Daily Diary

This morning Jon and I realized that we are out of clean underwear, there's no more coffee, and no more toilet paper. I looked at Jon and thought about that for a moment. "We really need a wife," I said. Jon having read the book of right answers gave me a big squeeze. "You are my favorite wife. And it makes it more interesting wondering if there's going to be toilet paper when you are in the bathroom, or gee, is there going to be coffee this morning? Better yet, think what a wonderful thrill I get on the mornings I open my underwear drawer and there is another pair of clean boxers," and we both laughed very hard. I married the greatest guy ever!

Daily Diary

Friday was Jonathan's last day at Classical school and he had a huge history exam. He studied very hard and was quite frankly stressed out about it. On the way to school I just couldn't resist telling him that if he didn't do well on the exam, Mr. G would hold him back the following year. He took the news rather calmly and said, "Well, that's nice. Now I feel much better about it." When we got to the school parking lot, I did let him know that I was only kidding. His calm restrain disolved and every tick in his little body came out in full force. He began wrapping his arm around the seatbelt shoulder strap and unwrapping it, mopping his hair with his hands, and writhing around in general. "Mom!" he yelled totally exasperated.

"Yes?" I responded as if I had no clue what he was talking about. "Why do you do this to me?" he asked. "Why do you still fall for it?" I answered, and added "I must say I'm rather impressed with how calmly you took that news." Jonathan thought about this for a moment still exhibiting the nervous ticks. He unwrapped himself from the seatbelt, smoothed his hair over and reflected. "You know you love me," I said with a huge grin. "Besides," I continued," Don't you feel rather non-chalant about the exam now?" Jonathan thought about that for a moment and then his face broke into a broad grin. "Yeah, I have to say I do."

That afternoon when I picked him up the entire class was in a general state of intoxicated exuberance. "The exam was easy!" everyone was rejoicing- course it was probably because they all studied hard all week. Jonathan and Benjamin came running over to me. "Mom, can I spend the night at Benjamin's house?" Jonathan asked. I thought about that for a moment. I figured he had earned it. "Ok."

He ran off to throw his stuff in the suburban and jumped into Benjamin's car. I walked over to talk to Benjamin's dad. Over the course of the parent chat I discovered that Benjamin's parents would be gone for a couple hours that evening, and their older son would be babysitting, and they had a pool in the back yard. My heart sank at the thought of the pool. Jonathan tends to panic in the water, and then he needs to be rescued. But I had already said yes, and didn't want to go back on my word. So, I emphasized that the boys were not to swim unless there was an adult right there, and no swimming while the parents were gone. I also took Jonathan aside and said the same thing. Then they were off.

I followed up this conversation with a mom in the parking lot going over general kid horror stories and the need for being able to swim well. I also remembered that Jon had woken up that morning in the midst of a nightmare about drowning. Jon never has nightmares, so that was a little strange. The more I thought, the more I panicked and in short order had myself in a general state of hysteria.

I decided that I had to go and pick up Jonathan immediately if not sooner. He could in fact at that very moment be in the middle of the pool going into a panic attack and drowning. This was highly unlikely as he probably hadn't even arrived at Benjamin's house yet, but nonetheless I threw the kids in the car, and was on my way.

I must confess a pang of sheepishness when I turned into their driveway. Benjamin's mom came out. "Hi," she said very nicely but clearly a little surprised to see me. I stammered a wee bit and confessed my general state of neurosis when it comes to the safety of my children and my rather extreme fear of losing one of them to a drowning incident. She shrugged. "Well, whatever." Jonathan came out of the house very sad to see me. I told him to go play for an hour and we would just stay in the yard and wait for him. They live on a large property so there was plenty for the kids to run around and do. Benjamin's mom stayed outside and chatted with me. After about 30 minutes the kids all complained that they were so hot and couldn't they please go swimming. It was decided that since we didn't have swim suits, it would be all right for them to sit on the side of the shallow end and simply dip their feet in.

Pam had been planning on swimming so she jumped right in and then helped Caroline into a raft that she could paddle around the pool without getting wet. I settled along the shallow end of the pool with Vivvie on my lap, Oliver and Gabriel on either side, and Charles a little farther down. There was a ledge running along the inside of the pool and our feet rested on this ledge. Caroline was having a terrible time trying to paddle, so Pam swam over and started demonstrating the general technique. I became rather absorbed in the lesson, and was highly amused watching someone else trying to break through the fog of confusion that seems to surround Caroline any time learning is on the agenda.

