grandpa jim

HAPPY BIRTHDAY
GRANDPA JIM!!

WE LOVE YOU

HOPE YOU HAD
A RELAXING DAY!

eddie's blog

I just have to do a shout out for Eddie. He's created his own blog. He's been up and running for a bit now, and when he takes the time to sit down and think of stuff to blog, he's pretty good. It makes me smile that he's interested in doing this. So, if you have the time, take a look here and enjoy the mind of a nine year old...

baby hungry

Ada Kate is here visiting.

It's making me want another baby.

Love the coos. Love the toes. Even the cries make me smile.

Nothing else like a new baby around.

Notes on the daily works of art...

Several people has asked me recently how our children manage to consistently produce the artwork shown in Jayne's daily works of art and I've had to explain that, in fact, the "daily" part is the new post, not the production of the artwork. Put more clearly, we are going through a backlog of pieces that are children have produced over the years. I make this clear to avoid two possible misconceptions:

1) That something Ceily drew two years ago is a recent production. This may lead to the perception of serious development delays in my children and we are intent on hiding all such evidence.

2) That we have an art room sweatshop where we force our children to draw/paint/paste until we release them. This isn't true. That's called school and we only make them go to that 10 months out of the year.

Jayne actually has a hard time throwing anything away (given that everything our children create is a work of art) and this is one way of justifying the hoarding. A huge plastic container sits in her closet holding 11 years of art. She has yet to "publish" any of that horde. First she'll use up her stash from under the living room couch. This is Jayne- I am not a horder. I just keep the important stuff.

daily works of art #39

PURPLE SKY

by ceily or eddie
no one will fess up

summer!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SUMMER!!

WE LOVE YOU

daily works of art #38

TREE

by ceily

Summer Running 6/19

Ceily was babysitting. Eddie ran it in 12:10. Improvement...

father's day amusement

Me: "Chris, what would you like for Father's Day?"
Chris: "How about we take the family to the amusement park for two days?

Me: "Really?"

Chris: "Yeah, let's do it."

This is coming from the man that HATES, I repeat, HATES Disney World. He isn't even pleasant when he thinks of Magic Kingdom and "all the lines and all the people and all the money and all the heat..."

Eddie: "Are we ALL going? Really?"

So that's what we did. We loaded all four children plus one extra, and headed three hours away to Carowinds in Charlotte, NC. It was a lot of fun. The first day I took Ceily, Eddie and Leila, while Chris had Lana and Noah. I tried to convince Eddie to ride a roller coaster. He wouldn't do it. They make him too nervous.

The next day I had charge of the little ones. I got sick riding in circles on all the little rides. Lana and Noah couldn't believe they actually met Spongebob and Patrick! Eddie was convinced by his dad to ride a roller coaster. That coaster was his favorite ride.

virtual amusement

Amusement parks are fun. I enjoy watching my children have delight as they ride rides and see cotton candy and all the cartoon characters come to life. Over and over and over again. They never tire.

So see Chris, amusement parks are fun. Your family knows you had fun. It was YOUR idea to buy the season passes.
And thanks for a great Father's Day gift!

daily works of art #37

TREE

by eddie

The Contract

I hoped - in vain- for your years that my children would see the connection between all of the blessings they have in their life (from God, some via their parents) and the responsibilities they have. I'm still hoping.

This Summer I decided to make some of that connection explicit with a Summer Contract for Ceily and Eddie.

Here is the text of the contracts:

This Summer, my parents will allow me to:
Stay up to 9pm
Stay up to 11pm reading
Go tubing in the boat at least 3 times
Have at least 3 sleepovers   
Go to Grandma camp
Go to Carowinds!
Go to Movies twice
Go to the beach with my cousins
Go to the beach at least 3 times 
Go to the pool at least 5 times  
Play in the mud (already completed)

In return, I promise to:
Listen to, respect and obey my parents
Be kind to my siblings
Help around the house as asked (or not asked!)
Run a mile, 4 times a week until I get to a 10-minute mile (2 times a week thereafter)
Do worksheets as provided (maximum of 1 per day, 5 per week) – and work with Dad until they are right…
Read 4 substantial books (require parents’ approval)    

The worksheets are math worksheets, etc. I'm using to get them solid on some of the things that slipped by them last year and prepare them for next year.

The contracts have been signed and so far they're helping. Eddie's reading a real book which hasn't been his natural inclination. They go running with me. They've done their math worksheets. We still have constant reminders about everything else...

Summer Running - 6/16/08

I finally got my own login to this blog...

We (Ceily, Eddie and I) finally ran again. (Remember our goal to get the kids to run a mile under 10 minutes this summer.)

