So Many Gods, So Little Time

October 8, 2011 By Tara Edelschick

“Some people worship money. Some people worship many gods. We mainly worship just one god.” Thus pronounced Ezra, as he was assessing our family’s spiritual devotion. Apparently he had been chewing on last week’s Sunday School lesson about the ten commandments, and had decided that while we “mainly worshipped just one God,” sometimes we fall a little short. During the lesson, I spent a lot of time contrasting the beliefs of the wandering Israelites with the beliefs of the polytheistic... Read more

Crop Failure

September 30, 2011 By Tara Edelschick

On Tuesday, we choked down a few nasty beans and one nasty squash. Zach held his nose while he ate them, and followed each bite with a large milk chaser. Jeff, whose worst review of my culinary attempts is typically, “This isn’t that bad,” pushed the vegetables to the side and said, “These are NOT good.” Do you remember how excited we were to plant the Three Sisters – corn, squash and beans — as the Pilgrims had? We used... Read more

Happy New Year!

September 24, 2011 By Tara Edelschick

Next week is Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. The yummiest part of Rosh Hashanah celebrations is when you dip apples in honey, symbolizing your prayers for a sweet new year. Tomorrow, Ezra will go to Andy’s synagogue to do a presentation on our beehive for the Shabbat school there. He worked on the presentation with Governess, who has been teaching the boys about “the main idea and the supporting details.” When they are reading or telling a story, when... Read more

What’s Done Is Done

September 22, 2011 By Tara Edelschick

For the past two months, Jeff and I have been keeping a new discipline. We go to bed by 11:30. Sounds simple, but it’s not. We both like to use the late hours when the kids are in bed to work, to read, to do Sudoku online. But we’re tired and grumpy a lot of the time, and the boys NEVER LEAVE, and it’s hard to be with your kids all day if you are tired and grumpy. It’s also... Read more

Livin’ The Dream

September 21, 2011 By Tara Edelschick

Kathi, our most wonderful, lovely, kind, and talented au pair returns to Costa Rica tomorrow. Dealt with sad kids, packing, and a party today. Here are some random snippets from the day: 1 – I read in Sissy’s history book tonight that the Enlightenment brought an end to irrational religious thought and ushered in our current era, which is ruled by reason. Wow, I think someone should tell the people in Washington about this. 2 – Zach nearly threw a... Read more

The N Word

September 20, 2011 By Tara Edelschick

When Andy went upstairs to see the boys on Saturday night, she asked Zach where Ezra was. “He’s in trouble, and Sissy is talking to him,” Zach’s answered. “Why? What did he do wrong?” inquired Andy. “He said the N word to Sissy.” What?!!! Sissy is Black, and Andy worried that Ezra might have used a heinous racial epithet with a girl he now considers part of our family (the rest of whom are White). But how could he have... Read more

Indoor Plumbing

September 17, 2011 By Tara Edelschick

With Sissy in the house, and expressions of sibling love abounding, we’ve had to remind the boys of the virtues of modesty. After many years of answering the door in the buff, the boys seemed to develop their own sense of propriety, and we didn’t have to spend so much time explaining why they might want to quit streaking naked through the house, or into the back yard, or up the street and into the park. But a teenage girl... Read more

Do You Love My Boys? Do You Love Them Not?

September 16, 2011 By Tara Edelschick

“You need to put that away, Mom. He needs some special time with you while Ezra works with Christine.” This was Millie, the occupational therapist at the Amigos, telling me that I needed to put away my computer and snuggle with Zach on the couch in the school library. Zach and Ezra had both been working with Millie while I finished a document for work. Ezra was off to see his reading specialist, and Millie was bringing Zach to me... Read more

Starting Off With A Bange

September 15, 2011 By Tara Edelschick

Did you know that there are spelling rules? Sure, you may know i before e except after c, and a few others as well. But there are dozens of them. Rules that help you decide when to use a j instead of a g, and when to use tch instead of ch. I had no idea, which might be why I am such a terrible speller. (Apparently I passed the problem on to Ezra because the other day, he spelled school... Read more

Read Me

September 14, 2011 By Tara Edelschick

Okay. I’m gonna keep writing, even after my self-imposed end date. Here are a few of the reasons why: Many of you have written encouraging notes. And who am I to disappoint nearly a dozen faithful readers?! I like writing the posts. It’s too hard to do it every day, but I like writing. I love reading about what we were doing last September. It’s like looking through your kids’ baby books – that is, if you wrote in your... Read more