The infinitely quotable Elise

If you've ever talked to Elise you know that, well, Elise likes to talk. Fortunately, she also has a way of putting smiles on our faces, unless, of course, she's lawyering us. But we'll save that for another post. Over the years, I've kept track of some of her choicest gems, preserved here, along with quote from Kalina and Naomi afterward. I'll continue to update this but the best ones are a little fewer and farther between.

Age 4: "It's quiet in here except for us!" amid lots of chattering as we made our way through an office building to the dentist.

Age 4: "Mommy let me tell you something. If you climbed this tree you would get a free ride to the sky." (spoken about a tall tulip tree)

Feb. 6, 2013: Kalina told Elise the following story: Once upon a time there was a little girl named Elise, and she didn't have a big sister, so she went to look for one. She came across a girl named Kalina, and she said, "Will you be my big sister?" and Kalina said "Yes." And they lived happily ever after.

*sniff*

Age 5: "Mommy, Jesus and God have to be different, because Jesus died and God didn't." 
Me: "Wow. That's something people have been talking about for hundreds of years." 
Elise: "And I already figured it out!" (super proud, and told Matt later that evening)

December 2015: "My  name is Elise, I'm a cheerful girl, and I love ballet!"

February 2015: "Mommy, how does Santa get all the money to buy the toys?
Me: "Doesn't he just have his elves make them?" 
Elise: "But he said in his letter that sometimes he sends his elves out to buy toys." 
Me. "Oh yeah, that's right." 
Elise: "How about all the parents can send Santa Claus some money for the toys he buys?" 
Me: "That sounds like a good idea." 
Elise: "Or maybe he could just get the toys from the store without paying." 
Me: "Wouldn't that be stealing?" 
Elise: "Well, he'd do it at night and make sure no one saw so it wouldn't be a big deal."

February 29, 2015: 
Matt, changing an air filter in the car: "Elise, I want to show you how to put in an air filter--you might have to do it someday!"
Elise: "That's okay, Daddy, I'm planning to get married."

March 2016: "Dad, the only problem with my swimming is that I can't float."

March 3, 2016: 
What Happens in Winter, by Summer Odegaard
Down fall the snowflakes
The wind rustles in the trees.
Squirrel has a nest
But what about me?

I have a nice, cozy home
That I sleep in every night
And I have toys to play with in the morning
And I have everything I need.

And best of all, parents and God.

Spring 2016: Elise's recipe for Blueberry Bread
"How? Make normal bread but wait, I'm forgetting something. Before you bake it, put blueberries in the dough that you have made. Now you may bake bread, a little less than normal temperature--you don't want your blueberries to get burned. Once you have baked it for one minute less than you normally do--or half a minute if it's a minute--then take it out and wait til it cools. Then you can all have a piece if your mom says so. All you need is this recipe--I don't know how to make bread, but that's fine."
Sell our blueberry bread
 $10 per loaf
We will have to taste our loaf
It's true that it's delicious, true, true, true. 
Only $10! Give samples to assure them, and lemonade.


Late April, 2016: "I accidentally smelled the flowers, but I'm glad I did!"

After Easter, 2016:
How My Kitten Got it's Chocolate Paws
One time my kitten got off its shelf in Target and the door was open. The Kitten walked our and walked into a factory and went along with a tour. It dipper its paws into the chocolate and somebody noticed her and the person chased it out and the chocolate dried. It entered Target again. Much, much later, while I was at piano lessons, Mommy bought it with Naomi and I got it for Valentine's Day. The end.

May 2, 2016: Bean juice spilled on my clean kitchen floor, and a couple Corn Chex crunched on it as well.
Me: "Oh wow, I just cleaned the floor and it's already quite dirty again! I'd better clean it up."
Elise: "That's okay, Mommy. We're used to a dirty floor."
Me: "Oh no, I suppose I need to clean the floor more often!"
Elise: "No, we're used to a dirty floor, Mommy."

June 29, 2016: A proud announcement: "Mommy, I think I'm beginning to be able to smell pheromones. Whenever I'm around ants, I smell a smell that I don't smell anywhere else!"

Elise's wishes in her own words (winter, 2016):
1. Go to Fairyland
2. Help people
3. Dance in the Nutcracker
4. Be a scuba diver
5. Lose teeth soon

Personal, not as big:
Be a bike and scooter star
Sail around in the ocean and float in outer space

Winter 2016"The funny thing about me is I love pies, and they're not my favorite!"

1-6-17
Elise: "Mommy, most people don't seem to know that fairies are real."
Me: "It sure seems that way."
Elise, whispering: "I'm smarter than most grownups!"

1-8-17
Crouching down so her bear hat seems to sit on the table: "A bear has come for dinner!"

5-9-17
Trying Havarti cheese for what she believes to be the first time (although it probably wasn't):
Elise: "It's like when you go down a super-fast slide for the first time. And you know it will be more fun the next time you do it."
Me: Would you like another bite?
Elise: "Yes, please."

6-27-17
(With a piece of paper in her mouth like a duck bill). "Mmmph, mmph, mmph." Me: What's that, Elise? (Taking the paper out): "It's my duck bill. Now I know why ducks can't talk."

7-13-17
Me, prepping the girls for a playdate with friends who don't all know each other: "Make sure you do something so everyone's included. Like put on a show, or play hide and seek."
Elise, laughing indulgently and rolling her eyes a bit: "Mom--really? Hide-and-seek? I think I'm a little old for that!"
Me: "A lot of kids play hide and seek, it's fun!"
Elise: "Um, Mom, I think I'm a level above hide and seek. That's, like, Naomi's level. I mean, do the moms get together and play hide and seek?"
Etc. 
I never convinced her--although very recently (2020), she was open to the option of playing hide and seek in our backyard.

