My window from yesterday's post was still up and I looked and it looks like the second video is wrong. It's supposed to be dominic the donkey, not Kayla. Anyway, if you see Kayla, sorry. I was trying to share Dominic.
And I realized this week that I probably should work on being a little less sarcastic. I know I write pretty sarcastically here, but I think I might want to rethink my out loud sarcasm. Mostly because it's lost on my kids. Or maybe not and things will continue as they go now.
But this week, for the 18th million time we had the "what do you want to be called when you go to school" conversation with JM. I'm kinda at the point where I'm ready for him to be a normal name like Jon or Jonathan or even Jack if you really want to stretch it. JonMichael is a mouthful and he was unwilling to learn how to write it. And writing and reading your own name is kindergarten 101. And I have a lifetime of going by a name other than what is on my birth certificate and I kinda wanted him to have a more normal experience than that.
But anyway.. he's still insisting on JonMichael. And this week in true stubborn mule fashion that all my kids exhibit, he proved he could write his whole name or at least "JoNMicHAEl" or if you put the J and N backwards and did an odd mix of capital and lower case letters.
And he showed me and said "can I get a present for writing my name?"
And I said 'sure'
I probably should have thought about my reply before I gave it.
So he returns with his name written twice and said "can I have two presents? can I have more than Sonia and Joey? (because EVERYTHING here is about competition, apparently)"
I try ignoring the request.
He comes back with his name written 4 times.
I start with trying to explain he's not going to get a present for everytime he writes his name, he can have a gumball for the effort of the first time and he says...
"Can I have my presents? can you get right on that?"
oh. my.
Yeah, I think I may have used that line one too many times.
Because I said "sure, I'll get right on that" and he skips away announcing to his siblings that he's getting more presents than them and I'm getting right on it.
(groan)
At least they didn't all come running in complaining that he's getting more than them, which is the usual chain of events. They might have had a clue it wasn't true. As if I'd ever admit to getting one child more than another. I love them all the same. In different ways. And not everyone's love language is gifts. Although when one of them sees gifts being given suddenly their love language is also gifts because.. it's all about the competition.
I wish they were competitive for learning their multiplication tables. That might be helpful. This stupid competitive over anything not important (front seat, which plate/fork/knife/cup at dinner, longest bath, longest computer time, looking out someone else's car window..) has got to end. Seriously. Before I tear out all my hair. Although I hear bald can be beautiful.
Friday, December 16, 2011
Thursday, December 15, 2011
We interrupt your holiday season
For Songs
And a little rambling.
The kids had their Christmas, oh, sorry, holiday song performance this week at school. Don't worry, I'll spare you the video. And my inner dialogue wouldn't shut up, and now I'm sharing with you.
When I was growing up I always wondered "what about the poor kids who didn't see snow or know what it is?" much like the way you'd hear about the starving kids in China, so you better eat your dinner. (an aside there.. even as a kid that logic never made sense to me, if they're starving why would I have to eat it? wouldn't be it better to share it with the starving kids? you want me to be selfish? that's what you're saying?)
Ok. back to snow.
Anyway, the kindergarten kids sang "Snowman Joe" I'm pretty sure that's what they sang last year, too. But I don't remember writing about it since life got busy. Anyway the same thoughts came up this year so this time I share them with you.
The words go something about making a snowman, named Joe and then the sun comes out and he melts.
What do these kids know about making snow men and them melting, anyway? ridiculous. And almost comical. Particularly when you see them trying to scrape up the frost from the shaded area on the play ground and calling that snow. (oh, yeah, we do get frost a few days a year. Our garden met a sudden death)
Followed by 2 Chaunaka (or how ever you spell the Jewish Holiday) Songs, one about changing seasons (again.. like these kids know anything about this. Our deciduous trees are just now turning colors and falling. By the time the leaves fall off the buds will be back on the trees.)
