swimming and swords

The boys and I spent the afternoon of this hot, hot, hot day in the pool.  They had fun experimenting with different hairstyles.  I remember doing that as a kid! 

Brigham is getting his hair just-so.

And doesn't he look suave?

Here's Joseph's "faux-hawk."  He tried to make it stay that way by spraying it with hair spray as soon as he got out of the pool.

It looks a little more like a unicorn horn I think.

Mosey's hair isn't too crazy here-- just cute.

Now this, on the other hand, I'm not sure what to call it!

Joseph lost another tooth today-- his first molar! (Look for the extra space on the right.)

When I zoomed in on this picture in photoshop, I thought it was cool how you can see the reflection of me holding up my camera, wearing a black hat, most of the pool behind me (yes, I had my very expensive camera in the pool-- I like to live dangerously), and the rail to the pool steps on the left.  Cool!

Later on, I took Joseph and Mosey to Tae Kwon Do.  There is a Tae Kwon Do place pretty close to our house offering a summer special-- uniform and full week of classes for $20.  Mosey's been asking to do TKD since last fall, so I took him yesterday morning.  He loved it, and when he came home wearing his uniform and practicing his side kicks, Joseph decided he wanted to give it another try.  So I took him and Mosey this evening and Joseph loved it, too!  He thinks he may want to start back up.  This is so funny to me, since Joseph was the one who SO didn't want to do TKD anymore 3 years ago.  Kids change I guess!  He could start back up as a blue belt, but he said he wants to start again so he can be in the same class as Mosey.  Isn't that sweet?
It was so fun to see the two of them come home and spend the next hour sparring with each other.  It didn't take long before the swords came out.  The TKD place actually offers some sword classes, so maybe the boys will want to give that a try sometime.

Brigham is really serious about his sword-play.  When Joseph and Mosey came home from TKD, the first thing Mosey said was, "Brigham, you really missed out!"  We'll see if Joseph and Mosey can wear him down to start up again, too.

It was just a minute or two after this picture was taken when Mosey accidentally dropped his sword after a particularly vigorous lunge.  When he turned to pick it up, Brigham "cut off his arm."  (They really are serious, and keep track of things like that.)  Mosey was furious, and started after Brigham trying to beat him on the back.  Brigham ran, I yelled, and Mosey stomped off into the house.  Ah well, all fun things must come to an end, I suppose.  :-)

Four things about Mosey

(The pictures have nothing to do with anything-- they're just ones I love of him from our CA vacation last year that I don't think I've ever posted here)

It's no secret that Mosey doesn't love playing the violin.  Sad, because he is actually pretty darn good!
This week I decided I was going to try my hardest not to fight with him about it.  Yesterday afternoon I gave him the choice to practice then, or right before bed.  Usually right before bed is when they get to play with Ben, and I thought that might be an incentive for him to get it done earlier.  However, you can't underestimate the motivation of immediate gratification for a 7 year old, and he chose that night.  He promised me he would "focus like a laser beam."  And he did!  He made more progress in 15 minutes last night than he had in the 3 previous practice sessions.  Mainly because every time I said something to him ("Try playing that last line again, making the short notes a little bit shorter"), he didn't throw himself down on the bed (we practice in my room) and freak out about how "It's impossible!!!" for 5 minutes.  :-)  Which can quickly stretch a 15 minute practice session into a much longer period of time.
So I asked him when he would like to practice today.  He told me, "My brain can only focus like a laser beam when it is twilight."  OK, twilight it was.  So tonight, right as the sun set and twilight officially started, I told him the time had come (I'd been giving him progress reports on the approach of twilight).  Suddenly he wanted to debate me on the definition of twilight.  I told him twilight means the time between sunset and when it gets fully dark.  He said, "Well, when I said twilight I mean when the light looks sort of blue outside."  I asked him when that would be.  "Well, I don't exactly know, but I'll tell you when I see it!"  I can see I need to be more precise when asking him when he'd like to practice.  :-)  We finally agreed that in 15 more minutes, it *really* would be time to practice.  And he focused like a laser beam again!  Good job, Mosey!  I reminded him that tomorrow is lesson day, so he'd have to practice before twilight.  He told me he was pretty sure he could "focus like a laser beam" right after breakfast.  We'll see.  :-)

Mosey had his 2nd speech therapy session today.  It's so fun to watch him on the video feed.  He is so cute!  Of my 3 boys, he is the most animated when talking, and it is so cute watching him show his therapist the light saber and stuffed animal jaguar (named "Spotted Pelt") that he brought.  I've always wanted to be a fly on the wall to be able to observe how my kids are when I'm not around, and this is the perfect opportunity.  The vending machine was all sold out of Sierra Mist on our way out (he gets to buy a pop from the vending machine in the parking lot as a treat), so instead we stopped by Burger King and he got a shake and a hamburger.  He's going to hope the vending machine is sold out every week.  :-)

