You haven't lived...

...until you've heard Griffin sing the theme song from Sanford & Son. "Buh-buh-buh-Bun-nuh..."

More "Mermaid Lagoon"

This is a continuation of Avery's story I posted a couple of weeks ago.

i now swam forward,and swam in.i walkd (i
mean swam in)and boghut seaweed sea cream
soda,and sat with my new tail to the side
of my chair,waiting.hello,i said in a very
casuele way.i`m kate,she said."i`m riligh!"
i told her,smiling.after this,"kate said,i
will take you too mergirl park,"oh kate,i
said,"i'm sorry,i have to go home,but hmmm.
...tomarow,8:02?oh,.....well,see you,'bye'"
she answerd.
<>*^+<>*+<>*+<>*+<>*+<>*+<>*+
Honey,mom said,eat that apple salad,""oh...
fine..."i finishd,and ran upstairs,and the
smimming-bag in my hands,jumpd in,and met
kate below the serfice.kate was greatly
pleasd. (great!)she said.lillyyyyy!!!!!!
i shouted,lilly swam closer.To my great big
suprise,lilly had a tail!"lil,please go,i`m
pleading,"i said,unhappilly.lilly did`nt
move.i moved tourd kate,hoping to get away
from lil.kate and i had disipeard in a big
zoom."look,kate,sorry,no time,i have to go,
tomarow,"i said i`ll go to mergirl school,
with you!""i`ll meet you at 'the mermaid
lAGOON',she said,and i disipeard.
<><>//++<><>//++
"sure your ready,?"askd kate."i coudent be
more ready!"i said happily.i swishd my tail
and disipeard.the school turned out too be
A large cave,with stools tied to the ground
with rope. little mergirls'and merboys were
all around the room,all with soft,shiney
scales."oooh," i said,"its a dream," kate,
smiled.she was looking at a plump girl,
nametagd,"sally." "ah,"said the teacher,
"A visoter!"she was delighted.the plump
girl raisd her hand."yes,mrs.delquew?"the
teachcher said."miss,you said we woud learn
merish,mam,"she piped up."indeed i did!"she
said,"here you are."
THE LEARNING BOOK OF MERISH.by jean delq
ALPHABET ORDER:
a,b,bg,cc,d,e,fff, gt, hh,iee,jj,kkk,ll,mo,
nn,oas, pp,qq,rrt,swe,trewq,uuu,vvl,wwwwww,
xxxx,yitrweq,zzioomjrq.
"its' very complicatated,"i whisperd.next:
NAMES:
hhannahh(hannah)moayiitrweqa(maya)sweally-
iterweq (sally)
i tore my eyes from the book,this is so,so,
imposible!poor kate! she lookd even more
bewilderd then i do. finally, school was
over.i past my test.it was time to go."ill'
see you tomarow......" and i swam away.

Garage sale

This week, on a whim, I decided that we should have a garage sale. I needed to get the garage cleaned out so that I could park my car in it again, but I don't think I quite realized the work involved in having a garage sale. I spent all week organizing, pricing, and advertising. It was worth the hard work in the end, because we ended up making almost $300!

The kids really wanted to get involved, so a good friend of mine came up with the great idea to have the kids sell cupcakes and lemonade. So they set up a stand, and charged 25 cents for a cupcake and 10 cents for lemonade. They ended up making $8 to split!

Avery's first meet

Avery had her first meet last Saturday in Georgetown. She was very nervous at first, but after a couple of rotations, she felt great! It's really neat how they run the meets; there's really no pressure on the girls at all. They do score them, but the judges don't flash the scores so the girls never know what they get. They just wave a flag based on their score (blue for scores from 8-9, red for 7-8, white for 6-7, and yellow for below 6). Then everyone gets to take home ribbons and a medal. Avery did great, and her only flaw was that she sped through her routines. In fact, on the floor, she ended up holding her ending pose for about 10 seconds while her music finished up. She handled it like a pro, though, and didn't get upset at all! Yay! She's already looking forward to the next meet, which will be in about two weeks in San Antonio.