7-26-17
Dejectedly, while making a sweet birthday heart card for Matt, "There are so many birthdays to celebrate that aren't mine."

10-3-17
"Mommy, you don't know what it's like to be friends with a tree."

November, 2017
"Yeah, it really was an awesome trip to Florida, and the third bite [sting] wasn't the jellyfish's fault."

12-19-17
Elise was talking about her beloved stuffed hamster. She's been making felt hamsters for her sisters, and was listing their birthdays. She purchased her stuffed hamster, which shares her birthday, with her allowance money the day after Thanksgiving, and has played with it daily ever since.
Me, totally expecting a resounding yes: "Elise, would you still have bought Furble if it didn't share your birthday?"
Elise: "No, it was so expensive. Five dollars! Are you kidding?  For a hamster?!"

12-21-17
With a heap of made-from-scratch chicken pot pie on her plate.
Me: "How's the chicken pot pie?"
Elise, trying to be polite: "Mmm, I don't not like it as much as I usually don't like what's for dinner."

1-3-18
At the tail end of a great discussion about genetics and ethics (i.e, why we can't make actual mermaids using fish and human DNA).
Kalina, somewhat seriously: "How would a mermaid poop?"
Elise, confidently: "In seaweed bundles."

After making her own recipe of cupcakes: "They're even healthy, with one cup of sugar but two cups of flour!"

7-5-18
The girls found and captured a box turtle.
Matt: "What kind is it?"
Elise: "We don't know."
Matt: "It's not a snapping turtle is it?"
Elise: "No!"
Matt: "How do you know?"
Elise: "I touched it."

5-12-19 (Mother's Day)
Me, stuffed: "I'll try my chocolate tomorrow."
Elise, sighing: "It just seems as though if you get two packs of chocolate, you should at least try one."

Summer 2019
After trying sauerkraut. "It's disgusting! But I still consider it a valuable experience."

April 2020
Me: "Hey Elise, what did you think of the corn and beans?"
Elise (smiling sheepishly): "Well, um, it's just that, I can tell it's a good recipe and it's the type of thing I would probably like if I were an adult. But I'm a kid and, well, kids like sweet things."

Naturally, Naomi and Kalina have had their own share of delightful quotes (and others have been preserved in other blog posts). Here are a bunch of my favorites:

9-7-11 Kalina

Kalina's pinky finger was "painting a garden," along with signs for the garden. The signs said: "Don't fly in the sky unless you have a bird with you," "Don't fall into holes unless you have a friend with you," "Don't hang kittens from high places in trees because they might get stuck and a fire truck would have to come get them down," "Don't light a fire when the baby is in the chimney."

12-10-11 Kalina
Drove around with Kalina to look at Christmas lights.

Kalina: Mommy, are there 100 lights?

Me: I bet there are even more than 100!

Kalina: How many are there?

Me: I don't think it's even possible to count all of them!

Kalina (quietly): One. Two. Three.

A few streets later she quit counting after about 76. Too many to count, I suppose.

3-28-12 Kalina

Among Kalina's morning ponderings: What do squirrels have inside them? What would happen if a raccoon ate a flower? What would happen if a shadow went all the way into a deep, dark, hole? Can God count to a trillion? Do kittens lick up water? Kittens? Water? Cats? Water? (I guess she just wanted a lot of confirmation on the last one--it's very important to know for sure when it's your job to care for kittens.)

9-6-12 Kalina

Kalina: Mommy, I'll grant you any wish with my magic wand. What do you wish for?

Me: That we could all take a walk after dinner.

Kalina: No, I will not grant that wish.

Me: Why not?

Kalina: Bibbity Bobbity Boo, your eyes are now teal!

9-9-16 Naomi
Me: "Naomi, do you want to help me empty the dishwasher?"
Naomi: "I have chores to do." (as she plays near her toy kitchen)

10-21-16 Kalina
Kalina: "Mommy, Elise discovered something!" (Excitedly)
Me: "Wow! What is it?"
Kalina: "I don't know, but I'm pretty sure it's something that has been discovered before." (Dreamily, sitting down with a book, ending the conversation.)

Naomi Late November, 2016:
N: "I don't like the rain."
Me: "Why?"
Naomi: "Because it falls from the sky."
Me: "What would you rather it do?"
Naomi: "Come from the ground and go up to the sky."

Kalina 12-1-16:
*sigh* "Time is so precious." (Being asked to come in and clean up after she plays outside)

Kalina 5-6-17
Matt and I were talking at dinner about how we were going to go to Lowe's on our date.
Kalina: "Is that what you call a date?"

Naomi: Spring, after we found out we were moving, and with tears in  her eyes.
"Will we get a new Grandpa in Kansas City?"

Naomi: 6-21-17
Talking about who she's going to marry.
"He has to be nice, and I have to like him, and he has to be a boy." Concerned: "But who am I going to marry?" Me: "You might not know him yet. You might meet him when you're older."
Naomi: "I have to love him, I have to like him, and I have to know his name."

Naomi (age 2-3): "No I amn't" (pronounced em-nt--she made her own contraction!)

July 2017
Naomi: "Squeak, squeak"
Me, looking up: "Was that you Sweetie?"
Naomi: "No, it was my dolphin."

7-23-17
Me: "Naomi, don't run at the pool." (Naomi begins to skip)
Me: "Naomi, please don't skip either."
Naomi: "Skipping isn't running, it's happy walking!"

August, 2017
Coloring a Mayflower picture:
Naomi: "What color should I color it? I'll do orange, that's a cross between a good color and brown."

