A few acutal quotes originating from me (a.k.a. life with boys):
"Boys, do not lick the piano."
"Stop that! We are not in the middle ages."
"Please quit eating my sweater." Okay, so I said that to our parrot and not my boys. It is still weird!
Way back in October, some friends from New Zealand asked the kidlets to host their Flat Traveler, Caroline. I'm embarrassed to say that we STILL have her and life is finally settling down enough to show her around this town of ours.
Last weekend it was wonderfully warm so we treated Flat Caroline to a trip to Indiana so she could see our pretty skyline. She enjoyed watching the Ohio River and hunting for fossils.
The big bat is in front of the Louisville Slugger factory/museum on Main street. Flat Caroline said she felt smaller than usual next to that big ol' thing!
She also stopped by the Fraiser Historical Museum and ran into a medieval warrior. She was a bit unnerved but we assured her that he was friendly.
I'm starting to craft new Christmas traditions for our changing family. I decided to invite over some of the kidlet's friends for a cookie making party. I know, not real original, but 5 seven year olds and a bucket of flour makes cookies a very WILD affair.
The two girls in the picture are twins who live nearby. I'm so thankful that their family found a way into my life.
The twins and my kidlets are only 6 weeks apart in age, so it is always fun when they get together. In fact, their first play date was when the girls were about 8 weeks old.
Their mother has helped me through the years to think things through and see the blessings of my daily life.
This picture is from one of their playdates when they were babies. I think they are about 9 months old in this picture. Thankfully their playdates now don't have quite as much drool involved!
GooseyGirl's Flat Stanley was treated to the adventure of a lifetime on his trip to Australia. He enjoyed meeting a bunch of native animals.
It makes me giggle every time I look at these pictures and imagine all the other tourists looking at my friend Bert, holding a paper doll everywhere she went. I wonder what they thought of the crazy American with her pretend friend!
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GooseyGirl's Flat Stanley just returned from an amazing tour of Australia wearing a new swimming suit! Apparently just after this picture was taken, he was swept into the Indian Ocean. 
His host family bravely fished him out and dried him off. He will be forever grateful.
Rumors are floating that he got to pet a kangaroo and a koala! Pictures will follow soon.
For now, here he is enjoying a baby shower. He's a real renaissance man, eh?
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Happy Thanksgiving!
Here are some photos from our celebration at Grammy and PopPop's house.
GooseyGirl dressed up like Pocahontas' long lost wacky cousin.
BirdMan called dibs on the turkey leg and ate it King Henry VIII style.
And, RocketMan.... well.... I think the picture speaks for itself.
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Our family is enduring the transition of divorce right now. Some of my quilting friends decided to wrap my children and I up in love through a comfort quilt. My friend Jennie delivered it on Friday.
Women from all over the country and Canada made blocks with prayers and love stitched in each seam. They wrote encouragement and thoughts on each one as well. It was pieced by an amazing quilter in Canada and quilted by an award winning quilter in Kentucky.
The children were also given pilowcases with their names embroidered on them. Since they share most everything, they were thrilled to get a gift that is so personalized.
What treasure these wonderful friends have given us!
GooseyGirl has enjoyed our history lesson this week about Clovis. They learned about his importance in uniting the Kingdom of the Franks. We talked about how when everyone is the same religion, they tend to not fight as much. Here's her drawing of the Pope excited about all the new Catholics joining the church through Clovis's efforts.
The narration attached to the drawing reads, "Clovis united the Franks, Burgundians, Allemani and the Romans. Clovis made everyone Christians. He made Paris the capital. He made one law for everyone to follow."
We also talked about the patron saint of Paris, St. Genevieve. GooseyGirl promptly informed us that Madeline's dog was named Genevieve! 
Then she squealed that the Catholics must have really liked the Greeks. I didn't see the connection so I asked her to explain a bit. She told me that the Greeks had different gods to protect their cities, people, animals, etc. The Catholics have different saints that watch over things, people and animals too, except saints are mortal and Greek gods are immortal. I was impressed by her connection- she's 7 after all!
I love it when they teach me and I can see through their eyes for a moment.
RocketMan's Flat Stanely traveled all the way to Tokyo to hang out with Auntie Juliet and Uncle Ole. Take a look at his adventures with octopus tentacles and Richard Gere!
http://www.krarupdk.com/FlatStanley.html
Right now, the kidlets are focusing their history lessons on the early inhabitants of Australia, the Aborigines, and New Zealand, the Maori.
New Zealand was one of the last places on earth settled by humans. The Maori settled in New Zealand during the Middle Ages. What makes this history lesson even more fun is that we are hosting Flat Caroline this month who has traveled all the way from Christchurch, New Zealand to live with us for a bit! Talk about
making their lessons come alive. They are having fun learning about the topography and origins of Flat Caroline's country.
