Sunday, March 20

Hmmm

OK, I think I'm going to have to watch that one again.

Some chuckles. It was cute.

But not fall-on-the-floor, laugh-my-rear-off funny.

Let me just say that, honestly, I think it's me. I get that. It's ok. The thing is, you know, and I'll have to dig up my yearbooks to really prove this to you... this movie hit a little close to home. It could've been a documentary of Prescott, AZ in the 1980's. Funny?

Sure, from a distance.

But you couldn't pay me to go back and do it over.

Shyah.

No chance.

I have got to find those yearbooks.
Dy

Alright, already!

We rented Napoleon Dynamite...

No blog for now.

Enjoy your popcorn.

Dy

Saturday, March 19

Great Days, Great Folks, Lessons Learned

We spent a lovely day with friends, celebrating a wee one's first birthday. The Honored Guest doesn't remember a thing about the Grand Event, but it's always a joyful celebration.

Zorak had to work, but was able to join the party in time to enjoy some Cuban style beans and rice and a cold beer. *ahhh* Good stuff. Not quite ambrosia, but mixed with enjoyable company and the background noise of a dozen or more gleeful children, it's not a bad way to spend the afternoon at all.

I have only one issue to take with the day, and I hope that new parents or soon-to-be parents, or those who are ever in charge of planning events and games for small children in any setting at all will please listen closely...

(General Disclaimer. I'm not talking about sporting events, nor about planned competitions for which children are prepared. I am not even talking about all children in all stages of life. I am talking about little ones and social gatherings. Everybody doesn't have a water buffalo, but the point that follows is that the little guys don't mind as long as we don't beat them over the head with it. So, here's your grain of salt, enjoy, and read on. Thank you, The Management.)

The Honored Parents are still learning the ropes, and today they gained a valuable lesson: the Inertia of Joy. Children do not naturally need to be organized or entertained. They move on their own internal inertia and it is easy to mess with that, but the results are not going to be good. We've messed with their inertia.

I cringed a bit when I overheard that there were "games" planned, with "prizes" for the winners. This is the under seven crowd, folks. The games of our youth which we may (or may not) remember with fondness were not such fond memories before we hit the more calloused and competitive ages. If the children are little, give them room to run and the occasional snack and you'll be amazed at how much fun they'll have. Musical chairs is perhaps one of the meanest, most humilitating things you can do to a group of small children. And yet, here it came. *sigh* I'm never quite sure how to handle these situations, really. It's going to end in tears. It's a bad idea. I voice my concerns and suggest that perhaps we ought to let the children continue playing happily, together, as they are... and I'm met with the shocked, eye-rolling look that says, "You are SO overprotective." Yes, folks, we all want our children learn to handle failure, but we don't want to consciously set them up for it. Tsk, tsk. So, they called the happy, smiling children to gather 'round. All the parentless adults and the fairly new parents were all smiles. The guileless children heard "game", thought "fun", and agreed to give it a shot.

One. By. One. The tears flowed. First out was John, who would never think to shove a little girl out of a seat (initially because he knew we'd have a fit, but at this point simply because he knows you don't shove and you don't push girls... see how this just doesn't fit when you're four and trying to make sense of it all?) His shoulders slumped, his head dropped, and silent tears fell. The other children slowly realized that this was going to get ugly. Wonderful Neighbors' eldest girl was next. Same tears, same dejection. Some of the parentless adults are starting to think that perhaps it's not such a good idea to be making the children cry. (They CAN be taught! Hallelujah!) Two more children were ousted from the game, absolutely crushed at being banished from the fun of running around to music, before the organizers of the "fun" looked around and said, "What should we do?" Well, how about letting them just run and play? That seemed to be working well.

It took a while to perk up their little spirits, but thankfully, children are resilient and once they're reassurred that the "fun" is over, they go quite happily back to their mundane games of hide and seek, follow-me, run-in-circles-until-you-fall-over, and who-can-laugh-the-silliest. By the time everyone headed out, all of the children were running once again on their Inertia of Joy. (They'd also broken into the gift bags and were tanking up on Pixie Stix! WOOHOO! It's party time!)

Just let the children be. They don't have to compete to have fun. They don't have to have a winner to enjoy the day. They are little, and they are trying to learn how it all fits together. Let them do that without pitting them against one another. Let them find their place and their footing. Enjoy them. There is so much to enjoy in them, if you'll let them be.

Kiss those babies!
~Dy

Friday, March 18

Howdy, all!

Oh, I wish y'all could've been here today. Following a few days of bitter, bone-rending cold, we had the most beautiful day! I turned OFF the heat! Opened the windows! The children were summarily coated in mud the latter half of the day, coming in only when the sun faded completely from the top of the fence and the boys began to turn blue. (I will never get this clay out of their clothing.) Several loads of wash hung out to dry and all the mopped floors dried almost instantly in the warm, gentle breeze. Gotta love days like that.

