Playing with Mick's new phone...

Vacation, Michigan-style

 

Just got back from a 7-day jaunt up in Pentwater, Michigan with the Orr family.  This is the second year in a row our friends have been gracious enough to lend us the use of their family vacation home, and we are so grateful.

The house is situated right at the edge of Lake Michigan, which allows for many days of beach fun, boat spotting and spectacular sunsets.

We had lots of warm, sunny weather this year, which was a welcome change from last year, which was unusually rainy and cool.  On Thursday, it actually got hot – 87 and humid.  We couldn’t complain too much, though; Mom said it was about 10 degrees hotter in Indiana!

Most days were spent at least in part at the water’s edge, but we did do a little sightseeing in Pentwater.  We had dinner at a local pizza place on Saturday night and then wandered around the village, which reminded me of Zionsville somewhat.  There was a great children’s bookstore called “The Story Book” which we had to stop in.  The shop owners, a 60-ish looking couple, positively fell over with excitement when we wandered in with all 15 kids.  The wife immediately suggested a read-aloud and produced 3 storybooks and sitting mats for most of the kids.  We ended up buying a book called “Shakespeare’s Stories” which retells many of the famous Shakespeare works for kids. 

On Sunday, we worshipped at a tiny church in nearby New Era.  We arrived 15 minutes early and spotted several members standing at the entrance to the church. As soon as they saw our large, kid-filled vans pulling up, several of them disappeared back inside the church (did I mention it was tiny?).  Later, one of the ladies told us that when they heard there were two large vans pulling up, they thought it was a joke.  But they ended up being very welcoming and accommodating; the disappearing men had gone to get more chairs set up for us.  Ironically, one of the families had relatives in Lebanon.  When they told us the family’s name I knew it sounded familiar, but couldn’t place it.  I mentioned the name to Kelly when we got back to the house and she recognized it right away as one of her former neighbors! 

Unfortunately, this vacation will also be remembered for the virus that hit 3 of the kids.  Between Monday and Wednesday, Claire, Sarah and Rachel fell victim to a 24-hour bug of the fever/upset stomach variety.  We were bracing ourselves for the worst, but they were the only ones who came down with it … while we were there.  Courtney ended up getting a fever a day after we got back and Sophia, Noah and Luke have all gotten it in the last 24 hours.

But we all agree that it was a great vacation; the kids all got along famously and we had lots of good food and family time.  We ended up finishing the last ten chapters of Sense and Sensibility, so we were finally able to watch the 1995 film.  We also watched “Singing in the Rain” and “Meet Me in St. Louis” (yes, we were all walking around singing the songs.  :-D).  Glenn and Kelly read aloud to the kids from their new book “The Dragon’s Tooth” by N.D. Wilson. 

We dearly love our Virginia Beach vacations, but these last two trips to the Beach Haus in Pentwater have been so fun, too.  :-)

Putting a positive spin on things

Brooke (7) has such a sweet personality.  She is generally a very happy-go-lucky girl and smiling most of the time.  Today, she was sitting beside me on the couch while I was holding Trent, who is still in the flailing arms/grabbing hands phase of babyhood.  While I was pulling a few of my hairs out of his tightly-gripped fist, I said something like “Trent, you’re supposed to pull Mommy’s gray hairs out; not the brown ones!”  To which Brooke replied “Your hair isn’t gray, Mommy.  It’s *sparkly*!”  Here’s to sparkly girls … and unsparkly hair!   :-D

State Fair = Serious Fun

 

First comfortable day (no humidity, 80 deg.) in recent memory.  7 free tickets (thanks Indianapolis Star!).  A mid-week day off for Mick.  No lost kids.  What more could you ask for a day at the fair?  Nothing!  It was perfect!

We started going to the State Fair back in 2004 and I don’t think we’ve missed a year since.  Here are some highlights from this year’s visit:

• Horse and Pony Halter Competition.  The horses looked so showy -- complete with braided manes and shiny hooves. It brought back many memories of grooming our childhood pony, Goldie.  Even though I had to answer the question “Can we get a horse?” 1,245 times, it was worth it.  :-)

• Tractors, tractors, and more tractors.…for Grant.  John Deere, Case, Massey-Ferguson.  He’s never met a tractor he didn’t like.

