Birds!

In November we studied birds! Harrison decided on our topic, and our unit was so much fun! We read more books than are pictured, but I did not think to take a shot of the books until the end of the unit. We average one trip to the library each week, so I am working on figuring out a good way to catalog all of our readings- obviously a picture will not work! **This blog post is so late due to lack of time in December. 

The boys did a few crafts, print-outs, read a lot of books, and worked hands-on with Blue! At the end of our unit we found a nest that had blown out of a tree near our home. The boys really enjoyed wearing gloves and getting a chance to view and touch a nest up close!

Small sample of our Bird unit work.

 The boys worked with shapes and colors, as we first discussed bird anatomy.

Reading about nests is fun- but handling a nest was even better! Carter loved seeing and touching the abandoned nest!

 Harrison did not find the nest as wonderful. He was a bit grossed out.

The boys really enjoyed doing bird math! Harrison counted and colored while practicing his writing. Carter added the birds on every page, until he had added the entire book! Both boys enjoy dressing up, and while Harrison may demand to wear pajamas, Carter loves being Santa. And of course, our day cannot be complete without Blue (on Santa's collar).

The kids were thrilled when it snowed! They were sad it melted, but decided to cheer themselves by asking to make paper snowflakes to decorate!

 Cutting shapes!

The boys were in awe of how beautiful the snowflakes looked! I was just in awe at how adorable they look when they are excited about something. I love this picture- they are so thrilled about their creations, and I am happy to have snapped the moment!

Speaking of being prepared...

"If your home was threatened by fire, what would you take?"

I seem to remember being asked this question at least a dozen times in my life. School councilors, ecclesiastical persons, and random chit-chat have brought it up in hopes of gaining insight into my personality. Even though I always had thoughtful or witty answers, I was lucky because I had never been put in a position where I ever actually had to implement my responses... until last night....

Last night my hubby came home from work and told me that one of his coworkers was going to the Breaking Dawn movie, and she had offered to let me tag along with her group. I was so excited! I admit I love the Twilight books, and I really wanted to see the movie- but not bad enough to do an opening night solo. I took the opportunity to go with Kurt's coworkers and had a wonderful time! And then, the movie ended and I walked outside to see something like this...

I did not take this picture, but this is what it looked like. Except... I was closer. And as I stared at the fiery blaze I realized my home was dangerously close...

I grabbed my phone and saw that my husband had texted me to call him as soon as I could. He added a smiley face. To anyone who ever gets a smiley face from my hubby: it doesn't mean good things. I dialed the number and as soon as he answered I asked if our home was alright. Kurt told me that the house was fine, we had no power, but our neighbors (all of whom know the area much better than we do, as we have only lived there a short time) were outside looking around and assuring one another things would be okay. He told me the fire was not close to our home, and assured me the fire appeared worse than it really was.

As I drove home I tried to feel comforted by Kurt's calm words. However, the closer I drove to our home, the more it became apparent that things were much more serious than we had realized. By the time I got home the hilly landscape had changed the view of the fire. Smoke was everywhere, and was as thick as a dense fog. The sky was lit an eerie orange, and there were people parked along the streets, cars still running to help the passengers keep warm. The first wave of evacuations had been sent to our street.

I went inside. Kurt smiled and reassured me that the neighbors had told him things were fine. I told him things were not fine, and the fire was much closer than they were seeing. Kurt half smiled, and explained that he had believed there may have been more danger than the neighbors were admitting, and had already packed bags and loaded them into his truck. With small flashlights in hand (Carter- where did you put my ultra awesome and super expensive flashlights, or my super crazy leet headlamps?! You will be getting yet another lecture on not touching Mommy's things!) we carefully loaded our pets first and tried to make them as comfortable as possible. We then calmly woke our beautiful children. We explained there was a fire outside, and that we were safe- but it was important that we leave before the fire got too close. We had a pretty sobering view of the fire from our second story- we could see the flames lapping at the blackened sky, devouring trees, and moving hungrily down its chosen path. It was frightening, to say the least. Carter was fascinated by it, and wanted to sit and watch. Harrison was terrified. As calmly and gently as we could manage, we dressed and bundled the boys, and snapped them into their car seats. I handed them my phone, the Netflix app playing Gnomeo and Juliet, to keep their sleepy minds occupied and calm while Kurt and I finished last minute tasks. By this time the police had moved the safe zone away from our street and we knew that leaving was the right thing to do. Evacuations occurred shortly after.

