March 14, 2014

Today's word is mud.  I sincerely wish it was pie (or pi) to celebrate the date but I never got a chance to make one.  Still a bit sad about that.  I did explain the ratio to E though.  

We got a bit of rain last night, which handily turned our churned up yard into an awful, sticky, mess.  We live in a big pile of clay and rocks.

C stood in a mud pile this morning, got his boots stuck, and fell over.  Not a happy camper.

He rallied enough to play on his bike in the garage for a bit and then head back out.

That mud is awful.

My day was spent bathing children, sweeping dried mud, cleaning dishes, playing with C outside, chatting with my visiting sister, fixing snacks and meals, reviewing times tables and overseeing the completion of a slideshow report and a math test, helping load a couch and hutch into a u-haul truck (thank you trunk-like limbs and heavy children for making me stronger than I look, those boys weren't getting that stuff in by themselves!), trying to explain in Spanish that we want a little dirt around the edge of this concrete slab, accepting another 9  yards of rock.... As we do, right?

Mimi has been spending her afternoons outside, exploring the mud piles and woods.

E and I spent the evening at a stake activity days event- what a fun thing!  I was there to help out, and ran the carpool for our neighborhood girls to get home.  Strange thing on the way home- one little girl matter-of-factly stating "Home schooled kids aren't as well educated as public school kids." This was because Ernie is working on her times table right now, while this child's class has moved into division.  I had to tell her that we were finishing multiplication AND division through the twelve-times, so that didn't make any sense.

  Kind of broke my heart, because that's something you know she is parroting- what 8-year- old thinks about quality of education in their spare time?  Besides that, it's simply not true.  Home school kids score, on average, 70% on standardized tests while public school kids average out at 50%.  This is not dependent on family income, parent education level, etc.  I chatted with Ernie about that after we dropped everyone off- she just replied, puzzled, "But that doesn't make any sense.  Everyone learns their own way, at their own pace."

March 13, 2014

A day in pictures- we went to my primary presidency meeting this morning and came home to find my uncle and his buddy already started in digging our ditch- we've hired them to come out and hopefully solve our drainage issues.  The ditch was dug along the west edge of the house, kitty corner across the yard to the east, and continues into our neighbor's yard and down to the greenbelt.  Our neighbor needed to fix his drainage and was happy to jump into our plans with the truck and crew already here. 

 We had right yards of river rock delivered today and shoveled it into the ditch- it's not nearly enough but we were shocked how fast it was moved today!  J was out there and we hired a neighbor's teen nephew- he is small but plays football and had way more energy than the guys!  Another neighbor, T, heard the shovels and came to help.  He came earlier this week too- he is J's running partner and an amazing friend.

I spent the day watching kids, teaching school, fixing snacks and meals, reading stories, overseeing naps, running to Lowes for more supplies, cleaning... The usual!  I feel a bit odd that all this work is happening and I am not out there with a shovel, but I can't walk away from my daily responsibilities.  

J worked hard every night this week to dig out power lines, finish taking down the rest of the deck, and moving plants I didn't want to lose.  I have a hydrangea and a lilac that are just starting to take off this year, and our inherited azalea bushes have gorgeous pale pink flowers, they bloom earlier than any other azalea I know of, they smell nice, and I have no idea what they are!  I scooped my two trillium out with C's toy shovel this morning and planted them out of harms' way when I saw they were in the path if where folks were walking through a flower bed.

E requested Little Women from the library tonight- she chose Louisa May Alcott for a research project this week, and is excited to read the book after seeing the musical last year at a local youth theater. My piano lessons are just around the corner from the library and I promised her last week that I would pick up books she asked for, one at a time.  We have had too many late fees lately.  I came into the girls' room tonight and found both of them reading!  M is doing so great in Kindergarten this year with my mom and is getting to be a good reader.  So proud of those girls :)

March 8, 2014

Lego Friends are a big thing here right now.

Zerg is a big thing right now.

My dad and brother-in-law and our friend came to help us wreck out the basement and old fence today- moldy drywall came down today in the basement, and some mattresses went up to my parents' to be stored.  A deck/patio also came out today.

It was rainy, muddy work. 

Playroom....sometimes progress feels good and bad at the same time.

Seedlings are trucking along.

Patio is gone- Dad sledged it out!

More fence is gone, to make room for a ditch digging machine this week to dig a French drain.

I can not believe how many gallons of water come through this tiny crack in the foundation when it rains hard.  It rained hard again tonight.

My mom was amazing today- she watched all three kids from about 8:30 to 7:30.  E spent the night at my parents' last night too.  We worked on the house projects 9-2, and then had time for long and hot showers, and spent the afternoon at the Botanical Gardens.

Cocoa came home with this snazzy hat.

Found this in the flower bed this morning- it is what's left of a little pumpkin from last Halloween.

March 5, 2015

Broccoli and cosmos- Cocoa later smashed these with a tube and got in big trouble.

Tempura and flour paint solar system...with lots of glitter!

