Curses, foiled again!

Who used to say that? I can't remember!

Today the day started out rocky. Among other things, the oldest two children were fighting over breakfast and refused to tone it down despite warnings from their father.

I decided to put off doing several of my own chores, knowing that I would probably need them later as punishment a way to keep them busy and out of trouble. We soon set about to tackle our schoolwork.

Wouldn't you know it, these two who never stop fighting have kept out of each others hair ALL DAY LONG. I had to go and do all my own chores! Darn those kids! ;-)

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How I know my 11yo is entering the Logic Stage

And no, it's not because she's getting argumentative, because she's ALWAYS been argumentative, LOL!

This is the scene in the car yesterday. Don't think it's always this lovely.

Jane: I love Mommy a million times more than God loves me.

Skye: I love Mommy a million times more than God loves me, times a thousand plus infinity.

Batty: IIIIII love Mommy plus infinity plus infinity plus infinity plus infinity!

Rose (11) with her "silly little sisters" voice on: I love mommy only as much as is possible.

I actually really got a kick out of that.

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Maybe this is why she doesn't like to eat my soup

Me to Rose: The soup is good for you because it has many nutrients - vitamins - your body needs. Plus it's tasty too.

Batty, listening in: I'll grow big and strong muscles! I'll have humongous elbows!

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Interview the kids meme

Seen all around the internet and facebook (My comments in parentheses)


1. What is something your mom always says to you?
Rose (11): I'm not sure
Skye (9): Stop fighting with your sister
Jane (newly 6): "Go and..."
Batty: I love you (awwww...)

2. What makes your mom happy?
Rose: Chocolate
Skye: Us not fighting
Jane: A box full of oreos...well actually, being loved (I love this child!) :)
Batty: Loving

3. What makes your mom sad?
Rose: Grumpy kids
Skye: Us fighting
Jane: Having all her kids not listen to her
Batty: When you get nothing

4. How does your mom make you laugh?
Rose: She says something funny or ridiculous
Skye: I don't know. She doesn't do it a lot.
Jane: Saying silly stuff
Batty: By putting your hand out of the kitchen door

5. What did your mom like to do when she was a child?
Rose: I have no idea, she never talked to me. She danced.
Skye: I don't know, play with her doll?
Jane: Watch one of her favorite shows
Batty: Nothing

6. How old is your mom?
Rose: 40
Skye: 40
Jane: 40 (pronounced 4-D)
Batty: 40 (I just turned 40 so they remember)

7. How tall is your mom?
Rose: Somewhere around five feet and a few inches
Skye: 4 foot 11 inches
Jane: Six or five feet
Batty: SO tall

8. What is her favorite thing to do?
Rose: Be on the computer
Skye: Have alone time
Jane: Spend time with us (I love this child!)
Batty: play the computer

9. What does your mom do when you’re not around?
Rose: I don't know, I'm not around! Blog about bad stuff about me.
Skye: Nurse Jeffrey, clean the house
Jane: Take care of the baby
Batty: Nothing

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
Rose: Something like the best babysitter in the world. You have a lot of kids, you'd be good at that.
Skye: Being the best mom with five kids, four girls and one boy. 'Cause there's nothing else you really do
Jane: Nothing.
Batty: Being happy


11. What is your mom really good at?
Rose: Seeing things behind her back (LOL!)
Skye: Nursing babies
Jane: Taking care of us
Batty: Typing (she was watching me type)


12. What is your mom not very good at?
Rose: Getting Batty to obey her
Skye: Anything other than taking care of a family. Except eating, she's good at eating.
Jane: Treat us like a good mother (hmmmm...thinking of revoking my "favorite child" card, LOL)
Batty: not good at sports

13. What does your mom do for her job?
Rose: Sitting around eating chocolate on the computer. Just kidding. (She admitted she can't put the real thing into words)
Skye: Take care of the family
Jane: Take care of us
Batty: work

14. What is your mom’s favorite food?
Rose: Chocolate
Skye: Chocolate
Jane: Chocolate
Batty: food

15. What makes you proud of your mom?
Rose: She can really make me feel good sometimes
Skye: She's my mom
Jane: doing something well, very well
Batty: you

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
Rose: I don't remember the names of the people or comics. You know the one with the family and the girl that looks realistic? (We figured out it was Sally Forth)
Skye: I don't know (I think she gave up at this point...she hates to be wrong and needs very concrete easy to answer questions)
Jane: Florence Nightengale (from Amazing Hero Classics video) (OK, she can have her card back)
Batty: herself

