regaining my mind

Most of you have heard me complain of being absent minded. I know because I say it all the time, at least i think i do? If coffee was a super food, you would think by now I could fly. Generally, all it does for me is help daily memory's stick to the Teflon parts of my brain. Lists and schedules are my dearest of friends these days. Thomas helped me make a shopping list yesterday. I thought perhaps you might like to read it too.

1. oh ohs (spaghetti o's)
2. rice-a-roni
3. cous cous

Do you see a trend here? Not only are these items all instant, they have their own name repetition going. The other thing he asked for was pizza from a box. After spending all that time with Greg's grandparents and eating their digorno's, Thomas thought it would make a nice change from the usual home made kind. Seriously, you shouldn't have kids unless you have a skewed sense of humor.

We have started a new gimmick. I call it TV bucks. They each have three chores to do which will earn them 10 bucks (min) each. So far its been great! Their rooms are cleaner and the house is more manageable and I even had time to finish the pair of socks in my knitting bag.

Funny thing overheard for Tuesday was this..

My girl picks up a theological book and starts reading the words.

me- Don't you think you would rather read a kid book? Jesus among other gods is a bit of a grown up book

her-I like big people books now, this one is fascinating.

me-momentarily thinking over weather she will succeed in reading it long enough for it to be necessary for me to explain things.

her- (reading noises)

me-nah, she is just at the first page anyway.

she did eventually set it down in favor of playing with her Godzilla toy. Apparently Violet had recently given birth to a raptor. (more laughing) After a full day of school and play Greg gave me a few hours off to sit and relax in our local knitting shop. It was sooo fun! I'm hoping today comes out as well...but we shall see, it is only my first cup of coffee.

Yawn

Oh, Mondays after spring breaks are NOT fun. Its been a long day but I think things are finally turning around. The 5 minute nap I took is helping to brighten my perspective, and the kids have found a few puzzles to assemble together. My girl was accepted into another year of K12, so second grade is covered for her! Such big decisions to make. At times I am not sure what the future holds educationally for us but for now we are plugging along. This schedule has worked out quite well and we like the flexibility to drive up and help out Greg's grandparents every other month without having to play catch up. Yesterday Greg had a ralley cross. Its basically tons of people driving around a dirt coarse in their cars as fast as they can without knocking over traffic cones. The weather wasn't exactly pleasant; cold, wet, rainy, and muddy, but I just ran to Starbucks twice to counter act the frozen feeling in my limbs. The fact we ran out of time to hit up our opera didn't faze me much. It was modern day and sung mostly in English. meh. Instead we went out to Thai food, had a slow lunch and then walked around Barnes and noble. Did I mention my e-reader the nook? I cant recall. I L O V E it. Most people I ran into were fairly impressed, although a handful sees it as the demise of all things bound. The fact is, I cant exactly lug 20 let alone 1500 normal books with me on a vacation! This device isn't hindering my use of the library because I still rent and read many books, instead its enabling me to enjoy owning my favorites without taking up shelf space. Do you know my sister has one too? Yup, we bought them tandem. She just lent me a book via..invisible Internet information transference. Cool huh! what not cool? to each her own. whatever the case I'm truly a tekkie at heart.

home and garden

the shot is a little hazy, but you get the basic lay out right?

broccoli starts

lets hope they live through the slugs

be still my bleeding heart

sorry, garden humor

New favorite, its a ground creeper called 'bridal shower'

each year I forget how bleak the garden starts out




We are back from our camp adventure, safe and sound at home. Much fun was had, many games were played, and even a hike was accomplished. As far as blogging it, not done. Your imagination can fill the gaps. I came home to find the garden much grown. The seed starts are poking their heads above the soil and my brother surprised me with a couple of mini rose plants. As you can see in the snap shots I moved the "furniture around" so it has more of an English garden feel. A time is coming when the flowers will take over the veggies. Now where to put the koi pond? (jk)

beware, nausiating pictures included

on Wednesday all of us went to town and walked along the bay. It was so gorgeous, I didn't want to spend the day locked away in the house. Yesterday the three kids hit "happy hour" and I couldn't take all the laughing and screaming so we went to the beach. Usually this is a good idea, usually. It so happened Thomas found the one hidden rock and scraped off all the skin from his toe. At first he didn't notice the copious amounts of blood leaking from his foot. The sand was sticking to it so fervently, one might think he simply had stepped in red paint. It wasn't until the salt started to burn him that he began swearing off the beach for life. Poor boy. He is feeling a bit better today and hopes that the cousins will see the pictures and, I'm just guessing here, be impressed.

