Ella- Kindergarten program

The Kindergarten class invited us to come listen to as the kids sang, and then enjoy cookies and punch afterwards.  Boldly and Bravely, I arrived 5 minutes beforehand with both boys in tow.  I combed their hair and made sure they were wearing shoes and matching clothes so that they would appear to be well cared for, even if we had to walk out 3 minutes into it due to their acrobatics.

The more kids you add, the more out of control you can appear when in public, and some kids exploit this  desire to appear in control.

We found two open seats on the front row.  Max had one and Sam was on my lap.  We stayed for the whole program.  Sam tried to outdo me a number of times.  He took many videos of my skirt, and tried to kick my neighbor while he was taking pictures.  He was excited to see Ella, as you can hear in the first video.  But I persevered, and we made it through the 30 minute program. Max was polite and engaged in the songs.

Aahh Satisfaction...

I"m glad I caught a video of this.  For several days, ever since Sam learned how to stay on this bike and catch speed going downhill, he has been rewarding the world with one long drawn out "wheeeeee".  It's really so lovely.  He's not big enough to fit back on the seat, so he's found riding on the bar to be more successful.  A diaper provides needed cushioning.

Max and Sam spend lots of time outside every day riding the myriad of bikes down the hill and trying to ride down in the culde-sac.

Me Month

It's always interesting to see hints of my children's' views of me.  Like the page I found in someone's notebook a couple of days ago titled:  Secrets I'll never tell mom.  1.  Mom is really, really mean and bossy. 2.  and, she can be kind of nice sometimes too.

Mothers day and my birthday allotted a few opportunities to hear from my children about me.  Ryan asked them around Mother's Day dinner to think of one thing they really like about me.  Ella said she really appreciated that I cooked such wonderful meals for our family.  This in itself was interesting because from breakfast through dinner I hear rapid fire complaints from Ella about how she hates everything I cook, and she'll just have a white cheese Quesadilla or white bread with PBJ, thank you very much, and what are we having for dessert.  Madeline said she liked me because I was her mom.  I was a little confused about what exactly she liked about me, whether it was because I was privileged enough to parent her, or if there was something I was missing.  I asked what she meant by that, and she said she didn't know, she had just thought of it.  Max said he liked me because Madeline liked me. Hence it appears that none of my children recognize anything that they really appreciate about me.

 I did get a poem from Madeline with the header:  Don't Throw me away:

  Winter, Summer, Spring, Fall

              All the Seasons sing, sing, sing

  To my Mother high above

              Higher than me and the dove

 Madeline and Ella both bought Mother's day gifts at school.  Last year I gave Madeline $5.00 and she spend $1.00 on my present, so this year I told them to bring home whatever they didn't spend.  Madeline brought home the big bag that wrapped the present, so very excited.  The first thing she said was:  it has coffee in it, but don't worry, you can give that away to someone.  She had chosen a relax themed basket, mainly she thought I would really like the heart shaped basket it came in.  Ella choose a sewing kit, because she said she knew I loved sewing.  Perhaps this will prompt me to start sewing.

For my birthday, we went on a hike at a near-by state park.  The best part was that Ryan organized everything.  He got the kids ready and in the car on time, he planned the food and prepared it (and it was tasty), he planned where we were going and how long we would need.  I was able to enjoy the time without thinking about all coming steps.

Here are some pictures from the hike:

The Days of our lives

I read a little while back about the importance of playing with your kids.  It seems with Madeline that it's hard to find time to play when she's at school at day and has chores in the morning.  As an effort to invite play, both Ryan and I spend a lot of time on the floor in the living room whenever there a break in the action.  In the morning before school, after Ella gets home from K, after or before dinner, before bedtime.  Sitting on the floor without fail invites our kids to think of some way to tackle or scare us.  

Sometimes we lay on the floor for a few minutes of reprieve from shear exhaustion, and sometimes we get big hugs.

I"m amazed at how much time we spend in that little room:  practicing violin, reading books, playing dinosaurs or animals, having Family Fun Time or Family Lessons.  It's a radical change from the days of hurry scurry.  It's because we spend so much time in this room that it's so much fun to dream about going to Sarajevo, Bosnia, or Costa Rica, Italy.

I"ll miss that scowl someday.  It's only cute on babies, so hopefully it will be gone in a couple of years.

Max is pawing the ground, getting ready to charge.  We're playing dinosaurs- his favorite.  

It's nice that everyone still wants to be in the same room with us, though I have been told lately that I"m not a good mother at all, and that I don't ever do anything nice for my children.  As a matter of soothing any hurt feelings, it was amended that I do know how to be a good mother, but I just don't do it very often.  Apparently a good mother let's her children do whatever they want.

