The end

It's the end of the year. It's also the end of this blog.

There is so much to reflect on this year. I am healthy and do not take that for granted. I have a home and a beautiful family. I celebrated seven years of marriage with a man who, given the choice, I would marry all over again each and every day. He makes my life better in more ways than I could ever hope to count and I fall in love with him all over again every time I see him with our kids. He is wonderful and I thank God every day for blessing my life with him. My children have grown this year and although trying at times, continue to give me the privilege of being their mom. When the day is done and they've been in bed for a few hours and I've had time to recoup from another wild and crazy day and I go get them up to go potty before I head off to bed, there is something special about lifting that sack of potatoes out of his bed and having him snuggle into my neck and nestle in. He sometimes lazily pats my back while I pat his, and it fills me up and warms me all the way to my soul. Kailin is more likely to bless me with a random, incoherent statement and a goofy grin - but truly, what better way to end a day than with a little humor? Those two make me crazier than I ever thought possible and I've sometimes been known to tell them I'm only answering to "Frank" for the rest of the day because I just can't hear "Mo-om" one more time, but the truth of the matter is that my life would be pretty empty without them and for every moment that they make me crazy there are an equal number of moments that they give me the greatest joy I've ever known. I am so blessed by and thankful for my extended family and my friends. Amongst us we have celebrated marriages, births, mourned losses, shared laughter and tears - all in the course of 365 days. That's pretty amazing when you really think about it.

I don't like to make New Year's resolutions. I like to make changes in my life, but I try not to base them around New Year's and instead try to implement them as they come up, but I do have a few things that I'll be working on this next year. One thing is to slow it all down. I work hard to maintain a lot of different relationships, and living as "far" as we do from most people we would like to see on a regular basis means that a lot of our weekends get pretty packed full of activities. They are fun activities for certain, but all the same, I think this year is going to be one where I try to focus us back on our little family. I'm going to work harder at taking joy in the everyday things in life and look at it less like work. I'm going to blog more. There are so many things I didn't blog here that I know I will wish that I had. But I said up there that this is the end of this blog. This is the last post on this blog.

There's another big change in my life, but it's no resolution! To see what's got Colby so filled with emotion (not sure if that's surprise, shock, fear, happiness, or some kind of a Heinz 57 mix - or maybe he just likes the idea that he got a new shirt out of this bit...), head on over to www.threelittledumplings.blogspot.com .

The ugliest Christmas Tree

Well I've been meaning to post this for about a month now. It just seems that every time I sit down to blog, I'm needed somewhere else or I need to do something else or.... I need to just make it a priority, I guess.

Anyway, we tried a new place for our Christmas tree this year. It's a farm with trees, not a tree farm, and the guy charges $25 (on your honor) for any tree on the place you want to cut. You drive around until you see some trees you might like and then you pile out and tromp around and decide if any of them might be your tree. A lot of them have 13 backs and some of them are just laughable. None of them are groomed, so all of them are pretty au natural.

The kids had a delightful time tromping around, looking at deer poop, and Kailin even spotted a 6 point buck bounding across a field (her Daddy's going to get her out hunting yet!). We let the kids ride with "real seatbelts" throughout the farm as we were the only car on the place for most of our visit and bundling them in and out of their seats seemed just kind of ridiculous. They were ecstatic about that! We had "The Muppet Christmas Carol" playing, there was a bite in the air but it wasn't cold....it was the perfect day for it. At one point, Kailin noted (in a rather disgusted voice), "I smell like....TREE!"

We finally decided on a fir that we thought looked nice. It was a different "feel" than our normal trees - less bulky and a little branchier. I was ready for a change. I thought. We got it home and got it in (only two cuts this year!) and...well....I didn't like it so much. It just didn't look right. In fact, I was beginning to feel like it was maybe the ugliest tree we've ever had.

But Steve put the lights on it and then the kids and I hung ornaments one afternoon and you know - it wasn't the ugliest tree we've ever had. It was my favorite. The way the branches are formed there are plenty of places to hang ornaments out toward the tips as well as in toward the trunk. The lights sort of give the whole tree a glow. I'm mixing tenses here and I don't even care - that's how much I love the tree.

That's the post I would have posted if I'd posted it when I meant to. Instead I now have to finish this by saying that for reasons still unknown to us, we literally watched our beautiful tree brown and crisp up over a matter of days. We cut it ourselves and watered it religiously, so I'm not sure what went wrong. I'm sad that tomorrow we will be taking it down - the earliest we have ever done so in the history of our family.

I do think that it was a good lesson for me to see the beauty in all things and to remember that sometimes the things that are most beautiful in our lives appear in places and ways we least expect. I"m going to come back to that soon. Just wait. :o)

So Thankful

This post is a little late. Our Thanksgiving this year was a little on the nuts side. Not nearly as nuts as our Christmas used to be before we had kids, but nuts all the same! Thanksgiving morning we kind of lazed around just a bit, enjoyed a little of the parade, and then were off to celebrate with the Gannaway side. We visited with both sides of Steve's family and had a wonderful day of it, came home full (although the careful planning of when to leave so that the overtired children could fall asleep in the car, but only if they were able to stay sleeping when we got home so that we avoided the whole "nap in the car, never sleep at night" scenario" meant that although the adults were feeling fat and happy, the kids were hungry about the time we headed home. Since reheating leftover Thanksgiving dinner is not a good "in the car" event, we actually stopped at McDonald's for the kids. I hate patronizing businesses on Thanksgiving since it justifies them being open and thus takes someone away from their family, but in this case, I was so glad they were open!) and happy and made an early evening of it. Friday morning we got up and had a bit of a lazy morning again with just a little black Friday shopping online for me. Then we were off to celebrate Thanksgiving on the Schultz side. It was another fantastic day with family and we finally made it home in time to put the adults to bed for the night. Saturday was spent decorating the house and Sunday after church we went on a Christmas Tree adventure (that's another post) and finished out the weekend with the local Christmas Parade. Yesterday was a day of recovery and today I am sitting down to count my blessings (at least publicly - I actually try to count them daily and of course focused on them over the holiday weekend).

I am truly thankful for each and every blessing in my life. This year I am most thankful for my health, for my wonderful and amazing husband who truly has stood beside me in times of sickness and in health, in times of abundance and in times of lean, when I'm happy and when I'm sad, through every day of my life since our first date, for my beautiful children and for my amazing God who makes it all possible. I am also thankful for a home that not only provides shelter over our heads, but is filled with love and warmth the whole year through. I'm thankful that my husband has a job and is able and willing to provide for our family. I know some of those things sound cliche, but they are also things too often taken for granted. I want to remember not to think for a minute that I am owed anything in this life - that I am blessed by each and every thing that makes up my day to day life. These things are all privileges, not rights and I should remember more often to treat them as such. May this be a year for remembering blessings every day.

