"Yo-yos," creating, and violent FHE games

 I purchased some walkie-talkies for the little ones. The older kids had some and the little ones loved to borrow them, although it did stress the older ones out a little.  So I looked on my trusty Amazon site and found a set of three for a decent price and ordered them. I was debating whether or not to save them for Christmas or not but decided to pull them out yesterday.  What fun!

Zuli loves her "yo-yo" as she calls it.  The boys also are a little obsessed and it works wonders to get them to do things by saying "you can play with your walkie-talkies after you finish...."  It is super cute that they are made so a little two year old can handle it, although she often misses the timing of when to start and stop talking :D.

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Chugger-dude had his first day when he actually had to push himself to keep up.  Of course, that is probably also because he inserted a two hour trip to the cemetery with the kids with Lily when they were first trying out their walkie-talkies.  He likes to take his day at a mellow pace and it caught up with him by the end of the day, after fitting in cross country practice, football scrimmage with a local pick-up group and then finishing his jobs and geometry homework around 10 pm.  It has been fun to see the kids being externally mentored thrive in this different environment, although Chugger-dude did say that if it wasn't for the sports, he would rather work at home because it seemed to be more challenging and do more for him.  We are teaching Biology, reading classics and doing supplemental math at home in addition to his high school classes since the school wouldn't allow us to put him in the classes he was ready for and had some remedial substitution.  Okay, not remedial, but still...Chugger-dude could really measure up to the challenge.  For English they are reading "Hunger Games" this semester.  I had him read "The Chosen" and "A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch" (sp?) this month.  I am content, though.  We can use the system when we need it and I own that I am his primary mentor and he is primarily in charge of his education so we need not be limited to it. :D

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Liliputian has decided to take a turn at sewing and so we purchased a bunch of fabric and just need to carve out time when the fabric can rest unmolested on the kitchen table long enough to be cut out, lol.  For some reason that has felt really hard to do, lately!  She bought a pattern for a dress and I think she will look smashing in it.  It may end up that it doesn't get much done on it until Oma comes to visit when the baby is born in a month, but we are determined to give it a good headstart. :D

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Piper bounced around the house with boundless energy last night, engaging in one intense interaction after another with her more mellow siblings :D.  Fortunately she was able to use some up doing an intense job on her "dinner help" of straightening up the front room and mud room. I love when she does that, although I feel a little like I am taking advantage of it.  She insists that it is therapeutic for her and I enjoy the super-clean result but she does go a little into overdrive when she is in that mood.

Yesterday I was able to be her "secretary"/typist for an interview of a local official for a school class.  She selected some kind of village clerk and it was fun to learn more from a less-prominent public figure.  It was also funny since the lady wasn't serving in an elected role so she probably hadn't thought much about some of the questions Piper threw at her like the role of government and some philosophical reactions to words by the Founding Fathers.  The lady was super nice and it was fun to overhear the interaction on speaker phone as I typed up the lady's responses.  

Piper also made a killer shrimp avocado salad much to many people's dismay but those of us with more mature tastes were super happy.  It has been fun to have her and Lily try new recipes each week.  Lily is treating us to a crispy herb chicken and crockpot mashed potatoes tonight....yum!

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Papaya and Hava have fun riding the bus or walking to and from school with Chugger-dude every day and I have enjoyed being able to take time to do their hair in french braids or otherwise every day. It has been a good time for us to connect. It has been harder to do our family reading times with all the coming and going and online classes but we manage to squeeze it in two to three times a week.  It helps to have one of our readings from a fantasy novel that they are excited to hear how it ends :D.

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Last night, Zsa-man got to pick the game for FHE and we played "Mr. Boogety", a game where you turn out all the lights at night so it is super dark; someone goes out and hides; and then we all go and try and find them. If someone finds them, you call out "Mr Boogety!" and run for the base before the person who is "it" tags you. It can get pretty intense with our small house and narrow stairway, but it still remains a favorite.  We can't really play it during the summer since it gets dark so late, but we are in the seasons where it works so we play it about every other week for FHE.  Fortunately we also squeeze in some "Farmer in the Dell," "Big Booty" and "Fruit Basket" although that last one has become markedly less enjoyable during this latter stage of my pregnancy.  Getting up and down quickly is not one of my strong-points, needless to say :D.  Okay, sitting is also uncomfortable after a while.  As is standing.  And laying down.  Alright...just super excited to have my body back with a cute little crying snuggler for us all to enjoy :D.  The other day as we were at the doctor's office for Chugger-dude, I overheard a new infant cry and my heart just seemed to gush open with anticipation.  I just love these little ones so much!!