I'm not certain how much time passed but Oliver suddenly said," Hey, mom, look at Charles." I turned and looked and there was Charles about a foot under the water, standing on the floor of the pool, motionless with his eyes closed. The water above him was completely still. I went into panic mode instantly, stood, put Vivvie on my hip and walked along the ledge bending toward Charles so as to grab him by the arm. I was calculating in my mind how long he had probably been under water, and how hard it would be to pull him out, but fearing there wasn't time to set Vivvie safely on the patio, I reached for him while holding her. Somehow I lost my footing, plunged into the pool, Vivvie and I both went completely under, and in the process I pushed Charles behind me, farther from the side of the pool. I was still calculating how much time I might have to rescue him, and trying to recall proper CPR technicque. I came up with Vivian and she immediately started spluttering and screaming so I knew she was ok, and then I reached for Charles and dragged him to the side and stood him up on the ledge. He was able to stand, and was looking at me with large eyes. I paused waiting to see if he had taken in water or if he would be able to gasp for air. After a moment he gasped for air, and I sighed relief. Charles couldn't decided if he should feel that it had been an interesting experience or start bawling and curl up in the fetal position. He finally decided that it was an interesting experience he would rather never repeat and sat on the side of the pool recovering.

As Pam had left us by the side of the pool, dressed and dry, she had come over in shock now that three of us were drenched. "What happened?" she asked, probably thinking there was something weird about this family and swimming pools, so maybe it was a good thing I had come for Jonathan. I said I had no idea, that Charles was suddenly a foot under, and I lost my footing rescuing him. I had a rather large scrap on my knee and shin, but other than that all was well. Vivian had even quit screaming but was holding my arm very tightly. Benjamin ended up spending the night at our house, and when we got home, I demonstrated to Charles what he should do next time he finds himself submerged in water. Because the close your eyes tight and be really still plan is only a good idea if you want to drown.

Daily Diary

I have been working on the careful indoctrination for respect for women in my sons nearly since their births. One day Jonathan came to me excitedly and said, "Mom, did you know women should not ever be in the military?" To which I responded, " That's interesting dear. Who told you that?" HIs eager answer, " Uncle Ben."

I stopped what I was doing and looked at him," and did Uncle Ben tell you why women have no place in the military?" Jonathan paused, reflected and looked rather confused. "No," he admitted. "Well, I'll tell you. You don't send the best of society out to die in battle."

The lessons have continued with the emphasis on opening doors for girls, the need to protect girls always, carrying heavy loads for their sister. Caroline had been hit by a boy at church once and I asked Jonathan why he hadn't beat the kid up for that. He responded that the kid was really big and he would have been dead to challenge him. I let Jonathan know for future reference that he better have a bloody nose and a busted lip trying to defend his sister or he'd be answering to me and Dad later.

Charles has been soaking all this information up. Yesterday we stood in the yard reflecting on the weeds and some other grass issues in the front lawn. He asked me a question about it and I replied that he'd have to talk to his Dad about that as I didn't know the answer. Here's his response: "Yeah. Girls don't know much, but they are very special."

Daily Diary

Yesterday afternoon I picked up Jonathan from school, then we headed to Tires Plus, which is about 2 1/2 miles from our house. We dropped off the car to get an oil change and 4 tires, and then walked home.

We hadn't gone very far when Oliver said," I really got to go to the bathroom, mom." "Oliver," I responded annoyed, "there isn't a bathroom anywhere. You'll have to wait." We were walking past some woods. "Look at all the trees, mom. I could go potty by a tree." I thought about that. "Ok." So I stopped the stroller in a shady area of grass, instructed the kids to stand right next to it, and then took Oliver over to a tree. While he was going, the rest of the kids were waving to cars going by. "Mom, we just saw one of your piano students!" exclaimed Caroline.

After about 3/4 of a mile, we paused in another shadey spot and got water bottles out. Charles was looking a little green. When we got back to walking, Charles patted my back and said, " Mom, I don't feel so good," followed by sudden puking. Fortunately he was on the sidewalk throwing up in the grass, and I stood by, patting him on the back. Oliver stood on his other side, watching in fascination. Charles threw up over and over for quite a long time as Oliver said the following:

"Wow, Charles!"
"Gee, Charles. I'm really sorry you are throwing up."
"Man, you're doing it just like a dog. That's really great!"
"Oh, man, you're really sick Charles. I'm so sorry."

