+ 8 - 1 | § ¶Apples again
Yep. We went apple picking yet again. I didn't actually buy any apples this time (we still have lots and lots of them), but we helped Jackie pick some. The main attraction today seemed to be the cats. Everyone went cat-crazy. I think part of the reason for the cat frensy was that there were more kids, leading to a smaller cat-to-child ratio. There were some girls (not part of our group) who were kind of cat-hogs. Nevertheless. There are many other things to do there. Including the newly opened slide! You get to climb some (really quite dangerous) steps up to the hayloft (which has no hay, incidentally), and slide down this big black tube-thing. The kids just loved it. Even the little ones. The first time down was met by huge, slightly terrified eyes, but they kept going back for more.
And, since i've covered all the other bases in previous posts, i'll just put a few of my favorite pictures from today: Houston in the hay and Houston picking apples. Katrina in the corn, and two of Katrina on which i've fiddled with the color. I didn't get any other pictures of the cousins that i was crazy about, unfortunately.
But. In the group pictures, the kids all look normal. Except Houston. Check out his expression in the top picture and then in
each of these group shots. Sheesh. He is his father's son!
i'm still talking...
+ 7 - 1 | § ¶It's an illness
Thursday nights are $1.00 at the Children's Museum here. All summer long, i've been wanting to take the kids, but i keep thinking, "But it's so NICE out! That's something i should do in the winter when it's cold...." Today i decided to go anyhow. It was a little bit brisk. Katrina's nose was getting red outside.
So i'm not really sure what the clinical term is for me, but it may have something to do with "cheap" or "hyper-spastic." Seriously, i spent a grand total of $2. And when the kids were happily playing in one area, did i let them just keep playing? Of course not. Because i'm sick. I clearly have some mental illness or i wouldn't be trying to foist ADHD onto my children by dragging them away from the area where they're happy to show them the next exciting area. After all, we MUST see everything! Sigh. It's an illness. Hello. My name is Karen, and i'm a cheap hyper-spastic....
Nevertheless, the kids did have a lot of fun. The bubbles were, as always, a big hit. Katrina tried really hard, but kept popping the bubbles on her nose before she got the chance to blow. After a few tries, she was squinting every time she picked up the bubble thingy. (Yes, that is the technical name.) It was really funny to watch. And she loved watching other people make bubbles. I think she was trying to figure it out. Houston tried and tried and managed to get a few bubbles, which is pretty good with that setup. We played with the mirrors. Houston just kind of glanced at himself, but Katrina stared, fascinated. They had two different boats set up to go fishing in, and Houston sat in both for a long time. My grandpa would be proud.
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+ 2 - 7 | § ¶Peer pressure
As i was leaving for school today, the kids were outside playing. I said, "Goodbye!" Katrina waved at me. Houston ignored me. I said more loudly, "Goodbye!!" Katrina waved again. Houston kind of yelled, "Bye!" I asked, "Do i get a hug?" Houston kept pushing his truck around. Katrina came running at me, arms spread wide, huge smile on her face. I knelt down to hug her, and she flung herself into me, squishing her face into my shoulder. She is seriously the sweetest little girl in the world! Of course, when Houston saw that, he came (still pushing his truck) running down to hug me too. Nothing like a little peer pressure....
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+ 3 - 6 | § ¶Great Grandparents
My grandparents (my mom's parents) are in town this week. It's always great to see them, but it's been extra fun this time because i get to watch Houston learn about them and get to know them. He's fascinated by them. They can take out their teeth! (When Grandpa demonstrated that, Houston just stared. When Grandma did it, he saw the roof part of the false teeth, and exclaimed, "And her tongue!?" Now that would be impressive - a false tongue!) Grandpa has things (hearing aids) in his ears! Great-Grandpa snores! Loudly! They like to play cards! They do puzzles with us!
Actually, that last bit is not entirely accurate. It is more accurate to say that they are in the room while we do puzzles. I guess that in Houston's mind, this qualifies as doing puzzles with us.
