shawnazlog

School starts and an anniversary

At last, all the mothers say in early September as everyone in the household is itching for a little change. (Before we are all permanently chained to the television). Starting 1st grade was a big adjustment as now every day is a school day. Thank goodness the full day thing was starting in kindergarten as the 7am leave time and 3:30 return home time makes for a long day for a 6 year old. Except for a new teacher every schoolmate in Henry's class of 14 returned so the first day of school was a reunion more than anything else. But I realized that Henry was growing up when I went to get soccer gear for the school soccer team he is on. (It's always about the clothes for me.) His running shoes were size 11 (yikes, no wonder he has complained for the last 6 months they were too small) so had to get new shoes (size 1). Then some of those baggy polyester athletic shorts (the cotton khakis of summer didn't seem to fit the athletic experience), really huge long soccer socks (that my ever-cool son insisted on pulling all the way up his leg like ladies stockings), and most exciting shin guards that we tried on the legs, thighs, arms, shoulders and anywhere else we could try. (Of course, last time I suited up for soccer was in the 70s when shin guards were soft and you wore them OVER your socks, thank goodness the soccer retailer informed me that style would ensure mockery).

So he didn't get home from soccer practice until almost 6pm and Joe informed me I was now in that class so fondly known as "soccer moms". Help. How did this happen?

Then little Zane in a reversal from the last three years of school with his older brother, was all game for anything and everything school. His open house for preschool was last night and he was friendly to his teacher, checked out all the toys, ran through the playground, all the while with a big smile on his face. It was like I had the model child for starting school. All those parents with bawling children will be amazed at my perfectly adjusted and socialized son on the first day. (What they didn't know was the first one, wasn't so adaptable). But what do you expect with a child that has been talking about going to preschool since April (even self potty training in preparation). Of course, with those kind of expectations he may be horribly disappointed.

And thrown in there with school starting, Joe and I celebrated our 9th anniversary. We managed to squeeze in a nice dinner and a certain amount of shock at where we are 9 years later. Almost 4 children, a mortgage debt amount so big I am embarrassed to say on all our properties, 13 rentals, a church we attend and support, 2 different schools our kids are at, our family home we have been in 3 years, a community/town we live and work in, good friends (though seen very infrequently), and we still like each other.
Is it better after 9 years? Well the load of responsibility is almost to the breaking point but we probably fight more fair. A lot more gets "let go". And we can still laugh at dinner (esp. when we aren't trying to get out of there without things being broken). Amidst all the pain and craziness of this year, we are soooo blessed.
Hopefully the next 9 years will be in reducing some of the burden so we can spend time with the beautiful children we can share.
Raising a glass to the next 9 years (we will have a high schooler through elementary schooler then).
Cheers.

opinions on kids, those little darlings

from a great article in the Wall Street Journal today.

While some mothers and fathers stubbornly cling to the utopian beliefs of their childless years, the vision of humans as inherently sinful and selfish resonates with many of us who are parents. Nobody who's stood between a toddler and the last cookie should still harbor a belief in the inherent virtue of mankind. An afternoon at the playground is apt to make one toss out the idealist Rousseau ("man is a compassionate and sensible being") in favor of the more realistic Hobbes ("all mankind [is in] a perpetual and restless desire for power"). As a father of four sons, I've signed on to Mr. Sowell's summation of a parent's duty: "Each new generation born is in effect an invasion of civilization by little barbarians, who must be civilized before it is too late."

have you ever seen a plane crash?

Well I haven't but I almost did on Saturday. Joe and I were putting new vinyl flooring in our laundry room and were in the yard cutting it out, when Joe said "hey that plane is doing tricks". I didn't look up but noticed a really loud kind of putt putting motor going on overheard. I went in to get something then came out to see my neighbors across the street looking up and pointing to a big black cloud of smoke about 4 blocks up the hill from us saying, "that plane just crashed." Then about 2 minutes later, as we watched the plume dissapate a bit, 8 to 10 fire engines, medics and police cars went racing past us up the hill. Here is what happened. Crazy.

summer.....

officially started for us a week ago on June 1, with Henry's last day of school. That week was busy with his birthday on May 31. Entering summer all the kids have made dramatic changes over the last month or so.
Henry is officially a "reader". Having the first child of mine reading seems to launch all of us into a whole new world. Can anyone imagine life without reading? I can't, books were my friends and adventure when I was a kid (still are actually). Then Zane is officially potty trained and he is still 2. He is even dry at night, mostly. It was all pretty dramaless and I would want to pat myself on the back but I'll give him the credit on this one. I just took away his pants for a week and he was self-motivated when he heard that potty training was required for preschool. And Sadie my sweet precocious girl is walking. An aside that every day I marvel at her fascination with looking at people and animal pictures in books and all her words. The boys weren't even close to her verbal ability at 15 months, and still seem unfazed by pictures of people and animals (it's faces I think). Anyway, kind of random boy/girl difference.... Though she is just as active and crazy and they were.

My survival strategy is a schedule and a chore chart. Maybe by the middle of summer even I will be obedient to it, but at least we haven't had TV fights yet!

