Ever have one of those days?

This was not the case today, but it has been, and sometimes it helps to hum this little ditty for perspective.

Earth Day Review

My friend Katherine and I have started swapping kids one morning a week for school. I had the other kids and mine for Earth Day yesterday. (Completely disregarding the fact that it was my Mom's birthday as well. Sorry, Mom! Happy B"earth"day. Ha ha.)

I decided to do a unit on Recycling. I had the kids watch a short video about Earth Day and how it started. Then we sorted ours and Katherine's recycling. Then we went to the recycling center. It's a big scary, muddy place. Right next to the household recycling center is the recycling place for big items. Habtamu wanted to go look, so we asked a guy and he said we could look but to stay in a certain place. We looked at the piles of refrigerators and piles of big metal things, and I was fascinated. The children were not excited by it, and were dinking around. (Lee said I should have feigned disinterest so they would be excited.)

Then I realized we were standing on a truck scale. Altogether we weighed 400 pounds. It would register us one at a time for Habtamu and me, but nothing for the littler kids. Actually, I'm pretty sure Noe doesn't weight anything. Little wisp of a thing. :)

Then back home for a craft (we made wax earths out of a shredded candle and shredded crayons - melted with an iron), and a video about garbage and what happens to it. REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE people!
















After all the wonderful planning on my part, THIS was the best part of Yordanos' day. (And possibly mine!) She could not figure out how I was pulling my finger off.

How do you spell "D'oh" ?

I used the word "squinch" today, and the kids started laughing. It IS a funny word, but then I wondered out loud, "You know, I'm not sure that's a real word."

"Really?" the kids said, "But you know English."

"Yeah, really! I'll look it up in the Dictionary."

"What's THAT?!"

That was my head slap moment. How can MY children not know what a Dictionary is? I mean, really! I Looooooooooooooooooooove the Dictionary. Love with a capital L.

So I brought it out and looked up "squinch," which is indeed a word. I showed the kids how to use it, and realized I need a children's Dictionary now that they are semi-literate. They looked up "fish" (Habtamu) and "cat" (Yordanos) with some help from me. Habtamu guessed there were 450 words in the book. I laughed and said I thought it was a bit MORE, but couldn't find a count. He suggested we count them one by one. I assured him that that is not possible.

I'd like to share with you our new spelling program at School of Gardner. I like it and the kids like it, although you wouldn't think that they would.

I found some lists of the 220 most used words, and we do 10 words a day. (I also have lists with more words for later.)

1. I have them WRITE the words 5 times as they're saying the word.
2. I have them READ the words to me.
3. Then they spell them OUT LOUD for me (without looking if possible, with if it's a harder word) until they can spell them confidently.
4. Then I have them use the words in SENTENCE, to make sure they know what the words mean.
5. Finally, they take the TEST. They usually get all the words correct at that point. If they miss one, I have them write it another few times and spell it out loud to me again.

My Dad commented that that sounded a lot tougher than he remembers school. Me too, but I want to give them every opportunity to gain literacy. The bonus is that they like it. :)

Catching up... Easter Pics

Uncle Paul and Aunt Carrie set up an Easter egg hunt for the kids in Grandma and Grandpa's backyard. Aren't they cute? They are about to be hit with a Life Bomb: their 1st baby will be born in June.





















Unable to find any eggs in the 1st 10 seconds, Habtamu has kittens.




















After a brief conference with Uncle Paul, Habtamu rallies, considers his options, and starts finding eggs.























































Yordanos, not finding any eggs right away, continues to search and point out her brother's eggs contrary to instructions. But she's just so pretty in her Easter dress, that it's hard to be mad.





















































Coloring eggs at Grandma's. I've been pretty bad about doing things like this for holidays. Valentine's Day and St. Patrick's day passed with nary a comment from me. Any crafts they did on the subject were from church. (In their "Knick Knacks for Jesus" class.) So, yay, Grandma for keeping the traditions alive. :)

Breakin' Boards and Takin' Names

Habtamu and I got our blue belts in Karate earlier this month. We got to break boards with a palm heel strike this time! Lee was on hand to take some pics.

Here's Habtamu not warming up or stretching because he "doesn't need to." I'm sure you can see my issue with this. I'll have the black belts tell him how important it is, since he has yet to listen to my lengthy discourses on the subject... or my "just do it" statements. His response: shrug, eyeroll.





















Habtamu and I conferring about how awesome we are.





















Here's Habtamu holding his own with a blue belt. He comes alive in sparring, but only with boys and men. I am grateful for that, except that these ladies (and I) can take it. If we spar, he lets me back him into a corner and doesn't want to fight me. Again, grateful. And yet, c'mon kid, put some energy into it.





















I spar ok against this kid, as he's one of the ones that drops his guard. He always starts by taking it easy on me, then realizes that he doesn't have to. Thankfully, I did not have to spar with the guy on the right: he was going for his brown belt (2 away from black), and you can see that I would have been toast. The boy on the left with the red gloves is the one whose shin broke my pinkie finger awhile back. He's a very nice kid, and I hold no grudge against him or his shin. I do begrudge my age which ensures that any injuries I get from now on will continue to hurt to some extent. My pinkie is much better, but, like the wrist that I sprained a few years ago, will never be the same again.















