New Year's Eve, 2009

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Out With the Old and In With the New

Today has been busy in a good way. I got up early this morning and met the Children's Choir director at Starbucks to plan rehearsals for Three Trees. That was fun! I love being involved in ministry in a way that makes me feel like I'm using what God gave me. It's so satisfying. Besides, it was one last chance to have a gingerbread latte before they're discontinued for the season.

Then I came home, cleaned the house, and made cinnamon rolls for tonight. Our peer group has to take down the Christmas decorations at church, but then we're meeting at our friend Alex's house for games and food. Should be a good time! Of course it will; Alex has a foosball table.

Actually, what made me think of the whole "Out With the Old and In With the New" thing is this:

It's our bay window in the kitchen right now, a good place to keep things I don't want the dog to get into. There are the rolls...tonight's party food! And in front are fruits and vegetables...tomorrow's diet. Sigh.

Sue

Gibby

A week or so ago I started watching The Dog Whisperer with Mike. I have to admit, after viewing the first couple shows my feeling was, "If I was Cesar I'd walk into every new situation and go, 'Tsk. You're gonna have to put that dog to sleep.'" But now I'm starting to get it: Calm control. What's even better is I'm seeing the rewards of it in Gibbs, because now we're all working on doing things right. Mike is especially persevering. He works with the dog every single day, several times a day. Even the neighbors are commenting that they see the difference when Mike takes Gibbs out for a walk.

All that to say...

I maybe kind of like the dog. He laid his head on my feet today while I was sitting on the couch reading to one of the kids. I felt like the Grinch where at the beginning his heart is two sizes too small, but by the end it's three sizes too large. My affection grew. Just a bit. Just enough to include this guy, but none of the other poop-eating dogs.

Goofball Moments

"These must be good to be in such a special containment unit."

~ Zach, our sci-fi video game player, referring to the packaging of some cookies

The Polka Dot Princess

Christmas, 2009

This has been my favorite Christmas ever. Everything has been laid back and fun, and I've enjoyed my family so much. We opened presents this morning. Don't tell anyone, but Zach was so overjoyed with one of his gifts that he cried. I'm going to remember that forever. Then we had awesome cinnamon rolls, and after that just messed around. At around 3pm we were ready for dinner, so we put it all together and ate! No timetable at all. We had a Honeybaked ham this year, because one was given to Mike as a Christmas present, and holy cow was that good. Later we'll watch Marley & Me and eat cheesecake. Life is good. Thank you, Lord, for home.

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Christmas Eve

I'm sitting here in a quiet house. Mike has the kids at McDonald's to eat a quick supper, and I used the time alone to wrap the last present and put the finishing touches on cleaning the house. It's finished! The floors are mopped and gleaming (I love freshly mopped wood floors, but I HATE doing it.), the dough for the Christmas morning cinnamon rolls is rising, and everything is ready for Mike's mom to come and spend the next few days with us. Big sigh of relief. We're "push it 'til the last minuters" so it's always a good feeling when we squeak it all in under the wire.

The kids made me laugh today complaining about how slow time seemed to be passing. Remember that feeling of anticipation? Somehow the day went by, though, with the help books, the TV, and playing outside.

The next few days will hopefully be low key and filled with family, food, and laughter! Merry Christmas!

See. This is Exactly Why I Don't Like Dogs.

They eat their own poop. To be fair, ours hasn't done this yet that I know of, but it's only a matter of time.

Wordless Tuesday

Simple Woman's Daybook

For Today ~ December 21, 2009

Outside my window...it's a rainy and gray day. It hasn't been too cold, though, which is nice. To give you an idea of what winter in Seattle is usually like, here's how Baylee was dressed when she went out with me mid-morning to run errands:

She wore the scarf she just got from her great-grandma, and a sweatshirt. No coat.

I am thinking...about how I stood in a really long line at the post office today, so the box of presents headed to Michigan is finally in the mail. It's going to be so late, but my mom made me feel a little better about that. She said, "Oh good! Something to open after Christmas is over! It'll help with the let-down." LOL I guess that's one way to look at it.

From the learning rooms...Christmas break! Here's what the kids were doing this morning instead of school:

Zach slept in. Way in.

Drew played with the Tetris game his Aunt Lindsey sent for his "antique" Gameboy.



Baylee read an American Girl book. She's big into American Girls right now, which I love, because she's learning about history in a fun and painless way.

I am thankful for...family.

From the kitchen...shepherd's pie tonight.

I am wearing...jeans, warm socks, and a white t-shirt with a pink fleece shirt over it.

I am creating...a clean home, which today, with all the kids home and not busy with school, is not easy!

I am hoping...for some snow.

I am hearing...Baylee telling the dog to "stay." I don't think it's working.

Around the house...the kids are arguing because they're on break and their day isn't structured. In the course of a lunchtime disagreement between the boys, two tamales were dropped onto the floor and the dog ate them in about 3 seconds flat. I'm not sure, but I think that might be a bummer for whomever takes the dog out later.

One of my favorite things...putting on clothes that are just out of the dryer, all clean and warm.

