Birthday Bonanza

I am a really lame mom.  I have a blog and I don't even post about any one's birthday (but my own....)

So I am going to make up for that.  Now.  Since we have all now officially celebrated a birthday this year - I might as well regale you with pictures and cute moments from each birthday.  Be careful not to choke on the sappy sweetness of it all...

First up - Colin!  He turned the big '1' on Feb 5th

My gosh - he looks so tiny then - and it's only been six months!   This was such a fun birthday - we had brunch at home with family and close friends.  Come to think about it - I may have blogged about it.  I am too tired to back looking through my posts, so I will just do every family member here equal justice and call it good.  The best moment of this birthday was the second my brother, SIL, and three nephews entered the house and helped pull all of the last-minute party prep together.  You all saved me some serious face that morning!

Next up is Owen, turning three on Feb 28th (although his birthday is really on the 29th)

I think I did a blog post about our visit to the WOW museum the day before (the car picture), but for whatever reason, I never did come back and mention his actual birthday.  Owen didn't really specify what kind of birthday cake he wanted.  I knew that he was sad about losing his Thomas train that he got for Christmas, so I picked up a new one, and made a train cake to go along with it.  For me, store-bought cakes for birthdays are absolute sacrilege - I won't do it.  so I made up a train cake on my own.  And it looks it.  I never said I was good at this.  But the boy loved it (I mean *look* at that face!!) and it was priceless.  What made it all the more special is that his Oklahoma grandparents were able to link up on video chat and sing along with us as Owen blew out his candles.  That was the best little family celebration ever! 

Jordan turned 11 on May 9th.

For us, what has worked best for our kids is birthdays in small doses.  We don't do big parties.  We don't do sleepovers.  We don't invite lots and lots of kids that we only 'sorta' know.  We invite a close friend or two.  We do a family dinner and cake - ON the actual birthday.  Jordan did have a 'big' party when he turned five.  I had only known him for two months at that point.  I remember making two cakes.  We invited kids and their parents.  We served appetizers and drank beer and wine.  It was such a nice party - but I didn't know anybody except this little girl pictured above, standing with Jordan.  Here we are, six years later, and they are still the best of buds!  No birthday would be complete without Abbi.  It also happens that Rylan just adores Abbi.

We began with a small family celebration the day before his birthday, which just happened to be Mother's Day as well.  One cake for three kids - three sets of candles for Owen, Rylan and Jordan.  My brother and his family brought up birthday presents for all three kids- so it was quite a day!  On Jordan's birthday, I made his favorite cake - Chocolate Blackout Cake.  You black out from the sugar over-load.  Jordan was a trooper - he had to wait until after his scout meeting for his cake.  The Oklahoma grandparents arrived a couple of days later, and we went out to dinner to celebrate both Jordan and Rylan's birthdays.  The restaurant pick was Jordan's: The Hibachi Japanese Steakhouse.   Jordan brought along his good friend Gabe for the evening.  A couple of weeks later it was miniature golf and dinner out with friend Abbi.

Rylan turned five on May 12th

Poor Rylan.  Last year it snowed on her birthday.  This year it rained.  But she hauled in so much in the present department that she didn't seem to mind.  She began the day with a gigantic pink doll house that dominated the kitchen table.  She went shopping with Oklahoma grandparents and added stuff to it.  Then we worked on her fairy birthday cake.  Shortly after Owen's birthday (like the next morning), she said she wanted a train cake too.  Really?  Why?  "Because I want those chocolate railroad pieces".  Oh - the KitKat bars that I had used for the train tracks.  I bargained with her that I could use the KitKats and build a fairy hut or something.. Well, I forgot about that, but kept the fairy idea.  She loved her cake.  If the fairies didn't cost $6.99 a piece, there would have been more of them.  It would seem to be, judging from the reaction, that the best gift of all was the Rookie Perplexus that Jordan gave to her.  Bless him - he even paid for it too.  That hug above says it all.

Kirsten - 40 on August 8th.

Okay - most of you knew that anyway.  Here is my picture with my birthday cake.

My *lovely* children (with the help of my mother) decided that I needed ALL of my forty hard-earned candles on my cake.  That is a 13 x 9 pan of Mississippi Mud deliciousness there.

Dean - 41 on August 28th


Dean began his birthday by being serenaded by a campsite full of Girl Scouts.  Another dad (in green) has the same birthday (small world!), so they both got the Birthday song treatment.  We got home from camp, did lots of laundry and showers, and closed the day with a yummy dinner and Buster Bar ice cream cake for dessert.  Oh.  my.  yum.  See?  Only one candle.  Dean claims that when you hit '40', you get to start over again with the candle counting.  Cheater.

Bless you before you depart...

"Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are.  Let me learn from you, love you, savor you, bless you before you depart.  Let me not pass you by in quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow.  Let me hold you while I may, for it will not always be so.  One day I shall dig my nails into the earth, or bury my face in the pillow, or stretch myself taut, or raise my hands to the sky, and want, more than all the world, your return.
-Mary Jean Irion



I have used this quote before - in my very first blog post ever.  I love this quote, and I need to be reminded of it from time to time.  We had our normal day today.   Nowhere to be, nothing to prepare for... just 'be'.  It was wonderful.  Owen and Colin ran around the house in just their diapers for two hours this morning.  They fussed and hit and pushed and shoved occasionally - yet it was all good.  They were tired, and rightfully so after a string of crappy, busy days with missed naps.  They went down for a nap right after lunch, and slept for four straight hours.  When they woke up, they were much more pleasant to be around.

Rylan and I enjoyed our four hour break by doing a relaxed stint of school work and calling it good.  She completed a math workbook and finally got to use the giant sticker for the last page.  We put it on the fridge.  She played with attribute blocks, built a mini dollhouse out of an empty Pampers box, drove her Barbie around and did Reading Eggs for a solid hour.

I sorted receipts, opened the mail, washed dishes, started a load of laundry, cleaned off the desk and got Rylan's first science lesson ready to go for tomorrow.  We had a very nice dinner, and played a dinner table game while eating.

Nothing of what I just wrote about was spectacular.  No pictures to share.  Yet, I too, want to bless this normal, average day before it departs...

I didn't have to nurse a sick child

I didn't have to worry about not having enough food to eat or clean water to drink

I had a safe home to enjoy my time in

I went about my day with the quiet assurance that multiple family members were only a phone call away if I needed them

My husband was working hard at a job he loves

My car was in the garage, if we needed to go somewhere

My computer connected me to my friends, my library, my bank, my world...

The sun was shining and a soft breeze blew all afternoon



When times get hard, don't complain and cry out "Why me??!!"  Just remember that there were plenty of normal days when it was just not your turn...

Winning!



This morning, while lots of wonderful moms and dads were escorting their brood to their local educational establishments for the first day of school, I was enjoying a leisurely walk through the neighborhood.  Alone.  It only lasted four minutes, but my, was it glorious.  My therapist is a four minute walk from my house, so I walk there and back while Dean stays home with the kids.  We had a great talk this morning.  I haven't had an appointment in several weeks - she was on vacation.  She still feels like I put everyone on the "I must worry about/take care of" list above me, and I must stop putting myself last.  You can't fill anyone else's cup when your own cup is empty... that sort of thing.  She is correct - it is just so hard to do.

When I got home, Dean drove the van to work, which meant that I had no transportation for the day.  I actually love those days.  I have the perfect excuse to stay put - and it helps me focus.  So we got a lot done - Rylan's entire lineup of Monday schoolwork, which was a first!

* Core Knowledge - read a few poems and worked on rhyming words - which she totally gets.  Added some new vocabulary: bill, window-sill, cocked, wealthy and wise.  Later in the day I heard her quoting Benjamin Franklin verbatim.  Wow.

* Explode the Code - Short 'i' words - pig, mitt, dig, bit, wig, pin, hit, fin, fill, sit, big.  Decoded with ease, spelled them and wrote them.  Rylan can write beautiful little 'g's.  For whatever reason though, writing a 'p' is difficult.  ???

* Carson-Dellosa beginning reading workbook - 'color' words.  She is reading them correctly - but if you remove the picture clues, then she gets bogged down with the decoding.  Thus 'blue' and 'black' become one and the same... interesting.

* Reading Eggs - She is loving this program!  She completed today's lesson in 17 minutes.  I don't know what she did other than that she was reading 'am' words.  I was upstairs during most of it changing diapers and switching laundry around. 

* Read aloud - I read a little bit out of a question/answer science book.  (Q: What happens to the stars during the day?  A: - - -)  I made it about 10 minutes and then I fell asleep.  I had just put the two boys down, so she let me sleep and kept herself busy playing with her dollhouse (which we keep in our bedroom, so that it can be set up all the time)  I love, love, love that she is such a wonderful, dependable child.  She stays out of trouble, keeps quiet, and doesn't try to sneak out of the room or anything like that.  Most of the time she will eventually lay down beside me and fall asleep herself.  I don't nap often, but today I was really struggling after I put the boys down.  I needed a rest - too many late nights staying up trying to get stuff done.

* Thinking Kids Math: we did tally marks for the first time.  Most of it went over her head.  She hasn't really grasped skip counting yet, so counting by fives is difficult.  The task was to look at a calendar graphic, which had one of four possible weather symbols on each day - sun, cloud, rain or snow.  The task was to count up the days it was sunny, and make tally marks.  Count up the cloudy days, make tally marks and so on.  We did that, and then I extended it by showing her the calendar basics.  Again - she is really struggling with this.  Time is difficult anyway - it is such an abstract concept.  So we ended the mini-lesson by counting up the number of days until Jordan came home (24) and called it good.

*MEP - inequalities.  She has the signs down (<, >, =), but she continues to be stumped by comparison questions.  She will totally get which way to  'face the alligator mouth'.  But after counting up one side of the equation (ex. 4 daisies) and then counting up the other side (ex. 3 tulips) answering the question "How many more daisies are there than tulips?", she will invariably answer '7' - because she thinks she just needs to count them all.  Only when I match up each flower, one-to-one, will she see that there is one daisy left over that 'does not have a partner'.  THEN she understands what I was asking her.  We have gone through this scenario at least twenty times.  I try and bring it up any time the situation presents itself - "Rylan, how many more goldfish crackers do you have than Owen has?".  She will count them ALL.  sigh.

