Pumpkin Patch

Pumpkin Patch, originally uploaded by Wendy.A.

I could have done 2--maybe even 4--pages with all the pictures I took at the pumpkin patch, but after I messed with it and messed with it, I finally decided these four pictures told the story best. I'm reserving the right to use pumpkin patch pictures on a "2010 in review" layout later on.

A little bit of scrapping, a little bit of blogging

ebay inspired, originally uploaded by Wendy.A.

Today's the second day of LOAD211, a scrapbook challenge I signed myself up for in a moment of insanity. The challenge is to complete one layout every day in February. (There is also a LOAD challenge in October and May, but February only has 28 days, which made it feel a little less overwhelming.)

The specific challenge for today was to go to Ebay, type my first name into the search box and find something on the first page of results that inspired a scrapbook page. I was surprised to get a bunch of doll auctions; apparently Madame Alexander has a Wendy doll. I scanned down to the bottom, hoping to see another option, but it was dolls, doll clothes and more dolls.

Then I remembered that I have a daughter! Maybe I could think of some doll connection there. Think, Wendy, think! Then I remembered an old blog entry from the days when everything that fell into Katie's hand became "her phone." A few mouse clicks + a printer + a little scrapbook magic (aka a paper punch) and I had a quickie layout complete.

Mood when finished: pretty pleased with it!

Katie loses a tooth

My mom and I have talked several times over the last few months that we just can't imagine Katie losing her baby teeth. She's such a diva and likes to be totally (emphasis on "totally") in control of her look. The idea of her walking around with her top two front teeth missing is something I just can't wrap my brain around. It would not surprise me in the least to find out she already has a deal in place with our dentist for an emergency partial, should the need ever arise.

And, honestly, so strong is Katie's need to control her look, my mother and I had pretty much resigned ourselves to the belief that Katie would just not be losing her baby teeth. But then, much to everyone's surprise, one of her teeth began to wobble.

Wiggly teeth make my stomach churn make me a little uncomfortable, so I've never pulled a tooth. None of mine, none of Will's. True story: his second and third loose teeth, he had to pull himself. Since the last thing Katie wanted was me messing with her tooth, we were both happy to just let it get looser and looser. Will told her that pulling teeth didn't hurt, but that it would bleed some. You can imagine how that went over. Katie decided then and there that she didn't want anybody "yanking a tooth out of my head and making my mouth bleed." Well, yeah, when you put it that way, who would??

Katie began to pray that God would take her tooth out Himself. I tried to explain, nicely, that God had a lot on His plate right now, what with Afghanistan and the economy and all, and that sometimes He uses people in our lives--people with hands--to pull our teeth. Figuratively speaking.

She didn't buy that argument at all. "God has hands," she assured me. "He made the whole world with His hands and He will pull my tooth."

Now what was I supposed to say to that?

Meanwhile, the tooth was getting looser and looser and flapping like a saloon door when she spoke or even inhaled. I was worrying that she'd inhale it, be traumatized and have to have the rest of her teeth pulled by a dentist.

Every time I pushed aside my queasiness and tried to get permission to wiggle it, she would say, "No, thank you, God is going to pull my tooth, and it's not going to bleed at all." And I heard her several times praying for exactly that.

Tuesday night we were sitting in the living room and suddenly the tooth fell--literally fell!--into her hand. "Oh!" she said, startled, but not surprised, "It's out! My tooth is out! I better go show Daddy." She ran up the stairs, leaving me slackjawed on the couch. I heard her upstairs showing the tooth to Scott and TESTIFYING that "God pulled my tooth, and look, it's not bleeding at all. God made the thunder and the lightening and God pulled my tooth, too."

One of these days I am going to learn not to argue with Katie.

Snapshots of our First Day

Like many families, one of our back-to-school traditions is to take pictures. Here are a few of my favorites from this morning:



"Take one like I'm going into school, Mommy."

Will spent a lot of time striking poses to look cool. Last year it was silly poses. I would be sad over that, except that I have a strong feeling that silly will be back in vogue with him soon.


