Pancake Goddess in the House of Boys

amy's summer

This summer, I spent time working with the committe to start the Yellow Springs Montessori School. We have been working on grants, planning location,  interviewing teachers, and fundraising with bake sales and nacho-making at Blues Fest.

As well, patti D called me to see if I'd like to help her with marketing her music CDs and shows, and we've  started that work. Very part time and slow to progress, which works fine for me right now.

Lynn H, Amanda B, Caryn D and some others tried to get together weekly to play soccer - just girls and women.  It didn't exactly take off, but next year I hope we'll start earlier in spring and get a good group going strong.

I also attended the YSDC book discussion group in June and July. We read Buddhism in America, and Robert P led a very interesting discussion each week.  Attending from  Columbus were Ed P and Jan, and I became interested in attending that center after these discussions.  I had reached a point of frustration with practicing meditation without a teacher, and KTC has a resident teacher.  I attended without strong expectations of anything other than beginning the search.  As it turned out, I found what I needed quite obviously, and have been attending since then. My first visit was July 19 and my first time speaking with LKW (phone) was on the 23rd. I'm keeping track of this stuff more on the other blog...

April

I hope this doesn't become a monthly-post type thing.  Between family crises and the effects of facebook and twitter, the blog has been neglected.

Last month, my grandmother passed away. I'm waiting on a CD with some nice photos from my father, and I'll make a post about her.

HAPPY 8th, Fynn!

Earlier this month, we went to see F's soccer game and had a birthday party for him at the playground. It was a beautiful day. Ryan and Kelly super-hero-ed around the track while F played his game.  The bigs kicked the soccer ball around.

Katie's friend's baby found her way into Jamie's arms - he looked very comfortable with her.  

making the best of it

Since December 19, at least one person in the house has been sick in some way. We've had respiratory, intestinal, throat issues, etc.  No one has been terribly sick, but we've all been sick enough to stay in most of the time.  We've all done a lot of this (well, the youngest four of us have)...

The cat is not the only one who appreciates a good nap in the sunny living room. 

The kitchen has been busy.  I saw an idea on a blog (tried to link but I can't find it now for the life of me) to cut foam or heavy paper into shapes and design a robot - very simple cutouts... Instead of attaching them, we put magnets on the backs of each piece (cut up that magnetic calendar the realtor sent us) and built the robot on the fridge. The pieces can be mixed and moved to customize the new robot each time. A great excuse to get out the pipe cleaners and button jar. After the robot, it was decided that a snowman would be fun as well. This kept my crafty 4.5yo busy for over an hour.  

We also got behind in consuming our precious local raw milk.  So I decided to make butter, and (oh, dear internet, how I love you) found some great photos of the process.  I'm sure some of you know - in the scheme of organic food buying, organic butter is so expensive.  This homemade butter-making was a joyfuldiscovery. 

Yes, KitchenAid, I love you too.

And some of the wackiest knitting I've ever done. These "pocketbook" maryjane slippers are so much fun to make, and very quick. I don't know where I found this hideous yarn, but it is actually so horrible I love it, on my feet, in the privacy of my house.  

My camera cord is missing.  I don't seem to be able to blog without photos. I've ordered a new one from ebay, so in a few days, get ready for a flood of updates.  Briefly, though...

Evan - writing christmas story, watching a lot of football (winning his work pool, no money at stake), enjoying Risk and "that's what she said" jokes with older boys

Jamie - still sculpting, beginning to offer lessons in Photoshop, reading, schooling, PC gaming, playing piano

Jeremiah - suddenly turned on to music, his taste is a unique combination of 80s (eye of the tiger, seriously) and 60s, Beatles, Rolling Stones, etc.  Just completed several large school projects related to their study of Egypt, played in his first school band concert, the object of no small amount of female attention, but don't even think about bringing that up.

Ryan - excited to be almost 5, excited about the holidays, coming out of a very long respiratory illness and seeming to respond well to daily allergy meds, which bums me out, but we had to do something.  Protective of Kellen, affectionate with all smaller children, enjoying 2x/week play time at Laurie's, can count to a million... not really, but can count high - somewhere between 40 and 80 I think.  Still very interested in writing and letters, hasn't expressed an interest in reading.  Still extremely, seemingly-uncontrollably curious and "grabby" - so many broken objects. So. many.