And the crown jewel of the day was "Buena Noche" in Spanish. And not the real Buena Noche, no that would be Christmas. This is about Christmas eve light. No Christ, presents, only moon, stars and good food. I'm pretty sure it's more a winter solstice song more than Christmas.. but... anyway.. it was all in Spanish. And the funny part was the commentary from the English speaking parent behind me when they announced it. My grandfather's spirit lived on. For those of you who aren't familiar with him, he was well known for making racial or judgmental slurs out loud in public. Followed by a "WHAT? it's true." sort of statement if you tried to shush him. Funny now. As a kid/teen it was mortifying, but as in many other things what doesn't kill you gives you a sarcastic sense of humor....
In other news. I actually mailed Christmas cards this year. It was bittersweet to see the changes that have occurred over the years, in crossed out addresses, people no longer with us, changed addresses and people I've lost track of who haven't shown up on facebook. It was also encouraging to see all the people we've gotten to know over the years through different stages of life.
Speaking of stages in life. We're here another 2 years. Larry decided family medicine is for him, for now, at least and has been accepted into the family practice residency here. We're going for a record, most time in 1 location. As much as I like our house, our neighborhood and church. Larry sees us moving after that time. Mostly because he'd like another bathroom. The pile up at the bathroom in the morning is bad. I don't really see a second bathroom as the answer to it, since then there will be 2 doors with kids pounding on them instead of 1, but he didn't grow up with siblings, so he doesn't realize that you can have one per kid and they'll still fight over who gets which one.
I've been accepted for a job. I went back to the "I don't really want to work" attitude and it seems to have worked. Irregular hours, per diem work, so it might work out well that I have the flexibility I need, but also difficult in that it might be hard to plan for child care. I'm still working out the details if I'll put JM in full time preschool a few days and try to work those days or if I'll just try to find preschool on the days I have work and commit to work and then try to find what to do with him. I prefer having the childcare lined up first, but then if work doens't follow I'm paying for something I don't need to be using. *sigh* it's only until September. Guess it'll work out. Anyway, it's a free clinic. Calls to my inner bleeding heart, although I do have some reservations about it. Mostly because part of the requirements for work meant I had to go there, use their services for a ppd and physical and drug test, so after being a patient there.. I have reservations. Could be worse, I guess, could be the last place I was going to work at. Anyway, they're willing to do the supervision it will take for me to get my furnishing number and dea and I'm sure I'll get a deeper view of life in san diego county working there.
Back to Christmas.
While I managed to have the kids' pictures taken and cards mailed, the buying Christmas gifts part hit a snag. Mostly because what do you buy people who can buy anything they want? I'm talking about parents and inlaws, mostly. My inlaws probably would not appreciate the trio of dairy animals given in their name in Africa, so once again I sit here scratching my head and browsing Amazon trying to come up with something. ANYTHING that they might like. If you have any ideas, feel free to send them to me. Larry of course is no help. My parents of course have not used the last gift I got them, so I'm also striking out there. 2 trios of dairy animals and portion of a water well coming right up...
However both sets of grandparents have said they wanted us to buy the gift for the kids from them. THAT has been a blast, in a sense, thinking "I'd never buy this but grandma would" and shopping. So.. the boys are getting lightsabers and goggles. (the cool light up, make noise sort from grandma because they really really want them and want to do battle and mom has said no for 3 years now) and the goggles from their parents (because we're the ones that worry about safety). Sonia's getting a stupid electronic stuffed dog that she's been asking for 2 years. Oh, yeah, there isn't an off switch, so if you hear a dog whining from Larry's closet, it's her toy. They think all the toys are in my closet, so we've had to get more creative about hiding places. They're also in the shed, garage and under my bed. Actually I should hide them under THEIR beds since they never actually look there and the missing winter coats and shoes no one can find are always there.
So now I really really need to get something done. I have a double batch of fudge to make having forgotten to double everything in the last batch (dang math) I need to also run to the grocery store (on a payday, no less) to buy it with 6000 of my closest military wives. I'll be lucky if I find a parking space, much less a shopping cart.
So if you don't hear from me here, Merry Christmas and much love from here in paradise.
And please visit.
XOXOXOX
~G
And a little rambling.
The kids had their Christmas, oh, sorry, holiday song performance this week at school. Don't worry, I'll spare you the video. And my inner dialogue wouldn't shut up, and now I'm sharing with you.
