Differentiation of this Family Unit

I've it before and I'll say it again, having a Sy is like having a dog... He needs to be "let out" daily. The trouble in the winter months is that no parental wants to spend the much needed time in the elements with the boy child. Therefore, cabin-fever has been building up for months. Laster-night we all received the gift of the out-of-doors. We were all the better for it!

I snagged my camera on the way outside, I haven't picked it up in a while and thought it was time to air it out too. What I captured fascinated me. The differences in personality between the offspring are becoming more and more apparent.

Differentiation of this family unit. Here are some visual representations:

 The Warrior Boy Child

The Contemplative Girl Child

I love, loving them!

Teaching Year 9 - February Musings

Over these last few weeks, I have been seriously reassessing why it is that I continue to do what I do. Do I really only teach for the insurance? As for the first semester of every school year... yep, that's certainly for insurance. I find myself struggling to find the glimmers of hope and sunshine... I mean, its all doom and gloom. I am fully aware that this is one of my "not-so-muches."

Then, the end of February hits and suddenly, the clouds begin to part as my flesh occasionly finds moments of sweet, glorious radiation. Now, I am by no means riding a peguses named Thor as I assend to a prepared residence in the clouds of relaxation and warmth... No, that's called June. But it is this time of year that I find myself thinking thoughts like, "hmmm, maybe I can do another year... maybe... just maybe..."

But its only the end of February, and just today my morning went something like this:  left home on a fresh batch of powder on the roads, with what looked like minimal attempts at plowing, and just like that, here comes an SUV careening toward me from around the bend... completely sideways! First thought: "Sweetheart we do live in the IL, for the love, we should know how to drive in the white stuff, it is NOT our first snowfall!" Second thought:  "Huh, risking my life to for INSURANCE... this is ironic!"

I get to school to realize I failed to make copies of our activity, so I found myself risking life and limb a second time on the ever-slippery "cheese grater" we commonly referr to as a "ramp." I look at the oncoming faces and scream things like, "Never fear young ones! This is what we call extreme-educating:  my life for the POGIL, must make copies of the POGIL!" (Problem Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning... for reals... they're great!) They tried to get me to turn around, saying things like, "It's not worth it!" or "You mean more to us than a POGIL!" All of this was surely said out of pure affection and care... definitetly NOT in an attempt to get out of work or knowledge.

As evidenced by this blog post, I did survive the "ramp" and the slippery, snowy, walk across traffic. The copies were made and the knowledge was made availble for the taking. But did they partake in the knowledge? The knowledge was free for the taking. I could not GIVE IT AWAY this morning. They were bucking the system. They refused to turn on their brains, refused to see the importance of the content perviously learned... At some point, early in the hour, I had reached a state of rage! It was ugly! I even asked the teacher next door to draw a target on my juglar (to which a student informed me I "don't have one of those!" Turns out he thought a juglar was an Adam's apple! HASHTAGnolies) I needed them to make it swift, for what they were currently doing to me was cruel, brutal, inhumane! For what... insurance? It was about this time that a student began singing, "Jesus, Take the Wheel." True story! Hysterically ON POINT as it was, it was the reminder that I needed.

For He is doing a work lately, He is on the move in NN107. He keeps showing me glimpses of things beyond insurance. He keeps pointing out the smiles, the laughter, the dragons (sorry, thats an in-person story). Insurance is a gift. It comes with the job. The job is caring. The job is kindness. The job is smiles. The job is laughter. The job is support. The job is cheerleading. The job is a mission! I am being reminded of such... exactly when I needed to be... in the form of kind words from students, email from parents, hand written letters from the librarian.

I am reminded in the quiet confines of NN107... in the hours after 3:00 when all is calm and the smiles are still there from the "did-that-really-happen" crazy-town that ensued that day. This can be done. It can even be enjoyed. The focus just needed to be shifted. Here's to my yearly reminder!

Nevertheless, I still refilled the M&Ms. Teaching requires Jesus and chocolate! #TRUTHS

P.S.: If you are my husband and are reading this, do not see this as a reason to stop hunting yourself a job with insurance. Jesus will likely tire of dragging me along! LOVES for you!

Pretzels Today, Rainbows and Unicorns Another.

Yesterday was a Saturday like most in this home: no big plans, and purposefully so. Typically, that is one of the reasons we SO love the Saturday. Though there are those Saturdays when the stars fail to align, or the cosmos deem that all children under our care and instruct shalt lose the ability to henceforth hear the words that come radiating fromst our beings. For, I speak both verbal and non-verbal fluently. With that, the stage has been set for the occurrences of "laster-night."

