We figured out where the millipedes are coming from. They sneak through a tiny little gap at the bottom of our two back french doors. At least they're not breeding somewhere in the house. I think at night they must be attracted to the light inside, or maybe they're more active at night. Something like that, because at night is when they just pour in. We looked out at the back porch last night and there must have been easily 50 that we saw crawling towards the door. So disgusting. And last night as I was cleaning up before I went to bed, I must have swept up at *least* 20 from the floor in the kitchen and living room. Gross, gross, gross.
This morning Ben drenched the mat out on the patio, and the threshold of the french doors with roach and ant killer, hoping to deter them from coming in. I think it's working because it is 12:30 AM and I haven't seen even one yet.
I've been paying the boys a dime per millipede that they pick up and throw out of the house, and they've been earning a lot of money! They'll be sad to see that easy source of income dry up, but I won't be sorry to keep those pests out of my house.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Report for the week
I haven't posted much this past week-- no time! Nothing too unusual this week. Normal lessons. It was the last week of school for the Round Rock school district (the one we're in), and I told the boys that when public school lets out for the summer, that's when we'll start our abbreviated half-day lessons. So they're pretty excited. :-)
So. Highlights from the week.
Last Sunday was the boys' art show. They take art classes every Wednesday afternoon. Yes, I could do these art projects with them at home, but I probably wouldn't. And somebody else gets to clean up the mess. :-) The boys made paper mache animals, "tin foil" paintings (think the "Rainbow Fish" book-- a painting incorporating pieces of aluminum foil), and several other projects. It was fun to go and see the boys show off their work. And very interesting to see their extremely different styles of art. Brigham didn't finish his paper mache cat because he is so detail-oriented and perfectionistic that he didn't have time!
We made doughnuts last Monday night for FHE. I needed to try out a recipe for a potential Relief Society activity. We used the "Brigham Young Doughnut" recipe. Verdict? Delicious! We borrowed an electric deep fryer which made it very easy. I fried the donuts and the boys rolled them in cinnamon sugar and powdered sugar. I don't particularly care to know about the calories or fat grams. :-) I made a half-batch and they were all eaten within 24 hours.
Tuesday was horseback riding lessons. They have a new teacher who I like very much. She's a lot more dynamic and personable than their last teacher (who was also extremely nice, just very quiet). Brigham gave her one of our homemade doughnuts after his lesson. :-) They'll keep doing horseback riding during the summer. Monday was their last day of gymnastics, and art is over for the semester, so our summer schedule will ease up a bit.
Wednesday was an easy day because we had no activities in the afternoon. We did lessons and then went to Target. The boys love Target because I let them get icees.
Thursday we did school lessons and piano lessons. Our school lessons were abbreviated because the boys had to pick up the house before the cleaners came in the afternoon. But I kind of count that as lessons-- isn't learning to fold clothes valuable learning? At least as valuable as grammar, right? :-)
One day this last week we looked in the back yard, and there were 5 of these pretty blue jays flitting and chasing each other around. We don't know what they were doing, but aren't they pretty?
Brigham spent a lot of time this week working on block creations. Well, he spends a lot of time *every* week on block creations. I just happened to actually upload the pictures we took on time to post them on the blog. He likes to take pictures of his creations before knocking them down. He has the coolest way of knocking them down, too. He catapults blocks at them, one at a time, until they eventually fall down.
I love this one he made this week-- a block cat! I think Joseph and Mosey helped him a little in the artistic concept, but Brigham was the chief engineer.
Look, it even has eyes and a nose and a mouth!
Friday was Friday! I wasn't feeling great in the afternoon, so when school lessons were done and my visiting teacher had come and gone, I took a nap. Rare for me. We got Chinese takeout and watched the 24 finale in the evening.
Saturday we didn't do too much. I made blueberry bars (soooo good). Squirrel went to her new home with Brian. I think the boys will miss her. I know Mister will miss her! It has been very fun to have her at our house. But it is nice to be able to open our front door without a dog going crazy barking. :-) I told Brian to bring her over to play so that Mister won't be so sad.
Here are Mister and Squirrel this past week. You can't see, but Squirrel was pretty much sitting on Mister's lap. Cute. The boys think Mister's glowing alien eyes are really cool in this picture.
Our good friends the Talbots are moving to St. George. Ben helped load their van Saturday morning, and Saturday evening we brought Rudy's barbecue to their house for one last family get-together. I'm sad they are leaving. Ben and I are not too social, and they have been good friends to us. They are at least as busy as we are (probably more considering they have 5 kids and Charles has been traveling for work Monday-Friday for most of the past 3 years), so we're a good match. Charles has been our home teacher and by far the most consistent one we've ever had. Charles and Ben are/were in the Elders Quorum presidency together, and Liz and I are/were in the Relief Society presidency together. Which made juggling presidency meetings a little tricky, but was also nice because we got to spend time together. Making "couples friends" isn't always easy because the 4 spouses don't always click with each other, and so we are pretty sad to have the Talbots go. But also happy because they're going to St. George where both their families are from, and I know it will be a good situation for their family.
The Turners and the Talbots.
Top row: Mosey, Joseph, and Brigham. Clearly thrilled to be taking *another* picture.
2nd row down: Sessel Talbot. Their gigantic 13 year old and thoroughly nice kid. He stayed with us for a few days while Liz and Charles went house hunting in St. George. My boys love him.
Next row down: Sage (Brigham's and Joseph's age), and Liz with 5 year old Ethan on her lap.
Bottom row: Ben, me, Daniel (11 years old and sunburned from his last day at the pool), and Charles with 2 year old Chase.
Gosh, we will miss them. And Liz's wonderful cookies.
After that we drove out past the Mansfield Dam, much to the dismay of the boys. We promised them treats on the way home, and they were not in the slightest bit interested in exploring. But we don't spend much time out past the dam, and Ben and I were curious to see what was down there. So we told the boys we would drive around for 5 miles and then turn back. That was 5 miles full of the most moaning and groaning you ever did hear. Gosh, our boys' lives are sooooo tough. We drove to Emerald Point Marina on Lake Travis, which was extremely crowded. Note to self: stay away from Lake Travis at the end of a beautiful summer Saturday because it is CROWDED with people leaving the lake. It was weird driving around the marina. I don't think we saw anyone there under the age of maybe 16 or over the age of 30. I guess that's the cool place to party for that demographic. We didn't fit in, let's just leave it at that. :-)
Out near the Talbots house in Steiner Ranch is a street called Brigham Drive. We made Brigham jump out of the car so I could take a picture of him under the sign. There can't be many "Brigham Drives" in America!
As we were driving toward the dam, the sun was setting bright red over the horizon. Bad picture, but beautiful sunset.
We finally did make it to Shakes for treats and then home to bed.
Today was Sunday. Normal day. Got to take an after-church nap. (What?? TWO naps in one week?!)
So. Highlights from the week.
Last Sunday was the boys' art show. They take art classes every Wednesday afternoon. Yes, I could do these art projects with them at home, but I probably wouldn't. And somebody else gets to clean up the mess. :-) The boys made paper mache animals, "tin foil" paintings (think the "Rainbow Fish" book-- a painting incorporating pieces of aluminum foil), and several other projects. It was fun to go and see the boys show off their work. And very interesting to see their extremely different styles of art. Brigham didn't finish his paper mache cat because he is so detail-oriented and perfectionistic that he didn't have time!
We made doughnuts last Monday night for FHE. I needed to try out a recipe for a potential Relief Society activity. We used the "Brigham Young Doughnut" recipe. Verdict? Delicious! We borrowed an electric deep fryer which made it very easy. I fried the donuts and the boys rolled them in cinnamon sugar and powdered sugar. I don't particularly care to know about the calories or fat grams. :-) I made a half-batch and they were all eaten within 24 hours.
Tuesday was horseback riding lessons. They have a new teacher who I like very much. She's a lot more dynamic and personable than their last teacher (who was also extremely nice, just very quiet). Brigham gave her one of our homemade doughnuts after his lesson. :-) They'll keep doing horseback riding during the summer. Monday was their last day of gymnastics, and art is over for the semester, so our summer schedule will ease up a bit.
Wednesday was an easy day because we had no activities in the afternoon. We did lessons and then went to Target. The boys love Target because I let them get icees.
Thursday we did school lessons and piano lessons. Our school lessons were abbreviated because the boys had to pick up the house before the cleaners came in the afternoon. But I kind of count that as lessons-- isn't learning to fold clothes valuable learning? At least as valuable as grammar, right? :-)
One day this last week we looked in the back yard, and there were 5 of these pretty blue jays flitting and chasing each other around. We don't know what they were doing, but aren't they pretty?
Brigham spent a lot of time this week working on block creations. Well, he spends a lot of time *every* week on block creations. I just happened to actually upload the pictures we took on time to post them on the blog. He likes to take pictures of his creations before knocking them down. He has the coolest way of knocking them down, too. He catapults blocks at them, one at a time, until they eventually fall down.
I love this one he made this week-- a block cat! I think Joseph and Mosey helped him a little in the artistic concept, but Brigham was the chief engineer.
Look, it even has eyes and a nose and a mouth!
Friday was Friday! I wasn't feeling great in the afternoon, so when school lessons were done and my visiting teacher had come and gone, I took a nap. Rare for me. We got Chinese takeout and watched the 24 finale in the evening.