Children, pets, and a few belongings in tow, we stopped and asked ourselves, "What do we take?" Kurt and I did not panic and did not rush, but we were quick and divided ourselves in order to gather things that we felt we needed. We did not communicate much, as I was busy preparing the children and Kurt was checking on the neighbors and offering assistance to other families.

When our family arrived at a local hotel (close enough to run home if possible yet far enough to be safe) we unpacked. The question: "What would you take?" was answered:

• Family (spouse? CHECK! children? CHECK!)
• Pets (2 cats and a parakeet in a pear treeeee... or a box... and food for them all)
• Lockbox Documents (Birth Certificates, Social Security cards, Passports, Insurance info, etc)
• Necessary Clothing (One set of clothing each)
• Portable Electronics (Cell phones with chargers, Xoom with charger, laptop with charger, Kinde)
• Snacks (Kids love midnight snacks- I thought it would help make the evacuation feel more like a party)
• Scriptures... three sets?!

I had no idea that Kurt had already packed each of our sets of personal scriptures. He had no idea that as I did a final walk through and wondered what I really needed and I grabbed a set of scriptures. Between us both, we grabbed three sets of scriptures. Wow... that really says something about what we feel we really need!

Gathering one another and our children was a given- there was no way we could have gone without every member of our little family. Our pets are part of our family, so of course they came too. Because we evacuated with the first big wave, we were able to take the time to gather our pets and their necessary comforts. We all smelled like thick foul smoke, and we would need a change of clothing. Because the children had not eaten since dinner, we knew they would be hungry and we brought snacks. Keeping our important documents safe from harm is vital, so those were not a real choice, they were a necessity. So we had these things, and our scriptures- and we felt complete enough to leave our home.

The boys played "Fire Chief Command Center" in our room.

As I write this I am in a hotel room. I am surrounded by chaotic activity of children and cats, with a seemingly never ending chorus of parakeet chirps. I would swear my children have never been louder or more crazy, but the truth is that we are not used to sharing such a small space. I feel like it is very important for us to stay together, or I would suggest that we leave. Kurt cannot leave the hotel. Verizon Wireless, realizing that many of their employees were displaced, asked Kurt to see that families that had been evacuated be comfortably sheltered at our hotel- and his management and corporate card are needed here for the next few days. I would complain, but the truth is that Kurt loves helping and was thrilled when Verizon asked him to help out, and it makes me happy to see that Kurt is happy.

The fire blazed. We turned on the news and were speechless. The devastation was horrible. We had no idea where it was, and the updates were slow. We couldn't help but worry. Although the most important things in the world were with us in our hotel room, we still couldn't help but feel concern for all we had left behind: my children's first blankets and a few of their baby clothes, my grandmother's quilt, Kurt's letter jacket and dozens of medals and patches, our children's most favorite toys and costumes, my beautiful tapestry from Brugge, decades worth of journals and pictures. Things that had no monetary value, but things that could never be replaced. We tried to keep comfort, praying we would be able to handle whatever the outcome may be. We watched the news, and our hearts stopped every time our street was mentioned. The fire was a block away from reaching our home.

It has been less than twenty-four hours now. Although the fire is still not contained, the firefighters are hopeful that we may all be able to return to our homes tomorrow.  Growth has stopped, and crews are going to be on sight all night to put out hot spots and try and maintain the security of our homes. The news coverage of the fire team reports there are still about 2000 homes in danger. The local police are patrolling, keeping people away from danger zones and monitoring for suspicious activity. There is a lot of concern for theft, due to the lack of power shutting down security systems in such a large area full of empty homes with loot for the taking. It makes me ill to think that someone could take advantage of this situation, and rob those of us who have been displaced or take from those who have already lost so much- really, makes me sick. I pray fervently that our homes remain safe.

