The Boston Classic

This weekend was one of those that is actually really busy....but feels like a vacation.  The past two weeks had been really demanding, with Mike working lots of call shifts (which means he stays at the hospital and I'm on my own with the rascals), and traveling to and from Phoenix for surgical training.   I think we all needed a "weekend away," kids included!   The weekend away may have been a busy one full of sightseeing/homeschooling and gym meets, but it still was a break from the ordinary and felt like a mini vacation.

We headed down Saturday, prepared to explore the Freedom Trail.  I don't know how many of you have been to Boston before, but I think the Freedom Trail might be my most favourite tourism invention ever.   It seems so simple - a red line painted (or made out of red bricks) along the sidewalk - but is brilliant when it comes to controlling the tourist population.   As a tourist, it makes seeing the history of an otherwise very confusing city (pre-city engineering, I'm pretty sure) quite simple.   Stay on the red line......see all the important historical places!

Yummy Pad Thai in Quincy Market

We'd done a little mini unit on Paul Revere when talking about the American Revolution with Rascal #1 earlier this year.   I knew we'd have a meet in Boston at some point during the competition season, and I wanted to make the most out of our trip south.     Doing the entire Freedom Trail in one day would have been too much for our rascals (especially #3), so I focused solely on one character - Paul Revere.  The night before we left, I printed out an awesome Junior Ranger booklet from the National Park Service for each rascal, bound them in folders, and packed up crayons, pencils, and markers for all.

Working hard at Faneuil Hall

Drawing what they see at Paul Revere's house

A quick bite to eat at Quincy Market and a stop at Faneuil Hall to work on the workbook, and we were off to explore Paul Revere's house.   The kids had so much fun - doing the mini unit in advance was definitely a plus.   They knew what they were looking at, a general idea of what happened in each location, and a bit of the story of Paul Revere's life, so looking at the different exhibits meant quite a bit more to them.   It was fun for us all - even Rascal #3!    I think I fall in love with homeschooling a little bit more each day.....

Then it was off to check into our swanky hotel (seriously - one of the nicest hotels I've ever stayed in!), thanks to the fact that we're officially over the occupancy limit of most hotels and need to stay in a "suite" and can't afford the ones right inside the city.   It was a great room, and very close to our favourite restaurant (PF Chang's, woot!), as well as the meet site.   

Up and at 'em early the next morning, as the meet check-in started at 7:30.   When we got there, the observation seats were already crazy full - people had been getting there since before 7 am!   Future reference - get to the Boston Classic early!

Both boys had an awesome meet - we are very proud parents.  These are some of the strongest teams in all of New England, and a very fierce competition for our little Mainers.   They held their own - even medaling in a few of the events.   One more meet in a few weeks (State championship), and then their inaugural season will draw to a close!   Definitely happy with their interest in gymnastics - these are great guys that they're around, and we're very happy with the level of athleticism they're being taught, as well as the sportsmanship.  In gymnastics, it's just as important to show respect and class as it is to perform the actual athletic routines.    We appreciate that, as parents trying to raise gentlemen.

Enjoy the pictures!

The sea of 116 gymnasts

Rascal #2 was waiting for his turn to compete on his hardest event (pommel), and the team picked up on his nerves....

Rascal #1

Rascal #2

Rascal #1 and #2, waiting for their turns to compete.

Rascal #1

Rascal #2

Rascal #2

Rascal #2 - he had his best ever rings routine

Rascal #2

Rascal #1, getting ready for his best-ever high bar routine

Rascal #1

Same move, but Rascal #2

Such determination - Rascal #2 on the floor

Rascal #1 on the floor

They both had great meets, but Rascal #2 rocked this one - he did REALLY well!