• Little Hands on the Farm.  A perennial favorite.  I’m pretty sure that majority of the participants, who are under 5 years old, have no idea what they’re doing, but they sure do like it.  I also get a kick out of watching many of the parents, who race their bewildered kids through the thing like it’s some kind of an Olympic sport.  :-D

•  Pioneer Village.  Another perennial favorite.  For everybody.  We always seem to meet the nicest people there.  This year, it was a pianist who was entertaining the visitors in the Pioneer Village with hymns and blue grass/country music.  He probably spent 15 or 20 minutes chatting with us about music.  We learned about slip notes and Floyd Cramer, the pianist who popularized that style of music.  Of course, Proud Mom that I am, I let it “slip” that Rachel is a finalist in the Young Hoosiers Piano Competition.  He invited her to play several times (and I tried a little prodding), but she declined.  ;-)  He winked at Rachel and said his own mother still tries to get him to play solos in a crowd.  After finding out when she plays on Saturday, he stated several times he’d try to get over to watch her.

• Pathway to Water Quality.  Sprinklers, fountains, creeks, cups of cold water from a pump and a winding path through a mini forest.  We always hit this place.

• Trent. Well he’s our baby.  Of course he somehow manages to make all our “best of” lists. 

With the exception of a 30-45 minute nap, he spent the entire 11 hours awake and enjoying the sights.  Well he generally enjoyed things … as long as he was being held.  Which he usually was.  I’m so glad I took the sling.  The stroller came in handy, at times, but like many other strollers, ours was often getting pushed around empty.  :-D  He and I spent a couple of memorable jaunts in the Lactation Station.  LOVE that place!  It’s a win-win for all of us:  a snack for Trent, and a comfortable, clean place to nurse.  The ladies there always provide an ice cold drink of bottled water.  5 stars!

• Animals.  From the common farm animals to race horses to elephants.  Everyone gets their share of petting and feeding.

That last picture was taken during the miniature mule and donkey draft competition.  We all loved watching them trot past while pulling the carts around the Coliseum.  Right after the miniature mules and donkeys came the full-sized versions for an English riding competition.  When Claire saw the big ones, she leaned over and said “Oh, they grew up.”  :-D

• The lights at night.  Staying up way too late and getting to see all the lights of the fair when it gets dark.

School days, school days

 

Monday through Friday, 7 am, six bleary-eyed girls came tromping downstairs for breakfast, each having been woken up at 6:45, made her bed, gotten dressed, brushed teeth, brushed hair, spruced up her room and done her morning chore.  Some even came down with braided hair (thanks to Rachel).  All came down with smiles.  Grant was usually woken up right before we ate and carried downstairs, still blinking the sleep out of his eyes.  Some mornings I played music on the computer for inspiration.  Breakfast was our usual routine:  CoCo Wheats and cinnamon toast on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.  Cereal on Tuesday and Thursday.  Bottomless cups of orange juice. 

Some parts of our day remained the same. 

• Right after eating, a Proverb, Bible story, catechism questions, and poetry while they’re still corralled in their chairs. 
• Math lessons, reading lessons, history songs and lessons, spelling lists, science experiments,
• Pencil chewing, pencil dropping, pencil losing.
• Sometimes, a backlog at one of the computers while waiting for a turn to do geography games or Latin Flash Dash or spelling.
• Periodic breaks in momentum, caused by, but not limited to, an occasional diaper change; a quick grabbing of the camera to capture a moment too cute to miss; a squabble breaking out here or there; workbook/library book/teacher book/answer book searches; a hungry baby; a stray dog in the yard; the mailman delivering new books and letters from pen pals, etc…
• Lots of reading.  Good books.  Sense and Sensibility, Bobbsey Twins, Sir Cumference and the First Round Table:  A Math Adventure, Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, We’re Going on a Bear Hunt, Elsie Dinsmore …

Some parts of our day were new.