The "interesting" part was that we had no idea what was looming. Usually, when these sorts of "events" with the children take place, we are made fully aware from the onset. Their wee waking breaths speak volumes... usually. As it turned out yesterday, their wee waking breaths were actual "thrones of lies!" I need to insert here that I had succumbed to a morning migraine that had me balled-up in the fetal position for a good portion of the morn. Likely, it was in these dawning hours where all the parental patience that is required for a 24-hour period was completely squandered. At this point, gaskets had been blown–repeatedly–with little to no notice. Heaping piles of consequences had been dished out for menial-at-best disobedience. Apologies had been given and taken in a vicious, cyclical nature... all-the-live-long-day.

It was round-about the 38th request for a snack that we hit the eye of the storm and things quieted down for a few moments. As we find ourselves at the beginning of the Lenten season we have been talking about Jesus' 40 days in the desert–about the importance of remembering and prayer–about discipline and fasting. We have this children's book, "Walter the Baker," by Eric Carle. It has been read a number of times during the witching hour, otherwise known as bedtime. (Side note: I am not a lover of this time of day. I know there are some moms that are way better/nicer/relishers of times that will all too quickly be gone.  Nevertheless, I cannot seem to convince myself to be one of those moms at bedtime. If we come home from a night out and the babysitter has navigated a successful bedtime, it was worth every, I mean EVERY single penny we paid them! My Love knows that the most direct path to my heart is hearing the words, "I'll put the kids the bed tonight." This is one of those areas I should likely feel some shame, but #ain'tgottimeforthat. All that to say, I have never read the page that follows the actual story of "Walter the Baker." I had no idea, until the father of my children–the bedtime extraordinaire–love of my life–informed me that he already knew that pretzels were a Lenten tradition because of the last page in "Walter the Baker." Huh. Oh well. I went through my whole explanation with the kids anyway.

It took all morning for the dough to rise in our freezing kitchen, but it finally did. The kids and I started rolling out the dough and talking about how pretzels were typically made just out of flour, water, and salt– fitting with all the fasting that often takes place during Lent. But the coolest part is in the actual shape of the pretzel: the shape is based on an ancient posture of prayer where the arms are folded across the chest. We talked again about the importance of prayer while Jesus was in the desert, how important it is for us, and how we spend this time of year being even more intentional about such things.

So we rolled... and we talked... and we laughed.

We dipped... and we salted... and we baked.

Then we ate! And Praise be to the Lenten Lord of all things Pretzel! Holy WOW! These pretzels are the food of celestial beings! They were out-side-standing! I believe it is safe to say that I can no longer remember a time in my life without these pretzels in it!

We consumed mass quantities of pretzels, whilst watching past Tony-award-winning broadway show tune performances. Because, yes, that is us. That is what we do. Judge if you must!

Then... the eye passed us and we were back to loosing our salvations! Rainbows and unicorns another day!

Recipe for the Lord's pretzels can be found here: http://www.fashionedible.com/2013/09/oktoberfest-homemade-pretzels.html

Candlemas

Monday marked a trifecta of celebratory events:  the day that marks the middle of winter, Groundhog's Day, and Candlemas. Candlemas is the 40th day after Jesus was born, and therefore, the ceremonial day that a boy child would have been brought to the temple–in this case, J-Money. This was a day of fulfilled promise and blessing. Mary and Joseph got an ear-full from Simeon. He proclaimed the good, the bad, and the ugly. Candlemas hones its focus on the good part. Simeon let them in on the secret that J-to-the-esus was to be "a light of revelation to the Gentiles..." This was the part of Simeon's blessing that we, as a family, focused on in discussing the ideals of Candlemas. That whole part about being the cause of the falling and rising of many, and a sign that will be spoken against... just seemed a bit weighty for wee ones.

In fact, in talking about why the Gentiles needed a "light," I was smacked in the face with an awful truth that we inadvertently have kept from our children... not everyone knows about Jesus, and not everyone believes in Jesus... God... the Holy Spirit... #alloftheabove. The boy about fell off his stool, aghast at such what-the-whatness. We had as lengthy a conversation as a 4- and 5-year-old allow, about how Jesus has asked us to follow in His footsteps and be like Him, and be a "light to all the nations" to make sure that everyone hears about Him.

So we centered out Candlemas feast about all things round... round like the sun which gives us LIGHT. In France, the Candlemas food of choice is crepes. And seeing as one of our guests was Uncle France Pants, we just had to follow suit. We had friends over, we lit excessive amounts of candles (following Jesus' footsteps is not without risks... I was simply setting the mood), and ate round items such as crepes and cookies. 'Twas lovely!

