You Say Tom-A-to, I Say Tom-ah-to

While Elissa was doing her science work today she asked me to define the word "conquering" for her. I told her it was to overcome or win out, like in a war. Then she read me the word in context... "What responsibility did God give to humans conquering living things?" Hmmmm. That's an interesting question. Then Kurstin took a look at the sentence and clarified for me... "What responsibility did God give to humans concerning living things?"

Lost In Translation

This morning, when Robben was lying awake in bed, he heard some birds calling to each other outside. They sounded like birds larger than, say, a sparrow, yet not quite as large as a crow. They were saying to each other, "CHEEP! CHEEP!" I don't know, maybe Robben heard, "CHOO! CHOO!" because he started calling in response: "Bless you! Bless you, Birdies!"

Technology

One day, over the summer, Robben came out of the kids' bathroom waving a feminine hygiene product and loudly proclaiming, "It's my iPad!!"

Sure Sign You Have A Toddler #10

The contents of your purse include a spare pair of underpants.
Note: This may also be a sure sign that you need to start counting on Depends...however the underpants in my purse are size 2T-3T, and sport Thomas The Train on the bootie.

Strays

Why do my children (and husband) never bring home stray dogs or cats or some normal household pet such as these? My family manages to find and capture the WILD animals and creepy critters. Seriously, they are called wild because they BELONG in the wild! They are not strays. They are not looking for homes. In the past 5 years we have welcomed several snakes (which my hubby actually sets out to catch), a possum and a squirrel. That's not to mention the baby bird we "tried" to rescue... I use the term "we" quite loosely, as I am almost always protesting the taking into captivity of such beasts of field and sky. Needless to say, the bird died in our care. Anyway, I feel that the already-below-par-standards that we hold for our "pets" has actually managed to decline. Yesterday, Tyler went long-boarding with a couple of his friends and came home in possession of three-count them three- mutant tarantulas. They were temporarily housed in ziploc bags. Good thing you have ziploc bags on hand when you come across something as fascinating as a GARGANTUAN spider!! My goodness, without the baggies, one might have to pass up such an opportunity!! The most disturbing part of this episode was Todd's response: "Are you gonna keep 'em?" I don't think I even need to tell you my answer. Tyler knew they were a temporary item, but before releasing them (faaaaarrrrrr from the house), he tried to fight them. But since he wasn't prepared with a boxing ring or cage-fighting enclosure, they just lazily ambled away from each other. Darn. Seriously, though, these spiders were so huge and hairy that Robben, after his fear-induced crying fit, asked to pet them!

And The Changes Keep On Comin'

The girls and I have been reading the Little House books since last year. There are nine altogether, and we read a little bit every day. We are on the sixth book, which is called The Long Winter. These books are so very heart-warming, and they make you appreciate not only the conveniences of modern life, but the people you call "family", as well. On one hand, we are thankful for what we have, such as insulated walls and running water!, but on the other, these precious stories cause one to long for the simpler times. Times when children wouldn't dare talk back... times when a Christmas gift of a stick of peppermint and a shiny penny would cause such delight in a child that they could stare at their treasure ALL DAY, and remember it for years to come!... times when a cornhusk doll and a pig's-bladder-ball were sufficient toys for children lucky enough to have them... times when a man would rather thresh wheat in a barn in the middle of winter than hire the fancy new threshing machine to do the work, because if he wasn't threshing he'd be sitting around twiddling his thumbs!
Almanzo asked Father why he did not hire the machine that did the threshing. Three men had brought it into the country last fall, and Father had gone to see it. It would thresh a man's whole grain crop in a few days.
"That's a lazy man's way to thresh," Father said. "Haste makes waste, but a lazy man'd rather get his work done fast than do it himself. That machine chews up the straw till its not fit to feed stock, and it scatters grain around and wastes it.
"All it saves is time, son. And what good is time, with nothing to do? You want to sit around and twiddle your thumbs, all these stormy winter days?"
"No!" said Almanzo. He had enough of that, on Sundays.
-From Farmer Boy (Book 2)
A couple of days ago, we read something that really struck me. The Ingalls family has claimed a homestead on the open prairie of South Dakota. An ancient Indian (they were still Indians when these books were written, not Native Americans yet) comes into a store in the little town and warns the men (who were gathered to "get the news", like at a modern-day Starbucks) that this will be a particularly long and difficult winter. Pa Ingalls decides to move his family to their little building in town where they will be able to get supplies, rather than trying to weather it in the tin-walled claim shanty. Unfortunately, though they were definitely warmer and safer in town, the supplies ran low anyway, because there were so many blizzards that the train couldn't make it through to restock the stores. By Christmas they were out of coal, kerosene, flour, and butter (which were the bare necesseties). Every day they ate potatoes and "brown bread" that Ma figured out how to make with some wheat Pa was able to procure. Here is their take on the situation:
"If only I had some grease I could fix some kind of a light," Ma considered. "We didn't lack for light when I was a girl, before this newfangled kerosene was ever heard of."
"That's so," said Pa. "These times are too progressive. Everything changes too fast. Railroads and telegraph and kerosene and coal stoves- they're good things to have but the trouble is, folk get to depend on 'em."
-From The Long Winter (Book 6)
Ha! Talk about depending on 'em. What would we do without our "newfangled" vehicles and cell phones and computers and electricity and running water and store-bought meat? If I was left alone with a cow and a bucket, I'm pretty sure I couldn't figure out how to get milk!