Raising a daughter

I am grateful for this little person's creative spirit. She is a marvel. (Check out her studio threads.) 

 It's like sunshine to have her around. She is strong-willed, sensitive and clever. She's a brave little stinker when she wants to be and smart as can be.

  I worry about her more than the teenager though. She's filled with anxiety sometimes that cripples her ability to do things. I often wonder if I am the right person to raise her. That thought doesn't last long, because I cannot imagine life for one second without her in it. Still, the tasks sometimes seems daunting.  

One of my most cherished times with her is in the early morning (after Jon is at work and the kids are still sleeping) I crawl into bed with her and she wakes up slowly. We giggle and snuggle. I love that quiet precious time with her. 

Raising a daughter is a tricky business.

This is why

Some days I wonder why I homeschool my kids. I never planned it. It wasn't my dream. I'm not a super ambitious person who thought I could give my kids an "edge" by teaching them at home. Life threw me a curve ball when we moved to Baltimore. It made me look at things a little differently than I had in the past. It made me want to protect and shelter my short people more than I ever had before. I recognize all of that. Still..... there are options. I see that now more than I did initially. I could have done something else. I still could I guess.

I won't lie to you. It's tough. Sometimes it's bang-your-head-against-a-wall tough. I want to scream somedays. Heck, who am I kidding? I do scream somedays. But... still. I wake up every morning, put on my teaching cap and "go to work".

Today I remembered why. This is why.

Not the clearest picture, but you get the gist.

(Middle of the day, she finds the spent plumeria leaves and decides she wants to wear them while she finishes math. 

When they got too heavy, she moved on to a lion mask.)

For now, I am going to keep on doing what I do. I threaten to quit at least once a week, but I may never have the chance to spend this kind of time with my kids again. I love my shorties. So if you ever wonder why I do this every day just like I have for the past 15 months - now you know. This is why.

Amish Country

Can you believe I forgot the camera?! It's terrible but true. All pics were taken with my phone or Jon's. I'm going to look at it as a good excuse to go back.

First we stopped in Lancaster to get a better idea of where to go. Lancaster is a nice, windy little city. We spent some time in a museum learning about printing, then picked up a map and set off for Bird-In-Hand and Intercourse in Lancaster County, PA.

Bird-in-Hand had a nice little restaurant where we got to taste some traditional Pennsylvania Dutch fare and I got my first hot cocoa of the season.

I don't have many photos to post, but my mind is flooded with pictures. I'll tell what I see. The Amish people are beautiful. But more than that, they are happy. The people we saw riding down the roads all had smiles on their faces. All of them. It was harvest time. The men were out with their teams working the fields. It was mesmerizing to watch. I could have driven around for hours, up and down the lanes just to watch them work. Their farms are well maintained and lovely to look at. Very picturesque.

Taken from the car. It was so fascinating.

The barns were filled with tobacco leaves hanging from the rafters and the vertical slats on the barns were open for ventilation. There were traditional buggies on the roads but we also noticed another form of transportation they used. Its something like a scooter and a bike combined. There were mothers with kids along for the ride, big baskets on the fronts. My favorite was the youngish sort of man in traditional clothing on a "scooter-bike" with a cordless DeWalt drill in the basket. Oh how I wish I had had my camera for that one.

(Copied from the internet)

Along the roads there are signs out in front of many of the homes. Fresh eggs, flowers, furniture, etc. We stopped by one farm and purchased some fudge and root beer. This is not the root beer your mama makes. It is made with yeast to carbonate it. Jon loved it, as did E. Honestly, I prefer a good old fashioned Weinhards. However, the fudge was very good and the woman very nice.

We stopped at an antiques store and meandered for awhile. I found a rolling pin I felt was worthy to add to my collection and a clock for my dad for Christmas. E discovered an enormous scythe, taller than himself, that he really wanted to buy. I almost did, but decided he could and probably would get himself into trouble with it. (Now I am wishing I had gotten it as it would make Halloween costuming all but done for him.) I fell in love with a bunch of vintage hats but left them there as well. The tag does in fact say $12. I should have gotten this one. Ah, the life/ budget of a student.

We went to a quilt shop that was fabulous. I wanted to take pics of everything in the store, but it was not allowed. They had these fabulous kitschy Christmas ornaments that I so wanted to copy, but - no pictures!

He did not want this pic taken. What a good sport.

Finally, we tracked down a shop known for their "Shoo-Fly Pie". Never had it? Neither had we, but we were told we couldn't leave Amish Country without sampling it. In the end we bought an entire pie (very tasty) and a couple of postcards to take home.

The longest existing covered bridge in Pa, I think.

  

A beautiful old grist mill, complete with functioning water-wheel.

