Day Three Hundred Fifty-One: Donating to a Busker

Clay will be taking a guitar class during the upcoming school year, and he was thrilled to find that his new guitar had arrived while he was away. He immediately pulled it out and started playing around with it. After dinner, he had already set himself up as a busker in our living room. I normally don't give donations to buskers, but this time I found myself powerless to refuse!

Day Three Hundred Twenty-One: Drinking Tomato Concentrate

As I was preparing to make spaghetti sauce today, my little kitchen helper saw the cans of tomato concentrate (tomato paste) on the counter and was reminded of V8 juice, which he loves. He asked me if he could drink one of them and would not be persuaded that the stuff inside the cans was not drinkable. I opened a can to show him how thick the paste was, and he was disappointed but continued to pine for some to drink. Finally, I emptied some into a glass and added water. He was thrilled and happily drank up most of what was in the glass. But then the lure of the snow beakoned him, and he took off without finshing it. Seeing the glass on the counter and thinking that I quite like V8 myself, I emptied the glass. It was the first time I ever drank tomato concentrate in such a pure form, and it was delicious (though I wouldn't have complained if it had had a splash of vodka in it 😉).

Day Two Hundred Sixty-Eight: Unique Birthday Activities

Months ago, Clay made out a birthday agenda for his big day. It included some items you would expect for a birthday party and a few truly unique items like "Wake up as early as possible," "Building Contest," "Draw a wolf," and "When I go to bed, everyone goes to bed." I can honestly say I have never been to a birthday party where I participated in a wolf drawing contest or a building contest, but it was super fun!

Wolf Drawings
(Top left: Me, Top right: Jeff
Bottom left: Ruth, Bottom right: Clay)

Day Two Hundred Thirty-Eight: New Homeschool Group and a Date with Clay

Since we moved here, we have not been involved with any homeschool groups except CC, but today some of us went to a teen/tween game day at a coffee shop in Lewisville with a local homeschool group. It's always good to meet new people, and I think the kids had a pretty good time.

I also got to go out on a date with just Clay tonight, which may have happened before, but he was sure we had never been on a date before, "just us," and I really can't remember, so we're going to count it.

Day Two Hundred Thirty-Six: A New Stunt

When you are the mother of four, you can often feel like you've seen every stunt a kid can pull. But, this evening, I experienced a completely new one. My youngest child, who is generally one of the most compliant and agreeable children I have ever met, decided to try on a different personality for a while. Just he and I were grocery shopping, and he was pushing the cart and generally being quite helpful. We stopped to pick up something, and he asked for an adjacent item, which he must have known I was going to say no to, and that is exactly what I said. I then continued walking and turned to the next aisle while he lagged with the cart. That little toot went ahead and put the forbidden item in the shopping cart, which I failed to notice during the rest of our shopping trip. Then, while I was busy talking to the clerk and sorting through some coupons, he put it on the conveyor belt, and it was rung up and bagged before I even looked up. And, while I was bringing in groceries, he unloaded his "prize" and put it in the pantry with the label turned so I wouldn't notice it. But, of course, a sibling found it and realized it was something we wouldn't normally have in the house. Busted. This truly came out of nowhere and just goes to show that kids will surprise you, even when you think you've seen everything.

Day Two Hundred Fifteen: Cheese and Cracker

A while back, Clay bought a cookbook at the library's used book sale. He immediately picked out a couple of recipes he wanted to try and made a grocery list. This list spent several weeks in his room before being moved to a prominent place on the refrigerator where it kept getting overlooked because, frankly, it just looked like another piece of paper. When I announced a trip to the grocery store yesterday, Clay determined he would go with me, list in hand. I had long ago forgotten about his list, but I dutifully bought the items. So, he was all set to make fried mozzarella sticks and butter noodles for dinner tonight. The only problem was we didn't actually buy all the ingredients that were needed for the cheese sticks because mysteriously not all of them were on our list. I am generally a strict recipe follower, especially when I'm trying something new, but I didn't want to disappoint Clay, so I literally made something up on the spot using ingredients we had on hand. And then, not wanting to waste the breading, I decided to make it into a giant cracker. It was a grand experiment! Neither the cheese sticks nor the cracker turned out very pretty, but they tasted pretty good, which I guess is what matters. That, and the fact that I got to spend some quality time with my little guy in the kitchen!

