Madeline Funnies

Madeline: Is there a Rider game today?
Sean: Yes.
Madeline: Is it here?
Sean: Yes.
Madeline: Who are they playing?
Sean: Edmonton.
Madeline: Oh! The Oilers!
Us: ha ha ha....
Madeline: Oh, wait... the Eskimos...

Ten minutes later, we're passing a Viterra grain terminal on the way to Gramma and Grampa's...
Madeline: What's Viterra?
Sean: A grain company.
Madeline: Is that the same thing as Viagra?
Us: ha ha ha... Remember the conversation we had the other day when you saw that ad on TV and asked what Cialas was??
Madeline: EEWW!

What is a Colon?

Mom:  "Madeline, you're not moving."  (She was supposed to be cleaning her room.)
M: "Yes I am!  My heart's beating, I'm breathing, and my colon's moving...  What is a colon?"

We made her look it up and read it out loud from the dictionary.  She had to read the word rectum, too!

The Camp Blanket

When M was four, we happened to be flying standby and ended up in first class.  "Mom, this is WAY better than the last plane we were on!"  she said, in our row right in front of coach.  She milked it, too; whenever a flight attendant walked by, she asked for more snacks or a drink - and as the grand finale, on our way out, she asked if she could keep the blanket.  She got a yes, and we now have an Air Canada blanket in our linen closet.  When she started getting badges in Sparks (the youngest Girl Guides) and for swimming lessons, I thought I would sew them on her blanket and it could be a camp blanket for her.

 

 

Eight years later, it has six Sparks badges (on the pink strip), a sash full of Brownie badges (lower right), a sash full of Girl Guides badges (on the left, added just before camp yesterday), and a whole assortment of badges and iron-ons from different Guiding activities..  The patch in the middle is off a pair of jeans she wore long ago, and the upper right holds her swimming badges.

It's been fun to see this develop over the last eight years; I wonder what will come in the next years to fill in the gaps?

Do you have any special way that you've kept your kid's special mementos?

Home again...

I've got all our trip pictures on the computer & uploaded an album for you to check out if you wish.

We did of course play the license plate game, and found 46 of them.  Hawaii was missing, naturally, as well as Delaware, New Hampshire and Vermont.  We saw all the rest (even Alaska) and one or two from Mexico, too.  Canada was represented by all the provinces except the maritimes and the territories.

Now that we're back I feel like I need to get out running or biking or something; 5 days of sitting & driving & eating in restaurants needs to be reversed!  One thing I will miss is the Christian radio station - we had it on lots and it was so nice.  I think they have three of them.

Bottom line, if you're wanting to take a family vacation, I would recommend heading down to SD.  Lots to do & see.  We enjoyed ourselves immensely.

Oh, and one last story from the drive down:  We passed a sign for Somebody or Other's Elk Ranch, and I started watching for elk, but Sean said, "I haven't seen the elk fence yet."  M sat up and almost gave herself whiplash looking out the window - "ELEPHANTS?"

Anyone else planning to watch the World Cup Final tomorrow??  Who are you hoping for?  I'll be rooting for Spain, I think - I have a chance for one more point in our pool if Netherlands comes in 2nd...

Day Three

As we were driving down here, I told M and Sean to humor me when it comes to taking their pictures at places.  Tonight, we were getting back in the car after one stop and I was being silly and M was laughing, and she says, `Thanks for humoring me, Mom!`

This morning started with a stop at the ranger station / visitor center to make sure we had all the tourist info and weren`t missing out on anything, then made our way to a cave tour just outside of Keystone. We sat on a balcony in town for a bite of lunch (with yummy berry lemonade), then walked the main street; the highlight was stopping in at a little shop that made and sold salt water taffy.  Seeing it get transformed from a long sweet rope into what we know and love was very cool.  Plus, the air was heavenly in there!

Next we headed a short way down the road and did a gold mine tour.  Both tours were good - must do`s for being in the area, I think.

Man, it`s a good thing I`m writing this down each day - I`m already having a hard time remembering all we did!  Oh, yeah - once we got back to Rapid City, we parked and walked some streets downtown, taking our time getting to our ultimate destination - the scrapbooking store.  Yes, as soon as we made our plans to come down here, of course I googled `scrapbook stores rapid city sd`.  We found it, I shopped... I`d better start scrapbooking again.

