Peace Talks

After a long day of being enemies

they finally called

A Truce.

* * * * *

Overheard this morning:

"Dad, can you help me draw a picture of Koda?" asked Jude, paper and pencil in hand.

Jason guffawed. "I'm the wrong person to ask, Buddy. I have hardly a creative a bone in my body. Ask your mom. All of her bones are creative."

* * * * *

Speaking of which, I finally posted something to my fashion blog. More to come soon! (Hint: You can see a bit of the topic of the next post in the last photo.)

* * * * *

On Monday, we went to the river for a while. I was wearing a hat that is slightly too small for my impossibly large noggin (a common problem with me), and it kept blowing off in the breeze. Thus, I spent most of the time carrying my camera and the children's wet socks in one hand, and holding my hat on with the other.



Therefore, when I got home I ordered some hatpins from gardinofweedingirl on Etsy. They are so pretty. I can't wait to get them!

Gift Wrapped

"Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That's why we call it 'The Present'."
-Eleanor Roosevelt (? - original source uncertain)

"In summer, the song sings itself."
-William Carlos Williams

It has been an interesting week, full of "things wrapped up."

On Monday, Jude did his last math test, scoring 93%. Even though we have been finished all of his other school stuff since the end of April, we had a late start on math (the books came late, 'cause they were back-ordered), so he has been working on it steadily for the last couple of months. He was pretty excited to finally finish it--and so was I!



On Wednesday, Jabin and Noah had their soccer BBQ and wrap-up. It turned out to be a beautiful day, and we all ate cheap hotdogs on cheap white buns and managed to not even pay a price for it the next day! (Sorry, I forgot the camera in the van, and was too lazy to go dig it out, so no photos.)

Also on Wednesday, I wrapped up nearly a week of intensive work on the last six months of my business books from 2009, and also getting my tax return completed. YAY! That's the earliest I have completed my tax return in five years of business. I was all caught up on my books just before we left Mena--and haven't been since. But I'm getting there!

On Thursday, Jude's golf lessons wrapped up with a putting competition and some prizes. Also, more hotdogs on white buns. At least these were half-decent hotdogs this time.



Thursday afternoon and evening, I celebrated the "finishing-of-the-taxes" with several hours of scrapbooking at Amanda's. This is one of the three layouts I completed. Why yes, I am still behind with my photos, why do you ask?



Today, Jason is wrapping up work before a week of holidays. We are very excited, because other than being sick or moving, Jason has not had any time off for, um,... I think about two years? Maybe longer? It's definitely time. We are hoping to spend a little time in Sylvan Lake, but also to get some projects done around here. I will keep you updated!

Also today, Noah is at his last day of school for the year at Kindergarten. Then, I will officially have a third grader, a first grader, and kindergartner in the house--well, "going intos", anyway.

Mark and Colleen passed through on Monday night on their way (moving) back to Yellowknife from Vancouver area. Unfortunately, Jason was away for the night for work, and it had been a long, stressful day for me with the kids (long story which I'm not sharing here), and it didn't work out to get together. However, she left me "a little something" that she picked up for me in Portland, Oregon, and I was able to get last night while at Amanda's.


A knitting coaster--combining two of my great loves in classic, vintage style. Does this girl know me, or what? Thank you, Colleen. It's perfect.

Now, without taxes looming, I am hearing the siren call of summer like a lullaby from heaven. I am looking forward to an endless string of summer afternoons at the splash park, or scrapbooking, or stitching, or knitting, or visiting friends, or gardening, or camping, or all of those on the same day (okay, maybe not quite). Somewhere in there (and soon) I have to plan school for next year, and I also have a goal of catching up on this year's books and STAYING caught up, so there will be none of this "late-with-the-taxes" nonsense next year. (Jason's pretty excited about that, too.)

What have YOU been up to this week, friends?

Picture-worthy

Father's Day Gifts from the heart:

Jabin's stencilled-and-coloured dinos.

Noah's card and footprint-poster that he made at school.

Jude's imaginative gifts: stencilled dinosaurs, coloured with great care and detail, which he wrapped in eighteen layers of envelopes and construction paper. Also, 3 rocks he found on the driveway (two of which are actually glass pebbles--how did those get out there?!) and $1 of his own money in change.

