my middle child

We try hard to avoid the middle child issues with Pax, but he kinda fits the stereotype. It's intensified by the fact that Charis is the classic first child and Jonas the stereotypical baby. Paxton has the most easy going, un-opinionated personality; so the other two get heard more. But its been cool to see him grow in this. I hear Charis talking him into things (all the time) but I also hear pax saying "no!" a lot more. Sometimes I want to scream at him to "hurry up" (with charis it's "slow down") but when he wants to cuddle and kiss I don't mind the slowness.



He is the classic example of a kid who needs positive affirmation. and lots of it. He cannot function if he feels we are angry with him. he completely shuts down. And simple tasks become impossible for him. Until realizing this, we weren't big fans of the positive affirmation method. Charis and Jonas don't respond to it (overly positive talk). But Pax lives for it. ("Pax, you can do it! You can put on your socks all by yourself. You are good at it!!)

His soccer team, the Dragonflies, has been such a good experience for him. He seems to really like having an activity that only he does. Until now he's never wanted to do a class or anything apart from Charis. It's really cute to see him be an important member of this little 5 year old team.  I feel like he's grown up so much in the past month.




He lost his first tooth this week. Bottom middle. He was working it for so long and it finally came out (after so much wiggling) and thats it. There's been no more mention of it. We keep forgetting about the tooth fairy thing. Ooops! Tonight she (he?) will appear.

I love my middle child.

hair hair hair hair long beautiful hair

Has anyone actually watched the entire movie "Hair"? I know the bits I saw were enough to satisfy my hippy curiosity. That is a weird movie.

I gave Charis a cute bob. She likes it. Especially poofing it up with her hands. But I think she secretly still wants long hair to her waist. 

Paxton got a serious chop. The kid is so dang cute you'd think I couldn't give him a bad cut. But I did. The first try. I just wanted the bangs out of the face for his (first) soccer game tomorrow. But it was so mullety. I just had to go with the butch. But I like the short hair on him. He kept looking at himself in the mirror and making cute faces. Then he wanted lots of hugs. Love that kid.

Jonas got a trim too. Not too drastic. I don't have a picture of it, so I'll just post this one instead.

But who is this chick with the long beautiful hair? oh yes. That is me. I let my sister do me up with her hair extensions, dress and heals. I know. That does not even look like me. Caleb was freaked out. I was freaked out. 

A few more...

frostys and art

I recently bought Charis some face paint...

Caleb took us to an amazing dive of a place in Vista: Pepper Tree Frosty. I guess they've been there forever, and have a local following. The shakes were quite tasty. I recommend them to anyone in the area. Of course the kids loved it.

Charis and Pax took an art class at the local art school this summer. Pax wasn't into it, but Charis liked it. They did both like seeing their finished work mounted on the wall with printed name tags. So official! I'm happy to see my kids figuring out what they like (or don't like). Charis tends to like everything and Pax tends to like nothing. But I've been seeing them both grow. Recently Charis took a crocheting class at Joannes. She hated it! There was supposed to be a part 2 class and she had zero interest. I was shocked. She's never turned down an opportunity to go to an event. But she was confident she didn't like crocheting (too boring I think) and being with new friends in a class wasn't enough reason to go back. Conversely, Pax has been making good friends quite easily recently. It is so heart warming to see him have "best friends". He was never that kid before. I hope they continue to know who they are and feel confident in that. I hope I do as well.

our friends

I met my friend Rochelle in college. She stood out right away as a free-thinking hippy chick. I knew we should be friends. She really was influential in helping me see non-conventional ways of living (who needs bathrooms?) She's always encouraged me to think and live more naturally. The seeds she started planning all those years a go have really taken root now. Although we haven't lived near each other since our girls were babies, we've kept up our friendship through many moves, states, kids and years.  She's one of those friends I know I'll always stay connected to. 

Rochelle and her husband and 4 kids came to visit us last weekend. Our kids love each other so much. They were all born with in a couple months of each other. Charis and Eva are especially close since they are only 10 days apart, and have seen lots of pictures of themselves together as infants. They always immediately reconect, no matter how long it's been. Rochelle has had one more kid than me recently. Baby Lilly. Charis was in love. She knows what she wants for Christmas now (Santa ain't gonna deliver that though).

We both have Jo Jo's. Jonas and Josiah. And they are both amazing and beautiful little stinkers.

Lots of fun was had climbing trees, playing dress up, eating yummy farmer's market food, and talking about kids and China and God and parenting.

