Several years ago, I made some simple curtains out of inexpensive fabric for a puppet stage. The kids weren't really into putting on puppet shows at the time and preferred mommy putting on the show. While I enjoyed doing it for the kids, I was hoping for more participation. I put them away for another time and kinda forgot about the cool curtain puppet stage!

I was cleaning things out in our school room a couple of weeks ago and ran across them . So I put them in a doorway and the kids had great fun for 30-45 minutes! They were laughing most of the time and nothing said was understandable, but the beginning of creative performing with puppets was started. I know we'll have loads more fun this school year creating dramas from our history lessons, creative writing assignments, spelling tests and maybe even our math lessons...hey, I can hope!

If you want to make a simple puppet stage, all you need to do is make a simple casing in a piece of fabric and slide a tension rod through. Place the tension rod in a doorway and voila! Instant puppet stage! Of course when I was little, I remember using my mom's sewing cutting board to hide behind with my brother. You know, the accordian folded cardboard with lines on it!? I think we put her's through the mill...but we had fun and loads of memories!

Oh yes...those would be original Land Before Time hand puppets from Pizza Hut circa 1980 something...My kids love em! LOL!!!

My DS in all his glory! Interacting with his puppet and the audience! What a nut! I love my kids!!!

Have a funny day!

My DS6 had his first lose tooth this summer. He had been wiggling it for a few weeks and then finally one day after trying to open something with his teeth (ahem...I know...I wasn't happy either...) he started screaming because he saw and tasted blood! So after he calmed down we promptly assesed the situation and realized that tooth was coming out that day!

With our DD8 we had all sorts of adventures with dental floss, string, and finally being kicked out by brothers foot on accident of course. So I wasn't sure I was ready to approach all this madness like we had before. My husband had been chief tooth extractor for our first born. I thought surely there is a more humane and methodical way to approach this right of passage for our second born. My wheels began to turn and the lightbulb went on! Let's use the kid flossers! They are perfect for wiggling, tugging and yanking that bad boy out of there! So my DS promptly went to the bathroom and began his ordeal of getting the tooth out.

It was just hanging there, but he was determined!

Look at all that leverage with this wonderful tool!

So after it was hanging there by a thread and we had twisted and turned it...good ole' mom did the final twist. You know, that sensation of the tooth breaking free is the same wether it is coming from your mouth or your sons! Crazy! It took me back a few years to my tooth pulling days!

Look at that!

I have one happy 6 year old and I am loving that fun toothless lisp! Too cute!

I blogged earlier about our adventures at the cabin with the waverunners/jet-skis and tubing. I am sharing a few photos of our grand adventure so you can fully appreciate the amount of fun we had!

DD4 on the boat happy to be on open water!

DH, DD8 and DS6 going for a thrill ride on the lake!

There I am on "Big Mabel" with my DD8 in the middle and my good friend H. on the other side. We were screaming a lot and my DD8 told us we were a bunch of screamers!  Last year she was screaming right along with me!!!

Here is DS6 "driving" the waverunner...it'll come soon enough! YIKES!!!

Well, my hubby's need for speed somehow wasn't quenched with the waverunners. He has been wanting a motorcycle since we got married. So 9.5 years later I thought I could trust him. So look what he got!

I must admit...I think he looks pretty hot on the bike! Don't think I'm quite ready to go on a ride though! Maybe in another 9.5 years I'll be ready....hee hee!

Hi friends! Tomorrow is August 1st! Can you believe it!? I have been preoccupied with getting the inside of our house prepared for the installation of new windows! Yippeee! No more drafty cold MN winters on the inside of my house anymore! Although today I would certainly enjoy a cold draft blowing through. Up here in MN we aren't terribly used to 90 degree temperatures. We're pretty much melting around here. It feels way too much like my summers as a child in Kansas! Brown dead grass and the sound of locusts/cicadas...is there a difference? I need to look that up! So we are all feeling very sluggish and our usual quick banter and dialect is slowing down to that of the south. It takes a lot more time to spit out what you have to say when you're so hot..... Are you following my philosophy? The further south you go, the slower people talk because of the heat. The further north you go the faster people talk because of the fridgid temperatures! You have to talk real fast to get out everything you say before your lips freeze! The eskimos don't talk at all cause they would be frozen solid...just kidding. As you can see my brain is a little ummm...tired and jumbled from the heat and the exhaustion that comes with working in it! I need some iced tea.