New Zealand's Maori warriors are well known for painting their faces and bodies to frighten enemies. The kids thought the internet pictures of Maori warriors were impressive and decided to try it themselves. Don't they look fierce?
Next up in history, they will be studying the Kingdom of the Franks. Look out Clovis, here they come!
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The kidlets came home with a bounty of candy goodies. RocketMan was a vampire, GooseyGirl was a cowgirl, BirdMan was Apollo, the Greek God, and Apollo the bird was...um.... a witch.
The kidlets carved pumpkins over the weekend with their dad. Birdman thought pumpkin guts were pretty yucky!
We have a new little flat friend visiting us all the way from New Zealand! Her name is Flat Caroline and she was glad she had her plastic coat on to protect her from all the gooeyness.
Flat Caroline is now a Halloween pumpkin carving expert. We wish there was a way to mail off one of the pumpkins to Flat Caroline's Kiwi family!
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Mr. Kitty, Kiwi and Cooker wanted to go shopping.
Guess what my first clue was.
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'Tis the time of year to make large leaf piles and leap, leap, leap.
They were moving way to fast for my camera to keep up with them!
Recently Goosey-Girl attended her first slumber party. It was for a set of 8 year old triplets and was a girls only affair. There were 17 second grade girls in attendance and she had a ball.
A few nights ago she said, "Mommy, did you know that when 17 girls get together they start acting a lot like boys?"
Her insight gave me a giggle.
Then she said, "Do you think that if you got 17 boys together, they'd start acting like girls?"
Hmmmmmm......
"Never underestimate the power of denial". - American Beauty
"Denial is based in lies we tell ourselves. Through these lies we distort reality as we perceive it, we redefine the meaning of what we do, and we adjust what we consider to be right and wrong, in an escalating fashion. Ultimately, any act, no matter how hideous, can be carried out once we have developed the necessary level of denial."- Blain Nelson's Abuse Page
Denial is a protective mechanism. If you aren't willing to face what you've done, it is your friend.
Denial allows you to hold onto your well constructed self image and deflect your character flaws as the unfounded imagination of others. Denial gives you the excuse you need to continue hurting the people you are supposed to love, honor and cherish. Denial blinds you to the deep wounds you've caused.
Denial can also destroy.
It destroys trust and truth. It provides a way to excuse your own behavior and opens a cavern of ill feelings from those you have wronged.
Until you are courageous enough to embrace who you are and what you've done. You can never, never change. Until you can change, the family you claim to love can't heal and can't trust you.
October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month
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"...imagine for a moment you're in the sole care of an eight hundred pound giant who insists you do things that you don't like and don't understand, and who smacks you with a fifty pound hand or huge board when you don't do as you're told or when you cry or complain... It is easy to lose the perspective that we [adults] are all powerful giants to the children around us.
Violence against children, like violence against adults, is initially unthinkable. The first time a person allows himself to lose control, there may be immediate horror, remorse, and promises that it will never happen again. Yet that first violation of the inhibition has made the act "thinkable" and therefore likely to occur again. Eventually it may begin to seem normal."
-Getting Free by Ginny NiCarthy, MSW
Violence is a behavior that does any of the following:
* Physically hurts or frightens you, or uses contact with your body to control or intimidate you
* Takes away your freedom of movement
* Causes you to believe that you will be physically harmed.
-Not to People Like Us: Hidden Abuse in Upscale Marriages by Susan Weitzman
"If a partner has been abusive one time, it is likely that he or she will do harm again in the future. Every person deserves to live free of violence and fear. Therefore, a victim should not be blamed for domestic violence. Regardless of the situation, the abuser is responsible for abuse."
-HealthTalk Oct. 2006
How many episodes of violence in a home is too many? One? Three? Six? Twenty? How long will you believe the promises of "It won't happen again", "I'll change", "This isn't the parent I want to be", "I'm sorry I hurt you, Honey"?
When will you drawn the line and take action to finally prevent it from happening again? How many times will you redraw that same line in a desperate need to believe the angry storms will end? Don't think you wouldn't do that- because you will.
Will you be courageous enough to take action? Do you understand that everyone around you will start to judge you for the actions you take to stand up to the violence?
You see, they've never seen the outbursts. They've only known the public image you've worked so hard to portray.
The injuries from a sexual assault don't leave overt signs of trauma. And the kids have never needed medical treatment after being the target of rage, right? Are you prepared for everyone to rate the level of abuse in your home on some imaginary scale. As if only the most egregious abusive episodes count?
Will you also qualify the physical outbursts? Will you downplay them because they only happen once every few months? Will you find it easier to push them to the back of your mind since there are no broken bones or physical marks, just a despondent child who no longer trusts their own safety and self worth? Will you try with all your might not to let yourself acknowledge the fear you feel when you are in his presence, to the point where you become physically ill from withholding the stress you feel?
