Merry Christmas!

It's December...It's snowy and cold! Almost Christmastime...just two more days!

Here are the most recent pictures of Talia and Malachi. If Brandon would let me get his picture taken, you'd see it too...





And here's the review of the last few months:

OCTOBER
This is the month where we really started worrying about Talia and her annual asthma. It just wasn't calming down. All the data point to there being a problem at the school - probably mold. We threw steriods and albuterol (etc.) at her for a month in November while she stayed home from school. I hate to give her so much medication, but the asthma stopped and after a couple weeks of good breathing we sent her back to school. 2 weeks later and she's doing poorly again. We'll have to do something more drastic now. She's been wonderful through this mess - willing, happy, and understanding.

I really don't like Halloween. At all. No part of it. But I put up with it. Talia was a gypsy this year and Malachi was a pirate. I think they were way cute. I was most proud of them for being willing to give up most of their candy. They got to select which few pieces to keep. We could see a clear relationship between Talia's asthma/allergies and candy so this was only more motivation to leave the Halloween candy alone. Misery is great for inspiring change (I could make that my office motto but I don't think it'd be too good for business, no matter how accurate). Why don't I like Halloween you might ask? (well I guess I'll tell you even if you didn't ask) I don't like a holiday where you glorify the creepy things, and pretend to be evil, bad, rotten, or even inappropriate. I don't like all the ghoulish decorations. I don't find being scared to be funny or to be fun. I think little cuties dressed up like Cinderella or an M-n-M are fun and sweet. I wish people gave out books, school supplies, vegetables, recipes, jokes or kind words instead of a high fructose corn syrup fest. Nothing redeems Halloween for me. If there was a Halloween scrooge, I would be it. I remember when I figured I was just having a crabby few years around Halloween, and I wrote off my bah-hum"boo"-ness to stress or failure at parenting. But this year I let myself in on the truth about my feelings: I really do hate Halloween. Boo humbug! (my kids are awfully cute though).

NOVEMBER
Homeschooling is hard work when you're also working! Ron and I split the schooling effort but I sure learned fast that I can't do ANYTHING while she's learning things. She needs fairly constant supervision. So we did fun things like make posters about molecules and nebulae, take spelling quizzes, read, multiplication practice, etc. I enjoy it, sure! I just can't do anything else. And I found myself using a lot of time in the car (driving to the grocery store, etc.) to practice math facts and discuss other concepts. I loved hanging out with my daughter though! She's an absolute delight, and she has such a great sense of humor and style. Here's an example: we're on the way to church, and the kids are looking so cute but apparently the price of a picture is sticking out tongues! Ron is very serious...as usual.


During the week of Thanksgiving, we escaped to the hills (okay, the "mountains" of Western Mass, called the Berkshires). It's a great time of year to run away because most of my business ain't happening anyway. Who wants to see their therapist on Thanksgiving Day? (okay, most of the people I see probably would prefer to see me than hang out with their families...but for the most part, nobody does!). We painted stuff from the craft store, we exercised in the fitness room, the kids swam in the chlorine gas infested pool (it was so hammered with chlorine and so poorly ventilated that I couldn't go). (Talia was fine, although we limited her time). We probably won't go back to that place, solely because of the chlorine problem. We did puzzles, read books, and the kids watched the History Channel. They could have watched the Cartoon Network - they were allowed to watch TV until 1 pm every day! Since we don't have television at home, they were pretty happy about it. And although they did see some Tom & Jerry adventures, they mostly watched the History Channel. Yes, I am indeed raising little nerds. Malachi said to me "Mom, I don't think the History channel is rated "G" but do you think we can watch it?" I laughed, "Well, son, history itself wasn't really rated G ever..."

The kids also took a trip up to the Boston Temple with their Primary. The Primary (church's children's organization) rented a trip bus and went to the temple on November 11 when all the kids were out of school for Veterans Day.
The Temple Presidency talked to them a little bit and they were able to walk into the front area where the temple workers check to make sure you have a recommend. Ron went with the kids (and I was glad he got to chaperon because I was still worried about Talia's asthma at that time).

