With cookie sales in full swing and the weather being so wickedly cold, I have been working on being comfortable leaving Harvey home alone. I stopped leaving him a couple of months ago after coming home to find powdered sugar all over the living room, the brown sugar eaten, rice strewn about and the flour bag halfway between the kitchen and front door.
Two days ago, we left him home and arrived back to find he had pulled a new box of Cookie Crisp cereal (yes, I can be a very nice mom) out of the grocery bag, tore into it and managed to eat half of the cereal. He'd also pulled the plastic bag off the newspaper. The only real mess was the scraps of cereal box and bits of plastic bag. Not too bad, considering how mischievous he'd been previously.
Today fared a little better. He did manage to get into the cereal cupboard again, but this time, only the powdered sugar, flour and bulgar wheat bag ended up in the living room, none of it spilled or eaten. The brown sugar, still in its bag, was by the dining table. Much less mess! Maybe there's hope after all.
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Friday, February 25, 2011
February Freeze
17 degrees outside when we first checked this morning. It has probably warmed slightly since, but not much. The blue sky and sunshine are worth it though. The kids had a 2-hour late start today giving them plenty of time for snow fun this morning. Outside playtime didn't last near as long as yesterday since it's so cold, but long enough for me to get a few pictures and video them sledding. They're having so much fun! Abby was clamoring to head back out before the bus came and was annoyed at my preference for them to get on the bus snow-free and dry so they won't freeze at school. She still managed to get on the bus with her legs white with icy snow. At least she's wearing fleece lined pants.
None of the kids changed clothes after sledding. Janessa (Abby's friend) really couldn't, but I did crank up the fire for her to dry.
First site sale for cookies tonight and two sales on Sunday. It's that time of year!
None of the kids changed clothes after sledding. Janessa (Abby's friend) really couldn't, but I did crank up the fire for her to dry.
First site sale for cookies tonight and two sales on Sunday. It's that time of year!
Thursday, February 24, 2011
It's Snow, Snow Fun!
No school today! The kids were thrilled to see all the snow and the blue sky makes it great for photos. Too bad we forgot Eli's warm jacket at Whidbey on Sunday. He's been making do with other jackets and lots of layers, but he's getting cold more quickly than the girls. Or maybe it's a boy thing? Temperature is currently 27 degrees. Hans shovelled snow for about 2 hours just the clear the driveway. He took a little extra time to deliberately pile snow in a particular spot for the kids to make a fort. I'm going to pull out Abby's badge book in a bit to give her some directed activities since they have a Frosty Fun badge in there she can earn. Sometimes being a girl scout is extra fun.
On a side note, Abby's story was accepted for the Young Author's conference!
Before the shovelling began:
Hans started piling the snow for the kids to make their fort:
On a side note, Abby's story was accepted for the Young Author's conference!
Before the shovelling began:
Hans started piling the snow for the kids to make their fort:
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Snow Day!
Hans just went outside to measure the snowfall for today and said there's 15" on his car. He had to measure from somewhere the kids hadn't touched in their fun today. Busy kids! Today was supposed to be a half day, but with the 2-hour late start, they simply cancelled elementary school all together. Hazel loves trying to catch snowflakes with her tongue. It's been a pretty fabulous day for her and for our Harvey. The video also has the neighbor girls sledding with our kids and Boston (a neighbor dog) playing with Harvey.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Abby's 4th Grade Story Submission
We find out tomorrow if she is chosen for the Young Author's Conference or not.
The Alien in my Backyard by Abigail Weber
I dedicate this book to my brother Eli.
One day I was playing with my brother and the dog outback. Suddenly we saw a bright flash of light by our neighbor’s house. My name is Jessica Walker and my brother’s name is Harvey Walker and we called our dog Puddles. Now Harvey and I were very curious. Harvey called, ‘Puddles c’mon boy!’ So we went to our neighbor’s. When we got there we were astonished! Sitting in front of us was a ship but it was weird, it was shiny silver in some places but sort of a rusty green mostly. Then out of what seemed to be the roof a funny-looking creature came out. It looked like a tiny little reddish-brown man. Its head looked up at me and it said belu-bop. It was running toward me! I screamed! I turned and ran, Puddles and Harvey followed. I told Harvey to get the old cat carrier. He obeyed. I ran into our yard and Harvey came and trapped the thing inside the carrier. The thing seemed to screech! I plugged my ears. The screeching stopped. I found a pencil in my pocket and I slowly poked the pencil into the cage. It screeched again. I found a grape and stuck it on the end. Slowly I poked it in again. I closed my eyes and Harvey did to, we waited for it to screech again. It didn’t. We opened our eyes and the grape was gone. I was surprised. I found a pile of grapes and poked them into the cage. The creature bent down and seemed to eat them. It screeched again. But it wasn’t the shrill sound it had made before, it was sort of saying “more”. So I gave it more.
