Since I feel entitled to spend my husband’s overtime money in advance, I took us to Burger King for dinner (they have awesome Crayola toys right now in the kid’s meals). I was a good girl and got a cheeseburger kid’s meal with apple fries and Diet Coke.
Dear Lord, can I put more brand names in one paragraph??? Xerox, Kleenex, Starbuck’s, Dell, Sprint. Yes, it looks like I CAN!
Anyway, then we went to the pool, which was DEAD since it’s only 82 degrees and the pool was chilly. But we have braved the cold ocean, so the pool was fine. Until a lifeguard got worried about Callie’s blue lips. So I put a towel around her shoulders and made her sit out a bit.
From the sidelines we watched the Cain and Abel of the aquatic world (Joel and Michael) going at it. Joel likes to spit water at people and try to dunk them. Michael likes to scream at the top of his lungs at Joel, but keeps going back for more. Callie likes to call Joel an a**hole (only once, thankfully) for the whole pool to hear.
And I’m thinking, “Kids, where’s your dad when I need him? Right, he’s in Phoenix. He’d know what to do. He had siblings, after all. He knows what’s normal and what needs discipline.” I, however, alternate between pushover and yeller. There is no in between.
Came home, dragged the trash and recycling to the curb, and cried to Aron over the phone about how much I miss him. He’s hoping only 2 more weeks in Phoenix (for a grand total of 15 instead of 10, which has shot our entire summer with him, dammit), THEN ……. THEN!!!!!!!
… Then he is going to try to take an ENTIRE WEEK OFF! Which is the week I was going to start homeschooling, but WHO CARES? Either he can help me or it can wait.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Kid Quotes
8/14/08 I heard Callie’s 6-year-old girl friend (the one she wants to marry) say OUCH and she told me Callie pulled her hair. I asked Callie why she did that and she goes, “I just love it SO MUCH.”
8/15/08 Michael, frustrated over the silver foil lid on the chocolate milk from BK, “Why do they even PUT two lids on? So you’ll get mad and smash Burger King with a giant hammer?”
Callie about Joel, “Just throw him in the street because I don’t like him.”
8/18/08 Joel, “My brain is on vacation and I asked its cousin to get in my head.”
8/15/08 Michael, frustrated over the silver foil lid on the chocolate milk from BK, “Why do they even PUT two lids on? So you’ll get mad and smash Burger King with a giant hammer?”
Callie about Joel, “Just throw him in the street because I don’t like him.”
8/18/08 Joel, “My brain is on vacation and I asked its cousin to get in my head.”
Oh, Crap. I'm Turning Into a Whole Foods Person
This is all Tresa’s fault. She’s one of my husband’s 10 million cousins and I love, love, love her! She knows how to do EVERYTHING: sewing, canning, attachment parenting, Whole Foods shopping. She’s also a work widow. AND she’s younger than me. And skinny and pretty (reminds me of Maggie Gyllenhaal). Wait, do I love her or hate her?!
So back on 8-8-08 I decided to give Whole Foods more than just a passing try. I’d been there before, but only for yogurt and a NAUGHTY, flourless chocolate cake thing for my mom’s birthday. This time I was on a mission to try lots of different things in an effort to feed my family fewer chemicals. Some yummy things:
-- Veggie Straws (like healthy Funyuns) and Veggie Chips
-- Natural peanut butter
-- Bach’s Rescue Remedy (natural stress reliever)
-- EnviroKidz organic cereals … Peanut Butter Panda Puffs, Penguin Puffs, Leapin’ Lemurs, Amazon Frosted Flakes (some of the money goes to habitat conservation, etc.)
-- Coffee-flavored yogurt
-- Organic garbanzo beans
-- Chocolate and cheddar bunnies (like Teddy Grahams and Goldfish)
I don’t want to be a food Nazi (especially since we all love our sweets around here), and Tresa is the perfect role model for not going to extremes (we ate at Chick-Fil-A together once!). The prices were reasonable, except cookies were kind of expensive and I may NEVER buy eggs there. I’ll raise my own chickens before I’ll pay $4 for a dozen eggs! Oh, and organic produce is sometimes costly, so I’ve never bought it there.
Anyone have any good Whole Foods recommendations?
So back on 8-8-08 I decided to give Whole Foods more than just a passing try. I’d been there before, but only for yogurt and a NAUGHTY, flourless chocolate cake thing for my mom’s birthday. This time I was on a mission to try lots of different things in an effort to feed my family fewer chemicals. Some yummy things:
-- Veggie Straws (like healthy Funyuns) and Veggie Chips
-- Natural peanut butter
-- Bach’s Rescue Remedy (natural stress reliever)
-- EnviroKidz organic cereals … Peanut Butter Panda Puffs, Penguin Puffs, Leapin’ Lemurs, Amazon Frosted Flakes (some of the money goes to habitat conservation, etc.)
-- Coffee-flavored yogurt
-- Organic garbanzo beans
-- Chocolate and cheddar bunnies (like Teddy Grahams and Goldfish)
I don’t want to be a food Nazi (especially since we all love our sweets around here), and Tresa is the perfect role model for not going to extremes (we ate at Chick-Fil-A together once!). The prices were reasonable, except cookies were kind of expensive and I may NEVER buy eggs there. I’ll raise my own chickens before I’ll pay $4 for a dozen eggs! Oh, and organic produce is sometimes costly, so I’ve never bought it there.
Anyone have any good Whole Foods recommendations?
Friday, August 15, 2008
I Got My Baby Back!!!
No, I’m not talking about my husband. Or any of my children.
I’m talking about my Canon Powershot G7, which was in Illinois for the last week getting some digital therapy and has been broken since mid-June.
