Jim here with a rare entry. It’s feast or famine on this blog – either updates are pouring out or we go over a week in wait.  In Heidi’s defense,  Ruth has been smarting with a nasty chest cold/fever which makes being a mom a full time job with long overtime hours. So, someone has to update this thing.

We spent the weekend largely indoors due to poor health and the rainy weather.  This was doubly difficult for Peter and Jeremy, who after playing hockey on the Playstation Saturday night were awarded real life penalties.

You see, Jeremy and I beat Peter and Derek in a close overtime victory, which prompted Jeremy to begin taunting Peter and Derek.  In reality, Jeremy didn’t have much to do with the victory, as he doesn’t really know how to play the game, but this didn’t stop him from sticking his tongue out and egging on his two older brothers.  Peter, not one to take flak well from his 4-year old brother, returned the taunt with greater volume and emphasis.  Jeremy, without hesitation, gave Peter a strong right hook followed up with left jab.  The ref (me) immediately intervened and awarded the infraction – Peter: one day of no electronics for unsportsmanlike conduct, and Jeremy: one day of no electronics for slashing.  Shock ensued, followed with tears for what seemed as if life imprisonment was just awarded.

So the next day we had to get creative with our analog day. What better way to spend a day inside than to erect a six person tent in your family room?

Notice the smiles? (and least from 3 out of 4, Ruthie’s still recovering).  They played everything from camping (Molly was the grizzly bear) to holding class in a three-room schoolhouse, equipped with a Principal’s office (Jake’s office, of course). Somehow, to their amazement, Peter and Jeremy made it through the day without electronics.

On March 19th, we experienced a “Super Moon”, at least that’s what NASA called it.

The last full Moon prior to this last one so big and close to Earth occurred in March of 1993.  Given that we live in a part of the country that’s almost continually covered with clouds, we missed it.  I was, however, able to stick a point-and-shoot camera into a telescope and take the following picture the day before, on March 18th:

Beautiful.

Ruthie enjoys being my little apprentice in the kitchen.

Here she is stirring flour and water.

So fun!

We celebrated with birthday pancakes this morning!

Special day for a special kid.

What do you think of when you see that the temperature outside is 50 degrees? Depending on your current climate, it could either signal the need for coat, hat, gloves and scarf; or it could lead you to consider whether you should wear shorts today.

After a cold, snowy winter, those isolated 50 degree days are so precious. A down payment for spring.

I firmly believe that when you experience extreme winter conditions, you can’t help but appreciate springlike weather all the more…when it does finally come.

12 year-old brother on one side, 10 year-old brother on the other–following her every move.

Well adjusted? I think yes.

I remember reading in James Dobson’s book Bringing Up Boys many years ago that one significant difference between boys’ behavior and girls’ behavior is this: boys will climb a piece of furniture, fall off, injure themselves, and climb right back onto the furniture, repeating the cycle until they conquer it (or find something else to occupy their time and energy). Girls on the other hand will climb once, fall once, and learn from their injury not to climb up again.

It hit me this morning that my daughter has not yet displayed this typical girl behavior, when I observed her climb the school chair, tumble to the floor, cry, and immediately turn toward the chair to climb up again. Before that, she was found climbing/falling off/climbing/falling off the boys’ bunk bed ladder. During our recess outside today, she showed the same resolve as she attempted to conquer the front porch step. Here is a brief chronicle of it all.

Here’s what I found recently on Jake’s iPod:

As I imported the video into the computer, Ruthie sat on my lap squealing and laughing. Must be the big eyes.

Jim is traveling to Nashville with a co-worker today and tomorrow. His original plan was to pilot the Cessna. But then the weather forecast came out: freezing rain. Cessnas don’t get along well at all with freezing rain.

So they’re driving.

As I explained to Jim this morning how ice is coating everything, he replied, “Better coating a tree than an airplane.”

Sure is pretty to look at, though. From the ground.

can one experience such a contrast in weather in just one week?

Last Saturday, we went for a walk in the grass and sunshine. One child traveled by scooter. We made tracks through puddles.

Today, we walked in the snow. One child traveled by sled and made tracks through the snow.

