Happy Birthday to our oldest. How we've enjoyed watching you grow. The most tumultuous waters are still ahead, but we think you'll come through just fine.
Isaiah Luke joined us 5:30ish in the afternoon. He was a happy, mellow, low maintenance baby. He's still a happy,mellow, low maintenance kid. A book and a flashlight and he's pretty much set. Some things about people never change.
But other things do.
Our oldest isn't as video game obsessed as he was a year ago. No, his new techno obsession is cell phones...especially texting. He celebrated my announcement of adding unlimited text to our plan by sending 150+ texts over that first weekend.
And his view of girls is morphing too. In years past he's had a very much "people are people, who cares about parts?" point of view. (He thankfully skipped the ew gross stage when he was younger.) Now he's very aware there's something "different" about girls, and that maybe he likes it. He's even flirting a bit, but I don't think he realizes that's what it is. After all, he's the kid who told me recently "I don't want to kiss a girl until I'm married." Pretty sure that will change in the next few years too.
Sometime over the course of this last year he's really become a pretty good companion too. He's starting to "get" parts of real world, and think his decisions through more. He asks good questions, and sometimes comes up with amazing answers on his own. I've always been fond of kid lit, and he's sharing his library books with me. We even want to see the same movies, well mosty. He is still a boy...and some movies he finds funny I just find, well gross. In other words, all is progressing normally.
Perhaps the best thing we've done together recently was attend KC's Ren Fest. We spent the day shopping, watching a joust, and throwing things, some of them shiny, sharp and pointy. His favorite part of the day was the bungee jump. I just stood back and watched him jump above the treetops, feeling a bit sick to my stomach. Yet that's what the future holds. Letting go, and watching him reach for the sky.
,
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
environmentalist health nut, me? (Part 1, )
Um no. Anyone who's seen my cuddly form would know that. However, some aspects of our life certainly look that way on paper. I've always been fond of the mantra reduce, reuse, recycle.
Reducing and reusing just make good economic sense.
If you don't use something, you're not spending money on it. Buying larger packages and portioning into smaller ones reduces the price of some foods immensely. For $5 I can buy a can of nuts with 16 servings, or 6 "packets." Single serve does have it's place, but I didn't cave until I hit kid 5. My friend J warned me about this. Her mom always told her, "there's something about the 5th one". She was right.
That's really where reusing comes in. I've seen purses made out of Capri Sun pouches and plarn (plastic yarn made from shopping bags) is the "in" mommy craft right now. Grandma's drawer full of margarine tubs and Dad's babyfood jar screw sorting all fall into this category. Kids are experts at this. Who hasn't seen a shoe-box car or a toilet paper roll telescope or a wrapping paper roll light sabre?
Once they've beaten the cardboard to a bloody pulp, that's where recycling comes in.
Recycling is easier than ever. Most of us have curbside bins we don't even have to sort. There's a Ripple glass bin in the parking lots of local grocery stores. No sorting there either. Recycling is just like exercise. As Nike put it, "just do it."
Thanks to our fair city recycling is an economical measure too. Every item we're too lazy to rinse out and recycle draws us closer to the dreaded 1.50 "trash overage" bag. I confess to using about two of these bags a month, usually when we clean out the van...but in our defense, the trash bins are meant for four people and we have eight.
Recycling is also just a nice "thank you." to the earth and it's resources. Sure the earth is going to wear out, but why should we help it along? We shouldn't. We're stewards. See Genesis for the command, the gospels for what happens to stewards who don't take their stewardship seriously.
Reduce. Reuse. Recycle. Be green to save green. It's just common sense.
Reducing and reusing just make good economic sense.
If you don't use something, you're not spending money on it. Buying larger packages and portioning into smaller ones reduces the price of some foods immensely. For $5 I can buy a can of nuts with 16 servings, or 6 "packets." Single serve does have it's place, but I didn't cave until I hit kid 5. My friend J warned me about this. Her mom always told her, "there's something about the 5th one". She was right.
That's really where reusing comes in. I've seen purses made out of Capri Sun pouches and plarn (plastic yarn made from shopping bags) is the "in" mommy craft right now. Grandma's drawer full of margarine tubs and Dad's babyfood jar screw sorting all fall into this category. Kids are experts at this. Who hasn't seen a shoe-box car or a toilet paper roll telescope or a wrapping paper roll light sabre?
Once they've beaten the cardboard to a bloody pulp, that's where recycling comes in.
Recycling is easier than ever. Most of us have curbside bins we don't even have to sort. There's a Ripple glass bin in the parking lots of local grocery stores. No sorting there either. Recycling is just like exercise. As Nike put it, "just do it."
Thanks to our fair city recycling is an economical measure too. Every item we're too lazy to rinse out and recycle draws us closer to the dreaded 1.50 "trash overage" bag. I confess to using about two of these bags a month, usually when we clean out the van...but in our defense, the trash bins are meant for four people and we have eight.
Recycling is also just a nice "thank you." to the earth and it's resources. Sure the earth is going to wear out, but why should we help it along? We shouldn't. We're stewards. See Genesis for the command, the gospels for what happens to stewards who don't take their stewardship seriously.
Reduce. Reuse. Recycle. Be green to save green. It's just common sense.
Monday, October 11, 2010
Super Saturday.
Last Saturday was indeed super, with different parts of the day focused on each of the three musketeers.
At a bright, early, 7:30ish we were at a local racetrack sweeping the stands and picking up trash as a fundraiser for E2's football team. It took until about 9am for our "team" to complete the task. The boys had a good time and learned the association between work and reward. Certainly beats selling stuff in my opinion. My kids got a glimpse of how the "world" lives.
