Friday, June 30, 2006

Start 'em early

Hey, it's never too early to get kids helping around the house. ;) This is the same little boy who would cry and make me carry him every time I vacuumed just a couple of months ago. Now he chases after me and tries to "help". He also has started to help clean up after meals by trying to drag is high chair back to the kitchen, hands over his dishes and cup when he's all done and he even took out a tissue and "cleaned" the tablecloth after dinner one night. :)

I haven't posted much lately since there's just not alot going on. After finishing my May Project Spectrum I thought about finishing my blue one for my birthday, instead, I ended up not sewing anything for about 3 weeks. When I got around to pulling blues for the project, I realized I don't have nearly as many bright blues as I thought so it kinda took the steam out of getting anywhere with that. I've finally got the pieces cut and am sewing on it a little each day, but I haven't put that much time into it so it's no where near done. Oh, well, maybe by the end of the week.

I've gotten sucked in to watching the World Cup games. I'm not normally much of a sports watcher but watching these games has been quite interesting. At least on the international field, soccer players behave much better than other sports players I've seen both on and off the field. They also work alot harder. Can you imaging running back and forth over the length of a football field for 90 min. with only one 10 min. break in the middle. No time outs, no huddling, no waiting for commercial breaks. And the collisions that happen! I'm not pulling for any team though I was pulling for Ghana after watching them play their first game. Those guys just try so hard! They actually made it to the second round but ended up losing to Germany I think. I can't really remember now. It all kinda blurs together after the first few games. It's fun to watch though.

Other than soccer, the kids are keeping me busy just keeping up after them. Mustafa loves to make "stuff" so he's constantly roaming the house looking for usable materials for his next project. He even tried making a catapult after seeing one of the models that was made for "Lord of the Rings: Return of the King". But he gets frustrated easily too and just couldn't understand why his made with straws, thread and popsickle sticks didn't work the "first" time! He hasn't quite got his head around the whole trial and error concept. So we had a little discussion about how long it takes to get things right where we talked about Edison inventing the light bulb after more than 400 tries. Amazingly a few days later there was a cartoon that included Edison. It was one of the old Tennesse Tuxedo cartoons.

Safiya and Zahra hate to be left out of the mess making, er, crafting so they each made tissue box aquariums yesterday complete with hanging fish and sea horses. Mustafa decided he'd much rather make bigger fish and hang them from the ceiling...All over the house! I told him if he wants to decorate with fish then they stay in his room only.

Dh bought a lot a couple of weeks ago for an insane price. The lot's only about 1 1/2 times as big as our townhouse lot in VA. On a per acre comparison, it would have cost around $245,000/acre!!! But it's in a development where there is already water, sewer and electricity, paved roads, trees that are a couple of years old and even some playground equipment installed even though there are very few houses built. Right across the street from our lot will be a park, so that's another perk and future selling point.

If you got through all of this, thanks for reading. I'll try to post more often so that the posts will be shorter. Posted by Picasa

4 comments:

Jeanne said...

Good to hear from you! He's a little doll! AND a Good Helper :)

How fun that the kids are making things. I remember those days when my boys were little and excited about trying everything the world had to offer. Sounds like you're a patient encouraging mom -- they'll remember that!

The utilites on the new property will give you a head start - that's worth the extra $$$$. And a park will be great!

Take care - Jeanne

Patty said...

What a big helper you have. Keep him interested, it pays off later : )
We always made it seem like some special priviledge for the children to be able to help, saying things like, "if you are well behaved you may help me do this or that." It works until they are old enough to catch on then you have to tell them to do something around the house.
Land is expensive there, ouch. Sure you don't want to move to Texas, so much cheaper and we sure need the cultural diversity !!!!!

Patty said...

Forgot to ask, do you need some bright blue fabric, I have plenty to share, seriously if you would like some I would be happy to mail some off to you. Of course you would have to trust my taste : )
email me if you are interested.
pasuhi54@msn.com

Anonymous said...

This is Mom all the way from Shelbyville, TN (just 30 miles south of Nashville, not Memphis Shellie) See what happens when you don't visit your Mama. I have been blessed with my property and just made a deal with the man I bought my original acreage and house from to purchase an additional 19.8 acres next to me for 5,000 an acre. I am going to be trying to make this happen within the next 6 months. I await the return of my family eagerly and can't wait to hold Reza for the first time. He will probably be a squirmy 2 year old by then and will say NO when Amma tries to pick him up. But I won't mind. I love you all.