In Like a Lion, Out With a Fish

Today, the last day of March, was one of the first days in March that really felt like spring- quite a change from last weekend when we got rain, hail, sleet and snow all in one trip! John stopped by the lake and went fishing after work. The fish must have been in a spring sort of mood too; he fished until he got tired of catching fish and then came home. The kids were indignant that he went without them, until they saw his catch: a 4 lb Drum, 4 Bluegill and a Sunfish. He was proud of his fish and asked if I was going to take a picture. Of course, dear. The kids danced around him while he cleaned the fish and then we had Fish n' Chips for dinner.

Tomorrow, we're cleaning the house for our new CARE group, but John promised the kids that if they worked hard and got the house clean early in the day, we would all go see Ice Age 2. It has been the topic of conversation all afternoon.

I'm celebrating the end of spring laundry this weekend by putting away all winter clothing. If it gets cold again, we'll just have to freeze. Next up: new sandals for everyone so we can throw away all the brown, holey socks! It just doesn't take much to get me excited anymore.

Weekend Adventures

This past Friday we went to Indianapolis. John's dad recently had a heart attack, so John wanted to see him (he's doing well) and I also got to spend an afternoon shopping at the IAHE homeschool convention. The IAHE convention is definitely one of the best for shopping, so I was able to find much of what I needed. Mike and Laurie, John's brother and sister-in-law, took the kids to play putt-putt golf while John visited his parents. That evening, everyone ate dinner at Mike and Laurie's and Mike and John stayed up most of the night playing chess. On Saturday morning, John, Philip and Ben went to get fitted for tuxes for Dave's wedding and I got to make a brief foray into the Goodwill store. (Indianapolis has the best Goodwill stores anywhere- really nice stuff!) We stopped in to see John's grandparents before we left Indy. We arrived home Saturday afternoon just in time to drop John Mark off at Kevin's birthday party and watch LSU make it into the Final Four. Geaux Tigers!!
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I am certain I'm losing my mind, and the kids would agree with me. When we were getting ready to leave on Friday, I rushed into the kitchen and demanded of the two boys at the table, "Where are Philip and Ben??" Philip, who was sitting at the table, replied, "I'm right here!" "I know where you are!" I retorted. "Where are Philip and Ben??" The boys looked at each other in confusion before I realized my mistake. "Where are Ben and Nathanael?" Poor guys... it's only going to get worse.
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After church on Sunday, we went to eat lunch out at the lake, one of the kids' favorite places to eat. We had Praise Team rehearsal and potluck that evening. After we were all home again and the kids were getting ready for bed, Nathanael came to John and explained that he was too scared to sleep in his own bed. In an amazing show of patience, John turned off the TV and asked, "If I read you that book, will that give you something to think about so you won't be scared?" Nathanael solemnly nodded his head and climbed into John's lap. I'm sure John never expected Nathanael's book to be entitled, "My First Channukah", but he went with it and they read all about menorahs and dreidels.
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Yesterday while the older kids were at 4-H Variety Show rehearsal, I took the three younger ones to the library. They played computer games while I got ahead on planning for next year's school. I've found the only way to keep the kids on target in math is to pre-date each of their assignments in their book. I have that rare "I am a wonderful mother who has it all together" sense of accomplishment, however brief!

I took Becca to the 4-H sewing orientation last night. John Mark desperately wants to do the sewing workshop too (I'm not quite sure why... maybe he just doesn't want Becca to do anything he can't do too), but he's having such a time keeping up with his schoolwork that I don't see how he can do it. I might use it as a "carrot" for him to get his work completed this week. I've learned to dread April because of the sewing workshop, the variety show rehearsals, the end-of-semester planning in co-op, and all the other end-of-the-schoolyear activities, but these are some of the kids' favorite things about homeschooling, so here we go!
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Last night was one of those nights that parents dread... Nathanael woke up in the middle of the night throwing up. I am so thankful for my carpet cleaner and front loading washing machine! Just collect all comforters, pillows, blankets and stuffed animals, throw it in under "sanitary" and next morning- good as new! Nathanael doesn't appear any worse for the wear today and ate some cereal this morning.
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Today, prepare for Awanas tonight, co-op tomorrow and frantically try to get all the other things done from my "to-do" list that didn't get accomplished over the break. Watch my "wonderful-mother-who-has-it-all-together" sense of accomplishment slowly evaporate. Be thankful that my kids' ultimate success in life does not depend on their mother having it all together.

