Domestic Import

Well, it has been nearly one year since I've actually blogged, but a couple of things this morning have been blog-worthy.   I'm now the mother of a 2 year old little boy, and that in itself is a mystery.   How do you go from baby to running, jumping, ladder-climbing urchin?   Anyhow, Seth is still coming up with things to say whenever the mood strikes him, which has been pretty often these hot summer days.  

The summer liturgy of activities has also gone by this past month of June: Bible school, art camp, and swim lessons for the older 3.   Ian has predominately hung out with me and taken naps.   He's enthralled with the chickens though and loves to imitate the rooster.  

Anyhow, here are some funnies to brighten your day from the Landrum household:

Mom (giving tribute to Fantasy Island):  Look Seth, de plane, de plane.

Seth:  Oh, that's nice.

A few minutes later..

Seth:  Look mom, another "de plane". 

I suppose my failure at humor here is bad, he thought I was saying a real word.

 

And then earlier this week the boys overheard a conversation:

Mrs. M:  Well, I can't stand them, I have to smash those black widows!
Mrs. T:  Oh, I agree they are just the worse, they eat their husbands!

What the boys didn't realize was that the black widow was a spider, and that the conversation refered to such.

Nathan:  Mom, why do Mrs. M and Mrs. T hate black people?

Me:  What??  They don't hate black people!

Nathan:  Well, they want to kill black widows, so that's not nice.

Me:   Well, they meant the spider, not the old lady.  

No thanks to Benjamin Franklin and his Poor Richard's Almanac.   I've been getting up early, around 5:23 a.m. to head out the door for a step aerobics class at 6:00 a.m.   This has been going on for three weeks now, and for the first time in many years I'm getting up at a semi-reasonable hour.   I like it when the house is dark, lonely, and quiet.   I tend to think better when the atmosphere is free of baby babble and child chatter.   Just the other day, Nathan randomly brought up this odd question:

"If somebody chopped off my leg with a chainsaw, would they go to jail?"

This is the tip of the iceberg as far as questions go.   Many of them I cannot answer, and I don't pretend I can.   If it's theological, I'll tell Nathan, "Go ask Pastor Booth or Pastor Brainerd, they can help you with that."   And for the inquisitive among my two whole readers (assuming you have all of your body parts), no, Nathan isn't allowed to watch horror flicks on the tele.   He does however see my husband with power tools and we own a chainsaw (call it a Mississippi thing or east Texas).    I just think that some things  naturally  occur in the mind  of a  6 year old boy, I'm not in the habit of begetting or encouraging violence in our home (unless I see a snake that needs to be obliterated).  

On the upside, I really like step aerobics in the morning, it frees me to exercise without interruptions from those who might try to interpret my dance moves.   One of my children is particularly gifted at swiveling his hips, and  he likes to taunt me with imitation.   It's really pretty funny, but if I start laughing I can't breath well enough to exercise. 

On the school front, I still haven't selected all of my curriculum for the kids, but I think I've got most of it eyeballed.  I indulge them (and myself) with book buying.   I'll take them to the Battered Woman's Thrift Store (I don't know exactly why they call it that), and while I stroll around looking at various things, they go to the kid book section and get what they want.   Who can refuse a book for $.39?   I actually found a kid's book on the life of a medieval woman.   I thought that was pretty neat, it even had the British price tag still on the back.   I think it was 4.99 pounds.    I've also recently bought several of the DK Eyewitness books on Sharks, Poisonous Animals and Birds.   It's a whole series dedicated to answering all of the odd questions you (or your kids) might think of.   I've already fielded a couple of questions about the megamouth shark and general shark reproduction.   One of the best things my mom ever did for me was buy me unlimited books (or supply me with them).   I can't turn down a good book, and our shelves are evidence of it.     I'd be woebegone if I couldn't buy books, especially the ones for my own indulgence.  

