No Glossophobia Here!

Glossophobia or speech anxiety is the fear of public speaking. The word glossophobia comes from the Greek γλῶσσα glōssa, meaning tongue, and φόβος phobos, fear or dread.

I have it, but apparently Kilian doesn't. This is one of the many, many things I love about Christ the King school. Each day during morning prayer, students read scripture and prayer requests in front of the entire school. Each week they rotate which class (Kindergarten through 12th) leads it, so everyone gets a chance to speak a few times a year.

So here is Kilian last week. This is mostly for the benefit of grandparents/aunts/uncles, but feel free to watch if you want!!

**They usually all have on matching uniforms, but on this day kids could wear their Earth Days shirts & jeans.

Live and learn

So today is a work day for me. I only work 12 hours per week, from home on Monday/Wednesday. I "remote desktop" to my Carrollton, TX office and let Camille go play with her buddies at Parent's Day Out for a few hours.

This morning we had a training meeting and on my monitor I am able to see the live demonstration exactly as it appears projected up on the screen in the meeting room. At the same time, I am on a conference phone call, so I hear everything they say.

That also means they can hear everything over here. I was very proactive and turned off the radio and ceiling fan, spit out my gum, and had my papers in order so I wouldn't shuffle around too much. Next time, however, I will anticipate that after living in this house 10 months, the land owner across the alley will pick that day (the day of beautiful weather, with my squeaky windows raised) to send a loud beeping truck and several workers to pull up the 6 foot weeds. I'll remember that this will cause my puppy (that is usually very lazy in the morning) to get excited and jingle his little tags while making circles around the room.

I am hoping all the ruckus didn't get picked up by the phone, but it will really be interesting to see what they get to hear in June when kids are out of school!

Internal Conflict

Two Lucy stories:

1 - She requested some chocolate milk with afternoon snack one day last week, and I asked what kind of milk she had for lunch at school. (I only let them have chocolate milk once a day, white milk the other times). Her response..."Well, I try to ask for white milk at school, but my voice always says chocolate".

2 - During mass, the children all have the opportunity to walk up to the front and put their offering in a basket, which is held by an alter server. I usually have weekly envelopes ready for Kilian and Lucy to write their names on and put a dollar bill or so in.

However, last Sunday I forgot the envelopes, so we just gave each of them some quarters to drop in. Apparently this threw Lucy off...she thought it should be money for her piggy bank.

I whispered that it was time for her to go give the money to God. She walked up to the front with tears starting to flow. She covered her face with one arm and stood in front of the basket, in front the entire church, now sobbing. I could see several people laughing at her dilemma. Kilian was already back to our pew at this point. I guess that sadness turned to anger as she raised her arm to throw the coins, not in the basket, but on the floor - then stopped herself. (I'm holding my breath now!) She finally let them go over the basket.

She cried even harder as she walked back to us, so I met her in the aisle and took her to the restroom to calm down. She recovered and did well for the rest of the service. Whew!

Some recent Camille firsts

- first attempt at a ponytail - we've still got some growing to do.

- first time to (almost) answer correctly when asked what her name is. "Ta-meeeaal".

- first time to tell me "not fair" when I tell her where we are going in the car.

- first time to serve me 'food' she prepared at the play kitchen. Best plastic cooked carrots and rubber bacon I ever had.

One of my favorite parts of this age is watching toddlers try to jump. Camille has been working on it for a while, with her knees bent, fists clenched, arms swinging up above her head, one foot making it a good 3 inches off the ground, and the other still firmly planted. I love it so much, I'm hoping it takes her a while longer to figure it out.

More catching up

Here are some pictures of the kids in Houston/Sugar Land when we visited over spring break.

First of all, this is how we know when we've arrived. Lucy is our own little human hygrometer with her curly hair. (The car was not moving when this was taken. We don't usually let her hang out in the front passenger seat.)

The new picture at the top of the blog was taken at the Houston zoo. So was this this one. I get frustrated trying to get a comb through the curly hair of hygrometer girl (above), so this guy's long and very matted fur made me feel better about Lucy. It had all kinds of stuff trapped in it.

Who needs grown-ups when you have cousin Ryan to entertain?? Ryan-7, is in the chair and left to right are Lucy-4, Kilian-6, Phillip-6, Camille 22 mos, and Max-2. The James cousins have so much fun when they get together!! (and they are often moving around way too fast to catch them on film!)

Seriously - how does he do it??

Here are the oldest and the youngest hugging.

And Camille giving Max a "kissin' cousin' sort of a smooch"

Paws

Kilian during lunch yesterday: We sure have a lot of paws....Papaw, Pawpaw, G-pa.

We are so blessed!

Ariel fans might like this

Remember the part where she gives her voice to Ursula so she can become human?? Camille likes to sing this part - but not usually when there is a camera going.

Also, it's kinda dark and a little long - I wish I knew how to edit this down to just the middle part.

Catching up

I've actually accumulated quite a few pictures while not being able to post them. Here is a sampler of what goes on over here...