When I was growing up I always wondered "what about the poor kids who didn't see snow or know what it is?" much like the way you'd hear about the starving kids in China, so you better eat your dinner. (an aside there.. even as a kid that logic never made sense to me, if they're starving why would I have to eat it? wouldn't be it better to share it with the starving kids? you want me to be selfish? that's what you're saying?)
Ok. back to snow.
Anyway, the kindergarten kids sang "Snowman Joe" I'm pretty sure that's what they sang last year, too. But I don't remember writing about it since life got busy. Anyway the same thoughts came up this year so this time I share them with you.
The words go something about making a snowman, named Joe and then the sun comes out and he melts.
What do these kids know about making snow men and them melting, anyway? ridiculous. And almost comical. Particularly when you see them trying to scrape up the frost from the shaded area on the play ground and calling that snow. (oh, yeah, we do get frost a few days a year. Our garden met a sudden death)
Followed by 2 Chaunaka (or how ever you spell the Jewish Holiday) Songs, one about changing seasons (again.. like these kids know anything about this. Our deciduous trees are just now turning colors and falling. By the time the leaves fall off the buds will be back on the trees.)
And the crown jewel of the day was "Buena Noche" in Spanish. And not the real Buena Noche, no that would be Christmas. This is about Christmas eve light. No Christ, presents, only moon, stars and good food. I'm pretty sure it's more a winter solstice song more than Christmas.. but... anyway.. it was all in Spanish. And the funny part was the commentary from the English speaking parent behind me when they announced it. My grandfather's spirit lived on. For those of you who aren't familiar with him, he was well known for making racial or judgmental slurs out loud in public. Followed by a "WHAT? it's true." sort of statement if you tried to shush him. Funny now. As a kid/teen it was mortifying, but as in many other things what doesn't kill you gives you a sarcastic sense of humor....
In other news. I actually mailed Christmas cards this year. It was bittersweet to see the changes that have occurred over the years, in crossed out addresses, people no longer with us, changed addresses and people I've lost track of who haven't shown up on facebook. It was also encouraging to see all the people we've gotten to know over the years through different stages of life.
Speaking of stages in life. We're here another 2 years. Larry decided family medicine is for him, for now, at least and has been accepted into the family practice residency here. We're going for a record, most time in 1 location. As much as I like our house, our neighborhood and church. Larry sees us moving after that time. Mostly because he'd like another bathroom. The pile up at the bathroom in the morning is bad. I don't really see a second bathroom as the answer to it, since then there will be 2 doors with kids pounding on them instead of 1, but he didn't grow up with siblings, so he doesn't realize that you can have one per kid and they'll still fight over who gets which one.
I've been accepted for a job. I went back to the "I don't really want to work" attitude and it seems to have worked. Irregular hours, per diem work, so it might work out well that I have the flexibility I need, but also difficult in that it might be hard to plan for child care. I'm still working out the details if I'll put JM in full time preschool a few days and try to work those days or if I'll just try to find preschool on the days I have work and commit to work and then try to find what to do with him. I prefer having the childcare lined up first, but then if work doens't follow I'm paying for something I don't need to be using. *sigh* it's only until September. Guess it'll work out. Anyway, it's a free clinic. Calls to my inner bleeding heart, although I do have some reservations about it. Mostly because part of the requirements for work meant I had to go there, use their services for a ppd and physical and drug test, so after being a patient there.. I have reservations. Could be worse, I guess, could be the last place I was going to work at. Anyway, they're willing to do the supervision it will take for me to get my furnishing number and dea and I'm sure I'll get a deeper view of life in san diego county working there.
Back to Christmas.
While I managed to have the kids' pictures taken and cards mailed, the buying Christmas gifts part hit a snag. Mostly because what do you buy people who can buy anything they want? I'm talking about parents and inlaws, mostly. My inlaws probably would not appreciate the trio of dairy animals given in their name in Africa, so once again I sit here scratching my head and browsing Amazon trying to come up with something. ANYTHING that they might like. If you have any ideas, feel free to send them to me. Larry of course is no help. My parents of course have not used the last gift I got them, so I'm also striking out there. 2 trios of dairy animals and portion of a water well coming right up...
