words of wisdom

Ingrid and Ilsa have had the privilege of television-watching taken away this week due to fighting with each other. Water under the bridge.

In the 5 days since they have watched television, they have gotten along better (not perfectly, of course), played outside constantly -- even in the rain. Ingrid has read non-stop and Ilsa has made a ton of funny little art projects using paper, glue, tape, scraps, photos and staples.

The icing on the cake came this morning when Ilsa announced at breakfast, "Mommy, I don't even want to watch anymore for a while because I don't want my brain to get soft."

ilsaism

"I need to let out a cough."

so glad so glad so glad so glad...

I DON'T HAVE TO CHANGE HIS PACKING!!!!

Just got back from Chad's post-op appointment. The doctor looked at me rather incredulously when I asked him when I was going to learn how to re-pack his wound. He sort of laughed and said, "Everyone tries to do my work for me..." The nurse was HAPPILY wrong. I do NOT have to do this! I may have to change a dressing, which is fine.

Chad uttered some fantastic things under his breath as the doctor removed his packing. EXCRUCIATING...

At this point, Ilsa looked at Daddy, took off her hooded parka, turned it around backwards so that the hood was hanging off of the front of her head to obscure her vision. To quote her, "I'm hiding my head. I don't like that foot."

I don't know that I could do it. His bone is exposed. It is just gruesome. Period. And honestly, not much freaks me out, but this DID.

Looks like he will be off of work at least two more weeks.

I won't post pix. If you like that sort of thing, e-mail me and I'll be more than HAPPY to share :/-

ilsa's hot new wheels

It became very apparent yesterday that Ilsa has outgrown her cute, pink bike. So a trip to the bike shop was in order...

Ilsa is very proud of her big girl bike with REAL BLACK TIRES, because "only little girl bikes have white tires."

She had also outgrown her helmet, which was a hand-me-down from a 2 year old Ingrid if you can believe it. We found one with....LADYBUGS!

"Thank you Mommy and Daddy, I ADORE my new bike!" - Ilsa

ilsaism - coffee fountain

I had to take Ilsa into the ER this morning for high fever, headache and dehydration. We left home around 6:15. It was cold, dark and the automatic coffeemaker doesn't turn on until 6:45. I needed coffee. Badly. I was moaning a bit about it in the car, and Ilsa said, "Mommy, I wish the hospital had a coffee fountain for you."

a doctor who quiz...

Okay, I think Ilsa is officially a Doctor Who FanGirl. Ilsa's new booster seat for the car arrived yesterday. How many Doctor Who references can you find? Ilsa came up with these all on her own. Honestly, this is not what I was thinking when I bought this booster for her!

Answers below...

3-D glasses from Doomsday

Space suit from The Impossible Planet and The Satan Pit

Brainy specs worn by the 10th Doctor

Bow tie as worn by the 11th Doctor

Stetson cowboy hat worn by the 11th Doctor

in the sneak peak coming attractions for Season 6

make your own fun and then give it a name

My sweet Ilsa has a knack for making the most mundane items into an afternoon of fun. Today she found the big old package of TP from Costco and turned the wrapper into a sleeping bag, and the TP into a pillow. She actually started to cry when Daddy, Mr. BikeMan, said it was time to put the wrapper into the garbage. (I was kind of afraid she would want to sleep with it tonight...) Her slightly weepy reply, "You mean I have to throw Sleepy* away?" Yes, she named the wrapper.

*Ilsa has a tendency to name inanimate objects. Took us a long time to figure out what "Fluffies" were... anything "cute" per Ilsa is a Fluffy. "Mommy, I just love Fluffy trees. They are so cute they make me want to cry." What is a Fluffy tree? It's a PINE tree, the kind with long needles. But why do they make her want to cry? Out of joy? Nostalgia for Charlie Brown's pine-Christmas tree? They do look sort of fluffy in the distance, I suppose. But this one had me scratching my head: we were watching Doctor Who on Netflix this week (yeah, yeah, yeah, I know she's only 4 and watching Doctor Who). When she saw a Dalek inside of the "flying garbage can" for the first time, she cooed, "Oh Mommy, it's a Fluffy!!!" Now THAT THING is not cute -- it looks like a slimy Octopus. Last night, she asked for her Story Napkins. She wanted to sleep with them. (Hence my concern about wanting to have Sleepy, the Costco toilet paper plastic wrapper with her in bed...definitely a case of "This Plastic Bag Is Not A Toy!") Story napkins, it turns out were some pretty paper cocktail napkins with butterflies and flowers on them... she had played with them yesterday. She was using them to tell a story about the butterfly in the flowers.

I may never have to buy her another toy again.

strep throat, striped tummy

I have not been blogging because I have been homeschooling. A good reason for an absence, wouldn't you say? Well, I'm back blogging because Ingrid came down with strep throat. This morning, Ilsa woke me up and said, "Mommy, my tummy hurts. I think I have striped tummy."

