(dictated by Caroline)

Daddy calls me his llama and I am his llama. I really want to play with Daddy when he gets home from work. And I will see him when he gets home. I will get out of my room and give him a kiss and go back to my room because Daddy will come home during quiet time. [Jonah interjected, "probably." Caroline responded, "He said he would!"] Did you write that C for my name?

The bouncy house is okay. It is bouncy. That is where we like. There are lots of bouncy things. I know the rule about only bouncing in socks. When we were trapped in that little circle thing, we had to take our socks off and go down. And I will see how long it will take for me to see Daddy. And when I see that car, Daddy will be home. And he did not think it was fun to do that. And, it will say a good time with Daddy. I really love him so much and I love him like Dixie. Except there is a sad thing here. Dixie is dead. I know that she is dead. Daddy found her in the forest dead. He got a grave over and put dirt over her. We will put flowers and signs there to make it so it's beautiful and grass because Dixie really likes grass. To make it so it's pretty. And we will put food for her in that spot if she wants it. zghd. Mommy? I wrote on your computer. I wrote a z for zebra. I like every kind of zebra. And I do not like lions. Except if Dixie is dead, let's get a dog or a cat or a lion. Except a lion would be scary and a cat might scratch us, so we should get another dog again. I don't think werewolves are real. [Jonah again. "If we get a cat, I will tame it for you. I am really good with cats."] The cat that I want to buy is a cheetah. Except a cheetah would probably bite us, so I don't want a cheetah.

Minutes ago, we got to North Carolina. In 7 years, we stayed there until I want to go back to Arizona. Where is the 7? [I switched it from 'seven' to '7'.] Oh, okay. There it is. I just had a birthday. I turned 4. Where is the 4? There it is. And, we will probably go to the zoo on my next birthday. My next birthday is going to be 5. Where is that single 5? There's the 5. Two 5s. What in the world? I learned that from Daddy.

I want to sleep with Mim during quiet time. I'm going to sleep on Mommy's bed so she doesn't go out of Mommy's room. I'll see you all next time on Skype. With Aunt Rosalyn. Or Nana.

trapped (dictated by Jonah)

We weren't really trapped, but we were going to get wood for Caroline's doll house and dowels for art and all that stuff, and also some seeds for our garden we're going to plant this spring, and some screws for the doll house, and paint and blah blah blah. So it was sure to take about 30 or maybe 45 minutes. Instead, it seemed to me that it took more like 3 hours. The point was, we kept forgetting things and had to keep going back and forth. Daddy, Caroline, and Miriam were staying in one spot. So Mommy and I walked back and forth and back and forth until we walked the same spot 85 times. And the door to the garden kept opening every time we went back to the seeds because it was automatic. So then, we finally went to our next store. And that one should have taken about 20 minutes plus the time it takes to buy the food and go to the car, which might be about 30 minutes altogether. Instead, that one seemed to me to take one hour. This time, we didn't forget a bunch of things, but we split up just like we did in Home Depot. So we had to walk all the way to one place, then walk around and find where Daddy was with the girls. So that took a nice five minutes combined. We left at maybe 11:00 or perhaps 12 and Mommy said we might be home about 1:30 or 2:00. Instead, it was already 2:40 when we got home. It might have been 2:30 or 2:50. I don't know. But anyway, it was a while before we came home, so this time, quiet time ended at 4:00 instead of 3:00.

A couple days later, Daddy started playing Lunara, a centaur. They did win the game, but Daddy said he didn't like her much. Lunara is fast, but she bounces, so she made Daddy dizzy. I said to Daddy that it might make him more dizzy to play her than it does me to watch. But other than that, Lunara seemed cool. Even if she wasn't touching someone with her spear, if they were inside the gates, she could put poison on the person. Even if the person as behind the gate, the poison could hit the person. But, the person would have to stay still for a few seconds, which is a downfall. Usually people will just leave the circle. But, if someone is trapped, they will stay in the circle. Each character has two Rs. Here are both of Lunara's: one, she can jump over someone, which is a good strategy if she is at low health and is being cornered. She also does damage halfway through the jump. The other one, that Daddy chose, is to shoot three vines at a time. Well, one vine but she can do it three times. When she shot one, the three became two. When she shot the next, the two became a one. After that, she has to wait some time before the talent comes back.

[Jonah, leaning over to see how much I'd written asked, "Oh boy. Does the blog paper expand when we reach the bottom?" When I said yes, he nodded and continued."]

