Nov. 18, 2009 Photos of the kids all dressed up for Sunday: waiting for Mom to get Dressed too Oct. 29, 2009 October Leaves: Mechanic's Pond
 Grandma threw acorns in as well as M.
 Miss M, visiting our church from the Philippines was a great asset
 K so took to Miss M that her first words on Friday morning were, "Ah wan tah see Ninana."
 Where was I? Napping in Mom's guest bedroom. |
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Oct. 9, 2009 How Good and Pleasant it is When Brothers Dwell together in Harmony
I'd asked B to keep an eye on K while I took a shower. Sometimes this works better than other times. Friday was magic,
 I peeked into K's room, and had to snap some pictures,
 Everyone was enjoying the library book, and B's performance of it.
 What a blessing. |
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Aug. 16, 2009 Mr Patnode's Introduction to Logical Fallacies
My Freshman Year in High School, my English teacher, Mr Patnode illustrated the logical fallacies that he didn't want to see in our essays, by reading us Max Schulman's short story, "Love is a Fallacy." B will be starting Logical Fallacies this year with the Fallacy Detective, and I wanted to introduce it with the short story.
I had forgotten the title and author, but remembered the punch line, "He has a raccoon skin coat." so DH coached me on google, and I searched on that line. A web site came up called Loganberry Books: Solved Mysteries, where people write in and ask for help in finding stories they read as kids, but can't find now. They mentioned that "Love is a Fallacy" was available on the web, and I found it!
I wonder if the other questioner was also in Mr Patnode's class? |
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Jul. 6, 2009 Splendid 4th of July Weekend
That cold, wet weather we'd been stuck with for a month blew away and gave us "Canada weather," as my husband calls it: blue/purple skies, high flat clouds, cool, but not cold wind, the laundry can dry, the allergies back off. Not that mud doesn't have it's fun uses.
My Uncle P and Aunt B stayed at my Mom's house for the weekend, they are about to return to Brazil for four years with the Christian and Missionary Alliance. My Cousin K, her husband Br, their baby B, and my cousin B came down from Cambridge for Friday and Saturday.
   One tradition of the 4th of July in my Mother's family was repairing the cedar picnic table set that had been in the family since the 50's, I think this tradition is just about over now. Uncle P was disassembling the parts that were good, trapped the queen of the carpenter ants, and called us over to see the tunnels, pupa and eggs. He didn't think Mom should dry the wood near other wood that is in good shape.
 K liked Baby B's baby food. I usually give her whatever we are eating. I'm afraid K stole quite a few sweet potato puffs before I noticed AND walked off with B's water sippy! When it was time for K to go home to bed the first night when everyone was going to the ballgame, K kept yelling Baby B's name in protest. She wanted to play more I'm sure, not just steal more food!
          They prayed together and said goodbye, thanking the Lord for Skype among other things. It was very tender to be part of their goodbye.
Aunt B said she'd have to cry later, right now she wanted to enjoy her time with us. So we did. We played crochet; K earned he new nickname as The Randomizer,
    they coached my kids on how to deal with ambition, frustration, and competing with taller, stronger, more experienced people who will invariably beat you at parlor games; and climbed rocks at Beavertail lighthouse after church on Sunday.   The salt air blew my allergies away for a while.  We found a survey marker. Are these things scarlet pimpernel?  K wanted to climb rocks just like her brothers. We found lots of critters in the tidal pools, including a sea star.   Aunt B thought the erosion patterns were cool.
  M found a crab shell with an eye still attached for me. Umm, thanks?     The boys especially got to know Uncle P as they climbed rocks together.  K decided that rock climbing must be what big kids DO, so she threw herself into it heart and soul.
    
We didn't set out to instruct the kids in patriotism, but holidays and traditions tend to bring out opportunities. Mom made a cake once for B with blueberries and strawberries to make a flag. You do something once with kids and it becomes a tradition. I think that's how they begin to remember what a year is like and get a handle on time, before they learn to read and follow a calendar.
