Trying to Keep Up

Ever feel like your kids dirty your house faster than you can clean it? That's where I am right now. And I can't even look forward to shipping them back to school, either. The Scientist may be starting at Ohio Virtual Academy this fall, however. Honestly, she just has not been putting out her best effort. She's discovering this as she does the math assessment for OHVA. So I will probably just have to focus on the Dancer's schooling, while overseeing the Scientist.

Most of my running around is done for a while. I have to drop the Scientist off at her riding school for a couple of hours tomorrow morning, so she can clean and groom the horse she is showing during the horse show at her riding school, which is on Saturday. I have to pick up a couple of new leotards for the Dancer for her dance classes this fall. Speaking of fall, we'll be getting back into our fall routine soon, with Latin for the Scientist on Wednesday mornings, and three dance classes for the Dancer this year. At least two will be back to back so we only have to go out to the studio twice a week. I'm glad I've learned how to knit; I'll probably be doing a lot of knitting while watching the Dancer at her lessons.

Have to go cycle the laundry. I'll be posting about the horse show on Saturday.

Life Interferes

with blogging. But the Scientist's dress is almost done, in time for her first communion tomorrow night. Yay! I just have, wait for it, the hand sewing left to do; I'm turning over and hand sewing the bodice lining, and I might hand sew the hem.

I had a lot of things to think about today at lunch. Wednesday is Lunch with Daddy Day, since we're fairly close to his office after Latin class in the morning. But today was a going-away lunch for a couple who work with my husband (through tomorrow!), so the girls and I had lunch with my husband, the couple (with no kids), a single woman with no kids, and a married man whose wife is a surgeon and who also has no kids. It was strange for me, the stay-at-home, homeschooling mom, to be with this crowd. Not that they were anything but nice, but I couldn't help but wonder if they were looking down on me, a little. Still, I would still rather be the stay-at-home, homeschooling wife and mother. I can't imagine not having kids; I've wanted to be a mom since before I can remember. And I love being able to stay home with them, although we've made sacrifices to get here. And homeschooling is definitely the best option academically right now. I was even able to remember all that at lunch today. Especially when my girls wanted to snuggle with me and give me hugs at lunch. They need their Mommy, and I need to be there for them.

Yeah, Yeah, Whatever

Today's not a good day for blogging. It's my busy day to begin with, Latin in the morning, then lunch with DH, and ballet in the late afternoon. Plus a Lenten service this evening. And I'm just not in the mood to care about anything today. Let the world go on as it will; I'm in my own world and I'm not coming out!

I have had fun with the blog party; I've gotten to "meet" lots of new people. So I'll still give you a big smile if you stop by!

Hard at Work

The sun is shining. The snow is melting. Hopefully, yesterday was the last day that we will feel so tired and worn-out getting over colds. We've already gone to Latin class this morning, then had the traditional Wednesday Lunch with Papa. Here we can see Wildchild and the Engineer working on their own schoolwork while their older sisters were in Latin class.

Now that we're home, the girls are buckling down to more schoolwork, and I'm getting caught up on stuff, including computer stuff, of course! Later comes ballet, then a quick dinner, then Ash Wednesday service.

I'm evening out on my new medication. Hopefully this will work for me. Today, the sunshine is helping too.

Facing Fall

So you guys with kids have all your kids' fall wardrobes together right? You have all your own fall clothes together, right? Ha! Neither do I. :) I bet Kate, however, has got her family's spring wardrobes all set up. :)

Wildchild's TV cartoon comic education has moved on from X-Men to Spiderman. The Scientist's favorite subject is, well, science! Who needs a son?

Other than that, I'm getting back on my feet after being sick. Latin tomorrow morning, and then two glorious days at home!