August, 2017, playing a game
Naomi: "What color of bear would you like to start with?"
Me: "Yellow."
Namoi: "Um, yellow doesn't go with any beautiful colors."
Me: "Isn't yellow beautiful?"
Naomi: "Well, it's the color of the sun, and the sun burns my eyes."

December, 2017
Naomi: "Daddy, get me out of this itch-dress!"

1-25-18
Naomi: "I like it when kisses stay on other people."
Naomi: "Why do snaggles like to have tangly fun?" (When I was brushing her hair)

2-22-18
Naomi: "Mommy, Bella [the purple stuffed bunny] wants everything to be perfect. But don't worry, because I'm perfect."

2-22-18
We celebrated Naomi's half-birthday yesterday. Because nothing else was going on and we happened to be making chocolate muffins. She knows she's now 4 1/2
Today, me: "Here, Naomi, how about these socks?"
Naomi: "Um, Mommy, I feel like those are kind of 4-year-old socks."

2-1-18
Kalina, responding to a "hopes and dreams" paper assignment: "All my dreams are disasters and all my hopes are unlikely!"

6-1-18
Naomi: "If I don't have my fairy wings on, I'm only halfway dressed."


6-25-18
Leaving the library through automatic doors, Kalina pretended to "magically" open the doors with a wave of her hands. "I might be able to make dogs and toddlers believe it," she commented matter-of-factly.

7-7-18
Kalina
"When I go off to college, I'm going to get a chameleon, so I don't have to worry about hiding it. It'll hide itself. I'll have it in a terrarium with fairy statues, like a fairy garden."

7-10-18
Kalina, after emerging from an air-conditioned house into a pleasantly warm evening: "There doesn't seem to be a temperature."

5-1-19
Me, talking about a math assignment: "How did you get that answer?"
Kalina: You know, I just added the way people do when they're supposed to be subtracting.

5-11-19
Naomi, wanting popcorn because Matt and I were having some after her bedtime: "Waaahhh! You and Daddy always have popcorn without me!"
Me: "Naomi, you'll have some soon, now I'm done talking about it"
Naomi: "Waaaahhh!"
Naomi, through her sobs, "Mommy, why did people grow victory gardens?" And then we proceeded to discuss the ins and outs of victory gardens and ration cards.

4-4-20
Naomi, quietly crying during a movie: "When everything turns out well it's always the end, but when everything turns out well is when it ought to keep going!"

4.22.20
Me: "What should we do for Earth Day?"
Kalina: "Put up a bat house!"
Naomi: "But then we might get coronavirus!"

Crafts and Rafts

Named "The Mistake," the girls' raft
actually proved seaworthy! Mostly.

Even as a family of introverts, we have displayed a few differing reactions to our self-isolation. Or, as the trail behind our house becomes as busy as an interstate highway on nice days, "isolation." 

It's been two weeks, and we're no closer to boredom. This would be a good problem to have, except now I'm starting to wonder if boredom exists, if maybe our lives are still too packed with projects and education, and meals that take 45+ minutes to consume [eye roll], or if maybe I'm the problem because I can literally always spot something that somebody needs to clean up whenever they get a minute. What would it take to make us bored, if not this?

Meanwhile, life goes on. About 4 days in to our stay-at-home order, we did have to have a real talk about what isolation means, plus a slightly awkward text conversation with a neighbor. We measured out 6 feet. And on threat of not getting to even be in the same vicinity as friends even when they're literally in our backyard, the girls have actually done an awesome job of complying--except Naomi, but I'm usually out there with her if there are other people around. 

Naomi spent the first 5-7 days of our self-imposed, and now city-imposed, stay-at-home order crafting. She makes so many super-creative crafts with literally no help from me that, before this whole thing came down, I had started a post about that--which I still intend to get to. So I won't expound on her crafting binge right now, except to say that it really did last her the better part of a week, probably at least 5 hours a day, and she's often still at it, when she's not reading picture books to her stuffed bunnies. She continues to be happy as a clam not going anywhere, and meanwhile, our house is fully decorated for Easter, 6-year-old style (lots and lots of bunnies). I do, however, need to order more tape.

Naomi's worm phobia eased temporarily (Matt at one point offered to give her a marshmallow for every 10 worms she spotted), but came back with a vengeance during our 6-foot-away walk with Grandpa on wet trails. Granted, it was a worm-haters worst nightmare: at times we nearly had to tiptoe to avoid stepping on any. She opted to walk in the very soggy grass, instead (because...um...no worms there, right?), crying the whole time and wetting her shoes, socks and leggings halfway up to her knees. Not her best day.

Matt has reacted to our stay-at-home order as though every day of it is his birthday. He made two banana cream pies, one after the other, to celebrate, and has been baking bread, raising seedlings, pushing ahead with the frog-cage project, checking headlines, joining us for lunch and wondering how he can make this last forever. Except for the times he remembers there's a brutal virus freely roaming our planet and mutating at will--then he gets nervous and angry at anyone not taking it seriously. He's also grateful to have a job, except when he needs to go in to it. So, along with probably thousands of medical and food-industry professionals, he's conflicted. 

I have been teaching, cooking, cleaning, enforcing chores and music practice, spending a lot of time outside, deep-cleaning and decluttering in small amounts, managing the emotions of little people, and taking on extra writing work as the parenting expert I work for has her hands full of parents who are completely freaked out about both spending time with their kids and educating them. I've managed a couple baking projects and have been making Matt play Pandemic with me--because, pandemic.  Same old, same old--although I'm grateful to get a couple projects checked off my "to-do-one-of-these-summers" list.

