Children of the Corn

The kids are growing!  Last night they asked for 3 servings of corn!  I better increase e amount I serve now!

Simone the Shopper

I took advantage of Simone's love of cheeseburgers and asked her to be the one to approach the counter at Burger King to order her food and to give the money to the cashier.  She did willingly and came out unscathed!

Ice Skating Lessons!

Last Fall, I felt I needed to get the kids in more activities than they usually have been.  After having enjoyed the friendships of the fellow campkids at Fort Meade, I sensed that Simone and Max would miss seeing other kids once we left for Fort Belvoir.  One of the activities that aligned with our schedule was ice skating lessons!

The kids were excited to try it, especially Max, who requested he  learn how to play hockey.  I told my friend Sherrie about the lessons and she warned that it would be expensive should they pursue it.  If the kids like it and do well in it, I think we'll find a way to pay for them.  For now, they are very affordable because we take the lessons through a county program at a recreational center.  

This class is geared towards homeschoolers so the kids in the class range from age 6 to 12.  Max was not only the youngest, but the smallest.  At first he was the slowest, but he kept on getting up and practicing his "marching."  One might admire the resilience of Max's determination to keep trying despite the number of falls he endured, but I noticed he was falling down with a little too much glee.  Either it was the comic in him trying to get some laughs or it was the stunt devil in him practicing his acting.  

Simone did well right away.  She had skated before when we were in Alameda and this tiny rink was set up in 80 degree December day.  She had done well, but that was well over 4 years ago so I wasn't sure if the muscle memory had stuck.  It did!  She was gliding pretty quickly!

When the class was done, the kids requested to partake in the public skate session that followed.  I obliged ... for a little bit.  We had to go see the tax preparer and stop by Target.  The kids were bummed that they could only skate for an extra 10 minutes.  This made me happy that they liked their lessons!!

5 year old Headaches

Max is starting to get headaches when we're in the car.  Simone started having them at this age!

Gym Talk

Max told me this morning, "Mommy.  When I went the gym, I saw some hairy children."

I'll let that one sink in ...

Max then voluntarily explained that when one boy bent over, he "saw some man-hair near his butt back."

...

"His sister was hairy too on her arm, but I only saw it on her wrist."

My kids are hanging out with werewolves!

Awkward questions

I never thought I would come across a question more awkward than "Where do babies come from?"  But Simone asked me the other day, "What does 'pimpin' mean?"

I told her I would tell her later and she pressed to know if I meant later as in "a few hours" or if I meant "in several years."  I told her it was the latter.

Simone in Wonderland

Not only does Simone like the movie but she also like reading Alice in Wonderland!

Another Sign of Old

I realized how old I am.  The kids were watching some preteen studio shows and I had a strange feeling of nostalgia.  The predictable, recycled plots were not what have me déjà vu.  It was the sets!!  One show about a nanny for multiracial kids adopted by a rich woman was set in an apartment that looked so much like that of Different Strokes.  And another show about some kids named Ricky, Dicky and Dawn has their home set in what seems to be the original Family Ties kitchen/living room.  Of course the decor is all updated, but the bones (or layout) are the same!!

A Day in the Life of Snow

When the big blizzard hit in January, the kids were not able to have fun because they were in California.  This past Tuesday, enough snow fell and stuck to the ground that the kids were finally able to have their own snow day!

Costume change

Someone has outgrown the blanket I sewed for her 2 Autumns ago, but she's repurposing it as a hooded cape!

Max Lost Tooth 3!

Take that, Problem!

Hanging around Michael has been such a confidence booster over the years.  Not just because I think he's handsome and like walkng next to him with a expression of, "Eh? Pretty hot guy, right?  I snagged him.  Yeah, that's right.  I must be hot stuff too.  Eh? Eh?"  But I've also learned so much by hanging around him.

This morning I woke up so cold!  The heaters near the bedroom were working, but the big one in the front had died.  Michael is not around this week so it was up to me to keep the kids warm.  I remembered this big heater had died earlier but Michael had opened it up and did something with the fan.  So I followed suit!

I opened up the back, but the fan didn't look too clogged.  So I did what any 80s video-game-playing kid does when something doesn't work.  I blew into it to remove any hard to reach dust.  Guess what.  It worked!

Brrr

This is our thermometer.  The top left number is the temperature outside in Fahrenheit.  The following two gauge the temperature of the bays underneath the living space.  The latter one is more important because it reads the environs where the water supply comes in.  It should never be near freezing.  As you can see, we're doing good in that bay.  So good in fact that it's warmer there than inside which is read by the last number. 

It is coooold.

Awesome Morning!

We saw our first bald eagle in Virginia!  As I do every morning, I pull aside our bedroom curtains to see what our view has to offer.  When I did, Max gasped, wide-eyed.  I looked out and see one of our country's symbols of freedom!

Here's to hoping the rest of the day is magical!

Kids in Wonderland

Should I be concerned that my kids love to watch the Disney original movie version of  "Alice in Wonderland"?

They watch it about once a month.  I guess what it is that is curious (as curious as the oysters and the walrus) is it doesn't follow the typical Disney storyline.  A stubborn, borderline ADHD girl runs around a wacky world trying to solve the mystery as to why a talking, clothed rabbit is late for an appointment.  Along the way, she is has a mental breakdown and realizes that she just wants to go back to her boring, yet stable existence.   Maybe the kids see their mama in the titular character???

Peaceful Morning

We've had a wonderful peaceful morning with the kids watching videos of toys.  They look so harmonious sharing their common interest!

