My Friend Monica

When I was in 2nd grade, a family moved in down the street. They were Hispanic, and living in a very Caucasian (read white!)-heavy town, I had never seen a family of that skin-tone before and I remember thinking they must be black. (That's not really important to the story. I've just always remembered that for some strange reason.)

None of that mattered, though. They had 2 girls! The family who lived there before had boys, and while we did all play together, I was thrilled to have girls living so close. Their oldest girls, Debbie, was 2 years older than me. Their other daughter, Monica, was a year younger. We were all friends, but Monica and I were especially close.

I spent a lot of time at Monica's house growing up. I can remember her mother growing peppers in their backyard. I had fajitas for the very first time at her house (this was WAY back before every Mexican food restaurant in town had them on the menu). We used to lay out in her backyard. Her dad used to laugh at the pair of us - Monica with her beautiful brown skin and me with my whiter-than-white-never-tanned skin.

They had a lot of extended family in the Houston area and they were often over at the house. I got to know her family very well. They often joked that I was the adopted daughter. I loved Monica's family as much as I loved her.

Over the years, we have not kept in touch much. We were in each other's weddings. We went to each other's baby showers. Our kids went to each other's birthday parties when they were young. Monica and her parents came to my mom's funeral. But the day-to-day communication hasn't happened much. We talk to each other about once a year.

Monica called me this week to invite me to a Southern Living at Home party at her house. (She knows I've always enjoyed those type of things.) I am so excited to go. Not only will I get to see Monica, but her family will be there. I can't wait!

Oh, Those Tricky Old Testament Names

So, Ruthie is narrating her Bible story to me today.

Ruthie: Ahishothel told Absalom...

Me: Ahithophel

Ruthie: Afifofel told Absalom...

Me: Ahithophel

Ruthie: Athithothel told...

Me: Ahithophel

Ruthie: How about we just call him "Mr. A"?

Weekend Plans

We are going camping this weekend. Robert's cub scout pack is having a family campout this weekend and, after 3 years in scouts, we are finally going on one. We have been camping twice in our married lives. Once in Arkansas pre-kids, and once at Guadalupe River State Park with my sister's family when the children were small. I think Ruthie was about 18 months old.

Being the non-campers that we are, I have been borrowing all of our camping gear from friends and family. Luckily my sister Alicia and her family LOVE to camp, so I was able to borrow quite a bit from her. A couple at church offered us their gear when they found out we were camping this weekend, so I was able to round out our supply needs after finding out what dear sis was missing (or, rather, couldn't find).

I am really looking forward to this weekend, and so is Ruthie. Griff and Robert - not so much. I am so looking forward to getting away and really relaxing for a couple of days. It's supposed to be cool this weekend, too. "Cool" being a relative term, of course. Highs in the low 70's. Lows in the 50's. Ahhhh...

I hope to come back with fun stories and lots of pictures!

A Good Weekend

We had a good weekend. Not exciting, but good.

On Saturday, Ruthie had a volleyball game. She is playing on a team at the YMCA. They are not what I would call a good team (sorry, sweetie!), but they are having fun and learning. We were excited today because Ruthie actually got two serves in a row over the net. Woo-hoo! Way to go!

After lunch, Robert and I headed out to the Sea Center in Lake Jackson for a Cub Scout field trip. It took us over an hour to get there, and I was not looking forward to the drive, but Robert had a great time. I have some pictures that I'll try to add later with more info about this trip.

Apparently a cold front came through Saturday night because we woke up to cold weather on Sunday. At least, cold for us. It was 55 degrees when we left for church. Brrr! It felt great, though. Finally!

At church, we found out we are going to two services next week. (How did we miss THAT announcement?) They are adding an 8:00 worship service and we're going to try our best to make it to that. Our old church had an early service and we loved going to it.

Griff had an orchestra performance that afternoon. I don't know if I've ever mentioned that he plays double bass. He hadn't played in years, but started again recently and has found 2 community orchestras to play with. The performance yesterday was really good and very enjoyable. One of the pieces they played was "Pictures at an Exhibition", which is one of my favorites.

After the performance, we went to Carabba's for dinner. Yum! Griff took to the kids for ice cream, but I was exhausted and so I headed home.

I must have been very tired, because I went to be at 8:30. Wowza! I though I would wake up at dark-thirty, but I actually slept 'til almost 6:30.

I also watched a good movie this weekend. It was North and South. No, not the civil war miniseries. This one is set in England in the late 1800's. If you like period piece movies, I highly recommend it.

So, let's see... Good times as a family, good weather, good music, good food, good sleep, and a good movie. Yep, that's a good weekend.

