Archive - 2006

On Our Own

Well, Philip left for Germany today. In a rare turn of events, the disasters that normally occur on the homefront during a deployment or TDY (temporary duty) assignment actually occurred before he left. The toilet got stopped up and two of our new hermit crabs died. I’m hoping that’s it for the week and not a sign of things to come.

I had to haul all the children down to Boo’s soccer practice today. It was COLD! Pumpkin Girl complained the whole time of course. Other than that, I really enjoyed watching practice. Boo’s coach is not only an experienced youth soccer coach, but he’s a really funny guy. You can tell that he is truly enjoying himself out there on the field. He had all the parents practically in tears during one game called “ouch.” The object of the game was for the children to attempt to kick the ball at the coach and his assistants and if they hit them, the coaches yelled “ouch.” Of course, the coaches were running. Coach Carl was so funny, over-acting the whole time, looking like he was running through water, “falling” down, pretending to tie his shoes, then yelling “ouch” like he’d been shot. I really appreciate a dedicated, fun coach like that.

Pumpkin Girl has been to dance class twice now. She’s taking the whole thing very seriously. This is actually her third attempt at taking dance classes, but the times before were just too much for her. She’s definitely ready now. In her black leotard, pink tights and ballet bun, she says she is an “official ballerina.” Somehow she manages to look all grown up and so tiny all at once. I’m so proud of her for getting out there. Normally she has Boo with her to help her be brave. For a moment there at her first class, I didn’t think she was going to be able to do it. Those big brown eyes of hers were just filling with tears. I reminded her that Rebecca is always with her, which made her smile, and then she was fine. Pumpkin Girl has a natural flexibility that should serve her well as a dancer. She is the only one in her class who can lie down on her belly, put the bottoms of her feet together, and bring her knees up like a frog, all while keeping her legs touching the floor.

As for Bip, he isn’t walking or talking much. He’s babbling a lot, though, and is communicating more and more with signs. I’m hoping that Philip’s absence doesn’t upset his already touchy sleep schedule. How well our week goes depends a lot on how well the baby sleeps. If things go south, I do have a game plan. We’ll make adjustments to our school schedule, breaking things up as needed, to accommodate the baby. As a last resort, I am willing to just take a break from school and concentrate on getting Bip well rested, every one fed and the trash emptied.

Starting the Holidays With Prayer

Have you looked around the stores lately?  The holidays are just around the corner!  I’m sure you’ve seen the signs.  I’ve been seeing Halloween candy for sale since August.  Even the Christmas decorations are creeping in.  In a few short weeks, most of us will either be deep in Holiday Denial or in a panic that we won’t be able to get it all done.  I’m like most of you in that I struggle to find a nice balance between achieving the "perfect" holidays and still being able to actually enjoy them myself.  Over the next few weeks, I think I’ll share some of the ways that I have learned to take back the holidays. This has been on my mind to do for a couple of weeks now and so it was very timely that today I received an email from my friend Elizabeth.  She wrote an article for Catholic Online about preparing for the holidays by spending time in prayer and meditation.  In the article, she talks about starting the holiday season by focusing not on ourselves and our endless "to do" lists, but instead, on turning our thoughts and prayers outward.  What an excellent idea! Please go read her article, even if you’re not Catholic!  Good things  are bound to happen when we, as Christians of any denomination, join together in prayer.

Fall is In the Air

Fall is in the air and I have a new look for my blog.  If you’re reading this through a feed or through your "friends" page, stop by my actual blog to check it out.

It is Well With My Soul

Today is the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows.  How fitting for me, because today is the day that our Rebecca left us to enter our Lord’s Heavenly Kingdom.  If there is anyone who knows my grief, it is Our Lady of Sorrows.

But I am not going to talk about the sadness today.  It is there and always will be.  It’s a part of me, now.  I will carry it with me, like a scar, until the day I die.

What I want to talk about instead, is joy.  Joy that Rebecca sits at Jesus’ feet.  She doesn’t feel any pain or any sadness.  Joy that she was such a precious gift from God.  Her time on earth was brief, but I am forever thankful that God chose our family to care for her.  She knew only love and happiness.  We were given the wonderful opportunity to love her and to be loved by her.

I also want to talk about faith.  Absolute faith that we will see her again.  God promised us eternal life if we just believe in Him.  And God keeps His promises.  How fitting then, that Rebecca’s Chinese name means “A thousand rainbows.”  Whenever we see a rainbow, we remember Rebecca and God’s promise.

What God did not promise was that it would be an easy road.  Only that He would be there with us every step of the way.  I have found that to be true.  I can bear all things through Christ who strengthens me.  I may not want to, but I can.

So today my heart breaks, but I am full of joy and encouraged by faith.  It is well with my soul.