I was laughing so hard, but silently and standing behind Charles so he wouldn't see me laughing. because the whole thing was so funny. There I am on the side of the road, kid in the back pack carrier, another in the stroller, and three kids watching another throw up in the grass. People were driving by waving at the kids, who waved back.

Charles finished throwing up, and we kept walking. Oliver was holding my hand and commenting on things the entire way. "Mom, I just saw a tarantula eat a scorpion." I looked down at his excited face. "Oliver, that is a complete lie." Oliver laughed and said," Yeah, but I thought it was pretty funny."

At one point there was a long stretch of fencing that clearly belonged to a single person, and this huge black lab kept barking and jumping up so his head just peaked up over the top of the fence. It was rather alarming it first, the dog being very excited, and clearly trying to make it over. But we realized soon that he just wanted to say hi. As we walked along the bobbing dog head followed until the yard ended and the dog was left behind scratching at a whole in the bottom part of the end of the fence and barking furiously.

I had been rather tired around noon-I haven't slept well in about 2 weeks-but when we got in the door, I was worn out. I gave Oliver and Gabriel some cookies, fed Vivian and put her down for a nap, and had Jonathan turn on cartoons for everyone. I decided to go take a nap since Jon was going to be home soon. I figured cartoons would keep the 5 kids quiet for awhile. When Jon got home he came into the kitchen where Gabriel and Oliver were happily polishing off the rest of the package of oreos. They had black rings completely around their mouth. "Hi, Dad. We're eating cookies!" Oliver announced. "Yeah, we eatin' cookies," Gabriel echoed happily. "I see that," Jon answered glancing at the empty package. "How many have you boys had?" Oliver said, "4" around a big mouthful. Clearly they had passed four a long time ago. Jon put the remnant away."Where's mom?" "She's sleeping," Oliver offered. And I didn't get up until 6:30 this morning.

Daily Diary

For those of you wondering where I'm putting the Paramount Right to Life Amendment when I already have an immense workload- well, here's the adjusted school schedule.
5:30 or 6-I check email, get dressed, Bible reading and prayer (that I don't lose my temper with Caroline! :-)
7:30am- breakfast, I get the kids up to the table, everything settled and then rush to the school room to work on HR 536 for a few minutes.
8:00am- Jonathan practices with Oliver (I was practicing with Oliver which was a disaster. Jonathan is getting much better results and has upped his allowance by taking care of this)
8:00am-I change diapers (Vivian and Gabriel) and dress the younger three. I set out Charles' clothes.
8:15am Charles practices viola, Vivian and Gabriel play in the nursery, I begin school work with Caroline.
8:30am-Gabriel comes to the school room, Oliver plays with Vivian in the nursery. Jonathan practices on his own.
9:30am- Viv goes down for nap. Caroline and I are still working one on one. By this time I'm reminding myself to remain calm and am determined not to ask her if her brain has yet joined us in the school room. Jonathan begins piano practice.
10- Jonathan joins the school room. Caroline works independently, I begin with Charles, and help Jonathan and Caroline as needed.
11:30-Charles is released from the schoolroom/torture chamber, and happily heads to the backyard to find bugs and lizards. I settle in with Jonathan for a few minutes to ascertain which school work is a sloppy half job, what questions need answering, and to explain his geometry lesson ( I do love geometry so this isn't painful).
12noon-lunch time. While the kids eat, I rotate loads of laundry, check email, make phone calls, feed Vivian, and change diapers.
12:30-Jonathan and Caroline pretend to be shocked that they must return to the school room. We work on languages: Latin, Hebrew, Greek and Spanish. Any time the kids are all working and don't need my help, I rapidly fire away at emails, or research for HR 536. When Caroline finishes, she heads downstairs to practice cello. Oliver and Gabriel watch a movie. Charles and I read together.
2pm-Quiet time for Oliver, Gabriel and Vivian. Caroline and I work on history. Jonathan pretends to have finished all his papers for the week.
3pm- School work is temporarily stopped and everyone does chores (everyone meaning Charles, Caroline, Jonathan and Me). Jonathan has kitchen duty, Caroline will help fold laundry or sweep and straighten the downstairs, Charles does some menial task not requiring much problem solving. If we are going to run an errand, I rip the sleeping children from their beds (which is rather painful as I would rather stay home and enjoy the silence) throw them into the car and get going.
6pm- for the first time I consider what scraps I can throw together, heat, and put on the table as supper. Since the oven broke in early May, my efforts are limited to stove, crockpot and microwave cooking. It is a good weightloss program.
After dinner, I generally head for the office to check email, make phone calls, write a press release or some other necessary thing, etc. Anything HR 536 related. I join the family for family worship (only the singing and Bible story part- I do not enjoy listening to them struggle through catechisms with Dad. It is just too painful). I also deal with household chores or help bathe kids (at which point I realize the children's bathroom is gross and disgusting, thus, wipe it down quickly while the boys soak in the tub) These days the sink is always piled with dirty dishes. :-)

