Yesterday we finally closed escrow on our condo in CA.  We feel very thankful to have that over and done with.  Last night Doug and I went out to celebrate, stuffing ourselves on fabulous Italian food at a local eatery.  The "plan" at this point is to spend at least the next year or two recovering financially before we even think about buying a home here.

We had a big birthday/Mother's Day/celebrate everything weekend.  Ben actually managed to blow out the candles on his "dump truck" cake.  He's been very busy the last few days playing with his new vehicles (a train set, fire engine, and dump truck) and perfecting the classic 2-year-old art of tantrum-throwing.  Doug had a blast on the rafting trip last Thursday, although the long day (18 miles down the river plus a 3-hour bus ride each way) wiped him out.  Saturday we went to a community bike sale run by the parks & rec dept.  Basically, anybody with a bike to sell brought it on Friday, then Saturday afternoon the parks & rec folks held a gigantic bike sale (earning themselves a cut of the proceeds).  We spent a total of $65, and came home with a beautiful bike for Doug, an okay bike for Megan (needs a bit of TLC), and a bike rack for the back of our van.  We were very happy campers!  With those kinds of deals, the place was naturally pretty packed.  If we hadn't been there when it first opened, it would not have been worth going at all. 

The weather here has turned hot all of a sudden - it's supposed to near 100 degrees today through the weekend.  Over the last couple of days I've been packing away winter clothes, washing and packing away winter bedding, etc.  (Of course now that I've done all this it will probably snow by Memorial Day!)  I dug the popsicle molds out of the garage and filled them with juice, and we've actually had to start using our sprinklers again (I think it was October when we last turned them off).  Doug's students, my students, and their teachers all have a bad case of Spring Fever - everybody is SO ready for summer break...

Here's a few pics of the Birthday Boy (well - the littlest birthday boy!):

Go Speed Racer!

It's 8pm on Thursday night.  I just put all the kids to bed.  Doug is not at home - he spent the day chaperoning 120+ students on a river rafting trip, and is not expected back for at least another hour.  Even Ben is quiet for a change.  He didn't nap today (as is becoming a rather distressing trend), so I'm guessing he's passed out from sheer exhaustion.  So I am reveling in the unusual level of silence here.  Someday, when the chicks have flown the nest, I'm guessing I'll miss the commotion (at least sometimes!), but for now a little peace and quiet is a delicacy to be savored.

Speaking of noise, Ben is taking it to a whole new level.  (Who was it that defined a boy as "a noise, with dirt on it?")  This morning when I went into his room to get him up the first thing out of his mouth (and he was still half-asleep at the time, mind you), was a very loud, very wet raspberry.  This was quickly followed by several more raspberries interspersed with brief periods of laughter.  Later, when he overheard me recounting to Megan what had happened, he repeated the performance.  He spent most of the rest of the morning making a variety of truck noises as he played with his collection of rescue vehicles.  In just a couple more days he will officially be 2.  Tomorrow I'm going to bake him a "dump truck" cake (I'll have to post a photo later on...)  It'll be fun to do something boy-ish for a change...

We've got some busy birthday celebrating ahead.  Doug, Ben, and I all have birthdays in the coming days, plus Mother's Day gets thrown in the middle there.  It'll be the big "35" for me.  Ever since Ben was born I've been a year behind.  That birthday of mine that supposedly occurred 3 days after I gave birth never really registered in my mind (for some strange reason!), and I've been a year behind ever since.  So far the 30s have been a blast, better than the 20s in some ways.  Something about turning 30 (way back in 2003!) made me much more comfortable in my own skin, and much less concerned about anybody else's opinion of me.