On the subject of Texas, I'm still adjusting to life here.   In many ways, my functions are the same:  hospitality, homeschooling, and hair brushing.   We had a Wednesday night church group here last night, and I think we had 24 people (we're just doing this for the summer, back to regular church schedule during the school year).   I feel like I've lived here longer than 6 months, but I suppose the stability of my lot in life has made the transition easier.    I like to think in terms of being a useful and a credit to the railway (thank you, Sir Toppem Hat), but sometimes your innards flinch when you don't know exactly where you fit in or how people perceive you.   When you live with the same people for 8 years, you have mileage with them and you know their liabilities and strong points.   I suppose the unknown here is just getting to know people and "living amongst them."   After all, causing confusion and delay is not an option, unless you see a snake.   But, there is much to be thankful for, particularly teenage boys that I want my sons to emulate, I think that's worth much.   It's just maintaining that equilibrium in a still new setting that's hard, and not letting your emotions get the best of you when you strike out to form new friendships.  

But, as the night is drawing on I need to end my diatribe.   I ought to try to write more here, but I just don't seem to have words or the inclination to do it all the time.   I like to document my life, but somehow it just seems some of the things I write don't need to be posted.   I'm thankful for my own editing inclinations, but I ought to keep more of a documentation for the people who like to read this blog (all two of you!).  

Well, again I have been prodded into writing on the internet, walking on the bands of fiber optics that stretch from my house to some unknown locale.   I have needed to update this site, and my miserable squirrel picture, but I've been just a tad busy the past few weeks.   It seems like I'm busier more in Texas than I was in Mississippi, I know that is probably just the time factor, but perhaps life is gaining more momentum since the kids are getting older and I'm shuttling them from one activity to the next.  

We just ended a three week whirlwind of art lessons for Elise and swim lessons for all three of the older kids.   Ian just rode on with us, blissfully unaware of his trips to and fro.   He did grunt occasionally for food, but otherwise he was a great baby.   As a highlight of these past three weeks, Ian turned 1.   Here is the cake I attempted to make for him:






Bear in mind that I'm not the best cake baker, and the aluminum pan was the only smallish portable thing I could find in a jiffy (we transported the cake to a friend's house, but Ian fell asleep before we could sing to him, so he got it the next day instead).   The fondant cut-outs are actually trains, I have the cake upside down in this picture.  

As for my budding left-handed artist, she enjoyed her two weeks of morning art camp.    Elise is a child of few words, but I realized that the time she spent at camp meant so much to her.   She's really in her element when she's messing around with paint, crayons and water color.   I can't duplicate that experience at home with three boys around, they really don't have much of a an artistic bent yet (not that they won't, Elise has just demonstrated a distinct talent for art since an early age).   At the end of her two weeks the students had an art show, here are some of the things that Elise showed us in the "gallery"--


I don't know exactly what this is supposed to be, but the other art students had similar projects.  




This is a flower painted onto glass with some type of marker. 




This funny guy is a clay  face eating a meatball.   This was my favorite one of all the projects she produced, I thought that it was really creative and funny.   This photograph really doesn't do it justice, you'll just have to take my word for it.  

Lastly, the class did a mural for the art show at the end of the camp, and Elise drew these upside down ants on the top of the mural and the butterfly:




Here's a picture of the entire mural so that you can get an idea of the thematics, rather  bucolic in some regards. 





We ended this month of June with a week of swim lessons.   In a class of 5, three of the pupils were mine.   Seth and Nathan were quite good, and at the end of the class they both jumped off of the diving board into the deep end (with help).   Elise didn't like the class so much, I don't think she liked getting her hair wet.   Her distaste for the water was most obvious, she started the crying thing a couple of times, but her teacher was tough and wouldn't let her stop kicking or blowing bubbles.   It's beyond me though how somebody who enjoys baths so much would freeze-up when it comes to a pool.    Nathan and Seth aren't afraid of much, save snakes, banshees, and roaches, and  at least they will flush the roaches.   I'm thankful the kids  could take a class together rather than apart, besides the transportation issue, Elise does so much better with her brothers than when alone. 


For some odd reason, Nathan's bathing suit retained air bubbles all week.   They actually helped him float (or so his teacher said), but he looked like a bubble bottom for the duration of class.   You can see his personal flotation device on his hinder parts if you examine closely.  



Seth was always ready to jump in when his teacher called for him.






And lastly, here is Elise donning her shrinking violet act, after Wednesday she decided that swimming was not her favorite activity.  She didn't want all of her head in the water.  







Lastly, as I leave you tonight I will leave you with the picture that Elise drew from one of her coloring book pictures this evening while in bed,  I have posted the original and her interpretation: 











And no, she didn't trace it (I asked!).   I think the eyes are particularly good.  

I think sometimes people look at me and think, "Well, she only stays home, what else can she possibly do?"   If they don't realize that I have four kids (then they don't ask that question), then another slew of questions ensues.   I have my comebacks for all of these inquiries, and I rehearse them (often).

Here's a minor list of the things I have done today:

--woke-up
--nuked oatmeal for 4 kids, and ate an apple
--washed 4 loads of clothes (this was staggered, not all at once)
--made homemade meat sauce (12 qt pot full)
--made parmesan-ricotta cheese mixture infused with oregano for homemade lasagna
--assembled 4 pans of lasagna for 21 people coming over for dinner tonight (two to put back for another night)
--fed the kids pizza (just so you think I'm really good and super wholesome--it was whole wheat crust and turkey     pepperoni--no pools of fat on my pizza!!!)
--Ate my own lunch sitting at the table whilst reading a book to the kids...
--Loaded two old falling apart pieces of furniture, a mirror and two old chairs into the back of my van with the         seat down and hauled it to Goodwill.   Got receipt for said items, rearranged car seats so that smallish child         was  no longer in the front of the van.   I loaded these things myself!!   I love to purge...
--Clean the carport and have boys haul various and sundry items orphaned by Jonathan to the outside metal             building
--hauled in bookcase from sun room to install in boy's room so that the den is not over-flowed with kid books.
--found overdue book from Nac Library
--Sat down to write this blog entry...and drink water.


Although most of the people who read this blog probably have kids and don't wonder what I do all day, I here enlighten the blinded.   Amidst all of this I didn't do much school, we're on the tail end of it all.   I think I started with several bangs and now I'm just whimpering to the bitter end.   I feel compelled to finish what I bought, and I've learned more than I thought I would.   

Okay, back to work for me, I only have two hours until people start walking through my laundry room to enter my kitchen for a church small group function here at my house.  

And take all of this tongue and cheek, those of you not used to my odd humor.   I'm not really hung-up on wholesome food all that much, although I do prefer it.   I like my French fries and Cokes just as much as the next gal, especially if they are fountain Cokes.  

Well, off to feed the catfish in my estuary (read: ditch, but there's not a drop of salt in it) bread heels.

It seems that  I lack it.    I've had complaints from one family member (thanks, Mom!) that I never update this place.   I suppose I ought.   

Well, I've had a bout of insomnia, predominately due to a  teething baby.   How can any one possibly have get more teeth at 11.75 months?   I'm guessing it's those year molars making an appearance.   I dare not put my finger past the eight front teeth that have already appeared---this shark bites.  

Seth is coming out of his cuteness phase.   Soon he will be five and past the really sweet little boy stage.   He can ride a bike now, punch his brother and get very dirty.   But he still whines with the best of them.   He found a poisonous snake in the yard today and wasn't even scared of it.   Frankly I wasn't either, I wanted to capture it for Jonathan to see later.   It slithered into a tree though and I was unable to apprehend it.   Perhaps I'll find something else next week that will be easier to catch.

Seth still does his funny mispronunciations.   He has this sword shaped stick that he plays with all the time, and he used to hold is up and say, "George" when he was about to attacked.   It wasn't until I listened very closely that I figured out his mistake, and I mentioned to him that "charge" was the correct word.   I think the "george" was because of Curious George and missionary George Muller.   We're reading a book about the famous missionary George Muller who was the type of guy who never asked for money and depended upon God for all the needs of his orphanage in England.   When I started reading the book to the kids, they peppered me with the question, "Why is George Prussian?"  or "Why is George stealing money from his father?"   I finally realized that they were combining the monkey and the man, an odd bit of syncretism.  

Well, it has been nearly one year since I've actually blogged, but a couple of things this morning have been blog-worthy.   I'm now the mother of a 2 year old little boy, and that in itself is a mystery.   How do you go from baby to running, jumping, ladder-climbing urchin?   Anyhow, Seth is still coming up with things to say whenever the mood strikes him, which has been pretty often these hot summer days.  

The summer liturgy of activities has also gone by this past month of June: Bible school, art camp, and swim lessons for the older 3.   Ian has predominately hung out with me and taken naps.   He's enthralled with the chickens though and loves to imitate the rooster.  

Anyhow, here are some funnies to brighten your day from the Landrum household:

Mom (giving tribute to Fantasy Island):  Look Seth, de plane, de plane.

Seth:  Oh, that's nice.

A few minutes later..

Seth:  Look mom, another "de plane". 

I suppose my failure at humor here is bad, he thought I was saying a real word.

 

And then earlier this week the boys overheard a conversation:

Mrs. M:  Well, I can't stand them, I have to smash those black widows!
Mrs. T:  Oh, I agree they are just the worse, they eat their husbands!

What the boys didn't realize was that the black widow was a spider, and that the conversation refered to such.

Nathan:  Mom, why do Mrs. M and Mrs. T hate black people?

Me:  What??  They don't hate black people!

Nathan:  Well, they want to kill black widows, so that's not nice.

Me:   Well, they meant the spider, not the old lady.  

No thanks to Benjamin Franklin and his Poor Richard's Almanac.   I've been getting up early, around 5:23 a.m. to head out the door for a step aerobics class at 6:00 a.m.   This has been going on for three weeks now, and for the first time in many years I'm getting up at a semi-reasonable hour.   I like it when the house is dark, lonely, and quiet.   I tend to think better when the atmosphere is free of baby babble and child chatter.   Just the other day, Nathan randomly brought up this odd question:

"If somebody chopped off my leg with a chainsaw, would they go to jail?"

This is the tip of the iceberg as far as questions go.   Many of them I cannot answer, and I don't pretend I can.   If it's theological, I'll tell Nathan, "Go ask Pastor Booth or Pastor Brainerd, they can help you with that."   And for the inquisitive among my two whole readers (assuming you have all of your body parts), no, Nathan isn't allowed to watch horror flicks on the tele.   He does however see my husband with power tools and we own a chainsaw (call it a Mississippi thing or east Texas).    I just think that some things  naturally  occur in the mind  of a  6 year old boy, I'm not in the habit of begetting or encouraging violence in our home (unless I see a snake that needs to be obliterated).  

On the upside, I really like step aerobics in the morning, it frees me to exercise without interruptions from those who might try to interpret my dance moves.   One of my children is particularly gifted at swiveling his hips, and  he likes to taunt me with imitation.   It's really pretty funny, but if I start laughing I can't breath well enough to exercise. 

On the school front, I still haven't selected all of my curriculum for the kids, but I think I've got most of it eyeballed.  I indulge them (and myself) with book buying.   I'll take them to the Battered Woman's Thrift Store (I don't know exactly why they call it that), and while I stroll around looking at various things, they go to the kid book section and get what they want.   Who can refuse a book for $.39?   I actually found a kid's book on the life of a medieval woman.   I thought that was pretty neat, it even had the British price tag still on the back.   I think it was 4.99 pounds.    I've also recently bought several of the DK Eyewitness books on Sharks, Poisonous Animals and Birds.   It's a whole series dedicated to answering all of the odd questions you (or your kids) might think of.   I've already fielded a couple of questions about the megamouth shark and general shark reproduction.   One of the best things my mom ever did for me was buy me unlimited books (or supply me with them).   I can't turn down a good book, and our shelves are evidence of it.     I'd be woebegone if I couldn't buy books, especially the ones for my own indulgence.  

On the subject of Texas, I'm still adjusting to life here.   In many ways, my functions are the same:  hospitality, homeschooling, and hair brushing.   We had a Wednesday night church group here last night, and I think we had 24 people (we're just doing this for the summer, back to regular church schedule during the school year).   I feel like I've lived here longer than 6 months, but I suppose the stability of my lot in life has made the transition easier.    I like to think in terms of being a useful and a credit to the railway (thank you, Sir Toppem Hat), but sometimes your innards flinch when you don't know exactly where you fit in or how people perceive you.   When you live with the same people for 8 years, you have mileage with them and you know their liabilities and strong points.   I suppose the unknown here is just getting to know people and "living amongst them."   After all, causing confusion and delay is not an option, unless you see a snake.   But, there is much to be thankful for, particularly teenage boys that I want my sons to emulate, I think that's worth much.   It's just maintaining that equilibrium in a still new setting that's hard, and not letting your emotions get the best of you when you strike out to form new friendships.  

