Exactly

I seem to be writing a lot about Christian lately.  I hope that doesn't make Grant and Justin jealous, but I get to spend extra one-on-one time with Christian each afternoon while Grant is in school and the other children are sleeping...and he constantly amazes me.  Christian is so fascinated with numbers and math right now.  Here is one of our conversations from earlier today:
CHRISTIAN: What is 181 divided by 66?
ME:  That's a tough one to do in my head, but the answer would be close to 3.
CHRISTIAN:  I don't mean what it's close to.  I need to know exactly.
ME:  Then we will need a piece of paper and pencil or a calculator to figure it out exactly.
ME (with the calculator):  181 divided by 66 equals 2.742  with a repeating 4 and 2.
CHRISTIAN (laughing):  You were way off!
No, I never did ask him why he needed to know the exact answer to 181 divided by 66.  There was probably not a reason - at least not one that I would understand.
Now you know what I go through every afternoon!
~Andi

Crescendo

Christian has given himself a new nickname, and I think it's so clever that I just had to share...the artist formerly known as Christian is henceforth to be called Crescendo (not sure of the spelling just yet - it might be more like "Christian-doe").  He keeps me laughing.  They all do.

~Andi
  

Back to School

Sometimes it doesn't take much to make me feel like an inadequate mother.  Grant's first day of school was Thursday.  I made sure he was well rested, well fed, well dressed, well supplied with pencils, crayons, kleenex, hand sanitizer, etc.  We arrived at the school with plenty of time to spare...only to find that all the other mothers were taking pictures of their children on their first day of the new school year, but did I have a camera with me?  No - on this one I failed.  I don't have pictures of his first day of kindergarten from last year either.  Maybe I will do better with Christian and Justin.  There are some benefits to being a second or third child.

Christian wants to be in school so badly.  He was completely convinced that he was going to get to go to school as soon as he turned five, when he finally learned and understood this week that it was going to be an entire year before he could start school, he was very disappointed.  I told him we would have school time at home each day that Grant was in school.  He liked that idea.  I haven't pushed formal learning times with Christian because he is so scary smart already.  But with "school" each day he will feel like he is helping me practice to become a teacher.

Speaking of teaching, I start classes again tomorrow.  I've so enjoyed my month-long break, and I'm not looking forward to having class every night (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday...might as well be every night anyway).  Oh well.  There's no denying it is what I am supposed to be doing, and my children are not neglected in the process.  Brian is a huge help with the children when I am in school.  We are getting through it together.
Happy New School Year!

Maybe the Dishes Will Clean Themselves

I have dishes to do, but I want and need to write some things about what's going on around here.  I don't know what's wrong with me...why can't I get more done in a day?  I am busy all day long, rarely taking any time for myself, but still the house is messy and I haven't posted anything to our blog since my birthday nearly 3 months ago!

Lots of things have happened since my birthday: Justin turned 2, I started my summer classes, Grant finished kindergarten and started summer school, we had a big party for J's birthday and Brian's college graduation, I had the worst class of my entire college career (sorry, no details here...I do not wish to dwell on it...I made my "A" despite the worst instructor ever), Grant finished summer school, we went from too few kids in my daycare to too many, Brian started Enduring Creation (check out his blog for details on that - enduringcreation.blogspot.com), Grant and Christian had their first formal swimming lessons, they attempted a week's stay at Grandma and Grandpa's (they stayed a day before getting homesick), and the highlight of my summer -  I got to spend a day with my Mom and go to the Nauvoo Temple with her to do some of the work for my great grandmother.  How I needed that!

How's that for a quick update?  Maybe I can still get those dishes or something else done tonight. 
~Andi

Another Year Older and Wiser, Too

It's my birthday. It's been a good day. Brian prepared me some amazing food and the boys made me cards without anyone telling them they should.
There's been a slight change of plans regarding my summer break: there won't be one after all. I was just going to take the summer off because I thought I didn't have any financial aid to cover summer courses, but I found out this past week that I do have some free money for school that I just can't pass up. So, I'll be starting classes again on the 31st of this month. Oh well - fewer classes to take later, right?
Once again, it's late and I need to sign off, but I did promise pictures, so here are a few:

Christian and his best friend, Duckie

Grant and Christian with Duckie and New Duck (thanks, Grandma)

Justin needs a haircut

~Andi

Shy Guy and Other Moegling Happenings

I thought my new computer might mean more blogging, but school somehow always managed to get in the way. But no school for 3 months should give me a chance to get all caught up, although it is impossible to record all the adorable things my boys do - even though I wish I could.