The good news is Ingrid is on the mend so we'll be schooling today (only missed 1 day really) and Ilsa is going to survive her bout with striped tummy. Oh, and this is a picture Ilsa practicing how to sleep during the tooth fairy's visit the night that Ingrid lost her tooth.

ilsaisms

"Jumpolene" - trampolene
"Doodler Dog" - poodle

i'm baaaaaack

We just got back from a long Thanksgiving trip to The Great Green Pacific Northwest. Two weeks up there was refreshing. Smelling fir and pine in the moist rainy air is just what I needed to kick-start the Christmas season. Driving to my parents' home from the airport one of the first things that Ilsa said was, "LOOK AT ALL OF THE CHRISTMAS TREES!" Unfortunately I don't have any pictures. I couldn't kicked myself. I forgot the camera.

ilsaism

I'm hostessing a baby shower tomorrow and have a TON to do today. I was bemoaning this fact not 2 minutes ago.

Me: "I have so much to do, I don't even know where to start."
Ilsa: "Starbucks?"

Waaaaaa???? Is she a genius? No, she thought "start" was "starbucks". Oh well...still fun to share.

apparently she is paying attention in sunday school

Ilsa and I went to the grocery store yesterday. Up near the ceiling, there is a rather large painted mural above the long wall of dairy cases: cows, green rolling hills, trees, puffy clouds in a blue sky...

Ilsa looked up and said, "Mommy, look at that beautiful picture of the Promised Land."

yet another cute quote

In our Bible lesson this morning, we learned that God made Adam and Eve differently than he made us, and this demonstrates Him as the Creator of all things. I asked the following questions:

Mommy: "Ingrid, who was the first man?"
Ingrid: "Adam."
Mommy: "Ilsa, who was the first woman?"
Ilsa: "Madam."

That being said, I wholeheartedly recommend this Bible curriculum by Sinclair Ferguson which quickly straightened things out.

oh be careful little eyes what you see...

On the way home from Bible study today, Ilsa proclaimed, "Mommy, it's a Clicker Car!" This seems to be the week of "Huh?" responses by Yours Truly. "Moooommmmy, a CLICKER CAR! Over dare [sic - she means "there"]." Sure enough, there was a vehicle with a huge COX logo plastered on the side. It only said, "COX". That was it. She recognized the logo from our digital cable TV clicker. (No, we haven't dumped it yet...we ARE GOING TO...it just hasn't happened...I promise. It will. Sooner rather than later. Yes it will.)

Nothing inherently wrong with her making that association, in fact, it's GREAT that she made that visual link. What an amazing capacity for learning the Lord has given children!! But this is my point: what am I feeding into my childrens' minds? It does matter what our kids see. A consistent diet of junk food will make your body fat. It's the same with minds.

red white & blue

In honor of Independence Day, I painted the girls' hand-nails and footer-nails (Ilsaisms) (notice mine aren't even done).

ilsaism = footernail

Usage: "Mommy, you need to cut my footernails."

ilsaism

While in church this morning, Ilsa was picked up the hymnal from the slot in the pew in front of us and told me, "Mommy, this is a beautiful music bible."

sickiepoo central

I have felt really off-and-on lousy for a couple of weeks now. One day I would be fine, the next I couldn't get enough sleep, would feel okay the next day, and then back to yucko. In fact, we cancelled dinner plans with some friends last week because I thought I was coming down with the flu...then, of course, I felt fine the next day, and felt sheepish for cancelling. I was beginning to think I was a hypochondriac.

Well, yesterday morning right as we were about to walk out of the door to church, Ilsa in her unforunately normal-of-late whiney voice came up to me again with the lament, "I don't feel better," an Ilsaism for "I don't feel good." I took her temp, and it was up a bit. Then she said that her back hurt, and she pointed to the same spot over and over again over the course of a few minutes. I knew at this point that this wasn't some flukey thing. So Chad and Ingy went on to church, and I took Ilsa to the urgent care clinic. Long story short, she has strep. Then the Doc turned to me and asked me how I was feeling; I told her, "lousy" and she tested me; I tested positive, too. Ingrid was tested today, and she is negative (I think she inherited Chad's germ-deflection force field).

I learned a few things yesterday: strep can cause a back ache, you don't always have a fever, and you don't always have a sore throat. I also learned that Ilsa is exceedingly whiney when she doesn't feel good. Can you say, "Mommy guilt" for thinking she was just being crabby?

ilsaism

I heard a good one today: Mommy, I'm sugarfied. (Just ate a snickerdoodle, and her hands were sandy with sugar...)

sending out a call for encouragement!

HELP! Ilsa is finally in the terrible twos, right before she turns three! We've had relatively smooth sailing thus far. But now we're talking full-on tantrums, screaming "NO!", running away from me in public, collapsing on the floor at Starbuck's, etc. Her favorite phrase is, "No, I don't want you to, Mom!" I have yet to see a smile on her face this afternoon. And this isn't really a discipline issue -- I've been very, very consistent.

And I know I will survive it, because Ingrid is still with us -- HA! I just needs some words of love friends!

Oh, one funny thing in the past few days. We had a salad along with dinner the other night, and I pulled out the Newman's Own Light Balsamic dressing, you know, the one with the beaming face of Paul Newman on the bottle. Ilsa said, "I want some 'Man Sauce' Mommy." MAN SAUCE! Isn't that hilarious?