Be free, have fun, ask why">

The kids went to Funschool in their first set of costumes of the day.  Riesling was a pirate and Cashel was her parrot.  Riesling had lots and lots of fun sword fighting with Zorro and a knight.  Cashel’s costume lasted all of 5 minutes until he took it off and refused to put it back on, even for a group picture.

Riesling made most of two toe puppets and then ran around, inside and out.  She played with Cara alot and gave poor little Murphy the cold shoulder upon hearing his many cries of, “Riesling…..!”  Cashel just ran around non-stop.

Joe came home and the pumpkin carving extravaganza began.  Cashel really wanted to dance so he went inside and put on his pink skirt and didn’t come back out until it was time to go Trick-or-Treating.  I took his pumpkin in to him so he could draw the face on it.  Joe, Riesling and I scooped and carved.  Joe ended up writing Happy Halloween with Lite Brites in his.

Joe arranged the pumpkins and set out the scarecrow that Riesling and Cashel had made on our trip to the Valley Inn Farm to guard the bowl with our treats, which were florescent wrist bands.  The kids put on their second set of costumes.  Riesling was a princess and Cashel was her dragon.

We went over to Stefano’s house to go Trick-or-Treating with him and his cousins, Austin and Aiden.  They were already finished so they left their candy bags at home and went out a second time just for UNICEF.  In the end they collectively raised $20.  The kids had lots of fun looking for houses with lights on and deciding which way we were going to turn.  Cashel was really excited by a pumpkin at one stop the had a dragon carved into it.

We went back to Stefano’s house and they all played and then they watched Calliou in Spanish.  After the show was over we packed up and headed home and to bed.

Cashel was up and at ‘em at 6:30 this morning.  I was up with him, getting us ready to go to Shenandoah Valley Community School.

We arrived shortly after Leyland.  Lilith was also there.   And that was it.  Nevaeh was still sick, Solomon was still on vacation and Emilia was going to be late.

Cashel and I vacuumed; until Cashel sucked something up and Sarah and I attempted to investigate what was making the new whistling sound that was coming from the vacuum cleaner.  We couldn’t figure it out so Sarah put the vacuum back together and I finished up.

Nearly everyone attended the morning meeting.  We talked about a field trip to the library.  Leyland really wanted to go to the main branch in Harrisonburg since he said he goes to the one in Elkton often.  Then we discussed the field trip that was requested by Lilith to go to the zoo.  Sarah suggested that it would take a long time to drive to the zoo in DC and our time might be better spent at someplace closer.  They had already planned on going to the Wildlife Center in Waynesboro so they looked at photos online of the animals (mostly birds) to see there.  Then Sarah showed them the Luray Zoo and the Natural Bridge Zoo.  Leyland was really excited about the reptiles at Luray.  Sarah pointed out that it is closer and slightly less expensive than Natural Bridge.  The discussion concluded with consensus for Luray Zoo.

After the meeting, Emilia arrived while I was reading The Very Dizzy Dinosaur by Jack Tickle (I read that one twice) and It’s Halloween by Jack Prelutsky, both the children’s choices from the book shelves.  Then I toasted some delicata squash seeds for everyone to munch on.

Cashel began digging around in the outdoor supplies and the children were soon out and about, running amock.  Except for Lilith, she stayed in with Sarah.  They played a word game that I got the impression had been written out in Lilith’s handwriting and that Lilith preferred be played by just by her and Sarah. The rest of the lot battled an evil octopus with sidewalk chalk.  They would launch it through a pipe to try to hit the creature.  All at once the tide turned and the octopus was friendly.  Lots and lots and lots of yarn appeared.  They used it to “fish” and to give beautiful things to the octopus.  Cashel set about cutting as much as possible up into small pieces.  Then Riesling and Emilia spread the yarn and sidewalk chalk in a very large circular shape on the grass.  It was quite the fantastic mess.

The kids went in and out of the school constantly, leaving the door open often.  Sarah and I both asked them several times to close the door.  Finally Sarah came out and explained in a slightly exasperated tone that if they leave the door open, the warm air goes out of the school and it costs more money.  She asked them to please shut the door immediately after opening it, suggesting that maybe they could remind each other, and went back in.

Leyland retrieved the bucket that had been previously detached from the bottom of the wheelbarrow and put forth his best effort to attach a large heavy stick to it for a boat and fishing pole effect.  He tried to use tape, but that wouldn’t stick to the rusty bucket.  So he got the glue and glued the tape down.  Around this time, Cashel and Riesling went inside and promptly began to look at books.  I followed.  Sarah was helping Lilith clean up the game.  I asked Sarah advice on how to handle the clean up rule with Riesling, since Leyland and Emilia were still playing.  She suggested that I ask Riesling to ask Leyland and Emilia if there was anything that she could clean up that they were done playing with.  Riesling said that she didn’t want to because she was looking at books.  I asked her when would be a good time for her to go and ask them and she said that she would as soon as she was done with the book she was looking at.  When I came out of the bathroom I asked her if she had gone outside and asked Leyland and Emilia, since I didn’t hear her go out.  She said an annoyed yes.  I asked her if she really went out or she meant that she was going to go out, and she gave another really annoyed, I really went Mom, yes.  Sarah piped up from the other room to let me know that she had gone out.  Boy do I hate when I doubt someone and they should have been taken at their word.

