Babysteps

Mimsy

2012-01-18T06:44:00.000-08:00

Mim has a great imagination. It runs on a different track than Zaya's, but it's no less unique.

She told me she wanted to draw a face with pipe cleaners and paper. I found some tape for her and then left her to her own devices. She returned with this.

In case you can't tell, that's a gigantic open mouth. The red pipe cleaners are lips, then we have a tongue, uvula, tonsils and dark pit of the throat. There are teeth around the outside.

We went to the Bass Pro Shop in Springfield to visit my cousin. The kids each chose a stuffed animal. (Separate post about that to follow.)

Mim's animal is a wolf named Silver. He's become her baby, and she's decided to wear him like a tribeswoman might. I helped her with this particular arrangement.

I think the wolf looks pretty happy too.

She has also absolutely fallen in love with Minecraft. It's a world-building game that looks simple at first glance, particularly because they've purposely chosen an 8-bit art style, but the options are near endless.

Mim has already created seven or eight worlds. (This is not one of them, it's just a picture I found on the net.) She only likes to play in creative mode, because you can't die and you already have access to all the resources. If I could figure out how, I'd get a screen grab of one of her glass and diamond palaces for you, or one of her vast chicken coops made of blue wool. She also has a house on one world that is layered with different materials so that as you go down the interior stairs, you walk past strata.

She always was my child who would play with blocks. Essentially, this is blocks on an infinite scale.

It's so fun to watch my children grow, because they show their personalities in such funny ways. I love that home-school gives me the blessing of being there for so many of these moments because we are all learning to embrace our weirdness, and it's quite a trip!

Baby it's Cold Outside. Finally.

2012-01-12T08:12:00.000-08:00

Our first snow day in Missouri. The kids are ecstatic. I got them to finish Math, English and Spelling, and then sent them out on an extended "play until you can't play anymore" recess.

I waited inside to greet and comfort them on their return.

So glad we have a basement with a backdoor. It's perfect for peeling off wet layers of clothing.

2012-01-10T04:39:00.001-08:00

Some Christmas photos and thoughts. Not deep thoughts.

We had our usual hustle and bustle this year, with an added element of staying with family until we were ready for the drive back to Missouri. It was great to see everyone again, and I officially apologize for all messes and inconvenience that we left behind.

We had our own little celebration here at home the day before we left.

Then we visited my family for a few days, and traveled to Texas for a day as well.

The next few days we spent with Art's family.

We were almost able to pack everything back into the van for the trip home, but not quite. (That's without the back bench seat. We left it at home.)

While we tried to unpack, a process that took several days, the kids began rediscovering their toys. Mim begged every two or three minutes (from Monday to Friday evening when we arrived home) for me to go get batteries for the remote control cars that they got from my grandparents in Texas. She couldn't understand why I wasn't terribly eager to get back in the car and run to Wal-mart.

In the interest of family peace, however, I did. They have provided hours of great entertainment. Mim's remote came without an antennae, so Aaron soldered one on for her. Of course his looks great and works very well. I had previously come up with my own solution, which involved a metal chopstick and some painter's tape. Granted you had to kind of hold it in with your hand while using the remote, but I'd like to point out that it did work.

That's our Christmas story. Lots of family, lots of gifts, lots of fun, lots of unpacking. All worth the trip.

Noel

2011-12-21T07:06:00.000-08:00

We had our church Christmas program two weeks ago. The kids were Mary and Joseph. There was much craziness associated with this program, and it provided hilarity for all involved. The lady who directed/created/stressed over the program changed the script/directions every time we went to church for the last month. There was even an updated script when we went for the actual performance. It was hilarious. She did a great job, though, considering the lack of experience of most of the forty children.

Here are the kids dressed up for their piano playing part.

And here they are as the happy new parents. G-ma and G-pa T and Aunt and Uncle D came to see them and visit. Oh, and bring us a piano. YEA!!

Christmas Break Ambitions

2011-12-21T06:51:00.001-08:00

The kids are officially on Christmas break as of this Monday. My ambitions for the week are (I hope) reasonable. My only plans:

Monday - Wrap Presents and Sort
Check

Tuesday - Visit nursing home to deliver gifts and play piano. (kids)
Check

Wednesday - Make chocolate covered stuff
...almost check...
(The kids are playing "poor family", and they're having such a good time I don't want to make them stop. They're begging and bartering for shillings, then using them to buy weapons, fabric etc. to improve their lot in life. Oh, and they keep asking me to buy pets. (Apparently I'm the shopkeeper.) I don't know how to explain that pets are kind of a luxury item.

Anyway...

Thursday - Have our Christmas here, pack for trip

Friday - Drive home for the holidays.

Can't wait to see everyone this next week. We'll miss those of you who aren't able to make it down this year.

Merry Christmas from me and the crazy squealing kiddos. And Art. He's at work, but his Christmas vacation starts right after lunch today. (Yea!!)

Miscellany

2011-11-15T18:14:00.000-08:00

Here a few pictures from life around here- random snapshots, if you will.

This is Zaya dressed as a Newsie. He's selling papes, and wearing one of the costumes that Grandma Lilibeth brought when they came to visit.

Here Zaya discovers _The Wizard of Oz_. He started it after breakfast, and finished it before Sunday School. Apparently, he's a fan.

Here is Mim's fancy doll that Mr. Mac gave her when we moved. She took off the fancy dress and had me make the doll a bible costume. (No sewing involved.) Then when I went back into the school room, the doll was standing under Mim's desk reading a pamphlet about birdwatching. Who knew?

Art got some scrap materials from a co-worker and made a gigantic slip n' slide in our backyard. The kids had a blast, and I may just have used it myself. No admissions.

And..Salute

2011-11-12T13:48:00.001-08:00

The kids had their first gymnastics meet today in a nearby town. There weren't that many children there, so it was of reasonable length. All they did was tumbling down a line of mats, so there was little to learn, and little pressure.
They both did very well, ie they did their little routines with a minimum of nervousness from Mim and wiggling from Zaya.
I forgot my camera, of course, but I did take pictures with my cell phone. Now I have to figure out how to get them onto my computer. Anyway,here are some pictures of the triumphant athletes after our return home.Zaya got a trophy as the only beginner boy. All of the children got medals, because they separated things by age and etc. They have decided (read Mim has decided) that they will share the trophy since it's not fair that Zaya got one just because he was a boy.

We're Back!

2011-11-07T10:45:00.001-08:00

We are officially reconnected to the world! It's a bit too overwhelming to think of all the things that have happened since we last had the internet in our home, so I won't be trying to catch up on the blog.

Suffice it to say we're all still here; we're adjusting to life in Fornow; we're enjoying homeschooling; life is good.

Oh, and we really, really miss everyone back home. That should go without saying, but I would like it said for the record. Not a day goes by when I don't think of some people I would like to talk to and see.

Here's a quick picture of the kids from my Grandparent's 60th anniversary this summer. We had a great time, and I was so glad to have the opportunity to go.

I'll throw other pictures on here as I run across them. For the moment, I'm going to get off of the computer. I haven't readjusted to the screen time, and my eyes are killing me.

Oh, and I'm also trying to participate in NaNoWriMo again. Last night I had to just throw a towel over the screen and type blind. I'm about 1500 words behind, so I'll probably have to do the same tonight.

crickets

2011-10-17T11:40:00.001-07:00

Here is a letter to the editor that I published in our local newspaper. I have changed the name of the town for the sake of the blog.

Our family has recently moved to Fornow, and the process has had its share of joys and frustrations. We moved from a tiny town in western Oklahoma, so this new town brought wide-eyed wonder from the children.
“They have parks, lots of parks! Our house is only a couple blocks from a real grocery store! There are so many trees and everything is so green!”
Yes, Fornow was quite a contrast to our drought-stricken home in Oklahoma, where “going to get the groceries” meant driving fifteen miles to the nearest grocery store and the park was little more than a backyard swing set and the play equipment from an abandoned schoolyard.
As adults, my husband and I were equally excited to hear that Fornow had been known in the past as “one of the most wired towns in America,” offering internet to the masses. We knew that the streets weren’t actually paved with gold, but we had great hopes that, since it is 2011, at least the internet service would be.
Imagine our shock and consternation as ISP after ISP informed us that they could not service our home.
“I’m sorry, but that’s just outside our service area” – the pain, the frustration!
How is it possible that the Promised Land, where there is even a Wal-mart Supercenter, offers us less access to the world than our tiny farm-town of 400 did?
We have found one or two companies that can serve us, but the price is so high, the service so pitiful, and the contract so long that it feels like indentured servitude and failure rather than simple access to the World Wide Web.
So, at this point, we hold out hope for what has become a mystic legend at our house – someday, Cambridge will come. They offer speeds that are many, many times faster. The prices are almost half as much, and signing a contract would be like a wedding with your true love – or so the legend goes.
We wait out here in “node four”, that mysterious province that doesn’t yet have Cambridge service, but “should be getting it real soon.” They don’t know the day or the hour; actually they don’t even know the week or the month, but they say it is coming.
Do we watch and wait in holy dread? Do we continue to slog through the wilderness of e-mail and research at the library and podcast downloads while eating yet another McDonald’s apple pie? Do we abandon our dream and turn in desperation and shame to the gap-toothed leer of the one service that agrees to give us a miserly access to the world. Only time will tell.
Although the sense of disenchantment is occasionally intense, we remain hopeful, because where would mankind be without hope? We enjoy our new friendships and become increasingly involved in what seems to be a welcoming community.
Our family and friends from our previous existence send us occasional text messages and broken phone calls.
“Where are you? Why haven’t I seen you on Facebook? Why haven’t you written anything new on your blog? Can we see pictures of your new home?”
We reply that although milk and honey are in abundance, the communications system doesn’t seem to stretch back over the Jordan, and the streets of gold were just a fiber-optic pipe dream.

We Made It

2011-07-27T06:05:00.000-07:00

We are officially Missourians this morning. We had a long trip with a ridiculous amount of pit stops, for which no one person is to blame. I also got lost for a while, but we did eventually arrive in our new home.
The kids and I are enjoying a donut at the little coffee shop/daylight donuts in our new town. I haven't come up with a good blog name for it yet, so I'm open to suggestions.
There are pictures and details and stories, but this simple post will have to suffice for now. We don't have internet yet, so I will only be able to communicate periodically on the great world wide web.
Wish us luck!

Dust Bowl: The Sequel

2011-07-20T12:27:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures I took one year ago. They're from July of '10. We had a nice long rain, little expecting that it would be the last we'd see for a long time. This is our little creek at flood stage, facing first east, and then west.

Here is the same creek today. This is what a year of drought can do in western Oklahoma. We desperately need rain. It's only a minor inconvenience for some of us, but for the farmers the situation is critical. You can only haul so much water to so many cows before you start selling what you can.

A Noble Effort

2011-06-24T08:31:00.000-07:00

We took our first official homeschool field trip yesterday. I had Groupons for the Sam Noble Natural History Museum in Norman. In retrospect, we should have just gone to the Science Museum again, but live and learn. Grandma Lilibeth came along for moral support.

The kids had fun, but not enough fun to make it worth the distance and cost in meals etc. Here they are posing by the giant buffalo in front. We convinced Mim that she should move to the front of the buffalo and hold onto his nose if she felt like she needed to lean on something for the photo shoot. Let's just say it had the potential to be a much more awkward photo.

Zaya had to look in anything with a lens.

There was a small section for children to "dig" for fossils. Zaya was able to get quite a bit of enjoyment from the activity, but Mim was disappointed in the lack of discovery. The fossils were just right on the surface, and there was very little sand at all in the area. (For which Mommy said, "Thank goodness!")

