Before and After

I guess since I haven't blogged in a while I need to make up for it. I had to share Lilia's "before" and "after" shots this morning. She gets a little wild and crazy with her morning oatmeal. So a bath was absolutely necessary.
She does clean up good!


This last picture is of her own creation. This is how she chooses to dress herself when left to her own devices. And, yes, that is a denim skirt that she put around her neck...

Long Time No Post

Hello Wolfe Cub blog followers!

I know that I have been MIA for over a month (geesh! How time flies!). But I'm back now and ready to resume my regularly blogging schedule. We have had a lot going on in the last month!

1. I attended MACHE (Minnesota Association of Christian Home Educators) again this year. It was the shot in the arm that I needed to finish our school year strong. Sofie is a couple of weeks shy of finishing her 1st year of homeschooling. I think that she will be done by the end of May. She asked me the other day if we could start 1st grade right away....

2. Awana's is over for the summer. Praise the Lord! I've been the room teacher in John's Cubbies class and I am ready to not have the commitment for a while! The kids are sad, but no worries, that will start up again in the fall also. The picture below is John with some friends from Cubbies. (It was pajama night)
3. We bought a new camper! Can you believe it?! We hardly can't. It's such a big step for us, but I know that we will get so much use out of it. (Now if only the "new" smell would dissipate, bleck!)
4. Sofie is now, officially, a two wheeled bike rider. The instant that the weather got a little nicer, she's been doggedly practicing and learning to ride on two wheels. I have been amazed at how fast she caught on! Maybe Mike's athletic ability has passed down to our children. Lord knows I don't have any. She can now start and stop on her own, and her newest skill is learning how to coast. An often overlooked, but very important skill!

What's petite, musical, and absolutely free?!....

Why our new piano of course! We have been Craigslist junkies here lately. 1st we sell our camper, now we picked up a free piano!

Everything looks nice about it, it remains to be seen if it can actually perform it's function. Which is to play beautiful music. But if it ends up being a lemon. We'll just put up an add on Craigslist for a free piano...

Babies in the Corner...

Yesterday morning, Lilia and I had a little Tete-a-tete. I didn't think it was O.k. to hit her big brother, but she had other ideas. The whole episode culminated with her "standing" in the corner for a time out. She was none to happy about this. But, after a while, calmed herself down and was able to apologize to her brother. (By giving kisses and hugs) For me the moment was over and I was sure it was but a distant memory for her too.

Until I come across this after nap time.
She put her baby doll in the corner. I saw her do it! She held her baby, told her "No",put her in the corner and walked away... So now baby doll knows not to do... whatever she did wrong...

Camper

The night started off so mundanely. Tonight was Wednesday night, AWANA's, so I went off to my weekly date with about 15 3-4 year olds. On the way to the church I call Mike and relay to him a story from my SIL. She and her husband had sold his truck on Craigslist in two hours this weekend. Mike and I talked about how, "Oh, they must've offered to little for it", etc. etc. But, my parting words were, "well, why don't you get our camper on Craigslist so that we can start to get it sold."

Famous last words.

When I got home from AWANA's tonight I notice some odd things...We have a wet driveway, the hose has obviously, recently, been used, and there's a bucket of sudsy water in the garage. When I walked in the door there stands Mike, completely drenched in sweat and has a glazed look in his eyes, so I ask, "'what's going on here?" to which I get the response, "The craziest night of my life!"

He goes on to tell me, that he indeed put our camper on Craiglist tonight, actual time? 6:45. With in minutes people start calling about the camper and it doesn't quit, he can't even get done with one phone call, than someone else is calling. So instantly people are wanting to come see it, and Mike is completely caught off guard!

1st phone call:

Potential Buyer, "Yeah, we saw your camper for sale, can we come see it tonight?"
Mike (gets up to look in the backyard to see if all of the snow has melted enough for him to get the camper out), "Um, yep, I think I can get it out, you want to come right now?"
Potential Buyer, "Yes! Right now. We're in (close suburb) how long will it take us to get there?"
Mike, "Only about 20 min, why don't you wait a couple of minutes and then come over so I have a chance to clean it up."
Potential Buyer, "All right, we'll be there"

2nd phone call:

2nd Potential Buyer, "Yeah, I'm calling about your camper, have you sold it yet."
Mike, "Nope, a family is going to come see it right now"
2nd Potential Buyer, "Well we're over in (farther away suburb) can I buy it over the phone, sight unseen?"
Mike, "Um.....(thinking really fast) no, whoever has cash in my hand 1st gets to take it home"

This is just two of the myriad of phone calls that Mike is dealing with in the midst of:
1. trying to move a camper from the backyard to the driveway
2. cleaning said camper QUICKLY because the 1st family is going to be there any minute,
3. 2nd potential buyer had a quick idea of their own and sent a friend who lives really close to bargain for them
4. oh, and by the way, he had put our Jeep on Craiglist at the same time and is dealing with the same pandemonium on that front and
5. Did I happen to mention that he also had 20 mo. old Lilia and 4 year old John to parent?

Oh and if all of that isn't enough, his cell phone batter keeps dying and so he's running back and forth from the house, trying to give it just a little more juice to hopefully make it.

Anyway, to wrap up the "most craziest night of his life," both families show up, the 1st one gets the cash in Mike's hand 1st and they walk away with the camper. At 8:30 at night. This all happened in an hour and 45 min.

Somewhere in the chaos Mike did get Lilia to bed and John, well, the family friend of the 2nd Potential buyer had brought her 4 year old son with. So they spent the night playing together. He did spend most of the night outside without a coat on, but he did have mittens on! He's gotta be O.k. right?

Iowa Weekend

This last weekend we went to Iowa. We hadn't been there since Christmas, so it was high time to go. We had a WONDERFUL time. The weather was in the low 60's (much better than what we came back to, it's snowing this morning!! Noooooo!!!!). Sofie was even in shorts on Saturday. The kids played outside a lot, Mom and I went shopping, Dad and Mike went on motorcycle rides, and we had some great meals and played Dominoes with my brothers and my SIL!


These pictures were taken on Sunday and Lilia was out of sorts on Sunday. I can only surmise she was in a bad mood because she knew she was going to have to leave her adoring fans...


John was on the other end of the spectrum on Sunday. Incredibly goofy the whole time. He kept turning his bottom lip inside-out every time I tried to take his picture. I can only surmise he had such a good time that he could only be excited!

And Sofie was a sweet, mature acting 5 year old who smiled nicely for all the pictures.
My brother Joe was in on the festivities too, I just didn't get a good picture of him. But he was lovin' up every minute.

Sparks

I've blogged a few times that Sofie and John are in AWANA's at our local church. They both absolutely love it, and are learning so much. It's been such a worthwhile endeavor. So to toot Sofie's horn, she finished her book! She's been working hard on it all year long and she has been (not so slowly) earning all of her jewels. She has had the book actually memorized for quite a while, but they aren't finished until they REVIEW the whole book AND learn 10 extra verses at the end. Last night Sofie got the last of her verses recited to her leader and earned the patch that is behind her crown. So now she is moving on to the Spark's workbook. She is so excited, and I am so humbly proud that my girl is filling her heart with God's word at this young age. She is truly hiding God's word in her heart...

(the last blue crown she will receive for her attendance at the last meeting)