Happy Halloween!!

Happy Halloween!

Indiana Matthew

Rose, Shakespeare from Meerkat Manor on Animal Planet

Black Cat Jade

The whole gang...

Thank YOU, Grammy and Grandma!

About this time last year, Grammy asked me if Matthew would like a magazine for Christmas. It sounded like a great idea for my great little reader however he was less than enthusiastic when he received a pair of binoculars with a note that said he'd be getting a subscription to "My Big Backyard". But as soon as it started showing up, it fast became a favorite bedtime reading for him. Rose started getting "Baby Animals" at the same time and has thoroughly enjoyed it this year.

For this Christmas, subscriptions have been renewed or upgraded to the next age level as appropriate and Grandma is adding "Highlights" to our reading materials.

I believe I (and the kids) have shown the grandmas how very much the kids love their magazines but I don't think *I* have ever shown my gratitude.

Every evening we have 'crazy hour'. This is when Daddy is on his way home from work, the kids are up from their afternoon quiet time, I'm trying to get dinner going and the kids decide to go stark raving mad. They run, they scream, they wrestle. It's different every night but usually starts with a friendly game of tickle or chase or something that's relatively harmless that soon spirals out of control. This starts roughly around 5:30 and continues until we sit down for dinner. And it's highly compounded by our hardwood floors - no carpet to absorb all the noise. Who knows why this happens every night? I have tried to guess for a couple years but have come up with no great explanation except the fact that they know I'm preoccupied with dinner and (typically) a phone call or two at the same time. Somehow the family likes to call during crazy hour so I'm sure we come across as good and sane over here in the background. ;)

Tonight, at the apex of crazy hour, combined with the dark rainy day and a busy morning at MOPS, I was just about to...how does Bill Cosby say it, "she held the yardstick over her head like a Samarai warrior and said, 'I have had ENOUGH of this!'" Yeah, I was about to do something like that. When Daddy enters the house. This usually makes crazy hour ten times worse. However, tonight was different.

Tonight, there were two magazines in the mail.

Putting together the last minute touches on my slaved-all-day meal, tacos (teehee), I suddenly realize that I can actually HEAR Hubby talking next to me...and he's not shouting over the roar of children. I find a toy and yell loudly ask nicely (assuming the kids are upstairs) for Rose to come and put it away. Rose comes running in from the living room and puts it away. I watch her and she goes back to the couch and is totally absorbed in her magazine. I quietly walk into the living room and Matthew is in the chair, totally absorbed in an article in his.

Bless you, Grammy and Grandma. Bless you! [And, as if by magic, the song playing on XM radio just now is "I Believe In Angels"...and I certainly do now.]

Yes, more excuses

But at least this time I have somethings to SHOW for myself! :) I told you I was working on an unusual shaped afghan. Well, here is the finished product. I call it a "Blended Rainbow Round Ripple". I'm still having video card issues so I hope you can see it in all its glory. Colors are red, orange, yellow, green, blue and violet. The kids love it and ever since I put it on the floor to take the picture, they think it's our new living room rug.





In other news, our planting experiment has gotten quite exciting. (Check out the previous post to get the original story.) The beans that have been in the dark cabinet grew about twice the length of the one in sunlight but didn't produce leaves and were yellow, almost white. The kids and Grammy decided to move it to the sunlight to see what would happen. It is turning green and starting to grow leaves - surprise, surprise. The going theory around here is that while it was in the dark cabinet, it thought it was still underground and shot up so it could reach the sunlight above ground. The beans in the bag have finally sprouted, quite a while behind the "normal" planting and a couple of the beans in the jar have sprouted as well. The "normal" planting is quickly outgrowing it's tiny Dixie cup and will have to be transplanted soon as its roots are beginning to surface. Eeks! Yes, more pictures abound...

1. Mr. Normal


2. Mr. Started In Dark Cabinet (see the baby leaves emerging after only one day in the sunlight?)


3. Ms. JarHead


4. Ms. Bag Lady


And of COURSE you didn't actually think I'd post all these pictures and not leave a very cute one of at least one of the kids, did you?? Surely you know me better than that. Meet our newest learning-the-joy-of-reading kid, Jade... (This photo was NOT staged by anyone but herself. She pulled up the table, put the book on top and happily gaga'd all over it for about 20 minutes, stopping only to look at me and giggle to her hearts content because she was so very proud of herself.)

