Children of the Corn?

Just planted our cornfield and zucchinis, pumpkins and carrots. We can't tell the difference btw the zuks and the pumpkins though, so not sure how many we will get.

We have a LOT of corn planted. It's a bit late for the seedlings, which really should have been moved last week, but it was still freezing and the wind was incredible, so we needed to wait until we got back from NC.

Tuesday we went on a field trip to Shirley Plantation. It was a fine trip and, since I paid for it so long ago, it seemed practically free. We learned a bit about portrait painting and then had a chance to try some watercolors. Usually they talk about children learning to sketch and paint nature as part of their education, but it was way too windy to try outside.

After the painting, we headed to the tool shed to try out some period games like pick up sticks, marbles and jacks. Then it was off to the main house for a tour. The same family has owned the plantation since the beginning and they still live on the second and third floors.

They gave us a treasure hunt map when we were through so we could learn a bit more about the other buildings around the plantation. It was windy and chilly, but a good time.

We ate lunch in the car and then--off to g'ma and g'pas house for a quick visit. That day, nanny went back into the hospital and it looks like she has taken another turn for the worse. I talked to the kids about it and we all went to see her at the hospital which cheered her up quite a bit. I also printed out some photos and Katie made a card to brighten up the room a bit. I don't think she's very aware of it, but it sets a nice energy there anyway and let's the nurses know a bit more about her.

We spent some time on the beach, but it was still pretty chilly. Didn't warm up until Friday afternoon really.

Katie spent time remembering how to ride her bike and Zack set up all his cowboys, soldiers and police officers on the porch table. I worked and it was nice to have the kids occupied.

It was nice to have some sun--even if it was chilly--and a chance to visit. We'll be back in a couple of weeks for my folk's 50 wedding anniversary, but that will be pretty hectic.

Today is sunny and summery. A good day to get our hands in the dirt and plant those veggies.

The garden

A quick progress report on the vegetable garden:


Here they are our first day 4/1


And sprouting today 4/8

Wow!

Katie is sick with a fever today :-( but wasn't feeling badly until around lunch time so she was able to enjoy her Easter basket and egg hunt. I knew it was time to take it seriously when she didn't want to finish dessert!

Zack, after another bout of stomach flu on Saturday night, is feeling much better. And in another act of prize-winning mothering, a few minutes ago I realized that he'd been in the tub for about an hour and not yet tucked in bed. His hands and feet were very pruney but he seems to have survived the great soak.

Spent the weekend loafing around. Now I have to figure out what to do with my Brownie's tomorrow...

Uh, what was that about the sun....

OK, so mother nature has other plans and we're now expecting about 2 inches of snow tonight.

In the meantime, there was a break in the blustery weather on Wednesday night and we ran in to check out the cherry blossoms. As usual, I forgot my camera and had to settle for the cell phone.

In other news, Katie and Zack spend almost every afternoon playing the the kids down the street.

Katie recently asked me why they have schools if everyone (meaning her school friends) hates going so much. I tried to be tactful in my response.

Easter is almost here and I've been informed that the Easter Bunny ALWAYS leaves cool stuff in the egg hunt eggs.

We started a vegetable garden and are very glad we planted in seedling starters housed in the living room instead of outside in the impending freeze. We are hoping for a crop of corn, zucchini, pumpkins and carrots.

We'll keep you posted on our progress.

The Return of the Sun

And now I creep back out of my cocoon and join the world. Mid-Feb to mid-March is always hard for me. Too dark and cold out, no holidays and not many activities to join in on.

Plus, it's the time I order the CAT test for the end of the year and I start getting twitchy about whether we've covered everything we "should" have. This year, my obsession is the division I didn't know would be on the test and which our math curriculum doesn't cover until 4th grade. I'm sure it will all work out.

What's been going on?

Katie
--badge ceremony at Brownies, she now has nice new additions to her vest.
--Looking forward to the Girl Scout camping trip.
--Made a pancake breakfast for mom and Zack "all by herself."


Zack
--got his Bear badge in time for the Blue and Gold banquet.
--looking forward to camping with the Boy Scouts and dad.


Me
--working again
--made a last-minute trip to Dallas to check out a hotel, got stuck there for an extra two days because of snow in the northeast. Why my colleague, who was going back to a foot of snow in Boston, got home 24 hrs ahead of me, who was traveling to an airport that never closed and no snow, is still a mystery.
--came up with the Brownie badge ceremony
--NOT looking forward to the Girl Scout camping trip.
--helping out with the VA Homeschoolers Conference coming in July.

Pete
--Working
--a trip to Salt Lake City again for a week

The kids have also been taking a music class with our Friday group. I find the teacher a little glum and talky, but the kids have liked it.

While I was in Dallas, they got their green-strip belts in Tae Kwon Do and are now a belt ahead of me. We all went to see the black belt test, which was grueling! Zack still can't wait to get to that though.

We've started multiplication in our math curriculum and they really like it--but don't ask them, they'll never admit it!

