Our backyard worms are somewhat lackadaisical worms. After constructing a worm bin for them, we learn from our friend John that we need to get a more energetic sort of worm, possessed of greater wormy joi de vivre, for our worm bin. So it’s off to a store in Seattle that sells red wigglers (Eisenia foetida), which are apparently the way to go for home composting. We bring home the new guys, who immediately burrow under the top level of bedding. We’re anxious to see how the new residents do.
We have been coming up with personal mottoes for each member of our family. So far, we have:
Anya: “Why walk when you can run?” or “Why walk when you can CLIMB?”
Jan: “Sleep in whenever possible”
Sabriya: (this is a work in progress but so far just like Anya’s)
Angela: “Go to church” (according to Anya)
We were puzzling over Liya’s when she piped up:
“Why clean when you can play?”
Anya’s almost done with having us read stories to her at bedtime. We still get the occasional request (currently, the second Mysterious Benedict Society book), but more and more evenings find her engrossed in a book that she’d prefer to keep reading on her own. Sigh
LIYA LOST HER FIRST TOOTH TODAY! Wahoo!
Jan is the best! Ontologically speaking, of course.
Jan gets reading glasses. The pain of acknowledging aging eyes is lessened by getting a nice pair of glasses (which he must now never lose ever). Here Jan models his glasses outdoors, where he doesn’t need them.
For Mother’s Day, Jan cooks up some new dishes: a great baked egg dish for brunch, and for dessert after dinner, a rather spectacular chocolate soufflé. (Both recipes come from the nearby Madison Park Cafe.) Each girl devours their share of the soufflé, but none with more gusto than Bree. The following morning, Bree wakes up and asks, “Do we have chocolate soufflé leftovers?”
Bree explains that this sign she made from paper letters says, “STOP”. She emphasizes this point by making a stopping gesture with her hand.
Liya gets a new bike. We seem to have acquired a full set of bicycles in every wheel size for kids 8 and under.
After a dinner, Anya complains that, on a field trip to the Pike Place Market, the tour guide had sounded a bit bored. Jan points out that she’d get bored, too, if she had to give the same tour over and over again.
Anya proceeds to conduct a tour of our kitchen. “Here’s the pantry, … here’s the refrigerator, … here’s the oven, … here’s the sink.” She walks around the kitchen island, then gives the same tour again: “Here’s the pantry…” She runs around and does it again, and again. Liya joins in. Both girls are now sprinting around the kitchen island as fast as they can, laughing and shouting: “Pantry! Refrigerator! Oven! Sink! Pantry! Refrigerator! Oven! Sink!” The following morning, we find handmade signs on our front and back doors:
Come to the Kitchen Tour
Find out stuff about the Miksovsky kitchen!
7:00 am – 4:00 pm
Find out more at www.kitchentour.com.
Preschool parent’s orientation night. This fall, Bree will begin attending preschool. Her older sisters went to a great preschool on Mercer Island, but now that they’re going to a grade school in the other direction, the Mercer Island location and distance mean it’s no longer convenient. We’re happy Bree got a spot at a Montessori school just ten minutes away. This new school means a new set of rules, traditions, and personalities for us to learn as well.
Marshmallow towers make a rainy afternoon go by. We go the Cape’s for a Memorial Day weekend dinner, and the kids get antsy long before the food is ready. We distract everyone with the challenge of constructing a marshmallow tower: 20 pieces of spaghetti, 1 yard of string, 1 yard of tape, and one big marshmallow (or some little ones) that has to go on top. (See www.marshmallowchallenge.com.) Anya comes in late to the game but is the first to construct a free-standing tower. Dalia (6, pictured) also does a great job. Angela’s depends on a string guy line to hold it up. Jan successfully extends his tower to top Robbie’s, who similarly extends his tower to top Jan’s. By the time we’re done, dinner’s just about ready.
Yarn catastrophe. Jan puts Bree down for a nap while Angela takes Anya and Liya out and about. Jan naps; Bree doesn’t. Jan finally takes Bree out of a crib, then Jan promptly falls back asleep. Jan is woken by an ear-piercing cry from Anya. “Aaaaaaah! Sabriya~a!” Uh oh.
Bree has found a basket of Anya’s finger-knitting (piles of braided ropes)… and a pair of scissors. She’s happily snipped several of Anya’s ropes into little pieces. Anya’s furious at Bree and Jan. Jan feels like it could have been worse. When Anya was two, she also found a pair of scissors while Jan napped… and cut off her own bangs.
Anya and Liya have had a sequence of sleepovers for the past few nights, but this morning it’s back to the five of us—and back to the normal morning bickering. The two girls wake up the house after Liya trips over Anya, who’s lying down, reading, right in the middle of where everyone walks. Anya’s angry Liya kicked her, and Liya denies having touched Anya.
Anya (barely audible): You tripped over me.
Liya (at top of her lungs): NO I DIDN’T.
Anya: Yes, you did.
Liya: NO I DIDN’T.
Anya: Yes, you did.
Liya: NO I DIDN’T.
Sabriya (teeny tiny voice, from the crib in her room): Yes, you did.