Quality time with Paul, Julia and the Forsythia

Yesterday evening, I was trying to spend a little quality time with my children out of doors, but I was also antsy to do something that felt productive. 

After a little while of pushing the girls on the swings, while Paul dodged past the swings, I decided I could trim the nearby forsythia bushes before dinner time.  I pulled out the big handled trimmers, which Steve calls "lopers" and started to work.  Trimming the forsythia in the spring gives me a lot of satisfaction.  I cut them back so they don't look too gangly.  I thin them, cull the runners, and try to shape them nicely. 

No sooner had I trimmed a couple of branches, then Paul and Julia were upon me wanting to "help."  I looked at my bushes, looked at my children, sighed, and handed the lopers to Julia.  Paul quickly found a pair of hand held trimmers for himself.  I gave them a few directions and guidelines and then divided my time between pushing Petra on the swing and checking on their work.

I was surprised by what a nice job they did.    My visions of badly lopsided bushes were not realized.  I corrected them periodically, but they seemed to have a good understanding of which branches needed to be pruned.  Julia lost interest after a while and I finished her bush.  I also took care of thinning a couple of thick branches from the middle of each bush.  By the end Julia and Petra were chasing each other around with forsythia switches.  Steve came over to help collect the branches and haul them to the burn pile.

I am realizing more and more how badly I need to have Paul and Julia take responsibility for chores around our home.  I benefit from having less work to do and they benefit from having more.  Teaching them is often slow and messy, but the payoffs are huge in the end.  I was reluctant to have them trim the bushes because I was afraid of what they would do wrong.  My mom pointed out later that forsythia are pretty resilient and were excellent plants on which to learn. 

When we were done, I told Paul and Julia, "You guys did good work.  I think you have a new job."

Fashion according to Julia (age 5)

I asked Julia to start a journal and suggested that her first entry should be rules for getting dressed.

Five Rules for giting drest

1.       Always wear pink.

2.       Nevr wear grey

3.       Wear short stuff (She likes short sleeves and shorts.  She makes me cold.)

4.       Wear sparkles if you can.

5.       Wear what I say!

Mommy for President

Today at snack time Paul and Julia were asking about who the current President was.  I started describing how there was an election coming up, and we would probably have the choice of voting for current President Barack Obama or for Mit Romney.  I tried to explain some of the differences in their views.

Paul and Julia decided that I should run for President.  I explained that I would be way too busy if I were President.  Plus I like to be able to make mistakes without having the whole entire world know about it.

Nevertheless, we agreed on a platform for me.  If elected President, I will implement a program in which good deeds are rewarded by giant doughnuts falling from the sky.  The doughnuts will be shot out of gray mechanical clouds, which will then return to the Whitehouse to be replenished.  

this was not my plan

Dear God,

Thank you for the grass stains on the knees of Paul's nice pants that remind me that he is an active, healthy boy who gets outside in the fresh air to play.

Thank you for the unrepairable tears on Julia's leggings, which remind me that she is dancing and spinning and playing.

Thank you for the pair Petra's tights that I had to throw away after the first time she wore them because they took the brunt of the damage when fell and skinned her knee on the sidewalk outside of church. 

And thank you for the delayed start at school that I forgot to plan for, which gave me 15 extra minutes of play with my children on this gorgeous spring day.

Easter Thoughts

I often want things that I don't need.
A dress.
Chocolate.
Travel.
Chocolate.
Gossip.
Seat warmers.
Chocolate.  And to be honest a bunch of other fancy foods that are yummy but not good for me or too expensive.

There are a number of things that I want that are healthy for me.
Exercise.
Quiet time.
Reflection.
Community.

Some things that I know I need, I don't necessarily want.
Correction.
Self control (chocolate etc)
Playing with the children on their level - this is so hard sometimes.

There are a few things that I desperately want and need.
The Cross.
Jesus.
Life.
Sight.
Breath.

I am hungry for these things.  I want them.  I need them.  I am parched unless I am immersed in them.

My hope?
"Then you will call to me.  You will come and pray to me, and I will answer you.  You will seek me, and you will find me because you will seek me with all your heart.  Yes, I say you will find me, and I will restore you to your land."  Jeremiah 29: 12-14a  a letter to the exiles

Happy Easter

Trip to the Zoo

 We made it to the zoo before 10, so it was still pretty quiet there.  I can't tell you what a blessing that was.  The air was still cool, and it was much easier to keep track of my little wanderers.  We didn't bring the stroller this time, so we moved along at a toddlers pace.  By the way, a toddler's pace doesn't necessarily mean slow.  It means having lots of fits and spurts of speed and not moving in anything resembling a straight line.

