Princesses

Anastasia and Amelia love to watch Enchanted. They call it "Ah-Ah" because of the little song she sings to bring the animal helpers. It inspires them to be beautiful.

They are absolute princesses--not Divas. They love to wear dresses and spin. At the same time, they love to go with me to the gym and mimic the exercises they have observed. Anastasia loves basketball and being pushed on the swings. Amelia likes to be in control of the swing situation and just flies on her belly. They are exceptionally conversational.

Amelia loves hiding. She sits in the corner of our sectional with a billow on top of her and waits quietly for me to pass by. She ran off at half-price books yesterday (in her squeaky shoes, so I knew where she headed) and stood quietly in the corner of the bookshelves waiting for me to find her. Squeal and giggle.

They have also learned by the example of many siblings and parents how to argue, correct one another, and compete with one another. "My mom!" "No, My mom!" Amelia is the reasonable one when I suggest that she let sister have something in exchange for something else or to share.

They love their other siblings. Claire is a safe haven for them. They ask about the kids when they are at school, and they are so excited when Mikey, Lexi, ad Emylie are here as well. Everyone gets a little tired of them because of the things they break, get into, or run off to, but they are so ridiculously loved. I am fortunate to have such great helpers.

Since Andrew got a motorcycle for his birthday, Mikey felt he had to have one, but we expected and planned for that. We had Mikey's birthday party this weekend even though it is well over a week before his birthday because we got the bike and we could not keep it from him any longer--and he won't be here on his birthday.

Mikey did fine the first time he got on the bike (even though it is huge compared to Andrew's)--a YZ125 but the mud was very slippery and he tipped and burned his pant leg on the engine. After that he was very spooked and didn't want to get back on. With the threat of having the bike put on Craigslist if he did not get back on, he persevered. Lexi and Claire, th0ugh, were the go-getters with it.

I tried to sit around all day nursing a calf injury. They babies both leaned out the side of the shopping cart while I had my back turned to them. They tipped it over and I caught it with the back of my knee. Then Mike went and caught the back of his leg on the footpegs (while wearing shorts) of the motorcycle while trying to start it. And now we know clearly, and without question, who has the higher pain tolerance.

Raising a blended family has been a tremendous challenge, but Mike and I have come such a long way with building relationships and how we deal with situations and each other. We still have a lot more that needs to progress, but we will not be running out of room to grow any time soon.

The things we do to keep children happy during church.

This week I dug out some patches of grass to plant roses and bulbs that I was supposed to have planted in the fall, but I could not until this week because that is when I was finally able to get the dirt to condition the soil so the roses would not die like last year. The weather was gorgeous for such things; temperatures in the high 60's to mid 70's, clear and bright. Then Saturday it rained on all my newly planted plants. I was so grateful.

Then when I woke up this morning, we had another inch or two of snow on the ground. Maybe that is really good. My bulbs were supposed to be planted in the fall. Maybe they will think they had a winter to hibernate and bloom nicely because of it. I think it will be nice and sunny again tomorrow, though. Happy first day of spring. Happy El Nino.

February Hilights

The week the Olympics started we had more snowfall in Texas than they did in Vancouver. 12 inches in 36 hours.




Andrew's Pinewood Derby. I missed most of it because all the other kids had activities where I was supposed to be

Sunday Blogging

I think I said a little while back that I would try blogging every Sunday. I did not say when I would start, but today seems to be the day.

I started working out in the gym in the middle of January. I have not hit it very hard. Nonetheless, except for the week the babies had pneumonia, I have gone 2-4 times/week. I recently stepped it up a notch and did 3 sessions with a personal trainer. I feel my biggest accomplishment, however, is that Mike is now fired up about going to the gym. After his second week of working out he is now all concerned about his diet and is really focused on getting healthy. He stopped drinking Dr. Pepper without provocation. His fervor may become a little more than I would prefer, as this progresses, but for now, it has many benefits.