However both sets of grandparents have said they wanted us to buy the gift for the kids from them. THAT has been a blast, in a sense, thinking "I'd never buy this but grandma would" and shopping. So.. the boys are getting lightsabers and goggles. (the cool light up, make noise sort from grandma because they really really want them and want to do battle and mom has said no for 3 years now) and the goggles from their parents (because we're the ones that worry about safety). Sonia's getting a stupid electronic stuffed dog that she's been asking for 2 years. Oh, yeah, there isn't an off switch, so if you hear a dog whining from Larry's closet, it's her toy. They think all the toys are in my closet, so we've had to get more creative about hiding places. They're also in the shed, garage and under my bed. Actually I should hide them under THEIR beds since they never actually look there and the missing winter coats and shoes no one can find are always there.
So now I really really need to get something done. I have a double batch of fudge to make having forgotten to double everything in the last batch (dang math) I need to also run to the grocery store (on a payday, no less) to buy it with 6000 of my closest military wives. I'll be lucky if I find a parking space, much less a shopping cart.
So if you don't hear from me here, Merry Christmas and much love from here in paradise.
And please visit.
XOXOXOX
~G
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
News from the past week
It was a busy weekend. We had Veteran's day on Friday. I decided that we (the Brownie Troop) was going to march in it. It was open to pretty much anyone. So Friday AM we were lining up at the supermarket parking lot where the "parade" was staged.
"Parade" yeah. Anyway.. the girls were excited to be in the parade, so that's all that matters and there's some study somewhere that shows that patriotic effects from a parade lasts 10 months and I think some people need a little more patriotism... anyway...
Said parade was 5 blocks long. Seriously. When everyone crossed the finish line, the marching band lined up and there was a ceremony of sorts. Lead of course by a former Marine (I'm guessing, but it sure sounded like a Marine 'on 11 Nov 1915 at 1100 hours... blah blah.. WWI.. blah blah... " I put in the blah blah because a. I can't remember what he was saying exactly beyond the date and time... and b. the military vehicles were running and pretty much were drowning out the microphone/speaker where I was standing.
But.. hey. We were in a parade.
Saturday was the big "Cheer Off" and if you have estrogen and enjoy this sort of thing, this is akin to the Superbowl of youth cheer. Of course I do not have that much estrogen. Somedays I question if I have any... but.. this Saturday was... cheer heaven.
Kayla's team won First place for their age group. They got a stick with glittery things glued to it called a "spirit stick." Apparently this stick was important.
And with the smell of burning dinner I will bring this narrative to a sudden halt. I'll add pictures if I can later.
"Parade" yeah. Anyway.. the girls were excited to be in the parade, so that's all that matters and there's some study somewhere that shows that patriotic effects from a parade lasts 10 months and I think some people need a little more patriotism... anyway...
Said parade was 5 blocks long. Seriously. When everyone crossed the finish line, the marching band lined up and there was a ceremony of sorts. Lead of course by a former Marine (I'm guessing, but it sure sounded like a Marine 'on 11 Nov 1915 at 1100 hours... blah blah.. WWI.. blah blah... " I put in the blah blah because a. I can't remember what he was saying exactly beyond the date and time... and b. the military vehicles were running and pretty much were drowning out the microphone/speaker where I was standing.
But.. hey. We were in a parade.
Saturday was the big "Cheer Off" and if you have estrogen and enjoy this sort of thing, this is akin to the Superbowl of youth cheer. Of course I do not have that much estrogen. Somedays I question if I have any... but.. this Saturday was... cheer heaven.
Kayla's team won First place for their age group. They got a stick with glittery things glued to it called a "spirit stick." Apparently this stick was important.
And with the smell of burning dinner I will bring this narrative to a sudden halt. I'll add pictures if I can later.
Monday, November 7, 2011
Life moves on
And now it's November.
We've celebrated the last soccer game of the season and we have 1 week left of cheer before we can officially celebrate a "no sport" season. Hoo yeah.