Juggling Act

All too quickly, we've gotten back into the busy routine of the school year. Wildchild started ballet today. I don't have a picture yet, but that's okay. She wanted a skirt to wear with her leotard, but I told her to wait and see if any of the other girls had them. They do, so next week she will have her skirt too, plus a bag to carry her shoes and clothes in. At the moment, she is taking the class in the morning. There are mostly children a few years younger, as the children her age are largely in "regular school," but there is another homeschooled girl in there for now. This may change later as this girl has four older siblings at home who are also involved in activities, and the mom juggles the schedule around! We may change Wildchild's classtime then too, although I love having it in the morning and getting it done with, not to mention avoiding the heavier traffic later in the day! Plus working dinner around, say, an activity that starts before 5 or ends after 6.

The Scientist started gymnastics on Saturday. I hate having a Saturday class, but she is in the beginner's level class, and that was the only time there were several other girls her age, and not just a bunch of much younger children (the Scientist is ten.) At least classes at this gym run on something like an eight-week schedule, so we may be able to get a different class next time. I like to leave Saturday completely open for family fun and relaxation.

Then the Scientist has Latin once a week, and Wildchild goes to Brownies twice a month. This isn't really a lot, and I think these activities are useful for the girls, but sometimes it all seems like too much! Of course, part of that is my personality, I suppose. I do need to get out, but mostly I like being at home. I hate it when my time is regulated outside of my own control as well. Yeah, I'm just a control freak. :) There are also some other places we need to go this week in addition to the regular set, which adds to my feeling that we'll be living in the car! :) I'm glad gas prices have gone down, at least!

Run Run Run!

Yesterday the Scientist had her first Latin class of the 2006-2007 school year. We also needed groceries desperately and the Scientist needed shoes desperately. So we took care of those tasks. I also signed the Scientist up for gymnastics classes. She starts Saturday.

Then today, my sister-in-law and her husband came up to Cleveland for a medical visit. When she was done, I picked up my husband from work and we met for lunch at Don Pablo's. And especially since my in-laws grew up in Youngstown, what could be better for dessert than some yummy Handel's! My brother-in-law was familiar with the store, as he has worked on installing the air conditioning and refrigeration system in every Handel's. As franchises out of Youngstown, I guess they use the same Youngstown firm every time. Here's my great sister-in-law with her loving nieces! Oh, and Lutheran Lucy, this is the sister-in-law who also Loves Lucy. Notice the red hair color!

Then I had to buy tights and ballet shoes for Wildchild, who is taking ballet this year. We had to drive to downtown Craphole Elyria, which I am going to try to never, ever, do again. The traffic is aggravating, the lights are annoying; it was just a pain. But aren't these ballet shoes so cuuuuuuute?

And speaking of ballet, after reading my post about the book Ballet Shoes, a (currently) anonymous blog reader and member of my church loaned me these three books to read to my daughters. I'm looking forward to it, and very thankful for the loan!

Fortunately, I have no place to go tomorrow, so we can really dive into the schoolwork. Not that I haven't been taking advantage of all the time in the car. The Scientist read all of Island of the Blue Dolphins today during our trips around town!

This and That

What an awful day for people with allergies. I presume it is cottonwood trees that produce those white fluff balls that make it look like it's snowing; well, it was snowing hard today. And of course it was practically a blizzard right by my husband's office. I was miserable the whole time I was outside, which of course today had to be a lot. Had to drop my husband off at work, go buy cat food, go to Latin class, go to lunch with husband, then go back later and pick up husband, stop at the auto parts store, drop something off for Girl Scouts on the way home. My poor eyes looked and felt awful and I am scratching layers of skin off of my legs and feet. Maybe I should try over-the-counter Claritin. Benadryl works great but also knocks me out cold for hours. Not very useful when you have to be out driving.

Did you hear the juicy news that a U.S. President has close financial ties with the Bin Laden family??? Oh wait, it's Jimmy Carter. Never mind! You know, I didn't have much personal opinion of him as a President, seeing as I was in grade school when he was in office. But the more I hear of him, the more I think he is a disgrace to the title of United States President and to the name of Christian. I consider him a traitor to this country. He repulses me. H/t to Emperor Darth Misha I for the link.

