Icky, icky, icky!

The kidlets carved pumpkins over the weekend with their dad. Birdman thought pumpkin guts were pretty yucky!
We have a new little flat friend visiting us all the way from New Zealand! Her name is Flat Caroline and she was glad she had her plastic coat on to protect her from all the gooeyness.



Flat Caroline is now a Halloween pumpkin carving expert. We wish there was a way to mail off one of the pumpkins to Flat Caroline's Kiwi family!

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Clues

Mr. Kitty, Kiwi and Cooker wanted to go shopping.

Guess what my first clue was.

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Rite of passage

'Tis the time of year to make large leaf piles and leap, leap, leap.

They were moving way to fast for my camera to keep up with them!

First Slumber Party

Recently Goosey-Girl attended her first slumber party. It was for a set of 8 year old triplets and was a girls only affair. There were 17 second grade girls in attendance and she had a ball.

A few nights ago she said, "Mommy, did you know that when 17 girls get together they start acting a lot like boys?"

Her insight gave me a giggle.

Then she said, "Do you think that if you got 17 boys together, they'd start acting like girls?"

Hmmmmmm......

Denial

"Never underestimate the power of denial". - American Beauty

"Denial is based in lies we tell ourselves. Through these lies we distort reality as we perceive it, we redefine the meaning of what we do, and we adjust what we consider to be right and wrong, in an escalating fashion. Ultimately, any act, no matter how hideous, can be carried out once we have developed the necessary level of denial."- Blain Nelson's Abuse Page

Denial is a protective mechanism. If you aren't willing to face what you've done, it is your friend.

Denial allows you to hold onto your well constructed self image and deflect your character flaws as the unfounded imagination of others. Denial gives you the excuse you need to continue hurting the people you are supposed to love, honor and cherish. Denial blinds you to the deep wounds you've caused.

Denial can also destroy.

It destroys trust and truth. It provides a way to excuse your own behavior and opens a cavern of ill feelings from those you have wronged.

Until you are courageous enough to embrace who you are and what you've done. You can never, never change. Until you can change, the family you claim to love can't heal and can't trust you.

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month

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Imagine

"...imagine for a moment you're in the sole care of an eight hundred pound giant who insists you do things that you don't like and don't understand, and who smacks you with a fifty pound hand or huge board when you don't do as you're told or when you cry or complain... It is easy to lose the perspective that we [adults] are all powerful giants to the children around us.

Violence against children, like violence against adults, is initially unthinkable. The first time a person allows himself to lose control, there may be immediate horror, remorse, and promises that it will never happen again. Yet that first violation of the inhibition has made the act "thinkable" and therefore likely to occur again. Eventually it may begin to seem normal."
-Getting Free by Ginny NiCarthy, MSW

Violence is a behavior that does any of the following:
* Physically hurts or frightens you, or uses contact with your body to control or intimidate you
* Takes away your freedom of movement
* Causes you to believe that you will be physically harmed.
-Not to People Like Us: Hidden Abuse in Upscale Marriages by Susan Weitzman

"If a partner has been abusive one time, it is likely that he or she will do harm again in the future. Every person deserves to live free of violence and fear. Therefore, a victim should not be blamed for domestic violence. Regardless of the situation, the abuser is responsible for abuse."
-HealthTalk Oct. 2006

How many episodes of violence in a home is too many? One? Three? Six? Twenty? How long will you believe the promises of "It won't happen again", "I'll change", "This isn't the parent I want to be", "I'm sorry I hurt you, Honey"?

When will you drawn the line and take action to finally prevent it from happening again? How many times will you redraw that same line in a desperate need to believe the angry storms will end? Don't think you wouldn't do that- because you will.

Will you be courageous enough to take action? Do you understand that everyone around you will start to judge you for the actions you take to stand up to the violence?

You see, they've never seen the outbursts. They've only known the public image you've worked so hard to portray.

The injuries from a sexual assault don't leave overt signs of trauma. And the kids have never needed medical treatment after being the target of rage, right? Are you prepared for everyone to rate the level of abuse in your home on some imaginary scale. As if only the most egregious abusive episodes count?

Will you also qualify the physical outbursts? Will you downplay them because they only happen once every few months? Will you find it easier to push them to the back of your mind since there are no broken bones or physical marks, just a despondent child who no longer trusts their own safety and self worth? Will you try with all your might not to let yourself acknowledge the fear you feel when you are in his presence, to the point where you become physically ill from withholding the stress you feel?

When will you decide that protecting or enabling an abuser is as morally repugnant as the abuse itself? How many times will it take until you take action?