I took the boys to one of the Steiner Ranch pools this afternoon/evening for Brigham's and Joseph's pack meeting.  Mosey came back under the pavilion where I was trying to stay cool, and started chasing grackles.  He was running all around chasing them from one area of the pavilion to another.  At one point he came up to me and asked, "Mom, will you pay me for every crow (he thought they were crows) I scare away?"  Ha, ha, ha!  Um, no.  Sorry sweetie.  We've been battling houseflies (there's a reason I'm so shrewish when it comes to keeping the back door closed!), so I've been paying the boys a quarter for every fly they kill.  They're ridiculously hard to kill, so I haven't paid out more than a dollar or two over the last couple of weeks.  I upped my rates from the dime-per-millipede I paid last year during the Great Millipede Migration (I had no idea how bad it would get, but soon realized that 10 cents a millipede would quickly clean me out).  I guess Mosey thought that the compensation for de-pesting might extend to grackles outside.  Well, sorry buddy, but no.  :-)

Yesterday evening we had a family home evening lesson on Joseph Smith's martyrdom, it being the 167th (I think?) anniversary.  I read the account from George Q. Cannon's "The Life of Joseph Smith" book, and then we sang all 4 verses of "Praise to the Man."  That has always been one of my all-time favorite hymns.  I remember when my dad had us memorize that song for family home evening probably 25 years ago or more.  As we were closing, I told the boys about my testimony of Joseph Smith and how I feel the Spirit strongly every time I hear that song.  (It's true-- I'm not much of a crier at all, but I have trouble getting through that song.)  I tried to explain how it feels to me-- like tingling that goes down from my head.  Mosey said, "Oh!  I know that!  Whenever I sing "Scripture Power" it feels like my hair is touching a TV screen!"  That was a pretty cool mommy-moment-- being able to confirm to my son that he was feeling the Holy Ghost.

I love you Mosey!

More before and afters from Florida

One of the projects on my to-do list this summer is to go back and finish editing pictures from the past year that have been left to get dusty, untouched in my computer files.  So I finally finished the pictures from our Florida trip from last November.  (The fact that I started these at about 10:00 PM and finished at 1:00 AM speaks to how much "free time" I've had so far this summer. :-))
While we were there, we went back to our favorite places in our old neighborhood.  One of these places was the "rock climbing park," named for the small climbing wall and the plastic "boulder" climbing structure.  When the twins turned 4 years old, I took them to this park to take their pictures.  When we were there back in November, I took pictures of the boys in the same place so I could get a "5 years later" comparison shot.  So here they are!  To me, they haven't changed that much.  Will I always feel this way?

Here is Brigham at 4 years old, and again at 9 years old.

And Joseph at 4 years old and again at 9.

And Mosey.  I hadn't taken his picture at the fence, so this is the best comparison shot that I have from that day.  Waaah!  Where has my baby gone?!

And these are from a park just down the road-- what we called the "dinosaur park" (named after the dinosaur slide there).  I took the first picture just a couple of months after I got my first dSLR.  Next to it is the shot I took at the same rock 4 1/2 years later.  Mosey's legs are about 2 miles longer now than they were then.  :-)
I wish I would have remembered how they were posed in the first shot-- it would have been fun to try to replicate it a little closer.

 

