Zoo Day before School Day!

Because the weather was so great yesterday, and it was the last day of the Christmas break, we went to the zoo.  Nathan's leg was bothering him too much to go, and Daniel chose to stay home.  (He was probably hoping to watch Netflix, but I didn't let him.)

It's kind of nice to live in an area that the zoo is open year round.  Most of the year, walking around outside in Florida doesn't really appeal to me.  But yesterday was really nice!

The zoo has an area for feeding birds.  The seed sticks are $1 each (unless you have a coupon for free sticks, like we did).

There are also some lorikeets that drink nectar from a little cup, but I was busy feeding birds instead of photographing them.

The zoo has an interesting and impressive art display on right now (through May, I think) of sculptures made from trash collected along beaches.  These pictures don't do the artwork much justice, but I hope you get the idea.  The colors of each piece come from the actual trash; nothing has been colored to fit the sculpture.

Wow, we went to the beach AND the zoo!  

We walked around and saw several animals.  The zebras were easy to see, but the giraffes were in hiding.  The meerkats were busy and fun to watch.  We skipped the monkeys, but did see the camels and ostriches close up on the train ride (that we also had a coupon for).

Joseph and Sarah had made plans to smash a penny and brought their quarters in anticipation.  Then Rebekah thought she'd like one, too.  Luckily, I had the right change on me.  (And now that I think about it, she owes me money!) Leah decided it wasn't worth 50 cents to smash a penny.

Beautifully smashed pennies.

I caught a glimpse of this flower blooming from a big, tropical plant outside of the zoo.  I don't think blooms are common and it was worth a picture.  Beautiful!

We traditionally stop at the Wendy's outside the zoo for frostys on our our way home to help ease the sweating from being outside in the heat.  We didn't have a drop of sweat among us yesterday, but the kids pretended they were dying so that I would stop.  It doesn't really take that much drama to talk me into a frosty, but I let them go on a bit.  The half hour ride home is pretty nice with a frosty in one hand!

Cooler weather is here at last!

We finally dipped way down into the 40's over night.  It has been such a miserable fall.  We were still sweating and turning on the extra AC on Friday. 

The mild winters are supposed to be the reward for living through the nasty summers and I was really feeling cheated!  It's going to be hot again before I'm ready  (which would probably be NEVER)!

Maybe today will actually be a legitimate sock day.  Nah.  It's not that cold!

Wrapping Paper Mutilation

What in the world happened with this? I see we are in desperate need of a wrapping workshop around here. 

There's a 12-year-old in the house (again)! -and- TIMBER!

Yes, it's true.  Leah is 12!  She has been looking forward to this day for several weeks now.  She's ready to move on from Primary, though she's a little nervous about joining the Young Women.  She's going to have a great time, once she gets started!

Another bonus to turning 12 in our family is being old enough to ride in the front seat of the van.  This may be the biggest reason she's been looking forward to her birthday lately.  The boys aren't thrilled.  Now they have to add her into the monthly rotation for turns to ride shotgun.  Life is hard.

With all of the treats and snacking that have been going on the last two months (and daughters that like to make cake), I wasn't looking forward to another cake so soon.  So I was glad when pumpkin pie (using the last pumpkin from Idaho) became an option.

She blew out all of the candles in one breath.  We'll have to give her more next year.

Next came the gifts.  She was looking forward to that a little bit.

This is where she realizes what this small gift is leading up to.

This is where she stares in disbelief that she actually owns a guitar of her own.

And this is where she tries it out!

Turning twelve also means a birthday party with friends.  (With a family this size, I decided to limit the parties to 8, 12, and 16 - all significant ages in our church.)  So her 2nd ever birthday party is coming up next Saturday!

Of course, Leah's birthday wasn't the only thing memorable to happen around here today.  We took to cutting down a large tree in our yard.  The septic tank is nearby and we were counseled a year ago to get rid of the tree to preserve the tank.  Hopefully, the roots didn't grow that much more during the year and damage the buried septic system.  To be fair, we've been waiting for some decent temps to get to work.  It has been brutal around here!

The kids had a blast playing in the huge instant fort the tops of the tree created when they fell.

This is going to be some nice firewood in a year or so!