Okay, we are going to talk about Murky now, which is a small alien. He looks slightly like Yoda, but he doesn't do very much that Yoda does. One of his talents is to make an egg. When he dies, it only takes three seconds to come back to life. He is hatched out of the egg. He can hide his egg, but if people find it, they can kill it. Watch out Murky! You have to pick a good hiding spot! Another talent is a pufferfish. There is a damage circle on the ground. When the pufferfish gets big enough, BOOM! Slime is sprayed everywhere in the damage circle. Poor minions, the little characters that defend the forts. They don't have much health. The pufferfish will get rid of them for good. Every now and then, which we have to destroy, on the far right and left, minions are reborn and start walking through the gates and over to the other minions. Minions don't attack the towers unless the five characters on each team help. Usually the minions can get rid of a good deal of health, but not enough to attack the towers. Each minion does at least 2 damage at a time, I think. There are 5 archers, 2 wizards (that look up spells in their books..you'd think they would have memorized the spells after all that time), and a few swordsmiths. Sometimes, there is a catapult. Sometimes, a small cruiser takes the catapult's place. The catapult is more common because the cruiser is fancy. There are six miniature towers for each team. There are three lanes and two rows.  In between, there are larger towers that have more health and more shots. If a tower runs out of shots, then it will not be able to shoot you I think. I'm not sure, because usually the tower is destroyed before it runs out of shots. And then, at the very back, there is a healing place. It's a deep well. In the well is health I think. The symbol is a hearthstone. You can use your own hearthstone to go back to the core and it will heal you. It takes longer to walk back, but you can do that too. And right in front of the healing well is the core. The core is the most important thing to each team because if you destroy the other team's core, you win!

Back to Murky. He has 2 Rs. One is the octograb, which makes a bunch of octopus tentacles come and hold a person while Murky slaps the person with a fish. Usually the person playing Murky is wise enough to know that he should save it until the other person is below half health, since Murky can't do very much damage to other people, though the fish does a bit more. The other one (I'm not sure what the name is) he gets all his friends, very miniature versions of Murky. They start biting at the gate or core. Murky also has a bubble he can float around in. The bubble heals him and is like his mount. He is very small, so he has to hold on to his mount with one hand, while he goes flying behind, which I think is very funny. There's Murky!

That's it! Now I can't wait to hear what Caroline has to say. Hey Caroline, when you do this, it's like writing a letter. Everyone can read it. You can make it for just one person, but everyone can read it, so make it like you're writing a letter to everyone who wants to read our blog. Like if I wrote a letter about Murky to Grandma Hunt and sent it to her, she might show it to other people, which is like the blog.

R.I.P. Dixie Loo

It has been a sad day at our house. Dixie died yesterday. We buried her and told the kids today. They responded in exactly the way you'd imagine. Jonah was quiet and thoughtful. Caroline cried for a bit and then asked lots of in-depth (and so morbid they would have been funny in another situation) questions. Miriam wandered around the room pouring water all over everything. She is very busy these days. Sharing sad news is not my favorite part of being a parent.

We loved our Dix. She lived almost all of her 5 1/2 years with us, in three different states and 5 different houses. She drove us crazy sometimes, but she was always gentle with the kids and was the first dog I ever had that would play fetch or sit on command! (In retrospect, that says more about the dogs I had growing up than it does about Dixie.)

There is nothing quite like your first dog. Our kids had one of the best. 

finding plants that get on, and so on.

It started with reading Harry Potter to Jonah at night. Then, I started listening to the audiobook of A God in Ruins (which is also British, plus listening to the audio version of the book means the turns of phrase are read in a delightful British accent). Finally, I found this website very helpful for planning my garden layout.

So basically, if you find me saying things in a decidedly British way, carry on. All is well here. I will just be tending my seedlings which "are grown indoors in advance of planting out."

oh, Miriam

This morning, the kids woke up before we did. Apparently Jonah got Miriam out of her crib ("because she was crying when we left her!," he said.) and then went to build Legos with Caroline in his room. Miriam wandered the house alone, unbeknownst to her sleeping parents.

...that is until she showed up next to our bed holding up a doughnut chunk. Yes, the one-year-old managed to eat all of the remaining doughnuts (we think there were 3 left) except for one. She'd started in on that one, too, before we caught her.

As you can imagine, Jonah and Caroline were devastated. Josh and I thought it was pretty hilarious. The funniest part to me is that Jonah was so upset. I'm not happy that he's upset, but I am reminded of a little Jonah who got up in the night to eat Nutella, ate an entire pie with Dixie, and climbed on the counter to get to the top of the fridge to eat cookies I'd made for a baptism. Ah, sweet justice.

handwriting

Sometimes a lesson on how to write dates turns into a lesson on how Mommy's 2s look a little like zs.

