The Little Bear Misses Her Mom.
by Jack
The little bear missed his mom. The bear was looking for her mom. He really wanted to find her. She didn't know where she was. She was looking at the train station. She was looking in the car. She was looking under her piano. She was looking somewhere else. Her mom was under the water. So the little bear went to her mom and her mom found her. She really mised his mom but he can't find his dad, because dad was missing. He didn't know little bear was in the flowers and dad was there. So little bear was in the flowers and then mama bear and little bear found her dad. The end.
From The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
* * * A DEFINITION NOT FOUND * * *
IN THE DICTIONARY
Not leaving: an act of trust and love, often deciphered by children.
IN THE DICTIONARY
Not leaving: an act of trust and love, often deciphered by children.
Possum Brown
I was helping John load the kids into the car Wednesday morning when John realized he had left his cell phone in the house. I ran back in to grab it for him but couldn't find it. I pulled out my phone and called his number so I could listen for his ring tone. I still couldn't find the phone. I ran outside to let him know I couldn't find it when John called me. He actually had his phone in his pocket. I called him a ding-bat, said I loved him and went back inside to finish getting ready for work. About 20 minutes later, John sent me a text saying that shortly after they left the house Jack got very upset and started to cry. John asked him what was wrong. "I want to be the ding-bat today, Daddy." John said "OK, pal. You can be the ding-bat today, but I get to be the ding-bat tomorrow." Jack said "OK."
After Thanksgiving dinner we began to set up the Christmas tree and put out other holiday decorations. I hadn't thought about it until then, but we didn't have stockings for the girls. We knew it wasn't fair to hang stockings if we didn't have them for the everyone, so we waited a few days until we had a chance to pick up a few more. After dinner one night that week we put up all the stockings and I had my next realization: I had cross stitched our names onto our stockings and the ones we had picked up for the girls were blank. I decided I would cross stitch their names onto their stockings before Christmas. Friends, let me tell you that one decision nearly killed me this Christmas. For a whole month I carried some one's stocking, thread, needle, pattern and little scissors in a bag everywhere I went. I was determined the girls would have personalized stockings. I am not a girl who procrastinates, but I simply could not squeeze in the time to stitch names onto 5 stockings between Nov 25 & Dec 23. Thankfully everyone let me hole myself up in my room on Christmas Eve so I could finish the last two of the bunch. Now that is a lot of stockings!
Jess is home for the winter break and it is hard to keep up with her. She feels she has to have some major activity going on every day; going to her friends house, shopping with so and so, stay the night here, stay the night there, have a friend stay over - the list goes on and on. Of course each of these requests comes in the form of a text while I am in the middle of putting out some fire or other at work. She gets very upset when a. I don't answer her immediately or b. I tell her something isn't possible because we have too many schedules to wrangle and too few adults with cars to make it all happen.
Due to a family crisis last week, we rearranged things and had Jess watch the little kids for a few hours on Tuesday and Wednesday. Since then, she has accused us of having had to babysit for us all day - every day and she should be allowed to have some fun since she has been working for us ever since she got home...I don't buy it.
She is also very fond of telling everyone they are being rude to her or asking why we are being so mean when she hasn't "done anything to deserve it." I finally explained to her that we are adults. It is our job to frustrate her on a daily basis. If we aren't frustrating her, then we aren't doing our job. She didn't like that explanation.
The 1-2-3 Magic is coming along - with everyone. The kids have some trouble with it, but quite frankly, so do the adults sometimes. There are times when it is nearly impossible to count the behavior and SHUT UP. I will catch myself in a tirade and have to walk away. Believe if or not, I counted Jess in a text last week. She started texting me about where I was and what I was doing and could she go over to her friend's house. I texted back "no". She wrote back "why". I pulled out the classic adult response of "because". I knew what was coming next so I waited for her response. She didn't surprise me, she came back with "why is everyone being so mean to me?" I summoned up my magic and texted her back with "That's 1" She waited a minute and wrote back "I'm sorry." and that was the end of it. I did a dance right there in the stocking stuffer dollar section at Target!
