Three 5Ks in 2012 = accomplished!!!

(c) 2012 Ms. Huis Herself at musenmutter.blogspot.com

WAY back when in January, I set some goals for myself.  One was to run in three 5K races in 2012. Well, I'm thrilled to say that as of last Saturday, I've accomplished that goal!  

In July, I ran in the 5K race that's part of the annual town celebration.  It was the first 5K I ever ran back in 2010, and I was nervous about it this year, thanks to the heart oddities I'd been having, but even in the heat I managed to keep my time under 30, so I was very pleased.

Then in August, when I didn't feel like running on my usual Friday evening schedule, I thought, "Hey, let's see if there's any 5Ks in the area tomorrow!"  Lo and behold, my across-the-street neighbor was in charge of one right in downtown Appleton!  So, of course I ran... and even placed for my age group  - did I mention it was a VERY small race?!  Still, I happily accepted the medal!

Finally on Saturday I ran in the area YMCA's fun costume-friendly annual 5K.  I'd done it in 2010, and figured if I wanted to make my goal before it got any colder, that I'd better hurry up and do so.  That meant I got all dolled up on a lovely middle-to-high-30sF morning and got my final 5K of the year done!  My 2010 costume was more flattering, I think, but here's how I looked this year:

 

You don't usually see too many mermaids competing in a running race, I think! :)

Happy Halloween

(c) 2012 Ms. Huis Herself at musenmutter.blogspot.com

Happy belated Halloween to you all!  I figured I'd better share a picture of my trick-or-treaters 'cuz they were darn cute, if I do say so myself.  Definitely my easiest year so far as a costume designer - they both wanted to be cats.  Well, they both did until Penguin saw a leopard print velvet leotard with long sleeves and legs at a second-hand store, when she promptly revised her wish to the larger, fiercer "cheetah!" version.  Fine and good, we visited a Halloween store where we found a suitable (actually quite nice) mask/tail combo... and then Pumpkin admired it so much I got her the matching mask/tail set in black rather than make her use the headband ears and elastic tail we had in the dress-up bin.  But they were adorable and warm, thanks to suitably colored fleece sweatshirts we already had, so it was all good. We even did an extra block this year in our quest for candy - my girls are getting big! :)

 

I don't think she learned that at Sunday School

(c) 2012 Ms. Huis Herself at musenmutter.blogspot.com

At lunchtime today, I had this conversation with Penguin. She's been asking similar questions, putting things in order lately, so I wasn't too surprised by the beginning anyway.

 
Penguin: Before there was cheese, there was.... 

Me: Milk? 

P: Yes, and before there was milk, there was.... 

M: Water?

P: And before there was water, there was...? 

M: Nothing really - water happened pretty early.

P: Before there was water there was? 

M: Well, water was around pretty early on the world.

 
P: What was before the world?

M: God. 

P: Before there was God there was? 

M: Nothing. Before God was nothing. 

P: Before nothing there was?  

M: God. 

P: No, before God there was? 

M: Nothing. 

P: Before nothing was? 

M: God. What do YOU think was before nothing? 

P: Unicorns. 

M: Unicorns?! 

P: Yup, space-traveling unicorns.

August's trip to Minnesota

(c) 2012 Ms. Huis Herself at musenmutter.blogspot.com

 I know, I know - awful blogger, never updating, guilty am I. BUT skipping merrily over that, let me bribe you with PICTURES! Since I got my new laptop, it took us a while to figure out how to download our camera onto it, but now that it works, hooray! Let me share with you some pictures from our trip to Minnesota in August, featuring Pumpkin's 8th birthday, a trip to the MN Zoo and their featured Dinosaurs! exhibit, and, as the main reason for our trip, a wedding in the family.

The birthday girl with one of her two cakes that weekend thanks to the grandmas!

Us four with Grandpa Pet & Grandpa Pharaoh and a zoo statue of lions

Oh  no! It's a big ol' T. Rex!

