Our American Heritage

Today I learned that although we covered some of the basic American history and the flag over the 4th of July I obviously need to brush up on it again for the kids, I don't think they caught it all or remember much.

We were driving home from swimming and as we passed a car deal J noticed that they had a row of flags hanging across the edge of the lot. She immediate got excited and said "Mom! Look! they have the American Idol flag hanging there!" Um, what's wrong w/ this picture? We've obviously gone wrong somewhere when our 6yo associates the American flag w/ American Idol.

So, tomorrows lesson agenda now includes a refresher of the flag and what it stands for for our country. I think we will also be avoiding American Idol for a bit too.

Texting and Manners

Sounds kind of like an oxymoron doesn't it? Those 2 terms just don't seem to go hand in hand and it really gets to me.

When you're standing there talking to someone or out visiting a friend and your phone rings common courtesy says either don't answer it or if you need to to keep it brief and then usually apologize to the other person. Right?

Why then is it ok to be talking to one person but carrying on a separate conversation with another through texting? When you do that your talking pauses because you can't literally do both at the same time, most of the time anyhow.

I'm sorry but if you do this you're RUDE! If the person you're talking to in person isn't the one you want to talk to the most then finish your conversation and move on so you can carry on your virtual conversation with the other person or make that person wait until your done with the one you're with.

Then you've got the people, mostly teens it seems, who are so anti-social it's scary because they'd rather have their faces glued to a phone screen testing w/ their friends instead of getting out and talking to them in person. What kind of society will this lead to in 20-30 years? that thought scares me. Yes you can say things you may not have said otherwise to some one's face but expression can not be read and anything you type can be misinterpreted. And, well, if you can't say it to their face then it's should be said you coward.

So, if you text at all, please keep these basic rules and guidelines in mind in the future:
1-talk to one person at a time, if one of them is not there with you
2-if you'd rather talk to the person who's not there with you then excuse yourself from the other person, make up an excuse if you have to
3-look up once in awhile, you might see someone you'd have otherwise missed
4-that place where food goes, sound can come out too and those things on the sides of your head that you like to hang things from and stick things in to, you can use those to hear and listen with. Combined you can come up with an amazing way to communicate that does not require paying extra on a bill to use.
5-if you must text excessively, wait until you're in the privacy of your own home/room, I prefer my kids not bear witness to your social short comings, I prefer they communicate the cheap and more effective way.

Read them, remember them, memorize them and live by them. You too can help to save our society from a social dilema.

sewing projects...

Well, I've managed to complete 1 tag blanket, 1 pair of baby legs, 4 shopping bags (maybe 5, I need to go and recount) and tonight I'm about to see if I can finish a purse. Know what the funny part is? yep, no pics of any of it. I can probably still get pics of the shopping bags as they were for my family and once I get the purse done I can include that too but the others have already been given to someone else. Tomorrow I'm going to challenge myself to at least start sewing the dress I'm making for myself, if I can finish is then maybe I'll treat myself to a necklace to match.

So hard letting go.

So this weekend my oldest daughter J is travelling to Montana w/ my parents and youngest siblings for a wedding. She's spent a couple of nights away at a time before so i know how to manage but she's never travelled away w/out me before. She's growing up so much!

We went yesterday to get an outfit for her to wear to the actual wedding and I couldn't get over the amount of fashion opinion she's really developed. I mean, all of my girls have their own sense of style but she's really learning what styles she likes and all the things and colors she doesn't like.

Today before my mom stopped by to get her she decided to pack her own bag and informed me that I didn't need to do it for her because she'd remembered to pack 2 outfits and clean underwear but I did need to get her some pajamas since there were none in her dresser drawer. Then the things I did she stood by and supervised to make sure they were what she wanted. She's just getting so darn independent.

I love her and her new found sense of self but it's just so hard letting go of the little girl and embracing the 'big girl' that she is truly becoming. She's only 6yo! I'm just so darn proud of her though and the little lady she is.

Yesterday evening when we were shopping I allowed her to get a cup of popcorn chicken from the deli counter and since we really hadn't had dinner I gave her 2 pieces to eat on our way up to the check out lanes. After eating them she looked at me and informed me that I was not being good, that she knew I didn't pay for them first. She was right. I told her just that too as the cashier (yes, this was a discussion that continued as we were putting things on the belt) told her that it was ok, she doesn't care if you eat all of it so long as you bring the cup up to pay for it. J gave her and I a funny look and I knew it was my turn to step up. I told the cashier that I knew they didn't really care so long as it was paid for in the end but that we were trying to really instill values in our kids and working on teaching them that until it's paid for it's not ours and if it's not ours and we take it then that is stealing, no way around it. The cashier said that that was good but she didn't mind, I just said that I did, praised J for reminding me on the rules and then changed the topic. After that she just beamed until we were done.

