Perspective

"Why are we celebrating that Luke is one year closer to death?"  -Micah, when he wasn't pleased with the birthday activity Luke chose

Coolest Cousin Ever

How do you earn the title of "Coolest Cousin Ever"? Leave your wedding reception in a helicopter.  In the words of Luke, after a day of wedding ceremony, wearing-of-tie, and tea party reception:
"This made it all so totally worth it."

State Champs!

Here's the announcement written by one of the teachers at the local high school where Luke was on the robotics team this year (edited a bit to remove some identifying information):

On Saturday, the First Tech Challenge (FTC) Freshman Robotics Team competed in the State Championship.  After finishing 11^th out of 29 teams from around the state and the region, the team was invited to form an alliance for the Championship Rounds.  While our Team was instrumental in the alliance winning the Championship, FIRST rules are such that only the first two teams of the alliance move on to the Super Regional in order to qualify for Championship Tournament in Saint Louis.  Please congratulate this group of freshmen for their outstanding performance in bringing home our first FTC Championship Trophy to the high school.

 



 

 

What she doesn't point out is that this team of freshmen (so rookies) were competing against teams that have been in FTC before and have seniors on their team (so they're experienced).  Luke invested many, many, many, many hours into this endeavor (as did the other 13 students on the team), and it was so nice to have a reward at the end.


Yeah, I'm bragging ;).

Yeah, he's wearing a duct tape hat in team colors (peer pressure ;) ).

Robotics

Luke has been participating on a FIRST Tech Challenge robotics team this school year.  They had their first competition on Saturday, and they're heading to the State Championships! 

It's a New Year!

Craig heads back to work today, so it's time to take down the decorations, find homes for the gifts, and figure out our spring semester.

Some of the changes on the horizon:

• Luke will finish up robotics at the high school.  They have two teams, Junior Varsity and Varsity.  We've decided to only do JV this year.
• Ezekiel has started team gymnastics (tumbling & trampoline).
• Luke will start drum lessons.
• I'm considering a change for grammar.  I love Rod & Staff, but find it works best for us when I'm teaching it.  I'm looking at Get Smart Grammar from English Grammar Revolution because she has diagramming & teaching videos. 
• I'm also considering going back to Visual Latin & Lingua Latina.  I haven't had the time to teach Wheelock's well.  I think Dwayne is a great teacher, and I'd like the boys to take his online class in the fall.

I'm still figuring out how to balance all of my responsibilities.  A new year is a great time to evaluate old systems and figure out how to run things more efficiently and intentionally. 

Happy 2014!

Halloween, a Decade Ago

Oh, how I'd love to be able to go back in time and squish them and squeeze them at this size....

Ezekiel, Jacob, & Luke c.2003

Mummy?

I was the first one in bed several nights ago.  I thought the boys were getting ready for bed, but instead Luke did this to Nicholas.  I'd call it a tie in to history, but we did Ancients last year; this year is American history.  If you look closely at the face, you can tell Nicholas is smiling. Also, you know you've got a lot of boys when you have enough Ace bandages to mummify a 7 year old*.  

*No Nicholases were harmed in the making of this photo

Four

I can't believe it's already time to start planning next year.  Normally I love the planning process.  After all, what we're doing next year is full of untapped potential and unmarred expectations.  Next year, I'll be the best teacher, my health will be great, and my students will be willing, right?

Luke will be 9th grade.  High School.  My emotions and thoughts run from "I've got this under control" to complete denial.  My complete denial, though, isn't that I'm not equipped or prepared to teach and guide him through high school.  Sure, there's a bit of panic when I think of messing something up when it comes to his transcript, but mostly my denial comes in when I think about the fact we've only got 4 years of schooling left.

Four.

He was four when I started teaching him to read.  He's the boy that first made me realize that little boys could either sit still or they could listen, but they could not do both simultaneously.  He's born the brunt of my mistakes as a Mom and teacher, and he's somehow still turning into a fine young man.

I know that I'm going to blink, and these next four years will be gone.  I know there will be unexpected joys as he grows into a man--just like when he was four I couldn't imagine how much I would love watching him be a fabulous big brother at 13 or how in awe I'd feel when he came to me telling me the success he's had with some aspect of computer programming.

I just wish there was a way to slow time down.  Right now, I'm going back into denial that I need to plan for high school.

Feel like an early Christmas celebration?

Luke (to Craig): Dad, does anyone celebrate Christmas early?

Ezekiel (before Craig could answer): Yes. They do in Alaska and North Kentucky.

It's been 10 days since I blogged because...

The boys have done nothing interesting or amusing. Yeah, right. Actually, the screen went out on my laptop so I've lost the convenience and portability that make blogging so...well....convenient. It's still not fixed, but I'm using Craig's laptop because....

