What about kids who aren't curious?

Before we get to our regularly scheduled program, be sure to check out Yadda, Yadda, Yadda's answer as to why she unschools.

Jean2 brought another question to the table that I get quite often:
"Your children are interested in learning and thriving. What would you do if they were not?"
First, I could sugar-coat my answer and say that my kids are unique. But they're not...at least, I believe, not in that way. Let me take you back to the days when I taught preschool. I taught the 3yr olds who had never gone to any kind of school before. They came in at the beginning of the year with all their zillions of "why" questions. We'd start on a topic and they'd be off on tangents. But as a teacher (especially one who'd never even begun to think about homeschooling much less unschooling), I did what every teacher needs to do...I reigned them in. I taught them to sit down, be quiet, raise their hands to ask questions. I taught them to focus on the subject at hand and not get far off the beaten path. I had to; I couldn't afford to have 15 kids going in 15 directions if I wanted *anyone* to learn anything that day. I did my job well. By the end of the year, they were walking in lines, waiting to hear what we were going to learn next, staying on topic, giving me the expected answers, etc. But the biggest difference was that the "why's" were gone.

[Insert your version of the views and opinions expressed here are not necessarily the opinions and views of all unschoolers]
and
[Insert "I'm really not trying to dog teachers and school systems - this is just my honest answer to your question"]

I believe that when we take kids who are just beginning to want to connect the dots in life and move from one topic to the next freely and stick them in a classroom and tell them what they'll be learning when...yeah, after a couple years, they (on the whole) won't be as curious as they were. In high school and college - which classes did you do the best in? Which ones did you do extra learning or assignments just because they were fun? Probably your electives. You had the choice to choose what to learn and it probably came much more easily to you because you wanted to learn it.

Again, I'm not trying to dog anyone here. I understand that if you're one adult in a classroom of 30 kids, you *must* keep order and stay on topic (and therefore, have a schedule of 'things we need to learn' i.e. curricula). I get that. But my opinion is that school-at-home isn't necessary for homeschoolers. Why would I take a system that works for a 1:30 ratio and apply it here? I have the ability to reach and spread myself a LOT more with only a 1:4 ratio. Imagine if all schooled classes only had 4 kids in it. I imagine you'd do many many things differently.

I often wonder about the homeschooling movement...if the majority are doing school-at-home, what's the big draw? Are they just wanting to add their religious teachings to core subjects? Are they trying to protect their kids from influences? I guess I'd had to ask some school-at-homers that one. But for me, homeschooling is about helping my kids enjoy learning the way they learn best. Do my kids ever learn from worksheets? Sure. Rose loves worksheets. I do actually have curriculum books lying around here that she picks up and works her way through. Matthew doesn't like them. But what's wrong with exploring a period in history through a Renaissance Festival or a Civil War Reenactment or Wishbone episodes? Exploring Mozart because you found out someone else has your favorite meerkat's name? Writing and learning to read just for the plain FUN of it?
(See Rose's latest drawing - she wrote TIGER at the top...because it was fun and she wanted to write it)


Now, why can't I "count that" as learning? Is it not learning because it wasn't in the curricula I have? Is that just playing for a 4yr old? Should I not count her reading Hop on Pop last night (just because she wanted to) as reading time? Where does our afternoon of making paper airplanes fit in? Science, because we discussed gravity and wind currents, or math, because we talked about angles, or reading because we read and followed directions, comparing and contrasting the different models and methods? It's all just learning. The hardest part, I think, is on my end - when I try to separate our learning into categories at the end of the day. Where *DO* I put the afternoon of paper airplanes? LOL

In the end, it's my belief that humans are curious creatures. I bet that after graduation, you found some hobbies that maybe you didn't have time for when you were younger. Though I certainly don't remember having as much homework as I see kids with today so we probably had more time to play an impromptu game of baseball in the yard, or shoot marbles...though both can teach geometry concepts. I'm convinced that if I were to put Matthew in school tomorrow that within 2 weeks, they'd tell me that he has ADD. Hold on - yes, I believe ADD is very real. What I'm trying to say is that because my son has had a lifestyle of freely moving from thought to the next one, school officials would peg him fast of not being able to stay focused. Though I've seen him spend an hour on one of his own Lego creations to get it just right...and I've often seen him read a book for an hour or more...he can definitely focus and he has the memory of an elephant.

Forgive me, my thoughts are a little scattered this morning. But I hope that gives you a frank look into my thoughts on your question. Basically I think that if all kids were given free reign with learning, they'd all be very curious.

I'm curious about everything. Even subjects that don't interest me. - Alex Trebek

Name that rash

OK you moms, teachers, heck even those of you who need a fun game...Let's play Name That Rash!
Is it:
A. allergic reaction to food or soap?
B. german measles
C. Chicken pox
D. Other (please specify)

It's all over her entire body, feet, palms of her hands, etc. We've been around other kids but no one that I know of was sick. She is too young to have had her MMR or CP vax's yet.

It's all fun and games until someone's eye gets poked out

So Jean2 had a question for me...
"I have always felt that learning does not ALWAYS HAVE to be fun. Do you feel that way?"

Absolutely not. There are many ways to learn. For example, I have learned that I don't want to play with wasps or bees or red ants. I have learned that the stove can get REALLY hot. I've learned that my ankles, who have been sprained more times than I can count, absolutely can NOT handle ice skates or roller blades. These are lessons I've learned that were NOT fun in any way. But I learned them...fast and well. ;)

Of course, playing Devil's advocate, I have to throw back to you - given the choice, which way would you prefer to learn? The fun way or the not-so-fun way?

Unschooling isn't all about fun. There is hard work involved (and not just in my 24/7 question answering...lol). Any musical instrument or sports or voice or anything really that they want to excel in is going to take a lot of hard work. I'm not scared of hard work. Since my oldest is only 7 yrs old, it might be a while before we see the big really hard ones that we might give a lot of credit.

I do see hard work going on in his life. Most kids learn to tie their shoes in preschool. Anyone who's watched a child go through this process (or remembers their own) knows it's a very difficult thing to learn for some kids. My son wanted to buy the Velcro shoes because he wasn't ready to work on tying his shoes. So we continued to buy the Velcro ones. Last year for Halloween (he was a young 6yr old), he went as Indiana Jones. We couldn't find Velcro boots but he wanted an authentic outfit so we bought them. That was really the beginning of his interest in tying his shoes. We'd had a book lying around that came with a shoelace and mock shoe on the cover that he'd played with a few times but never was really interested. But, the costume spurred him to want to learn how to do it. He didn't want to have to wait on me to have a minute to help him. He worked on it for a few weeks. He asked me to buy him regular tying shoes so he could practice on them too; I obliged. Sometimes he'd bring the shoe to me or Hubby and ask us to show him how to do it. At other times, he'd work on it from the directions in the book. Some days he got really frustrated with it, just as kids often do in school. But he was determined and I was really proud of him that he stuck with it. He had it figured out by the end of November (I blogged about it here).

Was all that work fun to him? I doubt it. But he could see the pay-off (and so can you if you look at that huge grin he has on his face!) and he kept working at it. No pressure from me. He learned the same thing that any other kid his age was learning (or had already learned) but what do I see as the difference? He wanted to learn it. He made a goal for himself and pursued it. It wasn't an administrator who said he needed to know it by kindergarten...it was something he discovered and I think he was perhaps more proud of it because he was in control of when and where and IF he learned it. Does that make sense?

