Frivolous Fall Facts about Four Funky Kids.

Mikailey - Fifth grade is not a great year for an 8 year old girl. The older girls are getting hormones - Mikailey obviously is not. The bus stop and recess are not fun for her this year. Clothing is a big issue. She feels pressured to conform to the "dress code" but has maintaned her sense of self and still wears her "Hug a Tree," "The bright side is GREEN," and the more light hearted "Conserve water, drink chocolate milk" t-shirts, which are decidedly un-cool in 5th grade. She has developed a passion for green energy and thinks she might want to pursue a career in green technology ever since becoming passionate about politics and the Obama campaign. (She also wants to work for a government agency such as the NSA, or CIA or become a politician, become an artist, musician, forensic scientist, and spa owner. I'm sure she can do anything she wants, but not sure she can do *everything* all at once). She recently discovered the other 5th graders aren't especially interested in politics and was upset. She also read both the "Time Kids" issues on Obama and McCain, and decided to rip up the McCain one once she was done with it:-) I thought this was pretty funny. She watched every minute of the Presidential and Vice Presidential debates, which we recorded for her because we wouldn't let her stay up that late on school nights. She began playing the clarinet with the 5th grade band. So far she's terrible, and we live in a small home so it is loud. I hope she gets better because she likes it! She wants to take art lessons but we can't currently afford them. She is actively searching the internet to decide on which magnet schools she wants to apply to next year.

Jordan - He began yet another school program this year. He's not thrilled but it's OK. We don't know what to do with him now and don't know what to do for him next year. That never seems to change! Because he didn't attend 5th grade, he was not able to begin playing an instrument with the school band and so could not take band classes at any other school without prior school experience or private teaching, which we could not afford. This has always disappointed him. When Mikailey got the clarinet, he decided to spend $80 and buy himself and Ocarina. "What is an Ocarina ?"you may ask if you are as musically ignorant as me, which you probably aren't. It turns out that it is one of the oldest instruments in existence, and was very popular in China 14,000 years ago. It is a clay whistle type instrument that plays sounds that he described as "so zen" before he even knew the history of the instrument. He chose a 12 hole tenor Ocarina, which is more difficult than the ones with fewer holes, but not for beginners like the ones with fewer holes. Upon doing research, I found that one can become a famous Ocarina player in an orchestra. I am clueless about music, but I have never seen an Ocarnia section in an orchestra. What's better, it is the instrument used to play the music in the video game "The Legend Of Zelda." He never learned how to properly read music etc. but has decided to teach himself and is finding himself online lessons. He is learning to play both Zelda songs and more ancient and traditionally Chinese songs and he's doing pretty well with teaching himself. Here is a YouTube video of kid playing part of the Zelda "Song of Time" on the same type of Ocarinia Jord has http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nad5AJaIcBI What I find even more odd than his sudden interest in Ocarina playing, is that one can make an Ocarina out of a carrot. Yes, a carrot. Clay works better but apparently you can play a carrot for a day or so. I assume the carrot rots eventually? There is a whole group of people really in to this instrument I've never heard of and I have no idea where Jordan found out about it. But it's cool. For whatever reason, listening to the Ocarina is less annoying than listening to the clarinet, both now being played constantly by beginners in our home. The Ocarina is very "zen" as Jordan said, and somehow soothing even if it isn't played exactly right. The clarinet is much louder and can make some pretty ear piercing sounds. And Jordan is still wearing distintly Jordan clothing to school like Mikailey- tie-dyes, shirts with silly sayings, etc. I think he's the only kid around with a t-shirt with a math forumla for the circumference of a circle and slices of pie on it, lol. I can't type the characters for in here but it says, "2 Pi r better than 1" with a picure of two slices of pie. Again, this is not cool in 8th grade where name brands rule the world. He's also studying a college cryptography text book he found at a tag sale for 50 cents, and according to his mentor is not out-dated so that's cool. He was in a summer program that allowed him to earn money toward Friday tag sale shopping and he brought home the oddest things. The $80 cryptography text book, which was signed by the author, for only 50 cents was his favorite "find" though. These two kids definitely don't fit any mold, but I prefer it that way.

