Rule of 3

"The rule of three or power of three is a writing principle that suggests that things that come in threes are funnier, more satisfying, or more effective than other numbers of things." 

                                                                                                     --Wikipedia 

Not only a communication skill, but the rule of 3 is also a religious tenet of Wicca that believes whatever energy a person puts out into the world, be it positive or negative, it will be returned to that person three times (also courtesy of Wikipedia--God bless Wikipedia).

Whichever version you choose to follow, the rule of 3 was in full effect today in our house.

1.  Russell Wilson, number 3 on the the Seattle Seahawks, overcame a knee injury to lead the team in victory over the New York Jets.

2.  Someone, who also happened to be wearing a number 3 Seattle Seahawks jersey, celebrated his 3rd birthday.

Ack! I know, right?  How is the baby bird possibly 3!?!  He was just born like maybe a year ago.

Robin was so excited to turn three.  I was surprised to learn he even knew his birthdate.  We had a very chill day full of snuggles.

We baked his birthday cake (gluten free funfetti with blue frosting and blue sprinkles). Then Robin and I made a trip to Third Place Commons for some special book buying (he chose Pom Pom Panda Gets the Grumps) and a side trip to buy a blue mylar balloon.

Robin napped while his siblings ran in a cross country meet.  On their way home, they stopped to buy him some small presents.  Linus selected a dinosaur I have never heard of.  He, Dave, and Eileen then spent the rest of the afternoon constructing a habitat for it.

In the evening, Sally and Gino, Tim, and my parents came over.  We feasted on wine, grapes, and Little Ceasars.  Robin opened presents like a pro.  Dave and I gave him Tegu blocks (magnetic and super cool), but I think he liked Grandma's present best of all, his own little picnic set.  One of Robin's favorite activities right now is to play picnic with Grandma.

Cakey Goodness.

Happy birthday Robin!......Wait a minute.  If you only counted 2, you are correct.  A rule of 3 requires 3.

3.  I love my brother, Tim.  I will do whatever I can to support him.  At his birthday, we started plotting how he was going to "ruin" Robin's birthday.  You see, my little brother is gay.  It was something he struggled with for a long time. He has been out to the rest of the world, but not our parents.  Knowing there would be strength in numbers, I gave him permission to come out at Robin's birthday celebration.

     In preparation I bought party horn blowers.  That way as soon as he announced he was gay, we could all just start blowing horns and cheering.  It totally worked.  I think the horn blowing covered any awkward silences that might have otherwise happened.  Our parents surprised us.  My mom told Tim she would always love him and just wanted him to be happy.  My dad sort of half smiled/half laughed, and said that he had had the thought a few years ago that Tim might be gay.  I saw Tim choke back a few tears.  I was so proud of him.

    And then, that was that.  We ate cake.  Laughed.  Played with the kids.  There was loud boisterous political discussions.  It was a celebration of family.

The rule of 3.  

   

From the Mouths of Babes in September

Eileen:  When will Mount Rainier interrupt again?

Eileen:  Do you want me to lick you?
Robin: No! I not a popsicle!

Eileen:  I can gargoyle my spit.

Robin:  I have to get rid of the Philippines.  They aren't good for me.
 (I begin worrying that people will think I'm raising racist children.  Minutes later I find Robin at the kitchen sink, disposing of peas from dinner.)

The Dimock men engaged in a serious game of Connect Four.

The Not-So Wild Kratts

I've never been one of those fun parents who takes their kids to see Thomas or Sesame Street Live.  It just isn't my thing.  My children can hold it against me later that I denied them the opportunity to see Disney's Princesses on Ice.  However.......

A few months ago something caught my eye on Facebook.  Could it be?  The Wild Kratts were coming to Seattle!?!  My kids love the Wild Kratts.  I'm always shocked by how much information they retain from watching the show.  I rationalized with myself.  It's PBS.  It's the Kratt brothers.  It will be educational.  It's not at the Tacoma Dome or the Everett Events Center.  It's at McCaw Hall.  That's serious business.

