I'm a Tennis Mom! (with lipstick) ::wink::

No, seriously, for the next 6 weeks, I get to be a tennis mom! Thanks to MooMoo and GaGa and their birthday gift to Poodle.

And, oh, how excited is she to be able to do this. She started yesterday and had a blast! It was so cute and so fun to watch her - and that was just me. I don't play tennis. I mean, no, I will play tennis. Believe me, I wish I was better at it. I just never really pursued it. But, Jmk, however, got really into tennis in college, and he was really pumped for Poodle to be able to do this. He must have taken 50 pictures of her during the 45 minute lesson. No exaggeration. And he left work early so he could watch her. It was cool.


Tooter occupied himself by playing with a stray ball in the grass for awhile. Then, he decided to come toddle after me, and fell down, subsequently scraping his knees up. Thusly requiring a Mommy intervention to take him away from the courts so as not to distract the 3 classes going at the same time.

I wished I could have been a fly on the wall of Mom's mind for just a minute to see what she was thinking. All the years of sitting and watching/waiting during swimming lessons and ballet lessons and music lessons and soccer lessons and on and on and all the games, meets, performances, et al that go along with that...... And here she was doing it all over again with her grandaughter. It was neat.





So, of course, I know you're ready to see some action shots! (Especially SueSue - who is quite the tennis player herself.)

We have a forehand demonstration here.
:-)


What style..... what grace..... what a cute outfit.
lol.... actually, the outfit was something that Jmk and I got her for her birthday last year. Who would have thought!





Now, we see a good backhand with nice contact. As you can see, the two other little boys in her class are astounded and amazed at her natural tennis'ness.
;-)

And then, of course, a power backhand shot showing just how much she was putting into her game yesterday.  Click on the picture and look at the face of the little boy in the blue shirt.  lol.....

:-D

In all seriousness, she did a great job - but mostly, she had a great time. And that is all I'm concerned about at 4-almost-5 years old.

And, what did she do after each good shot that she made? (And even some of the ones that landed squarely into the net?

Why - Big Thumbs Up To Daddy! Each and every time. :-)

You just go, you little tennis girl.

Bye Bye Claire!

Tooter has been officially discharged from speech therapy!

He went from significantly below his age range for expressive and receptive language in March and 6 months later is now estimated to be at a 38-41 months level for his language skills.  :-)  Yay!  I still maintain that he processes language in a unique way, and maybe he always will.  But, then, I'm sort of hyper-aware of learning styles right now, so I admit that I may be imagining things that aren't there.

Anyway, we are going to miss Claire.  She connected well with Tooter from the beginning.  And now, when I say "Claire's here", he (and Poodle too, for that matter) come running to the door yelling "Miss Claire's here!  Miss Claire's here!"  She has been wonderful, and we are grateful that we were able to work with such a sweet, smart person.  On one hand, it is nice to be able to remove something from the calendar.  But, I'm going to miss visiting with her.  Watching Toot interact with someone else.  Getting verbal confirmation from an expert about his progress.  Getting new ideas about things I can do to help him continue to progress.
 
But, like she said, he was probably able to be discharged about a month ago.  But she didn't want to quit coming.  And I didn't want her to quit coming.  However, she has gotten a new position with a local children's hospital, and this was going to be her last week with us anyway.  It was a good time for us to move on and be grateful for this time in our lives.  We had a "discharge party" today and the kids both made her some presents.

Thanks Claire - we loved seeing you every week!!!  You've made a difference - you really have.  :-)

Today was Potty Day!!! Don't ask how it went......

Okay, I'll tell you anyway.

Wait.  Let me back up.  Tooter, our dear boy, is pushing 3 years old.  (Turns 3 in November).  He has shown almost zero signs of being ready to potty train.  Seriously - if you look at one of those lists on the various generic parental information sites regarding "signs for potty training readiness", Tooter really only exhibits one, maybe two, of them.  I mean, considering he only recently started saying "diaper", I shouldn't be terribly surprised.  I really think there has to be a link between an ability to process language on a higher level and being ready to climb up onto a toilet and take care of things.  No one has actually TOLD me that, but think about it - the process of realizing that hearing Mommy say "let's use the potty" and realizing that it means that we're going to go to the potty and practice sitting on it doesn't always come quickly to a little person who is "delayed" in his receptive (not to mention expressive) language skills.