Joe and I have so many big changes on the horizon that I can be thankful for the mundane, it is keeping me only a little saner. Craft projects and hobbies/interests and vacations, those are a goal for the future.

Spring kid update

1. We survived Spring Break - barely, by the end I was envisioning drastic ways to escape it all, but we will ignore that unglamorous little fact right now.
2. Henry is starting the read. (Can we say, One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish?)
3. Zane is getting potty trained (my tip: go naked, cold turkey is the only way...except for the risk of running the bare buns accidentally into the hot glass fireplace, but even that burn is healing)
4. Sadie at 14 months is so close to walking we can taste it, she will stand up for a long time, but then crawl to get somewhere, risk-averse maybe?
5. I am over my nausea and extreme exhaustion that accompanies 1st trimester pregnancy, I am still in denial that one more child will be in our household, but have until October to remain in denial I figure.
6. Hired an eviction specialist to post 10 evictions last Friday. I don't know that our project will go but the thought of having no renters is very tantalizing.

Officially an Apple fan

It was getting that time again, all my virus software was expiring or pretending to expire and I was feeling a deep seated anxiety, no hard drive back up. My hard drive now has 2-3 years of documents for our condo development that could safely be called "intellectual property". And sure enough last Tuesday, there it all went... down into the black hole of DOS confusion and weird re-boot commands that of course I couldn't do. Amazingly my computer guru brother made the emergency trip and was able to save and back up my hard drive as it was a "motherboard failure". With a convenient business cash infusion in the works I said set me up, what would you do? Get an Apple....

So days later I am the proud owner of an iMac with a fancy 20" screen from a good deal off Craig's list. I have been slowly transferring and setting up files and I love this computer!! I can't believe how much extra garbage I lived with in the Windows world for no reason. I need what I need to work and work well and now I have it! The last thing I am waiting for is a dedicated continual back-up system and I will be all set!!
Thanks to my brother Erik and the Apple world, which has been creating what people really want we all just didn't know it.

mental break

At this moment I am delaying by ...oh.... five minutes, my departure to pick up all three kids from my Thursday babysitter. This is my "work day" and due to overwhelming stress and not feeling so hot, I sort of just took a "mental day". (Which means nothing "work-like" got done).

But I did talk on a phone (uninterrupted) a few times. I noticed the toilet needs to be plunged (not by me). And I was able to think, ponder, wonder about stuff.. Like if Christians REALLY practiced sacrificially giving how much of a testimony would that be to our culture? If we gave money, time, care whenever it was asked for, would God provide? Does my husband want sex too often or do I want it too little? Do I engage my 5 year old on respect and obedience issues with discipline or setting an example myself?

OK, that's enough for today. But a thanks for a day with a chance to breath and think. And thanks to Karen who watched my kids so I could get a break and and husband willing to pay for it!!

NY Times reporter on Iraq, must see

On "Charlie Rose" a few weeks back, John Burns who has spent the last 4 1/2 years in Baghdad covering the war for The New York Times. A must see interview.

about Zane (turned 2 1/2 this week)

• You can bribe him with cooky dough.
• He does NOT eat vegetables--never has.
• Only favorite movie (ever) - "Cars The Movie"
• Calls Sadie "di di" (and now we all do).
• Will not sit for his fingernails to be cut.
• Likes to wrestle, usually starts the wrestling with big brother.
• When he says "no mommy" I say "Say, yes mommy" and he DOES
• longest eyelashes ever (related: biggest eyebrows too, still blond though)
• Wants to turn every 2 toys into a "train" with one pulling the other
• Always wants apple juice.
• Hates hates naps even though he has to take them anyway.
• Likes wearing boots (options are cowboy, hiking, or dinosaur rain boots)
• Very cute :)

Worship Naked

Apparently that is a blog title. I saw it while checking out a blog roll at another site. But it reminded me of a conversation Joe and I had the other night. About church, about dressing up or not. You see, my husband and I grew up in a church where we would all dress up to go to church. We were showing respect to God by putting on our best clothes to go to church. Sounds good right? And there is still something to that. But for the last few years, we have been a part of a church with NO dress code. A few people throw on the tie but most people seem to be in clothes just right for a trip to Home Depot on the way home. Out of habit I still try to put on something nice, though very relieved that I have options.

But what about our opinion of ourself (and others) when dress is something that is important. Do we think our make-up (or not) makes us "holier" than someone else? Do our nice outfits focus our attention on the outside over the inside? Having experienced both styles I tend to think dress codes and emphasis contribute to the happy happy church face that probably does not reflect the realities of our life with its pain and sin.

(And another thing, when church had an emphasis on our dress, so goeth the conversations. "Oh Sally, cuuuute shirt...." "oh nice shoes, where did you get them?" Whereas these days, I see my friends and church, in a whole variety of outfits, and clothes are not really part of our conversations. Why? 'Cause they don't really matter!) I might even argue they keep us thinking God sees our nice outfits and is impressed, like He needs that from us.