Take a guess

Take a guess at what you are looking at in the picture below.

First, here is some background information.

This happened about 10 minutes before bed time.

After the day started at 6:30AM with bounding out of bed and a declaration that she was miraculously healed, despite the day before having a temp around 102.5 most of the day and spending time at both urgent care then the ER with concerns it might be her appendix.  THANKFULLY it was not, but it was an intense Friday afternoon and truly CJ was back to her normal self bright and early.

After a wonderful, and exceptionally received supper made entirely from scratch and the top of my head, roasted butternut squash soup with peas and carrots.  To which after each bite Sweetness exclaimed, "OH. MY. GOSH. I LOVE THIS!" And CJ thought it so good she said her head would crack open.  It was a good thing even though it sounds horrible in print. Everyone had seconds and Kjetil thought it so good he made a little face mask for himself of it.

This was at the end of a day that the children had lost their listening ears.  Or so I thought.  It turns out they only understood French that day.  And by French I mean the romantic language French that I do not speak. Not the swearing kind of french, that I really do try not to use, but I am only human and on certain days, at certain times, one might hear "french" coming from my mouth.
I think that it was French that their little ears were listening to that day because as CJ did her music homework she asked me, "is this a French E?" "Is this a French C?" and so on and so on. In case you were wondering, it was all in English and music is a very universal language.

Ten minutes before this incident took place, CJ was humming, stopped and asked if she was giving me a headache, "no", so she began again with more intensity.  "Are you trying to give me a headache?" "Yes, then I'll bring you a glass of water".  Oh the sparkle in her eye...and what is to come as she gets older.

Then Sweetness wandered into the room and asked "What happened?"

"Nothing. Did something happen?"

"I don't know, where's my...oh there it is." She picks up her bowl of sweet potato cubes and begins munching on them aimlessly wandering the room.

Very nonchalantly she says between bites, "Kjetil pooped on the bed."

And there it is....the answer to What happened?  Not the answer to what is in this picture.

As I was getting him off the top bunk and as patiently as I could saying how we don't poop on beds, Sweetness stood casually in the door way and said, "no, poop on the floor".

What? I looked around...there was no poop on the floor.

"Where did he poop on the floor, I don't see it."

"Panther ate it."

             (***pause, I'm sorry, you probably didn't see that coming and I certainly did not intend to upset your stomach, hold on a bit longer and  you'll get to the picture, I promise)

"oh, where WAS it?"  If it was there, it was completely gone and well cleaned up.  Normally I just call Panther to the kitchen to get the crumbs after a meal, but she knows her role as clean up crew I guess.

I moved the little man to the toilet, in case he wasn't finished.  I stripped the bed and tried to stop laughing uncontrollably.  At that moment it was either laugh or cry, and while it had been a long couple of days...laughing gives a better ab workout and I had skipped mine all week.


I returned to the bathroom to finish cleaning him up and hopefully stick him right into bed.  That is when I found this:

We've been hit by the blob, or flubber.

Slime from a frog?

Your turn....What is it?

pizza

We like to eat pizza.

We like to make pizza.

Accidentally a couple of weeks ago Sweetness ate a mushroom in her stir fry...and discovered she LOVES them.  So now we have a new thing to put on half the pizza.  Not all of us love them, but the girls do.

 Helping with cheese.

  And pepperoni.

Sous chef at work

Half pepperoni & mushroom. Black olives and cheese all around.  One of the things that makes us smile.

Banana chocolate chip muffins

Yum.

The kids believe it is Christmas whenever I pull out the over ripe frozen bananas because they know it means I'm making banana chocolate chip muffins.  By the way, I did include this recipe in the family cookbook, along with several other yummies you have or might read about here.  Let me know if you would like your own copy, I think the ordering deadline is soon.

 My helpers

 The bananas were slightly still frozen, making mashing them a serious job

I never make a single batch.  At minimum it is a double. I learned a fantastic tip from a friend, using canning lid rims on a cookie sheet I place the muffin cups inside and bake.  I can do nearly 2 dozen on one pan that way.  It also means, with three oven trays I can cook an entire double batch at one time.  If I got more canning rims I could probably do a triple batch all cooked at once.