I remember when I was getting ready to graduate from high school... being told nostalgically, "Oh, someday you'll look back on these as the best years of your life?"  My response (in my mind, not out loud!):  I sure as h*** hope not!!!  (I had some awesome friends in high school, and a couple of good teachers.  But the "best years of my life"?  Hardly!)  At the time I had high hopes that my college years would be MUCH better, and thankfully that turned out to be the case.  But honestly, the life I'm living now is MUCH better even than the college days.  Sure, I'm busy.  (Whenever I'm out with the kids, someone invariably comments, "You have your hands full".  I've always wanted to come back with "Better full than empty!", but I've yet to work up the nerve.   But hey, I'm going to be 35, right?  Maybe next time I will...)  And I'm often tired.  Occasionally discouraged.  But laboring in the trenches of marriage,  motherhood, and homeschooling is the life I'm loving, and there's nowhere else I'd rather be.

Last weekend I attended a local Gardening expo.  It was very inspiring, and a little overwhelming - much like a homeschooling convention.  I came home with a couple of tomato plants, as well as a bell pepper plant that was purchased on a whim, and lots of ideas.  The Tomato guy assured me that the plants would survive outside - provided that I keep them covered at night for the next couple of weeks.  No problem, right?  Well... the other night I wearily climbed under the covers and turned out the light.  About a minute later it hit me:  the tomatoes were naked.  It was very cold - there would certainly be frost.  So I flipped the light back on, rummaged through the closet for shoes and a jacket, and trudged out into the backyard to tuck my little tomatoes in for the night.  (I didn't kiss them goodnight - I do draw the line somewhere!)  So far, so good...

All in all it's been a pretty good week.  On Monday, we had as close to the "Perfect Homeschooling Day" as we ever have.  The weather was gorgeous, so I spread a couple of blankets on the back lawn, brought all the books outside, and we did "backyard school." Ben kept happily entertained out there, Megan had fun writing her spelling words with sidewalk chalk on the patio, and an ordinary Monday became a really fun memory:

Later that afternoon, things got considerably less happy when Ben decided to throw a knock-down, drag-out screaming-hysterical temper tantrum that lasted about 30 minutes.  There are things I really enjoy about the toddler years.  That is definitely not one of them.  Enough said.

Tuesday we took a field trip to a local petting zoo.  The kids all had a blast, especially since pony rides were involved - always a hit with my crew.  Here's Ben and Sarah checking out the baby wallaby:

It was supposed to rain that morning, but thankfully the storm held off until after lunch.  Seems hard to believe that in another month we'll be winding down our school year.  This is shaping up to be one of those very rare summers in which we are neither moving nor giving birth to another child.  Needless to say I've got quite a long list going of "Fun Things to Do" and "Projects to Tackle".  Hopefully we'll be able to do plenty of each.

Well, I just received word from my friend Lynn that Monday is B-Day (Butcher Day) for the 2 steers her family has raised.  Why, you ask, would I care?  Because Doug and I have decided to purchase 1/4 of one of those fine beasts and stock our freezer with local, grass-fed beef from a happy, unmedicated cow.  So one Monday the steers have an appointment with the Butcher, and then about 2 weeks later the meat will be cut and wrapped.  We have been invited to come and watch the cut-and-wrap process, and while no doubt it would make a fascinating field trip, I hesitate to do it because I just don't know how the girls would respond.  The fact that we're going to make them dine on meat from an animal with whom they were on a first-name basis could be dicey all by itself.  On the other hand, maybe they'd find it really interesting.  Perhaps I'll have to put it to a vote.  In the meantime I'll be surfing Recipezaar and daydreaming about summer BBQs...

Speaking of summer, the weather here has been nuts.  A couple of weeks ago we were getting sunburned along the Parade route, then last weekend we had a light snow.  My poor kiddos never know what to wear - every morning they ask me "Is it going to be cold today, or hot?"  It's been cold most of this week but today the sun is beginning to shine again, so hopefully we will have a nice (ie - in the 70s) weekend.  I think it's going to be a couple of weeks before I can even think about planting my tomatoes.  In the meantime my lettuce is growing quite nicely, and just when I had given up hope on my snow peas, a couple of green shoots have come poking through the soil.  So I'm hoping we'll have some fresh veggies this summer to enjoy with our beef.

