My Son, the Author

Brian keeps gleefully exclaiming (something I clearly need to work with Nathan on), "our boy's a GENIUS!"  Love it.  Here's Nathan very first original composition:

  So how much of that did you get?  I'll do my best to interpret:

Jack liked cars!  His dad loved cars too!  The dragons cars there was too many!  There was only one man who was brave enough because he believed

in God so that he could kill all the dragons there was.  Lost stuff that met enough too upset the people.  The beast or the queen

up in the mountain!  There lived a boy, he loved to play checkers.  One day he was playing basket ball when his friend saw him.  He

whispered in his friends' ear last night I saw a queen standing on the cabinets.  I ran outside.  I look for a spot to hide.  The only ??? to it was

a bush.  I heard someone call my name.  I looked around.  All I could see the queen she was beautiful.  I set a lid ??? the dragons was ??? mother ??? she


was handsome :)

If you can fill in any of the words I missed, I'd appreciate it!  I must note that the first several times I read the story to Nathan (because he wanted to hear how it sounded) I read the second word, lict, licked.  As in, "Jack licked cars."  Nathan was not amused. 

The Rundown

My kids are in such funny places right now (or maybe I'm just in a place to better appreciate their humor!).  I've really enjoyed watching them figure things out and put new ideas to use.

Nathan is starting to put together the things we've been learning all year.  The other day we were walking somewhere and Brenna decided to count our family members.  Apparently there are 17!  So after she performed this amazing feat (just last week she counted to ten for the first time) and I got all excited, Nathan decided to show off.  He counted to 100!  Then he did it again!

His imagination is working overtime.  A couple weeks ago for their date, Brian and Nathan went to see How to Train Your Dragon... dragons are pretty hot around here.  That week we got this awesome old book from the library:

It's a book of short stories that were originally published in 1899.  The stories are written in a style that you just don't hear anymore, and they take a good bit of time to read, but oh, they are fun!  Anyway, between the language and the length, I can't read an entire story straight through; so we've taken to reading until a really suspenseful part, then getting up and doing a task around the house, like unloading the dishwasher or picking up a room.  While this has been a great method for quickly getting things done with a good attitude (woohoo!) an unforeseen pleasure has been listening to Nathan process the stories aloud while he works.  There have been some very dangerous and thrilling battles played out in my boy's imagination!

*****

Isaac is my wild card.  I realized why youngest children are such clowns and people pleasers.  This kid ALWAYS has someone looking at him, and gets constant feedback on his behavior.

He started walking a couple weeks ago, so now he only stops when tied to a chair.  At the library this morning, I was ready to lay down on the floor and take a nap after about 40 minutes of chasing him through doors, up stairs, behind the librarian, around the stacks.  And every time I picked him up, he went into the full-body-writhe action.  It seems to me this is a skill that some kids really perfect more than others, in which they're throwing their weight and twisting so much that you have to put them back down because otherwise you'll drop 'em!

Isaac's other newfound passion is throwing things away.  At least once a day, usually twice, we'll mention/hold/be looking for something.  Then it goes missing.  An all-out search is underway, my frustration mounting because I just had it/where did you put it/it was right there! when it occurs to me look in the trash.  And there it is.  Shoes, dry erase markers, library cards, sippy cups, plates, silverware, etc.  All have been found in the trash.  Who knows what I haven't found.

*****

Brenna has been a joy to know lately.  She is suddenly putting ideas from different places and times together in stream-of-consciousness statements that leave Brian and me in stitches.

(Okay, I just have to note here that I wrote Brian and I first, then thought about it, and changed it to me, and it just doesn't feel right!  I'm a little stressed about that right now.  'Cause I'm a grammar nerd.)

Anyhoo, we cross a bridge every week on our way to church.  The bridge crosses the Mississippi River, right over where the cruise ships load, including a dinner cruise that we'd like to take sometime while we're here.  So in the past, Brenna's commented on the ship, or the bridge to church, or eating dinner on a boat, whatever.

Then last week as we drove across, she was all, "This is the bridge we go across to church on the river that goes over the ship where we're going to eat dinner in October when Nana and Papa come from California to visit us.  When is Aunt Jo's wedding?"

