End of May Update

I don't have any pictures downloaded but I wanted to share some of our May happenings...

1. I know that all are wondering what have become of Peter and Jill... Well, we had to let them go... We fed them a mean looking beetle that won in the battle of bug-eat-bug and then we were going on a family vacation so we emptied out what we thought were the remains of Peter and Jill. But I think that one of them had enough fight left that we saw him in the garage a few days ago catching bugs around our yard waste trash can before we put it out for collection.

2. This month our children have discovered their first favorite Saturday morning "cartoons." You might wonder why I put cartoons in quotes... Well, Emalee's favorite is "Mama Mirabelle" from PBS and Garett's show is also a PBS show, but not exactly a cartoon... it's "This Old House!" What a little builder/engineer we have!

3. Garett finished up his pre-K year. He was excited to be done so that he "could go to the library" with me and Emalee and wouldn't miss out on storytime (you'd think that I don't read to these kids!). But the other morning we had to do some mundane chores like going to the grocery store and shopping for some graduation gifts and he commented that he "wished [he] could go to school and not have to do shopping chores". Can't say I blame him...

4. I've been reading a book called "The Homeowner's Guide to Energy Independence: Alternative power sources for the average American" by Christine Woodside. I picked it up hoping it would give me some detailed options for what I can do to save energy, but rather it was more of a resource guide of examples of what some families have done to live "off-grid". But one thing that struck me was actually a quote from another book: In "American Ways" by Gary Althen he says "Americans cling to these values: individualism, equality, informality, progress, speed, and assertiveness. Not on the list are frugality and conservation."
I believe that we need to start teaching our children frugality and conservation because (among other reasons) "Americans are living like spoiled brats, using too much energy because it is cheap" (another quote from Woodside's book). It seems like in everyday life it is difficult for us to find the resources and/or installers to retrofit our houses into places of energy independence, but it is not difficult to turn off the computer, turn off lights, use CFLs, plan ahead to defrost food not using the microwave, take shorter showers, change the thermostat to heat and cool less, etc...

5. Our family trip to Kansas City was fun. We enjoyed the Science City at Union Station, the fountains the kids could play in outside Crown Center, the zoo, and our daily (sometime twice daily) trip to the supermarket since the hotel room didn't have any refrigerators, as well as our trip into the Hallmark Kaleidoscope creativity room. Pictures to come later...

6. I think we are finally getting over the stuttering stage. It has been a challenge to let Emalee figure this out on her own... the expert advice is to just ignore the behavior and not point it out the the child. But now Emalee has developed this hand motion that ends with her patting her chest and it gives her the time to think of the words she wants. Now, she is even getting more confident and needing this hand motion less and less!