I have a feeling that Zaya's not the first little boy to run immediately to this pose upon seeing the Mammoth statue. In fact, as we were leaving I saw another one doing the exact same thing.

I have a lot more pictures of Mim because she would say, "Mommy! Take a picture of me here!"

They each chose a stuffed animal. Mim's was a puppet. Zaya wanted a gigantic stuffed dinosaur, but I talked him into a cute little wolf instead. As if either of them needed another stuffed animal. Oh well. This is what happens when Daddy doesn't come along on field trips.

Summer Fun

2011-06-16T14:39:00.000-07:00

This is what you do for fun when it's 105 degrees outside (with a 25 mph wind) and your mommy has packed most of your toys. And when Art is your daddy. The victim in the middle used to be a DVD player. Electronics around here stop working at their own peril.

The kids have also played with puppies (not ours), eaten a great deal of snacks, done some school work, run around the house like maniacs and helped me hang the laundry out on the line. (The first bits had dried before we were done with the last bits.)

Hopped up on Puppy Love

2011-05-27T17:25:00.001-07:00

No, these are not our puppies. They belong to Aunt D and Uncle M. They are for sale, though, so if you'd like a cute, smart dog, let me know. (They're Mini Australian Shepherds.)

Operation Entertain

2011-05-27T14:28:00.000-07:00

1. Find Camera - Check

2. Get the kids to stop whining about how hot and bored they are - Check

Need Sleep. And Camera.

2011-05-27T04:35:00.000-07:00

I can't find my camera. It has pictures on it that I would like to put on the computer. It has the potential to take pictures that could be put on the computer in the future. It is AWOL. Annoying.

While we are definitely getting closer to our move date, we still aren't exactly sure when that will be. Art starts work on June 20, but we may not try to move the whole family until we have an actual home to move into. We hope to go look for a house next week. Wish us luck.

The kids are enjoying their summertime freedom. I've already packed most of the books, so we've made the first trip to the library. I imagine there will be many more. I plan to pack the video games last. That may make me a bad parent. It also may keep myself and the children alive until this move is over. I call that a worthwhile risk.

Both children are already awake, and it is 6:40. I'm just saying. I suppose I can't complain since I was awake before them, but went to bed at midnight. Why is this the case? I have no idea. I blame my internal alarm clock on my mother. Therefore I blame the fact that my children are also awake on my mother. You're welcome, Mom.

If you know where my camera is, please let me know. Thank you.

Glub, Glub

2011-05-13T14:30:00.000-07:00

Zaya fluctuates between interests in various branches of science, and I'm never sure what will crop up next. Lately it's been chemistry. (Or maybe earth science? Sometimes hard to separate the two.)

Last night he wanted to know all sorts of details about uranium, and this morning as well. We had to look it up on my ipod while we were waiting for class to start. Then he told me the following:

"Mom, I have a theory. I think fish can produce hydrogen. When they take oxygen out of each water molecule, there are two hydrogen atoms left, so they must release those through their gills."

I frankly had no idea about the accuracy of this, but Aaron reminded me that fish only breathe the diffused oxygen that is in water. They aren't separating the actual molecules. I knew that. Really.

I'm so glad I will not be homeschooling alone next year! Daddy and Wikipedia will both receive a lot of information requests!

The Cleansing

2011-05-02T09:56:00.000-07:00

I'm ruthlessly purging my book collection. It's painful, like attending a funeral. Some of these books have been in my library for a very long time; some were gifts; some have been read so much that the spine is broken and falling off.

I have to honestly ask myself, though, "Are you going to read this again, and if so, can you find it at a library? Will it soon be available for free on Kindle, or is it already?" (i.e. Jane Eyre and my Complete Sherlock Holmes).

My fear is that I'll get rid of some books that will soon be unavailable in the libraries through lack of use by the fickle public. I'm keeping all my Mary Stewart books because I know our little library here recently sold all of her books on their bargain rack, meaning they probably aren't going to be re-printed anytime soon. I'm also keeping Dorothy Sayers. I just can't send poor Lord Peter to the scrap heap. We've been good friends for far too long.

However, I am letting go of the following authors: Alistair MacLean, M.M Kaye, Rex Stout, Helen MacInnes, Ngaio Marsh, John Le Carre, Ellis Peters and Agatha Christie. Oh, and I'm only going to keep about half of the Terry Pratchett books. You have to understand that I owned every book by most of these authors, and they were very prolific. Yes, it takes up a lot of room. That's sort of the point.

Will I be hating myself tomorrow? Will this be a release or a regret? I don't know. The garage sale is Saturday, so I have time to recover treasures if I decide that I just can't do it.

To paraphrase the ubiquitous plaque: God grant me the courage to purge the books that I should, the serenity to keep the books that I ought, and the wisdom to know the difference.

Ode to Digestion

2011-04-19T18:27:00.001-07:00

Here's Zaya's first poem. He made it up this evening.

I had an Airhead this morning
And some banana bread at night.
My stomach is full of chyme,
And now my head is full of rhymes.

So, we have a little way to go yet before we're in Robert Frost league, both in quality and content, but you have to start somewhere, right?

I'm willing to bet he's the only person to use "chyme" in a poem. Possibly ever.

The Providers

2011-04-16T14:58:00.000-07:00

Art and the kids are currently decapitating fish in our front yard. They caught 3 catfish and one trout. Or bass. Or something. I'm not really into fish.

I'd take a picture, but they aren't wearing any pants. The kids, I mean. Art is still wearing his pants. Apparently the pants got too muddy while they were mud-skipping down at the pond. And let's face it, pants are no fun anyway. Who needs them?

I believe we're going to be eating these fish for supper, and so I'm preparing myself to swallow my own issues with catfish (Hello! They're bottom-feeders! Gross!) and guts in general, and learn how to fry fish. I have a little bag of corn meal with a picture of a fish on the front, so I'm going to assume that I just put the pieces of fish meat (filets?) into the meal, and then fry them - at a temperature that is yet to be determined.

Wish me luck.

P.S. This picture is from a Sunday walk to the farm where the fish were caught - same place, same kids, different day.

Snapshot

2011-04-01T14:20:00.000-07:00

Zaya is currently imagining that he's traveling on a giant warp-frisbee, complete with extreme details about how it travels.

I dread the day when he stops telling us what he's imagining.

Specifically because that will probably mean that it involves girls in some way.

Meet Goki

2011-03-29T12:02:00.000-07:00

This is what happens when Mim runs around with my camera.

You have to admit, he is pretty cute.

Mim Listens In

2011-03-10T17:42:00.000-08:00

While we have not gone out of our way to hide the impending job change from the children, we have also decided not to sit down and address it with them yet. I was surprised that they hadn't picked up on it all from our conversations with other friends and family. (Well, I was surprised that Mim hadn't picked up on it. I have ceased to be surprised by what subtleties of human contact pass by Zaya.)

I guess I've been a little worried about how they would handle it. We moved so much when I was a child that it seemed normal and adventurous for me. By the time I was Zaya's age, I had moved seven times, and two years after that it was nine. He has moved twice, and the second time was a return to his first home, and only two blocks away. Mim is fairly sensitive to some things, and completely brutal about others, so both of their reactions are complete unknowns.

However...

A few days ago the kids and I were sitting on the floor sorting through piggy bank change and the following conversation ensued between Mim and Zaya.

Mim: I want to go to the Air and Space Museum again as a field trip.
Zaya: I want to go to Daddy's work and see the big machines.
Mim: Well, you'll have to do that pretty quick.
Zaya: Why?
Mim: Because Daddy's work is closing down and he won't be there for much longer.

She went on to say that her information came from hearing "Mommy and Daddy talking about it." Zaya didn't believe her at first, but I confirmed the information, and then waited for the response. Zaya thought for a little bit and then said, "I think he should get a job at Wal-mart. I bet they make lots of money there because they sell things."

So yeah, they're taking it fairly well.

In the next couple days Zaya expressed concern about Art finding a job, but not a real worry, I don't think. So far they're probably handling the stress better than the grown-ups are.

The Moment

2011-03-07T16:27:00.000-08:00

It is definitely time for Spring Break. The kids are nearing their breaking point school-wise. Even Zaya, Mr. Even-Keel himself, is getting teary and moody in the evenings.

"But Mom, I'm so tired of paperwork!"

I narrowed it down to his primary gripe which is...handwriting.

I can't blame him. I always hated handwriting. Not the act of writing, but all the practice. He actually has surprisingly good cursive, considering his genetics. (I write like a neurotic 13-year-old boy.) Maybe that's the problem. He takes a long time to get it right, and so spends twice as long on his paper as a normal kid his age.

I'm not going to let him know that I agree with his assessment of the excessive amount of cursive required for a first-grader, because I am not the kind of mommy who sides against the school, but it is a bit much.

On a good note, Mim is doing better this week with the crying in the mornings. She's finally decided that it isn't so bad, and there is nothing to be afraid of. Well not much.

She has all these (unreasonable) fears. She's afraid of getting a bad grade, getting in trouble and being made to eat all her lunch. None of which fears have any basis in reality. She has a wonderful teacher, and she never, ever gets in trouble for anything. Oh, except crying because she's scared she'll get in trouble.

Anyway.

We are ready for Spring Break. Unfortunately, I can see all this starting back up again as soon as we head back.

So basically, I'm struggling to live in the moment, because the moment is a bit stressful and whiny. Breathe in...breathe out...breathe in...breathe out. Eat chocolate.

Still Here

2011-03-02T15:31:00.000-08:00

This is just to let you know that we're all still here. I haven't blogged in a while, and there's no one reason for it. Life is a little hectic right now, and so much of what I want to say belongs in a more private setting, I suppose.

The price of fame.

Okay, fame is a strong word.

What about...the price of putting your journal on the web and giving all your friends and family access.

Suffice it to say, everything is fine, but I'm stressed, and when I'm stressed, I have no creative abilities.

Art's job will officially end on April 1. The plant is closing, and over one hundred employees from W'ville and the surrounding communities will be jobless. That means job hunting, which isn't something we're very experience with.

If anyone knows of a good position for an aerospace/mechanical engineer who has been doing process engineering for the last seven years, let me know.

Fireside Chat

2011-02-26T15:23:00.000-08:00

Here is how Art and Mimmy spent their evening earlier this week.

A little father-daughter origami. They made a goldfish. Why not?

It is To Laugh

2011-02-20T06:15:00.000-08:00

Here are some of Zaya's newest jokes.

(At a late-night McDonald's where half of the golden arches were not working.)

"Look, a Lunar McClipse!"

"What do you call a baby bird that says his pledge to the flag every morning and evening?"
"A Pledgling"

What's the best dressed fish in the ocean?
A swordfish. He always looks sharp!"

(Inspired by his accidental mispronunciation of the word pepper)

"Where does Peeper go when you eat it?"
"To your urethra"

OK, so the last one is disgusting. But he's a guy, I guess, so potty humor is going to factor into the next several years of my life, whether I like it or not.

Snow Days

2011-02-09T16:36:00.001-08:00

Between Influenza B and the Oklahoma snow, we've had more days home than not in the last few weeks.

Here's how we occupy ourselves when we're not trying to finish the insane amount of make-up work that they have from school. (A Beka requires way too much handwriting!)

Mim builds towers. Here are two of them. In the second, Barbie (unclothed, as usual) is "reading a story" to the other characters.

Mim also plays in the snow when I will let her. So does Zay, but I don't have a picture of him.

Zay plays video games whenever I'll let him.

He likes to play the piano as well, but rarely plays the actual songs that he supposed to practice for this weeks lesson. For instance, today, he's pulled out his old primer book from last year and is playing through it again.

I do dishes. And cook. And then do dishes again.

I also get crazy schemes in my head to sort through all the kids' nonfiction and make a list on the computer by category. Yes, these books did get put away again before Art got home.