A few years ago Devon found Thomas snow boots on clearance for like $2 a pair. She picked up 2 pairs for us. Somehow we have managed to lose the right boot of both pairs. This does not bother Wyatt at all. He insists on running around in two left boots of different sizes.
Last week I asked Jack what he wanted for Christmas and he said 'I want to be a bampire." He told me he wants "bampire teeth" so he can "scare people all day" cause he knows he won't be able "to go outside in the daytime to play on the swing set or in the park or in the hot tub." I was very grateful Christmas morning to find out Jack was still Jack and not a short bampire.
Christmas Eve was over in a flash. The children were nestled all snug in their beds when I realized we hadn't gotten on line to track Santa on the NORAD website, we hadn't baked or set out cookies for Santa and his reindeer. I had had a terrible day anyway so I sat there in bed crying until my sweet husband said "Let's wake up the kids and do all that stuff." So, we did. The little kids woke up but Abby & Connie refused. They looked at me and said "UH" like Frankenstein's monster. I let them sleep but Jack, Devlyn, Wyatt and I tromped downstairs. John was fast, the cookies were done in record time. I pulled up NORAD's Santa tracker website while the cookies baked and remarkably, the kids passed out as soon as their heads hit their pillows.
Christmas Day Jack could be heard running around singing "In the meadow we can build a snowman, and pretend that he is Possum Brown." Jess managed to catch it on her cell phone. Jack's delivery of the tune is quite amusing. He gets a bit jazzy at the end. John and I have been laughing for days.
I'm sure you all know we had a beautiful white Christmas. It snowed for three days here. Jess helped the kids get all suited up and they went out for fun in the snow. Wy got a pair of mittens from Santa. "Look! Look, everybody! My Fourth of July mittens! See, everybody! My Fourth of July mittens!" (OK - Wy didn't really say that, its a line from a Christmas show I did years ago, but someone out there is laughing - and I know who he is!)
I took this second photo from the warmth and safety of our cozy living room. Thank the Lord Jess is still kid enough to want to go outside and play in the freezing cold with children.
love and blessings to you all
The gang at owenland park
After Thanksgiving dinner we began to set up the Christmas tree and put out other holiday decorations. I hadn't thought about it until then, but we didn't have stockings for the girls. We knew it wasn't fair to hang stockings if we didn't have them for the everyone, so we waited a few days until we had a chance to pick up a few more. After dinner one night that week we put up all the stockings and I had my next realization: I had cross stitched our names onto our stockings and the ones we had picked up for the girls were blank. I decided I would cross stitch their names onto their stockings before Christmas. Friends, let me tell you that one decision nearly killed me this Christmas. For a whole month I carried some one's stocking, thread, needle, pattern and little scissors in a bag everywhere I went. I was determined the girls would have personalized stockings. I am not a girl who procrastinates, but I simply could not squeeze in the time to stitch names onto 5 stockings between Nov 25 & Dec 23. Thankfully everyone let me hole myself up in my room on Christmas Eve so I could finish the last two of the bunch. Now that is a lot of stockings!Jess is home for the winter break and it is hard to keep up with her. She feels she has to have some major activity going on every day; going to her friends house, shopping with so and so, stay the night here, stay the night there, have a friend stay over - the list goes on and on. Of course each of these requests comes in the form of a text while I am in the middle of putting out some fire or other at work. She gets very upset when a. I don't answer her immediately or b. I tell her something isn't possible because we have too many schedules to wrangle and too few adults with cars to make it all happen.
Due to a family crisis last week, we rearranged things and had Jess watch the little kids for a few hours on Tuesday and Wednesday. Since then, she has accused us of having had to babysit for us all day - every day and she should be allowed to have some fun since she has been working for us ever since she got home...I don't buy it.
She is also very fond of telling everyone they are being rude to her or asking why we are being so mean when she hasn't "done anything to deserve it." I finally explained to her that we are adults. It is our job to frustrate her on a daily basis. If we aren't frustrating her, then we aren't doing our job. She didn't like that explanation.