Well, regardless of whether or not that's true, Tooter's language skills have gotten better.  So much better, in fact, that this coming Monday will be his last speech therapy session.  He is being discharged after Monday!  (Yay!)  And, he can say diaper.  He can handle pants and shorts.  And climbing up onto and down from the potty.  Heck, I realized today that he can even take the potty seat on and off by himself.  This is one of those "click-in" seats that I couldn't even work without frustration, and HE showed me how to do it.  (MAN, did I feel dumb at that point).  Here's the thing.  Being wet doesn't bother him.  Heck, most of the time, being dirty doesn't bother him.  I'm not kidding.  It doesn't bode well for his "readiness" to train, but I had to see if we could jump start him.

So, today was Potty Day.  This morning, when he got up and got his pj's changed, we put him in big boy shorts.  Not pull ups.  Big boy shorts.  Before anyone thinks that I think that he was going to immediately use the potty right away, I didn't.  Pull-ups can be more comfortable than you think.  I needed him to be in something that would be totally uncomfortable when he had an accident.

::exhale::  Well.....  he did.  All day.  Here's the thing - we could get him to cooperate with us to sit on the potty, but not for more than 3-5 minutes.  (Up to this point, I was doing great to get him to sit still for more than 2 minutes.  He just does not like being on the potty for some reason).  He didn't WANT to go sit on the potty, but was cooperating with us at first.  He wasn't using the potty - no way, Jose.  But, he'd sit up there.  Then, he'd get down, put his shorts back on, and 5 minutes later, have an accident.  First, he didn't notice the accident.  Then, he'd acknowledge he'd had one if you asked him.  Later in the morning, he'd tell Jmk right after it happened.  (We are putting him on the potty every 20-3o minutes, in case you were wondering).  By just after lunch, we caught him grabbing himself, and we both said - "let's go to the potty!"  And, we rushed him to the potty.  And he melted down.  We startled him..., he didn't want to use the potty..., he was crying..., asking for a diaper..., I was trying to hold ou...t, I tried to hold HIM to call him down..., he was holding himself and leaking on my legs..., he was screaming-crying......  it got worse.  It was absolutely pitiful and I think I broke every rule in the potty-training book.  Poor Jmk was just trying to do what I needed him to do even though I had NO idea what that was.  I finally gave in, brought a diaper to the dear little boy, held him until he quit sobbing, rocked him, and put him down for a nap.  That was the end of Potty Day.


It was the longest morning........  we hyper focused on him all morning trying to see if we could flip a switch in his head only to find out that the switch isn't ready to be flipped.  It just isn't.  You have to understand that we were spoiled with Poodle.  She practically trained herself, and I'm really not kidding.  She told me she wanted to go potty.  She was always wanting to practice on the potty.  She took her dolls and stuffed animals to go potty.  She helped me go potty.  ::groan::  I didn't try to get her to do any of it.  She was out of diapers before she was two, regressed just before Toot was born, and I had her retrained in a couple of days.  (Of course, that was after getting some advice from Leigh Ann, and it was 3 or 4 months later, but please - I had a newborn to deal with first).  So, to have this little man who is so vehemently opposed to the idea of it all is new to us.

So, now, we'll back up and punt.  Go at this little by little - more gently.  Slowly.  I'm really not worried that he's so late in training, but I was really hoping that today would be a magic starting point.  It was one of the last weekends for awhile that both Jmk and I would be home for an entire Saturday without anything else to do.  And I just had these grandiose ideas that today would be the top of the proverbial hill - and that we would be traversing downward from here.  And, I'll be honest, my ability to think about potty training him and schooling Poodle at the same time isn't the strongest in the world.  And school wins out. 


Ehhh.  It'll come.  My little guy is just starting to really talk for the first time.  Words, wonderful words, have just started to really come from him.  The rest of it will come too.  Like I tell my kids, time to press the patient button.

The Zoo Goes To The Circus

As a birthday present to GaGa, MooMoo got tickets for the whole group of us yahoo's to go to see the Ringling Bros/Barnum and Bailey Circus! Unfortuntely, Robert, Jaime, and Audrey couldn't be there.... but, that meant that we had an extra ticket for SueSue to go also. Bonus!


David was also able to come, and he was so sweet to the kids. Bought them cotton candy, hats, and cool snowcones - one in an elephant and one in a white tiger. (the animals featured during the show).

We arrived about an hour early, and were able to participate in pre-show activities with the performers. Tooter swung on the trapeeze, and even though I didn't get a shot of the grin on his face while he was swinging.....