Regardless, Houston loves them. During dinner, he asked me to please tell Great Grandpa that Houston loves him. I'm not entirely sure why i had to tell him, but Houston was very determined that i do it. When i told Grandpa that, he turned to Houston and asked, "You love me?" And Houston looked at him very seriously with his huge eyes and nodded silently. It was so cute.
+ 2 - 6 | § ¶Etiquette
I'm getting old. I realize that i'm not up on all the hip stuff anymore. I mean, when i graduated from college, email was just barely in existence. In my senior year, there were these weird message board things that were mostly college-based (not Dordt-based, though), and you needed to sign up and then you could read all kinds of lame comments that random people made trying to sound intelligent. Huh. So maybe that hasn't changed much. But it was brand new. Cell phones? Didn't exist. Big huge car phones - they were around. I-pods? Nope. We had those big cassette tape walkmans.
But. I walk around college campuses these days, and a huge portion of the students are talking on their cell phones. Or walking along with their earphones in, listening to their I-Pods. Or (yep, i've seen this) walking around with one earphone in so that their other ear is free to talk on the cell phone.
I have a cell phone now. I use it occasionally. But i'm of the firm opinion that when you're with someone, you don't talk on the phone to someone else. It's just rude. If you're out for dinner with someone, don't talk on your cell phone the whole time. Simple.
I carpool with a 19-year-old girl to and from Lansing twice a week. She does this weird thing where she acts like i'm not there. For example, today we were 5 minutes into the drive when she pulled out her cell phone and started pushing lots of buttons on it. Then she pulled out her school books and started leafing through them. And then she pulled out a magazine and read it the rest of the way. This is fairly on par with the past couple of weeks. So i'm left sitting there quietly, my little ego deflating, wondering if i've offended her in some way. Is she trying to tell me something? Does she want me to just shut up and stop trying to make conversation? Does she just not like me? What?
Or is it just some new rules of etiquette that i'm not aware of?
i'm still talking...
+ 2 - 6 | § ¶Ohio
Yesterday was the "blessing ceremony"/reception for my little brother Rick and his wife Ashley. You may recall that they actually got married in July, but since they were wed in Arizona, they waited for the actual ceremony until Rick got leave and they could do it in Ohio. I took a few pictures of the bride, the groom, and the bride and groom.
But mostly i took lots of pictures of other people. Katrina and Houston, of course. Cheyanne and Eric and Dad and Katrina. Jim and Alisha. And Uncle Billy, who came all the way from New York (along with Aunt Marilyn). And then we took pictures of the whole family, the original family, and the original six siblings.
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+ 6 - 2 | § ¶Apples
We went apple picking again today. Honey Crisp apples are almost finished (maybe today was the last day) being picked at the place we go, so we HAD to go get some one final time! Plus it was a beautiful day - perfect weather for being outside. I love getting outside these last few weeks before it really gets too cold to stay out for long periods of time. And it's even better when we can do something fun and different from the usual. I don't have many friends who have kids, so a lot of the time we're just hanging out with ourselves. So going anywhere "in the real world" and doing anything socially is a really good thing. Plus, my kids just love getting out! All that to say - we were at the apple farm for about 3 hours, and could easily have stayed longer but Juanito had to get to work.
i'm still talking...
+ 7 - 1 | § ¶Hide and Seek
Houston and Katrina played hide-and-seek together today. Katrina sat on my lap and let me cover her eyes and count with her while Houston ran off to hide. Then she ran around looking (in all the places that he had already hidden) for him. Actually, looking in all the previous spots was not a bad strategy, because he tends to find a couple of hiding places and just rotate them. It's not a lot of fun for an adult, like ME, to find him, but it makes it great fun for Katrina! It was a nice little break from the "No - I had that toy first!" / "Eeeeeeeee" dialogue that was happening much of the rest of the night. One child finds a toy, and the toy d'jour (or whatever "of the minute" would be) is then the only toy worth having. Never mind the hundred other toys that are sitting in the toybox. They must both have THAT ONE TOY! Sigh.