Cutie pies.

And one more.

To My First Prince

Dancing with my dad at my prom.

Dancing With Daddy
Words and Music by Talena Winters
Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.

Four years old, in a new white dress
I was twirling 'round, hoping you'd notice
You grabbed my hand and you gave me a whirl,
Dipped me low and said, "That's my girl."

Seventeen in my new prom dress
That's the night I got my first kiss
Asked you why it wasn't what I thought it'd be
Because I knew that you'd be straight with me

And that night as you led me out onto the floor
I was your daughter, but not your little girl anymore

And I didn't always follow all the steps
And I didn't always want to let you lead
But I knew you'd always love me, you were my first prince
I was a princess Dancing With Daddy.

Twenty three in a new white dress
Looking forward to my "happy-ever-afterness."
You walked me down the aisle, and you gave me away
You brought me this far, you loved me all the way

And that night as you led me out onto the floor
I was your daughter, but not your little girl anymore

And I didn't always follow all the steps
And I didn't always want to let you lead
But I knew you'd always love me, you were my first prince
I was a princess Dancing With Daddy.

No matter where I go in this world
I will always be your girl.

And I didn't always follow all the steps
And I didn't always want to let you lead
But I knew you'd always love me, you were my first prince
I was a princess, oh__

And I didn't always follow all the steps
And I didn't always want to let you lead
But I knew you'd always love me, you were my first prince
I was a princess, oh_
I'm a princess Dancing With Daddy.

Four years old, in a new white dress
I was twirling 'round, hoping you'd notice.

Listen to this song here:

Dancing With Daddy by Talena

(Not the best recording of this song, but it's the only one I've got.)

I love you, Dad.

Exploring Options

Last night, we watched Julie & Julia, the dual stories of Julia Child during her time in France, and how she produced her first cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and Julie Powell, the almost-30-year-old who decided to cook through that cookbook in a year and blog about it as a personal growth experience, as well as a way to further her writing career.

Today, I don't know if I'm more inspired to blog or to cook! Before we were halfway through the movie, I had informed Jason that the cookbook was now on my wishlist. Julia and I share a common love: butter.

The movie re-inspired a train of thought in me, though, about doing something that I love AND that would eventually make me money. Blogging? Frankly, I gave up on the idea of making money with a blog a long time ago--I really don't have anything to blog about that would produce income. Either that, or I lack the know-how to produce income from a blog. I've looked at the sites that supposedly coach you in creating income from a blog--none of the ideas (which are the same ideas, over and over) really seem to work for me.

Music? Well, I can't really teach piano in my current living situation--my piano is sitting at the end of my bed, and if I push the bench back as far as it can go so it is rubbing on the footboard, I almost have enough room to sit properly at the keys. As far as having a student in there, never mind the lack of space--my piano is in my bedroom. That's not going to work. And frankly, I don't really have the time to teach piano right now.

Also, I have a musical that is in stasis at the moment. It's a good musical. In fact, when it is finished, and produced, and in full, living colour, it will be amazing. Unfortunately, it's one of those projects that requires a lot of time and energy (like, years of it) before you start to see any real results, let alone fiscal returns. Thus, the reason for the stasis.

Songwriting? Well, despite the fact that I recently won an award for my songwriting ability, this is still something that would require a lot of time and energy before it starts creating income. Time seems to be at a premium in my life right now. If I were to start investing time in this, it would mean something else would have to go.

Scrapbooking? I barely ever scrapbook for myself, let alone creating income doing it. However, I could maybe design papers or something, but again, that sounds like work to get started.

My problem, really, is that I have TOO many interests. I have already had to limit the ones I pursue several times in the past. Only recently, I have had to admit that I do not really have the time to pursue my Young Living business as a source of income for us. Fortunately, this is partly because my eBay business has been SO busy, and we are actually starting to make a semi-decent part-time income from it, so that is a blessing. But that just brings up the irony that the only real source of income I have right now is something that I am completely NOT passionate about, although it is something I don't mind doing. There is nothing creative about it for me, except the once-every-two-years re-work of my store look. It is dealing with people (via internet, so not even one-on-one), putting out fires, and doing paperwork. All the dryer parts of being in business, without the creativity and purpose of actually producing something myself.