Weekly letter

Hello Everyone,
(You know what?  Sometimes I read my letters and I think I sound really insufferable.  Maybe I am really insufferable.  Anyway, I'm sorry about that.)
Another week come and gone!  And I still don't feel like we've gotten into the swing of summer yet.  At least I haven't.  I feel way too busy for summer!
Monday we had piano and flute.  Flute was down at UT, which meant I had to drive down there, drop off Joseph (and Mosey who came along), find a parking place on the road (gotta love university parking), get out my wheelchair, go and pay for parking, go back to the car and put the parking pass in the windshield, then wheel myself down the road a couple of blocks to the music building, then up into the building to wait for the end of Joseph's lesson, and then do the whole thing again in reverse.  And it was about 104 degrees that day.  Whew!!  Joseph has had his lessons at his teacher's apartment the last several weeks, which is way easier for me since it's closer, and I can just sit and wait in the car.  Oh, well.  Tomorrow lessons are at UT again, but it's supposed to be "only" 100, so not so hot.  :-)  On the plus side, Joseph had a GREAT lesson.  His teacher came out to talk to me and told me he played really well and he's making good progress.  Good job, Joseph!  He likes playing and I don't have to fight him on practicing at all.
For family home evening I attempted to start teaching the boys how to sing parts-- the harmony line on a primary song.  My boys can all carry a tune, and Brigham constantly is humming his own soundtrack to life, so I thought it would be fun for them to learn how to harmonize.  Especially Joseph, since the harmony line is lower, and one of the reasons he doesn't like to sing is because he thinks it makes his voice sound too high.  Well, it wasn't my most successful lesson.  Brigham and Mosey both sang, but Joseph was not interested.  :-(  And when I tried to sing the melody line, Brigham and Mosey lost the harmony.  I really needed Ben there to help with this one, but he also was not enthusiastic about the activity.  I guess not the best choice for family home evening, right?  :-)  I need to dredge up through my memory some silly, and preferably slightly gross camp song to teach them, I think.
Tuesday morning we went to a makeup horseback riding lesson.  All three boys rode together that day (on 3 horses), which I believe is what the teacher wants them to do from now on to get more time in the saddle.  I have my doubts-- it sort of looked like she was trying to direct a 3 ring circus which each ring not really knowing what they were doing.  :-)  I'm ambivalent about horseback riding.  It is so expensive, the most expensive extracurricular we do.  And when we're there, the boys act morosely.  They're NOT enthusiastic at all, and I've written before about some of the behavioral issues we've had with the boys and the teacher.  But when I ask them if they really want to ride, they all say YES.  But I'm not sure I'm willing to pay for lessons if they're not really enthusiastic.  Maybe I'll make a deal with them-- if they can show cooperation and enthusiasm and excitement at their lessons, they can keep on riding.  If not, then not.  Is that fair for me to demand a particular attitude during lessons? 
Tuesday afternoon Mosey had speech, again down at UT.  This time at least I can park at the building and it's not too long of a walk.  Mosey enjoyed going and I like the therapists there, so that was good.  He gets to buy a Sierra Mist out of the vending machine on the way out, which is a special treat for him.
We didn't get back until 2:30 or so, and then I had a visiting teaching appointment at 4:00, which gave me only an hour and a half to try to quickly squeeze in the boys' music practicing.
I got back from visiting teaching at 5:30 (got stuck in rush-hour traffic on 620), and then it was time to make dinner.  I was exhausted!  I'd been going all day long with no break.  This is summer vacation??
Wednesday was movie day at the theater, so the boys got up and ready and I got the wheelchair in the van and we were out by 9:30 AM.  We watched The Chronicles of Narnia, which Brigham and Mosey and I had seen a few months ago.  Joseph had lost the privilege of going to see that movie, so it was nice for him to go and see it.  Then home again, lunch, music practicing, and off to violin at 4:00.  After violin we went to the grocery store and then back home by about 7:00.
Then Thursday, blessed Thursday.  No scheduled activities out of the house.  The Anderson kids came at 10:30 while they're mom was at the doctor's, and they stayed until our other homeschool friends came for swimming in the afternoon (we host a swimming and popsicles party every Thursday afternoon).  The slide Ben made was a huge hit.  I had to do some policing-- NO DIVING OFF THE SLIDE!!  NO BACKFLIPS OFF THE SLIDE!!  NO SHOVING YOUR BROTHER OFF THE SLIDE!!  Etc., etc.  :-)  But other than that, I think the slide increases the fun factor of our pool by about 50%.  After swimming, I had to figure out dinner (sandwiches and fruit), and then attempt to get music practicing finished.
Friday morning was our regular horseback riding lessons.  We got there early so the boys could get their horses brushed and hooves cleaned and saddles and bridles on.  Their teacher was finishing up an earlier lesson.  The problem was that Mosey wasn't tall enough to get the halter on the horse even to get her out of the stall!  Joseph's horse wouldn't cooperate with the halter, and I'm not sure Brigham had a clue what he was supposed to do.  And I'm no help.  I don't know how to put a horse's halter on, and I'm just not physically coordinated enough to do much with a horse anyway.  Luckily another guy who works at the stables was there and helped get the horses out.  But then Mosey couldn't reach the saddle and saddle pad, so I had to go into the tack room and lift them down myself (also hard when I'm also trying to balance myself on crutches), and Joseph wasn't strong enough to heave the saddle over his horse, so I had to go over there and attempt to help him.  And NONE of the boys are tall enough to get the horse's bit and bridle on, but that part I have no clue about, so they had to wait for their teacher.  Anyway, it didn't work very well.  And Joseph's horse was acting up, not letting him clean his hooves, and generally acting skittish.  So Joseph was already nervous before he even started riding.  His teacher asked him what was wrong and Joseph said, "My horse is trying to kill me!"  Well, not really, but she was acting up.  She is the horse the boys like riding least.  And while all the boys were out there riding, Mosey let his horse get too close to Tiki (Joseph's horse), who then KICKED back at Mosey's horse, making both boys even more nervous.  So it was kind of like a three ring circus again.  We'll see if it works better next week.  The teacher is having us come a 1/2 hour later next week so she'll be available to help the boys get the horses ready.
