Sky high

 

 Today we joined a bunch of home school friends at an indoor trampoline place. The kids had a ton of fun! They had big spaces full of trampolines. Even the walls were trampolines.

The boys spent the entire time on the dodge ball court.

Alayna loved jumping in the foam pit.

Even Jayda got in on the fun. She has stopped complaining about her broken arm. After six days of being cooped up in the house, she was begging to go somewhere today. She only lasted about 30 minutes on the trampoline, but at least she was happy and smiling for a while!

Half way

A few weeks before Christmas break, I told my daughter we were going to do some flash cards to review her math facts. Up until that point, she had been cruising through her facts and didn't seem to need much extra review.

"Oh, like when we used to homeschool?" she asked.

I tried to hide my puzzled expression.

I wasn't quite sure how to respond to that. Ummm. In case you haven't noticed, honey, we still DO home school.

But I actually loved her way of thinking. We are halfway through our new schooling arrangement, and I wasn't sure how my children would react to this idea of having teachers on Mondays who give them all of their assignments. My hope was that they would see me more as the mom who helps them get through their homework and less as the teacher who is giving them all of their assignments. Apparently, it's working.

This arrangement has helped me with a few of the aspects of home schooling that are hardest for me. I wanted them to be accountable to someone other than me to do their work. I have found that they try a lot harder to write a good research paper, for example, when someone else is grading it.

I wanted someone else to set the standard by assigning how much work we have to complete. Sometimes, I wish they had harder assignments. Sometimes I wish we could blow stuff off and go on a field trip. But overall, I have really liked not having the pressure on me to figure out what we need to accomplish in a school year.

I also wanted them to experience the fear and anxiety of taking tests. Now, they take tests on a regular basis in class and at home. Sure, we took tests before. But they never took their tests as seriously when Mom was grading them. I like them to experience the healthy stress of going to class to take a test and handing it in to their teacher.

However, I do love the home schooling life style we have been able to enjoy this year. I feel super privileged to get to be with them during the week and be part of the learning process. I also love our network of friends in the home schooling community. And we all enjoy the fun social stuff we get to do.

The week before Christmas, they had their first experience taking mid-term exams. I was nervous when my 5th grader came home and reported, "Those tests were my worst nightmare."

All of their teachers post their grades and assignments on a web site called Engrade. I get a message every time a teacher posts a message. I couldn't even bring myself to log in during the two weeks of Christmas break and go through all of the messages waiting for me.

When I finally HAD to look on Tuesday, I was pleasantly surprised. They did better than I expected in many subjects. The ones that were a challenge weren't a shock. And the teachers went easy on us with the assignments the first week after Christmas.

It gave us some extra time to enjoy this week that has felt more like spring break than the first week of January! We still don't have any water in our backyard skating rink. But hooray for 56 degrees in the middle of winter!

(And yes... that IS the 2 year old with a broken clavicle playing on the swing set like nothing ever happened!)

Broken

I was in my office trying to get caught up on my work after the Christmas break when I heard a loud boom in my son's room upstairs. The kids had been playing a crazy game of hide 'n' seek and they had been running around the past few minutes. It sounded like one of them jumped off the top bunk bed.

I was on my way to tell them to calm down when someone handed me the crying 2-year-old. I thought she was just mad about something, but then realized this cry was louder and more intense than usual. I ran upstairs with her and looked in the eyes of one of our kids who had that, "I'm afraid if I tell you what happened I will be grounded for life" look.

The toddler kept screaming and pointing to her back. It was bright red.

"This is very important. You have to tell me what happened."

"She fell off the bunk bed."

My husband and I barely said a word as we ran to get her a clean diaper, coat, shoes and socks. During those moments, she sat quietly on a big chair in the living room saying, "I go-go. I go-go," as if she knew we were taking her to get help.

"Immediate care or ER?" we asked each other. Before I could even think, he had her in the van and was pulling out of the driveway. I wanted to be the one to take her, but he was already gone. Plus, he is really good at handling medical situations.

I will never forget the first year of our marriage when I broke my arm learning to roller blade. He found me lying next to the street and made a sling for me out of a towel so he could get me to the hospital. This little one reminds me of myself in many ways, although I didn't break my arm the first time until I was FIVE years old!

The three big kids and I paced around waiting to hear the news. One child was inconsolable for the first hour, blaming himself for not paying closer attention. The truth is that as the fourth born, that girl tries all sorts of stunts that none of our other children ever tried. She actually does such a good job keeping up with her older siblings and their friends that we often forget she's ONLY two!

After crying and praying and calming down, the four of us actually started watching a home movie of our littlest one. We sat there telling each other how much we all love her. We called and texted my husband over and over again, hoping for some news. We were so thankful that it wasn't much worse. The top bunk is a long way to fall when you are only 34 inches tall.

About an hour later, my husband called to say her clavicle was broken. "A clean break," he said. I don't like those words. They sound so painful.