Oh, and Emily, I know where Drury Lane is! It's near Chicago, right by my husband's office where he worked last year. I have proof:

Is This Wrong?

The Evil Genius is grumbling to herself. She hasn't been feeling well all day, but it's evening and she's perked up some. However, the Scientist doesn't have a clean shirt for tomorrow, and we have to go out bright and early tomorrow morning because the Scientist has Latin class, taught by one of our pastors. But the Evil Genius really doesn't feel like doing laundry. Then, she has a brilliant idea. She has lots of nice new knit fabric, as the Scientist needs new shirts anyway. So instead of doing laundry, the Evil Genius just goes to her sewing machine and makes a new shirt, thus forgoing laundry for another day. Woo hoo!

By the way, my husband went grocery shopping, cooked dinner, served it to me in bed, took out the garbage and helped the Scientist study her Latin this evening. So all you whiny feministas can just head right back outta here!

While I'm making confessions, I might as well confess that my husband is much better at teaching the Scientist in some subjects than I am. They think alike in a lot of ways, whereas I can just get really frustrated and not know how to get through to her. But my husband works full time, whereas I am at home all day. At least in some subjects, I really wish I could have outside help. But then I don't know that a lot of the schools around here would do a better job. I know our local public schools wouldn't, certainly. Nothing to do but keep moving ahead, and look for options.

Like, Totally Cool

I just, like, wanted to share this picture of my youngest daughter, henceforth to be known on this blog as WildChild. She put the whole outfit together herself, including hairdo, when she got dressed in the morning. I had to take a picture as I found it reminiscent of that golden era of the 80's. Anyone else think so? Anyone? Buehler? Buehler?

Today was the first humid and "sticky" day this year, and I ended up spending a good bit of the afternoon feeling dizzy and nauseous. Still, there were some good things today. My eldest daughter, henceforth to be known on this blog as the Scientist, had Latin class. That was enjoyable as usual. Discussion ranged from the history of the Cymry to the Punic Wars. We did miss the regular presence of some of the members of the Homestead Lutheran Academy, who only arrived at the very end due to other obligations.

The girls also got to spend time with some of their other friends, and I got to spend time with a mom friend (yay!) and lunch with the whole gang and my husband at my husband's place of employ, which has a kickin' cafeteria. Then we came home and WildChild and I had NailPolishPalooza with our new nail polish I just got today. For all that she is a bundle of energy, activity and mischief (hence the nickname WildChild) she is also very much a girly-girl. I enjoy sharing this with her, as I am a girly-girl as well. It's interesting to see how so many of my husband's and my traits, personality quirks and yes, flaws, are coming out in our children, in so many different ways. It's like our traits were put together in a jar, shaken up, and distributed randomly to our daughters! Well, one of the joys of being a parent is discovering the personality behind that cute baby face!

The Pace of Life

Some people (and families) seem to like to be constantly on the run. They're never at home, except to sleep and maybe eat; their lives are filled with scheduled activities. I am not one of those people. Perhaps it's because I am introverted, and need big doses of quiet, "alone time" to rest and re-energize. Perhaps it's because I show a lot of the indicators of ADD, and I'd go nuts trying to juggle more than I already am. In any case, as my kids are growing older I'm really appreciating how much homeschooling helps with a laid-back lifestyle. We're involved in a lot more activities than my husband and I hoped to be in the naive years of our early parenting. However, several of them can be fit into the daytime, so that we're not on the run all late afternoon and evening. For example, my daughter's Latin class, taught by one of our pastors, is held on Wednesday mornings. She also takes piano lessons, and those can be taken during the day as well. Not to mention how this really minimizes having to run one child one place and then run another child someplace else. It's so fulfilling, and yet so relaxing!