being the mom...

tonight on the way home from the library, trent called me. in the background i could hear jewel crying and he said, "i think she's bored." i said, "tell trevor you need him to make you a monster with the bendaroos. then, tell jewel to make a monster like bubba." i arrived home just in time to hear trevor tell trent that the monster is not an octopus. but, after some descriptions were exchanged,(none of which involved tentacles) trent said, "well, what is his name?" "Squiddy" was his reply. trent just smiled.

funny things from a difficult week...

ok, so the tree in the backyard is holding trevor's favorite (although broken) sword, one of taylor's shoes, and hogan's favorite ball. jellybean started crying out, "want to go to mimi's house, want to go to mimi's house" when i put her in timeout for climbing on the playset in the classroom. she also said, "i have it, the bottle". so, trent handed her the empty apple juice bottle and she said, "i take out garbage cycling" and headed to the garage. how sweet. later, she sat in my lap and pulled my hands together in front of her and said, "i buckle it, seat belt momma." trevor, who is missing taylor tons, played in taylor's room with the magnetix for hours this week. he also said that he was building a lobster, i couldn't see it, but he did build something big. he has also started asking, "what happens next" when we read together which is cool. he built a little monster and wanted to take it to taylor's music teacher (because taylor does that), so i am pretty sure that music lessons are in his future. there is more, but i can never remember it all when i have time to sit and record it. such is life. here's to making next week better (and getting a good grade on my exam this weekend).

Look what Trevor did....

all on his own!

just for taylor....

You can be an astronomer one day, if you want to and work hard, I promise!

found another author that i want to read...

not sure what is going to happen, nothing else to post about. i am up late, listening to trevor breathe (he has some congestion) and watching charlie rose. here is a bit about the author. "Home Game An Accidental Guide to Fatherhood" is the first book i want to read, but his others are very appealing as well. no, we are not facing bankruptcy. this was the only video i could share. here are some others.

at my parents' .....

This is the play fort/zipline my dad built. My parents took the babies down the zipline.

to my dearest son, (the older one).....

excuse me....

Is it bad that I am now excited about the idea of daycare for the babies? I am sometimes also very sad about aspects of it, but I expect the negative aspect of it to be minimal and mostly offset. I don't expect the "rushed" lifestyle to return completely, because I am not trying to fit in 8 or 9 (or 12) hours of work, only a few hours of school. Also, the house will not need as much attention and the kitchen will get a break in the afternoon. One thing that I neglected to acknowledge in the past is that there is still the same amount of laundry, and the evening schedule is still the same. But, I expect the school schedule will allow enough extra time to handle those two constants. I suppose it is just replacing some "chasing babies" time with classes and cleaning house with studying, but if you've had your fill of boring housework, it is a welcome replacement. I will miss the babies and their games and laughter, but it isn't always games and laughter and I will still have plenty of time in the afternoons to spend with them. It will not be like it was when I worked until even just 5pm. (I have to keep reassuring myself that the maddness of "working mom" is not returning yet. I want to postpone that for a while longer.) My sheltered little world of "not having to balance" has been forever disrupted and now I am weighing my "teaching" with my "learning", and trying to carefully balance it. I can't imagine the stress my body and mind would be under if I had to also "work". Excuse me from my excuses, I have to untangle a slinky and build a clay "creature".

tidbit about class...

Tonight's class got into a tiny little debate over the definition of love. Most of the class took great offense to the idea that "love does not exist" as the professor phrased it. I understood his point that the "romantic notion" of love that most of the class (pretty much all except me) agreed with and defended. Every one of their arguments were easily countered with either neurological explanations or cross-cultural comparisons, but it seemed that the loudest defender was hung up on the idea that by even mentioning this idea the teacher was somehow trying to make us all conform to his way of viewing it. (shaking my head) It seemed too pointless to debate anything after that disturbing diversion into "not getting it land". However, I think that his point that as a scientist analyzing culture "love" as many Americans believe in it is not a universal idea, was completely lost to all but a few. I am certain that my view that "love is a choice" and even worse that you shouldn't base your belief in love on "biological responses" defined me as evil to a few in the class. Well, maybe not, but it was fun to debate. Only the smallest portion of the class seemed totally appalled.

return of the "environmental" blog...

I am sitting with the babies watching this movie and it is fantastic and possibly eye opening. I can't help myself, here is the link. The images are breathtaking and the information is also accurate and straitforward. The entire movie is available online also, it seems.