A Mid-September Update

Elijah sitting on the sidelines with 2 other kids on his soccer team. No, I don't have pictures of Miciah playing, cause I assistant coach her team, so I can't be taking pictures cause I'm too busy yelling at the refs! (Just kidding, I very rarely yell at the refs. In fact, this last game was my first Yell at the Refs moment (perhaps the first one OF MY LIFE--I leave the refs alone), cause the other team scored, and then the refs let the other team kick off! What?! That's INSULTING! At least if we're losing by 4, let us kick off when we're supposed to! That's not a judgment call, that's neglect! Anyways. Moving on.)

Life has been busy, though happy. I find that I get a ton done, but a lot more of my time has to be spent off the computer actually GETTING those things done. This has cut back my blog posting and chat times. A tragedy, for sure. But, for all my mourning, I've been able to do more work and this has allowed Rob to focus primarily on the fact that he's stressed out of his mind. And that's a blessing for him.

Rob

Teaching the Biology 120 class is the highlight of Rob's week. He loves what he's doing, and he says it's well worth the time sacrifices we're making. (I agree with that, by the way.) Last week he gave his first exam and most of the class got a D on it. Maybe they'll figure out that they need to STUDY for tests. ... I took the exam, too. Without studying. I got a 65%. What?! That's the worst grade I've ever received on a college exam! Actually, that's probably not true... Never mind.

A few places that he's applied to have now closed. The one in Cincinnati that he's most excited about (Xavier) closed on Friday. And he's not just the most excited about it because it's in Cincinnati. Of all the places he's applying, it's the place, more than any other, that he could see himself teaching for the rest of his life. It's also the place he's most familiar with, but still. I don't know how long we should expect it to take until we know if he's past the first round or not, but we're hoping it won't take TOO long. We're sort of holding our breath for it.

There are more jobs posted every week, which makes us hopeful that someone will hire him. There are places in New York, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Tennessee, all over the place (though not many out West, for some reason). So when Rob's not prepping for his lectures he's usually working on getting stuff ready for his applications. It's a crazy, busy time.

Tamra

Usually I'm happy enough in my new role as Super Woman. But sometimes I feel like Mr. Incredible in that movie: "I just cleaned up this mess. Can't it just STAY SAVED? For 5 minutes!" On Tuesdays Rob isn't home until after the kids are in bed, and on Thursdays the kids see him for a few minutes before bed. And even when Rob is home he's usually stressed and unable to see straight. This makes me smile because I see myself from 5 years ago up until a year ago: yelling at the kids for no apparent reason, not capable of being sane at bed time, looking like you're going to fall over at any moment. It's a comforting thing to realize that we can take turns being the "strong" one.

Miciah in school

Miciah is doing great in school, loving every minute. Her teacher says she's very helpful and friendly with the other kids, and we're glad she's keeping those traits. Miciah loves to keep her mind engaged, and when her homework isn't "hard enough", she'll turn it over and ask me to give her harder questions. What a nut! We have fun with it, though. I teach her some basic logic puzzles (in which I have declared that Scooby-Doo is smarter than Edison), and some more advanced math concepts. I'm not sure if her teacher approves, but I'm not sure I care, either.

My favorite two things about Miciah in 2nd grade:
1 - She brings home a daily planner that I have to sign every night. With a kid like Miciah, who begs to do harder math problems, is there any need to sign this planner? No. So I take advantage of the "parent comments" section and say things like, "Miciah is a stinky cheese." When I wrote that Miciah said, "No, Mom. That section is for things that are very important." So above the original message I wrote in caps: "VERY IMPORTANT:" And we've just progressed from there.

2 - She is going to be able to access all the books in the school library. Miciah is one of the top readers in her grade, and in previous years it has frustrated me that she wasn't able to pick out harder books. The librarian and the teacher apparently give different grades different access to books. Makes sense, but when Miciah is reading the Magic Treehouse books in under an hour and says she needs "more books", maybe she should just pick out harder books (not to mention books of higher quality. Magic Treehouse books are AWFUL!). I'm volunteering at the library this year and knowing how the system works made me bold enough to ask her teacher to allow her access to all the books. I don't know if Miciah will WANT to read the harder books, but I'd like MICIAH to decide that, not a teacher or librarian. I was happy that her teacher agreed with me.

