Van-dalized

A few days ago we woke up to discover that our beloved van had been vandalized.  We have reported it to the police, but so far there aren't any leads.

I feel confident that soon the police will bring the vandal to justice.

Wanna Take a Quiz?

In one of my interpreting classes, I was given an English vocab quiz (the idea is that it's hard to interpret words that you don't understand.  Not that most of us say complicated sentences involving the word "mitigate," for example, but it's possible that you have smarter friends than I do (though I highly doubt it.  I have some pretty genius friends)).

Here's the trick.  You have to answer it without looking anything up!  So if you'd like to join me in some fun, here's a quiz to test your vocabulary awesomeness.

1. credulous                    A  agreeably suitable; pleasant
2. immutable                   B  meticulous; demanding
3. ameliorate                   C  jumbled; chaotic
4. arrogant                      D  speaking clearly and well
5. elaborate                    E  worried; anxious
6. apprehensive               F  false
7. congenial                    G  to make better or more tolerant
8. indolence                    H  unchangeable; permanent
9. condescend                I  outstanding; setting a good example
10. articulate                   J  worthy of blame or censure
11. incoherent                 K  giving an immediate advantage
12. fallacious                  L  believing; gullible
13. exemplary                M  combative, quarrelsome
14. reprehensible            N  to lessen the severity of something
15. mitigate                    O  motionless; inactivity
16. stagnation                 P  detailed; careful; thorough
17. languish                    Q  lower to other's level in an offensive way, to patronize
18. belligerent                 R  feeling superior to others; snooty
19. fastidious                  S  laziness
                                       T  to become weak, listless

One of those choices (obviously) doesn't have a match.  Unless one of the words has a second meaning - I hadn't even considered that possibility, but it seems reasonable enough.

We haven't gone over the answers in class yet.  However, I feel pretty dang confident that I got near to 100%. 

Now, ... go!

It Occurs to Me...

...that I was supposed to post about Elijah's birthday party and my date with Rob.

DATE WITH ROB

Turns out that I don't have any idea what the date with Rob post was supposed to be about.  I'm sure there was some blog post idea bouncing around inside my head, but the ball stopped bouncing.  Here's what I remember now:

I went on a date with Rob.  It was nice.  We went to, uh, ... a restaurant.  We ate.  We may or may not have also seen a movie.  No, I think that we didn't.  My mom was home with the kids.  Or maybe I'm thinking of some other date?  Hmm.

NO CLUE why it seemed important to write about.  Maybe the fact that we actually went on a date was important enough to be of note.

Announcement:  Rob and I went on a date.

The reality of life is that Rob and I don't go on many dates.  I remember when it was SO IMPORTANT to have that one-on-one time with him.  Away from home.  On a regular basis.  But those days are gone.  My children aren't babies.  We have entire days that feel like dates because the kids go play and we don't see them for hours upon hours.  Why leave the house and spend money, when we can spend time together at home for free?

We're so old and boring.  This is what 11 years of marriage looks like.  Don't you all want to get married now?  Come!  Get married!  Watch the magic fade into boringness!  I promise you'll like it!

(Must be in a weird mood.  Side note:  This is when I debate deleting this entire post.)

ELIJAH'S BIRTHDAY

Wanna know what was awesome about Elijah's birthday?  On March 30th we had a Summer Birthday Party!  It was fantastic.  The kids played outside with Rob for hours and hours, and it was great.  T-shirt weather.  They only came in when it got dark.  In March!!!  I'm sure you've all now seen the stats on how truly awesome March was for most of the nation, particularly the Eastern parts, and I'm here to tell you:  IT WAS AMAZING.

Also really cool is that Rob likes to play games outside with the kids.  It still cracks me up that he really wants to put a gate on the other side of our house so that each side has a gate to walk through.  Why does he want this?  To play better games outside, of course!  That Rob is an awesome dad.

Elijah asked for Legos, Legos, and more Legos for his birthday.  Strangely, everyone gave him Legos.  Guess which of our 3 kids isn't actually interested in Legos?  Yep, Elijah.  Tank and Miciah love them and can spend hours putting sets together or making their own contraptions.  But Eiljah just doesn't care.  That's the power of Legofest:  Convinces kids who don't care about Legos that they actually can't live without Legos.

FUNNY CONVERSATION I HAD WITH ELIJAH

I decided to check out Pandora, so for a few days I entered some songs I love and watched what came about.  And I discovered a song that isn't new, but is new to me, and I love it:  Good Charlotte's I Don't Wanna Be In Love (Dance Floor Anthem).



(Video is song with lyrics because the music video on youtube kinda sucks.)

