Before:
(Notice the lovely combover effect, and the hair sliding down under his collar)
After:
(Notice the clearly visible tops of the ears, and high, intelligent forehead!) 
More Kindergarten Spelling Fun
Translation:
“I can help Dad make you a happy birthday cake”
Naomi is so sweet! ♥
(although for the record my birthday isn’t until October . . .)
Revenge of the Vertically Challenged
Anyone over three feet tall – beware! Our living room is booby trapped:
(Yes, our living room is generally this messy in the morning – I try to think of it as “uninhibited creativity”) 
Josiah and Elaina can walk right under, but anyone else has to attempt the limbo to cross the living room.
Why, you might ask, do we have fishing line across the living room? It’s another one of Sam’s big ideas:
Unfortunately, it was all for nothing, since we don’t have any balloons!
Girls
So Hannah and Naomi are in the living room playing with Sam’s matchbox cars – very liberated and gender-equal of them, right? But just listen to how the play progresses:
“No, Ambulance is going to marry Rusty. He’s the prince, so he has to marry the princess!”
Equality of the sexes, my eye!
Beastie Boy?
(Note: Inspired by my friend Emily’s Christmas letter, I have decided to use footnotes rather than parenthetical remarks in this post)
Update on the basement beastie: Last night, as we were watching a movie (1) Peter saw our little furry friend run across the basement floor. Flinging blankets everywhere, (2) he leapt up from the couch and proceeded to stomp the life out of it. (3) After a few extra stomps to make sure it was, indeed, dead, he then proceeded to get out rubber gloves and a garbage bag (4) and, after examining the poor, dead beastie, threw it out into the trash. (5)
For the record, he wasn’t just inspired by the movie – he has a record of violence toward rodents. He has been known (6) to chase down and kill mice (7) with my carving knives. (8 ) This is the first stomping incident, however. (9)
1) 10,000 BC – I was too chafed at the historical/geographical innacuracies to actually enjoy the movie. That’s what I get for being a history minor!
2) we don’t heat our basement, so it was 48 degrees down there, and we each had two blankets wrapped around us.
3) wearing my slipper, I might add!
4) he is turning into such a germophobe! I don’t know how he survives, considering my housekeeping . . .
5) which just happened to be airing out outside the basement door
6) Natalie can vouch for me on this
7) and voles
8 ) yes, this has happened more than once!
9) I am rather appalled that he always seems to use my things to do the dirty work. I don’t know if I can wear those slippers again . . .
For those who might be interested, here’s a picture of a North American Short-Tailed Shrew (unstomped):
Wee, sleekit, cowrin, tim’rous beastie
Well, technically it wasn’t a mouse (and it certainly wasn’t as “cowrin” and “tim’rous” as I would have preferred – it ran right out in front of me!) but there was a wee beastie in my basement last night (to the delight of The Black Assassin – who, by the way, chased it around for a good half hour but never did the deed).
I forgave her a bit, though, when I went up and grabbed Stan Tekiela’s Mammals of Wisconsin field guide. Apparently our little friend is actually a northern short-tailed shrew (why our basement attracts odd types of shrews, I do not understand – but thanks to Stan Tekiela, I at least know what they are!), about 3-4 inches long, “overall dark to slate gray. Long pointed snout. Small pink feet. Short, nearly naked tail. Tiny dark eyes, often not noticed. Ears barely visible.” That was my guy alright. I found out that his sharp squeaks can be heard up to ten feet away (which explains the squeaking I kept hearing all day while the cat was downstairs) and that he’s an insectivore (I don’t mind that so much . . .) When I got to “Stan’s Notes,” however, I was a little less pleased: “This is a unique animal because it is the only North American mammal that produces a poisonous saliva. It cannot inject the poison, but chews it into a wound. The poison paralyzes small prey such as mice; can cause tingling and numbness in people.”
Ewwww. Having this “unique animal” in my basement is certainly a distinction I could live without! Peter, get the traps!!!