I finished cleaning the bathrooms and Sarah went out to help Emilia and Leyland clean up the yarn and chalk, except that Sarah called it worms and bugs.  They all worked together and quite happily cleaned up the whole entire mess in no time.

It was sometime after 1PM that I finally sat down to lunch.  I put out some soup and Annie’s Whole Wheat Bunny Crackers for the kids, which were shared all around.

Later Sarah got down the rock tumbler, as it’s water and polishing agent needed changing.  She worked patiently with the kids during the in depth and time consuming task of figuring out exactly who was going to do what so that everyone got to do something and was generally satisfied with their roll.

We stayed until after 3 since I was to meet Joe at 3:45 at the JMU Arboretum.  Right about when we were going to head out Jordan, Ned and their Mom, Carol, came along.  Jordan, Riesling and Cashel enjoyed a fantastic game of “bungy jumping” which entailed them jumping off the couch onto various cushions and pillows.

By the time we met Joe, Cashel was asleep.  I packed him into the stroller and we headed up to the Frances Plecker Education Center for the Harvest Festival with Kara and her daughter Madison from Funschool.  We had run into them in the parking lot.  At the Center the kids milled around while a librarian read a few fall books to them and then sang some songs with them.  Afterwords they could color a little tiny pumpkin with marker or make a stamp to go letter boxing and collect leaves for a collage.  Riesling first colored a pumpkin with Madison and then went outside where they made their letter boxing stamps.  Riesling made a heart.  Cashel woke up in the grumpiest mood ever.  He didn’t want to do ANYTHING except be held.  I asked Kara to please watch Riesling, yet again.  Riesling and Madison happily went off into the woods with Kara and I sat there with Uber Grumpikins.  Joe arrived shortly before the girls and Kara came back.  Riesling and Madison proudly showed us the tattoo prizes they had found in the treasure boxes.  Riesling brought some back for Cashel.  Kara said that Riesling helped quite a bit with figuring out the clues to find the treasures.   Then they made collages with their leaves.

We said goodbye and I sent Joe off with the kids, much to Cashel’s dismay.  I went to the store to get supplies for Joe’s chili.  When I got home, Joe reported that Cashel had cried nearly the whole entire time.  Riesling ate 3 bowls of chili while Cashel decide that the juice box and Goldfish crackers that they gave out at the Arboretum would be his dinner.  I got him ready for bed and we looked at I Spy School Days (A Book of Picture Riddles) by Jean Marzollo.  He was very interested in the page with Rube Goldberg machine, which went through all kinds of steps to pop a balloon.  Cartoonist Rube Goldberg specialized in drawing whimsical machines with complex mechanisms to perform simple tasks.

Then I read Riesling the rest of Chapter 13, Chapter 14 (The Triumph of the Witch) and most of Chapter 15 (Deeper Magic From Before the Dawn of Time) in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis.

Sleeping until 8:30 is actually a new record.  We must have been REALLY tired or it’s just great sleeping weather!  So the kids were super hungry when we rolled out of bed.  Cashel couldn’t even wait for his smoothie and insisted on a frozen banana first.  He ate it while watching Fetch! with Riesling.  The first episode they chose was about going back in time to the 17th century and how children lived and contributed to society.  The second episode was about sea lions.

After Fetch! they decided that they wanted to have a dance party.  And then they painted with paint brushes, tooth brushes, sponges and their hands…while I cleaned out the fridge.  I can’t post pictures tonight, so please check back.

They played some very involved game with sword fighting and sleep overs that they didn’t want to stop, even for lunch, but eventually they did.  After their soup, they had some ice cream for a treat and both of them had bluish lips and fingernails from being so cold since they insisted on running around in their under wear.  Riesling finally decided to put her clothes on but her little brother was hoping for hypothermia and just refused.  I put him in the “Mommy warmer”, which is me snuggling him up under me with his face next to mine and tickling him with my chin.  After his color started to come back, I wrestled his clothes onto him.  I read them The Princess Knight by Cornelia Funke while we all snuggled.

Riesling and Cashel had some birthday and Christmas money to spend so we looked and searched online for pools and water toys and inflatable bouncers.  Then the kids played and I searched even more.  We found a couple options and will narrow it down to a purchase another day.

Joe came home and we all got dressed up and ready to go to dinner at the Joshua Wilton House.  Before we left the kids gave me a bag which contained a drawing from Cashel in green crayon sealed with wax, a clown pop up card made by Riesling sealed with wax and Simba the Lion.

At the restaurant, the kids started off with their very best manners.  Riesling said, “Thank you” and “Your welcome” every time our server brought her something.  Cashel stayed in his seat and didn’t over turn his water glass.  We got our First Course.  Cashel took one bite of the phyllo wrapped brie with balsamic vinegar and spit it out.  He ate only bread and 2 pieces of Joe’s fillet until dessert.  Riesling tried everything.

For dessert, the waiter brought us our menus and informed me that there was something special made just for our celebration.  There in the middle of the page was Sticky Toffee Pudding.  I was so surprised!  We ate Sticky Toffee Pudding at nearly every restaurant we went to in the UK and I hadn’t had it since.  Riesling knew about the surprise and had kept it a secret.  Of course that’s what I ordered and so did Joe.  The kids ordered their second dose of ice cream for the day.