A Few Plans for the Rest of the Week...Drew's guitar lesson, Mike's mom coming to spend a couple days, and Christmas!

Here is a picture thought I am sharing with you...Yesterday we spent the afternoon with Mike's dad, Danny. I have to admit I was lazy this year and didn't take many pictures, but we did have a nice time. Danny has a foosball table, so that alone means any visit is fun. We did get a few pictures of people posing by the tree, though.

Heh. I look really annoyed here. I wasn't. I was just spacing out while I waited for Mike to come over and pose with me.

There we go!

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Whew!

The presents are wrapped and under the tree! We're all ready for Christmas except for a few, small loose ends.

The gifts going to Michigan...

are also boxed up and ready to go. I'm thinking, though, that there's no way they'll get there on time at this point. Shoot. I wish I was one of those organized people.

Sue

Sharing Christmas with the Dog

I walked into the living room this morning to find Baylee sharing Christmas with the dog. It was so cute! I backed out of the room slowly, grabbed the camera, and captured part of it on video. Then Mike came in awhile later and secretly muted the TV. She had no idea we were there.

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No Need to See the Movie

I'll just show you a picture. Here's Elliot the dragon:

I saw Pete's Dragon in the theater when I was about five years old. It was during that period of time when my mom and biological dad were divorced, so it was just my mom making it on her own with two small children. A couple years after that my mom remarried a good man named Karl and they had my little sister. Then Karl adopted my brother and me. That changed the course of my life in a wonderful way, but those years during which it was just the three of us weren't bad, either, from my limited point of view. I know it must have been heartbreaking for my mom, but for me it was...simple. She was there; she took care of us.

She had a way of making it totally okay that we didn't have much money. I remember eating a lot of canned soup and cream of wheat. A gourmet treat was buttered graham crackers. She would even make it a point to have fun with us as finances allowed. She would take us to eat at Burger King, a huge treat because of the paper crowns, of course. We'd occasionally play at the YMCA or at Richmond Park pool. I learned how to swim during one of those outings. And sometimes, for a very special treat, we'd go out to see a movie.

I probably wouldn't even remember Pete's Dragon, except it was the first movie that made me cry. I had tears running down my face when Pete yelled at Elliot for getting him into trouble. I can still picture it like a snapshot in time, because of what my mom said to me as we were sitting there in the darkened theater. She leaned over and whispered, "You have a soft heart."

I think I get it from her.

I've Never Had a Good Planetarium Experience

I'm not even sure there's such a thing as, "I went to the planetarium and, holy cow, was that ever a great time!" I get my hopes up, though, because so many years pass between visits that I forget how much I hated it the last time and find myself right back at square one: Excited about stars on the ceiling.

Tonight we went with a group from church to see something at the planetarium called The Star of Bethlehem. It was a show attempting to give possible scientific explanations for the star in the story of Christ's birth. It's hard to find words for how terrible it was, but, just to give you a taste, at one point the guy running it said, "Let us look at the sky as it was back in Bethlehem on that long ago night....oh wait...no, that's not...hold on...oh for crying out loud I'm moving this thing in the wrong direction!" After a few more incidents of that sort I leaned over to Mike and put out the theory that we were actually listening to the planetarium janitor.

Afterward Mike took us out for fish and chips. Now that was fun! We talked and laughed and ate good food, and the kids even got a compliment from a rough-around-the-edges local guy as he passed by our table on his way out. He said they were "adorable." I'm not sure if he really meant it or if he was just trying to make me feel better, because he witnessed something I only meant for my flesh-and-blood to see. That is, he got up out of his seat and began moving toward us exactly at the moment I started doing my Elliot from Pete's Dragon impression. I know he saw it, too, because when I uncrossed my eyes I noticed he was looking right at me and smiling really big. Possibly even laughing.

Oh well.

Sue

The Wind Trainer

I finally used it for the first time tonight by riding for an hour. It's not bad! It's a lot like riding outside as far as resistance and "feel." (Except, of course, there are no hills.) I think it's going to work well for my mid-week rides, and then I'll bike outdoors on the weekends.

Since it's been weeks since I last biked, I'm way out of shape. My legs were tired and...well...my bum was not happy at all. A bike seat should've been an instrument of torture during the inquisition. It's very punishing.

Oh! One big bonus of riding like this: I watched a movie! I scooched the bike up as close to the computer as possible so the headphones would reach, and I put on Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. I felt Frodo's pain as he climbed that treacherous mountain. Literally.

Here's a picture Zach snapped. You can't see the wind trainer attached to the bike, and the garbage can is in the background (We're classy like that!), and I'm wearing biking shorts, which I'm still not completely comfortable with in a I'm-really-wearing-these-out-in-public??? kind of way, but there you go.

I Never Signed Up for This

I'm about ready to kick this dog to the curb. I'm so mad right now.

• I opened the door yesterday, the dog saw the cat out there, and he shot out the door like a bullet. It took us about 10 minutes to track him down and bring him back. In the rain. Calling for him like morons.
• This morning I went outside to put a Netflix movie in the mailbox. The dog was on my heels and I didn't want him to run again, so I quickly shut the door behind me. That's when I realized I'd just locked myself out of the house in my pajamas. I had to bang on the windows for ages before someone woke up and let me back in.
  