Baby Jesus

Ever since we were introduced to "King's Cake" by my friend Kerry, we buy one every year!  In New Orleans, special cakes are made and in each is a little figurine of the baby Jesus.  Whoever gets it in their slice will have good luck for the next year!  Max got it last year.  Simone got it this year (or rather I made sure she was the one who got the slice his year.)

Before I typed this I heard them say to each other, "Let's play Baby Jesus!  Baby Jesus! Yay, Baby Jesus!"  I'm not sure exactly what they were doing, but at one point, Max came to me excited to show his Baby Jesus hanging out in the vintage truck his dad gave him. 

Back to Homeschool

After a 5 week break, we are back to homeschooling!  They retained most of what they had learned last semester!  Max has less to do so when Simone is still doing Spelling, Max draws. 

I postponed Science today because the topic for Magic School Bus is Lunch!  So as the kids ate their lunch, they followed Ms. Frizzle as she led the kids through Arnold's digestive system!

 

Bunionectomy Recovery

This is an xray of my left foot before surgery.  Look at how the the big toe's long bone is totally out of alignment!

Here's the foot after surgery.  Check out the screw and the staples! Gnarly, huh?  Notice also how much smaller my leg is!  Michael says I've lost my muscle mass.  I hope in addition it's because I'm eating more healthily!

The first day back was full of medication and sleep and Michael running around getting said medication and the new wheelchair and knee scooter that I needed to hobble around in and out of the bus.

The next day, Michael took me out for a stroll in the wheelchair!  I have never been in a wheelchair before so I didn't realize how schnazzy it was until Michael pointed it out.  The short walk around the campground actually pooped me out and my foot's pain started returning.

What I didn't know, however, is that the pain of the foot was not associated to running around.  It was because I had not been advised to take ibuprofen in between the percocet to relieve the swelling!  Once Michael's mom Karen told me that (she's been a nurse for 46 years!), I started to feel so much better.

Raising my foot was of prime concern every hour of the day.  Apparently at night I had been lifting my leg up in the air to relieve pain.  One morning, Michael set up this contraption to help.  In the picture above, I still have the boot that the surgery resident doctors put on.  It came off 1 week after the surgery.  When Dr. Phipps took it off, he remarked at how much gauze was used to wrap my foot.

After the boot came off, I still could not get my foot wet. You can see my foot is orange from the antiseptic (?) and there are marks on it.  Before yesterday, I had to write the word, "yes" on the foot to be operated.  The doodle below my "yes" is Dr. Phipps's indiciation that he knows on which foot to operate.  

Michael rewrapped my foot a couple of times in the week after getting the soft boot off and before getting my stitches off.  You might notice my big toe is now shorter than it used to be.  It is!  Some people try to put gauze in between the big toe and second toe to create more of a space between them.  I would have liked to do that, but the gauze kept coming off.  Oh well.  I'm just glad I don't have a bunion anymore.

Here I am running around in the bus with my knee scooter.  It was really a great choice for indoors.  But running around outside was another matter because I can't lift the scooter into and out the car.  So this is when I knew we had to get crutches before Michael returned to work.  Without them, I would be confined to the bus and we were already running out of milk and frozen dinners!  Luckily, they're only $25.  I ended up getting the youth size because it fit my height and we get the feeling the kids will one day be needing them - escpecially roughhouser Max.  

I enjoyed a few days without stitches and without kids.  This was my time to get back into the groove of being the household manager.  I'm able to wash the dishes and make food with the scooter.  When I was determined to make some salmon on the grill, I figured out how to bring the scooter down the bus.  I just sat down, propped it on its hind wheels and used the brakes to slowly drop it step by step to the ground outside.  It's similar to one's controlling a bike down steps while standing behind it - except I was sitting on my butt and the scooter was several steps below me.  Getting the scooter back up required some grunting and profound upper body strength.  I don't think I can do it in the car because I had to be sitting on my butt and needed all the width available.  Well, maybe I could if I were desperate enough.  Maybe I need to do extra grunts.

The scooter outside is not really terribly needed.  My crutches do a fine job because I can stagger to wheelchairs that supermarkets and the Exchange provides.  

It was great that the kids were not here the first two weeks of recovery.  I may not have healed so well!

The first night they returned was a little nerve-wracking.  They slept in the bed with me because we had been apart for 3 1/2 weeks.  Luckily neither moved around too much nor kicked their feet wildly.  In the morning, however, the kids were moving around interested in the snow flurries falling down outside, and at one point, Max put pressure on my lame foot!  It was a good thing my other foot was there to push Max off!  This told me however that while the kids are here, the boot is my insurance against their natural, youthful energy.  I've already told them to not jump around on the bed, which they've nicely complied these first 2 days.

My dad was a big help when he came!  I was able to keep all the trash and recycling out of the bus.  Michael had a business trip so our sleeping arrangements were actually quite satisfactory.  Simone and Max slept with me on the big bed and my dad fit cozily in Simone's bunk bed!  He even said he had more restful sleep there than in his king-size bed at his house!  He thinks it's because he was restricted from moving so much and thus didn't startle himself awake as much.

Michael has a lot of business trips in the next few weeks, but with my three mobility aids and my two strong kids who love to run to the trash bins and to the laundry house, we'll get this house back in order despite my lame-ness!

Giggly Girl

It's so nice to have the kids back.  Last night they slept with me. In the early morning, when I was awake because of a bathroom visit, I heard a little giggle.  I looked at Simone with her eyes closed and smiling sweetly.