Miles Post

Miles walked into the kitchen with this rag on his head and announced, "I'm Jesus." (in an innocent, soft voice. Not in a crazed, fundamentalist visionary voice).

Then he requested, "Take my pitchya!"

I chuckled to myself as he wandered away, satisfied (or so I thought).

He returned a few moments later, now en-shawled thusly:

He looked at me expectantly.

Me: Who are you now?

Miles: God.

"This is a man with a gun..."(*)

The week after babysitting the bunnies, they were old enough to leave their mamma.  Karren was offering them for free to anyone with a hutch and proper supplies.  Chicken coop ... check.   Rampant weeds, i.e. food ... check.   Irresistible lop-eared baby bunny love ... check.  It was meant to be.

But when Sydney asked if we could adopt one, I hmm'd and hawed ... stewing (mmm!)... over the matter.

One mustn't let on that rabbits can be had for the asking.  Rookie mistake.  Next thing you know, the young childrens will be disappointed because you aren't eager about opening up a Home for Misplaced Snakes.  The wise parent must play their cards just right and make it seem like they are granting the wish only after serious, prolonged deliberation. We're not opening a PetSmart, here.

After an appropriate time delay (approx. three minutes), we told the kids they could adopt one of the bunnies. They all wanted "The Runt" -- which they pronounced, "The Rent."  Also known as Julia.

Although, we don't know Julia's gender.  She could be a Julian.

The kids worked hard to update the chicken coop's interior design. They wanted to make it spiffy for Julia.  Besides painting, they installed a working hammock (an old bird house), baskets, a welcome mat of edible greens, a ramp, cinderblock cubbies to hide in, granite countertops and stainless steel appliances.  Julia(n) would not be wanting for anything in the luxury apartment category.

The coop, that is -- hutch -- is in the back corner of the yard, behind the hot tub gazebo.  What was once an unused and neglected section of the yard, is now visited multiple times a day.   The edible landscaping (i.e. weeds) is receding into the distance as the kids forage for treats for Julia.

The kids check on her in the morning and first thing home from school.  A  kid will jump up after dinner and say, "I'm going to check on Julia."  Then the others will pipe up, "Me, too" and follow.  The house is much more peaceful.

Generally speaking.  Except for this one time, Julia had been with us all of 12 hours when Sydney came running, hysterical, into the house.  "Julia's missing!"

Julia in her hammock before she ate all the greenery ... and executed her escape plan.

  It turns out bunnies possess the same ability of red blood cells:  diapedesis.  It's the fancy way to describe how a RBC can squeeze through a capillary wall.  It was described to me in college as amazing as if a human being squoze under a door (it was a biology class, not English).  Julia looks larger than the spacing of the chicken wire.  But do not be fooled.  Diapedesis, kids.

Hey, Miles! Get back to work!!

Anyway, back to the story.

So we trooped out to investigate, and found Julia calmly munching on grass.


We watched her for awhile, mesmerized, before scooping her up.  Being tame, she was easily fooled.

And that is the end of the story for today.  Stay tuned for more rabbit tales  (or foots. ... hey, ... that stew ...)....

The Foreman.

The mini foreman.

 *Previous Post

Babysitting Bunnies

The Wilde's let us babysit their rabbits while they were on vacation.   We were thinking about adopting one of the baby bunnies, so it was a good trial run for us, too.  The kids LOVED it.  They were outside more than they've been all year, watching the rabbits, feeding them, ... reading to them.  The video file was too big to upload here, but it catches Clara, as above ... educating the rabbits about their cousins Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cottontail.

Childhood

We Built This City ...

Fire pit dinner

Talmage was cramming in his last few achievements to earn his Wolf a few weeks ago -- one of which was planning and cooking an outdoor meal.  My memory of this goal, from my mom's glory den mother years, was the meal had to involve an empty tuna can or bacon grease, an egg, and a paper sack on a stick.

Talmage got away with hamburgers and hotdogs and s'mores.

No one was complaining.