When the dessert came, my family sang a hushed “Happy Birthday” and then the kids blew out my candle.  Soon after they were about at the end of their ability to contain themselves.  Riesling was up and dancing and Cashel was kneeling on his chair looking out over the dining room talking loudly about Lord only knows what.  It was time to go.  We had been there for nearly 3 hours.

Cashel passed out on the way home.  I got Riesling in her jammies and she wanted to look at two calenders which were made by her Aunt Beth and contained pictures of Joe’s family from 2005 and 2006.  Then I sang her a song about my family in NY, per her request.  She gave me an extra birthday hug to end a wonderful day.

We were at home today so getting up at 7:30 was no big deal.  I leisurely made smoothies while the kids watched Fetch!  They chose to watch new episodes today.  One was about making BLT ice cream and cooking and the other was about solving a mystery in a spooky house.  Riesling is getting really good at using our extremely complicated remote control.

After TV, they played together while I did house work and putz around on the computer.

For together time, they wanted to play Clue.  I got down the game and set it up.  It was so hard to try to be patient with Cashel as he moved things around and kept taking the knife and trying to cut Riesling’s arm off and crawled across the game board.  I was able to show Riesling how to look at the cards and figure out what you have and what the other person might have and how to mark things off.  Cashel was calmed down by the end of the game and helped us clean it up.  He put the knife in last.

I announced that I was putting lunch on the table.  The kids had other ideas.  It was dance party time.  They put on a favorite CD, exchanged their warm clothes for skimpy dress up outfits and busted a move or two.  They’ve really been into break dancing lately.  After a bit Cashel asked for his frozen banana that was left from this morning and ate some trail mix for lunch.  Riesling just ate trial mix.

Afterwords they played house.  Riesling set up the ballet bars into a V shape and draped some blankets over to make a little cave.  She brought all kinds of stuffed animals and put them in it while trying to make sure that Cashel didn’t knock it over, accidentally or on purpose.

They ate snack and Joe came home.  They did some secret craft project with lots of construction paper.  Then they played “sidewalk construction”.  Joe picked them up like he was a crane and they are rebar and supports and put them close to each other.  Then he got the jackhammer (one pointed finger) and jack hammered the crack between them while they wriggled and giggled. I even got picked up by the crane and deposited.  The crane operator then called out that more jackhammers were needed and I ended up at the bottom of the “rubble” that was my children.  After that they watched a ton of videos on the computer with Joe while I made dinner.  Just before it was ready Joe did a little demonstration of what the American Revolution was by taking one of Riesling’s carrot pieces that she had pilfered from the cutting board and pretended he was the king and that was his tax.  Then he told her about how the American’s didn’t think that was right and what happened when they declared their independence.

The Autumn Minestrone with Squash and Kale turned out fantastic.  The finishing touch was Annie’s Whole Wheat Bunny Crackers.  Cashel would only eat the carrots and beans and of course the bunnies.  The rest of us devoured multiple bowls.

Joe gave the kids a bath and then looked at some books with Riesling while I read Cashel Dig Dig Digging by Margaret Mayo.  They were asleep in record time.

We were super duper uper late today.  We woke up at 7:30 and we needed to be out the door at 8:15 at the latest since we were supposed to volunteer at Shenandoah Valley Community School (SVCS).  The kids managed to sprint to the TV and squeeze in a viewing of Fetch! (Finding Your Inner Hip Hop episode) while I ran around like a crazy lunatic.

At 8:45 I called Sarah to let her know that we would be late since I was just leaving Grottoes.  On the way Riesling urged me to go faster.  I told her that the speed limit was 55 mph and that I shouldn’t go much faster than that as it wouldn’t be safe and I might get a speeding ticket.  I saw another speed limit sign and I asked her, “What’s the speed limit now?” She said, “Forty zero.”  “Yes, forty miles per hour is the speed limit,” I replied.  This went on all the way to school.  I asked Cashel what shapes the signs were and Riesling read me off all kinds of signs that she saw on the way.

Everyone had arrived and was all settled in by the time we finally showed our faces.  Everyone being Leyland and Jordan.  Emilia would be coming late, Solomon and Joziah were on vacation and Nevaeh was sick.  Leyland was very excited about his aunt Kris coming to teach an art class.  He even taped a little sign to the front door that said “ART CLASS 1:30″.

Morning meeting was attended by myself, Sarah and Cashel.  SVCS will be having an open house on November 11th and Sarah reiterated that there would be an art class at 1:30.  Jordan had asked Sarah to write that he would like to have a space class, but didn’t want to specify when.

Leyland announced that he liked space and that he had been to the Air and Space Museum on Sunday.  Jordan asked Leyland if he knew that the Earth revolved around the Sun.  Leyland looked at him like, “Of course, doesn’t everyone?”  and answered, “Yes!”  After a bit of discussing space with Leyland, Jordan let Sarah know that he would like to start a Space Club instead.

Riesling and Leyland got some sticks out of the wood working bin and decorated them with ribbons, stickers and tape.  Cashel found a stick that he liked, but it had a nail in it.  I took it over to where the tools were and pounded the nail out.  Sarah asked me if I would hammer outside.  I was finished, but now Cashel really wanted to hammer, so I put his coat on him and zipped him up.  Riesling and I also got bundled, buttoned and zipped.  Leyland headed outside with out any coat what-so-ever.  I asked him if he would like me to bring his coat and hat out to him and he declined.  The temperature was about 50 degrees with a strong breeze.

