I'm not a big fan of camping however Kent loves it. Adores it! Complained all last winter that we wasted the summer because we didn't camp.
So he picked this last weekend to go out and camp. He was a bit wishy-washy on how long he wanted to go but I pushed for three days mostly because I did NOT want to go through another winter listening to that man (as much as I love him) express more regrets on lost camping opportunities.
So we were a go. Actually we were planning on this trip with friends but they backed out. So it was us solo and Kent throwing possibilities left and right. I told him, I didn't care, I'd pack food and clothes, just take us somewhere.... ANYWHERE.
Friday Kent got off of work at 1:00 and there was still lots of packing to do. We left around three. Traveling north towards Leadore, sometime after six the children were going crazy. We usually eat dinner by six, so they were starving. We realized to the left of us, there was a campground. Picture basic desolation, sagebrush and dried grass with mountains in the distance. Most of Idaho is composed of the Rockies, with the exception of South Eastern Idaho which lies in the Snake River Plain. That's where we live.
So we were still over an hour from where Kent wanted to go, so we quickly changed our plans and pulled into the campground. We quickly found this ideal spot that Kent was able to just back right into. We had a fast moving stream on one side and an irrigation ditch on the other. We were surrounded by water and the sounds was so soothing and lovely.
We quickly let the children know that swimming was OUT. This water was to deep and to fast for them. Thankfully everyone listened and we didn't have to fish anyone out of the creek.
The biggest accident was me of course. Just call me Grace. *eye roll*
Getting stuff for dinner and stepping quickly out of the camp trailer on the cinder block below, I lost my balance and landed on my back. Several oddball scrapes, some terrific bruises and a few days later, sore ribs but overall I am fine. Kent congratulated me on my ability to land without breaking any bones.
As I was laying on the ground, not moving, trying to figure out if I was hurt or not, a desperate Greg climbed on top of me, extremely upset and worried that I was hurt. He would not move off of me until I kissed him on the lips. He asked over and over if I was "Kay" and pursed his lips. I kissed him and he quickly scrambled off completely reassured that I was fine.
We then had a thoroughly enjoyable evening with roasted hot dogs, smores and a rousing game of Yahtzee with the girls.
The next morning, Greg was up at the crack of dawn. I managed to keep him entertained with a yogurt and a walk. David was soon up and Kent got up to fish with the boys. Both little boys jabbered with excitement at "feeding the fish."
I let Kent know that actually catching a fish, followed by gutting and eating just might be traumatic for those two. Thankfully it wasn't an issue.
Eventually even Jane rolled out of bed and Kent made a hot breakfast with sausage, hashbrowns and eggs. David had a rough morning with stuff blowing away and spills of his hot chocolate. Poor guy.
After breakfast we packed up and went to Lemhi and our next campsite. We parked next to a lovely creek that was wade-a-ble and after our lunch up in the mountains along the Lewis and Clark trail we made it back to camp where the kids relaxed and played in the water. Well except Jane who chose to bury herself in a book in the camp trailer for the afternoon.
Dinner was a fiasco, to say the least! I had planned on pizza pockets and had crescent roll dough to use and all the fixings to go with. However the irons needed to make enough pizza pockets for the whole family were in the garage. So Kent and I let the kids eat hot dogs for the second night in a row (with no objections I might add) while we used the one iron we had to make our own pockets.
Kent's first attempt turned out perfect but most of his dinner flew into a bush when a massive breeze threw our camp into a frenzy. My pocket was burned. I wanted it a little more crispy and got black instead. While making another for Kent, my inner spaz took over and somehow I managed to coat myself in pizza sauce. Thus ensuring I would have no clean shirt Sunday and ended up wearing my pajama top all the way home.
It sure tried to storm but we had decent enough weather for more smores and then bed.
I slept great. My husband gave me the "Princess and the Pea" treatment and piled the foam pads up on my bed. With all my achy joints from falling the day before, I really appreciated the show of love!
Our final day before heading home. Jane showing a great amount of tact and gratitude for having food said "yeah, a cold breakfast on a cold morning" when she learned I had cold cereal for everyone. I almost smacked her on the side of the head. I don't know where she gets that sarcasm from.
*cough*
ANYWAY, we tore up camp, called it all good and went and soaked in some hot pools that were fairly near by. Then it was homeward bound.
WHAT?!
Oh homeward bound. Most of that drive was made without a muffler. Apparently towing the trailer uphill did it in. Talk about noisy. I understood nothing when spoken to from the back seat. It could have been worse though. Noisy as it was, the 'burb still made it home. :)
Monday, August 23, 2010
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
I think I was spoiled.
I really miss "just" being a stay at home mom. I can't work full time, I only work part, sometimes very part time, but my hours in the evening. I'm so tired during the day and my body's schedule is so messed up, when I'm home, I can't go to bed early.
*sigh*
Why am I doing this, what luxuries am I buying? You know the automatic assumption is that if both people are working, it's for the "extras" Well the extras in our house include clothes, you know, fancy K-mart so my kids aren't nekkid clothes. Oh, money for our retirement fund, we are so in trouble there and I HAVE to contribute as much as possible or we'll be working until death. Then there's shoes, the online learning site for the girls, occasionally I decide to cut my wild woman hair and that of course costs money.
I've done everything "right" and we're still in trouble.
Well not trouble trouble. Really I have to pull myself into perspective. I don't think our children feel poor. I don't believe they're are lacking really. Our needs are met! I count blessings daily for food, clothes, being able to pay our bills without having to choose between water and electricity, or mortgage and phone.
Our home actually fits our family. It's a tight fit but the twins share a bedroom and everyone else has their own room. Oh I long for a craft room again. A space of my own because I don't have that and my sewing and crafts are so screwed up right now from kids rifling through everything. I have a dozen quilts scattered now, where they once were all organized. :( I could have picked up any project and just started sewing and now. Well. It's depressing. I don't even know if I'll find all the pieces and that saddens me. Just saddens me.
So perspective is great. It's vital to my happiness, I know this. My mortal side still struggles. My creative self feels stifled. It's calling to come out and I have no place to put it. I use to paint, to create, it's part of my being. And now my energy is spent cleaning toilets.
Part of me wonders if someday will ever come.
I don't have regrets but I do have desires. Human, I believe that makes me. Slightly stressed human.
I could sigh again, but who has the time?
*sigh*
Why am I doing this, what luxuries am I buying? You know the automatic assumption is that if both people are working, it's for the "extras" Well the extras in our house include clothes, you know, fancy K-mart so my kids aren't nekkid clothes. Oh, money for our retirement fund, we are so in trouble there and I HAVE to contribute as much as possible or we'll be working until death. Then there's shoes, the online learning site for the girls, occasionally I decide to cut my wild woman hair and that of course costs money.
I've done everything "right" and we're still in trouble.
Well not trouble trouble. Really I have to pull myself into perspective. I don't think our children feel poor. I don't believe they're are lacking really. Our needs are met! I count blessings daily for food, clothes, being able to pay our bills without having to choose between water and electricity, or mortgage and phone.
Our home actually fits our family. It's a tight fit but the twins share a bedroom and everyone else has their own room. Oh I long for a craft room again. A space of my own because I don't have that and my sewing and crafts are so screwed up right now from kids rifling through everything. I have a dozen quilts scattered now, where they once were all organized. :( I could have picked up any project and just started sewing and now. Well. It's depressing. I don't even know if I'll find all the pieces and that saddens me. Just saddens me.
So perspective is great. It's vital to my happiness, I know this. My mortal side still struggles. My creative self feels stifled. It's calling to come out and I have no place to put it. I use to paint, to create, it's part of my being. And now my energy is spent cleaning toilets.
Part of me wonders if someday will ever come.
I don't have regrets but I do have desires. Human, I believe that makes me. Slightly stressed human.
I could sigh again, but who has the time?
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Camping and the Crazy People
This spring Kent has finally bought himself a camp trailer. He's been working on fixing it up, it's older and does need work but he's really enjoyed himself. However we hadn't gone camping in it yet. So Kent decided we should go overnight, a quick trip and really, we've had this thing for months the kids were just itchen to sleep in the thing.
Marja wanted to go out of town, her babysitting job tanked this weekend and she decided to take her kids and just leave however her plans fell through and I invited her along. We gave my mom little choice and let her know she was joining in the fun as well. Kent did chew me out for giving mom a hard time, mentioning that maybe, just maybe, my mom would enjoy a break from us. However when I called, my expressed a desire to go, asking me if I remembered what day Saturday was (my parents anniversary) and said she didn't want to be alone. Just for the record, today, July 3, 2010, my parents would have been married 45 years.
So we had two vehicles, Kent hauling the trailer of course, four adults and eight children and one dog. Because that beast of ours is so darn pitiful we couldn't leave him behind, although we almost did when he ran off right before we were going to leave.
There's a spot on public grounds with free camp sites that's really nice and we decided to check there. We picked a spot, it wasn't the best spot, it was a little tricky to back the trailer into but the kids wanted to get out, we were right by a stream and it was four in the afternoon. Our chances of finding a spot were decreasing rapidly on a holiday weekend.
Kent backed in the trailer, we set up camp. The children had a blast playing in the stream. Kent brought up his BB gun and did target practice with the kids. All the children loved it. Some idget left their old beer and pop cans by the fire so there were lots of targets for the kids to shoot at.
Kent, Marja and Isaiah had their bikes and went biking. Mom, Marja and I went on a walk. Jesse went with EVERYONE and I'm pretty sure he'll sleep for the next 24 hours. The twins played. We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows, snacked on Pirate's booty and grapes. It was a great evening.
At 9:00, it was getting dark and Isaiah was itching to ride his bike again. Kent said he'd go with him, but he wanted the traffic to die down first. All of a sudden there were a bunch of vehicles on the road right in front of where we were camped. This spot was tricky for Kent to back into and between the 'burb parked four feet in front of the trailer, we were really hidden from the road.
This brunette walks into our camp and loudly says "Okay, what did you guys do with our Tent?"
We had no idea WHAT she was talking about. Of course immediately we were on edge because her tone was very accusatory. She was clearly blaming us for stealing and/or hiding her tent. She says (very agitated) that they had put a tent, some camp chairs and a cooler at that sight on Tuesday (oh HELLO, it's Friday), to save a spot on the holiday weekend.
Wait.
So you left your tent for four days and three nights, so no. one. else. can use this FREE, PUBLIC ACCESS LAND. Well we hadn't seen it and at nine at night, we sure as heck weren't leaving because they called DIBS.
When I reached the spot where these folks were hashing it out with Kent, this blond, extremely upset comments that surely we knew someone planned on being there because of the firewood stacked at the campsite. Well yes, we had noticed but people leave firewood all the time. WE leave firewood if there's any left over and sometimes it's a little and sometimes it's a lot. It means nothing. She started to argue.