Sewing projects

Oh my, I'm going to have a ton of things to show everyone very soon, I've got so many projects in the work and will be cracking out as much as I possibly can in the next month or 2 and and going to do my best to take pictures of everything to show off.

I'm also going to be making trick-or-treating bags too if anyone is interested in getting any, i can do them in any theme/pattern/color so long as i can find the fabric for it. They'll be $7 for licensed and $5 for anything else. I just got an embroidery machine too so I can put initials on things now too, just have to figure out how to run it first. The only other catch w/ the embroidery machine is that it's a small scale one and the hoop I have for it is only 4"x4" so the name, initials or what ever would have to fit in that space.

I have to tell you this funny though. A few days ago I was making some reusable shopping bags, I sewed the right sides together and then went to flip it right side out (fyi- you do that to hide the seams and to keep the edges from fraying all over) but somewhere something went very wrong. Inside out it looked great, it had a rounded bottom like I'd planned and it was all together, I flipped it and suddenly I had a bottomless bag. Yep, it was nothing but a tube w/ handles. I turned it in and out several times and finally decided that it was never going to work at that rate so I ripped the seams and started over and that time it worked. It didn't look just as I'd wanted but it works still, the next one was perfect though.

Lessons on Wild Animals

If you want to learn about wild life and their habbits just listen to lunch time conversations between a 4yo and a 3yo, they know it all.

Were you aware that under every deck/porch there are towels for rabbits to sleep on? Oh yes, they're there, even if you can't see them. Wild rabbits do not sleep with their heads on a table and snoring though, that was a theory that was quickly shot down. The resounding fact of the day though is that the reason rabbits are always seen running out from under decks is because they were napping on their towels there and you woke them up and it scared them.

Did you know that all birds grow to be large? There is no such thing as a small breed. Any birds that look small are all babies and they're so noisy and running around because they can't find their mommies and there is no one to tell them to settle down or slow down.

Monkeys love water slides. You didn't know that? Well, the local water slide park has a picture of a monkey/ape riding an inter tube down a slide there for those slides are for the monkeys but they let people slide too. You can't see the monkey's though, no explanation, you just can't.

How ever did I learn anything before I had kids? I wonder if the worlds scientists and animal experts are aware of our findings?

Fears of a mother

My last post made me think of something that weighs somewhat heavily on my mind so I figured I'd put it out here for others so if you have any of the same thoughts you'll know you're not alone.

Some may wonder why we have 4 kids and I have an answer but I can't promise it's a sane one so here it is anyhow. When I grew up there were always mass numbers of kids through our home since my parents (well, technically my mom but my dad was in and out of the house for food, reading, coffee and sleep) did foster care for about 16 years. One thing was always constant in our house though regardless if there were any other kids there or not and that would be myself and my 2 biological brothers. I'm the oldest of the 3. We also grew up in the middle of no where so there weren't many other options of people to play with.

How is any of that relevant? Well, I knew from early on that if I had kids I could never have just 1 because I knew the joy of having siblings around to play with so 2 sounded like the perfect number, nice and rounded. I also knew that I could not have 3 kids, especially if we had 2 of one gender and 1 of the other because growing up it seemed like someone was always the odd man out and that defeats the purpose of having siblings to play with IMO. When my husband and I were talking about kids before we got married he was fine w/ none but I had to have that 2. After talking more the question came about what we would do if we had 3 somehow and my response was that then we'd have 4 because it had to be an even number so there were no odd man out times, just nice and rounded. Well, as you can imagine that led to asking what would happen if a 5th one came along and, to be honest, my response was that odds are fine at that point because there would always be enough around to not have to worry about it as much and I was not guaranteeing any more. We were done at 4 though.

Back to my original thought. I have to say that I wonder how the teenage years will go because there will be a point where all 4 of them are teenagers at the same time. There's a scary thought for you, 4 teenage girls living under the same small roof together. We work very hard already to talk to our kids, make sure they know they can talk to us and we're already working on (at their level of course) expressing to them that they don't need to worry about having boyfriends and that some things just shouldn't be done until they're married. They're too young yet to understand the concept of a committed relationship so for now just saying married works best.

I'm not blind though, I know the statistics these days about teenage pregnancies and all that. I know that by having 4 girls our chances of having that be even one of them skyrocketed. That thought scares me. I really hope that we can work hard enough to prevent it and I don't have to worry about my family being yet another statistic but I won't be naive about it in thinking that it will never happen to us.