Oh, and Mim also takes pictures with my camera. Below are two of her pictures. The Gecko's name is Coyote and the fish is Long John.

Ambrosial Canaries

2011-01-27T12:39:00.000-08:00

The Teeson family is officially in day 2 of quarantine. Zaya came down with the flu (the sniffly, coughy, fevery kind) and we were instructed by the clinic doctor that he cannot go back to school until Monday.

So we have been playing house for a couple days, and will continue to do so tomorrow. He's feeling much better, (thank you, God, for Tamiflu) and is now at the "bored" stage. I'm trying to limit the video games, because it's been a little ridiculous lately. However, hours of them have been played in the last two days. I'll start being a good mom later. Probably.

Mim, not being sick, started out at the bored stage. "But Mommy, I just want somebody to play with me." Of course, we all know who that "somebody" is. She decided she wanted to help me clean this afternoon, so she's sweeping the hall with her broom.

After a short walk to get the mail, we decided that it was so beautiful outside, we weren't really ready to go back in yet. After a little running around with wagon and some bike riding, (just Mim and Mommy) Mim came in and got a couple of towels for enhanced sunbathing experience. Never mind that we're all wearing sweats. The sun on our feet and faces was enough. Zaya stayed out for a while to read his Baby Blues comic book.

I have spent the last two days in almost total self-indulgence as I re-re-re-re-read two of my favorite books. Dorothy Sayers's Gaudy Night and Busman's Honeymoon. If you're going to read them, however, I would recommend starting with the earlier Lord Peter Wimsey stories. You at least have to read Strong Poison and Have his Carcase* first. I'm now doing penance by cleaning the kitchen and living room. Again. Well, I say now, but I mean before and after this little bloggy interlude.

*British spelling for 'carcass'.

Christmas in Texas

2011-01-06T17:07:00.000-08:00

I've decided that if I try to write a long explanation for all the pictures in this post, I will never actually post it. So here it is. Lots of family, wonderful fun and an all around great Christmas. With the addition of our Chicago relatives on the webcam we were all together. I love Christmas!

Big Christmas #1

2011-01-01T06:52:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures from Christmas at Great-Grandma T's house. She decided to start a new tradition this year, so after another huge meal, each of her children spoke a little about their childhood memories. Then Grandma talked about how she met Grandpa T (who passed away in '05) and their first houses and farms. It was a nice change from the usual present chaos. We all lit a candle, as we always do, (the children have little battery-powered tea lights. Grandma's sharp.) Zaya read the verse this year, and we sang a few songs together.

MT, Art's cousin, is playing the guitar, and I'm playing my new Djembe, which Aaron bought me for my birthday this year. (Thanks, Babe!) I'm talking to NT, another of Art's cousins, and the one who loaned me the super warm jacket I'm wearing. (The sun room was colder than it's name would lead you to think.

Then we opened presents, because the kids couldn't wait any longer.

Mim with Jaida and Addy, her beloved cousins.

Little Jack had a great time with all the paper and gifts and attention.

We used the money from Great-Grandma to buy the family one-year memberships to the Science Museum and the OKC zoo. These little squishy, transparent animals represented that in tangible form so that they would have something to open.

Incidentally, this will be known as the year of the bunny ears. It has become an automatic response to seeing a camera raised.

It will also be known as the year of the gap-toothed smile.

Aunt L gave us all a hard drive loaded with family pictures...a lot of family pictures. It is amazing. There are all the pictures of the ancestors and then Grandma and Grandpa and their children and all the way down to the greats. And not just one picture of each- folders and folders of pictures. We discovered that Mim doesn't just look like Mommy. She also has a bit of Great Grandma T in her.

This is Great-Grandma in first grade...

...and Mim at 5 1/2.

We very much enjoyed seeing everyone, and it was especially nice to see Uncle J and Aunt C from California. They're such fun to talk with and they always have great book and movie ideas, too. Aunt C is very crafty, and has a great Etsy store with her hand-printed fabrics and original designs. Someday soon we want to head out to CA and visit them. We just have get up the nerve for a plane flight or a very long drive.

2010-12-22T16:32:00.000-08:00

We had our little family Christmas this morning. I wanted the kids to have one whole day to enjoy their gifts and the company of Mommy and Daddy. They were so excited this morning, and were both up taking a bath by 6:30. (Which was the earliest I let them get up. They weren't allowed to come get Mommy until 7, but I couldn't sleep either. I'm a kid at heart, I guess.)

I can't find my camera. I remember having it with me on Monday at the assisted living center where Betty lives, but I don't remember it after that, so I'm worried about its whereabouts. I hope someone stumbles across it very soon, because it is the wrong time of year to misplace your only good camera!

Luckily, Art was a sweetheart and bought me an ipod to replace the one Zaya dropped in the toilet last week. It has a camera, so I used that for our pictures this morning. They aren't great, but at least they exist!

Here's Zaya with his Penicillin. We're trying to build up the "good guys" section of his plush microbe collection since he's about to get a few more "bad guys" from Grandma Lilibeth.

Mim is playing with her DS. We got each kid one, and they were both ecstatic. This ended up being a fairly hefty Christmas bill, but the hope is that the next few years will be less in comparison. (We'll see how that goes.)

Art also bought me a lovely set of silver, Celtic rings. I'm so excited, and I'm trying to be very good and not lose them. So far it's been almost 12 hours. While that isn't a record, it's certainly an accomplishment for me.

Here's Art putting together Mim's fort. As per usual, she drug it out, and we had to put it together. Oh well. That's what being a parent is all about, I suppose. Well, you know, that and all the the training and loving stuff.

Recovering

2010-12-16T08:27:00.000-08:00

The first spelling bee is officially over. Zaya's class of three little boys joined the first graders at the C campus, so there were about 18 children competing. Zaya didn't win, but he did well. He made it to the final round, anyway. He went out on the word "crawl". He started with C-R-A-L then said, "wait, wait! It's A-W-L!" but of course, she had to take his first response. Oh well. He didn't cry or pout. (Probably because Mrs. P gave candy canes and a hug to each kid as they misspelled their word. She's an excellent and very experienced teacher.) (In the picture, Zaya is spelling his word in the practice round. The lady in the green sweater is his teacher, Mrs. D)

And that may be the only spelling bee we'll ever participate in. This week has made me thankful that we'll be home-schooling next year. All the stress is ridiculous. I love Christmas, but with all the school and church commitments, it's become almost unbearable at moments. Oddly enough, Mim has been the stable one this week. She's usually the one who is fearful and worried, but I think God knew that I needed someone to keep track of me, so He's given Mim an especially sweet temper and a helpful spirit lately.

I just have to keep reminding myself that God's incredible blessings come with responsibilities. I'm so glad that I have my two children. They're healthy, bright, active, obedient children, and they make me happy. They are able to attend a small school where they are loved and surrounded by good, Christian teachers and friends, which is also a blessing. Worrying about a spelling bee is so far down on the list of things a mother could conceivably worry about that I'm ashamed of how much it has been bothering me.

Our families and friends are amazing. I can turn to so many people, and know that they will help me out of my own stupid predicaments. For that, too, I am thankful.
And I'm especially thankful for my husband, who has the patience of Job and wisdom of Solomon. Or close enough, anyway.

God forgive me for my whining, and help me live in this moment. Breathing in grace, and breathing out peace. What's done, is done, and what is yet to come will pass too quickly.

Too Much

2010-12-15T19:12:00.001-08:00

This has not been my day. Sure, it could've been much worse, but still. For one thing, I'm just too busy. There were too many demands on my time, energy, money and patience today. This evening, between 5 and 9, I had four different events/practices to make, all of which overlapped with the next event/practice. It was hectic.

This afternoon, I tried to check out at Wal-mart only to discover that I didn't have my debit card. I had to call Aaron to come from work and pay for my items. (I had purchased some things for a church group that I had to bring tonight.) (I found the debit card later. Apparently I had left it at Walgreens yesterday.) And to just really set the evening rolling right, Zaya dropped my iPod touch in the toilet right before we left the house for the first event at 4:50. Yes, that's right, in the toilet. It's toast. Kaput. Dead.

He's heartbroken and very remorseful, so his daddy and I are trying to keep a stiff upper lip about the whole thing, but it's hard.

Poor Zaya, he's having the same kind of week that I am. He cried quite a bit this evening, each time saying things like, "I just keep doing things wrong." And he has been especially spacey this week. I think we're all just overwhelmed and stressed beyond reason. Oh, and, he has a spelling bee tomorrow morning, (Yes, he's in first grade. It's maybe a bit ridiculous at this age, but whatever) so he's very stressed about that because he's entirely capable of forgetting where he is or what he's supposed to be doing at any given moment. Especially this week and after a late night.

The kids still have school until next Tuesday, then we have Christmas celebrations on the 22nd, 23rd, 24th, 25th and 26th. It's going to be a wild ride. I'm just glad we have a week off after that to recover from all the fun.

I could use a week right now, or even a day, of quiet, restful peace. It's not going to happen for a while though. Zaya and I will just have to comfort each other.

I Promise, It Was Just Root Beer!

2010-12-12T05:21:00.000-08:00

We had a little birthday get-together at my parents' home yesterday. (Art and I have a birthday this next week.) After lunch and opening our presents (thanks, everyone!) we played a game that we've discovered in the last few years called Telestrations. We were first introduced to it by some sunday school leaders, and have since found an actual board game with nifty flip-cards to use instead of paper.

Here's the basic idea. Each person reads a word off of a card, and then tries to draw a picture of that word on the first page of their paper. They pass it to their right. That person looks at the picture, then flips to the second page and writes their guess as to what that picture was supposed to be. Sometimes this is easier than others, as will be made clear to you in a bit. This person then passes it on to the next and in that way it makes it all around the table. If you have eight players, then there will be eight booklets making their way around the table. Here's a great demo from our game yesterday. Further proof that my family is a little bit strange! (As if that were needed.)

This was my word. It was "Airhead". So I drew this.

Art somehow knew what this was. Kudos to him.

My brother, Elijah, then drew his own bizarre idea of an airhead.

And his lovely wife somehow knew what he meant, too. I'm glad we've both married people who can somehow understand us!

Then my sister, Claye, got hold of it. You have to understand that Claye is an artist. Which means her brain works differently from normal people. (Yeah, I love you too, Sis!)

Now, what would you guess if faced with this Dali-on-LSD drawing? My dad decided it was...

Yes, that says, "Chef Boyardee on Mind Blowing drugs", which mom then had to try to draw.

Being a little young for the concept of "mind blowing drugs" (thank goodness), Zaya went for the obvious.

Thus ended my little booklet. I wish I could show you some of the others. There were several classics this time. For instance, my dad had to draw a "flower child", so he drew a stick man with long hair and a head band holding a flower and a long 'cigarette'. Mom somehow pulled "anniversary" out of that. Makes you wonder, doesn't it? (She said she thought the cigarette was a candle.)

Change of Plans

2010-12-09T07:31:00.000-08:00

We are officially home on a sick day, again. Mim became sick to her stomach about a block from school this morning, so I decided to keep Zaya home too and we turned around and came back home.

We're having a warm, cozy day instead of the insanely busy, hectic day I had planned. I had to make about 5 phone calls this morning to cancel aforementioned hectic day, but there's a certain freedom in that. Of course, Mim's sick, which makes for stress and occasional misery, but we're trying to look at the bright side. She's watching Casper and drinking rice broth with newly washed hair and clean, warm pjs.

I ought to be using this time to work on the house, but the motivation is so very lacking. I think I'll be doing good to keep up with the laundry. Ooh, and maybe we can all take a nap this afternoon. I think we might be able to salvage this day yet! Just pray with me that the virus is quick and doesn't pass like wildfire.

