Easter, 2013

This Easter was a bit different, because Mike worked 3rd shift all weekend, which means he slept during the day.  We worked around it fairly well, though, by having a low-key holiday.

We had a really nice, but small and informal Easter dinner on Saturday afternoon.  Mike made excellent roast beef, baked potatoes, and the best fresh asparagus I've ever tasted.  I often wish he could just be the family chef, instead of me.  He loves to cook, whereas for me it's another chore on a list of daily chores.

  
I made Easter baskets for the kids (including Rachel, who spent the weekend here) on Saturday.  They woke up to them on Sunday morning.

When Mike got home from work on Sunday, he made an Easter brunch of bacon, sausage, orange juice, homemade waffles, strawberries, and whipped cream.

 
And then later in the afternoon Baylee and Rachel put on an Easter egg hunt for some of the younger kids in the neighborhood, including all of Rachel's little sisters.  They did everything:  planned it earlier in the week, shopped for the candy and eggs with their own money, filled all the eggs, hid them, and hosted the event.   All the kids loved it!

Hiding the eggs...

Getting ready to find them.  There were about 65 eggs altogether.

 
PS:  Do you see that smudge on all the pictures?  That's a fingerprint on the lens.  It's probably from Baylee, who's always borrowing the camera.  Argh.  I didn't notice it until I downloaded everything. 

Kindness

Today in my newsfeed on Facebook two different people who don't know each other posted memes about kindness right in a row.  It was weeeeird. The only thing is they're very different views of kindness.  Here they are:

 

The second one is just silly.  Anybody can be kind when everything is going their way.  Real kindness happens when someone is being a jerk, and you don't give them what they deserve.  Hey, I should make a meme out of that!

9th Grade at Our House

Drew always starts school with his Bible course, Successful Living:  Studies in the book of Proverbs.  I love this class.  It's perfect for teens who are making (or are about to make) important life decisions that require wisdom.  Today's lesson was based on Proverbs 6:20-23, which deals with safeguards.  That is, we should remain accountable to others, we shouldn't put ourselves in compromising positions, and we should have well-defined rules of conduct.  Sidenote:  A lot of times Drew crawls back in bed and does Bible curled up under the covers.  I probably shouldn't allow that, but...eh.  At least he's showered and dressed.

After Bible Drew always does Biology.  This class, like all the high school science classes, is on video.  Drew and Zach handle that completely differently.  Zach watches the video and then answers the questions afterward, getting the information from the textbook.  Drew tries to kill two birds with one stone by answering the questions based on what the teacher on the video is saying.  He barely ever even looks at the textbook.  He's definitely Mr. How Can I Make This as Easy as Possible for Myself?  Today he learned about the circulatory system and heart attacks.

A lot of times Drew's 3rd subject is math, but if I'm not available to teach the lesson or if he's feeling a little sick of school at this point, he'll choose art.  Today it was art.  This chapter is on buildings and building interiors.  Both boys are doing quite a bit of whining and moaning about it, especially when it comes to having to draw the interiors, because it involves a lot of 2-point perspective.  It's easy to make a mistake with that and have to start completely over.

Finally it's lunch time.  Today Drew spent most of his break playing guitar in the living room.  I know he worked on "The Seeker" quite a bit, but for awhile he also just messed around for his own enjoyment, trying to figure out the song "Breathe (2AM)" with Baylee.  It sounded nice!

After lunch came my personal favorite part of this particular day with Drew:  Algebra.  I can't believe it, either, but I really enjoy doing math with this kid.  Today we did something called "solving quadratic equations by completing the square."  He totally posed for this picture and acted silly, but he really was happy, because he understood the lesson.  It was a hard one!

And finally today he did English.  We discussed noun clauses, and he found them in sentences.  Then he did a page where he had to find the dependent clause in several sentences and decide if it was an adjective, adverb, or noun clause.  Boring.  The poetry unit starts next week, though.  That's fun, at least compared to grammar!

