Archive for the 'Family' Category

July 24, 2008 @ 5:32 am | Filed under: Family

Last night was, as I mentioned, the first night of Comic Con, and Scott didn’t get home until after 10 p.m. Shakespeare Club didn’t happen yesterday because a number of the kids were out of town or had relatives visiting, but my gang and I had a busy afternoon nonetheless. Them: running through sprinklers. Me: plugging away at the decluttering project. More progress, woohoo! But I have decided that clothes storage, as in the handmedowns I’m saving for the next younguns in line, is the bane of my existence. Just so you know.

Around 7:30 in the evening I was folding a load of laundry while the younger four played a rowdy game of hide-and-seek. Curiously, most of the hiding took place in the room where I was folding laundry. Do the older girls not know that I always tip the littles off to where the big kids are hiding? Dinner was cleared away, evening chores finished, kids ready for bed, most of the dishes loaded (thanks largely to Jane), kitchen floor swept, and the ginormous pile of unfolded clothing that had been occupying the best hiding place of all, behind Wonderboy’s bedroom door, was now completely gone. Folded, sorted, put away. I was down to a few last items from the load fresh out of the dryer. Major accomplishment, especially with Rilla “hiding” under my feet.

Right about then the phone rang. Jane answered it and I heard her say: “Oh, no, Mom’s not busy at all!”

That’s right, just basking here in my life of leisure. Peel me a grape, somebody!

July 23, 2008 @ 6:24 am | Filed under: Family, Family Adventures, Uncategorized

Last Friday Jane and her friends had the great fun of making blankets together for a service project headed by my sweet and generous friend Katie. All the volunteers were sent home with giant bags of fabric, fleece and cotton, to be used in making more blankets for the pro-life center and anything else the girls want to tackle for themselves or their families. Jane spent the weekend making fleece blankets and pillows, some knotted, some hand-sewn. I promised to work on making a space for her to have easy access to the sewing machine: all three big girls very much want to learn to sew, really sew, on the machine. So that was Monday’s project: finishing the big overhaul of the craft room that I started while the girls were in Colorado.

What I had done while they were gone was: tidy and reorganize the shelves, especially the craft-supply shelves under the window. Now it was time to tackle the closet. Jane was on hand to bag the trash I pitched onto the floor behind me. One of the first treasures I unearthed was a big book of placemats to color in, a German publication I remembering buying two-for-a-dollar at a Hearthsong sale many years ago. This felicitous find kept Beanie busy for most of the day, perched at the table behind me in the middle of the craft room. And Rose worked her magic on the little ones, entertaining them, guarding them from harm, answering countless requests for the refilling of sippy cups.

About this “craft room.” It ought sensibly to be a bedroom. We are (for now) seven people in a 1700-square-foot house. Rilla still sleeps in my bed. She’ll most likely move to a toddler bed next to mine sometime before the baby comes. That’s been our pattern with all the others and it has worked beautifully four times. Wonderboy has his own room, sort of: it’s also Scott’s office and laundry-folding center, and the boy’s closet absorbs a lot of the overflow from the rest of the house. The three older girls share a bedroom, from which we can hear them giggling and talking until late into the night.

The craft room (I call it that because it’s where the girls do most of their drawing and painting and Sculpey-ing and snipping of tiny bits of paper for their own inscrutable purposes) has three tall bookcases full of kids’ books, one tall bookcase full of Scott’s CDs, a fifth tall bookcase half full of more books and, until yesterday, half full of craftsy overflow such as crumpled origami paper, dried-up glue sticks, and eraserless pencils. We must make a lot of mistakes around here, because never in my life have I seen so many pencils with erasers worn away to the metal.

There’s a small desk in the craft room amid all the bookcases. This used to be my desk—since college days, actually—but in this house I wanted to make sure Jane had a corner all her own, so it’s her desk now. She has my old laptop set up there (no internet access, unfortunately—it’s too old for anything but dial-up) as well as all her beading, crocheting, sewing, paperfolding, etc, supplies. What we did on Monday was clear off some shelves beside the desk for her personal use and add a small end table in the corner for the laptop to go on when she wants the desk clear for sewing. And we moved the sewing machine to her desk. Jane’s in heaven.

