Keeping it Real

Walking on Thin Icing

2011-12-14T23:13:00.001-05:00

Our first attempt at a gingerbread house was...interesting. Fun, yes, but...here are a few thoughts for people/organizations/deities that may or may not be informed about the process.

Dear Wilton: Your claims that the Ultimate Gingerbread House Kit has everything you need to create a gingerbread masterpiece is a joke. You clearly didn't factor in two small children *helpers* when packing the candies and portioning out the Royal Icing. Have you never heard the word "sampling?!?" I should sue.

Dear Just Born, Inc.: Thank you for the creation of Mike & Ike candies. You saved the day. No, seriously.

Dear God: Thank You for giving me the foresight to buy the Mike & Ike's for our gingerbread house decoration process. And thank You also for giving me the necessary strength, patience, and ~~utter stupidity~~ sense of humor to take on this endeavor. And for letting my first attempt at Royal Icing not be a flop.

Dear American Board of Pediatric Dentistry: Just look the other way. Nothing to see here.

Dear Kitchen Floor: ...I'm sorry.

What we were going for.
(Yeah. Right.)

What we got.
(No awards will be given for culinary carpentry, but we think it's still pretty awesome.)

New School

2011-02-21T22:02:00.003-05:00

I have mentioned switching to a new curriculum for a while. Now that we have delved into it and gotten our hands dirty, I can’t wait to talk about it (here, and pretty much to anyone who will listen.)

Our Five in a Row experience wasn’t working for us. I am sad about this, because it really is a terrific program, and while I will probably sell off the teacher’s guides in a few years, I will definitely be keeping the copies of the books from the reading list for a long time. They are terrific books with wonderful characters, themes, and illustrations. And we are using some of the books and even some of the lessons for now when they tie into our lives and studies. For the amount of work I was putting into the unit studies, Liesl didn’t really care that much--she got fussy and didn't want to listen. Neither of my daughters minded reading the same book five days in a row, and they did get some benefit from the repetition, but that was pretty much where it ended. So I stopped using FIAR and started looking around for a better fit for our family. And looking. And looking. And looking and looking and looking.

And then I (finally) found the Robinson Curriculum. One thing that caught my interest about RC was the whole “self-teaching” concept, which you can read about on their website. I thought this was perfect. On an average day, Liesl spends anywhere from 50 minutes to an hour and a half with me in violin practice. It is an understatement to say she is DONE with hands-on interaction with me after violin--and hands-on interaction is exactly what FIAR is about at her age. But she enjoys learning on her own steam. She showed an interest a few years ago in the 50 United States, so I bought and borrowed books in several different reading levels about the 50 States and handed them to her. On her own free time, she picked up more information that I could have ever dreamed or hoped for her to do. (It's embarrassing when your child, at the age of 4, knows all the state capitals and you do not.) Since she loves books and currently reads somewhere around the 5th grade level,* the idea of learning from reading lots and lots of classic books sounded very appealing.

The other thing I liked about this curriculum was the “old-school” approach. Reading, writing, and math. That’s it. For centuries children learned history and science by reading “real” books about history and science. They learned and practiced penmanship by doing copywork—which also produced memorization.

And yet, RC still seemed a little “out there” for me. As much faith as I have in the way our forefathers (and foremothers) educated their children, I wanted more input on science and history than RC mentioned. There were to be no updates, since Mr. Robinson said he was finished educating his children and would move on to other things. So I delved a bit deeper, and quickly came across Accelerated Achievement, or A2 as it is called by the creator. It is pretty much the same as RC, but more organized, condensed (as in, 1 CD-ROM of material versus 22 CD-ROM’s, but with the same public-domain books and more), and also more support and promises of free upgrades should they become available. There is much more focus on integrating science and history into the lesson plans for all ages and grades.

I shelled out the meager $5 for the demo CD, and then I pretty much decided while the demo was en route to get the whole curriculum anyway (for a mere $99.) I have to admit: Cost is NOT a factor when we school--we will make anything work in our budget if it is the right thing for our kids--but the price certainly was a nice bonus.

Both RC and A2 tout themselves as Classical Education, but I’m finding that they also cross over into the Charlotte Mason Method and even a wee bit of Unschooling in there, if you want. There is an amazing amount of flexibility in the program without creating too much work for the teacher/mom. And without getting too detailed (I’ll be doing that in later posts), so far A2 is working terrifically for us. I won’t lie and say it’s going perfectly (if it was, I would check my children for a pulse and/or pinch myself to wake up from the wishful dream), but the days are really going fairly smoothly when we concentrate on the 3 R’s. ** A2 is very neatly organized by grade level, but that is purely for convenience to give a starting point of where to begin--whole chunks and lessons can be skipped over without being detrimental to the learning (no “spiral” curriculum here!) And I’m finding that Liesl, even at the tender age of 5, does a very large portion of the work by herself. This is perfect--she sits and studies while Mom ~~checks Facebook a thousand times~~ gets on with her daily desk chores such as the family finances, correspondence, meal planning, and lesson plans for the following week. I’m actually far more productive in my other daily and weekly tasks now that my daughter sits and studies on her own for a great deal of her schooling time.

So there you have it: We have switched, not only curricula but method and philosophy. The last few months have reinforced the fact that we made the right decision. We will be posting more detailed accounts of our adventures with A2. Stay tuned!

* One of my mommy brags. I admit it. I’m overly prideful of Liesl’s reading ability and enthusiasm. And I KNOW that pride is going to come back and bite me in the butt someday. But I’m so thrilled not to have to teach her the basics. One less thing to ~~fight with her~~ think about. Liesl taught herself to read and by the age of 3-1/2 was reading simple chapter books to herself, among other things. Ava is showing signs of picking up on reading too.

** See, I just HAD to say something, didn’t I? When I started writing this post as part of my desk chores, our school day decided to turn to yuck in the form of lousy attitudes and behavior. We have our bad days, no different than anybody else’s school, I’m sure--home, public or private. Fortunately the good days far outnumber the bad. But why did they fire up with the crummy attitude just when I was glowing with praise of how smoothly our schooling was running?!?!? Pfft. (This would be an example of the “keeping it real” mentality that I am always alluding to.)

Art is a Process (for me)

2011-02-16T21:56:00.001-05:00

The girls and I have been doing a lot, and I mean a LOT, of arts and crafts these last few months. Partially because our outdoor time is severely limited due to the severe cold and the intolerance that some people (cough*me*cough) have for spending 20 minutes bundling the kids up in their winter outdoor gear, only to hear 5 minutes later, "Can we go in? I'm cold." But mostly because it's fun. It's fun, and I get to sit down and enjoy myself too. (Half the fun of having kids is playing with their toys and enjoying simple activities right alongside them.)

Making Valentines for friends and family
(Notice how neat and tidy the table and supplies are. This is the very beginning of the process...trust me. It did NOT look anything like this halfway through! My floor will never be the same. And I don't care.)

The benefits of arts and crafts are numerous. I borrowed these 10 Compelling Reasons to do Arts and Crafts with Your Kids from the Helping Kids with Arts website:

1. Creativity
2. Perseverance
3. Concentration
4. Delayed Gratification
5. Social Interaction
6. Task Completion
7. Planning
8. Expression Of Emotions
9. Openness
10. Self Image

Liesl's projects from a "learning to draw" book that I picked up at a garage sale somewhere. They LOVE these.

Little do my kids understand any of this. To them, it’s just FUN. It’s fun when Mommy throws a bunch of stuff on the table and says, “have at it.” It’s fun when we have an actual project in mind, and they do it halfway but take off on their own--often different from each other--tangents. As I keep telling them…some projects are like recipes. They’re just a guideline. (My OCD-prone 5 year-old still struggles with that concept: "You're using ALMONDS?!?!?!? The recipe says 'HAZELNUTS.'")

"Mommy, will you paint watercolors with us?"
How could I refuse? I did these paintings of their names and they acted like I had bestowed upon them the greatest gift one could ever give them. And here's the best part: I, myself, had a blast while doing it.

And the funny part...I had to sit down and DO several projects with them before they started “getting it” that it takes time and perseverance to actually complete the project. It took a couple of months for me to realize this (“Hey Mom, you gotta persevere right in front of ‘em if you want ‘em to learn it themselves.”) I know some parents view arts and crafts as a way to keep kids busy so they can accomplish something. That used to be my goal...but they kept asking me, “Mommy, will you paint with us? Mommy, will you color with us? Mommy, will you do Valentine’s crafts with us?” How can I refuse? The dishes can wait. (Besides, to use art as a way to keep kids busy so you can get things done is totally redundant. Have you SEEN the mess that glitter can make?)

Bring on the crayon shavings and pipe cleaners.

Fabulous Fun (Freakin' Cold) Field Trip Friday

2011-01-21T14:13:00.003-05:00

We reserve Fridays for "not-in-our-curriculum-plan" activities...and one of them is field trips. We had plans to visit the Plymouth Ice Festival with some friends from our beloved Mom's club. And then the day dawned--frozen. Temps of 10º when we started out, with a promised high of 15º later in the day. Seeing that our children were all 5 and under--in fact, all but my children were 2 and under--a few of our friends questioned the intelligence of moving forward with our plans. My response? "Pfft! Don't be wimps! 15º during a Michigan January is balmy! We'll bundle the kids up and they'll be fine! They won't even notice!"

Upon arriving to the festival, and spending a solid 10 minutes applying snow gear to my children in the back of our van, it did not take long for Mother Nature to cheerfully ram those bold words right back down my throat. We admired some lovely ice sculptures for approximately 4 minutes before the kids all started losing it, despite multiple tiers of protective clothing. I fully admit to being the first in our small but brave group to say, "Ok, I've had enough...who's ready for lunch?!?" And off we went to a nearby burger joint.

We spent a mere 4.82 minutes marveling at the ice sculptures, about 23.92 minutes bundling and then de-bundling our children, and then about an hour and a half in the (nice and warm) restaurant. It was delightful to relax, enjoy each other's company, and have a (nice and hot) meal while the kids played and enjoyed being out of the house.

Now for our next mission, I suggest a visit to (nice and non-frigid) Florida. Who's with me?!?

Wedding Cake ice sculpture

Unicorn ice sculpture

All of our would-be human Popsicle offspring
in front of the dinosaur ice sculpture

We saw one team of people working on their sculpture as we were passing by (quickly) to the warming tent

Pennies frozen in the ice sculpture by the bank. Funny, guys.

Liesl and Ava with their buddy S1. **
(Can you hear them saying, "THANK YOU MOMMY, for letting us come inside!!!!")

S2 and O1--the babies in the group.

O1 and his parents (and a sibling on the way!)

(*Names altered to protect the children of the pure and naive)

Semi-Wordless Wednesday

2011-01-05T09:51:00.000-05:00

How can you resist this face?!?

Liesl's grocery shopping list

And...we're back. Um...I think.

2011-01-03T22:27:00.000-05:00

Hello blogland. I have missed you. Due to the wondrous ~~waste of time~~ communication device of Facebook, I sort of ignored my blog for a year. But there are some people who refuse to get on Facebook (because they live under a rock or something), and I miss writing longer passages about the fun, craziness, and chaos that is my life. (That 420-word limit on Facebook is a real creativity killer.)

So in a nutshell, here is the last year of our lives:

Liesl is still playing violin. Ava is still playing violin. (I, surprisingly, still have all of my hair, to say nothing of my sanity.) We are still homeschooling. Our first curriculum of choice, Five in a Row, did not work--partially because my kids are sick of listening to me pontificate, and partially because I am sick of pontificating to my kids. (*see disclaimer below!) We are moving on to a completely different curriculum of a completely different genre; stay tuned for news of that. Liesl has completed the Primer program of Math-U-See. Ava is 3. Ava is 3. Ava is 3. Why do I repeat? Because Ava is 3 in every sense of the word. I seriously did not know a child could scream this loud or tantrum this long. Yet, when she does not feel the entire world is out to destroy every bit of her happiness as I disallow access to the Cookie Crisp, she is a delightful little child.

Liesl proudly displaying her "Alpha" books from the Math U See curriculum.
She completed "Primer" a day before her 5th birthday.

Tom works full-time for Chrysler. He traveled last year. A LOT. (If you think that means a temporary taste of single parenting for me, you're right. But I digress: this paragraph is about him.) After 10 months on the job as a contract employee, he was hired directly into the company, which means we stopped paying for our benefits and he got paid vacation time. This is wonderful, because paying $1,000 a month for health insurance, along with our children's extracurricular activities and music lessons, was putting a huge strain on our budget. His gardening, grilling, and smoking (er, as in smoking food, not...like, you know, smoking stuff) knows no equal.

Ava practicing her G major scale

We have a gerbil, Midnight, whom we adopted from a family member. Between his external tank heater and my friends who provide me with an endless supply of toilet paper tubes to feed his chewing habit, he is the most spoiled rodent alive. We also have a betta fish, Sushi (ok, the name was my idea), whom I purchased as a congratulatory gift for myself back in March for landing my new job. Between his 5-gallon filtered, heated tank, and his LED nighttime lunar lighting, he is the most spoiled fish alive. It is nice to have living things (besides the obvious implication of children) in the house again.

I have a wonderful part-time job as a video relay interpreter, and I love it. I work a few times a week at most. I am known to run, skip, and sashay out the door for every shift...then come home in a much better mood to deal with my kids, having spent time with other educated, rational adult-type people who don't wipe their boogers on my pants. We cook and bake a lot. I knit like CRAZY. Not perfectly, and nothing too complicated, but having taught myself over about a year and a half, I'm pretty impressed with some of the projects I have turned out--hats, simple sweaters, teddy bear clothes, purses and ponchos for my girls.

So there you have it. Here we are. Enjoy. Run for cover. Tell me how you've been the last year or so!

**********************************************

* Disclaimer! For what it's worth, I still think Five in a Row is an amazing program, and am sorry that it is not a good match for our family. After spending about 3+ hours a day organizing, overseeing, and participating in violin practice with two spirited, tenacious children under the age of 5, they are really done with listening to me. And frankly, I am really done with them...and Five in a Row requires much more hands-on teaching than we are all able for. A more patient mother might be able to handle that load--not me. (Just keepin' it real.) We are 99% decided on a classical education curriculum that I will post about once we have sunk our teeth into it. :-)

Another Month...Another Violin Recital

2010-02-28T22:08:00.019-05:00

The girls' monthly violin recital was Valentine's Day this year. Instead of working on a new piece, Liesl played all of the Suzuki pieces she's played since beginning this adventure: "Twinkle, Twinkle" Theme and Variations A, B, C, and D; "Lightly Row;" and "Go Tell Aunt Rhody." A total of 7 songs...this made the practicing and preparation for this recital a bit harried, even though these were all pieces she's played before. To stand up and play for a solid 10 minutes at the tender new age of 4...Liesl did great. She shared the "Twinkle" stage with two other students, so this was her chamber music debut. :-)

And our violin teacher had a practice contest--over a specified 14-day period, each child was to practice as much as possible and send in the average minutes of practice for the best 10 days of this period. I am so proud that Liesl won this contest for the little kids, with a daily average of 41 minutes per day. (Ava had a daily practice average of 18 minutes, which isn't bad at all for a 2 year-old.) The fact that this practice contest coincided with Tom's 2-week business trip/my 2-week temporary experience with single motherhood...all the more amazing. Her prize was a book and CD set about the orchestra, which was a huge hit for Liesl, as her reading skills are so far advanced for her age and books are one of her closest friends.

And last but certainly not least, this was Ava's 2nd time on stage. She participated in last January's recital (which I never posted about...) with an impromptu trip to the stage with Miss Sharon to name the parts of the violin, showing here:

For the February recital, Ava joined a group of beginning students on the stage to again demonstrate parts of the violin and bow.

These monthly recitals are so good for our kids--socially, musically, psychologically. They provide a safe and caring environment to practice performing, and motivate the kids to practice harder (and smarter) in order to prepare a new piece for the following month. And last but certainly not least...the cookies and socializing afterwards are special times to relax, chat, and run around with friends, new and old.

Ava participating with Owen, Alex, Addie, and Spenser in the beginner's class

Owen, Alex, and Liesl playing "Twinkle" Theme and Variations

After their performances, Liesl and Alex sat right up front to watch the older, advanced students. I am loving that Liesl has such a good friend in the violin studio...she and Alex and two peas in a pod.

Miss Sharon and Liesl with her prize for winning the practice contest

My serious little mini-musicians!

Happy New Year (2009-2010)

2010-02-04T13:42:00.002-05:00

Still catching up, but we had so much fun (and so much good food!) for our New Year's celebrations that I had to post our pictures, even though they're very late.

THIS is the way French toast was meant to be made, in our opinion. Homemade challah bread, made from the same refrigerated challah dough that I used for our Christmas morning ~~pecan~~ walnut sticky buns. This pre-risen, stored wet dough method is one I've been learning over the last year through the book Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day (we have and use both books, and love them!) Having done traditional bread baking for many years--by hand, Kitchen Aid mixer, and bread machine--this method is by far the best thing that's happened to us in the carbohydrate category. I no longer seem to have the time to babysit traditional yeast bread in it's many picky stages, so this book has kept our family from having to eat Kroger's 10 for $10 loaves (most of the time.)

