Happy Birthday Buddy Boy

Agent 002 is 5 years old.

Parties at our house are low-key: cake,


ice cream,

and playing with the cousins:

Decorating is the fun part. We have a "tradition" of painting a tablecloth for every birthday. Here is Agent 002's "5" cloth. I covered it with a clear plastic shower curtain, and it cleans very well.

Here are some in-process pics of the tablecloth:

I love you more everyday, buddy boy.

Catching Up with Old Friends

I met up with a group of people from high school on Saturday. We celebrated Cinco de Mayo with frozen drinks on the deck, then moved on to dinner at a nice little Italian restaurant.

I hadn't seen two of them since high school.

And nothing had changed.

Or everything has. We are all doing very different things in very different surroundings, but we are all the same people we were twelve years ago. As one of my astute friends remarked, "we're all in different places, but it all makes sense."

I am not saying that we haven't grown -- we have -- but that all of us have followed our own natures. And everyone seems happy with the place they're in.

And it was really fun to get out of the house for an evening.

Can I Join?

Ironic Catholic reports on the Mary over Martha support group for women who feel that "listening to Jesus beats doing housework," because "Jesus Christ said there was only one thing necessary, and I'm guessing it wasn't Lysol."

It's good. It's really good. Read it.

The Hokey Pokey Monster

Agent 004 loves the Hokey Pokey -- You know that silly song that goes like this:

You put your left arm in
You take your left arm out
You put your left arm in
And shake it all about
You do the hokey pokey
And you turn yourself around
That's what it's all about.

It goes on and on with various body parts being put in and taken out.

But 004 doesn't just sing this any old time; this is what she sings (and acts out) as she gets dressed. So she puts her left arm into her sleeve, takes it out, puts it back in, and then shakes it vigorously. She then does the toddler-bop with her shirt hanging off of one arm.

Of course, since she is Agent 004, she turns her elf around.

It is incredibly cute, but more than a little annoying that she will not don a single piece of clothing without singing a verse for each body part.

I guess that I should just be impressed that she is a two-year old that dresses herself. Or something like that.

Here I am

We have had internet service back for a week now, but yet I have not yet posted anything significant. This is partly because we have been very busy this past week and partly because mr warillever has been using the computer to work from home in the evening, but mostly because I have fallen out of the habit of posting.

I have read that it takes 28 days to form a habit. No one ever talks about how easy it is to break that habit though.

I'll get back on a roll by posting this, then try again during my designated internet time this evening.

Until then!

The Great Internet Outage of 2007

I haven't died or run off to Mexico; it's just that my modem went kaput a few weeks ago.

There are 639 email "conversations" and 470 blog posts to sift through, as well as two and a half weeks worth of online research.

I'll be back with you soon.

First Signs of Spring

We spotted a black fly this morning.

Our Snowfamily

Our Snowfamily
Originally uploaded by warillever.

Sr. Mary Martha Says

heh.

Sr. Mary Martha on the saints and homeschoolers. And mental illness.

Really.

Unit Study: Trains

...or how little kids can make any chore fun.

Because of the "unseasonably" cool weather, we have been burning through firewood faster than expected, and I needed to lug wood over to the back porch this morning.

This is not as tough of a job as it sounds. The woodshed is only about 30 feet from the back door, and I don't actually "lug" wood; I pile it into a plastic toboggan (one of those bright orange things you buy at Walmart for $7) and drag it accross the yard.

Agent 002 decided that it looked like a freight train.

Mama: Does that make me the locomotive?
Agent 002: A steam engine.

I played along, calling the logs "freight," and the smooshed-down snow "train tracks."

The game got more and more involved as I went back and forth accross the yard with sled-fulls of wood.

Somewhere along the line, the kids started riding the "train" for the return trip.

"Woo Woo! Train boarding at back porch station."

The kids climbed into the sled, and with a whole lot of "chugga chugga"s in between, I pulled them over to the woodshed.

"Train arriving at woodshed station. This is the final station; all passengers must disembark."

Agent 004 thought that "disembark" sounded a lot like "doggy bark," so she howled and barked while she rode.

I had only planned on bringing over enough wood for the next few days (hoping that mr warillever would move some more this weekend), but I was having so much fun that I just kept on going.

Knock on wood, that is the last time that I will move wood this winter.

