Race Horse Children and Latin

RACE HORSES
If you know my children, you know they are quite different (though so similar in other ways - that BTW is very close to a contradiction - logic). I came up with an analogy that helps me and them relate (at least we've had a great time with it this past week).

So this is how it goes:

I have two children who are focused. One child stays the inside course and makes it around at a pretty good speed. This child won't finish first, but will always be a contender. The other will stay the course also, but has to go rather slow to make it around. This child will finish but usually at the end of the pack. This child will be a leader of that pack though, always leading in the stragglers.

Another child takes off at lightning speed. One is almost sure this child will finish the race first with laurels and wreaths. Frequently this child does. On other occasions though this child loses focus and all of sudden is running another race. Oops!

And yet another child seems to be more of a kangaroo than a race horse. This child usually stays on the course, but bounces side to side and sometimes finishes the race. Interestingly enough, this child also brings in the stragglers to the races actually finished. We're trying to find the right blinders for this child to keep focused. (Can you put blinders on a kangaroo?:o))

If you know my children, can you guess who is whom? My children are excited that I'm highlighting them, but as you know I'm super paranoid about giving out personal info on them. So you'll just have to guess.:o)

LATIN
In our home school co op, I get to teach Latin. I think it's because I volunteered and second, I have had some foreign language training. We are working on the conjugation "to be". I don't think any of them are getting it. Well, the conjugation is now a cheer. So do it with me!:o) (Hey, most of them did.)

I am SUM! (point to yourself with both hands)
You are ES! (point to some else with one hand)
He is EST! (point to a male with the other hand - or if no male is present say "She is EST!")
We are SUMUS! (make a gathering gesture finish with pointing at self)
Y'all are ESTIS! (remember we're Southerners now - point with both hands at the group)
They are SUNT! (move your two hands, point at a particular group)

Addendum to the container clean up

Just a quick addendum to the kitchen container cleanup. This is a testimony to the fact that God cares about the small details as well as the big ones.

Saturday night I had offered to help serve at a wedding. So I put on some nice comfortable clothes (a loose white blouse and black crepe pants, plus my version of Tevas) and headed off to the wedding. Well, one of the perks we gained by moving to Georgia was being closer to the church building here than we were in Tooele (if you're LDS, you'll understand why that is an amazing gain). As the wedding was winding down, we realized we didn't have anything in which to pack all the extra food. I thought about all my nicely organized AND lidded food containers that my child and I had just put together sitting neatly in a cupboard at home. So, I hopped into my car, drove home, and was back before I was missed with a good size box of containers. (Of course, my knight in shining armor - Gordon - had to follow with grocery bags and boxes because I wasn't cognizant to remember to grab those while I was home.) Voila! We got all that food packed up and sent home in those containers. Yippee!!

You don't know how grateful I am that God wanted those containers for the wedding. I was really worried that it was some late "nesting" instinct and I'm not as adventurous as Mrs. Duggars.

Cleaning and Tupperware

This is one of those blah, blah, blah blogs. So you can skip it. I just need to get it out.

I spent almost the entire day cleaning while helping and cajoling my children to finish up their school assignments for the day/week. What started this fall cleaning frenzy was a purchase and my cupboard(s) with all the containers and lids, etc. I should have taken a picture. It was disaster on steroids! I have just purchased a whole new set of Tupperware Vent n Serves (which are my favorite microwave cooking dishes and I never seem to have enough of them), plus Tupperware has just brought back the Stack n Serve which is my ALL TIME FAVORITE microwave cooking dish. (This is for hostesses only and boy was I glad I was a hostess during this campaign.)

Anyway, back to the cleaning, I was looking for all the Tupperware lids and the lids that go with all the other accumulated containers. One of my children and I managed to make several Leaning Towers of Pisa out of containers. They toppled and had to be picked up. I couldn't find some of my Vent n Serves, so I went looking for them. Of course, they were hiding in the refrigerators. That meant cleaning the refrigerators. As I was cleaning out the refrigerators, there were dishes that needed to be washed, so I did dishes several times today also. (My oldest can thank be later :o).)

The good things are my clean refrigerator, several organized cupboards, (exercise - but don't tell), and found Tupperware companions. Oh, and I almost cleared an entire counter. With containers better organized there is now - miraculously - more cupboard space (which will be better organized once I get more information on the Tupperware Modular Mates).

As it came on 5pm and I was finishing up, the most horrible thought (for me) came to my mind - "Ah! What if this is a nesting instinct and I'm pregnant!" So, what is the equivalent to the pre delivery nesting instinct in pre menopausal women called?