Sunday, May 09, 2010
Mother's Day 2010
I woke to the sounds of "Happy Mother's Day" at exactly 6:24 AM. In came my three blessings with a tray of breakfast they made fo rme. On the plate were two pancakes, two sausage biscuits, two slices of toasted cinnamon toast and a pat of butter. They also brought in a cup of coffee which they made themselves.
Wednesday, May 05, 2010
Random musings
I have a multitude of events, issues and thoughts that have occurred over the past several weeks. I kept a running list of them in this post and have been waiting for a time to add in the details. Time hasn't made itself available until today and even now, the trash is overflowing out of the toters in driveway. Writing is the perfect procrastinator to tackling my least favorite chore...bundling and taking the trash to the dump.
We keep swimming along. Literally. Today, Lily will attempt to swim her first 25 yard freestyle. Monday, at the pool, she overheard another mom offer to fix her daughter a grilled cheese. Lily became fixated. However, I am militant about not being a short-order cook. I already had dinner planned for that evening and was not going to add to my work load to whip out a grilled cheese. I know, harsh. So, I threw out the idea that I would be thrilled to fix her a grilled cheese if she swam that 25 on Wednesday (which is today). She seems quite pleased with the idea. I don't have the heart to tell her that we have dinner plans out and therefore, the grilled cheese won't actually be fixed by me. Hopefully, she won't drown and won't care where it originates.
Sadie is on her own little rewards obsession. She is consumed with getting her ears pierced. I was not allowed this treat until I was in junior high and buy into that old school of thought. Not to be deterred, Sadie has offered up what I consider a quite amazing goal. If she gets her A time, she gets her ears pierced. Mind you, an A time in swimming is somewhere around a junior olympic time. I told her a BB time would suffice (which is slower). She wouldn't hear it, insisting on it being an A time. Time will tell.
Ethan has reached another teenage plateau. This time, it is not a bad thing. He realizes that he likes taking a shower in the morning before school and here is the kicker...he likes taking a shower every day! Wow! Hip hip hooray for personal hygiene! He also likes topping it off with a little dab of cologne, which nearly caused my olfactory sense to revolt to my own child. Thankfully, we have worked our way through "Pepe Le Pew," to "I bathed in it," to "My prescence is known," to now "subtle and appropriate."
Yesterday, I found an empty cling wrap carton in my driveway. For several weeks now, I have uncovered some bizarre uses of the wrap by none other than...Sadie. First I discovered that she wrapped the base of a small pine tree, multiple times. I am not sure if she thought this would protect the tree? Yesterday, I noticed she made a "wrap" for Lily that served as a wedding gown. Then she used the wrap like duct tape and attached a glass jar to her scooter into which she deposited a bunch of rose petals. While Lily walked the driveway, Sadie rode along on her scooter scattering the rose petals. Later the saran wrap was used to create a sling for Sadie's imaginary broken arm along with some scotch tape. I guess it is time to start creating a box with all kinds of materials - cardboard, wrap, tin foil, tape, bits and baubles from the office to spur this "creativity?" The one thing that definitely needs to be included is a pair of scissors as those never seem to be handy when I am in "clean-up and repair mode."
Speaking of Sadie, God has revealed great insight into Sadie over the past several weeks. In all of my praying about her academic future, along with a very odd and difficult circumstance I cannot write about on here, I have discovered this: Sadie does not have an inherently trustful heart. The only way that she believes something to be true is if she experiences it. When I talk about consequences for certain actions to her, I realize those don't resonate with her, until it happens. When she would climb trees at age 3, I would warn her not to do it because she would fall and hurt herself. Her response, "I not fall, Mommy. I not fall." The tricky issue with all of this is that Sadie does not often "fall," in the literal and figurative sense. She is good at most everything she tries and therefore, does not encounter many situations that she either has to deal with or can't solve on her own. Let me clarify. She makes a LOT of poor decisions, but has become a master of making sure no one knows. However, this recent difficult situation provided me the opportunity to "save" her from major embarrassment, thereby building a new level of trust. I am confident that one of the reasons why I am to homsechool next year is to provide more opportunities to grow our relationship.
