First Official SAHM BonBon Day

TOMORROW.  APRIL 15th.  TIME TO BE DETERMINED BY YOU!

History of this world-changing event:
There is a running joke amongst many full-time at home moms that we can't get around to doing things because it "might interfere with the time that sit on the couch watching daytime tv and eating bonbons".  The joke, obviously, being that those kinds of things are exactly what we don't have time to do.  But, there is this weird assumption that parents-at-home have a time freedom to do just those very kinds of things.

So, a sweet friend of mine and I got to emailing about this, and we had originally decided that April 1st needed to be our official SAHM BonBon day.  April Fool's Day and all that.  But something happened...  oh what was it, Susan?  Oh, I don't remember.  So, we decided to move it April 15th instead.

SO!  All "stay-at-home" parents - tomorrow is your day!!!  No, you can't sit around ALL day and eat bonbons.  At least not this year.  ha!  But you will take however long you can manage, and you will sit down, on your couch, with as many bonbons as your waistline can handle, and you will do just what the joke says you do during your day!!!  The laundry will wait, the dishes will wait, the windows will wait.  The email will wait, the world will wait.  By george, you WILL take 5 minutes to take a breath and enjoy that little treat.  Your lunch may have consisted of the leftovers from your kids' plates, but you will enjoy your treat that is just for you!

This is not about being selfish.  Official SAHM BonBon Day is not about being selfish or indulgent or anything like that.  It's about giving yourself a little thank you and for Taking The Time To Enjoy It.  And to remember that, just like the bonbons, this time in your life is going to be over before you know it.  And you will look back fondly on it and you will MISS IT.  Because you're not going to remember all the times that you did for others without anyone noticing.  Or all the times that you metaphorically took it on the chin so that someone else could benefit.  You're not going to remember all the times that you were on your hands and knees cleaning teetee off the floor or all the gazillion loads of laundry you folded.  You aren't going to remember constant barrage of others' needs that kept you from some of the needs of your own.

You're going to remember the sweetness and pureness of the young child.  You're going to remember the earnestness.  The hopefulness.  You're going to remember the times you laughed as a family.  You're going to remember the birthdays and the vacations.  You're going to remember the A's on tests and the big bear hugs and the sweet words of love.  You're going to remember the times of worship together and the times that you knew the Holy Spirit had filled your house to the very corners.

And you're going to miss it when those kids are gone and doing just what you taught them to do.  Live and exist on their own two feet.
BUT, to get to the missing it part, you've got to go through the other stuff that can be hard, and quite frankly, isn't much fun at all.

So let's have a little fun!  Let's do something that is fun and yummy and a treat and let's laugh a little bit and think about others doing what you're doing.  Let's have that sense of camaraderie that encourages us to get up and get at 'em again!  Go and have those coupla-three bonbons tomorrow.  It's YOUR day!  Let's not take ourselves quite so seriously, and let's have a little fun!

CELEBRATE!!!

(The vast majority of this post was written with a sniffly, teething, somewhat unhappy baby on my lap.  So if I didn't get my message across just perfectly, it's OK.  Eat the bonbons anyway!!!)  SMILE!!!

Ode To Easter

Nah. Actually, my poem composing skills aren't exactly what you would call "good". So this is more of a What We Did On Our Easter Weekend pictorial of sorts.

The weekend began on Friday with SueSue and Amy coming and getting the older two kids for a lunch at our favorite family Mexican restaurant and for a playdate in the park! No pictures of it, since Jmk and I were home with Lollypop. But based on the sand in their shoes, the smiles on their faces, and the pinkness in their cheeks, there was much fun had by the bigger Zoo Monkeys.

Saturday began with cousin Audrey coming over in the morning for some egg-dying activities.

Poodle - all about the color variety.

Tooter - Blue. Green. Done. Next.

Audrey - Pink pink and more pink, and they were fab. u. lous.

Lollypop was MUCH in love with Audrey's face. LP got all tickled every time she looked at her. Loved it!