DECEMBER
The first week of December was still unseasonably warm, and we went on a hike (thanks for the suggestion Malachi!) that Saturday. We drove up to Talcott Mountain State Park, just northwest of Hartford (not far away). We hiked up the "mountain" and along the trail to a tower. It was SO windy!!! We enjoyed some granola bars by the tower, and downed our water before setting back. Ron was working, so he's not included in the "we" but he was helpful in encouraging the hike. Here are several pictures - it's hard to choose from so many good ones!

Classics!

#1: Father and son campouts. Here's Malachi, caught by surprise. Classic picture, eh? I just crack up every time I see it. Apparently Ron had been trying to take Malachi's picture for most of the evening, and Malachi had been actively avoiding it. So Ron hid the camera under his arm and managed to get a quick flash picture in - Malachi was in stage one ("Agh! What?!") and hadn't moved on to stage two ("duck, hide, avoid the camera!"). At the campout they ate only meat and chips. I think at the last campout they only had meat. Men. Left to their own devices they'll end up...well, constipated at least. Classic.

#2 The Fair. We love the fair. This year we tried something completely different: deep fried pickles. Yes, you read that right. With ranch sauce. Talk about...well, you just can't really talk about it. It's a taste experience. They were pretty good, but I also don't think I'll be getting them next year. Maybe in two years...or three. Lots of fun things to eat at the fair. Italian stuffed rice balls, the classic pulled pork sandwich and lime rickey combo, Brandon's classic fair food: bread bowls of chowder, and fudge. This year we tried little mini ice cream cones with fudge in them. Just a little taste was enough sugar (for me at least). Here are the kids, skipping off to the rides! Seriously! They are often too yummy for me! Let's see...I had my elbow rubbed with eucalyptus oil (didn't help the pain), we saw magical mops being demonstrated (every year), we looked at spectacular needlepoint (wow!) and we ate potato pancakes while listening to country music as the sun was setting. I love to see the chickens and I think I could watch cow judging for about two full hours. Classic fair. The kids loved the rides...mostly. Here you can see Malachi demonstrating the proper facial expression for when you are NOT loving going on a ride. "Mom, I'm REALLY suffering here." We saw lots of people we know, and it was really fun to walk around and watch the kids run up and say a joyous hello to so many of their friends and teachers. Next to the poultry/swine/rabbit barn there was a rock climbing wall, and Talia said she was interested in trying it out. She's never climbed before, and look at her go! This video is of the middle of the climb. Sorry that the camera is sideways - I haven't figured out how to edit the playback so that it faces the right way. But you get the idea. It's windy - that's mainly what you hear, so you can just mute if you want. I love watching her grace and poise. Malachi continued his "gershmuckled" look at the next picture opportunity...but he did have a generally happy time! Really! Other photos of the fair are in the slideshow on the upper right, titled "Summer 2009", along with current fun pictures for the past six months or so.
We're happy! We love you all!

We're baaack!

Wow, haven't posted a blog since March. I guess we've been seriously busy! Visits from 2 moms and from the awesominity of Aunt Cecily, baptism of a sweetie girl, work on the kitchen, changes in job structures, lots and lots going on. Here are a few pictures. First you'll see Talia in her adorable baptism dress, posing like the cutie she is. Also there's her birthday party and her 8 year-old cake. She wanted a bunch of glazed donuts in the shape of an "8" -- the easiest birthday cake I've ever "made!" I love the picture of Talia and her two grandmas - she looks so happy and the grandmas are so beautiful. She was so excited to be baptized and she has done such a good job of preparing herself by listening to the missionary discussions, reading scriptures, and building the beginnings of a testimony. We are all so proud of her!

