1. Oh, poor Joseph! He woke up feeling sick this morning. I thought he was just tired (up too late last night), and encouraged him to get ready for archery. But instead he curled up in the fetal position on the couch and moaned, so I knew he was serious about the "sick" thing. So he stayed home from Archery, and it was a good thing because just a few minutes later he started throwing up, and did so several times throughout the morning. And today was the big Spring Piano Recital which Joseph (and Brigham and Mosey) have been preparing for for the past 4 months! Such rotten timing. But he still wanted to play in the recital, sick or no. The recital started at 1:00, but Joseph was still throwing up at 12:15 as we were driving down to the Stake Center (where the spring recital is always held). When we got to the church, he was in such misery that he couldn't walk into the church building. I held him on my lap and Ben wheeled the two of us in on my wheelchair. He lay right down on one of the padded benches in the chapel and I tracked down their piano teacher to let her know of the situation. I asked if Joseph could go first so he could still play, but then be able to come straight back to his seat and rest through the rest of the recital. After we promised to douse Joseph's hands with Purell before going up to play, she agreed with our plan.
So, as the recital started, I roused Joseph from the snooze he had been taking for the previous 20 minutes or so, squirted Purell on his hands, and he sort of staggered (OK, not really, but he must have been feeling like it) up to the piano, sat down and played his piece absolutely cold-- without warming up on that piano, without even playing through the piece ONCE the whole morning. And he was awesome! He played "Little White Donkey," one of my favorite pieces that I played growing up, and which he plays so well. After he played, he came back to our bench, lay down, and snoozed for the rest of the recital. What a trooper!
Brigham and Mosey did well, too. My boys perform well under pressure, or so it seems. They must get that from Ben, because I remember being absolutely consumed with nervousness before recitals, and never felt like I played as well as I did at home. Anyway, Joseph said he was too sick to feel nervous. That's one way to see the glass half-full! Brigham played Seven of Hearts, a great song in 7/8 time, of all things. Mosey played Roundup and also did great in his 2nd piano recital, and first big formal recital. Yay! Now I don't have to hear them practice those songs 20 times a day! (Actually I'm kidding-- I really like the pieces they played this year, and I'm going to make them keep them fresh so they can play them for my family at our reunion this summer. :-))
2. In the morning before the recital Ben and I drove down to the car place to have my car repaired so I can once and for all get it inspected (the inspection sticker expired in February and I'm seriously living on borrowed time). It's going to end up costing more than $1300. Ouch.
3. Mosey had his cello recital this evening. He played the last piece in the Suzuki book 1-- Minuet, by somebody or other (I really should know this by now). String instrument recitals are always a little more painful than piano recitals simply because of intonation issues, but Mosey's teacher has a good group of students and I think it was great for Mosey to hear the older kids playing. His teacher played the piano accompaniment for all the pieces, and I was totally impressed. With all the irregularities of beginning students-- false starts, rhythm mistakes, skipping lines, etc., etc., she never failed to stay with each kid like nothing happened. Afterward was cookies and juice, always my most favorite part of playing in recitals. :-)
4. Joseph was feeling better this evening, so we got pizza from Little Caesars and came home to eat it while watching a Star Trek episode. Well, he had been feeling better until he ate pizza, which, in hindsight probably wasn't the best thing to eat just coming off of a stomach bug. His dinner didn't stay inside for very long, and this time he didn't make it to the bathroom on time, and his pizza ended up on the tile floor. Regurgitated pizza is pretty gross. Poor guy, I hope he feels better tomorrow... And yay for tile floors! :-)
Saturday, April 28, 2012
04/27/2012
1. It feels like summer has arrived for good now. Upper 80's today, maybe even breaking 90. Ben has been working on the pool the last couple of nights, and today the boys deemed it ready for the first swim of the season (at least in our pool).
2. Of course, this is just after the whole downstairs was vacuumed and mopped. So I was a bit aggravated when, inevitably, someone forgot their goggles, came in and left little footprint-shaped puddles of water behind them on the ground. That by itself might not be too bad, except that I use a wheelchair in the house, so whenever my wheels go over little drips or puddles of water, they leave dirty track marks all over the floor. And then someone let the dog in before she was dried off (Sandy is such a water dog-- if there is a body of water available to be jumped into, she will jump into it!), and she shook itty bitty drops of water all over the floor and the patio doors. And her feet were not entirely clean, so she also left little muddy tracks wherever she went. At that point I put the dog outside, and locked the door from the inside. Now they can't come in until I let them in!
3. But before the swimming, we had to finish some schoolwork leftover from the week. Joseph and Brigham both went outside to do their math. Ben finally dragged out the dirty, raggedy, stained, opossum-infested couch to the side of the house to await the next bulk trash day. So right now all that's out there is a leather rocker/recliner that we got in Florida. So when two boys both wanted to do math outside, they had to share!
While I was out there helping the boys with their math, Joseph looked up at me and gave me this look. I knew I had seen that exact look before. And I had! When I went through my 2006 picture files, I found one of Joseph with a little millipede that he found at Parrot Jungle Island when he was 4 years old. It's so interesting to see how his face, in particular, has changed, and to note what has stayed the same.
2. Of course, this is just after the whole downstairs was vacuumed and mopped. So I was a bit aggravated when, inevitably, someone forgot their goggles, came in and left little footprint-shaped puddles of water behind them on the ground. That by itself might not be too bad, except that I use a wheelchair in the house, so whenever my wheels go over little drips or puddles of water, they leave dirty track marks all over the floor. And then someone let the dog in before she was dried off (Sandy is such a water dog-- if there is a body of water available to be jumped into, she will jump into it!), and she shook itty bitty drops of water all over the floor and the patio doors. And her feet were not entirely clean, so she also left little muddy tracks wherever she went. At that point I put the dog outside, and locked the door from the inside. Now they can't come in until I let them in!
3. But before the swimming, we had to finish some schoolwork leftover from the week. Joseph and Brigham both went outside to do their math. Ben finally dragged out the dirty, raggedy, stained, opossum-infested couch to the side of the house to await the next bulk trash day. So right now all that's out there is a leather rocker/recliner that we got in Florida. So when two boys both wanted to do math outside, they had to share!
While I was out there helping the boys with their math, Joseph looked up at me and gave me this look. I knew I had seen that exact look before. And I had! When I went through my 2006 picture files, I found one of Joseph with a little millipede that he found at Parrot Jungle Island when he was 4 years old. It's so interesting to see how his face, in particular, has changed, and to note what has stayed the same.
Thursday, April 26, 2012
04/26/2012
1. Just before lunch, the boys went to play outside for a few minutes. I made sandwiches, looked out the window, and saw that Joseph and Mosey had covered themselves with mud. Why? As a natural mosquito repellant, apparently. :-) The mosquitoes are back with a vengeance and they are pretty intolerable. Although for my boys I don't think it takes much motivation to tip the balance toward the "let's get covered in mud" side of things.
2. Ben played baseball with the boys outside tonight while I was making dinner. The boys haven't ever played on a team, and it's been at least a year since Ben has tried to play it with them. Well, they're pretty good now! I kept telling them dinner was ready, but they stayed out at least an hour. They had to banish Sandy *inside* because she kept chasing the ball. :-)
3. I'm still going through pictures. These are from 2007.
2. Ben played baseball with the boys outside tonight while I was making dinner. The boys haven't ever played on a team, and it's been at least a year since Ben has tried to play it with them. Well, they're pretty good now! I kept telling them dinner was ready, but they stayed out at least an hour. They had to banish Sandy *inside* because she kept chasing the ball. :-)
3. I'm still going through pictures. These are from 2007.
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
04/25/2012
1. Pretty good normal school day today. Piano lessons in the afternoon. Mosey was unhappy about having to go 2nd in piano (Brigham always has to go first since he has to go to violin right after, so Joseph and Mosey haggle it out over who goes 2nd). I can never remember who went first the week before, but I really do think it was Joseph. Anyway, Mosey was not happy about it and went to the piano in a grumpy huff. That was not a great way to start the lesson... When Mr. McGrumbles enters the room, he's hard to kick out. So he was not terribly cooperative or responsive in his lesson which is always so distressing to me! I have to remember that Joseph used to be like that, too, and he's pretty much grown out of it, at least in public. :-) Anyway, his teacher handles it pretty well. She won't take any rudeness or unresponsiveness, but as soon as he does start acting right, she's 100% cheerful with him. I felt bad especially because Mosey has practiced really well this week, and had a good practice session at home just before we left, and then he wasn't able to show off his hard work. Afterward I tried to talk to him about it. I told him that if he is mad and Joseph or me, that is fine, but he can't take it out on his teacher who had nothing to do with it. I think I'm going to have him write a letter to her.
2. When we got home from piano and violin, Ben was already home getting ready for an EQ event tonight at the church-- RC night (radio/remote control). Everyone brought remote control cars, helicopters, etc., and raced them in the church and in the parking lot. Ben brought our grill and cooked hot dogs. The boys went with him had had a great time. I stayed home and had a great time enjoying peace and quiet. :-)
3. I'm working on updating my digital picture frame, and getting another running slideshow for my blog (the one I used to have went "poof" when slide.com shut down...). So I'm going through all my pictures and gathering up my favorites. I've gone through 2012 (so far), 2011, 2010, 2009, and 2008. Man, oh man, it's amazing how much the boys have grown in the last 4 years. I love looking back on old pictures, but it is also painful to me. I keep thinking about how nostalgic I'm going to be about the days I'm in right now. I know a lot of people fail to appreciate the present because they're too busy looking forward to something else coming in the future. I think I almost have the opposite problem. I find it hard to truly take joy in the moment because I'm too aware of how fleeting it is and I know I can't slow it down or ever go back. Darn that whole linear time thing. :-)
This is almost exactly 4 years ago. Look how itty-bitty! Look at those round cheeks and baby teeth! Ugh, I can't stand that in another 4 years (not to mention 40) I'm going to be looking at the pictures I took today and be feeling this same sharp... longing, I guess it is. Longing to be able to go back, just for a little bit, to be with those boys who are no longer here. I've got another set of amazing, wonderful, adorable children, every bit as amazing and wonderful and adorable as those six-year-olds and 4-year-old (just bigger and smarter!), but the ones in this picture are gone, never to return.
2. When we got home from piano and violin, Ben was already home getting ready for an EQ event tonight at the church-- RC night (radio/remote control). Everyone brought remote control cars, helicopters, etc., and raced them in the church and in the parking lot. Ben brought our grill and cooked hot dogs. The boys went with him had had a great time. I stayed home and had a great time enjoying peace and quiet. :-)
3. I'm working on updating my digital picture frame, and getting another running slideshow for my blog (the one I used to have went "poof" when slide.com shut down...). So I'm going through all my pictures and gathering up my favorites. I've gone through 2012 (so far), 2011, 2010, 2009, and 2008. Man, oh man, it's amazing how much the boys have grown in the last 4 years. I love looking back on old pictures, but it is also painful to me. I keep thinking about how nostalgic I'm going to be about the days I'm in right now. I know a lot of people fail to appreciate the present because they're too busy looking forward to something else coming in the future. I think I almost have the opposite problem. I find it hard to truly take joy in the moment because I'm too aware of how fleeting it is and I know I can't slow it down or ever go back. Darn that whole linear time thing. :-)
This is almost exactly 4 years ago. Look how itty-bitty! Look at those round cheeks and baby teeth! Ugh, I can't stand that in another 4 years (not to mention 40) I'm going to be looking at the pictures I took today and be feeling this same sharp... longing, I guess it is. Longing to be able to go back, just for a little bit, to be with those boys who are no longer here. I've got another set of amazing, wonderful, adorable children, every bit as amazing and wonderful and adorable as those six-year-olds and 4-year-old (just bigger and smarter!), but the ones in this picture are gone, never to return.
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Happy 15 years
15 years! That is a long time. But it sure doesn't feel that long.
I love you Ben!
Tonight at dinner. Bad hair day, bad lighting, blah. :-)
15 years ago. Man, we were babies!
I love you Ben!
Tonight at dinner. Bad hair day, bad lighting, blah. :-)
15 years ago. Man, we were babies!
Monday, April 23, 2012
04/23/12
I thought I'd document this normal Monday so I can have some ammunition if anyone ever accuses me of "never working a day in my life." :-) Also so that someday I can look back and remember something of the whirlwind that is my life right now!
I woke up at 6:45, which was an hour later than I should have, but I was up until 12:45 AM and kept pressing the snooze button.