Kayla decided that she doesn't really like cheer afterall, so I see us going back to soccer in the spring. Joey wants to try baseball. I want to let him try baseball. Originally I thought I'd sign him up in town so he could play with the kids he goes to school with... however I still have some details to flesh out on this plan. I know it'll cost more, but it appears to also be more time consuming, which just isn't going to work for me. But until I have all the details in hand, we're holding judgment. I have until Jan or Feb to do this. Yes, folks, spring sports start in Feb here because... we don't have winter. Or what the rest of the world calls winter. What we call winter, Canada calls perfect sun-bathing weather. It's all perspective.
So, since Joey's the 2nd shortest kid on the team and doesn't know that he'd probably like basketball, we're skipping basketball. Since Kayla isn't going to do basketball cheer (even if she wanted to.. we're not.) I have a blissful 3 months of no running around to sports. (ahhhh)
The looking for a job thing hit a grinding halt. Or rather, I keep applying and get zero. ZERO response. I got excited when I got an email saying "we're going to contact the most qualified candidate in 10-12 weeks" seriously, this is SLOW going. As a result kids 1-3 are no longer enrolled in afterschool care and JM is in his last month of preschool, since I had to give a month notice.
He of course has been complaining that he doesn't want to go. Everyday has been a different reason. Last week it was because they have to sit "criss cross applesauce" (aka indian style from when I was a kid) and he doesn't like that, that he doesn't like the work part, and that he doens't like the nap part (usually I pick him up before nap since I'm not working.. however one day he did go for 1/2 of nap time since I had an eye dr apt..) This week it's he doesn't like the singing, he doesn't like the sharing and he doesn't want to talk to the class. He only goes 3 days. Anyway.. if he wanted to go, I can send him to the 1/2 day kindergarten program they're starting here in Jan. I don't plan on that. I'm planning on him being home with me til Sept. Unless a job of some sort shows up.
At this point I'm not counting on it.
On the mini farm front, the last sick chicken is still living. The two younger ones haven't started producing eggs yet and the sick one production has slowed down with cooler weather, so we're actually out of eggs. And I'm shopping for 3 more young chicks. We're so sick of eggplant and they're really little you can do to preserve it, so Larry and the kids have had a blast with launching them over the wall into the back not-our yard area. Rabbits appear to really like them.
Not ours, he's fussy.
Halloween came and went. Along with 1000 or more kids in the neighborhood. The funny thing is the old WW2 vet who orchestrates closing the road put out a notice to the neighbors, asking for volunteers for the 2 hours of appointed trick or treating time. At the end he said at 8:00 he was going to go around the neighborhood and tell everyone trick or treat was over. At 8:05 he was walking past our house announcing trick or treat was over, and the parents looked at him in disbelief and argued the houses still had lights on. The neighbors across the street and we looked at each other, shut the door and turned off the lights. By 8:30, heard some teens making a ruckus in the road "what the heck, how can the whole neighborhood be closed for trick or treating?!" lol. Lemme tell you, sunshine, it's a conspiracy. And not a very secret one. Besides, we had 5 pieces of candy left at 8:05. Lousy ones, at that.
Anyway.. with halloween here comes alot of candy for the kids to consume. Normally they're ok about it because we've threatened if they act out or wont' eat real food they won't have unhindered access to their candy. However this year on daylight savings morning, when in theory we could have slept in an hour.... Joey and JM were eating candy and chasing each other around the house at 5 am. (6am if you look at the old time) Which, you might think is an ok hour for a child to be up. I do not. Especially since I wake them at 6:30 for school and get a whole lot of "I'm too tired to wake up" attitude. Harrumph. I now have control of their candy. And none of them were orbs of sunshine this am at 7:30 or 6:30.. (depending on which clock you looked at..)
Other than that, things are the same nuttiness. Kayla has made countless more videos trying to top the last one. She's been picked from the kids at church to be one of the kids on the worship video the church is producing. She'll have her next 30 minutes of fame in the next 2 months. They hand picked those who love being on stage and approached the parents. It involves letting her learn new songs and motions and taking her to the taping some time around Thanksgiving. Our church has an amazing video production staff, so it'll be interesting to see.
