Definition: Dissect

I entered another giveaway contest yesterday. I didn't win... My husband asked, "Have you ever won something from that lady?" No, I haven't, which is only natural since I've only entered her weekly sweepstakes twice (and I think I was late the first time) and I was only one out of more than a thousand to enter that particular giveaway. But out of all the (little) time I spend entering giveaways my win rate is quite decent. I probably enter an average of two a month and win an average of once every 2 years. I just won another giveaway so I'm not really due to win again until 2019.
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The giveaway I did win recently is a set of educational books on birds through the blog Growing With Science. One of the books includes "an actual owl pellet for kids to dissect", which I hoped my kids would not be too grossed out by. An owl pellet is a much nicer dissection project than, say, a whole animal. Something I can certainly handle. What I didn't realize, though, is that my Reese (8.5yo) first needed a definition of the word "dissect". When I proudly displayed our winnings on the computer screen, she looked at me, stuck out her tongue with a loud "YUCK!" and declared that she drew the line. She was not willing to dissect bird poop. She.Would.Not.Put.THAT.In.Her.Mouth. I quickly explained that "dissect" means "cut open and examine", NOT "ingest". "Phew! Ok, I'll do that."
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I win just often enough to keep entering contests, though only if they are easy to enter, they are ones I come across in my regular activities anyway (not changing my lifestyle to pursue them), and they are for products I find appealing. With that mindset I'm not likely to win any contest again for several months, but statistics are funny-I could just as well win again next week. Maybe next time it'll be something we want to ingest and not just dissect.

Happy Heritage: Pork Shoulder Butt

Stuck. It didn't stop his explorations though.
Over the next couple days he got stuck again
underneath the end table's shelf, on the
shelf, and on the top of the table.

My older daughters watched me prepare a pork shoulder butt for our dinner. "That's not pork, that's a lamb leg!" No, I explained, it was pork, it just was nearly the same shape as the lamb we had eaten recently. I pointed out the label "proving" my point. "Pork Butt!!" Actually, it's from the shoulder. I don't know why it's called the butt. "Phew! Who'd ever want to eat a pig's butt??" I then explained where ham is taken from. Surprised, my daughters immediately declared their willingness to eat a pig's rear end any day, at any opportunity.
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Maria declared that she wishes we had a summer house in Europe. Or a winter house. Or any house. So I asked where in Europe. First she chose France, then London, England. Reese's eyes lit up and she eagerly asked where the candy shops are located in Europe. "Switzerland." I told her. So that's where she wants her extra house to be located.
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I've learned the best way to teach children how to spell: 1. Bring a toddler into the home. 2. Since the toddler will quickly learn to understand the word "candy", tell the older children that they will not be allowed a sweet treat after meals if they use said word too early. They will therefore have to spell it out, "C-A-N-D-Y" when requesting their after-dinner treat. 3. Wait up to a month (depending on the age of the toddler) for the younger child to realize that those letters mean the same things as "candy". 4. Tell children they will have to spell "D-E-S-S-E-R-T" so the toddler will not stop her meal as soon as she hears them spell out the earlier, easier word. 4. Repeat steps 3 and 4, increasing the difficult of the words spelled. Suggestions for those more challenging words: confectionery, sweet treat,
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I was recently nominated the castle gardener. "Because queens don't weed strawberry patches and we are princesses, so..." Grade school logic: They are princesses and princesses live in castles, and the gardens of those castles are cared for by official gardeners. If I am tending the garden, then I am obviously not eligible to be their mother, the queen; I must be the gardener.
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My slider phone spontaneously decided to stop working. I can receive calls but the keypads don't work properly so I cannot make any phone calls, read any text messages, look up any phone numbers, or shut off my morning alarm. Neither my husband nor I was surprised at my phone's death, though it was sudden. We knew it was coming. We had already decided that when it occurred, we would upgrade me to a "smart" phone, but would continue using the slider until it truly died. The biggest advantage I am hoping for from my new phone is the ability to take pictures with it. The last two years I have been at a clear disadvantage, not having my camera always handy and finding it inconvenient to physically attach the camera to a computer in order to do anything with the pictures I take. Hopefully the change will be a positive one for our family's annual photo album and for this blog, since it should be easier to take more photos and to upload them more quickly when and where I choose to.

