Rainbow Fish

Amber got a beta fish yesterday at a birthday party. I didn't know a girl could have so much fun with a fish. She named it "Rainbow Hodge," but she is still trying to come up with a proper middle name.

She has had so much fun with that fish in the two short days she has had him (or her). Last night she spent an hour just watching him and "playing" with him. She said, "Mom, I'm going to tease him. I'm going to put my finger up to the bowl and then take it away. That's okay to tease a fish, mom. Don't worry, I wouldn't tease a person, though."

Today it got even cuter when Amber asked me to babysit her fish while she went out back to play. She said, "If you hear a 'bubble, bubble, bubble,' then that means he's crying and could you sing him a lullaby."

Later, as I was in the kitchen baking, Amber gave me a "play-by-play" of what Rainbow was doing. "He opened his mouth really wide, mom." "Oh, he's swimming to the bottom, mom." "Oh, I think he's tired, mom." "He likes me playing with him, mom." And my favorite: "Mom, my fish kissed me. Not out of the water. I put my lips to the bowl to give him as kiss and he came over and kissed where my lips were!"

Amber has even read a book to Rainbow! Just think if we had a dog...

The Queen Who Cleans

The Queen Who Cleans Toilets and Other Things

I'm watching my friend's two girls today as a part of a babysitting swap, and they decided to role-play "castle" characters all afternoon. Taylor decided she wanted to be the servant. Alex & Amber & Autumn are the princesses. I am the Queen. Taylor has been serving us tea for hours. Alex & Amber have been doing each other's hair in the Beauty Parlour. Autumn has been taking her Royal Nap. What has the Queen been doing? Laundry, with small breaks for tea and hair styling. Dishes, with another break for more tea. And cleaning the bathrooms. While I was bent over the toilet, cleaning, Taylor brought in another cup of tea for the Queen and set it by the sink. I told her I would have my tea as soon as I washed my royal hands. I'm pretty sure I'm the only Queen who cleans her own bathrooms and does her own laundry. But with a servant bringing me tea, breaking up the dull-drum of cleaning, it has made the chores seem to go by much faster. And when one of the princesses spilled her royal water all over the tile floor, Taylor refused to let the Queen clean it up and grabbed a towel and sopped up the water. Being a Queen on cleaning day is working out quite nicely!

Creative Crafting

I really enjoy making crafts with my girls. What I do not enjoy is how impatient they get as I set up the craft table with all the supplies. Then I am spent before we even start making the craft. So about a year ago I had the brilliant idea to set up the craft table ahead of time while they are out of sight and then surprise them with "craft time." This has worked wonderfully.



Yesterday my good friend, Lea, gave me four cardboard shoeboxes and I was so excited. She also gave me the shoes that were inside them, but I think I was more thrilled with the boxes! Oh the possibilities! (I may have a shoebox fetish.) Today I had another one of those "light bulbs" appear over my head. I am planning to make a lot of crafts with my girls over the summer, and so I decided that I am going to fill each shoebox with the supplies needed for each craft. For example, string and beads and scissors and wire and clasps will all go into one box to make necklaces. Stamps and ink pads and cut paper and glue sticks will go into another box for card-making. Within minutes I will have four "craft kits" ready to go for those days when the girls say, "Mom, can we do a craft?" Well, I'm going to go fill some boxes!

Last summer: My girls (plus 3) displaying their purses made with Kleenix boxes and ribbon, and their journals covered with paper placemats.

Thank You, Kind Sir!

I had to return something to Target today and decided the girls could spend $3 each out of their piggy banks. They had a fun time looking at the toys and deciding which one they wanted to buy on their limited budget. I got a few groceries and we headed for the check-out lanes. So far it was a really nice, stress-free trip to the mega-store. However, my temperature always rises when I get to the cashier. There's usually someone behind me who is in a rush and that makes me nervous because I have to juggle putting the goods on the conveyor belt, answering my kids nagging questions, giving the cashier my reusable bags and making sure the kiddos don't wander away. Today my stress lever rose even higher because I knew my girls would want to purchase their toys with their own money they brought in their wallets. I like to let them do this because it teaches them about saving and spending and tax, etc. A gentleman got in line behind us and I said to him--in a worn-out voice, "Sir, you may want to get in another line because we are going to be here awhile. We are making three separate purchases." He smiled at me and said, "I'm not in a hurry. Take your time." Then he proceeded to open up the folding beach chair he was going to purchase and plopped it down on the floor and asked Autumn if she wanted to sit in the chair and rest while she waited. I was extremely grateful--not only for his patience, but for his sense of humor and light-heartedness. I don't even know if I properly thanked him for his kindness because at that moment all of the quarters that Amber put in her wallet spilled out into the bottom of my big purse as I was trying to hand her her wallet. Yeah, it was crazy, but I was so thankful that God put the right person behind me in line.