Schooling Indecision

There may not be many of us, but I know I am not the only mother who has spent countless hours researching, analyzing, fretting, and finally praying over schooling options for our children. We examine every possibility, study our children, ponder family factors, and try to discipline ourselves to keep praying. And once we make a decision, some of us still second guess, wondering if we made a mistake and then reconsider all the options all over again. It isn't an easy choice because what is right for each child in each family may change at any given time. 

Today was one of those days when I struggled greatly with our decision to send our kids to their current school and was so tempted to pull them out and revert to the option that is most comfortable for me because it gives me more perceived control over their education.  I am struggling with the fact that we are paying 50% more than our mortgage payment each month for them to learn so little.  I have a strong suspicion that if they were tested right now, they would score lower on the EOGs than they did last year. 

While I am no fan of helicopter parenting, it is hard to watch my daughter struggle so much.  At her last school, she was in a multi-age classroom and had skipped a year, so she was with students several years her senior.  Yet, she had amazing confidence which too easily turned into pride when she thought others were holding her back.  When she is humbled, her behavior improves, and I will say her classroom behavior has never been more respectful than it is now.  Instead of being overly confident, she is broken.  She longs to excel, but try as she may, the grading is so nit-picky that my right brained child still fails to see careless errors such as i's not dotted or t's not crossed. So our visual spatial learner must learn attention to detail even though it does not come naturally for her.  All the material presented thus far she has had before except Latin 2, which is consistently one of her highest grades despite never having had Latin 1.  Yet, she doesn't always excel in other subjects because of the nit picking.  She is growing in self discipline and attention to detail, but her spirit is downcast, and I fear she will stop trying.  No matter how hard she tries, her penmanship grades will likely never be high enough to make honor roll, and for a girl who has always been an A+ student, placing 2 to 10 years above her grade level on standardized tests, she expects nothing less than perfection for herself although she has faced similar challenges before.

She cried herself to sleep last night while I whispered cheers for her to persevere.  She needs to learn these hard life lessons, so I do not want to soften the blow too much.  Yet, the Bible verse that has been constantly running through my head is:

"Fathers, do not exasperate your children, so that they will not lose heart." (Colossians 3:21)

So I'm thinking that if you are going to hurt my child's self-esteem and crush her spirit, at least do it over something more significant than penmanship.  I hear that public schools don't even teach penmanship anymore.  Her handwriting is certainly legible and far better than mine, so I am proud of her no matter what grade they give her, and thankfully, this year is the last year in which penmanship receives it's own line item grade.

I am certainly no proponent of the current self-esteem movement and have published articles against it, for self-esteem can only come through an understanding of our identity in Christ.  Praise should be rooted in the gospel and given for real achievement, not fabricated feel good messages that belie the truth.  Yet, everyone is gifted in some way, but we are not all gifted in the same ways. I think Einstein may have been the one who said something profound to the effect of, "If you insist on testing a fish by how well it can climb a tree, then a smart fish will live the rest of it's life thinking it's incapable, ignorant or unteachable."

So given those thoughts and concerns, I made an appointment to meet with her teacher.  Before the meeting, my son's class held an assembly for the parents in which the students presented some of the material they have been learning through recitation, song, dance, and drama.  Following the assembly, the parents hosted a luncheon or social for students, teachers, and parents.

I admit I was distracted during the assembly as I considered what I would say to our daughter's teacher.  I did not want to offend her, but I knew our daughter just did not fit her teaching style.  I was not too distracted to miss taking pleasure out of all their cute songs and dances, however.  Here is short clip from their song about nouns.

This time I prayed first before worrying, and God immediately gave me two confirmations to stay the course. One was specific, unsolicited, sweet encouragement from another mom I met at the luncheon who had been where we are last year promising that this teacher and this grade were the hardest of all and serve as a boot camp of sorts.  If our daughter can survive this year, especially under this teacher, she will soar with extremely high grades next year and beyond. Second was the realization that the school choice isn't merely about what is easiest for us, and it is not even all about what we think is best for "our" (I put that in quotes b/c they are really God's children) children. The decision is more about resting in God's will and allowing Him to work in and through our children.  When we search for a church home, we should not be asking, "Where will all our needs be met?" but rather, "Where can we best utilize the gifts God has given us serve the cause of Christ?" The same applies to selecting a school for our kids.  This life is not about us.  It is about glorifying God and edifying others.  God has a divine appointment for each of our children wherever they are schooled, and today, I know in my heart that someone needed my kid(s) at that school more than I needed them at home with me, and that was all the assurance I needed to regain peace. May God's love shine in your kids and in mine and may He give us peace in whatever circumstances or leading he gives each of us.