I’m thinking Aron mistreated it. He took it to Phoenix one week, then it worked for our Branson vacation, and then it just would not turn on.
The first picture I took since getting it back was of all 4 kids sacked out in bed this morning. My digital baby took a picture of my OTHER 4 babies. And if I could find the cord to download pix onto my computer, I’d pop a shot of it in here (by the way, sorry about not being able to leave comments; I’m working on that problem).
One weird thing: the camera whines like a dying baby seal when it tries to focus.
A few days of carrying it in the sling close to my body ought to fix that problem. HA!
I’m talking about my Canon Powershot G7, which was in Illinois for the last week getting some digital therapy and has been broken since mid-June.
I’m thinking Aron mistreated it. He took it to Phoenix one week, then it worked for our Branson vacation, and then it just would not turn on.
The first picture I took since getting it back was of all 4 kids sacked out in bed this morning. My digital baby took a picture of my OTHER 4 babies. And if I could find the cord to download pix onto my computer, I’d pop a shot of it in here (by the way, sorry about not being able to leave comments; I’m working on that problem).
One weird thing: the camera whines like a dying baby seal when it tries to focus.
A few days of carrying it in the sling close to my body ought to fix that problem. HA!
Freaky #6: Homeschooling
Ah, the first day of public school, and I have a front-row seat from right across the street. I love getting up early and leaving my kids sound asleep so I can watch all the neighborhood kids walk to school while I drink my coffee. It makes me all emotional.
When Joel was just a baby, Mom told me that on his first day of kindergarten, she’d take me out to take my mind off of him starting school. Well, Mom, little did you know you planted the seeds of homeschooling in my little brain on that day.
I come from a family of teachers, and I was afraid everyone would FREAK OUT when I mumbled our intention to homeschool, but everyone has been so cool, at least to my face! I kind of worry when I see the principal looking at my house from across the street. But I know what I’m doing is not only legal, but that I’m actually giving my kids a darn good education.
A very cool woman we met in Phoenix couldn’t believe homeschooling was even legal. Oh, it’s legal, friends! Where I live you only have to be “competent” – quite the relative term – and do school for 187 days starting when the kid turns 7. You register with the state and they generally never contact you again.
In Arizona, a kid only has to be in school from ages 6 to 16, and actual instruction may be deferred till age 8, according to The Unofficial Guide to Homeschooling. It goes on to say that “there are no required teacher qualifications, testing or record keeping.” Check out this site to see the laws in your state.
Anyway, we don’t homeschool because we HATE public school or private school. It is true that all schools have their problems (including mine!). There are safety issues, that pesky No Child Left Behind debacle, apathetic teachers. And private schools cost a few thousand bucks per year.
So, we homeschool because I love being around my kids, because I know I can do a better job with my kid than someone teaching 20-30 kids, because they enjoy it, because one of my kids is a conceptual-specific learner and one is an actual-routine learner, because we have family time at night instead of hours spent doing homework, because my husband travels and we like to see him occasionally, plus many other reasons.
I know you want to ask about the Social Issue, and it’s really a non-issue. My kids are practically over-socialized. They have friends from the public school, the Catholic school, the neighborhood, the several homeschool groups we are in. They are friends with the kids of my friends. They have cousins and second cousins their age they play with. We even babysit some older kids sometimes.
This morning I heard a mother excitedly tell the crossing guard, “The first day of school! It’s like Christmas Day for parents!” I respectfully disagree.
Check out this article!
Youth Homeschooling: A Smart Parent's Guide to Successfully Homeschooling Children
Update from July 2020: We graduated our first homeschooler!
When Joel was just a baby, Mom told me that on his first day of kindergarten, she’d take me out to take my mind off of him starting school. Well, Mom, little did you know you planted the seeds of homeschooling in my little brain on that day.
I come from a family of teachers, and I was afraid everyone would FREAK OUT when I mumbled our intention to homeschool, but everyone has been so cool, at least to my face! I kind of worry when I see the principal looking at my house from across the street. But I know what I’m doing is not only legal, but that I’m actually giving my kids a darn good education.
A very cool woman we met in Phoenix couldn’t believe homeschooling was even legal. Oh, it’s legal, friends! Where I live you only have to be “competent” – quite the relative term – and do school for 187 days starting when the kid turns 7. You register with the state and they generally never contact you again.
In Arizona, a kid only has to be in school from ages 6 to 16, and actual instruction may be deferred till age 8, according to The Unofficial Guide to Homeschooling. It goes on to say that “there are no required teacher qualifications, testing or record keeping.” Check out this site to see the laws in your state.
Anyway, we don’t homeschool because we HATE public school or private school. It is true that all schools have their problems (including mine!). There are safety issues, that pesky No Child Left Behind debacle, apathetic teachers. And private schools cost a few thousand bucks per year.
So, we homeschool because I love being around my kids, because I know I can do a better job with my kid than someone teaching 20-30 kids, because they enjoy it, because one of my kids is a conceptual-specific learner and one is an actual-routine learner, because we have family time at night instead of hours spent doing homework, because my husband travels and we like to see him occasionally, plus many other reasons.
I know you want to ask about the Social Issue, and it’s really a non-issue. My kids are practically over-socialized. They have friends from the public school, the Catholic school, the neighborhood, the several homeschool groups we are in. They are friends with the kids of my friends. They have cousins and second cousins their age they play with. We even babysit some older kids sometimes.
This morning I heard a mother excitedly tell the crossing guard, “The first day of school! It’s like Christmas Day for parents!” I respectfully disagree.
Check out this article!
Youth Homeschooling: A Smart Parent's Guide to Successfully Homeschooling Children
Update from July 2020: We graduated our first homeschooler!
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