Angels Among Us

Today was Lucy's Christmas pageant. It was equal parts fabulous and hilarious, with 40 preschoolers singing eight memorized Christmas tunes.

And there were only a few snickers about boisterous Lucy playing the role of an angel. Well, does six still qualify as a "few?" Hmm...

Anyway, here's one song for her fans who missed the live performance!

Blitzen

As we were unpacking the Christmas boxes today, Mary picked up the Reindeer plates (with clever images which match the reindeer names). She looked at Comet, and said, "Oh, a comet is a type of shooting star, so that's why this reindeer is holding a star."

Then, she glanced at Blitzen. "Hmm....Blitzen is holding a wine bottle. So blitzen must be another name for wine."

Apparently, she began to second-guess her reasoning. After a moment of thoughtful silence, she asked, "But Mom, how come I don't ever hear grown-ups ask for another glass of blitzen?"

Camouflage

Since Curtis has returned from his annual elk hunting trip, he hasn't felt compelled to shave his beard.

Today, at the US GranPrix of Cyclocross, I finally realized why. It's so that he blends in better with the dirt. Camouflage for the competition.

And speaking of cover ups, I had to look for shelter myself while volunteering in Lucy's preschool class on Thursday. As I was helping children with an art project, I heard Lucy in the middle of an altercation across the room. My ears perked up. Lucy was saying, "Yes, you do kill the elk. It's nature!" while another little girl was fighting back tears, saying, "We don't kill elk and deer!"

Fortunately, the teacher interceded to help explain that Lucy was talking about hunting for food, and skilled educator who she is, she worked it into a little talk about the life cycle. But, as I listened to Lucy insisting that elk must be killed, I certainly could have used some camo of my own...

Blur

The past few weeks have been a wonderful, fun-filled blur. I'd love to tell you all about it, but unfortunately my free time is packed with consulting and volunteer commitments. Until I have a moment, you can go here to visit Amy's blog and read all about our fabulous Thanksgiving adventures in Bend.

We are so grateful for Amy & Tom's incredible hospitality and for the many blessings in our life at this busy-but-beautiful moment in time.

Compound Words in the 21st Century

This afternoon, Mary was upstairs playing, "school," making a list with her imaginary class which read:

Compond Words
House/hold
Apple/sause
I/pod
Hair/brush
I/pad

Apparently, as a student of the 21st century, there are a whole host of new options for compound words! When I laughed and explained to her that the iPad and iPod didn't even exist when I was a kid, she looked at me suspiciously and said, "So they were just their own words, and couldn't be compounded? Oh, that's sad."

Sad indeed.

The Mama Bear Instinct

Every mother has experienced that overwhelming "mama bear" instinct. The I-can't-help-myself reflex to protect her cubs. That reflex is alive and well in this mama bear, let me tell you.

Mary and her sweet pal Molly spend their recess time building caterpillar houses out of sticks and leaves and acorns. They create elaborate homes for those furry black and gold caterpillars we see from time to time, with bath tubs and a swimming pool-- even swings and reinforced rooftops. A wonderful, creative way to spend recess, in my opinion.

But not in the opinion of the evil girl. Maybe I should simply call her misguided. She is, after all, only 8. She trounced out of school, flanked by two boys, and went straight to the tree where the latest caterpillar house had been lovingly and carefully built. She shouted to anyone who cared to listen, "Stupid first graders-- they think fairies are real and they build these dumb houses for them. Dumb girls! How stupid, stupid, stupid!" and then she proceeded to take her foot (oh, yes, you knew this was coming!) and crush and stomp that little caterpillar home until nothing was left of it.

From ten feet away, this mama bear was boiling inside. It took every bit of restraint not to grab her by the collar and march her to the nearest teacher to demand a year of detention and gruel for hot lunch.

Instead, I waited until she looked up from her destruction zone and when she caught my eye, I said firmly, "That was not a nice thing to do." She smirked and walked away, the two boys trailing after.

I was furious that this little girl so wickedly and swiftly destroyed hours of creativity and delight. Until, that is, Mary and Molly came running out of school to continue their work on the caterpillar home. They saw that nothing remained, and Mary said, "Oh, the wind must have knocked it over." And Molly replied, "Well, now we get to build a whole new one and it will be even better!"

So, this mama bear didn't need to rise up and growl after all. These girls still have their sweet souls and their creativity. The misguided second-grader couldn't destroy that. If only we all could handle setbacks with such grace.

Treats

Luckily, Halloween was filled with only treats in this house. We began the day with Greta consuming and successfully retaining one tablespoon of soft food, which was a great relief.

Then, for the third year in a row, we joined the neighborhood Monster March, in which hundreds of local goblins parade around the block. Each year, it gets bigger and better. We left the parade and marched straight to our friends' home for pizza with the "gang" and a birthday celebration for one sweet lion-clad boy. And, then, we trick-or-treated our way through the streets back to our home.

Of course, our best treat is a mutt who was feeling well enough to greet tricksters at the first ring of our door bell. I've never been so happy to hear her bark!