Home Improvement Projects (Part 1)

We have been in our new home for a month excluding a week of travel and have dozens of do-it-yourself home improvement projects underway.  It's so chaotic here, I turned down a part-time job opportunity with the hope that another one will present itself as soon as these projects are completed.  And of course, we still have a huge punch list from our 21-day walk-through requiring someone here almost daily to oversee various contractors coming and going.   While building a house is stressful, and opting to do many of the upgrades ourselves has been time consuming, I would do it all over again.  This home is my fourth.  The first two were new construction.  The third was about five years old when we bought it, and after that experience, I hope we never have to buy a preowned home again.

Our new digs

I cannot take credit for most of the improvements.   I may have found or invented some of the ideas (which stressed this left-brained girl out!) and procured the materials, but my husband has done all the hard work with the help of his amazingly talented brother who flew in last week to help and instruct for a few days.  My husband works an incredibly demanding job with a long commute while being extremely devoted to family and church service, so how he finds the time or energy is beyond me.  When I say I married up, I mean that in so many different ways.

Window Coverings
We finally replaced our initial mosaic newspaper and paper towel window coverings with blinds.

Master Bedroom Before

Master Bedroom After

Family Room After

That process was much more complicated than we expected it to be.  We moved in right before Christmas, so none of the window coverings consultants could meet with us until after Christmas, and even the lady at Lowe's would not return our calls as promised. We scheduled appointments weeks later but eventually decided we could not wait that long for blinds in the bedrooms. So we measured, had them cut to size, and my husband installed them all over except downstairs where we had hoped to install plantation shutters.

Finally, two consultants arrived at the same time (oops!) to consult on the shutters.  Both agreed our windows did not work well for plantation shutters at all which ended up saving us lots of money.  We paid to have one consultant measure, but he never turned in our measurements so once again, we took our own measurements, and my husband installed them.  We did opt for the nicer, wider slat blinds since plantation shutters were not an option.

I was most concerned over what to do about the french doors.  We had custom 2.5" blinds on our french doors in our last house per the consultant's recommendation. They were affixed at top and bottom, but they would bang and rattle every time the door was moved, and since they were cordless without any holes, the slats would fall out needing constant replacement.

What we discovered for the french doors after many hours of hunting were micro mini blinds which look like they are built inside the door. Finding the right size was a trial, but these were worth every bit of effort and every penny of their expensive price.  They open and close or raise up and down with the simple flip of a lever.  They are miraculously easy to use, perfectly quiet, and cannot fall out.

As for the window curtains and rods, my home improvement ledger over the past month mostly consists of a series window curtains and rod purchases and returns, purchases, and returns, repeat x 10. Finding curtains to match in all lighting was impossible.

Gun Rack
Before all the window treatments were installed, we had another "priority" project to finish.  My son needed a gun rack for all his Nerf weaponry.  He picked out the orange color while I lamented that blue or black would have matched his room so much better (his room is now painted blue), but orange is a primary Nerf color.  He worked with his father to complete this little project and earned a Y Guides feather in the process.

 

Study Nook
The study nook is still in process.  We need to install blinds and shelving there and replace the desk, but here is the progression for the reading/study area up until now.

Girl's Area
We let our daughter design her own bedroom and bathroom.  I wasn't so sure about her selections since they were so different from what I would have chosen, but I wanted her space to be her own with her own unique style.  And her bathroom choices worked well with the cabinets and tile we had already chosen.  Bathroom accessories we already had from the other house worked fine, and all I had to do was repaint a framed picture we already had of a girl who reminds me of our own daughter looking at a cat with coordinating animal skin pelts on the floor.

 
Her bedroom selections were even wilder.  She stuck with the animal print but requested every color of the rainbow.  The following photos show the result.  My husband and his brother added the trim molding and turquoise paint last weekend per my request.  They are so awesome!   I'm not fond of the way she displayed all her pictures and accessory pieces I gave her, and I have some serious decluttering and reorganizing to do (yet again as it never stays like I had it, so I guess I should give up), but the pics show her wild style at any rate.  My right brained child is so colorful in personality and passion, so this room suits her well.