I brought all the wood working tools out with me to the picnic table which was adjacent to the little club house that Leyland had built in the weeds on Thursday.  He was really proud of it and told us all about how he made it and what everything was for.

Riesling got out the saw and proceeded to begin to saw some weeds down and Leyland got a little upset.  He attempted to take the saw from her to get her to stop.  I asked him to please use words to communicate and if he needed her to stop to go ahead and tell her so.  I also suggested that he let her know which weeds she could cut down.  He stopped trying to pry the saw from her grip and showed her a few weeds that he didn’t like and they worked together.

I ran into the school to get my camera and then the battery and Sarah and Jordan were having an insightful discussion about space while they both ate.

I asked Leyland if he was cold, since I was freezing my heiney off.  He said, “No.”  I felt his hands and sure enough they were nice and warm.  He did exclaim that mine were freezing!  I had a long sleeve shirt, a sweater, a wool pea coat and warm gloves on.  He had on an undershirt and a long sleeve shirt.

After Riesling was done sawing weeds, Cashel took over.  Riesling proceeded to pound a nail into a piece of wood.  Then Leyland took the pliers and picked up Cashel’s stick and playfully ran away with it.  Cashel got upset and picked up the hammer to go after Leyland.  I very quickly intervened and told Cashel that he needed to tell Leyland, “Stop!”  I got him to put the hammer down and he went and got his stick with out incident.

I showed Leyland and Riesling some lambs ear plants growing near the club house.  Leyland was really interested and thought they were very soft.  There was also another plant that I thought might be ground cherries.  I broke off part of the plant and the kids raced inside to ask Sarah to help them look it up on the computer to try to identify it.  They crowded around the computer with Leyland navigating and compared the leaves and the berries on the plant to what they saw on the screen.

Then Riesling and Jordan sat down to look at a space book together and Cashel got out a couple games that he wanted to play.  One was about dinosaurs and the other was Madeline’s house.  All of a sudden I heard CRASH.  Sarah and I rushed into the main room to find a huge bin which was about a third of the way full of legos, that was on top of the piano, now lying on the floor next to Leyland.  Cashel was a couple feet away.  Sarah suggested that Leyland could ask for help getting them down next time and I was glad that no one was hurt.

Toward the end of the book, Jordan mentioned something about a star over Hawaii to Riesling.  I asked what star it was.  I read the caption under the photo and it described the picture as a solar eclipse.  I said that it was indeed a star, our Sun.  Leyland contributed some more facts and Jordan said, “What do you think, I’m stupid or something!!!”  I told him softly that no one thought he was stupid and he said with a sigh, “I know.”

Sarah and I helped Leyland clean up the legos and I put away the games that Cashel had abandoned.  I got out lunch for my kids since it was almost time to go.  Emilia, Kahutia and their Mother, Tiffani arrived and also sat down to have lunch.  Jordan decided that this was an opportune time to put on the “Blabber Mouth Show”.  He got a pair of hinged teeth out of a box and began to dance around and sing very loudly, “Blabber mouth, I’m a blabber mouth, etc, etc.”  Emilia told him he was annoying.  Riesling and Cashel thought he was wildly funny.  Sarah suggested that he go into the other room and he did.  Riesling and Cashel followed him.  After a couple minutes he announced that the Blabber Mouth Show was about to begin.  Emilia jumped up and ran into the other room to see the show!  I went to check things out too.  Jordan had lined up the small blue chairs in a row in the kitchenette/hall area and was performing there.  At this point I also noticed that Leyland was in the craft room and had set up some construction paper on the table.

After a bit of the Blabber Mouth Show, Sarah and/or Tiffani suggested that Jordan move the chairs into the large room so that they weren’t blocking the walkway.  All the kids helped him move the chairs and set the up again.  He continued with a singing show while standing on the couch.

I was cleaning and packing up when I heard Cashel cry out and then he began to wail.  I rushed into the craft room.  Cashel was lying face up on the floor and Tiffani was heading toward him asking if he was alright.  I pushed past her, gathered him up, hugged him and asked where he was hurt and what happened.  He just cried and said something about Leyland.  I asked Leyland to come over and then asked him why he pushed Cashel on the floor.  Leyland said that he had to because Cashel was messing up the papers that he had set up for art class.  I said, “No, no you didn’t have to push him.  I understand that you were frustrated.  Next time what you could do is go as fast as you can and get me or Sarah or you can just let him mess the papers up.”  I also told Leyland that if he pushed someone onto a hard floor off of a chair and they hit their head hard enough, they could hurt their brain and it might not ever work well again.  He seemed kind of ok with this.  Cashel was fine and went to watch Jordan on the couch.

Riesling really wanted to stay for the art class, but we needed to go get groceries and supplies for our diabetic cat.  As we passed by Court Square, the kids recognized where the Harrisonburg Children’s Museum was.  We got to Martin’s and I doled out their dollars in quarters.  They promptly spent them at the candy/trinket machines near the entrance to the store.  With their loot in their pockets we headed through the store while they munched away.  Riesling helped me figure out how many bananas I needed to buy to spend $6 so that I could use a 50 cents off coupon that I had.  We completed our errands and headed home.