* post edited because I wasn't quite happy with it
** sigh... edited again because I forgot the link for the movie

Overheard

Robert (after about his 10th reminder to finish his copywork): "My pencil is lazy today."

All (well, not all) About Ruthie

Ruthie was my surprise gift from God. After trying for 2 years to get pregnant the first time, you can imagine my surprise when I turned up pregnant when Robert was only 8 months old. I was in shock and denial for the first part of my pregnancy, but God knew what I didn't. Ruthie would be a joy and the blessing I was not smart enough to ask for. I thought I would share some things about her. I could go on and on, but I will choose 8 things, because she is 8 years old.

1. She loves to draw. And I mean LOVES to draw. She goes through stacks and stacks of paper. I started buying her spiral-bound drawing pads just so I would stop finding pieces of paper all over the floor.

2. She has a very dry sense of humor. She writes comics and some of them have her father and I rolling in laughter.

3. She has my mother's blue eyes.

4. She is tall for her age. If you do the "double your height at age 2" thing, she is going to be six feet tall. I don't think she'll quite reach that height, but she is going to far surpass my 5'3" self.

5. She always cries when reading sad books or seeing sad movies.

6. She loves dogs and wants one desperately. So far we've resisted, but I'm sure we'll give in some day.

7. She is very open. She often comes to me and say, "Can we talk?" We'll go off alone somewhere together and she'll share a concern or question with me. Sometimes it's as simple as wanting permission to watch a particular TV show. Other times it's a problem she's having with a friend or even with me. I hope she never stops doing this.

8. She's smart and she asks the hard questions. Her teachers at church are always telling me about the questions she asks them, putting them on the spot. She definitely keeps us on our toes!

I could indeed go on, but I said 8, so I'll stop.

Thank you, God, for giving me my Ruthie. I love you, sweetie!

A Momma's Pride

Griff got a call from a friend from church a couple of weeks ago. They were scheduling fathers and sons to pass communion trays and he wanted Griff and Robert to participate. I was a bit anxious about how Robert would handle it, but I needn't have been. Griff was with him the whole time, instructing him on how to carry the trays, which pews to pass them down first, how to pick up trays and pass them on to other pews, and how to return the trays when finished. And he was so obviously excited and proud of himself. On his first trip down the aisle, I could see him looking for me. When he saw me, he gave me a big grin. Several people around me chuckled. His joy was very obvious to everyone.

Later, I was praising him for doing such a great job (for the umpteenth time) and he finally said, "Mom, stop. You're making me blush." Such a funny, sweet boy.

I didn't know this until we got to church this morning, but the whole service was youth-led. The song leader's son was with his father, helping with that job. His sweet, mic'd voice could be clearly heard singing the songs. He is 8 years old. All the prayers and scripture readings were done by boys ranging in age from 9 years to 13 years. Two middle-school-aged boys did short sermons. They both did a fantastic job, too.

It was incredible seeing all these boys up there, leading us. They are the future of the church and it did my heart good.

The occasion for this special service was the kick-off for LTC. Robert and Ruthie are both old enough to participate this year. We haven't made our final selections, but so far Robert wants to do reading and sign language. Ruthie signed up for reading, art, and scrapbook.

It's going to be a great experience. I just know it is.

(BTW, I've realized that my blog posts tend to be Robert-heavy. My next post will be all about our Ruthie. )

Take Your Kid to Blog Day

Blest with Sons hosts Take Your Kid to Blog Day every Friday. It is a great opportunity to show off what your kids have done, or let them have a turn at blogging. I'm participating this week, showing off some of my children's work from this week.

I am pretty eclectic in my homeschooling approach, but one thing I absolutely love is Charlotte Mason's narration method of learning. For my non-homeschooling readers, basically you read to your child (or they read themselves), then they retell it back to you. Here is a good, short explanation of narration and its benefits.

Anyway, back to the kids. I have been attempting narrating since we started homeschooling back in January, with limited success. Ruthie is capable, but hasn't liked it. Robert has really struggled with it. His Asperger's means that he has difficulties with comprehension and expressing himself, so narrating can be a real struggle. The I read Linda's advice to start with Aesop's Fables. We started and still struggled, until I came upon the idea of having them narrate to me while I typed it into the computer. Success! They both loved this. Ruthie took to it right away, but Robert, while he tried harder, still struggled.

This week, Robert gave me the following narration for the fable of the The Wolf and the Crane. Read and enjoy. :) (The punctuation is mine, but the words are all his.)