Not our kiddos in the picture.....but proof that Nancy Kerrigan is at our meets, haha.    Her son competes against our boys - and she was asked to pass out the medals/awards yesterday

What I Wore Sunday

Hanging out with the gang at FLAP again today....check them out for more entertaining and creatively stimulating posts.  ;)

Just checking in super quickly today - I'll be back later.  We rushed home from a BIG gymnastics meet in Boston for Rascals #1 and #2, quickly threw nicer clothes on, and ran up to the 5 pm Sunday Mass at our parish.   Now I'm warming up a quick dinner (while blogging, look at those multitasking skills!), and will hopefully have the kiddos in bed within the hour.  There's a nice bottle of red wine waiting for Mike and I as we sort through 700 pictures from our weekend away.  I'll blog about that stuff tomorrow - there is a lot of good stuff there.  We spent Saturday doing a little homeschooling lesson/adventure on the Freedom Trail, and then all morning at a meet that the boys ROCKED today.   Whew!

Anywho, here's the outfit:

sorry it's a bit blurry - rascal #1 snapped it as we were loading the car

It's not my favourite combination - I'm not a fan of these boots with short skirts, but my go-to pants somehow ended up with a HUGE oil spot on the outer part of my knee (?!?!?!  Does that happen to anyone else?  I feel like I need to buy a bottle of Dawn dishsoap JUST for my clothing) and I didn't realize it until I went to put them on, and then I had negative 5 minutes to get changed and into the car to get to Mass, and well.....this is what I ended up wearing.

Sweater, skirt, and boots are all LL Bean (I'm a Maine girl now, I guess)

tights - Target

Mass grades for the rascals:

#1 - B.  He struggled with being tired I think - he was doing anything he could think of to stay awake...yawning obnoxiously, fidgeting, asking questions that weren't related to Mass.

#2 - A.  This child is my future priest, methinks.   

#3 - A-   I would have given him a straight A if it weren't for a VERY loud "Rascal #1 won the race!!!!" as the big rascals and Mike walked back into the pew after helping with the collection baskets. 

Have a great night, all!

Quick Takes

Once again, joining my favourite reality star, Jen, today!

1.  Hmmm....how about a homeschool edition of quick takes?  It's been awhile since the last time I updated everyone on the goings-on at our little homeschool in the woods.....before getting into the nitty-gritty of a school update, a quick health/gym update for me.....after gaining back 20 pounds of my 40 pound weight loss....I'm happy to say that I'm back down 10!  Woot! Woot!

2.   Alright, on with the schooling update.  We've had a lot of "life skills" lessons recently - mostly because our little neck of the woods has pretty much constantly looked like this:

Remember that snowstorm that 1/2 of the meteorologists thought was going to hit us and the other 1/2 thought was going to leave us alone?  Yeah.  It hit us.  I was very glad we went to the vigil Mass on Saturday night, as there was NO way I was leaving my house on Sunday morning!  Our 5-9 possible inches of snow turned into a good 14 inches of wet, heavy, snowman-building snow.   The boys and I got many chances for PE classes as we shoveled out our super long driveway.   We have one snowblower to share with our neighbours right now (we share the driveway) because theirs broke in the last snowstorm, so it was a communal effort to get us cleaned out a couple of times.    One thing I do love about living in Maine is that snow storms seem to build community - we're all out there together, even in the woods, laughing and working towards a goal of clearing out the drive.   Add in the fact that the day after typically looks like the picture above - brilliant blue skies and pristine white snow - and I actually kind of like the fact that we've had 3 snowstorms in two weeks now.

3.  Rascals #2 and #3 working hard on their lessons, earlier this week.  Rascal #2 is getting so close to being an independent reader - and he's determined to write, write, write now that he's reading more readily.    He doesn't seem to mind my insistence that once you're reading well.....your handwriting needs to be perfected so that OTHERS can read well.   I'm taking advantage of that!  Rascal #1 has atrocious handwriting and no amount of practicing seems to get it through his head that others need to be able to read what he has written.   Rascal #2 is affirming my handwriting obsession, thankfully!  Rascal #3 is insistent on "catching up" to his big brothers.  He's 3 years behind in age, but he's determined not to let that stop him.   He gets so upset if I don't plan enough work for him during school time - if he's done before the others, I have to quickly invent more schoolwork to keep him occupied.   He wants to do just as much as the big boys!