Nervously, I bent over to the lock on the carrier and I opened the door and the creature was done eating so it blasted out. “Now we set you free so go away and leave us alone.” I shooed it. It didn’t leave, it didn’t leave us alone. It simply went to the grape bushes and climbed up. No matter how hard we tried we couldn’t get him down. We never even came close. Finally we gave up and went inside. I watched it from my window. It was happily eating as many grapes as it could hold. I went to get some hot cocoa. When I came back the thing was still eating. “I’ll call you eater.” I said to myself, “because you’ll never stop eating.” I went to Harvey’s room and said “Eater’s still eating.” “Who in this world is named eater?” He called. “Nobody.” I answered. Oh him? My brother asked. “Yup” “Why are you naming it? I just want to be rid of it as soon as possible.” “I supposed we should call it something” I said. Harvey let me in and we watched it for a while when suddenly is stopped eating. It looked at us staring at him and said, “Roca-nola.” Its ship flew over head. It winked at us and we just watched. Eater disappeared so did his ship. We sighed. It was all over.
Isn't Abby awesome?
The Alien in my Backyard by Abigail Weber
I dedicate this book to my brother Eli.
One day I was playing with my brother and the dog outback. Suddenly we saw a bright flash of light by our neighbor’s house. My name is Jessica Walker and my brother’s name is Harvey Walker and we called our dog Puddles. Now Harvey and I were very curious. Harvey called, ‘Puddles c’mon boy!’ So we went to our neighbor’s. When we got there we were astonished! Sitting in front of us was a ship but it was weird, it was shiny silver in some places but sort of a rusty green mostly. Then out of what seemed to be the roof a funny-looking creature came out. It looked like a tiny little reddish-brown man. Its head looked up at me and it said belu-bop. It was running toward me! I screamed! I turned and ran, Puddles and Harvey followed. I told Harvey to get the old cat carrier. He obeyed. I ran into our yard and Harvey came and trapped the thing inside the carrier. The thing seemed to screech! I plugged my ears. The screeching stopped. I found a pencil in my pocket and I slowly poked the pencil into the cage. It screeched again. I found a grape and stuck it on the end. Slowly I poked it in again. I closed my eyes and Harvey did to, we waited for it to screech again. It didn’t. We opened our eyes and the grape was gone. I was surprised. I found a pile of grapes and poked them into the cage. The creature bent down and seemed to eat them. It screeched again. But it wasn’t the shrill sound it had made before, it was sort of saying “more”. So I gave it more.
Nervously, I bent over to the lock on the carrier and I opened the door and the creature was done eating so it blasted out. “Now we set you free so go away and leave us alone.” I shooed it. It didn’t leave, it didn’t leave us alone. It simply went to the grape bushes and climbed up. No matter how hard we tried we couldn’t get him down. We never even came close. Finally we gave up and went inside. I watched it from my window. It was happily eating as many grapes as it could hold. I went to get some hot cocoa. When I came back the thing was still eating. “I’ll call you eater.” I said to myself, “because you’ll never stop eating.” I went to Harvey’s room and said “Eater’s still eating.” “Who in this world is named eater?” He called. “Nobody.” I answered. Oh him? My brother asked. “Yup” “Why are you naming it? I just want to be rid of it as soon as possible.” “I supposed we should call it something” I said. Harvey let me in and we watched it for a while when suddenly is stopped eating. It looked at us staring at him and said, “Roca-nola.” Its ship flew over head. It winked at us and we just watched. Eater disappeared so did his ship. We sighed. It was all over.
Isn't Abby awesome?
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Amazing Abby
I am constantly amazed by Abby. She's smart, funny, articulate, quick, thoughtful and talented.