Other lessons this week have included: how to play outside when it is finally over 45 degrees and sunny, teaching your little sister how to play Candy Land, and how to address an envelope.

danger is everywhere

We lost a library book. I repeat: We lost a library book. I haven't lost a library book in a long time. (Not counting the one time I was accused of losing a library book that I'd actually turned in.) We've checked in all the usual places, so today we get to check the unusual places. I'll be starting in my closet, so I should be gone for about 3 weeks. Text me if anything interesting happens.

Also, Miriam can now open candy bar wrappers. I know because she had a mini candy bar when I went to take a shower. When I got out of the shower, she was pulling the wrapper off proudly and stuffing the candy in her mouth.

These things happen in threes, right? I'm scared.

Edited to add: Maybe this is the third tragedy? I dropped a tupperware of homemade chocolate pudding. It splattered all over everything (including my last clean sweatshirt and pants, which I was wearing). By the time I cleaned it up, there were only a few edible spoonfuls. Mommy, can you come and make me some more pudding?

something I've been working on

So off and on for the last little bit, I've been working on a book review blog. When I'm well-rested and full of optimism, I think about how it's going to be everything I've ever wanted in a book blog. When I'm tired and discouraged, I think about how little the world needs yet another book blog. Either way, here I go, announcing it (sort of..just to the people I trust the most). For the first few weeks, I kept it completely private because I was so afraid it would be awful. Then I told Josh and Katie about it, because I knew they would be good sounding boards. Now here we are. If you'd like to read it, here's the link.

Now what I want to do is read another book to write about. What I will do instead is make lunch, because Miriam is standing at the bottom of her high chair saying, "in! in!"

Dear Dad,

I was talking to Quintin on the phone yesterday and thought about something Mom said after you died. She mentioned hearing you talk to Aunt Karleen on the phone. I was so surprised to hear her say that! I don't ever remember you talking on the phone socially, let alone to your sister! Maybe that's why, of all your sisters, I remember Aunt Karleen's house. I remember going bear hunting and her kitchen and her living room and the way the trees and path looked around her house. When I think about all that, though, I still don't remember you talking to her. I guess I wasn't looking for that then. I was busy looking forward to stopping at Dairy Queen on the way home. I forget sometimes that you weren't just Dad. You were Brother and Uncle and Son and Friend and Cousin and Grandson and Nephew and Husband. I'm sorry for assuming you only belonged to us. Thank you for making us feel like you only belonged to us.

"Mom! Come take a picture!" (says Caroline)

I never know what I will find when I hear these words bellowed to me across the house. This week, I found:

"It's you and me and Grandma at the store!"

"And this is Daddy and Jonah at the store looking for pineapple."

"Look at us!"

"Here are all your darlings. Come and take a picture of us." (She was spot on that time. They are my darlings.)

A Magical World - By Jonah

Once there were two cows. One of the cows liked fresh grass and the other liked to eat cold grass which was usually old. One day, Jonah, the cow who liked to eat old grass could not find any old grass. So Jonah went into the woods to find old grass. Miriam, the cow who liked to eat fresh grass, was looking for Jonah and saw Jonah walking away to the woods. Miriam wanted to follow Jonah because Jonah usually found fresh grass wherever she went. Both of the cows ended up in the middle of the woods when they found each other again. In the middle of the woods was an evil witch named Caroline, but she wasn't actually evil, but nobody liked her because she didn't like anybody else. The evil witch brought the cows inside and said, "I will eat you for dinner because I am having cow soup!" But then, both of the cows said, "Nope, we only eat grass so we don't have any milk for you. The grass we eat is magical grass. A magician didn't want us to have any milk so you won't get to have some milk from us." The half-evil Caroline said, "Oh, if you don't have any milk, you'd probably taste gross because milk is the part I like about cows. And I don't like a lot of things." Then she turned both of them into chalk, but one of them (Jonah) got away. He found a piece of old grass before he was turned into chalk.

(Author's Note: Caroline took a picture of two pieces of chalk and one of the pieces of chalk had a leaf on it. And those were the cows and the one with the leaf on it, the leaf used to be an old grass.)

Fancy Nancy Cakes

After much deliberation, Jonah decided how to spend his hard-earned money at the store yesterday. "These are so good because they are soft and cream-filled. I just love them."

He agreed to share some with Caroline in exchange for part of her doughnut (her purchase). As dinner progressed, Caroline kept upping how much of the doughnut she was going to share until one point where she offered Jonah the whole thing. He stuck with the original plan of half the doughnut for a Fancy Cake. (Or as Caroline calls them, Fancy Nancy cakes. Obviously, we are embracing the name.)

Miriam is

...running down the path away from the house yelling, "bye!"

Heaven help me.