Be Home

simply music - part II

These are our Popsicle sticks for learning. Learning what you ask? Our songs. 

If you are familiar with the Simply Music program then you know about play-lists. But a list in a book is sometimes a bit unmotivating for children (and sometimes adults too) so we have sticks. Both my boys sat down one afternoon and took a handful of Popsicles sticks along with their colored marker of choice. Each song that was on their personal play-list was copied by hand, thus recognizable, onto their own sticks. Variations or arrangements of a particular song share the same piece of wood. 

Now when the boys sit down to practice, each with their own half-hour set aside, it tends to be a bit more interesting. They pick out 5-7 songs from their Popsicle jar, arrange them in the order of preference to be played, put their fingers to the ivory keys and pierce the atmosphere around them with their lovely tickling.

Once they are finished and satisfied with the daily progress, the collected sticks are checked off one by one onto the play-list as completed. And with great accomplishment those Popsicles are tossed into the finished jar, till of course they are recycled back to their original home to begin another week of simply beautiful music.

The Laws of Simplicity

I have had my eye on this book for some time. Last week when Andrew was out of town I took the boys over for an evening run to Barnes and Noble. It was finally my chance to grab it. 

It's a very simple read. Maybe that was intentional. Simplicity on any term is a subject matter that I gravitate toward but this had a bit of a different slant. While I might browse the subjects of homemaking and education, this was focused on business. 

There are listed ten laws of simplicity. It is basically one man's observation on how design is utilized in our current culture. Using everything from ipods to google maps the author breaks down what appeals to us and why.

For myself, this book has been a point of interest to several areas of life. I do appreciate good design and am anxious to look for how I can utilize these "laws" in the not so business related fields of everyday living. It's also fascinating self-reflection on why certain magazines, home interiors, handmade crafts, blogs, even atmospheres, etc. I tend to find extremely inspiring while others, not so much. 

I would recommend this quick read to anyone who thinks about design in any shape or form. And beyond that a few observation could even bring a dose of good perspective on the design of life in general.

Happy Birthday Nicholas!

My oldest has turned 10 years old!!! Wow! 

We had a fantastic day. As is tradition Andrew took Nicholas to breakfast in the morning. The funny kid chose IHOP and was so proud of eating six whole pancakes. 

We had a few surprises up our sleeve as the day went on. While out getting supplies for the evening party, which the birthday boy always chooses, we swung into Starbucks for a real Mocha treat. Hoping it wouldn't effect the boys too badly as the day continued!

Peter gave his present early because it too was a surprise. Turning 10 is somewhat a right of passage and for this child that meant a movie. So he was given Spider-man 1 to open and watch that afternoon. Nicholas is a little weary of watching new movies for the first time when it is nighttime and before bed, so it was fun to add this into the day. 

In the meantime the other two boys and I decorated and made the cake. Grammy came over just in time for the festivities to begin. Dinner was of course Nicholas' favorite which is Alfredo with Shrimp. Very good! 

We had some party favor fun. 

Sang the "Happy Birthday" song climaxing to the blowing out ten candles.

Ate the chocolate cake and mint chocolate-chip ice cream. Mmmmm.

And presents!

But a memorable birthday celebrating double digits just wouldn't be complete without the ultimate gift. You know, the one you never thought you'd get.

At 8:00 pm we told Nicholas that his gift from Dad and I required a trip. The complete look of shock on his face said it all. As we inched our way mile by mile across town the boys came up with several good guesses as to were this car ride would find it's location. But none could prepare for when we pulled up to the Mac Store. O heah.

Sometimes it's just really, really fun to be a parent! 

Dreams do come true! Especially on your tenth birthday!!!

 

IKEA 2009

It's here! My yearly IKEA catalog. It's a staple for those of us who live outside the residence of greater US cities who's individuals have the privilege of waltzing through its doors at will. Even as I drool over particular items of interest, why O why must I be tormented with it's little icon of a shopping cart with an backslash over it - no shipping?! 

Come on IKEA, ever notice that you have a strange hole of non-existent presence in say, the middle of the entire country?! 

Yes, I long for rows and rows of cheap, designer, stylish stuff! Till then my catalog must keep me company (and my local Tar'get). 

magazine art

Simple and fun. 

With oh so many catalogs and magazines filtering through this house on a monthly basis it's nice to put some of their lovely pages to good use. By request, everyone gathers at the table with glue, scissors, paper, stacks of pictures and a lot of imagination! 

When I was a girl, my sister and I would make "rooms" in our dream house by cutting out furniture and accessories that we thought most fitting and then glue them in place onto large sheets of white paper to create thee most perfectly decorated arrangement. My boys didn't go with the decorating theme this time but they pieced together quite the masterpieces nonetheless. They are especially impressed however with mom's art work. So glad that those fine art classes taken at the university produced something that's impressive...at least that is through the eyes of a 9 year old!

fort building

I was going to bed one night trying to think of what the day would look like in the morning. Without any school this week it becomes a fine balance of relaxing and yet still using our creative minds. Then it came to me. We need a fort! A place of continual remembrance each day that it is an unusual week and should be used to it's fullest - like a vacation. It took only moments to evaluate the needed supplies. A good sheet. Plenty of chairs, yes I have plenty of chairs! And a few good heavy books, O yeah got those too. 

I casually began creating this place of refuge in our office without mentioning to the boys what I'm doing. 

