There's a big bright full moon hanging low in the sky tonight. It's beautiful. I hope you get to see it being round and shiny wherever you are tonight.
Story #1 (this one was actually a 4am comfort for my first daughter when she tried to crawl in bed with me and I made her go back to her bed).
Once upon a time there was a princess. But she was sad because always was sick with a cough. So she stayed in her room a lot. But then one day a knight came and asked if she'd like to go for a ride with him. Because she didn't do very much she didn't have much strength. But she went with him for a very short ride on the back of his horse. Then each day they would go for a further ride. Sometimes the knight would walk the long way back to the castle from the stables. Each day the princess had a little more strength until she finally was able to ride her own horse. Eventually they fell in love and were married. And when they were king and queen they funded a lot of science research into plants that would help cure chronic coughing. And that made life better for a lot of people. The end.
Story #2
Once upon a time there was a very confused cloud. Instead of raining rain or snowing snow, this cloud rained antigravity rain. [What's antigravity daddy?] Well, whenever the rain fell on things, those things would float up to the sky. So if it rained on some grass, it might pull up out of the dirt and float up. Or if it fell on a car, the car could float up toward the sky. When the rain dried off, the grass or person or car would slowly sink back down to the ground. Sometimes the rain fell on penguins or ostriches. They loved it the most because they don't normally get to fly. But when this cloud rained on them they could fly around for a nice long time, which they enjoyed. The end.
Out of bed #1: Daughter: I had a scary thought! Me: What was your scary thought? I thought that there was a giant with six plus, I mean infinity plus one heads and 42 plus three arms. And so I came out. Me: Oh, that's easy. All you have to do is tell a silly thing to the giant and he'll laugh and clap. And because he has so many heads and arms, watching him laugh and clap is really funny. Daughter: No, because even if you say something nice or funny to a giant, he will still be a meanie. Me: Well, since giants aren't real, we can think whatever we want about them. Daughter: Oh, ok. Then I tucked her back in bed. Actually on the floor next to her sister's bed, which is where she wanted to sleep tonight. This isn't actually unusual, so we just roll with it.
Random other: J made delicious homemade thai coconut and peanut butter curry tonight. It was great. She really also enjoyed having root beer (a very occasional treat) and naan. The girls ate a little bit of peanut-butter toast and some red bell peppers, which is at least kind of in the same food vector. Anyway, thanks for delish foodstuffs awesome one. And thanks Marno for the recipe - it's really good.
25 April 2013
24 April 2013
Lengthy, long, extensive, time consuming
10-13 hour days at work tend to make for a tired me. Pesky Windows memory debugging.
Story #1
Once upon a time there was a car with an enormous balloon attached to the exhaust. As it drove, the balloon slowly filled up until it looked like a giant pouch trailing out behind the car. Soon the car came to a ridiculously long stop light. 100 children ran over and jumped up and down on the balloon. Then they all fell off and bumped their heads. Their mammas called the doctor and the doctor said "I thought it was a bounce-castle. Sorry about that." Then the car drove off again. After a while the balloon got so full of hot air that it started to drag the car off the ground, scraping the front bottom part of the car along the asphalt. The driver had his seatbelt on, so he was ok, although he was very confused at first. Eventually the car started to float up through the sky. When the driver stepped on the gas, the wheels would spin "vrrrrrrrr" and the car would float up higher in the air. When the driver pressed on the brake, the hot air would slowly cool off and the car would sink toward the ground. At first the driver was so excited because he was floating above all the traffic and all the people toward work. But then "whhhhhhsh", a big wind blew his car balloon all the way to the beach. He stayed there for three days. He had some money, so he could buy food and he had a great time on his little vacation. He met some new people. After three days, he went back to his car, but it had floated out to sea. The car was now on top of the balloon, which was acting like a raft. So one of his friends rowed him out to the car. He got in and started it up. It took a while for the balloon to fill up, and when it finally got full enough it swung up out of the water and flipped him into the water for a second. He sputtered and coughed, but then the car was up and away. He waved to his friend, who waved back to him and then rowed back by herself to land. Then he started to float out across the ocean. Fortunately, just then a big wind came and "whhhhhhsh" blew him right back to his work. When he got there, his boss was very mad that he had missed three days of work. He explained what happened, but she didn't believe him. But then he said - "I always tell the truth right?" She said that yes, he was always very honest. So then she said she believed him after all. So then she didn't fire him. He still didn't get paid, but at least he wasn't in big trouble.