This shows just how pleased he was with the whole experience. ;-)

Poodle hung out around the center ring and watched all sorts of performers - I think her favorite was watching the "ballet dancer" who climbed up the single rope and did Cirque du Soleil-type manuevers. Poodle's mouth dropped to her knees as the lady pulled herself up the rope, and she continued to stay amazed until the acrobat finished. However, Poodle got to actually participate with the acrobats who did the jump-rope tricks. She loved it!
And she got out there just in time - right after she finished, they sent everyone to their seats so they could get the show started. (I think SueSue encouraged her to get out there - thank you for that!)

We had a GREAT time. It had been years and years since either Jmk or I had been to the circus, and honestly, I wasn't sure what to expect. I had visions of 14 clowns riding in cars and that kind of thing (and let's face it, clowns can be creepy sometimes). But it wasn't that at all. It was so great! The kids loved it and they spent the whole time bouncing from one grandparent to another (with a little time spent on Mom and Dad's laps as well).

But, you know, even as exciting as the circus is, if you're 2 1/2 and you're used to taking naps, and you don't GET a nap that day, and it's dark and there's music playing.......... well, poor Tooter got a little sleepy just before the intermission. He asked for his passie which was our first sign that he couldn't fight the heavy eyes any more. And I just didn't want to fight the power, as it were. BUT, then they trotted out three huge elephants, and they saved the Tooter!!! Oooohhhh - the elephants. Once he saw the elephants, he was all over staying awake at that point. He crawled out of my lap, into SueSue's, checked to make sure MooMoo and GaGa saw that there were ::gasp:: ELEPHANTS out there, and he was wide awake! lol...... it was so cute.


Oh, it was a good time. MooMoo - thank you so much for arranging all that for us. Seriously, that was really wonderful and a really special time. I'm so glad that we got to go!!!


We got about 10 minutes from the Coliseum and this is what the kids looked like. :-) It had been a long, exciting day.

From the Zoo to MooMoo and GaGa - here's a happy dance to say thank you!!!

GaGa's Day!

Today is my dad's birthday (Happy Birthday again GaGa!), and we went out to eat this past Friday at the Elite to celebrate his upcoming day.  

I'm not entirely sure what was happening here in this picture, although it appears to be some form of the Squish-Your-Brother game that has become so highly popular in smaller European communities.

On Saturday, a good group of "us" went to see the circus!!!  While I'm trying to find the time to get pictures up of this mucho fun event, I wanted to show GaGa that Poodle really was the one who designed and decorated his cupcakes.  She even picked out the colors.  ::grin::

Of course, she had the proper grown-up help with the baking of the cupcakes and with the application of the crumb coat of the icing.  But the cupcake bling was all her doing.

The birth of this idea was this conversation:
"I want to make something special for GaGa".
"He loves when you make him pictures".
"No that's not special enough".
"Ummm......  I don't know - cupcakes?"
(internal groan.  I, too late, realize what I just committed myself to).
"Ooooh!  Yes - cupcakes!  And they can have purple icing with orange stripes, and Mommy, I'll do the icing for GaGa's cupcakes.  Yay cupcakes!"


And MooMoo and GaGa ate the cupcakes despite the copious amounts of sugar on top.  Grandparents are beautiful things!

There is a reason I'm daft.....

Poodle:  "Two, Four, Six, Eight, Ten.....  I'm skip counting".  (said to herself as she was playing with math blocks)

Me:  "Honey - say that again?"

Poodle:  "Two, Four, Six, Eight, Ten!"

Me:  "Mmm, mmm, mmm.  You are something else".

Poodle:  "No, I'm not!"

Me:  "Honey, that's a compliment".

Poodle:  "No, that was skip counting!"


Yeh......  bu.....  I......  ::exhale::  My brain hurts.

For All Women (and the men who love them)

This is a link to a news report from Seattle (I think) on something called Inflammatory Breast Cancer (IBC, for short). If you haven't heard of this, then welcome to the club. I hadn't either. Something telling that was reported in this segment is this: Most women haven't heard of IBC. And, while doctors learn about IBC in medical school, many of them have never seen a case of it.

Knowledge is good. Give yourself a few minutes to watch this.

Granny's Latest Digs

For the past 4 years, my grandmother (the one who turned 100 in February) has been living with my folks at their house.  However, on their recent trip overseas, Granny moved into an assisted living facility that is some distance away from us, and is close to Mom's youngest brother.  I know there are many of our church family who would like to see where Granny is living now, along with some family-family, so I'm going to post a bunch of pictures to that end.

