Month: June 2018

Bunny Killer

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I can’t believe it’s already the end of June. Spring is over. Summer is here. And yet, I haven’t told you about my springtime murderous rampage yet. At first I wasn’t ready to talk about it, but now enough time has passed I’m ready to talk about it.

I killed a bunny.

A baby bunny.

Now, before you call me Mr. McGregor (the harshest of all Beatrix Potter related slams), please know that it was an act of mercy. Wrigley got a rabbit.

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She brought it to the back porch to show me. She was very proud of herself. She put it in front of the door mat for me to admire. She broke its back. I was horrified.

Now this was back in the spring when Audrey had swim lessons. I had just let Wrigley out, which is one of the last things I do before I leave the house. She goes out, we put on shoes and grab giraffe and camel, and then she comes back in and goes to her kennel. A mortally wounded rabbit was not part of my morning timeline.

I had 5 minutes before we had to leave the house to deal with the situation. We go out the back door to get to the car. I didn’t want the kids to know about the dead rabbit. I had to deal with the bunny quickly. I also had to disguise my feelings on the matter, because I wanted to cry but I didn’t want the kids to know I was upset.

I let Wrigley inside and popped my head in the door to tell the kids I would be right there. Then I put on my game face and went to get a shovel. I dug out a garden shovel, went to the porch, and told the bunny it would all be better soon. I don’t know if the bunny was comforted, but I was not.

I poked my head in the house again to make sure the kids were OK. I told them I was going to check on something and then be right back in. Then I stood over the rabbit and tried to decide how hard I had to hit it. I wanted to end its pain. I didn’t want to smack it and make it hurt more. I also didn’t want to deal with rabbit spatter on my back porch. In the end I decided on a firm tap.

It did the job. I cleaned up. I went back in the house and smiled at my kids and pretended I didn’t want to cry.

We made it to swim lessons on time

Family Bike Ride

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This morning we headed off on a short family bike ride. I’ve always made John pull the kids in the Burley while I rode on Mary-Claire’s college bike. Her old bike is adorable, but rickety. It is hard to ride without humming to the Wicked Witch of the West song. It even has the same handle bars.

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We rode to breakfast in our neighborhood. It was really nice to go out as a family. The kids eat at 5, which is before John gets home, so we don’t get a lot of family meals together.

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On the way home I tried pulling the kids in the Burley. I always thought it would be really hard. It’s not. It’s a much smoother ride than my rickety old bike. I think I’ll change-up my usual walking routine by occasionally biking the kids to the library and parks.

I hope your Saturday was filled with pancakes and pleasant surprises about sporting equipment too.

Summer Passport

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I love all of the activities that summer brings. All winter we talk about what we will do in the summer, but now that summer is here I keep forgetting what we want to do. I don’t want to forget to do things we have expressed interest in. I also don’t want to get in a rut.

We often get stuck in ruts. We go to the same park over and over for weeks. We go to the zoo every week for months and then stop going for a month. We go to the library regularly until we stop. There is so much to do it is impossible to work it all in.

This summer I want to try to do more activities. I created a summer passport for Audrey with all of the things we have talked about doing this summer. It’s a simple notebook with a space for stickers when we complete the activity. She can earn a book for every 10 stickers she earns.

Elliot will be doing the activities with us, but he is a little young to really understand. He’ll get a book reward when Audrey does, and he’ll get a sticker to put on his shirt when Audrey gets a sticker in the passport (and one for her shirt too, because my kids LOVE stickers).

I’m starting summer passports this year even though Audrey is a little young to understand completely. I think it is a good habit to get into now. She can’t read yet, so I’ll be able to add activities to the passport when I think of them. I hope having a summer passport will get her excited to try new things. I also hope it will get her to agree to do things that I want to do that she isn’t always gung-ho about (like hiking).

Audrey’s passport list:

  • Go to music class
  • Walk to farmers market
  • Play at a new park
  • Make Pudding pops
  • Have a breakfast picnic
  • Go berry picking
  • Paint outside
  • Eat on Patio at Saints (a kid friendly sports bar in our neighborhood)
  • Visit the Clive Library
  • Visit the Science Center
  • Walk around Gray’s Lake
  • Decorate 4th of July cookies
  • Go out for ice cream
  • Go to the beach at Big Creek
  • Play at Riley Park
  • Play at Tower Park wading pool
  • Play at Beaverdale Park
  • Swim at Ashby Park splash pad
  • Have a Dance Party
  • Play at Greenwood Park
  • Hike at Walnut Woods
  • Hike at Browns Woods
  • Go to the zoo
  • Visit the State Historical Building
  • Walk the River Walk with Uncle Todd
  • Visit Ivy’s farm
  • Swim in a hotel pool
  • Bike to Breakfast

I’ve also put together a passport for our 4-year-old neighbor who is Audrey’s good friend (her mom is my friend too, it’s really handy). Her activity list is smaller than Audrey’s; when she completes 10 activities we will have donuts. Her list only includes things that our families regularly do together and activities that her mom and I have talked about doing this summer. I didn’t want to spring all sorts of things on her mom that she wouldn’t want to do. I’m also going to tell her mom that we can add things if she wants, and she can tear out any pages she doesn’t want to do. I want it to be a fun activity for everyone involved.

Do you have any suggestions for activities to add?

World Giraffe Day

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Happy World Giraffe Day! What? You didn’t know that was a day that needed to be celebrated? Well, neither did I until last year when Audrey became obsessed with giraffes. Now that we are a giraffe obsessed household I decided it was high time we started celebrating the holiday.

 

We celebrated with a trip to the zoo. It was a drizzly, overcast morning. That weather was perfect for us – it kept people away. There wasn’t a long line to feed the giraffes. On beautiful days there is a long line, which doesn’t work with a two-year old and a three-year old. Today we only had to wait about five minutes before it was our turn.

I think feeding the giraffes might become a new World Giraffe Day tradition for us. I love that the kids get the experience of feeding them, but it isn’t something I want to pay for on every trip to the zoo.

How did you celebrate World Giraffe Day?

 

WIP Wednesday: 24/52

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I am making slow progress on my socks. I am at the point where I just need to knit on them for a few hours and I will get to the heel.

I think I might take a break from socks after this pair. I could work on a sweater or a shawl. It doesn’t really matter what, I just need to change it up.

Lunch Improvements

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I haven’t been meal planning lunches for the kids lately. I haven’t needed to. I think it just took three weeks of planning and trying new things to help me come up with creative menu ideas on the fly. We haven’t been eating chicken nuggets or fish sticks lately, which was my goal. The kids still aren’t eating many vegetables, but I’m trying.

Oh, I’m trying.

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Cucumber Spider

I have two meals that the kids will eat consistently. The easiest is English muffin pizzas. Toast an English muffin, top it with sauce and cheese, then broil it until the cheese melts. Add a vegetable and a fruit. Easy peasy.

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The meal that is most often requested is “cocktail party” dinner. Audrey asks for this for almost every meal. It is small bits on a plate, like you would eat at a cocktail party. Karen gave me the idea to put meat and cheese on a pretzel skewer, and it has been a huge hit. I try to do something fun to the plate every time, today it was mustard sunglasses for dipping the turkey.

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I am pleased that the kids are not eating as many chicken nuggets. Now that we’ve discovered cocktail party lunches I’m having fun changing them up. I’m always looking for new things to add to the rotation, so if you have any ideas send them my way.