From there we hit the mall.  We didn`t last long, but came away with a pair of capris for me, and a skirt and some dress shoes for M.  We thought we`d grab a coffee and get off our feet a bit when we realized it was already 5:15, so we went for supper instead.  The Olive Garden was a little less busy than last night when we left at the sight of so many people waiting outside the doors, but still a popular place.  (Our plan here, of course, is to not eat at any places we have at home.)

Having revived our energy, we made our way to Scheels.  Oh, my.  Scheels is a sports store with everything.  They have frisbee golf discs (did you know there are different discs for driving, mid range drives, and putting?  I thought that was only on Wii Resort!) and roller derby roller skates.  Plus ammo out on the shelves and virtual ranges for trying out different sports.  Sean ended up with a shirt while I made out like a bandit with a swanky North Face jacket and some dress sandals.

One more full day here.  We`re looking forward to what tomorrow brings!

Wonderful Lazy Sunday

Here's a nod to motherhood: 

This photographer, Nick Brandt, has stunning shots of East African animals - lots more to see here.

And here's a quote from Madeline from the other day:

"This is the best lunch I've had since yesterday.  I like sandwiches.  Especially the ones you make."

Happy Mother's Day to me!

Grapefruit?

I've got a great 'she said what?' post for you today.

We were sitting at supper eating chicken fingers and fries, and M commented on the plum sauce for some reason.  Plum in french is prune, so the jar is labeled with both words.  I asked her if she knew what a prune was, and she said, "Plum - in french prune is the word for plum."  I asked her if she knew what prune meant in English, to which she replied, "Yep.  It's a dried grapefruit."

Some days she tries hard to make us laugh, and some days they come out of nowhere.  Sometimes she gets things wrong on purpose for a laugh, but with this one she was serious.  So funny.

I put prunes on the shopping list for tomorrow.

**********

In other news, I bought a new bag.  My last one only cost me $10 and has lasted a decent amount of time, but is falling apart, and needing badly to be replaced.  I've been keeping my eyes out for a while now, but I'm so not a pursey person, so it's been a bit of a challenge finding something 'me.'  Yesterday after wandering through the mall with Sean and Madeline (and two t shirts and a sweater later), I was pretty certain I'd never find anything.  Then, we walked into Spare Parts.  Up to the back wall, where they had bags.  "That one," I said.  We put it on hold and went home to check the price online (Sean is no stranger to ebay.  They're pretty good friends, actually.)  But nowhere online was it cheaper than the sale price locally, so today we went back to pick it up.  So nice not to have to shop for one anymore.  Mine is more of a chocolate brown; the main body is a woven vinyl, kind of canvassy, and the leather looking straps are a man made fabric, as well.  A vegetarian purse.  And the inside is a bright pink -I can't believe I bought it anyway.  At least no one else will see it...

First Bike of the Season

Sean got out our bikes after supper, filled the tires, and off we went along the bike paths (we have to go under the tracks and across a busy road, but then we're set for quite a ways.  While we were out we saw people playing at the playground and a wailing child who did not want to leave the playground; people walking their dogs and people letting their dogs run on the fields (including a beagle Daisy who tried to chase me down); kids on bikes (in t shirts and shorts - I was wearing my winter jacket, toque and gloves); a family playing with a Frisbee ring and kites; and mamas walking pushing strollers.  And we heard birds, and of course something funny out of M's mouth.  I came up behind her and said, "I'm coming!" to which she replied, "I'm going!" as she sped up.

Yay!  Spring is here!  The other two never even came in when we got back - Sean is out in the garage and M was sweeping off the deck to get it ready for the patio furniture.  Earlier today she said that if it was out, she'd go read in the backyard.  Soon.

Worth it?

Madeline asked if I would braid her hair tonight. Two french braids. She's got a piano recital tomorrow and wanted pretty wavy hair.

After five minutes of feeling her cringe with each pull of the comb, I said to her, "You don't ask for this until you've forgotten this part."  She didn't even miss a beat, and came back with, "Yeah, it's like cinnamon buns."

I got it right away - we love eating cinnamon buns, but the kneading is a painful process.  She took it to another level: "It's worth all the pain and suffering though, for the finished product."

Such a smart kid.

something to try

There are lots of blogs out there that have a narrower focus on scrapbooking or recipes or crafty stuff, but I've chosen to make mine an extension of who I am, and so you'll find stories here from our lives, funny stuff that M says (like this morning when I woke her up: "Is it Saturday yet?"), my scrapbooking layouts, spiritual stuff, and creative stuff.