I was in the car with Elijah listening to this song and this is what went down:

Elijah:  Did he say that he doesn't WANT to be in love?
Tamra:  Yeah.
Elijah:  Who wouldn't want to be in love?  It's awesome.
[pause]
Elijah:  I mean, people say it's awesome.
[I explain that the song is about people who were mistreated in their relationships and that being in love isn't awesome when you're in love with a douche bag.]
Elijah:  Yeah, but why wouldn't you want to be in love?  Everyone wants to be in love.
[pause]
Elijah:  I like the song.  The music is good.  The singing is good.  But I think that most people wouldn't like the lyrics.

I've been crackin' up about that stumble.  "I mean, people say it's awesome."  Love that Elijah kid.


And that's all I've got.  Hope your Mother's Day was good, great, or at least tolerable.  (I got a concert.  The upside?  Rob and my kids sang for me.  The downside?  I had to wear a dress.  What's that about?)

Mom vs. Dad

I taught Miciah how to doodle in a particular way, and she's been loving it.  She made a little name paper for everyone in the family.  Here's mine and Rob's:

Mark this moment:  I win!  Rob's the best dad on the world ("on" makes sense, no?), but I'm the best mom in the Universe!  Take that!

Miciah's Creations

Miciah loves to make things, and she's getting good at it.  For Elijah's birthday she asked him what he wanted, and he said a koala stuffed animal (he asked us, too, but we said no.  He's already got something like 8 of them).  So she made one.  Herself.

That's her own design.  Her own sewing - hand and machine.  ...  Too cool.

While she was at it, she also made him a small decorative pillow with fringe.

You know.  Just cause.

Let me also make this clear:  I give Miciah no guidance on these projects of hers - it's all her.  But I do supply her with material to work with.  Years ago when I realized art was something Miciah loved, I asked my artistic cousin what I should do.  I know how to keep a tomboy happy and engaged, but an artsy child?  What the what?  She advised me that the most important thing was to keep giving her supplies.  She'd figure it out.  So that's what I've done.  Occasionally I hook her up with an expert, but normally I just keep her supplied with paints and cloth and pens and pencils and paper (SO MUCH PAPER!) and stickers and buttons and yarn. 

Then, as part 2, I never ever get upset when she's actually USED those supplies, even when I feel she's used too much of something or gone through a particular thing too quickly.  I just buy her more.  Creation takes practice.

(Also, if anyone has some of this stuff just laying around, we could give it a good home!  ...  Shout out to those who already have:  Thank you Laura and Lisa and Angela.  I use the scrapbooking stuff sometimes, but Miciah CREATES with it!)

Miciah did an art class for 5 weeks, and she loved it!  Here are my two favorite pieces that she came out with:

Each day they'd focus on an artist doing a particular style and try to re-create it.  If you can't tell what this one is based off, then I'm sorry.

Check this one out!

How cool is that!  This one seems easy enough to re-create, if you'd like.  Crayons glued to the page and then a hairdryer to melt the bottom halves.  (The discolored parts in the picture are where the wax has fallen off.  I should have taken the picture right away when she brought it home.)

The other day Miciah was in a rare time out.  While in her room for an hour she created a Treasure Hunt play set for Teancom.  No joke.

That's a WORKING treasure map.  She hid the pieces of the set around the toyroom and then gave Tank a map to find them.  Tank was convinced that the map was some ancient document.  (To anyone concerned:  No, we didn't let Miciah burn the edges.  Rob did that part.)

A cool "telescope":

And this is like a little diorama (is that what they're called?):

Here's the back of it:

Fun, no?  She said she just went to our world map and wrote down names.  Gives it a fun Old Travel Stickers on Luggage feel.

Also of note:  The diorama is made out of a ziplock bag box that we were recycling.  That girl can create with anything.  ...  And I wasn't even aware we'd given her labels.  Clearly we did.


I am in awe of Miciah.  Her creations are cool, and her thoughtfulness is amazing.  Know what I would have said if Elijah asked me to make him a stuffed koala?  Actually, I'm quite sure you already know what I would have said.  :)  No, of course.  Or maybe I would have said, "Call your grandma.  She does stuff like that."  And while the treasure hunt set is within my skill range, I wouldn't have thought to make it.  My boys are lucky to have a sister like Miciah.

Update-ish

Gah.  My blog is so boring these days.  Sorry about that.

Stress now feels so ordinary that it's not much to report on.  And things happen and then fly by, and I haven't recorded them, and that's the way it is.  Things have happened that have been cool, but they're not Blog Report-able (like the school stuff I'm excited about, and Miciah growing up, and exciting Gospel Doctrine classes).  I find myself thinking about what to post on here.  I'll go through my day and be like, "Umm, I watched Inception again.  That was a good movie.  ...  Guess I'll just not post about anything today."