This muscle head, obviously lifts weights asked if he could as least get his wood. We told him sure, he was welcome to! The brunette that first accused us of messing with her tent meanwhile searched our camp to see if her tent was tossed in the brush. We could hear the guy throwing the wood in his truck. I think if there weren't children there he may have gotten violent. Marja thought he looked high, I really don't know.
These people had two blond girls, about ten and seven I think that were walking around obviously not understanding what was going on.
They finally pulled out after all the wood was picked up and went up the road where they sat quite a while, apparently they found their tent up there. Our best guess, someone figured out they weren't they, undid their tent and pitched it farther up so they could camp. I'm pretty sure they thought we not only had thrown the tent away but were lying about it. It was obvious from the accusations they assumed the worst in people.
Later that night Kent and I hid everything in the brush and farther into the camp just in case that man came back looking for a little payback. It was a good day to have Jesse with us. A 100 pound dog a good deterrent for someone wanting to cause problems.
I felt bad for the kids. It was obvious since they were pulling in at 9:00 pm at night they planned on putting those kids to bed and booze it up.
Even though we had a late start, our children had a solid five hours of play play play. Oh they had so much fun!
So that was camping. Thankfully that one blip was the only shadow on an otherwise perfect night. Perfect if you don't count all the pills I had to take to keep my hayfever under control.
Marja wanted to go out of town, her babysitting job tanked this weekend and she decided to take her kids and just leave however her plans fell through and I invited her along. We gave my mom little choice and let her know she was joining in the fun as well. Kent did chew me out for giving mom a hard time, mentioning that maybe, just maybe, my mom would enjoy a break from us. However when I called, my expressed a desire to go, asking me if I remembered what day Saturday was (my parents anniversary) and said she didn't want to be alone. Just for the record, today, July 3, 2010, my parents would have been married 45 years.
So we had two vehicles, Kent hauling the trailer of course, four adults and eight children and one dog. Because that beast of ours is so darn pitiful we couldn't leave him behind, although we almost did when he ran off right before we were going to leave.
There's a spot on public grounds with free camp sites that's really nice and we decided to check there. We picked a spot, it wasn't the best spot, it was a little tricky to back the trailer into but the kids wanted to get out, we were right by a stream and it was four in the afternoon. Our chances of finding a spot were decreasing rapidly on a holiday weekend.
Kent backed in the trailer, we set up camp. The children had a blast playing in the stream. Kent brought up his BB gun and did target practice with the kids. All the children loved it. Some idget left their old beer and pop cans by the fire so there were lots of targets for the kids to shoot at.
Kent, Marja and Isaiah had their bikes and went biking. Mom, Marja and I went on a walk. Jesse went with EVERYONE and I'm pretty sure he'll sleep for the next 24 hours. The twins played. We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows, snacked on Pirate's booty and grapes. It was a great evening.
At 9:00, it was getting dark and Isaiah was itching to ride his bike again. Kent said he'd go with him, but he wanted the traffic to die down first. All of a sudden there were a bunch of vehicles on the road right in front of where we were camped. This spot was tricky for Kent to back into and between the 'burb parked four feet in front of the trailer, we were really hidden from the road.
This brunette walks into our camp and loudly says "Okay, what did you guys do with our Tent?"
We had no idea WHAT she was talking about. Of course immediately we were on edge because her tone was very accusatory. She was clearly blaming us for stealing and/or hiding her tent. She says (very agitated) that they had put a tent, some camp chairs and a cooler at that sight on Tuesday (oh HELLO, it's Friday), to save a spot on the holiday weekend.
Wait.
So you left your tent for four days and three nights, so no. one. else. can use this FREE, PUBLIC ACCESS LAND. Well we hadn't seen it and at nine at night, we sure as heck weren't leaving because they called DIBS.
When I reached the spot where these folks were hashing it out with Kent, this blond, extremely upset comments that surely we knew someone planned on being there because of the firewood stacked at the campsite. Well yes, we had noticed but people leave firewood all the time. WE leave firewood if there's any left over and sometimes it's a little and sometimes it's a lot. It means nothing. She started to argue.
This muscle head, obviously lifts weights asked if he could as least get his wood. We told him sure, he was welcome to! The brunette that first accused us of messing with her tent meanwhile searched our camp to see if her tent was tossed in the brush. We could hear the guy throwing the wood in his truck. I think if there weren't children there he may have gotten violent. Marja thought he looked high, I really don't know.
These people had two blond girls, about ten and seven I think that were walking around obviously not understanding what was going on.
They finally pulled out after all the wood was picked up and went up the road where they sat quite a while, apparently they found their tent up there. Our best guess, someone figured out they weren't they, undid their tent and pitched it farther up so they could camp. I'm pretty sure they thought we not only had thrown the tent away but were lying about it. It was obvious from the accusations they assumed the worst in people.
Later that night Kent and I hid everything in the brush and farther into the camp just in case that man came back looking for a little payback. It was a good day to have Jesse with us. A 100 pound dog a good deterrent for someone wanting to cause problems.
I felt bad for the kids. It was obvious since they were pulling in at 9:00 pm at night they planned on putting those kids to bed and booze it up.
Even though we had a late start, our children had a solid five hours of play play play. Oh they had so much fun!
So that was camping. Thankfully that one blip was the only shadow on an otherwise perfect night. Perfect if you don't count all the pills I had to take to keep my hayfever under control.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
More Ean
Well after my son's experience with my mom and stealing, I had hoped he would have learned not to steal. Unfortunately he didn't. In his head he basically decided that he needed to lie better so he wouldn't get caught. He stole from the gift shop at Craters of the Moon. He stole from the trailer supply store his dad goes too.
The pocket knife from the trailer supply store he managed to keep under wraps for a week before getting caught. I was at wits end. What we were doing, taking the items away, making him pay for the item with his money, not allowing him to steal and being grounded for the day wasn't working so two weeks ago we played hard ball.
Conveniently we still needed to switch rooms for the boys and the twins had only crib mattresses on their floor to sleep on. So we cleaned up Ean's stuff, put the crib mattresses in the garage and moved the twins stuff in the bigger room.
Ean was allowed one blanket that night. He's earned a few more blankets and a twin size mattress back but he hasn't earned a bed. He's not allowed to spend the night anywhere, not even grandma. He's not allowed to play with friends and he's only allowed to ride his bike if he's going to the park and I'm biking because he has to bike with me.
*sigh*
I hate hard ball.
Really really hate it but what we were doing wasn't working and I KNOW he's a good kid. Once he makes the decision on stealing it won't ever be an issue for him, but he's got to decide. Hopefully he realizes the consequences just aren't worth it and then, he can realize how good it feels to make righteous choices.
So hardball. That's the game. And we the parents are up to playing, but hopefully we won't ever have to play *quite* that hard again.
The pocket knife from the trailer supply store he managed to keep under wraps for a week before getting caught. I was at wits end. What we were doing, taking the items away, making him pay for the item with his money, not allowing him to steal and being grounded for the day wasn't working so two weeks ago we played hard ball.
Conveniently we still needed to switch rooms for the boys and the twins had only crib mattresses on their floor to sleep on. So we cleaned up Ean's stuff, put the crib mattresses in the garage and moved the twins stuff in the bigger room.
Ean was allowed one blanket that night. He's earned a few more blankets and a twin size mattress back but he hasn't earned a bed. He's not allowed to spend the night anywhere, not even grandma. He's not allowed to play with friends and he's only allowed to ride his bike if he's going to the park and I'm biking because he has to bike with me.
*sigh*
I hate hard ball.
Really really hate it but what we were doing wasn't working and I KNOW he's a good kid. Once he makes the decision on stealing it won't ever be an issue for him, but he's got to decide. Hopefully he realizes the consequences just aren't worth it and then, he can realize how good it feels to make righteous choices.
So hardball. That's the game. And we the parents are up to playing, but hopefully we won't ever have to play *quite* that hard again.
LaGOON!
We're managing to fit some fun into summer. Even though finances are extra tight and it's not always easy to get our crew ready to go anywhere involving early rising. Well, okay, rising in the early am isn't a problem. Getting them dressed, sun screened, pottied and loaded, THAT's the challenge.
Even though money IS tight, we promised the kids a trip to Lagoon. Now they've never been, unless you count Kate going as a fetus when I was four months pregnant with her. So they really had no idea what was in store and well, they're all old enough to enjoy the experience. Plus my mom found these KILLER COUPONS that brought the entrance fee down to $29.00 a person. Best price ever. My mom pitched in and helped with the entry price and we provided food of course.
To say the kids had a blast is the hugest of understatements, lol.
We Sun screened thoroughly and other then a few misunderstandings, with my cell phone being left home and Kent telling us he'd meet us at one ride while saying another (we went with what he said) I'd call the day absolutely perfect.
A few highlights, the twins loved the carousel. David thought that not being able to ride the swings and the adult bumper cars was just plain MEAN and riding the little bumper cars was frustrating because he didn't know how to move if he bumped into the wall. At 47 and 1/2 inches tall Ean was the perfect height to ride every kiddie ride and almost every adult ride.
Ean road "The Screamer" with my mom and proceeded to scream the second it started moving because his mormor shared the rides name with him. Mom says she laughed hysterically through the whole ride. David giggled so much, his daddy thought he would pee his pants while riding the dinosaur egg drop.
We ended the day with a bang, going on the rapids and all of us, except Kent, rode home soaking wet. How unfair is THAT? A few pictures. First David and Greg on the kiddie boats. Who'd thunk this ride would be as fun as it was for them? And it killed Jane waiting for them to ride it too, lol.
Ean on a car
When we were split up, Kent took the twins on the scrambler, he said they kept hitting heads.
Now here's Kate on the cars
And Jane riding the rapids. We all LOVED this one! We would have gone again except it was incredibly late and everyone was getting very cranky and hungry!
So that was Lagoon. Ean asked me the following day why we didn't live there. Deep words, deep words.
Even though money IS tight, we promised the kids a trip to Lagoon. Now they've never been, unless you count Kate going as a fetus when I was four months pregnant with her. So they really had no idea what was in store and well, they're all old enough to enjoy the experience. Plus my mom found these KILLER COUPONS that brought the entrance fee down to $29.00 a person. Best price ever. My mom pitched in and helped with the entry price and we provided food of course.
To say the kids had a blast is the hugest of understatements, lol.
We Sun screened thoroughly and other then a few misunderstandings, with my cell phone being left home and Kent telling us he'd meet us at one ride while saying another (we went with what he said) I'd call the day absolutely perfect.
A few highlights, the twins loved the carousel. David thought that not being able to ride the swings and the adult bumper cars was just plain MEAN and riding the little bumper cars was frustrating because he didn't know how to move if he bumped into the wall. At 47 and 1/2 inches tall Ean was the perfect height to ride every kiddie ride and almost every adult ride.