This is Master Burris breaking cement pavers. It was very exciting, and you can see Habtamu squealing in the background. :)

Mmmm... Chocolate

Y: Mommy? I want ferenge [foreign, white] skin.
Me: Really? Why?
Y: So pretty, and yellow hair.
Me: I like YOUR skin.
Y: Really? It's pretty?
Me: Oh, yes! And, honey, you watch the ferenge people this summer.
Y: Why?
Me: They will all be sitting in the sun trying to make their skin dark.
Y: Really? They want skin like mine?
Me: Yep.

I think Yordanos has the most beautiful color skin. I kissed her neck the other day and she said, "Why you do that?" I said, "Because it's such a pretty neck." She said, "Does it taste like chocolate? Hee hee... my chocolate neck." I said, "Yes! And I'm going to nibble on it again..."

Beautiful Day

Y: Mommy!
Me: Yes?
Y: The sun! Like a warm day!
Me: You're right! It's EXACTLY like a warm day.

Childish: Me or the children?

Conversation from this morning...

Y: Why you all the Peeps eat?
Me: Why were you digging in the garbage?
H: Not digging... just gum throwing away.
Me: Gum? It's 7 a.m.
Y: You said SHARE the Peeps.
Me: No... YOU said share the Peeps... I said they are mine. You ate all your Easter candy. This was mine.
Y: You not tell the truth. You said share the Peeps. Why you eat all the Peeps?!
Me: They were MINE.
Y: We share candy with you.
Me: Um, yeah, that one bite of the one chocolate bunny. You had about 6 bunnies. Anyway, the Peeps are gone now.
Y: You not tell the truth. You said share.
Me: I never said I would share the Peeps and they are GONE NOW.
H: You eat all last night? All five?
Me: Yes.
Y: You said you were full.
Me: This was after you were in bed.
Y: You not tell the truth. (grumble, grumble) You said share.
Me: (ARGH!)

Inch by Inch, pound by pound

I was kind of hoping to wait a full year before getting nostalgic, but last year at this time is when we started getting correspondence from Ethiopia and seeing Yordi running around at Easter reminded me of one of the first pictures we saw of her, with her shirt full of eggs.

Weight 49 pounds
Height: 47 inches

That was a year ago, this is her yesterday.Weight: 63 pounds
Height: 52 inches

Now I know kids are supposed to do that... you know, get all bigger and older much faster than you want them too, but COME ON!

Then there's her brother, here's a picture from May 2008Weight: 75 lbs
Height: 54.5 inches

And a shot from last week

Weight: 119.5 pounds
Height: 60.5 inches

Yes, you read that right. That's 6 inches and 45 pounds in one year. Now I know, it's possible that numbers got fudged somewhere between Ethiopia and here and that I picked a photo where he's wearing a sweatshirt, but seriously, would folks back in Ethiopia even recognize him any more? I'm not going to say that he's not packing a little excess weight, but he's also a very active bike riding, swimming, karate kicking, strong boy. He likes it when I put my car in neutral and let him push it down the driveway.

What a difference a year makes, huh?

Handling the Holy and Blessed Remote Control

On behalf of all the parents in the world, I present to you:

The Remote Control Commandments

Thou shalt accept the fact that using the remote is a privilege, not a right.

Thou shalt respect the remote at all times.

Thou shalt wash thy hands before touching the remote.

Thou shalt take responsibility if the remote becomes sticky, dirty or in some other way ceremonially unclean. We all know Mommy didn't gunk up the remote with raisins and peanut butter.

Thou shalt refrain from playing with the remote between your feet.

Thou shalt not argue that your socks and/or barefeet, are actually clean enough for the afore-mentioned activity.

Thou shalt refrain from putting the remote in your mouth, even if it faintly tastes like socks, raisins and peanut butter.

Thou shalt keep the remote in plain sight at all times and preferably in a universally logical location. On top of the toaster may meet the first criteria, but not the second.

Thou shalt not hide or 'accidentally drop' it deep into the couch cushion. See previous commandment.

Thou shalt not randomly change channels or volume, nor shall you deny involvement when it happens.

Thou shalt move thine butt to the TV and not continue to mash buttons and sigh heavily when it's batteries are confirmed dead. Just because Daddy does it, doesn't make it right.

Thou shalt relinquish the remote to Daddy upon request.

Thou shalt do so immediately and without pouting, hesitation, bargaining or sulking as Daddy will only make His request once. After which, thine options will become extremely limited.

Thou shalt not continue to carry the remote control around after TV/movie/game time is over in hopes of staking a claim for the next time.

Thou shalt not throw the remote at Daddy, the TV, or any unsuspecting cat regardless of it's working condition or your current mood. ("It" being the remote control, not the cat.)

And most importantly:
Thou shalt respect He who allowed TV/movie/game time in the first place, for He who giveth can taketh away.

Happy Easter!
I'm a democratic kind of guy... please include any additional amendments to the Remote Control Commandments in the comments.