And THIS is the way French toast is meant to be enjoyed, in our opinion: On a relaxed, unrushed New Year's Eve morning with coffee and lattes, seed catalogs, coloring, and family.

Everybody here loves to swing, regardless of the weather.
And I mean EVERYBODY.
See if you can find a couple of additional bodies.

See 'em now?

One of Tom's and my New Year's Eve traditions...a baked brie en croute with Granny Smith apples and Townhouse crackers.

Naughty. Fattening. Decadent, and well worth the effort and extra zillion calories once a year.

Another New Year's Eve tradition: Champagne in our crystal wedding flutes, which were a surprise gift from my Mom for our wedding toasts.

Too much champagne for Daddy snowman.
(The baby snowman in the swing lasted until late January, it was hilarious. The girls missed him when he finally melted.)

Homemade rye bread, again, made from dough that I used from the Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day cookbook. Since we use rye flour so slowly in our house, I buy rye berries from my co-op and mill them every few months, keeping the fresh flour in the freezer. Eat your heart out, delicatessens.

Enjoying a hot chocolate treat after being out in the cold.

(Liesl's shirt had a taste, too.)

Daddy frying up the standard New Year's Day reubens.
Lord, but it does make a mess of our stove.

Tom's reuben. He's German, so he's gotta have sauerkraut on New Year's Day. (Thankfully he prefers to skip the pickled herring tradition. Yuck!)
I prefer Georgia-style reubens--turkey and coleslaw instead of corned beef and sauerkraut.

Last New Year's tradition in our household: Warm homemade chocolate pudding.

No wonder everybody (including us!) needs to go on a diet after January 1st.

Happy (belated )New Year, everyone!

Merry Christmas (2009)

2010-02-01T20:11:00.003-05:00

Ok, so I'm a little late.

Opening presents at Grammie and Papa's house December 23: TRAINS! :-)

Classic Ava and Alex.

Nice.

Christmas morning. Jammies. Cuddling. Perfect.

Opening gifts from stockings (there were only 2 apiece)

Classic Christmas-morning-in-front-of-the-tree shot

One of my gifts to Tom.
How else are you supposed to wrap a 15-inch cast-iron skillet?!?!?

One of the gifts from us to the girls...purses that I knitted. My first knitting projects.

I enjoyed the process so much that there are matching tiny ones for their teddy bears.

Homemade carmel-pecan sticky buns. From scratch. 'Cept we were out of pecans. Whoops.

Ahem: Homemade carmel-WALNUT sticky buns. (They were still great.)

The girls' joint gift: An easel. And paints. Ho boy.

Frosting birthday cupcakes for Jesus.

Wilton's "class icing" for decorating students is very easy for the kids to manipulate. They did a great job.

After our quiet family Christmas dinner, we all sang "Happy Birthday" to Jesus.

We left Him a cupcake in the center of the table.

(He didn't eat it.)

Visiting Oma and Opa in Cincinnati. We took ALL the wooden trains with us, and made a continuous track all through the family room. I daresay Daddy, Mommy, and Opa had even more fun with it than the girls.

Naturally we take all of our violins everywhere, so Uncle Robert and Daddy played together.

Ava thought it was C*O*O*L that Uncle Robert plays violin too.

Back home after a long drive. Finally time to wind down. We love home!

Happy (belated) Birthday, dear Jesus!

Liesl's 4th Birthday

2010-01-20T06:09:00.012-05:00

Then...

...and Now.

My sweet little baby is getting so big!

Liesl's 4th birthday was on December 22nd. We celebrated with a very small party at Chuck E. Cheese--just Liesl's godmother Amy and hubby Drew, as well as friends Emma and Jack and their mom Kelly. Had a great time...no, really, we did. Even the adults got to play and be silly for a while.

It is very hard for me to fathom how quickly Liesl is growing, and how fast she learns (and from the most amusing sources!) I can barely remember what she was like as a baby, my memory is crowded with occasions closer to the present. And yet, I can still recall those very first few moments as a mother when I was finally alone with my newborn baby, just hours old, looking into her sweet, perfect, sleeping face and dreaming of what was to come. My preconceived notions of motherhood flew out the window within 48 hours of her birth and continue to do so--she has far exceeded my expectations of what it is like to have a daughter. These last 4 years have been exhilarating, exhausting, blessed, heartbreaking, eye-opening, and often difficult...but always indescribably wonderful. Happy 4th Birthday, darling Liesl. I am so lucky to be your Mom. Daddy and I thank God for you every chance that we get, and we are so happy with the blessing that He entrusted us with.

A blast from the past--and the furnace.
Yup. This is definitely my kid.
My parents discovered a similar scenario hundreds of times when I was her age.

We began Liesl's birthday with a (real) tea party for 3 in my bedroom. I hadn't been feeling well, so I figured tea was in order. Later, the party widened to 5-7, as various baby dolls and teddy bears crashed the party.

The cake I made...can you see the hippo? Note to self: use darker icing to outline.

Dinner with Jack (3) and Emma (5)

If you look closely, you'll see Ava cuddling up with Tom in the center of this picture.
This was the nearest proximity to Chuckie that she could tolerate.

Liesl loved him. She humored him, really.

Opening presents!

One of the rides with Jack

Daddy rocked out the basketball game with his little ballast

Liesl getting her portrait "drawn" with godmother Amy

One of the "portraits." Classic.

A friend of mine made a rainbow cake her daughter. She said it was a big hit, so I Googled it and found Omnomicon's directions. It was fun to make, but if you're the organic-anti-food-additive type, look in the other direction. (Or lighten up...it's only one day.)

Liesl loved it. Psychedelic, Baby!

Celebrating 1 Year of Violin Recitals

2010-01-12T21:07:00.001-05:00

I am so behind in blogging it's not even funny. I am so behind with life it's not even funny. I had expected that once the holidays were over and Tom went back to work on January 4th, I'd just slip right back into my old routine that we had been taking for granted all the way until September 23rd. Nope. Rome wasn't built in a day, and the mess that is our household took a good 2-1/2 months (and drastic changes in lifestyle, budget and priorities) to fall into the disarray that it is currently in. Thus, I am behind in everything, so I'll be adding posts from mid-December all the way until New Year's. They'll just be a little late.

December 14th marked Liesl's 12th violin recital, and an entire year of performances. It was a momentous occasion for her, as she was playing "Lightly Row" for the last time at a very respectable tempo--without her Bow Right. This is like a little kid loosing training wheels on her bike. She is now able to concentrate enough on keeping her bowing arm straight enough not to need the guide anymore. We haven't consistently used the thing in practice for well over a month, so now it's been packed away for when Ava is ready to begin using Liesl's first 1/16 violin. Since this was right before her 4th birthday, she closed out her third year with quite a bang. :-) We are immensely proud of her and how much she enjoys performances (and, to be honest, the cookies she gets at the reception afterwards.)

I also played in the fall chamber music group: a Mozart piece, a Haydn piece, a Broadway showtune....and Coldplay. (I mean, c'mon, when you think of Mozart and Haydn, you automatically put Coldplay in the same category, right???) Seriously, halfway through the fall term, Sharon announced to us that we were adding an encore piece to our chamber repertoire and would play an instrumental version of "Viva la Vida" for the recital. After resisting the urge to hire an exorcist for her, it took me about a solid day to realize she wasn't kidding. (This woman is PURE classical, and don't try to convince her otherwise!) It turned out to be a very enjoyable piece, and very challenging. There were revised lyrics sung by a brother of one of the violinists, lyrics that reflected things that were happening in our teacher's life. It was a very moving experience. I daresay even Mozart would have been proud (if not mildly horrified.)

The other significant part of this recital for me was that it was the first time I performed publicly while doing shifts and vibrato. Not perfectly, mind...but I overcame my nervousness and managed to get those shifts and vibrato out. :-)

My violin teacher's former Interlochen classmate and very good friend, Mr. John Haskell Gilbert, came and played with her professional quartet at our recital as well. We were very lucky to get a chance to come and watch one of the rehearsals with the girls (I gave them lollipops to keep them quiet.) Much to the dismay of the 3 violinists in our household, Ava is showing a very marked interest in the cello....every time we visit a quartet rehearsal, she is extremely concerned that Sharon's cellist, Karen, has her instrument on the floor. There are usually a few comments: "Uh-oh....vi-in on fwor! Vi-in on fwor!" (I'm assuming you can come up with a reasonably accurate translation, even if you are not entirely familiar with Ava-speak.) In our house, it's a huge taboo to leave instruments on the floor where they can get stepped on and broken. Even Ava is not allowed to leave her beat-up V.S.O. violin or horsehairless bow on the floor (although stepping on the thing would probably improve it, but this is not the point.) Thus, the endless commentary on why a cello is allowed to rest on the floor--have you ever seen a 2 year-old try to lift a full-size cello under her chin?

Because of this marked interest in the vi-in on the fwor, I have been making ~~veiled threats~~ comments to Miss Sharon that we'll have to get at least ONE of the four musicians in our household to play a cello--we would have the makings of a family string quartet. Upon hearing that, Mr. Gilbert matter-of-factly informed us, "Violin is better." Hey, if a world-class musician says so...I guess we better listen to him. (Sharon...please forgive me for the jokes. You know I cannot resist.)

All kidding aside...it is great fun to watch and listen to a string quartet play and really get a live feel for the sounds of the viola and cello. Even if it's on the fwor.

Thus ends a terrific first year of violin study for our entire household. We look forward to more musical fun and adventures for 2010.

Happy New Year, Please

2010-01-01T19:56:00.006-05:00

As I look back at 2009, we've had so much happen. It's been wonderful, it's been eventful; it's also been sad and stressful. I dearly love New Year celebrations because it feels like everybody gets a second chance. (Or 3rd, or 4th...or 35th, if you're me, which you're not, so apply your own number and keep reading.)

In a huge effort to keep things from getting crazy (again) and to keep my family and myself from forgetting the one true Reason for Christmas (again), I tried to keep Christmas activities in check in our household. Not as many crafts as before, not as many gifts. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise: On Thursday, December 17th, I made the *astonishing* discovery that I was almost 10 weeks pregnant. Astonishing because, in our minds, Tom and I thought our family was complete--and so, without going into too much detail which you probably don't want/need to read, we had taken precautions as such. It just goes to show you that you can give God a very good laugh by telling Him your plans for your life. I went from shock, to fear, to worry, to disbelief...and finally to joy, and amazement, and hopefulness. No, it wasn't in our plans. No, it doesn't make sense. Yes, I dearly love the two little children I have, but they are a lot of work. A lot of joy, but a lot of work. And siblings...well, a sibling relationship in itself is like another child, so in my mind's eye, I see the sisterhood of my two little girls as a child in itself, which needs nurturing and attention as much as each individual child. So the addition of another sibling created that many more relationships--you do the math, I was and am too tired to figure it out myself. But within a day of figuring it out, I fell deeply in love with that new little baby, and made an appointment with my midwife, and started remembering and thinking about all the things one does when one is pregnant--maternity clothes, dietary needs, birth plans (I was finally going to get my home birth!), etc.

And then...as fast as the news came, it was over. Two days after learning of our new child, that precious little life that rocked our world so quickly, the baby slipped out of our lives without much warning at all. At 10 weeks, the baby was gone. I'll never know if it was a boy a girl, I'll never gaze into it's tiny newborn face, I'll never introduce it to two big sisters who would adore it beyond distractions. I'll just never know. And that killed me. It's still killing me.

When you've had a miscarriage, people say stupid things. They mean well, they truly do--but they say stupid things. They remind you that this happens to about 1/3 of all pregnancies (true, but it doesn't help heal the hurt), that this baby wasn't healthy enough to survive (true, but it doesn't help heal the hurt), and they tell you that God has a little angel in Heaven waiting for you when you get there (true, and that REALLY makes it hard not to start crying.) Or, worse...they say nothing to you at all. Nothing. They don't acknowledge a loss, and they don't acknowledge that a life is gone. Either through awkwardness about hurting the mother's feelings--which is understandable, I'll admit--or they say nothing to you because they are immersed in their own petty snits or their own insecurities. I'll be honest--that hurt worst of all. It feels unforgivable. I know I've got to forgive, and I will...in time. God wants me to forgive. Nothing, nothing is as important as a life, but I still have to forgive.

In talking with a few of my friends who have survived miscarriages, I learned to expect these responses (or lack of, in some cases.) I dealt with it, and am still dealing with it, but I learned two very important things: The only two things you can say to a woman who has lost a child, without hurting her further, are "I am so sorry for your loss" and "Is there anything I can do?" (The answer to the last one, for me, was, "Yes. Please pray.") And you don't ignore or avoid the topic for any reason whatsoever.

And so, this experience has drawn Tom and I closer together. It has made me appreciate my children more (even though they continue to drive me nuts--but I am thankful that they are ALIVE to drive me nuts.) All of this in the middle of the holidays, celebrations, traditions, traveling, family gatherings, and presents...we've had ourselves quite a time. It has also made us re-think our decision that our family was complete, but we're not ready to rush into that right now.

I am very grateful to my friends and family who supported us unfailingly through this tough time. I'm grateful that my husband has let me cry on his shoulders almost every day since we lost this little baby. I'm grateful for friends who understand that this little baby was a life, and that we are grieving the loss of it as such. I am grateful to friends who shared their experiences with me and understood my need to cry. I am grateful for my parents, who came and took care of the kids so I could rest and heal, and deal with the shock. I am grateful for those who keep checking on me, and for whom I don't have to pretend that everything is fine and hunky-dory, as if nothing ever happened. But mostly I am thankful to know that that little baby is up in Heaven, and we will get a chance to hold him or her in our arms someday.

Happy Birthday, Dear Jesus!

2009-12-25T10:45:00.003-05:00

Good Stuff

2009-12-17T05:10:00.001-05:00

Back to normal. Whatever that is.

2009-12-14T14:07:00.004-05:00

Tom got a new job!!!!!!!!!!!!

He started last week, a contract position in Chrysler, doing much of what he was doing at GM. He sent in his resume and within an HOUR received an email back asking him for an interview. He has been back for almost a week, and while the transition is tough for any new job, it looks promising. Now, Tom has been telling me for the past 13 years how smart he is, and naturally I believed him; but this solidifies it in my mind. There are many, many automotive engineers with the same level of experience and education as him who have been out of work 12-18 months and not found a job. I couldn't be prouder of him. And I am so very grateful that he is able to work for an American company...more than I could ever explain.

Today marks the first day of our "normal" life (whatever that means.) I finished up some work assignments I had committed to, but took myself off the roster for full-time interpreting work. I will never, ever, ever take my stay-home momdom for granted again. No more full-time working mommy for me! Back to cooking healthy dinners, schooling, getting the chores done on a semi-regular basis, and a bit of relaxation here and there.

Friday Night Knitting with my Mom's club pals at Christine's house in November

I hosted the December gathering, but did not get any photos.

Christine (with Baby #4) and Cheryl
Two of my fellow knitting, natural-birthing, homeschooling buddies

Liesl loves this new hairstyle.

Onion ring on our 10th wedding anniversary
November 13th

Making salsa.
A LOT of salsa.

This is about 1/3 of what we made, in a 24-quart pot

Liesl "wrote" the recipe down for us.

Ava fell asleep on me...this almost never happens anymore.

Oh, and I got my hair chopped.

Decorating the Christmas tree

Not so hot on decorating the Christmas tree

On Dec. 5, we met with a bunch of our friends and their kids to have pizza and go to the Farmington Hill's annual Christmas tree lighting.

The pizzeria, a locally-owned joint, let Mike bring his homebrew in since they don't serve alcohol. Awesome.

My friend Katy stuck a candle in our pizza and led our group in "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow" in celebration of Tom's new job.

I have great friends.

I also have weird friends.

With NINE kids (!!!!) in a restaurant, you gotta come prepared with activities.
Pipe cleaners from the dollar store were a hit.

Tom and the girls went to visit a friend's home near Lansing. An old family friend of Tom's family, Chris and Jenny have 4 homeschooled children...and chickens.

Tom is jealous of their chickens.

That is one funky rooster.

They also have cows.

This one was not amused.

When the temperatures turn frigid, craft activities in the kitchen replace running around outdoors.

We've been wanting a Nativity set in our home for years now, but never found one. This one belonged to my mother-in-law's best friend, who passed away this fall. We are honored to have it, and remember her fondly.

Liesl helping me make chocolate pudding for dinner.

Ava's contribution to the pudding-making.

Nice.

Assembling mousie cookies for Liesl's (and my) violin recital on Dec. 13.

The finished product

Post-baking treat!

Ditto

Liesl's mousie is the top left; Ava made the other two.