Why do we celebrate Candlemas?
Silas:  "To tell people who don't know about God about God."

TRUTHS = Magics

Christmas 2014 - A One Arm Jesus Kind of Christmas

This was our familial cohort's "best Christmas ever!" In so very many ways we did right by this Christmas. We spent time waiting in anticipation with many discussions on they joys of said anticipation. With each passing week of Advent MAK taught us the beauty of prayer. Especially the prayers of a 5-year-old. She is an amazing little pray-er when she discovers a direction to head... amazing with a splash of unintentional humor.

The laser gun was a last minute addition by a young lad!

We added a new tradition of reading through the history of Jesus' family line. We made little ornaments to go along with the story for the day and added them to our "Jesse Tree" as a sort of Advent calendar. I will confess that though this was special for MAK, the boy child was "tortured" or just simply was not ready for that level of concentration for that length of time. He still may have a visceral reaction to the name Jesse. Hopefully by next year he will be ready for another go.

We did much resting, much being still, much being together... It. Was. Lovely! We may have reached the degree of "amazing" when MAK was (finally) starting to think that being home was better than being at school! She quickly came to her senses! :) We discovered just how simply awesome it is to watch movies on an air mattress in the living room, with kettle corn and LOTS of blankets. We even slept as a fam one night–well until midnight when we carried all participants to their "real" beds.

We still did Christmas morning, Santa and all.

Santa even had to learn how to make a "spidey music box." Seriously, child!

This year the kids each got the other a gift. I mean, seriously, be still my heart. The pride they had in seeing how much the other enjoyed their chosen present... BLESSED!

I just can't...

Because... Dads...

Unfortunately, there was a brief stint on "vomit island" for Christmas Eve. All's I can say is "more cookies for me!" No one really fought me to eat them with their queazy tummies. I probably should have been more bummed.

There was a missing element in the weather department. The kids were both disturbed at the lack of snow to be had at Christmas. Sy even referred once to "when it's the real Christmas... the one when it snows." :) MAK could not put together why it is that I went to weather class every Thursday but could not seem to make it snow on Christmas! When I explained that I have zero control over the act of snowing, she enlisted her fresh-mouth-of-sass with, "Well, Elsa could have made it snow!" Then there was an about face turn and stomp off! #at-ti-tude

Though, hey, if a lack of snow and a little bit of vomit are the only things we could find askew, then we did pretty well. Almost perfect. Almost. A One-Armed Baby Jesus Kind of Christmas for sure!

Our First St. Lucia Celebration

Truth #1: We are only on the cusp of learning the meaning behind St. Lucia.
Truth #2: St. Lucia is ma' gurl!

The Swedish celebration of St. Lucia's Day comes from the stories that were told by Monks who first brought Christianity to Sweden. From that point on, Sweden holds one of the biggest celebrations of St. Lucia's Day on December 13th every year.

St. Lucia was a young girl who believed in Christ and followed Him the point of martyrdom. She was killed for her faith in 304 AD. The most common story that has been passed down for generations is that St. Lucia would secretly carry food to the persecuted Christians in Rome, who were forced into living underground in the catacombs. In order to keep her hands free to carry supplies and provisions, she would wear candles on her head. This had a two-fold function, lighting the way and maximizing her "carrying capacity."

This is also why her feast day is during the darkest time of year, close to the winter solstice. St. Lucia reminds us that there is always a little light in the darkness.

I recently read a quote from St. Lucia and it resonated with me. "...whatever you give away at death for the Lord's sake you give because you cannot take it with you. Give now to the true Savior, while you are healthy, whatever you intended to give away at your death." Those things that we hold so dear and close–that we hold right up until the end–why not give them away while you are still able to witness and enjoy the blessings those gifts are to those around you? In a culture that is so busy, busy, busy, one of the most precious gifts we have to give–specifically as parents–is our time. It is so easy to allow work, life, this-and-that-other-thing to eat up our time. As parents, there are many things that the two of us hold a united front on, and the "rage against busy" is something we fight for with paramount priority. We are purposeful about slowing down and just being together. As a family, we look forward to and protect those days when no one has to get up early for work or school. No one has to to be anywhere or do anything but be with each other. So that is precisely the way we chose to celebrate St. Lucia's Day. We gave each other one of our greatest gift we have, our time.

We participated in a few of the traditional Scandinavian/Swedish customs of the feast day. MAK played an integral part in our celebration. I cannot rate the heights of her excitement for today. Inviting her into my magical time of peace, I woke her up just before 6:00 am (for real... judge me, whatevs). I wasn't a foot into her room and she was bolt upright in bed, "Is it the early morning?" "Sure is." "Are you sure?" "Yep, I am sure." "Woah, that was a short sleep!"

