Love On A Sticky Note

The other night before bed Bennett was excitedly writing down a poem.  We never see him hunched over his desk at this time of night, so this must have been truly inspired.  In only the way that he can, he comes inching into my room, a goofy smile plastered on his face, light in his eyes and a sticky note in hand. It's not good enough to just leave the sticky note for me to read, he has to read it to me:

And then I have to respond cuz that's what he's standing there waiting for.  But I can't get past the "Yo Mujer Padre" title.  He's dangerous now, knowing only bits and pieces of Spanish from his Duolingo exercises.  I love how he piece meals it together.  He means to say, "My Woman Parent" since I guess he can't remember the Spanish word Mama.  But it reads as, "I Woman Father".  Of course I get the giggles.  It is the sweetest gesture.  He lives to fill up my love tank, even if it means calling me his 'woman parent'. 

Sleeping Well

This morning Chloe woke up and said, "Mom, I R.I.P'd last night."

Huh???

"You know, I rested in peace."

"Honey, do you know they reserve that phrase mostly for the dead?"

"Well, I really did rest in peace, there's no other way to say it."

"Well then, I'm happy for you."

RIP everyone, RIP tonight.

The Latest Greatest

This, my friends, is what it's all about.  Duolingo.  We do this night and day.  We do it all in the same room.  We do it on our phones.  We do it on our ipads.  We do it on our computers.  We are crazy for duolingo!

It is a new language learning software that Chuck found and brainwashed all of us on.  Being that he used to work for Rosetta Stone, another language learning software company, he knows a thing or two about what makes a good language learning ap.  The coolest thing about this program is that it is completely free and so much better than Rosetta Stone.  I find it much easier.  The lessons are concise, the explanations good and the teaching method is sound.

We now have 2 Spanish speakers, 2 French speakers and 1 German speaker in this house.  Not that any of us are fluent in anything, but we sure are having fun learning our languages together.  Seriously, we never make the kids do it - they can't wait to do their daily lessons!  I love it because I don't feel like a fool. I gave up learning French on Rosetta Stone when I realized I sucked so bad.  I thought I was just bad at languages.  I just didn't "get it".  Ahh...but now I do.  It's always the teacher, isn't it?!

It's fun to all be learning together as well.  It's good for Chuck and I so we can keep our brain sharp as we age. It's good for the kids so they can learn to become less ethnocentric and understand other cultures better.  Nothing but good comes from knowing other languages.

Sunset

a sphere of fire

placed in the sky

at just the right angle

to catch my eye

a palate of color

with hues all aglow

on a back drop of cerulean

it’s just one of a million

my heart skips a beat

with the image i see

i gasp and i stare

awe is reflected there

the orange glow 

beckons from afar

i’m drawn to behold

the image so bold

i stare in wonder

my heart all aflutter

the smile on my face

held by my gaze

at the gift in the sky
love spoken with no words

the Creator gives to me
this portrait of beauty

i stand amazed

i feel so small

encompassed by love

beneath a fireball

Manners

At dinner tonight (my famous last words)....

Bennett was choosing to not eat with manners that have been indoctrinated in him since the beginning of his life.  The lesson on manners is an old, beat-up, worn-out record.  I'm not even sure if it's in English anymore because it seems to go in one ear of each of our off-spring and directly out the other.  I could have just said, "Please do not use your arm as a lever, rather bring your fork up to your mouth" and with-in the next nano-second, one of the three of our children will have done just that.  Like I was asking them to do it - not refrain from it.

For the love!

So tonight, with great exasperation, and in all sincerity I look at Bennett and seriously proclaim: "I refuse to allow you to succumb to barbaric mannerisms!"

I surprised even myself.  I had no idea that combination of words could come out in a sentence string of that nature. Words typically stumble out of my mouth and rarely reach their intended purpose. I sat smugly in my seat.  That is, until Bennett almost fell out of his chair laughing at me. Literally. He just couldn't help it.  My people do not normally laugh at me when I am disciplining them.  For the life of me I couldn't understand what was so funny.  All of them could hardly contain themselves.  The giggles dominated the dinner table.  Gavin asks me if by chance, I'm quoting Shakespeare.  Then it kind of dawned on me...that did sound rather funny, I guess.  My attempt to evade further sloppy manners by speaking out in exasperation only seemed to further the cause, unfortunately.

Note to self: speak their language when trying to get them to understand something!

Turning 12 on Halloween

Bennett just loves that his birthday is on Halloween - and so do I!  It's so much fun to dress up and there's always a festive atmosphere.  We had fun celebrating Bennett prior to celebrating Halloween. The funniest part was reading the cards that Chloe and Gavin made for him that listed 12 things they each liked about him - those were hilarious!  Then came the part we had waited for with much anticipation all day long - dressing up!

Bennett was Mr. USA Biker Dude in memory of all 

the bikers we met on vacation in S.D. this past summer.

Some black leather chaps, tattoos and chains would have 

made the outfit that much more believeable.

Chloe was a Japanese girl.

Gavin was a billionaire financier.  I preferred to call him Artemis Fowl

but he said nobody else would get it since they probably didn't read the books. 

Chuck was Morty.  I especially loved his one strap velcro shoes.

Too bad I didn't get a photo with his red Las Vegas hat perched deftly on the top of his head.

I was a disco queen.  White boots would have made the outfit

 that much more believeable. (btw - I don't even know any disco moves).

Somebody actually asked me if I was Madonna (but that's a good idea for next year!).

 One big happy family!