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+ 2 - 7 | § ¶Art
This morning Houston and i cleaned up the house. As a fun thing to do afterwards, i was planning to take him and Katrina outside to fingerpaint. And then i remembered that the last time we fingerpainted, the paint was all funky and i threw it away afterwards. Shoot. So instead, i brought some paper and markers and chalk outside to draw with. As he was going outside, Houston held the door wide open way too long...and Graham dashed right out, ran across the street, and started barking it up at the scary pit bull who's twice Graham's size. I dragged him back to our house (explaining to him for the dozenth time that those pit bulls are really the wrong dogs to be antagonizing, and he's going to regret it when they get fed up) and shoved him back inside. And turned around to see Houston scribbling on the sidewalk with a marker. Ok. That's bad for the sidewalk, but i'm more concerned about that poor little marker! It got destroyed! (I cannot stand school-supply-type stuff that is messed up. Especially markers!) Sigh.
But. After getting it all sorted out, Houston drew two cute pictures: First he drew this T-Rex with this explanation, "It's a tyranosaurus rex, and he's sad because another dinosaur ate him." Then he drew this one and explained, "It's a tyranosaurus rex and he has teeth so that he can eat smaller dinosaurs." On Sunday, he drew a picture of a nice, sweet stegosaurus. I think the Ranger Rick cards he got in the mail today made him feel more vicious. They were all of preditors and wild animals. One was the T-Rex, and it had all kinds of information about how big his jaws were and stuff (5 feet long, if you're interested).
+ 0 - 9 | § ¶Mr. Bump
In the course of running around today, Houston fell on the sidewalk and scraped up his elbow and knee. I offered a bandaid, and he flatly turned me down. "No! I don't like bandaids! I want Mr. Bump!" Beth got Mr. Bump for Houston in Scottland. It's a cute little cold pack that is kept in the fridge until needed. And every time Houston gets hurt at all, Mr. Bump is needed. And every time Houston needs Mr. Bump, Katrina needs Little Miss Helpful, the pink girly counterpart to Mr. Bump.
My brilliant comment of the day: "It hurts when you get hurt."
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+ 7 - 1 | § ¶Pouty
Tonight i just kind of feel like curling up and pouting. Not because of anything that happened. Not because my life is so horrible. Just because i'm sad and tired and feel like it. I was driving home from school tonight thinking about what i should write about in my post. Usually i wouldn't have time to just think, but the girl who was riding with me just pulled out a book and started reading as soon as we got into the car. (Is that odd to anyone but me?) So anyhow, i was thinking about what to write about, and i just kept coming up with crabby things. Too busy. Haven't seen the kids. Haven't seen Juanito. Not enough sleep. Blah blah blah. And then i was thinking, OK...seriously. I have so many things to be thankful for. Kids. Juanito. Something i enjoy that is keeping me busy. I could really go on for pages. But i didn't really want to write an "I'm so happy for all the things i'm thankful for!" post either, because honestly, i'm just not feeling exceptionally thankful.
But! I realized that as i was driving home, Rick and Ashley were probably already at my parents' house. My long-lost-brother and his new little wife, who have been out in Arizona. My brother whom i haven't seen since February. So i could write about that! And then i called them when i got home. And realized that i might not even see them at all while they're here.
So now i'm back to feeling pouty.
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+ 3 - 5 | § ¶Busy
Today was one of those days where it's just go-go-go all day long. I got to church at 8:00 to get ready to interpret the songs, and left church at around 12:30. Then we went to Mom and Dad's house and ate quick and sang happy birthday to Alicia, my brother Jim's girlfriend. And then i had to work at 2:30, and got home just before midnight. So it wasn't an extremely relaxing Sunday.
I had to go up to Juanito's unit to help restrain that one girl several times, and ended up staying late to help them out. And i got hit in the face. Now, on their unit i think it's becoming more normal to be hit. But it's not normal for me. Even when i'm at work, my guys never hit me. I don't like being hit. Sniff.