Christian was the highlight of my evening this time. Three days of rain gave way to sunshine today and left all of us wanting more time to enjoy it. We took a picnic to the park for dinner and let the boys play on the playground after we ate. Christian made sure to introduce himself to every other person at the playground and proceeded to tell them why we were there, when his birthday is, our Memorial Day plans, how to spell his name, when he got his hair cut, and any other thing that popped into his head. He's so cute! I'm surprised, though, that he didn't tell them about the great composers he has been all about lately. It all started when he found an old piano book of mine and recognized the name of Beethoven on the Table of Contents. The book has many familiar melodies from lots of famous composers. He loves classical music because of Baby Einstein, but now he is having me teach him about the music and how to play some of his favorites ("Ode to Joy" and "Fur Elise"). Today I was driving with him listening to a CD with songs from many different composers and he would yell out who wrote each song (full names, too - Johann Sebastian Bach! Franz Schubert! Ludwig Van Beethoven!) and he would recognize what was going on in the music and yell out, so excitedly, crescendo! or accelerando!, sforzando! or fortissimo! He's so funny and amazing!
Next time I write I will have pictures or videos. We have some very funny videos - Grant's filming of himself, Justin doing the limbo, Christian and his duck puppet altar ego, and the list goes on...
Bedtime now. Night-night!

SEEEEEEE ya, Academia!!!!!!!!

FREEEEEEEEEEEEEDOOOOOOOOOOOOMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

April's Fools?

Looking at the calendar, this month is sure going to be a crazy one. Andi and I are both taking classes, so I'm gone Monday and Wednesday nights, and she's gone Tuesday and Thursday nights. Andi also must accrue 15 hours of observation at the kindergarten class at Grant Elementary, so juggling that with the daycare and my clock appointments is great fun. Classes end during the first week of May, so all the pressure will be on during the last 2 weeks of the April. The weekends are already filling up fast, with our annual spring family pictures on the 9th (and possibly a Mizzou softball game) and the Mizzou Black & Gold game (spring football scrimmage) on the 16th, and who knows what beyond that.

I'd really like to find the chance to clean the garage out so I can begin work on all my "giant plans and schemes" (quote from a children's book I bought G when he was a baby), while teaching my oldest son the processes and philosophies of creation (No!!! Not THAT kind of creation, he's only 6!!! Give me a break!!!). I've got a slick new miter saw (hi Jeffer!) chomping at the bit to start chewing through some red oak and ash. But the poor saw is already greatly longing for a companion (in the form of a tablesaw, the cornerstone of any woodworking shop). Yet finding a chance to get that garage cleaned AND having good weather AND having the help I need available looks like something impossible to accomplish. Then there's the topic of what I'm going to want to do (read: spend) in the garage once it's clean, but that's a topic best left for another day...

Hot Date

Sometimes my husband can be awfully sweet...many of you just don't know that side of him! Last night was our "date night", but there were no less than five baskets of laundry waiting to be folded in our living room. So, for date night, he pulled up on Hulu old episodes of a tv show he had heard was good and we sat together becoming involved in the show and folding laundry together. We stayed up too late because the episodes just kept playing one right after another (and each one left you hanging just enough that you had to watch the next one). This afternoon Brian let me take a nap after church (I can't remember the last time I had one) since I was tired from staying up so late.
Another really sweet thing he does is when he knows I am going to be the next one driving the van, he sets up the CD player to play me a message in the form of a love song like "I'll Never Let You Go". It's the little things that put a smile on my face!
~Andi

Laughter and Tears

I'd rather write just about the laughter, but without some tears, laughter wouldn't mean much.

Laughter: Justin -he's just so silly and amazing. All my boys are amazing, of course, but I think Justin may just be the silliest one of all. Sunday during church he grabbed his blanket and curled up in his Daddy's arms, pretending to be asleep (except for the mischievous grin on his face). Justin also has some new favorite words, "Watch this!", which he often exclaims just before he does something really amazing - like turning off a light or making the computer screen saver bubbles disappear. Another really great Justin phrase is "Poo poo potty!", which he usually says just a little too late...but on Friday he made it in time to go "poo poo" in the "potty". Way to "go" Justin!

Tears: Our dog, Dakota, died yesterday. We told the boys and buried her today. It has been difficult for all of us, but she was old and sick. Now she is no longer suffering.
-Andi

Happy Valentine's Day

Wow, it's been a looooong time since I last updated our blog! But maybe I'll be a little better about keeping up with it now that I have my own computer. That's right, for Valentine's Day I received my very own laptop! I've never had my own computer before. Since we've been married, Brian has had his computer that I have used when I needed to, but now I have my very own. It's kind of nice :)
There's still the issue with finding time to blog (among other things). I should be studying for my exam or working on the ten to twelve page research paper due this week that I haven't even started yet, but I just had to try out my new computer.
~Andi