Our Days Are Just Packed

All of our Fall activities are in place and we have quite a schedule this year!

* Monday-Pumpkin Girl, dance
* Tuesday-Philip, choir
* Wednesday-Boo, soccer and Me, every other week is CWOC
* Thursday-Pumpkin Girl, Daisy Scouts, Boo, Cub Scouts
* Friday-Boo, Soccer, me and kids, homeschool group
* Saturday- Boo, soccer game, whole family, church
* Sunday-Philip sings in the choir, kids have Sunday school

We have also volunteered to be the point contact for popcorn sales for Boos’ wolf den. Philip will be traveling this month to Germany and next month to Korea.

Throw in the holidays and birthdays and I’m not sure we’re going to survive all this. But that’s why I strive to have my holidays as planned in advance as possible. Speaking of which, I bought all our costumes for Halloween. The whole family is dressing up as a group and I needed to make sure I could get all of the costumes. Boo’s will need some tailoring. Nothing too complicated, but when I saw that, I was glad that I bought it so early.

I’ve done some other holiday preparations, like updating our Christmas card list. Next on my plan is to inventory the gifts I have already bought and figure out what else I need to buy. I should be done with the kids’ gifts by mid-October. I’ll need to have Boo’s birthday gift by then anyway, might as well have them all done at the same time. After I square away the gift situation, I’ll take a look at my baking plans. I don’t have room in my freezer to make anything in advance, but at least I can make sure I have ingredients on hand.

Hmm. I think that as long as I remember to check my calendar every day, maybe we can actually enjoy ourselves, not just survive.

Firefighter Robert Parro

helmet.jpgI’m just an average American. Nothing too special about me, really. I went to college, got married, had a few children. I’d like a bigger house. Someday my husband will retire, not just from the Army, but from working. Maybe we’ll do some traveling. He’d like to own an RV and roam around the country. We’ll see.We’re not that different from you or most Americans. We have our nice, quiet lives. For the most part, we’re content.

We remember a day just five years ago, when like most Americans, our day started out pretty ordinary. My husband went off to work, I got the children up and dressed. They were little then, just 2 years old and 8 months. The other two were still only in our dreams. Nothing too extraordinary. It was a mild, late summer day. A slight breeze. Pretty close to perfect.

Robert Parro was ending his shift as a firefighter with Manhattan’s Battalion 8 that morning. He was getting ready to head back home to his wife, Karen and their son, John, then 4 years old. He’d been a firefighter for eight years and according to his wife, “loved it.” His mother Virginia said he was “born to be a firefighter.” I don’t imagine that he thought of himself as a hero. He would probably have described himself as just an average guy.

Just like you and me.

I’m sure he had dreams of his own. More children, perhaps. Growing old with his wife. Maybe he wanted an RV, too. Maybe she smiled indulgently at him and said, “Sure, honey.” Maybe they were saving for a vacation. Just your average Americans. The guy next door.

But on that morning of September 11, 2001, as Robert Parro was wrapping up his shift, the alarm sounded. He called his wife to let her know that he was on his way to the fire. She never heard from him again.

We may never know how many lives Robert Parro saved before he lost his.

Let us not forget that the people who lost their lives on this day five years ago were people just like you and me. They had families, and hopes and dreams and lives worth living. Let us honor them today by remembering not that they died, but that they lived.

For more tributes to the 2,996 victims of September 11, click here.

Candle Boats

Today was the first meeting of my Catholic homeschool group. I was in charge of crafts for the kids. I didn’t mean to volunteer, actually. We were discussing celebrating the Blessed Mother’s birthday this month and someone said we could have a birthday cake and maybe the kids could decorate candles. Then suddenly, it was like a dream and I left my body and could see myself talking, but was powerless to stop myself. I started describing this cute “candle boat” we could make that would slip over a votive candle. Well, once I put that out there, there was no taking it back and I was the Craft Lady for September. This was less than 2 weeks ago.

I don’t fly by the seat of pants well at all. I have to plan out every little detail. I can wing it once I’ve planned it, as long as I know what I’m supposed to be doing and how to get there. So I stressed about this all week. Monday I went to find my vellum paper. I had 5 sheets left. I needed one for each child and was anticipating 10 to 20 children. Then I showed a picture of the project to my online stamping buddies. They all said, “whoa! That’s way too complicated! Try something else.” Unfortunately, I had already emailed a picture of the project to my homeschooling group. So Tuesday comes along and I’m doped up on Benedryl from the mosquito bites I got outside the American History Musuem. I must take Benedryl for about a day before I can switch to Claritin or the bites will swell up to about 3 inches in diameter. I can’t find Pumpkin Girl’s math worksheets, about half a year’s worth. I lost my lesson plans for next week. My stamping buddies say my project is too ambitious. I don’t have enough vellum and I’m too loopy to drive to get more. I have 3 days to modify the project to be more realistic.