We've also entered the phase of "now everything is online," which meant that one or more of us spent hours last week in various forms of video chatting. We got creative, playing a card game with Aunt Nancy and even hosting Nature Club online, aside from theater class, piano lessons, and more. It's a great option; I'll still take in-person any day (although not driving has been amazing).

Kalina and Elise reacted to isolation and the warming weather by building a raft with a neighbor girl (6 feet away) out of small logs. They lashed the logs together using the paracord they'd been storing in their survival backpacks for a year. Naturally, they wanted to test the raft as soon as the weather was warm, so one sunny afternoon last week we hauled it down to the spot in the stream they'd identified as a workable launching place.

The neighbor girl arrived with two long ropes. Present only to observe and film, I watched them promptly get the raft stuck as they launched it. After they'd problem-solved and wrestled with it for a while, I got it free. In a flurry of excitement, a life-jacketed Elise hauled herself onto the raft, to which they'd tied a long rope to each end so it could be pulled around by the older girls.

And it floated...just barely...under the water with a jubilant Elise perched on top (yet also half under water). Naomi cheered her on. Passersby with nothing better to do stopped to watch as Elise, floating on air every bit as much as on a raft, was pulled from one side of the pool to the other. Kalina declined a ride (and the neighbor girl, who's older than Kalina, decided we needed more logs before she'd try it).

After about 20 minutes or so, the early spring water chilled even Elise's delight, and we called it good, with promises to try again. Immediate hot showers/baths for everyone, and then for the next several days Elise began every sentence with, "We built a raft and I floated on it." 

I asked Kalina if she wanted to tour a Lewis and Clark landing site. Her eyes got wide, she got really excited, and she said, "That'd be so cool! But it's also nice just staying home." 

COVID-19 Self-Isolation Day 1 (or 2, or maybe 3)

I only took this picture
because I wanted to let Matt
know how hard I was trying.
:)

Today was a day of crises. Of pajamas that weren't washed and won't be wearable tonight. Of bumped arms, of people not liking bunnies enough, of brown paper Easter basket crafts that didn't turn out right and now the smooth dark brown paper is mostly used up and there's only "fuzzy" slightly lighter brown paper left. Of worms, scattered across the sidewalk on this damp day, frequent enough that with almost every step you could see one. Oh wait, those were only one small person's major crises (and, by default, mine). But you'd have thought they were the whole world's....

Anyway, I'm counting today as Day 1 of our coronavirus lockdown, even though Elise's musical last Friday was postponed, and we watched church from home. This is the day when it feels real, facing a week of cancellations, cold and rainy weather, and not much hope for things improving anytime soon. Plus the very real worry that people might actually get sick, jobs might get lost, and we might be in this for a long time.

We took a moment to celebrate Pi Day
in the middle of everything. Yes, we
did have some delicious banana cream
pie, in addition to the angel food cake
Kalina and I were already planning to
make. No one is suffering as we self-
isolate.

Thankfully, one thing stays the same in our household: we can still do school!!! While my heart is light that we won't have any major interruptions, and we can in fact buckle down and possibly even be finished with school when the weather is warm again, lockdown is eased, and the worms aren't as plentiful, the girls, who were anticipating a bit of a break this week as we welcomed guests, don't whole-heartedly share my feelings. They've also caught word that most schools are cancelled for the near future and possibly the long, and can hardly believe their bad good luck that they get to continue, even while their peers conquer whole video games and watch movies until they are unable to function without screens.

As an aside, I have to admit I'm delighted that the general public gets to try their hand at homeschooling! Maybe this makes me an evil person, but I'm at least a real person who gets very tired of hearing, "You must be so patient, I could never homeschool my kids." Now everybody gets to do it! And guess what--they totally can. Patience is a skill we all have to build and besides, if we're too patient our kids never get their math done. The fact that they're all now asking my advice on homeschooling schedules and such makes me feel relevant for about the first time in a decade. Thanks, coronavirus!

You can see how important it
is to Naomi that her Easter
baskets are just right.

Matt's always up for stockpiling, and so, several weeks ago I found myself forcing needing a "wide load" sign for my shopping cart as I heaved it up and down the aisles of Wal-Mart, cheeks flushed from both effort and embarrassment as I realized that for the first time since college, I was the crazy person in Wal-Mart. Why, oh why, did I begin with canned goods?!? Don't worry--we didn't buy more than we would use within a couple weeks. We homeschool, stockpile and own a lot of weird pets, but we're not that crazy.

On Thursday, in a rush to buy yogurt (after Elise's recent orthodontia work, this was one of the only things she felt comfortable eating), I brought Kalina to the grocery store with me, hoping to show her the life-altering, drastically reduced shelves I'd seen at Wal-Mart that morning (yes, I had to go to the store twice in one day--super annoying). But they were fine. I consoled myself that this was an expensive grocery store, and I probably saved an easy $100 by stockpiling at Wal-Mart instead.

Better memories than today:
a field trip to this amazing
reptile zoo where they open
all the cages and wake up
the critters! Matt told me
after that this wasn't safe.
But I didn't know at the time,
and look how happy she is!
The second time she held it,
it thrashed its tail, and Kalina
couldn't have been more
delighted.

But back to today. It's always a rude awakening that while I love cracking open the books on a fresh Monday morning, getting ready to check some boxes, the girls don't share my delight. Nowadays, Kalina puts on a good face and tries hard to focus, sometimes managing, and Naomi complies as long as she can turn every number and letter she writes into a bunny. Sunny Elise acts as though her pet has died, her mouth is full of uncomfortable metal that makes it hard to eat with no end in sight, she hasn't been getting quite enough sleep, and she's turned into a sea slug in a polluted ocean, when only three of those things are true. This morning, however, Naomi completely melted down over brown paper while Kalina and Elise helped each other with spelling, amazing children that they are.