And if it's interesting enough and I have enough time I'll put it up here.
We went to the Marine Corps ball. I've decided that my father should go to it. He'd be far more into the pomp and history that I am. As it is, my brain wouldn't shut up. They walk in all solemnly with a cake on wheels and it looked like they were wheeling in a casket.. it's THAT somber a ceremony. It's supposed to be a birthday party, for crying out loud. The ceremony part comes off with the festivity of a funeral. Cept a good portion of the guys are drunk. So an Irish funeral. We left before the excessively festive part. (aka drunken dancing) Because we're too dang old to play like we're 21.
But here's evidence. We dressed up, and Larry still fit in his uniform.
And since I had the camera out, here's the pictures from Halloween.
Note the lack of theme here. Some families go with a theme. We go with "what we find on clearance the year before mixed with what can we throw together with minimal effort.." Sonia really really wanted to be a bunny. I got the head from ebay. I was going to dress her in white sweatshirt and sweatpants but since I couldn't find any in her size but DID find a big furry dog outfit, we just cut off the head of the dog, so she could look like a rabbit. kinda.
Kayla was the snow white costume we found mid-nov last year for $2, JM was the power ranger he had to have for $1 and Joey's still batman from last year since it still fit. Besides, Batman is timeless/classic. Actually. I guess I DO have a theme. It's cheap and easy. Kinda like my meal planning. At least I'm consistent in some areas.
And maybe a few from soccer....?
That's Joey AND Sonia in the same picture below
We've celebrated the last soccer game of the season and we have 1 week left of cheer before we can officially celebrate a "no sport" season. Hoo yeah.
Kayla decided that she doesn't really like cheer afterall, so I see us going back to soccer in the spring. Joey wants to try baseball. I want to let him try baseball. Originally I thought I'd sign him up in town so he could play with the kids he goes to school with... however I still have some details to flesh out on this plan. I know it'll cost more, but it appears to also be more time consuming, which just isn't going to work for me. But until I have all the details in hand, we're holding judgment. I have until Jan or Feb to do this. Yes, folks, spring sports start in Feb here because... we don't have winter. Or what the rest of the world calls winter. What we call winter, Canada calls perfect sun-bathing weather. It's all perspective.
So, since Joey's the 2nd shortest kid on the team and doesn't know that he'd probably like basketball, we're skipping basketball. Since Kayla isn't going to do basketball cheer (even if she wanted to.. we're not.) I have a blissful 3 months of no running around to sports. (ahhhh)
The looking for a job thing hit a grinding halt. Or rather, I keep applying and get zero. ZERO response. I got excited when I got an email saying "we're going to contact the most qualified candidate in 10-12 weeks" seriously, this is SLOW going. As a result kids 1-3 are no longer enrolled in afterschool care and JM is in his last month of preschool, since I had to give a month notice.
He of course has been complaining that he doesn't want to go. Everyday has been a different reason. Last week it was because they have to sit "criss cross applesauce" (aka indian style from when I was a kid) and he doesn't like that, that he doesn't like the work part, and that he doens't like the nap part (usually I pick him up before nap since I'm not working.. however one day he did go for 1/2 of nap time since I had an eye dr apt..) This week it's he doesn't like the singing, he doesn't like the sharing and he doesn't want to talk to the class. He only goes 3 days. Anyway.. if he wanted to go, I can send him to the 1/2 day kindergarten program they're starting here in Jan. I don't plan on that. I'm planning on him being home with me til Sept. Unless a job of some sort shows up.
At this point I'm not counting on it.
On the mini farm front, the last sick chicken is still living. The two younger ones haven't started producing eggs yet and the sick one production has slowed down with cooler weather, so we're actually out of eggs. And I'm shopping for 3 more young chicks. We're so sick of eggplant and they're really little you can do to preserve it, so Larry and the kids have had a blast with launching them over the wall into the back not-our yard area. Rabbits appear to really like them.
Not ours, he's fussy.