 Mom explained about the states, the flag, some history. We've just gotten through the chapters on the American Revolution and Constitution in SOTW, so the boys were up on things, but mostly that was it. I must figure that most of my patriotic duty is hit on Sundays when I pray for the President and other leaders with the pastor, I do pray for folks in the world with the boys when the news is bad (which inevitably brings up comparisons with our way of doing things or the way we aspire to do things and how it may work or not work elsewhere) I hit topics as they come up. But I'm glad that holidays bring things up. (Not that I wouldn't serve or teach the kids to serve in other ways too.)
I'm thankful for this lovely time with family. I'm thankful for America. I'm thankful that the fog rolled away!
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B wants to hold Diplomacy tournements at co-op, it would be a good review of European geography and WWI.
 DH thought he looked like he's snarling here, but that's just one of his thinking faces.
 Here's the version where they knew I was taking their photo.
 And at the other end of my Mom's table, M and his Grandma were playing Mancala.
K was playing blocks.
I was playing camera.
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Feb. 14, 2009 She Shoots, she Scores!
I surprised my husband with his Valentine's treat this year. He is practically psychic, so this is a big deal.
His grandmother in Ohio always filled her candy jars with Heggy's chocolates when he'd come to visit her in Alliance. I ordered 2 lbs of their French mints, and brought them out this morning. He dropped his jaw just right.
He surprised me with the BBC's Jane Austin collection of DVDs, the ones made when I was in Jr High, not the ones from last year. There's just something about your first Mr Darcy, even if Collin Firth did do a better job later (Matthew MacFadyen was pretty awesome too). And I know he'll watch them with me too; he's trained himself to watch lots of lady like movies, as long as I massage his head, he says he'd watch a blue screen. He even declares that Jane Austen is not only for chicks, but shows a clever slice of human nature.
I am so blessed. |
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Dec. 18, 2008 I found the missing volume!
More than a decade ago I lent out my copy of "The Children's Hour: Along Blaized Trails," a volume of the anthology of children's stories my grandparents bought along with their encyclopedia; we called them "The Red Books." It suffered the usual fate of lent out books...and I had inherited the set because I read it so much whenever I visited my grandparents, too. I felt like a lousy steward of an heirloom. That missing volume looked like a missing tooth.
I had always before searched the used books web sites under the title, but I tried the editor's name today, and hit pay dirt!!!! And only for $11.24!!!!
Goodbye sad guilty feelings! |
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Jun. 13, 2008 Take THAT Crafters Guilt: the paper crafting stuff got used today!
It's all in the tools: M and B wanted to see the versamark watercolor ink show up under chalks, use stamps, and try tearing a paper edge. If they have novel tools, they will make anything. They really do like to make things, but the question is, will I wait out their warm up period graciously, and remember not to give them a choice in the matter (TV, baking or outside play always trumps crafts if they have a choice)
Someday I will have lots of time to play with my paper crafting stuff. It will happen. It did before when the babies got older. I've even knitted since then (the boys had a habit of throwing themselves on my lap without looking to see if I had anything sharp there. That kind of put knitting, crochet and handwork on hold for a while) |
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May. 19, 2008 Great New Word and a Golden Saturday
I found a wonderful new word today, Anomia, not being able to think of a particular word. That's the problem I have when I don't get enough sleep, baby K can't talk yet, but she'd probably say the same thing. Elisheva's blog is good for learning new words.
We spent the Saturday morning cleaning house, B himself cranked through 5 loads of laundry and got most of it put away, with (or in spite of) M's help. I coached him on how to graciously lead a 5 year old. I figure management is a different, more frustrating but useful skill other than doing the work alone.
I'd been thinking the Spring rain was a good thing, as that afternoon the boys and DH were going to see Prince Caspian with my Mom and Cousin K and her husband B (We call him Cousin too), but just as I waved goodbye to the mini-van, a glorious blue sky rolled out from under the clouds. We were relieved to read The Thinking Mother's Prince Caspian Movie Review
because we'd heard that the movie was too scary for young children, but we'd already promised M he could go, so we were stuck. My guys' report of the movie was very much like The Thinking Mother's. But as B is a detail /discussion nut at the moment (I think he's passing from the Poll Parrot stage to the Pert stage) it was good to warn him how the movie would be different from the book.