Saturday we didn't do too much. I made blueberry bars (soooo good). Squirrel went to her new home with Brian. I think the boys will miss her. I know Mister will miss her! It has been very fun to have her at our house. But it is nice to be able to open our front door without a dog going crazy barking. :-) I told Brian to bring her over to play so that Mister won't be so sad.
Here are Mister and Squirrel this past week. You can't see, but Squirrel was pretty much sitting on Mister's lap. Cute. The boys think Mister's glowing alien eyes are really cool in this picture.
Our good friends the Talbots are moving to St. George. Ben helped load their van Saturday morning, and Saturday evening we brought Rudy's barbecue to their house for one last family get-together. I'm sad they are leaving. Ben and I are not too social, and they have been good friends to us. They are at least as busy as we are (probably more considering they have 5 kids and Charles has been traveling for work Monday-Friday for most of the past 3 years), so we're a good match. Charles has been our home teacher and by far the most consistent one we've ever had. Charles and Ben are/were in the Elders Quorum presidency together, and Liz and I are/were in the Relief Society presidency together. Which made juggling presidency meetings a little tricky, but was also nice because we got to spend time together. Making "couples friends" isn't always easy because the 4 spouses don't always click with each other, and so we are pretty sad to have the Talbots go. But also happy because they're going to St. George where both their families are from, and I know it will be a good situation for their family.
The Turners and the Talbots.
Top row: Mosey, Joseph, and Brigham. Clearly thrilled to be taking *another* picture.
2nd row down: Sessel Talbot. Their gigantic 13 year old and thoroughly nice kid. He stayed with us for a few days while Liz and Charles went house hunting in St. George. My boys love him.
Next row down: Sage (Brigham's and Joseph's age), and Liz with 5 year old Ethan on her lap.
Bottom row: Ben, me, Daniel (11 years old and sunburned from his last day at the pool), and Charles with 2 year old Chase.
Gosh, we will miss them. And Liz's wonderful cookies.
After that we drove out past the Mansfield Dam, much to the dismay of the boys. We promised them treats on the way home, and they were not in the slightest bit interested in exploring. But we don't spend much time out past the dam, and Ben and I were curious to see what was down there. So we told the boys we would drive around for 5 miles and then turn back. That was 5 miles full of the most moaning and groaning you ever did hear. Gosh, our boys' lives are sooooo tough. We drove to Emerald Point Marina on Lake Travis, which was extremely crowded. Note to self: stay away from Lake Travis at the end of a beautiful summer Saturday because it is CROWDED with people leaving the lake. It was weird driving around the marina. I don't think we saw anyone there under the age of maybe 16 or over the age of 30. I guess that's the cool place to party for that demographic. We didn't fit in, let's just leave it at that. :-)
Out near the Talbots house in Steiner Ranch is a street called Brigham Drive. We made Brigham jump out of the car so I could take a picture of him under the sign. There can't be many "Brigham Drives" in America!
As we were driving toward the dam, the sun was setting bright red over the horizon. Bad picture, but beautiful sunset.
We finally did make it to Shakes for treats and then home to bed.
Today was Sunday. Normal day. Got to take an after-church nap. (What?? TWO naps in one week?!)
Mommy rewards
There are many rewards in being a mother, but I got an especially nice one a couple of weeks ago. We were in the middle of morning lessons and I got a phone call (which sometimes annoys me when it interrupts our lessons). It was our primary president who just called to tell me about Mosey. She had been in his classroom the Sunday before, helping out because a teacher was absent. The lesson was on Moses! The teacher asked the kids what they knew about Moses, which wasn't much (the class is 5 year olds turning 6), until he called on Mosey. Mosey proceeded (according to Sister Reed) to relay the entire story of Moses. Now, I'm not very surprised, since he *is* named Moses, and has seen "Prince of Egypt" a few times, but still it made me happy. And I was proud of him because it's one thing for a 6 year old to know the story of Moses, but another to be able to tell it coherently in front of peers and adults. Yay, Mosey!
Sister Reed also told me of a time a few weeks ago when the Deacons came to the senior primary to do a little skit about Joseph Smith. She told me Joseph and Brigham knew more than the Deacons! I can't really take credit for that because, honestly, we haven't really studied Joseph Smith's life much at home. We need to do that.
So, for Mosey and Brigham and Joseph when you are someday reading this boring blog/history of your mom's, you should know that you are amazing kids and I am so proud of you!
Sister Reed also told me of a time a few weeks ago when the Deacons came to the senior primary to do a little skit about Joseph Smith. She told me Joseph and Brigham knew more than the Deacons! I can't really take credit for that because, honestly, we haven't really studied Joseph Smith's life much at home. We need to do that.
So, for Mosey and Brigham and Joseph when you are someday reading this boring blog/history of your mom's, you should know that you are amazing kids and I am so proud of you!
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Camping!
We tried to organize a fathers and sons camp out part 2, but everyone we invited was too busy. Either that or they just didn't like us. :-)
So we made it a family camp out instead!
I was hesitant of my ability to be a very good camper. But after a long conversation with Ben (trying to plan a summer road trip somewhere), I remembered again how much I want to pass on the culture of camping ingrained in me as I was growing up in our Frandsen home.
So we made reservations at Buescher State Park, I made our list of stuff to bring, we went shopping for supplies, and Ben brought down our camping gear from the attic. He was a little skeptical. Ben likes to fly by the seat of his pants when it comes to camping. Camp stove? Those are for sissies. Cooler? Let's risk the food poisoning! (Just kidding... kind of!) Camp chairs? Our boys have to become men sometime-- let them find a rock to sit on if they must sit!
However, I am the daughter of the most organized camper that I know-- my mom. I don't know how she organized 2+ week camping trips for our entire family (at our largest, there were my parents and eight kids trekking around the country in our extended-back 15-passenger Ford XLT van). She had it down to a science. So I wrote a list, the boys and I made tinfoil dinners, we got out a big cardboard box to pack our supplies, bought ice for our cooler, and tried to do this camping thing right.
We got off a little later than we wanted to-- Ben needed me to cut his hair before we left-- and then we hit a bad traffic jam on the way out. We were there by around 7:30, found our camping site, and unloaded our van.
We got a great spot, even though we were "late arrivals." We were under big trees with a small, slow-moving stream running across the back of our site.
Interesting red soil out here in the "Lost Pines."
Mister soon found a place to "chillax" for a while.
Mosey did a good job taking care of Squirrel. At first we had the two dogs tied to a rope (opposite ends) attached to the van. Mister is pretty sedate and wandered around a little bit before settling down to relax in the grass. But Squirrel is true to her name and is, well, just squirrelly. She had herself all tangled and twisted up in that rope before 5 minutes went by. The boys kept having to untangle her.
Finally, Mosey took pity on poor Squirrel and released her from that confusing rope that kept strangely getting shorter and shorter and shorter, and instead walked her around on the leash.
Brigham was our tent-man, and Joseph and Ben got started on a fire. Mosey flitted about, helping where needed.
Brigham got the tent set up all by himself. Good job, buddy!
Joseph and Ben powwow about how to get the fire started.
Mosey was excited when it finally started to burn!
A note about his sandals--the boys got new sandals a few days ago. My big boys cannot stand flip-flops that go between their toes, and I tried to dissuade Mosey from buying these, thinking they'd be hard for him to keep on. But he was adamant that he wanted these particular sandals, and he mastered the art of flip-flop-wearing immediately. Funny the differences between these boys.
We were only about an hour east of Austin, but even that small distance made a huge difference in the level of humidity. It wasn't hot, but it was humid. It was very hard lighting a fire. Even the paper towels we brought wouldn't burn!! Finally Ben got one going, and then after that he used the lighter fluid to keep it going. We had a charcoal starter which we used to get some coals going for our tinfoil dinners. But as it was, it was dark by the time we actually got our food on the coals.
The folks camping next to us came over and offered us two big plates of brisket and baked beans which we did not turn down. Yum. Texans are awesome. Finally our food was done, although by that time the boys were ready to cut to the chase and break out the s'mores.
Ben and the boys slept in the tent, but I opted for the back seat of the van. I can't really sleep on the ground-- the getting up and down off the ground is a little daunting.
It was a pretty good night, except for the dogs that started freaking out about 1:30 AM, forcing Ben to get up and walk with them down to the lake and back before they would calm down.
And the twice I had to get out of the car and wheel myself over to the bathroom a couple of hundred yards away. Thank you MS spastic bladder that never lets me sleep longer than 3 hours at a stretch. :-(
In the morning it rained a few drops and we worried about it getting worse. Joseph, not having slept long enough the night before, was pretty upset. "Four bad things happened on this trip! First we didn't leave on time, second we got in a big traffic jam, third we got a bad campsite (at first the boys wished we had been in a different area of the park, but I think by the end we were pretty sure we were in the best part), and now it's starting to rain!!" Oh, the injustice of the universe! How can it be endured?!
But the clouds cleared up and we made breakfast-- eggs and sausage (thank you camp stove!!), and dough-boys over the fire (thank you camp stove again-- our lighter broke and the matches wouldn't light in the damp air).
