The good news

Today we had orthodontist appointments. F. had been having the whole treatment (expanders, braces, etc) for the past year, so this was a regular appointment for her. At the same time, I was taking E. for an evaluation. Her teeth look pretty good, but I wanted to be sure they were fine. The good news is that nothing needs to be done for now. There's always a possibility of needing something later, but she certainly doesn't need all that F. is having done. It's a big relief because A. is certainly going to need a lot of work eventually. I figure the whole thing is a trade off for E. after all the horrible cavity work she had done as a toddler.

lefties

My mom is left handed, so I've always wondered if any of our kids would be lefties. It looks like I. is going to be left handed. I keep forgetting to tell my mom about it, so I thought I'd just post it on my blog as a test to see if she ever reads this. :) If she knows about it next time I talk to her, then I'll know she checks in here.

accomplishments and birthdays

Today I started off just wanting to crawl back in bed, but I didn't. First, I actually did my day 3 workout, so I have now accomplished week 1. Also today, I did a couple of little fix it jobs that have been waiting for Norm to have time. One was getting our new microwave (new in January, that is) into position with its trim kit. The other one was fixing a curtain that had fallen down. One of the brackets for the rod has been down also since January. It's a good thing I got N. that handy cordless drill for his birthday. ;)

Both T. and I. are totally obsessed with the idea of their birthday. Ever since I started planning E's birthday party (she turned 9 last week), they have been asking every day if it's "my birday?" They know they get cake and ice cream and presents and friends to come play. They will go over the whole list every day. T. has even learned to say that her "birday" will be in July when I remind her that it's not yet. Not that she has a clue what July means, just that she's heard me say it so many times.

Today's workout went much better than Monday's. I am totally amazed that my body actually gained something from a single workout, but today I ran farther in the jogging intervals and felt better when I was done.

How crazy am I?

Crazy enough to take six kids (my own five and a friend) to the Dallas Museum of Art. Of course, four of the six kids were not really a problem. I'm sure you can guess which two were the problem. A homeschooling friend had organized for us to go see the Turner exhibit as a homeschool group, which was awesome. We actually got to see it for free. But two year olds aren't that interested in art--unless it's the kind they draw on the walls and furniture themselves. Still, things were going ok until A. reached out to touch one of the pictures. I had talked to all the kids before the tour started about not touching anything, not even the walls, but she was so interested, she just forgot. The docent doing our tour was very nice about it, but A. spent about the next 20 minutes clinging to me as we went through our tour. Of course, at the same time, I'm trying to keep I. in the stroller and carry T. Fortunately, our docent was nice and also really interesting. She did a great job of talking to the kids at their level and keeping it interesting for them. She picked a few paintings to highlight, rather than overwhelming them with everything. Then at the end, she took us back to the beginning so that we could go through at our own pace to see anything else. The kids would like to go back to the museum. I need a few days to recover before I think about it. :)

exercise for the terribly unfit

A friend posted on her blog about how, despite being a great biker and swimmer, she wanted to take up running, so she's doing this couch to 5K plan. I looked at it and thought, wow, I think maybe I could do that. It'll be hard, but I can do it. So, today I did day one. Ouch! I am so out of shape it's not even funny. I mean, considering that I haven't done any regular exercise since I got pregnant with the twins, it's not surprising, especially since that pregnancy included ten weeks of bedrest. Anyway, despite wanting to quit half way through, I made it through the workout. Now there are just 26 left to go. :)

Pony and cheese anyone?

T loves, loves, loves macaroni and cheese, but in typical two year old fashion, she can't say it correctly. So she asks for more "pony and cheese, pwease."

F on Easter morning. She got her hair cut a couple of weeks later, so it's much shorter now.

I and T together. It's such a relief to have them cooperating with some picture taking for once. Maybe we're past the hardest part.

E on Easter morning.

T on Easter. It was hard to get a picture of her without an absolute cheesy smile, but this one was cute. The others were cute, too, but in a really silly way.

Obviously picture taking has gotten more fun for I. He used to run away screaming, and here is is laughing at the silly sounds I was making to get him to look at the camera.

A on Easter, trying not to freeze!

Lockhart's Lament

This is a really fascinating article on the horrible way that we teach math. It doesn't really matter, ususally, whether we're talking about public school, private school or homeschool, math is mostly taught the same way. After reading this, I think it's time to find some "math classics" and find out a little more for myself.

writing

F has been a great reader for many years now, but I've always had a hard time getting her to write more than a sentence or two at a time. When she was just starting out, a lot of the problem was that it took so long to write each word because she was new to the mechanical process of putting the letters on the paper. But even when she got so that her handwriting was better, she just didn't enjoy writing at all. She didn't like writing on paper, dictating to me or using the computer. I haven't pushed too hard on that one because I figured that if she kept on reading good books, a certain amount of writing skill would come with all that reading. Now she's writing a story to give to E. for her birthday. The last time I asked her, she had written over twenty pages, typed. She has a story within the story going. I am amazed. Her punctuation needs work, but her vocabulary, word usage and grammar are really quite good. It just reminds me that kids are learning all the time, whether we teach from text books or just by living life.

We are the homeschool kids...