For myself, it gets the babies out of the house for a little while where they are not destroying it. And since I can't seem to do anything else when they are awake, it is as good a use of my time as any. Oh, and I'm getting my sexy back. My hips and thighs were expanding at a 40 year old rate. I just couldn't handle it any more. Now I am able to wear some of the pants I had put away for the sake of discomfort and public consideration. Those are still the pants I grew into with pregnancy, so I have a way to go still, but it is coming along.

I am no better of a mother than I was, though. Well maybe I have a little more energy now to make things happen around here, but doing more does not help if you are not doing the right things, right?

I was called to be the Relief Society Secretary. This is my first time in a Church auxiliary leadership position since Primary Presidency when we lived in NY before Claire was born. I have had lots of callings I have enjoyed since then, but I still have not been trusted to a leadership position for years. As the secretary, I technically still don't have one, but I at least get to be where the action is. This is actually the worst calling I have had as far as fitting my aptitudes. Paperwork and organization are precisely my weaknesses. But I am willing to grow and improve.

Time to get the kids to bed.

Public School

All I can say is wow. Wow.

Andrew was kicked out to school last Monday because he did not have his most recent booster shot for hepatitis. It had been less than 2 months since his last shot, which is how long you are supposed to wait between boosters. He had not had any shots previous to this year because I had submitted a conscientious objection as required by law. This year I decided it would be easier to just get the shots.

I was wrong.

I have had to take him out of school four times this year to keep up with the series. He has more antibodies in his system than any other kid in the school, due to the concentration of shots he has had in less than six months. Despite the fact that he poses no immediate or future risk to the other students, he was excluded from all school activity for the sake of adherence to regulation.

It is my conviction that a system which makes policy a priority over people and purpose is doomed to fail. Forney School District has shown me, without apology or equivocation that their hard-line interpretation of Texas law is more important than my child's educational and social well being. Here is what I wrote to his teachers this afternoon:

I just wanted to share my intense frustration with the school district's implementation of policy, that I know you have nothing to do with. As you may know, Andrew was excluded from school for 3 days last week because of his shot record status. I talked to both the head of nurses and the superintendent about options which would allow Andrew to continue to go to school, while I got everything in order related to his records. They gave me a 3 day extension, which was not in any way enough. Nonetheless I made every good faith effort to correct the situation and had it taken care of by Friday. And though Andrew came to school today, having all of his shots updated, he was still not able to attend class because he did not have the documentation with him.

I was not told that he was not being allowed into class, because the office staff was too busy to talk to me, they just had Andrew call me. I told him I would be there in about an hour, as I had to feed and dress myself and babies. But I got caught up in my morning routine and forgot about the shot record until Andrew called me at 10:30. I did not realize that he was not being allowed to go to class until I met him in the office and asked if he had been waiting there the whole time. When he said yes, I was so outraged that I did not even give him a kiss and a have-a-good day. All I could say was wow. Wow. I put the paperwork on the desk and suggested to the office staff that I deserved a little bit of good faith for all my efforts and walked out the door.

Did they think that I would tell my son to lie about having gotten his shots? Did they think that the State of Texas was going to do a records check this morning and they would be busted for not maintaining files properly? Why has adherence to policy been consistently more important than my child's education? If the school district does not prioritize his education, why should I?

Because I am the parent, and I do care. That's why I have taken the time to talk to those who have the right and authority to make exceptions--as exceptions, not trying to change policy--but they pretended to be bound by unbending constraints. All the while trying to make me as a parent feel guilty for not "caring about my child's education enough" to make sure that all these technical details were taken care of. I was hurt by the disdain showed to me despite my efforts all year long to get Andrew's shots. This was the fifth time this year that I have had to take him out of school to continue the series, as you might recall. And because I care, I let go of my pride and got Andrew vaccinated again instead of the other option of submitting a conscientious objection which would have meant two more weeks of Andrew missing school. I was not going to use him or harm him to make a point like the parents of ponytail boy did. [Recent local news story of parents who refused to cut their pre-k aged son's hair according to dress code so they put it in a ponytail, making him look like a girl, but that was still not good enough for the school, they wanted it braided and the parents still wouldn't do it.] In spite of all my efforts, Andrew could not get the benefit of the doubt for a few short hours to go to class this morning.