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+ 6 - 3 | § ¶Women
This morning i went to a Christian Women's Conference. The main reason i went was because it was going to be interpreted, and that meant i would get 8 hours of observation time in (i need, by the end of the year, 80 hours). Let me back up.
I don't like women. Really, i don't. There are numerous people i really like who technically fit into the definition of "woman," but i don't think of them as women. I just wrote a whole sentence that was highly cynical about what women are like, and then i realized that that's not really my issue here. Often times, when i hear a woman speak or preach, i just don't feel it. Many of the women i've heard are just kind of fluffy and touchy-feely, or they don't really delve into ideas as much as they tell stories and try to play on your emotions. (I'm so going to get hate mail for this.) And deep down, i'm just not convinced that women should be preaching.
BUT. Of the four speakers today, i actually really enjoyed three of them! I was quite amazed - and really encouraged to find that my gender is actually well-represented at times! And even...i found myself tearing up a few times. Amazing.
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+ 8 - 1 | § ¶Sleepy-time
This afternoon i told Houston that we were going to go to McDonald's for lunch, and he said, "McDonald's is yucky." Thrilled but surprised, I asked why. He said, "They have yucky food." Go Houston! But we still went there.
Katrina decided to forgo her nap this morning, choosing instead to lie awake and eventually cry to come out. So while we were at the grocery store, she was really tired. She kept lying her head on the cart. Surprisingly though, she was quite well-behaved. She hardly cried or tried to leap out of the cart at all. I think it's because my mom was shopping at the same time and had Houston in her cart. By the time we got home, Katrina was zonked out. She slept for nearly 3 hours, woke up at 6:00, and was ready for bed again by 8:00. While she was napping, we let Houston watch "Tarzan" and both Juanito and i took naps too. Bliss.
What makes me happy is that Katrina really likes to sleep. When she's tired, she'll try to go upstairs, she'll find her blankets and carry them around, she'll curl up on the floor and lay her head on her blanket with her thumb in her mouth. No problems getting her to bed. I kind of miss the whole bedtime routine thing with her, though. Houston always gets books read, snuggle time - all that sweet, calm, just-love-each-other time. Katrina gets tired and doesn't want any of that. Just brush my teeth, give me my blanket, and carry me to my crib!
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+ 7 - 1 | § ¶It's so easy to make me happy
I love getting hand-me-downs for the kids. It's kind of like Christmas. Except without the tree. Or the paper and bows. Or the months before time of commercials that are trying to convince you that you must buy more, more, MORE! But i digress. My sister Jackie's kids are conveniently just enough bigger than my kids so that the clothes that her kids fit into last year will fit my kids this year. So today she gave me a great big bag full of clothes that are perfect for Houston for this year. So i get to pull out a shirt, see how cute it is, be happy, then pull out another item of clothing and be happy all over again. It's really so easy to make me happy.
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+ 8 - 2 | § ¶Signs and sharks
After such a fun-filled, picture-loaded post yesterday, today was a little more on the boring side. We had Cream-of-Wheat for breakfast (Mmmm!), which meant bathtime for Katrina after breakfast. I actually used my brain this morning and let her eat in just her diaper, so clean-up was considerably easier than it could have been. I love that Katrina knows some signs. She finishes eating and signs "finished" while she's saying, "all done!" So it's clear. When she's in the bathtub she'll play and play, and then stand up, sign "finished," and point to the towels. No screaming necessary. There is a lot of controversy surrounding the whole "Baby Signs" thing. Personally, i just teach the kids the real ASL sign rather than dumb it down into those baby signs. My thinking is, if the Deaf kids can do it, so can my kids. I mean, yeah, it's not going to be perfect, but i don't expect them to talk perfectly at first either. They do the baby version of the same sign. And it makes me happy because they're already learning a second language! Yeah for them!