After putting on some Pandora music (try the "John Williams" channel-- it's awesome), and getting the boys up and out of bed, we had breakfast and scripture study. Breakfast was toast and cereal. We read a chapter from Numbers in the Old Testament. As I read, I decided to totally scrap the idea of reading the OT straight through with the boys. There's too much stuff I have to censor, and waaaay too much boring stuff. I'm just going to focus on stories. We also read a chapter from the Book of Mormon because the OT is just not cutting it for adequate spiritual nourishment in the mornings. at least, not the beginning chapters of Numbers. :-)
Then came chores. Surprisingly little argument or resistance to chores today. I'll take it! Joseph had kitchen clean-up, Brigham had dishwasher duty, and Mosey had vacuuming.
Then came schoolwork. On the docket today: history reading from "A History of US," and "Story of the USA." Answering some workbook questions from Story of the USA. Had some discussions about the bias found in many history books idolizing FDR. Regular reading from "Thimble Summer." Read-aloud from "Cheaper by the Dozen." We're behind by almost a book-- we should be finishing up "Helen Keller." Oh, well. Science reading and questions from "Complete Book of the Microscope." Writing for Brigham and Joseph was finishing up a book jacket they're creating for a book they summarized and reviewed last week. We were supposed to do dictation, too, but didn't get to it. Mosey had to write a fun, creative paragraph from the perspective of a migrating animal (we did research last week). 45 minutes of math for Brigham and Joseph, 30 minutes for Mosey. 45 minutes of piano for Brigham and Joseph, 30 for Mosey. 45 minutes of violin for Brigham, 20 minutes of flute for Joseph, and 30 minutes of cello for Mosey. We were also supposed to do spelling, memorizing, and journal work, but none of that got done today. Also, Joseph never got to his math, and Mosey never got to his cello... Not so good today, but that's how it is sometime. I did get a few loads of laundry folded, and vegetables chopped for dinner while supervising schoolwork and practicing.
Mosey had tae kwon do from 11:50-1:00, during which time I had to just hope that his brothers were staying busy! I took along one of our history books because I am trying to keep up with the boys' reading as well!
After TKD was lunch outside on the back patio-- tortilla pizzas for the boys while I read aloud.
From 2:00-3:30 we kept plugging away at schoolwork and practicing.
At 3:30 we left for flute and speech. We went down to UT first to drop off Mosey, then up to Joseph's flute teacher where I dropped him and Brigham off (they're practicing a flute/piano duet which they'll perform tomorrow night), then back to UT for speech. Mosey and the other little boy in his therapy group performed a little skit in one of the department's end-of-year programs, so we stayed an extra half-hour. Mosey and I came up with the skit, and it was pretty cute. The boys were supposed to come wearing crazy costumes. Mosey went all-out on that and wore shorts over pants, a t-shirt over a sweater, two clip-on ties, his TKD belt, Brigham's top-hat, and sunglasses. He was quite a sight. :-) They did a good job, and then Mosey and I were off to get Brigham and Joseph (but not before getting smoothies for everyone at Burger King). Brigham and Joseph were waiting for us at the park across the street from flute lessons, and we got on our way just in time for rush-hour traffic heading north on I-35 and 183. Fun. But we're listening to "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" right now, which makes the drive go a little faster.
We made it home by 6:30 and I cleared off the kitchen table, loaded and ran the dishwasher, and started dinner while "encouraging" Joseph on with his piano practicing which he was not too keen on. I felt guilty for the truly pathetic dinners we've had recently and so I made chicken parmesan, pasta, and zucchini and onions. I'm such a slow cook-- it was not done until 8:00.
8:00-9:00 was dinner and bed time. We would have had a FHE lesson except that one of my little boys was not acting very well at the dinner table and so spent most of dinner time in his room. We'll try again later this week.
9:00-10:00 was dinner clean-up, dishes, pick-up-the-house, get ready for school tomorrow.
10:00-11:00 was writing emails, answering emails, checking phone messages, and finalizing things for the pack meeting tomorrow night. And of course writing this blog post. :-)
What didn't get done today: laundry (aside from the clothes that got folded-- I have at least two more loads waiting to be done, and an unknown amount waiting for me upstairs in the boys' rooms...).
It's pretty busy! :-) Do-able if I just keep moving and plugging along from one thing to the next. But not a lot of time to get caught up with extras, and definitely not enough time to get in bed by 11:00.
Somehow I never got to my bon-bons and soap-opera watching on the couch today! What?!
I woke up at 6:45, which was an hour later than I should have, but I was up until 12:45 AM and kept pressing the snooze button.
After putting on some Pandora music (try the "John Williams" channel-- it's awesome), and getting the boys up and out of bed, we had breakfast and scripture study. Breakfast was toast and cereal. We read a chapter from Numbers in the Old Testament. As I read, I decided to totally scrap the idea of reading the OT straight through with the boys. There's too much stuff I have to censor, and waaaay too much boring stuff. I'm just going to focus on stories. We also read a chapter from the Book of Mormon because the OT is just not cutting it for adequate spiritual nourishment in the mornings. at least, not the beginning chapters of Numbers. :-)
Then came chores. Surprisingly little argument or resistance to chores today. I'll take it! Joseph had kitchen clean-up, Brigham had dishwasher duty, and Mosey had vacuuming.
Then came schoolwork. On the docket today: history reading from "A History of US," and "Story of the USA." Answering some workbook questions from Story of the USA. Had some discussions about the bias found in many history books idolizing FDR. Regular reading from "Thimble Summer." Read-aloud from "Cheaper by the Dozen." We're behind by almost a book-- we should be finishing up "Helen Keller." Oh, well. Science reading and questions from "Complete Book of the Microscope." Writing for Brigham and Joseph was finishing up a book jacket they're creating for a book they summarized and reviewed last week. We were supposed to do dictation, too, but didn't get to it. Mosey had to write a fun, creative paragraph from the perspective of a migrating animal (we did research last week). 45 minutes of math for Brigham and Joseph, 30 minutes for Mosey. 45 minutes of piano for Brigham and Joseph, 30 for Mosey. 45 minutes of violin for Brigham, 20 minutes of flute for Joseph, and 30 minutes of cello for Mosey. We were also supposed to do spelling, memorizing, and journal work, but none of that got done today. Also, Joseph never got to his math, and Mosey never got to his cello... Not so good today, but that's how it is sometime. I did get a few loads of laundry folded, and vegetables chopped for dinner while supervising schoolwork and practicing.
Mosey had tae kwon do from 11:50-1:00, during which time I had to just hope that his brothers were staying busy! I took along one of our history books because I am trying to keep up with the boys' reading as well!
After TKD was lunch outside on the back patio-- tortilla pizzas for the boys while I read aloud.
From 2:00-3:30 we kept plugging away at schoolwork and practicing.
At 3:30 we left for flute and speech. We went down to UT first to drop off Mosey, then up to Joseph's flute teacher where I dropped him and Brigham off (they're practicing a flute/piano duet which they'll perform tomorrow night), then back to UT for speech. Mosey and the other little boy in his therapy group performed a little skit in one of the department's end-of-year programs, so we stayed an extra half-hour. Mosey and I came up with the skit, and it was pretty cute. The boys were supposed to come wearing crazy costumes. Mosey went all-out on that and wore shorts over pants, a t-shirt over a sweater, two clip-on ties, his TKD belt, Brigham's top-hat, and sunglasses. He was quite a sight. :-) They did a good job, and then Mosey and I were off to get Brigham and Joseph (but not before getting smoothies for everyone at Burger King). Brigham and Joseph were waiting for us at the park across the street from flute lessons, and we got on our way just in time for rush-hour traffic heading north on I-35 and 183. Fun. But we're listening to "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" right now, which makes the drive go a little faster.
We made it home by 6:30 and I cleared off the kitchen table, loaded and ran the dishwasher, and started dinner while "encouraging" Joseph on with his piano practicing which he was not too keen on. I felt guilty for the truly pathetic dinners we've had recently and so I made chicken parmesan, pasta, and zucchini and onions. I'm such a slow cook-- it was not done until 8:00.
8:00-9:00 was dinner and bed time. We would have had a FHE lesson except that one of my little boys was not acting very well at the dinner table and so spent most of dinner time in his room. We'll try again later this week.
9:00-10:00 was dinner clean-up, dishes, pick-up-the-house, get ready for school tomorrow.
10:00-11:00 was writing emails, answering emails, checking phone messages, and finalizing things for the pack meeting tomorrow night. And of course writing this blog post. :-)
What didn't get done today: laundry (aside from the clothes that got folded-- I have at least two more loads waiting to be done, and an unknown amount waiting for me upstairs in the boys' rooms...).
It's pretty busy! :-) Do-able if I just keep moving and plugging along from one thing to the next. But not a lot of time to get caught up with extras, and definitely not enough time to get in bed by 11:00.
Somehow I never got to my bon-bons and soap-opera watching on the couch today! What?!
Sunday, April 22, 2012
04/22/12
1. Started the day off by feeding the cute little baby bird. It cheeps so piteously and opens its huge mouth like it's starving to death. The websites we read said they need to be fed every 20 minutes during the daylight hours. Wow, that's a lot. But the little thing has captured my heart. I call it "baby."
2. Sadly, my heart was broken a little bit this afternoon, because the baby bird died. We couldn't feed it while we were at church, obviously, but I thought it would be OK. Maybe it wasn't that, maybe it had simply been too stressed the day before. Anyway, we fed it right before we left for church, and tried to again as soon as we got home. But it wouldn't open it's mouth. I tried for the next two hours to coax it to eat. I dripped sugar water into its mouth thinking maybe it was dehydrated. It wiggled around and lifted up its head, but never opened it's mouth like it did before. By 4:00 it died. I was really unexpectedly sad. I felt responsible-- like I let the poor baby down. Ah well. I guess I'm just a bird-murderer these days. Mosey buried it in the backyard and made a grave marker with a piece of wood and some sharpie markers. That's the cycle of life, I guess.
3. The boys made a gigantic battle scene in the play room with their 50 thousand toy soldiers and the kapla blocks. They used the block to make a series of small forts, each protected by about 15 soldiers, and then laid out the ranks of armies coming to lay siege on the fort. After the epic battle there are now 500 kapla blocks and 50 thousand army guys scattered all over the floor. :-)
4. Ben spent the evening reading online about new research being done on myelin repair. There's interesting work being done on mice, but nothing too exciting happening on the human front. Can't I volunteer to be a mouse? Some of the experiments being done do not appear to have any real risk. I wish there would be a way to sign releases and volunteer to try out some of these new treatments without having to go through all that FDA rigamarole. :-) Ben asked me if I think I'll ever walk again. I don't think I will. But he's a perpetual optimist and things I will. I'm not sure if I feel touched that he has such hope for me, or if I feel sad because it seems like an empty hope to me. I sure would like to walk again.
2. Sadly, my heart was broken a little bit this afternoon, because the baby bird died. We couldn't feed it while we were at church, obviously, but I thought it would be OK. Maybe it wasn't that, maybe it had simply been too stressed the day before. Anyway, we fed it right before we left for church, and tried to again as soon as we got home. But it wouldn't open it's mouth. I tried for the next two hours to coax it to eat. I dripped sugar water into its mouth thinking maybe it was dehydrated. It wiggled around and lifted up its head, but never opened it's mouth like it did before. By 4:00 it died. I was really unexpectedly sad. I felt responsible-- like I let the poor baby down. Ah well. I guess I'm just a bird-murderer these days. Mosey buried it in the backyard and made a grave marker with a piece of wood and some sharpie markers. That's the cycle of life, I guess.
3. The boys made a gigantic battle scene in the play room with their 50 thousand toy soldiers and the kapla blocks. They used the block to make a series of small forts, each protected by about 15 soldiers, and then laid out the ranks of armies coming to lay siege on the fort. After the epic battle there are now 500 kapla blocks and 50 thousand army guys scattered all over the floor. :-)
4. Ben spent the evening reading online about new research being done on myelin repair. There's interesting work being done on mice, but nothing too exciting happening on the human front. Can't I volunteer to be a mouse? Some of the experiments being done do not appear to have any real risk. I wish there would be a way to sign releases and volunteer to try out some of these new treatments without having to go through all that FDA rigamarole. :-) Ben asked me if I think I'll ever walk again. I don't think I will. But he's a perpetual optimist and things I will. I'm not sure if I feel touched that he has such hope for me, or if I feel sad because it seems like an empty hope to me. I sure would like to walk again.
