weekend with dad...

some things I really enjoy...

Man, do I love a fun and intelligent conversation, I am not sure about the rest of the class, but the teacher is very fun to talk to. Class (even if I only have one) is a fantastic addition to each week. I am really excited about the challenges of next semester, now that I have reassured myself that I, one, want to do this, and two, have the ability to complete it. I just received the points for my first three "assignments" so to speak, and although we lost two points of ten on the group paper, I did receive all the points available for the project and the exam, so I am sporting a 98% right now. I am glad that I was forced to take this class, because it is my least favorite type of class, one with lots of reading and essays. I am not worried about any classes that involve only math or experiments and non-essay tests. Now that I know I can get myself through this kind of studying and writing, I know I can get through any of the other classes. Another phenomenon that I wasn't anticipating is that I am so grateful for the chance to go back to school, it seems, that I am more motivated than I remember being ten years ago. Not that I was failing then, but I don't remember enjoying the experience so much. So, what else do I really enjoy? The kids and hubby, of course. Here are some videos from the past few days. Daddy made the outside videos while I was in class one evening, and "ha ha ha" I didn't watch the last one until I just posted it. That is just a little joke between some of us (mimi, big daddy, and trent and me). I am not sure about the psychological repercussions, but Trevor refuses to be anyone's "boy" lately. He says, "No, Dad, I am just everyone's boy. Mom, tell him I can be everyone's boy." Very slick Trent. Only worse that when I was in the bed with Jewel she laughed and said, "Momma, Daddy's girl."

some stuff I scribbled about last week...

Last week, in the midst of exams and what not, I scribbled a few notes about Jewel. She is really talking now, sentences, desires, and even understanding. I asked her to turn on the light for the living room and she knew which of the four switches (all in a row) turned it on, hitting the right one the first time. Then, she cried outside Taylor's door until he went outside with her to play. When they came inside, she said, "I want to sing a song, Taylor." So, they sat at the keyboard and sang a song. She also found a necklace and bracelet of mine and wore it for hours showing everyone she saw, "Wook, neckwace, bacewet." So sweet. Trevor told me,"No, I will just stay home alone, I want to play my game on Nick Jr.", when I told him to get in the van. We were going to meet Trent with some lunch, but apparently that didn't jive with his plans for his Saturday afternoon. On the school front, we have found ourselves lost in neurons, thanks to the course that Taylor has been watching, and coincidentally I have several recent magazines with articles that are related. Two recent issues of Discover and one from Natural History magazine have articles about the role of the neuron in the brain's functions. I really didn't know if Taylor would be able to follow them if I read them to him, but in true "taylor" fashion, he followed and enjoyed the one I've had time to read to him. He really can just learn from anything, which is going to be especially helpful next semester. I am going to start full-time school, assuming I can get the babies into a daycare by then. I know, I know, I hate it too. But, it isn't the first time that poor decisions in my past have created undesirable options in my present. What can you do? I plan to plan (and carry out) one learning activity each day with them, after daycare, just to keep with our "homeschooling" lifestyle. And, I don't expect that they babies will hate it, they will enjoy it, like all "adaptable" children do. Taylor has decided he will continue to homeschool, even if that means working alone while I am in class. We have devised a system (using webcams, phones, and chat) that will allow us to stay in contact even while I am in class (most of the time) and he has proved himself to be trustworthy and self-motivated, so I don't expect it to be a problem. But, I am concerned that he might get lonely. I will continue to offer public school as a temporary option, and we'll just take it one semester at a time. I will get more time alone with Taylor because of this arrangement as well, time without the babies interrupting our lesson, so we are both looking forward to that. Some days it takes hours to watch a 30 minute lecture because of all the babies' distractions. Overall, it should be an exciting semester, and if we totally hate it, we will go back to evening classes and part-time school for mom. I don't expect to hate it, but mine is not the only view that matters.