• He chewed through his leash today.
• Since he had no leash, but still had to go outside to do his business, and since Mike said he never tries to run away from the backyard, I had Zach bring him out there leashless. Gibbs ran, of course. This time he got out onto the busy street on the other side of our back fence. Luckily we got him back again before he was hit by a car.

We've been watching The Dog Whisperer. We're even taping it. We're trying. And, actually, the dog is an angel with Mike. It's just he doesn't give a darn what any of the rest of us say, and we're the ones here with him all day. I'm so frustrated and feel a tiny bit like crying right now. I never wanted this dog in the first place.

On the bright side, he's cute.

When Mike's Away

Why do the worst things happen when Mike's away on a business trip? Last night the cat had diarrhea (If that's TMI, too bad. I'm grouchy.) all over the boys' rooms upstairs. It was on the floor of both bedrooms, on Drew's bookcase, and then the grand finale was on Drew's bed. In fact, that's what woke Drew up in the middle of the night. The cat was uncovering him as it tried to "bury" the problem in the blankets. Part of me is a little worried about Cooper and hopes he's okay, but most of me is still dealing with laundry that smells horrible in a way best not described.

Speaking of laundry, yesterday our washing machine unbalanced. The thing about this machine is it becomes violent when that happens. It's so loud you think for a second the world is coming to an end, and you freeze and crouch. By the time you move into the next response, fight or flight, the washer has banged several inches from where it started. Anyway, what was hilarious this time is that Drew happened to be sitting on the floor of his bedroom, which is directly above the laundry room, and he truly believed there was an earthquake. He said the whole floor was vibrating. He did the following impression of what it was like:

Then he said he knew he needed to be prepared for after shocks, so he curled up next to the wall like this:

I laughed until I hurt.

Last, and totally unrelated to laundry, on this date exactly one year ago I joined Weight Watchers. In that time I've lost 40 pounds and developed a love for bike riding. I'm kinda proud of that!

Sue

PS: Mike gets home tonight! Yay! I always miss him when he's gone.

The Christmas Season is Truly Here!

A package from my mom arrived today, filled with knitted washclothes and potholders, Christmas-themed dish towels, snowy white pillowcases, ornaments for the tree, pictures of family in Michigan, Christmas cards, and lots and lots of homemade candy! There's fudge, peanut brittle, toffee, and a Dutch treat called banket. We're Dutch and my mom is a master banket maker.

There was only one little problem: My mom also packed a jar of homemade raspberry jam in there and it broke during shipping, so the whole box looked a bit like the scene of a gruesome murder. I'm so bummed to lose that jam, since it's my favorite flavor, but everything else was able to be washed and/or unwrapped and saved.

In other Christmas news, our church held its annual cantata last night. It was wonderful, of course, but it was EXTRA wonderful this year because the little 3 and 4 year old kids, dressed as characters in the nativity, got into a scuffle up on stage. During their performance an angel started hogging the mic, so a shepherd tried to make her back away from it with a none-too-gentle poke. She poked him back, and soon they were in a no-holds-barred shoving match, while simultaneously continuing to sing their little song and smile at the audience. Then a ram and another shepherd got involved and it was a Christmas miracle that the whole stable didn't tip over. Finally their teacher was able to get things under control. Well...not really. Actually, the song ended and they all trooped offstage to much applause and laughter. It may be my biggest regret in life that I didn't get it all on video.

Oh, and Baylee sang with the children's choir. They did a beautiful job.

Biking News

I haven't talked about biking on here for ages, because I fell headfirst off the health wagon. I'm blaming the holidays and the cold. Several things have happened lately, though, which make it impossible to ignore this promise I've made to myself to ride in the STP any longer.

First, I'm getting a new bike! I'm so excited! I love the fact that I had The Purple Punisher (see above picture) to get me started, but it just doesn't fit my body. It's too small for my height and I feel the pain of that in weird ways, like during a ride my wrists hurt. A week or so ago Mike and I went into R+E Cycles in Seattle so I could be custom fitted for something new, and it was a cool experience. I don't think I've ever been quite so...measured. The man who helped me (Yes, it was a guy, and, yup, that was embarrassing, but he was extremely nice and very professional.) measured my leg bones, my feet, the span of my arms, my torso, and other things I don't even remember. Then I had to get on a special stationary bike and he made adjustments while having me pedal fast, slow, standing, and sitting. Sometimes he'd have me just stand motionless on the pedals, then lean against the handlebars while he adjusted the seat, then sit back while he adjusted the handlebars. It was thorough and Mike was laughing at me, but whatever! It's totally worth it!

Because...

I'm going to have a Rodriguez!!! Every time I think about that I smile. I still can't believe it. It's an amazingly cool brand of bike! I can't continue to sit around on my butt eating Cheetos and own that kind of bike at the same time. It would cause a wormhole in the time-space continuum.

Second, I need to get things in gear, because a sizable group of people from my church is also planning to do the STP. Most of them are Mike's biking buddies, but one is the wife of a buddy. In fact, she's going to do the ride on the back of a tandem bike with her husband. Doesn't that sound fun?