Then Phil came home for lunch. I listed all my woes to him and he says the magic words: “Do you want me to take you to Michael’s right now?” I love that man. I really do.

So we go off to Michael’s. Now, I haven’t been to a Michaels’ craft store in about 3 years. We lived in Korea for 2 years, then with a new baby and trying to unpack, just never got around to it. I was in there 10 minutes and spent $80.

Anyway, I spent the next couple of days preparing the craft. It didn’t take me long at all. About an hour, in total, to stamp and cut the paper.

This is what we made:

The children really enjoyed it. I let the kids get creative with the blue pieces of cardstock. I brought punches, decorative scissors and markers and let them go to town. That was just the right level of involvement for them. The rest was just gluing and tying the cords. They were a big hit with the moms, too.

So, all’s well that end’s well. But I don’t think I’ll be volunteering to be the craft lady again this year.

 

 

 

National Museum of American History

We were able to take advantage of Labor Day by going to visit the Museum of American History’s last day of being open. They are closing for 2 years to do some extensive renovation. We live about 15 minutes from the National Mall, and on government holidays, we can usually find parking right in front of the Smithsonian museum that we are visiting. We got there good and early, and were able to walk around the grounds a bit before the museum opened.

One of the first things that we saw was the flag that hung on the Pentagon after September 11.

Here it is at the museum: We also saw the flag that flew over Ft. McHenry, which inspired Francis Scott Key to write the “Star Spangled Banner.” Pictures were not allowed in that exhibit. But this link has a picture, as well as being a really great site to learn more about the flag. You can hover over the flag and learn interesting facts about the flag and its history. There are links about the renovation of the American History Musuem and the new gallery they are building for this flag.

I was impressed at how large the flag was and was surprised to learn that the big hole in it was not from the battle. Apparently, the owners of the flag allowed people to cut pieces from it as souvenirs, including one of the stars.

The museum had a neat display of model ships and this fun masthead.

In the section about American Pop Culture, we saw some of the original Muppets and Judy Garland’s ruby slippers from “The Wizard of Oz.”

They aren’t as bright red as I’d imagined they’d be. The ruby slippers are moving to the National Air and Space museum, just across the Mall, for the duration of the renovation.

We saw these chairs from “All in the Family.”

I immediately got the theme song in my head, and I bet you do now, too…”Boy, the way Glen Miller played. Songs that made the Hit Parade. Guys like us, we had it made. Those were the days.”

Boo and Pumpkin Girl were completely unimpressed by the Bunkers’ chairs. I figured the other pop culture displays would be lost on them, too. They were getting hungry anyway, so we headed downstairs for lunch at the Subway sandwich place in the musuem. Next to Taco Bell, Subway is Boo’s absolute favorite place to eat. We haven’t found one close enough in a good neighborhood, so this was an extra special treat. The restaurant was decorated like a 1930’s era soda shop.

After lunch, we let the kids play at the hands-on science center, wandered around a bit more, then went to the gift shop. Boo bought a key chain for his collection and Pumpkin got George Washington and Abe Lincoln’s families as paper dolls. Paper dolls always frustrated me as a child, those tabs never kept the clothes on, so I turned her paper dolls into magnets. They live on her metal closet door.

Another good day and great fun was had by all.

 

 

Back into the swing of things

The first week of our new school year went well. We learned to work around Bip by sitting on the floor to read as much as we can while he climbs all around us. Boo likes having an assignment sheet and working on some of his subjects on his own. This is something new for us this year as he starts moving towards working independantly. When it is time for me to put Bip down for a nap, I can leave Boo to work on his assignment sheet. He is usually done by the time I return. I figured out to do the teaching portion of math first, then take care of Bip. Then Boo is free to do his worksheets without needing to wait for me to return and explain his math. I guess that’s kind of a no-brainer, but it was just one of many little things we needed to work out. In the past, math was the last subject of the day.

Our first official nature walk got rained out by Tropical Storm Ernesto. We attempted to walk anyway, but the wind was too strong for Pumpkin Girl. We did get a chance to walk last week, though. We identified a pin oak tree and made some guesses about the gulls flying overhead. We need a closer look at the gulls to be sure. While we got the mail today, Pumpkin and I spotted a bunny in our neighbor’s yard. We’re not sure if it’s the same bunny that lives in our yard. We also collected a leaf and two seed pods from what I suspect is a maple tree.