Halloween came and went. Along with 1000 or more kids in the neighborhood. The funny thing is the old WW2 vet who orchestrates closing the road put out a notice to the neighbors, asking for volunteers for the 2 hours of appointed trick or treating time. At the end he said at 8:00 he was going to go around the neighborhood and tell everyone trick or treat was over. At 8:05 he was walking past our house announcing trick or treat was over, and the parents looked at him in disbelief and argued the houses still had lights on. The neighbors across the street and we looked at each other, shut the door and turned off the lights. By 8:30, heard some teens making a ruckus in the road "what the heck, how can the whole neighborhood be closed for trick or treating?!" lol. Lemme tell you, sunshine, it's a conspiracy. And not a very secret one. Besides, we had 5 pieces of candy left at 8:05. Lousy ones, at that.
Anyway.. with halloween here comes alot of candy for the kids to consume. Normally they're ok about it because we've threatened if they act out or wont' eat real food they won't have unhindered access to their candy. However this year on daylight savings morning, when in theory we could have slept in an hour.... Joey and JM were eating candy and chasing each other around the house at 5 am. (6am if you look at the old time) Which, you might think is an ok hour for a child to be up. I do not. Especially since I wake them at 6:30 for school and get a whole lot of "I'm too tired to wake up" attitude. Harrumph. I now have control of their candy. And none of them were orbs of sunshine this am at 7:30 or 6:30.. (depending on which clock you looked at..)
Other than that, things are the same nuttiness. Kayla has made countless more videos trying to top the last one. She's been picked from the kids at church to be one of the kids on the worship video the church is producing. She'll have her next 30 minutes of fame in the next 2 months. They hand picked those who love being on stage and approached the parents. It involves letting her learn new songs and motions and taking her to the taping some time around Thanksgiving. Our church has an amazing video production staff, so it'll be interesting to see.
And if it's interesting enough and I have enough time I'll put it up here.
We went to the Marine Corps ball. I've decided that my father should go to it. He'd be far more into the pomp and history that I am. As it is, my brain wouldn't shut up. They walk in all solemnly with a cake on wheels and it looked like they were wheeling in a casket.. it's THAT somber a ceremony. It's supposed to be a birthday party, for crying out loud. The ceremony part comes off with the festivity of a funeral. Cept a good portion of the guys are drunk. So an Irish funeral. We left before the excessively festive part. (aka drunken dancing) Because we're too dang old to play like we're 21.
And since I had the camera out, here's the pictures from Halloween.
Note the lack of theme here. Some families go with a theme. We go with "what we find on clearance the year before mixed with what can we throw together with minimal effort.." Sonia really really wanted to be a bunny. I got the head from ebay. I was going to dress her in white sweatshirt and sweatpants but since I couldn't find any in her size but DID find a big furry dog outfit, we just cut off the head of the dog, so she could look like a rabbit. kinda.
Kayla was the snow white costume we found mid-nov last year for $2, JM was the power ranger he had to have for $1 and Joey's still batman from last year since it still fit. Besides, Batman is timeless/classic. Actually. I guess I DO have a theme. It's cheap and easy. Kinda like my meal planning. At least I'm consistent in some areas.
And maybe a few from soccer....?
Thursday, October 27, 2011
What happens when you mix a Kayla, 2 Stripeys and a video camera
http://youtu.be/zP8Gry2A5XE
If nothing else, skip to the last 15 seconds, for the "lesson of the video"...
"Never argue with your mom"
If nothing else, skip to the last 15 seconds, for the "lesson of the video"...
"Never argue with your mom"
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Life
just flies by. Hard to believe next week will be November. And of course living here, you don't get the clues like frost on the windshield, leaves falling, etc.. that you would have to tell you it's getting into fall.
But aside from the lack of a job, this has been a difficult week.
Larry was out of town, so he wasn't around to do the "manly" tasks of putting the dead rat out of the garage or dealing with the chickens that got sick. Those chickens.. sigh.. the grown ones, not the little ones- they never looked well. They came with 1/2 their feathers. We were told they were just coming out of a molt and their feathers would return.