So, right now, I am filling up my time with the following things: being a wife; being a mother; cooking for my family (not as much time invested here as I would prefer); home schooling; gardening; chicken farming (fortunately, not as time-consuming now that they are all outside); developing our property; running my eBay business; volunteering as a worship leader at church. In between these things, I try to maintain relationships with friends and extended family and work in a little bit of "creativity time," which I usually sneak in on Saturdays (when I take a "day off") or while watching soccer or visiting (great knitting time).

I think anyone would agree that this is a lot for one person to do. My husband has let me know that he is amazed by my work ethic, and my ability to do a great many things. However, there is still a limit to how many ways I can divide my time. So, if I were to start a new business or passion-pursuing venture, which one of those other worthy and/or necessary things would have to go?

I already have several projects sitting on the back burner, which keep calling to me, and I keep putting cotton in my ears and turning a blind eye because of the "lack of time" issue: the afore-mentioned musical; the rumoured soup cookbook; oodles of knitting and sewing projects; several years of photos to be scrapbooked (only falling farther behind these days--you notice that scrapbooking wasn't listed in the above-listed "things I currently do") including a heritage scrapbook of my paternal grandparents' lives.

The musical is the one that keeps getting me. It is like producing a baby: Candace and I both put pieces of our souls into it, and although it is becoming a thing in and of itself, it has not yet reached full gestation. But we love it. It has been hard work. Someday, we want to see it go out into the world and touch lives, much like our hope would be for any of our children. But it still needs training, and changing, and growth, before that can come. And right now, I am not giving it any of those things. (It's my job to write the music down, see. I'm only partway there.)

Sigh... While God has been teaching me for the last several years that I do NOT need to do everything that I want to do, and learn everything I want to learn all at one time, it is still frustrating to have to constantly put aside the important things in my life for the most urgent.

However, I know that, looking back over my life, I will not have any regrets that I have neglected the most important things God has given me--the care and raising of my family. My flesh-and-blood children are the ones that need my time right now. The musical one will still wait there, ready to grow, until it's time of stasis is done and I can give it my attention.

Still. Sometimes I pick up my older dreams and blow the dust off of them, just so I can remember what they looked like.

Teaching Kids Great Values

If you're a parent, and you also have a modicum of social responsibility in your makeup, you probably have had worries and wonderings about how on earth you are going to raise moral and responsible human beings in this modern world where morality is determined by emotionalism and sexual predators and drug dealers lurk at every candy store.

When I was a kid, my parents bought us a tape series from Brite music called "Standin' Tall." Also from the same company, they bought two tapes called "Safety Kids." They came with colourable story books that were well-drawn. I listened to them over and over and coloured the pictures with the greatest care. Now, my kids also love them (fortunately, my brother and I left them some pictures to colour!)--and, surprisingly, I also appreciate their quality as an adult, even though they were recorded over twenty years ago.

I was thrilled to find out today that these are still available from Brite, and that they have other resources that I have yet to tap! Here is a review of the ones I am experienced with, just for you, my loyal blog readers.

Standin' Tall

The Standin' Tall series (which now includes a couple of board games, from the looks of it) covers twelve basic values in a fun, engaging way, using stories and songs. The main characters are children, in a variety of scenarios that teach them about the values in each book/CD. The recording is high-quality, and the songs are recorded using real instruments, not synthesized substitutes. I still find myself humming these catchy little tunes as I go about my day. (You can preview the songs by going to the website.)

You can choose from listening to the whole story with all the parts, or listening to the story with one of the parts not being read, which the child can then read themselves, "participating" in the story. The books are laid out like a script on one side (with the "readable" part indicated in bold) and an engaging line drawing on the other side of each two-page spread.

Book 1: Obedience
The boy and girl in this story get to take a train trip to the Land of Obey, where Mr. Did helps them learn how much fun and how rewarding it is to obey parents, teachers, and other authorities, as well as the rules of society. When they refuse to go in at the recess bell and walk on the grass, they are instantly transported outside it's gates, where Mr. Didn't shows them around, and they see the terrible results of chaos--a world where no one follows the rules. Mr. Did also tells them the story of "The Little Pig With the Curly Tail."

