Story Time

Mia asked me what the Passover was. I decided to start way back when Joseph was sold into Egypt. The kids all gathered around and listened. They would get excited and interject stories they knew. Mia asked to sit on my lap "because I love you." Mia and Justin told parts of Joseph's brothers being jealous. Mia said "They gave him to Egypt and he got a new dad. His new dad (Potiphar) had a wife that wanted to marry Joseph. He didn't want to marry her so he hid. He was REALLY good at hiding and she couldn't find him." I said she was kind of close and told her the actual story. Then we got to the part where Joseph interprets the butler's and baker's dreams in prison. Justin told this story and said the baker would be executed. Mia scrunched up her nose and said that was bad. We eventually got to the part where the Pharaoh decides there are too many Jews and that sons will be killed. Mia gasped. I was telling Charlie about this and he said bible stories are scary.

Truth Hurts

Me: Mia, I am so glad you are in my family.
Mia: I am so glad you are in my family.
Me: I am so glad I get to be your mom.
Mia: I am so glad you are my mom.
Me: I hope I don't mess up too much.
Mia: Oh, you do, but I like it.

Washingto DC in pictues

Library of Congress

 We had a great trip to Washington DC at the end of October. Justin and Emma are both learning about American history this year so we thought it was a great opportunity to teach them something. When Justin was in 5th grade the teacher wanted him to know the zip code of the NY Twin Towers and said DC as part of Maryland. So we decided not to leave their education solely in the hands of the public education system. We were nervous with the government shutdown and almost canceled the trip, but it reopened a few days before we got there. We saw just about everything:: Air and Space Museum (both locations), American Indian Museum, American History Museum, Spy Museum, Ford's Theatre, Washington Monument, White House, Lincoln Memorial, Jefferson Memorial, Korean War Memorial, Vietnam Memorial, US Bureau of Engraving and Printing, Gettysburg, an Amish Farm, the Capitol, sessions of both the House and Senate, Supreme Court, Hishhorn Museum, Freer Museum, Postal Museum, US Botanical Gardens, WWII Memorial, and the Library of Congress. We couldn't go in the Washington Memorial or the White House. The White House reopened for tours after a long hiatus about a week after we got home. I probably forgot something, but as you can see we packed a lot in . We wore out the kids, but they enjoyed riding the subway and I think a little bit of what we were trying to teach them sunk in. They all kept journals of the trip. Justin's favorite part was Hishhorn Museum, Emma and Mia loved the American Indian and Spy Museums. My favorite was the Amish farm and Ford's Theatre. Charlie liked the Air and Space museums and the Amish farm.

Library of Congress

American Indian Museum

American Indian Museum

Air and Space Museum (Downtown)

Korean War Memorial

The Capitol

US Botanical Garden (1000 bloom chrysanthemum)

US Botanical Garden

Natural History Museum

Natural History Museum

Air and Space (Dulles location?)

Gettysburg

 

American History Museum

Natural History Museum

Natural History Museum

Mia's classmate asked for a picture of "all of DC"

Smithsonian Castle in Legos

Smithsonian Castle

Hishhorn Museum

Air and Space Museum

Air and Space Museum

Air and Space Museum

Air and Space Museum

Gettysburg

Gettysburg

Amish Farm

Amish Farm (plates I had as a kid)

Amish Farm Lancaster, PA

Amish Farm

Amish Farm

Capitol

Capitol

Capitol (Helen Keller)

Capitol (Frederick Douglas)

Capitol (Brigham Young)

Capitol ceiling

Air and Space Museum (Dulles)

Air and Space Museum (Dulles)

The day after we got home was Halloween

The Most Powerful Man in the Universe

Charlie brought some food to school for Emma's class party. A kid saw him and turned to Emma. She said "Wow, is that your Dad? He is huge!" Emma said "yea, he is strong. One time he showed us his muscles and they are GIGANTIC!"

The Power of Love

Emma came home with a school assignment to list around 50 talents she has. She listed "art and horse back riding". She told me she needed some help thinking of more. I listed a few then said she is loving. She said "love is a powerful thing... love is a powerful source." When she says things like this she tries to be really serious and heartfelt. Her voice gets all soft and weird. I couldn't hold it in and burst out laughing. Then I was yelled at.

Got Your Back

This week some boys called Emma some swear words at school. I told Justin about it and he clenched his jaw and kept mumbling under his breath. I asked if he was upset, and he told me of course he was. He was going to go over to that school and ...and... I asked what he would really do. Everything he came up with included duct tape. Duct tape their mouths shut, duct tape them to the monkey bars (where the incident occurred), or get duct tape in their hair so it hurts and pulls some hairs out. I pointed out that anything he did to those boys would wind up getting him in a lot of trouble.

Justin told me that his buddy went to the school to scare some boys that were picking on his little brother. I mentioned that I had done the same thing when my little brother got picked on. Justin was very curious how I had handled it. I said that I went up to the kid, stood really close so that I towered over him and told him he better be careful and keep away. Meanwhile Tyler stood in the background and yelled "ha ha!" Justin said "Tyler is awesome!"

This reminds me of another infamous story in our family. When Tyler was in 5th or 6th grade some boys from school came down the horse trail behind our house and saw Tyler playing in the backyard. They were boys he didn't get along with at school. They demanded to jump on our trampoline. Tyler said no, squirted them with a water gun, and told them it was pee. They chased him and started jumping on the trampoline. Tyler ran inside and called out to his five sisters who were home. We came racing outside and chased the boys down the horse trail. Christy or Tricia, depending on who tells the story, yelled "You better run! I have a butcher knife and am going to stick it up your butt and twirl it around!" (No one really had a knife.) Finally we cornered them and made them come back to our house. We made them wipe off the trampoline, take off their shoes, and jump on it while we watched them. One brave little punk said we better be careful because his dad was in jail. Tricia said "oh yea, our dad hasn't been caught yet!" One kid had his older brother with him who was my age. He refused to obey us until I went inside looked up his phone number and we threatened to call his dad. Then they all jumped on the trampoline crying while we watched and laughed.

Hurt Spot

Justin came home from school a few weeks ago and said he had a "hurt spot". I raised my eyebrows. He explained that he had hit his forehead several times during the day and it was killing him... thus the "hurt spot". I inspected the "hurt spot" and informed him it was a pimple. He said no, it was hurt from repeatedly being hit really hard. I said it was a pimple and was really sensitive so it felt like he was hitting it hard. We got a kick out him calling it a "hurt spot" so now that is the default term in our house for anything that hurts.