What's that, Sophie?

Playing outside in the freezing cold with your water table so you can make your ducky swim is how you want to spend your afternoon? Wearing only your diaper, a swim-robe, your sister's boots, and your coat? 

Well, okay. 

Come on horses!

My parents gave Olivia, Jolie, & Sophie these darling stick horses for Christmas. On the side of the head is a zipper with a battery pack inside. We have been downright abusive to these horses trying to figure out how to get them to make sounds, but we couldn't figure it out! They would randomly play a bit of enchanted music or make galloping sounds, but we had no idea what caused the noises. Finally, I talked with my sister whose 2 girls also received horses and she let me in on the secret - buttons in the ears! 

Now we have lots of noise- yes, I should have thought about that!

Sick girls

These two are still not feeling well. It seems like this virus is lasting FOREVER - 3+ weeks so far!! 

Hopefully by the time this picture posts on the blog they will be feeling much better.

A favorite spot

In the kitchen next to the heating vent. 

I'm constantly tripping over these two!

Helping

Putting silverware away while eating breakfast. 

So what if everything is a little greasy?

Things that go bump in the night

So, I just noticed Jo's black eye yesterday. Look at those bruises. They are old bruises. I think the night time event she's talking about was actually 3 or 4 nights ago. I vaguely remember geting mad at her because she was being loud and woke me up. What? No mom of the year award? *Sigh*

Guess where Jo gets her wild hair? Olivia likes to laugh at me in the mornings- "Crazy hair, mom!" Don't you like how crazy my glasses make my face look? Blind as a bat. 

Hello Mr. Doctor-Sir, we're back!

I wish I could spend as much time with The Doctor as we do at the doctor's. Although, I think my life is just as eventful as if I was running around the universe fixing alien problems. Except I don't have a real Tardis. Just a cookie jar Tardis my kids think I should actually keep cookies in- HA. 

Anyways, I'm rambling. Sophie woke up at 3 in the morning and decided she should stay awake. Of course. 

She went back to sleep at 5:30. Jolie came in at 6. Of course. 

I'm a little tired of doctor's offices. Of nurses who ask Olivia if she's ever had her blood pressure taken. Or explain every little thing they want her to do in excruciating detail when she's done it so many times before- "Stand up against the wall right here. Put your shoes against the wall. Stand up straight and keep your head straight so we can see how tall you are." In their sing-songy-children-will-love-me voices. I cringe when I see "student" on the nurse's name tag- oh please no. 

But they don't know. They have no idea. So I stay polite and focused on what needs to happen today, i.e. avoid talking about NF1. As if that's possible.

Olivia has been sick for 3+ weeks. Nasty cold-virus-thingy. She's was on the mend, but over the weekend she became pale, lethargic, and oh so crying & whining about everything, so in we went. 

Her throat is swollen and red. Her left ear has fluid building and is on it's way to an infection. Her lymph nodes are swollen. Sinuses look infected. 

The doctor asked Olivia if her ears hurt. 

"Yes, my ear hurts when I wear headphones."

He looks to me to interpret. 

"She has a plexiform neurofibroma around her left ear and when she wears headphones it makes her ear hurt. But she hasn't been complaining about her ears hurting related to being sick."

Questions. Explanations. Hoping the student nurse isn't called in to see what NF1 looks like in real life. Not this time. Good.

Hmmmm, well, it could be this, or maybe it's that. 

Strep test negative. 

Diagnoses: secondary infection as a result of the nasty cold-virus-thingy. 

Olivia is begging to go home. She fell asleep while we waited for the test results and all she wants to do is curl up on the couch and nap. Instead we go to the store for her antibiotics and while we wait we shop for sick-people food- jello, sherbet, pudding, juice, and cheetos per her request. We're discussing the highlights of the Valentine's aisle when I get a phone call. An automated message tells me her prescription is ready. Weird. 

And we go home. She falls asleep watching Astroboy. Nyah and Sophie have simultaneous meltdowns, waking her up. We eat strawberry jello. It makes everything ok. 

And everything is ok. 

Friends

So, somehow I forgot my kids' friends were coming to stay with us for a few days. It's kind of a big thing so I don't know how I forgot, but I did. Our friends watched our kids while we went to Hawaii back in November and they wanted to do a stay-cation sans kids so they could work on projects at home and spend time together alone. Have a conversation without kids. Wink wink. Luckily, my friend reminded me the day before they were coming. I had just enough time to think about where to put everyone. 

So I was going to have 9 kids for 3 days. 

