"The Sound Of Music"

Today for the kids "media time" they wanted to watch "The Sound of Music", so we put it on. The comments from my children over the opening scene were quite precious so I had to write them down.


As the camera pans out over the snow filled mountain peak and then the green Valley Ezra ohhhhs and Ahhhhs and says "oh how beautiful".
Enoch says: "yeah, that's a great view. Mom, do you wish you could go to that place where this was filmed?"
Ezra: "oh beautiful...oh beautiful mountains, oh beautiful..., oh beautiful clouds..."
Enoch: "stop saying beautiful everything"
Ezra: "beautiful, beautiful BEAUTIFUL!!!"
At this point Maria comes on singing and Ethne says: "mom, its YOU singing". LOL
In my head I am thinking I hope she is talking about the voice. Yeah I wish I sounded like that, but I sure hope she doesn't think I look like that. What an awful haircut-even on Julie Andrews ;)

"Stinka Pants"

Oh my, that little princess that rules our household has done it again. She keeps me in stitches the sweet little thing.


One morning she was sitting on Garrett's tummy while he was laying in bed and she kept calling him her very favorite name "Stinka Pants". She says it SO FUNNY! We really try not to laugh and get her to say something else but it's really funny the way she says it. I MUST get video.

Anyway Garrett was tickling her and acting outraged before he decided to get her to say something nice instead. I suggested some other things she could say and she just kept saying "Stinka (not stinker but Stinka) pants". Garrett said "Ethne that's really not very nice don't say it anymore" and she finally said "I won't say it [anymora]." Then she looks at me, smiles really big, and whispers very quietly "stinka pants" and bursts into giggles. We also burst into giggles. She is just a riot. So cute, SO funny, and so incredibly irresistible to EVERYONE! We just LOVE her so much.

Our Stuff is Here And My House is A MESS!!

So our stuff is here and our house is a huge mess. And yet here I sit writing about the mess instead of working to fix it. WHY, you ask, would I be so lazy??? Well because I have been working very hard trying to keep up with all the normal everyday things this week as well as unpacking, and getting us all out for fun and exercise. And now that it has been a week since our stuff came, I need to re-group and get my head in the right place. SO, here I sit at a REAL desk typing on a REAL keyboard, listening to some soothing Harry Connick Jr., emptying out my mind, singing and swaying to the music :)
Its quite relaxing actually. This morning it was ABBA, Handel, and BNL while I cleaned, cooked and planned meals. The kids were dancing around and playing in their "band" while I worked. I kept thinking how wonderful it was to have some music again in our lives besides my singing or the kids violin playing. Even as a loving mother I can't bring myself to call the notes they are missing "music" ;) It gives me great joy to hear them play, but not because it is beautiful. The thrill I get is for the future music they will bring into our home as they get better and start to progress.

We have the computer area all set up, the living room all set up, and the kids bedrooms all set up. The kitchen is now mostly done, but the master bedroom still only has a mattress and boxes everywhere. Our closet is a mess and the garage is still full of both empty and full boxes that are competing for my attention. I have piles of school books out waiting to be dealt with. I have no shelves to keep them in and so they sit around in piles to be used everyday but then not put away. Its bothering me! I also have bags of randomness that stare at me everyday asking when I will get to them. The answer is I DON'T KNOW! Cant you do something with yourselves cause I don't know where to put you. And no offence but I HATE looking at you. *sigh**

I have a rug on the living room floor that needs to be exchanged for a different color but I had it delivered and now I have to figure out how to get a rug 200cmX300cm back to a store that is far away and another one back home, but without a car!!! Shoot!!!

Also Camilla is coming soon and I still have no bed for her :( We are supposed to go out of town for Easter and I have not planned anything because I thought Garrett was going to do it (I really should have known better). OK, so this is turning into a to do list and no longer feeling relaxing. I better stop.

Anyway we will get good Internet soon (I HOPE) and then I will post pictures again. I have some great ones. The Internet has been set up with the company but they said they would get back to us on WHEN they could come connect everything.