Unless we really do get a Nor'easter this weekend.......

The Trinity According to Preschoolers

Conversation between children when I told them to "go play."

Agent 002: Let's play with Jesus.
Agent 004: I play with Jesus, you play with God.
Agent 002: Jesus and God are the same thing. I play with Jesus.
Mama: What about the Holy Spirit?
Agent 002: making ghost noises: Hol - y Spir-it. Just like God!

...and I just wanted them out of my hair for five minutes.

Blasphemy

This happened a few months ago, but since I posted about Agent 004's "elf," I thought it was only fair to post about Agent 002 as well.

One afternoon, after spending most of the day with my parents, Agent 002 started singing "Sucky Jesus" over and over again. Nothing more, just the words "sucky Jesus."

I was perturbed to say the least.

This went on for days.

When I asked him about it, Agent 002 said that he saw "sucky Jesus" on Grammy's TV.

Religious programing is not unheard of at my folks' house, so I asked them what the kids had watched. "Oh, just Sesame Street and Curious George," said my mother.

PBS? Doubtful that they would have shown Jesus (even a sucky one).

A few days later, I watched George with the kids. And on came an advertisement -- for Chucky Cheese's.

:)

Ideas Borrowed and New

Elephant Joe
Originally uploaded by warillever.

The borrowed: Yasmina suggested that coffee beans work well in a sensory bin. I just happened to have a bag of beans lying around, but no grinder. Smells and feels wonderful!

The new: Agent 004 and I made spring "rain sticks" with coffee beans, paper towel tubes, and construction paper.

Morally Disordered Weather

I'm with you, Ironic Catholic:

Blizzards in April are further evidence of the moral disorder of the universe that came about through the original sin. Snow outside of the November to March window is intrinsically disordered.

No blizzard here, though. Just a 6-12 inch storm......in the middle of April.

Agent 002's school was canceled even though there was nary a flake until 8:30. He is currently chasing "monsters" with a plastic fishing rod.

Our Little Elf

Although her speech becomes more clear everyday, Agent 004 still frequently leaves off the initial sound of words. "Pig" becomes "ig," Dog" becomes "og," etc.

Now that she is using pronouns, we have a new (and very funny) mispronunciation -- "elf" for "self." Some examples from the past 24 hours (and my unspoken responses):

• I need to go wash my elf
• Why? Is his green suit dirty?
  
• Mama, you get drink for your elf
• Great, a drunken elf in our house......
  
• I go kaka by elf!
• Just make sure that he doesn't step in it when you're done.
  

The Incredible Plastic Egg

Eggs
Originally uploaded by warillever.

Eggs. Is there anything they can't do?

Last weekend we worked on patterns:


We hunted for jelly bean filled eggs at the town park, Grandma's house, and Aunt E's. Aunt P had the real thing -- hard-boiled.

Yesterday the eggs participated in water fun.

Agent 002 and I played "bunny soccer" this afternoon. We crawled around on all fours like bunnies, trying to swat a purple plastic egg into a goal. I fortunately don't have any pictures of that.......

Good Friday

Winter Wonderland

On Wednesday, I thought about putting the snowsuits up in the attic (Zone 1 decluttering, don't you know), but fortunately I caught wind of Thursday's forecast first.

Some pictures for the sake of my southern readers (yes that's you in Indy and New Jersey):

There went my clothesline,

... and my garden.

He Really Said it

Agent 002, pointing to the cat's flea collar:

Is that so that her head doesn't fall off?

Our own Private Park

Our own Private Park
Originally uploaded by warillever.

The weather was amazing today, and we took advantage of it. We went to the town Easter egg hunt this morning, and then played outside this afternoon.

The town park is just a short walk through the woods, and there is rarely anyone else on the back field. Mr warrilever and Agent 002 flew a kite while Agent 004 and I used the mini-batting machine. We may have a good softball player in the making.....

Shamrocks and other Living Things

Plants
Originally uploaded by warillever.

I haven't posted any pictures of the shamrocks since I dropped their pot from the counter. They survived the fall, and have been joined by an onion that sprouted in the pantry and two sunflower seeds.

Since I manage to kill all plants, I hope that one of the kids has a green thumb.

He Really Said It

Agent 002:

Mama, when I grow up and become a man, can I plug in the vacuum and clean the floors every day?

