Simplifying the Holidays

Okay, Yule is my favorite time of year. And I tend to go overboard. Last year I went WAAAY overboard.

This year, we're simplifying. I have informed Father Yul (aka Santa Claus) that he may only bring Luthien one present for under the tree this year, and this is not to be a large one. She is only getting one gift from me, too. The tomtens will no doubt be up to their usual thing, but I'm considering getting us smaller stockings, too.

David is getting pants. He really, really needs pants.

The things kids notice

Me: Yule's not all that far away, you know.
Luthien: I know, it's at the store.

Proof that my MIL doesn't read this blog

Luthienisms

Pajammies = pajamas

"I hear patter feets" = I hear the pitter-patter of little feet

crackaroni and cheese = macaroni and cheese

candy game = candyland

pohpol = purple

lellow = yellow

"It's my favorite." = she wants it right now.

"juice couch" = juice pouch

"princel" = pretzel

pullum = poem

Luthien's vocabularly is developing by leaps and bounds. As detailed above, pronunciation is still a bit of a challenge sometimes, though.

I suspect by the end of summer we're going to be slipping into a routine justifiably resembling homeschooling. As it is, we have a daily story time and together with Maggie, the girl I watch during the day, she's started memorizing little poems. The first three we did, she just listened, but with this latest she's repeating them right along with Maggie. Being around Maggie, who is just 7 months older, has been really good for her in a lot of ways. Maggie encourages more creative play in her, and is a great model for speech most of the time. Mind you, Maggie is also not a little angel, and prior to being in my care was in a prek program where she was the youngest kid and she picked up some bad behavioral habits. "When she was good, she was very, very good; and when she was bad, she was horrid." She's modeled some of those for Luthien as well, but she still mostly does them in imitation, not on her own. Mostly.

But, just like a certain niece of mine at that age, she responds pretty well to firm boundaries when paired with a gentle attitude. And she's learning that I'm not the Queen of Second Chances her mother is. I'm the Countess of Consequences. Luthien has either been quicker to learn this than Maggie, or the lack of another style in her care has speeded up her learning it, or she's just not as stubborn as Maggie. Maggie can be stubborn and bossy, but Luthien tends to either ignore her or stand her ground, so it's all good. I wish she had siblings, she's much happier when she has someone else to play with.

TOO MANY BUNNIES

The current bunny count is 3. Why must certain grandparents send a stuffed bunny every easter. If each that's done this did it every easter, Lu would have like 20 stuffed bunnies by age 10. It's ridiculous.

The bunnies are officially seasonal. They will go into hibernation on May 1, and remain there until next spring!

Luthien Dancing at Estrella

This is my first attempt at showing a video. Hope it works!

MORE Estrella War Pics!

My friend Tiffany, her husband Matt, and their boys, Aidan, Asher, Ephraim, and Isaiah day tripped to Estrella on Friday. We toured some of the demo stuff with them, then they broke away from their homeschool group to hang out with us.

The boys all wore the tabards I made them. Totally cute.

Here's the falconer.

Here's one of the many processions that marched through the site.

Here's a picture someone else took of the falconer that's better than mine.

Likewise not my pics of the blacksmith, but we did see him in person. When we were there, he was making a trivet.

This was my picture, he's a boyer. Pretty cool. He makes a variety of styles, including Mongolian, some Native American styles, and European period styles.
Here is Ephraim at the bowyer's. They really enjoyed watching him work and wanted to see what all his tools were for.

We fed them in the Brymstonne encampment because the food court didn't have much of anything to make a meal of for their veg family w/ a kid with soy and dairy allergies.

They watched the battle with us, and we went to the children's center. Isaiah in particular was quite taken with the whole thing, and wants to come back and camp next year. Tiffany still thinks it's all a bit crazy/wierd, but maybe I'll have a helper along next year for a few days (and maybe Tiffany will babysit Luthien for a few days in return? Hmmm.)

Long overdue Estrella XXIII Pictures

We shall begin, of course, with the College of Brymstonne camp:

First, a pic of us sitting around chatting in the adult lounge. This was the only time the whole event any kids were hanging out there, at least in my presence.










And here we have Richyrd with his lovely henna'd hands, being spoon fed by Kat, our Kitchen Goddess for this war.











Then, of course, there was the children's lounge. Here are Luthien and Alexander playing:










And you can't have pictures of CoB's camp without the ovens!









Here's the kitchen... And Lady Catherine. Oh, and Brendan, who was lurking but not camping with us. :)

The silver lining to stupid attitudes about nursing

So we got on the bus yesterday. There was this older man there, we sat down across from him. He was nice, complimented Luthien, but also a bit annoying, kept saying "God loves you." to her. Even after he asked us if we had a church home, and I explained that we weren't Christians. He chuckled and said "yet" and went on with the "God loves you." stuff a few more times. Friendly, well-meaning, but annoying.

He was interrupted by a phone call, and while he was on the phone Luthien asked to nurse. So we did.

As soon as he was off the phone, he up and moved to the back of the bus.

Score one for the Heathen Mama. NIP scared away the prostelyzing old coot.