Master Bedroom
The ceiling project in the master bedroom has been both fun and frustrating.  Unfortunately, I selected the paint color based on the bedspread which can look blue or green depending upon the light and accent pieces around it.  I selected the paint months before we bought the curtains, so the ceiling is now too blue and will need to be repainted.  We will also paint the walls in the same color as the ceiling, replace the chair and ottoman, install the ceiling fan which has been collecting dust (along with 9 others that need to be installed in other rooms...bless my poor husband with that long to-do list), and hang up pictures and paintings especially chosen for this room, but here is the ceiling as of today.  Stay tuned for updates.

Kids' Bonus Room Project
The number of toys and junk our kids possess which we paid to store for six months is shameful, sinful, and insane.  I'm kicking myself for not trashing most of it before the first move.  Our time was short to get out of the house, but we had five years of trying to sell the house (but not thinking it ever would sell) to purge.  And I did purge, but the rate of stuff creep is simply overwhelming.

So, whatever toys they would not donate or trash or could not fit into their rooms had to be stored in the bonus room.  We bought them boxes of shelving supplies, and they assembled them all by themselves.  No nails, screws or tools were required.  We eventually got all their stuff into the shelves. I wish the shelves weren't so open (and thereby such an eyesore), but they were affordable and fast, and now we can actually walk around our bonus room without tripping over boxes.  Loose Legos will always be a hazard, however, so walk with care in our house.

We now have crazy black speakers hanging from our ceiling in our bonus room.  It looks quite odd, but the surround sound it produces is amazing.  So I ask you to forgive the odd ceiling decor until you have experienced my husband's multimedia area to its fullest.  I'll post more pics when the room is more complete.

Kitchen and Butler's Pantry

The biggest and most stressful projects thus far have been the built-in bookcases around the fireplace which are still far from done and will have to be posted about later and the backsplash for the kitchen and butler's pantry.  We initially selected backsplash for the builder's subcontractors to install.  However, I did not have peace about our selection (white subway with pebble style Listello Gelido insets in black, gray, and white) and had hoped we could do it ourselves more cost effectively.  What a nightmare.  We visited countless tile stores on-line and by foot.  We ordered numerous samples and made multiple trips to the house during its construction in different lighting to make our selections.  After hearing horror stories from others even after finding a wet saw we could borrow for free, we gave up the idea of doing it ourselves and contracted out.   This decision was by far the wiser for many problems were encountered during installation which would have freaked me out had I been doing it myself.

Here are some of our initial ideas for the backsplash.

My favorite selection was Helsinki marble, but it was $55 a square foot for materials only, so we finally ended up going with something similar but cheaper, Carrera marble.  We love the accent strips but did not want anything to take away from our white glacier gloss granite, which was our biggest upgrade and prettiest feature in the kitchen. So we settled for a molding piece also made out of Carrera marble to provide an extra accent at the base of the backsplash without being too distracting.

Installation was more complicated because our builder had four inch granite backsplash installed a day or two before closing even though I had asked him not to.  The tile guys had to remove that backsplash first which left sidewalls in need of repair.  When they removed the backsplash in the butler's pantry, they found a 5/8" to 3/4" gap between the granite edge and the wall, so we had to call in granite repair guys to patch that gap.  We're still trying to decide if we should keep the granite side splash in the butler's pantry to cover all that patching and wall damage.  But I'm still very pleased with the result, and even though we didn't save any money verses having the builder contract out the backsplash, we got much nicer materials, a softer look, and backsplash in the butler's pantry as well whereas the builder's price only included the kitchen.

Before

After

Other completed kitchen DIY improvements include replacing the drawer pulls with something nicer I bought in bulk online (saving about $700 vs. builder pricing) and under-cabinet lighting (our little LED lights saved $1000 vs. builder's hard-wired strips). We also added six leather nail head bar stools which my husband painstakingly assembled himself following a few product returns.  (Procuring items for this new house involved returning a marble table, 3 chairs, a bar stool, and a curtain rod due to defects or shipment error.  Murphy (as in  Murphy's Law) follows me everywhere I go, but I also shop for deals and deals often include hassles.

Some day we will update the island with wainscoting or stone, and we're searching for a copper sconce to hang between those two contemporary pieces on that back wall.