And third, I need to ride again because the training schedule for the STP starts in only a few weeks, and I need to be in a place fitness-wise where I can do about 20-25 miles by that time. It only goes up from there. The second week of training, in fact, ends with a 33 mile ride.

That's the news! On with training!

Full Disclosure

Yesterday I discussed one good thing about homeschooling compared to public schooling, but I also mentioned in the comments of that post that there are ways in which public school (or private school, for that matter) has an edge on what I'm doing here at home. Today I'm going to talk about five of those ways. Of course, I'm only speaking for myself here. Other homeschoolers may very well feel differently.

• Familiarity Breeds Contempt. That is, sometimes a kid behaves better for an outsider than for Mom. After so many years of homeschooling, I don't run into this very often anymore. I've won the battle often enough that I've pretty much won the war. Still, it can be a downside of homeschooling, especially for people who are just starting out.
• Lack of healthy competition. I've often thought my kids wouldn't be as quick to say, "Oh, it's good enough," if they had other students with whom (Is it "with whom" or "with which?" Tsk. How annoying.) to compare their work. Also, if you have a child who tends toward laziness, it would be helpful for him to see that other kids have managed to do what is expected without all kinds of whining and theatrics.
• Lack of Resources. I have to work hard to make sure my kids get certain experiences that a public/private school parent takes for granted. For example, group sports. For another example, science experiments and labs. Those things aren't impossible by any means, but they're not at my fingertips, either.
• I don't get the chance to be "just Mom." I'm always both Mom, the woman who keeps the household running, bandages injuries, gives hugs, disciplines, etc, AND I'm the teacher. I have to make sure schoolwork is finished every day. I can't tell you how stressful this can be. Sometimes I feel like a slave driver. I'm so used to it, though, that I carry it around on my shoulders where it presses down on me, and I think it's normal. Then summertime comes around and suddenly the load is gone and I enjoy motherhood so much more. It seems easy.
• Homeschooling is just plain hard on my mental health at times. I went for years thinking something wasn't right with one of our kids and that it was all my fault, and trying everything under the sun to fix it, and it turns out that child has a learning disability. The anxiety I went through before we had him officially diagnosed and before we got outside help is something I wouldn't wish on anyone.

So there. LOL There's some honesty for you.

Sue

Friday Fluff

Okay, Fine. I'm One of Those Furbaby People.

The dog is afraid of the vacuum cleaner, but when he runs away from it he always seems to run in the direction I'm vacuuming. I think he thinks I'm chasing him.

An Antique

Drew bought an old Nintendo Gameboy from another kid for $2.00. He doesn't have any games for it, but he doesn't care. He just likes looking at it and laughing over how big and blocky it is. ("It's not even in color, Mom!") What's really freaky is my brother had that exact Gameboy when we were kids and we thought it was awesome.

A Christmas Present Possibility

Baylee's friend Grace came over to play a couple days ago, and she brought an entire pretend coffee set, with a coffee maker that really drips when you pour water into the top. When Grace left she decided to leave it all at our house so Baylee could continue to play with it for a few days. Wow, has Baylee ever enjoyed that. She set up a shop called "Baylee's Coffee and Cookies" on the bay window, and she had all her dolls lined up on the couch buying food and drinks. This kept her happily occupied all of yesterday.

A Tailor-Made Education

I was thinking yesterday about how one of the best things about homeschooling is it can be tailored to the individual student. I look back at my own education and some of the things that happened over the course of my thirteen years in public school are just silly. It's nobody's fault; there were too many kids. Everyone, even the best students, fell through the cracks in some way. I was smart and well-behaved, but:

• In 6th grade I somehow fell off the reading teacher's radar. She was under the impression that I completed all the reading/literature classes that particular elementary school offered, so she told me to hang out in the library every day for that hour. I went half the year without correcting her mistake, and, I won't lie, I had a great time. I messed around, talked with other kids, and generally enjoyed myself immensely. Finally after Christmas I started feeling a little guilty, so I told the woman I should probably be in a class. She stuck me in one and that was that. My parents were never informed that I missed half a year of a subject.
• At the end of 6th grade we were given a placement test, and I scored post high school in language arts and at grade level in math. Somehow somebody got things mixed up, and when I went to junior high I was put in a special advanced math class, and a regular English class. It took me all but failing math for the mistake to be noticed and rectified.
• I took typing in 8th grade, then my family moved to a new town. In my new school system all 9th graders had to take typing. I tried to explain I had already learned, but nobody listened. I spent a semester doing as, as, as, ki, ki, ki, fv, fv, fv type exercises when in reality I could type entire essays.
• In high school I was on the college-bound track, which was fine, but it included all sorts of higher math. I limped along until I got to trigonometry, and that's where my brain just flat-out stopped even trying to understand. I remember one time the teacher said to me, "You're doing so poorly. Why don't you ever come to me after class and ask questions?" I had to think about it for a second, then I replied, "I don't even know what questions to ask." I should never have been there. Yes, it was my fault as I chose my classes, but at the same time I could have used a voice of reason somewhere along the way. I needed someone to say to me, "Hey, you might be better off spending this time learning a foreign language...or learning how to manage a home...or...anything else at all!"
  