Rose has long wanted a desk of her own too, and as soon as the dramatic emptying and organizing of the craft-room closet (you can imagine what it looked like before) was complete, she claimed her nook. We have an old children’s table from IKEA in there—I was using it as a kind of shelf. It’s Rose’s desk now, and I think what she loves about it is that it is inside the closet. Safe from sneaky spies, you understand, and prying toddler hands. She found a chair that fits the table and discovered she can store it on the table when the closet door is closed.

Beanie does not yet crave a desk of her own. “I like to be wherever you are, Mommy,” she says, causing me to kiss her all over her face.

Yesterday, Tuesday, we tackled the laundry room and Wonderboy’s room. Stunning progress, if I do say so myself. It may be the last boastful thing I’ll say all week, because the San Diego Comicon begins today (at least, Scott’s work-required wining and dining of the talent does), and just knowing I’m on bedtime duty for the next three days has already sapped all my energy. Also I have to go grocery shopping today and you know how that brings out the wilting lily in me. Do you hear that swell of sad violins? Waaah…

But my marvelous mama arrives bright and early Saturday morning and then I’ll become, for the weekend, a Mary Lennox’s mother kind of mother, gadding off to parties with an airy farewell wave of the hand. Okay, maybe that’s overstating a bit. (Tangent: a Rose quote from the other day: “Mom, I can definitely tell that Rilla is our baby. She’s prone to hyperbole just like you and Daddy. I just offered her a drink of water and she was grumpy and shouted, ‘NO! I never gon’ have water a-more!”)

Poor Rilla. Is it her fault she’s not a morning person?

Anyway, so maybe I won’t be quite as bad as Mrs. Lennox, but I do plan to spend a good bit of time at Con-related festivities. That’s the whole entire reason my mother is flying out here this weekend. Isn’t she the best? (And that, my friends, is no hyperbole.)

Ahead today: Shakespeare Club. I hope. In my closet-cleaning frenzy yesterday I forgot to send out a reminder email to the other moms. Even Mrs. Lennox had better manners than that.

July 18, 2008 @ 6:06 am | Filed under: Family

Rilla’s speech has rocketed forward into adorably articulated complete sentences. The other night, when Scott walked in the door after work with a grocery bag in his hand, she announced authoritatively: “Mommy! Daddy bringit you more choc’wat!”

And indeed he had, a whole sackful of my beloved Ritter Sport bars (dark chocolate with marzipan). Mmm. Two or three squares of this around three o’clock in the afternoon is better than a nap.

As Lilting House readers will remember, Scott goes to great lengths to keep me supplied, but nine bars all at once? Such superfluity of treasure! What on earth?

Turns out there was a good news/bad news story. Nine bars, because: “Honey, it was a closeout sale.”

Oh, the pain.

No, the manufacturer isn’t ceasing to make them. At least I don’t think so. (Flood of horror at the thought.) It’s just that our local grocery chain has (foolishly) decided to stop carrying them. Me say hmph.

Which is exactly, EXACTLY, what Rilla said when she requested some chocwat and I said, “Not now, sweetie.” No one taught her hmph, but she is a master. Sometimes at night she even hmphs in her sleep. Dreaming, no doubt, of mommy hoarding that bag of Ritter bars.

July 16, 2008 @ 7:33 am | Filed under: Family, These People Crack Me Up

Scott’s on the patio, and I hear him sputter.

“What’s up?” I ask.

“Oh, it’s just…your children,” he says.

My children. This oughta be good.

“What is it?” I ask, bracing myself.

“I don’t want to tell you,” he says, “because I screwed up.”

This is getting better and better.

“How?” I ask.

“Um. You know how you asked me to fix the spray-nozzle thingie on the hose?”

Oh, sure I remember that. I couldn’t get it screwed on right, and water kept squirting out at the connection and getting Jane or me all wet whenever we tried to water the plants. At last, in exasperation, I took the darn thing off and we’ve been watering with a thumb over the end of the hose, which isn’t much better. I am confident my hero hubby can screw the dang thing on properly so there’s no annoying squirtage.