As we were driving to work today, I asked Houston if he'd like to talk or sing. He wanted to talk. About what? Sharks. "You tell me all about sharks!" So we talked about sharks - how they have cartilage instead of bones, rows of sharp teeth, eat fish, and can smell blood in the water so they can eat the fish that are hurt. He was very interested. I know this because he kept saying, "That's very interesting."
+ 2 - 7 | § ¶Fans, apples, and moles
First we went to breakfast. Houston spilled his water all over himself, so he got to eat with no shirt on.
Then we got a new ceiling fan. Our old fan - well, let's just say that we hadn't actually done anything to it when this picture was taken...so i'm thinking it was a pretty significant fire hazard. Besides that fact that the light only worked about a tenth of the time. So Juanito spent an hour or two installing the new (happy!) fan. While he was doing that, Houston decided to be helpful! So he just took the initiative and started hauling all the old fan pieces out to the garbage can! Slowly but surely, he got the whole thing thrown away. Sweet boy.
Beth came over while Juanito was finishing up, so Juanito checked out her car quick, took a shower, and then...we went apple picking! Honey Crisp apples. A little piece of heaven. Well, the first one. The second one - when i started on an empty stomach - not quite as enjoyable. As we were driving away, Juanito made the comment, "I'm so disappointed! I only ate 5 apples." Beth and i just kind of looked at each other. So for lots of cute apple-picking pictures, continue reading....
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+ 1 - 8 | § ¶Stories
Today was a good day, but not really a terribly interesting one to blog. So instead, i'm going to just tell a couple of stories that i've forgotten to tell in the past few days.
Story #1
So we were driving along. My "oldies" CD was playing. I was half singing along, half talking to Juanito. "Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay" was on. And suddenly Houston said, "This is just like Dr. Hofman's song!" I was jerked abruptly into 3-year-old logic, and started searching through the files in my brain to figure out what he meant. And then the lightbulb went on: At the end of the song, he whistles. Dr. Hofman always whistles when he's checking the kids' ears. Hence...it's his song.
I feel the need to mention that we haven't even been to the doctor's office in months!
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+ 5 - 4 | § ¶Chaos
7:00 - Alarm goes off. Hit snooze.
7:09 - Alarm goes off. Hit snooze. Groggily open eyes.
7:15 - Wake kids up. (I actually WOKE THEM UP.)
7:55 - Buy bagels, get water.
7:56 - 8:15 - Listen to Katrina beg for the water.
8:15 - Bring stuff to front of church. Say hi to the other interpreter. Notice that there's hardly anyone in children's area yet. Let kids sit and drink water.
8:20 - Check hall, notice that it's getting more crowded. Get in line for the express computer.
8:23 - Start to check kids in. Hey! This isn't too bad! There are my kids' information. Cool.
8:24 - Why won't the computer let me sign my kids in?
8:25 - Get into different line, where the helper can change my service time from 11:00 to 9:00.
8:30 - Drop Houston's water. Houston dissolves into tears.
8:35 - Helpful volunteer figures out the problem. Enters new information.
8:36 - "Well, you can check Katrina in, but none of the workers are signed in yet for Houston's room, so you can't sign him in yet."
8:37 - Mutter under breath while carrying wiggly Katrina and dragging crying Houston toward Katrina's room.
8:38 - Watch Katrina watching the girl who's in line ahead of us. That girl is screaming, so maybe that's expected?
8:39 - Hand a now-crying Katrina over to Amy (Pete's wife!). This marks the first time i've ever had to leave a crying child in nursery.
8:40 - Drag a still unhappy Houston back to the hall to get back into line. All the lines are conciderably longer now....
8:45 - Notice that we haven't moved yet. Notice that i should be on stage interpreting in 15 minutes. Remember that i have not yet looked at any of the songs or anything.....
8:50 - Still haven't moved. Getting a little panicky.
8:52 - Not daring to get out of this line of insanity, i beg another lady to hold my spot for me while i ask someone what i should do.