On the whole, we probably do have more 'fun' with unschooling than more traditional methods. We probably do more field trips and hands-on stuff. But the goal isn't to make them learn xyz...it's more about encouraging that love of learning. If a child learns to love learning itself, there's nothing they can't ever learn. Along the lines of 'feed a man a fish, he eats for a day...teach a man to fish, he eats every day'. On an everyday basis, we're not doing exceptionally fun stuff. Today we went to my Bible study class, had lunch, they're down for quiet time now and later will probably be my reading of The Book Of Three, helping me with dinner, maybe some roughhousing with Hubby, a nightly walk and bedtime. But in actuality, a younger boy at my Bible study class taught him how to make a paper airplane (he's been trying to master this for a while and is VERY proud that he knows how to do it now) and we discussed the Food Guide Pyramid and nutritious foods while they made their lunches (with me overseeing). During quiet time, Rose will work on finding new words to read in her many many books and probably write some new words and numbers out for me to see. She will also do lots of imaginative play with her stuffed animals, teaching them to read and behave in certain ways (LOL - so cute!). Matthew will work on building his latest Bionicle creation (which takes a lot of skill really - maybe he'll be an engineer?), read multiple stories and probably work on math (he's been interested in adding multiple digit numbers). Our evening walk will be full of questions, many relating to animals and science and flora and fauna. Others will be questions I have no idea are even in their heads. The Book of Three will take us to a fantasy world where there is problem solving needed, character development, suspense and, hopefully, a happy white special pig in the end. Dinner preparation is a fantastic time to study math and chemistry. One HUGE chem lab. ;) You should see him when I take a huge overflowing skillet of spinach and cook it down to just a handful of greens. lol

I hope this answers your question Jean2. Feel free to leave more! I enjoy questions. I'm not blogging in order to change people's minds about unschooling - it's me wanting people to get a good grasp of what unschooling really is. When we were dating, Hubby said that he would like to homeschool the kids but since it would be his wife doing it, it was ultimately up to her. I don't mind telling you, that totally freaked me out. My mom has taught pre-K for 20+ yrs. I have a Superintendent uncle, an English professor SIL, a English teacher uncle, a brother who does a lot of men's groups teaching and another who went overseas to teach English as a second language. I'm not from one of those families...you know, the kind who are uneducated or think it's all a conspiracy, etc. I was thoroughly entrenched in public school myself and consider myself well educated. I even knew some home schoolers who seemed to have some weird world views and just seemed a little 'off' in perspective. I also taught preschool for several years. Somehow, my heart did a complete 180 and this is the road God led us to for this season of our lives. Thanks for watching the journey! :)

Tagged...you're it!

My good buddy over at Yadda, Yadda, Yadda invited me to participate in a tag, and now I tag you.

The rules of the tag are to go to Wikipedia and type in the day and month of your birth, excluding the year, and hit search. Then you are to list three events, two births, and one holiday that occurred on your birthday.


April 26

Events:
1607 - English colonists of the Jamestown settlement make landfall at Cape Henry, Virginia.
1564 - Shakespeare was christened.
2007 - Stephen Hawking becomes the first quadriplegic to float free in zero-gravity

Births:
1785 - John James Audubon, French-American naturalist and illustrator (d. 1851)
1933 - Carol Burnett, American comedian

Holiday:
World Intellectual Property Day (since 2001).

I henceforth tag ALL of you. :) Leave me a comment so I know who's up to the challenge. ;)

This might be a long one...

It seems that I have days that go by so quickly that I can't even read my favorite blogs, much less post to my own. And then there are days, like today, when my kids are happily playing together upstairs for the moment and the baby is sleeping and I find that I have some time to myself. But even on those hectic days, I'm composing posts in my head and if I continue to have me-time, I'll write until I'm interrupted by something/someone. So this post might be long.

First, a comment left on the last post makes an interesting point.
"Sometimes I really don't *feel* like explaining it or talking about it. A lot of times I do, because it's my passion, but some days I just don't."
Absolutely! I don't always feel like explaining it either! But it's similar to exercise...you know it's good for you and them and you know they need the answer and so you dig deep and just do it. But, as with exercise, we all have our off days too and there are some days when I just can't dig deep enough. What do you do? You can make a list of questions and bring them up later..."Matthew, remember a couple days ago you wanted to know...well, I found the answer...". Unschooling is not about perfection or knowing all answers.

A friend, who is looking at different methods of homeschooling for her 2yr old, recently said, "You must be a walking encyclopedia. I could never answer all those questions!" It's OK to not know all the answers in life! No one can possibly know them all. Share what knowledge you have about the subject and if they ask more questions, look it up. The internet bill is a MUST for our family. Library card is a MUST (we're fortunate to have a wonderful library system). Having B&N and Borders nearby doesn't hurt either. ;) And anytime I can show them something up close and hands-on, I do.

Have you taken your kids to Krispy Kreme? Other than the promise of hot sweet gooeyness, what are they usually excited about the first few trips there? Watching the donuts form and cook right in front of them. Because, like The Stooges so eloquently showed us, there are things (like baseball) that make SO much more sense after you watch it. I learn things much faster by watching. I'm predominately a visual learner though I think we all have a big portion of that in us. I bet your kids can explain to you pretty well how to make a donut if you tie in the words "Krispy Kreme". ;) In the same regard, as my kids grow, I will strive to give them hands-on experience with as many things as I can. Yes, this will brings lots more messes into my house than most other moms but I believe they will look back on their childhood and learning experiences more fondly than someone in a desk stuck at school learning facts from a dull textbook. I know I would have.

The things I remember liking the most from school were the hands-on and the extra special things. I remember making Stone Soup when my class read the book in elementary school. We all brought in an ingredient and the teacher brought a stone. I remember making string art in geometry - and I, a self-described math hater, truly loved that project and ended up really loving geometry by year-end. Field trips were also a huge plus to me. The botany class trip in college took us out to a wildlife area where we discussed flora and fauna in a whole new way. I also detested history/social studies until, that is, my required course came during my 2nd year in college. I chose the class about American history up to the end of the Civil War. My teacher lived in a 150 yr old house and invited us to her home one class night to get a real feel for life back then. The house was lit with candles, it was drafty and had dark muted colors throughout. We sat on the old wood floor as we listened to her teaching that night. A few weeks later, she invited us to watch her in a Civil War re-enactment...we could write a paper on the experience for extra credit. I had no idea what to expect. But coming over the hill and looking down into the little town they'd created and seeing the dress, the talk, the foods, the battle...I was suckered right in. Did history become interesting to me then? You bet. I still don't like to watch war documentaries but when History Channel does those specials where they do re-enactments of life long ago, I'm all eyes and ears. Now obviously a lot of this stuff had to do with my teachers. Absolutely they made a difference in how I saw it because THEY were interested in it too. A good creative teacher makes all the difference in the world. But how many of those are out there (besides our faithful Jean2, that is...teehee)? Many unschoolers get their older kids involved as apprentices and there are more and more programs available all the time. As a good example, I see that our zoo now has a "Be a Zookeeper for a Day/Week" program. There are many opportunities like this all around that will help my kids get real hands-on experience that they will remember forever.