Sir Rhys

Rhys's 4th birthday party

We had Rhys's party at the Inflatable Wonderland at the mall. We only had a few families come, and it was very nice. The kids jumped and played, then we headed up to the food court for pizza and Star Wars cupcakes. Rhys was very excited that there was one particular bouncer that was labeled for kids 3 and under. He pointed out to everyone he saw that he couldn't go in that one, because he's FOUR!!!! now.

The curse continues

So after my van was repaired and Dad's car had a new battery, I hoped we were in the clear. Well, apparently the curse moved from vehicles to appliances. This week both the lawnmower AND the dryer broke. The lawnmower...we can live without for a bit. The dryer...boy, that's a vital appliance! I went out and bought a clothes line so I could do a little laundry while I'm waiting for the dryer to be fixed, and wouldn't you know it, the clothes line broke too! UGH! Laundromat, here I come!

NBTS Party

Here's a picture from the Area Homeschooler's Not Back to School Party. It's held every year on the first day of public school. This is our third year going, and it's always a blast!

Gender roles

Rhys said to me today: Hey, maybe when Avery gets short hair and turns into a boy, we'll name her Rhys and she'll like to lightsaber fight and sword fight too!

Poor guy, he might just have to wait for Griffin to grow up. ;-)

Transportation saga

Oy. Car trouble is no fun anytime, but August is *not* the time to be stranded on the side of the road. Especially with miserable, whiny, hot kids.

This week I needed to take my van into the shop to get some work done. We couldn't all fit in Bill's little blue car, so Dad kindly agreed to let us trade cars with him so we could drive his Durango while the van was in the shop. I used his car without incident until Thursday, when I took Avery and Rhys to Milwood Library for a co-op meeting and Harriet the Spy viewing party. On the way to the library, I noticed that we were low on gas, but we were running late, so I decided that I'd just wait and get gas after the library. So we rushed to the library and got there just in time for the movie to start. After it ended, we went out to the car, loaded everyone up, and I attempted to start the car. But the car wouldn't start. At first I was afraid that I'd run out of gas (which I've never done before!), but I quickly realized that the problem was the battery. I didn't have any jumper cables, so I called Boomph and Carolyn to come help me. They came pretty quickly, and it didn't take long to get the car running again. However, I was very worried about the gas situation! I was too afraid to turn off the car to get gas, so I decided to just go home as fast as I could. Carolyn and Boomph followed me for a while, and the car seemed fine so they headed home. I made it as far as our highway exit, and the car stalled. I was able to get safely to the side of the road, but then we were stuck. We were only a few miles from home, but Bill had no car there to come help us! So, once again, I called Carolyn and Boomph. Carolyn was so sweet to drive out to Round Rock to come pick us up. It only took her about 30 minutes, but it felt like an eternity stuck in that hot car in the 100+ degree temperatures! I felt so bad for the kids. :-(

The story goes on, but the gist of it is that we got the car home, but we can't get the battery to hold a charge. We did get our van back, so at least we're not stranded anymore. I just feel terrible that I was driving when Dad's car stopped working! It wasn't my fault, but still...ugh.

Avery's book

I constantly come across the first chapter of different books Avery is writing. I thought I'd share the one that was on the computer screen when I sat down tonight.