Trying out the new flooring

Tearing out the walls after waking up to find standing water in the basement.  That wall is absolutely disgusting!  They shoved it full of trash, which is all moldy now....

A little leak.  Damp but not where all the water is coming in.  I got a few gallons up off the floor, and it wasn't coming from here.

Lots more water in the guest room- hooray for mops, shop vacs, a fresh load of laundered towels, no carpet on the floor, and nothing got damaged!  These two rooms got wet three separate times today- this back room, the water flowed in under the door when we had two inches of standing water on the patio.

But hey, cherry tomatoes sprouted!  Over achievers!

One tiny nasturtium.

J woke me up this morning with that hushed panic voiced that says "Can I get your help?" but really means "RUN!"  He had come home from his run to find the basement wet, and dug some channels to get water off the patio.  I helped clear out the rooms and then taught my piano for the morning- a teen lesson and a group lesson.  Wow, are those kids rowdy!  We watched a segment of Fantasia 2000, everyone played a piece and we gave critiques and advice, I had them write stories about what my selected piece was about and we discussed things like dynamics and tempo why it's important.  We played an atonal piece on boomwhackers, and we were done!

I spent the rest of the morning mopping, exploring the greenbelt for a stream we could drain to, mopping some more, and texting my sister in a panic to come and get the kids and save them from a day of cartoons and microwave popcorn.  She's a saint, she kept them from about 11 till 6:30 when we finally had a chance to go and get them.  I mopped and vacuumed probably 12 gallons of water down there! J took the day off work to handle things at home.  He moved things, ran to Lowes for sandbags, started demoing the walls, made up sandbags, made lunch, cut a hole in ceiling in the kitchen to see what is up there, and spent the afternoon with our general contractor talking about the nuts and bolts of remodeling the kitchen.  

Everyone was in bed by 9:30 tonight, long day for us all!  Sandbags are on the patio to block the door, a handful of bath towels is along the wall to stem the tide that will come tonight if it rains heavily again. We will see what the morning holds!

March 3, 2014

I remembered just before bed last night that I canceled piano lessons this week in favor of two big group lessons.  We had time to wash everyone's hair this morning, share a huge smoothie, and take care of all that business.  Yippee!

I got the girls all hyped up- we are going to have a treasure hunt!  True, it was only for the books missing from a boxed set but they still got pretty into it and we found all but three of them.

While the kids played I donned my protective eye gear and (wonderful, amazing, new) knee pads and smashed the rest of the carpet tack strip and nails out from the playroom to get ready to lay down something else.  It is a really therapeutic job, I definitely recommend anything that involves a rubber mallet and a crow bar.  (Or, rather, a Wonder Bar.  I don't name these things.)

I served leftovers for lunch and we took M up to school.  Ernie, Cocoa and I played in the yard for half an hour and got down last year's sunflowers from the garage rafters and strung some up for the birds and squirrels.  I harvested seeds for planting and snacking too.

I put C down for a nap, he sang for an hour, and then I got him back out of his crib.  It is always an exciting afternoon when he doesn't nap, he just buzzes and snaps with some sort of weird energy.

I helped Ernie with her day of school (long division, possessive pronouns, the solar system, and early explorers to the Americas) and then taught the first group lesson of the week.  Today was the teen lesson, we had two girls.  I love group lessons!  I get a chance to teach whatever I want and however I want without worrying about a book and the kids get a chance to be together.  The teen classes are always my favorite because they are the least likely to chat with me during private lessons and I love seeing them open up a bit and have some fun!  I played a Brahms piece for them to analyze, and then each girl played something she's been working on and we congratulated on the incredible and offered suggestions for the in-progress parts.  We went over sharps and flats and key signatures and scales, traded stories, and the hour was up!

The first Monday of the month my sister and I take dinner to a women's shelter- today she cooked and we delivered.  It was so nice downtown that we parked at the mall and walked around for an hour.  The kids absolutely freaked out in the Lego and Disney stores!  I made a guess that Greek food would be a big hit and we drove to a nearby restaurant- I won.  Pita, hummus, chicken shawarma, beef kebabs, and gyro all with rice and lentil soup.  Mimi declared that this was the best day EVER, at least three times.  When Cocoa finished dinner he got up and started grooving in the aisle- "I DANCING, MOM!"  (He fell asleep in the car shortly after we left- the more tired he is the more he bounces off the ceiling!)

Scriptures and prayers when we got home, girls in bed, and that is a successful day!

Basement Remodel- The Demo Begins

The playroom after removing all the carpet.

Interim playroom- just a handful of their favorite toys and a cozy rug and some bright lights.

A big storm last week knocked down some fence and opened up some leaks in the basement.  Our playroom has always gotten a little wet in winter storms-  first on one wall it would leak a bit until we plugged it up, and then on another wall and we never found the hole there.  It was annoying, but peeling back the carpet and running fans for a few days always fixed the problem short term until the next winter at least.  This time, we found puddling water in the middle of the guest room and found ourselves panic- starting a basement remodel.  It was on our list... But perhaps not so soon, yeah?