I think everyone has heard the phrase, "God has such a sense of humor." I'll mark this entire homeschool decision into that column. I mean, Sadie has been my child that I have never shed a tear over when it has come to separation. First days of preschool, school, camps, etc. I might have appeared to ever so slightly push her through the door, turn and walk very quickly away. I know, that sounds terrible, doesn't it? This is no indication of my love for her, but is a statement on my patience and understanding of her. A year ago, she would have been the LAST one I would ever have considered homeschooling - my most head-strong, strong-willed, challenging, curious, intelligent, tenacious, and crazy child. God must have howled when I announced that I would never homeschool her. Now, here I sit, just as calm and peace-filled about this decision. I am excited about it...with Sadie.
I love my little Lily's inquisitiveness. I don't recall either of my other two asking so many questions about reading. Ethan struggled a bit more in the beginning and Sadie just always seemed to know how to read. However, Lily wants to know why behind everything she doesn't know. Last night it was, "What is that?" as she points to a quotation mark. "Why do you not sound the "e" on the word gate?" " Why is "want" pronounced "want." Obviously, she wants to push forward with reading. Looks like I will try to come up with some sort of enrichment for her this summer, too.
So, this is random, but worth mentioning. I had a complete impulse buy yesterday at Wal-Mart. I find it fascinating how they package food these days. Choosing to tout some new health benefit, enticing you to buy a product...and I am Gussy Gullible. This time around...Ann's House Chocolate Nut Antioxidant. The label says, "trans fat free, cholesterol free, very low sodium, good source of Antioxidant Vitamin E." I am sure all of this is true, but not when you consume half the bag in one sitting resulting in 30 g of fat and nearly 800 calories. Sigh.
I could continue this post by writing about my ire for these new silly bandz, but time is ticking on the garbage. Yes, I purposely wrote silly bandz and garbage in the same sentence.
We keep swimming along. Literally. Today, Lily will attempt to swim her first 25 yard freestyle. Monday, at the pool, she overheard another mom offer to fix her daughter a grilled cheese. Lily became fixated. However, I am militant about not being a short-order cook. I already had dinner planned for that evening and was not going to add to my work load to whip out a grilled cheese. I know, harsh. So, I threw out the idea that I would be thrilled to fix her a grilled cheese if she swam that 25 on Wednesday (which is today). She seems quite pleased with the idea. I don't have the heart to tell her that we have dinner plans out and therefore, the grilled cheese won't actually be fixed by me. Hopefully, she won't drown and won't care where it originates.
Sadie is on her own little rewards obsession. She is consumed with getting her ears pierced. I was not allowed this treat until I was in junior high and buy into that old school of thought. Not to be deterred, Sadie has offered up what I consider a quite amazing goal. If she gets her A time, she gets her ears pierced. Mind you, an A time in swimming is somewhere around a junior olympic time. I told her a BB time would suffice (which is slower). She wouldn't hear it, insisting on it being an A time. Time will tell.
Ethan has reached another teenage plateau. This time, it is not a bad thing. He realizes that he likes taking a shower in the morning before school and here is the kicker...he likes taking a shower every day! Wow! Hip hip hooray for personal hygiene! He also likes topping it off with a little dab of cologne, which nearly caused my olfactory sense to revolt to my own child. Thankfully, we have worked our way through "Pepe Le Pew," to "I bathed in it," to "My prescence is known," to now "subtle and appropriate."