Topic #2 - Conversations around the house lately...
Coming home from church on Sunday, we were listening to the kids current favorite music, a CD of the best Veggietales songs. OK, I admit it...I was happily singing (and laughing) along as well. Matthew had been quiet in the back for a while, which usually means the wheels are turning and something quite unexpected is going to come out of his mouth any moment. Though this one, I wasn't quite prepared for.
"OK, Mom...stop the music. I want to tell you how babies are made."
My heartbeat quickened as I turned off the music and wondered what was coming next.
He went on to explain the scientific answer...
"Well," he cleared his throat, "you see..." [very matter-of-fact] "The boy has the...wait, AFTER the man and woman get married, the man has sperm and the woman has...an egg, I think it's called...and one sperm goes into the egg. Now if it's a boy sperm, it's a boy baby. And if it's a girl sperm, it's a girl baby."
"Oh, ok," I said, wondering what they were teaching kids in Sunday School these days. "What made you think about that all of a sudden?" I added.
"Oh, I just wanted to tell you since we have Linnae now."
"Oh, well thanks for explaining it," I said with a big silly grin on my face.
"You're welcome."

****************
Rose is starting to read now at 4.5yrs. She's got all the letter sounds down and makes a real effort to sound out words. Though for some reason, she wants to read for Daddy more than she does for me. Since Daddy puts the kids to bed, along with their bedtime story (so I can have clean-up dinner time or on leftover night, a little me-time), they "work on" reading then. Very informal. No pressure at all. Daddy reads most of the book, pausing at some small words and asking her to sound them out. If she doesn't want to, he reads it and moves on. But when I ask her to do the same thing, she acts like she has no idea what I'm talking about and "I caaaaaan't read" whines accrue. But I do catch her reading from time to time.

Do you remember that cheesy 80's movie, Short Circuit? The one where the robot, Johnny 5, somehow comes alive and forms relationships with people? Yes, that one. Do you remember what he did when he first came alive? "More Input!!" He read and read and read. He went to a bookstore and read books at an alarming speed and gained input. Kids are much the same - they want more and more and more information.

Yesterday Rose wanted me to read from one of her animal books. It's written for 9yr+ kids, I'd say, but all she ever really wants to read are animal books. And she's past all the mundane topical information they give in toddler books and easy readers. She wants more input. So we read books that are quite in-depth about animals. They also have many words per page and it's a little daunting for her to attempt on her own. I finished reading a page and turned it and she stopped me.
"You forgot to read this part!" Her fear of adults skipping text grabbed hold of her.
"No, I just read that."
"No you didn't!"
"Yes I did. See..." I pointed to each word and sounded it out slowly.
"Oh, yes you did read that!" [pause] Then with wild excitement, a huge Cheshire cat grin on her face and eyes wider than a raccoon she squealed, "I read that!!!" She realized that she could indeed read those many little words if she gave it some effort. What a great learning moment to behold!! I'm so grateful that I was there to witness it.

Well, I've talked your ear off enough for one day and the baby is waking and it's nearing lunchtime so I'll sign off for today. Hope to see you again soon!

What is unschooling again?

I find it very difficult to explain unschooling in a short sentence or brief conversation in a way that people can really get a good grasp of what it is. Between family questions last weekend and Hubby's high school reunion, I found myself trying to explain it well...and failing, again.

The question that is **always** posed to me is this...
"What if they don't want to learn something?"

First, I have to say you've never been around my kids if you ask that question. Do I think unschooling would work for every kid? No. I think it would be difficult to take someone who began traditional learning styles and move them to unschooling...though I have seen it done successfully. Secondly, it takes a lot of work. It might seem to many that it's a hands-off approach but nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, it's probably more hands-on than any other approach out there. A huge part of unschooling is learning to be highly opportunistic. When that three year old has asked you, "Why" for the 37th time in a row, you have to be willing to answer the question. Am I a know-it-all? Absolutely not. So if I don't know the answer, we look it up in books or online or find someone who does know the answer...as soon as possible.

Kids are naturally inquisitive. They want to know everything. From about 3-5 years old, kids are known to drive adults crazy with incessant questions. I've seen many many many kids put off or worse, put down for not knowing the answers. How many times are we too busy or in such a rush or too tired and say, "I'll explain it later"...and later never comes? The question hangs out there, probably forgotten by the parent and possibly the child as well. Maybe the child figures it out on his own or maybe he decides he didn't really want to know anyway. Unschooling is all about answering those questions as soon as they arrive, digging for answers as needed, discussing follow-ups and showing pictures/places/visuals to explain all that's needed until the child is satisfied and the questions stop. This requires a lot of patience on the part of the answerer, trust me. ;)

For the first year in a long time, we're having a very cool early September. Matthew's birthday is coming up and I gave him the option of having his party at home or having it at a local park. He was very excited about the park idea. So I called the Parks Dept and found out there was only one pavilion open for rental at one of our parks. We drove by to see if it was suitable for what we wanted. He wanted to know which park it was...then he asked which pavilion number it was. He wanted to find it himself. Then I asked him if it was a good location. He liked it and we headed to the local Rec center to reserve it. They were actually closed that week for cleaning so I told Matthew that we'd have to go up to City Hall. On our way there...
"What's City Hall?"
"It's where the local government offices are."
"Oh....pause....huh?"
"Local government...hmmm...who is the leader of our country? What's his title?"
"President"
"Right. Well, just as we have a leader for the country, we also have state leaders, called Representatives, and we have county leaders and we have city leaders. The leader of our city is called the mayor."
"Oh, yeah. I knew that, I just forgot."
"The mayor, and many other city officials have their offices at City Hall."
[pause]
"What kinds of other officials?"
"Well, for example, the people in charge of the Parks Department."
"What do they do?"
"They take care of our city parks. They make sure the grass is mowed, that mulch is brought in for the plants and trees, they keep the buildings in good shape and repair them as needed, they clean the bathrooms, maintain the playground equipment and they are in charge of renting out the pavilions at the park, which is what we're going to do."
"Hm. What other officials are at city hall?"
"I can't think of any off-hand. Let's see when we get there."
[a few minutes later, we enter City Hall]
Matthew sees the receptionist and says, "Where is the Parks Department?"
She informs us that it's actually down the road in another building. We took a bit of time before leaving to look at the directory to see who else worked there.

Down the road at the Parks Dept building, she informed us that it's $25 to rent and they don't reimburse you for rain. We decided to think about it a bit. When we stepped outside, it was lightly sprinkling on us but the temperature was so very cool from what I experienced last weekend that we decided to take a walk in the rain. So we went through the park across the street, playing in rain puddles and even flipped the swings over to the dry side so we could swing for a while. Matthew decided that the pavilion wasn't a very good one because it was small and there is a line of trees and bushes between it and the playground and the parents probably wouldn't like that too much. The Parks Dept also told us that if the ground is dry that day, we are welcome to take our own tables to set around the playground area for no charge. Matthew decided he wanted to chance it as the forecast looks really good at this point. This was the end of the city government questions for a while. Today he and Rose are doing "experiments" with the goo they made at the last birthday party they attended (Mad Science). He heard me talk about the La Brea Tar Pits and started to compare/contrast the goo and tar on his own. I found myself looking up information about tar for him. It's actually quite interesting stuff...and the tar pits? Actually asphalt. La Brea Asphalt Pits. Hmph.

