London Eli Scout
What is now proved was once only imagined. - William Blake
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Little Lions
After some substantial debate as to how spend last Saturday, our family ended up attending a festival held at our daughter’s school. It was nice. We ate BBQ, listened to story telling, looked at a few crafts, petted a goat or three and bounced in inflatable squares of craziness. But one thing we did not do while at the festival was let the kids get their faces painted. There was no reason really. It just didn’t happen. The line was too long or we were too hungry or whatever. I don’t know. But when we got home the kids could not stop talking about how all they really wanted was…
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Joining Us Already In Progress
Wilder has a new skill. It’s called Balance Standing. (Or something like that.) He pulls to a standing position with the aid of any nearby object – ottoman, stool, leg, whatever. And then he expertly releases his hands from their gripping position. And balances. (Did I mention that he isn’t even officially nine months old yet?) In other Keigley news . . . London has a second loose tooth – center bottom, directly beside the previous loose tooth. Tonight she was playing her current favorite game – “doggies”. (It’s not my current favorite game because of the increased number of holes in the kness of her pants.) At any rate.…
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May’s Grove Giveaway
Discipline of Gratitude
U.S. 4D Map Puzzle: A Timberdoodle Review
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She’s So Lucky
This happened this afternoon. I don’t have to make this stuff up. (I just have to remember to write it down.) The day was beautiful. Dry. Sunny. Moderate temperature. London, Mosely and Berg were playing outside. I heard crying at the door and went to investigate. The Crying One was London. When I asked her why she was crying, this is what she said . . . “It’s just that Mosely already caught one moth and now she found a worm. And she’s just sooo lucky today and she won’t share any of them!”
Keep Reading . . .
Q Bitz Solo: A Timberdoodle Review
I just want to do it all.
In Praise of Small Homes
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Unexpected
Kevin had taken Riley, Bergen, Mosely and Piper with him to the store. Fox was asleep. London and I were suddenly alone in our own home. Just the two of us. Unexpected. It was so quiet. And peaceful. And what I really wanted to do was to steal the time. Steal the time for me. I wanted to finish The Red Pony or write down a few ideas. The bedroom was messy. I could take care of that. Call a friend with no interruptions. (Endless possibilities.) London asked me, “Can we play a game?” I looked at that little blond mini-me (sighed mentally inside my head) and reluctantly said, “yes”.…
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According To Her
I asked, “What did you guys talk about during class today?” London answered: “My friend Isaac said, ‘I have big muscles because I drink a lot of milk.’ Mom can we drink more milk? I showed everyone my muscles and the teacher said, ‘Man, that girl has big muscles’ and I told them it was really because I do pull ups.”
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Big Week
This might just be London’s week. Chocked full of Big Deal Moments. This week London discovered that she has another loose tooth. (She has plans for how to extract this one – use that special numbing creme Daddy found. And she has plans for how to spend that tooth fairy fortune – buy Mosely an American Girl doll. How do I break it to her that one of those two things is an absolute impossibility?) London also gained a new Big Deal Skill. It was time to leave the house and she could not find her favorite slip-on shoes. Slouching and making a most unpleasant face she trudged off to…
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Misheard
After reading a story in the Bible about Lot and his infamous salty spouse, London tried to retell Piper the story. “And Lot’s wife turned into a pile of salt!” London informed her younger sister. But Piper misunderstood. “Oh,” she replied. “Lot’s wife turned into Bible sauce?”
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Sounds Logical
I am simply going to record a real conversation that took place earlier today in the confines of our Suburban. London: Who will I marry, Mommy? Me: Oh. I don’t know. I guess you will have to wait and see who God has planned for you. L-: How will I know who that is? Me: Well. In a lot of ways I guess. The young man will be pursuing God. Your daddy and I will like him. Uh . . . L-: So why can’t I just marry Bergen? We’re all Christians. Me: Brothers and sisters just do not get married to one another. Mosely: I plan to marry Otto.…
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Yeah. Just Like That.
Guess what family is unanimous in their recent discovery of their intense dislike for goat cheese? This family! (Was that really a hard guess for anyone?) Yes. It’s true. Our apologies to all goat-cheese-lovers reading right now. We discovered this over a recent dinner. I made a beautiful salad. And yes, I can describe this salad as beautiful. Because it was. A beautiful serving dish. Crisp, bright green spinach leaves piled high. Creamy white feta cheese sprinkled across the bed of green. Goat cheese layered across and mixed with the feta. Perfectly grilled chicken placed carefully across the salad layers. And exquisite, colorful ruby pomegranate seeds shimmering across the landscape…
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Now What?
So, if love is a verb, how do you wrap that and stick it in your stocking? As the majority of our children are just beginning to enter the age of desiring to give Christmas gifts as well as get, we have been presented with a new dilemma. Last year we took all of the younger set to the infamous Dollar Tree and let each one pick out gifts for their siblings. It was fun. The kids loved picking out toys that each one would enjoy. But we ended up with 16 toys that were probably broken and disposed of before the new year, if not that very Christmas afternoon.…
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London’s First Lost Tooth
Milestones. One after the other. I guess that’s to be expected in a house with eight people. Living lives that never stay still. Our most recent milestone — a loose tooth. London’s. It’s been wiggling down there at the bottom of her mouth for days. Maybe even weeks. (Just another way she is my daughter, a little me. I would let my loose teeth literally dangle by whatever thin thread of tooth stuff was left. I never pulled them. And I never told my mother when they were loose, in case she wanted to pull them. I hated pain. I still do.) At London’s suggestion (and under the probable influence…
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First Annual
It finally happened. The much-anticipated First Annual Pickle Juice Drinking Event. Yes. Pickle juice drinking. For some crazy reason the Keigley children discovered that they enjoy the taste of consuming copious amounts of pickle brine. Apparently, it’s genetic. Because so does their Aunt Betty Ann. Once this information was leaked to our children the idea began forming immediately. Drink pickle juice. With other people who like to drink pickle juice. Profound. London even wrote a letter to her aunt, requesting that one day they could share some memories over a glass or two of the almost neon-colored stuff. The stars aligned. Suddenly, there we were in London, Ohio. Hometown of…
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today
This had been a busy little day. For a random Tuesday. (Actually, I believe it is officially Wednesday morning when I am writing this – but what difference does that make?) I took the chaps to a local library to watch a Christmas “play” about Holly and Bah Hum Bug. By Porkchop Productions. I’ve probably said enough already. Actually, it was all good. The trip to the library enabled me to pick out a few new books on CD (The Kite Rider (not to be confused with The Kite Runner) and Little Men) for car listening on the many December road trips (Ohio, Florida and all the states between here…
