Just Makin' It

In early December 2013 there was a Book Fair at the kids' elementary school. There was also a craft fair attached to the event, and I had the crazy idea to sell my wares at it. I wasn't quite sure what my wares were....but I got sewing and crafting and had an eclectic grouping of handmade goods to sell come time.

Because I had a mix of items, I wasn't sure what to call my new little "business." I had the thought that if things sold well, I would consider doing more craft fairs throughout the year and might even open an etsy shop. I wanted to start off with a clever name and finally came up with "Just Makin' It." The tag line: "Crafts Made During Those Rare Quiet Mom Moments." It was supposed to be a sort of play on words for the handmade nature of the goods and the feeling that many a harried mother has of "just makin' it" through the day. It also gave me the freedom to have a variety of crafty things to sell. I don't know if people got it--or even paid much attention to it at the fair--but I was pleased with it.

I worked hard during spare moments for several weeks, cutting, sewing, stuffing, gluing, and more. I was so anxious on the day of that I had trouble sleeping and got up early to attach my price tags. Damon found me in my bathrobe at the kitchen table with a hole punch and some string.

My products included hair clips, kids' aprons, stuffed animals, headband hangers, and a significant stock of leftovers from Damon's mother's dancewear business that she gave me to sell.

The stuffed animals, which my kids had dubbed "Fleecy Friends," were definitely the best sellers. I had bluebirds, elephants, penguins, whales, and frogs. I'm not sure which one was my favorite. I designed all of them (with some template-searching help on Google) and am proud of how they turned out.

The hair clips had pretty stiff competition and I only sold a couple of those, and the headband hangers were a complete bust. I'm not sure people understood and caught the vision of their purpose, even though I had a display. (Personally, I think they're brilliant and ours has totally saved us from a mess of headbands in a drawer or on the floor in our bathroom.)

I sold a few aprons, a couple of the Watercolour skirts, and many of the Watercolour scarves/ties. What I didn't sell became a great stash for birthday gifts throughout the last year as my kiddos got invited to parties, so none of my work was for naught.

It was a fun experience and I'm glad I did it. My enthusiasm and motivation did wane after the event. Truthfully, it was difficult to find other venues for selling; I did dedicate some time after the holidays to searching for other craft fairs. I wasn't really ready to launch an etsy shop. From here, if I press on with any of this, it will probably be in the Fleecy Friends department. They were fun to design and popular with the customers (and the birthday gift recipients). Hmmm...just writing this post is giving me a little itch to get out the fleece....

Leaf Olympics

We have some nice large trees in our yard. They drop lots and lots of leaves. In the fall I got my children excited to help me clean them up by enthusiastically announcing THE LEAF OLYMPICS!! I thought it was a rather clever idea.

Our first event was not captured on film and was also not very successful. We tipped our green trash bin on its side and tried to blow the leaves directly into it using the leaf blower. It didn't really work. It really just made them fly up in the air. Still, everyone got a turn clearing the driveway and the rocks by our sidewalk with the leaf blower. Once they were in the gutter we used rakes and brooms to get them in the bin.

The next event was much more fun: leaf hurdles Really, it just involved raking the leaves into long parallel piles so that the kids could run and jump over them. This was a great success.

And, with only minimal grumbling (compared to some other clean-up-the-yard attempts), everyone stuck around to help when the athletic competition was complete. We got all the leaves into the bin and had a nice clean yard.

Good thinking, Mom.

P.S. Notice the autumn wardrobe. It was the first week of November. Good thing those leaves were falling, or we might have assumed it was still summer.

A Superstar Start to School

After last year's crazy school year, we are totally thrilled to have all of our children at the SAME SCHOOL. There was some question about whether or not Gunnar would make it into kindergarten at our local school (he was number 7 in line when we enrolled him in May), but enough other kids moved to other schools that he made it in!