Yesterday, I found an empty cling wrap carton in my driveway. For several weeks now, I have uncovered some bizarre uses of the wrap by none other than...Sadie. First I discovered that she wrapped the base of a small pine tree, multiple times. I am not sure if she thought this would protect the tree? Yesterday, I noticed she made a "wrap" for Lily that served as a wedding gown. Then she used the wrap like duct tape and attached a glass jar to her scooter into which she deposited a bunch of rose petals. While Lily walked the driveway, Sadie rode along on her scooter scattering the rose petals. Later the saran wrap was used to create a sling for Sadie's imaginary broken arm along with some scotch tape. I guess it is time to start creating a box with all kinds of materials - cardboard, wrap, tin foil, tape, bits and baubles from the office to spur this "creativity?" The one thing that definitely needs to be included is a pair of scissors as those never seem to be handy when I am in "clean-up and repair mode."
Speaking of Sadie, God has revealed great insight into Sadie over the past several weeks. In all of my praying about her academic future, along with a very odd and difficult circumstance I cannot write about on here, I have discovered this: Sadie does not have an inherently trustful heart. The only way that she believes something to be true is if she experiences it. When I talk about consequences for certain actions to her, I realize those don't resonate with her, until it happens. When she would climb trees at age 3, I would warn her not to do it because she would fall and hurt herself. Her response, "I not fall, Mommy. I not fall." The tricky issue with all of this is that Sadie does not often "fall," in the literal and figurative sense. She is good at most everything she tries and therefore, does not encounter many situations that she either has to deal with or can't solve on her own. Let me clarify. She makes a LOT of poor decisions, but has become a master of making sure no one knows. However, this recent difficult situation provided me the opportunity to "save" her from major embarrassment, thereby building a new level of trust. I am confident that one of the reasons why I am to homsechool next year is to provide more opportunities to grow our relationship.
I think everyone has heard the phrase, "God has such a sense of humor." I'll mark this entire homeschool decision into that column. I mean, Sadie has been my child that I have never shed a tear over when it has come to separation. First days of preschool, school, camps, etc. I might have appeared to ever so slightly push her through the door, turn and walk very quickly away. I know, that sounds terrible, doesn't it? This is no indication of my love for her, but is a statement on my patience and understanding of her. A year ago, she would have been the LAST one I would ever have considered homeschooling - my most head-strong, strong-willed, challenging, curious, intelligent, tenacious, and crazy child. God must have howled when I announced that I would never homeschool her. Now, here I sit, just as calm and peace-filled about this decision. I am excited about it...with Sadie.
I love my little Lily's inquisitiveness. I don't recall either of my other two asking so many questions about reading. Ethan struggled a bit more in the beginning and Sadie just always seemed to know how to read. However, Lily wants to know why behind everything she doesn't know. Last night it was, "What is that?" as she points to a quotation mark. "Why do you not sound the "e" on the word gate?" " Why is "want" pronounced "want." Obviously, she wants to push forward with reading. Looks like I will try to come up with some sort of enrichment for her this summer, too.
So, this is random, but worth mentioning. I had a complete impulse buy yesterday at Wal-Mart. I find it fascinating how they package food these days. Choosing to tout some new health benefit, enticing you to buy a product...and I am Gussy Gullible. This time around...Ann's House Chocolate Nut Antioxidant. The label says, "trans fat free, cholesterol free, very low sodium, good source of Antioxidant Vitamin E." I am sure all of this is true, but not when you consume half the bag in one sitting resulting in 30 g of fat and nearly 800 calories. Sigh.
I could continue this post by writing about my ire for these new silly bandz, but time is ticking on the garbage. Yes, I purposely wrote silly bandz and garbage in the same sentence.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
A seriously blow was dealt to my own estimation of how successful my mothering is and it was self-inflicted. Sometimes I think I have crept into the underworld and decided from that perch I should make decisions regarding how to best rear my brood.
Cue Silly Bands.
You know, I don't think I bow down to the peer pressure that I see my kids experience. Jay on the other hand has so many horrific flashbacks from his childhood memories of knitted clothing, two odd-ball jogging suits and that he
And, so, silly bands it is this time around. What mother wouldn't want to spend $3 on the thinnest piece of plastic every created by man, molded into some barely discernible shape that you wear like a bumpy bracelet.
