Not Much Going On Here.

Frankly, it's nice. 
After another run-in with norovirus, things are calm here. 
We're just trudging along - getting our stuff done and trying to have fun along the way. 
We've applied for the out of district transfers for the boys so they can continue to attend the school that the are in, but have been told that it doesn't "look good" for them.  So we'll have to see what happens there.  Either way, it will be okay. 
One thing we're surprised about is that fact that kids have to bring in their own devices (kindles, iphone, ipads) in the middle school and use them in class.  If the kids do not have a device, they have to let their teacher know and the teacher has to make arrangements because there are only 3 chromebooks allotted for each class.  So if there are more than 3 kids without devices, they have to wait to take tests and such. 
Seems a rather cruel way to set the haves vs the have-nots. 
And a way to promote jealousy and theft on campus. 
But with the unbridled growth of the county and the corresponding stability of the school budget (MOE, anyone?), there is simply no money in the budget for electronics.  Heck - I know a social studies teacher that has to assign all her reading on-line because the school didn't have money to buy  books. 
Grrrr. 

I'm also getting ready for our next Blue Knights meeting. 
How to get 11 year old boys to engage in an activity while learning about the virtue of work. 
I could have fun with this one...

Meanwhile, I had my daily dose of  Humble Pie served to me by a 4 year old this morning. 
I was ironing while Ben was playing.  I was listening to a documentary on the P51 Mustang (#suchaboymom) and they were reviewing the engine.  Initially the plane had an Allison engine, but it pooped about above 15000 ft, which doesn't do anyone any good.  I was only half listening at the time, but I said out loud to myself, "A Mustang has an Allison engine?"
Immediately I heard a disdainful voice behind me, "No, Mom.  A Mustang has a Wolls-Woyce Merwin engine."
Standing corrected, I let the mispronunciation slide. 
Oy. 

11 Years Old

So when the crap did this happen?

The other day she looked like this!

Caroline had a most excellent birthday.
Don't know how it got here, but we found a letter from Hogwarts on the front porch.
She was thrilled to get it.

The day after her birthday, she had a Feeder Band Concert at one of the high schools in Frederick City.  The band/orchestra/drumline/color guard was so good that we're disappointed that the kids won't have that available to them in Walkersville.
FCPS is now being more strict with out of district transfers, so we don't even know if the boys can finish 5th grade at their current school.  We now need to apply every year for each child that we want to go out of district.
Sigh.
I hope we can continue to go where we are currently, even when Caroline is in middle school.  It's a much better fit for our family and there are fewer crazy-psycho-mean PTA people.
I'm waiting a call back from the district.

The boys made it through the concert last night in one piece.
3 hours.
180 minutes.
10,800 seconds.
Sitting in a dark auditorium.
With books (*gasp*) as their only form of entertainment.
The older gentleman sitting behind us was so impressed that he bought the boys a package of peanut M&Ms to share.
In typical Sam fashion, he ate each M&M part by part.  Taking off the shell and chocolate, sucking the chocolate off the peanut and then handing the saliva soaked peanut to Nate.
In typical Nate fashion, he ate it gladly.

Ben is asleep.  He still needs to nap a couple afternoons a week.
Next year, with afternoon Pre-K, might be tough.
But we'll figure it out.

They Are Not Throwing Away Their Shot.

Yep.
They're just like their country - young, scrappy and hungry.
And they're not throwing away their shot.

So, for character dress up day at school, here are
Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr, Nathan Hale and Kit Tyler.