That said, I like to try to keep this worth reading, so I was browsing on StumbleUpon yesterday to find something cool to post for you, and found this:



I made one and didn't show M, but sent it out the door with her to play with on the bus...  A fun start to both our days.  The longest part is drawing it out on the paper and cutting - the taping is simple, and in just a few minutes you've got this fun crazy paper thing that you made yourself!  (Let me know if you make one, too!)

PS - Jess and Dave got home safely from Israel - I'm looking forward to hearing all about their trip.

Self - Punishment

The night before last, Sean and I woke up at 1:30 AM to an alarm - I go in to Madeline's room to turn off her alarm, since it wasn't either of ours, and of course can't do that in the dark, so I pull the plug.  The wrong one, then the right one, and the alarm is still going off.  

"It's her watch," Sean calls.  

"Where the heck is it?" I ask, blind in the dark.

"Try by my hair stuff," Madeline says, awakened by the alarm or me, I'm not sure which.  I find it, and by now it has stopped, but I take it down two floors in case it goes off again.

Back to bed, and Sean says, "It took me SO long to fall asleep..."  Oops - somebody's going to be in big trouble.  He's off to work before she comes down in the mornings, so he was going to deal with it at supper.  He goes easy on her, just saying that she can have her watch back ONLY IF SHE DOESN'T TOUCH ANY BUTTONS.

So this morning I go in to wake up Madeline, and see that her clock is wrong.  "I'd better change that," I say, "so you're not late for breakfast."

"What time is it?" she asks, and when she finds out that it's actually 7:20, not 7:40 like her clock says, she does the math incredibly fast and realizes that she was in bed with the lights out 20 minutes before she had to be last night.

That's pretty funny, I think.

Spring in January and the Molympics

Yesterday it was +6 degrees!!!  Today I only saw it go to 2 above, but wow, what crazy January weather!

That's partly why M was outside playing after school yesterday for so long.  When I went out to check on her, she said, "Mom!  Come out and see the sports I made up for the Molympics!" (That's pronounced moe - lympics.)

The first one was sliding down the pile of snow on the back deck to the grass, on her back, head first.  She had crafted a nice little curve at the bottom, and said this event was for speed.  The next one was a two-step-and-flip-over-your-head move from the sidewalk to the snow pile on the side of the walk.  I wasn't about to try either one, because I wasn't dressed for the snow... But I did try the third one, and walked away in my Sorels with a Gold Medal in the long jump off the deck.  I had her by a foot.

Tonight M is off to Girl Guides, Sean is off to play shinney with a bunch of guys, and I think I'll start on my last paper...  The tree came down last night and as soon as the box is gone from the living room, Christmas will be over for another year.  While I was doing that, M was laying on the couch doing homework and Sean was being Mr. Fixit, installing weather stripping stuff around the doors and doing other odd jobs.  A productive night all around!

My friend from the office next door is in the hospital with appendix issues.  He's been in almost a week, and he's got a ways to go before he's fully healthy again.  If you're a pray-er, lift one up for Byron and his family.  He's the youth pastor, and his sponsors are doing a great job carrying things along.  (Since he was away and Henry was at a retreat and David was at a course and Janet's in Hawaii, Darren and Elizabeth and I had staff meeting at Roca House today...  :) )

A little bit of catch up

I don't know where to start! Being a one computer family means that when I have "I should blog that" thoughts, they get put off and go astray before they get blogged. My friends just left our meeting here and Sean is out playing pool with a friend, so I'm grabbing this minute for me. And you.

The biggest thing is that I am THANKFUL. My Dad had an adventure this weekend where his semi met a cliff... and he's not dead. That is a miracle, and I am thankful! To God, to the kind people who helped out, to Rebecca Schroeder who prays for my dad's safety on the roads every day...

The friends who were over tonight? My DESIGN TEAM. I am enjoying my role at the church as "Coordinator of Worship Arts and Communications" and I am more aware now of what it requires, and what I can produce, and thankfully, I am aware of a few people who have creative minds and knowledge of design software and production. Tonight was the first meeting of the 5 of us, so I ran through what kinds of things I am working on, what kinds of things we could dream about for the future, and got some specific input of some of my current projects. We had lots of laughs and I'm so glad that they're all super stoked to be involved.



