An Empty Glass...and Some Pictures

I have finally figured it out. I have a very set amount of Creativity in my being, so when it is being used up on Project A, there is little left for Project B. It's like I start with a glass full of Creativity. Then I slowly pour it on on one thing, resulting an empty glass.

I've been pouring (see?) all of my creativity into planning school for next year, so there has been little left for anything else (ie: photography and writing). But you know what I discovered? I have skipped 3 or 4 of my regular photography challenges, and--are you ready for this? Life kept going on as normal; the world did not end, the planet did not implode.

So I've decided that, since there is more to my life than just blogging and photography, I'm not going to put so much pressure on myself to post daily and link up, link up. In fact, for this post, I am pulling photos from the archives--more from our New York City trip.

I feel that, in photography, my greatest weakness is portrait photography. The following pictures are the result of the first planned "shoot" I did, though I wouldn't even call it that since it was a rushed 5 minutes I took as Mark checked out of our hotel. I guess I should also mention I kind of bribed my children to act right; they are a little tired of the lens and are becoming less and less cooperative.

I had seen this warehouse door with the graffiti several times in our walks down the road. I thought it was a perfect backdrop for some shots of the kids. I'm not entirely happy with all of them. I shot them in manual and, I guess, got the shutter speed too slow for photographing kids because some of them were blurry. I find that converting to black and white helps cover up some of the blurriness. Anyway, there are a lot of photos here, but I felt bad leaving any out.

Here are my girls:



















And my rascally boys:

Cookie Love

I didn't get an activity planned for the kids for Valentine's Day this year. In fact, I didn't even have enough powdered sugar for the icing for our traditional goodies and had to make an impromptu trip to the grocery store. But I managed to get all supplies in stock for our Valentine cookies.

I decided to throw a little challenge in to it. We watch a lot of Food Network challenges, so the kids were immediately up for it when I mentioned we would have a challenge of our own.

We all drew names and each got one giant-sized heart cookie. Each big heart was to be decorated for the secret recipient. I purposefully gave Audrey her daddy's name, and she went about her task with enthusiasm.


Michael created a masterpiece for me.


Under all of that icing, he frosted "I {heart} U". So sweet.


As for Alex and Jacob, well, they were mostly about globbing on as much frosting as gravity would allow to stay on a heart-shaped cookie.


And of course there was much, much cookie munching.

You Capture - Cold

Show of hands...
Who is sick
and tired
of me complaining about the cold?

That is why this You Capture post is brought to you by ice cream. You're welcome.


Honestly, sometimes I'm not sure what gets into me...a little crazy, I guess. Or maybe I just want to be Mommy Hero for a change. Anyway, this afternoon, I decided to let the kids make their own ice cream sundaes. I set them on a buffet line with all of the toppings.


They put on Oreos



and marshmallows


and lots of sprinkles.


I had fun playing with the sprinkles:



And the kids? Well, I think they really enjoyed their make-your-own-sundaes.

Day 15 - Gingerbread Houses...Relinquishing Control

For me, whenever I hand the kids a pastry bag full of frosting, I undergo a great battle of the wills. My wills, not theirs. Part of me wants so badly to grab their hands and guide the frosting where it should go. Part of me wants to yell out, "No! That shouldn't go there!" when a decoration or blob of icing is placed in an odd place. But that other part of me knows that they will have so much more fun doing it on their own. And that same part of me reminds myself that, Hey, Control Freak, this is just a gingerbread house!

Today we met with some of our co-op friends to decorate gingerbread houses. Now, I have to admit that I am the one who assembled our house. Amidst the chorus of "Oh, can I do it? Pleeeease?" I firmly gripped the icing and continued my assembly. But I did turn them completely loose on the house when it came down to decorating.

They seemed to have fun...globs and globs of icing helped adhere fruit roll-ups as roofing materials.

And the Princess thought a whole roll of string licorice added a certain je ne sais croix to the roof; however, a mini-Control Freak must have removed it at some point because it did not make the finished house.

Did I mention I was a good mom and let them do this project on their own? Of course, that was easier since there were other moms to talk to. I'd never pass up an opportunity to converse with grown-ups.

I did make one contribution to the house. When we first got there, I piped some icicles. I left them out on the table to dry, though, which was not the smartest move because some got broken and some got smooshed, but I did have enough for the front at least.

My icicles were certainly not as creative as the strand of colorful Christmas lights Michael prepared for the back. He's always the one to think outside the box, and I was thankful I set my control freak aside today so that he was able to come up with such a cute idea.

Too Many Pictures?