A little Christmas before Thanksgiving

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The Ten Minute Turkey

Today Kailin brought home a book of Thanksgiving recipes that her class put together. Her contribution was "Trke". The recipe, as she dictated to her teacher, is: "Get a turkey from the farm. Put it in the oven for 10 minutes. Take it out and put it in a pot. Wait until Thanksgiving and eat it!". Priceless. Absolutely priceless!!

Patty Cake

Heard this morning in our house... "Patty cake, patty cake, bake your hands". "Bake your hands??" "Oops, no. I didn't mean that."

Constipated dinosaurs

The other morning we were reading a dinosaur book and Colby matter of factly announced that "dinosaurs can't crap". This stumped me on two levels. First, we don't use the word "crap" around our house so I was wondering where he'd heard it. Second, I wondered just what inspired him to believe that dinosaurs can't do it. The book was about a dinosaur having friends over to play...so no toilet habits were involved. I asked for clarification and was met with confirmation that my son believed that our prehistoric friends were interminably constipated. Hmmm.... Finally he demonstrated to me what he meant. CLAP. Colby believes that dinosaurs can't clap. I'm guessing he's right - but in any case it's a far more probable thing than that they can't crap.

Caught in the Act

The other day I let the kids go out in the backyard to play on the playset Steve built for them this summer. They were given strict orders to stay on the swings and not to climb up into the tower. Before anyone goes off about me being an overprotective mother, let me comment that the reason for the mandate is that Steve hadn't yet been able to reattach the slide that blew off in the 70mph wind storm we had the other week and I didn't want the kids forgetting about the gaping hole and falling out the front side of the tower. But back to our story... the kids were out there playing on the swings which isn't particularly fun for Colby at the moment because he can't get on the swing himself and also hasn't quite mastered the leg pump technique to keep himself going. I happened to glance out just in time to see my daughter pushing her brother on the swing and laughing with him. It's moments like those that remind me that my children DO love each other and that all the times I encourage them to treat each other with kindness really do sink in. As soon as she took a break, I called her over to praise her up. That, too, was a good lesson. She ran right back over and asked Colby if he'd like another turn on the swing - even moms need a reminder sometimes that kindness breeds kindness and praise goes further than admonition.

I....just.....can't....stop!

We've pretty much stopped napping Colby. If he naps, he's moderately more likable between the hours of 4 and 7pm, but then he won't go to sleep. He will remain awake in his bed, sometimes until after Steve and I have gone to sleep. It's not fun, so instead we keep him up and endure him between the hours of 4 and 7pm. Sometimes, though, we win some kind of parental booby prize where he shines during that time - perhaps out of utter exhaustion.

One evening after dinner he was so tired that when I touched him with my cold hands while helping him get his jammies on, he burst into laughter and giggled heartily for quite some time. Soon all I had to do was look at him with wide eyes and he would burst into hysterical laughter. If I simultaneously puffed out my cheeks, he was lost in peels of uncontrollable laughter until he couldn't breathe. I had settled him into bed and walked across the room to tuck Kailin in. I was doing her bed bugs when I noticed that he was sitting up, laughing uncontrollable again. I went back over and asked him what he was laughing at. He said Bubbee's bed bugs were funny. I told him that he needed to start settling down and he said, "I twying, Mommy. I.....*giggle, giggle, giggle*....... just......*giggle, giggle, giggle*...... can't.......*giggle, giggle, giggle*......stop!!" and truly he could not. Finally he did and I vowed to remember those moments the next time he was being....three and unbearable. It happened the very next day. And such is life with a three year old boy!

Jesus take the wheel....

I overheard the following conversation the other day while the kids were playing Little People in the living room.

K: "You have that one. And this guy is Jesus. And this is Jesus' truck."
C: "Oh, okay." (that boy will almost always accept anything his sister says and the absolute de facto truth!)
They went on playing for a few minutes when I then heard Kailin scream, "Colby!!! WHAT did you do to Jesus?!" I never did learn what sad fate had befallen the Lord, but I trust that it wasn't a nice one! When I relayed this story to a friend of mine she asked if Jesus was a Ford man or.... I guess I never went in the living room to see which truck was His, so it'll have to stay a mystery.

Later that very same day as I was finishing up our supper, Kailin was puttering around helping me by setting the table. She said, "I'm a puff-head, I'm a puff-head...." over and over. Then she asked, "Mom, do you know what I am?" I postulated, "a puff-head?" "Nope, I'm a pothead!" "Uh....let's not say that one again, okay?" Lovely. My five year old aspires to be a pothead. I suppose that, on the bright side, we know it's something she can achieve. Ha ha.

Horton, Peter Sam, and Sebastard

Three guys walk into a bar.... no wait...three kids sitting at my kitchen table.

Today at lunch Kailin started calling Colby "Horton". She said he likes it. He didn't object. Colby started calling Dawson "Peter Sam". He didn't imply that Dawson liked it. Dawson didn't object.

Later today at lunch, Kailin was talking about "The Little Mermaid" and she said that her favorite part was the one where Ariel does "this" (where "this" is a lot of arm waving that I don't recall Ariel actually doing...) and that she didn't like the parts where Ariel has lost her voice. I agreed that I don't like it when she's lost her voice, but told her that my favorite part is where Sebastian is singing to Eric and Ariel and that happens when she doesn't have her voice. She agreed. "The part where Sebastard is singing is pretty good. And then those fish dump the boat over." She continued to use "Sebastard" throughout the day - even though I continued to say it correctly.

I giggled to myself each and every time and then found new and interesting ways to get her to say it. I know - I'm horrible. Then at dinner I tried to get her to say it for Steve and she said she couldn't remember his name. Finally, on the way home from open house at school she did remember and then Steve and I laughed together for a very long time.

I'm moving out....

Last week just before bed, Kailin and I had a long discussion about what happens when kids grow up. "What will you do," she asked, "when Colby and me grow up?" "Be sad and lonely," I said. "Why?" "Because you'll grow up and move out and this house will be horribly quiet." "What?" "Well if you're not here talking and giggling then it's going to be quiet." "Why won't I be here?" "Because when you get all grown up you will move out and have your own house." "Why would I do that?" "You'll want to have your own place, trust me. Now it's time for bed. Goodnight!"

Today at lunch, Kailin very seriously informed her brother that when they get all grown up, I will be moving out. Me. I told her that she was a bit mistaken. She told me that I must be joking. I told her that I most definitely was not moving out. She's convinced, still, that I am joking. I guess we'll see who's right - maybe by the time the kids are grown they will indeed finally have taken over the house and we will actually flee....