04/21/12
1. Joseph did great in archery today. Much better since not running over a bird with the car. :-( He shot at 15 yards for the first time today and did great. Their coach is creating a formal competition team, so I think we're going to have to take the plunge and buy Joseph some equipment. Can I just say again how great I think it is that he has something he is really good at and he really loves? He's always excited to go and I love taking him.
2. After archery, Ben and the boys went to help with a move. I stayed home and worked on laundry. Then I started feeling really, really tired. I lay down for a while and fell into an almost drug-like sleep. I woke up after an hour or so, but still felt drugged and nauseated and awful, so I went back to sleep, hoping I wasn't sick. I made myself get up at 3:15 so I could go visiting teaching, and over the next couple of hours started to feel better. So that was weird.
3. Mosey's friend Natasha came over the play in the afternoon. Ben took all the kids to Bull Creek again where they swam and splashed and hiked and jumped and wore themselves out. :-) Sometime I will go just so I can take pictures! Ben is not a picture-taking guy.
4. While the boys were helping on the move, Mosey found a tiny little baby bird on the ground. It had just hatched out of his shell, which was laying on the grass next to it. They looked for the nest, but couldn't find it, so Mosey picked it up and held it carefully until they went home. Joseph thinks it is a mockingbird hatchling, but it also could be a starling. They look the same when their first born-- mostly naked with just a bit of dark fuzz, and the funniest looking gigantic mouth. They found a slug and a couple of other small bugs to feed it. Later on at home, we looked up how to care for baby birds, set up a box under the lizards' heat lamp, made a nest for it with kleenex, made some bird food with dry cat food soaked in sugar water, mixed with egg yolk. It's the funniest, cutest looking thing when it eats-- it cranes its teensy little neck up and opens its humongous mouth which is seriously bigger than its head. It's really quite desperately ugly-- so ugly it's endearing. It's eyes are still closed and it's skin is so translucent you can see the bones and veins right through it.
2. After archery, Ben and the boys went to help with a move. I stayed home and worked on laundry. Then I started feeling really, really tired. I lay down for a while and fell into an almost drug-like sleep. I woke up after an hour or so, but still felt drugged and nauseated and awful, so I went back to sleep, hoping I wasn't sick. I made myself get up at 3:15 so I could go visiting teaching, and over the next couple of hours started to feel better. So that was weird.
3. Mosey's friend Natasha came over the play in the afternoon. Ben took all the kids to Bull Creek again where they swam and splashed and hiked and jumped and wore themselves out. :-) Sometime I will go just so I can take pictures! Ben is not a picture-taking guy.
4. While the boys were helping on the move, Mosey found a tiny little baby bird on the ground. It had just hatched out of his shell, which was laying on the grass next to it. They looked for the nest, but couldn't find it, so Mosey picked it up and held it carefully until they went home. Joseph thinks it is a mockingbird hatchling, but it also could be a starling. They look the same when their first born-- mostly naked with just a bit of dark fuzz, and the funniest looking gigantic mouth. They found a slug and a couple of other small bugs to feed it. Later on at home, we looked up how to care for baby birds, set up a box under the lizards' heat lamp, made a nest for it with kleenex, made some bird food with dry cat food soaked in sugar water, mixed with egg yolk. It's the funniest, cutest looking thing when it eats-- it cranes its teensy little neck up and opens its humongous mouth which is seriously bigger than its head. It's really quite desperately ugly-- so ugly it's endearing. It's eyes are still closed and it's skin is so translucent you can see the bones and veins right through it.
Saturday, April 21, 2012
04/20/12
1. Blogger has changed their interface. I don't like it.
2. Friday! Fairly good day school-wise. Interesting discussion with the boys about FDR's new deal and social security. Brigham is more vehemently right-wing than I am. :-) I'm trying to help him have a little more nuanced view on things, but I'm glad he's developing his own personal political values. We're reading "Cheaper by the Dozen" as one of our read-aloud's. I read this as a kid, but it's so much better reading it as an adult! What a great book. I wish I had 12 kids so I could make them listen to Rosetta Stone French while brushing their teeth. :-) Growing up in a large family was probably the best part of my childhood, and I'll probably always regret the fact that I could not provide that for my own children. I wonder what they will say was the best part of their childhood?
3. Mosey had his belt ceremony tonight. He brought Yellow with him to sit next to my purse on the floor to watch him get his new belt. Yellow was also very proud of him. :-) Now Mosey's a level three green belt. Yay Mosey! He went to the ceremony with his hair freshly slicked back, and got lots of admiring comments about it. :-) (Oh, and I found a great way of making Joseph quit messing around with Mosey's hair-- I told him if he did it again, Dad would make him go to church on Sunday with *his* hair slicked back. :-)) I have, however, had to put a limit on how much hair gel he can put in his hair every day. I've told him all he needs to do is get his hair wet and the previously applied product will reactivate until he washes his hair, but he doesn't believe me. Anyway, after the belt ceremony we went to Dairy Queen with his friend Natasha, who just got her black belt, and her parents and baby sister. Mosey splurged and got an ice cream cone AND a blue raspberry slushy.
4. Meanwhile, Joseph and Brigham and Sandy went with some friends to explore down by Bull Creek. I tried to go meet up with them after we were done at DQ, but instead managed to drive around for 35 minutes, not finding them. By the time I finally figure it out, it was dark and they were headed home anyway. Oh well. Everyone ended up meeting back at our house for pizza and playing. 6 boys (8-10 years old), and one little girl. The boys were sure LOUD! :-) Immediately there were two games of Tanki Online going on, pounding up and down the stairs, and everyone having a good time. I like our house to be the "hang out" house. Then I don't have to go anywhere. :-)
2. Friday! Fairly good day school-wise. Interesting discussion with the boys about FDR's new deal and social security. Brigham is more vehemently right-wing than I am. :-) I'm trying to help him have a little more nuanced view on things, but I'm glad he's developing his own personal political values. We're reading "Cheaper by the Dozen" as one of our read-aloud's. I read this as a kid, but it's so much better reading it as an adult! What a great book. I wish I had 12 kids so I could make them listen to Rosetta Stone French while brushing their teeth. :-) Growing up in a large family was probably the best part of my childhood, and I'll probably always regret the fact that I could not provide that for my own children. I wonder what they will say was the best part of their childhood?
3. Mosey had his belt ceremony tonight. He brought Yellow with him to sit next to my purse on the floor to watch him get his new belt. Yellow was also very proud of him. :-) Now Mosey's a level three green belt. Yay Mosey! He went to the ceremony with his hair freshly slicked back, and got lots of admiring comments about it. :-) (Oh, and I found a great way of making Joseph quit messing around with Mosey's hair-- I told him if he did it again, Dad would make him go to church on Sunday with *his* hair slicked back. :-)) I have, however, had to put a limit on how much hair gel he can put in his hair every day. I've told him all he needs to do is get his hair wet and the previously applied product will reactivate until he washes his hair, but he doesn't believe me. Anyway, after the belt ceremony we went to Dairy Queen with his friend Natasha, who just got her black belt, and her parents and baby sister. Mosey splurged and got an ice cream cone AND a blue raspberry slushy.
4. Meanwhile, Joseph and Brigham and Sandy went with some friends to explore down by Bull Creek. I tried to go meet up with them after we were done at DQ, but instead managed to drive around for 35 minutes, not finding them. By the time I finally figure it out, it was dark and they were headed home anyway. Oh well. Everyone ended up meeting back at our house for pizza and playing. 6 boys (8-10 years old), and one little girl. The boys were sure LOUD! :-) Immediately there were two games of Tanki Online going on, pounding up and down the stairs, and everyone having a good time. I like our house to be the "hang out" house. Then I don't have to go anywhere. :-)
Thursday, April 19, 2012
04/19/2012
1. Thursday. It was a pretty good day. Kids were generally cooperative. No real fighting. Only one incidence of name calling, after which Joseph insisted he was calling Mosey "brap." That's really pushing it for me, but he had a big smile on his face so I know that regardless, he wasn't trying to be mean.
2. We had art group in the afternoon. We are doing a unit on old-time radio programs and the kids are recording a play. There are some wildly varying degrees of dramatic skills amongst all the kids. :-) Joseph and Mosey both have a flair for the dramatic. Should I see if there is any way they could get involved in some local children's drama productions?
3. I took a picture of Mosey's slicked back hair. He's a handsome little dude. Joseph was slightly more accepting of it today. Mosey's current stuffed animal companion is "Yellow." He's a yellow lab, in case you couldn't tell. :-) He's been attached to Mosey for the past several days, accompanying him everywhere-- piano lessons and cello lessons no exception. :-)
Here is Mosey going crazy on the disc swing in the back yard (I didn't back up far enough to be able to get a wide enough frame to document the full craziness of it all). Mosey gets up on top of the pool stairs, grabs hold of the swing, and launches himself into the air, swinging crazily, pushing himself off again from the side of the deck or the tree behind him. This is my boys' most favorite toy at the moment.
2. We had art group in the afternoon. We are doing a unit on old-time radio programs and the kids are recording a play. There are some wildly varying degrees of dramatic skills amongst all the kids. :-) Joseph and Mosey both have a flair for the dramatic. Should I see if there is any way they could get involved in some local children's drama productions?
3. I took a picture of Mosey's slicked back hair. He's a handsome little dude. Joseph was slightly more accepting of it today. Mosey's current stuffed animal companion is "Yellow." He's a yellow lab, in case you couldn't tell. :-) He's been attached to Mosey for the past several days, accompanying him everywhere-- piano lessons and cello lessons no exception. :-)
04/18/2012
1. Mosey has a new hairstyle. He's trying out a new "slicked back" look. I think it's cute. It may not be a sustainable look for him, considering the amount of hair product it requires to keep his firmly-forward growing hair going in a backward direction, but it is cute. However, for some reason Joseph is not a fan. All morning long he took every opportunity to muss Mosey's head, causing him to go back into the bathroom to carefully re-do the 'do, until I was able to persuade Joseph that he better not touch or comment about Mosey's hair, or else. Joseph thought it terribly unfair that I let Mosey get away with this travesty of a hairstyle while I won't let him have long hair. But, that's the prerogative of being the mom!
2. Piano lessons this afternoon. I had a talk with their teacher afterward about poor Brigham. He practiced so well and so diligently this week, and yet on one of his pieces, he got flustered and wasn't able either to show her what he had accomplished with the piece, or to articulate to her that he *had* actually been practicing hands apart, he *had* been counting out loud, he *had* been working with the metronome. Those are all things he doesn't particularly like to do-- it's way more fun to jump into a piece hands together and plow through it. But he has been working hard on breaking things down and practicing the things that aren't so fun. I don't think his teacher realizes that yet, however, and so when he wasn't playing so great during his lesson, she kind of jumped to the conclusion that he hadn't been doing those things. She didn't get after him, but still he left the lesson feeling like he had been misunderstood. So after his lesson I went in there and told her how he had been working on the piece all week, and how he's in a bit of a self-perpetuating rut in which he feels anxiety about his lesson which then causes him not to play his best. His teacher is really nice (I love her-- honestly she is so wonderful, but she can only make judgments based on what she sees in lessons), and immediately went out to talk to Brigham. She told him she knows exactly how he feels, and has been in his exact position. She said, "I've had probably ten thousand lessons in my life, and I've felt the way you feel in about five thousand of them!" As Brigham and I were walking out to the car to go to violin, he said to me, "If she had a piano lesson every week, it would take more than 200 years to have ten thousand lessons." The funny thing was I had been doing that exact calculation in my head at the very same time! So we had a little talk about hyperbole. :-)
3. After dinner Ben and I somehow got to talking about what a third world war might look like-- how it would start, how the various sides would precipitate out, and how such a war might be fought and won. Great, cheerful conversation, to be sure. The boys got pretty interested, especially Brigham, and soon we were gathered around the world map on the wall turning our kitchen into our very own Turner family war-room. :-) Maybe not the best way to send our kids to bed (with visions of nuclear bombs dancing in their heads), but it is pretty cool to have kids that are big enough and smart enough to participate intelligently in conversations like that.
