Just So You Know

Guess who & guess when?

I finished the Master Cleanse on Tuesday, took my mom out to eat last night for her birthday and forgot to take any pictures, went to the zoo with friends today and remembered my camera but forgot to make sure there was a flash card in it. (There wasn't.) I must be in some kind of funk. I can't think of a single thing to blog and I haven't taken any pictures lately. Be patient with me, I'm sure I'll think of a million things to blog about tomorrow. That always happens.


Oh and I haven't forgotten about the organization contest. Or maybe I really have. ;)


Truly,

Poetry Recitation

As part of our Ambleside Online schooling, the kids are learning about poets and poetry. They learn 3 new poets each school year. This year, we started with Emily Dickinson. The four big kids are all memorizing this poem to recite for our fine arts co-op:

The Bluebird

by Emily Dickinson

Before you thought of spring

Except as a surmise

You see God bless his suddeness

A fellow in the skies

Of independent hues

A little weather worn

Inspiriting habiliments

Of indigo and brown

With specimens of song

As if for you to choose

Discretion in the interval

With gay delays he goes

To some superior tree

Without a single leaf

And shouts for joy to nobody

But his seraphic self!

Chloe, surprising us all, was the first to learn it. She begged me to video her recitation to show you all. Being the doting mother that I am, I obeyed.

For your listening pleasure, I present Chloe Clark:

Amazing Stuntboy

If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn't have believed it! Daniel has this tiny little bike that he loves and this past weekend, Isaac decided to take the training wheels off.

We weren't forewarned about this. Instead, 15 minutes later, Isaac called us to come see what he taught Daniel to do.
Daniel will be 4 years old next April. He's the youngest Clark ever to learn to ride a bike.

Branch & Crab Apple Baseball

Remember I told you that the kids were suddenly passionate about baseball? Well, here is their game. Isaac pretty much excels at any sport. He's just like his daddy.
Elena makes a very focused out-fielder. Don't mess with her! I think that's tabbacy in her lip, but I'm not sure.
Maya can do anything in flip-flops.
She outran Isaac and made a home run. The boy can run fast; he must have been studying cloud formations when she whacked the crab apple.

Chloe is more my style batter. She's not a great athlete, but what she lacks in skill she makes up for with flair.
She spun all the way around in her attempt to hit the ball.

While Chloe was attemping to do more than spin around on home plate, I was attempting to do my Bible study.

Lydia however, had other plans. She was determined to make me laugh. See her crossing her eyes? (Yea, I know, you can't really see what she's doing. But I just told you, so now you know.) How could I stay focused when she does that??

Then, of course, she wanted to me to take her picture. I put my foot down. This Bible study is important, child, now leave me alone!

Rather than obey, however, she took my picture. She has no appreciation for the excitement and thrill of a good ball game.

Pig Tail Fits

This morning, Liddy wanted pig tails. Now, you should know that I am very low maintenance when it comes to hair. I usually do little more than brush their hair and put a barrett in it. So this was a big request she was asking of me.
Oh sure, she's smiling there, but you should have seen her face after I finished and let her see her beauty in the mirror. She was wailing! I gave her a droll look as she screamed. I was not happy with her response. And she wasn't happy with the response she got from our trusty "spoon".
But it did stop the tears almost immediately. And it stopped them 10 minutes later when she decided to try out her fit again.
She's decided to be happy now, see? Happiness gets you smiles and hugs. Fits, not so much.

Shakespeare in the Park

This is where we went last Sunday night. Kyle went to the Financial Peace class with the babies while my mom and I took the four big kids out for some fun.

They colored thespian masks. We could hardly drag Elena away from this, she's our little perfectionist artist.
My mom is never too old to color. She had her picture taken in Shakespearean garb and colored the frame before giving it to the kids. I hope to be a grandma just like her one day. The kids are all crazy about her. Of course, the rest of us had to follow suit. (That's a pun. Get it? Get it?)
Later, we indulged in some free snacks and made hand-puppets. (Another activity we had to drag Elena away from. She's one artsy fartsy kid.) The weather was perfect and we had a great time.
The kids also got to stand on the mini stage and perform lines from various Shakespeare plays. You should have seen their faces when they quoted a line from a play they know. Too funny!