Essay: Sneezing, Coughing, Wiggling

Reese

Brainstorm things that make you cough or sneeze. It is polite to cover your mouth when you cough or sneeze.

Dust makes you sneeze. Cold makes you cough. Feet make you sneeze because they have lots of dust.

(THE END. GOOD BYE)

Maria

Today I am talking about things that wiggle. Here is a list of things that wiggle: Worms. Centipedes. Babies. Beatles. Butterflies. Ants. (And bugs.) Worms: I do not like worms. Because they can frighten me very very very very very very very much. Ants: I do not like ants. Because they get in my food.

THE END.

GOOD BYE.

Notice; not for children under 5.

Essay: I want

Maria

One day I found an ad in a newspaper for a doll. This is it.

COME ONE.

COME ALL.

COME BUY.

THIS DOLL!

And I went to the store and bought about 2 or 3 hundred dolls!


(this is not true)(do not believe it)
(do not make it popular)
(Really)
(do not read it more than once)
(believe me this is not true)

GOOD BYE


Reese

You saw an ad in the paper for a china doll. You want to add it to your collection, but you can not find the doll! Boo hoo.

(SEE YA LATER! GOOD BYE.)

Essay: How to Wash Dishes

My daughters were ecstatic when I told them they could publish their writing essays on my blog. Maybe many more of their essays will appear in the future, if they continue to find the exercise interesting.
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Maria is in 2nd grade and Reese is in 1st. We edited their essays for spelling errors and as a tool to teach them mechanics of good writing (i.e. capitalize the first word of each sentence).


Maria
 I LOVE to wash Dishes. (Really i do not ). I could wash them all day. (not really) . But one day  I remembered a technique.This is the technique. First  you take water and let the dishes soak for 10 minutes. Than you take soap and scrub for 50 minutes. Last you take water and soak for 1 hour than you turn off the faucet and dry for 100 minutes.(I have never tried it).

The End.(THE END .THE END .THE END).

Reese

How to wash dishes

First you bring the soap then you bring the water then you wash the dishes in the sink. 

(THE END. THE END. THE END)

Happy Heritage: Moving into our Joshua Home

Our new house is big enough to make a baby monitor feasible. So we dusted off the one we still owned from nearly 8 years ago when our firstborn joined our family. Back then I registered for one because "everyone" told me I'd still want one to hear the little one even in our tiny house and because I had the idea that I'd carry it with me into the garden while she napped. RealLife: I could hear her quite easily throughout our house and when she napped, I napped. I was too spent to "waste" her naps on our garden. Now the monitor allows me to leave our 7mo old in his crib on the 2nd floor while I have the freedom of roaming the house (and maybe the garden...). Side benefit: it entertains the 19mo old beyond reason as she screams into the walkie-talkie receiver, every fiber of her being vibrating with the effort, barely maintaining her balance on her tippy toes, excited ecstatic to hear her brother (or sister, playing in the other room) through the receiver and making every effort possible to respond.
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The biggest incident that came from our move was my husband's smartphone falling from his pocket and being run over by a truck. Essential to his business, he had to spend more time than he would have liked finding another phone. But, he has a replacement now, and it really wasn't the most terrible fallout imaginable. We greatly appreciate our friends and family members who helped us out, by moving our stuff, by watching our kids, by painting or cleaning or wiring, by helping in the food prep, by assembling furniture, by remodeling our new home, by lending us tools, and in every other way we were supported in this move.
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Since I gave up on intensive Bible study, I've been a little bit at a loss on what to read during my daily prayer time. I've been reading the daily selections used at Mass which has its merits and some people find very satisfying, but I don't really enjoy. Mostly I find it difficult to delve very deeply into the verses chosen when individual verses are omitted (albeit for valid reasons) and the Responsorial Psalm almost always has verses omitted. I just don't enjoy the style for my personal Scripture study although I highly recommend it for those who do enjoy it and I do read the selections most Sundays in preparation for attending Mass. With the beginning of the new year I have settled on reading through the entire Bible, for the first time using a plan that includes the entire Catholic canon. I plan to read the chapters designated for each calendar day, skipping chapters that I simply don't get to rather than trying to play catch-up. I had been often playing the daily Mass readings podcast and found my children listening in, so I looked up an online audio Bible resource to play my daily readings on, so they will continue listening in.
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I am being outdone by my children in the area of piety. My 7yr old Maria says openly that she wants to be a saint. My 19mo old Princess includes angel, Mary, and AMEN! in her limited vocabulary and loves to blow goodnight kisses to a couple different religious pictures regularly. My 6yr old Reese is more pragmatic but refused a few months ago to be left out when my husband began taking our oldest to a weekly Mass. She may not always enjoy Sunday Mass, but at her insistence always goes with Maria and Daddy to Wednesday Mass. Lest anyone think we are too holy though (HA! That would not be RealLife!), I frequently overhear statements like "Sister, I will let you have the honor of serving me now." Besides the far-less-than-holy fights that take place multiple times every day.
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There are no pictures to accompany this post because I haven't unpacked my camera yet. Nor am I the least bit discouraged by that. Even with so much still hidden away in one box or another, and even with not knowing which box holds what I need in order to ____ nor where to put what I do find, the extra space makes such a positive difference. Maybe I should write a post on the problems I see in the fad movement toward tiny houses and why I am eagerly moving in the opposite direction.