Goodnight other side of the world. Sleep well and may the morrow bring us all renewed strength, vigor and umph(which in case you were wondering is not actually a word but slang as the spell check feature continues to remind me as it is underlined in red) for all that lays ahead, in boxes, on floors, and in our garages ;)

Ezra Helping Out

Ezra staved off several tantrums of Ethne's today. Spoiling her but saving me from big melt downs at very inconvenient times. He wasn't asked. He just saw a need and he filled it. He was very mature and fatherly in the way he did it and I was very shocked, amazed and grateful for his help.

We were walking home from violin lessons and Ethne was quite tired from not having a nap. We had to be a 1/2 hour early for violin to make up for not being there last week when the kids were all sick. So because we had to leave at 2pm there was no point in giving her a nap that day.

Anyway, she was tired and grouchy and kept insisting she didn't want to hold baby Camilla in the stroller. I didn't have anywhere else to put baby Camilla so I just ignored her whining and continued on to the grocery store. when we got into the store as per usual I gave Enoch a gold coin to use as the "deposit" for a small grocery cart. He pushes the cart and I push the stroller. That is how we work it, and all my kids are familiar with the drill. Ethne however today jumped out of the stroller and tried to also get a cart. Of course she couldn't without a coin and she started ramping up her fit when I told her Enoch already got a cart and we didn't need another. She threw herself on the dirty floor and started having a fit and wiping her beautiful golden hair all across the floor right in the way of the continuous flow of customers hurrying in to make their evening trips for food after work and school.

I weighed my options in my head as I picked her up off the floor. They weren't good. It was a choice between giving her a cart to push and keeping the peace which would also mean growing our entourage from four people, one stroller and one cart to four people one stroller and TWO carts. Or putting the kicking, squirming and screaming child into the pram by force as I buckled her in and tried to calm her and keep her from chucking everything she could get her hands on. Looking at the tiny store packed with professionals in a BIG hurry to get home and start their evening meals, I decided the second option was really the only one feasible at this point. I managed to get her strapped in kicking and screaming and barely missed getting baby Camilla thrown in my face. I picked up baby and said Ethne that's not nice. You're going to hurt poor baby Camilla. I put baby back in her lap and she quickly tried to throw her again. Ezra quickly grabbed baby and sweetly said "Ethne do you want me to hold baby Camilla for you?" She calmed down and said yes and she was happy to have his sympathy which he freely gave :) He was super sweet to her and she to him and she stopped crying altogether :)

Then later on the way home all the kids ate a banana as we walked. I had the pram loaded down in the back with heavy groceries and I wanted to make Ethne walk so I could distribute them evenly and not have such a hard time navigating. But I was too much of a coward to kick her off her throne, so I just fought the stroller instead. When she finished her banana she demanded that I take the peel from her right away which I couldn't do while wrangling the stroller, so I once again ignored her plea knowing that to say no in any form would just send her into hysterics. She started getting upset and Ezra took her banana peel without my asking him too. He once again saw the need and filled it. He was so serious and matter of fact about how he handled her that it made me want to laugh. Instead I just told him he could throw it into the next bin we walked by :) Sweet and helpful Ezra that looks so handsome with his new hair cut I gave him today. Love you son, thanks for being so cute and helpful with your sister today. You were just the sort of little man I needed to help me get home.

Swim lesson # 6 last Friday

A HUGE thanks to my friend Erin for taking the boys(along with Ethne and her two boys) to swim lessons on Friday. You were wonderful to do that for me so that I could be here while our things were being delivered. Erin gave me the report on Swim lessons this week since I wasn't there. She said Enoch did awesome and didn't cry even a little. She said he also swam a very long distance by himself and did a great job. Way to go Enoch you are really getting there. Ezra was every emotional Friday and I think because he was feeling so emotional already it was just too hard to not cry at swim. The boys got their new Razor Scooters this week and rode them to Erin's house to be dropped off that morning. Ezra had a much harder time with his than Enoch and it made him sad to see Enoch doing so well and not be able to keep up. He didn't cry or complain but more than once his little lip stuck way out as his tried over and over to make it up or down a hill. He started doing better when we got to flat ground though and that made him happy. I could tell that he really wanted to be able to ride like Enoch. I hadn't even mentioned this to Erin but she said that she thought Ezra had been having a hard time all day not being able to do things as well as Enoch and that it just got to be much for him. So when he got out of the pool he cried for a long time before he calmed down :( poor kid. They have two more lessons before a three week break and then they start term two. Hopefully we can go swimming at the beach a lot so that's they won't loose the skills and bravery they have worked for up until now :)

