To the blonde woman in the parking lot:

You have no idea how timely your comment was today.

For the last several weeks, I've been nearly certain that I'm not cut out for motherhood. Every time my son comes home with a behavior record (we're up to 3 as of today), every time one of them punches somebody, every time I run out of patience for the arguing, every time I have to tell the youngest to wash and then "with soap," every time he whines for a snack, or whenever we're at church. *sigh*

It takes a woman with a much stronger constitution than I have, a woman who is much more fun than I am, a woman who tolerates noise and chaos and messes more than I do, and a woman who is much more energetic and creative than I am.

So, on our way back to the car, in the parking lot of the grocery, when you said, "you're a good mom," you'll have to forgive me for waiting to say "thank you" until you were almost out of earshot. Your comment was too unexpected. I wish I had turned around and run after you to thank you. But since I couldn't help releasing the flood of emotions that I've been carefully protecting lately, it's probably best that I didn't.

Blonde woman on her way to the grocery, for your kind words and generous spirit, "Thank You."

Compliments of the Toof Fairy

Joel saw this at Costco for $14.97 and bought it today. What an excellent choice! He put everything together himself, nearly without directions. It was just the right level of difficulty to stimulate him to try and to see the end results quickly and with great satisfaction.
The Mars Rover model is a little flimsy. Some of the parts needed some reinforcement tape because he was a little aggressive with the pieces initially.
The Glow moon is perfect for his wall right next to his bed.
The cards are instructional and colorful. After reading about the lunar phases, he asked what phase the moon was in right now and when the next new moon would be, which led us on a little hunt for info which was fun.
The solar system model is so cool, but a little small. Probably fine from his perspective. And I would have liked to have an option to mount it to the ceiling, though perhaps we can figure that one out on our own later.
But the creme de la creme was the rocket. He couldn't wait to get it home and ready to launch. It didn't go too high to get stuck in trees, but has a remote launcher that involves him in the excitement just the right amount while the grownup safely sets it up for launch.
I highly recommend this toy. What a great afternoon of fun for us all.

More bad news

Another behavior record last night. (2 days in a row!)

Joel's room no longer has toys in it. Each day, if the teacher reports back to me that he was on good behavior, he may choose a toy to return to his room.

That's my idea. It's not much. It's not even tried and tested. It's me groping for something to help him follow the classroom rules. So if it doesn't work, which the odds are not in my favor, I don't have any ideas of what else to do.

The teacher filled out the forms to get him into a boys social behavior counseling group. I don't know what that is or the drawbacks of it. But I agreed to it. The "Behavior specialist" said he's a classic case of "just trying to get attention." I want to interject, "except for the massive amounts of attention that I feel we are constantly giving him (and, yes, at least half of it is positive)."

I was in his class today and he was fine. Not perfect, but not any less perfect than the other kids in the class. It's all giving me a headache.

Good News and Bad News

Things happen.

Today, we celebrated the kids' sleeping habits. They didn't wake us up early for a change. Usually they are asking to get in bed with us at all hours of the morning. Mostly Jamie. But, equally guilty, Joel would just wake up to pee and never go back to bed. But for a few days they've been doing really well. So we made pancakes for b'fast and nearly missed the bus for school.

Then, Joel lost his first tooth on the bus to school. This has been a much anticipated occasion. I'm sure he was beside himself with excitement all day, because his teacher wrote him up on a Behavior Record, his first. He had been breaking 2 classroom rules, fairly consistently. We knew because report cards came out during parent/teacher conferences and he had less than stellar behavior grades. But today was probably the last straw for his teacher with the addition of another infraction: Throwing his tooth at a student.

Being a parent really stinks sometimes. Having to come up with consequences and then sticking with them. I think we did the right thing. It's just hard. I want a manual that says, if your child does (A), do (B), and he'll turn out like (C).

Opposites

Jamie: What's the opposite of sun?

Joel: Moon!

Jamie: What's the opposite of hot?

Joel: Cold!

Jamie: What's the opposite of eyeball?

[silence]

Dad to mom: Do you know?

Mom to dad: Nope.

Dad to Jamie: What?

Jamie: Eyelashes.

Joel's Birthday Menu

Pick one dinner and one dessert:

Dinner

Garlic Cheddar Chicken

Stuffed Peppers

Baked Salmon and Veggies

Baked Ziti

Dessert

Chocolate Cake

Fruit Pizza

Strawberry Jello Pretzel Delight

Bread Pudding

He picked stuffed peppers and chocolate cake.