After horseback riding, I attempted to get the boys to do their music practicing.  Joseph and Brigham were fine.  Mosey was a pill.  I don't even want to rehash the afternoon.  Suffice it to say that I manage too often to get myself in these situations where it's the behavior I'm more concerned about than the practicing.  I don't even care about the practicing, but it gets to the point where I cannot let this child get what he wants (not to practice) because that will simply reward unacceptable behavior.  I didn't lose my temper, though, and eventually I just lay on the bed and hugged him and we decided to try practicing again after dinner.  So he sort of got what he wanted, but not really because I'm pretty sure he doesn't want to have an afternoon like that again either. 
After Ben came home, we got in the van and headed to HEB where we picked up a pizza, and then went to the lake park where Joseph and Ben went fishing and Mosey and Brigham climbed trees and had epic light saber battles.  Ben and Joseph found a disgusting old dried out turtle corpse which Mosey in particular thought was great fun to poke at.  I took some pictures of Brigham and Mosey in the photographer's dream light that comes about an hour before dark.  The ranger came and kicked us out 20 minutes earlier than the park is supposed to close, which was annoying, but when we got home I did have time to practice with Mosey and it went MUCH better than earlier in the day.
Mosey's pretty sick of violin and wants to start cello.  I think I found a cello to buy at a really good price, but it's in Houston so I can't get it until next month.  (It's so expensive to rent-- you have an initial fee, and then a three month minimum rental, and it all ends up being not much less than simply buying a cello.  And since it would be a 1/2 size, I don't care that much about getting something of super-good quality.)  Plus, none of the cello teachers I've contacted has written me back!  So for now, there's no opportunity to switch over.  But most of Mosey's issues with practicing aren't specifically to do with violin (I don't think), but more about the practicing itself.  And practicing IS a battle I'm willing to fight, I just need to figure out the best strategy.
I have come to the conclusion this week that Joseph and Brigham have got to start doing most of their practicing on their own.  I'm spending more than 3 hours a day supervising practicing and it's killing me.  Actually more than that when you consider the amount of time spent trying to get the next child to come downstairs for their turn, and the time I have spent with Mosey trying to get him to actually practice at all.  The big boys actually want me to practice with them now (mildly shocking, but it does soothe my "Am I too much of a Tiger Mother" anxiety), but I just can't do it.  Especially when school starts in the fall.  I just can't do it!  So I have to figure out what to do.  I think I do need to practice with them the day after their lessons so they know exactly what they are supposed to do.  And Mosey still needs me.  My big goal for the next week is to make practicing more manageable for me.  It's OK for the boys, because individually they're not spending too much time practicing, but collectively for me it is TOO much.
Yesterday the boys finally got their hair cut!!  Seriously, it was getting embarrassing.  I don't know how to do the long-hair look on boys that actually looks cool instead of "my mom hasn't bothered to cut my hair."  My bigger boys I think have gotten to the point that a haircut is now making them look younger instead of older.  Interesting.  I'll have to take some pictures tomorrow so I can do a side-by-side comparison with pictures I took last week.  Ben spent the day doing daddy-stuff.  He took Brigham to the mall to buy new church shirts (he's getting so big, none of his shirts were fitting him right), and then took him to lunch.  He and the boys then spent the afternoon perfecting the slide.  They rigged up a hose that goes from the pump to the top of the slide, pumping water down the slide.  Ben also made a waterfall/shower thing with a pipe coming up over the side and pouring down into the pool.  All of this helps with the circulation in the pool, and uses the power of the pump that is already going.  Anyway, it really is cool.  Everyone should come and visit and swim!  :-)  I got the house cleaned, and did errands at Target.  I made dinner, and was in bed before 11:00.  Amazing!
Today was church day.  Our home teacher came in the morning.  This is the guy who brought the "getting to know you" questionnaire last time, so he asked the boys some details about their lives which I thought was cool.  This got the boys excited to show them more things about themselves.  Mosey brought down a basket full of his stuffed animals, and then his Nanobug habitat.  Brigham showed him the excellent castle drawing he's working on (#368, I think), brought down some of his extensive rock collection, and then brought in the block catapult he made.  Joseph got down his animal card collection and showed him his awesome dragon drawing he recently finished.  Our home teacher now knows more about my boys than almost anyone else!  :-)  Ben left early for church to play the organ, and I remembered 2 minutes before I needed to leave with the boys that I had forgotten to make our "Give and Take Basket."  The idea is that people will "give" fabric they have laying around, and other people will "take" the fabric and make blankets for the 2 charities we are working with this year.  So I rushed madly around the house trying to come up with something cute, and lighted upon a pink plastic bin-type-thing with handles that Mosey's been using as his laundry basket.  Sorry, Mosey.  I grabbed scrapbook paper, scissors, tape, and markers, and rushed to church, making it in time for Sacrament.  I made the sign for it during Sacrament meeting and impressed Brigham with my freehand drawing skills, decorating the sign.  In retrospect, that's not a bad way to do a project like this.  If I had remembered yesterday, I probably would have gone to the store to buy something, and then spent at least a couple of hours making it cute.  I think I achieved the same result in a fraction of the time today.  My brain works better under pressure, but I've always known that.  :-)
After church I made dinner, helped finish the cookies Ben was making for his home teachees, and then cleaned up after dinner.  Mama, when you come I need you to help me figure out the best way to have the boys help equitably with cleaning up after meals.  They really should be doing it at their age, but tonight I just wasn't up for the battle.  They'll help, but they spend the whole time arguing about who is doing more or less work.  But I don't want to have to divide up every little tiny thing that has to be done in cleaning up the kitchen.  How can I get them to work together better?
Now they're all in bed (doubtful if they're all asleep, but at least they're in bed and quiet), and I'm heading there as soon as I can, myself.
Until next week!