Amazingly, it was not the ultra-productive day I'd dreamed about, and we were excited to break it up with a walk, and then quick outing to go pick up some science supplies from our co-op. The girls were hoping others would've brought their kids, and so were super disappointed to find only a group of moms standing at arms'-length from each other, chatting. No one lingered long.

Matt also said (later) that this wasn't
safe.

Back at home, we quietly finished our work before ending with a typical evening, minus music practice because technically we're on spring break from piano. Kalina listened to classical music, Naomi played with bunnies and crafted, and Elise read--plus they all helped Matt with the frog cage they're building.

Elise liked it too, although
even she had her limits and
didn't hold everything.
Naomi touched some
animals!

The girls are starting to get tired of hearing about coronavirus, but aren't super worried--except for Naomi, who's worried someone will cancel Easter. Unfortunately, there's not much else to talk about, so we find ourselves rehashing old memories, which isn't the worst way to spend our time.

And this, also, was not safe.

What's ahead for the next week or two? Movie nights, game nights, some online school with one of our co-ops, flexible cooking/baking with our stockpiled goods and whatever else we pick up, outdoor time whenever we can, and some creative schooling so no one gets burned out. I definitely plan for us to head to outdoor spaces for walks in new surroundings when we can. We'll also run across neighbors, but not run away from them, and we'll need to go to the store at some point. We can certainly use a few quiet weeks, although we may run out of construction paper entirely even before we run out of another type of paper everyone's concerned about....

We saw Swan Lake on
Valentine's Day!

Way back in January, but
worth mentioning: Kalina
and I performed in a multi-
piano performance! Lots of
pianos and pianists played the
same duets all at once. It was
so fun, and she got a trophy!
(Where's mine?!?)

Bucket list: watching
penguins waddle freely!
Dampened only by the fact
that Naomi didn't want to
be outside because she was
so cold. She had a point, but
by the time I figured that out,
it was too late to watch from
inside. Besides...penguins!!

An Odegaard Christmas

Only four weekends between Thanksgiving and Christmas?!? With play performances dominating two of them?!? How would I manage??? Somehow we managed to cram in all the usual festivities. Amazingly, it still felt fun!

We picked out a tree while it was snowing!!! I've Christmas-tree shopped in warm, humid weather (thanks, North Carolina) and in drizzle, but rarely amid actual flakes. We chose a Black Hills spruce to commemorate our Black Hills trip, and it looked perfect the whole season. The ornaments were spread a little more evenly this year than last year (although clumps of Grandma-made ornaments still needed to be dispersed a bit after bedtime), and we added the clay elf ornaments I'd made as a teenager, which wowed the girls. Some had broken, but were fixed easily enough and they're still awesome and should totally be picked up by Hallmark.

The magnets we made, on our work-
surface tablecloth.

You've already read about Elise's performance, which rocketed us into the Christmas spirit. Additionally, we saw a nativity-themed variation on the Nutcracker ballet (and it included Irish dancing! Kalina with a dreamy sigh: "I could watch Irish dancing forever."), helped with a couple service projects, decorated gingerbread houses with neighbors, made Christmas gifts, attended a couple Christmas parties (all in the same 4-day stretch), wrote our Christmas letter and letters to Santa, read all our favorite Christmas books, played in pre-Christmas snow, sang Silent Night in church, did a few crafts, visited Santa, and so much more.

One of our favorite activities was the making of Christmas treats. Since the girls are actually real helpers, and not just preschool "helpers," we powered through five different treats in about 2 1/2 hours one afternoon, to distribute to neighbors. No vacuum required! (But we did have to sweep at least once...). We also made our usual Christmas cutouts, and lots of hot chocolate. All those long afternoons over the previous decade when I committed a full two hours to one batch of chocolate-chip cookies have really paid off, as we operate as a well-oiled, highly motivated machine. 

I was also pleased to see I'd trained the girls in proper merrymaking, such that they recognized the need for nearly constant Christmas music, plenty of decorations, and general Christmas spirit. They are so fun to celebrate with and I'm grateful for my little elves!

Nature Club held its own Christmas party, which also commemorated nearly a year of meetings! We started by making birdseed pinecone ornaments for a tree in the backyard. I'd hoped that the making and distributing of the ornaments would keep the girls out of the stream for this very cold meeting, at least, but no such luck. At least one girl fell in, but at least the rest of them didn't get too muddy. We also enjoyed snacks and a white elephant exchange, which wasn't as hilarious as I've seen in the past, and which ended on a slightly sour note. So...maybe something different next year. 

The day before the day before Christmas, we planned to view Christmas lights with Grandpa. We grabbed an early dinner, and then headed to a large display about 30 minutes away that we knew would have a long line, but would probably be worth it. Thirty minutes into the long line (so, an hour out total), we learned that we might still be in line two hours later. "Naw! We're just not that far away!" Sure enough, it wasn't two hours. A mere hour and a half later we were heading out, having been properly dazzled but mentally making plans to do things differently next year. 

Naomi made shopping easy for us this year by openly declaring, since before Thanksgiving, that she wanted a puppy for Christmas. Of course, she had a real puppy in mind, which wasn't going to happen, but there would be no question that a stuffed puppy (or more) would need to find it's way under the tree. The other girls were a little less definite, but I consider that a positive thing as well. 

The day before Christmas, Elise was up like a rocket because she remembered she had a Daddy date scheduled for a chocolate chip pancake at IHOP. Matt didn't remember, but dutifully hopped out of bed at 7:15 when she gleefully presented herself fully dressed and ready to go in our room.

The cake looks better up close, but this
is the only picture I have!