Pictures!

Yes, we've been busy! First, I promised some pictures of my crochet creations so here are a few...
Poncho that Rose was willing to model for you:

Skull Cap on a not-so-willing model:
(this one turned out really pretty but waaay too small to go with the poncho as intended so I gave it to Jade)

And a sling for Rose's stuffed animals. She typically makes a habit of carrying around her animals stuffed in her shirt or top of her pants so my best buddy suggested I make her a sling (DUH?? Where is my brain???) and she adores it. :) And I apologize in advance for her dirty shirt - it seems snack appeared before I realized it.



I'm also in the middle of an unusual afghan (the first one that I'm going to finish. I've started many in my lifetime but never have completed one yet.) and will post a picture when it's complete.

On the unschooling front, we've been doing a study on plant growth, started by Grammy one day when she was babysitting. They planted some Great Northern Beans several different ways:
1. In a cup with dirt and water and sunlight. We add 1 tsp of water every 2 days.
2. In a cup with dirt and water in a closet. We add 1 tsp of water every 2 days.
3. In a plastic bag with dirt and water and sunlight. This is a mostly self sufficient bag but I do open the bag every couple days to give it a little oxygen.
4. In a mason jar with a wet papertowel and sunlight. We add 1 tsp of water every 2 days.

The results so far aren't quite what I expected...
1. Our "typically planted" beans:


2. Our plant that is in a dark closet. I myself was surprised that it grew at all but it's interesting to look at the differences. Because of my video card issues, it might be hard to see the color difference but #1 is very very green and healthy looking. It has nice thick leaves forming. #2 is yellow, almost white, and hasn't grown any leaves yet. I suspect it will die in the next week. Matthew also observed that it has a funny smell and we discussed mold and the conditions necessary to grow mold.


3. All of them but you can see the plastic bag one here. They put staples halfway down the bag, placed some water in the bottom, put in the dirt and beans on top. This one is a good look at what happens both above and below ground with plants:


4. This is a closer look at the jar beans. They're starting to sprout but they're not moving along nearly as fast as the others, and some of the beans on the opposite side of the jar aren't doing anything yet:


We'll keep you updated on their progress.

Well, it's happened

I now have a Daddy's-girl. It happened about this age with Rose but it wasn't nearly as abrupt. It shocked me until I remembered it's part of being a little girl.

Jade will be 19 months next week. First it was Friday night when she fell down and started crying in the other room. I could tell it was more a "I'm tired" than a "I'm hurt" and called to her in a sing-songey voice. "Jaaaaade....did you get hurt? Come here sweetie." I immediately hear her pitter patter coming towards me as she's crying. I turn around as she passes my chair and goes straight to Daddy. He looks at me apologetically and shrugs as he hugs her tight. I admit, I was hurt. But thought that maybe she saw him first when she came in the room since the chair I was in had it's back to her. Yes, I told myself, that was all it was.

Sunday we took our annual fall drive into the country and found our favorite pumpkin patch, even though there are hundreds between here and there. She wanted Daddy to hold her hand on the gravel and carry her. This was fine because I had my camera bag, camera and purse, overstuffed with snacks, already hanging around my neck. Jade fell in LOVE with all the pumpkins and came home with a little decorative one that entertained her all night. [I'm having video card issues so I hope the lighting is OK on these pictures!]

As I started dinner last night, I needed some items from the garden and sent Hubby out to get them for me. Jade started calling for him, "Daaaa..eeee.....Daaaaa....eeee" and would follow up her calls with a fake sputtering cry. She continued on in this fashion until he came back in, despite my telling her that he'd be right back. At this point, I'm still thinking it's all 'cute'.

