Why didn't anyone tell me there were other things to eat in this world?

Levi got his first taste of something other than Momma milk today. Being my third,I guess he's not as subject to paranoid Momma as my first was, so when the girls had pears and asked if he could too, I said "why not?" and got out my mesh fruit bag for him. 'Twas love at first taste and that pear disappeared!

How to have a picnic when it's -20 outside

Lil' Chefs

My girlies helping me make cookies in their new chef ensembles. Heidi's styled after her current favorite skirt in her favorite colors, and Hannah's in her favorite color and a bit more of Momma's style. They have oven mitts and hot pads too!

You Tell 'Em, Heidi!

Heidi has discovered the power of signs. In stores they tell you where things are and what's on sale. On the road they tell you where you are, how fast you can go and how to get to where you're going. As with anything, she wanted in on the action. Telling people what to do? Writing? She's there! I was the happy recipient of this sign. It's for the mice, to let them know they're not welcome in my home. I love how she realized she was running out of room and improvised by doing a dot for the "O" instead of a big circle. Read and beware mice, disobey Heidi's sign and your life is in peril.

How We Go Out To Eat

My Heidi has a host of incredible qualities, not the least of which is her determination and stick-to-it-ivness. Once she has an idea in her head, she will keep at it until it becomes a reality. Well, a few days ago she determined she needed to go to a restaurant for lunch and it needed to be McDonald's. (I guess that seems like a marvelous place when you're four years old and have only been there a handful of times).
I was NOT going to drive for an hour in the wind and snow and -20 temps with three sick kids just to take my girl out for a happy meal. Now, I may not do so well at persuading Heidi to abandon her ideas, I am, however, learning the fine art of providing a more appealing alternative. Enter McDonald's at our house! I got to be the cook (surprise, surprise) and she got to be the waitress (which apparently they have in her version of fast food places). We worked together on a menu for Daddy to peruse when he got home, then she put together a notepad and got dressed up so Daddy wouldn't recognize her when he got home.

To pull this remarkable feat off, she had to wear one of my maternity shirts with a ribbon belt and a backpack for a hat. Would you have guessed that was really Heidi under there? I didn't think so. Daddy said she was an incredible waitress.

Today she said she wants to go swimming in the house. How am I going to deal with that one?

Snow Fort

Karl put a bit of the snow from the driveway into a pile... and invited the girls to help him hollow it out.

Looks fun, but that doorway is a wee bit small for my claustrophobic tendencies.

Now He Can Play More!

The girls have been delighted to discover more games that Levi can participate in. Like kick the ball,

and sword fight!

Just Levi (or "E-bi" as Hannah calls him)

Ice Towers

I wish I could give credit where it was due for this project, but it's been a couple years since I saw it and tucked it away in my memory banks as a fun activity to do with my kids during our long winters. So to whoever thought this up, thank you! First we found lots of containers, filled them with warm water and food dye, then set them on the front porch to freeze overnight. (This is where we hope food dye doesn't kill our kitty who's been hanging around - knowing our luck, it just might!)

Next morning we brought out a bucket of warm water to dip each container in so we could then pop the ice out and make towers with it.

I poured a bit of the water between each "block" of the ice tower and it worked great as glue to stick it all together.

The towers look a little wobbly but are actually quite sturdy and haven't changed a bit in the few days they've been up. With our forecasted temperatures, I'm sure they'll stick around for awhile.

Now I'm having visions of trying it with buckets and building arches and things to walk through, or spelling things with sticks inside the ice. We'll see how ambitious I actually am!

Easy as ABC

Teaching a child to read.
For some unknown reason, that has been my biggest fear as I've thought about homeschooling.
Then Heidi wanted to learn, and I thought she was ready.
We began.
Her with excitement, me with trepidation.
You know what? It's not as hard as I thought.
We have our bumps and rough spots, but she's steadily learning and improving in skill.

My favorite part?
Watching her as she comprehends a word she has read and voluntarily offers a definition or uses it in a sentence.

"Cat" - "We had a cat but it got stomped on by the calves and DIED!"
"take" - "I will take you in the ambulance"
"has" - "the wood has fire on it"
"kiss" - "I'm gonna kiss you!" (this one ends with laughter as she tries to attack me with kisses)
"walk" - "we go for a walk in the hundred acre woods" (her name for our bush)
"rag" -"Oh, like, my clothes are all in tatters"

"This is our Robot head!"

Kitty Confessions

I thought cats were supposed to have nine lives?
It seems the ones who come our way have used eight and a half of them.
Ever since the Great Mouse Invasion of the Winter of 2009/2010, I have desired a feline on the premises who could keep the outdoor rodent population to a minimum in an effort to keep the indoor rodent population at precisely ZERO. We tried bringing a kitten home, but soon determined a more mature cat would be more likely to survive Ruger's (our dog) curiosity. Kitten was given away. In the past three months we have brought home three nearly grown cats. All of whom have survived Ruger and yet, um, have not survived.
Miriam the First walked with us to the mail box and did not return.
Dandelion became a little too closely acquainted with the tire of the truck.
Miriam the Second discovered sleeping under calves' hoofs not conducive to keeping one's internal organs intact.
Is it really so hard to keep a cat alive?

We do have a stray who's been hanging around for a couple of weeks. I waver between hoping she'll stay and telling her to flee for her life.

The kids are really starting to hope for a pet who lasts more than two weeks.
Yesterday I bought them goldfish.

Me 'n My Boy, Levi: 5 Months

My happy boy, he awakens me in the mornings with his laughter!

My little man and I with his Christmas present from the rest of us - a snake of every color according to Heidi's specifications. When stretched out, he's over six feet long. Heidi thought we needed to keep going, but I saw visions of stitching and stuffing all night Christmas Eve and called an end to it while still a manageable project.