A RealFamilies RealFun Blog

Apr 7 2009

Nerd invasion

Category: Come and Get It

Believe it or not, the kids still have a large cache of Halloween candy left. After all, 12 quarts of candy (I've been storing it in a large stock pot) takes a long time to eat.

Since I was getting tired of the pot sitting on top of the refrigerator, I decided to take it down and let the kids have a go at it. "Eat what you want and as much as you want," I told Nathan and Lucie. "Let's get rid of this candy before Santa shows up!"

A few hours later, the living room was covered in candy wrappers and the kids had crashed on the couch, barely able to move and a little green around the gills. Mission accomplished, I thought, until I discovered that I was ankle-deep in Nerds.

If you're not familiar with Nerds, they're little pebble-shaped candies. It seems like hundreds (OK, maybe dozens) of Nerds come in each little box. Well, Lucie must have had a great time pouring them into her teapot and teacups, because they were all over the first floor of our house.

I got out the vacuum cleaner and zoomed through the living room, the dining room and the kitchen, sucking up as many Nerds I could locate. Days later I'm still finding them -- in the hall, on the coffee table, and in the couch cushions.

I think I'll be sneaking downstairs and removing the rest of the Nerds from the candy pot before they multiply and take over the rest of the house.

 

Apr 3 2009

Berry patch antics

Category: Come and Get It

We have two large berry patches -- raspberries and blackberries -- in our yard. Fortunately we don't live in the mountains, or we'd have every bear in the neighborhood harvesting our berries.

But there's another critter that's always eating our berries. We call her The Berry Snatcher. She's pretty smart because she waits for Paul or Nana to pick the berries first. Grabbing handfuls of berries out of a bowl is much easier than picking them one by one. This way she avoids the bushes' prickly branches, too.

You can identify her by her stained face and hands. She runs around the yard growling, "I'm the berry snatcher! You can't catch me!"

I'd be tempted to call animal control, but I've found a better solution. I approach the feral being quickly and quietly with a wet washcloth. Wiping her mouth, I gently wrangle her inside for dinner.

Why, could that berry snatcher be my sweet little Lucie? Who knew? Just leave some berries for Mama Berry Snatcher. I like mine with cottage cheese or yogurt.

 

Apr 2 2009

The camping trip

Category: Family Fun

I'm happy to report that Paul managed not to lose Nathan on their overnight camping trip in the national forest. My biggest fear was that they'd come across a bear or mountain lion. Even at six, Nathan is potential prey when he's separated from adults.

As I predicted -- and only to myself -- they had a bear encounter at their campground. Nathan did what he was told and stayed by his dad. Still it made Paul nervous and he got very little sleep that night. But he did get some good pictures of the bear.

I'm also proud of Nathan because he finally decided to leave Bunny at home. This must have been hard because he tried to persuade his father all week that Bunny could come along as a pillow. I think this is one of the few nights he didn't have Bunny to sleep with. Luckily, Bunny took it well, too. Just in case, I had him sleep with Lucie. If you've ever read the Velveteen Rabbit you'd know that stuffed toy animals have feelings, too.

I'm so glad to see Paul and Nathan start this tradition, and if Lucie wants to join them when she gets older that's fine (if she's invited). I like being home by myself. But if she wants to stay home with me, that's terrific, too. There's nothing better than some mother-daughter bonding over chick flicks.