-Isms

We were playing 20 Questions at dinner, and I was trying to get the family to guess "splinter removal kit", also known as a salve, which is a word that apparently Jason and the children had never heard before, so I tried to explain it. 

N- "Oh! I get it!  Salve!  S is for splinter... A is for.... I don't know, kit? Or something?" 

We all laughed and laughed at that one!

*****

An Emma-ism- "Mom!" Gestures for me to grab and take pictures.  "Moments are happening!!"

*****
Noah, after I called Laney my puppy baby monkey- You know Mom, really you're not Laney's mom. 

Me, expecting him to say that her mom is another dog- Oh no?

N- Nope.  It's Cindy. (The breeder we bought her from).

M- Oh really??

N- Yeah, and you know being a dog and going to your new owners house is probably a lot like going off to college.  It's sad.

*****

Math is not the forte of every member of our family. 

D- Emma, what is your Chromebook password? 

M- It's right there on the computer- 0-3-0-8-1-1...

D- Oh, that's an eleven. 

E- No it's not!  It's one-one!

D, to M- ... ... I blame you.

*****

N, eyeing me very curiously the morning we went back to church for the first time since March- 

Mommy, it kind of looks like your socks go all the way up your whole legs. 

M- They do!  They're called nylons.  See? 

(pulls the nylon out for effect) 

N- Wow!  Can I try? 

(comes over and pulls on the nylons in several places, just to be sure) 

And then, about five minutes later I saw Noah pulling on his own skin in the same way.  

M- Noah, you know your skin doesn't work that way. 

N- Oh, I know, I just thought I'd try. 

Morning Quiet

 The sun is setting earlier each evening and rising later each morning, and there is no denying that the long and dreadful winter is coming.  I've recommitted to working out every morning before the kids are up, and I've found a perfect pocket of time after Leah starts school in which I can get outside and walk for 30 minutes before the younger kids need to get ready for school.   And it has made all the difference in my attitude and enthusiasm toward each day. 

Here's to another slow goodbye to the beautiful days of warmth and sun, and hello to the endorphins that come with taking time to exercise!

Classic Childhood Moment

 There was a LOT of giggling going on upstairs one afternoon, and I quickly found out why.  Dressing up like your opposite sex sibling is just something kids do. 

And their faces made it clear that none of them really liked it...

...too much.

The Drive Home

People ask me often if I mind the drive out to our house.  It is a solid 12 minute drive out here, or to get from here to just about anywhere, but we don't mind one bit.  The drive is peaceful and we often see turkeys, deer, racoons, bald eagles, hawks, turkey vultures, osprey, cranes, squirrels, skunks and possums, along with the black cows and long horned steer that are always grazing in the fields.

And we're always rewarded with views like this.  

When we take the time to slow down and enjoy it, there is nothing to complain about about the drive out here!

Getaway to Nauvoo

Last weekend Jason and I were invited to join our area authority Elder and Sister Morgan and the Iowa City Coordinating Council for a special meeting in Nauvoo.  It was our first getaway since our trip to Mexico in February 2019! At first we didn't know how we would make it work- six hours round trip plus five hours of meetings sounded like a really long time to leave the kids alone in our new house.  I didn't want to go to the meeting with a bad attitude, and we decided the only way we could make it work was to arrange to have the kids stay with friends for the day.  Thankfully our sweet friends the Tolberts said they would take the kids and the pup for the whole day and even the night before so we could drive down to Nauvoo the night before.  And we said heck yes!  The kids had a great time with their besties and Jason and I had a great time alone together! 

We stayed in the attic of the Willard Richards Inn, and we had the whole place to ourselves!  

Clearly people were shorter back in the 1840s!

It was so cold in the morning- 45 degrees outside with just one thin quilt on the bed and we realized this window right by the bed was open! We felt just like pioneers. ;) 

The house was beautifully restored.  We took advantage of the quiet sitting room to review our goals and set some new ones for the next (and last) five years that our family will have together before college and young adult life begins!

And then we were off to the meetings. 

Nauvoo has such an incredible spirit- it is always inspiring to walk in the fields and streets where our pioneer ancestors once lived.

After a combined sacrament and Sunday School meeting and a delicious lunch where we learned Elder Morgan's top ten lessons learned as a stake president we divided up and the women went on a walking tour of old Nauvoo.

