Dora Meets Reality

Conversations in the car are often an adventure.  The kids talk about everything and I hear it all (selectively).

Recently, Gem and Shakespeare have had a lot of dialogue about the inconsistencies in cartoons--specifically, Dora the Explorer.  Other cartoons are fodder for critique, but Dora is most prevalent in our house right now because Sugar is addicted.

Overheard:

Gem: "So, if Dora brings the moon to the king and queen, does she understand that the gravitational pull of the moon will cause total catastrophe for the earth as it gets closer?"

Shakespeare: "Yeah, and how is she going to breathe in space, anyway?  I don't see her wearing any space suit."

Gem:  "I'm glad that dinosaurs are extinct, because teaching toddlers to tip-toe past a T-Rex just wouldn't be cool."

Gem: "So what is with a little girl and her monkey being allowed to run all over the place with no adult supervision?  What kind of mother lets her kid go over the mountain, through the spooky forest and to the island?"

Ha!  I love these kids.

Shakespeare at 10

Well, the boy broke into double digits 3 days ago. Here is the celebration! He had an impromptu party at home with three boys from our homeschool group. We just invited them over for a play date after our group met and had presents and cake and pizza. No one had to bring presents and we didn't have to plan anything extra. Lovely!

It's Gem's year for the party. She's having a slumber party tonight with 5 girls. Pictures will surely follow.

But, here is the boy blowing out his candles and opening his presents. So fun!





Anything Lego and Star Wars is always a big hit. He also got the mid scale Star Ship.

Lego Kid

Shakespeare loves building with Legos. Here's a sampling of his creativity.
It's a chariot.



See that tooth? It is begging to be yanked. He wiggles that dern thing all the time. Soon there will be no wiggly teeth. Sigh.

Shakespeare is 9

Today was Shakespeare's birthday. He's such a gift giver. He bought presents ahead of time for his brother and sister. He was soooo looking forward to his b-day. And then Jon had a business trip to D.C. We decided to come for the tail end of the trip, but it put us traveling home on Shakespeare's birthday. We got home this afternoon with no present bought and no birthday cake baked.

We ended up takin him out to Bravo (nice Italian restaurant) for dinner. Then we stopped by Target on the way home to pick up his present--a nerf broadsword. He seemed happy enough. We're just not doing so well on birthday delivery this time around.

One thing he did enjoy was Washington D.C. I'll post pictures tomorrow evening or Wednesday.

On a different note--Jon and I have been so overwhelmed lately by the blessings that the kids are. We sigh, we stare, we laugh at antics...we enjoy them. God is so good. We are so blessed.

Happy birthday, my favorite 9 year old in the whole wide world! We love you so much.

Mom and Sugar

Sugar and I had our own mini photo shoot yesterday. I let Shakespeare touch the holy camera, but only on a tripod. He was thrilled! He captured some decent shots. Sugar turned 6 months old yesterday!



The fall color here is unprecedented--at least for he six years we've been here. I wanted bright red or orange because it's everywhere, but we just settled for the yellow that is in our yard.



If three of us were not sick today I would pack up my troop and torture them with family pictures. Only a touch of fever and some sore throats.



Of course, I got a few of Shakespeare too.

Fall Fun

Last night the big boys went to a church sleepover for all the boys. They played tennis and carved pumpkins and watched a movie. Here are their fall creations.

Sugar and Shakespeare

Sweet as Sugar!



And then there's...



He's looking at a sunflower seed from the garden.



He looked at the first picture I took of him and thought he was pretty funny.



Hence, the comedy routine that actually succeeded in being funny.



Especially this gem!

Missing: A Gold Tooth

That's right! The "gold tooth" fell out yesterday. I did a little party dance. Yea! My son doesn't look horrid anymore. He has been parading his tooth around and scaring Popcorn with it. He is also leaving it all over the place. Sinatra refused to sit at the table because the gold tooth was sitting next to his place. The tooth fairy will have to get ahold of it tonight.

Gold Tooth

I took Shakespeare to the dentist last month to address a concern I had with his front tooth. It had been loose for about two months and he had been wiggling it constantly with little progress. One day he asked me to wiggle his tooth to see how loose it was and I noticed something: his adult tooth was coming in behind the baby tooth.

