Land's End Jackets

"Mom, this jacket is really nice.  

It's waterproof, windproof, and even lightning proof!"

-Ally

Flexibility

I was on the phone with Charlie's mom.  He wasn't feeling well, and, although he's in daycare this year, I wanted to take him here the next day and cuddle him all day instead.  But then I worried the disruption in his routine, when he was already feeling awful, wouldn't be what was best for him.  So I told her, "I know he's more flexible than my kids were, but I'm not sure it's best to disrupt his routine."

After I got off the phone, Ally said, "I heard what you said to Charlie's mom.  You said he's more flexible than I am.  That's not true.  Look at this."

Operation Christmas Child

We feel so blessed to be able to help others.

We have so much, and one of the best things we get to do because we have so much 

is help others who need it.

One of the ways we help others is making boxes of Christmas presents for kids 

who otherwise wouldn't get presents to show God's love to them.  

The boxes get distributed through Operation Christmas Child.

We pray these boxes are a blessing to those who receive them.

Green Bay

We took the kids up to Green Bay this summer.  While we were there, Dave and I were shocked to see the Exclusive Company, where we used to buy CDs in college, was still in business.  We stopped in to reminisce and, although we now buy all our music on iTunes, picked up an Avett Brother's CD.

We told the kids a bunch of stories from when we were in college, like how we'd wait in line at midnight to buy a CD when it was first released and how we used to have to have towers of CDs in our apartments to keep all our music.  I'm not sure if it seems weirder to me that we used to keep our music that way or that it now all fits in a phone about the size of one CD case, but I know the former seemed weirder to the kids.

Then last week Anna had a field trip to Old World Wisconsin.  When she came home, she told us that one of the leaders had asked the kids to guess what was the oldest city in Wisconsin and she'd gotten it right.  I told Anna I would have guessed Milwaukee.  Anna said the lady had given them a hint and told them it wasn't Milwaukee or Madison.  Anna guessed Green Bay and it was right.

I said, "Green Bay?  Really?  I wouldn't have guessed that."

"Well,"  Anna said, "It makes sense.  I mean, it has really old stuff like that CD store."

Wine

My kids may know more about certain topics than others.

Anna and Ally were helping me prep some vegetables for beef stew.  I'd sautéed the onions and added them to the crockpot with the meet.  Then I poured some wine into the pan to deglaze it.  As it simmered and I scraped the pan, I told the girls, "This is called deglazing.  It..."

Anna interrupted, "I thought that was called wine."

"Yes," confirmed Ally, "that's definitely wine."

Close approximations

Ally doesn't care too much if she uses the exact right word.  A close approximation is good enough for her.

She's often calling any fruit something else.


"Mom, can I have more blueberries."

"We don't have blueberries."

"Yes, we do.  They're right there."

"Those are grapes."

"Same thing."

"Nope.  They're different fruits."

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"Yum!  I love these peaches."

"They're pears."

And it's not just fruits.  Most meat is chicken.

"Can I please have more chicken."

"That was pork.  We're having pork today."

"Can I have more chicken."

"You can have more pork."

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"This is the best chicken I've ever had."

"It's steak."

But, the phenomenon is not exclusive to food.  It's seeped out in other areas.


"I had a dream that I found this cabinet, and went in it but it was really just a run down house."

"You went in a cabinet?"

"Yes."

"Wasn't it really small?"

"Yeah, it was pretty small."

"There was a house when you climbed in the cabinet?"

"Yeah, the cabinet was like a cottage."

"OH, a cabin?"

"Yeah."

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"I wish you wouldn't parent coach so much, so you could do recess studio more."

"Recess duty?"

"Yes, I want you to do more recess studio."

"Duty."

"Dutio."

"Just duty."

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"Mommy!  Anna is trying to take my consequence!"

"Your what?"

"My consequence."

"Huh?"

"She already has two consequences and now she's trying to take mine."

I got up and followed her into the living room where they were playing Risk.

"Your continent," I said.