A Bag of Mixed Nuts

Sometimes I think I am crazy.

Occasionally, I actually AM crazy.

But I really don't think I'm a flake.  Usually, when I make up my mind it stays made up.  But life with 4 kids requires one to be fluid, flexible, willing to make changes when necessary... right?

Right!

Keeping all this in mind, a crazy thing has happened.  Several weeks ago the thought crossed my mind that perhaps we should let Kelsey go back to public school.  She has only be asking since April, after all.  And who is the parent here, anyway?  So I dismissed the thought and went on with my life.

The other night I was talking with a friend and she made an observation about Kelsey that planted that idea right back in the middle of my mind.  And it wouldn't go away, either.  After talking with Ben, I realized that it was time to revert to my trusty decision-making method: The List of Pros and Cons.  And although I had a decent-looking "cons" list, my "pros" list was surprisingly full.

We talked with Kelsey; we talked with Olivia.  I had Kelsey make her own List of Pros and Cons.  I prayed with Kelsey; I prayed with Ben.

The result?  We're going to be a mixed bag of nuts.  A week from Monday I'm enrolling Kelsey in public school again.  She'll be there for second grade, maybe third.  We are taking it a year at a time.

She's currently ecstatic.  I'll remind her of that when she's complaining about having to do her homework.

In the meantime, I'm going to miss mornings like this:

And moments like this:

And projects like this:

I have mixed feelings, but I'm confident that for now this is the right choice.

Bob, the Builder

Connor has been walking around all evening pretending to be Bob the Builder. 

He has no hat, so he's been using the lid from the trash can in the girls' bedroom.

When he came up to me and asked me to tie the rubber snake around his waist for his tool belt, I took pity on the poor guy and put my "Molly Mormon" hat on.

I had tan felt and a sewing machine.  Twenty minutes later, he had quite the snazzy tool belt, if I do say so myself.

This is what he did when Olivia told him to show us how strong he was.

His "hat" fell off at one point during our photo shoot.  Isn't that just hilarious?

Our Old Stomping Grounds

When we first moved to Oklahoma we rented a townhouse on the north side of town near UCO.  Around the corner was a little park that we loved, loved, loved.  Especially since I was often stranded at home with the kids and no vehicle.  It was a place we could walk to and it was nice and shady.  It also had this awesome climbing rock that the older kids liked.

We don't get up that way too much anymore.  However, one day earlier this week we wanted to combine our PE time with a picnic lunch at a park, so we started thinking about which park would be best for our mixed group of older and younger kids.  And then it dawned on us.  Gossett Park - our old stomping grounds!

So we packed a picnic and headed out.

After we ate, the girls climbed the big rock.

Kelsey had a little difficulty.  Can you tell she didn't want me to take her picture here?  If I remember correctly she was "hissing" at me.  Guess it's one of those backwards homeschooling kid things, eh?

Olivia didn't mind getting her picture taken.  She was at her ease on the top of "Mount Gossett".

I just love this picture of the boys on the swings.

And this one, of course.

Apparently we haven't gone to the park enough over the summer, because this little boy was terrified when I pushed him lightly in the swing.

He was very concerned.  And like any good mother, I took a picture before I saved him.

This guy still loves the swing!  But I think he's getting a little big...

I couldn't resist mixing in a picture of him from his very first swing ride almost 3 years ago.  He's changed so much!  I remember having to prop him up in the swing with that blanket just so he would sit up straight!

 I let the girls eat part of their lunch on the rock.  It was too windy to let them get it all up there.

After swinging, Connor found his own "mountain" to climb.

And slide to go down.

And then another way back up...

 Maddox wanted so badly to play on the equipment, so I let him climb the stairs.

He eventually made it all the way to the top and kept climbing over to the slides trying to give me a heart attack.

 Connor was trying to give me a heart attack, too.

 But he didn't really like the slides that much.  He preferred going the "other" way.

Eventually it was time to get down from the rock.  Guess who had a hard time?

Yep, you guessed it.

 At some point, Maddox decided he really liked trying to climb the slide.  The scary part is that he got up pretty high before starting to slide back. 

 Aren't they just so awesome?!

Eventually, we decided to let Maddox get all the way up the slide.

With a little help, of course.

Kelsey wasn't really allowed to go down with Maddox on the slide, but she tried once.  Maddox didn't think much of it.

The rule in our house for going down the slide with babies and toddlers is that they have to sit on your lap with their legs on top of yours.  We've got two friends here whose young children have had broken legs from going down the slide with older kids/babysitters and then their leg got stuck and twisted and broke.  It's a lot more common than you realize, so we are super careful now!

When Maddox would go down on Olivia's lap, there was enough static electricity conducted through Olivia to make Maddox's hair stand up.  Funny, isn't it?

Something tells me we're going to be heading back that way soon!

It's All a Plot

Olivia: So, are we really getting rid of Netflix?

Mom: We're planning on it. 

Olivia: Well, we're not going to have that much good movie-watching time anymore. 

Mom: That's the kind of the idea. 

Olivia: Oh, great.  So you're going to bore us to death? 

Mom:  Yep!  In fact, it's all a plot.  We're trying to bore you to death, starve you to death, and work you to death.  If you survive to adulthood you'll be a very well-rounded individual.