ah poot, excuse me. (insert dainty voice)

Okay so it is not the most girly title but it says a lot about

what goes on around our house.

Oh, yes, I do poot. And I do say excuse me.

So.... the boys are making it a habit, this week (and I hope it does end soon), of

walking around the house saying: "POOT, excuse me" (dainty voice translation).

So they make me laugh. We are sometimes crude here. 
You can thank some of it

to genetics. 
If you have met my older brother... nothing else need be said.
Sometimes it is just fun to laugh at the most silly fun things: body functions.

Now onto other things we did this week:

Monday morning Mom (me) had her first minor surgery on her neck to remove 

her basal carcinoma. It was not so bad.... the stretching and pulling of the skin to loosen it up was a bit stomach turning but other then that, and several stitches later, it was no big deal.

Monday afternoon we had our after-school science club here at our

house.

Here is what we made:

a tornado in a jar:

water+dawn liquid+vinegar+glitter=

swirl around fast and a tornado will form in the center.

cool

floam: flubber + styrofoam

We had fun. There was an abundance of excitement and lots of

boy energy.

Tuesday we had friends over for the day and harnessed our creative side.

Not pictured are the primary color families we made. There was so much mess and three young boys, so I forgot to get the camera out :(.

Next we made a periscope:

Then we made flubber because the floam had been so much fun the day before.

http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/extras/Gak.htm

There are so many recipe websites but here is where I got this one.

I usually do this once a year. It keeps for a couple of weeks in the fridge.

Wednesday it was certainly a busy boy day with a 1, almost 3, 4 and 5 year old bantering about the house.

We were busy.

We went to storytime,

ate lots of snacks 

(good for a bit of quiet and knowing everyone is in the same place)

read many books and

just enjoyed.

The boys (my boys) when all the other three friends had gone home,

found quiet spaces of their own with the excitement of the new

library books.

I think it was quiet in here for 30 to 40 minutes. Maybe a world record.

One last and intensely sweet thing that happened.

Rohan and Max are like most brothers.

They love to drive each other to the breaking point.

Max stood holding his heavy, black "pirate" shoes, ready to launch them at Rohan.

He was mad.

Rohan held his hands over his head.

Then he said,

"You can't do it. You have too much good in you".

Then he stood up and hugged him in a super sweet and making mommy teary way.

"I am glad you can't do it", he concluded.

I said nothing.

 Just sat and confirmed to myself that even in the mayhem I know that love wins. 

They love each other enough.

So here we are on a Thursday evening. (it feels a bit like friday to me but no)

I mowed today.

Max and I went to go get free weights today (he has been begging me) and he

suckered me into getting him a purple soccer ball. (his favorite color)

Then we grocery shopped,

and a little more grocery,

picked up Rohan from school,

took him for his second round of allergy shots for the week,

attempted to get homework done,

had a break-down (Rohan)

made dinner,

more break-down

Max and I went to an art reception,

 and came home

with a brownie offering in hand.

Smiles from Rohan.

Homework was done.

Books are being read.

Sleepy boys will be sleeping.

I am secretly and openly glad.

Quiet is a treasure.

A few more photos before I part:

max having his soccer photo taken

what Rohan does on Saturday mornings

our silly three legged cat and a toy car explosion

Pepper singing lullabies for his brother Rabbit 

Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.  ~Theodore Roosevelt

~I thought I was done for the night but Max just appeared with blood all over his mouth and hands: saying, " LOOK MOM!" His tooth dangling by a thread, a strong, strong, thread. Within minutes of twisting, poking with his tooth brush and more tugging. Wha la, tooth number two in hand.

Rohan also made an appearance to help his brother with his tooth fairy note.

Are you a boy or a girl.

I love you tooth fairy.

love 

max.

(Sealed in an envelope with a Darth Vadar sticker.

Oh Yeah.)

thoughts on thinking and just thoughts

I was thinking about how kids are much more open to differences. 

Or do they just not know. 

Are they just living life as they see it. 

Are they just not gender driven as it was in the past.

( I wanted to be good at kick ball to prove girls could do anything boys could do)

Rohan has a pink water bottle for school. (he picked it out)

 Max's favorite color is purple.

They want to paint their room purple or rainbow colored.

Max's next bike (a speed bike, and a smidgen too big) is a "girl's" bike with flowers.