Drew has one other subject, which he chose to do as weekend homework:  World Geography.  (PS:  "which he chose to do as weekend homework" is an adjective clause. *grin*)  Right now he's learning about Eastern Europe and Northern Asia, in other words, all those "Stan" countries.  Fun fact for you about a lake in Siberia:  "If all of Lake Baikal's 35 tributaries dried up, its one outgoing river, the Angara, would keep flowing for nearly 400 years before the lake would be emptied.  The water is sparkling and clear, but Mount Everest could be buried in the mud at the bottom."

And that's 9th grade at our house!

Different subject which has nothing to do with school, but does involve Drew:

Today Drew told Baylee and me a story that he got from a show called "The 12 Strangest Things Ever Found on X-Ray!"  It was about a man who tried to fix his own severe hemorrhoid problem using a bullet.  Surprisingly, he was able to fix it to some extent, but ultimately he had to go to the hospital because he lost track of the bullet.  Good news:   He ended up having a successful surgery which cured him of the hemorrhoids.  Bad News:  It involved a bomb squad. 
 

I Should Have a New Blog Catagory Called "I'm Just Sayin'."

As Baylee and I were getting ready to leave the grocery store a few evenings ago, the store's security guard, an old guy, beckoned to us.  I couldn't imagine what he wanted (or why that store even has a security guard.  What in the world?), and I was mildly concerned, but we went over there.  All he did when we stopped in front of him was look at me, smile, and say, "You and your sister have a nice night."  I laughed and told him we would.  I guess it was sort of a compliment...from a weirdie, but okay.

Today I went to that store again and overheard the same security guard calling out to someone else, a man this time.  "Hey!" he said.  "Let me give you a leg up!"  Then he laughed and laughed.  The guy he was talking to was an amputee.

Some old guys probably shouldn't be let out of the house.  I'm just sayin'.

Grammar

I had a woman at church tell me recently that she was nervous to write anything on Facebook, because she was afraid of what I might think of her grammar.  I was like, "What???  You are not!"  Then she laughed and said she was kidding.  I'm wondering, though, if she was secretly serious.  I'd be so bummed if she was.

Here's what I think about other people's grammar:  Unless it's blatantly horrible, I don't care.  I may not even notice it.  Actually, I can appreciate writing that comes across like speaking, and I usually write that way myself.  I know not everything I write here on this blog is grammatically correct, and I decided a long time ago that I'm mostly okay with it.  (Confession:  Sometimes I do go back and read posts I've written and I freak out when I find a mistake.  LOL  Then I wonder how many people saw it.)

That reminds me of the time in college that I was telling my very smart friend, Jayne Ann, about something, and she interrupted me to say, "It's 'by accident.'"

"What?"

"You always say 'on accident.'  It's 'by accident.'"

"Oh...okay."

On the one hand, she did me a favor.  I've never, ever made that mistake since.  On the other, she totally ruined my train of thought.     

In Lieu of Anything Deep and Meaningful

I have a true story for you.

One bright summer day a few years ago I went  to my friend's house, because we were going to take our kids to the beach.  Inevitably someone had to use her bathroom before we left, but my friend seemed kind of embarrassed and reluctant to allow that to happen.  Finally she confessed the reason:

Her toilet seat had very recently cracked, which made it pinch people when they sat down.  Being a busy but resourceful mom, she temporarily fixed it...with a panty liner.  She stuck that thing over the crack on the seat and voila!  No more pinching.

Anyway, out of the blue I remembered this today, and then it hit me.  She's the same one who used a tampon to soak up a partial mug of coffee so it wouldn't spill in her car.  This can mean only one thing:

My friend is the MacGyver of sanitary products.

6th Grade at Our House

Last year I did one of these for each kid, and it was fun (for me) to go back and look at them later, so it's about time I did some for this year's grades, too.  Today I'll feature Baylee.

As has been the case since the beginning, Baylee is pretty self-directed throughout her school day.  We do start out the morning together, though, with math.  We always go over problems from the previous assignment and she reworks the ones she got wrong, then I teach her the new lesson.  She's in the chapter on geometry right now, and today she learned about finding the area of polygons.

After math she always does science, spelling, grammar, and writing, I think because, along with math, they're her "dining room table" subjects.  They require a flat surface for a lot of writing.  Sitting correctly in the chair is optional.

Let's see...today in spelling she worked on several things, including the concept of root words.