For now, Granny is going to stay put, as it were, since this is such a nice place.  Everyone involved takes decisions one at a time, and there is nothing saying that she will be there forever.  Nothing saying that she won't.  However, this was our first chance to go see her, since it is a 10 hour round trip by car.  Really, it's a 13 hour round trip, because with kids, you have to stop at least once on the way.  But, the kids, my mom and I made the journey this week (left early Tuesday, came back late on Wednesday) so that we could see her and see where she was living.  I'll admit that it was a tough trip to get so little visiting time.  But, we'll know what is involved next time we go, and we'll plan accordingly.
 




Anyway!  Here is a picture of the front of the home.  Nice big porch with plenty of comfy rocking chairs.  Make no mistake, there are plenty of hens out there in the afternoon jawing about life in general. 

This shows Mom and Tommy going in the front door. 

The second day we were there, we walked in that morning to see Granny in the common area at an exercise class!  The residents are by no means required to do this, but Granny is fairly affable when it comes to doing as she is "told" to do, so she just goes and does what she can from the wheelchair.  She can't hear (or see, for that matter) the teacher give the instructions, so she watches what her neighbors are doing, and then mimics them.


She does a great job!

This shows the entire dining room of the common area.  The residents all have their own table and place cards at their table.  The food smells so good when it's cooking, and it's served on real plates with real silverware, etc.  There is a lot of respect for the residents there.

The aforementioned common area also has a nice lounging area for the residents and guests.  I didn't get a good picture of it, but off to the left, you can see some open double doors to another interior room.  That is the library/game room.  They have a wall of books, and have some game tables out with a large checkerboard already set up.  And a closet full of board games.  Mom wishes there was a special Scrabble game that she could send for Granny.  Granny just can't see (or hear) well enough to play any more, and I don't think they make one that would accommodate her needs.







 


There is also a lovely piano in the common area that the kids found interesting and frustrating.  Interesting because it is a piano.  Frustrating, because Mommy wouldn't let them tickle the keys.  Tough life for them.

Those other double doors lead to a more private sitting area.  I'm not sure exactly what its specified purpose is, but I'm sure it's useful.



   

 




And, then, you'll also find all the mail baskets on the wall in the common area next to the front doors.







Here is a not-that-great picture of Granny's room.  She has the wonderful bay window that has two lovely trees right outside of it.  She is set up with her own furniture from her house, and Tommy has put a nice big t.v. in there so Granny can watch her Fox News.  (Mom and Dad sent her t.v. "ears" with her.  It's the only way she can hear the t.v.).


I'm standing in the hallway that holds an extra storage closet and a large private bathroom that is handicap accessible.  The employees who we met while we were there all seemed so nice and competent.  And even though they probably do more nursing with Granny than they do with most of the residents, they are kind and patient with her.  She might not normally be allowed in an assisted living home since she is pretty much wheelchair bound now.  But Tommy is friends with the director.  It's why Mom can stand to have Granny so far away.  There is one important thing (to me) that I noticed right away.  There is carpet everywhere.  In the common area.  In the dining room.  In the hallways.  In the rooms.  There is something about having carpet on a floor instead of cafeteria grade VCT type tiles.  It gives a warmth to the environment that keeps it from feeling medicinal and hospital'ish.
I appreciated that.  




 



Just before we left, they served lunch, and we got to see Granny with one of her dinner friends.  If I'm not mistaken, this lovely lady turns 100 this year also.  They put all the wisdom at the same table.  ;-)

 And then, we have a picture of the visitors.  I believe Poodle was still saying "cheese" and Tooter was expressing his dislike of the idea of taking a picture.  Joy.















All in all, it was a good visit to see a good place.  I like that she is in a nice place, but I dislike that she is so far away.  The trip is a long one without the kids, but with the kids, it's a Looooong one.  If you know what I mean.  We'll go back as often as we can.  I wish we could pick it up and move it closer to us.  I think she is happy.  She would be happiest if she could just go home - but that is something that just can't be done any more.  Unfortunately.




And, as an aside, we stayed at Tom and Kay's house while we were there.  He lives on Lake Martin and I thought I'd share a couple of views that he has from his kitchen table.  This is what they see as they drink their morning coffee.  The views, excuse my french, definitely do not suck.  :-D

As Fay Rains Down....

...I thought I'd share a few rainy weather pictures from earlier this month.  (A month, btw, that has been more rain-filled than usual.  Which is nice for August).

