Speckled Jaybird
And the quarantine goes (sing it with me) on and on and on and aaaaaaahh-n.
We are nearing the end of week three. Oh how I long for blue skies, and sunshine! Thankfully I’ve had a few breaks to escape to the out-of-doors. My poor kids though! Big B is now free to roam, but the other two have been caged up since he first broke out. Mileage and Lammie cropped up spots of their own last Sunday. Eve is starting to scab up, and heal quite nicely, but Miles got it the worst of all three. He.is.miserable. He has pox in places you don’t want to even think about. The doc says he’s doing great though, and any day now it should turn around. I’m thinking by the middle of next week, we should all be in the clear. Yee Haw! Over and done with in about a month. Not too bad.
What has been our saving grace? New Mario Bros. on the DS. (Thank you very much, Uncle Adam!) I’ve now unlocked and beaten all the worlds, and am at the last castle. What? Don’t judge. That is a seriously fun game! OK, so it’s kinda an issue. Brenden had me play it for him during week one when he didn’t want to move his arms, and we both got addicted. I started dreaming about it. That’s when I realized WE NEED TO GET OUT OF THE HOUSE! That or read more books. (Just kidding, we read. It’s been three weeks people!!!) Today we pulled out some board games on Miles’ suggestion. He’s feeling good enough to move… Victory! The kids’ favorite right now is Candy Land. Which is kinda funny to play with a diabetic. Miles is super funny period. Brenden is super competitive, and totally tries to cheat. It’s hilarious. I think I was a lot like him that way when I was a kid. I had to be a bit crafty to get my way as the sixth child of eight! I’m pretty sure I’m starting to ramble. Sleep deprivation. You know…cuddling poxed ones through the night, and dodging koopa troopas in my dreams when I actually fall asleep. Not a good mix. Time to go.
Later alligator.
An apple a day…
Big B bit into an apple on Wednesday, and tooth number two came out!
We had almost forgotten that it was loose to begin with….what with the him having the chicken pox and all. Yes. You read correctly. The chicken pox.
(Let’s just get this out of the way: No, I do not vaccinate the kids against chicken pox. Yes, you may think I’m weird/crazy, and no, I don’t care. Whew! OK. Let’s move on.)
So Big B has had the chicken pox, but they’re almost done. Like any other time the kids get sick, it’s sure nice when they’re on the mend! He broke out on the last day of spring break, so we’ve now “enjoyed” three weeks of no school. It’s been nice to have him home, but let’s just say we’re both a little excited for him to go back. :) He’d be back today if I wasn’t concerned that he’d be teased. More importantly, there’s a boy in his class that has a weak immune system, so we want to be sure B’s beyond being contagious. I don’t know where he got it, and his siblings don’t show any signs of it. Time will tell on the latter I guess. In the meantime, we’re all home-bound. Anyways, it’s Brenden’s tooth that is the exciting news.
I was really excited to have another reason to pull out my ol’ tooth pilla. Isn’t it cute?! It’s white satin, with yellow cotton-y fabric for the shooting star. I know I already mentioned it, but I adored this pillow when I was a child.
What kid doesn’t like when things have a secret pocket where treasures can be hidden? How awesome that my kids get to continue in a tradition that I loved?!
One, TWO, buckle my shoe.
My little lammy girl said her first prayer tonight. She’s been called on before, but this was the first time that she actually repeated what was being said. It was such a great moment. She knew exactly what to do, and tried to copy my every word with surprising success. Then she made us all laugh when she said thank you (well technically she said gankoo) when I prompted her to say amen. Greg and I are LOVING this stage she’s in. She’s such a little pistol, but she never fails to make us laugh. Every day she’s adding more and more words to her ever growing vocab. It’s awesome to witness her learn to use her improved skills. She’s becoming quite the handy conversationalist. The girl tells knock knock jokes. Knock, knock! How awesome is that?! Granted, they make no sense, but then again, neither do her brothers’. She just says knock knock over and over, and makes herself laugh. Then the boys routinely finish what she starts with something along the lines of “pickle” or “fartie”…or both. Dude, being a mom rocks. period.
Some think the twos are terrible. Believe me, some days I share the sentiment, but I can honestly say I think it’s one of my favorite times in childhood. Remind me I said that when she actually turns two. For now I’m just enjoying bad jokes, and the glory of words pronounced wrong. I tell you what, words like “gankoo” are among the simple things that make life great.
Grassy grass
I am surrounded by creative people. I love them. I love the creativity they bring out in me. How nice it is to have a wealth of friends, and family to go to for bits of knowledge and inspiration! I’m a lucky gal.
I’ve looked up to my childhood friend, Lauren, for almost as long as I can remember. (Looking up figuratively, seeing as I’ve always been at least a head taller than her. I was a giant among all my friends. But I digress…) Lauren has always had a knack for making life more beautiful. She’s artistic, intelligent, and genuinely kind. She and I share a love for nature, but where I’m an spectator of it, she’s a creator. Where I tend to kill, she succeeds in growth. I couldn’t be more happy that she’s planted a little internet plot to share her creativity and knowledge of horticulture. She’s inspired me to plant more in our little apartment, and has made me even more excited for my gardens in the future.
Recently I took her advice to brighten our winter world with some green therapy. I would have NEVER thought about growing my own wheat grass, but she made it seem easy and doable. I loved the idea of decorating for spring with it. The best part about the post, however, was the “seed” of inspiration it gave me for a Young Women activity I was having trouble planning. The few key words I had been thinking about suddenly all came into place. The result was a New Beginnings activity focused on growth through accepting and acting upon the Personal Progress Values. I couldn’t be more happy about how it turned out.
I decided to decorate for our activity with wheat grass planted in glass containers of varying shapes and sizes. The kids helped me plant them all. It was FUN! It’s a great science experiment for kids, because the they can really see the whole process. They loved checking the wheat berries each day to see the changes.
When they finally sprouted, we moved the containers from their dark cabinet, and lined our window sills.
We all watched with amazement as the pale sprouts synthesized to happy little spikes of green, reaching for the light.
Before we knew it, we had grass coming out of our ears. It was awesome. Lauren’s grass seemed a ton thicker, but I was very pleased with our result. Keep in mind that I tend to kill plants. My thumb is far from green, so green plants = victory.
I didn’t intend to use this pot for my project, but I had some leftover soaked berries so we planted them for fun. I ended up using it to display the new Young Womanhood Recognition Medallions. Each flower had a pendant placed in the center…one gold, one silver, plus the new Honor Bee charm.
You can kinda see it here. This is the only picture I got before my camera died. And yes, it did look like a pink bomb had gone off. We went real cliché, and uber pink thanks to another function that we borrowed decor from. I’m not gunna lie, I loved it.
I found a bunch of bugs to go with the grass. Mileage helped me make the butterflies into hair clips for the girls to keep. Just simple alligator clip covered in black ribbon. They turned out super cute. Cute enough that he insisted on wearing one the rest of the afternoon. (Someday you’ll deny that bud, but here’s the proof for posterity.) :)
Thanks Lauren for the fun idea! Having all the bright grass around really was therapeutic. Thanks even more assisting in opening my heart and mind to a lesson I needed. I love how inspiration/revelation can start with the smallest of things. Small and simple things, right? :) “V” club forever sista!! Hahaha
just (me)linda 