A Jonah Day

Are you familiar with that phrase? It's from Anne of Green Gables, my most favoritist book of all time. All right, so today wasn't really THAT bad, but it did fall considerably short of expectations.

Because the children (all SIX of them!!) are addicted to playing mystery computer games together, and because we didn't get home from church until 8:00 last night, and because they were at a particularly suspenseful place in said game, they did not go to bed until late. Very late.

And that error in judgment caused some adverse affects today. In a nutshell it was a whinygrumblingcomplainingunhappylifeis
notfairwhycan'tIjustread? kind of day. Familiar with those? Yep, I thought so.

So, because I am just as stubborn as my children, we managed to complete school. I was so internally frazzled that I poured my kids a nice big cold cup of half and half with their lunch. Yeah, that went over like a lead balloon.

And then I insisted on Family Nap Time. What? You're going to make us NAP?

Yup.

So after the whining, grumbling, complaining, unhappy, life-is-not-fair, why can't I just read's? were over, I tucked them all in, gave them all kisses, grabbed a pillow and a blanket, and settled down for my own nap. And then do you know what happened?




The baby woke up.



But not in one of those cooing-aren't-I-so-adorable? kind of ways. No. He woke in one of those How-Dare-You-Expect-Me-To-Sleep-Why-
Did-God-Punish-Me-By-Putting-Me-In-
This-Family? kind of way. He has learned the art of the blood-curdling screeeeeech. He's got a future in horror films.

So, I blogged instead of sleeping. Maybe my blogging is causing some of you to become sleepy. Well, I figure it's a less sinful way of responding than, say, eating a whole pan of brownies by myself. Right?

God is still good. I still ADORE my little people. And I echo the sentiments of this Daddy...

Why Don't You Want to Say Good Night?

Just so you know, Kurt is back in his bed.

And everyone else is up.

Just to leave off where I began, with Anne of Green Gables. "Tomorrow is a new day, with no mistakes in it. Yet."

Says Kurt

"Curse the day they realized the American Girl accessories fit me."

The First Day

Well, here it is. The First Day of School. (I kid you not, the first time I wrote that on the white board, at 6AM, I misspelled SCHOOL. God can keep me humble without too much effort!!) I can say, honestly, it was a delightful day! Praise God. It began with Kurt sleeping until 9:15AM. Amazing. That allowed me time to make some whole wheat applesauce pancakes with smiley faces made out of apple and banana slices. That was a hit with everyone. We were off on the right foot.

Then, the children completed their first day of school questionnaire, on which they had to answer some fun questions about their expectations for the year as well as draw a picture of themselves. How fun to see them through their own eyes!

We took first day of school pictures.

Then we got to work: memory work, math, science, poetry, writing, and grammar. We even managed to get all the instruments practiced with hardly any complaint. I am just thrilled with how the first day back went. Lillian even crawled up into my lap at breakfast and confided, "I'm actually excited about starting school today!" My girl.

We finished up our afternoon making life size replicas of the children for our human body study. When the poster board turned out to be too short for their height we improvised and printed out our first day pictures and taped them onto the shoulders! Go us!


I pray that each day will go as smoothly as today. I know they won't, but I pray to that end nonetheless! May the Lord bless this home school.

Five Important Things

In a moment of spontaneity yesterday morning, I decided to take the kids over to Santa Monica to the beach for a couple of hours. I informed them that we would not bring the cooler, nor lunch, nor drinks, nor snacks. Just us, our towels, the umbrella, the sand toys, and the baby. And we had a blast. There's just something about the seaside that I adore. On either coast. I drink in the smell of the salt water, the sound of the waves, rhythmic and unending. I love the happy sounds. Children laughing. Grown-ups laughing. Seagulls calling. The warm sun. The cool breeze. It's all just so wonderful.

As I was waiting in line to feed the parking lot machine, a young bronze-skinned man with longish hair, bare feet, and a surf board under his arm turned to me and silently counted the children. I could tell by the way his eyes went from one to the next, while silently bobbing his head at each.

"There are five?" he asked.
"Yes," I responded with a smile, waiting for the standard amazed comment.

None came.