Miciah playing soccer

Miciah is also playing soccer. I'm not sure if she's loving it or not, but she is steadily improving. At the last game she was much braver on the field and when I told her that she said, "I know." Of course she knew. Her team hasn't won any games, but "it's fun to play whether you win or not" (that's the loser's motto, and I love it!).

One of the really cool things about her playing soccer this year is that she's practicing twice a week. This is worth noting because the 2nd practice is with another team. It's just a rec league, and there are 2 girls in her 2nd grade class that are on another team. One of those girls, Cierra, is a super star, but that's neither here nor there. While at a classroom night, Cierra's dad, who is also the coach of her team, asked what nights we practiced. I told him only Wed. nights because neither the head coach nor I had any other nights available. Then, an hour later, when I went to the practice fields for Elijah's Thursday night practice, there they were, practicing at the SAME TIME.

So I was brave and I called him and asked if Miciah could practice with them. It just seemed silly to me to have Miciah sitting at Elijah's practice, or "practicing" with me during his practice, when another team her age, with some of her friends on it, was practice a few fields away! He said she was welcome to practice with them every Thursday, and even said that if any parents on the team had problems with it, he'd tell them to get over it! :) I think a lot of Miciah's improvement has come from practicing with this other team and watching these better girls do their thing. Before the last game Miciah said, "Mom, I learned some new tricks from Cierra's team." I asked her what they were and she said, "You'll see them at the game." Go, Miciah!

Elijah playing soccer
Elijah loves soccer, and he's not half-bad at it. He's not a super star, but he looks like one compared to the 3-year-olds that are on the team! This is lollipop soccer, so most of the kids spend their time picking flowers instead of playing. At his last 2 games there has been a super star on the opposing team. The game I went to, this last Saturday, there was this girl named Rebecca who scored at will. I was impressed, and I also felt sorry for her and her parents. Because the parents on our team were pretty ticked off. Oh, to be hated for being talented.

Elijah has a great time out there, though, and it's fun to watch him play.

Elijah in school

Elijah is LOVING school, which is fantastic. I thought that perhaps he'd be bothered with all the work he has to do there, but he comes home every day and talks about how much fun he's having! He also is greatly upset when other kids get their card flipped, which is the school's system of punishments. They get their cards flipped and then after a certain number of flips this happens and then that happens. Much like writing your name on the board. He has told us that he will NEVER get his card flipped. He seems very determined to be good, and that's adorable.

He is not digging homework, though. Some of it he's pretty good at, like letter identification and sorting. But the first week was writing his name the right way and he was NOT happy about it. He doesn't like being told how he HAS to do something, and I don't think he understands why his way isn't just as good. Sometimes I want to go on about how right he is (don't conform! You can write your name however you want to!), but the other more responsible side of me wins out and I tell him that "that's the way it's supposed to be done."

We've created special Homework time with Daddy on Monday nights, and that's helping some. I got a flunking grade on Elijah's first homework assignment. Yes, I wrote that on purpose. I, Tamra, got a flunking grade. I got so frustrated with him not doing it right that I huffily sent him away saying, "If you're just going to be stupid, then go away." He walked away slowly, head bowed. After he walked away I realized what I'd said. I didn't MEAN to call him stupid, I just meant that his BEHAVIOR was stupid, but suddenly that didn't matter: I had just called my 5-year-old son stupid. This is the kind of stuff that scars kids!! I took him aside and apologized. He forgave me, cause he's like that, and we created the special Homework time with Daddy. ... Learn some patience, Tamra!!

Teancom

Teancom is still lovely Teancom. He takes naps nearly every day now, and I'm not sure why that is. I was thinking it was because I was "boring" to him, but he's fallen asleep after the kids got back from school, while driving to the store, before Elijah even left for school, ... Whatever the reason, I am NOT complaining. It makes for a happier Teancom, and that makes for a happier everyone.

He seems to have moved past his Wiggles and Baby Einstein obsession, which means that a curtain is closing on a stage in my life. No tears will be shed. He has moved on to Dora and Diego and Scooby-Doo and Thomas. Hurray!

He is still a pro at going potty, though we've had some amusing incidents. The best two:
1 - I had been finding some pieces of wet toilet paper on the floor and assumed they were from something Teancom was doing, but I wasn't sure what. Then I came in while he was going potty and he was dunking toilet paper in the potty WHICH HE'D ALREADY USED, and was bring the paper back up and wiping himself, the toilet seat, etc. I almost gagged right there, the thought was so revolting to me. He got his bum smacked for that one, and I don't think he's done it since.

