Where Was Brenda...

When Bret, Lily and I were at the park, Brenda was at home resting up. This weekend it was Lily throwing up. Now it is Brenda. Where at first we thought it was nerves (they get that honestly from me. When I was younger I was always getting sick and puking whenever I was over excited.)But no, Lily eventually got a fever and she was in bed for two days. Now Brenda is throwing up everything she eats and is pouting around the house miserable. Maybe Bret will be next. All I know is that I had plans to have dinner at a friend's house tomorrow and now I am going to have to COOK. Crappy crap...

The Wonderful Weather

Sometimes when school is about to get out for the day, we head over to the park across the street and play. Then when the kids get out of school everyone heads to the park and the girls get to connect with their friends for 1/2 hour or so. We did that today for the first time in months. The weather was so nice. Still I work a winter coat. I couldn't brave the warm weather without it yet. lol.

Making stuff is a service project

Our Girl Scout Service Unit Meeting was turned into a service project as girls from the troops came together to make blankets for the Ronald McDonald House and animal toys for the SPCA. At the same time we celebrated Girl Scouts Birthday with some cake and pop. It is always great to see the different troops mingling and working together.

...Which brings up an interesting point...

What is my goal. And if I could be so bold as to lump us all together, what is the goal of all us mothers? As a homeschooler I have gotten many opportunities to watch parents parade their children's numbers around like plaques on the wall, "well my daughter's IQ is so and so, I am not even bragging she is just above average. She is in all the advanced classes." "We immediately notice a difference when we are around public school kids. They are not as considerate. They don't pay attention to anything but themselves. They are rough and don't show restraint."

What do we get out of trying to turn our children into what we want them to be? We already know what they get by NOT being what we want, but instead being what they want to be. But why do we work so hard to produce children that "make us proud"? We say we want our children to be independent and make their own choices, until they do and we don't approve. We want them to be head strong and use their own brains,until they do and we don't like what they came up with. In essence our concern isn't how proud we are, but how proud other people are of our parenting.


What if I didn't tell the kids to help me clean the house? And what if then people came over and my house was a big mess? What if I didn't ask the kids to be polite, and they always said what they meant? What if they yelled when they were mad, like I do sometimes? And they said "damn it" when they weren't happy. (Yes, I know Marley does anyway, thanks for pointing THAT one out to me.) Would people look down on me and say I was less of a parent? And what if people DID look down on me... which no doubt a percentage of the popultaion does anyway; I always like to "feel" as if they don't I suppose. What then? When people think I am wrong? And they reject me?

What if I raise my kids and do what I think is right even when people reject me and my parenting? What if my kids grown up to do what I don't want them to? What if they choose the path that I think is wrong and reject ME? What if they ask us for help and we cannot produce? What if they don't trust us so they never ask for the help they want? I want my kids to be strong, yet I am afraid that their truth is not the same as mine. I want them to feel invincible, yet understand caution. And they cannot even have both of those at once.

When I die and go to Heaven, will I be judged on my parenting? Will the wrath of God come down upon me because everyone else thought I was wrong and I didn't listen to them? I hope not. I hope that doesn't happen to my kids either. Because life is so full of I TOLD YOU SO's. And sometimes the experience is in the path.

And then she changed...

You know who this beauty cat is. No questions, please. I like to think of this as self explanitory.

It has come to my attention that my girls have been called out by someone who thinks she has the authority to call anyone out, for bad spelling and poor written grammar. As well, it has been noted that my children will be unable to function in the grown up world, because I am not giving them the skills they will need.

I submit this up to that person and anyone else who questions my children and their "skills": When Josh (who I homeschooled) started public school in his junior year, he was in high honor roll from the first quarter, passed the OGT's on his first try, and was president of his class after only being at the school two months. Gaige, as a freshman, (who I also homeschooled) has straight A's (except for the B+ in gym, go figure) and is currently, as I type, attending a regional science fair competition with his science fair project that won him first place, competing against all grades in his school.

And all of this means nothing when they get in the grown-up world. No one will ask them about their OGT's or science fair projects. No one will suggest to them that they didn't work hard enough in gym.