Cue Silly Bands.
You know, I don't think I bow down to the peer pressure that I see my kids experience. Jay on the other hand has so many horrific flashbacks from his childhood memories of knitted clothing, two odd-ball jogging suits and that he
And, so, silly bands it is this time around. What mother wouldn't want to spend $3 on the thinnest piece of plastic every created by man, molded into some barely discernible shape that you wear like a bumpy bracelet.
I begin this post knowing that I will probably ruffle some feathers. I might even be seen as arrogant and pompous. However, I write this post in an effort to put to paper what I learn about Sadie. I have been given great insight into her being over the past week or so.
The Sadies of the world attribute to about 2-3% of the general population. And here is the best definition I have found so far.
"Their excitement is viewed as excessive, their high energy as hyperactivity, their persistence as nagging, their questioning as undermining authority, their imagination as not paying attention, their passion as being disruptive, their strong emotions and sensitivity as immaturity, their creativity and self-directedness as oppositional. They stand out from the norm."
The Sadies of the world attribute to about 2-3% of the general population. And here is the best definition I have found so far.
"Their excitement is viewed as excessive, their high energy as hyperactivity, their persistence as nagging, their questioning as undermining authority, their imagination as not paying attention, their passion as being disruptive, their strong emotions and sensitivity as immaturity, their creativity and self-directedness as oppositional. They stand out from the norm."
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Does I really feel better about my mothering when I know the kids leave for school in the morning with teeth brushed, hair combed, decent lunches/snacks in their bags?
I am "on top" of my game this week. It usually happens when we move back into the house for market. I make some ridiculous attempt at maintaining the house at that uber sanitized level for about 2 weeks. Nothing escapes my clutch of control.
I am "on top" of my game this week. It usually happens when we move back into the house for market. I make some ridiculous attempt at maintaining the house at that uber sanitized level for about 2 weeks. Nothing escapes my clutch of control.
Monday, April 26, 2010
Blessed
I am thankful for...
1. A friend who took time out to instruct me on the world of homeschooling. She has been a wealth of knowledge and I feel a teeny bit of confidence because of her encouragement and support.
2. A friend who has been so appreciative for some things I gave her for her son that I am humbled. Not only did I get a handwritten thank you note and an email with a couple of photos that brought an enormous chuckle to my day, but she sent us four t-shirts with her fabulous homemade embellishments on them. Just over the top thankfulness - a lesson to be learned!
3. A friend who opened up to me this week for what might be the first time in our friendship. I have wanted to hear her heart for years and finally it has happened. May God use this to work in both of our lives.
4. A friend who called me to check on me this weekend. I have been out of sorts, mostly physically, and she was the first to pick up on it. God has blessed her with incredible interpretative skills. It is comforting to know someone recognizes when I am not myself.
5. A friend who always nails me to the wall of reality and pushed me to action. You always need a friend who speaks Gods word honestly and frankly. She never lets me slither away to stew, moan, and groan in the cave of self-pity.
6. A friend who asked to get together for coffee or something in the next couple of weeks. It is nice to know that someone wants to spend time with me.
7. A child who thanked me with his fully sincere heart for some punishment he was dealt earlier in the day. He knew he was in the wrong and knew that he needed to be helped back in line.
8. A child who stopped to blow me a kiss as she skipped out of the door this morning on her way to school.
9. A child who prepared her lunch last night and made her brother's lunch as well without being asked.
10. A husband who gladly left the house this morning to head to a job that is extremely stressful to amply provide for our needs and quite a few of our wants, too.
I am abundantly blessed.
1. A friend who took time out to instruct me on the world of homeschooling. She has been a wealth of knowledge and I feel a teeny bit of confidence because of her encouragement and support.
