in triplicate, please

"seimi was being seriously annoying, so ela and i banished him from our made-up kingdom.  but then we realized that wasn't very kind of us.  so we reinstated him.  [long pause]  it was A LOT of paperwork."
-boookie, age 11

Eth for the Wynn!

Overheard while the Hobbit Wife was helping Seimi with his math:
HW: What is a number that has two vowels in it?
S: Five!
HW: Good! How do you spell five?
S: F-I-V-E
HW: Good! What's another number that has two vowels in it?
S: Three!
HW: Good! How do you spell three?
S: I don't know
HW: Well, how do you spell the "th" sound?
S: Eth

[Hobbit Wife sits there with a big English major grin]

Progress!

This weekend was the first time for the hobbitlings to get to sleep in the new Bunker. Drywall mud will be coming in the near future, along with paint. New flooring and trim will be further out.

That Squeejee!

Mr. Squeejee packed away in one of his toy boxes

Naughty Eej up in Ela's bunkbed. After he had been put down to sleep for the night, he quietly closed the door, sneaked stealthily out of his bed and climbed up the ladder, then began playing with Ela's stuffed animals.

Hobbit Feast - Autumnal Equinox Variety

 

The Hobbit Wife and her helpers prepared a hobbit feast tonight in celebration of the turning of the season tomorrow.

Owls for dessert.

Places set and Tsum-Tsums waiting in each hobbit's cup. 

Hobbitlings and Miss Abby (honorary hobbit)

Feasting on the second course - mushrooms, sausage, muffins, and pickles

Everyone had their very finest manners on, and even Eejee contributed to the cultured atmosphere by carefully licking his soup off the table as he spilled.

'Twas a most blessed summer and shall be a blessed autumn!

September Continues

September has continued as a remodeling-heavy month, as witnessed by our drywall-heavy van.

Consequently, we've been taking rest very seriously.

Remodeling inside means the hobbitlings are sent outside for much playtime. Here, all are dressed in various Redwall-themed costumes. Boookie the near-invisible Marlefox, Ela the glamorous woodland princess, Seimi the purple-hooded warrior, and Eejee the camouflaged (the better to remain unseen while doing disruptive things).

Ela and Seimi have been loving the mounds of scraps from the remodeling. Here, Ela has repurposed scrap foam insulation and survey tape to create a lovely awning for her house.

Eejee checking on the Mayor's remodel progress.

Seimi helping the Mayor with drywall screws.

With the Mayor absent from the gym, it's been up to Boookie and Ela to represent. Here's Ela working on her front squat.

Here's Boookie working hard on the reverse hyper. As the lifter saying goes, "skills pay the bills," and Boookie is building up his bank account with his diligence at the gym!

Electrical Interrupt

The Mayor has the house remodel in full-swing.

How full-swing?

 

Brewing-coffee-in-the-bathroom-because-so-many-circuits-are-shut-off-pending-electrical-inspection. That kind of full-swing!



Electrical inspection today, so we should be back to normal coffee-brewing by tomorrow morning.

accio bookworm!

as part of our homeschooling records, we keep a running list of the books our young hobbitlings read in their spare time.

this summer, with the help of the entire harry potter series as well as a large portion of the many-volumed redwall series, boookie read over 10,000 pages!  eulaliaaaaaa!!!

McD health question

Ela: Daddy, at what age do chicken nuggets become dangerous?
[The Mayor scrambling to think - perhaps this has to do with yesterday's mid-day McDonald's run]
Mayor: I don't know if there's a particular age. They aren't particularly amazingly healthy for anyone.
Ela: I mean, is it after you hit puberty that it starts to be dangerous to have chicken nuggets?
[light dawning]
Mayor: Oh, you mean chicken pox?
Ela: Yeah!

End of Summer?

While summer is not officially over yet, it's getting really close. We went to the park this afternoon and got ice cream from the ice cream truck for the first time in recorded memory.

Ih, ih, in the words of Nick Fury, Last time I trusted someone, I lost an eye.

Moth Box!

The Hobbit Wife imported a game from her growing-up-years. It's like Slug Bug, but with a Pacific Northwest twist. The rules are simple - one point for every moth box you see, first person to yell "Moth Box" gets the point. The Hobbit Wife is leading due to her head-start in years, but the Mayor is making a valiant attempt to catch up, relying on his competitiveness.

LEGO Longing

The Mayor is still working on the basement remodel. Gas line replumbing and hopefully more work is upcoming this week.

And while the remodel continues, many beloved items remained locked away, the most beloved item being the LEGOs.

In the absence of LEGOs, the hobbitlings have reverted to other outlets. Seimi has rediscovered the cool set of wooden blocks from the Mayor's childhood. [Side note - Aunt Teresa, Uncle Matty and Uncle Andrew - you're welcome to reclaim your respective sets whenever you want]

Boookie has become a voracious reader. Note the red dictionary in the stack, which was the Mayor's when he was at the stage of asking what words mean. The dialogue was the same every time:
Mayor: Mama, what does this word mean?
Grammy: Look it up.
Mayor: Never mind.
Grammy: No, go look it up. 

Ela is discovering reading and has been doing lots of art as well.