so much to do, so little time to blog

Well the summer flew by! We've been back to school for 2 months and have been traveling for most of September. We visited my parents in NC to help them pack up their house as they're moving. When we returned to MD, my dear, sweet husband and mother-in-law watched the older 3 kids while the baby and I flew to Chicago to spend 5 days with the Trents (friends who use to live in MD).

I'll try to give a quick note to things of interest:

• Connor has learned to play piano using both hands, at the same time!


• I've barely cooked the entire summer...we've eaten McDonald's WAY too much (I didn't say this was a list of good things to note, just things of note)


• Lillee and Isabel have started gymnastics


• Connor and Lillee start art classes in the morning. Lillee can't stop talkign about it. Art is her true passion!
  
• I put together the coolest Lego group for Connor, called Archimedes' Workshop. We, of course, build with Legos but we also discuss history, math and science as we study who Archimedes was and what he accomplished.


• The kids had a fun class at the nature center on turtles


• Chess Group was cancelled for lack of participation (I'm secretly happy about this as our schedule this semester is NUTSO, but I'm sad because Connor was really lookinng forward to it)


• Connor has memorized his multiplication facts 0-5!! He's not 100% on recall all the time, but pretty close....now we have to review addition and subtraction, again LOL


• Chase is racing to be my earliest walker, he's letting go when standing and cruising all over the place.


• I've decided I want to learn Spanish. I took two semester in college and know a bit of vocabulary and remember some conjugation, but I cannot speak it or understand it when heard.


• I splurged on a gadget...those things I always make fun of Al for having to have. I needed to get a new cell phone so I decided to find one with a good camera in as I'm always wanting to take pictures while I'm out, but I never have enough pocket space for phone, camera, snacks, wipes, etc. So I found a nice camera that just happens to be a phone! I've had so much fun with it.


• My raspberry bushes are fruiting like crazy and I'm loving it! A friend of ours gave us figs so I made yummy raspberry and fig jam.



• We have tomatoes coming out our ears! So I've been trying to get creative with tomatoes. I made a delicious roasted tomato soup, you can find the recipe here.

• We grew a 12ft sunflower!

I'm sure there is so much more that I'm not hitting on, but my memory seems to have faded with age and the more kid I have :>)

Thanks to my awesome husband for allowing me to stay home with my kids and funds to have such a great time with them....oh and that 5 days away from home with just the baby, well that was really cool! And how you make life fun, all the time!

The picture below was taken in a hotel room....we were driving home from my parents when the baby decided he didn't want to ride any more so he screamed and screamed and screamed. It was raining and I had not slept the night before so we decided to stop for the night. We found a hotel room and tried to find enough space for everyone to sleep. That evening was so difficult. The kids had pent up energy from being in the car all day, but with it raining outside and the room being so small there was nowhere to burn off that energy. Al and I were tired and just wanted to rest but the kids were having none of it. Everyone was hungry and we had no idea where to find food. It was a grumpy night all around.

The next morning, we were trying to get ready to get back on the road so there was a bit of hustle and bustle. But once our things were out of the room, Al gathered the blankets and covers and made a fort of the entire room. They played a game under the covers and had a grand ole time before climbing back into the van to hit the road.

I love that man!

The ant and the grasshopper

THE ANT AND THE GRASSHOPPER (not Aesop's version)

This one is a little different... Two Different Versions! Two Different Morals!

OLD VERSION:

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed.

The grasshopper has no food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold.
MORAL OF THE STORY: Be responsible for yourself!


MODERN VERSION:

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.

Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving. CBS, NBC , PBS, CNN, and ABC show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food.

America is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?

Kermit the Frog appears on Oprah with the grasshopper and everybody cries when they sing, 'It's Not Easy Being Green.'

Jesse Jackson stages a demonstration in front of the ant's house where the news stations film the group singing, 'We shall overcome.' Jesse then has the group kneel down to pray to God for the grasshopper's sake.

Nancy Pelosi & John Kerry exclaim in an interview with Larry King that the ant has gotten rich off the back of the grasshopper, and both call for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his fair share. Finally, the EEOC drafts the Economic Equity & Anti-Grasshopper Act retroactive to the beginning of the summer.

The ant is fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of green bugs and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the government. The story ends as we see the grasshopper finishing up the last bits of the ants food while the government house he is in, which just happens to be the ant's old house, crumbles around him because he doesn't maintain it.

The ant has disappeared in the snow. The grasshopper is found dead in a drug related incident and the house, now abandoned, is taken over by a gang of spiders who terrorize the once peaceful neighborhood.

MORAL OF THE STORY:Be careful how you vote in 2010.

School has begun

In July, we began our second year of school and I'm learning so much! Now, if I could just get the kids doing the same :) I have some interesting challenges this year. Well, let me rephrase that....I have one challenge, Lillee. She introduces a whole bunch of challenges.