We better run!!!!

I love Pumpkin's imitative face on this one!  Also, FYI, they're wearing  their Dino Girl dresses/tunics from Jusami 'cuz their mommy planned ahead.

I love that they had this at the end so you could see how the dino models worked... and control them yourself.

One of their favorite parts was touching the sharks & manta rays & trying to reach in to touch the anemones.  And yes, we DID see a child (not ours!) stretch and reach so far she fell in! The zoo volunteers keep towels at their station. :)

Hello, monkey!

We are fierce girls who ride on wolves!

The wedding

With this ring....

Mr. Kluges's side in a rare group photo - y'all look so NICE!

Us with the bride - doesn't she look gorgeous?!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

The First Day of School

(c) 2012 Ms. Huis Herself at musenmutter.blogspot.com

I have excellent news!  Mr. Kluges has gotten my camera to talk to my laptop!  Yay for pictures! Now, I won't go overwhelming you all with the entire summer's worth in one day, but now at least I can share the girls' first day of school photos with you.  Pumpkin, who recently turned 8, has started 3rd grade, and Penguin, 5 since May, is in half-day kindergarten.  When did they get so big?! 

 

Meaningful and Vibration-y

(c) 2012 Ms. Huis Herself at musenmutter.blogspot.com

My (newly) 8 year old, who was just shopping for doorbells at Lowe's with her daddy, has informed me that she prefers our old, real-metal-chime one to the new ones because, and I quote...

...they're lighter, and they don't have as much meaning, and when you are close you don't feel the vibrations.

So, there you go. Good thing Mr. Kluges is working on fixing up our old non-light, meaningful, vibration-y real chime one!  

Catching Up

(c) 2012 Ms. Huis Herself at musenmutter.blogspot.com

Hello, gang! I'm ever so sorry it's been so long since I've posted.  The summer days have been flying by and between swimming lessons and Vacation Bible School and weekends busy doing stuff I haven't found the time to sit down and write.  But today we've got a friend over for a playdate, so the girls are all busy together & I think I can sit down and say hello.

In addition to the general summer busy-ness, I had a bit of a health scare that at first I didn't want to talk about, then I didn't know how to talk about, compounded by the fact that I was having a hard time sitting down to collect my thoughts in order to talk about it.  I'm fine, but I'd been having some heart palpitations and skipping that were freaking me out.  Of course, when your heart starts acting all weird, and it's almost midnight, and it's doing more of a waltz with one-two-three-pause than a standard 4/4 beat, you become convinced you're going to DIE! And Googling your symptoms never makes you feel better... because you've definitely got some sort of rare and fatal disease.

But I don't.  After an EKG and a 24-recording of my heart's every beat and a sonogram/ultrasound-type thing, it turns out it's all just a minor bit of electrical misconduct and quirkiness - very minor, often symptomless, very very low risk.  In fact, even though I've been on meds to make my heart less electrically-excitable while things have been checked out, I should be able to go off them or just use them just as needed, depending on one more doctor conversation.

Of course, all this, especially the unknownness of it, and the it's-my-heart-I'm-going-to-DIE-and-my-kids-are-so-young-ness, and the I'm-not-ready-to-share-yet kind of combined into a big ol' metaphorical lump in my throat, the sort I couldn't get any other words around. 

But now I hope to be a little more chatty, and let you all know more about our fun and busy summer, the camping, the swimming lessons, the garden, and all! 

Whose Home is This?

(c) 2012 Ms. Huis Herself at musenmutter.blogspot.com

This evening, our girls found a small tunnel.  A hole, the entranceway to a burrow, a home for some sort of creature.  So, as any scientifically-minded youngster might do, they gathered a couple of reference books to see if they could figure out exactly what sort of creature belongs to this home.

These were the reference books they brought out:

and

'Cuz magic is real, my friends, and don't you forget it! :)  

(Also, kids are awesome.)

