today - a decade

Today is March 30th, 2010. I've been waiting for this day for some time. Now it is here, and I better write it down before I forget. Today is the day I can say, "I rock!" (or at least my body does) and really mean it. Today is a day I want to celebrate me and my motherhood journey, so bare with me folks. On this day 10 years ago my journey began. Every day since then (except for the five I was in France) my body has grown, fed and comforted little people. That's 3,645 days of service. The most tiring, exhausting, rewarding, nourishing service I can imagine.

For the last decade my body's been:
pregnant (9 months)
nursing (19 months)
pregnant and nursing (9 months)
tandem nursing (10 months)
pregnant and tandem nursing (3 months)
pregnant and nursing (6 months)
tandem nursing (34.5 months)
nursing (7.5 months)
pregnant and nursing (9 months)
nursing (13 months)

Now I'm going to go take some vitamins! and I think a bubble bath is in order tonight.

The good and not so good adventure

Tonight we had a little adventure. All day was an adventure of sorts. But tonight we were in the back of a police car and the baby had to nurse, so I can chalk that one up on "where have you fed your baby?" Some parts were good. Other parts were not so good. This makes for good adventure. Right? Well, the kids will remember, and it may become one of those family stories that everyone laughs and sighs over decades down the road.

We sell almost 100 boxes of Girl Scout cookies! ~ good
I am dead tired. ~ not so good
I take the kids out to dinner. ~ good
We have to wait and wait for our meal. ~ not so good
But we have our favorite waitress. ~ good
One of the senior gentlemen at the table next to ours hollers over to me. ~ not so good
He hollers: "What's your secret?" ~ good
My response: "Me??" in total shock. ~ not so good
His reply: "Yes! What's your secret? I see a mom walk in with four kids and I cringe. Yours are delightful! You must be doing something right! Whatever it is, keep doing it. You must be doing something right!" ~ good, no, great.
That gentleman will never know how much I needed to hear that tonight. My mind's been spinning in negative circles lately about how I'm not doing something right somewhere or some such stuff, but he's right. I have delightful children (most of the time) and need to work on those negative thought cycles.
Back to the story:
I forget to give the waitress our coupon and have to wait for her to re-figure our check. ~ not so good
She returns to tell me that the gentlemen have left money to buy each of the kids a scoop of ice cream. ~ good Excuse me?! I am floored and almost choke-up.
The kids are allergic to everything on the desert menu. ~ not so good
They can get something else she says, to take home with them. ~ good
They can't decide what they want. ~ not so good
They pick something, then change their minds, and the order can still be changed. ~ good
We have to wait another 30 minutes for their treat. ~ not so good
We finally leave at 9 pm. ~ good
The van suddenly stalls on our way home. ~ not so good
I manage to steer it into a turning space on the median. ~ good
We are out of gas. ~ not so good
We can see a gas station from where we are. ~ good
We walk the two blocks to the station to find that the service area is closed and locked and they do not have a gas container. ~ not so good
We walk to the pizza shop to use their phone. ~ good
oops! I forgot. I don't have my cell phone. ~ not so good
I cannot find my roadside assistance card to call for help. ~ not so good
The pizza delivery man offers to give us a ride. ~ good
I have too many car seats. ~ not so good
There is a fire station a block in the other direction. ~ good
We walk there and ask for help. They too do not have a gasoline canister. ~ not so good
They offer us a warm place to sit, turn on the Disney channel for the kids and call for roadside assistance. ~ good, no, a God-send
A police officer comes instead, also without gas. ~ not so good
He offers to take me to a different gas station, but agrees to take me home instead since that is closer. I have gas at home! ~ good
We all get in the back of the officers vehicle. ~ I did not feel so good about the five of us back there without a single car seat, although the officer assured me we would not need them.
He asks on the way if my gas gage is broken. ~ not so good
No. I pulled up to a station, but due to a fussy babe, decided to go get dinner first. "I bet you won't make that decision again." No. I won't. Thank you.
We arrive home safe. ~ good
Jesse arrives home just as I retrieve gas from our garage. ~ double good
It is Thursday. Jesse teaches late. He usually gets home at 10:30 pm but was a bit early tonight. Perfect timing.
Jesse goes back with the officer to retrieve our stranded vehicle. ~ very good
Jesse fills up the van's gas tank. ~ also good
And all the children quickly go to bed and fall asleep. ~ so good, so very, very, good

And that is our good and not so good adventure, and how we got stranded and brought home in the back of a police car, and why I was nursing in said car, but how it all turned out well in

the end.