Our next door neighbor has a swale that runs from his backyard to the street.  It happens to be right next to our driveway.  So, after a good 2'ish day rain earlier this month, there was some good moving water there.  While Poodle just couldn't be bothered to come away from some random treasure map that she was drawing, I showed Tooter what happens when you drop a leaf into the little stream.  Oh, the joy!  He was king of the river!

Which, naturally, led to his claiming full dominion over the river and showing all who might question said dominion by planting his feet firmly in the swirling water.  Too bad he didn't have a flag.  (That was for Jmk).

Poodle came out later and was equally pleased with the coolness of sailing leaves down the running water.  She, however, fell victim to dead camera batteries and didn't get her experience saved for posterity.  But there was squealing and laughter.

We have kind, patient neighbors.  :-)

Update on Tooter

I've had some requests for an update on how Toot's doing with his speech et al, so let me see what I can organize in my head.

He is continuing to improve. There aren't any "ah ha" moments where he goes from zero to sixty, verbally. He tends to work on words/phrases very slowly. So when he finally gets around to saying things, it doesn't have the drama that saying a new word usually does. But, he is improving. I notice that he one of his "problems" is that he doesn't want to just say one word. Instead of just saying "pathta" to get some dry pasta to munch on, he'll try to say the whole sentence of "may I have some pathta please". While he can say all these words, prompted, if he tries them one at a time, when he tries to verbalize the entire sentence at once, it will come out something like: "meh da da da da pathta peeeeeeeeeeese". And sometimes, he gets so caught up in the jibberish of the sentence, he won't say anything clearly BUT the "peeeeeeeese". Which makes us have to get him to show us what he wants. Then we go thru the process of helping him say the correct sentence.

He had a progress update with his speech therapist a few weeks ago. He tested just barely inside the accepted range for his age for receptive language, and just below the accepted range for expressive language. Claire told us that one of the things that tripped him up on the expressive language part was saying things like "eat" when he should have said "eating".

Some of his words have noticeably improved. For example "mickey mouse" used to be "hah-caaaaah" not but a few months ago. Now, we hear requests for "mickeeeey mouse" on a regular basis. He is actually responding to those kids shows on Disney and ETV where they make efforts to engage the viewer. In other words, when Mickey asks "will you help us find the colors?", Toot will now say "yeth!" out loud, instead of just looking at the t.v. So that's definitely an improvement. And, he is able to play with Poodle a lot more easily these days. There is still frustration when she gives multiple directions for some complicated game of hers and he has no idea what is supposed to come next. But she has gotten used to dealing with his lack of communication and he has gotten better with working with her. So, that's nice to see.

I have discovered that when he gets to repeating the same thing over and over again, that it helps for me to make him repeat what I'm trying to say to him, one word at a time. It helps him to hear me. Or maybe it forces him to not tune me out. Not sure. For example, when he gets upset because I won't pick him up, I'll get him to repeat the sentence "Mommy. Will. Pick. Tooter. Up. When. Tooter. Quits. Crying." (one word at a time). It doesn't always make the crying stop, but you CAN see a wave of understanding cross his face.

And finally, while he's still below where he is "supposed" to be verbally for his age range, he is singing the alphabet song, knows all of his letters and their sounds, and loves to have someone write letters and numbers for him. (This "game" can go on for what seems like an eternity sometimes!) He still doesn't sit still for stories, and mostly likes books that require interaction on his part. But, when he is asked to be still for storytime, he was worked up to being able to sit for almost a minute before he starts getting fidgety and has to get up to do something else. He pretty much knows his shapes, and is getting better with his colors.

So, we're progressing. It's slow, and it's not "what Poodle did". But, then, he's not her. And he's not supposed to be. And every once in a while, I actually manage to remember that. :-)

Go Vote

If you haven't already received this email (I've gotten it probably 4 times already), MSNBC is running a poll regarding whether "In God We Trust" should or shouldn't be removed from our currency.

Here's the link.

Vote "NO" to show support of that historical wording. Almost 5 1/2 million people have already voted!

The Beauty of Friendship

I posted that last entry on Monday with much trepidation. Believe me - it's much easier to just share about the light and joyful and pretend that the roses are always blooming and the kids are always cute. And cooperative.