 We're going to miss the shade that tree provided.  We're already talking about planting some fruit trees out there.  I'm not too worried about their roots causing damage while we still live here (let the next homeowners take care of that).  But do I want to eat fruit fertilized by waste that I helped create?  Uh...

I feel fortunate that these large branches came down without any injury to living creatures (other than the tree).  The fence was not as fortunate, but the house is OK!  :)

Happy 2016!

Happy New Year!  I'm making another attempt to revive this blog!  This time, I'm setting a goal to post daily.  YEP!  DAILY!  So if there is a random weather report one day, you'll at least understand that I'm trying to keep my goal.  haha

We celebrated the end of 2015 last night with usual Collett pomp and circumstance.  It started with some selfies in the kitchen.

It was a tight enough fit before Nathan photobombed us with a wadded up shirt and blocked Daniel's face.

But Daniel recovered nicely and made up for it with a Maori-like exhibition of his tongue.  GROSS.

Oh, yeah.  These two are in charge of things around here.  That explains a lot!

We started our marathon of activities by giving our time (less than an hour) to wiping down all of the known hymn books in the church building.  Some disinfecting wipes from Target and we were set.

Did you know the current Hymns edition was first printed in 1985?  I can remember when they came out.  I have seen some books that are slightly different in format, but are still the same hymns and the same #'s.  The Church is still translating this 30-year-old version into other languages and has no plans for a newer edition at this time.

While were there with extra disinfecting wipes, we decided to wipe down the backs and sides of the benches in the chapel.  There has been a recent report of hand, foot, and mouth, so it seemed like a good idea.  I understand that Daniel went around wiping door knobs, too.  I'm just not sure if he made the whole trip with a single wipe.  (EEW!)

Joseph may not be approaching this in the easiest of ways!

We'd stopped for donuts on the way to the church and the lady gave me a free dozen.  So we had a donut BEFORE and AFTER we worked!

It looks like Rebekah is pouncing on another donut, but she's really reserving it for Daniel.  I am shocked since those two are usually at war!

After we returned from the church, we set about putting away Christmas decorations.  This activity took longer than the first!  Everyone worked here, and I worked at organizing everything into proper bins.

By the time the house was put back in order, it was after 9 PM.    Only three hours left to go!  Out came the snacks and games.

Daniel must always pose for the camera.  We're fortunate his tongue stayed in this time.

Do you watch Studio C?  We are the unofficial Titusville, Florida chapter of the Studio C fan club.  We added them to our list of party activities.

When we got out some glow sticks, strange things began to happen.

And don't forget the 2016 glasses that barely stay on your face.

This reminds me of that creepy Sesame Street segment where wavy, free-floating eyes and mouth helped you count to 10.  At least I don't have fears of nightmares after seeing these eyes!

I tortured some of the kids by making them fill out some reflections on the year past and coming.  Joseph nearly died of trauma.  But it was interesting to see how similar some of ours from last year to this year were.  It seems that I really want to have an organized and clean house!

And then came the traditional New Year's Eve photo.  Not everyone was willing to play along, so it will require more than one photo to see everyone's faces AND signs.

And that is how you ring in the new year in our family!  No one fell asleep early, but I can think of someone who should have.  Thankfully, we were able to sleep in and recover some of our cheery dispositions.

Hair Affair

Sarah wanted a braid in her hair yesterday morning.  Originally, she wanted some kind of fancy do swept up to the side.  But her hair is too short and so I had a good excuse to say no.

Little braids going down one side are popular choices, too.  So that's what we attempted.  It was going well when one of the three sections of hair I was braiding started getting to short and I had to stop.

Sarah found the shortened braid unacceptable and started complaining.  As she pulled on the end to undo my work, I reminded her that I wasn't going to do her hair over again.  It's one service per head in this house!

Eventually the braid was gone and she was crying for a new one.  I suggested some self serve options and ended the conversation.

The next time I saw her, she had a little flower clip stuck awkwardly in her hair.  I thought it was a great solution!

Frozen

I found a frozen ice cube tray in the freezer yesterday. 

Just the tray.  No ice.

Perhaps someone was prepping it for future ice cubes.

Completely unnecessary, of course.

