Life As It Is.

Graduated Sugar.

Avery: "Mom, what's graduated sugar again?"

Me: "It's granulated sugar. It's just regular white sugar."

Just made me laugh. Graduated sugar.

On a sidenote, I think it would be pretty awesome if one of my kids became a nutritionist/dietician/physical trainer (something in the healthy living realm). That is probably just me projecting. They hear me talk about that stuff all the time and they've stored up a lot of information about trans fats, preservatives, why not to eat fat-free foods, organic vs. conventional, whole grain, processed vs. natural, etc. They bought themselves pedometers last week. Avery had wanted one for a long time and she finally bit the bullet and bought a cheap one (and Sadie decided to follow suit).

Walk & Talks.

At one point in my life, I was known for my obnoxious questions. You know, the prying, I want to know you better, kinds of questions. Thankfully for my current friends, I have laid off the interrogation style of friendship. Now it is mostly reserved for my children. Lucky for me, my children actually enjoy my questioning.

I'm kinda obsessed with games, journals, etc. that ask a lot of questions. Have you ever had one of those "All About Me" journals? I have one somewhere, and I don't think I've ever written a darn thing in it, but I love it because it gives me ideas of questions to ask other people. I'm always keeping my eye out for games or books in this vein...relational stuff.

When we go on roadtrips as a family, we always have little pocket games like "KidTalk" or "Family Talk" in the bag o' travel fun.  One of my favorites is "Kid's Choices" which poses a dilemma and then asks what you would do in that situation. These are excellent for talking to your kids about how to make choices, moral dilemmas, etc. We've passed many a mile of family vacation with these conversation starters. (I bought these on homeschool websites, so if you are interested, you could check Rainbow Resource, Timberdoodle, Love to Learn, etc).

My friend's (Mike) mom (Kerrie) was in a thrift store and came across this game, "Personal Preference". She picked it up for me and it has been my favorite game ever since. I don't think you can buy it anymore unless you could dig it up on eBay. She found it for me over a decade ago and it was really old even then. If you come over for dinner, I'll pull it out and let you play :)

Several years ago, we were at a Christmas Eve party at my brother's house and he had an "If..." book on the coffeetable. There are several of these books available, and they basically ask questions like, "If you could go back in time, as yourself, to observe any single event from history, what would you want to witness?" Each page is filled with these "if" questions. We spent a good chunk of that party asking one another questions, and then I went home and ordered my own book because I loved it so much.

The girls and I go on LOTS of walks and hikes. So a couple summers ago, we started calling them, "Walk & Talks" because I would always be asking the girls questions. It took some time for them (well, Sadie) to realize that it isn't really about the question being asked, but more about the conversation that comes about as a result of the question. The question is just a jumping-off point. Avery loves to talk, so this concept came easily to her. Sadie, on the other hand, is a lot like her mama and she has a tendency to give short, to-the-point answers. She has to be prodded & information pulled from her, at times. I have to laugh at how crazy this can make me because I know one of my best friends in the world hates this exact same thing about me.

Anyhow, I'm getting off course. A few months ago, we went on a Walk & Talk. I was having an off day. I had a headache, and truth be known, I would have been content to let the girls walk ahead of me while I listened to my iPod, lost in my own thoughts. But the girls were eager for my questions, so I obliged them. Apparently Avery could tell that my heart wasn't in it that day because she commented to me that my questions were "boring" that day. Can't sneak anything past kids these days :)

So I decided that I better come better prepared the next time. The next time, I had written down questions to ask them (pillow talk questions I had found on a parenting website). And then I found a version of Family Talk that was on a handy dandy ring that I could clip right to a bag. That has been going along on our walks lately.

I don't think that I could even convey the value that I've found in these little "walk & talks". Such a simple thing, talking to your kids. But I am so intensely convinced of the power of communicating on a deep level with my girls. It is important for the present, for knowing what they are thinking about right now, what concerns them and so forth, but I am even more concerned about being sure that the lines of communication are wide open as they approach their teen years. It is my goal to make sure that they know they can talk to me about anything, that I'm always available. If you would have told me when my kids were babies that I would be having the deep, insightful, thought-provoking conversations with my kids that I'm having now, I would have doubted you. But the truth is, at eight and nine years old, kids have a capacity for understanding much more than we realize. I've always been big on not talking to my kids in babytalk (though for some reason I still do that to other people's babies); I've always said, "You get what you expect"; and I feel like many parents have a tendency to dumb-down their kids. Yes, they are kids. But if you give them the opportunity, they might amaze you with what they have going on in their head and in their heart. I've been brought to tears by their sensitivity to others; I've been convicted by their words; I've been motivated to be better because they notice everything, nothing escapes them; I've been challenged to learn more because far too often, I don't have the answers. I love my girlies so much, and I am so humbled by them every time we share these talks with each other.