Now, could he learn this information from textbooks? Absolutely. Could he retain it long enough to be tested. Sure. So why not do traditional teaching? Because of this...he asked, I answered right away...he remembers it. It means something because he wanted to know at that moment. He will remember it. It's not a bunch of facts that he is forced to learn because some official said somewhere that he needs to study local government in 7th grade. At some point, he'll want to know more about what they do and what I told him already is about the extent of what I know about them so we'll probably have to do some digging...maybe check out the city website, perhaps attend a city council meeting, maybe when he gets interested in the how's of police work or his drivers license, it will be a segue way into city government, much like planning a birthday party led to city government.

Still, to the skeptics who are still asking, "But what if those never happen and your kids never want to know? They never ask?" There is a secondary measure. If they want to go to college, there will be certain things they *have* to learn and study. Local government will be part of that, I'm sure. But when they learn it, it will be a means to an end - they will want to go to college and so they will understand that this is what they have to do to get there. And I know some of you skeptics are still sitting there thinking, "Yeah, what if they don't want to go to college?" Well, that's their choice...and every choice has a consequence...they will quickly find that obtaining a job so they can have money to reach other goals (family, hobby pursuits, etc.) will be much more difficult without a degree. Doable but difficult.

This is probably the best explanation I've had for "What is unschooling" in a long time. I hope it helps you further understand it too. :)

Don't you wish you were here?

My trip to Santa Monica Pier last weekend.



My brother's wedding was beautiful. I don't have any pictures to share yet (haven't gotten their approval to post them yet actually) but it was a very pretty garden setting and went off without a hitch. His wife is a fun person and I enjoyed getting to know her a little over the weekend.

We (Linnae and I) also did some sight-seeing while we were out there. In addition to walking the beach and doing the ferris-wheel on Santa Monica Pier, we also saw the La Brea Tar Pits, got a drive-through tour (via my brother) of downtown LA, had a fabulous meal in Chinatown, saw the walk of fame on Hollywood Blvd. and saw their fantastic Getty Art Museum (mostly the outside, which is more like botanical gardens actually).

My only complaint is that after a very mild summer for them, we apparently took the heat with us. It was 106 and probably hotter while we were out there - and yes, humid too. We were all quite annoyed with the weather but we survived. The beach was at least 20 degrees cooler, though it was only about 30 minutes away from Pasadena, where we stayed. I've only ever seen Florida ocean. I expected Cali ocean to also be as warm as bath water and stink of dead fish (sorry to anyone who lives in Fla!) but it was so very cold and fresh smelling...I *now* see the draw to the beach.

More pictures to come...

Back to our regularly scheduled program

OK, so for the summer, this blog has become more of a 'what's happening in our family' blog rather than an unschooling one and since school is starting everywhere, it's gotten me in the mood to get back on track.

Matthew and Rose have started a new game at snack time. It usually accompanies "the snack that smiles back" (you get bonus points if you know which one that is!) for some reason. Rose, now 4.5 yrs old, can now quickly tell you 1+1, 2+2, 3+3, 4+4 and 5+5 just from playing this game. I know she's memorized the answers because if I ask what 4+5 is, she gets out her fingers and starts counting. Matthew quizzes her on her math during this game while she excitedly shouts out the answers as fast as she can. Of course there are super bonuses (a very important part of any game they make up around here) to work towards as well.

Grammy started something a while back when she was goofing around at a restaurant one day with the kids. She made them a tiny paper boat out of a piece of paper. She babysat last weekend and I came home to kids who were trying to make their own paper airplanes. You can imagine the mess of folded paper on my floor. ;) But I found a good how-to-fold-paper-things website and Matthew has been working on new designs and we've been inadvertently doing science experiments with gravity, physics and mass as he makes new designs and compare/contrast them with the others he's made. We also had some new words that he asked me about..."What does bisect mean, Mom?" One of them that he made looked really good to me but he was really frustrated that it wouldn't fly. It did a nose-dive every time. He said, "The instructions said it's a slow flier but I'd say it's a fast faller." He came up with a great idea - he found a paper clip and fastened it to the end that didn't have much folding on it. But that didn't help much. Frustrated, he brought it to me. It looked good to me and I was trying to figure out why it wouldn't work when the idea struck me to turn it over. That was it! It glides beautifully. He commented that the poor instructions were to blame for his confusion in not knowing to turn it over to fly it.

In other news, the kids now have opportunities to make some dough. When Matthew was young, I fell into that trap that most moms do at one time or the other - buying little gifts here and there. The problem is that it usually ends up that most any trip you go on, you're buying a new gift. Maybe something small but it adds up and when I got to thinking about it, it doesn't teach them to appreciate gifts or money or rewards, etc. So I stopped that when Rose was born. Gifts are for birthdays, Christmas, Easter and very rarely, special treats (like the program/gifts he got from the Walking With Dinosaurs show they saw a couple weeks ago - more to come on this in a future post). So they have long dry spells in-between gifts sometimes (from Mom and Dad - grandparents are allowed their berth of course). I've seen Matthew eying the new Bionicle line all summer, frothing at the mouth and stating, "I only have one dollar in my bank." He doesn't ask because they've gotten used to me saying, "I don't have any money," or "do you have any money to buy that?" Hubby and I made the momentous decision this week to start an allowance. We're starting off fairly easy with mostly chores they already do such as making their beds, taking their dishes to the sink after meals, emptying the dishwasher of kid items, putting their dirty clothes down the chute, etc. They have so many opportunities for each duty every day. Then there are the once-a-week chores, etc. So all in all, they have 75 boxes to check off for one week. If they get all the boxes checked, they can earn $4.50 a week (this turns out to be basically one nice toy (or video game) a month). Not earth shattering but this whole thing is optional...and that is important to us that these be optional. After they get used to these and as they are capable of doing more, we'll change up the list. Of course, I had to add a Super Bonus (as they do to all games) - the Super Bonus is "have a good attitude all day". This doesn't mean they can't have a sad day or be allowed their feelings. This is basically the golden rule - treat others as you would treat yourself. If they get 10 checks for good attitude, their Super Bonus treat is picking out a special dessert for the family that they get to help me make. After showing them the chart and explaining it thoroughly, I have to say they're more excited about the Super Bonus than the money. Go figure?!?

As they were anxious to get started on their charts, Matthew started wiping down the lunch table and chairs. He said, "Mom, I get these jobs done a LOT faster when I know I'm going to get paid to do it!" I hope the enthusiasm stays long enough to start seeing rewards.

We spent two days this week cleaning out Matthew and Rose's rooms. *Not* an easy or fast task. But it's done and I'm excited to see how easy it is for them to keep clean if they tidy it everyday (one of their check mark items). I got this whole idea from Flylady - she's really helped me get on top of housework in the past and I'm excited to see the kids excitement about it as well.