I hope you all have a marvelous day!  Stay cool!!!! Drink some lemonade and some iced tea!

My son announced to me today that we only have 7 days left of July. HOW CAN THIS BE?!!!? My summer has totally flown by and I am trying to get all my stuff organized and ready for the school year. Once again I cannot see the top of my desk. I am literally typing with my forearms on top of piles of stuff to go through....I must blog.......piles can wait....maybe not!!! LOL! My hubby is gone for a few days at a convention and I am needing to get this placed whipped into shape! After vacation...there is so much that needs to be done!

 I have had several glorious weeks at my in-laws cabin on a lake. I have relaxed and slept and scrapbooked and swam and  have gone tubing(once was enough)! What is it with getting old? Our bodies aren't made for that kind of bouncing and abuse anymore!!! I was sore for a week after the one ride on "Big Mabel", that's the name of the tube. It looks more like a couch floating on the water. Anywho...we also went to Valleyfair for a day and I must say my head and stomach never used to be this queezy! I used to be a rollercoaster animal! What's happened?!!! Yikes! I'm not giving up yet!

Our school year will be exciting as my youngest, who is 4.5, will be joining us for more formalized type schooling. She has enough stuff through the Sonlight Core B to keep her well occupied! My goal is to get all this stuff ready for a smooth transition into school. We went school shopping 2 days ago. The kids were with and that is always dangerous! They had fun though! I am glad they are excited for the start of a new year!

I will blog more later with what our curriculum will look like!

Have a fantastic last week of July!!!! God Bless You All!!!

While I was hoping for an idealic scenario for my son's first lemonade stand...it was more of a learning situation for a better one in the future. Things we learned together:

1. When 2 families are involved...children can become territorial...clearly establish parameters!

2. Teach money skills weeks in advance.

3. Brief children on etiquette for proper sales technique (i.e. don't harass potential customers!)

4. Mom's need to relax and let them learn some things through trial and error!

5. Finally....Thursdays are the prime days to sell lemonade to garage sale folks. 

We did have fun and I am so glad that we have years of lemonade stand scenarios to increase our enjoyment and pleasure in America's classic childhood summer pastime!

Well, this week has been extremely productive. I have painted my hallway, living room and family room. The last couple of days I have been cleaning out closets and cupboards so I could add stuff to my friend's garage sale. I have also helped her with this endeavor. It has been an exhausting, but productive week! I have also been giving my oldest her first standardized test. Tomorrow morning my son and youngest daughter will be taking their first leaps of Lemonade Stand entreprenurial skills at the garage sale! All in all....I feel pretty good with the activity going on here as of late! What have you been up to this week?

Well, today I decided that I needed to stop putting off painting my house! So I painted a hallway, part of our living room and a bathroom! Yikes!! Seems a little toxic in here! The good news is that so far I haven't spent any money on paint yet. It is all from other projects and our previous house. Made picking colors rather simple! All I can say is that I have watched one too many episodes of Designers Remix on HGTV!!! I do have to pick out colors for the remaining areas of our house though! Seems so trivial to be pondering room colors. Alas, it is my duty to provide a warm and cozy environment via love and touches of paint! Especially when it is covering all the economical flat paint with a truly practical and more durable satin finish! Who ever thought flat paint was a great idea for families is nuts! I am a strong advocate for washable walls! Hope you all have a fab Sunday!!!

Last week my ds6 was in surgery for the 3rd time for his ear. This surgery was the beginning of the outer ear reconstruction. For the beginning of our story, you can click here for the first surgery and here for our consult with the plastic surgeon.

Here is our happy boy the day before his surgery. 

Here is his ear with the opening that the first two surgeries accomplished.

This is our Dr. placing a tracing of his opposite ear onto where his new ear will be positioned. With blue acetate film for the guide and a trustee sharpie marker...the placement is mapped out before the surgery!

His "sharpied" ear. The doctor also sharpied where they were going to take out a couple of ribs!

Here is our ds trying on one of the surgeons glasses! They were really awesome making him feel comfortable and part of the process!

After 6 hours being under (1 hour prep/5 hour surgery) here is our boy catching some restful zzzz's in his room. He has a fashionable styrofoam cup cut in half, sewn and glued to his head to protect his new ear from getting hurt while he sleeps.