* Carson-Dellosa math preK-1 workbook - fill in the missing number.  It never ceases to amaze me all the different ways you can check a child for true understanding of a concept.  Your child can count from 1-20 (1-100, etc..) a thousand times over - but when you skip a number and ask them which one, they are stopped in their tracks.  If you switch up the order and ask them to sort it out correctly, they struggle.  That is good.  It means that their number sense is still developing, and you should never assume that they 'get it' and move on just because they can count correctly.  They really need to 'know' their numbers.  Number sense is the true foundation on math - and you need it to be solid before you start building!

So - I had all of these little teaching epiphanies aaallll day.  And it felt good.  I felt like a true teacher today - not just some frazzled parent going through the motions, like I usually do.  Yay me!

Simple Woman's Daybook Entry

I am thankful... that my 'cousin' Kelsey was released from the hospital late last week and is now home with her family.  This momma is 34(?) weeks pregnant and was T-boned by an elderly man who ran a stop sign last weekend.  Her husband and two young children were unscathed, but she was rushed to the hospital and into surgery to have her lacerated spleen removed.  All is well with her and the baby... lets hope those staples hold as her belly grows a little more! (I use the term cousin, even though technically she is not my cousin - she is my cousin's cousin.  Confused?  Sorry!)

From the Learning Rooms... The beginning of the week went really well.  Rylan is working her way through Explode the Code.  She is a whiz at decoding.  We are working on her handwriting.  Some days she amazes me, and other days it take 45 minutes to write out six 3-letter words.  Sigh.  We started using an online reading program called Reading Eggs.  We are using the trial version for two weeks before we buy - at a steep discount through Homeschool Buyers Co-op.  The great thing is that Owen can do it too.  This is his first foray onto the computer - so he is working on mastering basic mouse skills.  Every day Rylan and I are going over the calendar basics - she counts the days until Jordan is home again.  Still haven't quite got the days of the week down, but we are getting there.  I found some fun printables from the Hungry Caterpillar that cover that - so we will do that this week.  The last two days of the week were a total loss due to Girl Scout planning.  I hope that these two days of concerted effort means that I don't have to sacrifice a great amount of school time in the future.

In the kitchen...  I think pancakes are in the works this morning... Dean takes Sunday morning breakfast duty.

I am wearing... what else?  A night gown.  Rylan and I are waiting for our turn in the shower.

I am creating... A master schedule for the Daisy Scout troop I will be leading this year.  I have a wonderful co-leader as well, so the work is going very smoothly.  We have mapped out the weeks for the entire year.  Now I just need to plug in special dates, like International Festival, that we will attend with the Brownies and Juniors in our troop.  This is no small feat, and it is making my head spin.  But I like having it set in stone and know what to expect.  I know the parents appreciate that too.

I am going... to Target to purchase more diapers for Owen.  We started potty training in earnest this weekend - Naked Days!!, but we still need another (small) package as we go along.  Target trips are always *super fun* with the kids.  Weekly grocery trip is also on order.

I am wondering... about Rylan and ballet lessons.  She loves to dance.  She wants to take lessons.  I did ballet myself all through grade school and most of jr. high.  I went to my teacher's home, who had a basement studio.  It was a very fun, positive experience.  I don't want to take Rylan to the big-high-priced studio in town - I am hoping to find something a little more low-key and less expensive.  I will be making a call to my former (long-ago retired) teacher to see if she knows of anyone.  Rylan and I have agreed that when she is six, she can start.  So I have some time.  We also need the time to work it into the budget.  Karate will be $180 by then, as Jordan will be in the black belt club.

I am reading... Watermelon.  STILL.  I have renewed it twice, and it is due today.  I may turn it in, and then go back tomorrow and check it out again.  It is a good story, just too much else is going on.  In the meantime, I read The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom for my book club.  It was a very good read, but the content was really difficult for me to read through without getting really pissed off.  It is about slavery and the hardships of a particular group of slaves that lived on a tobacco plantation in Virginia during the late 1700's.  I am going to write a review.  Soon. I promise.

I am hoping... To finish up our 'homework' that Dean and I have to do before our next session of Financial Peace University on Tuesday night.  Good stuff - just very time-consuming.  And we don't have a lot of extra time to sit around a desk for hours on end around here... the rugrats would get restless.

I am looking forward to... Our Girl Scout family campout next weekend.  I am not looking forward to the work of pulling it together - just the fun when we get there.

I am hearing... the neighbor's tile saw next door.  He is building a patio.  Two weeks ago it was a jackhammer, so he's making progress.  We should hire him.