Only in my dreams, buddy-boy.

It's Snowing Again

Just as it was beginning to feel like spring, it snows again.

And I am loving it.

I am Spider Man

You are Spider-Man

Spider-Man 80% Superman 75% Robin 74% Iron Man 65% The Flash 50% Wonder Woman 42% Supergirl 42% Green Lantern 40% Catwoman 40% Hulk 40% Batman 35%

You are intelligent, witty, a bit geeky and have great power and responsibility.

Click here to take the Superhero Personality Test

All is Well in the Universe

Our plumbing is fixed and I am receiving Flylady emails again.

I really am easy to please.

Knee Deep

...well not really knee deep, but the septic system is acting up.

What a way to waste an absolutely beautiful day.

Mud Season is Here!

It is a beautiful day in the neighborhood.

The temperature reached 56 degrees today, which is near tropical in my book. I honestly did not know what to wear outside, so I settled on snow pants, boots, and a long sleeve t-shirt. Despite the heat, the agents wore snowsuits to stay dry, or at least that was the theory -- by the time we came in, they were both soaked anyway -- with a foot of snow on the ground as of this morning, our back yard is slowly becoming a pond, and even the best vinyl can't keep that out.

When we got outside, there was one small patch of ground visible on the south-facing slope. By the time we came in, though, there were two long strips of mud uncovered. Of course that was the result of children sliding down the hill on their backs......

We stayed outside for nearly two hours. It actually felt like summer for a while there.

In case any of you think that all is fun and games at the warillever house, I will tell you that the fun ended suddenly when one Agent's snowsuit got wet from the inside, if you catch my drift.

What we Look Like

Since I never post photos of our faces, and some of you don't know what we look like, I figured that it would be only fair to post some portraits.

Agent 004. Notice the "belly button" on her face	Here is Agent 002. He obviously needs a haircut	And here I am. I will never trim the eyebrows -- they are what makes me me.

Five Alive

...and how it was done:

It is Still Winter

Ready to Go
Originally uploaded by warillever.

E is for Elephant

Elephants
Originally uploaded by warillever.

We don't do many crafts (the agents and I tend to prefer more open-ended projects), but this was just too cute. And since the letter of the week is E, we had to do it.

The template is from First-School, and I pre-cut Agent 004's circles.

Isolation

YahooGroups has had delivery problems for the past week or so, resulting in inconsistent service. At one point, I received only one message (a response to a message I had not received) in a 24 hour period. Yahoo has finally acknowledged the problem, but doesn't know when they will be able to resolve it.

Until then, I will not get to gab with the homepreschool gals. It is funny how people you have never met start to become part of your daily life. I guess that it is another case of not realizing how much you depend on something until it's gone.

For any of you reading this -- I hope to chat with you soon!

Why Women Lie

....according to Happy Catholic.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Shamrocks
Originally uploaded by warillever.

Scientific Method

We just filled three containers of snow.

We put one on the counter, one in the fridge, and one in the freezer.

What will happen?

Agent 002 says that they will melt.

I asked him if they would all be melted by dinnertime. His hypothesis is yes.

We shall see...

(btw -- we did counter/fridge/freezer instead of inside outside
because the temp differential is only a few degrees today -- it is 43
degrees outside, 51 inside. I hypothesize that the snow in our freezer will last longer than the snow in our backyard.)

Gunky Goo

gunk
Originally uploaded by warillever.

Lots of sticky fun at our house this morning. This is "gunk" - a combination of cornstarch, water, and food coloring.

It feels like a solid, but then oozes out of your hand.

And makes a mess of the whole kitchen.

Fortunately one of my virtual pals taught me about "sock mopping," and Agent 002 willingly cleaned up after himself. I may have him clean more often -- the floor glistens! All I did was mix water and white vinegar in a pitcher, and pour it little by little onto the floor as Agent 002 skated around the kitchen in his socks.

Rub a Dub Dub - Five Frogs in a Tub

My virtual pals(Heather, Yasmina) have been making boats with their kids this week. The Agents and I joined in on the fun.

Here is our boat
It is a ginger ale bottle with the top third cut off.

After playing for a while, and realizing that even a boat sinks if filled with water, we counted the bath frogs.

