Calgon Wednesdays

As of late there seems to be a growing number of  families that seem to be doing it right.  The dad is usually on the mission field somewhere.  The mom has a baby on her hip and is clipping coupons with her other hand . The siblings are playing chess or milking a cow.  They bake bread.  They smile all the time.  And in their spare time they visit museums and quote 17th century poets.

We are not  that family.

Here, the dad is out in the corn field somewhere.  The mom is prying scissors out of a 2 years old's hand.  The siblings are pulling each other's hair.  They eat candy.  Lots and lots of candy.  They fight all the time.  And in their spare time they quote Sponge Bob.

Now, don't get me wrong.  The first scenario sounds much better.  But we live here...The Space Between.  Where grace and frailties collide creating our beautiful mess of a life.

And did I mention I can't do it all?

So on top of having the best parents and MIL that help me fill in the gaps, I also have found the absolute all time best baby sitter in the entire free world.

And she has kept Baby Yahoo (and Little Middle when he was younger) for me every Wednesday since he was 6 months old.

Wednesday.  My Calgon moment of the week.

It is amazing how much and how fast you can get things done when you don't have to stop every few minutes to pull a toddler out of a dryer.

So on these Calgon Wednesdays, the older kids and I try to do more 'hands on' schoolin'.  Things that are not quite so conducive to the whole 'toddler in a dryer' moments.

Such as...

we're doing a unit on New World Explorers.  A few weeks ago we made our own flags for our pirate ship.

Please note that as the children are painting their flags I am painting the back porch door.

A true lesson in multitasking.

And today we made a pueblo diorama.

Gorgeous.  And the diorama looks pretty good too ;)

We had a few spare moments to make some clay replicas of ourselves

 The children decided they couldn't say pueblo.  So they just called it a castle.  Or a dirt house.  Pueblo is an odd word, isn't it?

Next week I'll order my Rosetta Stone.

I thought they did very well.

Coronado is getting ready to enter the pueblo.   Watch out Zina warrior tribe!

Calgon Wednesdays also allow for me to engage more in open conversations with the kids.  We do more reading together and have more opportunity to discuss what we've read.  Ninja was reading a book about the colonists when he had his first encounter with the dreaded.....cannibals.

I have no idea how the conversation ended up here, but these words actually came out of my mouth:

"No, Ninja, I am telling you for the last time.  President Obama is NOT a canibal!"

Ha!

In other news...


Another luxury I give myself on Calgon Wednesday is in regards to lunch.

 In that I don't make it.

I'm going to be vulnerable here.   So don't judge.  Typically I let the kids have a piece of fruit or two and then let them help themselves to a cookie to tied them over until I serve an early supper.  

My rationale, you ask?  Well, if I'm going for a productive, get-as-much-done-as-you-possibly-can-while- Baby-is-gone mentality, then isn't food one of those things that simply must go?  I mean, hello?  I am trying to school the children and paint the gutters all in a 6 hour time frame.  Who honestly cares about the 5 servings of fruits and veggies?

But I did say a piece of fruit or two.  See?  My conscience is clear.  I feel fine about it.  Really....  I do.....

Really.

I am truly thankful for a day a week that I get to have a little down time and a little more one on one time with the bigger Yahoos.  But I have to say that my favorite days are when we're ALL here.  Doing our crazy messed up life together. 

Speaking of craziness, Baby Yahoo has decided he is ready to full on tackle this potty training thing.  I think it is partly the sugar buzz he gets from the candy reward after going and partly that he hates the thought of still being in diapers when he goes to get his drivers license.  Regardless, we are well on our way to saying goodbye to Pampers.  Not that we are rich and ever really bought Pampers to begin with.  I was really just making a point.  But you get what I mean.  OK, I'm rambling.....All I really wanted to say is that now I have added potty training to my daily agenda.  So if you notice me running chicken-like behind a sheepish toddler you will have a better understanding why.