"What are you doing mom?" Yep, that is exactly the phrase I'm looking to hear. 

"Oh, man it's a fort!" 

The simple joys of taking all that is familiar and designing something that is beyond the normal.

So what are you doing "beyond the normal" for spring break?

reuse, reduce, recycle

These are the lyrics to one of the songs off one of our all time favorite albums - Jack Johnson:Curious George Soundtrack. As far as the reduce goes, I think either by necessity or style we've done pretty well at this one. (I'm a minimalist by nature - no pun intended!) 

The recycling side of life has just begun at our home. I know, I'm slightly behind the times. Our previous recycling bin came in a time of great need last year as we were reorganizing the garage and it was perfect to hold our scraps of lumber. Not quiet what our trash collecting company had in mind but useful nonetheless. Enter a new trash collecting company last week with fresh blue bins lining our drive. Perfect. So we begin the family ritual of washing, separating, and organizing our trash. Kinda like they make you do at Panara's when you've finished your bread bowl. 

But the reuse aspect of the 3 R's has eluded me. Logically if you aren't buying what you don't need and you're recycling what you dispose of then really what is there to reuse? Leave it to my oldest son to find a way. 

This is our new family game. It's called Bottle Bowling. Hopefully the rules are somewhat obvious. We score by who gets the most knocked down in each round. A good evening worth of game time makes the winner strive for 30 points. But the boys beg to play till 40 points if mom is the clear winner. 

bread making day

Remember the tuna sandwich? Well today is gluten-free bread making day. My one son goes through a loaf of bread about every week an a half. Therefore I don't necessarily pick one day of the week as designated to such an event but only when it's about that time to do so. Maybe I would have to be more consistent if it weren't for a wonderful machine that can do my bread making for me at the drop of a hat. Yes, it's my bread machine. Patented to do all the mixing, kneading, resting, and baking with only so much a beep to let you know that hard labor has been completed as is ready to be enjoyed. 

This truly is our favorite sandwich bread mix as Gluten-free Pantry so proclaims. Four simply ingredients get measured into the pan - two eggs, vegetable oil or butter, lukewarm water and the dry mix (yeast included). Then I set my crust to light and my course selection for baking. Va La! Two hours later you start smelling freshly baked bread permeate the atmosphere. And a bit of jealousy arising from every member of the family that will get told it is not for them. 

It is for Peter however and it makes for a huge grin knowing he can eat what smell so delicious, at least when it comes to this. Which is what home should be. A place were the things that make you different to everyone else and sometimes cost you what is naturally accepted become the very things in which you feel the most special to those who love you.

After the loaf has cooled I slice it into sandwich bread. Rarely do we use a slice that isn't for something being held between two pieces so the are frozen in pairs. That way, because gluten-free bread is very susceptible to losing it's goodness at room temperature, I can defrost two slices at a time for daily delight. 

Out of sheer curiosity, how many of you know someone that follows a gluten-free lifestyle? It's more known than one might imagine and is becoming a less frightening diet with each new soul good food being unearthed.

sugar snow

The first snowfall in late autumn is an exciting moment full of dreams of fireplace chats and holidays yet to come. But maybe just as exciting is the last snowfall. The unexpected blanket of white that just wants you to remember that even though you long for spring, by mid August you'll miss me. 

Because of the unusually warm days this year, even in the dead of winter, we have daffodils poking their frosty heads up through the garden soil. And I noticed yesterday that the lilac has it's buds ready to burst forth in a grandeur of fragrance. Can't you smell spring already? 

I think one of the most beautiful ways of God's creation is the changing of seasons. So often it evokes such depths of response in our own emotions. It's no wonder that we are often taught to embrace seasons of life with equal parallel. The patience through one season inspires the next and each one being unique we can look forward to their reappearance in the future.

Just last week the boys and I were reading Little House in the Big Woods. In one particular chapter they too were welcoming spring but before it made it's full bloom they had a sugar snow. (You'll have to dust off your old cover and enjoy reading just what that was.) So here's to our sugar snow. Unfortunately, we did not have the maple syrup to enjoy it as it should have been.

simply music

We are going on our second year of piano lessons! After inheriting my grandmother's beautiful piano I was so ready to get the boys going at making it a part of of our curriculum schedule. Through a series of events and recommendations we took the plunge last February. But we went with a slightly different way to learn. It's called Simply Music.

The boys started the program by simply learning songs. No notes, no sheet music, and really not even knowing the names of the keys. Just playing a bit of music from memory. On the day of our lessons, which is in a group of four children, their teacher, Mr. Nelson, gives them a new song to play by showing them step by step. In that hour they practice it with him and by now, also spend time reviewing past songs. Then during the week we review the song by watching a DVD which shows it again step by step. The boys add the song to there playlist and faithfully keep it "alive". 

I love the fact that all these songs range from Mozart to Modern Jazz. And then they learn variations, arrangements, and accompaniments. In theory, the idea is that just like in language we learn to talk before we learn to read. So too in music we can become very familiar with playing before trying to figure out how it all works and looks on paper. Can you imagine if we ever tried the opposite in real life and frustrated ourselves that way with language? 

It really is a joy to learn this way. And I'm so glad we took a chance on something new. Traditional can be good but sometimes innovation can be better! 

George "practices" too as you can see! Actually so does mommy. Hey, I sit in every lesson why not?