Capes, Timelines and Original Stories

Thursday was the end of the trimester for my peeps.  Amanda and Claire had a party and showed off their work on the formation of the earth and the medieval unit they've been studying. We braided hair, wore lovely dresses, and our fancy red capes. 

And a big shout out to Mr. Clark and Mrs. Dunton!

Each of the girls have been working on their own 40 ft timeline of the earth scroll. 

 Amanda brought hers home.  We tried to take a picture down the driveway, but we had to call in reinforcements because of the wind...

Here's a few close-ups she took...

And Amanda's story - complete with illuminated title.

The Story of Heidi

By Amanda Petersen (7 years old)

Once upon a time, there was a beautiful village.  One day, an old wizard came into the town.  He cast a spell on the town so that everyone would burn down their houses.  On the day of Pentecost, Heidi came and told King John what was happening.  He decided to send a knight to help.  King John knew of a secret water - whoever drank it would make peace.

Heidi and Sir Lancelot set off on their journey.  They had to travel a long time across the sea.  They got on horseback.  They had to cross a bridge.  A very ugly knight came out and said, “None shall pass!” 

Heidi was frustrated.  “How dare you tell me what to do!” said Heidi. 

“None shall pass!” said the ugly knight.

Sir Lancelot said, “Hush now.  I challenge you to a duel!”

“Okay,” said the ugly knight.  “What happens if you loose?”

“I will give you fifty grand,” said Sir Lancelot. 

They agreed.  Sir Lancelot won.

They walked and walked for a long time through the forest.  They came upon some bandits.  They were wearing masks and carrying sacks.

“Help!  I’m tied up!  Help!” called a farmer from a lake in the forest.  In a flash, they were there. He was about to drown. They untied him. 

“Thanks for saving my life,” said the farmer.

“You’re welcome.  Would you like to join our quest?” asked Heidi.

“Thanks, but no thanks. I’ve got to farm the land,” said the farmer.

They said goodbye.  They were almost there.

The last battle was when they faced an evil knight that guarded the secret water. 

“You may never drink the water.  Ha, ha!” laughed the evil knight.

“But we have to make peace.  Please, I’ve got to drink to save my village and my house.  I’m begging you,” said Heidi. 

“You may never drink from the water,” said the evil knight.

“I will do anything,” pleaded Heidi.

Sir Lancelot interrupted and said, “Let her drink or I will fight you to the death.”

            They fought for hours and hours. He shed some blood, but Sir Lancelot finally won.

            “Now, let me drink the water,” cried Heidi.  She finally drank the water.  She put it in a barrel.  She went home and saved her house and her family. 

Lancelot had to go to the hospital for eight days.  He got out of the hospital.  The King was very pleased with him.  He saved Heidi. They had a big feast.

They all lived happily ever after. Heidi and Lancelot got married and had 20 children.

*****************************************************************

Great job, Amanda.  Great job!

I Painted the Deck!

Since I have all this free time with the kids in school.
I thought I better use these last few sunny days to paint the deck

The house was clean ...

I had finished unpacking the last of the boxes
 from Papa's house.

And the first ones...

I had finished painting Jacob's room.  

Oh wait - I did paint his room
the first week of school.

The driveway looked good. 

Real good.
I can even park the van and the car side by side, again.

And the garage is organized,
thanks to Amy and Priscila helping me throw a bunch of OLD stuff away.
Everything over 20 years old had to go! 

But it got filled back up, somehow....

Who really needs to get in the garage in the winter, anyway?

So, I focused all my energy on the deck this week...

and power washed and painted! 

We even moved all the deck furniture into the shed.

Just in time, too.  Looks like the rains are about to start again.  

Guess I'll have to find something else to do with all my free time!

Look out Fall, here I come!

Why I'm walking....

This weekend, I'll be walking in two different 5K races.

The Color Run  is just for fun. It's The Happiest 5K on the planet! Priscila and I will walk with a group of her friends. You walk, run, dance and at each mile marker you get colored.

The Walk to Defeat ALS is for real.  We will all walk this one - kids, parents, grandparents, friends. Many people are collecting donations to help fund research so someone can find a cure.  Some are walking it to honor a loved one.  Some are prayer walking it.  Some are walking or riding because they have ALS.

This morning, while I was pushing Claire around the ponds, I was thinking about the races and why I was walking...

I’m walking because I can. Because my legs still work and my lungs still work.  Because I can still talk and swallow and breath.  My grandfather, Don Couch, and my mother-in-law, Delight Petersen, couldn't do those things.  So I walk for them, in defiance of a disease that slowly deteriorated their body and trapped their fully functioning minds inside.  I walk for them, because they couldn't.

I’m walking for their beloved caretakers. My grandmother, Nell Couch, and my Father-in-law, Bill Petersen. I want to honor their sacrifice of love, time, energy, tears and heartache. They couldn’t fix it. But they gave all they had to the love of their life while their best friend withered before their eyes.