The 1-2-3 Magic is coming along - with everyone. The kids have some trouble with it, but quite frankly, so do the adults sometimes. There are times when it is nearly impossible to count the behavior and SHUT UP. I will catch myself in a tirade and have to walk away. Believe if or not, I counted Jess in a text last week. She started texting me about where I was and what I was doing and could she go over to her friend's house. I texted back "no". She wrote back "why". I pulled out the classic adult response of "because". I knew what was coming next so I waited for her response. She didn't surprise me, she came back with "why is everyone being so mean to me?" I summoned up my magic and texted her back with "That's 1" She waited a minute and wrote back "I'm sorry." and that was the end of it. I did a dance right there in the stocking stuffer dollar section at Target!
A few years ago Devon found Thomas snow boots on clearance for like $2 a pair. She picked up 2 pairs for us. Somehow we have managed to lose the right boot of both pairs. This does not bother Wyatt at all. He insists on running around in two left boots of different sizes.Last week I asked Jack what he wanted for Christmas and he said 'I want to be a bampire." He told me he wants "bampire teeth" so he can "scare people all day" cause he knows he won't be able "to go outside in the daytime to play on the swing set or in the park or in the hot tub." I was very grateful Christmas morning to find out Jack was still Jack and not a short bampire.
Christmas Eve was over in a flash. The children were nestled all snug in their beds when I realized we hadn't gotten on line to track Santa on the NORAD website, we hadn't baked or set out cookies for Santa and his reindeer. I had had a terrible day anyway so I sat there in bed crying until my sweet husband said "Let's wake up the kids and do all that stuff." So, we did. The little kids woke up but Abby & Connie refused. They looked at me and said "UH" like Frankenstein's monster. I let them sleep but Jack, Devlyn, Wyatt and I tromped downstairs. John was fast, the cookies were done in record time. I pulled up NORAD's Santa tracker website while the cookies baked and remarkably, the kids passed out as soon as their heads hit their pillows.
Christmas Day Jack could be heard running around singing "In the meadow we can build a snowman, and pretend that he is Possum Brown." Jess managed to catch it on her cell phone. Jack's delivery of the tune is quite amusing. He gets a bit jazzy at the end. John and I have been laughing for days.
I'm sure you all know we had a beautiful white Christmas. It snowed for three days here. Jess helped the kids get all suited up and they went out for fun in the snow. Wy got a pair of mittens from Santa. "Look! Look, everybody! My Fourth of July mittens! See, everybody! My Fourth of July mittens!" (OK - Wy didn't really say that, its a line from a Christmas show I did years ago, but someone out there is laughing - and I know who he is!)
I took this second photo from the warmth and safety of our cozy living room. Thank the Lord Jess is still kid enough to want to go outside and play in the freezing cold with children.
love and blessings to you all
The gang at owenland park
Belly Pie
Wyatt is his father's son. Neither of them like to be tickled. Neither of them like the IDEA of being tickled. I sometimes torment poor John with a tickle fest, but the most I can do to Wy is pretend to tickle him. I will make tickle fingers and dive for his belly, then stop about 2 inches away and tickle the air. He will laugh and cry "NO! NO! WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO ME?!!!"
Mom likes to give Wy zerberts on his belly. She also likes to pretend to 'eat' his belly, which she calls "belly pie." Wy finds the belly pie business just as upsetting as being tickled. When Mom tells Wy that she wants belly pie, he says "Just a minute." Then he sticks his hand under his shirt, scratches his belly for about 20 seconds ands holds out his palm saying "Here is belly pie for you, Gammy."
A few weeks ago the boys spent the morning taking turns throwing up. Ever since then, Jack thinks he has to throw up. I am not sure if he thinks an upset tummy is truly that dire or if he thinks a burp will be followed by other things... Either way, he finds some moment nearly every day to say "Um, mommy? I fink I have to frow up." He then runs to the kitchen, pulls out the step stool, sets it up and spends five minutes spitting into the sink. Speaking of the sink, here are the boys washing the dishes for me.
Wyatt is constantly singing "Twinkle, twinkle, little Spiderman! How I wonder where you are!" That or "Jingle Bells".