And we had a big breakthrough for Matthew today. He's a slow-to-adapt guy. Always has been. If he expects one thing to happen and plans change, it's always a huge struggle with him. He also likes his room the way it is. I think for most kids, cleaning the room doesn't get done because they just don't want to stop playing to do it. But to Matthew, it's deeper - he is scared he won't be able to find things and scared I'll throw away things important to him. So cleaning his room, in the past, has been a big hassle. Today he was very willing to let his older Buzz Lightyear toys go. (And that was actually hard for Mom!...Buzz was such a big part of his life for a long time!) He was willing to throw away things and really help organize his stuff. He came up with some great ideas on where to place things, etc. He's come so far...sniff, sniff.

Grease

First off, I had a total BLAST last night. Not only did we sing at the top of our lungs (thanks, Michelle!) but we were all given goodie bags full of interactive movie items. For example, anytime the guys got out their combs on screen, we got our our combs and did the motion. When Frenchie sang her "Beauty School Dropout", we all blew bubbles. When Sandy and Danny kiss for the first time, we had champagne poppers. When the dumb jocks came on-screen, we yelled out, "DUUUUUUH" and mustered up our best nerdy voices for "Euuuuu-gene". And of course we had little pom-poms for the pep rally and jingled our keys for the Thunder Road race...to just name a few. It was a great fun time and quite a few people dressed the part. Here was my feeble attempt...

I'm posting a picture *only* because some friends have begged me. But please believe, if I'd actually TRIED to make a costume, it would have been much more authentic, as is well attested to by previous pictures of all of my *homemade* costumes (shown below).

Squanto (I didn't make this one) and The Dynamic Duo


Matthew the Chili Pepper (6wks old)


Bob and Wendy


LarryBoy and Laura the Carrot


Shakespeare the Meerkat, a black cat and Indiana Jones


So you can see that I take great pride in making our costumes (where IS that picture of me as Leia and Matthew as Luke?). This family tradition was started by my mother. Some of her handiwork...

As kids, we were always very grateful to not have a store-bought costume that looked just like the other kids down the street. If we happened to be the same character, at least *our* costumes were original. ;) So you see, if I had actually tried for a Grease costume, a Grease costume I would have had. Last night was me rummaging through my closet for something that looked like it would fit the part. Maybe I'll have a do-over and go as Rizzo for Halloween this year. Though that costume I had last night *did* get me some checkin' out by some 20-somethings at Walmart after the event when I stopped to get diapers. ROFLROFLROFL

Which Grease girl are you?

Tonight, I'm going with some of my MOPS friends to a Grease Sing-Along. Yep, they're playing the original Grease at the movie theater and it's a sing-along. And you're supposed to dress up. I'm going with a Betty Rizzo style tonight but here is how I'm pegged in the quiz... Think they're right?

Which Grease Girl Are You? (pictures)

You're the after Sandy, sometimes known as the Bad Sandy- the sexy girl who wears black leather and catches all the guy's eyes!
Take this quiz!








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Free Flat-Panel LCD HDTV!!!

I am shameless. I want one. This would be Hubby's bestest ever Cmas present...Cmas in August.

5 Minutes For Mom and Best Buy are hosting a give away. That's right. You just post about it and you're entered. Easy peasy.

Pretty please?? I've been really good and with the rate of the rest of this house, I'm sure our TV is the next to go too. ;)

Where are you?

A good question from my loyal readers. :) Here's my answer:

Well, I have been officially running around like a chicken with it's head cut off. I realize that my CA trip over Labor Day is fast approaching. I spent the last two weekends and several evenings shopping. The last time I dressed up, it was for a funeral...and not appropriate wedding wear. But other than that, I haven't dressed up in a very long time. So I had nothing to wear to the wedding. My mother and I got to shop together so that was fun. The hard part is that I wanted something summery and all the summer stuff is on clearance now and I am apparently a very popular size so it was nearly impossible to find. I ended up with a fall outfit but it looks nice and I just hope that the evenings are as cool as Hubby remembers from his time out there.

What? What's that? You want to know how the bay window ceiling repair is coming? First we thought it was just sagging from improper support. So Hubby ripped it all out, put in some 2x4's for support and put up the dry wall and corner piece. Then it rained. And the water came through the holes. So Hubby ripped it out and decided the water was coming in from Matthew's window above. He hung out the window (none of our ladders were long enough to reach up there) and used up 4 tubes of caulk around the window. Then it rained. And water came through the ceiling. After much more inspection, he realized that the plastic sheeting against the house was put up wrong and the water was coming down between the sheeting and the house. So he trimmed off the sheeting and put 2 more tubes of caulk on the inside of the bay window ceiling. Then it rained. And water came through the ceiling. So yesterday, in a last-ditch attempt, he came up with an out-of-the-box idea. He got some gutters from the hardware store, made a trough that he attached below the drip area and then added a tube that allows the water collected to drain out the bay. Then it rained...very hard...last night. And... and... and... there is no water coming from our ceiling. I only wish I'd taken a picture of the gutter work before he put up the insulation. Next weekend will be putting the dry wall up...again...and at some point, mudding...and then painting the whole living room. Really big job but I'm happy to get rid of the green.

I've also been busy shopping some more. I joined a MOPS group last year and loved it so much that I did the craziest thing I could think of...volunteer to be in charge of crafts while I have a new baby to take care of. I can count at least 53...nope, 54...reasons why this will go bad fast but so be it...it's done. So in the midst of floor repairs (nope, still not done) and ceiling repairs and clothes shopping and excessive heat waves, I've been picking crafts and trying to find the cheapest ingredients and stocking up within my budget. So you can see why I haven't posted in a while.

In homeschooling news, we have a homeschooling group (not unschooling though) that has finally started getting together. We had a poetry 'class' and learned about and wrote haiku's. It was interesting to see what the kids picked up on. Rose wanted some help from me so I just asked her questions...What do you want your poem to be about? Cats. OK, what about the cats? What do they do? etc. Here's what she came up with...

Cat flies to Catwings
Silky wings lick flowers
Baby Rho-Rho cries so loud

After she told me the second line, she said, "hmm...one more line and something surprising." I was amazed what she picked up from the very brief instruction of the mom in charge.

Matthew wanted to use a poetry machine. You know those books that have magnetized words and you can put them on your fridge and rearrange into poems for fun? Well, we had a box full of words like that and he worked quite a while rearranging words to make his poem. I can't find it at the moment though, unfortunately, so I can't share his with you.

So, my loyal readers, please don't give up on me. If it's a while before I post again, just know that we're really busy and though I'll be trying to post every day, I'll definitely be back to my regular schedule after Labor Day weekend. Until then, enjoy the rest of your summer and for those off to school, well...stay cool. ;)

8 Random Things About Me

I've been tagged by Mrs. Pivec over at Golightly Place. Check out the CUTEST clay creations her daughter made!! I'm soooo impressed.

OK, so 8 random things about me...
1. I have holes in my ear lobes but can't wear earrings. I've tried every kind of metal and plastic and every kind of hypoallergenic pair I've seen. Still, when I put earrings in, they itch me to death within an hour. Anyone have tips for closing those holes up? :)

2. I love music. I played the flute from 6th grade until past college. I shared the first chair position out of 20 flutists in my high school band. I sang in choirs from as far back as I can remember - church, school - whenever I could sing, I sang. I'm a sucker for musicals and trips to our famous Stl Fox Theater or Muny are very fond memories. Amy Grant is my all-time favorite singer. I fell in love with her music and voice in 4th grade, believe it or not. I even lip sync'd to a song of hers in high school (talk about a scary audience!!).