But it's not always like that, and even though we all KNOW this to be true, admitting it out loud almost feels like a failure. Which is perfectly ridiculous, but I never claimed to be completely rational. Yet, in spite of my shortcomings - numerous though they are - God has blessed me with some friends that are truly my life jackets. I got one email from a high school friend who commiserated by sharing this:

As women we have so many roles - wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend,housekeeper, trashlady, teacher............list goes on and on...........Iwas just saying to one of my coworkers this morning when do I get to be just"Eli" anymore???  I don't, I am too busy being too many things to  too manyother people, etc...................yet - why do I feel so alone?  And likeI don't have anyone to just pick up the phone and call? I don't know either.  I just keep trying.............everyday. 

Eli - thank you for that.  You summed up a lot in those few sentences.

Rebecca, thank you for letting me know that you have felt the same things.  I'll be praying for y'all's house to sell quickly too!

Mom, thank you for the good words about teaching.

SueSue, thank you for calling to tell me about the ballet class.  I needed to laugh with you! 

The greatest thing that happened yesterday was getting a call from a dear friend who lives too far away in Connecticut.  She barely finished reading the entry before she called me.  She quickly saw that it wasn't so much about schooling the kids as it was about other more pressing, and more difficult to explain, things.  And she talked with me, cried with me, I shared some problems that I was having, and she shared right back.  It was so good to be able to be in the boat with some one else.  To be able to cry and get it all out and know that I'm not alone and that if I don't learn how to cope with this stuff when it arises, I'm in for an unnecessarily tough journey.  I know that I should always be uplifted thru prayer.....  but when someone cries with you and for you - that catharsis is the answer to the almost unspoken three word prayer that Elaine Housley reminded me about.  "Lord, have mercy".

Boo, THANK YOU for taking the time to call me.  I wish I was as good of a friend to you as you are to me.  I want to do better.  You helped me turn a corner, and I appreciate it so much.  You are a gift to me - thank you for talking me off of the ledge!  I still need to play hooky one night, but I do promise that I'll take that ice cream break soon.  The weather didn't cooperate last night, unfortunately.

Emotional, sometimes irrational people we women can be.  But God sends blessings to us in the form of friends, and I hope that I don't forget this lesson that I learned yesterday.  KDBoo, you are a true gem.  A ruby.

Thank you all for the prayers, for the advice.  For understanding.  (CAB - we actually do have quiet/nap time here.  And, I am adamant about it.  But, for the past two weeks, I've been making a real attempt to exercise during that time.  So, I've felt like I haven't gotten a break, even though I have.  But, as it is with all things, it takes about a month to make something a habit or a routine.  Hopefully in a couple more weeks, nap/quiet time will go back to feeling like the break for me that it should be!)

And, now, something else that actually garnered a smile from me yesterday.

This is a neato combination of physics and art - in Japan.  You don't need sound to enjoy it, but it is nice to hear the water as it hits the pool at the bottom.  Take 5 or so minutes and enjoy!

Getting my wits about me

Why is it so hard, some days, to get your mind around even the simplest tasks? Why is that life sometimes seems to absorb all of your energy and all of your ability and then spit them back out in confused little spurts of disorganization while taking all of your desire to accomplish anything?

It's days like today that make me seriously question things like homeschooling. Even for kindergarten. If I can't keep myself together on days like today, days where this (see picture to right) is the extent of what we did all day, then how can I give the kids what they need?

I'm just having one of THOSE days today. Granted, we had a bad night around here last night. It didn't seem as though anyone slept well, but I can't let a bad night of sleep make me so ridiculously grumpy the next day. But here I am, Grumpy McGrumperson, all the same. I think that's one of the challenges of being at home with children full time. So often, even though they don't mean to, they are the cause of the grumpiness or the moodiness or what-have-you. Then, when you wake up the next morning, you don't have the opportunity to get away from the place/things/people that caused the frustration in the first place. So, there you are staring at the cause of your frustration, and you have no way of working through the emotions and thoughts. And it just builds up. Then your husband comes home from work and you, the kids, and the house look like something out of a Cymbalta commercial. Of course, if you're not keeping it together, then everyone else ends up grumpy, and by the time the day is over...... Good Gravy! There's not a pleasant soul around. And the poor little kids really have NO idea what in the sam hill is going on, but they know that the person they depend on for so much is quite the lunatic.

Bah. This too shall pass.... and all that. My poor mother is going to read this and get worried that I'm two steps from mental meltdown. But, hopefully, she'll just remember the days that she got this way and she'll know that now I understand. And I'll just keep repeating the mantra "I'm fine" and then I'll smile and eventually I will be what I'm pretending to be.