Intermission:
My poor girls (all les filles/femmes (Fr sp?) in the house) have been coughing up a storm recently recovering from colds/allergies. It is sad to hear them wheezing and hacking. I recently read a short story that had this description so I passed it along to both my smaller girls tonight, with varying degrees of comprehension. Paraphrase: "As you are lying down and you breathe out, your belly is kind of like a bowl. As you breathe in, imagine that you are filling the bowl with wonderful soup. As you breath out, you are letting the steam from the soup blow away." I found it a very relaxing image. [Remind me to provide attribution. The rest of the story was "meh", but that part was really good.]
Story #2
Once upon a time there was a young boy named Harold. When he met someone new, he would always say "I really love to dance, yeaaahhh". Sometimes he would say it seriously. Sometimes he would say it fast. Sometimes he would lean in real close and say it. But that's what he always said. Some people would get scared and walk quickly away. Some people would say "ok", "huh", or "that's nice" and then talk about something else: "Goodness, the sky has clouds in it" or "Amazing! Some sports happened on the television today." But sometimes the other person would say "I really like dancing too." Then they would show Harold a dance move - they would shimmy, twist, twirl, or wiggle. Then they would say something like "show me how you dance". But Harold would get scared and turn around and run away as fast as he could.
One day Harold met a new girl. Before he could open his mouth, she said "I'm Agi* and I really love to dance, yeah, yeah yeah!" He said "I'm Harold and I also really like to dance, yeaaahhh." The she said "But my dance is a secret dance and I'm too scared to show it to anyone so you can't see it." Harold said "My dance is also a secret dance but until now I've always been too scared to even tell anyone else that I even had a dance". Agi asked Harold if he had a mirror. No. Did he have a giant camera? No, he didn't have any camera at all. Could he see out of the back of his head? No, of course not (he wasn't a parent after all). So Agi said "I really love dancing, but I can't ever dance for anyone because I'm too scared. But since you're like me I thought that maybe we could both turn around and do our secret dances at the same time without looking at each other but still being near each other." Harold was so excited that he clapped and nodded his head up and down really fast. So they both turned around. Agi did her secret dance. Harold did his secret dance. When they were done, they were both so excited to have danced that they laughed and jumped up and down so much that they fell over into a pile. Harold asked if they could come back and do the same thing the next day. They did every day for the next ten days (except Sunday when they were both at church). Each day they talked for a while after their secret dances and they got along really well. On the tenth day Agi said "I love to dance. I think it would be okay if you saw my secret dance today." So she did her secret dance. When she was done Harold said "I also think it would be okay for you to see my secret dance." So he did his secret dance. [Exhausted daughter #1, now very excited: Ooh, ooh, what was her dance? What was his dance? Will you show me? Exhausted daughter #2, now also excited: I wih sow you my dasses, I is liking to dass for you". I don't know what their secret dances were. Lie down. Yes tomorrow we can do some dances and figure out what we think would be a good dance for their secret dances were. And we can draw pictures of them doing their dances]. Eventually Harold and Agi became very good friends and even danced together instead of just near each other. The end.
* Agi rhymes with Hague-y or vague-y. As in, oh, that international criminal tribunal is so Hague-y. Or that letter E talking to me is never very clear. He's so vague-y.
Other random notes for the day:
* Lift with your legs. Otherwise you too may have to take it easy until the slight bulged disk slowly heals itself (80% chance says the doc). Please note that the muscle relaxants and anti-inflammatories cause significant gastric distress. I'm actually doing pretty darn well and am so grateful that this is just healing itself. Thanks for awesome self-healing bodies Heavenly Father!