In grammar she's going through a book that's meant to review and to prepare kids for a standardized test.  (She finished her grammar and punctuation classes with Marie the Canadian.)  It's called Daily Language Review and I really like it.  Here's an example of the type of thing found in it:

Correct These Sentences.
1.  My Dad gave the prezint two pete and I
2.  it werent no serprize I new he wood do it

Not only does the child have to be able to correct the spelling, but there are several punctuation and grammar mistakes.  (Did you know it's supposed to be "Pete and me" in the first one?  And did you catch the need for a semicolon in the second?)  It's great practice.

She has writing as a subject, too, but between writing projects (which last anywhere from a week to two weeks) she gets a week off.  This happens to be one of her off weeks.

Baylee's on the section of her science course that deals with the human body.  She's liking it, because she just came off six solid weeks on electricity, and compared to that, this is intriguing.  Right now she's specifically learning about the nervous system.

Finally it's time for the fun part of the day:  Sonlight.   Sonlight is a literature-based curriculum, which means it uses mostly real books (as opposed to textbooks) to teach.  Baylee loves it.  We use it for Bible, history, and reading.

I appreciate Sonlight's Bible class.  It simply has the kids reading and memorizing God's word.  Every day Baylee reads a passage of Scripture, and sometimes there's a corresponding section to read from a neat book called The Awesome Book of Bible Facts.  Then she has a verse or passage to memorize, but it's through song, so it's easy and fun.

I know this is practically heresy, but I let her do her daily reading from a Message Bible.

World history is a great subject, too.  Sonlight uses a couple books as spines to tie everything together:  A Child's History of the World, which is written in a very interesting and conversational way, kind of like talking to a wise grandfather, and The Usborne Book of World History.  Then there are several fun novels set in different time periods to help flesh things out.  For instance, this year Baylee read about the Roman empire in Roman Diary and Detectives in Togas.  She read about medieval times in Castle Diary and A Door in the Wall.

Finally Baylee has reading.  This isn't anything fancy and it doesn't involve worksheets or tests.  It's just reading through lots and lots of great, often award-winning books throughout the year.  Right now Baylee has two going at once:  A Cricket in Times Square and Mustang:  Wild Spirit of the West.  Usually we get the books from the library, and almost without fail when she finishes one she'll say, "Mom, would you please buy that for me?"

Twice a week she has swimming lessons, and once a week she goes to Pioneer Girls.  Oh, and she has a dog walking job for a neighbor a couple times a week, too.  Today was a dog walking day, so I snapped a picture.

 She also plays with her friends and rides her bike and and helps me with meals and chores.

 And that's 6th grade at our house!  It's pretty darned laid back, I know.  She's learning a ton, though, and enjoying it.

Parking Lots

For years and years...way past when it probably should've been embarrassing for her...Baylee held my hand in parking lots.  I started having her do that to keep her safe when she was small, and she just never stopped. There she was, this big eight, nine, ten-year-old kid, naturally slipping her hand into mine as we crossed the pavement.  I always let her, because it was nice, and because I knew someday she would outgrow it and I would miss it.

Finally, not that long ago, she did outgrow it.  And I did miss it.  Of course, I was okay with it, too, because it would be weird if she never stopped and she was, like, thirty-two and still holding her mom's hand in parking lots.  But, yeah, I was sad.  She is my youngest, you know.

Then the other day on our way out of the grocery store she surprised me.  Chattering away, happy as usual, she linked her arm in mine, not for safety, but for love.

And that works, too.

Cast Iron and Snow

I was talking with a friend about how happy Mike was to get that cast iron griddle, and then we started discussing cast iron stuff in general.  She told me her dad ruined a cast iron skillet by washing it, then putting it on a stove burner to dry and forgetting about it.  That reminded me of something that I did when Mike and I were not exactly newlyweds, but we hadn't been married for more than a couple years:

We had a cast iron skillet, which Mike carefully seasoned, and which I stored in the oven, because it was large and awkward to keep in a cupboard.  One day I preheated the oven, completely forgetting the skillet was in there.  I didn't figure it out until some time had passed and the skillet was piping hot.  In a moment of complete thoughtlessness, I reached in and grabbed the thing with my bare hands to get it out, and, of course, couldn't hang onto it.  I immediately dropped it...on the carpet.*  The pan was ruined after that, because it had melted carpet fibers coating the bottom.  Also, the carpet had a big, black circle on it forever after.

