So that is about all we've been up to for the past several weeks.  After an exceptionally late start to the summer -- it didn't warm up until the third week of June, we are thoroughly enjoying the heat and not a single one of us has said, "It's too hot!"  I think Daddy has thought about saying it as I've decided that 79 is the perfect indoor temperature for this time of year (and think of the money we must be saving being at 79 instead of 72!).  As Daddy spends his day in a 68 to 70 degree office, the 79 degrees at home feels like a heat wave.

With the lake still low to prevent flooding downstream, Boo and Rosebud have enjoyed the rare opportunity to play on the "beach" -- the sandy area in front of our house that is normally under three feet of water. 

Boo found this cute little turtle he named Shield (Boo decided to name him Shield because his hard shell shielded him from harm).  Boo asked if we could keep him for "a little while" so we could watch him swim.  I decided that because we were studying lakes, rivers, and ponds, this was a perfect time to observe a turtle in action.

Mommy lesson number 99,343:  always define "a little while" before saying yes.  "A little while" to this mommy meant a few hours and "a little while" to Boo meant a few years or at least until Shield had babies of her/his own so Boo could keep one of them.


Just when I had Boo convinced to let Shield return to his family, Boo heard Papa say something about little turtles being small enough to be bass food -- and to Boo, that meant one thing:  Boo must enter Rescue Hero mode in order to deliver Shield from certain doom.

How does a seven-year-old little boy save a turtle you ask, well, the only way he knows how, turn on the water works - repeatedly.  And when Boo cries (which is not very often) he is convincing.  Not only is he convincing, but he is surprisingly rational. 

Of course, this mommy was understanding and went to great lengths to convince Boo that his dear Shield (to whom he had become amazingly attached in just a few short days) would not become bass food.  After much internet research and learning from the pet store attendant that it is a federal crime to domesticate a wild species, I decided to get a backbone and fully prepared myself for disappointing my Boo.

The whole situation was compounded by the fact that Great-Grandpa had just passed away, and Daddy was a few thousand miles away for the services.

We purchased some turtle food at the pet store after reassuring the attendant that we would not keep the turtle -- our purchase of the food was less than reassuring. Boo's version of the federal crime thing was that the police were going to come our house and arrest him for rescuing Shield.  At one point, he was entirely prepared to go to jail so Shield could live a full, bass digestive system free, life.

Boo kept trying to trade Shield's release for a turtle from the pet store.  I'm a nice mommy, but not that nice.  We got him a Beta instead.  Much less work than a turtle.

We're 2 for 2 in the art department.  Our quilts and sun faces turned out nicely, while our apple face dolls and tin punches were dismal at best.  Hopefully we'll improve our record over the next two weeks as we attempt Maple Leaf Prints, and Inuit Carvings.  I can hope. Can't I?

The low water level made it possible for us to walk all the way around the islands that are directly across the lake from our house.

The sparring they do at this level is supposed to be "LIGHT contact" sparring.  It is painful to watch because the adults at this level aren't even able to land their kicks and punches where they want to, let alone the children.  Typically, a child will actually land one or two kicks during the entire sparring sequence.  Fortunately, unlike pool, you don't have to call your pocket, so if you land a kick, it looks like you intended to do so, unless of course, the surprised look on your face gives you away.  Or in the case of my children, you apologize to your sparring partner for kicking them. 

She had to break three boards that were stacked on top of each other resting between the cement blocks.  On her first attempt, she broke the bottom board (how is that possible? If I'd taken physics in high school, I'd probably know) while the top two remained intact.  We all felt bad for the boards the second time as she hit them with enough energy to make kindling.

At this test, Rosebud earned her 1st Dan black belt and Sabumnim earned his 7th Dan and is now officially Grand Master Kim (but he doesn't want anyone to call him that because he says it makes him feel old).

Rosebud and Boo, along with help from EE and MoMo, made everything except the hamburgers by them selves.  The New England Pumpkin Cake was super yummy and quite moist, and the Southwestern Amigo Dip looked horrible as we were making it, but tasted spectacular.  We will make both recipes again.

Huey, Dewey, and Spicy (or Spike) are distant cousins of the domestic ducks that used to come to the sound of Rosebud's voice when she was 18 months old.  They would hear her voice and her "duckie says quack" sound and fly in for a snack and to say hi.  Rosebud has been able to get them to eat out of her hand since she was two years old.

If the ducks haven't come by for a few days, we just poke our heads out the door and start quacking and the ducks answer back from somewhere on the lake and paddle to us a quickly as they can.  Pavlov's ducks?

We'll try to get a picture of them knocking on the patio door.

Clearly, there is no need for words, however, it is important to note that EE did this to himself.  Well, the funniest part of it anyway. 

EE's fashion issue began yesterday afternoon while we were in town for violin lessons.  I guess it actually started the night before that when Daddy gave EE an extra dose of his daily poop medicine because EE has needed to take STRONG cough medicine for the past week or so to control his cough so he doesn't puke-up everything he eats.   Daddy was concerned that the strong cough medicine would create a dam.

Last night after dinner, EE was playing in the living room (on the carpet of course) when he casually announced, "Oh, I just puke."  From the kitchen Daddy casually replies, "Oh, you didn't just puke EE, it's ok."  And EE, not so casually said, "YES I DID, I DID."   Daddy looks over and says, "Oh, I guess you did."  Even after four kids we still haven't learned that when a toddler says they've puked, it is best to believe them. 

I digress.  Back to the bomb.  Let's just say, EE's poop medicine really worked.  As a matter of fact it worked all over his pants, socks, shoes, and the sidewalk in front of our violin teacher's house.  Had I known EE had been given an extra dose of his poop medicine I would have been prepared.  But I wasn't, so EE got to ride home in a diaper and shirt (he didn't mind).

When we got home, I ran in from the car so I could get the potatoes peeled so we would be able to eat before midnight and I planned on getting EE some pants and skivies after getting dinner started.  Evidently it took me too long to get to EE so he took matters into his own hands and found something to put on his feet so he could go outside and join the rest of the crew on the swing set.

And that is the anatomy of a fashion nightmare.  In blackmail dollars, this picture is priceless -- well, as the mommy, I think it is priceless without even considering the blackmail factor.

There were least 50 of these yellow-bellied marmots running around the dam grounds.  The children also spotted a bunny hopping around.  We don't have wild rabbits near our house, so this was a special treat.  We don't have marmots either, however, none of us considered them a treat.

Day Two (continued):  Upon careful examination, Rosebud realized that the xylem-removed stalk had an unnatural, somewhat nuclear green, glow (from the colored water) and discovered that the teacher setting up the lab had NOT remove all of the xylem from the xylem-removed stalk.  This explained why the xylem intact/no water stalk was more wilted than the xylem-removed stalk.

Day Three:  WOW!  The three stalks of celery looked exactly like they were supposed to (well, they were supposed to look like they looked on day three by day two, but the lab teacher had mistakenly purchased delayed celery rather than on-time celery and that impacted the outcome of the
experiment).  The xylem-removed stalk was significantly more wilted and much less firm than the xylem-intact/no water stalk.  The xylem-intact/water stalk was just as fresh and crisp as it had been on day one (just significantly more blue).

 

 

Rosebud enjoyed including Annie's crib on her map.  This weekend we spent time gathering items to decorate Rosebud and Annie's room.  We found some cute flower wall lights at IKEA two years ago when we were building the house and now we're hunting for a half pot to attach to the wall as the pot for the flowers.  It may be easier to have the handy man cut a regular pot with his tile saw.  Rosebud found some cute large letters at JoAnn's and we have enough to spell out both of the girls' names.