Developing Self Reliance: Our Story

Our friends just started this new blog and I'm so excited to share it! Read the "Our Story" and then explore the rest of the site. Even though they just started it, they're off to a great start with ideas for how to use zucchini and squash from a garden. I've seen the transformation of their yard over the years and it is amazing to see what they're able to do with the time and resources they have!

Developing Self Reliance: Our Story: "My husband, Todd, and I have six children (ages 1-13). We are busy just like you and just like you, we are figuring out how to make self-re..."

Karate!

I'm going out of order now, putting up a current event before catching up on the past.  I hope you can all forgive me.  ;)  Christopher did his first belt testing in karate yesterday and moved up from white belt to 'high-white' belt (they add a black stripe).  He was so excited!  And he looks really cute too:

He's wearing the new belt and holding the old one.  They earn stripes on the ends of the belts for getting notes from home and friends for service, and for passing off different forms they learn.  We're going to take a little break for a couple of months as school starts and we get settled back in to that routine, but then we'll pick it back up again.  I need to see how the schedule shakes out between his school, me teaching 5 classes at my school, and the soccer team we signed up for several months ago before we went back to karate!  This kid has definitely got the energy for all of that - I just need to see if I do!  :)

November 2010

I am rocking and rolling now!  Not a lot of detail, but I'm at least posting the highlights and remembering a few things.  November brought one significant change for us as we decided to move Christopher to another school.  It's difficult to explain without sounding snobby, but he wasn't learning anything new.  He was so far ahead of most of the class in reading that he was being singled out to work on something else while the other class groups learned their alphabet and what sounds the letters make.  When he started choosing easier work so that he wouldn't have to sit by himself, that really concerned us.  When the teacher told us her biggest challenge was keeping him challenged - and then did not provide any kind of plan for how she was going to do that - we knew it was time for a change.  We moved him from Zaharis Elementary which is northeast of us, to Franklin Elementary which is just about as far southwest of us.  But there is a big difference in the curriculum: Franklin works about a year ahead of grade level academically.  He was able to be with the same age of kids and still be challenged and learning new skills.  This school uses the Spalding method and does phonograms to help with reading.  They are also really big on penmanship and within just a few weeks Christopher's handwriting had noticeably improved.  He was much happier at the new school and made new friends quickly. 

A slightly out of focus picture.  Christopher's old class was sad to see him go and gave him a cute going away party at the end of their "Harvest Festival."  We moved him to the new school the week of Thanksgiving.  His old class sent him home with the costumes they had made for their Thanksgiving lunch and also gave him a cute book where each of his classmates had designed a special page.

He also got to bring home his math book from the first kindergarten class.  He was very excited about these items and wanted to make sure I took two separate pictures of him with each thing - oh, and also the sucker.

Thanksgiving Day - We gathered the boy cousins together for a picture in the backyard following their after-lunch soccer game.  Dara's boys are so wonderful with Christopher.  From left to right, looking at the picture, are Adam (12), Arch IV (15 at the time, now 16), little Christopher in the middle (5), tall Aaron in the back (14), and Austin in front of him (7, now 8).

Matt's dad, Darrell, in the plaid with his sister Susie next to him, his brother Rob in front with the glasses, and his dad Herman.  Herman and his wife Joy always make it out for either Christmas or Thanksgiving each year.

October 2010 - Part III - Halloween Night

Our traditional Christopher & Hannah picture for Halloween - Darth Vader and The Witch

Christopher and his best buddy Caleb as Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker

Caleb's dad as Obi Wan Kenobe - The link between Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker is now complete

Not long after Halloween -  These kids can't get enough of the costumes, but this day was just a "get your helmet and a weapon" day.  The unique creation modeled by Hannah was Matt's early creation of an open-faced Boba Fett helmet.

October 2010-Part II

I'm realizing that I've forgotten how to get these pictures to do what I want. When they post, they're in the opposite order of how I uploaded them and I can't get the top picture to scoot down for me to give an intro. So...the late middle of October led us to Boo at the Zoo. The Phoenix Zoo puts on a great Halloween celebration for the kids. Christopher got to throw bean bags at pumpkin faces.


A couple of pictures with some mascots. One of Christopher's favorite 'puppet people' has always been the "Moo Cow" from Chick-Fil-A and he always makes an appearance here. This year it was especially nice because they did away with the Mascot Parade (after one of the people in the puppet suits last year had to go to the hospital with heat stroke - it's still hot here, even in October) and had them all set up in the barn at Harmony Farm. Cooler for everyone involved.

A little promo for a movie that came out last fall...

Christopher and Caleb's first attempt at a sleepover fell somewhere during this time. Caleb ended up missing his mom and going home, but they had a fun time setting up for a movie before bed time.

Back at the zoo - the goats in the petting zoo at Harmony Farm. They let the kids brush them and they show off a little by butting heads with each other. A good time was had by all.

October 2010 - Part I

We went to Utah over October break last year to visit my family. The kids got to walk through a corn stalk maze at a farm.