Alrighty, that's enough real Yahoo life for one day.  I think I'll go soak my hands in some Ajax bubbles, scrub some dirty dishes, and channel me a Calgon moment.

Death Traps

Well, we bought ourselves a death trap.

side note:  Ninja is already in time out for being too, um, Ninja-like.

More accurately, it was given to us.

A friend of ours has a daughter moving into a new home and there just happened to be a trampoline there that they didn't need.  And knowing that we are a bunch of suckers  parents of some active youngsters, they offered it to us.

And we said yes.

Because we are gluttons for punishment and extremely high medical bills that way.

If you know us at all....wait.  Let me rephrase.  If you know MY SONS at all you will know that we are fairly well acquainted with the Emergency Room of our local hospital.   So needless to say I am not expecting good things out of this trampoline.    We still have to invest in the padding and net that goes around it.  And some crutches, a neck brace, and possibly a wheel chair.

In other news....

Just so that you know what my life is like, Little Middle and I got into an argument on our way to church yesterday about whether his father was in fact in the CIA.  I assured him he was not.  But Little Middle asked how I would know if he was.  That he would have to keep it from me.  Again, I reassured him.  Again, he protested.  Finally, exasperated, I ended the argument by saying that I was trying to prepare my heart for worship and that he was interfering with that.

I thought the discussion was over.  Because nothing silences a kid like throwing out the whole 'prepare your heart for worship' card. 

But as soon as we got back in the car after church he started back up.  Then The Honey, always the peace maker, said that he was not in fact in the CIA....just a Ninja.  Of course our own Ninja Yahoo went berserk asking to learn all the moves.

**Complete side note.  In school this week we learned the vikings were first called 'berserkers' because of the maddening rampages they went on as they overtook a village.  Thus the phrase 'going berserk.'  Isn't etymology cool?  I'm such a nerd.**

Moving on....

So, Ninja is going BERSERK over ninjas.  The rest of the conversation spirals out of control.  Something about death...dismemberment...destruction.  I just longingly look at Sweet Yahoo way back in the back of the van through the rear view mirror.  We can both read each others' minds:  Manicure.

Yes, this child and I need a Mommy/Daughter date soon.  Complete with sappy Disney movie, chocolate, and pink nail polish.  We have been overtaken by the testosterone berserkers.  

In other completely random and uninteresting news to you, this weekend I get to go.....wait for it....ALONE.....to a home school convention.  Now, I know, it's not like I'm getting to go alone to Vegas or Cancun .  But still yet it is more than going alone to, let's say, the bathroom.  Which, I might say is a victory on most days!  So, yes, for more than 24 hours I am free of parental responsibilities.  On top of that I will be fraternizing with a bunch of other home school nerds like myself.  Watch out world!

I do have to say that this yearly weekend does give me angst.  It is the main time that I buy the curriculum we use for the upcoming school year.  I really feel a great deal of pressure about this.  Am I buying the right stuff?  Can I get everything I need and not over spend?  So as much as a weekend shopping spree sounds appealing, it really isn't all that it's cracked up to be.  Regardless, I'm excited!

Finally, baseball season is in full swing.  And my Boys of Summer are loving it.  We've been tripping over ball gloves and cleats these days.  I won't ruin it by telling the Yahoos, but baseball is my favorite past time.  There is nothing like spending the day at the ballpark.  I'm all about concession stand hot dogs and sunburns and the sounds of laughter coming from the dugout.  I just love how Ninja replays every inning to me (even though I was watching) and how Little Middle finds me every single time he catches the ball to make sure I was watching.  Be still my heart. 

Now, off to tuck in these battle scarred warriors and warriorettes.

A Yahoo Easter

I hope all of you had a great Easter weekend!  We certainly did.  It was a nice, low key, simple weekend filled with family, food, and worship. 

We started things off by adding a little color....

Next, we threw in some goofballness

In between all the craziness we did manage to clean ourselves up a little.