Just Sing

Last night I heard Philip singing as he cleaned his room. He was singing a song we recently learned in church called “Holiness”:

“Holiness, holiness is what I long for.
Holiness is what I need!”

It was really sweet coming from the mouth of my nine- year-old.

One of the blessings of spending the day with my children is that I get to hear a lot of their songs. I come from a singing family. I don’t mean a performing family, and frankly, most people outside of our family probably wouldn’t appreciate our singing all that much. When my brother Will brought his new wife home he noted, “Becca, that’s just part of being in our family- you never know when someone is going to burst forth in song!” It’s true… you never have any warning; the song just creeps up on you and before you realize it, you’re belting out “You’re a Grand Old Flag”, “Let’s Go Fly a Kite”, or “Lord, Reign in Me”. Because we are all suckers for a good tune, it’s easy to ensnare any unsuspecting family members around you and pretty soon, everyone in the vicinity is singing along too. (Of course, this doesn’t always work out. Occasionally we tend to be territorial about our tunes and an argument might ensue: “I was singing this song first!”)

I know not all families are like this. Although John and his brothers all have beautiful voices, John does not wander throughout the day singing, and I’ve never witnessed any member of his family singing while they wash dishes or work in the yard. There must be something genetic involved. My children and I sing throughout the day; we can’t seem to help it.

I remember my mother singing to me and my brothers when I was young. Sometimes it would be the latest Carpenters hit, “Just sing… sing a song!”; sometimes it might be an oldie such as “How Much is that Doggy in the Window?” or a nonsense song like “The animal king with the big nose ring fell in love with the fair young dame…”. She would sing “You are My Sunshine”, leaving out words for us to fill in. It went like this:

“You are my… SUNSHINE!
My only… SUNSHINE!
You make me… HAPPY!
When skies are… GRAY!”

I’m sure "You Are My Sunshine" is the first song we all learned as babies. Considering the number of nonsense songs in our family’s repertoire, it definitely could have been worse.

As I grew older, my dad got in on the fun. He played a little Bluegrass guitar and occasionally, he would teach a favorite like “Fox on the Run”:

"She walks through the corn leadin’ down to the river;
her hair shone like gold in the hot mornin’ sun.
She took all the love that a poor boy could give her
and left me to die like a fox on the run.
Like a fox, like a fox, like a fox… on the run!”

Perfect for a seven year old to sing, wouldn’t you agree? But we loved it.

Now my children carry on the tradition. I have to admit, the constant drone of humming and sotto voce singing during school and housework can be irritating; sometimes I have to demand, “QUI-ET!!” But we are singers, and it isn’t too long before there’s a new song in the air. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Telling Time

Last week, Benjamin had a request for John: "Dad, can you please teach me to tell time?" A fervent plea by your child to expand his mathematical horizons- this is music to a homeschooling father's ears! So John spent the next hour thoroughly explaining all the mysteries of Telling Time. And he was successful. Now no one can pull anything over on Ben! When asked, "Is it lunchtime?" an older sibling might reply, "No, not yet!" because they don't want to stop and make sandwiches. But our Benjamin Time Teller quickly looks at the clock and announces, "It is so! It's after twelve o'clock!" So lunchtime it is. When told that it's bedtime, he complains, "But it's only eight twenty!" The real reason for the desire to tell time soon became apparent, however. About a half hour after the time-telling lesson was over, Ben came to his father and announced, "Dad, it's time for American Idol!"