What are your family adventure stories?

eta: I haven't asked him yet, but another layer to this story is "What was Jesse thinking when he rode up on his bike at 10:20pm to find a police car parked in front of the house with three of our children inside?" good? or not so good?

Fair, Brown & Trembling

Only one story this week. This gave us more time to actually discuss it and ask questions. Questions are my favorite!

What is a henwife? If the henwife cut a piece from Trembling's dress, wouldn't her sisters notice? Why could she not go in the church? Is a mare a horse? Where is Zulu?

Fair, Brown & Trembling's graph:

Characters: Fair, Brown, Trembling, father, henwife, many princes

Trouble Makers: two sisters

Helpers: henwife

Magical Events: changes dress and provides horse

Ending: married after fighting, 14 children, sisters out to sea

Special Item: blue slipper

Food: ham, potatoes and peas

Dress: elegant, colorful, with head coverings

Architecture: castle, church

Value: beauty, kindness, children, horses

This is a traditional Cinderella tale from Ireland, with a twist or two. There are no step-sisters or a step-mother. Her own two sisters are the mean ones. The henwife provides an exquisite dress and mare for Trembling to go to church on three different Sundays. There is no party or ball. After they find and identify her with a shoe that is "neither too large nor too small", multiple princes from all over the world (hence Zulu) fight for Trembling's hand in marriage. The winner marries her, they have 14 children and the sisters are "put out to sea in a barrel with provisions for seven years - and were never seen again!"

Everyone did so well filling in their graph! Even the little ones were writing their great big letters and adding values to our list. This is something I did not expect to see. What great thinkers!

Culture Food: ham and potatoes.
While Trembling is at church, the henwife prepares the family meal for her. This is what she serves. (Note: Tasting is always optional.)

Culture Music: Dancing Willow's demo CD.
Children were dancing to this one!

Culture Craft: What kind of horse would you like the henwife to bring you? Milky white? Glossy black? White with blue and gold diamonds? Everyone got a horse to decorate, and decorate they did! I saw unicorns and wings, saddles and bridles, stirrups and sparkles. The creative juices were flowing!

Here is a sampling:

organic gold potatoes and nitrate, hormone, chemical, everything but delicious flavor free ham

Cinderella and Cendrillon

I teach on Tuesdays. Every Tuesday from now 'til May. All day Tuesday I'm running and teaching and guiding and playing and doing what I love best. Anyhow, I plan to blog about my older classes here. Follow the link if you want to see what we've done in Play and Learn, my younger class.

This semester I'm venturing into the world of 6-8 year olds. Well, I live with children who are 6 and 9, (and 5 and almost 1) but I had not yet taught this age range at our co-op. I love it! The ideas and thoughts and speculations that are shared in my class are amazing.

I teach Cinderkids. The goal is to read Cinderella stories from around the world, (I've found more than 20!) analyze and compare the stories, determine what the elements of the story tell us about the culture in which it was told, experience bits of that culture and have fun! We may even write our own stories at the end, using our favorite parts from the tales we hear.

In our first class I read two stories: Cinderella by Barbara McCintock and Cendrillon by Robert D. San Souci. I wanted to start with a "traditional" Cinderella tale. McCintock's did not disappoint. I chose this one for its illustrations, 17th century France, and its story line - Cinderella goes to the ball twice and forgives her sisters in the end.

The children have a graph to fill out for each story. We will use the graphs to help us compare the stories and for when we write our own. The class is evenly split. I have four older students who should fill out the graphs completely. There are four younger ones for whom the graph is not as important. They can write what they want, where they want or draw pictures. They are still using their critical thinking and reading skills. (For parents: I will keep the graphs with me so you do not need to worry about finding them each week.)