1 Little Froggy
2 Little Froggies
3 Little Froggies
4 Little Froggies
5 Little Froggies

Mom my Ride

HT: Summa Mamas

Shamrocks!

shamrock-sprouting
Originally uploaded by warillever.

Well, not quite shamrocks yet, but they have sprouted.

I took the plastic bag greenhouse off today.

The kids are still interested in watching them grow.

Flybabies Beware!

unshiny sink
Originally uploaded by warillever.

This is what my sink looked like after the Agents made "flubber" and "gunk."

Lots and Lots of Lots of Fun

...means no time to post.

I will try to write the posts, but if you just can't wait, check out our A, B, C, goo, and boat pictures already uploaded to Flicker.

Letter Playground

letter playground
Originally uploaded by warillever.

I wish that I could take credit for this idea, but it was all Agent 002.

He took all of the Fridge Phonics letters, and placed them on the corresponding spot on our "alphabet train." He got a kick out of the way that the letters slid down the folds in the paper.

Shamrocks-Day4

Shamrocks-Day4
Originally uploaded by warillever.

Seeds went in on Day 3.

Still nothing.

Wecome Baby PJ!

Cousin F has a baby brother.

M&M are adopting sweet little, few-days-old PJ.

According to the pictures, he is gorgeous.

He pooped three times in the first ten minutes they knew him. Atta boy!

Can't wait to meet him -- M&M will be back in a few days.

Not a Snowday

It might be snowing, but "school" is on here at the warillever homestead.

The kids are on a learning kick, and I am going with it.

Thus far, we have formed letters out of construction paper, cut numbers out of grocery ads, and added crackers.

Dr. Seuss birthday festivities at the library if they open today.

Pictures to come. Of snow, kids, and "school."

Shamrocks - Day 1

Shamrocks-Day1
Originally uploaded by warillever.

Here is Agent 002 filling our pot with dirt. We will plant shamrock seeds tomorrow.

Watch here for updates on how they are growing!

Creative Play

I love watching Agent 002 play. He can always come up with something to do. Here he is rubbing a metal pen case on sandpaper letters. I had intended to have him trace the letters with his fingers to get the sensation of the sandpaper as he "wrote." Instead, he wanted to rub things on the letters. He tried various objects, but liked the sound of fork on sandpaper the best.

This is what he did with craft sticks. He then used another stick to change the oil.
This is how he carried his Valentine's Day M&Ms to our color lesson:

This is the "train" he created in our kitchen:
Here is his "truck crayon:"
This is a magnet train:
And finally -- ART

Let's Talk about ME!

word-cloud
Originally uploaded by warillever.

This is a snapshot of what I write about on this blog. The larger the word in the image, the more frequently it is used in the text of the blog.

It looks like I talk about myself a lot..... or maybe it counts the signature line on each post.

I actually am relieved to see that God, wisdom, and prayer are so prominent.

Good News (Belated)

I always forget to share good news with y'all. What does that say about me?

JR was able to go home on Wednesday. He will have a nurse and therapist visit every day for a while, but he is home. Very, very cool.

Thank you for the prayers. Keep them up for a while if you would.

Hanging around

Hanging around
Originally uploaded by warillever.

Agent 002, Cousin F and Agent 004 doing flips under the trestle table.

I love 004's striped pants.

The Trio

Brushing Teeth
Originally uploaded by warillever.

Agent 004, Cousin F and Agent 002, brushing their teeth.

If it were up to Cousin F, we would brush 15 times per day.

Doesn't he look huge?

Old School Dancing

Agent 004 has a new "Angelina Ballerina" doll, so dancing is now a big thing in our house. After watching the DVD that came with the doll, I popped some classical music in, handed each child a long strip of fabric, and started dancing. All three joined in, joyfully waving their ribbons.

Agent 002 then remarked, "just like at my old school," remembering the music classes at his orphanage.

Memory is an interesting thing. That's the first time he has made any mention in over a year.

A turn for the better?

JR smiled at my sister and squeezed a nurse's finger yesterday.

Spritual Benefits of Blogging

As my time on the internet has become more precious, I have spent less time seeing the sites or reading new blogs. I have fallen into a blog-rut. Curt Jester and the Catholic Blog Awards (link broken?) have cured me, however. In his awards post, Curt Jester recommended scores of blogs. I have not yet worked through the entire list, but have already found a new favorite -- Ironic Catholic. In a recent post, he describes the "unexpected spiritual benefits of blogging."

