Friday

I was very, very slightly chastened by my Grandpa (inadvertently) when we went to visit him this week.  He inquired after my sister, saying "How is she doing?  I read her blog, of course...but she never says how she's doing!"

So Grandpa?  We're doing spiffy...and plan on getting much, much spiffier as the weeks pass.

I know I keep saying this, but in fits and starts it seems like life is starting to gel again.  I mean, we made it to the park this week, AND a walk, AND I taught two piano lessons, AND we drove through a rain storm to visit my grandpa, AND we even made it to music class for the first time in a long, long time.  (I gave it up when I couldn't get up and down off the floor during the pregnancy.  Sorry, kids.)

(In between fits and starts...when we left my sister's home the other night, all three of my children were in hysterics for various reasons, and...yeah.  Picture an SUV full of crying people, with Owl City cranked up because my toddler has been asking for "Seattle" non-stop this week.  "Hello Seattle, I am a mountaineer...."  I swear I've spent HOURS listening to that song this week.)



I found out about the terrible earthquake and tsunami in Japan/Hawaii (and now the west coast- apparently 4 people were pulled out to sea in Oregon) at about 3 am this morning via an e-mail from my dad.  (I was up feeding a baby...Dad, what were you doing up??)  The church headquarters has heard from all mission areas but one in Japan, and that remaining area (Sendai) is where one of our friends is.  Anyway, if you'd like to follow a blow-by-blow translation of Japanese news sources, go find @makiwi on Twitter.  She's Maki Itoh, from Just Hungry.com and Just Bento.com, and she's been translating for HOURS.  She's getting a little punchy, but gracious.  Twit Warrior, right there.  (Should I say tweet warrior??)

Oh, since I NEVER go on twitter any more, I was amused to find out that my twitter feed has been added to someone's list called "Random Time Wasters."  Since my feed consists solely of links to my posts....umm, thanks?  Glad we could waste time together?



Our Mr. Man is growing like a weed- in true Wonder Family fashion, he's above 95% for height and weight.  Way to go, Idaho!  (Does anyone else say that?)  Say hello to our 12.5 pound, 23" catch of the day.  He looks more and more like his big sister!

Ernie, at one month



Mimi, 1 month- I think she's from a different mold than her siblings.  Yes?  No?




As I promised myself, we've been having fun with school this week.  One of my scholastic goals for E this year was the ability to tell a story, in her own words.  She's been enjoying reading the shorter of Aesop's fables (Crow and the Pitcher, Town Mouse and Country Mouse, Two Fellows and a Bear) and then telling the story back to me.  As a special activity, the girls acted out "Two Fellows and a Bear" yesterday, it was pretty awesome.  To work on her penmanship, I have her copying one line a day of a nursery rhyme in her book.  If you're ever at a used book shop, you MUST look for this book- my great-grandmother gave a set to my sister and I when we were young.  That set is still at my parents' house, but I found a set for my children, and we LOVE it.  So much fantastic literature!  The World Treasury of Children's Literature, edited by Clifton Fadiman.  My sister and I had practically all the nursery rhymes and poems in here memorized when we were kids.  Wee Willy Winky, Goosey Goosey Gander, The Goops, Polly Put the Kettle On, A Dillar a Dollar....oh, such good stuff!  My great-grandmother was an English Professor at a university, and I love to think about her recommending this book.