Now we have a new problem in the kitchen.  The range that the builder installed leaks gas.  I called the gas company.  They detected the leak and turned it off for safety reasons.  A week later (no cooking during that time), Whirlpool sent a repairman to replace the regulator, but I still smelled gas.  So I called the gas company again, and they turned it off again for another week while I waited for another repairman who insisted it wasn't leaking gas.  This ordeal continued until Whirlpool instructed me to turn it off, disconnect the gas, and buy a new one.  They are supposed to come buy it back, so it sits in our garage while I wait for the check.  I bought another range/oven which was supposed to be the same size although it was a different brand and much nicer than what the builder had provided.  However, it does not fit, so now we are waiting for the granite company to return AGAIN (this would be at least the 4th time that we know of thus far). I'm hoping they can move the granite counter over 1/8" to make room for the range. Of course, grout and caulk are connecting the counter to the cabinet and the counter to the backsplash so who knows if that is even possible.  Such are the ordeals that seem to always find me.   So imagine this kitchen with a nicer range with five burners, more stainless steel surface area, and sturdier knobs.

Dining Room
The dining room has been a fun, whimsical project for us.  It was so plain initially without any trim compared to at least half a wall of fancy molding in our starter home.  So, I first went looking for a new chandelier to replace the builder's standard.  I found a nice, five-light crystal fixture which would be plenty big enough for that small room, but my husband was of the "go big or go home" camp, so we got a behemoth.  He probably regretted that recommendation when the box arrived without a single piece assembled.  I told him to pretend it was a glass Lego kit. So he donned the white gloves that came with it and spent two hours assembling 700 glass beads and approximately 125 major parts using very crude directions.  What kind of awesome is he!

A light fixture that size needs a medallion, so I shopped, and he installed.  Then when his brother came, they installed the vertical trim I had requested and painted an accent wall and the ceiling blue.  His brother hung the mirror and now I have two crystal sconces being shipped here now for each side.  To be such a form over function, tomboy kind of girl, I sure got fancy with this room.  We also ordered a canvas triptych using a photo we took in Ireland (we were on a flight to Ireland when our house finally went under contract after over five years of trying to sell it which kicked off this new home construction) to add some color to that bare side wall to the left.  A valence and table/server decor will be added soon thanks to some shopping and sewing assistance from my dear mother and her sister who are gifted designer wannabes.

Update: Mom came and added some pretty items to our table and server.  She's still shopping for some chunky blue candles, curtains, and more pieces for the floral arrangement.  And the triptych should be here soon for the bare wall.

Fitness Room
While house hunting on-line this past summer, I can across this MLS photo of a home gym.

I thought it looked cool, and we had most of the equipment for a basement workout room like this one.  However, we never bought this house or a basement, so we decided to convert the back office of the home we did build into a workout room.  It's small, so we have to use a smaller universal weights system, and the punching bag is still in the garage (after we spent over $100 trying to rig a device to hang it in our old house only to have it fall down again before I ever got to use it).  But my husband wanted that stone and mirror look in our fitness room, so he labored over four days to construct something similar while our bunny supervised.  The fitness room is Bun-Bun's favorite playground after all.  He does his best aerial stunts in this room.

My husband is probably wishing we had put the fitness room in a basement with shorter ceilings, because that top portion was a bear to install. I love it, and I love my man for wanting to make my favorite room in the house so awesome.  This wall gave me a name and a tag line or vision statement for the home gym and my future personal training business. Solid Rock Training:  Forging physical, mental and spiritual fitness for, by, and through Christ, the solid rock upon which we stand. (Matthew 7:24-25)  Getting certified as a personal trainer has been on my bucket list for 20 years.  Now that I have the gym, the name, and the vision, I guess it's time to start working toward certification. Perhaps my passion can become my profession, but regardless I pray this gym will be a blessing to others and not just my own private retreat.

Family Photos Taken in Oklahoma

While we were in Oklahoma, my mother-in-law/love booked a photographer to come take photos of the family while we were all in town.  I do not like to be photographed, and I especially do not like to be photographed while standing beside all my gorgeous in-laws, many of whom have professional modeling experience.  During the craziness of the move over Christmas, I had really let myself go physically, so I did not have a good attitude initially about these photos.  Yet, the clothing colors my MIL selected would match our new house perfectly, and we really did need new family photos for the new house.  So what I initially dreaded turned out to be a tremendous blessing!  (Gift #477)  Yes, I wish the kids had been in better moods and had not looked so much like they were in tremendous pain or agony, but as my kids like to repeat back to me after hearing me say it repeatedly during the whiny years, "You get what you get, and you don't fuss a bit." The majority of our photos from that photo shoot on Grandma and Grandma's land in Oklahoma right after the ice melted a few days after Christmas are posted below.