8:53 - Get dragged to the front of the line, where i instantly feel guilty for cutting.
8:54 - Hordes of people start walking in, trying to get through. Glean information...they're telling us to just go to our rooms and forget the computers today.
8:55 - Risk getting out of line to go to room. Man won't let me through. Run back to my spot in line. Get told to go to room. Sneak past man.
8:56 - Wait by Houston's door for another worker to show up. Panic is now in full-swing.
8:57 - Feel like a completely uncaring mother by standing there while Houston lays at my feet sobbing, "I don't want to go to nursery!!!"
8:59 - For the second time ever, leave a sobbing child in nursery.
9:00 - Dash to the front of church, hook up ear piece, breathe.
9:02 - Start interpreting songs.
10:35 - Service ends. Run out to get kids out of nursery so i can put them back into nursery. Both kids are in better moods now, and there are no computers. However. We need to wait again for another worker to come for Houston's room.
10:50 - Put Houston in his room. Bring Katrina to her room.
10:55 - Run back into church. Take a bite of bagel (first food all day). Breathe.
12:40 - Pick kids up from nursery.
i'm still talking...
+ 3 - 6 | § ¶Crunchy
Houston woke up in the middle of the night crying and sobbing. He wanted to come to our bed. First line of defense...he needs to go to the bathroom first. After the potty trip, he came back upstairs, walked into our room, thought for a second, ran back to his room to get his pillow, and came to sleep next to me. He slept perfectly, and kept sleeping until after 9:00.
Katrina, on the other hand, was awake by about 7:30. Much too early for my liking. BUT it really is sweet to be able to spend time with Katrina alone. She's really started to love reading the past couple of weeks. She'll pick a book, bring it to the couch, and stand there patting the couch and looking at me. "Sit here, Mommy! I have this fabulous book to read!" Nevermind that we've read it a thousand times. It's still marvelous.
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+ 3 - 8 | § ¶Giraffes or whatever
Today was one of those days when i feel like i did a lot, but not much was REALLY done. We went to the parents' house for a couple of hours so Juanito could fix my brother Jim's car. I sorted through kids clothes to figure out how much will fit them each for this coming winter. We played outside with bikes and scooters and chalk a lot. Houston and i made a city. He drew the cute round roofs and the extra sun. We went grocery shopping. We went for a walk. I cleaned the porch. Katrina fell down the front steps and got a big scratch on her forehead. And that's about it.
So sometimes i think i'm just really not good at this whole mom thing. We were outside playing and i thought, "Hey! I'll clean out the porch while the kids are playing happily!" And that worked for a while, but then Katrina started to get crabby. Beth called, and Katrina was being all loud and whiney, and i was all, "I don't know what's wrong with her!" And then i realized that it was 5:30 and she was probably hungry. Of course, i had given no thought to dinner yet, so i had to quick whip something up while she was desperately clawing at my legs. It would be different if this was a freak thing...but no. I regularly forget about mealtimes until the kids ask, "Can i have something to eat?" I'm so not organized about food. And then there's the laundry, which i can get cleaned...but not folded and put away. Because if the kids are awake and i'm trying to fold the clothes, Katrina crawls all over the piles and throws things at me to "help." If the kids are asleep, i can fold but not put away because they are then sleeping in their rooms where the clothes belong. If i fold and put back into baskets, when Katrina wakes up she runs to the basket and starts throwing clothes all over the place, thus undoing all the folding i have finished. Sigh. Seems like mothers should be able to deal with things like this with a happy face.
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+ 2 - 6 | § ¶Learning
So i've been struggling to learn ASL, studying like crazy and very purposefully trying to absorb information and signs. And i'm constantly amazed at my kids' ability to just learn so much so quickly without even trying. Especially at Katrina's age. She's only been out in the world for a year and a half, and she's already understanding English. Houston's been around for 3 years, and he's a totally fluent listener/talker!