Ean road "The Screamer" with my mom and proceeded to scream the second it started moving because his mormor shared the rides name with him. Mom says she laughed hysterically through the whole ride. David giggled so much, his daddy thought he would pee his pants while riding the dinosaur egg drop.
We ended the day with a bang, going on the rapids and all of us, except Kent, rode home soaking wet. How unfair is THAT? A few pictures. First David and Greg on the kiddie boats. Who'd thunk this ride would be as fun as it was for them? And it killed Jane waiting for them to ride it too, lol.
Ean on a car
When we were split up, Kent took the twins on the scrambler, he said they kept hitting heads.
Now here's Kate on the cars
And Jane riding the rapids. We all LOVED this one! We would have gone again except it was incredibly late and everyone was getting very cranky and hungry!
So that was Lagoon. Ean asked me the following day why we didn't live there. Deep words, deep words.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Ean Ean Ean Ean Ean Ean Ean
*followed by much shaking of heads, both mine and Kent*
Last Friday was really a tough day as a parent. It's so hard to teach and teach our children, yet they're still their own persons and have to make their own decisions. The result? Sometimes wrong decisions are made. My roll as a mother, help them understand and correct that wrong decision, help them see the consequence of a wrong decision and reassure them through the process that they are still loved.
Such was my day a week ago.
I'm sure you can see where this is going.
My mom and Ean had one last play date planned together before the ending of school. Ean has enjoyed his time with my mother immensely. My mom loves Ean dearly and understands his impulsiveness and challenges because of it. It should have been a special day but while grocery shopping, Ean took some candy. My mom didn't realize it until they were back at her house and he hid in a closet from her. Obviously he knew he was wrong.
Mom hauled him over here, got money from his piggy bank and we talked. We talked about how it was wrong, how it takes a lot of courage to make things right but how he'd feel so much better after paying for the candy. He was able to walk out on his own two feet and he leaned against my mom going into the store, but went and paid for the goods, which promptly got thrown out.
To quote my mom "You don't get rewards for stealing"
Of course his special day with my mom was cut short. Top that off with a wad of goods found in his closet from all over the house (Me, Taking from Jane, Kate or me and dad is just as bad as stealing from the store!)
It was a long and emotional day. I'm not sure how to instill those boundaries he seems so oblivious too. Or maybe, deliberately obtuse would be a better way to say it.
He's a challenge, in so many ways. I do know what a good kid he is. We just have to help him want to make better choices.
Mom hauled him over here, got money from his piggy bank and we talked. We talked about how it was wrong, how it takes a lot of courage to make things right but how he'd feel so much better after paying for the candy. He was able to walk out on his own two feet and he leaned against my mom going into the store, but went and paid for the goods, which promptly got thrown out.
To quote my mom "You don't get rewards for stealing"
Of course his special day with my mom was cut short. Top that off with a wad of goods found in his closet from all over the house (Me, Taking from Jane, Kate or me and dad is just as bad as stealing from the store!)
It was a long and emotional day. I'm not sure how to instill those boundaries he seems so oblivious too. Or maybe, deliberately obtuse would be a better way to say it.
He's a challenge, in so many ways. I do know what a good kid he is. We just have to help him want to make better choices.
Friday, May 21, 2010
Codependent much?
Oh my goodness, am I REALLY prepared for summer? Yesterday the guys hung on me. all. day. long. It was as if they decided to make up for an entire school year apart from me!
They really do a good job separating without undo anxiety but I think me hauling myself off to work before bedtime while they were still two trained them. Greg has a harder time then David.
Actually there were times on the bus when I was really afraid Greg wouldn't get to ride because he wouldn't let himself be buckled in. He'd have to come back to hug me no less then fifteen times! The bus driver only got terse once. We did practice separating at school too, at times I would go in with David after playing outside while Greg would yell, just to practice being away.
As much as I hate hearing him cry, he has to realize that I WILL come back, each and every time. Practice is the only way to ensure that.
I also believe that something else is going on, a bit of trying to out do his twin. They do this at the house too. I know, I know, consistency. :) It does get hard when one gives me a kiss, then the OTHER has to give me a kiss, so then the first needs to hug me and then the OTHER needs to hug me and I spend the next two hours with the two attached to my hip as if I'd velcro'd them there.
That pretty much describes all day yesterday. However I did get rid of David briefly by telling him to go play in the dirt to get ready for daddy coming home. He was very enthusiastic about that! *laugh*
I guess we'll see how the summer proceeds. I suspect the farther along we go, the better we'll be. At least I have hope that's how it'll be, because I won't be sane if I repeat yesterday's clinging all summer long!
They really do a good job separating without undo anxiety but I think me hauling myself off to work before bedtime while they were still two trained them. Greg has a harder time then David.
Actually there were times on the bus when I was really afraid Greg wouldn't get to ride because he wouldn't let himself be buckled in. He'd have to come back to hug me no less then fifteen times! The bus driver only got terse once. We did practice separating at school too, at times I would go in with David after playing outside while Greg would yell, just to practice being away.
As much as I hate hearing him cry, he has to realize that I WILL come back, each and every time. Practice is the only way to ensure that.
I also believe that something else is going on, a bit of trying to out do his twin. They do this at the house too. I know, I know, consistency. :) It does get hard when one gives me a kiss, then the OTHER has to give me a kiss, so then the first needs to hug me and then the OTHER needs to hug me and I spend the next two hours with the two attached to my hip as if I'd velcro'd them there.
That pretty much describes all day yesterday. However I did get rid of David briefly by telling him to go play in the dirt to get ready for daddy coming home. He was very enthusiastic about that! *laugh*
I guess we'll see how the summer proceeds. I suspect the farther along we go, the better we'll be. At least I have hope that's how it'll be, because I won't be sane if I repeat yesterday's clinging all summer long!
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Bitter Sweet
Today was the last day of Head Start for the twins. While I love watching them grow, saying goodbye to the wonderful people that nurture, influence, LOVE my children is always hard. Of course the boys don't understand. They're still so young, memories of head start will fade except for little bursts here and there.
At least that's how it is for me. I was a head start kid. I remember making candles in the sandbox. Picking dandelions for the Guinea pig that was in the classroom. I remember the purple dinosaur slide. I adored the purple dinosaur slide.
I asked mom if she remembers my teachers and she said she sure does. We as parents do the remembering of those that give their all to the children.
I love both of the boys teachers and the aids. Pam and Karen, oh my, I was so excited to find out they would have Greg! Of course, four for Ean was very difficult. He's such a good kid but he's easily frustrated, not always able to express himself and STUBBORN. *laugh* He was even more so at four. Really his communication had just taken off the year before, so the beginning of the year was a little hairy. There were some wonderful children in his class that really struggled even more then he did.
However Pam and Karen took them all on, and boy it was fun to watch them grow and mature. So to have them switch ages to the three year olds and then get Greg, who is very much like Ean personality wise, was a blessing. Actually there were a few times when Greg and David were with me and Pam would gaze at them and talk to them while telling me "I want one". Meaning of course, I want one in my class.
Dawn only had this year at head start but I feel awful lucky David got her. Dawn and JoAnn were a wonderful team and the joy they received from working with the kids was so darn obvious. I love that about them!!!
Ean's last day is tomorrow. Ms. Bangs has had all of my children so far in Kindergarten. She has the patience of a saint but is also extremely firm with boundaries and expectations. I'd love both the twins to have her as well when we reach that point but I don't think that's possible.
I really need to do some more planning over the weekend so while the girls are summer schooling, I have appropriate stuff the guys as well. I think if we work hard Ean could well be into reading before first grade. If I can get him to slow down that is.....
So the bitter sweet.
It's been a wonderful year.
At least that's how it is for me. I was a head start kid. I remember making candles in the sandbox. Picking dandelions for the Guinea pig that was in the classroom. I remember the purple dinosaur slide. I adored the purple dinosaur slide.
I asked mom if she remembers my teachers and she said she sure does. We as parents do the remembering of those that give their all to the children.
I love both of the boys teachers and the aids. Pam and Karen, oh my, I was so excited to find out they would have Greg! Of course, four for Ean was very difficult. He's such a good kid but he's easily frustrated, not always able to express himself and STUBBORN. *laugh* He was even more so at four. Really his communication had just taken off the year before, so the beginning of the year was a little hairy. There were some wonderful children in his class that really struggled even more then he did.
However Pam and Karen took them all on, and boy it was fun to watch them grow and mature. So to have them switch ages to the three year olds and then get Greg, who is very much like Ean personality wise, was a blessing. Actually there were a few times when Greg and David were with me and Pam would gaze at them and talk to them while telling me "I want one". Meaning of course, I want one in my class.
Dawn only had this year at head start but I feel awful lucky David got her. Dawn and JoAnn were a wonderful team and the joy they received from working with the kids was so darn obvious. I love that about them!!!
Ean's last day is tomorrow. Ms. Bangs has had all of my children so far in Kindergarten. She has the patience of a saint but is also extremely firm with boundaries and expectations. I'd love both the twins to have her as well when we reach that point but I don't think that's possible.
I really need to do some more planning over the weekend so while the girls are summer schooling, I have appropriate stuff the guys as well. I think if we work hard Ean could well be into reading before first grade. If I can get him to slow down that is.....
So the bitter sweet.
It's been a wonderful year.
Monday, May 10, 2010
I LOVE Dirty Jobs!
The television show that is.
Although it IS an entertaining show, the host Mike Rowe is extremely personable, not afraid to do something he may do wrong or worse ruin and on top of that, has an extremely strong stomach able to handle stuff that would send me hurling in the woods after mere seconds. That is not however why I love the show.
I love the show because of the phone call I received tonight while at work.
You see, Ean is a Dirty Jobs fanatic. He loves ALL that IS dirty jobs. We hadn't realized the true benefit of the show yet.
Kent let me know one of the twins had smeared poop all over the bathroom. It was probably David, he's having a terrible time learning the art of "wiping". (He'll love reading THAT when he's older). Of course Kent was thrilled at the prospect of cleaning the mess.
Apparently Ean readily volunteered. He said he'd clean up the mess. Ean, although sometimes extremely helpful, was really stepping out of his comfort zone, the bathroom isn't usually assigned to him. So Kent sent him in armed with bathroom cleaner and paper towels (I assume, Kent didn't actually say). After a wee bit, Kent went to check on him.
Kent says Ean was busy just scrubbing away. He paused just long enough to tell his daddy, This is a DIRTY JOB, JUST LIKE the TV show and some one's gotta do THE DIRTY JOBS!!!!
Oh my holy heck, how HYSTERICAL is THAT????!!!!!!!!
So we'll keep letting Ean watch Dirty jobs, it seems to inspire him!
