Resting

Taneal cracks me up. Sometimes I don't know where she gets her ideas and wittiness, but she just makes me chuckle.

Taneal is loving playing the viola. Now that she is in middle school, she has orchestra class every day. She also has to practice 7 days a week. While her skills are greatly improving, she has a really hard time practicing on the weekends. And then she has to make up the lost weekend practice time.

The other morning she was practicing before school and had been practicing for probably a good hour.

That really is a long time.

She had Gavin on her lap for a while.



She walked around the livingroom for a while.

She probably sat on the toilet for a while ( not really, I'm totally kidding about that one although I wouldn't put it past her).

And for a while she just sat in the chair and looked at me. Probably for a good five minutes. And you know that feeling when you're being stared at? Yah. It was happening. And when it's your own child it isn't quite as uncomfortable, but it was getting there. I finally said something like, "you done practicing?". And then Taneal said she was still practicing. And then I told her it didn't really sound like it.

And you know what she told me?

"I'm practicing the rests". You know, like the pauses between notes in a song!



I couldn't believe it. That girl!


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Severe Drought Conditions

We need rain.

The trees are dying. We have lost more trees in this drought than we did with Hurricane Ike. Pines that are 100 years old are brown. And they are dying everywhere.

Wildfires are raging. Thousand of homes have been lost. Last week ash was falling into my yard. It is bad.

An article from August summed up our current condition. I couldn't find one more current, although I know conditions are only worse:

"As part of an excellent update on the city’s drought, the National Weather Service dug up an incredible statistic: Since Feb. 1 Houston has recorded just 5.81 inches of rain. The next driest comparable period – that is, the 191 days from Feb. 1 through August 10 – occurred in 1917 when there were 10.98 inches of rain.



Here’s another way of looking at it: The city has now gone 198 days without a 1-inch rain event. The last day Houston recorded 1 inch of rain came on Jan. 24. This has broken the record of 192 days set during the fall and winter of 1917-1918.

In other words, this dry spell is simply off the charts and it’s going to have myriad consequences for the area, from our trees and wild creatures to home foundations, not to mention the agricultural effects on a larger scale.


Just as it has locally, the statewide drought continues to worsen to historic depths.


The latest report from the U.S. Drought Monitor was released Thursday and it continues to be brutal for Texas. Now nearly 95 percent of Texas is in at least an extreme drought, with nearly 80 percent in an exceptional drought."

We need rain.

Houston's average rainfall is about 48 inches. Seattle's rainfall is only 36 inches. Portland usually gets about 40 inches a year. We should be getting more than everyone, yet we are getting less than the Mojave Desert. This year we have only received about 6 inches of rain.

This is no grass for the animals to eat. Craig's list is giving away horses if you can feed them (I heard the last time horses were given away for free was during the great depression.). Friends are having to ship hay in for their animals from states as far away as Utah or Tennessee.

The ponds are but a puddle. Snakes are coming out from their hiding looking for water.

And the water bugs. They don't infest homes like roaches. But they look like roaches. Some may come into your home looking for water, about like a cricket would. But they are big. The only time I have ever seen them in my home is when we have been without rain for a while. This morning I picked up some dirty laundry off the bathroom floor and one of these water bugs must have been hiding in the clothes. It tried to escape by running up my hand and up my arm. I screamed. I can still feel it's fast moving legs on my arm.

We need some rain. Pray for rain.

Colorblindness

Nathan know his colors. He can tell you purple, blue, white, brown, black, green, and nearly every color inbetween. But he can't tell the difference between red and green. He knows all the rest. But everything red is always green.

So I experimented. I gave him a handful of m&ms and had him sort the colors. He pulled out all the browns, then the yellows, the blues. And what was left was a pile of greens and reds. He looked at it for a moment and then slowely started to sort those two colors. And he got them right. But it was with effort. He really had to concentrate to figure out the reds from the greens.

Could this be colorblindness? We are talking a 3 year old here. And when I performed the m&m test he was still 2.

When he called a red green, I would let him know that was red. But he was so consistent I was convinced he could not tell the difference.

That was about three months ago. Had I written this post like I intended to, I would have said 100% the kid is colorblind.

I guess maybe I managed to teach him his colors wrong. Wouldn't that seriously be a cruel joke to play? Don't know how he managed to learn the red and greens wrong, but he did. After months and months of saying, "are you sure that is green? Cause it looks red to me" he has finally figured out that there are indeed red things in this world.

Truthfully what I think it is? He is slightly colorblind and has just figured out the hues and is so stinking smart that he actually knows that this shade of grey is considered red and that shade of grey is, well, green. I don't know. But it is kind of interesting that he picked the two most common colorblind colors and mixed them up like a colorblind person would.

I'm still not convinced he isn't. Im interested to see how things turn out a few years from now. Like say, kindergarten.




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Home Grown Science

In attempts to not be so redneck, we plunged ourselves further into the redneck world. We had high hopes and dreams of a yard that watered itself. Ya know, a yard with sprinklers.

Where we live, we are supposed to get so much rain that we rarely have to throw the hose around. But a severe drought, the worst in history, is upon us. It has been getting dryer each year which is why we have really wanted a sprinkler system.