And finally, check out this video of the cute hand clapping games we played at her birthday party! These girls are so dang cute. Any memories of games like this from your childhoods? I remember playing one game that went like this: "Eenie beenie, pop-sa-deenie, ah, bah, boobaleenie, ahtchee potchee liberace oh my brother George. Man, man, beating on a garbage can, who can, we can, nobody else can, sis, sis, sis-koom-bah, [insert name of school, preferably two syllables, then repeat it, for example: "Hancock, Hancock"], rah rah rah!" Not quite as complex and fun as "say say my playmate" but the words were funky.

I'm so loved...I think...

So tonight Talia gave a beautiful prayer in which she was so heartfelt in asking for her Dad to want to join the church and be baptized so he could baptize her. After the prayer was finished, I told her that I thought she had said some beautiful things. She tearfully said "I really want him to be baptized, because I want us to be all together in heaven...

"[see, the LDS doctrine is that lots of good people are in heaven - there are 3 'levels' of heaven, but to be in heaven as a family, that is, to be all together, the parents and the children need to be "sealed" together in the temple,
and of course to do that you need to be a member of the church; see mormon.org for further clarification - or just ask! ]

...and Talia continued saying ..."I want him to be with me in heaven because I kind of like him better than you."

I really had to stifle the laughter. She cracks me up. Not only that but she went on to say that the reason she likes Dad more than me is "because I'm a girl and I'm the firstborn." Not much birth-order theory here, is there???

It's good that I am secure enough (today) in myself and my parenting that she can say things like that without hurting my feelings. She's so funny!!!!

Talia's Song

Talia wrote a song. She wrote the lyrics, and created the melody. I added chords to suit. Here she is and ain't it grand!

Lyrics are as follows:

It's snowing, it's snowing down from the sky
It's winter, it's winter and the ground is white
Snowmen, snowmen are being made
The trees are bare, the trees are bare,
Everything's covered in snow

Winter: December, January, February, March
Spring is coming
Birds are chirping, sprouts are blooming, time is changing, snow is melting
Getting warmer, school is one hour earlier

Then snow falls, snow comes down on it all
I'm so bummed the snow is coming down again
It's snowing, it's snowing down from the sky
Still winter, still winter and the ground is white

Being All-Inclusive is an Art!

Lately, Talia and Malachi have been trying to include every possibility in their prayers when it comes to asking the Lord to bless others. Talia was including spiders for awhile, and there were some prayers that followed "please bless all the spiders" with "and all the reptiles and all the mammals and all the fish..."etc. etc. Malachi got in the habit of including all of our ancestors, but upon discussion with Talia decided to extend it to "all the people who ever lived before us." They used to talk about how if you blessed everyone in the world and everyone in outer space, you'd forget about the astronauts who were sort of in-between - you know, outside of the world but still enough within the atmosphere that they weren't in "outer space." Then we had a lot of astronauts included in our prayers.

Well, tonight I heard a prayer of maximum inclusion. Malachi said "please bless everybody in the universe, and everybody in any other universe..." and then he thought for a couple seconds and said "...and everybody who isn't in any universe!"

Afterward, he and Talia agreed that finally, this time there was nobody who was left out.

Three Kiddo Cutenesses

1. Talia asked me if I knew why she decided it was good to be in heaven. "Why," I asked. "Well, when I'm in heaven I get to have a dog, because of no allergies, and people there ask for things nicely instead of taking them." She looked meaningfully at Malachi.

2. I've been working with the kids on language - that is, appropriate exclamations of surprise, etc. In particular, I've been reminding Malachi to not use the expression "What the-" Maybe I see too many adolescents in therapy, but I just don't like hearing what's in my mind when that gets said. Anyway, Talia told me one day that she "heard Malachi say 'Holy Farming Animals' and I feeled proud of him in my heart."

3. Last night we were reading about Nephi and the Brass Plates and how he went to Jerusalem to get them, went back to where his family was camped out in the wilderness, and then got the instructions to go right back to Jerusalem to get Ishmael and his family. I asked the kids what they thought about making two trips instead of one, and we explored some ideas about why. Talia offered the following explanation: The reason they didn't do both at the same time was because they had to put down the brass plates first before getting Ishmael!