Persons for the Ethical Treatment of Peppers

Tristin (my brother) was captured abusing a green bell pepper in July 2007. We have decided to post the evidence on the web to get the attention of PETP (Persons for the Ethical Treatment of Peppers), in hopes that they can bring proper legal action against him and stop his horrendous vegetarian ways.

Chucky-Cheese's

Mommy decided that with baby on the way, Zach and Chayce should get some super-fun Mommy time, with no interruptions. So, we headed over to Chucky Cheese's without their knowing. Stephen was at school (but we had no guilt, knowing that his school pays for lunch and dinner out more frequently than Mommy and kids get to partake of). We decided on lunch time, a good choice, given that it was pretty quiet, and the place was pretty much to ourselves. Luckily (and unbeknown to me until I got there) many of the toddler activities are FREE, and the rides are only a quarter, which can go far if they share a seat (tiny hienies are a plus!), plus the "Make Believe Band" was quite novel to them, and kept them occupied until the pizza made its way to our table.

Of our experiences, Chayce was a little bummed that she couldn't quite get up the jungle gym...at least not all the way to the top, which is where the slide started, and she's a maniac for a good slide. This one was tall and curvy, and she seemed slightly forlorn that she wouldn't be partaking--especially as Zach zoomed down it. He attempted to help her up by pushing on her bum as she tried to climb onto the surface to get onto the slide, but her shortness wasn't helping. Maybe next time, she'll have those few extra inches. To get her mind off of it, Zachary and I loaded her and him into a Monster Truck Ride, that takes off and the car tips sideways and leans far forward, etc...Zach loved it. The ride definitely got Chayce's mind off the slide, but only because of terror. We stuck to more mild experiences after that.

Owen and Mzee

The library this week was focusing on the story of Owen & Mzee, the hippopotamus and tortoise who became very good friends after hurricane Katrina. We had story time to ourselves for awhile, since the preschool that usually shows up was late, and no one else came. We danced to Jim Gill music and ran around the room naming shapes and colors, after making construction paper hats in honor of the Owen & Mzee book that we read.

Wanna See My Pretty Submarine?

We got Chayce a how-to video on ballet. She enjoys it...Stephen had yet to see it, given it was a busy week with interviews of new ND candidates. When there was a decent hour that Stephen was home, and Chayce was awake, she came running in the room, "Daddy! Look at my movie about submarines...aren't they lovely?" After a short chuckle, we helped our perplexed daughter call the dancers by the correct name: ballerinas, not submarines.

Mellow Yellow

Driving in the car, along Edison Rd., the song Mellow Yellow came on (pardon my spelling if incorrect). We were singing along, not really thinking about the words, when our 4.5 year old asked, "What is this song about?" I replied that I didn't really know, as I'd never thought about the words myself, and I asked him what he thought...a few moments later, after some thought, he replied, "This song, this song is about going potty." Sounded good to me.

On another note...WE DID IT!! We finally signed up for a our local CSA (Community Sponsored Agriculture) Farm. We are so excited. We've been thinking about doing it for years now (three to be precise!), but either missed the meetings, or missed deadlines. This year, we were on the ball, and made it to the first meeting, and signed up before we left. It required a deposit of $150, and an agreement to 3 hours of labor per week per family. In return, we get a bushel of produce weekly, once things start coming up. I'm very excited, as this farm not only does a large variety of veggies, but has berries and fruit trees as well. I think we spent $150 on berries alone last summer, so to really get into this we will not only learn a lot, but will definitely get our pennies worth in GOOD veggies for our family to partake of (none of this out of season cardboard from the grocer). Our veggie list is so long, it's insane...potatoes, onions, beets, greens, carrots, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, tomatoes, peppers, basil, asparagus, winter and summer squashes, eggplant, etc, etc, etc!! I'm excited, and I hope the kids will be too. I know Stephen is.

We are now counting down the days (OK, we have been for awhile!) til #3 gets here...only 2 weeks exactly til the due date. I've been early with the prior two, but I won't get my hopes up too high. Plus, I have a lot to do before she gets here, and I don't really need an early arrival, I can keep busy til she comes--not that I'd argue if she didn't wait, there is something wonderful about not being pregnant!! YAY!!!

Tearing Down the Moon

Well, I made the mistake of letting our children stay up past 9:30PM today...it was an emotional meltdown. You see, we had to...we were babysitting our friends' children, and they were to stay awake until their parents came for them, but since they are the same age as ours, putting one set to bed and not the other is, ahem, difficult, to say the least. Anyhow, once all was calm, we had our evening snack, which led to frustration, ("Mom, these apples are not co operating!"--Zach), and so we sent them up to bed (the children, not the apples). This then led to some defiance...Zach decided that bedtime was NOT a good idea, and therefore would not go. So, I carried him up, put his jammies on for him, and put him to bed (of course, sweet Stephen had to come in and give big hugs and say that it was OK to be upset, etc.). Zach's response? "I'm tearing the moon from the sky, so there is no more night, and without night there can be no bedtime!" I told him he could contemplate his game plan while lying in bed--he was asleep in minutes. I'm hoping the moon is still in the sky tomorrow night, I don't think I could live without bedtime!