  

Cook's Helpers

(c) 2012 Ms. Huis Herself at musenmutter.blogspot.com

We've started a new thing here at the House of 42 Doors.  It's summer, you see, which means the girls and I are around the house & each other pretty much ALL DAY LONG.  We've got swimming lessons in the morning for now, and tumbling for one evening a week for 6 weeks, but that's it.

Do you know what happens when kids get bored? They bicker.  They whine.  They fight.  They get a TEENY bit annoying...even to their loving mother.

Now, I'm definitely all for letting them figure out what to do to entertain themselves much of the time, 'cuz boredom isn't all bad!  But all these hours DO allow for a lot more opportunities. Opportunities for them to learn some responsibility, some household skills, some LIFE skills.

One of those opportunities is getting to be "Cook's Helper."  I think strongly that if you eat, you should know some rudiments of cooking!  The girls have been alternately responsible for table-setting for a while now, but this is a new evening responsibility (aka chore).   

And they LOVE it! 

Sure, we're still a bit in the honeymoon phase, but while one child takes care of setting the table, the other is my assistant.  They get to wash potatoes (with a rubba scrubba),  cut up tomatoes (with a real, sharp knife... and a little more help for the 5 year old than the 7 1/2 year old!), wash lettuce and rip it up into bite-size pieces, choose between two different noodle dishes, cut up almost a pound of mushrooms, run out to the garden to get specific herbs, etc.  Heck, my 5 year old turned two carrots into carrot ribbons with a real vegetable peeler today!  

I'm right there.  I'm supervising.  I explain and demonstrate the task as needed, and I watch like a hawk at the beginning to make sure it's suitable and that I haven't misjudged the child's abilities, dexterity, or carefulness.

But you know what?   

They take it so seriously.  This is real work.  This is a genuine job that needs doing.  They respect their tools (especially the sharp ones) and use them with care.  They are so INVOLVED with their task.  My 5 year old spent probably 20 minutes carefully cutting up almost a pound of mushrooms with a butter knife.  (And then she thoroughly enjoyed eating them sauteed in butter with a sprinkle of salt!) 

They are learning so much - cooking skills, refining their dexterity and fine motor skills, gaining experience with unusual vegetables from our CSA, respecting potentially dangerous yet useful tools, and being contributing members of our household.

Yup, I think "Cook's Helper" is here to stay!

 

Happy Father's Day!

(c) 2012 Ms. Huis Herself at musenmutter.blogspot.com

Happy Father's Day!

...to my father, Grandpa Pharaoh, for his humor, stories, explanations, and involvement thoughout the years.  I love you dearly and am incredibly grateful for you and your presence in my life!

...to my husband, father of my children, for his, ahem, "contribution," co-parenting, balance, humor, putting-to-bed and story-reading, big dreams and realism, and silliness.  Thank you and I love you, deeply.

...to my father-in-law, for helping to raise my wonderful husband, for his jokes, sense of humor, sense of proportion, and knowledge of what's important in life.  Also, on behalf of his granddaughers, for the minnows.  :)

...to all the fathers out there, for their love and attention, ball-throwing and owie-kissing, late night worries and early morning risings, chauffering to ball games and dance practice - thank you for your love and commitment to your children.

...to those who struggle to become fathers, with love and affection and hope and sympathy.

...to those who came upon fatherhood unexpectedly, or later in their children's lives, with love and affection and hope and sympathy. 

...to fathers who also serve as mothers, and mothers who are fathers, with an extra helping of strength & support. 

... to those who have lost their fathers, with sympathy on this difficult day.  

... to those who have fathers, wishing you joy in your relationship, or healing in an estrangement, and a reminder to give him a call today, before it's too late.

... and to all who have a special place in a child's life, who provide guidance and love and attention. Thank you for being there for them.

To all of you who so richly deserve it, Happy Fathers' Day!!!!