We had some play time and lunch time and quiet time and nap time and then it was time for the fearless egg-hunters to commence their Easter Deeds. MooMoo, GaGa, and PopPop hid the multitude of eggs whilst the kiddies stayed in one of the bedrooms. Then the hunt was on!

There were many "I found one!" squeals from all over the soggy yard. (It rained the night before). But, at least it wasn't freezing cold!

After they found allllll the eggs, MooMoo said "Y'all want to do it again?" She might as well have said "Y'all want to continue to breathe and use your ears to hear?" HA! So we repeated the fun and frivolity.

Then, after many beautifully colored eggs had been found, once and twice, it was time for ICE CREAM. Yummo!

The wee'est one was napping throughout the Big Egg Hunt. But as all good children do, she woke up in time for ice cream.

Alas, Lollypop was teased mercilessly by her Daddy with a Drumstick. So not right, Daddy, so not right.

After much ice cream was consumed, the grandparents and Robert and Audrey slowly trickled home, and we let our brood work off the sugar high in the backyard.

Sunday morning included our trying to get the ubiquitous Family Shot That Puts Too Much Pressure On Everyone. Thank you Mommy.

I wasn't able to get pre-Easter shots of the kids in their clothes like I did last year. So, we'll do that hopefully soon now that the azaleas are finally blooming.

You know what, though - this picture may not be "perfect", but it's my family. And I sure do love looking at it!

And we love looking at The Baby. The Baby is so wonderful! :-)

There were "better" pictures of the kids from that morning. But I know in this one that they were all laughing at Daddy. He was doing the Easter Morning Crazy Daddy Dance in order to get them to all smile at the same time. It's an intricate dance. Takes much talent. Jmk is good at it.

And I can totally see Poodle's missing tooth, Tooter's gray tooth from where he banged into some stationary object being the boy that he is, and my Lollypop's precious sparkly-eyed smile.

Here we see the children in the moment just before the Easter Morning Crazy Daddy Dance had begun. You can see Poodle knows it's coming. This isn't her first rodeo.

We tried for another family shot when we got to the Club after church. But, you know, these family shots... they're just so forced on Easter. I do them because I really want them. But then I know they stress everyone out. But then we're all glad to have them when we look back on them. Rock and a hard place, and all that.

All in all, a lovely Easter weekend. It felt a little busy this year, for some reason. And I can't put my finger on exactly what that feeling came from. But, it was definitely nice to see everyone and watch the kids play together. Easter baskets made for much excitement Sunday morning and the kids enjoyed the Easter bunny and that clown fellow at the Club during lunch.

And from our sweet-potato faced littlest one - thank you for getting to the end of this REEE-ally long post! You must either be related to us, or you have a lot of patience in your heart! SMOOCHES to YOU!!!

Heh. Heh heh. Hmmm.

I will admit to being just enough of a geek that this interests me.  The best thing about it?  The oh-no-you-didn't-design-those-like-that booty pads!  Rock on Honda!

The commercial, however, is like the MAYOR of Goober Town.

How's It Going - SuuuuperMom!!!

"So, how's homeschooling going?  Are you just a total supermom?  Is that how you get it all done?"

Oh, bless your heart for thinking that about any of us'n moms who have stepped into this arena.  I guess I should just give a genteel smile, and lower my eyes coyly, and say, "aw shucks".  Let you go on believing in my super powers.

But, I'm not a-gonna.  'Cause if you were to walk in my house this very second, you'd wonder if we owned a vacuum cleaner.  There are overflowing laundry baskets and a kitchen that has "stuff" all over every counter space.  Pooh.  Most of the flat spaces in general have stuff all over them.  There are scads of unfinished projects here and there, and the yard still bears evidence that there was only one person last summer who could do any work in it.  (And only had time to get grass mowed, cause he was also having to pick up my slack in the house due to the rough pregnancy).

The windows bear handprints and we have a summer to-do list for the house that is a mile long.  I'm not all that sure when "spring cleaning" is going to happen.  I suspect it's not really going to happen.  We'll have spring turns into summer cleaning.  That sounds like a plan.  Sure.

