Help, I'm being outgrown!

I'm not needed anymore. My baby is outgrowing me. Well ok, not quite. But I now get to sit quietly in the evening, and I'm not called to help him with his bath anymore. He wants to shower, all by himself. I only have to get the water started for him, that's it. All those years when I longed for uninterrupted time, and now it's here, and I'm suddenly loathe for him to be growing up quite so fast! OK, just so you don't think he never needs me--his needs are growing with him. Now he needs me to help him with things on his computer ;-)

A cool thing--my grandfather sent over a book for DS5 to read. It's a Bible-based primer book that was written by grandpa's 1st grade teacher and published in 1929. He would have been a teenager by then, but I suspect she probably used similar materials when she was teaching him. His copy of the book is a special part of his book collection, so we were all surprised that he was suddenly loaning it out. It's just perfectly at DS5's reading level. In fact, today, he read the first 5 pages to himself as his devotional. He told me he had to read it out loud because he doesn't know how to read silently yet, LOL. That's ok--I won't complain!

What's in a name....

Snagging this fun meme from what she said too. She always blogs cool stuff!

"You must list one fact that is somehow relevant to your life for each letter of your middle name. If you don’t have a middle name, use the middle name you would have liked to have had. When you are tagged you need to write your own blog-post containing your own middle name game facts. At the end of your blog-post, you need to choose one person for each letter of your middle name to tag. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog."

M--Married, to the love of my life. Mom, to the children I dreamed of before they were formed. These very things make up my identity.

A--Artistic. My creativity lies in music and graphic arts--don't ask me to draw you something because that's not my art!

R--Realistic. I'm the eternal optimist but I definitely keep reality right with me.

I--Imperturbable. It takes a lot to distract me, especially when something important is going on!

E--Extrovert. While I don't like large groups, I enjoy intimate conversations with a friend, and I really enjoy my cyberfriends all over the world. They're my support system when life takes over!

If you think this meme looks like fun, consider yourself tagged. Make sure you leave me a comment so I can come read yours :-)

Reading Explosion

Yikes, watch out. DS5 is really taking off with his reading! He's determined to finish the 3rd and final I Can Read It reader from Sonlight language arts, and soon! Something about reading "real books" is his incentive. Yesterday he read an entire story by himself, even with a sore throat. Usually we alternate reading sentences, but last week he "stole" some of my sentences, so this week he decided to read it all. He also thinks that having good reading skills will get him promoted to the next class at church, and was reading every single thing he could lay hands on in his class, in hopes that someone would notice and promote him, LOL. The teacher that day was his great aunt, and grandma plays the piano, so they shared silent giggles over his very sincere efforts ;-) We're going to the library later today--I wonder how many books he'll check out for himself. Last week he was proud to get his own books to read, and even prouder that he read 5 of them on the way home!

Jesus, the Dentist?

OK, this is odd, but my dd10 seems to be losing teeth. On Sabbath!!! Two Sabbaths now, she's awakened in the morning with significantly loose teeth, and by afternoon she's had them yanked out. It's funny, but I have to wonder if the Big Guy upstairs has an ulterior motive, since she ends up giving her $1 from the Tooth Fairy in offering at church the following week! Or maybe it's just his attempt at injecting humor into an already great day. Any way you look at it, it's been pretty funny. (We also know she's lost at least one other tooth on Sabbath--her very first one, out with a bit of Fri-Chik vegie chicken product at campmeeting.)

The speed of time

I want to know where this week has managed to disappear to! Or the month, for that matter--I only have two more night shifts left and then it'll be days and February! Egads, does life have to speed by so quickly? I can't even slow down and smell the roses--it's winter and there aren't any, LOL. Maybe that's why some animals hibernate in winter. Perhaps for them, time slows down. Hmmmm, this could be an interesting experiment. My luck, I'd go off and hibernate, and wake up and my kids would be grown, like happens to some animals! Nah, I'll stay awake and enjoy them ;-)

2007

Copying The Faithful Alligator:

1. What did you do in 2007 that you'd never done before? Went to NYC without being accompanied by someone who knew his/her way around better than me!

2. What are your New Years Resolutions? I try not to make them, so I don't have to break them.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth in 2007? Yes, one of my bestest friends had her King in January, and then became a grandma in September.