About Blogging

My friend Janice recently blogged about blogging; you can read it here. I love blogging too...who woulda thunk? I never felt compelled to write before, and never particularly enjoyed it in school. Maybe because I always had to write about things I couldn't have cared less about, like Shakespearean sonnets, or a comparison of South American and North American Indians (oops... Native Americans. When I was in school, they were still Indians.).

Blogging is creative expression with no strings attached. So many of the other creative things I do in life have deadlines or rules- especially if it's a "church" thing. Too many people to please! But with blogging, if I feel like writing, I write; if I don't, so what? My blogger friends are still happy to see me when I return.

I've heard other people critique bloggers, commenting on how "vain" it is to assume that other people would want to read your thoughts. How is that any different than publishing a book, a newspaper commentary, or a magazine article? I don't care to read Ellen Goodman's views on life, but I certainly don't dispute her right to publish them. So, I write. I probably have a readership of about 5 people or so, but that's ok. I write because I like it. And if you like it too, so much the better!

Blogging is part of my "margin" time. Are there more important things I could be doing? Probably. But so much of my life is hectic, spent running around doing things other people want me to do. This is something I enjoy, and something I think will have some lasting value. I like having a "journal" for my kids and a way to keep my friends and family updated on our lives without writing a dozen emails a week (which definitely wasn't happening during my pre-blog days!) I also like reading the inner musings of my friends; things we don't always get around to sharing with each other. I've had people tell me the same thing. In this high-tech world where we are almost always accessible but rarely available, we need to find ways to connect with each other. Blogging brings people together. And that's a good thing.

Weekend Adventures

The craziest part of our school schedule is over until mid-April when the end-of-the-year events begin, so we had a nice, stress-free weekend. We have a break from co-op this week, so Becca and I thought we'd get a jump on her 4-H sewing project. She's in level 3 this year and is required to make a top with buttons, a collar, and preferably sleeves. This is new territory for me- I don't do buttons. We are both worried about it! But we spent a long time poring over the pattern books and picking out material yesterday. That's the fun part! We'll go ahead and do what we can already do, then we'll have to beg for help. Janice, do you do buttons?:-)

Becca and I had a good time while we were out; she's a good shopping companion. It's fun having a daughter who's old enough to have fun with; it's not like taking one of "the kids" around any more. We went to the consignment stores downtown and ate Bruschetta outside Kirchoff's before our marathon Walmart session.

John worked in the yard yesterday and don't let him fool you: he likes mowing the lawn. His lawnmower finally died for good last year and we had to go buy a new one even though we didn't have the money for it. But he loves his new mower. It resides in a place of honor inside our over-crowded garage. He came in last night gushing over how fabulous his mower was. He also had a close call yesterday when the burn barrel shot a flame up into the air and singed the front of his hair off. Guess he got a haircut too soon! He's lucky to still have eyebrows :-). He's also been helping Philip and Becca make their cars for the Awana Pinewood Derby.

We had our mini-CARE group over for lunch at our house today. This has been a fun group; I'm sorry it's over. John and I were the youngest ones in the group and the only ones with kids still at home. It seemed like we used to always be the youngest when John Mark and Becca were babies, but now, we're right up there with everyone else. It was nice being "young" again! We had BJ and Beth, James, Woody, Kay, Glen & Vicki, and Don & Judy in our group. BJ and Woody especially have some wild tales to tell. It was a lot of fun. But next week, potluck. I like Potlucks.

Since this is my break week, I have a long list of great plans. I know I will only get a fraction of it accomplished, but I made a start: tonight I cleaned the little boys room. This is not a job for the faint-hearted! They are collectors of all kinds of junk: toys; kitchen bowls, cups and utensils; empty toilet paper rolls; rocks; paper of all kinds; candy wrappers; birthday, Christmas and Valentine cards; crayons and other art items; and many unidentifiable objects. I was pleased not to find any organic material this time around. I threw lots of stuff away, including any toy for which I could not find all the parts. It was a wonderful feeling! They still have so much junk they don't miss anything. They are upstairs playing in their room now; having toys with all parts accounted for is like getting them brand new again! Tomorrow we have 4-H, but then I will do Becca and the older boys' rooms and the laundry room. Wish me luck!

