Only My Son

Luke is full of questions and he's been so funny lately.

Here's a conversation from earlier this week:

Me: Time to say your Bible verse.

Luke: I know the whole thing . . . just not the words.

And this one started out with me being so impressed:

Luke: I know what this letter (A) says. aaa, aaa, apple

Me: That's right Luke! Way to go!

Luke: What does this letter (B) say?

Me: buh, buh, buh

Luke: Like . . . cantelope?

See, I told you. We're not ready for actual "learning to read" stuff yet.

Blast from the Past: Balloon Festival

Two years ago we had so much fun going to the Plano, TX balloon festival. Here's our little family photo from then.

How things have changed:

• Mark has a beard!
• I was much thinner then. (Let's pretend I'm just hangin onto a little baby fat left over from Lydia. But we're sure it'll go away after she turns one!)
• The twins don't look like those cute, chubby toddlers anymore. Now they're thin boys. Real boys, not babies.
• Claire probably most resembles herself. Still happy, still full of smiles. Still loves to be with her mommy. (I love it, too!)

Here are some sort of mediocre, boring pictures from our day which do not give justice to the really fun time we had:




But this photo is not mediocre or boring. I actually had it enlarged to a 24x12 to hang on my office wall.


This was sunset at the festival. As I turned to get a picture of the sun shining through the clouds, I realized that those aren't trees in the bottom of the frame! Those are photographers! I think it's such a cool picture/commentary on American traditions/brilliant composition.

So if you live in North Texas, grab you camera and go take some cool photos with the other 2437 photographers who will be at the festival this weekend! Here's the official website so you can get more details. Enjoy yourselves, eat a corn dog and remember the Robinsons!

Leftovers

Today I was scavenging in my fridge for lunch when I came across a container with leftover roast beef in it. Hmmm . . . How old was it?

That's always the question, isn't it? I know it wasn't from yesterday, we had Nachos Supreme-Mommy Style. But it seems like the day before yesterday and all the days before that are getting squished up in my mind.

So I carefully looked it over. I smelled it. I looked around the kitchen just to see if anyone else around could help me figure this out. But of course, nobody else could help. But I did see Lydia was finished thoroughly emptying a drawer once filled with child-sized plastic cups and plates. She's very consistent about making sure that drawer gets cleaned out and all the dishes washed again. Thanks, Baby.

Then I saw it. The answer to my first question. The crock from my crock pot was still sitting in the left side of my kitchen sink! The meat can't be too old, if the dirty dish is still hanging around! Honestly, I do make sure both sides of my kitchen sink are totally emptied and scrubbed at least every few days. A woman's got to have some level of self-respect.

Kids! We're having roast beef sandwiches for lunch!

Child Labor

This, my dear friends, is our bathroom . . .

That's what it looks like. I didn't clean it before I took the pictures. Betcha couldn't tell! :)

The bathroom is very narrow because it was sort of an afterthought and some previous owner, let's call him Mr. Modernization, had to kind of squish it in there. Back when the New Old House was built, they didn't build 'em with bathrooms. Nope. Gotta use that chamber pot or get your _____ cold if you need to go in the middle of the night in Illinois.


So Mr. Modernization built a bathroom. A very small bathroom with very little storage. Mr. Modernization didn't even put in a counter. Now, the pedastol sink does sort of fit with the era of the New Old House, but seriously? Where do I put my curling iron? Mr. Modernization was not thinking of me. And perhaps Mrs. Modernization didn't use a curling iron.


There is this one cabinet.
But it's a very dark, dank smelly kind of cabinet that I just could not force myself to put towels into. So the towels have been living on the hallway floor. There, they've collected plaster dust and cobwebs. After the 2nd time of stepping out of the shower and wiping my face with plaster dust, I finally decided to do something about the ugly, nasty cabinet.

Enter . . . . Child Labor!Hello, gracious Child laborer! Thank you for your help!

Kids LOVE to paint!


And I did have to crawl in there and touch up all the edges, but my firstborn daughter did a pretty good job!


When I tried to fold myself into the cabinet like she's doing, I got stuck. Seriously stuck with a paint roller in my hand. Go ahead and take a moment to let that visual sink in . . . . And I had paint in my hair for a week after I finally got out!

But our sole storage option is no longer dark and dank. Instead it's pretty white. White, white, white! It really is surprising how a coat of paint makes a think so much better. Now our towels have a home and I no longer make my self dusty when toweling dry. If only I didn't have to balance my curling iron on the soap dish . . .


And . . .I'm happy to say all that "stuff" on the bathroom floor is now put in it's new home, too. Except for the bath toys. Still working on a storage solution for those!

And . . .the fact that I posted pictures of our very messy, unclean bathroom is helping me with my little vanity problem. :)

Look What We Found!

We're hitting stride with Homeschooling.

We've got our routine down. Bible "class" first with all three kids, then the boys have Play time while Claire does Math.

Then the boys head back into the house to do "school". Basically, I decided to teach them colors and shapes. Don't for a second think that they're actually learning anything like letters or reading. Oh no. We've got a l-o-n-g way to go in fine motor skills before I even try to have them write their names. But they do get to use scissors! That's the highlight of most mornings for them.

Back to my story. So I'm diligently teaching Claire Arithmetic while Lydia naps and the boys play outside. Suddenly, quite loudly I hear:

Boys: Mom! MahhhhhhhaM! Mom! You've gotta seeeeeee this! Mom! Mama! Come quick!