4. Did anyone close to you die? No

5. What countries did you visit? Just the good ole' USA.

6 What would you like to have in 2008 that you lacked in 2007? Better exercise habits.

7. What date(s) in 2007 will remain etched in your memory and why? Memorial Day weekend, when my love had a heart attack. It was a new birth experience, however, because he has worked hard to change his habits and become a better man in many many ways. Also, my dd's 10th birthday. She and I had a fantabulous girls' day all by ourselves at the American Girl Store in NYC. In August, she also gave her heart to Jesus and was baptized in the lake at church camp.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Finding a groove for seriously homeschooling two very different children.

9. What was your biggest failure? Spending too much on the credit cards :-(

10. Did you suffer any illness or injury?No, but my dd did--her hand got stepped on and it has taken 5 months for it to heal and for her to be pain-free.

11. What was the best thing someone bought you? Some nice clothing!

12. Whose behavior merited celebration? All of ours--we weathered a rough year and came out better on the other side.

13. Whose behavior appalled and depressed you? I'm right with Faithful Alligator--my pastor. He's gone now, yay. Talk about not having it, as a pastor, a husband, a shepherd, anything! Wierd situation that left many members hurt, angry, depressed, and just plain shaking their heads in dismay.

14. Where did most of your money go? Probably the largest chunk was spent on our vacation to the east coast in July.

15. What did you get really, really excited about? Taking my kids to see the King Tut exhibit.

16. What song(s) reminds you of 2007?Dunno

17. Compared to last year are you...a.) Happier or Sadder? Happier. b.) Thinner or Fatter? A tiny bit thinner c.) Richer or Poorer? Poorer

18. What do you wish you'd done more of? Exercise, preferably with my hubby and/or kids.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of? Putting my kids off.

20. How did you spend Christmas? Morning, with my family and parents. Afternoon, with the extended family.

21. Did you fall in love in 2007? Oh yes. With my hubby's re-birth and quest to be a healthier family member, we have become ever so much closer and in tune. It feels wonderful!

22. How many one night stands did you have? One night at a time. But only with one man :D If I were having one night stands, why would I tell, anyway?

23. What was your favorite TV program? Rarely watch TV.

24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't this time last year? Nope

25. What was the best book you read? Ah, my booklist is at home. But I did read several good books :-)

26. What did you do on your birthday and how old were you? I'm 39 and I worked and slept, and my mom made me dinner, and my dd10 did her best to organize a surprise birthday party for me!

27. What was your best musical discovery? Didn't make any

28. What did you want and get? Ummmm, I dunno! Oh wait--low-heeled dress boots.

29. What was your favorite film of the year? Don't have one.

30. What did you want and not get? Can't think of anything!

31. What one thing would've made your year immeasurably more satisfying?Can't think of anything!

32. How would you describe your fashion concept for 2007? Comfy clothes.

33. What kept you sane? My family, for sure.

34. Which celebrity or public figure did you admire most? I try to avoid anything to do with the lives of the rich and famous!

35. What political issue stirred you most? My state's dismal economy, and dh's work hours being cut.

36. Who do you miss? My baby sister; my maternal grandparents.

37. Who was the best new person you met? I re-connected with a school chum when she moved back to this area.

38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned. Be flexible. Drop the schedule once in a while and go do something fun and spontaneous.

39. Quote a song line that defines your year. Don't know one.

Artistic Pursuits

My children have set up art and craft studios this week, it seems! First it was ds5. He came to me, wanting to know if I had a book I could give him. What kind of book? A book he could put drawings in. I finally ferretted out of him the info that he needed a notebook, any color. Boy was he thrilled when I coughed up an orange notebook that I'd gotten on clearance after school started last fall! So now he draws a picture, 3-hole punches it, and puts it in his book. He proudly informed me today that he's up to 15 pages now, but it's "a very short book and I don't want my book to be a short book, mommy, I want it to be all filled up." He's so serious, too, you can't help but laugh. Oh, and he made front and back covers for his book and put them in the pockets all by himself. I noticed him writing on a page and asked what that was, and he informed me that that was the inside cover of the book. "You know how when you open up a book, mommy, there's a page that is just like the cover. This is a real book, so it has to have that page inside, you know." OK, now I know ;-) LOL, funny boy.

Not to be outdone, dd10 also needed a notebook (happened to have a pink one purchased at the same clearance sale!) but hers is very different from her brother's. She is cutting up all of her old American Girl catalogs and making scrapbook pages of the girls and outfits she likes. It's very cute. Of course, she's also making sure to point out to me which outfits she likes the best, and which ones she thinks need to be added to her dolls' wardrobes ;-)

Ta Da, I did accomplish something today!