We've been on a few outings now that the weather has cleared up. The kids and Pete went to a model railroad show with the Boy Scouts. We went out to Shenandoah Caverns. Kate and Zack had never been in a cave and Kate was a bit nervous about it, but they had a great time. The site also has a display of parade floats, which are much bigger in-person than on TV!



I remembered late one morning that I'd signed us up for Geomania at National Geographic and we had to scramble to get dressed and into DC. We ended up missing about 1/4 of the program but did get to learn about longitude and latitude, a bit about what Columbus was really looking for and more about maps. It was great to go to the Nat Geo building too. There's a free museum that we will return to when we have more time.

We'll be starting an Occupational Therapy program called Astronaut Training. Originally this was just for Zack but when we got talking about Katie's reversals of numbers and letters and difficulty with left and right, she said to try it with her too. The program is designed to be done with two anyway, so Katie will step in a Zack's partner instead of me.

And now April is here.

Katie wants to start a vegetable garden and picked out carrots, Zucchini (at my urging), corn (really?!) and peppers. We also have a lot of flower seeds. I bought us some seedling starters this time. Last year, the squirrels just followed us down the rows, digging up all the seeds. Hopefully, if we can start them indoors, we'll get a better crop.

Last night we went to a triple feature at a drive-in in MD. All the movies were kid-friendly, so we decided to stay up (very) late and see them all. We saw Bridge to Terabithia and all cried big tears at the end; cheered up with the very funny Meet the Robinsons; and held our eyes open for The Astronaut Farmer--which I thought didn't come off as well as I'd hoped. It was fine, but I thought they could have done a lot more with the idea. All this for $16--plus another $10 for food but still a good value and a DRIVE-IN!

I've been shedding lots of extra stuff through freecycle and setting stuff aside for the upcoming BS yard sale. The house still seems over-full.

The bulbs the kids and I actually remembered to plant in the fall are starting to pop up. The weather is warming and the air smells fresh. That, plus the early daylight savings, has improved my mood considerably.

Hope the signs of spring are brightening up your days too.

Go Speed Racer

It was the pinewood derby yesterday and Zack came in first in his Den and second overall! He was very proud. He gets a medal, patch and will also compete in the big race (many local Scout Packs) next Saturday.

Here he is after putting his car up on the track and then posing with his winning car "The Snake." They're from my cell phone, so not great, but you'll get the idea.

San Francisco

The trip started with a harrowing 4:30am ride to the airport in an ice storm. Upon arriving at the airport, we were informed that it had just closed down. That began an 11 hour wait for our flight to get off the ground.

Kate and Zack were troopers and kept themselves occupied around the empty sections of the terminal and doing some activities I brought to occupy them on the 6-hour flight. By the time we took off, my bag of tricks was empty so I just let them spend the flight watching TV--a plus about flying on Jet Blue.

So, we lost a day to the weather in VA, but got into the hotel and to bed to start fresh the next day, which we began on Alcatraz. I was wiped that morning so skipped the view from the ferry to grab a few more minutes of sleep and let the advil work on my pounding head and aching back. It worked! I was able to enjoy the gorgeous weather and the tour. Alcatraz was Zack's favorite part of the trip. The audio tour is great.


That night, we learned the news about Steve and took much of the evening pulling ourselves together while Katie and Zack slept. We took it easy the following day, trying to have a good time but not do too much.

Other places/sites seen on the trip, in no particular order since I can't remember:
Fisherman's Wharf--good chowder, wacky stores and the Bay. Also, a nice walk to Ghiradelli Square where the kids split a banana split and Pete and I had treats too. Yum.

A day taking a walking tour of Chinatown, Pete and I had never spent so much time down there and discovered the Asian Pacific Heritage museum, which used to a a US mint and was the only building the in vicinity to survive the 1906 earthquake/fire. We also went to the Golden Gate fortune cookie factory to see close up how those fortunes get into cookies.


Grace Cathedral, where we walked the labyrinth and got to see the organ player practice. We learned to our great disappointment that you can no longer ride the outdoor elevator to the top of the Fairmont :-( but we did get to chat with their harpist, who played several Disney tunes for Katie and Zack. Katie would now like to learn the harp in addition to the piano.

My birthday was spent in Berkeley in very mild weather. We walked around the campus and with no expectation of being able to get in, went to the carillon. Pete and I have been to this tower at least three time and it has never been open, but this time--yes! It was windy at the top but a great view and a look at the bells and clockworks too. We took a bus ride up the hilly roads to visit the Lawrence Hall of Science--free with our current science museum membership-nice. The afternoon was spent window shopping, which surprisingly, the kids enjoyed. We also ate at Pete's and my favorite place with giant sandwiches and salads.


We spent some time at the Metreon, playing the virtual kicking game in the halls, checking out the gaming store and the PlayStation store, where you can play the games in ten minute sessions.