I was very proud of myself to have walnut orange biscoti (from this outstanding cookbook) ready with coffee when the family returned, and to have pizza dough rising. Baby K and I got in a nap too! We walked over to the new playground, passed a cricket game, and stayed out in the sunshine until half an hour after our usual dinner time.
Cousin B could explain the game to us, he learned to play it in grad school from some Indian co-workers. K said it was the same rules as a Brazilian street game, but she'd never played it as a girl in San Paulo, because it was culturally inappropriate for girls to play that particular game. In Brazil, Tako (I'm not sure I'm spelling that correctly) doesn't have the same upper class associations as Cricket.
My husband and Cousin B did some physics experiments on the new play ground equipment.
M hung around
K and B's neighbor has been toothing for strawberry rhubarb pie, so they harvested some of my rhubarb to surprise him with.
Baby K had her first swing experience with Grandma.
I got to play too.
I think B was climbing the "rock climbing" wall, we never got a snap of him :-( (reading over my shoulder, he informed me that he was practicing jumping off moving swings most of the time. I should have tried for some airborne snaps)
When we got back from the park, I had to use some of my own advise for B about supervising, we were all hungry, and everyone wanted to help make supper, including M. I usually keep pizza simple, just cheese, but my mom brought pepperoni, jarred roast red pepper, and I had a can of black olives. Cousin B sliced some green onions for the salad and pizza. Mom harvested a lot of leaf lettuce from her garden. I'd brought M with me to the grocery store that morning, and he'd talked me into making our favorite soda: orange juice concentrate diluted with selter water. Grape juice concentrate works wonderfully too.
As usual, the pizza set off the fire alarms, but the extra cornmeal "ball bearings" caught fire under my pizza stone. I put it out by tossing handfuls of baking soda onto the heating elements. Every dinner should be so exciting? My old lab manager would roll his eyes at me for carelessness. Oh well. I did sweep out the oven yesterday, it was cool by then.
K and B had to leave soon after dishes, their dashound was waiting in their condo in his crate.
What a lovely day!
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Feb. 18, 2008 "Floating on Adrenalin"
We had a lovely day today. It was raining, and oddly warm, in the 60's. Last night my neighbor came down from upstairs to give me a boppy pillow and some cute towels for baby K. She brought her 3 year old daughter to play with M, and her 4 month old son. He looked huge compared to K! "Reality hasn't hit you yet, you are still floating on adrenalin!" She laughed, then she added, "Call us when that reality hits."
My next door neighbor and daughters have stopped in most evenings with snacks for us. The deaconesses from church have been bringing yummy dinner - quiche with balsamic dressed salad and brownies with ice cream tonight, oven fried chicken with homemade rice pilaf for tomorrow. DH took the week off from work. Baby K has figured out how to latch on without hurting when she nurses. What's not to float about?
She did cry from 10PM to 3AM last night, but that's how we know she's ours, not a changeling. |
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DH cleaned up the rest of our collateral clutter today, K's room is
clean and empty, accept for M's posters and art projects that I need
to transfer to his new room. B's dinosaur poster need transferring
too. His framed pictures are under his bed, we'd had them matted to
match the old room, and they really don't go well with the new room,
we'll eventually hang them up in the hallway I think. The living room
is free of all the unusual clutter, it just has the normal stuff now.
The back hallway has some things we are figuring out how to get rid of:
Attleboro has rather strict garbage and recycling rules, and they can be
hard to figure out.
Does anyone know any good way of suspending a bulletin board on a door
without putting screw holes in the landlord's door? I wonder if there
is a bungee and hook contraption anywhere? I'm not really an
uber-shopper, so I ask around a lot.
The peacefulness of escaping the boxes is wonderful!
DH got a raise, what perfect timing. Thank the Lord. So, I ordered
myself some nursing adapted clothes and nice nursing bras off the
inter-net last night.
Mom and I went to the outlets, but the linens store had closed. So we
got stockings and tights at the underwear store, and stopped into the
gourmet store to taste their samples. They had out oodles of many
dipping sauces for pretzels and roast meat (you had to use your
imagination on the meat, they weren't giving that away.) Mom said she's
going to Get DH some fancy wasabi mustard for his birthday, he likes to
dip pretzels. The store was jammed with people stocking up for the Super
Bowl. (Either that or it was near lunch time and they were hungry too.)
Then we went to Target and I got sheets for K's Moses basket, M's
new bed, and a water proof mattress cover in case of accidents. They
offered organic cotton and bamboo sheets. I bought a set of bamboo
sheets, the samples were SO SOFT! I've read about them, there is a new
process to break the bamboo fiber down for spinning, and it needs much
less water or pesticides than cotton does in production, plus it's
naturally anti-microbial, so it doesn't stink as quick in exercise wear.
I wonder if sheets will need less washing? It was really an impulse
buy, it's about $5 more than regular cotton sheets right now, but
really, really cool.
On the way home we stopped at a resale shop and I got a Ralph Lauren
newborn outfit for $4.00, cute enough for a going home from the hospital outfit,
and we also looked at the stamps and pretty paper at the scrapbook
store.
I read B the chapter in "Small Woman" about Gladys Alyward's adopted
children. He especially liked how the Mandarin helped her out in court when custody
was contested ("Of course you will win, I am the judge, but these things
must be done properly."), and how the older brother protected one girl
from a kidnapper by biting his arm!
So, I had fun today. Maybe I'll stay awake long enough to read DH the
next chapter of "The Man who was Thursday" by G. K. Chesterton. My
cousin included some novels in the box of baby things she sent me. Ravi
Zacherias mentions G.K. Chesterton so much, it's good for us to read
him, but my goodness, the vocabulary and philosophical references are a
bit of a stretch for me.
So, no more long, regular contractions, but I'm currently content. Any
day now! |
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Dec. 29, 2007 Afternoon alone!
My in-law's just took M to Border's books for some one on one time: DH is coaching Lego with B, the boring meeting where they have to put together their presentation about the library building, not play with gears and programming, and I've got an hour or so until everyone comes back for low fat mostly-vegan supper (DadDad had a heart attack a few years ago)
Wow! Such riches of time. I'm gonna play classical music, and measure the kids toy collection so I know how many Trofast frames to order. Maybe I'll measure their clothes collections too. Maybe I'll listen to Ravi Zacharias on the internet - although I don't know if I can hear a sermon well while playing with a tape measure or not.
Dinner is salad, white bean soup with garlic and rosemary, and German puffed apple pancake for dessert - no egg yolks, no butter, no milk. Maybe I'll sneak in a little oil into the apples though, I don't have any nonstick pans to brown them in.
Yesterday when DH had to work, MomMom and DadDad helped me take the boys to IKEA where I gathered the last of the information sheets I needed. We had lunch there too - Dad had salmon plate, I had salmon salad, the boys had Swedish meatballs, and Mom had a wrap sandwich. The coffee smelled so good I had two cups - I could barely sleep last night. The boys were also very excited, both of them sought DH out for soothing late night conversation so they could sleep.
I read B the last 5 chapters of "Bruchco" by Bruce Olsen last night, that's an auto biography of a missionary to very rural Columbia, lots of exciting tropical diseases, bow and arrow wounds, paramillitary imprisonments, and movements of the Holy Spirit. I couldn't leave him hanging there - lots of dear people die in the end, and we had to finish the book, there just weren't any good stopping places! B noticed an add on the back page that there is a sequel now - guess I'd better internet it out, I don't find missionary biographies in the Public library very easily. |
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Dec. 25, 2007 A Lovely Christmas
M woke up at 5:30AM today, crawled into our bed for a snuggle, and called, "Merry Christmas!" so loudly that he woke B who also wanted a snuggle. After the traditional bowl of "cruel gruel," we phoned my Mom to let her know we were on our way, found shoes and clothes, and drove over to Grandma's house. The sun was just coloring the sky over my neighbor's house by then, the moon looked huge over Mechanic's pond.
Mom is supposed to be in bed, so the boys can "wake," her up, like my father used to do when he was alive. She had to unlock the door fro us, then race back to bed for the boys to bounce her awake. She'd already started the coffee pot and sticky buns were in the oven.
By 9:30 the boys were begging to quit opening gifts and just play with them. So we had second breakfast: sticky buns, scrambled eggs, sausage and fruit salad. Then we went back to presents.
