3/29/08

What?!

Ok, I took the quiz!
And it nailed me...I'm from Chicago...
What American accent do you have?
Your Result: The Inland North

You may think you speak "Standard English straight out of the dictionary" but when you step away from the Great Lakes you get asked annoying questions like "Are you from Wisconsin?" or "Are you from Chicago?" Chances are you call carbonated drinks "pop."

The Midland
The Northeast
Philadelphia
The South
The West
Boston
North Central
What American accent do you have?
Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

3/25/08

200

Well, this is my 200th post. I started the blog in December of 2006 as a way to keep all the grandparents abreast of what my family is doing. It's grown from a family journal into a way to keep up with friends and family all over the U.S. and NZ!
I'm pretty happy with the way things have evolved and think perhaps things might get a bit more personal as the months wear on. Spring is here (although our weather forecast is calling for SNOW on Thursday!!) and it's time to clean house...who knows what will be uncovered!

The other day I made note of that beautiful bird necklace...guess what I got?Isn't it lovely?!

Hazel and I spent some time playing Jenga after school today. This isn't something we usually do but with the days getting longer and longer I'm finding the need to fill the space between homework and dinner. August wasn't interested, he just wanted to read in his room (he reminds me so much of what Scott was like as a child).
Thanks for reading!

3/24/08

Poison

There are days when I wake up with this feeling in my stomach. The only way I can describe it is to say that it feels Toxic. This burning, hateful feeling grows throughout the day.
I begin every school day the same, alarm goes off at 7:45 giving me 15 minutes to get myself in a bit of order before I begin the slow and painful process of waking my kids up. This is my least favorite part of the day on a good day, but on these Toxic days they can be THE WORST.
I like to leave the house by 8:50 so that the kids can have morning recess with their friends. You'd think 50 minutes or so would be plenty of time to get them moving but I'm so impatient on these days. I hear myself rushing them over and over again. Asking them to do the same things, even making them chew their food faster. At times I'm able to step back and wonder what they must think of me on these mornings. Questioning what had happened in the night to make me so grouchy first thing in the morning. The truth is that I have no idea why I get this way. I have no good reason for this poison that grows and flows through my mouth.
On our trek to school I am pulling the dog and leading the kids up the street. She complains about the sprinkling or the cold while he varies between running ahead and falling behind. The whole while I'm talking to myself, questioning how I will shed this funk. Thinking that maybe if I could just get some time to myself I would feel better. Maybe warm weather would do it. Maybe getting away from my normal day would do it...all things I can not control.
Tank and I walk around for a while so that I can feel sorry for myself but also so that I can say that I tried getting some fresh air. We get home and I start cleaning, maybe that would work the poison through my system. I work out, take Tank to the park, get a coffee...the feeling is still strong. It's an all day funk. I talk to myself through it all. Talk to God through it all. And I wait. For the Toxins to leave.

3/22/08

Finally Tired Out

It is almost one on Saturday (24 hours into the stay) and they've
finally decided to take a rest.

3/21/08

A Day in the Life

We've got Royal for the weekend...and the dogs are having a blast!




I think that maybe Tank is having a better time than Royal is...Tank just wants to wrestle and play. Royal has a good time doing it for, oh, about 10 minutes, then he wants a break.
Tank, being one year old has no idea what Royal is doing. It's like Tank thinks Royal is laying down to give him better access or something...



Tank can't take the hint!They're gonna sleep well tonight!!

3/19/08

After School

Well, we were supposed to go to our friends house after school today but Hazel has been hacking up a lung for the last few days and I just didn't feel right exposing other children to her germs. So we came right home. I'm not gonna lie, the kids were bummed but quickly recovered when I told them that we were making Easter Cards and eggs instead.
I'm not really into dying eggs. I think it's a big mess for no good reason, but the kids were each given a kit about a month ago and they were not going let another year go by without doing an Easter project!!
So I got out my apron:

boiled the eggs:


and got all the bowls of dye together:


and let them at it:


Hazel stayed the longest...I think she grew attached to her eggs:

3/18/08

WWSD?

So I'm driving the car with the kids in the back. We're just coming home from a visit to Starbucks after school (we occasionally do homework there). August and Hazel are chatting about something when I start to fade into their conversation. Hazel is talking about a project she is working on in school and August is not really interested in her silly kindergarten work right now. She asks something like, "...and do you know what color I will make it?" To which August, in his most uninterested voice says, "no and I don't want to know."
I jump into the conversation and say, "mmm, let's try that again. Hazel, ask August that question again and August, respond in a better way."
So Hazel asks the question again and August responds THE SAME! I pause and ask August if he'd like me to respond to his questions that way. "I don't know what you mean." So we role play. At the end of this session I say, "Do unto others as you'd want them to do to you." Then August says, "Let me guess, you read that on your starbucks cup right?"
Pause.
"Nope August, it's actually from the Bible..."

3/17/08

Mud, Mud Everywhere!




Today was the first day of Track team for August and Hazel. August has been asking for this for a while so when I picked them up from school with the news of this evenings events he went crazy. Hazel was happily surprised to learn that she could participate as well.
The team meets twice a week near a dog park so we brought Tank along for an hour of play time while the kids ran themselves silly.
I had never been to this particular dog park before...and I may not go to it again! It was much smaller than the one we usually go to and it was oh, so muddy!

