Sharp-up, Nobody Head!
I’ve been a naughty un-blogger. I don’t know what’s happened to me, but I’ve been swept up by my life in the present, for a change. It’s a good thing for me, since I tend to have the problem of always planning and looking at what’s ahead. It’s been my resolution since last year to live in the now, and I think I’ve been doing that pretty well. I just wish I had more time and energy left at the end of my long days to write about the now, record the cute things our kids are up to, and collect my thoughts enough to organize them into coherent statements. Oh, and it doesn’t help that my camera is out of commission right now!
I had to title this post one of Finley’s hysterical recent sayings. She has had quite the problem with bad words and name calling lately, thanks to Disney’s wholesome movies (ahem). Words like “you idiots!” and “shut-up!” have invaded our home. She knows they’ll land her in timeout with her most prized possession in timeout too, so she’s devised some crafty little ways to scam the system. I’d expect nothing less from Travis’ daughter. “SHARP-UP” is her substitute for “shut-up,” obviously, and “nobody head” is in place of actual name calling! I don’t know how people discipline straight-faced sometimes.
I haven’t had a chance to write about derm residency much, but I really love my program. I wish I had more time to live, read, study, reflect, but at least I love the action that my life is packed with right now. Dermatology is a blast, and definitely the right field for me, though of course I struggle with some aspects. I am still searching for the elusive balance, but somehow I think it’ll be a few more years until I come close to anything resembling my definition of that word. My program has lots of really fun people and below are some pictures of us at one of our theme parties (the 2nd years are big on theme parties…can’t wait for prom, and I promised Fin we’d host a prince/princess party). The pics below are from the 80’s Prep Croquet party. There were a lot of pastel polos with popped collars!
No idea what this pose is all about. Apparently boys just need to reach down and make sure it’s still there every once in awhile. He swore he didn’t have to pee, and he didn’t.
Travis thought it would be cool to give Shane a Mr. T mohawk for the party. Would have been cute if we’d finished shaving his hair right afterwards as planned. As it turns out, he’s still sort of sporting a hawk just because we haven’t gotten around to haircuts since that day. At least he thinks it’s neat.
On another note, we have had a flurry of visitors here, which has been great. At the same time, we really haven’t settled into our home yet; every weekend we have another great excuse to put off fully moving in. One of these months…
What we did start this past week, however, was school. I haven’t blogged about his (or anything) yet, but we hired a teacher and started our own little private / homeschool. The kids named it The Sunshine School, so we’ll probably have to change the name in about January, but that’s what they call it for now! It is a crazy arrangement we lucked out in finding, and I’ll definitely blog more in depth about it at some point, but we’re really excited. Our kids’ teacher, Karen, was last a 1st grade teacher in Texas and she and her husband have similar parenting and educational philosophies to ours. They also have 2 daughters – their oldest is a 6 (one year older than Jack), and their youngest is just 1 month older than Finley (~7 months younger than Shane). Jack and O~ are at roughly the same reading and math level, and C~ fits nicely in with Shane and Finley. So altogether they make a great little class and adding 2 girls to the mix rounds things out a little. We are using a few well-known homeschool curriculums, such as math-u-see and five-in-a-row, but we are doing a lot of improvising and tailoring. Essentially, we merged the things we liked about a few different educational philosophies, namely, the Waldorf school + Nature preschool = The Sunshine School. I’ll blog more about it in a dedicated post. Here are some pics Karen took from week 1:
Making nature observations in their field journals with little flower pens they each made:
Anyway, hope you all are well. I’m so out of touch with the blogging world and would love to here how my friends out there are doing. Please drop a comment if you still read, especially if you have news in your life. I have been a selfish un-blogger since I don’t blog or have time to read other people’s blogs. But it’s not because I’m not interested!