So I was contemplating this because Drew is up to something in math that's tough: adding and subtracting unlike fractions. I think that may be the hardest concept a kid has to learn in arithmetic. What's great, though, is we've been able to slow it down and take it one step at a time over the last couple days. There was no need to hurry things along and hope he kept up or picks it up later. The payoff is he has complete understanding and is doing those problems easily now! What's even better is he has confidence that math is something he's good at.

I wish I could have had that type of tailor-made education, especially in math. I think if only somebody would've/could've taken me aside and spent time, I wouldn't be so horrible at it to this day. That's the other really cool thing about homeschooling, though. I get a second chance to learn what I missed the first time around.

Wordless Wednesday

The Little Things

Eureka!

The other day I was complaining that I don't know how to take decent indoor pictures, so today I messed around with the camera and I discovered something: the scenery setting! It captures both the subject and the background equally, so nothing is either too washed out or too dark. Woo hoo! I figured it out at the dinner table, so that's where I practiced.

Here's an "old setting" picture of Baylee wearing a neck warmer on her head and eating penne pasta:

And here's one on the new setting!

What a difference! It's a little blurry, I know, but I'll work on that. What's cool is I didn't change a thing except the dial on the camera. The lighting in the room is the same for both pictures.

Don't Fall Off the Summit or We'll Be Very Annoyed With You

We're going on a hike in the mountains this weekend with some friends, so hiking has been a topic of conversation around here this week. Today Drew was telling me why he doesn't particularly enjoy the sport, and I decided to capture his explanation on video.

PS: He's not unteachable, Mike must've been having one of those 'last nerve' moments when he said that, but he can be a little exuberant and...umm...deaf to instruction. We're working with him, but it's a process.

Great Grades

I'm proud of everyone in our little school this week! Drew got an A+ on a science test on geology and Baylee got the same on her spelling test. Incidentally, Baylee recently watched the movie, Akeelah and the Bee. Ever since then whenever I give her a spelling word she thinks it's hilarious to say, "Definition? Can I have that in a sentence, please?"

Zach hasn't had a test yet this week, but he's been studying hard and I know he'll do well on his science test when it comes up in a few days. So far he's memorized the definitions of prokaryotic cell, eukaryotic cell, pathogen, decomposers, and vegetative reproduction. He can also name the five kingdoms and tell me which one an organism belongs in based on clues such as, "An organism is made up of several eukaryotic cells and makes its own food. It has no specialized structures." (That would be algae, so kingdom Protista.) Zach's always been good at science and history...and anything, really, that involves deeper thinking.

Simple Woman's Daybook

For today ~ December 7, 2009

Outside my Window… it's a cold 23 degrees this morning. We even had snow the other night, although it didn't stick.

I am thinking…about how I wish weekends lasted 3 days instead of 2.

I am thankful...I cleaned the house yesterday evening. Now I'm up, it's all clean and cozy, and we're ready to start school.

From the kitchen…tonight will be salmon en croute and green beans.

From the learning rooms…among other things Zach will be studying for a test in science.

I am wearing…pajamas.

I am reading…through the Harry Potter series for the second time. I was between books and picked up the first Harry Potter just to keep my mind occupied. Now I'm on book 5 of 7.

I am hoping…we all figure out how to be good dog owners. Mike's doing fine; I think I just need to get on the ball. Here's Gibbs last night when the house was quiet and calm. He is kind of cute, isn't he?

I am hearing…Drew talking to Mike over breakfast.

I am creating…wrapped presents under the tree. Not yet, but maybe starting tonight.

Around the house…it's warm and people are happy.

One of my favorite things…getting a letter in the mail.

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week…Drew has a guitar lesson tonight, Drew and Baylee have Awana and Pioneer Girls on Wednesday ~ it's Baylee's turn to bring treats, and Baylee has a children's choir performance on Sunday at church.

A picture thought for you….

Yesterday Mike and I were talking and I realized he was trying to see what I had written on my hand. I sheepishly explained that when I was working with the kids in the choir at church, the director asked me to go write a quick note to the parents asking them to have their child at the church, in the sanctuary, for a sound check at 5:25PM next Sunday. I secretly wrote on my hand as I was down in the copy room, to make sure I knew how to spell "sanctuary" correctly. If I can see it printed out, I can usually tell if it looks right or not. I'm NOT a good speller. Mike is my human dictionary. Anyway, he laughed and took a picture of it with his cell phone.

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Help

I refuse to become one of those bloggers who talks about my "furbaby" all the time. I just won't. But I do need to talk about the dog again, because look:

That used to be Baylee's toothbrush. She left it on the floor when she unpacked from an overnight at a friend's house. Is this normal? We do have things for the dog to chew on and play with, he gets fed the right amount of food at the right times, he gets attention. What's up with the gnawing on stuff?!