3. I love working with my hands. I wouldn't consider myself an expert in any one craft but I have a wide range of crafts that I've dabbled in. Someday I hope to master one. ;) I loved shop class and am always trying something new. This love of working with my hands probably spurred my love of typing...and blogging...and writing.

4. I was interested in sign language at an early age. I'm not sure if Sesame Street was the culprit or not but I've always been interested in it. When I was 15, I snuck into a college signing course (I was technically under age). When the class was almost over, the college decided to extend the class into an "advanced" course. It was the only time they ever did it. The next year in my school, I met a girl named Camille. She was deaf and we became fast friends. I'm convinced that God put us together.

5. My ears are highly sensitive. I've always wondered why God would call me to be a mom and give me ears that literally hurt when they hear yelling and running feet on the wood floors. Hmmm...

6. My favorite foods are chocolate and ice cream (but I don't much care for chocolate ice cream...hmmm).

7. As a little girl, I wanted to be the next Nadia. I took one day of gymnastics. I was three and because they had one-way mirrors into the room, I couldn't see my mother. I am told that I sat in the corner and cried and embarrassed my mother so much that I never went back.

8. I'm headed to Cali for my first time ever. It'll be a short weekend trip, full of a wedding, but I'm excited to see the ocean!! Living in MO all my life, ocean views are quite rare. I've only ever seen Florida ocean (and Lake Michigan, if that counts). I'm very excited to see my family and add another state shot-glass to my collection. ;)

I'm tagging Jean at Happy SAHM and Jen over at Sunny With A Chance of Clouds.

Surrounded by weddings

I have two older brothers. One is 3 years older and one is 8 years older than me. They didn't have much to do with me. The middle sibling and I butted heads a lot and, let's face it, our older brother was just too old to play games with me. ;) We lived on a gravel road with 11 other houses. They were big lots of land and there was only one other girl on the road who was my age, but she went to a private school so I was lacking in playmates.

I was also the youngest cousin on my father's side and the girl cousins were all older than me, not that I saw them enough to really matter. A couple times a year. My mother was an only child so there were no cousins on her side of the family for me but her father re-married and they had a little girl, Patti, just a year younger than me, who was also an only child.

Patti and I were inseparable when we got together. I think we were both the sister the other didn't have. Though she had two half-sisters (one being my mother), they were grown and out of the house. I remember being hardly able to contain myself on the 2 hour drive to her house. I remember being in trouble for jumping on the bed. We spent many hours walking in the woods and swimming in the pool and fishing and chasing the cats and dogs around. We snuck into the kitchen to get extra desserts at Thanksgiving and Christmas and spent hours upon hours playing with her huge collection of Barbies (of which I was so jealous), though our favorite game was, "House". In this game, she was always 3 and I was the older wiser sister. ;) When we got too old for Barbies, we started singing and lip syncing and making dance routines. My grandpa (her father) used to have the biggest house parties. There would be gobs and gobs of people around. I liked the chatter of all those people around...and they were great insulation for masking the sounds of the bed springs as we jumped. ;)

We're both older and don't see each other very often at all anymore. But I think of her fondly and I'm so glad she was there for me as such a good friend growing up. So today, when I got her e-mail that she eloped, I'm drawn back to thinking about what a great time we had together as kids...and I wish her all the happiness in the world. Congratulations, Patti!

The foolish man

The foolish man built his house upon the sand
The foolish man built his house upon the sand
The foolish man built his house upon the sand
and the house on the sand went SPLAT!

I remember joyfully singing that song at VBS and Sunday School and even at church camp growing up. It was fun to think of a house going, "SPLAT". Now it's not quite so funny.



You might think this is an old picture from a few posts ago when Hubby fixed the ceiling. It's not. It's a brand new picture. :(

Today we had a wonderful thunderstorm move through - fast and furious. Lots of wind, lots of rain. It cooled us down 20 degrees in 20 minutes. I enjoyed it so much that I stood on the porch, enjoying the light show and the beautiful cloud formations that changed so fast. After I came back in and was sitting down for a minute, I realized there was a drip...drip...drip...drip coming from the ceiling section Hubby fixed recently.

The good news is that he hasn't mudded that section yet. (His time is totally tied up right now with studying hard for his upcoming certification test.) So down came the bay ceiling again, down came the stuffing...I mean insulation. Hubby came home immediately and tracked the water, we think, to a spot near the window in Matthew's room. After much caulking, we think it's fixed. He's going to let the caulk cure and then try spraying the hose at the house to see if it is indeed fixed. Then he can replace the insulation and drywall...again. But then again, someone has to keep Home Depot in business...I guess it's our year. Who wants dibs on 2008?

Linnae has found her voice!

Wedding Bells

My brother is getting married! While he lives out of state and I haven't seen him in several years, I can tell from his emails that his fiance is a very sweet woman and I wish them the very best. Here are me and my brothers...a few years ago. ;) I'm the youngest, the middle one is the one getting married and our oldest brother is in the back.

Wonders of Wildlife

So I bet you're all wondering how my trip with 4 little ones went the week they did the floors. We decided to visit my SIL in Springfield, MO (and check out the cute pic of Linnae that she posted!). It took us about 4 hours or so to drive there, including lunch and a few pit stops. The kids kept themselves busy with movies and books on the road. It was really a pleasant trip. Many moms on the message board I frequent worry about the actual car travel. Not me. That's the easy part - they're contained, the little two might actually nap, and our DVD player in the van is a pure blessing for us all. My worries start when my kids are totally out of their usual routine, staying up late and missing naps...that's when things get hairy for us. ;)

On Monday, we let the contractors in and we left. It was so early that we stopped at McD's for breakfast before we left town. When we arrived in Springfield, we stared in horror at the fleabag hotel we'd booked decided to change our reservation to a different hotel for various reasons. Our new hotel suite was so nice! Expecting just a room with two beds, I got that with a door that opened into a living room will pull-out sofa and a kitchenette. It was a real treat for me (yes, does that tell you anything??). The first night, I had Rose and Matthew in one bed and me and Jade in the other bed but Jade pummeled me all night with her feet and I woke up with her feet actually kicking my head. Though the bed was extra comfy, I decided to use the pull-out couch. This way, I'd also get to unwind a bit by myself before I went to bed each night. That was nice though the bed wasn't that great..but what could I expect for a pull-out?

SIL and her family (also 4 children - but she was smart and had a nice age gap between #2 and #3 so she now has babysitters. lol) take advantage of summer by sleeping in quite late...they also stay up quite late. Given my druthers, I'd do that as well but when you have 3 kids whose internal alarm clock goes off at 7am regardless of when they went to sleep, you teach yourself to go to bed earlier. Maybe when they're older and can better fend for themselves in the mornings. ;)

So, because they like to sleep in, on Tuesday morning the kids and I went to the Wonders Of Wildlife Museum, next to our hunting-family-IL's mecca Bass Pro.
On the way in, we saw a baby duckling by their pond. He was so cute and the girls were tickled watching him jump into the water after his mother.