After breakfast, Christmas Eve was spent in more cooking, baking, cleaning, and sneaking around with Christmas presents (that was the girls, and was cute) than I had originally hoped for, but it was time well spent all the same, as I intended to make Christmas Day as much of a vacation for myself as I possible could (Merry Christmas to me!), and prepped several dishes ahead of time. The girls helped me with cranberries and with our super-complicated yule log cake. The cake was a bit of an adventure, with a dozen or more separate steps and a large portion of the frosting ending up on me. We'd honed our skills, however, with the piles of cookies we'd made, and I got to feel very professional ordering my capable sous chefs to "measure this" or "mix that well." Kalina in particular seemed never to tire of taking random orders from me, and letting me barge in and take over at a moment's notice. Thank goodness. At the end of it all, although covered in frosting and powdered sugar, we had a beautiful log-shaped and textured cake, complete with "toadstools," and a very tired Mommy. The hardest part of all was to put it into the refrigerator for the next day. 

Christmas Eve!

Afterward, I sat down for about 20 minutes before it was time to get ready for church. Virtually everyone griped about having to dress up (which, by the way, in our house basically means wearing slightly nicer play clothes that actually match), we took a couple pictures, and we were on our way, set to arrive with about 5 minutes to spare. That's not usually how I roll on Christmas Eve, but considering the busy day, it was the best we could do. Then we hit Christmas Eve rush-hour traffic passing the megachurch directly between our house and our own church. Matt, heroically out of character, maneuvered the car and outpaced even Google Maps' predictions, to arrive no more than a stanza or two late.

Back at home, we settled in with frozen pizza and a movie. The girls then hastily and sneakily finished wrapping a couple items, set things out for Santa and his reindeer, and went to "sleep." The Santa note, written by Elise: Dear Santa, each reindeer gets 1 (underlined twice) carrot. We sprinkled reindeer food by the smaller lights! Merry Christmas, Love, Elise Naomi Kalina

And the next morning, Elise roused her sisters at 6:45 (despite a late night waiting for Santa--aka calming down enough to sleep). She herself had woken at 5:59, but we'd cautioned her to wait a while so everyone could sleep. Good thing. 

Christmas morning sweeties!

We all stumbled downstairs and saw that Santa had indeed made it to our house! Stockings were stuffed, cookie and carrots were eaten, and there was even still a single dirty, mostly melted pile of snow in the gutter outside our house. A white Christmas!

Naomi and her "puppy
castle," as she calls it.

The girls dove in, and were instantly delighted by small calendars for the new year, plus the rest of their stocking presents. We then turned our attention to hot cocoa and apple French toast casserole before attacking the tree presents. 

Naomi wanted to open the present from Kalina first, mostly because she'd guessed (rightly, somehow) that it was a stuffed dog house. Relieved that there were puppies for her, she could relax and enjoy the rest of the gifts. Including a realistic stuffed tiger Matt found, that brought out Naomi's ultra-adorable "growly" side. She also has been digging into a baby sea turtle Lego set from Elise, some Calico Critters sets from Grandpa, and a puppy washing station from Mommy. Plus, her new flip-sequin puppy dress kind of fit, with the help of a safety pin, which is a huge rarity these days since nothing but fairly form-fitting, all-cotton dresses seem to feel comfy to our highly sensitive girl. And even then we usually require safety pins. It must have been Christmas magic.

Kalina was delighted with her Cat Stax game  from Santa, and still is. It's the little things. Like a dozen tiny cats that fit into a puzzle. She also ended up more excited than she would've predicted about Harry Potter Legos, from Elise and from Grandpa. She was so on the fence about them for so long, and yet so happy with them in front of her. And as she'd been craving Elise's latchook kit for a good month now, she was excited about the one Naomi (and I) found for her of a non-pink owl. But Kalina remained true to her minimalist self--she appreciated her gifts, but more so the people around her. Still, though, we had so much fun building Harry Potter scenes together in the evening, and cooking up toy potions in the tiny cauldron. 

Elise was hoping for a sea animal rescue Lego set, but only since after I'd already purchased all her presents. In fact, this tracked right along with the Rule of Christmas Shopping, which is that anyone who shops early to reduce holiday stress and take advantage of competitive pricing and specific item availability will live to regret it as their kids shift their interests one week before Christmas, when pretty much all items are wrapped and under the tree (or at least hiding in a closet).

Merry Christmas with
Grandpa!

Thankfully, Grandpa is a late shopper, and the Lego set was actually still available. Elise dropped not-so-subtle hints throughout the week leading up until Christmas, and I hinted right back that, "Wow, we'll have like three Christmases!" in hopes that she wouldn't get discouraged if she received oh, say, a super-cool aquaponics system for her pet betta fish as her big gift Christmas morning instead of the Lego set. True to the highly mature and super-considerate person Elise is when she's at her best, which is honestly most of the time, we witnessed only joy from Elise Christmas morning, despite the lack of Lego set. After all, she loved her climbing rope from Kalina, gumball machine from Naomi, mermaid book set, fire starter, and outfit, in addition to the betta tank (even more so after we told her that once green things started growing, she could graze to her heart's content). In fact, we nearly lost her once she opened her mermaid books, which as she described them to us, were pretty much all cliffhanger. But also true to Elise's extreme enthusiasm, the moments she saw Kalina receive a nice Lego set from Grandpa (we could literally see the hope spread across her face), and then opened one herself, were also pretty special. 

Elise's new home for her
betta fish, which also will
allow her to nibble sprouts.