I'm still hanging on to 10 lbs of baby weight from Lollypop, in addition to the 15 from the other two kids, that I can't seem to make time to lose through exercise.  They say 40 is the new 30.  Maybe they'll also say 25 lbs overweight is the new Hot Mama Size!

I don't make supper every night.  And more than often, these days, Jmk and I just get enough done for the kids to eat something decent for them, and he and I crash and do the least we can get away with for ourselves after they go to bed.

I don't have a garden or a weedless flower bed.  I'm very behind in my reading, and I can't seem to pick my knitting back up a'tall.  I don't really know how to sew.  And my kitchen is STILL red, even though Jmk and I really intend for it NOT to be that way anymore.

I tell you what.  If we were in the 1950's, I'd SO be the worst wife/mom EVAH!!!  Like, totally, Good Housekeeping would print my picture with the caption "Yeah - her?  Bad Housekeeping.  Bad!  Look away!"

BUT, dagnabbit, the eldest kid is getting learnt something every morning.  We make it to as many of the homeschool support group activities that we can work into our young-kid schedule.  For the most part, no one runs out of underwear.  (oh, yeah, it totally happens, but not ALL the time).  The kids are used to the question "so what vegetable do you want to go with your lunch/supper" and can actually answer it.  I get most of the emails answered and keep the bills paid.  I'm still nursing the sweet baby and even write a blog post from time to time.  And we, thanks to Jmk planting them a week'ish ago, have three baby blueberry bushes in the backyard!

You know, it's not a lot of stuff in a day.  But the day seems to be so busy anyway.  It has taken me forever just to write this one post, because of all the interruptions that happen around here.  On paper and at first glance, our world may not be up to 1950's standards.  But there's a lot more going on these days than happened in the '50's.  AND, on top of that, I'm learning to do something that at least half the time I don't have the confidence to do in the first place.  (oh, you thought the typical homeschooling parent was absolutely sure about what they were doing, did ya?)

Am I complaining right now?  Heck no.  In fact, in the past week, I've been coming to a slow realization about some things that I'm not ready to flesh out on the blog yet.  But these "things" are making me take a new look at myself, my parenting, my worshipping, my everything.  I'll have to do some talking about all this with my best sounding board, a.k.a. The Hubster, to get it all worked out in my head.  But in the process of this slow realization, I am also seeing all the things I do and don't do.  And I thought, hey, why not make a post about it.  I know that I used to think that homeschooling moms were just the perfect moms, and that's why they did it.

Well, no.  They're not.  And I'm not.  And I'm not GOING TO BE, either.  I'm just me.  I'm not super, and my kids get tired of me and I yell too much some days.  But as Charlotte Mason has said, "Education is an atmosphere, a discipline, a life".  All of those things are things that have to be continually adjusted and tweaked and improved.  They are never "just right" at any given point.  So when you show up at my house unexpectedly on some random Tuesday, and the house happens to be quite disheveled and the kids are outside playing in mismatched clothes (assuming they have on clothes and not their pj's), and I have no idea what's for supper...  I hope you'll just smile and know that we probably had a great day of school that day.
:-)

Wordless Wednesday

Ready or not...

My baby is going to grow up. Sigh...

And there's not a whole lot I can do about it, huh?

The removal of the tooth was kinda funny. It had been loose for weeks. But we don't pull them around here, on advice from the dentist. We just let them come out naturally.

Well... two kids on a trampoline playing tag sort of negated all of that this evening after supper. She comes in with eyes as big as saucers, and then she starts crying because she "wasn't ready". And then Tooter starts crying because he didn't mean to bump into her and make her tooth fall out. (And he probably thought he was in trouble, since he really doesn't understand the baby tooth/adult tooth thing!) And I ask him why he's crying and he cries even louder saying "I don't know!". (lol...) Bless both their hearts. After Jmk gave her the we-all-did-it-wet paper towel for her to bite up against the hole, and the bleeding ceased, she was fine and only slightly weirded out.

