I have commited a bloggy foul. I answered a meme and despite being so proud to be tagged myself, I forgot to tag anyone else!
God forgive me, I can be so self centered sometimes.
Anyhow, I will tag Anne, Jen F.
Saturday, October 28, 2006
Thursday, October 26, 2006
10 Random Fact about Meme
10 random facts Meme
I was tagged by sweet Suzanne (who's daughters look like angel cherubs from some renaisance painting) at Gladdest Hours to answer this meme. I am ridiculously pleased to be tagged, so here are my 10 Random Facts about Meme
1. I will not sleep with socks on.
2. I do not shave my legs when Lee is out of town during the winter.
3. I like to buy old, out of print board games at yard sales. My favorite is 'Acquire'. I love it not only for the oh so high powered executive looking business man on the front, but also because it is a fun game. I recently discovered that a fellow Acquire nerd built an online version of this game, Get Hostile It is addictive. People, be warned.
4. I am the handyman of our family. I fix the toilets etc, and I am known as the Pretty Pink Plumber around these here parts.
5. I like to do arts and crafty things and I have a passion for vintage stuff.
6. I always wanted a Barbie mansion as a child, the one with the elevator. I never got it but I know I had more fun playing with my friend Marcy and making homes for our Barbies with stuff like shoeboxes and pillows than I ever would have had playing with the plastic monstrocity.
7. As a girl, I believed that Chevrolet would be a perfectly beautiful name for a future daughter.
8. I vividly remember swinging so high on the swingset when I was 5 that I was terrified I would go all the way around, but still pumping with all of my might.
9. I love spinach and most squash.
10. I always wanted to be an actor and I can make myself cry pretty much whenever I want.
I was tagged by sweet Suzanne (who's daughters look like angel cherubs from some renaisance painting) at Gladdest Hours to answer this meme. I am ridiculously pleased to be tagged, so here are my 10 Random Facts about Meme
1. I will not sleep with socks on.
2. I do not shave my legs when Lee is out of town during the winter.
3. I like to buy old, out of print board games at yard sales. My favorite is 'Acquire'. I love it not only for the oh so high powered executive looking business man on the front, but also because it is a fun game. I recently discovered that a fellow Acquire nerd built an online version of this game, Get Hostile It is addictive. People, be warned.
4. I am the handyman of our family. I fix the toilets etc, and I am known as the Pretty Pink Plumber around these here parts.
5. I like to do arts and crafty things and I have a passion for vintage stuff.
6. I always wanted a Barbie mansion as a child, the one with the elevator. I never got it but I know I had more fun playing with my friend Marcy and making homes for our Barbies with stuff like shoeboxes and pillows than I ever would have had playing with the plastic monstrocity.
7. As a girl, I believed that Chevrolet would be a perfectly beautiful name for a future daughter.
8. I vividly remember swinging so high on the swingset when I was 5 that I was terrified I would go all the way around, but still pumping with all of my might.
9. I love spinach and most squash.
10. I always wanted to be an actor and I can make myself cry pretty much whenever I want.
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
Learning about other cultures
Last night at dinner Lee let out a loud, obnoxious burp. Of course the kids laughed, even MC, and I hid my smile. However amusing bodily noises can be, I feel that as the mom I do have to teach my kids good manners and appropriate behavior. I don't want to be a nagging manners harridan, but I don't want my kids to embarrass themselves (ah who am I kidding, I don't want them to embarass me!) and I want them to understand appropriateness. For instance, boys in the company of other boys may express any manner of bodily noises both real and pretend and all is well and good. On the other hand, these same noises are not appropriate at dinner or most other places really, say Holy Mass for instance.
I decided to take the opportunity last night to share some motherly wisdom with the family after Lee's, ahem, outburst.
"In some countries, burping after a meal is actually considered very good manners." I said
This got their attention and interest immediately.
Lee joined in, "Yes, in fact in some places if you didn't burp your host would be very offended."
There were lots of ooohs and ahhs and a couple of well performed fake burps for me in appreciation for the good meal.
"Sadly, in our culture and in our home, it is considered very bad manners to burp so loudly and obnoxiously." I said fairly sternly looking at all of the kids in the eyes, including Lee.
He just grinned sheepishly and nodded and I knew he understood me and he really is going to try to remember to set the example.
Jake just smiled and cut his eyes over to Lee and said "You better start packing, Dad."
I decided to take the opportunity last night to share some motherly wisdom with the family after Lee's, ahem, outburst.
"In some countries, burping after a meal is actually considered very good manners." I said
This got their attention and interest immediately.
Lee joined in, "Yes, in fact in some places if you didn't burp your host would be very offended."
There were lots of ooohs and ahhs and a couple of well performed fake burps for me in appreciation for the good meal.
"Sadly, in our culture and in our home, it is considered very bad manners to burp so loudly and obnoxiously." I said fairly sternly looking at all of the kids in the eyes, including Lee.
He just grinned sheepishly and nodded and I knew he understood me and he really is going to try to remember to set the example.