I Feel Like Dancing

Hurray!! Tomorrow is a very important day. We are getting our stuff delivered. We will now have a table and chairs, couches, clothes, dishes, pots, pans and a decent potato peeler and can opener. Ahhhh!!! I am SO excited to have sharp knives and a cutting board. And MY BED. We have been sleeping on a covered bunch of hard springs they call a mattress (that we rented). I CAN'T WAIT to have my bed and my down comforter. Ethne can't wait for her pink blanket with animals that her Grandmommy made. The boys would like to have their toys and their mattresses. Enoch is ready for his next math book and both boys need their history books. Needless to say we a SUPER excited about getting all of our things and setting up our house. The problem will be struggling with making a home and unpacking all the things we've missed or leaving everything we don't HAVE TO HAVE packed so that we don't have to pack them all up again to move again in 6 or 7 months. I WISH I KNEW IF WE WERE STAYING OR GOING!!!!! I don't hate the drastic changes but I WOULD LOVE to be able to plan for them :)

Swim lesson #5

So this week was the first lesson since #1 when no one shed tears. It helped that we have been to the rock pool at the beach a lot this week and they were able to practice. They did well but they are still really nervous about swimming on their own. I was so happy. I was begining to dread Fridays since they seem to drain me so much. As soon as the lesson was over we went to the beach and the boys practiced in the rock pool with me so that they wouldn't loose the confidence they had gained with Bob. Usually they won't do with me the things they do with him in the pool. But this time they were willing to practice what he was working on with them. Hurray!! There is hope that they will start again after the term break :)

Speaking of the Resurrection

So that same day or maybe the next day we were at home eating lunch and Ezra asked me "mom, how did Jesus dying on the cross and being resurrected make it so we can be resurrected? I don't understand it. How come if He could be resurrected, we couldn't be? And how come if we couldn't be He could?" Amazing Questions from a 5 1/2 year old child. I told him that Christ was only part mortal so he could overcome death, but as far as how that makes it so that we can I don't really know. He didn't understand the mortal immortal concept and he said "It still just doesn't make sense to me" Sorry kid. I don't have all the answers either.

What Do Bunnies have to do with Easter??

So, we must be doing at least something right in our parenting because a few days ago while in the grocery store the kids were bombarded with chocolate bunnies and chocolate eggs and all manner of confections and Enoch says "mom, what do bunnies and eggs and chocolate have to do with Easter??". Lol, I said NOTHING! And quickly moved on before they could start asking for things ;) I am SO glad that my kids celebrate and KNOW that Easter is about Our Savior and His resurrection and the possibility of our returning to live with Him again one day And NOT about baskets and candy and chocolate bunnies. We do have Easter Egg hunts and we do have baskets and an Easter Bunny just for fun. But we spend SO much more time on the true meaning of Easter and apparently it hasn't been in vain. Thank you Father for being in the hearts of my children.

Swim Lesson #4 Really??

So I thought at the end of our third swim lesson that the boys would be over their fear and the crying but I was wrong. Enoch cried and Ezra cried(a little) and they were both SUPER nervous. It was a little frustrating for me to watch them. I just wanted them to give it all they had and just be fearless but they were SO fearful. I wish I could help them practice more but when we go to the rock pool at the beach they won't usually swim with me. Plus with just me and the three of them to watch at the same time it is a bit tricky. By the end Enoch had warmed up again though and was doing better and Ezra was a little better but still very hesitant. So today at the beach I did get the boys into the rock pool one at a time and Enoch swam with me just holding his shorts but Ezra clung to me like I was trying to throw him off the edge of a building, crazy boy. He wouldn't trust me at all to hold him up and he almost ripped off my swimsuit a few times grabbing onto it. But hopefully the rain is over for a while and we can practice more and more and get them used to it. Right now the boys are going through such a hard time and struggling with so many things all at once that I am just drained. I have no energy left for myself. Funny we had a great day but I am still totally drained from them. At least no one can say I haven't given them everything I've got and them some, because boy do I.