17. What do you and your mom do together?
Rose: Go food shopping
Skye: *shrugs*
Jane: math games
Batty: play

18. How are you and your mom the same?
Rose: Our eyes
Skye: *wide eyes* ummmm, next time they should make this easier.
Jane: our hair
Batty: when we wear the same clothes

19. How are you and your mom different?
Rose: I have a different shape
Skye: *crickets chirping*
Jane: size and voice tone
Batty: When our clothes don't match

20. How do you know your mom loves you?
Rose: The tone of her voice
Skye: That's hard.
Jane: When she's very happy with me around
Batty: Because I know you

21. What does your mom like most about your dad?
Rose: He gets her oreos even if they are not on sale. He ONLY buys what's on sale, so that's a lot.
Skye: I don't know.
Jane: He's helpful, helps around the house
Batty: how loving

22. Where is your mom’s favorite place to go?
Rose: Away from us. ( :( )
Skye: I don't know. This is hard.
Jane: out in a place where there is nature
Batty: the park

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Lent came early this year

Just a few days ago, before we got Rose's dyslexia (et al.) diagnosis, I was wondering if I was going to pick my Lenten sacrifice or if God was going to hand me one, like he has in the past. I think this year it's a little of both.

My plan was to cut down on my internet time. I was thinking of just using Twitter and a 1x or 2x a day email check. Check blogs, message boards, etc only when everything else was done and no one needed me (i.e., probably never?? LOL).

Now that I'm understanding that Rose needs intensive training/retraining on many skills, I'm realizing that I simply WON'T have time for the internet (much) if I am to do justice to her needs and the needs of the rest of the family. For example we spent all morning with hands-on phonics and alphabet instruction using clay, and doing specific "therapeutic" exercises to burn off steam. Great, but we still have the *rest* of the school work to do! (Read aloud, history, science, math, etc). Plus it's a beautiful day so I need to allow outside time and free happy-boredom time. :) Oh and who can forget the preschooler and baby, who weren't thrilled that all of a sudden I was being "boss" of everyone's time to an unusual level for us.

Add in a house move (please! hopefully! soon!) and my every waking moment may be planned out for me. This is not necessarily bad.

Anyway, all that to say that I will be scarce, here and in your comment sections. (Not gone, but scarce) If you need me, email or Twitter me! And please pray for us.

Oh, and if you have any suggestions for:
dyslexia
executive functioning problems
adhd (inattentive type)
non-verbal learning disability (mild)
slow processing
sensory processing and integration issues (mild)

particularly activities to help or books I can read, I'd love to hear it! I'll still get comments emailed to me, so feel free to comment here.

Thanks!

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Adventures in Allergies

Today I took Jeffrey (1) and Jane (5) to the allergist. Now, Jane is known to have food allergies. She tested positive to dairy and almond allergies as a baby. Years went by, and she lost the almond allergy and gained egg.

Today she had a SPT - Skin Prick Test. She tested negative to all the nuts (yay!), and positive to dairy, egg and *wheat*!! What is up with that? She has eaten wheat with no apparent problems since infancy. The doctor said that SPT *negatives* are usually accurate, but the *positives* can be false positives. He wouldn't even blood test (RAST) her for wheat, because she is eating it fine, and sent a blood test out for the other positives, to see what level of allergy we are dealing with. Of course, he can attempt to stop me from worrying by not RASTing her for wheat, but a mother's mind is always wondering ... what if that is why she is so small? Would taking wheat out help her absorb her other foods? What about the asthma? Eczema? Hmmm...

I'm not about to start yanking wheat from her diet though. Because I've always said, "If one of us becomes allergic to wheat we'll have nothing left to eat, and I'll completely lose my mind and quit this mom business." Which really came out more like, "Please God, not wheat. Anything but wheat."

Jeffrey tested negative to everything! Which is good, I *guess*, except that I'm positive he reacts to things that I eat. Which kind of leaves me in limbo - limbo that I was hoping this test would answer.

The allergist said that recent research is turning everything they believed about allergies on it's ear - that it's possible that early exposure to allergens will actually help prevent more allergies in the long run. There is research going on right now in England where they are putting peanut in baby formula. This mom of an anaphylactic to peanuts daughter almost gasped out loud in horror when he said that, LOL. I always take research with a grain of salt, but it will be interesting what comes of all this. I was sent away with strict instructions to pump my kids full of potential food allergens. ;-)

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Ahhh these bittersweet days!

Jane just lost her FIRST TOOTH. Jane! It's not possible.