I have been overwhelmed with the support that has been offered to us by our friends and by members of the community. My homeschool group showered us with offers to help. Our Bishop's wife called and invited us to stay in their home. My good friend Joni offered to let us come and hang out at her house so the kids could run around. A new friend of mine, who shares many of our same dietary restrictions, offered to have us over for dinner- knowing that eating out often leads to uncomfortable contamination, and she wanted to help us feel as comfortable as humanly possible. Verizon Wireless has paid for rooms for every employee displaced by the fire, and the members of the district have called often to check on the status of our home and ask how we are doing. The hotels and casinos in the areas slashed their prices (or offered rooms at no cost at all) so that evacuations could be more affordable to families. The customer service clerk at our hotel greeted us warmly, and offered guests little comforts like toothbrushes and extended check out times. My father and mother called and offered us the use of their home. The abundant spirit of giving and overwhelming generosity have been simply astounding. We are so very blessed to live in such a wonderful community, where people come together and try and help one another during these difficult times.

Tonight, regardless of what happens to our home, I can sleep soundly knowing that the things on this earth that truly matter are here and safe. And that, is something to truly be thankful for.

We are happy, healthy, and here.

Blue... our very own Angry Bird!

Since attending Sean's birthday, Harrison has talked endlessly about birthdays. Being around a pretty good deal of young children, I can say this behavior is one of my FAVORITE things about this age group! Kids this age seem obsessed with birthdays! They want to talk about ages, themes, cakes, and gifts! Harrison has settled on a "Hello Kitty, Star Wars Lightsaber, Toy Story Birthday!" He has told everyone from grocery store clerks to kids he meets at the park about it! One thing that has not changed, is what he wanted as a gift.....

For almost 9 months Harrison has wanted a puppy. I am not sure if I wrote about it, but at one point he and Carter had a lengthy discussion on the subject:

Harrison announced, "Guess what, Mom?! Santa is gonna bring me a puppy!!!"
My response was, "Um... uh... what?!"
Carter chimed in, "Harrison, that's silly, Santa doesn't bring puppies!!!"
Harrison glared at Carter, "Yes he does!!!!"
Carter continued to try and use logic, "Harrison, puppies are dogs. Santa doesn't bring dogs, he brings boxes. You can't put dogs in boxes- they'd have no air!"
Harrison folded his arms and firmly protested, "Yes he does- he is bringing me a WHITE PUPPY NAMED BEST FRIEND BONE!"
Carter and I both gave a heavy sigh, and dropped the subject...

Kurt tried to reason with Harrison. I tried to bribe him. No matter what we did, he INSISTED he was going to ask Santa for his white dog, named "Best Friend Bone" (Bone, for short). He told Cameron all about Bone, he told EVERYONE all about Bone. It was crazy! Finally, accepting there would probably be a "Bone" in our future, Kurt and I took the boys to a few local puppy stores* to see what Harrison was interested in, and to see how we would act around a dog (he is terrified of all dogs, we couldn't understand why he would want to own one if he was to afraid to touch one!). *I am firmly against "Puppy Stores" and would NEVER willingly buy any animal from one. However- we wanted to expose Harrison to as many puppies as possible, so we used the stores in our experiment.

Harrison picked a puppy. The woman put Harrison and I inside a small enclosure, and brought the puppy. The puppy didn't care about us at all, it just ran around like crazy. Harrison didn't seem interested. Harrison picked a second puppy. This puppy was PERFECT. The puppy loved Harrison, played with him, and enjoyed being with all of us. As anti-puppy farm as I am, I was SO ready to take him home (it was a VERY good thing Kurt was there to stop me! The price on said puppy was $1900! And this perfect white french bulldog would have been well worth it!). We left the store, feeling defeated- yeah, there would be a puppy in our future... sooooo, what do we do about our cat, trying to get Santa to deliver the puppy without the kids knowing before hand, vets, registration, walking said dog, etc? Not 10 minutes later Carter's eyes were practically swollen shut- his nose was running like a faucet on high, and he was itching like crazy. Carter is allergic to dogs!?! YEAH!!!! Kurt and I thought we had it made! We talked to Harrison, who (seeing Carter look so miserable) promptly agreed that a puppy was a bad idea. Before Kurt and I could finish our huge sigh of relief Harrison cheerfully exclaimed, "That's okay! Now I can have my birdie!!!" AHHHHH!!!