1. I am teaching 2 children instead of one.

2. Lillee learns differently than Connor.

3. Lillee's so enthusiastic and demands opportunities to learn.

4. Lillee thrives on anything artsy.



The dynamics of teaching 2 children really ramps up home schooling. And Isabel has even been asking to do school...WOW!!! I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed. Fortunately, the baby has worked in a nap pattern that fits with schooling. We get up, have breakfast, do our chores and grooming, play and read books then the baby takes a nap. Then I can get the older kids started on school work. Isabel mostly just wants to play outside, which is perfect! However, Lillee needs a lot of assistance (and attention) so I have to get Connor started on an individual activity to work with Lillee. Then when I'm working with Connor I have to have patience to answer Lillee's 20 calls for help or to look at her work so she can receive praise.



I have one really big prayer for this school year, "God, grant me with patience!!!!" Well, I pray for that everyday. I'm sure he's answering my prayers and I can't imagine how bad I'd be without his daily support but could I get just a little bit more, please?



Lillee learns much differently than Connor so I am trying to figure out how to teach her when she's completely independent....well, she comes off as independent when she's swatting your hand away saying, "Mommy, I can do it." And within a few seconds you hear, "Mommy, how do you do it again?" OK, the prayer again.....GOD! Please grant me some patience.



Lillee does not miss an opportunity to learn. She loves to point out what Connor is learning and when does she get a turn. She's wanting to learn multiplication facts as Connor is doing his flashcards. I don't want to discourage her, but I need her to stop shouting out random numbers and confusing Connor. God love her....and maybe He will bestow a boat-load of patience upon me.



Lillee is VERY artsy. She loves art, she loves painting, coloring, drawing, play-doh, anything creative. I am exactly opposite. I have work at being creative and crafty. Lillee could spend all day coloring and painting and I NEVER think to do those things. Connor does not have the focus nor the talent to color, paint, etc. He still won't color anything, he scribbles a little color on the page and calls it done. Lillee colors each strand of hair, each detail has a color chosen for a special reason. Art is a passion for her! I love it, she's talented and enthusiastic about it. However, I do not know how to help her with technique and developing her talent. This time I have to ask God for wisdom of how to help her develop her specialty.



Aside from all that, we have a jam packed semester ahead of us. The girls are starting gymnastics, Connor has a chess club and I have put together a class called Archimedes' Workshop using Legos. 2-3 times a month we'll host a class at our house where I'll teach some history on Archimedes, his inventions and mathematical findings as well as some simple machines and Lego building. We also have some fun star gazer and turtle workshops at our local nature center and a couple of classes at the Maryland Science Center in Baltimore.



Connor just finished an environmental education camp at Patuxent Wildlife Research Refuge and had such a great time! His favorite game was called camouflage. Each kid would hide in tall grass and pretend to be a mouse camouflaging itself from the eagle. If they were found, they had to leave the field and became eagle poop :^D Connor's super cute camp director made a very nice digital scrapbook for the parents.



This should be a fun an exciting semester! I'm grateful to my Heavenly father for His guidance and support as we take on this adventure for a second year. I have days that I think, "Maybe the kids wouldn't be so bad off in public school." Then I remember Heavenly Father called me to do this for my children and I need to put all I can into their education even if it does take up every waking minute of my day. What a wonderful opportunity I've been given, I honestly pray that each day I will be reminded of this and enjoy this time I have with my children. And I would not begrudge any prayers you want ed to make on my behalf :)

I don't say enough about Isabel

Maybe it's because she's 3...you do know what I mean by 3, right? She went from being the sweetest most easy-going child to fits of crying over the slightest thing in less than a year! For example, the other day I said, "Isabel, go potty please." Her response was to throw herself on the floor and wail loudly while sucking her thumb and emphatically stating, "But I'm not tired!!!" She thought I was telling her to go potty because she was going to bed. It was middle of the afternoon, after having her nap already.

As you may know, Isabel has some speech issues. They're not really issues she's just a lazy speaker and who could blame her having Lillee as an older sister...Lillee never shuts up! Isabel pronounces a lot of her words beginning with the sound of h. For example, one morning she ran into the kitchen to announce, "Its hairy, hairy, hold!" Which translate to, "Its very, very cold." Or another favorite, "The hun is up!" Which translates to, "The sun is up!" which is her announcement to get Al and I out of bed in the morning.

Lately, Isabel has developed an imaginary friend. I think Isabel is the only child of mine thus far to have an imaginary friend for more than a day or two. Isabel has had her friend for several weeks now. The imaginary friend is named no monster which translates to snow monster. I'm not sure where snow monster came from. They have, in the past, watched Scooby Doo and there was a snow monster of some sort in one of the episodes but he wasn't called exactly snow monster. Anyway, with her speech issues its quite funny to hear her talk about no monster.