I was sure it would happen. Last year was so difficult for me juggling two schools, and then everything with our move to Sunnyvale fell into place that I just knew the school situation had to work out. I chose to have faith that I would receive this blessing. I really do look on it as a blessing. I used to take it for granted that all my children would be able to attend our neighborhood school, but after our experience in Milpitas I know that isn't always the case. This summer I just believed Gunnar would get into our local school. I never even bothered to find out where the next closest school was. I knew I wouldn't have to know.

Now, enough of that.  Onto the first day of school & the obligatory front porch pictures.

Here's Adah, off to fifth grade with Mr. Murphy.

Maggie is in third grade, but is in a class of 3rd and 4th graders with TWO teachers: Ms. Arcoleo and Mrs. Shumaker.

Gunnar is in kindergarten with Mrs. Riley. For his first 3 weeks of school he got out at 11:51, but now he stays until 2:10. It's considered all-day kindergarten. The girls stay until 2:50, so it's not quite as all-day as them.

And here's Holly, never one to miss out on a photo-op.

Here's the gang setting off from our driveway. Damon always joins us on the first day of school.

Down the street and around the corner from our house is a park. The school is just through those trees on the other side of the park. I like that half of our route to school is on paths with no automobile traffic. And it's nice and shady in the afternoon heat.

Here's Gunnar standing outside of his classroom, having found his name.

And here he is settled in at his table for coloring. His spot on the carpet behind him is in the orange row. Orange is his favorite color. How did Mrs. Riley know?

Adah and the other 5th graders got right down to business with instructions on the screen.

Maggie was the last one to get dropped off. We made it there just after the bell rang because none of the classrooms opened until the first bell rang at 8:20. The second bell rings at 8:30, and that's when school starts, so she got right in her desk and ready to go!

At this school they don't even want anyone on campus until 8:20. At Whitson in White Salmon the kids could play on the playground for up to 30 minutes before school started! We're getting used to it. I've just learned that there's really no benefit to getting ready early. If we leave early we just have to wait at the edge of campus anyway. We aim to arrive at 8:20, but I know we always have that 10-minute cushion if we're running late. It takes us about 10 minutes to walk, but we can do it in less time if we hustle (or ride scooters or bikes, which we just started doing last week).

Gunnar had a great morning--his first day was extra-short--but had a sad little moment right at the end. The teacher and her helper were handing out these "I just loved my first day of kindergarten" necklaces and they overlooked Gunnar. When I met him at the back of his classroom he crumpled into my lap and almost couldn't talk for nearly crying. He was sad and upset but had held it together until that moment. As soon as I figured out the problem we were able to get him his necklace and assure him that they hadn't meant to forget him.

Then he was all smiles and ready to show me his stuff on the monkey bars. The kindergarteners have their own playground, and fortunately we can play there after school while waiting for older siblings to get out.

Holly was clearly worn out by the first day of school. She actually was there as long as Gunnar was because there was a parent meeting with the principal in the cafeteria. I expected it to last 30 minutes, but she kept us there until just after 10:00 (90 minutes)! That's when the kindergarteners got out and she had promised the teachers to keep us occupied so we wouldn't be peering in the windows and distracting our kids. : ) 

At the end of the big kids' day we returned to the school to pick them up & I took a photo of the new students by the school sign. We hadn't passed by there in the morning since by entering through the park we come at the school from the side rather than the front entrance. These California schools are all open-air hallways, so there's no real front door anyway.

They are the Superstars at their school (and I'm not just talking about my kids, here). It's the mascot, which seems like kind of a silly mascot to me. Yet, it's been a pretty super year so far, so I guess I can't argue. The children all really like their teachers and are making friends in their classes. I'm making friends among the other moms in the schoolyard. It's such a difference from last year for me especially; it's pretty much impossible to meet anyone in the drop-off lane & so easy when you can walk your kids to school. I'm so grateful for these blessings.