Summer is so chaotic with friends and sleepovers and everything else that finding a good time has been hard. It's also not so easy to get my kids out there... but I created a solution to that so things should be getting easier (see next post.)

They did better this run. Eddie: 12:28. Ceily: 12:50. We need some work but they'll get there.

Of course, motivation may be some of the issue. Last night, with 15 minutes until the park closed and three more waterslides to go, I could hardly keep up with them. I'm sure Jayne will give the full report on Carowinds (the amusement/water park.)

daily works of art #36

SUNSET

by ceily

questions

Why does a 6 year old named Lana, think it's an ok thing to squirt glue down the toilet, and then try to flush the bottle of glue down the toilet?
And then why does that 6 year old named Lana deny everything?


She doesn't know the answers either.


p.s. Happy Father's Day

arizona summer

I've been thinking about our Summer last year. I decided we needed to go and visit friends in Arizona. So, we loaded up the car and took off. It was a wonderful experience. We still talk about our trek across the US. I introduced my children to the 1st, 2nd and 3rd seasons of The Brady Bunch, and as we listened to Mike and Carole, we traveled through 16 states and two extra countries. We saw the Rio Grande and the great Mississippi River. We filled our days with laughter and swimming and National Parks and snow cones. Lana and Gavin were engaged and married. Eddie was able to realize his dream of walking the same land that Elvis walked. I was able to visit the homeland of my ancestors in Mexico. Chris joined us and we visited the second of our three amusement park excursions. We then traveled to Virginia to meet my family and drove up to Canada. We felt closer to God as we relived church history and felt the mist of the falls. I would do it again in a minute. My only regret: We did not go to Roswell, NM. Who knows, maybe we would have seen an alien. I guess we'll save that for our next cross country trek.

daily works of art #35

DAYBREAK

by eddie

daily works of art #34

KANGAROO

by ceily

wednesday: pool day...

...after pool day.

time: 6:59pm.

lazy day #1

Yesterday was a day at home. The kids become a bit stir crazy, but they eventually found something to do.

Summer Running 6/10

I (Chris) am trying to get the kids running this summer. The modest goal is to get both of them under a 10-minute mile. We'll see how long that takes...

Today's results:
Eddie: 15:03
Ceily: Did not finish (cramps)

Lesson Learned: In SC in June, 10:30 is too hot for running.

daily works of art #33

PURPLE NECKLACE

by lana

that one called noah

Noah. He's my last baby. He's my captive. I don't want to give him up. When he embarks on his school years (one more year to go!) will that be the day I lie and say he really isn't 5, he's only three. Maybe if I had another little one it would be different. But, I don't and it's making me sad.

He always has something to say. "I was sitting in the sink naked because I'm waiting for my turn to take a bath, that's why." Of course. Perfectly good reason.

Me: "Noah, why did you kick, (hit, push, glare at, growl at) that little girl?!"
Noah: "Because she was in my way."

I have always been a "park mom." I love to take them outside and play.
Until Noah came along. When he was old enough to walk and talk and get angry, those park days were over. I would try. Believe me I tried. But, it wasn't fun or relaxing. I was too tense and had to watch Noah like a hawk so he wouldn't hurt anyone just because they were inside his pre-conceived space zone. One time I was running to get to the slide because I could see...he was eyeing the pretty little girl that was on the pirate ship, the pirate ship he thought he was only allowed to touch. I made it just in the nick of time to sweep him up before his little foot connected with her head.
(He's not that way anymore. Now he just talks to EVERYONE AND THEIR MOTHER!!!)

Those were the days we wanted to send him to "Baby Boot Camp." If we had found a listing for one close by, a facility we could visit often, he would have been there. I'm glad we didn't though. We would have missed him.

Every morning he wakes bright and early. I'm usually awake, waiting. He sneaks into our room and crawls in on my side and we snuggle. Only for a bit and only on his terms. He doesn't like my arm behind his head. Every morning I think maybe he'll forget and let me keep it there. No, every morning he removes my arm and puts it back by my side. Sometimes we take turns tracing each other's face. Sometimes we give butterfly kisses. Sometimes he'll fall back to sleep. More often he's ready for breakfast.He would love to be a Star Wars character. He is a bit obsessed with Star Wars.

Noah: "Mom, I really want to take karate. No, I want to take a Star Wars class so I can be a Star Wars character. I wonder how they teach me to use a light saber and make that light saber noise."