Children won't learn how to be scientists by attending science class in school. They will learn what other scientists did. That's all. They won't learn to use their minds to make their own predictions. And even if they do, when their results are other than what the teacher expects, they will be marked wrong. Most likely no one will take the time to tell them that the path is just as important as the outcome. And sometimes failure is the process that takes one toward success.

I want my kids to be the experimenters, not the people who just examine what other scientists do. That is not life.I want my kids to make a million grammer mistakes, but learn to fix them at their pace. I want my children to love stories. And if they don't want to read until they are 10, I want to read to them so their love of stories doesn't cease.

What if my girls NEVER hone in on amazing grammar skills? CAN you survive in the real world without amazing grammar skills? I like to think, yes. And if they cannot spell every word in the dictionary, I will still love them. There are plenty of jobs that will hire them. Or maybe they will own their business. My husband is not a great speller. He uses spell check. Before spell check, I suppose there was the dictionary. He is still employable. And he usually beats my butt at scrabble and quiddler. Go figure.

We will all survive... So mind your business, you buttinskys of the world that want to correct everyone else's problems. Most likely you have enough of your own to focus on. Don't think we can't see that.

First thing in the morning

Since we are up early to get Gaige to his science fair competion, I decided to do the haircuts my girls have been begging for. They are all a little lighter today.

New Baby Mung Bean Plants

My sprouts are starting to... sprout. So in the picure we have one of the seeds, with a root on one end and a leaf starting to pop out of the other side. What fun science for the kids... And food too. Not great clarity in the picture but I think you can see what we see. Marley was so excited to see the leaf.

In the News

Our Bookworm Diner was in the news this week for the amazing program that the church sets up in Feb and March. This picture came from the Online news. It will be in the paper next week. Here is Lily getting food from the line, and my Girl Scouts (Brenda is nearest) in the background. Thought I would post this because I love the program. The kids love it. And it is our Girl Scout service project this year too.

Bi-Okoto Dancers

And drummers. Every year they perform our Kwanza ceremony at my Unity Spiritual Center. Every year people flock to be there on that Sunday because they are so amazing. So when Gaige's dean, who I put volunteer time in with regularily at his school, invited me and my girls to come to their school assembly where Bi-Okoto was performing, I couldn't pass it up. And even better to see them involving the kids in the school with the drumming and the dancing. Yet it was a history lesson, geography lesson and language lesson at the same time. Amazing experience, agree my girls who were a bit uncomfortable being there at the school in the beginning.

Girl Scout Cookies Anyone??

This year I saved all the case boxes for our troop's girl scout sales. I intend to reglue them and spraypaint them. Then viola! We have huge stackable blocks. What fun we are already having with them!

Bookworm Diner

Another day at Bookworm Diner. The girls read to other girls, but not very long. Today's Theme was Under the Sea. And I was volunteered to help with face painting. Which I have never done before. And I never realized how shaky my hands are before either. But here is Brenda with her face painted up for the theme. We went to our cookie booth to sell some cookies afterwards. SELL SELL SELL. It is our only fundraiser of the year.

Thinking Day

If you know me, you know I don't buy into these kinds of activities. We produce a poster board and information on a country and its Girl Scouts, parade around with flags, listen to each girls give a small notecard of a speach about one aspect of her country, play some games that are from these same countries, eat some of their foods, listen to their music... Usually the posters have been designed mostly by the adults. The adults have done to research. The kids know very little about what they "learned" and that is why they are READING from notecards.

But at the end of the day, all these Girl Scout girls and adults, get together into their big friendship circle for a song and hand squeeze. That is the part I wait for. All the troops together making one circle. That is where I feel like we finally unite.

Mung Beans

I have been waiting to go to Jungle Jim's for a while so I could buy some beans to make sprouts with. When Lisa and I went there for Thinking Day food I picked up some Mung Beans, and excitedly set Lilian on the job. She poured some into a bowl, added water, and put it on the window sill. She of course had no idea what was going on, but she is always excited to help out with that kind of thing. Then she played with the leftover dry beans. Yesterday, we took a peak and noticed a few things. For one, the mung beans had absorbed most of the water, they were about twice the size of the leftover mung beans, and they had these mini tooth-looking things sticking out of them. That was cool. Then Lilian spent some time with them and made an observation all by herself that she couldn't wait to share with both the other girls... When you picked up a handful of each and dropped it slowly back into the bowl, one sounded like bath water and one sounded like rain.