I am also listening to Go Diego Go!  This show drives me absolutely insane - as does Dora.  I would really like to know if that is how little the studio execs think of our children.  I'm not talking about content - I'm talking about how the character 'talks' to our children.  I bet they only listened to about 90 seconds of it and gave the nod of approval.  What we should do is strap them to their chairs and make them listen to a full episode.  And then give them a gun they can put to their heads as we play another episode for them - so they can feel just like us!  Thanks, studio execs!  Here is a tidbit I copied from the Nick Jr. website, from the show's creators: "Parents tell us they know when Dora is on because they'll see and hear their kids playing along with the show: counting, speaking Spanish, jumping, rowing, clapping, etc."  Really?  You don't think they can independently identify the show by the sound of Dora and Diego's ANNOYING PATRONIZING VOICE?? 

Around the house... Yesterday was the 'quickie budget' - today is our 'cash flow plan' for the next paycheck, which we receive next Friday.  If we don't plan, the $$$ will disappear faster than a plate of brownies.  I will also vacuum up dog hair.  About four times throughout the day ought to do it.

I am pondering... How the neighbor pays for all of his outdoor projects.  We have no idea what he does besides race ATVs.  The wife stays home with their two kids.  Nice people, just very peculiar.

One of my favorite things...  My new ceramic coffee mug that my SIL gave me for my birthday.  It is nice and tall with a lid to keep it hot.  Good stuff.

A few plans for the rest of the week... Counseling appt Monday, Knitting night on Tuesday, and campout Friday through Sunday.  Dean's 41st birthday is Sunday.

Here is a picture for thought I am sharing...

Rylan partaking in some 'tea' with her cousin Lauren (7/31/11)

To read more entries and visit a variety of other blogs, go here...

Say Say my Playmate...



Well, it's official.  Rylan has joined Girl Scouts.  She will join seven little other Daisies two Fridays from now and say the Girl Scout Promise along with them.  And I will lead them.  I'm nuts.  Absolutely nuts.  But I have help - awesome help!  So I should say together we shall lead them.

I'm also a traitor.  This was supposed to be our Campfire moment.  WO-HE-LO forever!!!

I am actually considering doing both.  Because insanity becomes me.   I can't let the Campfire dream go just yet...

On to the dream of my little girl actually having some friends.  This is every home schooler's bane.  Socialization is not the issue!  Isolation is.  There are several little girls in our group (130 families strong now!! Can you believe it?  An introvert's nightmare...) but just can't seem to make anything stick.  There is a strong 7 year old(ish) clique going on with the families that have been in for a while, and Rylan has never been able to 'fit in'.  They are pretty tight.  Not in a snobby way, just not in an inclusive way.  They have found each other, they are happy, and that is that.  Park Days are a little sad and frustrating for both Rylan and Jordan.  No one will actively include Rylan.  Jordan doesn't want to play the rough games that the other boys play (battling with foam boppers) so they are both kind of stuck.  We need to get out of our rut and find some new buddies.  With all of the new blood that has joined in the past several months, there are bound to be some good kids that will begin showing up at Park Day soon.  All I can do is hope. 

So, therein enters Girl Scouts.  I hope that Rylan finds her niche here.  We have a wonderful group of girls lined up.  I know most of the girls, so it looks like it will be a good fit.  We have planned the whole year out.  Lined up the dates, made a jillion phone calls, wrote a kjillion emails, and really made the effort to make this busy, fun and as streamlined as possible.  I hope it works.  Because nothing is worse than dealing with unhappy parents.   The girls could care less, it is the parents that have a certain idea in mind about the whole experience.  It's that dang nostalgia thing.  (That's not how we did it when we were kids!!)  I know.  I'm guilty of it too.

I will now spend my weekend glued to the computer, completing my volunteer training, doing leadership training, and looking for cutsey ideas - because I really struggle with cutsey.  In that respect, I am glad I only have one girl.

And then it hits me.  I can't believe she is five.  I can't believe she is in scouts.  We are going to have to sell cookies!!  Oh dear...

Kindergarten Woes...

The ubiquitous photo of Rylan, with brand new backpack and lunchbox will not exist.

Neither will the photo of her hugging her teacher.

No back-to-school night art projects to see.

No tales of her playground escapades, or new friends.

I am feeling little panicky twinges of doubt that I just blew Rylan's whole schooling experience.

And then it passes.

And then it happens again.  And again.  And again.

Norman Rockwell... go home!!  Get out of my brain!

Rylan is doing just fine with her schoolwork - so I don't know why I am panicking.  It is the plethora of back-to-school commercials, blog posts, and shopping deals that is really affecting me.  Any parent of a five year old must feel blind slided by this every year.  I am just one of many who feels the fear, I suppose.

I know that I am not ruining her future.  I won't be so bold as to say I am making it better than it ever could possibly be... I am just making it 'different'.  There is no one correct way to educate your child.  A homeschooling friend shared a gem with me a while back... that when she is feeling overwhelmed, stressed and doubtful, she reminds herself that she alone taught her kids to read, and that was her proudest achievement - it opened the world for her children.  I think of that every day - as Rylan is in the very process of learning to read.  It is a wonderful feeling to know that your children are learning - and you were the catalyst.  I guess I just worry about all of the other stuff.

