Magic Washcloths

When we were at Disneyland, we bought some magic growing washcloths for the kids. We have found some at the dollar store in the past, so the kids knew what to do. We had held onto them for a later surprise, and decided to do them tonight. Ben was first to unwrap his washcloth and put it in the water. With much excitement, we watched it grow taller and soon into a full Nemo washcloth.

Sarah was glad to have a turn with her Mickey Mouse shaped cloth. We watched it grow and change to be a Disneyland 2008 washcloth. It's fun to see how something simple, like a washcloth, can fill an evening with delighted kids. We shared some of these as gifts to friends and cousins, and we're hoping they enjoyed them too. Now, if we can just remind the kids to actually use the washcloths.

Boxy Boy

At our house, you just never know what might come around the corner. Today a box we left in the living room grew some striped legs and started to move about the house. It seemed to mean us no harm, and even made its way into the restroom to use a toothbrush on some unknown interior portion of the box. There was a bit of confusion as we watched the box crash into the wall and furniture, but it was quiet and seemed to fit in relatively well with our family.

Too bad Ben wasn't around to see the walking box. I'm sure he would have enjoyed it! Later we discovered the box had returned to its original empty state.

Please let us know if you have seen anything similar in your house!

Learning Experience

As a mother, I clearly have a lot to learn. Today I learned something which would be useful to share with all of you with children in your lives. Please feel free to learn from my experience!

Sarah and I were driving to the orthodontist. She needed to have her retainer adjusted because a loose tooth had been twisting and was pushing against the retainer in a painful way. This tooth has been quite stubborn about coming out in a timely way, and we're being as patient and encouraging as possible. Anyway, as we're driving to the orthodontist, we're talking about the retainer adjustment and how her teeth are doing. She expresses concern about her tooth and wonders what the orthodontist will do. Feeling confident that this adjustment will greatly improve the fit of her retainer, I reassure her and finish with a joke about how he'll probably just pull out the troublesome tooth! Ha ha... Well, for some reason this added to her anxiety, but I somehow persuaded her to go into the friendly orthodontist office.

They all welcome us and invite us to sit while they look at her mouth and her retainer. Hmm... What to do... They look again and then they propose the best solution would be to pull the bothersome tooth out! Oh no! Sarah's eyes grew much too large for her face as she looked to me for comfort. Unfortunately, my eyes had also grown much too large for my face!

We held hands, said a quick prayer, and braced ourselves for what turned out to be a quick pull but with a bit of bleeding. They stuck some cotton in her mouth to stop the bleeding and gave us a coupon for Dairy Queen to help her recover. So the apologies began as I drove from the office to Dairy Queen, and will probably continue for awhile.

Now I'm sure it is clear to all of you that she will never trust me again as we drive to a doctor appointment. Would you? Perhaps it is not the best idea to joke around about pulling teeth, shots or surgeries. Just make a note for future reference!

Scooter Boys

Ben and Kristian were able to get together to play this afternoon, and couldn't wait to get out on their scooters! It was getting dark and we finally had to stop. They go to homeschool classes together twice each week, and have become such very close friends over the past couple of years. It would be handy if they could just live next door! Then we wouldn't have to schedule times to get together. Maybe we'll work on that...

Pathfinder Rally

Today was the regional Pathfinder Rally. Clint was working in his role as teen boys counselor and Sarah was busy with all the programs and activities. Becky volunteered in the kitchen to help with the spaghetti lunch and hot dog supper, and Ben was a kitchen helper too!

Their afternoon activity was to put together flower arrangements and deliver them to locations around town. Sarah went with a group to a retirement home. We continue to be inspired by the Pathfinder leaders, counselors, and kids in our region. We're so thankful Sarah has this opportunity.

They ended the day with roller skating and swimming. How do they do it all?

Christmas Band Concert

Sarah's first band concert was scheduled for mid-December with a Christmas theme, but it was cancelled due to the big snow which buried our city.

So we were invited to a recheduled Christmas concert tonight with Sarah's beginning band, along with the orchestra, handbells, junior high girl's choir, and advanced band.

We were delighted to watch her playing her flute with the band! She was front row, near center, often behind the conductor. Ben was wishing it had been a marching band, but maybe next time...

Fun to be 8

Ben is a perfect example of how much fun an eight-year-old kid could have on an ordinary Monday morning. Today he took his math workbook to his room and put on a "thinking" hat. Toss in a smidge of silly, and you get the picture. Life is never dull around here!

Ice Skating Night

We enjoyed a night of ice skating with a lot of our church families tonight. Becky was in charge of the outing, and we were delighted to see so many smiling faces out on the ice.

Sarah and Ben have really improved their skating, and it was a treat to skate with so many friends. Clint was the designated skating photographer. We'll definitely plan this again next year.

Ben's New Braces

It was an exciting day for Ben. After wearing an expander across the roof of his mouth for several months, his mouth is spread out to the right position.

Today he got braces on his four front teeth to pull them back to center and straighten them. He chose purple and orange rubber bands. He was surprised that he really couldn't feel anything when they put on the braces. One of his friends asked if they had to put him to sleep to put them on his teeth. He's quite excited and happy to show off his shiny mouth to any interested parties.

Of course we felt a celebration was in order, so we stopped at Baskin-Robbins for some ice cream. Yummy! Now he can practice brushing that ice cream off with his new toothbrush kit at home!

Ski Day

Today Clint took the kids for a ski day. They took a refresher class since they had only skiied once before last year, so Clint got some snowboarding time in the morning.

After lunch they braved the COLD and decided to try going on the big ski lift for the first time ever. Ben said it was scary on the lift, but Clint reported both kids did a great job and had a lot of fun. They met up with Ben's friend, Kristen, and skiied with them a couple of times. The snow was great, the skies were blue, but the temps were bitter cold.