For about two years Harrison has wanted a bird. I have NEVER heard good things about birds (other than seeing SUPER cute videos of my friend Melissa's birds- but those are special parrots that are worth thousands of dollars each!), and we had hoped that Harrison's obsession with birds would eventually die off (which it did, when he decided on a dog instead). GREAT... SUPER....

We tried to talk him out of it. I tried to bribe him with Star Wars Legos of all kinds- but once we had hit the $400 mark and still had not sparked his interest, I knew we were in trouble. I tried to bribe him with vacations (Disney!? Don't you want to go to Disneyland!?), with costumes (how about 3 new Star Wars costumes AND a Buzz Lightyear costume!?), and with movies (Smurfs, Rio, and Cars 2?!?!?)... nothing. Harrison was dead set on owning a bird. Reluctantly, I took him to the pet store to browse around. With any luck, he would back down once he was forced to see how lame they were... right?

I was wrong. Soooooo wrong. I had been thinking that in order to have a bird that would allow Harrison to handle it, we would need an expensive parrot. WRONG! I was thinking that a bird would squawk and keep us up all night. WRONG! I was thinking a bird would drive my cat insane. WRONG! I was thinking a bird would bite, peck, and hate my kids. WRONG!!!!

Harrison found it. The perfect bird. A blue parakeet. He fell in love the moment he saw her! (oops, him... the kids are insisting it is a him.) The bird was very young, already had clipped wings, and was in great health. The bird had just arrived at the pet store (literally, just taken out of the box), and was very cute. Talking to the salespeople was very enlightening- they made it sound like owning a bird wouldn't be so bad. They actually giggled at a few of my concerns, and set the record straight. So, a few weeks before his birthday (because we didn't want some OTHER family adopting "Blue Angry Bird") we gained a new addition to our little family. I set up the cage, necessities, and toys (all totaling LESS than a single Star Wars Lego set would have been- for which Kurt was thankful!) and we introduced "Blue Angry Bird" to her (I mean, HIS) home. A quick text to my friend, Melissa, for some tips (give the bird time to adjust to new surroundings, don't handle her for a few days!), and we were good to go.

Blue has settled in nicely. Blue now enjoys being held by everyone in our family (wash hands before and after, boys!) and Amelie (my kitty) is uninterested in her. Blue enjoys having her belly stroked, perching on our fingers, and being talked to. In fact, if she hears the boys playing downstairs away from her for too long, she whistles until they come up and tell her hello =p! The boys are being SO GOOD about respecting Blue's desires and if she whistles to them, they are attentive- but if they are handling her and she flies to her own cage, they leave her alone. Blue is interested in Amelie, and has tried to get her to play... at least that is what we think she is doing- we have caught Blue waving bits of fabric around the outside of her cage in an attempt to engage Amelie in play... Amelie, however, just sits and stares- a mixture of annoyance and anger at the nerve of a bird to even look at her. Thank goodness for owning a wimpy kitty, lol! If Amelie is in the room (which is rare, as Amelie doesn't like children and avoids their bedrooms) Blue clings to the side of the cage nearest the cat and follows her. Crazy bird! It wouldn't be the first time one of the boys' pets has harassed my cat- the kids' dwarf hamster, Bob (you know, the one who moved to "Disneyland" *nudge*) loved to chase Amelie around the room- seeing the cat from from that tiny hamster ball was so funny! Amelie must have missed the lessons on the Animal Food Chain. (Speaking of- Amelie enjoys watching Discovery Channel shows about cats- and it is not uncommon for her to try and attack Kurt during or after the shows- in an attempt to be ferocious. So funny!!!! She never attacks him any other time- so we know it is the shows! Moral- be careful what your children (regardless of species!) are watching!!!) Blue loves her cage, and if we bring her out and she gets bored with us, she will flutter back inside. Harrison talks to her often, and it is very adorable to see him bond. Carter is excellent with her, and tells her things like, "Hello Blue! You are so beautiful! You have beautiful feathers, and feet, and eyes- I love you!" in a soothing voice. It is so sweet!!! Blue is quiet at night, and doesn't disrupt our sleep at all. Bringing her into our family was a good decision =)

Happy Birthday, Harrison!!!