I had a fiction craving this weekend. I love to read and find that's my best escape and way to relax. I try not to have too many books around the house when I'm working on a paper because it's far too easy to read instead of write. But Friday I went to the library and picked up two books. One was huge, and one was small. I started reading the huge one that night, and because Sean was busy with other stuff, I just kept reading. Till 1:30 AM. I got half done. Saturday? Yeah. I finished it. The Book of Negros, by Lawrence Hill. I'd highly recommend it. Thanks, Mom for mentioning that one to me.


Last week, I had taken Madeline down to the dentist for a filling.  I was driving her back to school and we were goofing off, dancing around to the radio, when she says, "Anna..."
Anna is one of her best friends.  She called me Anna.  Not Madam (her teacher, though I get that once in a while, just like teachers get called Mom), but her FRIEND's name.
I'll take that as a compliment.

A Wednesday

The bus:
Did not show up. I usually see M out the door then go sit by the front window until I've seen the bus go by. I lost a couple minutes getting to my window seat this morning, and after sitting for 10 minutes, guessed that the bus was a few minutes early like yesterday and I just missed seeing it. So off I went and started cleaning the bathroom... Almost done, just scrubbing the toilet, and "DING DONG" (x10) - there's M at the front door. It's after 9. School has already started. "The bus never came! Can you drive us?" So I run and get the van and pull around the front - no kids. What is going on? Then a bus comes down the street, turns beside me, pauses and I get a wave and thumbs up from the driver, and off they go to school.

M tells me later that the bus broke down, and they had to come with another bus; that's why it was so late. I don't even want to know what else is going to happen with the bus this year. So bizarre.

The not-routine in our week:
Conflict Manager Training (for grade 5's to help on the little kid's side during recess), Tuesday and Wednesday, 3:30 - 5.
Piano Lesson, relocated to Wednesday 12-12:30, because of Conflict Manager Training.
Girl Guides Cookie Sales, 6-8 Wednesday (instead of 6:30-8).
(Catch that? I picked her up at 5 at the school and had her up to Guides by 6. I confess, we had canned stew for supper.)
Field Trip to the Floral Conservatory, Thursday afternoon. I get to go along and chaperone!
Class (for me), Friday night and Saturday.
Food Bank Drive with Girl Guides, Saturday 10-12.
I'm so glad we had a relaxing weekend before this!

The traumatic:
Tonight as M was walking down the street to knock on another door to sell cookies, a man walked towards her, "limping a bit." She said to herself, "Oh, poor man," and then he fell over into the bushes. She turned around and went to the car, the mom with them got the 3 girls into the car and then went to one of the neighbors, who said that he recognized the man, and that the police were over at his place lots and that he was probably drunk. M said the neighbor was over with the man and then they drove away, so she didn't see if he was okay or not. She was pretty freaked out; thought he might have had a heart attack. So we had a little debriefing to do before she went to bed tonight.

The living room update:
Carla and Larry came and got the old sewing machine tonight; he was teasing her about why they'd want that old thing and pretending not to get the whole emotional attachment thing... It's a beautiful Singer that was her grandmas and she learned to sew on it when she was little.
Sean took apart our tall bookshelf and re-made it shorter to suit our tech needs and put it in the corner in the place of the table with pictures and plant that is now where the sewing machine was.
The old couch and loveseat are still in there but I listed them on Used Regina tonight...
Sean is picking up the coffee table tomorrow. I think it will have to go downstairs to wait until the couches go, otherwise we'd only have two square feet of floor space!
So it's all coming together...

She said...

She said, "Shall I put the kettle on?" because we were going to have tea after supper.
She said, "I'll make yours just the way you like it!" after we picked our flavors. White tea for me, Vanilla Nut Creme tea for her.
I said, "How do I like it?"
She said, "You like it weak - I put in the tea bag, pour in the water, and then take it out. And then a spoonful of sugar."

I didn't even know I had her so well trained!

what's in the water???

I plugged in the camera to show you a shot I took today, but saw these birthday party shots, so I thought I'd throw one in for you of the girls who came out on Sunday to wish M a happy birthday.



And this one... I had to get out the camera when I saw what Ana had in the pot. Madeline came in the living room and told me, "I just saw an octopus!" Right. And it's not - it's a Portuguese cousin of the octopus. Ana, also Portuguese, was simmering up some sea creatures for the stock. To flavor the rice. On the menu tonight at our house was sweet & sour meatballs, rice and corn. Much simpler fare.