Random thoughts and quips since we moved in late December

I am still trying to play blog catch-up since the move.  We're still overwhelmed by all the unpacking and home improvement projects in process around us, but we're in!  We are finally in!  We took the following photo when we left for church that first Sunday after the move.  Our habit had always been to drop by this place after church to check on construction progress, but on this day, we left from this place to go to church, and several different sets of friends dropped by to check on our progress unpacking instead.  What a gift to finally be here! (Gift #466)

Children are a gift from the Lord.  There is no doubt about that, but some days I feel guilty for not enjoying this parenting journey like the country song (scroll down for the lyrics) says I should.  I must slow down and cherish the blessings along the way because when I get in a hurry or in a tizzy over all the work they create for me, I miss the gift and lose the joy.  So, I thought I would share a few recent quotes and antidotes of the kids to remind myself that they still regularly amuse and entertain in the midst of the inevitable trials that come with raising children.

My son started attending our daughter's school in January.  I agonized over having him go to such a strict, scary place and knew I would be so lonely without him. I worried that we should not have made him repeat a grade (he skipped a grade at his previous school) so he could go through the rest of his school years with kids his own age.  But regardless of grade, he certainly got the right teacher, so that is a blessing indeed.  She is so dedicated, loves her students, and has told me that she draws much encouragement from our son's sweet smile and steady focus during her presentations. (Gift #467)

First day at the new school

I have also lamented over how we would afford tuition for two kids at this school which is twice as expensive as the last one they attended before our move. I have interviewed for several part-time jobs but cannot make peace about investing that much time away from home.  I am also lamenting the low pay rates available for part-time work for someone who has been out of the workforce to stay home with the kids for the past nine years compared to what I made ten years ago.  It was a sacrifice I do not regret, but it does make coming up with enough money to offset tuition more time consuming than homeschooling them myself could ever be.  But alas, that option no longer works for our family, at least not at this time.

I am continuing my tutoring business and have added a new student.  I was overjoyed beyond measure to see him raise his failing grades to high As and high Bs after only two sessions.  It is amazing to watch God work such miracles, for I did nothing but offer my time.  God works miracle apart from anything mere mortals could ever do in a way that assures that only He gets the glory.  (Gift #468) 

Now back to the kids' shenanigans:

When my daughter won all those medals at her first gymnastics meet (Gift #469), my husband had the following conversation with the kids:

Dad:  Where should we eat for our celebration dinner?

Kids (in unison):   Zaxby's

Dad:   When have you ever eaten there?

Daughter:     Mom took us there when I was 3 and she was temporarily not into health so much. Those were the golden days!

Speaking of food, my 7-year-old recently had the following things to say about food: 

"I feel really sorry for my new friend at school because he ate two hotdogs for lunch today which means he just cut his lifespan by 14 years."

(So I guess my lecture on nitrites, nitrates and leftover pig parts was a little too much for him a few years ago.)

When I asked him if he wanted steak or pork for dinner one night, he said, "I want pork because eating steak is against Chick-fil-A laws."

 I also recently over heard my son tell his neighborhood friend, "You really should start eating breakfast. Don't you know breakfast is the most important meal of the day because it's the only meal that doesn't involve vegetables."

I guess I need to start serving vegetable omelets, zucchini pancakes, and sauteed mushrooms and tomatoes for breakfast.

Should potty antics come after food comments?  While my kids are using the restroom, I have heard them singing praise songs, history facts, Latin declensions, math tables, and attempts at opera. There they have read books, studied science, written papers, and built Lego boats. Recently I heard squawks from the tin whistle blasting from the girl's jungle themed bathroom. Is the bathroom simply that inspiring or do kids retreat to the bathroom to avoid chores in the same way moms of small children retreat to the bathroom for a brief moment of solitude?  Whatever the case, I'm thankful whenever my kids feel intellectually inspired, even if the inspiration happens in the bathroom. (Gift #470)

Now that we have just moved to the other side of our new town, I have been using GPS often as I run errands.  When I got into the car the other day with the kids to do some shopping, I turned on the GPS unit, and the route guidance immediately started directing me to Disney World!  My sneaky kid struck again and made me laugh. (Gift #471) 

While I have thoroughly enjoyed tutoring high school math, I have been at a loss as to how to help my daughter improve in penmanship since her teacher's standards are so high that I would likely fail penmanship were I her student. Then my little gymnast decided to pretend the lines on her notebook paper were parallel bars and the letters were various positions of a competitive gymnastics routine. Straight body lines and perfect arches are key to scoring a perfect 10, so now the subject she once hated has become a fun gymnastics routine she loves.  I love the way that girl thinks, and am always thankful for an educational breakthrough. (Gift #472)

The kids bring love, joy, and laughter, but nothing compares to nuggets of truth gleaned from God's word.  Here are a few inspirational thoughts that have held me recently:

Perhaps the reason our culture's perspectives of beauty and freedom are so skewed is because we have lost respect for true holiness and He who possess all holiness and bestows it through the work of His Son. See Psalm 27:4, 1 Chronicles 16:29, and 1 Tim. 2:9-11.