Lake park pictures

Mister's doing pretty well these days.  He does a lot of this:

and this:

(the boys have now dubbed this "Mister's couch")
But he's happy and eating and NOT running away, and being a pretty darn good dog.

Tonight after Ben got home from work we went to the lake park.  Joseph wanted to fish.  There WAS still some water down there, which surprised me a little considering how far down the lake has dropped, and he spent an hour or so fishing for bluegill.  No bites tonight, but he's patient.  Next time.
Brigham climbed trees and collected rocks.  He's my biggest collector.  He had a pile of about 30 rocks by the time we had to go home.  He asked me if he should take all of them, and I told him to choose the best three.  "But how can I choose, mom?  It's such a shame to leave any of them here!"  Which is why we have approximately 3,924 rocks in various "treasure boxes" around our house.  :-)
Mosey did some sword-fighting with the light saber he brought with him, and then poked at a dessicated old turtle skeleton.  Yuck, but cool for little boys I guess.

And then I attempted to take some pictures of him.  Mosey's hard to take pictures of recently-- always on the move.  And also because whenever I point the camera at him, I tend to get a lot of this:

 

 And this:

 And this:

And this:

But I occasionally get this:

Silly, but super-cute.  Just like Mosey.

I also like this one:

He's all sweaty from running around in the 500 degree heat (not really, but it feels like it sometimes), and he's a little pouty, but those big dark eyes never fail to draw me in.

When Brigham came down from the tree he was climbing, I made him pose for some pictures, too.

I tried so hard to get an open-mouth smile here, but the only real one I caught ended up blurry.  He has a very sweet closed-mouth smile, though.
Brigham also got just a bit silly. He decided to do a little commercial for his Motts juice box.  Here he is, getting ready to enjoy a refreshing sip:

Savoring the first taste:

Looking heavenward in ecstasy:

And yes, the heavens have opened in pure Motts deliciousness:

No pictures of Joseph tonight-- he was out of camera-reach the whole time.  Plus he needs a haircut just about as bad and he's ever needed one-- you can't really even see his eyes anymore.  :-)  He's got a date with a pair of scissors first thing in the morning.
Brigham offered to take a picture of my black eye.  Now my purplish-greenish-yellowish eye.  And while it's certainly colorful, I'm still not posting any pictures of it on my blog.  :-) 

annoying annoyance

I slept in a weird position last night.  I woke up once with my left leg totally asleep, and then woke up in the morning with a terrible crick in my neck which still hasn't gone away.  (One of the many annoyances of MS-- it's hard to change position when I'm sleeping, so I tend to stay in the exact same position, even when it's a bad one.)
When I got up, my left foot was still really numb (more so than normal) and had that "dead" feeling you get when your circulation is cut off.  I thought it would go away after a few minutes of being up and moving around, but it didn't.  It stayed numb and weird-feeling until about 2:00 this afternoon when it finally wore off. 
Now this is one of the most annoying annoyances of MS.  Anyone else would just assume they slept wrong, and figure the weird sensations will wear off.  But me?  Any abnormal sensations (or lack thereof) make me immediately think that I'm relapsing.  And then my mind immediately goes to the worst case scenario.  I'm relapsing.  My MS is coming back.  I'm going to be dead in 2 years.  It's really cheerful, and such a fun way to spend 7 hours of my life.
Happily, my foot now feels back to normal (well, relatively speaking, anyway), and I'm no longer fixating on my own death.
The good thing about it, is that the every day annoyances of MS don't seem nearly so bad after a morning like I had.  This has happened a few times since my transplant, and each time whatever it is resolves itself, it feels like another reprieve.
Off to bed now.  I'm going to try NOT to sleep like I did last night.  :-)

A few other pictures

The boys have wanted to take a lot of pictures of and with Mister.  Brigham, especially, has been anxious to capture as many memories of his dog as possible.  Here are a few I took a couple of days ago.

And, as I was driving home from HEB late Saturday night, I saw the moon rising over the horizon.  It was HUGE and RED.  I hurried home and grabbed my zoom lens and tried to take a few pictures.  I didn't realize until later on that the lens was really dusty, hence the far-from-crisp picture.  But still, it was cool!  I wish I could figure out how to take pictures of the moon with other elements of the landscape visible, so the relative size is apparent.  Here, the moon was peeking out between the branches of some trees, and if you could see the trees, you'd be able to see how huge the moon appeared.  But the trees were too dark to be seen at the settings necessary to properly expose the moon.  Oh well.  Still cool, huh?