We took many cable car rides--one to the cable car museum, where you can see the actual cables turning under the street! We also got good use out of our Muni passes, which covered the cable cars, and the buses and trains (except the BART train to Berkeley).

We went to the Golden Gate bridge, but I thought it was way too windy that day to walk across, so we investigated the base of the bridge a bit.

We went to the Cliff House and put our feet in the Pacific Ocean-a first for Zack and Kate and her favorite activity. I found the trash-canless littered (with trash and dog poo-yuck) beach a downer, but we all enjoyed the Sutro baths which are only ruins. They look ancient but are really only from the remnants of a fire in the 60s. OK, kind of ancient but not in the way we originally thought ;-)


We went to the Levi's welcome center which was interesting and they had a fountain outside that you could walk through which we all enjoyed.

The Exploratorium is the best Science museum ever. You can touch everything and we practically did touch everything. It's right next to the Palace of Fine Arts in the Presidio and again, the weather was great and we took our time perusing the Palace and the museum. Again, we were able to use our scince membership for free tickets--wow, that has paid for itself ten times over.

A trip to Golden Gate Park was poorly planned. We stopped at a playground where a local kindergarten was having an outing and the kids got to play with everyone, which they needed. The goal of getting to the Japanese tea garden should have been dropped. Too much walking and we got there too late. We were starving and there wasn't anywhere around to eat. That may have been the day we ended up at a Chinese bakery for lunch, which was quite a find. Fresh, hot out of the oven sponge cake was worth the trip.

The last day was the coldest but still mild and we decided to splurge on the Aquarium of the Bay, where you move through the fish tank and they swim all around you. They took our FONZ membership but it was still pricey. Then we really splurged on Ripley Believe or Not, a wax museum. I am crazy about wax museums, a guilty pleasure, and Zack had wanted to go ever since seeing it on our first day. VERY pricey but a good time and we had skipped splurging for most of the trip.

Dinners were the constant challenge. We skipped the meal on several nights. The only night that really worked out was Friday night. We made plans to meet with our friend Marion and her suggestion worked out great and it was terrific to see her too. But all the other nights ran too late for the kids and were pretty underwhelming. No biggie.

All in all a great trip and all of us want to go back again soon (or, win the lottery and move there!)

Back home again to math, music, Tae Kwon Do, piano, scouts and all the rest and as the snow melts is that a hint of spring in the air already?

Steve, farewell

Before I can write about our trip to San Francisco, I need to say a few words about Steve Finer.

We learned when we got to SF that he had died in a freak accident in September and that word had never reached us. We were looking forward to seeing him during our trip. I had never met his wife or their 2 year-old son and it had been years since he had seen Katie and Zack.

The news was shocking to say the least and so Pete and I dealt with various levels of sadness throughout the trip and it has especially hit me since we've been back. Don't know if I just put it aside for the sake of enjoying the trip or if it got more real since returning to my real life.

Steve was a great guy who took life in great big bites. He wasted no time in going after whatever he wanted. That included a move from Boston to San Francisco, marriage, fatherhood, fixing up old cars, getting involved in the production of a TV show and running his own business. Any conversation about loyalty would always bring Steve to mind. He was one of the most loyal friends with an honest interest in whatever was up for you. He was enjoying his married life and thrilled and awed at being a father. I was never a close friend, Pete was much tighter with him, but I will miss him and miss knowing that this constant source of energy and creativity is now missing.

You can see some about him at:
Art of the Chopper

and here:
Guestbook

and when you have a second, send a little energy or a prayer out to his wife Yuki and son Abi.

And don't waste time waiting for your life. It's happening right now.

--Liz

Day at the Museum

Spent a good portion of the day in the National Gallery. Pete's folks are visiting and his dad wanted to spend some time there. Good idea since it was freezing out and there's a connector to both buildings so no need to brave the elements.

It's great to see the kids in an art museum now. They really give their attention to the work now and want to know more about the whys and stories behind them. Easy in the older works, harder in the modern section.

I also need to reign in my temptation to make everything a lesson. I noticed that Pete and his dad felt the desire to act as art professors as well. That certainly curbed my pontifications today but I completely understand the desire.

Kate and Zack do a good job of ignoring the stuff that doesn't interest them and tuning in to what they care about. If I let them ask, their questions are pretty interesting. Zack thought a self portrait by Gauguin looked like a Picasso. I would have never made the connection myself. Once I got thinking about it, I'd say maybe more like Dali or Miro, but what the heck? He's making connections and that's great.

It was also nice to see what they remember from previous visits and how much they enjoy recognizing paintings they already know.

I'm so jazzed about our San Francisco trip next week. They'll be so much to see and the kids will help me see the city in a whole new way, I'm sure. Plus getting vacation with just the four of us is sooooooo needed.

OK, my hands are freezing. Time to get off the keyboard.

Up and Out

How to get Kate and Zack dressed and outside before 8:30am?

SNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's going to get warmer this afternoon, so I told them last night that if they wanted to get any sledding in, they would have to go outside early. Lo and behold, they were dressed and out before breakfast.

I love this kind of snow. It looked pretty coming down, didn't need to be shovelled and should be gone by tonight.

Katie needs new boots and snow pants. Really thought we'd get another winder out of the boots, but we've been using the snow pants since pre-school so I can't complain about those!

Great Movie

We just saw "Night at the Museum."

Great movie! It's like this move was made for homeschoolers. It's about a night watchman at the Natural History Museum in NYC. It was nice to see the museum, especially since I was just telling the kids all about the Egypt exhibit. We all enjoyed it and I'm glad we changed our plans from seeing Happlily N'ever After, which I learned was getting very poor reviews and would not have been nearly as good as this one.

All the exhibits come to life at night and the hero needs to brush up on his history in order to figure out how to keep everyone under control. The first exhibit that comes to life makes you feel like it might get scary but quickly reveals its cute outcome.

It was the perfect way to spend a rainy afternoon. But, the price was a killer. $30 for the four of us--and that was the matinee price!

That and dinner at IHOP made it a $60 outing for us. It really was a good movie to see on the big screen, but movies just shouldn't be that expensive!

MLK Day today. Not sure what to do with ourselves today. Already noon and we've just been hanging around. Going to surf around and see if there's anything interesting to do.

Hitting the Books

The cold weather is here, but no snow much to the disappointment of K&Z.

Winter means more group field trips (through REACH and another new local group) and more pen and pencil work.

Lately we've been working on cursive. We're using "Handwriting without Tears" and so far like it very much. It helps that there is no real rush about learning cursive, that the kids want to learn it and that my expectations are incredibly low. We do not have a family history of great penmanship, so legible is great!

We are reading more regularly at bedtime, with the early nights. In the middle of "The Dawn Treader" right now. It's our third Narnia book as we are reading them in the order written rather than in chronological order.

Math work has tremulously (on my part) begun again. In light of last year's freak out, we are going to do one page a week from the curriculum and use the computer games, board games and real life to fill out the rest of the week.

I also want to work in at least one science experiment a week, but haven't done that yet. Katie has been getting a good deal of science at Brownies, but Zack is feeling the lack of it in his work.

In other interests, Zack is all martial arts all the time and is giving his new punching bag regular beatings. Katie is using her new American Girl art set to learn more about colors and enjoying the paper dolls that also came with that kit.

I have been mesmerized by the new slideshow screen saver feature on my new computer. It plays random photos from my files for about 25 minutes and it's wonderful but is eating my time up like crazy!

Pete is currently on his way home from Provo.

And that's us today. Pete's on the phone, so I'm off!

Holiday time

Lots of running around coming up as the holidays near.

I was up with a busy head at 5am today. Never a good idea, but I just couldn't help myself this morning!

Today is basically my last day at work on a marketing job I've been doing the past month. Lots of loose ends to wrap up and a report (and invoice-yea!) to write. I've been working since October and the kids have been very patient as I've been glued in front of my computer for hours on end.

So, today, work wrap up, Tae Kwon Do and a commitment tonight. Possibly some Christmas shopping.

Friday--Zack sees his OT, Katie has HS play practice and Zack has a b-day party that evening which we need a gift for.

Saturday--Katie has a piano recital and the HS Christmas play and party, which we need to bring food to.

Sunday--baking! And Pete's band has a show that night (thejetage.net).

Monday--Brownies

Tuesday--TKD and Scouts

Wednesday--Piano

Thursday--TKD belt tests

Friday--potluck TKD belt ceremony and Gma and Gpa come

Saturday--Church pageant rehearsal for Katie

Sunday--Christmas Eve!

Well, that's plenty to do but now seeing it all in one place I can see that there will be time to finish the shopping, bake the cookies, shop for and wrap the presents and buy and cook the food--oh yes, and Clean the House. Also, to watch Charlie Brown Christmas, Frosty the Snowman, The Santa Clause, and the Grinch. And to read our many Christmas books.

and then Santa will come and we will unwrap and then catch a flight to Boston to see Pete's clan.

A little sprinkle of snow wouldn't hurt either--as long as it doesn't happen on any flying days. I have my drugs all ready for the flights. :-p

Hope you are filled with the spirit of the season. Happy holidays however you choose to celebrate them.

Peace.

Here I am again

Did you think I abandoned the blog?

Well, pretty much for the last month. I was working on an event--90 days worth of work in 30 days--and it ate my life. We are now radical unschoolers, I guess, since I haven't done any "formal" lessons since October. Not that we're particularly formal as it is, so it wasn't this grand step off the cliff, but still, there wasn't much of a plan for giving up structure all together. But--that's life and here we are.

I need a list of what the heck we've been up to. It makes me feel better to keep track. Wait a sec while I pull out the calendar.....

OK, the last update here was Oct 20--wow, it really has been a whole month.