This is a funny parody of "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything." Check it out. http://dpenguin.com/blog/?p=498

It's official: T is not ready to potty train. She loves to take her diaper off, so I thought we'd give it a try. She has good bladder control, but doesn't have the faintest idea what it means to go pee pee on the toilet. She loves to sit on the toilet, and sit and sit and sit, and then flush and flush and flush. It's just the peeing part she doesn't get. More than once, she has sat on the toilet and done nothing and then peed on the floor while washing her hands. I thought maybe the running water was the trick, but turning the tap on while she sits on the toilet doesn't seem to help. But I could deal with all of that. It was the pile of poop on the bath mat that made me decide to wait a month or two and try again. The other day, she was wearing her panties and playing upstairs with the big kids. The next thing I know, the girls are freaking out and telling me that T pooped on the floor. I pictured horrible smears of poop everywhere, but fortunately, it was all in one place, as if she just figured that the bath mat was a better place to poop than the toilet. Great. I figure I lucked out this time, and I'm quitting while I'm ahead--or at least not too far behind. Hopefully, she'll be more ready in a few weeks, in the meantime, I'll keep buying diapers.

The other night the twins went to bed really early because they hadn't had a nap. When I went to get ready for bed, T woke up, but I figured that if I laid down with her, she'd go right back to sleep. So I hurried to brush my teeth and get into bed. She was quiet cuddling with me, so I figured she was going back to sleep. Pretty soon, I zonked out. Meanwhile, N was up late working in the computer room. T did not go back to sleep. Instead she decided that since there were still lights on, she should be able to get up, so she went into the bathroom, took off her pajamas and diaper and tried to go potty. No pee ended up in the potty, but apparently she managed to pee all over the floor. When N found her, she was sitting on the counter getting soap all over herself (she loves soap). Thankfully, she didn't fall or anything, but the mental image of her sitting naked on the counter after peeing on the floor when she was supposed to be sleeping was just so funny that I had to share. :)

Which Jane Austen heroine are you?

Here's what it said about me:

Take the Quiz here!

There's a whole new series of Jane Austen adaptations coming out on Masterpiece Theater, so I'll have to see how they portray Elinor. I'm especially excited to see Northanger Abby since there's not already a good verson of that.

I think perhaps it's a bit pathetic that I didn't post one single thing on here between Thanksgiving and Christmas, but on the other hand, things were just too dang busy to worry about my blog. We had a really nice, relaxing Christmas with plenty of time to enjoy our new presents. The hit of Christmas morning was probably I's Bob the Builder tool bench, complete with working electric screwdriver. He was not even interested in opening any other presents at all. Later in the day, though, the Star Wars DVD's were more popular. Since F. has become interested in the trilogy that came out in the last few years, we figured that she should also see the favorites from when we were kids. (I find it so confusing how to refer to those movies. Which ones are "first"? The ones made first or the ones chronologically first?)

I spent a good deal of the day in the kitchen, but also found time to enjoy one of my new books by one of my favorite authors, D.E. Stevenson. They're not so new since they're out of print, but they're new to me. I've been spending much too much time reading the past couple of days, but it's been nice to have things quiet after all the Christmas rush.

Our Thanksgiving

We just had one of the best Thanksgivings I can remember. I love getting together with our extended family, but this year we didn't end up doing that. It was just our own little family in our own house having only the Thanksgiving foods we like. I have never been so relaxed on Thanksgiving day. And we had the best turkey ever with this recipe thanks to my good friend Siouxsie. It wasn't hard to make and it had so much more flavor than any turkey I've ever had, so I'll probably always make this one from now on. My kids even wanted seconds, and usually they just want ham instead of the turkey. :) The drippings made great gravy, too.

One of the best things is that I was done cooking, eating and cleaning up before the twins went down for their nap, so I got to spend a couple of hours sewing in the evening. T.'s nightgown is ready for Christmas Eve now, and she is going to be soooo cute in it.

We hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving as much as we enjoyed ours.

Christmas card pictures

Last Sunday we set out to take some pictures to put on our Christmas card. It all starts with Mommy spending hours finding matching shirts for the kids to wear. Then Mommy does everyone's hair to match (except, of course, I.'s). Mommy and the kids troop out to the back yard to take pictures. Kids last about five minutes. Mommy lasts a little longer before sending A. off to get Daddy to come help. Pretty soon Mommy abandons Daddy to play with the kids and take more pictures because she is too frusterated to stand it any more. Daddy takes over 100 pictures and NOT ONE has all five children looking good. Every one has someone missing or looking goofy. Mommy spends quite a while editing and trying to get everyone to agree on one picture--without success. So the top three all made this year's Christmas card and the print order is already on it's way here.

And since this post took me several days to write and it's now Thanksgiving, let me add a Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. I am so thankful for all the wonderful people in my life.

And I'm thankful that I have five super cute kids to take pictures of and that I have a camera to take pictures with--even if they all look silly. :)

I do it

T.'s new thing is to tell me "I do it," all the time. She's discovered that she's more capable than she thought, but sometimes she expects to do things like roast her own hot dog and marshmallows over the campfire, and that doesn't work so well. But I realized something today. When kids get to this age, everything they do, we praise them. "Oh, you did that all by yourself. What a big girl you are. Good job." Of course they want to do everything themselves when they realize that's the result. :)

I am a Snapdragon What Flower Are You?

"Mischief is your middle name, but your first is friend. You are quite the prankster that loves to make other people laugh."

What is up with this??? Does anyone who knows me think that I am a prankster? I think it's fun to do these little personality quizzes when I come across them, but I don't usually put them on my blog because they never fit me. But this one wins the all-time prize for not fitting me. After I did it, I went back to check over my answers. Surely I must have hit the wrong answer on something. Nope. Well then, which answer got me this mischievous answer? Couldn't tell you. I answered the most boring thing to every question--unless you consider it mischievous to refuse to lie to your best friend's spouse. Or maybe it's the fact that I have too many books. Oh well, at least I like sweet peas. :)