girls' morning out

I took Jordan and a friend to a Storybook Theater production of Alice in Wonderland yesterday, then we met Jon for Mexican food afterward. Jordan got chosen as a volunteer in the play to be the door mouse, her line being, "More tea," which is very appropriate because that is what she always says when we have tea parties at home! I love the actors, they are hilarious (in the picture below you can see the guy being the Queen of Hearts!). What was especially funny was the scene with Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum, because they did a take-off of the Saturday Night Live skit with Steve Martin "Two wild and crazy guys," wearing huge gym shorts with the drawstring pulled up over their necks so they were like overalls. Lots of fun!

images

As I was making my rounds of checking Zach's blood sugar and making sure everyone was still tucked in properly before heading to bed myself, I was struck by the image of Zach's bedside table. Call me "emo" (it's my middle name), but as I went around I saw different "snapshots" of what our life is like right now, and I want to always remember this precious time of our lives.

The clutter-y corner in my dining room/school room, which annoys me, but I know I'll miss it someday:

Life is good.

magic

Jordan: Zach, there IS such thing as magic, otherwise, how would reindeer fly??

Zach: Jordan, Jordan...Santa has technology.

blue flooty boob

Since I'm not sure if Gigi (my grandma) gets on Facebook much, I thought I'd post it here, too. "Blue flooty boob" was Zach's attempt to say "blue-footed booby," a type of bird in a book we'd just read (I highly recommend it for kids, What Do You Do With a Tail Like This?, by Steve Jenkins and Robin Page, very entertaining and educational!). We got such a laugh out of that!

homeschooling

One of the most rewarding things about homeschooling for me has been teaching my kids to read, or at least giving them the tools they need to be able to read, and then they just take off when they're good and ready. Nathan just finished his first novel, cover to cover (he's started others in the past but would lose interest), The Lightening Thief by Rick Riordan, and he would just become so excited about what he was reading that he'd have to tell you about it while he was reading it. That's just awesome to me. Teaching kids to read is also full of funny moments, and I'm so glad that they feel good enough about themselves to be able to laugh when they goof up. For example, when Jordan was learning her alphabet (there are still a few letters she doesn't quite have down), I would say, "What letter makes the fff sound?" She said, "Fee," which is perfectly logical given the way B, C, D, and E sound, if you think about it. She and I got a big laugh out of that, and boy, does Jordan like it when she makes a funny! It's way not funny anymore by the time she gets through with it. Then yesterday, I was doing Zach's reading with him and he was sort of not paying attention, and was tired, so it was more of a battle than usual. He was stumped on the word "thick," so I was helping him along, saying, "What phonogram makes the th sound?" He said, "Eth." Then he realized what he said and was lost in giggles, which was better than grumpy, anyway, and when Zach giggles it's contagious. I just had to share that, it seemed blog-worthy.

inner struggle

This was just too funny not to share...

Today we were in the car, having run a few errands (the kids and I), and I was having to say "no" to Mychael quite a bit for different requests. Sometimes if you give an inch, he will definitely ask for a mile. Anyway, he asked me if I thought he was starting to act like a teenager, as in a "punk" kind of way (Gigi, that means "attitude" these days!). I said that no, I didn't think so, he's really a very sweet kid and a pleasure to be around, most of the time. So he proceeds to tell me that sometimes it's really hard because he feels like giving me attitude, but he tries real hard to hold it at bay. Then he says that it's especially hard because he's "right" all the time (got a HUGE laugh out of me when he said that). Isn't that funny? I mean, teenagers really do see the world that way, that they're right and everyone else is wrong, that's the whole conflict right there! Anyway, I thought it was great that he could articulate the inner struggle he was having, and that he was aware that that was what he was experiencing. He tends to butt heads with Jon more than me, which is all normal, in my opinion. Would Hitler have gotten where he was if enough people had questioned authority? Raising kids is all about the boundaries, and giving them enough wiggle room within those boundaries to grow into independent thinkers. But, oh my, this is going to be interesting...

the princess is 5

Wow, it it truly hard to believe she's five already. The birthday card I got for her said that when she (the princess) was born she brought light, laughter, and love into the "kingdom," which describes Jordan perfectly. She is definitely my daughter, because she loves to be goofy, she LOVES animals, and she's a mix of girly-girl and tomboy. She loves to have her toenails painted, but if there's something that can be climbed, you better believe she'll be climbing it! This year, she's been taking ballet, with a recital coming up in May...mommy cannot WAIT. In the fall she'll be a big kindergartener, and I'm still trying to figure out my plan for curriculum/classes and all that. We've done Classical Conversations this year (the older 2), but I'm not sure it's the direction I'll go in for next year. I love to try new things, and to experiment with ways to make learning fresh and fun, so I'm still thinking about it (it's a bit early to be deciding, although Classical Conversations is registering for next year now, so I need to let them know if we'll be back). Jordan shows some natural talent with drawing, so I can't wait to see where that leads, and she's also fascinated with the Spanish language, something I plan to include for next year.

Something cute about Jordan is that she will stay in her PJ's all day if I let her, she says, "I just want to hang out in my pajamas for awhile." I have to buy her clothes that are like PJ's just so she'll wear them! Oh, wait a minute, I do that, too...

For her birthday, we met Jon's mom, sister, and her little boy, Isaac at Cracker Barrell where Jordan enjoyed chicken tenders and fries. The weather didn't permit us to get together with anyone else, some of the secondary roads are too slick around here, so I dragged out her birthday beginning the night before, then all day yesterday. She got to open something at each meal, it was a fun way to do it and she had time to process each gift she got. She got another big horse so that "Snow" would have a friend, lots of clothes and some Littlest Pet Shop critters from Grandma (plus a beautiful necklace), a purse she gets to decorate from Mae-Mae, and from Nana she got a baby pony, a dog, and another book for her V-tech device. It was a great birthday, snow and all!

more sledding

The videos don't always work, so keep checking back if it says "not available," or whatever.