... going 35 mph on a snow-covered Interstate. A 2 hour trip turning into 2.5 hours. Arriving safely anyway.
... making sugar cookies. (First year ever.)
... having good friends over for Christmas Eve dinner. (Also first year ever. Miciah's idea.)
... listening to all the funny things the 3-year-old says while opening presents.
... coffee cake for Christmas Day brunch.
... candy canes, any time I want them.
... Luke 2.
... cards taped to the wall.
... participating in the Tu. family concall on Christmas Day. (2.5 hours--there's a lot of us.)
... M&K's family rapping Jingle Bells, complete with Ma doing a backflip at the end.
... the rose music box that Rob gives me every year. Always manages to be my favorite gift.
... not wanting to write the Christmas or Year in Review blog.
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Elijah, Our Stress Indicator
A number of years ago I noticed that Miciah was a very accurate Stress Indicator for our family, particularly me. This is probably because, despite how she can get on my nerves, the two of us are a lot alike. But possibly her age was also a factor, because I've started noticing that Elijah is now our Stress Indicator. But he's a better Rob's Stress Indicator, and that's probably because, despite how Elijah can get on Rob's nerves, the two of them are a lot alike.
Case 1
Rob's been working Tuesday and Thursday nights (what, am I a broken record? How often do I mention this?!), and with the holidays upon us, the last few weeks of that schedule were really rough. As we talked about career moves for the next year, and ideas for the years to come, Rob was talking about holding multiple jobs at the same time, and the possibility of me getting a job, in case blah blah blah, or whatever. These are all just ideas floating out there, to be considered in case we need to use them at a later time.
The whole idea of me working a part-time job, however, was settled for me one night when Elijah said, "Mom? If you had a class, too, then who would put me to bed?"
I explained that if Daddy was gone at night, we would make sure I was home, and vice versa.
"Yeah, but, if you DID have a class, then who would put me to bed?"
Later that night, Rob was talking about maxing out our family's stress levels and jokingly said, "If someone else needs to get a job, it's got to be you."
I almost yelled at him. "NO. I can NOT get a job. OUR SON JUST ASKED WHO WOULD PUT HIM TO BED IF I HAD A JOB, TOO!"
I have contemplated Elijah's comment and let it be a stand-alone incident until yesterday when another conversation took place over the dinner table.
Case 2
Elijah asked me what would happen if we didn't live together as a family any more. He worded it funny, but I knew what he was referring to. The other day I'd had to explain to Miciah that someone she likes very much isn't a part of our lives any more because he and his wife were divorced now. Miciah said she knew what divorce was, but Elijah didn't, so I explained it like, "Sometimes two people decide they don't want to be married any more, and then they don't live together as a family any more." A simple explanation, and a simplified one, but I'm hoping my kids won't have any reason to need it explained more fully.
So when he wanted to know about when we didn't live together as a family any more, I knew he was talking about if Mommy and Daddy got divorced. I didn't know what to say about that. I told him that, of course, we weren't getting divorced, and we were still going to live together as a family.
Strangely, Elijah was almost disappointed about this. It turns out that he wanted to live with just Mommy and Miciah and Teancom because "Daddy is mean." Usually it's both Mom AND Dad who are mean, according to Elijah, and it's always because we spank him and put him in time outs. We do in fact do both of those things. But not often. I guess it just leaves a big impression.
But last night, it was only Daddy who was mean. I pressed Elijah on it a little.
"Daddy's not mean."
"Yes, he is."
"But you still would want him to live with us."
"No."
"Really? You'd rather him not come home ever again because he sometimes gives you spankings?"
At this point Elijah started to cry.
And I didn't know what to say.
Rob did what a good daddy would do and took him in the back room and sat him on his lap and talked to him. What it came down to is that Elijah wants Rob to play with him more. Rob said, "I can do that."
With 2 fairly profound, non-isolated comments under our belt, I realized that Elijah is now our Stress Indicator. It's amazing to me how accurate, and how blunt--how painful sometimes--children can be at interpreting and re-presenting our stresses.
I feel confident, however, that with a little time and effort, Elijah will once again want Rob to be a part of our family. Because Rob's a good guy. A good husband and a good father.
I wish Stress Indicators came as a kit. "Buy this gadget and it'll measure your stress levels." It seems unfair for children to do that kind of dirty work.
(On a somewhat unrelated note, but still down the same alley, Elijah was drawing a picture of our family. Sort of. It included like 10 people and there was a baby in my tummy. No, that is not an announcement. I told Elijah there wasn't really a baby in my tummy and he said, "I know. It's just pretend."
Then he kept drawing and started doing the details on my face. He gave me very angry slanty eyebrows and an equally angry zig-zag mouth. Elijah said, "Mom, do you know why you're mad in this picture?" No, I said. "Because the baby in your belly hasn't come out yet." Accurate. Very accurate.)
Case 1
Rob's been working Tuesday and Thursday nights (what, am I a broken record? How often do I mention this?!), and with the holidays upon us, the last few weeks of that schedule were really rough. As we talked about career moves for the next year, and ideas for the years to come, Rob was talking about holding multiple jobs at the same time, and the possibility of me getting a job, in case blah blah blah, or whatever. These are all just ideas floating out there, to be considered in case we need to use them at a later time.
The whole idea of me working a part-time job, however, was settled for me one night when Elijah said, "Mom? If you had a class, too, then who would put me to bed?"
I explained that if Daddy was gone at night, we would make sure I was home, and vice versa.
"Yeah, but, if you DID have a class, then who would put me to bed?"
Later that night, Rob was talking about maxing out our family's stress levels and jokingly said, "If someone else needs to get a job, it's got to be you."
I almost yelled at him. "NO. I can NOT get a job. OUR SON JUST ASKED WHO WOULD PUT HIM TO BED IF I HAD A JOB, TOO!"
I have contemplated Elijah's comment and let it be a stand-alone incident until yesterday when another conversation took place over the dinner table.
Case 2
Elijah asked me what would happen if we didn't live together as a family any more. He worded it funny, but I knew what he was referring to. The other day I'd had to explain to Miciah that someone she likes very much isn't a part of our lives any more because he and his wife were divorced now. Miciah said she knew what divorce was, but Elijah didn't, so I explained it like, "Sometimes two people decide they don't want to be married any more, and then they don't live together as a family any more." A simple explanation, and a simplified one, but I'm hoping my kids won't have any reason to need it explained more fully.
So when he wanted to know about when we didn't live together as a family any more, I knew he was talking about if Mommy and Daddy got divorced. I didn't know what to say about that. I told him that, of course, we weren't getting divorced, and we were still going to live together as a family.
Strangely, Elijah was almost disappointed about this. It turns out that he wanted to live with just Mommy and Miciah and Teancom because "Daddy is mean." Usually it's both Mom AND Dad who are mean, according to Elijah, and it's always because we spank him and put him in time outs. We do in fact do both of those things. But not often. I guess it just leaves a big impression.
But last night, it was only Daddy who was mean. I pressed Elijah on it a little.
"Daddy's not mean."
"Yes, he is."
"But you still would want him to live with us."
"No."
"Really? You'd rather him not come home ever again because he sometimes gives you spankings?"
At this point Elijah started to cry.
And I didn't know what to say.
Rob did what a good daddy would do and took him in the back room and sat him on his lap and talked to him. What it came down to is that Elijah wants Rob to play with him more. Rob said, "I can do that."
With 2 fairly profound, non-isolated comments under our belt, I realized that Elijah is now our Stress Indicator. It's amazing to me how accurate, and how blunt--how painful sometimes--children can be at interpreting and re-presenting our stresses.
I feel confident, however, that with a little time and effort, Elijah will once again want Rob to be a part of our family. Because Rob's a good guy. A good husband and a good father.
I wish Stress Indicators came as a kit. "Buy this gadget and it'll measure your stress levels." It seems unfair for children to do that kind of dirty work.
(On a somewhat unrelated note, but still down the same alley, Elijah was drawing a picture of our family. Sort of. It included like 10 people and there was a baby in my tummy. No, that is not an announcement. I told Elijah there wasn't really a baby in my tummy and he said, "I know. It's just pretend."
Then he kept drawing and started doing the details on my face. He gave me very angry slanty eyebrows and an equally angry zig-zag mouth. Elijah said, "Mom, do you know why you're mad in this picture?" No, I said. "Because the baby in your belly hasn't come out yet." Accurate. Very accurate.)
Year in Review
I keep thinking I should write some Holiday Greeting, Year in Review type of blog post. But I keep not having the energy for it. Oh, the Christmas season of exhaustion, kids out of school, places to go and things to do!
Friday, December 18, 2009
What Daddy Does for a Living
Yesterday Elijah was telling me about how we needed more money for something or other (probably a toy). He said, "Go get more money." I told him you can't just "get" more money, you have to go to work.
He thought for a minute and said, "Oh! I know who gets all the money in our family: Daddy!"
I told him he was right.
Then he said, "What does Daddy do at work?"
Before I could answer he said, "Oh! I remember! He kills rats."
A moment later he corrected himself to the more accurate "mice."
Then he started talking about what he would do for a living when he got older. He decided he would perform a valuable public service: If someone has a rattlesnake in their backyard, he'll go and kill the rattlesnake by "tying it in a knot, like they do on TV."
I told him that you can't really tie a rattlesnake in a knot.
He said, "A bear can."
"No, it can't."
"He can kill it with his claws, though. Bears are strong."
I advised him to stay away from rattlesnakes.
But I didn't put it all together until this morning. Why he wants to kill rattlesnakes when he gets older, and how that was connected to the rest of the conversation. Rob kills rats, so Elijah will be just like his daddy and kill snakes!
Suddenly I was thinking about a medieval Rob catching rats for a living. Noble scientist turned rat-killer. That's awesome.
He thought for a minute and said, "Oh! I know who gets all the money in our family: Daddy!"
I told him he was right.
Then he said, "What does Daddy do at work?"
Before I could answer he said, "Oh! I remember! He kills rats."
A moment later he corrected himself to the more accurate "mice."
Then he started talking about what he would do for a living when he got older. He decided he would perform a valuable public service: If someone has a rattlesnake in their backyard, he'll go and kill the rattlesnake by "tying it in a knot, like they do on TV."
I told him that you can't really tie a rattlesnake in a knot.
He said, "A bear can."
"No, it can't."
"He can kill it with his claws, though. Bears are strong."
I advised him to stay away from rattlesnakes.
But I didn't put it all together until this morning. Why he wants to kill rattlesnakes when he gets older, and how that was connected to the rest of the conversation. Rob kills rats, so Elijah will be just like his daddy and kill snakes!
Suddenly I was thinking about a medieval Rob catching rats for a living. Noble scientist turned rat-killer. That's awesome.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Two Pictures I Forgot to Post
And what was I thinking? These are magnificent photos!
Rob, sporting the rope-headband that he created himself:
You can own one just like it for the low, low price of $14.95. That's a steal for hand-crafted workmanship!
Rob, sporting the rope-headband that he created himself:
You can own one just like it for the low, low price of $14.95. That's a steal for hand-crafted workmanship!
It's December 15th
and time for another update.
Thanksgiving
We'll start at Thanksgiving. We spent Thanksgiving with Rob's family up in Toledo, and it was fantastic. Rare for a family get-together: there was almost no fighting amongst kids! All the kids were old enough to just go off and play, so we didn't see them all day. I suppose I should be lamenting that my kids aren't constantly attached to my hip any more, and I should be singing a sad song about days gone by. ... Whatever. It's GREAT! Hurray to have the baby stage behind us!
Rob also was able to spend some one-on-one time with his sister, Chiara, and I don't think that's happened in a long time. Good times.
While we were up there, Rob's mom asked Teancom if he was her baby. He said, "No. I'm my mommy's baby." It just made me smile, cause I'm always asking him if he's my baby. Sometimes he'll say that he's big instead, but usually he's happy to be my baby and sit on my lap and suck his fingers. He's still a cuddle bug. He's also possessive about the term "baby cakes," which is one of the pet names I use for all my children. The other day I called Elijah my baby cakes and Teancom said, "I'M your baby cakes!" He's actually really possessive about just about everything that involves me. We were watching old home videos of Teancom as a baby, and I realized that he's been possessive of me from the very beginning! What a stinker.
Nativities and a Migraine, a story
The weekend after Thanksgiving Rob went back up to Toledo to sing in his mom's stake's Nativity with his sisters. Miciah went with him, so it was just me and the boys at home from Friday night to Sunday morning. They had a great time and it went well. Plus, me and the boys sounded like a treat. Having only 2 kids around is not a problem, right?
All except on Friday night my vision started dimming. It was really bizarre and sort of scary, since it's never happened to me before. I was having trouble reading because spots of light kept getting in the way of the text, and the whole left side of my peripheral vision was black, like static. It's not like I was up late, either; I was in bed, lights off, by 10 p.m.