A greedy wolf had been eating too much and got a bone
stuck in his throat. He couldn't spit it out nor swallow
it, and of course he couldn't eat anything. So he asked
for the crane's help. He said, "If you can get this bone
out of my throat, I will reward you greatly." The crane did
as he asked and took the bone out. Then the wolf left.
The crane said, "What's my reward?" The wolf answered, 
spinning around angrily, "Tch! Isn't it enough
that I let you take your head out of my throat without
biting it off?" The moral is do not expect any reward for
serving the wicked.

It's absolutely wonderful. I almost cried and I did have to hug and hold him close when he was done. When you have a child that struggles, breakthroughs mean everything.

In the spirit of fair play, and because I am also proud of Ruthie's narration, here is hers.

There once was a greedy wolf who was eating and got a
bone stuck in his throat. He could not move it up or down
and he couldn't eat. It was a bad state of affairs for
the wolf. He went to the crane, thinking that she could
surely get it out with her long bill. The crane, as you
could imagine, was very nervous about putting her neck in
the wolf's throat. But the wolf promised her a reward, so
she did it. When she pulled her neck out, the wolf started
to leave. "What about my reward?" she called. "What?!"
cried the wolf. "Haven't you got it? Isn't it enough that
I let you put your neck in my throat without snapping your
head off?" The moral is expect no reward for serving
the wicked.

Want to show off how smart, funny, or cute your kids are? Head over to Blest with Sons and join in the fun.

A Father's Love

If you have not heard the story of Dick and Rick Hoyt, you need to go over to Higher Up and Further In and read about it and see the video there. In fact, even if you have heard the story, you should go over and hear it again.

I saw a video of them a year or two ago and it is one of the most incredible stories I've ever heard.

Go. Now.

9-11

I have been thinking for weeks about posting my "where I was" story for 9-11. However, I've decided I'm not ready to do that yet. That day affected me on such a deep level, changing who I was and how I thought of my way of life. I have never been the same.

I'm just not ready to talk about it yet.

My thoughts and prayers today are with the families of the 9-11 victims, the victims who survived and are having to deal with the lasting effects, our soldiers, and everyone else who struggling with the memories of that horrible day.

Out of My Comfort Zone

Our school year this far has been pretty, well, to be perfectly honest, boring. We've been at it for 6 weeks and I'm about to start banging my head against the wall. I have no idea how the kids are feeling, but nobody's having much fun around here. And really, what's the point of homeschooling if you can't have some fun.

So, I'm doing something I said I would never do. We're doing a Konos unit study. My friend Heather is a Konos fanatic, but I have been resisting. It just seemed like so much work. And it may very well be. But, something has got to change. So, we're off on a new adventure.

We're going to be doing the Attentiveness study, mainly because that's the same one Heather is doing and she can hold my hand through it. We'll be starting with sound, ears, and music. It also includes frontiersmen (including a Lewis & Clark study), animal tracking, and Indians. If the first part goes well, we'll continue with that.

I'm nervous, but also excited.

I'll keep you posted on how it goes. (Really. I will.)

Blog Naming

Are you curious about the process bloggers go through to choose a name? Barb over at A Chelsea Morning has asked for your reason. Blog about it, then go over to her blog and leave a link to your post.

I actually shared my reason for the name "Imagine" in my very post, which you can see here.

Really Funny Commercials

Have you heard the "Real Men of Genius" radio ads for a particular brand of beer? They are hysterical! While I am not endorsing alcholic beverages of any sort, you gotta appreciate the pure brilliance of this marketing campaign.

Here's a link to a list of many of them. My personal favorite is #52 - Mr. Way Too Proud of Texas Guy.

Go and listen and laugh.

This Is Just So Typical!

So, I'm looking for Robert's Cub Scout belt. His first meeting of the year is tonight. I know I have seen it recently. I'm pretty sure it was hanging on the belt hook in his closet, but no, it's not.

I ask Robert if he's seen it (a long shot, but maybe). He also thinks it's in his closet.

I look everywhere I can think of, but still can't find it.

I email Griff at work and ask him if he's seen it. No, he hasn't.

30 minutes before we are to leave, I find it.

It's in the bread basket.

????

Ingredients for a Fun Morning

Needed:

1 soft wax ear plug, divided in two

1 ear

$275.00

1 9 (almost 10!) year old boy without any sense

Directions:

Insert ear plug into ear. Have Dad spend an hour trying to remove. When that fails, you get to miss school the next morning while you see the pediatrician. After a valiant effort by the doctor, you head off for the ENT to give him a chance. After an hour in the waiting room, the nice doctor is able to remove the ear plug and you get to go home.

Now, doesn't that sound like a great way to end the week?

Well, That's Just Your Opinion

We have been doing school since the beginning of August, which is about 2.5 weeks earlier than the local school districts. I made this decision for a couple of reasons.