The guest room, currently.

The other half of the playroom

My dad came and helped us take down the rotten fence, cut and haul carpet, and load everything in the truck for the dump.  A friend of mine, K, came with her little toolbox and a pair of gloves and helped me move everything in the playroom to pull up the carpet and start taking out tack strips.  They were awesome!  Couldn't have done it without their help.

We are getting bids next week in a new fence and gates, and waterproofing the basement.  

We took about 2,300 pounds of stuff to the dump, and I threw out four bags of trash from the playroom.  It's something!

January 30, 2014

Confession: I went to bed late last night because sometimes wandering Pinterest is easier than turning off the lights and trying to make my head be quiet.  So, when Cocoa woke up at 6:30 this morning my head hurt so bad I couldn't hardly read the clock.  

I had my morning smoothie (today was an apple, a scoop each of oats and Greek yogurt, some brown sugar and spices, and a handful of ice.)  We all got dressed, I took a lot of Tylenol and rubbed my head in menthol/peppermint/lavender oil blend and we packed into the car to deliver Daddy's headphones and a lunch to his office- Cocoa grabbed the headphones and hid them this morning, I found them after J left.

Since we were out we ran errands- treats at the Asian Market, house supplies at Target, and some new gym shoes for E at Payless.  I looked for new Zumba shoes for me, but couldn't find any.  

Lucky envelopes for the lunar new year tomorrow

I kept the kids moving along with small snacks from our grocery bags- eventually the bread and mini donuts caught up with us and I had to carry Cocoa out of the home goods store under one arm when he tried to build a pillow fort.  (Not really- he was trying to put fallen pillows back on the shelf and every pillow he pushed in popped another one onto the floor a few feet away.)

Saw these chairs on our way out the door- they might come home with us later

He fell asleep on the way home, and we spent a quiet afternoon.  I cleaned out our furnace filters and I wonder if there was some sort of application test I was supposed to take before moving into a house, I am pretty sure I would fail it.  Those filters were FILTHY, I am lucky if I remember to clean them once or twice a year, let alone monthly.

I am working on a sonatina this month, and will perform it at a festival in two weeks.  I like to record myself periodically to get a better idea of what I look and sound like- there are always surprises.   Of course, it is always amusing to see what the kids do when they can't have my attention for roughly 2 1/2 minutes.  They make cameo appearances.  (Link below.). You can tell when they show up and start tapping my arm/using me as a face wipe around the 1:45 mark because I completely lose my fingering.  Ah well.  Ernie is videoing me.

http://youtu.be/ZeuVkgOrp-0

After J got home I ran out the door to my piano lesson- it was nitty gritty as always.  This week it is my pinky: it does not have the right curve to it.  We worked on arpeggios (don't twist, never twist) and phrasing.  I showed my lack of prowess in scales, although I am impressed I can play them at all- I think it took three weeks of hands separate before I could put them together.  Once you figure out that the four finger only plays one note per octave, it is much easier to see where to break the fingering.  Oh, and my staccato notes, my wrist needs to dip instead of float, although she told me the opposite two weeks ago because then I was much too heavy.  We keep moving forward, I am happy with my progress and so grateful t have this time to learn right now.  I can't imagine I will be able to keep it going after the summer, something will come along and demand precendence, but I will learn as quickly as I can while I can.

I picked everyone up after my lessons and we went out shopping to look at the chairs is aw earlier- they were rottenly uncomfortable but we did find pillows for the front room (teal silk), a sturdy basket for my boomwhacker instruments, and a mirror for the kids' bathroom.  I cleaned the kitchen, and chickened out on painting tonight.  I had a smoothie for dinner at 9:30, walked my festival application out to the mailbox, and sat on the couch for an hour.  

J's office, lit up blue and green this time: Seahawks colors!  This town is pretty excited for our Super Bowl game on Sunday.  It is funny though- J has decided that watching sports on Sundays isn't the right answer for him- Sundays are for worship and family time.  He has been getting questions at work "So, what are you doing for the Super Bowl on Sunday?"  Oh, he replies, "I'll record it and watch it Monday."  "......No, what are you doing for the Super Bowl on Sunday?"  

Found this warning on a new package of straws I brought home tonight.  Ha- better keep these away from the kids!  It says "This is not a toy.  Not intended for children under 13 years of age."

Cocoa and Mimi shared a chair during scriptures- sweet, strange, boy grabbed her hand and just held tight.  He and Mimi are getting to be quite the pair right now.

Funny story- while I was gone tonight at my piano lesson, Cocoa snuck the bag of donuts out of the kitchen and sat in the back room eating every last one...except one.  J got that one.  The girls were so disappointed that when I saw a bag at the store tonight, I bought it.  Guess what Cocoa found while I was tucking the girls in bed?  Yum.  Little turkey.  He is getting self sufficient and much harder to keep track of!