Other things are going better, though. Mike bought a nice bed for the dog and he lies in it on command. He has no trouble sleeping in his bed all night without crying. Also, he and the cat almost seem like they may not decide to kill each other at any moment. That one is still touch and go. He does okay on walks as far as not going nuts and wanting to chase everything. He sits on command, too. Pretty much. For Mike, anyway. He's house trained, which is a huge plus, of course. We did get a squirt bottle today and filled it with water, because we heard that's a way to train a dog out of certain bad behavior, like getting on the furniture.

I've never owned a dog before, so I have no idea what to expect. Is this my life now?

Sue

Yes, My Mom is the Church Lady

I was talking with my mom on the phone today and I told her that Zach and I went to see the new movie, 2012. You know, the one about the end of the world. I was telling my mom about how terrifying it is and how realistic the special effects are, when she said, "Well, you know that's not how the world ends."

"I know, Mom, but, see, these scientists..."

"Was it Biblical?"

"No, it was a movie, Mom."

"Did you explain to Zach that's not how things are going to be?"

She meant did I lean over and whisper to Zach that the movie wasn't sticking to a pre-tribulation rapture position. I had to admit I didn't have that discussion with him, but I will now because now I'm feeling all guilty.

Well, isn't that special.

Pets Down Through the Years

Having this new dog reminds me of the long line of pets Mike and I have had so far in our marriage. The first pet we ever bought was a cockatiel we named Petey. We had Petey for about a month, and then we had to give it back to the bird store, because whenever Mike would walk out of the room the bird would call for him. There's a technical term for it that I can't quite remember, but I think it's "sounding." That is, Petey thought Mike was its mate and it would screech until Mike was in view. In the wild that's how birds keep track of each other, I guess. And, yes, Petey was a boy.

Then the guy at the bird store talked Mike into male and female sun birds, which are maybe like lovebirds only totally mean and not at all loving. The plan was we'd breed them and make money, only they never laid a single egg because they hated us. They would scream whenever we walked by.

After that we gave up on birds and went with fish for a long time. One time we had a tank with a giant plecko in it. That plecko lived for years and grew to be a good seven or eight inches long and maybe two inches in diameter. We became weirdly attached to it. Then one day I walked by the tank and noticed it was dead. I called to Mike, "Honey, the plecko died."

"What? No. It's just resting."

"No, I'm pretty sure."

"He's resting!"

"Okay, fine. He's resting upside-down then."

Finally Mike came to grips with the fish's death, and decided to dispose of it down the toilet despite its size. The plecko got caught in the pipe and its tail would come out and wave in the current every time we flushed for about two weeks.

Then there was Sunshine, the cat I talked about a few days ago. I still have scars.

Cooper, though! Cooper has been wonderful pet! Hopefully Gibbs will work out, too. Fingers crossed!

Sue

Fun and Busy Weekend

Last night we went to the Christmas party for Mike's office. We've been through three of these now, and each one is different. The first year it was for staff and their spouses at a fancy restaurant, last year it was just staff at a different nice restaurant, and this year it was staff and entire families at a bowling alley. It was so much fun! We all bowled, laughed, and ate pizza and cheesecake. We played one regular round (I broke 100!), and one round where each time a person bowled they had to do a different crazy technique: granny style, opposite hand, backwards between the legs, etc. Of the three Christmas parties, this one is my favorite. It would've been a good event to take pictures of, but I forgot the camera.

I also forgot the camera when we woke up early to decorate the church for Christmas with the rest of our peer group. Oh well. Just know a good time was had by all. We put up a bunch of trees, wreaths, bows, and poinsettias. It looks nice.

The rest of today is going to be more relaxed. Mike cut the dog's nails, which between you and me was hilarious. Mike had Gibbs totally wrestled down and was pretty much lying on top of him, but eventually Mike got the job done at least on the front paws. Pretty soon Baylee will be picked up to spend the night at her friend Evelyn's house. We know her family from church. After Baylee leaves I'm going to the bike shop of our friends Dan and Marcie to be fitted for a new bike!!! And later we're thinking about taking the boys to a movie. We'll see. We're all tired, because the dog cried in the crate half the night. For real. It woke me up, then I had to wake Mike up to let him know that I was awake, then Baylee woke up crying for the dog to pleeeeeaaaaaase be quiet. I was about ready to put myself out of my misery, but Mike went and slept on the couch with the dog on the floor next to him, and all was quiet. Maybe that's Mike's new bed.


Sue

This Is Why I Do This

In English Drew has been diagramming sentences, something I always loved when I was in school, so before we started today I said to him, "We're going to be doing something exciting!"

"Really?"

"Yup! You know how we've been diagramming sentences by putting the subject and verb on a 'teeter totter'? And remember how yesterday we learned how to extend the line out to make a place for the direct object? Well, look here! Today we get to make a diagonal line coming down from the middle, see? And this is where we put the indirect object!" I accompanied that last bit with a happy squeal.

"That's the exciting part?"

"Yeah!"

"You need to let me be the judge of what's exciting from now on."

We both paused, then laughed until we cried.

Hell Has Officially Frozen Over

We got a dog. It wasn't my idea and I'm still not too sure about the whole thing...at all...because to be completely forthright I hate dogs, but Mike and the kids begged. Mike pulled out all the stops, saying he hardly ever asks for anything and wouldn't this be the best Christmas gift I could ever give him. I can't believe I fell for that!