Everything was exciting, but possibly the most so, to two of the kids at least, was the new zipline! Christmas weather cooperated for the three total outdoor toys we received (Naomi unwrapped a new scooter so she could finally say goodbye to our decrepit garage-sale toddler scooter that had been run over by the van), and the kids dashed outside shortly after the last wrapping was removed. Matt had the zipline and climbing rope up in no time. Naomi refused to try it, but was delighted to pull the seat back up the line every time her big sisters had finished a run. To each her own.

Christmas dinner was amazing. And the rest of Christmas was lovely, too--especially the yule log cake, which felt fancy and festive and tasted as good as it looked. The kids were equal to cereal for supper, and we all lounged around with Legos (and a mermaid book) to our hearts' content. Merry Christmas, everyone!

Cousins and jammies!

The snow people and giraffe! Or is it
a llama?

Traveling to Minnesota two days later to see extended family has become a perfect way to spend the rest of Christmas week. In fact, the trip usually tops "presents!" as the most exciting thing about Christmas, especially since the addition of cousins to the mix. When we pulled up, beautiful, fluffy snow welcomed us, but the next day, our usual snow play was in the process of getting rained out. With more rain in the forecast, however, we decided to head out anyway. What the snow was great for: packing! Finally, we could pack it to our hearts' content, making giant snowballs. What was not so great: All our winter gear soaked through. Grandma's dryer ran overtime over the weekend, even on Monday when the rain finally turned to actual fluffy snow, for a perfect ending to our trip.

Add caption

We also managed to see extended family, and enjoy shooting off a few rockets in Matt's aunt's yard. And of course, we had our own Christmas, with plenty more fun presents (including another book that captivated Elise, who's spent the last week telling us all about famous women in history), and amazing gingerbread men. And there was lots of cousin time!

On our way home, we again stopped at our friends' house in Iowa to spend New Year's Eve. This year, the resident 10-year-old (Elise's counterpart) convinced her parents to let all the older kids stay awake--which meant Matt and I had to as well! The youngers, who are also two peas in a pod, didn't mind in the least being sent to bed at 9, while the rest of us passed the time rather quickly with lots of fun games. By 11:15 we were all pretty tired, but made it until about 12:05 before turning in, popping our poppers even at the risk of waking up our 6- and 7-year-olds. The prizes in our poppers were much better this year, with the exception of the corkscrew and golf tees which for some reason the youngest girls received. 

Happy new year!

The Play

My little thug-angel!

After several years of arguing with Elise about practicing piano (and doing her math, and cleaning the bathroom, and not chewing her fingernails, and all the rest), she finally wore us out. After all, her "just take lessons for a couple years" had expired, and even though we knew we'd all regret it later, Elise's 20 minutes of practice were ruining our day and we all needed a break. We encouraged her to find another activity.

Predictably (because, Elise), she tried theater, an activity we'd had her pegged for ever since year 1 of Elise. She wanted to try purely acting, though--not musical theater, as she reminded us over and over. We found a class and signed her up. Possibly out of sheer relief of being free of piano practice, she thoroughly enjoyed the first class, and especially the antics of her fellow theater-class students. She was given a quite minor part in the class performance piece--scenes from Alice in Wonderland--but nevertheless was content.

Then auditions were announced for The Best Christmas Pageant Ever--a book we'd thoroughly enjoyed reading together last year. Elise, at first excited and then unsure, was fairly easily nudged into auditioning after I saw that it'd be relatively low-key, with minimal rehearsals. But she ONLY wanted to be an angel or maybe a shepherd.

To audition, however, she'd have to read from one of the main character's parts. We practiced several, and that's when she first started to get excited about the part of Gladys Herdman, the youngest terror of the Herdman family.

As did I. Not sure quite what to expect, I nevertheless got my hopes up as it seemed she may earn the part by default: many other kids were involved in the mainstage musical productions of this particular arts school, and most of our October-December weekends were still free-ish. Plus, with no microphones in a loud theater, Elise would have the natural advantage of a voice that, um, carries, to put it nicely (and has since day 1). Not to mention the fact that she was pretty much born for the role. Loud, feisty, physical, and hilarious, Gladys Herdman was the optimal role for a girl who'd finally argued us out of piano lessons, and yet could keep us smiling. I considered writing the director, also Elise's acting teacher, the following note:

Elise's backstage area.

Dear director,
Do yourself a favor and cast Elise as Gladys Herdman. You'll never have to tell her to speak up, she'll (usually) behave herself and yet retain her spunk, she won't break down and cry at your constructive feedback, she'll be all-in, she can stay up really late and be totally fine, she works well with others, and she's super fun. And she'll totally pull it off. She'll probably be the most reliable Gladys you'll ever have. Just trust me. Plus, she really, really, wants it (and so do I).
You're welcome,
Elise's mom

And she was called back! In her second round of auditions, Elise competed with three other Gladys-potentials, following which she self-assessed that she was the loudest and also the one doing the most actual acting. She also noted that the director showed open-mouthed surprise at her explosive actions (or something). Then came the wait, and the frequent refreshings of the website to see if maybe the cast list had been posted in the last 30 seconds. Not that 30 seconds? How about the next? We both really, really wanted that part for her. And for the greater good.

Of course, it could be, as the cast list said, that casting decisions had to consider age, appearance, and all the rest. I rationalized that if the director was smart, she'd begin with Elise and form the rest of the cast around her.

The list was posted just after bedtime a couple days later, but naturally I called Elise down to look with me. And soon, joyous shrieks filled my ears as she began practicing volume control (or lack thereof) for her new role. She alerted her sisters and called Grandpa, and fortunately, a few minutes into the conversation, he began to piece together what she was getting at.

Can you see the delight on
her face?