Sledding with Grandparents

We couldn't resist the urge to drive over to see Grandma and Grandpa Steffen to celebrate the new year. The weather has been really snowy and icy, so we decided to wait for a relatively clear day for travel. We just drove for the day to be sure we made it home before tonight's anticipated snowfall. We thought their home looked like a wintery wonderland!

Shirlee, their trusty dog, greated us with love as usual. After a big lunch, we grabbed sleds and snow clothes, and went sledding down the roads by their house. What a blast! The kids had fun trying the sleds with runners, and we kept going until the sun went down. Then we went back to warm up, have supper, share photos and stories, and watch some videos.


We drove home late at night and were happy to have the memories of a snow-fun day tucked in our heads as we rolled into bed.

Happy New Year!

We spent the last night of 2008 with Charmaine's family, which has been the tradition for the last several years. We eat, play games and ring in the new year together. Well, technically we toot our horns at 9:00 p.m. which is the new year in Boston. :) This way Felix is still able to wake up for work in the morning!

Tonight we played a new game for us called "In a Pickle," which was a fun word game to stretch our brains. We made a lot of noise and then said goodbye for the last time in 2008. See you next year...

Disneyland Day

We surprised the kids today with a trip to Disneyland. They had never been there before, and have often talked about how much fun it would be to go. We were not disappointed! The weather seemed questionable with predictions of much rain, but we just tucked an umbrella in our backpack and went anyway. The rain ended up discouraging a lot of people, and we spent the first half of our day breezing through lots of rides with no lines! It would have been fun if some California friends or family could have joined us, but maybe we can work it out next time. The park and the characters were decorated for Christmas.

One of our first stops was a sidewalk show in front of the Golden Horseshoe, and they pulled Clint from the audience to be part of the performance. He had to repeatedly yell out, "Ba Humbug!" He was a natural and we were so proud. We later enjoyed one show with some hilarious bluegrass performers.

There were lots of new rides since Clint and Becky were last there (more than 10 years ago). Some favorites were the Pooh ride in the Hundred Acre Woods, the jungle boat ride, It's a Small World (Christmas style), the parade, Dumbo's ride, and teacups. We probably should've skipped the Matterhorn and the monorail. Nemo's ride wasn't really worth the long line.


We have been collecting the smashed pennies on our travels for about a year, so we added to our collection with several neat coins here. We missed the princesses despite our plans to see them, but managed to squeeze in some yummy giant ice cream cones. It was certainly beautiful with all the Christmas decorations. There were several opportunities for "snow" to fall on us. Sarah couldn't get over how pretty the castle was with all the lights, and everything was so "enchanting."

Disneyland was so much fun we could hardly break away! We slapped a set of mouse ears on each kid and headed out, wishing for just a little more time. It was pretty close to midnight when we made our way to the car. It would have been nice if we could have just let a magical elephant fly us back home!

Over the River and Through the Woods...

To Grandmother's house we go! We're off on our Thanksgiving adventure starting at Clint's mom's house. We arrived late last night, and made it to most of Sabbath School and church.

Then we came back to her home for the first of our Thanksgiving celebrations on this vacation. We had more food than we could eat (of course) and enjoyed some of the new recipes she tried. It is a challenge to make a vegetarian Thanksgiving without nuts out of consideration for Ben's allergies, but she really pulled out all the stops.

After lunch, we were so stuffed we needed to have some activity, so we went geocaching! What a surprise, I know. Anyway, we had some fun with searching for caches in her town and went to a park in town which was a blast for the kids.

Tomorrow we leave her and drive to the airport to catch a plane to Vegas for the next phase of our Thanksgiving adventure. Thanks to Grammie for a wonderful weekend!

Festival Festivities

Tonight was a fall festival at the church where the kids go for Adventurers and Pathfinders. Becky helped with the big Pathfinder silent auction to raise money for the club to go to the BIG camporee in Osh Kosh this August. Ben helped with the Adventurer club booth, and had fun showing the kids how to get through the maze. Sarah helped with making/selling burgers, and the face painting booth. There were lots of booths for kids and grown-ups too.

I'm sure it will be even better next year. So many great donations for the silent auction, and we ended up with a few items when we left too!

Brilliant Colors

The trees have been taking our breath away with bright reds and shocking yellows. Today we paused after church to capture this red beauty on our way home. Already we are seeing the leaves falling and turning brown. We need to soak in the color for a little while longer!

Clowning Around

Sarah has been doing some face painting for some kid activities, so we have been accumulating face paints at home. Tonight they decided to do a big paint job!

They Survived!

We were glad to make it back home tonight. Two nights away was long enough and we were ready to see the kids again.

Grammie kept them fed and happy, and it seems they kept her happy too. They kept her up too late, got her lost for awhile looking for a park, and talked her into watching videos, but in spite of it all, they really had a memorable weekend. Grammie leaves us in the morning and we'll miss having her around. We'll have to come up with some excuse to get her back up here again soon.

Thoughts on Unicycles

Unicycles just have one wheel.

I'm noticing the teenage boys seem crazy about them.

The teenage girls seem crazy about the boys riding them.

Clint sometimes releases the teenager hiding inside.

Clint was able to ride a unicycle when I first knew him in Academy.

He says he has to do it because his Pathfinder boys are doing it.

There was a Unicycle Honor being offered at the retreat.

Somehow Clint's name showed up on the list to take this honor.

Maybe I should keep Sarah away from boys on unicycles?

Will Clint be the next one-wheel wonder? He's pretty good for not riding in a few years.

If the X-ray tech breaks a bone, who will take the X-ray?

Too many thoughts about unicycles?

Let us know if you feel a sudden desire to ride a unicycle after watching this video!