Pictures In Your Head

Last night I finished reading The Boxcar Children to the kids. They loved it. They talked about what life would be like if they lived in a boxcar. Today I picked up Little House in the Big Woods and started reading it aloud at bedtime. The kids were fascinated by the work that went into growing, preserving, and storing food for the winter.

I do love reading to them.

What are other good read aloud books that you know?

How To Curl Your Hair

First, ask your mom to curl your hair. Tell her you want to use curlers, but when she actually buys them from Walmart throw a screaming tantrum for the remainder of your store visit because you really wanted a curling iron instead. Remember that your mom is ridiculously stubborn and never gives in to tantrums. Ever. Buy the curlers.

Next, ask your mom every day, several times per day, if she'll curl your hair. Wait until she's injured herself and has to sit down all the time, then ask again. Slightly fidget while she tells you over and over to look at some boring spot in the corner. Wait a long time while she pulls your hair.

Then, sleep in those curlers. Wake up the next morning and ask your mom to take them out. Your hair will be surprisingly short and you'll be fairly certain your mom did something wrong.

Next, sit in front of your mom again while she separates the curls. Proceed to mope around the house for a certain amount of time (how long is up to you) and complain about how much you hate your curly hair and threaten to get your hair wet to make it straight again.

Then, continue about your day as the curls relax into adorable springy-ness. Decide you like the curls. Walk by your mom repeatedly so she remembers that she doesn't have any hair spray and can't keep the curls like this for long. You may also want to refuse to get dressed for most of the day.

Finally, let the curls relax even more. After many requests, let your mom put a clip in your hair. Oh, and get dressed.

Bonus: Invite your baby sister in on the fancy hair action by lending her one of your bows.

Not Quite Homeschool

Phoebe and I were invited to participate in a mom-taught preschool with some families in the ward. I was apprehensive to say yes, but I know that Phoebe is a social creature and would enjoy the company. And I get to be one of the teachers, which makes it more appealing. Cooper liked doing Joy School when he was little and this is similar to that.

The original plan was to meet twice a week for three hours each day. That felt like a lot to me, so I started asking the other moms how they felt about only meeting once a week. Turns out I wasn't the only one that thought six hours per week was a lot. There are eight kids (wowzers!) and, because our ward is spread out and the travel time between some of our houses is forty minutes, we'll meet once a week. Yesterday was the first day.

I thought Phoebe would be excited, and she was, kind of. She was also nervous. She wouldn't let me take her picture until we had arrived and she was out of the van.

When I went in to get her afterward she was much more enthusiastic. I tried to glean information about how the three hours had gone and this is what I got.

Me: What did you do?
Phoebe: I learned.
Me: What did you learn?
Phoebe: All the preschool stuff.

And that's about all I know. They did puzzles and sang a welcome song and talked about days ("What kind of days?" "Rainy days and sunny days.") and had recess and lunch, but I suspect that those activities did not take all three hours.

She was in such a good mood when we got home that she invited me to take her picture, quite an improvement from earlier in the day.

Step, Clunk, Step, Clunk

I saw the doctor today and got his diagnosis. He says I partially tore the ligament in my foot that connects to my arch. His nurse removed the splint and now I have to wear one of these bad boys.

I can put weight on my foot (though I need to ease into it) and I can go up and down stairs (which means I'll be able to sleep in my bed instead of the couch!) but I can't drive for at least two weeks. That's going to be tricky, but we'll figure something out.

The boot kind of makes me feel like a cyborg...

The Hobbler

I'm still hobbling around on my crutches. Good news though, I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow morning! I'm hoping he'll say I've had a miraculous recovery and am free to go about my normal activities. That might not happen, but it would be swell if it did.

After three days stuck on the couch (including sleeping here since I can't go upstairs to my room) I've come to an important conclusion: I do a lot. All day long I pick up little things here and there, I tidy, I prepare, I straighten. A few days of not doing them is starting to show. Those meals I make? Even the easy ones require many steps of instructions to a six and eight year-old. Also, my kids drop A LOT of trash on the floor. And dirty clothes. One child who shall remain nameless throws their dirty clothes all over the place. I've had to employ my crutch to push debris out of the way so I can amble by.

