Monday, March 30, 2015

Just the two of us?


This is what two people who have been away from their children for a weekend look like.

Don't they look happy?  And rested?  

A million thanks to Aunt Heather and Uncle Alan who took our kids so we could have a weekend get-away for our anniversary.  It was awesome.  


Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Baby it's your birthday

                                          Clare turned nine today!  NINE!  She is practically a teenager!  

                                          

Will took her over to the American Girl doll store for lunch--which I think was a stress-test.  You had to see how much pink you could visually endure before you broke down and spent thousands of dollars on stuff for a doll.  Lucky for me, Will has the emotional strength of a Tibetan monk.  He did not cave to the pink torture.  He did cave to his daughter's adorableness...a little...she got a shirt and her doll got a shirt.


                  

Clare did get some American Girl doll knock off stuff for her birthday (we are super classy parents).

                        

Colter tried to blow out the candles on her birthday cake.  I think he has stolen the birthday wish of every person in our family since his second birthday.  He gets how birthday wishes work and he wants them all.

                       

Is she cute or what?  I sure am thankful to have Clare in our family.  She is kind and sweet (most of the time).  She is always happy and cheerful.  She puts up with a lot--being the middle child and all.

I love you Clare-bear.

Happy birthday.



Monday, March 23, 2015

Highlights

Here are a few of those beautiful things I can see when I get my head above the water for a second.  


Our school district insists on sending Elementary School students home at noon every day for a week so the teachers can have parent conferences.  I take a dim view of this policy--mostly because my kids aren't getting anything out of the school day so why send them at all?  However, it is fun to have them for lunch and it gives them extra free time after homework and chores are done.  The weather has been spectacular.  I know we will pay for these gorgeous days in the summer with water rationing so we are trying to enjoy them.  Clare, Adell and Colter spend most of their free afternoons out in the greenbelt climbing trees.

Today, while I was scrambling to make everyone lunch Colter started to play "tiger" with Wyatt.  "Tiger" is a game Colter and Lorien invented.  Basically, there is an imaginary tiger somewhere in the house and they have to hide from it.  Wyatt and Colter were hiding and Adell came along to join the fun.  Seconds later Clare started playing along as the tiger.  They were all laughing and squealing with delight.  It was truly music to my ears.  



One Saturday, Will and I decided to make it a family day and take the kids off to do something fabulous.  We ended up at a children's museum south of us.  It is a very cool place.  When we lived on the Peninsula I took the older children there many times.  Our youngest children have gotten the short end of the outings stick.  Guilt aside, we had a great time.  Lorien (a little too old for a children's museum) spent the whole time making a detailed corn husk doll.  The other kids roamed here and there, making a parachute guy, playing with gigantic bubbles, learning about Mammoths and playing in water.  When the museum time was up we went out to a park where they have the largest Monopoly game.  People can play as the pieces with huge foam dice to roll.  Someone already had a game going so we couldn't play but it was fun to watch for a few minutes.  Family Saturday, success.


Will and I have been married for 15 years...15!  That seems like a lot.  To couples celebrating their 50 year anniversary we probably seem like total newbies...but it feels like a super-long time to us...a happy, super, long time.  


Adell is kicking TK in the butt.  She is having a great time and learning a lot.  It was such a perfect fit for her--not full Kindergarten but not baby preschool either.  Perfect.  I tried to take a video of her "reading" this book but my memory was full.

Last thing.  I don't know how to make this sound humble.  I've thought about it for a while and rewritten my thoughts several times.  No matter how I say it--it comes out as bragging.  So I give up, I am going to brag.

My oldest daughter has the most amazing vocabulary!  Now, you can go ahead and re-read that sentence and be confident that her vocab skills do not come from me.  Lorien has been a lover of books and writing for a long time.  She excels in creative writing and expression.  It is awesome--and kind of funny.  Here are a few of the things she says on a daily basis:

On discussing practicing at home for her dance class: "It was kind of a perilous dance because the floor was covered in Legos."

After fixing the corn husk doll Adell made at the children's museum: "Now be more careful with this, corn husk dolls are not meant to be played with--they are meant to be cherished."