If there are any other All-The-Time Parents out there who ever get this way, please feel free to send me an email to let me know that I, in fact, am not the worst mother who ever walked the earth. And I promise to end this self-indulgent pity party asap.



Then, I'll remember that the WHY of what we do will help us to get back to the proper HOW of doing it.

Mommy's Back To School Night

Friday night, I had a date with a bunch of other "teacher mommies" at the back-to-school kickoff meeting for our local homeschool group.  Met with our small group to talk about possible field trips and social outings for the kids and met with the group as a whole to talk about general business'y things.  It was really interesting.  Not everyone comes to this, but even with only a fraction of the students represented, there were still 150'ish plus people there.  That was mostly just the moms.  And that's just for the metro area and closely surrounding counties.  And this is just one group.  I think HS is a bit larger than I expected.

Anyway, it was nice to see some of the vendors there that came to advertise their business and expertise.  There were boy and girl choirs, Civil Air Patrol, Debate Teams, TeenPact, local gyms, and even the homeschool sports league.  Yep.  That one floored me.  Had no idea it really existed.  They have a basketball and baseball program in place and initiated some football last year.  So that program should be in place by this year.  And they intend to begin a soccer program this year.  I believe I was told that they have a full season's schedule of games, and even some of the local private schools in this area put them on their schedule.  So they're not playing "just" other homeschoolers only.

I was telling some of my friends there that, to me, this means that in a few years, there will be a need for cheerleaders.  Homecoming game of sorts.  And, of course, a Junior/Senior prom.  Ahhhhh.......  and Lok is now in her element.  :-)

It's nice to have all this available.  Really nice.  It makes me extremely grateful to all those parents who homeschooled when homeschooling just wasn't done.  Who did it anyway, even though all the regular activities for school students weren't available.  They paved the way for those of us who are now getting involved, and it makes our life easier.  Thank you.  Even if my kids aren't forever homeschooled, the time that they are HS'd will be easier because people did it when it wasn't all that easy.  Thank you.

And - an extra thank you to MooMoo and GaGa for coming and getting the kids yesterday afternoon.  They had a great time and I appreciated the break so, so much.  Thank you!!!

Water works warning.

As kids in our area head back to school this week (still seems so ridiculously early to me, even though they've been going back in mid-August for years and years now) and moms are taking pictures of their little ones heading off to Kindergarten for the first time, I thought I'd add to the strolls down memory lane - at least for the grandparents of the Zoo's monkeys.  Jmk brought this to my attention (the first picture is at the bottom of the front page of our blog), so I thought I'd post them side by side.  sigh........  Time goes by so fast.

November 2006

August 2008

Monkey Pics for today

We had reached our inside limit for the morning and went outside to play.  I enjoyed Robert's camera for a bit.  And, Poodle enjoyed mine.  Toot, I believe, was concocting a plan to escape the photo session post haste.

Heavenly Sense of Humor

As I was getting ready for church this morning, it occurred to me: God truly does have a poignant sense of humor.

When I entered college oh so many years ago, I was an elementary education major. In fact, the full-ride scholarship that I was blessed to receive was earmarked for an education major. However, one semester into elementary education, I decided that I wasn't going to be challenged enough as an elementary age teacher. That I needed to teach "smarter" students. And, at the W, one didn't major in secondary education. One picked a discipline, majored in said discipline, and added a teacher's certificate to that major. So, I embarked on my journey to a degree in Math. However, I entered my senior year, and decided that, no, I wasn't going to teach. I would never make any money teaching, and after all, I was going to be a self-supporting girl when I graduated and needed to think about that kind of thing. Money was terribly important, right? How much money you make really serves as a good measuring stick for success, right?

So, this afternoon, as I was preparing my lesson plan for the next week and really having to challenge myself to get my ideas and thoughts in order so that I can teach a Kindergartener.... all for which I'm not going to receive a single paycheck with my name on it at all...... I had to laugh. God is. And He runs things. And if you think you're smart enough to squirrel your way out of His plan for His world..... well, you need a sense-of-humor-check. I know I did. And I got one.

Slow Start

I can't seem to get it together enough this week to blog much. It's not as though there haven't been things to share, but it has.... well, it's been a long week. For a number of reasons. However, I thought I'd share some homeschool updates just to at least get a new post up. :-)

I wasn't originally going to start school until after Labor Day (you know - like it USED to be), but for some reasons that actually don't apply any more, I thought it might be good for us to start early. So we did, but I didn't want to go from zero to 60 because none of us have had any experience doing this!