Unfortunately, my friend's husband ended up in the hospital for emergency gall bladder surgery. Yeah, seriously. Good timing, I guess? Is there ever a good time to have emergency surgery? So they ended up staying an extra day.

The kids had a great time with each other. All I had to do was feed them semi-regularly and organize clean-up missions once in a while.

Aside from a naked toddler incident, the older girls encouraging the toddlers to kiss each other, and a craisan bag explosion perpetuated by Jolie, we all had a great time. 

I hope I've figured out how to get my videos to work:

Diligence - This is Life

You might think my New Year's to be more diligent is off to a rocky start. I've had more than one moment where I've wondered.....

The first week my older kids were sick. Resting, movies, and snuggling - instead of getting back to our routines.

Olivia needed her tooth pulled, then we went back so she could gag on foam to make an imprint of her mouth, and we get to go back next week to have a spacer put it. 

The second week the other half of my kids were sick. More resting, movies, and snuggling.

I'm still wrestling with our PC-to-Mac conversion. It's involved a lot of downloading software that doesn't want to work right on the Mac and trying to figure out why. And kids missing an entire week of some of their classes. Oy. 

Nyah's dog bite. 

Going into our third week. Still sick kids. Never-ending sick kids. Poor Olivia has been sick with one thing or another since Christmas. 

And I forgot I told my friend I would watch her 4 kids for 3 days and 3 nights. I don't know how I forgot that but I did. Until the day before they were going to come and my friend emailed me something about it and I was like, "Wait. What?! Tomorrow?" Oh my. 

However, in the middle of one night, as I sat snuggling and rocking my feverish Sophie girl back to sleep, a very profound thought came-

This is life. 

Well, it seemed fairly profound for 3 a.m. 

Maybe things aren't going according to my plan. But let's be real for a minute, it very rarely ever does. 

Oh no, my life is wild & crazy. I'm very familiar with the wildness and craziness around here. Oh yes. 

Sometimes I try to squish it in neat rows and columns. Somedays we stick to those neat rows and columns and it feels great when we do. 

But so many things don't fit into rows and columns. 

A husband needing my undivided attention to tell me something important.
A boy needing me to listen as he chatters about his latest video game quest. 
A girl needing me to help her know she can be brave and do hard things. 
A girl needing me holding her hand while the dentist pulls her tooth. 
A girl needing me while she throws up all night long.
A feverish little girl crying for comfort in the night and needing her mom. 

I'm the mom. I have a job to do. 

Diligence = 

constant and earnest effort; 

perseverance in carrying out action; 

determination.

I've really felt diligent the last few weeks even though we haven't had a week of sticking to my plans. Not even a single day. Little parts of some days. 

However, there also hasn't been any woe-is-me-attitude. No poor-me-pity-parties. No look-at-me-being-a-martyr. 

A little bit of happy dancing because I haven't gotten sick. 

Yet, anyways. Knock on wood. Throw salt over my shoulder. Evil be gone. Or some old-fashioned washing my hands, drinking noni tea, eating veggies, and popping vitamin c at all hours of the day :)

This is life. I like it. 

Happy BIrthday Olivia!

Olivia is 6 years old!! Woohoo!!

She picked spaghetti and meatballs for dinner. Ice cream sandwiches for desert. 

She wanted to go swimming, but the rec center pool was closed that day for the 2 hours we could go swimming, and now we have to wait a week or so until Nyah's cheek heals. But we will go swimming sometime, someday!! 

Thank you everyone who sent her a card or present! She is having so much fun with all her presents- and so is everyone else!

Diligence- Home Organization

In order to give myself more accountability, I thought I would share some of the resources I'm using to help me be more diligent.

Homeschool BlastOff! Mess to Success in 35 days - I'm a long time user & follower of Milestone's Academy. There was a yahoo group where the author/creator answered questions, shared her ideas, gave advice, and so much more, but it disappeared over the Christmas break. Very sad. I do not completely follow how things are outlined in Homeschool BlastOff- I make it work for me. There is a lot of practical advice that can apply to all families, not only homeschool families - routines, "touch it once," a place for everything, family work, and so on.

Motivated Moms - I've been trying this app and I don't like the system. I like to start a job and finish it the same day, so doing a little bit of laundry each day or washing one shelf in the fridge each day is annoying to me. However, others may be okay with that kind of a system so I wanted to mention it.

Managers of Their Home - I love the advice and support found in this book! However, it's also a little challenging. Planning my days in half an hour increments for every minute of the day for each person? I constantly have to remind myself it's only a guide and we can be flexible, but it's also really good to have something I can glance at and know what everyone should be doing.