Black eye

Saturday morning was the big Relief Society event that we've been planning for a while.  I will never, ever take these kinds of events for granted again.  I know how much work they really are.  Our theme for the next 12 months in Relief Society is service, and we wanted to kick it off with a big service project.  We wanted to do something more local (as opposed to the international humanitarian aid service projects that the church sponsors-- those are really great, we just wanted to do something more local this time).  It is hard to find good projects that can be done at the church by a large group!  Really hard!  Anyway, we settled on a project making fleece and flannel blankets for a couple of charities-- Project Linus, which provides blankets nationally to NICU's, children's hospitals, children entering the foster care system, etc., and the Gabriel Project, a Catholic pro-life charity here in Texas that provides support for women in crisis pregnancies.
It was lots of work.  I went to Walmart probably 4 times for fabric and other supplies (I got to know the lady working in the fabric department pretty well :-)), spent quite a few hours cutting and washing fabric, making some sample blankets, making templates and instructions, and researching other local volunteer opportunities to put together in a handout for everyone. My committee leader did a ton of work on this and made the final handout.  She also met up with the Project Linus people, made up instructions for the fleece fringe blankets.  The rest of my committee also spent hours organizing the lunch, making invitations and posters, making centerpieces for the tables, and of course setting up and cleaning up the actual activity. 
I think it ended up going well.  I tried hard to organize everything so that there was always something for everyone to be doing-- no wasted time or waiting for another part of the project to be finished.  We had an ironing station to iron the fabric at the beginning, and then at the end before the final top-stitching.  We had cutters and pinners who cut the fabric to size using templates I made, and then pinning the front and back together.  We had sew-ers (there really needs to be a better word than that) who sewed the blankets together, and then did the final top-stitching at the end.  We had a fleece station where people cut the fringes around the edges of the fleece blankets. 
From what I observed (I was sewing), everyone was busy the whole time, and I think the process went smoothly.  I had fun and wished we could have kept working another couple of hours!  After that we had lunch (taco salad and Texas sheet cake), and Kellie (my committee leader) and I gave a short presentation on the service projects our RS will be involved in over the next 12 months.
We were able to finish 30 blankets, which was great!  Actually more than I thought we would be able to complete.  I wish more people would have come, since only about half (or maybe less) of the people who signed up actually showed up.  That's always a bit discouraging and disappointing to me.  It is SO much work, and I can't help being just a bit deflated when people don't come.  I'm sure everyone who didn't come probably had a good reason, and, honestly, I was so relieved to have it over with, that I didn't mind that much.  But I thought it was a really fun activity, and I wish everyone could have come because I think they would have had a great time!
After the activity, Ben came to the church to lug ALL my stuff back to the car, and help clean up.  On the way home, we stopped at Lowes so he could buy some wood to make a water slide for our pool.  I was so exhausted (I was up until 3:00 AM finishing all my preparations), so I stayed in the car while Ben went into the store.  He came back with several large pieces of wood that he then loaded in through the back of the van.  The pieces of wood were 12 feet long, so he had to push them clear up toward the front of the van.  I had been laying back in the driver's seat trying to catch a few winks when suddenly the big pile of wood he had loaded into the van slipped, and one of the giant 12-foot 4x4 beams fell down, the corner of it slamming into the orbital bone of my right eye. 
I'll just say that I'm sure there are many important evolutionary reasons to have so many sensitive nerve endings around the eyes-- namely to preclude injuries exactly like the one I received.  But, given that I DID receive such an injury, I was mightily wishing some of those nerve endings were not so sensitive.  I haven't been that tempted to say a naughty word in a long, long time.  :-)
By the time we got home, my eye was swelling up and I had a raging headache.  I took some ibuprofen, put an icepack over my eye, and fell asleep for a few hours.  When I woke up, I saw that yes, indeed, I was definitely going to have a black eye.  I went to HEB that night for some ultra-coverage concealer, since I'd really rather not people be speculating whether or not I am getting beat up at home.  Although I did joke with Ben that when people asked me about it, I could honestly say that my husband hit me in the face with a 4x4.  :-)  It just happened to be extremely accidentally.
It's now really super-attractive if purplish-blackish-blue happens to be your favorite color.  :-)  I've been trying to come up with a good story to tell when people ask me about it, but the best line I've come up with so far is, "If you think this looks bad, you should see the 4x4!"  Ha, ha, ha. 
Actually, the 4x4 looks awesome because it is now a part of the water slide that Ben made.  He used a plastic slide leftover from one of those Little Tykes plastic play structures we used to have when the boys were small.  He built a frame around it, and then attached the old ladder that used to be in the pool.  The boys have been LOVING it, and I'm really impressed with Ben's handy skills.
Here are a few pictures of the boys on the slide.  I haven't taken a picture of the corresponding black eye, for which everyone ought to be very grateful.

