Have You Ever Been So Tired...

... that you fell asleep on your brother's computer chair...

... with your brother on the chair with you...

... while he plays computer?

Cole has.

Handwriting

This Spring Indiana decided that cursive handwriting was no longer mandatory to teach in school.  I have two different lines of thinking about this issue.

1.  I kind of feel like learning how to write in cursive is something of a rite of passage.  It is the form of writing for mothers in letters to teachers, of English teachers on blackboards, of signatures.  For Pete's sake, how will our children learn how to write a proper signature?!

Plus, when done well, cursive handwriting can be really beautiful.  I took a calligraphy class in college and really learned to appreciate the beauty of cursive and other hand writing styles.  Not that my cursive is beautiful; in fact, it's fairly illegible if I'm not careful. But my point is that handwriting, when done correctly, can be something of an art form. 

2.  I kind of feel like writing by hand is kind of going the way of the dinosaurs.  I type 99.99% of all my written communications now.  Is it really worth the time and effort (and torture - for both student and teacher!) to teach our third graders cursive handwriting?  I've been thinking a lot about this the past few days because I've had to do a bit more writing than normal (some soccer forms and a birthday card), and I could barely hold the pen, let alone write legibly.  I've had so little practice writing by hand lately that it seems my hands and brain have just forgotten how.  I feel kind of bad about this, but it's not like I'm not going to start practicing.

What do you think?  To cursive or not to cursive, that is the question.

A Few Things

1.  When I say "Do NOT come into this room.  Mommy is not dressed yet," what my kids hear is "Hey, come on into my room!  And bring your siblings.  We're gonna party!"

2.  Tess woke me up at 5:30am because she had a poopy diaper.  After eating she went right back to sleep, but I didn't.  I tossed and turned in bed for a good 45 minutes and finally fell asleep.  Then Cole came in and decided he wanted to get into bed with us.  On my side, of course.  Why don't my kids let me get dressed or sleep in peace? 

3.  I'm finding it a bit ironic that after having three boys I finally have a little girl - who looks way better in blue than in pink.  Oh well.  Hopefully the fall and winter clothes will be a bit less pink than the summer clothes.  (They couldn't be any more pink, that's for sure.)

4.  Spencer's school supply list said he had to buy 24 Ticonderoga pencils. (That's the big fat kind of pencils.)  Two of these pencils cost $.99.  I bought four pencils total because I refuse to buy $12 worth of pencils.  If his teacher has a problem with this then she'll just have to get over it.  I mean, just how much writing is she going to make these kids do?  (I'm really just hoping it was a typo on the list.)

5.  School is only 12 days away for Spencer.  Hallelujah and amen.

6.  I bought myself a mango for lunch today and ate it all myself and wouldn't share with any of my kids because that would just be a waste of a good mango.  I lurve mangoes, and this was a really good one, considering it was grown in Mexico and bought in Indiana.  It reminded me of the best mango treat I ever had.  I was doing study abroad in Israel (Summer of '98, in case you're wondering) and we were in Capernaum.  It was SUPER HOT and SUPER HUMID and a very smart guy with an ice cream cart found our group of students.  I chose a popsicle that was pureed mango on the outside and vanilla ice cream in the middle.  To this day it is known as The Best Popsicle Ever.  Oh mercy.  I enjoyed it while sitting on a table while watching these weird and very large capybaras run around in a field near by.  They looked like the R.O.U.S.'s (Rodents Of Unusual Size) from The Princess Bride.

Writer's Block

I've been trying to come up with something clever or funny to say about this picture.  I just can't.

Mainly because I just keep thinking "The squishably-unbelievable-cuteness phase has arrived."

Snacks

Like most toddlers, Cole loves snacks.  The word "snack" was one of the first he perfected.  His favorites include grapes, fruit snacks, and granola bars. This is all normal. 

What is not normal is what I found him snacking on yesterday afternoon.

Okay, you can't really see it, but in the picture he's chewing on a rock.  He wouldn't show the rock to me because he knew I would take it away.

Why in the world would the child bring a rock into the house and decide to gnaw on it?  The thought of how that felt on his teeth makes me shiver. Despite nearly eight years of child-rearing experience they still manage to surprise me on a daily basis.

Mommy Bling

A few weeks ago when I was really thinking about Tess being my last baby (even before this post), I was feeling a bit sad and nostalgic about the whole thing.  Not that I was having second thoughts, I was just kinda mourning the end of an era, if you will.

Then I remembered something that made me feel a lot happier.  This:

It's a necklace from The Vintage Pearl.  Each charm has the initial of my kiddos.

I've wanted one of these necklaces for a long time.  It's been on my Amazon wishlist for years, but Lance never seemed to take the hint.  So I told myself that once I was done with having babies I would buy it.  It finally came in the mail today and I love it.

What?  You don't promise to buy yourself jewelry (or something else you really want) once you've accomplished a goal?  You totally should.  You deserve it.

"She looks like a mommy!"...

... is what Josh said when Tess tried on his glasses.

I'm gonna take that one as a compliment.