Maybe you don't experience this, but when I get to the end of the register line at any store, I find I have some organizing to do: bank card back in place, receipt in my wallet slot for later recording, all items stowed securely in the cart, all items children have grabbed back on the shelves, wallet put away, sunglasses out, keys dug out from the recesses of my purse, quick head count...

They really need a little room or area or something for that at the end of each line.

Today we were at Hobby Lobby. In order to show the 201 customers behind me what a gem I am, I decided to pull my cart up before I began my Reorganization. And as an added gesture, I decided to get my children out of those 201 customers' way/earshot. I spied a cute little bench over by the cart corral.

"Please go sit over there," I ordered.

"Awww, Mom, are you going to take another picture of us?" Alex asked, exasperated, wondering what in the world was so special about a trip to Hobby Lobby that it must be forever memorialized.

"Well, no, I wasn't planning on it, but since you offered..."

Did I expect them to cooperate for a picture after that conversation, under those circumstances?

Well, no, but since they were good sports, there was nothing I could do but take them to DQ to share a Blizzard.

The Grafting Story

Monday morning. Dentist appointments. For all four children. Actually, it sounds worse than it really was. We used to dread dentist appointments for the children because it meant pinning at least one of them down with all our might while an assistant pried a little mouth open and attempted--amidst the blood-curdling screams--to insert a sharp dental tool. Now the children are all so well-mannered in the dentist's chair, those dreadful moments are but a long-distant dream.

The children are, in fact, more well-mannered at the dentist than I am. I would rather be on my back at the GYN's with my feet up in...well, suffice to say I don't like the dentist. At all. Not the dentist personally; she's actually a very nice lady who tells us our teeth are "delicious". It's the whole going to the dentist thing, enduring the scraping sound, answering the accusing questions like So do you floss everyday?, etc., etc. And I say that our dentist tells us our teeth are delicious, which actually is not the whole truth. She has yet to tell me that because I have not been in, well, a really long time, so I have yet to experience this new dentist's torture care. My husband says we've already met our deductible this year so it would be prudent for me to get my cleaning in before the year's end. I'm fighting him tooth (and nail).

Anyway, Monday it was. At the dentist. With all four children. Jacob's teeth are "delicious", and the only thing he may need in the future are braces to make all of his teeth squish together. Alex requires a mouth expander to correct her jaw, after which she will require braces. We already knew this and have her scheduled at the orthodontist next month. Audrey is too young to really tell much except for the fact that her mouth is a mini-Alex-mouth (the dentist's words, not mine), so if we have any of the children's college fund left by the time her turn rolls around, I guess we already know what treatment she will require.

As for Michael. Oh, his poor little mouth. He requires the same jaw extender followed by braces as Alex and already has his ortho appointment scheduled as well. What really concerns me about him are his receding bottom gums. The dentist attributes it to him being a mouth breather, which I thought meant he breathes through his mouth (duh!); however, she explained that because his bottom and top teeth do not come together, "mouth breather" refers to the fact that a lot of air enters through his teeth into his mouth. No idea what this has to do with receding gums, but anyway. The whole ortho thing as well as better brushing, she said, should keep his gums from getting worse.

However. There is no way to correct the problem that has already progressed. I was told that later he may require a graft. I know all about grafting because when I was little, I was involved in an accident which resulted in my best friend receiving skin grafts on her leg burn. But in the mouth? On the gums? Unfortunately, I asked a couple of questions like, Where does the gum skin for grafting come from? There are two choices: from the roof of his mouth or from a cadaver.

I think I threw up in my mouth a little when she said that. Not that I am not grateful to anyone who donates their organs. Or gums. And not that cadavers gross me out. I mean, I've always wanted to take Gross Anatomy just so I could work on a cadaver. However, you know and I know that I would not stick a piece of my cadaver's gums in my pocket to use later in my son's mouth when I got home from the lab.

She told me all of this in a whispered tone as if my son knows all about grafting and cadavers. He of course was oblivious to it, much as he apparently is oblivious to effective teeth brushing. I have moved all of the kids' toothbrushes down to my bathroom so I can take the chore over again. Except for Alex's; the dentist said she is brushing well.

Like I said, they all did great reclined in their chairs, under the bright lights, decked out in sunglasses, watching the Disney channel of choice. Alex even sat calmly through that especially torturous dental exercise of cramming a gigantic plastic tray of goo in your mouth which you must then hold in there for a blasted Eternity, all the while fighting it with your tongue while fighting to breathe at the same time. When I checked in on her and saw the thing protruding from her mouth, I gagged and had to excuse myself from the room immediately.

