Category: Groftzoo Updates

Getting the message – Late.

Better late than never, right?

A friend told me recently that she often feels like God is shining a pen-light over her shoulder showing her just where the next step is supposed to fall. Recently however, I have felt more like he was shining it behind me showing me where I was supposed to step five seconds earlier.

We started our school year on August 22. We were planning on homeschooling James, Posy and Ben, while Paisley went off to a local Catholic High School. But the week before we were to begin James was really down about being homeschooled. After a couple days of homeschooling, I told him that if it really meant a lot to him, I would call his old school and see if they had room or him and put him on the waiting list. We expected to be put at the end of a nearly infinite list. But to my surprise the secretary said that he could start in 2 DAYS!!!

So we scrambled to get him enrolled and pick up his supplies and he started that school nearly two weeks after their school year had started. But even with the prospect of lots of catch up to do, he was very happy!

So I am back to schooling Ben and Posy with Tessa listening in and playing beside us and Max eating as much paper as he can when I am not looking. It wasn’t how We had planned for the year to go, but everyone seems to be in their proper place now and is ready to move on with the school year.

Vacation!

This year instead of our usual trip to the Catholic Resource Center Conference in Anaheim, we took our escape in San Diego California at the home of Heidi C. and her family. Our first adventure was to drive five and a half hours across the desert to get there. The kids did well and even Max was very cooperative, only fussing for about a half hour or the trip when we had no where to stop. We arrived on Saturday in time for a yummy lunch put together by Heidi.

Sunday we went to mass and took brief trip tot he beach, intending to go back later on in the week for a longer beach day. As it turned out, a couple of hours of sun and sand were plenty. The air was balmy and warm. Our hosts had a nice shade structure for us to take refuge in. The kids and dads waded in the surf for a bit before engaging in some serious sandcastle building. Max was a fussy guy for a quite a while until we discovered that the reason he was mad was because he wanted to be where the action was. We took him down by the ocean and let him feel and see the waves and watch the sand castle-building and he was happy as a clam.

Monday we visited the San Diego Mission. It was so neat to see apiece of the Southwest’s Catholic history. The kids told us it was boring, but they managed to have fun anyway.
The grounds were just beautiful!

After racing around the Mission, we took all the kids bowling. It was a nice idea, but two activities in a row for two tired three year olds was a sure recipe for a meltdown less than halfway through the games.

Monday night Paisley, James, Posy and Jay left to drive up to – wherever Magic Mountain is – to go scare the bejeebers out of themselves on Tuesday. Ben, Tessa, Max, and I stayed at Heidi’s for the low key fun. While they were whirling down rollercoasters at breakneck speed, Heidi and I rambled around a mall (CHILD-FREE!!) and the kids jumped on the trampoline at home with the sprinklers on. (With a trusty babysitter of course.)

Wednesday we wandered around Balboa park a bit. The botanical gardens were especially beautiful! We relaxed in the grass while the kids ran amuck.

Thursday was our Big Day. We packed up a lunch and went to Sea World. Jay says that Sea World is much more the Happiest Place on Earth than Disneyland… Sea World serves Beer.

We went to lots of shows and attractions, including two of the Shamoo shows. Max was put off by the crowd noise. He seems to be sensitive to that. We even were able to feed the dolphins, which was the highlight of the trip for me.

Friday we sadly said goodbye to our friends and headed back across the desert back home. But there was a surprise waiting for us there!

Tessa the swim star

After two weeks of swimming lessons with AquaTots, Tessa is able to swim as far as she can hold her breath. She knows how to use her arms, kick her legs, and even jump off the side. It of course goes without saying that she is ALWAYS supervised in the water and knows that the first safety rule is not to go into the pool area without a grown up. She had one lesson where she blatantly said, “No” to every request of her teacher’s. But after a little talking to, she was back on track and moving in the right direction.

Max is creeping

Yesterday he went from just trying to “fly” (laying on belly waving arms and legs around) to being able to dig his toes into the bed and get where he wanted to go. It is still a clumsy creep, just kind of random in movement, but I am sure that won’t last long. He is so funny to watch. He gets up on his hands and knees and rocks, sometimes his legs slip and he moves backwards, sometimes he can propel himself forwards, but then he is stuck on top of his arms. So he has to roll this way and that to get his arms free. Then he might pull with his elbows before going back to getting up on hands and knees again.

When he finally reaches his destination, he is so giddy he can hardly grab the target: THE TV REMOTE.

(No mere TOY is worth all that trouble yet…)

Just Chugging Along

113 today and it feels every single degree of it! But who am I to complain, sitting inside here in the nice cool air conditioning? Feels pretty good right here.

Things are coming together here. Pictures going up on the wall, cable and internet finally up and running consistently, and… bridges have been burned. (What, more burning?) Nah. Yesterday I made the phone calls to remove Posy, Ben and James from school. Back to homeschooling for them! It should be interesting to get back into the swing of things.

There is finally a Catholic Homeschool Conference here though! I can’t wait to go to that!

Max started solids recently and we discovered that he is allergic to oats, and he has probably been reacting to oats and possibly other foods through my milk. It was the introduction of solids that made it really obvious though. So he is back to just breastmilk and I am on an elimination diet to see what he is reacting to. Today is day two… only 12 more to go before I can start reintroducing foods into my diet!

Finally an update

We have been back on line for quite a while, but I just haven’t had it in me to update around here! Slowly the house is coming together. One by one I have been dealing with the many, many boxes of MISC. turned over to us by the salvage company. (Imaging someone took all your stuff – I mean everything in your house – mixed it all up, wrapped it in paper, and put it in boxes marked “MISC.”) I have almost half the garage empty now, which is no small feat. We even have managed to get a few pictures hung up, although the kitchen is still only half painted!

Along other lines, I electrocuted myself, went on a lovely retreat with Posy, and just got back from sending Jay and Paisley to Mexico to build houses for the poor for a week. Hmm… busy. Nah, pass the bon bons! I think Jerry Springer will be on in a few minutes!

Moving Back!

Here we go! Diving into our week of insanity…

The rental house is packed up and we move out of it tomorrow, into a hotel, clean the rental house, and move back into our house on Saturday!!!

This is all very exciting and overwhelming, I can’t believe it is finally here. We still have not received much of the list of Non-salvageables. So as far as I know, we are moving into a house with mattresses and the kitchen stuff I have purchased while living in the rental.

Hmm… this is kind of like camping, but with air conditioning.

Off to pack up the computer! I estimate that I won’t be checking back in until Sunday at least.

Happier Days – Max at 4 months

I wish I could post some pictures of Max right now. (But alas, the camera is STILL broken!) He has hit that magic four month, happy baby mark. He is happy to play on the floor, practicing finding his thumb and rolling over. Soon he will learn how to grab toys and find his feet. I got him an exersaucer just the other day and he already loves being able to stand in that and look around. The world is an amazing place when you are four months old and can finally see across the room!

The other day I realized that he was at that perfect age as far as nursing goes, too. He would just get down to business and nurse to his heart’s content. He didn’t turn around and try to look around; either taking my nipple with him or leaving me exposed for all to see. He didn’t squirm much. He didn’t need much help to stay attached and get his fill. He just nursed. Ahhh. It was so nice for that whole day to realize that something was going along so easily.

But I spoke too soon. The very next day he discovered that if he pushed on the arm of whatever chair I was sitting in with his little (but very strong) legs, he could launch himself off the other end of the chair taking my nipple right with him. Um, OW. Okay, but I was gifted with the opportunity to fully enjoy blissfully easy breastfeeding for one whole day. Can I really ask for more? 😉