I am in my third year of study working towards a degree in education, but I am seriously reconsidering that decision. I cannot imagine wanting to be part of a system which has such disdain for parents, and whose policies take priority over the intended goal of education for the children they are supposed to serve.

This is the reason you teachers wring your hands trying to get parents involved in their child's education. We as parents understand that we have no say in what happens in the school. Our voices are not heard, nor are we respected for the primary and vital role we have in teaching and directing the children we chose to bring into the world. As a teacher, you get attached to your students and call them your children, but they are only on loan to you with our faith and trust that your purpose is their intellectual welfare. However, the education system is set up to make us as parents respond as subjects of the school system, like peasants to a monarch rather than being democratic participants in a system designed for us and by us. I understand that teachers as well suffer frustration with all the bureaucratic constraints of curriculum and testing. This is a continuation of the root problem that our education system comes from the government and agencies down and not from the families and teachers up.

Forgive me, I am getting a little off subject. I just wanted to let you know what was going on and ask you to please help Andrew make up for the time he has missed outside of the control parents and teachers. I will be asking him about assignments he needs to make up and subjects he needs to study. Thank you for your time and effort despite all the bureaucratic discomfort you wade through on a daily basis.

Janika Skembo

I wish my husbands (ex and present) were supportive of homeschooling. I wish I was dedicated enough put in the time and effort that requires.

Two is Better than One

I tried to do my Disney blog from my iPhone, but it didn't work, and I have a "no make-up" policy. When I do that, it keeps me from capturing the present.

Instead I will talk about my wonderful babies. They are maturing so much. They are finally developing some distinctive traits. Anastasia is very verbal. She has started saying "Whas dat?" all the time. She wants a name for everything. She has entered parrot phase where she tends to just repeat the last couple of words of anything someone says.

We hired one of Mike's friends to professionally paint our stairwell and do some other work and he has a helper. Every time they open the door or come back in during the day, Anastasia says "hello!" Clear as a bell, bright and cheery like they have been gone for a week. Or she will say "Hi worker mans!"

Amelia's most distinctive trait is still her compulsion about music. Anything that has a beat makes her wiggle. She loves to dance and will do turns and leg lifts and a number of other indistinguishable movements that range from hip hop to ballet style. Anastasia wants me to pick her up and do ballroom with her when the music is on.

Anastasia likes to climb up on the piano bench and pat it so that I will sit next to her. Then she crawls on my lap so I will play the accompaniment for twinkle little star while I help her move her fingers to make the melody. Amelia has gotten over that and wants to make her own music.

Amelia still tends to be more willing to give up what she has for her sister, but they both want me to get a drink, snack, candy, or whatever for their sister if I give them one, and each insists on taking it to the other wherever she is.

They are both sick, but Amelia definitely gets it worse than her sister. When they were 2 months old and got RSV, it was Amelia who spent 4 days in the ICU and two in a regular room, where Anastasia had 4 days total in a regular room. They are dripping horrible mucous and nasty cough. Amelia is running a fever. When Amelia gets sick, she gets grumpy and lethargic. Anastasia gets wired and goofy.

Anastasia can open doors and leads the mischief making. Amelia is always trying to climb up my legs and wants to be with me all the time. I am absolutely not liking the terrible of these twos. They get in to stuff and love to make messes. Terrible two times two is four, right? But it is 10x as much trouble.

Still, I love my precious babies so much. I have not taken the time I need to to just play with and enjoy them, though. Time goes so much quicker when you are older. I am about to start rambling on about missed opportunities and failed self-expectation, so I will stop.