Our Home Preschool

I have made a friend here who has one child in school and two at home. Her name is Deborah. Almost all of the other women that I have met since moving to California home school their children. Truly, there are only 4 stay-at-home mothers in my church congregation (including me) who send their children to public school. (Now, for those of you who know of the troubles we've had with the schools since moving here, I don't need any "Well maybe there's a reason they home school" comments. I believe in public schools. Right now, I just don't believe in the Milpitas public schools.)

Now, when Deborah and I met, I was certainly excited to find another public school mom. She later told me about a conversation she had with her husband about that night: "You should have seen the look of bonding on her face when I told her I didn't home school," she said to him. It's true. It was an instant bond, especially when we found out that the children we do have at home were the same ages and genders! We seem to be a match made in heaven and have really hit it off in many ways. I'm grateful to have made such a friend.

Ironically, the two of us have created our own home preschool. We take turns taking the four children and teaching them about bugs, bodies, germs, volcanoes, dolphins, shapes, otters, beavers, bears, and whatever else we choose. One morning a week they are all at my house and on another morning they go to Deborah's. The non-teacher gets 3-4 hours to herself, and the teacher & kiddos have an excellent time reading stories, doing crafts, and then just playing. We really only spend an hour or so on actual organized preschool time, typically. Then they play.  And, for the most part, everyone gets along and it's a great time.

I really enjoy doing the home preschool. I'm definitely not ready to jump onto the full-time home school bandwagon of Milpitas Mormon women, but doing it just for preschool where I have no curriculum constraints and I really can become an authority on the subject matter is fun. I can tell, though, that I'm only up for it once a week. I commend the families that home school their children and have to keep on top of multiple ages and educational assignments every day.

Here are Holly and Gunnar with their classmates, Mason and Danielle, as we were getting ready to have our own volcanic eruption.

We just used the classic baking soda and vinegar combination, but also added dish soap as then the all the gas is caught in bubbles and makes the whole reaction more visible.

And we put in red food coloring to make it look more like lava. Unfortunately, we didn't put in enough and it was just pink--kind of like Pepto Bismol, I guess. Pink, though, is the favorite color of the two little girls, so it was perfect. Really, they color EVERYTHING pink.

Back inside, they made volcano collages with construction paper and tissue paper.

 

 

Now that Holly has finished her gluing, she'll add some decorative touches with a pink crayon, of course:

On another day, we studied bears. We focused on the three bears in North America: black bears, grizzly bears, and polar bears. We learned about their hibernation habits (only female polar bears hibernate), eating habits (salmon, moths, & more), and physical differences (grizzlies have shoulder humps and are bigger than black bears; polars bears are biggest of all). The kiddos all brought a favorite teddy bear to school that day, and for lunch they had a "teddy bear picnic" on the patio.

Here are the cutest little students. I'm grateful to be their mother and their teacher--really the same thing, right?

 

Project Early Bird

After returning from my  trip to Arizona and giving myself a few days to adjust to the normal routine, I launched an experiment which I have now dubbed "Project Early Bird."

I started getting up at 5:30 in the morning.

Are you sure about this?

That is a big deal for me. Really big. I like to sleep in. For most of our marriage, Damon has risen earlier than me, getting up and having breakfast with the kids and sometimes only waking me up when it was absolutely necessary for me to take over while he got in the shower.

Still, I had this big idea to start getting up early enough that I could exercise and shower before the kids needed me. I had several motivators for embarking on such an ambitious new schedule. I'm more productive once I'm showered and dressed. Holly is at an age where she can get into mischief and danger if left unsupervised for too long, so I can really only shower when she's napping or someone older (other than Gunnar) is here to keep an eye on her.  Over the last several months she has dropped a nap, and now her only nap of the day is a little later in the morning. If I wait for her to go to sleep, I'm not able to shower until after 11:00, and so I just tend to waste the whole morning kind of puttering around waiting for her to nap. I figured that if I could be showered and dressed before the girls leave for school, that would help me start my day better.