* We got to go on a nice outing today to get away from our normal tiny radius of excursions. We drove and talked for a while. Then we ate at a Potbelly (Med sandwhich, hold the feta for wifey, "a wreck" for me. 1x grilled cheese, 1x toasted pbj for kids.) Yum! Then we had dessert at the frozen yogurt bar right next door. Double yum! Thanks family for being so awesome. We even made it back to only be a few minutes late for scouts, but also a few minutes early for J's meeting. So it averaged out to on-time. : )
Story #1
Once upon a time there was a car with an enormous balloon attached to the exhaust. As it drove, the balloon slowly filled up until it looked like a giant pouch trailing out behind the car. Soon the car came to a ridiculously long stop light. 100 children ran over and jumped up and down on the balloon. Then they all fell off and bumped their heads. Their mammas called the doctor and the doctor said "I thought it was a bounce-castle. Sorry about that." Then the car drove off again. After a while the balloon got so full of hot air that it started to drag the car off the ground, scraping the front bottom part of the car along the asphalt. The driver had his seatbelt on, so he was ok, although he was very confused at first. Eventually the car started to float up through the sky. When the driver stepped on the gas, the wheels would spin "vrrrrrrrr" and the car would float up higher in the air. When the driver pressed on the brake, the hot air would slowly cool off and the car would sink toward the ground. At first the driver was so excited because he was floating above all the traffic and all the people toward work. But then "whhhhhhsh", a big wind blew his car balloon all the way to the beach. He stayed there for three days. He had some money, so he could buy food and he had a great time on his little vacation. He met some new people. After three days, he went back to his car, but it had floated out to sea. The car was now on top of the balloon, which was acting like a raft. So one of his friends rowed him out to the car. He got in and started it up. It took a while for the balloon to fill up, and when it finally got full enough it swung up out of the water and flipped him into the water for a second. He sputtered and coughed, but then the car was up and away. He waved to his friend, who waved back to him and then rowed back by herself to land. Then he started to float out across the ocean. Fortunately, just then a big wind came and "whhhhhhsh" blew him right back to his work. When he got there, his boss was very mad that he had missed three days of work. He explained what happened, but she didn't believe him. But then he said - "I always tell the truth right?" She said that yes, he was always very honest. So then she said she believed him after all. So then she didn't fire him. He still didn't get paid, but at least he wasn't in big trouble.
Intermission:
My poor girls (all les filles/femmes (Fr sp?) in the house) have been coughing up a storm recently recovering from colds/allergies. It is sad to hear them wheezing and hacking. I recently read a short story that had this description so I passed it along to both my smaller girls tonight, with varying degrees of comprehension. Paraphrase: "As you are lying down and you breathe out, your belly is kind of like a bowl. As you breathe in, imagine that you are filling the bowl with wonderful soup. As you breath out, you are letting the steam from the soup blow away." I found it a very relaxing image. [Remind me to provide attribution. The rest of the story was "meh", but that part was really good.]
Story #2
Once upon a time there was a young boy named Harold. When he met someone new, he would always say "I really love to dance, yeaaahhh". Sometimes he would say it seriously. Sometimes he would say it fast. Sometimes he would lean in real close and say it. But that's what he always said. Some people would get scared and walk quickly away. Some people would say "ok", "huh", or "that's nice" and then talk about something else: "Goodness, the sky has clouds in it" or "Amazing! Some sports happened on the television today." But sometimes the other person would say "I really like dancing too." Then they would show Harold a dance move - they would shimmy, twist, twirl, or wiggle. Then they would say something like "show me how you dance". But Harold would get scared and turn around and run away as fast as he could.
One day Harold met a new girl. Before he could open his mouth, she said "I'm Agi* and I really love to dance, yeah, yeah yeah!" He said "I'm Harold and I also really like to dance, yeaaahhh." The she said "But my dance is a secret dance and I'm too scared to show it to anyone so you can't see it." Harold said "My dance is also a secret dance but until now I've always been too scared to even tell anyone else that I even had a dance". Agi asked Harold if he had a mirror. No. Did he have a giant camera? No, he didn't have any camera at all. Could he see out of the back of his head? No, of course not (he wasn't a parent after all). So Agi said "I really love dancing, but I can't ever dance for anyone because I'm too scared. But since you're like me I thought that maybe we could both turn around and do our secret dances at the same time without looking at each other but still being near each other." Harold was so excited that he clapped and nodded his head up and down really fast. So they both turned around. Agi did her secret dance. Harold did his secret dance. When they were done, they were both so excited to have danced that they laughed and jumped up and down so much that they fell over into a pile. Harold asked if they could come back and do the same thing the next day. They did every day for the next ten days (except Sunday when they were both at church). Each day they talked for a while after their secret dances and they got along really well. On the tenth day Agi said "I love to dance. I think it would be okay if you saw my secret dance today." So she did her secret dance. When she was done Harold said "I also think it would be okay for you to see my secret dance." So he did his secret dance. [Exhausted daughter #1, now very excited: Ooh, ooh, what was her dance? What was his dance? Will you show me? Exhausted daughter #2, now also excited: I wih sow you my dasses, I is liking to dass for you". I don't know what their secret dances were. Lie down. Yes tomorrow we can do some dances and figure out what we think would be a good dance for their secret dances were. And we can draw pictures of them doing their dances]. Eventually Harold and Agi became very good friends and even danced together instead of just near each other. The end.
