First Day of School 2015

I still can't believe these two are both in elementary school.

Kaleia
Favorites
Food: Pizza with pineapple and ham
Treat: Chocolate Pudding
Color: Blue
Book: Bob books and The Book with No Pictures
Movie: Rio 2
Song: ABCs
Activity: Draw

My best friends are Natalia and Eleanor (but these rotate regularly).

This year I want to:

• learn how to read. 
• try to do a whole sentence by myself. 
• start playing the guitar. 
• make a big stuffed animal. 

When I grow up, I want to be vet or a doctor and I will still be a Mama.

Stats
43.2 pounds ~ 3 feet, 10 inches ~ shoe size: 12 ~ age: 6 years, 2 months

Magnolia
Favorites
Food: Fondue, then crepes
Treat: Mud Pie
Color: Coral
Books: The Secret of the Ginger Mice
and The Spies of Gerander
Movies: Big Hero 6 and Rio 2
Songs: "Happy" by Pharrell Williams,
"Volcano" by U2,
"Ship to Wreck" by Florence and the Machine
Activities: Learning and Sports

My best friends are Clementine and Nivriti.

This year I want to:

• learn about the forest and the brain.
• try to find a fidget that will help me but not distract me.
• start going to chess club.
• make a forest model.

When I grow up, I want to be a doctor and have a farm.

Stats
54 pounds ~ 4 feet, 2 inches ~ shoe size: 1 ~ age: 7 1/2 years old

I guess I had a first day of school too -- my 33rd one.

Kaleia Sights a Germ

I never know if it is Kaleia's eye condition, her active imagination, or that she seems to have little regard for accuracy or fact.  Whatever the reason, she often leaves me speechless. 

"I saw a germ today. It was pink and it had a tail." -- Kaleia, age 5

Last Day of School 2015

I can't believe these goofy girls have finished another year of school! 

And that we are now done with the Beehive (kindgergarten)!

Attempt at a "normal" smile for Mama

I'll definitely take this one home!

Chillin' with a popsicle

"I don't want it to end!"...Or maybe it was "I don't want anymore pictures!"

My big girl finished with first grade!

Always ready to learn even on the last day!

Kaleia "Logic" - Reason to Want to Die

Magnolia (7): No one wants to die. 

Kaleia (5): I used to want to die. 

Me: Why did you want to die? 

K: I wanted a new family.

Me: You wanted a new family? You didn’t like your family?

K: No, I just wanted to see what it was like to have a different one. 

Me: You know you don’t get a new family when you die. 

K: Yeah, but I would get to meet lots of new people in heaven. 

Me: True…but you know you can meet lots of new people here too. 

K: Yeah.

Incriminating Digital Evidence

We received an email from Kaleia's kindergarten teacher alerting us to the fact that Kaleia had her camera at school today. I thought it might have been unintentionally left in her backpack after our weekend trip. When I talked to Kaleia, she convinced me that she didn't bring it to school on purpose and that she didn't know it was in there. I totally believed her until I downloaded the pictures and found these...

This last one must have been her friend the photographer for the above photoshoot. Little stinkers.

Word of the week: Tasumi

Tasumi (noun): A long high sea wave caused by an earthquake, submarine landslide, or other disturbance 

Magnolia: Papa, are we on the highest floor? 

Brian: Yep.  

M: Good. 

B: Why “good”? 

M: Because it says if there’s a tasumi to go to the highest floors.

A few seconds later...

B: Maggie, if you were pronouncing a word wrong, would you want someone to tell you? 

M (happily): Papa, I know I’m pronouncing a word wrong. 

B (laughs): Which word? 

M: Tasuemi

Sometimes we wonder how much to correct these mistakes and how much to let them just figure things out.

Prayers for Motherhood

This has been one of those weeks where the reality of motherhood makes my pre-kid romanticized vision laughable. One of those weeks where more than once I've had to say or do things I never imagine.