Once there, the kids finished watching their hour with the kite building and flying and cat training episode of Fetch!

Joe got home and they played the pillow bomb game.  They each made their own flags and built forts out of the couch cushions and pillows.  At one point Cashel came back and got me from the computer and asked me to be “abducted”!  I was led out to the front room and was bombed by Joe and Riesling.  Too silly.

The kids seemed really tired…hmmm I wonder why!  I read Riesling most of Chapter 13: Deep Magic from the Dawn of Time from C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.  Joe sang her some songs while I read Cashel Dig Dig Digging by Margaret Mayo.  Before we started reading, he sat down and counted from 1 to 10, in order, for the very first time.  After the book, the little guy fell fast asleep.  I checked on Riesling and she was out too.

The kids requested their usual for breakfast this morning.  I whipped up their smoothies while they watched Fetch!  Riesling really likes the Finding Your Inner Hip Hop episode, which also features the omnivore/carnivore/herbivore diet and identification lesson.  The kites and cooking episode was next.

Riesling asked Joe to play “sleep over” with them while I did some house work.  First he took apart one of their toys and tried to fix it while they attempted to “help” him.  He told them all sorts of interesting facts about how the toy worked and why it wasn’t working now.

Cashel built a “road” across the living room with the pillows from the couch.  Riesling piled all the pillows up on the couch and pretended that she was a volcano irrupting out of the pillows.  They played together alot.

I made the favorite radish dip and brought it to Stefano’s Harvest Party at Valley Inn Farm.  First we rode the hay wagon, fording the stream to the pumpkin patch (where Cashel peed his pants) and back again.  After I borrowed some dry clean clothes and put them on him, Cashel, Riesling, Stefano (4) and Austin (4) played and played and played some more.  Cashel was in the “sand barn” most of the time and Riesling and the boys pushed each other around on the various riding toys that were there.

After a snack, it was time to milk the cows.  We went out to the milking parlor and Jack explained how the milking machine pulls a vacuum to squeeze the milk from the teat of the cow.  He let Riesling stick her finger inside to feel it squeeze.  Cashel wanted no part of the milking machine.  Katie (Stefano’s Mom and Jack’s daughter) explained that she needed to clean the teats off before the milking machine was put on, as she gave each a squirt with disinfectant and a wipe clean with a wet rag.  When the milking machine was attached, the milk came squirting out into clear capsule like vessels before flowing through a pipe into a cooling/holding tank.  Riesling followed the pipe.  As one batch of four cows finished being milked, another batch came in.  Before attaching the milking machine, Jack let Riesling milk a cow by hand.  She said that she got a little bit of milk out!  Renzo (Katie’s husband) took pictures which I can hopefully stick into this post sometime soon.

Katie and Jack filled the bottles for the calves and we brought them to the four mooing baby cows that were outside.  Riesling, Cashel and Austin (Stefano’s cousin) all fed the calves.  Then we went into the calf barn where Riesling tried to get the calves to suck on her fingers like they were sucking on Katie’s.  After running around with Stefano and Austin a bit more, it was time to say goodbye.

At home the kids ate and got a bath.  Joe read to Riesling and I read Cashel Dig, Dig, Digging by Margaret Mayo.  After our day of play they were out quick.

The children watched Fetch! again this morning.  One episode was about kites and cooking and another episode about beat boxing and omnivores, herbivores and carnivores and how to tell what an animal is by just looking at it.

Joe took Riesling and Cashel to ballet while I stayed home…Yipee!  They went to ballet, and while Riesling danced, Joe and Cashel explored some shops.  Joe said that they went into one place and a lady asked Cashel how he was today and he looked her in the face and announced that he was “going to have a Pump It Up party”!  He’s been saying that for a month now and I wonder if he will continue for the next three until his birthday.

Then Joe took the kids shopping for a birthday gift for me.  At the mall they rode a kiddie roller coaster simulator.  They seemed to really like it.  Riesling suddenly decided to recall her first roller coaster ride which happened when she was 3 years old in Edinburgh, Scotland.  Their memories never cease to amaze me.

Joe came home empty handed and super annoyed about the crappy job that the body shop did on our van.  Cashel was sleeping and as Joe laid him down I asked when the last time he went potty was.  Joe said that he hadn’t since they left home about 6 hours ago.  Joe then commented that he didn’t drink or eat much of anything at lunch.  I asked Joe what he had for lunch and he said pizza and I asked if Cashel had some pizza and Joe said that he gave Cashel a tiny piece.  So I repeated my understanding of the situation which was that Cashel was very upset and decided not to eat or drink because Joe ate food that Cashel couldn’t have in front of him.  Frickin fantastic on so many levels (extra heavy on the sarcasm).

While Cashel slept I read Riesling The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis.  I read Chapter 11 (Aslan is Nearer) and Chapter 12 (Peter’s First Battle).  She said that she wanted to play Payday so I got it out and set it up and counted out the money and then she decided that she wanted to play something else.  She decided on Guess Who.  We played one game.  She is still working on whether you should flip the people down if they have the trait in question or if they don’t.