I didn't have time to wonder about what was going on, though, because when I woke up at 9 the next morning I had a MASSIVE migraine. The worst of my life. So I called Corene and she took the boys for a few hours. Then I called the Browns and they took the boys for a few more hours. I was finally able to get out of bed at 1 p.m., the boys were back home at 3, and we survived the rest of the day. We didn't go to a party that evening, which was a bummer, but what do you do. Rob came home before church to get the kids because I still wasn't feeling good, but we did go as a family to our stake's Nativity display later in the day, and it was fun, even though it completely drained me.
No more migraines like that. It was NO GOOD at all. And it just figures that it happened on the day when Rob was out of town, right? I guess that's the way it goes. How else can we be deeply grateful and in debt to our friends?
A Working Furnace is NOT a Luxury!
Yesterday morning our furnace wouldn't start. Luckily, it wasn't very cold outside, so the house stayed at 65°. Rob came home to take care of stuff, and he went downstairs and randomly started tapping things with a hammer until the furnace started again. So we have heat now, but who knows how permanent that situation really is. So we decided it was finally time to bite the bullet and purchase a new furnace. We've had problems with the furnace nearly every year we've lived here, and some of the problems have been large problems.
Thankfully, this year we have more money in the bank to cover this, the tax incentives are better this year than they were last year, and we'd already been through the hassle of interviewing companies. So we just called up the 2 companies that we liked best from last year and asked for an updated quote (we still have all the paperwork. We saved it because we figured we'd be using it this year). The prices didn't change, and so we easily picked a company. Zimmer Heating and Cooling will be calling us on Friday to set up a date to install our new 95% efficiency furnace (our old furnace is a nearly 30-year-old 70% efficiency model). So either next week or the week after we won't have to wonder any more if our furnace will turn on after a cold night. Merry Christmas to us!
Rob's News
A lot of people have asked me about the news surrounding Rob and possible jobs for the Fall. Well, there isn't any news to share, and that's why I haven't shared it. Rob didn't get the Xavier job he wanted, but that wasn't unanticipated. He has applied for several more, a few of those in Cincinnati. He's still making connections with people and institutions and generally doing a good job of putting his name out there.
Some of the job-related things he'll be up to in 2010:
- In the Spring he'll be teaching a 10-week introductory genetics course for the University of Cincinnati.
- He's made contacts with Raymond Walters (a 2-year open enrollment college), and they asked him if he wanted to teach an on-line course at some point. They tried to make it work for January, but it's not going to happen.
- Raymond Walters has a position opening for the Fall, and he'll be applying for it. His contact told him they expect about 30 applicants, and she gave him pointers on how to prepare for an interview.
- He's teaching the same NKU Bio 120 lecture and lab that he's teaching right now, from January - May. He'll probably have 2 lab sections instead of the 1 he has now, which will mean a few more hours for him, but also a little more pay.
- In July he committed to teaching a 5-week Bio 120 course for NKU. It'll possibly be as much as a lecture and 3 labs (but probably not less than 2 lab sections). This means he will be ending his post-doc at the end of June so that he can teach this class. He's happy that they'll pay him enough that he can spend a month doing teaching exclusively.
- Most likely he will be unemployed for the month of August. Nearly every job starts in Sept. 2010. So it's a good thing there's still money in that savings account after the furnace purchase, since we'll be living off savings for a month or two.
And there you go. That's Rob's crazy life, and therefore our family's crazy life. Rob gives his final tonight, and I'm looking forward to our family's 2 weeks of together time. We're in need of it. Some days it's super easy to do everything I need to do, and some days it's just not so easy. With the Holiday season upon us, I've had more days of Not Easy, and poor Rob is taking it personally.
June will be our "off" month, even though he'll probably be scrambling to finish up with his post-doc stuff. I'm thinking about trying to do an extended weekend camping trip to a local-ish National Park or something. No 6-week cross-country venture for us this year.
Christmas
On Saturday we finally did our Christmas shopping, which has made me much less tense. 2 weeks before Christmas is cutting it too close for me, but we just hadn't had the time. I HATE that phrase now: "Don't have the time." Grrr. Anyways, it's mostly done, and our Christmas time is pretty much planned, so I've got my calm again.
Next week, Tuesday, this gift from my parents will arrive:
Hurray for a new stove!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you, Mom and Dad.
Our Anniversary
Next Monday is our 9 year mark for marriage. To celebrate, we're going to hang out at the museum on Saturday. Super lame, right? But I love it. Next year, for #10, Rob's been informed that the date can NOT be lame (even though I really do like lame dates). He's already thinking about it, and it may or may not require reservations for a cabin. I'm excited in anticipation.
A Miciah Story
To end this super-long update, I'll tell a really good Miciah story. This is from Sunday.
I walked by Miciah's teacher in the church hallway and he said that he yelled at Miciah. I was shocked because usually Miciah is very well behaved for teachers. He looked at me and said, "I yell at her every week, but today was an exception." I should mention that this is the teacher who does fun things like tease Miciah by calling her Queen of Yellow when she's wearing a yellow dress. Stuff like that. Perfect for Miciah.
Anyways, I asked what happened and he said that he asked her to stop touching his paper. She touched it again. He told her to stop or she would have to leave class. She touched it again. (At this point in the story I rolled my eyes. That's just SO Miciah.) He said, forcefully, "That's it! Get out of class!" Miciah looked like she was about to cry so he backed down and told her she didn't have to leave so long as she didn't cry. Then he felt bad (this is the difference between me and him. Miciah has taught me that I can't feel bad about it. I would have kicked her out of class and not had even an ounce of guilt) and so he said, "Am I the meanest person in the world?"
Miciah looked right at him and matter-of-factly said, "No. My Mom says that she's the meanest, most awful person in the world, so it can't be you."
Rock. On.
Thanksgiving
We'll start at Thanksgiving. We spent Thanksgiving with Rob's family up in Toledo, and it was fantastic. Rare for a family get-together: there was almost no fighting amongst kids! All the kids were old enough to just go off and play, so we didn't see them all day. I suppose I should be lamenting that my kids aren't constantly attached to my hip any more, and I should be singing a sad song about days gone by. ... Whatever. It's GREAT! Hurray to have the baby stage behind us!
Rob also was able to spend some one-on-one time with his sister, Chiara, and I don't think that's happened in a long time. Good times.
While we were up there, Rob's mom asked Teancom if he was her baby. He said, "No. I'm my mommy's baby." It just made me smile, cause I'm always asking him if he's my baby. Sometimes he'll say that he's big instead, but usually he's happy to be my baby and sit on my lap and suck his fingers. He's still a cuddle bug. He's also possessive about the term "baby cakes," which is one of the pet names I use for all my children. The other day I called Elijah my baby cakes and Teancom said, "I'M your baby cakes!" He's actually really possessive about just about everything that involves me. We were watching old home videos of Teancom as a baby, and I realized that he's been possessive of me from the very beginning! What a stinker.
Nativities and a Migraine, a story
The weekend after Thanksgiving Rob went back up to Toledo to sing in his mom's stake's Nativity with his sisters. Miciah went with him, so it was just me and the boys at home from Friday night to Sunday morning. They had a great time and it went well. Plus, me and the boys sounded like a treat. Having only 2 kids around is not a problem, right?
All except on Friday night my vision started dimming. It was really bizarre and sort of scary, since it's never happened to me before. I was having trouble reading because spots of light kept getting in the way of the text, and the whole left side of my peripheral vision was black, like static. It's not like I was up late, either; I was in bed, lights off, by 10 p.m.
I didn't have time to wonder about what was going on, though, because when I woke up at 9 the next morning I had a MASSIVE migraine. The worst of my life. So I called Corene and she took the boys for a few hours. Then I called the Browns and they took the boys for a few more hours. I was finally able to get out of bed at 1 p.m., the boys were back home at 3, and we survived the rest of the day. We didn't go to a party that evening, which was a bummer, but what do you do. Rob came home before church to get the kids because I still wasn't feeling good, but we did go as a family to our stake's Nativity display later in the day, and it was fun, even though it completely drained me.
No more migraines like that. It was NO GOOD at all. And it just figures that it happened on the day when Rob was out of town, right? I guess that's the way it goes. How else can we be deeply grateful and in debt to our friends?
A Working Furnace is NOT a Luxury!
Yesterday morning our furnace wouldn't start. Luckily, it wasn't very cold outside, so the house stayed at 65°. Rob came home to take care of stuff, and he went downstairs and randomly started tapping things with a hammer until the furnace started again. So we have heat now, but who knows how permanent that situation really is. So we decided it was finally time to bite the bullet and purchase a new furnace. We've had problems with the furnace nearly every year we've lived here, and some of the problems have been large problems.
Thankfully, this year we have more money in the bank to cover this, the tax incentives are better this year than they were last year, and we'd already been through the hassle of interviewing companies. So we just called up the 2 companies that we liked best from last year and asked for an updated quote (we still have all the paperwork. We saved it because we figured we'd be using it this year). The prices didn't change, and so we easily picked a company. Zimmer Heating and Cooling will be calling us on Friday to set up a date to install our new 95% efficiency furnace (our old furnace is a nearly 30-year-old 70% efficiency model). So either next week or the week after we won't have to wonder any more if our furnace will turn on after a cold night. Merry Christmas to us!
Rob's News
A lot of people have asked me about the news surrounding Rob and possible jobs for the Fall. Well, there isn't any news to share, and that's why I haven't shared it. Rob didn't get the Xavier job he wanted, but that wasn't unanticipated. He has applied for several more, a few of those in Cincinnati. He's still making connections with people and institutions and generally doing a good job of putting his name out there.
Some of the job-related things he'll be up to in 2010:
- In the Spring he'll be teaching a 10-week introductory genetics course for the University of Cincinnati.
- He's made contacts with Raymond Walters (a 2-year open enrollment college), and they asked him if he wanted to teach an on-line course at some point. They tried to make it work for January, but it's not going to happen.
- Raymond Walters has a position opening for the Fall, and he'll be applying for it. His contact told him they expect about 30 applicants, and she gave him pointers on how to prepare for an interview.
- He's teaching the same NKU Bio 120 lecture and lab that he's teaching right now, from January - May. He'll probably have 2 lab sections instead of the 1 he has now, which will mean a few more hours for him, but also a little more pay.
- In July he committed to teaching a 5-week Bio 120 course for NKU. It'll possibly be as much as a lecture and 3 labs (but probably not less than 2 lab sections). This means he will be ending his post-doc at the end of June so that he can teach this class. He's happy that they'll pay him enough that he can spend a month doing teaching exclusively.
- Most likely he will be unemployed for the month of August. Nearly every job starts in Sept. 2010. So it's a good thing there's still money in that savings account after the furnace purchase, since we'll be living off savings for a month or two.
And there you go. That's Rob's crazy life, and therefore our family's crazy life. Rob gives his final tonight, and I'm looking forward to our family's 2 weeks of together time. We're in need of it. Some days it's super easy to do everything I need to do, and some days it's just not so easy. With the Holiday season upon us, I've had more days of Not Easy, and poor Rob is taking it personally.
June will be our "off" month, even though he'll probably be scrambling to finish up with his post-doc stuff. I'm thinking about trying to do an extended weekend camping trip to a local-ish National Park or something. No 6-week cross-country venture for us this year.
Christmas
On Saturday we finally did our Christmas shopping, which has made me much less tense. 2 weeks before Christmas is cutting it too close for me, but we just hadn't had the time.
Next week, Tuesday, this gift from my parents will arrive:
Our Anniversary
Next Monday is our 9 year mark for marriage. To celebrate, we're going to hang out at the museum on Saturday. Super lame, right? But I love it. Next year, for #10, Rob's been informed that the date can NOT be lame (even though I really do like lame dates). He's already thinking about it, and it may or may not require reservations for a cabin. I'm excited in anticipation.
A Miciah Story
To end this super-long update, I'll tell a really good Miciah story. This is from Sunday.
I walked by Miciah's teacher in the church hallway and he said that he yelled at Miciah. I was shocked because usually Miciah is very well behaved for teachers. He looked at me and said, "I yell at her every week, but today was an exception." I should mention that this is the teacher who does fun things like tease Miciah by calling her Queen of Yellow when she's wearing a yellow dress. Stuff like that. Perfect for Miciah.
Anyways, I asked what happened and he said that he asked her to stop touching his paper. She touched it again. He told her to stop or she would have to leave class. She touched it again. (At this point in the story I rolled my eyes. That's just SO Miciah.) He said, forcefully, "That's it! Get out of class!" Miciah looked like she was about to cry so he backed down and told her she didn't have to leave so long as she didn't cry. Then he felt bad (this is the difference between me and him. Miciah has taught me that I can't feel bad about it. I would have kicked her out of class and not had even an ounce of guilt) and so he said, "Am I the meanest person in the world?"