Last weekend's Women's Retreat was in a word, awesome.  Elyse Fitzpatrick was our speaker.  I'd never heard of her before  - (which seemed kind of funny to me - since she's from So Cal and has written at least a dozen books) - but by the time the first session was over I totally understood why our church brought her back (she spoke at the retreat few years ago).  I came home feeling the need to just lock myself in my room for about a week and ponder her messages.  Since that's not going to happen, however, I'm trying spend a few minutes here and there poring over my notes. 

Elyse's main point was along these lines:  We "Serious Christians" tend to think that the gospel is something for unbelievers; we feel like we've got that part down, and now want to focus on the "serious stuff" - ie - what we are supposed to do and to be.  This is a grave error.  The gospel should be at the center of our lives as Christians, and everything that we do, think, and experience needs to be evaluated in light of the cross.  And that's how our growth (sanctification) happens - not by "trying harder."  If our obedience to God is motivated by anything other than our love for God (which according to 1 John, is the direct result of His love for us), than it is not obedience at all, but merely penance.  So needless to say I've got lots to chew on.  I did come home with one of Elyse's books (it was hard to limit it to one!), and I'm looking forward to diving into that as well.

Once again a scheduled closing date on our escrow has come and gone.  This time, however, the bank gave assurances that they will have a final answer for us "no later than Monday".  (The wheels of bureaucracy are grinding with excruciating slowness).  If that does in fact happen, we could still conceivably close by the end of next week.  Strangely enough I'm not really feeling frustrated by the delay - maybe there have just been so many of them that I don't really notice anymore?  I guess that's progress.  At any rate it beats the stress, panic, and chronic insomnia that characterized the first couple of ill-fated escrows.  Serenity and acceptance is so much better .  (I do still have the insomnia from time to time, but it's diminishing in both frequency and severity).  Not sure what Doug and I will do if and when this deal finally closes - maybe pinch ourselves in disbelief? When we first listed the house (one year ago next week!), we never dreamed that things would happen the way that they have.  But what can I say?  God is good; He has been good in and through every step of the way; and He will continue to be good even if this deal falls apart and we end up a foreclosure statistic.

This weekend I'll be attending our church's Women's Retreat (yahoo!).  It's being held locally, which means I'll be able to come home Friday night and sleep in my own bed (definitely something to be said for that!). 

Ben cracked us all up the other day.  The girls were practicing their "Geography Songs" (this one was "The Southern Border of the United States.")  So there they were happily singing, "California, Arizona, New Mexico; Texas and Louisiana..." when Ben belted out the next phrase, "Mih Si Si Pee!"  We laughed so hard over that one...  (and the girls set to work teaching him more phrases to chime in with)  It was a definite bright spot in an otherwise trying day.

In closing, I just had to share this picture of Ben that I took yesterday morning:

I just finished reading Gavin de Becker's books The Gift of Fear and Protecting the Gift, and I have to say... Wow!  De Becker is a well-known violence prevention expert - the guy who designed the threat-assessment systems that protect many politicians, celebrities, universities, and corporations.  He also understands violence on a deeply personal level.  As he says (in the context of recounting stories about his childhood), "Predicting violence was my calling long before it was my profession."  In The Gift of Fear, his point is basically that human violence is usually predictable, and if we learn to listen to our intuition (which is actually a well-designed survival system) we can very often avoid and/or prevent it.  If when the elevator door opens, the man already inside gives you "the creeps", for example, there is a reason you are getting that signal, even if you can't rationally explain it, and thus it might be best to simply wait for the next elevator, even at the risk of appearing rude (a cardinal sin for women in our culture.)

He also argues that  worry, anxiety, and unfounded fear can drown out the important survival signal of true fear, and thus actually make you less safe.  As he puts it, "The very fact that you are worrying about something means that it is NOT happening."  (If it were happening right now, you would be reacting to it, not worrying about it!)  This is a very key point in the second book, Protecting the Gift, which is written for parents on the subject of child safety.  When parents spend a lot of time and energy worring about very remote dangers (stranger kidnapping, for instance), they can easily miss the dangers that are far more likely (molestation by a family friend, for instance).  Mr. De Becker discusses at length the specific manipulative strategies used by predators of all types, as well as how to respond when someone is trying to apply them to you or to one of your kids.  There are also specific chapters on safety issues concerning teens, and how to equip your children to better protect themselves.