Book 2: Honesty
It is difficult to be honest, especially when you know you will get in trouble for it. The girl in this book learns that honesty has it's own reward, as she 'fesses up to breaking a neighbour's window with her baseball, and also takes extra change back into a store after buying a doughnut. As she gains a reputation for honesty, it pays off when the teacher tries to nail her for cheating on a test and a fellow student stands up for her. Includes a song about lies that was featured on a Church of Latter Day Saints commercial about 15 years ago.

Book 3: Forgiveness
Max gets to play in a movie where the character learns the benefits of forgiveness. He learns that unforgiveness held inside festers and hurts us. He also learns the benefit of forgiving not only others, but himself.

Book 4: Work
The Genie of Work shows the boy in this tape around, showing him where the stuff we use everyday comes from, as well as the value of work.

Book 5: Courage
The boy in this story dreams of fighting dragons and rescuing fair maidens, but discovers that real-life courage can be even harder, and also harder to recognize. He is sent on a quest to fill up his badge with jewels for courage, and along the way overcomes his fear of the dark and peer pressure.

Book 6: Happiness
The spoiled princess in this story is always miserable. Her doting father, trying to make her happy, first gets her a magic dress that will become any gown she desires, and then a magic toybox that will produce any plaything she wants--even a pony! Then she is miserable because no one can get her anything for her birthday. Her wise nurse eventually helps her to learn that it is not what we have that brings us happiness, but what we do for others.

Book 7: Gratitude
Meet Mr. Badger and Mr. Bear, two kindly souls who work for the confirmed ingrate Mr. Rabbit, who will take no help from anyone. He meets his match, though, when he is saved (against his will) from freezing to death, and finds gratitude bursting from his heart. Also includes the story of Susie, a good but ungrateful girl who never says "thank you" or shows appreciation for anything her family does for her, until they stop doing it and she learns her lesson.

Book 8: Love
A classroom of kids each share what love means to them, and as they discuss their drawing, the whole class is pulled into their picture. Discusses the many expressions of love, from caring for your pet, to caring for the earth, to romantic love, to God's love.

Book 9: Service
The brother and sister in this story get a vivid example of love when their mother makes dinner--and then they carry it over to a family going through a hard time. After this, they start to get excited about service, and start to see how many ways they can serve others. They learn about volunteers, and how serving others shows that you love them--that is why it is important to serve people in your family, as well as others.

Book 10: Cleanliness
This was my favourite story as a child, and now it is my children's. This book is full of cute and lovable "Scrubbits", who sing their way through every page and a different body part to keep clean--including your brain!

Book 11: Self-Esteem
Join Emily and Mark, a girl and a boy who both think they have no friends. Mark goes on a search through the whole zoo for his friend, with the help of a funny parrot, helping all the other animals see past their faults to the good in them, until he finally realizes that he has a friend in himself. This story, which is being told to Emily, also helps her to realize that she should find the good in herself instead of focusing on the mistakes.

Book 12: Dependability
Reggie and Kate don't think it is that important to be dependable, until they are pulled into a story on board a star ship as Prince Reggie and Princess Kate, where their life depends on Captain Dependable, a real superhero-type. Unfortunately, the captain is sabotaged by Professor Un, who uses Procrastinite on him in order to take over the ship. He almost succeeds, but Reggie and Kate help Captain Dependable return to his previous, dependable ways, saving the whole ship and foiling Professor Un's plans. Reggie and Kate never take being punctual, reliable, and dependable lightly again.

Safety Kids
I only have the first two volumes of this set, but I am so thankful that my parents got them. I was never tempted to try drugs, and I knew exactly what to do if I got lost in a store.

The Safety Kids are a club that meets to discuss ways they can stay safe. They cover a variety of ethnicities, and range in age from about 5 to 12. The songs, as with the Standin' Tall series, are well-written and arranged, and darn catchy.