Happy Heritage: Finally Not Pregnant

Baby 2013 exploring the basic features of Baby 2014

These past two years must have been as long for my daughters as they were from me. I had this conversation with my 5 year old yesterday:
"Mom?"
"Yes, Reese?"
"You're Finally not pregnant."
"Yes, Reese."
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Our daughters would like to be wealthy. Wealthy enough to hire servants to do the housekeeping and cooking and maybe even the gardening for us. When I ask what I would do then, they respond "Whatever you want, Mom!" I think they envision me reading stories to them all day--when I'm not trucking them around to kids museums and zoos and pools, and they also envision a family cook obligated to cater to their menu desires of pancakes, cookies, and other treats whenever they request them.
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To achieve that wealth they create bead projects and devise plans to sell them for outrageous sums on the street corner. I admitted to my oldest that I doubt she will ever become wealthy because she will be too busy giving away all her money. She has a gift of generosity, encouraged no doubt by the witness of my mother-in-law, who regularly gives away a portion of whatever baked good she produces in her kitchen to one of the bachelors or widows in her circle of friends. Maria recently happened to bake cookies while a mechanic replaced the brake pads on our van in our driveway and wanted to save just enough for our family to get 2 apiece and give the mechanic the remainder. I admit to being more selfish, which is (partly) why I made her give the mechanic only 2 and save the rest for our family.
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We've outgrown our house and begun considering seriously buying a larger home. Maria and Reese are fully on-board, except for the part of leaving our current neighbors behind. They (and we, for that matter: we have FABULOUS neighbors) would like to take them all with us. But in the interest of buying the larger home, Maria has offered her life savings, Reese offered the allowance she has accumulated (although not the money in her savings account) and both have offered to hold a fundraiser or man a lemonade stand. I suspect their continuing interest in money-making schemes comes in part because their dad is a salesman.
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My kids drive me crazy every day but they do
make up for it by the funny things they say and by their desire to give to others.

Happy Heritage: More freezinger than freezing

She enjoyed the whipped cream from her first birthday cake
more than the cake itself. An edible plaything: what's not
to love??