MERMAID lAGOON CHAPTER1:
THE lAGOON OF lOVE

one time,on a boat,out at sea,I was writing
a book aboat mermaids,it so happend,when I
lookd up,a slender thin green tail whippd
out of the water,and my frind,maria,had too
lookd up and seen it too!neck & neck we j-
umpd off.kelsie,my aunt,saw it all.she was
wailing loudly,thinking id'died.only when
lilly screechd she saw my head come up did
kelsie calm down enough too say; "is she-,
alive?"in a shakey squeeky voice."yes,-...
im pretty sure,"lilly squeekd.miles deep,i
was swimming deeper and deeper when i lookd
over my shoulder,and a mergirl caught up.
she jesjurd toward a lagoon labled:
"THE LAGOON OF LOVE"and you shoud see the
inside.pearls and dimonds filld the room!
i coud not bilive my eyes.the mergirl must
have sinced this,for she said:"you love the
buity of this place," "yes,"i said softly.
and that was true. (how coudent you?)

4 years ago...

Hard to believe it's been four years. Happy birthday my little Rhyscake!

Bath woes

Every night Rhys has to throw a fit about taking a bath. I don't know why, especially since he loves it once he's in and I have to force him out. So today I told him it was time to take a bath, and as usual, he started his nightly tantrum. I was trying to ignore the fit and stay upbeat, so I told him, "Rhys, you have to take a bath so you can be clean for your birthday party tomorrow!" He suddenly stopped crying and said, "Wait! I'll just eat my cake with a fork! Then I can be really, really dirty!" I guess the dirt doesn't matter if he's not eating with his hands!

Funny moments

The other day I asked Rhys to put away his laundry (which consisted of two pairs of underwear and a pair of pajamas), and he immediately collapsed on the floor, started sobbing, and wailed, "But that takes hard wooooooooooooork!" God forbid!

Rhys is really enjoying his new castle and knight figures that he got as early birthday presents. He was very involved in an elaborate game yesterday, and I noticed the names of his knights: Professor Snake (aka Prof. Snape from Harry Potter), King Arthur, and Hercules. Quite the literary trio!

Last week all three children were in bed, and Bill and I were in the living room. Suddenly, we heard a huge crash, and Avery runs in, sobbing hysterically. She was so loud and panicked that it took us quite a while to understand what had happened. Finally, she calmed down long enough to tell us that Jasper was chewing on an aerosol hairspray can and popped it, spraying hairspray all over her and her room. After a shower, Avery was as good as new, although she was a little embarassed about her panic. For Bill and me, besides that first moment of terror when we didn't know what had happened, the whole event was quite humorous!

Back to school time

It's that time of year...school is officially back in session. Many moms count down the minutes until summer vacation ends, including me. But, instead of dreaming of an empty, quiet house, I'm looking forward to taking back our city! We are very spoiled during the school year, and we hate having to share our parks, pools, libraries, and museums with mobs of children during the summer. We are thrilled to return to "normal", when we get to wander alone through museums, swing for as long as we want at the park, and actually find the books we want at the library.

We have enjoyed our summer; we swam, played in the sprinkler, drew with chalk outside, ate countless popsicles, and went for many walks. Of course, all of these activities have to be done before 11:00am or after 7:00pm when it's not so hot that we melt when we walk outside. We have spent the daytime hours inside when possible, playing board games, doing art, listening to books on tape, and enjoying each other's company. We have also done schoolwork all summer, because for us, learning is year round. We haven't done as much formal work for the past few months because of Avery's rigorous summer gymnastics schedule. But we've kept up for the most part, and in the next few weeks we'll get back to our normal routine.

It's funny...being a homeschooling family is always part of our identity, but I am always more acutely aware of it at this time of year. Anytime we're in public, my children are asked what grade they're in (which, for some reason, is a mind-boggling question for Avery -- her answer is always the same, "uhhhhhhh..." with a sideways glance at me), what school they go to, or whether or not they're excited about going back to school. And of course, once these questions are answered, I get the raised-eyebrow look that homeschoolers know all too well. Some brave (nosy) souls even follow the "look" up with the innocuous question: Why do you homeschool? Of course the short version to this simple question is long enough to be a college thesis, and honestly, I'm just too exhausted and busy trying to keep my toddler alive to answer it effectively. So, when I saw this article linked on a friend's blog, I knew my problem was solved. I just need to make copies of this and carry it in my diaper bag, don't you think?