On Spring

Spring has come to our yard. Our yard is not a well-manicured lawn like the ones you'll see in "Better Homes and Gardens". It is a family yard: well-trampled and full of toys and children. But once a year, spring arrives and transforms our yard into a showplace of color and beauty.

We are fortunate to have a large yard of about an acre. Our lawn, made up of several varieties of both grass and weed, has proven highly resistant to John's beautification efforts and has clung to its old ways with tenacity. Consequently, each spring I can depend on receiving giant handfuls of golden Dandelion and pearl-tipped clover, offered with love by grinning, grimy boys.

Our yard also has an incline, perfect for gaining momentum on a Big Wheel, a Slip n' Slide, or a snow saucer, depending on the season. One wouldn't imagine that an acre is large enough to have rolling hills, but thanks to our resident moles, we have hills which really do roll. The moles are sneaky critters who tunnel mayhem across our turf. They have evaded John's best mole-catching schemes, and he has even posted a bounty of $10 per mole. So far, no luck, but the hunt will soon begin again. My money is on the moles.

A number of large old Maple trees provide shade and strong branches for climbing children and their various swinging contraptions. Two backyard Maples suspend our hammock, a gift brought back from Honduras by John's brother and sister-in-law. The hammock is the perfect place to spend a lazy afternoon, especially if there's a nice breeze, and it's also a magnet for thrill-seeking children looking for entertainment to pass the time. Our Maples also provide a source of delight which comes just once a year: the annual Shedding of the Seeds. It is a thrill to be outside on a windy day, when showers of arboreal helicopters spiral by the hundreds across the yard. (Unfortunately, they also spiral into the landscaping, creating a gardening challenge for weeks to come.)

We have several evergreen Pines which stand guard along the edge of our back property. They drop pinecones- always useful for a game of Army- and pine needles, which provide beds for Barbie dolls or captured insects. Three Mulberry trees reside in the ditch which runs along the opposite property line. These are good climbing trees; I've witnessed my children clinging to the branches clear at the tops. For about three weeks each summer, my children run around with purple-stained hands, feet and mouths because it's Berry Season. Occasionally, they are disciplined enough to collect a whole quart of berries and we savor the taste of fresh mulberry pie. We enjoy watching the multitude of birds and the occasional transient squirrel which make their homes in the branches of our trees. Although our trees are definitely not the prettiest in the neighborhood, the kids and creatures that inhabit our yard would argue that they are surely the most loved.

One of the nicest surprises about spring is that it brings a bit of beauty to our otherwise common-looking yard. The Hyacinths stand in brilliant bloom around my garden flag; the Dogwood and Forsythia blossom; the Iris emerge in purple splendor; a few renegade Crocuses poke through the grass around the front Maple; even Ugly Bush out by the driveway makes its best show with hundreds of tiny white flowers. The front garden awakens from its winter respite: multi-hued bushes; a Japanese Maple; golden Day Lillies; a miniature rose bush; glossy green Hostas; and a few large prickly bushes which both children and adults have learned to treat with great respect.

I planted a bush the first spring we lived here, and hadn't a clue what it would look like when it bloomed. In fact, I forgot all about it; it was just a stick with some leaves. After the following winter, it looked so pitiful that I assumed that whatever it was had died. I was thinking of pulling it up and starting over when it began making a green, bulbous, weedy stalk. I told John, "This is a giant weed!" He insisted that it was a flower, so doubtfully, I left it alone. He was right. One morning we were surprised by a huge white wedding-cake type of flower that seemed way too showy for the modest bush it inhabited. It was a Peony. It was soon followed by a half-dozen other giant blooms which amazed us with their beauty until the rain from a spring storm weighed them down and they all fell into the mud. Spring is full of all kinds of surprises.

I never considered spring to be one of my favorite seasons, but I've had to reconsider. The transformation of dreary and brown into fresh, glorious color is a delight to witness. For just a few weeks, our ordinary yard becomes an oasis of beauty. Spring has returned, and I'm enjoying the show.