I did not utter the phrase "Elephant Man" in their presence, I swear.

Liesl rehearsing on Dec. 12 for her violin recital the next day.

She played "Lightly Row" for the 3rd month in a row, but this time, she played it without the help of her Bow Right (the wire thing that kept her bow on the correct place on the strings.) It's like losing training wheels. She's developing so well.

On With the Show

2009-12-02T20:59:00.009-05:00

Darling little Ava's first "real" violin lesson was today...in conjunction with Liesl's. She is now old enough to handle sitting in on Liesl's lessons with minimal supervision, and can play quietly during the entire time. (Well, most of it.) So now she will be bringing her own little violin to Liesl's lesson and having a regular 15-minute session of her own. Ava is quite at home in Miss Sharon's studio; it doesn't hurt that we've been regular guests in Miss Sharon's house since before Ava could sit up.

Like many younger siblings, Ava takes great interest in doing whatever Liesl does, which is why we bought a very, very cheap violin for her about a year ago. It's what Shar Music likes to refer to as a "V.S.O." (Violin-Shaped Object) and it was almost unplayable when we bought it. (Frugality is a noble trait, but not when purchasing stringed instruments!) However, if the very cheap 1/32 violin we bought for Ava was almost unplayable before, being in at the hands and mercy of a toddler for 9 months rendered it completely worthless now--at least for making actual music. If you look closely you'll see that the bow no longer has any horsehair, the E string peg barely moves, and the bridge was systematically removed so many times that I finally just glued it down. It's completely untunable--not that Ava strives for perfect intonation (yet) anyway. Still...the goal was to have it in Ava's hands and give her something to carry around while Liesl and Daddy and I practice, and to keep the interest "real" for her. She loves to unpack and pack it in it's tiny case (we call this "playing house" with her instrument,) and she takes great pride in copying her sister by carrying the case out to the car, and then into Miss Sharon's house when we arrive for lessons or chamber music rehearsals. As she gets older and is able to take more direction, like Liesl was able to do at about 2-3/4 years, we'll place Liesl's old 1/16 violin in her hands, as this one is actually playable.

Tom and I still play together on an almost daily basis, if only for a few minutes a day. We've managed to get a few very short, simple trios going between Tom, Liesl and I (during which, Ava can be seen toddling around between the 3 of us, carrying her well-~~beaten~~ loved V.S.O. as she "fiddles" along with us.) If it weren't for having such an amazing, giving violin teacher; I'd be tempted to send one of our girls to a cello instructor and the other to a violist so we could have a real string quartet...we'd rival the Von Trapp Family Singers! (We'll just have to settle for a violin quartet.)

Butting in on Sissy's lesson and playing pizzicato on her V.S.O.
(Sort of. Hey, you gotta give her credit for trying. She's 2.)

Happy 2nd Birthday, Ava!

2009-11-22T20:50:00.014-05:00

Ava Grace

October 27, 2007

Precious little one...you've grown so fast. You've completed our family. Your hugs and smooches, your tiny red curls, your giggles and signs and words all just delight your Mommy, Daddy, and Big Sissy.

Happy 2nd Birthday, dear, sweet Ava...we love you so much.

The cake I made. Ava has been very interested in giraffes lately.

Blueberries: the breakfast of birthday girls.

"Yup: everything's covered. My work here is done."

(Notice that the fork she was previously holding is nowhere to be seen.

I'm pretty sure it's on the floor.)

I can't believe how big they're getting.

Tom's best friend needed us to help care for their baby girl on Ava's birthday. Little did

they know, they were giving Ava the best gift of all. Ava LOVES babies.

Here, both girls are cuddling baby C., much to C.'s chagrin.

What's funny is that this photo looks exactly like a shot I took of Liesl and

Ava close to Liesl's 2nd birthday, as seen in this post from two years ago.

(Except there's an extra kid in this new picture.)

Still not quite clear on the candle concept.

Ava had a little, ahem, "help" opening her gifts.

The giraffes from Grammie and Papa were the hit of the show

Family enjoying gifts and each other

Uncle Tom and Alex, my 12 year-old nephew, welding in the garage at Ava's party.

(Isn't welding a common activity at a 2 year-old's birthday party?)

Happy Halloween!

2009-10-31T21:25:00.009-04:00

We hope your Halloween was pleasant and safe! :-) Our little princesses charmed the neighborhood with their costumes--and antics. Liesl's dress was given to me a few years ago by a friend who has scads of little girls' clothes. It was either an Easter dress or a flower girl dress. Either way, it was free! Same with Ava's--a friend of mine gave it to me out of a box of old dance costumes that her kids use for dress-up. The girls really do like girly-girl clothes and dressing up. (I don't know where they got this...certainly not from me.)

As well as the standard trick-or-treating this evening (or, as Tom and I put it, "Go out and collect candy for Mommy and Daddy,") I took the girls to visit a local retirement home on Tuesday for a small Halloween celebration. This facility has a relationship with the Farmington Area Mom's Club--we visit as a group on holidays to give the kids and seniors a chance to interact. It's a nice way for the kids to give back to the community--simply by being cute. (And loud.)

Happy Halloween!

Trick-or-treating at the retirement home on Tuesday

The Princess is PISSED

Hanging out with their goodies

My friend's daughter J., age 6 months.

Princess partaking in post-trick-or-treating pecking

Listening to a Halloween story afterwards

"Oooooooooooo!"

After the retirement home, we dropped by our violin teacher's house to visit and show off the girls' costumes. She was in the middle of a quartet rehearsal, so we sat and listened quietly for 10 minutes. And had lollipops.

The lollipops may have had something to do with the "sitting quietly for 10 minutes" part.

Carving pumpkins

Tom/Liesl's pumpkin on the left

Becky/Ava's pumpkin on the right.

Tom's way more creative than I am.

Trick-or-treating at Mr. and Mrs. L's house

Examining the loot

We also received trick-or-treaters at our house when we were through. Liesl was in charge of answering the door and handing out candy, a task she took very seriously.

The older kids (teenagers) loved this. They adored her, and she basked in the adoration.

I've got a performer on my hands, sure as shootin'.

Life Goes On

2009-10-15T21:54:00.003-04:00

In spite of challenges we've been facing, there have been many good things happening in our household and lives these last few weeks.

Liesl's 10th Violin Recital: Although our family is dealing with the pressure and uncertainty of Tom's unexpected layoff--not to mention a broken bone--Liesl actually did quite well at her violin recital last Sunday. She played the next Suzuki piece, "Lightly Row," and at this point, only played half of it, without piano accompaniment. Not bad, considering the stress that has gone on in our household. I considered not having her in this recital due to lots of stress and uncertainty in our lives, but we quickly dismissed that idea for two reasons--Life has to continue with some semblance of normalcy for the sake of everyone's sanity, and Liesl performs so well at recitals--I think the pressure of an audience brings out the best in her playing. (She gets that from me--my performances in theatre are always kicked up a few major notches when opening day arrives and there is a real, honest-to-goodness audience in those seats.)

Oktoberfest at our church: Once a year, we Germans gather to celebrate our ~~nuttiness~~ heritage with food, music, games, and dancing. (And beer.) This year's event was the 2nd annual Oktoberfest. The food was amazing, the company terrific. Nothin' like hanging out with your pastor and his family while forcing our poor, unsuspecting children to partake in the ultimate humiliation that IS the Chicken Dance.

Games and activities

Ava was the duck pond's best customer. You could get prizes for selecting a duck with a black spot on the bottom...but she didn't know, or care. Seriously, a puddle of water indoors with brightly-colored plastic water fowl floating in it? That's a prize in itself for a toddler.

The game attendant knew her by name. Told us that MSU has a pretty good ornithology department. We told him thanks, but we're opting for marine biology.

Sausage, authentic German dumplings, and apple strudel = baby bait.

(See how she's trying to sucker Daddy out of his dumplings with that cute little face? She was wildly successful.)

Liesl and Sarah, who is also my Mother's Helper on occasion. Sarah's family and our family are good church/homeschooling buddies.

Coloring: If Sissy does it, Ava has to do it.

The Chicken Dance: Humiliating ourselves is half the fun.

One of our pastors (right) and his 2 year-old son agree

There's other dances to humiliate yourselves with

See? (We love this German Oompah band. They did our gig last year as well.)

Too much ~~beer~~ German food.

Schooling Continues: Our homeschooling adventures were momentarily halted, but have restarted with gusto, this time with Daddy playing a much more major role. Last week we hosted a verimcomposting workshop at our homeschool co-op, with help from my friend Kelly—who is not a homeschooler, but is a master composter and vermicomposter. She is the one who got me started with worm bins (all of my worms are decadents of hers, so I guess you can say we’re in-laws in some weird sick circles.) She is always willing to share her expertise and experience.

Our homeschool co-op learning about worms...

...and then making their own small worm bins.

(Isn't it too bad that homeschooled kids don't socialize?)

FAMC Halloween Party: Again, I have to fawn over the amazingness (is that a word?) of the Farmington Area Mom's Club. We are a really diverse, fun, resourceful group of ladies. We had our Halloween party yesterday--in the freezing cold, no less--and had such an amazing time.

The girls do have costumes planned, but it was too cold yesterday to wear them to the outdoor party. So we improvised. Here, we see Ava portraying a very convincing grape.

The Blessing of Friends. :-)

My friend Stacie's 6 month-old daughter, R. I could eat her up with a spoon. Stacie might frown on that.

Kim and little Charlie. Charlie was going to dress as a vampire, but again, too cold for his costume. I called him Edward anyway.

One Down, One Still Going: Liesl is 100% potty-trained. She hasn’t worn a diaper in over a week. We just decided to cut them out cold-turkey. After just ONE nap accident, she has woken up dry from every single nap. Nighttimes are a different story…we’ve had about a 66% success rate, but the wettings are becoming less frequent as time passes. It’s exhausting—and a lotta laundry—but it is worth it. Only one kid in diapers! Haven’t had that for two years. Easy peasy.

Work, work, work, work: I have been so blessed to have been given so many job assignments in the last 3 weeks. I've had to turn many down due to Tom's outplacement seminars, job interviews, and other things, but my first paycheck from my referral agency arrived yesterday, and it was a whopper. I keep pretty meticulous records, so the number on the check wasn't a surprise to me...but still, to feel like I can help out the family in our time of

Interviews, already? Tom had a job interview yesterday. It was a good experience for him. It will not result in full-time employment, but he definitely learned a lot about what is out there for him, and he also has the possibility of part-time contract work with this company. Hey...extra cash and experience are nothing to be sneezed at. He has a phone interview scheduled for tomorrow.

All in all, we are doing ok. We will survive. Our budget has suddenly become a very focal point in our lives, but I am confident that we will make it work. We have each other, we have a decent backup career (mine) that is able to be--and was--picked up at a moment's notice, we have our health, we have the support and love of many friends and family, and we have our faith. We have a lot more than most people in our situation.

Changes and Challenges

2009-09-29T22:10:00.008-04:00

For those that may not know already, my wonderful husband lost his job at General Motors a week ago Wednesday due to cuts and layoffs. We were totally blindsided by this turn of events...although we knew that cuts were coming, we thought that he would be the last one out the door because nobody else in the company knows how to use the software that he uses.

The first few days and mornings were terribly hard on him. Not that things are perfect now, but things are put into better perspective. Sometimes I have to remind him over and over that looking back on the past won't change anything, and sometimes I have to remind him that if we continue to place our lives into God's hands without fear, that we will be fine...the will of God will not lead us to where the Grace of God cannot protect us. He always brings himself back. We've had a few really, really rough days...but for the most part we have become closer and, I think, more focused.

Tom has a 6-month severance package, so we are safe as far as income and benefits for the next 6 months, but we have switched into major money-saving mode. We are making cuts and re-evaluating our priorities. Within an hour of getting this terrible news, I was on the phone with my agency, informing them that I would be available to work however many hours they would give me, and soon found myself thrown back into the world of full-time freelance interpreting. I've worked more hours in the last week than I have for the entire preceding year...for which I am very grateful. My skills are sharpened back up already, and I am grateful that I have them. I'm revving up to take the NIC screening in preparation for national certification...only 11 years after receiving my degree. (Way to put things off!)

To add a little bit more fun to our lives...Liesl was jumping on her bed on Sunday morning--forgetting, of course, the 9,274 times I have told her not to--and fell off, breaking her right collar bone. Two trips to two different doctors, 3 sets of x-rays, and a visit to the pediatric medical supply in Madison Heights later, and here we have Liesl and her new accessory. Our wonderful family physician muttered to me, "Isn't it great that you all have no stress in your lives right now?"

So there is. But I am so proud of Tom and how well he is handling this huge, sudden adjustment in our lives. He is rising to the challenge like a trooper. We keep reminding ourselves not to be negative, to place our lives into God's hands, and to work our butts off to rectify our situation in the interim. Homeschooling our children is still a huge priority. Many, many people have offered help in various ways--our psychian, my parents, our violin teacher, and many of my FAMC friends have already stepped up to the plate. It is in a time of difficulty when you see who your true friends are, and all we have to do is look around to see how very, very blessed we are.

How I Will Forever Remember This Morning

2009-09-23T09:54:00.003-04:00

Work like it's up to you.

Pray like it's up to God.

I have every reason to believe in God, our Father, and Jesus, our Lord and Savior. I have every reason to believe that our family will be absolutely fine in this process, and we will emerge from this crisis even stronger. The trials we have faced in the past have proved this.

We trust in God. We place our lives in God's hands, gladly and with no fear and our whole hearts.

Unit Study: "The Story About Ping"

2009-09-18T21:29:00.021-04:00

This week kicked off our first "true" homeschool adventure. While many people reminded me that I've already been homeschooling all of my children's lives, this is the first week we used a curriculum, lesson plan, and a flexible, kid-friendly schedule.

We chose a delightful, book-oriented curriculum called Five in a Row. It's funny...when I began researching homeschooling a year ago (has it really been that long?!?), I would never have considered this unit study method as a good way to learn. That's because I have been indoctrinated into thinking that learning happens ONE way: in a classroom, with a usually over-dry textbook that's organized into units and chapters, and occasional hands-on experiences that are...sort of relevant to what the textbook was talking about. In my opinion, this is not a natural way for very young children to learn, and it isn't prone to encourage a love of learning.

After speaking with several families who are using/have used Five in a Row (or FIAR)--and speaking to their very intelligent, thoughtful, and fun-loving children--my perception of unit studies completely changed. It just makes so much more sense to tie the subjects together to a common theme, because this is more of the way real life works. And the really cool part? These kids remember what the learned. They retained it, and they ENJOYED learning about it all. Well, that was the kicker for me.

So we began our first unit study this week, which was, happily, a book that I remember fondly from my childhood--the curriculum has quite a few books in it that I read and enjoyed as a child. The stories are all of good-quality children's literature, not fluff books like Sandra Boynton or picture books (not that those kinds of books aren't valuable--we have ALL of Sandra Boynton's books and love them. But the FIAR series uses books that have a lot more "meat" to them.)

Unit Study Title: "The Story About Ping"
Author: Marjorie Flack
Illustrator: Kurt Wiese
Copyright: 1933
Category: Classic

Monday: Social Studies
Geography, Culture
- Located China on the world map, placed our "Ping" story disk on China
- Discussed cultural differences between Chinese and Americans: Food, family living, traditional dress, etc.
- Visited the library and checked out children's fact books and picture books of China, the Yangtze River, and ducks

Tuesday: Language Arts, Music
Literature, Fiction, Literary Devices: Repetition
- Discussed how the author uses repetition to make parts of the story stick out
- Discussed quotation marks and why they are used in books and stories
- Violin lesson

Wednesday: Applied Math
Counting, classification, introduction to multiples
- Using homemade cards, counted all of the ducks in Pings family (including Ping himself!) that live on the "wise-eyed boat on the Yangtze river." (There are 68 ducks.)
- Classified all the family members into groups
- Set up Ping's 42 cousins on a graph to show multiples of 10 (with a remainder of 2)

Thursday: Art, Music, Co-op Preschool
Medium, drawing water
- Discussed the medium that the illustrator chose
- Talked about how illustrator showed different expressions on the animals' and peoples' faces by changing the lines ever so slightly
- Drew our own renditions of Ping and his family
- Returned to our beloved Music Together class for the first week of the fall semester. Bonus: This semester's Music Together CD theme is Fiddles! :-) We like fiddles in our family.
- Attended our first class at our homeschool co-op, geared especially towards preschoolers! The class is called "All of God's Creatures." Today we discussed how to classify mammals. Then we talked about how bears are mammals. Made a craft--bear paper bag puppets--had a teddy bear parade (the girls were excited because their teddy bears were "starting school" as well), and did a finger play with Eric Carle's "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do You See."