2. Piano lessons this afternoon. I had a talk with their teacher afterward about poor Brigham. He practiced so well and so diligently this week, and yet on one of his pieces, he got flustered and wasn't able either to show her what he had accomplished with the piece, or to articulate to her that he *had* actually been practicing hands apart, he *had* been counting out loud, he *had* been working with the metronome. Those are all things he doesn't particularly like to do-- it's way more fun to jump into a piece hands together and plow through it. But he has been working hard on breaking things down and practicing the things that aren't so fun. I don't think his teacher realizes that yet, however, and so when he wasn't playing so great during his lesson, she kind of jumped to the conclusion that he hadn't been doing those things. She didn't get after him, but still he left the lesson feeling like he had been misunderstood. So after his lesson I went in there and told her how he had been working on the piece all week, and how he's in a bit of a self-perpetuating rut in which he feels anxiety about his lesson which then causes him not to play his best. His teacher is really nice (I love her-- honestly she is so wonderful, but she can only make judgments based on what she sees in lessons), and immediately went out to talk to Brigham. She told him she knows exactly how he feels, and has been in his exact position. She said, "I've had probably ten thousand lessons in my life, and I've felt the way you feel in about five thousand of them!" As Brigham and I were walking out to the car to go to violin, he said to me, "If she had a piano lesson every week, it would take more than 200 years to have ten thousand lessons." The funny thing was I had been doing that exact calculation in my head at the very same time! So we had a little talk about hyperbole. :-)
3. After dinner Ben and I somehow got to talking about what a third world war might look like-- how it would start, how the various sides would precipitate out, and how such a war might be fought and won. Great, cheerful conversation, to be sure. The boys got pretty interested, especially Brigham, and soon we were gathered around the world map on the wall turning our kitchen into our very own Turner family war-room. :-) Maybe not the best way to send our kids to bed (with visions of nuclear bombs dancing in their heads), but it is pretty cool to have kids that are big enough and smart enough to participate intelligently in conversations like that.
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
04/17/12
1. Scouts was this afternoon. Phew!! 7 (well 9 if you count my big boys) rowdy boys are a lot to handle. We're working on getting ready for a play we're doing at our pack meeting next Tuesday. We're doing Daniel and the Lion's Den. We made scenery and lion masks today which ended up being bigger projects than I anticipated. I must keep reminding myself to get more stuff prepared in advance. I always underestimate the amount of work a project will take. Or overestimate the attention span of 8 year old boys. :-) By the end of the afternoon there was crayon on the floor, glue all over the table, and little bits of paper bag "fringe" (for the lion manes) all over everything else. After it was over, my co-leader Andrea commented that the boys are pretty much motivated only by getting to go outside to play. Little girls would be so different! I'm sure they'd be happy as clams sitting and cutting and stapling and coloring and gluing jewels and chatting. Not boys. They just want to finish everything as fast as they can so they can go outside and jump on the trampoline, swing on the disc swing, ride scooters on the basketball court, and eat popsicles.
2. I had an interesting discussion with Brigham and Joseph this evening as we were driving to scouts (their webelos meetings are on Tuesday nights, after our afternoon Wolf/Bear den meeting). I was trying to describe the difference between "coaching" and "bossing." There are some key differences! Some of my boys don't like being told what to do, especially when it involves schoolwork and practicing and chores. As we were talking about it, one of my boys said, "I don't like it when you boss me!" The thing is, I don't think of it as "bossing," and that's not how I'm trying to come across. I want to be their coach! I happen to be a very good practicing coach. I just am. I so much would rather be my boys coach than their boss! So, from my point of view, "bossing" is when you are dictating to a person who is doing something for *you.* So I can definitely be "bossing" when I'm telling my boys how to vacuum, because they're doing it to help me out. Well, to help the family out, but in their eyes it is to help me out. But with practicing (or math or writing or whatever), they're not doing it to help *me.* I already know how to do math and how to play the piano and violin. They're practicing for *them.* And I'm their coach, helping them to become better at something for them. A good coach can be like adding a gear to a system. The same number of revolutions of the crank can result in far greater movement when a second gear is added. A coach can be the same way-- the same amount of time and effort (45 minutes at the piano, for instance) can yield so much more progress when a good coach is added to the system. But in order to get any benefit, the gear has to actually engage. The athlete has to listen to the coach. And ultimately, I think, it is more fun and more satisfying to spend 45 minutes at the piano making real progress, than spending 45 minutes messing around, playing through things lackadaisically, wondering what to do next, and otherwise simply trying to pass the time.
So, what can I do to come across more as a coach than a boss?
3, While the big boys and I were at scouts, Mosey and Ben cleaned up the back patio. We finally got ride of the ugly, holey, mangy old couch that's been out there for the past 5 years. It was a very comfortable couch, but it had lived it's life (recently the boys discovered an opossum nesting underneath it which is just gross). So on Saturday Ben hauled it off the patio and over to the side of the yard to await our next bulk trash day. Tonight Mosey and Ben swept off the patio, cleaned out the grill, and dusted off and cleaned the other couch and chair (our old leather set) that are out there. They are in amazingly good shape after having been out in the weather (under the patio roof, but still). Ben set up a fan right outside the door, to drive away the mosquitoes that tend to hang out there waiting a chance to get inside the house. It's downright pleasant out there now! We hopefully still have a few more weeks of tolerable weather before the furnace descends upon us once again, and I'd like to take advantage of it. Next up: transforming the mosquito-breeding swamp formerly known as our pool into a remotely inviting place.
2. I had an interesting discussion with Brigham and Joseph this evening as we were driving to scouts (their webelos meetings are on Tuesday nights, after our afternoon Wolf/Bear den meeting). I was trying to describe the difference between "coaching" and "bossing." There are some key differences! Some of my boys don't like being told what to do, especially when it involves schoolwork and practicing and chores. As we were talking about it, one of my boys said, "I don't like it when you boss me!" The thing is, I don't think of it as "bossing," and that's not how I'm trying to come across. I want to be their coach! I happen to be a very good practicing coach. I just am. I so much would rather be my boys coach than their boss! So, from my point of view, "bossing" is when you are dictating to a person who is doing something for *you.* So I can definitely be "bossing" when I'm telling my boys how to vacuum, because they're doing it to help me out. Well, to help the family out, but in their eyes it is to help me out. But with practicing (or math or writing or whatever), they're not doing it to help *me.* I already know how to do math and how to play the piano and violin. They're practicing for *them.* And I'm their coach, helping them to become better at something for them. A good coach can be like adding a gear to a system. The same number of revolutions of the crank can result in far greater movement when a second gear is added. A coach can be the same way-- the same amount of time and effort (45 minutes at the piano, for instance) can yield so much more progress when a good coach is added to the system. But in order to get any benefit, the gear has to actually engage. The athlete has to listen to the coach. And ultimately, I think, it is more fun and more satisfying to spend 45 minutes at the piano making real progress, than spending 45 minutes messing around, playing through things lackadaisically, wondering what to do next, and otherwise simply trying to pass the time.
So, what can I do to come across more as a coach than a boss?
3, While the big boys and I were at scouts, Mosey and Ben cleaned up the back patio. We finally got ride of the ugly, holey, mangy old couch that's been out there for the past 5 years. It was a very comfortable couch, but it had lived it's life (recently the boys discovered an opossum nesting underneath it which is just gross). So on Saturday Ben hauled it off the patio and over to the side of the yard to await our next bulk trash day. Tonight Mosey and Ben swept off the patio, cleaned out the grill, and dusted off and cleaned the other couch and chair (our old leather set) that are out there. They are in amazingly good shape after having been out in the weather (under the patio roof, but still). Ben set up a fan right outside the door, to drive away the mosquitoes that tend to hang out there waiting a chance to get inside the house. It's downright pleasant out there now! We hopefully still have a few more weeks of tolerable weather before the furnace descends upon us once again, and I'd like to take advantage of it. Next up: transforming the mosquito-breeding swamp formerly known as our pool into a remotely inviting place.
04/16/2012
1. We skipped school lessons today. I was up too late and slept in too late and I didn't want a day of rushing the kids through everything. So I got a few things done (not enough), and the boys did practicing and played outside. Tomorrow we'll be back to business as usual (although I'm up too late again tonight).
2. This morning before breakfast Brigham had one of his epic fights with Sandy. They are so funny to watch together.
3. In speech, Mosey and the other boy in his group are getting a little play ready for their end-of-year festivities. He was supposed to come with a crazy costume. He put on a sweater, shorts, Brigham's top hat, sun glasses, and his tae kwon do belt. Funny boy. :-)
4. Brigham and Joseph are working on a flute/piano duet. They sound great! I'm especially impressed with Brigham since he only got the music 10 days ago or so. He's been practicing like cray. And watching them practice together is definitely one of those mommy-pay-off moments.
2. This morning before breakfast Brigham had one of his epic fights with Sandy. They are so funny to watch together.
3. In speech, Mosey and the other boy in his group are getting a little play ready for their end-of-year festivities. He was supposed to come with a crazy costume. He put on a sweater, shorts, Brigham's top hat, sun glasses, and his tae kwon do belt. Funny boy. :-)
4. Brigham and Joseph are working on a flute/piano duet. They sound great! I'm especially impressed with Brigham since he only got the music 10 days ago or so. He's been practicing like cray. And watching them practice together is definitely one of those mommy-pay-off moments.
Monday, April 16, 2012
Amen, and amen
As a mom who is raising (only) 3 boys and who also has MS, I haven't known what else to do but laugh at the utter ignorance (or despair at the utter mean-spiritedness) of Hilary Rosen and the others who have jumped on the Ann Romney-bashing bandwagon.
Bluebonnet season!
I love March in Austin (yes, I know it is April, but March is the real bluebonnet season here in south-central Texas). It is glorious. And I love the bluebonnets. This has been a great year for wild flowers! I almost missed getting pictures this year. As it was, we finally got out to the Dell fields at the end of the season, after the profusion of flowers was dwindling. But, that's OK. I wanted to get pictures anyway because at some point my big boys are going to revolt against getting pictures taken in the flowers. :-)
These two are from our front yard:
And these are from the Dell fields. As you can see, the bluebonnets were pretty sparse. But my cute boys make up for it.
My cute twins. I hope they are always best friends.
In these next two, Ben was standing behind me making faces. :-)
And finally, one with me and my boys. As always, I wish I could be behind the camera AND in the shot. I would make some compositional adjustments. But that's OK, I sure do love this picture anyway.
These two are from our front yard:
And these are from the Dell fields. As you can see, the bluebonnets were pretty sparse. But my cute boys make up for it.
In these next two, Ben was standing behind me making faces. :-)
And finally, one with me and my boys. As always, I wish I could be behind the camera AND in the shot. I would make some compositional adjustments. But that's OK, I sure do love this picture anyway.
04/15/12
1. I finally got our taxes done! I'm even two days ahead of schedule! I hate doing taxes. It gets more complicated every year, especially this year because of the other things Ben has going on. But, it's done. And we had good conversations with the boys about taxes all the while. :-) We are still getting a refund, although not a big one. I have a feeling this will be the last year we get a refund. I agree with my dad in that I am thankful to be paying taxes because it means that we are employed and doing pretty well. But I sure get resentful when I think of our hard-earned money being thrown away on so many things... Another thing I'm totally resentful of is the fact that homeschool expenses are excluded from the normal deductions for educators expenses. Here's what the IRS says qualifies for the deduction:
But, my school expenses are excluded because our school is in our home.
Why?? It's not fair. By homeschooling, we are reducing the burden on the public school system because we pay our (very high) property taxes and yet my children are not draining the system of any money. We are provided with none of the equipment or materials that are provided by the state to other teachers. Private school teachers qualify for this deduction, so it's clearly not a matter of homeschooling not being publicly funded. If homeschooling is a legal way to provide education for my kids (which it is in Texas), then I can't think of a single reason why homeschoolers should not qualify for this deduction. Except for the teachers unions, feeling threatened by homeschooling, manipulating legislators into including these discriminatory exclusions.
Anyway, it really makes me mad.
2. May-May went home today. It was fun having her here. She and Sandy ended up getting along pretty well after the first couple of days. It was really fun seeing how excited she got when Susie and Ander came by to pick her up.
3. My visiting teacher came over this afternoon and gave me the most wonderful foot massage. Isn't that the nicest thing? My feet get really swollen and painful and that massage was like a little bit of heaven.
- The deduction is for unreimbursed expenses for books, supplies, computer equipment (including related software and services), other equipment, and supplementary materials that you use in the classroom.
- To qualify for the deduction you must be a kindergarten through grade 12:
- Teacher
- Instructor
- Counselor
- Principal, or
- Aide, and
- You work at least 900 hours a school year in a school that provides elementary or secondary education, as determined under state law.
But, my school expenses are excluded because our school is in our home.