sock it to ya

Pair of socks number two is on its way, the quilt is still getting quilted ( although very slowly )and we are heading out to visit Greg's grandparents on Saturday. This visit is by far the most exciting because I get to PLAY. My girl has spring break. Since we are homeschooling most of my day is filled to the brim with it and chores. I don't think I can describe it properly, to the point that you as a reader take me wrong or get crazy ideas such as, "oh she hates school"
What the heck I don't care!
I throw back my head, abandon all protocol and shout at the top of my lungs
Spring break!!!!!
FREEDOMMMMM!!!!
Its a chance to just be mom again. To laugh, play, splash, run, shout, and stay up late with little regret for a lousy school day the next morning. To walk in the woods, watch cartoons, eat cereal, and stay up late..AND SLEEP IN LATE!
to stay up late...did I say that yet?
ah I'm glad I got that off my chest.
Then when our week of fun and excitement with cousins is done we can start our last trimester of school with a fresh excited air. Whats that you say, I sound like a kid?? yeah a bit, OKAY ALLOT. I am and will always be at heart. Its the homeschooling that is forcing me to be a grown-up. Whats that? Parenting shuld have done that? nope, in fact just the opposite happened. I remembered how much FUN it is to be a kid.( this time around I have a drivers license and Im taller!)
To me spring break reminds me of summer picnics after a long rainy winter. What are your plans???

package day!

The mail came today, no not the Nook. It was a package containing one PERFECT girl dress, and a hat for Thomas with a skull on it. This boy loves 'bone monsters' and is currently running around the house making weird indescribable noises, while wearing it. Your gift giving skills are amazing, Thanks!

homeschooling

My girls teacher called today. We are on track with everything and she said to give history, science, and art a rest to focus on finishing language arts/phonics. If we get a 95% completion by the months end she gets to advance and have 2nd grade material for over the summer. Writing isn't one of her strong points so we shall see what comes of it. Personally I think it would be nice to have next years stuff early. We will take a more laid back approach to the summer but still continuing on so there is no gap. The reason I am so happy is that though most days I feel like we are trudging through mud to get anywhere scholastically she truly is learning and we are succeeding. A little at a time. Today is yet ANOTHER day of monsoon-ish rain. Three tornadoes are running through the house to revolt against the suns absence.

socks, ladies retirets, and THE NOOK

The ladies retreat was good, but I cant help but wounder why I keep going. I'm not much of a group person for one, and I giggle and fidget to the point of making little dogs nervous. Its all the estrogen. The speaker had many good things to say and my heart was encouraged to persevere but I think for now the 'retreat person' in me will recede to a deep dark corner. The camp we stayed at was in my previous town. I visited our house dwellers and am so grateful for their taking such good care of it..oh also enduring the weird weird people. The yarn store was a must do stop considering its a yarn store and well...I like yarn. I got to know a few girls better and headed back to make a commitment. I bought a NOOK e-reader. This has been on my mind since they came out and have had the money stashed for (what feels like) an eternity. The thing that finally sold me was this, I pictured myself at a rally cross with Greg. He was driving and I was sitting on the sidelines when I finished my library book and had nothing else to read....and had to sit there for hours. Yeah I'm exaggerating a little. It COULD happen especially since I am a book eater. So there you have it. Its coming on Friday. ;)

closer up

I used size 4 circular needles. Previously I had 3 monkey head buttons, alas my young son stole them three times loosing one in the process. I was tempted not to use buttons at all and instead attach the side seam with a mattress stitch. My girl had different ideas. Its called little sisters dress and can be found on ravelry.com. It is a free download. Have fun!

today was Gabie day, all three of the kids call him that!