Anyway, the lisp is super cute, and I guess she's going to get more grown up teeth, now, huh? Sigh Again. It's just.... it's adult teeth. And I know that it's going to take away from the baby'ness of her face, because it's on top. And, just,.... pffllbbttt. Blugh blugh blugh. I better get my stuff together and start being happy in front of her about the tooth thing so she can be excited without me sucking all the fun out of the room! :-)

Oh No She DIDN'T

Sister girl got caught trying to stand up whilst I was transferring clothes from the washer to the dryer this morning.  Good gravy!

Seven Months

Happy Seven Months my sweet baby!!!

Let's see... what wondermous things have you been up to in the past month.  Well, I guess the big thing is that you have started trying "real" baby food.  Rice cereal was easy, of course, as was applesauce.  (Although your crazy mommy forgot and did applesauce first instead of rice cereal.)  At first you weren't crazy about sweet potatoes or squash.  (Oddly enough, yellow squash was a total fail!)  Although just yesterday (your actual 7 month birthday), you ate almost a whole cube of sweet potatoes without grimacing.  I guess your MooMoo was right.  I just needed to back off of everything but applesauce until you were ready!  And, I'm making your baby food like I did with Poodle and Tooter.  It's been fun reminiscing about those early baby food days with them.

You've started "talking"!  All kinds of babbling.  Dah-dah-dah-dah's all over the place.  Lot's of ba-ba-ba-ba's.  And you make this sweet, funny gargling sound.  We get that one a lot when you're super tired and you are trying to be in a good mood.  It's sort of the warning shot for us.  We know we've got about 5-10 minutes after you start making that noise before you begin the meltdown into being over-tired.

You are sitting up like a champ now!  You've already been rolling over and over everywhere, so the sitting up is a cool new trick for you.  You haven't tried to truly crawl yet.  But you will occasionally push yourself backwards when you're on your tummy.  Ha!

I do believe you are pretty close to cutting those first two bottom teeth.  You are definitely uncomfortable at times, and late afternoon/early evening (when you're tired) is the hardest time for you.  We're doing all the regular things to help you, but experience reminds us that the only real fix is having the teeth actually come in.  And they will.  Teething is such a short time comparatively.

You still light up like a lightning bug when Daddy gets home from work.  Your eyes actually get more sparkly when you see him.

You still think driving in the dark is the equivalent of having your fingernails pulled out, apparently.  Do NOT care for it at all.  But, in your usual sweet-tempered manner, you can almost always be consoled if Mommy sits in the back with you.  It's when I can't be back there that driving home when it's dark outside is super hard to do.

Your naps are getting more of a pattern to them, but there are still days that they can be super short and somewhat varied.  You are still pretty understanding when your naps get interrupted by life, and I'm so grateful to have your easy-going attitude.  I just hope I can remember to give you the grace and mercy you give me when I have prevented you from sleeping because of others' schedules.

Oh, my sweet heart.  Have I told you how good you smell when you get out of the bathtub?  And how glorious your smile is in the morning?  And how lucky you are to have a brother and sister who love you so, so much?  Have I told you how you melt your MooMoo's heart into a puddle, and how you make your GaGa laugh with joy?  How you smile so big when PopPop grins at you?  And how you love getting all your kisses from SueSue?

You are our lovebug, Lollypop!!!  Happy Seven Months!!!

If you have a problem with the video, let me know!

6 Month photo session for Lollypop

Yes - I took these!  Noooo - I'm not trying to get a photography business started.  (Wait.  That WAS going to be your next question, right?  You were thinking that these were such brilliant photos that surely I was about to hang up a shingle and snap pics for moolah, huh?  Weren't you?  Huh?)

The Money Shot

What good is doing your own portraits if you can't get one of your baby giggling, I ask you?

Ah, my love.  :-)

Yes, a baby in a tutu.  Yes, it's been done.  I know.

But it's a tutu, people!  I mean...  it's so cute!

Okay.  Now, normally, I'm really not the biggest fan of the over-propped portraits.  Like this one.

But I had to do it.  I don't know what came over me!  I just had to make a little flower garden out of my little flower.

Anybody hungry?  Delicious fat baby legs right here!

More squishy deliciousness.