At 10:30, DH was taking on B's new Rubic's Cube as a second chance at beating a childhood nemisis. I took the boys outside to play the Chinese feathered hacky-sack I'd bought them in Guangzhou this Fall. We never did manage to get all three of us kick it before it hit the ground, but I declared that very pregnant mothers don't have to wind themselves. We walked around Grandma's garden, a surprising amount of perenials still have leaves, and the magnolia's buds feel soft.
DH organized a game of Clue after that, various family members phoned, we ate an Elevensie of cheese and crackers, DH put M down for his nap, then we began the turkey and stuffing preparations in earnest. I wanted to try the Cook's magazine recipe for gravy without drippings, which worked beautifully, and I got a nap in too.
Mom set M up a card table in the kitchen so he could play with his new huge play dough set without getting in the way of the dinner prep, but be part of things anyway.
For my Birthday cake, Mom made a buche de Noel, with merangue mushrooms, the boys thought they were too full for cake, but wanted a cute candy mushroom, and found they had room not only for cake, but ice cream too!
After dinner dishes, we came over to my apartment, so the older ones could keep playing games after M went to bed. He came in 4th in a game of "Qwerkle" our new game this year. He caught on just fine to how to play (although as we looked at the rules, we hadn't caught on ourselves to 3 important rules) sometimes he climbed completely onto the table to make his moves, I'll have to wipe it down good before breakfast, wish I'd had the camera handy, he was so cute. He cried at bedtime, it was 8:03, and that's a bit late for him.
After that we played Clue again, and I won! Mom drove herself the 1 mile home, she has to open the office tomorrow. DH has work tomorrow too, and we should ... well, begin cleaning in earnest for the Mommom and Dadddad visit this Friday? We are not starting up regular lessons that's for sure! |
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Dec. 21, 2007 Work Party, Done sorting
This morning the boys and I tackled our last clutter spots: the extra boxes of educational toys, and the shelves in M's room with games. I hardened my heart, and reduced both stash volumes by a quarter.
I sent the boys out to play at 10AM, M stood on a snow drift to bang on the kitchen window, "Momma, I don't have a tool!" B was cleaning off the car for me with a broom. So I gave M the little brush I get the last crumbs into the dust bin with, and he was happy to brush snow off whatever he could reach. Gotta harness that helpful drive right?
While the boys worked/played outside, I compiled our give away boxes and bags in the back hallway, and made a list for DH of the locations of boxed I couldn't lift (pregnant lady perogative) then called the boys in to change out of play clothes into party clothes.
I cleared the snow and ice off the top 1/3 of the mini-van where neither B nor M could reach, then we drove down to DH's work for the party - it's only 4 blocks away, but none of the sidewalks are clear, so we'd have had to walk in the streets. I brought a token tin of homemade cookies, this party is always well stocked, people leave so full they can't eat anymore, and bring home enough left overs to have for supper. As usual, there was freshly roasted beef done on the gas grill on the sidewalk, mashed potatoes, gravy, brocoli casserole, green salad, turnip and carrot casserole, French meat stuffing, shrimp, cheese, Cambodian spring rolls, chicken Marsala, cookies, brownies, bagels, hot dips, tirimisu, pecan tart, chocolate Heath bar triffle, and creme brule. We brought home more cookies and bagels than we came with, including some pretty Asian store bought cookies in a tin with the ingredients listed in 8 languages.
M and I snuggled down for a nap while DH and B took the boxes to the Salvation Army. Apparently there were so many boxes that he had to fold the back seat down.
I sure hope this helps when we move the boys into the new room - I'll measure the cubic space for toys after Christmas, it will have grown by then, then we'll know how many Trofast containers to buy at IKEA. I think the books will be fine if we get one of the Expidite book shelves that are 5 cubbies by 5 cubbies, from adding up the linear inches of their current shelves (250 inches of books, calculated generously to let some of the books from the living room migrate back into the boy's collection). Maybe I should give them growing room on books. We are replacing the boy's current bookshelves because the shelves are sagging and prone to avalanche.
Phew! The sorting is done. Now if I can just get the house clean, we can get up some decorations. |
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