I started to make snack for Riesling and Cashel woke up.  Cashel insisted on the big bowl of edamame and Riesling didn’t want any.  She wanted a sunbutter and jam sandwich.  She went into the pantry and got the sunbutter.  Then she got the bread and jam from the fridge.  I gave her the rubber gripper so that she could open the jam herself.  She got the cutting board out.  I got the bread knife and put a wet paper towel under the cutting board so it wouldn’t slide around.  I helped Riesling cut 2 slices of bread, then I helped Cashel cut 2 slices of bread.  Riesling got butter knives out to spread her jam and sunbutter around with.  Cashel just wanted jam so Riesling helped him with that.  Then they both cut their sandwiches into quarters.  They were very proud of their accomplishments.  They were also proud of the sweet potatoes that they had planted and harvested, which I had julienned and roasted.  Cashel ate a few and Riesling devoured them.

After their lengthy snack, they played the pillow bomb/bulldozer game with Joe.  He had some techno music on and at one point Riesling stopped bombing and started dancing. Cashel joined in.

By the time dinner was all said and done it was quite late.  We looked at some old photoes on the computer of Christmas in Wales (2006), since Joe couldn’t find photoes of Riesling’s first roller coaster ride.  Riesling and Cashel really loved the photoes and wanted to just keep looking.  But it was indeed quite late so Joe sang Riesling some songs and I tucked Cashel in.  The train pulled into Sleepy Time Station quickly for the two tired sweeties.

Riesling and Cashel managed to get in all their TV time before we left the house for Funschool this morning.  They watched two episodes of Fetch!  One was about finding your inner hip hop and trying to train a cat to fetch.  The kids were really interested in the beat boxing and I heard them trying to replicate it through out the day.

I got an email about an hour before we needed to leave from the Leader for the month of October saying that she wasn’t going to be there so I packed up lots of board games and some blocks so that the kids had something to do besides play on the tire swing.

We arrived first and the kids pulled out Elefun and began to play with it and the Connect Four.  I put out the blocks and cards for the kids to stack and sort or to do whatever they thought would be appropriate.  Carol (Jordan’s Mom) asked me to be interviewed to give some advice on how to continue homeschooling when the economy is down.  I asked Kara to watch Riesling, who was playing on the tire swing with Madison and Lisa to keep an eye on Cashel, who was running amok.  I went downstairs for about a half an hour.

When I came back up, Carla (the visitor at SVCS yesterday) was reading to Riesling, Cashel and Sage.  After the book was done, they went outside to play in the sand box and on the playground and the adults left inside got into a pretty heated discussion over whether kids learn better if they’re presented with different options or if they go and seek out what might interest them.  Only Carol and I had even heard of Summerhill and A.S. Neill’s work and it seemed like we were defending Shenandoah Valley Community School and Carla and Lisa were defending the preschool cooperative that they were affiliated with in Indiana and it just wasn’t good at all.  When I was getting from There to Here, I most certainly felt the same way as Lisa and Carla did.  Then I read about ideas that conflicted with what I thought was how things worked best and found a better way.  I try to remember that lesson and keep an open mind to new ideas.

It was time to go so I cleaned up my stuff while peaking at Riesling and Cashel on the playground.  I went outside and talked with Alice and Janell while our kids played.  Their version of play was Riesling and Cashel hitting Alice’s son Clint (9) in the legs with sticks.  He came and asked his Mom, Alice,  to ask them to stop and I couldn’t help myself from letting him know that he could ask them to stop and that if he did, they would.  He decided not to and they kept on.

I asked Alice about why she “wouldn’t send her kids to SVCS”.  She sounds like a devout follower of John Holt and wasn’t familiar with how a free school works as a way for children to become independent problem solvers who don’t rely on their mothers for basic assertiveness.  I wonder where my head would be if I hadn’t read Summerhill and had read a John Holt book first instead.  I need to read more John Holt to better understand where so many other homeschoolers (unschoolers) are coming from.  Anyway, Alice explained that she believed that children learn through living and that all schools are institutions that take them away from life.  I asked her what the difference was between the children being at a free school all day and being at home all day.  She said that they weren’t home all day.  I wish I would have asked her when her kids had time to play and interact if they are constantly on the go.

Alice’s other son, Murphy who is 4, really likes Riesling and they played together with out hitting each other at all.  So as we were leaving Alice and I talked about getting the kids together to play.  I joked with Clint that I bet he was excited to have my kids come over and hit him with sticks.  At this point he didn’t seem upset at all and was smiling as we said our goodbyes.  We were all in the van and just about ready to go and he came up to the window and asked me if the plastic toy that he found in the sand box was ours and to remind me that Riesling’s boots were sitting on the sidewalk next to the van…Ooops!

We went to get our van back after having a rental for a week.  It wasn’t ready yet so we went to the Harrisonburg Children’s Museum.  The kids were excited about the new ambulance exhibit and played doctor for a bit before heading over to the garden and farmer’s market area.  Riesling and I played Lemonade stand while Cashel loaded his little wheelbarrow with lots of pineapples.  Then Riesling gave me a grocery list and sent me shopping.  I came back with the items and she counted out and tried to figure out how much each was according to a list.  She is becoming more familiar with identifying coins and how many pennies they are worth.  We went up to the stage area and Riesling did a Flamenco Dance while Cashel did some puzzles.  They put on a puppet show and then wildly rode the lawn tractor.

While we were there, I observed a family with a little girl who appeared to be about 3, named Dani.  I know her name because her Grandmother kept calling her to “come and look at this” even though Dani was heading toward or doing something that SHE thought was interesting.  What does it take for folks who interact with children to see that they can think and make decisions for them selves.  Why not let the child lead?