Unfortunately, I didn't get Merchant of Venice into the schedule before this event, so we didn't stay to see the play. Next year, we'll be ready!

Eau to de Toilette

Some things are worth waiting for, Lydia. Even if it takes patience. Your daddy loves being with you, but one day you'll realize what a sacrifice he made for you. Look at his sweet face. He's not having fun.
It's a lot of work for you, we know.
And sometimes it's boring work too.
Sometimes it really stinks.
But success feels so good!

It's Cleanse Time Again

It's Day 4 for me on the Master Cleanse and I'm feeling so much better already. I gotta say it's really a lesson in selflessness, making food for other people 3 times a day (plus snacks twice a day) while not eating. It's a lesson I can always use and I'm grateful, but I'm not saying it's easy!
Friday week is our annual Family Fun Day, so I planned this cleanse around that. Can't let everyone eat homemade pizza without me!

Several people have asked for the specifics. This is for you:

Here's how the Master Cleanse works:

(1) Drink 1 qt. of salt water first thing every morning. 2 tsp. good quality sea salt (NOT Morton's) in a quart of filtered water.

(2) Then drink at least 8 glasses of the MC lemonade:
1 oz. Grade B maple syrup
1 oz. fresh squeezed lemon or lime juice
8 oz. filtered water
1/10 tsp. cayenne pepper

(I actually love the taste of this spicy lemonade. You will feel hungry if you drink less than 8 glasses.)

(3) Drink a cup of Senna Leaf tea every night before bed. AKA Smooth Move tea or Get Regular tea. Senna is a laxative herb.

The Master Cleanse is designed for a minimum of 10 days.

That's it!


Here's to your health,

We Finally Did It!!

A couple of years ago, I picked up this book from the library and we started putting Dave Ramsey's baby steps into action. Debt-free living was our goal. I had over $40,000 in student loan debt and we had two car payments when we married. Add a mortgage to that a few years later and that's a lot of debt. When we were newleyweds, we wanted to pay down our debts and we learned about the debt snowball. One problem with that was: if you don't have enough money in savings, you're destined to fall back into debt. Enter Dave Ramsey and The Total Money Makeover.

Long story short, we are now debt free!!! Woo-Hoo!

I can't tell you how good it feels!

The Bridge

Awwwww, How Sweet

A public school in San Francisco bused 18 first-graders to City Hall yesterday, so the youngsters could scatter rose petals in celebration of their lesbian teacher's wedding.

The students, from Creative Arts Charter School, waited on the steps for their teacher with bags of pink rose petals, bottles of bubbles and, at least for some, with political buttons asking Californians to vote down Proposition 8, a ballot measure that seeks to define marriage in the state as a union between one man and one woman.

Here's the rest of the story.

You think your local public school doesn't have any political agendas? The government owns that public school.

Don't Be Anonymous

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Just because you don't have a blog doesn't mean you have to be anonymous.

Another Day at the Zoo?

The weather's nice again, so we're back to our weekly trips to the zoo. This particular trip was different, in that we didn't go to see animals at all.
Unless you count these. We always start our zoo tour with a couple rides on the carousel. Very relaxing.
The babies never want to ride on an animal. They always choose the bench that doesn't move at all.
What can I say? I'm not the best self-photographer out there. But I love my girl and I do what she says.
Then we went straight to the kids' area. They have a little brook where the kids like to play.
Or lay. They would lie down and get their backs all soaked, then run over to the slide for a slippery ride down. Kids are so easy to entertain.

After they f i n a l l y got bored of the brook, slide routine, they all hit the giant spider web. Isaac stood in the center and jumped so that everyone bounced up and down violently. Of course, they loved it.

Can anyone name this cool bird? That is one fancy crown he's sporting.