It turns out the boys are huge dough boy fans. I wasn't sure we'd make them-- it was such a hassle to get the fire lit again. But I'm glad we did, because they were sure a big hit for the boys. (Dough boys are refrigerator biscuits that you wrap around the end of a wooden dowel, roast over the fire or coals, and then fill with jam, cinnamon sugar, applesauce, or whatever you want).
Joseph is still figuring out proper dough-boy-wrapping technique.
But, honestly, does it matter much what they look like when they taste so good?
Brigham, ever the perfectionist, was determined to master the making of the dough boy.
Brigham patiently roasted his over the fire.
And look at that! Perfect.
Brigham proudly sported raspberry-jam-cheeks for the rest of the morning.
Mosey likes the dough boys, but is still more loyal to the old fashioned s'more. He and Arctie made s'more s'mores after breakfast.
After that the boys caught frogs down in the stream and tried to catch some fish (unsuccessfully). They found walking stick bugs and caterpillars. Brigham had to climb a few trees, of course. Finally we packed up the van and headed out around 12:30. We thought we might rent a canoe at the lake, but it was getting hot and the boys were all very tired.
On the hunt for frogs and other critters.
Joseph found the first frog.
And then Mosey was hot on their trail.
He caught one!
He was oh-so-careful with the little frogs. Happily no repeat of the great baby-frog massacre of 2004 (long, very sad story of Joseph and Brigham, barely 3 years old, gleefully stomping on a bunch of baby frogs, not quite understanding the permanency of death...).
The trees were crawling with these giant black carpenter ants, so Brigham didn't climb too high over the water for fear the rotten tree branch would break!
He found a fuzzy, black caterpillar. Look at those grimy fingers! That's part of the charm of camping for little boys. I didn't even make them wash their hands before eating. I figure they're just developing a lot of healthy antibodies to keep them well in the future, right? :-)
Brigham and Ben work on tying a hook on the end of the fishing line. Ben and the boys were great fishermen when we lived in Florida, but the Texas fish are more cagey-- they haven't managed to catch one yet. And look at that-- Ben is sitting on a camp chair!! You're getting soft in your old age, Ben. :-)
So, it was a success! I can do the camping thing as long as the bathroom is wheelchair accessible from our camp site. We'll go again for sure, although it's getting pretty hot, so we might have to wait till next fall for all of us to go again. I think Ben might even be sold on the camping stove and camping chairs. :-)
So we made it a family camp out instead!
I was hesitant of my ability to be a very good camper. But after a long conversation with Ben (trying to plan a summer road trip somewhere), I remembered again how much I want to pass on the culture of camping ingrained in me as I was growing up in our Frandsen home.
So we made reservations at Buescher State Park, I made our list of stuff to bring, we went shopping for supplies, and Ben brought down our camping gear from the attic. He was a little skeptical. Ben likes to fly by the seat of his pants when it comes to camping. Camp stove? Those are for sissies. Cooler? Let's risk the food poisoning! (Just kidding... kind of!) Camp chairs? Our boys have to become men sometime-- let them find a rock to sit on if they must sit!
However, I am the daughter of the most organized camper that I know-- my mom. I don't know how she organized 2+ week camping trips for our entire family (at our largest, there were my parents and eight kids trekking around the country in our extended-back 15-passenger Ford XLT van). She had it down to a science. So I wrote a list, the boys and I made tinfoil dinners, we got out a big cardboard box to pack our supplies, bought ice for our cooler, and tried to do this camping thing right.
We got off a little later than we wanted to-- Ben needed me to cut his hair before we left-- and then we hit a bad traffic jam on the way out. We were there by around 7:30, found our camping site, and unloaded our van.
We got a great spot, even though we were "late arrivals." We were under big trees with a small, slow-moving stream running across the back of our site.
Interesting red soil out here in the "Lost Pines."
Mister soon found a place to "chillax" for a while.
Mosey did a good job taking care of Squirrel. At first we had the two dogs tied to a rope (opposite ends) attached to the van. Mister is pretty sedate and wandered around a little bit before settling down to relax in the grass. But Squirrel is true to her name and is, well, just squirrelly. She had herself all tangled and twisted up in that rope before 5 minutes went by. The boys kept having to untangle her.
Finally, Mosey took pity on poor Squirrel and released her from that confusing rope that kept strangely getting shorter and shorter and shorter, and instead walked her around on the leash.
Brigham was our tent-man, and Joseph and Ben got started on a fire. Mosey flitted about, helping where needed.
Brigham got the tent set up all by himself. Good job, buddy!
Joseph and Ben powwow about how to get the fire started.
Mosey was excited when it finally started to burn!
A note about his sandals--the boys got new sandals a few days ago. My big boys cannot stand flip-flops that go between their toes, and I tried to dissuade Mosey from buying these, thinking they'd be hard for him to keep on. But he was adamant that he wanted these particular sandals, and he mastered the art of flip-flop-wearing immediately. Funny the differences between these boys.
We were only about an hour east of Austin, but even that small distance made a huge difference in the level of humidity. It wasn't hot, but it was humid. It was very hard lighting a fire. Even the paper towels we brought wouldn't burn!! Finally Ben got one going, and then after that he used the lighter fluid to keep it going. We had a charcoal starter which we used to get some coals going for our tinfoil dinners. But as it was, it was dark by the time we actually got our food on the coals.
The folks camping next to us came over and offered us two big plates of brisket and baked beans which we did not turn down. Yum. Texans are awesome. Finally our food was done, although by that time the boys were ready to cut to the chase and break out the s'mores.
Ben and the boys slept in the tent, but I opted for the back seat of the van. I can't really sleep on the ground-- the getting up and down off the ground is a little daunting.
It was a pretty good night, except for the dogs that started freaking out about 1:30 AM, forcing Ben to get up and walk with them down to the lake and back before they would calm down.
And the twice I had to get out of the car and wheel myself over to the bathroom a couple of hundred yards away. Thank you MS spastic bladder that never lets me sleep longer than 3 hours at a stretch. :-(
In the morning it rained a few drops and we worried about it getting worse. Joseph, not having slept long enough the night before, was pretty upset. "Four bad things happened on this trip! First we didn't leave on time, second we got in a big traffic jam, third we got a bad campsite (at first the boys wished we had been in a different area of the park, but I think by the end we were pretty sure we were in the best part), and now it's starting to rain!!" Oh, the injustice of the universe! How can it be endured?!
But the clouds cleared up and we made breakfast-- eggs and sausage (thank you camp stove!!), and dough-boys over the fire (thank you camp stove again-- our lighter broke and the matches wouldn't light in the damp air).
It turns out the boys are huge dough boy fans. I wasn't sure we'd make them-- it was such a hassle to get the fire lit again. But I'm glad we did, because they were sure a big hit for the boys. (Dough boys are refrigerator biscuits that you wrap around the end of a wooden dowel, roast over the fire or coals, and then fill with jam, cinnamon sugar, applesauce, or whatever you want).
Joseph is still figuring out proper dough-boy-wrapping technique.
But, honestly, does it matter much what they look like when they taste so good?
Brigham, ever the perfectionist, was determined to master the making of the dough boy.
Brigham patiently roasted his over the fire.
And look at that! Perfect.
Brigham proudly sported raspberry-jam-cheeks for the rest of the morning.
Mosey likes the dough boys, but is still more loyal to the old fashioned s'more. He and Arctie made s'more s'mores after breakfast.
After that the boys caught frogs down in the stream and tried to catch some fish (unsuccessfully). They found walking stick bugs and caterpillars. Brigham had to climb a few trees, of course. Finally we packed up the van and headed out around 12:30. We thought we might rent a canoe at the lake, but it was getting hot and the boys were all very tired.
On the hunt for frogs and other critters.
Joseph found the first frog.
And then Mosey was hot on their trail.
He caught one!
He was oh-so-careful with the little frogs. Happily no repeat of the great baby-frog massacre of 2004 (long, very sad story of Joseph and Brigham, barely 3 years old, gleefully stomping on a bunch of baby frogs, not quite understanding the permanency of death...).
The trees were crawling with these giant black carpenter ants, so Brigham didn't climb too high over the water for fear the rotten tree branch would break!
He found a fuzzy, black caterpillar. Look at those grimy fingers! That's part of the charm of camping for little boys. I didn't even make them wash their hands before eating. I figure they're just developing a lot of healthy antibodies to keep them well in the future, right? :-)
Brigham and Ben work on tying a hook on the end of the fishing line. Ben and the boys were great fishermen when we lived in Florida, but the Texas fish are more cagey-- they haven't managed to catch one yet. And look at that-- Ben is sitting on a camp chair!! You're getting soft in your old age, Ben. :-)
So, it was a success! I can do the camping thing as long as the bathroom is wheelchair accessible from our camp site. We'll go again for sure, although it's getting pretty hot, so we might have to wait till next fall for all of us to go again. I think Ben might even be sold on the camping stove and camping chairs. :-)
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Fair's fair
I do get some kind of cathartic relief from writing about our terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days, but I need to be sure to balance that out with the far more frequent good days. We had a good day today.
I started out very worried. The boys were up too late last night watching an episode of "Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe" on Netflix. And then they were up early this morning. I heard voices at about 7:15 AM, and they were probably up even before then. So I had visions of tantrums and whininess and all manner of bad behavior in front of me for the day. But I have to hand it to all three of my boys-- they were awesome today.