A Good Kind of Crazy

2010-12-08T07:53:00.000-08:00

I think I've purchased all my Christmas presents. I think. Every time I walk into a store, though, I remember something else I was planning to pick up or someone else that I'm supposed to buy a present for.

My bedroom is equally full of laundry and presents. I promise they're separated. Don't worry. No one's present should smell like dirty socks. Probably.

The kids, of course, are about to be spoiled rotten, once again. I'm so thankful that they aren't very materialistic. Yet, anyway. We talk about it quite a bit, and I'm hoping to counter the culture as much as possible. I mean, as much as I can while still showering them with gifts a couple times a year. What can I say? I love giving gifts!

All that to say, I'm a little overwhelmed right now. They kids are in school until Dec. 21st. Which is crazy, in my opinion. We will have our little family celebration on the 22nd, because we will have large, gift-ful family get-togethers on the 23rd, 24th, 25th and 26th. If everything goes according to the current plan, of course. Things change, I realize. So I have exactly 0 free days of Christmas vacation to clean my house or wrap presents or try to remember who in the world I bought that necklace for.

And So On and So Forth

2010-11-27T17:16:00.000-08:00

Here's a quick rundown of our latest exploits.

We've been enjoying our wood stove, and Art has discovered a clever solution for the floating ash problem we had last year when we tried to clean it out. It's loud, but effective. And we've only had one live coal actually enter the chamber of the vacuum.

The kids had a Thanksgiving Musical at the larger of the two campuses of the little Christian school that they're attending this year. It was...long...but the kids sang to a full house of family and friends who loved them anyway.

Zaya is the little guy at the very end on the left. He was as enthusiastic as always, and only horsed around with the kid next to him between songs, so I guess that's something.

Zaya lost his first tooth. And the peasants rejoiced. Ok, well, just he rejoiced, but it was some rejoicing.

We had several Thanksgiving dinners, and got to see lots of family, which is always wonderful. As usual, I forgot to take my camera out until the absolute last minute when the last few were leaving. Here's a smattering of the almost 30 family members that we had together at Lilibeth's house on Thursday.

It was especially nice to see our relatives from New Mexico. C'J was there, and her husband and her two daughters, Alli and Ren. I don't think we'd ever actually met, but I feel like we all know each other so well because of the miracle of the internet.

Oh, and they also brought their puppy, Bailey. Mim thought she was "super awesome."

Then I went shopping with my mother-in-law and sister-in-law on Black Friday. They were at Wal-mart at midnight, but I waited and met them in W'ville at five. Then we all went to the City and spent way too much money, as usual. It was fun, though, and I'll probably do it again next year. Call me crazy. I bought several pair of tights for Mim. They were too big. Tell me if you think these should fit a four year old. (They were sized 4-6x)

Trying Something New

2010-10-30T18:20:00.001-07:00

Based on my theory that something forbidden gains extra mystery and wonder, I decided to let the kids Trick or Treat this year. I really hate Halloween. However, I love costumes and candy, and so do little kids. Obviously a problem. Thankfully, our tiny little town is a very safe place to live, and the people here are great. Not a single house we passed went out of their way to be scary or creepy in any way. We know everyone (or almost, anyway) and can tell you who their relatives are and most of their life story. If there's anywhere that it's safe to Trick or Treat, this would be the place.

Needless to say, the kids loved it. Their country cousins came to join us, and they went around a few blocks near our home. (Based on another theory, which is that if you make them walk the whole time, they get tired more quickly. Shorter time equals less candy.) My sister-in-law and I walked around with them the entire time, and it was just enough of a success that the kids enjoyed themselves, but not so much that they'll be obsessing about it all year. Perfect.

Jaida is a southern Belle, and Addy is a fairy princess. Little Jack is too busy flying around saving the world to make into many pictures. (He's Superman.)

Here's Zaya in his costume. In case you can't tell, and surely everyone can, right? right? he is Luke Skywalker. He has his Mark Hamill hair going on right now, so I thought that would be perfect. He didn't argue, because what little geek doesn't want to be Luke Skywalker...even if their only contact with the Star Wars series is through the Lego game.

Mim wanted to be a cat. Not any specific cat, just "a cat". Well, ok. So mommy tried to come up with a cat costume. The ears were a loaner from our friend Ms Julie. Otherwise, we just improvised. She especially loved her tail, which will be visible in later photos.

Zaya led the charge to the houses while the girls followed more demurely (but only slightly) behind.

We went by Lisa (formerly Tina) and C'uncle M's (also known as Blondie) house. Yes, that's right, they share the same house now, because they recently got married. If I had remembered to take my camera to their wedding, I would have a post about that too. You'll just have to imagine it. (It was lovely.)

Mim was really working the tail in these pictures. We had to try so hard to stop laughing, because it really was hilarious, but she wouldn't have understood why. I did not know my daughter had those kinds of moves.

At some point in the evening, Mim began losing her black spots. (She should have four on her back.) One of them is visible in this picture. Can you spot it?

It must have been a Jedi mind trick.

Brave New World

2010-10-29T06:10:00.000-07:00

We are now the proud owners of a Tokay Gecko named Coyote. (in Spanish, so it's pronounced more like coy-o-tay) Zaya's hermit crabs died last month, and I had promised him that when the hermit crabs died, he could get a different pet. I talked him out of the snake, and the tarantula, but then he decided he wanted a lizard, and there was no convincing him otherwise. So, a lizard it is. (It looks just like the one in the picture, but that's not ours.)

The tricky part-

1. Geckos only eat live crickets (and other small, soft-shelled insects). The crickets have to be "gut-loaded", which means fed a super-diet of nutritious cricket food. The crickets have be dusted in calcium powder before the Gecko eats them.

2. Geckos need their vivarium to be at a fairly high temperature, so there should be a heat lamp going at all times. Heat lamps make me nervous. His cage has to stay at a fairly high humidity level too. He should have lots of live plants and large sticks to climb on. (Although ours just seems to hang out on the glass all day.)

3. The Tokay Gecko is called "the pit-bull of the gecko world" for its aggressive nature and ferocious bite. It should not be handled. Once it bites, it doesn't want to let go. Or so we've heard.

So why did we get a Tokay Gecko? Well, first, I foolishly made a promise to my son, thinking his hermit crabs were going to defy the laws of nature and live forever. Second, the other lizards were at least $50 more than the Gecko. Third, I had no idea how complicated it would be. But mostly I blame Geico.

So now we're on the lookout for a bigger terrarium, a good source of live crickets and a super-safe, kid-friendly heat lamp with a low-light night option.

At least it's not a tarantula.

Working Things Through

2010-10-26T15:09:00.000-07:00

I promise we're all still here. I don't know what's happened to my blogging motivation. It just seems like there's nothing to say once I sit down to the computer. Oh, things are happening, but I have trouble believing that they would interest anyone. Life is busy and stressful, but in a good way.

School is going well for the kids. We recently had parent teacher conferences, and everything is progressing as it should, I guess. I love the school that they are going to right now, but we've been talking a lot about what we'll do next year. We're seriously considering homeschool for a while. Even here, I don't feel like I can explain myself, and I know a lot of people would tell me I don't have to, so I won't. Suffice it to say, that it would really just work for us right now in many different ways. We'll continue to support the little Christian school that they're in right now, because I believe very strongly in what they're doing, and they are awesome people.

Every day, though, when I leave the house at 7:30 (late again) and get home at 4 (after having driven all over and done a kajillion things) I think, "Hmmm. Home. Just us." And the thought feels like a cup of warm milk to a midnight insomniac. I don't know what all might happen between now and next summer, but as of October the 26th, 2010, that is my plan for the next school year.

Here are a couple of pictures from this last week. Mim is drawing something on her board, and the first two pictures were cute and smiley. This is the look I get when she's had quite enough of the camera and would just like me to mind my own business for a while.

I recently bought a new game for the kids from thinkgeek. It's called Aba-conundrums, and is a series of puzzles to use with an abacus. It's teaching them how to use the abacus and some basic logic skills. Here's Zaya working on a puzzle.

Crackle, Crackle

2010-10-05T12:17:00.000-07:00

We're getting excited about firing up the wood stove for the first time. We haven't yet, of course, but nights are getting very, very cold. Well, ok, sort of cold. Coldish. Cool, if you will.

You have to understand that our house stays at about 80 degrees throughout the summer. It might be 77 or 78 in the early morning, and 82 in the afternoon. So waking up to 67 in the morning, feels downright chilly.

I'm sure I'll be tired of hauling wood around from the backyard within a few weeks, but for now, I'm looking forward to having a warm place to stand and try to coax circulation back into my fingers.

Mim, on the other hand, still sleeps with her fan on, and last night she opened her window so she could have "a little cool air". I know she's my child, but sometimes I wonder...

Gifted

2010-09-27T16:55:00.000-07:00

When people tell me that they are amazed at the time and effort I spend for my Hispanic friends, I have to laugh.

I wish they could see how much they do for me. My friends will talk to me about anything, which means I get to do the same. They have taught me Spanish, which is a wonderful gift. They give of themselves and their talents constantly. They make me jewelry and food. They find clothes for me and my children. They're absolutely fantastic ladies.

My life would be so much less without them. What are ESL classes and the occasional errand compared to that kind of relationship?

Here is tonight's supper, courtesy of my good friend Maria. She says that I am her angel, but little does she know...

The kids are very grateful too, for obvious reasons.

The Amazing Invisible Fish

2010-09-16T07:31:00.000-07:00

Zaya bought a few fish several weeks ago, one of which is a "glass cat". I think we used to call them x-ray fish. But whatever.

The point is that glass cats, being basically transparent, are hard to spot. All you really see is a backbone, some ribs, and a few tiny organs floating around in the tank. (Hence the fish's name- Backbone.)

Backbone disappeared several weeks ago. We assumed he was dead, but we couldn't find his body, being, as I've said, all but invisible. Art said we should take the plant and the little castle out of tank and see if he died in there, because it wasn't good for the tank if a fish and his mortal coil were left to finish out the universal cycle of life in a small, five-gallon tank.

But we never got around to it. Mostly because I am, let's face it, lazy.

Yesterday evening, though, Backbone was spotted again swimming around! Seriously, it's been weeks! I have no idea where that fish was all that time. I suppose he was hiding out in the castle.

I guess I would too if all my inner organs were available for constant viewing.

La Vida Loca

2010-09-15T15:57:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I've blogged anything, and I'm feeling a little guilty.

Life is progressing normally here, which is to say, just short of utter chaos. But we're happy, relatively healthy, and doing our best to do our best. Unfortunately, that doesn't leave us with much time for taking cute pictures.

The kids are enjoying school, which is a relief. Mim isn't crying at all this year, even though she is at school all day instead of half. I'm running around constantly, yet not actually getting much done, somehow. Wish I could figure that out.

I could use some prayer from my faithful friends and family. Nothing big, just struggling with some chronic health issues that make it hard to be the kind, patient, self-disciplined lady I'd like to be.

Thanks.

So much fun, so little time

2010-09-04T13:50:00.000-07:00

We're enjoying the last warm days as much as possible. The kids play with Daddy in the evenings, and on weekends, and they're soaking in all their "outside recesses" at school, too.

Yesterday they did some trampoline jumping, as usual.

Today, they're playing in the mud while Art does a little amateur terraforming.

And then there's the swingset. Mim has recently discovered that there are quite a few things she can do without Mommy's help now. It's very freeing for both of us.

Art - The Recessive Gene

2010-09-02T16:57:00.000-07:00

The kids and I played pictionary this evening. Let me just say that it is surprisingly difficult to guess what a five and six year old have drawn when they were the ones coming up with the ideas in the first place. (We don't have the official Pictionary game, so we just think up something, and then draw it.)