Craig received a call this morning from a friend inviting Craig and "one of his offspring" to the Air Force/Notre Dame game this afternoon. Craig was going to take Ezekiel (because Ezekiel says his favorite game is football, Luke loves baseball), but after getting Ezekiel ready, Ezekiel realized this game would take until at least dinner time. He evidentially didn't feel like he could commit 6 hours of his life to a football game, so Luke got to go. This made Luke very happy and I hope they're having a great time.

My birthday was yesterday and after work Craig took the 4 older boys on a mystery mission, which I later found out was a trip to Target so each boy could pick a gift out for me. Micah chose a short pillar candle, Jacob chose a taller pillar candle, Ezekiel chose a set of pillar candles (can you tell I like candles?), and Luke chose a yellow bath towel. Craig later informed me that Luke scoured the entire store and when he saw this yellow bath towel it all came together in Luke's mind. After I opened the towel, Luke told me that he thought I needed a nice big towel to clean up their messes. Nicholas didn't go, but he somehow picked out a pair of very warm, very soft green socks for me. In addition, Craig remembered that I mentioned a few weeks ago that I'd like to have a Christmas wreath for the front door and surprised me with a beautiful wreath. Earlier in the day Craig and Jacob had decorated the dining area with yellow balloons, streamers, a bouquet of flowers, and a small indoor yellow rose plant.

Oh, Thomas II passed on to the great puddle in the sky on Thursday; it appears he died of natural causes. This was Jacob's birthday betta fish. You might notice that this was Thomas II. There was a Thomas I, but he didn't survive very long, although his life was, er, eventful. Here is his story:

We took Jacob on his birthday to pick out his fish, which he named Thomas after Thomas the Tank Engine. Thomas I was a beautiful fish. We left Thomas I in his original bowl floating in the top of the tank overnight. The next day I was in the school room teaching Luke and Ezekiel when Jacob came running downstairs telling me that Micah put Thomas I in the tank. I ran upstairs to find Micah sitting in the kitchen sink holding the empty bowl. My heart sank as I prepared to tell Jacob that Micah had just washed his fish down the drain, but thankfully I didn't have to because Micah had dumped Thomas I into the tank before he climbed into the sink. Whew.

I put Micah down for a nap, and put on a Leap Frog video for Jacob so I could finish some school with Luke & Ezekiel.  Of course, Jacob wanted Thomas I to watch the movie with him. I moved the fish tank (a small one gallon) over to the coffee table and left the two happily learning about the alphabet. Around 30 minutes later Jacob came downstairs and his pants were wet, and informed me that he'd "done something very bad". I quickly realized these two clues meant that something had happened to Thomas I. I ran upstairs to find Thomas I swimming in about 1 inch of water. Jacob then explained that Thomas I couldn't see the video, and in an attempt to move the tank he knocked it over, spilling almost all of the water and Thomas I. He demonstrated the pincer grasp he used to pick Thomas I up off the carpet and put him back in the tank.

The next day I found Micah on the counter again holding my cup. It was empty. I looked at Thomas I's tank, and the water looked to have a greenish tint. Micah had indeed emptied a full glass of Diet Mountain Dew into Thomas I's tank. I quickly commenced cleaning and arranging the tank for the 3rd time in as many days.

A week or so later I had the idea to take the boys on a picnic and to a park. While I was in the garage getting a cooler (I was out there for less than 5 minutes), Micah climbed on the counter (yes, again) and emptied an entire container of fish food into Thomas I's very small tank. There was approximately 1 inch of food covering the bottom of the tank. I didn't want to leave Thomas I in those conditions, but I didn't have the time to clean out the tank. I placed Thomas I in a tupperware bowl on the fireplace mantel, to which M complained, loudly, "But I can't reeeaaaachhh hiiiimm". Exactly the point, my boy. I was secretly proud I'd outwitted the 2 year old, if only temporarily.

We went on our picnic, and when we returned home Thomas I was lying on the living room carpet. Yes, he jumped out of the bowl on the fireplace mantel and landed on the living room carpet. I later read that Betta fish will do this if they are looking for clean water or if their tank changes. Personally, I think Thomas I was terrified of living another day in the same house as Micah.

Call Me. Head wound. Not sure how bad.

Now there's a page that no one likes to send or receive. But it's exactly what Craig received this afternoon. I felt bad sending it, but I thought there was a pretty good chance he'd need to come home so one of us could take Micah to the doctor.

Of course, Craig wasn't here to open the sliding door because Luke was pounding on it and yelling "Jacob hit Micah on the head and he's bleeding!". Or to have Micah appear from behind Luke with blood running down his forehead, screaming. And he wasn't here to figure out that Jacob hit Micah in the head with a metal tool, or to sort through the mop of red-stained hair to locate the wound.

Thankfully, I think Micah's going to escape stitches.

Logic 101?

A conversation at the lunch table:

Ezekiel: Wouldn't it be funny if we told Golem he could have the Ring for $1?
Luke: Yeah.
Ezekiel: He doesn't have any money!

Enter Mommy into the conversation...

Mommy: How do you know he doesn't have any money?
Ezekiel (laughing hysterically): Because he'd have to keep it in his underwear!