After playing in our sprinkler and drinking a cold smoothie, Maria announced that she had become cold. More precisely,: "More freezinger than freezing."
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Maria has a heart for mission and a gift of generosity. And one of her love languages is gift giving. Her sister Reese does not hold back from taking advantage of that. I recently heard them making plans for what Maria could buy for her younger sister. Reese was egging her on, fully decided that she would spend all her own money on herself and all her sister's money also on herself. Maria seems to be fine with that plan. Somehow a good deal of Maria's candy from special occasions ends up in Reese's stash and gifted to Daddy, yet Reese's never makes its way into Maria's stash. Reese doesn't see any inequality in this as she pours out love in abundance in other ways, such as quality time. If her sister chooses to give her presents, well, who is she to refuse?
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The high school youth group we support may someday benefit from the efforts of a talented young fundraiser. Maria has plans to make various crafts and sell them at a "lemonade stand", donating all the proceeds to the youth group and their mission trips. Reese thinks that's a great plan for raising money. So her idea is to use the same strategy in our front yard, but keep the money for herself and become independently wealthy. The youth group doesn't factor into her plans unless she decides to use some of the money to go on a mission trip herself.
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I love watching Princess respond to her big sisters and her Daddy. She has a LOT of love to give to those who are important to her. She may not understand much of the activities Maria and Reese are involved in, but she is certain that if they like it, then she will too. This leads to some frustration all around since the big sister are 6 and 4.5 years older than her, but a beautiful sunbeam smile from Princess when they are able to include her in their activity. And when Daddy enters the room...oh my. She gets so excited to see him!

Happy Heritage: No need for counting sheep

Maria and Reese enjoyed attending day camp this week immensely, but returned home with a few more bug bites each afternoon. Actually, Maria collected so many over the course of the week that at bedtime on Thursday she sadly looked at her legs and announced: "Looks like I'll have to count mosquito bites tonight instead of sheep."
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Reese wants to polish our silverware tomorrow as a Father's Day activity. Because it's fun to do. She says that it also reminds her of Jesus "because it's so shiny". She is voting for this over a bike ride, picnic and zoo visit. Her proposal was rejected by the rest of the family.
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Maria plans to invent cheese ice cream (gluten free, of course) that can be eaten as a protein main course. I could either a) introduce her to cheesecake ice cream and allow it to count as a protein element in our her lunches or b) wait for her to experiment in the kitchen with frozen cheddar cheese concoctions. We haven't bought or made it yet, but if you someday hear her claim that her mother allows her to eat cheesecake ice cream as her actual meal, please rest assured that I enjoyed it also it was simply a matter of making the best of the situation.

Bible Study: Unique and precious

Romans 15:7
Matthew 10:28-31

Maria is intelligent, personable, and generous. Giving of herself as well as her possessions, she shares her life story with whoever will listen--even the grocery store cashier she has never met before and will probably never see again after we finish paying our bill.
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Reese is much more deliberate about who she interacts with. Carefully precise, she is willing to fight fiercely for what she wants, if she truly wants it. We were initially concerned for her as the only non-firstborn (at the time) in our family, but she quickly proved her ability and desire to dominate us all.
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We were often asked when Princess was born who she takes after. We could only answer that she is her own person. Laid back, she lets her big sisters treat her like a living baby doll. Loving and lovable, she is always eager to cuddle someone who is important to her. Loyal, she decides who is important, and no one else: even grandparents haven't made the cut yet (much to their chagrin!).
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Each one is unique. Each one has a different path ahead of her. Each one has different strengths and will struggle with different weaknesses in life. How narrow-minded we are when we select one person as more important than another! As if one were perfect and we were qualified to judge who that was! God doesn't call us more precious than sparrows because we have an easy life as His children (ever notice how quickly sparrows die??). Rather, He is aware of each and every trial we endure and will bring about justice on our behalf. When we treat other people as precious individuals, we are imitating the Lord who also treasures them. When we treat them poorly then we can be sure He is aware of our actions and will bring about justice even if that seems to take awhile.

Happy Heritage: Plans for heaven

Our family devotional recently sparked an excited discussion of what we have to look forward to in heaven.
Maria: "I can have all the Barbie dolls I want! And maybe five bunny rabbits!"
Reese: "There are no spiders in heaven!!"
They plan to dress up in golden swirly dresses to dance every day (including floating in the air high above the stage). Also planned: watching tv all day long. Sprouts and Tinkerbell for the kids (Daddy chooses sports instead). The tvs themselves can be any color you want (pink and purple even). Candy is good for you, so you can eat as much of it as you want and never get sick (Willy Wonka must live in heaven). You can eat candy all day long while watching tv. Or you can choose pie as there is lemon meringue for Reese, strawberry ice cream pie for Maria, and every other kind you could ever want for variety.
I couldn't understand Princess's contributions, but even she excitedly offered plenty of ideas about what wonderful treasures await us in the Father's house. If you ever had any doubt about the joys of heaven, my children will be happy to help you imagine how wonderful it will be.

