Super Bowl, Tessa's Baby, and Brutr Fun

I don't know that our younger kids have ever been to a football game. But it must have been all the buzz at the elementary because, when they came home Friday afternoon, not only did they know that the Super Bowl was coming up (which was more than I had realized), but even eight-year-old Summer knew exactly which teams were playing; and it was quite clear that they couldn't possibly be expected to return to school on Monday without knowing which of those teams had won. So, between Sunday dinner happening, grandparents over, and Dais and Gold heading back to their various campuses (after a short weekend home to go to a play with Penny), they flipped the game on once or twice to check the score. And, when it got close to bedtime, I used turning on the end of the game and letting them stay up to watch it as leverage to get them to brush their teeth, put their pj's on, and listen well (mediocrely well) to our Come Follow Me lesson.

At some point they must have decided where, amongst these two teams (whose existence they'd been unaware of until two days prior), to cast their lots because Anders, Summer and Hans made little tooth-pick flags to wave for the Chiefs ("Cheifs").

And Mette, who'd stubbornly determined not to follow the crowd, quietly made her own little flag for the Eagles. ... Which we found in a torn-up heap on the floor (not far from where she was crying in the corner) when the game ended.

It did not take much to get fully invested.

But! The girls home! Here they are, as is often the case on Sundays between church and dinner, playing games.

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Hans recently acquired this small notebook/diary with a lock on it. 

I don't know that he has much to keep secret, and I'm about 99% certain the tiny key will be lost before very long, but it's cute seeing his little recordings. 

The other day, after Anders had spent an extended amount of time playing with him, he brought me this one:

"Mom, Anders and me just did too many fun things today for me to write, so I just wrote 'brutr fun'." (His spelling is actually pretty spot on ... when one considers that he did in fact spell it just as he pronounced it!)

Speaking of Hans, he drew this today:

That's right. Elijah and the Priests of Baal. We haven't discussed this story any time recently, so I love that it's just what he felt like drawing. Look at those stones all covered with water and fire from heaven still just burning them right up. 

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Tessa asked me to come to her little Margaret's birth to capture a few photos. It's a good arrangement between us because she's not necessarily expecting them or stressed at all about not getting them. (With both her last two babies it's just been more ... if the timing happens to work out with me having someone home who can watch the kids etc.) Luckily the timing did work out! (I really didn't get many great photos. It was night and only the dimmest lights were on [I had my iso cranked up to about one billion--which is the only reason it appears light at all] and really, baby was just out and snuggled up on Tessa's chest and covered in a blanket so fast there was hardly time to catch anything! Eventually little Maggie was measured and weighed, and I quickly got a few shots in, but not many. But! At least Tessa got a few! And I got to witness a baby born to someone I love!

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And ... photos. (It has been so much easier to keep my camera photos loaded and edited now that I have my little laptop! It's made me much more likely to get it out for just ordinary moments around the house.)

(A new item that she will wear! Admittedly it's pajamas ... and she'll wear them all day, but even so!)

Hans occasionally requests a mohawk, though, when I asked him if he wanted one on Sunday, he did tell me that they were "too wild for church". Sensible lad.

(Different day ... same pajamas.)

Mike let them choose their school valentines during a trip to Wal-Mart nearly a month ago. It has been agony waiting for their class lists to officially be handed out so they could get to making them.

And I guess that's all for now.