On a sillier note, Stephen has taken up drinking...pancake syrup. Yes, I suppose it is my fault for making our own and bottling it in glass jars, and putting glass jars on the table, open, next to beverages...but it still doesn't help one suppress the laughter when you notice the pale expression on another's face, as they realize what they gulped. Ha ha!! What a fun start to the day.

On a HOO-HA! note, I again racked up brownie points in the financial department. I suppose that is why I am CFO, COO, and CEO of the Tueller home. They are joint positions, sort of, but I can't figure out what to call Stephen...maybe head of accounts receivable. Perhaps there should be a position called CCEO--Chief Chief Executive Officer, as the CEO defers to the CCEO when in doubt, or when it seems two heads are better than one. Anyhow, today was a fun day. I suppose I have to give credit to Stephen for taking me out to dinner last night, for had we not gone, we would not have passed the Goodwill marquee that stated that the first ever "Fill A Bag Sale" was going to take place at this specific location. Anyhow, I piled the cuties in the car, got to Goodwill and found out that you could stuff as much clothing into the bag as you wanted for $25. Given that I have petite children, you can fit a lot of items in one bag. The exciting thing here is that we got there early enough that the children's clothing hadn't been picked over, and we scored some VERY nice dresses, dress shirts, pants, sweaters, skirts, etc, for about $1 each! Even by Goodwill standards, this is saving $$, as items there are about $3 each on a good day, but considering the brands and quality of many of the items, we saved much more. It's exciting. Speaking of excitement...it's getting late, and if I don't sleep, I'll be easily excitable tomorrow, so, off I go!

The Wright Brothers

OK, well, I suppose I'm breaking my photo promise, because I didn't take any new ones yet. I'll console you later, if you are too upset, otherwise, we'll move on.

Today, we had such a fun learning journey! I am going to track it from start to finish for my own benefit, so feel free not to read if you get bored easily (how could anything about my kids bore you? I may be a little biased, but still...)

It all started with a ride to the gas station...we were running low, I had a gift card, and Chayce was tired. Perfect timing (if I leave the house when she's cranky, but it's not quite bedtime, she'll fall asleep early, and stay that way til the next morning). Anyhow, we filled up with gas, and Zachary asked me what happens when cars run out of gas [they stop moving]....For the next few lines, we'll color code this, blue is Zach, red is Mommy (me).

"Do planes use gas?"
"Yes"
"What happens if a plane runs out of gas in the air?"
"It comes down."
"Nicely?"
"That depends on how high in the air it was when it ran out."
"So, it could crash."
"Yes."
Silence....
"However, Zach, the chances are pretty good that if you are on a plane, they filled up the tank before leaving the airport."
"Oh, good. How do they do that? I don't think the planes would fit into our gas station."
"Nope, I'm sure they have special gas tanks."
"How do they get the gas from the tank into the plane?"
"I don't know, why don't you look it up in the 'A' encyclopedia when we get home?"
"What is an encyclopedia?"
"Remember that box of books you helped me carry? Those were the encyclopedia set."
"Oh. I didn't see one with an 'A' on it."
"Trust me, it was there."
"I'll look."
We got home, I put Chayce to bed, and then, knocking on the door...
"I found the 'A' one, how do I look up airplane?"
We went down to the couch and read the entire section on planes (there was one tiny photo with a caption about fuel, but we didn't care, there was plenty more to see). A discussion about the perseverance of the Wright brothers took place, and was ended by, "So, did the Wrong brothers just not work hard enough to get their planes off the ground?" The conversation then led to last names...Wright is to Orville as Tueller is to Zachary worked well for him. Then we went on to discuss the different types of planes, and this let to finding a bomber plane, which led to a discussion on WWII, which led to a discussion on when killing might be OK, even though it's a commandment not to. Which then led to a discussion on what really is a good guy, if good people have to do bad things sometimes, which was thankfully ended by the question: "Hey, if this is the 'A' encyclopedia, does that mean I can look up the different types of apples, too?" [sigh, whew] "Yes, why don't we do that right now?"

Frankly, I'm now convinced that I will not have to purchase much of a curriculum to teach my children, they do a pretty good job of leading the way. Of course, I will cover the basics of reading, writing, and mathematics, but after that, I think I'll let them explore. They seem to find more out than I ever could have presented.