After more Flamenco Dancing and negotiations about a stick that Cashel had commandeered from the house under “construction” we went to get our van.

Cashel fell asleep on the way, which made switching car seats and finishing paperwork extra fun.  By the time we got home it was about 5.  The kids were sick of eating on the go granola and sandwiches and wanted something else NOW.  They wanted to go to a restaurant.  Since Joe wasn’t home, we went to the Smokin’ Pig alone.  The kids were excited to cut up their chicken with their butter knives and to be eating somewhere else besides home.

At our house the kids played some sort of pillow throwing game with Joe and then it was off to bath and bed.  Riesling washed herself up again.  I read her Chapter 10 (The Spell Begins to Break) of C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe and read Cashel his Tonka Truck book before they drifted off to dream land.

We arrived at Shenandoah Valley Community School (SVCS) on this cold cold morning.  The kids were bundled nice and snug.  Leyland had just arrived, Lilith was mopping and Solomon was on the computer.  Leyland, Cashel and Riesling all played together while I swept and mopped.  Sarah said that there would be guests at the school that morning who wanted to observe our morning meeting.  The announcement on the board was that Nevaeh and Emilia would be late and under activities was a ballet class to be given by Lilith. Solomon heard about this and objected loudly.  He wanted to be absolutely sure that he wasn’t going to have to take part in the class since ballet is “stupid”.

The visitors were a family (Lisa , Solomon (4) & Solana (1)) that we go to Funschool with and Carla, a preschool co-op director from Indiana where Solomon had went before they moved here.  We quickly moved through the meeting and then the kids played while Lilith did her ballet class.  Riesling joined her briefly.

Sarah read to Solomon from the pile of what seemed like every Berenstain Bears book that was at SVCS.  The pile was at least 8 inches tall.  Cashel took a book off the pile and Solomon got really upset.  I helped them work it out peacefully.  Cashel wanted to read a scary book so I went into the other room and showed him some scary ones.  He chose a chapter book about the Abominable Snowman.  I read him a bit of it and then he went off to find something else to do.

Solomon asked me to read him some Berenstain Bears books.  I told him that I would read one book and I did.  Half way through, Emilia and Nevaeh arrived and joined us.  Riesling was also on the couch next to me.  Then Emilia picked out Thirteen Moon’s On Turtle’s Back by Joseph Bruchac.  We had much discussion around this book.  We talked about who Native Americans are and why they called the moons different names and what season each moon seemed to occur in.

Cashel asked me to read The Berenstain Bears and The Ghost of the Forest from of Solomon’s sacred pile.  Since the book was being read to him as well, Solomon didn’t object.  We were overflowing the little couch, so we moved to the big couch in the main room.  Nevaeh and Emilia went off to make crafts and Lilith and then Leyland joined us on the couch to finish reading the book.  Afterwards the kids dispersed to do various activities and the visitors left.

At some point, Sarah said that Solomon wanted someone to watch his puppet show so I went into the room where the show was happening.  Solomon  had a hedgehog and a koala bear on his hands and was having the koala bear throw bamboo at the hedgehog.  Solomon kept calling the hedgehog a porcupine.  After the show was over and we (Nevaeh, Emilia, Lilith, Cashel and Riesling had joined us) clapped to show our appreciation, I explained to Solomon that the animal was a hedgehog.  He didn’t think so.  So I pulled down the dictionary and showed him the picture of the hedgehog and the picture of the porcupine and we all discussed the differences.  Everyone observed that it was a hedgehog, but some of them said that they still wanted to call it a porcupine.  I agreed that they could call it what ever the wanted to.  The rest of the kids put on siEmiliar puppet shows.

Leyland played outside in the weeds next to the fence for a very long time.  Sarah and I continuously peaked out the windows at him to make sure he was ok.

Suddenly Sarah said to me (as she pulled on some gloves) that she needed to help Leyland in the bathroom and needed me to be there as a witness that nothing inappropriate happened.  I said ok and followed Sarah to the bathroom.  It smelled like poop.  Sarah tried to help Leyland out of his pants and stood up with them crumpled in her hand.  She looked like she was going to barf as she said that she needed to put the pants somewhere.  I quickly took Leyland’s clean clothes out of the ziplock bag that they were in, turned it inside out, grabbed the pants from Sarah, turned it right side out so that the pants were now inside and sealed it up.  I told her that I would finish helping him out.  Much to my surprise, she told Leyland that he could wipe himself up and shut the bathroom door.  I can’t think of one 5 year old that could adequately clean them selves up after they had an accident.  Heck, I know of at least three 5 year olds whose parents still wipe them after they go #2.  A couple moments later, he called out saying that he needed help.  Sarah opened the door and Leyland had poop smeared up to his back and some on the toilet.  I sprinted out to my car to get my baby wipes.  (I’m completely addicted to these even though Cashel is long out of diapers.)  I brought them back in and wiped poor Leyland up.  He was completely nonchalant about the whole thing and didn’t get upset one bit.  As I was finishing up, Solomon walked by, saw that Leyland was naked and quickly turned his head to the wall and shuffled sideways past the bathroom?!?!  Ok…? Makes me wonder a couple things…  I made sure that Leyland was completely depooped, washed his hands, got him dressed and sent him on his merry way.  Then I bleached down the bathroom.

