The end is near!

The end of our laziness and absence of routine that has developed over the holidays, that is!

Little Brother is excited to go back to school and see his teacher. He has missed her. With all the snow, and his teacher being out for minor surgery the week before winter break, he was never able to give her the ornament he'd made. Once it's no longer hanging on the knob of my kitchen cabinet, I will finally be able to put the holidays behind us!

Taking down the stockings, decorations, and Christmas trees would probably go a long way towards helping with that, too. Oh, and if the snow could all melt away, that would be great.

Before taking a hiatus from our usual lack of routine (I think I've mentioned that I'm not a big schedule follower), Big Sister and I were at a rough spot on the homeschooling road. One day I had (gasp)... made her read (shocking, I know)... and then? I wanted her to write (horror of horrors) about what she had just read. She actually did fine with the reading - it was the writing that pushed her over the edge. The silent tears started, her shoulders slumped, her bottom lip stuck out. "I can't write!" she told me with conviction. "I don't ever want to write, and I don't want to read, either". Helpful and motivational as I am, I took this moment to say "Well I'm not going to let you grow up to be stupid, so you're going to have to just do it!" Ah, yes - not one of my finer moments.

The road blocks that stand in the way of her reading and writing are the same ones that have gotten in the way of successes and enjoyment of other activities in her life. She likes to get things right the first time, and rather than perservere over minor obstacles, she files the experiences away under the "things I can't do, or am not good at" category. She defines herself by the things which she believes she either cannot do, or is afraid to try. It doesn't help that she's also a really anxious kid, so often she has already talked herself out of being able to do something before she's even attempted it.

So as I sat there with her digging her heels in, not so much in an obstinate way, but in a way that told me she was convinced she'll never be able to do this and had given up any hope of succeeding, I tried to figure out how to snap her out of it. It didn't help that I was completely losing patience with the whole thing, as I tend be more of a "try, try again" type person. What my unhelpful inner voice wanted to scream at her was that this was a huge personality flaw on her part, and that life isn't always easy, and you can't just give up all the time. Thankfully I was able to censor that inner voice. Yet I felt I needed to convey to her that some things really are hard, but that they can be mastered through lots of determination, and that it can feel incredibly rewarding to break through something like that. I tried to explain that while reading and writing feel laborious, they will only get easier if she keeps doing those things on a regular basis. All she can see is this inbetween time - the struggle she's up against - and right now she's not motivated by what the end result will be.

There were other insights I gleaned during our conversation, but mostly it ended in frustration. Are we going to fight everyday until she realizes she's competent? This certainly wasn't my vision of homeschooling. I thought I was preserving her self-esteem by nurturing her in a supportive environment that built upon her strengths, and patiently tended and cultivated her weaknesses. I think that what I'm talking about is something that's maybe easier for a homeschooling parent to understand. I think that most people's response would be: "Well, of course you should make your kid do it. Kids don't get a choice. Why is this even an issue?", but I know what's worked for my kid in the past. In being mostly child-led over the course of our homeschooling (and parenting), being patient, and respecting her knowledge of herself (and she has proven to be very perceptive of her own readiness for things) has generally worked. I know that when we have pushed, and the timing wasn't right, then we've butted heads and made little progress. When I do get the timing right, it feels almost effortless. But now it's feeling like some areas are taking too long to develop, and I need to drag her along, willing or not.

So I've been able to pretty much ignore this whole mess the last couple of weeks. With the return to normalcy tomorrow, I've got to figure out how I'm going to proceed, and then try to be consistent. Wish me luck.

Merry Christmas!

We had a great Christmas, spent with family today. Lost power for about 8 hours, but managed to spend most of that time at my sister's, who thankfully did have power. The temperature has been warming up just slightly, and as the snow gets heavier on the tree branches, we've been hearing the snap and crack of branches coming down everywhere. When we got home, hubby and I surveyed the damage around our yard, and it looks like we've lost five trees so far. I'm most saddened by the loss of the dogwood tree in our frontyard. It sure was a pretty tree.

The yard with dogwood blooming in the late spring...

The dogwood today...



And here's our mock orange tree...


And the crabapple...


Our magnolia tree, and our backyard apple tree also sustained damage.

Here's Hubby up on the roof shoveling snow yesterday...


Here I was, providing moral support and getting photo documentation (my mom took this shot)...


Here's our street, looking up the hill from the end of our driveway...


The backyard, looking towards the house...


A few other random shots...






Hope you all had Merry Christmas, and are safe and sound!

Did I mention snow?

We've received a heckuvalot of snow. My mom is supposed to be arriving today by train, but the train hasn't even been running. They're tentatively planning to restore service today, but even getting her to the train station down on her end is presenting major challenges, since cabs, buses, and everday mere mortals are not driving on the streets of Portland.

Mom, this is for you:

I didn't get my act together to make more cloth giftbags this year, but I am trying my hand at wrapping in cloth. I think it works pretty well. Probably not quite the same satisfaction as tearing into wrapping paper, but will be very gratifying to the types who carefully open gifts and then save the paper (lol - my mom falls into this second category).

Some snow pics...