It's also important to be realistic. Many times I've create our schedule to be what I wish we were doing instead of what really happens. It's important to work hard and have high expectations, but be realistic at the same time. I also have to chant my mantra - Simplify! Simplify! Simplify! - while I'm working on our schedule so I keep my plans doable.

Monday, Tuesday, & Wednesday are our at home days, and so they are our main school work days- math, history, technology classes, & language arts. Austin & Nyah can do their school work mostly on their own, which leaves me to work with the little girls and do housework. Thursday mornings are piano lessons - Olivia & Jolie joined Austin, Nyah, & I this month - and afternoons are commonwealth clubs & activities. Friday mornings we do science & art, alternating with Olivia's speech appointments every other week. There are periods of time on Thursday & Friday where Austin & Nyah can finish up the school work they need to complete for the week. During the week we focus on maintenance cleaning and Saturdays are our big family cleaning days- bedrooms, deep cleaning, projects, and so on.

Below the schedule you can see my Kitchen Helper chart. The kids all have a job to do in the kitchen during meal times - cooking/preparing food, set table, clear table, sweep, dishes. This can be incredibly helpful, especially when Austin & Nyah are my cooking helpers, or it can be challenging and time consuming, such as when my little girls are my cooking helpers. But they all are happy to help and I'm looking forward to the time when they can take over the kitchen work.

My kids all have chore charts - get dressed, brush teeth, make bed, and similar stuff. The older two are also responsible for cleaning a bathroom each week, vacuuming a section of the house, trash/recycling, & pets. Every day after dinner we do a basket clean up as outlined in Homeschool BlastOff.

Great Homeschool Posts

Se7en + 1 Things That Seasoned Homeschoolers Don’t Always Share…

Tips for Emphasizing the Positive

Homeschooling When Dad is Not Home

How To Create an Official High School Transcript for Your Homeschool Graduate

My Favorite Charlotte Mason Moment

A new eBook I'm very excited about:

A Simple Start in Chalk Pastels - We loved using Nana@Hodgepodge's pastel tutorials!

Update: Southern HodgePodge is also giving away a great new ebook - Return of the Routine. Lots of great advice!

Dog Bite

A couple days ago Nyah and her friend, Taylor, were playing in the backyard at another friend's house. I was inside chatting with my friends. The girls were trying to play with the friend's dog. Nyah says she was trying to get the dog's toy to play with it, when the dog bit her on the face. Taylor was bitten on her arm when she tried to come to Nyah's rescue. 

Taylor was wearing her winter coat and it has a few holes. Her arm is sore and bruised. Nyah's face has bruising and swelling on the side, a couple scrapes, and one deeper cut. When I was able to look closely, I figured she'd need a stitch or two. The cut isn't very deep, but it was gaping some and it's in the middle of her face. So into Insta-care we went. Oy.

We were fortunate to have a doctor who almost went into plastic surgery, so she'd done 4 plastic surgery rotations and knew how to do some fancy under the skin stitches to minimize the scarring. Because it's a dog bite, Nyah also had a tetanus shot and gets to take antibiotics for the next week or so. Her glasses took quite a beating as well - thank heavens she was wearing them - there are 3 gashes in the glass where the dog's teeth struck and they were mangled. 

All fixed up. 

Unfortunately, it's Nyah's preferred cheek to sleep on, so it keep getting bumped and bleeding. I don't know if the stitches are going to work or not. They aren't tied or knotted - to minimize scarring - and they will pull right out. The tape is holding the stitches tight and in place. However, this morning we had to re-tighten the stitches and replace some tape. I'll pull out the stitches in 3 more days so I hope it heals enough to be okay. 

How is Nyah today? Overall, she's doing good. She hasn't been able to sleep well the last couple nights. She's been icing her cheek so the bruising and swelling have gone down. I bent her glasses back into a workable shape, but they are under warranty so they will be completely replaced. She's not too happy with all the extra attention, but wouldn't dream of missing all her clubs and activities. 

I'm so tired of hospitals/doctors/waiting rooms I almost super glued it. I'm going to learn how so I can in the future. Or I'll take a suture class? Lessons on YouTube maybe? It's obviously a life skill I need. 

P.S. Because I know people will wonder, our friends are trying to find a new home for their dog. The dog was being a dog - protective of her property. She's older and was probably agitated for a number of reasons (helicopters, strange people walking around, strange kids trying to play with her, and so on). The dog has never bitten or been aggressive towards children before, but they don't want to risk another incident- they have 6 kids of their own. If they can't find a suitable place for her they will probably have her put down. Very sad. 