Although it IS an entertaining show, the host Mike Rowe is extremely personable, not afraid to do something he may do wrong or worse ruin and on top of that, has an extremely strong stomach able to handle stuff that would send me hurling in the woods after mere seconds. That is not however why I love the show.
I love the show because of the phone call I received tonight while at work.
You see, Ean is a Dirty Jobs fanatic. He loves ALL that IS dirty jobs. We hadn't realized the true benefit of the show yet.
Kent let me know one of the twins had smeared poop all over the bathroom. It was probably David, he's having a terrible time learning the art of "wiping". (He'll love reading THAT when he's older). Of course Kent was thrilled at the prospect of cleaning the mess.
Apparently Ean readily volunteered. He said he'd clean up the mess. Ean, although sometimes extremely helpful, was really stepping out of his comfort zone, the bathroom isn't usually assigned to him. So Kent sent him in armed with bathroom cleaner and paper towels (I assume, Kent didn't actually say). After a wee bit, Kent went to check on him.
Kent says Ean was busy just scrubbing away. He paused just long enough to tell his daddy, This is a DIRTY JOB, JUST LIKE the TV show and some one's gotta do THE DIRTY JOBS!!!!
Oh my holy heck, how HYSTERICAL is THAT????!!!!!!!!
So we'll keep letting Ean watch Dirty jobs, it seems to inspire him!
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Lest I Forget.
A few twin stories.
Last week David and Greg were sitting on the couch. David had a book, opened and was quizzing Greg on his colors. Conversation proceeds as follows.
"Geg, what color this?"
"Dat bwue"
"No Geg, dat is yelwow"
"No Dat is BWUE!"
"No no, Geg, dat yelwow!"
And onto the next color David would go continuing to quiz his twin.
Please note, David was right, the color was yellow. David knows all his colors, and can rote count to 14. Oh my, he's making progress. His head start teacher is now working on getting him up to 25. I say go right ahead. *smile*
Greg's made progress too, it's just slower. He just cannot get his colors right. At four and a half, this shouldn't be the issue it is. If we could get his communication better, I'd like to try to figure out if he's color blind. Blue and black are the only consistent colors he ever gets. Green, red, yellow and purple are hit and miss. Oddly, he doesn't even look really when it's those colors, which adds to my suspicions of not seeing them.
However, his communication is still a good year or more behind his actual age. So I won't be able to figure that out anytime soon.
My other story. A little more then a week ago, I had a horrendous day at church. Kent stayed home sick and I took all five kids. My Sunday was actually ruined when the stress of the Stake Relief Society President dumping a stack of music to some song the Stake presidency decided everyone should learn for a conference next month, in my lap.
I conduct the hymns in Relief Society however, I don't read music. I don't understand anything about sheet music accept that the bars mean my arm should gooooooo DOWN. *eye roll* This was a complicated piece also. Not for the faint of heart. I had an anxiety attack, had to leave Sunday School (and I LOVE Sunday school) because I was starting to hyperventilate and was crying.
It was sorted out but I was feeling rather rough when Sacrament meeting started.
Then the fun really began.
Why, why, WHY do all five children feel they need to sit either on me or next to me. I simply do not have five sides. The moody nine year old who is darn well old enough to understand moves away from (like six feet away), pouting at me when I tell her I can't have her next to me.
The highlight? I thought I'd be clever and hide some smarties in my purse to pull out and help the meeting go smoother. Greg gets big plans to save his, to put in his dump truck after church. That's all fine and dandy except for the other boys that wolfed theirs down. Ean at least had some sense but David. Oh my.
While the Sacrament water was being passed down our row, keeping in mind the only people in our row are me and the kids, David runs and tackles Greg to steal his candy. I'm holding the tray of water and I have to stand up, trying to not spill, to drag David off of his twin. I manage to break up the fight and the young man waiting to take the tray, managed to not break into guffaws watching me.
Kent felt horrible when I told him about the whole thing, but what can you do?
Last week David and Greg were sitting on the couch. David had a book, opened and was quizzing Greg on his colors. Conversation proceeds as follows.
"Geg, what color this?"
"Dat bwue"
"No Geg, dat is yelwow"
"No Dat is BWUE!"
"No no, Geg, dat yelwow!"
And onto the next color David would go continuing to quiz his twin.
Please note, David was right, the color was yellow. David knows all his colors, and can rote count to 14. Oh my, he's making progress. His head start teacher is now working on getting him up to 25. I say go right ahead. *smile*
Greg's made progress too, it's just slower. He just cannot get his colors right. At four and a half, this shouldn't be the issue it is. If we could get his communication better, I'd like to try to figure out if he's color blind. Blue and black are the only consistent colors he ever gets. Green, red, yellow and purple are hit and miss. Oddly, he doesn't even look really when it's those colors, which adds to my suspicions of not seeing them.
However, his communication is still a good year or more behind his actual age. So I won't be able to figure that out anytime soon.
My other story. A little more then a week ago, I had a horrendous day at church. Kent stayed home sick and I took all five kids. My Sunday was actually ruined when the stress of the Stake Relief Society President dumping a stack of music to some song the Stake presidency decided everyone should learn for a conference next month, in my lap.
I conduct the hymns in Relief Society however, I don't read music. I don't understand anything about sheet music accept that the bars mean my arm should gooooooo DOWN. *eye roll* This was a complicated piece also. Not for the faint of heart. I had an anxiety attack, had to leave Sunday School (and I LOVE Sunday school) because I was starting to hyperventilate and was crying.
It was sorted out but I was feeling rather rough when Sacrament meeting started.
Then the fun really began.
Why, why, WHY do all five children feel they need to sit either on me or next to me. I simply do not have five sides. The moody nine year old who is darn well old enough to understand moves away from (like six feet away), pouting at me when I tell her I can't have her next to me.
The highlight? I thought I'd be clever and hide some smarties in my purse to pull out and help the meeting go smoother. Greg gets big plans to save his, to put in his dump truck after church. That's all fine and dandy except for the other boys that wolfed theirs down. Ean at least had some sense but David. Oh my.
While the Sacrament water was being passed down our row, keeping in mind the only people in our row are me and the kids, David runs and tackles Greg to steal his candy. I'm holding the tray of water and I have to stand up, trying to not spill, to drag David off of his twin. I manage to break up the fight and the young man waiting to take the tray, managed to not break into guffaws watching me.
Kent felt horrible when I told him about the whole thing, but what can you do?
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Why Blog at Five am?
*sigh*
Really being up and awake was NOT my idea. Not at all but a little after four am I heard my husband call to me, telling me there was a problem. Looking at the clock, I knew it was bad because obviously no sane person tackles the little stuff at four am.
He'd walked through puke in the bathroom. Oh my. It was terrible. The entire toilet, inside and outside. The floor next to the toilet. The walls behind the toilet. The vanity next to the toilet.
We had no idea who had done this. The child that is sick was a mystery but we didn't jump to find out, we went through the problem of cleaning first. I frankly couldn't do it. I let Kent know that if he took care of the bulky stuff, I'd do the fine cleaning. So we did that. While Kent was doing his thing, I went to check out the child on the couch.
Now out of five, it was easy to narrow the suspects down. Obviously it wasn't one of the twins, they'd cry, be upset and frankly the volume and coverage was more then I'd credit one of the little boys with. It wasn't Jane, Jane would have not only woken us up but been a better shot. We were sure it was Ean. He's our wild card and he doesn't always wake us up when he sick.
Wrong wrong wrong.
It was Kate on the couch. I woke her up and she started to cry, said she puked in her bed and thought it terribly unfair when I made her go get her sheets. At this point Kent gets more gloves (thank heavens for disposable gloves!) so he can load the washer. I'm working on detailing the bathroom. To say it was unpleasant is a vast understatement.
I hear a yell, Kent's discovered MORE surprises all up the stairs.
Kate's in tears. The children have a primary activity in the morning and she's just been told she doesn't get to go. As kindly as we tried to be "Honey, you've thrown up three times, you need to be home", her crushing disappointment comes out in frustration towards us. I know it's hard for her to understand, especially since she probably feels much better after getting sick but there's no way we'd risk exposure or vomit on the rest of the primary.
*more sighing*
Okay, the stairs, I have to stop what I'm doing, deglove, mix more carpet cleaner up and throw in a heavy dose of odor neutralizer for good measure and reglove for more bathroom cleanup.
I do the unthinkable at this point. I take my toilet bowl cleaner, which is more like a little mop then a traditional toilet bowl brush and proceed with LOTS of cleaner to scrub the outside of the toilet. Pretty much every square inch from the tank down. This of course is followed by the cleaning inside the toilet. The follow up is a steady spray of bleach over the whole fixture and a final wipe down.
I had already bleached the vanity, the walls and a bunch of the floor during cleanup. I also made the executive decision to sacrifice some of my old prefolds, now reduced to cleaning rags for the whole job and I threw them out with no desire to add more wash to the linens already lined up for the next load.
I know, I know, how wasteful but when you're feeling queasy from bleach fumes and nasty cleanup, shortcuts are bound to happen.
So Kate is now asleep on the couch. Kent's attempting to go back to sleep and here I am, writing this down for posterity. I'm sure my descendants will appreciate knowing this one.
Really being up and awake was NOT my idea. Not at all but a little after four am I heard my husband call to me, telling me there was a problem. Looking at the clock, I knew it was bad because obviously no sane person tackles the little stuff at four am.
He'd walked through puke in the bathroom. Oh my. It was terrible. The entire toilet, inside and outside. The floor next to the toilet. The walls behind the toilet. The vanity next to the toilet.
We had no idea who had done this. The child that is sick was a mystery but we didn't jump to find out, we went through the problem of cleaning first. I frankly couldn't do it. I let Kent know that if he took care of the bulky stuff, I'd do the fine cleaning. So we did that. While Kent was doing his thing, I went to check out the child on the couch.
Now out of five, it was easy to narrow the suspects down. Obviously it wasn't one of the twins, they'd cry, be upset and frankly the volume and coverage was more then I'd credit one of the little boys with. It wasn't Jane, Jane would have not only woken us up but been a better shot. We were sure it was Ean. He's our wild card and he doesn't always wake us up when he sick.
Wrong wrong wrong.
It was Kate on the couch. I woke her up and she started to cry, said she puked in her bed and thought it terribly unfair when I made her go get her sheets. At this point Kent gets more gloves (thank heavens for disposable gloves!) so he can load the washer. I'm working on detailing the bathroom. To say it was unpleasant is a vast understatement.
I hear a yell, Kent's discovered MORE surprises all up the stairs.
Kate's in tears. The children have a primary activity in the morning and she's just been told she doesn't get to go. As kindly as we tried to be "Honey, you've thrown up three times, you need to be home", her crushing disappointment comes out in frustration towards us. I know it's hard for her to understand, especially since she probably feels much better after getting sick but there's no way we'd risk exposure or vomit on the rest of the primary.