Our backyard Christmas tree when we had our first dusting of snow about 1 1/2 weeks ago (it was about 2 inches of snow, which at the time seemed significant, but now seems like nothing more than a trace):


Here's a picture of the tree yesterday morning, about 16 inches more snow later:




This is the frontyard, back when we thought we really had snow (about 12 inches):


See my neighbor's sagging roof in this next picture? It probably comes as no surprise that six more inches of snow later, it completely collapsed, taking the deck below with it (the house itself is alright, and we took him homemade cookies and fudge to cheer him up):


I'm becoming more proficient at shoveling. We're expecting another six inches of snow in the next couple of days, but I'm not sure where I'm supposed to stack it.

Holiday happenings

Yesterday I was fortunate to spend a delightful afternoon with my sister (who, if mom had had a blog would have been Little Sister), and my daughter (aka Big Sister). My sis came over with my nephew, J-man, who would be staying here at the house with his uncle and cousin for some guy time (which sounds like it involved playing a lot of Wii - I think hubby now wants one).

The ladies were headed out to see The Nutcracker ballet. My sis and I have fond memories of our grandma taking us to see The Nutcracker when we were little, and thought it would be a lot of fun to take Big Sister.

Here we are all dressed up and ready to go...
My girl was the perfect age to go see this ballet. The set was gorgeous, the dancers were fantastic, the venue was cozy, and we had great seats. She was riveted the whole time. I am so glad we went, and we'll definitely have to do it again in the future.

The forecast had been calling for snow to begin by Friday evening, but by nightfall on Saturday we were only just beginning to see the first few flakes drift down. We all ate dinner together, and then participated in another long-standing tradition: cookie decorating. Our grandma used to have my sister and I over to her house to decorate Christmas cookies, and we loved it. We would get pretty artistic about it too, until we started to get bored and began dumping sprinkles wherever. I think part of the fun of it for me was the pride I felt when I saw the cookies we had created, displayed with all the other edible creations on Christmas day. Modern day Mom that I am, I take advantage of a few shortcuts: store-bought sugar cookie dough and icing. The kids don't seem to mind...

Natalie wanted to do her own frosting, but the boys wanted theirs pre-frosted








We tried to set-up a shot of Little Brother giving Big Sister a sweet kiss on the cheek, but she wasn't having anything to do with it...


The snow was starting to pile up (relatively speaking, since we only got a couple of inches), and the temps were predicted to plummet below freezing and stay there for the next week or so. We'd planned for my sister and nephew to stay overnight with us, but it seemed safer to have them drive home while the streets were still clear. It was probably for the best, as the hill we live on is now a sheet of ice. They made it home, safe and sound.

Not sure what today will hold. Little Brother developed a barky, croupy cough in the middle of the night. He sounds awful, poor guy. Maybe he'll snuggle under the blankies with his Mommy in front of the fireplace today.

Holiday decorating is for the birds

Really, it is. At least for the birds in our backyard. Big Sister and I decided we wanted to decorate our little evergreen tree out in the backyard with some natural decorations for our fine feathered friends (or whoever else might decide to stop by). We made a couple of garlands of air-popped popcorn, dried cranberries, and dried cantaloupe (the kids won't eat it, and I didn't know what else to do with it) strung on thread. We also made some edible ornaments by spreading peanut butter on the aforementioned dried cantaloupe, and then dipping them in birdseed (I threaded a loop through on one end so they could hang in the tree).

Big Sister started out making garlands, but then decided that making ornaments would be more fun.


Then she decided that spreading peanut butter was too messy and boring, so she went back to threading popcorn. Trying to, anyway. (Doesn't she have the cutest freckles?)


And then she let me know I was taking my life into my own hands if I continued harassing her with all the picture taking. (Remind me to have her clean up whatever is stuck to the wall behind her. Ewww!!!)


This is what the ornaments looked like when they were done (except that they were in focus in real life, lol):


And here's Big Sister decorating the tree. Can you believe she's wearing a short-sleeve shirt in December? It's like we're back in CA or something. Hard to believe there's snow in the forecast for the next few days, with sub-freezing highs. I guess one last dose of vitamin D was in order.


Decorations nicely hung...


"Merry Christmas, little woodland creatures!"


Nevermind that in the hours that followed we didn't see a single furred or feathered friend anywhere near the tree. I'll be curious to see what things look like when the sun finally comes up....

Happy Thanksgiving!

LOL - this one looks like this year on the ranch...


...and this one just made me laugh...

I'm not above bribery

I made a deal with the kids yesterday that we'd get them a small Christmas tree for the family room/play room if they can get it clean, and keep it clean for a week. And it has to stay clean for the duration of the tree's time in the room, or it gets taken away. I'm hoping that if they manage that for the amount of time the tree is up, they'll have gotten into some better habits. Probably wishful thinking. I just hate going into that room, and pretty much avoid it at all costs. I can't remember the last time I watched television (our only tv is in that room), or went on the treadmill - I hate walking in there. Between hubby and the two kids, the room is a complete disaster most of the time - toys, dirty socks, used dishes, etc. The four of us tackled it together last night, and it's looking much better. When I'm the only one cleaning, I find myself resenting the three of them because I truly have nothing to do with that space in the house. It irritates me that they seem to think a Cleaning Fairy will swoop in and make it all better (and that goes for the adult child I live with, too, LOL). So, in short, I hope they earn their Christmas tree, and that it gets to stay up for a long, long time.