For me... it was around 6. I never thought it would take that many. But it did.

October is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
"A home should be a place of stability, comfort, and love. Domestic violence shatters this important foundation."
-President George W. Bush

Major League Stanley

BirdMan's Flat Stanley returned home yesterday from his adventures in St. Louis. He arrived with his own St. Louis Cardinal t-shirt and one for each of the kids. They were very excited!










While in St. Louis Flat Stanley got to visit the Butterfly House and enjoy some beautiful sculptures and flowers.

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My Little Lady in Waiting

On the way home from Grandma's last night the following conversation was overheard from the backseat.

ROCKETMAN: Hey, we didn't have dessert!

GOOSEYGIRL: Sure we did!

ROCKETMAN: Are you sure? I don't remember having dessert.

GOOSEYGIRL: Yeah, we had brownies. Burp and you'll taste them.

GOOSEYGIRL LETS OUT A HUGE TRUCKER BURP.

GOOSEYGIRL: See! Brownies! Yum!

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Aloha

Recently my good friend, Juliet, went to Hawaii with her husband, Ole. They were on an extended layover as they journeyed to their new home in Japan.

They sent back a care package to the kidlets that included a grass skirt, bikini top and hair flowers. GooseyGirl thought the outfit was dazzling and the boys decided to get into the act by putting on some of her dresses. They could hardly stand themselves!

I firmly believe laughter soothes the soul and my kidlets got plenty of soothing this day!

In addition, Juliet sent some edible goodies that are common in Japan. Apparently, instead of pretzels, you can go to the vending machine and pick up something yummy like fish snacks. Basically it is crispy sugary small dried fish fillets.

Now don't all bombard me with requests to send you some! RocketMan has discovered that he REALLY likes them.

In fact, and I never thought these words would come out of my mouth, I had to say to him, "That's enough fish snacks for now. No more until after dinner."

Yep, and the dog liked them too.

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Rubbin' elbows with fame!

RocketMan's Flat Stanley in Chicago got to meet Mayor Daley!!! Isn't that incredible? He has been on some grand adventures with his Windy City host family. I think we all want to put in for adoption with this group- they know how to have fun!

Plus, Stanley got some exercise while attending gymnastics class. He found the balance beam to be his best event. He thought the trampoline was a thrill as well.

Mr. and Mrs. Butchko came over and held an impromptu cooking class recently. Now GooseyGirl knows all about sauteing, simmering and can make a killer salad.

She has also taken up BirdMan's habit of raiding the garbage for cereal boxes. Here is the chariot she made for her Groovey Girls that is being used for many, many expeditions around the house.

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Stanley's in Toronto!

GooseyGirl's Flat Stanley is visiting the cutest little peach of a girl in Toronto right now. She made him a welcome sign and a bunk bed for him to catch some zzzz's. It was a long trip after all!

BirdMan's Stanley is in St. Louis right now and got to go to a fancy wedding! No word on whether he got to kiss the bride. He also got to visit a museum with his host family.

Flat Stanley OK and Chicago

The kid's Flat Stanley's are incredibly busy right now. We are getting postcards, letter, emails and photos of his adventures. The kids are learning so much about our country and are using mapping skills to track his travels.

GooseyGirl got some photos from her Oklahoma City Flat Stanley. He is near an Air Force base and has spent time looking at the amazing planes. He even got to meet a pilot!

GooseyGirl was a bit worried that Flat Stanley might encounter a tornado while in Oklahoma but his host family has assured GooseyGirl that they know just what to do to keep Stanley safe.

Flat Stanley has gone hunting for rose rocks. Rumor has it that Flat Stanley might come home with one so that he can show GooseyGirl what they look like.

Flat Stanley is also having fun just hanging out playing video games and riding bikes. Oklahoma looks like a great place to play.



RocketMan's Chicago Stanley visited downtown and was very busy. RocketMan was especially excited when he learned that Stanley got to visit the Sears Tower. RocketMan really loves things that are the tallest, biggest, fastest, etc.

Stanley also went to a Celtic Festival and listened to bagpipers play Irish music. The kids have been studying the Celts during history. Knowing that Stanley got to do this was exciting.

Did you know that the Celts were known to have fought battles naked with their entire bodies painted blue. They'd put gunk in their hair and stick it out in spikes, too. No wonder they'd strike fear in their enemies on the battlefield, they must have looked WILD!

Flat Stanley was worn out after his visit to downtown Chicago but he got a well deserved nap on the train back to his host family's home.










RocketMan's Stanley from Red Wing returned this week. He had a wonderful time with a great family. He even came home with his own left handed guitar! We will post more about his adventurous in a couple of days.