That weekend we planted trees at a park in Arlington as part of our church Working Together Weekend. This was the first time we've been able to participate and it was nice to get out there and get muddy. The ground was VERY hard. Our family was able to plant about 4 trees.

Katie and Zack took out and read every fall/Halloween book we owned. Then they had to clean up the big pile of books.

Some time that weekend or early the week of 10/22, I noticed a terrible smell coming from Zack's room. I realized that it smelled like animal marking. Spats (our old cat) did a lot of this when I first got him, so I know the smell really well. The only attic access is in Zack's room and that meant something was probably living up there--YIKES! Wednesday, the exterminator came and it's only mice. He threw a bunch of baits around the attic and it should be all handled in a couple of months. I still had this great enzyme spray that we used to clean the rug when Spats was so sick before we put him to sleep. While the guy was up there, I used his ladder to spray all around and the smell was gone by that evening. That spray is great!

Friday, 10/27 was Boo at the Zoo. In the rain. Kate, Zack and Pete had a great time. I had a wet time but that was fine.

We didn't do a lot of the things we normally do for Halloween--my favorite holiday. No time to go to the Corn Maize, pumpkin patch or Cox farms. This year I barely got all our decorations up. We did add a nice witch to our collection and we got pumpkins at a school fundraiser. Carving happened the day before Halloween and I had candy and pretzels already bought for the event.

We made 2 Halloween pies and Zack and Katie made decorations for our Friday homeschool group's Halloween party. We also made a mystery box of eyeballs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The party was terrific and a nice break from the work-grind for our family.

Here's what our Halloween decorations and costumes looked like:
A disappointing turn-out for Trick-or-Treating. Have to wonder if going house to house is a dying tradition. Too bad. I love to see all the costumes.

I had to work wall to wall the following week but we did get to Tae Kwon Do and Piano lessons. We skipped HS groups and one planned field trip :-(

11/6, off to Florida for my event! The flights were cheap enough for all of us to go. Katie and Zack were excited to fly again. I got my usual drugs, so I was ok with the flight too.

K&Z went to camp our only full day at the resort. They had a great time and the bad weather didn't spoil their vacation at all. My event went well and Pete was able to work from the room reasonably well.

We got back on Wednesday and the next day Pete headed out to Paris for his company's annual meeting. We were all going to go, but it didn't work out. Just as well since Pete was tied up most of the time anyway.

Other things I remember but don't know when exactly we did them--
We took out the Dr. Dreadful and Easy bake oven and the kids made some goodies; we had a play date with a family and the mom also cuts our hair--which was desperately needed; we ate too much McDonalds; the Boy Scouts went to the Navy Yard and also did their Scouting for Food drive. We tried the mentos in coke experiment to reasonably impressive results; played LOTs of board games; did one chapter in the math books; started reading the Story of the World (or just read more of it, I don't remember when we started; Zack almost finished one of the computer games that covers the whole 3rd grade curriculum; Katie took up sewing. Katie decided we should make kites one day. Lots of designs were tried but we had a hard time getting past a spinning problem. There was a Girl Scout dance last Friday.

All in all, we kept pretty busy.

I hope to be more regular in updating this but never can tell what the coming priorities will be.

Wow, who's out there?

Have you noticed the nice little map on the sidebar? It counts up how many hits this blog gets and where they are from. I just noticed three new dots, one in Europe (ok, I am STILL awful at geography and won't know exactly where that one is until I pull out the globe), one in So. America and one in Washington state. Pretty sure I know who the US one us, but who are the rest of you? And the dot in India.

Please leave comments! (Even you local folks!) I am always dumbstruck that anyone is reading this thing.

My schedule has been packed and I'm hoping to stay home today and spend time with just us. May even pass on our Friday group today. We are all wound up and I feel like we've hardly seen each other.

I'm working and either have had a phone to my ear, or my butt in front of the computer all week unless we're at an activity. Pete has been working or running around. Nights that he's been home, I've been out and vice versa. Katie and Zack have been mostly doing their own thing, when I'm not running them off to something.

We will all be going to Florida while I'm working my event. Pete will also work from there but we should get some time together, especially on the last day when I'm done and I think Pete plans to take the day off. The second day we're there, the kids will go to the resort's camp. I haven't decided if they need to go all day, but probably. Not entirely happy with that but I'll be working and Pete will get cranky with them while he's trying to get work done in the room.

I did survive my first Brownie Meeting as leader. It was insane. We had 10 Brownies, a parent with each and several siblings. There is a ton of paperwork for parents to fill out the first night. Next Monday's meeting should be a bit calmer. I'll have one parent and two older GScouts to help and only Brownies to deal with. I'm actually not sure what all my helpers will be doing but it's nice to have the help.

Pete is off to Chicago with the band Sunday-Tuesday. He'll be off to Paris the day after we get back from Florida.

Never a dull moment.