And there's no real news to report.  Turns out when you stop popping out babies, things get boring.

Here's a short report for each of us:

Rob
His last day of teaching every Tuesday and Thursday is TONIGHT!  The kids are super excited to spend more time with their daddy.  (I don't blame them.  I want to spend more time with him, too!)  

Tamra
I earned a scholarship from Cincinnati State, which is an honor.  Back in the day I earned a scholarship, a really really good one, from BYU and then dropped out of school.  I almost didn't apply for the CS one, since I feel like I blew the first scholarship opportunity I had.  But I decided to let the past go.  Besides, this time I'm finishing.  (Oh, BYU.  You and I are better off apart.)

Miciah
Had her card flipped yesterday at school.  For Elijah this is a common occurrence, but Miciah has had her card flipped like 3 times ever.  What for?  She forgot her library book.  Turns out she thought that yesterday was Tuesday.  Tank's response:  "That's a stupid thing to get your card flipped for.  I forget my books all the time!"  I responded, "Yes, but you're in Kindergarten."  Tank thinks it's a HORRIBLE experience to get your card flipped.  He's a sensitive child.

Elijah
The best word to describe Elijah these days is thoughtless.  He does a TON of things that aren't mean or even really intentional, they're just ... thoughtless.  Like kicking a ball into your brother, while he's standing inches from you and holding a bowl of food.  Or clapping while the teacher is trying to give directions to the class.  Or coming home without his homework.  We're trying like crazy to train some thought process into this child.  He's smart, we know that.  He just can't be bothered to think beyond, "I'm having fun!"  (I blame my brother Keith for this.  Elijah is SO a mini-Keith.)

Along those lines, at the end of March I was the meanest mother ever when I let Elijah suffer the consequences for his actions.  We set up a punishment and reward system to try to train him into remembering his homework.  The consequence for forgetting is pretty steep now, cause he was forgetting 2 and 3 times a week.  A WEEK!  So if he forgets, he has to spend the entire night in his room.  He can come out and eat dinner, but that's it.

On day TWO, he didn't bring home his homework.  That night was supposed to be his first night of Scouts.  He's been so excited to go to Scouts.  For years he's been begging to go.  And I was faced with one of those tough parenting moments.  I really wanted him to go, but I knew we had this new policy in place.  Rob suggested that I could offer him an alternative punishment.  But when I went in to talk to Elijah, and the relief came over his face that he'd be allowed to go to Scouts after all, something, some emotion that I can't name, was turned on inside me.  It was suddenly crystal clear what I needed to do, and I felt almost militant about it.  So I made him stay home.  And, let me tell you, it's stuck with him.  He's WAY better now.  I think he only forgot his homework 1 time in all of April.

Tank
He's learning how to read and doing a pretty good job.  I'm proud of him.  He doesn't always want to do it, cause it's still work for him, but he's doing it more and more easily.  He's doing great in school in this respect and all others.  He's a delightful child.

We're also starting to put our foot down on his crappy behavior, when that surfaces (mainly when he's tired).  No more falling on the floor and moping when you're upset.  No more hitting chairs or couches, and especially not me.  Seriously.  Enough now.


There you go.  Boring as promised.  Soon I'll post about the cool things Miciah has been making.  Pretty neat stuff.  That girl is a creator.

Memory of Lilacs

Well, week 2 of school is here.  It's going to be a busy term.  I come home every Tuesday and Thursday with massive headaches - the take-medication-then-sleep-it-off kind.  I assume I will get used to the work load and the headaches will diminish.  Let's hope.

What I found out in class yesterday: 

There are other people who don't have my excellent short-term memory.  This still shocks me.  (I sound like the cockiest person ever, huh?)  It's something that I do so, so easily that I assume other people should be able to as well.  Here's how it went:

We had 60 seconds to look at a magazine page with a ton of information on it and take in as much as possible.  Then we were to tell a partner everything we remembered.  So I did that.  And the look on her face when I finished ... something like awe.  I wanted to disappear.  I wasn't trying to show off.  It's just ... it's not hard for me.

Thinking about my short-term memory always brings me back to why I have historically been so skeptical about what Intelligence is.  When people would tell me that I'm smart, back in the day when people did that, I'd always just roll my eyes.  Having a good short-term memory is NOT the same thing as being smart. 

But what I've come around to is that it doesn't hurt, either.  Thank you, whichever fate decided to bless me with a cool memory.  And curses to the one that gave my husband an awful one.  :)

Here's some happiness for you guys:

I wish I could also send the AMAZING scent over the internet, too.  Pure heaven.

(I post the "same" picture every year.  Can't get enough.  And they're at MY HOUSE!!!  People who don't like plants - how do they live?)