 "Holiness is at the core of beauty and freedom, for these are the result when evil is absent or has been cut away....Consider, for an earthly example, a sparkling mountain stream fed by melting snow. This picture stands in sharp contrast to the ugliness of a stagnant, murky pond filled with smelly waste." (Myrna Alexander) 

I keep a similar reminder up on the wall of our exercise room.  Pursue holiness which is only given through the blood of Christ above all else.

This post, "Lover or Prostitute: The Question that Changed My Life" has had me thinking about my personal relationship with the Lord and how I can help my children enter into a more intimate relationship with Him out of love, not just want...the want for what He gives instead of who He is.  I am so thankful for the way that post has me seeking Him deeper.  (Gift #473)

I recently wrote a set of devotionals for our women's ministry at church about our journey from the old house that would not sell to the apartment and then to this house and how God gave me a vision for what He wants us to do here.  He painted a clear picture of what our community would be like in terms of diversity of worldviews, and it has turned out to match that vision perfectly.  I am so grateful that He chose to give me a forewarning so that I could prepare myself to engage lovingly cross culturally (Gift #474).  The  prospect excited me as I have always loved meeting people from all over the world, but I do better when I have time to pray and ponder over what lies ahead.

I did specifically ask for one like minded family to join us in this community, and I only asked for one.  That prayer has been answered, and I am so glad the Lord revealed one family to me as soon as they moved in.  Specific answers to prayer are such a gift as they strengthen our faith.  (Gift #475)

Part of the vision, which I believe came from God,  I had for our new home was that it should be a gathering place, retreat, or safe house for the neighborhood, community, or anyone passing through from the uttermost parts of the world.  Recognizing what a gift this home is, I am to share it willingly. I desire God's will, and we built this house with that vision in mind, but I am also fallen and entirely selfish.  I do not like to share what I work so hard to build and keep clean, but joy comes in giving, so share I must.

I had no idea how this vision would unfold or how others would begin coming to our home, but like the famous movie line says, I had to believe that "if you build it, they will come".  My faith was tested when little things occurred outside of my control which I feared would scare all the neighbors away.  Within a few days, despite my concerns, that vision has come to fruition without even having to extend an invitation.  People just keep coming, so I guess God is sending them. I've never cooked so much or hosted so many people in such a short time frame as I have in this home even in the midst of all the chaos of home projects underway everywhere.  The DIY construction mess is driving me crazy, but I am learning that a house doesn't have to be in perfect order to be a home or a respite for visitors.  Thank you, Lord, for clearly giving me the opportunity to learn to love my neighbor as myself.  (Gift #476)  Please use our home, our family, our time, and our resources (which are not really ours anyway but yours) for your greater good and for our spiritual refinement.   

You're Gonna Miss This Lyrics

She was starin' out the window of their SUV
Complainin', sayin', I can't wait to turn eighteen
She said, I'll make my own money and I'll make my own rules
Momma, put the car in park out there in front of the school
And she kissed her head, and said, I was just like you

You're gonna miss this
You're gonna want this back
You're gonna wish these days
Hadn't gone by so fast

These are some good times
So take a good look around
You may not know it now
But you're gonna miss this

Before she knows it she's a brand new bride
In her one bedroom apartment and her daddy stops by
He tells her it's a nice place, she says, It'll do for now
Starts talkin' about babies and buyin' a house
Daddy shakes his head and says, Baby, just slow down

Cuz' you're gonna miss this
You're gonna want this back
You're gonna wish these days
Hadn't gone by so fast

These are some good times
So take a good look around
You may not know it now
But you're gonna miss this

Five years later there's a plumber
Workin' on the water heater
Dog's barkin', phone's ringin'
One kid's cryin' and one kid's screamin'
And she keeps apologizin'

He says, They don't bother me
I've got two babies of my own
One's thirty-six, one's twenty-three
Huh, it's hard to believe