I will say, though that I auditioned for the TV show America's Got Talent last weekend. I told Mike I might not do it. I was worried that I would make it and that this is not the right time for that kind of focus. He thought it was ridiculous of me not to try. I did not have to worry about making it. About 1/3-3/4 of the people who audition are singers. It is just overflow from American Idol and people who are too young or too old for it. But the show is not looking to be American Idol. They want variety acts and such. Going in costume is the key. Having a gimmick is crucial. It was a good experience. I will be much better prepared if I decide to do it again.

My 3 year old dryer is dead. I might be able to get a repairman out here for $100, but I hate that stupid machine. It has been falling apart for many months and in not energy efficient at all.

I am going to try to commit to updating my blog every Sunday. It was pretty easy to do today because I did not have to travel with kids. We will see how well I do.

Magic

Connecting with Family

The first stop of our winter vacation was a dinner visit to the Rifley Grandparents in Mobile. I have only been able to see them twice before, and Andrew and Claire have never met their biological paternal grandfather and his mom, their great grandmother.

Matt (my children's father) did not meet his

biological dad (Ron Rifley) until he was almost 18. His mom and dad split when he was two after his dad was stationed in Korea for a year. We had Emylie and Isaac when we passed through Alabama on our way to live in West Point, New York. Grandma Ruth was not there at that time, but we met her and Uncle Bob in Houston when we were living in San Antonio. Claire was there, but certainly too young to remember.

We ate Pizza with Grandpa Ron and he showed the kids his fishing tackle shed and shark teeth, etc. Then we went on our merry way. His house was pretty different from the last time I had seen it because he had a few feet of water in it from Hurricane Katrina. Though I have no personal connection with them, it is very important to me for my children to be aware of and connected to their family.

The next thing we did was meet with Aunt MaryAnne and Riley and Dustin. We ate dinner at Fridays. The next day we went to Kennedy Space Center. Andrew loved it. The younger ones did not get that much out of it. For the money they charged, there was not that much there. I can only make myself feel good about it as a donation to the Space program. Mostly, though, we got to hang out with MaryAnne. I don't know if she got any pictures with the twins. I don't have any. Maybe next time.

She had to go to work the next day, so she left at five.

Unnatural Talent

There is a little understood secret about talent. It is not natural. It is God-given, but He only gives us seed packets. Some get a big fat packet. Some get a variety pack. Some get only a tiny bit of tiny seeds. No one gets the seeds scattered on the ground for them. Only they can open the packet and only they can plant the seed.

See, talent is nothing without work. Anyone who is asked to describe me is likely to mention something about my voice. They ask me about the training they assume I have had. Though I have never taken a formal voice lesson, I have spent hours of days and weeks of months singing and listening to myself; studying and copying great vocalists. I have sifted through the voices I modeled and tried to find my own. Sometimes I have been intensely focused on a specific performance. Other times I have been focused on the hope of being a well-known performer. But many times, I have let that hope fall dormant and I stop practicing. I never stop singing. But when I am not focused on becoming, my voice gets lazy and I lose the sound quality which qualifies all the accolades I have received and have hoped to receive. Talent is not natural. It is work.

When I go back to my passion (what you are passionate about is your talent) I thrill again to reach notes, match expression of the artists I study, and seek, and breathe my own life and meaning into it. The muscles become strong again and my confidence increases. Unleashing my own ability is a thrill which only makes me hungrier to share that ability with others. It just seems like such a waste if I am the only one who knows.

Then there is dance. It makes me feel alive. For years my body has rested from the intense effort and exertion of regular dance. And yet, my muscles thrill with the strain of doing a develope into a rond de jambe. The tension of my unused muscles is joyfully wakened by a deep stretch. Though I have never seen myself becoming a professional dancer, it is a talent that I love to develop, use, and share.

Whenever I hit a lull in my aspirations, I explore the thought that maybe I have been delusional for all these years and I should just be content to be an average person. I try to wrap my head around the idea that it is okay for Janika to focus exclusively on day to day realities. The thought makes me ache. I could let go of the tension of unfulfilled hopes and expectations in an attempt to be satisfied with less than my best, but I would be left with emptiness and purposelessness.