James just came flying downstairs to tell us that he "found an atom that has no neutrons!!" (emphasis his) Wowsa! The Usborne Dictionary of Chemistry has been his regular companion all week, and I'm thinking this is one worth buying. He's learned more in a week of leisurely reading than I did in an entire semester's worth of lectures.

Our lessons are coming along well. John is learning his +2's and James is finishing mastery of his multiplication facts. Both have mastered counting to ten in Latin and have finally reached mastery of the vocabulary to date in Prima Latina. It's time to start the next prayer and move on to the next chapter with that. Reading? Check. Always. Good stuff.

We made up our own pantheon this week, to go along with History. The boys made up the heirarchy of the gods and drew a wall mural to display them. The list is hilarious, with such noble figures as "Nut", the god of all nut products and "Polyneeda", the goddess of housing. It's fascinating to see myths spring to life in the eyes of children.

We've talked with the boys about making the move. It looks like it is definitely going to happen, it's just a matter of when. Can you believe it? We're going to Alabama! WOOHOO! Depending on the paperwork and making sure all is tidied up on this end, we will most likely head out in late April or early May. I can't believe it. Anyhow, the boys are so excited to have chickens and a cow. (I lobbied for goats, but the cow won out.) They have been such troopers through all the moves and upheaval. Zorak and I are just on cloud nine to think that we can finally put down roots and give the boys a place to be "from". That's a good feeling.

Zorak is currently subjecting us to one of the truly horrible movies he picked up at the library sale ("Honey, why'd you get this one?" Um, oh, Mickey Rourke was on the cover. "Oh.") and, well, I can't think with the dialogue running in the background, so I'm going to go see if I can talk him out of a footrub while he watches the movie. (Yeah, if Mickey Rourke is in it, you know it's not likely to end well for anyone involved...) Maybe I can read.

Kiss those babies!
~Dy

Wednesday, March 16

Long Overdue Interviews

OK, guys, I apologize for taking nearly a month to post interview questions! So, if you're still around, wondering if I'm trying to come up with some really difficult questions, no. It's just that I have the attention span of a four year old. Or a puppy. I get distracted.

So here are my interview questions:

Amy
1) What piece of advice do you wish you'd received (or did receive, but wish you'd actually taken) to prepare you for parenting? (Or homeschooling!)
2) What gets you through on those days you're thinking, "WHAT was I thinking?" And how are you holding up?
3) How did you and Bud meet?
4) What do you consider your "best find" to use in your homeschooling, and why?
5) Many folks gravitate to a specific verse or chapter in the Bible- do you? What scripture do you think of as "yours", as the one that you return to regularly?
6) Bonus question- what happened to your blog? I keep getting a "url not found" message from blogger! ;-)

Claudia
1) What have you learned in raising the boys so far that you didn't expect?
2) What would be your ideal weekend vacation? (Think four-day, here.)
3) What is your happiest childhood memory?
4) What US destination would you most like to visit and why?
5) Why are you drawn to homeschooling for the boys?

LB
1) So, fifteen years ago, is this what you pictured your life would look like now? How is it different, or similar?
2) What is your favorite surprise in how things have turned out?
3) Would you share your favorite, guaranteed-to-bring-a-smile recipe?
4) How did you and Mr. LB meet?
5) What would your ideal day-in-the-life look like?

I like the "dude rules" Chris used- if you like someone else's questions, feel free to answer them, too. You can answer on your own blog, or here in the comments section. If you answer on your own blog, though, please post a link to it here so we can all go read it! Have fun. There are no wrong answers. Use a #2 pencil and fill in each bubble completely.

Dy

Oh my.

Zorak heard back today. It looks, um, encouraging. To say the least. He is elated. I am, and this is funny, a little scared. It's easier to let fly and head off into the unknown when you have nowhere else to go and nothing else to do. When you've done your best to make a nest, though, no matter how meager, the world looks awfully big, doesn't it?

Zorak brought up a good point, as well, in that we knew this last move was temporary (3-7 years). This move, though, we have sort of titled The 20 Year Plan. No pressure, right? :-D

Well, hot on the heels of another weekend, so we won't know more until next week. Stay tuned.

Kiss those babies!
~Dy

Songs We Destroy

I know I've mentioned Zorak's tendency to mangle songs on the radio. Alan Jackson and Billy Joel are among his favorite targets. They're just so... easy. He's been much better about the themes he picks, you know, since the boys learned to talk...

Well, it seems this love of lycricsm lyricism is contagious (or hereditary, which is scary), as the boys now make up new words to their favorite songs. This one is from Monday:

Three colored ducks that we once knew
Red ones, spotted ones, green ones, too
But the one little duck with the rocket on his back
He led the others with a
AHHHHH HEEELLLLP MEEEEEE!!! I'M GOING TO CRASH!!!! AHHHHHHHHH!


Pre-emptive apologies to folk singers around the world. Nothing is safe.

*Edited to fix whatever I did to that word. I have no idea how I managed that. I should never blog before two full pots of coffee. Ever.

Monday, March 14

Today was weird, but good.

To be honest, "weird, but good" works for me. If I can tally up a majority of these at the end of this life, I'm going to call it a stunning success.