Why?? It's not fair. By homeschooling, we are reducing the burden on the public school system because we pay our (very high) property taxes and yet my children are not draining the system of any money. We are provided with none of the equipment or materials that are provided by the state to other teachers. Private school teachers qualify for this deduction, so it's clearly not a matter of homeschooling not being publicly funded. If homeschooling is a legal way to provide education for my kids (which it is in Texas), then I can't think of a single reason why homeschoolers should not qualify for this deduction. Except for the teachers unions, feeling threatened by homeschooling, manipulating legislators into including these discriminatory exclusions.
Anyway, it really makes me mad.
2. May-May went home today. It was fun having her here. She and Sandy ended up getting along pretty well after the first couple of days. It was really fun seeing how excited she got when Susie and Ander came by to pick her up.
3. My visiting teacher came over this afternoon and gave me the most wonderful foot massage. Isn't that the nicest thing? My feet get really swollen and painful and that massage was like a little bit of heaven.
04/14/12
1. Today started off with a pretty sad thing. Joseph and I were on our way to archery, driving down 183 at about 65 mph (I'm trying not to speed these days since my car STILL hasn't passed inspection). At 8:30 AM on a Saturday morning, there were not many cars on the road and 4 or 5 pigeons had flown down and were on the road ahead of us. Birds usually have a good instinct as to when to fly away to avoid getting run over. But these birds were still sleepy or something, because they took off late, and, even though I braked as hard as I dared, we hit one of them. :-( It's only the 2nd time I've ever hit a bird (or any animal). I looked back at my sweet, good-hearted, animal-loving boy, and his face just crumpled. His chin started quivering and tears spilled down his cheeks. Oh my goodness, that about broke my heart. I told him over and over again how sorry I was, how much I didn't want to do that. But I had no choice. Going 65 mph, there was simply no way to stop in time, and swerving to avoid a bird is a really bad idea. People wreck doing that, and then sometimes they pay for avoiding that animal with their life, or the life of their passengers. I told Joseph that my instinct was to swerve, but I had to make myself drive straight because my son's life (and my own) is more important than that of a pigeon. Oh, gosh. I felt so terrible. When we got to archery, he was still so sad, so we said a prayer for the pigeon and I think that helped. Still, it wasn't the best beginning for his archery lesson and it took him most of the lesson to start shooting the way he normally does.
One thing I realized though-- this boy should never go hunting. :-)
2. Mosey had TKD testing this morning. He did really GREAT! We had a talk about not letting Mr. McGrumbles enter the building, and he sure didn't! Mosey was happy and enthusiastic and did a super-great job. And he passed! He's now a senior green belt.
3. After testing, we had a family clean-up-the-backyard, and whipped it into shape in about 45 minutes. Which was an accomplishment since it was a BIG mess.
4. In the afternoon, a builder came by-- our favorite guy from when we got estimates on putting a homeschool room addition on our house 3 years ago. I believe we are going to go forward with our plans of adding onto the side of our house. Of course, we'll have to see what the estimate ends up being. :-) I'm really excited, though. I've spent many hours thinking about it, drawing up plans, revising those plans, and I'm really happy with what we've come up with.
5. I took the boys to see Hunger Games in the late afternoon. Ben was tooooo busy to go with us. He's been so, so busy recently with work, Elders Quorum stuff, and a couple of other really big projects he's got going on. It was too bad, though, because we loved the movie. It stayed very close to the book, and I thought the casting was perfect. I loved Katniss. Not the typical Hollywood star, but totally perfect for the role. So sad though! I couldn't help crying during the Rue death scene. Brigham and Joseph remembered the book well, even though we read it 2 1/2 years ago, but Mosey didn't remember much of it at all, so I had to whisper to him a little, explaining things. We'll have to listen to that one again.
One thing I realized though-- this boy should never go hunting. :-)
2. Mosey had TKD testing this morning. He did really GREAT! We had a talk about not letting Mr. McGrumbles enter the building, and he sure didn't! Mosey was happy and enthusiastic and did a super-great job. And he passed! He's now a senior green belt.
3. After testing, we had a family clean-up-the-backyard, and whipped it into shape in about 45 minutes. Which was an accomplishment since it was a BIG mess.
4. In the afternoon, a builder came by-- our favorite guy from when we got estimates on putting a homeschool room addition on our house 3 years ago. I believe we are going to go forward with our plans of adding onto the side of our house. Of course, we'll have to see what the estimate ends up being. :-) I'm really excited, though. I've spent many hours thinking about it, drawing up plans, revising those plans, and I'm really happy with what we've come up with.
5. I took the boys to see Hunger Games in the late afternoon. Ben was tooooo busy to go with us. He's been so, so busy recently with work, Elders Quorum stuff, and a couple of other really big projects he's got going on. It was too bad, though, because we loved the movie. It stayed very close to the book, and I thought the casting was perfect. I loved Katniss. Not the typical Hollywood star, but totally perfect for the role. So sad though! I couldn't help crying during the Rue death scene. Brigham and Joseph remembered the book well, even though we read it 2 1/2 years ago, but Mosey didn't remember much of it at all, so I had to whisper to him a little, explaining things. We'll have to listen to that one again.
04/13/12
1. Friday the 13th. But no bad luck for us! It was a good day for practicing and schoolwork (we didn't have much today). The weather was beautiful and the boys and I had lunch on the back deck and I lay in the sunshine and dozed while the boys played on the swing and fought the dogs. :-)
2. We went to a surprise birthday party for my friend Andrea's 40th birthday in the evening. It was really nice. Ben wasn't going to stay too long, since he has so much work to do, but he ended up staying almost to the end. The boys had a great time taking scooters up to the top of the hill and then riding all the way down to the end of the road. They must have done this over and over again. There were a bunch of little boys there--between the three families that were there, we have 8 boys between the ages of 3 and 10. Fun!
3. I stayed up too late again. :-)
2. We went to a surprise birthday party for my friend Andrea's 40th birthday in the evening. It was really nice. Ben wasn't going to stay too long, since he has so much work to do, but he ended up staying almost to the end. The boys had a great time taking scooters up to the top of the hill and then riding all the way down to the end of the road. They must have done this over and over again. There were a bunch of little boys there--between the three families that were there, we have 8 boys between the ages of 3 and 10. Fun!
3. I stayed up too late again. :-)
04/12/12
One problem with waiting to write my 3 things until 3 days after the fact is that I can't remember much. Oh well. But I do remember that Thursday was another really good day. The boys finished up their schoolwork fast! Art was canceled for the afternoon, so that gave the boys more free time as well. I'm not sure what Ben said to the boys a couple of days ago, but it has made all the difference in the world. *This* is how it's supposed to be. :-)
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
04/11/12
1. A better day! Actually, a great day! The boys were almost all done with their schoolwork before piano lessons (only cello for Mosey, and spelling for Brigham and Joseph left to do). This meant they got to watch an episode of Star Trek after dinner. I still love that show. But it is cheesier than I remember it being. :-)
2. Poor Brigham has been in a bit of a rut in his piano lessons the last few weeks. He is a very diligent practicer, and he works hard and sounds great at home. But for the last few weeks, when he's at his teacher's piano, he freezes up and e makes mistakes that he never makes at home! His teacher is very nice, but will sometimes ask if he practiced something, when he DID practice it, and it was perfect at home! Brigham gets discouraged. I think it's something of a self-fulfilling cycle. The more anxious he gets about his lesson, the more likely he is to struggle. I'm sure he'll get out of the rut, but it's hard for him right now. I think I'll video him while he's practicing so he can get used to that feeling of being "on the spot."
3. I wonder what other families do about name-calling? My boys don't name-call too much, but it does happen. There are some banned words in our house, as I'm sure there are in every house. The problem is that one of my boys is very creative in making small variations on these banned words, and thinking he can get away with it. Or he'll say half the word. Or he'll say the word without specifically naming somebody. You get the idea-- he's pushing his limits. I've told him that any banned word, any conjugation of that banned word, any variation on the banned word, any rhyme of that banned word, are all still BANNED. But it's a bit like playing whack-a-mole.
2. Poor Brigham has been in a bit of a rut in his piano lessons the last few weeks. He is a very diligent practicer, and he works hard and sounds great at home. But for the last few weeks, when he's at his teacher's piano, he freezes up and e makes mistakes that he never makes at home! His teacher is very nice, but will sometimes ask if he practiced something, when he DID practice it, and it was perfect at home! Brigham gets discouraged. I think it's something of a self-fulfilling cycle. The more anxious he gets about his lesson, the more likely he is to struggle. I'm sure he'll get out of the rut, but it's hard for him right now. I think I'll video him while he's practicing so he can get used to that feeling of being "on the spot."
3. I wonder what other families do about name-calling? My boys don't name-call too much, but it does happen. There are some banned words in our house, as I'm sure there are in every house. The problem is that one of my boys is very creative in making small variations on these banned words, and thinking he can get away with it. Or he'll say half the word. Or he'll say the word without specifically naming somebody. You get the idea-- he's pushing his limits. I've told him that any banned word, any conjugation of that banned word, any variation on the banned word, any rhyme of that banned word, are all still BANNED. But it's a bit like playing whack-a-mole.
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
04/10/12
1. I sure wish stress burned calories. Doesn't it seem like it should? Shouldn't mental exhaustion be at least as calorie-burning as physical exhaustion?
2. I currently have 14 messages on my phone. I can't bring myself to listen to them because I know I'm going to feel like a jerk for not calling back, but mostly because I don't want to listen to them until I actually have time to call people back. Otherwise I will forget. And the only time I have to listen to messages lately seems to be at about 10:00 PM, and I don't think people appreciate call-backs at that time. So if anyone has left a message on my phone and I haven't gotten back to you, it's not that I hate you personally, it's just that I'm a loser. :-)
3. Brigham was a shining star today! He got all of his homework, practicing, and chores for the day done by 3:30 PM. And then he cleaned up the ENTIRE downstairs (maybe upstairs too, I didn't see), and made dinner. I need to give him a blue ribbon or something. He was pretty much my contact with sanity today.
4. Another thing that might have contributed to the stress of the day-- Joseph has a bad cold. He came downstairs this morning and went right into the backyard. I heard him yelling, "I can't breathe! I can't breathe!" Poor guy. My best solution for congestion is good old Afrin nasal spray, but he did NOT want to take it. "It will be worse than getting a shot!" Instead we made do with boiling a pot of water and having him lean over it with a towel over his head, inhaling the steam. Finally tonight before bed with a lot of pep-talk, he finally was brave and gave the Afrin a try. Amazingly, it wasn't as bad as a shot! :-) I hate colds and absolutely cannot abide the sensation of nasal congestion, so I have a lot of sympathy for him. I hope he feels better tomorrow.
5. Another good thing: Mosey is really enjoying cello recently. He told me today that he wants to increase his cello practicing to 45 minutes a day! (What??) He's on the last song in Suzuki book 1, and today we opened up book 2 for him to sight-read some of the pieces. He was so excited about being able to play a couple of the songs with 2nd position. He actually yelled out, "I can't believe I'm playing in second position!!" He was very excited and it was so cute to see him. I hope he always loves music.
2. I currently have 14 messages on my phone. I can't bring myself to listen to them because I know I'm going to feel like a jerk for not calling back, but mostly because I don't want to listen to them until I actually have time to call people back. Otherwise I will forget. And the only time I have to listen to messages lately seems to be at about 10:00 PM, and I don't think people appreciate call-backs at that time. So if anyone has left a message on my phone and I haven't gotten back to you, it's not that I hate you personally, it's just that I'm a loser. :-)
3. Brigham was a shining star today! He got all of his homework, practicing, and chores for the day done by 3:30 PM. And then he cleaned up the ENTIRE downstairs (maybe upstairs too, I didn't see), and made dinner. I need to give him a blue ribbon or something. He was pretty much my contact with sanity today.
4. Another thing that might have contributed to the stress of the day-- Joseph has a bad cold. He came downstairs this morning and went right into the backyard. I heard him yelling, "I can't breathe! I can't breathe!" Poor guy. My best solution for congestion is good old Afrin nasal spray, but he did NOT want to take it. "It will be worse than getting a shot!" Instead we made do with boiling a pot of water and having him lean over it with a towel over his head, inhaling the steam. Finally tonight before bed with a lot of pep-talk, he finally was brave and gave the Afrin a try. Amazingly, it wasn't as bad as a shot! :-) I hate colds and absolutely cannot abide the sensation of nasal congestion, so I have a lot of sympathy for him. I hope he feels better tomorrow.
5. Another good thing: Mosey is really enjoying cello recently. He told me today that he wants to increase his cello practicing to 45 minutes a day! (What??) He's on the last song in Suzuki book 1, and today we opened up book 2 for him to sight-read some of the pieces. He was so excited about being able to play a couple of the songs with 2nd position. He actually yelled out, "I can't believe I'm playing in second position!!" He was very excited and it was so cute to see him. I hope he always loves music.
