Wordless Wednesday, Whatever you can do II

Whatever you can do, I can do better- part II

I wrote in an earlier post about Amie's competitive relationship with Demi, which around our house , beside being amusing and/or exasperating- this fact is sometimes used as a useful tool...
She couldn't stop at bike-riding, she also had to add in skateboarding -and join Demi and the other boys at the skate-park. She is nothing if not decided, -indeed.
Wordless Wednesday is a weekly meme...though I'm not very wordless today...

Whatever you can do, I can do better

Demi-Sky acquired a new skill a few weekends ago. He was determined, worked hard at it- and did it! About time, too- he's 8.

Well, Amie was not going to stand for being left-behind. She threw down the glove and asked Daddy to take the training-wheels off her bike, too.

(Mom made sure she was all padded-up)

We thought it would take a week of small tries for her to reach success.

We underestimated our little fire-ball, as usual.

A few minutes later, and voila! She was riding!


She rides into the sunset, no looking back.

It's been a running joke in our house that if you want Amie to do something,
-give it to- or have Demi do it first... it's all too true...

They said change your clothes
She said no I won't
They said comb your hair
She said some kids don't
And her parents dreams went up in smoke

They said you cant leave
She said yes I will
They said don't see him
She said his name is bill
Shes on a roll and its all uphill

Shes a wild one
With an angels face
Shes a woman-child
In a state of grace
When she was 3 years old on her daddy's knee
He said you can be anything you want to be
Shes a wild one
Runnin' free

-Wild one, Faith Hill

I'm the mother of a teenager


It's official, I am now the mother of a teen-age daughter- Meg just celebrated her 13th birthday.

Here is the birthday girl....

Here is the water-balloon toss Sky was organizing in the backyard...

In the midst of the game, the sprinklers unexpectedly came on! Screaming and running commenced. I was too busy running to capture any good photos....I did catch this one though.

Order and dryness restored. Parents watching safely from the sidelines...we added up the risks and decided the patio would be the safest spot.

had to add this one in for cuteness factor...isn't she sweet?
She's our neighbor. The little boy is one of our nephews.

I think the summer birthday party season has begun, we went to one on Sunday and have one this coming weekend to go to.

whew!

at least my house is clean now.

Our San Diego field trip

Here are the highlights of our train trip to San Diego.

Once there, Sky met us at the station with the van and we took the kids to breakfast...I did mention earlier the forsaken hour of our departure, didn't I?? We then headed to Point Loma to visit the Cabrillo monument and tide-pools. The tide-pool beach was not one conducive to playing and sand-castle building, so we packed it up and headed over to Laguna Beach- where we had lunch and relaxed.
It was a good day.

Here is the history book we read from to learn more about Cabrillo and why he has a statue...

Our Golden California by Juanita C. Houston

Overheard at home

Demi: (running into the house to look for his swim-trunks)

..."Mommm, WHERE'S my super-suit?!!"

Mom: (said with a southern drawl) "Hunny, I AM your super-suit!"

Demi: laughing his head off at himself and me

I was so impressed that he pulled off saying it just like in the movie, it's really fun when your little ones move beyond the knock-knock jokes that make no sense, to actually being funny in a clever way.

Conversation overheard between Meg and Josie...

Josie: "that was really funny at the airport when you asked the man at the exchange counter if he had any common-sense to trade for your United States coins..."

Meg: "yeah, that was fun to do...but it would have been even funnier if he had got the joke."

homeschool nerd humor I guess... Background story- when the girls traveled to Washington State with Sky, Meg went up to the exchange counter in the airport- where you can exchange currency and with a straight face asked him for "common sense".

Harvard-wear, you mileage may vary

Sky is racking up many adventures in his Harvard shirt. Remember our trip to Boston in the fall? We stayed in Harvard square, toured the college, hung out...we really liked the school and the area.

I will share with you a peek at our dorkiness,
Sky and I like to joke about our "Harvard days" now...about our favorite burger place at Harvard, buying books at the coop, you get the idea.
We do just joke amongst ourselves, it's our goofy inside family joke stuff, like the barefoot kids in New Zealand.

Sky bought a Harvard shirt at the coop ( I bought a "Harvard bookstore" shirt and wear it with my p.j.'s...thinkin of the WTM boards, snort! you WTMer's get it, don't you??..!)

A month or two ago Sky was at Costco with the kids and the checkout guy was pretty enthusiastic about Sky's Harvard lacrosse team shirt..He asked Sky if he went to Harvard.
Sky told him, "no, I just went there for vacation." The guy laughed and kind of did a guy-punch-in-the-arm-thing, "yeah riight, good one!!" He totally thought Sky was just joking around and being coy, I guess. Sky could not convince him of the truth.

Last week Sky was visiting an elementary school, doing his building inspector stuff...
he walked into a classroom, trying not to interrupt...but all the kids turned around to stare at him. "Hey, mister! Did you go to Harvard?!", a little boy asked. Sky paused a half second warring between the impulse to be truthful against the need to not be a big distraction with his long, drawn-out answer of how he got the shirt.

Sky answered, "As a matter of fact, son- I did! And, you can too, if you study hard, stay in school and listen to your teacher!" The teacher looked on, beaming ear-to-ear. I think he could have gotten a gold star out of her.

told you we are dorks.

a day (and night) in the life of homeschool mom

So, where do I start?

Last night, at around 3 A.M., Meg (age 12) came barreling into our room. She had a nightmare. She very anxiously begs to sleep with us. We have a queen size bed, if you are bigger then a 1 year old...it's just not going to happen. She then begs to sleep on our floor.

It's a hard-wood floor.

My negotiation/comprehension skills are not at a peak at this moment in time (remember, my head seems to hit my pillow at around midnight), somehow she ends up camped out on our floor with several blankets.

4 A.M. - The cat comes in to meow at me, so I will let him outside (it's a nightly/early morning date with us).
Meg screams and jumps 3 feet in the air, becoming frightened all over again, slightly hysterical. I try (very groggily) to calm her down and soothe...but I end up laughing.

8:30 A.M. Marshalling the troops to get out the door for standardized testing day.
*Lunches made- check.
*Nutritious snacks packed- check.
*Nutritious breakfast made and consumed by kids-check.
*Reading books packed to entertain if they finish early-check

*Kids dressed/combed/clean, ready to head out the door...

hold the fort

- Meg and Demi both find that their sneakers are still soaked through after a big balloon fight the evening before. Seems they forgot to mention that detail to mom. Meg goes to look for another pair of shoes...Demi usually exists with one pair of shoes.

One pair.
I mentally run the possibility of running out to Target to buy him new shoes and still making it to the testing in time.

Sky declares he will have to go barefoot.

I mentally imagine myself showing up with a pack of children, two barefoot, one with a broken arm, and one dressed in her notoriously mis-matched cheetah clothing.

We bandy around the idea of telling everyone at the learning center that we are doing a unit study on New Zealand, and that the kids are experiencing going to school barefoot just like the kids do there.

I nix it, remembering that Demi has a pair of sandals from last summer that still fit. Sort of.

Crisis over.

Mommy needs a drink (regardless that I don't drink)

it's all about the glamour, here in the O.C.