Another one bites the dust...

And another one's gone, another one's gone, another one bites the dust....

Kailin lost her second tooth today. It went the same way as the first - unnoticed and swallowed. She finally felt that it was gone and came running for confirmation. She also spent a great deal of time in front of the mirror admiring her new smile. Ha ha. I am just glad that it happened before school pictures. It's all about me, you know. I did want her to be kind of toothless for pictures because I figured that by next year she'd have at least some of her "big" teeth in.

She called my mom and also talked to Steve. She told them both that she wished she could stop eating her teeth "and just put it in a bag under my pillow so the tooth fairy could change it into 'sun-tin'". Poor kid. She took it in stride. She and her equally overtired brother are watching 101 Dalmatians at the moment and then she's going to write ANOTHER letter to the tooth fairy for tonight.

Toothwatch 2010

I've been remiss in posting updates to Toothwatch 2010. As is typical, the tooth has become looser and looser but had continued to refuse to "loose out".

As of yesterday, the tooth was able to be pushed completely horizontal in either direction and the tiny jagged "roots" were showing. We cajoled Kailin into giving it a good yank, but nothing happened.

We were up at the lake cottage this weekend and ate lunch on the road home today. I made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches as they have been something she's been able to bite without pain and the idea of cutting up any sandwich into tiny pieces for "road eating" with 2 dogs in the back and no good way to clean up the kids after the meal was not desirable. She did complain a bit that biting the sandwich was hurting, so I told her to tear pieces off and left it at that.

When we stopped for a bathroom break, I was loading the kids in the car and thought I caught a glimpse of a gap-toothed smile. Sure enough, the tooth came out sometime during lunch and has been swallowed. I was a little nervous that given the overtired and overemotional state of my darling daughter she would burst into tears and mourn it's loss, but she actually giggled about it and agreed that we'd write the tooth fairy a little note explaining that she ate her tooth. She's hoping the tooth fairy will think it's funny and she assures me that, like Santa Claus, the tooth fairy knows everything and she's already keen to the story. I guess we'll see!

If it looses out...

I'm going away this weekend with a friend. I need a break. It's been a really long summer with a lot of kids. Unfortunately, my break is coming at the very moment when Kailin's first loose tooth is on the verge of coming out.

It's not even the tooth we were sure would be her first (the wigglier of the wigglers at the dentist appointment) it's a come from behind victor in a tortoise and the hare scenario. Anyway, it's pretty darn loose. Not loose enough to hope that it will come out this afternoon before I leave, but surely loose enough that it might come out inside of the next 4 days while I am gone.

So I know I'm going to get no sympathy from working moms everywhere who miss a lot of the firsts and have had to come to terms with that, but as a stay at home mom who has never missed a first anything, this one is kind of big. Steve told me that we could wait til I get back to leave the tooth for the tooth fairy, but I wasn't sure how that would fly with Kailin.

When I told her today that I was going away for a few days and might miss her first tooth coming out and that I was kind of sad about that, that darling daughter of mine said "How 'bout if it looses out before you come home, we could wait til you get back before the tooth fairy comes?" I told her that I liked that plan just fine. She also told me that she wants to put it in a bag under her pillow so that no blood will get on her bed.

I told her that if she loses it she can call me to tell me about it right away and that I'd like that very much and she said, "You mean if it's loose I can call you and tell you?" I told her that it was already loose and she should call if it fell out. She said, "Yeah, if it looses out then we'll call?" Oh I love that girl....

Following my gut...

I couldn't decide today whether or not to take the two 5 year olds, the 3.5 year old, and the almost 3 year old to Target to get the rest of Kailin's school supplies or not. On the one hand, we've been home-bound for the entire week and it would be nice to get out a bit and have a change of scenery. On the other hand, the kids haven't been very well behaved this week and mass chaos and mutiny at home is a far cry from mass chaos and mutiny on the road! Sometimes, though, a change of scenery is just the trick to solve the problem. Something in me pushed to get out, so off we went. I felt a pull to the Target further from our home. It has better clearance sales and is a little larger than the slightly closer Target in Grafton. I followed my gut and headed north.

While browsing in the children's clothing section I heard "Sarah?" and turned around to see an Asian woman I didn't particularly recognize with joyful recognition on her face. As she got closer (and after she'd said her name to be entirely honest) I realized it was the friend I've known the longest in my whole life - we've known each other from infancy and I'd regrettably lost track of her for about the last 15 years. We grew up about 60 miles from here, so the fact that we both live in this area is incredibly unlikely. We had a great chat for about 10 minutes and agreed to try to get together next week (REALLY...we promised!) and catch up some more. I felt like no time had passed and was just as comfortable chatting with her as I'd ever been - she loves me warts and all and always has. I'm so glad I listened to myself today and that I've just begun rekindling a wonderful friendship as a result. Beck and I seem to come into each other's lives at just the right time and I am so blessed to have a true friend in her.

Corn off the cob

Kailin's wiggly tooth is starting to hurt a bit. I've been snapping pictures of her "tiny teeth" left and right because I love them so much. A part of me is definitely hoping that she loses at least one before picture time because then we'll have her holey smile captured forever - by next year she'll have some big teeth in even if she's missing others. We'll see what happens...

Tonight we had corn on the cob for dinner and to Kailin's dismay, it hurt her wiggly tooth too much to eat it. I cut it all off the cob for her and she was interested at how it looked on her plate. It goes without saying that she ate it all up and asked for seconds, but I just wanted to remember the night the corn came of the cob.

I *heart* Moon Sand

No, I don't. Perhaps *heart* would be more appropriately replaced with any (or many) of the following: dislike, detest, loathe, hate, abhor, and/or despise. Moon Sand was clearly invented by someone who is not a parent and may possibly have been invented by someone who hates parents or by someone with a sick sense of humor who sees parents as fools who desire children or by someone who is a grandparent and wants to see current generation parents suffer for real or supposed misdeeds toward their own parents or by someone who is just plain mean. I am SURE that Moon Sand was not invented by a mom.

Kailin asked for Moon Sand for her birthday and being the cool mom that I am I passed along the request to several relatives and friends. (You KNOW who you are and if you know about Moon Sand and didn't question my judgement in having requested it as a gift, then you will PAY dearly!) Kailin got Moon Sand. LOTS of Moon Sand. I got a lesson in carefully researching birthday requests before passing them along.

I brought the Moon Sand out today since it's been in the upper 80's/lower 90's and HUMID (read 80% or better most days) all week. We went outside one day and wilted after only half an hour. So we've been cooped up and the kids were getting ornery and I thought that a new diversion might be just the thing. Little did I know....