Some people are content with average. Some people find great joy in a common life. There is something exceptional about that which I respect. When anyone lives their life to their fullest, they deserve the highest honor no matter how average it is.

My discontent is because I know I am not living my own life to the fullest. Sometimes I get glimpses of my own greatness. It awes and humbles me as God lets me peek at who I can become. Often it is through the eyes of admiring peers. I would not believe in myself if so many people had not told me all my life how unique or talented I was.

Maybe if I only had one passion I would be able to work it and succeed better than I have. But music and dance are the beginning of my passion. I love words. I love giving meaning and expression to thought. I find great satisfaction in letting people into my mind. I have an intense need to preserve thoughts which I might never recall otherwise. It is the very smallest legacy I can leave. The simplest, and most vital. Who was I and what did I do while I was here? My family at least should be able to discover those things.

I even find great satisfaction in cleaning a house down deep until it sparkles. More so when I create something for my house and put a room together in a new way. However, I find daily maintenance exhausting. My passion for it does not exceed the required effort of it when maintenance takes away from my ability to work in other areas of passion.

My point here is that talent is work that brings joy and satisfaction. It yearns for expression and gives purpose. Whether it is simple or grand, the key to success is that it is a profound part of being that generates a sense of need and brings joy when realized. "When you've got it you've got it" but when you don't use it you loose it. Talent is not natural, it is work. And work is fun.

Take Two iTest

Picture from an iPhone published from a MacBook.

Turkeyless Trip

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with Mike's parents and all of our kids at our house one week early. The "real" Thanksgiving day we spent travelling to Craig and Consie's house in Missouri, not expecting anyone to be there, but Mike's dad was for that day. It was just the babies and I with Mike so we could hang out there while he and his brother Matt went hunting, which they did on Saturday. Mike did a little bit on Friday as well. They did not see a single deer all weekend.

We drove home on Saturday night because we decided after Thursdays day trip with the babies that we would only go nighttime with them from now on. We left at 8 last night and got home at 6 this morning, napped for a couple of hours and got ready for our 1:00 church meetings in our newly remodeled/added on to building.

I just got back from driving another two hours to pick up the kids who have been with their dad all week. I should not have even turned on the computer because I am falling asleep at the keyboard. Mike has already been asleep for 2 hours. But I just wanted to post a picture from the iPhone to see if I liked the picture quality of it on my blog. The one Mike sent me from his iPhone is a horse at his parents house which we might buy. I just tried to post it, but it saved as a zipped file and blogger can't upload it. IPhone picture to blog transfer strike ONE!

(Mike wants me to have an iPhone, but I am a little anti-apple and a lot anti -trend, -spend, and -technology is my friend.)

Home Improvement

This week has been busy with evidence. I sewed eight sashes for cub scout patches, 6 102" Drapery panels and 3 valences. This weekend I painted my living room and hung the aforementioned drapes. Because my ceilings are a little bit high and I did not have an adequate ladder, I made good use of my Isaac. Pray that your children will be taller than you. It helps justify slavery. I really appreciated all he did to help, and could not have done it without him.

Claire and Andrew kept the babies occupied all day, which was another key factor in my success. They mostly played outside and made the trampoline into a tent with the blankets Claire and her friend used to sleep on it the night before. See, we live in Texas and this is the time of year when it is good to sleep outside. Before the end of September, it is just too hot and muggy and buggy.

I also started studying for my English Lit CLEP test. I did not do well at all on the practice test, so I have a ton of reading to do. I read Beowolf--out loud to the babies in a Welsh and Germanic accents. They did not listen with rapt attention by any stretch. In fact they tried to get me to stop at times. After a while they realized I would not stop and went about their own business--sort of, you know.

I know you want pictures of my new living room, but that will not be seeing it until I have a working camera again. I guess Devanie takes all her pictures on her video camera. I could do that if I wanted to, I suppose, but that would mean having to learn something new, and English lit has me maxxed out. Sorry. Doesn't mean I love you less. Thanks for stopping by.