But you're gonna miss this
You're gonna want this back
You're gonna wish these days
Hadn't gone by so fast

These are some good times
So take a good look around
You may not know it now
But you're gonna miss this

You're gonna miss this
Yeah, you're gonna miss this

Songwriters
GORLEY, ASHLEY / MILLER, LEE THOMAS

Published by
Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., EMI Music Publishing, WINDSWEPT HOLDINGS LLC

Snow Days in January 2014

We've had the coldest winter on record for our area.  We moved into a house almost 4x larger than our previous apartment right before the cold spell hit, so our utility bills will not be kind to us this month.  I do not like cold weather.  I would not be disappointed if I never saw sleet or snow again.  Give me warm weather any day.

We had a dusting of snow on Jan 22.

Then on January 29, the weather forecast called for up to 8 inches of snow beginning in the afternoon, but the first snowflake did not appear until around 6:30 pm.  The kids were wild with excitement all day when they could have just gone to school and been productive there instead of being destructive here.  

My Ode to Snow

I'm not all that excited about snow.
Waited all day for the first flake to show

Cold air bites our toes.
Frost bite nips each nose.

Excited kids emit ear piercing cries.
Forecasted timing of snowfall belies.

Walls shaking
Stuff breaking

Cracking skin
Patience thin

Bring on summer!

(But I did settle for a cozy fire with my family!)

We eventually got about one to two inches of powdery snow with schools closed for three days this week for that small dusting.   It was enough to sled in until noon.  I took pictures from the front and back doors but did not brave the cold temperatures very long.  I remember the excitement I had at my kids' ages in the snow, so I dutifully bundled them and made snow cream.  Of course, I also remember Mrs. Hildebran (the mother at the neighborhood safe/gathering house) trying to thaw me in a tub of cold water as I screamed my head off with each incremental addition of warmer water.  Cold weather bites. My doctor told me the only cure for my skin problems is to move somewhere tropical, and that's the best medical prescription I've ever received!

But who am I to be the party pooper for my kids, so I admired the pretty white fluff while it lasted...albeit from inside a heated home in front of the fire and beside my additional portable electric heater.


Schools ended up being cancelled for four days for this light dusting of one to two inches of powdery snow.  The first cancelled snow day was a bust, and the fourth was a joke since the snow had mostly melted by then.  On the fourth cancelled snow day, temperatures reached the 50s, so the kids donned short sleeved t-shirts and capris jeans while building snowmen which meant the snowmen could not possibly last very long.

Cody's 1st Birthday

Our bunny is a rotten stinker.  He loves to chew on things he should not.  Recently, he has chewed all the rumbles off my costly rumble roller which is critical to my physical therapy.  He also chewed the cord for our home phones in half.  And with all the DIY home improvement projects going on around here, he decided he needed a project of his own. He's trying to remove our 5" baseboards.  Rotten bunny.

 

He absolutely loves to have his head scratched.  I told my parents this secret when they kept him for us during our Christmas travels, and my dad would rock him and scratch his head for hours while watching ball games on TV.  Now, he expects to have his head scratched all the time.  When I'm doing any type of floor exercise in our exercise room, he will hop underneath me, so with each repetition of a push-up or plank or what have you, some part of me moves across his head.  He presses his chin into the floor to let you know he wants his head scratched.  I need a more energetic, less self-absorbed workout partner.

Pleez scratch my head!

Despite his shenanigans, Cody is deeply loved in our family.  He celebrated his first birthday on January 28, so the kids through him a party to rival their own big first birthday bashes.

First Gymnastics Meet

While my mini-me may look like me and be like me in some ways, she processes information and responds to information in a completely different way from me, and it totally boggles my mind.   I'm a pragmatist. As an engineer, I learned to always do a Failure Modes Effects Analysis before undertaking any project so as to design out any possibility of failure.  Next time you cross a bridge, be thankful for all the FMEA's involved in it's design.

My daughter, on the other hand, sees no obstacles and blows off any warnings provided.  She is a dreamer.  Case in point would be the following example from last year at this time.  It was cold and sleeting outside just as it is cold right now with high chances of inclement weather.  She built a rocket with her brother and before launching it outside in horrible weather conditions for rocketing, she wrote detailed instructions on how to return it when the rocket landed in JAPAN!  The note was almost as big as the rocket.  No one could ever convince this girl who had studied friction on more than one occasion that it might cause some drag.  Needless to say, the rocket did not fly higher than her face, much less make it to Japan.