("Dis i da bidge we do atoss to tutch on da wibbuh dat does obuh da sip whe we doin' to eat dinnuh in Otobuh when Nana an Papa tum fum Towfonia to bisit us.  When is Aunt Do's weddin'?")


So as you can see, it's go-go-go all the time around here with these three.  Little brains and bodies are in motion from sunrise 'til we throw those little suckers in bed at night (and then the four or so times we get up for water/potty/blankie/teddy bear/pacifier/books/stop talking!  Last night Brian and I were calculating that in about ten years, maybe, we'll be able to sleep in.  Until then, we'll be on our toes!

This Year's Easter Picture

It's like herding cats.

A Little More Homey

Brian and I have known since we bought our little 1930's cottage that we wanted to fill it with period appropriate furniture and restore the details that gave it charm before they were modernized.  Then we moved to New Orleans with a bare minimum of furniture, and no storage.

Part of our challenge has been to acquire furniture that is useful here, and will fit in when we go home.  I had pretty much lost hope of finding anything affordable.  I was starting to troll the aisles of Walmart, Target and Cost Plus World Market (which I love, but quality?  Ummm... not so much) for anything that would be affordable (read: cheap) without regard to style or quality.

And then.

Man, I love Craigslist!

These two pieces were built in the 20's and refinished somewhere along the way.  They were being sold about ten minutes from our house (which is really good, because we only saw the ad for the buffet and didn't take any extra money) by a man who is in the process of restoring his 1860's home.  The only thing that dragged us away from a very fun conversation were the three children screaming in the car!

The grand total of our purchases?  $200

Seriously.

Well, I suppose it was actually $202, because we had to cross the bridge twice :)

And we are in love.  We have been very surprised by how much warmer and cozier they've made our house.  A wonderful addition.  And an added bonus?  I can now display the china plates Brian's grandmother gave me.  These belonged to her mother and Grandpa's mother.

God has provided.  Again.

Some recent pictures of the rugrats

Miscellany 3.17.09

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  There.  That's my St. Patrick's Day spirit.  I think I forgot to even tell the kids.  Which brings me to the first of my many completely non-related thoughts...

Homeschooling is going great.  Nathan is blending, doing simple addition, proficient in lots of household tasks... however.  I'm feeling a little adrift right now.  Each day is simply a continuation of the lessons from the day before, but there is no connecting theme at all.  For instance, the Spring holidays?  Haven't even mentioned them.   I have grand intentions, then I realize CRAP.  It's St. Patrick's Day and I forgot to tell my kids.  Oh well, I suppose it's a learning experience for me too.  And it's not like we won't have another chance to wear green next year.

This week has been particularly strange.  Saturday, we found out that Brian's grandmother, whom I adored, had passed away.  We're trying to figure out if we can make it home for the services, but flights are outrageous right now.

Also on Saturday, I ran into Blake Lively, the star of the show Gossip Girl, in Whole Foods.  She was squatting in the aisle, and I said "excuse me" to get by her, and when she looked up at me, I instantly became useless for the rest of the trip.  I had no idea what I needed, and I would stand there staring at a shelf thinking Blake Lively is in this store right now.  I admit that I am way more interested in celebrity culture than I want to be, but I really thought if I ever ran into one, I wouldn't become a moron.  I clearly think too highly of myself.

We're considering moving across the river.  Between our very loud neighbors who leave radios and televisions on all night and the lack of a yard, we think it might be a good time to go somewhere else.  Also, there is a possibility of shortening Brian's commute and paying less rent.  But we are still totally guessing at how long we'll be here (Brian mentioned last week that they are so behind that we should plan on just closing out the job, which has a contractual end-by date of June 2011).

We've actually had several social engagements over that last couple weeks, a few of them with boys from Nathan's Sunday school class.  It's been awesome, and has served to remind me that I am, in fact, an introvert.  I just want to hole up in my house and not talk to anybody for a while.  It has also made me really, really miss friends who know me.  Ladies who will not think I am a nutter when I stick my foot in my mouth twelve times in the next two and a half minutes.  Because I will, that's a given!

Okay, I feel better now.  Thank you!

Much Loved

Dorothy May Stewart

Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;

but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.

Give her the reward she has earned, 

and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.

Proverbs 31:18