Audrey is the only one who fussed at all. During her cleaning, she cried because she did not like the taste of the dentist's choice of toothpaste. While this may seem a trivial and silly matter to the regular person, anyone of royalty knows that when something foreign and unpleasant touches a princess' palate, a few tears must be shed. Her tears dried quickly, however, when the hygienist lead her to the huge Treasure Chest.

The Treasure Chest is always something to look forward to at our dentist's office. As is the chocolate treat. Yes, our dentist has bowls of chocolates lying around her office. I teased her about this once, and she explained that chocolate is not bad for your teeth, just the chewy and hard candies.


Chocolate. That magic word. In spite of myself, I may learn to like this dentist. If you need me, I'll be summoning up the courage to make that call and get me penciled penned in to the appointment book.

Stuff That's Happened

My mother-in-law is probably my most faithful reader, so when I received her email last night asking me if I was OK because she hadn't seen any blog posts lately, I knew I was in trouble. It's been a little busy around here lately. Nothing all that out of the ordinary, just Life. Here are a few samplings...

This past weekend, we rearranged the house. Again. Honestly, I've hated living here the last year and half because of that For Sale sign out front. With the ever-present possibility that this may not be our house for long, it's been difficult to settle down and make it our house. But I decided that I'd had enough of that. I'm just going to pretend that sign isn't there, and, really--who am I fooling anyway? No one but myself. Perhaps the sign will come down soon. Not that it's doing any good. I know, I already said that in so many words.

We had already done some rearranging at the beginning of the summer. The boys welcomed summer in their over-sized bedroom, otherwise known as the playroom. The problem with this room is that it's over the garage and thus is deathly hot in the summer and frigidly cold in the winter. I didn't want them to suffer another unbearable summer in it, so we moved them in with Audrey...back in to the room that was originally theirs in the beginning.

Although we tolerated this arrangement for the summer, things had to change. The problem is that Audrey enjoys an audience, especially after the lights are supposed to be out and little children are supposed to be dreaming of sugarplums. So it was a fight every night to get the three of them to sleep. We considered moving one of the girls back down to the guest room; however, the guest room has slowly but surely become of the Room of Homeschooling Mom. I am not ready to give up MY room.

So we moved Audrey into Alex's room. Alex was actually the one who suggested it, so she's OK with it. And she promised she would be firm with Audrey at bedtime! We moved the queen bed from the guest room to the boys' room. Now when I tuck them in at night, I call them Grandpa Joe and Grandpa George, a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory reference for those of you who have not read that in a long forever. We then spent an afternoon stealing a daybed/trundle bed from my brother-in-law's house (he's moving) for the guest room, which was much too crowded with the queen.

To make a long story short ('bout time, you're saying), I love my new Homeschool Room the Guest Room now. So much space, and the daybed makes a great reading area. In fact, Alex spends an hour or so in there every night after we bed the little one down. That way Audrey is already asleep by the time Alex goes in.

I know...waaay too many details. In other news, because we spent all weekend NOT cleaning the house, NOT preparing our Sunday School lesson, NOT planning for Bright Futures, and NOT planning for our new homeschool unit, I was very stressed out by Sunday. In fact, had it not been raining, I was willing to give up my afternoon of volleyball to get home and get things done.

That's when it dawned on me.

I am a homeschooler.

I can do whatever I want.

So I decided that I would take this week to plan things, clean things, prepare things, and take things a little more easy. It would not, however, be a week off entirely for the kids. They have had to do their core work, but it's been almost all independent work for them (translation: no work for me), and I'm not counting it as school (translation: checking the boxes on the attendance forms). Of course, it's already Wednesday tomorrow and I haven't cracked open a single lesson plan on Ancient Greece, but we'll get there. We've had other things going on anyway.

In case you haven't been watching the news, we've had a little rain down here. Thankfully, we have had no more than an old leak in the skylight, but it was a little scary to watch the water rise. The pool level got all the way to the top, but I was able to hook the hose up to it and siphon some out so our patio and then living room would not get flooded. Of course when I mentioned the siphoning on Facebook, I got some snide remarks about acknowledging modern times and purchasing a pump from Home Depot. Well, 1) I did not want to haul 4 children to the Home Depot in the pouring rain, and 2) I will not spend money on something I will not use again; the pool level has never gotten that high before.

Today the sun has been shining, and life has resumed Normal. For us anyway. We made our usual jaunt downtown this morning for Bright Futures and enjoyed a new book on tape during our journey: Dealing with Dragons by Patricia Wrede. All of the kids (well, minus maybe the Princess) are thoroughly enjoying it and can't wait to hear more next Tuesday. After, we stopped at a new mall downtown that I've always wanted to visit. Turns out not to be as exciting as it promised, but we indulged in a wonderful lunch at California Pizza Kitchen.