"Cook the meals do the dishes dust the house"

A few days before we had the conversation on hypnosis and Gender inequality we had an "I Love Lucy" moment that might have had something to do with Enoch's comment(if you read that post you will know what I am talking about). I was doing dishes and feeling like a bird tied down to a branch. I wanted to spread my wings and fly, but nope I had to "Cook the meals, do the dishes, dust the house". The kids were whining abut having to pick up after themselves and I started chanting "cook the meals do the dishes, dust the house," over and over and all my whinny children stopped whining, looked up and me, and said simultaneously "hey! Thats what Lucy says". Enoch said "mom, is that really what it's like to be a housewife??" I cracked up at the term, he had also borrowed from Lucy, and said yup sometimes its like that, and that is why I need you guys to help out. I explained the concept of how many hands make work light and how my life is happier when they clean up their own messes and help me keep up with the house. That was last week. This week I made charts for the kids to help them to learn how to help more and to NOT complain about it. Enoch has been having MAJOR meltdowns and both boys throw themselves on the floor and cry when asked to pick up their room, bathroom, or school projects. Or anything else for that matter. It is making me crazy. I don't have enough energy to do all my work and motivate them to do theirs. It is taking years off my life and chipping away at my sanity to spend so much time coaxing, talking, cajoling, and yes threatening, bribing and punishing :) but only in that order. I try everything good first and when all fails I get nasty and punish and they say I am mean and don't EVER let them do ANYTHING. blah blah blah! When does that violin get here? Anyway, we now have a chart for them split into two categories. One is school work and one is chores. They have 4.5 hours a day of structured time with school, chores and mom time. They are free to color, draw, glue, play, go outside, etc... For the rest of their time. If they complete their school without complaining they earn 10 cents for the day and if they complete all their chores without complaint they earn another 10cents for the day. Twenty cents a day $1.00 a week. Sounds cheap until I remember I am paying them for things they should be doing anyway. I explained that this is like potty training. You get the reward to motivate you to make and set good habits and after we get there then the reward will go away. They will get money for extra jobs but not for doing the things that are their responsibility. They are really happy with this and follow the rule we have with any money they get. Ten percent goes to tything, 10% to Long term savings and 80% for them to spend how they like. I am happy to report since we started they have done everything they have been asked to do and NOT complained. They are doing a great job and I am very proud of them. Is early dementia/insanity reverseable? I am hoping it is like smoking where they say as soon as you quit your body starts to repair itself. Maybe now that the kids have stopped melting to the ground my mind will start to repair itself. I hope!

Swim lesson # 3: Only A Few Tears

Swim lesson #3 went great. I was determined not to get there early since that seems to cause anxiety for Enoch but in cutting it close I accidentally cut it too close and we we're a few minutes late. Then the boys had to go to the bathroom and so were 5 min late for a 30 min. Lesson. I hate that! BUT, on a positive note there were only a few tears when Bob sent Enoch out on a noodle alone. I quickly jumped up and ran alongside him encouraging him the whole way and comforting him by saying he was going to be just fine etc... Bob, came over to him and stood really close but just out of Enoch's reach and Enoch stopped crying and kicked really hard to get to Bob faster than Bob could move away ;)After it was over Bob held him like he was two years old and comforted him and encouraged him and made him feel like a champion. Enoch worked hard in the water and I could see he was feeling tired from the emotion and the intense kicking. By the end of the lesson Bob had Enoch swim a long distance without any floating devices of any kind. He did it too. His power and strength kept him above the water and HE DID IT! He swam all alone. I was so proud of him for not crying and for doing it. Ezra didn't cry or have any issues but he was nervous from Enoch and he didn't work that hard. He kicked lazy and didn't do as well as last week. He was excited to be in the water but kind of lazy. As a result he didn't really progress this week. Last week he had done so awesome though and I think next week he will work harder.when he was supposed to swim on his own he didn't kick or paddle hard enough and kept sinking under and Bob would pull him up. But you know what he was BRAVE. He didn't panick and he didn't give up he kept going and I was so proud of him for that. Enoch would have been hysterical. At the end of the lesson Bob gave Enoch a high five and told him he was a champion. Enoch was beaming with pride knowing inside that he really deserved the praise. It wasn't just a token statement to encourage him to do better. Enoch had actually earned it and he felt the excitement of having earned those words. Ezra asked Bob if he was also a champion and good old Bob stayed true. He said "no, your brother worked really hard this week. I can't swim for you and I can't make you swim. I can give you the tools and then you have to work to make it happen. You didn't work hard this week, but next week you can work hard, like your brother" That was hard for Ezra to hear and even for me really because I was sad for him, but I was also really happy that Bob was honest. If he had told Ezra he was a champion when he hadn't earned it then it would have taken away from Enoch's honest and hard earned compliment, AND Ezra would have known that the words were hollow and that he hadn't really earned it which would cheapen the reward. I really believe that by holding back the compliment he made it so that Ezra will be far more motivated tomorrow when he has his next lesson. He is determined to also be a champion and this time I think he will earn it. Way to go Enoch! Good on you! You too Ezra! And here's to tomorrow!