Miciah looked right at him and matter-of-factly said, "No. My Mom says that she's the meanest, most awful person in the world, so it can't be you."
Rock. On.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Be Jealous
Today I was extremely grateful for the opportunity of writing a note to the school that went something like this:
"Mrs. Parker
room 121
"Elijah Thacker's absence on Dec. 9, 2009 was inexcusable, as we have told him repeatedly. He faked being sick so he could stay home, and because of his behavior he has had privileges taken away, had to stay in bed until 4:30 p.m., could only eat saltines and bread (because that's what a sick person eats), had to go to bed early, and was otherwise reprimanded.
"So, sorry he wasn't at school yesterday, but hopefully we've made enough of a Lesson out of the situation that he won't do it again.
"Tamra Thacker
"(Oh, and it just figures that he would pull this trick on the day that our car was in the shop, so that when I figured it out I couldn't take him to school. Ah, parenting.)"
"Mrs. Parker
room 121
"Elijah Thacker's absence on Dec. 9, 2009 was inexcusable, as we have told him repeatedly. He faked being sick so he could stay home, and because of his behavior he has had privileges taken away, had to stay in bed until 4:30 p.m., could only eat saltines and bread (because that's what a sick person eats), had to go to bed early, and was otherwise reprimanded.
"So, sorry he wasn't at school yesterday, but hopefully we've made enough of a Lesson out of the situation that he won't do it again.
"Tamra Thacker
"(Oh, and it just figures that he would pull this trick on the day that our car was in the shop, so that when I figured it out I couldn't take him to school. Ah, parenting.)"
Q & A
Question (as posed in a previous post): Is this the first of our annual Winter Stomach Bugs?
Answer: Yes.
Question: Who will it strike next?
Answer: I believe that sicknesses generally follow The Least Convenient Principle. So it will strike next whomever it is least convenient for, at the time it's least convenient. That would be me (since I take care of 5 people, including myself, 3 of whom are dependent on me for meals, etc.), tomorrow.
Answer: Yes.
Case Files
Victim 1: Elijah
Date: Morning of December 7, 2009.
Throw-up Count: 3
Complaints: His stomach was "hard" and "moving."
Other Symptoms: None
Time Span: About 6 hours.
Victim 2: Rob
Date: Morning of December 10, 2009.
Throw-up Count: 1
Complaints: Rob was able to verify that his stomach indeed felt "hard" and like it was "moving."
Other Symptoms: Generally feeling lousy, and another "session" out the other end.
Time Span: About 8 hours.
Will update files as necessary.
Question: Who will it strike next?
Answer: I believe that sicknesses generally follow The Least Convenient Principle. So it will strike next whomever it is least convenient for, at the time it's least convenient. That would be me (since I take care of 5 people, including myself, 3 of whom are dependent on me for meals, etc.), tomorrow.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
And the Pictures
The tree:
Yes, she is her father's daughter. Larger than life. (Rob had to talk to her because at her piano lessons she was trying to make her teacher laugh all the time. Rob called her on it and she said, "I can't help it. Sometimes I feel like a comedian." I just stared at Rob and then said, "Yep. Sounds about right!")
The scene:
The ugly stuffed Santa Claus:
Teancom ("Take my picture, Mom! Take my picture!"):
And Elijah, who was SO into the moment:
The scene:
The ugly stuffed Santa Claus:
Teancom ("Take my picture, Mom! Take my picture!"):
And Elijah, who was SO into the moment:
A Christmas Tree for Scrooge
After some coaxing, the Scrooge of our family softened her heart and allowed us to put up our Christmas tree. Her children were very happy.
I have two things to say in my defense:
1 - I didn't realize I was Scrooge-ish until my kids wanted to put up the tree on Thanksgiving weekend. I don't like having the tree up for a whole month. It's fun, but let's be honest, it's a hassle. My kids spent some time nearly everyday asking me if we could put up our tree. Then they started saying things like, "Mom, if you liked Christmas more, could we put up our tree?"
2 - Every year, Christmas is so over-hyped starting in mid-October that I have developed a deep dislike for Christmas until AFTER Thanksgiving. It makes me seem anti-Christmas, but I'm really anti-Christmas-before-Thanksgiving. I mean, what kind of grubby Americans are we? We can't take time to say Thank You before we're reaching for the gifts under the tree? Pathetic.
But it's December now. Our Nativity set (a Fontanini set that I cherish) has been out since Thanksgiving. We've started our annual Christmas story readings--a scripture and one uplifting, Reason for the Season story a day until the Nativity story on Christmas Eve. We visited a Nativity on Sunday--hundreds of beautiful Nativities on display (along with some really awful ones. What were some artists thinking?). For the first time ever I read Dickens' A Christmas Carol (and if you haven't read it, it's REALLY, REALLY good), and for the second time ever I read The Mansion by Henry Van Dyke (also amazingly good). I've started okaying the listening of Christmas music on the radio. And yesterday it snowed for the first time.
To me, Christmas is here.
So we put up the tree last night. It offered a good motivation to clean the house, since I told the kids that we couldn't put up the ornaments until all the rooms in the house were clean. I'm super mean like that, but they put in a good 2 hours of cleaning.
Sarah McLachlan's Wintersong set the perfect tone for the evening. I purchased 2 Mannheim Steamroller songs, and picked up Joy to the World sung by David Archelleta (free on the iTunes store, by the way). I'm going to have to go see which other Christmas songs are free AND worth owning.
Then we put ornaments on the tree and arranged all the knick-knacks. Teancom, especially, oohed and ahed over everything we took out of the boxes. He immediately claimed half of them as "his," and I thought he was going to pass out from excitement when I brought out the stuffed Santa Claus. It's an awful thing, so ugly, but now I'm glad I didn't throw it away. Most of these decorations we didn't put out last year (for simplicity's sake. Seriously, shouldn't this have tipped me off last year that I'm Scrooge-ish?), so Teancom was discovering many of these items essentially for the first time. Suddenly, everything we took out of the boxes seemed like a treasure to me.
To achieve this cheery Christmas result, the kids got to stay up late. After they were in bed, though, and everything was in its place and the room was vacuumed, I took Rob's hand and led him into the living room. I turned off all our lamps and we hugged in the glow of the Christmas tree lights. Some nights just really capture what family and having kids is all about.
(And then Teancom woke up screaming at midnight. That's reality for you.)
I have two things to say in my defense:
1 - I didn't realize I was Scrooge-ish until my kids wanted to put up the tree on Thanksgiving weekend. I don't like having the tree up for a whole month. It's fun, but let's be honest, it's a hassle. My kids spent some time nearly everyday asking me if we could put up our tree. Then they started saying things like, "Mom, if you liked Christmas more, could we put up our tree?"
2 - Every year, Christmas is so over-hyped starting in mid-October that I have developed a deep dislike for Christmas until AFTER Thanksgiving. It makes me seem anti-Christmas, but I'm really anti-Christmas-before-Thanksgiving. I mean, what kind of grubby Americans are we? We can't take time to say Thank You before we're reaching for the gifts under the tree? Pathetic.
But it's December now. Our Nativity set (a Fontanini set that I cherish) has been out since Thanksgiving. We've started our annual Christmas story readings--a scripture and one uplifting, Reason for the Season story a day until the Nativity story on Christmas Eve. We visited a Nativity on Sunday--hundreds of beautiful Nativities on display (along with some really awful ones. What were some artists thinking?). For the first time ever I read Dickens' A Christmas Carol (and if you haven't read it, it's REALLY, REALLY good), and for the second time ever I read The Mansion by Henry Van Dyke (also amazingly good). I've started okaying the listening of Christmas music on the radio. And yesterday it snowed for the first time.
To me, Christmas is here.
So we put up the tree last night. It offered a good motivation to clean the house, since I told the kids that we couldn't put up the ornaments until all the rooms in the house were clean. I'm super mean like that, but they put in a good 2 hours of cleaning.
Sarah McLachlan's Wintersong set the perfect tone for the evening. I purchased 2 Mannheim Steamroller songs, and picked up Joy to the World sung by David Archelleta (free on the iTunes store, by the way). I'm going to have to go see which other Christmas songs are free AND worth owning.
Then we put ornaments on the tree and arranged all the knick-knacks. Teancom, especially, oohed and ahed over everything we took out of the boxes. He immediately claimed half of them as "his," and I thought he was going to pass out from excitement when I brought out the stuffed Santa Claus. It's an awful thing, so ugly, but now I'm glad I didn't throw it away. Most of these decorations we didn't put out last year (for simplicity's sake. Seriously, shouldn't this have tipped me off last year that I'm Scrooge-ish?), so Teancom was discovering many of these items essentially for the first time. Suddenly, everything we took out of the boxes seemed like a treasure to me.
To achieve this cheery Christmas result, the kids got to stay up late. After they were in bed, though, and everything was in its place and the room was vacuumed, I took Rob's hand and led him into the living room. I turned off all our lamps and we hugged in the glow of the Christmas tree lights. Some nights just really capture what family and having kids is all about.
(And then Teancom woke up screaming at midnight. That's reality for you.)
Monday, December 7, 2009
Teancom
Getting the Mail
Teancom decided to go get the mail. Remember there is snow on the ground. He decided to wear a long-sleeved shirt (not a sweatshirt, mind), boots, and underwear that was inside-out. When he came back inside he said, "That was cold." Ya think?
A Toddler Check-Up
Earlier today he checked my nose, like a doctor would do, with his itty-bitty play flashlight. He said, "What do you have up your nose?" I thought of answering, "Little hairs and boogers," but thought I'd wait to see what he said was up there. After examining my nostrils he said, "You have a kiger and a wion up there." I laughed. This is the game that the doctor played with him last time we went, and he loved it. I think he had a tiger and a dog in his ears, and he would have had more if she would have checked as many times as he wanted her to.
Then he checked my ears, eyes, mouth, shirt sleeves, pant legs, hair, and socks, just to see if anything was inside any of those. He got done and looked disappointed as he said, "You don't have anyfing up your anyfings."
Teancom decided to go get the mail. Remember there is snow on the ground. He decided to wear a long-sleeved shirt (not a sweatshirt, mind), boots, and underwear that was inside-out. When he came back inside he said, "That was cold." Ya think?
A Toddler Check-Up
Earlier today he checked my nose, like a doctor would do, with his itty-bitty play flashlight. He said, "What do you have up your nose?" I thought of answering, "Little hairs and boogers," but thought I'd wait to see what he said was up there. After examining my nostrils he said, "You have a kiger and a wion up there." I laughed. This is the game that the doctor played with him last time we went, and he loved it. I think he had a tiger and a dog in his ears, and he would have had more if she would have checked as many times as he wanted her to.
Then he checked my ears, eyes, mouth, shirt sleeves, pant legs, hair, and socks, just to see if anything was inside any of those. He got done and looked disappointed as he said, "You don't have anyfing up your anyfings."
The First Unofficial Snow Day
We got a call at 7:30 this morning saying that there was a 2 hour delay for all elementary schools (why elementary schools only? I don't know). Rob looked outside to see how many inches of snow had caused this delay, and rolled his eyes at the snow dust on the roads. I said, "Well, how much is out there?" He didn't even have a real response. He said, "What do you mean?" Umm, was my question unclear? I gathered that there wasn't much snow on the ground, but still. "How many inches are there?" "Half an inch. Maybe."
Still, Miciah enjoyed sleeping in. The boys got up at the normal time, of course, just to ensure that we got no extra sleep. Teancom came and cuddled with me, like usual, and Elijah came plodding into our bedroom in his pajamas. That is not like usual. Normally Elijah gets dressed before exiting his room so that he's ready to go for the day. So even before he said anything, and he was just standing beside our bed, I knew something wasn't right.
"My tummy is hard."
Umm, okay. What does THAT mean?
Rob suggested that he go potty and maybe he'd feel better.
Elijah obediently went potty and didn't feel any better. He came back and said, "My tummy is moving."
Rob suggested that he just needed to go poop. I looked at Rob as if to say, "Really? THAT's your response?" I mean, the kid is pretty serious about his bowel movements. I think he'd know if he just had to go poop.
Plus, how can you describe an upset, about to puke tummy better than saying it's in motion?
Within minutes he'd done the deed. Rob went in to help him (though the great thing about having slightly older than itty-bitty kids is that they need little help. Just comfort) and Elijah looked at Rob and said, "I TOLD you!" That made me laugh.
So right now, at 10:45 a.m., Miciah just left for school, and Elijah gets his first "Snow Day." Fortunately he's feeling fine other than the upset tummy, so he's happily watching a movie.
And the real question about the whole situation remains:
Is this the first of our annual Winter Stomach Bugs?
Only time will tell. duhn duhn duhn...