Promoting Peace

I planned a Treasure Hunt for the girls today while I was at the gym and off to Jungle Jim's for ethnic Thinking Day foods with Lisa, my coleader. It turned out school was on a 2 hour delay so we didn't make it to the gym after all since she couldn't drop her kids off at the usual time. But here was the premise of the Treasure Hunt they went on... The girls have been having a hard time relating to their younger sister. She wants to touch all their toys, play with their stuffies, write on their papers, etc. And she wants them to be ok with it. Which they are obviously having none of lately. So I told them I would bring home a prize from Jungle Jim's if they could finish the Treasure Hunt and help Marley finish hers.

Today's Treasure Hunt

Something you made
Something you want to be around all the time
Something you use only once a week (Brenda said shower... not cool!)
Someone wearing blue
Something put in the wrong place (Um... like EVERYTHING)
Something you bought with your money
A room with no windows
A place to be alone (Bret said Out Side... evidentally 3000 sq ft is not enough...)
A seat that doesn't belong in the house
Something in a case
A toy that makes noise (haha. Like there is another kind?)
A flashing light (they all had a hard time with this one)
Something that smells good
Something broken
The word Infinity
Wheels
Something that needs more hair (Brenda and Bret both chose the My Little Pony's that Marley cut the hair from)
A lost shoe (Marley chose her own)
Something that makes bubbles
A school book (Bret chose the Boxcar Children... you can tell how many school books we use based on how my girls don't even know what a school book is evidentally. lol.)
Something you wish you had
A picture of something old
Something Upside Down
Something that makes you sad
A dollar coin

Painting and the Planets

Lily wanted to paint today so I got out the paints. She wanted to pour the paints into the egg cartons so I was the paint opener and she was the paint pourer. Then she told me how to make the extra colors she wanted, like brown and orange. Then we made grey by accident which was brown with too much blue in it.

Soon the girls came to paint with us. Bret made a Girl Scout cookie painting for her room and Brenda painted the planets. She asked me to google for a Solar System map. Which was unusual since we haven't really talked about that before. But she followed the map and produced her own solar system, soon to be hung on the walls of her room.

More Snow...

In the 14 years that I have been in this tristate, I have never seen this much snow. And it is still coming... There was so much snow, we walked to our sledding hill only to find out that there was too much snow to sled. The sleds were moving so slow and filling up with snow on the way down. So we played a bit then headed home for some home-made hot chocolate... oops I guess we forgot to buy more marshmallows from the last time it snowed.

Look who is turning 9...

Luckily I thought to buy Bret's presents right after Christmas. She wanted that big elephant so badly for Christmas, but it didn't work out for her. I was able to snag the last one for her. We also got Apples to Apples. Brenda asked to borrow $2.00 so she could purchase a box of Bret's favorite Girl Scout cookies, Thanks A Lots, to give to her. So after homemade cake, ice cream, and presents, we all huddled around the dining room table for Family Fun with Apples to Apples. Yesterday, her grandpa picked her up for the day. He took her out to eat and bought her the Littlest Petshop home that she has been begging for. All in all, I think she had a pretty cool birthday, in spite of not having much money to spend. 8-)

Conversation between a 4yo and 35yo

"Let's play the don't bite your friends game." Here she is supposed to say don't bite your friends, and I am supposed to say ok I will just bite (insert body part here)and nibble on her body part while she giggles. Then repeat with a new body part.

"No, eat your Macaroni. Oops they are your friends. You just ate your friends."

"They are having a party in my belly."

"There's a party in your belly, ah ha ah ha." (This is all a family joke spoof on Yo Gabba Gabba btw in case you didn't know.)

"There I didn't bite them this time. I just swallowed."