"Mom, can you check my bum? I have these weird bumps." 

"That's dried poop. Please don't scratch it. Head to the bathroom." 

The battle my family has waged against a nasty stomach bug has left loads of laundry, dirty floors, stinky garbage, and discarded meals, all adding to the craziness of trying to finish up my renewal process for my National Board Teaching certificate during a super intense time at school with more responsibilities than usual.

One of those weeks, where I'm reminded that the sacrifice of motherhood is one opportunity I have to practice the self-denying love of Christ. All I can do is take a deep breath and pray for mercy and strength.

The last year and a half, The Ascetic Lives of Mothers: A prayer book for Orthodox Moms has become one of my go-to prayer books, helping me put my thoughts and feelings into words to pray during times like these. Though it should be entitled "The Ascetic Lives of Women: A prayer book". It is full of encouraging scripture and stories of women of faith with themes that transcend the realm of motherhood such as anxiety, depression, financial strain, enemies, pride, forgiveness, and safety. I've adapted the prayers for situations with my siblings, co-workers, and my husband and many times through them I have found calm and focus as I poured out my heart.

When I woke up this morning, a prayer shared at a women's retreat by a favorite blogger, Molly Sabourin, came to mind and seemed fitting for Mother's Day:

O heavenly Father, make me a better parent. Teach me to understand my children, to listen patiently to what they have to say, and to answer all their questions kindly. Keep me from interrupting them or contradicting them. Make me as courteous to them as I would have them be to me. Forbid that I should ever laugh at their mistakes or resort to shame or ridicule when they displease me. May I never punish them for my own selfish satisfaction or to show my power. Let me not tempt my children to lie or steal. And guide me hour by hour that I may demonstrate by all that I say and do that honesty produces happiness. Reduce, I pray, the meanness in me. And when I'm out of sorts, help me, o Lord, to hold my tongue. May I ever be mindful that my children are children and I should not expect from them the judgement of adults. Let me not rob them of the opportunity to wait on themselves and to make decisions. Bless me with the bigness to grant them all their reasonable requests and the courage to deny them privileges I know will do them harm. Make me fair and just and kind and fit, o Lord to be loved and respected and imitated by my children. Amen. 

Be encouraged, new mother, and do not lose heart, seasoned mother, or think that the trials you are facing in your calling will disqualify you from the prize. Pray for patience, mother-to-be, for the Lord knows the desires of your heart. Pray with faith, grandmother; approach the throne room of Christ, dear godmother, for the children you have been entrusted with. Dear Women, the Lord Himself holds your hand and wants you to succeed through His love, by the power of His Cross, through the prayers of His holy Mother and all the saints. *

Lord, have mercy on us all.

*Adapted from The Ascetic Lives of Mothers

The Pancake Problem

Shannon: "Wow, Kaleia! Another pancake? How many is that for you?"

Kaleia: "Three!"

Magnolia: "I've had three, too!"

Shannon: "I only had two! There is one left on the plate. I wonder how many I made this morning..."

Kaleia: "One, two..." Magnolia: "Let me figure it out!"

Shannon: "Let's all figure it out in our head and share the number we come up with."

Kaleia: "Nine!"

Magnolia: "That's what I got too! I knew my three and Kaleia's three made six, then Mama's two would be eight and one more makes nine!"

Shannon: "Kaleia, what was your strategy?"

Kaleia: "I just counted in my head."

Magnolia (giddy with excitement): "You gave us a story problem!"

Shannon: "Yeah, I guess I did."

Magnolia: "Now I have a pancake story problem for you, but its not addition. It's subtraction!"

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

Story problems can be fun!

As a high school math teacher, I was excited to find an ally in my mathematics culture change mission in Maggie's 1st grade teacher. She is supporting Magnolia and her classmates to see the value of both the accuracy of their answers and the ability to communicate their process. At the fall parent information night, her teacher asked parents to think about the ways we approach reading at home; Cozy bedtime stories, cuddled up together, reading both the familiar and the new and exciting. Yet, most of us have less than "cozy" images of mathematics. It is viewed as drudgery or punishment, and only accessible for some people. Let's change that. Kids are natural mathematicians, wondering about patterns, estimating amounts, making comparisons. We only need to wonder with them. The more we do it, the easier it becomes.