"tea-time conversation"

Usually they play through their popsicles, but with Taylor absent (about which Trevor is not thrilled), they decided to sit together and talk. The conversation was hilarious, with Trevor trying to have a realistic conversation with Jewel who is babbling any word she knows with very little sense involved. Earlier this week, Taylor made some baloon animals. The babies popped their dogs before I took a picture, but here is a giraffe and he made a big flower. And, for my mom, I post this... These are the chairs that Morlynn and Taylor used to sit in to wait for the bus, 3 years ago, when Trevor was learning to walk and talk, and Jewel was still nursing. Man, was that really only 3 years ago, it feels like it was a decade at least. Also, I grew a cabbage, and broccoli looks like something from a Seuss story if you don't harvest it.

I did it!

4,000 words, 4 essays, and one in class presentation in 4 days. And I didn't neglect my teaching duties with the kids. I can't believe it, and it wasn't easy, but I think I probably am still in the running for an A in this class. So, what did I neglect to get this done, the house. Now I will be scrubbing up messes, folding laundry, running errands, cleaning bathrooms, and picking up toys for at least 2 days. But, it was a great first test of my ability to handle school and my other duties, because it was a lot of research and time consuming writing all at one time. I needed to get some practice with essays again, because it has been more than 10 years since I had to write one. I am not disappointed with my effort either, it all came back to me in time to really clean them up nicely. Although I had a poor conclusion paragraph on the last one, that is really the only thing I can think of that I would change. We'll see. I am even more excited now, because we may enroll the kids in daycare program for next semester, so I can start going full-time. Oh boy!

tidbit about today...

On the one hand, I am celebrating the "totally getting all the points" paper I am formatting. On the other hand, Jewel has been wearing "panties" for two days and just pooped in them. Not, even the part that bothers me. She was playing in a puddle and water in the backyard and I didn't notice she had gone to the bathroom, so when I started to put her in dry clothes, runny poop got on the carpet. So, I had to interrupt the work to scrub a carpet, bathe the babies, dry and dress them, then of course, start laundry and some food (while I was up). But, also worth celebrating, she is wearing panties sometimes. "Goodbye, diapers; Hello, more time and less work." Of course, we have a good week or two of maddening potty learning to go first. I hope that my next semester doesn't involve any projects, a paper or two will be understandable, but hopefully nothing too involved. I will have three classes, so I am concerned about the time involved. It is a full length semester, and one class is just math, so probably it will be fine. It is so worth it, I hate writing papers usually, but I did actually enjoy having something challenging to do. Woohoo, I'm back in school! And, speaking of school, I am enjoying and reassured by the relaxed learning that we have naturally found ourselves practicing. The babies are able to progress from one thing to the next as their attention dictates, and all the appropriate activities are visible for them to choose from. Also, Taylor is progressing through various activities at his own pace, and as his interest dictates. We are now watching the course, The Neurological Origins of Individuality and he is thoroughly engrossed. He spends an hour or more after the lectures talking about and researching further on whatever the topic of each lecture is. He works on the Time4Learning activities when I am busy with the babies or chores. Some of them are fun and interesting, but if they turn out to be boring, he is allowed to just quit and find another one. I am confident that he is progressing fine and would have no problems going back into public school, and that is really the only thing I use as a guide. We are rethinking more of the game and trying to be ready with it after summer, but seem to be returning back to some of the original ideas and the original less structured style. We will probably attempt a test run soon, I'll try to post about it. Hmm, not exactly a tidbit anymore, I should have called it a smorgasbord.

catching up...