Friday: Science, Social Studies
Animal Kingdom
- Visited the Franklin Cider Mill* to observe ducks. Discussed the 3 kind of ways ducks can get around: Walking, swimming, and flying. (Most animals cannot do all three!) Fed the ducks and observed how they "stretch" by standing upright and flapping their wings. Discussed how to tell the difference between a male and female Mallard duck.
- Serendipity lesson! Got to watch the cider press in use. Stayed there to watch for a solid 20 minutes at Liesl's request.
- Visited a Chinese restaurant to talk to the hostess for a few minutes--learned to say "thank you" in Chinese ("xie xie ni".) Ate cashew chicken and rice for lunch (at home: Mommy wasn't quite brave enough for the restaurant.) Everybody used chopsticks. I ate my entire meal with chopsticks, and, watching me, Ava made a very studious and whole-hearted attempt at them. She was successful in her own way.

* Ok, I'd be lying by omission if I didn't fess up to buying cider and donuts. But to my surprise, the girls weren't overly focused on that and stayed with the ducks for a solid 30 minutes before we went and bought our cider and donuts. Really. I was surprised. (Because *I* wanted the #$*&@ donuts.)

All in all, the first week showed me that my plans and my preconceived notions about how my kids learn will need tweaking. But snuggling up to read the story together each day, and then moving on to a loosely-structured lesson that connected to the story--I can see why this method and curriculum are so popular.

First day of school picture! 9-14-09

Math: Sorting Ping's family into classes before counting them

Done! This lesson actually lasted a solid 45 minutes...at Liesl's request. Ava had her own set of counting cards, slightly larger, with her name on them instead of family classifications.

First day of homeschool co-op preschool class

Ava really dug being a "real" student--she's registered--and sitting at the tables to work with the "big kids."
(Hi, Daniel.)

Teddy bear puppet craft

Lining up for the Teddy Bear Parade (which was performed to a nice, rousing march)

Feeding the ducks! Even Ava, my non animal-lover, really dug this activity

Ava had her eye on one particular duck, and when he disappeared under the bridge, she was quite upset

Snacktime
Half-eaten donut on the left is mine.

Those ducks are really ~~stupid~~ brave

Chopped apples being prepared for the press

Cider press in motion. It was NEAT! It was loud and fun to watch, and it smelled darn nice, too.

Giving me the "you gotta be kidding, Mommy" look...

...but she gave it a really good try, regardless

Humoring Mommy (and then Mommy caved and gave her a fork and spoon.)

Liesl's 9th Violin Recital

2009-09-16T14:11:00.004-04:00

Liesl's "Twinkle" Graduation!
No more Twinkle for this Suzuki Mom!
(At least until Ava is ready to start lessons. Oh, dear.)

Art is a Process. So is Cleaning.

2009-09-01T20:43:00.005-04:00

Every preschool art project comes with the reminder that art is a process. The act of doing a project and experimenting with the materials and imagination is far more important than the final outcome for most tiny artists. Mine are no exception.

Cleanup is always a bit of a process, too.

An interesting craft idea that I read about.

Pour salt into a small bowl, stir with colored chalk until salt reaches desired tint of color.

(We mixed blue and red to get purple salt,

a trick Liesl remembered from Ellen Stole Walsh's wonderful book, "Mouse Paint.")

Apply glue to paper, dribble colored salt onto glue.

Artists at work, learning/creating

She really dug this activity

They also played together very nicely.
Score! Double bonus.

Loads and loads of sensory experiences. :-)
(There may have been a "tasting" sensory experience when my back was turned for an instant. Fortunately, sidewalk chalk is non-toxic.)

Dump the excess salt ~~into your lap~~ back into the bowl

Ava is like her Daddy...when she concentrates, her tongue just sticks right out of her mouth--and stays out.

DON'T turn your back on toddlers with watercolors.
Actually, this face painting is mild compared to what I've found in the past.

I admit to cleaning off her face before I snapped this shot.
She had a full-on watercolor "beard." She was delighted with herself.

Reading stories for Sissy. Liesl is actually reading entire books to Ava these days.

I'm not trying to duplicate a classroom at home--that would be silly--but a teacher friend gave me this ABC wall boarder, so I couldn't resist putting it up in my kitchen. The vowels are in red, so Liesl now knows all of her vowels.

I also have a preschool/kindergarten-type calendar set up in our front hallway. It has a weekly calendar, a monthly calendar, and a weather/season chart that we change every day. Liesl enjoys "Doing Calendar" every day before morning violin practice.

T-minus 14 years...*

2009-08-31T14:12:00.022-04:00

Another great FAMC outing. This time we went to the Selfridge Military Air Museum with 40 of our other FAMC moms, kids, and a few dads. Tom took the morning off of work to accompany us, which was wonderful, because Tom is an Air Force buff. It's also fun to share these kinds of outings with him, so he can see what really goes on during all of these great--but exhausting--outings that we do through FAMC.

The museum is only open on weekends and select holidays from 12:00 noon to 4:00 p.m., but can be opened at other times for groups by appointment. So our group had the entire museum and airfield to ourselves...which was amazing. No strangers to worry about, and friends to share with--simply amazing.

Liesl and Ava had a great time in the outdoor display. The indoor museum paled in comparison--for them, anyway, Tom and I loved it. (We would have loved more time to take everything in. In a few years, perhaps.) But there were still really neat things to see, do and watch in the museum. I can't wait to go back next year--it's highly worth the trip!

* Why the countdown? That's how long before Liesl can enlist with the Air Force. I've been hearing for a week now that she's going to become an astronaut. She seriously didn't know we were going on this field trip--I find it's best for my sanity to inform her of such outings right before they happen--otherwise, I hear about it night and day until it does happen. It was a BIG surprise for her to see space shuttle exhibits today. She plans to take me up in her space rocket someday. I'm sure NASA will allow her to take her mommy on a pleasure cruise in space. The taxpayers will LOVE that.

Inside the cabin of the C-130A Hercules, the only plane we were allowed to enter.

Family photo inside the C-130A Hercules.

I'm so glad Tom could join us for the morning.

C-130A Hercules. It's a big plane!

This is a replica of a SPAD XIII, a World War I fighter airplane, one of the first fighter planes ever built.
This is just a replica, but it's actually flyable (is that even word?)

Side view of the SPAD XIII

I really enjoyed seeing this plane. Tom and I have recently seen the movie "Flyboys," a movie inspired by a true story of WWI fighter pilots. The movie was great, and seeing this plane really drives home how much aviation has changed in the last 100 years.

Liesl next to an unmanned tank. The C-130A Hercules is in the background.

F-16A

Flown between 1990 and 1994, it was one of the newest planes on the airfield. Most of them were 30-50 years old.

Bell UH-1H

Flown from the 1970's to the 1990's

And Liesl signing "Helicopter"

F-4C Phantom II

Flown from 1978-1986

And Liesl signing "Airplane"

Ava freaking LOVES helicopters. She goes nuts when she hears them fly over the house, which is often because we are so close to several major traffic intersections.
Seeing the helicopters up close--she LOVED it. She had to be torn away. Loudly.

Screw the airplanes. Show me more helicopters!

(Beech C-45B flowninthe1900'sbutwhocaresgottagoseethehelicopters)

Liesl inside a cockpit of an F-16 trainer. She really liked that.

A small but meaningful airspace display.

Liesl spent a very, very long time here with the photos and models.

I see a family vacation/school field trip to NASA in our future.

Model of a NASA 747 Piggyback.

I had no idea that space shuttles were transported this way. Makes sense, though--rocket fuel is expensive.

I thought this was really neat, so I came home and looked it up on NASA's website:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/behindscenes/126ferry_flight.html

I'll show this website to Liesl when she wakes up from her nap.

Tribute to the crew of the Challenger.
I still remember hearing about this in school, and everyone crying without really knowing what was going on.

Afterwards, we were allowed to eat our picnic lunch in the airfield, under the planes, since there was no other shade available.
Seriously...the coolest picnic we've ever done. When else can you eat in the shadow of a wing of a 40 year-old aircraft?

Loot!

2009-08-30T20:34:00.001-04:00

$41.25

Farmington Area Mom's Club Mom 2 Mom sale

Extra time to shop before and after my volunteer shift at the front door

Wednesday

2009-08-26T22:43:00.006-04:00

One of the moms in our violin teacher's studio posted a YouTube video of her daughter, Kelly, rehearsing the solo in a very difficult chamber music piece. I showed it to Liesl and Ava. They were enthralled. Look at how they're not pushing each other off the chair. You just don't see that in our house very often. (It doesn't hurt that Kelly is only 7, flippin' brilliant on the violin, and that Liesl looks up to her.)

Whole-wheat pita bread baking in the oven

We had a tea party. My girls actually drank--and enjoyed--tea. I was impressed. I wouldn't touch the stuff until I was 34.

I think they were more enthralled with the novelty than the actual tea, but we had a very enjoyable tea party nonetheless.
(We ate the fresh pita bread with our tea.)

Aren't they gorgeous?
(The flowers are pretty too.)

Fresh corn on the cob from our garden.

My grandmother, a farmer's daughter who became a farmer's wife--always said that corn on the cob was best if you boiled the water and THEN went out and picked the corn, just moments before you planned to eat it. That's usually what we do.

At our homeschool co-op's pool party.
The pre-teen girls just love, love, LOVE babies, and Ava is a willing subject to their attention.

Liesl and Daddy in the big pool at the pool party

I set up a preschool-type bulletin board calendar that a teacher friend gave me. It's posted in our hallway now. This was a really fun "schooling" activity for the day.

Liesl found her birthday month with absolutely no help from me.

(Liesl picked out her clothes on this day. Notice the colors of her outfit, Aunt Karen. Thanks a LOT.)

At the Farmington Hills Annual Marshmallow Fly 'n Fry.

Ava and I sadly missed it because we weren't feeling well.

Liesl did not seem to miss us.

It's Fun to Stay at the....

2009-08-25T14:33:00.000-04:00

Deep Summer

2009-08-20T22:15:00.003-04:00

First corn on the cob from our garden

A tad immature, it still needs a few days to ripen, but the kids didn't complain, and neither did we

Nummy

Our piano tuner came. Liesl loves him. Fortunately, he's a very patient, grandfatherly type.

He brought the girls coloring books and juggled for them.

Picnic and free concert at Pavillion Park in downtown Farmington on Wednesday evening
All of our husbands were either out of town or working late, so we hung out here for the evening. Kids could run and yell, and dance to the live music.

Folk music band, we all loved it. We gotta hear "Dualing Banjos" at least once per summer.
Liesl and Ava loved being out in the evening, hearing the live music, dancing, and running around like maniacs with their pals.
They slept pretty darn well last night....

Patio play

Forget toys. Throw out a couple of tubs of water, a few yogurt containers, and life is grand.

I added a couple of paintbrushes to the mix, and Liesl and Ava happily "painted" the house, patio, step stones, lawn furniture, flower pots...and my legs. Ewwwwwww.

Today's Adventure

2009-08-18T21:20:00.004-04:00

I honestly don't know what I would do without the Farmington Area Mom's Club. When I first joined 3 years ago, I thought the club was just about playgroups and going over to other people's houses so that my kid (I only had one at the time) could play with other kids, their toys, and get some social interaction. Since my friends were scattered across several counties, I wanted to get the opportunity to meet with new people closer to my home. So we went to some playgroups during Liesl's first year in the Mom's club. That was ok for a start, but now we delve more into the "meatier" gatherings--and they are plentiful.

One of them is the yearly summer jaunt to the University of Michigan Dearborn Environmental Interpretive Center. With advance reservations and a minimum number of participants, they run an outstanding pond study for children of all ages, given by U of M students. It is a short hike through the woods lead by student naturalists to Clara Ford's former rose garden, which has been turned into an area for pond study and research. There, the kids were introduced to pond study in it's most basic form: Grab a net full of "stuff" out of the pond, pour it into a bin of water, and find specimens of all kinds to examine, identify, and then turn loose. This hands-on approach kept the kids rapt and, amazingly enough, fairly well-behaved. (Unfortunately for those of us with toddlers and older babies, it kind of turned into a waterplay fest for the younger sect, which is something we all do at home--however, not with bacteria-laden pond slop. Oh, well. Live and learn.) The whole thing lasted for a solid hour and a half, and a few families opted to stay after and do a little more learning on their own.

Afterwards, most of us went to lunch at the Yasmeen Bakery in Dearborn. It is a place that my good friend Colleen frequents with her 3 children about once a week, and since she is married to a Lebanese man and embraces his culture, religion, and food, we weren't walking into this place blind. This was very fortunate for us, because the variety of food available was staggering. After a fair amount of deliberation (and having to bodily remove my children from the refrigerated cases containing beverages and dairy products), we decided on some Lebanese-style meat sandwiches and some cold salads with lentils, chickpeas, cracked wheat, and tomatoes. I could have eaten that stuff all day long.

The social and learning opportunities just keep coming at us. Our only real problem is reining in our desire to attend every one of these tremendous events. After each one that we attend, I walk away thinking two things: 1) I don't know what I would do without my FAMC friends, and 2) that these events are 49% for the children, and 51% for the moms. The kids remain obvious to this fact. We let them.

Pausing at one of the larger ponds on the way to Clara Ford's rose garden

"Look, boys and girls! A slug!"

(No, it doesn't talk, and these U of M students have never heard of Monty Python. Dunno what kind of education they're getting....)

Student naturalist, Mary, describing pond life.

I kept telling this delightful young lady that she has a very bright future with children. She was incredible to our kids. I wanted to bring her home with us.

Clara Ford's gazebo is in the background.

Inside Clara Ford's gazebo

When people talk about the lack of socializing opportunities for homeschooled kids, I just laugh

My buddy Mattias. Already 5 months old. Wow.

A very small sample of pond sludge...but it yielded a very large variety of tiny critters and creatures.

What I wouldn't have given to have a microscope out there.

(Oh, wait. This event was for the kids.)

Examining the critters

Collecting samples

More collecting by the older kids in our group

Someone caught a very small crayfish, and Liesl was very proud to have a turn holding it...

...but she didn't know she was allowed to TOUCH it. Cool!

Mary explaining to Liesl how crawfish taste their food--and Liesl joining in on the fun.

I told you Mary was amazing.

At the bakery for lunch, Mattias was quite an attraction. They kept kissing his feet.

Can you guess where my kids are? (Hint: Look for the naughtiest ones.)

Two of mine and one of Christine's.

They just kind of blend together sometimes.

I never know if the blonde, blue-eyed kid that I'm yelling at is actually *mine.*

SURPRISE!

2009-08-16T21:26:00.005-04:00

HAHA! I pulled it off! (With a lot of help from family and friends!) I threw a surprise party for Tom's 40th birthday party on August 8. Unbeknownst to Tom (that is, after all, the point of a surprise party), his parents arrived from Cincinnati and his brother and sister-in-law arrived from Illinois--a very long drive for everyone. It was without a doubt the most fun I have ever had planning a party. And I even ~~stooped low enough to~~ thought Tom was special enough to rent a sign to let the entire neighborhood know exactly what we were celebrating.

I had a lot of help from several of Tom's friends. His best buddy John was in on the whole thing and was responsible for practically dragging a recalcitrant and slightly grumpy Tom out of the house on Saturday morning for a day of go-karting. Then he kept me updated on the timing of their arrival with continuous text messages throughout the day. Tom’s friend and co-worker Dave was responsible for getting me the email addresses of numerous GM coworkers of Tom, loaning me some tables, chairs and a tent for the party, helping to set up…and storing 7 huge cases of beer in his garage the night before the party. (I would have had a hard time hiding THAT from the birthday boy.) And last but definitely not least, Tom's brother Robert and his wife Karen, visiting on the sly from Illinois, came over to our home as soon as Tom left and helped by taking care of the kids while I went out and picked up cakes, ice, and balloons. They also helped with decorations and storing umpteen thousand beers into coolers of ice. Couldn't have done it without you, guys. I owe you BIG TIME.

Although I assembled the brave and fun-loving guests on the soaking lawn for the surprise portion of the party, I had no idea of the "entrance" that was planned by Tom's friend, Mike. I should've known. (Mike is a race car driver. Don't try this at home, folks.) I am glad that a) there were no cops on our street for that entrance, and b) the cop that DOES live down the street has a sense of humor.

Many, many, many thanks to all of you for helping to pull this off. Tom was deeply touched by everyone who showed up to celebrate with us, especially his parents, brother and sister-in-law who all drove to Michigan and stayed the weekend for some family time.

Happy 40th Birthday to my wonderful husband, the love of my life, my red-hot stack of man waffles. Like a fine wine (or a stinky cheese), you just get better with age. You're the best husband a girl could want, and an incredible father. You're the most amazing, sweet, sexy, smart, fun-loving 40 year-old I know. I love you.

The much-talked-about burnout entrance.

Please ignore the woman behind the camera with the horselaugh and the tremendously bad singing voice.

She hadn't had a drink yet at the time of this video. I swear.

Tom's brother Robert, our friend Dave (co-conspirator in the party), and my Dad putting up the tent in the pouring rain outside

Some of the guests waiting on the front lawn for the birthday boy to arrive

After the burnout entrance

Tom's always told me he's not crazy about surprise parties. I had a feeling that he wouldn't mind this particular party, and this particular crowd. Thank heavens I was right!