Abby - Abby has made wonderful progress and is talking up a storm. However, she displays none of her troubling behavior at school. She saves all of the self-stimulating, mushing food, head banging, and spinning for home after each long day of keeping it together at school. She's starting to use the potty, but not consistently. However, each pee in the potty is a little savings in our pocket so I am thrilled:-) I think the Montessori School she is attending with Noah and a friend's child is the perfect choice for her. The calmness of it all seems to bring out the best in her. Shopping, and now dressing her for school is impossible because she is a bit round for her height. She won't wear jeans or anything scratchy, and all of her pants are too long in order to fit around her belly. Girl clothes all seem to be small cut and "slutty" even for toddlers, and t-shirts for girls found at normal stores have sayings I find obnoxious such as "Where is my tiara?," "Princess in training" and other stupid things that are all superficial. Boys clothes are definitely easier to shop for. Socks are a constant battle, but at least she's not stripping naked at school. At home I believe she would win a contest for the fastest stripping three year old. Nakedness and not being potty trained don't mix well - just a tid bit of information. The most important update on the Abbster, Crabby Abby, or Abby Dabby Doo (depending on her mood) is that it is amazing to watch my baby come out of her own world and enter ours. I can't explain what it is like to hear my daughter finally communicate with me, to finally hear what is going on inside her little head. I've always known her because she is my baby, but I am getting to know all the parts she couldn't communicate before, so in many ways I am being re-introduced to my own child. Now that she can often ( but definitely not close to always) say why she is or was screaming or freaking out, or just give me a clue, I'm getting to understand her much better. When a child on the autistic spectrum freaks out and you can't find a pattern or trigger, it's all guessing. Just a little more information, and I feel like I can meet her needs so much better now. She along with Noah picked out twin monkey costumes for Halloween.

Noah - Noah is also enjoying pre-school very much and thriving in the environment. I also think that having them seperated for the first time is great for both twins, but especially for Noah because Abby's special needs have always seemed to overshadow him in environments where they are placed together. He's coming in to his own little personality. He loves the "responsibility" of washing windows, polishing tables, folding napkins and helping to care for the class pets. He doesn't know he's learning. To him it's all play. But today when he refused to nap, I listened to him singing and counting to 100 and then sing his abc's, that apple starts with A, etc. He was really just trying to wake Abby up, who DID take her nap, and was singing for her. He's asking me what letter every word starts with and is starting to sight read simple words. I hope it's just the school and he's not gifted, or at least not gifted enough to cause any issues. His medical condition is still un-diagnosed, he still can't potty train because of it, and he's still a tiny peanut. I am anxiously awaiting answers from the specialists at the Children's Hospital. Finally, like all of my kids, this little monkey is also quite quirky. At home he jumps on the trampoline like a maniac, he climbs over everything, he balances on things etc. If I go to the bathroom, he can easily climb up on the counter despite being as short as an average 17 month old, and then get in to the top cabinets. He climbs up his dressor, which is of course anchored to the wall. He's actually quite coordinated, and high energy, so he reminds me of Mikailey in many ways. (Jordan and Abby are not coordinated at all!). However, he seems to hate any movement that is beyond his control. I didn't make the connection at first because he's such a monkey/daredevil. But when we tried to take him swimming this summer he freaked out and screamed as if we were trying to kill him in deep water, despite us holding him. He said it was "too wet" but at the same time he enjoyed the baby pool where he could control what he was doing. I took him on the swings, and he also burst in to terrified tears. The swing was, according to him, "too swingy." He has since told me that he does not like the slide at Center road school because it is "too slidey" or the see-saw type thing because it is "too tippy" and at gym class at each school they have tricycles for the children to ride. I've been told that they haven't yet seen a child so scared of a ticycle. He acts as if it might kill him and cries when asked to try, so now he just watches. The tricycles are... what else? "Too rolley" of course. I dunno? Go figure. He is also obsessed with vehicles and has taken to watching those Discovery Channel shows where they feature the big "mega-excavators"and such. I wonder if it's as bad to let him watch the Discovery Channel as cartoons? He's memorized the name of every type of construction vehicle since bridge construction began this summer at the end of our driveway. Abby has to cover her ears and close her eyes because the noises are too much for her, but she goes willingly to visit the trucks anyway because of her love for Noah. Sometimes watching twins is so cute (other times it's well... not so cute. They are plotting to take over the world just so you know.) The truck drivers all wave to Noah (and Abby whose eyes and ears are closed), and the garbage man waits for him, or at least did before Noah stated school, because Noah LOVED watching the garbage truck. The garbage man said he waited for Noah because none of his other costumers clapped for him and jumped up and down with excitement as their garbage was hauled in to the truck:-)