When will you decide that protecting or enabling an abuser is as morally repugnant as the abuse itself? How many times will it take until you take action?
For me... it was around 6. I never thought it would take that many. But it did.
October is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
"A home should be a place of stability, comfort, and love. Domestic violence shatters this important foundation."
-President George W. Bush
BirdMan's Flat Stanley returned home yesterday from his adventures in St. Louis. He arrived with his own St. Louis Cardinal t-shirt and one for each of the kids. They were very excited!
While in St. Louis Flat Stanley got to visit the Butterfly House and enjoy some beautiful sculptures and flowers.
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On the way home from Grandma's last night the following conversation was overheard from the backseat.
ROCKETMAN: Hey, we didn't have dessert!
GOOSEYGIRL: Sure we did!
ROCKETMAN: Are you sure? I don't remember having dessert.
GOOSEYGIRL: Yeah, we had brownies. Burp and you'll taste them.
GOOSEYGIRL LETS OUT A HUGE TRUCKER BURP.
GOOSEYGIRL: See! Brownies! Yum!
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Recently my good friend, Juliet, went to Hawaii with her husband, Ole. They were on an extended layover as they journeyed to their new home in Japan.
They sent back a care package to the kidlets that included a grass skirt, bikini top and hair flowers. GooseyGirl thought the outfit was dazzling and the boys decided to get into the act by putting on some of her dresses. They could hardly stand themselves!
I firmly believe laughter soothes the soul and my kidlets got plenty of soothing this day!
In addition, Juliet sent some edible goodies that are common in Japan. Apparently, instead of pretzels, you can go to the vending machine and pick up something yummy like fish snacks.
Basically it is crispy sugary small dried fish fillets.
Now don't all bombard me with requests to send you some! RocketMan has discovered that he REALLY likes them.
In fact, and I never thought these words would come out of my mouth, I had to say to him, "That's enough fish snacks for now. No more until after dinner."
Yep, and the dog liked them too.
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RocketMan's Flat Stanley in Chicago got to meet Mayor Daley!!! Isn't that incredible? He has been on some grand adventures with his Windy City host family. I think we all want to put in for adoption with this group- they know how to have fun!
Plus, Stanley got some exercise while attending gymnastics class. He found the balance beam to be his best event. He thought the trampoline was a thrill as well.
Mr. and Mrs. Butchko came over and held an impromptu cooking class recently. Now GooseyGirl knows all about sauteing, simmering and can make a killer salad.
She has also taken up BirdMan's habit of raiding the garbage for cereal boxes. Here is the chariot she made for her Groovey Girls that is being used for many, many expeditions around the house.
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GooseyGirl's Flat Stanley is visiting the cutest little peach of a girl in Toronto right now. She made him a welcome sign and a bunk bed for him to catch some zzzz's. It was a long trip after all!
BirdMan's Stanley is in St. Louis right now and got to go to a fancy wedding! No word on whether he got to kiss the bride. He also got to visit a museum with his host family.
The kid's Flat Stanley's are incredibly busy right now. We are getting postcards, letter, emails and photos of his adventures. The kids are learning so much about our country and are using mapping skills to track his travels.
GooseyGirl got some photos from her Oklahoma City Flat Stanley.
He is near an Air Force base and has spent time looking at the amazing planes. He even got to meet a pilot!
GooseyGirl was a bit worried that Flat Stanley might encounter a tornado while in Oklahoma but his host family has assured GooseyGirl that they know just what to do to keep Stanley safe.
Flat Stanley has gone hunting for rose rocks. Rumor has it that Flat Stanley might come home with one so that he can show GooseyGirl what they look like.
Flat Stanley is also having fun just hanging out playing video games and riding bikes. Oklahoma looks like a great place to play.
RocketMan's Chicago Stanley visited downtown and was very busy. RocketMan was especially excited when he learned that Stanley got to visit the Sears Tower. RocketMan really loves things that are the tallest, biggest, fastest, etc.
Stanley also went to a Celtic Festival and listened to bagpipers play Irish music. The kids have been studying the Celts during history. Knowing that Stanley got to do this was exciting.
Did you
know that the Celts were known to have fought battles naked with their entire bodies painted blue. They'd put gunk in their hair and stick it out in spikes, too. No wonder they'd strike fear in their enemies on the battlefield, they must have looked WILD!
Flat Stanley was worn out after his visit to downtown Chicago but he got a well
deserved nap on the train back to his host family's home.
RocketMan's Stanley from Red Wing returned this week. He had a wonderful time with a great family. He even came home with his own left handed guitar! We will post more about his adventurous in a couple of days.
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