What a Treat

Last year I realized too late that I could take my infants trick-or-treating and eat all the candy myself, so I did not take the babies around the neighborhood for something they would get nothing out of. This year they were ready to get the concept of door-to-door beggary.

I dressed them up as---ummmm---winged babies? They wore their orange sherbet Sunday dresses with wings on the back. ADORABLE. One had green wings and the other had orange wings.

They went to the first house with trepidation. Then when they got the candy, the man at the door looked a lot more friendly. They thought maybe they should go in the house and become very good friends. I told them to say "Thank you. Bye bye." I turned them around and walked them to the next house (with a little help from the other trick or treaters (Andrew, Claire, and Mikey). When they got candy again, despite the ugly witch sitting in the chair who gave it to them, they started to catch on. Amelia ran ahead of everyone to the third house--nylon and wire wings bouncing all the way.

Neither of them ever said trick or treat, or anything like it. But they got a sugar rush with daddy before a late bedtime. They are still recovering from lack of sleep. I am disappointed with the candy quality in our neighborhood. Where's my chocolate? Guess I'll have to go hit halloween candy clearance rack.

Bubble Bath

A couple of days ago--maybe even yesterday, Andrew asked me when the babies were going to have their first bubble bath. They are in the tub now (Bathroom door is 5 feet away from me) and they managed to open a bottle of shampoo in their water, so they are having their first bubble bath. I don't do bubble baths for little girls generally, so they treated themselves to something wonderful and I am letting them enjoy it. It makes me feel better about the waste of a 1/2 bottle of Loreal Kids shampoo.

Over the weekend Mike was in Missouri again, so I took the opportunity to paint the babies' bedroom and two garage sale toddler beds. I only have one of the beds put together because I cannot find where I put the hardware for the other--exceptionally frustrating. So one is sleeping on the crib mattress on the floor. They are having a great time in their new bedroom, but they are not napping as well. 2 out of 3 days they have slept, though so they will continue to adjust and nap.

I have to do my homework and make 5 costumes today and get ready for a major Halloween party, but I thought I would share.

Down With the Sickness, Yo

Mike may be the only one who has not gotten the second round of 2-day headache-fever-weakness. Everybody has missed a couple of days of school. The babies spent an entire day cuddled in our laps. I called off choir practice and missed church. Those who have recovered still have coughing mucus. There have been 15 swine flu deaths in the Dallas area and a few people in my ward have gotten it. But it does not worry me at all. I did not even consider taking anyone to the doctor because nothing has been that serious. I did go so far as to give the babies Tylenol, but the older kids got echinacea, and fluids as did I. Other than that, the human body is amazing and can take care of itself with minimal help and financial outlay.

I spent yesterday in my weakened state of recovery washing sheets, towels, blankets at my husband's request and all the regular Monday laundry. I still had two more loads to do this morning. I think my dryer is not working properly. It takes way too long to dry. It is a Kenmore Elite that I bought less than 3 years ago and it is falling apart on every level. All my appliances are going to be GE from now on (because I do not want to go super high end LG and whatever).

I kept the TV running all day to slow my pace and give me an excuse to sit down. And I still managed to hand in my rough draft for my term paper 2 hours ahead of schedule. I am that good--even if I don't feel that great. Time to let the babies out of their beds.

Sleep Patterns

I took Emylie and her friend to First Monday Trade Days in Canton this weekend with her friend. We met up with Sybil, our former next door neighbor. I bought a couple of Christmas presents and a special, but expensive organizational tool--an antique miniature trunk.

Monday, the kids here had the day off for "Fair Day" so they could utilize the free tickets to go to the state fair, but if you already read my previous post, you know that we did that already. We had a work day instead. They helped me clean house and watch babies. I sanded down a toddler bed to paint so I can put away the babies cribs. They are almost 21 months now. Tragically, they have not taken naps for the past four days. I am concerned that they are not going to anymore. I have never had children stop naps this early. I only know that when it takes more time and effort to get them to take a nap than you get from then napping, it is time to quit. I will still institute a mandatory stay-in-your-bedroom time if this is permanent. But I need to put them in bed by seven instead of eight if that is the case.