Top Ten Things About Spring

When the kids opened the front door this morning, John Mark exclaimed, "Wow- it looks like a fairy tale out here!" And it did. The rain left a mist hanging in the air, and almost overnight, the Forsythias, Bradford Pears and Daffodils began blooming. Everything is a fresh, new shade of green, including our generally not-so-gorgeous lawn turf. Even our "ugly bush" out by the driveway has begun blooming. (For two weeks out of the year, it is pretty. The rest of the year, it is just an ugly, strange-looking bush. I'll post a picture once it reaches its full glory.) Spring is always full of excitement; never the same thing from one day to the next. I was inspired to make a list. I like lists. Feel free to add to it!

Top Ten Things I Love About Spring
(in no particular order)

1. Blooming flowers and trees
2. Warm sunny days (preferably with no humidity)
3. Pleasant evenings on the porch
4. Sandal Season- no more yucky kid socks all over the house
5. Yard Sales
6. Robin nests full of baby birds in the ferns on our front porch.
7. No more coats, gloves, mittens, hats, scarves, earmuffs, snowsuits, snowboots (and yucky socks)
8. Having the windows open all over the house and the temperature is "just right"
9. Clothes fresh off the clothesline
10. Easter
11. Getting the grill going again
12. Picking out new flowers and vegetables to plant
13. Freshly mulched landscaping
14. The Dogwood Trail

(I know there are more than 10... there is so much to enjoy, I couldn't stop! I think God must feel the same way. How else can you account for Spring?)

Top Five Things I Dislike About Spring

1. Tornadoes
2. Mud
3. Cold day, hot day, cold day, hot day....
4. Spring laundry: winter clothes mixed with summer clothes for five kids makes for LOTS of clothes lying around the house and LOTS of laundry to do!
5. Well... there isn't a 5. Makes it official: there's just an awful lot to like about spring!

Weekend Adventures

Area 4-H Speech competition was today; another spring milestone- done! I can see the end of the tunnel... summer break! For co-op, summer break begins in May, although we still have some math and other miscellaneous things to continue after that. We have been working so hard this year with school work; I am feeling it and I know the kids are feeling it too! I guess that's to be expected with all of them getting older. This will be a well-deserved summer break!

Anyway, back to the competition. Usually we spend some time between County and Area adding additional material to the kids' speeches and refining their presentation skills. This year, nada. We ran through each presentation maybe twice yesterday, and that was it. We've just been so busy with all the other school work that the speech competition was relegated to the back shelf. Becca did a good job with hers and she won a blue ribbon and alternate for state champion. The girl who won champion in that category did the same presentation she did last year. I told Becca that with two years to work on it, you would hope she did well (and she did). I didn't get to see John Mark's "Bridges" presention because I had to stay with Becca in a different room, but he received champion in his category and can go to State in July. State is a lot tougher, so he'll have to do a good bit of work on his presentation to be in the running for champion. He did a lot of reading about bridges, especially the Brooklyn Bridge, when he was researching this presentation, so we plan to walk the Brooklyn Bridge when we go to New England for Uncle Dave's wedding.

I've spent some time recently trying to get this New England vacation planned out; we figured since we were going to have to go to Boston anyhow, we should make this into one of our "big" family vacations. We don't get to go on vacations every year like some families (not counting trips to see grandparents), so when we do plan a vacation, it's a big deal. We're spending the night in Niagara Falls, Canada on the way up and then after we do the wedding in Boston and see the sights there, we're going to take the kids to Plimoth Plantation, New York City and then eastern Pennsylvania before heading home. I'm sure it will be a lot of fun, but trying to plan a multi-city vacation that all seven of us will enjoy on our budget is stressing me out! I'll be so relieved when this part is done.