Last week, children and dog ran to their hearts content through the swampy, muddy field.

Today, children and dog romped and rolled in the snow.

Last week, boys explored on the rocks.

Today boys explored in the snow.

Last week Peter carried Ruthie.

Today Peter carried Ruthie. (some things remain consistent, no matter what the weather)

Today Daddy carried Ruthie as well. In his own signature style.

Last week Ruthie climbed the hill with very little problem.

Today she climbed/slid down/climbed/slid down the hill. She is a determined little girl.

Last week children and dog walked home covered covered in mud.

Today we went home covered in snow.

Before we left, Ruthie and Molly stood for a moment looking out.  Spring? Are you there?

What does this picture tell?

a)  Molly–ever believing she is human–is now into wearing cute white patent leather shoes on her front paws. But knowing that we humans don’t wear shoes in the house, she obediently takes them off before exiting her cage.

b)  A certain 1 year-old girl, who is way more interested in shoes than I care to think about, is in the throes of toddlerhood. She understands that part of the role description for “toddler” is “mover of all things from order to disorder”.

Here is what our ice rink looks like:

As you can imagine, there isn’t much skating going on around here. But our boys are resourceful. They took their hockey nets, sticks, and testosterone to the street.

Ruthie cheered her brothers on from the curb. She did NOT understand why they were in the street and she was forced to remain on the driveway. After many thwarted attempts to join them, she finally gave in and accepted the fact that she must stay on the high ground.

Jeremy tired of hockey after a while, so he joined his sister on the driveway.

Jim was the all-time goalie, and it was every boy for himself. The competition got pretty heated.

Meanwhile, the cops were out watching for penalties.

Peter proved to be quite skillful with the hockey stick. He scored the most goals.

I’m seeing many summer days on the street in our future.

Proving to be our little Joan of Arc, Ruthie has been walking around the house lately in the boys’ armor.

Peter helps her get suited up:

She may try to look tough,

but she can’t hide the fact that she’s a cutie pie little girl.

In other news, the boys entered their own battle in the minefield, a.k.a. the backyard. They went out two-by-two to remove the mines, and when it was Jake and Jeremy’s turn to scoop, Jake was determined to arm himself and his brother well.

With bags to protect their shoes, and more bags to protect their hands, they were impenetrable by the poop enemy.

OneWay was given a window-washing franchise last month, called Squeegee Squad. This generous company, owned and operated by two brothers, donated the franchise, a truck and equipment to the ministry.

Jim flew up to Minnesota with another guy for training (we’ve already mentioned his harrowing flight home on this blog) and came home with some mega window-washing knowledge. He can now claim the ability to wash a window in less than 20 seconds.

Not to keep this squeaky clean knowledge bottled up inside, he is in the process of training the boys. Yesterday Jake spent his recess time after lunch washing windows and mirrors around the house for practice. In our household, between the 80-pound lab with a wet nose and big tongue and the 1 year-old with sticky fingers, you can imagine how beneficial it would be to have knowledgable window washers with the right equipment.

Here is Jake in action:

Ever since we banned the word “like” from the Johanik vocabulary, the kids have been doing marvelously (the adults, on the other hand…). They are consistently using synonyms for the dreaded l-word.

Thanks to Great America, the older boys taught Jeremy the dance song that was played over and over and over during our visit in August. But because the lyrics contain the word “like”, he recently had to make some substitutions. Yesterday, he was walking around the house singing,

“I enjoy to move it move it, I enjoy to move it move it…”  If you are familiar the song, you can understand how Jeremy’s version of it would cause some laughter; not to mention a few rolling eyes.

We had friends over last weekend, and it was toward the end of their visit when I saw Peter come to me with a concerned look on his face, walking out of the bathroom with the faucet handle in his hand. It took a minute to register that the same handle belonged on the sink faucet. Normally, these handles are firmly affixed and can easily handle normal use. But what I’ve learned in my 12 years of being a mom of boys is that most products are not put through any kind of vigorous quality assurance testing. You may remember one year ago, when the other washroom appliance acted up.