Miss Thing, though, needs to stop looking so grown up. Right. Now.


I love these kids.

Another tradition we have is to try to capture a snapshot of who they are as they begin a new school year. To that end, I have them tell me some of their favorite everyday things. They call it The Interview, and they take it very seriously.

Katie's Interview, as she begins first grade:
Favorite book: The Gingerbread Girl
Favorite movie: Hotel for Dogs (which the rest of us hated with the fiery passion of a thousand white hot suns.)
Favorite TV show: Hannah Montana and Sunny With A Chance.
Favorite color: pink & purple
Favorite breakfast: scones
Favorite lunch: a salad, with no dressing (which, to my knowledge, she has never had.)
Favorite dinner: lobster (which, to my knowledge, she has never had.)
Favorite snack: celery (which, to my knowledge...well, you know the rest.)
Favorite thing to do with our family: play Fancy Nancy
Favorite thing to do alone: play dolls
Favorite song: The Dream of Diamonds (an original song by Katie)
Favorite toy: Sunshine, a stuffed dog
Favorite restaurant: a French restaurant (Undoubtedly one that serves lobster and celery.)
Favorite drink: waterwithice. She says it as one word and orders it in restaurants like that. As if they would bring her warm water without ice.

William's Interview, as he begins third grade:
Favorite book: Copperheads (a non-fiction gem he picked up at the library last week.)
Favorite movie: Transformers 2
Favorite TV show: Suite Life on Deck (Interestingly, last year's answer was The Suite Life of Zach & Cody, which spun off itself to become the Suite Life on Deck. I'm embarrassed that I just told you that.)
Favorite color: orange
Favorite breakfast: muffins
Favorite lunch: Famous Dave's
Favorite dinner: chicken fricassee (He admits that he likes saying the name of the dish as much as eating it.)
Favorite snack: Fruit Gushers
Favorite thing to do with our family: swimming
Favorite thing to do alone: watch TV
Favorite song: Bad (Are you kidding me?)
Favorite toy: Transformers (any of the thousand he has, I assume; he didn't specify one.)
Favorite restaurant: Playtime Pizza (which is located, rather inconveniently, in Little Rock, Arkansas. He also struggled briefly with whether it could properly be defined as a restaurant.)
Favorite drink: Orange Capri-Sun

He said/She said, part 87

A couple things Will & Katie have said lately that left me laughing:

Will told Scott, "I'm not getting married for a loooong time, because I like making my OWN decisions."

The backstory. Scott wanted to wear shorts to church one Sunday.

I said no.

He countered that he had worn shorts to church last summer.

I said, yes, that was because we were doing a Hawaiian-themed VBS in the children's department through the summer and this year we were up in an adult class.

He countered that I was wearing what he called "3/4 length pants."

I told him that if he had any 3/4 length pants, he could wear them.

He changed tacks and tried the old "Will gets to" argument.

"Will's legs are not as hairy as yours." I reminded him.

"So you're saying if I shave my legs, I can wear shorts!" he said triumphantly.

"Yes, dear, that's what I'm saying. If you shave your legs, you can wear shorts to church."

(I loved watching the conflicting looks on his face as he realized that to do what he wanted to do, he would have to do what he didn't want to do!)

Katie told me, "Daddy just can't say no to me."

The backstory. Scott tends to be on the cold-natured side. (I attribute this to his low body-fat and regularly advise him to eat a cheeseburger and put on a sweater.) In Scott's ideal world, everybody would wear flannel pajamas year-round. However, Katie is hot natured as well as opinionated about her clothes, even if she's just going to be sleeping in them. This particular night, she had chosen a sleeveless, princess-y nightgown. Scott had chosen long-sleeved princess-y pajamas with long pants.

"No," she told him cheerfully, "I'm in the mood for this gown."

"I'm afraid you'll be cold," he told her. "Let's wear these warm jammies."

"No, I don't think so. I'm in the mood for this gown."

"Sweetheart, I don't want you to be cold. Let's wear these jammies."

