One last hurrah...

...with Bee before she went overseas.

Bee had a week of leave before being sent overseas. It could have been a week and 2 days, but a combination of airline's ineptness and Air Force beuracracy left her stranded in America's Heartland all alone while they kept delaying and cancelling her flight for 2 days. Way to take care of our troops, United Airlines.

But, back to the positive. Bee came up to our new place to visit AND she brought 2 of our nieces (who happen to be Lanky, Specs, and Matilda's best friends). It may not sound like much of a sacrifice, but since Blondie had dog poop on her shoe and used Bee's car rug (which Blondie then referred to as a "poop scraper") to get it off, I'm counting it as a sacrifice of love. Chalupa did her part for Auntie Bee by getting mud all over the seat/seat back/door and proudly announcing she kept the rug (aka poop scraper) clean. Nice work, Chalupa.

Playing in "The Wilderness". Rest assured, Emme, your children were only playing unsupervised at the little nature preserve/trickling creek next door to our house.

 

 

 

And of course I don't have any pictures of our walk to the park for lunch. Because I was too busy once we got to the park trying to keep Blondie from "exploring" the river that runs through the park complete with waterfall and rapids before flowing out to the Great Lakes. In other words, not something you're going to want to explain to your brother/sister-in-law when their little darling falls in.

 

But after lunch, park time, panic-inducing experiences at water's edge, I  decided it would be fun to walk for ice cream cones.

 

The walk lasted about five minutes and then turned into a forced march through the heat of the day. (Seriously, it was the one warm/hot day we've had up here. We were going to enjoy it. We were going to enjoy it good.)



 

Blondie was the spokesperson for the group and announced it was like being lost in the desert "with no shade, no water, and no ice cream". Which was a little strange because Blondie usually thrives on drama (see above re: dangerous river rapids).

We finally made it to the oasis (which you may know as Burger King) only to find out that particular branch of royalty does not sell ice cream. We got even by using their air conditioning for free and confiscating the crown jewels. Then I bought a gallon of ice cream and a box of cones from the gas station next door and moved the war prisoners kids back out to finish the walk.

Royally exhausted.

 

Shade. Sweet, sweet shade.

 

It's lke an oasis. On some stranger's lawn.

 

Riding in the shaded chariot was apparently the way to go. (And there wasn't enough shade for my little redhead, so the carriage was draped with an Ethiopian shawl. Hence, the fancy fringe.)

 

Once you've done bootcamp in Texas, you can manage a walk in the afternoon sun with pep leftover.

 



 

So, back home for ice cream cones and refreshing dunks of their heads under the kitchen faucet (which was not condoned). Blondie stuck her head under the water with her head smashed right up to the faucet while water sprayed ever.y.where. After Bee pulled her out and dryed her, she said, "It's like she didn't have an exit strategy. No towel, no way to reach the water and turn it off. No exit strategy."

 

And then, because they're gluttons for punishment, they wanted right back out to "The Wilderness".

 

Isn't the wilderness always freshly mowed?

 

 

It's like a game of Where's Waldo. With 7 Waldos.

 

Waldo #8, always close at hand.

 

 

He's our favorite photo prop.

 

 

And while in the wilderness, we realized that Bee has the fashion sense of a seven year old. Matchy-matchy with the little girls

 

 

There was one last family shindig to see Bee off after this, before she left for her new home with Señor in a foreign land. But this was our last hurrah of sister time until she flies home again. Which, if is left in the hands of United Airlines, may or may not come to pass in a timely fashion.

 

 

But I've got my eye on you, United Airlines, US Marine Corps, US Air Force. And none of you are going to get in the way of more sister time.

 

--Kae--



 

 

 

 





Gifts from the heart...and from the wild

Lanky is a sweet guy. He'll come inside with something behind his back and tell me he has a surprise. I've been gifted bouquets of dandelions, thistles, and some weird flower that actually kind of stunk up the house.

So, today at Grandma's when Lanky earnestly said, "Mom, I have a surprise for you," I was expecting a pinecone, maybe some dried up fall foilage.

Instead,

 



 

What mother wouldn't rather display part of an animal carcass on the kitchen counter instead of a vase of fresh picked wildflowers?

 

 



 

 

Should I even say it's the thought that counts? Because you know darn well I'll be treasuring my new animal skull for years to come.