This same girl watched Gabby Douglas win the gold for all around at the 2012 Olympics and then said to me without any hesitation and in a matter-of-fact, unquestioning tone, "I'm going to do that some day." 

Pragmatic, logical, realist me said something totally inappropriate to her such as, "Well...you should have set that goal long before now because you are probably too old to start now, and besides, you inherited my inflexibility and will have to work hours a day to ever learn to do a split", but hopefully I did not use such harsh, crushing words or tone.

Still, we signed her up for beginner gymnastics lessons until she was ready to move onto something else, but I asked the coach to advance her to the next level as soon as she seemed ready since she had already had gymnastics, skating, dance, etc. in spurts over the years. By May of that year, they still had not advanced her, and she was still doing things she learned as a tot at Little Gym.  I insisted they advance her but experienced negativity from the gym owner.  So we started sending her to Christian gym in a different county with an amazingly loving, supportive environment.  We moved in July, so that commute became 30-60 minutes each way (over an hour during rush hour when anything falls from the sky) several times a week with me sitting there for two hours each trip.  Thankfully, her brother can take an intermediate class during a portion of those two hours, so he only waits one hour each time.  I've continued taking her since we started there in June.   They wanted my son to join a team a well, but that would mean five days a week of driving back and forth at 4 hours of waiting each time since their lessons would be back-to-back instead of at the same time.

She has done well in gymnastics, but has to work extra hard on increasing flexibility and had a huge fear of the beam, completely unable to even get on it some days.  So I assumed it would get hard and she would want to give up as she did with piano but hopefully with fewer tantrums along the way.

Her coach put her on the introductory competitive team as soon as she started (whereas the previous gym owner kept making me pay for beginner classes), and she advanced quickly.  Her first gymnastics meet ever took place on January 19.  During her first event, the bars, she scored a 9.25 and my tears started flowing...and did not stop until after the entire meet was over 3 hours later.  The next event was the dreaded beam (Note: Strength and speed, which she inherited from me, often work against balance and flexibility, so the beam is exceedingly hard for her as it was for me).  She nailed her turns, jumps, and even her splits.  But her dismount...oh my! She thought about changing from the twist off to a tuck jump because she felt shaky but could not decide mid air and ended up doing a crazy combo of both in her indecision, so her beam score was less than stellar, and her face expressed a crushed spirit.

So, if this were piano, she would be throwing her books, yelling at us, and storming upstairs to have another fit because if she can't reach perfection during her first try, then she will not usually persist. 
Her teammates prayed with her and encouraged her with scripture and bang, my girl was back.  She rocked the floor routine and seriously blew me away on the vault.  For her first meet, she took home first place medals in every event except the beam and even won first place all around for her level.  She learned that one mistake or one disappointment does not mean defeat.  How we respond to that mistake makes all the difference, and we can still be champions even if we aren't perfect here and there.  What a great day of learning to persevere she had that day.  I am still in shock, but mostly just excited to see her persevere.

 

Christmas 2013 (Part 4)

We did not wrap up our Christmas celebrations until January 4.  More family came to see us and our new house on January 4.  The kids were elated to receive more thoughtful gifts.  And when it comes to remote controlled Corvettes or stuffed animals, their mantra seems to be, "Go big or go home!"

This gift was for our son, my husband enjoys it too!

We are truly blessed to have so many families loving on our children.

Kids' Educational Museum

While we were in Oklahoma we visited a unique kids' museum.  An old dilapidated building in a less desirable part of downtown had been converted into an educational science museum with a special emphasis on media production, particularly animation. 

The largest feature in the museum was a gigantic series of tunnels with a gigantic slide at the end.  The entire tunnel and slide was built with rolls and rolls of packing tape.  Seeing all those empty rolls which once held packing tape brought back vivid images in my mind of all our moving this year, from the house to the apartment, 2 PODs and a storage unit and then into the house. We used packing tape to box up truckloads of donations to charities and to the dump as well.  I hope a single roll of duct tape will last me for the next few years.

At the museum, the kids made their mini action films and designed and produced basic animated films. We all laid on a bed of "nails", learned about the Coriolis effect, made shadow figures, donned 80's hair while learning about air pressure, designed circuits, recorded an action animation, figured out who had the coldest extremities by standing in front of the heat camera, and so much more.

Speaking of the heat camera, my husband and also learned that we have enough heat to never need mistletoe at Christmas.

Here is a little action video they made by photographing themselves in various poses and then putting all the photos together in rapid succession.