*more sighing*
Okay, the stairs, I have to stop what I'm doing, deglove, mix more carpet cleaner up and throw in a heavy dose of odor neutralizer for good measure and reglove for more bathroom cleanup.
I do the unthinkable at this point. I take my toilet bowl cleaner, which is more like a little mop then a traditional toilet bowl brush and proceed with LOTS of cleaner to scrub the outside of the toilet. Pretty much every square inch from the tank down. This of course is followed by the cleaning inside the toilet. The follow up is a steady spray of bleach over the whole fixture and a final wipe down.
I had already bleached the vanity, the walls and a bunch of the floor during cleanup. I also made the executive decision to sacrifice some of my old prefolds, now reduced to cleaning rags for the whole job and I threw them out with no desire to add more wash to the linens already lined up for the next load.
I know, I know, how wasteful but when you're feeling queasy from bleach fumes and nasty cleanup, shortcuts are bound to happen.
So Kate is now asleep on the couch. Kent's attempting to go back to sleep and here I am, writing this down for posterity. I'm sure my descendants will appreciate knowing this one.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Teamwork!
I was making dinner yesterday when I looked over and both little boys had climbed up on the dryer. The dryer door was open and the boys were opening the washer. After much grunting and leaning, David climbed in and started fishing out clothes and handing them to Greg. Greg cheerfully leaned WAY over the edge and chucked the clothes in the dryer.
It was both hysterically funny and extremely helpful as well. Would that I could get all my children to go to that much effort on chores not even assigned to them!!
It was both hysterically funny and extremely helpful as well. Would that I could get all my children to go to that much effort on chores not even assigned to them!!
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
No no, it WAS the Leprechaun...
Today is St. Patricks day. Well at least, what's left of today. We made sure the kids had green to wear to school. And for most of the kids, it was a normal day but David's head start teacher had big plans.
BIG PLANS.
I went to volunteer and spent the day with Dave. After Breakfast and the usual routine of shapes, colors, dates and weather, Miss Dawn talked about Leprechauns. She told the children that another teacher had mentioned seeing a Leprechaun in the cafeteria.
Now before you roll your eyes to much, let me assure you Miss Dawn is VERY convincing. *laugh*
She had the children use their special leprechaun lens, which oddly resembled decorated tp rolls, to help follow the leprechauns path.
Earlier while the children were on the carpet for circle time, Miss JoAnn, the teaching assistant had gone outside and sprinkled a path of gold sparkles for the children to follow. It was a beautiful day and Miss Dawn had all 15 of her lemmings at her heals excitedly following the gold path.
Well, Tiffany and I went to work. We tipped chairs, dumped some toys, made little green footprints on the table, dumped some green dye in the toilet and hid the gold. We barely got done when the children came back. I was laying on the floor and told them I "almost" got the leprechaun but he was to fast!! Off the children went to survey the mess and the green toilet was a hit. *chuckle*
The gold was found and I believe the children were completely snookered. Everyone except my child that is.
As the children played at Stations, David sat next to me and he said very serious "Mom, You made a B I G M E S S in my room. " *blink* He repeated himself three more times, just in case I was under any mistaken belief that he had fallen for game.
He then told Miss Dawn "My mom, she made a BIG BIG BIG MESS in my CassROOM." That's classroom if you don't follow Dave speak. :) Miss Dawn assured him it was the Leprechaun and David promptly corrected her, "No, dat was my mom!"
The funniest was when it was time to go home and I heard David telling Greg how naughty mommy was making a mess in his cassroom. He told Greg about the green "pee" in the toilet, how he fixed (he had flushed the dye out) the toilet, about the books and chairs all over the floor and how some toys were dumped.
My mom suggested that maybe David's surety was because of the emphasis of not making a mess in our home. I personally believe it has more to do with out attitudes about the make believe. We "play" make believe, play Santa, play the tooth fairy but we openly talk about how it's fun to pretend.
Whatever the reason, Dave is no fool.
BIG PLANS.
I went to volunteer and spent the day with Dave. After Breakfast and the usual routine of shapes, colors, dates and weather, Miss Dawn talked about Leprechauns. She told the children that another teacher had mentioned seeing a Leprechaun in the cafeteria.
Now before you roll your eyes to much, let me assure you Miss Dawn is VERY convincing. *laugh*
She had the children use their special leprechaun lens, which oddly resembled decorated tp rolls, to help follow the leprechauns path.
Earlier while the children were on the carpet for circle time, Miss JoAnn, the teaching assistant had gone outside and sprinkled a path of gold sparkles for the children to follow. It was a beautiful day and Miss Dawn had all 15 of her lemmings at her heals excitedly following the gold path.
Well, Tiffany and I went to work. We tipped chairs, dumped some toys, made little green footprints on the table, dumped some green dye in the toilet and hid the gold. We barely got done when the children came back. I was laying on the floor and told them I "almost" got the leprechaun but he was to fast!! Off the children went to survey the mess and the green toilet was a hit. *chuckle*
The gold was found and I believe the children were completely snookered. Everyone except my child that is.
As the children played at Stations, David sat next to me and he said very serious "Mom, You made a B I G M E S S in my room. " *blink* He repeated himself three more times, just in case I was under any mistaken belief that he had fallen for game.
He then told Miss Dawn "My mom, she made a BIG BIG BIG MESS in my CassROOM." That's classroom if you don't follow Dave speak. :) Miss Dawn assured him it was the Leprechaun and David promptly corrected her, "No, dat was my mom!"
The funniest was when it was time to go home and I heard David telling Greg how naughty mommy was making a mess in his cassroom. He told Greg about the green "pee" in the toilet, how he fixed (he had flushed the dye out) the toilet, about the books and chairs all over the floor and how some toys were dumped.
My mom suggested that maybe David's surety was because of the emphasis of not making a mess in our home. I personally believe it has more to do with out attitudes about the make believe. We "play" make believe, play Santa, play the tooth fairy but we openly talk about how it's fun to pretend.
Whatever the reason, Dave is no fool.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
For my children
I'm not sure why exactly I'm writing this down, but today I had an overwhelming feeling that I needed to write about my children and the inspiration and spiritual guidance we've had in getting them here.
I realize that I may repeat information that I've already shared but for some reason, I need to put it all in one place. And who am I to ignore inspiration?
To start off, when Kent and I first dated and the question of family size came up, we were both on the same page agreeing that expressing a number didn't feel quite right. Especially when we don't know what God has in store for us, individually and as a couple. Of course some would argue (my dad comes to mind) that having children is everything biological and has nothing to do with God.
While I agree with biology, you have sex, there's a chance of babies, I will not deny the divinity of procreation and God's role in creating families.
While I had the desire to be a mother, even more prevalent at the beginning of my marriage was an underlying fear of having children. You have to understand the incredible genetic link to autism and birth defects affecting two of my brothers, uncles, cousins and my nephew. There's always a risk of something going wrong, it's just in my family, it's a little more obvious to the untrained eye.
I really didn't talk about fears but God knew and about a year before Jane was conceived I was blessed with a special experience.
I was laying in bed, Kent was asleep. It was dark, our bedroom window was open and there was light shining into our room from a streetlight. It wasn't directly in front of the window, so it was dim. It provided lots of shadows in our room.
I looked around our room and realized there was a figure standing at the foot of our bed. I couldn't see details, it was more like looking at someone's shadow but I could tell it was a young woman with long hair. Before I could really think, thoughts filled my head and my chest felt on fire with what I recognize as the Holy Ghost witnessing to me that my thoughts came from God and that they were true.
I knew this was our child. I knew her name was Jane. It was not made clear to me when she was to be born but we needed to prepare for her arrival. This time of our life and marriage we were rather selfish with our personal time and didn't devote what we should to God, including regular church meetings. I had a very strong impression that we needed, I needed to get our act together spiritually so this child could receive the blessings that God wanted her to receive.
I had the impression that she would have challenges in this life, and God in his infinite love and wisdom comforted me with the knowledge that we would be able to handle whatever her challenges would be. I had tears in my eyes as my doubts vanished. I knew we'd be alright. I knew we could raise and teach that beautiful child as the Lord wanted us too.
Then she was gone but the love and comfort I felt in her presence stayed with me for a very long time.
We were blessed in knowing it was her that first to term pregnancy. We've been guided to help her with her challenges and I hope as she grows she realizes the divine help she receives because it's there, daily.
After her birth, almost immediately after I felt a child, another baby that was meant to be in our family. It was within hours of my birth and the knowledge that we were going to have another had already been impressed upon me. I sorta freaked out Kent when I told him, and Pat as well. lol. I reassured them that I had no desire to have babies 10 months apart but I wasn't going to deny that we were going to have at least one one.
Kate was so different then Jane. Jane I knew her name, her gender, I felt her personality, I had been given a forewarning of some of her trials. Kate was like flying blind. I knew only that were meant to have another, I didn't even know that she was a girl. But knowing that at some time we'd be blessed again was enough.
When I was pregnant and found out she was a girl, I felt this peace in that it was all as the Lord intended. It was a sweet feeling.
As with Jane's birth, within a few hours after Kate was born I felt another child that was meant to be born into our family. As it was previously, I had no idea when we were to have that child but I tried to trust in the Lords timing. I really struggled waiting for Ean to come. A miscarriage, my dad's death, a depression I had to fight my way through made trusting in the Lord extremely difficult. I knew there was another baby for us and yet it took so long to get him here. At least it seemed long.
He finally came, all in the Lords time May of 2004. A strange thing happened at his birth, I didn't feel anyone else. I felt, nothing. I had known our family wasn't complete within hours of my first two births, I entertained the possibility that we could be done having babies. This lasted for months, this odd ambiguous stage of not feeling done, not feeling like we were meant to have another either.
In the car that changed. I was driving through town and this thought and feeling slammed into me that I was to get pregnant again. I realized today that my feeling that day was specifically about getting pregnant where I'd always felt before that we were having another baby.
The twins were meant to be. Their gestation and birth provided a chance to lean on the Lord in a manner that I had never done before. After the shock of learning that either baby only had a 50% chance of making it after a high risk procedure that would have to be repeated who knows how many times during my pregnancy, I felt the Lords comfort. I don't know if I can describe my experience but slowly I realized that even if we lost one or both babies, we would not be alone and that the Lord would help us through our trials.
Slowly I felt more and more sure that we were meant to raise our boys. Don't get me wrong, I had plenty and I mean PLENTY of break downs, it was such a stressful time but the Lord never left me and when I was ready for his comfort he was always there. Kent gave me lots of blessings at through my pregnancy and I was told repeatedly that I was not alone. Finally about two days before their birth we were told in a blessing that they would make it and we would raise them. We were told that they would be healed from whatever problems their in utero afflictions would cause, and I had an impression that their healing would take time after their birth, it would not be instantaneous.