"I'm one of five," he said in a matter of fact tone.
"Really?" I ask.
"Yeah, only we didn't have such a good mix...you've got 3 boys and 2 girls, right?"
"Yes."
"Yeah, my sister is the oldest, followed by 4 boys."
"Wow." I said. "Four boys in a row?
"Yeah, Mom kept trying for another girl." He was smiling now. "It just didn't work."

By this time he had paid for his space and began walking toward the water. We wished each other a good day, and we all watched him meander away, amazed that he could slowly walk across the pavement at midday with no shoes!

I'm sure when he drove to the beach that day to surf, he was not planning on encouraging a mom of five. Yet, he did. Just by speaking to me.

We spent two lovely hours at the beach. Laughing, jumping, splashing, watching. Kurt hung out in the sling. Gabriel spent almost the whole time running away from the water as it came tumbling toward him. Gretchen and Lillian worked diligently on a castle with moat. Nicholas jumped, ran, and swam without pause. We headed back to the car tired. Covered in sand. Happy.

As I watched my children play and laugh, I was reminded how much I want to savor these moments of childhood. To feast upon them as delicacies. There is so much joy in simply watching others who are filled with joy, no? I need the constant minutely reminder that there will always be stuff to do, but these, my precious children, will not always be by my side, laughing, giggling, and soaking up life. Now is the time to spend with them. To enjoy them. To teach them that which is eternally important. God has given me these specific children for His specific reasons. May I never consider the stuff more important than them.

Let's Dance

A few days ago, I pulled a box out of the garage which held some old CD's of mine from college. The box had been moved many times without even being opened. I found what I was looking for: my Norton Anthology of Western Music CD's from my days at Hartt. We are planning some music appreciation lessons for the coming school year, and I thought these would be perfect.

What I didn't expect to find were a whole bunch of CD's that I loved in my younger days, and used to listen to all the time. Among them were a Miles Davis collection and a CD of Billie Holiday. I put the Billie Holiday one on and turned it up...real loud. What happened next was truly amazing. Everyone looked up from what they were doing...one here reading, one there playing Lego's. Everyone started to smile. Some even giggled. And then, everyone began moving. Gabriel began the dancing, as he so often does. Happiness bubbles out of him. He cannot hide it. Then the others, one by one... including this Mama...began tapping our toes and spinning to the music. The girls clutched one another and began twirling and jumping and laughing. Even Nicholas got in on the action, albeit in a shy, reserved way. We danced till we panted with excitement and exhaustion. We laughed and spun and bubbled over with joy.

Once the music ended, we all returned our attention to other things. There was dinner to make, pages to be read, and Lego armies to construct. There was work to do. But we all set off to work with a cheerful smile, and a little song in our heart. (Proverbs 17:22)

You can be sure I have set aside a small stack of CD's, right next to the stereo. There will be times in our future, I am sure, when our mouths will be smile-less and our hearts song-less. And I know just what to do. Insert CD, turn the volume up high, and clear the floor. Let's dance.

There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven:

a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,

a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,

a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance...

Ecclesiastes 3:1-4

How FUN!!!

Bighugelabs.com is fun!

A Little Favor?

Here's a request for those of you who have purchased Gustav's CD. Would you mind leaving a review at Amazon? (Gustav says, "Only if they liked it, honey.") A few glowing words of praise, perhaps? Maybe how it has dramatically changed your life? Made you smarter? A better person? Bueller?

Thanks so much. Here's a link for ya...

Gustav's CD at Amazon

Stay Flexible

This one's for you, Laurie! This is Kurt's way of gently reminding us to stay flexible as we begin our new school year.


Dontcha wish you could still do that?

Sushi Makes Me Happy

Looks yummy, doesn't it? Well, let me tell you, it was. Really. Really. Really yummy!

Gustav took me out for sushi tonight for my birthday, and well, honestly...I can think of nothing I could have wanted more. We went to 'Blue Fish' in Montrose for the second time and were equally as impressed this time as we were last time. We began with the assorted tempura pictured above. Gustav let me have the ONE broccoli. He must REALLY love me.

Then we moved on to the Descanso Garden Roll and the Candy Cane Roll. Oh. My. Word. 'Perfection on a plate' should actually be the subtitle for the Candy Cane Roll. It was delectable.

