Wedded Bliss

March 21st 1998

14 years ago, James and I were married.  We were told there in the temple how fast it would go by.  It was hard to believe then, but it really has flown by.  

I asked the kids a few questions about marriage and this is how they responded:

Q: How long have Mommy and Daddy been married?

Logan: 40 years.

Taylor: Forty Hundred years!

Taylor: You know what's the best part of getting married?  You get to dress in fancy clothes.

Q: How old do you think Mommy was when she got married?

Logan: 14

Taylor: 12

Logan: 29

Q: How old was Daddy when he got married?

Taylor: 40

Logan: Let me think. 32

Q: Where did Mommy and Daddy get married?

Taylor: Where?

Logan: Salt Lake City Temple.  I mean Portland Temple.

Q: Do you think Mommy and Daddy have a good marriage?

Logan: Yes

Taylor: Well, do you?

Q: What makes a good marriage?

Logan: I don't know.

Taylor: Kisses

Logan: I have no clue.

Taylor: and Hugs

Q: Do you want to get married someday?

Logan: I don't know.

Taylor: Yes (nods her head)

Q: Where do you want to get married?

Taylor: Portland Temple

Logan: Oregon Temple.  The one we live closest to.

Q: How old do you think you'll be when you get married?

Logan: 25

Taylor: 30

Logan: 35

Q: Logan, what do you think the person you're going to marry will be like?  

Logan: I have no clue.  I don't want to guess.

Q: Do you think there's a little girl out there who's going to be your wife someday?

Logan: Yes

Q: Taylor, what do you think the person you're going to marry will be like?

Taylor: Strong. Handsome. And kind.

Q: Have you thought about this before?

Taylor: Yes.

Q: Do you think there's a little 5-year-old boy out there who's going to be your husband? 

Taylor: or 6-year-old.  Or if I don't find anyone like I said, I'll just marry Cade.  (The boy across the street again). 

Maybe we should discuss marriage more often in our home.

M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I

Taylor is an author.  Her first book, a non-fiction about the Mississippi River.  

That was fun, teaching Taylor to say, M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I.  She had trouble remembering how many S's to put in.  It ended up being M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I.  Whoa, there!  Not so many S's, Missy. 

So without further ado, here's her book.   

So what do you think?  I think her penmanship has improved since the first pages.  And her drawings too, for that matter.  She's having lots of fun with it.  She's been working on it for several days and is already planning her next book.  (It will be a fictional story).  

Logan even got excited and wanted to write a book of his own.  I let him pick any topic he wanted.  He chose "Weapons of War."  I'll share his book with you when he finishes it. 


Today, being Sunday, James fixed lunch after church.  This has just become our Sunday tradition.  Most of the time James won't even let me in the kitchen to help.  He tells me to go sit down.  I love it.


So today, James was fixing lunch, Taylor was setting the table and Logan was asked to empty the dishwasher.  He didn't want to and asked his dad, "Why doesn't Mom have to do anything?!?  She's just sitting on the couch looking up stuff on her iPad!"  (I happened to have just sat down and was looking up a recipe, but I guess that didn't matter to Logan).


Of course James had my back.  He reminded Logan that I'm constantly doing stuff around the house and taking care of everyone.  Thanks, Babe! 

It's also our Sunday tradition to talk about what we learned at church as we eat the nice hot meal James has made.  So I asked Taylor what she learned in Primary today and expected the same old answer of "I don't know" or "about Jesus."  Instead she says, "Some lady helped me pull my dress out of my underwear."  Oh, well, that's different.  Apparently, she'd walked all the way from the bathroom to the foyer with her dress stuck in her unders, until some lady took pity on her.  

I was baking brownies while we ate lunch and so by the time we were done eating the kitchen and dining room were smelling pretty good.  James said, "Something smells yummy and delicious."  Taylor piped up, "Me!"   You smell yummy and delicious?  

What a day!  I hope you've all had a marvelous Sunday as well.





 







 

Magical

We just finished up a fun book.  It's called Half Magic by Edward Eager.  