Monday, April 09, 2012
04/09/12
1. Monday. It was a so-so day. Some good, some bad. Mosey was pretty delightful today. He kicked Mr. McGrumbles out the door. :-) On the other hand, Joseph and Brigham ended up in an altercation which resulted in a glass broken across the ground in our back patio and ovaltine milk drenching
Joseph as well as the couch he was sitting on. :-( It started with baking powder spilled on the couch. Apparently yesterday Joseph was trying to make a baking soda and vinegar bomb (using a water bottle), and ended up spilling baking powder on the seat of the couch. Brigham wanted to sit there to do his schoolwork, but couldn't because of the baking powder. So he asked Joseph to clean it up. Brigham can be a bit bossy, and Joseph can be a bit snotty in return. Some names were called ("brat" is a bad word in our house) by one of the boys, the other one retaliated by slapping the name-caller, which made fisticuffs pretty much inevitable. I was inside working with Mosey on writing, but am alerted by the sound of shattering glass and extremely agitated sounds coming from the two boys. I really, really hate being the policeman in these kinds of altercations. I really, really hate my boys to call each other names. I really, really hate it when they fight with each other. It make me so sad. So that was a bit of a low point for the afternoon.
2. Mosey had speech in the afternoon, but Joseph doesn't have flute until tomorrow, so that made for a more relaxing afternoon. Although it also means a second trip down to the UT area tomorrow.
3. Brigham said the family prayer tonight and prayed that I wouldn't be exhausted tomorrow. Sweet boy. :-) I sure with I could figure out a way to get to bed sooner than midnight.
Joseph as well as the couch he was sitting on. :-( It started with baking powder spilled on the couch. Apparently yesterday Joseph was trying to make a baking soda and vinegar bomb (using a water bottle), and ended up spilling baking powder on the seat of the couch. Brigham wanted to sit there to do his schoolwork, but couldn't because of the baking powder. So he asked Joseph to clean it up. Brigham can be a bit bossy, and Joseph can be a bit snotty in return. Some names were called ("brat" is a bad word in our house) by one of the boys, the other one retaliated by slapping the name-caller, which made fisticuffs pretty much inevitable. I was inside working with Mosey on writing, but am alerted by the sound of shattering glass and extremely agitated sounds coming from the two boys. I really, really hate being the policeman in these kinds of altercations. I really, really hate my boys to call each other names. I really, really hate it when they fight with each other. It make me so sad. So that was a bit of a low point for the afternoon.
2. Mosey had speech in the afternoon, but Joseph doesn't have flute until tomorrow, so that made for a more relaxing afternoon. Although it also means a second trip down to the UT area tomorrow.
3. Brigham said the family prayer tonight and prayed that I wouldn't be exhausted tomorrow. Sweet boy. :-) I sure with I could figure out a way to get to bed sooner than midnight.
04/08/12
1. Happy Easter!!
2. We did some of our usual Easter stuff today-- went to church, dyed Easter eggs, had a small family Easter egg hunt (no tears this year, and Ben had to go and search for only 1 final missing egg), ate dinner, talked about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. I'm not very satisfied with our Easter celebration this year, however. I meant this week to each day read one of the Gospel's accounts of the Savior's last week, and that just didn't happen. I'm going to do it this next week, though. Better late than never.
3. I made tilapia, hot cross buns, and fruit salad for dinner. It was a "loaves and fishes" themed meal, get it? Tilapia is apparently commonly found in the Sea of Galilee, so it may well have been the exact same type of fish involved in the miracles of the loaves and the fishes. The hot cross buns were most assuredly NOT the kinds of loaves referenced in those stories, but they're traditional. :-)
4. In the evening after dinner we went out to the Dell fields for pictures in the blue bonnets. I think we missed the peak of the season by about a week, but it was still OK. I got some good pictures which I'm hoping sometime in my life I will have time to upload from my camera. The boys kind of moaned and groaned about going, but after the pictures were done, they ran wild in the field, going all the way back into some adjacent woods, exploring, rolling down a big hill (Ben says that's not quite as fun to do as an adult...), and picking wild flowers. I'm pretty sure it's against the law, but the season is nearly over anyway and Dell will probably mow that big field in another few days, and it is a HUGE field, and in any case I can't possibly resist watching my 3 cute little boys picking flowers and running across the fields to me to present to me in pretty bouquets. When will my boys be too old for pictures in the blue bonnets? I hope never.
2. We did some of our usual Easter stuff today-- went to church, dyed Easter eggs, had a small family Easter egg hunt (no tears this year, and Ben had to go and search for only 1 final missing egg), ate dinner, talked about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. I'm not very satisfied with our Easter celebration this year, however. I meant this week to each day read one of the Gospel's accounts of the Savior's last week, and that just didn't happen. I'm going to do it this next week, though. Better late than never.
3. I made tilapia, hot cross buns, and fruit salad for dinner. It was a "loaves and fishes" themed meal, get it? Tilapia is apparently commonly found in the Sea of Galilee, so it may well have been the exact same type of fish involved in the miracles of the loaves and the fishes. The hot cross buns were most assuredly NOT the kinds of loaves referenced in those stories, but they're traditional. :-)
4. In the evening after dinner we went out to the Dell fields for pictures in the blue bonnets. I think we missed the peak of the season by about a week, but it was still OK. I got some good pictures which I'm hoping sometime in my life I will have time to upload from my camera. The boys kind of moaned and groaned about going, but after the pictures were done, they ran wild in the field, going all the way back into some adjacent woods, exploring, rolling down a big hill (Ben says that's not quite as fun to do as an adult...), and picking wild flowers. I'm pretty sure it's against the law, but the season is nearly over anyway and Dell will probably mow that big field in another few days, and it is a HUGE field, and in any case I can't possibly resist watching my 3 cute little boys picking flowers and running across the fields to me to present to me in pretty bouquets. When will my boys be too old for pictures in the blue bonnets? I hope never.
04/07/12
1. Went to the temple with Ben this morning. I like the Temple, but I'm always totally wiped out afterward. Too much walking and carrying bags and standing up and sitting down and I don't know what else, but my legs are always totally dead afterwards. The session was at 9:30. We left shortly after 7:00, driving a couple of other people, ate lunch at Subway right after the session, and then drove home. I made a really stupid error and ended up taking probably 30 extra minutes getting home. Ugh. It ALWAYS takes us forever getting out of San Antonio. We didn't get home until 3:00.
2. The boys had their first swim of the season this afternoon! We went to my friend Stephanie's house and the boys played in her awesome pool for more than 2 hours. They had such a fun time, and it was great seeing Stephanie (it's been too long), but I am NOT ready for summer to be here so soon!
3. I (as usual) waited until the last minute to get Easter candy and eggs (and subsequently stayed up way too late filling the eggs). HEB was totally cleaned out of the good candy, so I ended up going to Walmart at about 9:45 PM. They did still have lots of good candy left, although no peeps. Hey, I like peeps! I dot the very LAST bag of Cadbury mini eggs, so I count myself lucky. :-)
4. In the parking lot, as I was getting out of the van to go into the store, I was stopped by a lady. She had a very sad story of leaving her abusive husband (in Galveston), getting help from a church to stay in a motel with her 3 boys, and running out of money before her food stamps come on Tuesday. I asked her a bunch of questions as we were walking into the store, and I believed her. Maybe she's a good actress and knows how to manipulate people, but if so, that's not my problem. I offered to buy her groceries, but she said she had to catch the last bus of the night back to her motel in just a few minutes, but there was a store near the motel where she could get food. That story seemed legit since that HEB is something of a bus station itself, and I've seen the bus schedules that go to and from that store. It's too bad, because I would have probably bought her more than the $40 I had in my purse. Anyway it felt good to do a good turn on Easter weekend.
2. The boys had their first swim of the season this afternoon! We went to my friend Stephanie's house and the boys played in her awesome pool for more than 2 hours. They had such a fun time, and it was great seeing Stephanie (it's been too long), but I am NOT ready for summer to be here so soon!
3. I (as usual) waited until the last minute to get Easter candy and eggs (and subsequently stayed up way too late filling the eggs). HEB was totally cleaned out of the good candy, so I ended up going to Walmart at about 9:45 PM. They did still have lots of good candy left, although no peeps. Hey, I like peeps! I dot the very LAST bag of Cadbury mini eggs, so I count myself lucky. :-)
4. In the parking lot, as I was getting out of the van to go into the store, I was stopped by a lady. She had a very sad story of leaving her abusive husband (in Galveston), getting help from a church to stay in a motel with her 3 boys, and running out of money before her food stamps come on Tuesday. I asked her a bunch of questions as we were walking into the store, and I believed her. Maybe she's a good actress and knows how to manipulate people, but if so, that's not my problem. I offered to buy her groceries, but she said she had to catch the last bus of the night back to her motel in just a few minutes, but there was a store near the motel where she could get food. That story seemed legit since that HEB is something of a bus station itself, and I've seen the bus schedules that go to and from that store. It's too bad, because I would have probably bought her more than the $40 I had in my purse. Anyway it felt good to do a good turn on Easter weekend.
04/06/12
1. Went to the park this morning. Trailhead park was one of the first parks I ever went to here in Austin with the boys. Brings back fond and wistful memories of walking. :-) Mosey is such an extrovert-- he went and found some kids playing soccer on the field and inserted himself into the game. He came back up by me after a while and told me he tried to convince the boy that there was no Santa, but he didn't think the boy believed him. Oh, no!!! He broke one of our family's cardinal rules-- thou shalt not interfere with any other kid's belief in Santa!!!! I feel really bad. I hope the damage is not too severe. Mosey now understands what he is *not* to do again. Joseph worked on his outline for a while-- got it nearly done, too, and then disappeared with Brigham playing guns. They were apparently snipers fighting an enemy camped just over the hill. I really love seeing them playing together. I got to see my friend's brand-new 10-day-old baby. So tiny! I think he's maybe just barely 6 lbs, if that. About the size of Joseph when he was born. Was my great big boy ever that small?
2. I had a very weird experience in the afternoon. I'm trying (really I am!) to get my car inspected. The inspection sticker expired in February, but I have to get some repairs done before it can pass inspection. So I took it down to the car place we usually go to. The guy went out to look at the car, then came in and made some calls to try and locate the part it needs. He found one for $800 plus $160 in labor. Ouch. I was bemoaning the situation-- so much money just to get my car to pass inspection! He said to me, "You maybe could find a place that would pass the inspection even without the new part." I didn't get what he was saying at first. So I said, "I wish I knew of a place like that!" Then he kept talking and I slowly got the picture. He was basically telling me that he knew some guys that would give me a valid inspection sticker for $100, without ever seeing the car. I don't know how I sometimes find myself in these situations, but I do. I found myself too far into this interaction before I fully understood the situation. Meanwhile the guy thinks I'm totally going along with what he's saying. I am too flustered and stupid to figure out a graceful way to get out of it, so I just go along. At one point he said to me, "I've known these guys for twenty years. I do something nice for them, they do something nice for me. But it will be a hundred bucks. You do know how these things work, right?" I didn't know what to say, so I said nothing at all. Finally I just wanted to get out of there as fast as I could. So he told me to come back Monday with $100 and he'd give me the sticker. I left with this horrible feeling inside. I wasn't even tempted. Sell my integrity for $900? I don't think so. But I didn't know what to do because I knew I had to get back to him to call it off, but I wasn't sure what to say-- "Hey man, I know you offered to do something illegal to help me out, but I think it's nasty and dishonest, so no thank you." Maybe he needs to hear something like that, but I don't have that kind of confrontation in me. Finally, as I was driving home, I realized the dumb ABS/brake light is NOT on for once. So I drove straight to the Jiffylube and had them run the inspection on it. It ended up not passing anyway ("system detects small leak"), but it had nothing to do with the ABS/brake light thing. Oh well, that would have been too easy. But it was enough to give me a good excuse. When I got home I called the guy back up and said, "As I was driving home I noticed the ABS light wasn't on, so I decided to go try and get it inspected and see what happened. I was really lucky and the light stayed off the whole time, so I won't be needing your help after all." Phew! I'm glad that's over.
3. As awkward as that situation was, it was a great vehicle for a conversation with my boys about temptation and how the Holy Ghost works. How awesome to find myself in a situation that, for another person, might have posed a difficult ethical dilemma, and not be tempted at all to make the wrong choice. The situation was tricky only because I was too stupid to figure out what was going on soon enough. And how chilling it is too feel the Holy Ghost absolutely leave the room as soon as I *did* figure out what was going on.