Book 1: "We're the Safety Kids"
Covers the basic safety rules, such as some basic "don't"s (Never talk to strangers, don't go places alone, don't go places where no one knows you are, etc.), as well as some great "do"s, with accompanying songs to help the kids remember them: "Use the buddy system when going to the bathroom." "Memorize your telephone number." "I'm in charge of me." "Remember your personal space--don't let someone else do something to you that makes you uncomfortable." "Look for a Grandma or Mother with children if you get lost in a public place." "Know when you just gotta yell and scream."

Book 2: "Stay Safe From Drugs"
I particularly loved this one, and my kids do, too. I think it is the songs--they are really fun. One of the Safety Kids, Zach, has a bad experience when his best friend starts taking drugs and tries to force them on him, too. The Safety Kids decide to go and find out one way each that they can stay safe from drugs, and then report them to everyone else. They learn 5 ways to stay safe:

1. If you don't like how you are feeling, change it, but naturally, not chemically.
2. Don't give in to peer pressure.
   
3. All you gotta say is "No!"
4. Respect your body. Give your genes a chance to make you all you can be.
5. Believe in yourself--you're worth it!

Book 3: "Protecting Their Minds"
The website gives this overview of this one:

The Safety Kids will teach your children how to guard against the devastating effects of pornography. It's a big, bright, beautiful world and with the Safety Kids' help, we can keep it that way.

As I said, I don't have this one. They must have introduced it since I was a kid. But I want it!

Needless to say, I highly recommend these--they are great for in the vehicle, when the kids have nothing else to do. The best part is, these are so fun, they do not even know they are learning a moral lesson!

All the best in your own parenting adventures!

Edit: I just noticed that as of June 1, 2010, Brite is no longer producing the books and CDs--these sets are only going to be available while supplies last. However, there will be digital versions available indefinitely. If you want to buy the set, get over there now!

Scott Adams, move over

Noah is not really my artiste. He really prefers to not sit and draw, or even colour.

That's why it always surprises me so much when he spontaneously comes out with something. A few weeks ago, Noah drew these caricatures of our family (well, most of it) while in church. I think the guy on the bottom left is supposed to be Jabin. (The hair is pretty close, actually!) I think he must have run out of time to draw Jason, or something.


Monet? Definitely not. Picasso? Closer.

In one of Scott Adam's books, he described his artwork (on the Dilbert strip) as looking like it was drawn by a rabid squirrel on crack, or something along that lines.

I'm thinking Scotty might have some competition. (Hey, if Noah ever gives S.A. a run for his money, that will be all right with me!)

The Appetite and The Cure

We don't watch T.V. in our house. Don't let me mislead you--we watch movies, and for our kids, Jason and I preview about 99% of the ones we let them see, or we are sitting and watching with them. Sometimes the movies are DVD versions of T.V. shows, but we know in advance what our kids are being fed.

Needless to say, though, there is no random "flipping of channels" by which our children pick up on random "stuff we don't think they need to know yet" or even random "pop culture" items...

Jude has a bottomless stomach. Literally. I don't remember if I've mentioned it before, but there have been times when he says "I'm hungry!" after eating the equivalent of his second full meal in an hour that I feel transmogrified into an exasperated and exhausted mother robin, perched on the edge of a nest with one huge, gaping mouth pointed up at me that never. gets. full. (This feeling happens a lot when Mama Robin is "under the weather" and not feeling particularly like scavenging for worms.)

However, the food dropping into his cavernous appetite does seem to magically find the river at the bottom when he is offered something he is not particularly fond of--like bananas, for example. What I mean is, we don't offer him bananas at the beginning of the meal to be mean. Bananas are like my "test food" to see how hungry he really is. (Fortunately, he hasn't figured this out, yet.) For example, after he has just eaten 3 helpings of roast chicken, potatoes, and vegetables, loaded with butter and sour cream and gravy, and he again starts squawking, "I'm hungry," I look around in frustration and say "Would you like a banana?"

"Actually, I just decided I'm full."

"Huh. Imagine that."

I knew he wasn't hungry. He just hadn't sat and thought about it, yet.