Those are the moments I think it would be easier to have boys. Don't get me wrong, I love my girls, but in reality, if you have a son and he gets a girl pregnant you don't usually have anything directly to worry about. The boy should be responsible and help out financially and be there emotionally but the girl's parents are the ones housing a pregnant teen (usually, I could never imagine kicking out my child though especially at that point in their lives), there for the morning sickness, helping to pay or figuring out how to pay the medical bills, there for all of the ups and downs, usually rearranging their house to accommodate a new baby, etc..

I don't think I would worry near as much if it wasn't for my little sister, as sad as that may be. She's a good kid but at 9yo she's already very worried about looking good for the boys, looking sexy and cool enough to catch the eye of the popular guys and just not a little girl anymore. My mother doesn't help much, she buys and allows her to wear clothes that I won't even allow in my house and got tired of toys being scattered so she has gotten rid of almost all toys or anything of the like. My mother and I have already talked though that we could easily see her being a statistic and that led to her saying how both of them (her and my dad) are getting too old for babies and they just could not handle taking on a baby this late in life. As is my dad will be almost 70 when my sis graduates from high school. So it has already been discussed about my husband and I taking any baby in so that it stayed w/ family. Is it just me or does any one else see a problem with this picture?

When did it become 'the norm' to plan years in advance for your kid to get knocked up as a teen and then plan on doling the baby out to family because you just don't have it in you to do it and you know your child won't be able to handle it at that point yet? I just don't know what to think of it most of the time, then again, I don't know what to think of my mom most days anymore in general either. All I know is that if we can try to be enough of an influence then hopefully we can help prevent that scenario from happening but if it does I hope that it is a minimum of 5 years from now (that'd make her 14) and then we'd go from there.

So there you have it, one of my greatest fears as a mom is one of my daughters becoming a teen pregnancy statistic.

Not a phrase I ever want to hear again.

Oh, leave it to my children to say the things no mother ever wants to hear until they're will grown and on their own (and preferably in a stable relationship/marriage). I was standing just inside my bedroom door sifting through laundry and out of the blue I hear my 6yo announce "Mom! I'm pregnant!" What!?!?!?!?!?!? I peaked out the door and saw her attempting to pooch out her stomach as she was playing w/ the other girls and my little sister. What made it more comical in the end is that J, the 6yo, is the true definition of a bean pole, it doesn't how much food that child shovels in she never seems to gain an ounce but yet keeps getting taller. Needless to say there wasn't much for her to pooch out so she was arching her back as far as she could but for the life of her couldn't get a rounded belly look. I quickly distracted them though so she'd quit saying that phrase because I just can not say that at this point I look forward to the day that I hear it for real. That is a day that truly scares me.

Plungers

My daughter E is one of those kids that keeps you on your toes, not always in a good way but some days you just have to laugh. The other day I was checking my email and she came in and said "Mommy, I'm a plunger!" What? Did she just say what I thought she said? Yes, she just informed me that she was a plunger. She was wearing a denim skirt that day and had discovered that if she flip it up it stayed that way and apparently that made her think of the toilet plunger. Can't say that's ever something I imagined my kids pretending to be but she was happy about it so I'll just let it go.

And the winner is...

Katie! Well, she was the closest anyhow. Apparently there weren't as many in there as it looked because of the angles of them and the card from a Disney Princess cash register that was wedged so well in there that it took some work to get it out. So after digging for a bit the grand total was 5 blocks and 1 card. As for your prize, email me your address and I'll figure out what to gift you with. :)

Where or where did manners go!?!?!?!

For some time now I've wondered if I'm just getting crabby, or even getting older then i really am, when I'm in a large group w/ a lot of other kids. Today though I came to the conclusion that it's not me, it's the large # of kids that are not taught manners, morals or anything worth while from the adults in their lives. I won't go in to a million explanations but I will tell you all about our afternoon, so have a seat.

Today we went to a birthday party at the indoor city pool, that was probably our first mistake but still no excuse for the events that followed which seem to be all too common anymore. For starters we took all 4 of our kids and were there w/ just 2 other kids, we both got in the water because in order for any kids under 8 to swim they have to have an adult in the water too (probably because the lifeguards there are usually pretty worthless and look strung out) and the other adult there had no intentions of swimming. There were a good number of other people there but nothing outrageous or horribly packed.