Back to Mr. Boogety, Zsa-man had a fun time outlining some specific rules since he was "in charge" (we are all pretty good over here at assuming command):

-no pushing little kids down the stairs

-no jumping out and scaring little kids 

-leave the upstairs bathroom light on

Good rules, although we expanded the "no pushing little kids down the stairs" to include everyone, since that seemed something like a no brainer ;).

Avot's Mission Call and School Time Memories

Chugger-dude thought that Avot was going to the Argentina Boise area, combining her actual call with Lek's fear.  He is terrified that he will be called to Idaho!!

Last night, Papaya tearfully turned to me and said, "Mom, I don't want to get married."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't want to die!!!"

I assured her that death will come to her pretty much whether she is married or single.  She is also convinced that kissing is gross. I hope that lasts up until the day she is safely married :)

A look at our "Thinking about Thinking" class we have on Mondays.  Lek made sure he had his hat on to impress the ladies.  Nice :).  Hey, he's a good guy.  He even participated in ward choir last week, much to our delight!  He can apparently sing the soprano and the bass range.  Avot also had a first: she played Settlers for a second time of her own free will...and will probably not play it again for a long time, but hey!  It was fun.  She is just darling and our discussion on "Propaganda during War Time" by Huxley about Hitler's techniques was fascinating.  Love these kids!

We also had a particularly memorable "Authors in the Attic" yesterday: check out our funny poems here!

Hava is a beautiful hoarder...always a bunch of toys or pile of stuff in tow!

We HAD to get outside, no matter how bleak the weather, so we bundled up.  Yep.  Our cold gear is a grab bag of stuff that I don't even bother trying to match up anymore.  The gloves that were actually a pair was a bonus!

Avot  and Spooner have become best friends.  He looks for her first thing in the morning and she loves it.  "I think of us as kindred spirits," she affirms.  She was amazed at how strong a bond was created after just playing cars together a few times.  I guess "cars" is his love language.  He is also a hugger. If anyone is sad, he is quick to snuggle up next to them and sneak a loving arm around their neck to cuddle.  Sweetie!

I like our puddles...maybe that is silly, but there it is!

A look at our "driveway"...the park next door.  Lots of puddle and ice potential!!

These two darling boys have captured my heart!

I wanted to take a "before" shot so that we could appreciate how AWESOME our backyard will look after we work on it this summer, after finishing the inside.  Well, "finishing" is a loose term, but you know what I mean :).

We were SOOOOOO excited to finally see this big packet in the mail!!!  Avot glowed all day long.

Yes, she made us wait all day...but at least she didn't make us wait for two, the merciful angel that she is. (She would do it too!)

As it was, she skimmed through it first before opening it and then giggled.  The turkey!

Avot's opening at 7:30 that night was a fun occasion, with rootbeer and orange floats with happiness cookies for all!

We have been so blessed to meet new family and friends here!

We had missionaries and friends here, while Lek orchestrated an online presence with family and friends in other locations.

Avot continues to amaze me.  I love reading her words.  Here she tells about our experience together last Sunday playing the violin.  The fact that she is going to be heading to Argentina is still a little unreal.  It is starting to sink in, especially as she works on learning Spanish on Duolingo every day and we keep singing, "Don't Cry For Me, Argentina!"

Baby Zsa is used to royal treatment, like being carried on everyone's hips or shoulders.  It is just a matter of course for him!

Funny, as I made this picture "extra large" I thought, "Lek doesn't need any encouragement.  I should leave it small."

We can never seem to get a good shot of this little guy and his "anti-camera" instincts.  Shucks.  Oh well, at least we know he is cute.

Pond fun, school, basketball and babies!

Our days are always full.  Sometimes I look at the computer screen as I pass, muse about what to write and then pass on.  Sometimes, I just have to sit and write.  Today is one of those days.

Chugger-dude and Pipalicious decided to act on Q-dawg's spontaneous suggestion of boogie boarding in "our" hockey-rink turned lake in the park next door.  This was last Saturday.  This was the first Saturday in February.  In other words, even if it isn't frozen, it is still darn cold.  Not to be deterred, they grabbed their towels, changed into better "wet" clothing and headed out, me trailing with a video camera.

You can see the footage of facebook of their venture.  How they got in the water not once, but twice.  Crazy.  After watching the footage on the video, Hava and Papaya decided they wanted to join in the fun.  So yesterday, they, too grabbed a hand towel (they are tiny, but not that tiny!) and I dutifully followed two excited girls and their Daddy out to the rink-pond.