2 - We have a hand mirror that is exclusively used by Miciah. She likes to look at her hair after she puts it up by herself (why by herself? That's right, I'm too lazy to put it up for her). Anyways, one day last week I was walking by the bathroom and glanced in. I saw Teancom, just finished with the potty, naked from the waist down. He was holding the mirror behind him, glancing backwards into it, and turning his body just slightly so he could look at his bum. I forced myself to keep walking and then mentally willed myself to not break into hysterical laughter. I said, "Teancom, what are you doing?" He said, of course, "I'm trying to see my bum." ... I wiped the mirror down after that. And vowed never to touch it again.

Other Things

Kirtland

All of us in a horrible picture taken in front of the Newel K. Whitney store:

We went to Kirtland, OH with our friends, the Turleys, over Labor Day weekend. It was fun, though later my friend told me that she passed up an opportunity to camp at a Nude Campground. What?! To think we could have gone camping nude! (Seriously, do you even want to THINK about camping nude? Are you KIDDING ME? On the beach nude, okay. Sounds uncomfortable with the sand thing, but whatever. Camping?!)

Our family in front of the Kirtland temple:
The kids really enjoyed it and I will post lots of pictures in a separate post cause I took LOTS of pictures of my favorite Kirtland-area site: The John Johnson Farm.

Colerain Cardinals

On Friday night we took our kids to their first ever high school football game. Every year the local high school has "Elementary School Night" where all the elementary school kids and their families get free hotdogs and chips before the game, the kids get to form a human "tunnel" for the players to run through, and then the kids get into the game for free. We have passed up this "opportunity" in previous years, but when Elijah came home from school SO EXCITED to see the game ("Mom, there will be hotdogs and chips and cheerleaders and football players!"), we knew we were going.

What did Miciah like best? Probably the cheerleaders.
What did Elijah like best? The Army guys parachuting onto the field.
What did Teancom like best? The big red bird: the Cardinal mascot. He liked it only from a distance, though, and when he got up close he ran away.
What did Tamra like best? Listening to a conversation between two old friends, meeting for the first time in 10 years or more. It included this: "My daughter aspires to be a cheerleader. I mean, oh gosh, aspire to something better than that! And she'll say, 'But Mom, YOU were a cheerleader!' I know!"
What did Rob like best? All of it. Especially wondering why the center held the ball that way. WHO, I ask you, notices the way the center holds the ball before a snap? That's right, my husband does. It was cute.

Fun tidbit about the game. Miciah was telling someone at church about the Cardinals game. Went like this:
Miciah: "We went to a Cardinals game."
Woman: "You did? Did they play the Reds?"
Miciah: "No, the Nighthawks."
Woman: "Oh."
Teancom: "They had a big red bird there!"
Woman: "Really?"
Miciah: "Yeah. We left before the game was over, and it was like 50 to 10 when we left."
Woman, in complete disbelief: "Really? Are you sure?"

I chuckled about that and then kindly interjected that it was a FOOTBALL game, not a baseball game. And the score really was that lopsided. When we left, 10 minutes to go, it was 48 - 17.

And Teancom's been talking about the big red bird ever since. We'll walk out the door and he'll say, "Are we going to see the big red bird now?" It makes me laugh every time.

Kid Sayings

In true Tamra fashion, this post is getting way too long. I haven't updated in a while. But I have to mention the 2 best kid sayings as of late. Both come from Elijah:

"Mom, some people have a Nintendo 65. We don't have a Nintendo 65. We have a Nintendo Zero."
That's right! We have the original Nintendo!! I like "Nintendo Zero."

Out of the blue Elijah said this to me:
"Mom, it would be sad if you died. Cause I'd miss you."
I told him it would be sad, and that I'd miss him, too.
"Yeah. Mom? If you died, I want you to die at home. Know why? Cause then I could say "I love you" and "good bye.""
Elijah just smiled sweetly at me, so happy with the idea of being able to say that he loved me and wishing me well as I parted this life. And I tried really really hard not to cry.
I wasn't sure how to respond. I think I said, "Umm, thank you, Elijah." ... You'll be proud: I didn't cry.

I'll also make another post about our garden. Cause I'm obsessed with it.

And that's life here. Keeping it together somehow.