Then today, i was playing on the floor with Houston and Katrina was sitting in her high chair finishing her lunch. And she suddenly pointed to the window and said, "Toot toot!" I stopped and listened, and yep. There was a train going by in the distance. And i got to thinking that I don't seee them trying to learn, but Katrina is totally paying attention to things that i'm not even aware of. I'm sure that happens much more often, too. If i don't deem it important, i just block it out. They take in everything. Sometimes Houston will ask me days or weeks later, "Why were those boys being naughty hitting that pole?" or "Remember when we saw that dead squirrel?" And i have to assume that he's been mulling that over in his brain in the interim.
Now, i think about things and probably analyze them to death, but it's not usually basic stuff like that. It's more relationship-oriented (What did she mean when she said that?) or self-analytical (Why exactly am i such a huge dork?). Not usually "Remember when she signed the word 'milk'?" And i'm paying attention to what's going on, but it's usually "Is Houston trying to quietly whack Katrina in the head?" or "What do we have in the refrigerator that would make an acceptably healthy lunch?" Not so much, "Hey! Is that a garbage truck i hear out front?" (Although i usually know that because Graham starts barking up a storm.)
i'm still talking...
+ 5 - 4 | § ¶Short
Juanito decided to drive to Lansing with me today, so i got to see my family nearly 3 hours longer than i would usually see them on a school day. Happy me! Other than that, i had a kind of icky day. I think i might be getting the flu. Not happy me.
But it was fun to drive with Juanito and have long discussions about language and politics and stuff like that. I'm all achy, so i'm going to just have a short post tonight. Sigh.
+ 7 - 1 | § ¶Meijer Gardens...again
The nights have been cool, so when i go outside in the afternoon and realize that it's hot, i'm always pleasantly surprised. It was another beautiful day today, so i called up Karla and we went out to Meijer Gardens. I love that the summer weather is holding out - it's so fun and easy to entertain the kids outside. I'm kind of dreading the cold, stuck inside weather that will come. Although really, i hardly ever think about the cold weather to come so i only dread it about twice a month. So maybe dread is too strong a word. But i digress.
So rather than go straight to the children's garden today, we took a little walk past Fred (where Houston begged to have a picture taken - he wanted it with everyone, but no one else would sit with him) to the big horse near the big fun grassy hill, and then over to the waterfall to look at the fish. The kids were all enthralled with the fish, and the fish seemed quite hopeful that the kids would give them some food. Alas, the fish were disappointed. After the waterfall, the kids were all hot and red-faced, so we thought it might be a good idea to head over to the kids area and let them play in the water for a while.
i'm still talking...
+ 7 - 3 | § ¶Laboring
Today was Labor Day, so my mom and dad didn't have to work. (Juanito still worked. Even though it is supposed to be his day off. Erg.) And it was a beautiful day - absolutely perfect weather. So after Juanito got off work, we all went out to the Grand River and went out on Mom and Dad's boat. We all got in, started driving, and heard this terrible noise. Dad and i looked back. Juanito and Mom seemed oblivious. Dad started driving again, and again we heard the horrible noise. We stopped and tried to figure it out...and turns out it was the radio, which Houston turned on. Loudly. To static. Silly little guy doesn't know yet - You never touch the radio when Grandpa is in the vicinity!
So first we just cruised up and down the river, which Katrina loved. She stood right next to the side of the boat and tried to lean over so she could touch the water. She pointed out every bird (there were hundreds) and every buoy (there were about 40). Both were "Ba!" There were lots of areas where we had to go slow (much to the chagrin of Houston), so eventually Jackie took over driving so Dad could take a break. She let Houston drive for a few minutes. Houston's driving mostly consisted of jerking the steering wheel back and forth repeatedly. Since we were going slowly, it actually served to keep us going straight. I would hate to see him drive a car, though. Once he realized that he would not be allowed to drive fast, Houston just got up and walked back to his seat; another good reason to not let him drive a car.
i'm still talking...