In fairness, it DID occupy the kids for over 2 hours. However, it is literally the biggest mess I've ever cleaned up (that didn't involve bodily fluids). The Moon Sand is exactly like sand until you compress it at which point it becomes somewhat dough-like until you mash it a little too hard at which point it re-dissolves into sand again. Sounds like fun, right? Every child's dream, right? Indeed, it is - and every mother's nightmare!! I gave the kids baking dishes to contain the sand in and STILL it ended up everywhere! ....Mashed into their hands and feet all over the floor and table, the chairs, their clothes....everything! It did sweep up rather nicely, I must admit, but it was still a mess. A giant mess. A mess which henceforth we will be conducting OUTSIDE!

At least eventually it will all dry up and I can throw it out... oh right, it NEVER DRIES OUT!

the tooth fairy

The tooth fairy has not yet visited our house, but today at the dentist Kailin's hygienist told her that she has a few "wigglers" on the bottom and sure enough, there are some wiggly little teeth in there! Kailin's pretty excited about having the tooth fairy come (whereas her dear friend Andrew is NOT - he is HORRIFIED that the tooth fairy doesn't give the teeth back!). I was talking to her about what she was expecting to find under her pillow after the tooth fairy comes and this is what she told me...

"No, mom... FIRST she comes in. THEN she cleans all the blood off of the tooth. And THEN she can make it into something - you know, like a toy or a money."

All these years and I thought the tooth fairy just had a giant collection of used teeth somewhere. It's far more practical that she's been turning them into toys and money all this time! Gosh I love my daughter!

Choo choo! Here comes the sugar train!

The day after the five hour tour, we took the kids and went to a Lumberjack camp/Steam train attraction about 40 minutes northeast of our cottage. Colby is huge into trains and we knew it would be a hit with him. We got to ride in the caboose (and in the top of the caboose at that!) and he was THRILLED! When we had to get off, however, he was NOT thrilled. NOT. We got past it and had a great time - we took a little pontoon ride down the Rat River, got to pet a slew of baby farm animals and then got to ride the train back to the station. It was a fun day and another memory from my childhood that I got to share with my kids. Fun times! What was NOT fun was that it took the kids 2.5 hours to fall asleep that evening after having been run ragged all day and having had only 6.5 hours of sleep the previous night.

The next morning we had a bit of a slow start to things and then decided to head on out and try some geocaching. The kids were not into listening and we were planning on searching on a somewhat busy atv/hiking trail that turned out to be located adjacent to a busy highway. Although we did manage a car picnic for lunch, it was clear that we were not going to have a safe situation with the busy roads and the not listening and the kids just weren't into it. We packed it in and decided to try the fantastic (and LARGE) candy store in nearby Lakewood for a shift in activity. Do I need to even bother saying that the kids were VERY into that activity? Ha ha. They loved it. We had some ice cream, the kids played a game of giant checkers with Steve, we bought a few treats, and we spent nearly an hour and a half wandering around looking at the offerings and deciding that the candy store in Lakewood will be a family tradition when we visit. It was a great lesson in choosing to shift to an activity the kids ARE into rather than trying to force the one we want to share with them with the result of everyone being stressed and in a bad mood. Yes, the kids ended up "rewarded" for their bad attitudes, but as I pointed out to Steve - they had no idea we were even considering the candy store and we hadn't promised it for good behavior, nor had we threatened to take it away for bad behavior. So all we did was change the plan. Besides, once they were good and sugared up we had a great time for a good long while. It's all about perspective!

FIVE hour tour

I know that the font is tiny and the formatting is funky. I typed this blog entry while we had no internet access and tried unsuccessfully 47 times to copy and paste it here. So I saved it as a jpg and now I'm done fooling with it.

Camptastic!

We just returned from a five day adventure in the wilderness. Okay, it was a camping trip in a state park well within an arm's reach of civilization. However, it was our first attempt at camping with the kids and we were a bit concerned. We had a blast! Yes, there were moments of insanity, lack of patience, tantrums, and ill mannered children, but they were far outnumbered by the moments of awe and wonder, tenderness, joy, and humor.

We tented it while our dear friends and their five children resided in their camper. The kids loved the concept of the tent. It was a little hard to settle them down at bedtime even after running them all day and leaving them up from nap, but Steve did a fantastic job of it every night (I claim NO credit there). It was STICKY and hot while we camped, but the tent cooled off at night and was entirely bearable. We did weather two pretty nasty thunderstorms. The first night, both kids slept through the storm, but Colby woke up during the windstorm that followed the thunderstorm. He wasn't scared, but laid on his bed calmly and told Steve that he wanted to "watch the wind". The second night he slept through the massive thunderstorm, but Kailin woke up and told us she was scared. We had her climb in with us and she snuggled in much the way she used to when she first came home and fell asleep immediately.

I think the highlights of the trip were riding the Wisconsin Ducks, riding a mini steam locomotive, and playing in a creek - Colby was allllll boy for that adventure - sitting right down in the water the first time I turned loose of his hand. The only true "lowlight" was that Colby apparently got himself into some wild parsnip and now has some nasty looking blisters on his lower legs. Thankfully he doesn't seem terribly bothered by them, and I'm hoping that they heal fast. It has postponed our swim lessons, but it's no huge deal.

We are headed up north to my family's cabin this weekend and I can't wait to watch my kids laugh and explore some more. We haven't taken many family vacations together, but now that we've started I'm kind of hooked!

Inchy

I found a caterpillar on some lettuce I cut from the garden the other day. I showed him to the kids and we turned a just emptied mayonnaise jar into a home for him and the kids have their first (I'm sure of many) bug pet. "Inchy" mainly crawled around and explored his new condo that first day, when he wasn't curled into a ball out of fright from an excited Kailin ferrying him around showing him her world (who could stop her from doing that?!). I stuffed a lettuce and a spinach leaf in there with him, and he munched away.

What I learned overnight is that a. Inchy, like caterpillars are made to do, grew A LOT overnight. I also learned that b. Inchy poops. A LOT. MUCH. Copious amounts of caterpillar crap dot the inside of his condo now. I'd like to clean it out. But to be honest, Inchy's getting to the size that kind of grosses me out. I'm happy to keep shoving lettuce leaves in there for him and hoping that he'll turn into a cocoon and then a butterfly. But I don't need to touch him. Ha ha ha.

Bring in the circus cows!