Yesterday was Abby's first indoor soccer game and she did fantastic! Despite missing her only practice last week due to Grandma's party and tripping over the door jamb every time she entered the indoor turf field, she played remarkably. I loved watching her run full tilt, racing toward the ball and kicking it! in the right direction! to teammates! For someone with as little practice/experience as she's had with soccer, she has improved so much since she played last year. Last year she would approach the ball and then somehow not actually get to it and now she runs right in to snag it from an opposing player.
We are worried about her feeling too much pressure from all that she's involved. With Girl Scouts and cookie sales beginning this week, her Inventions class (G/T, which adds a few hours of homework every week), finishing her story for the Young Author's Conference, her signing up to participate in the school science fair and her playing soccer, I worry about overwhelming her. It may seem extra daunting today because she spent the night at her friend's Friday night, had a soccer game yesterday and has Inventions homework due tomorrow as well as her YA story submission.
Her YA story is so good. I'm going to have to paste it in here.
Yesterday was Abby's first indoor soccer game and she did fantastic! Despite missing her only practice last week due to Grandma's party and tripping over the door jamb every time she entered the indoor turf field, she played remarkably. I loved watching her run full tilt, racing toward the ball and kicking it! in the right direction! to teammates! For someone with as little practice/experience as she's had with soccer, she has improved so much since she played last year. Last year she would approach the ball and then somehow not actually get to it and now she runs right in to snag it from an opposing player.
We are worried about her feeling too much pressure from all that she's involved. With Girl Scouts and cookie sales beginning this week, her Inventions class (G/T, which adds a few hours of homework every week), finishing her story for the Young Author's Conference, her signing up to participate in the school science fair and her playing soccer, I worry about overwhelming her. It may seem extra daunting today because she spent the night at her friend's Friday night, had a soccer game yesterday and has Inventions homework due tomorrow as well as her YA story submission.
Her YA story is so good. I'm going to have to paste it in here.
Monday, February 7, 2011
Wow
We had quite the busy week/weekend here. Robyn called after 9 on Tuesday (up so late!) to say she was coming with the kids the next day. So fun to have Robyn, Caden & Laina visit. We even let the kids miss school on Thursday to spend time with their cousins. I impressed Caden with my knowledge of the Spanish alphabet. I love being cool like that. Off they went to Hawaii Thursday afternoon & we had a moment before Mom/Moeki & Mr. Emmett arrived on Friday. The kids were so excited to have Emmett here also. Hazel played nicely, until Emmett made her so mad for some unknown reason. Grandma's shindig on Saturday was loud. Mom said she counted 62 of us. I wonder if I could list all who was there? 1. Grandma, 2. Uncle Tony, 3. Aunt Bronwyn, 4. Danny, 5. Katie, 6. Adam, 7. Lila, 8. Henry, 9. Millie, 10. Sarah Jane, 11. Nolan, 12. Papa, 13. Mom, 14. Me, 15. Abby, 16. Eli, 17. Hazel, 18. Alec, 19. Emmett, 20. Kai, 21. Molly, 22. David, 23. Grace R., 24. Zane, 25. Stella, 26. Travis, 27. Summer, 28. Zoey, 29. Meggan, 30. Hannah, 31. Brent, 32. Aunt MaryAnn, 33. Erin, 34. Ed, 35. Patti, 36. Connor, 37. Stegner, 38. Halle, 39. Jessica, 40. Wendy, 41. Annika, 42. Simon, 43. Rachel, 44. Grace B., 45. Bode, 46. Max, 47. Aunt Jeannie, 48. Aunt Jerilyn, 49. Uncle Ed W., 50. Eddie, 51. Maria, 52. Dean, 53. Angelica, 54. Zack, 55. Martin, 56. Mary, 57. Mike B., 58. Ayden, 59. Rose, 60. Tim, 61. Joey, 62. Amy, 63. Ella, 64. Aliza, 65. Brian. Okay, 65. Lucas & Hans got home Saturday eve, making a *very* full house with 6 adults & 5 kids. Mom, Abby & Emmett slept in Abby's room. Eli & Hazel were in their own room. Papa & Alec slept in the living room. Lucas was out in the playhouse. Kai was in my room & did very well. I stupidly thought he'd get more comfortable sleeping if I stuck him on my bed & that poor boy's mouth started rooting immediately...made getting him back to sleep a little more difficult & I felt so horrible for giving the little man confusion like that. After the exciting rocket launch for Emmett Sunday morning, the house began to quiet. Grandma's happy. Everyone had fun. Lovely, lovely time.
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