"Mom, I don't think I want to come here to watch races."
"Why not?"
"Look at all these beer cans. They must drink A LOT of beer!"
Ewwwww.
"And all those cigarettes. gross."
I'm glad my kids think beer and cigarettes are gross.
For the next phase of the day I took our almost 12-year-old son to Ren fest for his "birthday". Spot on perfect weather! He leaped lizards, bungee jumped, threw sharp and pointy things (okay I threw them too), and won an oriental dragon for his little brother. I window shopped extensively and watched him on well muscled-sweaty- shirtless man powered rides. We both had a great time. We brought home trinkets from the games for his siblings, so they didn't feel too left out.
In the evening I took E1 coat shopping, and came home with two shirts for our oldest. I promised him we'd try again, and really enjoyed having his critical eye along going through the clothing stores. Poor kid has taste. Better start saving his pennies now.
All in all it was a fantastic day: time alone with any of my kids is hard to come by.
At a bright, early, 7:30ish we were at a local racetrack sweeping the stands and picking up trash as a fundraiser for E2's football team. It took until about 9am for our "team" to complete the task. The boys had a good time and learned the association between work and reward. Certainly beats selling stuff in my opinion. My kids got a glimpse of how the "world" lives.
"Mom, I don't think I want to come here to watch races."
"Why not?"
"Look at all these beer cans. They must drink A LOT of beer!"
Ewwwww.
"And all those cigarettes. gross."
I'm glad my kids think beer and cigarettes are gross.
For the next phase of the day I took our almost 12-year-old son to Ren fest for his "birthday". Spot on perfect weather! He leaped lizards, bungee jumped, threw sharp and pointy things (okay I threw them too), and won an oriental dragon for his little brother. I window shopped extensively and watched him on well muscled-sweaty- shirtless man powered rides. We both had a great time. We brought home trinkets from the games for his siblings, so they didn't feel too left out.
In the evening I took E1 coat shopping, and came home with two shirts for our oldest. I promised him we'd try again, and really enjoyed having his critical eye along going through the clothing stores. Poor kid has taste. Better start saving his pennies now.
All in all it was a fantastic day: time alone with any of my kids is hard to come by.
Monday, October 4, 2010
It's so nice when it "feels like" FALL.
There are many ways I can tell fall is really here.
1) I have a deep set desire to clean my house, while I can still do it with the windows open.
2) The air conditioner has been off for several days, and the heat is not on yet.
3) "Pumpkin pumpkin in the patch, pumpkin pumpkin on the vine...."
4) Louisburg Apple Cider abounds in the grocery store.
5) Seasonal clothing rotation has begun. Out with the tanks and sandals. In with the sweatshirts and light jackets.
6) We need to buy Zyrtech in bulk.
7) Winter squash abounds at the farmers market.
8) I'm getting party planning e-mails from PTA.
9) The kids are discussing/arguing/begging about Halloween costumes.
10) Our fair city has deemed it 12 bag of yard waste month. (Oh how I wish this extended into NOVEMBER.)
11) The "it's fine" "i'm hot" "I'm cold" battle is brewing amongst our oldest three sons.
12) The kids are spending more time outdoors than in.
13) Football practice has been moved back 1/2 hour, due to "getting dark earlier."
14) I bought my sport boys long sleeved underarmor.
15) I'm seriously considering hosting a partylite candle party, because well, what's fall without candles, lots of them?!
16) Cinnamon is the "spice of the month."
17) We're going through more cocoa.
18) I'm craving pie. Warm, apple pie. Pumpkin pie. Chicken pot pie. any pie will do. Unless it's sold under a barber shop.
19) Cool room. Warm comforter. mmmm.
20) It just smells good. Crisp air in the morning, outside breezes mixed with cleaning supplies in the afternoon. Hot apple cider or hot chocolate in the evening, especially with popcorn. So many other wonderful autumnlicious smells. So glad that we're just starting to fall into fall.
1) I have a deep set desire to clean my house, while I can still do it with the windows open.
2) The air conditioner has been off for several days, and the heat is not on yet.
3) "Pumpkin pumpkin in the patch, pumpkin pumpkin on the vine...."
4) Louisburg Apple Cider abounds in the grocery store.
5) Seasonal clothing rotation has begun. Out with the tanks and sandals. In with the sweatshirts and light jackets.
6) We need to buy Zyrtech in bulk.
7) Winter squash abounds at the farmers market.
8) I'm getting party planning e-mails from PTA.
9) The kids are discussing/arguing/begging about Halloween costumes.
10) Our fair city has deemed it 12 bag of yard waste month. (Oh how I wish this extended into NOVEMBER.)
11) The "it's fine" "i'm hot" "I'm cold" battle is brewing amongst our oldest three sons.
12) The kids are spending more time outdoors than in.
13) Football practice has been moved back 1/2 hour, due to "getting dark earlier."
14) I bought my sport boys long sleeved underarmor.
15) I'm seriously considering hosting a partylite candle party, because well, what's fall without candles, lots of them?!
16) Cinnamon is the "spice of the month."
17) We're going through more cocoa.
18) I'm craving pie. Warm, apple pie. Pumpkin pie. Chicken pot pie. any pie will do. Unless it's sold under a barber shop.
19) Cool room. Warm comforter. mmmm.
20) It just smells good. Crisp air in the morning, outside breezes mixed with cleaning supplies in the afternoon. Hot apple cider or hot chocolate in the evening, especially with popcorn. So many other wonderful autumnlicious smells. So glad that we're just starting to fall into fall.
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