This fall, my girlfriend is going to homeschool her son, and invited Charles to join them for the entire school year: 8-noon, Monday through Friday since the boys are in the same grade. I'm going to take her up on the offer. Would anyone like Oliver to join their home pre-school class, because he is very available. That would leave me Jonathan and Caroline who will both be in Classical school, so I won't be entirely responsible for their lesson plans and homework lists. Wow, this fall I might be able to get back to bread baking (assuming I remember to call an oven repair man. Anyone have a good one?)

Political Pontifications

Check it out:

http://www.onenewsnow.com/2007/05/georgia_mom_wants_lawmakers_to.php

Political Pontifications

Ok, whether you are pro-choice or pro-life, you need to check out www.abort73.com.

Daily Diary

i have been a slacker about updating the blog because I've been swamped, SWAMPED, by everything else. i'm even overwhelmed for me. Tonight I've been in the school room making phone calls for the church supper on Wednesday night, which of course, promotes pro-life legislation. This is going to be a great year for the pro-life movement.

Vivian threw up twice today.

Vivian pooped on the floor once today.

Charles was reading today the following sentence: The cat is gray. Only when he read it he read: The cat is gay. He raised his eyebrows at me. "Nice," he said. I said,"Keep reading."

Caroline and I did not do Saxon Math today. So now we get to do two lessons tomorrow. I'm seriously excited about that.

We were in the car driving and I had not noticed that the car in front of me had stopped. I was forced to slam on my breaks. Oliver sat in the very back of the car and as the force of the brakes hit and we all lurched forward, Oliver threw his arms in the air waving them and yelling, "Crash! Crash! Crash!"

Gabriel has two main types of communication: happy whine, sad whine. I wish he had a mute button.

We went to the park.

Vivian threw up at the park.

Nothing else of significance happened at the park which rather surprises me.

Over the weekend, my brother took my two oldest offspring to the Rennaissance Festival where he bought them swords.....My brother will probably never reproduce, which is a bummer. Now I can never truly pay him back.

Family Circus

I'm not sure that I can truly capture this for readers, but shall try.

Charles and I were reading Dr. Seuss' Hop on Pop yesterday. A page read Pat Hat Pat sat on hat. Which Charles read and then studied the illustration for a moment. He turned the page and read Pat Cat. He stopped and looked at me. "Dun, Dun, Dun" he said singing the "word" in a building suspense sort of way. And then he proceeded Pat sat on cat.

We were in the car running errands and having general conversation. Charles mentioned that he had seen someone at church who hadn't been there for a long time. "Does that guy go to another church, mom?" Charles asked. "Yup," I responded. "oh, well what church does he go to?" Charles continued. "I don't quite remember the name of it, " I answered," But it advertises as Party on Sunday."

There was silence in the car for a few moments as Charles digested this information. A look of horror crossed his face. "That is ridiculous. You do not party on Sunday. You go to church to worship God. That is a very serious time and you don't need to be having fun while you do it."