Also, October is our month to help provide goodies at fellowship.  I packed away 2 dozen to the freezer to take one week.  There were complaints from the peanut gallery that there wasn't enough left for us.  Trust me they each had enough and I left a few out for each of us.  

Oh they are really really yummy!  I'm not sure it is possible to eat just one.

Fall Break

WE ARE ON FALL BREAK!!!!!    WOOOHOOO  WOOOOHOOO!!!!!

What does that mean?  It means that for the next THREE weeks we have very little of a schedule. For the next THREE weeks we have lots of time to go hiking and stopping to look at every single ant or other bug we find.  For the next THREE weeks errands can be run nearly any time of day and not worked around or during the school day.  For the next THREE weeks we can go to story hour at the library on Thursdays.  Or not.  We still have piano lessons and gymnastics.  Sunday school and church, but Monday through Friday our schedule is pretty open.


While I have very little to say about the education system, okay I have a lot to say about it, but I try to be positive, which means ultimately I have very very very little to say about the schools, I do love LOVE LOVE year round school!  Fall break is my favorite.  Weather is great here and most everywhere, and THREE weeks gives us the chance to take a trip, big or small and enjoy family down time at the same time.  If we wanted to visit a heavily populated tourist attraction, we would during fall break when most everyone else is in school.  We could travel to see the fall colors changing or stay here and explore all that is around us.

It means we could do more of this:

He would like you to know that green does not taste like mint.  It does however cause the other end to be vibrant colors. I think he was less messy with finger paints.

Or we could dance and make silly faces until our bellies hurt from laughing so much:

Or we could go apple and pumpkin picking. Visit the zoo, the International Wildlife museum, or the children's museum. Change out our clothes as we change seasons. Clean out the garage or paint the living room.  We have THREE weeks of wonderful recharging time.  And trust me we will use all it to the best of our abilities! We might even stay up late watching the stars and sleeping the morning in...who knows, it is wide open!

We actually started a day early.  Someone had her first official sick day from school and she was not happy about it!  So hopefully she'll kick this thing quickly and we'll be on to bigger better, but our first day of break is going to be a quiet one.

The Challenge

We have found something that actually physically challenges CJ.  She insisted on having her training wheels taken off at age 4, and immediately mastered riding without them. Two weeks later she had strapped on roller skates, and despite living on a hill, figured out how to skate.  She doesn't want help, she just wants/needs to conquer "it" whatever "it" is at the moment.

Even a few weeks ago when we started up gymnastics again after nearly a two year hiatus, she was in love and bored. They invited her to join the competition track, and she loves it -but says it's hard! Finally something that she has to work for.

The first day we were trying out the gym, she saw kids doing straddle handstands (at least I think that's what they are called) and this has been her goal.  She can do parts but doesn't have the control or strength at the moment to go all the way.  However, since it has been a few weeks and she still can't do it, she wants to give up.  This is a great challenge for her, to really work at getting it.

here is a video of the move she is personally working on:




I don't think she has told her coach yet about her desire to master this move, and since her preview of this new class they want her to move up one more level it won't be long before she is actually expected to be able to do it.  I'm not sure mommy is ready for that kind of pocketbook and emotional commitment, but the truth is, it is easy to see her passion and desire, and very hard to even consider dampening that.

 She's up, but she's got to get stronger and hold it longer, then figure out the move to the handstand position.

No leotard required, this is a regular daily occurrence around here.

Cartwheels

Handstands

Walking on hands

A 10 in my book

All of this and her flexibility is out of my league! She's the only on I know who can step on her own hand in the middle of a cartwheel...and still finish the cartwheel off strong. Even a 90 minute session after school doesn't slow her down or wear her out.

Hair Cuts

It was time for a trip to the salon, Casa de Ryan.