It's about four siblings, three girls and a boy.  They're on summer vacation, but aren't excited about it at all.  Their father had passed away when the children were younger, their mother now works full-time and their babysitter/slave driver, Miss Bick promises to keep them busy with housework instead of trips to the lake and picnics like all their school friends.  

Then they find a magical charm and their hopes of an adventurous summer begin.  They just have to figure out the "rules" of this magic charm, like the fact that it only grants half of their wish. All the while, the children have interesting, unexpected adventures in medieval Camelot and the Arab desert, as well as in their very own town. 

This book was written in 1954, so some of the terms are not used anymore or have different connotations than they had back then.   I also found out that there are several books in this series, so we're waiting for another to come into the library for us. 

My kids give it 2 thumbs up, anyway.  

Books are magical to our family.  The kids, especially Logan, love to have me read to them at night.  They lay in their beds and listen quietly.  They get excited at all the right places and laugh at the funny parts.  It's wonderful.  And even James, when I think he's studying or reading something on his own, is actually listening to the story too. 


Whenever I stop reading for the night, I'm sure to hear a chorus of, "Keep reading!  Keep reading!"  Sometimes they convince me to continue, 'cause I love reading to them as much as they love hearing a good book read to them. 
 

Once Taylor was wearing a dark brown and white striped shirt.  When James saw her, he said, "You look French.  Can you say, 'ooh la la'?"  Taylor refused, but then she went and told Logan, "Dad forced me to say, 'ooh la la' but I didn't want to 'cause I'm not French.  I'm a little bit of Spanish and a lot of English!"  

Uno, dos, tres, four!


The other day when the kids were outside playing, I heard Taylor say to Logan, "Want to race?!?  I'll let you win, if you race me!"  So they both took off running as fast as they could.  Logan won easily.  


Then I heard a surprised Taylor say, "You're really fast!  This time you have to let me win."   Sometimes taking turns winning is the only way for Taylor to keep up.  

A week or so ago, I was talking to Logan about something he'd been doing.  I think I said something about it being a talent of his.  Then Logan told me he has 7 talents.  "Well," he said, "I have more than that, but the rest haven't been unlocked yet!"

I know it's been awhile since this happened, but Logan was stung by yellow jackets last summer.  Apparently, it's still on his mind though every time he sees a bee fly by outside.  The other day, he told me he likes winter for two reasons, "First, I look good in pants, and second, all the bees and yellow jackets are dead!"  He said he wished "everyday could be winter."  

Happy Spring everyone!

Taylor's Princess/Ballerina Tea Party

Taylor had her little Tea Party the other day, on the 1st actually.  It's just taking me awhile to post about it.  I had to teach a lesson in Young Women's, in church three days after the party.  That was freaking me out for awhile.  Then I had a book club, four days after that, for a book I hadn't started yet.  So now that that's all over, I feel like I can breathe and relax a bit, I mean blog a bit.

So anyway, Taylor's little party was a great success, I think.  The girls all dressed up, twirled, ate and played.  They all got along well and had fun, so that's what I'm basing the success on.  

I was so busy twirling with and serving food to the girls that I almost forgot to take pictures.  It's a cryin' shame, I know.  So here are the few pictures I did get. 

After the girls did some twirling and prancing around the front room we had our tea party with crackers and cookies and chocolate milk.  Then they all went up to Taylor's room to play.  That's when I realized I hadn't taken any pictures.  So here's my attempt to remedy that.

Then, after all her friends had gone home, I had to give Taylor more cookies and chocolate milk so she would pose for me, as if she were having her tea party with all her friends there.

I did catch some of the twirling action though.

Taylor and her friend, taking turns showing off their ballerina skills.

"This is a twir-wal, twir-wal, twir-wal."

Taylor told me she had a good time.  She said her favorite part was the tea party.  And she has decided that we need to have a tea party every week!  

I don't think every week is necessary, but it was so low-key and easy, I think we will have to do it again sometime.  Maybe then, I'll get some decent pictures.

Logan's Eye Exam

Even before Logan split his eyebrow open, we'd had him scheduled for a basic eye exam at the optometry clinic at James' school.  So we went ahead and did that today. 