I have been distracted this week and neglected to post the videos that I made, so I will post them now. I am about to write the introduction and conclusion to the paper that our "team" has to turn in Thursday for Anthropology.(We called ourselves "the 'A' team" the first day, when asked to create a name; we also had to build a popsicle stick tower that was as tall as the professor (6 ft), stood on its own, and could withstand a drop from waist height; ours looked a little like the Eiffel tower and was one of the few that met the requirements.) Tonight we all got together at our place to work on the project and it worked out great. The house is big enough that the kids stayed out of the way, and our fantastic dining set (a hand-me-down, that deserves a better description) was big enough for all the laptops and books, the dining area has plenty of electrical outlets, and with wireless internet it was very convenient. Plus, I didn't have to get a babysitter or worry about whether Trent had to work or not. Granted the hours of socialization with people I barely know has left my brain in the stunned, yet frantic state that always follows prolonged conversations with multiple people; but, I seem to be able to push it aside and focus on the task at hand, enough at least. I did expect it and had time to prepare for it, as it was last Thursday that I opened the invitation to do the get together at my house. Also, Gabe came by, because Trent had a short day, and they cooked dinner. They cooked steaks and shrimp, with the usual steakhouse veggies, but it would be rude to complain about the selection, as I didn't have to go to the grocery store or do more than chop up a few potatoes for the kids, after the group left. So, it was a fun night, but now I have to finish this thing. Here are the videos. The one with the toys is just an example of the exciting things I find after classes when the kids are given the free reign that only Dad can provide. I would have just taken a picture, but I can't find my camera. Trevor (with a little help from Taylor, built his own dragon puppet and proudly "flew" it around the room. There have been 20 impromptu jam sessions, at least (even one for the girls tonight). Jewel became fascinated with a toad and made everyone stand around looking at it all day. I missed the time that it jumped toward her and touched her finger. She screamed like it bit her and told Trent, "Dad, fwog hurt finger, Dad...No, no fwog." She also started making this funny new face, it is like she is trying to squint her eyes angrily, but her nose wrinkles instead. We tried to get her to do it, but weren't able to. I also caught Jewel helping with the laundry and made a little video to show the babies' paintings. And, Taylor has made a great powerpoint presentation advertisement for the clay models he hopes to sell as art on Etsy, but I will post it later; he is still working on it.

just stuff....

A while back Taylor had to go to the doctor for a physical. The first room we were sent to had an "astronomy" theme. Taylor looked at the poster on the wall and said, "Mom, the third picture down on the right side, that's the remnants of a red giant." And, he was right, according to the poster. OK, so that made me proud, then later, he had blood taken. Jewel watching, said, "Oooh, heart." I said, "Yes, blood." "Oh, blood", she replied. Trevor was watching with mouth agape, I suppose at Taylor's courage. Today, we were watching a lecture, "The Neurological Origins of Individuality", and I started to explain what the cortex is. Taylor said, "Mom, I know, it's the outer part of the brain, kind of. I can show you, it's on that site where we studied the limbic system." OK, smarty pants, watch the lecture. The straw that broke the modest camel's back, was when he asked for a copy of "Descartes Error" because it was mentioned in the lecture, and "I'm really interested in what it has to say." Yeah, I think we'll trust this homeschooling thing for another year.

some pictures from mom and steph....

I thought that while I was scanning, I would include the pics of Morlynn and Jewel that my sister took. The rest are from my mom.

Baseball Season comes to an end...

(Sorry, it took a while to get this up.) We were down by one at the end of the fourth inning. But, our turn at bat in the fifth inning brought us up by two. Then, the rain started. After some shuffling to try and keep the game going when the rain let up, it became obvious that the lightning and thunder were too close. Because the ump gets to call it, and he did, and because the other team didn't get to finish their turn at bat, the score went back to where it stood at the end of the fourth inning. With that the Orioles got to continue while our bid for the playoffs was ended. It really stinks because that team beat us twice with unfair calls and we were finally getting our fair shot. (Not just exaggerating, we knew this game would suck, but got a different ump.) And, because our team really had a great rally and they deserved for it to count. So, now the season is over and we will have to find other fun until fall. My mother has given me some great pictures that she took throughout the season, and as they are better than any that I took, I thought I'd include them here. And, Taylor wanted a picture of his trophy on this final post. I'll post the pics tomorrow.