(I'm sitting on the bed, just being amused by the discussion. This same back-and-forth was repeated a couple more times.)

Finally, Katie said in her this-is-my-final-offer voice, "I will wear the jammy top over my gown but that's it."

I couldn't help grinning, and Katie didn't miss it, as she gave her Daddy a big hug and said, "Daddy just can't say no to me."

What's been keeping us busy this summer

This is the second summer that Will & Katie have done swim camp with an outfit called Swim Kids. I am not much of a swimmer (and even less of a swim teacher!) so I love handing them off to a trained professional to learn good, solid swimming basics.

Katie had grown enough over the past year that she is finally able to touch the bottom of the pool. Her confidence was way up over last year, too. She had a good time with the lessons and enjoyed her coach, but--in true Katie style--Miss Thing wasn't going to do anything she didn't feel comfortable with, no matter what trinket they promised her out of the treasure box. Her personality leads me to suspect she'll always prefer laying in a lounge chair poolside over swimming laps, but at least she's now able to enjoy an afternoon of splashing around the pool with her brother.





Will, on the other hand, absolutely loves swimming and spent our afternoons at the pool practicing his strokes, his breathing, everything he could think of to move ahead in his class. He enjoyed it so much I even toyed with the idea of enrolling him in the homeschool swim classes this fall. Then I remembered how much I despised the six weeks of that we did last fall and the holy oath I swore that I would never do that to myself again. Sorry, dude.

We still have a month before the outdoor pool closes for the season, so we'll be spending our afternoons there if you need to reach us!

How do they rate restaurants, anyway?

Katie has one of those little voices that carries. It seems to carry better at the most inopportune times. Recently we were dining in the fine establishment of Jerry's Subs & Pizza. It was on the early side of the dinner hour, so the place was empty except for us, the workers and the owner.

It was Katie's first time to eat at Jerry's, and she liked it immediately. All the walls are mirrored and part of the dining area is raised, which reminds her of a stage. In fact, Katie liked the decor so much, I had to tell her about every thirty seconds to quit watching herself in the mirror and eat her pizza. (Then she would pick up her pizza and watch herself eat it. This child truly amuses me.) Anyway, at one point in our dinner, Katie asked me in her world-famous voice, "Mommy, is this a four star restaurant?"

"No, sweetie, I don't think so." I whispered, watching the owner watching us.

"Well," she persisted, "is it a three star restaurant?"

"No, sweetie; can we talk about this later?"

"Well, I need to know how many stars this restaurant has."

Really? Need to know? For what possible reason? I could tell I wasn't going to get out of this conversation without offering some kind of explanation, but as is usually the case in these situations, I had nothing.

"Katie, I'll be honest, I don't know how the star rating system works. If I were guessing, though, they probably take away stars if you order at a counter and have to get your drink yourself, so I'm going to guess that this place is probably has two stars at the most."

Jerry, if you're out there and you happen across this, please email me with details on how many stars you have. Thank you.

Martha Stewart Doesn't Live Here. Adjust.

Katie, my sweet Kindergartener, was working on a worksheet for the letter V. The page had several pictures of things that began with the letter v that she was to identify, color and cut into flashcards. She easily recognized a vase, vegetables and a vest. But one picture had her stumped. "It's... a... Don't tell me...it's... I don't know, Mommy, what IS that?" I sighed. "It's a vacuum cleaner, honey." Just further proof I haven't quite found the right balance between homeschooling and homemaking!

Poetry in Motion...Lots of Motion

I think Children's Museums, Wonder Places and the like are just about the most fun ever. When I grow up, I want to either own one, run one or maybe just hang out in one. I took this video at the Gilbert Children's Museum in Salem, Oregon, which we had never had the chance to visit before. (And never would have, if Amy had not arranged the outing.) It has been stuck in my camera since our summer vacation and today was the day that I decided to get it uploaded or die trying.

Gilbert House more than lived up to my expectations. There were creative play opportunities, cultural learning opportunities, and science opportunities galore. Will's favorite exhibit was "A Child's Trip to China." Besides practicing writing Chinese characters and cuddling giant stuffed pandas, he, Katie and John dressed up in traditional costume and made up a tea ceremony.