And the miracle of homeschooling is still going on around here. Katie continues reading chapter books on her own. Their addition has markedly improved. They are building things and making up stories. The only complaint is that they are not getting much time with me. I'm also seeing a lot more bickering amongst all of us and I think it's a sign of stress.

So--much as I hate to miss it, we will skip Friday group today. I will also skip the Smithsonian Teacher night tonight and we already missed the members preview of the Zoo's new Asia trail early this morning. And we'll have a very nice day and take care of ourselves and our house.

It really is fine to do this. It's just my social anxiety about not showing up that everyone will forget who I am. I really am a million times better with the group dynamics thing than I used to be, but it does creep up on me, especially when I'm stressed. So, time for another dose of deep breathing and getting out of my head. :-)

Also, time to get off the computer.

May you have a serene day too.

New Pictures

At last the camera software is working on my computer again! Here are some recent pictures:



Zack's picture and poem from our trip to Port Discovery


Katie's poem and picture from Port Discovery


Some recent artwork of Katie's


Dolls made from Iris leaves (we didn't have any corn husks handy)


A nice picture I took at the Wash. Mon.

Balancing

Well, after a MAJOR system crash, I have almost everything on my computer working again and can spare some time to get this blog back on track.

I can tell I'm more relaxed about HSing this year. Don't feel the need to update this with details on how well we are learning all the time. I do like to fill in anyone listening on our doings but don't feel so defensive about it anymore. Nice!

Tons going on and more coming up. I just signed a 30-day contract to put together a couple of events. It will entail two trips to Florida and possibly a trip to Boston and crunching what I'd normally take 90 days to get done into a month.

I officially started yesterday and I've already had to bail out on our Friday group, much to the disappointment of Kate and Zack (and me too). Sat the kids down after my conf call and explained that it is going to be a very hectic month and we may miss quite a few of our regular activities. I asked them to tell me when they're feeling angry or disappointed or whatever. I hope they will.

My work will be to remember I didn't sign on to be available for work 24/7 and to balance our regular activities with my job. That's hard for me but will be a learning experience for us all--as always! I also need to remember to reach out to other HS families. I can be so shy about asking for help and this is an opportunity to get over myself.

So, what have we been up to in the past month....

• We went to Williamsburg and Great Wolf Lodge. We all loved it. I wish I had been more organized about the Colonial Williamsburg piece, but we had a good time roaming around on our own. It was HS week and the tickets were cheapo, so we splurged on period costume rentals for the kids and they enjoyed that a lot, particularly my performer Katie. Children in costumes get a lot of special attention from the costumed guides in the town and Katie ate this up. They also had letters from a "resident" and errands to run for her. One was to help the gardener water the plants.
  

Here are some snaps from the day--taken with my new do-everything cell phone:

• Boy Scouts started for Zack with a trip to the zoo.
• I am officially the new Brownie Leader and we'll start next week
• Made two trips to the African Art Museum and I can't believe we didn't get to that sooner. Interesting about that trip was how well the kids did in an art museum.
  
• Afterwards we went to the Hirschorn and they enjoyed that too. This is a big change from previous years when they mostly wanted to hear their voices echo off the walls. We can go to art museums now! I am very thrilled with this.
• Port Discovery, the children's museum in Baltimore had a free HS day so we went to that. I'm never that thrilled with children's museums but I didn't mind it for free and the kids enjoyed it.
• Tae Kwon Do takes up a big chunk of our Tues and Thurs and I am not quite so sore after each class.
• We are delving into "The Story of the World" and I'm hoping to jump off that to some practical activities. So far Katie and Zack have been interested in the stories but not looking more in-depth. We are barely into the book and I think once we're into the Egyptians they'll want to start trying out some of the things (maybe making a mummy...)

There are tons of activities we've had to pass on--an art class, drama class, pottery class, assorted field trips and plays. It's hard to say no to all of these wonderful things but we are overloaded already and work will make this all the more difficult. It's a constant winnowing of the best from all of the good.

Hope you are enjoying the fall. All the rain can get me down but the crisp cool days make up for it.

Remembering 5 years ago

Pict: the kids in 2001

Spent the morning watching CNN's internet stream rebroadcast of their 2001 Sept 11 coverage. It was strange how naive everyone was, thinking for so long that it was an accident. I forgot how long it took to put it all together. It was still pretty horrifying to watch. Kate and Zack each spent a little time in my office watching a bit of the coverage. As soon as they stopped in I let them know that it wasn't happening right now and if it was upsetting that they didn't need to watch, but they took it very in stride. They don't remember a world where this sort of attack doesn't happen and I think that's one of the reasons it's not quite a shocking to them. I'm sure they also don't fully grasp the big picture but they look at it like I look at Pearl Harbor--oh, that's terrible but not OMG I can't believe it.

I also forgot that Katie Couric was the main anchor for NBC's coverage since it happened during the Today show. Sure that played into her current CBS job.