Word is that John, Philip and Ben are supposed to be in the wedding, so at least I won't have to worry about their clothes. I lucked out at the children's consignment sale last Monday and Becca and I found a beautiful purple semi-formal (with silver sequins!) for her. This is her first dressy "grown-up" dress, and we bought some matching silver heels at Walmart to go with it. She is ready and excited! I also found a black suit for John Mark and a little blue suit for Nathanael at the consignment sale. Everyone has clothes- one less thing to worry about!

We are tired and we are vegging tonight. John was out last night until 1:30 am fixing the brakes on the van. I stayed up doing laundry and ironing the kids' clothes for their speeches. After the 4-H thing this morning, we ate lunch at Ryan's, went to the Cingular store (more on that later) and got haircuts for three kids and John. John Mark attended a "really awesome" birthday party for his friend Benjamin, and John went in to work. Now the older three kids are watching the new Harry Potter video and the two little ones are upstairs giggling in their bunkbeds while Dad is trying to watch TV ("I told you to go to bed... don't make me come in there!") Tomorrow, church and CARE group. Life is good. Busy, but good.

The Shofar

This morning in Bible study, John read the story of how the Israelites marched around the walls of Jericho before God gave them the city. The kids love this story- we even have a ram's horn that we purchased several years ago from a Messianic Jew. John got out the ram's horn and all of them took a turn sputtering on it. It was not pretty! But pretty didn't matter. The kids were inspired; they marched around and around the circle from our living room through the kitchen in a noisy procession until they fell into a giggling heap onto the living room floor. Fortunately, the house did not come falling down. Even without a real shofar player, this was fun! But suddenly one of them had a brilliant idea: "Dad, do you think we could get lessons?"

Happy Birthday John!

I'm back. I took an unplanned blogging break to celebrate the end of February. Actually, I had a nice long post typed up and was doing the final edit when the window inexplicably closed on me. ARRRRRRGH!!!!! I suppose the frustration of it did me in.

But all in all, it was a fairly normal week. Getting schoolwork done, co-op, Awana, piano, chorus, church, etc. Rebecca had a cold that laid her out for a couple of days, but she's fine now. John cleaned his garage, so you can walk, rather than climb, across it.

Friday was John's birthday. He's 38 now! We went to Tribeca to celebrate. I am better with him getting older than I am with me getting older. Men seem to age with more dignity than women somehow. Many of them seem to improve with age- and get better looking to boot! (I've heard way too many women drool over Sean Connery and Mel Gibson for anyone to dispute this one. Mr. Connery is ancient! But still a sex symbol. Go figure.) So John has improved with age too (and he was pretty good to start with!) The kids baked him a "surprise" birthday cake on Saturday. John Mark did most of the work and made a delicious cake. Becca gave up on putting 38 candles on the cake and made a three and an eight out of the candles instead.

Tonight is the children's consignment sale, a sure harbinger of spring! I love a good sale. And it isn't really a sale until it's at least 50% off. I went to Kohl's and the mall on Saturday and found some great deals on the 75% off clearance racks, but it only whetted my apetite for garage sale season. Come, warm weather, come! It has become very difficult to find clothes for Rebecca now. She is getting too big for most of the clothes in the children's department, but the Junior department is scary! Yikes! I cannot let my 11 year old dress like that, even if she wanted to. (so far, she's not interested... she is very particular about how much skin shows. Hope it lasts!)

We purchased the new "Pride and Prejudice" that was just released on video and watched it last night. They did a fabulous job with it. I purchase a couple of "grown up" DVDs a year, but the kid videos still outnumber ours about 50 to 1. This past Christmas I gave John the extended LOTR triliogy with all the special additional features and for what that cost, we probably shouldn't watch anything else for three years or so.

John Mark just walked into the room to take a phone call. I think it's a girl because he's trying to get off the phone. (How long will that last?) He is reading "Little Women" for a history assignment this month. He balked when he saw the size of the book, but he just told me, "This book is pretty good." High praise from a 12-year-old boy reading a "girls" book! (And I was right- the call was from a girl. It lasted less than a minute and a half.)

So there's all my Monday life-trivia. Life is good.