My kids are goof balls. I love how different and unique they all are. I love how they all show their individual personalities and have strong preferences, and now that Abby has joined the club of verbal kiddos, it's even more of a blessing to have 4 very individual and quirky kids who I get the privilege of raising and watch grow in to independant adults. I didn't know what else to write about because I have no life outside of the kids, but wanted to update the blog. For anybody else, this information will be boring, but hey, it's more interesting to me than laundry. If you find this too boring to bare, I will gladly update the blog about how our washing machine always eats socks. It really does. Maybe this is one Mikailey's new "green" inventions - a sock powered washing machine meant to save electricity:-)

Einstein Head, and Jump

I have nothing much to say tonight, but as I was looking through some pictures I found one in particular I just had to post. We got a trampoline for Mikailey on her birthday, really more as a family gift, but hey, it made a big impression for her birthday because it's a BIG trampoline.

Anyway, this is what a long haired hippy boy + a dry day + static electricity does to hair when a kid rubs his head on the mat of the trampoline and then jumps. Cool, eh?

This is Mikailey jumping in her very appropriate frog sleeper the night we finished putting the monster together back in April. She had to give it a few test jumps even though it was way past bed time on a school night, of course:-)

And a few of the twinkies on their third birthday. I was about to call them the babies as we always have, but now that they are three, and not even toddlers but PRE-SCHOOLERS (oh my GOD, where has the time gone?) I guess that's not appropriate. Anyway, here they are flying around at 100 mph. I love the trampoline with it's huge netted enclosure - it's like an oversized playpen:-) I can just sit in the chair and I swear if I didn't drag them out they'd never run out of energy - little Energizer bunnies going "boing, boing, boing, boing" non-stop. Normally when we are outside they are going 100 mph but in opposite directions, so the whole bouncing in a restricted area thing is a big hit with me, plus we just put a sprinkler under it, in the wall, or add some water balloons and poof, instant summer fun in a place they can't escape. Anyway, here are the pics:-)

Super Powered Cheesy Ice Cream

OK OK it's not ice cream, but it's cool and decidedly unhealthy. I will admit to the (very limited) public audience who reads this blog that I have a secret, long term, special affection for cheese in a can. Yes, I eat "cheese product" that squirts out of a can and I like it. How could anybody not love cheese that SQUIRTS from a nifty little can and allows you to draw random pictures on your crackers when you're bored? I'm not going to a support group to stop this addiction - I fully intend to stay addicted to spray cheese. Tonight Chris and I were bored and had the bright idea of putting Easy Cheese in Bugles (those little corn chip snacks, also definitely unhealthy) instead of on crackers, and make little cheesy ice cream cones. He's getting better with his new photography hobby and with a little help from photoshop, managed to get all the background out neatly (the background was my stained by feeding the twins their dinner sweat pants, so you can see the need to get rid of it, lol). Unfortunately we again got bored and forgot to have me hold it from the top and take a picture of the bottom of the Bugle/cone (where I was holding it) so he could photoshop the bottom of the cone on and create and entire cheesy ice cream cone. That's probably a good thing... I've heard that couples who spend too much time taking pictures of food products have a higher divorce rate (? ? yeah I made that up but it could be true... and oh wait, we're not married so I guess that doesn't apply) Anyway.... here's a cheesy cone... have one, they are good, I promise:-)

