One of the good moments

Lots of good moments this first week of being at home with my kids for school. Not gonna lie - lots of hard moments, too - but we all expected that (or at least all us pessimists did). Favorite moment, though, hands down, was just yesterday: Friday. Not even a "school day" (we work Monday through Thursday). Bright and way too early in the morning, a woman named Sue appeared at my house to give Joseph his first piano lesson.

Sue wore a tad too much perfume for my sensitivities, but she was smiley and at ease and friendly as heck. I got her a chair, she pulled out her books, Joe had a seat on the bench and me and the girls observed from various locations around the living room. At one point, Sue was talking too much to me instead of Joe (in my opinion) so I left the room and busied myself with some kitchen chores.

As I went about my stuff, I took little looks in on the lesson from time to time. I might have been smiling ear to ear for all I know. You could say this piano lesson thing is a dream come true.

I'm no more musical than an armadillo. But I see the value and the beauty in music and therefore in knowing music. If you can make music... well, then, sheesh! -- you're something special. I wanted to learn piano as a child, but we didn't own a piano and Mom said it was too expensive. Fast forward more than two decades and when I came across a piano for fifty bucks I grabbed it. Now, three moves later and two tuning jobs paid for - my eight year-old started what I would have liked to when I was his age.

So... is that all this is? One of those vicarious things? Next thing I'll push Cayna into cheerleading and Bethanie into theater? I really don't think so. There definitely is the element of "I'm happy to give my kid something I never got," but other things on that list include a Lite Brite and a Sit-n-Spin - so there's not much meaning there.

Joseph giggled through parts of the lesson (Sue really is good) and enjoyed himself thoroughly. By the end he was playing a couple short little songs including masterpieces like "Old Mac Donald". I just felt thankful. We own a fifty-dollar piano. Kevin has a job that for right now allows us to pay for lessons to learn to play it. Joseph has the interest. The instructor is fabulous. The sun shines through our East-facing window on August Friday mornings. So there's the meaning in the piano lesson. A whole lot of little good things coming together to make a shining moment. Worth sharing.

Girls Day In

Kevin and Joe went fishing. John's been napping. So Cayna, Bethanie, and I played "hospital". I was the patient, victim of a broken leg. Cayna was Dr. Jenna and Bethanie was Nurse Emma.

My cast:


Most physicians probably don't wear masks quite like this. I asked Dr. Jenna why she was wearing it and she said, "So I don't get your germs."

Not sure what she wrote in her notebook. At one point, she administered some meds (one Goldfish cracker) and said, "You have to do what the doctor says -- and don't disagree!" This makes her sound like about ninety-nine percent of our nation's obstetricians. Though I believe she was an orthopedist. You never know, in hospitals.

Nurse Emma was darling, and kept careful charts. I did notice, however, that she asked "how it happened" about thirteen times. Was she listening, or just busy trying to catch the eye of a cute resident down the hall?


Despite my cynicism toward the medical profession, I'm expected to make a full recovery. Even though, in Dr. Jenna's words, I have to wear my cast "almost forever."

Blogiversary

Wednesday was my one-year anniversary of starting this blog. Like some other anniversaries, it passed without flowers or fanfare. But I did remember! Next year I'll send myself a box of chocolates.

In honor of the occasion, I'm working on getting a good shot of myself looking less like a nun. Truthfully, I think I look like an attractive thirty-something sitting serenely by a crab-apple tree. MAGAN said I look like a nun. My intent is to get a shot as different as I can and post both! Sorta like I'm multiple-personality girl.

Ski Lessons

On a snowy mountain outside Salt Lake City, Utah, I took my first ski lesson. The instructor said something like: "If you finish here today and like skiing even just a little bit, you could probably be a skiier."

Yesterday was our first day of homeschooling, and I was reminded of those profound ski-instructor words. There were a couple hairy moments (like when Bethanie was pouring out her worst whine and John was having a fit at the same time), but through the whole (rather short) experience, I was thinking it was pretty cool.

There's an adjustment phase we have to go through - and the ensuing stress that any transition brings - but I did end up liking skiing more than just a little bit - and that involves the risk of hitting trees at seventy miles an hour. The worst that can happen with homeschooling is that my kids will grow three heads and shoot at honest citizens from a clock tower.

But just look at these cuties. I don't think they'll be setting up any clock tower perches anytime soon.


P.S. They're holding up "number one" in honor of the first day of school.

Office/School Room Before and After

We worked hard on this room and we're really happy with it. Now we pray that our school time here will be blessed by God.

Here is the main wall as it was before we started:


And here's the same view today:


Here's the "closet space" for the room. It used to house a wire shelf (now in the garage) full of the kids' craft supplies and some of our other assorted junk (which I had to find a better home for):


And the same space now, which holds my desk, a shelf Kevin built for school books, and all my other assorted office supplies:


Finally, a view of the window, the kids' table, and more shelves Kevin built. I designed the curtains, and my lovely seamstress neighbor Karen sewed them (and Kristi's mom, Melody hemmed them). I LOVE all the color in this room.

Kevin's been singing "Basketball Jones"

"That's my hook shot with my eyebrow..."

"I need someone to set a pick for me at the free-throw line of life
Someone I can pass to
Someone to hit the open man on the give-and-go..."

Over the past couple of months, Kevin has been singing these weird basketball lyrics and little did I know until this moment that they are sung by Cheech and Chong!!! Ai yi yi!

Anyhoo --- it was fun to see Joe get excited about basketball. Especially for me, the mom, since it is way more fun to watch than baseball.

So... here he is in his Skechers skateboarding shoes making a shot during warm-up (in mid-air, thank you to the sports photographer - me!):


Here's Coach Dad (Kevin):


And here's future joneser, John, dribbling in the stands:

Where there's a will, there's a way...

For the past two years, I hosted a prayer brunch on the first day of school. Totally fun. Got a bunch of moms together with our preschoolers and prayed for our kids, their schools and classmates and teachers. And - bonus - ate yummy food together.

This year I realized it wouldn't be the same with my homeschooled kids. So I abandoned the idea as a loss due to this new venture in my family. Today I realized it could work if I just shifted the logistics. Voila! We're meeting at 9:00 p.m. - six of the praying women on our street, and wrapping up by 9:30. Of course we'll include food, but instead of breakfast fare, we'll have cookies and sweet tea.

Amen.