Still, Miciah enjoyed sleeping in. The boys got up at the normal time, of course, just to ensure that we got no extra sleep. Teancom came and cuddled with me, like usual, and Elijah came plodding into our bedroom in his pajamas. That is not like usual. Normally Elijah gets dressed before exiting his room so that he's ready to go for the day. So even before he said anything, and he was just standing beside our bed, I knew something wasn't right.
"My tummy is hard."
Umm, okay. What does THAT mean?
Rob suggested that he go potty and maybe he'd feel better.
Elijah obediently went potty and didn't feel any better. He came back and said, "My tummy is moving."
Rob suggested that he just needed to go poop. I looked at Rob as if to say, "Really? THAT's your response?" I mean, the kid is pretty serious about his bowel movements. I think he'd know if he just had to go poop.
Plus, how can you describe an upset, about to puke tummy better than saying it's in motion?
Within minutes he'd done the deed. Rob went in to help him (though the great thing about having slightly older than itty-bitty kids is that they need little help. Just comfort) and Elijah looked at Rob and said, "I TOLD you!" That made me laugh.
So right now, at 10:45 a.m., Miciah just left for school, and Elijah gets his first "Snow Day." Fortunately he's feeling fine other than the upset tummy, so he's happily watching a movie.
And the real question about the whole situation remains:
Is this the first of our annual Winter Stomach Bugs?
Only time will tell. duhn duhn duhn...
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Volunteering at the Library
I volunteer at my kids' school library. I go once a month, and I've only been twice. Today was the second time.
But I have learned through my volunteering efforts that I have a hidden talent for shelving books. Apparently I'm one of the fastest shelvers they have.
Actually, I love shelving books. My OCD comes out pretty strongly while I'm walking around the library. You know, "What is THIS? A book out of place? What monster would do such a thing? I will rescue this book from its hellish position and put it back in its rightful place."
Another thing I've learned:
3rd graders are crazy about this book called Wimpy Kid. Specifically, the yellow book:
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days by Jeff Kinney
And my respect points for the librarian went up about 100 points when she said that she also hates the Magic Treehouse series. Yes!!! Validation from a librarian!
The End
But I have learned through my volunteering efforts that I have a hidden talent for shelving books. Apparently I'm one of the fastest shelvers they have.
Actually, I love shelving books. My OCD comes out pretty strongly while I'm walking around the library. You know, "What is THIS? A book out of place? What monster would do such a thing? I will rescue this book from its hellish position and put it back in its rightful place."
Another thing I've learned:
3rd graders are crazy about this book called Wimpy Kid. Specifically, the yellow book:
And my respect points for the librarian went up about 100 points when she said that she also hates the Magic Treehouse series. Yes!!! Validation from a librarian!
The End
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Greener than Red -OR- ikea saves the day
Even though our dryer started working, we decided to still go forward with our indoor clothes drying experiment. It wasn't going to work well with the compact dryer we bought. Not even with 2 of them. Or 3. (etc.)
So I looked on-line for clothes drying racks. I found lots of them. Some were lousy and not worth my $30. Some were really awesome, if I wanted to spend $80 - $250. Which I didn't. I mean, if I'm going to spend $250, why not just spend twice as much and buy a new dryer!
And then a friend suggested I look at ikea. (Disclaimer: I had never been to ikea. I have friends who SWEAR by it, but I hadn't been convinced.) She said they had the best selection. Well, I'm here to tell you that they don't actually have the best selection, they just have the best designed drying rack for the fairest price.
Our compact one ($15 at Bed Bath and Beyond--we bought the wood one. The metal ones are $5 more) has, technically, 23 feet of drying space, though most of it is unusable because of the design, unless you're drying really small items. Like so:
The ikea drying rack has roughly triple the drying space (21 yards) and only costs $20. Plus, nearly all the drying space is usable. Behold:
So for $35 total we can continue with our indoor clothes drying experiment. Thank you, ikea.
So I looked on-line for clothes drying racks. I found lots of them. Some were lousy and not worth my $30. Some were really awesome, if I wanted to spend $80 - $250. Which I didn't. I mean, if I'm going to spend $250, why not just spend twice as much and buy a new dryer!
And then a friend suggested I look at ikea. (Disclaimer: I had never been to ikea. I have friends who SWEAR by it, but I hadn't been convinced.) She said they had the best selection. Well, I'm here to tell you that they don't actually have the best selection, they just have the best designed drying rack for the fairest price.
Our compact one ($15 at Bed Bath and Beyond--we bought the wood one. The metal ones are $5 more) has, technically, 23 feet of drying space, though most of it is unusable because of the design, unless you're drying really small items. Like so:
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Thanksgiving Puppet Show
Here's a 5 minute puppet show that the Brown and Thacker children put together. Really, Miciah put it together and everyone else got bit parts. But, still.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Celebrating Easter Early
Last night we bought the first of our two indoor clothes drying racks. It's a compact one so I can move it upstairs if I want to.
We're leaving on Wednesday morning to go up to Toledo for a few days. Cause it's Thanksgiving, you know. And I had to do some laundry. Mainly because Teancom wet the bed last night (which he does about once a week) and I was NOT going to leave the sheets downstairs for days. Could you imagine how yummy it would smell when we got back? Mmm.
So I put everything in the washing machine and thought, "Well, here goes." I wasn't sure how to fit everything on the drying rack, since the load included sheets and blankets, but I figured I'd figure it out. Nothing like trial and error.
I took the clothes out of the washing machine and hung up the little things first. Wash cloths, underwear, socks, hand towels, my bra, and some shorts all went on the rack. My t-shirt, and the boys' footy pajamas went on hangers. No problem. Except I had all those sheets and blankets left. I thought about all my options for hanging them up, none of which were working very well in my mind's eye. Wistfully, I looked at the dryer, thinking about how convenient it would be to, you know, just put them in the dryer. I pushed the broken button, just to have that Good Bye, Dryer moment, and nearly had a heart attack, because it started!
After my heart stopped pounding out of my chest and I could once again move, I put all the sheets and blankets in the dryer. Then I turned around and took all those small things off the rack and the hangers and put them in the dryer, too. Heck, if it's going to work, I'm going to use it!
Then I went upstairs and called Rob.
I can't put into words all I feel about this dryer-dying-and-then-resurrecting event. Maybe I should do a ritualistic dance to praise the Large Appliance Gods. Maybe I should be incredibly thankful that we didn't have that $650 cash in hand on Thursday. Maybe this was just some sort of test, to see if we would stick to our Dave Ramsey money principles. Maybe the dryer thought about how sad it would be to not be of use after such a long life, and decided that being put to pasture just wasn't good enough.
And as ready as I was to take on indoor clothes drying through the winter, I'm glad to have that time and effort back. Thank you, Dryer, for coming back from the dead. (I know you were dead. I was there when you died!) May you serve for another 26 years.
We're leaving on Wednesday morning to go up to Toledo for a few days. Cause it's Thanksgiving, you know. And I had to do some laundry. Mainly because Teancom wet the bed last night (which he does about once a week) and I was NOT going to leave the sheets downstairs for days. Could you imagine how yummy it would smell when we got back? Mmm.
So I put everything in the washing machine and thought, "Well, here goes." I wasn't sure how to fit everything on the drying rack, since the load included sheets and blankets, but I figured I'd figure it out. Nothing like trial and error.
I took the clothes out of the washing machine and hung up the little things first. Wash cloths, underwear, socks, hand towels, my bra, and some shorts all went on the rack. My t-shirt, and the boys' footy pajamas went on hangers. No problem. Except I had all those sheets and blankets left. I thought about all my options for hanging them up, none of which were working very well in my mind's eye. Wistfully, I looked at the dryer, thinking about how convenient it would be to, you know, just put them in the dryer. I pushed the broken button, just to have that Good Bye, Dryer moment, and nearly had a heart attack, because it started!
After my heart stopped pounding out of my chest and I could once again move, I put all the sheets and blankets in the dryer. Then I turned around and took all those small things off the rack and the hangers and put them in the dryer, too. Heck, if it's going to work, I'm going to use it!
Then I went upstairs and called Rob.
I can't put into words all I feel about this dryer-dying-and-then-resurrecting event. Maybe I should do a ritualistic dance to praise the Large Appliance Gods. Maybe I should be incredibly thankful that we didn't have that $650 cash in hand on Thursday. Maybe this was just some sort of test, to see if we would stick to our Dave Ramsey money principles. Maybe the dryer thought about how sad it would be to not be of use after such a long life, and decided that being put to pasture just wasn't good enough.
And as ready as I was to take on indoor clothes drying through the winter, I'm glad to have that time and effort back. Thank you, Dryer, for coming back from the dead. (I know you were dead. I was there when you died!) May you serve for another 26 years.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Fun with Money
Tires
2009 was the year to buy tires for our vehicles. We weren't aware, when the year began, that this was The Year. In August, after sliding around the road during a dangerous thunderstorm, Rob bought new tires for his car. We talked about the van needing new tires "soon" but had no concrete plans about it until I thought about winter and the associated snow and ice.
So we Dave Ramsey-ed it out and on Monday took out the planned-for cash. We even took out more than we needed, and adding that to the money that was already in the Car Repairs envelope, we had nearly $650. Which meant we could buy any tires we wanted. We could have bought an extra set, even, just in case (but we didn't). By Tuesday night the Car Repairs envelope was in a decidedly more humble position and the van was driving smoothly with 4 new, balanced and aligned tires on it. Life is Dave Ramsey Good.
Stove
Buying a new stove has been on our radar for quite some time. Because our stove is pretty lousy. Encouraged by our successful tire planning and purchasing episode, Rob started talking about how long it would take before we could buy that stove. We priced stoves months ago and the one we wanted was about $500. We could probably budget and have that by, what, Christmas? January? It wouldn't take long.
Dryer
And just to show us what He thought about our plans, on Thursday our dryer died. I pushed the button to start it and it didn't start. I pushed it again. Nope. I pushed it down and held it and it buzzed and buzzed, which is normal, and then it clicked like it was shutting down, which isn't normal. Now if you push the button, nothing happens at all. This is fantastic.
I took our two wet loads to R&C's house to dry them and when Rob got home we started talking about new dryers. We don't WANT to buy a new dryer. We want to buy a new stove!
Rob called Whirlpool, the maker of our dryer. We called to find out the capacity of our dryer, cause I don't want to downsize, and they told us the stats. They also informed us that our dryer is 26 years old. I'M 28! The dryer could be my younger sibling.
This made me think a few things:
1 - I remembered that last winter our furnace almost died. I forget exactly what happened. Maybe it wouldn't light? Whatever happened, it's likely to happen again this year, without a miraculous recovery, and there goes 2 thou.
2 - The previous owners of our home had some mystical power over machinery. It seems like every major appliance is 20+ years old. That's incredible (though inevitably not so good for our pocketbook)!
3 - Forget about buying a new stove.
4 - If this had happened on Monday, we would have had the cash IN HAND to buy a new dryer. But since it happened 3 DAYS LATER, we have new tires instead. Not that I'm sad about the new tires--it was a great purchase. It just wasn't pressing. We could have put it off for a few months, at least.
and 5 - We have an Emergency Fund for these sorts of things.
I kept thinking about it. Does this REALLY count as an Emergency? 50 years ago people didn't HAVE dryers. (75 years ago?) They just let their clothes dry on a line. A line. Huh. We did a clothes line 2 summers ago. I liked it. Could we do an indoor clothes line for the winter?
I looked on-line. There are many, many options for indoor clothes drying. I started talking to Rob about my "green" idea. My main question was, in humid Ohio, would it work to dry our clothes in the basement? Rob resisted the idea altogether. And then, after prodding him for a while, he said, "That's how we did it in Germany." Well, then. That means it'll work.
So here's for buying a drying rack (actually, we'll be buying 2) until we have enough money to buy that dryer without having to access our Emergency Fund. Or maybe until ever, if I like it. Drying my clothes on a drying rack isn't the end of the world. I mean, some people actually LIKE it. Imagine.
2009 was the year to buy tires for our vehicles. We weren't aware, when the year began, that this was The Year. In August, after sliding around the road during a dangerous thunderstorm, Rob bought new tires for his car. We talked about the van needing new tires "soon" but had no concrete plans about it until I thought about winter and the associated snow and ice.
So we Dave Ramsey-ed it out and on Monday took out the planned-for cash. We even took out more than we needed, and adding that to the money that was already in the Car Repairs envelope, we had nearly $650. Which meant we could buy any tires we wanted. We could have bought an extra set, even, just in case (but we didn't). By Tuesday night the Car Repairs envelope was in a decidedly more humble position and the van was driving smoothly with 4 new, balanced and aligned tires on it. Life is Dave Ramsey Good.
Stove
Buying a new stove has been on our radar for quite some time. Because our stove is pretty lousy. Encouraged by our successful tire planning and purchasing episode, Rob started talking about how long it would take before we could buy that stove. We priced stoves months ago and the one we wanted was about $500. We could probably budget and have that by, what, Christmas? January? It wouldn't take long.