Now, if you'll excuse me, we have a walk & talk scheduled at 2:00pm.

 

Sadie's new glasses.

We picked up Sadie's new glasses yesterday morning. We saw several friends right after we picked them up and I don't think anyone noticed they were different. Seth came home from work, and he didn't notice either. I guess that is evidence that Sadie is very consistent in the style of glasses she chooses. She always chooses the same shape, always a neutral color that matches anything she wears, and nothing fancy on the sides (though she got a little more daring this time around). This is Sadie's third pair of glasses, but she has never had to have them replaced because she has lost or broken them....her prescription just keeps changing. She is very responsible with her glasses; she takes very good care of her glasses. I think her new glasses look a little more grown up.

Piano Players.

A couple photos from a month or two ago, getting ready to go to their piano recital. We've been so proud of Sadie and Avery's devotion and discipline in their piano playing. They're both doing a great job, and they gave excellent performances at their recital. Sadie practices a minimum of 40 minutes a day, 6-7 days a week. Avery practices a minimum of 30 minutes a day, 6-7 days a week. Makes me proud that they excel at something in which I have absolutely no skill or ability.

Rosey's Funeral.

Rosey, our chinchilla, passed away on Monday, March 19. You often hear about husbands and wives that will die within a short time of one another. When Pepper (Rosey's companion) died in July of 2010, we really didn't think that Rosey would last much longer. Chinchillas (much like humans) like companionship, and Rosey and Pepper had been together a long time. Also, they were getting pretty old, as chinchillas go.

But still, it was sad when Rosey died. Avery went downstairs Monday afternoon to clean out the cage (one of Monday's chore duties) and reappeared a short time later sobbing and a complete wreck. Avery is very nurturing, loyal, very emotionally committed. So needless to say, she was devastated by the loss of her dear Rosey. Sadie responded in her usual way...lots of silent tears, reserved emotion. As much as she loved Rosey, I think she was stirred equally as much by Avery's pain; Sadie knows better than anyone just how much Avery loved Rosey and Pepper.

After an hour or so of crying, the girls pulled themselves together and carried on. They have spoken of Rosey a fair amount this week, but they've grieved Rosey's death better than Pepper's death.

I dug the hole for the burial, but then Seth brought the box out and I realized the box was much bigger than I realized, so Seth had to enlarge the hole.

The girls picked a bunch of greenery to put on top of the box (apparently to make it pretty) while debating with me about whether animals have souls.

Seth placed Rosey in the ground and then Avery read something she had written for Rosey, then she placed the note in the ground.

Then the girls filled in the hole again.

 We will miss you, Rosey.

Harassment.

Me: "Sadie, are you harassing your sister?"

Sadie: "No, I'm just teasing her a little bit."

Me: "That's the same thing."

Sadie: "Oh. Well then, yes, I'm harassing my sister."

Healing meatballs.

Sadie and Avery are both a little under the weather today. Nothing big, just sniffly & headachy. They both love homemade spaghetti & meatballs, so that is what we're having for dinner tonight. This afternoon as I was preparing the meatballs, Sadie came into the kitchen and said, "The thought of spaghetti and meatballs is healing me."

Engineer vs. Librarian.

I just overheard the following conversation and I thought I should document it because similar conversations happen often in our house.

Seth: "I'm so excited for the day you become an engineer." Followed by Sadie speedily quipping back, "I'm so excited for the day I become a librarian."

Children's Crusade.

 Sadie this morning while doing chores:  "I'm going to host another Children's Crusade. We're going to fight for independence from our parents. Freedom from chores and schoolwork. Hey Avery, do you want to join my Children's Crusade?"    

Nighttime Rituals.

We have one little girl at our house that greets the morning with contagious enthusiasm. She is disappointed if I don't wake her by 6:10am (she had her alarm clock privileges revoked because she was setting it for too early in the morning). She wakes with a smile, it only takes her a minute or two to shake the sleep from her eyes, get out of bed, and then immediately go to her desk and start her work. She skips into the kitchen for breakfast with a cheerful, "Hi Mom!"

And then there is Sadie. Sadie doesn't share that same eagerness to greet the new day. Sadie doesn't like to be bothered much when she first wakes up and I've learned to give her a little bit of space until she has had a chance to slowly come to life.

I'm realizing though, that I've become too lax in allowing Sadie to stay up reading at night. The girls go to bed at 8pm and they are allowed to read or listen to their CD player. They read for a little while and then go to sleep. Avery loves her sleep, so it is rare that I have to tell her to go to sleep. Sadie, on the other hand, has been reading later and later and I'm noticing it in her the following morning. So unfortunately for Sadie, I'm going to need to be better about making sure Sadie doesn't stay up so late with her nose in a book.

And now it is past my bedtime.....