Bragging Rights

For those of you who are expecting a Stapp photo, there will not be one attached to this blog, for reasons which will soon be made clear.

You may think you have bragging rights. So go ahead--brag your guts out. I do this on occasion because my kids are so darn spectacular. Whoops, I shouldn't have said it. I guess we all have the right, but the humbling consequence is usually well deserved. Please indulge me and read on.

There is a certain phenomenon, and from here on out I will label it the "Nose Against Dirt" (NAD). I will demonstrate this by personal experience. By the way, this is only one example of this occurance which I have endured.

Lately I have been bragging about Samuel, my wonderful (wait a minute, I think I'll take that wonderful back)...um, my son. Well, so Curtis signed a release form for Samuel to be featured on this years Yolo County Yellow Pages phone directory. Of course, a perfect opportunity for bragging rights. "Hey you over there, my BOY SAMUEL IS GOING TO LIGHT UP YOUR LIFE, well at least while you're searching for a plumber at midnight!!" "Dude, come this May you are going to get the coolest book left on your porch wrapped in celaphane. BE ON THE LOOKOUT!"

So tonight, yes this very night, I'm sitting in the Woodland Opera House, the very place that provides material for 75%-85% of my bravado. I hear the details of the Yolo Yellow Pages cover during the Spring Dance Recital in front of hundreds of yellow page users. My Samuel has been pushed aside for some other theatrical star! My head jets back and forth, my mouth wide open, "Whaaa?" People to whom I have bragged are seated around glaring at me, "Whaaaa?" I am guessing the parent signature was not a done deal.

NAD--ddefinition--strong and surprise attack from behind where the victim does not have time or wherewith all to react, therefor perpetrator is able to land victim on ground with nose against dirt.

I think I have blogged about this before. Maybe last year when I was braggedy brag bragging!

So here's to all your kids. I think they are better than mine! They are so accomplished and wonderful and famous! WOW-Whee! I wish my kids had their talents, intellect, physical strength, and spirituality. I guess I will have to settle with mediocrity.

(I wonder what the consequence will be of adding that last paragraph. I'll let you know!)

You're really Smooth Samuel!

What happens when your mom serves you a super-dee-duper thick blueberry-stawberry smoothy? Sometimes it's so good and it gets stuck at the bottom of the cup and you have to jolt it out. Then sometimes when you do that it drops out a little faster than expected! Then.....

Point Reyes

In March we took the most wonderful trip to Point Reyes with 15 kids and 9 parents. We spent two nights at the hostel and hiked somewhere around 16-18 miles. The weather was perfect. We had six nature/history teachers, two wonderful dinner coordinators, and a few tag alongs. I was the self proclaimed "boss" of the event. I brought some crafts and organized the night-time program, which included solo night hikes (no flashlights). In the hostel bunkhouse there is a boys and girls dorm. The kids had a great time harrassing each other! Paul Erickson was awesome at teaching astronomy! Basically we ate well, learned much, and played hard.

Come on! Let the Flowers Bloom!

Julia is getting ready for the ACT. Time to see where the homeschoolers on Fremont Street failed. Can't the college just come over here and scout her out like an athlete. How come athletes get a special viewing. I thought that it was a place of higher learning! I doubt the ACT can assess her true height of learning. Looking at the ACT prep, all the great subject she learned are not covered on the test. And of course, she was never timed while she disected that pig fetus!

I guess failure is only in the eye of the ACT board!

We have succeeded by the standards of famed authored Louisa May Alcott

"I never went to school except to my father or such governesses as from time to time came into the family. . . . so we had lessons each morning in the study. And very happy hours they were to us, for my father taught in the wise way which unfolds what lies in the child's nature as a flower blooms, rather than crammed it, like a Strasburg goose, with more than it could digest."

Oozing

We have a cabinet for board games. We enjoy playing board games. At times the games, or the people who play the games, get out of control. The dice do not get put away properly. The offender thinks, "Hmm, I'll just leave them here on the edge of the cabinet." "Wow, I found a domino. No sense putting myself out by finding its proper home. I will leave it here inside near the domino box." On and on.....This is when the oozing begins. The cabinet is perfectly shut, but there is $500 Monopoly bill hanging out the side. When you open up out flings a Sorry plastic dilly-bopper thingy and an egg timer. The board game cabinet does not have a Monopoloy on oozing. Certain children, in fact all four of mine, let the towels ooze on occasion. Grab a towel let the rest ooze. DVDs ooze. Tools ooze. Shoes ooze. The most flagrant, and I am sure you will agree, is the oozing of clothing. Believe it not, my computer was oozing. I finally cleaned it up and now I can blog...is my brain oozing? OK, I'll go to bed.

Merry-Go-Round Break

the temple

a quiet place to step down

off the constant turn

of human life

poet want to be

Queen Elizabeth is Back

Queen Elizabeth is back from her vacation. We are not sure exactly where she spent the last month or two, but she returned a few nights ago when Alex flicked his blankets off his bed from the top bunk. Tarantulas like warm climate vacation spots. A boys bed is a prime location.

