little bits...

Love serving up lunch sides like this

The other day A and A got a good laugh when Eliza was trying to speak to royalty saying "Your Matress-dee!"

The kids and I were in the car talking about what we could put on Daddy's father's day shirt we were making. Eliza was trying to spell DAD and started out D-O-A. I started laughing and said we wouldn't want to put DOA because that means Dead On Arrival! I explained what that means in an accident or something. There's a bit of a pause. Then Andrew says "OH! I thought you said Dead On A RIFLE!" More laughter from me imagining the "dead on a rifle" scene.

Last week highs in mid-nineties. Today the high is 64 or something.

Our dear friend, Rachel, and her family moved away this week. I babysat Rachel for about half of the school year. She is a sweetie and Abby's best friend. Her mom is a hoot and I will miss her bouncy personality. They are from Ghana and I figure will like the climate of their new Georgia home better than here.

To slightly lessen the blow of a best friend moving, the girls are happy about a new move-IN. Nadia was in Abby's kindergarten class and has just moved in across the hall. Very close. She has a 4-year-old sister, Lexie. So the girls are happy. They are really active, get-into-stuff girls. We've had to establish (over and over) that they have to knock before they come in. Every time. And wait for us to answer first. Wish me luck.

welcome hermit crabs

Our last fish, Finny died.

It was a very short grieving period and we were off to the pet store for hermit crabs! I'd picked up an old 10 gallon aquarium at a rummage (Wisconsin for "garage sale") basically for free. So, they already had a home started. After getting the rest of the accessories and food, well, it costs more than a fishbowl.

We love these guys. They are so fun to watch. They move each other, dig, sleep close together (or sometimes at opposite corners), explore, and climb.

We decided to let all the kids get "their own" so Abby wasn't the sole pet owner anymore (jealousy was growing). Eliza's is Julie, Abby's is Charlie (he's huge), and Andrew's is Bolt.

Thanks for so many cool pet ideas (from the previous post). I loved them. We will keep them in mind for the future!

Hospice Fish

It's a sad time for our fish and family. Katie has died and been replaced (by Finny).

A few days ago we noticed Daniel and Finny getting all these black spots. After looking online we learned they were burns from too much ammonia in the water. We changed the water, fed them less (excess food causes ammonia build-up). Still, no improvement. More Internet research told us that keeping goldfish in a bowl is a myth. Thanks a lot Dr. Seuss (no disrespect, I love your books). The fish are so "dirty" they pollute their own water very fast. They simply cannot survive in such a small aquarium. People say they need at least 10 gallons.

Well, we were feeling bad for Abby and had a talk with all the kids. We told them what we learned and that both the fish were going to die, no matter how hard we tried.

So, I took the fish into our room for hospice care so that the children wouldn't have to find the fish dead, as that was pretty traumatic with Katie. Since we took them in, Daniel has passed on. Finny isn't looking too good.

We are considering other easy, apartment-friendly pets. I really would love any ideas you all have to offer. And please, tell your friends: no goldfish in bowls!

Primary talent show

Our primary had a talent show last Saturday. The kids enjoyed popcorn and Sprecher's root beer and put on quite a show! Abby brought home a little "play" from school. She recited a story and had some stick puppets to go along with it. Well, when she showed us at home, Andrew and Abby joined in in a funny way. It was then that Daniel and I knew what the act for the talent show would be! We all had a lot of fun.

My first customer

Megan Kirsch, my completely awesome friend, asked me if I 'd make a cake for her son, Grant. Megan is officially my first customer ever in cake making. The funny thing is, I'm pretty sure the only cake she saw that I'd made was one on a home video...this was the only cake I'd ever purchased! (A girl from church made it for me!)

Her son, Grant, was having a football party, so I had a fairly simple, non-intimidating shape. Phew. Here's how it turned out:
I just love this cake.
And I just love Megan.

exhaustion

After a full day of forts (and church) Eliza is out in a heap. There are three "fairy" chapter books on her pillow. Abby's reading them, but she checked out a few JUST to look at the pretty covers. And she does. I guess you CAN judge a book by the cover if that's all you look at.

Memorial Day at Pike Lake

All I can say is I had "beautiful briiight, Memorial Day!" stuck in my head all day. (Millennial Day, really.)

A few friend-families met up at Pike Lake over the holiday weekend. We had so much fun! We grilled burgers, ate tons of food, roasted mallows...

Played baseball, catch, the like...

Played in the lake...

Fished (thanks to the Beckers and their stuff!)...

Love this row of kids...

We hiked...I tried to teach my kids about not picking the plants in a national park. But when I turned my head... (I suppose taking pictures with it didn't exactly discourage the behavior.)

You might remember Parnell Tower, a huge look-out tour we climbed up in the fall last year. This is another just like it. These are a few kids from the view at the top. It was a little dizzying if not nauseating to see kids lying flat all the way down there.


The view...

Holy Hill in the background--those faded spikes on the hill are a huge church, gotta go see that in person.

Photo op at the top (can we use this for our Christmas card?)...

Photo op at the bottom...

Here's a little clip of Eliza fishing. She enjoyed casting and reeling it in to check for the fish. The first time she was really excited that she had caught a worm! The cute part you can't see on the video is after she casts each time she looks at Daniel with this gleaming look of exuberance and pride!