The Magical Minivan of Wonders and Unusual Odors

Shortly after Iraq was born, I traded in my shiny, red Toyota Celica for a 2000 Toyota Sienna. Although I never saw myself as a minivan person prior to the purchase, I was quickly sold on the spaciousness and features of the cute little behemoth. Over the 7 years I drove it, it continued to be reliable no matter how many M&M's were melted into the carpets or drinks of various flavors and colors were spilled in it... but it did have it's own odor.

It was perfect for our needs in Texas, but since moving to Virginia we have found that the mountain pass my husband must travel to work can become more than a little dicey on early snowy winter mornings. Last winter we had a really fun and interesting adventure un-sticking his Toyota Camry from the snowbank in which it had become unwillingly incarcerated after sliding down an icy hill. It was stuck on it's poor belly like a kid over a barrel.

With 2 kids still in car seats and one teenager who simply doesn't fit between them on a bench seat, we needed a minivan with all-wheel or 4-wheel drive. Toyota makes an AWD Sienna, but there is not a reasonably-priced used one to be had anywhere within a 300 mile radius. SUVs are great, but also gas hogs, and many don't come with 3rd row seating. And then we found the Ford Freestyle - it's kind of somewhere between an SUV and a station wagon, it has AWD and 3rd row seating. Nothing against my Ford-owning friends, but my hubby and I have both had Fords in the past, and we aren't big fans. We're Toyota people. But here's the catch... the Ford Freestyle is build on Volvo technology, not Ford technology (for the most part). Um... Volvo is good!

I have to say, it was tough saying "goodbye" to my Sienna last night. I went out to "clean it out" so no one would see my shed a few tears. It was a GREAT car for a LONG time! But alas - say "goodbye" I did.

And (hopefully) for the next 7+ years, "Skye" will be my ride!

And in other news, Iraq is tasting the sweet rewards of her gardening endeavors.

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It's ALIVE!

That's right... the garden is still alive. Perhaps this makes me a reformed plant serial killer.

Most of the plants were lovingly planted in pots and have been kept on the sunny back deck. They have been upgraded them from cup 1.0...

 to pot 1.0...

and a few of the tomatoes are on pot 3.0 by now.

And we have NEWS! Apparently some of our tomato plants are expecting!

Aren't they cute??

And, the cantaloupes are taking over the world!

By the end of the summer I may have to use a hatchet to clean this area up, judging by the circumference of the stalks on these things. Will that make me a stalker or an axe murderer??

Iraq is thrilled with how beautifully her garden has grown. She has been snacking on fresh peas and strawberries, and is looking forward to some tomatoes, cantaloupe and peppers.

When we came in from watering the garden yesterday, The Skink made it abundantly clear just how she feels about gardening at this time.

Yes - we actually found her asleep like this yesterday. Despite her precarious position, I did run down stairs to get my camera and proceeded to take a number of pictures before my hubby scooped her up and relocated her to her bed.

Kids! Fresh from the garden!

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Kids and Garden and Stuff

When he moved from TX to VA in November, 2009, Broadway was thrilled to learn his new high school has JrROTC. He doesn't even mind that it's Air-Force ROTC even though he wants to join the Army some day. His ultimate goal is to become an Army Ranger.

Needless to say, the kid LIVES for ROTC these days. They only have uniform day once a week, but I don't think he'd mind a bit if he got to wear it every day. He has been participating in tons of after-school ROTC activities, community service events and training exercises. Getting straight A's in the class is nice, but getting a ribbon or medal to pin on his uniform is a veritable Nirvana in his eyes!

Today was uniform day. He was kind enough to allow me to take a picture of him. Apparently, wearing the uniform requires a certain level of ceremony. Smiling is not part of that ceremony.

Don't mind the ugly gates in the background on the front porch. That was a feeble attempt on my part to keep The Skink contained. Much to my consternation, she figured out how to escape from mommy's dumb gate in less than 3 minutes flat. Before I knew it, she was butt-scooting down the front steps and making for the road. Of course at that point I had to figure out how to let myself out of the gate... I wasn't as quick as she was (LOL).

Iraq has fully recovered from her bout with the stomach virus, thank goodness. Unfortunately, 2 days without her medication has left her very anxious. When she got home from school, she started crying immediately and told me she did NOT know how to do her homework. I picked up the 2 sheets of homework she had and reassured her she had done the same kind of thing at least 20 times  in the last few weeks. No dice! The tears continued. Then the wailing started. *sigh*    *deep breath*

I calmly offered her the option of going up to her room and taking a nap, or sitting down quietly to do her homework.

Don't you wish it were that easy??

