Overheard at the Ross Home lately

A sweet little friend of Hebs, three years old, is in the hospital right now, fairly sick.  We've been praying for her every night, and some of the prayers have brought a smile to my face.

Hebs:  Thank Thee for A. to get better.  (He's a little foggy on the whole "thanks" and "please" formula of prayers.  Thus, everything--things that he is grateful for and things that he wants--are included in the "thank Thee" part.)

Gee (5 years old):  Please bless A.'s blood cells to fight the bugs so she can get better.  (He might not always recognize the letter "n", but he sure knows about white blood cells fighting germs.)

--------------------------

On a slightly different note, Gee and I have a routine we follow at potty training time.  It is very important to him to get to do as much by himself as possible.  One day, Em was in the bathroom with us, and wanted to do some task. 

Gee objected, and I told Em that she needed to let Gee do it.  Huffing and pouting (like the sweet six-year-old she is), she exclaimed, "I wish I had spina bifida!  Gee gets to do everything!"

I could barely contain the eye-rolling such a statement deserved.  It's going to be a great story with which to torment her in a few years.

--------------------------

My Yum Yum is 18 months old, and getting so big!  She has about eleven words:  "HI" "momma" "daddy" "NO" "mine" "cheese" "bye-bye" "night-night" "uh-oh" "pleezz" (please) "hep" (help).  Our favorite thing right now, however, is to get her saying the words she has, and then get her to mimic the rest of our names.  Gee and Hebs especially love this game.

-------------------------

Gee has been learning his telephone number, and we are so proud of him finally getting it.  He was showing off to Aunt Telima on the phone the other day, and after he was done receiving praise, Hebs wanted to join in.  "Let me do MY phone number, Momma!"  I handed the phone to him.  "An-Telima, One-two-three-four-five-six-seven-eight-nine-ten!  That's my number!"

-------------------------

Another time Hebs wanted to talk to Aunt Telima.  He took the phone, held it up to his ear with the mouthpiece somewhere near his temple, and told her, very seriously, "Jesus loves you, An-Telima."  Sadly, she missed most of this important message, due to the positioning of the phone.  We'll have to work on his delivery.

Pioneer Children

This morning it took Zee and Em ten minutes to walk half a block to school. Their father, noting their lack of progress as he rode by on the bus, called to let me know my transportation services were probably going to be required.  So I slung the three littles in the van and zoomed off to pick them up and get them up to the school on time.

It wasn't especially cold this morning, but Em was crying and especially sad about her lot in life--six blocks to school, uphill, in the winter!  Zee was being very patient for an eight-year-old with a crying little sister, but there was only so much he could do to cajole her along.

And I felt guilty, expecting my children to walk to school, just so I don't have to get everyone else dressed and drive them.

Is that silly?

I mean, they are eight and (almost) seven years old, the walk is only six blocks, with sidewalk all the way, they have warm coats to wear and scooters to ride, and there is a crossing guard at the end, where they cross the big street to get to the school.  And, again, it wasn't that cold and not at all icy or snowy.

Sometimes this parenting thing is hard to figure out.

(P.S.  Big sisters of mine, when we walked to and from school, did I ever whine?  Do you remember me dragging my feet or making you late?  I remember a very windy day, where I thought maybe the wind would blow me away, and you both grabbed my hands and held me tight all the way home.  Even though there was no way the wind was going to carry away a six-year-old girl.  But I don't remember too much more than that.)

Flights of Fancy

Today we went up to spend the day with Grandma and Grandpa Ross.  We haven't been up for more than a month--life is busy, for them and for us!--and we had a few specific tasks we wanted to accomplish.  Bradley wanted to talk genealogy and get some of Eva's documents scanned, and Eva and I wanted to select the fabric for the quilt she is making for our family.

George and Eva are planning to go on another mission--a six-month, close to home type this time--and Eva expects a fair amount of downtime in the evenings, especially if they are called to Cove Fort, as they hope. She is going to make each of the families a gorgeous, hand-embroidered display quilt. She gave a bunch of choices, and both Nicole (Bradley's just older sister) and I liked the one called "Flights of Fancy" the best.  Eva said she didn't mind doing it twice, so, yay!

(In case you are wondering, Bradley doesn't have an opinion on any of this.  So he gave me carte blanche to pick whatever I thought best.)

