More Pictures

This seems to be the week for picture posts for me. So when I was tagged by Amy, I decided to play along. I don't mind showing off my adorable children. The bonus in this picture is my dh in a wetsuit! It was fun to think back to this trip.

Here are the rules:
1. Choose the 4th folder where you store pictures on your computer.
2. Select the 4th picture in the folder, and post it on your blog.
3. Explain the picture.
4. Tag four people to do the same.
5. No cheating (cropping, editing, etc.)

In this picture Banana had just turned 4, Bear was about 20 months. Dh was trying to convince either of them to go out into the ocean with him. They both decided they were having enough fun with Mom making sand castles. It is from a trip to Southern California a year after we moved. It is also the day I embarrassed myself horribly by screaming like a teenage girl in the middle of the beach. Dh loves the water and we happened to be lucky enough to be at the beach on a day when the leopard sharks were migrating. He was begging me to come out and see them. I eventually (very reluctantly) relented. There is something about chasing sharks that doesn't seem right to me. He proceeded to scare one (they are about 24-36 inches long) into my direction. I did the natural thing and screamed -- I was pretty loud too. The other shark watchers were not happy with me.

For fun, here is the next picture in the folder. It is one of my all-time favorites.

I tag Kim, Regina, Bia, and Corrine.

Mini Me? Part II

I wrote this post in my early days of blogging. I think it is so cute to see my little ones trying to be helpful. It is a reminder that little eyes are always watching. Little Bophie still likes to pretend to be me, and while today she did not have the hair clip she still thought she would be "Mom" and cook dinner. Here is what I found:
What is it with this child? Why is it that whenever she is pretending to do "Mom" tasks she isn't wearing any pants?

Wordless Wednesday

A tribute to Mom's new glasses.

I mentioned yesterday that I needed to balance my Monday Moments with some gratitude. I have so many things to be thankful for. I was really having a hard time narrowing it down to one Tuesday post.

I decided that this week, I am most grateful for the efforts of my family to make a dreary week in February more interesting. I also appreciated all the extra efforts they made to help get us out the door and have things run more smoothly. Dh mopped the floor, twice because of his beer, Banana has been a real trooper as I drastically ramped up our schooling. Bear has become an excellent babysitter for her youngest sister. Even little Bophie wanted to be helpful. She thought she would feed Juliana for me while I had my back turned. This is what I found:
I appreciated the effort, even if it meant extra stain removal duties.

Monday Moments

I should have done the 7 quick takes on Friday. Since I didn't get to it I thought I would share a few quick moments from our week.

• It turns out my eyes are even more football shaped (how apropos) so now I get to wear glasses full-time.



• I burned the bottom of my feet (in true Michael Scott fashion) in hot turkey grease yesterday. In case you are wondering, burning the bottom of the feet makes every little step filled with pain.



• If my calculations are correct, I changed about 42 diapers this week.



• I have mitigated at least 63 meaningless squabbles between siblings. H/t to my friend Emily who suggested I give each child a day to win said squabbles. The coveted head chair at the breakfast table is now no longer a daily battle as the girls know whose day it is and therefore who gets the chair. The Child of the Day also gets to pick what is for breakfast, although Mom has ultimate veto power.



• Dh is bottling his newest beer tonight, this means my newly mopped floor will need to be mopped again. It (the beer) will be done in time for him to give it up for Lent.



• The dog ran away today when I forgot to let her back inside. We live close to a school with little ones out for recess. I, of course, assumed she went there and had to approach the school teachers in my sweats, slippers, unbrushed hair, and coffee breath. Turns out she was just on the deck.



• I did succeed last week in getting the girls out the door on time without yelling. The kicker for me came on the last day. We had to be out earlier than any other day and we were going to be out for most of the day so I had extra gear to pack. After all my efforts, we got out the door and to the dentist's office on time only to have the receptionist apologize and tell me that the girls were not due for a visit. We could still have their teeth cleaned, but we would have to pay out of pocket for a cleaning they didn't need.

While all of these did not happen on Monday, they still feel like Monday Moments to me... Of course, for balance I am pretty sure I will need to remember GratiTuesday tomorrow. Here's hoping for another week full of memorable moments!

Stepping out

It has been a really busy week here. Probably the biggest enemy to my homeschooling is anything that requires me to be out of the house during the schoolday. It just seems to be such a production to get everyone dressed, hair combed, teeth brushed, shoes and coats on, and get out the door. By the time we get back I am so worn out it is hard to get much schoolwork done.

Getting out is not only an enemy of schooling, but also a hard test of my patience-- especially if there is a set time we need to be some place. I find myself barking at the girls and I can feel myself getting more and more upset as we get later and later. We are inevitably just barely on time to everything, despite my well-intentioned plans of being early.

This week we have something out of the house every day. We have dentist appointments, doctor appointments, special Masses, gym classes, art classes, and so on. I didn't mean for it to all be in one week, but here it is. Knowing this was coming, and knowing I was particularly grouchy last week getting out the door, I resolved that this week we would leave the house and make our appointments on time without me yelling or losing my patience.

It has meant I had to turn a blind eye to incomplete work I wanted done before leaving. I have to turn the other way and not look at the mess we leave in the wake of just getting out the door. I also have to give up the notion that my children will have on clothes that match and have hair that doesn't resemble Animal from the Muppets. Sometimes I just have to be thankful we are all in the car and on our way.

I really wasn't sure it was possible, but so far we have been on time or early for every appointment. We have gotten out the door with relatively little fuss. There have been a few meltdowns, but they haven't been my meltdowns. I consider this my small victory for the week. It seems appropriate that it fell during the week of St. Blase's feast. My biggest throat ailment is not any virus or bacteria, but rather the things I say. I am thankful for his intercession as I strive to speak more kindly.

Who Are You?

My girls have always enjoyed pretending to have other names. On any given day they could decide to have twelve or thirteen different names. I remember once when Banana was three and Bear was just walking I took them to a story time for reading and crafts. Another mom saw Banana and asked her what her name was. I was astonished to hear her say "Mary, and that is my sister Elizabeth"-- these are not their names. I wasn't sure if I should stop this woman I didn't even know and tell her those were my children but that was not their names. I decided she might just think I was crazy, so I spent the morning calling them Mary and Elizabeth.

This game has continued through the years. The girls get different names, their dolls get names, the dog gets named. By the time they determine who gets what name, they are practically done with the game.

This morning as I was making breakfast, Banana was the mom bringing her family to my restaurant. Her daughter (Bophie) was introduced to me as Grace. Already feeling like a short order cook (some want eggs, others oatmeal, and still others cereal), I played up the part. Little Bophie would say "Lady? Lady?" trying to get my attention. I called back in my best Texas accent, "Yes, Gracie."

When breakfast was ready dh sat down at the table. Bophie, wanting to make sure Dad got things straight, says "I Gracie!" Now you have to imagine this in typical two-year-old tone. Some pronunciation was lacking.
Dh turns to her and says, "Your crazy? Why are you crazy?"
Bophie replies, "NO, I Gracie..."
Dh, "Yeah I know your crazy, you get it from your Mom."
Bophie, "NO, I GRACIE!"
Dh finally looks at me with his best what am I missing expression.
It was almost too funny to watch the exchange, I didn't want to interpret.