Also, I tend to stay up too late, and wondered if getting up earlier would leave me tired out and inclined to go to bed earlier.  One of the reasons I believe that I stay up late is because I need some time to wind down and do my own thing after the kids are in bed. I thought that, maybe, by getting up earlier, I could "fill my cup" before the kids were awake rather than recharging at the end of the day. I was skeptical about this potential benefit of my early rising, but willing to try it out.

So, is it worth it?
Turns out, I'm not getting to bed any earlier most nights. Instead, I'm just getting less sleep. I don't actually notice it too much, except at about 5:30 and 1 second when I've realized that the alarm is going off and I wonder if I'm crazy and can really drag myself out of bed.  Honestly, some days I do bail and get back in bed. And, some nights I know that I just can't get up at 5:30 the next morning. (I also manage to sneak in a few afternoon catnaps throughout the week, which helps.)

However, I have learned that I really like being showered and dressed before the girls leave for school. Often I still tend to lounge about and waste some time on the Internet after they leave, but once I come to myself and decide I ought to get on with the housework or some other project. . . I'm already dressed! So, on the mornings when I decide I need to sleep in a little and don't get up at 5:30, I get up at 6:30 instead (still early for me) and hop right in the shower.

I'm also getting more exercise. Although I have to have the TV turned way down low and all the lights off (so that when Holly wakes up at about 6:00 she'll go in our bedroom and fall asleep with Damon instead of coming out to the family room with me), it's so much easier to exercise without kids climbing on me, asking for a drink of water, or needing a diaper change in the middle of the workout. I've even spent some of my early-morning hours going for solo walks or working on a landscaping project in the part of our yard that's right by the street--both things that I can't really do when I'm home alone with the kids.

So, I'd consider my Project a success.  Dare I go so far as to call it a new lifestyle? Maybe.  Ask me in a few more months.

P.S. I do plan to continue it during the summer, but I might allow myself a 30-minute delay since there won't be the pressure of having kids dressed and fed and lunches made by the time Damon leaves for work.

After-School Community Building, or Building on the Hoods

The kids and I had fun building our own little town with Gunnar's train tracks, the Duplo blocks, and any other props we could find.

Gunnar and Maggie worked on a campground just outside of the town. The books are tents. To Maggie's left (our right) is the dinosaur museum.

Here's Winnie the Pooh in the forest.

Maggie built these trees, and in the photo above you can make out some other green bushes.

Here's a little pond at the campground:

Adah was Chief Railroad and Town Architect. I was her assistant.

Here's Mater's Tow Yard, the bakery (that's a Duplo loaf of bread atop that yellow "building"), and City Hall (?); the roof of the train station is in the foreground.

 

 

Woo-hoo! The trains didn't crash!

 

This was a fun afternoon. Everyone was working together, using their imaginations and building skills, and getting along. I need to do this more with my children. When I get down and play with them, it almost always goes better between them, (not that they don't come up with some very happy and imaginative play without me). This day we helped build up our own little neighborhood while I built up my memories of motherhood.