The doctor sent her home without a cast, a sling or even a wrap. They couldn't put a cast on her because of the location of the break. They said she would just wrestle with a sling or bandage until she got it off. They were right. I tried immobilizing it myself with a blanket, and she fought with it until she could get her arm free.

The first day and night went better than I expected. Each time she moves her arm, she screams, "Ouch!" but doesn't seem to realize the solution is to stop using the arm. When she has a fresh dose of Vicodin in her system, you can tell that her pain is under control. When we approach the four-hour mark, she gets extremely irritable and cries out constantly.

The doctor said it should only take about 6 days for her young bones to heal. We are all super thankful that it wasn't much worse.

Our year in photos

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So, what else is new?

This is probably the first year in my adult life that I am starting off a new year without even the slightest hint of a resolution. I'm feeling kind of boring and bland without any new goals or ideas for 2012.

Someone asked me this morning what was the best thing that happened in 2011. My struggle to answer doesn't mean I'm not thankful for absolutely every minute I had breath for the past 365 days. But it also feels like I finished a marathon that left me longing for quiet and solitude over grand plans and big ambitions.

The year had plenty of challenges. And yet the list of things for which I'm thankful is a long one: an amazing husband with a new job that is restoring some normalcy to our schedule, the three big kids who are growing up right before my eyes, the littlest one who gives us all a chance to relive the early years of learning and growing and see the world through those innocent eyes, an amazing community of friends who listen to me and laugh with me, and the chance to work from home doing all of the things I love.

Last year, my goal was to take a photo and blog about it every day of 2011. I made it 109 days. I'm glad for that first third of the year that I tried it and did it, and I'm glad to have those daily "journal" entries in my blog to remember all of those moments of 2011. I'm also glad that I was OK with giving up on that goal when I realized it was weighing me down more than it was lifting me up. My love of taking photos starting becoming a chore when I felt like I had to do it every single day.

At the risk of sounding arrogant or annoying, I decided to make a list of the things I accomplished in 2011. It's kind of nice to look back at a year that feels like a blur and remember that I'm starting 2012 as a person who is (at least a little bit) different than I was 365 days ago:

I learned a ton of new Photoshop tricks. A year ago, I didn't know how to "refine edges" or fill using "content aware" or master my "blending modes" or "create a clipping mask" or "rasterize type" or even use the "stamp tool." I have learned so much, which makes it more fun to build on my base of knowledge to learn even more in 2012.

I also taught myself how to use InDesign. I remember sitting in my bed at night watching tutorials on my iPad so I could work on a project that required it. A few months later, I'm feeling like an expert in InDesign and can do quickly what felt like a monumental task last summer.

I've learned a LOT about video editing, thanks to a friend who has given me so many great tips. I would love to graduate beyond iMovie and use some more advanced video editing software this year to see what I'm missing.

I got a new camera lens that has helped me work on my photography skills. I would like to purchase Adobe Lightroom this year and learn more about photo editing, as well as create a better system for storing my photos.

I started shopping at Costco. Doesn't that sound like the most hilarious thing to include on my list? It's actually an accomplishment for me because I don't like to grocery shop. But it's symbolic to me of the fact that I've been more on top of stocking up on the food we need so I can do a better job feeding my family.

I organized a lot of my recipes on allrecipes.com. I started using their more advanced features to create my meal plans and grocery shopping lists. I'm still sporadic in this area, but I feel like by the time my kids all graduate and move away, I will FINALLY be on top of my meal planning. :)

I ran nine miles. Yep, that's right. I ran nine miles in one year. I realize some people like to lump their miles all together and run them all at once. I ran my miles one at a time. I walked and biked a whole bunch of other miles, but for some reason, the ones I ran seem more important. My hope for 2012 is to run more miles than I did in 2011. And, thankfully, the bar is super low, so hopefully, I'll be able to accomplish that. :)

I blogged a lot less in 2011. I'm not sure if that's good or bad. I'm working on creating a photobook from all of my photos from 2011, and I love incorporating my blog posts into the book. In that respect, I wish I had blogged more. I would like to post photos and write about my family at least once a week in 2012, but I also realize it's harder than it looks. I don't want my effort to chronicle my memories to get in the way of enjoying the moments.

I made some new friends, renewed some old friendships and realized that I need to invest more in the friends I have. The year started with some difficult news for a dear friend. It's ending with the news that some of our closest friends are moving away. This kind of stuff makes me want to kick the curb, curl up in a ball and yell, "Not fair!" But I know God has a plan with all of this, and I'm trying to enjoy the people He places in my life the best that I can.

I made my marriage more of a priority. I realized how easy it is to get so caught up in the needs of the kids and the demands of keeping things going and forget the one person who is most important to me. This is definitely something I want to keep working on in 2012.

Well, it's kind of funny that in making that list I realized that I do have some goals for the new year. I'm also starting things off by going on a 40 day spiritual journey with my church. I'm looking forward to seeing what happens when I make it a priority to read the Bible and pray every single day.