The birthday boy and his precious little girls

This is the last shot anyone got of Ava with a clean face for the rest of the evening.
You'll see what I mean....

The bouncer I rented to keep the kids happy and occupied. It worked! Adults actually got to hold adult conversations. (A few choice adults with no pride tested the bouncer as well. I have no idea who those people would be. None. Really....)

Liesl teaching Oma and Opa how to use Uncle Robert's iPhone.

Uncle Robert and Liesl
(I decided not to post the choice picture I have of Ava with Aunt Karen.
You're welcome, Karen.)

Guests on the patio (and Ava eating cake)

Sweet little Amalie, just turned 2
(I can't believe she's already 2!!!!!!)

Guests in the family room. Some of these people are Tom's old family friends that we have not seen in years.

More guests. From left to right: Mike, driver of the "entry" car; Julie, his wife and Ava's godmother...and lookin' damn skinny; Tyler, age 2, Julie & Mike's son, who has a future in racing if he knows what's good for him; Mark, mutual friend of Tom's and mine; Sherelyn, Mark's wife, and one of my dearest friends from high school.
Mark and Sherelyn introduced Tom and I. Our first date was Mark and Sherelyn's wedding.

Ava eating cake...

More guests..mostly Tom's work buddies

Still more guests in the bouncer

Ava eating cake...
(And Liesl on Uncle Robert's iPhone)

Joyce G., a friend of Tom's family from way back
Janet and Carl, my inlaws, who drove up from Cincinnati to surprise Tom
My mother, Rosalyn

Tots on the swingset

Ava eating cake...no, wait. That's a chicken leg. How did THAT happen???

Sunday morning, after the party, we had some nice quiet (sort of) visiting time with Tom's family.
Here, Aunt Karen and Uncle Robert are teaching the girls how to play Sorry.
Notice how everyone's shirts match their game tokens

Ava gave up after 1.394 turns.
(Liesl stuck with it...thanks to, no doubt, the perseverance of her aunt and uncle)

Liesl with her Uncle Robert and Aunt Karen...two of her most favorite people in the world

Sunday night...Liesl was allowed to stay up late and cuddle and read with her grandparents, whom she loves but doesn't get to see very often.
These are special times.

Semi-Wordless Wednesday

2009-08-05T21:25:00.001-04:00

These are the Morning Glories that I lovingly plant from seed every year in memory of my beloved Grandma Bauerle. I purchase the seeds, start the seedlings indoors, tend to the new plants, harden them off, choose specific soil conditions to fit their needs, and transplant them carefully into the planter with a trellis.

Number of blooms to date: 0

These are the Morning Glories that somehow survive the weekly, savage ripping of weeds around my zucchini plants, get absolutely no care or tending, and have no climbing apparatus available to them--except, of course, my zucchini plants.

Number of blooms to date: 4,239

I give up.

Torch Lake 2009

2009-08-04T05:29:00.013-04:00

We took the girls up to see Grammie and Papa at their cottage. It was a fun weekend, filled with all of the traditional things we like to do when we go up north: Friday night fish fry at the Torch Riviera, visit Coy Mountain, hang out on the beach, go to Alden for ice cream at Higgins and eat it in the town's flower gardens, play a game of 99 with my parents (and totally kick their butts), and last but definitely not least: Date night, sans kids, for Tom and Becky. We ate Cajun at my favorite restaurant, Pearl's New Orleans Kitchen. Afterwards it is our habit to visit a favorite beach spot on Wilcox-Palmer-Shah Nature Preserve, located on the beautiful east coast of Grand Traverse Bay.

The weekend was not without it's challenges: Liesl came down with the worst case of swimmer's itch any of us have ever seen (she aptly told us she had a polka-dot butt), and Ava decided that going to bed just wasn't going to be on her agenda for a while. (The walls of the cottage are, unfortunately, not sound-proof.) However, we truly enjoyed our time with Grammie and Papa and are very thankful that we had an opportunity to visit with them...and without them.

The forest in Coy Mountain

Coy Mountain

Ava's first hike in Coy Mountain--last year she rode in the Mai Tai carrier on my back

Ferns at Coy Mountain

Maple seedlings making a lovely carpet a Coy Mountain

"I've got a slug."

"Does it talk?"

"Not really."
"Well, it's scarcely a replacement, then, is it?"

Enjoying a treat of hot chocolate on Sunday morning

Cuddling with Daddy after a long, exciting day

My favorite time of the day on Torch Lake, at about 2:00 p.m., when the sun hits the water just right. My photos will never do justice to these gorgeous shades of blue and blue-green.

Osprey nest on the left. There is one bird in the nest, and one bird on the telephone pole to the right.

Hiking at Grass River Natural Area

On the boardwalk through the swamps of Grass River Nature Area. Lots of neat plants and animals on this walk--we saw tons of dragonflies, Jack in the Pulpits, and some really cool bugs. (Really!)

Watching the eddies on Grass River

This plaque is a memorial to my uncles, Tim and Joe, who died together tragically almost 10 years ago. They loved it here so much that our families had memorial contributions made to GRNA at the time of their deaths.

The view off of the beach at Wilcox-Palmer-Shah Nature Preserve. Not the best photo, but I wanted to remember how I felt when I looked out on the bay.

This is a better shot of the beach. It's lovely, peaceful. Not many people come here...which is why we love it.

A very rare shot of Ava sleeping.

Playing on Grammie and Papa's beach. We'd have done this more than one day if it weren't for that darned swimmer's itch. Ugh!

Just hanging out after dinner

Pretty.

Getting ready to pick cherries with Grammie and Papa

The reason why we all heard Ava saying, "See coooooooooooooooooows" all weekend long.

"See cooooooooooows."

"See piggies, see piggies, piggies piggies piggies; oink oink oink."

Enjoying the fruits of their labor. Literally.

Liesl and Daddy coming in from a swim in the deep water

"Yo yo, homey, don't you be dissin' my chocolate."

Just not a vacation if we don't all embarrass ourselves

Alden has an annual unusual flower display competition. This year, however, the competition extended to constructing an unusual outhouse.

Some people really do have too much free time and money.

Boat ride

Captain of the ship. Do NOT try to take the wheel from her if you value your life.

Bumming a Lesson

2009-07-28T20:42:00.009-04:00

Liesl had a wonderful opportunity to be part of a beginner's violin class held by our teacher through our city's enrichment and community education programs. Instead of being a student, though, she showed up a few times during the session as a teacher's assistant. It was a great experience for everybody--Liesl got to show off her violin skills to a group of students ages 4-12, and she was also able to be in a social/educational environment that was fun and focused on music. She also got to practice and re-focus on basic skills. But I think the best part was the huge boost to her self-confidence--hey, you may be only 3, but just look what you can DO. It was a role she enjoyed tremendously, and I wouldn't be a human mom if I didn't admit that I was extremely proud of her. And when Miss Sharon asked if anyone would like to demonstrate a particular skill, guess whose little 1/16 bow shot up in the air first?

After the 12-session class ended, all of Miss Sharon's beginning students had an opportunity to perform in last Sunday's recital (and enjoy the dessert reception afterwards!) It was a really fun and educational experiance for the kids, and, I hope, their parents as well.

Waiting with another private student while they watch Kayla, left, perform and demonstrate a piece for the class. Kayla took this beginner's class two years ago and has been taking private lessons ever since. She is now a very talented and dedicated violinist--and a very nice young lady to boot.

Participating in the class...and showing how it's done.

Practicing game cards with the other students. She could have sat up with the other T.A.'s, but she chose to sit with the students so she had an opportunity to shout out the names with all of the kids.

Never mind that she's scratching her behind.

Liesl's 7th Violin Recital (and the Cupcakes it Inspired)

2009-07-26T20:12:00.009-04:00

"Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" Theme
and
Variation D of "Twinkle" (16th notes)

I've said before that our violin teacher goes above and beyond the norm in many ways; one of them is that she has recitals every month instead of just once or twice a year. The recital classes are a bit more relaxed than most recitals I have attended, they are a safe place to practice performing in front of a crowd. And there is always a reception afterwards with treats and goodies, so that the kids have a chance to relax, socialize, and catch up with each other. (It's a nice time for us violin moms and dads to catch up and exchange ideas as well.)

Liesl had a bit of a rough patch as far as practicing goes for the last month. She was balking, acting like she didn't know basic musical terms (when in fact she would recite these things to herself when she thought we couldn't hear her), and generally not having the best of practice sessions. I was concerned, and, if I was being honest, worried...I am so used to her being such a good student with very few bumps in the road, even for a 3 year-old. I shouldn't have worried. After about 4 solid weeks of lousy practices, recalcitrant attitudes during lessons, whining, stomping, and that reverberating "Nnnnnnnn..NO!!!!!!" that is so common with preschoolers; Liesl got up on stage today and decided to just wow the pants off of everybody. We had a new pianist at today's recital, whom we really enjoyed meeting and working with--she is the pre-K music teacher at a prestigious private school in our area.

And afterwards? The potluck reception! Violin, schmiolin...the real reason I love these monthly recitals is that it gives me an excuse to bake.

I got the idea for monarch butterfly cupcakes from a book I borrowed from the library, "Hello, Cupcake!" It had some amazingly cute animal ideas in it, but the idea that grabbed me was a swarm of these adorable and beautiful butterflies. I had to try them.

Above is my test cupcake. The body didn't come out as well for this cupcake as the final products did. Other than that, I was not disappointed in the final outcome.

Finished cupcakes on the stand. I had to tote the cupcakes, stand, wings, M&M's, a pastry bag full of chocolate frosting (for piping the butterflies' bodies), and the antennae in separate containers, and assemble everything on the site. The butterflies needed to be assembled with the cakes on the stand so that I could make sure the wings wouldn't bonk into each other when I set them up.

Another closeup. I assembled everything on the stand except the top cupcake, and moved the stand with all of the assembled cupcakes from my work surface over to the serving table. It was frickin' nerve-wracking, I was so afraid I was going to drop the whole thing. Some of the cakes have two small butterflies instead of one large one. The kids fought over these.

On the top cupcake, you can see the peanut M&M's I used to support each wing.

These were a HUGE hit at the reception following the recital. I had so much fun making them, but they were a LOT of work. I will probably not make these again for a long time, until my kids are old enough to either help or at least respect the process.

It's Never Too Early...

2009-07-26T05:49:00.000-04:00

...to start practicing your piano scales.

Not Your Run-of-the-Mill Birthday Party

2009-07-25T14:53:00.012-04:00

Today we celebrated my dear friend Colleen's 40th birthday in a new kind of style: She hosted a run/walk/bike 5k at her home. We ran through the streets of Farmington on a pre-designed course that ended at her house.

Tom joined us and biked the route with our girls in tow, so they have technically participated in their first race. (The fact that they were both screaming throughout most of it will be politely ignored.) Afterwards we got to hang out with Colleen and her friends and family, as well as her assertive and fun-loving children, where we had a continental breakfast and, ironically, cake. (Healthy lifestyle or not, what's a birthday party without cake?!?)

Truly one of the neatest birthday parties I have been to! Happy Birthday to Colleen, who is truly "40 and Sporty!"

Liesl was so proud to get her own race bib.

Some of my FAMC peeps showed up as well:

Maria (on the bike), Kristen (in green), and Roxana (in blue)

And that tiny little helmet-clad blue thing on the right...that's Ava.

The girls ready for the starting line. And Tom, who was pretty much along for the ride.

Yuk, yuk, yuk.

The birthday girl (in green) describing the route, which she also marked on the sidewalk in chalk.

I feel pretty. Oh so pretty.

My family enjoying the party and having breakfast. (And cake.)

hippohippohippohippohippo

2009-07-23T22:21:00.009-04:00

My dearest, closest friend of 20 years (yikes!), Amy, who is also Liesl's godmother, accompanied the girls and I to the Detroit Zoo last Monday. I finally bought a family membership this spring, since it is almost as short a drive to the Zoo as it is to most of our favorite parks, and let's face it...seeing the Zoo through the eyes of tiny kids is magical. So Amy and I packed a picnic lunch, slathered the girls and ourselves with sunscreen, and headed out to the Zoo.

In case you haven't hung around us for a while (or at all), it would behoove you to know that Liesl's favorite animal is a hippopotamus. Not ponies, not kitties, not puppies or birdies or butterflies...a hippopotamus. And she has stayed consistent with that opinion for almost a year. So naturally, when we arrived to the Zoo, Amy, Ava and I were treated to a verbal onslaught of one single, incredibly important request: "Can we see the hippo first? Can we see the hippo first? Can we see the hippo first? Can we see the hippo first?" (ad nauseum)

Why, oh why must the hippo be located so far away from the entrance? Can't they move him to that wonderful fountain that runs through the middle of the Zoo...close to the entrance? It’s a very lovely fountain, I’m sure he’d be happy there....

I wish I had gotten a few more pictures of some of the animals we visited, but even with the incredibly helpful Amy on our team, our hands were quite full. The good news is, though, since we live so close to the Zoo and have our family membership, we can go back as many times as we want. We've already been 3 times since purchasing our membership, and we plan to visit again very soon.

Please, oh please let them move the hippo to the front of the Zoo before then.

Amy and Liesl hanging out by the hippo enclosure. This was the first chance I had to get my camera out, because god almighty, we sure as shootin' weren't going to stop to get out the camera, much less take a breath, before Liesl got to the hippo.

Amy wanted a picture of the girls sitting still together.

Yeah. Good luck with that.

I just love giraffes. Maybe not as much as Liesl loves hippos--I don't think that's humanly (or hippoly) possible--but nonetheless, our little group spent quite a lot of time with the giraffes.

After the hippo, of course.

Ava and Amy cuddling at my house after a much-needed afternoon nap.

If You Can't Take the Heat, Get Out of My Garage

2009-07-23T15:03:00.007-04:00

I've been part of a co-op buying group that purchases bulk natural and health food items from Country Life Natural Foods for about 3 years now, ever since I have been milling my own wheat and grains for my family's breads. I started also buying beans, cereals, dried fruits, yeast, carob chips, and other goodies, since their prices are so good and the food quality is so high. My old co-op got way too big, and the coordinator--a very patient, giving, and kind woman--started needing to charge us a processing fee for items we bought, since it was taking her and her 5 children an entire day to sort and divide the order. Now my friend Christine and I set up our own very small, very informal co-op, and this month was my turn to place and receive the order.

Only 4 families ordered this month, but I keep forgetting--I have the fewest number of children, so my order was piddly compared to others'. If anyone needs 25 pounds of lentils or 50 pounds of brown rice, lemme know...we do an order every few months. :-)

The delivery truck, and J.D., the driver for our route, who is my new best friend. One of the nicest truck drivers I have ever met. One of the nicest GUYS I have ever met. We had a chat for about half an hour about cooking healthy foods and gardening...he's a fellow gardener so of course we had to go poking and pulling around Tom's and my veggie plots.

A total of 54 items...I'm guessing the total weight of our order was around 700 pounds. I considered this my cross-training activity for the day.

I divided it up and checked it in after J.D. left. He was kind enough to be very early, so I was able to receive and split the order while my girls were napping. It was actually a very peaceful job. I could have been inside playing on the computer or doing laundry, but instead, I was sorting 25-pound bags of organic oatmeal and beans--and loving it. Who knew?

Mama Knows Breast

2009-07-21T13:27:00.007-04:00

When I was a brand-new mother, nursing a tiny infant and trying to balance the newness of motherhood with my own needs, I often watched Food Network while Liesl nursed. I kept telling people that I was watching episodes of "Iron Chef America" while I nursed Baby Liesl so that the food knowledge would seep out of my brain, into the breastmilk, and into Liesl's system very early in life. But I had an ulterior motive: It was just my excuse to watch the show myself and give myself a break while Liesl nursed, and she nursed constantly as a newborn. I'm fairly certain that nobody actually bought the lie.

Little did I know that my story would actually work:

Thinking Dining Out of the Box

2009-07-19T21:39:00.000-04:00

Liesl and I had a very nice treat today (in more ways than one!) We joined a few of our fellow violin students and their moms, as well as Miss Sharon and her extremely patient and kind husband, David, for lunch at the Shangri-La in West Bloomfield. And what a lunch it was. It is the first time I have eaten dim sum, and under the advisement of Ann's mom, who is Chinese, we tried bites of little delicacies that I don't think I would have ordered on my own: pan-fried turnip cakes, shrimp rolls, Chinese vegetables, and one really delicious noodle dish with green onions and mung bean sprouts, as well as other ingredients. (I also ate some things that I am not exactly sure what they were...but I don't care!) And Liesl tried bites of many dishes--she even asked for tea, and had a 2nd cup. We MUST go back to that restaurant and take Daddy and Ava in the very near future. It was wonderful.