Joseph got his lessons done in record time. He did his math INDEPENDENTLY, and got 95% on his test. Way to go, Joseph! He worked hard on his handwriting even though he hates handwriting and he hates having his mom hover over him giving him nit-picky directions on what he's doing wrong and how to fix it. Joseph is a really fast typist, and as a result, I've been too lax about letting him slide on actual handwriting. But handwriting is important, and I'm going to spend the summer months really working on handwriting with Joseph and typing with Brigham.
Side note: I really must scan an example of Brigham's handwriting. He has beautiful cursive which he loves to embellish with curlicues and flourishes, and he really takes pride in it. Of course, it can take him a half hour to write a paragraph, but the result is very pretty.
Joseph's piano practicing was lovely and he is in excellent shape for his lesson tomorrow. He was helpful at the grocery store and carrying groceries into the house and putting them away. He was just a really awesome kid today.
And Brigham managed to pull a 180 from yesterday. (I didn't write about yesterday because it was pretty much a worse repeat of Monday). He wrote a great report about alligators, and even typed a bunch of it by himself. He was angelic in his piano practicing. He got along well with his brothers, and apologized spontaneously to his brothers for this or that, and to me for the hard time he gave me yesterday and the day before.
Mosey was an angel as well. He did his schoolwork mostly happily (I did have to threaten to count to five to get him up from under the table and finishing his subtraction... :-)). He helped clean up and put groceries away. He drew a really awesome picture of a betta fish. He got ready for bed uncomplainingly. He and Joseph took the dogs on a walk. He charmed me by spelling out several of his sentences. I don't know why I get such a kick out of this, but I do. He is a great speller, and being able to spell out loud is hard! He spelled out the following to me: "I C-A-N-'-T T-A-L-K B-E-C-A-U-S-E I-F I D-O I W-O-U-L-D O-N-L-Y M-E-O-W L-I-K-E A C-A-T." I'm not really sure what that was supposed to mean, but I thought it was cool that he spelled the whole thing out for me.
So, it was a good day. Good job, guys!
I started out very worried. The boys were up too late last night watching an episode of "Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe" on Netflix. And then they were up early this morning. I heard voices at about 7:15 AM, and they were probably up even before then. So I had visions of tantrums and whininess and all manner of bad behavior in front of me for the day. But I have to hand it to all three of my boys-- they were awesome today.
Joseph got his lessons done in record time. He did his math INDEPENDENTLY, and got 95% on his test. Way to go, Joseph! He worked hard on his handwriting even though he hates handwriting and he hates having his mom hover over him giving him nit-picky directions on what he's doing wrong and how to fix it. Joseph is a really fast typist, and as a result, I've been too lax about letting him slide on actual handwriting. But handwriting is important, and I'm going to spend the summer months really working on handwriting with Joseph and typing with Brigham.
Side note: I really must scan an example of Brigham's handwriting. He has beautiful cursive which he loves to embellish with curlicues and flourishes, and he really takes pride in it. Of course, it can take him a half hour to write a paragraph, but the result is very pretty.
Joseph's piano practicing was lovely and he is in excellent shape for his lesson tomorrow. He was helpful at the grocery store and carrying groceries into the house and putting them away. He was just a really awesome kid today.
And Brigham managed to pull a 180 from yesterday. (I didn't write about yesterday because it was pretty much a worse repeat of Monday). He wrote a great report about alligators, and even typed a bunch of it by himself. He was angelic in his piano practicing. He got along well with his brothers, and apologized spontaneously to his brothers for this or that, and to me for the hard time he gave me yesterday and the day before.
Mosey was an angel as well. He did his schoolwork mostly happily (I did have to threaten to count to five to get him up from under the table and finishing his subtraction... :-)). He helped clean up and put groceries away. He drew a really awesome picture of a betta fish. He got ready for bed uncomplainingly. He and Joseph took the dogs on a walk. He charmed me by spelling out several of his sentences. I don't know why I get such a kick out of this, but I do. He is a great speller, and being able to spell out loud is hard! He spelled out the following to me: "I C-A-N-'-T T-A-L-K B-E-C-A-U-S-E I-F I D-O I W-O-U-L-D O-N-L-Y M-E-O-W L-I-K-E A C-A-T." I'm not really sure what that was supposed to mean, but I thought it was cool that he spelled the whole thing out for me.
So, it was a good day. Good job, guys!
Just a touch of acrophobia
I finally got around to uploading and editing some of my pictures from our trip to Utah a month ago. Yeah, it's taken me a month.
When we drove through Zion, we stopped for Ben and the boys to go on a short hike. I sent my camera with Ben with instructions to take pictures. When I saw the pictures, my heart about stopped. I have just a small case of acrophobia (OK, maybe not such a small case). To my eyes, it looked as though my boys were walking along a tiny little trail, clinging onto the edge of an enormous cliff. Yikes!! I am not sure if I'm glad I wasn't there, or horrified I wasn't there.
I told the boys that they were not to take a STEP off the trail, and if there was any tomfoolery at ALL, then Ben was to turn around and take them straight back to the car . I guess they must have behaved. But after seeing these pictures, the next time I send my boys off hiking among thousand foot cliffs, I might require them to wear parachutes.
This is another example of why boys need dads in their lives. At least, they need dads if they have cowardly moms who have regular nightmares of her kids falling off cliffs (I seriously do). Because if it were totally up to me? They would not ever go on a hike like this! :-)
I'm not sure if I'm more worried about Brigham standing RIGHT NEXT to the EDGE of that rail, or about Ben standing somewhere, clearly NOT on the trail, to take the picture.
Look at that! That is a totally deficient railing! You could trip and easily fall straight through that thing! There should be chain link, or plexi-glass, or, best of all, a 5 foot tall stone wall! The view? Who cares! Just don't let my babies fall down the cliff!
This is just so, so wrong. If there isn't even a place to carve a trail along the cliff side, then humans simply shouldn't be there. What is with that wood? There are huge CRACKS between those boards! You can SEE all the way down, straight under your feet! And again, completely deficient railings. Plus, it all looks just a little rusty to me. How long has that been there? Is it regularly inspected? I want to see some certificates of safety!
OK, so it is a pretty view. And at least that railing has got chain link across it. But still, my precious little boys are LEANING on that rail! What if it somehow pulled out of the stone? What if an especially strong gust of wind just blew my babies right over? What if a rabid mountain goat came charging down the mountain and knocked that rail clear off the cliff? If I had been there, everyone would have been safely back away from that rail. At LEAST an arm's-length away. What if there was an earthquake just then? And again, Ben, where WERE you standing to get that picture?!
When we drove through Zion, we stopped for Ben and the boys to go on a short hike. I sent my camera with Ben with instructions to take pictures. When I saw the pictures, my heart about stopped. I have just a small case of acrophobia (OK, maybe not such a small case). To my eyes, it looked as though my boys were walking along a tiny little trail, clinging onto the edge of an enormous cliff. Yikes!! I am not sure if I'm glad I wasn't there, or horrified I wasn't there.
I told the boys that they were not to take a STEP off the trail, and if there was any tomfoolery at ALL, then Ben was to turn around and take them straight back to the car . I guess they must have behaved. But after seeing these pictures, the next time I send my boys off hiking among thousand foot cliffs, I might require them to wear parachutes.
This is another example of why boys need dads in their lives. At least, they need dads if they have cowardly moms who have regular nightmares of her kids falling off cliffs (I seriously do). Because if it were totally up to me? They would not ever go on a hike like this! :-)
I'm not sure if I'm more worried about Brigham standing RIGHT NEXT to the EDGE of that rail, or about Ben standing somewhere, clearly NOT on the trail, to take the picture.
Look at that! That is a totally deficient railing! You could trip and easily fall straight through that thing! There should be chain link, or plexi-glass, or, best of all, a 5 foot tall stone wall! The view? Who cares! Just don't let my babies fall down the cliff!
This is just so, so wrong. If there isn't even a place to carve a trail along the cliff side, then humans simply shouldn't be there. What is with that wood? There are huge CRACKS between those boards! You can SEE all the way down, straight under your feet! And again, completely deficient railings. Plus, it all looks just a little rusty to me. How long has that been there? Is it regularly inspected? I want to see some certificates of safety!
OK, so it is a pretty view. And at least that railing has got chain link across it. But still, my precious little boys are LEANING on that rail! What if it somehow pulled out of the stone? What if an especially strong gust of wind just blew my babies right over? What if a rabid mountain goat came charging down the mountain and knocked that rail clear off the cliff? If I had been there, everyone would have been safely back away from that rail. At LEAST an arm's-length away. What if there was an earthquake just then? And again, Ben, where WERE you standing to get that picture?!
Monday, May 17, 2010
Sigh...
We've had better days. I'm not sure if my two big boys had a serious case of the whines today, or if they were sleep deprived, or what?!
I haven't seen such crocodile tears in I don't know how long.
Here are only a couple of the scenarios.
Joseph's piano teacher is trying to teach him to count out loud while clapping the rhythm of his pieces. It's not easy, this counting and clapping at the same time thing. But seriously, by the amount of tears and agonized wailing, you would have thought I was pulling his toenails out. FINALLY, after more than 20 minutes, he agreed to *try.* And you know what? He did it!!!!! Aargh. I'd like to think maybe he learned something, but, I kind of doubt it.