Now that we got binoculars and bird books from the Easter Bunny, we'll hopefully be spending even more time in this room, watching out the big window for the red-tailed hawks and bald eagles that fly around outside.  We have to defog them from Max's usage first.

The End of April

Madeline jokingly said that we skipped spring, summer and fall this year and headed straight to winter.  Snow at the end of April makes you feel that way.  Easter was nice, and today is as well.  I planted spinach, sweet peas, lettuce, onion, carrot and the remaining three beet seeds.  Since I ate so many beets in chocolate cake last summer, I"ll have to buy some more seeds.

Easter festivities were nice.

Ryan dyed eggs with the kids while I cooked and watched.

Sam got to handle the egg

And he promptly decided it was edible.

Ryan faired well- his patience sustained him through the torturous task of allowing kids to handle liquid dyes that stain.  At the end, he proclaimed glitter to be a health hazard (ingested by the lungs), and outlawed it from our house.  I"m not sure I would have that kind of credibility.

I promised a half of a roll to everyone who smiled for the picture before we left for church.  It worked.

Max's third birthday

Max, Ella and Madeline have been anticipating this birthday since Ryan's three months ago.  Ella climbed in my bed, already dressed to inform me, "Mom, it's Max's birthday today.  What are we going to have for breakfast, and for lunch and for dinner".  Birthdays evidently yield more exciting foods in our home.  

Madeline and Ella hung signs around the house, specially drawn for Max.  They also handed him and paper towel tube which contained their present for him, drawn pictures of various dinosaurs rolled up inside the tube.

We had a fun day.  Fruit Loops for breakfast, McDonalds for lunch, and Mac n Cheese for dinner.  We ate cake and sherbet and then played with Max's new toys.  We told everyone what we remembered of the day Max was born, which invoked many memories of Richmond

I think I should always start off a birthday with Tennis in the morning.  Just an idea, but the rest of the day seemed such much more delightful, having spent an hour playing in my league.  

I told the girls to watch for the crocuses as the first sign of spring. In Richmond, we watched for the daffodils, and it is always a thrill to see the first green shoots coming from the ground. Yesterday, we spotted crocuses all over our yard, like they sprang from nothing, even after being burdened by winters harsh kill, and the 60 inches of snow.

Yesterday was a balmy 57, so we were out in short sleeves. When he's outside, Sam spends as much time as he can manage over at our neighbors house, watching the dogs, and running away when they come to close to him. Max, Madeline and Ella are so happy to be playing with our neighbors again. Sunday, all the children in the culdesac were outside with their parents flying kites. It was lovely to see the sky throw about the colorful kites and watch the kites maneuver them.

Two weeks ago, Madeline, Ella and I started our eggplant, pepper, cilantro, basil and parsley seeds. The girls each pick a pack of flower seeds they wanted to start, and we planted those as well. Yesterday, I started tomato seeds, including some heirloom seeds that I tried to save a few years ago from Chris's grandmothers tomatoes. I hope they work out.

Ella has started a Pokemon trading card company on her Kindergarten bus.  She doesn't own any Pokemon cards, or didn't, as of a few days ago.  Now she owns five, given to her from various boys and girls on her bus.  She trades those cards, and seems to always acquire more through her endeavors.  Whereas before, she begged me to not have to ride the bus, now she is the first one out the door, and is content to ride the bus home as well.

Madeline told me she is more excited about planting this year than she is about anything, including horses.  I knew I needed to get the seeds started when I heard this, because all I hear about from her, is how she wants to take horseback riding lessons.  She also wants to learn to yo-yo, as she has been reading Sheila the Great, and Sheila good friend is the best yo-yoer in town.  I think Madeline likes the idea of being the best in town at something.  

Max spends a lot of time ON TOP of the dining room table (the one we don't use).  In fact, he has moved in there.  He has his dinosaur puzzle on the table, he takes it apart and redoes it several times a day, always informing me that "he really needs my help".  He brought all his dinosaurs in and lines them on the table daily.  They are placed  alternately between viewing the puzzle, or to look outside, maybe watching for Ella's bus to arrive.

  I cleaned the dining room one day, much to the dismay of Max.  The next morning, he found me immediately after he came downstairs to check on his dinosaurs, and told me he needed my help to find all his dinosaurs and "fix" them.  I helped him get them out of the toy-box, but apparently one m wasn't there, so we had to search until we found it downstairs.  Then he needed my help to find the dinosaur puzzle.  I decided it was in my best interest to deed the dining room table to Max and his dinosaur effort.

Sam is a bundle of joy and mischief.  He loves cookies, I think introducing GS cookies to him was a mistake. He is delightful and exasperating at the same time.  

We all enjoy Ryan's company.  Madeline often request that he wake her up early so she can eat breakfast with him.  Ryan and I have been playing in separate tennis leagues, and it's fun when we can go play together. Now that the weather is changing, we hope to spend a lot of time there.