Our big family Christmas party was this weekend. Unfortunately I didn't get to go, but I'm not going to go into it. After the party, John and the boys gave Aunt Johanna a ride back to her hotel. The boys were playing with some new trains when an argument broke out: both boys wanted all the train pieces - neither of the boys wanted to share. John finally put his hand into the back seat and told the boys to hand over all the trains. One by one trains were handed forward to John until one train piece was left. Wy was clutching the engine piece. He did not want to give it up. John said "If you aren't going to give it to me, then give it to Jack." Wy cried "No." John put his hand in the back seat again and said "Well then, give it to me." Poor Wy handed the engine over to Daddy rather than suffering the indignity of forking it over to his brother.
This evening John and Devon brought the three little ones to Crown Center to visit all the Christmas trains with me.
Once our fingers were frozen we decided to hop on over to Union Station to visit Rudy the Holiday Express - a full size train decked out in Christmas lights. Rudy came complete with a guided tour through his passenger cars ending in a visit with Santa. The cost of this grand adventure? Standing in line for an hour and a half. Thank the Lord, John had the presence of mind to say "NO." That brilliant man of mine led us outside where - children in tow - we snuck past Santa's elves, through the exit and into the end of the exhibit so we could get out pictures taken with this beautiful train. The kids LOVED it. They even got to see a train (with over 100 freight cars full of coal) blow past the station.
Last but certainly not least, Merry Christmas from Owenland Park! (Don't we look like we are in the closing shot of a movie with Danny Kaye and Bing Crosby? You know I would have photo shopped them into the picture if I knew how - alas, I'm too busy to even try to figure it out.)
Mom likes to give Wy zerberts on his belly. She also likes to pretend to 'eat' his belly, which she calls "belly pie." Wy finds the belly pie business just as upsetting as being tickled. When Mom tells Wy that she wants belly pie, he says "Just a minute." Then he sticks his hand under his shirt, scratches his belly for about 20 seconds ands holds out his palm saying "Here is belly pie for you, Gammy."
A few weeks ago the boys spent the morning taking turns throwing up. Ever since then, Jack thinks he has to throw up. I am not sure if he thinks an upset tummy is truly that dire or if he thinks a burp will be followed by other things... Either way, he finds some moment nearly every day to say "Um, mommy? I fink I have to frow up." He then runs to the kitchen, pulls out the step stool, sets it up and spends five minutes spitting into the sink. Speaking of the sink, here are the boys washing the dishes for me.
Wyatt is constantly singing "Twinkle, twinkle, little Spiderman! How I wonder where you are!" That or "Jingle Bells".
Our big family Christmas party was this weekend. Unfortunately I didn't get to go, but I'm not going to go into it. After the party, John and the boys gave Aunt Johanna a ride back to her hotel. The boys were playing with some new trains when an argument broke out: both boys wanted all the train pieces - neither of the boys wanted to share. John finally put his hand into the back seat and told the boys to hand over all the trains. One by one trains were handed forward to John until one train piece was left. Wy was clutching the engine piece. He did not want to give it up. John said "If you aren't going to give it to me, then give it to Jack." Wy cried "No." John put his hand in the back seat again and said "Well then, give it to me." Poor Wy handed the engine over to Daddy rather than suffering the indignity of forking it over to his brother.
This evening John and Devon brought the three little ones to Crown Center to visit all the Christmas trains with me.
Once our fingers were frozen we decided to hop on over to Union Station to visit Rudy the Holiday Express - a full size train decked out in Christmas lights. Rudy came complete with a guided tour through his passenger cars ending in a visit with Santa. The cost of this grand adventure? Standing in line for an hour and a half. Thank the Lord, John had the presence of mind to say "NO." That brilliant man of mine led us outside where - children in tow - we snuck past Santa's elves, through the exit and into the end of the exhibit so we could get out pictures taken with this beautiful train. The kids LOVED it. They even got to see a train (with over 100 freight cars full of coal) blow past the station.