Same Whale, Different Day

Yeah, I'm cranky and wanted to name that "same shit, different day" but I put on my smile and we took the kids to the Mystic Aquarium. First let me gripe. How the heck does that tiny aquarium get away with charging $28 for adult admission? This is NOT the Boston or Baltimore Aquarium (worth every penny) and sooo not Sea World (also worth every expensive penny). They don't have dolphins anymore. What the heck? Last time we went they *did* have dolphins and a show, but unfortunately the dolphins were dumb... OK, they weren't dumb, but they were "in the process of training" ... guess they never got trained because they weren't there anymore, lol. Last time we sat for the dolphin show, and I must admit it was amusing *not* because the dolphins were amazing and did super jumps through hoops like the ones at big aquariums, but because they didn't listen at all, which is probably better for the dolphins and pretty funny to watch . The show had us cracking up at least, not in amazement of their wonderful tricks, but just because those un-trained dolphins were cool and funny, and certainly had minds of their own. They would ask a dolphin to go through a hoop and instead it would swim away and go over and soak the audience on purpose with a good splash, which it thought was funny (I don't speak dolphin, but I know it thought it was funny, and it was), then go try to get it's reward fish anyway for *not* jumping through the hoop, and have a little dolphin tantrum when it didn't get that fish... then it would randomly do high jumps or just grab the hoop and swim away with it. Instead of fetching the balls and bringing them back, the dolphins would play ball with each other, and actually accidentaly flipped it in to the audience. They did some cool stuff... but it was their own cool stuff, certainly not "trained dolphin" stuff. I liked those "dumb" dolphins... refusing to jump through hoops and then hopping through them when they weren't supposed to, or just taking the hoop and bringing it for a swim. (That's of course what I want to do when I'm supposed to jump through hoops in life, so you can see why I liked those dolphins!l) At any rate they are gone and there was some "sea lion training session" show we missed. I doubt we missed much. The place is tiny and you have to go around it three times to make an afternoon out of it.

OK, now that I'm done with my whining about the stupid little aquarium's prices and lack of dolphins, I will share the good parts. The twinkies were *thrilled* beyond belief to see all the fish - especiallly the brightly colored rainbow fish, sea lions, the deadly blue frogs (you wanna confuse a two year old show them a BLUE frog:-) and of course, the same old whale. (They haven't been to Sea World for comparison, and they didn't pay... they just had a blast). Their excitement was infectious and I had a good time despite myself. It wasn't too hot or too cold, they pretty much all behaved, and well... we managed to do *something* with all 6 of us which isn't easy. There just aren't too many things that appeal to all the kids - an 11 year old, a 7 year old, and 2 year olds (one autistic) - and the aquarium fit. I WANT to go to Disney, which also is a fun time for people of all ages, but we're just dreaming about that and saving for someday... it always gets put off by all those pesky bills.

Anyway, here's the last time we visited the old whale:

And here is the same whale on Saturday:



The whale is pretty darn cool, I have to admit. It swims around in circles, and *always* goes right by the window to say "hi" to the visitors. The poor thing has probably been swimming the same small circle for God knows how many years, because as far back as I can remember that small whale has always been swimming in that small tank (can you say "Save Willy"?.. although I don't know this particular whale's name). Anyway, if you knock on the tank, the whale swims by and says "hi" which the kids love. Not sure how much the whale loves it, but I've got bigger things in life to worry about.

Now on to other pictures. We got a super high speed camera (my digital just takes forever to snap a second picture after the first). This new gadget, given to Chris by a good friend, can snap more than 60 pictures in a minute. We have NOT EVER gotten a single picture with all four kids even looking at the camera at once, let alone smiling, and we thought *maybe, just maybe* if we had a camera fast enough, we might be able to catch one of those pictures. No joke, this camera took seven HUNDRED pictures of the kids in front of this blue photo wall the aquarium has... yes, 700... and nope, not one with all looking and smiling... we shall try again later... or just photoshop them together and pretend we finally got one. At least the kids got new tye-dyes out of the deal... gotta love the tye-dye




And then, about 45 seconds later... the twins decided to ditch the whole posing for pictures idea and make a run for it :-)


And just for fun, here was our other pathetic attempt at a "kids all smiling together" picture near a different area. We got about 400 of these... but no group smiles. I think Abby dug something good out of her nose though, so she was happy

Frogs and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails..... Oh Wait, for us that's "Camps and Slugs and Potty Tales"

Camps

OK, let's start with camps. Jordan went to the three week residential camp he won a huge scholarship for, but was only there for a week. I won't get in to the depressing details, but anyway, he was happy in his first day pictures. Mikailey just finished her Excursions in Learning day camp at MCC and had a blast learning about ancient Egypt and "Math that Isn't" ( as opposed to, uh, math that IS of course, right?) She came home with a pretty cool mummy from the Egypt class today!