The night of the twentieth, Kent said prayer pleading with the Lord to let him know if the twins were in trouble and if we needed to go to the hospital. I woke up that night with a HUGE contraction, I watched the clock and counted and had four contraction in less then an hour. That meant we should go to the hospital. I woke up Kent, he confessed later that he almost suggested to me that I should lay back down and we see what happens when he had a thought "You asked to know when to go."
He didn't waste anytime getting me there and the boys were in grave danger showing no movement and with static heart rates. They were delivered via emergency c-section.
We knew the twins completed our family.
Looking back it amazes me how the Lord was there for every step, every child to help prepare us for their arrival, to comfort us as needed, to inspire us to make medical decisions that could have been fatal otherwise. I am so grateful for my relationship with God, I feel his love often and without his guidance I would have been lost at the very least. At the very most, my life would be incomplete without the children that bless me daily with the most amazing unconditional love.
I realize that I may repeat information that I've already shared but for some reason, I need to put it all in one place. And who am I to ignore inspiration?
To start off, when Kent and I first dated and the question of family size came up, we were both on the same page agreeing that expressing a number didn't feel quite right. Especially when we don't know what God has in store for us, individually and as a couple. Of course some would argue (my dad comes to mind) that having children is everything biological and has nothing to do with God.
While I agree with biology, you have sex, there's a chance of babies, I will not deny the divinity of procreation and God's role in creating families.
While I had the desire to be a mother, even more prevalent at the beginning of my marriage was an underlying fear of having children. You have to understand the incredible genetic link to autism and birth defects affecting two of my brothers, uncles, cousins and my nephew. There's always a risk of something going wrong, it's just in my family, it's a little more obvious to the untrained eye.
I really didn't talk about fears but God knew and about a year before Jane was conceived I was blessed with a special experience.
I was laying in bed, Kent was asleep. It was dark, our bedroom window was open and there was light shining into our room from a streetlight. It wasn't directly in front of the window, so it was dim. It provided lots of shadows in our room.
I looked around our room and realized there was a figure standing at the foot of our bed. I couldn't see details, it was more like looking at someone's shadow but I could tell it was a young woman with long hair. Before I could really think, thoughts filled my head and my chest felt on fire with what I recognize as the Holy Ghost witnessing to me that my thoughts came from God and that they were true.
I knew this was our child. I knew her name was Jane. It was not made clear to me when she was to be born but we needed to prepare for her arrival. This time of our life and marriage we were rather selfish with our personal time and didn't devote what we should to God, including regular church meetings. I had a very strong impression that we needed, I needed to get our act together spiritually so this child could receive the blessings that God wanted her to receive.
I had the impression that she would have challenges in this life, and God in his infinite love and wisdom comforted me with the knowledge that we would be able to handle whatever her challenges would be. I had tears in my eyes as my doubts vanished. I knew we'd be alright. I knew we could raise and teach that beautiful child as the Lord wanted us too.
Then she was gone but the love and comfort I felt in her presence stayed with me for a very long time.
We were blessed in knowing it was her that first to term pregnancy. We've been guided to help her with her challenges and I hope as she grows she realizes the divine help she receives because it's there, daily.
After her birth, almost immediately after I felt a child, another baby that was meant to be in our family. It was within hours of my birth and the knowledge that we were going to have another had already been impressed upon me. I sorta freaked out Kent when I told him, and Pat as well. lol. I reassured them that I had no desire to have babies 10 months apart but I wasn't going to deny that we were going to have at least one one.
Kate was so different then Jane. Jane I knew her name, her gender, I felt her personality, I had been given a forewarning of some of her trials. Kate was like flying blind. I knew only that were meant to have another, I didn't even know that she was a girl. But knowing that at some time we'd be blessed again was enough.
When I was pregnant and found out she was a girl, I felt this peace in that it was all as the Lord intended. It was a sweet feeling.
As with Jane's birth, within a few hours after Kate was born I felt another child that was meant to be born into our family. As it was previously, I had no idea when we were to have that child but I tried to trust in the Lords timing. I really struggled waiting for Ean to come. A miscarriage, my dad's death, a depression I had to fight my way through made trusting in the Lord extremely difficult. I knew there was another baby for us and yet it took so long to get him here. At least it seemed long.
He finally came, all in the Lords time May of 2004. A strange thing happened at his birth, I didn't feel anyone else. I felt, nothing. I had known our family wasn't complete within hours of my first two births, I entertained the possibility that we could be done having babies. This lasted for months, this odd ambiguous stage of not feeling done, not feeling like we were meant to have another either.
In the car that changed. I was driving through town and this thought and feeling slammed into me that I was to get pregnant again. I realized today that my feeling that day was specifically about getting pregnant where I'd always felt before that we were having another baby.
The twins were meant to be. Their gestation and birth provided a chance to lean on the Lord in a manner that I had never done before. After the shock of learning that either baby only had a 50% chance of making it after a high risk procedure that would have to be repeated who knows how many times during my pregnancy, I felt the Lords comfort. I don't know if I can describe my experience but slowly I realized that even if we lost one or both babies, we would not be alone and that the Lord would help us through our trials.
Slowly I felt more and more sure that we were meant to raise our boys. Don't get me wrong, I had plenty and I mean PLENTY of break downs, it was such a stressful time but the Lord never left me and when I was ready for his comfort he was always there. Kent gave me lots of blessings at through my pregnancy and I was told repeatedly that I was not alone. Finally about two days before their birth we were told in a blessing that they would make it and we would raise them. We were told that they would be healed from whatever problems their in utero afflictions would cause, and I had an impression that their healing would take time after their birth, it would not be instantaneous.
The night of the twentieth, Kent said prayer pleading with the Lord to let him know if the twins were in trouble and if we needed to go to the hospital. I woke up that night with a HUGE contraction, I watched the clock and counted and had four contraction in less then an hour. That meant we should go to the hospital. I woke up Kent, he confessed later that he almost suggested to me that I should lay back down and we see what happens when he had a thought "You asked to know when to go."
He didn't waste anytime getting me there and the boys were in grave danger showing no movement and with static heart rates. They were delivered via emergency c-section.
We knew the twins completed our family.
Looking back it amazes me how the Lord was there for every step, every child to help prepare us for their arrival, to comfort us as needed, to inspire us to make medical decisions that could have been fatal otherwise. I am so grateful for my relationship with God, I feel his love often and without his guidance I would have been lost at the very least. At the very most, my life would be incomplete without the children that bless me daily with the most amazing unconditional love.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
My First Baby is Twelve
Her grandmother bought her some lovely new clothes and a really cute hair cut and the reality that the child is just one year shy of being a teenager sunk in today.
Really, I never gave her permission to grow up.
She's turning into such a lovely young woman. Whether I want her to or not. I think she's destined to be a rather short woman, poor thing has inherited the dreaded short jeans from the Rush's. I blame my dad. :)
Her lovely thick hair that has a mind of it's own, I'll take credit for that. Well really it comes from my mom. It's so Farrens. Farrens women have hair and Janie has it. It's gorgeous. At least when she brushes it, it's gorgeous.
Jane still struggles with Kate's Christmas gift. She begged me for an American girl doll for her birthday. It's hard because I know she *thinks* she wants it. I know in her mind, it's all she wants but she's never been a doll girl and she's right at the age where she won't be interested very, very shortly. So for her birthday I compromised. I hope she's happy and enjoys her gift. I bought her the Felicity movie (also has the Samantha movie), a Felicity cookbook and a really nice hard cover Felicity book. So no doll, but lots of American girl stuff in forms that she appreciates.
I had picked up the Addy books but I think I'll save those for Christmas for Kate.
I'll have to cut this short, I need sleep desperately but I had to put in a little nod to my Jane. She is a joy to raise and I feel incredibly blessed to be her mother.
Really, I never gave her permission to grow up.
She's turning into such a lovely young woman. Whether I want her to or not. I think she's destined to be a rather short woman, poor thing has inherited the dreaded short jeans from the Rush's. I blame my dad. :)
Her lovely thick hair that has a mind of it's own, I'll take credit for that. Well really it comes from my mom. It's so Farrens. Farrens women have hair and Janie has it. It's gorgeous. At least when she brushes it, it's gorgeous.
Jane still struggles with Kate's Christmas gift. She begged me for an American girl doll for her birthday. It's hard because I know she *thinks* she wants it. I know in her mind, it's all she wants but she's never been a doll girl and she's right at the age where she won't be interested very, very shortly. So for her birthday I compromised. I hope she's happy and enjoys her gift. I bought her the Felicity movie (also has the Samantha movie), a Felicity cookbook and a really nice hard cover Felicity book. So no doll, but lots of American girl stuff in forms that she appreciates.
I had picked up the Addy books but I think I'll save those for Christmas for Kate.
I'll have to cut this short, I need sleep desperately but I had to put in a little nod to my Jane. She is a joy to raise and I feel incredibly blessed to be her mother.
WHOOO HOOOOO, It's finally happened!
What's the big event? What has changed my life FOREVER? Well, folks after 12 years (a week shy of 12 years to be precise) I no longer have any children in diapers, pull-ups or daily accidents in underwear.
I am *so* within my rights to be excited.
The greener side of me just goes ill to think of the nasty disposables my family alone has piled into landfills. The size of our ecological footprint must be huge. In case you didn't know it's "cool" to use terms like "ecological footprint". Take note if you want to impress, or annoy your friends.
I did have a few years of cloth diapers and I loved using them but the nausea of the twins pregnancy made Ean's toddler poop impossible to deal with. I did use cloth on the twins mostly their first year and off and on after that when I had the time and energy but in the end, it was all sposies baby! If the choice is the type of diaper or mom's sanity, well I chose sanity.
Of course the twins are still in pull-ups for night time and Ean wears "GoodNights" so we're not completely done dumping into the landfills.
Now I can share potty stories!
OK, so I was putting on make-up for church. I did not lock the door, girlies were coming in to brush hair, show me THEIR make-up (I have final veto power on whether or not they get out the door) so locking the door is impractical. Although I'll admit, it would be nice to make myself pretty without a river of bodies in and out of the bathroom.
Anyway! David, oh my David, he came rushing announce "I GO POOP MOM!" pushing me out of his way. Well okay son, you go right ahead and do that. He's doing his business while performing some sort of preschooler aerobics by bobbing his nekkid tushie into the loo. I don't believe he made contact with the water, it's an ecological loo that uses very little water. The show was none the less impressive.
Greg without ceremony comes rushing in, "I go mom, I go NOW" and whips his pants down and proceeds to pee BEHIND DAVE'S BEHIND. Oh to have such a little tush to leave a space at the back of the toilet. David was most indignant with Greg's presumption!