Yes, I did mean circus cows, not clowns. The kids and I attended Washington County's "Breakfast on the Farm" last weekend and it was eventful for certain!! Both kids were a tad (read MUCH) underslept, Colby is VERY three, and I was faring things alone since Steve was a bit under the weather. Despite the tantrums and spectacles (us, not the animals), I think both kids had a great time. We had a wonderful breakfast of pancakes, sausages (Kailin's favorite), scrambled eggs (Colby's favorite), applesauce, and all the organic milk we could drink. Then we took a barn tour. Kailin was very taken with the calves and only balked a bit at the smell in the big barn. When we left the milking parlor and headed out for the pasture to see the big cows, she was in her glory. Both kids love all animals and have no fear, so they paraded up as close as I would let them. After we finished with that, the kids took a ride in a barrel tractor. That was a huge hit and well worth $2! They each got the chance to hold a chick, pet rabbits, kittens, and chickens, see horses and geese and then we got what they'd been after allllllll morning - a balloon. We'd seen dozens of helium balloons fly up into the sky all morning and I cautioned them strongly to hang on tight to their balloons. It took about 25 seconds for Kailin to let go of hers and launch into a wailing bundle of tears so loud that the balloon lady came running over to offer her another one. At that point I looped the strings so that the balloons would be attached to the kids' arms. Colby refused. To his credit, he did keep hold of his balloon for another half hour -til we were just about to the car and then off it flew. The balloon lady was nowhere near, so he was left with empty hands and promising that "next time I yisten to Mommy." That's getting a teeny bit ahead of the story, though.... after we got balloons, I decided it was time to start heading home so I aimed us over toward a "bathroom". We did our business...well the kids did....I had to hold it since I couldn't figure out how to get all three of us in there with any kind of hope of not having my kids covered in filth and germs, and saw that there was a huge John Deere tractor nearby. The door was open so I let the kids climb up inside. Colby was instantly smitten with this giant machine he could drive. I told them they could play with the steering wheel, "but no buttons!" and Colby immediately wanted to know why and when I didn't answer him, he started hypothesizing.... "If I push buttons then I drive dat way and run over dat circus?" "It's not a circus, bud, it's just a tent for the musicians." "Dat a circus." "okay, fine."

When I could finally pry my youngest from the lure of the John Deere, we headed for the tractor that would take us to the car. It would have taken us to the car, that is, if I'd remembered where we parked. It was a little disorienting since there are no landmarks except cows, and they tend to move a lot! We got off the tractor where I thought the car was (it wasn't) and ended up walking on over to the fence line to get a better idea of where it might be. That turned out to be one of the best things we did all day! They kids were excited to be close to the cows and it almost appeared that the cows were excited about being close to the kids. A bunch of them wandered over to check us out. I snapped some fun cow pictures for my "farm wall" and the kids had fun mooing at and waving to the cows. All in all, it was a fun but exhausting morning and I'm glad we went!

What I didn't realize is that the circus thing would stick. All the way home he wondered if every farm we passed was "the circus". Then later he described his experience at the circus to Steve's parents. Then yesterday as we drove the country highway to the grocery store, he again asked at every farm as to whether or not it was "the circus". No amount of correcting that it is a farm and not a circus will dissuade him. He's tenacious for certain! Now I'm just kind of curious as to how long it will last.

The Farmer in the Down....

I had to record this before it goes away. Colby sings the old familiar "The Farmer in the Dell" song but has edited it to be "The Farmer in the Down." I'm not sure what, exactly, he thinks a "down" is, but come to think of it, he probably doesn't know what a dell is, either. ha ha ha. I love listening to him sing it and I'm also presently taken with his version of "Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby" which he learned while watching "Tom and Jerry". I'm doing my best to capture it on video because it is a sight to behold - unlike "the Farmer in the Down," this one includes dancing and butt bumping and some 'tude in his voice. Priceless.

Whistle a happy tune...

Kailin has finally learned to whistle! She's getting pretty good and has gone from being only just barely audible last weekend to whistling a little (recognizable) tune now! I'm so proud of her. She's been working diligently (and patiently, I might add) for SO long. I just got her yearbook back today (I'd sent it to school with a note asking her teacher and the aide to write down their favorite memories of her) and Mrs. Ferber said that the day that Kailin nearly leapt off the bus with a huge smile on her face ready to show her that she could finally whistle was her favorite day all year.

Today was Kailin's last day of 4k. I can hardly believe that a year has gone by (well, 9 months) since she first boarded that bus with a smile on her face. I'm thrilled to say that she got on the bus that very same way today - not excited that it was the last day of school, but excited that she got to go to school. I am forever indebted to Mrs. Hokanson and Mrs. Ferber for all that they did to give her a fantastic base to build on. She's already excited about 5k next year even though we have yet to find any of her classmates (she'll be in half day 5k whereas most of the kids will be full day). When I told her that I didn't think any of her close friends would be in her class next year, she surprised me by saying "That's okay, Mom, I'll just make some new ones!" without any hesitation or dismay in her voice.

That little girl of mine sure has grown up these past months. I'm extremely proud of her and of who she is becoming. I love her beyond a shadow of a doubt and more than I could ever hope to express in words.

four amazing years

It's already been four amazing years since we held Kailin for the first time. It's gone by in the blink of an eye and then again it seems like it's been forever ago. Sometimes I feel like she hasn't changed much (even though I know she has), and then I look back at pictures or hold a baby who weighs 15lbs or so and I realize just how much she's changed.

At the time, I thought she was doing fabulously, but looking back at the pictures of her from right after she came home tells me that she was frightened and shell-shocked. She was insecure and probably even terrified. She's come so far from that - she's confident, funny, happy (most of the time), well adjusted, and full of spunk.

I'm so happy that God chose her for our family, and I hope that her birthparents are able to somehow know just how loved she is!!

We took the kids out for Chinese food to celebrate the big day - Kailin's choice, back on May 15 when the actual anniversary was, and they had a blast.

A horrific trip to the grocery store...

Wow - I can't believe it's been almost a month since I posted anything. Hmmm...

We had a horrific trip to the grocery store last night. Possibly the most humiliating of my life. Embarrassing to say the least. Let's just say that I ended up with both kids IN the cart and all of my groceries precariously balanced UNDER the cart, a prayer of thanks that I only need "a few" things, and a sincere thought of parking my cart and running away.

In light of that event, I have decided to write a post extolling all (okay some) of the wonderful things about my kids. After all - what better way to remember that they're not always like that than to list all of the things that you love about them?!

So I love the impish look Colby gives me when he can't decide if my tone means I'm really upset with him or if I'm "just joking" him. And I also love the tight little O that he forms with his mouth as his eyebrows go up every time he is taken by surprise by something. I love that when I go upstairs to bed and get him up to go potty, he clings to me like a little monkey in his sleepy state and immediately tangles one hand into my hair and rubs my neck with the other. And I even love that when I tell him that I love him he often says "kanks, mom" instead of "I love you." I love to kiss him behind his ears - it's my special spot and I adore his tiny little nose. His hysterical laugh when he's tired and being tickled warms me to the very bottom of my heart. I love that boy from top to bottom, warts and all.