Although they were both very well done, I actually liked this book better than the first.  Although the tales of stalkers, abusive husbands, etc. in the first book were insightful and interesting, those things are pretty far removed from my personal experience.  The discussion of issues related to the safety of my children, however, has immediate relevance, and from beginning to end Mr. de Becker had my complete attention.  I highly recommend this book for every parent (or anyone else who spends a lot of time around children.)  I would also recommend The Gift of Fear for everyone else, especially for young women.  I was able to find both of them at the public library.  The other day I checked out his third book, Fear Less, which was written in the wake of 9-11.  I'm looking forward to hearing what he has to say about modern terrorism...

In light of the rampant idiocy in California courts these days, I found this article by Angela Paul to be apropos.  (Plus, it's good for a laugh!)  This comes from www.homeschoolchristian.com:

April 13, 2099
Reunited Press

After much heated debate on the house floor, legislation was passed today to allow a growing number of families to cook meals for their families in their homes. The children must have annual physical examinations to assure proper growth and weight gain. Attempts to require weekly meal plans and monthly kitchen inspections were voted down.

A spokesperson from the National Association of Nutritionists (NANs) condemns this decision. "These children are being denied the rich socialization and diversity that is an essential part of the eating process. Without the proper nutritional background, it is impossible for the average person to feed their own children. We, as child advocates, see this as a step backwards and speak out for the sake of the children who cannot speak for themselves."

Homecooking parents say the benefits of eating at home include increased family unity and the ability to tailor a diet to a particular need. Elizabeth Crocker, a home cook, states, "We started cooking and eating at home when we realized that my son had a severe allergy to eggs. The public kitchens required him to take numerous medications that had serious side effects in order to counteract his allergy. We found that eliminating eggs was a simpler method and our son has thrived since we began doing so."

After this experience, the Crockers decided to home cook for all of their children, and converted their media room into a kitchen. Elizabeth says, "We have experienced so much closeness as we have explored recipes and spent time cooking together and eating together. We have a dining circle with other families where we sometimes share ideas and meals together."

The Crocker children have done well physically under their mother's care, weighing in at optimum weights for their ages and having health records far above average. It should be noted that Mrs. Crocker, while not a professional nutritionist, has a family history rich with nutritionists and home economists. "Surely the success of the Crocker children is due to the background of their mother," responded the spokesman from NANs. "The results they have achieved should not be viewed as normative." Mrs. Crocker counters that her background was actually a hindrance to the nutritional principles she follows. "Our paternal great-grandmother was a home economist, but she prepared most meal from pre-made mixes. In our homecooking we try not to duplicate public-kitchen meals, but to tailor our meals to the needs and preferences of our children."

In a related issue, legislation is in committee that would provide oversight for the emerging homecooking movement. Says the Home Eating Legal Defense Association (HELDA): "We want to provide umbrella kitchens to aid parents in the complicated tasks of feeding their children. Many families lack the expertise of the Crocker family, yet desire to eat at home. As we have seen, the umbrella kitchens meet the needs of all concerned. We are happy to provide this service."

It was really nice to have last week off.  We had a really good time at the coast on Tuesday.  The weather was good (it was definitely cold, but no rain and virtually no wind).   The drive was a bit long (2 1/2 hours), but very scenic.  We stopped briefly among the redwoods to take the photo below:

Once we arrived, Doug and the girls immediately went and chased a couple of waves.  Naturally Bethany got soaked from the knees down within a few minutes.  She was not a happy camper after that - at least not until she dried out a little.  We explored caves and tidepools, played in the sand and just enjoyed the beauty of the area.  The highlight for Ben was walking along the tops of the driftwood logs at the edges of the beach, although watching the antics of the seagulls was a close second.  Here's one more photo:

At one point Megan asked me if we could come back in the summer, "when it's hot".  I had to smile as I replied, "Sure, we can come back in the summer...  But it won't be hot."  (On a good day, it might get up to 70...)

