An Explosion of Hearts

This is the first time any of the kids has managed to take me completely by surprise. Usually I catch wind of whatever they have up their sleeve long before it happens, or I orchestrate the surprise myself, giving one of them the seed of an idea, and then “forgetting” when the time comes. I [...]

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Possibilities

I think I saw the seeds of an idea being planted in my boy’s head yesterday. We were at a groovin’ party that had an actual live band. There were oodles of kids of all ages, and my four were in with the rest, drinking root beer, clowning around and having the sort of time [...]

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Periscope

This is a picture of Tee reflected in one of the mirrors in the periscope he built this evening. I suggested he build a periscope when I saw him playing with a couple of small mirrors and a flashlight, not thinking that he would actually be able to figure out how to do it, but [...]

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Danger Moves

The week before she left for her diving trip L didn’t seem interested in playing with friends. She hung around the house, reading, packing, and making up crazy games for the little kids. Her parting gift to Jay was a trip to the playground, and a lesson on back flips off the swing set. She [...]

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Garage Sale

Looking at Jay in this photo you might be thinking that she was in that chair against her will, but she was actually gleefully participating in our neighbor’s garage sale. At the moment I took the picture she was clutching the change purse that she was in charge of, and keeping a close eye on [...]

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Team Effort

It took 4 kids 3.5 hours to move 3 yards of soil from the driveway to the newly built raised-bed planter. I helped them at the very beginning, but once it became clear that they were more than capable of doing the work without me, I took the opportunity to transplant some very tall, thin [...]

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I Love…

… that when the kids get up in the morning they’re bursting with enthusiasm for all of the projects they have planned. Glue sticks, masking tape, toilet paper tubes, shoe boxes, plasticine, markers, chalk, and paint were all in use this morning even before breakfast. They don’t need ideas from me, and they hardly ever [...]

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Anthropological Report

Today I observed the spontaneous emergence of loan sharking in a primitive culture. Overheard during a Monopoly game between the seven and nine-year old: “I’ll let you owe me the $100 if you pay me an extra $30 every time you pass Go.”

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Music to My Ears

T loves music. He recently discovered the joys of downloading tunes from the internet, and if he could, would play these songs at top volume every minute of the day. His current favourite is So Happy Together by the Turtles, and I think it’s the most endearing thing in the world that he’s memorized the [...]

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The Girls’ Mud Adventure

Yesterday L and I had a lovely “girls day”. I took her to get her hair cut, and then we went rubber boot shopping. Her idea. She’s been yearning for a pair of fancy fashionista rain boots for a while now. We found a pair, and when I saw some little pink flowery ones, I [...]

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I am a Life Coach

T had a really fun morning today, sewing clothes for his teddy, and a really fun afternoon, having an extended Pokemon battle with a friend, but for an hour or so in the middle of the day, things just weren’t looking so good. He was upset about something, frustrated that he couldn’t have/do/get/ something or [...]

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Spring Break

The Canada Geese are back, winging low over the still-frozen river in search of open water. Spring is here, Spring Break is here, and while many people will be off on some sort of exciting travel adventure, we’re still here. That’s okay though. Realizing that it might be in my best interest to have a [...]

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Monster Mom

Walking (trudging) home from knitting today: Jay: Is it okay if we pretend that you’re the Undead and if we touch you our skin will shrivel up and fall off? Me: Sure, why do you ask? Jay: I was worried it might hurt your feelings.

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A Secret Revealed…..by Tee and Jay

They’re tablets of the Gods. We write in a special language on them and we use toothpicks. We have Risk figures to guard them. They’re made out of plasticine. It has the journey of the King of the Gods written on it, and if you know it, then it tells you how to get to a [...]

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Diva

Here’s the big girl, all of eleven years old. Having post-school snack, in her half hour between school and diving practice. She dives from 5 till 8 every evening….an hour of dryland training and two hours of pool time. This is her first year of full-time school AND diving, and it’s a lot. She sure [...]

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Leaf Tea

An autumn evening by the fire. Gathering sticks, armfuls of leaves. Skeletal branches spiking into the magic hour. Honking geese, a fat and placid river. Hotdogs, black and blistered, marshmallows. White buns. Sticky faces. Black fingers. Burrs in hair. Weed salad, pretend soup, leaf tea. The descent into the mysterious, magical world of twilight, gathering [...]

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Time To Turn On the Furnace?

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