Here are the things Zaya thought up.
A cold virus
A sand dollar
Muddy Water
A virus, bacteria and amoeba
A Bird's eye view of a pyramid in the desert
And a vertical division sign.
Oh, and also a microscopic view of denim jeans.

How many of those do you think we guessed?

Yeah, that's right. Not very many.

Mim drew:

A computer screen with a radar image on it
Our house, with the three of us drawing
A tree being blown around in a T-storm

These kids are nuts.

Just to give you an idea of how difficult this was for Mommy, here are three of the pictures. You tell me what you think they are.

ABC - 123

2010-08-23T19:34:00.000-07:00

The kids started kindergarten and 1st grade on August 12th, and so far, so good. Mim and Zaya are both enjoying their classes and teachers, and Mim is tear-free, and staying all day, every day. Here they are on the first day of school.

I miss them during the day, but it's also wonderful to have so much time to be productive. Of course, that means I have no excuses now for not getting the house clean, cooking good meals, writing, exercising, blogging and, most importantly, having a quiet time. Guess I'll have to work on that "self-discipline" thing this year.

The kids' only disappointment so far are that they have only learned one cursive letter (Mim) and they're still just counting and adding ones (Zaya). I'd say those are minor complaints, given all the possibilities.

Generational

2010-08-21T09:12:00.000-07:00

Mim and I at five years old. Obviously, my mother was a lot more patient with long hair than I am. I'd love for Mim to have long hair, but I'm not ready to face all that brushing. Oh, and the bangs thing, well, it was 1985. What can I say?

Here I am as a flowergirl at Auntie M's wedding.

Here's Mim as the flower girl at Auntie M's daughter's wedding. I forgot how young I was at the time. Mim has a good year and a half on me.

Part 1 of Too Many

2010-08-20T15:02:00.001-07:00

So much has happened this last month, that I've had very little time or energy to chronicle all of it like a good mommy/blogger would. Here are some pictures to begin a quick run-through.

My cousin got married on Aug. 7th, and the kids were flower girl and ring bearer. There were two other flower girls also. The three of them looked a bit like a Clairol commercial. (To quote an observer).

I have a picture that is very similar to this last one of Mim eating her pre-wedding snack. It's from my own stint as flower girl at my aunt's wedding. That would be the mother of the bride of this wedding. Coincidence? I certainly didn't plan it, but it worked out well. (If you have that picture, Mom, it would be very nice of you to scan and upload it. Hint hint.)

My eyes are already starting to hurt, so I'll have to finish the rest of the month's activities later. That's another reason I haven't posted much. The computer makes my eyes/head hurt. =(

Sousa Rolls Over

2010-08-02T10:06:00.001-07:00

There are three little girls (3,4,and 5) marching around my house right now to Stars and Stripes Forever. They're all playing percussion instruments, too. "A perfect picture opportunity," you might exclaim. Well, yes, it would be, except that they're all in their panties.

See, I would've blogged a lot more this summer if my children wore more clothes.

My nieces, Jaida and Addy, are playing here this morning, and it's just been one big adventure after another.

Thank goodness for iTunes. I don't know when I picked up this "Great American Marches" CD, but it's going to help fill up this last hour.

Zaya, on the other hand, has mostly just been reading and wandering around looking at his fish and avoiding all the women in the house. He's "not in the mood for parade." Can't blame him. I'm not either. I'm more in the mood for Excedrin right now.

"Fish?" you say. Yes, we are now the proud owners of three fish. The kids bought them last week, and are completely in love. I'll introduce the fish soon in their own special post. The fish aren't wearing any clothes either, but I think we can risk a picture or two.

Weekend Craziness

2010-07-27T06:12:00.001-07:00

Well, it happened. My brother is actually married. The wedding was this last Saturday, and we had a wonderful time. Lots of family came to visit, and it was great to get to see everyone again.

I got pitifully few pictures of the festivities, but here are a couple.

Here are the kids with my new sister-in-law "Marie". She was a beautiful bride, and she's a sweet girl, too. I look forward to getting to know her through the years. Mim and Zaya were the flower girl and ring bearer, as you can probably tell.

Here are my brother and sister (Elisha and Claye) with my cousin Moose. My sister is on the right.

This is my father's family, minus one cousin and his family that couldn't make the trip from Arkansas. I don't know why I didn't get a picture of my mother's family. It is much, much bigger as she had five siblings to my father's one. Hopefully I'll get one from the professional photos that were taken.

The kids had the camera for a while, so we have several pictures of people from the perspective of their kneecaps. I thought this one turned out well, though. Art looked very handsome in his tux. (He was the best man.)

We also had some sad news this weekend. A man in my parent's church passed away after a very brief battle with cancer. He was a wonderful man, and left behind many children and grandchildren as well as a wife and countless friends. For more about him see my mother's heart-wrenching post.

Then My husband's uncle passed away two days later after a very extended battle with cancer. He left a wife and four children (all in their twenties). We've known this was coming for a long time, but that doesn't mean we aren't all grieving for him.

Needless to say, we've been through the emotional ringer this week. And with the funeral for Art's uncle this Saturday, and my dear cousin's wedding next weekend (in which the kids are RB and FG again) it doesn't look like that status will be changing for a little while.

Vacation: The Reprise

2010-07-17T05:41:00.000-07:00

I suppose I should be a good girl and post about our vacation before I forget all the details. I've been dreading it, but not because we didn't have a great time or I don't have any pictures. It's because we had too much fun, and there's too much I want to say, and we have too many pictures!

I'll try to be kind to my reading public, all three of you.

Today will just be a basic overview of what we did and where we went. Maybe I'll have the mental and emotional fortitude to go into more detail or funny stories as the week progresses.

The first day, we went to see the Alabaster Caverns. They weren't as great as I remember from my own childhood, but the kids seemed suitably impressed. They were disappointed that we didn't see any bats. Here they are when hope was still alive.

We headed to the Great Salt Plains Lake, and checked into our cute little cabin. Air conditioning, and clean bathroom with shower, and a kitchen with refrigerator, stove and microwave are my idea of camping.

We all swam and made sandcastles and hunted for fossils up on the dam. Great fun! (The water was warm and perfect that first day, but by the next it was quite a bit colder and had risen a good deal because of flooding in the region.)

This lake is very shallow. Art went all the way out to the limit of the swimming area, and it was only up to his chest. It's supposed to be that way through most all of the lake.

The next morning we dug for selenite crystals at the nearby Salt Plains. Here's Art with his excavation. Because of the heavy rains the week before, we were able to find most of our crystals in the washed out piles left by previous diggers. The kids did a good deal of scavenging.

We played board games in our cabin each evening. The kids were also introduced to the American traditions of Battleship and Uno.

On Thursday we went to Leonardo's Discovery Warehouse in Enid. They loved the huge treehouse/play area, but were stung by wasps from the firehouse in the background of this picture. They had completely recovered by the time we went back inside. It was a wonderful little place for kids.

We went to eat at IHOP, a first for the kids, and a lady who was passing our table on her way back from the bathroom offered to take our picture.

Then we went to the mall in Enid, which is a sort of sad and pathetic shell of what it used to be. Or so we heard. The most impressive thing we found was the three pound lollipop at Candyopolis. The lady had us take it out so the kids could get a picture with it. I think she was just so excited to have a customer she didn't know what to do with herself. She was offering the kids free candy and helping us with our picture and telling us that we looked like a military family. (Yeah, I was confused too.) I love living in Oklahoma. The people are great! (OK, most of them)

Anyway, that evening we went on a (ostensibly) four mile hike. The map was wrong, and we did a good deal of circling, so I think it must been more than that.

There are all sorts of funny little things that happened, but that's your basic overview. Here we all are standing by the spillway, saying howdy to our families back home.

Drip Drop

2010-07-12T13:01:00.000-07:00

Well, we asked for it, and we got it. Rain, rain, rain. Luckily we were on vacation for most of it, so we had sunny skies and swimming a few hours away while our little home town got soaked.

The morning of July fourth was wet, but it didn't damper anyone's enthusiasm. Here are the kids ready for church.

Art and the kids and I went out walking the morning before we left on our little vacation and we got pictures of the creek here in our little town. It was flooding out of its banks and almost touching the top of the bridge.

I'll post vacation pictures soon. We had a wonderful time, but the house hasn't fully recovered yet from our return. We had a fund-raiser golf tournament and two wedding showers in the two days following our return, so there hasn't really been time to process it all.

Summer Sloth and Citadels

2010-07-01T13:40:00.000-07:00

This has been a strange day in our home, in that we're still here and have been since we woke up. That has only happened once or twice since summer started. We'll be going in to Grandma Lilibeth's church tonight for VBS, so we won't be home all day, but we have been so far. I've been a very bad girl and spent an unspecified amount of time reading a fairly depressing Alistair MacLean book. The kids have eaten, however, and are tolerably happy and healthy, so all is not lost.

As soon as I came out of my literary stupor, Mim talked me into helping with a fort. It kept expanding and now encompasses three dining room chairs, two small Poangs, a coffee table, a piano bench and two play tents. Oh, and two blankets and two sheets and a bunch of clothes pins.

Here Mim is beckoning her brother over to join in her fun. (He's busy reading a Foxtrot book. Like mother like son.)

And here's a shot of the inside. You can't tell from the picture, but it tunnels quite a way. That big red bowl there is "the caterpillar bowl". You might say, "But Carina, that looks like one of your nice mixing bowls!" And you would be right. As of this morning, however, it became a home for three caterpillars. Mim promises that they will be released by morning, but I'm going to try to talk her into letting them go before we leave this evening.

Oh, and if you're wondering, this is a Poang. In deference to my Grandpa P and all his hyper-literal progeny, I will also add that this is a Poang even if you are not wondering.

Not Quite the Olympics

2010-06-30T07:00:00.000-07:00

Gymnastics is officially over, and although we didn't exactly uncover any hidden gymnastics talents, the kids did well. They enjoyed it, but were also glad to be done.

Zaya particularly didn't like the stretching. He said it made his knees hurt. Probably an indication that he should do more of it.

I have to admit, I was hoping they would really love it. Gymnastics was my obsession as a child. They are their own little people, though, with their own personalities and talents and interests. I'm not going to be pushy, but I do want to make sure they have the opportunity to find where they can shine.

Maybe I should've found an entomology class instead.

Princess and the Pea

2010-06-24T15:36:00.000-07:00

This is what a girl who is much too big for a nap looks like when she's had a busy afternoon of swimming, and then sits down with Mommy to read books.

Oklahoma Excitement

2010-06-21T06:26:00.000-07:00

Like true Okies, we went to check out a field fire on our way home from the City. It was dusk, so the fire was all the more impressive.

I also wrote a little free verse about it on my other blog, if you're into that kind of thing.

It Is To Laugh

2010-06-18T18:17:00.000-07:00

Here are some Zaya jokes. He's been making up his own this year. Be prepared.

Q: What do Oysters eat at Arby's?

A: Pearl-y fries. Get it mom? Curl-y fries - Pearl-y fries? Get it?

Q: Why are English people like fruit?

A: They live in Grape Britain.

(Actually that originally involved Arabs and A-Grape-ia.)

Q: What is a t-shirt's favorite food:

A: Roast Button. (Get it Mom? Roast Button - Roast Mutton? I got it from the Hobbit, chapter 2. Get it?)

Q: Why is a plant like a camera?

A: It uses photo-synthesis.

Q: Why do people in Mongolia (or China, depending on his mood) kick a lot?

A: Because they're Boot-ist.

There are others that I can't remember just off the top of my head. The conversation that takes place after the answers to Jokes #1 and 3 also takes place after every answer. If you don't break into absolute hysterics, he assumes you didn't get it.