 My children still favor the sculptures at the zoo.  Here is Paul being eaten by an alligator.

 We had really good luck this time with seeing animals awake and moving.

 Paul got to see manatees and fish.  We all got to pet a snake.

 Julia got to see giraffes and the elephants.  A barred owl was awake and we all hooted at the poor thing.

It is funny to me just how much my children appreciate going to the playgrounds in the zoo.  There are play grounds closer to home!  Oh, well.  It's cool.

One of my favorite things about this trip was Petra's response to the elephants.  She was so excited that she wriggled out of my arms, saying that she was going to get the elephants a snack.  She dodged behind us and grabbed a tiny dry twig.  Petra ran up to the fence and threw the twig over into the bushes.  She was so pleased with herself for feeding the elephants a treat.

It is good to read about amazing animals in books, and to see them on TV.  But it is another thing entirely to see them in real life, to see them move, and eat, and call.  It connects us in a far more important way.  When Petra saw those elephants they excited her powerfully.

Paul's music performance

Two weeks ago we got to see Paul's second grade music performance.  I was really proud of him.  He got to play a xylophone in an instrumental piece.  There were about 3 different songs that included choreography.  I must say that I was impressed by the dancing.  In a polka, the children had to count beats, change partners, and keep track of their left and right.  I could tell that Paul was really concentrating, and he did a good job.

It has also been delight to me to hear him singing these songs at home in practice.  He actually did a better job at keeping the rhythm to "Mama's little baby love shortenin' bread" on his own than the class did in the performance.

He also learned some classic American songs like, "This land is your land."  A patriotic medley at the end of the program choked his principal up so she had trouble speaking afterward.  They did a really nice job.

We got his grade card this week.  Not surprisingly his art grade was lacking, but he's doing great in music.  That really pleases me.

Julia in her element

I got to go to a jewelry party on Saturday.  The deal was that grandma and I would take Julia and Petra with us and the guys would work on the kitchen.  Deal!

I knew Julia would have fun at the party.  She is good at talking with adults. She loves glitz and bling.  This was her kind of event.

I had been told ahead of time that there would be some sort of competition involving purses, so I encouraged Julia to bring a purse with a few things inside it.  She got a decorative lunch box and stuffed it with combs, some lotion and toys.  One of the toys was a music player.  I winced a little.

Our jewelry consultant had raffle tickets for prizes.  You could earn raffle tickets by trying on some of her stock of jewelry - Julia had fun with that.  You could also earn them by clapping when you saw something you liked - Julia racked up a bunch of those.

By the end of the party, I think most of us had 3 to 4 tickets, and Julia had 12.  She and I got a little handbag, which she is enjoying immensely.

Another game was a competition, which involved digging through our purses to find things that began with specific letters.  When we got to the letter D, I started diving for my driver's license.  Before I could get my fingers on it, I heard my sweet little 5 year old call out, "I have a disk!"    Remember that music player?

Out done by my own girl.

Oh well.  The consultant said she can take Julia on as a trainee in 13 years.  This might be a good ticket for Julia to earn some extra money during college.

Petra is not full of beans

One of Petra's fun little phrases right now is, "I have an idea!"  It is usually followed by something like, "I go get my nigh-nigh," after which she tromps upstairs to get her favorite blanket.

She's not shy about expressing what she want.  After being asked what she wanted for breakfast she answered, "I want Os [cheerios] ... in a bowl... with milk... and a 'poon."  I guess she was concerned that Steve and I would forget one of those critical elements.

Petra is a little funny about identity right now.  While she is very happy to pretend to be a puppy, or a kitty, or a dinosaur (Roar!), or a baby humpback whale, she is sometimes put out if you call her by something other than her name.  I might say, "Petra, you are full of beans."

She will answer, "I not full of beans.  I'm Petra Grace."

This week Julia claimed, "I'm Mary Poppins!"
This frustrated Petra no end.  "You NOT Mary Poppins.  You're Julia Rose."

She loves swinging very much.  If we go out to the play set, she will sit on the swing until I am absolutely sick of pushing her.  Then I suggest that we take some weeds down to the chickens.  Petra will typically oblige.  We call the chickens,"Chickens!  I have some onion grass for you!" But they all run away.

Petra tells me if the moon is in the sky or if there are any ladybugs on the wall.  Right now her favorite books are "Mickey and the Haunted House" and "Detective Donald and the Case of the Missing Peanuts."