Angela – Page 221 – Letters from Home

Pima County Fair

We’ve had some crummy days. Somehow we managed to come down with 3 varieties of illness. I have been tired. On Monday I took 3 naps to try to catch up on some sleep. We stayed focused, though. We had a reason to get well: we had Pima County Fair Tickets! We had to postpone our trip a few days, but we made it.

We enjoyed the exotic animals such as the monkeys, sharks, sea lions, and opera singing tropical birds. We watched the 4-H kids show off their pigs. We had to see the pigs. Timothy just finished reading Charlotte’s Web.

Daniel went on the scary rides with Richard. Paige went on the fun rides. Timothy was Mark’s guardian on rides. I pushed the stroller and bought cotton candy and popcorn.

Look this way, Mark! I need to get a picture of this.

That’s great, Mark. Oh, wait. I missed the elephant’s head. (I guess I’m still sleep deprived.)

We’re so glad this boy is smiling again.

I think he’s saying, “Aaargh!” like a pirate.

Miniature Museum field trip

The miniature museum was an interesting cultural and historical field trip. The museum was full of houses from different eras and countries and one of our favorites was this eighteenth century French mansion.

These paintings are very small replicas, hand painted by the artist.

It made me wish I had a doll house again.

The displays and the tour were interesting. Here is a below-the-floor display with fifties era miniatures.

Here we are celebrating a friend’s birthday at McDonalds. It was a good time with friends.

Oil Painting with the Young Women

I have offered to teach the Young Women at our church for years. I have offered to teach them basically anything, but I have never been called. Finally in January when the sign-up sheet went around church, I listed every fantabulous thing that I can do and then added a few things I don’t do well. I gave each option a fancy name. I am that desperate to be with the youth.

They asked me to teach something I am not so good at. But it was still very fun.

Thank you, Carl

This weekend we spent one night in the ER and one night on the phone with Amazon Kindle support.

I have decided that Amazon should be in charge of our health care system.

After holding for 30 seconds, someone worked with me and my broken Kindle over the phone for over two hours. It was after midnight when the solution was found. All the time, the employee kept apologizing for the inconvenience I was experiencing with my electronic device. The Amazon employee called back this evening to make sure everything was still working. Can you believe it? The employee’s name was Carl and he cured my Kindle. Most Kindle owners can understand the bond between a person and their e-book. I feel so relieved and pampered.

Contrast that with the ER personnel we dealt with. Our wait time was short, according to ER standards: only 2 hours. They were abrupt and ultimately not helpful. No one made a follow-up call to see if our kid was feeling any better. Although we spent 3 hours in the emergency room, we had 15 minutes with the payment guy and 5 minutes with a doctor. I realize a cure or a diagnosis is not always possible, but I think the doctor could learn some lessons in customer service from Carl.

Carl would have said, “I’m so sorry you’re experiencing difficulties. Thank you for choosing this hospital. We’ll do all we can to make you as comfortable as possible.”

And, “Would it be okay if I called back tomorrow evening to see how you are feeling?”

Or, “I’m so sorry you waited two hours for me to come.”

Carl, YOU should consider practicing medicine!

P.S.: The kid is okay!

Athletes

We try to be athletic. The big boys take a P.E. class; Daniel has been involved in golf and tennis lessons this year; Timothy is in baseball. Paige dances 3 nights a week and Zoomer-Smasher-Dune buggy is always on the go.

Here’s the golf boy. I promise to the grandpas that I’ll post more golf course pictures soon.

I see so many benefits from an active lifestyle. There are fewer mood swings; they sleep better; they seem happier when we’re more active. It takes work to get ourselves out the door. For instance, the kids are at this moment in the van waiting for me to take them someplace where they can run. Computer, release me!

Dad, can you call me…

Zoomer-Smasher-Dune buggy when I ride my bike?

-Mark, age 4

This is the week that Mark learned to ride a two wheeled bike and picked up a book and read it. Blast. Next thing I know he will be telling me that he is engaged.