Yesterday it snowed for a few minutes and even stuck for awhile.  I got this quick snapshot of Mike coming home in the morning after a night of work.  He's smiling, but he doesn't like the snow nearly as much as I do.

*We had a carpeted kitchen in that apartment.  Actually, it wasn't even really a kitchen; it was a living room slash kitchen.  I think that apartment actually won the prize for the smallest, most awkwardly laid-out living space around.   There were no hallways, meaning one room led directly into another through a series of doors.  The kitchen/living room led to our bedroom led to the bathroom led to the second bedroom.  Really.  It was like a rabbit warren.

Pic Post

 Zach's reading the novel In His Steps for one of his classes right now.  His assessment:  "I don't hate it."  PS:  This is the book that "What Would Jesus Do?" came from.

Mike's birthday present finally arrived!  (I ordered it from Amazon.)  It's a cast iron stovetop griddle.  He's been wanting one for ages.

 

Best friends. 

Moon Walking and Swimming

Yesterday during our lunch break Drew showed me that he could do a forward moon walk while simultaneously eating macaroni and cheese.

One of my greatest regrets in life is that I turned the video off right before he slipped and fell at the very end.  We could've been YouTube sensations.

Baylee's got Attila the Swim Teacher for lessons this time.  You can tell he's a nice guy outside of the pool, and actually he's very kind to the kids in the pool, but he works them to the bone.  She does nothing but swim back and forth, 25 yards each way, the entire half hour, doing all four strokes over and over and over.  Do you know how difficult swimming almost nonstop for that long is?  And have you seen Baylee's stick arms and legs?  She's wiped out by the end.

One really good thing, though, is that this particular teacher gets right in the pool with those kids and stays there the whole time.  He never instructs from the edge.  Also, he gives a ton of individual attention.  In fact, he stands midway down the lane so he can see each child as they pass him.  If one needs to work on something, he'll stop them and instruct them.  Baylee gets stopped pretty much every single time when they're doing the breast stroke.  She can't seem to get all the different motions put together.

Here he is helping Baylee with the butterfly this past Monday.  (She goes Monday and Wednesday.)

  

Wordless Wednesday

A Memory, the Cat, and Some Potatoes

 I wrote this years ago when Zach was 11 and Baylee was 5:

Today Zach was helping Baylee do a page of Bob Jones kindergarten math.  The page asked, "Which takes longer?" and showed a couple different pictures.  Neither Zach nor Baylee could quite understand what the people in the pictures were doing, so Zach came and asked me.  I told him, "Well, the people in this box are singing a hymn, and the man in that box is preaching a sermon.  Which takes longer?"

Satisfied with that, Zach went back in the other room and translated for his little sister.  "Baylee," he said, "which takes longer:  People singing a song?  Or a man talking forever basically?!"

Poor Cooper.  We decided we just can't let him go outside at night anymore, because that's when he gets into all the fights.  He hasn't gotten the memo yet, though.

He sits in front of the door, staring at the handle, all evening.

Tonight's the night we're celebrating Mike's 41st birthday.  I finally made the cake and we got him a fun present.  Pics tomorrow.

Yesterday was not a good day.  It was just kinda all-around crazy, but the grand finale was when I accidentally burned 5 pounds of mashed potatoes to a freaking crisp.  I'm talking charcoal here.  It went like this:

• I took Baylee to swimming class, then rushed home as soon as it finished.
• Once home I peeled a bunch of potatoes and made a nice sausage and potatoes supper.
• I ran out of time, though, so I pushed the food to the back of the stove to be served later, making sure to turn the burners off.  It was time to run Zach to karate.
• When I got back home I discovered that one of the burners, the one under the potatoes, actually wasn't off.  In fact, it was on high.  The house smelled like a cross between burnt popcorn and hell.
• After averting that disaster, I asked Drew and Baylee why they didn't smell anything.
• They claimed they did smell it, but figured it was just a house burning down somewhere in the neighborhood.