I love this crazy kid. He's sure fun to have around. Not a dull moment. Lately we have been playing a game. He loves to talk and loves to ask lots of questions. Sometimes I just don't have the answers. Sometimes I would love some quiet time. Sometimes I am driving and I can't turn around and look at his face when he so needs me to. So, when we are in the car, we pretend I left him at the place we came from. He has to be extremely quiet. No words or sounds allowed. And I have to say he is a pro. He loves this game. Only rarely will he say- "Game off. Mom, let's-pretend-we-were-coming-from-the-pool-and-not-the-beach-and-you-left-me-there-instead-playing-with-Sam-and-Mason-OK?-Game-on." And then we pull into the driveway and I turn around and am very delighted that no, I did not leave Noah at the pool and yes, he's safe at home with me.
Forever...please...

SCHOOLS OUT!

Today marked the last official day of school. Yeah!! Tomorrow we get to sleep in. I'm looking forward to not having to arise at 6:10am.

So I guess now it's ice pops and lazy days...

graduating

Today Ceily Jayne graduated from 5th grade. She is now officially in Middle School. The ceremony was bright and early this morning. After running back into the house because I forgot her flowers we finally made it. Until we realized we had forgotten the tickets a third of the way there. We got there though, and sat for two hours enjoying the program. And I have to admit that I was on the verge of tears the entire time. There's something about your oldest getting old. It doesn't sit too well with me. I feel like she's too little to be big.As Ceily was getting ready for school this morning I told her she had to be nice to me and her dad when she saw us today at the graduation ceremony. I told her she had to let me take pictures and smile nice and not run away. And she didn't let me down. She never does. She let me take lots of pictures. She let me give her a kiss. She was even the one that sought us out after all was over. Ahh. I love her so much. It's a weird thing watching your oldest grow up. Every day is something new. And it makes me happy to see her happy. So happy that I let her have 7 friends over to swim and sleep. All the parents thought I was crazy, but the things I have heard today are priceless!

Waiting for her name to be called and squinting because she lost her glasses.

Walking to receive her certificate with a broken flip flop.

And now tomorrow officially starts our summer vacation. I have 3 months to prepare myself for Middle School. I don't know how I feel about that. To be honest, I'm really not looking forward to middle school, but I'll save that for another post come August when she starts school.

Happy Graduation Ceily and Happy Summer!

daily works of art #32

CACTUS

by lana

not allowed

So this week we have been de-clutter-ing. We cleaned out one of our storage areas this weekend. We found some good stuff. Stuff that hasn't been touched for 6 years. Tell me why we thought we needed to keep boxes that I had my china in 13 years ago. Why did we think we needed to keep 10 years of computer boxes? Well, I am over it! They are all collapsed and going to the recycle bin. The world needs more corrugated cardboard and I'm here to give it to them.We will also be donating a lot of wire to the landfill here in the South. I took the time this morning to clean out a drawer filled with wires and power cords and computer hook ups and phone wires and ear phones and stuff "we might use sometime." And I made Chris sit next to me and look at every single wire and cord and try to remember what they are for and why we need to keep them. I was able to purge lots of stuff. "Chris. When we will use 24 separate phone cords? Chris. We will never need to hook our camera up to someone's computer. No Chris. We do not need a 12 volt car adapter today if WE HAVEN'T USED ONE EVER! Chris. We already have 85 of those things."

I'll be fair. If he were to sit me down and hand me all my platters or dishes and ask some questions, I would have lots of reasons too. "Chris. I know that at one point in our life we will host a party of 10,000 and need all these platters and cake plates. Chris. Yes, I will make 24 cakes to place on my 24 cake plates in one day. Of course we need all these bowls. These are for ice cream and these are for cereal, and these are for chips..." (Above numbers are exaggerations of course.)But back to the cords. Well, after throwing a lot of useless wires away this morning, this afternoon Chris was given one task while I was taking Lana and Ceily to gymnastics and swimming. He had to collapse all the cardboard boxes and dispose of trash. Well, he happened upon another box with another collection of wires. He had a grin on his face so wide, you would have thought he had won the lottery. I immediately said he needed to just toss the whole box out now and not waste the time going through it all. "Jayne. I need to walk down memory lane. Why must you deny me of this? It's been 6 years since I looked at and touched these. I have to see."

So we sat and rehearsed the before mentioned wire scene and I was quite proud of Chris. He only needed to keep 3 valuable items that "may come in handy." A cable wire. A cord that "costs $10 at the store and I almost had to buy one this week but I found one"...and one more phone cord because you never know when you might buy a new phone that doesn't come with new phone wire.It feels so good to get rid of useless stuff. Tomorrow, the hall closet...

daily works of art #31

HANDS

by ceily