I’m walking for those who are struggling through this disease right now. They will be there, walking and riding along side us. Holding on to precious moments that are slipping away faster and faster than they can see. They are still holding on to a thread of hope… that somehow this is all a nightmare and they will wake up soon.

I’m walking for us. For all the loss we’ve felt. For all the times we sacrificed and begged and pleaded and cried and hoped and someone died anyway. And our broken hearts haven't recovered yet – but we still make it through our days. We are in this together.

I’m walking, because I can.

Pictures I didn't take...

Katy's new shower curtain

Polly Pocket sized Beast

Pucker up - Becca (or Emily)

Yes I do have blue eyes.

The cousins are finally here!

You're a lovely dancer.

Looks like Katy's reflection in this one.

So fresh and yellow and everywhere!

Got, milk?

Yep, they are still blue.

Can we watch another episode?

Polly's houses and plane.

Pooh Bear waiting for his computer turn.

Watch me put these dishes away, baby.

Who put all those socks on the floor next to the recycling?

Self portrait of ... ME!

A flip flop for your wine glass...

And a piece of trash.

Cotton Candy and Polka Dots

If you were lucky enough to make it to our house during the holiday - Amanda probably already showed you Emily and Becca's newly decorated room.  But if you missed it ...

Here are a few things we learned on this group project...

It goes faster with scratchers and scrapers than picking at it on and off for a few months or so. (But they did enjoy listening to Adventures in Odyssey over and over and over ....)

Here's what everyone else was doing on October 19th... 

I didn't realize how long we had been working on their room!

Apparently, Katy likes to bake when she's frustrated...

 yummy for us.

If mom doesn't really like mint green walls as much as the girls - 

you'll probably have to repaint.  Probably.

Having the right music is always important.  

Plus notice how mom is letting them put the circles wherever they want.... 

not necessarily where mom would have put them.

FYI -The triforce CAN be represented with polka dots.

******

For Christmas, we gave the girls bulletin boards and the promise to finish their room over Christmas break.  With one more trip to IKEA for the little shelves and 2+ hours of hanging things...  I think we are done.

Becca's side

Emily's side

Well, we still need to repaint the chairs... that red just doesn't go with our color scheme.

But that will have to wait until a drier, warmer month.  

Maybe done isn't the right word...

Turn 'em Around

There I was, stalking someone on fb and they responded to a wonderful idea... one I might not have thought of on my own, but one I now consider my own.  An easy way to sort through your hanging clothes.

1. Go to your closet.

2. Turn on the light. 

3. Turn all the hangers (with clothes on them) the wrong way (opposite way, backward, etc.).

4. As you wear and wash the clothes, hang them back up the regular way (the way you always have). 

5. In six months, any clothes still hanging on a backwards hanger means you haven't worn them... and you probably are not going to.  

6. Remove the clothes from your home, quickly.

7. Repeat.

Feel free to do this to your spouses and children's closets. They will think you are weird for turning them all around, but most will not take the time to turn them back to normal... and in 6 months you'll know what they've been wearing and what they haven't.  

And what shall we do with all the extra coat hangers we will be getting rid of?  

Recycle them into chandeliers?

"Are you a boy or a girl?"

Today, Claire and I were at Winco, where you bag your own groceries.  As I was busy throwing a basket full of yummies on the little conveyor belt, Claire was contemplating the gender of our cashier.

"Are you a boy or a girl?"

Oh no, did she just say that out loud.

"I said are you a boy or a girl?"

Maybe I can head this off at the pass... "Claire, she's a girl.  See her pony tail and her pretty earrings."

I can see her thinking while I am busy tossing the last of the produce on the belt. "Am I a boy or a girl?"

"You are a girl, sweetie."

"Are you a boy or a girl?"

"I am a girl, too."  I am glad she is asking about me and her, maybe it will seem like she is unsure of gender identity in general.  She's just a little kid, asking a basic question.  Except, she knows the difference between boys and girls... and has for some time.

Then the lady says "I can see her talking to me, but I can't really hear her."

Oh no.  Am I supposed to say the exact thing I was hoping we could just let drop. Maybe I could just make a politically correct summarization?

I tell the nice lady that Claire's asking if we are girls or boys.  "Oh, I'm a grandma."   Good answer, as I am quickly changing gears to repack the shopping cart I just emptied.

Normally, I enjoy this part.  I've always loved Tetris and feel like I can actually use it when I fill paper bags with boxes of cereal, crackers, cake mix and jello. I am even up to the challenge of tuna fish, tortillas and frozen pizza bites.  And it's a race against the person in the other lane... even if they bought less stuff.

As I start to fill my first bag, Claire says "Then why does she have a mustache?"

I wanted to stop right there and laugh out loud!  I understood the whole conversation a little better, now. And I wanted to laugh.  I was tired and Claire was being observant, making "connections" in her little brain.

I chose the easy answer - "Shush, I'll tell you in the van."  But she never brought it back up.

As I was telling Darren about our trip this evening, she piped up and said, "Well, she did have a mustache."

Maybe she did... I must have missed it.