Keeping Warm
This week, with below zero temperatures forecasted for the entire week, my thoughts are focused on how to keep my family warm. The fact that the propane tank is down to 15% (and the checking account looks about the same – we’re trying to put off buying fuel as long as possible!) is also spurring my efforts. So, how to save fuel without freezing?
We started by turning the thermostat down from 64 to 60 and triple-bagging the kids (long underwear, long sleeve t-shirts, sweatshirts, two pairs of pants, socks, and slippers; and the little ones get their sleeper jammies over it all when they take their naps – this has the double effect of keeping them warm directly and keeping them from moving at all, much less kicking off their quilts!) (Hannah was complaining that she was “sooo hot!” when we sat down to do school this morning) Everyone gets double quilts and flannel sheets tonight. Blankets guard all of the windowsills, and blankets draped over the backs of chairs inhibit the drafts around the doorframes. Chili is on the menu for supper, and warmed up leftovers will replace our usual cold sandwiches for lunch. For me personally, running errands up and down the stairs a million times a day helps keep the heart rate up (this is something I do everyday, of course, but it feels more dual-purpose on days like this!) Plunging my hands into a sink full of nice warm dishwater helps, too. It is also heartening to go out in the cold to collect eggs from the coop before they freeze – when you come back in, the house always seems so much warmer!
I’ve also planned to spend the afternoon snuggled up under quilts reading books together. And of course, cuddling with my kids and/or spouse always warms the cockles of my heart! ♥
(And no, Kirsten, I haven’t made any little “chicken sweaters” – they can stick it out; I did get the hardiest breeds I could find. My one concession was that the girls and I went out with shovels yesterday afternoon and piled up snow around the first foot or so of the coop for a little insulation. Oh, and I threw in some extra straw, and gave them a double ration of chicken feed this morning. I guess I really am a softie after all . . .)
“Just So” Josiah
It’s funny how one-year-olds have to have everything “just so” – here’s today’s example:
Josiah, as usual, dropped his sippy cup on the floor after breakfast. Surprisingly, it actually landed upright. Josiah stood next to it for a moment, as if waiting for it to fall over, and when it didn’t, he calmly stooped down and pushed it into its normal recumbent position. He then stood up, satisfied, and busily trotted away about his business.
You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet!
I’m in the bathroom helping Elaina go potty, listening to Casting Crowns on the radio and thinking about how much I’ve been faltering in my Christian walk lately, when all of a sudden the song changes to the old Bachman Turner Overdrive song “You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet.” Of course I realize immediately that it’s probably Josiah’s doing (he has a fixation with the stereo buttons at the moment), but then I think what a fitting song it really is. I walk out and see my kids playing in the living room, and am just amazed at the blessings God’s given me already, when the song reminds me that God has so much more in store for me – not just here, in the unfolding wonder of my family’s life, but in heaven, where I will be able to enjoy being with God forever!!!
Of course, these thoughts let to lots of wild singing and dancing with the kids It’s good to know God loves you!
Feeding the Birds
Yes, we are pretty lame around here when it comes to celebrating the new year (we stayed home, alone, willing the stomach flu not to come near us) but we do have our fun. Here’s Peter’s new and exciting version of filling the birdfeeder:
(For the record, that ladder is older than we are, and is missing the second rung from the bottom. I think this adds to its attraction for this particular sport)
Perhaps I should explain – for those of you who’ve never been to our house, that deck is over the walk-out basement (so basically, on the second floor). The door that leads to the deck was completely blocked by snow (hence the ladder). Peter wisely thought to bring up the shovel, and cleared the deck before he came down (which of course was a very practical thing to do, but doesn’t look nearly so nice as the gentle white drifts against the living room window . . .)
Meanwhile, the girls enjoyed playing with their “new” dress-up clothes (I’d packed them away for about the last month, and just brought them out again today):
That’s right, that’s Hannah as an (urban) cowgirl, and Elaina as her cow!