Tomorrow will be some more independent schoolwork for the kids while I begin that planning. And then, because our church flooded on the first floor, all Wednesday night activities are canceled. I think I have a little plan, though, that will make the kids happy. They love sleeping in my room. More than that, they love getting in my bed and watching a movie and then sleeping in my room.

I noticed Meet the Robinsons mysteriously appeared on our DVR, so apparently at least one of the kids wants to watch it. Since TravelDaddy's place is empty this week, I think we'll have a little slumber party in my room tomorrow night. But, Shhhh! It's a surprise. I think I'll begin to send them to bed and then start setting up the mattress (they can't all fit in Daddy's spot!). Then I'll start popping the popcorn (and, yes, I'll allow them to eat it in my bed--don't worry, TravelDaddy, I'll change the sheets), all the while dodging the questions, "Mommy, what are you doing? Mommy, who is that mattress for? Mommy, why do you get popcorn? Mommy, mommy, mommy..."

Life from the Shoe, Day 1

There was an old lady who lived in a shoe.

She had so many children, she didn't know what to do.

OK, so I live in a house (anyone wanna buy it?), but I am old (at least I often feel that way), and I have a lot of children for the next two days. We added two sweet, beautiful little girls to our fold last night--brought them home from volleyball and will have them here for a couple of days while their Mama is on a missions trip.

So I thought I would do something a little different today and get some live updates recorded as the day unfolds. Unlike the old lady in the shoe, I think I do know what to do. I have a lot of activities planned anyway...

10:30 PM
I have to say, one thing they didn't train me to do in college is console homesick children. Mostly because in the high school classroom, you sure hope you don't have any homesick kids. Although sometimes you wish that was what was causing the crying...and that the tears weren't yours.

Anyway, Alex stepped up in a big way. I had two very homesick little girls this evening, and Alex calmed them down by telling them stories. I think I have to admit she's better with kids than I! My idea was to let them talk to their Daddy, which just proved to make it worse. At any rate, the two girls are now settled down with Alex in the office. Well, maybe not settled down completely yet, but getting there. So much for sleeping in separate rooms AND for getting adequate sleep tonight. I hope they're able to sleep in a bit.

My husband advised me to turn in myself, but since my bed is full of laundry--AGAIN--well...if you need me, I'll be folding laundry--AGAIN.

8:48 PM
Ah, the sound of loud, stomping footsteps above. The tribe is heading in the right direction, getting ready for bed. Ordinarily, my children are getting ready for bed an hour ago, but I decided to be lenient tonight, especially because an hour ago, one of our little guests asked, "Can we go outside now?" It's funny how different every family is. I am very protective of my time-after-the-children-bed-down because it's my only Me Time, and tonight I have a lot to do...laundry to fold, a class syllabus to create for Monday's meeting, a paper to review for a conference, and a house to clean up a little. I won't spend too much time cleaning because it will just get undone tomorrow. Right now it looks like a bead factory threw up on my dining room table. Not the kind of mess I enjoy cleaning up. Since the children made it, they shall clean it up. But I'll let them create a few more masterpieces first.

Dinner was an ordeal tonight. Not anyone's fault but my own. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I'm in awe of all of those women who, daily, put on a spread for their families. I suppose I'm in awe of my husband as well for doing just that; I guess I've grown accustomed to it (ie: take it for granted). When Mark travels, I normally just do something simple...translation: mac & cheese or cereal for dinner ("Kids, guess what? We get to have breakfast for dinner! How cool is that?!) But these kids eat much healthier (translation: their mom is not lazy), so I've been trying to get full meals cranked out for them. Tonight was lasagna and zucchini. Everything was delicious, but it was an hour late getting to the table. So I guess the skills are there; my timing's just way off.

I found out tonight I will have to do a couple more of these Complete Meals because the two girls will be spending one more night with us. Not complaining, just racking my brain for another meal to throw on the menu. And some more activities to plan because they tore right through the friendship bracelet kit. Perhaps I should have them compile a list of friends (many friends) for whom to make a bracelet.

Well, I've spared them an extra half hour. Lights out at 9:30, and all must retire to his/her own room. We aren't doing the go-upstairs-every-5-minutes-to-tell-them-to-be-quiet routine tonight. Although climbing stairs ups my step count on the pedometer, and since I didn't have time to work out today...