Here is the graph information for Cinderella:
Characters: Cinderella, mother, father, step-mother, two step-sisters, fairy godmother, prince Trouble Makers: step mother, two step sisters
Helpers: fairy godmother
Magical Events: changes pumpkin, four mice, rat, four lizards and clothes
Ending: married, finds husband for each sister
Special Item: glass slipper
Food: oranges
Dress: gowns, hair up and fancy
Architecture: grand palace, large homes
Value: beauty, silent suffering, small feet, kindness, forgiveness

As I said, traditional. We only discuss the characters and values. The children can record them if they wish.

Next we traveled to the Caribbean for Cendrillon. There are many similarities. The author even refers to France and uses some French in the text.
Characters: Cendrillon, mother, father, step-mother, step-sister, godmother, Paul
Trouble Makers: step-mother,
Helpers: godmother with a magic stick
Magical Events: changes breadfruit, six agoutis, (guinea pigs), opossum, five lizards and clothes
Ending: three day long wedding
Special Item: pink slipper
Food: punch, chocolate sherbet
Dress: satin, velvet, colorful, shift for servants
Architecture: large homes/manors
Value: silent suffering, true love

This is the only Cinderella tale I've found so far that is told from a different view point. The godmother tells the story, and she is not a fairy. She is given a magic stick from her mother, to use only for someone she truly loves. Everyone in class noticed the different narration right away. They also quickly found the similarities and differences between the two stories.

Culture Food: In Cinderella, she shares her plate of oranges with her sisters. The godmother raves about the chocolate sherbet served in Cendrillon. So we ate oranges and enjoyed chocolate, soy ice cream, (vanilla mango for those with allergies.)

Culture Music: Oboe Concerto - Adante by Marcello and Parfum Des Iles by Kali. The children picked out the different instruments they heard in each. (Note: I was beyond thrilled when I found Parfum Des Iles. It is from the exact same island that the story Cendrillon is told from, Martinique.)

Culture Craft: none this week. We ran over an hour as it was. Too busy with multiple servings of oranges and ice cream. =)

One Thing Leads to Another

Today was hard. Every Thursday is now. Jesse leaves before 9am. He does not get home until after 10pm. He teaches all day. I'm a wreck all day and do not get in my "I can do this by myself" groove until 9pm or so. We're working on this, together, but it ain't easy.

Here are the highlights of my day. I just realized that if I share these it may show how low the day was. Tough bricks. I'll share them anyhow.

I hung two loads of laundry on the line! The wind is doing most of the drying and nothing is coming in frozen. I got a load out yesterday. I have two more loads ready for tomorrow, before MORE SNOW falls over the weekend.

Jess called. From work. Enough said.

Anna took two naps. Each was one hour long. In my arms. She's weaning down to one nap. I'm not ready for that yet.

Anna fed me for the first time.

And she said "book" three or four times. She first said this earlier in the week, but now she's using it frequently. That's word #16!

Leah picked up her Legos. David cleaned off his bed so I could put clean sheets on it. Sarah helped with Anna. All after 9pm. That's when I got in my groove. Remember?

I caught up on the few blogs I'm following. I fell off the blogging wagon, in case you haven't noticed. I think? one of the best ways to get traffic and make friends (my goals) is to find a niche, (working on that) comment on others' blogs, (failing. I'm back to lurking.) and write. Write? Oh yes. That.

One of my new favorite places to lurk is at Apron Thrift Girl. I feel really good there, like I fit in. I want to keep going back. Today she wrote about getting good food cheap. I followed the link at the bottom to see if there were any discount groceries near us. Nope. But we may stop by one the next time we are in Richmond. Well, in that Salvage Grocery article there is a link to folks spending $50 or less each week on all of their food. I was instantly intrigued. Could we? How much for the kids? What about all the specialty foods we have to buy due to allergies? How many exceptions would I have to make? Could we still do lots of organic?

The rules are as follows: $50 each week for each adult. One of the writers has a 3 year old. He gets an extra $25 each week. Alcohol is not counted. Caffeine is. Eating out is.

I record all our expenses. I have for almost ten years. It's easy to look at 2009 and see... our monthly average for groceries and eating out, including alcohol, was $653.99. Excuse me?? To meet the challenge we have to spend less than $700 each month. We did it last year without even trying! And the number was even more impressive before I added in what we ate when we traveled. There. The highest moment of my day. (I will disclose that for the two months after Anna was born, the bills were higher. We bought more processed food. I was always eating, to the tune of $825 and $770. Cheap months helped to balance those out.)