I always follow up with what I say... yet she always has to test the boundaries of my sanity just to make sure I still have some hint of it left.

I finally got her to sit down and look at the paper (once she decided she did NOT want to take a nap). I attempted to get her started on her math work by drawing out a number line to make adding and subtracting easier. I made the dire mistake of drawing it on one of those magnetic, erasable pads. In a huff, she erased it and screamed that she didn't WANT the help of a number line - she wanted MOM help. (Yes - and I can assure you MOM was craving a little help too!)

*another deep breath*

I calmly informed her that MOM HAD helped her by drawing her a number line which she chose to erase. I again offered her a nap.

In tears she wailed that she was SOOOORRRRRRYYYYYYYY! She didn't MEAN to erase the number line and would I PLEAAAAAASSSE draw her another.

*another deep breath*

"I'm sorry. I can't understand you when you use that voice. When you are ready to use a nice voice without wailing, I will be able to understand you and help you."

*Sob* "I'm..." *sob* "trying!" She gasped.

"Noope... still can't understand you." *another deep breath*

At this point I'm starting to wonder when I will keel over from hyperventilation.

Amazingly, after only four or five mom-daughter exchanges, she realized she could do the homework, and that she was really quite good at it. Five minutes later she was skipping out the door to play with some friends across the street.

*banging head against wall to relieve stress from not loosing it with Iraq*

It has been raining on and off the last few days and Iraq has not had to water her garden. Still, she enjoys going out each day to admire her masterpiece that she herself grew from teeny little seeds. Gardening has proved a calming influence on Iraq... as long as we do everything HER WAY and the plants are kept in neat, orderly lines. This is how she has them arranged currently:

And just look at how our strawberries are doing!

And:

The Skink spent the morning wearing a Little Swimmer diaper as a hat. I was thankful it had Nemo on it as opposed to being plain white... She would have looked like a tiny little Klan member if it weren't for the fishie! She is a gangsta at heart, preferring to wear her absorbent headpiece down over her eyes. If I tried to pull it up a bit, she would yank it right back down and peek out at me with glowering eyes - ever questioning why I would try to *fix* something that she thought was fine just the way it was! My bad!

As for me, I am very happy to say that my new washer and dryer were delivered today! The Skink was most helpful in closing and locking the door each time the poor delivery guys would run out to grab another part or piece. I got some great exercise wrangling my tot as the guys worked their magic. The  washer and dryer can be used as side-by-side units and you can buy the pedestals for them, or they can be stacked. The house we're in right now is almost 100 years old and has been retrofitted to accommodate a  stackable unit. The new ones fit perfectly in the space :o)

Aint they beeeyoootiful? The last washer and dryer we bought were a really nice used side-by-side set which now resides in my parents' lower level laundry room. A stackable unit came with our rental house, but unfortunately the washer needed to be banged every now and then to get it to spin, and the dryer chewed up it's fair share of our clothes. I really can't complain... I mean, most rental houses don't even come with a washer and dryer! We also have some wonderful landlords (they came with the house) and the last thing we wanted to do was complain about this proverbial "gift horse." I'm really excited about this set!! They will work in whatever house we end up in next (though we plan to stay here for a while). Yet they also mean a little less stress in my charmed life. OK - enough blogging - I gotta get back to reclining on my chaise lounge and eating bon-bons! (Yeah - like that's ever gonna happen!) LOL!

On A Side Note

If you are a return visitor to my blog, you may have noticed a shiny new banner just under the one for my book The Littlest Sister. I honestly didn't feel like going through all the rigmarole with a publisher again  - why take months on end when you can publish your own book in under an hour??

 
This one is just for fun! It's comprised of a silly poem and some artwork. As crazy as it sounds, the poem came to me in a dream. All I had to do is hop out of bed and type it. Of course I did that back in 2007 and it's been sitting on my computer ever since. I did the illustrations in 2008... ahhh yes... fine wine takes time... and a little procrastination. I haven't received my first edition in the mail yet, so I can only hope the layout is correct. It seems to be, but you never know for sure until it's in your hand!

Today was teacher appreciation day, so Iraq liberated some of our neighbor's flowers to give to her teacher.

I don't think the neighbor will notice. Her Wisteria is running rampant!

At least Iraq couldn't reach the neighbors roses.

Although the trellis looks like it just might be fun to climb :)  I'm afraid our roses and trellis aren't it as good shape, but as a renaissance girl, I rather like the cracked & peeling paint look.

I'm pretty sure that's lead paint...

I don't like it when the kids at the bus stop start playing rough. Eventually they end up in the road, so this was my solution. I draw a new one after every rain, and all the kids seem to really enjoy it! Even the boys play... of course they turn it into a timed event...

And finally, our garden is still growing, despite my brownish/black thumb. We just might get edible tomatoes yet! Iraq is still taking good care of her garden and enjoying the experience! Broadway shows little interest, though he keeps asking when the strawberries will be ready.

And peas...

So that's it for now. I gotta go get The Skink. I put her down for a nap an hour ago, and I can still hear her playing in her crib.

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A Little of This and a Little of That

Yes - It's been a while since my last blog. An unfortunate case of almost-pneumonia and then a nasty reaction to the antibiotic prescribed for the almost-pneumonia laid me low for a bit, but thankfully I seem to be on the mend now.

The weather has been lovely the past few days - cool but with plenty of sunshine. Iraq had a swim lesson yesterday and did quite well. The Skink enjoyed playing at the on-site child care center during the lesson. Iraq likes to play in the pool following the lesson. It can be very difficult to get her OUT of the pool (especially if I am not in the pool with her) but I have learned that giving her ample and regular warnings about how much time she has left to play works wonders! I generally start with a 10 minute warning, then do a 5 minute, 3 minute and 1 minute warning. I was thrilled yesterday when she got right out without a complaint when her time was up.

All three kids got their report cards this last week. Though Broadway had started the grading period in high style, he finished with one A, a flock of C's and one F. It seems the problem arose when he went to spend Passover with his paternal grandparents. I had contacted each of his teachers a week prior to his departure to ask them to make sure Broadway had all the work he would be missing at school during his trip. He brought it all home, but somehow left his entire book bag in his room when he left for his grandparents house. Grrrr... That kind of thing is VERY common for kids with ADHD. In the same way, many times in the past he has completed all his homework only to forget to take it to school and turn it in. He's quite intelligent - he's just not organized and can be very "scattered."

Now we're making him write down all his homework assignments and have the teachers initial it each day. Keep your fingers crossed that we see his consistency levels rise :o)

Iraq got 3 A's and 3 B's. Not too shabby. As a reward, she got to pick where we went to dinner on Friday night. She chose IHOP - - a GREAT choice considering kids eat free at dinner time! What a smart kid!!

The Skink also brought home a report card. It was basically a great heap of papers bearing an uncanny resemblance to her IEP. Most of the listed skills were marked with "Satisfactory" marks, a few were marked as "Mastered" and 3 - 4 were labeled "Insufficient." "Insufficient" is like Fail, I suppose, but I have to laugh that someone would give a 3-year-old failing grades. Now let's see... She received "Insufficient" marks in the following skills:
- The Skink will match primary colors "red, blue, green, yellow" after sorting has been demonstrated by an adult, 3 out of 5 times by 3/15/2011.
- The Skink will walk throughout a crowded classroom with no more than 2 falls each day while maneuvering around objects in her path by 3/15/2011. (Really?? She's not allowed to fall more than 2ce a day... and someone is going to watch her for the purpose of counting her falls??)
AND... much to my artistic chagrin, she apparently "failed" in the "purposeful" scribbling with crayons department - LOL!

I'm really not worried... I'll bet by the time she goes to college she'll know how to draw with crayons and walk through a crowded room without falling.

In light of The Skink's grades, she got to accompany us to IHOP, where she asked for, "Bacon, pancake, egg!" She devoured her entire meal as did big sister Iraq. Broadway was not excluded from the dinner, of course... he ordered steak!

I should also mention that I haven't killed Iraq's garden yet. I have discovered that peas don't like a lot of direct sunlight or heat, so they are now residing on the shady front porch. Our strawberry plant has a flower, and we're growing some of our tomatoes upside-down just for the heck of it! To avoid pests (and hopefully the use of pesticides) we are growing a number of veggies in containers, but we did put the cantaloupe plants, lettuce plants and some of the great number of tomatoes that sprouted, in the ground.

Here are some pics of a few of the things we've had "growing on" lately.

Peas:

Strawberries:

Upside-down tomatoes:

So... we'll see what happens. I'm just hoping we get a few edible tomatoes and veggies for Iraq to feel proud of.

Have a great day!!

Garden Update!

So far, the garden has proved to be a good think for Iraq! She has remembered to water her plants each day, and today we thinned out some of our over-planted cups and replanted some of the sprouting plants into other cups.

If all of these plants survive, we'll have a far bigger garden than I anticipated! Beware, Virginia friends! You may be receiving care packages of fresh veggies...

Then again, there is still plenty of time for me to kill them - LOL! I'm just amazed the seeds have gotten this far considering I'm the one overseeing the little gardener.

Just look at them grow!!

 

And a nice cucumber close-up...

  

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