It is so hard to keep the social agenda of the rest of the world at bay.  It would seem that the commercial world can not wait!!! for children to grow up.  There are certain channels that are banned in our house.  Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network... and I would LOVE to add ABC Family (there is absolutely nothing 'family' about that channel) to that list but unfortunately we watch the occasional show...  It is not because we are trying to be a puritanical-type family (we're not), it is just that the commercials (and shows) are just so over-the-top with buy!buy!buy! and pushing the envelope with age-appropriateness that we just don't want to subject the kids to that.  Don't even get me started with channels showing horror film trailers during Prime Time.  We hardly ever watch T.V. live anymore - just for that reason.  We DVR everything and blow past the commercials.

I don't want Rylan to start feeling like she is missing out on something down the road...  It is her burgeoning socialite'ness' that has me worried.   What if the activities that she is involved in is not enough?  I imagine her sitting at her group table, as she would be if she were starting Kindergarten in a public school next week.  I can guarantee you that she would hear no less than thirty times a day "Rylan, please stop talking to your neighbor".  Or "Rylan, please don't talk while I am talking"  Or "Rylan, please don't ask questions about 'x'.  Right now we are talking about 'y'."  I can also imagine her sitting there, on the first day, taking in what all of the other girls are wearing.  There would be envy.  Especially if something sparkly was involved.  I most certainly want to avoid that constant state of comparing aspect of school.  I hated that the most during my own school years.  Thirteen solid years of living in a constant state of inadequacy.  It takes its toll, no?

30 Random Things About Me

1.  I love making super-detailed lists, charts, tables, diagrams...  I just can’t ever seem to execute them or follow them as I had originally designed them.

2.  I dislike being in a large group or crowd – especially out in public, like at a sporting event.  I have a very real fear of being caught in the middle of a random act of violence.  That being said though, I love being in a large crowd when something exciting is happening – it feels electrifying.

3.  My introverted nature leads me to hole up in a corner and set up camp with the kids (and use them as an excuse not to mingle) when at a party or gathering.  The exception is when I am with my own family or small group of close friends – then I circulate freely, and feel quite happy when I do so.  This all being said, my husband is an extrovert.  So far, this hasn’t lead to any issues.  I am quite happy to let him do his thing and he is always good about ‘checking in’ with me to make sure I am doing okay.

4.  I don’t believe in Creation, the Immaculate Conception, the resurrection, heaven, hell, sin or prayer.  I get extremely uncomfortable when people get overly preachy with me or push it on my children, yet I do take a vicarious kind of comfort when someone shares his/her spiritual joy.  It’s hard to explain, but I will try.  Let’s say you like the color yellow.  I will nod and listen as you describe how much you like yellow and how important yellow is in your life.  Your happiness about yellow makes me feel good.  Yet the second you expect me to like yellow just as much as you do – you’ve lost me.  Purple is my favorite color and I won’t ever change.  Does that help?  I have nothing against Christianity, other than the fact that a bunch of fanatics have gone overboard with the message.  I do believe that there are several good lessons to learn from some portions of the Bible – taught by a prophet (notice I didn’t say Savior), Jesus.  I think of Jesus as the Mahatma Gandhi or Martin Luther King of his time, as he was a wise man who had plenty to say about the social issues of his day.  Unfortunately he has been misrepresented by different political and social agendas throughout the passage of time.   My belief in God is …complicated.  I am currently exploring my feelings in this matter.

5.  I do believe in Karma, intention and the power of positive thinking (my version of prayer).  I also feel strongly about expressing gratitude for the blessings in your life.

6.  Several years ago I painted my walls various shades of soft yellow to ward off Seasonal Affect Disorder.  It works!  The best time of day is early morning or late afternoon.  The whole house is awash in a soft golden light.  Plus, yellow tones really bring out the warmth in wooden furniture.

7.  I stopped taking the daily local paper and watching the news because I found that reading/listening to stories of hardship and cruelty (especially concerning children) can have quite a detrimental effect on my mood.  Sometimes for days at a time.  The exception is NPR.  That is like an addiction.

8.  The most frightening experience I ever had was wreck-diving in murky water, with a strong current, off the coast of Brisbane, Australia.  I found a very sharp shark’s tooth tumbling along the sandy bottom.  The tooth had to have been recently lost because the serrated edges were still VERY sharp.  My diving buddy (my dad!) had surfaced without me, and I was alone, being carried further away by the strong current.  I was sure that the shark was lurking in the shadows, just out of sight.  I will never forget the awful taste of adrenaline in my mouth as I fought to tamp down the fear and think clearly and logically and ascend and surface at a safe pace.  On a later diving trip to Cozumel, I had a local artisan mount the shark tooth in black pearl so I could wear it as a pendant.

9.  I love to go camping, backpacking, ect.  However, I don’t like being in the woods at night, after we put out the campfire.  (I watched too many scary movies when I was a kid)  I just tolerate it, get very little sleep, and wait for the sun to come up.

10.  What I like most about homeschooling is the total freedom we have from following a strict schedule.  Much to the dismay of extended family, I strongly dislike having to show up for something at a specific time.  With four young children, that is next to impossible anyway.