The museum was so much nicer than I'd expected. The majority of the museum was dedicated to Missouri wildlife. They had large stuffed animal exhibits.


They had huge aquarium habitats for all kinds of fish.



In one area, the aquarium was about 15 ft high from the floor where we were standing. Just a nice piece of glass between us and sharks. It was breathtaking. On the opposite side of the room was a touch tank. They had some urchins, a horseshoe crab, and various other creatures. There were two employees who were sitting there to answer questions. But they ended up just agreeing with everything Matthew had to say. I was especially impressed with his knowledge of the creatures especially since he knew more that I did.

Rose was enthralled with the sea lions and bobcats


Learning more about our wildlife was a great little field trip for us. The kids and I thoroughly enjoyed our time there and we learned a lot about wildlife.


And we close with a political statement from Jade:

Tuesday pics

Finally, some long awaited pics!

We'll start with the cutest picture *ever*...
Baby Toes


And for those interested, here is my new bathroom floor


Today we met up with some friends. My kids are in the back...Matthew on the back left, then Rose (orange shirt) and Jade (kind of in front of Rose, wearing a blue shirt). The three kids in the very front (aren't they cuties??) are our bestest buddies. When they were younger, Matthew and his buddy, sitting in front of him, used to get confused for twins. They don't look so much alike now but ahhh, the memories. ;)


I actually caught Linnae smiling here.


And this one is her famous deer-in-the-headlights look that she gives when my flash unit goes off. ;)


And yes, pictures of the bay window that Hubby is working on. All that's left for this weekend is taping and mudding, which I hear is incredibly easy and fun. I'll be sure to take more pictures.
The best news about the bay window ceiling issue is that I can finally re-paint the living room. I originally wanted a very light green in there. Hubby talked me into the dark green that you need to almost brace yourself for. He also talked me into the lighter green of the bay windows. Now this may be his idea of a perfect color scheme but for me, it's just too dark. But I agreed to give it a good ol' college try and now, almost 4 years later, I get to change it. YIPPEE!!! I tried, I really did. Our furniture is dark, our decor is dark...we need light walls to balance it out. So I'm actually thrilled with the ceiling needing a repair (but please don't tell Hubby!).

They used to call it "Strong Willed"

Matthew is what Kurcinka would call, "highly spirited". In her book, Raising Your Spirited Child: A guide for parents whose child is more intense, sensitive, perceptive, persistent and energetic, Kurcinka describes my son in detail. From the moment he was born, he has been highly persistent. From the moment he was delivered, he began screeching about everything. He screamed bloody murder when I unlatched him from nursing. He flat refused to sleep on his own. He gave baby contraptions such as the swing, the bouncy seat and high chairs full on screaming fits from the moment I set him in them. Daily showers for me were agonizing for him as he required constant human touch; those 15 minutes he was on his own was too much for him and he let me know it.

As he's gotten older, I see he rates about a 10 on each scale in her book. Her opening paragraph sucked me right in:

The word that distinguishes spirited children from other children is more. They are normal children who are more intense, persistent, sensitive, perceptive, and uncomfortable with change than any other children. All children possess these characteristics but spirited children possess them with a depth and range not available to other children. Spirited kids are the Super ball in a room full of rubber balls. Other kids bounce three feet off the ground. Every bounce for a spirited child hits the ceiling.

My mother said tongue-in-cheek, "They used to call it strong willed". Whatever the term, I've been long convinced that Kurcinka is the only woman alive (aside from me) who really gets my son.

*********************
Tonight was the first night of Vacation Bible School (I had to spell that out for my Aussie friend but here in the US, it's known as simply VBS). The kids went with Grandma and Grandpa, who were teaching one of the classes. This is Matthew's third year attending so it's a familiar place and his sisters and grandparents were all there as well.

The kids happily drove off with Grandma at 4:30pm. A rare moment for Hubby and I to be alone, we went out to eat. Around 7pm, I get a call. It's Grandma. She says simply, "Can I talk to my son?" I could tell it wasn't her "happy voice". Apparently Matthew was having a major melt down and Grandma needed some backup. I've seen many of these melt downs. Remember, my child is more. So any meltdown is a major one. Hubby tries to talk to Matthew but he just keeps repeating, "I can't understand you. Can you stop crying and try to tell me what's wrong?" Grandma isn't sure what the meltdown is about either. I finally get to talk to him and he gets out through tears, "I just wanna go hooooooooome". But he can't tell me anything else. Grandma gets back and while she's troubleshooting with me to find the cause, she says, "I told him to go with Mrs. Parker...you know, like Peter Parker's mother (score for Grandma to come up with a Spiderman gem!) and..." Matthew says, "But they told me to go with the other class." Grandma gets him to the right class and he did better.

I'm sure, to a parent with non-spirited kids, they can understand the confusion and maybe disappointment he felt that caused him to break into tears and want to go home. What you missed was the meltdown over his name tag getting torn, the meltdown over not being in the same class that his sisters and grandparents were in and who knows what other meltdowns that I wasn't even told about.

He gets over stimulated easily. As a baby, he would never go to sleep in his car seat. Screamed as loud as possible on each and every trip in the car. Yes, even as a newborn. The only time I remember him sleeping in his car seat was the day he broke his leg and I think he slept out of pain control. Loud parties send him up 10 notches and remember that he's already a Super bouncy ball.

The singing and cheering at the beginning of VBS, meant to get the kids excited about being there, over stimulated my Super bouncy ball and put him into Super Mega Overdrive. And then they sent him to a room with people he was unfamiliar with (slow to adapt/uncomfortable with change). Then he realized his sister wasn't going to be in his class with him (slow to adapt). Then his name tag ripped (he's also a perfectionist). And his shirt tag was probably itching and it was too hot/cold for him (sensitive). All this added up to meltdown after meltdown, I'm sure. God Bless those seemingly tireless VBS workers! They got him through it. By the time I arrived to pick them up, he had survived the singing and cheering closing ceremony (have you ever noticed how looooooong a Super Mega bouncy ball can keep bouncing?) and met me with a t shirt wet with tears. They might not have realized it but he was so happy to see me that he almost cried from relief of knowing the night was over...but he was working very hard to not cry again.

We loaded the van up (after the teacher fixed his name tag situation for tomorrow night) and Matthew happily chatted with me all the way home. I couldn't imagine that he would want to go back or that he got anything out of his time there. But I forgot for a moment that my Super bouncy ball is also more perceptive. He told me that he indeed did have fun and does want to go back tomorrow night. "Oh Mom, we have to wear shirts that can get wet tomorrow because we have a water game...and we have to take a dry shirt to change into." Matthew told me the Bible verse was, "Care about others as you care for yourself." I asked him what the meant to him. "It means just what it says Mom!" I asked him how he could show Rose that he cared for her as much as he cared for himself. He was quietly thinking to himself and Rose injected, "And tell me how I can show Matthew that too." Matthew pipes up immediately and says, "Rose, you show me that all the time. You clean up my things when I don't want to. That's very nice of you. Thanks for doing that all the time." I was so touched that it took several minutes before my voice returned.

