Weekly letter

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