More Choclo

"Can I have a priest shirt?" Choclo asked me.


Priest shirt? 

No, as it turned out, he meant a chasuble, the shirt like, cloak like vestment a priest wears to say Mass.

Well, that's a lot easier on my limited sewing skills!

I just took a piece of fabric, folded it in quarters and cut it into a big oval (an arc along the outer edge of the folded fabric). 

I then cut the folded corner for the hole in the middle.   That was it! 

Except he decided he wanted another color...  and the purple one was too short (but the right size for Oob), so I made another longer one in red.

If they play with them a lot, I'll take the trouble to hem the edges, but if not, the raw edges will be fine.   

Actually, if they really use them, I'll probably sew them back to back so that it will be reversible and I won't have to worry about how to hem the tricky parts. 

This trick may only work if you have heaps of fabric lying around because people give you fabric even though you really can't sew...

Passion Flowers!

I planted this vine at least five and  as many as seven years ago, and it has never flowered before!

It covers an arbor on the side of the carport between Mxyl and Zorg's gardens.  It gets a fair amount of shade from our  silver maple, so I was never sure if it didn't bloom because it wasn't getting enough light, if it took ten years to mature, or for some other reason.

Now I know!

This is the first year that the cold has not killed the vine back to the ground over the winter, so I am presuming it must flower on second year growth.  I think next winter, I will see if I can protect it somehow.

I've always loved passion flowers, both for their alien beauty and for their symbolism, but I had given up on ever getting any to bloom in my yard!

I wonder if I will get any fruit...

Happy Birthday, Choclo!

He wanted a "Split Face" cake.

This is Split Face.

This is the cake.

One side is chocolate cake with cherry frosting, the other is cherry cake with chocolate frosting.  This turned out to be a terrible idea because when you asked each child which side they wanted, they would answer either chocolate or cherry... which helped not at all!

But it was delicious!

He also wanted a parade for some reason.  It was a muggy 90 degrees, so we all (family and friends) marched around the house singing Happy Birthday before settling down for cake and ice cream.  And chess!

Choclo loves chess, and Mxyl bought him a lovely magnetic chess board with gold and silver colored pieces.

Choclo was a very happy boy!

Happy birthday my sweet seven year old! 

Happy Memorial Day

 In the Emperor's family, they celebrate this holiday old school, in fact, they still call it Decoration Day!

That's probably because they still use this holiday to decorate.  Not their house, of course, but the graves of their loved ones!

So we carefully pick and arrange flowers.  The Emperor's Dad loved to grow roses, so we always include them - some from the bush he planted if at all possible! 

Aunt Toni loved bright colors.  I like to include rosemary in hers because I have such fond memories of her.

Then we travel, first to Fort Lincoln Cemetery, than to Arlington National Cemetery.

The Emperor's Dad and grandparents are in Arlington, not far from the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.  He was wounded in WWII, and Grandpa Frank served in WWI.  It's a bit strange for me since my own Dad is a Vietnam War vet!

We tidy up the graves, clipping any encroaching grass, washing off any dirt, and placing the flowers.


Then we pray for them, and for the rest of the souls in the cemetery, especially for  those with no one to pray for them.

The we go home, have a big cook out and swap stories about those who have gone before us.  It's a lovely tradition, and one I hope the Zoomlians carry forward.

Let me leave you with one of my favorite memories of Aunt Toni: When I first entered the family, Aunt Toni was the matriarch.  We went to her house for dinner and afterwards I offered to help with the dishes.

Well!  That was that!  She decided I walked on water and that the Emperor should marry me!  I didn't realize it at the time, but once she formed a strong opinion of someone, she kept it.  No matter what stupid things I did, she was always convinced that I had done it right!  God bless her!  She welcomed me into the family with her whole heart, and I've always been grateful that God allowed her to live to celebrate at our wedding (she had been quite ill and died the following year).

One of the really nice things about celebrating those who have gone before, is that the sorrow ebbs away, and you are left with joy.  Sometimes it's a wistful joy ( I really wish I had met the Emperor's Dad), but ultimately, even that is joy because we know we will be with them again.

Come Holy Spirit

I wanted to do something special for Pentecost, especially since Mxyl and Klenda are fairly recently confirmed. 