The dog's name is Gibbs and he's one year old. He used to belong to an old high school friend of Mike's that he reconnected with on Facebook. I guess their family had too many pets and had to let one go. They claim he's a nice, fairly calm dog. He's fixed and all up-to-date on his shots, he has a chip, and he's crate trained. And he doesn't stink. In fact, he's been here about an hour and I have to admit that maybe he's even a tiny bit cute.

Merry Christmas, honey!

Broken?

How do you know when a toe is broken? Not that it really matters, I guess, since there's nothing to be done for it anyway. That was always my mom's thing. We'd say, "Mom, I think I broke my toe!" and she'd reply, "Well, get over it. They don't do anything for broken toes, so don't think I'm taking you to the doctor." Actually, I find I'm the same way now, only my saying is, "Oh, you're fine."

In this case, though, Drew really is hurt. He was running through the house yesterday and he tripped down this stair between the office and the kitchen:

It's a very nasty stair. I've hurt myself on it many a time. Here's Drew's foot. It's the pinky toe that's hurt. What do you think? Does it look broken?

By the way, these may be the worst pictures I've ever posted on this blog. They're both dark and blurry. I go on other blogs...like I just discovered an awesome one here and I can't stop going back over there just to look at this woman's incredible pictures. She makes me want to decide to homeschool and I'm already a homeschooler...and I think to myself, "Wow. I take some seriously bad pictures sometimes." Other times my pictures are great, though, especially my outdoor ones. Which leads me to believe that either A) Our camera is on its way out or B) I don't know how to use it. Yeah. Hmm. Which one could it be?


Sue

Doh!

I don't know if I've ever "ranted" on this blog. I don't think I have. But I'm kind of shaking my head right now in exasperation and I feel like talking about it.

In a nutshell, Drew goes to Awana. At our church once a child goes into 3rd grade the girls are split off into a different group called Pioneer Girls, and the boys continue on with the Awana program. Why they do it this way I'm not sure, but I'm not complaining, either, because I really like Pioneer Girls. Anyway, the point is Drew's group on Wednesday night is made up entirely of boys ages 8-12.

DISCLAIMER: A lot of the rest of this comes from the understanding of an 11 year old boy's mind. It's how he explained things to us. It may or may not be exactly how things are.

This year the leaders teaching these boys made some new rules: First, if the boys don't come with sections learned each week, they can't participate in the games. They have to sit out and learn those sections. Second, if they don't have a certain amount of sections done by a certain date, they can't participate in the matchbox car derby or the all-you-can-eat ice cream social.

Okay. First, I get it. They want the boys to put some effort forth. The thing is, what's really the point here? Isn't part of the point just to get these kids in the door? If they come, great! That's 90% of the ministry right there. Let them play! Let them eat ice cream! Let them have fun! Make them want to come back. Or am I wrong?

Second, I didn't know any of this was going on. I found out a couple weeks ago when Drew started crying right before Awana and saying he didn't want to go back. He explained these new rules to us and then said basically, "Why bother? I'm so far behind I'll never get to be in the derby or eat the ice cream and I don't ever get to play the games during gym time."

Now maybe you're wondering why this nice, Christian, homeschooled kid was allowed to go to Awana unprepared. Because, frankly, I'm tired. I figured he's a 6th grade boy and he's old enough for Awana to be his responsibility. I didn't push him, because he learns a lot of verses as a part of our school's curriculum, and because, darn it, I want a break. I'm the mom and the teacher all day long. But again, I had no idea there were these new consequences put into place and I didn't know Drew was ready to quit. In the end Mike talked to him and got him all calmed down, and together they decided to spend time each evening working on it. We got him to a place mentally where he was willing to continue the program regardless of the lack of motivation in the form of fun.

Now here's the real kicker. Tonight when I picked Drew up from church he was really excited. "Mom, I get to be in the derby AND go to the ice cream social!"

"Really? That's great! How come?"

"Because my teachers asked if anyone has shared about Jesus with anybody, and I raised my hand and told them about how I shared with Jacob." He went on to say that hardly any of the boys learned enough sections to be allowed to be involved in the fun stuff, so the teachers came up with a new plan: Now the boys just have to go out and witness, and then they get ice cream and matchbox cars. Is it me or is this all just a little ridiculous?

On the bright side, I was really touched by what Drew told me he said to Jacob. If I had to guess, I would've expected him to be awkward and heavy-handed when it comes to talking about the Lord, but he wasn't. They were discussing evolution and Jacob told Drew that he just can't believe there's a God who created the world. Drew responded by saying how great it is to put faith in God when it comes to those things we don't understand. He said people just can't know everything, but it's okay because God is so powerful and He made us and He knows. I thought to myself afterward that he handled that with more grace and gentleness than I would've and I'm 38.


Sue

Back in the Swing of Things

Today was our first full, productive day of school in about a week. We took a nice Thanksgiving break, but it feels good to get back to it, you know? I like the peace and sense of accomplishment that comes with structure.