Heres a pic for you Judy..I still need to pick up some black leggings to go underneath but the dress itself turned out really cute. Its a free pattern on Ravelry.com

schedules

Tonight is our late library night, we go around 6ish and kill part of our evening just reading books and picking more out. Surprisingly all three are quiet and respectful while they listen to me read. Considering they tend to run around like wild animals after dinner, it truly is a feat.

really terrible writing!

I cracked open a novel with such promise, only to find its text was more than lacking. It was just plain unbearable. (the lovely cover was sooo misleading) I have to include a sentence just to prove my point.

"Mel, hurry up!" Brigid calls, splashing through puddles, heedless of the mud that has come up through the wooden plank paving of the road.

So maybe most of you are thinking, "SO WHAT!" well I for one cant stand jumping in an out of different perspectives for a paragraph, let alone an entire novel. What you didn't see it? hmmm, I cant stand plugging a horribly written novel any more than I can bear to read one. You will just have to suffer...and hopefully NOT read it. Yeah, I tend to be a bit of a book snob. Ask my sister, she has been subjected to many a one sided discussion about the failing points in some un-named literary flops. It is in honor of her I give this post a spot of sun..

are you ready...

Moby dick...seriously read it and more recently the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, no complaints about the books AT ALL. The movie on the other hand, *cough* Choke* never mind. Yes I understand you too find fault in my writing, then again you cant find me on a shelf in a book store. :)

Cape Falcon hike

my super hot hubby got to come with this time, it was a real treat!

salmon berry flower

this one is for you Judy

spring Trillium, so lovely

banana slug. Believe it or not these are the helpful kind, they only eat rotting debris. Its the brown ones I take a salt shaker to during gardening season. Why do I know this, lets just say my middle child is REALLY into bugs/slugs/ and uggs

again, I do wish I had the time to edit these photos. I think they would pop a bit more

this is my favorite photo of the day, the black backround frames the green clover perfectally

we had snacks and water when we hit the top, even mommy was tired.

lookie she is wearing the sweater dress I knitted her, good girl!

see if you can spot the rabbit

falcon cove

tired boy, considering he walked the whole 5 miles without being picked up I can't blame him

zoo pictures

the youngest at 2

they may not act very much alike but man is there some major family resemblance there or what!

Thomas the lion

My girl the lion tamer

And then there is Mr. Steel
the lion...er...ummm...
*cough* proctologist

all six together and facting the camera.
We had a marvelous day together! I love my nephiews!!

tuesday

The rain looked rather threatening and two out of three noses were wet and drippy, nevertheless we set off to the zoo early in the AM bracing for what emotional repercussions it might incur. My three and the three cousins held each others hands as part of my "zoo buddies" requirement while taking in all the luxuries of outdoor exhibits. Winter at the zoo may be wet, but the animals are far more active. The hippos, who are nearly always asleep, were awake. The big one floating in the water wiggled his ears and gave a huge hurragaa. (that's as close as I can get to spelling a hippo noise) We spent at least two hours wandering and reading information before we headed over to the children's museum. There isn't a whole lot to see in the children's museum, its more of a hands on play place. They explored for another 2 hours, and because they were snotty and sick I expected the car ride home would be...interesting in the least. Two hours of giggling, screaming, hitting, crying, then laughing again might have driven me out of my mind if it were not for the fact that in the morning as I was getting ready to leave the thought hit me. Be ready mamagriffith, the ride home is NOT going to be hearts and flowers. You are taking two sick kids outdoors and having them walk in the cold. I poped a worship CD in and sang along, working hard at not scolding or lecturing. ( we moms DO love to lecture) Tada, we made it home and it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would have been.They enjoyed the trip emensly as well as playing with thier cousins. I will post some pics of all six kids when I find the time.