The stylist didn't listen real well to her, she asked for bangs and shorter than this.  Her stylist just couldn't bare the thought of giving her bangs and maintaining them, nor could she stand for CJ to loose all her length.  CJ does love her hair though and loves to wear it down.  It seems thicker now as well.

Sweetness likes to twirl her hair when she is tired, making knots.  She also hates, and I use that word because it perfectly describes her feelings, the brush or anything done with her hair.  Therefore she gets bangs.  Sweetness also did not get her stylist to "cut it like a boy" as she kept asking her to.  I know...terrible hair dresser...to the hair dresser's defense, she plays many roles, wears many hats, and one of the hats is the veto one.  Daddy thinks it's too short.  It is cute and she loves it.

No hair cut for the little man yet.  He has a couple of long curly tufts of hair behind each ear...the rest is getting close to the amount and length that CJ had when born.  Maybe when he gets closer to his birthday he'll be ready for one.  Although it appears the hair dresser may have her own issues and may try to hold off on the baby's first hair cut longer than she should....we'll see.  Ultimately she does have the children's best interest at heart.

Family Game night

We don't actually have a designated family game night, yet.  However, any particular time you want to stop by, you'll probably find family game night (time) going on.  Sometimes it takes the form of of reading together, or like last night practicing new circus acts while in the tub...be still my heart I am not kidding...I turned around and the girls were in the middle of a death defying, improbable circus act, while all three of them were in the tub.  I won't get into all the details, but one big sister was standing and had one little sister on her shoulders and together they were obviously moving into some new position that would evoke gasps of disbelief from the audience.  That is until the ring master showed up and put a stop to the entire show!

But we do love to play games.  We have a large cedar chest...very large and heavy when empty, cedar chest that is FULL of games.  Adult strategy games to candy land. Cards to dice. and at the very least 3 but more likely 4 different versions of Monopoly...we may have a sickness.  FYI, no matter what Eric tells you, Star Wars monopoly, Lord of the Ring monopoly, Decorah (my hometown) monopoly or any other "fun" version of monopoly is played exactly like regular monopoly.  The difference, it is written in Klingon.

I know that Klingon is actually Star Trek and not Star Wars but it is fun to just lump them all together just so you can watch your exasperated husband explain AGAIN the differences and just what language Star Wars is written.  I also can not remember what language it is written in so I just call it Klingon.  When I buy up Park Place and Boardwalk and put up hotels on them...it doesn't matter what they are called or if they are even called hotels, I'm still going to charge an outrageous amount of rent each time you land on it.  And no, I don't care if you call it dollars, pesos, or funny Klingon currency. Just pay up!

This particular night CJ picked the game.  Battleship.

Yea, we thought with so many group game options why should we play a two person one.  Because, we all LOVE, just LOVE to pick up tiny tiny little pieces and knock over our own board so we get to reset everything again and again.  Okay no we don't LOVE to do that, but that is pretty much how it went.  We were divided into teams.

board set up, clean up in aisle 3 please.

It was an intense game of strategy, with secrets being handed down one generation to the next.

Look at that face, it's the face of a traitor!  I know I can get the locations out of him!

The impromptu interpretive dance, was a great distraction during this not so high pace game.

He chose the music, changing it when it was not what he wanted...and this went on for several minutes.

Did his sisters enjoy the show?

Yes...I believe they did

Biffed it

Church yesterday was a challenge.  While we love having the kids sit with us during the service and the girls do all the time and do very well, Kjetil is at a hard age for the whole service.  Typically we have him sit with us through the children's sermon, then we bring him back for communion.  Well, the nursery attendant had car troubles and didn't make it.  

At one point, as I was quietly wrestling Kjetil in my lap, I turned my head and Sweetness was showing off her bravery.  She had put her feet on top of the back of the pew we were sitting in and her hands on the one in front of us.  Her bottom in the air, making a triangle.  THANKFULLY she was wearing pants.  Even CJ had a hard time not joining in, I mean she was trying to "help", with her brother and sister who weren't sitting well.  The service dog behind us was distracting as well.  During communion, before it was our turn, Kjetil snuck out the other end of the pew and instead of going to see the service dog, ran to the front for communion.  Fun times!

