I'm not quite sure what this post is all about, but I'm here.

We're just keepin' it real here at the house.

Viggo works on his homework while the girls make lunch. Yes, the island is a mess . . . amazing that there was room to perch a computer there.

I handed little safety-serrated "knives" to the girls to slice bananas for pb/banana/honey sandwiches (Viggo requested this for lunch today). I was impressed with the neat slices Elin made! Things got extra sticky and messy when the honey appeared - but whatever. My goals today were to:

1) do school with Viggo

2) keep everyone busy

3) not worry about the mess

Viggo just finished a chapter on social insects in his homeschool curriculum. I am not prepared to host an ant colony here like the "activity" part of the chapter suggested. But I will allow drawn ant farms to be on the fridge. I was trying to let messes go today, but . . . I draw the line with ants inside. I am remembering a kitchen in Delaware where every ant on the eastern seaboard wanted to hang out. Not going back to that.

It started to snow today! I counted 4 flakes. The girls saw many more.

Svea brought home this sheet of vegetable preferences from preschool. How does she know she doesn't like green bell peppers? Nate and I hate bell peppers . . . green bell peppers have never darkened our doorway. She must instinctively know green bell peppers are disgusting. What a smart girl.

Meatballs for dinner . . .

. . . and the mess that goes with them.

Yuck.

We went to camp last weekend.

To see all our favorite quilters.

They, too, weren't so concerned with organization.

I love going up to camp during quilter's retreats becase there are lovely pink bags filled with pop that are just sitting around.

I also love the quilters becase they were shirts I wish I could wear.

The end.

Just another Tuesday

Tuesdays are busy for us - especially this Tuesday.

On Tuesday mornings, we gear up for our busiest day of the week. We're out of the door early for preschool for Svea and the MOMS group I volunteer with. Thankfully preschool and MOMS are at the same church. It is a fun but busy morning.

I help out with clean-up at MOMS, and Elin likes to hitch a ride on the tea and coffee cart when I bring it back to the catering kitchen at the church. So she gets a little ride every week. She loves to put the creamers away in the fridge there.

Then this afternoon, Viggo was scheduled for a field trip to the Surgical Center. However, the person who planned it emailed me with the wrong time and the wrong date. So we showed up at the Surgical Center and ended up with our own private tour! It was extra-fun because Viggo was excited to see where his Grandpa Zeke had worked!

Viggo was walked through the process of what it would be like if he was a patient anticipating surgery.

Viggo gets his heart rate and oxygen level checked. If was preparing for surgery, he would have been good to go!

It was fun for Viggo to see where his grandpa worked, and what it would be like to be a patient. The nurses were wonderful and we both had a great time. We were so thankful for the time they spent to show us around.

Then after the Surgical Center, but before dinner, off Svea and I went to swimming lessons.

Svea thinks it is so amazing to get dressed in her swimsuit in the big girls' locker room. She loves to see all the different colored padlocks on the lockers.

Svea thinks the huge clock that sits by the pool is amazing.

She has a few different teachers and is one of four girls in her class. She does a great job!

She loved to play catch with the instructor!

Viggo gave his grandpa a call tonight and told him about the field trip. Yes, that is a stick-on thermometer he is wearing.

And then we put them all to bed :)

Coins!

In honor of Viggo and Svea's love of coins, we thought that coins would make unexpected costumes this year.

Elin was a penny, Svea a Buffalo Nickel, and Viggo, a two-cent piece. Okay, so Elin looked more like a leopard/gnome/marshmallow penny, but . . . hey, it was cold out last night.

The two-cent piece was actually a real coin and it was minted in the 1860s here in the US. It was the first coin to be minted with the phrase "In God We Trust".

But nobody knew that. They just thought Viggo was a two-cent piece to "put his two cents in". In their defense, if I didn't live with a bunch of coin collectors, I wouldn't know that either. Just a little coin knowledge for the rest of us.

Drawing Abraham Lincoln went better than I thought.

What we did was: Nate cut out pieces of cardboard with the aid of a large compass to get the circle shapes perfect. Then I spray painted them with overpriced metallic spray paint, and then used an oil-paint Sharpie pen to draw all the details on.

Cutest coins on the block!

Svea was extremely proud of her Buffalo Nickel, which is amazing, considering drawing the buffalo was not what I would consider fun. She makes a goofy face and does some extreme poses for pretty much every photo now, so . . . no, she doesn't always look like this in real life.

While trick-or-treating, Nate told me that Elin would occasionally say to the neighbor handing out candy, "I penny!" She was a real trooper and had lots of fun. But when she came home, she had to take care of business and suck her thumb and snuggle with her blanket.

They each came home with approximately a gallon of candy. Yay.