbox. You must open and close the mailbox... but everyone has to see you do it... Oh, and you have to spin around three times... no four...NO! NO! You do jumping jacks, that's it! JUMPING JACKS!" I asked her if she just made this up. "Yes, but I'm not sure about the rules yet, but it's REALLY FUN!" Of course it is!

Well, dear reader, I hope you have a blessed day. Thank you for sharing my ramblings. I'm sure you feel more complete having learned about my little munchkins? Of course you do!

Matthew 19:14 Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."