And a few more of these photos will be uploaded to Kodak later for family who might want to order some.  Or just to look at all of them.  I've put the best ones here, though.  Except for the one of her monogrammed tushy!

How's It Going - RRR

How's homeschooling going? What is Poodle actually doing in school?

A lot of times, this is the question people want to know. Does she do what others her age are doing in "regular" school?

(Side Bar: from time to time, you may catch me saying "outside" school, instead of "regular" school. I got that phraseology from my church friend, Karen, who used that with her kids when they were younger. I didn't want to say normal school or regular school to Poodle, because who wants to think that their education is somehow odd or not normal, you know?)

Back to the original question - I can tell you what she's doing, but I can't tell you if it's the same thing as what she would get at ABC Elementary School. I mean, I know she's not doing what she would be doing if she were in the regular school system, because she would have been in Kindergarten this year due to her late birthday. And, obviously, she's doing work that is past the Kindergarten level. But is she doing full on first grade work? That's what I don't really know. Because I don't know what qualifies as first grade work!

We read a Bible story every day. We read a poem every day. (Currently reading from A.A. Milne's When We Were Very Young). Our history involves reading good living books. We're currently reading Pocahontas by Ingri and Edgar Parin d'Aulaire. But I'm beginning to see that history, at this age, needs to really be more of a broad stroke of a subject. I think I've spent too much of this year thinking we needed to be more detailed than we were being. And spent too much time stressing about it, as usual!

Geography is also being handled by a living book. Paddle-To-The-Sea by Holling C. Holling. Science is supposed to be handled by Nature Study right now. Here is where I'm lacking, because I have not been getting her out every week with Nature Study as our focus. The weather and the baby have thrown us for a loop there. While I totally agree with the Charlotte Mason approach to learning about the scientific/natural world through this method when the children are young, I have decided that we also need some actual science books to help jumpstart us (read: jumpstart me). I'm looking into Apologia, but I need to know that they will pass the "living books" test well enough to go along with what we already do.

We do Math every day (here's a pic of the test that she had today, so that gives you an idea of what she's doing for math). She practices handwriting every day. She reads aloud to me every day. (We're currently reading a Junie B. Jones book, but the cutsie, and incorrect, 5-year-old grammar in it is driving me crazy).

Yeah, she actually missed #14. I graded that in a big hurry with a sleepy, fussy baby in my arms. Whoops! She figured out the correct answer quickly once I caught this.

Is she doing first grade work? Again, I have no idea. I think that she's probably average with her spelling and average with her word recognition as she reads aloud, but I genuinely am not sure. I know her comprehension is good, because she narrates to me when I read to her. (Not every time, but we do at least one narration a day so that she gets practice with not just comprehension but also with communicating that comprehension).

There is a very active part of me that wants to KNOW that she is on par with her first grade counterparts. Via some sort of test or evaluation or something-or-other. But, that's one of those hang-ups that I try to not to indulge. I will likely have her take the the Stanford Achievement Test eventually, just to satisfy my and Jmk's curiosity. In a year or two. Maybe. (Nothing like having a solid plan, eh?)

This is genuinely one of the harder things for me about a home education. Except for Math, nothing else can really be "graded" in the traditional sense. Add to that, the general course of curriculum that I use with her tends to not have a lot of worksheet "busy work" that might otherwise give me something concrete to hold in my hands. Plus, again, I don't have someone else telling me how she's doing. I have to trust that I'm doing the right things with her.

It's a pickle. And I know that I've only sort of answered that original question. Hey - if you're a first grade teacher and want to come to my house and reassure me that she's just doing swimmingly, come on ov-ah! :-)

Lasternight

This is more for Jmk and me; this is one of Tooter's "Tooterisms" he has developed lately.  Every time he and I bring it up to each other, we never can remember if it's "lasterday" or "lasternight".

He just said it, and I knew I had to get it down quickly before I up and forgot it again!

How's It Going - Oh, baby!

"So, how's Homeschooling going?  How are you handling having a new baby?"

Hold on...  I just need to answer this one other question about how long a piece of string is...  one sec....
okay.  Done.

