Thanksgiving highlights

--Thanksgiving day candy experiments: testing acidity with purple indicator and baking soda
--Four kinds of pie
--Post-Thanksgiving visit to WWII airplane museum, where my brother David carried his buddy Alex most of the time and Katherine had to examine each airplane. Highlights for the kids: planes that were painted with a tiger mouth, an umbrella-holding pelican, and a lady. Highlight for me: when one docent remarked how good the kids had been
--Visit to Seattle Art Museum to see Edward Hopper exhibit; afterwards, both kids hopped around outside in commemoration
--Making turkey soup with homemade noodles (I had to steal some turkey fragments from Laramie's soup pile to make myself one tiny traditional post-thanksgiving sandwich)

Kid Rules

Katherine and Alex's tic-tac-toe game, Katherine has two in a row.
Katherine tells Alex, "No, you have to go here to block me!" Helps him make the X to her satisfaction. Continues to coach him as they reach a draw.
At the end of the fourth turn, Alex looks at the board. "You have four and I have four. We win!"

Jokes

Today Katherine asked what teasing was. I tried to explain that teasing was like joking, or maybe it means making fun of someone. "But what's a joke?" she said.

I was stumped. I told her it's saying something funny, but then I couldn't think of any. Finally I tried to explain with a Knock, knock joke: "Knock knock. Who's there? Orange. Orange, who? Orange you glad I didn't say banana?" It was the only one I could think of, and I think I left out a major part. So my explanation wasn't very clear.

Still, Alex was fascinated and decided to give it a try.
"Knock, knock."
"Who's there?"
"A banana with two mouths1"

and
"Knock, knock."
"Who's there?"
"A banana with feet!"

To Sit Down

There is always too much to do. Feed one child. Deliver to school. Feed another child. Clean up mess. Feed them again. Do laundry. Vacuum (yes, I do vacuum once in a great while). Pay bills, make appointments, answer mail. Herd children to the bathroom, to play outside, to come back inside, to quiet time (never need to herd them out of it.) Feed children. Clean up. Herd children to bed. Collapse, sleep (too little) and repeat.

Tonight I read in Alma 7 his promise to the righteous of the valley of Gideon: that ye may at last be brought to sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the holy prophets who have been ever since the world began, having your garments spotless even as their garments are spotless, in the kingdom of heaven to go no more out. Never mind the crowns, the spotless garments, the company of exalted prophets. Right now, just sitting down sounds like heaven to me.

Drinks

"Alex, don't you want a coat? It's raining outside."
"I want my hair to have a drink from the rain."

"And don't you want shoes in case you step in a puddle?"
"No, I want my toes to have a drink."

Hitting

“This is Alex hitting me and me saying, ‘It’s all right—let’s pick up the leaves!’”
by Katherine

Prizes!

Alex's picture

Katherine's picture

Results from the local grocery store coloring contest, which we entered only to see if they would put the kids' pictures up on the wall. Surprise! Alex won first place in his category--probably for his exuberance.

Post Halloween

Katherine and Alex had a great time doing experiments with their Halloween candy. These involved comparing hot/warm/cold water for dissolving, mixing colors, and lots of stirring.

Walking in the Rain

Waking up early always reminds me of moving to England, where the time lag kept us tired for a week or two. And walking reminds me of England as well, because the main University campus was miles away and taking the bus hardly saved any time. Walking in the rain especially reminds me of England, because we visited Fountains Abbey (a ruin with no ceilings) and the adjoining gardens on the day of a rainstorm that started an internationally-reported flood. We had to walk four miles back to town that day, in coats but no rain jackets (so embarrassing for Seattle residents), with an umbrella that protected my head but directed torrents of water onto my backpack. Ah, England.

So when I got up this morning, yawning, to get Katherine ready for school, and saw rain outside, I felt a little pang of homesickness. Halfway to school, I parked the car and got her out. And we walked to school in the rain.

Cough, cough, cough

Rebecca picked up a new mannerism in the middle of all her nighttime wailing--an introductory coughing fit. If she's discontented, or about to start into a serious squall, we start to hear it: cough, cough, cough. "No wonder," says Laramie, "since she sees Mommy coughing all the time.

The Mary Poppins Camel

The Mary Poppins camel started appearing about a month and a half ago (right after my kids watched Mary Poppins at Grandma's house). It's a Lego camel with an extra set of arms behind the hump that the kids zoom around the room or throw down the stairs. Yesterday I finally asked why it was a Mary Poppins camel. "The arms help it fly," Katherine explained. "Like Mary Poppins!"

Pullman Visit

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Flying Stegasaurus & Other oddities