I love the gleam in Kailin's eye when she is truly excited beyond belief about something or when she learns something new. I love watching her be tender with her brother - especially when he is upset. She's going to be a good mom someday. I love the way her hair falls when we put a simple clip in it off to the side. I love it when she tells me she wants to "snuggle wif me" because it doesn't happen all that often. I love her big, wide feet. I hate buying shoes to fit them, but I love the feet. I love her creative methods she uses to justify why she should get to have more sugar (chocolate in particular) - "No, jellybeans isn't candy, that was SNACK!" I love that she's so passionate about things in her life even if it means that right now my mantra has to be "it will serve her well LATER" - her passion tells me that her early months didn't change her ability to feel. I love her throaty, raspy, uncontrollable laugh. It's usually when she's tired, but sometimes she surprises me - in any case it is one of my most favorite sounds in the world. She's coming into her own now with feelings and expressions and there is nothing more wonderful in my world than when she spontaneously says, "Mom? I just love you!" I love her more than I thought I could love another being on this earth. She is my precious daughter and my life would not be whole without her in it.

I'm going to try to draw on these things the next time I'm in the grocery store wondering if I possibly look like the WORST mother in the world with the most UNCONTROLLABLE, DISOBEDIENT children in the world.

Let the family fun begin!

I had a rare day off on Friday. I don't take a whole lot of days off, and it's even rarer that both families I sit for have their kids gone on the same day and I have a furlough day so to speak. Anyway, we were planning to spend the weekend in the Dells with our friends the Lemms anyway, and had already planned to spend Friday night at my mom's to better facilitate the trip on Saturday, so the long and short of it is that Steve took Friday off to spend with us as a family. We talked about a few different activities, but when we realized that the day was due to be beautiful, we decided on the zoo.

Of course Thursday was the most beautiful day of last week with temperatures near 80 and loads of sun, so I didn't spend as much time preparing for the trip (and for leaving the house in some sort of acceptable state for our wonderful dog sitter) as I should have. As a result, my plans to have the car packed and ready to go for Friday morning didn't exactly work out. In the past, having a bunch (9 million) things to do and knowing that I wanted us out of the house by 9:30 would have thrown me into a tizzy and although we'd probably have left on time, I would have been stressed and probably crabby and maybe even snippy. Instead, we spent an extra hour and a half finishing up what we needed to get done and packing a lunch (which I did to be frugal but which turned out to be integral to the success of the rest of the day) and leaving with sanity and good mood intact. We wanted to stop at REI on the way and treat the kids to some water bottles they'd spotted when we went to buy our tent (big family camping outing coming up in June) recently. By the time we made it to REI both kids had fallen asleep (and subsequently woken up) and it was almost noon. Not a good combo. But if you've happened to have packed a lunch for the zoo, then you could get that right out and feed the kids in the car while your wonderful husband runs in to get the bottles. Then you have a sane husband (for not having had to drag the crabtastic kids into the store) and cheerful children as well. Double bonus. AND you don't have to stop to eat first thing when you arrive at the zoo. Chalk another one up in our favor.

We hadn't told the kids where we were going, but they both recognized the zoo entrance and were really excited (although it wasn't clear if Colby was more excited about seeing the zoo or seeing lots of buses...). We examined the flamingos at length and talked about how their knees bend opposite of ours, why they are pink, and how silly they look standing on one leg with their long necks bent backward and their heads on their backs. We toured the aviary and Kailin fell in love with the Kookaburra (and asked me to take a picture of it so that she can put it up near her bed). We made the day into a "yes day" and said yes when the kids wanted to ride on the "foot jiggler" and said yes to feeding the goats (although we later saw that the goat yard was closed), and yes to riding the train AND the carousel (IF they behaved - more on that later), and we'd already discussed getting them ice cream in the dairy complex. These family days are rare and will be rarer still come next fall when Kailin is in school M-F, so we do what we can to really enjoy them. We finally made it to the dairy complex (it's at the end of our normal route) and the kids got to see a cow being milked for the first time. Kailin was really intrigued. Colby was really not. He was far more interested in going to play in the play area. We managed both, and then trooped the kids off for ice cream. They have about 18 different flavors. Kailin was really taken with the rainbow sherbet, but chose chocolate with peanut butter cups in the end. Colby immediately chose blue moon and stuck with it.

They both enjoyed their ice cream and then it was off to ride the carousel and the train before we headed off to Nai Nai's for the night. Literally as we rounded the corner to the carousel they shut off the lights and put out the closed sign. A quick look across to the train station showed that it, too, was closed. Kailin wasn't being a brat - she was truly heartbroken and tears just streamed down her little face. It broke my heart that she was so sad and there was nothing at all I could do about it. Thankfully, she perked up when we told her we'd pay a visit to the gift shop. Although it could've been just a few degrees warmer and maybe less windy, it was a near perfect day at the zoo and full of fond memories. I was proud of both of my kids for being well behaved and very glad that we were able to get out and have some fun together.

What the kids say...

Usually it's Colby these days who is entertaining us with his interpretation of everyday words. Kailin's had a few doozies lately that were worthy of mention - mostly because they were so stinkin' cute I never want to forget them.

The kids have been earning ice cream (not sure if I've mentioned this before) in a program we started where they begin each day with 10 marbles. If they keep their marbles all day (they lose one for failing to listen when they are asked to do (or stop) something and can only earn it back by being "caught in the act" of doing something exceptionally kind for someone else), they earn a sticker. Then at varying intervals (we have a chart so it's easy for them to see what they're working toward) they earn ice cream. The first time we took them out we decided to go to Culver's as a treat. --Let them get whatever they want. Kailin picked vanilla. With nothing on it. Just vanilla. Haaaaaa!! Figures. Colby got chocolate with M&Ms. The next time, as we were on our way, I asked Kailin what she was going to get. She said "chocolate - with M&Ms". Colby said he was going to get plain chocolate. Kailin remarked that they'd make a "patterin". Steve said "huh?" and she said, "A PATTER-IN. First I got plain and my brudder got M's. Now I am getting M's and he is getting plain. That is a patter-in." I leaned over and whispered "a pattern, honey, she means a pattern..." We both chuckled.