* Agi rhymes with Hague-y or vague-y. As in, oh, that international criminal tribunal is so Hague-y. Or that letter E talking to me is never very clear. He's so vague-y.
Other random notes for the day:
* Lift with your legs. Otherwise you too may have to take it easy until the slight bulged disk slowly heals itself (80% chance says the doc). Please note that the muscle relaxants and anti-inflammatories cause significant gastric distress. I'm actually doing pretty darn well and am so grateful that this is just healing itself. Thanks for awesome self-healing bodies Heavenly Father!
* We got to go on a nice outing today to get away from our normal tiny radius of excursions. We drove and talked for a while. Then we ate at a Potbelly (Med sandwhich, hold the feta for wifey, "a wreck" for me. 1x grilled cheese, 1x toasted pbj for kids.) Yum! Then we had dessert at the frozen yogurt bar right next door. Double yum! Thanks family for being so awesome. We even made it back to only be a few minutes late for scouts, but also a few minutes early for J's meeting. So it averaged out to on-time. : )
21 April 2013
The Epic Mega-Tent and Some Other Stuff from March and April
The Epic Mega-Tent
It started out as just a little thing, a few poles with a
sheet draped over it. Then Coriel wanted it bigger. Then I wanted it bigger!
Then I wanted it epic, just for kicks. It ended up spreading over probably half
our living room. My only regret was that I’m just too big to really squirm
under the coffee table very well.
Sleepover
Coriel recently got the idea that every sleepover involved a
couple very specific things (thank you, My Little Pony). So when Brice left to
go help out his sister for a couple days, we decided it was time to have a
girls’ night sleepover. Here’s what it involved: S’mores. A pillow fight. Face
mask (happily, I avoided that one this time by saying it was too late and
quickly distracting her). Ghost stories (this one was tricky because Coriel was
determined that they had to be scary, but Addra was too… scared; I finally
managed to get around that by having friendly Casper and his scary uncles in
there). And then sleeping together out in the living room.
I love my girls. I don’t generally like to sleep with them
now that they’re old enough not to need it. And now that I’m used to having a
little more space again. Oh, and since I like being comfy when I sleep. But
every once in a while, it’s lovely to feel their warm little bodies all
snuggled up to me (on the futon mattresses we dragged into the living room so
it was comfy-ish). I feel like the center of the world, just for a few minutes,
as I can sense how much it comforts them just to have me there. It’s nice to be
the center of someone’s world occasionally.
Orange Ice Cream
Brice made it. It was tasty. The end.
Other Stuff
And now for some other assorted photos. Enjoy!
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| Parents make excellent vehicles. |
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| They seem to love gathering under umbrellas. |
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| Just having fun squishing my daughter. |
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| More vehicling. Also notice the bag around Brice's neck. It's a feedbag. |
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| Wearing the big hat lends toward her air of mystery. |
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| Waif. |
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| This is what the conservatory generally looks like (until I conquered the mess! ha ha!). The cute children are still around, though. |
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| Coriel making a cute picture of herself. |
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| This one day when Addra was really, really (really!) tired. |
Expelliarmus!
At
dinner when we were visiting my lovely sister and her kids a few weeks back,
Addra was enthusiastically pointing her fork at everyone and saying, “Boo!” (Maybe
“Doo!”?) With very little coaxing, we convinced her to try out “Expelliarmus!”
instead. And really, what is cooler than that?
*For those of
you out there who are not familiar with Harry Potter (*cough* Dad *cough*), “Expelliarmus” is a spell used to
disarm an enemy wizard. But you have to wave your wand at the enemy quite
convincingly, as is demonstrated.