The kind people behind us shared how much they enjoyed seeing the kids.  A couple commenting their surprise at the girls since normally they sit very still and quietly.  A moon phase?  I don't know what happened.

As we were walking back too the van, Kjetil did a good, nearly perfect face plant into the pavement.

Each time I tried to take his picture he stuck his tongue out.

So I waited till he was sleeping last night.

Fat lips and all!

We ended up leaving church a bit battered and bruised, but our spirits were good.  He gave me a mommy heart attack last night though.  After his bath as I was getting him ready for bed I noticed his top front teeth were turning black, starting at the gum line.  Oh how my heart stopped and the instant mommy guilt set in.  His tumble must have been worse than I thought!  Since he ate well during the day and I couldn't get a really good look, I thought I'd try a quick test.  I brushed his teeth --it was bedtime after all--and,  ....it came off!  I think it may have been marker he had gotten a hold of.  I'm not sure.  I do know that it was erased with a little brushing.  Whew.  I would have tossed and turned all night and been the first one to call the dentist this morning to see if we could save his teeth.

Finger painting

Sometimes I have a moment of lapse and pull out paint, finger paint no less, and tell the kiddos to have a grand old time!  Be assured, most of the time I have much more restraint than that.  But the heat gets to me, and we're stuck inside, and as my brain sizzles in my head, it seems like a wonderful idea.

I even pulled out egg cartons and pipe cleaners and said lets make caterpillars.

Serious work, or serious play, it is serious fun!

Uh? me serious?

Look at how they are sharing together, getting along, not even being appropriately messy. Ahhhh what exceptional children we have.  What?  It's my blog, I can say what I want!  And I believe they are exceptional!

Wait.  Don't leave.  They are very typical children, look at the messy hand contest:

Did the one you expect pull through for you?  Better luck next time!

Bubble bucket clean up...and once again they are cleaning up in harmony.  Yes, tranquility rules this home.

What? You don't believe me?

Well, there's nothing I can do to change your mind.  You'll have to come and visit and see for yourself.

And while you're here enjoying the tranquility, I'll be taking a nap to get my brain back to proper functioning level.

Let's play ball!

Can summer be complete without a trip to at least one baseball game?  Sure, but much more fun if it is included.  We only made it to one game this summer, and there was a rain delay, then the game was called because of the rain (and despite getting free tickets to another game we didn't make it) and then there was the small issue of getting home.

It was a great night for a game.

Look how blissfully we were all enjoying the game.  For 3 minutes, maybe.

Enjoying the rain and some kettle corn

Styling in her raincoat, watching the game play in the rain.

It had been raining out by our house much longer than it had in town by the time we were leaving the game.  We stopped to have ice cream and hoped the rains would let up.  They didn't.  We did have a friend who was also trying to make it home and so we were getting road reports from him.  The main road to our house had been closed down due to an accident following the races, while dealing with the accident, the road became impassable due to flooding.  It was a mess.  Our friend ended up getting back to town and stayed at a hotel.  We went the long way around and while the roads were still not good, we could pass, by the time we got to them.  The one we needed to get to our house on that route had been closed as well, but had recently opened up again by the time we got there.  Monsoon rains, we've had 2 really good ones this summer, which means it has been hot and humid without the good soaking, cooling rains.

Catching fireflies

If you don't have fireflies, or lightening bugs, where you live, you are missing out!  Take a trip and find some.  Catching them and watching them glow, provides hours of amusement and wonderment.   However, in action, it is hard to get pictures that do justice.

Also, things that should be on your to do list:

Rolling down a soft bed of grass.  The kids were thoroughly entertained by this opportunity.  So much so, that at one point Kjetil stopped and looked around, at all the green grass, and after a moment, began to pick and shove as much as he could into his pants.  He wanted to bring it home!

Canoeing....no summer is complete with out that activity!

Hmmm....I wonder why these transferred so small.  I'm going to blame it on blogger acting up.  Look at that green grass all around.  As tall as Sweetness.