One of Life's Greatest Mysteries

There is a broom in my family room.  It shouldn't surprise me.  But why must I suffer such mysteries?

It might make more sense if we swept the family room floor.  We don't.  (What am I saying?  There is no "we".)

I don't sweep the family room floor, even though it is mostly bare concrete.  The vacuum is for the family room and the broom is for the kitchen.

Maybe a witch left it there.  She is trying to entice me away with a speedy getaway.  I am tempted, but there would be no one left to ponder the great mysteries around here.

Family Home Evening...Collett Style

Monday nights are reserved for family time in our home.  It is counsel from wise Church leaders in order to strengthen family relationships and counter the destructive influences of the world.  It also something our kids look forward to.

This week we had a typical Family Home Evening (FHE).  

Sarah conducted the meeting.  She welcomed everyone and announced each part and who would be doing it.  Then she thanked them when they were done.  This is to help the kids learn to be comfortable conducting meetings when they get older!  ;)

Chad had the song.  I don't remember what it was, but it was something the kids would know...a Primary song or simple Hymn.

Technically, I had the prayer, but since I was teaching the lesson, I traded with Nathan and he offered it.  Rest assured, it was short!  :)

Daniel's responsibility was the scripture. He shared a scripture mastery: Moses 1:39.

Next was the lesson.  We used to have each of the kids teach lessons until we decided they needed some better examples of what we wanted from a lesson.  We are getting close to handing over some of the responsibility to the older kids, but for now, I taught what would have been Nathan's lesson.

I gave everyone a piece of paper and asked them to write down everything that was important to them or that they were grateful for.  I just wanted them to write, write, write for 5 minutes.  This was Sarah's paper. I snapped a picture of it because her spelling was so cute.  (Translation: food, houses, families, popcorn, movies, light, couch, cars, beds, clothes, scriptures, Idaho.)  Chad and I noticed she is already learning to use an apostrophe incorrectly.  Haha.

After the five minutes was up, I directed everyone to chose the 3 most important things on their lists and cross out everything else.  Or in other words, what would they be willing to give up over another on their list?  Some of them struggled a bit there!  The point of the lesson was to recognize what we value the most and consider what we are doing to keep it a high priority.  If one of our priorities, was wrong, we needed to reconsider our choices and correct it.  Otherwise, we should always remember to keep our activities and priorities in check so as not to lose what is most valuable to us.

I was happy to learn that my children's three top choices included God, Christ, family, temples, scriptures and the Gospel.  :)

After the lesson, Leah had the talent.  She performed a death-defying head stand on a pillow.

 

We always clap for the talent, no matter how awesome, confusing, silly, crazy, boring, or repeated it might be.  Everyone deserves some clapping once in a while.

Rebekah was in charge of choosing the activity this week.  She first suggested taking dinner to the park to eat to count for the activity, but I didn't think I could pull that off.  So her second choice was Sardines. I don't know if you've ever played this game. I grew up playing it in the twilight of evening with my neighbors.

It is played by sending one person off to hide while everyone else stays together, counting to 20 with closed eyes. Then everyone breaks apart (similar to breaking the balls in a pool game) and goes searching for the person hiding.  If you find them, you quickly and quietly join them and wait for the next person to discover the hiding spot.  This continues until the last person finds the group (who is now uncomfortably squeezed into a space that is fit only for sardines) and becomes the next person to hide.

In our family, the rule is to leave the lights as they are at the start of the game.  Some places are better with shadows to disguise the hunched forms.  It also makes it a little creepy.  Bwaahaa!

Here is most of the family hiding "under" Daniel's bed.  I was 2nd to last to find them.  Daniel was last.

Daniel then chose to hide in an 8" space between the washer and dryer.  I was first to find him and will never understand how I squeezed in there with him!

When Joseph found us, he didn't have much trouble sliding in!  (The picture was taken in the dark, so the flash is a little hard on the eyes.)

Unfortunately, Daniel chose a hiding spot in a construction zone.  He continued slipping further behind the dryer and up against the walls we recently removed paint from.  He has powdered wall texture all over him!