Concentrating on the perfect marshmallow:

Perfection.

Sensory Table

Shaving cream as art.

Like in the olden days

One day these kids will have their own bedrooms.  I wonder if they'll miss "back in the day" when they all slept in the same room.   As you can see, the "bedtime routine" is very quiet and orderly.

Scoring Scorpians

Talmage has been playing soccer in earnest this past month.  (Note: Sydney, in background, models the latest shin guard trend).

Steps to be Safe on St. Patrick's Day, by Sydney (our resident list-maker)

1.  Wear Green
2.  Look for a penny.
3.  Find all the rainbow colors befor you go outside.
4.  Cross your fingers sometime that day.
5.  Eat something green.
6.  Go outside no matter what weather it is.
7.  Find 5 green things that are diferent.
the end.
Happy St. Patrick's Day.

The kids found lucky tokens hidden under toys ("and put them away while you're at it!)) which they cashed in for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Luckily, my makeup drawer was kept safe from any Leprechaun shenaniganisms.

I couldn't listen to all the talking fast enough.

A friend in the ward has a family cabin near Mt. Hood.  She invited a bunch of us over for the weekend.  On Saturday morning, Bonnie and I went for a little run over to Trillium Lake and around.  It's closed off for the season.  There were only a few people who had hiked in, so it was serenely quiet.  Loved running on the trails.  Loved the early morning view of Mt. Hood.  On the way back, we got disoriented at the interchange and ended up running an extra 1.5 miles UP the highway.  We finally figured it out and ended up running 15 instead of 12 miles all together.   That was enough for me, but then we went on a hike with the rest of the group -- putting in a bunch more miles to Ramona Falls.  I was pretty pooped by the end of the day.  Sure was fun.

Pedaling Purwell

Clara learned to ride a bike!  She's so proud of her new skill and loves cruising around the cul-de-sac.  Super fun to watch her delight and increased independence.   The secret to bike riding for Clara was having her use the Strider and scooter first to get her balance.  No training wheels.  Also, it helped that the bike is small enough she can put her feet down when she wants to (is forced to) stop.

I like this video because it generates a little anxiety, watching her pedal around.  I'm never quite sure if she's looking where she's going and if she's going to smash into that strategically-placed scooter.   Some of the dialogue:

To Violet, who's trying to get Clara's attention:  "I'm trying to con-cen-trate, Violet!"
"Hey, Whitman!  Look at me!"
Crashing into Miles and the scooter:  "Wha!  Whoa."

Happy Fifth Birthday, Clara!

Holding to her tradition, Clara celebrated at Out of this World Pizza.  Talmage and Sydney made and decorated her "5" carrot  cake.

An Interview:

1.  What do you want to be when you get older?  A mom

2.  How many kids do you want to have?  Two

3.  What will you name your kids?  Violet and Claire

4.  What is your happiest memory?  Having my birthday

5.  Why do you like being a kid?  'Cause I want to grow up to be a mom because I'm a girl and I go to kindergarten.

6.  What do you like to do for fun?  Playing at the park.  On the swings and on the playground.
7.  Who are your friends?  Violet, Claire, Addie, Kate, Jayce, and Anna and Brooklyn.  My favorite thing to do with my friends is play in the playroom and in my bedroom.
8.  What do you love most about your siblings?  Talmage plays nice with me.
9.  What do you think makes a person good-looking? From lipstick and being pretty dressed.  ... How about boys putting on lipstick? [she chuckles].
10.  Name two things we should do as a family on the weekend.  Go camping at Silver Falls and go swimming with our family.
11.  Where do babies come from?   From tummy's.
12.  How do babies get into the mom's uterus?  Get married. And the you go somewhere special, like shopping, with your husband and then it will come out.
13.  What is your favorite song?  I'm a Child of God, Twinkle Little Star, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Bringing Home a Baby Bumblebee, The Butterfly Song ("If I were a butterfly, I'll thank you for my wings, [etc.]. .. and I'll thank you for making me me, me, me.")