Jordan getting dropped off (OK, I want to pout a little... I wish some things were easier for him even though he's lucky in so many ways)


Ms. Mikailey, always a happy (and hyper) camper
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SLUGS

Our garden became infested with slugs!!! They were all creeping on to our sidewalk and deck and the side of our house every wet night and it was just really skeevy. Most were normal sized, but some were as long as a pencil, like nasty, slimy, little, goopy, oozing snakes. eeeew. We started by just plucking them and putting them somewhere else (OK, I won't lie... it wasn't a nice "somewhere else," like a slug utopia, it was the sewer at the end of the driveway). I read on the internet that the easiest way to kill them is to leave out a pie plate of beer. I guess they are attracted to the smell and then drown themselves in it - it's probably not a bad way to go, as far as drowning goes. That worked, and there were like 100 in our pie plate after one night, but there were too many to catch with beer, unless we wanted to like buy a keg and a million pie plates (ya think the neighbors would think that's weird?) ... plus, why should the slugs get to stay up drinking beer on a school night? Chris eventually bought stuff to get rid of them and our house, deck and garden are no longer crawling with nasty shell-less overgrown snails at night. Anyway, Mikailey being the bug and creature lover she is, had quite a ball slug collecting at night with a flashlight. Not sure that's an activity most kids would beg for, but hey, we're a weird family!

Big gloves and lots of slugs ....she collected about 100 that night in her oversized rubber gloves.

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Potty Time

First of all, this text would be more appropriate in yellow or brown, but those colors aren't fun to read and we didn't accomplish any yellow or brown in the potty anyway. The twinkies are starting to show signs of being ready to potty train, like announcing when they are going to poop or demanding a new diaper immediately, but I guess they're not quite ready yet. I WANT them to be ready so badly! I wonder how many diapers I've changed in my life? The constant diaper cost is one thing I won't miss about their baby days! I realize now that I should have shelled out the cash for the spiffy pottys instead of the $9,99 ones at Wal-mart. Why, you ask? Because they come apart waaaay to easily, and they are nearly impossible to snap back together. I'm not buying new ones, so the cheesy pottys will have to do. Anyway, the end result of our first potty experience ...... after a little sitting, and a lot of playing and exploring, they BOTH peed on the rug:-)

All ready to go... we've got shiney cheap new pottys and fun little undies!!!
Hmmmm, but taking it apart is SO much more fun than sitting on that strange chair, Mom! (If you're wondering... that weird white mark in the air isn't the camera doing something funky, it's a piece of a wipe being thrown by Abby as I took this picture) Look Ma, I took my potty apart too!!! Hey Noah, what was it we were supposed to be doing with these things?

These diapers are complicated!!! I'm DONE pottying on the floor, put this diaper back on for me please!!

It makes a much better hat anyway, don't ya think??

Happy Feet

I'm not usually one to splurge on items that I think are obnoxiously over-priced, but I couldn't resist these back to school sneakers for Mikailey. C'mon, anybody, I dare you to try to tell me that these aren't the happiest shoes in town:-) Rainbow shoes, rainbow shoes, rainbow shoes!!! Who wouldn't have a great first day of school in rainbow shoes... in fact shouldn't these happy feet make the whole world better? I don't think Mikailey was as impressed with them as I am, although she likes them, but I want a pair of my OWN and they didn't have any in my size so I'm living vicariously through her. Don't you think they'd go perfectly with my rainbow ankle tattoo... should I tattoo Mikailey to match her shoes?
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As an aside, I got hit on by a receptionist at the Dr.'s office yesterday. She assumed I was gay because of my ankle (actually her exact words were "I thought your rainbow tattoo had special significance"). I'm starting to think it's like false advertising or something. But hey, it's NICE to get hit on by anyone when I feel like such a lump these days.... but for my whole life I've always been hit on by more women than I've EVER gotten hit on by men. More proof that my gaydar is off I guess? Oh well, I'm allowed to love the rainbow (and it's special significance for my friends) too right?