After the two of them went, Papaya deigning to do it only once and Pipalicious joining in the fun for a couple more pulls, they turned their pleading eyes on me: "Oh come on, Mommy!!!"  Unfortunately, I do not have a history of declining.  In fact, I like to see my kids do new and spontaneous things (especially when their Daddy suggests it) so I have forced myself to do a great many things over the years.  And usually, I am glad I did it.

Looking into their sweet and tender expressions as they pleaded so adorably (it really was absolutely adorable...I wish I had that on video), I logically went down a check-list of why I shouldn't (weather, temp, no one in their right mind would do it, differences in weight between girls and me, weather, temp, did I really want to get wet?!, water/ground questionability, LACK OF REAL-SIZED TOWEL,  possible video footage of large woman being dragged through the water) and reasons I should (adorable girls, example of willingness, love shown when I can give in when not spoiling them...I had to shower that afternoon anyway after our basketball work out that morning...adorable girls).  The adorable girls won out.

First time after I gingerly plodded (you don't see those two words in combination very often) out to the center of the pond, laid myself in the freezing foot deep water and doubted my decision, I set my teeth while Q-dawg said, "Go!" and started tugging.  Lurch.  Snap.  I was still sitting in the water with a broken boogie-board cord in front of me.  I struggled up, grabbed the board, and trudged back to shore.

"Oh, no worries!" Q-dawg assured me.  "I can fix it!" and sure enough, he wrapped the strap of rope he had been using around the board (using one of this no-fail, fancy-dancy knots) and it looked good to go.  The pleading, beautiful eyes returned, along with Q-dawg's comment, "Why not? You are already wet."  Good point.  My feet were absolutely frozen by this point though and that was a definite reason "why not."  Sigh. Little hearts win out.  Love those girls.  Kids can sure make us do things we never thought we would do, eh?

Remember, "gingerly plodding"?  Did it again.  Out to the middle of the pond, Pipalicious ready on the camera, lay myself down on the board in the freezing cold water and....GO!

The rest is facebook history.

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We started the day getting ready for basketball.  Liliputian and I had thrown together some delicious "roll-ups"* (see recipe below!) to have hot and ready to go so that they would play happier.  (They always do with food in their tummy!)  It was a great game that day.  The Goob made a bunch of lay-ups and is a tenacious rebounder.  Lek started the game off with some solid three-pointers.  The Lek-Goob-Chuggerdude-Avot team did some amazing passing around to score many shots between them.  At one point, Q-dawg had just received a pass from me after I recovered it from some tussle, turned to dribble, and like Dash in "The Incredibles," Chugger-dude swooped through to snag the basketball away from him mid-dribble. (Chugger-dude does that a lot.)  Avot keeps everything happy, with her quick wit, great shot and incredible sportsmanship.  I also love to see her race off court to soothe little boys in the midst of a game.  She will make a great mommy someday :).

Liliputian was the high-scorer for our team, shooting with incredible accuracy from about 20 feet out to the side.  Q-dawg is always amazing :), dribbling around and racing his boys down court.  Pipalicious is quite the avid defender and was right on defending Chugger-dude, keeping directly between him and the basket with tenacity.  That girl is a fire ball!  How she can launch that ball up into the air despite her small size is amazing to me!  I was covering the Goob, which can be laughable with his speed.  Even when I tip the ball away from him, somehow he sticks with it and still has it in had the next moment to shoot up a lay-up.  Not sure how he does that :).

The Goob made the winning basket with our classical ending of "next basket wins."  We headed out of the "Y," gathering little barefooted, pajama'd little ones as we went.  They had entertained themselves and the babies in the neighboring area with all the hockey equipment the Y could provide.  Hava joins us occasionally and makes a shot or two in her time with us, although is not quite ready for a steady game for the entire time.  "I'm on your team, Mommy!" she does in her little Hava-baby voice.  So sweet :).
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Duolingo, Seminary, Khan Academy, devotional...the computers keep pretty busy through-out the day. Yesterday, Chugger-dude used part of the computer time to finish prepping his awesome slide show on Hawaii, with a lot of focus on the state fish...one of our favorite songs :).

It's one of mine because of the delight I see it creating in my little ones.  Chugger-dude is so fun to watch as he sings along.  So fun!