11.  I wish we could live life at an island’s pace.  More specifically, I wish we could live on an island.  Not in the Caribbean, but in the Pacific Northwest.

12.  I will never understand how anyone can think a black olive tastes good.

13.  I love buying cleaning products and reading about different cleaning strategies and techniques.  The British TV show How Clean is Your House?  But I rarely clean.  Why?  Because four small children and one husband undo any effort of mine to clear the clutter so that I can even clean to begin with.  You will find me on a daily basis using the one-armed sweeping technique to at least brush the previous meal’s crumbs off the table so we can eat in minimal grossness.  Don’t even get me started on the bathrooms…

14.  I love the earthy, musky smell of dog paws.

15.  Thanks to my grandpa Orin, the intertwined smell of tomato plants and geraniums is burned into my olfactory memory.  I can’t smell one without smelling the echo of the other.

16.  I grew up in the Methodist tradition in my family.  It has nothing to do with my current religious (rather anti-religious) beliefs.   I just REALLY struggle with organized religion in general.  I don’t like leaving religious interpretation up to someone else, and I don’t agree with someone else telling me what I should believe.  I do like attending church from time to time simply for the ritual of it and the sense of community I find there.   My favorite thing about church is singing hymns – it is often a very emotional experience for me.  It has more to do with the music than with the words.  Choral music (especially Bach) is one of my greatest joys.

17.  I was never interested that much in politics until Obama ran for president.  I never sported a bumper sticker or put political signs in my yard until then either.

18.  I wish I could play the banjo.

19.  I hate shopping for clothes, but I love shopping for furniture.

20.  I constantly rearrange the furniture in my house.  I dislike stagnancy.

21.  My favorite TV show is The Closer.  It’s all about the accent.  I am so bummed that Season 7 (currently running) will be the last.

22.  I love watching Paula Dean cook.  See (21).

23.  I want to go back school to get my Master’s degree as soon as the kids have moved on.   I want to conduct statistical research on relevant social issues pertaining to our government’s education policy.

24.  My favorite season is fall.  The colors, the smells, the crisp air… also the desire to get back into routine.

25.  I could listen to Nora Jones, Adele and Coldplay all day.

26.  I prefer the cold of winter to the heat of summer.  I love wearing sweaters and slippers.

27.  If I didn’t have to haul kids around, I would like to drive a convertible VW bug.  Light yellow.

28.  The country I would most like to visit is Switzerland.  I have no desire to go to Africa, South America or Asia.  See (2) and (26).

29.  If I had a quiet afternoon to myself, I would read or blog.  And then promptly fall asleep ten minutes later.

30.  I have a secret fascination with large families.  (Think the Duggars).  I follow several blogs that are authored by moms who are predominately Christian (goes with the territory of having several children) and have large families.  Why?  I like several of the ideas they present on how to handle multiple children, along with the homeschooling, chores and housework aspects of life.  I have learned quite a bit from these women.  The religious doctrine is a little over the top, but the advice is sound and it is coming from a perspective that I can relate to (beliefs pertaining to the importance of homeschooling).

Shedding my dignity...

This is not my dog.  Although this one does resemble my second husky quite a bit...  See all the hair?  That is exactly what my carpet looks like.  Even when I vacuum four times a day.  Which I do, during summer and winter shedding times.  You can see fur float across on the kitchen table, as it is propelled by the ceiling fan.  It's on the bathroom counter.  In the sock drawer.  If you sneeze, you will see 50 billion hairs rise up, and settle again.

I hate shedding time.

I have lived with this phenomena for over twenty years, so I have gone through this at least 40 times.  No wait- 39.  One time my dad shaved Kai, my first husky, with clippers.  I don't think she ever forgave me for that.  I just wanted to share my pain, and bitch about having to vacuum again today.

And whatever you do...don't EVER google images of "dog fur".  Especially if you love dogs.  Just.....don't.

Kiddie Kleptomaniacs...



Colin is driving me absolutely crazy lately... he is bent on sneaking off with anything and everything.  All week long I have been retrieving various items from trash cans, floor vents, toilets, dark recesses of closets, the dishwasher/clothes washer/dryer... it goes on and on. 

He has become especially adept at utilizing any climbing device available - nothing short of dragging chairs or stools from room to room to get to what he wants.  In one day this week I fished his crocs out of the kitchen trash, found multiple magnetic letter tiles for our spelling program stuffed into the shreader (it was off, but the safety flap was open), fished matchbox cars, spoons/knives/forks, dogfood and about a billion Cheerios from the floor vents, pencils, Legos and Barbie shoes in the kitty litter box, and found him multiple times running around with steak knives that he had retrieved from the dishwasher.  Pointy end up, no less.

Never before have I felt so certain that mortal disaster is immenent.  He scales the furniture, runs full-steam into the street, throws himself backwards while I am carrying him - I have unintentionally dropped him three times because of this -and is attracted to all things sharp and deadly.  I feel like my only job of late is to prevent this child from accidentally killing himself.  I say this lightly, but this blogger and her heartache is always in the back of my mind.  I also think that my friend and fellow blogger Johi, coudn't have related her own frustrations any better... enjoy!  And visit her often because she is freakin' hilarious!