I've had numerous friends ask me recently about living frugally. How do we do it? I think that will be my first niche. My goal for 2010 now is to get our monthly grocery bill even lower. How does $500 sound? I'll be back, promise, and let you know how it goes.

And speaking of one thing leading to another: After my last post there was a wonderful 5 year old's birthday party. On that day, Sarah started coughing. 6 days later, I started coughing. Jesse was coughing 6 days after that. This was near the now 9 year old's party, that had to be re-scheduled due to two sick parents. The cough did not spare a single one. I'll do the math for you. David got it on Christmas Eve. Anna started around New Years. Did I mention it came with two days of fever and aches and stayed for two weeks? No? And we traveled for over two weeks smack dab in the middle of hacking and aching? No wonder I fell off the wagon.

darndest things

I'm not sure about all the other kids out there, but mine say the oddest, most spectacular things when they are 5, or about to turn 5. Well, no. Sarah started early and hasn't stopped, but that's Sarah for you. Leah is almost 5. Recently I've heard:

"Drat!"

"I got it! When I grow up, I can be your girlfriend! Sound good?" me: "oh, yes! It does!"

"Mommy, you need to change your underwear. If you do not put on new underwear, then you need to change it. You really should change your underwear." (What?? I think she's heard this recently, directed to her.)

"Excuse me! I'm not going bananas over here, but I did ask for some cocoa!" (Leah calls warmed soy milk cocoa.)

"Let's turn our house into a museum!"

"This says 'word', right?"

"Oh! 12 take away 7 is 5, and 12 take away 5 is 7!"

"Catch this, Mom!" (Meaning, look at me while I practice a dance step or some other physical feat.)

"If I have enough money when I grow up, I'm going to be a mommy just like you."

Special Day

Special Day is a tradition we are trying out. I got the idea from my brother. Special Day is celebrated on the date of your birthday each month. You get to choose what is served for dinner. You can go somewhere with just Mom or Dad. You can choose a game or activity for the evening. The goal is to carve out a few moments for each child as an individual. So far we've watched movies, gone shopping, played chess and discovered new favorite meals. Simple things really. I think having that bit of guaranteed time does make a difference, however small.

The first thing the kids asked was if Mommy and Daddy got a Special Day too. Perhaps in the future, but not just now. I do want to share my birthday pictures and David's. Our spring and summer simply flew by. The memories did not make it this far. Here they are now.

my 30 year old toes

My birthday falls during our Florida vacation. Although it can be crazy on the beach with four little ones by yourself, (Jesse's working while we're there.) that's just where I wanted to be. (It feels good to pull out some warm summer memories in the cool, soggy fall.)

Leah's Special Day this month is her birthday, so I need to go send those invitations now.

Special Birthday Wishes and Love to my mom today!!

book collection

I collect children's books. Since I am a teacher and have four children, it is not a bad thing to collect. They never get dusty. They make me smile. There is always something new to add. There are my old favorites. I can easily find small gems in the thrift store or at a garage sale. It is the best kind of collection, I think.

With all the extra time I had on my hands, no Internet and all, I went and organized my collection.

There it is. I'm not sure how many there are. I stopped counting years ago. However, I know where everything is - fairy tales, counting, colors, bears, monkeys, dinosaurs, favorite authors, award winning books and authors, social studies, and that's only the top row of picture books. Every drawer is full of books too. Once a month I quickly put everything back where it belongs. Once a year I "touch" every book. This makes a catalog in my mind, and I remove duplicates or what we are ready to pass on.

I'm going to move my yearly book review to November. This is when our church collects books for children at the courthouse. They are read to while their parents are in court and then given the book. Many of them have never owned a book. Sarah is still trying to grasp this thought. I am too. Life without my collection is hard to imagine. Here is our pretty little pile for them.

Clean-Up

Yesterday we started to clean the street. After being cooped-up inside for three days, it felt good to get out and work.

Today we started to clean the house. (Sorry, no pictures.) After being cooped-up inside for three days, it felt stifling. There was crazy follow the leader that left things turned upside-down. The toyroom floor was submerged in, well, toys. Lego ziplines connected every surface in the toyroom. The Playmobil had a party in the bedroom. And the living room saw charades, puppet shows and a museum. Time to clean-up! (Oh! do I love our yard!)