Random thoughts

How do you find the time? That is a question that is often posed to me, and let me tell you, it ain't easy. The first thing to go is meals. Friday during the time generally set up for the preparation, consumption and clean up of lunch, I was feverishly working away on a flyer promoting HB 1. "Mom! We are starving!" the kids yelled from the downstairs. "In a minute!" I yelled back. They sighed and found something to fight about in order to kill time and distract their growling stomachs. Ten minutes later, "Mom! We are really hungry, come on!" I glanced at the clock and knew that if I left the computer then, there wouldn't be a chance to return and finish the job. " Can't you guys just dig in the pantry and find something?" I heard 4 pair of feet race for the large cabinets that pose as pantry. After about 20 more minutes, I had finished printing out the flyer and went downstairs. Charles, Oliver and Gabriel were sitting happily at the counter eating a balanced lunch of crackers, chow mein noodles and whole grain tortilla chips, and washing it down with drink remnants that stood next to the sink. Fortunately the drink remnants were all water or lemonade- not that perishable. Caroline, with a more elevated sense of lunch food, was eating a yogurt at the dining room table and had a glass of fresh water. It's survival of the fittest around here.

Daily Diary

Today we are celebrating Charles 6th birthday- his actual birthday is tomorrow, but he doesn't know that, and we don't have time to celebrate tomorrow. Pancakes for breakfast- picture soon to follow.

It would appear that there is a huge percentage of friends out there that are totally worried about me packing up 6 kids and heading out into the wild blue yonder and wondering why my thick headed husband is allowing such a thing. Well, I didn't realize how worried he was, until this past week when he bought me a heavy duty camper, and I asked him the same question. He is after all a Hodges, and things generally go down as a Hodges husband decrees. But he is as concerned as I am that the kids experience America in this way during the summers, and can not possibly take the vacation time to go with us. However, let me offer to all of you out there this ointment for your fears. My dear old dad is coming along for the trip. Perhaps old does not inspire your confidence in terms of help for me, but my dad is quite physically capable, and frankly, I can deal with driving and caring for the kids myself. Dad provides security. A male presence will make my husband feel a lot better, and hopefully all of you. And don't worry- I'll be posting updates all summer- though not giving away our exact physical location since this blog is open to any and all-and you can follow along on the joys, downers, and calamities of a summer with the clan with at least a little peace of mind.

Daily Diary

Well, it would appear that us housewives would make $138,000 a year were we to receive monetary compensation for a 92 hour work week. As I reflect on this, I realize that were I to be single and applying for jobs- I would never, NEVER, accept this job for so little money.

Daily Diary

This morning I burned a bagel in the toaster, and not wanting to eat it myself, I scraped off much of the burned part and set it on the counter in the hopes that one of the kids would eat it. Charles ate one bagel and then asked for another. "There's one already toasted on the counter," I told him. He hurried off. Silence. "Mom," he called from the kitchen, " Did you put lots of cinnamon on this?" I paused and then said, " No." He picked up the bagel and carefully examined it. " This thing is seriously burnt and I'm not eating it." I laughed. I guess I couldn't pull one over on Charles.

Daily Diary

Last night we had company that seem to come in shifts- or at least the last two additions. It was amusing clearing away one place and making way for a new one. I was unaware that May 1st is May Day. Janice, a friend who comes occasionally on Tuesday nights, brought me a May Day gift. A book instead of flowers (as flowers, I am told, is the tradition). I was very pleased with the book. It's a compilation of the stories behind 150 of the great hymns. Now I think it rather sad that I've never celebrated May Day before.

Today is Vivian's birthday, so I took a picture of the kids gathered around the birthday girl. Vivian was highly annoyed that everyone was around her and touching her, so she kept wriggling her shoulders and scrunching her nose. Gabriel was pitching a fit because he had to get down in the midst of eating his breakfast. Anyway, it made for a funny picture.

Family Circus

I went downstairs a few moments ago after hearing a splash of water and a cup hit the kitchen floor followed by Charles exclaiming, " Great, Oliver, now look what you made me do," with Gabriel crying in the background. By the time I was in the kitchen, Oliver was making a hasty retreat into the dining room and Charles was watching me wondering if tears would be his best defense. I shooed everyone into the backyard.
"Into the backyard, Oliver, " I said after Gabriel and Charles had already gone out. "Aw, mom," Oliver responded, " Can't I have two options?" He asked two fingers in the air.
"Two options?" I asked, confused.
"Yes, two options. Like go outside or play in the nursery. I need two options cuz I wanna play in the nursery."
"No. You get one option." I reflected for a moment on explaining to him that option wouldn't apply if you were only offered a single course of action and not even offered but rather commanded, but then decided it would be too complicated. So I just ended with, "I'll bring popsicles out in a minute."