Evan started digging the trenches for it. That was about two years ago. He got the hardest ones dug, the ones alongside our home. But then his work got super busy. I got busy growing a baby and then had that baby. That baby didn't stop crying for the first 6 months and I am still trying to get a handle on things.

And those trenches? Still there.



Call us redneck. Call us what you will. But a very cool thing has happened with those trenches.

Every time we water the grass, those trenches fill up with water. And because we water our grass a lot, the trenches always have water in them.

So naturally you would think we have swarms of Mosquitos. Nope. None.

We have tadpoles. And toads. And really enthralled children that spend hours and hours relocating those tadpoles and frogs. They are always coming in with tadpoles without legs, tadpoles that have two legs, frogs with really long tails, and then just toads.



One Saturday I think Camie told me she caught something like 30 toads and put them in a fish bowl. At the end of each day I have them go let their catch of the day free. And the next morning they are right back out in the backyard catching them again and playing with them. I think they like the tadpoles the
most. They like watching them swim around.



And what is oh so redneck has turned out to be the best science experiment ever. So educational. I have even learned things I didn't know. Unfortunately they have also learned how forgetfulness will also kill the poor helpless tadpoles.



My kids will always remember this one.



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Dental Woes

Danielle was such a sport. She had some major dental work done. At least it was more than I have ever had done.



She had to have her front bottom teeth pulled. The two permanent teeth came in behind them and didn't dissolve the roots. And then she had a pretty big cavity between two molars. I didn't realize how big it was. I don't think the dentist we saw 6 months ago caught it. Anyways, the cavity was big enough that the dentist suggested she get a baby root canal. He asked me my opinion and I didn't have one. So he did something else and said If it didn't work to come back in. How am I supposed to know if it worked? Too bad my dentist brother-in-law doesn't work on family. At least I'd know he'd be honest. And he would have caught the cavity!



Anyways, it was a big deal to get numbed and then two big cavities filled and then two extractions. I kept taking pictures to keep the situation light. It seemed to work because Danielle thought she was so cool and loved being the center of attention.




And now I can blog about it because I have pictures.



Check out the roots on those teeth! One of them broke as it was getting pulled. My brother-in-law says that it normal on baby teeth. ( Ya know, Bonnie's husband who is a dentist and won't work on family. Plus his practice doesn't accept our insurance. Not trying to make him want to work on us, just saying I would trust him over the dentists we see. )

Gavin is walking!

Once they can stand up in the middle of the floor by themselves, the rest is history. Gavin has been taking steps for about a month now and he has made huge improvements. But he still prefers crawling to walking.

Tonight he decided to try standing all on his own out in the middle of the floor. It was so cute. And he was so determined. and I caught it on video!

As soon as he gets this down, which will probably happen tomorrow, the crawling will be over. Toddler days, I think you have arrived.

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Summer Ends, School Begins

I can't believe Summer is already over. It seemed like it just started. I wanted to do so much this summer and it never happened! I had so many ideas, things I was going to teach the kids, fun places we were going to go to, and we just plain ran out of time. We had a great summer. We did many things. We just didn't finish those quilts, sewing those skirts, and learning the basics of tole painting. I must remind myself that just because school is in session doesn't mean life must end. Right? Maybe a little. They are so busy. I have to make things a priority if they are to get done. Good. Better. Best. Everything is good. But what is better. And choose what is the best.

Now time to get off my soap box.

We are so fortunate this year of LEAVING our old Elementary school and starting at a new school. And the main reason is the principal. We had a nightmare principal at our last elementary school. You wouldn't even consider asking the principal for help or going to her with a problem. It is a long story that probably shouldn't be told since this lady got fired suddenly retired early. Book closed.

This area is growing so fast and people keep having lots of kids and the elementary schools are so overcrowded. So, we got a beautiful new school. And it really is beautiful. And this principal is so nice and listens and cares! What is even better is it is close enough that my kids can ride their bikes to and from school. I am still going with them until I feel confident that they can not get themselves killed or majorly injured on the way home and can make good choices and be kind to one another. So for the time being I am walking, pushing a double jogging stroller, while the kids ride way ahead of me. We decided to wait until next year to start Spencer in kindergarten, so he rides with his sisters to school and then patiently waits by the bike racks while I get there. I am running a lot of the way, but those kids on bikes are fast. The temperatures are well above 100 degrees, so it makes for lots of showers and cold drinks. But the kids are loving it and Spencer is eating up being able to ride his bike twice a day. And this is the only time that Nathan and Gavin actually sit still. I do have to strap them in the stroller, but they really enjoy getting out.

These are the pictures from the first day of school. Aren't my girls gorgeous?Camie started the 4th grade.

Taneal doesn't get to go to the new elementary school because she decided to grow up and go to Middle School. She gets to ride the bus this year and is quite bummed that she can't ride her bike to school. But she is way excited to go to Middle School and even more excited about having a locker and being able to change into PE clothes at school.

Danielle pretty much doesn't get outwardly excited about anything. Life is all good to her, everything is worth smiling over. She has always been the silent one, with the wheels just a turning and eyes searching everywhere. I know she was very excited, because I know Danielle, not because she showed it. She is going to LOVE 2nd grade.

Man, I love these girls!

Did I mention that they are leaving me at home with three boys? I am going to miss the girls so much. I will be surrounded by too much testosterone!