Who suspected this one would be guilty? Her brother helped.

This little plug & play Pac-Man game is actually the only type of tv gaming we have. Camille wanted to get in some secret training one morning.

Lucy's pride and joy, "Hermie", who accidentally got left behind in Houston.


Lucy really enjoys feeling the warm spring air - all over.

A boy and his dog.

Every since I read this post, I've really been wanting to stock up on some nice wooden blocks, but I found these foam ones, dirt cheap, so we're having fun them for now! (even though he isn't smiling).

Anyone still there?

We're back....happy to see you.

OK, you win

My 6 year old is pretty good at retaining what he hears.


When everyone picked out a book to read the other night, Lucy brought the same one as she did the night before, which is not uncommon. For whatever reason, though I didn't feel like reading it again so I asked if we could pick a different one since we just read it the night before. (I am a terrible mom).


Kilian very sweetly asked me if I remembered what they said on tv. I had no idea where he was going with this. He said, "You know...Give your child the promise of a bright future. Read to your children everyday even if they pick the same book over and over."


So, of course we read it again. Whew - I'm so glad he pointed that out and Lucy's promise of a bright future is still intact.

Things said around here

DELL has supposedly put my new power cord for the laptop in a box and sent it my way, but I don't have it yet. So, still no pictures, but I feel kinda wordy today.


L - Ooooh, can we get more kiweed at the store today??
Translation - more kiwi, please



K - I think I got a good antenna today.
Translation - You know, from being in the sun - I think I a good tan today.


C - I tolor on da taper.
Translation - I color on the paper.


C - Top, Pippit.
Translation - Stop, Pippin.


C - I pits!
Translation - I want to spit (while brushing teeth).


One more: As we walked by a JC Penney escalator being repaired the other day the older kids (and me, too) were mesmerized. Every single step had been removed and was stacked in a huge pile while two men in "oompa loompa" type white uniforms were working down in a waist deep hole. It was a huge, deep, greasy cave in between the purses and socks. Kilian said wow, they must be fixing it. Lucy said I think the battery stopped working. I couldn't help but laugh because I knew she was picturing these guys trying to get to the little box in the back where they replace two AA batteries!

Notes about a Wal-mart trip

1 - When the lines are 5 people long and you are a cashier about to open a new lane PLEASE don't ask the person that is just deciding to walk towards the check out line to come over so you can help them.


2 - This involves one of my very biggest pet peeves! I ALWAYS put the basket back in the right place, in the "cart corral". Always. Today I saw someone, probably a college student, just shove it between two other cars and leave. If I can do it when it is windy and rainy with my 3 small kids (plus the newborn I used to babysit), I know you can do it by yourself on a beautiful 80 degree sunny day!!


3 - *First a little background - we've really been trying to make changes in the way we eat lately. Brad did so a few years ago, and I've slowly been trying to comply, especially when it comes to what the kids eat. We try to eat things that are less processed, refined, sprayed with chemicals and messed with in general. Trying is the key word. We do whole grain, free range, grass fed, organic, etc. whenever possible. This particular shopping trip I guess I was proud of how healthy our stuff was, even though I only had 21 or so items. That explains why I wasn't in the express line - I don't break that rule either. I resent those who do. Anyway, I had lots of produce (not much organic, since I was in a Super WalMart), nothing hydrogenated, and very little sugar.

So, I noticed a woman with a really full shopping cart in the bread section. Stuff was piled as high as possible. She had a boy with her, maybe 12 or 13 years old? She grabbed two loaves of white bread and handed them to the boy, to put in his own very full basket. My first thought was "how impressive" - they are the kind of people that plan ahead and only make weekly (or monthly??) trips to the store. I wish I would do that. I go about every 2 or 3 days.

Then when I got in line to pay, I was behind them. There was actually another woman with them, and a total of 3 very full baskets between them. One of the ladies had a shirt on about children's advocacy or something, so now I'm impressed because they are obviously doing something to help kids. Then because I had tons of time, I started staring at the little conveyor belt thingy. I wasn't trying to be nosey. There was quite a bit of junk food (i.e. 4 boxes of Little Debbies zebra cakes, about 8 bags of chips, tons of soda, 5 or so bags of Banquet chicken nuggets) I am quite sure there was not a single produce item at all - maybe some applesauce?? Their receipt was seriously more than 4 feet long.

Of course this is all speculation on my part, but the kids who are going to be eating this food are probably already facing some obstacles. I started feeling bad about what choices are being made for them, and how these choices will likely affect their health and eating habits for the rest of their life. It doesn't seem fair. Then I started hoping they have a deal with the farmer's market here, maybe? So then I resolve to try harder to give our kids better food.

Two days later...here's the part where I'm a total hypocrite: I decided I was going to blog about this while I was waiting for my Vanilla Dr. Pepper and Frito Pie Jr. Wrap from Sonic during happy hour before picking up kids at school. I highly recommend the Jr. Wrap. yum. Obviously I need to hit the nutrition books a little harder for my own good!