It was really so wonderful meeting up with these kind women and learning from their experiences and testimonies.  I'm looking forward to the years that we will serve the members of the church in Iowa together.

And then we met back up with the men for one more picture in front of the beautiful Nauvoo temple. (I felt like a photo bomber in between Elder and Sister Morgan- I'm glad it doesn't look quite as cozy as it felt!) 

And then we were back on the road to digest the information and inspiration we felt during the day.  It was a short but awesome opportunity and I'm so glad we were able to take advantage of it!

And for whatever reason the GPS routed us right past the American Gothic house on the way home, so we took advantage of that, too!

Life as a Pup

Often curious, 

often sleepy, 

often dirty, 

never happy about being left behind, 

always snuggled, 

always loved.

Online Learning Week 4

Wow, nothing disrupts a quiet morning of learning quite like a plump gray country cat ambling through the backyard.  At least three times this week the peaceful quiet of minds at work was disrupted by the frantic barking and giggly scrambling of children to catch that cat!  With no luck so far, but they all keep trying!

Overall it's been a great week- our first week of five days of learning and everyone survived!  The expectations continue to get clearer and clearer, and everyone is staying on top of their work with relatively little direction from me.  

I've said it before and I'm going to say it every week until we're done- the best part of online learning is all of the extra time together to do school in a different way than we've ever done before.  Practicing math fact triangles on the porch, reading out loud while we make dinner, asking for help from an older sibling, playing 'water cycle' kickball during recess.  I know it isn't a best fit for everyone, but for our family, online learning has been an awesome experience.  I'm not really interested in becoming a homeschooling family, but I think we have all loved this new and different way of doing school, at least for now.

Adam started GT this week and is happily involved with more learning challenges. 

Leah is spending most of her extra time working on her online art class, and she's making beautiful art!

Noah is done earlier than everyone else each day, but he still has plenty to do before the day is over.  He's done a great job of staying on task, speaking up in class and learning new things, although he is slightly disappointed that "so far first grade just seems like a repeat of kindergarten- we aren't even learning multiplication yet!" I've assured him they'll get there soon enough.

And Emma totally rocked spirit week with her Wild West cowgirl costume!  We had to do a mini photo shoot before school to remember her cuteness!

If you ask Emma she'll tell you that the universe is prompting her to get a horse and become a real cowgirl- every little girl's wish! 

Next week the weather is turning colder but this week has been a perfect blend of school learning, outside playing, and at-home happiness (with the occasional late arrival into a class meeting or frustration over a non-working link or overflowing toilet fiasco thrown in there for a dose of reality).  The kids have all told me that they would like to be a bit busier than they currently are, so we're going to have to look into some of our COVID-world options!

Pirate at the Piano

 A hook hand never stopped a good pirate from playing a good tune. 

Blog Assumptions

When I was in sixth grade my teachers Mrs. Banks (who, by my memory looked and acted exactly like a cross between Oprah Winfrey and Maya Angelou) surprised and delighted the entire class by teaching us what happens when you assume something.  It's in the word itself- it makes an ass out of u and me. 

I've been thinking a lot lately about the things that we assume about each other, how it influences our actions and how it feels to learn that after jumping to conclusions based on partial evidence, you discover that you really didn't know the whole story all along. And it feels like a good time to post a round of blog reminders, assuming style.

- Don't assume that this blog is my journal.  I have a journal for my personal thoughts and feelings and struggles and this is not it.

- Don't assume that because you read any blog that you are in touch with the owner of the blog.  I have no idea who reads my blog, but if you are kind enough to read this blog occasionally, be kind enough to let me know you're here.  Preferably through a phone call or a text or an in-person visit!

- Don't assume that this blog is written in real time.  I usually have half a dozen or so posts that I work on for days or sometimes weeks at a time before I hit publish.  Rarely do I write and publish in the heat of the moment, which is why the emotion here is usually at a fairly consistent level, and that level is not panic or drama or despair in action. The ups and downs of my emotions are not the fuel for this blog, but that doesn't mean those emotions aren't present in the daily moments of our lives.