Mosey's speech evaluation

I took Mosey down to UT this morning to have an evaluation by the university Speech and Communication Disorders clinic.  I stopped taking Mosey to speech therapy about a year ago.  He had been going for a year before that.  Initially there had been a big improvement, but then disfluency crept back in, and for several months he had been holding steady.  His therapist left when she had a baby, and I decided he wasn't getting enough improvement to warrant continued therapy at $40 for a 30 minute session. 
Over the last few months I've started to think I should put him back in speech therapy.  After being on a waiting list for a long while, we finally were able to have an evaluation at UT.  It was really interesting!
The therapists did several examinations-- first I sat in a little room and talked with Mosey for about 15 minutes so the therapists-- a supervisor and 2 grad students (who were watching on video in another room), could see how we normally interact.  Then they took me to another room and interviewed me, while Mosey had a hearing test (passed with no problems) and a physical exam of his mouth. 
The 2 grad students spent quite a while just talking to Mosey while he showed them several toys he brought along with him (his "Greypelt" Webkinz, dragon, and Hexbug), and then interviewed him, asking him a bunch of different questions about himself and his family, and things relating to his speech.  I started watching the video feed from the other room toward the end of the interview, so I only heard a few of the questions and responses.  When they asked him if anyone in his family was bothered by his speech, he said, "No, except my mom.  She's just worried about it."  I wasn't sure what to think about that.  It's true, I do worry, but I really hope he doesn't think I'm bothered by the way he talks.  I have spent the last year wondering if I pursue therapy for him, if I am going to cause him to be self-conscious and feel like there is something wrong with him, when he clearly does not feel that way now.  I really hope I don't.  I only want to pursue therapy to learn techniques so that if he decides that he wants to speak more fluently, then he will have the skills to be able to do so.  He doesn't seem to have any problem going to therapy, and he has enjoyed it in the past, so I think it's going to be OK.  But of course I worry about it.  I would never, ever want to project my own insecurities onto him, or make him feel any of the embarrassment and humiliation that I felt as a child.  He doesn't feel it now, and I just have to hope and pray that I'm not doing anything to trigger those feelings in him. 
After the interview, the 2 grad students did a drawing exercise with him-- he drew a picture of what he thought his speech looked like.  I was so curious to see what he would draw.  He drew a picture with jagged lines and smooth lines, and then wrote his name with the letters placed randomly around the page.  He said the smooth lines were for when his speech was smooth, and the jagged lines were when he stuttered.  I'm not sure what the random scatter of his name meant; there are all kinds of ways to read that. Later, he said this was his favorite part of the evaluation.  He wished he could have taken his picture home!
After that, they read him a series of statements about his speech, what he thought about it, how he thought others thought about it, etc., etc.  He had a "true" sign that he held up when he thought the statement was true, and a "false" sign for the reverse.  That was also really interesting.  Mosey is such a great kid.  He is so self-confident, and absolutely not self-conscious at all.  I love that about him-- it is such a gift.  He essentially has no personal problem or angst or discomfort regarding his speech, and he is sure that no one else does, either.  He believes it is as easy for him to speak as it is for anyone else. This makes me feel very good about my decision to homeschool.  I got made fun of a lot in school.  Mosey's self-confident enough that maybe teasing would not affect him at all, but it's a risk I would be afraid to take.  As it is, I can only think of a very few times when anyone has even asked about his speech (maybe only one time), and he has certainly never been made fun of for it.
The last thing they did was a receptive vocabulary test.  (Warning: obnoxious bragging mom moment here, feel free to skip this paragraph!)  The therapist placed a flip chart in front of him.  Each page had 4 pictures on it.  The therapist read a word, and Mosey was to touch the picture that the word represented.  This was by far the longest part of the evaluation, because they had him start with the 7 year old list, and he was supposed to go through each successive list until he missed 8 in a section.  Well, he never missed 3 in a section, let alone 8.  They kept going and going through the 7 year old list, 8 year old, 9 year old, etc., etc., etc., until they got up to the 19 year old to adult lists.  After passing the first 2 of those lists, they had him stop because we had run out of time.  He clearly has no trouble with receptive vocabulary.  :-)  I had a copy of the list of words, and it was interesting to see which words he knew that he had to have come across only in his reading.  There were some words I was sure he wouldn't know, but he did.  Reading a lot is by far the best way to develop a good vocabulary.  There was an expressive vocabulary test, too, but they skipped that one since he obviously has no trouble in that arena.
I asked Mosey what he thought after the evaluation was over, and he said he would like to go to therapy.  We'll start next week and go weekly through the summer and then decide what to do.  In some ways, I think it is nice for Mosey to have something that is all *his.*  A time when the attention is all on him, and it is all good, fun, positive attention.  And therapy at UT is covered by our insurance, which is a big plus.  (On the way home, Mosey wanted me to explain all about how health insurance worked so he could understand why we didn't have to pay for speech.) 
The flip side of Mosey's super-confident, high self-esteem coin, is that he may not be particularly motivated to do much work in learning fluency techniques.  Ultimately, everything he learns will only be of use to him if he decides to put it to use!  On the way home I talked to him about that, explaining to him that I think the way he talks is totally fine.  I think he is a great communicator, and I have no problem at all with the way he talks.  But, I told him, there might be times when he is older when he will want to be able to speak more fluently, and he will be glad he learned how to do it.  Ben has been reading some books on voice and speaking so that he can learn to be a better speaker and presenter in the work environment.  It was nice to be able to use that as an example of when he might want to be able to speak more fluently.  Even Dad has to practice his speech!
So, that was how we spent our morning.  We'll see how it goes!