The Last Day and Life without Kalahari

Do you know... OUR CAR BATTERY DIED ON US AGAIN. JUST LIKE LAST YEAR!!! So I thought it best to sneak out of there early without going to the waterpark one more time. The girls were not happy but I couldn't see having my car jumped TWICE, once to load my car, then again later in the day to drive away. I don't know what it is about that place that makes my battery die. Maybe it is 5 days in the freezing cold without being started? I don't know. But this is the only time this happens to me...

This has been a brief and small window into our week. I could not barely touch on all the fun I have, all the people I meet that are amazing, all the ideas I come home with, etc etc etc. This trip is WELL worth the money EVERY YEAR! There were tons of guest speakers that I didn't get to hear but would have loved to. There were tons of fun shops and activities that we didn't partake in but were no doubt just as fun. The entire staff, all the way down to housekeeping, is always so friendly, kind, and helpful. Everyone meets eachother with a smile the whole week long. I am so thankful for the opportunity to be part of this experience.

Now that the week is over, time to get back to reality...
It is Saturday, and I am picking up thousands of Girl Scout cookie boxes this morning for our troops with my co leader. The month of COOKIES has begun... drop me a note and say hi to break my focus for a moment here and there if you remember.

Dat da da da... The Dance

Better pics to follow...

Last year's dance was not so good for Brenda. This year she had a blast. She rode to the dance in a coach (baggage cart with a sheet over it) danced with friends, hung out all night. Bret had tons of fun again. Marley... it was too loud for her so we crashed in the craft and play room together. All in all, another night to remember.

The Get-Ready-for-the-Dance Party

We were contacted by friends from last years UWWG a few weeks ago asking us if Brenda and Bret were interested in attending their Get-Ready-For-The-Dance party before the dance at their room. Of course this was a great bonus. The girls did their hair, make-up and dressed for the occasion. On the same subject, I want to take this moment to let people know that black hairspray is real hard to get out of fabric. Pink, not so much... lol.

New Newness

While we were at the Ballroom Dance, I got the text from Josh that Callie Mae was born 10:56pm. She was 10 weeks early and 3 lb. 6 oz. She enters the world with a bumpy beginning.

Kalahari part 3

So here was our last day. We had been swapping presents with our Fairy Godparents and our Fairy Godchildren all week. We had been exhaustively swimming, sliding, relaxing in the indoor/outdoor whirl pools, surfing in the surf pool, barely eating or sleeping. We had been to so many fun shops that we were barely hanging on. Kids were getting crabby, but no one wanted to stop.

Day 4: We woke up late, and spent the day at the waterpark. I wanted to do the Belly Dancing fun shop but I couldn't get the girls to go along with it. What I really wantd to do was the Paper Bag Scrapbook fun shop at 2:30. I worked really hard to get the kids there. They were dragging their feet, eating slow, walking slow, etc. Finally we got down to the conference area to head late to the workshop. Brenda and Bret connect with some friends at the bottom of the stairs and leave me. I figure Marley and I will go together without the older girls so I start prodding Marley along. Halfway down the hall we meet a group of girls playing with American Girl Dolls. Marley stops in her tracks and won't leave. The older girls invite her to stay. I figure that is it for me and I sit down nearby to knit while Marley plays. But the girls soon leave. There is still time so I drag Marley on toward the room. When we get to the room there is another group of girls huddled around a big glass table in the hallway with all their Webkinz pets discussing older sisters who are abusing their Webkinz. Marley stops again and refuses to budge. So I leave her there to play with those girls and head into the Paperbag Scrapbook room alone. The girls eventually all joined me to make some, but I had so much fun without them. I am so glad I didn't miss it!

I will talk about the ballroom dance later. After Paperbag Scrapbooking we went up to the room to spend our $20 gift card on some mediocre pizza and over priced pop. (But then again that is why we bring all our own food.)