He's also now the proud owner of a large trophy that says that his Junior High gymnastics team got first place. Actually, it's a trophy for "First Place in Asking if He Could Have an Old Trophy" while his gymnastics coach was cleaning out the old gym. He's as proud of that thing as he would be if he'd actually achieved something to win it.

Here the kids are trying to have serious faces. Why? Not a clue.

Outings

2010-06-17T13:01:00.000-07:00

Last Friday, we took an impromptu trip to the East Place, one of the family farms nearby. We walked in the creek, made a campfire and roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. All activities being very dirty and exhausting. It made for a great night's sleep though, so it's all worth it.

Mim is dodging as bug.

While gathering firewood, we came across this tree. It must have some kind of fungus. It was rather nasty looking, and the mulberries were overly large and deformed. It reminded me of corn smut. Gross.

Art is holding up some of the zombieberries.

The next night we had a birthday party at Addy's house, and the next day we went to Canton Lake for a surprise birthday party for my mother-in-law. It was a fun weekend, but very tiring and sun-intensive. Also, we may not eat hot dogs again for a few months. Three days in a row was quite enough.

Lago Sycamore

2010-06-11T14:40:00.000-07:00

This last Tuesday we went out to my parent's cabin. They've worked and worked on it over the last couple years, and it is now quite a few steps above camping, but rough enough that you feel like you're having an outdoor experience. Which is to say, perfect for escaping from your hot house and distracting your children from the occasional monotony of summer.

The kids love going to the cabin, and they especially love swimming in the lake, As long as they're wearing their floatie swimsuits, I love it too.

For some reason there were a lot of large feathers along the shoreline, and these became integral to the whole "playing in the lake" experience.

Ready...Aim...

2010-06-04T17:54:00.001-07:00

Art bought a few more PVC connectors, and he and Mim now have marshmallow launchers as well.

Here are my three sharpshooters.

Believe it or not, Art shot a marshmallow at me that actually left a bruise on my leg. He prefaced this action with, "Hey, tell me if this hurts!"

Yes, it does, actually.

So he and the kids set up a shooting gallery. As you can see, it has a slightly medieval flair. I took this picture at the exact moment that the parrot was falling off the top of the castle after another extremely accurate shot by Art.

There are marshmallows all over my hallway, and I'm sure there are still some escapees in the living room and kitchen. If I'm invaded by ants, I will have to have a discussion with the infantry.

Funny Zay Quotes

2010-06-02T18:51:00.000-07:00

Zaya told me yesterday:

"I had a thought. Happiness is better than the thing that made you happy."

When Art asked him what he meant by that he said, "The happiness is better to God than the actual thing that makes you happy. Like me and video games."

I told him that was his first proverb, which made him very excited.

In a less philosophical realm:

Today the kids had their first gymnastics class, which they loved. Mommies were not allowed to stay, but Mim handled it amazingly well, despite her initial tears.

As we walked in, Zaya said, "I think I like karate better than gymnastics." (Except he pronounces it 'carry-ah-tee')

I told him, "Zaya, you've never been to a karate class. You don't actually know anything about karate."

He said, "Yes I do. I know - Hai-Ya!"

And that sort of proved my point.

He was thrilled with his gymnastics class by the end, even though he's the only boy there.

Summery Fun

2010-06-01T16:34:00.000-07:00

A few pictures of some of summer's crazy hedonism as displayed in the Teeson home.

Swimming at a friends pool.

Mim and Zaya could do this for a lot longer than Daddy, but, to be fair, Daddy could do this a lot longer than Mommy could. I don't know if I could do it once, actually, but he threw both kids in the air over and over.

This is what happens when Mommy says, "Zaya turn around and smile for the camera."

Art's grandma found a book for Zaya that is all about building your own marshmallow launcher. He was so excited and we had to run to Ace Hardware today to buy the parts. You haven't seen funny until you've watched a six year old run up to the Ace help desk and say, "Do you have any Schedule 40 PVC?" It was priceless.

Actually, it was about $6.50 for 10 feet of 1/2" PVC and a few fittings and caps. I'd call that cheap entertainment. I've happily fostered the idea (it's not quite a myth, there's some truth to it) that Mommy is grossly incompetent with all handy-man projects, so the kids waited patiently for Daddy to get home from work. After supper they built this marshmallow launcher and the kids (and Art) have been playing with it ever since.

At least it's not a video game.

Here's Mim, coloring a marshmallow for Zaya. She's more interested in the aesthetics of most of their enterprises. I'm assuming that's because of the XX chromosomes.

Tomorrow they have their first gymnastics class. The city of W'ville is offering a month of classes through their Parks and Rec. department. Both kids are very excited, and I suppose I'm a little excited myself, remembering my first gymnastics classes and what fun they were.

Zoo Too

2010-05-29T08:28:00.000-07:00

I have some pictures from our most recent trip to the zoo. (Last Wednesday)

We went with Art's extended family. (His parents, siblings and nieces and nephew.) It was hot, but fun. The children had much, much more energy than the parents did.

This post is mostly pictures, so if you aren't family, you may want to stop right here. I understand.

Here's Mim being very excited about something at the aquarium. The electric eel, maybe? I don't remember.

Zaya had a great time, but was difficult to catch on film, as usual. Every time I thought I had a good picture lined up, he would disappear. Here he is looking very serious. I don't remember him being serious, so it must only have been a transition from one excited expression to another.

This is my niece Addy. As you can see, she's super cute, and almost three. She also has unlimited energy.

And here is my niece Jaida, and Grandma Teeson. Grandma looks very tired in this picture, or maybe like she's asking for divine assistance to get through the day. Don't let it fool you, though. She enjoyed it very much; I'm just a terrible photographer and didn't tell her I was taking her picture.

Jaida and Addy check out a Lorikeet.

Don't Worry Mom, She's Fine

2010-05-25T19:14:00.000-07:00

Is this a victim of Grimace?

No, it's a sleeping four-year-old. Last week Mim was quiet for a while, so I went looking for her. She had fallen asleep on the trampoline with one of her favorite blankets. I sneaked up onto the trampoline myself with an umbrella to try to shade her a bit, but she woke up.

We all rested on the trampoline for a while, staring up at the sky and watching some of the town workmen digging a hole in the field behind our house.

Sweet summer bliss.

Reminder

2010-05-20T14:12:00.000-07:00

Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade;
To write the love of God above
Would drain the ocean dry;
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky.

This is one of my favorite hymn passages. It always makes me tear up.

I needed a little encouragement today. Anyone else?

Go Play Outside!

2010-05-17T13:38:00.000-07:00

I had to take this picture, because it cracks me up, but don't let it fool you. They really do love jumping on their trampoline too. They literally spend hours on it every day, especially Zaya.

Today it has been a gloriously 'outside' kind of day, with jumping, biking, splashing, sliding and generally living life to its fullest. I am looking forward, with cautious optimism, to the summer.

Only two days of school left, and they are really just picnics. All the parents and teachers are praying for good weather and happy children. Tomorrow night Zaya graduates from Kindergarten, complete with hat. Silly, but oh well. It won't hurt the little guys to feel some pride in their academic achievements.

Anyway, here's to summer, and all the sweet sunshine!

Guess what Mim is eating. Go on, guess. Give up? It's a bell pepper. She loves them. She told me today that there was no need for me to cut it up. She just ate the whole thing.

Checking In

2010-05-14T05:10:00.000-07:00

School is almost over, which means that time is speeding up and slowing down at the same time, as usual for this time of year. I hope to have a few posts up soon. Until then, know that we have not dropped off the edge of the planet. We're just trying to keep up with our schedules.

I also wanted to mention that I've started a blog for writing prompts. (That's when someone gives you a brief idea of what to write about, and you use it to write a small poem, story or article.) Please don't feel obligated to read it. I'm just letting you know that it's there, and giving you the link so that none of my friends and family can claim that I never told them about it, in case I become famous someday.

OK, I'm kidding. Mostly I'm just telling you because I would want to know if my niece/friend/cousin/sister/grandaughter had another blog. In the interests of full disclosure, I must say that it does not involve cute stories about my children or pictures of them. I know, I know...I've already lost most of you.

Anyway, without further ado, I give you...

A Part of the Main

Please don't feel obligated to click on it, or read it. Really.

Track Meet 2010

2010-05-06T06:49:00.000-07:00

We had our track meet this Monday, and, as usual, there was a mixture of heartbreak and victory.

Both kids lost their races. As in, they were the last kid to cross the finish line, and they were both in tears. Mim insists that she wasn't crying because she lost, but because she was scared, which I believe actually.

That's Mim in the pink skirt and brown shirt.

Mim got first place in the standing broad jump, though...

And yes, we did change clothes half-way through the day, because Mommy overdressed her daughter. I keep forgetting that she gets hot about 10 degrees before I do.

Zaya got second and third in the standing and running jumps respectively.

Check out those fantastic actions shots! First of their kind coming from this camera. I finally figured out how to wait for the right moment.

The jumps were always my favorite part of track meet, too, so we talked about that and they felt much better. Mim also received several other ribbons, but she was one of only four little girls her age, while Zaya was competing against 12 or 13 other little boys, so I tried to cheer them equally, and explain the difference.

Zaya doesn't have his ribbons yet in this picture, but he does have a gigantic lollipop, because there's nothing to console a despairing athlete like a piece of candy the size of his whole mouth.

After they received their ribbons, we left to tour the local cemetary, because that's what they really wanted to do. They asked all sorts of questions about the graves, and we had various spiritual and biological discussions. What better way to put a little perspective on some silly games.

Dreams Caste-ing

2010-04-30T15:27:00.000-07:00

Today was International Day for Zaya's Kindergarten class.

He was dressed as a man from India, and said "namaste" to people for a couple hours straight this morning. His good buddy, Thomas, was from Japan.

He wore his little outfit from karate class, thereby introducing the idea to my son that such a thing as "karate class" even exists. A momentous day which may live in infamy.

Then on the way home from school today and in the middle of an otherwise normal conversation, Zaya says, "Hedgehogs are born with soft quills, lucky for Mama! The quills start to harden an hour after birth."

Word for word, I promise. And no, he did not have a book in front of him. Apparently I gave birth to an encyclopedia about six years ago.

And then Mim pipes up with, "Mommy, am I dreaming?"

Um...no. But Mommy might be.

This picture was from Mim's last night at Cubbies, our Wednesday night church program for the 3 and 4 yr. olds.

Masked Avenger

2010-04-24T15:19:00.001-07:00

Want to see something disturbing?

Want to see something flat-out creepy?

My sister painted that mask, and then my children discovered it when we went to visit her at her new home.

The Twilight Zone (Princess Style)

2010-04-23T16:24:00.000-07:00

You never know what you might see when you walk into Mim's room. Here's what I saw this afternoon.

Apparently she decided to display seven of her dresses on the floor. She even had matching accessories scattered around. Oh, and she has worn at least three of those just in the last three hours. That's not counting the dress she's currently wearing, and several other outfits.

And here's another sight that isn't all too uncommon. This is Goki the hamster, trying, once again, to gnaw his way through the bars of his cage. They're metal this time, so I don't think he'll succeed, but you can see he's already worked the paint off.

At night, you can hear the gentle sounds of the breeze, the peaceful snores of sleeping children...and Goki trying to gain freedom with a judicious application of tooth to metal.

Who am I to deny him his dream?

Things That Made Me Laugh

2010-04-21T19:10:00.000-07:00

Here are two great things I heard today.

One was from a student at the Academic Tournament where I was officiating this afternoon.

Question(asked by me): Spell the seven-letter word for the thing someone would "bury" if they wanted to end a dispute or argument.

The answer was supposed to be: H-A-T-C-H-E-T

A young lady buzzed in quickly and spelled: C-A-D-A-V-E-R!