It has now been a week since the handle snapped off, and the decapitated faucet still stares at me when I’m visiting the lavatory. In a vain attempt to prove that the faucet was still usable, Peter cranked the mechanics so that the water somehow turned on and he was able to wash his hands. But he soon realized that he couldn’t turn the water back off, so he came out with the same concerned look on his face to tell me the water was stuck on. After much muscling and cranking, I turned the water back off and lectured to the boys not to lay a hand on the faucet.

I refuse to let the cold weather confine these hyperactive healthy, normal boys to the indoors, thus they have continued their daily recess outside after lunch. But sometimes they need a little punch of creativity, so the other day we mixed together food coloring and water in some water bottles.

Unfortunately, out of the two food coloring packages I had on hand, there was exactly one red and one blue that were not dried out or empty. (I suppose they’re not meant to sit in the pantry for ten years) So we made red, blue…and purple snow paint. It would have been nice to have some green, but we were quite content to get along without yellow. There is entirely enough yellow snow adorning our neighborhood.

Jeremy started out by randomly squirting snow mounds.

Then Peter took a turn and immediately claimed his snow tunnel.

Notes for next time if we do this again: we need more colors and better water bottles. Our cheap-o sports bottles didn’t quite cut it. The paint looked more like dribble dots. Nonetheless, it was an easy, cheap activity to encourage these guys to continue playing outside.

During school, we’ve been learning about who God is, and about a month ago, we spent time specifically answering the question: if God created the world, why isn’t it perfect?

One of our activities was to think about the world if it was perfect–what if there was no sin? The boys came up with examples of things we would not need if there was no sin in the world. For instance, we wouldn’t need door locks, eyeglasses, or hospitals.

It had been quite some time since we discussed this, but evidently the thought had been brewing in Peter’s mind. Out of the blue yesterday, he said, “I wish there was no sin, then we wouldn’t have to do school. We would already know everything we need to know.” He has had a case of the winter doldrums lately, and I couldn’t help but chuckle at how it came out.

It can be challenging to find a lunch meal that everyone loves. So when I do find one, I stick with it…and make it frequently. Homemade macaroni and cheese is just such a meal. The kids have been eating this at least once a week for about two years now. I sure hope they don’t tire of it, because the creative juices do not flow when it comes to what to make for lunch.

Mac and cheese doesn’t get any more rich and creamy than this, plus it is surprisingly fast and easy.

Ingredients you’ll need:

Directions:

Boil a pot of water.

Once it’s boiling, pour the pasta in and stir it up.

Meanwhile, melt the butter in a saucepan. As the butter is melting, cook the milk in the microwave for 2 minutes to get it warm.

Add the flour.

Whisk the butter and flour together until no clumps remain; let cook for about a minute over medium heat. As it cooks, you can explain to your children that this is called a roux. They can then impress their friends by telling them that they know the meaning of a french cooking term.

It will be nice and bubbly while it cooks. This part of the cooking process is Jake’s favorite, because it combines science with food; it is precisely what makes the cheese sauce thick.

Now you’re ready to add the warm milk. You could add it cold, but it won’t mix with the roux as well.

Whisk it over medium heat until smooth. Add salt. Make sure the lid on your salt shaker is firmly attached. It would be instant cheese sauce disaster if the lid fell off while pouring salt into the pot.

Continue cooking and whisking until the sauce bubbles a bit and becomes thick.

Turn off the heat and add the cheese. Stir until smooth.

Drain the pasta.

Stir in the cheese sauce.

Enjoy.

You may recall this picture taken the day after the blizzard snow fell:

We wondered if Molly would ever notice the convenient ramp over the fence toward freedom. It took her a couple days, but she did.

Jim was sitting in the den looking out the window one afternoon. Some movement on the pond caught his eye, and as he looked out the window, he saw his loyal mutt romping around in all her free glory. She happily jumped back over the fence into her yard when called.

The next time the boys let her outside, Jake grabbed the camera and photo-journaled the event.

The escape route.

The approach.

The premeditation.

Lunging the head over the fence, ready to leap.

Molly, what do you think you’re doing?

Drat, caught red-pawed.