Now, how are handling it with a new baby?  Yeah, you probably see where I'm going with this one.  There are countless blog entries, website suggestions, probably even books with information about how to handle a home education situation when you have a newborn and/or smaller children.  Which goes to show that there is genuinely no one-size-fits-all solution to the challenges.

For example, today, since Lollypop woke up early when the other kids did, she's still playing.  And, within the next 30 minutes or so (from this minute that I'm typing this - it may not get finished and posted for awhile!), she'll likely want to go down for a nap.  That's when Poodle and I will get started on our lessons. Whether or not we get to finish "in peace" depends on:
~~how long Lollypop sleeps
~~how interested Tooter is in being a part of it
~~how quickly I can get Poodle to quit playing Alice in Wonderland and focus
~~whether or not we find ourselves chasing a rabbit trail because of something we read

And that's just today.  Everyone is in a pretty decent mood today.  There are days when one or more of us are tired and/or cranky.  There are days when I'm trying to read to Poodle while Lollypop fidgets on my lap and Tooter crashes his dinosaurs into each other; my brain is so full of distraction and noise that I quite literally feel my blood pressure rising as I sit.  Then there are days where Lollypop will take a brilliant two hour nap and Poodle and I get everything finished while Tooter quietly does his "lessons" at the same time.  (He likes to practice drawing letters on a dry-erase booklet that I found at Walmart.  He is SO not doing real "school stuff").

There are days where I get half-way through with things, realize that Poodle and I are totally at odds with each other, and I just stop.  Just plain stop.

You can see that every day is different and has its own "routine".  That original question up top there gets a different answer every day.

I'm one of those people who actually finds database entry a calming thing.  Seriously.  I like predictability and the status quo.  (Maybe not ALL the time, but I do find comfort in the same ole-same ole).  So, having to approach each day with a "here's what we have to do, but I don't have a actual method to complete it, because I don't know exactly what the day will bring" mentality is really hard for me.  Some folks bloom in that environment.  Me - I'm having to learn about flexibility and creativity.  I'm not that great at it, that's for sure!  And, it's probably a cause of stress for me that I don't quickly realize at times.  Eh - who knows.

It's a trade-off.  I'm not having to get kids dressed, fed, and out the door to the school bus by 7:15am.  (I think that's when the elementary kids get picked up around here.  It may be earlier).  That, just like what we do, takes flexibility and creativity also!

Yeah, things are crazy over here most of the time.  How do we handle it with the new baby?  We just go with the crazy flow and try not to drown!

How's It Going - Friends

A couple of months ago, I was asked by an acquaintence, "So, how's homeschooling going?"

Hmmm.

This person meant nothing more than the very question she was asking.  She wasn't trying to express her opinion.  She simply wanted to know how it was going.  How nice!  So what was my answer?

"Good!"  And it was said with a big smile.

Because deep down, I knew she was actually seeking someThing, but I doubt she knew any more than I did what that elusive information was.  Most people who ask me that question these days really would rather say "So, how's homeschooling going?  How are you handling _______?"  And it's that blank line that they actually want filled with a response.  But everyone wants to know something different.

So, because I'm sure you are all spending your very busy days thinking about ME and MY family, I will offer some thoughts on how homeschooling is actually going in certain areas.  Thoughts, feelings, new ideas, etc.  That sort of thing.  I'm not going to promise anything on a regular schedule - just as "things" come to me.

Today's thoughts are trending towards the social aspect of homeschooling.  I was discussing this very thing with the editor of our county newspaper after our Junior Miss program for which I still do Production.  He was plainly confused as to why I, someone who genuinely enjoyed "regular" school when I was in it and who lives in such a good public school district with top-notch teachers from kindergarten all the way through high school, would be homeschooling my kids for now.  He was quite disturbed that HS'd kids would miss out on the necessary social interactions that help them learn how to be people-in-the-world.  I mean, homeschoolers never get out of the house except to go to church.