On the upside, he was actually fairly pliable in his math lesson today. He listened! He let me teach him! Hurray!
Brigham was his brother's twin today as well. The tears started when I went over to sit next to him while he was doing his math. He's had my same miserable cold/cough virus for the past couple of weeks, and is never without a Kleenex, which he has, thankfully, been using. However, he's not always so good about throwing away the well-used Kleenexes which can be a little... gross. So I went over there and asked him to throw away his Kleenex, and he seriously freaked out. Tears! "You HATE me!! Joseph HATES me! Mosey HATES me! Everybody HATES me!!" Oh, my. I did my best to assure him that I don't hate him for not throwing away his Kleenexes. Brigham's biggest self-inflicted hurdle in life is that he is such a perfectionist, and demands so much from himself, that he takes *any* criticism or correction as a personal attack. Last week we were practicing the piano. There is one chord in one of his pieces on which he tends to use the wrong fingering. So as he played it, I called out, "Four and two, four and two!!" And the hysterics ensued.
"MOM, DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO!"
"Brigham, I'm not trying to be bossy, I'm just reminding you of the fingering."
"I KNOW THE FINGERING, I WAS DOING IT RIGHT!!"
"Brigham, I'm sorry, but you weren't. I was watching."
"NO, I WAS PLAYING IT RIGHT!"
"Sweetheart, believe me I would not have stopped you if you had used the right fingers."
"WHY DO YOU ALWAYS THINK I'M STUPID?"
Ouch.
I have never, ever, EVER, not ONE time, EVER called any of my boys stupid. I don't think I have ever even told them that something they *did* was stupid. I generally don't like that word applied to anything in our house.
I realized that, to Brigham, when I was saying, "Two and four," he was hearing "You got it wrong again and you're stupid."
This is a hard one to combat. I tried to tell him that I do not think he is stupid. I think he is a brilliant piano player. I think that this is a hard piece, and the fingering is tricky. I told him I'm reminding him of the fingering so he doesn't reinforce incorrect neural pathways in his brain (we talk about this a lot).
But what can I do when he hears even the gentlest correction as an attack on his character?
I think I have some of these same tendencies, and I know Brigham's daddy does, too. :-)
Part of the answer is to make sure to have a very high ratio of positive to negative comments, and I try hard to do this. But Brigham can really take the meaning of "over sensitive" to new heights.
Anyway, it was a tough day. And the boys were verbally sniping and jabbing at each other all day too, which did not help. I told them they were acting like our bully goldfish who successfully ATE 6 of his bowl-mates by just grabbing a bite out of one every now and then as he passed by. (Disclaimer-- I didn't know the goldfish was doing this. I just thought our fish kept dying and was a little puzzled by why I never found the dead fishies floating around. And then, I saw that dumb goldfish eating the very last bowl-mate of his. It was already dead. I watched the goldfish, and he would swim around, and every now and then, when he got close to the dead fish, he'd just rip off another piece. It was pretty horrifying.). The boys were doing this to each other. Just jabbing out, verbally at each other when they got too close.
The three of them get along remarkably well most of the time, so a bad day every once in a while is pretty understandable. But it was pretty exhausting for me.
I haven't seen such crocodile tears in I don't know how long.
Here are only a couple of the scenarios.
Joseph's piano teacher is trying to teach him to count out loud while clapping the rhythm of his pieces. It's not easy, this counting and clapping at the same time thing. But seriously, by the amount of tears and agonized wailing, you would have thought I was pulling his toenails out. FINALLY, after more than 20 minutes, he agreed to *try.* And you know what? He did it!!!!! Aargh. I'd like to think maybe he learned something, but, I kind of doubt it.
On the upside, he was actually fairly pliable in his math lesson today. He listened! He let me teach him! Hurray!
Brigham was his brother's twin today as well. The tears started when I went over to sit next to him while he was doing his math. He's had my same miserable cold/cough virus for the past couple of weeks, and is never without a Kleenex, which he has, thankfully, been using. However, he's not always so good about throwing away the well-used Kleenexes which can be a little... gross. So I went over there and asked him to throw away his Kleenex, and he seriously freaked out. Tears! "You HATE me!! Joseph HATES me! Mosey HATES me! Everybody HATES me!!" Oh, my. I did my best to assure him that I don't hate him for not throwing away his Kleenexes. Brigham's biggest self-inflicted hurdle in life is that he is such a perfectionist, and demands so much from himself, that he takes *any* criticism or correction as a personal attack. Last week we were practicing the piano. There is one chord in one of his pieces on which he tends to use the wrong fingering. So as he played it, I called out, "Four and two, four and two!!" And the hysterics ensued.
"MOM, DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO!"
"Brigham, I'm not trying to be bossy, I'm just reminding you of the fingering."
"I KNOW THE FINGERING, I WAS DOING IT RIGHT!!"
"Brigham, I'm sorry, but you weren't. I was watching."
"NO, I WAS PLAYING IT RIGHT!"
"Sweetheart, believe me I would not have stopped you if you had used the right fingers."
"WHY DO YOU ALWAYS THINK I'M STUPID?"
Ouch.
I have never, ever, EVER, not ONE time, EVER called any of my boys stupid. I don't think I have ever even told them that something they *did* was stupid. I generally don't like that word applied to anything in our house.
I realized that, to Brigham, when I was saying, "Two and four," he was hearing "You got it wrong again and you're stupid."
This is a hard one to combat. I tried to tell him that I do not think he is stupid. I think he is a brilliant piano player. I think that this is a hard piece, and the fingering is tricky. I told him I'm reminding him of the fingering so he doesn't reinforce incorrect neural pathways in his brain (we talk about this a lot).
But what can I do when he hears even the gentlest correction as an attack on his character?
I think I have some of these same tendencies, and I know Brigham's daddy does, too. :-)
Part of the answer is to make sure to have a very high ratio of positive to negative comments, and I try hard to do this. But Brigham can really take the meaning of "over sensitive" to new heights.
Anyway, it was a tough day. And the boys were verbally sniping and jabbing at each other all day too, which did not help. I told them they were acting like our bully goldfish who successfully ATE 6 of his bowl-mates by just grabbing a bite out of one every now and then as he passed by. (Disclaimer-- I didn't know the goldfish was doing this. I just thought our fish kept dying and was a little puzzled by why I never found the dead fishies floating around. And then, I saw that dumb goldfish eating the very last bowl-mate of his. It was already dead. I watched the goldfish, and he would swim around, and every now and then, when he got close to the dead fish, he'd just rip off another piece. It was pretty horrifying.). The boys were doing this to each other. Just jabbing out, verbally at each other when they got too close.
The three of them get along remarkably well most of the time, so a bad day every once in a while is pretty understandable. But it was pretty exhausting for me.
love
My iPod that I've had for about 4 years finally broke. It still works, but the USB cord connector thingy doesn't, so I cant upload anything new. That thing really survived some serious abuse, including being submerged in the tub, and it still worked with a battery life of forever. I think it ran out of batteries on me about twice.
So, I got a new one. Yes, I know there are cheaper MP3 players out there, but I spent less on my iPod that I had over 4 years than Ben has on his various MP3 players that he has bought, lost, broken, or never worked over the last 2 years, so I'm sticking with Apple for now.
This one has 16 gb memory, and is color! (Fancy!) I just got finished uploading more than 500 pictures onto it, too, as well as several books. I'll never be bored!
So, I got a new one. Yes, I know there are cheaper MP3 players out there, but I spent less on my iPod that I had over 4 years than Ben has on his various MP3 players that he has bought, lost, broken, or never worked over the last 2 years, so I'm sticking with Apple for now.
This one has 16 gb memory, and is color! (Fancy!) I just got finished uploading more than 500 pictures onto it, too, as well as several books. I'll never be bored!
Ewww
I've been finding these teeny, tiny millipedes around the house. They're only about 1/2 inch or 3/4 inch long. But I'm finding like 5-10 every day, crawling slowly across the tile floor in the kitchen, living room, and sometimes my bathroom.
Everything I've read assures me they are not dangerous and cause no harm, so they're nothing to be worried about. But still. Bugs = gross.
Apparently they need high humidity to live, and so if there are moist areas in the house, this might be where they are living. It's kind of humid here, but not very. I'm mystified at where they are coming from in my house.
Don't get me wrong, I'll take a millipede over a spider or a cockroach, and especially over a centipede or a scorpion, any day of the week. I'd just rather, all things being equal, not have any bugs in the house at all.
I've tried to get Spots to eat them, but he's not interested. He's snobby with his food, I guess. Crickets, yes. Meal worms, yes. Millipedes, uh, no. Not that I blame him.
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Poor Ben
I guess it was a good thing the father/son camp out was canceled. Ben had to work today. He went down to his office around 10:00 this morning, and he's still not home. 12:12 AM. He's a stickler about not working on Sundays, so I'm sure he's on his way home.
Poor guy. It's not fair to not get a weekend!
Poor guy. It's not fair to not get a weekend!
Friday, May 14, 2010
Rain, rain go away
The fathers and sons camping trip was supposed to be tonight. The boys were so excited. We had big plans to go to the grocery store and get ingredients for tin-foil dinners and s'mores. They had their tent all ready (they even set it up last night to make sure we had all the parts), and were super-duper good in lessons today so they could get done in plenty of time.