Ummm. No, I don't think so. While that would definitely end the argument, it's not quite what they're looking for.

The other classic was from a certain person who shall remain nameless, but who was walking around town with our Junior High Youth Group this evening.

"Yep. Here's the exact place where I peed on Main street."

It doesn't get any better than this, folks!

This next line was from Mim when we went to the Wichita Mountains the other day.

She kept stopping on the trail to pick a green leaf from one of the scrubby oak trees and lay it carefully on the path.

Me: Mim, what are you doing?

Mim: I'm tricking people so they'll think a duck walked here.

What do you think? Tiny duck feet?

On the same trip I told Zaya that he shouldn't have made a certain jump from one rock to another, because he might have fallen and hurt himself.

He said, "Good thing I have my luck bar filled up!"

When questioned, he informed us that he has a luck bar in the palm of his right hand. When it's filled, life is easier. Specifically, when he asks me if he can play video games, I'll say yes.

Sounds to me like someone has already played waaaayyy too many video games!

Print on Print on Print on...

2010-04-16T16:44:00.000-07:00

What can I say? She get's her sense of style from her mother.

The big mouth she gets from her father.

Except metaphorically. That would be me again.

Wichta Mountain Excursion

2010-04-15T05:12:00.000-07:00

We went to the Wichita Mountains last Saturday, and it was wonderful. Exhausting, but wonderful. Sort of like parenting in general, now that I come to think of it.

We climbed Elk Mountain. Both kids did a great job, which is to say, neither had to be carried even once, and there were no major, or even minor, injuries. Success. Here they are on the peak.

I have a couple of posts planned for the kids individually. They were goofy. There was a troop of boy scouts on the peak, and their leader was telling them what a great job they had done and what a mighty accomplishment it was to get to the top of a mountain. Art said, "Do you think it ruined the power of his speech when they all saw a little four-year-old girl running around up there?" Probably. Funny though, you have to admit.

Then we went to visit the prairie dogs, of which I have no pictures. We stressed to the kids that they couldn't feed the prairie dogs, because it said so on all the signs. Then we ran into our neighbors and good friends from across the street, who were feeding prairie dogs. I prayed for a miracle, but God decided not to answer my plea, and Zaya informed the mother that, 'the sign said they weren't supposed to feed the prairie dogs.' right before we got away. Argh.

Then we took them to the Holy City for the first time. The last two times we went they were either closed, or we had too many people with us to make it a good idea. The Holy City is a replica of...mostly Jerusalem, with different buildings from the life of Christ. The kids loved it, and climbed all over, despite how many rocks they had climbed all morning.

Ah-Choo!

2010-04-08T17:24:00.000-07:00

We took Zaya to the allergy specialist in the City today. It turns out that the poor little guy is allergic to just about everything, which I thought might be the case. Lots of trees, grasses, weeds, molds and pets. Including horses. Good thing he never really got into the whole "cowboy" thing.

Now comes the big question. The doctor there says that his allergies are "severe" and that the little otc antihistamines won't cut it. Which we knew. She recommends allergy shots.

Is it worth it though? They are expensive. Very, very expensive. It feels like maybe it's all just a bid for the money of worried parents.

So I want to know if any of our friends and family out there in internet land have had allergy shots (or your children) and can tell us if it's really worth the money. Do they work? Is it just a scam? Is it worth the pain of all the shots? Is it worth driving to the city a cajillion times for the first couple months?

Help!

Walt's Dark Side

2010-04-07T14:55:00.001-07:00

The kids are running around playing Star Wars.

Zaya is Darth Maul

And Mim is Cinderella Darth Vader

Who must be a very, very confused individual, to say the least.

By the by, this is my 600th post. Yea me!

He is Risen

2010-04-04T10:35:00.000-07:00

Screaming crowds call out his name
With shouts of joy and songs of praise
They honor and they marvel,
For they've waited all these years.

A quiet night of heavy dread
He kneels there, burdened, bows His head
They sit, they sleep, unknowing
As the angels wipe His tears.

Once again the crowds cry out
But now they jeer, they hate, they shout.
He bleeds, he prays, cries out, then dies.
Earth waits, dark, cold..and then it hears

One rumbling stone, one bright descending star
The cry of death, destroyed by Life,
Love's Avatar.

A Taste for the Spotlight

2010-04-02T08:33:00.000-07:00

My son is not shy.

I've always known he wasn't shy, but I had further proof today.

We went to the nursing home this morning for the "Easter Parade". The Kindergarten and Pre-K from the local school sang two cute little songs about bunnies, and then they all listened to the Easter Story. Since my kids go to a different school, I wasn't going to take them this year, but my dear friend talked me into it, so we slapped on some dress clothes and ran up there.

They didn't really seem to mind that they weren't singing with the others, and they walked around saying "hi" to everyone afterwards. Granted, Zaya was saying it so quickly that the people didn't even have a chance to respond, and Mim was so quiet and shy that they probably didn't even hear her...but they did say "hi".

When Zaya came over to me and Granny (his great-grandma) he was singing something. The activities director heard him and said those fateful words, "You should go sing something for the other people." Well, that's all it took. I only had time to say "Sing Joyful, Joyful!" before he was gone, reaching for the microphone. (Because who knows what he would have chosen to sing if I hadn't specified. I can just see it, 'We all live in a yellow submarine...' at the top of his lungs.)

He belted out the Ode to Joy, and I'll admit that I loved hearing him sing it. OK, so pitch isn't exactly one of his strengths yet, but he put a lot of heart in it.

As I was talking to my friend afterward, I realized something. He probably would have done the exact same thing if he had no clothes on. He is not shy. At all.

And no, that's not all for the good. I never know what he's going to say to someone that he walks up to. He might tell them anything. Anything.

All that to say, "Mom, Dad. I'm sorry for my childhood."

Demasiado

2010-03-25T16:48:00.000-07:00

On Tuesdays and Thursdays, Zaya stays at school until three. Mim, however, is still half-day, because none of us were willing to put up with the drama required to keep her in school all day.

As a consequence, Mim has two afternoons a week to wander around W'ville with Mommy, and she enjoys it very much. Today we went to lunch with Art at our favorite little hole-in-the-wall Chinese place, and then shopped and read books at the library. I always feel a little bad for Zaya, because I know he would rather be with me than in school. (Although, now that I think about it, he does hate shopping...)

Anyway, today I bought Zaya a bottle of Sprite at the Dollar store, because Mim still had her Sprite from lunch, and I didn't want her to flaunt her drink status. As we were leaving the school, I explained to the kids why Zaya had a bottle of Sprite. (Because, oh yes, there were questions)

Mommy: Mim, you got to eat lunch with Mommy and Daddy and run errands with Mommy today, and Zaya was in school all during that time. Also you still have some Sprite right there in your cup. Since you got something special, I wanted Zaya to have something special too.

Zaya: Mom, you're just too much.

Mommy: Too much?! What do you mean?

Zaya: (with a sigh) Mommy, you don't have to reward me for being at school all day, you know.

Where do they come up with this stuff? And why are my kids telling me what to do already?

There He Goes

2010-03-24T14:13:00.001-07:00

Guess who learned to ride his bike with no training wheels! Ok, ok, so he's six, but still. We really haven't worked on it at all, because we didn't want to make it a Thing, but it turns out that our approach worked well. Last night, we finally pulled the bike out and Art pushed Zaya all over the street, wearing himself out and gaining no ground- or so we thought.

This afternoon, though, I told Zaya that he should work on riding his bike by himself while Mim rode hers. I'd like to take credit for deep parental perception and ability; I have to honestly say that I was being lazy. I wanted to read my book and not chase around a six year old on a tiny bike. As usual, I stood in the middle of the road reading, so that any car would see me and slow down in time for me to yell at the kids.

Anyway, after telling my son to start coasting without touching the pedals and get a feel for the bike, I buried my nose in the aforementioned escapist literature. The next thing I knew he was pedaling past me at a good clip, with a slightly dazed, frightened, exhilarated expression on his face.

Ahh..the good life. We have arrived.

Birthday Boys

2010-03-20T05:24:00.000-07:00

This is my one and only nephew, Jack. Isn't he a doll? He is now one year old.

We celebrated a big joint birthday for Zaya and Jack this year at Grandma Teeson's house. Birthdays so far have been all cousin events, and these kids love it. They're all great at sharing, really, so it's like birthdays five times a year for each kid. They open each other's presents, blow out each other's candles, and generally seize as much joy as they can from each opportunity.

The front row is (l to r) me, Zaya, Mim, Jaida and Grandma T, with little Addy in the back. And no, Addy doesn't have a black eye. (Although she's one tough cookie, and it's only a matter of time.) She found a tube of her mommy's "all-day" lipstick, and they weren't kidding. My sister-in-law scrubbed with everything she could think of that was safe to use around a two-year-old's eye, and no luck. If you're looking for a good, long-wearing lipstick, I can recommend some for you. Just don't get it on your skin.

Anyway, everyone had a good time. Zaya got a Hot Wheels race track (previously mentioned), a DIY robot (which has been assembled and crashed several times) and a series of science models/toys.

The top shelf are the plush microbes from Christmas. The bottom are (l to r) A cross-section of skin, a virus, a bacterium, an animal cell, and a plant cell. They're very cool, and come apart in the middle and you can mess with their little mitochondria and endoplasmic reticulum. And no, they aren't from ThinkGeek, although they ought to be. These are from amazon.

He saved up his birthday money and bought a plush bookworm, a transforming plush (the Squalodon unzips and turns into a Pakicetus when you turn him inside out) (or vice versa), and an electronic snap circuit board. All have been thoroughly enjoyed.

Birthday gifts are more fun when the kids grow up a bit. We didn't get pictures of the party at my parent's house, but that was a good time too, and the kids both received coloring books and crayons and markers and stickers and a generally amazing variety of art options. Art and I bought Zaya Endless Ocean: Blue World. (He has the first one, and loves it. I highly recommend it for those who have a Wii.)

There you go. Way more details than you ever wanted to know about my son's sixth birthday. This will aid my memory more than anything. Sorry.

This Is It!

2010-03-17T17:00:00.000-07:00

I found my dream car! Now if it just had room for car-seats and juice boxes...

(Thanks to You Drive What for the picture.)

Mild Injustice

2010-03-13T06:53:00.000-08:00

I was reminded by the post of a blogfriend of a little incident in the Dallas mall.

While we were waiting for the escalators to start up for the day, I took the kids over to one of those little playground areas where they have large, colorful foam shapes. The kids were very excited, until we saw that there was a height limit. Zaya was just barely too tall, so I wouldn't let him come inside.

He was very sad, but I didn't really know what else to do, because he could clearly read the directions and see that he reached a little higher than the line. We teach our kids to obey authority, not circumvent it if they think they can get away with it.

We were just going to all leave, but Art noticed a set of escalators that had just started working, so he took Zaya over there and I let Mim play in the play area. As soon as I took off her shoes and let her run off to play, three very large children came over, read the sign, discussed it a little bit, and then came in and started playing a very rowdy game of hide and seek tag, knocking over the little ones and generally intimidating all and sundry. Their own mother was walking around the area shopping, and totally ignoring her children.

After about ten minutes of this, Zaya came back over with Art, and looked very confused. I could see it in his eyes. "Why do those kids get to play, but I don't?"

I made Mim come put on her shoes, and we left. I tried to explain to Zaya that we don't follow the rules just because we might get in trouble, or just because other people are also doing it, but because that's the right thing to do. I think he got it, but it was frustrating anyway.

It was one of those times when I wanted to bend the rules, just a bit, and say that it would be fine. I can't do that, though. There are entirely too many adults in this world who allow their children's integrity to disintegrate before it's even fully formed. When our kids hear us lie on the phone to avoid an obligation, or park where we know we shouldn't, or tell them that they don't have to follow rules that are 'silly', then we undermine the men and women that they will become.