Lots of memories from that day came back up. I won't go through a blow by blow but some interesting thoughts came up today. I put the kids in for a nap that day and it was funny to realize that I must have done that at 9am because I was on the TV from that time on and I didn't turn it on until the kids were in their rooms. I'm sure they picked up on the high pitched energy and slept it off. They didn't wake up until Pete came home as the second tower came down around 10:30am. Also remember heading over to the school playground around the 13th so I could get out of the house. I brought my radio with me so I could keep on top of any late breaking threats. It was so quiet with no airplanes going overhead and hardly any traffic on the nearby highway. They next day Pete went back in to work we headed in to the Smithsonian Museums, which were empty. DC was deserted. I was interviewed by Voice of America but doubt I got on the air since I expressed such opposition to the bombing in Afghanistan. (bananastand)

Otherwise, we are having a nice day with nothing planned. We don't get many of these, so I'm trying to take advantage of it. We played games--Sorry, B-dimon, Uno, Scrabble. I read good things about the kids games on the Colonial Williamsburg site and they played on that for a good while. The main game is a lot like Hangman and it was fun. Now they're working together on the Shrek book on their Leapfrog. Glad they are still getting use out of that.

They are very resistant to doing any math after last year's debacle, so I'm going to wait a bit before diving into anything formal. After I finish this, they'll get out their Dr. Dreadful candy kit and the EZ bake and make some treats and we'll let the measuring count as math for today.

In older news, since it's been a while since I updated this, The Marts came to browse through the American History Museum before it closes for two years of renovation. We had been looking forward to the Muppet exhibit but it was even smaller than I had expected and it was pretty disappointing for me and, I think, all the adults. The kids had a good time though.

The VaHomeschoolers Conference went very well and I was glad I had helped out. The whole family had a great time at the museums, spent some money on new materials, hung out together and met lots of people we only knew online. There is a terrific sense of community at this conference and it was helpful to know that we are not alone. (for more on this see:

After the Conf. in Richmond, the kids and I headed down to NC to spend another week with Gma and Gpa. Unfortunately, hurricane Ernesto decided to visit as well. Turned out to be not much of a deal and we only lost one day at the beach which we spent visiting nanny at the nursing home, going to a movie (Barnyard--not as bad as I expected), and shopping.

So, with our tans freshened up, we are back to our fall "routine."

Looks like the schedule is going to be packed and I will have to try very hard to get a good amount of at-home time.

Mondays--I have be coerced into being the Brownie Leader this year, so now both Katie and I will have a Monday activity.

Tuesdays--The big day--Tae Kwon Do and Boy Scouts and once a month our coop pick up. Field Trips and Park Day also fall on Tuesdays but we will not get these in every week.

Wed--Katie's piano lesson, family yard work in the afternoon

Thurs--Tae Kwon Do and probably our weekly zoo visit. Possibly a games class at the Arlington Y, but I'm going to wait on this and see how they do after TKD.

Friday--Friday group.

Sundays--Sunday school/Church

I've also planned for us to go to Williamsburg and a play next week, an art trip and trip to Baltimore the following week, and Boo and the Zoo, a trip to Mississippi to help with hurricane relief and another play in the coming months. So, busy busy busy. All good but I have to keep my wits about me so that we use our unplanned time well.

The End Is Near

The end of summer is almost here. Although I really don't consider it over until the warm weather disappears. We pretty much do what we do regardless of the calendar. But, the end of scheduled summer is upon us and it does make me pause and marvel at how quickly the past three months went by. I wonder sometimes if summer seems to go on forever for Katie and Zack the way it went on for me at their age but I suspect that it is a faster moving world for them. Now for me, I'm just getting old.

Last week was full of stuff.

We, at last, used our Hershey Park tickets. I prefer going on Tuesdays and now I know just why. We had to go on Monday this time and the lines were crazy! I can't imagine what it must be like on weekends. Pete and Zack got some good time together as the rollercoaster team. Katie and I go for tamer, but just as fun, fare. Katie can spin endlessly, so I would go with her on the first ride and then watch her for the next 4 turns. However, THIS year I did not inflict the Tilt-a-Whirl on myself, which I can barely watch without getting nauseated! Katie and Zack are on the Whip in the picture. I love this ride. I would have been a very daring amusment park goer in the 40s :-)

Tuesday we were wiped out from Monday and we had a pajama day and just lazed around. I think the kids went to bed around 7:30, a record for the summer.

Wednesday, Katie went on a playdate at Mai's (after we waited around for an hour for her to come to us and then called to find out that Mai's mother had made other plans and didn't bother to tell us--not my favorite family to deal with). Zack and I went for a bike ride--I looked ridiculous. I don't have a bike, so I donned Katie's helmet and jumped on her bike. I received many stares. I have GOT to get a bike. That night, Pete and I took advantage of Restaurant Week to go out for a fancy dinner at Dish in Foggy Bottom. It was great and we had a chance to talk through a ridiculous argument we'd had earlier in the week. We discovered that tough conversations are so much nicer with good food.