On the other hand, as you might expect, I didn't feel up to designing and carrying out a major project.

What I wanted was something that would show the gifts and the fruits of the Holy Spirit in a fun way, but also big and obvious enough that I would remember to talk about them.

I printed a list and I cut out a dove.

The kids made construction paper gifts and fruits.  They are all taped at the top so you can lift them up to read which gift or fruit it is!

Fun and easy peasy lemon squeezy! 

I think the lemon is joy.

Random Scholarship

Or:  What I always Dreamed Home Schooling Would be Like."

But this actually happened this week.

"I think I'd like to do a research report on the history of chocolate, "Klenda told me.

Uh, OK.

"I'd just like to know more about it." She explained.

Well, we were going to the library anyway...

Then Mxyl thought he'd like to do one on swords.  And then it was the thing to be done.  Leena wanted dolphins, Zorg wanted to learn about Napoleon.  Napoleon has proved difficult (I know, I know, tell it to Lord Wellington!) so Zorg is now thinking about mummies.

My biggest surprise came when we got to the library:  Choclo came up to me with a stack of elephant books, followed closely by Oob with a stack of shark books!

Ah, the splendid powers of peer pressure.  I want to do The Age of Fighting Sail!  But I think I need to narrow it down a bit.

Boxy

Grammy found a box turtle on her driveway!  Being the good home schooling grandma that she is, she brought it over to us.

Yes, it's a box turtle in a box.  The Zoomlians named it Boxy.

Boxy was quite beautiful, amazingly patient and not too timid.  Choclo and Oob mostly wanted to touch him.  The rest of us were interested in counting the rings on his scutes (the scale like parts of his shell), and observing his reactions to everything. 

We determined that Boxy was around 15 years old - that's a little older than Mxyl!  Wow!

It was also interesting to see how different Boxy was from the snapping turtles we have found and the painted turtles we've seen.  His shell was much more three dimensional with a beautiful "tortoise shell" pattern.  He also seemed to have a shorter neck (although it may have been retracted) and a mellower disposition.

After a fun (for us) afternoon, we sent Boxy back to wander in Grammy's garden with gifts of lettuce and strawberry.  I may have been tempted to keep a baby turtle for longer, but I felt a mature wild turtle would be quite unhappy in a box, so to speak!

Algebra Pranks

The perfect answer to the inevitable question, "Why do I need algebra?"

If the quote is not enough for them, you can try this:

I posted on the fridge that I would pay each of my children every day in dollars: X squared -19X + 90, when X= (or is greater than)$10.

They asked, "For real?"  Sure!

Then they worked it out.

Using 10 we get: 100 -190 +90= 0

Using 100 we get: 1000 - 1900 +90= -$810 

That's right, if they decide to let X= $100 dollars, they could each pay me $810. Every day.

You need algebra to survive around here!

Sad News

The sonogram showed the baby doesn't seem to be developing.  I'm at 8 weeks and the baby is only the size of six weeks.  And we didn't see a heartbeat.

I feel like God was preparing me for this in the last few days, so it's very sad but not shocking to me.  It's very hard on the kids and the Emperor, though.  Please pray for all of us.

The kids have been asking why God would do this.  Why ask us to have a baby and then take it away?

It's an important question and I think there is more than one answer.  My answer is something like this: In the light of eternity (billions of trillions of years and then some) everyone's life is short - by which I mean statistically insignificant- even if you live to 100.  That doesn't mean the life itself is insignificant.

I believe that the soul is eternal.  I believe in the resurrection of the dead (meaning that we will eventually receive our glorified bodies back).  I believe, therefore, that this precious little one is not gone, because nothing is lost with God.  In a real sense, the baby is gone from our sight, but not from our reality.  There is a new person to love and be loved (by God and by us) for all eternity.

Thank you so much for your prayers and kind wishes throughout this pregnancy.  The hope and joy you have given me also does not pass away.  I will always be grateful to you.  Please let me know if I can pray for you.

Sonogram Tomorrow

Monday morning 7:30 am and I'm going to have to face it alone (I managed to schedule it for the day of high stakes testing that the Emperor has been preparing his students for all year).  Prayers would be deeply appreciated!