• I wanted plenty of time for fun stuff this year and didn't want to feel like we were falling behind by taking a day off.
• It is as hot as blazes outside (exactly how hot is "blazes"?). I'd rather have time off on a pretty fall/winter/spring day.

This has already paid off. We got less than a full day done last Thursday. Friday was great, but it is our "enrichment" day (music & art appreciation, history projects, science expirements, etc.). On Monday we met some friends at the park for lunch, then the kids had their first orchestra rehearsal, so very little school was done. And, of course, the field trip yesterday.

Ruthie does not seem to see things quite the way I do, though. I was talking to Griff on Monday evening, telling him how crazy things had been. Ruthie piped in with, "Yeah, our homeschool is falling apart."

Today we are hitting the books hard. We don't want our homeschool to fall apart! :)

Fun Was Had By All

We went on our first official field trip of the year today. A co-op we did some things with last year organized a trip to see the Body Worlds 3 exhibit. In addition, we could choose other things to do at the museum as well, all at the cheap-o group rates. We chose the IMAX and Cockrell Butterfly Center.

We went through Body Worlds very quickly. It was really too much for the kids. It was very graphic. I'm not sorry we tried it, though. I liked the parts I did see.

We had time before meeting our group at the butterfly center, so we spent time in the normal Exhibit Halls. They have a great hands-on section for kids on the ground (basement?) floor. The kids always love that.

After that, we headed to see the butterflies. I always love this part. They have a "tropical rainforest" you can walk through with thousands of butterflies fluttering about. Here are some of the better pictures I took today:



The kids are now asking to raise butterflies. I talked to one of the moms who has done it and she told me to check out this web-site. I'm seeing a side-excursion in our science studies for awhile.

They also usually have a couple of experts wandering through, showing something. Today, they had a giant walking stick.


See that hand? That's MY hand. The kids wouldn't touch her (yes, she female), but I decided to put on my brave hat today and let that thing crawl on me. Aren't I a good mom? :) I have never seen a walking stick that looks like this one. I meant to ask where it was from, but I forgot. I've google'd it, but haven't found it yet. If anybody can give me more info, I'd appreciate it.

They also have an entomological exhibit with all kinds of bugs to check out. When I saw these, I just had to take the picture.


They are hissing cockroaches. The white one is an albino hissing cockroach. Can we all say "EWWWW!" I really can't stand these things. They are one of my "WHY?!" questions for God when I get to Heaven. I can handle just about any bug except these.

After lunch and more museum, we headed to the IMAX to see "Ocean Oasis". I had no idea Baja California had that kind of aquatic life. Beautiful and amazing. Ruthie especially loved this.

After one more trip into the museum, we headed home. It was a full day, but a great one. The kids have been to the museum on many school field trips, and I have gone with them, but I don't ever recall having so much fun with them. It was so much more relaxing than previous field trips. We all had an excellent time.

Overheard

From my soon-to-be-10 year old son...

"When I grow up, I'm going to eat pancakes and eggs and milk for breakfast."

(pause)

"Of course, I'll need a wife or someone else to make them for me."

Sleep (or the lack thereof)

I had 2 nights this week where I was unable to sleep and was up 'til 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning.

Today, I made up that sleep with a 4 hour nap. (yowza!)

This means I will not be able to go to sleep tonight until 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning.

And so the cycle continues....

Unfinished Business

I have a flaw in my character. Okay, more than one, but we're zeroing in on one for now. I am always starting projects, then fading at the end and never finishing them. (Can we talk about the trim painting I haven't finished from 3 years ago?!) I have several posts that I said I would follow up on, and never did. So, here we go.

Remember Hurricane Rita? (I know that was almost a year ago, but I point to my previous statement about the trim painting. A year is nothing!) All that drama was, for us, for nothing. The storm moved east. We got some wind and some neighbors lost some branches on a tree. We got very little rain. We even watered our yard the next day.

Stray Kitty - She is still part of her family. I'm still refusing to name her, although we have considered the names of Sneak and Spook. She's an odd thing. She will only stay on one side of the house (breakfast room, kitchen, dining room). She rarely ventures out from there. If I go into the kitchen, she follows me around and just stares at me. She doesn't meow. She doesn't need food or water. She just watches me.

I never told the story of my trip to Galveston. We did go and we did have a good time. We went to Schlitterbahn on Tuesday. That was fun, except for when we lost Ruthie for 30 minutes. That was NOT fun. Maybe I'll tell the whole story of that someday.

My personal Diet Coke challenge - Well, I didn't come close to the sticking to the one a day, but I did manage to make 3 12-packs last 2 weeks. That's not quite 3 a day. Definitely an improvement.

If there's anything else you're wondering about, just ask. I'll give an update.