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."