Wow, she is amazing!

I had time earlier in the week but I lounged in bed, fully knowing I would be crunched for time later. I tried avoidance and the Holiday hectic is catching up to my psyche. So I didn't call my mom for help until the very last minute and she pulled it out for me! What an inspiration that was for me to be more patient and helpful when my own kids leave things to the last minute.
Before dawn yesterday I am up to get son off to early morning religion class with only 4 or 5 hours of sleep under my belt. Then other two kids off to school by 8am, everyone gone. I pile back under the covers and slip into the thoughts I am having after finishing The Story of Edgar Sawtelle. I am up sometime before noon, have time to shower and get ready to face the day. Off to a friend's house to shop at a CaBI end of the year clearance. A few fun outfits later I head to the fabric store looking for fun Christmas prints, they are getting really bad lately, hardly carrying anything. I am going to stick with my outlet store from now on. Husband is home from office for a few hours before heading in to work. I come home after grabbing a few things at Target and start split pea soup just before kids start coming home at 2:50p. Then I start thinking I should have gotten some excercise in , oh well maybe tomorrow. Now I start trying to figure out how to download SD cards on camcorder bought this summer so I can record oldests' band concert for his father. Oldest comes home at 3:30p and I haven't made much progress. I start thinking about just going to buy another, the fourth, card when I start reading the manual for the camera. Seems easy but now I am starting to get stressed. "The soup is bubbling" my oldest says as the youngest comes in at 4:10p, hungry and cold and only wanting one thing, to advance his PS2 game to unlock more cars, players or something he is all revved up for. I bargain with him to do his homework first, lots of whining at this point but he does it. At 4:45 the girl calls for a ride home and I know there is a piano lesson at 5p to get youngest to so I sit him in front of soup bowl and hop in the car. Now it is rush hour and it takes me longer to get there and back, I already have a ticket warning in this city so no speeding. Pick up the youngest at 4:48p and he is a couple minutes late which I am bemoaning so the girl is quiet. Then back home find the oldest still trying to figure out my camera, he is frustrated so by 5:40 after taking girl to piano and picking up youngest I find him dressed for band concert but now engrossed in PS2 as well, he struck up a plan with youngest to help him unlock those things! He is in car and we are heading to High school when I finally call my mom. She is up to the task, put off who knows what to help me in my crisis (created by you know who!). She needs model number of camera, it's at h0me. I pick up girl from piano lesson at 6:15. Back at home by 6:25 and now I have 40 minutes daughter says to relax and starts to tell me about her day. Then she thinks otherwise and leaves me talking with grandma who is now holding my hand stoically over the phone looking up camera model and info on-line and grasping the language rather quickly. Seems like my new camera is so sophisticated that it only can run with HD technology included so we figure that out and download, now trying to find it on hard drive of computer so we can be sure it did before I format the disk to take to concert. For a minute or two it is unclear then 6:58 we think we have it and more to learn later but disk is clear and ready to go. I am off to concert that starts at 7:30 and am there waiting with 10 minutes to spare! Didn't get a chance to see husband leave for work, but maybe later. Concert goes well, taping works great, good camera. Now it is 9:30p, the boy and I are hungry for dinner and we pick up a pie, French apple cheesecake and head home to eat. He heads off to bed by 10:10p and I have a book read to me by youngest, who doesn't want to go to bed and has been short of sleep all week and girl finally gets to tell me about her day in whispers under the frustration of the boy reading that thinks I can't be listening to him and her at same time-honestly! Pie is in fridge, I leave on a note for husband whose only birthday wish was, I don't even know! I settle down in bed to watch late news and he calls to say he will be home in a couple hours. I wish him Happy Birthday and wake up this morning to do it all again, yes with the sleeping until noon as well but this time I wasn't alone. Now I check my email and my mother, bless her heart, has researched my camera and email me all kinds of info and even highlighted the parts for me to see like cliff notes! All I can say is "Wow, she is amazing!"

Bring it on-we're ready!

And the house is ready too!

Inside and out!

Lauren's themed tree
And it came and more is on the way!

