Is there any child who hasn’t at one time or another (if not many times) stumbled about in an adult’s shoes? I’m not certain what the thrill of this is but that thrill is multiplied ten fold when the shoes are boots. Stomp, stomp, stomp. Little legs almost consumed by leather. I am reminded this evening of when, as a child, I stood on a chair in my dad’s boots as he shined them. His boot brush moving so swift and strong that it took all my concentration just to stay upright. It was an important job to be sure and I took it very seriously but when the job was done – stomp, stomp, stomp.
Church
by ToniWe finally found a church that we like. The drive time is more but the message is worth it. The kids seem to enjoy their classes. Everyone is so friendly and they have coffee… free… from Starbucks. Not that that is a very good reason to choose a church. 
Another big plus – services are held on Saturday nights as well as Sunday mornings and with kids it’s nice to have the option.
Dancing
by ToniHowever the conversation started this was the middle.
Dad (thinking about keeping his little girl safe from boys): “So you have to be careful where you dance.”
Sister (thinking about the physical perils of dancing): “Yeah, like you might be dancing and fall into a creep, I mean a creek.”
— No, sweetie you were right the first time.
Dream a Little Dream
by ToniI used to blog during naps but those are becoming more and more rare around here. Currently there are only two ways to actually make Brother go to sleep and both involve trickery. First you can set him up on the couch with a drink and a snack, a clean diaper, his blankie and a movie he has seen a thousand times. This cannot be a new movie and it cannot have any sort of real plot. (Barney works best.) Then you wait and if you’re lucky before too long he will drift off to sleep. Be careful! There is a tremendous urge to turn off the movie at this point. Don’t do it! Turn down the volume a bit if you must but complete silence will most certainly end his slumber. The downsides to this method are the considerable set up time and the constant sound of “I love you, you love me. We’re a happy family…” or something similar for at least an hour. The second method, involves getting Brother into the car for “a little drive.” This would not be that difficult except that you must also get Sister into the car which generally means pulling her away from some interesting game of make-believe and requires some finesse. It can take 5 to 30 minutes for sleep to come and when it does you have two choices: drive around aimlessly until the end of naptime or go home and risk moving a sleeping toddler inside. The first is a big waste (of gas) and the second is a BIG risk.
Of course, neither of these methods can be done before 1 o’clock or they are sure to fail. So you can see why naptime is becoming rare and why there are such great gaps between posts.
“I never saw a married couple have so much fun.”
by ToniGrandma’s monthly Bible study was tonight so Will and I stuck around long enough to help her get dinner served before heading out on our date. I felt a little guilty about leaving but our weekly date is so critical for keeping us on track with one another that it seems almost impossible for us to skip it. We got confirmation of it’s importance while standing at the check out line of Kohl’s. We had gone there after dinner just to wander about and found the cutest hooded animal towels at half price.
I couldn’t resist. So anyway, we’re standing in line and the lady in front of us is taking a long time but we don’t mind because we are talking about Sister and how she has started telling jokes (actually one joke – Knock, knock. Who’s there? Banana. Banana who? Knock, knock. Who’s there? Banana. Banana who? Knock, knock. Who’s there? Banana. Banana who? Knock, knock. Who’s there? Orange. Orange who? Orange you glad I didn’t say banana again? – I’m sure you remember it.) and that gets us to laughing and talking about other jokes and finally it’s our turn to check out and somehow in the cashier/customer small talk it comes out that the towels are for our kids at which point the lady behind us pipes up and says, “I was trying to figure out if you were married or just on a date or what. I’ve never seen a married couple have so much fun.” We just laughed. “Yes, we are married and yes, we are on a date.” – every week.
Unschooling? What’s that?
by Toni“I am beginning to suspect all elaborate and special systems of education. They seem to me to be built upon the supposition that every child is a kind of idiot who must be taught to think. Whereas, if the child is left to himself, he will think more and better, if less showily. Let him go and come freely, let him touch real things and combine his impressions for himself, instead of sitting indoors at a little round table, while a sweet-voiced teacher suggests that he build a stone wall with his wooden blocks, or make a rainbow out of strips of coloured paper, or plant straw trees in bead flower-pots. Such teaching fills the mind with artificial associations that must be got rid of, before the child can develop independent ideas out of actual experience.” — Anne Sullivan
from Unschooling.com
Look What I Can Do!
by Toni
”Look, Mom! Look what I can do!” These must be the favorite words of my children. But how can one help showing off when almost every skill is new? Today the phrase preceded Sister counting to 59 without assistance and jumping out of a swing in mid-flight. Not to be left behind Brother counted to 11 and peddled (instead of pushed) his trike across the driveway.
Goodbye, Santa
by ToniI did a terrible thing this week. I didn’t do it on purpose. It just sort of happened. Sister asked, “How did the first person know the story of Santa Claus?” Without thinking I began my answer. “Well, there actually was a man once who gave toys to children around Christmas and someone heard about that man and thought, “Wow, that’s really nice and what a great story!” So that person told someone else and that person told someone else and each person added a little bit to the story so that over time it changed and eventually came to be the story we tell today about a man who lives at the North Pole with reindeer and elves but none of that is … really….true.” “Oops,” I thought to myself, “I just killed Santa Claus.” I looked up from my explanation into the puzzled face of a five year old trying to figure out what just happened. This was clearly not where she expected the conversation to go. “Backpeddle, backpeddle! Dig, dig! Surely there is a way out of this hole!” I don’t really remember much after that but I am fairly certain that Christmas will be different this year.
Egg Count
by ToniOur September egg count was 82 or almost 7 dozen. Our October egg count was 325 or 27 dozen! Wow! Most of these we gave away to family and friends but we hope in the coming months to sell them for a modest price that will in turn cover the cost of the chickens themselves. There’s not a lot of profit in eggs but it’s fun anyway and at least we know exactly what’s in them.
I’m hoping to create a page to track this in a little more detail but will have to wait until Will can give me a bit more html instruction.
