Sisters

One special Kindergartner I know has missed the last 3 days of school.  Here is hoping she doesn't miss tomorrow; especially since it my weekly Wednesday morning in her class.  (Sweet Pea visits Daddy at work while I go spend some time in Sunflower's classroom.)

Sunflower being home has given me a chance to see how much progress she and Sweet Pea has made in their relationship.  Oh Friday morning Sweet Pea ran across the room just to hit Sunflower because Sunflower was on my lap (even though Sweet Pea was playing with her toys across the room) so we still have some ways to go, but there is less and less of that and more and more of this...

 ...cooperative play that is.  It does astound me what one supposedly sick 5 year old and a two year old girl can do to my house when they play together, but it is so much better than that first summer, I won't complain.

After all, Sweet Pea is actually really good at cleaning up.

Don't let this picture fool you.  I merely suggested that the girls pick up their brothers' Skylanders and Sweet Pea was immediately throwing them into the bucket...not at my camera as the picture may suggest.

Since I haven't really talked about how sad it made my heart that Sweet Pea was so resistant to Sunflower's overtures and saw her more as competition than family, you probably can't understand how happy it makes my heart that they are starting to be friends.

Why just today, Sweet Pea brought Sunflower her blanket when Sunflower was sitting on my lap and crying.  And the other day when Sweet Pea had climbed up on my lap at the desk when I was trying to answer e-mails, Sunflower came over an leaned on my arm.  As I tried to send at least one of them away, Sweet Pea scooted over so she was only on one of my knees and said, "Araa, Lap!" and patted my leg for Sunflower to climb up on.   So I didn't get a picture posted to facebook that day, but I had two girls on my lap and a happy heart.

So it is only fitting that on Friday we received a package from Aunt L and Uncle P to celebrate the girls' sisterhood. Okay, so technically it was to celebrate their birthdays...my blog isn't the only thing a tad behind...but since Aunt L almost always sends coordinating outfits, her presents always celebrate the two girls being sisters, too.

Sure enough the outfits are pretty cute which matching hairclips.

But the girls were probably a little more excited about the books.  

We do love our books.  Thank you, Aunt L and Uncle P.  

Too Soon

Sunflower: I choose Gabe.
Me:  What?
Sunflower:  I choose to marry Gabe.
Me: You are only 4.  It is too early to make a choice.
Sunflower:  Too late.  I already decided.
Me:  You don't need to worry about this when you are 4.
Sunflower: Well, it isn't like I would marry Abby's brother.
                   Gabe would have fun married to me.
Me:  Ha.  Still you can't decide now.
Sunflower:  Mom, focus.  Focus on what I'm saying.  I choose Gabe.

  

Please, Thank-You, and Pie

Today at MOPS our speakers talked about pantry shopping, meal planning, and a little about teaching our children table manners.  Specifically they talked about how being polite about what is served you.  That eating what is served you and saying thank you is about honoring the other person and treating them with kindness.  After all, the speaker said, eating is relational and Jesus said "Eat what is put before you." (I didn't believe her and had to look it up; Luke 10:8.)

So at dinner I tried to explain it to our children.  We work hard on not letting them be rude, but the idea of it being about treating others with consideration was a slightly new bent.  SnapDragon at first said, "You don't want me to lie, do you!  It is just about speaking the truth."  But I told him you don't have to lie.  You can just be polite and say thank you for this food.  When I mentioned again about it being about the other person and treating them kindly, he totally got it.

Sunflower...maybe not so much.  She said...

"I can give you an example of being polite!  It is saying please and thank you.  Like may I please have a piece of pie?"

Yes, exactly.

"Can I please have a piece of pie?"

No.  But you can have some more noodles.

"I don't like them.  Can I please have a piece of pie?"   

  

Swing Into Spring

I want to do a thoughtful post on Easter and what it means to me, because it is my favorite Holiday, but we've been too busy enjoying the great weather and celebrating.  But just so you know, Christ is Risen...He is Risen Indeed.

Sweet Pea has been loving her swing.  I have a year supply of swing photos.  These are just from yesterday.

She just makes so many great expressions.  We love it and she loves it.

When she slows down she starts to count.  1, 2, 3...GO!  Today for the first time she used 2 and 3 fingers for the 2, 3.  Her verbal words don't quite sound like 1, 2, 3...but we know what it means:  Give me a big push!

She loves going high and fast.

With the wind blowing in her hair...

And I love counting with her, giggling with her, shrieking with joy with her (which when I do it always makes her giggle), and taking lots and lots of pictures.