2. I had a very weird experience in the afternoon. I'm trying (really I am!) to get my car inspected. The inspection sticker expired in February, but I have to get some repairs done before it can pass inspection. So I took it down to the car place we usually go to. The guy went out to look at the car, then came in and made some calls to try and locate the part it needs. He found one for $800 plus $160 in labor. Ouch. I was bemoaning the situation-- so much money just to get my car to pass inspection! He said to me, "You maybe could find a place that would pass the inspection even without the new part." I didn't get what he was saying at first. So I said, "I wish I knew of a place like that!" Then he kept talking and I slowly got the picture. He was basically telling me that he knew some guys that would give me a valid inspection sticker for $100, without ever seeing the car. I don't know how I sometimes find myself in these situations, but I do. I found myself too far into this interaction before I fully understood the situation. Meanwhile the guy thinks I'm totally going along with what he's saying. I am too flustered and stupid to figure out a graceful way to get out of it, so I just go along. At one point he said to me, "I've known these guys for twenty years. I do something nice for them, they do something nice for me. But it will be a hundred bucks. You do know how these things work, right?" I didn't know what to say, so I said nothing at all. Finally I just wanted to get out of there as fast as I could. So he told me to come back Monday with $100 and he'd give me the sticker. I left with this horrible feeling inside. I wasn't even tempted. Sell my integrity for $900? I don't think so. But I didn't know what to do because I knew I had to get back to him to call it off, but I wasn't sure what to say-- "Hey man, I know you offered to do something illegal to help me out, but I think it's nasty and dishonest, so no thank you." Maybe he needs to hear something like that, but I don't have that kind of confrontation in me. Finally, as I was driving home, I realized the dumb ABS/brake light is NOT on for once. So I drove straight to the Jiffylube and had them run the inspection on it. It ended up not passing anyway ("system detects small leak"), but it had nothing to do with the ABS/brake light thing. Oh well, that would have been too easy. But it was enough to give me a good excuse. When I got home I called the guy back up and said, "As I was driving home I noticed the ABS light wasn't on, so I decided to go try and get it inspected and see what happened. I was really lucky and the light stayed off the whole time, so I won't be needing your help after all." Phew! I'm glad that's over.
3. As awkward as that situation was, it was a great vehicle for a conversation with my boys about temptation and how the Holy Ghost works. How awesome to find myself in a situation that, for another person, might have posed a difficult ethical dilemma, and not be tempted at all to make the wrong choice. The situation was tricky only because I was too stupid to figure out what was going on soon enough. And how chilling it is too feel the Holy Ghost absolutely leave the room as soon as I *did* figure out what was going on.
Friday, April 06, 2012
04/05/12
1. We're considering adding on to our house. We've been thinking about it for a few years, actually, although now my idea has evolved from adding one additional room (mostly for a homeschooling room) to now adding a 2nd living area (which would be our school room), an office for Ben, and another bedroom (which we would use as a playroom most of the time) and attached bathroom. I think it will be really great if we do it. Our current playroom (which is supposed to be a formal dining room) could then become a full-time music room, our living room could be an actual living room instead of a living room taken over by school stuff, all the boys legos and blocks and toys can be confined to an area of the house where I never have to go (right now the playroom is where the piano is and is right in the main traffic area of the home, which makes it extremely hard to get around in my wheelchair when the boys are making block buildings or lego stuff), Ben could have an office which he really needs, and which we could also definitely use when various children need a quieter area to do schoolwork, but where I can still go to them to help, and, best of all, we can have a real schoolroom with room for desks for all 3 boys so they can have computers (in a public location in the house), and we can have space for bookshelves and white boards and maps. A real classroom! So exciting!
Anyway, I've designed everything exactly how I want it, but the first step was to get approval from our HOA architectural committee, which we have, as of this morning. Next step is to talk with some builders. We got bids a few years ago when we were considering adding on just the one room, and I think I know who I want to work with, but I haven't called him yet.
Ben still wants to meanwhile keep looking around more and see if a good one story house becomes available in our area. I am very doubtful, since I haven't seen anything that would be suitable at any price point in our neighborhood, but you never know.
2. This was another rough day for a certain boy getting his schoolwork done. It's so hard. I remember so well hating the same things this boy hates-- tedious stuff like taking notes (he loves the research part, hates the physical writing part) and writing bibliographies and having to be neat and nit-picky about stuff. I'm not smart enough to come up with a fun, compelling way to teach these skills. He just has to do them. So he'll have a few lessons to finish up tomorrow on our "free" day. :-( I hate having to come down hard on my boys.
After coming to a pretty unhappy impasse, I had to go and pick up Desiree and her girls for our art group. After we came back, I ended up taking this child to HEB. He wanted to look at the Dragons Universe dragons they had there (no new ones in stock) and had been asking me for a couple of days to go. I used the time to talk to him and try to gently come to some conclusions about how we should go forward. Then I bought him an orange soda. So was this good parenting on my part-- toning down the situation and showing an increase in love, or was it bad-- essentially rewarding bad behavior after several hours of defiance? I sure don't know, but it was what my gut told me to do. So, so much of parenting relies on instinct, and I just have to pray (and I do, constantly) that my instincts are right.
3. I'm in a serious I-hate-cooking-dinner phase of life right now. I have seriously so little time! On Mondays we don't get home until 6:00. On 1st and 3rd Tuesdays we have Scouts here until 5:00, then Brigham and Joseph go to Scouts at 6:15 and we don't get back until 7:30-8:00. Wednesdays we don't get home until 5:45. Thursdays we have our art group until about 5:30, and then Mosey has cello until 7:00. Friday is the only day I don't have something scheduled in the late afternoon, but usually by Friday afternoon I'm so wiped out the last thing I want to do is be cooking. So, let's think back on dinners this week. Monday we had hamburgers fried on the stove and microwaved hotdogs for kids that didn't want hamburgers. Tuesday we had omelets. Last night I actually did cook and made shrimp and pasta, and tonight I made blueberry pancakes. Tomorrow night is Friday and I think it may be a pick-up-pizza-at-Little-Caesars night. Seriously, if I could have one totally extravagant luxury, it would be having a full-time cook.
4. The boys like getting up on the roof and doing who knows what. They can get out through Joseph's bedroom window. Our house isn't super-duper high, and the roof isn't super-duper steep. But it was enough so that our neighbor came knocking at the door at around 7:30 PM as I'm making dinner to ask if I knew there were two boys up on my roof. :-) Yep, I knew about it. Nope, I'm not going to stop them. That's life with boys!
Anyway, I've designed everything exactly how I want it, but the first step was to get approval from our HOA architectural committee, which we have, as of this morning. Next step is to talk with some builders. We got bids a few years ago when we were considering adding on just the one room, and I think I know who I want to work with, but I haven't called him yet.
Ben still wants to meanwhile keep looking around more and see if a good one story house becomes available in our area. I am very doubtful, since I haven't seen anything that would be suitable at any price point in our neighborhood, but you never know.
2. This was another rough day for a certain boy getting his schoolwork done. It's so hard. I remember so well hating the same things this boy hates-- tedious stuff like taking notes (he loves the research part, hates the physical writing part) and writing bibliographies and having to be neat and nit-picky about stuff. I'm not smart enough to come up with a fun, compelling way to teach these skills. He just has to do them. So he'll have a few lessons to finish up tomorrow on our "free" day. :-( I hate having to come down hard on my boys.
After coming to a pretty unhappy impasse, I had to go and pick up Desiree and her girls for our art group. After we came back, I ended up taking this child to HEB. He wanted to look at the Dragons Universe dragons they had there (no new ones in stock) and had been asking me for a couple of days to go. I used the time to talk to him and try to gently come to some conclusions about how we should go forward. Then I bought him an orange soda. So was this good parenting on my part-- toning down the situation and showing an increase in love, or was it bad-- essentially rewarding bad behavior after several hours of defiance? I sure don't know, but it was what my gut told me to do. So, so much of parenting relies on instinct, and I just have to pray (and I do, constantly) that my instincts are right.
3. I'm in a serious I-hate-cooking-dinner phase of life right now. I have seriously so little time! On Mondays we don't get home until 6:00. On 1st and 3rd Tuesdays we have Scouts here until 5:00, then Brigham and Joseph go to Scouts at 6:15 and we don't get back until 7:30-8:00. Wednesdays we don't get home until 5:45. Thursdays we have our art group until about 5:30, and then Mosey has cello until 7:00. Friday is the only day I don't have something scheduled in the late afternoon, but usually by Friday afternoon I'm so wiped out the last thing I want to do is be cooking. So, let's think back on dinners this week. Monday we had hamburgers fried on the stove and microwaved hotdogs for kids that didn't want hamburgers. Tuesday we had omelets. Last night I actually did cook and made shrimp and pasta, and tonight I made blueberry pancakes. Tomorrow night is Friday and I think it may be a pick-up-pizza-at-Little-Caesars night. Seriously, if I could have one totally extravagant luxury, it would be having a full-time cook.
4. The boys like getting up on the roof and doing who knows what. They can get out through Joseph's bedroom window. Our house isn't super-duper high, and the roof isn't super-duper steep. But it was enough so that our neighbor came knocking at the door at around 7:30 PM as I'm making dinner to ask if I knew there were two boys up on my roof. :-) Yep, I knew about it. Nope, I'm not going to stop them. That's life with boys!
04/04/12
1. Bit of another rough day around here. Schoolwork didn't get completed by all the relevant parties until after dinner... :-( It's no fun for anyone to drag things out for so long.
2. We're reading about the WWI in American history. So interesting! So tragic! So much death and destruction for absolutely nothing. :-( At least we had a great conversation about Woodrow Wilson and his 14 points, and the different perspectives of the Germans and the Allies. History is definitely my favorite subject to teach in our schooling.
3. Brigham is interested in arm wrestling. Why? I am not sure! But he's been asking me every day to arm wrestle him. Well, I'm almost twice his weight and most of my mobility relies on my upper body, so he doesn't pose too much of a challenge for me, BUT he is a remarkably strong little kid. Especially his left arm-- I guess all that violin practicing is getting him strong!
4. The boys also wanted me to measure them, which we do every few months, and mark the measurements on the wall next to the kitchen table. A couple of months ago (February), Joseph and Brigham were exactly the same height. Well, in 2 months Joseph has grown 3/4 of an inch!!! Wow! I wonder if maybe that can lead to extra grumpiness? All my boys are getting so big, I really hate thinking about it. Slooooooow down!
2. We're reading about the WWI in American history. So interesting! So tragic! So much death and destruction for absolutely nothing. :-( At least we had a great conversation about Woodrow Wilson and his 14 points, and the different perspectives of the Germans and the Allies. History is definitely my favorite subject to teach in our schooling.
3. Brigham is interested in arm wrestling. Why? I am not sure! But he's been asking me every day to arm wrestle him. Well, I'm almost twice his weight and most of my mobility relies on my upper body, so he doesn't pose too much of a challenge for me, BUT he is a remarkably strong little kid. Especially his left arm-- I guess all that violin practicing is getting him strong!
4. The boys also wanted me to measure them, which we do every few months, and mark the measurements on the wall next to the kitchen table. A couple of months ago (February), Joseph and Brigham were exactly the same height. Well, in 2 months Joseph has grown 3/4 of an inch!!! Wow! I wonder if maybe that can lead to extra grumpiness? All my boys are getting so big, I really hate thinking about it. Slooooooow down!
Tuesday, April 03, 2012
04/03/12
1. Today was not a stellar day in the Turner family school. I have a boy who, over the past few weeks, has been pretty much not at all interested in doing his schoolwork. I'm at a loss as to what to do. I know he's getting tired, but it's only the beginning of April and we have 9 more weeks of school to go! It isn't time to give up yet! I've thought about giving him a few days off, but we're already going into the middle of June for our regular schoolwork as it is, and I don't want to push that back any further. And I don't really think a few days off will help in any case. I'm very frustrated. The work that he has is not all that much. He could easily finish everything in 4 hours. But it's like pulling teeth with him-- he just won't do it! He's constantly running away outside, reading his book, disappearing, dawdling, doodling, and otherwise not cooperating at all. It's really making me crazy. I need HIM to be responsible for getting his work done. I can't be babysitting him all day long. But if I don't, he either doesn't do the work, or does a really poor, sloppy, half-hearted job of it. What do I do?? I really hate having to force compliance with threats of punishment, or taking things away, or loss of privileges, or whatever. He's old enough to understand that schoolwork is his job, and he just has to do it!