At one point, Sarah chose a hiding place under the computer desk.  Nathan found her second.  Joseph found it just after I did.  (That's his back in the bottom of the picture.)  We were looking for her forever!  A tiny person has much more success in this game than a big person.

After we'd gone several rounds of Sardines, it was time for the treat.  This was Joseph's choice this time and he'd planned for snow cones.  (I froze extra ice during the day for him.)  You can see that he has some "helpers" who want to be sure he can handle the job.

That is FHE in our home.  It's loud, and gets us to bed later than we'd like.  But it's a great way to teach family values and strengthen bonds.  It also helps us sharpen our fighting skills.  *sigh*

Choose Carefully!

If you ever find yourself in a position to choose a kitchen counter top, choose carefully! 

If you plan to do any food prep in your kitchen (and maybe you only plan to have a pretty kitchen), consider how big you want your work space to be and how hard you want to work to disinfect it.

I hope after you consider those options, you won't choose floor tile (or any tile); no matter how good of a price you can get!

If you do have a lapse of judgment, try to stay in that home forever so you don't have future homeowners cursing you and questioning your sanity.

Meanwhile, get ready to have lines in your pizza dough and pizza dough in your grout.

Soft Spoken

I am soft spoken tonight.  Not by conscious effort, but because I made the choice to yell at one of my children at the top of my voice.

It is not the first time I have traded being able to speak for a lecture/crazy mad woman moment.  And it isn't the first time with this particular child.  It's even the second time within a month.

I hope all parents have that moment when they totally lose all patience and hope and want to shove their fist through a wall.  It would make me feel better about this journey I am on.

Unfortunately, because of past experience, and because yet again we could not get this child to verbally respond, I expect to have another opportunity to speak like a shadowy, secret informant.

Of all the challenges that come with parenting, watching undesirable behavior be repeated without remorse (and despite all efforts to effect a change) is the HARDEST!  It's so difficult because it indicates that the person is freely choosing to be less than they can be.  It damns their progression to becoming the person that lies in wait only as potential.  I can see it.  It is unclear if they can see it.  It is clear that they aren't trying to see if it's there.

We can't always chose what happens to us, but we can choose how we happen to others.

Trust Issues

As I was driving the kids to school this morning, I noticed the high school students in the neighborhood waiting for the bus.

Of eight teens, seven were actively looking at their phones and the eighth had one in her hand. Most of the kids were standing in groups but none of them seemed aware of the others and several had ears buds in their ears.

There is one smart phone in our home. It is mine. And it is small. It is expensive. From what I could see, most of those kids had larger, more expensive devices than I do. I was trying to imagine the thousands of dollars in the hands of young people I passed, and the responsibility that comes with it.

And I began reflecting on society's view of our youth. In large part, I hear people giving much and expecting little from today's rising generation. Entitled children are causing adult problems and suffering infant consequences. And the effects are being felt across the board. And yet, the general response seems to be an increase in freedoms and allowances as if strict rules are the cause of rebellious actions. I would would suggest stricter consequences for the offenders and ripple consequences for the community.

Coincidentally, as I drove Daniel to school, he mentioned learning that any Florida youth born in 2001 or later cannot get a driver's license until they turn 18 years old. They can have a permit, but are not permitted to drive independently until they reach 18. It seems this is to combat the drunk driving problem in the state. I have not confirmed this information as I only heard it less than an hour ago. But it would not surprise me. This is how we handle situations like these.

Our family is run a little differently from the world. I find a lot of peace in this. We do things, consider things, believe things, and expect things differently. Therefore, we have different results. We will have to make some small adjustments as we continue to live in this world, but we will not change much. I expect our trust issues in our home are and will continue to be vastly different from the issues other families are facing or will face.

Beauty Queen

Sarah was joining the rest of us in the bathroom this morning as we brushed hair and prepared for school.

She had stolen the one brush good for ponytails and was repeatedly brushing one section of hair.  I questioned her about how long she was going to be.

She replied, knowing she had something we wanted, "Only a few years."

Oy. 

Is There Any Extra?

When I was in 2nd or 3rd grade, we were living in Arizona and my dad was stationed at Luke AFB in Phoenix.  He would rise before dawn and leave for work just as the sky was lightening.  That was generally before anyone else was awake.