And then it rained.
It rained for several hours this morning and early afternoon, and it got canceled!
Bummer for the boys, and bummer for me! I was going to have a girls' night out (well, a Relief Society presidency meeting doubling as girls' night out anyway).
Instead the Presidency meeting got canceled so we could all arrange some kind of consolation prizes for our sons. Ben met the boys and me at the movies, we ate too much popcorn, and drowned our sorrows in an extra-large Sprite that we all shared.
I hate to complain about rain (I'm scared of drought after the last couple of years, even though Lake Travis is filled all the way up now), but gosh, after a whole week of sunshine, did it have to rain today?
Opposition in all things, I guess.
And then it rained.
It rained for several hours this morning and early afternoon, and it got canceled!
Bummer for the boys, and bummer for me! I was going to have a girls' night out (well, a Relief Society presidency meeting doubling as girls' night out anyway).
Instead the Presidency meeting got canceled so we could all arrange some kind of consolation prizes for our sons. Ben met the boys and me at the movies, we ate too much popcorn, and drowned our sorrows in an extra-large Sprite that we all shared.
I hate to complain about rain (I'm scared of drought after the last couple of years, even though Lake Travis is filled all the way up now), but gosh, after a whole week of sunshine, did it have to rain today?
Opposition in all things, I guess.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Real life snapshot: Bedtime tonight
Ben was at an Elders Quorum meeting tonight, so I was on my own for bedtime.
Usually, all three boys sleep together in the king-sized bed in the upstairs TV room. It's not the greatest situation, but they insist.
After baths and PJ's and teeth brushing, all done very cooperatively I might add, they headed upstairs to bed. Normally Ben will go up there and sit in the hallway and work on his laptop while they settle down and go to sleep. However, Ben wasn't there, and while the cat's away, the mice will play.
After about 5 minutes, Brigham came out onto the landing and said that Joseph and Mosey were talking or moving about or doing something or other that was preventing him from sleeping.
Now, granted, Brigham does have a tendency toward tattling, simply because he has a very exact, law-abiding personality. But I'm also known to yell from downstairs in a very mean voice, "BE QUIET RIGHT NOW!! I DON'T WANT TO HEAR ANOTHER SOUND!!" I'm serious about bed time, and he knows it.
Well, Joseph, sort of understandably, but also not, started calling out, "Brigham's tattling, Brigham's tattling!"
This made Brigham extremely angry. Here he is being blamed for trying to do the correct thing, at least that's how he views it.
Well, like two angry dogs, the two boys fell upon each other, and I heard Brigham crying out, "HE'S STRANGLING ME!" then a bunch of scuffling, then a loud slam, and then Joseph starting to cry in that breathless, really-hurt sort of way. All of this in the space of about 10 seconds or less.
Brigham was standing motionless on the landing. I asked him what happened. "He was strangling me, so I slammed the door." Then, in a terrible voice from inside the TV room I hear Joseph cry, "HE BROKE MY FOOT!!!" His foot was not broken. Joseph sometimes has a flair for the dramatic.
Hmm. What to do. There are no good guys here. I ordered all three boys to sleep in different rooms (there are 3 bedrooms upstairs). Brigham was pretty contrite and went into the far bedroom at the end of the hall ("Joseph's room," although he rarely sleeps there). Mosey said he can't sleep in Joseph's room or in his room because they smell like Squirrel poop. I told him that his room doesn't smell like Squirrel poop because it was all cleaned up very thoroughly a week ago. So then he said, "I can't sleep in rooms that smell like chemicals!" So I told him I didn't care if he slept, he could just lay on the bed and be quiet, and that was good enough for me. Then he said, "I can't lay on the bed in here, there are no blankets!"
Anyway, finally after blankets were located, Arctie rescued from the TV room, and a few more hissed, "GO TO SLEEP RIGHT NOW"s from me downstairs, things were quiet.
I love it when we end the day on such a pleasant and happy note. :-)
Usually, all three boys sleep together in the king-sized bed in the upstairs TV room. It's not the greatest situation, but they insist.
After baths and PJ's and teeth brushing, all done very cooperatively I might add, they headed upstairs to bed. Normally Ben will go up there and sit in the hallway and work on his laptop while they settle down and go to sleep. However, Ben wasn't there, and while the cat's away, the mice will play.
After about 5 minutes, Brigham came out onto the landing and said that Joseph and Mosey were talking or moving about or doing something or other that was preventing him from sleeping.
Now, granted, Brigham does have a tendency toward tattling, simply because he has a very exact, law-abiding personality. But I'm also known to yell from downstairs in a very mean voice, "BE QUIET RIGHT NOW!! I DON'T WANT TO HEAR ANOTHER SOUND!!" I'm serious about bed time, and he knows it.
Well, Joseph, sort of understandably, but also not, started calling out, "Brigham's tattling, Brigham's tattling!"
This made Brigham extremely angry. Here he is being blamed for trying to do the correct thing, at least that's how he views it.
Well, like two angry dogs, the two boys fell upon each other, and I heard Brigham crying out, "HE'S STRANGLING ME!" then a bunch of scuffling, then a loud slam, and then Joseph starting to cry in that breathless, really-hurt sort of way. All of this in the space of about 10 seconds or less.
Brigham was standing motionless on the landing. I asked him what happened. "He was strangling me, so I slammed the door." Then, in a terrible voice from inside the TV room I hear Joseph cry, "HE BROKE MY FOOT!!!" His foot was not broken. Joseph sometimes has a flair for the dramatic.
Hmm. What to do. There are no good guys here. I ordered all three boys to sleep in different rooms (there are 3 bedrooms upstairs). Brigham was pretty contrite and went into the far bedroom at the end of the hall ("Joseph's room," although he rarely sleeps there). Mosey said he can't sleep in Joseph's room or in his room because they smell like Squirrel poop. I told him that his room doesn't smell like Squirrel poop because it was all cleaned up very thoroughly a week ago. So then he said, "I can't sleep in rooms that smell like chemicals!" So I told him I didn't care if he slept, he could just lay on the bed and be quiet, and that was good enough for me. Then he said, "I can't lay on the bed in here, there are no blankets!"
Anyway, finally after blankets were located, Arctie rescued from the TV room, and a few more hissed, "GO TO SLEEP RIGHT NOW"s from me downstairs, things were quiet.
I love it when we end the day on such a pleasant and happy note. :-)
Mosey-ism
This one is courtesy of Joseph, who told me about it tonight. He told me to post it as a "Mosey-ism" on my blog, so here I go!
The three boys were at art this afternoon, and at one point Moses had stopped working and was just standing there. The art teacher asked Mosey what he was doing, and Mosey replied, "Oh, I was just lost in thought."
At least he didn't say, "Oh, I was just pondering the existential mysteries of the universe." :-)
The three boys were at art this afternoon, and at one point Moses had stopped working and was just standing there. The art teacher asked Mosey what he was doing, and Mosey replied, "Oh, I was just lost in thought."
At least he didn't say, "Oh, I was just pondering the existential mysteries of the universe." :-)
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Regular old days
I never write about our regular-old-days anymore. They seem so repetitive and boring, but I think even the repetitive boring days will be interesting to read about some day, so I should do it once in a while! I'm having fun reading my old letters from about 5 years ago. I remember some things, but there are so many little details that I don't remember, but I love reading about.
So this will be incredibly boring for anybody else except probably some future me. Sorry.
So, what happened yesterday and today?
Yesterday was Monday. We woke up (well, the boys woke up, and then woke ME up), and ate breakfast. I'm not a very good breakfast-maker. We just had cereal yesterday. Usually we have frozen waffles (toasted, buttered, and sprinkled with cinnamon sugar is my boys' favorite way), cereal, or, if I'm feeling particularly domestic, I'll microwave sausage patties and toast english muffins and we'll have "home-made" sausage mc muffins. I used to be better about breakfasts, making oatmeal and scrambled eggs, but my boys haven't been asking for those much, and I'm too lazy to make it if everyone is just as happy with waffles or cereal...
We did scripture study and read about Abinidi's death.
The boys got dressed, and we started lessons. It was a science day (we alternate science and history), and we're finishing up our reptile unit. We read about snakes and lizards, and crocodiles and alligators (did you know the three main groups of reptiles are snakes and lizards, turtles and tortoises, and crocodiles and alligators?). I read to them, and then asked them comprehension questions. We looked up some fun things on the computer, like "Do crocodiles have tongues?" Answer: yes, but they are fixed, so they can't move them around or stick them out.
We did math. Brigham worked on a review, which takes him forever because I grade the reviews, and he is obsessed with getting 100%. Which is good, except when he doesn't get 100%, and then there are tears... Ah, the curse of the perfectionist. Starting in the fall, his reviews are going to be regular tests, and they'll be timed. Oh, he's going to love that. Joseph is working on fractions, improper fractions, and mixed numbers. It's not too hard, but as usual he can't keep his focus on his math and it takes him f-o-r-e-v-e-r. He begged me to let him go outside to do his math, but I was mean. Until he can show me he can stay focused while he's inside, I'm not going to let him go outside where the distractions are 100x what they are inside. He cried. Finally, I did let him go outside, but he came in a short while later, surprisingly. He needs me to help him. He can do the math, but he makes lots of careless errors. Do I let him make the errors, and then make him redo the problem after I correct it? When I do, it's like the end of the world. I'm making him do the WHOLE problem OVER again?? So, I tend to sit next to him, and when he starts to make a mistake, I'll ask him something like, "So two times six plus one is fourteen?" And that clues him in. I'm not sure this is the right approach. Starting in the fall, I'm going to make him do the math practices independently, end of the world dramatics or no. I need the boys to start doing more of their schoolwork independently.