6 month old Anna in just a part of our yard

The Flood

In case you haven't heard, we got some rain. Three days of it. Fifth highest flood lines in fact. There was actually more than 12 inches of rain in our trash can. Every time I tried to post a picture on FaceBook, the power went out. We never lost the electricity for very long. I cooked extra spaghetti, just in case. What we did loose was our phone and Internet connection, for four days. That's long enough to make me realize how much I've come to rely on those particular wires and long enough to put me behind on posting every day. Who knew a Nor'easter and remains of a hurricane would meet in our city and leave all this?

east end of our street

Those lights coming out of the water are along a street across the river.

more east end, an hour before high tide

There's a submerged dock out there.

west end

west end at high tide
The river took over the parking lot.


west end the next morning

Needless to say, we were stuck. The water rose on either side of us and in front of us, but our house stayed dry. We are grateful.

GUESS Science Fair 2009

What an amazing experience for all of us! My only wish is that there was more time to see all the projects. There was some spectacular work in the building and all executed by homeschoolers! Sarah's only wish is for more science fairs! "Why do we have to wait all the way until next year?" Because the mama needs a break? Nope. The girl's talkin' plasma and electricity folks.

She loved the demonstrationand enjoyed the program,

but please do not ask about the I-MAX film.

with the judges

The answer was pretty clear - no. There was some variance, but not enough to sway the results. She did find a substantial difference in agreeableness. After sugar, kids willingly picked up (and were more pleasant.)

We ate lunch outside and ran. Note the weather. Gorgeous!

The homeschool families in our area are so lucky to have Lydia and Shez - two great minds and wonderful women teaming up to help provide this experience for our children. Thank you!

made for each other

I want to remember our amazing day at Sarah's first science fair, but I also want to get to bed. I teach tomorrow, and I need rest. So here is a little conversation between Jess and I. Class is on the states of matter, specifically water. I was looking for books in our vast children's collection, hoping not to have to run to the library.

me: "Do we have any books with igloos?"
J: "That polar bear one. They live in an igloo."
me: "Well, a den in the ice. But it's cute, and we made dens last week."
me: "Do we have any books on ice?"
J: "What about that one where the boy puts ice in his pocket and it melts? Ezra Jack Keats."
me: "Snowy Day. Yeah. We have it."

The best part? He knows what's on the shelves better than I do. I forget. There's too many. However, I know exactly where every book is and could grab these as soon as he described them. He doesn't have a clue. Together, we're complete.

worth it!

Ta-dahh! Today Sarah and I made THIS:

Jesse took some pictures for me.

From 1:45pm-9:45pm we worked. She dictated. I typed. She chose colors and fonts. I formatted. I cut. She glued. She planned. I glued. (There's 2.5 glue sticks of glue on that thing, and over 100 dots of craft glue.) We love it. The presentation board is complete!

Want to know what she had to say while we were working on it? "You're wonderful Mom! I mean, you're working with me on my poster, and that's not easy. You are a wonderful teacher. You are so patient! No wonder people want you to teach young children."

Talk about a still heart moment! And that was just what I needed to hear, after working with her for hours on end with mastitis. I'm so proud of all she's done and love her so.

random

Well, yesterday got so full, I couldn't even blog about it. I sat down to do so, and Leah stumbled into the office crying that no one was cuddling with her. After cuddling, I rolled into bed.

I think that is what happened to the blog here. Life got so full my thoughts were all mush by the end of the day. Having a goal to write everyday helps me to retain a few bits of what I want to get out. I think it would also help to have a laptop to carry around the house and some wireless going on, or at least another computer for the kids, but none of that is going to happen any time soon. And having a theme keeps eating away at me. Maybe that would help. I know some blogs do, some don't. The fact that mine doesn't shows that I started it to keep in touch with family, perhaps build some community, but more a space to remember things. The fact that that is bothering me (lack of coherence here) shows that its time to get focused. But on what??

• homeschooling
• present parenting
• natural living
• living frugally
• allergies
• breastfeeding
• knitting

Now is when I get stumped and decided to just keep writing about life and perhaps a common thread will appear, somewhere.