Katie thought that was pretty great until she saw the next room. Every single thing about this room was custom-made for my expressive little free spirit. (The video starts off a little slow; please give her 10 or 15 seconds to find her groove.)

This is video I shot of her playing in the exhibit called Recollections. I know we must have spent more than an hour in there. She absolutely loved it and went back for more after lunch. (We had a picnic lunch at their ginormous outdoor playground--where I first started to obsess about making raspberry jam after eating The Best PB&J of my LIFE, courtesy of Amy.) You can read more about the Recollections exhibit at the Gilbert House website. Or, here, I'll copy & paste it:

Recollections is a colorful, dazzling projection that allows visitors to create vivid, full-size, time-delayed images of themselves. Combining computer technology, a color camera, a large screen projector, and a special retro-reflective screen, artist/software designer Ed Tannenbaum has created an environment that allows the user to explore time and motion in beautiful colors. Over 256 colors can be displayed on the screen at one time as visitors move and become part of a work of art.

So here's my new plan. Until further notice, I want to go to the Gilbert House every time we're in Oregon. I may never make it to The Enchanted Forest, but I'm okay with that.

And now a word from Katie...

We had a babysitter come tonight and Katie spent the day in quite a state of anticipation. She wanted everything to be just right, even her hair. She wanted to put the cow stuff on her hair to make it pretty. I was completely mystified. I thought of a cute dress she has that has a cute purple cow print on it, but that didn't fit with the context of having pretty hair. I just could not imagine what "cow stuff" she could be speaking of. Finally after several minutes of my trying to get clarification from her, Will spoke up and asked her, "Do you mean mousse?"

"Yes. Mousse." she said immediately. "Can I put the mousse stuff on my hair to make it pretty?"

Ah, of course. Mousse. It seems so obvious now.

More He Said, She Said

I should probably make this a regular feature since I talk so much about the crazy things my kids say.

Katie is a free spirit. Anyone who knows her will back me up on this. Her creativity and her ability to live in the current moment are beautiful things. They will carry her far in life. They will. (This is a mantra that a friend taught me when Miss Thing was in the midst of the "Terrible Nuclear Meltdown Threes." The traits your child has that make you most crazy will be assets to them as adults. I repeat this to myself daily.)

So, anyway, like every other free spirit I know, Katie doesn't like to wear shoes. Nor does she like to put things away. She comes by that honestly, because I'm not big on putting things away either. Why go all the way upstairs to put shoes in the closet, when you won't need them again until you're on your way back out this door that they're currently right beside? See, I get that.

What I don't get is taking one shoe off in the playroom on the first floor and the other shoe off in the kitchen on the second floor. How does that happen? And then how does it completely leave your mind, so that when you're told the next day to "get your shoes on; we need to leave" you have absolutely no idea where on God's green earth they could be? How does that happen??

Just recently that exact scenario played out for the 1,342nd time, and as I swore holy oaths to myself that from now on, we were going to lay out clothes the night before including shoes, I took the opportunity to explain to Katie why this was such a frustrating experience for me. In great detail. Just so she would be crystal clear on it.

"....so I need you to take better care of your things and know where things are so that when I tell you to put your shoes on, you will be able to find them. Do you understand what I'm saying, Katie?"

"Yes, mommy."

"OK, then tell me what I'm saying."

My sweet child looked me in the face and without a trace of irony said, "Blah, blah, blah, Ginger."

More he said/she said

• Yesterday Will (newly 8) walked up to me and said solemnly, "Mommy, I'm becoming a man." I just about fell off my chair. "You're becoming...?" I repeated in confusion and/or disbelief. "Yes," he said seriously. "I just found a hair in my nose."