More lessons.
The boys had tortilla pizzas for lunch, their most common request recently.
We had gymnastics in the afternoon. They did trampoline (Joseph's FAVORITE, and they haven't done it in forever, so he was happy), and high bar. I sat by the grandmother of one of the boys in their class. The little boy had a mask over his face, and in talking with the grandmother, found out he has a genetic immune deficiency, and will likely have a bone marrow transplant in the future. It was interesting talking to her. I thought again how glad I am that it is myself who is sick, and not my boys.
When we got home, we did piano practicing and reading, and I threw in the towel for their other lessons. Everyone was tired and grouchy. Too many late nights recently, and Brigham hasn't been sleeping well because of his cold. While the boys practice, I sit next to them and help them out when they need it, and work on scrapbooks (I'm only about 5 years behind, now, LOL!) when they don't. Moses still isn't taking lessons yet. He's on their teacher's waiting list, and it could still be quite a while.
We waited for Ben for dinner, but he called and said he'd be late, so we ate without him. An exciting meal of leftovers.
Then we had FHE. Joseph played the opening song-- "Book of Mormon Stories." Their teacher is having them learn primary songs, and so they've been able to accompany us for FHE. It is fun. Accompanying is hard, though! We kind of have to follow the pianist. But that's ok.
We had a lesson on faith. Joseph did a demonstration with a banana that he took home from church. He used a pin to cut a banana into 3 pieces with the peel still on. Then he told us we had to have faith in what he said (that the banana was cut into pieces), even though we couldn't see it. He had no reason to lie to us, and we can trust in his words. Of course, Brigham and Mosey said that they couldn't trust in Joseph's words because "he's weird" and he might be telling us the banana was cut when it wasn't, just "to be weird." Hmm. Hard to argue with that. It was a little bit of a stretch (I'm still not exactly sure what the object lesson was intended to mean in the boys' primary class), but we tied it into having faith in Joseph Smith and the words of the prophets. We talked about how many prophets have sealed their testimony with their blood-- Old Testament prophets, New Testament prophets (apostles), Book of Mormon prophets, and of course Joseph Smith. Ben came home during FHE, and we closed with Brigham and Joseph both accompanying us (alternating verses) on "Follow the Prophet."
Then it was dessert, PJ's teeth-brushing, potty-sitting, and going to bed time. I worked on some Relief Society stuff and then I went to bed, too. Stayed up too late brainstorming with Ben on how to resolve some employee issues at work.
Today. I'm going to make this abbreviated:
Breakfast: The same (cereal and waffles). Scripture study.
Lessons: History. Mexican revolution. Narrations took us WAY too long. I need to get the big boys typing faster so they can do their own summaries.
Math. Joseph was a little more cooperative, until we got to the word problems. I wanted to help him. I tend to use the Socratic method with the boys-- asking them questions and leading them to the answers. So sometimes I ask them questions that are obvious, but I'm making a point and leading somewhere. But Joseph doesn't like working with me like this. I'd ask him a question like, "So how many people were there altogether?" (for a word problem), and I'd want him to tell me, "2500." But he won't. He'll point at it, he'll write it, he'll do sign-language, he just won't SAY it. I get really tired of these games. I just need him to cooperate and do things my way even if he thinks it's dumb. So I gave him 3 chances and then told him I was done playing games, and he could sit there at the table and work on it himself. If he wanted my help, he could let me know when he was ready to cooperate. Sigh...
We had horseback riding. We have a new teacher. Their old teacher raised her rates to a ridiculous amount, so last week was our last lesson with her. Then apparently she got really sick (this all happened last week), and decided not to teach anymore. So a new teacher is taking on her students, and her rates are much better. And, she is a more outgoing, dynamic teacher, so it's an improvement all around. I think Mosey will like riding every week. With their old teacher, Mosey only wanted to ride every couple of weeks or so.
After we got home, we worked on more math. The neighbor boy and his dad came over wanted the boys to go ride scooters around the block with them. This provided the leverage I needed with Joseph, and he promised to cooperate with me 100% when he got back if I let him go. I did, and when he got home, he told me they were invited to go play at Jason's house. I told him he better hurry up and finish his math, then! When Joseph is motivated, he can be really fast. If only he could see that himself.
They played at Jason's, then came home and practiced piano.
I worried some more about how I don't make enough of an effort for the boys to socialize with other friends.
Ben came home and made dinner while I was working on piano with the boys (we're still working on those leftovers, I think they're polished off now). Brigham had a huge melt-down when he was trying to finish his song and Joseph came up to him "counting down" for him to come sit up and eat. Lots of tears. "I can't play my song when Joseph is counting down!!" Oh, the drama. Someone still isn't getting enough sleep.
Dinner, then begging to watch 24. It's already later than I want, but I relent, extracting promises of cooperation for tomorrow. We'll see.
Hurried baths and PJ's, and then 24. Wow, that is a violent show. Are we completely twisting our boys letting them watch it? Are we total contradictions, not having TV in our house, and then watching 24 on the internet?
Now, they're in bed and I'm up 22 minutes past my bedtime writing this ridiculously long and boring epistle about the last two days. I better hope this is interesting some day, or else I have just wasted a lot of time. :-)
So this will be incredibly boring for anybody else except probably some future me. Sorry.
So, what happened yesterday and today?
Yesterday was Monday. We woke up (well, the boys woke up, and then woke ME up), and ate breakfast. I'm not a very good breakfast-maker. We just had cereal yesterday. Usually we have frozen waffles (toasted, buttered, and sprinkled with cinnamon sugar is my boys' favorite way), cereal, or, if I'm feeling particularly domestic, I'll microwave sausage patties and toast english muffins and we'll have "home-made" sausage mc muffins. I used to be better about breakfasts, making oatmeal and scrambled eggs, but my boys haven't been asking for those much, and I'm too lazy to make it if everyone is just as happy with waffles or cereal...
We did scripture study and read about Abinidi's death.
The boys got dressed, and we started lessons. It was a science day (we alternate science and history), and we're finishing up our reptile unit. We read about snakes and lizards, and crocodiles and alligators (did you know the three main groups of reptiles are snakes and lizards, turtles and tortoises, and crocodiles and alligators?). I read to them, and then asked them comprehension questions. We looked up some fun things on the computer, like "Do crocodiles have tongues?" Answer: yes, but they are fixed, so they can't move them around or stick them out.
We did math. Brigham worked on a review, which takes him forever because I grade the reviews, and he is obsessed with getting 100%. Which is good, except when he doesn't get 100%, and then there are tears... Ah, the curse of the perfectionist. Starting in the fall, his reviews are going to be regular tests, and they'll be timed. Oh, he's going to love that. Joseph is working on fractions, improper fractions, and mixed numbers. It's not too hard, but as usual he can't keep his focus on his math and it takes him f-o-r-e-v-e-r. He begged me to let him go outside to do his math, but I was mean. Until he can show me he can stay focused while he's inside, I'm not going to let him go outside where the distractions are 100x what they are inside. He cried. Finally, I did let him go outside, but he came in a short while later, surprisingly. He needs me to help him. He can do the math, but he makes lots of careless errors. Do I let him make the errors, and then make him redo the problem after I correct it? When I do, it's like the end of the world. I'm making him do the WHOLE problem OVER again?? So, I tend to sit next to him, and when he starts to make a mistake, I'll ask him something like, "So two times six plus one is fourteen?" And that clues him in. I'm not sure this is the right approach. Starting in the fall, I'm going to make him do the math practices independently, end of the world dramatics or no. I need the boys to start doing more of their schoolwork independently.
More lessons.
The boys had tortilla pizzas for lunch, their most common request recently.
We had gymnastics in the afternoon. They did trampoline (Joseph's FAVORITE, and they haven't done it in forever, so he was happy), and high bar. I sat by the grandmother of one of the boys in their class. The little boy had a mask over his face, and in talking with the grandmother, found out he has a genetic immune deficiency, and will likely have a bone marrow transplant in the future. It was interesting talking to her. I thought again how glad I am that it is myself who is sick, and not my boys.
When we got home, we did piano practicing and reading, and I threw in the towel for their other lessons. Everyone was tired and grouchy. Too many late nights recently, and Brigham hasn't been sleeping well because of his cold. While the boys practice, I sit next to them and help them out when they need it, and work on scrapbooks (I'm only about 5 years behind, now, LOL!) when they don't. Moses still isn't taking lessons yet. He's on their teacher's waiting list, and it could still be quite a while.
We waited for Ben for dinner, but he called and said he'd be late, so we ate without him. An exciting meal of leftovers.
Then we had FHE. Joseph played the opening song-- "Book of Mormon Stories." Their teacher is having them learn primary songs, and so they've been able to accompany us for FHE. It is fun. Accompanying is hard, though! We kind of have to follow the pianist. But that's ok.
We had a lesson on faith. Joseph did a demonstration with a banana that he took home from church. He used a pin to cut a banana into 3 pieces with the peel still on. Then he told us we had to have faith in what he said (that the banana was cut into pieces), even though we couldn't see it. He had no reason to lie to us, and we can trust in his words. Of course, Brigham and Mosey said that they couldn't trust in Joseph's words because "he's weird" and he might be telling us the banana was cut when it wasn't, just "to be weird." Hmm. Hard to argue with that. It was a little bit of a stretch (I'm still not exactly sure what the object lesson was intended to mean in the boys' primary class), but we tied it into having faith in Joseph Smith and the words of the prophets. We talked about how many prophets have sealed their testimony with their blood-- Old Testament prophets, New Testament prophets (apostles), Book of Mormon prophets, and of course Joseph Smith. Ben came home during FHE, and we closed with Brigham and Joseph both accompanying us (alternating verses) on "Follow the Prophet."
Then it was dessert, PJ's teeth-brushing, potty-sitting, and going to bed time. I worked on some Relief Society stuff and then I went to bed, too. Stayed up too late brainstorming with Ben on how to resolve some employee issues at work.
Today. I'm going to make this abbreviated:
Breakfast: The same (cereal and waffles). Scripture study.
Lessons: History. Mexican revolution. Narrations took us WAY too long. I need to get the big boys typing faster so they can do their own summaries.
Math. Joseph was a little more cooperative, until we got to the word problems. I wanted to help him. I tend to use the Socratic method with the boys-- asking them questions and leading them to the answers. So sometimes I ask them questions that are obvious, but I'm making a point and leading somewhere. But Joseph doesn't like working with me like this. I'd ask him a question like, "So how many people were there altogether?" (for a word problem), and I'd want him to tell me, "2500." But he won't. He'll point at it, he'll write it, he'll do sign-language, he just won't SAY it. I get really tired of these games. I just need him to cooperate and do things my way even if he thinks it's dumb. So I gave him 3 chances and then told him I was done playing games, and he could sit there at the table and work on it himself. If he wanted my help, he could let me know when he was ready to cooperate. Sigh...
We had horseback riding. We have a new teacher. Their old teacher raised her rates to a ridiculous amount, so last week was our last lesson with her. Then apparently she got really sick (this all happened last week), and decided not to teach anymore. So a new teacher is taking on her students, and her rates are much better. And, she is a more outgoing, dynamic teacher, so it's an improvement all around. I think Mosey will like riding every week. With their old teacher, Mosey only wanted to ride every couple of weeks or so.
After we got home, we worked on more math. The neighbor boy and his dad came over wanted the boys to go ride scooters around the block with them. This provided the leverage I needed with Joseph, and he promised to cooperate with me 100% when he got back if I let him go. I did, and when he got home, he told me they were invited to go play at Jason's house. I told him he better hurry up and finish his math, then! When Joseph is motivated, he can be really fast. If only he could see that himself.
They played at Jason's, then came home and practiced piano.
I worried some more about how I don't make enough of an effort for the boys to socialize with other friends.
Ben came home and made dinner while I was working on piano with the boys (we're still working on those leftovers, I think they're polished off now). Brigham had a huge melt-down when he was trying to finish his song and Joseph came up to him "counting down" for him to come sit up and eat. Lots of tears. "I can't play my song when Joseph is counting down!!" Oh, the drama. Someone still isn't getting enough sleep.
Dinner, then begging to watch 24. It's already later than I want, but I relent, extracting promises of cooperation for tomorrow. We'll see.
Hurried baths and PJ's, and then 24. Wow, that is a violent show. Are we completely twisting our boys letting them watch it? Are we total contradictions, not having TV in our house, and then watching 24 on the internet?
Now, they're in bed and I'm up 22 minutes past my bedtime writing this ridiculously long and boring epistle about the last two days. I better hope this is interesting some day, or else I have just wasted a lot of time. :-)
Sunday, May 09, 2010
Mosey-ism
After dinner tonight when one of the big boys asked if I was sad they didn't buy me a present (they did, they bought me a dozen gorgeous roses). Mosey piped up, "No, presents aren't mom's love language, right mom?"
Does your 6 year old know what your love language is? :-)
Ha, ha, ha!! He's right, presents are not my love language. My love language is service-- do something for me, make something for me, show me your love, and I'm yours. My boys (all of them!) did very well today and I am going to bed tonight feeling well-loved.
Does your 6 year old know what your love language is? :-)
Ha, ha, ha!! He's right, presents are not my love language. My love language is service-- do something for me, make something for me, show me your love, and I'm yours. My boys (all of them!) did very well today and I am going to bed tonight feeling well-loved.
Mother's Day
Happy Mother's Day! This picture is one I hadn't seen before-- my sister sent it to me on a DVD with a lot of other scanned photos of our ancestors. I like this one because it shows my beautiful mother as I always see her in my mind's eye. My mom is in the light pink blouse, and my sisters and I are standing in front (me, Naomi, Rosalynde, from left to right). My aunt Shauna is standing next to my mom holding her son (Nicholas or Peter?) on the horse, and my cousin Jeff (I think) is standing to the right. I believe we are in front of my Grandpa Frandsen's barn at his farm. My mom is so beautiful.
Brigham and I have been suffering from a terrible cough/cold this last week. He came in our room this morning at around 6:00 AM, practically in tears, and saying how he hardly slept at all the night before. So we dosed him up with cold medicine and Benadryl and he went back to sleep for a few hours. Ben stayed home from church with him. I was hoping he would sleep the whole time, but Ben said he did not. Brigham probably suffers the most of any of my boys when it comes to sleep deprivation. He is my best sleeper, but he really has a hard time coping with life when he doesn't get enough.
Last night Ben took the boys to the grocery store to shop for a special mother's day dinner. When they got home, Ben carried Brigham in from the car. I asked, "Is that a tired boy or a sad boy?" Brigham said, "Sad boy," through his tears. Then he told me how he didn't get ANYTHING he wanted at the grocery store, and Joseph got EVERYTHING he wanted. Oh, the injustice of it all! Anyway, he seems to be holding up ok this afternoon, and the boys will all have an early night.
Church was nice, even without Ben and Brigham. There is a sweet young man in our ward who has taken it as his personal duty to make sure that I am well taken care of. He finds me immediately after Sacrament meeting and carries my bag into Sunday School, and usually comes to find me after Sunday School to take my bag to Relief Society! Today he took the long-stem rose given to all the women in the ward by the Young Men, and put it in my car before coming back and taking my bag. And after church he found me, got my keys and opened my van door for me. What a gentleman! I told him he better be as nice to his own mother as he is to me!
After church, the boys and Ben made dinner for me-- salad and beef/chicken/broccoli teriyaki with rice and noodles. And we used some of our first harvestings of our garden! Onions and lettuce and chard and oregano. It would have been great to use our broccoli, too, but sadly the weather warmed up too fast and our broccoli "bolted" before we could harvest it. I didn't know, but if it gets too warm, broccoli does not develop a big head, but instead "bolts"-- shoots up long stems and yellow flowers. Pretty, but you can't eat it! We'll have ice cream for dessert. Brigham was disappointed by that-- he wanted to make blueberry cream pie, or, barring that, at least buy some sugar cookies! He thinks plain ice cream is not good enough for his mother. :-)
During dinner I told them all about what my mom was like while I was growing up, and then Ben told us about his mom. I feel totally inadequate now. :-)
Mosey-ism
Scene: Mosey comes up to me holding a toy Plesiosaur, pretending to make it bite me.
Me: "No, AAHHH, don't let it get me!"
Mosey: "Don't worry, mom, it isn't real, it's animatronic."
Me: "Oh, OK, phew! I was getting scared."
Mosey: "Actually, it isn't even animatronic, it's just a plastic toy and I'm making it move with my hands, see?"
Mosey, what would I do without you to entertain me?
Me: "No, AAHHH, don't let it get me!"
Mosey: "Don't worry, mom, it isn't real, it's animatronic."
Me: "Oh, OK, phew! I was getting scared."
Mosey: "Actually, it isn't even animatronic, it's just a plastic toy and I'm making it move with my hands, see?"
Mosey, what would I do without you to entertain me?
Saturday, May 08, 2010
Senior pictures in the bluebonnets
One of the graduating Laurels in our ward asked me to take senior pictures of her when the bluebonnets came out. Lucky for her, we had an excellent bluebonnet season! We took a lot of pictures, and there is no way I could possibly choose a favorite, so I'm posting a few. Ben and the boys were big helpers for me during this photo shoot. Ben pretty much has to hold me up while I shoot, because I can't stand, balance, AND take pictures at the same time! LOL.
This girl is such an excellent girl. I wish I could go back in time and be just like she is! She is super-smart (going to Wesleyan College, I think? One of those Ivy League women's schools back east), super-talented (she is our ward's organist and is a gifted pianist), beautiful (I don't believe she had on a speck of makeup), and just a sweet girl. So you can't even hate her because she's beautiful! :-)
This girl is such an excellent girl. I wish I could go back in time and be just like she is! She is super-smart (going to Wesleyan College, I think? One of those Ivy League women's schools back east), super-talented (she is our ward's organist and is a gifted pianist), beautiful (I don't believe she had on a speck of makeup), and just a sweet girl. So you can't even hate her because she's beautiful! :-)
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