While complaining about the history text I am making her read for homeschool: "This book is full of superfluous stories about random dead people!"

See, I told you so.




Monday, March 9, 2015

Waves...



picture credit http://peacewave-station.com/

So I went under tonight.  

I went through the trouble of cooking a dinner time meal.  We don't do this very often anymore...and I have a load of guilt about it.  It is just too much work to make a meal that my children will not eat and fight them to eat it without my battle companion (Will).  So most of the time we eat cereal, take out, leftovers, soup, mac n' cheese, pancakes stuff they will eat on their own with little prodding from me or stuff I can make quickly so I don't feel so destroyed when they refuse to eat.  

So I cooked, risotto with ham and green beans.  It was ok.  But only a couple of the children were interested in eating a few bites before the requests to for something else to eat began to file in.  Then Colter spilled a cup full of water over the whole table.  (I know...small potatoes...but it was enough for me.)  I whipped my hand across the spilled water sending it flying all over the place.  Then Lorien sent me to my room and I cried while I thought about what I had done.  

I just feel like I am drowning again.  I can't keep my head above the water.  I walk around all day moving through my tasks and responsibilities with this crazy-panic-weight sitting on my chest.  I can feel it when I bend down or move suddenly to one side.  I can feel it there waiting to crush me.  I am trying to do all of those things that make me feel better but the waves are catching me up and my head keeps dipping below the water.  Which is a shame, because I can see how darn beautiful the world is above the waves.  I know I have an amazing life with oh so many blessings.  But I cannot get my head above the water to enjoy it.  I just keep getting slapped by wave after wave.  

                                                                                 . . . - - - . . . 


Friday, March 6, 2015

Homeschool conversation


A few weeks ago I picked Lorien up at a friend's house.  She had been over for the morning watching a documentary about the Lewis and Clark expedition for school.  These friends are homeschoolers also, and just homeschooling for one year before high school (we copied them).  It started raining and all of the kids went outside to get soaking wet.  We two moms sat down for a visit while Colter played with army guys.  

The conversation was (of course) all about homeschool.  It was so nice to get her thoughts on how it was going and what was working.  We both worry that our kids are not getting enough math.  We both know they are reading and talking about what they read way more than they would have at public school.  We both agree that this has been the most awesome school year--socially--for our kids.  We both are so thankful for this year at home for our kids.  She has a couple of older children in high school already and is not as daunted by that transition as I am.  It was helpful to hear her words of experience helping me not feel so freaked out.  

Really, homeschooling Lorien has been such a great experience.  I hope she will be ready for high school next year...I hope I will be ready...  I think we will be fine.  


Sunday, March 1, 2015

Their talent was showing

Friday night was the elementary school talent show.  Wyatt and Clare each did a little act with their friends.  Clare danced with two other girls to the song "Seize the Day" from Newsies and Wyatt danced and sang "Bye, Bye, Bye" from 'N SYNC with six of his friends.  Both groups were so awesome!  Clare and her group were spunky and cute.  They all remembered their moves and which way to turn (to the right!) and they ended with an adorable pose.  Wyatt's group was totally in sync.  They are all 5th graders this year and were saying goodbye to elementary school.  They were so cool and sharp!  I only cried for a second.  

Stupidly, I forgot my camera and my phone at home.  Moreover, Will's phone died two seconds after the show started.  Thankfully, kind friends took pictures for us.  The school puts out a DVD of the show so we will have that too...eventually.  





Saturday Lorien's Odyssey of the Mind team participated in the regional tournament.  These are the same girls Lorien competed with last year.  They are all her very best friends from school.  Our family woke up early (for a Saturday) and drove all the way up to the high school to watch Lorien compete.  BUT they didn't open the doors between teams and we missed her completely!  It was pretty frustrating.  We did go back up in the evening to see the awards ceremony.  Lorien's team (Chicken-pot-pi) took 5th out of 16 teams in their division doing their problem.  So they basically kicked butt.  


And now, I've earned a Sunday nap.