As if to underscore the loss, our neighbors across the street are cutting down the huge, beautiful tree in their backyard. They cut their front yard tree down several months ago. Now, their lot is just bare. Like the space in Jane's face. ;-)

I'll just have to look out my back windows if I want some green, I guess. And Jane will sprout a new tooth before long!

We even got a ton of school done (this is relative...for us it was a full day, for others maybe not so much, LOL). An exciting day overall. And tonight dh joins us again after having been away.

A great end to a full day.

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Reason #486 ...

...why Jane (5) is the sweetest child on earth (I'm not playing favorites, but her temperament IS more pleasant than all of her siblings put together, LOL).

The opening lines of a letter to one of her penpals:

"Dear ____, How have you been? I have had a very happy life since I last wrote to you."

What's so beautiful is that she means it, to the very depths.

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Battyspeak

Next day (last time) I went to my teacher's house (you know, the rec center? don't all gymnastics teachers live at the rec center?) my friend was there. He had two moms (the mom, and the man she is married to, LOL).

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A great learning experience

Today we did an experiment with a pan of flour and marbles, simulating asteroids hitting a planet to make craters. I learned so much! I learned:

A) 4 children + flour + mother getting mail   =   disaster
          2 minutes


B) stupid childish behavior of 4 children together > childish behavior of one child

C) 1200 sq ft   =   tracks in every room
      3 minutes

D) flour + water = stickier floors than when I began

E) flour + preschooler + hair   =    nasty
        bathwater


Thank you, Mr. Wile, I learned so much today!!

;-)

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Why am I not surprised?

The girls' morning project was making a "free tomatoes" table for the front yard. Rose, Batty, and Jane scrubbed the little kiddie table clean, and Rose made a sign decorated with pictures of tomatoes. I thought it would end there, but no - Jane is out there really hawking those free tomatoes! Any neighbor that dares exit their house is fair game. And I pity the fool that dares walk their dog down our street.

But it's working - 1/2 the tomatoes are gone and some kind lady even gave her a dollar. She's going to treat her sisters to twin-pops at the pool. :)


(do you see what I'm up against? LOL)

photo credit: herr hartmann

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Where science meets dessert

Isn't that the best kind of science?

Today, inspired by an experiment in Exploring Creation with Astronomy, we decided to make S'more Cups, magnifying glass style.

You'll need mini marshmallows, chocolate chips, crushed graham crackers (ours have spent some time in my diaper bag), some kind of bowl or cup, a magnifying glass, and a sunny day.


Please ignore the mess behind the ingredients. Small kitchen plus ant invasion means a cleared cabinet and stuff on the furthest counter from the ant entrance. :)

Go outside and place broken crackers in the cups.


Fill with chocolate chips:


Melt the chocolate by focusing the light from the sun with the magnifying glass:


It was so hot here today the chocolate pretty much melted by itself. ;-)

Place mini marshmallows on top and try to "bake" with the same focused light from the magnifying glass:

Honestly, this didn't really work. We were hoping for "toasted." We got "barely warm." The girls surmised it was due to two things: our impatience and the fact that the white marshmallows reflected too much of the light/heat, unlike the darker chocolate that absorbed so much that it was melting before we even aimed the magnifying glass on it:


Bring it inside (because it's hot and you've been complaining for 5 minutes that the sun is too strong), and devour! But here is the most important rule to remember: NEXT TIME MAKE ONE FOR YOUR MOTHER. :)

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The Winnah...

...and stiiiiilllll chammmmmpi-ON!!



St. DH!!



and his new partner in crime, Skye!!

Dh and Skye entered the pie eating contest at our local county fair today. My Dh *won* it for the third time in four years! (The only reason he didn't win LAST year is that he entered the watermelon eating contest instead. ;-0 ) This year, Skye entered her age group and came in second! We are so proud of both of them. :)

I'm particularly proud of the fact that they were by far the neatest contestants who managed to place in the competition. All those years of nagging the girls about table manners is paying off. ;-)

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And so it begins...

...wish me luck ladies!

Yesterday was Batty's 3rd birthday, and so tomorrow we begin potty training! I've done it this way successfully with 3 kids so far ("Three year olds don't wear diapers, dear" -- talked up for months beforehand). But Batty is a whole different animal from my first three girls. "Animal" being the operative word, LOL - she's got a very strong mind of her own and can show me just what a wild one she is when crossed. ;-) She also doesn't care if she's wet or dirty. This could be interesting. I'm hoping in her newly found maturity, she'll find it within herself to rise to this occasion.