If you need some support, there is a cool foundation called Bedtime Math. They have a few books and offer a nightly email to help give parents ideas.

There's a Fairy in Our House!

Recently, Brian posted the following story to Facebook:

During dinner tonight, Kaleia (5.5), about to tell us something, looks at her palm, gasps, and then exclaims with conviction, "There's a real fairy in our house!" Then she giggles with glee.

Turns out her friend Ellery had drawn a fairy on her hand at school and told her that if she put water on it it would become real. Fast forward to dinner time: Kaleia, forgetting about the fairy hand drawing, washes her hands absent-mindedly... washing the drawing right off. She is REALLY hoping the fairy hasn't escaped the house.

Since she's 5--the age I started making lifelong memories--I'm always trying to guess which things she will reminisce about in twenty, thirty years. I'm guessing this might be one of them. I wish I had a video.

Tonight, Kaleia isn't taking any chances. Every door and window is checked before she washes her hands so that the fairy can't escape. 

Excited that the magic is working, Kaleia looks up in the mirror. Unfortunately, this is the exact moment the fairy disappears from her hands. Convinced because this permanent pen is washing off, it must be true, it must be magic, the fairy MUST be real! 

Skipping excitedly to me in the living room, Kaleia proclaims, "It worked!" Then asks, head slightly cocked to one side, "Have you seen her?"

Not wanting to disappoint her, "No...but I wasn't really looking. Fairies are really small, so maybe I missed her." 

"This one isn't small! It is the same size as the drawing on my hand. Ellery said. Maybe it's..." and she is off to hunt for the fairy that is surely hiding in our house. 

Hmmmm

Of all the strange arrangements of objects my children have surprised me with, this is by far the sketchiest. 

7 Weeks to 7 Years

I open up my toasty warm down, knee-length, winter jacket and draw my shivering eldest daughter inside. We are standing outside our church as part of our midnight Pascha (Easter) service.

As I do, Pascha 2008 comes flooding back, when my just-over-7-week old Magnolia slept, tucked inside my coat, while I sang the resurrection liturgy. Now, inside my coat again, my just-over-7-year old is awake and joining me in song.

The years have passed so quickly.

Faith of Children

One of Kaleia's teachers stopped me this week as I walked across campus, with a story to tell. Kaleia's group was the last to rotate through her unit on myths. To mix things up, the teacher pulled out a book that she hadn't yet used this year.

It began, "Once, two gods were talking..." Immediately she remembered why she doesn't use this book with kindergarteners. The group erupted.

"There are gods?!" "There are two gods?!"

Kaleia confidently speaks up, excited to help her friends out, "You don't know about Him?! God has been around for a long time, before even Jesus. He made everything and still makes things and takes care of us!"

There was push back. "That's not true. My mom says we came from fish!" Kaleia patiently handles the arguing, holding to her belief, trying to help her friends understand.

Magnolia is also unashamedly sharing her growing faith. During a recent morning meeting, a Catholic classmate shared that he was celebrating Easter. Maggie chimed in that she also celebrates Easter, but on a different date--a week later this year. The class added it to the class calendar. After school, Magnolia's teacher thanked her for speaking up and sharing her faith tradition.  Her teacher also told Maggie that as a child her family had Orthodox friends and she always loved celebrating Easter twice.

Since then, her teacher emailed to share, "Magnolia has been really excited to share with us all about her traditions and activities this week, so we are thrilled to be hearing all about it. She shared with us her week in review this morning in morning meeting and the kids were really interested in hearing more each day as the week progresses!" This lenten season in particular, Magnolia is hungry to learn more about our faith. She is devoted to keeping the 40-day fast, which is nearly vegan, reading along with each new service, paying attention, and asking great questions. Her friends are getting a play-by-play and as she learns about their faiths she is comparing and contrasting. She has been particularly interested in her Jewish friends' traditions, which dovetails nicely, since Passover is so closely connected to Pascha/Easter.