Over the weekend it got rather cold - we had lots of rain and even saw a few snowflakes fall.  (So much for "Spring" Break!).  Thankfully we had some sunshine today, and the temps got into the 60s.  Hopefully that trend will continue.

Here's one more photo, this one from Easter morning:

One of the highlights of the week, for me, was the arrival of my new Sonlight catalog on Friday.  For the uninitiated, this basically means that I get to start planning our next homeschool year.  And among Sonlighters, "catalog season" can become rather an obsession, with crazed mamas rushing to their mailboxes each day, and following the "catalog sightings" thread on the website to see which areas of the country are receiving their catalogs first.  (I know you don't get it - just trust me on this one.  And no, it's not a cult.  I promise).  So Friday was the big day in Medford.  (And yes, I did go to the website to add Oregon to the list of catalog-recipient states).  On Saturday, Megan and Sarah competed in the Awana Games.  Naturally, I threw the catalog into my bag so I could peruse it during the breaks.  Near the end of the afternoon, lo and behold, I spotted another mom in the crowd reading her catalog.  I felt like I should go up and give her a secret handshake or something...

I am entering the drawing below, and am thus including the following item in my blog, per the contest requirements:

Rosetta Stone has been the #1 foreign language curriculum among homeschoolers for a while -- next week they are unleashing a brand new curriculum, and you can WIN the *all new* Rosetta Stone Homeschool Version 3… FOR FREE! 

This is a $219 program (and believe me it's worth every penny!) and the winner gets to pick from any of these 14 languages: Spanish (Spain or Latin America), English (American or British), Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Irish, Hebrew, or Russian.

This will also include a headset with microphone, and students will participate in lifelike conversations and actually produce language to advance through the program.  Rosetta Stone still incorporates listening, reading and writing as well, in addition to speaking.  Many homeschoolers requested grammar and vocabulary exercises, and with Rosetta Stone Homeschool Version 3, they're included!  For parents, the new Parent Administrative Tools are integrated into the program and allow parents to easily enroll students in any of 12 predetermined lesson plans, monitor student progress, and view and print reports. 

To win this most excellent program -- in the language of your choice -- copy these (blue) paragraphs and post it in (or as) your next blog post -- then to enter the contest, go to the original contest page HERE: http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/JenIG/501132/  and leave a comment with the link showing where you blogged about it.  And please make sure the link works to get back to the original contest page when you post it.  And good luck!  The winner will be picked randomly on March 26, and will be notified thru the link they left to their blog pg.   And if you have more than one blog, you can post them and enter those separately for more chances to win.   Yay for free stuff!

We now return to our regulary scheduled blogging...  (Hope I win!)

Post-script:  Alas I did not win the drawing, but a friend from my former homeschool group in CA did.  Congrats, Jen!!!

I saw in the local newspaper yesterday that Obama will be making an appearance here on Saturday.  This surprised me a little - we're not that big of a city, and our primary isn't for another 2 months.  Contrary to all expectations a few months ago - Oregon's late primary might actually count for something - at least if you're a Democrat.  (It'll still be pretty meaningless on the Republican side - but I will do my civic duty and vote anyway...)

And yes, I am a Republican.  A disgruntled one to be sure; but a Republican nonetheless.  (If a viable 3rd party ever arises, consisting of fiscally conservative pro-lifers who also care about the poor and favor sensible gun regulation and environmental protection, I'll be the first to join them...)

I've been watching the Obama-Clinton battle with mixed feelings.  On the one hand, I can't help but hope that Clinton loses the primary, thus keeping the presidency definitely beyond her grasp (at least until 2012!)  On the other hand, if Clinton wins the primary, I think she'll be much easier for McCain to beat - and so in that sense I should be rooting for her, right?  (Such is the twisted logic of politics...) 