Thursday is a blank.....feel like we did something but have no idea what...hmmm--wait, that's the day we went to a library program and collected the kids' coupons books. The summer reading program isn't a reading incentive for us (they read far more than 15 books with no promise of a prize) but I noticed they could get the coupons, so filled in the latest 15 books they' read and went over to collect. There was a nice program that day. They got to make lots of different games, instruments and picture books. That was nice.

Friday, the kids and I went to the Arlington County Fair with some friends. Their web site touted canning competitions, pig races and pony rides, so I was expecting something more farm-like. It turned out to be mostly midway games and carnival rides (none to cheap but not horrible). The heat was unbelievable and I was a bit disappointed. No big, Kate and Zack had a terrific time, and why not--they both got to get scrambled on the Tilt-a-Whirl again--that's twice in one week! We had to rush home from the Fair to clean up, get Pete and grab a little dinner at McD's before heading out to an outdoor screening of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Love the screenings in Bethesda. There were tons of things to keep the kids busy while waiting for the sun to set. They made spin art, sand art, they got waterless tattoos, played ball-toss games for prizes. We came home with a nice bag of goodies, all for my favorite price--Free!

Sunday was another lazy morning, then we headed out to Burke to go to Kohl's for some clothes for Pete and to go to the only remaining Friendlys in the area. Unfortunately, it took about 45 minutes to get our food and another 20 to get our desserts (which were the reason we went in the first place, so didn't want to skip them). We got one lame excuse after the next and never saw the manager who was promised therefore our waitress go a terrible tip, which is too bad for her since we usually are great tippers. Think we'll just go to Baskin Robbins next time.

And now it's Monday and less than a week until the VaHomeschoolers Conference (have you registered yet? ;-).

Whew.

Cycling Picts

For our next trick, we'll be heading out to a biking trail and have a whole biking/picnic day. Zack is still riding the 14" bike because his feet don't quite touch the ground on the 16", so I'll use his bike until I get one of my own.









What a lesson in waiting until they were ready. I literally took 30 minutes with each holding the back of the bike and they were off to the races!

Two-wheeling

Yes, we have two wheeled bike riders! Pete and I were feeling totally inadequate as parents, having not taught our kids how to ride their bikes yet. We live on a very steep hill and so it takes a trip up the hill to the school parking lot to get some space to ride flat.

It's not that we haven't taken them on their bikes at all, but it was pretty rare that we wanted to go and the kids wanted to try at the same time.

But this summer I was determined to get them up on a bike. Plus, I learned the secret--teach them how to keep from falling. [Brilliant!] I was advised to teach them the V, which Kate and Zack decided was more like an A. Basically sticking their feet out at the same time so that however the bike fell their feet should hit the ground first.

Previously, I'd been trying to teach them how to ride. Now, at my parents, on a bike that was just a bit too small, I taught them what to do if they started to fall. Once they got this down (in about 15 minutes) they were more than happy to pop on the bike and go!

Since then, Pete has been taking them up to the school and riding around with them. Now I need to get a bike so we can go on some of the bike paths.

In other news we've been taking it pretty easy for the summer days. It was super hot for a couple of weeks. We've hit some free movies at a local theatre, caught the ooky exhibit and the DAR and found that it was a very interesting museum all around, took in some library programs, spent a day in Baltimore at the aquarium and science museum, shopped at the farmers market and Katie started up piano lessons again. We went to pools with friends and also got to see our cousins from Africa and friends in from Australia.

Still to come, we need to use our Hershey Park tickets. Then there's the VAHomeschoolers Conference in a few weeks, off to a last visit with Gma and Gpa and that's the summer!

Fall is beginning to take shape:
Katie shocked us by saying that she wants to take a year off from ballet this year! I was stunned and also happy that I didn't buy her new dance shoes at the end of last season. I told her she has to have a sport and she's decided to try Tae Kwon Do along with Zack. Yay--one less place to drive.

So, that will be Tae KD probably on Tues and Thurs, Piano on Wed, and our regular Friday group, plus we have to work field trips in (Tuesday class is going to conflict with those, so not sure what we'll do about that yet).

Zack has decided to play the drums but wants to do it himself for now. We're going to let him alone about it and just set up the drums downstairs as soon as he clears a space in the mess down there. We learned from the piano lessons experience that it's best to have him play around on his own. He barely touches the piano anymore, just wasn't interested in having to learn specifics yet.

I've already dropped out of one field trip group and am hoping to limit the amount of running around we're doing but it's definitely a challenge.

Ofcourse, as I dropped one group, I picked up another group. REACH is run out of the Fredericksburg area, but the woman who runs it gets amazing discounts and group rates all over VA. We're heading to Williamsburg in September and if that's the only thing we do with them, we will have saved more than we spent to join the group.

So, the challenge again will be balancing the structure I need to get things done around here, like laundry and gardening and the unstructured time for discovery that we love so much and time for friends, time for family and time time time. :-)

For now, we will enjoy the last lazy days of summer.