The others enjoy taking their turns in the swing next to her just as much as she loves her swing.

I just don't stand in front of them with my camera for long.
The boys like to jump off onto the ground (which I did as a child and never hurt myself...but internally I'm completely opposed to it; externally I allow it).

 This is my life and I love it.

 

Favorite Photo Friday

So hard to choose...and Friday isn't over.  If the sun stays out we'll have more pictures after the girls' naps.  I am really hoping Sunflower will actually sleep.  She is fighting a cold and needs the extra sleep so badly.

But while she tries and Sweet Pea sleeps, I get to play with pictures.

  

 

Kindergarten Enrollment...what?

Thursday we attended open house at one of the possible schools Sunflower will attend next year for Kindergarten.  It is our home school and third choice.  But if we do not find a new house in another district, it may become our only choice.  So we needed to visit.

And we did really enjoy 2 out of the 3 Kindergarten teachers that we met.  The other one is probably fine, too, but she seemed a little less sold on her own school and kept saying slightly snarky things...for example "the science curriculum gives us snails, which I don't like and the kids put water in them today so now I have to clean it."

But one of the teachers we actually really, really liked.  She spent time interacting with Sunflower, playing on the floor with her and other children, asking her about numbers and colors.  She answered questions about Kindergartner readiness and whether or not to hold back an August birthday.  She took time to evaluate Sunflower's ease of seperating from us when we went to look at another classroom, cleaning up after herself, and patience to sit still to finish a puzzle in her answer.

No.  The problem we find with our school choices have not been the teachers.  But while the bus to this school comes straight to our door; literally the bustop is our driveway and has been for years; it is a school that on paper is failing.  Passing test scores are on in the 20s and sometimes the Teens.  We went to an open house for a program that next fall will be serving 75 Kindergartners...and 5 children were represented (only 4 families as there was a set of twins.)  And there is more...

But listing the problems doesn't solve our problem.  It is on our list because it is the school that will have to accept Sunflower.  It is close and will bus her.  It is not significantly worse than the other schools around us.  Our first choice is the school her brothers attended for K-3rd, but it is not our district and has less Kindergarten classes than it did when they went, so there just might not be space for her.  2nd choice is the school Huckleberry went to for 4-5, and SnapDragon (as an out of district student) will attend if there is a space for him in the Excell (Honors) Program.  Then at least we would have two children at the same school for the first time ever.  

Our other options are moving, but that takes work, money, and a house in the right spot coming on the market.  Or we can drive even more distance to maybe slightly better schools.  Or we could homeschool (which I believe is a solution for some, but currently not us.)

So my point...I am presently quite at peace with it all.  God certainly has a plan for my daughter's schooling and she will learn to read no matter where she attends.  Being in the safest, richest neighborhoods does not guarantee safety in this world we live in.  Attending a school where Caucasian is a minority and 80% of the families wonder how they will pay for dinner will not make her a Kindergarten gang member. 

But while I feel my choices are limited by our gas budget, schedule, and energy level, I cannot help but feel for families who have no choice but to send their child to their assigned public school no matter how poor the scores are.  I've heard the argument that if you REALLY care you can always enroll your child elsewhere, but reality is that is NOT an option for everyone.  Spots get filled by other students.  Transportation is not provided when you choose another school.  Working parents cannot homeschool their child.

So at what point do you feel defeated and just stop caring?  We are no where near that ourselves, but I can see why others may be.  Sure there are some that never cared, but I think a lot of parents do care...they just cannot risk losing their one income in order to take a day off for a field trip.  They cannot include 3 different school runs into the schedule for their one car.  (We currently have 3 children in three different non-bussing schools which has made this year a lot of driving.)

I listen to debates about Mandarin Immersion and Chinese Nannies and this charter school vs that one...and I wish those were what I was contemplating.  At times.

But my child's education is more than numbers and reading (which so far they have received in these low rated schools just fine and we could supplement at home).  It is also about seeing injustice, caring, compassion, and doing something about it.

So as we pray for God's direction and His doors to open or shut in Sunflower's enrollment, we are not just seeking where she is going to learn her ABC's (which she already knows), we are asking, what do we need to do to enroll too?  Who can I get to take Sweet Pea so my involvement can be what it was when the boys were little?  What difference can our family make in a system that is broken, inequitable, and failing its students?  Where can we make the most impact?

Sure someday I may need to homeschool one of my children to help them succeed, but in the meantime they are thriving in public school.  My goal is to not only work to encourage their continued success but maybe also to help another child or two and their family thrive also.  