OK, enough with that nonsense.  Let's hunt eggs.  More accurately....let's find chocolate.

Now, let us pause for a moment as we partake of chocolate and feed a goat.

Now I don't care who you are, anytime you get to go home with a bag of chocolate AND have fed a goat  I call that a pretty good day. 

And as if that wasn't enough, here are a few more reasons my weekend was such a blessing:

I mean, come on, look at those boys with arms crossed and little lady all sweet as honey.

Fave picture of the weekend. 

Here's hoping your Easter was all sugary smiles and warm sunshine and hope overflowing!

Best Laid Plans

First, an homage to our beloved Wildcats....

Please pardon the snotty nose.

We are so proud of our boys!  

The Yahoo household celebrated March Madness in the truest sense.  There were so many maddening things going on.  I've already discussed the plague that seemingly struck our home.  But we also got to enjoy watching our boys battle it out for the big trophy.  We managed to squeeze in a tonsillectomy for Little Middle, The Honey's monthly trip to DC, 3 out of 4 parents' birthdays, piano lessons, and tons and tons of doctors appointments.  And we managed to survive all that without completely falling apart! 

So as we usher in a new season and a new month it doesn't appear that the madness is going to end any time soon.  As I take a glimpse at the calendar for the next month I see lots of piano, more travel and, believe it or not, more doctors appointments.  But, knock on wood, no surgeries! 

Yes, I believe that this new month has allowed us to catch our breath a little.  The Yahoos' little bodies are on the mend just in time for allergy season.:)  It's so good to see them running and playing and arguing again.  I still can't make sense of the craziness that was the last few months.  But I'm trying not to live back then.  I'm trying hard to appreciate the grace that has been given to us this day.  I'm sure there are lessons to be learned from the hard times we go through.  God is sovereign, not senseless.  So I'm sure the lessons to be learned will come to me.  In due time.

Several of my friends and I have been going through a similar season in life.  The season of "I don't ever seem to get my way."  I have to admit, it's not my favorite season.   For instance, yesterday the plan was that The Honey was to be gone all evening running errands.    For all you work-at-home mamas I don't know if this happens to you, but when the news comes that The Honey isn't going to come home to rescue me spend quality time with the kids, I go into hysterics am disappointed.   But yesterday I had a game plan.  We were already going to be going to piano, so I thought we would make a day of it.  I would grin and bare it as I kept Baby up through nap time, take them to Nana's and Grannie's for a goat-feeding, four wheeler-riding, mud puddle-jumping, pop-drinking, cable tv- watching afternoon. 

Fun for them.  Work for me.

But it would pay off in the end because Baby would crash by 7:30 and I could get some good bonding time in with the Big Yahoos by cuddling up in bed and reading to them.   

Fail.

By 5:00 The Honey had texted me that he couldn't run those errands and he would have to do it the next night.  The next night....when I have absolutely nothing to do to occupy our time.  Not tonight....after running these kids ragged and getting them good and exhausted.  And for nothing.

Argh!

But isn't this how our best laid plans often work?

The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps.

Proverbs 16:9

Sometimes something better is waiting for us.

You see, nothing stirs in me a desire for good planning and inspiration like 15 straight hours alone with 4 Yahoos.  So when I found out that today we would be home alone...all day....alone....I started thinking.  

And you know what?  

The Lord inspired.

I got to share the gospel through Resurrection  Eggs.

And take in some beauty.

I got to laugh  and listen.  I got to push kids in swings and read them books.  I got to tickle toes and kiss cheeks.   All those things I missed last month. 

The month of March Madness.

I've thought a lot about Jesus' disciples today.  How today wasn't much of a Good Friday for them.  How their best laid plans had obviously come to a terrible end. 

But something better was waiting for them.

Waiting for us all. 

All we like sheep have gone astray;
    we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
    the iniquity of us all.

Isaiah 53:6