• At our church, children who are kindergarten-aged or older attend the worship service with their parents instead of having a second hour of Sunday school. After just one week of having Katie with us, I know I have some work to do with her to get to appropriate church behavior. When the offering was collected, Scott passed the plate to Katie and Katie passed the plate to me. I passed it to Will who sometimes contributes some of his own money. On this particular Sunday he wasn't prepared and quickly asked me, "Can I have a dollar?" Katie heard him and said (loudly, of course!) "I want a dollar, too!!" as she (I'm cringing as I type this) started to snatch a dollar out of the offering plate. The family at the end of our pew was shaking with laughter.

• The Air Force has had their people wearing BDUs (that stands for Battle Dress Uniform, the sexy camouflage ones) pretty much since 9/11 unless there is a formal briefing or ceremony like a promotion or retirement. For some reason, somebody recently decided that they would be going back to wearing their blues, but only on Mondays. When Scott came home Monday night, Will and Katie ran downstairs to hug and tackle him like they always do, but when Katie saw him, she stopped in her tracks and demanded, "What in the heck do you think you are wearing?!" I had completely forgotten that, being born in 2002, she's only seen Scott in his blues a couple of times.
  

Nature's Alarm Clock and other observances on country life

While visiting Scott's family in Oregon, we got to sleep in the back yard in a tent, which is really fun. Except his sister has this rooster who apparently has an extreme sensitivity to light. He starts crowing about 3:00 in the morning. It's insane. Scott nominated this particular rooster to be the guest of honor at the family barbecue. (Steve said no, because the rooster somehow makes the hens lay good. Or is it lay well? Anyway, I learned a lot about chickens this trip.)

One morning about 7:30, after the rooster had finally stopped crowing, yet another little one of God's precious creatures started chirping just outside the tent. After about five minutes of its joyful singing to welcome the new day, Katie rolled over and grumped, "Will somebody please turn that thing off??!"

And you know what else? It's dark out in the country. Scott noticed it first as we were driving from the airport to his sister's and kept saying, "Man, it's dark out in the country. This is darker than pitch black. What's darker than that? This is like two or three shades darker than pitch black." A little later, Will woke up in the back seat and said, "Dude! Did you see how bright their stars are?!"

One night I was too tired to sleep--is there anything more miserable? My tossing and turning was annoying others, so I got out of the tent and looked for something to do. I ended up stargazing and was truly amazed. The night sky out in the country is breathtaking! The stars are everywhere! (I realize that sounds ridiculous, but in the city they're not everywhere.) I knew I was sleepy enough to get back into the tent when I thought, "Wow, this is as pretty as the planetarium."

But the clincher was when we flew back to Virginia. We arrived very, very late, and as we were driving home, Will asked, "Is the sun coming up already?" Honest to God, it was that much brighter here--at midnight--than there.

More stories (and hopefully pictures!) to come very soon!

Name the animal

We eat out after church on Sundays, and I look forward to it more than any other meal of the week. We have specific criteria that a restaurant must meet to be worthy of Sunday lunch.

1. It has to be a table service restaurant.
   
2. It has to have quick service.
3. It has to have an interactive kids menu that comes with a pack of crayons.
4. It has to serve Italian food.

The only exception to that last criterion is Red Robin. Occasionally the need for Freckled Lemonade trumps the need for pasta. One recent trip to Red Robin yielded this kids' menu:


Katie had no trouble finding all the different animals. She had even less trouble naming all the different animals. While she was busy naming them, she also gave them siblings with names, as well as hobbies, favorite colors and favorite movies.

What I would give to have the imagination this child has.

Everybody's a comedian

It's an oldie but a goodie...with a Katie twist. No matter how many times I tell her how it really goes, this is what we get.



Not to be outdone, Will wanted to tell you a joke, too.

Edna Dances

I hate that the camera battery died in the middle of her story; she really hadn't gotten far enough into it for me to know where it was headed. While this isn't what I would call READING reading--she did the "figuring out" part the day before I recorded her--it's cute and Miss Thing loves, loves, loves to star in her own movies.

Help!!