Then, THE sting of all stings. I made a fabulous chicken roast recipe from allrecipes.com. I cut her up chicken, cooled it, cut up her veggies, mashed them down a little, put some butter on for flavor and, letting my dinner get cold, started to feed her. She violently shook her head "no" at me. I knew she was very hungry - we'd done all that walking at the pumpkin patch, she didn't eat much for lunch and we were eating a late dinner. So I tried a bite of something else. Still, violent head shaking continued. She cried and whined. Finally, Hubby said, "Let me try something". He took the same fork I used and tried to feed her. She opened wide and happily accepted the food. I was shocked. Heartbroken. Stunned. When did my little girl turn into a Daddy's girl? Then I started remembering that Rose had done the same thing around the same age. It just wasn't as fast and didn't sting as badly.

Don't get me wrong - I'm happy for Hubby. He gets less time with the kids than I do and I'm happy that she loves him and loves spending time with him. But I have to say that it still hurts a little.

Of course, on Saturday, I took Rose out for some garage sale exploration and then took Matthew out for grocery shopping later that day. Maybe Jade is jealous??

I Am From

I Am From (template at http://www.swva.net/fred1st/wif.htm)

I am from The Letter People, from an Atari 500 and boomboxes.
I am from a small yellow five room house on land big enough for twelve. From apples and lilacs and horses and tire swings hung from climbing trees.
I am from the sweet honeysuckle, the cool dark woods filled with stick directions and a field of jonquils. From rabbits and cats and dogs and gerbils and guinea pigs and mice.
I am from French Dip and Writers, from Burtons and Pratts and Grandpa Clark who loved to read and take long walks and fight for justice.
I am from the tellers of rich stories and lovers of rich music. Quotes from birds and cats who wouldn’t go away.
From 'think before you speak' and 'get a good education so you can support yourself' and 'be brave like a soldier'.
I am from Agape Love. From the beginnings of CCM. From long bus rides to GA camp and hot float trips down ice-cold spring fed rivers.
I'm from Missouri and California and Michigan and Ireland and Germany, from egg rolls and apple pie and biscuits and gravy and warm blueberry muffins on crisp Christmas mornings.
From the blizzard of ’82 when we were without electricity for three days and I was sick with 103 fever, from homemade Halloween costumes, and the aunt who was a year younger than me and still my best childhood friend.
I am from boxes buried in the basement, from collages hanging on walls, from Super 8 films and yellowed newspaper clippings stored in dust covered containers but not forgotten.

[If you decide to do a I Am From poem, please send me a link! I love to read them!]

Back to our regularly scheduled program

Ahhh yes...unschooling. Learning what you want when you want. Yes, that was the point of this blog! teehee...sorry, I've been sidetracked lately because this little alien has taken over my body quite literally. But I'm feeling a little better each day and I can get back to 'normal' for a while.

So the really great thing about unschooling is that we've STILL been learning, even through all the mommy-is-very-sick-go-find-something-quiet-to-do-for-a-while.

Matthew figured out how to count to 100 all by himself, just because he wanted to. He's been working on math lately too. He's been adding numbers up to 12 + 12 from playing around with his "fun" Math Gear book, and has asked me to get him the others that show subtraction, multiplication and division too. I just asked him what else he's learned and he said, "I'm getting SICK of staying in this house! THAT's what I learned!" Touche and Ditto. Hubby brought home a box of books from a work friend a few weeks ago and one of them was called "Deadline at Spook Cabin". It looks like it's about 40 years old and I never imagined he'd pick it up at all but there he was, zipping through it in just a couple hours yesterday instead of playing xbox or legos or running around screaming with his sisters. (Ha. Copyright 1958...so I was right...40 years) We've gotten into some theological conversations lately too. Matthew had done something he KNEW he wasn't supposed to do...and he'd done it like 3 times in the span of about 2 hours. I reminded him of the rules, I'd talked to him about it, I'd given him time-out and on the last one I said, "Matthew, if you do that again, I am going to spank you." He props both of his hands on his waist and says, "Mommy, God doesn't want us to frighten people!" I sent him to his room while thinking, "There IS such a thing as holy fear and you're about to find out exactly what that is, boy!" :-D See, I get as frustrated as the next mommy...maybe MORE because there is never a real break for us from each other. After I gathered myself, I went upstairs and we discussed my role as a parent and what God wants me to do as a parent when my children don't behave. And we discussed the "Children, obey your parents" verse as well. That same wrong behavior hasn't come up since.

Rose has been very busy with arts and crafts and her stuffed cats. She LOVES to draw and color and she's getting quite good at drawing stick people and really uses her imagination when trying to draw something new. Whenever she draws me, she always puts a tiny dot in my belly for the baby. Awwww. She's also been playing quite a bit with a LeapPad keyboard thing. It has all the letters and there are multiple games to play on it like "what letter sounds like uh?" and "press the letter R" and "press a letter to play a song", etc. She's also been asking me to write words for her lately. "Mommy, write cat above my picture." She also loves to play with Matthew's Leap Pad (especially his SpiderMan book). She writes pages and pages of letters every few days. She painstakingly practices 'iiiiii jjjjjj iiiiii llllll mmmm jjjjjj iiiiiii ccccc' I need to scan in one of her pages so you can see them. She may have better handwriting than Matthew at this point.

Jade...well, what can I say an 18 month old has been learning? Everything. She understands everything I say to her and can follow two step directions. But she still mostly refuses to speak English. Go figure. Though she does try to buckle and unbuckle her carseat straps. ;) So maybe she's been focusing on her small motor skills instead of her verbal ones. Or maybe the other two talk PLENTY for 3 kids and Jade, out of the kindness of her heart, has decided to give Mommy a break for a bit longer. Either way, I've seen her putting forth a much more concerted effort lately to make sounds that really work. So I'm sure it won't be long before she has her first huge language explosion.

And me?? Well, I've picked up the art of crochet. I've made a few very simple repeat pattern blankets in the past...ok, well...I've STARTED a few of them anyway. ;) But last week was Hubby's bday and since we agreed our super duper top-of-the-line camera would be our gift for the year, I couldn't buy him anything. So with hunting season coming up, I decided to make him a hat and scarf. That way, if it turned out lopsided, the deer wouldn't tease him as much as say....coworkers. ;) The first hat was probably too small for him so I made another, using a different pattern and it turned out CUTE (well, in a manly cute way).

Fits well, isn't lopsided and I was amazed how quick and easy it was for someone who really hasn't done much crochet before. He was impressed and since I've been feeling so awful and not doing much but sitting and recovering and resting, I have now been keeping my hands busy. So I then made a bookmark for my secret sister in MOPS (shhh, don't tell her!)...

And, I'm now working on a poncho. I was making it for my niece Christine but it's turning out so cute, I may have to keep it for Rose. But then again, Christine is so much more a girly-girl than Rose is, Rose may very well refuse to wear it and Christine may win in the end. I'll post a pic when I'm done.

So there you have it. Learning going on all around us though I could easily answer "nothing" to the question, "What have you guys been doing this last month?"

Bedtime Stories

As I'm laying down with Rose tonight for a few minutes at bedtime: (fyi - Rose's cats are stuffed, Grammy's are real)

R: Mommy, I only have my one big cat in my bed tonight.
Me: I noticed that. Where are all your other cats that you usually have?
R: There wasn't enough room.
Me: Ohhh.
(pause)
R: I have 4 girl cats and 5 boy cats.
Me: Well watch out because they'll soon be multiplying in that ratio.
(pause)
R: What?
Me: Nevermind.
(pause)
R: Grammy doesn't have any boy cats but I have 5 boy cats.
Me: Grammy does have at least one boy cat.
R: What's his name?
Me: Linus. He's all black and he's a big cat.
R: Oh. (mumble mumble) Cricket.
Me: What color is Cricket?
R: He's black.
Me: [testing to see if she thinks all Grammy's cats are black now] What color is Oreo?
R: She's black. And white. (another pause as a sly grin forms over her mouth) And pink.
Me: (laugh) Pink? Where is she pink?
R: On her nose!
Me: Ohhhh
(pause)
Me: What's your big cats name?
R: I don't know. Grammy gave him to me when I was a baby.
Me: Well I bet Grammy expected you to name him.
R: Ohhh. Maybe Himalaya's daddy or Himalaya's mommy or Himalaya's brother or Himalaya's sister or Himalaya's grammy (on and on and on)...I think I'll name him Himalaya's daddy.
Me: So he's a boy cat?
(pause)
Me: Because daddys are boys.
R: Daddys are not boys!
Me: Your daddy is a boy.
R: No, he is a SIR.
Me: (laugh) I think you mean he's a man.
R: (very stubborn now) NO, he is a SIR.
Me: Ok

As I get up to leave:
R: Mommy, what's that woo-wooo sound I hear in the middle of the night?
Me: Probably the train going through town. I can hear it very faintly in the distance at night when all is quiet too.
R: Well, you stay up until you hear it and then go outside and tell them, "Be quiet and don't wake up my Rose!"

This is the same girl who was so moved by Grandma punching out some perforated characters on the side of her Happy Meal box tonight that she actually said, "Wow" in that awed voice of wonders.

12 weeks today!

Finally - 2nd trimester! :) I'm feeling better though evenings are still rough and I'm not eating much. But I'm off meds and surviving so I'm thinking I should be feeling better with each passing day now. If I think back in terms of weeks, I DO feel better than this time last week so maybe I'll feel somewhat normal by this time next week?

Hubby will be away for training next week and I'm not looking forward to that. But it's a good move and he'll get another certification under his belt to make his resume prettier so who am I to complain? ;) I have my MIL and my mom scheduled to come help me out each evening next week since that's the worst part of the day for me and I'm extremely grateful they'll be here. Hopefully it's the last time I'll be needing help for a while. I'm not sure what it is about me but I hate to ask for help. I guess we all do.

Well, Hubby's bday was yesterday and the kids and I are planning a party for him tonight. So I'd better be off decorating, making a cake and home made bread and cleaning up the place.

Everyone have a great weekend!

Friends and feelings

Matthew's best friend, Allen, started 1st grade this year and it's his first year of going all day. This has been a hard adjustment on Matthew. Allen has a younger brother, James, who is almost 4yrs and a baby sister. Rose and James have always had a lot in common just like Matthew and Allen so it's always been 'understood' that James is Rose's friend and Allen is Matthew's friend. [This background is important for the story.]

Matthew has been reading a lot of those Joy Berry Help Me Be Good books lately. I bought the set years ago but was a little disappointed when they showed up. So I shoved them away and didn't think much about them. But Matthew has unearthed them in our library in the playroom closet and has been reading through them. And I’m finding his recent explanations of his actions are getting quite…well-thought out.

Yesterday we had my buddy over and James and his baby sister. Allen was, of course, in school. Matthew had a very hard time playing with James and Rose. He was overly tempermental, bossy, wanted to play and then didn't want to play - nothing made him happy. I was bewildered at his behavior and secretly wondered if he was coming down sick (as is typically the case when he's having such a 'bad' day).

Last night we were snuggling before bed and he said, “Mommy, I’m a googleplex plus a googleplex plus a googleplex (and on and on for a while) sorry about my attitude with James today. I was really sad that Allen wasn’t here to play.” I thanked him for apologizing of his own free will and commended him on recognizing why he had a bad attitude about it. I also told him that Allen's mommy had emailed me and said that Allen was sad he missed seeing Matthew too. He immediately said, “Did you tell Allen that I didn’t play with James??”

I think he was worried that by playing with James, it would make Allen sad and so he didn’t want to play with James and upset his friend. I talked to him about the fact that while Allen was sad about it, I’m sure he understood Matthew playing with James and that he would want Matthew to be nice to his little brother and play with him.

This morning, he said out of the blue, “Mommy, I love Allen very very much.” I reminded him that we’d see Allen this week after school one day and again at James’ bday party in a couple weeks. He seemed happier about that but added, "I wish Allen was homeschooled!" Hubby and I looked at each other with a ???? expression for a second before I said, "Well you know Allen has fun at school and he likes to go. And I bet there are days he wishes you went to school (if you were in his district) so he could play with you at recess." He slowly agreed with me. "We'll just have to try to be more creative in finding time to spend with him and in the meantime, I hope you can play nicely with James next time we see them." He assured me he could.

It's so hard to see him struggling with missing his friend and harder still to see that he's so worried about Allen's feelings that he felt he was betraying his friend by playing with his brother. But I think his sensitivity to others feelings is a great attribute to his character.

Come On!!