Me (out the screen door): Boys, I'm teaching Claire right now. You'll have to wait.

Boys: But Mahhhhhham, you have to seeeeeeeee this. Mommmmmeeeeey! Come out and see this bug!

Me: Seriously, stop yelling. We're doing School here. I'm teaching Claire. This is Math time.

Then, I listen to myself. Hmmmm. . . . We're doing school . . . . I'm teaching Claire . . . This is time for Math . . . not time for any other type of learning . . . isn't this supposed to be the joy of homeschooling? . . . Exploring creation on God's timetable, in season, instead of by the clock or through textbooks? . . . hmmmm.

Me: Claire, let's go look at what the boys found.

Hooray! For a choleric personality to be able to float with someone else's schedule!

And we had a great time playing with, err . . I mean learning all about this Praying Mantis during "Science Class" :)




After we were done, and I reviewed the 86 pictures I took on a random insect I felt like the bug began to speak to me. Or maybe I began to speak to it. This one I call,

Intelligent, yet Charming

This one is

Fancy Prancer

Are you talkin' to me?

If I were 6000 times my size, I'd eat you alive!

Where's Waldo?

Here's looking at me, Kid

Okay, okay, I know. I need to find more things to do with myself than have conversations with pictures of bugs.

This one was a little challenging because I was trying to use Luke's electric blue shirt as a background and use my macro lens. So I've got a squiggly boy, a squiggly bug and a super-sensitive lens all moving at the same time. Sure was fun!

Okay, if there was a bug version of GQ magazine. This guy would TOTALLY be on the cover. I'm serious! Does he know how to pose, or what?! Is anybody else feelin' me on this one?

GQ Bug

And just as an extra bonus because God wanted to bless my breaking out of Math victory, He sent this little guy along to expand our science class for the day.



Do you know what kind of bee that is?

Nine Months

Pretty, Pretty.

Precious.

Giggle.

I Rarely Do This

This song is amazing. It keeps echoing in my mind, my mouth, my heart, my soul. I think it's one of the best songs I've heard in a long, long time.

Perhaps, I'm a little behind the times and everyone else has already been exposed, but if not . . .

Please, please, please listen to and then go download it or just buy the whole CD like I did.

I don't know anything about Brandon Heath. I don't really get into popular people, or celebrity or internet stalking of musicians, but this guy is doing something right. And I'm very happy to do some free advertising for him.

Check it out. Let me know what you think.

If you don't start :

a. dancing
b. swaying
c. bobbing head up and down
d. humming the tune for the rest of the day

If you have no emotional or physical response to this song, I will personally buy you a Starbucks the next time you're in town. And we will talk about what has hardened your heart or deafened your ears. Or we can just sip and talk about what a nerd/musician stalker I've become.

(And I finally figured out how to embed a video so I took out the previous links, in case you checked in earlier)


Brandon Heath - Give Me Your Eyes from Brandon Heath on Vimeo.

Formless

Well, we're on Day 2 of our Home school year. Things are going great. We're actually doing a Bible class this year. Pretty fun, especially because the twins join the "class" and we sing songs, learn the Bible and memorize it.

So, I figured we'd start at the beginning. Seriously. Like, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth . . ." We're memorizing the first 5 verses of the Bible.

So if you're not familiar with those verses here they are:

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. 3 And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And there was evening, and there was morning--the first day.

It's going great. The kids love it! But that's not the point of the story.

Today, my crazy-cute nephews came over and one of them dropped his galoshes at the door because today's a really rainy day and he's just a considerate kid!

But these particular galoshes have like . . . a bug face on them . . .or something like that. Anyway, they're cute and unusual.

Well, later in the day Luke is walking by and our conversation goes like this:

Luke: What are those?

Me: Those are your cousin's boots.

Luke: But . . . they're . . . so . . . . . . . formless

Me: (Silently) Formless? ???? Formless? OOOOOOhhhhhh, he learned a new word this morning and he's just got to use it!

Me: (outloud) I think they have form, Son.

Luke: Well, then they're so . . . I don't know.

Why do I think that's the funniest thing?! I don't know.

Labor Day Parade

No, it's not 1957. This is yesterday's Labor Day Parade in Small Town, America.

This, folks, is how we roll to the Labor Day Parade in Small Town, America.

And this, folks, is how you can recognize that it's Small Town, America.

Here's another fine example of the parade participants.
I'm proud to say my Grandmother is also 100, and soon to be 101 in October! But we did not choose to "parade" her down main street.

Here's Caleb being about as All-American as a kid can get.
Nike sandals, Gap shirt, ball cap and an American flag.

(Of course, all of those things were probably manufactured in third world countries in factories where the labor force is practically forced and people usually don't make a living wage and don't have a labor union to support them. But let's not think about that on Labor Day.)

Let's get back to the candy. About the candy. Have you ever thought how contradictory parade candy is? All their lives, we (I) tell kids not to eat anything off the ground. But on parade day, moms (read: me) cheer their kids on to glean from the asphalt and eat until their tongues turn blue. Hmmmm. . .

More from the highlight real . . .

And Luke's response:Wow.

This is my little darlin' who enjoyed the marching bands and . . . that's about it.

Until I whipped out the bottle. Then she liked 2 things. :)

God bless America.