If the food was great, the company was better: Ann and Kelly are talented violinists, not to mention bright, fun, and witty young ladies. Their moms are wonderful people too. I was a bit nervous about taking Liesl to a "nice" restaurant--read: not Max and Erma's or Red Robin--but she couldn't have been more angelic. (I kept checking her for a pulse.) I am sure the novelty of going out to lunch with the big kids and Miss Sharon had something to do with that, but she really was on her very best behavior. We heard stories of Kelly's recent trip to Washington D.C., and Ann's 4-week class at the Interlochen Arts Camp's advanced violin program. And if you've never seen a 7 year-old and an 11 year-old give a 3 year-old a tutorial on how to use chopsticks...well, you haven't lived. Throughout the entire meal I was bemoaning the fact that I had forgotten my camera.

Ann is headed to China with her mom for several months, and we will miss her very much. (Who will pick on me about practicing my vibrato and make sure I don't eat too many cookies at chamber rehearsals?!?!?) But she is lucky to have this chance to live in another country for a few months, and we will look forward to her return in November.

Thank you all for a wonderful meal and a very pleasant afternoon!

2009-07-14T05:22:00.000-04:00

Perpetuum Jazzile

2009-07-13T21:10:00.005-04:00

A friend sent me this clip and I can't get enough of it. It is completely vocal (and manual, for the first part), no instruments used at all except those provided by the human body. I am clueless about vocal music--I couldn't carry a tune with a forklift--but even I can appreciate how intricate and detailed this interpretation is.

It doesn't hurt that it's one of my favorite songs from my childhood. I admit it. I'm hopelessly stuck in the '80's.

Good Food, Great Company

2009-07-12T12:13:00.002-04:00

We love to cook, but once in a while we really enjoy takeout. That's an understatement. Lately, however, we've been having to tighten up our belts even more. Tom took a pay cut, our bills are going up, our insurance copays took a huge jump. And I am not complaining, mind. He still has a job, and we have everything we need, as well as a few comforts and luxuries.

Still...we've had to make a few changes. Having a weekly date night without kids is absolutely vital to our marriage. Hiring a sitter and going out every weekend was never financially possible, so we improvised. Our Saturday night in-house date night used to consist of takeout, often pizza from a local deli that now knows us by name. We'd pick up the house, feed the kids dinner and put them to bed early, order takeout, pop in a DVD from the library or get out a board game, and enjoy a peaceful and unrushed meal together. (It's probably a bad thing that Bella Vita answered their phone with, "Hey, Tom! Your Saturday night usual?")

Until the auto industry is more stable, this, too, is a thing of the past. But today, Tom said he had a hankering for the Third Street salad at Max and Erma's. So we did a little research and put together a recipe for dressing that very closely matched Max and Erma's, and even conjured up a great seasoned almond recipe for crispy, spicy almonds just like Max and Erma sprinkle on their Third Street salad.

So here it is: Our dressing creation and soy sauce-toasted almonds, put together with crumbled bleu cheese, bacon (everything is better with bacon), grilled chicken, red onion and dried cranberries:

(Hint: Starbucks Frappuccino bottles are great for storing homemade salad dressings.) The salad went really well with a batch of naan that I made from pre-risen, high-moisture bread dough in our fridge that I have been experimenting with. And the very inexpensive bottle of Pinot Grigio didn't hurt the ambiance one bit.

The nice thing is, once the kids are in bed, cooking and eating a meal is a completely different experience. It's like a blast from our past, when we had so fewer cares and copious amounts of free time. (The free time was something we couldn't fully comprehend until it was taken away. But that's par for the parenting course.) We can talk, slow down, experiment with ingredients. We can have a conversation that doesn't include "Stop beating your sister's head with the pizza peal" or "Who tried to stuff their peas in the salt shaker?" We can, if the mood strikes us, relax in total and utter silence. Not that we don't love our nightly family dinners with our darling (but sometimes loud and cranky) urchins. Every once in a while, though, it is heavenly to leisurely cook and peacefully eat a meal with someone you love.

In the meantime, I should probably ring Bella Vita and let them know we still love them...we just won't be calling every Saturday night anymore.

Three Chicks in the Kitchen: Liesl and Ava helping by very carefully and thoroughly (really!) painting the egg wash onto the challah. It helps that this really is like painting.

Sprinkling poppy seeds on the finished loaf.

I had poppy seeds alllllllll over the house after this one.

Oh well. I didn't become a mother because I wanted to be precious about a perfectly clean house.

Enjoying the fruits of her labor

I tried to get a photo of Ava eating the challah, but the camera is not as fast as her mouth. This is (or was) the 3rd loaf of challah we have made in the last two weeks. Our family loves it, and the loaves don't see the end of the meal.

Little Fishie

2009-07-09T21:54:00.012-04:00

Being dry is overrated. Liesl's very first swimming lesson was today and it was, um, a splash. (Sorry. I just had to do it.) There were a few snags in the beginning before we even headed to the pool:

"Liesl, guess what I signed you up for!"
"...What?!?!?!??!"
"Swimming lessons!"
"SWIMMING LESSONS??? I'm going to take SWIMMING LESSONS?"
"Yes!"
(A brief pause, and then she bursts into tears)
"Honey, what's wrong?!?"
"...Why I'm not going to violin lessons anymore???" Sniff. Sniff. Sob.

After clarification that it is possible to take more than one kind of lesson at a time (indeed, many of my generation have extended this possibility to the maximum, a mistake I don't intend to duplicate), she was all ears. And then we showed up at the Costick Center for swimming, which, to add a bit more confusion to the duo-lesson quandary, is the same venue as most of her violin recitals. Liesl, excited and eager, suddenly comes to a dead stop in the hallway, looks at me, and admits sheepishly, "I forgot my violin." Back to the drawing board.

But once the violin/pool skirmish was cleared, we hit the pool deck with gusto, and waited for our swimming teacher. And waited. And waited and waited and waited. "Can I get in now, Mommy?....How about now?....Mommy, can I go in the pool?...Mommy, where is my teacher?...Mommy, can I get in now?...." Mind you, this wasn't her teacher's fault--it was mine. A tip: Do NOT show up 10 minutes early for swimming lessons with a 3 year-old.

So now all confusions were dealt with, and Little Miss Fearless was finally able to get into the water. She delighted in the pool, loved her teacher, and enjoyed chatting up the other preschool students. The whole experience went--dare I say it?--swimmingly.

FINALLY in the pool, and loving it

"Lookit me in my swimming lesson, Mommy!"

Learning to kick with the feet

Miss Lindsay showing how to blow bubbles with your face in the water...

...and Liesl following suit. Good girl!

The swimming lesson grand finale: Jumping in the pool at the end.

The Blessing of Friends (and Beer)

2009-07-07T09:56:00.013-04:00

We were invited to a last-minute cookout at Christine's house on Sunday afternoon. Since Tom went to help his friend at the racetrack on July 4th, we didn't have any real family celebration for Independence Day, which bummed me out a little (I love holidays and celebrations), so this was a welcome diversion. We enjoyed the company of her and her husband, Mike (and Mike's home-brewed beers!!!!!!), and their 3.5 children, as well as our mutual friends Katy and Tony with their 2 children. The kids always love to get together, and the adults actually get to have discussions about important things like beer, religion, beer, cooking, beer, potty-training, beer, running, beer, gardening, and beer.

(In case you didn't gather this: The beer was pretty darned good. Thanks to Mike's influence, I see a homebrew setup in our basement in the very near future.)

Jakob giving Ava driving lessons

It's always a proud moment for a teacher when you see your student off on his/her own

Amalie and Ava playing together...they always gravitate towards each other.

And Peter, showing those nifty wirly-gig things that they found at Target.

Of course I'm going to have to get the same toy now. Thanks a lot, Katy.

(It's for the kids. Really.)

~~Baby Crack~~ Swings

The kids' table. One of them, anyway.

Enjoying dessert. We have a few picky eaters in this group (one of them is mine), but NOBODY balks at dessert. (And it's a prime conversation opportunity for adults, because the kids are busying their mouths with something other than talking, and their hands with something other than mischief.)

Little Miss Molly's driving debut (and her proud Mommy actually letting go!)

Look, boys, don't start something if you can't finish it....

3 Chicks & 4 Wheels

2009-07-05T14:10:00.013-04:00

3 years ago, when Liesl was still an infant, I almost bought a bike trailer from a neighbor at their garage sale. The problem was, he was asking way too much for it ($85), and refused to bargain. So I chose not to buy it. Turned out to be a good decision, because that season, Liesl wasn't old enough, and the following season, I was pregnant again. My midwife said bike+pregnant woman=bad idea.

And so, lo and behold, this season we were gifted with a used 2-seat bike trailer in very good condition. Free! Used, so environmentally friendly! Both kids were old/strong enough to ride in it! Score!

I finally got it cleaned up and Tom showed me how to install it onto my bike. And in went the kids, resplendent in their shiny new bike helmets. At first, I was nervous that they would beat on each other while strapped together in very close quarters, but I needn't have worried. The novelty and the fresh air distracted them (mostly) from the fact that they were literally rubbing butt cheeks the entire time.

And the trailer rides so nicely! Liesl and Ava got such a kick out of being able to ride behind me, and to watch Daddy as he zoomed by us several times. (Sandbagger. Showoff.) The seats are suspended from the top of the frame, and the tires are bicycle tires, so the jarring wasn't nearly as rough as I would have suspected. And, truthfully, being little kids--when I hit a bump, they giggled so happily and for so long, that I admit I turned around and ran over the same bump again and again several times in the ride....

It is a much harder to drag 65 pounds of kids (not to mention a few extra pounds on my behind) than it is to cycle alone. There is a slight incline in the .2 miles of our road that leads to 12 Mile Road. I have been crabbing about that *slight* incline when I was pushing Ava in the jogging stroller. Hauling both of my kids on the bike up that wimpy little hill makes pushing the jogging stroller seem like a cake walk. But it was a good workout for my behind--maybe I'll leave a few of those extra pounds on the road. And the trailer has extra space behind the seats for a bag or two of groceries. We may try to ride the bike/trailer to the grocery store sometime this week. (Then again, now that I remember what the incline is like on the way BACK from the grocery store...er, mebbee not.)

We had so much fun with our new toy that I took them for two rides today. I guess that makes me a recycler.

I've Fallen but I Gotta Get Up

2009-07-05T06:02:00.002-04:00

I've learned that one of the hardest things about parenthood is that Mom (or Dad) can be sick, hurt, unhappy, overwhelmed, or sad...and life just keeps moving on. It's tough to face, but no matter how badly you want to sit and wallow in vats of full-fat ice cream and an ocean's worth of your own self-pity, you can't. You just can't. Well, you can, but you'll run out of clean clothes and fresh produce, and your kids will kill each other (either inadvertently, because they don't realize that pretending the oven door is an alligator's mouth isn't such a good idea; or deliberately, because one of them actually deigned to look at the other's favorite doll for a fraction of a millisecond.)

I don't want to be one of those people who only posts on their blog about how wonderful they are and all the delightful things they do. Sometimes, and probably more often than I want to admit, things around here are very tough. And it's very, very hard to pull myself up by the bootstraps and just get on with it.

I have been hearing from friends whose kids are older than mine (and who have more kids than I do) that this is just a very tough time with very small children, who are very close together in age. That this is a phase in MY life where I shouldn't be hard on myself if I don't get much done. And that what I am feeling and doing (or not doing, as the case may be) is totally normal, whether there is an additional external crisis or not.

And yet...it is really tough sometimes to just get on with it. You may feel like you have completely lost the essence of who you are, and you don't have a friend in the world. But you just gotta suck it up and deal with it. There are minds to fill, and mouths to feed.

Wordless Wednesday...Well, Almost

2009-07-01T21:17:00.006-04:00

My friend Dawn stopped by with her two sons for a little sling help, and the baby needed to nurse, so I got to hang out with her 2 year-old, Cobey. Cobey was in love with the violins. But he kept telling me, "Turn it on? Turn it on? Turn it on?" He is a tenacious little thing!

See pictures of Liesl holding Cobey's brand-new baby brother, Carter, here. At the time, he was 5 days old.

(Wouldja just look at how clean my living/dining room was???? Emphasis on "was," this picture is 5 days old. It's *never* that clean and tidy. We had my family over for dinner that evening, so the house was picked up and ship-shape for the occasion.)

The view of our patio from our backyard. We have been outside almost every single afternoon and evening. Oh, if only I had pictures of how horrible the backyard looked when Tom bought the house 11 years ago. It's been a slow work in progress, but it is so peaceful and tranquil now. (Until a certain 3 year-old gets her hands on the hose, that is.)

Tom weeding our pepper garden, which is a much easier task, thanks to his ingenious row cover planning. It only takes about 30 minutes to weed around the 81 pepper plants. In seasons past, weeding this garden took upward of 4 hours. Phew!

I really have no idea what's going on here.

(I almost never do.)

Everyone's a Critic

2009-06-29T23:04:00.004-04:00

Picture it:

Becky starts practicing violin.

Ava starts screaming in sheer, utter terror.

Should I take it personally?

More Liesl-isms

2009-06-27T13:50:00.005-04:00

I got such a great response to my first post about Liesl's utterances. Based on that, I decided to keep adding to my file of things she's said that need to be remembered.

Please note I am NOT exaggerating any of these.

This is just a reminder to me--and anybody else--that your kids pick up everything, even if you think they're not listening. Read on:

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

When Liesl dropped plastic Easter eggs all over the floor, Ava was naturally curious and wanted to investigate. Liesl didn’t want Ava into the eggs on the floor, so she asked me in an exasperated tone: “Mommy, would you handle Ava, please?”

♥ ♥ ♥

In the bathtub—Liesl takes up a washcloth and starts scrubbing her behind:
Mommy: “What are you doing?”
Liesl: “I’m washing my butt.”

♥ ♥ ♥

At the breakfast table. Liesl suddenly lifts her right foot up into her lap, hugs it, and tells it, tenderly, “I love you, foot.” *smooch*
(Yes, she kissed her own foot.)

♥ ♥ ♥

As the girls were eating lunch, and I was preparing mine—which I usually eat after the girls are down for naps, so I can savor the peace and quiet—Liesl asked me:
Liesl: “What are you making, Mommy?”
Mommy: “Cucumber tea sandwiches for my lunch.”
Liesl: “I don’t like cucumber tea sandwiches.”
Mommy: “You’ve never actually had cucumber tea sandwiches.”
Liesl: “Well, I’m a kid, so I have had cucumber tea sandwiches, and I don’t like them.”

(Note from her mother--she's really never had them. That will change soon.)

♥ ♥ ♥

On our way home from Thursday morning Bible study:
Mommy: “We’re going to stop and buy some fruit.”
Liesl: “Oh, good. I like fruit. It makes me poop.”

♥ ♥ ♥

While I was playing with the girls on their new play structure:
Mommy: “I’m going to go down the slide.”
Liesl: “But I thought your butt was too big.”

(Contrary to what these conversations may infer, we really don’t encourage the use of the word “butt” in our house.)

♥ ♥ ♥

When I was rushing the children out the door to an early morning doctor’s appointment, for which I was going to be late:
Mommy, slightly crabby: “Let’s go, girls, hurry up!”
Liesl, excitedly: “Is it time to rock ‘n roll, Mommy?!?”

♥ ♥ ♥

When leaving in the morning for one of my theater rehearsals:
Liesl: “But Mommy, we didn’t practice violin!”
Mommy: “We can’t do it this morning, Liesl, because Mommy has to work. We’ll practice violin tonight.”
Liesl (with thunderous disapproval): “Well, Miss Sharon will not be happy to hear this.”

♥ ♥ ♥

After using the potty in the morning, Liesl pulled her pajama pants up over her bare bottom:
Mommy: “Liesl, don’t you want to put some undies on first?”
Liesl: “Nope. I’m goin’ commando.”

♥ ♥ ♥

Going for a walk in our neighborhood, and passing by the home of friends of ours, who have a little boy Liesl’s age and who is one of her best friends:
Liesl, excitedly: “Are we going to Ethan’s house?”
Mommy: (Seeing no cars in their driveway) “I don’t think Ethan’s home.”
Liesl, deflated: “Oh. Bummer.”

♥ ♥ ♥

When Tom was taking my wilted Mother’s Day bouquet out to the compost bin:
Liesl: “What are you doing with Mommy’s flowers?”
Tom: “I’m composting them, they’re past their prime.”
Liesl (somewhat sadly): “But…summer is still pretty!”

♥ ♥ ♥

While I was sorting and folding clean laundry:
Liesl: “Mommy, you really need a new bra.”

♥ ♥ ♥

While we 3 girls were driving somewhere, and somebody cut me off:
Mommy (kind of sarcastic): “Nice turn signal, you bun-brain.”
Liesl (also sarcastic): “Yeah. Dude. They’re standard in every car.”

Ah, Summer...

2009-06-25T13:51:00.008-04:00

Oh, the joys of Summer:

Cooling off in the pool...