Who wouldn't be?
It's also a challenge for anyone else to use the potty. After all, we have the one toilet upstairs and seven people in the house. There's another toilet in the basement, but I don't let the boys use it. It doesn't need anymore help getting destroyed. :)
So with the enthusiasm exhibited by anyone that's learned a new skill, the boys go, often. Usually pushing themselves in front of the line. No matter what time it is in the afternoon, someone is yelling to me "I POOPIN MOMMY"
I appreciate the regular updates.
I joke but this is still a milestone. My babies are growing up. We are done with babies, done with toddlers and by the fall of 2011 the boys will go to kindergarten.
*sniff*
I am *so* within my rights to be excited.
The greener side of me just goes ill to think of the nasty disposables my family alone has piled into landfills. The size of our ecological footprint must be huge. In case you didn't know it's "cool" to use terms like "ecological footprint". Take note if you want to impress, or annoy your friends.
I did have a few years of cloth diapers and I loved using them but the nausea of the twins pregnancy made Ean's toddler poop impossible to deal with. I did use cloth on the twins mostly their first year and off and on after that when I had the time and energy but in the end, it was all sposies baby! If the choice is the type of diaper or mom's sanity, well I chose sanity.
Of course the twins are still in pull-ups for night time and Ean wears "GoodNights" so we're not completely done dumping into the landfills.
Now I can share potty stories!
OK, so I was putting on make-up for church. I did not lock the door, girlies were coming in to brush hair, show me THEIR make-up (I have final veto power on whether or not they get out the door) so locking the door is impractical. Although I'll admit, it would be nice to make myself pretty without a river of bodies in and out of the bathroom.
Anyway! David, oh my David, he came rushing announce "I GO POOP MOM!" pushing me out of his way. Well okay son, you go right ahead and do that. He's doing his business while performing some sort of preschooler aerobics by bobbing his nekkid tushie into the loo. I don't believe he made contact with the water, it's an ecological loo that uses very little water. The show was none the less impressive.
Greg without ceremony comes rushing in, "I go mom, I go NOW" and whips his pants down and proceeds to pee BEHIND DAVE'S BEHIND. Oh to have such a little tush to leave a space at the back of the toilet. David was most indignant with Greg's presumption!
Who wouldn't be?
It's also a challenge for anyone else to use the potty. After all, we have the one toilet upstairs and seven people in the house. There's another toilet in the basement, but I don't let the boys use it. It doesn't need anymore help getting destroyed. :)
So with the enthusiasm exhibited by anyone that's learned a new skill, the boys go, often. Usually pushing themselves in front of the line. No matter what time it is in the afternoon, someone is yelling to me "I POOPIN MOMMY"
I appreciate the regular updates.
I joke but this is still a milestone. My babies are growing up. We are done with babies, done with toddlers and by the fall of 2011 the boys will go to kindergarten.
*sniff*
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Homeschool Update
I was reading a booklet on teaching creative writing to students and decided to employ some of the techniques given. Heaven knows I'm not making great progress on my own. So I chose to focus on memoirs. First we needed to talk about broader definitions. Jane's fairly familiar with fiction and nonfiction (and in sixth grade, she should be!) but the idea of an autobiography was new to her. Once we established the definition for autobiography, we could talk about memoirs.
The booklet I'm reading helped with providing some very descriptive comparisons for memoirs. I explained to Jane that instead of listing or describing a series of events which is more autobiographical, I needed her to capture one memory, just one and paint a picture of that one memory. I let her know that she needed to provide as many details as she could, using descriptive words called (yes, I quizzed her while we talked and she got "adjectives" correct, lol) so the reader could feel like they were there.
I had a revelation while we were talking. Jane doesn't see details. She misses the finer points of conversations, extra objects in a room, even the nuances of color on an object she might talk about are missed. For instance, she sees an apple on the table. She might even notice if it's green or red but that's it. Shape, bruising, if it was laying on it's side, she'd miss all those points. She wouldn't notice shade, if it was dark or light. If asked she only repeats the most basic facts "red" or "green"
AHa. I feel like a door has been opened. No wonder writing is such a struggle for her. On top of spelling and grammar, which are concrete issues, she doesn't know how to observe so she CAN relate information.
Something to work on. Something concrete to work on.
So we talked about a specific memory and she wrote about it. It was terrible. She didn't proofread it, just printed it on her blog. We're working on rewriting her piece. I have the advantage of having the same memory so we've been able to discuss details and what she can add to her draft to make the picture more complete. We'll probably spend the whole month on this, adding, changing to each draft. I'm not letting her delete previous drafts either. Since this piece is on her blog (which is closed to everyone except Kent and grandparents) I make a point to copy her previous entry and then let her make changes on a new post. This will allow her to see her growth as she works through the multiple rewrites. I want her to be able to compare her first draft to the finished product when we're done.
I can also, in every day life talk to her about little details as we see and experience them.
It won't happen over night but just maybe this is the door I need to expand her expressive abilities. To do so wouldn't just help with writing and schoolwork but it would help her with everyday conversations.
That's another point, she misses the nuances of conversation but we've been working on that as well.
Our biggest change has been finally signing up for an online interactive program called "Time4learning". I've heard very good things from multiple friends and decided it was worth a try. I don't think I've done terrible as Jane's teacher so far but of course, have had this nagging feeling I could do better.
She loves it. She woke up this morning and begged to get on the computer to do some schoolwork. I think in tandem with some important concepts we're already working on, like the memoir piece will provide her with the well rounded education she needs.
My goal has always been to give her a strong base, and I think we're finally on our way.
The booklet I'm reading helped with providing some very descriptive comparisons for memoirs. I explained to Jane that instead of listing or describing a series of events which is more autobiographical, I needed her to capture one memory, just one and paint a picture of that one memory. I let her know that she needed to provide as many details as she could, using descriptive words called (yes, I quizzed her while we talked and she got "adjectives" correct, lol) so the reader could feel like they were there.
I had a revelation while we were talking. Jane doesn't see details. She misses the finer points of conversations, extra objects in a room, even the nuances of color on an object she might talk about are missed. For instance, she sees an apple on the table. She might even notice if it's green or red but that's it. Shape, bruising, if it was laying on it's side, she'd miss all those points. She wouldn't notice shade, if it was dark or light. If asked she only repeats the most basic facts "red" or "green"
AHa. I feel like a door has been opened. No wonder writing is such a struggle for her. On top of spelling and grammar, which are concrete issues, she doesn't know how to observe so she CAN relate information.
Something to work on. Something concrete to work on.
So we talked about a specific memory and she wrote about it. It was terrible. She didn't proofread it, just printed it on her blog. We're working on rewriting her piece. I have the advantage of having the same memory so we've been able to discuss details and what she can add to her draft to make the picture more complete. We'll probably spend the whole month on this, adding, changing to each draft. I'm not letting her delete previous drafts either. Since this piece is on her blog (which is closed to everyone except Kent and grandparents) I make a point to copy her previous entry and then let her make changes on a new post. This will allow her to see her growth as she works through the multiple rewrites. I want her to be able to compare her first draft to the finished product when we're done.
I can also, in every day life talk to her about little details as we see and experience them.
It won't happen over night but just maybe this is the door I need to expand her expressive abilities. To do so wouldn't just help with writing and schoolwork but it would help her with everyday conversations.
That's another point, she misses the nuances of conversation but we've been working on that as well.
Our biggest change has been finally signing up for an online interactive program called "Time4learning". I've heard very good things from multiple friends and decided it was worth a try. I don't think I've done terrible as Jane's teacher so far but of course, have had this nagging feeling I could do better.
She loves it. She woke up this morning and begged to get on the computer to do some schoolwork. I think in tandem with some important concepts we're already working on, like the memoir piece will provide her with the well rounded education she needs.
My goal has always been to give her a strong base, and I think we're finally on our way.
What? One of MY children STUBBORN?
I hear stories about children. How well they listen, and "oh my what a rough day, they didn't make their bed before school". I wonder what it's like to worry about such trivial things. Yes I said trivial. I mean, *I* don't always make my bed. :)
However we do have all other types of rebellion around here. I don't know why the Lord sent such strong personalities to our home, maybe Kent's patience, maybe so I can learn patience, but they're here. The latest string of stubborn is probably my least favorite to deal with as a mother.
Tantrums I can handle.
However refusal to poop in the toilet, drives me insane and we're on kid number four, yes FOUR OUT OF FIVE that have refused to have bowel movements in the toilet. I won't name names. Oh hell, yes I will. Jane, Kate, Ean and now GREG all refused after their third birthday to poop in the toilet. With Greg he's four and still refuses to poop. He knows. He stays dry and clean all day at school and waits until he gets home and THEN he poops.
That leaves me David. The one I worried about because his system has always been wonky is the one that has embraced what the potty is truly about.
That doesn't mean he doesn't have accidents but dang, he's TRYING. Greg is not.
I know, I know, I'm not suppose to compare the boys. Comparing children lessons their ability to believe in themselves. Each child is an individual, etc. But I'm pretty sure that even if Greg was a singleton, I'd still be frustrated to the max with him filling his underwear after staying dry and clean all day at school.
Stubborn is still around with all the other kids too. Kate yells unfair. Ean melts at the mention of chores but dang, that stuff just doesn't make ya want to hurl like the poop does.
*sigh*
We're not going back now. We're using pull-ups for bedtime ONLY. David has embraced the potty and Greg will have to catch up on this one. Hopefully he does before Dave earns all the "I went poop on the potty reward" matchbox cars on top of the medicine cabinet.
However we do have all other types of rebellion around here. I don't know why the Lord sent such strong personalities to our home, maybe Kent's patience, maybe so I can learn patience, but they're here. The latest string of stubborn is probably my least favorite to deal with as a mother.
Tantrums I can handle.
However refusal to poop in the toilet, drives me insane and we're on kid number four, yes FOUR OUT OF FIVE that have refused to have bowel movements in the toilet. I won't name names. Oh hell, yes I will. Jane, Kate, Ean and now GREG all refused after their third birthday to poop in the toilet. With Greg he's four and still refuses to poop. He knows. He stays dry and clean all day at school and waits until he gets home and THEN he poops.
That leaves me David. The one I worried about because his system has always been wonky is the one that has embraced what the potty is truly about.
That doesn't mean he doesn't have accidents but dang, he's TRYING. Greg is not.
I know, I know, I'm not suppose to compare the boys. Comparing children lessons their ability to believe in themselves. Each child is an individual, etc. But I'm pretty sure that even if Greg was a singleton, I'd still be frustrated to the max with him filling his underwear after staying dry and clean all day at school.
Stubborn is still around with all the other kids too. Kate yells unfair. Ean melts at the mention of chores but dang, that stuff just doesn't make ya want to hurl like the poop does.