Sis' Baptism Day

Sis and Jon - I've got to do something about that tie

What a wonderful day we had on Sis' baptism day. There were a few little hiccups, but nothing major. Every baptismal day has to have a story to tell later. Sis got hers too. (Ask me later and I'll tell you all about it.) Jon was great, I was uncharacteristically calm and Sis was amazing.

(Ok, so due to the little hiccup, we never got an "official" pre-baptism picture. I had them pose for one at home a few days later, hence the red cami Sis is wearing. Pretty funny actually. Jon is a good sport to do this for his mom and I.)

The fam

The most beautiful women I know.

It was such a blessing to have so many of our family there from so far away. I miss them all so much.

Daddy Daughter Date

Jon doing his best to pose like he did in HS. Sis so excited she's about to jump out of her own skin.

Daddy-daughter dates are the best!

Jon took Sis to dinner and then dancing at the annual DDDance in our LDS stake here. They really go above and beyond. I've never seen anything like it. The cultural hall aka gymnasium was transformed. There was a disco ball hanging from the ceiling. The floor had been made to look like cobblestones. The tables were set in a round and in the center was dancing.  They had a violinist playing during dinner and dance instructors to help afterwards.  They even got their pictures taken (just like HS) to take home.

At one point while they were dancing Jon said Sis was looking at her feet, counting out the steps and he reminded her to look up at him and not her feet, like the instructor had told them. When she looked up, she was beaming! He said he had never seen her so lit up. It was an absolutely magical night.

Late Night

My daughter is in tune with me already. Its uncanny. You see, when I am sick I often can't sleep. My body doesn't like being horizontal and try as I may, I just can't sleep sitting up. The result? Late nights spent wishing I was sleeping. There have been nights, many in fact, where Sis can somehow sense this and wakes up inexplicably. I'll be reading or on the computer in an utterly silent house and still she wakes. She doesn't just wake, she is awake. We're talking WIDE awake. No groggy voice. No squinty eyes. Just wide awake and ready to chat. Last night was one such occasion. She came into the living room and asked if it was time to be awake. She was ready and if I had told her 1:30 am was the right time to start her day she would have done it. What resulted was a very long night with me escorting her back to bed multiple times. One such time, she came in and informed me that the cat was chasing a really fast bug in the dining room. My first thought - a roach! That had me out of bed in a hurry - which is funny because I don't know what I would have done except scream and climb up on a chair, which also would have been incredibly helpful - but turned out to be an old friend, the house centipede. Some bread and milk and a few hugs later and she was tucked in for the night. I wonder why I'm not getting better? ;)

Sneaking Up

She is somewhere else in her imagination. I wish I could see what she sees.

Singing and twirling in the dining room

Birthday #8

I can't believe we made it! She's eight. It's official. I watched home videos today of when she was smaller. Sadly, I hardly remember some of it. I remember her being a sweet, happy baby though. She had everyone wrapped around her little finger. Not too much has changed, except now she speaks instead of screams(mostly), stills giggles a lot and she makes sure everyone is listening.

Instead of a kid-party this year, Sis decided she wanted to have all her favorite people over for pizza and cupcakes. This was much more appealing to me so we fired up the pizza stone and cranked out about a dozen pizzas for 25 of Sis' nearest and dearest, ranging from a 3-month old to many, many grown-ups. She asked everyone to wear masks and knowing Sis' love of all things Phantom, one grown-up friend even came as the Phantom, tux, mask and all. Thanks Daniel.

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Sissy......

New tradition of opening presents at breakfast. I mean really, why wait?

Bigger boys had their own pizza party on the deck.

I love the look on her face. She's genuinely thrilled!

We're blessed to live here and have so many fabulous people to call family. Happy Birthday Sis!!

Happy Birthday Sis!

My baby is eight today. She's such a funny, creative, pretty, vibrant young girl. She drives me crazy one minute and has me in stitches the next. I can't imagine life without her. Happy birthday you crazy beautiful girl!!

When I Grow Up...

Sis is going to be eight this week. For the last few days she has been saying, when I grow up... (fill-in-the-blank).

Take for instance our trip to the grocery store today. She wanted to buy three bags of marshmallows. I said no. She said: When I grow up I am going to buy them all the time. I got the same response for everything I rejected. I told her I hope she has a good job.

My favorite conversation took place while we made rolls for dinner. I was telling her how I loved chicken noodle soup and rolls because when I was little and it was a cold day or someone was sick, my mom would always make it for us. She thought about this for a minute and said:

Sis: When I grow up I am going to buy lots of movies for my kids. Kid movies. Grown-up movies. Shows.

Me: What kinds of movies?

Sis: The Office

Me: Why do you like The Office? (which she's not allowed to watch BTW)

Sis: The jokes.