4.  This isn't necessarily school-related, but I'm going to included it.  Legos (in my humble opinion) aren't just fun and games - they force Rascal #1 to really work on his spatial reasoning, not to mention his attention and focus.   This set, labeled for 10 years of age and up, took him 20 minutes to put together.   This child can "see" things and structures in his head like no one else I know - I think we have a future architect on our hands.   Add in the fact that he saves up his own allowance and shoveling money (the boys shovel our drive and our neighbors to earn spending money), and Legos become a math lesson.    Real life learning, at its finest!

5.  I'm required to teach the boys in specific subjects, according to our state.  This is fine, except for the fact that the curriculum we have chosen, for various reasons, does not have a definite lesson plan in some of those subjects.   I've been able to "farm out" some of them (physical education = gymnastics, fine arts = music lessons, for example), but it's a bit harder when it comes to science and history.    We follow a classical curriculum, which focuses more on literature, mathematics, and religion, and doesn't bring in structured science and history until the later primary grades.   With Rascal #2 only being in "1st" grade, I've had to create our own science and history lessons.   It's a bit stressful - trying to create something that will fulfill the requirements - but it's also been fun.   I can structure what we do around his likes and dislikes.   We've been blessed with an abundance of awesome books geared towards the elementary age (thank you, Scholastic warehouse sales), and so I've been letting him pick out books off of our bookshelf, and we've been exploring them together.   It's been fun to see his mind work and to see him get really excited about whatever we're researching.  This week (and we'll continue into next week), he's been looking up various insects.   I've had him creating poster presentations on the various bugs he's learned about.   He's so proud of all of his little bugs crawling all over the house.  

6.  Oh, homeschooling.   Pretty sure breakdancing isn't on the curriculum at our local school.  ;)

7.  Hmmm.....what else can I say?   How about a quick evaluation of each child?

Rascal #1:   excelling in his music lessons (piano), loving his science and history lessons.   Struggling with writing, but is slowly progressing now that he has found a new love of reading.  Biggest hurdle with Rascal #1 is getting him to sit still and take his time.   He's definitely a member of the "get as much done as possible in the shortest amount of time possible" team - no perfectionist here, when it comes to writing.  His creativity amazes me every day.    He has an uncanny ability to memorize and recite poetry, and this also seems to make him a natural for learning a second language (Latin).

Rascal #2:  Way ahead of grade level in math - this child can beat his older brother in any math competition.   In order to challenge him, he has to work about 2 grade levels ahead, but he cannot read well enough to do that yet.   I have to read him the directions and word problems, but he can solve them almost instantly.  Biggest struggle with #2 is his confidence when it comes to reading and writing.  He has a hard time with reading and is very worried about making a mistake.  He is definitely a perfectionist when it comes to language-related tasks - a complete opposite of his bigger brother.  His attention to detail is impressive, and his complete grasp of all things theology takes my breath away.   I'm daily reminded, through Rascal #2, of how we are all called to childlike faith.  This child just *gets* it.

Rascal #3:   An interesting preschooler.  He's not a fan of anything creative (colouring, cutting and pasting, arts and crafts), but is a HUGE fan of worksheets and repetition.  He loves flashcards, and is working on learning all of his letter sounds and names, as well as how to write them.   Just don't ask him to colour code anything......He's a very determined little boy and really wants to be able to read on his own.    He's definitely my most challenging student (I think just because of his age), but he's also the one who is most excited to start his lessons every day.  His love of learning inspires me and keeps me going during the cold February dreariness!

****

Have a great weekend, y'all!  We'll be in Boston for a big gymnastics meet!  Say a prayer that all goes well and I'll share pictures next week!

Keep it simple, stupid.....