Now I know these pictures look ferocious but Tank and this 7 month old puppy were having the best time ever! They spent the bulk of the hour chasing each other and would occasionally stop to catch their breaths only to wrestle in the mud bearing their impressive teeth.
Tank came a way from his play time dirtier than I've ever seen him...He was a happy (and very stinky) dog.
August and Hazel were happy to tell me all about their hour of running. I could see them both as they ran drills and did jumping jacks and played "sharks and minnows". We raced home to have spaghetti and meatballs but not before we took Tank out back to spray the layers of mud off him.

The Ups and Downs

So Sunday was spent doing a bit of recovering. We've all be very tired as of late and have little down time and decided that we'd take naps and or watch TV after church and lunch.
Trey napped in our room, I turned on From Here to Eternity and cuddled up on the couch while the kids watched The Lion King downstairs.
One of the problems I've noticed when the kids watch TV (or play video games) for an extended period of time is that when it comes to turn it all off the kids kind of melt down. Every. Time. I've brought this to the kids attention and it seems to make no difference. We've cut the screen time down to the weekends and still...melt down city!
Anyway, so my movie ends and Trey takes Tank to the dog park. I haven't been much of a house keeper these days so I though that I could take some dog-free time to clean up a bit. I started in the kitchen and called down to August and Hazel to tell them that when the current show ends (they'd finished the movie and moved on to Sponge Bob by now) I needed them to help with recycling and garbage. "What?" I repeated my instructions and added, "Did you hear me that time?" Pause. "YES!!"
OK, I continue wiping, and sweeping and waiting. Finally they come tumbling up the stairs with, "What do you need us to do?" I repeat that I needed them both to take care of the recycling and trash. They both grab bags and head out the front door. By this time I had started vacuuming the kitchen floor (yes, I sweep AND vacuum the kitchen floor...what? We have a dog...he sheds!) I'm way into the vacuuming when I look up and see August smiling and Hazel sobbing.
August, smiling, says, "Hey Mommy, Hazel said she HATES me!"
Now let me just say, I was so angry with August for feeling happy to be telling me this.
I looked at Hazel, who again, is sobbing, and asked if she said this terrible thing. Her response, "I *sob* can't *sob* remember *sooooooooobbbbbbbbb*!" She can't remember folks. Can't remember what she said less than a minute before, which we all know, means that she indeed said it.
I'm upset. Upset that August was happy to tell on Hazel and upset that Hazel would even dream of saying such a thing to her brother. We have been working so hard at teaching the kids that they will love each other forever. That they will be in each others lives forever and should be kind to everyone, but especially to one another.
I tell August how upset I am that he didn't talk with Hazel about it first. This is something our school puts into practice. If you are having a problem with someone you go to them first, try to problem solve, and if that doesn't work out, you may seek help from an adult.
I just knew that if August would have spoken with his sister they could have avoided this huge scene.
Hazel, by the way, is STILL sobbing. I've asked her to go to her room and start cleaning it until I could deal with her.
In the mean time I've asked August to write what happened and what should have happened. Then I went to talk to Hazel. She finally agreed that she did say that she hated August but that she doesn't really hate him. I informed her that she couldn't come out of her room until it was clean and that she had to write an apology to August and remind him that she loves him so much. And all this had to happen by the time I was out of the shower.
I then took my leave and showered the whole scene down the drain. Here's the best part:
As I stepped out of the shower I could hear August in his sister's room. They were working together to clean her pit of a room. I was so happy. There are times when I feel like we've said thing to them over and over again and that maybe they just aren't listening. But this time, I think they heard me.
Here's the note August wrote:
"I was taking trash out with Hazel and she needed help so I dicided to play around. Hazel didnt like it and said I hate you, so I told you.
What should have happened was I should have talked to Hazel about it."**
Here's the note Hazel wrote:
"I iM SORY AUGUST
I LOVE YOU" ** * then she drew a heart balloon with a smiley face.
**exactly as written

3/14/08

My Husband and his Cookies

Trey has been on a roll (as the scale shows!).
A while ago, before Christmas I think, my dad called to say that he'd created some new delicious cookies using melted white chocolate and coco. He even mailed some to us (which doesn't happen enough!) Trey decided to try his hand at the cookies...and they were good! I think next time we could do without the melted white chocolate cause the chocolate-chocolate cookie was A-MAZING!



3/10/08

10 on 10


*8am waking August up
*9am walking to school
*10am New Frog in our front lawn. I was called in to sub at the kids school at 10:30am

*11 am out the classroom window*12 pm in the work room

* 1pm art project*2pm student making shadows
*3pm in front of the school


*4pm August got a new bike!*5pm making supper

3/9/08

Can You Stand It?

Oh my goodness!
I can't believe how amazing this bird necklace is...She blogged about making it and now it's up for sale on her Etsy site...so beautiful!

3/7/08

Hootenanny 2008

The 10th is Coming, The 10th is Coming

Get your camera ready...March 10th is on the way!!
*all photos taken by Hazel at BINGO night with the phone