Wax on--Wax off !!

I was waxing my oldest daughter (just older than Jen) and Jennifer thought it would be fun to try.And since she had some crazy weird eyebrows that were going in every direction,I agreed.Of course the first thing out of her mouth when I pulled off the first strip was "you tryin' to kill me girl?" And since she was already dying, we did her upper lip too.When we were done,she looked better and realized that just because somebody is doing something that looks fun,it might not be a good choice :) But since Alaina pulled out the camera and took pictures of the torture,I had to share it with the world....enjoy!!

family fun day

There was a family safety day at Home Depot. The kids got to climb in a fire truck and ambulance and wear a neck brace.They also got to spray out a "fire" with a hose.We took some fun pics and thought we would share...

trunkie

our dear little paulette is super trunkie. trunkie is that feeling you get when you are almost done with a place. you pack your bags and you are supposed to be closing stuff out and doing last horrahs, but all you can think about is what you are doing next. that is our little paulette.

she is totally checked out of school. she loves her school and thinks it is the best in the world (which it may well be) but she does NOT want to be going to school there any more. her sister goes to a school that is enjoying a 2 week hiatus (due to year round school) and she doesn't have to wear uniforms. and all the other awesomeness of starting a new life. she is definitely ready to start a new life.

she is as cute as can be at home. she still is not a big fan of chores, but who is? she is charming and funny. and she has found her first true love: violin. she is clearly musically inclined.

any words of advise for paulette or us around how to keep focused when the length of your lame-duck status is not really defined is appreciated.

cool stuff from our fRauntie D

our auntie dianna is on assignment in baghdad for NPR news. if you want to hear her, you can on NPR throughout the day in their hourly newscasts or you can get it here and then click on "hourly newscast". she has been there for 5 weeks and it is high time that she come home. she sends out a weekly news letter to let us know she is alive and kicking. this week she sent this little ditty about all the wars that have been waged to "own" iraq.

sorry this has nothing to do with raising children, but this is the kind of stuff that facinates us here in the raisingdc house.

The LONG break

Jen was happy to discover that after 4 days of her new school that there was break for 2 1/2 weeks! But that left 2 1/2 weeks of entertaining 7 kids! We have (so far) gone to the movies(to see open season),baked cupcakes,made jewelry,played made-up games,jumped on the trampoline,played video games,done art projects,gone shopping,e-mailed people,wrestled...and that covered the first 4 days :) But with this many great minds,somebody is always coming up with something interesting,so I've only heard "I'm bored" about 5 times. And the last week of break will be used to care for one of Jen's new little brothers who is having surgery.Jennifer is SO awesome with the younger kids and loves to help especially when they get hurt,so she will be a big help .After all,she is the 2nd oldest out of 7,so she is handed alot of responsibilty and she does very well at accepting it (for the most part,she IS 11) But along with this she is enjoying learning how to do new chores (I think her fave was mopping,I've never heard so much on one subject:)
I do have to say that she is missing alot of people and that's where some e-mails and phone calls have helped.So if anyone would like to have e-mails from her,let one of us know your e-mail address.This seems to be her new passion when she gets bored,she likes to read old e-mails since she doesn't have many new ones to look at.
But when asked by new people if she likes it here,she says she loves it and never wants to leave! Even though every e-mail that she sends she has to include how very weird her new family is,she keeps reassuring us that is a good thing.
To help with some pleading we have received,I will try to post more pics and be more regular on the blogs,things have just been a little crazier than usual around here.But now that I've put it in print,I have to follow through!

The "new family" party

We had a party on Sunday so Jennifer could meet (most of ) the family/friends.We only had about 30 people here 'cuz about 1/2 couldn't come.She had a ball with the cousins and the sweet babies,wish I had taken more pictures,sorry.She fit right in and,of course,everybody thought she was awesome!! And,like usual,she wanted everybody to watch the video of her and Paulette.I don't think she'll ever watch it too many times.
And a side note to respond to the last blog...no matter how much sleep or experience you have,the kids will always find a way to get more sugar,stay up a few minutes later and trick you into letting things slide.And if all else fails,they use "the face"!

-- bobbie

Mathematics of parenthood

i want to be up front and say: i don't know what i am talking about.

it turns out that there is all this math required to raise children. no one ever tells you and you have to come up with all the theorems yourself.

it is a blend: calculus and algebra maybe even trigonometry required to perform in order to parent.

there are simple equations:
(s!/S) G = # of fights it takes to get someone to bed

where:
s=amount of sleep last night
S= average amount of sleep for a night over one week
AND
G= sugar intake levels within the last 3 hours


there are tougher ones like:
(a + S) (-+ @)= the right approach to discipline + knowledge about when it is time to just let some things slide.

where:
a=attitude
S= average amount of sleep for a night over one week
-= experience of past
@= amount of contact with family members

it gets even crazier, but i can't figure out the square root thing or how to do superscript for the exponential equations or i would share more equations. suffice it to say, it takes a heck of alot of math. and sometimes even though you get all the calculus right...this happens: