A wish for my children...

I pray that you will be blessed as I was while growing up. The world in which we live has changed so much in just 20 years. I can't just let you roam and go to school alone. You have to ride your bike around where I can see you and you can't walk blocks to go to your friend's house. But, keep that childhood innocence. Where there is not much to worry and fear. Do your best and believe that anything is possible. Because, with God all things are. Play and create. Let your imagination run wild. Explore your surroundings. But, respect. Yourself, your parents, your siblings, your family, your Creator. To do so will bring happiness all the years of your childhood. May you almost always act your age, while having a good head on your shoulders. You are my sunshines.

My Mama

I remember parts of that day and my feelings, but much of it is just a blurred sense of what was going on. But, it changed my life forever.

I have missed you at my wedding, the birth of my kids, and my graduation. My children know you through pictures and stories and a video I have of you reading Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day to your class. I think of you often this year as I homeschool the boys and teach your grade you taught for so long, 3rd. I even have your last lesson plan book, though I don't look at it often.

As I tell B and O more about you, I come to a greater realization of just who you were. You sacrificed so much for me and while at times it sacrificed our time together, you always tried to find a way to make it up. Yes, I was spoiled, and yes, I was a brat. And you put up with all of that. Thank you, Mom, for guiding me during my younger years. For all of the English papers that you listened to and all of the sentences that you dictated to me for my spelling words. You are forever in my heart, and while the memories dim so much, the fondness of your love will never be forgotten.

Yes, I know she is sleeping in the grave. But, at this special point in time, I need to get my feelings out as I see how special my mother was. I pray that today will have a moment of reflection in her honor.

Field Trip!

A couple of weeks ago, I decided to take the day off from teaching and take all 3 boys on a field trip. B and O were doing animal reports. O decided to do dolphins at first (which was too vague) and finally narrowed it down to orcas. We have seen the dolphins and whales at Discovery Kingdom and SeaWorld, but I wanted to take them to the place that I knew was closest that had them. So, off we went to the Seymour Discovery Marine Center at Long Marine Lab. I had a lab and a lecture here when I was at UC Santa Cruz and I will say that my nostalgia for the city is as great as it has been. Despite the "weirdness", I love Santa Cruz. And, I like the Marine Lab (I think the tank is too small for the dolphins though :o( ). I hadn't been since the boys were, oh, about 6 months old. They had a great time!

where did time go?

This question has been coming out of my mouth a lot lately. As I think about it being mid-April already and even moreso as I think about how B and O are going to be 9 years old this year and G is going to be 3. It's been 10 years almost since my mom died and 12 since my dad died and I just have to ask, where did the time go? It seems like it has gone by so fast.

Here's a few pictures to show what we have been up to in the past couple of months. The twins are big into Legos, so here are some of their creations they have come up with.



and G found that he can reach the doorbell over the gate at the front door



We've been on field trips and Daddy-O and I are on a journey of health and wellness right now, so look for future posts about those! XXXX to all of our family and friends.

wow! what a blessing

our backyard (well, communal with the HOA, but no one else really uses it)

God is good. And lately we have been reminded of his blessings over and over again. Specifically, how different B and O are from other boys and girls. Yesterday, we went to Marie Callender's to eat and two couples commented on how well behaved the boys were. One man said that he only saw manners being re-enforced like that in the Midwest and another older gentleman came over and shook the boys' hands and thanked them. Wow!

Today, Daddy-O and I were inside the house while the boys are outside playing in our backyard area. A lady in the area knocked on the door and asked if the twins were ours. She said that she just wanted to let us know that they are so well behaved and that she hopes that they stay like that for the rest of their lives.

Huge mama moment and smiles on my face. God is so good and his mercies are abundant. Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22:6

Happy Valentine's Day

To all of our friends and family, happy Valentine's Day from me, Daddy-O, O, B, and G. We hope that you had a great day full of love and that you know just how much you mean to us. We had a great brunch at Marie Callender's, I went to work for a few hours and got some good work done, and Daddy-O and I are back on the love brainwave.

Tapatio

We are big fans of Tapatio in this house. Since B is allergic to tomatoes, he frequently requests it when O has ketchup or salsa. He loved it even before we found out about his allergy. As of late, whenever G has not been wanting to eat his dinner (pizza, chili, etc.) we have offered him Tapatio. He's been saying yes and actually eats his food when we put on just a few drops. I normally make sure to spread it around, and on occasion, he has mixed it in himself. Tonight was a totally different story. We were eating chili sans tomatoes but G was not liking it too much. Daddy-O had the Tapatio out for himself and offered it to G. An inevitable yes was said and a couple of drops were put into his bowl. But, no mixing occurred. He just ate a bite with a big drop in it. And, his face told everything. But, the best part was he was quiet about it until Daddy-O asked him if he liked it and very clearly G said, "No, it was very hot." I wonder if he'll say yes to Tapatio next time. LOL

Decluttering, day 2

I have been really holding back selling back G's cloth diapers. Yes, you can sell them. What else are you supposed to do? Throw them away? Kind of defeats the purpose of cloth (and spending so much money at the onset). Is he totally out of diapers? No, but we are working on potty training and the diapers cause him to get a rash more often than not. So, it's time. They take up a lot of space. But, it is a daunting task! I tried to post them on Craigslist and got a mild response. Thought I had sold some, but didn't really get an answer. So, now it's time to post on Diaper Swappers, where I bought most of them. But, why do I hesitate? Because I know people want pictures (of over a hundred diapers? ack!) and then I have to go to the post office and ship it. Oh well, I am ready and so is G. Better go charge that battery in the camera before I start. Wish me luck!

There's something so rewarding about letting go of junk and seeing some clear space emerging from piles and piles of stuff. We have stuff, and sometimes it seems like a lot of it. Mine, Daddy-O's, O, B, and G. We. all. have. stuff. And it just takes up so much space. Some of this stuff has been with us since we lived in our first place together 9 years ago. Most has been more recently acquired in that 9 years as we have shuttled out the hand-me-down furniture and purchased our own. My couponing has allowed us to have even more stuff. But, I will address that issue in a later blog.

I have been going through some hot spot areas today in the garage and in an upstairs closet to start decluttering. Today wasn't too bad, I quickly Freecycled a couple of curtains that we haven't used in a couple of years and a tote that was taking up space on my shelf. I love Freecycle!

My worst find today though was that I had actually kept almost every paper and assignment that I had done since my first year in college. About 1000 pieces of paper (including TONS of articles that had been given to me by various professors). I don't remember really any of the stuff and the only thing that I vaguely thought about keeping was the Organic Chemistry lab write-up that I had started and was supposed to work on and finish the day that my mom died. But, as I am trying to get rid of things that cause sadness when I look at them, that was set free as well.

I'm not sure where tomorrow's decluttering will take place but it's sure to dig up some interesting find.

Homeschooling is hard

So, I am not going to beat around the bush on this one. Homeschooling is one of the hardest jobs that I have ever had. Especially when you are trying to finish 2 grades in one school year. It's enough to make me want to pull out my hair most days. But, there are so many things that I can do at home with the boys that they just don't get in school. There have been so many budget cuts in our public school system that it is nice to be able to actually teach them music theory, art, and P.E.

I've gotten a lot of flak for teaching my kids at home this year, but the rewards have been worth it. They are so excited about science and math. O loves learning how to write in cursive and actual History lessons about the Renaissance and the rest of the world really put things in perspective.

So, my house is a mess most days (at least until 15 minutes before Daddy-O comes home) but my kids are learning, having worship everyday, and having a great breakfast and lunch.

So, this is my first post to ask what my mom, as a school teacher for 27 years, would think about it. I really don't know. But, I do remember having Art with Ms. Rocks, P.E. with Mr. Santani, and music class with harpsichords growing up and now I get to share a little bit of that with the kids.

Valentine's week?

So Daddy-O is much more romantic than I am, and thank goodness! If I was running the romance thing, we may just be down to the bare minimum. He knows that my love is shown in my everyday things that I do for him (and the occasional foot scraping with my Revlon PedEgg knock-off). But, this is his week. He loves V-day (which has been for many years to me Arizona Statehood Day. LOL) and has taken to doing something nice for me every day this week. So, Daddy-O, I appreciate the dishes being done while I watched the Super Bowl with the boys and the sushi was extra yummy when we had an in-house date night last night. I do so love you.

The boys

For an early Christmas present (and to stop hearing that we needed a new camera), I bought a nice Nikon Coolpix p90 for Daddy-O on Black Friday (love Amazon!). I just now got around to downloading all of the pictures now that our card was full. I think I will need that external hard drive sooner than I thought.

Here's a picture of B,O, and G about a month ago.

This is it!

Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter Is Dead is one of my favorite movies from when I was a kid. I loved Christina Applegate in it and David Duchovny was just getting started into The X-Files. While the babysitter isn't dead, there are maybe a lot of things that I wouldn't have told my mom over the past years.

This blog is a celebration of family, especially the one that all started in 2001. There are 5 main players: me (Mama Washington), Daddy-O Washington, O, B, and G. Family and friends, come one and all and follow our adventures as we go through this crazy life.