Kids' theme for 2013

For the first time ever my kids are going to have a theme for the year. So far, I don't think they appreciate my idea. They certainly don't like my reminders. But they need this kind of a reminder frequently. Me too. 

2013 Kids' Theme

“Therefore, all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them…” –Matthew 7:12

“Do unto others what you would have them do unto you.” –Golden Rule

We're the American Mohawks and we rock!!!

Austin's lego club - the American Mohawks - had it's First Lego League (FLL) competition this past weekend. 

I didn't get to the competition until lunch time, but another mom told me a story about the opening ceremonies. During the parade all the teams were introducing themselves and the other teams were using normal, quiet voices, but not our team! Sean came the the microphone and yelled, "WE"RE THE AMERICAN MOHAWKS & WE ROCK!!!" And all the boys started jumping around, head-banging, and rocking out. Love it!

They had 3 presentations: Project, Robot Design, & Core Values and then they did 3 robot missions. The presentations were put together and presented by the boys, all by themselves. The coaches & parents don't get to watch, so I don't have any pictures of them (I wasn't there anyways), but the boys said they went well. 

Getting ready for robot missions

 Austin ready for the first robot mission - this is unfortunately the mission where something was wrong with the programming. 

Fixing the programming problem with robot.

Waiting for next round & letting another team use their mat - coopertition is part of the competition!! 

Unfortunately, the programming problem during the first robot mission meant they placed 17th of 20 teams in that part of the competition. They only scored a 35 the first mission, and scored 145 and 140 on the 2nd and 3rd missions. The first place team's score was 343, so they were thisclose to having a better finish in this part of the competition. They were disappointed, but handled it pretty well.

However (drum roll please), they won the Project portion of the competition!! 

The very shiny reflection to the right of the poster is the trophy and Austin is behind it.

Project poster which Austin has displayed in his bedroom-

The theme this past year is Senior Solutions. After interviewing seniors about the problems they face, the boys decided to design new bifocals. They used legos to make a gear sort of thing that lifts the bifocal lens up and down in front of the glasses. It's not on the poster anymore because the boy who donated the legos to make it wanted them back (of course).

Thank you to our coaches - Coach Ed & Sarah Felt! And Coach Jason for helping out Saturday! 

New Year's Day walk

My girls couldn't possibly walk on the nice, clear sidewalks. Oh no, they had to trudge through the snow drifts yelling "charge" and climb to the top of the highest snow mounds and yell "I'm king of the mountain!" 

Love - Love - Love my girls!

Playing at Scheels

Kurt & Nyah were off shopping while the rest of us entertained ourselves. We are easily entertained :)

2013- here it comes!

As each year is coming to an end I begin thinking about a theme for the new year. Sometimes it's a word, sometimes a scripture or idea. For 2013, I've picked a word that represents a concept I want to work on for the year:

Diligence.

Consistency, Perseverance, 

Dedication, Dependability, and so on. 

Constant and earnest effort to accomplish what is undertaken. 

Persistent exertion of body or mind. 

Steady and careful application. 

Proper attention or care.

Industriousness.

Perseverance in carrying out action.

Mindfulness.

Determination and strong will.

I'm not very good at being diligent. Most of the time I feel like I'm flying by the seat of my pants (tangent: which is a weird idiom- where did it come from?). 

This week I've been gradually working us into our school schedule- get up earlier, get dressed, breakfast, morning devotional, chores, etc., in anticipation of starting up again next week. 

Well, all my hard work went out the window this morning- called the dentist at 8:00 a.m. and soon we were out the door so Olivia could have an abscessed tooth pulled (tangent: and why does all this crap happen to Olivia?! Day 4 of the new year and she's already been numbed, had a tooth yanked out- seriously it's no small effort to pull a tooth, and now she's biting on cotton wads to stop the bleeding). 

The other kids stayed home, fending for themselves, watching cartoons (tangent: love-love-love having older kids who can watch younger kids). Since we have to get out the door for other commitments soon (tangent: so excited Austin's lego club is almost over), I feel like there's no point in pulling everyone away from what they are working on back to "the schedule." 

But that's the core of my problem - when things go wrong, i.e. not according to my plan, I let them throw me off, and I think why bother? 

Diligent people persevere through anything that is thrown their way, even if it is really hard. 

The truth is, my life is challenging - not in a "life is horrible and it sucks" way, because I love my life, it's the life I've chosen and I'm not going to make different choices. In addition to the normal challenges of caring for my family and home (planning meals, housework, spending quality time with everyone-especially the my husband!), there are some differences.