My sister, my mom, and me.

Most of the cousins outside together. They needed to get outside and run off some energy after dinner!

Collin was fascinated (obsessed) with the iPod touch. And Christopher was more than happy to show him how it worked.

Jimmy, looking like he smells something funny over his right shoulder (probably me) while Christopher 'drove' one of the old tractors out at the farm.

September 2010

I'm still working on my goal of not being a full year behind on this blog, and September is making that easy. The main event of September was my birthday. Not because it was anything significant. Mostly just because it was apparently the only thing of which I have photographic documentation for the month. My favorite kiddos made this cute sign for me and put it up before I got home from school that afternoon. Apparently I was so excited about taking a picture of it that it didn't occur to me to make my bed first. Oh, well. It was a really cute sign! Beyond that I can't really remember what I did for my birthday. I know my 7th grade Latin class sang to me - they were pretty excited about my birthday. I probably went to dinner too...I'm seeing more and more the point of updating the blog as things happen....

Use the force...

I got an email this week about Christopher from his school teacher:

Emily,
Here is what happened:
Christopher asked me a question, don't remember the question, but it was funny. I started to chuckle and several students looked at Chris. When they looked at him he raised his hand midway in the air, swept it from left to right and said "this is not the person you are looking for." It was hilarious and I laughed off and on all night. I shared his story several times. He is so clever and adorable. Thanks for bringing him to Franklin!!

I feel the guilt...so here is August of 2010

So after a month went by and I hadn't posted anything new to the blog, my sister-in-law sends me a message saying, basically, "What was that about being back to blogging?" She's right, and I need nudges like that, so here goes. I believe I left off last July, so here is August - at least as far as I remember it:

Christopher started kindergarten on the same day that I went back to school too, but he was a first-time student and I was a first-time teacher. No pictures of my first day of school, but here is Christopher's.


I was worried that he would get nervous and want me to take him to school, but he was so excited to ride the bus that he jumped right on and never looked back. I was hoping for a picture of him getting on the bus, but he got on there so fast that this is all I got as the bus drove away:

I'm back.....

In more ways than one! I'm back to blogging after nearly nine (!!!!) months. I got caught up in the Facebook craze and I'm getting a little tired of it. And half my family doesn't do Facebook anyway, but I can send them email updates from the blog, so that works.

And I'm back from a week long vacation in Florida. As soon as I figure out how to upload all of the pictures from the camera on my phone, I will post some of the those.

In the meantime, I'm tired and going to bed. It's been a long week, my body is still recovering from the travel, the touring, and the time change, and I'm going to bed. The lesson plans can wait until tomorrow to be reviewed. The steel-cut oatmeal is happily sitting in its soy milk in its pan on the stove, getting ready to be tomorrow's breakfast. The boy is in bed with the Motrin and Amoxycillin on board to treat the double ear infection he woke up with this morning. The suitcases are all unpacked and everything is put away. I'm calling it good enough. Time to brush teeth, wash face, and go sleep.....

Newest member of the family

Meet Bella, the newest addition to the Truitt home. She's the little one. The other one is Pooter, The First Feline. Christopher named Bella - so there is absolutely no intended reference to a certain series of books or movies....he decided her name was Bella and there was no turning back. I found her outside of a CVS Pharmacy, scared, skinny, and also starving for attention. I just couldn't leave her. She's a very sweet girl with quite the loud motorized purr. Pooter wasn't too sure about her at first, but they're getting along quite well.



Bella really likes to watch TV. It's pretty funny. This is a blurry shot of her being captivated by EVE on WALL-E. The other day the credits for something were scrolling down the TV and she was standing on her hind legs in front of the screen, trying to reach it with her front paws. Quite the character. She also LOVES to play! If you're dangling a string in front of her you'd better hold on tight because she's likely to yank it right out of your hand and run around the house with it in her mouth like a trophy!

Easter Eggs experience The Force

I feel so tech savvy today. I actually figured out how to do this all on my own. Yes, I'm very proud of me.
But enough about me - I am posting this to brag about my son. This is from Easter - hence the Easter eggs. Christopher's new obsession is Star Wars and he was convinced that he had "The Force" and was able to use "Force Push" on the eggs to make them stop moving. He was so excited about it that he wanted me to take a video on my phone so I could send it to his daddy. It took me this long to get the WiFi on my phone to work well enough to finally upload the video. Baby steps.....
The audio is not great, except for my loud voice right next to the phone. He insisted that I give him a "Da-da-da-daaaa!!!" introduction so that he knew when to start.

Easter 2010

The lovely, blurry photo above was the end of the hunt for the Easter 'backpack.' Grandma takes care of the Easter basket, so we fill his backpack - I mean, the Easter Bunny fills his backpack with non-candy things for him to find Easter morning. We had a little bunny toy that we put in our room and tied a string to its foot that he followed to find the backpack.

Okay, we let him have a little bit of the candy supply from Grandma's surplus, but after checking out the cool star shaped of the candy in the tube, he was more fascinated with the green rabbit key chain that had been on top.