Last but certainly not least, Merry Christmas from Owenland Park! (Don't we look like we are in the closing shot of a movie with Danny Kaye and Bing Crosby? You know I would have photo shopped them into the picture if I knew how - alas, I'm too busy to even try to figure it out.)
Change your stance.
The boys have officially discovered their inborn male 'bathroom humor is hysterical' gene. They talk about the bodily functions of their trains - who knew trains had bodily functions? Jack randomly calls out "Mr. PEE!" and laughs hysterically. Wy runs around singing "Humpty Dumpty had a great pee & pieup (poop)" and he too laughs hysterically. I'm trying real hard not to make a big deal about it being annoying as I know this will only escalate the frequency and duration of each episode...
John and I took the boys out last week to look at Christmas lights. I fixed hot chocolate for John and myself. The boys got sippy cups of chocolate milk. And Wy had his first ride in a booster seat. Now, as soon as we head for the door, he starts letting me know he is going to be in a booster seat.
We had a rather big day in Owenland Park on Sunday; Mass was followed by breakfast with Santa. (The Knights of Columbus make some serious pancakes, people.)After my show, Mom, John and I took the kids to see The Princess and the Frog. The kids loved it. I couldn't believe they all sat quietly through virtually the whole movie. Ok - there was some scrambling around, but it was to refill their little paper cups with more popcorn.
Remember Abby & Connie taking that class at the Coterie? Well, one of our photographers took photos during the class one day and both Abby & Connie have made their way into the Coterie's upcoming class brochure! Abs is on the cover with a bunch of her classmates. Connie has an adorable little victory stance snapshot of herself on the inside cover. Pretty cute, huh!
We are constantly trying to keep the kids from running in the house. The house however, is conducive to running. On the mid level, the kids can run circles through the dinning room, living room and kitchen. After nearly a year of yelling at children for running in the house, we have come to the conclusion that we simply cannot beat them (that sounded bad didn't it?) - anyway, we might as well join them. We have given in and established running time. A few times a week we gather the kids together and give them 3 minutes on the timer to run themselves silly. Of course we have some accidents and people cry, but more often they run and laugh till they can't breathe. Frequently the kids can't even finish the 3 minutes. I tried to get a picture of them as they rounded the corner, but my camera was too slow to catch the whole group. I wound up with one great shot though. Look how happy Abby is here. Isn't that great?
A couple of our Board members attended staff meeting last week to discuss information from a recent theatre conference they attended. One of the comments that has really stuck with me - professionally and personally - was one that our Board President shared with us. "When you hear something that challenges you, change your physical stance." I am trying to adopt that action into my daily routine. I have even been looking for sneaky pete ways to get the kids to do "change their physical stance" so we can get over the hump of doing homework and other things they don't want to do.
Poor Abby had two whole pages of math homework one night last week. She was slumped over at the table crying about how much work she had to do. "I don't WA-A-A-A-NT to do i-i-i-i-t." After a few failed attempts to get her on track I asked her to take a deep breath and change the way she was sitting. She looked at me like I was crazy and just dropped her head to the other side. Wyatt was sitting beside me and I quietly asked him to give Abby a hug. He laid down on the table and whimpered "I don't WA-A-A-A-NT to. I'm so ti-i-i-i-red." I told Abby that Wy said he didn't want to give her a hug because he was tired. She thought this was very funny. Then I held him upside down and carried him over to Abby for a kooky little hug. She was in a much better mood and decided to do 1 page of math, do a chore and then come back for the other page of math. Thinking outside the box on my part saved us all a lot of stress and arguing.
We have also begun to add in start behavior tactics from the 1-2-3 Magic book and it is helping to settle both the adults and the kids down. One of the tactics I am working on is consequences. If the kids start whining or hard core complaining about a task I have assigned them I simply say (w/o emotion) "OK, you don't have to do it. I will do it, but if I do it, you will not get to play Monopoly with us tonight." That changes their attitude real fast. Of course, I have to follow through and play Monopoly later, but at least the assigned task got done. AND it got done without whining and crying and the general hysteria that has been typical of our lives for the last so many months. (Believe it or not, I counted an actor the other day - and it worked. I have no idea what I would have done had I needed to count him to 3, but I took a stand after numerous requests to get a daily task started. When he began joking around with me - thus delaying the task again- I said "That's one." He asked "What does that mean?" I looked at him and said "Don't make me count you to 3." He picked up his guitar and went to do the warm up I had been nagging him about. It worked!)