Dryer
And just to show us what He thought about our plans, on Thursday our dryer died. I pushed the button to start it and it didn't start. I pushed it again. Nope. I pushed it down and held it and it buzzed and buzzed, which is normal, and then it clicked like it was shutting down, which isn't normal. Now if you push the button, nothing happens at all. This is fantastic.
I took our two wet loads to R&C's house to dry them and when Rob got home we started talking about new dryers. We don't WANT to buy a new dryer. We want to buy a new stove!
Rob called Whirlpool, the maker of our dryer. We called to find out the capacity of our dryer, cause I don't want to downsize, and they told us the stats. They also informed us that our dryer is 26 years old. I'M 28! The dryer could be my younger sibling.
This made me think a few things:
1 - I remembered that last winter our furnace almost died. I forget exactly what happened. Maybe it wouldn't light? Whatever happened, it's likely to happen again this year, without a miraculous recovery, and there goes 2 thou.
2 - The previous owners of our home had some mystical power over machinery. It seems like every major appliance is 20+ years old. That's incredible (though inevitably not so good for our pocketbook)!
3 - Forget about buying a new stove.
4 - If this had happened on Monday, we would have had the cash IN HAND to buy a new dryer. But since it happened 3 DAYS LATER, we have new tires instead. Not that I'm sad about the new tires--it was a great purchase. It just wasn't pressing. We could have put it off for a few months, at least.
and 5 - We have an Emergency Fund for these sorts of things.
I kept thinking about it. Does this REALLY count as an Emergency? 50 years ago people didn't HAVE dryers. (75 years ago?) They just let their clothes dry on a line. A line. Huh. We did a clothes line 2 summers ago. I liked it. Could we do an indoor clothes line for the winter?
I looked on-line. There are many, many options for indoor clothes drying. I started talking to Rob about my "green" idea. My main question was, in humid Ohio, would it work to dry our clothes in the basement? Rob resisted the idea altogether. And then, after prodding him for a while, he said, "That's how we did it in Germany." Well, then. That means it'll work.
So here's for buying a drying rack (actually, we'll be buying 2) until we have enough money to buy that dryer without having to access our Emergency Fund. Or maybe until ever, if I like it. Drying my clothes on a drying rack isn't the end of the world. I mean, some people actually LIKE it. Imagine.
Friday, November 20, 2009
Leaving a Legacy
For Activity Day Girls, our ward held a recognition night with the theme of "Legacy. Noble Past, Brilliant Future." Each of the girls and their mothers were assigned to speak about one of their grandmothers. The girls were to bring in an object to help tell the story and the moms were specifically asked to think of what legacy her grandmother passed down to her.
Luckily, Miciah has 2 wonderful grandmothers to choose from and after thinking for some time, decided to talk about Grandma Tungate (probably because she was supposed to bring in an object and Grandma Tungate makes lots of stuff). She brought in her yellow blankie that my mom made and 2 books that she gave to Miciah. Here is the talk:
Grandma Tungate (with hearts and stars)
I love my Grandma because she has done many things for me and my family. She makes blankets for us all the time. My baby blanket she made for me is yellow and it has holes in it. I allways sleep with it no matter what. My Grandma tungate offen tells me and my cosen, Dea stories about Jesus. She is vary tallented at soeing, crafting, and planting things. I love my Grandma vary much. She gives me books sometimes, too. a few weeks ago she gave me all sorts of church stories and books that I injoy reading. My Grandma is vary smart. She gives us costumes and dress ups that she made from when my mom was a kid. when we where in Utaa this summer, she bought me and Dea our new scripshurs. I am greatful for my Grandma.
I didn't help her past starting her with "I love my Grandma because..."
My task was somewhat more difficult because my Grandma Ogzewalla, who I gather was a wonderful person, died when I was 7 or so, and I didn't know her. My other grandmother, Grandma Tungate (my dad's mom), was an awful person. I had no object associated with either of them, and no good story talking about our good times together. I simply don't have those kinds of memories.
So I decided to give the girls a lesson on Legacy. It's one of the lessons that returning to Cincinnati has taught me, and it's a story worth telling.
As an adult, I've come to understand what a lousy person my Grandma Tungate was. Unfortunately, she was very mentally ill and gave out no love or kindness or anything. I describe her as Non-Human, and as far as I can tell, from what I knew of her in her later life, she had no soul at all. Her life story is tragically pathetic.
But it's a life story worth knowing. I remember the morning my dad told me she had passed away. He was standing at the table reading the paper or something. I walked in and he said, "Ester died last night." He never called her mom. She was Ester. I hesitated, not knowing how to respond. Finally I said, "Should I say 'I'm sorry'?" He said, "Are you sorry?" "No." "Then don't say it." I was grateful he wasn't going to make me pretend I was sad. After another thoughtful pause I said, "We don't have to go to her funeral, right?" He told me he wouldn't even think about making us go. I was relieved. He went, of course, because she had given birth to him, and that's at least worth noting in the end, but he didn't drag any of us kids along.
(I was, however, fiercely loyal to my Grandpa Tungate. We finished that conversation at the table by me saying, "Now, when GRANDPA dies, I don't care WHERE I am in the world, you WILL be flying me back for his funeral." Dad said, "Of course," and that was that.)
No one was sad at the funeral. No one had anything good to say about her. It was a sad ending to a sad life. And whenever I'm wondering how I'm doing in life, I think about how Ester died unloved because she refused to give love, and I know that when I die, at least 5 people will be sad and will know I loved them, and that feels triumphant, and I know I'm doing alright.
My Grandma Tungate lived in Cincinnati, just like my Grandma Ogzewalla did. Hazel. I have no personal positive memories of the woman. In fact, I remember her being harsh and forcing me to pick up my crayons when I didn't want to. A 4-year-old's memory, and not an accurate representative sample of the woman's life.
But moving to Cincinnati has brought me in contact with many people who knew Hazel. They look at me and say, "You must be an Ogzewalla" or "You're Hazel's granddaughter!" I always laugh. I'm not sure which features are so distinctive, but it even tips off people when they haven't seen Hazel since at least the mid-80's.
And then they talk about her. They tell me stories of her goodness and love and kindness and service. They talk about how she was motherly and creative and talented and patient. And it's impossible to explain, but they talk about her with a certain tone in their voices. A look in their eyes. They talk to me as a way to try to connect with this woman who has passed on, and I can't be anything but respectful to them and in awe of this woman I never knew. This clearly beloved woman that makes people seek me out and talk to me in reverent, grateful tones. People LOVED this woman in a way that I don't anticipate being LOVED when I'm gone.
And I don't know what it was about Hazel that makes people love her so, but the sense that I get from others is so overwhelmingly positive and loving, that there is no doubt in my mind that she was a wonderful person. I consider it one of the treasures of moving to Cincinnati--getting to know Hazel through other people's eyes.
And this is the legacy left me by these two women. Ester on the one hand and Hazel on the other.
Luckily, Miciah has 2 wonderful grandmothers to choose from and after thinking for some time, decided to talk about Grandma Tungate (probably because she was supposed to bring in an object and Grandma Tungate makes lots of stuff). She brought in her yellow blankie that my mom made and 2 books that she gave to Miciah. Here is the talk:
Grandma Tungate (with hearts and stars)
I love my Grandma because she has done many things for me and my family. She makes blankets for us all the time. My baby blanket she made for me is yellow and it has holes in it. I allways sleep with it no matter what. My Grandma tungate offen tells me and my cosen, Dea stories about Jesus. She is vary tallented at soeing, crafting, and planting things. I love my Grandma vary much. She gives me books sometimes, too. a few weeks ago she gave me all sorts of church stories and books that I injoy reading. My Grandma is vary smart. She gives us costumes and dress ups that she made from when my mom was a kid. when we where in Utaa this summer, she bought me and Dea our new scripshurs. I am greatful for my Grandma.
I didn't help her past starting her with "I love my Grandma because..."
My task was somewhat more difficult because my Grandma Ogzewalla, who I gather was a wonderful person, died when I was 7 or so, and I didn't know her. My other grandmother, Grandma Tungate (my dad's mom), was an awful person. I had no object associated with either of them, and no good story talking about our good times together. I simply don't have those kinds of memories.
So I decided to give the girls a lesson on Legacy. It's one of the lessons that returning to Cincinnati has taught me, and it's a story worth telling.
As an adult, I've come to understand what a lousy person my Grandma Tungate was. Unfortunately, she was very mentally ill and gave out no love or kindness or anything. I describe her as Non-Human, and as far as I can tell, from what I knew of her in her later life, she had no soul at all. Her life story is tragically pathetic.
But it's a life story worth knowing. I remember the morning my dad told me she had passed away. He was standing at the table reading the paper or something. I walked in and he said, "Ester died last night." He never called her mom. She was Ester. I hesitated, not knowing how to respond. Finally I said, "Should I say 'I'm sorry'?" He said, "Are you sorry?" "No." "Then don't say it." I was grateful he wasn't going to make me pretend I was sad. After another thoughtful pause I said, "We don't have to go to her funeral, right?" He told me he wouldn't even think about making us go. I was relieved. He went, of course, because she had given birth to him, and that's at least worth noting in the end, but he didn't drag any of us kids along.
(I was, however, fiercely loyal to my Grandpa Tungate. We finished that conversation at the table by me saying, "Now, when GRANDPA dies, I don't care WHERE I am in the world, you WILL be flying me back for his funeral." Dad said, "Of course," and that was that.)
No one was sad at the funeral. No one had anything good to say about her. It was a sad ending to a sad life. And whenever I'm wondering how I'm doing in life, I think about how Ester died unloved because she refused to give love, and I know that when I die, at least 5 people will be sad and will know I loved them, and that feels triumphant, and I know I'm doing alright.
My Grandma Tungate lived in Cincinnati, just like my Grandma Ogzewalla did. Hazel. I have no personal positive memories of the woman. In fact, I remember her being harsh and forcing me to pick up my crayons when I didn't want to. A 4-year-old's memory, and not an accurate representative sample of the woman's life.
But moving to Cincinnati has brought me in contact with many people who knew Hazel. They look at me and say, "You must be an Ogzewalla" or "You're Hazel's granddaughter!" I always laugh. I'm not sure which features are so distinctive, but it even tips off people when they haven't seen Hazel since at least the mid-80's.
And then they talk about her. They tell me stories of her goodness and love and kindness and service. They talk about how she was motherly and creative and talented and patient. And it's impossible to explain, but they talk about her with a certain tone in their voices. A look in their eyes. They talk to me as a way to try to connect with this woman who has passed on, and I can't be anything but respectful to them and in awe of this woman I never knew. This clearly beloved woman that makes people seek me out and talk to me in reverent, grateful tones. People LOVED this woman in a way that I don't anticipate being LOVED when I'm gone.
And I don't know what it was about Hazel that makes people love her so, but the sense that I get from others is so overwhelmingly positive and loving, that there is no doubt in my mind that she was a wonderful person. I consider it one of the treasures of moving to Cincinnati--getting to know Hazel through other people's eyes.
And this is the legacy left me by these two women. Ester on the one hand and Hazel on the other.
Blue Tongued Beauties
Elijah loved it too:
More of Miciah's School Work
They had a section on animal rescue. I liked her answer on one of her papers.
The question:
"Write about how you would help rescue an animal. Use five spelling words from the list."
(spelling words: must, skin, still, drop, task)
Answer:
I would give it help by not droping it. It won't be an esey task. I will still do it. I must! If it's skin is eney color, I will take it to the vet.
I just loved her sense of duty: I must!
(She is a phonetic speller, as you can tell.)
In the same Animal Rescue unit:
If you can't read it, it says:
Sometimes, animals are in danger. So someone has to rescue them. If you see a whale off the shore, wet it entell it is back in the water. If a seal pup with out a mother, take care of it entell it's old enouf to live on it's own. Save animals for the fun of it. All so save animals to help them. Let's get saveing thous animals!
Then it shows her calling "Come hear!" to a bunch of baby seals and her wetting down a beached whale.
There was another school work assignment where she had to describe one of her friends. She chose a boy in her class named Jonathan. She said lots of nice things about him in short sentences, the way kids do. One of the points she brought out was that "Jonathan is a wonderful artest. He drows good fish and his writing is vary neat." Then, at the end, she says "This is a picter of his fish" and draws this pathetic-looking fish. I couldn't help but laugh. I couldn't tell if that's really how Jonathan draws it (and then kids think that somehow looks amazing), or if that's her un-artistic version of how he draws them. Either way, it was hilarious.
She wrote one more thing that I wanted to share, but it's for another post.
The question:
"Write about how you would help rescue an animal. Use five spelling words from the list."
(spelling words: must, skin, still, drop, task)
Answer:
I would give it help by not droping it. It won't be an esey task. I will still do it. I must! If it's skin is eney color, I will take it to the vet.