Calgon.

Edited to Add

Conversation with Mike...

him:  I had that Russian cashier today.  Do you know who I mean?

me:  Yeah.

him:  I yawned and she asked if I'm tired.  I told her about working third shift.  Then she wondered how that is with a family.

me:   What did you tell her?

him:  I told her it works okay...mostly.  She wanted to know where our kids go to school and I said they're homeschooled.  She said, "Oh, I wish I could!  Your wife is blessed!"

me:  I don't feel very blessed today.

him:  No, not blessed.  She said "bless-ed."

me:  Oh!  Well, that I feel.


(But I'm blessed, too, even on the rough days.)

 

Monday

I'm having a I-need-a-lot-of-caffeine kind of day.  It's Monday.  Zach and Drew have several tests.  That, coupled with the fact that we're now behind, makes for a grouchy, rushed homeschool.  Poor Mike is wondering when I'm ever going to get around to making his birthday cake.  (His birthday was 4 days ago.  Doh.)  I've gotta drive kids to various activities this evening.  I've got a head cold...again.  Or maybe it's the same one, coming back for round two.  All in all, I'm feeling the pressure of not being able to meet everyone's needs.

This calls for chocolate, I think.

In other news, awhile back it rained pretty hard, but Baylee went outside with the umbrella and enjoyed it anyway.  Love that kid.
 

Sunday

I saw this on Facebook today and thought it was kinda funny, so I showed it to Zach and Drew.  Drew and I ended up having a whole discussion about it.  He kinda spontaneously role played an argument that he could see himself having with a woman, and in his scenario the woman was henpecking him.  It ended with him calling her a "she-devil."

"Drew," I responded, "it would definitely be the beginning of a whole new argument if you ever called your wife a she-devil."

"Well, it doesn't matter, because I'm never getting married," was his reply.

"You might get lonely."

"I won't be lonely.  I'll have roommates!"

(Somebody is still only fourteen.)

Baylee was in a little presentation at church today.  This is her last year of Children's Choir, as she'll be too old for it next year.  Here's a little piece of what she did today:

Make a video - it's fun, easy and free!
www.onetruemedia.com

Random

We've been fighting off a cold AGAIN.  It's not just us, either.  Everybody around here is getting sickness after sickness this winter.  The PNW is a moist breeding ground for germs, I think.

The cat is going to the vet this morning, hopefully to get the okay to take everything off.  He tries to clean himself, but all he's able to do is lick the inside of the cone.  He wants to scratch, but the shirt is in the way.  He yearns to drink out of the toilet, but the cone won't fit down in there.  He's pretty miserable all the way around.  Maybe because of that he seems to be especially affectionate.

A couple nights ago I ate a bowl of frosted flakes while I took a bubble bath.  I'm not sure if that was a high point or a low point for me.

Memes and Marijuana

I saw this on Facebook this morning.

A woman posted it and said that it really helped her out, because it made her realize that God has a purpose for the constant migraine headaches she's been having lately.  Several people liked the post and agreed with the picture.  I didn't want to be that one person who was like, "Umm...." so I didn't say anything, but I don't think this meme is necessarily true.  You can be doing your own thing completely apart from what God wants for you.  Am I wrong?  What do you think?

Baylee's got a nasty cold and feels awful.  She started to get it yesterday, but I hoped it was allergies and had her go to her swim lesson.  It was the first day of level 5, but it's the second time she's been in level 5.  Anyway, so she went, and that turned out to be a bad idea.  She was completely wiped out afterward and feeling much worse than when she started.  In fact, she got teary in the locker room.  I told her there was "no crying in swimming" because, you know, I'm still in the running for Worst Mother of the Year.  (Actually, I knew she'd be embarrassed if she was standing there crying when the rest of the class poured into the showers, so I helped her nip it.  I said it pretty nicely.)  Here's a pic I took of her before class started.  You can kinda tell she doesn't feel good, but on the bright side she looks cute in her new bathing suit.

