Breakfast

I find breakfast to be a highly frustrating situation.  It's usually the first decision I have to make for the day.  I do not relish early morning decision-making nor do I relish having to make a meal so soon after rising.  I need time to ponder these things as I am not so much a meal-planning-out kind of girl.  I am more of a "have a general direction I'd like to head and see what happens" kind of girl.  So this early morning scene were I must be reminded of the consequences of being a poor planner and a non-morning person I find rather aggrivating and not at all a pleasant way to begin the day.

I remember those commercials from my childhood for cereal where the announcer told you that the cereal they were advertising was part of a well-balanced breakfast and then they showed you a glass of orange juice and a small plate with a slice of white bread, toasted, with a pat of butter on top and maybe a banana or some other pedestrian piece of fruit surrounding the bowl of cereal.  The implication was "You idiot, no one is asking you to pour a bowl and cereal and think you've made breakfast.  Didn't you hear us--PART OF a well-balanced breakfast." But who lays out a spread like that?  The whole point of cereal is the one-dish preparation. 

So we eat cereal several times a week.  It's my way of keeping the expectations in check around here.  If I scrambled you eggs or made you breakfast cookies yesterday, do not come into the kitchen with a quizzical look on your face wondering what delicacy awaits you this bright morning.  You know.  Are you about to go hoe a field or break some colts? I thought not. So this bowl of wet sweet wheat and/or corn will do you just fine.

I spent the better portion of my life unable to touch wet food.  I have texture issues, many of which linger.  But I've had to get over this one.  I am forced to reach into the disposal to retrieve some utensil or misplaced toy almost daily so I've had to overcome my hesitancy and stifle my gag reflex.  There are still times when I use tongs to probe the nether regions of the disposal but if I can see what I'm going for, I can voluntarily cause my mind to black out for a few seconds and go after the lost item.

Cereal is wet food.  There are not many dishes in which one pours a liquid over something perfectly dry.  And then the race is on.  Because while I can now touch food in the sink that may be wet, I cannot in good conscience eat soggy food.  Incidentally, I can't listen to people eat crunchy food either.  I pour my children's cereal and I walk away.  I urge them to eat it quickly because the soggy cereal fate will soon be theirs if they fail to make haste.  But I can't hang around to offer more direction than that. Because the crunching.  No, say I, to the crunching.

So before 8:00 in the morning, I have to face a decision AND a task AND my psychological issues AND self-doubt AND the crushing reality of the disappointment that accompanies unmet expectations I have of myself as a home manager, mother, and wife.  Not to mention the looming fear of not kick-starting my already less-than-illustrious metabolism by not eating soon enough after waking.  Are you kidding me? 

And doing all this only raises more questions than it answers.  The first of which, of course, is what's for lunch?

Just reminiscing about hanging out with our good friends, John Paul and Joy.

Man that was an amazing show.

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Bi-annual update 2012

We are about to embark on our first official year of homeschooling.  I like to think I've been homeschooling since February 7, 2007 but in the sense that we will have an actual curriculum and will actually (somewhat) be following it, I guess this is technically the beginning of that. 

Dressing up is a big thing at out house right now.  At any given moment, you may meet Spiderman, Thor, Captain America, Darth Vadar, Luke Skywalker, a fireman, Thomas the Train, a cowboy, or any combination thereof.  Asher and Jude do not like to commit to just one identity so they usually combine several items to create a new superhero that fits their current mood.  Now would be a great time to insert a picture of that.  Alas.

Simeon is very loquacious these days.  He has mastered the phrases "I don't want to" and "NO!" which has not gone well for him.  He has yet to be convinced that throwing a fit is not an acceptable way to deal with disappointment so we have quite a few "discussions" throughout the day in which I persuade him to change his flawed thinking.  I carry a wooden spoon everywhere I go...you know... in case I need to stir something. 

But as challenging as he is at newly two, he is equally as charming.  Those eyes that won me over the very first time I saw them still have their power over me.  He is hilarious and loves to make us all laugh.  This is why we crack down on the discipline.  Anybody with this much personality better learn some self-control early on.  He likes to grin and give the double thumbs up whenever he likes something.  He pronounces coffee "fahkee" which causes my to giggle every time I hear it.  He is Asher's shadow and Jude's accomplice.  He can count to 11 or 12 and then he takes a little creative license.  He loves singing "I cast all my cares upon you" and "Holy Holy Holy."  His favorite food is guacamole.  Incidentally, he pronounces it "holy" so I think that might be what he thinks that hymn is about. 

Jude just turned 4.  He and Asher both are enamored with Legos!  We took a little trip to LegoLand Discovery Center in Dallas to celebrate Jude's birthday.  It really is fascinating to me how boys just take to Legos so naturally.  I know not all boys get into them, but the idea of putting together all those tiny pieces just to take them apart again does not appeal to me at all, not has it ever.  But these boys will sit for hours and build things and then act our scenes with them and then break them apart and star over again the next day. 

I'm starting to feel more and more outnumbered here as the only female in the house.  Don't get me wrong, it's good to be queen, but between the light saber fights and legos and general tom-foolery that goes on around here, it is clear I am in uncharted territory.  Not that I was an overly girly-girl, but my experience with baby dolls and kitchen sets did not prepare me for the testosterone fest I find myself attending every day.

Asher is 5 AND A HALF.  He is definitely the leader of the brother pack.  All 3 boys get along pretty well and are quick to forgive and forget.  This is one of the many reasons I love having all boys.  Very little drama.  You hit me.  I hit you back.  Mom gets onto us both.  We apologize.  Life goes on.  Feelings don't get hurt often and when they do, they are quickly mended.  The down side to all boy land is that it is constant activity ALL THE TIME.  There are no quiet tea parties or gentle games.  It is full throttle or they're asleep.  I hear "Wow, you must be busy" basically anytime I leave the house.  Ya think? Now go take my cart back for me.

When I tell Jude that we will do something later or go somewhere later, he asks me, "Will you remember that in your heart?"  Not sure where that came from but it's his way or ensuring I do not make empty promises.  He also recently gave up his lovey.  That precious, nasty piece of cloth that he has had with him for the better part of 4 years is no longer his constant companion because, you see, 4 year olds do not have loveys.  At least 4 year olds who suck their thumbs anytime the lovey is in their hands don't.  So in order to minimize the orthodontic damage, he gifted his beloved lovey to Miss Iris Wimberly, a newborn friend.  It eased the pain knowing that Baby Iris will take good care of it for him.

Asher and Jude have learned how to swim this summer.  They are both able to swim underwater for short distances and Asher has started to get the hang of coming up for breath and using his arms more.  They are all perfectly at ease in the water and I really hope they are ready for swim team next summer mainly because it sounds like it will tire them out and not much does.  Simeon loves being in the pool too and is not quite convinced that he can't swim.  We've had a lot of fun this summer in the water.  It's fun for me to see them take to swimming so nicely because I grew up swimming almost every day at our local YMCA.  Safety breaks, chlorine-scented hair, eating snacks with wet, pruny fingers in a lounge chair.  Simple pleasures.