2. A friend who has been so appreciative for some things I gave her for her son that I am humbled. Not only did I get a handwritten thank you note and an email with a couple of photos that brought an enormous chuckle to my day, but she sent us four t-shirts with her fabulous homemade embellishments on them. Just over the top thankfulness - a lesson to be learned!
3. A friend who opened up to me this week for what might be the first time in our friendship. I have wanted to hear her heart for years and finally it has happened. May God use this to work in both of our lives.
4. A friend who called me to check on me this weekend. I have been out of sorts, mostly physically, and she was the first to pick up on it. God has blessed her with incredible interpretative skills. It is comforting to know someone recognizes when I am not myself.
5. A friend who always nails me to the wall of reality and pushed me to action. You always need a friend who speaks Gods word honestly and frankly. She never lets me slither away to stew, moan, and groan in the cave of self-pity.
6. A friend who asked to get together for coffee or something in the next couple of weeks. It is nice to know that someone wants to spend time with me.
7. A child who thanked me with his fully sincere heart for some punishment he was dealt earlier in the day. He knew he was in the wrong and knew that he needed to be helped back in line.
8. A child who stopped to blow me a kiss as she skipped out of the door this morning on her way to school.
9. A child who prepared her lunch last night and made her brother's lunch as well without being asked.
10. A husband who gladly left the house this morning to head to a job that is extremely stressful to amply provide for our needs and quite a few of our wants, too.
I am abundantly blessed.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
My first day at trying to go with the calling of the Holy Spirit has been met with disaster. Now, I know that this is not always an instantaneous happening, but I thought that with constant prayers throughout the day, begging for the Holy Spirit, I might tap into that life and peace I am promised. Unfortunately, the result is not quite the day I envisioned. In fact, it has been met with a lot of discord, irritations, disappointments and ended with quite a bit of crying, by me. What is going on?
Is it possible to become ADD as you get older? I mean, I know that I haven't always been able to remember and keep up with things, but it is getting progressively more bothersome as I get older. In less than 24 hours, I lost our market rent check. To list all the searching I have done would take hours. I'll just note that the pinnacle was going piece by piece through a black garbage back that was in our toter...just in case. I have prayed and prayed and prayed over this check and finally realized that I would have to call my renters and ask for another one. How completely embarrassing. I could list about 3-5 other things that are along that vein that have happened this week - forgetting Lily's piano books, losing the map to our house that I have used forever (given to people, not used by myself of course), forgetting to measure a pipe on our hot water heater so I can get the right part resulting in a slight flood, forgetting to send in our annual report for part of a subset of our business, etc. etc. etc.
I know I am a mom of three which means that I am fully responsible for 3 other human beings and all of their belongings. That is an excuse I hear myself saying all the time. However, I just don't buy that excuse - being overwhelmed. Maybe it is being out of our normal routine down here under the stairs. Thankfully, we move back up tomorrow.
Is it possible to become ADD as you get older? I mean, I know that I haven't always been able to remember and keep up with things, but it is getting progressively more bothersome as I get older. In less than 24 hours, I lost our market rent check. To list all the searching I have done would take hours. I'll just note that the pinnacle was going piece by piece through a black garbage back that was in our toter...just in case. I have prayed and prayed and prayed over this check and finally realized that I would have to call my renters and ask for another one. How completely embarrassing. I could list about 3-5 other things that are along that vein that have happened this week - forgetting Lily's piano books, losing the map to our house that I have used forever (given to people, not used by myself of course), forgetting to measure a pipe on our hot water heater so I can get the right part resulting in a slight flood, forgetting to send in our annual report for part of a subset of our business, etc. etc. etc.
I know I am a mom of three which means that I am fully responsible for 3 other human beings and all of their belongings. That is an excuse I hear myself saying all the time. However, I just don't buy that excuse - being overwhelmed. Maybe it is being out of our normal routine down here under the stairs. Thankfully, we move back up tomorrow.
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