What about you? Do you have big goals for 2012? Did 2011 turn out the way you had hoped? What's on your list for the new year?

The dry erase table

Our family loves to doodle. The kids go through dozens of sheets of paper each day filled with drawings and doodles and cartoon characters. When their friends come over, they often all sit around drawing together.

So, this weekend, we have been working on converting our basement into a bedroom for the two boys. We have been sorting through tons of stuff to clear out an area that my husband used as an office, as well as lots of storage bins full of photo albums and toys and papers.

One of the items in the basement is our old train table that the boys used to play with back in the day they were obsessed with Thomas and all things train. For the past few years, they have been using the table as a place to build their Lego projects.

I decided to move it upstairs and convert it into a dry erase craft table. I was envisioning a place where they could sit around and draw with dry erase markers, color on paper or play games.

I started by covering the table with white contact paper. I was convinced that dry erase markers would wipe off clean. BUT I was wrong. So, I covered the contact paper with laminating sheets. (By the way, if I did this again, I would probably go shopping for some rolls of laminate so I didn't end up with so many seams. I also saw dry erase paint at Home Depot, but it got really bad reviews, so I decided to try something else.)

I then found dry erase decorative circles that I adhered to the top. As you can see from the photos, the kids couldn't even wait for me to put the top on the table before they started doodling!

My son and I both tried to draw Animal from the Muppet show. This is my attempt.

The drawers are now stocked with stacks of white paper and construction paper. I also found an awesome set of broad tipped dry erase markers that came in some really cool colors.

I'm not sure how long the dry erase table will stay in the middle of our family room. But we are having fun with it for now!

Tales of the two-year-old

Our "baby" is just a week away from her second birthday, and every day with that girl in the house is a new adventure. You would think that after going through this stage with three others, we would know what to expect when it comes to living with a 2-year-old. Not so.

This girl is full of life. She is learning so many things so quickly that it keeps us all busy trying to stay one step ahead of her. One of the unique things about her is her absolute adoration for baby dolls. 

Her big sister has a big basket full of baby dolls that have barely been played with. Jayda has taken over this stash, and she lovingly cares for each of the babies, as well as a toddler can. 

She often carries one under each arm as she walks around the house. One of the babies might be hanging upside down by a foot by the time she makes it down the stairs, but she coos, "Aww, ba-by," in such a sweet way that it would melt even a plastic heart. She cuddles and rocks the sweet baby in her little mama arms and then one second later throws it full force onto the hard-wood floor, its head making a loud, "Bang!" on impact.

We started allowing her to sleep with a baby doll about a month ago. Each night, she demands that more and more babies be placed in her crib with her, until she now has about 10 dolls lined up at the end of her crib. Each one must be carefully tucked into bed under their blanket before she will relent and go to sleep herself.

She usually wakes up in the morning screaming because SOMEONE! has tossed all of the baby dolls over the rail and they are lying on the floor too far for this sweet, loving toddler mom to reach.

But one of the babies stands out among the others as the most beloved of the plastic-headed children. Jayda has no way of knowing that this baby is a prized Bitty Baby from the American Girl Store, but she must have a sixth sense for the best in baby dolls. 

When Jayda's big sister was about 4 years old, she gave this baby the name, "Dasher." (We have no idea why.) And even though Jayda STILL calls all three of her older siblings the same name — "Ah-bee" (as in "Everybody") — she clearly calls her baby doll, "Dash."

She carries Dasher around under one arm and carries her baby doll sleeper under the other arm. Dozens of times throughout the day, she hands me the sleeper and hands me the doll and demands, "Clothes!" Just as I'm about to close the velcro on the back of Dasher's outfit, she screams, "NO!" and pulls the outfit back off.

So, Dasher spends most of her day in nothing but the cloth fabric that makes up her torso. Jayda loves to put wet washcloths on her head and when she does, she insists on putting one on Dasher as well. Here's a photo of the two of them in their, "HOT!" (Hat!)

Today, before the toddler could give me Dasher's sleeper and insist I put it on before ripping it off, I found a babydoll outfit in the basket of baby stuff. Jayda had never seen Dasher in this outfit, and I could tell she was quite impressed to see her baby doll dressed in such cute American Girl style. This lasted about an hour.

That was when Jayda brought me Dasher and began yelling, "Clothes!" This time, however, she was pulling at her own clothes. She screamed and jumped and gestured and yelled until I took off her clothes. Then she pointed at her diaper and yelled, "Pee! Pee!" until I removed the dry diaper.

Then she pointed at Dasher and insisted, "Pants! Pants" pointing to her own legs. She would not be satisfied until I took the doll-sized pants off the baby and put them on the her.

I wish I could publish the whole photo so you could see her facial expression. But here she is with the baby doll pants around her ankles. She would not give up on wearing them until she had fallen down several times trying to walk around like that. 

And that, my friends, is a day with our 2-year-old. Always an adventure. Always something new. Sometimes a little frustrating. Often crazy. Always a laugh.