Which is why I asked him to do it. [Date of request to be kept confidential so as not to incriminate my fabulous husband.]

So, yeah, I remember how I asked him to fix the spray-nozzle thingie on the hose.

“Why?” I ask him now, extremely curious to find out where this is going.

“Well. Um.”

“Yes?”

“It’s on the roof.”

July 12, 2008 @ 8:44 am | Filed under: Family, Photos

Gosh it’s nice to have my big girls back.

They were so excited to see that our pumpkin turned orange while they were gone.

And that I didn’t totally kill the flowers, even if the nasturtiums did get a little crisped while my waterers were away.

However, Rilla has strong opinions about who owns Beanie’s baby now. Possession is nine-tenths of the law and all that.

Ditto Rose’s umbrella.

Perhaps if she moves fast enough, Rose won’t notice she’s got it.

Hiding is another good tactic. What umbrella? Nobody here but us…um…mushrooms. Yeah.

July 12, 2008 @ 4:55 am | Filed under: Family

Me: Ja-ane!

Jane: Coming!

Me: Hey, will you grab my tea on your way? It’s on the counter.

Jane arrives, hands me my iced tea.

Me: Thanks. That’s all I wanted.

Jane: (blinks)

July 11, 2008 @ 6:36 am | Filed under: Family, Photos, Pregnancy

Some days you’re just too tired to make it all the way onto the sofa.

(Or, apparently, to wash your feet.)

This photo could be called “Like Mother, Like Daughter,” because the fatigue displayed by my lass here matches exactly how I’ve been feeling lately. Utterly wiped out. Which is to say: the pregnancy is proceeding exactly as it should. I’m 15+ weeks now, so I should be climbing out of the nausea soon. SOON, you hear me?

One of these days, I might even be up to giving Rilla a bath.

Scott’s in charge of baths around here. You can blame those dirty feet on him. After all, who’s the one who let the child run around barefoot in the yard all morning?

Oh, right, that was me. (Technically: that was I. Doesn’t the correct grammar sound awfully stilted in this case? What is one to do?)

Except for the occasional bouts of violent nausea, it’s been quite a mellow week around here. Possibly a little too mellow for a couple of my big girls, after the fabulously exciting week they had with my parents and sisters and niece in Colorado. But they haven’t complained, probably because they are so relieved to have missed the massive cleaning out of their closet I undertook while they were away. Let’s just say it was a good thing for all concerned that I tackled that job while they were in another state.

I need to tackle my in-box next. It has moved from embarrassing to downright shameful. If I owe you a reply, please know that I’m working on it. Trouble is, I need to be upright to type. Rassafrassin’ laptop battery gets too hot for me to recline with the computer on my lap. Especially with someone trying to, you know, develop organs and limbs and things in the vicinity of my middle. And these days, the vertical position simply does not agree with me.

Fortunately, experience has taught me that one can remain a decent mother while sprawling on the couch for much of the day. No, really. I’ve already read the boy’s beloved Octopus Book aloud six times this morning. (Then dad got up and mom became chopped liver. Who can blame the kid? I’d rather hang out with Scott too.) So I’m sitting up for a while, balancing the laptop on the arm of the couch. It’s 7:30 a.m. and all four of my daughters are still asleep. Smart girls.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go over to Herding Turtles and feast my eyes on Sarah’s beautiful new baby some more. Have you ever seen anything more scrumptious? I’ll take one of those, please.

July 5, 2008 @ 6:34 am | Filed under: Family

Dear Big Sister,

Don’t worry—I’m taking very good care of your monkeys while you’re away.

Love,

Rilla

P.S. I can’t promise you’ll be getting them back.

June 14, 2008 @ 8:40 am | Filed under: Family, Family Adventures, Nature Study

The busier we are, the more I have to write about and the less time I have to write. It’s been an especially busy couple of weeks. Our Shakespeare Club staged a splendid performance of scenes from A Midsummer Night’s Dream. I am so proud of those kids. Our plans to perform outdoors were thwarted by San Diego’s first rain in weeks, but our obliging hosts, the Grimms, converted their living room into a perfect stage. We had a great time and celebrated with Alice’s special Midsummer Night’s Tea menu, which the rest of you can get a look at very soon when her long-awaited book hits the shelves.