As Pascha draws near and I reflect on Christ's journey to the cross, I am inspired and convicted by the innocent desire of my children to tell their world what they know, what they've found, what they believe.

To those of you that have already celebrated the Resurrection, I say "Christ is Risen!" To my Orthodox friends, I wish you a blessed Holy Week and Pascha.

For those wanting to learn more about Holy Week in the Orthodox Church, here are a couple of good resources: Holy Week: An Explanation and Pascha is the new Passover. Or, even though you've already celebrated Easter once, why not celebrate it twice? Find an English-speaking Orthodox church in your area and experience for yourself the beauty and power of the Orthodox liturgies this week. If you have any questions before or after, feel free to ask!

Curious why Pascha and Western Easter are different dates this year? Here are a few good links: Date of Pascha, The Calendar of the Orthodox Church, and Lenten and Paschal Cycle 

U is for ...

Most Wednesday mornings at our house you can hear, "Shoot! What are you going to bring for _____ week?" You would think that with this being our second consecutive year of kindergarten, we would have that one down. 

This week, with the theme being the letter "U," I groan, scanning the room for anything beginning with U and begin to brainstorm aloud. "I think there is an umbrella downstairs... Urchin... No, I don't think we have a sea urchin. Underwear?"

Kaleia's face lights up. Yes. That is it, she is going to make her teacher hold up underwear in front of the class. Oh dear. 

Magnolia's "U Week" item last year was no less controversial. The then medical-obsessed kindergarten Magnolia wanted to bring urine in one of her special cups.    

Don't worry, I talked her into just coloring water with yellow dye. 

Chore Chart Modifications

When I woke up this morning, I went to create the day's jobs and I found this:

I'm not sure when this modification was made. Last I looked, Kaleia did have all of her jobs crossed off yesterday. The name is definitely written by Kaleia, but the Play! and smiley face look more like Maggie's writing. A combined effort? Are they sending me a message? 

Student-Led Conferences and the Return of Rushcapades!

"Hello, Mama and Papa. I want to thank you for coming to my conference."

Her first student-led conference, and not surprisingly, Magnolia works through her checklist articulately, sharing her self-assessment, friendship reflection, and samples of her written work and handwriting. She directs us to recognize her growth, asks us for specific support to assist her in further learning, and shares her goal for the remainder of the year. Is this girl really seven?! My mama-eyes swell with pride at her confidence and growth.

At the end of the conference, Magnolia asks if we have a goal for her--we had been instructed to bring one.

We do. But a little background first.

Always an avid reader, Magnolia entered first grade hesitant to write, inhibited by spelling. This year, though, she has blossomed into a passionate writer, empowered by best gess sownd speling. She loves poetry, punctuation, capitalization, onomatopoeia, and especially the writing process.  From memory, she can explain the importance of each stage: prewrite - draft - revise - edit - publish. She loves to find and fix mistakes--like her Papa--and she loves to "add juicy details."

However, for whatever reason, she does NOT like publishing. Maybe rewriting in her neatest handwriting is boring? Maybe staple binding loose leaf paper is frustrating? Or maybe her passion for editing creates a feeling of the work never quite being done?

Whatever the case, to support Magnolia's passion for writing and encourage her to overcome her resistance to publishing, one of our goals is for Magnolia to share a piece of writing on our blog each week.

She loves the idea!

Selfishly, it is kind of a goal for me too -- along with some motivation and accountability!

Blogging is good for my soul, but it has been hard to find time the last few years. Currently, I have over 100 blog drafts in limbo. (Hmm, maybe I do know where she gets her resistance to publishing...) I may never get around to posting them all, but I'm hoping to at least start capturing some of our Rushcapades again.

