Saint Patrick’s Day Shakes

March 17, 2015 | Stacy

Nan brought the goodies for St. Patrick’s Day milkshakes, mint extract and all. Nan also made some soda bread with Johanna and Tabitha. This was, um, lunch. Really. I don’t think we ate anything else.

This is really funny. The boys have been practicing at the Charles Finney school for the upcoming production of The Sound of Music. They’ve made some new friends and reconnected with some formerly homeschooled boys they used to know. One of their new friends often inquires about homeschooling. One day they took the iPod with them to take photos of themselves in the costumes. Nigel decided to mess with their new friend C. and showed him this picture, stating, “This is what it’s like to homeschool.”
C gaped and opined how lucky Nigel is.
Then one of the former homeschooler boys looked over C’s shoulder and said emphatically, “THAT is not what homeschooling is like!”

Busted.

I can’t even imagine how to title this one.

Image | March 16, 2015 | Stacy

Very Funny Story…

March 16, 2015 | Stacy

So, as Marie and I are sitting at the school table in my bedroom this morning, Tabitha comes by and says something about finding a dollar, and the bookcase, and keeping it. I was only half-listening as I was doing English grammar with Marie. SomEtHInG made me pay attention and asked her to repeat what she had said.

“I was looking in the bookcase in the basement and I found an envelope with, like,a dollar with one hundred on it, so can I keep it?”
”Can I see the envelope?” I asked.
She handed it to me.

I gasped, paused, and ROARED with laughter.

WELL OVER TWO YEARS AGO I gave my friend Jenn an envelope with $100 and instructions to buy breakfast for her family somewhere on vacation. She had said something about not taking it, but I never thought of it again.

Until today.

Somewhere along the line she likely returned some books, or we borrowed some books and somehow her RETURN envelope with the words “Spanish Classes” got wedged in the BOOKS.

Mind you – it had to be some while ago. They moved to Oregon October 2013 & book exchange has been suspended.

And – nah – I can pretty much guarantee there aren’t more hidden treasures in the books downstairs.

Poor sweet Tabitha. She was beside herself that I wasn’t going to let her keep it. “But I found it!” she lamented sorrowfully as she saw her dreams of a new Lego Girls set go down the drain. I did offer her some chocolate. She beamed and agreed.

So cold it hurts…

March 13, 2015 | Stacy

It’s been really cold this winter.

Really, really.

I haven’t tolerated it very well, to be honest.

I started out the year working very hard at not lamenting
day-in-and-day-out about how much I hate winter.
But when we started breaking wind-chill records, I started to fold.

I do believe that different people FEEL things differently. It’s why one patient needs Dilaudid and another gets by with Tylenol. While occasionally there are other factors at work, I do believe wholeheartedly that we have different thresholds for pain.

And cold?

I get REALLY annoyed when people say it’s better to be too cold,
rather than too hot. “You can always put on more layers,
but you can only get so naked…” I can see if you live
in tenement housing in 1910, or the prairies of Wisconsin in 1860…
but in my neighborhood with A/C… you can keep a house nicely cool.
But how many layers am I supposed to pile on before I cannot move?

For real. I have been wearing at least three layers a day
since early December. Not counting normal undergarments.

A tank top.
Turtleneck.
Zipper fleece.

Now – MOST days, I’ve also added a cotton
zipper jacket between the turtle neck and fleece.

And there were a few painful days where I wore
a sweater over the turtleneck, and under the fleece.

And that one day – really – I wore FIVE layers in my house.

And my house? Thermostat steadily set at 72F.

SEVENTY-TWO.

And more than once I took Tylenol because my muscles hurt from hunching and shivering all day. Sore muscles from being cold.

My family and my mom, meanwhile, found the house rather hot. Short-sleeve shirts and shorts were often seen here during the day. And the Spanish teacher commented she found it too warm in the house.

And while you can SEE Marie deemed the car TOO HOT, Katriel is still small enough I can dress her how I THINK she feels…

Ice Skating

March 10, 2015 | Stacy

For as long as I can remember, there has been an offering of homeschool ice skating in our area.
I first remember it being offered in Greece on Tuesday mornings. I wasn’t going to drive to Greece.
Then I remember it being offered downtown on Tuesday mornings. I wasn’t going to drive downtown.
This year it was offered about 7 miles from my house.
Okay – while it isn’t the CLOSEST rink to my house, it is pretty close. 😉
So I signed up Marie and Tabitha.

Tabitha was eager; Marie was reluctant.
But by the time the first lesson was over they were both asking if Dad could build a rink in our yard.

There were a few spills that first day.

But before long they were happily gliding.

Within a month I let them doff the helmets.

I did not sign up the boys because our Spanish tutor comes on Tuesday afternoons, and the time away from home for the 1 hour skating is just minutes more than 2 hours. They weren’t comfortable taking that much time away from their school work.

But on the last day they had family open skate. Stewart eagerly jumped at the opportunity. Nigel was a bit more concerned about the time away from his work. I mentioned I could waive English grammar for the day and he jumped into action!

Guess who else put on a pair of skates?

I was fun. I skated about 20 minutes and was relieved that I did not fall. I DID get a NASTY blood blister on my HAND from doing up 5 pair of skates as tightly as I could! LOL.

Just before we left Nigel took a face plant and it was terrible to look at. (If you are his Mama.) But he handled it like a champ.

And both boys would like to do skating next year if we can make it work out!

Like mother, like daughter?

March 9, 2015 | Stacy

She had just looked at girls’ dresses.
So glad she didn’t try to fill a cart and check out… That site “remembers” my CC!
(I don’t use headphones, though…)

New clothes

March 8, 2015 | Stacy

It’s fun having three big sisters.
There are princesses everywhere I look.
And lots of people to brush my hair.
And I have lots and lots of hand-me-down clothes.
But sometimes I get NEW clothes.
Wanna see?

It’s fun being two.

The cake says it all…

March 2, 2015 | Stacy

We were blessed to have some friends and family join us after church Sunday to celebrate Katriel’s 2nd birthday.
I never seem to take photos of the food even though that is what takes the most TIME to PREP! LOL.

She fully grasps the concept of gifts…

And made a new bunny friend.

A hat for the summer.

And cake.
She knew how to blow out the candles. She’d done it on her own just a few days prior. But, in the moment, she just couldn’t do it. Marie tried to help, as did I. But we were not doing it properly, it seems.

SO – Hanny leaned in and got the job done. That cake was taking WAY TOO LONG to get on her plate!

Because I care about my guests, I did NOT post the pictures of the men in party crowns. But they wore them well. 😉

Time and tacos

March 1, 2015 | Stacy

Marie and I had a rare chance to go shopping together. We looked for, and found, bathing suits. (Another provision of Jesus.)
We went to Taco Bell. She’d never been there and we had fun trying to figure out what might be yummy on the menu.

We had a fun time together. I’m so blessed.