I Get Up Early Because I am Lazy

December 1st, 2010 | Posted by Alison Spath in Parenting - (7 Comments)

I typically get up somewhere in the 6 o’clock hour, without an alarm.  Most people would not call this lazy – but really, that’s exactly what it is.

My kids stay up late you see, and there are different reasons for this fact – some a bit closer to the real truth than others.  It all depends on who’s asking. And while each reason is true, I have one answer for the conservative crowd, one answer for the neutral crowd, and one answer for the other people who have admitted to lazy-parenting short cuts in the past – no judgment.

Four Years Ago Today

August 4th, 2010 | Posted by Alison Spath in Parenting - (16 Comments)

I looked at the calendar just now and realized that four years ago today, I quit my day job.

With one month to go until the impending arrival of Thing 2,

Birds Eye View

I swapped out dress slacks and make up and opted for dress up and make believe.

Dancing Girls

This is the longest job I’ve ever held.

Hold On

It’s been the most challenging.

Don't Take My Picture

But it’s also been the most rewarding.

Good Sharing

Some days start out easy.

Easy Like Sunday Morning

Some days start out rough.

Bright

Everywhere You Look

July 15th, 2010 | Posted by Alison Spath in Parenting - (6 Comments)

A month or so ago I stumbled upon a blog post about kids learning to ride a bike without pedals or training wheels. The basic idea is that without having to worry about pedaling, they can focus first on getting the hang of balancing on two wheels first. They can just sit on the bike seat with their feet on the ground, move their feet and walk. They’ll eventually start coasting along, balancing with the security and knowledge that they can easily catch themselves if they start to tip. Once they have the balance thing down, it’s much easier to then get the hanging pedaling – instead of doing it the other way around like you do with training wheels.

A New Era

June 30th, 2010 | Posted by Alison Spath in Parenting - (32 Comments)

The time period of our lives before now will be referred to as “Before the Haircut”. The time period from this point forward will be referred to as “After the Haircut”.

A couple of weeks ago Maxine decided to cut her own hair.

Cut Her Own Hair

Notice the missing bangs and partial mullet on the left side of her head?

When I asked her Why On Earth Would You Do Such a Thing? she responded that she wanted her hair to look like Ava’s American Girl doll “Elizabet”.

Buckle Up For Safety

January 27th, 2010 | Posted by Alison Spath in Parenting - (13 Comments)

Recently, the girls spent the day with my mom and my step father. My step dad happens to be named Dave, and Ava and Maxine affectionately call him “GrandDave”.

Ava loves all things volcanoes these days, and after watching a volcano movie at Granny and GrandDave’s house during their visit (yes, they still get to watch TV at other people’s houses!) a little discussion about volcano safety ensued between Ava and GrandDave:

Ava: When a volcano erupts, the lava goes real fast and you have to run real fast to get out of the way of the lava flow. Sometimes you can’t run fast enough and you die.

A Fish Tale

December 30th, 2009 | Posted by Alison Spath in Parenting - (18 Comments)

So admittedly, I’ve been doing very little cooking in recent weeks, this last week in particular. I feel like I’m just now getting my bearings in this new kitchen. I’ve been busy finding a place for everything, trying to figure out what’s going to work, what’s not, what I need and what I don’t, what can be donated, thrown away or put into storage to be dug out as needed all while wondering where the hell all this crap came from in the first place.

Sweet Tooth Fairy

December 13th, 2009 | Posted by Alison Spath in Parenting - (13 Comments)

Guess who’s coming to our house for the first time tonight?

The Tooth Fairy is Coming Tonight

That would be the Tooth Fairy!

(You try and get a 5 year old to smile in such a way that she holds her lip out of the way! Go ahead! Just try!)

So yes, Ava lost her first tooth today! It came out just a half hour before we left for an OrKIDStra presentation of The Snowman this afternoon.

Holding Our Tickets for The Snowman at the RPO

The Snowman by Raymond Briggs is a children’s book that was made into a short animated film. Like the book, the film is wordless – but has an orchestral score.

Get Lost

November 23rd, 2009 | Posted by Alison Spath in Parenting - (9 Comments)

Today we had plans to meet up with some new homeschooling friends for a nature hike. This informal group meets weekly – outside – all year round. The idea is that “kids need to be outside and surrounded by nature”. What a concept! A small group, a few of whom we know from other homeschooly places, this idea is right up our alley. The central theme is that we’ll get outside, exploring nature, no matter the weather. So even when it’s cold and snowy or wet and rainy, we still meet up and do something outside together.

Greetings From the South Pole

November 16th, 2009 | Posted by Alison Spath in Parenting - (16 Comments)

I swapped my early morning work out today for a little early morning de-cluttering/getting-ready-to-pack-up-this-entire-house-and-move-our-worldly-possessions-25-minutes-east-of-here instead.

La de da just taking stuff we don’t use any more to drop off and donate! Don’t mind me!

Load It

Wait a minute. Not so fast. Have you ever tried to donate or get rid of something with your children around? Be it their old toys or your own kitchen and household items? Trying to move stuff OUT when you have curious creatures wanting to know what they are missing out on or are being robbed of makes this a very delicate operation. This should only be attempted in the wee hours of the morning when no one is around to protest the donation of old toys. Old toys that are haphazardly thrown from toy bins directly to the floor while in search of the toys they actually play with.

It was my turn to be one of the parent assistants in Ava’s homeschooling class this week. Each week there are two parent assistants who work in the classroom on a rotating basis along side the teacher and teacher assistant. That’s four adults for 16 children. Overkill? That’s what I thought until I was actually working in the classroom!