Sports ball easter eggs. Cool.

"How did the Easter bunny know to give me books?!?!? Did you tell him I can read now?"

My baby will be five on Friday!

A friend shared this wonderful poem with me. I was going to save the post until his actual birthday, but found I just couldn't wait. So I'll post it in celebration of his last day of being four years old.

Mother

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

By Blythe

I crave my son as night craves the day. He brings forth in every way, every single piece of my soul, seeping out around me as I go forth in the world forever changed by his love, forever molded by his essence and forever grounded by his being.

He changed me. Not for the better or the worse. He changed me in every imaginable way possible so that I am no longer a woman unto myself but a mother unto the world.

His vision, his soul, his wondering eyes and forgiving heart tell me each and every moment that he is my guide and I am forever lost in his vision. Not lost in shadow but simply no longer a shadow of my former self.

I am his mother. The mother he chose, the mother I promised I would become. I am her now. Standing strong, embracing all that is wrapped in the womb of motherhood. The brilliant sights, sounds, visions, and apothecary of love… in every moment of every day I celebrate the woman he discovered when he was born. The woman that emerged just as he did.

I love her as she is the perfect vision in his eyes and now in her own. I take this not for granted but for my heart to expand and multiply.

"Lucky I'm in love with my best friend, lucky to have been where I have been..."

Thirteen years ago today....

The rest of April...

The human pyramid, from top to bottom: Caleb, Dalon, Christopher and Andrew. We were doing an activity during preschool and they decided we needed another game.



We went to In 'n' Out Burger a couple of weeks ago on our way home from the zoo and they gave Christopher a hat. He immediately proclaimed it to be his baking hat and pulled it out the next day when he was cooking some Play Doh pizza for me.

This child loves to cook creatively. On this day he asked me for a few paper plates and some forks because he needed to set the table for his "Peanut Butter Mud Pie Brownies" treat with Mr. Nobody (the pretend friend we have at preschool) and Sweetums (Muppet Show anyone?). I should have clued in to the potential project when he kept asking me to refill the water can that he uses outside when he plays in the dirt...

It's ALIIVVVVVE! My garden that is. I was so excited to see the growth that I had to take more pictures. Here is my first tomato:

And a big ol' green Anaheim pepper right there in the center of the plant! Beautiful.

Easter at home

Since Christopher got an Easter basket full of candy at Great Grandma Nell's house on Saturday before Easter, we decided to have the Easter bunny bring an Easter "backpack" with other stuff in it to our house on Sunday morning. Since we have 8:30 church, though, we didn't quite get to it before leaving for church. On the way home from church Christopher said "I wish the Easter bunny was coming to our house too..." My reminder that I hadn't set up his Easter stuff that morning. So I told him that the Easter bunny had come and had hidden something for him in a place where Christopher likes to hide sometimes. So he started searching...

Ah hah! The Easter bunny left a clue: an Easter chick in the closet. And right behind it....

The Easter Backpack! How did the Easter bunny know he needed a new backpack? What's inside? A book, a couple of Hot Wheels cars, a Fraggle Rock video (good times), and one tiny candy thing - a pez-type dispenser that is shaped like a Wii remote. Hard to see in the picture, but it's there somewhere. Kind of a basic package, but he was happy with it!

Family, family

My parents came to visit us last weekend and we took them up to Usery Pass for a really nice walk. Christopher was quite excited to show the huge rock on the Merkle Trail to his grandma & grandpa that he doesn't get to see as often.

This weekend we had the family Easter egg hunt out at Grandma Nell's house. Grandma enjoys putting various artificial animals and flowers in her yard. This week she had a couple of ducks and, for some reason still unknown to us, an alligator. So Uncle Matt and cousin Aaron decided to create a little scene of their own.

Matt's mom & grandma threw me a bone by getting two things for the kids that weren't candy: hula hoops and bubble wands. This picture doesn't look like much, but it actually manages to capture the scene on the front lawn as the kids were running around throwing, rolling, bouncing, and doing all sorts of other activities with the hula hoops.

They also bought a dozen eggs for each child (!!!) to color. Christopher enjoyed this part. His version of it would best be called "speed dyeing." He dipped each egg in a color just long enough to cover the egg in the liquid and then out it came, making room for the next one. He favored the blue a lot because it is the fastest color to take hold and is immediately darker than the others.

Comment and question

The marigolds are going in today to try to help keep buggy critters away from my plants, but does anyone have any suggestions on how to keep the grasshoppers from lunching on my lettuce plants?

The garden - one month later

I don't know if you can tell, but the plants have actually grown in a month and nothing has died! What you see snaking all around the plants is my soaker hose. It's a great way to slowly water the garden, but the smallest hose was 50 feet and not incredibly flexible, so it became an abstract art project to wrap it around all the plants without crushing any of them.

My tomato plant, starting to flower. Yippee.

East to west view: 2 rows swiss chard, 1 row lettuce, 1 row bell peppers, then cilantro, onions, tomato and anaheim peppers.