James, Smidge and I got up early, ate yummy banana rice bread and yogurt, read some stories, flew through lessons, and were just finishing math when John (Mr. Up and Hungry By Five) stumbled downstairs. He looked around and said, "This is weird. I just got up and you're doing math."

He wanted to review phonograms and write them himself. (Yeah, twist my arm, there, kiddo. Just a little farther and I'll let you do extra math, too!) In all, it was a painless morning. We took our snack and giggled our way through Edward Lear's A Book of Nonsense.

Then the phone rang. It was Poor Wonderful Neighbor. She was covered in vomit and I could hear the miserable perpetrator in the background.

"So," says, I, "You're not going to be needing help with decluttering today, I take it?"

Wonderful neighbor snorted, "Yeah. No. Not touching the house today."

"Need us to take The Small One?"

"No, this is viral and is threatening to make the rounds."

"That's why I love you. If you do need anything, we can leave it on the doorstep, ok?"

She called later, looking for Popeye's coupons. We ran 'em down to her. Zorak said, "You know, you just can't beat having neighbors like that. Not only are they comfortable enough to call you for coupons to Popeye's, but they actually use coupons for Popeye's, and they know you do, too. They're just great. Can we take them with us?"

I'm trying. Believe me, I'm trying. If we could round up all the phenomenal people we've had for neighbors, or just have lived near, we'd live in the best city on the face of the planet!

The afternoon was gorgeous! I took the herd out back to paint and wade in the muck. John painted a lovely expose on acid rain, or the plague. Something like that. There was a dead body, that's about all I can tell from the painting. James painted some kind of lightning energy converter system... I was lost shortly after he began explaining it. Smidge only drank a little of the brush rinse water. In all, a great day.

And tomorrow, we get to do it again, only with new adventures! Life is wonderful, isn't it?

Kiss those babies!
~Dy

Sunday, March 13

Spring Frogs & Puppies & Bows, Oh my!

Um. Nevermind. That doesn't convey as well in print as it did when I sang it in my head.

Anyhow, Saturday was a lovely half-day. The latter half, mostly. The first half was spent in our perpetual struggle against our inner nature, attempting to get out of the house before, oh, say, Sunday. Anyway, once we got where we were going, it was absolutely wonderful!

M's mom and dad are... how to describe them? Well, I wish they would adopt the whole lot of us. They're just joyful and warm folks. They are so very good to the boys, and they make it impossible to feel like an outsider in their home.

M's daughter seemed to really like her bow, and although we did not get there early enough to see her shoot it, I'm counting on *ahem* pictures... soon... ok? Yeah. She has a natural bent for art, and drew for us a beautiful pencil sketch. It's really gorgeous, and we love it. The boys made me promise they could put it in the family room.

James and M's son, J, took off for the pond as soon as we said, "OK". It is really fun to watch two boys ramble down a hill like a couple of St. Bernard pups. The limbs, they go everywhere. I'm surprised James doesn't have more scratches on his face than he does, really. Yet, not a word of complaint. It was an adventure. They played at the edge of the pond, in the boat on the shore, and after I convinced James that the "screeching noise" he heard was actually frogs (M had to fill me in, first), James tried to find some in the dark. (Oh, James did get lost, but not really lost, just "I don't know where I am and am pretty sure this isn't the right way and where'd everyone else go" lost, when we were just around the bend. When the sound of a 60-pound rabbit crashing through the shurbs stopped emanating from the hill, I called out to him, to which he answered, "Um, I can hear you!" I tried to be supportive, but don't know if I pulled it off too well. We knew he was fine the whole time, and it's hard to look serious when you're trying not to laugh.)

It is also, might I add, such a treat to know that there are (yes, Virginia, there are!) other well-behaved, energetic, creative, funny little boys out there. *happy sigh* They hit the door, tore off their shoes and disappeared until hunger brought them from hiding.

I heard John was very sweet to the babies while I was gone. Ahhh, thank you, Sweet boy! (You know, you hope for the best, but you just never know how it's going to turn out...) BTW, M, John is now a "big fan" of baseball. It seems A got him into a baseball computer game downstairs and was very sweet and patient in explaining everything to John. John's in love with the idea now, and sure thinks A walks on water!

E was there with her family, and I was so glad. They are such fun, and I didn't have a chance to email and beg her to come beforehand, so that was a great bonus. It was neat to see Smidge and W interacting more this visit (they're both about 18-19 months old, so at Thanksgiving, they just sort of orbited one another a lot, each in his own little world- this visit was more interactive and "Hey, check you out!") Jacob thought it was absolutely wonderful to have another little guy to hang out with. Zorak got great shots of him and W roaming the great rolls of carpet and smiling from ear to ear.

We left late (though we hope not too late) and drove home with full bellies, happy thoughts, and three stone-cold little sleepers in the back seats. I really wish we lived closer so that we could coerce them to come our way once in a while, too. We do enjoy these folks.

Hope you're all having a lovely weekend! Kiss those babies!
~Dy