Lunch in our house today was pretty modest. I have been laid out with the stomach flu for the last three days, and this is the first day I am feeling like a human being again. Jason held the fort down just fine on the weekend, and thankfully there were some leftovers of that roast chicken and veggies that I was able to easily heat up for supper last night, but Jude also used up the bread when I had him make sandwiches for himself and his brothers for lunch yesterday. So today, a few of the standard "lunch" supplies were looking a little thin, and I settled on plain old fried eggs with a side of applesauce. The boys [Jude and Jabin, as Noah is at school today] had had a late morning snack, and I figured that this might actually be enough.

However, I was also not completely surprised when Jude wrapped up his eggs and applesauce (which, at the half-way point, he thought would fill him up) and then declared, "Actually, I'm still hungry."

I heaved an internal sigh and looked around.

"Jabin, would you like to give Jude the last few bites of your eggs?" (This is usually the easiest fix, as Jabin's appetite does not usually allow him to eat everything on his plate.)

"Nope, I want to eat them."

"Oh." I cast around for something else, not really wanting to get up from my own lunch to satisfy The Appetite at the moment. Aha! Bingo! "Would you like a banana?"

"No... But I AM still hungry!"

I sigh again, externally this time. "Just wait until I'm done my lunch, and I'll see what I can find."

A few moments later, bored with waiting, he says, "Actually, Mom, this is my Final Answer--I'm not really that hungry."

I choke on my eggs. Final Answer? I start scanning my brain on where he picked that up. Maybe Jason has said that to him? "Are you sure?" I cross-examine.

"Yep, Final Answer."

"Alrighty." He excuses himself from the table and off he goes.

A few minutes later, Jabin gets to the end of his food supplies and surprises me with a "Mom, I'm still hungry!"

"What?!" Well, he must be growing, I think. I look down at my plate--only a few bites of applesauce left and then I can pretend that I had an uninterrupted meal. "Okay, buddy, I'll get you some cheese or something in a few minutes."

"Some cheese? Okay." He starts waiting sweetly and patiently, as he is sometimes able to do, but then his Full-O-Metre must have kicked in.

"Actually, Mom, Last Answer: I'm full."

I'm really giggling now at this mimicry-of-a-mimicry.

"Final Answer?" I repeat/correct.

"Yup! Final Answer!" he exclaims. Then he starts singing his own rendition of The Muffin Man, which is a new one on me. The tune as well as the words are slightly combined with "Mary Had a Little Lamb":

"Mary knew the Muffin Man, Muffin Man, Muffin Man,
Mary knew the Muffin Man who lives on Journey Lake."

Well. All I can say is, I'm glad I was done eating, 'cause I really woulda started choking on something that time!

The funny thing is, they seem to pick up on the pop culture stuff anyway. I think it's maybe from us.

(We're just that cool.)

Noah's Story

Noah has turned into such a story-teller lately. The difficult thing is trying to figure out exactly what he is is talking about, because he usually forgets to mention all details of context. For instance, he will suddenly start up a conversation with something along these lines:

"The guy said, 'It's just business!'" and then he'll start laughing hysterically. This is where having a knowledge of what's been going on lately helps.

"What guy, Noah?"

"On da movie!"

"Oh! On Monsters vs. Aliens?"

"Yeah, yeah! Da guy says, 'It's just business!'" More laughter.

"Oh." Definitely had to be there for that one, I guess.

Noah's been a little "under the weather" over the weekend with some kind of stomach bug, and has thus been a little more difficult to understand than usual. However, this morning he is almost as perky as usual, and although his appetite seems to be a little off, he was making up for some lost time with his stories. The one he came up with at breakfast time, while still off-the-wall (like so much of what he says), at least had some coherence to it, and made me giggle. Here is an interpretation of it (since he was still rambling a bit), not an exact quote:


"Mom, gophers live in the ground! And if they push a button, then the floor, and the carpet, and the chairs, and the table, they will all fall into the ground!"



(He starts looking around.) "And the coats and the boots, too! They will all fall into the ground, and then--"

My memory of what came next is a little fuzzy, partly because I think the train of thought got a little fuzzy, too. I just asked Noah if he remembered what happened next, and he doesn't, either! I do remember it only got crazier from there, and I'm pretty sure it involved a fight and someone coming to save us. And of course, Noah ended up laughing hysterically.



Where do kids come up with this stuff?