Jake just smiled and cut his eyes over to Lee and said "You better start packing, Dad."
Bird studies
We began a special study on birds last week for homeschool. I was inspired by Elizabeth Foss's example of an in depth 'rabbit trail' unit her family followed. EF is my hero! I love her blog, she has beautiful ideas and her book Real Learning is one of my favorite HS resources.
Anyhow, following her example we set out to attract the birds first. We hung 2 feeders and the boys painted a simple wooded one from Michael's that I hung as well. Every morning last week we checked to see if we had any visitors and we were getting a bit sad I admit. Last winter right before we left for China, we renovated our yard and that included cutting down tons of trees. Our entire property was overgrown with ivy and gargantuan pines too close to the house so we cleared 'em out. We did leave several trees, but I feared the birds were boycotting our feeders in protest to the thinning of their habitat. I didn't really blame them.
On Friday morning I was relieved to see that they have forgiven us! Now we have many birds to observe and feed. So far we have seen; chickadees, white breasted nuthatches, robins, blue jays, cardinals, downy and red bellied woodpeckers and possibly some mockingbirds. The boys are just as excited as I am and we are looking forward to learning more about these wonderfully entertaining creatures.
Yikes, I am now an official crazy old bird lady!
Anyhow, following her example we set out to attract the birds first. We hung 2 feeders and the boys painted a simple wooded one from Michael's that I hung as well. Every morning last week we checked to see if we had any visitors and we were getting a bit sad I admit. Last winter right before we left for China, we renovated our yard and that included cutting down tons of trees. Our entire property was overgrown with ivy and gargantuan pines too close to the house so we cleared 'em out. We did leave several trees, but I feared the birds were boycotting our feeders in protest to the thinning of their habitat. I didn't really blame them.
On Friday morning I was relieved to see that they have forgiven us! Now we have many birds to observe and feed. So far we have seen; chickadees, white breasted nuthatches, robins, blue jays, cardinals, downy and red bellied woodpeckers and possibly some mockingbirds. The boys are just as excited as I am and we are looking forward to learning more about these wonderfully entertaining creatures.
Yikes, I am now an official crazy old bird lady!
Monday, October 23, 2006
Happenings
I have been a slow blogger lately. Lots of stuff going on, but not much I really feel like blogging about. My sister started a blog and it promises to be interesting. She is a first year middle school art teacher at an 'at risk' school and she is also a newlywed. She has tons of bloggy material!
My best friend from Fl is coming to visit w/ her 3 kiddos and we can't wait to get our babies together. They are only 6 days apart in age. B was pregnant w/ her son when I told her our plans to adopt Mary Clare. She was so thrilled for us, probably one of the most excited people besides Lee and myself. One of the reasons being that she and her husband are hoping to adopt from China as well, something they began discussing right about the time we did, but neither of us knew about the other's interest.
I am also hosting a 30th b-day party for another friend in Nov. We will be breaking out the kareoke machine, Lee is ready to start his vocal exercises now, just to be at his peak for the big night ;)
Oh and the prep for Halloween, costumes(1 ballerina, 1 ladybug *hey it was a free costume people*, 1 bat, 1 spider/super man, 1 army guy) jack-o-lantern carving party. Also our co-op is having an All Saints party with games, food etc.. the catch is dress up as your favorite saint so that means more costumes.
Speaking of costumes, I also have to get/make a donkey and a sheep costume for the nativity play. Maybe I can combine them somehow, there is a story about St. Francis and the Christmas Donkey so maybe one of the boys can be St. Francis and the other the donkey? What about the sheep? Anyone have any ideas on what Saint I can use to go with a sheep? Then I would have 2 less costumes to come up with!
My best friend from Fl is coming to visit w/ her 3 kiddos and we can't wait to get our babies together. They are only 6 days apart in age. B was pregnant w/ her son when I told her our plans to adopt Mary Clare. She was so thrilled for us, probably one of the most excited people besides Lee and myself. One of the reasons being that she and her husband are hoping to adopt from China as well, something they began discussing right about the time we did, but neither of us knew about the other's interest.
I am also hosting a 30th b-day party for another friend in Nov. We will be breaking out the kareoke machine, Lee is ready to start his vocal exercises now, just to be at his peak for the big night ;)
Oh and the prep for Halloween, costumes(1 ballerina, 1 ladybug *hey it was a free costume people*, 1 bat, 1 spider/super man, 1 army guy) jack-o-lantern carving party. Also our co-op is having an All Saints party with games, food etc.. the catch is dress up as your favorite saint so that means more costumes.
Speaking of costumes, I also have to get/make a donkey and a sheep costume for the nativity play. Maybe I can combine them somehow, there is a story about St. Francis and the Christmas Donkey so maybe one of the boys can be St. Francis and the other the donkey? What about the sheep? Anyone have any ideas on what Saint I can use to go with a sheep? Then I would have 2 less costumes to come up with!
Thursday, October 19, 2006
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