Ok - I have a lot of things to get done today. Peace, love and blessings to you all.
Love,
The Gang at Owenland Park.
John and I took the boys out last week to look at Christmas lights. I fixed hot chocolate for John and myself. The boys got sippy cups of chocolate milk. And Wy had his first ride in a booster seat. Now, as soon as we head for the door, he starts letting me know he is going to be in a booster seat.
We had a rather big day in Owenland Park on Sunday; Mass was followed by breakfast with Santa. (The Knights of Columbus make some serious pancakes, people.)After my show, Mom, John and I took the kids to see The Princess and the Frog. The kids loved it. I couldn't believe they all sat quietly through virtually the whole movie. Ok - there was some scrambling around, but it was to refill their little paper cups with more popcorn.
Remember Abby & Connie taking that class at the Coterie? Well, one of our photographers took photos during the class one day and both Abby & Connie have made their way into the Coterie's upcoming class brochure! Abs is on the cover with a bunch of her classmates. Connie has an adorable little victory stance snapshot of herself on the inside cover. Pretty cute, huh!
We are constantly trying to keep the kids from running in the house. The house however, is conducive to running. On the mid level, the kids can run circles through the dinning room, living room and kitchen. After nearly a year of yelling at children for running in the house, we have come to the conclusion that we simply cannot beat them (that sounded bad didn't it?) - anyway, we might as well join them. We have given in and established running time. A few times a week we gather the kids together and give them 3 minutes on the timer to run themselves silly. Of course we have some accidents and people cry, but more often they run and laugh till they can't breathe. Frequently the kids can't even finish the 3 minutes. I tried to get a picture of them as they rounded the corner, but my camera was too slow to catch the whole group. I wound up with one great shot though. Look how happy Abby is here. Isn't that great?
A couple of our Board members attended staff meeting last week to discuss information from a recent theatre conference they attended. One of the comments that has really stuck with me - professionally and personally - was one that our Board President shared with us. "When you hear something that challenges you, change your physical stance." I am trying to adopt that action into my daily routine. I have even been looking for sneaky pete ways to get the kids to do "change their physical stance" so we can get over the hump of doing homework and other things they don't want to do.
Poor Abby had two whole pages of math homework one night last week. She was slumped over at the table crying about how much work she had to do. "I don't WA-A-A-A-NT to do i-i-i-i-t." After a few failed attempts to get her on track I asked her to take a deep breath and change the way she was sitting. She looked at me like I was crazy and just dropped her head to the other side. Wyatt was sitting beside me and I quietly asked him to give Abby a hug. He laid down on the table and whimpered "I don't WA-A-A-A-NT to. I'm so ti-i-i-i-red." I told Abby that Wy said he didn't want to give her a hug because he was tired. She thought this was very funny. Then I held him upside down and carried him over to Abby for a kooky little hug. She was in a much better mood and decided to do 1 page of math, do a chore and then come back for the other page of math. Thinking outside the box on my part saved us all a lot of stress and arguing.
We have also begun to add in start behavior tactics from the 1-2-3 Magic book and it is helping to settle both the adults and the kids down. One of the tactics I am working on is consequences. If the kids start whining or hard core complaining about a task I have assigned them I simply say (w/o emotion) "OK, you don't have to do it. I will do it, but if I do it, you will not get to play Monopoly with us tonight." That changes their attitude real fast. Of course, I have to follow through and play Monopoly later, but at least the assigned task got done. AND it got done without whining and crying and the general hysteria that has been typical of our lives for the last so many months. (Believe it or not, I counted an actor the other day - and it worked. I have no idea what I would have done had I needed to count him to 3, but I took a stand after numerous requests to get a daily task started. When he began joking around with me - thus delaying the task again- I said "That's one." He asked "What does that mean?" I looked at him and said "Don't make me count you to 3." He picked up his guitar and went to do the warm up I had been nagging him about. It worked!)