We could hardly pull Lilly away from Charis. She must have given her 10 good bye hugs and kisses. 

vbs, worms, peaches and bread

my kids went to vacation bible school a couple of weeks a go. their grandma's church was putting it on, so we decided to try it. i wasn't sure what they'd think, but it was the most fun week of their lives. they made strawberry jam, planted grape seeds, made cinnamon rolls, watched skits, played games, and ended the week with a carnival. they are still singing the songs they learned (signs and all) and can't wait to be babysat by one of their leaders. 

some day Pax will appreciate this picture. but at 5, he just said cheese and ran away. the week was really fun for me and jonas too. i've never spent that much time alone with him! 3 hours every morning. he's so different when he's not with his siblings. 

caleb's mom brought over the ingredients for these "worms in dirt" desserts. the kids loved it. it's chocolate pudding with crushed oreos and gummy worms. yummy.

i went back and got more peaches from uncle mitchy's back yard. with Renee's kids this time. it was fun but hot.

here is charis enjoying the peach jam i made with the peaches from uncle mitchy's back yard. it turned out really good. she likes to eat it by the bowl full. i also made kumquat marmalade with the kumquats from my back yard. intense but tasty. and it really was not very difficult. flo let me use her jamming equipment, so that was helpful.

i made my first non-bread-machine-bread with Renee last week! she is an experienced bread maker, so she taught me what to do. it was a fun thing to do together, and the bread turned out quite delicious. i think my bread machine is not going to get as much action anymore!

adventures in california and hair

we went to california adventure on sunday. my parents had tickets they weren't going to use, so we got to go for free. we had the option of using them at california adventure or disneyland. since none of us had ever been to cal adventure we went there. 

it was a really fun day. i highly recommend going for free. it makes the whole trip much more relaxing. there was no pressure, and the cost of food was slightly less disturbing (but seriously, what is going on?!). charis and pax braved the tower of terror, although pax said he never wanted to do it again. and we loved the playhouse disney show and monster's inc. ride. 

overall we feel disneyland wins. california adventure was really impressive, and ascetically awesome, but it lacked the magic of disneyland. 

on a completely different subject, charis has pink hair this week (at least). it was crazy hair day at vbs, so i pulled out my old hair dye and did her up. she really likes it - is avoiding showers and all (i put my foot down on that after 2 days).  it thought i'd dig up an old picture of me when i used to have pick hair for those who have never seen it. 

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

If you have not already read this book by Barbara Kingsolver (author of The Poisonwood Bible) I think you should. It was recommended to me by several people and I'm finally borrowing it from a friend (thank you Flo). I'm still in the process of reading it. And am already so inspired.

 

Barbara and her family decided to live on only local foods (with only a few exceptions) for a year. The book is a documentation of that year. They have their own farm and do the rest of their shopping at farmer's markets. 

There have been many things that have slowly nudged me towards natural, local living. But this seems to be pushing me over. I love the idea of knowing where the food I eat comes from. And being connected to the land and people who produced it. I like looking forward to what there is instead of making lists of what I shouldn't have. It seems so obvious and ancient and tribal. I want more of this for my life. 

As noted in past posts, I'm no farmer. My family would starve if we had to live off the land that I  was tending. But the coolest thing happened this weekend to encourage local eating despite my farming ineptitude. We attended a birthday party in Wildomar (aprox 30 minutes away) for Caleb's uncle. On the way I was reading out loud from this book, and Caleb and I were hmmming and nodding as Barbara convinced us to support local farmers. Once at the party Aunt Karen invited me to pick some fruit from their trees. In the past this has meant oranges and lemons, which I am happy to receive for free. But right now their trees are loaded with apples, peaches, red plums and yellow plums. And soon there will be figs, oranges and apricots. She even gave me some eggs from her chicken. Amazing. The great part is she wants me to come back and pick as much as I want as often as I want.  Which I will be doing again this week. With plans to can and/or jam some of it with Flo. 

I don't want to feel guilty for eating processed crackers that were probably not made in California, or for buying mango from Mexico. But I am learning about the other options. I am seeing the beauty of sacrifice. I'm more conscious of the impact my food (and clothing and toy, etc) choices make on my health, my community and the environment. 
"Restraint equals indulgence" she says (p 32). I like this idea. Waiting for local, fresh, ripe food makes the coming of it so much sweeter. Maybe this will help me pass up those crackers and mango next week.   
     We've decided to rejoin a local CSA: J.R. Organics. They have a farm in Escondido (30 minutes south) with lots of yummy produce. Our last CSA experience was positive, but I didn't know what to do with all the greens, and felt I was wasting too much food. Now, with my green smoothie drinking and motivation to support this farm I hope I will do better. They supply recipes for each item they send, so that should help too. I'll keep you posted.