Face the music

Boys and girls getting in step and grooving to Michael Jackson's "Thriller"...

It's the highlight from more than just square and line dancing going on during P.E and music for the second winter now!

How cool is that? It had Jon going to YouTube for the video clips, just so he could practise the moves every chance he got, before the performance in front of us parents! And he's still doing it, especially when he can catch a glimpse of himself in the mirror or some window!

If only he can be as thrilled over his homework, no doubt there's more to do, besides that chess takes up a lot of time and he's excited over his progress there, and we are for him, too. But schoolwork has to come first, and by now, I should not have to call him till the cows come home every day to sit down and get it done, or face the music!

Of course, such 'archaic' phrases just get blank stares from him, as if I hail from another planet... duh... But if you know what I mean that this mom only has so much patience.

Like a stress reliever, I do the Bunny Hop, a simpler dance the school taught to the younger children, including Ben. Picture me doing it with him, his hands on my hip, and me carrying Kait at the same time:

Right, right...
left, left...
jump forward, jump backward...
one, two three! (hop three times)

No, I'd better not jump too high, but yes, it's great for bringing on the giggles and chuckles! You must try it, too!

Facing the world...
Here I am still just working on the basics, asking the boys to be responsible for their own things, but I realise not that I didn't before, that the real world we live in does not wait for them to grasp those first before tossing challenges across their paths.

Do our children know how to react when they are picked on? Or when other children rope them in to bend the rules? It is staggering that the very young are already so streetwise.

However, mine don't always know how to respond or give the "right" answer we expect of them. And not that they can't be the instigators, but every time something like this happens, it prompts us to do what we can to teach and pray for our little ones to have the values we believe in. Easier said than done, but hopefully that'll equip them to face such situations.

Snow Bright

Before it melted away... I paused to take in the snow, the other morning after driving Jon and Ben to school, and making the quick grocery stop when Vern could stay home and watch Kait for a bit.



I'm a mother, not a martyr, and while the baby and I are joined at the hip, it does help me in this winter weather especially, if I don't have to take her and the boys grocery shopping. There is A LOT to buy even for a week's worth, and trust me, it is easier and faster than with the brood!

But now, I really like how the snow glistens in the sun. Doesn't it paint a brighter picture than just mostly bald trees around?

The snow was good while it lasted.

And the stopping to gaze is good, always good!

Hold on tight!

Here's why Jon looks forward to snow, enough beautiful snow like this, every winter after coming here...
And Ben, too, as soon as he was big enough to do it. But he still prefers to whoosh down with someone... probably because it's double the fun, double the WHEEEEEEEEEE!!!

It's also really nice of busy fathers like Vern to make time to go sledding with their children, and doubly nice that we had the company of friends (inset: the kids altogether at a less crowded park than the famous Art Hill) that second snow day last week!

Also, because I have been counting more frustrations on a daily basis, I decided it'll do me good, extra good, to grab onto joys like this! The baby and night wakings do take the fatigue to a new level, besides the boys and their disobedience and fighting, and everyday stuff though I am sticking to the basic chores and errands, that already have my hands full.

What was lovely, too, was Kait having her first real taste of lots of snow when we went and checked out Art hill on the evening of the first snow day. For how rarely it snows here, we wanted to seize the snow while it lasted, and just in case the boys weren't going to get a second day off school!

Then, when I was juggling a heavily-bundled Kait and the (albeit handy, pocket-size) digital camera -- trying to snap pictures of Kait with her at arm's length, a kind stranger came forward and took a couple of shots of Kait and me! And she couldn't be more right when she left me with this reminder, "These are precious memories"!

Art Hill is the most popular sledding spot in St Louis because of the super long ride from the top of the hill outside the Art Museum (hence, its name), to the bottom just before the fountains at the Grand Basin start, and the view can't be beat! But because of the laborious climb back up, as a mom with young children, I vote for parks with gentler slopes!

A case in point: At Art Hill, Ben, oh Ben, in the middle of making his way back up, decided to plonk himself down on the wet wet snow and remove one boot -- exposing a bare foot to the cold, totally oblivious to the possibility that someone sledding downhill may ram right into us!

A few quick shots of the guys...


... and, away they go! And I was out of there with Kait! The sun was setting, the snow still coming down, and it was brr.. rry cold! No, the guys didn't play for long, and that was why the second snow day was the REAL BONUS!

We didn't go again after that, and the snow's melted away. But that's where blogs come in and freeze precious moments like these, yeah? =)

If you like, there are more "action" type shots from the boys' sledding fun the previous winter here, here and here.