Happy Campers

Mikailey settling in to her cabin on another campers bed- she was one of the first to arrive and got a "prime location" according to the counselor, which means she's next to two windows. She wanted the top of a bunkbed, but we heard those don't get good breezes, so we talked her in to the two window bed!

On her way to her cabin, looking a little confused, but excited

Yeah, we didn't send Noah off to camp, but he's always a happy camper on his car - I think he's going to be a truck driver or a professional car racer:-) Notice his unwieldy hair.... I love it!
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Today we sent Ms. Mikailey off for her first overnight camping experience. She was very excited, especially since she got to go at age 7 whereas Jordan's first overnight camping experience was at 9, and she always likes to "beat" him:-) They've got some serious sibling rivalry going on lately. Anyway, of course I think I'm much more worried than her!!!!! Will she get homesick? Will she crack her head open like Jord did at camp? Will she be scared at night? Probably none of these things... but I'm a worry wart about my little girl and this is the longest I've ever been away from her! She'll probably just come home with some bug bites and a big grin! I hope she has a blast and remembers this as a great experience. I still remember going to camp as a kid and how much fun it was. I always notice that she seems like a pipsqueak compared to the other kids her age, which makes her seem younger than she is, and she always looks disheveled, lol. It's hard to imaine her in 4th grade next year! My baby girl is growing up,

Kid Convention

Jordan and friends (yey!!)
Preparing for a lecture at the university

Lots of nasty microbes live in the Mississippi river - that's my professional scientific opinion after looking at the squirmy living things under the microspope
My little scientist

Please Mikailey... don't break anything expensive!!

If you want to know why Jord has that scared look on his face while examining his specimen under the microscope, you'll have to ask him what grew in his petri dish after he swabbed the keyboard of the public use computer in the hotel lobby (yucky... you might want to wash your hands after using public computers!!)

Hanger sculptures are good... although hotel staff don't like them so much:-)

We're back from the kiddo convention:-) We just got back from the educational convention in Minneapolis, and I thought I'd be all rested and relaxed after my very first time away from the twins, but I'm exhausted!! The whole thing was fun. I got to catch up with friends and meet some new ones from across the country that I've only known online until now, and the kids got to hang out with old friends and make some new ones. Of course the whole educational component was very exciting for the kids as well - what could be more fun than nanotechnology, microbiology, forensic science, geometry with zome toys, neuroscience, etc. etc. ? Mikailey got to hold a real human brain, which I have to admit is pretty cool. I wasn't in the class with her so didn't get a picture.... but that's something I've never done and not something many 7 year olds can say they did on their last vacation:-) Jordan was pretty excited about working in a lab with real doctors, and even better, the creator of a very popular computer game called World of Warcraft. I didn't get many pictures during the classes offered at the hotel because the schedule was pretty tight and I was running around the whole time, but I snapped a few at the university.

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I have to say the most amusing part of the trip for me, however, was watching about 600 kids along with their siblings and family members completely take over a really nice hotel. Gifted or not, they are still kids. At any given time there were about 30 kids going up the down escalator or down the up one, the 100 person capacity pool was full with at least 300 kids, and the halls, lobby, and all open floor spaces were full of kids running around, playing games and having a blast. There were about 30 convention rooms in the hotel, all used by our group, and since the hotel was in Minnesota where it is often -40 degrees in the winter, there were massive coat racks outside each conference room. Since it isn't coat season, there were just a million hangers on racks. I'm easy to amuse:-) The coat racks were continuously turning in to different hanger sculptures all over the hotel. The staff would get annoyed, huff and puff, and hang the hangers up right again, and each time, by the time they were done, kids had already sculpted another coat rack in a different location. Hanger sculptures are good:-) This went on for four days. OK so it's silly, but I found this more entertaining than the microbes.

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Anyway, now that we're back and I'm ready for a loooong night of sleep without Mikailey in a double sized hotel bed with me!!