Have I mentioned how excited I am about this book? It’s a gem. And I’m not just saying that because I’m in it. It’s called Haystack Full of Needles: A Catholic Home Educator’s Guide to Socialization, and it is full of surprises. And it’s not just for Catholics, nor even just for homeschoolers, for that matter. It’s being published by Hillside Education and is already available for preorder. Woohoo!

(By the way, Alice will be giving two talks at the Family-Centered Learning Conference in Lancaster, PA, on July 26th. Conference organizer Michele Quigley has put together a great lineup of speakers. Looks like tons of fun and I wish I were going!)

Other things that have happened in the past few weeks:

• I became the mother of a teenager (speaking of gems). Congratulations, Jane my love!

• Our ballet group had its spring recital. Jane was in three dances and did a beautiful job. They all did.

• The kids and I made a spur-of-the-moment visit to our favorite local nature preserve, Mission Trails. We’d been talking about the Kumeyaay Indians, and the visitor center there has several Kumeyaay artifcacts, including large flat stones with hollows ground into them by acorn- and grain-pounding pestles centuries ago.

This plant was our favorite sight of the day. It’s a member of the yucca family and goes by the colorful common names of Our Lord’s Candle or Spanish Bayonet.

We also saw this guy. He’s much less alarming in his natural habitat than in, say, our laundry room.

• We had an exciting new visitor to our backyard: our very first sighting of the Western Scrub Jay. No photos because Rose and I were too busy gawking. We had bluejays a-plenty at our feeders in Virginia, of course, but here we’ve been in California for a year and a half and we still hadn’t seen their western cousins! Hard to believe, but true. We’re still watching for a Steller’s Jay. Meanwhile, we enjoy the daily antics of our parliament of crows. Ever since I set up my nifty solar-powered birdbath fountain (awesome Mother’s Day present), the crows have been huge fans of Chez Peterson. They arrive with hunks of bread and perch on the edge of the birdbath, dunking their crusts and tearing off little bites of bread. It’s quite comical, and very messy. We have to clean gooey bread crumbs out of the filter every morning, but it’s worth it.

• The vines that took over our compost pile continue to sprawl across the yard. The blossoms look pumpkiny to me, which would make sense because I did dump our rotting jack-o-lantern in the pile last winter. But the fat green melon-thing that is growing on one of the vines looks decidedly watermelonish. Which is very confusing. I did toss some watermelon scraps out there, but the flowers are way too big for watermelon. All the pictures I’ve found of baby pumpkins look very different in color and shape. I suppose it could be a squash of some kind. Did we compost any squash scraps? Looks too fat for zucchini. We are perplexed.

• Some rodent chewed through the big plastic bin I keep my birdseed in. Whoops. There’s nothing left in there but empty sunflower husks. Poor birdies. Replacement bin and seed is on my list of errands for this week.

Oh, I’m sure there was more to tell, but I’m out of time. I’ll end with the obligatory dose of cute.

June 13, 2008 @ 6:48 pm | Filed under: Family, These People Crack Me Up

It’s my evening work time again, and I’m holed up in my bedroom reading Top Chef recaps on Television Without Pity doing seriously hard work. Scott IMs me, as he does about fifty times a night during my work time. If he doesn’t, I have to IM him because, come on, this two hours of separation is agony when you’re in lurve. Which we are, if you hadn’t noticed. Also, it beats working.

Here is the message I just received from him and which I must record for posterity. To fully understand it, you must know that Rilla is two and has just begun using very precise complete sentences. She has made a sudden and irresistible leap into conversation. Certain people around here are helpless in the face of this confident and adorable articulation of opinion.

So Rilla walks into the sunroom.

I say, “Hi, sweetheart.”

“Hi, Dad.”

She’s holding a panda under each arm and starts for the sliding doors to the patio.

I say, “Hey, hold on, honey. I don’t think those can go outside.”

She turns around and just stares at me for three seconds. Then says,

“Why not?”

They’re outside with her now.

Sucker.