Me: Really? (said while trying to suppress a smile)

A pause...

Sis: I'm hariess(sp?)

Me: You're an heiress?

Sis: No, it starts with an H.

Me: (after thinking for a moment) You're hilarious?

Sis: Yes, I'm hilarious.

Yes Sis, you are hilarious. Sometimes I wish I could stop you from growing up at all. Just don't do it too fast okay?

My Little Phantom

She does this sometimes. She'll appear, midway through her school day, ask me to turn on Phantom and then reenact various scenes. Todays performance, starring Claudio her cat, The Point of No Return. The laundry basket is the boat. The cat, Christine.

Oak Island, NC

(I can't believe how long it has taken me to get this posted! Too many photos to sort through.)

This is E, not getting wet on Sunday after church.

What a perfect way to end the summer!

A fabulous lady and family friend let us use her beach house for a week. We invited some friends, loaded up the car and spent an amazing week at the beach. Thanks Lee!! You're the best!

Jack followed Sis around much of the time.

I love Sis' expression. This was the night we arrived. The kids were in heaven.

The kids had never been to the ocean. Not really anyway. We went to a beach on the Mediterranean, but it was in a harbor so no waves. Molto bella! It was great to see them take to the water like fish. Even Sis who is not my water-baby became quite the little boogie-boarder.

My boys.

Sis' first time in the ocean. Priceless!

I tell you I couldn't get enough of the water. I can't find them, but I know I have gills.

There was a hurricane moving up the coast on our last few days there making the waves very big and extremely addicting.

Flying kites.

Jack loved the ocean. He's a water-dog.

The crab Jack spotted and Jon caught on the beach. The kids almost loved him to death.

FHE ala E & Sis

FHE has gone the way of the Dodo this summer. Jon has been working Monday nights and I have been lazy. Simple as that. So this morning I mentioned to the kids that I wanted them to put together a lesson for FHE. In fact, I told them to plan the whole thing. For hours they worked at the table. First, they needed an xcto knife and mat. Next, they wanted a shoebox. Then Et disappeared outside for a spot. They were busy for most of the afternoon. E cutting and writing. Sis coloring and gluing. They were so focused. It made for a quiet house.

This is the *project they worked on together. (The word bubbles were not taped across the top originally, just when that portion of the story was taking place.)

It was a great lesson and reminded me of how capable, clever and intelligent my kids truly are. They did a fabulous job!

*If you can't figure out what you are looking at, its Nephi, Laman and Lemuel arriving in the Promised Land.

When it Rains... It Pours

Baltimore is a great place to live. One of things I have liked the most this summer is the rain. It doesn't just rain here, it pours! Its like nothing I have ever seen, seen on a regular basis, that is. It goes something like this...

The clouds change. (Living downtown with buildings right next to each other makes it a little hard to see the great-big sky sometimes, but the light in our apartment changes and you know its coming.) It begins with a slight sprinkle which lasts about 15 seconds and then WHAM! Its like the clouds open right up and pour out everything they've got. It lasts a long time too. Its not like a normal cloudburst where it rains for 5 minutes and then slows to a sprinkle again. No, no. It unleashes copious amounts of rain for 30 minutes or more and then - done.

A few weeks back, we had the Elders over for dinner and as we were going down to the car for Jon to take them home, the cycle started. The clouds changed and within a very short time it was pouring. I really don't know what came over me, but I suddenly had the urge to get soaking wet.

Ingrid - I missed you so so much. I knew you would be out there with me, stomping in the puddles, dancing with arms wide open.

(I apologize for the wet t-shirt like pics that follow. If you are easily offended, do not continue reading.)
As it was, Sis was the only taker. Initially she couldn't believe what I was doing, but she came around and we spent a good 40 minutes in a torrential downpour. The alley behind our house was streaming with ankle deep rainwater. We were, quite literally, soaked to the skins. She kept turning to me saying, "Mom this is the best time of my life! I want to remember this forever."

When E arrived home with Jon he came out and played bringing Jack along. It just kept on raining and raining and raining. I have to say, it was one of the most carefree things I have done in ages. I felt like a kid again. And when all was said and done, after warm showers and clean jammies, my kids went to bed with smiles on their faces and loads of new memories in their precious brains.

New haircut for Sis

I don't know why but she won't wear barrettes, elastics, or headbands without a fight. She plays hard and by the end of the day was looking pretty scary, borderline homeless somedays. What's a mom to do? Chop it off! Problem being, I am not stylist. I cut Et's hair in the summer, which translates into clippers and buzzing it. Did that stop me? Not this time! I mustered my courage and chopped it all off, nearly five inches! Turned out pretty well if I do say so myself.

Who am I kidding, she looks adorable no matter what!