 Coming out of anesthesia was harder this time because he was under for so long. He couldn't keep anything down. Once the anesthesia effects wore off he was having side effects from the morphine. He basically wasn't able to eat anything for 2 days.

Because they took out two ribs to help form his new ear, he was really sore. He was in so much pain...it was really hard for mommy to see her little boy in that amount of pain. To help him regain full deep breaths again, they had him practice with this "breathing game" as we called it. He had to suck in as hard as he could and see how high he could get the meter on the inside. This became a good source of motivation for progressing to a full recovery.

By day 3 in the hospital, he was able to finally eat some cheesy eggs! I've never seen him enjoy eggs so much! By that evening he was doing even more exciting things.....

He was cruising around our floor on this awesome tricycle. I knew he was feeling better because a.) he was riding a tricycle and b.) he was trying to run over his dad in the hallways!

We were at the hospital for a total of 3 nights and 4 days. We were ready to go home and he wanted to be transported in style! Here he is in a fabulous red wagon waiting for the elevator!

Going home was a great feeling! We were all ready for some true sleep and quiet! The Lord has truly blessed us and watched over us through this whole experience. Our little man is truly a super hero and we are so proud of how brave he is! We have 2 surgeries left and our guy will have a whole ear! Amazing! It is truly a miracle!

I failed to mention in the previous blog that last night my husband came home with something to say to all of us. He made all of us sit on the couch and close our eyes. When we opened them he stood there with an armload of roses for me and treats for the kids...with tears in his eyes he said, "I got the promotion!" Hugs, kisses, squeals of delight, everyone talking at once...questions...excitement...joy!

 We are so thrilled for this latest development in our little world. He's been working for a long time towards this (9+ years). There were days when we never thought it would happen. There were days when we didn't know if we wanted it to happen. Days of uncertainty...days of confusion...days of stagnance...days of growth...days of ups...days of downs...days of hope...days of faith...days of prayer. Maturing, growing, stretching and becoming are all long processes and one we will all be doing till the day we die. This season in our life has been full of blessings and breakthroughs for us as a family. This next chapter will surely be even fuller with more joy, more growth, more life lessons we have yet to learn and share together. We are so blessed to have each other experience life's greatest challenges and joys. The Lord has truly been blessing us through it all! So I just wanted to share this news and praise the Lord for He is worthy to be praised!!!!!!

Last weekend our family went up to experience our very first American Birkebeiner. "What's that?" you may say. Well, it's an 800 year Norwegian Legend, turned Norwegian and Norwegian-American tradition, cross-country ski race. It brings skiers from all over the country and the world. You can read all about it here. It's a fabulous story that is also available in storybook format. The Race of the Birkebeiners by Lise Lunge-Larsen is a fabulous book that you and your kids will enjoy! I highly recommend it!

My inlaws have been volunteering at this race for years now. We wanted to experience this famous race upclose this year. Because of a lack of snow, they had to shorten the usual race. They even had to haul some snow in to cover patches that didn't have enough. The race still went on and we all had a fabulous time!

We were at station 1 where we handed out "energy," water and bananas. The kids had a great time helping us serve these amazing skiers. I think Daddy had the most fun though! He was always in the middle of the action.

Handing out some energy!

and some more "energy!"

This next picture is the beginning of hundreds of skiers going by. I had to put my camera down to help the onslaught of skiers coming through! It was crazy!!! We handed out 1,000s of cups of energy drink!

...what you can't see or hear are all the volunteers lined up on the sides pouring drinks as fast as they can, yelling "energy/water!", and little kids ringing cow-bells to cheer them on!

It was a cold...cold day, but the kids still had fun and want to do it again! Here are some photos of them:

dd8 taking a rest from all the action!

dd4 trying to stay warm with a cute smile!

ds5, a little friend and dd4 on a pile of snow

Grandpa mixing and serving his famous chili for the hungry volunteers.

The kids infront of the ice sculpture to commemorate the American Birkebeiner at Telemark Ski Resort.

Even though my side of the family is primarily Swedish, we proudly wear the Norwegian sweaters in honor of all Scandinavia!

Hope you enjoyed this travelog to Wisconsin and the history lesson from Norway!