Yeah but you're still sweating

On a particularly hot and sweaty(thats Ashley for Humid)day here in the rain forest I got out of the shower, got dressed and started to read to Ezra. We had the following conversation. Ezra:"mom you're sweating" Me:"I just got out of the shower" Ezra:"yeah, but your still sweating" Thanks son! He was of course right. I just didn't feel like admitting it. It just seems wrong that you could be sweating right after taking a shower. *sigh**

Hypnosis And Gender Inequality

So because the 3rd swimming lesson was coming up and Enoch was still traumatized from the last lesson and making Ezra nervous I decided to get Enoch prepared the night before swim. I talked to him about it and then enlisted Garrett's help that night. Enoch sat on my lap where he felt very safe and we FINALLY got him to talk about his REAL feelings instead of saying "I hate swimming. I'm not scared I just hate swimming and I don't want to do it" or "I just don't like it cause it's SO boring" then to "I like swimming but Bob is just so boring. He's always talking and saying BORING things". He was finally able to admit that he was scared and that he did want to know how to swim but he was too scared to try to swim alone without someone by him. This was only after we spent an hour talking to him two on one and only after I had been talking to him while making dinner for an hour before that. He is a HARD nut to crack. So we got him feeling better about things and then after scriptures and prayers and dad reading to the boys Garrett did some techniques he leared in the hypnobirthing class we took when I was pregnant with Ezra. He walked them through a little hypnosis and had them envision themselves swimming and doing it perfectly. Then when he was leaving the room he had them fall asleep envisioning the same thing. The next morning durring breakfast I was telling the kids about where he learned to do that particular exercise and I told them how having babies is painful and hard and can be scary and Enoch pipes up with "Yeah being a girl is SO hard and being boy is SO easy blah blah blah". Wow, I was in shock and I had no idea what to say. My first thoughts were- You saucy little insect, then,is this my fault? Have I given him this impression? Is he being sarcastic? Does he mean this? Where did this come from? I asked him some questions and determined he really believes this to be true. He sees my life and has to help out and he thinks that anything would be better than staying home with kids and cooking and cleaning. He has no idea what life is like for a father who goes to work all day every day sick or healthy, tired or rested. As he grows older his perspective will change as he realizes what men go through at work. Both parents bear heavy burdens and sometimes they are heavier than others, but since one day he will have to work and support a family I decided that maybe it would just be better for now for him to not know just how hard that will be. He is after all only 7 and life for a seven year old is apparently hard enough ;) I am also going to work on letting my kids know the joys of motherhood as well. After all who is more lucky than a homeschooling mom who can drop everything and go to the beach on a nice day then catch up on school the next day when it is pouring rain outside? Who is more lucky than I, who can first hand experience what it is like to see the light turn on the first time my child discovers he CAN count by twos, he can read a book, he can write a perfectly formed Gg? The freedom that comes from my job is so much more natural than Garrett's. He does what he is told, he sits where he is asked to sit, and spends all day everyday infront of a computer. He doesn't play or work in the dirt or the sand or the rain. He doesn't enjoy the birds and the animals, he can't break down and cry into his pillow durring quiet time after a particularly challenging morning. One day we hope there will be time in his life for these sorts of activities, but until then we just make the very most out of our weekends. My life as a homeschooling mom and the lives of my homeschooled children are not perfect, but they are very natural and rewarding. Our life is not contrived by the need for conformity or submission or built on the needs of the masses. It is simple but full, sweet but not without it's challenges. We grow together each day and we are learning to rely on each other because we are all we've got sometimes and we have come to realize that in most cases we are enough!