Helping Mommy make summertime goodies (in this case, a helluvalotta hummus)...

Watering the flowers...

Shades...

Ice juicies for a cool treat...

Using over-thought engineering tactics to remove offensive shrubbery from the yard...

Tiny toads...

Other tiny visitors...

Sandals, breezy sundresses, and outdoor weddings at the park...

Vacation Bible School...

Making new friends...

Mommy's sun hat...

Park playdates...

Sliding down a giant fiberglass rectum...

Sisterly love, which comes easier when not cooped up indoors...

Letting it all hang out on the patio...

Swinging, naturally.

Summer. What could be better?

Motherhood

2009-06-19T20:49:00.000-04:00

Liesl's Everyone's Violin Recital

2009-06-17T21:02:00.003-04:00

Liesl's 6th violin recital was on Sunday. A violinist's milestone: She was accompanied by a pianist for the first time. We have been practicing this at home with a CD of piano music, as well as me playing the piano alongside her. She was more hesitant than she usually is when she performs, but she did amazingly well with all the new variables thrown at her...and, oh yeah, she's THREE.

After playing "Twinkle Theme," she did Variation A, which is four 1/16th notes followed by two staccato 1/8th notes. The piano CD we play with usually plays four bars as an intro; for some reason, our pianist only did two and then gave Liesl the downbeat to come in. Liesl immediately looked a bit confused, stumbled a bit...then she got this incredibly cute, stubborn look on her face that said, "Hell with it, if nobody else knows what they're doing, I'll just show 'em." And off she went. It took every ounce of my will power not to bust out laughing at the determination on her tiny face. Such tenacity! (...and, oh yeah, she's THREE.)

I had so much fun playing in the chamber music group last month that I asked Sharon if I could do a duet with someone. I thought maybe her or another adult student in the studio, but instead...we picked out Tom.

Bach's Minuet No.1

It was really fun, and we came out of it sounding pretty well. I played a few notes out of tune in this clip (that darned 4th-finger E on the A string), but other than that, I am very happy with how we played. I've only been taking lessons for around 9 months now, and while Tom studied violin for many years as a child and teen, he has not picked up his instrument in 24 years...and he still has that vibrato. This was really cool. We are the first husband/wife team to play at a recital in our teacher's studio. I really enjoy practicing with Tom.

And did I say this was "everyone's" violin recital? Why, yes I did. So, some of you might ask...where's Ava? Well, about 30 seconds into that clip, both Tom and I start smiling while we're playing...it's because Ava wandered up on stage to be with us, and wove in and out of our legs as we performed. Yeah, that's pretty much how it works out at home, too. Listen carefully, and you'll hear her giggling right before we start grinning. The kid thinks violin study is as normal to our family as eating, breathing, and sleeping.

Wordless Wednesday

2009-06-17T05:52:00.000-04:00

Mommy's Day "Off"

2009-06-12T06:34:00.015-04:00

As I type this post, I am tucked in my bed, still in my jammies. Ava is still asleep and Liesl is in bed with me, reading her new library books. Friday is typically my day "off" in which I try not to schedule anything at all...we just take the day as it comes. No doctor's appointments, no playgroups, no evening job assignments (there never are any jobs on Friday nights anyway--Deaf people have social lives too), no running to the bank, no demands on our time of any kind...except, of course, if we change our mind last-minute and want to go somewhere. (It is my day off, so I reserve the right to go anywhere I want, if I want.)

I also try to refrain from having people over at our house for any reason. Most of my mommy friends understand when the laundry is spread out on the floors of three rooms, in four different phases of washing/folding/sorting, and that our living room has pretty much transformed into a music practice room with instruments and music stands and sheet music and rosin and other violin paraphernalia everywhere (so watch where you step, and don't even think about sitting on the couch--that's for the violins). But even with the most understanding of friends and visitors, I don't want to even have to blink an eye at my domestic chaos on my day "off." Sometimes we must schedule something on Friday, but believe me, it is never my first choice.

Within 2.4 minutes of waking up each morning, Liesl usually asks, "Where are we going today?" or "Are friends coming over today?" ("Friends," to Liesl, means company of any kind: a playgroup of kids, some of my adult friends coming over for tea, Jehovah's Witnesses ignoring our 'no soliciting' sign and knocking to save our souls, or the dishwasher repairman. Really, everybody is Liesl's friend.) Both girls dearly love to go out, and I always enjoy it too...but sometimes Mommy needs a day where nobody will care if she's dressed like a ragamuffin, and doesn't need to go through the slightly complicated load-up-the-van-and-lock-up-the-house-while-keeping-two-tiny-kids-safe-and-alive-with-minimal-screaming routine.

Today wraps up a few very busy weeks of social activities. Last week on Tuesday, we hosted our vegan/allergy-friendly potluck. The following weekend, a group of my Bible study ladies came over for a potluck dinner in our backyard. It was an opportunity for fellowship with some of the ladies who have not been able to attend our Thursday morning group for a while due to full-time jobs or other daytime activities. Last Monday, my parents brought my wonderful (if not a tad rambunctious) nephews out to my house to play with their cousins. And yesterday evening, last but definitely not least, I hosted a coupon class, where a local woman who appears to be acquiring a cult following works the coupons and sales--and I mean works the coupons and sales, people--to save about 800% on her grocery bills each week. And no, I'm not exaggerating or joking.

Add all this into the usual weekly jaunts--Bible study on Thursday mornings, violin lessons on Wednesday mornings, appointments, grocery store trips (with two tiny kids both wanting to ride the penny pony, Meijer becomes an event, believe me), library trips, music class, playgroups, Mom's club outings, and whathaveyou--and Mommy needs a day "off." I am POOPED. I get up, make Tom's coffee and breakfast, pack his lunch, and get him out the door; and then I plop my arse back in bed and snooze until the inevitable ~~obnoxious stomping~~ pitter-patter of little feet. Then we have a leisurely breakfast--Mommy still in her jammies, which is not the norm at breakfast--and watch a little Curious George or Signing Time. The day's activities still happen (violin practice is high priority, and I really can't get away with not feeding the children) but the flow is much more relaxed.

So while I was typing this post, Liesl has asked, in between Miss Spider's Tea Party and The Cat in the Hat, "Where are we going today? Are friends coming over? What are we doing today?" (Nowhere. No. Nothing's on the books at the moment.) Today is Mommy's day "off."

In another half hour, I guess I'll have to feed them breakfast. And then, tackle the laundry. Yup, it's my day "off." Yee-ha.

Bible study potluck last weekend...we had about 17 kids and 12 adults. Our backyard was made for gatherings like these.

Two baby raccoons crashed the party. They've probably crashed neighbors' garbage cans as well. But aren't they cute???

Liesl completed her first sticker chart that I made, to encourage her violin study. She gets a sticker for every "good practice" (i.e., no fussing or putzing, no whining, staying focused and cheerful). We practice twice a day, so the chart fills up in 2-3 weeks. The reward for a full chart of stickers? Going to the Silver Dairy for ice cream as a family. Which we did last Sunday.

My sister's children also take music lessons and classes. An all-cousin band: Alex, 12, on alto sax; Zach, 7, on the piano; Liesl, 3, on the violin. Oh, it was a delightful musical experience, all right.

After they promised to behave for one "serious" picture, they begged to do a "silly" picture, so I let 'em rip.

Oh, what the hell. Let's do one more silly picture.

Ava's contribution to just about every social gathering.

The boys and girls together were enjoying themselves tremendously, but it was raining and we had to stay inside. My house was in serious danger of being trashed, so Grammie and Papa treated everyone to a few hours at Jungle Java. (Bless you, Mom and Dad.) Here you see Liesl, Alex's behind, and some random kid's behind.

The "Toddler Safari" area. Ava must've gone down this slide 432 times.

My 64 year-old mother proving that Jungle Java isn't just for kids.

Wordless Wednesday

2009-06-10T14:26:00.004-04:00

Rebecca, Rebecca...How Does Your Garden Grow?

2009-06-09T21:08:00.005-04:00

Our gardens are in! :-) I always breathe a sigh of relief when everything is planted...we can kick back, relax, and watch it grow.

(That is, until the weeds come in. Oh, crud.)

Our pepper garden. We showed restraint this year. Only 81 plants.

Garden plot is 25x25'.

Close-up of Tom's outstanding planning job. He measured, cut, and laid out the the landscaping fabric. We are hoping it will last several years. Weeding will be minimal this year. What a great guy.

Our front veggie garden. Corn, zucchini, cucumbers, snow peas, radishes, spinach, tomatoes, dill, cilantro, and my prized Chianti sunflowers are planted here. It will look a lot more interesting in a few weeks.

Garden plot is 25x20'

The landscaping by our back patio is really coming along. We have been adding to it slowly over the years, as time and finances permit.

The red flowers in the left forground are Liesl's "violin flowers." She and I stopped at a nursery a few weeks ago and bought them as a treat for practicing so well that week, as well as having a terrific lesson. She is terribly proud of those flowers, she planted them herself and waters them every day.

Herb garden. I also planted strawberries in here. Why? Because I'm stupid. They spread like crazy, and the birds and animals usually beat us to the fruit. But Liesl and Ava LOVE those plants.

My mature vermicomposting bin, before I harvested the castings and sorted the worms.

I harvested a full bucket of nutrient-rich castings. Here is just a handful.

That's worm poop, folks. Lots of it.

A handful of the worms that I salvaged from my bin. I set up a new bin for them, and will be starting a second bin in a month or two. They were a little teed off at me.

Those pots contain two kinds of ornamental peppers: Medusa and Black Pearl. Even though Tom started these seeds the same time as the other varieties, they are still tiny plants, which is normal for these varities. They are so cool. The peppers they produce are edible...but they're too pretty to eat.

More pictures soon...we have many flower beds planted!

From Zero to Mozart in 8.449 Months

2009-06-08T14:25:00.005-04:00

Ok, so the big surprise that I kept hinting about, that happened on May 17 at Liesl's violin recital? I played too. But doggone it if I decided to videotape it with my camcorder instead of my dinky little point-and-shoot digital camera. The reason? I wanted a better quality video than my little camera can take.

However...in order for one to post a video taken from a camcorder, one must be at least slightly adept in the process of transferring the video, editing it, and, in the case of YouTube, shrinking it to an acceptable size. I do not qualify for that "adept" category. (If I told you how much raw footage I have of Liesl as a baby on those tiny videotapes around the house, you'd probably laugh.) I have software and the manual...I just need about 12 hours of uninterrupted time to sit down and figure them out. That's a tall order with a 3 year-old and a 1 year-old in the house.

At any rate, I played in the second violin section and performed the Mozart Trio in D Major, K. 439b. The surprise was that I started practicing this piece with 12 other musicians--including our teacher--in chamber music rehearsals for an hour and a half every week, starting last January--just 4 months after I had started violin lessons for myself.

So after 3 months of ~~totally freaking out on a daily basis~~ working very hard to practice and learn this piece, I got up front with the chamber music group and...it was over in 15 minutes. It was a pretty great group. I quickly got over being uncomfortable about being one of very few adults in what I thought was supposed to be a kids-only environment. I made a lot of interesting, talented friends--most of them a third my age. I learned an incredible amount in 3 months--about the complexity of playing the violin, about playing with a group of talented musicians, about how hard people work (and, indeed, how hard some don't work) to become polished musicians, and about people themselves. (I also consumed more than my fair share of cookies at these rehearsals.) And last but not least, I thoroughly enjoyed the time I spent in those rehearsals. Those benefits were far more rewarding than the actual 15 minutes of performance time on May 17.

All in all, I am pretty proud of myself. I played clarinet and piano as a child and young adult, and I played them well--but not brilliantly. But the violin in comparison is a much harder instrument to learn. It was even harder to learn with two tiny children running around at my feet, ~~beating on each other while I ignored them in favor of practicing scales~~ creatively taking part in my personal practice time. And yet, I did all that in less than 9 months. If I can do that, I can do just about anything.

So I know I'll get the video up on YouTube. Someday. Like, before I'm 85.

Liesl played too! Variation D of Twinkle Twinkle. She's the youngest student in the studio to complete this without stopping. (Thank goodness for violin recitals--the flower girl dress got worn more than once!)

One my buddies in Miss Sharon's studio, Ann. She is 11 and is a very talented violinist. She also has one of the nicest, brightest, funniest personalities I've ever seen in an 11 year-old.

She is heading to Interlochen's advanced violin program this summer...we hope to visit her there over a weekend.

Liesl hanging out with her buddy Claire, the other 3 year-old in Miss Sharon's studio.

Howdy.

2009-06-07T21:42:00.001-04:00

Thanks to the fabulous FAMC, we spent a morning at the tremendous Real Life Farm in Canton. We were lucky that many of our friends joined us, so we all got to enjoy the farm together. It was an experience I would have absolutely loved as a kid. They get to ~~torture~~ handle baby animals, ride horses, milk cows, and go on a hayride. It was without a doubt one of the best outings we have had with FAMC--and believe me, that's saying a lot, we always have fantastic times and outings with FAMC.

"Look, Sarah! It really is a goat!!"

Liesl feeding the baby goat. Ava was on my hip in the sling during this shot--she would have NOTHING to do with the goats, or most of the other animals. She preferred to observe from afar.

Ava a bit sceptical about the bunny. She was very interested in it...she just didn't want to touch it. (Who could blame her. Doesn't that baby bunny look horrifically dangerous?)

Liesl's really not torturing this kitten...honest. Please don't sic the ASPCA on us. The kitten--who was obviously lacking in some common sense--was actually trying to get back into Liesl's lap when I took this shot.

There were lots of barn cats and kittens roaming around. It made us miss Whinnie, Tigger and Abner a lot. It has been odd these last few months living in a cat-free house, after having cats for so many years. It was nice to get a kitty fix at the farm.

Liesl holding a baby duck. Oh, dear Lord...that poor duck.

"You gotta be kidding me."

Farmer Don, explaining that milk doesn't magically appear at the grocery store in plastic cartons.

"Yes, children...this really is where milk comes from."

I don't really need to caption this, do I?

They actually encouraged us to put our children in the pigpen with the baby pigs. Oh, if only my mother had taken me here as a child...she'd have had so much more ammo when harping on me about cleaning up my ~~pigsty~~ bedroom.

Laugh it up, kid. I'm showing this photo to your prom date.

Krista, Elyse and Liesl: See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil...just be the evil.

Liesl riding the horse...I got to lead, which was great for me. Ava...not so much. I'm thankful that slings and horses are naturally on opposite sides. It was good for Ava, though...it was as close to the horse as she was gonna get!

Here, Ava was ardently signing "duckduckduckduckduckduck" while screeching in delight. Really, the many ducks and geese wandering around was the highlight of the afternoon for her.

Babies. Love. Babies Lovin' on Babies.

2009-06-02T21:48:00.005-04:00

I love how babies are attracted to each other. Everywhere we go, Ava is loving on someone else's baby (whether she knows them or not, and, indeed, whether she has their consent or not.) And often, when we go out to parks or Mom's club events, little children flock to Ava and to my friends' babies.

This is my friend Tracey's 3rd son, Mattias. He is 12 weeks old. (He's just entered that delightful golden phase of babyhood--still tiny and cuddly, but smiling those toothless smiles, cooing, gurgling. Ohh...there's nothing like it.)

I realize calling Ava a "baby" is a bit of a stretch--Ava is 19 months, but she is still MY baby. And she's still so little, and cute, and very ~~evil~~ smart. But she looks positively HUGE next to Mattias. (And yet, he has more hair than Ava does.)

Vegan Homeschooler's Potluck

2009-06-02T15:18:00.011-04:00

The girls and I got together with some friends of mine (and their kids) last winter. All are homeschooling families and sort of crunchy--Birkenstock-shod, baby-wearin', school-at-home, natural-birthin' kind of crunchy. We discovered that everybody had some sort of food restriction, be it health-related, allergies, or religious. We met again today, this time at my house, and set out a challenge for ourselves: Make a dish that everybody in the group could eat (whether they wanted to or not didn't make a difference.)

Here was the list of restrictions:

* No meat
* No dairy
* No eggs
* No wheat/gluten
* No nuts/peanuts
* No mushrooms
* No coconut
* No strawberries
* No bananas
* No citrus
* No garbanzo beans

So it sort of turned into an ultra-vegan-allergy-friendly potluck. We embraced the challenge, and the food turned out to be delicious, and the company and chat was even better. We definitely ate a lot of veggies and whole grains, and tried new combinations of ingredients that we normally wouldn't have bothered with. It was also a way to walk in another person's ~~Birkenstocks~~ shoes for a while, because several people in our lives have to eat this way forever. The black bean brownies for dessert were absolutely amazing...I don't think I'll make "normal" brownies again for a long time.

Now on to make the Kraft mac 'n cheese and canned beans for dinner tonight. (Just kidding. Sort of.)