- Don't assume that our life is even greater than looks from post to post.  This is an edited version of our life happenings.  It's certainly not a highly edited, professional photography, looking for sponsors to turn my family into my business kind of edited, but it is an edited look at our every day life because that is what we want to remember most.  

- Similarly, don't assume that our life isn't really this great.  I'm not hiding any big secrets from the blog- we really are a regularly happy family living a regularly happy life in the Midwest.  I really do have an incredibly hardworking and kind and selfless husband and four incredibly wonderful, happy children and we really do love to be together.  It's a good life and I will always frame this blog to share the highlights of our happy life.

- Don't assume I'm writing this blog for you.  I write for my children and for my own memory.  I write and what I want us to remember and what I want them to remember is the best parts, the hard parts that helped us grow, and the funny and sweet and special moments that too often seem to evaporate from my memory far too quickly otherwise.

- And children, when you're reading this post some day down the road and you wonder- YES, I always loved capturing the moments of our life on the blog, and if you want to hear about the harder parts that didn't make the cut, come talk to me!

And because a blog post is always prettier with pictures, these are the four pothos plants that are currently growing in our house, all cut from the same starter and all thriving!

Online Learning- Week 3

We had Monday off again this week and it was an excellent reminder to me that what these kids love most is being home, being creative, and being together.  There was a stop motion video and a dance party and a Little People explosion (I love when old toys get a chance to play again!) and a whole lot of nothing going on all day.  It was great!

And by Tuesday everyone was ready to get back to work and learning.  A four day school week feels like a really nice idea to me but alas, we will get back to five days of learning next week.  

It really felt like we got into the routine of learning this week.  Week 1 everything was new.  Week 2 Emma and Adam got new teachers.  Week 3 Noah's teacher's school transitioned to 100% online learning because a third of the faculty were out due to COVID.  This meant that his teacher was working from home and had limited access to her computer resources, so he didn't have the same small group rotations that they have been working on for the last two weeks.  So!  Three weeks in and three weeks of some measure of inconsistency.  I hope things settle down soon because overall we are getting the hang of online learning and it's going really well.  Everyone knows what is expected from them each day and they all work hard to get their assignments done!

One of the biggest frustrations I've encountered with the schools here is getting Leah and Adam going in the extended learning program.  I've submitted applications, essays, made phone calls, sent emails, requested test scores and still we are waiting to hear whether or not they are "most discrepant from their peers and who exhaust universal and supplemental supports within our programming are identified to receive the most intensive support through direct Gifted/Talented programming." I'm not sure exactly what this amazing and limited program might entail, but I do know that all my kids have a greater capacity for learning than is offered in the standard school day, and I'm just hopeful that they can get going with some extended learning soon!  

Adam especially is spending a surprising amount of time playing online math games because he does not have enough classwork to keep him busy for even a fraction of the day.  I wrote an email to his teacher on Wednesday letting her know that he wouldn't be in the class closing meeting at the end of the day and she immediately responded and asked if Adam was involved in the extended learning program in Ankeny and if she should look into that for him here.  Just a side note that at this point she had had all of seven days of school with Adam.  I told her YES and that it has been a slow going process to get him involved and that we would be grateful for any help she give us in getting him going and just two hours later we got an email from the GT coordinator at his school welcoming him to the program, which he will start in next week!  

Coincidentally the next day Adam got a package in the mail from his old AELP teacher Mrs. Conover with a certificate of participation in Math Olympiads in 4th grade, a patch for scoring in the highest 20% in the program and a trophy because he earned the highest score on his 4th and 5th grade team!  What an amazing accomplishment!  I will never forget the way his eyes lit up as he realized what that meant. And it was a great reinforcement that the extended learning program is right where Adam needs to be! He's excited to get started with these extended learning opportunities!

Noah is a hard worker and a hard player and he does not like hearing that recess is over.

Emma has been writing acrostic poems this week about fall- 

Fires are fun during fall.

All weekend we camp,

Learn how to make a s’mores and 

Leave summer behind. 

and trees- 

Terrific trees make me be pleased, 

Remember trees help us breathe. 

Extra cool

Extra fun at the pool.

More than anything, I want to remember that online learning gave the kids the gift of time together. There is time for reading and time for snuggling and time for laughing and time for working together and time just feels slower with online learning!