*sigh*
We're not going back now. We're using pull-ups for bedtime ONLY. David has embraced the potty and Greg will have to catch up on this one. Hopefully he does before Dave earns all the "I went poop on the potty reward" matchbox cars on top of the medicine cabinet.
Kent's Trailer
Kent finally bought himself a camp trailer. He found two online that fit his basic specifications of being cheap and not being junk. Well having enough room to sleep everyone helps as well. Both trailers were cheap enough Kent thought they'd be sold pretty quick. There was no scary descriptions about "past fires" and both had pictures.
One was a little older but had lots of sleeping space. There's enough bunks to sleep the entire family. The newer one, Kent wondered if he could modify it to sleep more, the description stated that it officially slept six. Anyone familiar with campers knows that the number is misleading, some pretty small places are often designated for multiple bodies. So only close family should ever go camping together in the same trailer. :)
The downside, Both trailers were about ninety minutes away, but in opposite directions. Kent wisely decided he should look at the one that had sleep space for the entire family. He bought it for $1,500 and considering we sold the tent trailer for $1,300 he did really well on price.
I did make the mistake of referring to the camper as "this disaster" when he pulled up, but only because it was super late and I still had to go to work.
So we'll be camping this summer. We'll see how this goes. It's a little hard to coordinate every one's schedule but hopefully my work partner will be willing to do a few long weekends making longer trips possible.
So keeping my lack of enthusiasm to myself, because camping just isn't my thing, I'll work on focusing on cheap family time. And hey, the kids will love it, that is what matters isn't it?
One was a little older but had lots of sleeping space. There's enough bunks to sleep the entire family. The newer one, Kent wondered if he could modify it to sleep more, the description stated that it officially slept six. Anyone familiar with campers knows that the number is misleading, some pretty small places are often designated for multiple bodies. So only close family should ever go camping together in the same trailer. :)
The downside, Both trailers were about ninety minutes away, but in opposite directions. Kent wisely decided he should look at the one that had sleep space for the entire family. He bought it for $1,500 and considering we sold the tent trailer for $1,300 he did really well on price.
I did make the mistake of referring to the camper as "this disaster" when he pulled up, but only because it was super late and I still had to go to work.
So we'll be camping this summer. We'll see how this goes. It's a little hard to coordinate every one's schedule but hopefully my work partner will be willing to do a few long weekends making longer trips possible.
So keeping my lack of enthusiasm to myself, because camping just isn't my thing, I'll work on focusing on cheap family time. And hey, the kids will love it, that is what matters isn't it?
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Kate, the Pod Person
Frankly I don't know what's happened to the real Kate, but I'm liking this new model and am thinking we should keep her instead of finding the original.
The original was far to whiny, and extremely picky on food. Well, the pod person Kate is still pretty whiny but something amazing has happened with food. I noticed a difference Friday as I was whipping dinner together.
I had found a recipe in my new vegetarian cookbook I KNEW would be a hit with Kent. It had all the right ingredients, eggs, salsa, potatoes, really it was a no brainer. It was a frittata, a baked omelet, something I had never made before but tried for the first time when my friend Kim was visiting at the beginning of the month. That week I tried an asparagus, green onion frittata made with smidgens of cream cheese dotted throughout the dish. It was divine, and the children ate it, well they ate the eggs and the left the green veggies. *eye roll*
I was amazed I hadn't found this easy dish before. Sooo easy and very yummy!
After the initial trial, I decided to try another version. The Mexican version started with cubed fried potatoes (red, with skins on) browned in a skillet. Then beatened eggs with salsa and cheese mixed in are poured on top of the eggs. The skillet stays on the burner for about three minutes until edges are set and then the whole mess is put in the oven and baked until the center is set.
The eggs turn out so light and fluffy. Good stuff!! Wait, I was talking about Kate. Anyway, Miss Kate, queen of "YUCKY" and "BLECH" and "I HATE ONIONS, HATE HATE HATE THEM!" walked by as I was stirring the eggs with obvious signs of salsa floating on top remarked how yummy that looked.
Okaaaayyyyy.
I was very suspicious, Kate has declared food to looked yummy before, until the time of consumption where suddenly every food phobia since toddler hood would make dinner unpleasant and loud for the entire family. I wasn't holding my breath for her declaration of "yummyness" to continue once the plate was set before her.
However, beyond "surprised" and even "amazed" comes "shocked" which pretty much summed up my feelings when Kate ate dinner with gusto and not only came back for seconds but thirds as well!
Really, was this my child? Surely it must have been a fluke!
Maybe not. Tonight we had a vegetarian enchilada with black beans doctored with a touch of cumin, fresh cilantro and onions, brown rice and cheese of course which the child ate with little complaint. She didn't wolf it down like the frittata but compared to the meltdowns we've endured for years over food dinner was positively heart warming.
At least it would have been if the twins hadn't staged meltdowns in stereo while we were eating.
Ah well. Maybe the pod people will take the twins too? If they do, the new ones need to have mastered the potty, mommy has done enough laundry the last week. One can only hope.
The original was far to whiny, and extremely picky on food. Well, the pod person Kate is still pretty whiny but something amazing has happened with food. I noticed a difference Friday as I was whipping dinner together.
I had found a recipe in my new vegetarian cookbook I KNEW would be a hit with Kent. It had all the right ingredients, eggs, salsa, potatoes, really it was a no brainer. It was a frittata, a baked omelet, something I had never made before but tried for the first time when my friend Kim was visiting at the beginning of the month. That week I tried an asparagus, green onion frittata made with smidgens of cream cheese dotted throughout the dish. It was divine, and the children ate it, well they ate the eggs and the left the green veggies. *eye roll*
I was amazed I hadn't found this easy dish before. Sooo easy and very yummy!
After the initial trial, I decided to try another version. The Mexican version started with cubed fried potatoes (red, with skins on) browned in a skillet. Then beatened eggs with salsa and cheese mixed in are poured on top of the eggs. The skillet stays on the burner for about three minutes until edges are set and then the whole mess is put in the oven and baked until the center is set.
The eggs turn out so light and fluffy. Good stuff!! Wait, I was talking about Kate. Anyway, Miss Kate, queen of "YUCKY" and "BLECH" and "I HATE ONIONS, HATE HATE HATE THEM!" walked by as I was stirring the eggs with obvious signs of salsa floating on top remarked how yummy that looked.
Okaaaayyyyy.
I was very suspicious, Kate has declared food to looked yummy before, until the time of consumption where suddenly every food phobia since toddler hood would make dinner unpleasant and loud for the entire family. I wasn't holding my breath for her declaration of "yummyness" to continue once the plate was set before her.
However, beyond "surprised" and even "amazed" comes "shocked" which pretty much summed up my feelings when Kate ate dinner with gusto and not only came back for seconds but thirds as well!
Really, was this my child? Surely it must have been a fluke!
Maybe not. Tonight we had a vegetarian enchilada with black beans doctored with a touch of cumin, fresh cilantro and onions, brown rice and cheese of course which the child ate with little complaint. She didn't wolf it down like the frittata but compared to the meltdowns we've endured for years over food dinner was positively heart warming.
At least it would have been if the twins hadn't staged meltdowns in stereo while we were eating.
Ah well. Maybe the pod people will take the twins too? If they do, the new ones need to have mastered the potty, mommy has done enough laundry the last week. One can only hope.
Saturday, January 9, 2010
I am dreading next week.
There's nothing really wrong with next week but it will be super busy and I dread busy. I hate running from appointment to appointment. I hate having to work nights. I hate when those nights just drag on and on, leading to me dragging through the days in a sleep deprived haze.
*sigh*
We're back in the saddle with homeschooling Jane, and I had given myself permission to not sweat the small details before Christmas but now I'm feeling like it's time to find our focus and center on schooling. Jane's expressed some frustration, implying that she should have stayed at Hawthorne (our local middle school) suffering completely from "the grass is always greener" complex.
I reminded her of the insane amount of work she was plowing through and how she had no life beyond homework.
She doesn't remember.
I can't stress about Jane's insecurities, that would take far to much of my time. I need to keep focusing on her needs, helping her on those life skills that will focus her and help her function in day to day life.
She said to me today when I had asked her if she'd remembered something "MOM, You know how bad my memory is!" This from my eleven year old! I let her know that her memory isn't the problem, it's her ability to focus, and focusing is a skill that can be LEARNED. Right before Christmas break my mom noted that Jane's focus had improved in everyday life. I think Christmas break set her back a bit, so hopefully we can get back on track.
Jane's picked up some library books, and she's writing in her blog now. I'm excited about her blog, Jane doesn't search for opportunities to write and the entries she's done has really opened some good discussion on editing her work.
So even though Jane doesn't see her progress, I do. I really hope she realizes what we're accomplishing so she agrees to staying home next year too.
Speaking of progress, Kate let me know yesterday that she "Almost got a 100% on her spelling! Only six wrong (out of fourteen) mom!!!" I'm not quite sure what to say but since the child had a test with only three CORRECT right before break, we'll go with it and hopefully keep improving those skills.
Kate has a recital this coming week, so a long night there, Kent has a meeting another night, I don't know just lots of stuff.
I'm thinking details on the twins potty training deserves it's own blog.
*sigh*
We're back in the saddle with homeschooling Jane, and I had given myself permission to not sweat the small details before Christmas but now I'm feeling like it's time to find our focus and center on schooling. Jane's expressed some frustration, implying that she should have stayed at Hawthorne (our local middle school) suffering completely from "the grass is always greener" complex.
I reminded her of the insane amount of work she was plowing through and how she had no life beyond homework.
She doesn't remember.
I can't stress about Jane's insecurities, that would take far to much of my time. I need to keep focusing on her needs, helping her on those life skills that will focus her and help her function in day to day life.
She said to me today when I had asked her if she'd remembered something "MOM, You know how bad my memory is!" This from my eleven year old! I let her know that her memory isn't the problem, it's her ability to focus, and focusing is a skill that can be LEARNED. Right before Christmas break my mom noted that Jane's focus had improved in everyday life. I think Christmas break set her back a bit, so hopefully we can get back on track.
Jane's picked up some library books, and she's writing in her blog now. I'm excited about her blog, Jane doesn't search for opportunities to write and the entries she's done has really opened some good discussion on editing her work.
So even though Jane doesn't see her progress, I do. I really hope she realizes what we're accomplishing so she agrees to staying home next year too.
Speaking of progress, Kate let me know yesterday that she "Almost got a 100% on her spelling! Only six wrong (out of fourteen) mom!!!" I'm not quite sure what to say but since the child had a test with only three CORRECT right before break, we'll go with it and hopefully keep improving those skills.
Kate has a recital this coming week, so a long night there, Kent has a meeting another night, I don't know just lots of stuff.
I'm thinking details on the twins potty training deserves it's own blog.
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