We also went to a local holiday shindig - pancakes and santa and crafts - ryan loved that.

Kelly - in a "pretending to be a  baby" stage, having little meltdowns daily - loud but not long - when I run out of milk (fairly quickly these days :-(  he says "this one's not working." lol.   

Amy - still busy with Threshold Choir, NVC group, trying to hang on to my connection with the dharma center but it's just not happening.  knitting - I finished that red sweater and the finishing and resulting object was so dreadful I can't even post it, can't even try to correct it.  I am knitting hats and toys all winter.  And also socks, definitely.  Enjoying old seasons of Six Feet Under.

updates

K: nursing less (plugged duct/infection to show for that), talking more, daddy-love all the time, can spend long periods at the kitchen sink playing, never forgets his vitamin.

R: scared of the dark and shadows, enjoying the Baha'i children's class - he does so well in situations like this - so compliant and joiner-y, but in a cooperative, contributing way, very different from at home, where we still experience daily surprises. Learning letters, is remarkably quick to understand simple arithmetic, has had a cold for weeeeeks.  Will not blow his nose ever. Planning to be Jedi for Halloween.

JJ: writing a 4-page story for school, starting a tumbling class at X YMCA with his friend E, spending a lot of other time with same seemingly-best friend, although he assures me his "group" at school consists of about 14 friends :-) 

J: still struggling with sleep, working with AR weekly on amazing sculptures, worked last weekend at her studio for the studio tour, maintaining As and Bs.

J and JJ's team finished in 2nd place in rec league soccer this fall - it was SO close! They tied and went into penalty kicks. Great to see the brothers on the same team again - it's been years since they happened to be in the same age groupings for soccer.

E: traveling more than we'd all like, seems to be weathering the financial situation at work, enjoying participating at the Baha'i Center, listening to Marshall Rosenberg, watching the bizarre foods and fighting shows, cleared out our shed (yay!).  

A: injured back, trying out a new meal routine - repetitive but much easier to maintain, enjoying the NVC group and Threshold Choir, absolutely cannot keep up with laundry, setting goals to hang curtains and art by J's birthday, planning to offer some community service in the form of computer help for seniors, considering whether to homeschool with R next year - kindergarten age.

Spinning/knitting: still working on red sweater, spinning about every other day for 20-30 min. Finished these bullseye mittens a couple weeks ago - yes, the color combo is just as horrid in person.

Threshold Choir

I just realized I don't think I've mentioned (have I?) anything about
the choir I joined back in April. Here's the link
http://www.thresholdchoir.org/

I'm not a Singer, iykwim, but I love to sing in a group and definitely
support the purpose of the group. There are 49 choirs around the world
and the founder, Kate Munger, is here in Yellow Springs for the
weekend. I spent Friday and Saturday with about 40 women from all over
ohio and ann arbor - it was pretty wonderful. Whether or not this kind
of thing is your cup of tea, I think it's worth knowing that this
service exists for the ill and dying (and in some places, also for
births, prison inmates)

updates

Ja: Soaking up the final weeks of summer, still gardening (watering often due to heat), attending Jacob's birthday sleepover, striving to be more playful with difficult siblings, striving to use less pottymouth everywhere, considering a minor haircut, doing a lot of ink drawings on file folders.

Je: Four soccer games in a weekend, making the finals, appreciating a good coach, very unhappy to miss birthday sleepover due to sleep requirements for soccer, working through the first fat HP book - #4 - and enjoying the Quidditch content.

Ryan: working hard to learn self-control with baby and cat (making lots of good progress, too), taking a break from any toileting at all, playing games involving pirates, lions, birds, babies and boats. Enjoys being told stories aloud -particular the three bears and three little pigs - huffing and puffing are a highlight. Enjoys making "quicksand" by dragging the hose out to the sandbox, having a little separation anxiety when going to Sh's house, but so far not enough to outweigh the fun and stay home, except once. Also, we're trying out a little more structured routine, to see if that gives him some grounding.  To start with, a more regular bedtime routine with bath.  Next, morning routine and regular quiet time.