Yesterday began with Anna's "Aaiaheeeee!" She always wakes with a smile. If I'm already up, she'll lay and talk to herself for some time, just like Leah did. If I'm still in bed, like yesterday, she'll wake me up to nurse. What a joy-filled way to start the day! (I just love the family bed! [well, most days.])

2 month old Anna

I went to Bible study with Anna. Jesse stayed home with the others. We're reading Scott Hahn's A Father Who Keeps His Promises. Yesterday there was a guest speaker who shared a bit of Hahn's history with us and her ministry. You could feel the Spirit flow from her. It was nice to feel that again, and come home excited rather than drained.

I needed that excitement for the rest of the day. We had the second and final sugar experiment play date. I cleaned the kids room for the occasion. Well, as clean as 20 minutes with three helpers and a baby could get it. After the day's observations, it was very clear that if you want kids to help pick up, give them candy. Seriously. The house looked better when they left than when they arrived. I joked that I was doing it for the sake of Sarah, not Science. But we had a great time! Every single one of the 13 kids here was awesome. The moms were pretty awesome too! Thank you again for coming out and subjecting your children to sugar for the sake of Science (and Sarah.)

Then it was off to Sarah's dance class, dinner and shopping in the evening. ToysRUs had a few items on sale, namely a Razor scooter, and now my holiday shopping is done! I got Anna to sleep on our bed before I left. At bedtime Leah told Jesse that since Anna was sleeping in his bed, that he could sleep in hers. so sweet and thoughtful...

Missing Kitty

We lost our cat today. I missed her. (We keep calling it a her, but I still need to take it to the vet to know for sure. Seriously. I even had a friend who is really good with cats take a look, and she couldn't tell. Whatever it is, it is most likely fixed.) I thought about sharing the story here and realized I hadn't shared her story yet. I've mentioned that we have a cat, but never how this came to be.

We, the allergic mama and papa, the severely allergic although she screams if you suggest it four year old - we have a cat. We thought this would never be, could never be, and never became too attached to all the sweet kitties who crossed our path. Somehow, we were waiting for Kitty-Kitty, (Yes, the kids named her.) and Kitty-Kitty was waiting for us.

She was waiting at a rest-stop on I-95. Yes, this beautiful cat was there. She looked healthy, young and thin. She was friendly, cautious and hungry. We fed her. Our dog travels with us on vacation, and she liked dog food. We all felt an attachment. She got in the van easily enough. I did not want her left at the rest stop. We decided to take her with us to the family farm in PA.

We stopped at a WalMart on the way and bought a cat carrier. Moe rides on his bed, but he does not bound between seats and children's laps when children are supposed to be asleep. She did not like the carrier. She cried a bit. She slept. We let her out at the farm. She left through a window for the night. She came back. We took pictures. We put a notice on Richmond's Craig's List in case she escaped from someones car. No response.

Surprise! We have a new cat for the farm. Right? Wrong. The cat was not allowed to stay. We brought her back to Norfolk thinking, "We'll find a good home for her here." We did just that. The deal was this: She had to work as an outside kitty in the city, get along with Moe and not scratch kids in order for her to stay with us. She did!

She stays in our yard. She keeps all other cats out of our yard and from wandering down the street. She comes to the door to be fed. We found a pink lined cat bed and small bowl that someone was throwing out. They are in the loft of the playhouse. She hissed at Moe at first, but now they sniff. She lets Anna pet her. She's caught three rats, two squirrels and three birds. (I don't like the bird part, but am grateful for fewer rats in our house and not so many squirrels eating our garden and being shot [with a BB gun] by our neighbor. Also, she hunts for food, not recreation.) She does not even use the sandbox as a litter box if we forget to put the lid on. She is the perfect cat for us.

I did not see her all day yesterday. I did not see her this morning. I was worried. Maybe someone picked her up. Maybe someone else was keeping her, despite her pretty piano collar. I had the strong feeling last night that she was trapped. I looked in the garage. I called for her. I called Jesse at work. He suggested the van. There she was, asleep on Leah's booster. She must have jumped in when we left the door open Tuesday evening. She was fine. She ate, drank, used the yard and nuzzled Anna's feet. Surprisingly, I could not find a mess or scratch in the van. Now that's a perfect cat.

I'm glad we found each other.