Why I Look Forward to Sabbath Rest

The following rundown of the last few days, though while a little busier than normal, is still pretty typical:
Thursday
6:45 a.m. wake up feeling the worst of any day since beginning to suffer from a cold on Sunday, shower and get ready, eat breakfast, make 3 lunches, make sure 4 children are dressed and ready for the day (with husband's help)
8:00 a.m. say goodbye to husband and 2 older children
8:25 a.m. say hello to friend and her son, who is dropped off for carpooling to preschool
8:35 a.m. buckle 3 children into van and drive to preschool
9:00 a.m. drop off 2 children at preschool, proceed to do errands, drive around until youngest child falls asleep, park and take a nap, wake up, and grocery shop
12:00 p.m. pick up children from preschool
12:25 p.m. drop off one child at his home
12:30 p.m. arrive home and unload groceries, eat lunch, let 2 youngest children watch nature movie, check email and then try to coordinate last-minute pick-up of a silent auction donation, try to rest, putter around house tidying up, check Facebook and email some more (let's be honest)
2:45 p.m. walk to school, pushing stroller and guiding 3rd child, to pick up 2 oldest children (raining)
3:10 p.m. return home, supervise snacks, playtime, try to nap on couch (feeling very sick now)
3:45 p.m. second child's violin teacher arrives for lesson
4:15 p.m. violin teacher leaves
5:00 p.m. begin making dinner
5:30 p.m. husband arrives home early having canceled usual Thursday evening plans to stay home with sick wife [that's me]
6:20 p.m. eat dinner, clean up
7:30 p.m. get children ready for bed
8:30 p.m. finally get all kids in bed, pull out Silent Auction gift certificate display sheets and start mounting on colorful paper and affixing logos and clip art while watching a movie (same events as previous 2 nights)
12:59 a.m. turn out light, put head on pillow, and immediately fall asleep
Friday
6:09 a.m. wake up when 3rd child comes in bedroom; notice youngest child is in bed next to me; try to fall back asleep
6:45 a.m. get out of bed feeling surprisingly better than the day before, shower and get ready, eat breakfast, make sure 4 children are dressed and ready for the day (with husband's help)
8:10 a.m. say goodbye to husband and 2 older children, sending husband out the door with his two homemade apple pies for the auction
8:35 a.m. leave house with 2 younger children and drive 10 minutes to drop them at friends' house
9:00 a.m. finally arrive in school gym with all my supplies, having made birthday phone call to sister-in-law; begin my portion of silent auction set-up: hanging up the approximately 250 gift certificate display sheets that I have cropped and mounted in the previous week
2:00 p.m. sit down for the first time since leaving the car
2:15 p.m. stand back up
2:55 p.m. pick up 2 older children (plus a few more) in front of school and return to gym
3:25 p.m. leave school to pick up 2 younger children at friends' home; express extreme gratitude to friends for watching children all day; enjoy about 45 minutes of visiting while sitting on their floor
4:40 p.m. arrive home, change youngest child's and my clothes and freshen up
5:05 p.m. arrive at school, rendezvous with husband in parking lot, deliver 3 older children to their parties (Dr. Seuss, Earth Day Celebration, and Button Bracelets), walk into fully decorated and set-up 20th Annual Whitson Silent Auction and begin bidding, eating pizza, visiting with friends, and trying to keep youngest child happy and out of trouble
7:15 p.m. bidding ends; send husband home with children; get in line to pay for won items (Soup of the Month from the principal, 10-swim pool pass, 3 Rivers Grill gift certificate, 1-hour horseback riding [for oldest child--shhh! it's a surprise!])
8:20 p.m. arrive home to find husband and four children raking dirt in front yard [another story]
9:20 p.m. finally get all children tucked into bed
9:30 p.m. watch Tuesday's "Biggest Loser" episode while relaxing on couch with husband
11:00 p.m. turn off light and immediately fall asleep