O.K., so that's not it. That's the Johnny Roll. But they didn't have a picture of the one I wanted! That one does look particularly yummy, though....next time.

We thought of our good buddy Tom while we were eating, and how much he would love the Candy Cane Roll. It got us to reminiscing about all of our beloved friends in CT who would trek to 'Ginza's' with us and sit in the little room behind the rice paper door. Aahh, the memories!

Anyhoo, Blue Fish had some GREAT names...my personal favorite...the Marilyn Mon-Roll. Yep, reading the menu is half the fun.

But you know what made the night truly perfect? My husband. The fact that I got to sit and actually have an unbroken conversation with him. These nights remind me why I married the lucky dog in the first place. These nights remind me how truly the Lord has blessed me to have such a life partner. These nights remind me how thrilled I am that the Lord designed me to complete him.

Oh, I forgot to mention...I got EXACTLY what I wanted for my birthday. A Costco membership. Things become so simple as you age.

My Hubby

Well, you will all be thrilled to know that Gustav just finished scoring his first full-length film! It was a wonderful experience for him, with a very thoughtful, easy-going director. He was able to broaden his music horizons a bit by composing music that was African in feel. He did a great job, and even finished 6 days before the deadline. The director was quite pleased and will be submitting the work to the Sundance Festival. I am so very proud of my hubby! He is very gifted at what he does, and also a great, faithful husband and Daddy!

Praise God for this opportunity and please pray that he will have more opportunities come his way.

Sea World

So here I am, up early on a Saturday morning with "the Boy Who Would Not Sleep" (aka Kurt), so I figured I'd update everyone on our trip to Sea World this week. We purchased Fun Cards back in April, and can therefore go for the rest of 2007 for free. So, off we went Wednesday morning, the five children and me (or was that The Five Children and It?) for a fun-filled day at Sea World. The commute there was icky (welcome to SoCal!) but after stopping and re-grouping over lunch at Denny's, we finally made it there.

And boy, did we have fun.

The children got to feed the dolphins, we saw the dolphin and sea lion shows, took a ride in the Sky Tower, we pet the bat rays, purchased ridiculously overpriced popcorn, and saw lots of cool fish! The pictures above are of the children having a little rest and snack in the afternoon.

Kurt was amazing, as he so often is. He took a long nap in the sling after being splashed by the dolphins, which he definitely DID NOT LIKE! You could hear the screaming for miles! Then he just hung out in the stroller for the remainder of the day, completely oblivious of the fish, which we tried continuously to point out to him.

Thankfully, our trip home was uneventful. We even made it through L.A. without much delay, which is tantamount to a miracle. Then, Daddy had PB&J's ready for us when we drove in the driveway!! Life was good on Wednesday!!

Just to update on Kurt's 6-month check up on Tuesday: he's a svelte 20lbs. 2ozs...heh-heh! To put that into perspective, Gabriel, my porker was 22lbs. 2 ozs at 6 months. BUT, he was 10 lbs. 4 ozs. when he was born. Kurt was only 7lbs. 15 ozs! Suffice it to say, he's not failing to thrive, my little Chunky Monkey!

Sea World

So here I am, up early on a Saturday morning with "the Boy Who Would Not Sleep" (aka Kurt), so I figured I'd update everyone on our trip to Sea World this week. We purchased Fun Cards back in April, and can therefore go for the rest of 2007 for free. So, off we went Wednesday morning, the five children and me (or was that The Five Children and It?) for a fun-filled day at Sea World. The commute there was icky (welcome to SoCal!) but after stopping and re-grouping over lunch at Denny's, we finally made it there.

And boy, did we have fun.

The children got to feed the dolphins, we saw the dolphin and sea lion shows, took a ride in the Sky Tower, we pet the bat rays, purchased ridiculously overpriced popcorn, and saw lots of cool fish! The pictures above are of the children having a little rest and snack in the afternoon.

Kurt was amazing, as he so often is. He took a long nap in the sling after being splashed by the dolphins, which he definitely DID NOT LIKE! You could hear the creaming for miles! Then he just hung out in the stroller for the remainder of the day, completely oblivious of the fish, which we tried continuously to point out to him.

Thankfully, our trip home was uneventful. We even made it through L.A. without much delay, which is tantamount to a miracle.