They have a walk in area that goes right to this big play tower for the smaller kids (it has a variety of little water spouts and a smaller water slide on it). On the tower there is a set of wide stairs, then a landing and then it goes up a couple more to get to the slide. On the landing there are three little geysers and then on the top by the slide is this little water shooter deal. We walked in the water, I was trying to acclimate M to the water since it was a bit cool and the others were splashing a bit. She wasn't too thrilled so I moved over to the bottom step since they were wide and tried setting her on it to see if, once she realized she could splash and play too, she would be ok w/ it all. There were 2 boys who figured out of they blocked 2 of the geysers it built more water pressure in the remaining one and then if they put their foot on that one just right they could aim a mass amount of water at people. They proceeded to shoot it at my 1yo and myself and then when i yelled out of surprise they laughed and continued to do it until I managed to get up, grab her and get out of their range. Once out of range they both took off laughing hysterically. When did stuff like that become ok? It's rude enough to do it to an adult you don't know but when they're holding a baby that's a huge no-no. Needless to say M was now terrified of the water and wanted nothing else to do w/ it for most of the time we were there so she sat on the other adult's lap wrapped in a towel most of it.

I learned today too that the water levels of the city pool are no where near that of the YMCA that we're used to swimming at. Not only did the pool area smell, and not just of chlorine but a weird rotten smell, but it tasted even worse. I know, you're probably wondering what in the world I was doing tasting it. Since the other adult wouldn't get in the water and the birthday girl didn't really know how to swim I was working w/ the kids on a few basics and was trying to teach them how to put their face in the water w/out getting a gush up their noses and they're not about to do it if you don't demonstrate first. OMG! the taste that clung to my lips and continued to gag me for hours after we'd left the pool. It seriously tasted like chlorinated sweat and smelled just as bad.

So, time progresses, we'd been in the pool for a little over an hour. My eyes and sinuses were burning like crazy all of a sudden and I was starting to get a bit frazzled as more kids were flooding in to the pool. At this point several older kids decided to take over the play tower as well. I saw several boys literally shove my 3yo out of the way so they could go down the slide before her, and not just once but a few times. An older girl took the water sprayer deal at the top from my 6yo. Then, and this was the last straw for me, a boy went up the tower took the spray gun and shot me in the head as I was helping Ciara out of the slide. I looked at him and asked him not to do that again and he proceeded to shoot me in the face and then laugh hysterically. I waited until he came down the little slide and informed him that if he pulled another stunt like that I'd be finding his parents (which I do not think were there and he knew he'd be kicked out of the pool if that's the case).

We rounded all of the kids up and told the other adult we were leaving because I knew if I stayed I was likely to end up unleashing on any number of kids and possibly their parents too. She said that they were going to stay because her kids were still having fun which was fine since that was her choice and her kids which were a bit older. After we came back out of the locker room from having gotten everyone showered and changed she told us that her son had come out and said he was getting tired but when asked if he was ready to go he told her no and went back in. We stood there and visited for just a moment as we finalized the plans for the rest of the day and her son, who is 10yo, came out of the pool again kind of holding the side of his and his eye was all red. We asked what happened and he told us that another boy told him "Move out of my way!" and punched him. He then also claimed that he never saw the boy either so my guess is that he didn't want to risk his mom going to the lifeguards or finding that boys parents or he wasn't actually punched but rather that elbow side-to-side motion a lot of kids tend to do when they're walking in water that is getting deep for them and in that he ended up catching that kids elbow in the eye. Either way, they then decided they were w/ us and had had enough.

I just don't know what it is with so many kids anymore. Are manners and morals just not taught? Days like that make me love homeschooling even more, and not because of the public schools themselves but because they won't have to spend entire days with kids like that and either picking up those same bad habits or being picked on by those kinds of kids. So, if you're a parent, teach your kid(s) how to grow up w/ respect for others and at least a few manners. I don't expect kids to be perfect, quiet little robots at all times but they need to know that there are certain things you don't do at any time. If you're a parent to that kind of rude kid, well, don't expect any play dates in the future or get togethers of any kind because if we did I might be saying a few things that wouldn't make you too happy.

Musical Names

No, this is not a post about how often I mix up my own kids and call them by the wrong name. That number would probably be a tad embarrassing. Rather, this is about the names my kids come up with.

It never ceases to amaze me in how many places I see my kids' imaginations at work. We always have dolls laying around that get new names almost daily like Jenka, Nonni, Cowlin and many others. Those ones just happen to stick out in my mind because when we were name hunting for our youngest the kids suggested them and when we kindly rejected them they were then used on the dolls for awhile.

My youngest 2 have actually been naming things more consistently lately, although they all have their favorite names to use. J, our 6yo, is learning more what are 'real' names vs the jumble of letters she would use before so at the moment her favorite doll is just called Nancy (don't dare to call it Fancy Nancy though, she is quick to correct you) but she does still have Pengy her penguin and then her array of bears that simply go by Big Bear, Little Bear, Yellow Bear and Daddy/Mommy Bear (it's having a gender crisis). E, the 4yo, is really in to My Little Ponies for about the 3rd year in a row and pretty much everything is just called Pinky Pie, her favorite pony's name.