The back story of why we wanted Logan's eyes examined is this.  Logan's been a good reader, but he didn't seem to be continuing to improve much, despite lots of practice.  He loses his place often, he is easily distracted and doesn't stay on task.  He is only seven, after all.  I thought that was pretty normal for his age.  But he is also leaving out words and/or adding words into the sentences he's reading.  He also changes words, such as reading "watched" when the real word is "watching."  

I thought these were all happening because he wasn't trying hard enough or concentrating or paying attention.  I would sit next to him while he read and it seemed I was constantly correcting him and telling him to use his finger to follow the words, so he wouldn't lose his place.  

Maybe I'm not supposed to compare Logan and Taylor, but I can't help it.  Taylor seems to be able to read much more smoothly and fluidly than Logan, and she's 2 years younger than him.  They both started reading at about the same age, so Logan's had 2 more years of reading than Taylor.  

Then James was learning about Vision Therapy in school, training your eyes to work better, I guess.  Anyway, he recognized many of the symptoms in Logan's reading and behavior.  So, in order to determine if Logan needs Vision Therapy, he needed a basic eye exam to get a baseline.  

Aren't you glad I gave you that huge, long story? 

James set up the appointment for a time when he could be there too.  I'm so glad he did, seeing how he knows what's going on so much better than myself when it comes to eye exams.  

Doesn't he looked thrilled?  It's probably because I was constantly telling him to sit down, be still and pay attention.  Sometimes I feel like a broken record. 

Here he is behind the phoropter.  It's the machine that helps determine if he needs glasses and what his prescription will be if he does.  He had to look through those little lenses and try to read letters on a screen in front of him.

Turns out Logan has a slight astigmatism, but they kind of cancel each other out.  He can see 20/20, which means he sees perfectly well without needing any glasses.
 

This is the Slit Lamp.  I think she's looking at the health of his eye, at his retina, cornea and such.  Everything there is good and healthy.

That was the easy part, for me anyway.  Then they started talking about Vision Therapy.  They had Logan do a few "tests."  He had to read a story that was a couple of paragraphs long.  They warned him that they were going to ask him some questions afterward.  

While he read, they had him wear some goggles with electronics in it, so that they could track his eye movements while he read.  He answered all the questions correctly, so his comprehension is excellent. 

What the test showed about his eye movement is, that it's all over the place, really.  Normally when we read, we read left to right and then at the end of a line we quickly run our eyes back to the left to start the process all over again, on the next line down.  

Logan will read left to right and then drop straight down, staying at the right end of the line.  Then makes his way backward down the line to where can continue to read.  Basically his eyes are skipping forward and backward a lot, which is why he doesn't read very fluidly.  

From this test they told me that he was reading at a 1st grade level!  What?!?  Are you serious???  He's in the 2nd grade and I always thought he was a better than average reader.  In my mind, I started making all kinds of excuses.  Well, his eyes are dilated, he's already been here nearly an hour, he just wasn't staying focused, etc.  I couldn't believe it.  

Then they started talking about dyslexia.  Possibly Logan could have that.  Now I'm really freaking out.  We come in for a simple eye exam and we go home with dyslexia!  I know NOTHING about dyslexia.  My son has a learning disability?!?  Is this going to be a life long battle and struggle for him?  

So they decide to do a couple more "tests."  First they have him write the alphabet in all upper case letters, then all lower case letters, and the numbers 1 - 10.  He does that perfectly.  They later told me that it's normal for 7 year-olds to still get some letters reversed when writing them.  

Then James left for a meeting he had to go to.  There went my mental and emotional support.  

Second, they had him read a list of words.  At first they were easy, but they got progressively harder.  Then they asked him to write several words, words he didn't know how to spell.  

I had to leave the room, he kept looking to me for help.  I was already worried and starting to get emotional, anyway.  He did so well with his spelling tests in 1st grade.  Now I'm homeschooling him and he can hardly write any of these words correctly.  It's all my fault.  I haven't been focusing on spelling or making spelling lists for him.  In fact, I know I'm not even making him write as much as he should be.  

I'm already worried about him regressing academically this year because I don't have the kids on a rigorous school schedule.  I don't need these people to quantify how lousy I'm doing at homeschooling.   I figured Logan would pick up a lot of spelling and grammar as he read more.  I felt that he needed to practice reading more than spelling.   


