Legos From My Boy

Thanks to the brilliant marketing department at Lego (see: Lego Club), my boys are always the first to know about the brand new Lego sets hitting the stores. Once I saw the Lord of the Rings Legos, I mentioned to the kids that I'd love to have my own set that I could keep in my room and put together whenever I wanted to. I would also keep all the pieces together in the box that they came in because THAT'S THE RULE OF THE UNIVERSE, PEOPLE. None of this mixing of sets! It's insane! It's... so... boyish!

I was completely being serious about having one of the sets because, come on, Pa and I love the movies and the matching Legos are just too, too cute. However, I was completely surprised when my firstborn boy actually spent his own money on me and bought me a Lego set for Mother's Day. Such fun! The best part of being around kids is that I get to be a kid myself. 

I insisted on being the first one to put the set together, and all three kids watched with rapt attention as their mom (THEIR MOM!?!?) sat on the floor and played with Legos. Unheard of! But then, because I am nice and my Mama taught me to share, I let each of the kids take a turn with the assembling. The Lego set now sits on my shelf and it makes me so happy that I got little Gandalf and Frodo as a gift. 

The Girl Turned Six

So my youngest is now six. That is hard to believe, and everyone told me that It All Goes So Fast and I guess they were right. Okay, so the baby and preschool years didn't go so fast and That's My Story And I'm Sticking To It.

Back to the girl. We talked her into a ladybug-themed party even though she requested a princess-heart-flower-Dora-magical-rainbow party. Each time we'd pass the decoration aisle in the store, she'd ask for more things to have at her party. More characters! More sprinkles! More flavors! More! More! More! It's how she rolls.

This year was the first time she got to have a "friend" party. She colored her own invitations and walked them to the mailbox which in itself was a party. "I'm sending mail? I'm sending mail!!! In the mailbox! Will my friends get them today? Can I go to their houses to see?!" 

On the day of her birthday, we had a field trip with our homeschool friends to the local Krispy Kreme. Hooray for free donuts! A friend of mine knew it was the girl's birthday, and she was thoughtful enough to bring a candle and lit it up for the Suz to blow out. It was like CHRISTMAS DAY for my girl when all her friends were singing "Happy Birthday" to her, because she loves the attention and the party and the whole store looking at her and the WHEE!!! ISN'T THIS THE BEST THING EVER?!?!?!? We left Krispy Kreme with her love tank full and our bloodstreams shocked with sugar. OH THE RUSH.

We held her party later that same day, which meant for seven straight hours I was asked, "Is it time? Is it time for my party? Time for my friends? When is my party? What will we do again? When will we eat cake? When do I turn six?" 

It took some convincing on my part to explain to the girl that she was now age six. I mean, for so long she woke up every day as a five-year-old and then sha-zow! The next day she was six. And because I like to mess with her mind, I told her that since she was born in China, she had actually turned six the day before. Ha! That kept her quiet for at least three seconds. 

Back to the party. The girls (three of them plus the birthday queen) sat at the table and painted for a bit, and then colored for a bit. That in itself showed me the difference between a "girl party" and a "boy party." Huh. Who knew that paint could stay on the paper it was meant for?! We then played "stick the ladybug on the tree" which was just your standard variation of "pin the tail on the donkey." The girls then got to guess how many "ladybugs" (red and black candies) were stuffed in a jar, and they guessed hugely big numbers like "nine" and "sixteen." The answer was 35, which was INCONCEIVABLE.

Once outside, the girls searched for little paper ladybugs that the boys had hid quite expertly around the backyard. Next, the girls ran to keep the "ladybugs" (big red balloons) from landing on the ground. Then they moved to the front lawn to play "ladybug hullabaloo," which was a lot like musical chairs, minus all the losing and crying and pushing each other around. 

The last outdoor game involved carrying the ladybugs (spotted water balloons) on a spoon to their "homes" (a bin). During that relay game, the rather busy birthday girl accidentally tripped on the bin of water balloons, thus flipping it over and popping every last one of her team's "bugs." She went from zero to ballistic in about two nanoseconds, which makes for great party entertainment any day. After that, I decided to change the game and have the kids "fly" the ladybugs home, which involved flinging those water balloons at the bin. MUCH BETTER.

Once inside, the kids each got their own little pizza that they got to decorate like a ladybug. Black olives for eyes, green peppers for antenna, and pepperoni for the spots. While the pizzas were baking, I read the kids a couple of ladybug stories. Then there was dinner, and presents, and finally: the ladybug cupcakes. Kudos to the Pa for making The Cutest Ladybugs Ever, I mean seriously, GO CUTE OR GO HOME, WIN WIN WIN. Almost too cute to eat, ha ha, just kidding. The girls coated themselves in cake and frosting. For friend parties, I always plan the cake and ice cream for the last ten minutes. Here's your sugar, there's the buzz, and GOODBYE! THANKS FOR COMING!!!

Happy sixth birthday, my funny China girl!

Snippets From The Week: The May 19, 2012 Edition

Suz, while sitting on the tire swing at the park:  "Mom? Would you spin me like a TOMATO?!" [tornado]

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Pa, on Mother's Day, to the kids:  "Why don't you go give your mama a hug?"

Zig:  "Sure. But first I have to fart."

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The Suz had a temporary tattoo that she wanted put on her arm. She asked, "Mom, would you put my tic-tac-toe on today?" 

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I was reading aloud a Shel Silverstein poem about "catching the moon in a net," and just for kicks, I decided to ask the Suz if it was possible to catch the moon in a net. In a very exasperated tone she answered, "Nooooo! Don't be ridiculous!" And just when I thought we might be getting somewhere in her growth, she went on excitedly, "We'd need a plane! And then we could catch the moon in a net."

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Wahclella Falls

Within a 30-60 minute drive from our house are all these waterfalls, just waiting to be walked to and gawked at and photographed and such. My Mother's Day gift to myself was to take a hike with the fam to my favorite falls in the area: Wahclella Falls. These falls are perfect to walk to on a hot, sunny day. The walk leading up to the falls is mostly in the sun, and just when you think one mile uphill is just--too--much, SHAZAM!!! The temperature drops 20 degrees and WOWZERS, there in front of you appears, like magic, one of the most massive falls in the region. It's loud, it's breezy, and it's one of the most incredible things to see. 

As the trail loops back from the falls, there is also a rocky shallow area where the kids love to play. We had packed spare shoes and a towel so that they could play in the cold, super-cold water. Seeing them frolic in the stream reminds me of my very own trip through the Smoky Mountains many moons ago. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Festival Of Birds

I told the fam that for Mother's Day, I wanted to do a bunch of fun stuff together with nobody complaining and everyone at least pretending to have fun. I don't get a whole lot of love from sitting around and being pampered, so off we went. Oh, and I made Mother's Day last two full days because why not? I AM THE MOM AND I SAID SO SO GET IN THE VAN.

On Saturday, we started off with a bird festival, otherwise known as a "bood" festival, thanks to the Suz and her inability to say "R." 

The bird festival was a whole park loaded with activities and such all having to do with the theme, BIRDS. The kids made a bird feeder by lathering a toilet paper tube with crisco and then rolling the greasy mess in seed:

They also decorated binoculars, which happened to be two toilet paper tubes stuck together:

Pa saw the amount of empty toilet paper tubes used at the event and figures someone has some potty issues they might need to attend to. Seriously. BAGS and BAGS of empty tubes. Huh.

We also learned some things about the different owls that can be found in our region. At this particular stop, there were several owls on display. Stuffed ones, that is. I spent the whole time wondering whether or not the owls'  eyes were real or not. I didn't ask, because really, there's only so much embarrassment the Pa and the kids can handle in one day. 

Each kid also stamped a wooden necklace--just one more thing to add to their ever-increasing box of "treasures:"

We saw some real birds too, this one being a peregrine falcon (bird on the right):

Of course, Pa had to make a joke about not seeing a pair of green falcons, and I laughed too loud, and what's new, and moving right along.

The last craft of the day involved decorating a mesh 'sock' to hold finch food:

The boys and I took a close look at sample bird eggs, trying to determine if the hummingbird's egg looked more like Tylenol or a tic-tac. We made no solid conclusions, but we did decide that it would take a lot of hummingbird eggs to make a decent breakfast:

We finished our day by having a picnic at the park with our friends, and soon thereafter watching some sort of dance that Pa assumed involved the calling of birds and mashed potatoes to the party. We never did figure out what the chanting was all about.

From the festival, we headed straight to an open house at our local public broadcasting station (OPB), where we got a tour of the station as well as free junk galore. FROM THERE, we headed to my favorite fro-yo place, and then we finished off the day with some take out from KFC. How fitting that we book-ended the day with a bird and some mashed potatoes.

Snippets From The Week: The May 12, 2012 Edition

We just finished reading a story about a man who was (and still is) a missionary in South America. My boys now assume every missionary encounters naked cannibals while eating grubs and fending off tapeworms. Well, we had moved on from the book but recently the kids were playing a version of Twenty Questions and one round went something like this:

Campers:  I'm thinking of an article of clothing.

Ziggy:  Shirt? Socks? Pants?

Campers:  It's worn somewhere from the waist and down.

Ziggy:  Loincloth?

(The answer was sandals, but we had a great laugh at the word "loincloth." Oh, native people in South America, how we love what you're wearing this year.)

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We recently zipped off to OMSI (science museum) one afternoon with some of our friends. Here's my conversation with the Suz when we were getting ready for the trip:

Me:  "We're going to OMSI this afternoon."

Suz:  "We are? Really?! Wow! Boys! We're going to OMSI! WOO-HOOOOO!! I can't wait to go to OMSI!!!"

Me:  "Do you know what OMSI is?"

Suz, very matter-of-factly:  "No."

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I dropped a bar of soap on my big toe the other day and hollered "OUCH!" so the whole house could hear me. And then right after that, I hollered, "DANG-IT!" Campers was quick to point out that every time I hurt myself (which is common, too common) I holler the same thing with the very same pacing:

"OUCH!" (two) (three) (four) "DANG-IT!"

What's that phrase about how things are caught and not taught?! 

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It's not unusual for the Suz to sing her heart out while she's taking a bath. Doesn't matter if she doesn't know the words to a song--she just makes them up with whatever is in her mind at the time. You can tell she's the lone extrovert in a family of introverts when this is what she sings:

"If you're happy and you know it, GO AWAY!!!  If you're happy and you know it, GO AWAY!!!"

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Suz:  "I can't wait til I'm grown up and people call me 'Lisa'!"

Me:  "Say what?"

Suz:  "Cuz then I'll be a mom!"

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I was reading yet another missionary story to the boys, and said the line, "Jesus' life, his miracles, his acts..." and Campers yelled from across the room, "Jesus had an AXE?!"

Yes. Just like Paul Bunyan. Class dismissed.

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Suz, randomly at lunch one day:  "You can't see God, you know. Like, if you went to the woods you wouldn't see God. But I've seen God's picture in a book!"

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At dinner one night, the Suz started singing the ABC song, nice and loud, on and on. She got to the end and sang, "Q-R-S, T-U-V, W-X, Y-N-Z" and Pa said, "Uh, you do realize it's Y *AND* Z, right?" And she replied, "Nooooo! It's N! Like the letter! N! N! N! N!" And there was no telling her any different.

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I've been teaching the Suz to read for months, months, and...months. She's making progress, but even when she can pronounce a word, she often gets the definition wrong. Example... the word "into."

"In...to, oh! into! Like "N Tube," like if I had a tube and I put an N in it!"

See? Good times.

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I said the word "diversion" one day at lunch, as part of our read-aloud work, and the Suz stopped me to say, "What's 'diversion'?" And before I could say anything worth anything, she said, "Oh! It's like when you read about the "di-verzhe in a yellow wood!"

Never dull. Never dull. She goes from talking about N Tubes to quoting Robert Frost.

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Snippets From The Week: The May 5, 2012 Edition

I was looking at a book about planes and the Suz came up and said, "What's that, Mom?" And I said, "It's a Concorde." She replied, "Oh! Concord! Like the church song, 'Concord the grapes!'" And then she went on to sing, "He concord the grapes, Jesus concord the grapes!"

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"Ravioli" has long been a favorite word at our house. With the boys it was "rall-ee-OH-vee" or some variation thereof. Not for the Suz. If she can't think of or pronounce a word, she just replaces it with another.

One night we were having ravioli and corn for dinner and Campers shouted out, "Hey, can I have some corn?!" And the Suz quickly added to that, "And some PILLOWS too!"

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While we were in San Francisco, we'd be out and about and the Suz would ask over and over again, "When are we going to San Francisco?" or "Can we go to San Francisco?" It took me a day or so, but I finally realized she thought "San Francisco" was our hotel. All week long she kept asking the same inane question, thus driving me nuts *and yet* delighting the strangers all around us. Finally, by the last day, when I said for the eighteenth gazillion time, "SAN FRANCISCO IS A CITY," she said, "Oh! Yeah! A city!" And then I finally had the satisfaction that the concept had sunk in.

Fast-forward a few weeks. I must have been talking to the boys about this-and-such which we saw in San Francisco, and the Suz flew out of her room and hollered, "MOOOOOOOOMMM!! SAN FRANCISCO IS A HOTEL!!" And then she huffed a bit and went back to her room.

And now you see that there's indeed an alternate universe and she's living smack dab in the middle of it.

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Recently we had a homeschool event where the five-and-under crowd stayed back to play while the older kids went off and had an art class. Part of the play time included stories, show-n-tell, and crafts about hats. When one of the hats was displayed for the kids to guess what it was, Suz buzzed up her hand and answered, "It's a PARLOR hat!" To which I muttered to the gal sitting next to me, "Sure. For when we sit in our parlor." I had no idea what she meant by "parlor hat," but that's nothing unusual. [See: alternate universe.]

A few days later, we got to talking about the Suz's upcoming birthday, and she asked, "Will I get to wear a parlor hat?!" And then we realized, AH YES, a "parlor hat" was really a "party hat" that you wear when it's someone's birthday. CASE CLOSED.

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I caught a conversation between the boys when they clearly didn't know I was listening in.

Zig:  "I finally figured out what Mom and Dad do after we go to bed."

Campers, with great interest:  "What?!"

Zig:  "Eat cereal."

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Susie is still working through the story of how she and other babies have come into the world. Tonight she gave me the latest life plan.

"First I'll get married. Then I'll find a baby and take it to China. Next the baby'll get needles in its head* and then I'll bring it back!"

And just when I was taking a breath to explain that the little trip to China wasn't all that necessary, the girl went on with her plan.

"I wonder how many kids I will have?! Oh! Millions! Millions of kids!"


[*Suz has pictures of us with her at the orphanage with IV antibiotics going in through her scalp.]

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