Vroom! Vroom!

2010-03-10T13:13:00.000-08:00

I don't have any photographic proof, since my camera is in W'ville in Art's car, but my children are actually playing with cars and a race track! I know this doesn't seem like a big deal, but let me just tell you, it's pretty unusual around here.

We all stayed home today because Mim had a stomach bug until late this morning. She appears to be fully recovered (Please, God!) and so now we're just enjoying being together and playing. We've already watched several videos, played video games and board games together and read stories. Then I suddenly remembered Zaya's Hot Wheels track that his Aunt C got him for his birthday. I told her I thought he might like it because he enjoyed watching his friend play with one the other day.

They've actually been playing with it for 10 minutes now, which might be a record for the Teeson children and cars. We just aren't really a cars kind of family. I've tried, goodness knows. "Look Zaya, a cool car. Do you want to play with it?"

"Not really, Mom, but thanks."

I don't know if it'll ever be used again, but for right now they're having fun, and it almost feels like I have a normal family. Ha ha!

Quacks and Sparks

2010-03-06T09:44:00.000-08:00

This is Mim's painting from this morning. As she explained to her father, "This is a picture of a duck, but some ducks messed it up!"

See the little duck prints? When she was making it she would squash the paintbrush down and say, "Quack, Quack, Quack!"

And yes. She does have a blue Gatorade mustache. She drank one today while we watched her big brother at Sparks-A-Rama. (A Church thing) Zaya's team got second place. He doesn't like second, because he says silver is not a real color. He would prefer bronze or gold. He doesn't really care about the place, just the color. Luckily, no medals were given out, so there was no silver to deal with.

This is Zay with his friend M from church. These little guys have grown up together, since they were born only a few days apart and their mommies are friends.

Listen for the Beep

2010-03-02T18:07:00.000-08:00

About a month ago I began to notice that Mim wasn't hearing me very well. At first, I thought she was just ignoring me, and I'm sorry to say that I got very annoyed with her. But then it kept happening, and I started to realize that she literally couldn't hear me.

I told Art about it, and we've both watched her, but we thought that surely it would go away when her cold did. I made an appointment with a hearing specialist finally, because the cold and the hearing issue were both refusing to dissolve on their own. They scheduled us for next week, but had a sudden opening today, which was wonderful.

I took her in, and sure enough, she has "moderate" hearing loss. The doctor told us that it was because her ears had fluid in them, and probably an infection. I feel like a terrible mother. Not only because it's been like this, presumably, for weeks, but also because I didn't realize that her ears were infected. Of course, she has no fever and hasn't complained of any pain...but still.

Anyway, after a trip to the clinic, we now have prescriptions for anitbiotics, antihistamines and corticosteroids. Ugh. It's good news though, really, because it means this is all temporary and will be cleared up in a matter of time.

I'm so grateful that she had her appointment today, because she just happened to be hearing particularly badly today, and also that we we're able to get a clear, optimistic diagnosis.

Now I just have to remember all those prescriptions, and I'm terrible about that. One teaspoon of the pink stuff twice a day, One teaspoon of the nasty reddish stuff once a day, one teaspoon of the clear stuff once a day. And the anithistamine for Zaya too, because the doctor thinks that this "cold" we've all been complaining about for the last few weeks is really an allergy. Who knew?

Future Blackmail, Part 2

2010-02-26T10:24:00.000-08:00

Here we have a little photographic essay on my son's (one and only) foray into cross-dressing.

We went to Cousin Jaida's birthday party last Saturday, and her Nana S has a big box of dress-up clothes and wigs. Obviously, it was a big hit with the kids. They were heartbroken when we had to leave three hours later.

I think this one makes him look like Shaun White. Well, you know. The hair part. Zaya becoming a snowboarder is second on my nightmare list only to him becoming the aforementioned cross-dresser.

This picture makes me afraid too, but on a completely different level.

The last thing I need is a Cowgirl Princess with that much attitude.

Luckily, she has her Daddy looking out for her.

Otra Vez

2010-02-22T16:02:00.000-08:00

Once again, Zaya's hitting the Xopenex. I'm ready for spring, summer and the end of cold season. The poor little guy is already skinny and fair-complexioned, so when he's in the middle of an asthma attack, he's extra pale, with red eyes and nose, and his whole body shakes as he coughs and wheezes.

I know he doesn't struggle with asthma as badly as a lot of children, but I don't think it's ever easy for a mom to watch her child suffering. At least after this many years we recognize it for what it is right away, and know what to do for it.

Mim has a bad cold too, and coughs and snuffles and snores. It's been about a month for her though, poor thing. She wants to do breathing treatments like Zay, and doesn't really understand why she can't, though we've explained several times. I think the whole "you don't have asthma" thing just sounds like an excuse to her. We try to make sure she gets a chance to cuddle too, though, because I think it's really the attention that she's after.

We'll keep plugging along. Art is the only one in the house that isn't coughing and sneezing and using up Kleenex. (Zaya's teacher asked me to bring a few boxes for his classroom. Apparently he needs more than the rest of the kids combined.)Art hasn't shown signs of succumbing yet, but he's been buying a lot of orange juice.

Stalling Tactics

2010-02-21T17:14:00.000-08:00

Zaya always comes up with his most complex questions or discussion ideas when he's supposed to be sleeping. It's that last snuggle of the day when we get hit with questions like, "What causes Crohn's disease?" and "What's the difference between a heart and a spirit?" and "How do I know that everything is still there around me when I close my eyes?"

It was this last question, a metaphysical twist on the old "tree falls in the forest" idea, that made me relate one of those very strange but vivid childhood memories.

I remember being very young, at Calvary church in Texas, and suddenly realizing that all those times when the world went black for a second, it was just me blinking. I would have to have been three, or possibly four, but no older. I distinctly recall wondering why no one else commented on these frequent, periodic blackouts, and then realizing that I somehow controlled them, and them pausing one of them, and realizing that it was my own eyelids, and I was just blinking. All of that happened in less time than it takes to relate, but it was earth-shaking.

I do not control what happens to these other people. I felt stupid, relieved and disappointed at the same time. All pre-schoolers are a little egotistical, I suppose.

Anyway, Zaya thought it was hilarious, and made me tell him "the story about you blinking" several times before he would go to sleep.

I live to entertain my children.

True Bliss

2010-02-19T13:31:00.000-08:00

The thing Mim was most excited to see in Dallas were the elevators and escalators. In fact, the night before we left she prayed specifically that she'd get to see an elevator.

We finally found our way to a mall, only to discover that the escalators wouldn't start up for another hour. This is what children who wish they were riding an escalator look like.

Oh, and a little parenting tip. A good way to cheer up escalator-less children is to tell them to go stand by the sign and "look sad".

Luckily the big glass elevator was working well, so we rode that for a bit. It was a great success.

At long last, the escalators started began moving and we were in transportational paradise.

At least until Zaya caught the undersides of his wrists in the moving hand rail. I have no idea how that happened. I can't even think of what position he was in that would make that possible. I know he wasn't doing anything unusual, or I would have seen him from the base.

Mim was still a little too nervous of the moving steps to risk jumping out on her own, but she had a blast with Daddy.

All in all it was a great success. I dread the day when they start expecting things like Six Flags. The escalators and elevators are more my speed.

2010-02-12T19:30:00.001-08:00

Here are a few pictures from our trip to Dallas. We have quite a few from the Science and Nature museums, but I'll start you out with a few from McDonalds. This is what happens these days when Mommy says, "Smile for the camera, kids."

See You Soon

2010-02-04T09:02:00.000-08:00

We're taking a little mini, family vacation this weekend. We'll be in Dallas, visiting with Art's aunt and uncle and doing a little museum hopping. We also plan to go to Ikea. (I know, I know.)

I've packed everything I could think of that we could possibly need for three days away from home, but I'm sure I've forgotten something important. I always do.

Oh well, it'll be good improv training, I suppose.

Our internet is down again, so I'm writing this at the Public Library. Now if I can just figure out how to make sure I'm logged out of everything...

Back on Saturday, God willing.

The Return

2010-02-03T05:14:00.000-08:00

Our internet died last Thursday, approximately 3 hours after the first ice storm of 2010 began. We never lost electricity, which was wonderful and completely shocking,(no pun intended) but we were holed up in our house for a few days. It was nice at first, but the children began to get a bit restless by, oh, Thursday afternoon.

On Saturday we took the kids sledding for the first time in their young lives. Art spent most of the morning making a sled for them (of course) but in the event we mostly used inner tubes from Grandpa's barn. (The hill had too many frozen clumps of grass for us to use the sled until they had been worn down sufficiently.)

All in all, they enjoyed the ice and snow, and I suppose I did too, since it didn't cause too much trouble. It is beautiful, you have to admit. Well, you would admit it if I had ever gotten off my lazy bum and gone out with my camera. Sorry.

All that to say, actually, that I have finally been reconnected with the internet community. I can't express my relief after six days of darkness and isolation.

OK, so I wasn't actually isolated, just net-less, but it feels like the same thing. I had so very many e-mail messages when I was finally able to check it, and I don't know if I'll ever catch up with everyone's blogs.

And the World Descends into Chaos!

2010-01-26T13:01:00.000-08:00

This is what happens when you have a "sick day" with two children who turn out to not actually be sick. My whole house doesn't look like this, yet, but they're working on it.

I can't decide if my splitting headache is the result or the cause. Regardless, maybe it's time to relinquish the moratorium on video games for the afternoon.

Captured on Pixels...Part Deux

2010-01-24T05:56:00.000-08:00

Here we have proof that I am actually at family events. This is a rare moment when I was in front instead of behind the camera. Whether or not that was a good thing, I'll leave to your discretion. The angle is funny on this one because Art is taking the picture himself.

The Immovable Rock

2010-01-18T13:59:00.000-08:00

Any ideas for a way to dull the evil edge of this concrete step? It leads from our den into our kitchen. It used to be a little back porch before the addition was built onto this house. Art and I painted it brown and it looks cute with the rest of our den...however...

It has caused this:

And that bump is six days old, folks! Imagine what it looked like last Wednesday when my four year old was lying on the floor crying. In this picture I told her to "make a sad face" in an effort to get her to stop crossing her eyes. Yes, I have those other pictures too.

The step of doom has also caused me to peel a hefty chunk of skin back from the back of my foot. You know, the part that joins onto the toe? The part that bends every time you walk or move your foot in any way? That part.

The step must be changed somehow. But how? What can you put on the edge of concrete that wouldn't just look stupid? Taking it out is really not an option. There has to be something there to get up to the kitchen.

Captured on Film...er...Pixels!

2010-01-16T05:51:00.000-08:00

Here we have photographic proof that Mim can be a real ham when she wants to. This is a very subdued representation of her silly dance.

Microbial Christmas

2010-01-16T05:47:00.000-08:00

So, I realize that quite a while ago I promised to have some pictures etc. from the various Christmases. Better late than never, right? Right?

Here, then are the first of a series that we'll call, "Photos of Christmas Past."

This year was a super-geeky Christmas, and part of the geekiness was a set of plush microbes that we got for Zaya from ThinkGeek.

He received: Influenza A, Rhinovirus (the common cold), E-Coli, Streptococcus, a white blood cell and a red blood cell. (Then C'auntie S gave them some she had from a few years ago, including a louse, Gingivitis, Shigella and a few repeats.)

The kids love them, and they've already been snuggled with at night, flown around the house and invited to tea parties. E-Coli has been especially popular, because of all those great flagella. Here he is, enjoying his first flight and his first sip of tea.

I hope that I'm not the only mother with a picture of her daughter having a tea party with E-coli, but...probably...