I mentioned a few posts ago how I've really been feeling the pull to simplify this Lent.  It wasn't an intended "goal" of mine for this season, but it seems to be an unforeseen side effect.  I've always been one to keep busy-busy-busy, especially after meeting and marrying Mike (he never stops - he's like the Energizer Bunny), and it always used to amaze me that people would seem so incredulous at our daily schedule or to-do list.  I'd get comments about my energy level, or things like "You do more in one hour than I do all day!"  every single day.   I'd walk away thinking, "Wow, I can't imagine doing anything LESS than what I am doing right now - I can't possibly be doing anything more that a normal person..."   And I truly believed it.  I still kind of do, really.  

I look around at the other parents at gymnastics practice - the ones who are saying hi to their spouse quickly as they "change shifts" and the parent who dropped off for practice is now running out the door to go accomplish more tasks.   Or, I'd overhear families talking about going through the drive thru again for dinner, and think to myself, "I'm so grateful that we're not that busy!"

And I was.   And still am - we have a lot that we should be grateful for.   We are truly blessed.  

But things seem to have changed around in my head over the past two weeks.  Maybe it's the rescheduling of our day to be around prayer (thanking God for whomever created the alarms in cell phones - I'm not sure we'd realize it was prayer time without that clanging!).   Maybe it's the lack of coffee.   Maybe it's the fact that I moved the computer completely OUT of the main room of the house, so can't just "pop on to check my email quickly."   I don't know - whatever it is, our lives seem a bit less cluttered.   A bit slower than normal.

And I'm secretly LOVING it.   Over the past two weeks, I've been able to sit back and really take a look at our daily life, kind of from the outside.   There are a lot of things that I love about our life - things I'm very thankful for and things that I don't ever want to change.

But there's a lot that I don't like.

I don't like having to rush the boys through meals, just so we can be ready to leave the house once again to run to practice or music or swim lessons or errands.

I don't like feeling like I'm constantly nagging about chores - when we're so busy, the boys don't have time to have both play time and a chance to finish their chores, and I end up nagging and pestering them about their simple duties.

I don't like dinner time being my main source of stress for the day - trying to figure out how to feed our family healthfully while not getting home until 6 pm every single weekday was causing me incredible pressure.   

I don't like not being able to work out on a regular basis, because we're constantly running, running, running. 

I don't like feeling constantly exhausted and reliant on coffee just to get through the day.   It's hard to get to sleep before midnight when there's so much that I didn't get to throughout the day.   The first week or so of Lent, I was so constantly exhausted that it really hit me just how much my body physically relies on caffeine just to push through the day.  It really was my liquid source of energy.   That realization - the understanding of just how addicted I truly was, physically - was slightly terrifying.

I don't want to be the mom that's too busy to nurture friendships.  I don't want to be the mom that's constantly snapping or yelling at their kids to "get moving" or "come on, let's go!"    I cringe every time I hear myself say that.......I really need to stop.  When you hear your 4 year old repeat it back to you, even with the same tone of voice.....you know it's going a bit too far.

The past two weeks have shown me that no one else is going to fight for quality time in my life - it has to be something that I fight for.   If I want time to watch my boys just play together and live in their imaginations - I need to give them that time.   If I want time to take care of myself physically - I need to carve it out.  If I want to make sure I have the ability to put home-cooked, healthy meals on the table for my family - I need to fight for it.

Simplify.

That's what He's telling me this Lent.   

So that's what I'm working on - I'm simplifying.   One piece of the puzzle at a time:

Personal:  nurture the "real life" friendships and relationships.   Online connections are great - but oftentimes, they end up being a way to avoid my real surroundings.   I need to focus on my immediate surroundings: these are the people and friends who are going to drop off medicine and gatorade when we're all sick.  These are the friends who are going to be around to lend a hand when Peter comes home.   These are the friends who I can hug on the hard days.    I love all of my friends and family - near and far - but, I was spending too much time immersed in a virtual world, and ignoring the world around me.    It's great to be awake at 2 am and have someone to chat with online........but it's not so great when you can't pull yourself away from the computer for all hours of the day because there's ALWAYS someone online to chat with.   Real life friends come over for an hour or two....and then they go home.   Simplify.