I just loved her sense of duty: I must!
(She is a phonetic speller, as you can tell.)
In the same Animal Rescue unit:
If you can't read it, it says:
Sometimes, animals are in danger. So someone has to rescue them. If you see a whale off the shore, wet it entell it is back in the water. If a seal pup with out a mother, take care of it entell it's old enouf to live on it's own. Save animals for the fun of it. All so save animals to help them. Let's get saveing thous animals!
Then it shows her calling "Come hear!" to a bunch of baby seals and her wetting down a beached whale.
There was another school work assignment where she had to describe one of her friends. She chose a boy in her class named Jonathan. She said lots of nice things about him in short sentences, the way kids do. One of the points she brought out was that "Jonathan is a wonderful artest. He drows good fish and his writing is vary neat." Then, at the end, she says "This is a picter of his fish" and draws this pathetic-looking fish. I couldn't help but laugh. I couldn't tell if that's really how Jonathan draws it (and then kids think that somehow looks amazing), or if that's her un-artistic version of how he draws them. Either way, it was hilarious.
She wrote one more thing that I wanted to share, but it's for another post.
The Life of Miciah's Crock Shoe, by Miciah
The Life of Miciah's Crock Shoe
P.S. or crockodile shoe!
Once there was a crockodile. Not
just any crockodile. A pink crockodile!
One day, not far from the waterfall,
the crockodile went for a swim in the
lake. Some huntsmen were near
by and heard the crockodile swimming!
So they set a trap and coght
the crockodile. At the town, they had
the pink crockodile at the shoe
factory. They made the shoe out
of the skin of the crockodile,
and gave it to me. I called it a
crock. My shoe even looks like a
crockodiles back but it's pink! My
shoe likes to swim in my ant
and unkles pool in the summer time,
and scates on it in the winter
time! It's favorite place to go is
the coney island pedle boat
place becase it likes to swim
in the pond. Sometimes, my shoe
jumps of my foot just to get
away from the stinky smell of
my feet!
The End!
Miciah's News
8 Years Old Means...
Miciah is now 8 and she's loving it and I'm loving it and it's good for everyone. She is generally calmer and in more control of her emotions (unless you count when she's losing a tooth, and then she's completely irrationally emotionally explosive). She is also taking on more responsibility around the house, and she loves it. We changed her chore list to include:
1 Making dinner once a week
2 Doing her own laundry
We're only on week 2 of these changes, so we'll see how she loves them over time. But already she's thinking of great things to make for dinner like Clam Chowder. I told her we'd have to work up to that one.
Letting her do her own laundry last week also meant that she didn't kick and scream about doing it. That's semi-miraculous. I hope it continues to be so successful even when laundry changes are coming our way (more in another update to come).
And check out these chore lists:
See the beach and tree and water? ... Before I left for Key West, Miciah asked if the next time I went she could come with me. I said, "Sure," thinking that the next time I went was probably, oh, never. But, of course, she was talking about it instantly like it was a sure thing. Realizing that I should have answered VERY differently, I did the only thing left to do: set about devising a way to get her to Key West. The kids have been earning money for about a year now, $5 a week. So we sat down and figured out prices and timelines and told them that if they saved all their money (minus $.50 for tithing), they would have enough money in a year's time. They are now very motivated to do their chores--a nice change. And each of them has a Key West piggy bank to make it all seem real. We're already looking forward to our family vacation to Key West.
School Halloween Party
During her school party I caught this great shot:
She's messing with her loose tooth. Which is good. We used scare tactics to get to her to mess with it, since she's been letting them stay in her mouth for ages, and the dentist told us she probably shouldn't do that. So we gave her a week's time, and the tooth was out. Another parent caught the moment:
Another tooth will be gone within a day or so. Hopefully the drama and trauma of last night's Loose Tooth Freak Out Session won't repeat itself. Sheesh. It's just a tooth! More grow in!
School
We had Miciah's Parent Teacher Conference this week, too. It went great. One of the "major" concerns: I should stop doodling on Miciah's homework. ... They make us sign everything and this seems tedious to me. Maybe other parents find it wonderful. Or maybe they're just decent enough to not give the teacher crap about it. Me, though, I doodle. The teacher caught on to the rebellious spirit of it all, I guess, and asked me to stop. So there goes my fun.
Here's Miciah's school picture:
Miciah is doing well in school and is helpful and kind. She isn't snooty when she knows stuff that other people don't. She isn't being bossy (no "Miciah, who's the teacher?" talks). She isn't being as bossy at home, either. Being 8 is really good for her.
Miciah's Party
More pictures of the girl craziness that went on:
It was fun. The next scheduled Birthday Party is when she turns 13, I think. I think that's the year Rob and I decided. And it's 13 because nothing cool happens when you turn 13. It's just a pointless year. Might as well give it a party and make it something to look forward to. Then a party at 16 and then we should be done with them. Hurray!
Piano, etc.
Miciah has been doing piano lessons for several weeks now and seems to be really liking it. It's still a novelty, so she spends half the lesson trying to make her teacher laugh. Cause she's a goober like that.
It's fun to watch Miciah grow up and decide what she wants to do with her time. She reads a LOT and is very interested in history and science stuff. In fact, that's exactly what she told me the last time we went to the museum. She said, "Mom, have you noticed that I'm more interested in the history than in playing?" I wanted to laugh. Good for her, though. I told her that when we have Elijah and Teancom on board, it wasn't really the time to read stuff, and promised that we would go to the museum later, just me, Rob, and her. It's fun that she's entering that new stage when we can enjoy more adult stuff with her.
She is also interested in fairies, just to remind us that she's still only 8.
And that's Miciah's news. I'll make another post of her artwork and things she's done at school.
Miciah is now 8 and she's loving it and I'm loving it and it's good for everyone. She is generally calmer and in more control of her emotions (unless you count when she's losing a tooth, and then she's completely irrationally emotionally explosive). She is also taking on more responsibility around the house, and she loves it. We changed her chore list to include:
1 Making dinner once a week
2 Doing her own laundry
We're only on week 2 of these changes, so we'll see how she loves them over time. But already she's thinking of great things to make for dinner like Clam Chowder. I told her we'd have to work up to that one.
Letting her do her own laundry last week also meant that she didn't kick and scream about doing it. That's semi-miraculous. I hope it continues to be so successful even when laundry changes are coming our way (more in another update to come).
And check out these chore lists:
See the beach and tree and water? ... Before I left for Key West, Miciah asked if the next time I went she could come with me. I said, "Sure," thinking that the next time I went was probably, oh, never. But, of course, she was talking about it instantly like it was a sure thing. Realizing that I should have answered VERY differently, I did the only thing left to do: set about devising a way to get her to Key West. The kids have been earning money for about a year now, $5 a week. So we sat down and figured out prices and timelines and told them that if they saved all their money (minus $.50 for tithing), they would have enough money in a year's time. They are now very motivated to do their chores--a nice change. And each of them has a Key West piggy bank to make it all seem real. We're already looking forward to our family vacation to Key West.
School Halloween Party
During her school party I caught this great shot:
She's messing with her loose tooth. Which is good. We used scare tactics to get to her to mess with it, since she's been letting them stay in her mouth for ages, and the dentist told us she probably shouldn't do that. So we gave her a week's time, and the tooth was out. Another parent caught the moment:
Another tooth will be gone within a day or so. Hopefully the drama and trauma of last night's Loose Tooth Freak Out Session won't repeat itself. Sheesh. It's just a tooth! More grow in!
School
We had Miciah's Parent Teacher Conference this week, too. It went great. One of the "major" concerns: I should stop doodling on Miciah's homework. ... They make us sign everything and this seems tedious to me. Maybe other parents find it wonderful. Or maybe they're just decent enough to not give the teacher crap about it. Me, though, I doodle. The teacher caught on to the rebellious spirit of it all, I guess, and asked me to stop. So there goes my fun.
Here's Miciah's school picture:
Miciah is doing well in school and is helpful and kind. She isn't snooty when she knows stuff that other people don't. She isn't being bossy (no "Miciah, who's the teacher?" talks). She isn't being as bossy at home, either. Being 8 is really good for her.
Miciah's Party
More pictures of the girl craziness that went on:
It was fun. The next scheduled Birthday Party is when she turns 13, I think. I think that's the year Rob and I decided. And it's 13 because nothing cool happens when you turn 13. It's just a pointless year. Might as well give it a party and make it something to look forward to. Then a party at 16 and then we should be done with them. Hurray!
Piano, etc.
Miciah has been doing piano lessons for several weeks now and seems to be really liking it. It's still a novelty, so she spends half the lesson trying to make her teacher laugh. Cause she's a goober like that.
It's fun to watch Miciah grow up and decide what she wants to do with her time. She reads a LOT and is very interested in history and science stuff. In fact, that's exactly what she told me the last time we went to the museum. She said, "Mom, have you noticed that I'm more interested in the history than in playing?" I wanted to laugh. Good for her, though. I told her that when we have Elijah and Teancom on board, it wasn't really the time to read stuff, and promised that we would go to the museum later, just me, Rob, and her. It's fun that she's entering that new stage when we can enjoy more adult stuff with her.
She is also interested in fairies, just to remind us that she's still only 8.
And that's Miciah's news. I'll make another post of her artwork and things she's done at school.
A Teancom Tidbit
I was cuddling with Teancom in the morning and said to him what's been on my mind lately: "Someday you won't be able to cuddle with me any more. You'll be too big."
Teancom looked at me in shock and said in the sweetest and most confident way, "I wouldn't do that!"
Then he was mad at me.
Teancom looked at me in shock and said in the sweetest and most confident way, "I wouldn't do that!"
Then he was mad at me.
Elijah's News, part 2
School
We had Elijah's Kindergarten Parent-Teacher Conference on Monday. Mrs. Parker is the same teacher that Miciah had, so we're familiar with her style, and she's familiar with ours. It was interesting to talk about how our children are different academically (she, of course, strongly advised us not to compare them). Elijah does well in school and is hitting all the points he needs to hit--not ahead, but not behind. Right where he needs to be. He is serious about his work and very proud of himself when he does well. It's interesting to watch this spastic little boy get super focused when he talks about school and about behaving for his teacher. It's also interesting to note that Rob hadn't seen the intensity that Elijah has for school. I guess by the time Rob gets home and asks Elijah about school, all Elijah has left to say is, "We played on the playground."
This is Elijah's school picture:
He insisted on having his hair "spiky," even though I NEVER do his hair for school. Ever.
The one mark that Elijah didn't meet for school was "talking at appropriate times." Apparently he talks to his friends too much. But, said Mrs. Parker, "We moved him and now he doesn't sit next to Richie, and he's much better." And he still hasn't talked too much to get his card flipped (the school's behavior control system), and he's determined not to ever get his card flipped.
Homework is getting easier for him. He wants to do it RIGHT NOW when he gets home with it. He finds some things very easy and delights in saying so. Other things aren't as easy for him, but he still works hard on them, and it's getting easier for us, as parents, to be patient with him. All in all, we'll take it.
Bullying Behavior
Over the summer, while we were away, Elijah developed his bullying side. I still think that's odd, cause he's just not a bully. When we got home from the trip and I repositioned myself as a parental authority, I told him that the bullying and hitting needed to stop. NOW. He would be going to school soon and it was simply not okay for a Kindergartener to be hitting people. He thought about it. We initiated a series of punishments for hitting, and within a week, the behavior nearly vanished.
I've been paying attention these days because Teancom has figured out how advantageous it is to be the little guy. He hits his siblings. He jumps on them. He annoys Elijah to no end and chases him around the house while Elijah pleads for help. But I have been very impressed with Elijah. I have heard (and sometimes seen) Teancom get mad and hit him (Teancom even BITES sometimes, the little punk). Elijah will even say, "Ow!", sometimes cry, and sound pretty angry about the whole thing. But he has never hit him back.
Elijah is a gentle soul. Like his father. I, for sure, would have hit Teancom back. Or found an even better way to get even. Elijah just doesn't think like that.
On top of that, his crazy emotional outbursts are now non-existent. Hurray for growing up! School has been a great thing for Elijah.
Pre-Reading
Another reason school has been great for Elijah: He is interested in reading! I think the boy just needed someone other than his mom and dad to teach him. When we read books, if I skip a word that he knows (they're learning 1 sight word a week), he gets upset at me. This is a big step for him. They also send home simple sentences for him to read, and he sounds them out and does great with them. He doesn't seem to remember words as quickly as Miciah did (since we're not comparing the two), but Mrs. Parker assures us this is all normal development stuff. I'm proud of how Elijah is doing, and I love watching how proud he obviously is of himself. I LOVE that he loves doing well.