First of all, I slept. Really awesomely well, especially compared with the past 3 days. Serious sleep deprivation on top of serious PMS is not a combo I recommend at all, LOL. I slept so well that it took a bang of the door to wake me up, and then I had to get up and make sure dh hadn't gone and done something like take the kids to town, when I needed them home for school. Whew, he hadn't--in fact, he stayed in his PJs and bathrobe ALL day long. Ewwwww, yuck, disgusting! So anyway, back to me, because we don't want to go where that was leading! So I got up and showered (notice who DIDN'T????) and then we actually got all of school done. Considering that there was a LOT of reading, that was a miracle! DD10 even discovered that if she had her notebook open as I was reading to her from the World Book, that she could answer some questions as we went, instead of having to go back and find the answers again. I like that approach--I hope she'll do it a lot more often! After school, we had homemade mac 'n cheese with vegies for supper (or is that DINNER, Faithful Alligator?) accompanied by homemade multi-grain bread and peanut butter. I finally found a bread recipe my family likes, and leaving it out of the frig means it stays soft. Now to keep it from going moldy! So anyway, I post this to show that a motivated woman can accomplish a WHOLE lot more in just 4-1/2 hrs than a man in a bathrobe in PJs manages to accomplish in a whole day ;-) OK, to his credit, he did play Monopoly JR with ds5, and watched a movie with both kids!

Mommy, can I help you?

Ah, music to a tired mother's ears. That was my ds5 asking if he could help clear up from dinner. Oh, wait--I bet he wanted to help so he'd get his ice cream for dessert quicker ;-) And here I thought it was because he loved me! Oh well, he still got lots of hugs and kisses. His spontaneity is so sweet. I wish he'd quit growing up so fast on me!

Cool blog

Last week I stumbled across a most interesting blog: WW1: Experiences of an English Soldier. The blog is comprised of letters written home from the front by Mr. William Henry Bonser Lamin. His grandson (I think that's who it is!) is researching the correspondence, and posting the letters on the blog on the day they were written (albeit 90 years later!) Definitely makes for an interesting read.

Moms need time, too!

I had an hour to kill after a staff meeting this evening, before having to be at work, so I decided to have some much-deserved mommy time. I went to Barnes & Noble and had me a nice warm coffee and sat in a comfy chair and browsed a bit. (Also took my library book so I could read it :-) Just to bolster the economy, I did buy a couple of books that were BEGGING to be taken home.

Vegetarian Times Low-Fat and Fast . I'm in love already, LOL. The book only has 4 sections--appetizers, main dishes, side dishes, and desserts. The main dish section is a whopping 108 pages (out of the book's 196 page total) and almost every page has helpful hints and tips on it. The side dish section isn't too shabby either, with 38 pages. Hmmm, now what shall I cook for dinner tomorrow night, LOL? Maybe I can even find something for potluck at church ;-)

The other book I found on the clearance table--Ornagami. If you guessed that it's a Christmas origami book, you're right. The cool thing is that it's a really long book. Each page has a piece of really cool origami paper that you can tear off at the perforations. When you've used the paper, you can cut the excess cover material off and you're left with a small book of origami patterns in case you want to do any of them again. A bunch of the items in the book are modular origami (where you make more than one folded item and stick them together) so that should be fun. I got to thinking, I have some nice plastic boxes at home that are empty--one shall now be my Christmas origami box so I can create things thru the year and get them out at Christmas. Aren't I smart?

Our New Friend, Fabulous Fiber

Last evening dh and I attended the first meeting of a series of six health seminars, sponsored by our church as a community outreach project. Very interesting and informative seminar. I was pleased by the attendance--60 or so people were there, with probably over half from the community. Awesome! Even more pleasing was my dh's response to what he heard. Before his heart attack, he might have attended and listened, but not applied what he heard. You know, the "head in the sand" approach to managing one's personal health. Not this time tho. We've been counting fiber all day long today, LOL. He discovered that his "new" breakfast (the post-heart attack way of eating, that is) is full of fiber and he's doing great in that department. He beat the rest of us out at lunch, as well, because his Gardenburger had 6 gm of fiber, where my Morningstar Vegie Patty had only 2 gm of fiber, and dd's Morningstar Griller had only 1 gm of fiber. I gave up trying to figure out the fiber at supper, but since we had beans and whole wheat tortillas, and salad with walnuts and dried cherries on it, I'm sure we didn't suffer any. Even the fish are getting lots of fiber in our house--they love fruit when I put it in their tank!