This is the roasted, peeled eggplant before I ground it in the food processor with the rest of the ingredients for baba ganoush. The eggplant looked disgusting, like a butchered eel--and I watch Top Chef, so I know what at butchered eel looks like! But the finished recipe tasted great.

Boys will be boys--and girls will follow suit. We have a terrific climbing tree in our backyard.

Baby Mattias, asleep on his mommy. Only 12 weeks old. Precious. Perfect.

I got to hold Mattias for a while and sniff his head. (Several of my fellow newborn-lovin' friends out there will understand the "sniff his head" thing. The rest of you will think I'm weird.)

Ava loves babies.

"Where is that smell coming from?!?!?"

Break a String, Miss Sharon!

2009-05-25T07:41:00.002-04:00

Neither Liesl nor I will be having a violin lesson this week...our teacher decided to close up shop so she could attend the Starling-DeLay Symposium on Violin Studies at Julliard this week. (As if being a participant in a master class with Itzhak Perlman, among other masters, is a reason to close her studio for week! Honestly, some people will do ANYTHING for a day off.) **

Good luck, Miss Sharon! While normal performers say "break a leg," we theatrical sign language interpreters changed it to "break a finger." So we'll change it again to "break a string." We'll be watching for updates on what you're doing during the Symposium at http://www.violinist.com/.

We'll miss you, though...come back safely!

** Anyone reading this who doesn't know Miss Sharon personally needs to know that I am totally kidding here...this woman never sleeps. She works tirelessly with and for her students, during and outside of their private lessons and chamber music rehearsals. Tom and I--and Liesl too, I'm sure--are glad that she and her wonderful husband are also taking some time to play in New York City.

A Weekend Full of Fun

2009-05-16T23:13:00.014-04:00

Sometimes, housework needs to take a backseat to family fun. In addition to our long, leisurely picnic/playground visit with our friends yesterday, I decided to take the full day "off" and just enjoy my kids. So when they woke up from their afternoon naps, I asked, "Who wants to go to the library?" Our library has so many different activities to participate in, so many resources besides books and media. Liesl was all over the idea as soon as she woke up, and Ava loves to go anywhere (really, a trip to Home Depot is a big deal for her, so the library is like Cedar Point.) So off we went. Now that Ava is older and can fend for herself a little more, the library is getting easier for Mommy to do, since I can actually read two or three sentences in a book without having to restrain someone from shoving a drumstick into someone else's facial orifices. I even finished a WHOLE PARAGRAPH yesterday without incident. Amazing. After a full 2 hours at the library, we arrived home to meet Daddy and have a quick family dinner.

This afternoon, as suggested by our violin teacher, Liesl and I attended the spring concert of the Livonia Youth Philharmonic, and got to see a lot of our "studio-mates" on stage, performing pieces that they have been working on for many months. (They were wonderful, and they were excited to see Liesl arrive--surprise!) I had qualms about taking Liesl to something as formal as a concert (read: she'd have to sit still and be quiet for an extended time...and, well, she's 3.) Yet it turned out to be a very family-friendly event. Miss Sharon also came to the concert to see her students play, so we got to sit next to her and share the experience with her. Since Liesl was so well-behaved at the concert, and since Daddy was home taking care of Ava, Liesl and I treated ourselves to lunch (and playtime!) at McDonald's. It's the first time I've had leisurely one-on-one time with Liesl in quite a while, and it was fun...it reminded me of how much easier it was to have only one child.

And another something wonderful--the Morning Glories that Liesl and Ava helped (really!) to plant last Tuesday have sprouted, and it's been wonderful to have Liesl see the results of her work. We keep our seedlings--flower and vegetable--in a large, approximately 7'x8'x6' "box" that Tom built in the basement last spring. This creation was to give our many, many garden seedlings an enclosed, heated place to grow, since we had to move our office space and seedling stand out of our spare bedroom to make room for that additional kid. (Totally worth it, by the way.) This box is a small portable room, large enough for Tom to stand up in and move around in. We christened it the "Panic Room." However, our plants have no need to panic and are coming along very nicely, and Liesl gets to see (and provided endless commentary about) the fruits (flowers?) of her labor.

Tomorrow is our May violin recital. We three girls spent the post-nap period making cookies for the dessert reception after the recital. (I had help again. This time it maybe wasn't as "helpful," but it was still a fun experience for all three of us. There may have been some sampling involved. I can't be sure.) This is the first recital class that Grammie and Papa have been in town for, and Liesl is very excited to have them there to watch her play. The recital should round out a busy and enjoyable weekend nicely and end it with a bang (ok, maybe that isn't the best idiom for musical events....) There is also a surprise in store tomorrow, so stay tuned! (Another bad music pun. Sorry. It's late.)

What It's All About

2009-05-15T15:17:00.013-04:00

We had plans for today, but they were canceled. Our Farmington Area Mom's Club calender was clear for today, so I sent out an email to the whole group, letting them know we would be at Shiawassee Park today with a picnic lunch, and inviting anyone who wanted to come to join us. Liesl had been begging me to take her to the park all week, and Ava loves an opportunity to climb on anything, so away we went. It turned out that half a dozen other FAMC moms also showed up with their children, as well as picnic lunches. We all relished the chance to relax, hang out, and have some pleasant adult conversation (occasionally punctuated with things like "Has anyone seen my kid?" and "Stop shoving wood chips up your sister's nose!")

Liesl, Ava and I stayed at the park for almost 3 hours, then returned to our home, which had been neglected in our rush to pack a picnic and get to the park. (We eschewed dishes and laundry for violin practice. We may be out of clean undies, but we practiced our B♭major scale, and had sandwiches and cherries for lunch at the park. Hey, we have priorities.)

Even though the sink overfloweth with dishes (and the laundry hampers overfloweth with undies,) we are so grateful we spontaneously took the morning "off" and hung out with our friends. As I sat with my dear friend Colleen, watching our children run, shout and play, she mentioned that this was exactly what she and her family needed today. I told her I agreed, and that this was why I became a mom--to enjoy them as they enjoy themselves. The undies could wait.

I am so very grateful for the FAMC, and for a cool, quiet house to come home to. We are very, very blessed.

(Our washing machine hums along as I type this post. Clean undies on the way--another blessing--not only to us, but to those of you who will be in close proximity to us this weekend.)

Theresa shows a playful side with her son, Noah.
(Go State!!)

Liesl, Elyse (age 3), and Nadim (age 2-1/2)

My friend Tracey's 3-week old baby boy, Mattias.
Oh...those brief, precious newborn moments.

Wordless Wednesday: Garden and Kitchen Helpers

2009-05-13T14:17:00.005-04:00

Sometimes...it just clicks

2009-05-11T21:08:00.007-04:00

I had one of those perfect job assignments tonight. Fantastic clients, delightful team interpreter, and a fun topic, to boot. It was one of those situations that makes you realize you're in the right place, doing the right thing. I am committed to being a full-time mom, and being home with my children is (usually) wonderful, but I do love these opportunities to get out and stretch out my interpreting muscles. (The paycheck is kind of nice, too!) If only all jobs could be this perfect...and yet, if they were, I don't think I'd appreciate the field I'm in as much as I do now. And the people I get to meet, the lives I get to take part in...it's simply amazing. Often, we interpreters find ourselves in frustrating situations, brought on by hearing clients who don't want us around, indifferent or incompetent team interpreters, and topics that are intense, complex, and sometimes unpleasant. And yet, that IS the job. But occasionally, an assignment like the one I had tonight comes along, and everything falls into place. There's no greater feeling to an interpreter than when everything comes together and the job just "clicks."

Happy Mother's Day!

2009-05-10T21:15:00.010-04:00

I had an utterly delightful Mother's Day. First I was greeted with a vase full of hand-picked flowers out of our backyard. (Ok, the flowers were pretty much shoved up my nose at 8:00 a.m. when Liesl arrived to wake me up and excitedly tell me how she had helped Daddy pick them. "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy, Mommy, look what I picked for you!!!!" There is something to be said about being woken gently. A sprig of lilac up your left nostril does not qualify as "gently.") But surprise factor aside, the awakening was very pleasant. And the flowers yielded a bonus gift: a teeny-tiny inchworm in one of the blossoms. Seriously, the thing was less than half a centimeter long. Liesl was fascinated, as were Tom and I.

Given my new-found love of tea, Tom gave me a wonderful cordless electric tea kettle, and I already love it way more than sticking a mug of water in the microwave. It heats the water up FAST.

The rest of the day wound around pretty much doing nothing...which is something we don't get enough of. I really enjoyed puttering around, playing house, while Tom watched the kids and put them down for their naps. In the evening, we had a nice steak dinner, which was, thank the stars, accompanied by minimal screaming. A refreshing change.

I also pulled my vermicomposting bin out onto the patio to get a closer look at what was going on inside. The spot it sits in does not have the best light, so this was the first time we got a good look at what our worms are up to in natural light. Besides loads and loads of very potent castings, they have also been producing more worms. We must be doing something right, because worms will only breed in their ideal conditions. The baby worms are adorable. And my two little girls--oblivious of the common gender stereotype of not liking cold, slimy, dirty things--eagerly clambered around the bin to get a closer look, as well as providing a steady stream of verbal (Liesl) and manual (Ava) commentary.

All in all, it was a very pleasant Mother's Day. I'm very blessed to have my two beautiful, healthy, spirited children, as well as a Daddy who loves me as much as he loves them. Thank you, Tommy, for making this a nice day for me. :-)

What could be more fun than a big tub of worms?

The stow-away in my Mother's Day bouquet. Come to think of it...how many moms would be so thrilled to have a worm-themed Mother's Day?

Another One Bites the Dust

2009-05-05T14:19:00.012-04:00

A misconception, that is. See, I had it in my head that this spring/summer would be so different and much easier than last summer, in regards to yard work and gardening. Last spring, little Miss Liesl wasn't hard to supervise while Tom and I worked at weeding, prepping, planting, pruning, etc. the flower beds and veggie gardens in our yard. The tough part was sweet little Ava: being a little baby, she was into everything, put everything into her mouth, was crawling and was less aware of boundaries. It pretty much wound up that Tom did everything in the yard and gardens last season while the kids and I watched. So I told myself that it would be easier this year, because Ava would be walking and more aware of boundaries, and Liesl can pretty much be trusted to be safe in the yard as long as she is within shouting distance.

Well, all of those things are true. Ava has been walking steadily for 8 months and has become much more responsive to being told what to do/not do. (Sometimes her response is to collapse in a heap on the lawn and scream like a hyena with a megaphone, but still.) Liesl occationaly takes time out from the standard 3 year-old refrains of "NO!" and "Why?" to mind us, and is relatively easy to keep an eye on while she plays in the sandbox and with other toys.

But I forgot one very important aspect of parenting: The kids want to do everything that you do.

So, upon one of my first attempts at gardening without Tom, while simultaneously supervising the kids, I learned that my bucket of sharp, dirty hand tools is totally irresistible. And what on earth was I doing? Well, according to the clumsy but endearing mimicking of my daughters, I was constantly tugging on plants. And there is no rhyme or reason whatsoever about which plants should be tugged and which should not be tugged--according to my little blond cherubs, all of those offensive green suckers must die.

After it dawned on me that I was not going to be nearly as productive as I thought, I rummaged around in their sandbox and made "copies" of my bucket of tools: A plastic bucket for each of them, each containing a toy trowel and a hand rake of some sort. After endless discussion about who should get the red trowel (Liesl) and who should get the green trowel (Ava), I set back to work on weeding the patio perennial bed:

"Mommy, what are you doing?"

"I'm weeding the garden, honey."

"Why?"

"Because it makes our garden look nicer."

"What's weeding?"

"I'm pulling out plants that we don't want, so they don't choke out the plants that we do want."

"Why?"

"Because that's what we're supposed to do." (My standard response when I have heard 1,000 too many "why's" in a day.)

"Oh, ok. Is this a weed?"

"No, honey, that was a Shasta Daisy. We don't pull the Shasta Daisies."

"Why?"

"Because those are the good plants."

"The 'shaffa' daisies are good plants? They don't get a Naughty Time?"

"No, honey, plants don't get Naughty Times like little girls do."
"Why?"

In the meantime, Ava--who is on the other side of me, naturally; these kids have figured out how to maximise their numerical advantage by causing mischief at the same time in different places, so I can't nail them both at once--has discovered how much fun it is to pull weeds. Trouble is, can you describe to an 18 month-old the difference between a weed and a "shaffa" daisy? (That was a rhetorical question, but the answer is "no." Well, you can, which I did, but it made almost no difference.)

Why do I keep kidding myself about things getting easier as the kids get older? Sure, some things do get easier, but the challenges keep mounting up as well. You'd think it would even out, wouldn't you? But no, for every task that gets easier, there are two more challenges mounting up as well. Whoever told me while I was pregnant with Ava that the work multiplies in a horrifically disproportionate rate with each new child that is born was maddeningly right.

And yet, as much as it was difficult to get anything done in the garden on Sunday morning, it was still more than I was able to get done last year. And in the process, I have watched my pretty children take in lots of sun, fresh air, and a healthy respect for gardening. Learning is fun. Whoever said learning was easy--on the learner or the learnee, as it were? But learning is still very fun.

(In the meantime...there's still a heckova lot more weeds out there, and a few less shaffa daisies.)

Ava now takes most meals at the dinner table with us...

...including dessert--frozen blueberries.

Sharing a book break in Ava's rocking chair. Notice they're both reading to their teddy bears.

Wordless Wednesday...Blueberries, Anyone?

2009-04-29T04:16:00.001-04:00

Meet Our New Family Member

2009-04-27T22:32:00.006-04:00

Aunt Karen!

Congratulations to the two of you. It was an amazing wedding, and a truly beautiful ceremony.

Enjoy your honeymoon!

(More pictures to follow...their flower girl was pretty darned cute as well. Not that I'm biased or anything.)

Goin' to the Chapel...

2009-04-25T10:33:00.002-04:00

...to see Robert and Karen get married!

Hooray!

Look out, Carnegie Hall

2009-04-20T10:41:00.006-04:00

Liesl's 4th violin recital was yesterday. She played "Twinkle Twinkle, Variation A" and "Twinkle Theme" (after a little reminding!) She did pretty well. I have been working all week on getting her to concentrate on her fingerboard instead of everything else around her while she plays, but with so many people staring at her, smiling, taking pictures, and saying, "AWW!", she had a hard time remembering that. What 3 year-old wouldn't?

Next month she *may* be up to playing with the piano accompanist, which is a big milestone.

There will be another surprise at next month's recital as well, which will be Sunday, May 17th. Stay tuned!

Liesl with Claire, Miss Sharon's other 3 year-old student

I'll show you mine if you show me yours

Keeping it Real

Walking on Thin Icing

New School

Art is a Process (for me)

Fabulous Fun (Freakin' Cold) Field Trip Friday

Semi-Wordless Wednesday

And...we're back. Um...I think.

Another Month...Another Violin Recital

Happy New Year (2009-2010)

Merry Christmas (2009)

Liesl's 4th Birthday

Celebrating 1 Year of Violin Recitals

Happy New Year, Please

Happy Birthday, Dear Jesus!

Good Stuff

Back to normal. Whatever that is.

On With the Show

Happy 2nd Birthday, Ava!

Happy Halloween!

Life Goes On

Changes and Challenges

How I Will Forever Remember This Morning

Unit Study: "The Story About Ping"

Liesl's 9th Violin Recital

Art is a Process. So is Cleaning.

T-minus 14 years...*

Loot!

Wednesday

It's Fun to Stay at the....

Deep Summer

Today's Adventure

*S*U*R*P*R*I*S*E*!*

Semi-Wordless Wednesday

Torch Lake 2009

Bumming a Lesson

Liesl's 7th Violin Recital (and the Cupcakes it Inspired)

It's Never Too Early...

Not Your Run-of-the-Mill Birthday Party

hippohippohippohippohippo

If You Can't Take the Heat, Get Out of My Garage

Mama Knows Breast

Thinking Dining Out of the Box

Perpetuum Jazzile

Good Food, Great Company

Little Fishie

The Blessing of Friends (and Beer)

3 Chicks & 4 Wheels

I've Fallen but I Gotta Get Up

Wordless Wednesday...Well, Almost

Everyone's a Critic

More Liesl-isms

Ah, Summer...

Motherhood

Liesl's Everyone's Violin Recital

Wordless Wednesday

Mommy's Day "Off"

Wordless Wednesday

Rebecca, Rebecca...How Does Your Garden Grow?

From Zero to Mozart in 8.449 Months

Howdy.

Babies. Love. Babies Lovin' on Babies.

Vegan Homeschooler's Potluck

Break a String, Miss Sharon!

A Weekend Full of Fun

What It's All About

Wordless Wednesday: Garden and Kitchen Helpers

Sometimes...it just clicks

Happy Mother's Day!

Another One Bites the Dust

Wordless Wednesday...Blueberries, Anyone?

Meet Our New Family Member

Goin' to the Chapel...

Look out, Carnegie Hall

SURPRISE!