The dentist says that his bite will push the adult tooth forward and that Shakespeare should just continue to wiggle that front tooth until it comes out.



Shakespeare has never been a tooth puller. He will hardly let anyone touch a loose tooth let alone pull it. So his dead, yellowed, hanging-by-a-thread baby tooth sits in his mouth, pushed forward and pointing threateningly at anyone who dares to even think about yanking.

I think it makes him look like he belongs on a dilapitated front porch in a back Kentucky woods, alongside an old washer and dryer and maybe a rusting car on blocks. But if you ask Shakespeare about the tooth, he'll shoot you a big smile and tell you that it's his gold tooth.

Bummer Birthday

I hate to label a birthday "bummer", but it kindof ended up that way. Today, Shakespeare turned 8 years old. There are no pictures of presents or cake or even a smiling face. He didn't feel well and only ate chicken noodle soup all day long. We're postponing a party for later this week. He did get a new bike yesterday before the yuck attacked, but it was so cold and windy that he couldn't go out and ride it. Thankfully, he was feeling much better this evening so we're hoping for a more pleasant day tomorrow.

Missing

Worker Man

In an act of desperation to occupy the kid and to separate him from a quarreling sibling I assigned him the task of raking leaves to the curb. I knew that it probably wouldn't get done, but I figured that a couple of swaths toward the street wouldn't hurt.



The boy happily picked up the rake and began. Forty-five minutes later I glanced out the window and saw him still hard at work. Wow! Impressive. I opened the upstairs window and yelled some encouragement. After another 20 minutes I told him to come warm himself up with hot chocolate if he was getting too cold. "I'm okay, Mom!" He worked another 10 minutes before coming in.

In the playroom, the other kids had popped in a movie and were settling in. Shakespeare joined them with his hot chocolate. I went upstairs to finish my task and was shocked to see the leaf raker back at it within ten minutes. The boy worked until sundown and finished the task. I helped him with the final sweep, but my boy did the mother load of the work.

I was so proud. I talked about it for a week and bragged like a grandparent. I also gave him $2--big bucks for a seven year old. Yea! Shakespeare!!! I'm still bragging.

Climbin' Critters

The kids only have one more week of rock climbing classes. Here is a shot of Shakespeare climbing in the bouldering room.

Climbing Kids

Every Monday for 8 weeks this summer Gem and Shakespeare are taking rock climbing classes at our local climbing gym. I could say that I thought they might just enjoy it, or that they really had an interest in it. The truth is that I signed them up because I secretly hope that one of them gets hooked and will soon want ropes, harnesses, shoes, etc. and make a serious hobby of it. And if they needed an adult to take them to climbing locations, I guess they wouldn't have to twist my arm too hard. Climb on, kids!

Typing

When I was in 4th grade my dad made my brother and me learn how to type. That would have put Mark in Kindergarten. Every day after we came home from school we had to sit in front of our computer and play Typing Tutor for 30 minutes. Dad made us do this until we could type 45wpm and very few mistakes.

We whined about the whole thing, but in the end I liked the payoffs. I was the only kid in 4th grade who was handing in typed papers. But hey, when you can type 45wpm and use spell check, why attempt the hand written stuff?!



In the spirit of keeping up with the Joneses (maiden name), I'm having my kids do 30 minutes of typing a day--20 min. drill and 10 min. games. The games have GREATLY improved since I was 9 years old, but are still drills in disguise. My kids argue over who gets to do typing first. They love it. I guess it helps that I home school. I just make it a subject in school for the summer (year round schooling). They like that it's on the computer and has games. I only wish Math was as popular.

Doctor, Doctor

This morning we rolled out of bed, shoved some food in, and immediately headed for the doctor. First stop, Sinatra--shots. He only needed one today. When I held him down, he squirmed and whined and kicked, but when she gave him the shot he held still and never peeped a protest. Band-aid on, jump down, smile like nothing happened. Shock. I've never had a kid do that.

Stop two, the other doctor office. We hung around in the lobby for 30 min, waiting on stand-by for a Dr. who could work us in. I was so relieved to hear our name called. The only thing that saved me from child-acting-up overload was the Game Boy. I gave it to Popcorn because he was the grumpiest and the other two were finishing math.