Halloween day

Big Sis and I went over to Little Brother's school today for his class Halloween party. He dressed up as Indiana Jones/an explorer for school because there were rules about no costumes with violent themes, and I wasn't sure how they'd feel about a Jedi. He wore a denim shirt with khaki pants, a safari hat, and a pair of binoculars.


Earlier this week I found out that some of the merchants in town were going to be hosting a community trick-or-treat this afternoon, which of course the kids thought was an excellent idea. Big Sister decided that she felt too self-conscious in the vet costume ("Can't I be a black cat? Everyone else is being a black cat"), plus she kept having to tell people that she was a vet, not a doctor, so she abandoned it to be a butterfly instead. Little Brother went to a party as a pirate yesterday and had a lot of fun with the moustache and goatee, so he opted for that character again this afternoon.





I found this picture on the camera this evening. It's from the other night when Sis sat next to me on the couch taking pictures of this and that. She got a really nice self-portrait of herself and her favorite stuffed animal, Spotsy...



So we've eaten dinner (homemade pizza), and we're now waiting for night to fall so we can head out with the kids around the neighborhood to trick-or-treat. With any luck we'll be able to duck out between rain showers. Wish us luck!

Gearing up for Halloween

This year the kids are going with a "future careers" theme:



Big Sister is a veterinarian


Little Brother is a Jedi (yes, that's his Obi-wan Kenobi costume from last year)


From parkday with our homeschool group:



And our family of jack o' lanterns:

Tuesday catch-up...

Big sister and I took part in a girl scout workshop on orienteering on Sunday. It was ccccc-cold out there! The workshop was great - they had some folks from the Washington Surveyors Association who brought different maps and gps equipment, including a couple of women working in the field who told the girls all about what surveyors do, and how they can become licensed. The ladies were fantastic with the girls. The first half of the day was spent working with compasses, using them with maps, setting pace, and then using the really high-tech gps units that the professionals use. They were accurate enough to find pennies hidden in the grass. Then we broke for lunch, and had some hands-on training on regular, run-of-the-mill gps units. When we were done, we split into group to go do some geo-caching, which was a lot of fun. It's like letterboxing, but with a gps. With gps in hand, Big Sister hiked more enthusiastically then I've seen in quite some time!

Today is our homeschool group's trick-or-treat parkday. Weather looks like it will be good. I need to find something to pass out before then. We'll see what I can come up with.

Oh, I forgot to mention - Big Sis was working on her requirements for the Juniors pet care badge yesterday. One of the activities I helped her with was to determine the cost of caring for a pet monthly and yearly. She chose to figure out the costs for her rat, and we were both surprised by the results. She included things like the cost of water for drinking and cleaning, and gas to drive to the store to buy supplies, and yearly vet checks. We also factored in the monthly cost for the cage that we purchased back when we brought the rats home. Grand total: over $400/year! Who knew? Ironically, the cost of monthly dog food ends up being the same as the cost of all the rat's various needs put together. I'd have thought it cost much more to have a larger pet vs. a small one, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Granted, once you add in licensing, yearly vet and shots, plus any boarding we have to do, the dog is definitely more costly.

Happy Easter!

And now for a cross-cultural treat - an Easter haiku:
baskets found early
chocolate eaten quickly
all is now quiet

I wanted to share a recent great find with you guys. They Might Be Giants, Here Come the 123s
I LOVE this cd! We already owned "Here Come the ABCs", which the kids and I thoroughly enjoy, but this latest cd is even better. This is classic TMBG. Granted, my musical tastes tend towards quirky, so you'll probably need to decide for yourself. In particular I enjoy the songs "Number Two", "Seven", "Seven Days of the Week (I Never Go to Work)", "Pirate Girls Nine", "Nine Bowls of Soup" and "Nonagon".

My gift to the world...

I'm sewing my own giftbags this year. I've been reading, hearing, and talking with others about how much garbage the holiday gift-giving season generates for our planet, and decided that reusable giftbags were the way to go. Plus it gives me an excuse to keep doing simple sewing projects that I can complete in a short amount of time - I like quick and easy.

Here's my first giftbag, made from fabric I had sitting in my closet:



"I'M REVERSIBLE!"



And it folds up so nice for storage:



I still have some kinks to work out. The assembly process wasn't as smooth as it should have been because I was having trouble visualizing how to place the ribbons so that the bag could be reversible. I'd also like to do a mitered edge on the bottom of the bag, but I can't figure out how I can do that and have it reversible. The examples I found online were for single-sided bags. I have some ideas that I think I'll work through on some scrap material first. Maybe I'll have to whip out a bunch of these over the next 10 months, and then sell them at holiday bazaars next year! ;P

Okay family, friends, and lurking blog readers - I need your help. We're going to order photo greeting cards (should have already done that - thank goodness for Costco), and I can't decide which picture to use.

#1:

#2:

What do you think?