He said," I don't care. I like flowers."

Am I setting them up for some terrible riddling in high school or are they going to stand tall and say, "this is me, like it or lump it".

I hope for the later.

We talk about everything. 

When we play LIFE the game...and we get to the marriage part, they ask if I am going to marry a woman or a man. They make their decision, thoughtfully.

I love their minds. Their honesty, intentions (even when wild and unbridled), the way they call me out, 

every day. 

"I am not perfect.", 

I remind them over 

and over

 and over

 and then again, over. 

I too need to find places and ways to redirect my anger, frustration, and overwhelming feelings that life can present. 

They are my rock stars. They are my minister and counselor.

They forgive. Give hugs at the perfect moment. 

Share love at any moment, no thoughts... pure.

They show me life like it is and they inspire me to be a better person.

This is what makes being home, as job, important and a gift.

The payback has come already.

So when I am bagging groceries at 75 I will remember

and smile at whoever is buying groceries

 and hope they too have their payback already. 

Life is damn short.

Spring is so unbelievably beautiful.

Pollen can be so unbelievably challenging.

It has made this a magically challenging one.

Sleeplessness, tissues, tired, tired, tired...

but

so beautiful.

Sticky, gooey, fluffy, lacy beauty.

I have to blink (sometimes from allergies) 

to make sure it really is that amazing.

It is.

What keeps an artists spirit from creating?

Is is laziness, apathy, fear...?

I ask myself this daily.

I wonder about it in my windy soul.

I dream of the artist... the creator within.

Sometimes I think: I am not an artist otherwise I would be creating out

of a deep necessity for survival.

I have envy.

I celebrate friends who are making it, who live it, but

in a deep sad place, I am envious.

I wonder where my drive and passion is.

I wonder where it goes and when it will return.

For now I take moments.

I clean the studio.

I touch the clay.

I look.

Hey soul, I want desire back. I want my bubbling excitement to bubble over until I feel like I will explode.

Maybe we need to make a coffee date or a beer date and sit down and talk this thing over.

How about this Friday at 9:00 a.m.

I will be waiting.

We saw the Blue Ridge Roller Girls last night.

I usually do not go.

I take me time.

Last night we went and met friends.

I became an instant groupie and think in my past life I was a roller girl.

I have never been tough enough looking but inside...

watch out.

What would my name be?

I will have to get back to you about that.

It was fun.

Too fun.

Looking forward to the next match.

Let your wild out.

(insert howling sound here)

I realized I am getting older recently.

My mind forgets this.

Recent visits to the dermatologist confirmed the reality.

I have two carcinomas. Basal and Squamous.

Tomorrow is my first, very minor surgery.

Next Monday I have the other.

What I realized and am still mulling over, is that from now on

I will face a variety of health issues. 

Hopefully all small and manageable.

It was a wake up call that reaches the depth and questions time and space.

So here I go. Embracing my forties. 

How old do I feel?

Depends on the day.

I act like a three year old (in their not so perfect form)

 sometimes

and other times

I feel like a wise old soul.

Then other times I just feel the now.

No thoughts of time just of feeling good in this.

So far I feel better in my forties then I did in my thirties.

How about that! Cool.

Music is important in our families life.

None of us plays an instrument or are particularly musical, but

we love music.

I get a cheap thrill out of finding new children's music that both adults and kids can be juiced up about.

Here is the latest one I found at the library

(the library makes me excited EVERY time I go there. My blood pressure goes up and I have to pee. That is how excited I get. Not sure why but have always been that way ;o))

simply awesome.

If you would like to know more music we love.... just ask.

 I am thinking I will share an album or group every week or month.

It is dinner time and I am here, typing.

It is not like fall and winter when I long to cook, to warm the kitchen with

delicious smells.

I am thinking quesadilla's, black beans and cauliflower.

I am off.

(peace)

Teach your children well

“The care of the Earth is our most ancient and most worthy, and after all our most pleasing responsibility. To cherish what remains of it and to foster its renewal is our only hope.”