One day during spring break (I had 6 kids under six alllll week) I let the big kids play with their Leapsters while the little ones napped. Kailin came running into the kitchen and excitedly told me that she knew how to spell "car". "C-A-R, CAR, Mom!!!!" I congratulated her and off she went. Pretty soon she came racing back in. "I can spell eggsknit, Mom! P-A-U-S-E, eggsknit!" "No, that spells 'pause', honey. I think you pressed the pause button before you ran in here." "No, Mom, it spells 'eggsknit'" "Kailin, what sound does 'eggsknit' start with?" "Eh." "Okay, so what does the first letter of the word on your screen sound like?" "P." "So do you think that is 'eggsknit'?" "Oh, no. Well then how DO you spell 'eggsknit'?" "Well what IS an 'eggsknit'?" "Mom, an eggsknit....you know, like where you go out? The eggsknit." Hee hee hee. I just love that girl.

In the night....

I've been reading a book called "Shanghai Girls" by Lisa See. It is a novel, but is historically accurate with regard to background, places, and even some names. It begins in Shanghai, China in the 1930's and follows a pair of sisters as they run from the Japanese and eventually emigrate to the United States. It follows them here, talks about what life was like in California in the early 1940's and then after China falls to the communists. It pulled me in and caused me to think a lot about Kailin's family in China. I found myself laying in bed last night, awake in the middle of the night, thinking about things. It's likely that her grandparents were alive as China went through the changes described in the book and I wonder what they were feeling, if they tried to leave and failed, chose to stay and support the communists, or felt they had no other choice. I wonder if Kailin's parents have known anything but communism, if they truly believe in it, or if they feel differently...

I'm not looking to enter into a debate about China's one child policy, the reasons behind it or the continuing consequences of it. I don't want to talk about a perceived or actual cultural bias toward boys over girls. I have opinions about all of those things and I'm not looking to change them or defend them here. There are a lot of things I won't be able to tell Kailin about her life and family in China - not for want of protecting her from tough truths, but because I simply don't know. I know that I can someday tell Kailin that she was loved. Loved enough to be left with clothes, food, and a note in a place where her mother knew she would be found. But there are other things I will never know. Did her mother travel far from her home? Was it even her mother who had to walk away from a beautiful baby or did her father do it? Had they done it before? I wonder if Kailin was a first daughter or a second daughter or a third or a fourth and I wonder if her parents made their decision together or if it went unsaid when she was born... there are so many things that I know that I will never know - that she will never know. Sometimes that's easier for me than other times. Last night I was wondering what her mother must have felt like at the moment when she left her baby and whether or not she stayed hidden someplace and waited for someone to gather the baby up. I was sad last night to the bottom of my core that she will never see the bright twinkle in Kailin's eye when she discovers something new or when she's really proud of herself. It pulled at my heart that she will never hear Kailin's raspy, tired giggle or watch her eyes crinkle up when she laughs really hard.

It's difficult to write all of this without revealing details of either child's history that are his or her own to keep, and it's difficult to write because it's hard to put words on all of my thoughts and feelings. We have one child whose mother made an adoption plan for him and whether or not she remains a part of his life is her choice. We have another child who was obviously also loved, but whose mother (or perhaps parents) had no option to remain a part of her life. I think the essence of not knowing that one piece of information is what bothers me the most and makes me most sad. I would give almost anything to be able to share with Kailin's birthmother (or family) details of how she's grown and who she has become if she wanted to know.

These sorts of things are usually foremost in my mind on Chinese holidays, on our Family Day, Kailin's birthday, and on her finding day, but reading Shanghai girls has stirred it all up in me. I am so thankful that I get to be Kailin's mom and as I was laying there thinking about our time in China and how small she was, she called out for me in the night. She'd had a bad dream and I picked up my (not so) little girl and held her tight and while I was rocking there in the night with her, I said a prayer of thanks for my beautiful daughter, a prayer of thanks for the strength and courage it took for her mother to do what she did, and a prayer for comfort and peace for all of us as we go through this life.

Red means stop

We let the kids have some mini M&Ms after dinner tonight. They were red and green (does that tell you what vintage they might be?!). Kailin immediately ate all of her red ones. Steve asked her why and she said, "Because red means stop and I don't want to stop eating these!" and then she giggled her husky, tired, hysterical giggle - the one I love the best. I love love love that little girl (and her funny logic)!

(and then Colby, who had been eating indiscriminately, immediately consumed every last one of his red ones....)

A wonderful two days...

We had a couple of really nice days last week and we did our best to get out and fully enjoy them. 60's are rare in March and they are cause for celebration - they restore our faith that spring is indeed on the way and that we again will smell warm air and the scent of the earth defrosting after a long, cold winter. On Wednesday we took a nice walk as a family (well, Colby took a ride since his attitude of late precludes him from being trusted walking as we do not have sidewalks in much of our neighborhood), and then the kids and Steve played outside while I made dinner. I couldn't resist snapping a few shots of them tooling around on their bikes (okay, the pink tricycle doesn't really belong to Colby, but it is the one he chooses at present due to it's height and ease of pedaling...). Kailin has come a LONG way since last fall. Although she still has her training wheels on, last fall she would go approximately 8" before needing to reach for Steve or me for balance and security. This year she's hard to keep track of as she cruises up and down the sidewalk with ease. I'm proud of her!
On Thursday we scrapped our walk in favor of a trip to a really awesome playground near our house. It was a surprise to the kids and they were beyond excited about it! We played and played and played. Kailin started out on the swings and Colby in the sandbox and for awhile I wasn't sure if we'd get them to play anywhere else. Then Kailin ran off to find new adventure and when she wanted to show Steve how she could go down the fireman's pole, Colby tagged along. He discovered the slides and then spent almost the entirety of the rest of our trip climbing up and going down - as fast as he could. I tried and tried to get a picture of his brilliant smile, but all I could seem to get was his shoes. And even that shot is blurred with motion. Ha ha. Kailin was big on the slides for awhile too, but instead of simply taking the stairs back up, she clambered up the rock climbing wall more times than I can count. In the end they both ended up back on the swings and in attempting to get some nice shots of them smiling, I got these artsy shots that I fell in love with. I did get the money shots, but I love these two more for some reason - maybe because they're not perfect and they are a snapshot of a split second in time and a good reminder to stop and enjoy even the tiniest moments of joy in my day.

Steve and I had a long talk one day this winter about striving to truly enjoy our kids more and spending less time trying to "get through the day" given their ages and what that means in terms of their behavior. We've been working hard at it and after our trip to the park I can say that I am truly, truly looking forward to longer days ahead and more opportunities to get out and do things as a family. To truly live our lives the whole week through and not just on the weekends, and to enjoy the kids for who they are right in this moment. Good, bad, ugly - take each day as it comes and capture every second we can with them. I know some days will be easier than others to do that and that other parts of life will get in the way sometimes, but I'm excited that we're starting a new journey and that it promises to be full of adventure - one way or another!