Ok - I have a lot of things to get done today. Peace, love and blessings to you all.
Love,
The Gang at Owenland Park.
I have a GREAT idea, Mommy!
Wyatt: I have a GREAT idea, Mommy!
Mommy: What?
Wyatt: I DON'T KNOW!
Beth says she came around the corner one day to find the boys hanging out together watching TV. She said Jack had his arm around Wy and they were so cute that she hurried up to get her camera. I don't know about you, but I'm glad she took the time to snap this photo for us.
Abby & Connie took a Where the Wild Things Are class through the Coterie. They made Monster costumes for their last day of class. Here are Abbie and Connie showing off their Wild Selves. The man who taught the class is a friend and colleague of mine. He told me that he asked Abby how she liked the class. "Well..." she said to him "it was kind of boring." At least she was honest...
I believe I told you that Jack went to opening night of Little House with me. At some point during the post show reception, we went backstage where he found a fake bloody arm. Some of the guys helped him stuff this fake arm up his sleeve. Then he waited patiently to 'meet' someone and shake their hand. When that guy shook Jack's hand, the arm came out of his sleeve. I whispered to Jack that he should act hurt. He looked up at Art accusingly and very convincingly said "OW!"
Jess came home for the Thanksgiving break. It was nice to spend a few days with her. She told Melanie and I about making Mel's Taco Soup in her Taste of Life class. The soup earned Jess an A. Melanie said "I think Taco soup can save the world." I think I agree. It is really that yummy. Here is a link to her recipe: ok - the stubborn computer is being seriously stubborn and when I insert the link - it shows up in my edit panel, but not in the view panel... so, go to http://amyslittlekitchen.blogspot.com/2009/09/melanies-taco-soup.html
Jess also told us that her principal has been keeping an eye on her all semester. Although Jess' grades aren't great, her principal has seen enough of a change and improvement in Jess that she was one of 4 or 5 kids in the whole school to be given an award (for showing the most improvement) at their last assembly before Thanksgiving. Good job, Jess!!!
In an attempt to curb my foul sailor's mouth I try to utter utterly absurd comments; "Aflac!" "Oh pooper!" "Balls!" "Poop-a-loopa!" "Ka-caw! Ka-caw!" and others. As a matter of fact, a few days ago I was cross about something and called out "Ka-caw!" Jack promptly corrected me saying "No, Mommy. It's 'Ka-caw! Ka-caw!" I have come to view these vocal outbursts of mine as curse words and so it always takes me by surprise when the boys use one of them. I have to remind myself that they too need something appropriate to say in moments of strife or stress. Then I have to decide if what I'm saying is appropriate for them to be repeating. In that light, I sometimes make new choices. This week though, had me laughing so hard I nearly hurt myself trying to laugh but not let the boys hear me laughing. Last night John and I were in the kitchen getting ready to take the boys out to look at Christmas lights. I was teasing someone and said "Oh pooper. I'm so tired." Wy picked up a fistfull of popcorn and sighed "Oh pooper, Mommy."
John had the boys outside this past weekend and he e-mailed me the following: So I had the boys outside for what may be the last of the warmish days before winter arrives. They were having a great time. Wyatt would pace himself by making some circuit around the swing set then sliding down at the end of the pattern. Jack was all about new ways to enjoy a slide, mainly by trying to convince a little ball to go up the slide; this kept him occupied for a long time. Wyatt got cold and asked to go inside, so I opened the door for him, and when I got back out to work on convincing Jack to go in too, he was working on walking up the slide. As I got closer to him, I heard him saying something in regards to not doing so well in this endeavor. He was saying "Caa-Caaaa! Caa-Caaa!"
I have a silver heart locket without any pictures in it. I love the locket but can't seem to get around to getting tiny little photos of my men-folk to put into the locket. And I feel silly wearing a locket with no photos. I decided to get over it though and instead of photos, opened up my locket one day and had all the fellas put kisses into my locket. Now when Wy sees me wearing the locket he asks me to open it so he can put more kisses in it.