Washing Ice-Cream

Have you ever washed ice-cream? I have. You scoop it out and it flies across the room! Aaaah, plop. It is too extremely yummy (and depending on the brand, too expensive) to feed the deluctible cold creamy ball to the garbage disposal. What do you do? I start washing my ice-cream real fast! You don't want the whole thing to melt away, but you don't want any dog hair in it either. It's a real balance.

Pondering the Prophet

I wonder. I just wonder if...hmmm, if maybe President Hinkley is embracing the likes of Nephi, the Prophet Joseph, Noah, Alma, Samuel the Lamanite...

How to Homeschool?

You there! Caryn, hey, what is it all about?

When I tell people we homeschool (homeschoolers have made the word a compound word), most think we have set up a school at our house with desks, text books in every subject, lunch period at noon, worksheets, lectures on every subject from Mom. I suppose that may have been my expectation.

Educational tradition is ingrained into my very soul. How can this child learn without tests, spelling books, and state mandated standards guiding each move? But the fact is-what was I thinking, the kids (at least mine) would have none of it.

Truth is....truth is, we kind of wing it over here. Just today I was talking to my friend/teacher, Natalie. I suggested, "Hey teacher-friend, wouldn't it be fun to concentrate on the the wars (i.e. Civil, Revolutionary, I, II, etc) next year." She says to me, "Yes parent-friend, I've got tons of novels, ideas, movies, etc we can use."

This year I thought it would be really cool to learn about the great artists. Every week we concentrate on an artist. The boys have seen more pictures of naked ladies this year than necessary, but that just goes to show you what happens when you wing it.

Winging sometimes causes insecurity. Sometimes I think, what the heck, nobody is learning a darn here. Slackers! Then one of my children says something extraordinary (usually not in front of anybody else, of course) like, "You know if you took all the planets and put them in a big ball, setting the big ball in the same orbit as the earth, the Sun's gravitational pull would...and I then turn to myself (feigning direct attention on the child) and think, "You've done the right thing Caryn. You deserve some recognition. You're top dog dude!"

Confession: After five years of homeschooling we traditionally use the math text book, to the chagrin of one particular child who prefers to ponder on his scientific and outer space enquiries and theories.

Christmas Vacation Photo Journal

Unlimited Super Smashing

Endless Eating

Grandparent Gift Making

Cute Baby Jesus Clapping (with Donkey)

Wool Sweater Washing (it was a really nice sweater Curtis)

Grandpa's Grand Decorating

Cousin Cuddling

Gracious giving!!!!

Harris' hanging.

Van vacationing!

Ocean treasure hunting.

Men cabin cooking!

Water cascading.

Cute Kid climbing!

Misty waves basking (ok, these aren't rhyming anymore)

Pastry BBQing?? (When electricty goes out never fear, Curtis cooked pie, cinnamon rolls and pizza on the outdoor grill!)

You deserve it all!

If you don't get what you want this year, the Stapps blog to you cheese balls and muddy buddies! Platefuls of chocolate dipped whatever you like most and all that jazz. Loads of Merry Christmas cards in your mailbox too! Big packages wrapped with snowflaked paper lit by the tree. Lot's of electronic doo dads and warm socks. There you go. You're welcome. Oh, and most of all the true gifts of the Season. Hope of the Savior's promises and a new start for 2008! Merry Christmas All!

Old or Young

Birthday Reflections

You look closely at this drawing. You see either Old or Young. Each person who looks at or knows me decides what I am. Old or young. Each judgement of my agedness is a comparison of his/her own time spent in this earth life. Older or younger. So from my perspective, I'm young! I'm not older than myself! From an eternal perspective, I'm the same age as everybody reading this blog.

Alive or Dead

Friends and family (mostly the dog-lovers in the for to mentioned categories) come to our house and on occasion wonder, hey what about Elche, the little black dog of days gone by? She must have passed onto doggy heaven by now. Or sometimes one might hear her clickety clackety paws against the tiles in the kitchen and are amazed. An unbeliever has shouted--SHE'S STILL ALIVE?

Elche is timeless. We have had her since 18-oops-1993. See if you can pick her out from the dogs pictured on Julia's bed.

Switchfoot (the real story)

phOtOs bY juLiA STapP

Once upon a time there was a friend of ours. Lent us a Switchfoot CD. OK, whatever, ho hum. HMMmmm, maybe we should listen to this (Curtis)? I've heard something about this band. Ho hum, OK, whatever. Next thing you know BAM. The girls are in, faintly remembering Switchfoot from years gone by...Ah! HA! the Jingle Ball concert. Fast forward one year, if you can't beat 'em join 'em (Caryn). Well, now 3 or 4 years into the future (which is now the present). The Stapp's are die hard SF fans. Even made friends with other fans (crazy). Now this may sound boastful, it is, but we know the band. For some strange reason (luck, persistance, stalking) we have managed backstage passes! Every concert! No joke. On Friday, Chad (drummer) recognizes Curtis and says, "Hey man" or something like that. Curtis replies, "Dude, backstage passes tonight?" Chad says, "Right on" or something like that. BAM! We're hangin' with the band again.

We're also fans of Noteworthy. No chance of backstage passes. They're too big! (hee hee)

From left to right: Julia, Curtis, Rebekah, Jon, Alex, Drew, Samuel, Chad, Jerome, Tim