Rylan and Owen both went through this stage, but never to this degree.  I am not big on safety-latch stuff because it is bulky/ugly and a pain-in-the-ass to deal with.  The only exception are certain under-the-counter kitchen cabinets.  And really - this stage only lasts for a few months and then they move beyond it - and you are left with a toilet that is impossible for any human to open.  I suppose the upshot of that is that your toilet would stay clean.  Not sure about the floor around it though.

I just have to stay on top of closing doors, removing all chairs/stools/boxes from reach and not leaving stuff out - and never, ever going to visit anyone else's house.  The problem is that there are three other children in the house that DO constantly leave stuff out - like markers, scissors and glue, toothpaste and dirty socks.  I have a dog that requires food and water to be left out on the floor and a cat that requires two litterboxs.  Most problematic of all is a husband that leaves every tool imaginable - the more deadly the better, out in plain, reachable view.  Sorry honey, but it's true.  I am outing us all - we are chronic never-put-awayers and I need Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's special purple powder to cure us permanently.  Or I will go insane.

First Day

I have to laugh when I think about the "First Day' ritual and how it pertains to us.  We don't really have one.  Both kids are spread out between 'grade levels' when it comes to their work.  Rylan straddles between Kindergarten and first grade work, Jordan straddles between fifth and sixth... so there is no real defining *moment* when they move from one level to another.  It is more like one long continuum.  We also (or at least try to) school year-round.  So there is no last day or first day to celebrate.  If I go by the books - there is an "official" beginning and end to our year as far as it pertains to counting up the minutes as we go to make sure we hit the mark (or surpass it) for what we must do as far as state regulations.

We must school for a total of 694 hours over the course of the school year.  I begin counting August 1st, and end July 31st.  Ever since we began four years ago, I have just sort of winged it.  I figured as long as we did 2-4 hours most every day, and counted all activities, we were good.  This last spring, I decided I really wanted to know what we were actually accomplishing, time wise.  I was worried that we were way off - in a bad way.  I spent a few days pulling an excel spread sheet together to track Jordan's and Rylan's time spent with everything they do.  And I mean everything!  Did I ever mention that I am type A?



Rylan's work for June 2011

The vertical columns are the days of the month, and the rows are the subjects and the specific activities under each subject.  For example, under the heading of Language Arts, I have listed Reading Skills Practice (those small-sized practice books that come from a teacher-supply store), Explode the Code, Mailbox Activity (from the Mailbox Teacher Idea Magazine), Five in a Row, All About Spelling, Core Knowledge, Write Source, Handwriting and Read Aloud.  We don't do every activity everyday, but each is an important component, and I really would like to know how long we have spent doing each one.  The spreadsheet totals it as we go along, and I can know at a glance how we are doing.  I keep the shortcut to it on my screen, and I have it open all day while we are doing school.  It takes two seconds to enter in a time in the appropriate spot.  Jordan and Rylan each have their own timer, so they are responsible for using it when they start an activity and stopping it when they are done. I've tested it through June and July.  As you can tell from the above screenshot - June was a really LAME month for me accomplishment wise.  I didn't complete the daily subtotals for Rylan either.   We were just too dang busy!

So I took pictures of the little kids yesterday as a way to mark the new year... Although I think we will go for more formal pictures in the fall, when Jordan gets back.

I decided it was time to open Rylan's What Your Kindergartner Needs to Know (Core Knowledge).  We did the Preschool anthology and workbooks 1 & 2 last year.  She isn't done with her workbooks yet, but she is way beyond it ability wise, so it is time to let it go and move one.  Long ago, on some wild rabbit hole trip of mine, I read on a Core Knowledge forum that the best way to work through the What Your (blank) Needs to Know books is to break it into parts.  The book is basically laid out in five sections - Language and Literature, History and Geography, Visual Arts & Music, Mathematics, and Science.  You work on one section each day of the week.  So for example, yesterday was Thursday, so we went to the Mathematics section.  Each day you do 1-2 pages from that section.  By the end of the school year, you have worked your way through the book, and have touched on an amazing variety of subjects.  Your pace is slow enough that if something catches your interest, you can take that tangent wherever it leads you.  The beauty of this is, you don't have to do Monday in order to do Tuesday, and so forth.  So if you miss a day, or two, or three... you can still pick it up and read whatever section it is for that given day.  I love that!

So in the math section yesterday, the suggested activity was to collect a number of things based on likeness.  Rylan can do this pretty easily, so we included Owen as well.  We chose to collect things based on color.  I gave Rylan a collecting basket, and she and Owen went to the playroom to collect ten 'red' things.  Colin was napping at the time, so we could spread out on the floor without fear of him taking off with our stuff.  Owen lost interest midway through the second color, and spent the rest of the time hopping between the rows, occasionally kicking objects out of the way.



I think I will do this again, but make it more challenging for Rylan.  Some possible categories might be things that make sound, things that you use at bedtime, things that are used for transportation...

