Bribery,Lent, and Einstein

Here is a picture of our annual "Cookies for Cans" service project - we make cookies and take them door to door in exchange for cans of food for the food bank. This year we were joined by some of our homeschool friends. I can't decide if the one in the middle with his pants pulled up to his chin or the one balancing canned food on his eye socket best epitomizes a homeschooler. Of course I told them to do their silliest faces - otherwise I am, um, sure they would all look, um, quite normal.

So on Tuesday I resorted to what every parenting book and class out there says not to do - bribery. The condition of the house was teetering on chaos - I was considering the possibility of just moving away and starting over again. Instead, at 9am I gathered all of the kids around me and told them that if the house was completely spotless, every corner clean and scrubbed, by 6pm, we would go as a family to see the movie Bolt. I would even let them each have their own pop and candy (only because on Tuesday nights the dollar movie has a deal for a movie, pop and candy for $3. I had to keep this bribe cheaper than actually hiring someone). And so, at 5:57pm (according to the slowest clock in the house) - the house was actualy habitable again and so off we were to the movies. Now I admit that I have not seen a movie above PG in a very long time, so my judgement might be a little off, but Bolt was hilarious. I was that adult in the movie theatre whose laughter rose above the children's, and other parents exchanged glances like, "I guess she doesn't get out often..." Well, I don't, okay?! Anyway, I would highly reccomend this movie.


Please imagine here an image of the movie Bolt that I downloaded and then apparently erased and have no idea how to repost to this spot. Would someone please get Bill Gates involved in blog programming?

On Thursday we took the two older kids to Seussical the Musical. I'm just not a big fan of the Cat in the Hat. He seems a little strange. Okay - creepy. I know he is an American icon- but for me he's right up there with clowns and the Joker from Batman. Am I the only one who thinks that? Anyway, the kids and Chad loved it. Great acting.

It's play time again! Chad, Savannah, Jake, and Nick started play rehearsal this week. This time they are performing The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. It shows the first two weekends in April.



This is a picture of Savannah reading Roald Dahl's "The Enormous Crocodile" aloud to Nick. My children are Roald Dahl nuts. They also like the Cat in the Hat.



This is how Clara typically spends our homeschool morning. Quietly lying by the bookcase, reading book after book - she has just started picking up Shakespeare.



Okay, fine. This is actually the kind of thing she is usually doing during our homeschool morning. I like how she put the pan lid over the mess to try to hide it from me. I'm surprised I even noticed the half-dozen cracked eggs on my wood floor.

And this right next to it...

And as for picking up Shakespeare -well, she did say her first 3-word sentence this week, " No Bed Mama!!"

Wednesday:

Savannah: Hey mom, what are you going to give up for Lent?

Me: Nothing.

Savannah: Why not?

Me: Because I'm not Catholic.

Savannah: (insert look of incredulousness, "and I suppose we won't be celebrating Passover either?!"),then: Well, I'm giving up chips.

Me: Well that shouldn't be too hard since I haven't bought chips for the last two years.

Savannah: Fine. I'll give up those spinach milkshakes you make.

Me: Yeah, I could see how that would be a sacrifice for you.

So to spare you the details of the rest of the conversation, Savannah eventually decided to give up sugar. I told her that if she gave up sugar for 40 days, I would pay her $40. This would be well worth it to me, since with the love affair this girl has with sugar, paying out only $40 would probably be a positive cash flow. And besides, the money would be well worth the lesson in self-discipline. Oh, and also, I didn't think that she would last 40 minutes.

But now we are on day 5 and she has not touched sugar! This is incredible, especially considering the deep breathing that she had to do during the intermission of Seussical while her brother chowed down a chocolate-covered marshmellow.

This is her making sugar-free peanut butter cookies. Much to her dismay, all cookies are not created equal. They were not quite what she expected, but it did not stop her from breaking her fast today with the entire pan.

And here is Jacob. Savannah has coined the nickname "Einstein" for Jacob. He is technically in the second grade, but here he is on the computer doing 5th grade math. He just picked up Savannah's math computer program one day and is now several lessons ahead of her. Right before I took this picture I was watching him take a test. He had gotten every answer right, and was on the last problem. When he typed his answer into the computer that 754,310>754,301, I gave out a big sigh to hint to him to recheck his obviously wrong answer. "Mom" he patiently replied and clicked finish, which immediately showed that he was in fact right. Those are the kind of moments this boy savors. Go right ahead Jake, I'll uh, just get back to the laundry.

This is a very common expression for Jake. Doesn't Einstein have a similar picture?

We may call him Einstein, but Jake's true desire is to be a high-class spy. This morning he came downstairs with this outfit on. "Hey Jake, that's a nice outfit." "Thanks mom, I'm James Bond." I like his pose for this picture.

And that's our week!