He is such a very smart boy, and capable of so much. I want him to be proud of that fact, and define himself as a smart boy who works hard. I want him to take pride in his work, and be proud of how much he can do, how much he knows. I want him to want to learn and improve and get better! I want him to really feel what it feels like to be proud of himself, and to be motivated by that feeling. I want him to realize that the habits he develops now will be the habits he carries with him for the rest of his life. The attitude he cultivates now will be his default attitude as he grows up. I want to play him the song from My Turn on Earth-- the one that goes, "If you don't like the end of the road, you better back up, you better back up fast!" Because the end of the road he is on is ignorance, laziness, irresponsibility, and failure. Not pretty.
I want him to realize how unbelievably lucky he is to be born in this time, in this place, in his particular circumstances with every possible opportunity he could ever desire open to him. I want him to understand how many children would give anything to trade places. I want him to feel what a responsibility he has to himself, to God, and to all those other children who would do anything to be in his position, to fully engage in the opportunities he has. I want us to be a team. I want to be his coach, his cheerleader, and his teacher.
So what do I do? I feel like I've talked and talked and talked until I'm blue in the face, but it hasn't changed his behavior. I don't want to threaten him, I want to motivate him! How??
OK, well I've got that off my chest at least. I hope tomorrow will be a better day.
2. We had scouts this afternoon at our house. We're going to be doing a play about Daniel and the Lions' Den for our pack meeting at the end of the week. It's pretty fun watching those boys. Mosey is King Darius and he's pretty awesome. He delivers his lines with such power and feeling! :-)
Joseph and Brigham had scouts tonight as well. Their den leader right now is a concept artist for a local video game company, and he is really, really good. Brigham has been in heaven the past couple of den meetings, soaking up everything he's got to say. Today Brigham brought a picture of a castle that he drew and which he has been working on editing on photoshop. Joseph drew a picture of a spacecraft/fighter plane/something futuristic and flying. It's interesting to observe the differences in style between these two boys. Brigham is so meticulous and detail-oriented, and draws according to a clear vision he has in his mind. Joseph is much more organic in his style, his drawings/doodlings flowing from his pencil without any forethought. His doodling cartoons are quite imaginative, although since they're generally scrawled across his math papers I'm usually not terribly thrilled with them. :-)
3. I got nothing for #3 tonight. G'night!
He is such a very smart boy, and capable of so much. I want him to be proud of that fact, and define himself as a smart boy who works hard. I want him to take pride in his work, and be proud of how much he can do, how much he knows. I want him to want to learn and improve and get better! I want him to really feel what it feels like to be proud of himself, and to be motivated by that feeling. I want him to realize that the habits he develops now will be the habits he carries with him for the rest of his life. The attitude he cultivates now will be his default attitude as he grows up. I want to play him the song from My Turn on Earth-- the one that goes, "If you don't like the end of the road, you better back up, you better back up fast!" Because the end of the road he is on is ignorance, laziness, irresponsibility, and failure. Not pretty.
I want him to realize how unbelievably lucky he is to be born in this time, in this place, in his particular circumstances with every possible opportunity he could ever desire open to him. I want him to understand how many children would give anything to trade places. I want him to feel what a responsibility he has to himself, to God, and to all those other children who would do anything to be in his position, to fully engage in the opportunities he has. I want us to be a team. I want to be his coach, his cheerleader, and his teacher.
So what do I do? I feel like I've talked and talked and talked until I'm blue in the face, but it hasn't changed his behavior. I don't want to threaten him, I want to motivate him! How??
OK, well I've got that off my chest at least. I hope tomorrow will be a better day.
2. We had scouts this afternoon at our house. We're going to be doing a play about Daniel and the Lions' Den for our pack meeting at the end of the week. It's pretty fun watching those boys. Mosey is King Darius and he's pretty awesome. He delivers his lines with such power and feeling! :-)
Joseph and Brigham had scouts tonight as well. Their den leader right now is a concept artist for a local video game company, and he is really, really good. Brigham has been in heaven the past couple of den meetings, soaking up everything he's got to say. Today Brigham brought a picture of a castle that he drew and which he has been working on editing on photoshop. Joseph drew a picture of a spacecraft/fighter plane/something futuristic and flying. It's interesting to observe the differences in style between these two boys. Brigham is so meticulous and detail-oriented, and draws according to a clear vision he has in his mind. Joseph is much more organic in his style, his drawings/doodlings flowing from his pencil without any forethought. His doodling cartoons are quite imaginative, although since they're generally scrawled across his math papers I'm usually not terribly thrilled with them. :-)
3. I got nothing for #3 tonight. G'night!
04/02/12
1. Monday, Monday, Monday. It was an okay Monday. I attempted to get my car inspected. The inspection was up in February, and it is getting to the emergency state of things. However, I was thwarted. For the last few months the ABS and brake lights have been on (on the dashboard). I took the van in a few months ago and discovered that the computer part that communicates with the ABS system is broken. The ABS system itself is fine. But since it's a dealer-only part, it will cost $1,000 to replace! Yikes! The guys at the shop told me that the ABS system doesn't have to be working to pass inspection, so I didn't worry about it and figured I'd just drive extra carefully in the rain. However, apparently Chevy is the only car manufacturer that links the ABS light with the brake light, so when the ABS light goes on, the brake light automatically goes on, too. And according to Texas law, a car can't pass inspection with the brake light on. Grrrr! The guy actually told me to see if I could disable the bulb for the brake light Ha! Anyway, I obviously couldn't get it inspected then, and I'm not sure when I'm going to be able to. I need my car every day! I have no time to take it in for repairs! Ben and I are going down to San Antonio this weekend, so I can't do it then. And I still have to get our taxes done, so next weekend is out, too (that's not gonna happen between now and then, it's just not). So I'm getting pretty nervous driving around town. If I get pulled over, it's going to be an expensive ticket. :-(
2. Speech and flute were this afternoon. There was some drama with Mosey getting his homework finished for speech. He really, really hates the journal-type assignments ("Tell about one time you used easy-onset and describe how you felt using it"), and to be honest, I hate them too. I'm not sure what journaling about that sort of thing accomplishes. I think practicing easy-onset speech is great, but the journaling thing is obnoxious, and especially, particularly for an eight-year-old boy whose powers of self-contemplation are limited at best.
3. Ben came home! His flight didn't get in until 9:15 or so, so he wasn't home until about 10:00. It's good to be all together again.
2. Speech and flute were this afternoon. There was some drama with Mosey getting his homework finished for speech. He really, really hates the journal-type assignments ("Tell about one time you used easy-onset and describe how you felt using it"), and to be honest, I hate them too. I'm not sure what journaling about that sort of thing accomplishes. I think practicing easy-onset speech is great, but the journaling thing is obnoxious, and especially, particularly for an eight-year-old boy whose powers of self-contemplation are limited at best.
3. Ben came home! His flight didn't get in until 9:15 or so, so he wasn't home until about 10:00. It's good to be all together again.
Monday, April 02, 2012
04/01/12
1. My big April Fool's joke this year was to forget it was April Fools Day! Oh well. I'm not that much of a jokester anyway.
2. Last day of conference. Joseph said, "I wish they would split up each session into one hour each so it could be spread out more." It always seems to short to me, too. And, I never heard Elder Bednar speak! How's that? Did he speak in Priesthood, I wonder? I was looking forward to hearing what he had to say.
3. Between sessions my family "hung out" on google video chat. I love technology. And I miss my family. I got to see my brother's potential girlfriend (I approve), see my newest niece, 2 months old (oh, how I wish I had another baby), my little sister's 6 month baby bump (she's so cute, and ditto about the baby thing), my beautiful sister Eva's new haircut, Naomi and my namesake miss Polly who is the cutest 3 year old ever, my New York sophisticate brother and sister-in-law, and my sister Rosalynde's kids and their assorted creepy crawlies. The cousins had a sort of show-and-tell going on while the adults were talking amongst ourselves. Joseph quietly carried over to the camera the toad he caught last night, his alligator lizard, Spots the leopard gecko, an earth worm, the deer antler he found a couple of weeks ago, and about 15 roly-polies from outside, and showed them off to his cousins who in turn brought to their camera a roly-poly of their own, and a centipede (yikes!!) to show off to their cousins. Mara played a violin piece, and my niece Lucy showed off her amazing gymnastics skills (she's really amazingly good for 5 years old!). I think we need to have a cousins recital via google chat one of these days.
4. Here are some pictures I took during conference.
2. Last day of conference. Joseph said, "I wish they would split up each session into one hour each so it could be spread out more." It always seems to short to me, too. And, I never heard Elder Bednar speak! How's that? Did he speak in Priesthood, I wonder? I was looking forward to hearing what he had to say.
3. Between sessions my family "hung out" on google video chat. I love technology. And I miss my family. I got to see my brother's potential girlfriend (I approve), see my newest niece, 2 months old (oh, how I wish I had another baby), my little sister's 6 month baby bump (she's so cute, and ditto about the baby thing), my beautiful sister Eva's new haircut, Naomi and my namesake miss Polly who is the cutest 3 year old ever, my New York sophisticate brother and sister-in-law, and my sister Rosalynde's kids and their assorted creepy crawlies. The cousins had a sort of show-and-tell going on while the adults were talking amongst ourselves. Joseph quietly carried over to the camera the toad he caught last night, his alligator lizard, Spots the leopard gecko, an earth worm, the deer antler he found a couple of weeks ago, and about 15 roly-polies from outside, and showed them off to his cousins who in turn brought to their camera a roly-poly of their own, and a centipede (yikes!!) to show off to their cousins. Mara played a violin piece, and my niece Lucy showed off her amazing gymnastics skills (she's really amazingly good for 5 years old!). I think we need to have a cousins recital via google chat one of these days.
4. Here are some pictures I took during conference.
Sunday, April 01, 2012
03/31/12
1. Conference today! I do love conference. The boys like it too! They are more spiritually mature than I was at their age. :-) Back in those days we had to go to the Stake Center to watch it on the satellite broadcast, and it was always too dark to really be able to draw very well.
2. My friend Traci came over between sessions with her son Joseph (between Mosey and the twins' ages). She and I played violin together for an hour or so, as she was practicing for a Palm Sunday performance and needed a little help. I love playing and every time I do I think I need to practice more, beyond playing with my boys as they practice violin and cello. I wonder if I could carve out 30 minutes a day somehow?
3. In the evening I took the boys to the Austin Symphony. There was a performance of Dvorak's cello concerto, and Mozart's Jupiter Symphony. They behaved just fine, although I think only Brigham really got much out of it. Joseph brought his book which I should have just confiscated at the beginning. Mosey kept telling me he was bored. I guess 8 years old is pretty young to really appreciate a 90 minute symphony performance, but I have to say the complaint of "I'm bored" drives me to distraction. I really enjoyed it, though, and the next two ASO performances look great. Ben and I will have to go on our own, or else I'll take Brigham. The only bad part for me was the drive home! I'm not sure what was going on downtown, but the traffic was horrid! It took us an hour to get to the freeway. :-( The Austin Urban Music Festival was going on in the park right next to the symphony hall (what an odd contrast), so that was part of it, but the whole of downtown was just full of people and cars. Everyone was pretty tired and grumpy by the time we got home.
2. My friend Traci came over between sessions with her son Joseph (between Mosey and the twins' ages). She and I played violin together for an hour or so, as she was practicing for a Palm Sunday performance and needed a little help. I love playing and every time I do I think I need to practice more, beyond playing with my boys as they practice violin and cello. I wonder if I could carve out 30 minutes a day somehow?
3. In the evening I took the boys to the Austin Symphony. There was a performance of Dvorak's cello concerto, and Mozart's Jupiter Symphony. They behaved just fine, although I think only Brigham really got much out of it. Joseph brought his book which I should have just confiscated at the beginning. Mosey kept telling me he was bored. I guess 8 years old is pretty young to really appreciate a 90 minute symphony performance, but I have to say the complaint of "I'm bored" drives me to distraction. I really enjoyed it, though, and the next two ASO performances look great. Ben and I will have to go on our own, or else I'll take Brigham. The only bad part for me was the drive home! I'm not sure what was going on downtown, but the traffic was horrid! It took us an hour to get to the freeway. :-( The Austin Urban Music Festival was going on in the park right next to the symphony hall (what an odd contrast), so that was part of it, but the whole of downtown was just full of people and cars. Everyone was pretty tired and grumpy by the time we got home.
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