Here's to a healthier 2008, and to dh's continued success in his lifestyle change.

Now there's creativity

Last week I got a belated Christmas gift from friends--a nice shiny big new slow cooker! (I've had to rearrange a cupboard to fit the thing in, and I now have no place for my herbal teas--oh well!) DS5 appropriated the pieces of foam which surrounded the cooker in its box. Two of the pieces were semi-circular cut-outs. I heard him in his room banging away with hammer and nails and when he emerged, he carried a new doorway for himself! He had managed to nail (how do you nail styrofoam????) the semi-circle to two straight pieces of foam and make himself an arched entrance. Of course, it's DS5 size, so only he can use it, and then only by crawling. He'd even written "DS5's bedroom" on it, so we're sure to not confuse his room with one of ours ;-) I really must photograph it and post it here--it cracks me up every time he scoots thru to get inot his room!

Missed moments

The one thing my ds5 really dislikes about my working midnights is that I can't read him a story every night before bed. Somehow having daddy, grandma, or grandpa read to him just ISN'T the same as when mommy reads to him. I wonder why, LOL? So tonight before work I had 20 minutes to spare and I thought I'd read, because the one thing I don't like about working midnights is that I don't get to read either! Well, ds5 thought I meant I should read to HIM ;-) So I didn't get to read more than a sentence of my book, but I did get some bonus snuggle time and left a happy boy behind because he'd gotten his bedtime story from MOMMY.

I love answers to prayers that I wasn't even praying!

Next week a health seminar sponsored by our church starts. It's on Tuesday & Thursday evenings. My dh could benefit from attending, although he has made quite a few changes that would be recommended. Still, positive reinforcement never hurts, and he can also be a witness to anyone from the community who is attending and thinking "Wow, this is a lot to change--I could never do that!" There's only one teeny tiny problem--my dh's work schedule conflicted with his attending the seminar. I just figured to myself "oh well, no big deal, I guess he just won't make this one." I believe God has a different idea, however, because dh's friend needed to trade a shift--and guess what? DH now has Tuesday off next week! And here I wasn't even worrying about this or praying that he'd be able to go. I have no idea what, or if, God has in store to get him there for the other 5 sessions (also work nights) but I'm not going to worry about it. If he's meant to be there, he'll be there!

Happy 2008!

Yep, it's that time of the year again. January 1st! Rolls around once a year, doesn't it? This January 1st is a beautiful one. First of all, I awoke to a beautiful, peaceful, white covering of snow. Not very much, but enough to cover the ugly brown spots and remind me of how my friend Jesus covers my ugly spots with his purity as well. He's going to help me have less ugliness and more purity in my life this year. I'm at work, but I've spoken on the phone with the love of my life, my dh. We had a difficult year last year because of his health issues, but it ended up being a wonderful year because we've drawn so much closer to each other as a result. We appreciate each other more, and we see eye-to-eye on more things than we used to. Out of catastrophe, God is sure to bring good, if we let him.

I've had the privilege of watching my children grow and learn last year. They've changed so much in such a short time. DD10 has matured in so many ways. She's still my little girl--she'll always be that--but she's starting to understand "grown-up things" and share in more of my life. I can honestly say that we're friends and I hope we stay that way forever. The highlight of her year was her baptism in the lake, committing herself to Jesus. DS5 is a 25 year old trapped in a little boy's body. He is such a delightful boy. He can be so serious one instant, and a clown the next instant. He is openly affectionate to so many people. He is still innocent, yet has so much knowledge already stored up in that little head of his. The world is at his fingertips, and he doesn't even know it yet!

Here is my New Year gift to you:

He came to my desk with quivering lip-
The lesson was done;
"Dear teacher, I want a new leaf," he said,
"I have spoiled this one."

I took the old leaf, stained and blotted,
And gave him a new one all unspotted,
And into his sad eyes smiled,
"Do better, now, my child."

I went to the throne with quivering soul
The old year was done.
"Dear God, hast Thou a new leaf for me?
I have spoiled this one."

God took the old leaf, stained and blotted,
And gave me a new one all unspotted,
And into my sad heart smiled,
"Do better, now, my child."
--Carrie Shaw Rice--