• A consistently early start;
• A schedule for everyone (except Trent) posted on the fridge;
• A piano lesson for the oldest 5, some in pairs;
• No interruptions from the outside world except during lunch;
• New subjects and activities for Claire and Grant;
• Concerns about what one was “supposed” to be doing.  “It’s 10:30 and I’m supposed to be starting Spelling, but the computers are all being used!”; and most importantly …
• Productivity, productivity, productivity!

For years, I have resisted creating a detailed schedule because (a) it seemed too impossible (toddlers and babies can challenge even the most flexible routines) and complicated, (b) I didn’t want to turn into Drill Sergeant Mom, and (c) … well, it’s just not how I’m wired.  I’m a stop-and-smell-the-roses kind of gal.  And the lilacs.  And aren’t the coneflowers pretty?  However, subjects do need to be taught and learned in a timely manner and kids do eventually grow up and graduate (when I look at my 15-year-old, I’m reminded of that fact). 

So I took drastic measures and met with a super-organized homeschooling friend a few weeks ago.  She came armed with a huge bin overflowing with books, schedules, supplies, timers, games … all tools in her homeschooling toolbox.  We spent almost three hours together, with me mostly listening, asking questions and furiously taking notes with my laptop.  The other patrons in Burger King must’ve thought we were planning some kind of national convention!  Then I came home and let everything steep for a few days, sat down with pen and paper and started sketching out a schedule, gradually moved everything over into Excel, then started adding borders and shading, making everything look more official and school-y.

Everybody was excited to jump in and try things out.  Of course, everything was not perfect.  I was prepared for that and gave lots of pep talks beforehand about flexibility and patience.  What I didn’t anticipate was how concerned the younger ones would be with doing things at the appointed time.  After a few episodes of panic on their part, I came up with a word picture.  The clock is our servant; we are not its slaves.  The clock is suggesting that we do such-and-such.  We take the information the clock is giving us and decide whether we’re going to finish up what we’re doing more quickly and move on, or keep at whatever we’re doing. 

And now I look back on this first week and am amazed.  We got so much done each day. Lots of school, lots of chores, but still some down time and breaks.  By the end of the week we were tired.  Not the defeated kind of tired, but the wow, we got a lot done kind of tired.  I’m hoping the novelty of our new productive school days does not wear off too soon, but I’m already putting some tricks up my sleeve for those days that will surely come. 

Schedules ‘R Us

 

Don’t blink or you might miss this beta version of our school schedule that we’ve printed today off for our upcoming school year.  We’re trying several new things this year, including, but not limited to, an online class for Rachel and Courtney, some new curricula, different activities to occupy Grant and more structure for Claire.  I’m not going to lie – I practically break out in hives looking at this schedule, but there’s just so much to do that I feel like I have to reign in the time somehow.  I’ve explained numerous times to everyone that a typical day will likely vary quite a bit from what we’ve planned, but we’re going to give this layout a shot.  We’re jumping in feet first tomorrow morning, starting with a good breakfast of CoCo Wheats and cinnamon toast. Things usually go more smoothly after a good breakfast.  Famous last words, eh?  Stay tuned.

Summer Ballet

 

This weeks marks the final week of our trial run of ballet lessons.  Courtney, Erica, Sarah, Brooke & Claire all took an 8-week beginner’s ballet class with Ms. Hume of the Lebanon Ballet Academy.  Brooke & Claire participated in a class with just 3 other girls, but Courtney, Erica and Sarah were the only students in the older class.  The small classes were so nice because they allowed Ms. Hume to give some great individualized instruction for each of the girls.  The Ballet Academy takes the whole month of August off before starting up again in September.  Right now, we’re officially on the fence about whether to continue lessons in the fall.  There are several advantages and disadvantages and we’re trying to weigh them all.  Overall, we’ve definitely enjoyed the experience.  A few weeks ago, I told Ms. Hume how nice it is to watch young girls surrounded by such loveliness … lovely hair and dress, classical music and graceful dance steps.  I’m glad we have a month to decide what to do.  We’ve been told in no uncertain terms what the girls would prefer.  ;-)