My mom called me Sunday morning to let me know that my grandma is in hospice care and not expected to live much longer. Last night I woke up at 2:30 and did not get back to sleep until almost 4. I had a lot of things troubling me because of a certain child of mine, but I thought of my grandma and how long she has been without her husband and how joyous their reuniting embrace. That hoped for joy gave me peace and helped me to relax and get back to sleep.

Still, I feel very groggy and would have been grateful to not have to take Isaac to Seminary or respond to my husbands alarm for work.

For Me

I have not been motivated to post lately because I thrive on the comments of others, and nobody seems to be reading blogs anymore, so I need to get into the mindset that this is my journal for me. The trouble is, there is not too much I want to talk about these days. Nothing is bad. It some ways it is too good. I don't want to rub it in everyone else's faces or have them comment about how jealous they are. But after 8 months of being unemployed we finally got a job and it is a great job. Mike is making big money and we are spending it.

I have not taken pictures, but we got a new living room and dining room set. The couch is a squarish contemporary sectional and the dining set (which shares the same open space is an ultra traditional dark wood with huge leather chairs with nailhead trim. We still have to replace the "builders special" "chandelier" and have the 3-pendant light set picked out. I have also bought paint to cover up the contractors flat white walls and have no idea when I will be able to actually put it on the walls. I assure you, I will not be doing it while the babies are awake. There are a ton of other home improvement things I want to do, like get the toddler bed up and put away the crib and pack 'n' play and fix up the girls bedroom. All the kids need to have their rooms painted. We also want to put in hardwood floors and tile in the kitchen and bathrooms. I will not be doing the bathrooms. I have done a bathroom before, but taking out the toilet and getting it back in makes it more of a chore than I am willing to do.

Isaac is at Seminary right now and the other kids should be getting ready for school, but I don't think Claire has made it out of her room.

We went to the Texas State Fair this weekend and tried the deep-fried butter. It looked like a donut hole with a juicy center of melted butter. Sprinkled with powdered sugar and dipped in jam, it was almost like food. However, it left a film of fat on the palette. We can say we have tried it. That is enough. We will stick to the funnel cake.

Potty Training Twins

Talking about bodily functions isn't couth, but old people and mothers of young children seem obsessed with it. Maybe because it is such a dominant feature of our lives.

The babies are now 20 months old so I have been introducing potty training concepts. I have put training pants (real ones not diapers that pull up) on them a few times. The comfort of the big girl panties compared to diapers and the unmistakable sensation of wetness have made them very aware of their need to go pee. Anastasia has successfully used the potty seat. They both love to sit on it, but because they are fighting over who gets to sit on it, they don't concentrate on business. Then, even when I hold one on the big potty while the other sits on the little one, they just want to get up after a few seconds. This is one situation where it really changes the dynamic from that of having just one kid to work with.

They are both getting the concepts, though. Anastasia even grabbed herself the other day and said "Potty!" so we rushed to the bathroom, but she did not do anything. Potty training is such a chore. It takes so much focus and dedication (which is why so many of today's lazy parents don't train their kids--or have their kids train themselves--until they are almost in Pre-K these days). However, the effort is well worth the result. That is why children are infinitely better than pets. After just a few short years, you don't have to have anything to do with their poo poo anymore.

Time to let the beasts out of their cage. They are awake now.

Mike Mulligan's Steam Shovel

A couple of years ago I took the backroads through Kansas on the way to Missouri and saw a big old steam shovel on the side of the road and vowed to take pictures of it for LeeJoe the next time I passed through that way. I guess it is for Zach, too. This was the very last stop of our 5,000 mile trip.

Back

Back to school, back online, back up your files, go back to the old post and see the trip pics I was finally able to post. Behind my back is the door to the babies' room where they just woke up and I can smell them from out here. And I should go back downstairs and do another load of laundry.