But, as the night is drawing on I need to end my diatribe.   I ought to try to write more here, but I just don't seem to have words or the inclination to do it all the time.   I like to document my life, but somehow it just seems some of the things I write don't need to be posted.   I'm thankful for my own editing inclinations, but I ought to keep more of a documentation for the people who like to read this blog (all two of you!).  

Well, again I have been prodded into writing on the internet, walking on the bands of fiber optics that stretch from my house to some unknown locale.   I have needed to update this site, and my miserable squirrel picture, but I've been just a tad busy the past few weeks.   It seems like I'm busier more in Texas than I was in Mississippi, I know that is probably just the time factor, but perhaps life is gaining more momentum since the kids are getting older and I'm shuttling them from one activity to the next.  

We just ended a three week whirlwind of art lessons for Elise and swim lessons for all three of the older kids.   Ian just rode on with us, blissfully unaware of his trips to and fro.   He did grunt occasionally for food, but otherwise he was a great baby.   As a highlight of these past three weeks, Ian turned 1.   Here is the cake I attempted to make for him:






Bear in mind that I'm not the best cake baker, and the aluminum pan was the only smallish portable thing I could find in a jiffy (we transported the cake to a friend's house, but Ian fell asleep before we could sing to him, so he got it the next day instead).   The fondant cut-outs are actually trains, I have the cake upside down in this picture.  

As for my budding left-handed artist, she enjoyed her two weeks of morning art camp.    Elise is a child of few words, but I realized that the time she spent at camp meant so much to her.   She's really in her element when she's messing around with paint, crayons and water color.   I can't duplicate that experience at home with three boys around, they really don't have much of a an artistic bent yet (not that they won't, Elise has just demonstrated a distinct talent for art since an early age).   At the end of her two weeks the students had an art show, here are some of the things that Elise showed us in the "gallery"--


I don't know exactly what this is supposed to be, but the other art students had similar projects.  




This is a flower painted onto glass with some type of marker. 




This funny guy is a clay  face eating a meatball.   This was my favorite one of all the projects she produced, I thought that it was really creative and funny.   This photograph really doesn't do it justice, you'll just have to take my word for it.  

Lastly, the class did a mural for the art show at the end of the camp, and Elise drew these upside down ants on the top of the mural and the butterfly:




Here's a picture of the entire mural so that you can get an idea of the thematics, rather  bucolic in some regards. 





We ended this month of June with a week of swim lessons.   In a class of 5, three of the pupils were mine.   Seth and Nathan were quite good, and at the end of the class they both jumped off of the diving board into the deep end (with help).   Elise didn't like the class so much, I don't think she liked getting her hair wet.   Her distaste for the water was most obvious, she started the crying thing a couple of times, but her teacher was tough and wouldn't let her stop kicking or blowing bubbles.   It's beyond me though how somebody who enjoys baths so much would freeze-up when it comes to a pool.    Nathan and Seth aren't afraid of much, save snakes, banshees, and roaches, and  at least they will flush the roaches.   I'm thankful the kids  could take a class together rather than apart, besides the transportation issue, Elise does so much better with her brothers than when alone. 


For some odd reason, Nathan's bathing suit retained air bubbles all week.   They actually helped him float (or so his teacher said), but he looked like a bubble bottom for the duration of class.   You can see his personal flotation device on his hinder parts if you examine closely.  



Seth was always ready to jump in when his teacher called for him.






And lastly, here is Elise donning her shrinking violet act, after Wednesday she decided that swimming was not her favorite activity.  She didn't want all of her head in the water.  







Lastly, as I leave you tonight I will leave you with the picture that Elise drew from one of her coloring book pictures this evening while in bed,  I have posted the original and her interpretation: 











And no, she didn't trace it (I asked!).   I think the eyes are particularly good.