However, they didn't. We dusted for mites and lice. And they continued to loose feathers. Until they looked sick as they lost more and more feathers. Really sickly. Like scrawny things ready for a cook pot. Cept I don't know that I could ever actually cook and eat them shy of the apocalypse. So the first one got sick and died and the others picked at the carcass until there was dead chicken spread everywhere. Then a few days later chicken #2 died and the remaining chicken similarly picked at the dead one. This time I was expecting it. Well.. not expecting it, but not as surprised. I had taken sick chicken #2 back to the store we bought her from and said "she's sick, she came sick and I don't know what to do with her" And was going to leave her there just so I didn't have to deal with the carcass. But they said I should de-worm them and they'd be ok. Well... no. I think she was too far beyond gone.
So. I have 1 semi-sick chicken left and the 2 chicks. We'd been keeping them separate and will continue to do so until hen 3 croaks, I think. However I think we'll be buying eggs for a while. The young ones won't start laying for another few months, I think. And we might just have to get a few more chicks. Or not. I'm almost ready to give up on my urban homestead life. No where in my vision of my self-sufficient life did I have to deal with sick and dying animals.
So.. Aside from swearing off eating chicken for the rest of the year, I've survived. I kept the kids from seeing the dead ones so they're blissfully ignorant. They realize 2 of them are gone/dead but don't really have a full idea of that that entailed. And since I've sworn off eating chicken, we've been eating red meat this week. Good thing we don't have a sick cow. I don't know what I'd do then...
But aside from the lack of a job, this has been a difficult week.
Larry was out of town, so he wasn't around to do the "manly" tasks of putting the dead rat out of the garage or dealing with the chickens that got sick. Those chickens.. sigh.. the grown ones, not the little ones- they never looked well. They came with 1/2 their feathers. We were told they were just coming out of a molt and their feathers would return.
However, they didn't. We dusted for mites and lice. And they continued to loose feathers. Until they looked sick as they lost more and more feathers. Really sickly. Like scrawny things ready for a cook pot. Cept I don't know that I could ever actually cook and eat them shy of the apocalypse. So the first one got sick and died and the others picked at the carcass until there was dead chicken spread everywhere. Then a few days later chicken #2 died and the remaining chicken similarly picked at the dead one. This time I was expecting it. Well.. not expecting it, but not as surprised. I had taken sick chicken #2 back to the store we bought her from and said "she's sick, she came sick and I don't know what to do with her" And was going to leave her there just so I didn't have to deal with the carcass. But they said I should de-worm them and they'd be ok. Well... no. I think she was too far beyond gone.
So. I have 1 semi-sick chicken left and the 2 chicks. We'd been keeping them separate and will continue to do so until hen 3 croaks, I think. However I think we'll be buying eggs for a while. The young ones won't start laying for another few months, I think. And we might just have to get a few more chicks. Or not. I'm almost ready to give up on my urban homestead life. No where in my vision of my self-sufficient life did I have to deal with sick and dying animals.
So.. Aside from swearing off eating chicken for the rest of the year, I've survived. I kept the kids from seeing the dead ones so they're blissfully ignorant. They realize 2 of them are gone/dead but don't really have a full idea of that that entailed. And since I've sworn off eating chicken, we've been eating red meat this week. Good thing we don't have a sick cow. I don't know what I'd do then...
Friday, October 21, 2011
Student of the Month.....
Kayla. We're very proud, of course. I video taped it with our newer video camera. Unfortunately, it appears to record in a format that my computer doesn't recognize. If I can't get this to convert in the next 30 minutes, you'll have to take my word for it that her teacher wrote some very nice things about Kayla showing good character, putting others first and respecting authority. I'm happy that while she might not put her siblings first and listen the first time at home, at least she's doing it right at school.
I did take a few still pictures my camera can upload:
Ah ha. Video is converted, however used a free program that put it's name in the middle of the screen. Oh well. You'll get the general idea...
I did take a few still pictures my camera can upload:
Ah ha. Video is converted, however used a free program that put it's name in the middle of the screen. Oh well. You'll get the general idea...
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