Parentheticals

This week was the camp out. Mike stayed home and worked and did homework. He is having a hard time getting all of his homework done during the night, so sometimes he has to work during the day on it. It is disappointing to him, since he has been really enjoying having such a lot of family time. Still - he only has three more weeks in this semester, so he is looking forward to a small break. Grandpa Mike and Grandma Sheila invite him over for dinner repeatedly, but he only ended up going over one time since he ended up going up to the campout on Thursday night. When Mike came up, we hiked around and looked for edibles. There were lots of strawberry plants and some raspberries and elderberries and sticky currants. We're thinking of going back in a month or so to see what's ripened; nothing was ripe this week. Alison and the kids had a great time at the campout, although they missed Mike a lot. They explored the campground and played in the stream and did crafts like friendship br...

This week Clarabelle was clearly in heat, so we arranged to take her over to the stud. Unfortunately, the only time the stud's owner could do it was in the middle of the afternoon, and it ended up being Alison's worst day of morning sickness ever, so Mike had to leave work and do it. We decided that now his boss can add to the lists of "strangest reasons my employees have asked for time off." Clarabelle was gone for a few days and Lala was very noisy without her. Alison felt better the other days and took the kids to the library and to her mom's house, so they were happy. Alison was even well enough to pick up the goat on Thursday. It was a good thing she felt good that day, because the owner of the stud was over an hour late. Luckily another woman showed us her baby goats and the baby pigs, so the kids had fun. The goats are glad to be home together. Thursday we were packing to leave for a trip and we noticed that a robin was building a nest in our ornamental...

Alison and I came up with the Top 10 reasons why you should have a hammock instead of a bed. When was the last time that you laundered your bed? That's gross! I heard from a reliable source (a stand up comedian) that there a 10 million dust mites in the average bed. Your bed might be super-average. My kids would invariably (when they were sick) come over to my bed and throw up on it. How do you clean that off? With a hammock you just put it in the washing machine. Your back will thank you. I once got attacked by a car while biking to work. My neck was never the same since then... until we got a hammock. I now only have neck problems when I want them (which is to say when I sleep in a bed.) You love your spouse and want to cuddle with them. A hammock enables (and even enforces) that cuddling. If you don't love your spouse (or cuddling (like that is even possible)) you can get two hammocks - one for yourself and one for your spouse. Just make sure that one of them is big eno...

Monday for Family Night Alison took charge of the lesson and made some new rules for our house: You are free to play outside when: your dishes are washed, and your toys are picked up. You are free to ask for breakfast when: your bedroom is clean and your bed is made. You are free to choose a bed time story when: your playroom is clean and your dishes are washed. Rea has complained about the new rules but has done pretty well. Sara rarely picks up a toy, but she did wash her dishes without complaining two whole times. Overall it is keeping the house pretty clean. Our microwave blew up and we went without a microwave for a while. That was pretty fun. Alison discovered many unique ways to heat things. One time we had a cold sandwich and she put it under her armpit (haha; see here ). Alison wants me to make sure that you understand that she didn't really do this. It was a reference to a comic strip. Timmy liked the old microwave. It is still sitting in our front room on t...

Alison and the kids went to the zoo TWICE this week. The first time, on Tuesday, was for a goal day party, and they met Grandma Julie and Aunt Becky and Cousin Ellie there for a fun time. Thursday Uncle Chauncey finished school, so he went with Becky and Ellie again, and they invited Grandma Julie, who invited us. We had a great time both days. Tuesday they were setting up the dinosaurs (Zoorasic Park 2 this summer!), and Rea was excited to see them on Thursday, but they were all covered up until opening day. Now Rea wants to go this upcoming Friday for the dinosaurs. On Wednesday we had a Board Game Design Group of Sandy meetup. There were five people there, and we played two games: Polynesia and Zodiac Dice. It went pretty well. The girls had a babysitter and had a lot of fun as well. On Thursday we ate dinner in the front yard. As we ate the heady scent of the lilac flowers made us think about edible flowers. We looked up the edibility of lilacs, and found that lilac jelly is a ...

Almost everyone achieved a goal in the last week or so: Rea read an entire chapter book by herself ( Polar Bears Past Bedtime , a Magic Treehouse book), Sara finished her first run-through of her phonics program, Reading Bear , and Mike read his scriptures for more than 60 days straight. (Alison needs to achieve a goal!) So we had a very big goal day party. The girls got balloons and created a unicorn piñata out of paper mache (mostly Rea with Alison's help). Then we stuffed it with some clearanced Easter candy and the girls joyfully smashed it open for our party treat. We also had hamburgers for dinner for our celebration. Alison and the kids were going to go to the zoo for the rest of the goal day party (goal day parties now include a special dinner, a treat, and a ride on the carousel at the zoo), but then it started to snow. It snowed for at least 24 hours and we got over 7 inches. Alison and Rea had a lot of fun playing in it; they like to play in the snow (yo ho!), mor...