On a completely different note, I'm embarrassed to live in a state that legalized marijuana.  It's like when you're standing next to a group of people who are acting like idiots, and you want to announce, "I'm not with them!"  It's getting a little hard to hide my head in the sand, though, because there are "medical establishments" cropping up all over Seattle.  At first I didn't know how to recognize them, but now I'm getting good at it.  I'll give you a little tutorial.

You Might Be Looking at a Place That Sells Marijuana if:

• The building is seedy.
• The wording on their sign is green.
• They have a green cross somewhere prominent.  I guess it's sort of their way of saying, "Hey, we're like the Red Cross...only different!"
• Their name involves the word "collective" somehow.  Medical Collective is popular, although the other day I saw one called Calm, Cool Collective.  Sometimes they branch out and get even more creative.  There's one called Herban Legends downtown.

So...now you know!

Doh

Have you ever noticed that when people say something embarrassing in a crowded place, it always happens to be several decibels louder than the surrounding conversation?

Yesterday during the half hour between Sunday school and church, when people stand around drinking coffee and visiting, I was talking with some friends of mine.  One of them is a hairdresser, and she's been going on lately about a new procedure to make your hair smooth and shiny called a Brazilian blowout.  Anyway, so we were all chatting, and someone complained that lately her hair has been really poofy and out of control.  Upon hearing this, Bethany, the hairdresser, loudly exclaimed, "HEY, YOU KNOW WHAT?  I SHOULD GIVE YOU A BRAZILIAN!"

[cue people turning and staring]    

"Maybe you should call it by its full name," I suggested.  She agreed that might be a good idea.

Old Pics

Yesterday I decided to go through the many, MANY pictures on my phone and delete a lot of them.  I didn't even take probably half of those.  People (mostly Baylee) grab my phone all the time and snap away.  In going through them, though, I found some fun ones that I'll share.

Baylee took these of the cat and dog.  I especially love the one of Cooper.

 

 

 I'm not sure who took this.  Maybe Rachel?  It's of Baylee and Ollie, one of the little boys from down the road.  She adores him and vice versa.


And I took the rest.  This was painted on the side of a building in a Seattle park.

This is the cake that Danny and Reyna ordered to celebrate Mike's move to Boeing.  (I guess Boeing's nickname is the Lazy B.)  Danny was so incredibly proud of Mike that he bought that cake before the job was an absolute sure thing.  lol  It made me a little nervous.

Drew went through a photo bombing stage that lasted about 3 months.  He ruined a lot of otherwise nice pictures.

And I just like this one.

Brothers

Aren't they handsome guys?  I took this picture last night when Zach wanted Drew to hear a song, so they stood there sharing headphones and listening to it. 

It's been cool to see their relationship develop as they get older.  They talk.  They laugh.  They get on each other's nerves sometimes, but I can't think of the last time they seriously argued or fought.

(That reminds me of the Great Tamale Disaster of '09.  Mike and I were out together somewhere and Zach was left in charge of his brother and sister.  Lunchtime rolled around, Drew served himself some leftover Mexican food, Zach thought he took too much, and a knock-down-drag-out fist fight ensued right in the middle of the kitchen.  Meanwhile, off to the side, Gibbs secretly and happily ate the entire pan of tamales.  It was a long time before Zach babysat again.)

One interesting thing to watch is how Zach, who's three years older than Drew, will give him advice, and Drew will actually accept it without getting offended.  The other day Zach told him that if he doesn't want his voice to crack so much, he needs to calm the heck down.  Drew was like, "Oh, okay."  LOL

Anyway, I love those two. 

I'm Terrible

I have a concern.  I probably shouldn't even mention it, because it most likely doesn't say anything good about me.  Actually, yeah, never mind.  Forget I said anything.

Okay, fine, I'll share.  It's just...I've been talking about the School of Rock quite a bit over the past couple months.  I AM excited about it.  I think it's meeting a need for Drew in a couple different ways.  First, it's helping him become more musical.  Like I said yesterday, that's been really neat to watch unfold.  Second, it's giving him an opportunity to play with others.  Wonderful!  My concern, though, is this (listen to the beginning for a bit, then fast forward to 2:15):

And that's very typical of the SofR videos from around the country that I've seen on YouTube.  The instrument playing is good (and sometimes even great); the singing usually isn't.  What the heck?