I've chosen to homeschool and it's absolutely worth it to me, but it creates demand on my time and energy and focus. Sometimes I let it demand too much of my time and energy and focus. 

I have a daughter with a progressive genetic condition and it's progressing. This means doctor's appointments and scheduling annoyances - it's hard to have a consistent daily schedule when you have to take the best available appointment time with a myriad of specialists. Olivia's speech therapist, who specializes in her unique breathing and voice challenges, only does appointments in the morning. Olivia also needs daily, consistent help with her speech/voice exercises. She needs daily physical exercise. 

One of my other daughter's has learning and behavior challenges that we are trying to figure out. This means constant interruptions and draining of my energy and patience reserves to keep her working and progressing. It means I spend large amounts of time investigating the best ways to help her. She needs daily, consistent assistance with basic subjects. When we are consistent she progresses in leaps and bounds.  

Diligent people work hard to get what they want or need. 

With all of this going on, I've grown tired of "making do." I want our day-to-day experiences as a family to be better. 

Higher quality.  

Less time on the maintenance of our family, and more time enjoying each other. 

No more wondering what needs to be done and how it's going to get done. 

No more 4 year old tornado moving from one room to the next because she doesn't have something to do and doesn't know how to constructively direct her energy (weeeeelllllll, I think Jo has one of those constantly-busy-creative-exploring-sometimes-mischievous personalities, so I'm expecting her to continue being her fabulous self, but we'll work on understanding boundaries and developing excellent clean-up-afterwards skills). 

No more acting out and tantrums and end-of-the-world events, because of Mom's unclear "flying by the seat of my pants" expectations. 

*Sigh* it's so intimidating when it all comes down to me. 

Diligent people will go above and beyond the requirements to get the job done. 

I'm hoping to be a "diligent people." Balance. Order. Consistency. It's time to go above and beyond. 

"Some people dream of success, while others wake up & work hard at it."

-Winston Churchill

Merry Christmas!

More Books

Guess how I've been spending my Christmas vacation? Well, tomorrow it's back to the grindstone so I won't be doing much free reading.

After my annual reciting of "Animal Crackers" by Christopher Morley to my kids over hot cocoa and animals crackers following an afternoon of playing in the snow, I started to wonder what else Christopher Morley has written. So I read Parnassus on Wheels and started The Haunted Bookshop. They are light and fun and quick reads.

 More attempts to find a good murder mystery series-

A Royal Pain by Rhys Bowen - Slow and unexciting. It's a fun premise - 32nd in line to inherit the throne, a woman of noble birth must make her own way in the world and solves murders as she goes. I'm not sure I'm all that interested in reading more, but maybe the other books get better?

Murder on Astor Place by Victoria Thompson - I'm trying to think of what to say about this book and the only thing that comes to mind is "Ick" but that's more to do with the nature of the crimes commited than the book. Overall, slow and unexciting and choppy, and everything was sort of thrown together at the end. I may try one or two more just to see if they get any better. 

Fun Reads-

The Spy Princess & The Trouble with Kings by Sherwood Smith - I think Smith's plots ramble around a bit, but overall enjoyable and entertaining. These would be what I consider Book Candy- delicious, but shouldn't read them all the time.

The Ordinary Princess by M. M. Kaye - a delightful tale about an ordinary princess. I'd guess around 2nd or 3rd grade level. Really wonderful. 

More serious books I'm working my way through-

Asperger's and Girls by Tony Atwood & others

POsitive Discipline for Children with Special Needs by Jane Nelson

Never Be Sick Again by Raymond Francis

Healing the Gerson Way by Charlotte Gerson

Homeschool BlastOff! by Kathryn Louis

And I need to finish reading Laddie by Gene Stratton-Porter for my book club this Friday. 

Happy New Year!!

I have a couple adorable videos of Sophie falling asleep while eating. When I figure out why they aren't uploading from the @#$%^ new computer I'll get them posted. Really, everything is going to be okay. I'm going to figure everything out and LOVE the new computer. Yep. 

Meanwhile, use your imagination? :)

That pretty much sums up our New Year's Eve :)

Christmas Eve Family Program

Richards Family Christmas Program

December 24, 2012

Little Girls singing "Jingle Bells" acc. by Nyah

Dad playing Guitar

Mom playing Piano

Austin playing Piano

Nyah playing Piano

Family singing "Once there was a Snowman"

Nyah singing "Jolly Old St. Nicholas" acc. by Austin

Family singing "Away in a Manger" acc. by Nyah

We ended with opening up Christmas PJ's from Aunt Elaine & Uncle Nathan-

& watching Christmas cartoons until it was bedtime.