Hockey Girl and Wonder Boy

This week Abby is spending the mornings at a Field Hockey camp held at her elementary school.  I wasn't sure if she'd like it or not, especially since the temperature was over ninety degrees on Day 1.  But, I shouldn't have worried.  She loves it!

Abby normally likes to lounge in her bedroom reading after she wakes up. On days when there is nothing scheduled in the morning, she'll stumble downstairs around 8:30am looking for me to make her breakfast. On Camp Day 1, she was up and dressed (with shin guards on) at 6:50am making herself breakfast in the kitchen and reading the newspaper. Abby noted, "I just wanted to read about the weather." I thought about asking whether or not she wanted a cup of coffee, then remembered she's only 7 (and a half).

Hockey Girl

And She's off!

Wonder Boy In Action Fighting "The Bad Guys"

(Toy Saw is the Sword...Bucket is Some Kind of Protective Shield)

Book Review (Book Lament): Joy the Summer Vacation Fairy

Please rescue me from the Fairies.  Send help as soon as possible.

 
Short review (Positives):  Joy the Summer Vacation Fairy by Daisy Meadows is one of a series of 70 or so fairy books.  Abby and Caroline love these books.  They are (mercifully) short and easy chapter books with ink illustrations and are a good introduction to non-picture books.  The plots are age appropriate and, unlike Junie B. Jones, the grammar and spelling are conventional.  The two main characters are a pair of polite and helpful lasses who just happen to be friends with the fairies.

Short review (Negatives):  Mom and Dad cringe inwardly at the very mention of reading this series. The stories are repetitive, inane, and once you get started there are endless books in this series to read, yet they all seem exactly the same. Spoiler alert -- Rachel and Kirsty will be able to retrieve whatever magical object Jack Frost has stolen by outsmarting his dim-witted goblins.  I have personally read about 50 of these aloud to Abby, and now I am forced to start over the series with Caroline.  I could cry.  I know that reading time is critical for children, and I will do my fairy duty....probably every single night for the next year or so....sob.  I have limited fairy reading to two chapters per night, so that we might enjoy some of the other wonderful picture books available.

History:  This whole fairy thing is my own fault. It all started back in 2008 with a seemingly harmless book I bought from the Scholastic Book Order Form, Abigail the Breeze Fairy.  It was one of the first "chapter" books I read to Abby and I figured she would like it because: 1) the fairy shared her name, and 2) the book was about fairies.  Well, like it she did. 

Little did I realize that Abigail the Breeze Fairy was one of a series of 7 Weather Fairy books.  Then, Abby was ecstatic to learn that there is also a series of 7 Jewel Fairies and 7 Sports Fairies and 7 Pet Fairies and 7 Day Fairies and 7 Rainbow Fairies and 7 Dancing Fairies, and who knows what else. I've blocked it out except for the fact they are available at the local library.  There are also about 10 "Special" Fairy books (each of which is really 3 stories in one), including Joy the Summer Vacation Fairy.  So much fairy fun for you to read, so little time....

Your young daughter will love this series.  You probably will not.  But, this series was one of the things that got Abby hooked on reading, and for that I'm very grateful.  Abby now reads these to herself and I can read her some other classics.  I am also very grateful that my third child is a boy.  Hopefully we'll get hooked on some inane series for boys, like Pokemon or something.

We Interrupt this Blog for....

... a 48-hour power outage.  No electricity for 2 full days.  The power went out at 3:12 pm (according to the town clock) on Thursday and did not resume until 3:30-ish pm on Saturday. 

I won't lie, it was a long two days.  But, an oddly fun two days -- a strangely vacation-like two days filled with time spent with neighbors and special favors and a general "let's get through this together" attitude that does not pervade day-to-day life. 

And, so, to celebrate the return of the air conditioning and the garbage disposal and the washing machine and the dishwasher and all the other electric appliances that make our lives easier, we went to see fireworks with the same neighbors that we played with for the past two days.  It was great!  The stuff childhood memories are made from.  No photos because we were too busy ooo-ing and ahhh-ing.  We stayed up WAAAAY past our bedtime and tomorrow we'll likely pay for this fun with short tempers and whining but who cares.  It's only 78 degrees inside the house right now and I don't have to worry about the condiments anymore!

I am now going to sleep in without the sound of chainsaws, electric generators, and wood chippers.   Sweet, quiet bliss....zzzzzz............

The Magic of Summer Vacation

1) Staying up late with the neighbors (8:30pm!!) to catch lightening bugs

(I didn't want to break the spell by getting closer)

2) Where anyone can become a superhero and/or wear pajamas any time:

Ben with his "superhero muscles" (a.k.a. triangular foam blocks)

3) When all the scheduled activities are replaced by lots (and lots!) of free time

The Ballet Recital was the last scheduled event.

Vines Vines Vines

There's nothing quite like strenuous yard work to pull you out of a funk.  So, in order to drag myself out of mine, I decided it was time to start tackling the numerous and varied vines that have invaded our yard.  I already spent hours (and hours and hours) pulling or digging out most of the volunteer saplings that surrounded the perimeter of the yard.  I have to admit that I was pretty impressed by all the different species of trees that were present -- at least two kinds of maples, sassafras, various oaks, and even an American beech. 