Please support us by commenting and giving friendly nudges if we fall behind. And forgive any mistakes as we try to let go of worrying about being perfect in order to be published. As Brian likes to say, "Sometimes the perfect is the enemy of the good."

Chess match: Maggie vs. Huxley

Friday, I arrive at Maggie's after-school care to be greeted by the usual disappointed "Aww (it's time to go already?)." This time she is in the middle of a chess game. We aren't in a hurry so I pull up a tiny chair to watch the future grandmasters.

It's clear that Huxley is much more experienced, reciting the finer points of pawn movement and promotion. The game draws several "experts." They spout out "one move to check!" and speak of fair trades and how many points they each had. Chess has points?!?

After a while I have flashbacks of the last time I played chess, as Huxley picks off Maggie's pieces with ease.

It was our honeymoon in Fiji. Brian was really, really into chess, but to coerce make it fair for his new bride, he would play without a rook or bishop and knight, or sometimes even his queen. In that fateful last game, I was ahead and felt like I had a shot at winning for the first time ever. Then, slowly, my pieces began to disappear and I was unable to help them. After the game, I marched to the bathroom and screamed at the top of my lungs. The soap in the shower was not spared my high-velocity wrath. Brian, my dear, sweet husband (except for his chess brutalities), fresh from our fairytale wedding, was mortified. We decided not to play chess any more.  

Seeing that same fate (okay, maybe not quite as bad) awaiting my daughter, I decide to step in and "help." I advise her to move her bishop to a spot. She trusts my advice and I say "Check." Both kids look at me strangely, incredulously. "That's not check." Still confident, I try to show them how it was indeed check. "You can only check the *king*." The piece I advised my daughter to "check" was his queen. Oops. Maggie's bishop is gone and I decide to keep my mouth shut.

Pretty soon, Huxley's dad arrives. Thankfully, he is willing to indulge their game and able to give knowledgable advice to both kids.

Maggie manages to survive and whittles Huxley down to his king and a few pawns. The two six-year-olds play a game of chase around the board. Huxley manages to take Maggie's last pawn in the process. At that point, Huxley's Dad informs them that once a player is down to one piece, the other player has 15 moves to checkmate or the game ends in a stalemate. Is that even a thing or is he just trying to end the game? 

Stalemate it is. As we walk to the car, Maggie is bashful. She wishes she could have won, has admiration for how good Huxley is, but proud of how many pieces she captured--a much better response to her game than her Mom's soap throwing.

Lost Tooth

***Warning*** This post contains content that may not be suitable for young eyes. The potentially harmful material has been blacked out. Mature audiences can highlight the text to read the whole story.

At the splash park on a warm summer day, Maggie is walking around, looking concerned, fingers in her mouth.

"Is something wrong, Maggie?"

Ambitions to be Rapunzel Chopped!

For about a year, Maggie has been growing her hair out. She wanted it to be long like Rapunzel's, or flowing like a mermaid when in the bath. So I was quite surprised this week when she said, "Remember that time in China that I cut my hair short and surprised everyone at school? I want to do that again!" After waiting it out for a few days to be sure, I pulled out my scissors and re-watched youtube videos on cutting little girls hair and went for it. 

A Letter to Kaleia at 2 1/2

**Disclaimer: Again, I started this post last January. Kaleia is actually 3 now. Her 3 year post is coming soon!**

At 2, you still seemed so much like my little baby. But I can't say that anymore. As you reminded me this afternoon, you are a big girl.

Kaleia Turns 2!**

***Disclaimer: This post was written over a year. As with Magnolia, I started writing it just before her 2nd birthday. Life was SUPER crazy when Kaleia turned 2. I jotted down notes and have been working on it intermittently. As usual, it is long. Mostly, it is for Kaleia, but I hope you enjoy learning more about my daughter through my eyes.***

A letter to my Kaleia Shalom: