Mischief and Mayhem and A Rat

What have you been up to?  We've been up to a little mischief around here.  At least one of us has.

Was his big sister happy that he did this with her polish, to her things (the things aren't pictured)?  No, she was not.

But, today he put on his cowboy boots and his best tie and performed a piano recital for me, using only two fingers.  And that kind of made up for some of his recent two-year-old shenanigans.
And here is some mayhem:

5 stitches.  We were having a little walk with the cousins, pulling reeds up by a lake when Maren received the biggest, widest paper cut type cut from one of the reeds.  I knew immediately it was going to need stitches.  Luckily, she is so brave.
And did I mention we have a rat?  Not a pet rat.  Ridiculously Big King Wild Disease Infested Eating My Chicken Food (and possibly my chickens) Rat.  That is his official title.  And he has a Queen Rat, too.  And someday soon I'm sure they'll have new little baby rats. Do you want to see just how disgusting it is? It is 12 inches of fat rodent (not counting its thick, nasty tail) bounding across my yard like a little kangaroo, gathering leaves and twigs to make a nest.  So that they can have lots of babies.  I'm talking to my sister Nicole on the phone while I'm videoing, so you will have to endure that.

A Day of Things I Love

Yesterday was Valentine's Day.  When I looked back at the pictures (as you will shortly notice) most of them were of food.  I got up early and had a breakfast date with Dustin (he had to leave by 6:25 AM) and it was worth it to have a quiet meal together and a yummy one, to boot!  A little later on we decorated cookies for our neighbors.  And that night Dustin made me a great dinner.  The kids ate macaroni first (sorry, kids!), so we had another quiet meal together.  It's amazing the things I have come to consider gifts.

That night we were visited by you know who.  What?  You don't know?  The Valentine's Lady, of course.  Do you mean that she doesn't fly around in her sleigh, visiting the good girls and boys on Valentine's Night?  Well maybe you just have never been good enough.  Because she comes to our house every year and brings candy and kisses.

Ode To January

I am going to write a poem about January.  

Ahh, January.  You are cold.  And often dreary.  And so, so long.

The End.

I didn't say it was going to be good.

I hope this video will download for you all, because this is kind of how I begin to feel during the long month of January.

Apparently my kids need a little more entertaining because I have many, many videos that are almost exactly like that.  But look!  I did entertain them!  Here they are playing with gloop (OK, Dustin actually did this with them, while I took a little rest in my room.  But I came in and watched them be entertained for a few minutes).  

I entertained them with science.  A foaming dragon to be precise.

 I taught Grant how to play a very tiny violin.

 Maren entertained herself by pulling her tooth out.

 The kids made a serious Lego World.  Very entertaining.

And Avery found a very large, entertaining pine cone.

And here is a funny story to entertain you all.  Today, a very polite neighbor girl said to me "Sister Wiberg, (we call each other brother and sister in our church) can you please get me a drink of water?"  Grant looked at me for a minute and then said, also very politely, "Sister Wiberg, can you please get me a drink of milk?"
Farewell January.