I guess it kind of makes sense.  You go to a SofR not because you're a good singer.  There are other places for that.  You go because you want to play an instrument.  Singing ability is, probably for most of them, somewhere between secondary and nonexistent.  I know it is for Drew.  So these schools work with what they've got and, you know, good for them.  Except...ack.

See?  I'm a horrible person.

Today

I'm still enjoying our little go-nowhere-do-as-little-as-possible spring break.  This has been especially nice, because for the past few years we've had to schedule our spring breaks around guests who have come and stayed for several days.  Those kinds of breaks are fun, too, but it's been awfully nice to be just us this time.

I joined a private group on Facebook called Fatties Who Wanna be Skinnies.  (LOL  I didn't name it.) I'm really enjoying it!  It consists of a few old friends from college and a few people I don't know.  Everybody is VERY honest, which is refreshing.

Today is Drew's School of Rock day.  He's there for just shy of 4 hours every Thursday.  I so often wish, as I'm sitting out in the waiting room for the private lesson part of it, that I could bottle up the sound and bring it home.  There's something beautiful about it every week.*  Today Drew worked on his part in "Won't Get Fooled Again."  It's a long song (I think about 8 minutes) and it includes two solos for Drew, which his teacher told him to improvise.  I have no idea how that works, except that Drew said he has to stay within a certain pentatonic scale each time.  As long as he does that, it'll sound right.  Anyway, it was cool to hear that loud Who music on CD, Drew playing his part along with it, and Zeke calling out instruction.  It filled the building.

*The rehearsal part probably/hopefully sounds good, too, but parents don't stay for that; it's too long.  I've never heard him play with the whole group.  

Grave Robbery and Other Stuff

Spring break = best thing ever!!!  I'm enjoying just relaxing.  Oh, and I'm doing a bit of deep cleaning, too, so don't think I'm completely lazy.

Yesterday Baylee went up to Mike and said, "Daddy, would you make me a tree swing in the backyard?  Here, I drew you this diagram to help you."

The cat got a good report from the vet yesterday.  She liked our modified t-shirt (Zach and I ended up having to cut it all up, hold it together with safety pins, and make holes for legs) and told us to keep making the cat wear it and the cone.  Sigh.  It's weird, but cats have no sense of depth when they have those cones on.  Cooper keeps getting stuck in the dumbest places, because he can't figure out how to get his huge head moving forward past obstacles.  Anyway, he's healing.

Last week in Pioneer Girls I was told to show a Moody Bible Institute DVD on the wonders of creation, and then lead a discussion.  At one point the movie talked about how Leonardo Da Vinci was the first person to accurately draw detailed pictures of human anatomy.  Of course, afterward one of the girls raised her hand and asked how Da Vinci knew what the inside of a person looked like.  I was stuck in the awkward position of having learned somewhere that it was because he secretly dug up corpses to take apart, then trying to delicately explain that to a 9 year old.  ("But, boy, wasn't it neat that those people could help out science like that?  I bet they'd be happy if they knew!")  Thanks, Moody. 

Picture and Conversation

Taken by Baylee yesterday...

 
Overheard convo:

Drew:  You wanna hear a joke I made up?  What's the funniest bone in the body?
Baylee: What?
Drew:  Your humerus.
Baylee: ...
Drew:  In your arm.
Baylee: ...
Drew:  It's a bone.
Baylee: ...
Drew: Called the humerus.
Baylee: ...
Drew: Never mind.  That's a good joke, though.

Cooper

This is post two for the day, but I just remembered I have these pictures, so I figured I'd go ahead and show them to you.  Besides, we're on spring break for the week [cue balloons and confetti falling from ceiling] and I've got time.

We're taking Cooper in tomorrow morning to have the stent removed.  I'm glad, because the past couple days have been a little rough for him.  Twice a day we've had to give him medicine for pain.  Fact:  Cats don't like that.

I think he's doing better, though.  He's starting to lurch around the house now and then.

I took a picture of his wound area, too.  I'll scroll down a ways before I post it, so you don't have to see it if you don't want.  If you're squeamish, stop reading here.