It's a little hard to see on the picture, but each light-colored square has a bird embroidered on it.  Nicole chose to have hers done in reds, and some of her fabric (Eva was showing me today) is soooo gorgeous.  I decided to go for antique golds, greens, and browns, with just a hint of deep reds.  The birds are going to be in a rich dark brown.  We went through Eva's fabric today, and picked out nine types for the patchwork, and then we traipsed over to a quilt store to find the border (the wide flowery thing) and the stop border (the lighter colored square framing the patchwork and birds).  I wish I could describe the border fabric we found--it is patterned with blowing grasses and is just amazing.

My mother-in-law is an incredibly talented quilter, and she has already made several of these types of quilts for her own walls.  I would have never asked her to make one for us--I know how much time and work they must be--but I couldn't be more thrilled that she offered.  Obviously it is going to take her quite some time to create all of these, but I can't wait to see it on the wall of my (future, someday) new house!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Last night I crept out into the hallway while everyone was asleep, and papered one of the walls with hearts and circles and Valentines.  It was silly and last-minute and just a little thing, but the kids LOVED it.  (Unfortunately, the blue painter's tape I used (being all I could find at 10:30 pm last night) wasn't quite strong enough, and there were a fair amount of circles lying sadly on the ground when we awoke. Luckily the kids didn't mind.)

I hope you had a lovely day, wherever you are and whatever you did.  Chances are, if you are reading this blog, I love you!  I'm glad you are my family and friends!  Happy Valentine's Day!

I've already been to first grade, thanks

Every week, my first grader, Em, has a homework packet to complete.  The work is not onerous or majorly time-consuming (though I question the need for homework in the lower grades), and she can get the whole packet finished in less than an hour.  A little spelling, reading, handwriting, phonics, and math...no big deal.

Except the blasted word families.

Each packet has two word family "houses" to complete.  For example, one word family could be "__ay" words:  cay, ray, day, may, fay, lay, jay, bay, say, way, pay, pray, stray.  The child is supposed to come up with eight (on easy families) or six (for the harder ones) words and write them down.

This is no big deal, until you get to the more obscure word families.  Like this week's homework.

The two word families for this week are "__igh" and "__ight".  The "-ight" family is no big deal, but the "-igh" family?  How many words do YOU know that end in "-igh"?

Em came up with "high" and "sigh" on her own, and then came to me for help with the last four blank spots.  Off the top of my head I thought of "thigh".  With some struggle I came up with "weigh" (which, does that even belong in the same word family?  It has a completely different sound!), and then I was...stumped.

Thank heavens for google.  I searched for "words that end in -igh", and ended up with a list of 22.  Some of which definitely shouldn't count.  What the heck is "quaigh" or "laigh" or "skreigh"?  (A two handed Scottish drinking vessel, a Scottish variant of "low", and a Scottish word for shriek, respectively.)

All first graders should know those words, right?  In SCOTLAND.

Argh.  I hate homework for parents.

No. Just No.

This handy-dandy helmet is for children, but not while they are riding bikes, or horses, or rocket ships.  No, it is for your toddlers as they learn to walk.

The description states:

Help to protect your child from head injuries with this wear-all Thudguard protective foam helmet and reduce parental anxiety as your child discovers the world around them.

And now for the low low price of $42.95, peace of mind can be YOURS.

(I am ashamed to say I am both repelled and allured by this product.  I admit that, had I known about them, I might have considered procuring one of these for my Gee, when he was young.  I was crazily worried about his shunt.  But I am 100% sure I wouldn't have gone through with it.)

Lo, she reappears...

Today I received the long-waited email from BYU's Continuing Education Department, concerning my application to present a series of geology lectures at this year's Education Week.  To cut right to the chase: No, I wasn't accepted.

Bummer.  

I'm not really surprised by the result, but I will admit to being a little disappointed.  I suppose I had gotten my hopes up a little too much.

The email didn't give any feedback; it was a standard form rejection letter--we had over 500 applicants, only 200 spots, we appreciate you sharing your talents, etc.  I suspect that I wasn't accepted because of lack of credentials, or possibly because they realized that most people don't go to EdWeek at BYU to learn about geology.

Oh, well.  I had a thoroughly enjoyable time researching, preparing, and giving my sample lecture on Mount Saint Helens, as well as outlining the other three lectures.  Whatever the result, I'm glad I tried.