:-)  I know.  Believe me, I thought the same thing barely 3 years ago.  Since that time, I have had discussions with Jmk about how hard it is to NOT do some of the school activities that are available, because I feel like we ought to do everything.  But it's hard to get lessons done when we're always on the go.  Besides, getting the baby and the 4yo boy out and occupied while the eldest does her thing....  and blah blah blah...  Point being - there's all kinds of "social" going on.  Seriously, you'd be surprised how busy HS support groups are these days!  And, it's a blessing.  It really is.

And, yes, these kids also get "playground politics" time as well.  Poodle even has her very own BFF who I just adore (and whose mom has become a precious friend as well).  But these playground politics are what were on my mind when I was talking with the aforementioned newspaper editor.

We'll set playdates at playgrounds.  And the kids will run amok and do the things that kids do.  They will argue and play and invent and get sad and jump for joy and get hurt feelings and sometimes get mean and often make new friends.  They will learn to navigate the in's and out's of social interaction the same way all children do.  However, the biggest difference is...

...we have to watch most of it happen.

Now, when our dear, precious offspring are playing nicely and being sweet and acting in a way that would make a White Gloves and Party Manners instructor smile in approval, well, we moms go home happy and elated and full of sunshine in our hearts.  But there are Those Days, when the same dear, precious offspring seem to have swallowed a cranky and bossy pill.  And then we get to watch them leave someone out of a "girls meeting" at the top of the climby thing at the far end of the playground.  That makes us go home without that heart-sunshine, to say the very least.  Oh, the disappointment we feel.

Equally bad are the days where we have to watch our little ones BE the ones getting left out or being told that they can't play something-or-other.

But we know that all of these things are a part of social life.  The good and the bad.  We know they are a part of learning empathy and learning about themselves.  It's difficult to watch sometimes, and sometimes it's elevating.  Mountains and valleys.  Just for a playdate.  It's emotionally tough, but that's one of the prices that need to be paid when one chooses to homeschool.

So, if you're wondering how homeschooling is going with regard to the social aspect of the whole thing...
I can honestly say that we're busy.  And the rest of my answer changes from playdate to playdate.  :-)  I'll let you know after our next outing to the playground.

Six Months

Happy 1/2 Year Birthday Lollipop!

Big, squeezy, cuddly hugs to you.  What a journey so far...  watching you grow, watching you become, watching you BE.  You are so sweet, so fun, so long-suffering.  Poodle is comforting to you, and you trust her.  She makes you laugh, she makes you happy.  Tooter is your buddy.  You still like to sit on Daddy's chair with him and watch a few minutes of a movie.  You love his face and his smile, and oh, he loves yours!  They both still want to come in and snuggle with you in Mommy and Daddy's bed in the mornings.  They listen for you to make sounds over the monitor and at the first wee inkling of a noise, they are waiting for me to say it's okay to go back and see you.

Rolling... rolling... rolling...  You are rolling around everywhere.  Back to front, front to back.  In fact, you rolled from your back to front at church!  On a table.  In the lunchroom.  On a Thursday night during a special meeting.  Eh, whatever works!  I didn't even really see it the first time.  MooMoo and GaGa were there letting you play on the table after they had finished eating.  But I caught you on the phone camera the 2nd time you did it.  And now, I set you on the floor and you just roll over and over like the old dog Rover to go get a toy or grab at something the older kids are playing with.  I'll be holding you, and you will literally reach for the floor so as to tell me that you want to be put down to play.

You are beginning to develop a schedule.  Your first nap of the day is your best one, and you want to take 2-3 more short ones during the day before you go down for the night around 6:30 to 7:00.  I have exactly started feeding you solids yet, because quite frankly, I don't want to admit that it's already time for that.  But, after I get through typing this, I'm going to start peeling apples to make your first applesauce.  It's time.  And you're ready.  And it's okay.  sigh....

To be honest, you've actually had a bit of food already.  This past Saturday night, while we were having a little David-and-Leah-are-here party, we let you try a little bit of smashed banana.  Audrey didn't finish all of hers, and so we let you eat a bit off of Daddy's finger, and then a spoon.  You pretty much grabbed the spoon from Daddy's hand as soon as you figured out what was going on.  Apparently, bananas=yummy.  Not that bananas are supposed to be your first food.  But, you didn't have that much.  And you did love it!

