When the occasional words are spoken in anger, the ones that strike right into the sensitive place in my heart, it's hard... I try to keep this thought in my mind - a hundred or a thousand times a day I hear, "I love you Mom. I yuv you Mommy." And the one or five times that I hear something different, those five times can't outweigh the other hundred thousand times I hear the love.
Tonight there was a homework struggle, the kind that leaves us almost silent towards each other. The kind that makes us wonder if we'll ever figure out the next question on the page. After a break for supper, we tried again, cuddled up against each other on the couch with a textbook, lots of paper and pencils, and the chance to start over. Talk, explain, look at numbers, write down the answers, and the next thing I know, understanding clicks - "Thank you Mom! You're the best mom. You're the best PERSON in the whole world!" Only four more math problems to go... When David gets home a couple questions later, the student and I are laughing with each other. It's as if homework is the fun part of the day. Today it was - I hope the same for tomorrow and the next. And when it's not the fun part of the day, I'll try to keep this in mind. Keep going. It's been fun before, and it will be again. Soon.
Tuesday, April 28, 2015
Friday, April 24, 2015
Eggs
Archer is having a great school year thanks to Mr. A, the teacher in the school that every kid hopes to have once he reaches fifth grade. And it's things like this that add to Mr. A's appeal...
Mr. A currently has a styrofoam container with a clear plastic lid on top and a bunch of eggs inside. Fifteen or twenty eggs, different shades of brown and white, just waiting... Archer reported that they were hearing cheeping coming from the eggs. Archer says that when the chicks are ready to hatch, they start cheeping, and wake each other up. On the day he told us about this, there were only a few cracks in some of the eggs, but none had hatched. The next morning, I went with Archer to school to drop off some paperwork, and there in the hallway was the styrofoam box with clear plastic lid and SEVEN CHICKS! They had hatched overnight and were crowding around each other and the rest of the unhatched eggs, cheeping and climbing around, the fluffiest cutest things you could find in an elementary school hallway.
At dinner that night, Archer reported that another five had hatched during the day. He told us about how Mr. A showed the chicks how to drink water ("you have to shove their face down in the water so they know what it is, then they'll drink it"). This spurred a conversation about how the chicks break out of their shells. And Elijah was the expert. He demonstrated, he told us how it's done, he said they lean their heads back "like this!" as he tilts his own head back. Then they move their head forward "really quick, and just BREAK the shell like this." "Then they just push the shell away" he says, stretching his arms out above his head, like stretching when you first wake up in the morning.
I asked him if he knows that because he remembers when he broke out of his shell. "You used to have a beak, you used it to break out of the shell, then the beak fell off, like when your baby teeth fall out." He agreed, and then smiled and said he was never in an egg and that's not what happened, then didn't quite know if I was joking or not. I told him he knows all about it because he used to be in a shell and then he broke out, just like the chicks. In the end, I'm not sure what he believed. But there is a little chance he might have believed it. I wonder how long we can keep that one going?
Mr. A currently has a styrofoam container with a clear plastic lid on top and a bunch of eggs inside. Fifteen or twenty eggs, different shades of brown and white, just waiting... Archer reported that they were hearing cheeping coming from the eggs. Archer says that when the chicks are ready to hatch, they start cheeping, and wake each other up. On the day he told us about this, there were only a few cracks in some of the eggs, but none had hatched. The next morning, I went with Archer to school to drop off some paperwork, and there in the hallway was the styrofoam box with clear plastic lid and SEVEN CHICKS! They had hatched overnight and were crowding around each other and the rest of the unhatched eggs, cheeping and climbing around, the fluffiest cutest things you could find in an elementary school hallway.
At dinner that night, Archer reported that another five had hatched during the day. He told us about how Mr. A showed the chicks how to drink water ("you have to shove their face down in the water so they know what it is, then they'll drink it"). This spurred a conversation about how the chicks break out of their shells. And Elijah was the expert. He demonstrated, he told us how it's done, he said they lean their heads back "like this!" as he tilts his own head back. Then they move their head forward "really quick, and just BREAK the shell like this." "Then they just push the shell away" he says, stretching his arms out above his head, like stretching when you first wake up in the morning.
I asked him if he knows that because he remembers when he broke out of his shell. "You used to have a beak, you used it to break out of the shell, then the beak fell off, like when your baby teeth fall out." He agreed, and then smiled and said he was never in an egg and that's not what happened, then didn't quite know if I was joking or not. I told him he knows all about it because he used to be in a shell and then he broke out, just like the chicks. In the end, I'm not sure what he believed. But there is a little chance he might have believed it. I wonder how long we can keep that one going?
Thursday, April 23, 2015
Loads of Art
Spring Flowers by E
Love from Shelly
Giant Easter card
A Collage of Paint by E
Self Portrait
Saturday, April 4, 2015
Layers of Love
Every night when I tuck the kids into bed, I pull their blankets up to their chins and answer their last questions for the day. Tell them I love them. Say goodnight. And I bundle them up under layers and layers of memories and layers of love.
Shelly sleeps under a blanket that Nana made for me when I was 13, a quilt designed to look like me, a portrait of a girl with her legs crossed, sitting with a book in her lap. Next is a fleece blanket, one that I tied together, hoping it would keep me nice and warm through our long winters. On the very top is a purple bedspread from a friend, handed down to us when her own daughter grew up and moved away.
Elijah sleeps under a blanket made by Grandma Sue, just the perfect size for him. On top of that is a quilt that originally belonged to Archer, one we bought when we were carefully considering the finished look of a boy's room, a boy no longer a baby and now in his big-boy bed.
Archer sleeps under a quilt that belonged to his Grandpa Lou. Occasionally, on extra cold nights, he adds the red fleece blanket that has polka dots in white and green, the blanket given to us for Christmas a few years ago by Denise and Dan, with a note that the blanket would keep us warm after sledding outings.
David and I sleep under a beautiful quilt sewn by Aunt Penny for our wedding. It reminds me of that day when so many friends and family came together to help us create the perfect day. And so many people that have continued to support and love us through all the years of our family growing.
Everywhere I look in our home, in our lives, I see all these layers of love that surround and enfold us. They're there for us to share in the joys and share in the trials. What countless blessings we have!
Shelly sleeps under a blanket that Nana made for me when I was 13, a quilt designed to look like me, a portrait of a girl with her legs crossed, sitting with a book in her lap. Next is a fleece blanket, one that I tied together, hoping it would keep me nice and warm through our long winters. On the very top is a purple bedspread from a friend, handed down to us when her own daughter grew up and moved away.
Elijah sleeps under a blanket made by Grandma Sue, just the perfect size for him. On top of that is a quilt that originally belonged to Archer, one we bought when we were carefully considering the finished look of a boy's room, a boy no longer a baby and now in his big-boy bed.
Archer sleeps under a quilt that belonged to his Grandpa Lou. Occasionally, on extra cold nights, he adds the red fleece blanket that has polka dots in white and green, the blanket given to us for Christmas a few years ago by Denise and Dan, with a note that the blanket would keep us warm after sledding outings.
David and I sleep under a beautiful quilt sewn by Aunt Penny for our wedding. It reminds me of that day when so many friends and family came together to help us create the perfect day. And so many people that have continued to support and love us through all the years of our family growing.
Everywhere I look in our home, in our lives, I see all these layers of love that surround and enfold us. They're there for us to share in the joys and share in the trials. What countless blessings we have!
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