Saturday
6:50 a.m. children wake me up, say goodbye to husband [off to help install cabinets at one friend's and then help other friends move], read Sabertooth book to two youngest children (son practically has it memorized), get dressed, make sure 4 children are dressed and ready
7:50 a.m. leave house
8:05 a.m. arrive at Underwood Fire Department Pancake Breakfast and rendezvous with friends (1 fireman and his wife), eat pancakes, chat with a few friends and husband's boss
8:50 a.m. leave Underwood with friend and return to White Salmon for annual plant sale fundraiser, buy 3 varieties of tomatoes, many annuals, and 1 perennial
9:30 a.m. drive up the street and drop off plants, let children use bathroom, put youngest child in stroller, walk back down the street 1 block
9:45 a.m. arrive at the most crowded garage sale I've ever attended, a fundraiser for a local woman with cancer
10:25 a.m. leave garage sale with 2 tennis rackets, binoculars, 4 books, Cabbage Patch Kid, and plush bugs in a bug catcher (cute kid toy), say goodbye to Underwood friend
10:35 a.m. make phone calls to coordinate playdates
10:45 a.m. drop off 2 middle children at friends' house, return home and put youngest child down for nap, watch Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone with oldest child and her friend, pausing to pop popcorn and slice apples, and eventually get youngest child from bedroom
12:45 p.m. say hello to husband
1:15 p.m. drop off oldest child's friend, pick up middle children, drive to Hood River and buy grass seed and fertilizer [that other story], return to White Salmon, get ice cream cones
2:45 p.m. arrive home, direct 2nd child to make birthday card, wrap birthday present, and plant flowers in window boxes while husband, full-time missionaries, and children spread dirt and plant grass seeds
4:00 p.m. put two youngest children in bath, clean up pools of water on bathroom floor spilled by youngest child [which 3rd child did try to clean up], shampoo, scrub, rinse, dry, and dress children
4:45 p.m. babysitter arrives while full-time missionaries are heating up leftovers in microwave and husband is showering
5:00 p.m. missionaries leave, husband takes 2 oldest children to birthday party while I get in shower
5:19 p.m. drive to Hood River with husband
5:28 pm. go into restaurant/movie theater and get in line to order food while husband parks
5:32 p.m. husband sits down with friends in theater while I order food
5:35 p.m. sit down with husband and friends to watch the traveling Banff Mountain Film Festival and eat yummy calzones
8:30 p.m. leave theater after excellent entertainment and friend giving me backpack he won in drawing
8:40 p.m. get ice cream cones (2nd time in one day!)
9:00 p.m. arrive home to find babysitter has mopped the floor, emptied the dishwasher, cleaned up all toys, and tidied the living room; pay her extra; listen to oldest child (only one awake) tell me about the reptile man at the birthday party
9:30 p.m. clean up more water on bathroom floor, vacuum family room
10:00 p.m. sit at computer to relax and reflect on my busy couple of days

I love the principle of the Sabbath. It is a joy to have a day to rest from my daily labors. Even though my full-time job is being a mom, which means I don't really get a day off, I do look at Sundays as my day off. On that day I don't worry about housework. I can lounge on the couch completely guilt-free. I can really enjoy playing with my children without the nagging feeling that there's some task that needs accomplishing. Most importantly, I can attend church where I can worship the Savior surrounded by my family and by good friends. I'm looking forward to tomorrow morning.

Adventure Eaters

We're trying something new at our dinner table starting tonight. This afternoon I presented each of the three older kids with their own Adventure Eater Rewards Cards.

It's pretty self-explanatory.  When the kids try a new food (or one for which they've previously declared distaste), they get to write it down.  If they decide they like it, the food gets a star. Whether they like them or not, once they've tasted 10 new foods, and their Rewards Card is complete, they get to choose what's for dinner!  The measure of a "true try" goes up one bite with each child by age, meaning Adah has to take four bites and Maggie three.

I read about this idea in Family Fun today.  They called it a picky eaters reward card.  I decided that I didn't want to brand my kids as "picky," but rather engender in them the idea that trying new things, especially new cuisine, is an adventure!  I always say that I'll try anything once. (And I proved it two weeks ago when I tried my first aspic.  If you saw Julie & Julia or are familiar with French cooking, you should know what this is. This sample was a gelled ring of tomato juice something with noodles in it.  It was cold and slimy, and my first try was my last. I think I deserve an adventure reward for that.)

Tonight for dinner? Quick and Easy Pancit: It's essentially a stir fry with rice noodles, cabbage and chicken (and probably a couple extra veggies) flavored primarily by ginger, lemon juice, and soy sauce.  We've had it before with varying success on the kids' plates.  Tonight I'm hoping they'll all dive in with a taste for adventure (pun intended).