The more I read about and research homeschooling the more I'm thinking that fun and play and imagination and a relaxed atmosphere are more important than having x amount of hours in a day of "school" and having x amount of subjects that we're studying.  Now I feel like I'm getting a huge slap in the face, that I'm doing everything wrong.

Well, the results of the tests are that Logan is NOT dyslexic because any 2nd grader who is reading 6th grade level vocabulary words, can't be dyslexic!  It turns out the test requires them to have the child continue reading lists of words until they can only correctly read, at most 5 of the 10 words on the page.  In order for Logan to do this they went all the way to the 6th grade level page.  

Oh my goodness!  I almost started crying from relief.  Logan's fine!  He's gonna be just fine!  

We're going to put a couple of "games" on his computer that will help train his eyes to scan a page more efficiently.  That should improve his reading and ability to stay focused.  

Okay, I've had enough with the emotional roller coaster, with this child, the last few days.  I'll be happy to go back to our usual, boring, blah days around here. 

Loganberry

Logan, poor guy, was playing outside this afternoon and collided with a friend.  Hard.  They both split their eyebrows open.  They both had to go to the ER.  

James took a picture while we were waiting at the ER.  I'm putting it at the very end of the post, so anyone who doesn't want to see it, won't have too.  It's a pretty deep, red gash.

The friend, a little girl, who is in Logan's primary class, ended up needing 7 stitches.  

Luckily, Logan's cut wasn't quite as deep.  The doctor glued it shut and it looks amazing now, compared to how it looked.  You wouldn't know it to look at it now, but it was a horrible cut.  

Well, Logan, welcome to the club, Buddy.  The Club of Scarred Eyebrows, that so many of us already belong to.  I know I'm a member of that club too.  I think a coffee table collision is how I got mine. 

Poor boy.  Here's his "before" picture.  

Taylor's "Fraction" of a Dance Class

So, Taylor had her first ever dance class the other day!  

She was sooooo excited!  She's been waiting for "ballerina class" even longer then she'd been waiting for swimming lessons.  She got all dressed up in her little ballet outfit and I even put a ballerina bun in her hair.  She was all ready for class.  

We drove to the town where the class was being held, unloaded ourselves, found the room and waited.  And waited, and waited.  Finally I went and asked why there wasn't anyone around when class was supposed to have started 5 mins. ago. 

That's when they told me the class had been canceled.  I was mildly irritated.  Taylor was crushed.  "But I wanted to go to my ballet class!" she whispered in such a sad voice.  I told her we'd figure out something else.  

So here's what we're doing instead...
 

a Ballerina/Princess Tea Party!

(and you're all invited).

Taylor helped me with the invitations and told me who she wanted to invite.  We decided we'll watch a ballet video for kids that we can check out of the library.  When all the little girls are tired of that we'll have our tea party.

I'll take pictures and let you know how it turns out.

On a different note, the kids are learning about fractions right now and loving it.  They're discovering that fractions are everywhere.  I was baking cookies this afternoon.  Logan and Taylor took turns helping me.  Logan was excited to recognize fractions in the recipe, such as 1/2 cup of sugar.  

After the cookies were baked and the kids each had a couple, we saved a couple for James and put the rest away.  When there was only one cookie left, Taylor excitedly suggested that "Daddy could cut his cookie into fourths!  Then we could each have 1/4." 

James was so impressed by her cleverness that he followed her suggestion.  

The other night the kids had chicken nuggets for dinner and it turned into a discussion about fractions too.  The kids started cutting their food into fourths and making up problems for each other as they ate more and more fractions of their dinner. 

(Taylor's mouth is full)

I love it when the kids get a hold of an idea or concept and just run with it.  I love it when they have fun learning new things.  Should I tell them they are doing "Math?" 


On another topic, Logan told me the other day, "Mom, it's like there are two of you.  One is serious.  And I don't like that one very much, but the other one is funny and I like that one very much." 


Well... okay.  Thanks?  I think.  


I actually love it that the kids are so wonderfully open and honest.  It's great.  The days around here are never dull.