It will be nice to have only one in diapers again.

Here's a gratuitous baby shot of Batty. :)

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There is no way to make this come across well in writing

But today my children were arguing in OPERA.

Imagine two children standing together while trying to help with lunch preparations, singing everything they say in an fake operetic sing song:

"Jane needs some one to get her RICE milk. RICE milk!"

"Not I! Not I!"

"But Jane neeeeds some one to get her RICE milk!"

"It would be youuuu-ooooooo!"

"If no one gets it she will not be HEAL-thy!"


ROFL! Boy, did I ever need that comedy break, even if they were still really arguing through it all.

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A post for the memory banks...

Just wanted to jot this down before I'm old and gray...

Several months ago my parents watched the girls while dh and I went out to ...hmmmm...it must have been a dinner. No wait, maybe it was when I was in the hospital having Jeffrey! LOL Probably, because we hardly ever go out, and I don't remember going out past the girls' bedtimes except for that one. OK, start over...

Last September my parents were here putting the girls to bed because I was in the hospital trying to convince Jeffrey to make a quick exit, and dh was standing around watching in awe doing a great job as labor coach.

The younger three girls share a room and like to sing a few songs after the lights are out. So everyone is lying in bed, calmly; it is dark and quiet and my parents are singing a few lullabies and kids classics. Little did they know...

They start singing the Puffabillies (or Pufferbellies, depending on where you learned it)... "Down by the station, early in the morning..."

Skye, Jane, and Batty all JUMP out of bed and race to the wall, where they line up in size order and start doing these wild hand motions, then RUN out of the room with the last line of "off we go...".

My parents were FLOORED and couldn't stop laughing. Neither could I when they told me about it! It still makes me laugh thinking about what it must have looked like to them. You see, almost every night we sing that song and the girls do just as they did for my parents, then we say "Come back little Puffabillies" and we do it again (a la The Wiggles where they say, "Let's do it a little faster now, Puffabillies!") - so we sing it really fast and they race around the room and then run out the door yet again. But my parents knew none of that. All they knew is that they had 3 quiet, calm little girls about to fall asleep. Ha!

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Well, at least I'm teaching them *something*

Yesterday Rose came to me and said, "Mom? I have some money, but I don't want to buy more stuff. I don't need anything! I don't want more STUFF that will just mess up my room even worse. It's just junk! I want to give my money to someone who needs it."

Woo hoo!

After a short discussion on the topic, she chose to buy some chicks at Heifer.org.

Not to be outdone, Skye watched Rose donate the chicks, then got out HER money and donated a flock of ducks AND geese!

Hooray! Less stuff messing up my house and now three families will have some livestock to help them make a living.

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This is why I bang my head against the wall

;-)

Rose (10) is such a free thinker. It will take her far some day, so I'm not saying this to complain, just to *explain*. Although I find it totally frustrating, hence the title of this post.

Here is a recent conversation with Rose. This is how most conversations go between us (when I'm "parenting" that is, not just chatting about stuff, which we do also of course - but even many of those conversations are hard for me to follow...anyway...):

I had recently explained to her that she had to wait for snack until our babysitting guests left, because I didn't have enough of one thing to go around. About 15 minutes later, I realized we had enough apples.

Me: Hey Rose, would you like an apple? I just realized that we have enough apples for everyone, but we don't have enough of anything else. If you want a snack while the W.'s are here, it has to be an apple.

Rose: Can I have a banana?

She has been like this since she could talk. Give her options A and B, and she inevitably picked C.

This child will most likely design her own college curriculum, creating an original major, and invent something really cool. :) That is, if she doesn't wind up taking care of me in old age because she made me go insane at 39, LOL.

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Must be that extra X...

I admit I don't know much about raising boys (yet). But today I made an interesting observation as we added 2 more boys and 2 girls to our group via some babysitting. The kids here were girls 10, 8, 8, 6, 5, and 2, and boys 5, just 2, and 6 months. Shortly after they arrived, we were all in the same room together. The girls were ALL talking at once - talking, laughing, relating to each other, everyone enjoying themselves. They boys, on the other hand, were walking around looking for toys to play with, with their hands over their ears! LOL!

I understand, boys, really I do! ;-)

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With apologies to our pastor...

Another one from Jane (5):

During our before dinner prayers...

Rose: Let's pray for the poor souls in purgatory.

Jane: And let's pray for the poor souls in church!!

:)

She's the same girl who said several months ago during the homily at Mass, "Mommy, I'm whispering...because everyone is sleeping."

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