• You get to practice patience as you spend way too much time... a. trying to size a picture through the Blogger program, b. waiting to see if the post will publish, c. tweaking with one sentence so that it makes sense, d. all of the above
• Faith in the everyday: seek, and ye shall find something to write about.
• Great opportunity to jam to excellent Christian music while you write, like, say, Ashley Cleveland. Um, or Gregorian Chant. (OK, that was a shameless plug. She's so phenomenal.)
  
• You get multiple opportunities to resist the temptation of looking at your SiteMeter stats. And when you do look, it's often an exercise in humility. A win-win!
• You get to practice non-violent conflict resolution when you wade into the occasionally turbulent waters of the comment boxes.
• You get to contemplate the beauty of nature as you look out the window in search of...a point....
• St. Jude has a more-than-passing familiarity with the Christian blogosphere. I'm jus' sayin'.
• Finally, always remember: we live in the blogosphere, but not of the blogosphere.

Update (2/2/07): I apologize for the pronoun confusion -- Ironic Catholic is a woman.

Happy Catholic makes me Happy

Happy Catholic posted this:

"The funny thing about lottery tickets," Mary mused as we waited in line at the cash register, "is that people keep buying them even if they never win. Week after week, month after month, year after year, still they never give up hope. But if they pray for something two or three times, they expect immediate results, and if it doesn't happen, then they say that God is unfair, disinterested, or dead. Why is it easier to keep believing in the lottery than in God?"

Our Lady of the Lost and Found: A Novel of Mary, Faith, and Friendship
by Diane Schoemperlen

Check out the weekend joke as well.

Sean was right (again)

Never, ever, listen to country music when in a fragile emotional state.

For someone who has only cried once in the past two weeks (and that was when a cafeteria worker overcharged me for a cup of coffee), the radio sure got me choked up yesterday.

I was heading down the highway to visit my brother in the hospital, I realized that without kids in the car, I could listen to "grown up radio." I tuned to the local country station, and started bopping along to the tail end of a song I recognized. Then a new song came on about a man driving home in a snowstorm because he couldn't get a flight. "Cute," I thought, "such a nice couple." Then the song ended with:

He didn't stop all day to eat a bite
And he finally got there around midnight
The doctor said, she's in a better place
She said to give this you this note just in case

And it said, I'll wait for you at Heaven's gate
Oh, I don't care how long it takes
And I'll tell Saint Pete I can't come in
Without my love and my best friend
Oh, this ain't nothin' new
Sweetheart, I'll wait for you
P.S. I love you, too
Sweetheart, I'll wait for you

Joe Nichols - I'll Wait for You

Thus commenced the blubbering.

Not that I haven't made this mistake before. As Mr warillever and I pulled onto the Toll Road on our way to see his very ill father in New York, the first song on the radio was Blake Shelton's "The Baby" --

I got a call in Alabama,
said come on home to Louisianna
and come as fast as you can fly.
Cause your momma really needs you,
and says she's got to see you,
she might not make it through the night.
The whole way I drove 80
so she could see her baby.

She looked like she was sleepin'
and my family had been weepin'
by the time that I got to her side.
And I knew that she'd been taken,
and my heart it was breakin',
I never got to say goodbye.

I softly kissed that lady
and cried just like a baby.

We made it to see Mr warillever's "Pop" that night, and I made it to see JR yesterday. But I will never listen to the radio on my way to a hospital again.

Three Hundred Fifty Eight

I am a little behind. I have 358 unread emails, and that is with gmail, which counts "conversations," not individual messages.

This does not concern me in and of itself, but it is indicative of my arrears in other areas. For example, I think that the last time that I folded laundry probably coincided with the last time I read email.

Flylady tells me (at the bottom of each of her 231 unread messages),

"You are not behind! I don't want you to try to catch up; I just want you to jump in where we are. O.K.?"

I am going to take her up on that, mark all of her messages as "read," and dive into that mountain of laundry on the livingroom floor. Wish me luck.

What we do when we aren't worrying

Watch YouTube:


JR is doing worse and Agent 002 just got stitches, but Mr warillever and I still take time out to be goofy now and again.