 

 

--Kae--

Monday, monday

Perhaps I'll do a nice uplifting post tomorrow (or next week, we're not known for our prompt and punctual posting here at the project). Right now I'm laying on the couch, ready to watch yet another episode of Burn Notice and recuperate from the day. Yes, the difficult day of the stay-at-home-mom. (I also have disc 2 of season 2 of Downton Abbey waiting, but I think the world of burned spies and counter intelligence is more in order after a day like today).

I spent the morning thinking about how much Mondays totally suck for stay at home moms, just as they do for the people who have to leave their home for work. Then one of my favorite bloggers dedicated a whole post to that thought and I felt (mildly) vindicated.

Tantrums. Just tantrum after tantrum after tantrum from child after child after child. And the tantrums don't stop. Ever. Except for Pipsqueak. Who after losing the tantrum battle with Mama and deciding it may be in his best interest, after all, to stop screaming, ran to his room and started singing a sweet little song that goes a little something like this: "Mama's a baby kaka. Mama's yucky. Ooohh ooohh, yucky Mama." So then I had to heave a huuuuuuuge sigh and trudge down the hallway to address that little gem of disrespect. Which led to another tantrum.



If he wasn't so absolutely squish-a-licious...



To end the day on a brighter note, Aquaman just asked Pipsqueak if he had a diaper ready to put on for bedtime. Pipsqueak immediately ran to his dresser and streeeeeeeeetched his arm behind it to pull out a diaper...soaked and obviously previously used. I have no idea why he has a stash of used diapers, but if we ever do have need of urine-soaked diapers, we won't be caught short.

Happy Monday, all.

--Kae--

Let the good times roll...

We finished our standardized testing for the year (thanks Governor D. for not doing away with those things for homeschoolers when you had the chance last year. I'll let you know how I feel about that in the next election). And I've had a headache for four days straight, which may or may not be related to standardized testing (I'm blaming you for the headache as well, Governor D).

I feel like we all deserve a fun day. But Lanky just started talking to me about "The Inflatable Hulk" and was shocked to find out it's actually the Incredible Hulk (welcome to ESL land). And over the weekend, Matilda showed me a tooth that was maybe a little loose, then trotted back two minutes later to show me that she had pulled the tooth. (Me flapping my hands and trying not squeal out a girlie, "Eeeeeewwwwwwww!" ensued). Because she's done this a time or two before, I'm starting to fear for her permanent teeth that aren't at all loose. (Because who does that?! Who pulls a tooth out of their head that is not loose?!)

So the moral of the story is, maybe I think we'd be better served today by sitting around the table and working diligently on some vocabulary. Or reading. Or science wherein we learn that teeth are supposed to be attached to your jaw unless they fall out on their own. And then take a standardized test to prove that we learned it.

Yes, let the good times rollllllllll....

*Why yes, this song was performed by the opening act at the concert Aquaman and I semi-recently attended

--Kae--

Crabby I'm not

Lanky informed me today that if he was a grown-up girl he would make sure he had a job. Because that would be a lot better than staying home and being crabby with his kids. Food for thought...

I did correct the dear boy that I'm not crabby today, in fact I'm baffled by why he would think such a thing. Then he told me he was thinking about yesterday.

Aaaahhhh yes, yesterday. Yesterday was the day I was stern (NOT crabby) and told the five feral children at Target not to touch anything. Nope, not even the squishy toys in the dollar section.

As I was running around after them, grabbing things (that they were CLEARLY not touching- because my little people always listen- because I'm that good of a mother, thank you) out of their hands and telling them in a whisper/hiss to "get over by the cart! Just stand by the cart!", we heard the shatter. The 'glass-is-breaking-and-you-didn't-bring-anything-glass-into-the-store-with-you-so-why-is-there-the-sound-of-glass-breaking' shatter.

And I turned to see the remains of a piggy bank at the feet of Specs. The sound of glass breaking was much more effective than all my instructions so all the little lambs turned instantly obedient and ran to the cart. Good job, kids. (The random two year old who had been wandering the dollar section was grabbed- snatched really- by her mother and rushed to safety away from me and the pack of wolves I travel with).

I took a minute to check out what the piggy bank looked like pre-Specs.

Pretty much like this. So I couldn't really blame Specs for picking it up and throwing it with mighty strength on the floor to see if it bounced. It didn't (see above story)

But, the moral of the story is: I'm not crabby. Just stern. Even though the stern-ness is getting me nowhere. So maybe I'll try crabby.

Combat

If you give your sibling a bloody nose, I don't think you should be allowed to yell when his blood drips all over your shirt.

And I was foolish enough to laugh when 2 of the kids were wearing sparring helmets-complete with face shields- during math today. Well played, strange little children, well played.

--Kae--