He used to make some kind of breakfast drink with raw eggs and honey, and probably some kind of grain (though I only truly remember the egg and honey).

I loved his drink!  I would probably think it disgusting now, but it was the best tasting thing to me back then.  I used to wake up while my dad was getting ready for work and wait for him to come to the kitchen.  He would give me a tiny bit of the drink in a little cup.  So delicious.  Truthfully, I think much of the taste was the emotional connection to the drink and a little girl catching some stolen pre-dawn moments with her daddy.

Eventually, he stopped making the breakfast drink and I stopped waking early to get it. I was told that he was just trying to avoid sharing his breakfast. I don't know if that's true or not, but as I am not a morning person and prefer to have a solo breakfast, I can see it as a likely reason.

Fast forward over three decades...

I now make a breakfast drink.  Mine doesn't include raw eggs or honey but bananas, ice, peanut butter, almond milk, and a few drops of essential oils.

And I have a 2nd grader who hopes for some of it every morning.   I have to consciously make extra for him, but he always wants it - even when I mistakenly put frankincense oil in instead of something else.  He hears the blender and comes over asking, "Is there any extra?"

A lot of time I can hand him a tiny bit in a little cup, and enjoy history repeating itself.

Are They ALL Yours?

If I had a dollar for every time I get this question...

We were at Lowe's last week and the conversation went like this:

Clerk: "Are all these kids yours?"

Me:  "How many are there?" (I didn't look up from swiping my card.)

C: "Six."

M:  "Yes.  I had to make sure we didn't pick up any extras while we were shopping."

I'm not sure what impels someone to ask this question.  It doesn't really bother me, but I do hear it a lot.  Usually I am happy to claim all the kids because they are great human beings.

Sometimes we get someone who wants to compliment the kids on their good behavior.  I usually end up ruining the moment by saying something like, "You didn't see them two minutes ago."  Sadly, two minutes ago might have prevented the compliment!

And that is why some days I answer the first question with, "Maybe." But that would be more believable if they didn't all look so similar to each other!

Dusting Off the Rusty Fingers

This is it!  My first personal blog post in over two and a half years.  I used to be a pro at this;  now I feel like I am starting over.

I am not going to attempt to recall all that has happened since January 2013.  I will start anew and try to keep up with the crazy things that happen in the course of a day or hour.  That will be enough to keep me typing!

So if you are joining me on this journey, please feel free to comment.  I communicate better if I can picture an audience.  There is no "like" button on a blog, so speak up!

Update on Daniel

Many people have been asking me if there is any news on Daniel's jaw problems.  The answer is, "No."

The oral surgeon we saw has been trying to consult with other medical experts before giving us his final diagnosis.  We had been going off of "Monostotic Fibrous Dysplasia."  But now that may not be what we are looking at.  The doctor took Daniel's scans to a radiologist at a nearby hospital for an informal reading (which means I didn't have to pay for it).  The radiologist said his initial thought was that it looked like a result of abuse.

Huh.  I told the doctor, "Well, I know it's not that, so keep looking."  He wondered if there was anyone that could be abusing Daniel that I might not expect.  Really, we are a boring family. I am the main caregiver.  He doesn't play sports.  He isn't part of any clubs and doesn't play at a friend's house very often.  And for 3 1/2 years?  Yeah.  It's not abuse.  Keep looking.

And he was.  He'd mailed the scans off to his colleagues in Iowa.  (These are the doctors he does training with and he considers them the experts.)  I had this conversation with him the week before Christmas.  Meanwhile, Daniel seems to have suffered a flare up of some kind.  The medicine doesn't seem to help very much.

I left a message with the doctor today and expect him to call tomorrow.  He's been very good at explaining things and assuring me he's trying to get some answers.  We may be looking at doing a biopsy to get a little more to investigate.  After this long, I'm just waiting for him to tell us what to do...we will do it!

Nathan's pain has also returned.  He'd had such a good run of no pain, that I was beginning to wonder if he'd somehow healed.  I guess not.  We have a scheduled appt. next month, but I may have to call sooner if the pain gets much worse.  I don't want to have to make another trip down to SL.

Maybe I can make appts for both boys down there on the same trip!