You're on notice!

The paradox of Rhys

Poor Rhys. It's hard being almost four. One minute you're fraught with injustice and unhappiness, and the next minute, the world is your oyster. We have been experiencing many of these contradictory moments recently. Just today he went from fit throwing to three minutes later, saying to me, "I love you, Mom. You're a good Mama." He even turned to Avery and said, "She's a good Mama, right Avery?" Awwwww. What a sweetheart. (I won't go into the surly pre-tween look that Avery gave him in response.)

Speaking of Rhys, he is really learning to swim! Today we swam at Doug's house, and he swam back and forth from me to the steps (about 5 feet). I am so impressed! Just a few weeks ago, he'd get nervous when water splashed in his face. Now he goes all the way under the water and swims too!

More Rhys brags: Three weeks ago, I started teaching Rhys a letter a week. He's picking them up very quickly, and can recognize, say the sound, and write A, a, B, b, C, and c. He already knew how to write R, H, O, and P. He's deeply into writing and coloring now, and he spends a lot of his time practicing his letters in his notebooks or coloring in his knights and vikings coloring books.

The latest...

Today Avery had another mock meet. Unfortunately Griffin came down with a cold yesterday, so poor Linah was subjected to babysitting cranky, sick Pooky...which is even more difficult than normal cranky, busy Pooky. She survived though, and seemed to manage fine for the three hours I was gone. Avery did well at the meet, and handled the disappointment of falling off the beam well. (In the past, she has cried whenever she makes a mistake with people watching.) I don't think it hurt that just about everyone in her group fell off the beam at least once, but still, I am feeling encouraged. This was their last mock meet, and the first real meet is in two weeks. Eeek!

Other notable events this week: On Monday, we went to The Cheesecake Factory with our family to celebrate my grandmother Carolyn's birthday. Avery, Rhys, and I went; Bill stayed home with the uncivilized toddler. We had a good time -- how could you have a bad time if there's cheesecake involved?! On Tuesday, I had my monthly knitting night with my friends. I really look forward to it every month. It's so nice to get out and talk with other women -- and without our children around to interrupt every 2.5 seconds! On Thursday before Harry and the Potters, we visited Pieces of the Past, which is such a fun place to browse. We bought a really cool metal lizard to hang on our wall in the kitchen.

The project that has taken up most of my time this week is painting. Every part of our house needs a new coat of paint, and I'm determined to finally do it. I started by painting our mantel white...and today I'll be repainting it beige. (It was white when we moved in, and we painted it beige a couple of years ago because it didn't look good white. I'm not sure why I thought it would be different *now*, but yep, it still looks bad white.) I also have been working on the trim and doorways in our living room. It's slow going, but I figure if I do a little each night after the kids go to bed, I'll finish sometime before I die. At least I hope so....

Surf's up!

Griffin's newest skill: surfing. Only there's no water and *I* am the surfboard. For several nights in a row, I have been woken up in the middle of the night when Griffin climbs up on me and STANDS on my stomach. After a few short seconds, he falls, often with a crack as his head slams into mine. Aaaaaaah, this is a fun phase....

Harry and the Potters

Today we went to Wooldridge Park downtown to see the Harry and the Potters concert. The group sings hilarious punk songs about the Harry Potter books. Oh, and Draco and the Malfoys opened for them. Our favorite songs included "Voldemort Can't Stop the Rock" and "Save Ginny Weasley (from the Basilisk)".

So I'm sure you're thinking how cute Rhys looks all dressed up for the concert. Actually, he's not dressed for the show, this is just what he wears now every.single.day. He wears the Harry Potter glasses every waking moment, and insists that I draw a scar on his head every morning. (Which is often met with tears because he isn't pleased with my artwork. Sigh.) He has been listening to the Harry Potter books on CD lately, and he's in full-fledged Harry Potter mode 24/7.