But I will admit that when I pray, I do lean a little toward the school and teachers I already know and love...though not my will, but God's.

But who wouldn't love to teach this child?  She will do great.  It is getting me to act on my convictions that worries me.
 

Random Things from Our Weekend

It was a great weekend, and as soon as I finish this I'm going to sit down and watch TV, so I plan to be fast.  The pictures will have nothing to do with the commentary.

Saturday we deep cleaned the kids rooms and organized toys.  We'll see how long that lasts.  We did pack away some toys for now to limit the potential damage in the wake of Hurricane Sunflower and Tornado Sweet Pea.

Then the girls and I spent some time outside while the boys and Dad played StarCraft together.  Sweet Pea is definitely the one in the family with the most potential to buy us a house with her sports career.  The weather was beautiful.

Then we had dinner with friends.  Technically it was our Saturday night Home Fellowship Group/Bible Study/Small Group/Cell Group/Mini-church, etc. depending on what church you go to, but we call it HFG and since all but us canceled it was dinner with friends.  We missed the others and were sorry about their reasons for missing (baby with RSV and broken water heater being some of the reasons) but it was nice to only have 6 kids total instead of 22.

We did buy some hair clips for the girls this weekend.  We want a little less of Sweet Pea's hair to be bangs, but finding clips at times has been a problem.  With 25 new ones we should be able to make it a month or two.

Oh, how I loved being able to play with sunlight backlight again...and with my new lens it is fabulous!  It was the first time I filled my memory card in months.  Light is what I love about photography.

Sunday SnapDragon sang in both main services at church with a group of 6 other kids...hmmm, the rest were girls.  They sang the chorus of My Deliverer by Rich Mullins.  I enjoyed watching him so much and he really enjoyed being part of worship and was sad when it was done.  But I am glad he won't be practicing the same two lines over and over and over and over anymore.

Sweet Pea had her first communion at church (very early for any denomination) but you try having food and drink and not share it with her!  It seemed it would be better for the rest of the congregation to give her a little bit...thankfully our church serves juice, not wine.  I'm pretty sure God understands.

Today we watched the movie Elf and folded clothes.  We should probably cancel the DVD portion of our NetFlix.  I put Elf in our queue to watch at Christmas, but we sat on "Young Sherlock Holmes" for 3 months so we missed seeing it during the season.  I do admit we all enjoyed the movie, though Sweet Pea missed it due to the best nap she has had in 3 weeks.

Then Oak, the girls, and I went to McDonalds for dinner and WalMart.  The boys had dinner at home and played some more computer.  Huckleberry is almost 13 and SnapDragon 9...when did they get so old?  I don't know, but I must admit having two kids seemed like a complete breeze.  Sunflower even got to order chocolate milk since we weren't feeding her brothers.  A win-win for all. 

Warning...TMI...And Sweet Pea had her first BM in the toilet.  We had no intention of potty training at 18 months.  But she has been giving some signs she is ready.  Then today in the bath she started yelling at Oak when usually she loves baths, so he put her on the toilet and success.  We're not really sure where to go from here.  She is a year and a half younger then the others were.  Yes, I know...but we are lazy and they were slow.

On a completely different note, the lighting in the back of the yard through some sticks and brambles and under the cedar is gorgeous at 2 p.m. here.  Oak doesn't like the shot because he isn't sure exactly what her expression means, but since she followed it up with the words, "Mom!  Stop taking pictures and come in our house!" I think I know.  (The house was less than 3 feet tall, so I didn't stay long.  It was sunny but February is still pretty muddy.)

Then I spent an hour editing pictures and writing a blog post.  Overall a pretty nice, and relatively typical, weekend.  

 

Wee People Wednesday

Life keeps getting in the way of blogging about it.  It has been sunny (not warm) but sunny enough to go outside, I've been making an effort to spend more time with friends and occassionally do the cooking, and I'm attending a Bible study while teaching another class the same day.  That is in addition to our usual school runs, piano lessons for SnapDragon, MOPS, church, Home Fellowship Group, photo club, etc.  I really do have the sweet life.  Add in the 4 most amazing kids on the planet and I have nothing to complain about.

But because I love to blog, take and edit pictures, and MOPS yesterday was all about taking time for yourself (ha, as if THAT was my issue) here are some photos of 3 of my littles from yesterday.

"Mom!  Go stomp on the frisbee and it'll stop the bad guys."  "Ummm, Okay."

It's for you!

This one likes to lie under Sweet Pea's swing.  Who knows why, but she thinks it is funny.

The slide only plays second fiddle to the swing. 

Have a most happy of Wednesdays!