Riesling and Cashel discovered the outdoor equipment inside a cupboard and pulled out bats and balls.  They took them outside and soon after, Jordan, Ned and their Mom, Carol arrived.  Jordan headed up batting practice.  He threw to 3 kids at once and one of them tried to hit the ball.

It was getting really late and we needed to go and then they started heading for the dirt pile.  I was so grateful that they didn’t go into it when I requested them not to and instead got in the van and we headed out.

At home they stayed outside for a little bit and played in the leaves. Then they came inside and decided to watch and dance to Bella Dancerella while in costume.

My annual shipment of Concord Grapes arrived from my Mom.  We ate until our fingers and tongues were stained the most lovely shade of purple.  Joe came home and Cashel wouldn’t quit hitting Riesling so the only solution that we could come up with was that Riesling would go in her room and lock the door.  She went in our room with Joe instead.

A couple minutes later the fire alarm went off.  I thought, “Huh?  I’m not cooking.  What’s going on?”  A second later Riesling and Joe came out of the bedroom saying, “It’s a fire drill, it’s a fire drill.”  We spent the next hour on what is supposed to be our monthly fire drill that we haven’t done in a year.  Riesling seems to have a great grip on what’s going on and how to deal with everything.  We also practiced the situation where one of us is hurt and she pretended to call 911 and quickly recited her address and phone number.  Cashel was petrified of the noise the alarms made and covered his ears and cried.  We think he might understand that he needs to stay in his bed if it’s dark and to run out of the house and to the Stop sign if it’s light.  Otherwise, if we don’t rescue him, he’s a goner.

When the drill was over, I prepared dinner while Joe and the kids played with fire on our brick porch.  Joe said that Riesling really learned a lot about how quickly it spreads and how even when you think it’s out, the fire can start up unexpectedly.  Of course this was all done with safety glasses on and using all kinds of other safety precautions.

After dinner, we got them cleaned up and in their warm snuggly PJs.  I read a Mr. Men Word Book: Mr Silly on the Farm by Roger Hargreaves and another book to them and it was off to sleep.

Riesling and Cashel scampered to the couch to watch Madeline and the Toy Factory while I made smoothies.  After it was over, they wanted to use the rest of their TV time to watch The Nutcracker.  I took their requests for what scene they wanted to see next and did my best to get there as quick as possible.

Then we all got dressed and washed and brushed and headed outside.  Both the kids really wanted to rake leaves with the big rakes, NOT their little rakes.  I got them their equipment and they gathered a cute little pile of leaves together.  They dropped their rakes, went to the starting spot and ran and jumped into the pile.  After a bit, they decided to rearrange the pumpkins and gourds that were on our porch.  Riesling’s idea: To pile them decoratively around the scarecrow.  Cashel’s idea: To throw them off the porch.  I tried to help them sort things out.

After a bit Riesling proposed that they practice crossing our little side street.  So she held Cashel’s hand and they looked left, then right, then left again and ran across.  When they tired of this, they asked to take a walk.  So we walked to the Stop sign, about 3 blocks from our house and back.  All the while practicing crossing streets and being aware of cars in driveways.  We checked out the Stop sign up close and personal (even though we have one in our yard).  I held Cashel up to point at the letters and counted the sides and talked about it’s shape.

We came back inside and they played together, looking at books and talked on their phones to each other.  I read Goodnight Arizona by Adam Gamble three times to Riesling.  Cashel might have made it through one of those readings.

After lunch they went outside to play.  Actually Cashel played and Riesling worked on her Ring Pop for about an hour and a half.  They played in Riesling’s room, taking stuff out of her toy chest that I hadn’t seen in months, like the little foam ring shooters.  Unfortunately Cashel decided to smash Riesling in the ear with it.  I said to him, “She’s hurt!!  Her head is hurt!”  He began crying and ran away.  I carried a sobbing Riesling to the freezer and got the bag of peas out the we use for medicinal purposes and held it to her ear.  I sat on the couch.  Cashel was lying on the floor close to it.  He got up and hit Riesling AGAIN!  I fended off the attack and said, “Cashel, how do you think hitting makes Riesling feel.  He said sad and said that he would give her his vacuum cleaner to make her feel better.  I picked up a nearby book (Ms. Frizzle’s Adventures: Medieval Castle by Joanna Cole) and read the 2nd half to both of them.

I got them snack and Joe arrived home so I disappeared into the office/bedroom.  After snack, they all played guitar, including Joe’s electric guitar.  They seemed to really enjoy it.  After all the instruments were cleaned up, Joe began teaching Riesling a magic trick.  She presented it to me at dinner with good success and seemed like it was fun for her.

After dinner, Joe gave the kids a bath.  Riesling washed herself without any assistance.

Then I read Avalanche by Archer J. Rosen to Cashel while Riesling sat through the second half.  I read Chapter 8 (What Happened After Dinner) and Chapter 9 (In the Witch’s House) of C. S. Lewis’ The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe to Riesling.  Cashel looked at books on the floor for a while.  toward the middle of Chapter 9 he crawled up onto Riesling’s bed, snuggled up on me and fell asleep.  I finished reading and brought him to his room.  Then I returned to Riesling to count to 100 and sang her a quick Rock-A-By Baby before my final goodnight.