K: popping 2 molars and 2 more top teeth in front, trying to run, transitioning to one nap (about half the time), still not eating much solid food, but a few bites at each meal time. Very attached to his "towel" (prefold cloth diaper - fortunately we have many of these), out of cloth diapers himself until we get out of this busy period wrt selling the house. K is also enjoying climbing on things. Yesterday I turned around to see him standing all the way up on the seat of R's trike, out on the driveway. Two feet. On the seat. On three wheels. Very satisfied and quite safe-feeling.

Evan and Amy:  thinking more seriously about moving (within town, but somewhere with 1-2 more rooms and/or basement), clearing out the garage, surviving a weekend soccer tournament through heat in the 90s, up with belly aches and wide-awake littles from 3-5am. In other words, cranky and anxious.

God's home movies

This morning, I asked Ryan to clean up the scrambled eggs that fell on his chair.  Evan suggested that he do so by licking it like a dog.  ("It's more fun that way!") This led to a discussion of whether fart molecules can penetrate wood.

Sometimes, I think God must pop in an old tape of 13-year-old Amy, daydreaming about her future adult life which probably varied, but never ever (ever) involved 4 boys and a toilet-humor-loving spouse.  And then God laughs and laughs, like he's watching Frasier.

score!

The local nursing home/assisted living facility had their annual yard sale. Many handmade, natural fiber, old-fashioned and beautiful things were found.  For the most part, these are linens I'll use or linens with enough damage that I'll cut them for sewing. Either way, happy happy!

Oh, I also found an adorable plate, DVD the boys like (KPax), and a single weight for my new twice-a-week strength training plan. Three Pampered Chef wooden spoons, bag of yarn, and a very sweet Christmas kitchen towel.  Grand total for the pile of linens and all others, $10.

Now, I'm off to fill that same box with something for good will.  A box comes in, a box goes out.

If you're interested, pics of the treasures are here.

birds, deer, messes, children, looking back

Our birdhouse is broken. It was awesome - totally stumped the squirrels. If the feeder had the weight of a squirrel, the whole outer frame would slide down and cover the openings. A bird is too light so they could get the seed. Something is busted, and it won't stay up now... poor birdies. The feeder was expensive, ugh! But I guess we had it over a year and that's as much as I can expect.

Speaking of birds and their feeding, Ryan has discovered my secret birdseed stash and finds it to be an improvement over his huge sandbox. sigh.

Ever since I snuck a single moth ball into the dirt under our tomato plant containers, the rabbits haven't been back to chomp down the plants. Yay!  I did spot this hungry creature in our back yard last night.

Jamie got his first paycheck today in the mail. He plans to save all his garden job money, and that's no small feat considering how badly he wants/needs a new cell phone. His second laundered cell phone is now in the toddler toy basket, and he's saving up.

J and J are going to try out for the select soccer team in the neighboring town. I think the time commitment is going to be huge and the workouts unlike anything they've experienced, but they are excited to try. I'm assuming they'd have to practice through the summer, but they also want to play the casual pickup games on weeknights in town.  I'm told Je was out ball-handling the high school kids at the park last night. wow.

Ryan is back to daily napping.  I think he must have some kind of allergy issue - seasonal, or strawberries or both. I've decided to give him some claritin daily for a few weeks and see if things improve. He is so blinky and twitchy, and seems generally drained of emotional reserves. The weekend was hard. One afternoon last week, I thought he'd make it through the day and have an early bedtime, but apparently he really needed to sleep sooner.

K is still weighing 20 lbs, crawls with great speed and occasionally takes a few steps.  He popped his next top tooth this morning (that makes 4), so we now have to have a really good latch, or the top teeth sink in, and yow. Sharp, those new ones.  K likes to play with Jane and Ryan, is not happy to see me walk away but seems easy to distract if I'm gone. I've done a couple 1-2 hour errands in town without him and it's gone smoothly. He eats a lot more solid food in the past two weeks, so that's helpful. He really likes pasta, lentil soup, banana, and in moments of desperation Yummy Organic lollipops in the car seat. Sticky infant, anyone?

E and I are still looking at houses, considering moving versus adding, and trying to figure out what we can really afford. None of the houses for sale have really been right for us, so far.

Fynn spent the night again last Friday. He and Ryan played tee ball and had a blast.

This time last year:

not missing this

ohhh, the baby is seeping out of him week by week

the final weeks as a 3boy family