+ 3 - 6 | § ¶Rinse, repeat
Today was a fairly sign language intensive day for me. I woke up early and left the house before anyone else in my family was awake. I was the only car parked in the parking lot on that side of the church (i never realized that everyone shows up 15 minutes before church starts. I always thought we were really late coming 10 minutes early because the place is packed, but it's entirely empty 20 minutes before church starts). And then i interpreted the songs, watched the interpreter do the "sermon," interpreted the last song, talked to some Deaf people, interpreted the songs for the second service, watched the interpreter, interpreted the last song, talked to some Deaf people. And then this evening Juanito took the kids for a walk so that i could study like crazy without being interupted every 10 seconds. And now my head kind of hurts.
+ 3 - 6 | § ¶Dandilions and Cattails
I had a hard time choosing between that picture and this one today. Did i make the right choice?
Katrina discovered dandilions today. I think she picked and blew every dandilion in the field at the park. She had to concentrate hard, but she did very well. The first time, she blew then licked, realized that the dandilion seedlings do not taste good, and came at me tongue first so i could wipe her tongue off.
Houston learned all about (well, all i knew about) cattails today. There were some other kids there whose father had picked some, so i picked one for Houston too. (Yeah, yeah. Peer pressure. Y'know that whole question "If everyone else jumped off a bridge, would you jump too?" Well, i've decided that the answer is, "Uh, maybe. It would depend on why everyone else is jumping. Maybe it's safer there.") He was thrilled. He felt it and felt it and showed us all how soft it was several times. He carried it the entire length of the boardwalk we were on, and eventually i found some that had popped into huge puffballs. I showed him, and again he was thrilled and ran to tell Juanito all about it. So when we got home we stuck it into a vase of water in the hopes that it might puff. I don't know if there's really any hope for that or not. We'll see.
+ 8 - 3 | § ¶Picnic
Tonight we went to a park for a picnic dinner with Beth and Karla and her hubby and kids. It's an unusual experience for Houston to be the "big kid" in a gathering. Usually he's either the youngest or somewhere in the middle. But i was really impressed with how well he did. He was gentle with the little kids, and i didn't have to redirect him even once for being rough. All the kids seemed to enjoy themselves immensely. My kids especially had fun at the end when Auntie Beth started spinning them around and around. The most i can usually do is around, and then i have to quit because i'll get sick. Beth just keeps going! Loads and loads of fun!!! Of course there was much swinging and sliding and running around and climbing and hanging. Zeke spent ages digging in the woodchips, and September and Katrina carefully shoved woodchips through little holes in the steps. So fun was had by all.
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+ 7 - 3 | § ¶Sheesh
Today, i let Houston wear a shirt that i wore when i was little. The shirt shows a little drum master (or whatever the guy who leads the marching band is called), and it says, "I'm a real swinger." I asked my mother about where this shirt came from, and she thinks it was from my grandparents. I must assume that the grandparents did not research the meaning of the word "swinger." But i really have to wonder about the makers of the shirt. It's a child's shirt, for pete's sake! Sheesh.
Speaking of swinging, Katrina loves to swing. But she won't swing on the safe child swings. Oh no. She must swing on the big kids' swing. And she can't just swing gently back and forth - she must be pushed high, like Houston. I try to fake it, but if it's not a good enough fake she insists, "Medu! Hi!" until i push her a little higher. The problem is, she is also ultra-confident. So today, as we were playing on the swingset next door to my parents' house, i was pushing the children. Mom was standing on one side, me on the other. She had been happily swinging for maybe 5-10 minutes. I pushed her again, and she suddenly let go with one hand. Instantly, she flipped so that her head was down, still clutching with one hand, feet now straddling the swing. Instantly Mom and i both gasp and lunge. Since she was coming back toward me, i got to her first, and grabbed her off the swing, my heart pounding. My darling daughter, rather than being happy with me for saving her life, screeches at me for removing her from the swing. The second i put her down, she runs straight back for the swing, begging to get back on. Uh...NO. One heart attack a day is plenty, thanks very much. Sheesh.
i'm still talking...