Family:  We need to cut back.  Just because we CAN do multiple things doesn't mean that we should.   Sure swim lessons are "free"...but they're also two days a week because the age spread between the boys necessitates enrolling in two different classes, on completely different days of the week.  We've dropped those lessons - freeing up two weekdays.    Simplify our schedule.

Diet:   Back to the basics.   Cutting swim lessons means two less days of "30 minute meals" and more time to get back into our "from scratch" menus.   It also means two days of guaranteed treadmill time.

Physically:   we have too much stuff.  I know it, Mike knows it....I even think the boys know it.   A lot of it (like baby toys and books), I'm holding on to for when Peter comes home.   But just because I'm holding onto it doesn't mean it needs to be accessible!  There's no reason why it can't be stored neatly in the basement instead of cluttering up the house.   I've been slowly going through the house and boxing things back up or bagging them up to donate.   Simplify our stuff.

It doesn't seem like much - cutting back on just a few things, here and there - but it's already made a huge difference.   Simplifying these few things has led to much more time to get the necessities accomplished - which then gets me to bed closer to on time, which then leads to less of a reliance on liquid energy the next day, which then leads to a happier and more productive household.   

Simplify. 

Refocus on what's important:  marriage, family, and God (not necessarily in that order!).  

Detach.

This life is just a passing moment - why do I want to make it harder than it already is?    Refocusing on God in every action, every errand, every chore has pointed out to me just how much I'd pushed Him out and refilled those spots with the chaos and stress of the outside world.    

I'm cleaning house this Lent - how about you?

What I Wore Sunday (cough cough Saturday), volume 2

Little early this weekend, but joining up with the gang over at Fine Linen and Purple again this week!   We chose to go to a vigil Mass this weekend, hoping to beat the possible snowstorm that is coming overnight tonight if it does actually come (right now the meteorologists are a 50-50 split.  Either the world is coming to an end in snowfall.......or nothing.  We'll see what I wake up to tomorrow!).

So the boys and I did a bit of driving around - stopping at one parish for our monthly Confession trip, then swinging by Daddy's hospital for a quick visit, then going to our regular parish for Mass.   A bit more driving than we usually do on our Saturday afternoon/evenings, since I usually split it into two different days, but it worked.  We're all safe and warm at home now, and fulfilled our Sunday obligation at the same time.

Anywho, today's outfit isn't too special - it's my go to outfit for busy Church outings because it's uber comfortable.   It's also the one I reach for when it's one of those days where you just feel bloated and gross and undermotivated to look cute (girls, I think you know what I mean), which happened to be today for me.   Never fails - days with tons of lack of motivation always seem to be the days that I have the most running around to do.  Is it like that for everyone else, too?

Alright.....the kiddos are antsy and hitting that witching hour moment where I *need* to stop what I'm doing and get them into bed before meltdowns happen..........

(Don't forget that you can click on the picture to make them bigger....just a warning for the last picture in the post!)

Daddy snuck in at the last minute, between pages at work!  :)  Caught in action by a cute little old lady who was delighted to take our picture but totally confused by my iPhone.  heehee

I'll save everyone some time - the entire outfit, head-to-toe, is from Target.   Again....I'm an efficient shopper.  ;)

And because I'm feeling uber generous today, leaving you with a giggle from earlier.  We had school lessons to complete today, since we had the week-o-playdates this past week.  I left Rascal #2 at the kitchen table with the instructions to write his own short story (he's working on learning how to read and write).    I walked away, the scene looking like this:

Oh so studious Rascal #2

And came back to find THIS story.  Sigh.  He's such a boy.

I did touch it up to remove his name......he didn't end with a preposition, gasp!

Have a great week, y'all!

ETA:  I almost forgot to post the boys' mass grades!  This week was fantastic, which may or may not have been the direct result of a bribe for a take-out dinner of their choice on the way home from church.....

Rascal #1: A
Rascal #2:  A+
Rascal #3:  A

Quick Takes

Linking up with Jen again today!

1.  These are going to be kinda haphazard, just a warning.  I kinda forgot today was Friday.  Whoops!  That's the downside of homeschooling -- I have NO idea what day of the week it is.

