Circling Through This Life

We’ve been studying Dolphins, Porpoises, & Whales a Project Pack from Hands of a Child. (Look for my review early next week!). Supergirl loves all things to do with the sea and oceans. One of the activities is called Dolphin Story.  I was going to skip it. I wasn’t sure she was up to writing a story but she wanted to write a “story poem” (um, nope, I don’t know what that means but it means something to her!). With very little prompting from me this is what she wrote: The Dolphins By Supergirl The Dolphins live in the sea. They keep swimming. They like playing fish games like fish tag. The Mom told the kids, “play in the water not go to the sharks” or the sharks will eat them. The kid dolphins played a game of Go Fish.  The Dolphins play restaurant and then they play tag again. They had fun! The End   She is so proud of her book! She demanded that Daddy read it.  Then she took it to each of her sisters so that they would read it. It’s moments like this t...

I could title this post the things children say but t here are some days.  You don’t know if you should laugh or cry so you laugh because it feels better than crying.  (Ok I laugh because I hate that stuffed up feeling I get from crying.) Supergirl is very much like a 6 year old 1st grader.  Her actual skill levels cover a wide span but over all 1st grade seems to work.  For history we are using Story of the World Volume 1 by Susan Wise Bauer.  We’re also adding in The Kingfisher History Encyclopedia (The Red Cover version from 2004).  I’m using the activity guide as well. Yesterday while I read about Sargon, she colored his picture.  Then I pulled out the narration prompts form the activity book.  “Who was Sargon?” I asked.  She responded with “He wanted to rule the world.”  (and wouldn’t you know it but then I had Tears for Fears singing “Everybody wants to rule the world” in my head.)  Ok.  He wanted to rule the world....

In a few days it will be the 100th anniversary of my grandmother’s birth.  She was a writer: a poet.  I remember when I was 10 and she gave me one of those Mead Spiral notebooks.  She told me I should write it in it everyday.  She encouraged me to write poems and short stories.  Many of her poems were stories: memories shared and treasured.  Today I was working on more cleaning and de-cluttering from the Great Bedroom Swap of 2012 and I came across this poem.   It doesn’t have a date but I know it would have been written after September 2003.  I suspect that it was written for my daughter’s 8th birthday, which would have been in 2005. My Granddaughter [Turtlegirl], age 8, is my [great] granddaughter. She lives so far away She came to visit me one summer. In the creek and on 4 wheeler she climbed the mountain She liked this way to play 2 Me and my 3 sisters and 2 cousins In the creek we did play Mama said when she was little at grandpa and...

Supergirl has an obsession with penguins.  She has toy stuffed penguins.  She has a penguin game.  She even has a set of singing penguins.  When we go to the zoo the first exhibit she wants to visit is the, you guessed it, penguin exhibit. I should have taken a video of her reaction to receiving the Lots and Lots of Playful Penguins and Their Toe-Tappin’ Feet 2 DVD set from Marshall Publishing & Promotions .   This 2 DVD set also includes a bonus video ,“Party Like a Penguin,” on a separate DVD. The first DVD, Lots and Lots of Playful Penguins and Their Toe-Tappin’ Feet , is 75 minutes long.  The main video is roughly 42 minutes  long containing ‘penguin videos” which are songs set to penguin footage, interspersed  with narrated sequences giving penguin facts.  The animated penguin, Pj Penguin introduces different segments and his cousin Artie teaches viewers facts such as there are 17 different kinds of penguins and all penguins...

In June 2004 Honeybear and I took all four girls and we headed east to visit family in Minnesota.  While back “home” we visited the national cemetery to see my father’s grave.   My grandparents (my mother’s parents) are buried not to far away in the same cemetery. When we went over to pay our respects to my grandparents, my children made a shocking discovery!  Elmo was dead.  I had hysterical children who couldn’t quite make the connection that the little red  furry monster was NOT their great grandfather and therefore Elmo the monster was not dead. It’s become a family joke of sorts.  This morning, 1 month shy of 8 years since that trip and we have this conversation: Me to Supergirl: “What’s the name of the first book with Edmund and Lucy?” Supergirl: <shrugs shoulders> She doesn’t want to say it. Me: “Is it the tiger, the wizard and the closet?” Supergirl: <giggles and points to Turtlegirl “You tell her” Eventually we get her to say t...

When I started this blog, I wanted it be a way for me to pass things to my children. Things like recipes or memories or stories to share. One of the things I want to remember and pass on are those misstatements and funny word mix-ups. So here is a short collection of things as I remember them.  A couple are more recent, a few are several years old. 1).  Rootbeard---- Mommy, can we have more rootbeard to drink please. 2) Deheaded--- Mommy, Marie Antoinette was deheaded.  3) Insociable--- [to her sister] stop being so Insociable and come on out here. 4) Concubine--- [in describing characters from the Disney Movie Cars ] And then there is Frank, he’s a concubine.  (she meant combine… and no she had no idea what a concubine is and I didn’t tell her LOL) 5) Electric pencils--- Mommy can you buy more of those electric pencils.  (she meant mechanical pencils) 6) Sprinkles---  when referring to parmesan cheese.  Mommy can I have sprinkles on my spaghett...

The other day my children and I were driving along and discussing our weekend plans. My oldest and I had plans to do some jam canning with a friend from church. From the back of the van I hear “oh man… I was just about to ask what kind of service is a canning service.” It made me laugh out loud and remark out loud “you know you’ve been going to church a lot when your daughter wants to know what kind of service a canning service is” Recently we became Orthodox Christians. It’s been quite a journey as we experienced all kinds of different services: hours, royal hours, vespers, divine liturgy, vesperal divine liturgy, matins, festal matins, pre-sanctified liturgies, bridgegroom matins, agape vespers and I’m sure I’ve forgotten some. Sometimes the services are quite long; always they are quite beautiful. I’m grateful that my daughter enjoys the Orthodox services and takes all the services in stride. Canning service? Sure why not. Maybe it’s a service to bless the jam.

Today was a "wacky" day. I'd been feeling "run down" and needed a nap. I slept longer than I anticipated but I think I needed it. But after I got up, the children went out to play. Mantha doesn't have the strength or coordination to ride a bike (even with training wheels) or a trike (though we do work on those skills) so she usually "rides" her "car" (little Tykes Fred Flintstone style car where you use your feet to make it go). Apparently she had a "collusion" and needed a "mechanist" to fix her car. She did mean to say collision and she was looking for the word "mechanic".

So we're looking at Daddy's photo albums with pictures from his childhood. BooBear: "Wow, Grandma's hair looks like the 70's" Daddy: "It was the 70's" Good to know that the 70's are recognizable as the 70's. It'd be a shame if the 70's looked like today.

All of us who have children have experienced that moment when our child says something that is just so precious that you need to remember it. Hopefully, you are not like me and end up NOT writing it down and then try to remember it and realize uh oh .. I’ ve lost it. I decided that now that I have a blog, I’m going to write these precious moments down so that when my children are grown, I’ll have these moments to share to with them. Kind of like a diary or journal entry. A place for me to record something that I’d like to remember that I’m sure that I would forget. So today’s profound statement comes from 9 year old Tailor. I was making Creamy Tuna Noodle casserole to take to church for the fellowship meal. I asked my 13 year old to taste it. She said that she really liked it and that it tasted like Tuna Helper (somehow I think I should be insulted but I know she loves Tuna Helper and so this was a great compliment). That’s when we heard: “I love it when fo...