Come on!!! You're telling me that NO ONE had a comment regarding the baby name poll???? NOT A WORD???? All you really overly opinionated people who comment me all the time??? Even YOU can't tell when I'm joking anymore??? No, I seriously would not pick any one of those names....but I had to play with you a little. I figured if ANYONE was going to call me on this one it would be my SIL...but even she chickened out. lololol

OK....so your next mission - give me good R boy names. And I mean GOOD ones. ;)

I'm feeling better now

Maybe the worst is over finally. I took myself off the strong meds last week due to side effects and after those subsided, I found that I was feeling a lot better. I had a GREAT weekend. On Saturday, we took a couple walks around the neighborhood and played outside in the yard with the kids for a few hours, ending up on the driveway with our sleeping bags, watching the sunset disappear and the stars appear. The kids and I pretended we were camping out while Hubby made dinner. It was such a nice day. On Sunday I was also feeling great. We took a short drive and found a new city park not far from us and let the kids play. It was a windy, overcast cool day and it was refreshing and fun. I even felt good enough to pitch in with housework a little too!

So hopefully soon I'll be back to my typical post-m/s pregnancy state and will hopefully find something ELSE to talk about. :)

The kids are showing signs of being couped up for too long but they're hanging in there. We've invited some friends over this week and maybe we'll venture out to the park again before the rain comes in later this week. We saw quite a few fall decorations yesterday in our driving around so maybe we'll get ours out too...after all, the first day of fall was Saturday - I guess technically, we're late. ;)

Cutie Pie

Just a cute girl, a cute cat and a very cute dress...

AZ trek

http://www.aztrek.us/odyssey.html
This is a website for two 55 yr old women who are a real inspiration to me. To have their energy and drive at 55!! As they put it, 'instead of accepting membership in the AARP this year', they are riding 800+ miles through Arizona on horseback. They estimate the trip taking roughly 8 weeks and they just started Sept 1st. Their diary is quite interesting to read, though it can be sporadic as they don't have internet access at every campsite or every day. Their goal is to write a book about the adventure when they're done and I can't wait to read it and see the pictures they've taken. What a trip!! What guts!! What explorers!!

Their online diary can be found here...
http://web.mac.com/silveraven/iWeb/AZTREK/AZTREK%20DIARY/AZTREK%20DIARY.html

Baby update

Looks like I'm making up for lost blog time, I know. Sorry!! If you're just tuning in on this Monday, please scroll down some - I've had quite a few posts the last couple days. Just wanted to post a little OB update.

I had my 10 week checkup today. Everything looks great. She couldn't hear the heartbeat with the doppler so she ran me in for a quick ultrasound (teehee - darn...lol). Baby is wiggling ALL OVER THE PLACE! Baby was waving and doing kicks so hard that it jerked his/her whole body. And I still can't feel any of it. It was amazing to see how much movement was going on in there. Heart rate was 176, right where it should be, and he/she measured right on target. I'm down 7 pounds so far but that's probably only the beginning of the weight loss since I usually lose a lot while pg due to a total lack of appetite.

'Course the babysitter, Papa, left without giving hugs and Rose was in full blown alligator tears by the time she realized it. I told her she could call him on the phone and he decided to turn around and come back for a hug. What a great grandpa. :)

Pirate Festival!

There is a local group that does a yearly Renaissance Fair in our area. We've gone once or twice and always have fun being transported back in time for a few hours. Costumes, food, jousts, period language and shows all combine to give you a real feel of the times.

This year, however, they have added a new one - a Pirate Festival! With Matthew having a pirate party that he missed out on, I decided this might be a good way to "make up" for his missed party from last weekend. So he grabbed his pirate garb and off we went.

The festivals take place in a local park in the woods. Walking up to pay the admission, you are already beginning the transformation of worrying about bills and blogs to wondering what the French soldiers might do when they see your son dressed up as a pirate. You are greeted with 'ahoy matey' at every turn and watch soldiers and pirates alike surround you as you quickly forget your modern life.

Among fine craftsmen of swords, hats, pirate garb and jewels, you first stop to watch some street musicians.

The beautiful harp, soft drum and pipe further lure you into pirate land.