2.  So.....let's see.  What can I write about?  I'm on day 3 of a juice fast......not sure how long I'm going to make it - I'm taking it in chunks of 6ish days, with the plan I'm following.  I've come to realize over the past few months that I have a very unhealthy attachment to food.   Feeling good?  Let's eat!  Feeling bad?  Let's eat!  Bored?  Let's eat!   It's Saturday?  Let's eat!   Yeah........I need to get back to what food is supposed to be about - nourishment.  That's all.  That's it.   Energy.  So far, so good.  I'd love to sit down and eat a meal, but I really like juices - even the green ones! - and it's going okay.

Before juicing....

After juicing for two days worth of meals - still have about half of the produce left in there to pulverize.

3.  I usually listen to our Catholic radio station on the way to gymnastics.  We leave at 3 pm, which is when they play a Divine Mercy Chaplet, so the boys and I pray a chaplet, and then they let me listen to the "Word on Fire" episode for the day.  Let's just say that today, Fr Barron kind of blew my mind. I don't even know if I can put it into words.  Let me see if there's a video clip.......

Okay, not a video clip, but you can listen to it here.   Go ahead.  I'll wait.  

4.  I just sent the boys upstairs to take a shower together.   This could be interesting......They're already pretty clean after baths last night, but I just want the chalk from gymnastics to be washed off of them.   They're excited though!   It's the little things.  They did a fantastic job working together to clean up our mess of a playroom, though, so this is their reward.

Caught in the act - their assembly line method of cleaning up

5.  We've had three bazillion playdates this week.  (Not really, just three!)  It's been a fun week.  I love homeschooling - we can have a playdate, gym practice, and do an entire day's worth of lessons, all on the same day.  :)

6.  We made our own coconut milk last night.  It was easier than we expected, and we got A LOT out of two coconuts.  The boys had a blast - and it's been fun trying coconut milk in things instead of cow's milk.  I had planned on using it to make soup, but we've now drunk so much of it that I don't have enough left.  Whoops.   Guess I should pick up some more coconuts!

Watching the juicer press the coconut pulp

yum yum yum!  We got about a quart's worth from two coconuts

7.  I realized that my last picture post was very light on pictures of Rascal #2.  In hopes that no one will accuse me of him being a neglected child (haha), I end this Quick Takes with a few pictorial representations of his current state in life.  ;)

He finally climbed to the top of the rope at gymnastics!  This is  a HUGE hurdle he's been working to overcome!

My child who has been refusing to try to read (he's such a perfectionist and would refuse to try unless he knew for sure he was correct) wrote this on his own tonight while I was making dinner.  No help from me or his brother.   Guess he's gaining confidence?

Kaleidoscope...

There's a lot going on in my head this Lent - I keep feeling this need to simplify...simplify everything...our diets....our schedules.....our house....simplify and re-focus.   I guess that's supposed to be the point of Lent, after all?   To force us all to slow down, detach ourselves from the chaos that is our earthly lives, and re-focus on Him.    Man, our Church is smart....  ;)

So we've been doing that at home, too.  Trying to slow things down, keep things calm and quiet (hahahahahahahahahaha YOU try doing that with three boys - talk about a Lenten penance!), and focus on our priorities (God and family).   Some days have better than others, but overall, I've been feeling a bit of focus come into my life over the past week.   For that, I'm very grateful.

In the spirit of keeping things simple....today's blog post is a collection of pictures from the past few days.   There'll be time for contemplation and wordy posts another day.....right now, I'm focusing on living in the moment with my rascals, and keeping us pointed toward God.  

The other night we took a "road trip" to Arizona by going to see an AZ friend speak in Boston

Chris, sharing his wife, Angela's, story

Dinner stop - reminiscing about playdates with Kara :)

Focusing on family = teaching Rascal #1 to cook dinner

Focusing on friends = all of us are working hard to keep the post office in business

Quiet story time after  Mass on Sunday

Focusing on family = teaching Rascal #3 to complete his chores

Letting in the sun <3