Kalahari part 2

Day 2: Up early in the morning, I headed to the John Taylor Gatto workshop: The Guerilla Curriculum, while the girls were across the hall learning how to make balloon animals. Of course since last year's trip to UWWG Brenda has been fascinated with balloon animals so this was fun, but nothing new for her. Lunch and off to the waterpark for the day. Later was the Human Scavenger Hunt, Henna artwork, and Brenda went to see the movie UP. Bret met a friend named Abbie so Bret, Abby, Marley, Abbie's mom and I took a walk and hung out around the play area of the water park. (By the time we left I was so sorry to leave that family. They were real great people! And lots of fun.) After UP Brenda wanted to watch the teen movie "Star Trek". I put Bret and Marley to bed and Brenda was back with us around 12am to head to sleep as well.

Day 3:This was an early morning, as we were heading over to Abbie's room for breakfast of Cinnamon French Toast at 9:30. We were there until almost noon. I had to send Brenda and Bret out early to get their jewelery they had been making to sell at the Kids' Marketplace. I will have a picture up for this fabulous event soon. The girls spent a couple hours earning spending money selling their wares. Afterwards we were to meet a family of Canadian Girl Guides (equivilant to our Girl Scouts) to exchange patches. I had connected with the Long family through email ahead of time. They are scout leaders with girls heavily involved in Scouts, the same as our family. We talked about the girls trading patches. I told them about Thinking Day and how it would be nice to have more info about Canada Scouts so we could do a project on Canada next year. They came bulging with stuff for us. Over 100 patches to share with our whole troop and service unit, old uniforms we could keep, their scout calendar for 2010 that is their only fundraiser, and tons of information. We stayed and talked for hours together. Brenda really got along with their 10yo well. We laughed as we tried to pronounce French words that they taught us. We are so blessed to have met this family. We headed to the waterpark for some fun at this point until it was time to head over to the talent show. Brenda, last minute, convinced a group of new friends to do a skit together. But since she was a late signup we were there until midnight waiting to see the act!! Maybe I will have a video of that soon. Marley slept in my lap for most of this, then got her second wind when we headed back to the room for bed. lol.

Kalahari Pt 1

So 5 days later what do we have to say? Again the best time we have had all year. Just me and the girls again on our yearly road trip to Kalahari!!!!! (although Bret says he will go next year).

Day 1: We checked in early and headed to the waterpark to get an early start on the water rides and wave pool. Two-Way Cooper was there to help us into our room (Bret has tagged that poor gnome McBeaver Nuts. And it seems to be sticking...) After some fun at the waterpark we headed back to our room for some grub. We ate and headed downstairs to the conference area to hear John Taylor Gatto speak. And wowee wow wow to that. He is as amazing as could be. The kids disgruntingly stayed in the play area so I could hear the speech. But afterward, of course, was the UWWG Carnival where the girls headed off to play games, win tickets to exchange for prizes (see picture of the girls on the bed with all their winnings) get with colorful hairspray, get tatooed, and essencially wear themselves out. They connected with some old friends from last year, we saw some Cincinnati friends that happened to the gathering as well. Last, all three girls signed up to be Fairy Godparents for the week. Bret picked a 3-1/2 yo and Marley an 8yo so they switched. Back in the room we had a snack, picked out our Fairy Godparent presents and went to bed exhausted.

From this day on, it snowed and snowed for the rest of the time we were at the water park. Our home town was closed down Tuesday and Wednesday. Things began to clear up by Thursday, just in time for our departure on Friday.

Girl Scouts Again

Our church where we meet has a community outreach program each year called Bookworm Diner. Once a week for about two months the church opens its doors to free dinner. After dinner there is a guest reader for the little 'uns. The older kids (4th grade and up) can choose to participate in the book club. They get one book and are asked to read a chapter a week, being ready to discuss it the next Monday. Our Girl Scouts have made this their service project for the year. We come to enjoy dinner. The Girl Scouts keep the little uns engaged in reading books so that there is no running and chaos during that period where people have finished eating yet the guest reader has not begun. Then most of the Girl Scouts go off to the book club. Afterwards we clean up and help close up shop. Next year we will have a book drive to add to the book collection as well. Great program. I take all my girls. Lily listens to the story (yesterday was the fabulous Mr. Clint, our children's librarian), while Brenda and Bret go off to the book study. Plus always a great meal. Last week was walking tacos, this week Grilled Cheese sandwiches and soup. Good time to be had by all!