It was a good day, for the most part.  I felt some sadness - my grandma would have celebrated her 89th birthday.  I thought about doing a blogpost, but my heart just wasn't in it.  I went out in the evening to join up with my bookclub friends.  We discussed our book selection quite a bit - which is an odd thing for us - we usually only dedicate a few minutes...  It was a profound and disturbing read, so we actually had quite a bit to talk about!  I will add a book review as I have time, this weekend.  It was a great discussion!

Fabulous Forty

Yesterday was my birthday and I added another candle to the proverbial cake.  I am actually happy to be forty!  I figure the twenties are spent enjoying all the new freedoms that come with young adulthood - yet you are also busy with school or what-not as you get your career on track.  The thirties are when you start to feel your age a little, as you take on the three 'M's - - marriage, mortgage and miniature people.  You miss the carefree days of your twenties (um...did they really exist anyway?). and you feel torn between looking young enough to pass for a twenty-something and realizing that going to bed at 9 pm is actually something you WANT to do.  Well forty is here and this is the age of "I don't give a - - - -".   I don't care what my hair/clothes look like - if I have to get to the grocery store, I'm going!  I don't care that I drive a minivan.  Now get out of my way!  I don't bother with make-up... it will just have to be washed off anyway.  I'd rather be in my garden than out shopping.  I love the age of "I don't give a rat's ass".  I embrace it totally.

So how did I spend my birthday?

There is a little slice of heaven that is located within an hour's drive of our home.  Just outside of Red Feather, CO is a small state recreation area called Dowdy Lake.  It is absolutely gorgeous.  The topography is unique.  You are in the mountains, at around 8,000 ft. elevation, but it doesn't really *feel* like the mountains because there are no mountain peaks looming in the distance.  The air is cool, the pines are tall and the underbrush is green and lush.

Here is a shot to make you drool...

This photo was actually taken at the end of August last year, when we went up for Dean's 40th birthday.  I just didn't get a good shot of the lake this time around.  The lighting was totally different this time - bright and sunny all day.  Here was the best I could do -

The sunlight definitely brings out the bright greens...  The dreaded pine beetle is also starting to make a definite presence here, and I worry about how different it will all look by this time next year.

So this trip was all about just relaxing.  Dean asked me weeks ago what I wanted to do for my birthday.  Did I want a party?  A surprise?  A quiet dinner?  I am an introvert at heart... and camping with just 'us' was what I wanted most.  My happy place is right here (photo above), with my husband and children, breathing in the mountain air, with no sound except for the ripple of water on the lake shore and the quiet roar of the air moving through the pine trees.  Camping does not feel like work to me.  Sure there is a lot of preparation involved, but the payoff is worth it. 

The kids wanted to fish, so that is exactly what they did.  As it turns out, they are both very patient with reeling in the line very slowly.  Rylan was even able to cast with surprising accuracy when she got the hang of it.

Last year, Colin was a tiny, sickly 8 month old.  So this was his first 'real' experience camping.  He loved it!  He was a very very busy little boy as there was sooo much to explore.



Abby enjoyed her time too.  Her end-of-summer shed has begun, unfortunately, so her hair is everywhere!!  She reminds me of the character 'Pigpen' from the Peanuts comics.  She is just this moving cloud of loose fur.  Here she is in all her scruffiness...

I tried to get some good artsy shots.  I scouted out wildflowers in the evening, and then I went out the next morning to make use of the good light...

Abby passed this way, just before me.  Can you tell?

There is nothing better than the smell of pine on a warm, sunny day

Anyway - back to birthday fun.  Our trip was only an overnight.  We headed home and washed up in time for dinner with the family at Famous Dave's.  My mom, dad and step mom, brother with his wife and three boys, my grandma and my three aunts and my mom's cousin all came to celebrate with me.  It was sooo good!

Rylan helped me open gifts and Colin just devoured anything you put in front of him - especially the corn!  The kids were just awesome the entire weekend.  Minimal arguing and good spirits despite a rather sleepless night.  We will be making some changes to sleeping arrangements and gear before we head out camping again in a few weeks.

A very good birthday indeed - and there is more to come.  My birthday gift from Dean and the kids was delivered earlier today - an iPhone!!  My mom is making me my official birthday cake today: Mississippi Mud.  Is it just not a birthday without some mud.  She is coming by with it tonight, and some sort of surprise is afoot.  I am supposed to go out a get a new dress today and be ready to go out when Dean gets home from work tonight.  Hmmm.

The only down moment in the midst of all the birthday fun is that the physical mailbox has remained devoid of one birthday card in particular.  I could always count on a card from my grandma Betty, so yet again her absence has been painfully felt.  She and I were birthday buddies - her birthday is coming up on Thursday the 11th.  We would always share a giggle on the phone as we wished each other a Happy Birthday on the 8th and again on the 11th.  It is hard to believe, still, that she is gone.

I don't want to leave you down... so here is a laugh for the road...



Family gathering at my grandma Bobbie's house last weekend.  Here are all of the great grand kids.
This is take 28, and the only one cooperating at this point is Lauren (in pink, standing next to Rylan)
Getting eleven children to smile at the same time is impossible.
So let's embrace them in all their glory!!