Oh, the shine in your eyes and the smile on your face when Daddy walks through the door after work.  Oh, how you love his voice.  How you love him to tickle you and kiss you and give you his great big smile.  You can be sleeping and hear his voice when he comes in, and you are instantly waking yourself up so you can share in the attention.

You've experienced a real snow!  On the 12th of this month, we had a sho'nuff snow"storm" that gave us some actual snowball-throwin', snowman building, covered everything type of snow fall.  It was gorgeous!  You didn't stay out in it for very long.  Just long enough to get your picture taken with the snowman, and then back inside you went.

You're still a smiley, happy, giggly, good-natured sort of girl.  Very curious and very much wanting to touch everything and put everything in your mouth.  Your eye-tracking is getting better and your grasp is improving every day.  I have begun to have to relearn how to not just do things one-handed, but do them one handed about 2 feet away from me so you can't grab onto something that will hurt you.  ha!

You genuinely like people.  You like being around them and looking at them.  I will admit that you aren't as quick to go to new people as you were a few months ago.  But, as of a couple of weeks ago, you discovered the power of holding your arms out to people.  So, you actually are more aware of where you are and who you are with.  And as it is with most babies, you like the status quo!

And, I will admit that you are quite attached to Mommy.  :-)  And by george, I love it.  I love being your mother.  And Tooter's mother.  And Poodle's mother.  I'm so blessed to have this gift of children inside of such a wonderful marriage.  As undeserving as I am, the blessing was still given to me.

To paraphrase Mr. Randy Travis,

We love you deeper than the holler, stronger than the rivers

Higher than the pine trees growin' tall upon the hill

Our love for you is purer than the snowflakes that fall in late December

And honest as a robin on a springtime window sill.

And we'll love you longer than the song of a Whippoorwill.

God bless you, precious child.  May He always keep you close to Him as you go through this life!

Conversations with Tooter

Scene:
Tooter is chasing Poodle around the house with a plastic frog that was unearthed in a recent clean-up-cause-company-is-coming event.  Poodle is playing along and pretending to be scared until she finally gets bored with the whole thing and wishes to be left alone so she can go cook some pretend food for our coming guest.

Poodle:
Mooooooommeeeeeeeee!  Make him stop!

Me:
Tooter, stop bugging your sister.

Tooter:
Okay Mommy!  I'll bug YOU!!!

(yes - completely unrelated picture to the above story.  I just wanted to share it, cause she's so squishy and cute!)

Ocho Anos

And some days it feels like I don't remember a time that I didn't know him.  He is the man that I always wanted, but wasn't supposed to meet until a bit later in my life.  He's the one who can make me laugh.  The one who understands me so well.  The one who always brings me back to sanity.
He is the one who loves me anyway.

We won't go out to a nice dinner tonight, because we're still trying to recuperate from this cold/flu that has gone around our house.  Twice in two weeks, it feels like.  (Drama much?)  And a quiet night at home, for us, is gold right now.  Well, as quiet as it gets when you have three small children.  But you know what I mean.

Honey, thank you for always being the best man you can be for me and for our family.  Thank you for giving so much to us and for always putting us first.  I love you completely and totally, and I know without any doubt that marrying you eight years ago was the smartest thing I've ever done.

And the happiest.

And I love you so very much!

Happy Anniversary my dearest.

Oh, blogging...

How I miss thee.  How I miss having time to share all those cute little things the kids say and do, because when I don't get them down somewhere, I usually end up asking jmk "who did this" and "which one did that?"  Sad thing is, that at 6, 4, and 5 months, I really ought to be able to remember.

Ah, but that time will come again, I hope.  Time to get thoughts and memories down in one place.  Time to go read all those other blogs that I enjoy perusing.  Time to take long, hot bubble baths at night.
Thought I'd slip that last one in while I was thinking out loud.  ::grin::

Since I had to get pictures off the camera for a specific reason, I was able to share this one.  I love these people.  And now, time to change the sweet baby!