Zach

Zach just finished learning about the 5 kingdom classification system of biology: Protista, Monera, Fungi, Plantae, and Animalia. We talked specifically today about decomposers in the Fungi kingdom. Did you know yeast is a decomposer? We put yeast in a baggie with a piece of banana, and in a week we should have goo. Good times.

Another thing Zach did today is he finished memorizing three different pronoun case charts in English: the nominative case chart, the possessive case chart, and the objective case chart. That was no small feat! I'm proud of him.

Here he is doing his math lesson. He told me he wasn't going to smile, because that would give the impression he likes math, when really he hates it. Then he laughed at himself and I snapped the picture. I'm sneaky that way.

I also want to mention that Zach is still working over at Mike's office two or three afternoons a week and it's been wonderful for him! He's really impressed us a lot with a good work ethic, and we've heard from other people in the office that he's always positive and respectful. That's so nice to hear! Not to mention he's got money now and he's had to learn how to manage it. He deals with all his own banking at the credit union down the street. Mike and I were talking last night about how he's ready to learn about putting aside a part of each check for the church, and a portion for savings.

Drew

Drew is learning about geology right now in science. This morning he was excited to explain to me why earthquakes often happen. I think he wishes we'd have an earthquake around here.

Here he is doing his math assignment. Today he did an eclectic mixture of long division; word problems on finding averages; standard and expanded notation; and review of the commutative, associative, and identity properties.

(He's getting so lanky!)

In English Drew has a good grasp on pulling out prepositional phrases, and then finding the subject and verb of a sentence. Today he went on to learn how to identify predicate nouns and predicate adjectives when there's a linking verb.

Baylee

Baylee takes a certain fine touch to teach, because in some ways 3rd grade is too easy. For instance, she's so far ahead in her reading program she could finish before Christmas. I could hurry her along and then move her up into 4th grade work, or I could just skip a bunch of stuff...but...well...isn't this about learning to love reading? So lately I often let her just read whatever she wants. We'll eventually go back to the official reading books and workpages, when she's interested again.

The same is true of spelling. We haven't reached a unit yet that she can't pass with an A before she's even started it. So today "spelling" consisted of writing several thank you cards for birthday presents.

One area Baylee is at grade level is math. This year she's learning the multiplication table, and she's now up to the fives. Once she gets to the sixes I'll be able to use "Times Tales" to teach her everything from 6x6 to 9x9 in one hour. It's a pretty amazing program.

Now the school day is finished and all the kids are playing with friends. Drew has Nicolas over, Baylee is over at Grace's, and Zach is messing around with Jacob. We'll eat supper as a family, then tonight is Awana and Pioneer Girls at church. "Socialization?" Check.

The One Where I Get Bitten

Here's a story from my past.

When Mike and I lived in a little, old house in Michigan and I was pregnant with my third baby, we had a cat named Sunshine. One hot summer day I had the window over the kitchen sink propped open with a wooden spoon, and I was doing dishes. Drew, who was three years old at the time, was standing by my side, and Sunshine was lying in the windowsill. Suddenly I had the overwhelming notion the cat wasn't safe, because, after all, the window might fall down on her. That wasn't an unfounded fear. Those windows were about a hundred years old and were loose and heavy. One time one of them came down on Drew's foot and he lost his big toenail. Anyway, I decided the cat had to vacate the area immediately and proceeded to get it out of there.

It all started nicely. "Come on, Sunny! Shoo!" The cat didn't bat an eye. Then I gently nudged it a little. Nothing. Finally I just started grabbing and pulling. Sunshine dug her claws into the sides of the window frame and hung on for dear life. Stupid thing. You can see where this is going. I almost had the cat totally out, it was only hanging on by one paw, when in all the scuffling, one of us, either me or the cat, I don't even know, knocked into the wooden spoon and the window came crashing down, completely trapping that one paw underneath.

You've never heard anything like a cat caught under a window. Trust me. It's one of those sounds you carry with you to the grave. Of course, I reached to push the window up, but Sunshine was in pain and didn't understand I was trying to help, not to mention she was just kind of mean anyway, so she came after me like a striking cobra and before I knew what hit me I had about eight holes in my wrist. I'm talking deep puncture wounds here, people. I couldn't give up, though, because the cat was still making that noise, so I tried again. This time it bit me on the chest. Yes. Use your imagination and that's exactly how it was. It ripped through my shirt and everything. At that point I realized I needed a different plan. Remembering a book I'd read as a child about a horse that got caught in some barbed wire and had to have its eyes covered in order to be rescued, I ran to the bathroom for towel, which I threw over the horrible demon spawn straight from the bowels of hell Sunshine. Once it couldn't see to attack me, I was free to push the window up. The cat promptly fell into the sink full of hot, sudsy water, jumped back out and directly onto Drew's head, splashing water all over and leaving deep gouges in my poor baby, then it used Drew's head as a springboard to get out of the kitchen. The whole thing only took about 30 seconds, but it left us standing there dripping wet, with our mouths hanging open, and bleeding profusely from various injuries.

In the end the cat was totally fine. We didn't see it again for several hours, but, aside from residual trust issues, no lasting harm was done. I, on the other hand, eventually had to go to the doctor for a raging infection.

The End