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Portland Stanley!

So far the kids have sent out 9 Flat Stanley's and are stalking the mailbox for news of his adventures. This project has been such a wonderful way for them to effortlessly learn about our world. They are also getting to be experts at addressing envelopes!

We recently got pictures back from BirdMan's Portland, OR Flat Stanley. He's been VERY busy.

First KJ and Bronson, Kathleen's grandkids, took him to their school and donated a Flat Stanley book to their teacher. Stanley enjoyed visiting Chief Joseph School and is going to have fun with the children there

Then he went to Cannon Beach with his new best friend, Kathleen and her DH.

The kidlets were very excited to hear Stanley got to see where the Columbia River empties into the ocean. It is in Astoria, Oregon. The best part about that adventure was that Flat Stanely got to hang out in the Salt Water Taffy Candy shop.



Big hugs and thanks to Kathleen's wonderful family for hosting BirdMan's Stanley!

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Big Hair and Rainbow Rods

I've been trying to expand my musical tastes and I've introduced everything from Andrea Bocelli to Eminem. I swear I can feel my IQ slip when I listen to certain types of music. (I'll leave it to your imagination which musical genres I'm talking about).

Today I discovered that Gooseygirl's IQ can be similarly effected, but not by music.

Her IQ drops according to hairstyle.

Right now she is in the process of growing out her bangs. Her bangs are too long to look normal and too short to tuck behind her ear. As a result, she looks like a sheep dog and apparently her brain functions on the same level when I don't pin up her bangs.

Yesterday she was easily doing column addition with her hair up. Today she couldn't remember her subtraction facts with her bangs down. That's when I figured it out. Her hair forms some sort of electromagnetic brain wave helmet that forces her neurons to misfire due to the brunette interference of the hair follicles. I know it is a very scientific theory and I'm considering writing a unit study around the impact of big hair on intelligence. Of course, I'll have to write a section on the exceptions, Einstein for example. But then again, who knows what he would have been capapble of if he'd just shaved his noggin'.

As a baby she had wispy cutie pie hair that I kept in layers because it was so adorable. She went through a phase where she wouldn't leave the house without a hat on. I love that my only girl is so completely girlie-girl. Her Aunt Cecilia painted her toenails once and Gooseygirl was over the moon with happiness.

I'm thinking that if I shave her head she could become a nuclear physicist. Hmmmmmm......


Flat Stanley Update
The kids have sent out 9 Flat Stanleys so far and are anxiously awaiting their return to learn about his adventures with our friends. Today BirdMan was sending his newest Flat Stanley to St. Louis and he was so excited.

"Ohhhhh! I sure do hope Stanley gets to visit the rainbow rod!", said BirdMan.

"The what?", I asked.

"You know, The Rainbow Rod", he replied.

snort, giggle, giggle

It took me a minute to figure out he was talking about the St. Louis Arch!




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Gingerbread Rabbits, Music and English Judges

Book Club
This year I decided to start a book club during our school time. During book club we read a book aloud and I model reading skills to help them learn how to infer deeper meaning and become better readers. They are having fun and we do different activities based on the book. It is a little like the Five in a Row curriculum but with a heavier reading instruction focus.

We just finished the Gingerbread Rabbit and mapped out how it is similar to the Gingerbread Man. We also read other versions of the story including the Runaway Tortilla and the Gingerbread Baby. To have a bit of fun with it we made gingerbread rabbits and decorated them with skittles, sprinkles and chocolate chips. They had fun decorating but only RocketMan thought they were edible. BirdMan and GooseyGirl turned up their nose at these treats and decided the fox in the story could snarf up the gingerbread and they wouldn't mind.


New Favorite Website
The last time my friend, Juliet, was in town she noticed that I'm still listening to the same music I had in college. I really needed to increase my new music exposure and I've found a great way to do that! It is a free, wonderful site at pandora.com. You tell it your favorite group, which in my case is the Indigo Girls, and Pandora starts playing similar artists with no commercials and no fees! I love it! It is my own radio station based on the music style I enjoy.

Doesn't Translate
We are reading Dr. Doolittle at night and the kids have become consumed by the story. They listen open mouthed and beg to read "just one more chapter, Mommy!" Last night one of the characters is being tried in an English courtroom. The narrative describes the judges and the lawyers as tall, distinguished men in "grey curly wigs and black gowns".

GooseyGirl nearly lifted out of her seat, "What! They are wearing ball gowns and wigs?"

Suddenly England went all transvestite on her.

I assured her it was much more dignified than it sounded. Well, sort of. :)




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