However, I was even more impressed by all the different invasive vines that were strangling the various trees and shrubs in our yard -- particularly given the size of our yard and the number of vines present on it once we really started looking for them.

Here's a little photo tutorial on significant chuck of the invasive vines types that grow in southeastern Pennsylvania.  We had some "nice" specimens of them all.  I think we knocked things back, but we'll have to be vigilant for the next few years.  (Photos were mostly copied from Invasive.org, which is the Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health.) 

1) Virginia Creeper (5 leaves, but otherwise grows exactly like poison ivy; it even has furry vines)

2) Oriental Bittersweet - makes bright red berries in fall

3) Poison Ivy (My personal favorite!)

4) Japanese Honeysuckle

5) Kudzu (This one is a big problem....you know when you drive on the highway and see acres of trees covered with the same kind of vine?  That's usually kudzu.  Definitely not good for a yard.)

6) Crown vetch

7) Bishop's Weed or Goutweed - This one isn't really a vine, but a noxious ground cover.  We're not even close to having it under control, but we're working on keeping out of the front bed, as a start.  Apparently, if we wanted to rid ourselves of it completely, we'd have to remove the top 24" of soil from the entire surface of our yard (and perimeters of our neighbor's yard).  If you see any of this plant in your yards, you should aggressively and immediately work to remove it.  It is resistant to all types of contact chemical weedkillers due to its deep roots, so you have to manually pull it out, making sure to dig out all its roots completely.

8) Wild Grape - If you have this one in your yard and want to get rid of it, please note that you really have to dig out the root.  This vine will quickly re-sprout from any stump or other root piece left in place.

Scratch Two Items Off the List

I probably shouldn't type when I am this mad and disappointed.  But, I am going to anyway.  You should probably skip reading the rest of this post.  I will be ranting.

We (Caroline, Ben and I) attempted to go to the First Grade Awards Celebration this afternoon, followed by the first grade party.  We had to leave.  Unfortunately, Ben picked today to be completely incapable of sitting still or being quiet (probably the 5:20am wakeup time kicking in).  I don't mean little shuffles or tiny boy noises, I mean literally crawling all over the classroom floor and screaming "NOOOOOOOOOOO"  at 100 decibels (<--- not an exaggeration) anytime I tried to talk/touch/move/quiet or him. with the other 20+  parents watching.

Since this movement and noise would have been the backdrop for the first graders trying to read their little stories to the audience, suffice to say, we spent the first 30 minutes of the party in the hallway. Someone came out to get me so I heard Abby's story (the second time she attempted to read it) and then Ben screamed again and we slunk out and came home. It made me feel slightly better than another parent had to slink out too with their small child, but not that much better.  I would have liked to stay with well-behaved children. 

So, at this very moment, I'm missing the slide show of her first grade year, the teacher talk about her "special talent", and also the little party afterwards.  I yelled at Ben, probably too harshly, and told him to go take a nap.  And he did.

Why does this matter?  Well, as much as I thoroughly enjoy housework and diapers, there are just not that many special moments to look forward to on a typical day. I really do try to find the joy and humor of parenting on a daily basis, and often I am successful.  But sometimes I am not.  Today, I just wanted to enjoy the few special minutes to hear her teacher say something nice about Abby and to just take a few minutes to appreciate how much she has grown over the past year and how special she is -- from her teacher's perspective. Then, I would get back to the laundry and dishes and cleaning and diapers and other tedious and mindless ****.

But, I missed it.  I feel like there is this ever-growing list of things that we've had to skip or are just too difficult to do because of the kids. I do really, really love them, of course, but it's like we've been in this limbo for 7.5 years now.  I'd really like to eat out at a restaurant with the family and not have it be messy, loud, and/or embarrassing.  I'd like to be able to get to a museum, pool, other other kid-friendly location and not have it be a toddler chase.  Or, I'd like to do something simple, like enjoy a school event for 45 minutes and actual be able to stay in the classroom and hear the teacher. 

From the other parents of three kids, supposedly there is a light at the end of this tunnel, and we'll be able to go places and do things and enjoy each other's company in a public setting at some point, maybe by next summer they say.  When Ben is 4.  That's the "breakthrough" year.  Unfortunately, that's a whole other year of waiting (hiding?) at the house.

Hot Cup of Joe

Ah, Thursday, June 17th.  The second to last day of the end-of-school frenzy season.  There are four main events lined up on the schedule today, fortunately all in a nice sequence rather than overlapping times at different locations.  While it will be busy, it is at least physically possible.

To kick start the day, I decided to microwave myself a nice cup of coffee.  I picked out my favorite Burpee 125th Anniversary mug, popped it in the microwave for 1:15.  Pulled it out, and took a big sip of.....

AIR?

Oh yes.  I forgot to actually pour the coffee into the mug before microwaving it.

Good one.

Scott has been traveling for the last couple of days, which means everyone is a little off here.  Ben has shifted his morning wake-up time back to 5:20am. Apparently, I'm out of practice functioning with reduced sleep. 

On tap for today: 1) First Grade Writing and Awards Celebration-1:30pm; 2) First Grade End-of-Year Party-2:30pm; 3) Caroline and Abby's Ballet Dress Rehearsal (oh...and I guess I should sew that one strap back on before that...)-5pm; and 4) Planning Commission Meeting-7:30pm.

Better start stitching!