Next you come across an archery range, where for a small fee, you can practice your pirating skills. Hubby helped Rose and Matthew a little but I was amazed at what naturals they seem to be. Rose sent her arrow (all by herself) all the way to the back bale of hay! And Matthew shot off 3-4 all by himself.

As we came out of the archery range, we had our first close encounter with a real pirate!! And he had a bearded dragon with him. I'm not sure if Jade was more impressed with the pirate or the dragon.


After wandering around a bit more, we saw that there was a black powder demonstration about to start and after grabbing some pirate grub (smoked turkey legs...yummm), we took the food back to watch the demonstration. We learned how to load a black powder gun and fire it.

He also showed us what flint is and how to use it to start a fire. He also gave us lessons on how to create charcloth to start fires. It was quite interesting! Rose even got to hold the gun to see how heavy it was.

We weren't quite finished gnawing on our turkey legs yet and decided to join another show across the main path. This seemed to be a magic show of sorts but the pirate in charge had the actions, words and personality of none other than Cap'n Jack Sparrow. This man had done his homework! He had the twisting hands and the quick wit down perfectly. We sat on the back row since the show had already started and enjoyed the show while we finished eating. As the show proceeded, Matthew and Rose slowly snuck up until they were standing just in front of this man. Matthew calls out, "I know who you are - you're Jack Sparrow!" The pirate replied, "No, love, that would be piracy! I'm Cap'n Tom Bollinger." After a few other of Matthew's interjections, he laughingly said, "Who does this child belong to?" Hubby and I ducked our heads and Matthew and Rose came running back to us.

Of course, the trip wouldn't be complete without a picture of "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything" (that's a Veggie Tale reference for those of you who don't know).

And some mean looking jailbird pirates...


All in all, a great time was had by all of us. Though I did take a little spill down the gravel road. I skinned my knee a little but mostly gave it a really good bruise. It was a very fun trip and I was surprised that I had the energy to keep up with everything after 4 weeks of doing literally nothing. Afterwards, we all crashed for a good long nap and dreamt of sailing the open seas searching for pirate booty. ;)

Names

Yes, I'm already thinking about baby names. Why? Well, because this is my FOURTH time "doing" pregnancy...and I know it all already. (lol) So while I can't get totally stoked on the fact that it's totally awesome that my baby is only one inch long and busy sealing his/her eyelids this week until week 27, I CAN obsess on names.

And while we're on the subject of names, we're kinda going with a combo of our own initials and it turns out that this one, if we stick to the plan, should be a R-L. Sooo...there aren't a lot of good R names still out there. I have to say that all the normal R names are taken in the family already like Ryan (a couple times), Robert, Richard, etc. So, not wanting to duplicate those anymore, I find I'm left with these choice names. Please help me out by voting for your favorite in the right side panel. These are potential R boy names. I'll do another R girl name one soon.

[You may need to reload the page if you can't find it just below my Library Thing section on the right panel]

Well, I'm doing it

Today I'm venturing out of my house. Yes, for the first time in at least 4 weeks, I'm going OUT...and I'm even taking the kids. I'm still not up-to-normal-speed yet but I'm desperate. The kids are sick of these 4 walls and need some others to interact with for a while (and frankly, so do I). So we're heading out to our new MOPS group. Fortunately it's only about a 5 minute drive so if I need a quick exit, that's possible. And the kids will have 2 solid hours where they don't even have to look at each other. :) Not that they're fighting non-stop but they are showing signs that they really need a break. I wish I felt good enough to take them to a park this afternoon but I don't. Maybe Grammy will take pity on them when she stops by tonight and take them for a walk around the subdivision at the very least. ;)

Hubby will be gone the first week of October for training in....Vegas. Yeah, I'm sure he'll get lots of studying done! teehee...actually, if anyone in the world could go to Vegas and not be the least bit tempted, it's him. We're not gamblers in the least but even I would have to go see the sights and take in some cheap buffets at the very least. LOL I'm hoping I'm feeling a LOT better by then because even though Grandma and Grammy have offered to come help out that week, it's still going to be a rough week without him.

Oh and if you didn't get my personal email (lol), we're super excited that Veggie Tales/3-2-1 Penguins will now be airing on NBC on Saturday mornings at 9CST!!! We've been die-hard Veggie fans since Matthew was about 2.5 years old.