I carried her downstairs and we rolled out dough and made "sweet rolls." Traditionally, these are saffron flavored rolls, but folks, lemme tell ya, saffron is like the world's most expensive spice! Hash-to-the-tagTRUTH! So, um NO... no saffron rolls here. Though I tried to talk her into letting me flavor the frosting with orange juice, "little Lucy" was having none of that! "You guys can just eat oranges. I'll just drink the juice."

Then she got all "Lucied up."  We didn't have a long white gown, so a ruffled white-with-gold-polka-dot dress with a red sash (or Christmas ribbon) tied around her waist sufficed well. I found the smallest wreath I had and made candles out of popsicle sticks and pipe cleaners. She was adamant that the candles NOT be real! (Ben recently demonstrated the burning of hair as warning for them to be careful whilst blowing out candles) 

Then, while it was still dark, she carried her prepared food upstairs where the four of us cuddled in Mom and Dad's bed, ate our sweet rolls, fruit, and coffee, and watched The Polar Express. It was the BEST, most magical morning in the HISTORY OF EVER! The rest of day was spent relishing the slow pace of togetherness. We played, we dressed up, we danced, we imagined, we talked, we listened, we ate, we rested... We Lucied!

Our prayer as parents is that through our gift of time, we will create space for those sweet moments with our kids to speak to and about the work of Christ in our lives and theirs. That we will have those times of darkness–hopefully a few of them together–so that when they are in those times of darkness alone, they will be reminded that the light will alway pierce the darkness. 

So today we say "thank you" to Saint Lucia, bringer of light, for the reminder that even in our darkest of times the light will come. Hopefully, it will come from within.

This little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine. 
Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine!

Thanks-to-the-giving 2014

At some point during the ceremonies of the feast of thanksgiving 2014, it came to me in a pre-comatose vision that this was my 10th year of giving the thanks with the man I love and two of the Earth's best, my in-laws. I find it Bazaar (with a capital "B") that there are stretches of my life that can be measured in decades! It has been a decade since my "first hunt," and 9 years since my second hunt, and well that must be where the need to impress ended because in 2 tries I was over that whole getting up early to sit outside in the Wisconsin nonsense of coldness, praying that a deer might shuffle by, while praying that no one would kill it in front of me! hashtagBambi

These thanksgiving days when the human alarm clock arrives at the bedroom door, beckoning all the hunters to the hunt, I roll over and snuggle into the middle of bed, stretch my arms and legs out as wide as I can and belly-sleep the hours away until a little one wakes me to the sounds of impatient hunger. Why-oh-why can they just not eat more at dinner, or learn to feed themselves, or just learn to be awake and quiet at the same time?!?

This year was one of the precious few that we got to have the whole family together on the mountain! There just are not enough of these times! These 4 are a... FORCE!

There was some "crafting" to be had and surely no one at this table started eating the turkey craft supplies before we even got started!! 

The candy turkeys... well... they almost were NOT because sometimes Pinterest directions are lies and impossibilities!

So then one is left to think for oneself to get Oreos, candy corn, various chocolates, and frosting into poultry formations!

Though the left over frosting could not go to waste!

Grandma and Grandpa's house is filled with magics both inside and out, one of the outside magics is the sledding hill right off the front porch. 

Some get points for style. This guy took to "snowboarding" like it was nothing!

Some get points for flare. Yes, that wee one was gunning it so fast down the hill that she flew right off the back end!

Some get points for precision. This boy could repeatedly turn his sled 180 degrees to slide through his uncle's legs backwards...every time!

Some get points taken way for danger. These two... whoa... these two + speed + tree = negatory big ben!

All turned out alright, but those ladies need to learn to harness the power!

Once the outdoor shenanigans were completed, the indoor fun and poor choices abounded...

Leap frog = fun!

 Looking through the binoculars at a high powered flashlight = poor choice

 Opening presents in brand new PJs = fun

 Not keeping your eye on the ball = poor choice

Being awesome = fun

More leap frog = more fun

Fighting over toys with your fellow sibling = ugly poor choice

Grandpa reading one of his childhood favorites to his grandkids = sentimental fun-ness

Swinging from the rafters = really fun poor choice

Watching the snowfall from the warmth of the cabin = precious fun

Jumping on Grandma and Grandpa's bed = caught 'ya poor-choicing it, little lady!

All-in-all, this was a lovely time with family! We are so very thankful!

In other news, with the conclusion of my "impressive" hunting days, I thankfully birthed a lad that sees the enjoyment in such sport!

Just don't kill Bambi in front of him!