OK, I have to go feed the velociraptors. Love and many blessings on you all.
The Owenland Park Gang.
Mommy: What?
Wyatt: I DON'T KNOW!
Beth says she came around the corner one day to find the boys hanging out together watching TV. She said Jack had his arm around Wy and they were so cute that she hurried up to get her camera. I don't know about you, but I'm glad she took the time to snap this photo for us.
Abby & Connie took a Where the Wild Things Are class through the Coterie. They made Monster costumes for their last day of class. Here are Abbie and Connie showing off their Wild Selves. The man who taught the class is a friend and colleague of mine. He told me that he asked Abby how she liked the class. "Well..." she said to him "it was kind of boring." At least she was honest...
I believe I told you that Jack went to opening night of Little House with me. At some point during the post show reception, we went backstage where he found a fake bloody arm. Some of the guys helped him stuff this fake arm up his sleeve. Then he waited patiently to 'meet' someone and shake their hand. When that guy shook Jack's hand, the arm came out of his sleeve. I whispered to Jack that he should act hurt. He looked up at Art accusingly and very convincingly said "OW!" Jess came home for the Thanksgiving break. It was nice to spend a few days with her. She told Melanie and I about making Mel's Taco Soup in her Taste of Life class. The soup earned Jess an A. Melanie said "I think Taco soup can save the world." I think I agree. It is really that yummy. Here is a link to her recipe: ok - the stubborn computer is being seriously stubborn and when I insert the link - it shows up in my edit panel, but not in the view panel... so, go to http://amyslittlekitchen.blogspot.com/2009/09/melanies-taco-soup.html
Jess also told us that her principal has been keeping an eye on her all semester. Although Jess' grades aren't great, her principal has seen enough of a change and improvement in Jess that she was one of 4 or 5 kids in the whole school to be given an award (for showing the most improvement) at their last assembly before Thanksgiving. Good job, Jess!!!
In an attempt to curb my foul sailor's mouth I try to utter utterly absurd comments; "Aflac!" "Oh pooper!" "Balls!" "Poop-a-loopa!" "Ka-caw! Ka-caw!" and others. As a matter of fact, a few days ago I was cross about something and called out "Ka-caw!" Jack promptly corrected me saying "No, Mommy. It's 'Ka-caw! Ka-caw!" I have come to view these vocal outbursts of mine as curse words and so it always takes me by surprise when the boys use one of them. I have to remind myself that they too need something appropriate to say in moments of strife or stress. Then I have to decide if what I'm saying is appropriate for them to be repeating. In that light, I sometimes make new choices. This week though, had me laughing so hard I nearly hurt myself trying to laugh but not let the boys hear me laughing. Last night John and I were in the kitchen getting ready to take the boys out to look at Christmas lights. I was teasing someone and said "Oh pooper. I'm so tired." Wy picked up a fistfull of popcorn and sighed "Oh pooper, Mommy."
John had the boys outside this past weekend and he e-mailed me the following: So I had the boys outside for what may be the last of the warmish days before winter arrives. They were having a great time. Wyatt would pace himself by making some circuit around the swing set then sliding down at the end of the pattern. Jack was all about new ways to enjoy a slide, mainly by trying to convince a little ball to go up the slide; this kept him occupied for a long time. Wyatt got cold and asked to go inside, so I opened the door for him, and when I got back out to work on convincing Jack to go in too, he was working on walking up the slide. As I got closer to him, I heard him saying something in regards to not doing so well in this endeavor. He was saying "Caa-Caaaa! Caa-Caaa!"
I have a silver heart locket without any pictures in it. I love the locket but can't seem to get around to getting tiny little photos of my men-folk to put into the locket. And I feel silly wearing a locket with no photos. I decided to get over it though and instead of photos, opened up my locket one day and had all the fellas put kisses into my locket. Now when Wy sees me wearing the locket he asks me to open it so he can put more kisses in it.
OK, I have to go feed the velociraptors. Love and many blessings on you all.
The Owenland Park Gang.