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18 comments
I am still here…nothing too exciting in our lives..kids are back at school…Emma is in grade 1, Kira grade 7 and Kyle grade 11 so we are busy busy but I enjoy hearing from you. Hope you are getting more settled and sounds like a neat arrangement of homeschooling you have:)
Finally a new post
I have been checking regulary, on my iPod while nursing my now 3 month-old daughter.
Your kids are so cute, and I am glad you settled in so good in your new job / house / school!
Oh my gosh - I’m so happy that you were able to find a way to homeschool! Remember when we talked about it when our babies were still tiny and you felt like it was such a pipe dream? Way to make your dreams into reality
I’m sure they will love it and it will really tailor their education to their needs.
YAY! YOU’RE BACK! So glad things are going well.
Hey - we need to catch up! Ash loves school (5day Pre-K), Vivi is absolutely irresistible and chatt-y at 18 mos old (we kept her home this year, couldn’t send my baby to school yet), new nanny is awesome, and I am LOVING private practice and my new part-time Dr. life. Never felt this good. We are off on an adventure with the Hills this weekend to drive up to DC to see the Colotons. We will miss the rest of the Caca Crusaders! Plan to take lots and lots of pics. Will talk soon. Miss y’all. Love the resurrection of the blue-and-white outfit Griff was wearing - I still have the pic of you and Trav w/ baby Jackson in that outfit framed somewhere in my house
Can’t wait to read more about the kid’s schooling- and glad that you are reconnecting here!
Hi Laurie,
Your kids are getting even cuter - how is that possible!?! Love the pics. My 3 are doing great! I have a high schooler, a middle schooler, and little G just started pre-school. I’m glad to see you post again. Miss you and your take on life.
Lina
Hi Laurie,
I left a comment and it didn’t show up.
Anyway, I said your kids are cuter everytime I see them - how is that possible??!! Glad you posted. My 3 kids are doing great! I have a high schooler, a middle schooler, and lil G. just started pre-school. 
I miss your posts - so fun to read your take on life.
Lina
How awesome is that? Just hire a teacher for your own private school! Neat! Are the pictures of their classroom(s) in your house?
How are Travis’s endeavours going? I’m so happy for you and the great fit derm sounds like for you!
I check back time to time… Your little ones are to cute & I enjoy reading your post & know that I am sane cause theirs alot of moms/ families out there who are going through the same things daily. I am horrible with bl0gging… I never blog anymore.
anyways…. we have a baby on the way she is being deliver tomorrow c-section & I will be in the room with the b-mom. So life is good! Great!
So happy to see some Waldorf in your school days
What a perfect set up for your children, and your teachers children too- lucky you to have found that!
It was great seeing you guys! We are definitely taking the WI job; now I’m just negotiating b/wn my res program when I can leave. Looks (fingers crossed) like next August. Can’t believe how amazing the school looks since we were there! You’ll find the balance. Its hard to believe, but it does come. Especially when you are more senior in the program (thank goodness!). I loved how well Shane and Grant played together.
Think about you guys lots. Hope you are happy and busy. Always hopeful we’ll make it out your way soon.
I am so glad you put a new post up! I LOVE hearing all about my beautiful nephews and niece! the pics of the party are awesome and I love griff’s outfit!
Miss and Love all of you!
xoxo
I’m here . Glad you are well.
always here and glad things are going well for ya’ll! I think i already caught you up on the latest news, but i’ll still repeat it just incase you forgot
our youngest son’s birthmom is pregnant with a little girl that is due to be born on 11/11 (2 days after gabriel turns 1). We are insane, but thrilled beyond belief! Dominic is now 18 months and talking up a storm while Gabriel is starting to walk to try and keep up.
Looking forward to more posts/witty tweets from you!
I’m a dedicated reader, Laurie. Love reading about your adventures, and seeing the cute kiddo pics!
Still here. I’m catching up after 5 weeks hardly being on line at all. I took a job teaching high school chemistry, so things have been busy at our house. Your school looks fun!
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