We were driving the other day when Isabel decided to 'whistle' a song. Now she can't whistle so instead she attempts this very high pitched singing of sorts. Think song of the siren gone really bad! While driving to the pool one day she started whistling and I asked her to stop...I can only take so much of it. She stopped and then promptly added, "My hend no monster taught me that hong." Translated, "My friend snow monster taught me that song." I am amazed at how much her hend no monster has taught her and all the plaes he lives. He has a new home everytime we go out!

I don't mean to poke fun at her and hope that in 10 years when she reads this she'll have an awesome sense of humor and laugh at the memory. I love Bel immensely and could not imagine my life without her sweet nature and infectious smile. She brings so much happiness to our family, through laughter and her wonderful hugs!

Connor Brag

I'm so proud of my oldest son that sometimes I could just burst with want of sharing his awesomeness. This week was a big week!

Earlier this week, I was taking the kids for a normal day at the pool when Jane offered to watch Chase so I could get in the water with the kids. I love when I can go to the pool without Chase...I know that's terrible for a mother to say but when he's with us I have to sit at the wading pool with the girls and Connor can roam around the smaller pools or the slide. But inevitably, the girls start begging to go to the big pool and I have to decline because I have the baby (which has become a very regular phrase around our house).

So when Chase doesn't go with us, I can take the girls to the big pool AND I was able to test Connor in the diving pool which he's been asking to try, but my response has been I have the baby. I hopped into the 7 foot of water and had Connor jump from the side of the pool into the water and then swim to the edge. He did great! So off he went to the diving board. I stood by the lifeguard, not because I was concerned but because her umbrella was shading me from the glaring rays.

As Connor climbed the ladder of the low dive board the lifeguard asked, "Is he going to be OK? Should I be ready to go in?"

I explained that I tested him and thought he'd be OK, but it wouldn't hurt for her to be ready. So she leaned forward and cocked herself for a quick dive, if necessary. Connor walked to the end of the board, well he sort of bounced like an unsure Tigger...testing the spring in the board. He bounced a little at the end of the board unsure when to jump off. Then centered himself and went for it!

In the water......waiting for him to come up......waiting.....there is his head!!! Then he started swimming as perfectly as any mother, who has just spent hundreds of dollars on swim lessons, could possibly ask for. And the lifeguard justified my feelings when she stated, "Oh, he's fine" and relaxed into her chair again.

Then they announced it was adult swim and all kids needed to be out of the pool for 15 minutes. During this time, Connor called Daddy to share the exciting news and to decide to try the high dive next....as in when the 15 minutes is up.

I spent a few minutes discussing some basic physics...if you jump from a greater height then you're going to go deeper into the water which results in swimming further to reach the surface and further to reach the side of the pool with the ladder. So when it was announced that kids could go back into the water he headed off to conquer the high dive!

He climbed all the way up........he walked out on the board........he walked back toward the ladder.....then back to the end of the board......bounced a bit.......walked back a few feet......bounced a bit more.......and then made his final walk to the end of the board.

Bounce, bounce, bounce, center.

Bounce, bounce, bounce, center.

Bounce, bounce, bounce, JUMP!

He did GREAT!!! I was so proud of him....I wanted to tell everyone, "That's my son, he's 6 and he just took his 2nd dive ever and it was off the high dive!"

The week didn't end there. Connor has been taking piano lessons for almost 5 months and this last month or so he has been working on a primary song as well as his regular piano book. Recently our primary presidency announced that kids who wanted to perform appropriate music could do so during the beginning of primary. Connor has been thinking about this for the past month as he's been practicing.

Two weeks ago Connor announced he was ready to perform and asked me to set it up for him. I made the arrangements and today was the big day. We tried not to make a big deal out of it in case Connor got nervous and wanted to back out. I reminded him he was performing today and asked him if he'd like to practice. He said, "No thanks, I want to read my book." He did eventually practice, but I was pretty excited to hear he was choosing to read :^)

At the beginning of church, Connor leaned over his chair to the family behind us and said, "Did you hear about primary today?" Of course they were confused. I explained Connor was playing the piano in primary. He was telling me what a special day it was for him. I agreed but did not want to get too excited and get his nerves worked up because he still had 1.5 hours before performance time.

So sacrament ended, primary started and Connor's name was called to play I Hope They Call Me on a Mission. He proudly marched up to the piano, sat down and my stomach was full of butterflies. I was so nervous for him! He calmly sat down and began to play....perfectly! Well, later he recounted that he had one issue....he played a 4 when he should have played a 2. There's his perfectionist father coming out in him.

He did a really great job and I had so many people come up to me and tell me so....I am such a proud momma!