The Cosmic Boot

You know how just when you find yourself bragging about something, that very something turns on you? When I was riding home from work yesterday for some reason I was congratulating myself on the fact that my kids have great judgement, as kids go. So what do I see tonight? A comes running through the kitchen with one end of a rope in her hand. The other end is tied around M's neck.

M: If I had a family, I mean, you know, a normal family, I could really do stuff.

??? 

This, right after declaring that he mainly wants to be a comedy actor when he grows up. Like we cramp his style? And a more normal family would interfere less with his aspirations to be a comedy actor?

Latest Charlie Pie Opus

A has been playing with iMovie...

My Birthday Adventure (a.k.a, All's Well the End's Well)

After weeks of snow, then wind, then rain, the sun came out on my birthday and my homeschool co-op was kind enough to let me pitch our scheduled activity and take them on a hike instead. We went to a nice spot on the Sandy River, where you can run off the trail with a clear conscience, one of my favorite things to do on a hike.

We had a lovely walk to a nice little stream, where we snacked and played and some engineers in the group built a couple of bridges. We succumbed to the siren call of the other side of the stream, where the Sandy River routinely rises and falls, leaving lots of great sandy washes that are good for finding animal tracks and interesting objects deposited by the river.

The only problem with this area we entered is that all the sandy washes start to look kind of alike. When we were walking back, I was afraid we had missed our trail. No problem, though, because the main trail is up on a ridge that was visible, and there are lots of deer trails that lead back up to it; as long as we didn't get too far north of the road, we'd be able to see the main trail. So, rather than risk getting too far north of the road,  I suggested we head down one of these little deer trails. As you can see by this picture, the deer trail didn't actually last that long, though we're still all having a good time.
I'm still filled with confidence that we'll find a good spot to get back up to the trail, and before long we can hear the road, so at worst we'll just come out at the road and walk back to our cars. The nice open grassy-sandy terrain gives way to increasingly dense undergrowth, however. And, there is still a fair amount of water left over from the recent rain and snow melt, and all of the little deer trails we try end in a swamp.

It doesn't look like a lot of water, but it deters us, nonetheless. At least, it deters us for about 45 minutes of wandering through the underbrush, until the little ones start to flag, M starts begging in a trembling voice "Mom, can't we please call search and rescue," one of our party has to be at work in about an hour, and the sun is getting alarmingly low in the sky. Time to ford the swamp.

As luck should have it, we found a log that ran from the middle of a narrow-ish section of the swamp to the other side. We loaded the little ones on our hips and backs, waded through the almost knee-deep (and very cold!) water, inched our way across the slippery wet log, then squeezed through about a 6-inch wide trail in the blackberry vines, and HALLELUJAH! The main trail! The big kids declared it our funnest outing ever, and I have to say, it was a great birthday adventure. 
Thanks for being such good sports, everyone!

The Mom Song

OK, I found this hilarious.

See more funny videos and Music Videos at Today's Big Thing.

My Christmas Vacation

I was sick sick sick for about a week and a half around Christmas. M had a stomach bug for two days and then was perfectly fine. On day 3 of my malady I assumed I was over it (I was feeling quite a bit better) so I went out in the snow and finished my Christmas shopping. This was imperative because if I hadn't, M would literally have not had any gifts from D and I. I was pretty tired, but the bus/train schedule worked so perfectly, I hardly had to walk or stand around at all. EXCEPT, I had to wait for about 40 minutes for the last bus taking me the 2 miles from the train to home, and then it took a snow route that ended up letting me off a mile from home. Freezing, exhausted, and carrying a heavy backpack through the snow. Needless to say, it was downhill from there and I didn't really get up again for a week.

Fortunately, the kids took over and did almost all of the Christmas baking/cookie making/cookie decorating. Thanks, guys!! Here are some Peppermint Patty action shots (prior to getting the chocolate coating):

I did manage to get a few cool shots of the snow, though. See if you can find the strands of spider web in this one.

Girlfriends

I love these girls. We've been doing a drama club this year, which is a continuation of science club from last year and writing club the year before. They are down to earth. They are good to each other. They disagree at times and sometimes get annoyed with each other, but I've never heard one of them say anything gossipy about anyone and I've never ever seen one of them try to exclude or put down another girl (that they aren't related to, anyway). I've heard many discussions where someone didn't like something that was happening, and she made a clear and reasonable request. And others listened to her and either honored the request or negotiated a reasonable compromise. When two disagree, I've heard others try to help them find a compromise or some understanding of each others' positions. I'm just so impressed with how they take care with each others' feelings, and how much fun they have. I hung out with some wonderful girls in my middle school years, and we had lots of fun and I think we treated each other well also, so I know that homeschoolers do not have the corner on the nice middle school girlfriend market, but I suspect it is a lot easier to be yourself and find your own voice when you are free from the scrutiny and judgement so common in middle school. I'm so glad A is growing up surrounded by girls like these.

Optimist

M: I had a dream last night that I was sentenced to hang. But I died first. It was incredibly lucky.