Warrior hamsters

Frosting Cup and Butter Cup of the infamous warrior hamster family take down a tiger. Butter uses the element of braveness and Frosting uses the element of calmness.

Please note that no tigers were hurt in the making of this photo.  Mrs. Halika, the tiger, is actually a good friend of the Cups.  The photo was staged to illustrate the fierce siblings fighting technique and skills.  Mrs. Halika in fact normally accompanies the Cup siblings on their fighting excursions, where she helps remove the eyes and noses of their enemies.  

No word yet on what the Cup family does with all those eyes and noses.

Maps and the Force of Darkness

I picked up Aria from school yesterday and she excitedly showed me the map she had made at school.

So first, let me just say that we finally got a car and we took this fabulous family trip to Beacon Rock in Washington.  We had a blast and there was some talk about volcanoes and mountain climbing.  Aria was a little concerned that "Mountain Hood" or "Mountain St. Helens" would erupt and we had to repeatedly tell her that it was unlikely.

The view from Beacon Rock and my little hiker.  The elevation changes almost 800 feet in just a mile.  I was huffing and puffing it up the big rock but Aria didn't even seem phased by it.  Of course, I'm a wee bit out of shape but still.

So anyhow, I pick her up from school yesterday and she shows me this map.

Its a map to a pot of gold which is at the end of rainbow...of course.

The following conversation occurred.  True story.

Me: Wow. Is that the little splotch of yellow right there the gold?
Aria: Oh yeah...see, you can see the little rainbow.
Me: Yeah, yeah...I see that.  That's pretty cool.  What is the big black thing?
Aria: Oh oh, see that (pointing to the brown scribble on the left), that's the mud puddle.  Be careful, Mommy. And, and that (pointing to the tall red image next to the puddle) is a....VOLCANO!
Me: A volcano!?
Aria: Yes.  *whispering* Its Mountain St. Helens.
Me: Mt. St. Helens.
Aria: Mountain St. Helens.  And its ready to erupt.  Don't touch it.  Oh oh (pointing to the blue blob on the right) THIS is a lake...a nice, cool lake.
Me: Mmm...Uhm, what is the black thing?
Aria: That's the forces of darkness!
Me: The forces of darkness?
Aria:  Yes...Remember, Mr. Mallard?  He was turn-ed into a GOAT.  But I won't be turn-ed into a goat so do not worry.  But don't touch the gold, Mommy, because you might be turn-ed into a GOAT.

Ahhh...good times.  This map, Mr. Mallard, the forces of darkness...they are so brilliant.

*I should note that the little red splootch in the bottom left side of the forces of darkness is the "blood of animals" in case anybody is wondering.  Yeah...

Mr. Mallard

Aria has a small little rubber goat that she has named Mr. Mallard.  Mr. Mallard is a very special goat. He has four small children that he carried and birthed himself. 

The other day Aria was holding him and said in a shaky old goat voice, "80 years ago, I was a human until the forces of darkness turned me into a goat..."

See.  Mr. Mallard is a very special goat.  :)

The Infamous Journal

Okay.  So the story goes like this.  One day, I went to pick up Aria from school.  She was at the playground so I busied myself packing up her stuff.  The lead teacher brought up Aria's journal.  Okay, she specifically told me that Aria has a flair for the macabre.

Alright.  Nothing too surprising.

Except that apparently, some of her stories had the other teacher a wee worried.  The lead teacher told me this while laughing, saying that the other teacher wanted to know if this was something that they should bring up with Aria's parents.

Anyhow, today at Aria's preschool graduation, we received the infamous journal.

Story 1: Feb. 5, 2013

This is apparently the carnage left over after I feasted on monsters. 

This is a story about a lot of monsters that come to my house.  They try to eat me.  My mommy protects me by eating the monsters.  She loves the meat of them.  One monster is still alive when Mommy ate it.  But the monster was magic and disappeared out! The monster disappeared away!

Story 2: Feb. 21, 2013

Meet ghost.  He likes to collect dead things and make art out of them.

This is a ghost. The ghost creeped into a creepy house.  The ghost found a skeleton that was dead and he grabbed it and he brought it home.  At home, he did art with it and he went to bed but he couldn't go to sleep so he went away.  And he found an old house and it was so creepy and he found a little, little spider that was dead.  And then he grabbed it and he brought it home and he did art with it.  And he shivered his hands.

So I think its important to mention she was recognized today for her great storytelling skills.