I could tell she was truly excited when she skipped part of our AHG camping trip to attend the first rehearsal, even though she'd initially been excused for it. Looking at her lines (there were 20, I counted), her role looked relatively minor, but her character certainly wasn't. By the end, Elise was stealing the show. But a lot had to happen before then....

First, she had to tell everyone the news about her role. And memorize her lines--which happened nearly instantaneously due to Elise's Extreme Enthusiasm (EEE--also an onomatopoeia  for the sound she often emits in this state), previously reserved for, roughly in order of appearance: My Little Ponies, clownfish/seahorses, dinosaurs, bears, finger-knitting, roller skates, writing, reading, mermaids, and nature/survivalism. She had to perfect her Gladys "look:" fist clenched against an open palm, eyes glaring, nose a little scrunched. Occasionally (okay, all the time, if you ask me), Elise crossed the line into "cute" territory, but no one really minded.

Her favorite lines: "Shazam! Out of the black night, with horrible vengeance, the Mighty Marvo..." and "Unto YOU a child is born!" Thanks to hours of diligent practice on those two lines, even Naomi knows them now, too! And all of Elise's inflections! She was also required to learn several Christmas carols, which we all happily helped her with.

And naturally, she had to do the work of attending rehearsals. She was glad to see that she was able to make friends with the other Gladys would-be's. She'd worried that they'd be mad at her, but fortunately they were very gracious (and made excellent angels) and the girls are all now good friends. All the kids were super nice, and Elise's "big sister" in the play took her under her wing and helped make sure she had everything she needed, and also had a good time. Five rehearsals took place before tech week, for a total of nine. She enjoyed them and barely missed the beautiful fall afternoons she was spending inside, in stark contrast to her previous obsession (nature).

At the last rehearsal, they were still finalizing costumes, props, etc.--but the kids (and adults) felt mostly ready. Mostly. Elise said she'd look for us in the audience as she performed her opening pose, along with her "brothers" and "sister." I shared my astonishment at how she could possibly look at us without smiling or laughing...but during every performance I attended, sure enough, I saw her eyes roaming the room and resting on me. And the glaring look she was supposed to be holding never wavered.

Seeing as there were nine performances, I tried to scatter around our family's attendance so that Elise would usually be able to find someone in the audience. Several friends attended as well, which filled at least one gap. Plus, about 10 seconds into the first show I realized that despite all my pre-Christmas errands, plus the eyebrow-raising cost of a ticket, I would need to see this show more than the three times I'd allotted myself. This was going to be a big deal.

And it was! The cast evolved with each performance, and by the last night, were hamming it up so much that the audience roared. Their final two performances ended in standing ovations, and more than one of us parents were a little teary-eyed at the thought of the production being over.

Elise, for her part, played her 20 lines so well--along with some well-timed facial expressions--that she claimed some of the very loudest laughs of the play. And completely unbiased, she totally stole the show. Her role was full of comedic value, from chasing the shepherds, who were all scared of her, to the barn to see baby Jesus, to wearing her Mighty Marvo cape and mask to the "dress rehearsal." Fun fact: Elise also had to run through the mall more than once in this cape and mask, which she found hilariously embarrassing, because if you exit in the wrong spot, the only way to get back to where you belong is by using a mall hallway. (The theater is in a mall.) People kept telling me how amazing she was at her role, and her director echoed this in her own unbiased way ("Elise was really great!"), with deep verity and gratitude in her eyes as though she'd actually received the note I didn't write, had considered it, had followed its advice, and was deeply appreciative of the gift she--and the entire show--had received. Darn right.

One of Elise's favorite parts of the show was getting dirty: brown makeup was smeared on her face to look like dirt and/or chocolate, and she was required to sport a Kool-Aid mouth throughout. This meant, well, drinking Kool-Aid. Apparently this took some trial and error, however, and many candies were licked, smeared, and evaluated. Some were too sticky, and others didn't produce the right color (or no color at all). Finally, Elise discovered that if she soaked her lip in Kool-Aid rather than simply chugging it, she came out with a nicely pink upper lip. This usually lasted for a day or so, even after trying to wipe it off. She was delighted. Her angel costume was also appropriately stained with Kool-Aid. Less cool: I believe they used the same pitcher of Kool-Aid through two weekends of shows, a fact I only found out right before the last performance. "Don't drink it!!!" I cautioned, and she agreed not to (but really?!?). She also got to chew gum and blow bubbles on stage--which, to Elise, is the epitome of a great role.

Another favorite was play-fighting with her "siblings," most of whom were boys. Not having grown up with boys, from early on my girls have had the belief that you can just walk up and hit them and they won't mind. I've (mostly) trained this out of them, but in the show, simply by following the general script, she re-developed this habit. Which she also enjoyed--and I think no one minded, because they were able to give it back, purely in a stage-fighting sense, and it was all in character.

Final night, next to her bio!

Dutiful to the end, Elise smiled as they sang their final carol, not because she was facing the audience, but because she wanted to remind those facing the audience to smile. She also wanted to tattle on her Herdman brother who took a cookie from a display, even after being told not to. I coached her out of tattling, even while empathizing with her disgust at rule-breaking, and she later had the satisfaction of being within earshot as someone else tattled on him.

After the show, Elise and her friends bounded around like puppies on caffeine, occasionally helping and usually not getting into anyone's way too much. We all went out for pizza after, during which Elise and her friends spilled three glasses of water and planned a playdate.

She's excited to audition for the next show, even though it's a musical, and we're all excited to see where this new pursuit carries Elise. It's been super fun to be along for the ride, and we're beyond proud of Elise as she took on a challenge, developed a new skill, and cheerfully gave it her all the whole way through.

But the best part? She never once battled us about practicing!