15 minutes later....
I'm back. Goodness grosscious! I should have gone in at the first hint of noise and odor. Someone (who shall remain nameless) decided that poop was an appropriate medium for art. Two babies are now clean, and the artwork is no more. Now I REALLY need to go do another load of laundry.

40 Minutes later....
Back again. Grody laundry in machine, babies fed. Now where was I?

My internet was not working partly because of a virus and partly because of something else. After Mike fixed the virus there was still a bunch of reconfiguring and who knows what that he had to do, and I didn't ask him about it because we were both so tired and stressed out last night that we ate, and vegitated in front of the TV for 1/2 hour after dinner and went to bed.

The kids had their first day back at school yesterday. Then I went to get myself registered at the local college for some courses that I can't get with my online stuff. I had the babies with me and spent 3 hours there to finally get to the counselor who said I did not have the information she needed (even though I had already emailed her with the information she needed) so she told me to go home and get it and come back within the hour so we could finish up the application. Me retrieving the information required my use of the internet. The kids would be coming home from their first day of school when I went out the second time and the babies needed a nap. It was the last day and last hour of registration, so I will just stick to my online stuff this semester.

Isaac is in 10th grade this year. He is starting in a brand new school (to everybody, not just him). There are only 9th and 10th graders there, so his class is the head honcho. Next year, when he is in 11th, they will add that grade to the school. Same thing for when he is in 12th. His class will always be the big dogs on campus and they will be the first graduating class. I am excited for him.

Emylie decided, despite formal counseling and much intense and loving discussion that she wanted to stay with her dad this year. That is the thing about split families--you just don't have as much control as a parent as parents should have. Making a stink doesn't make it better. But I did try. I can take the rejection personally, or I can recognize that it is just a no win situation for any child who loves both of their parents and keep loving her.

Claire is in 6th and has 3 different teachers. Her homeroom teacher is male. That is her first time having a male teacher. Andrew had one in second grade. She went into the classroom on Meet the Teacher Night and saw the desk labeled Ty and definitively concluded that it was the boy across the street all the kids hang out with (along with brother PJ and sister Patience). So she claimed the neighboring desk.That reminds me, PJ is in Isaac's Theater class.

Andrew is in 4th and has two teachers. He has a couple of friends from around the neighborhood he was able to hang out with. He is excited about having his own locker.

Nobody had homework except me. About a year ago to this day, I bought a new house. At the title office there was an endless stack of papers to formalize the sale and legalize the conditions of the sale. I would prefer to do that every year, rather than back to school "closing." Each classroom had a separate set of classroom expectations which needed to be read and signed as well as filling out contact information for each of the teachers to keep in thier classrooms. Fine. But what set me over the top, was that I had to fill out the EXACT same forms I has already filled out for registration in the past month. Every one of them. WHY!!!? Then, after spending inordinate amounts of time doing school shopping (uniforms, supplies, and accessories) I get another list from each of Isaac's teachers (6?) of things he needs, because high school can't be made uniform like Elementary.

On the up side, high schoolers do not get endless lists of things they will never use which will be distributed to other students and/or hoarded by teachers. Claire and Andrew EACH had 72 pencils on their school list. 72! That's 2 per week of the school year! I remember going through as many as 4 pencils per year. Honestly! I sent my children to school with pencil bags full of miscellaneous Primary birthday pencils and novelty prints along with partly used yellow no. 2's from previous school years. And one new package of 10 for each. Let's see what gets confiscated and what they get to keep.

Anyway, it is now hours since I started this post. I have gotten 4 loads of laundry in and have 6 to go. My fans may notice that I am doing laundry on Thursday rather than the Monday I love. Back to school has me all out of whack. I am looking forward to settling into our routines.

Now I need to do my very own homework for my online classes. I have two writing assignments due by midnight, which includes 4 chapters of reading, which I have not been able to do because of internet issues and back to school busyness.

Time to get back to my life.