4:10 PM
Did the Play-Doh thing. Still picking pieces of it out of the carpet and scraping it off the tile. Then we went o Wal-Mart by request of 4 little girls who wanted to make friendship bracelets. Not that I'm spoiling them or anything, but I can't deny them something that has the word "friendship" in it. And, while I could have sorted through and untangled mounds of embroidery thread left over from finished and unfinished cross stitch projects, I'm all for convenience, so a kit it was.

After I was asked by the kind man in the pet department (on account of the fact that we had to go see the fish), "Are they ALL yours?", Alex said, "I KNEW someone would ask us that." Incidentally, the fish man said he was a little puzzled about how the two blonde ones fit in.

And now we are swimming. I use the term "we" loosely since, in fact, I have assumed my Lifeguard position from the patio table. Which sits in the shade under the patio fan. It also gives me a good vantage point for photographing our two visitors. I've already posted some pictures on Facebook. I like the make sure the parents know their children are still alive and kicking. Audrey is co-lifeguarding. Today she prefers coloring over swimming. She's also grumpy. Not a surprise since she didn't get enough sleep last night. Tonight she sleeps in her own bed.

12:33 PM
Lunch is almost ready. Hot dogs cookin', broccoli steamin'. Yeah, I said broccoli. No, I don't have a kid who will eat it, but these little angels I'm caring for eat anything, especially healthy things. Maybe they'll rub off on my kids!

11:49 AM
So the kids are watching a movie now. Yes, I'm using the big screen as a babysitter. You have a problem with that? It's just that I need to make lunch. And clean up. And do laundry. And clean up. Also, my houseplant decided to vomit sap all over the windowsill and carpet. Apparently it's been doing this for awhile and I hadn't noticed. Because I've been such a good housekeeper and all. So there is an inch of sticky to clean from the windowsill and scrub from the carpet. The plant has been banished to the Out-of-Doors.

10:41 AM
Finally got that shower in. And not for lack of trying before this late hour. Wasn't the 6 kids that kept me, however, it was the phone calls. I rarely get phone calls from anyone besides my husband. I'm not a big fan of the phone. Love email and Facebook but not the phone. Probably those years of telemarketing in college. Not the mention the fact that whenever I get on the phone 4 little people (in this case, 6 little people) either begin killing each other or suddenly have dire need of something. Anyway, business phone calls (listen to me sounding all professional-like): set up a phone conference to go over a paper with one of my Write4Homeschool students and set up a teacher planning meeting for my Writing Workshop at Bright Futures Academy.

Seems as though this meeting shall take place at the same time as I had planned to conduct my first day of school here at the Homefront Academy. But I'm nothing if I'm not flexible. OK, maybe I'm nothing. I'm working on it. And, after all, one of the great benefits of homeschooling is the flexibility it affords, right? So no sweat. We'll work with it. I'm excited about the meeting. I'm back down to teaching just the high schoolers, no middle schoolers, which makes me happy...smaller group, and I love high schoolers.

And back to my shoe...I think the interest in paper dolls has waned. I have yet to go into the kitchen to survey the damage, but I hear the Wii, so I'm fairly certain all of those poor flat dollies have been abandoned, lying in their beds of scraps.

9:24 AM
Breakfast - Check (fruit and homemade waffles).
Breakfast clean-up - Check.

Shower - Nope, not yet. Generally I try to get in and out of the shower before the husband leaves. You know, so I look more like a fairy princess than the Wicked Witch of the East, but this morning I'm afraid I was erring more on the side of the WWE than the fairy princess.

In a moment, I will be getting the next activity ready for them. My girls have been into paper dolls lately, and hopefully the other two girls will share the enthusiasm. When I told Audrey what I was getting ready to do, she said, "You have to print the clothes out from doll.com!" Actually, I print them out from Making Friends, but what a different childhood my children are living from mine where the World Wide Web could have only been the product of a nightmare about very large spiders.

7:30 AM
I was awakened at the unearthly hour of 7:15 by loud thumps from the room above mine. Someone using the theater chairs in the media room/office as a jungle gym. That someone being my eldest daughter who was the last to go to sleep last night. All 4 girls began in the same room, but then she began to complain that the "little ones" were keeping her awake. We moved her into the office where a mattress still remains from the kids' movie night the other night. So why in the world was she not sleeping at 7:15? Not that 7:15 is really that unheard of; it's just that it's been a lazy summer of sleeping in until 9:00 (me) while the children fend for themselves at breakfast. In other words, 7:15 is really just an unearthly hour to me.

Right now the "babies" are still sleeping, and the older 4 are playing "Risk". I don't think a one of them actually knows how to play "Risk", but at least they are being quiet. Nothing worse than grumpy babies, so let them sleep!