We also picked up on our knitting lessons again, did some mind bender puzzles (logic) and started our home economics course. As I was explaining what the home ec book was about, Boo was making a face. I said that even though the picture on the cover was of a little girl, it’s important for boys to know how to care for their home, too. I reminded him that Daddy had made dinner the night before, and he always helps with the dishes and does all the vacuuming. Then Boo said, “well, I hope we start with learning to cook.” Fortunately, our lessons do start in the kitchen, nutrition specifically. The children are keeping a chart of the foods they eat all week and which food group they belong to. We’ll get into food prep next week.

I had wanted to report back on what I am using for the children’s readers. I borrowed a Catholic third grade reader from my next door neighbor. Both Pumpkin and Boo could read it, which further confirms the reading test results from a few weeks ago. I was looking for books for them to read that will improve their skills but have age appropriate subject matter. These books, first published in the 1890’s, are certainly not objectionable. The only problem is, they are boring! The exact word that comes to mind is esoteric. yawn. I gave Boo my copy of Where the Sidewalk Ends, which seems to be more to his liking. I am unsure at this point if I will keep pursuing actual “readers” for them or just let them read whatever they feel like it, within reason. Pumpkin Girl seems interested in the Little House series, but even those books will be beyond her level of maturity at some point. I believe there is a similar “boys” series that Boo might like, too.

So there’s our week. Nothing too outstanding, but I didn’t want you all to think that I dropped off the face of the earth or anything.

Home Where They Belong

Before you finish reading this blog entry, please go read this poem: "I Trust You’ll Treat Her Well." For copyright reasons, I’m not going to write it out here.

When my clock radio turned on this morning, the morning show people were talking about this poem.  The woman was saying that when she heard it yesterday, she was in tears.  The other two were talking about how what a wonderful milestone that first day of kindergarten is.  Then they read the poem.  Towards the end of the poem, the baby started waking up so I turned to nurse him and I saw that my husband was awake, too.  I asked him, "Are you listening to this?" His response:  "Thank God we homeschool."  "Exactly," I said.

Is this poem supposed to be inspirational? Is it supposed to make us feel all warm and fuzzy inside? To my husband and I, it is a list of all the reasons to keep our children at home.

Gossip, group think, hurt feelings, jealousy, betrayal – uh, no thank you, not for my children.

In our family, observing nature is important and has a place in our school day.  The "important things" certainly do NOT include what to wear and the drama of best friends and second best friends.  My children are each other’s best friends.  Just ask them, they’ll tell you.

And we understand that the magic of dolls and blocks…and legos and toy kitchens is equally as important as the magic of books and learning.  In our home, childhood doesn’t end just because formal education has started.

Don’t even get me started on what "proper young ladies" do and don’t do.  And I know they don’t teach that at school anyway.  And why does the journey to womanhood have to be long and lonely?  Shouldn’t it be filled with love and joy?We should be taking that journey with our daughters, and the journey into manhood with our sons, not watching them navigate it alone.

No, I didn’t find this poem to be inspirational at all.  Instead it reminded me of how I got started  homeschooling in the first place.

When my oldest child turned 3, I heard a lot of "aren’t you going to put him into preschool?"  Being a first time mom, I bowed to the pressure and enrolled him in a twice a week preschool.  It didn’t take long before my sweet little boy started to change.  I had to plead with him every time to go to school.  Once there he cried for me.  About three weeks into it, his teacher informed me that he had grabbed another child by the neck when he didn’t get a turn at the computer.  My son had never before and has never since resorted to violence.  Never.  Then the next week his teacher tells me that Boo was doing better now, "he didn’t cry much after I left. " Didn’t cry much?  It had been 3 weeks, he shouldn’t be crying anymore at all!  That was the last class before Thanksgiving.  I spent the long weekend doing some serious soul searching.  Boo never went back to school.

Of course, still being a first time mom, I felt like I was short changing him somehow.  How was he going to learn his ABCS if he didn’t go to pre-school?  Maybe I could teach him at home!  I searched the internet for pre-school at home.  Of course, I know now that all a preschooler needs is time with mom and lots and lots of good books, but back then I still had a lot to learn.  I finally found a curriculum that had a preschool level – Sonlight.  When I received their catalog, I fell in love.  So many good books, ones I remembered from my childhood, others that I wanted to read myself.  The whole idea of homeschooling beyond preschool intrigued me.  The ability  to adjust the pace for each topic to fit my very active, very bright son was what clinched it.  Nurturing his tender spirit, guiding him carefully, letting my husband and I be his primary influences only sweetened the deal.  I ordered that preschool curriculum, spent 2 years using it with Boo and we’ve never looked back.

Yes, there will be a time when I also send my children out into the world.  But they will be physically, emotionally and spiritually prepared to handle whatever is out there.

As for this litany of things a five year old has to look forward to – no thank you!  My children are home where they belong.

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