School Halloween Party
I've never shown up to a school holiday party, but Miciah specifically asked me to show up this year. So I went to the Halloween party this year, and it was fun to watch the kids having so much fun. The parade beforehand is always fun (and I've gone to that every year), because you get to see all the costumes. I missed Miciah during the parade, but this is Elijah:
It was a little windy and he refused to let go of his hat. During the party, Elijah used that red hat to "color" his friends. It was pretty cute.
And that's pretty much Elijah's news. He is making friends at school and in the neighborhood. He desperately wants to be helpful and big, but he's also patient in the getting there. He's happy and hopeful and a delightful child.
A Fall Tree:
We had Elijah's Kindergarten Parent-Teacher Conference on Monday. Mrs. Parker is the same teacher that Miciah had, so we're familiar with her style, and she's familiar with ours. It was interesting to talk about how our children are different academically (she, of course, strongly advised us not to compare them). Elijah does well in school and is hitting all the points he needs to hit--not ahead, but not behind. Right where he needs to be. He is serious about his work and very proud of himself when he does well. It's interesting to watch this spastic little boy get super focused when he talks about school and about behaving for his teacher. It's also interesting to note that Rob hadn't seen the intensity that Elijah has for school. I guess by the time Rob gets home and asks Elijah about school, all Elijah has left to say is, "We played on the playground."
This is Elijah's school picture:
He insisted on having his hair "spiky," even though I NEVER do his hair for school. Ever.
The one mark that Elijah didn't meet for school was "talking at appropriate times." Apparently he talks to his friends too much. But, said Mrs. Parker, "We moved him and now he doesn't sit next to Richie, and he's much better." And he still hasn't talked too much to get his card flipped (the school's behavior control system), and he's determined not to ever get his card flipped.
Homework is getting easier for him. He wants to do it RIGHT NOW when he gets home with it. He finds some things very easy and delights in saying so. Other things aren't as easy for him, but he still works hard on them, and it's getting easier for us, as parents, to be patient with him. All in all, we'll take it.
Bullying Behavior
Over the summer, while we were away, Elijah developed his bullying side. I still think that's odd, cause he's just not a bully. When we got home from the trip and I repositioned myself as a parental authority, I told him that the bullying and hitting needed to stop. NOW. He would be going to school soon and it was simply not okay for a Kindergartener to be hitting people. He thought about it. We initiated a series of punishments for hitting, and within a week, the behavior nearly vanished.
I've been paying attention these days because Teancom has figured out how advantageous it is to be the little guy. He hits his siblings. He jumps on them. He annoys Elijah to no end and chases him around the house while Elijah pleads for help. But I have been very impressed with Elijah. I have heard (and sometimes seen) Teancom get mad and hit him (Teancom even BITES sometimes, the little punk). Elijah will even say, "Ow!", sometimes cry, and sound pretty angry about the whole thing. But he has never hit him back.
Elijah is a gentle soul. Like his father. I, for sure, would have hit Teancom back. Or found an even better way to get even. Elijah just doesn't think like that.
On top of that, his crazy emotional outbursts are now non-existent. Hurray for growing up! School has been a great thing for Elijah.
Pre-Reading
Another reason school has been great for Elijah: He is interested in reading! I think the boy just needed someone other than his mom and dad to teach him. When we read books, if I skip a word that he knows (they're learning 1 sight word a week), he gets upset at me. This is a big step for him. They also send home simple sentences for him to read, and he sounds them out and does great with them. He doesn't seem to remember words as quickly as Miciah did (since we're not comparing the two), but Mrs. Parker assures us this is all normal development stuff. I'm proud of how Elijah is doing, and I love watching how proud he obviously is of himself. I LOVE that he loves doing well.
School Halloween Party
I've never shown up to a school holiday party, but Miciah specifically asked me to show up this year. So I went to the Halloween party this year, and it was fun to watch the kids having so much fun. The parade beforehand is always fun (and I've gone to that every year), because you get to see all the costumes. I missed Miciah during the parade, but this is Elijah:
And that's pretty much Elijah's news. He is making friends at school and in the neighborhood. He desperately wants to be helpful and big, but he's also patient in the getting there. He's happy and hopeful and a delightful child.
A Fall Tree:
Friday, November 13, 2009
Elijah's News, part 1
School Activities and Daddy
Elijah is loving Kindergarten and thinks his teacher is a goddess. He's very insistent that we do EVERY ACTIVITY that they advertise at school, which gets annoying. And it's completely impractical with our schedule. One such activity was a Tailgate with Dad, where the kids went with their dads to eat pizza and watch a fire juggler. But it was on a Tuesday night. Rob works Tuesdays until 9:30. When I told Elijah that Daddy couldn't go, he cried.
So we found a substitute. And they had a great time. Rob feels bad sometimes, missing events when previously he could make them all. But it's okay. It's interesting to hear how the kids' language about it has changed. Instead of, "Daddy, you made it home for dinner!" it's "Daddy, I'm glad you came home today!" And Thursdays are crazy, because Rob gets home just moments before the kids are supposed to go to bed. Which means that bedtime is chaos and the kids are jumping all over him. Rob can get short with them, but I remind him that they haven't seen him all day. And they love their daddy.
Miciah's Sleepover Party
Elijah had a great time terrorizing 11 girls during Miciah's birthday party. And the girls seemed to enjoy running away from the lone Bad Guy. We did ship him off to his friend's house for a few hours, so the girls could be girls, and that worked out pretty well.
Primary Program
Last Sunday was the Primary Program at church, and it was adorable, like always. None of my kids stole the show, but that's okay. This is the talk that Elijah wrote himself (I'm sure with a little prompting from his teacher):
I belong to a family I love very much. In my family we know it's important to share with each other. I like to share my toys because it makes me feel happy. I am also thankful when my parents share things with me and let me take my Carebear places. I know Heavenly Father loves and blesses me.
The first time I heard Elijah say his speech was 2 Sundays before the Program, and it happened to be one of those rare Sundays when I let him take his Carebear to church. It happens maybe once every 4 months, and Carebear has to promise to be reverent. That particular Sunday he said he needed to bring Carebear because "Brother Mecham hasn't seen her in a long time." Brother Mecham is his teacher. Pretty cute. ... I felt like a really good mom right then, when I heard how much it means to him to bring Carebear places, and that'd I'd allowed him to take his Carebear that day. Every now and then it's nice to have a cute Mom moment.
Some Artwork
During the Primary Program Elijah drew these 4 pictures:
Elijah is loving Kindergarten and thinks his teacher is a goddess. He's very insistent that we do EVERY ACTIVITY that they advertise at school, which gets annoying. And it's completely impractical with our schedule. One such activity was a Tailgate with Dad, where the kids went with their dads to eat pizza and watch a fire juggler. But it was on a Tuesday night. Rob works Tuesdays until 9:30. When I told Elijah that Daddy couldn't go, he cried.
So we found a substitute. And they had a great time. Rob feels bad sometimes, missing events when previously he could make them all. But it's okay. It's interesting to hear how the kids' language about it has changed. Instead of, "Daddy, you made it home for dinner!" it's "Daddy, I'm glad you came home today!" And Thursdays are crazy, because Rob gets home just moments before the kids are supposed to go to bed. Which means that bedtime is chaos and the kids are jumping all over him. Rob can get short with them, but I remind him that they haven't seen him all day. And they love their daddy.
Miciah's Sleepover Party
Elijah had a great time terrorizing 11 girls during Miciah's birthday party. And the girls seemed to enjoy running away from the lone Bad Guy. We did ship him off to his friend's house for a few hours, so the girls could be girls, and that worked out pretty well.
Primary Program
Last Sunday was the Primary Program at church, and it was adorable, like always. None of my kids stole the show, but that's okay. This is the talk that Elijah wrote himself (I'm sure with a little prompting from his teacher):
I belong to a family I love very much. In my family we know it's important to share with each other. I like to share my toys because it makes me feel happy. I am also thankful when my parents share things with me and let me take my Carebear places. I know Heavenly Father loves and blesses me.
The first time I heard Elijah say his speech was 2 Sundays before the Program, and it happened to be one of those rare Sundays when I let him take his Carebear to church. It happens maybe once every 4 months, and Carebear has to promise to be reverent. That particular Sunday he said he needed to bring Carebear because "Brother Mecham hasn't seen her in a long time." Brother Mecham is his teacher. Pretty cute. ... I felt like a really good mom right then, when I heard how much it means to him to bring Carebear places, and that'd I'd allowed him to take his Carebear that day. Every now and then it's nice to have a cute Mom moment.
Some Artwork
During the Primary Program Elijah drew these 4 pictures:
The blue one is a "water guy", and that's what all the blue stuff coming out of him is. The yellow one and the first red one are "fire guys." You'll notice that all of them have prominent penises and they're peeing off the page. Yep. He says they're having a water fight.
And the last red guy is "old fat daddy." I kid you not.
Elijah has taken to calling Rob "Old Man" a lot. It makes me laugh. Rob will protest, which I'm sure only makes it more likely that Elijah will continue to call him that.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Teancom's News
Teancom is asserting himself lately. In fact, yesterday was a bad day, and at the end of it, Tank asked me to read him a story. I refused because he'd been so frustrating. Then I repented and cuddled with him until he fell asleep. Someday I won't be able to cuddle with him any more, but for now I'll eat it up.
He likes to hit me, or even sneakier, NEARLY hit me. He throws toys. Bites people. Throws himself on the floor in a heap. Scratches, with the aim to hurt. Screams at me. ... All that good toddler stuff. It's not unmanageable, but it's frustrating. Generally he is wonderful, but he can definitely have his moments.
Sushi
I came back from Key West with gifts for everyone. I gave Teancom a baby sea turtle, which he called a Baby Giant Turtle. Initially, though, he was quite unhappy with the gift. He threw it on the ground and cried, saying, "It doesn't make noise!" A few hours later, though, it was his best friend. J also gave him a stuffed moose, and he had the moose riding on the turtle's back. Super cute.
We pushed him to name his turtle, but he made it clear that the process wasn't to be rushed. Why must he name it, you ask? Because the other names he's come up with are so cute: Twit and Tofa (his dogs). Finally, after nearly 2 weeks of thinking about it and saying, "I'll give her a name tomorrow," he named her Sushi. I told him it was a great name, so he was a little surprised when Dad and Miciah reacted to the name.
Chaga
This one has a back story. We entered Teancom into an H1N1 study, where they gave him the H1N1 vaccine and seasonal flu shots. We felt grateful that he got into the group that had the most visits, because it was also the group that got paid the most money. But it also involved more blood draws. By the 4th and last blood draw, Teancom was cowering under the chair, screaming. Rob held him down on the exam chair thing as Teancom hysterically screamed, "Don't take my arm! Don't take my arm!" It was horrible, and in the end, we're not sure it was worth the money.
But it's Teancom's money, whether he understands how he earned it or not, so I took him to Toys-R-Us after the last visit and told him he could pick out any toy in the store. I was grateful that he wanted the $25 version of the walking and roaring dinosaur instead of the $150 version.
It took him less time to name this toy. His name is Chaga.
And check out the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup in Chaga's mouth.
Doctor's Visit, the H1N1 Study Aftermath
Last week I finally took Teancom in for his 3 year check-up. Our long-time doctor moved on with his career in June, and I didn't want to deal with shopping for doctors again, so it took me this long to set up the appointment. Anyways, I took him in and intentionally didn't tell him where we were going. When we got to the parking lot, though, I finally told him. He of course reacted with fear. "No! I don't want shots!" I told him that this doctor wouldn't do a blood draw on him (and for the first time was really sad that we hadn't made the distinction between shots and blood draws during the study. It seemed fine, at the time, to refer to them both as "shots", since he wouldn't understand anyway. That was a mistake.) and PROMISED that she "wouldn't take his arm."
Still, while we were sitting in the waiting room, he put his arms behind his back and said, "Mom, I'm hiding my arms." I asked him why and he said, "So they won't find them." I again asked him why and he said, "So they won't take them." Poor guy. Traumatized.
When we went in to see the doctor, she asked him to sit up on the exam chair thing and he instantly screamed and rushed over to me. I explained how he came to have such an intense fear, and she was extra funny and nice and gentle with him. I was VERY grateful, and super impressed, when she suggested that even though there's a booster given at 3 years, we hold off for a while. I was ready to fight for that, but I didn't have to. We'll be going back to her. Test #1 passed with flying colors.
And on...
Other than that, Teancom is doing great. He's ready to be a big boy so he doesn't have to sit in his car seat, and so he can ride his bike down the street. He's really loving still (even with the fits) and gives lots of hugs and kisses. He even makes up different kinds of kisses, which is a genetic trait, apparently, since his daddy does that, too. And finally he's very insistent that we go to the store and buy cheese crackers for him. When he found out we didn't have any more, he suggested we go RIGHT THEN and buy some more. I told him we'd go later, and every time I've said, "What do you want to do now?" in the last few days, he's said, "Go to the store and buy cheese crackers!" There's only so long you can resist that kind of cuteness.