Summer-time blues

Today seemed like a very long day.  The heat is getting to me.  It was 104 today, and is supposed to be over 100 for the next 5 days.  How will we make it through this summer??
We went to see "Ramona and Beezus" (or was it "Beezus and Ramona?") at the theater.  I loved it.  I think Brigham liked it.  Mosey thought it was OK, but he has trouble sitting still for so long.  Joseph did not like it.  Maybe it had something to do with the scene when Ramona finds her cat Picky-Picky dead, and she and her sister have a funeral for him in the backyard.  I admit I teared up during that scene.  I looked over at Joseph and he was all curled up into himself.  I guess it was bad timing to watch that movie today.  Anyway, he kept asking when it would be over (how in the world should I know??), and in fact left the theater for the last 10 minutes or so.  Oh well, not every movie can have talking dogs and flatulence jokes...
The whole entire rest of the day seemed to be taken up by music practicing, chores, and math.  Mostly, trying to get Mosey to do said music practicing, chores, and math.  15 minutes of math turned into an hour and 25 minutes, with about a half hour of that involving Mosey sitting in the hall closet for time outs.  It's so frustrating!  This kid is so, so, so smart.  Are there many other not-quite-second-graders doing 3 digit by 2 digit multiplication?  Probably not too many.  (Which perhaps begs the question, "Why are you making Mosey do math every day if he's so far ahead?"  Maybe I shouldn't.  But his brothers are, and I think it's a good habit to get into.  But maybe I'm wrong.  I hate feeling uncertain.)  And yet he will sit there and do half the problem, then start staring into space or doodling, and then forgetting what he is doing.  Or he starts asking, ad infinitum, "What's 8 plus 6?  What's 8 plus 6?" etc., etc., etc.  It's a page out of Joseph's book, except that now Joseph is my number 1 get-my-chores-and-practicing-and-math-done-as-quickly-as-I-possibly-can boy.  (Where has this boy been all my life??)  Joseph has discovered the beauty of getting his stuff done ASAP, because then he has the rest of the day free.  Mosey is apparently filling the vacuum that Joseph left behind.  :-/  Mosey did do his chore-- vacuuming, but not without attendant drama.  I know you're supposed to be only positive about the work your child does, so as not to discourage or demoralize him.  But I don't think this applies when the child is being deliberately sloppy, does it?  There IS a right way to vacuum, and Mosey (and all my boys) need to know what it is.  If you're going to spend 10 minutes vacuuming, you may as well spend that 10 minutes doing it right.  Anyway, after promising myself I was not going to yell at all today, I didn't quite succeed.  Then when he was doing his violin practicing, he got frustrated and started whacking his bow on the table.  So I yelled at him about that and sent him back into the hall closet where he sat on the floor and said, "I'm not going to play ANY instrument, EVER, no matter WHAT you say!!"  I sat outside the closet door and wondered what I am doing wrong.
Anyway, it wasn't a very good afternoon.  I did get him out of the closet and willing to go to violin lessons (where he did a really good job) with the promise that we'd stop by Taco Bell on the way home and get a Fruitista Freeze. 
It's exhausting doing battle like this every day, and I hate it.  I feel like such a mean mom, when I really want to be a fun mom. 
Well, tomorrow is another day to try to do better, I guess. 

Anyway, here are a few recent pictures:
These two pictures are of Brigham in his cleaning get-up.  Mister threw up on his bed upstairs, and Brigham had to go and strip the sheets and take them outside to spray off with the hose before putting them in the washer.  He's totally protected with a pirate hat, old 3D glasses, a bandit-kerchief over his mouth, and rubber gloves.  :-)

Here's Joseph yesterday morning after I took him to the park to go running around the track.  He ran a mile, and came back not even sweating-- just a rosy glow.  I am having a hard time with how grown-up my boys are looking these days.  The twins are almost 10 years old.  I seriously can't stand how fast they're growing up.

And here he is after church last week (when he and Brigham switched clothes).  He needs a haircut.  He says he wants a buzz cut.  This, from my kid who always tells me I cut his hair too short!  I don't know that I'm ready to give him a buzz-cut-- he does have such nice hair.