Up close and personal, deer...

We went for a family walk (I'd call it a hike, but due to the swampy nature of the trails at present we stick to the paved path for now...) last night at Harrington Beach State Park. We are blessed to live pretty close to this small, but beautiful park. It has so much to offer as it is literally on the shores of Lake Michigan but also has a small lake that was once a quarry, a pond, prairie, deciduous and evergreen forest, and plenty of trails. It has a large population of deer most of which are pretty tolerant of people. They are wary, but allow us to get decently close and watch them.

As she always does, Kailin wanted to go right down to the water's edge. Steve took her down, but asked me to keep Colby as the lake was pretty riled up and he is FEARLESS. I managed to get a picture of Steve and Kailin and one of Colby and me. I love them both.

Next we explored a little waterfall that is created by spring runoff every year. The kids love to watch it and Steve and I are intrigued as well.

Then we rounded a bend in the path where the terrain opens up to a beautiful grassy knoll dotted with several deciduous trees. We sometimes see deer on the knoll and yesterday we spotted a doe and her twin yearlings. They took note of us but then went on about their business. Then it almost seemed as if they were edging closer to us. Then we were SURE they were edging closer to us, but we weren't sure if we were just at a natural intersect point in their path to get across the trail or if they were truly interested. One of the yearlings got even braver and boldly walked toward us, nose in the air, sniffing. Steve turned and asked me if I really thought the deer was checking us out. I said I thought that it was. It got probably about 15 feet away and we were marveling in our encounter with it when we heard someone whistle. It was only a minute or so before the deer turned and headed in the direction of the whistle. We looked over to see a man offering the deer apple cores. So they weren't checking us out - they were waiting to see if we were their gravy train. It was still a cool experience for the kids, but I'm disillusioned and frankly a little annoyed that the guy is feeding them. There is fall hunting in that park and the deer don't have a fair chance if they have no fear at all of humans.

We rounded out our walk along the path and Colby got into a coughing fit and then said that his tummy hurt, so I picked him up and carried him the rest of the way. I'm so glad we went yesterday. It was one of those simple everyday sorts of things that end up dotting the fabric of our lives with a beautiful pattern.

Toilet humor

Here's your fair warning that this post involves toilet humor. --Not low brow humor... but actual humor involving a toilet.

Colby woke up from his nap and told me he needed to POOP! We went into the bathroom and I got him situated. He arranged himself as usual - hands tightly gripping the seat at 9 and 3, heiny hung low. The he looked up at me with bright eyes and said, "Hang on tight.....heeeeeeere we gooooooo!!!" (It's a phrase he's heard from Peter Pan in the trailer for Disney movies) I had to stifle a laugh. That boy. Upon completing his task and having been asked by me if he was all finished, his reply was "Yep. I all done. Dat make my butt SOOOOO happy!!!" Whatever will I do with this one?!

Slurping

I'm so excited! A friend had told me that blurb.com had a way for you to "slurp" your blog over and make a book out of it, but I never checked it out. Another friend just sent me a discount code to do it, and I finally took the time to check it out. I'm so glad that I did. I'm hoping that the idea of preserving it forever and of having to journal less in our family scrapbook (not that I mind the journalling, but I do mind forever having to try to trim back my words to fit on the page) will be my motivator to blog more this year. We'll see how it goes....

Pickle packer

Whose job is it to jam that last pickle into the jar? You know the one that causes you to have to put your fingers into the briny pickle water and nearly throw the whole jar trying to dislodge it? Does that person like their job? Do they secretly laugh and smirk as they jam that one in or are they remorseful and think "Oh, some poor person is going to have to put their fingers into the pickle water now, but this is my job and I have to do it. The pickles MUST be packed." Inquiring minds may never know!

Fresh air

Kailin woke up with an earache this morning. I've been blessed never to have had one myself and doubly so that neither of my kids have, either. We weren't sure how bad it was going to be or how long it was going to last, so we settled her in with some ibuprofen and a warm cloth and decided we'd better skip church. I'm not sure which did the trick, but she was good as new by noon.

It's been warm(er) lately and we decided to pack up the kids (with an ear covering hat on both of them) and take a walk at Harrington. I'm so glad we did! The fresh air did us all good, and the kids had a ball. They wore their rain boots as we anticipated a lot of puddles due to the warm(er) weather. Not so much with the puddles - but there was still snow and they felt it was hysterical to be flinging themselves around in the snow whilst wearing their rain boots. Most of the path was in fact clear, but the kids, as kids will do, stuck to the parts full of snow. Kailin told Steve she saw a deer track and he looked down at the many dog prints and said, "Where?" and sure as anything she showed him a deer track amongst the dog prints. He asked her if she was going to be his hunting pal when she's older and my answer was "only if you can promise that she won't get dirty and you'll let her wear a dress and tights in the woods..." Ha ha ha. They found sticks and then the real fun began as they used them to poke at every manner of snow, ice, mud, rock, and anything else they could...well...poke a stick at.

Around a few bends we saw a herd of deer and were able to watch them for quite awhile before we moved on. Next we came upon a large, open field still full of snow. The kids were dying to frolic and we gave them the go ahead. They ran off into the field screaming and giggling. We strolled along the path and I looked over just in time to see Colby throw himself down in the snow and make a snow angel. It was just too cute. It was also funny because he didn't have snow pants on! Lastly, it was far too fast because I couldn't get a picture of it before he was up and on to other adventures. They leaped and played until we told them it was time to go. Steve always teases the kids that deer poop is going to get them (it used to be a tactic to keep them moving instead of putzing with every single rock or stick they found). I don't know if that was a factor or not, but out of the blue, Colby declared "Ready, set, POOP!". There wasn't any deer poop in sight and thankfully, no people poop in his pants, but it did make us laugh pretty hard!

Going back up the path we again encountered the deer. This time they were on the move and we got to see them pretty close. They pretty much walked alongside us for a good piece of the trip back to the car. After the deer left us we did a little racing amongst ourselves and then Kailin had some fun throwing ice chunks. Colby, unfortunately, got himself into a bit of trouble regarding eating snow and having difficulty remembering to listen, so he held Steve's hand for most of the trip back.

It was home and warm baths for the kids while I made supper. Fun times like this afternoon make up for all the times that are...less than fun.

"Dat's my baby in der..."

This morning when I took Colby potty and unzipped his jammies, I rubbed his round little belly and said, "I love your little belly!". He stuck it waaaaaay out and said, "Dat not my behyee, dat my baby in der!" I guess his talk with Steve yesterday about how Auntie Sara has a baby growing in her tummy had some real impact!!!