My whole life I have thought that a capable woman makes something out of nothing.
Dinner.  Clothes.  A Home.
It doesn't matter.
If you're a capable woman, you can do it.
When I began staying at home, I was terrible at cooking.  Now I might not be gourmet, but I am an efficient and economical chef.
5 years ago, I was also no good at keeping up a house.  And it sill can be a struggle, but not as much as it was - we have a schedule, stuff gets done on a regular basis ,for the most part, and our house is a fun, loving, organized area (albeit on the brink of insanity).
It's the clothes thing that got me.
I wanted to sew.
I've always looked at cloth and wanted to be able to put it together and make something.
But I didn't have the time or opportunity.
I am so grateful for my sewing machine.
I'm figuring it out and am by no means a seamstress, but I can make basic things.
Over the past couple years I've mended clothes, sewed patches and made pajamas, blankets, doll clothes, skirts, shorts, dresses and costumes.
Not professional quality - but it's just so stinking satisfying to give things a new purpose.
I made Caroline's dress, cloak and collar in this picture.
It's Nate's costume I'm proud of.
Here's the story:
Two days ago, Sam fell and ripped a huge, unpatchable hole in his knee.  Since he loves bottoms with that kind of waist band, I was going to convert them into shorts so he could keep wearing them in summer.
But then Nate came home requesting to be Alexander Hamilton.
Be.  Still.  My.  Beating.  Heart.
So I took those pants, cut the knees just above the hole, added elastic and made them into knickers.
Then took the cut bottoms, folded them into cuffs and hemmed them.
I found my brother's old karate uniform, ripped off the patches, opened up the sleeves to accommodate the cuffs made from the pants and sewed open the collar.  Then we raided the Goodwill bags, found one of Caroline's old turtleneck shirts with stains and cannibalized an old dance costume purchased at a garage sale in Worcester to use as a cravat, stole some of Daddy's socks, got out the black dress shoes and BAM.
Instant Hamilton.
This was the look I was going for.

We did good.

Back in the Swing

Got about 15 minutes to blog today.
I'm sitting here while Benjamin naps (hallelujah!!!), typing and trying to keep warm by having some green tea.  I get that it's healthy - however, it feels like I'm sipping leftover lawn clippings.

Morning have been difficult here for the past few days.
Evenings have been more difficult, though.
You see, no on wants to sleep - even though they are deathly tired.
Tired like they fall asleep in the car on the way home from school - but they get a second wind at six thirty or so and then it's ON like Donkey Kong.
Until 9:30.
Disliking games and anything that involves being un-horizontal after 9pm - this doesn't fly with the Mama.
So - it's an earlier bedtime tonight.
Like we have told the kids, if you can't be happy and do what you need to do in the morning - then it's clear to us that you need an earlier bedtime.
For half of the kids - that may be 6pm.
Oh - help us.

With the New Year, the 15 minutes of decluttering a day has also be re-instituted.
The problem being *when* to find those 15 minutes because if the kids are around, the things that I have decluttered find their way magically out of the trash.  Even if they are trash.
Like the bottlecaps a certain child collected from classmates last month.
Seriously.

I can't make this stuff up.

Today is crazy hat day at school.
Caroline is officially too cool for stuff like that now - though I did see her nab my panda socks for Silly Sock Day.
Nate is wearing a fedora with flowers all over it.
Sam took a selfie with his cousin's sailor's hat.

She passed on the hat, but wore a bandage on her wrist.
For the first time in 11 years (knock wood), we had to get x-rays.
Typical FOOSH injury.
Doing better now.

Off to declutter and finish a waist casing and a collar for a dress for Caroline for tomorrow.
It's Character Dress Up Day and she decided to be Katherine Tyler from "The Witch of Blackbird Pond".  A fantastic book, one of may favorites when I was her age, which is probably why I consented to the insanity of making a dress for her.

New Year.

So much for blogging.
I resolve to blog more in the New Year.
Compared to what I did last year, it shouldn't be difficult.
Trying to make it part of a routine because, let's face it, if I wait until my work is done to sit down and write - AIN'T GONNA HAPPEN.

We made it through 2016.
It was good.  It was tough.  It was humbling.  It was joyful.  It was an experience not to be duplicated. Just the way we like it.

Sometimes I get nervous at the beginning of a new year, wondering what God will throw at us.
And so the adventure continues...

With the addition of a part time job for me, it has been more challenging for me to organize my time.  My goal is to keep the house sane.
A tall order on most days.
Now, with four months under my belt, it is getting a little easier more normal to get five kids out the door in the morning and keep the plates spinning.

After a great Christmas with Grammy and Grandpa (with some added time for recovery from a nasty stomach bug), we settled in for a week of CHILL and our annual New Year Celebration with our Umbrellas.
Not everyone was able to make it and it made me appreciate just how special the group of people we have around us is.  It is a rare and beautiful thing to be in a place where kindred spirits abound.