We made interesting smoothies to go along with it. I insisted on kale and spinach, but probably put in a little too much :S.  Oh well. The two cans of pineapple and orange juice, with a touch of Greek yogurt made it tolerable, if a bit interesting in consistency.  We sang our weekly "Fifty-Nifty U.States" song to go along with our "State Report Moment," seeing if we could identify each state as we sang it.  The Goob was pretty amazing as he used Zsa-man's feet to find them.
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After our State Focus we shifted gears.  The younger ones ran off to play while the older ones gathered and we shifted table maps out, replacing our US one with a World one.  Time for "World Summit"!  Each of us bring a news article of focus from a selected continent and we do it on that continent each week for a month.  It is a great time to "catch up" a little with what is happening in the world and after a month of researching through articles about a particular continent we get a pretty good idea of what is current.

We have fun discussions, like last week's where we all came with ZIKA virus articles, since that was the bulk of the reporting done on South America last week.  Interesting way to do it, but not very time-consuming: both pluses for me.

While we did that, Liliputian worked with little ones in the kitchen making an epic stack of quartered tuna fish sandwiches for lunch.  I love it when she is on lunch!  She does such a great job :).  Papaya has been busily painting or playing with Zsa-man during this time, Spooner has been wandering in and out of the kitchen or been playing hot wheels with Chugger-dude.  Chugger-dude sets up a long set of track and they zoom them down the stairs. Unfortunately one night they kept zooming it directly into poor Lek's legs at the bottom of the stairs (or more specifically, his ankle :S...) so they had to move it the next day.    Chugger-dude is pretty creative so he rigged up a great track using the ladder.  Pipalicious and Hava have been playing a lot of "stuffed animal games" with Chugger-dude and Liliputian and Papaya joining on occasion.  Lately, it rotates between stuffed animals and cars, but it is fun to listen to them play together...which they do happily, for the most part.
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After lunch, Lek and the Goob headed out to the gym while I went upstairs for quiet time with the kids.  Liliputian did her usual amazing job of cleaning up lunch, which is such a blessing!  I made Chugger-dude rest for a while, just so he wasn't busy doing all day. I feel that it is just good to get a breather to think, rest, or read for a bit during the day.

I even got a bit of a nap, with its usual interruption about 15-20 minutes into it with "Mom...mom!...mom!!!" whispered by Papaya. "Is it done with quiet time?"  I love how they whisper loudly to wake me up, as if that makes it not at all like talking normally to interrupt my delicious nap.  Argh.  She got the "if you wake me up the answer is always 'NO!'" lecture so familiar to my older kids, and I settled back to fruitlessly try to go back to sleep :).

Oh well.  It was soon time for our "mommy reading time" of "Heidi," which is going so quickly after "Lonesome Gods." I am really enjoying it and I think the kids are as well,  After 30 minutes, they are usually still asking for more...well, most of them. It is fun and I love these books that are filled with good characters, morals and feelings.  Hopefully it can help them feel what good feels like, which can be no small feat in this day and age.

The afternoon involved a mini-history class covering our current time period of post-Civil War, a mixture of exciting inventions, expansion and tragic segregation of blacks, re-location of Native Americans and rampant political corruption.   Some of the kids colored traced images from that time period while we talked about what happened: images of Native Americans and buffalo.

We did our "time at the pond" after which I came into the kitchen to make cookies with Spooner, my little chef.  Spooner and I had some snuggle nap time together which makes him more pleasant, even if he isn't taking many naps any more.

Baby Zsa has spent most of this time in people's arms, sleeping or moving himself around.  He can even pull himself up on things, which is crazy to me.  When did this happen!  He has two adorable little teeth, loves solids and nursing, and bounces whenever he is excited, happy, or agitated...probably due to his extensive time in our awesome bouncer.  He has about out-grown it since he is getting more mobile.  He smiles that little drooling, baby-tooth smile and has us all around his little fingers.  He lowers his head a little, while directing an intense stare and slow smile at us and we call that his "tractor beam" gaze...we can't get away from it and are drawn into him for a kiss or to pick him up.

My darling husband was on hand all evening, recognizing I has sunk into one of my emotional funks, helping me get out the door for enrichment and getting the kids to bed later when we got home.

Wow.  Long post.  Time to start waking everyone up :)!
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*Easy-peasy recipe:  packaged crescent rolls (5 in our case wasn't quite enough), three packages of pudding and two cubes of melted butter.  We divided up the pudding flavors into 1 package lemon and 2 packages butterscotch (which is what the recipe actually called for) to get two different flavors of rolls.  You smear the pudding/butter paste in a thin layer on each roll and then roll them up and cook them.  The butterscotch ones are amazing with pecans, but we were out, to no one's disappointment but mine :).  We took the remainder of the pudding paste, put powdered sugar and a little milk in it and made it into a glaze to put on top afterwards.  Cook until golden and yummy!