Fried Mozzarella "Sticks"

A giant cracker or something similar

Day One Hundred Seventy-Five: Making it onto the Thankful Board

This year, we are trying to be very intentional about being thankful and filling our home with positivity. One of the things we've done is to transform our school white board into a Thankful Board. Anything may be written on the board by any person as long as it is positive and reflects a spirit of thankfulness. Being a stay-at-home mom/homeschool teacher can sometimes feel like a very thankless job, so I was thrilled to see that I made the board! I do know my family appreciates me, but it's nice to see it in writing. Plus, you know you're doing something right when you see your name sitting there next to "croty" (karate)! 😀

So much to be thankful for!

Day One Hundred Sixty-One: Adult Coloring Book

I admit, "adult" coloring books have never appealed to me. I have always suspected that I have too many perfectionist tendencies and not enough artistic ones to find it truly relaxing, like the covers always claim. But today, I borrowed the adult coloring book that I bought for my little artist, and with him by my side saying things like, "Art is slow, but it's fun," I gave it a whirl. I can't exactly say it was relaxing for me, but I was happy with the finished product, and I was thrilled to spend some time connecting with my art lover. 

Day One Hundred Fifty-Eight: ZOOB

The boys got several ZOOB building sets for Christmas, and they have been a huge hit! Clay commandeered the lot of them today and was busy literally all afternoon building one gadget after another. He kept coming into the room where I was and showing me every project. Every time, I would remark how cool I thought his creation was. Finally, he sweetly offered, "I can show you how to make them, if you want." I closed my laptop and gave him my full attention. With patience and authority, he spent the next while teaching me how to build all his cool creations and showing me considerable grace when I didn't get it just right. Then he built phones for each of us, and I spent many happy minutes calling him up at various restaurants to order food, which he would then make out of ZOOBs and deliver to me. So often I see the kids' toys as a babysitter or an annoyance, but I had fun today seeing them the way the kids see them and letting myself just get caught up in the diversion.

Having fun with ZOOB

Day One Hundred Fifty-Six: Acorn Squash

I have cooked and eaten many kinds of squash, but today was my first time to prepare acorn squash, which Clay saw in the store a few days ago and begged for exactly because we had never had them before.

We rubbed them with coconut oil and
sprinkled some cinnamon and nutmeg on top.

Day One Hundred Twenty-Two: Rogue One

I am not really a fanatical Stars Wars fan, but I have seen all the movies at least once, in the theater, no less. All except one. I missed Rogue One last year, because, according to our family rule, Clay was still too young to see the movies, so I stayed home with him while everyone else went to see it. The older kids have since taken a vote to let Clay into the Stars Wars club a little early, so he's been trying to see all of them before the new one comes out in theaters next week. Since I missed Rogue One, I decided I better get caught up, too. So Max and Clay and I piled into the back seat of the parked car today and watched it on an iPad with a shattered screen. There were several new experiences in there, and a good time was had by all!

Watching Rogue One with a couple of cuties

Day One Hundred Twenty-One: Dinner Out with my Littles

Because our family is in a crazy divide-and-conquer stage of life, I had dinner out with just my "Bigs" a few weeks ago, and tonight I got to have dinner out with just my "Littles." (In both cases, we went to Mexican food restaurants, which is how you know I'm raising my kids right!) The boys picked Chuy's, a family favorite from way back, and we had fun watching a lady make tortillas and indulging in some of our favorite Mexican food, smothered in creamy jalapeno sauce. While I would prefer to have all my people together, I do also appreciate and enjoy the time spent with one or two of them at a time.

Excited about fresh tortillas

Dinner with my "Littles" (who aren't very little!)

Day One Hundred Eleven: Bedtime Excuse

Bedtime stalling is certainly nothing new around here. It's pretty much a nightly ritual, and I thought I had heard just about every excuse in the book. But tonight, I heard a brand new one. When I went to tuck Clay in, he told me that it felt like there was "brown" in his throat. "Brown?" I asked. "Yes;" he replied, "I can feel colors, and brown is not a good one." This was the first I had heard of a throat problem, and certainly the first time I even knew brown could be a throat problem.

Day Ninety-Nine: National Gallery of Art

We did lots of things today that I've never done before, but for the purpose of this post, I'm just going to pick one: The National Gallery of Art and Sculpture Garden. (You can read about the other stuff on my other blog, if you're so inclined.)

First of all, let me say, I can recognize if I like a painting/drawing/sculpture or not, but I do not really have what people might call "artistic skills." Somehow, though, I have managed to give birth to a child who absolutely adores all things art and genuinely appreciates so much about it. He picked up a brochure when we entered the building and immediately created a scavenger hunt for himself with it. I may not have appreciated all the art in its own right, but I loved experiencing the art galleries with my little art lover, and I enjoyed trying to help him find the things he was looking for. We did see lots of lovely and interesting art, and we visited with an artist who spends a few hours every Friday trying to copy paintings in the museum as a way of improving his skills. After viewing most of the galleries, we had a picnic in the sculpture garden, enjoying the art there and the beautiful day.

