Monday, March 2, 2009

Going Around the Block

The block has struck me again. The block that seems to weigh down any creative ideas, it rests on me not allowing anything witty or pithy to emerge. Sorry. It has been not only crushing my imagination but also presses on my thought process in general. My friend Tonya wrote the other day asking me to blog so she could know what was going on in my life. Our blogs are really the only link we have to know the comings and goings of our long-distance friendship. I figured today I would press forward, past the cumbersome block, and update everyone.

We have been battling a cold virus, that began with Jace followed by me. My inability to control my kisses while around Vance led to my poor little man getting the crude. Ryleigh has no doubt learned her self restraint from her mother and contracted it from constantly kissing Vance's face, regardless of my shouting. Since Ryleigh and Keely share a room, it was inevitable that she caught it too. Fortunately, Brynna is borderline OCD with hand washing and only touches anyone younger than her if she is commanded to do so. The cough and snotty nose has hung around the little ones like a sloth in a tree, but thankfully the fever has passed and their energy is back. Okay, honestly I'm not so thankful that the energy is back but I am glad they feel better.

Vance has a total of four teeth now with a fifth one emerging. I always love it when the top two teeth begin to pop through and my little babies look like a mini David Lettermans. Since getting the cold Vance no longer sleeps through the night, so I have begun to accessorize with the ever chic black "bags" again. Although he is mobile and wiping my floor with his version of crawling, he has only pulled himself up on things a few times. The doctor said she would be concerned if he didn't start by 10 months, however I have not called because I know he can do it he just doesn't have to since everything is handed to him or he is lifted to get his desires.

Keely has begun to speak a lot more. Not that I understand most of it, but at least she is trying. There are a lot of things I don't understand about Keely, her speech being just one of them. Her desire to shove items down her pants and into her pajamas are another facet. The other night she put her jammies on by herself and when I saw her right leg was twice as large as the left my investigation found two gloves, a pair of dirty socks, and a lego. I felt like a magician pulling things from a magic hat wondering when it would stop. This isn't the first time and I'm sure it won't be the last. Before the weather turned cold I found a live beetle that she had put in her pajamas hanging out in the top of her diaper. She's an odd one, but we love her.

Ryleigh is doing well, nothing really to report except for the fact that she is growing up too quickly. She is copping a diva attitude, which I attribute to an excess of Hannah Montana. She constantly needs to be reminded of her attitude. I keep her in check with, "Four-year-old-Hannah-Montana-wannabe say what?'' I don't really say that, but if you have ever watched the show then you would have understood that and possibly laughed.

Brynna has begun her own blog, entitled Bryn's Blog, she has even learned to correct her own misspelled words with the spellchecker. I cracked up the other day as she wrote about the book she is reading for school which included the line, "she goes on a trip to a castle with her friend the douches." She meant to type duchess, misspelled the word and picked the first one the computer offered. I helped her correct it before it posted. If you have a chance you should check out her writing and leave her comments, she loves that.

Jace has asked me to home school him next year. Brian and I have been discussing it and weighting the pros and cons but I think we might give it a try. California offers a public homeschooling program where all of the curriculum is free and after speaking with several families who use the program it seems like the way to go. I am intimidated to say the least. Part of my fear is that I am beginning to fall into the large family stereotype; long hair, lots of kids, shopping at thrift stores, meal planning, church-going, desires a nanny goat and chickens. I even own a jean skirt but if I ever put it on with a pair of Reeboks and jump into a 15-pack van, someone please intervene.

Hopefully my next post will return with some semblance of a storyline, but until then this is how our lives look when being squeezed out from under a writer's block.

4 comments:

Sarah said...

Oh, sorry you've all been sick! That's no fun. Hope everyone is 100% soon!

Tonya said...

I don't see how you have writer's block. You write incredibly well, even if it wasn't a "story". Thanks for the wonderful update and insight into the lives of each of your kids. You ought to do that about Brian once. :-)

With you on the whole "large family" look. We are actually planning to buy a 12 passenger van soon. Sigh. I refuse to wear a denim skirt and don't own a dress! If Eric wouldn't mind I'd chop my hair short! (And dye it blond.) And we DO homeschool, so it's even worse!

Oh, about that. My sister is using the Colorado public school/homeschool thing this year (her first year homeschooling) and it's been going great. I think it's a good program! Why does Jace want to be homeschooled though?

SavvySuzie said...

I have an award for you at my blog!

http://savvysuzieblog.blogspot.com/2009/03/i-feel-loved.html

Annette W. said...

I think Vance and Keeley are close in age to my kids, if I remember right. Meghan has a speech disorder called apraxia (fairly serious), but she's making incredible progress. She recently started saying mommy and daddy...and she's 2 1/2!