Happy Heritage: A child's perspective is unique

Maria had her first Reconciliation this week. In preparation I helped her think through an examination of her conscience beforehand at home and, knowing my child, I suggested it might help her to write down the sins that came to mind. She could then destroy the paper or keep it until her actual Confession and destroy it afterwards. What I did not expect was that she would review it (silently--I never looked at the paper) on the way to the church and begin giggling. Apparently, according to her, one of her sins was "so funny it made her burst into giggles every time she remembered it". Um, sins aren't supposed to be funny... We'll work on that some more... (What WAS on that paper??)
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Reese was working on her Spanish assignment and the computer program wouldn't accept her pronunciation of a particular phrase. After several attempts, Reese gave up and switched to "Blah, blah, blah!" The program didn't accept that pronunciation either, but expressing her frustration with nonsense words seemed to make Reese feel much better.

Happy Heritage: Too much money

Creative Maria

Maria asked the other day whether we're saving up to buy a new house. "No. Why do you ask?" "Because you have too much money in the bank!" It's all a matter of perspective I guess.
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Princess (7 months old) gave her first indication the other day that she's paying attention to the baby sign language I've been showing her since the day she was born. She brought her hands together several times while loudly complaining that her food was not yet in her mouth. Bringing the fingers from both hands together is the sign for "more", used for a baby to request more food, so we responded as quickly as possible to encourage her to repeat the sign often in the future! (Babies often have a certain level of motor control before being able to vocalize their desires, so signs can reduce their frustrations in trying to communicate when they can't yet use words).
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When you don't know the "correct" word for something, it's a very useful skill to describe it in other terms. I'm not sure what to call the circles used in cartoons to connect a thought or dream cloud to the individual thinking it, but I love the poetic description Reese came up with for them: "dream drops".
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Maria: "Since you never get sick in Heaven, I'm going to eat LOTS of candy there!!"

Happy Heritage: Nicknames

So far I've referred to my children by their respective ages. This gives perspective for all those who don't know exactly how old they are of which things they do/say are particularly amusing because of their age. But it will become confusing in the long-term as they grow up and I have to match up the date on each post with their respective birthdays in order to remember which child said what. So I'm giving them all nicknames to use here.

Maria: 6 and 3/4 years old, she's happy to tell every acquaintance and stranger that her birthday is only a month and a half away. No longer just 6 and 1/2, she's not quite content with the 3/4...because she has passed that mark and doesn't want anyone to miss even one month that she has gained toward her 7 year mark. She knows exactly how many days are left until her birthday (although her math is a little off...) In fact, she usually includes the information that "in only 7 years I'm going to be 13!!"
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Reese: Pronounced with two long "e"s, as if it were spelled "Reesee". LOVES peanut butter and it's even better with chocolate. Although her nickname came separate, before she'd ever tried the candy Reese's Pieces (pronounced of course "Reesee's Piecees") or the cups, she's always happy to enjoy a peanut butter cup or candy pieces. Reese is 5 years old. We thought when she was born that she might be in an awkward position, the only non-firstborn of our little family. Yet somehow she gets exactly what she wants from all of us older than her, as if she were the bossy one instead of the three of us.
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Princess: There are nearly 5 years in between Reese and Princess, so our 7 month old daughter is treated every minute as a princess by our two older daughters. She loves them in return, giving them plenty of motivation to continue the princess treatment. Not that her daddy and I miss every opportunity possible to give her that same treatment!
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Ant: We don't know this child yet. His nickname comes from Proverbs 6:6, as a prayer that he will learn wisdom from the Lord and become himself someone that others will learn wisdom from. After we meet him in the spring and get to know him, he might earn another nickname for himself. Then again, he might simply confirm this nickname as appropriate.