Complicating all this is the fact that Obama is so darned likable.  Not that I would actually vote for him - the man is so far to the left he makes Ted Kennedy look like Rush Limbaugh.  And as inspiring as his speeches can be, when you get down to the nitty-gritty, his plan for "unifying" the country seems to be that those on the right (and religious conservatives in particular) need to ditch their convictions and get on board with his agenda.  (That's supposed to be "Compromise"?  Sounds more like "Surrender" to me...)  But if he were elected, I at least wouldn't be lunging for the remote every time his face appeared on TV.  (Although admittedly, that could change once the tax bills started rolling in!)  All that to say, I still don't know what to make of the Democratic primary.  I just know I'm planning on staying home Saturday morning - traffic is likely to be a bear.

Next week is Spring Break for us, and we are SO ready.  All of us are dragging a bit, especially after the recent time change.  Said time change has naturally thrown Ben's schedule off-kilter, so that he is wanting to stay up late (much to his roommate Sarah's chagrin) and sleep in late.  He's been so out-of-whack he's even refused to nap a couple of times.  Honestly, the whole thing makes me want to smack whoever came up with Daylight Savings Time in the first place.  It is such a pain in the neck when there are small children involved.  In the meantime I am working on getting Ben back in  his groove by waking him up earlier.  Slowly but surely we are making progress.  All that to say that we're all looking forward to a little R&R next week.

Doug and I had a bit of a scare on Sunday morning.  After church we stood around and chitchatted for a while.  This is what we do pretty much every week, while the kids play with their friends for a bit.  This time however, when we were ready to go, Bethany was nowhere to be found.  Now, our church meets in the gym of a private high school, and we pretty well combed the whole campus, to no avail.  I had no clue what we should do next, but thankfully Doug took charge and quietly enlisted the aid of a couple of other guys, who headed out the back door of the gym to continue the search.  I went out the front door once again, and there was Bethany - holding a big stick and covered in mud.  She had been very happily playing next to a small creek that runs along the edge of the property.  She was oblivious to having caused any distress by her absence, so we had to gently (but firmly) communicate that we'd been very worried, and remind her of the rule we'd established some time ago about not leaving the gym without telling us first.  The whole thing probably didn't take more than 10 minutes, but it felt more like 10 hours, and by the time it was over I was feeling about 10 years older...

This quiz just cracked me up:

http://www.themoralesfamily.us/granola.htm

I scored a 97 - definitely some crunchiness, but I don't think I'll ever be attaining Granola Earth Mama status .   (I've got no plans to give up my makeup and shaved legs, thankyouverymuch!) 

We're enjoying more beautiful weather this week, interspersed with brief periods of rain.  Some flowers have shot up in the brick planter in front of our bay window.  I can't be sure yet - but I'm guessing they're daffodils.  I guess there must have been some planted there last year that have successfully reproduced, because I sure haven't planted anything.  Now I'm thinking I should probably get out there this weekend and pull some weeds at least.  The rosebushes that I pruned last month are also starting to show signs of new growth (glad I didn't kill them!)

On another cheery note - Doug was "officially" offered a contract for next year (translation:  he won't be unemployed come June).  This did not come as a surprise to either of us, but still, I appreciate having it finalized (one less thing that I'll be tempted to worry about...). 

Spring Break is only a little over a week away.  We're thinking about taking a trip to the coast on one of those days.  I almost typed that we'd be going to the "beach", but I realized that word has very So Cal connotations for me (lots of sun and palm trees, bikinis everywhere, etc.), and here in the Northwest "going to the beach" is a very different experience:  (lots of rocks and pine trees, windbreakers everywhere).  So I'll say we're going to the "coast" - if for no other reason than to differentiate the two places in my own mind.  Now, Doug and I are definitely not Beach people (we're extremely compatible in that regard ), but I love the Coast, and am excited to share it with my kids.