When we got home, he told me that they are collecting pennies for VBS. He said they're trying to get enough pennies to make a whole mile. And when they get that many pennies, they will send it to "ohhh..I forgot the name of the country" so they can dig a deep well and have fresh water to drink.

So in spite of all the things that went wrong for him, he grabbed hold of most everything. My Super bouncy ball is very perceptive.

As Hubby was putting the girls to bed, Matthew followed me closely into my room. He grinned as I plopped onto the bed and patted for him to join me. He snuggled in tight and sighed deeply. And I swear it was the same sigh I used to get when he was a baby after I'd pick him up and hold him close. He nuzzled his head into my neck, just as when he was so little. He was home. It was quiet. Snuggling with Mom, all was well with his world again.

On the good days, being the parent of a spirited child is astounding, dumbfounding, wonderful, funny, interesting and interspersed with moments of brilliance...The dreadful days are a different story.

The 7 Year Itch...

Not for our marriage, which by the way is in it's 14th year, but for our house.

June 17th marked our 7th year anniversary of being in this home. It was the first home we had built to specifications and we haven't been *totally* happy with some of the construction "flaws".

But in May, we had the major floor damage due to the ice maker dying. This is STILL a sore spot for me and probably why I haven't posted in a long time. This month has been totally nuts. I'm not sure if I'm coming or going anymore. The very condensed version is this...hardwood floors got put in while the kids and I had a visit with my SIL and her kids. The vinyl floors were put in as well but that contractor had some issues and my laundry room/pantry will have to be redone. The hardwood...well, that's a tricky one. Hubby and I aren't very happy with the installation. Either we had exceptional installers the first time around or we have bumbling idiots now. And we haven't totally decided which statement is true yet. There's a bubble in the kitchen floor and they've agreed they will have to, at the very least, take up half of my floor again, which is what started the whole thing in the first place. But we're so dissatisfied with the installation and new floor that, if we have our wishes granted, the whole thing might have to be redone. We'll see what the manufacturer says.

In a brief moment of idleness last night after dinner, Hubby was snuggling with Rose and Jade on the couch. He noticed that the ceiling of our bay window has drooped...a good 3 inches. After poking around and using stud finders and finally cutting a hole in the ceiling, he discovered that the builders never put studs up there. So he contacted a hunting buddy who works with dry wall and got some directions over the phone on how to pull out the whole ceiling part of the bay, install studs, reinstall dry wall, tape and mud. The good thing? I've been wanting to repaint this room for several years. ;) The bad news? We've never done this kind of work before so it'll be quite interesting to see how it goes. Hubby also is studying for a new certification and his testing date is set already. This job will eat up this whole weekend at the very least.

I feel like my life is the epitome of the bucket in that song "There's A Hole In The Bucket". An old folk song that tells the story of a couple trying to fix a hole in their bucket, the tale starts out needing straw, to needing a blade to cut the straw, to needing to sharpen the blade, to needing the stone, to needing water for the stone, to needing the bucket to wet the stone, coming full circle to saying, "But there's a HOLE in the bucket!"

Wish us luck. And I'll send pictures soon. ;)

Edited to add that I'm submitting this entry to TopBlogMag. This week's topic was "Choose a song whose lyrics relate to something in your life and then tell us about it". Though I've never seen the site before I wrote this post, Jen encouraged me to send it in. Neat site! Check it out!

Photo Blog

Nana, Hubby's grandmother, passed last night after a long battle with cancer. This picture was taken in April '05 when we celebrated her 80th birthday. She had full life and we're grateful that she is peacefully and painlessly resting now. We love you Nana.


A couple pictures I've been meaning to post...
I was in the middle of something when Linnae started crying. After you have 2 kids, you realize that the baby doesn't always get tended to as quickly as you did the first child. So she was fussing for a bit while I finished up my task. When I had finished, I went into the living room to find Matthew burping her over his shoulder. He's never even picked her up on his own before and he'd picked her up and got her positioned right too. She was very content and quietly alert. A precious sight for Mama. ;)


Rose has always loved music. As a toddler, she'd beg for "just one more song" before bed every night instead of the "just one more story" that I always wanted at her age. So I got some CD's from the library and she is in LOVE. She sat listening to the CDs for at least an hour the first day. And here she is right now by my side, asking where the CD player is. ;)


And, just for you, Mrs. P, since you so nicely asked...here's my gang. I'm makeup-less and probably going to hack my hair off short soon but here we are at the moment. ;)

Anyone need a fund raiser?

Yesterday we went to our usual hang-out, Walmart. OK, it's not our hang-out but many weeks it definitely feels like that. I'm sure most of you moms know what I mean. My friend in Alaska used to tease me about how much I love to go to Walmart. But since she lives on a 5 mile island with no 'super center', she doesn't understand that I go there because it's cheap and it's convenient. It's not that I love Walmart or think they have the best items/craftmanship, etc. It's cheap with mid-range products and convenient (One-stop shopping is very important when you have 4 kids to get in and out of car seats. My mom says if she had to deal with car seats, she'd probably never have had three kids...and I wouldn't be here to amuse you today).

After we had done our shopping and grazed through the samples/demos of the day, we headed to the checkout. While we were shopping, we heard various announcements on their music system. A local radio station was there, doing a fund-raiser for the Children's Miracle Network and, more specifically, our local children's hospital. Walmart had given them some big shopping sprees in the toy section and while we were looking over the new Transformers and picking out a b-day present, we heard them in the next aisle picking out various toys. Just in front of the checkout area, they had a big table set up where they were accepting donations and giving out pieces of cake. The kids eyes glazed over as I shook my head for them to go get some. I was wrapped up in paying and then the cashier forgot to add an item and I had to go through the paying process twice so it was a few minutes before I caught up with the kiddos.

They had set up camp on a chair next to the table. They had their plates sitting on the chair and they were kneeling and standing next to it, eating. As I walked nearer, Matthew said, "Oh and I see that you have some punch - may I have some of that too?" Cake-serving Man said, "You sure can" and poured them some. I arrived and picked up a piece of cake to share with Jade, who was in the front of the shopping cart. Matthew told me that the man was taking donations for the Children's Hospital. I wonder what else the man had discussed with him in the time it took me to arrive. Cake-serving Man stepped away to the Customer Service counter and the table was left unattended for a few minutes. A customer, on her way out, stopped to grab a piece of cake. Matthew jumped up and commanded to her, "Don't forget to make a donation!!" She, looking sheepish, went back to her purse and dug out some money for the jar.

The mom in me wanted to shush him and explain that it wasn't his business if the woman was donating or not. But was it? How could I explain that it was ok for her to take free cake and not drop a donation? Because while a donation wasn't required, it was expected. So what was wrong with him saying it out loud? Why do we, as adults, feel so inhibited that we can't say the same thing? I realize that she could have been someone who's already written her donation checks for the year or any number of reasons (which we did discuss later). But the big picture is that adults laugh at the brutal honesty of children. Why do we do that? Maybe part of the reason we're given children is to learn to be more honest as adults.

Cake man came back and I told him that Matthew was working the table for him and I explained what he did. The man and the cashiers standing around all had a good chuckle. Cake man asked if Matthew could stay the rest of the day... "He can have all the cake he wants if he'll keep that up!"

Here's hoping we all have a more honest day than yesterday.