Author: Angela

I write so my family will always have letters from home.

Siblings

 

Angie and Joe

The sibling wars are going strong here.  I think we’re in need of outdoor play. We live the equivalent of a snowed-in winter during the heat of summer. We’re not active enough. Some of us are grumpy because of illness and some of us are experiencing growing pains.

Despite the sibling wars, I am very grateful for the sibling factor in our lives. Mark has a brother to keep him company after I kiss him good night. The boys have someone with whom they can throw dirt clods in the backyard (desert entertainment), and built-in participants for dead man on the trampoline. Mark has a peaceful retreat in Paige’s room and Lego Hero Factory wars are more fun with a lot of robots.

I am grateful for my own siblings and the good memories of them inviting my Care Bears and Strawberry Shortcake dolls to join their GI Joe games. I am grateful for echoes of little boy voices acting out David and Goliath, memories of a little brother in a coon skin cap singing Davey Crockett,  and images of little sisters strapped to the baby seat on the back of my bike so I could take them places.

Having siblings helped me to develop loyalty and a very deep love, despite the fighting that happens when little people live together.

Birding in Madera Canyon

Our friend Nina took us on another birding adventure to improve our skills. Timothy and Paige have studied birds recently in science, but each goes about it a different way. Paige enjoys sketching them. Timothy takes time to learn anatomy, range, behavior, and markings. He is distinguishing himself as quite a little birder.

He is good at finding and identifying birds. Wow.

We saw many hummingbirds as we sat on the porch of a small bed and breakfast in Madera Canyon.

We’re deep in contemplation and relaxation. We’re also feeling relief from the intense heat down in the valley.

Naughty but adorable squirrel.

I think this is a Lesser Goldfinch. I’ll have to ask Timothy.

House Finch.

Daniel took all of these pictures. He enjoys photography. Timothy and Mark carry binoculars; Paige carries her sketch book; Daniel carries the camera.

Mark found *another* walking stick for his collection. It was a good day!

Young Women

I’m going to regret posting this silly photo, but all well. Thirteen was a time to try purple eye shadow and have a best friend. I’ve been thinking about those years and the people who helped me move beyond the purple eye shadow stage. Among the heroes were Tina Day, Robin Baker, and Paige Crawley. My mom was the biggest influence in my life, but these women came next. They modeled righteous womanhood; they taught me by their example.  They opened their homes, shared their talents, and loved us. They were my Young Women leaders from church.

I’ll just write it here because I can’t hardly speak it without feeling my throat close and my eyes flood with tears. I’m the new Young Women President. I’ve waited 16 years to work with the Young Women (ages 12-18) and I mean to enjoy it.

Happy Labor Day Weekend

I hope your Labor Day weekend is happy. Are you going to have a barbecue with family? Will you take a drive to the mountains? This picture is of my mom and me. Sarah, do you see your reflection in this picture?

Of all the seasons, I love autumn best. Labor Day signals my brain to start thinking in jewel tones. Cozy thoughts such as pie making and plans for homemade Christmas gifts (So what if I never actually make them!) give me hope for happy times during the next few months.

My week has been stressful. I was summoned for jury duty and I was excused. I prepared and taught a science lab to 35 kids on Friday. I made calls for church and prepared a monthly newsletter. I fixed our broken washer this morning… I think. I used up almost a ream of paper making copies. I worked on a website for a homeschool group. We dissected a frog. We raced homemade boats. We swam, we danced, we drove. We read, we built, we solved.

I prepared comfort food all week. I just felt like I needed it. Have you had a busy week leading up to Labor Day? Maybe the contrast of such a busy week will make Labor Day seem more restful. I hope so…for both of us.

Camping

We went camping this weekend on Mount Lemmon with our church.

What is that you have, Mark?

Oh, a tiny horned lizard!

Timothy found one, too, but it was much bigger.

Daniel whittled.

Paige was great at tent setup and cleanup. Yes, she IS that incredible.

Everything was packed and ready to go, but we lingered. The pleasant temperatures, the pines, and the company kept us there. Just ignore that odd expression on my face.

Sometimes it just isn’t pretty

Sometimes homeschooling means smelling up your whole house. And getting bone chips in your hair as you try to expose fish brain.

My younger children are scarred for life over the dissections we’ve been cramming in this month. Emphatically spoken, “Mom, I don’t WANT to do dissection when I’m in high school!”

To which I reply, “Okay. You don’t have to.” And I mean it. I don’t know if we will do this again, even if we do it in the winter when we can do it outside.

I took pictures of our last dissection because it was incredibly smelly and difficult. Just skip them if you’re queasy about this kind of thing. Paige and her friend have one more dissection next week: a big old frog.

 

Timothy’s Spring Piano Pieces

Timothy began taking piano lessons last fall. He loves to play. His piano teacher often assigns him songs from our church. She is not of our faith, so it’s especially thoughtful.

 

Love is Spoken Here

And who can forget the essential Indian dance during the first year of piano study?

Indian Song

I love this old photo of Timothy and Daniel on the horse.

Horse Sense

 

The Lego Library

It’s fascinating to listen to people’s reactions to our home. We have a tile (I won’t tell you where) which must have some magic. Whenever someone steps on this tile, they compliment the house. Is it perfect feng shui from this tile’s perspective? Is there a conduit of light that touches a person’s aesthetic sensitivities just the right way? It’s not the furniture… it’s not the decorating. It could be the shiny black piano, but that would give away the relative position of the tile, so never mind.

Besides this one spot from our hallway, I receive compliments about our plastic Lego drawers. They are 12×12 inch drawers with lids which fit in a tower of seven. They were made for scrapbook supplies, but they can contain even large Lego sets. I stack them recklessly and precariously. I call them our Lego Library. In this library, each child checks out one box at a time, so to speak. I bought them at Target, but I’m afraid they are no longer sold at my store. Drat.

Most of the Legos in this collection came from a yard sale and we paid $4 a set. Smokin’ deal. I wish we had bought more. I scanned the original nicotine-riddled boxes and printed them for the front and top of each plastic box.

When you want to play, you just pull out your box…

and play with the set. Remember: you must clean up your set before you get another one. Only one set allowed per child. When friends come over, I say no more than 3 sets out at a time.

I also bought drawers without lids for Mark’s Legos.

When I give a big Lego set to the kids, we give them a new drawer for storing it.

Most of our Legos are not this organized. I see these lidded drawers as a place to keep special sets intact, and the Legos in the bedrooms are for more creative play. In the bedrooms we store Legos in long under-bed boxes. The Lego Library is kept separate from the other Legos in the house.

As a mother of 3 boys, a lot of energy is spent dealing with Legos… and dirty socks.

Thanks for listening.