We are learning that one of the benefits of having a span of children is how much my boys learn from their sisters, and happily we can report that most of it is good.
Macbeth: Callie is the third witch in her class' rendition of Macbeth, and we frequently hear her practicing her lines. Sometimes on the way to school she'll have Hannah read the other witches lines so that she will learn her cues. Both girls, by the way, are true thesbians and make fantastic Macbeth witches. The other day it was very funny to hear Jacob randomly reciting "Peace, the charm is wound up." Just a little Macbeth, thrown in with his Lightening McQueen vocabulary. Another aside: we have gone through all of the character names from the movie CARS and have settled on the name of "Mater" for his unborn brother, to be replaced at birth.
Music: Our favorite way to start the day as a family is to sing a hymn and say a family prayer. It's a boost to the day when inspired music from the morning flows through the brain. The girls are both also learning to play hymns as part of their piano lessons, and they enjoy singing along as they play. Thus, without any formal training Drew will call out at random parts of hymns such as "All Creatures of Our God and King" as he plays with his cars, "Scatter Sunshine" in the grocery store, or "Be Thou Humble" probably right when his momma needs to hear it. From the mouths of babes, right?
And on to humility -- I really do love the reminder I get when he pipes up and starts to sing that or any other hymn. It happens to all of us: we get in the "zone" with life and things seem to be smooth sailing for a little bit. I can't say exactly that I have been in the zone, but Sunday night it felt really good to be able to sit down after the kids were tucked in, read some conference messages and delve into the scriptures as I prepared a little history on Jacob's name. And I was alert for all of it and gained something. Love those times!
Monday afternoon was true reality: after picking the girls up from early out day I thought we'd stop by the library for Hannah to pick up some books for her dinosaur report, due on Friday. Callie decided she wanted some more info for her report on Elizabeth Blackwell, so we all went into the library so that I could show Hannah how to look up specific kinds of books. Drew and the library are a poor mix, so generally I just make sure books stay on the shelves, he's quiet, and we try to be fast. Thus, when he started climbing quietly all over the story time steps I let him have at it (never mind it's against the rules and I never let any of my other kids do that -- I've never had a Drew before). It was okay until Jacob joined in and the sweet librarian caught them and was publicly asking them to stop. Just a little embarrassing for me. Of course then I had to get Drew down, and once I attempt to contain him the whole library can hear him. I grabbed the first three books that looked decent for Hannah and told Callie we had to go. "But I didn't find any of my books!" We'll come back. Maybe.
At home the girls settled into homework routines, the boys played and I set about to cook the double batch of mini muffins that I had mixed up batter for before we left, because what else do you do when you have 6 really ripe bananas but have a yummy snack? And, since I had been to one grocery store and Tyler had done some bulk shopping I had 5 lbs. of ground beef & 3 lbs. of sausage to brown & freeze in an attempt to make future meals easier. Then there was the enormous bag of cheese to bag & freeze for the future, 5 dozen eggs to try to fit in the already full refrigerator, and other foods that still needed to be put away. Somehow in the middle of the kitchen frenzy I advised two girls on their reports. I found it really funny when Callie was searching on-line and said, "By the way, Mom, I'm going to need an I-patch." "An I-patch?" "Yeah, don't you know what an I-patch is?" "I really don't." "You DON'T!!!" "I really don't." I was wondering what new electronic gizmo was now out that was so necessary for school when she explained, "It's one of those patches that you put over your eye." Ah-HA! I chuckled over that one. Multi-tasking really isn't all it's cracked up to be, but as a mother you can't always help that.
After a few hours of bare feet on the hard wood floor I decided to sit down at the computer. That's when a friend called, and did I want her to pick Hannah up for soccer practice? What?!? This was at least the second week in a row that I completely forgot about Callie's practice and she missed, and the only reason we remembered Hannah's was because I had someone kindly offer to take her. I thought Callie went outside to go tell Hannah and continued on with my business. Some minutes later there was a knock on the door -- "Is Hannah ready?" Whoops, we found out no one let her know so she threw cleats on and ran out the door. So did the boys, and it always takes awhile to herd them back in. Thankfully our fence is back up so I bribed them into feeding the bunnies some dandelions in the backyard. As we walked through the house Callie was beaming -- she was in the middle of making Rice Krispie treats for family night and announced "Only 10 marshmellows left!" What do you mean? "I only have to add 10 more in". Is the rest melted? "Oh, yea". And how. It had carmelized and was very thick and sticky. I tried to help her patch that up while she measured out the cereal and I found her a pan. It didn't look very hopeful as it was too hard to add all of the cereal in, but A for effort, right? And then out to check on the boys who were alone with the bunnies & in the garden with our newly planted strawberry plants that I didn't want trampled. I actually caught Drew face-down drinking out of Daisy's water bowl which is absolutely filthy, after he'd thrown in some rocks & dirt, but the strawberries were safe, and I didn't stop him since it was time to make dinner. I came back inside and this is the kitchen that I faced. I share this in an attempt to make others feel better, and hopefully I won't embarrass Tyler :).
In case you were wondering, the countertops which are currently buried are white. And the dining area didn't look any better.
The beauty of a family is that we worked together to restore some semblance of order before Tyler got home, had a nice dinner, and then everyone cleaned up the kitchen before we headed off to Farm Country to enjoy all of the animals for the evening. I'm not alone in making my messes, but I don't have to clean them up all alone, either. I wish I could say the kitchen looked much better now, but not quite all of the dishes were scrubbed, and now lunch is still all out. I'll just smile and think "be thou humble", and remember how much fun it was last night to see the brand-new baby goats, only hours old.
Next, Callie played her final game with her soccer team of the last three years. When she started playing four years ago, who knew the timid little girl on the team would turn into a tigress. Coach's ending commendations included fun compliments like "defense queen", "lots of spunk", and "great work ethic". We all have fond, happy memories of her teammates and the great job they did supporting each other and working together. More great lessons for life. Added perk: she played briefly as a forward and managed to score a goal! Go Callie! Thanks to the coaches for a wonderful experience.
As with all endings, of course we are really just starting something new. More piano lessons with a new teacher, and we're also entering the world of band. I have once again gained more respect and insight into the levels of my mother's patience. Life is just one lesson after another!