National Gallery of Art

Watching an artist work

I really liked this mosaic, which represented the skin colors of actual people.
I love how the different skin tones complement each other so well.
This is the kind of beauty humans were made for.

A lovely metal tree in the sculpture garden

Day Eighty-Seven: Ninja Warrior Contest

We spent a portion of the afternoon watching Clay and Max compete in Ninja Warrior contests, which was a new experience for all of us. The gym where Max takes gymnastics was transformed into a giant obstacle course, and the kids were divided into age groups for the competition. It was so fun to watch, and I was so proud of both boys!

Little Monkey Man

Ninja Clay

Max was made for this

Max got 2nd place overall in his age group

Day Eighty-Two: Super Tutor and Fun Mom

We aren't much into Halloween, but since CC fell on that day this year, we decided to dress up along with the rest of the campus. Weston repurposed his Eric the Red costume from last year's final Essentials project. Max went as a cowboy. And, Clay was Neil Armstrong. I'm not much of a costume wearer, but I wanted to get in on the fun, too, so I borrowed Clay's Batman cape and became Super Tutor. My Essentials class got a kick out of it, and it was about as much costume as I felt I could pull off.

Later, when I was getting ingredients out for dinner, one of my children traipsed through the kitchen and asked the age-old "What's for dinner?" question. I replied "Jack-o-lantern cheeseburger pie," which caused a shocked response of "Fun Mom must be here!"

It was definitely my most spirited Halloween in all my adult years!

Super Tutor

My Halloween Helpers and Jack-O-Lantern Pies

Day Seventy-Three: Ft. Worth Symphony

We had our first experience with the Ft. Worth Symphony tonight and had so much fun participating in the instrument petting zoo and listening to some familiar tunes from the Harry Potter movies. I'm thankful for all the opportunities we have living here in DFW!

Checking out the French horn

The drum was a natural fit for this guy

Such a fun, interactive concert!

We loved the venue and the orchestra!

Day Forty: Doorknob Repair

I thought it would be really cool if the First for today was something spectacular, since it's the Fortieth First to celebrate turning 40. But life doesn't always play along with our grand plans. So, instead of something spectacular, I repaired a doorknob. It's not that I've never repaired anything before--I am actually quite handy with a screwdriver, if I do say so myself--but I think this was the first time I've had to put a doorknob back together. And, it was definitely the first time I had to do something like that with a bum knee, which seems irrelevant until you realize that without the ability to kneel, you are either standing and are therefore too tall to see all the inner workings of the knob, bending at the waist, which can get uncomfortable pretty quickly, or sitting flat on your rear on the floor and are too short. I really can't even take full credit for this first, because Clay insisted on helping, so I let him screw in one of the screws. We make a great team, and we got the job done. I did do it in my nice clothes, though, so I guess that could be my little bit of spectacular. 😀

 

Busted doorknob

Putting it all back together

Finishing touches
(He does not have a black eye. This is the tail end of pirate face paint.)

Day Thirty-Four: Quilling

I went to Hobby Lobby today specifically to look for inspiration for Firsts. That's one of those deceptive stores that makes the average person feel as if she can do anything just by choosing to shop there, and it was tempting to pick out projects that were not currently realistic for me. (Though maybe someday I'll have all the crafter skills and make a fortune on Etsy.) Ultimately, I discovered the quilling kits (on clearance!) and my mind was made up for my afternoon project. Thankfully, it was not too difficult, and Clay and I found it to be very enjoyable. (As soon as Clay found out I had returned from the store with art supplies, he was 100% on board!) Maybe with a little more practice, I'll be able to open that Etsy shop sooner than expected!

Tools of the trade and first fruits

I love spending time with my people as I work on my Firsts

The front of a card I made

Day Thirty-Two: Soccer Mom

For years I drove a minivan, and for even more years I've been hauling kids around to various sports' practices. But tonight, for the first time, I truly owned the moniker "soccer mom." What's more, Clay's soccer practice was held in our neighborhood park, and so I think it's also the first time I've walked one of my kids to practice instead of driven them, which makes the stereotypical minivan perception of a soccer mom ridiculously ironic. Clay is one cute little soccer player, and I'm sorry I didn't capture a picture of him practicing.