Jade has been working on word sounds a lot lately and I feel she's about to have a language explosion soon...at last. She certainly understands everything I tell her and can follow two-step directions so I'm not concerned. But I *am* getting tired of her whining and crying because I don't know what she wants. She loves the 'more' baby sign and uses it almost constantly. The problem is that you never know what she wants more of...so you spend your day turning yourself into Alex Trebec..." more milk? more crackers? Do you want your doll? you want to learn more signs?"

Rose is in the throes of the terrible three's. Though I have to say that compared to her brother, it's barely noticable. Having said that, I DO notice. ;) She in the middle of that "changing her mind all the time on purpose" stuff. So we've been making her stick with whatever her first decision is and I think she's finally catching on that we're not playing her game anymore. "Do you want cake?" "No." "Ok" (start to put it away) "I mean yes, I do want cake!"

I suppose that's most of the news for now. When you spend the day distracting your sick stomach with TV and reading, it doesn't leave much to blog about. But I should have a glowing report about the new MOPS group soon. ;)

Oh and the REALLY REALLY big news...
Yesterday in the mail, Matthew received a birthday card from his great-grandparents...with $5 in it. I'm telling you, I've NEVER seen a kid so happy to see Mr. Lincoln before. "Nana and Papa sent me FIVE WHOLE DOLLARS!!! Now I can get that mini-con set with the bad guy and the good guy that I've always wanted!!! When can we go shopping???" So a major thanks to you, Nana and Papa. You just made his day!

The decision

Well, after 3 hours of crying and whining and hanging all over me and begging me to make the decision for him, I finally told him I wasn't going to listen to anymore of it. This was HIS decision. And I wasn't going to talk about it once more until supper time. This kinda got his attention. Once he lost his audience, he skulked to his room and when he came out, his attitude was much better. Just before afternoon quiet time, he came down the stairs with a screwdriver in hand. I eyed him suspiciously and he said, "Mommy, I just needed to use the screwdriver for something in my room. You should go see what's on my bed."

As I rounded the corner into his room, I saw Metroplex on his bed and Matthew beaming from ear to ear. "I decided to keep him and I put his batteries back in." He was truly happy with his decision. I put the girls down for their naps and came back into Matthew's room. I told him how very proud I was of him for not taking the easy way out. It boiled down to him thinking it was too hard to transform and I was proud of him that he decided to muddle through and conquer it. So I stayed and, following the instructions, helped him transform it. It was then his turn to be proud of me. ;)

"You know what, Mommy?" What? "I'm proud of me too!" That's good because that's THE most important thing. ;)

Buyers Regret

Well, as I stated earlier, Matthew got two duplicate Transformers for his birthday. So we exchanged them last night and, along with a gift card from Grandma, purchased a new one. This was an expensive super-duper $40 Transformer, Metroplex. Then we went over and got a smaller one from ToysRUs to complete his shopping.

Last night he happily played with them. Metroplex needed batteries so he could do some cool manuevers and we fired him up. Cool, right? Well, this morning I was told that Metroplex is "too tricky to transform". I asked if he wanted to exchange Metroplex for something else. "Yes. I mean I want to keep him. I mean he's too tricky and I want the set that has one bad guy and one good guy in it." Ok. But as soon as I started to put Metroplex back in the box for the store, down came the tears. He's now on hour #3 of going back and forth on this decision. Should he take Metroplex back and get something else?

He's trying to force me to decide. And I tell him that it's his money and his birthday present and I refuse to decide for him. "But you're the best deciderer I've ever had." Nope. "But you always know what's best for me." Nope...not gonna decide. "But he's too tricky." Then take him back if you're not going to play with him. Tears. "Well, Jade got $5 from Grandma that she hasn't spent yet and that's what the set costs that I want." Nope. "But...." NOT going to decide for you. Sorry honey. "OK, what if I take him back and YOU get me a new transformer that you think I'll like?" Nope. This is your decision. You can do this sweetie. More tears. "That's not very nice to put on your blog Mommy...here, I'll put crying tears on top of you to prove it." You already have.

What a horrible decision for a 6 yr old. Please send your condolences to us at unschoolingblogger at charter.net.