Katie will suddenly, inexplicably eat a meat besides chicken. (Yay!) But it's pork. Seriously, you could fill a book on what I don't know about pork. The only thing I've ever cooked for Scott that he flat-out refused to eat was pork and I have been intimidated by it ever since. The only reason Katie was ever even introduced the other white meat was that I made a couple of pork entrees at Dinner Done. One was...um, what is that cut called? Looks like a small tree branch? And the other was the pork equivalent of flank steak, rolled up with spinach and cheddar inside. (Eh. Just two stars on that one.)

Please, please--post, link or email me your favorite, tried-and-true pork recipes. I need to know how to season pork, different ways to cook it and for how long, what to serve with it and sauces if you got 'em.

Oh, and PS: She still won't touch bacon or sausage. She says they are NOT the other white meat. This child is a marketer's dream. We still have a box of Honeycomb cereal with Hannah Montana's picture on the front that she abandoned after one bite because "it doesn't taste like Hannah Montana to me."

Swim Camp

(This was written last Thursday)

We enrolled Will & Katie in swim lessons this summer. They started on Monday and it has been a hoot to watch Katie, in particular. Since she was an infant, Katie has hated water on her face. I remember her being about 18 months old and getting caught outside in the rain. She was furious with me because the water was getting on her. (Isn't that a Bible verse? The rain falls on the just and the unjust?)

Day one: The entire focus of the first day was going completely underwater and blowing "nose bubbles." Coach Ashley was amazing and patient and Katie was practically eating out of her hand, but when push came to shove, well....only Katie could take a 30-minute swim lesson and only get the tip of her braid wet.

Day two: Coach Ashley, who Katie adores more with each passing day, asks her to do 10 underwater bobs. Katie carefully considers the offer and then sweetly counters with, "How about I do one?" Coach Ashley then says, "Let's try to do 5." and Katie responds "Or I could try to do two." Coach Ashley said, "Four?" but I could tell she knew she was beat. Katie did do the two bobs they agreed on, which amazed me. She thinks nothing of reneging on deals she makes with me.

Day three: Katie set her little jaw, determined to impress Coach Ashley, pass level one and make a trip to the treasure box.



Doesn't the thumbs-up say it all??!

What helps, part 1

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18(NIV)
13 Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope.
14 We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.
15 According to the Lord's own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.
16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.
18 Therefore encourage each other with these words.


In rereading verse 13, something struck me: "we do not want you to...grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope." The first time I read it, I took it to mean that we as Christians have hope in the face of death. That's great, but then I realized something else: it doesn't say that we will not or should not grieve. Just that our grieving will not/should not be like unbelievers' grieving. What a relief--God's grace to us covers every part of our lives-- even our emotions. I feel like He's telling me, "Go ahead, feel sad, that's okay...but understand this:Vivi is with Me; she's not gone forever." That's where the hope comes in. Vivi and her family will be reunited. They are separated now, and it's painful beyond comprehension, but they will be together with the Lord forever.

The other thing that helps--and I've always heard this from people who are grieving--is the children in your life. When Maria called to tell me that Vivi had died, I was at the top of the stairs and I sat down right there and had a big cry. Katie rushed to me and stayed right beside me throughout the phone call, stroking my arm and my hair. She put my head on her little tiny shoulder and patted my back. She took my face in her hands and said, "Mommy, I'll be right back. It's okay, I'll be right back." When she came back, she brought a teddy bear and Kleenex. This is a memory I will treasure forever.

I have failed my children

Katie and Will got into an argument today over--I can barely make myself type this--who has more musical talent: Hannah Montana or the Jonas Brothers.

"Some people like Hannah Montana!" Katie asserted fiercely.

"Some people like the Jonas Brothers!!" Will shot back, just as forcefully.

"SOME people," I interrupted pointedly, "like George Strait."

As I expected, that pretty much ended the conversation. But when I glanced in the rear view mirror, I saw them looking at each other, completely confused.

Finally, Will spoke up. "Um, who is George Strait?"

Stick a knife in my heart, son, it will hurt me less.

Then Katie piped in with the equally painful, "Oh, wait, isn't that Miley Cyrus's dad?"

I guess I'll have to take my kids honky-tonkin' when we go to Austin to meet my sister's new baby.