The nurse practitioner was so nice and my child was so shy, almost rude. It took a bribe to get him on the scales to be weighed. He clung to my pants and hid behind me most of the time. He wouldn't talk to any adult that entered the room.
"How old are you?" Angry eyes, hide and whine.
"What do you have there, a Game boy or DS?" Angry eyes, hide and whine.
"Which ear hurts?" Angry eyes, hide and whine.
"If you don't answer an the lady when she comes back, I'm going to spank your rear." Contrite eyes, hide and hang head.

Popcorn has an ear infection.

Here they are gathered around the Game Boy while we are waiting for the nurse. Without the Game Boy, can you imagine being trapped in a small room with four young children and no hope of escape?

Next, we went to Jon's office. He went to work at 4am, so he left work at noon. We all headed to Qdoba for lunch. After lunch everyone fought over who would get to play the Game Boy next. We answered by handing around technology: Game Boy for Gem, Brick breaker on the "blueberry" for Shakespeare, and Brick breaker on the iPod for Popcorn.

If I hear another whine about any form of technology, I will ban it for the rest of the day.

Extra: On the way home, Shakespeare informed me that his itch bone was being itchy. Apparently, the funny bone just didn't cut it for the boy.

Memory Masters

We went to our home school group award ceremony this evening. An extra treat was that Nana, Grandpa and Mama Jo were there for the show.

My very shy Popcorn even got up and sang the A,B,C Song with his preschool class.


Shakespeare received his very first Memory Master award.



Gem received her second Memory Master award.



To achieve Memory Master level, the student is asked to recite 24 weeks of information in eight subjects: history, geography, time line, math, science, Bible, English grammar, and Latin.

Can you tell me the formula for the circumference of a circle or the area of a triangle? How about the Latin endings for 1st conjugation present tense? Ephesians 6? When did William the Conqueror defeat King Harold? What are Newton's 3 laws of motion? The laws of thermodynamics?

In a classical-style eduction even young students who can't possibly calculate the circumference of a circle or understand the significance of the fall of Rome can still memorize facts ahead of time and be introduced to characters in history like Marco Polo or Sir Walter Raleigh.

A year ago, Shakespeare came running across the library to show me a book about St. Francis of Assisi!!! That never would have happened without Classical Conversations (our program).

Congratulations, kids!!! Mom is so proud of you.

A Gorgeous Day

March is such a fickle month. Today we got a wonderfully warm day. We took advantage of the sunshine and went to the park.



You would think that the park is a place where kids play on the playground equipment, but today when we arrived, 7 of the 11 children that were there were playing down the hill in the little stream. Three moms were lined up on the railing watching their kids. One quickly ran down the hill to help her three year old pee behind a tree. I felt right at home.

All the children were filthy, but none started or finished as scroungy as my Shakespeare. He was wearing the last pair of clean pants from his drawer and a T-shirt that didn't match. He was also wearing last year's sandals that still contain smells from last year. Gag!



It wasn't five minutes before he was soaked to the bone--slipped on a rock while doing something daring. He was wearing a shirt that boasts, "I do my own stunts". Yep, I guess you do, buddy!

Oh well, the point was to have fun. I think he did.

AT-ST

More Star Wars Legos. He had exactly $20 and couldn't keep it in his pocket. Lego mania has definitely arrived. The AT-ST is that bad guy walking machine with guns pointing out of every possible area. How fun.

I helped him. Going through those directions felt exactly like putting together the basketball hoop.

More Birthday Pictures

Shakespeare now loves Legos. He received a Star Wars Naboo Fighter and Spider Droid Ship from Grandma and Grandpa V. and hasn't put the things down. In fact, he took his birthday money and spent it on a smaller set of bad guy stuff so he could have a proper war.



This was Gem's big present: a 24" Schwinn mountain bike, in pink, purple and white of course.



A zip line for the tree house that we're building with Grandpa and Nana this April.



This was the year of the nontraditional cake. Shakespeare picked out cupcakes with Oreo frosting and gummy worms. Gem decided on an Oreo cream pie from the freezer section. I like the change.