The below answers are a good example of Clara's rapid stream of consciousness.  Keep up:

14.  What happens if you slide down a rainbow?  You would get into the water, with a swimsuit.  In deep water I would have a life jacket on.  I would find a stuffed animal which was named Speckles, and a Giraffe and a Monkey.  A stuffed animal one.  Actually not Speckles.  Just two things.  A Giraffe and a Monkey.
15.  Tell me your funniest joke:  When Jackson fell down with a knock knock joke and a tree walking across an apple.  Why did the tree cross the apple?  To get to his other tree party!
16.  Who are you going to marry and why?  Jayce Fajardo.  Because I like him!  He's funny!  He always picks to camp with at our house and that makes me laugh!!!
17.  What is your favorite food?  Spaghetti, peanut butter honey sandwich, and oatmeal and pancakes.
18.  What's the most yuckiest food? Grey strawberries and grey pancakes and black marshmallows.
19.  What happens when we die?  Our bodies gets away and our heart gets away.  And then we get resurrected.  Where do we go and what is it like?  We go to a tomb.  It's like nothing.
20.  Where do crayons come from?  Crayon factory. ... One time Daniel's neighbor went to a crayon factory and they saw all sorts of crayons with Daniel and Katarina.  They had yellow crayons!!! And Tootsie said, "I want banana.  I want banana kind!"  Tootsie's the funniest.  Mom, did you know ... [etc]. ...
21.  What's your favorite show?  Daniel the Tiger, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Octonauts, and Strawberry Shortcake.
22.  What's your favorite doll?  My favorite doll is the Claire with the pink binky that I got for Christmas.
23.  Anything else you want to add?  I like all my Joy School friends and all my other friends.  I like my blankie.  Do you want to see what I do with them?  When there's creepy things or scary things in Octonauts I do [wipes her face into her blankies].  Wait mom!  About Octonauts.  There's all this lava and there's all these animals living in the lava.  And there's some monsters on the lava.  And a slimy animal of the Octonauts, he was on top of the lava.  And some more on the lava cave.  And that she was saying, Almost hotter and hotter.  And then they didn't die.  The Octonaut guys.  I went and watched Strawberry and then I went back and I didn't miss it.
24.  Anything else?  I like my family and my brother and sister and I love them.
25.  Anything else?  I love you and when I'm sad you hold me.
26.  Anything else?  One more thing.  When we were at Heidi's church, I was in Grant's class.  In his primary.  And I had a turn to go up and I was shy.
27.  Anything else?  Um, hmm.  I like when we move and I just think about ... I'm sad when we move. [Why?]  Because I'm shy about school and moving.  Because school is way over here. ... Mom, did you know Jayce, one of the boys in my class, he has a sister and they're almost taller together?  ...
28.  Anything else?  Um.  Nope!

Spring in busting out all over.

 The Patriarch.

February and March have been warm and dry.  It's not even spring yet and the daffodils are already dying, because they've been up so long.

Home Meet

"Goodbye, Great Wolf Lodge."

Sydney was forced to cut ties with her wristband, which she wasn't allowed to wear at gym meets.  It was a solid 3 month relationship.   She confides that she still thinks about GWL even without the band.

XCELLENCE Meet

 
That's a "back hip circle", to those In The Know.  And also, that's Phil, the head coach.   Phil's a little dressed up, here.  His usual attire is a t-shirt with an edgy/witty saying.

This is called a cast.  Not to be confused with a cast.  Or to cast.  Or ... a casket.

Getting pumped up before the floor routine.

"Gymnast Salute!"

Inspired by "Beautiful Oops"

Talmage was flipping through this book, and found inspiration for the Valentine's he made for his class. Instead of saving the ones he got, I wanted to save the ones he gave.  This year, he caught on to the spirit of cheesy Valentine's lingo:

"You're so Tweet, Cate."

"Tell me your antswer, 'Will you be my Valentine?'"

"You're a 'turtle'y awesome friend."

"I be'leaf' we will have a 'long' friendship."