Every year is a big push to get the leaves raked up on time, the windows replaced with their storm counter-parts and plastic taped over them. Then there is the outside water valves to shut off and and then get the lights out before it gets finger-numbing cold. This year we did it and even shoveled the first snow off the drive right away before driving on it in spots that don't lift off until Spring. So there are benefits to not traveling in the Fall. But I miss the adventure of travel. Maybe Tim is on to something when he talks about selling the house and just living in the RV!http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqLG7bVA-dk

Reaching the one

I had ten 7 yr olds in my Sunday school class that I teach this past Sunday. Seven year olds are wonderfully joyful and love to participate. However, this Sunday one in the class, who was visiting, was quicker than the rest to perceive inequalities in a matching game that I had for them to play. And he subsequently opted to show with his body language that he didn't care to play then. I had every person turn over one of the eight cards fearing that not every one would get a turn and immediately he realized and voiced that he would never be able to make a match based on where he was seated. After the class was over and I was talking with my Dad, a gifted/talented teacher, I felt bad that I missed the opportunity to reach that one child. He remarked that it is extremely hard to do. My husband quickly pointed out the principle the Savior said to save the one and the other 99 would make it too. In practice it is so hard to teach to the one in a group setting. My own children have complained about this in the past. And from a parent perspective it is disheartening BUT hard to do in a group setting. How to engage the gifted child? Perhaps I could have enlisted his help with me or offered to mix the cards and play again with groups or individuals getting to turn two cards over at a time. The problem is I am not gifted and just don't think that fast or ahead at the time.
I went to a GT lecture tonight sponsored by my school district led by clinical social worker. The analogy was presented that we as parents of gifted teens are steering a canoe in which the teen is in the bow and we are heading toward rapids. How do we help them navigate when each has a different approach? Do we want to still want to be in the canoe with them when they reach the other end of the riverway? Often we react to what is approaching or more particularly to how the child is acting at what they are facing. So we need to save energy for the whole journey and help them talk about what they are feeling or options to tackle the task ahead. We will hopefully never give up on our own kids, that they can count on that is huge. The story of the prodigal son is told from the point of view of the parent. And that is the one person that has the expertise and loving desire to reach the one.
http://health.usnews.com/articles/health/brain-and-behavior/2008/11/26/how-to-deploy-the-amazing-power-of-the-teen-brain.html?PageNr=1

Blog fever

Wow! A few years ago I heard some of my friends say how they were going to start blogging on-line and I thought, "I don't have time for that." Now look at the explosion of sharing going on even just within our immediate family. Lauren and Ben both have blogs now and they are really insightful, cool people. There is that level of sharing that is a little beyond talking and not quite as private as a diary or journal that the blog fills and that is a way cool addition to living with teens.

Thank heavens for the baby

It's that time of year again when teachers take time to conference with you about your kids. Sometimes that can be filled with trepidation of things revealed that you weren't quite aware of, especially as kids get to those wonderful teenage years. I remember thinking when I was in high school that my parents never really knew who I was at school and wishing they could see me for who I thought I was, not as they had always seen me. And here I am now as a parent and I know I see my kids for what they were and they probably have the same thoughts I did. I do enjoy watching them take on new talents and reach new heights but mostly I remember how cute they were toddling around saying "lellow" and "sharberry" and "I make a fish". Now they just roll their eyes when dropped off at their dreaded piano lessons and ask them to get their homework done etc. Which brings me to why I am so glad I had that last baby, who is still joyful and fun and positive and reminds me of the goodness the others had before the jaded teenage attitudes laid hold. And he just turned 9 years old last week, November 12. When asked what he wanted he so sweetly said he has so many toys and things that all he wanted was to have two friends over to play Wii with and go to Cub Scouts and bring cupcakes to his friends there. So that is what he got to do and he said it was the best birthday he has ever had! Thank heavens for the baby of the family:)

Getting started

My son helped me put this blog together tonight. He is doing a blog for his 10th grade English class and took time to help me. All those diaper changes and late-night feedings are finally paying off! When I was a little girl I used to look at homes of people we drove past and wonder what their life was like inside. I never imagined that one day we would be able to read and share in the lives of others beyond books and in real time. I hope to share pieces of my life and ideas with my family and friends. I like to be inspired and uplifted and to think about new ideas when I read others and hope I can do the same.