So, this week, we have had Bible time each day. We read a story from the Bible, Poodle answers some questions about what we just read and then she colors a workbook sheet that relates to what we just read. So far, it has been working pretty well. We did the Creation story two days in a row so that she could get the order of Creation in her memory banks a little more completely.
Yay!
I know I'll continue to tweak the methods as I figure out what works. For example, I can see how Friday would be a good day to review everything we read earlier in the week. But I didn't think of that until after we got thru today.

Okay, so we have begun to establish this school'ish routine. Next week, we're going to add reading time to the day's activities. Using Five In A Row, we'll read a good children's book each day for five days, and we'll focus on a different part of the story each day. History, geography, language arts, etc.

I think the next week, we'll add some phonics/reading/writing work. Then the next week, we'll add some math work. I hate for it to seem as though I think Math is least important, but we already "play math" right now when she feels like it. I'm sort of holding back on it so that she's (hopefully) more anxious to get to do it every day.

So, by the time we get to that magic "first Monday after Labor Day", kindergarten won't be akin to sugar shock for us all. At least, that's my hope.


For all of you who have given me so many wonderful comments and expressions of support, I can't tell you how much I appreciate you and value you for it. When my MIL told me that she was "excited about the homeschooling", I just wanted to jump around and do a crazy Poodle dance! Thank you all for the encouragement!!!

Mom - go see:

The website for the Neshoba County Fair.  Scroll down to the picture near the bottom of the home page.  Remember this?

Well, honestly, I'm not sure if that was the year we were there or not.  But, probably?

Okay, y'all, thank you for indulging me in a memory.  We weren't regular visitors to the Fair.  We aren't now.  But my mom used to be quite involved in the Republican Party in our state, and we were there the year that President Reagan was running for office.  (1980, when he ran for President, not the earlier election when he was unsuccessful in obtaining the Republican nomination).  Anyway, I wasn't that "involved" in political things at that time.  I was still a kid, and pretty much just went where my mom took me.  But I do remember hearing President Reagan speak that day.  I don't remember what he said, but I remember being there.  He arrived/left in a helicopter and the whole atmosphere surrounding his being there and speaking was electric, even for a 9'ish year old (stop.  quit doing the math in your head to figure out how old I am.  stop.  that's enough).  I remember thinking that it was a big deal for him to be there and for him to care enough about votes from our state to do some real old-fashioned campaigning at Mississippi's Giant House Party.
 
The Great Communicator.  He truly was.

It's Aliiiiiiive!

Mr. Computer has been retrieved from the fix-it place after a week of being held in limbo.  They didn't actually get to it until yesterday, but it's not like I would have been able to do much with it myself.  I was too nervous about taking it apart on my own.  Thankfully, there were no major problems from the gatorade.  Just some clean up was necessary.  So, yay!

I have lots to share, but I'm not sure when I'll get around to it.  Pictures from my dad's new toy that is in a slip at the Rez, pictures of some hand-made puzzles that Dad and Mom created, stories of playing with SueSue and Amy at the pool, and more and more.  But first, we've got to get Jmk back home from his short fishing trip (I am SO looking forward to some yummy sea critters in the freezer).  And, we've got to get the oldest wee one back to 100% before I can get back to the business of blogging with pictures.

Poor thing came down yesterday afternoon with one of those fever viruses that come out of nowhere and go right back to nowhere within a day.  At least for Poodle, they do.  Toot keeps his "24 hour viruses" for about 2 days.  But, anyway, she is just about past the fever part, so that's good.  Unfortunately, a high fever like that tends to give her a touchy stomach.  So, she and I slept on the couch, because it's a lot easier to clean up an "oops" in there than on a bed.  Sorry.  That was gross.  TMI?  Anyway, after we get everyone home and well, we'll get some pictures up to share.

We had a sweet moment this morning that I wanted to get down so as to assist my faulty memory banks.  Tooter woke up wanting "Cay-cakes!  Soorups!" for breakfast.  Which, for the toddler-impaired translates to "Pancakes and syrup".  So, I got him situated at the table with his fare, and got a weakened Poodle situated on the couch with some plain pancakes.  (She only got a few bites in, but did finish her berry smoothie, so yay her!)  I was fiddling with something in the office, and she came in with a piece of one of her pancakes and told me that "I got sick last night and didn't feel good and I threw up and then you slept on the couch with me but I didn't throw up any more but I got sick and you took care of me, so this pancake is for you, Mommy".

That was the best bite of pancake I think I've ever had.