Cakes, part II

Why make just one? Because...

birthdays are all about cake.

we have to celebrate at school and at home.

Joel's 7.

This is how late I was up making this cake: I just realized (12 hours later) that I made patterns of 8 on this cake when I thought I did 7s. I think I've recounted this 4 times in the last 5 minutes, in disbelief.

Cakes, part I

I highly recommend this cake for a birthday treat at school. Every last bit of it was devoured within maybe 4 minutes, tops. I heard comments like, "I love raspberries!" "I don't want limes," "Can I have more blueberries?" and "It's not just cake! It's a watermelon cake!" And from the teacher, "Oh my gosh! That is wonderful. [kid x] is allergic to everything but fruit and veggies and has had to miss out on all the special birthday treats, so this is perfect!"

Hard to beat the comments from the kids and hearing about their love for healthy foods. But the short 1-hour prep time and bringing home an empty cake plate are way up there, too.

Budding Haikuist

Seattle rain is

Like clouds are throwing water

Down onto the ground.

-Jamie Feinstein (unscripted and unprompted)

Sitting in the front seat

Joel decided that he would rather celebrate his birthday this year with a Biplane ride than a party. So, today, I abandoned all my instincts to protect my young and kept my feet firmly on the ground while watching my two children and husband take wing.

"Landing was really smooth. He aimed and it was really cool. And sitting in the front seat with all the controls." --Joel

Pucker up

I want to write a song about horn playing.

Why not just play one on the horn? You ask the obvious question.

That'd be what the real artists do. It'd probably be in the blues style, with maybe a little fanfare in the middle, and a little orchestral excerpt in there somewhere to make it legit. It would definitely need to have some Mozart motif in there as well as a bunch of lip slurs. Lately, I'd want to add a trill or two that I would have avoided like the plague until a couple of years ago. There'd be a big rest for dumping water every minute or two. There'd also be a yawn-like lip stretch written in towards the end, especially after a long, sustained high-note, or a period of oohm-pahs. Maybe a few of those, actually.

But no, I want to write the words to a song about horn playing. As soon as it's done, I'll share it. I'm making a list of things to do once I can't play anymore. Maybe I'll add that one to it.

Homemade Costumes

Halloween Costumes can be scary.

Scary, as in, what if I work on these costumes for a week and they don't look anything like what the kids had in mind?

Scary, as in, the kids decide two days before Halloween to be pirates or a hot dog.

Scary, as in, "Mom, you nailed it! I love my costume! This is so COOL!"

I'm pushing away thoughts of how I've probably deprived them of dress-up clothes and stunted their imaginations all these years, because they're so out-of-their-skins happy wearing these costumes; a rare behavior that I don't even recognize. Tonight, I'm done with the costumes, and I'm basking in my successful (a.k.a. Lucky) sewing and shopping prowess. And I'm replaying the "Mom, I love my costume!" over and over in my mind. I'm a good mom, tonight! Woowoo!

Happy Halloween!

Cause I like this picture

Happy B'day PA!

Things I love about my father-in-law:

He puts up with all our little ones' moods, good and ugly.

He makes the best rosemary bread.

He can tell jokes that make us all laugh.

He maintains a detailed and always fascinating journal.

He is fearless and fabulous at charades.

His hats.

His love for his family.

My favorite things

This post is for me.

To soothe my sorrows when next I need soothing.

Someday

I admire photographers. This shot, which I like but is no masterpiece, took some 40 shots to get. It's hard to get a good one, and it feels like luck when I get it. So, I like it, even more. Such is life.

As I was looking through the pictures that I got, I noticed that in many of the ones that had Jamie in them too, he was imitating Josh's positions for catching the frisbee. I was focused on taking pictures that day and didn't even notice what little Jamie was doing. But thanks to these pictures, I have a whole new view into his sweet mind. Someday, it will be Jamie catching that frisbee.

Superpowers

I'm happy to report that we are eating our vegetables to develop our superpowers.

My superpower is to read minds. Joel was really surprised to hear this. I grinned widely inside when I read that in his mind. But, I don't eat my vegetables all the time, so sometimes my power fails me. But that's ok. It's a good reminder to eat some lettuce.

Joel's superpower is to see very far with his extra-sensory eyes. He is certain that he can sometimes see other planets. Whenever I am driving and I need help finding a "Q" for the alphabet game, he's a really big help. Also helpful is a bag of carrots on hand for him.

Harlan can turn his enemies with laughter. His is especially helpful when I'm in a bad mood.

We're not sure what Jamie's superpower is, yet. He hasn't eaten anything other than crackers since he was born. We'll wait.

Buzz

I wish it were just his summer hairdo and not a fixation.  But alas, his hair now looks respectable and he's wanting to shave it all off again.  No amount of "I love your hair!" and "it makes the girls swoon" seems to make any difference.  

So if the cops pull me over for speeding, my excuse will probably be: "There was a barber back there!  I didn't want my son to see him.  I'm sorry officer.  I'm sure you understand."

Jamie's 4th time around the sun.

Things I love about Jamie:

He claps his hands when I tell him something he likes.

He sings songs while he plays.

He tries to make his brother happy when he throws a tantrum.

He likes to wear his shoes on the wrong feet as much as right.

He plays guitar with his whole body.

His crazy curls and big brown eyes.

He backs into his trailer just like Lightening McQueen (for bed).

He almost always lets us tickle him and laughs hysterically.

We're so lucky he is ours.  Happy Birthday sweet boy!

Daddy, I want a dress, NOW!

Here are my two favorite dresses (I can't decide, can you?):

The question is if they are worth dieting and paying $120 for one.

Pictures that make me smile

We have a very small window of park-time each school day between picking Jamie up from preschool and meeting Joel's bus for Kindergarten.  But they use it like wild horses.  Thank heaven, for nearby parks.
And thank heaven, for little girls.  We love cousin Gabby.

Hot Sauce Time

It's time to order more hot sauce.  The thing that's funny to me is that Jamie knows that we have to order it online.  Because good hot sauce doesn't come from our local grocery store?  Oh, and that Jamie likes hot sauce, too, that's funny.  Yeah, he's three.  There's a weird gene on Har's side that makes males crave heat when eating perfectly flavorful food.  Nothing to do about it but stock up.

ArtWork

Joel made this detailed (imho) pattern work unassisted today:

Jamie and I did this one together:

Facebook

The place in my heart that my blog resides in is slowly being filled by Facebook.  It seems easier right now to give a third person status update once a day or so than to write something interesting and take a photo.  Forgive me?

Toes or Feet

Jamie wants to play a game.  

Holding a chocolate coin he says, "which is it?  Toes? or Feet?"

Trying to regain composure to play along, I say, "Feet!"

Jamie flips his coin.  It lands on Heads.  He says, "It's feet!  You get a point!"

All about Pie

Joel: What kind of pumpkin pie is it, dad?

Har: Cir-cu-lar!

Jokes by Jamie

The boys have been working on their standup routines lately.  Jamie's got his jokes down, but he chuckles after he delivers the punch line, so he's got a little work to do.  Here's a little teaser of his schtick:

How does a cow fly?

It runs.

How does a 6 yr old climb the table?

It eats stuff.

Notable Quote

"Are those princesses stuck together?" asked Jamie when looking at a picture of the crowning of the new Miss America.

Chocolate and Tomato Ice Cream!

Go watch this cool video and listen to Harlan playing trombone, trumpet, and horn.

If you teach kids, share it with them and tell me if they liked it.  

Tagged by Shay

7 Things I can do: Organize stuff, Plan ahead, Drive a stick, Music stuff, Train a dog, Natural childbirth, Make babies go to sleep.

7 Things I can't do: Work in a library, Scuba dive, Jump on the trampoline, Knit, Play combat games, Fly wherever/whenever I want, File our tax returns.

7 Things that attract me to Har: Joie de vivre, Ease with others, Commitment to us, Love of music, Brainy, Love of cooking, Great teacher.

7 Things I say often: "Please wash your hands and face with soap.", "Put that in the trash, please.", "That's not respectful.", "Stop bothering your brother.", "No.", "Thank you.", "I love you."

7 Favorite Foods: Fruit, Mounds, Cheeseburgers, Buttered Toast with Jam, Cookies, "Carol's chicken salad", Chocolate frosting.

7 to tag:  I have no idea who reads my blog!  Harlan, Carrot, Steph, Julie A., Mom, Lisa H, Melinda?

Presents

I just wanted to thank all of my family and friends for the thoughtful gifts they gave us for Christmas and Hanukkah.  It was so fun seeing the kids' faces light up.  We are blessed and thankful.  

Mommy Dearest

How many times a day do you yell at your kid?  Be honest, if you can.