Then we get on to the youngest 2 finally. C, the 3yo, started a while ago and despite being upset it took us a few days to figure out what she kept asking us for and crying at night for. She has 2 stuffed puppies and 2 stuffed cats that she sleeps w/ (along w/ about 1/2 the toys she owns, all on a toddler bed) and we'd give her what she asked for each night. If you asked her where her puppy is she would get it right away so she knew what it was. Apparently calling them puppies though was not what she wanted, they are Woofies. And like her sister, if you call them puppies she will correct you and tell you they are her woofies and then she will go and get a little toy dog and tell you "dis a puppy". We've learned that one by now though.

M is our youngest, she's only 16mos but she is full of spunk. She doesn't talk a whole lot more then random yells and screams but we all know what it is she wants, she doesn't stop until you figure it out. Her favorite toy is a plastic whale that we got in the pool section of Target awhile back. She even sleeps w/ that thing. Again, if you ask her where her whale is she goes right to it and brings it to you but I realized last week that she'd named it and I hadn't been listening. She'd come up to me and jabber as usually but I could tell she was asking something and the word whoosh kept coming out. Finally one day she went in to her room while I was there pointed to the whale in her crib and said Whoosh while pointing, and the name Whoosh was born. I'm assuming it's a combo of whale and fish but it's complete speculation on my part. She also has 2 other toys that she recently got that as of today have a new name as well. She has 2 dinosaurs (she's really in to the plastic animals but she likes the tough looking ones) and I guess they are her Rars. Kind of like roars but they're Rar's. These dinosaurs also like to go around and pretend to eat every one's belly buttons, so watch out.

So, lesson for the day is to listen close to see what they call something and then do NOT try to call it something else after they've seen that you know the 'correct' name for something.

Digital Cameras

Why does there need to be so many options and choices? I like my current camera, don't get me wrong, but I was recently introduced to what the mega pixels actually mean and it opened a whole new world to me. Our camera takes some decent pics that I've been happy w/ but last night I finally looked at it and realized that it is only 5mp. That's not very good. But our camera does have a 10x zoom which is not bad at all and I rely on that part. So armed w/ that knowledge the hunt is on.

I've started researching more cameras and things and thank goodness for reviews! I had one that I'd decided was about perfect and the price was much better then I'd expected and I was thinking I'd end up getting it but then I started reading reviews on it on a few different sites and they weren't that good. Some really like the pics that came from it but some were less impressed, that all happens. But there was one thing that seemed to be mentioned in EVERY post, it's a battery eater. From the sounds of it the rechargeable that comes in it works well at first but after a few weeks of use it gets down to dieing after just a couple pics and then if you put reg AA's in it they only last a couple hours before needing to be replaced again. ggrrrr, it was no longer just a few faulty batteries.

I then broadend my search but was hit by 100's of cameras that had the features that I want, that's a lot of cameras to sort though. So, it's going to be awhile before I actually get a new one. So if anyone has any recommendations I'd like to hear them, I want to know all your thoughts on it though, not just the good stuff. I don't want to pay a small fortune but am willing to pay a bit more for better features. I'd like a min of 8mp and no less then a 5x zoom but preferrably more. Manual and preset settings are also a must as well as a good flash that can be turned off it not wanted.

How many blocks?

I have a challenge for everyone (since this is a brand new blog that # is going to be very limited, but could still be fun). Lets take guesses how many Jenga blocks a child can stuff in to a VCR. Once I manage to retrieve all of the blocks I'll see who had the closest guess.

Dolphins Smell Like Cheerios

Since my kids are still asleep and I'm anxious to get this blog rolling I'm going to start off w/ something I was told about a week ago.

E, who is 4yo, was sitting at our kitchen table eating breakfast when she looked at me and simply said "mom, dolphins smell like cheerios". The conversation then went as follows...
me-what?
her-Dolphins smells like cheerios
me-Um, ok. And where did you learn this little bit of info?
her-because they do.
me-and when did you get to smell a dolphin?
her-when it was in my room. it smelled like cheerios and I didn't like it so we have to take it back now.

This is where it dawned on me. E goes to Occupational Therapy every week for sensory issues and once again they'd sent home one of the weighted animals but it had apparently been stored in the same cupboard as some of the snacks and things. She is now convinced that what that dolphin smelled like (it's been returned to the therapist yet again) has to be what all dolphins smell like.

So there you have it, dolphins smell like cheerios.