He likes to hit me, or even sneakier, NEARLY hit me. He throws toys. Bites people. Throws himself on the floor in a heap. Scratches, with the aim to hurt. Screams at me. ... All that good toddler stuff. It's not unmanageable, but it's frustrating. Generally he is wonderful, but he can definitely have his moments.
Sushi
I came back from Key West with gifts for everyone. I gave Teancom a baby sea turtle, which he called a Baby Giant Turtle. Initially, though, he was quite unhappy with the gift. He threw it on the ground and cried, saying, "It doesn't make noise!" A few hours later, though, it was his best friend. J also gave him a stuffed moose, and he had the moose riding on the turtle's back. Super cute.
We pushed him to name his turtle, but he made it clear that the process wasn't to be rushed. Why must he name it, you ask? Because the other names he's come up with are so cute: Twit and Tofa (his dogs). Finally, after nearly 2 weeks of thinking about it and saying, "I'll give her a name tomorrow," he named her Sushi. I told him it was a great name, so he was a little surprised when Dad and Miciah reacted to the name.
Chaga
This one has a back story. We entered Teancom into an H1N1 study, where they gave him the H1N1 vaccine and seasonal flu shots. We felt grateful that he got into the group that had the most visits, because it was also the group that got paid the most money. But it also involved more blood draws. By the 4th and last blood draw, Teancom was cowering under the chair, screaming. Rob held him down on the exam chair thing as Teancom hysterically screamed, "Don't take my arm! Don't take my arm!" It was horrible, and in the end, we're not sure it was worth the money.
But it's Teancom's money, whether he understands how he earned it or not, so I took him to Toys-R-Us after the last visit and told him he could pick out any toy in the store. I was grateful that he wanted the $25 version of the walking and roaring dinosaur instead of the $150 version.
It took him less time to name this toy. His name is Chaga.
Doctor's Visit, the H1N1 Study Aftermath
Last week I finally took Teancom in for his 3 year check-up. Our long-time doctor moved on with his career in June, and I didn't want to deal with shopping for doctors again, so it took me this long to set up the appointment. Anyways, I took him in and intentionally didn't tell him where we were going. When we got to the parking lot, though, I finally told him. He of course reacted with fear. "No! I don't want shots!" I told him that this doctor wouldn't do a blood draw on him (and for the first time was really sad that we hadn't made the distinction between shots and blood draws during the study. It seemed fine, at the time, to refer to them both as "shots", since he wouldn't understand anyway. That was a mistake.) and PROMISED that she "wouldn't take his arm."
Still, while we were sitting in the waiting room, he put his arms behind his back and said, "Mom, I'm hiding my arms." I asked him why and he said, "So they won't find them." I again asked him why and he said, "So they won't take them." Poor guy. Traumatized.
When we went in to see the doctor, she asked him to sit up on the exam chair thing and he instantly screamed and rushed over to me. I explained how he came to have such an intense fear, and she was extra funny and nice and gentle with him. I was VERY grateful, and super impressed, when she suggested that even though there's a booster given at 3 years, we hold off for a while. I was ready to fight for that, but I didn't have to. We'll be going back to her. Test #1 passed with flying colors.
And on...
Other than that, Teancom is doing great. He's ready to be a big boy so he doesn't have to sit in his car seat, and so he can ride his bike down the street. He's really loving still (even with the fits) and gives lots of hugs and kisses. He even makes up different kinds of kisses, which is a genetic trait, apparently, since his daddy does that, too. And finally he's very insistent that we go to the store and buy cheese crackers for him. When he found out we didn't have any more, he suggested we go RIGHT THEN and buy some more. I told him we'd go later, and every time I've said, "What do you want to do now?" in the last few days, he's said, "Go to the store and buy cheese crackers!" There's only so long you can resist that kind of cuteness.
I suppose it's time for another Update
Life has been pretty normal feeling since I've been back from Key West. (More and more I'm convinced I actually went. I have tickets to prove it and everything.) Life here is SO not a day at the beach, but that's a good thing, I guess. Too much of nothing is ... a song by Peter, Paul, and Mary.
Soccer
Soccer is over. Hurray! It was so draining on our family. I don't know how my parents did it with 8 of us playing nearly year round. I was wiped out after 2 months. Here are their official pictures. It's probably illegal to scan them in, but whatever. It's not like I'm re-selling them for profit.
Miciah's coach and her daughter forgot about the pictures and hence missed them. So I look like the awesome Head Coach in this picture. One of the moms took a picture of all of us at a later game.
(Oh. The team that was letting Miciah practice with them on Thursdays is going to State. They've only lost 1 game, during the season. Wouldn't surprise me at all if they came home State Champs.)
Miciah's Sleepover Party
Miciah had her 8th Birthday Party the day before Halloween. I don't know how this came about, but Miciah somehow believed we'd told her that for her 8th birthday she could have 8 people sleep over. I recall no such promise, but I figured it would be fine. And it was. There were 10 girls who came, but only 4 slept over. Their moms were all apologizing for them not being able to stay, but I told them, "Trust me, it's OKAY." :) 4 girls sleeping over is much more manageable than 10.
Miciah got lots of gifts, including lots of crafty things to do. One of those was a gift called Bendaroos. I wasn't even aware Bendaroos existed, but the girls had a blast with them. For instance:
Rob also loved the party atmosphere. He was the life of the party and directed them through several games. I'm sure they all went away thinking he was the coolest dad ever. Part way through the night Rob said, "Tamra, you're missing it." And I said, "Exactly." I'm not really a party person (I'm sure this is shocking news), so I was happy to make myself scarce. I even attended my soccer game that night (we had Corene come as a woman stand-in, just so Rob wouldn't be alone with 10 girls. I didn't want there to be any room for suspicion, even if I personally think Rob is above suspicion). How's that for priorities?
Halloween
We kept things simple for Halloween. Our October had been full of so many celebrations that I was pretty Halloween-ed out by the time the day actually came. No annual festive meal in a pumpkin, no pumpkin carving, no elaborate anything. Course, it shouldn't surprise anyone that I wasn't super festive. We did put up a cool spider web on our front porch. This made Elijah happy cause he'd told me that he "hated our house" without decorations up. That's pretty intense. He'll probably make his house uber-festive when he grows up, as a reaction to my anti-festive spirit.
Elijah, pretending to be "caught" in the web:
And Rob and the kids standing proudly inside the web.
Can you tell what Miciah was? Rapunzel. She came up with the outfit herself. I tried to talk her out of it, or at least talk her into making it more, um, elaborate. Her long hair, which you can't really see in the picture, was an ace bandage. You know, the kind you'd wrap an ankle with. She was CONVINCED it looked just like real hair. She tied it into her hair and it flowed all the way to the ground. Pretty cute.
Elijah's costume made me especially happy. This is the costume my little brother Chad wore when he was a kid. Behold the picture:
It's Ruben in green, me in pink, Justin in blue, and Chad in red.
We have the blue crayon costume, too. So next year he could be a crayon again, if he wanted.
And yes, my Mom made those. Pretty sweet, huh? My Mom is good.
Teancom was Super Man, which meant he wore his Super Man pajamas and we added the cape. He wore the cape for several more days, including to church. It was awesome to see him all dressed up and wearing a cape. At church I took him to the bathroom and he looked at himself in the mirror for several minutes. He furrowed his brow, looking as serious as possible, and stood with legs apart and arms folded. I wish I had a video of it.
Here's all the kids right before Trick-or-Treating. We went with friends:
Chad
Our family took a short day trip to Columbus to see my brother Chad who came in town to visit a friend. Yes, Columbus is "in town," cause he normally lives in CA. The kids jumped all over him, demanded his attention, and said, "Uncle Chad!" about once every 30 seconds. I think Chad liked it at first, but you could see the glazed-over look in his eyes after a while, and we partially convinced the kids to stop mauling him.
Though Elijah kept calling him Uncle Keith, even after we told him repeatedly that he was Uncle Chad. I think Elijah might have a memory issue.
Temple
The next weekend (this last one) we went to the temple in Columbus. We went through a session with the adult members of Rob's family and then went out to eat with them. It was a very enjoyable way to spend a Saturday.
Holidays
And it should be Thanksgiving already! I can never get into the holiday season until mid-November, even with the Christmas decorations up in all the stores pre-Halloween. We will be spending Thanksgiving with Rob's family up in Toledo. We're excited about that. And then Rob will go back up to Toledo the weekend after to sing in a Nativity program with his sisters.
And that's it for now. I have more stuff to share, like always, and I'll get to it eventually. Much love to everyone!
Soccer
Soccer is over. Hurray! It was so draining on our family. I don't know how my parents did it with 8 of us playing nearly year round. I was wiped out after 2 months. Here are their official pictures. It's probably illegal to scan them in, but whatever. It's not like I'm re-selling them for profit.
(Oh. The team that was letting Miciah practice with them on Thursdays is going to State. They've only lost 1 game, during the season. Wouldn't surprise me at all if they came home State Champs.)
Miciah's Sleepover Party
Miciah had her 8th Birthday Party the day before Halloween. I don't know how this came about, but Miciah somehow believed we'd told her that for her 8th birthday she could have 8 people sleep over. I recall no such promise, but I figured it would be fine. And it was. There were 10 girls who came, but only 4 slept over. Their moms were all apologizing for them not being able to stay, but I told them, "Trust me, it's OKAY." :) 4 girls sleeping over is much more manageable than 10.
Miciah got lots of gifts, including lots of crafty things to do. One of those was a gift called Bendaroos. I wasn't even aware Bendaroos existed, but the girls had a blast with them. For instance:
Rob also loved the party atmosphere. He was the life of the party and directed them through several games. I'm sure they all went away thinking he was the coolest dad ever. Part way through the night Rob said, "Tamra, you're missing it." And I said, "Exactly." I'm not really a party person (I'm sure this is shocking news), so I was happy to make myself scarce. I even attended my soccer game that night (we had Corene come as a woman stand-in, just so Rob wouldn't be alone with 10 girls. I didn't want there to be any room for suspicion, even if I personally think Rob is above suspicion). How's that for priorities?
Halloween
We kept things simple for Halloween. Our October had been full of so many celebrations that I was pretty Halloween-ed out by the time the day actually came. No annual festive meal in a pumpkin, no pumpkin carving, no elaborate anything. Course, it shouldn't surprise anyone that I wasn't super festive. We did put up a cool spider web on our front porch. This made Elijah happy cause he'd told me that he "hated our house" without decorations up. That's pretty intense. He'll probably make his house uber-festive when he grows up, as a reaction to my anti-festive spirit.
Elijah, pretending to be "caught" in the web:
Can you tell what Miciah was? Rapunzel. She came up with the outfit herself. I tried to talk her out of it, or at least talk her into making it more, um, elaborate. Her long hair, which you can't really see in the picture, was an ace bandage. You know, the kind you'd wrap an ankle with. She was CONVINCED it looked just like real hair. She tied it into her hair and it flowed all the way to the ground. Pretty cute.
Elijah's costume made me especially happy. This is the costume my little brother Chad wore when he was a kid. Behold the picture:
It's Ruben in green, me in pink, Justin in blue, and Chad in red.
We have the blue crayon costume, too. So next year he could be a crayon again, if he wanted.
And yes, my Mom made those. Pretty sweet, huh? My Mom is good.
Teancom was Super Man, which meant he wore his Super Man pajamas and we added the cape. He wore the cape for several more days, including to church. It was awesome to see him all dressed up and wearing a cape. At church I took him to the bathroom and he looked at himself in the mirror for several minutes. He furrowed his brow, looking as serious as possible, and stood with legs apart and arms folded. I wish I had a video of it.
Here's all the kids right before Trick-or-Treating. We went with friends:
Chad
Our family took a short day trip to Columbus to see my brother Chad who came in town to visit a friend. Yes, Columbus is "in town," cause he normally lives in CA. The kids jumped all over him, demanded his attention, and said, "Uncle Chad!" about once every 30 seconds. I think Chad liked it at first, but you could see the glazed-over look in his eyes after a while, and we partially convinced the kids to stop mauling him.
Though Elijah kept calling him Uncle Keith, even after we told him repeatedly that he was Uncle Chad. I think Elijah might have a memory issue.
Temple
The next weekend (this last one) we went to the temple in Columbus. We went through a session with the adult members of Rob's family and then went out to eat with them. It was a very enjoyable way to spend a Saturday.
Holidays
And it should be Thanksgiving already! I can never get into the holiday season until mid-November, even with the Christmas decorations up in all the stores pre-Halloween. We will be spending Thanksgiving with Rob's family up in Toledo. We're excited about that. And then Rob will go back up to Toledo the weekend after to sing in a Nativity program with his sisters.
And that's it for now. I have more stuff to share, like always, and I'll get to it eventually. Much love to everyone!
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