Richard bought Mark a bike without pedals because it’s the latest thing in balance theory. (I just made that up.) We’re believers in the balance theory, though. Without training wheels, Mark learned to balance on two wheels in about a day. We live on a hill and he walks himself up and then he glides down the hill. His wrecks are spectacular. I can hardly watch.

Sigh. My little Mark is now “Zoomer-Smasher-Dune buggy.”

And if that was not enough, on the same day he decided to read.

I committed a social faux pas last week when I told two friends who are avid preschool mothers that I haven’t been “pushing” reading for Mark. It seems like everyone wants their preschool children to read. I have known for a while that Mark was ready to read but I hadn’t prepared the little books and incentive program that my other children needed/loved when they were learning. I was waiting for a little prep time before we really got started.

Paige’s incentives were stickers and pizza; Daniel and Timothy ate candy and earned pieces of a pirate ship as they learned their phonics lessons. I was hoping Mark’s incentives would involve sharing chocolates and lots of hugs and kisses.

Somehow without the incentives and the structure he learned anyway. Perhaps his was the most powerful incentive of all: he wants to be a reader like everyone else in the house. I’m not saying he’s reading everything, but yesterday his little readers arrived in the mail and he picked one up and read several pages aloud, commenting that the word “and” was sure used a lot.

So there he goes… our baby(whimper)… off into the big world of high speed and higher education.

Juggling

Much of this month I have felt like “too little butter spread over too much bread.” I don’t count myself as being remarkable in this feeling; I think it’s universally acknowledged that motherhood makes a person stretch. I have been tossed two new balls to juggle: baseball and a new church responsibility. New church callings always throw me off balance a while. Then I settle in and things become easier. I’m just trying to push through this rough spot.

I keep deleting grumpy sentences as I write this, so I will stop and wish you a well-balanced life this week, which is what I think will bring me and you the most happiness.

One corner of our yard

The irises arrived with great showmanship this year.

Do you spy a little friend on our fence?

Our neighbors planted this beautiful hedge which flowers in the spring.

Greek History Day

We went to a Greek History event. There were costumes. There were plays. There was Spanakopita and dancing. Greek music is so distinctive, don’t you think?

There is something very comforting about mingling with other moms who educate their own children. This was on the car in front of us:

Wishing I had such spunk… but I’m willing to mingle with those who do and find ideas.

There were crafts and Olympic events. I dressed up the kids in all the white fabric I could find in the house. Paige is studying ancient history this year and is wading through philosophy by Plato. I’m pretty sure no one discussed the nature of justice at the banquet table, but it was fun to see her among some friends. I think history days like this are most beneficial for kids who are in elementary school.

This activity didn’t thrill Timothy AT ALL.

Man, it’s no fun to be eleven years old sometimes. I realized that it was probably too much to ask of my sons to enjoy this day. They are studying Medieval history this year and never want to do crafts. That’s one of the challenges I face: finding activities that will make everyone happy and meet their educational needs with a minivan, the internet (hallelujah) and 24 hours in a day.

I found Mark pushing his little friend from across the street in the swing. Isn’t age four just darling? Looking at these pictures reminds me that in all the scurrying about to find drapery to wear, we forgot to comb our hair.

I just sat in the shade and ate Spanakopita. It’s my new favorite food.

The value of meditation

The other day on the radio I heard a person discussing the value of meditation on mental health. He was advocating yoga and he sited a study where they found that people who devoted 27 minutes each day to meditation literally changed their brain. The memory center of the brain became more effective and the emotional center became more regulated. In other words, people who meditated had better memory and fewer emotional ups and downs.

Now I feel validated in my habit of resting each evening before bed, thinking (or not) and showing a blank look on my face. People who have to live with me know what I’m talking about. It’s an emotional survival skill that I developed early in my life.

I also eat sweets late at night to avoid modeling this kind of behavior for my kids. And yes, it helps me a great deal, too.