Wendell Berry quotes These photos represent earth day and hope  and some just make me smile,  a deep, deep smile. (once again these are from the past  but represent the future) rohan with fooky our beloved dog Now for the smiles i have been told i resemble that look....hmmm. toothless kindergartener (now a second grader) silly three year old,  now starting kindergarten this fall Teaching is a gift. Parenthood teaches. The lessons are magical and unbelievably hard. Somedays feel like 27 hours:  some hours feel like 27 hours others as a flutter of a wing, the eye in a blink. The earth teaches. It is a gift. A 4.55 billion year old gift. Teaching about the earth and its gifts becomes the mission. The gift of life and possible life. Check out this video and all of it's possibilities. It shows the birth of a solar system. Beauty and Wonder. (for friends and family unfamiliar  click on the word video to see the video ;o))

Books and Allergies and Earth Day and Dad

I want to start with some books that I am reading right now.

For those interested in Early Childhood and amazing activities to create with your children check out these books:

These books are obviously from the early 70's and they are full of such cool and easy activities that children LOVE to do.

I ordered my copies from ABE books.

I used these when I was a preschool teacher and now ordered them for home. I can't wait to get started!

Other books I am reading and loving:

This is a book written in the voice 

of a young boy with autism.

 Amazing and haunting.

Just started and love.

 Funny, honest and intriguing.

Okay, I had to share this. Funny and scary and well, really weird.

I decided my kids are old enough to read Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes. 

That in itself is a funny statement but we all remember the rhymes and the oddities.

Here are some of our favorites we read tonight. They are real. I mean it.

Cry, baby, cry 

Put your finger in your eye

 and tell mother it wasn't I.

There was a man in our town,

And he was wondrous wise,

He jumped into a bramble bush,

And scratched out both his eyes;

But when he saw his eyes were out,

With all his might and main,

He jumped into another bush,

And scratched 'em in again.

(my favorite if you could call it that)

There was a little man, and he had

a little gun,

And his bullets were make of

lead, lead, lead;

He went to the brook, and saw a little duck,

And shot it right through the 

head, head, head.

(okay now darling, have sweet dreams and go to sleep)

Seriously, what were adults thinking reading these to kids.

I mean rhyming is cool but you can make them sweet can't you?

I had to share these.

We made up some modern day nursery rhymes. The theme generally

revolved around farts or poop. ;o)

Allergies:

Rohan is suffering. I am too. Not like Rohan, but spring has sprung and we are trying to make the most of it.

Rohan has missed three days of school in his suffering. 

We have decided to begin Immunotherapy. 

He will have one or two shots a week for the next

5 to 6 years. Yes, years.

They will inject the exact things he is allergic to and eventually, and hopefully,

he will become immune to them.

It will be long but worth it.

No one likes their children to feel miserable.

I am so thankful it is only allergies.

Earth day:

We worked on a project today using recycled materials. 

We created a caterpillar parent and its baby, in its home.

We used old dried out big leaves, paper that wraps pears, foam, beads found at yard sales, and glue.

It was a great project. 

This is Max's.

We also read books about helping the Earth and had discussions before and after we read.

Thank you Earth for all you give us.

Dad:

Last I want to celebrate my Dad. 

He turns 75 tomorrow and boy am I lucky he is 

my Dad.

Thank you Dad (Happy Birthday) for giving me the gift of seeking life

and living to the fullest. For teaching me to love art and to live art.

 You really are my living hero.

I love you.

thursday april 15, 2010

Some days are just made for living. 

This was one of those days.

It began with a decision to let allergy Rohan take a break from school:

Here is what happened. A photographic story from morning until evening.

 magnet exploration

 max's magnet man

 We all painted:
 this is what mommy painted :)

pepper's eye and nose

we added a world map
 and a bumper sticker: 
Love Animals Don't Eat Them

The next series of photos are 
me exploring the idea of Dim .

allergy eye rohan

 I chose this one for 
the theme Dim .

I have always taken pictures with composition in mind. I think about the movement and the magic of capturing a moment.
I do it for me,
for the satisfaction of releasing my creative impulse. 


The desire to be something beautiful.


Since my pottery studio is not fully up and running, I am using this blog and my camera as my "now I feel more whole" medium.
I like this feeling. 
I love that my kids and life can be an integral part of the experience.


My little sister turned 31 last Wednesday and my papa turns 75 next Wednesday. So much to celebrate and they have each given me the gift of art and the spirit of living life to the fullest and with purpose.


Magical Thursday, I needed you.