It's good to have a reason to sit though. I can't run errands. I can't rush here and there. I must sit and hold Sophie and play games with Phoebe and maybe even nap when the stars align. I think being still is important and something I don't do enough.

Still, I am looking forward to being mobile again soon.

Don't Worry, It's Not Broken

It's just really sprained. At least, that's what the doctor at the ER told me. I'll see a specialist next week and find out for certain.

I tried stepping off a curb and tripped. Pesky lack of coordination...

Heavenly Aroma

We're inching closer to having a functional home. As of this week we have a working dishwasher, two working garage doors, a garage empty of moving boxes, and now today a sealed foundation that will (hopefully) stop the source of moisture for the mold. I celebrated by making my first batch of bread in this house. We had BLTs for dinner, so my house currently smells like bacon and homemade bread.

I think heaven will smell like baking bread, fresh laundry, newly cut grass, and Dove soap. Probably not like bacon, but in combination with the bread it created a lovely bouquet.

Girliness Abounds

We have a dilemma. Because we knew we would be moving often, and because we have small children who are tough on furniture, we've opted to stick with our old, inexpensive furnishings. That's fancy for "our stuff looks like we're college students." This week, looking at the mismatched everything, I decided I was tired of it. 

I'm not great at decorating. I'm good at functional, but not so much at pretty. I've been looking at each room in my house, trying to see them for the beauty they could possess instead of how much use I can squeeze out of each one. If you have any good make-your-house-look-like-grown-ups-live-here websites, feel free to send them over. I'm sure I'll be spending time on Pinterest learning how to make our old beat-up stuff look slightly nicer.

I think the first step is making sure everything has a home. The final resting place for some of this stuff will be a thrift store. But for the lucky few that survive the purge, they will be organized. Now let me say that again, but this time imagine I'm saying it like a great general, fist in the air, calling my troops to arms. Ready? "They will be ORGANIZED!"

I spent time on Pinterest yesterday looking for organizational tips. I compiled a shopping list then told Phoebe we were going to the store for things to make our house fancy. She was thrilled. I started with her mountain of hair accouterments. I showed her several options and let her pick what we would do. My inspiration came from here. Phoebe chose the color palate and I got to work.

There was a time when making something like this would have given me heart palpitations, and not just because of the explosion of sheer girliness. I still don't consider myself crafty, but now that I've got a few creations under my belt, crafts don't stress me out as much as they used to. I had this put together in thirty minutes, sixty if you add the ironing and cutting of the fabric and batting.

And look! It's even functional.

Two Left Feet

I really must start checking Phoebe's shoes before we leave the house rather than when we arrive at the store.

Monday and Tuesday

We got on the road surprisingly early on Monday August 4th. Our goal had been to leave Bryan's grandparents' house by 8 in the morning and we were on the road by 8:40. That's really good for us. However, it pushed back a few things we had planned for the day.

The first was meeting some friends at a park in Wyoming. We happened to drive through their town and they were gracious to delay some plans so they could play with us. My friend Andrea and I got to  catch-up and swap food-allergy-mom stories.

The rest of the day was spent driving. We had planned to meet another friend, but our late departure and a bad traffic jam on her end led us to cancel those plans. I was sad that I didn't get to see her. 

On the bright side though, we drove much further that day than we had originally planned. Our intended stopping point was Sidney, Nebraska, which would have been an almost eight hour drive. But there were no rooms available in Sidney for a family of six. Nor were there any in North Platte. We had to drive an additional three hours to Kearney to find a place to sleep that night. While this made for a very long day of driving, we were glad to get so much out of the way. And one long Monday made a very fun Wednesday possible.

Tuesday we stopped at the Visitor's Center in Winter Quarters. One goal I had on this trip was to visit as many pioneer/church history sites as we could squeeze in. The kids enjoyed wearing pioneer clothes and pulling a handcart at this stop. And we had a very attentive sister missionary following us around, telling us stories.

Also on Tuesday our car went from this:

To this:

That's a lot of miles in one year.

Our last important stop on Tuesday was to have dinner with my sweet cousin Elise and her family. We last saw them on our drive out to Wisconsin and I'm so glad we got to visit again! And no, we didn't intend to coordinate for the picture.

That night we rested our heads in Keokuk, Iowa and looked forward to a day of adventure tomorrow.