My sister, Sally, was kind enough to join the kids and me while Dave worked.  She has an appreciation for the Kratt brothers earlier works, Kratts Creatures and Zooboomafoo.   We joined other excited fans.  Again, I was the not fun mom and did not buy my kids their own creature power suits.

Before the show, we were feeling a mix of emotions.

 Apparently, my hair decided to provide extra protection as a helmet.....

By the time we were in our seats, which I had splurged on a little to keep us out of the nosebleeds, even Linus was bursting with excitement.  And then after much anticipation, Chris and Martin came on stage.  And then began the longest 2 hours of my life.

It was so bad. So so very bad.  I'm actually a little perturbed.  Talk about dialing in a performance.  And would you believe it?  There was not a single live animal.  The "special effects" were laughable.  It would almost be funny except that the tickets were expensive.  So each time Chris or Martin touched the screen that showed a photo of an animal to transform, it was like salt being poured in a wound.  I almost want to write a letter to PBS.  I feel cheated. Mislead.  If they just wanted to sell creature power suits, there are easier ways than renting McCaw Hall.

Robin and I both fell asleep during the second act.  He stayed asleep as we exited and walked across the Seattle Center to the super awesome playground.

Eileen was super brave. She got in line and then climbed up to the top all by herself.  I was impressed.  She would not have done it even a month ago.  Linus took advantage of the surrounding area to play Pokemon Go.  Sally was a good sport and let him explain Pokemon to her.

It was gorgeous weather.  We capped off our adventure with a relaxing trip to Starbucks for chocolate milk and Pumpkin Spice lattes.  So note to self.  Next time remind yourself that you are not the fun parent.  Skip taking the kids to see their favorite people from the screen and instead just go outside and play.  Sometimes free really is better.

Tim's Birthday was brought to you by the color blue

I'm emerging from my teaching frenzy to briefly blog.  My baby brother, Tim, celebrated his birthday on Sunday.  Before the whole teaching thing came into the picture, I asked him what he wanted.  Tim was very cute, and asked for the same thing as last year--a birthday dinner.

Unlike last year,  Tim's birthday was planned in the matter of about 5 minutes.  Linus proved crucial in the grocery store aisles with his recommendations.  In my Facebook invite to my family, I promised festive but not fancy.

The menu:
Gluten free spaghetti and red sauce (for Eileen) and gluten/dairy/soy/egg free rolls
Manicotti from the frozen aisle
Parmesan breadsticks from the bakery
fresh green beans sauteed with onions and garlic (turned out super yummy)
Olivia brand chocolate cookie dough cupcakes for Eileen (free of all allergens) with vanilla coconut bliss on the side
Crockpot apple dump cake (Linus' new favorite dessert) with vanilla ice cream on the side

Not bad if I do say so myself.  On the day of the party, Dave took the big kids to a birthday party, followed by a soccer game.  Meanwhile, I drank lots of coffee and took Robin to the store to pick out decor.  It was no surprise when the theme simply became BLUE.  We had blue plates, blue napkins, blue streamers.  Robin encouraged me to splurge and we got Tim a bouquet of blue balloons inflated with helium.  Tim is worth the extra $5.

It ended up being a nice little party.  Tim's childhood friend, Rick, came as well.  It was so wonderful to see him. Sally brought her boyfriend, Gino, to his first Larson celebration. I don't think we scared him too badly.  Robin provided the entertainment, singing while playing his guitar.  Linus set up a card table and chairs (didn't know he knew how to do that) so that everyone could play Ticket to Ride.  The adults were very patient listening to Linus explain the rules.  It took a while to get going, but I think they enjoyed the game.

                                       The birthday boy in all his kind uncle playing with nephew glory

It was a really enjoyable evening.  I ended the evening with a very fully tummy.  It's good to know that despite suddenly working full time (and then some since it's the start of the school year), I can still pull off hosting a birthday.

Happy birthday Tim.  We love you.  Robin loves you and the color blue.

First Day of School

Today was a big day.  Three of us headed back to school.  Luckily, Dave was able to stay home today.  That made everything so much easier, especially since it was a half day.

Linus is now my big 2nd grader.  I've never seen him this excited for the first day of school.  He came in early to help me with some last minute things.

Eileen started kindergarten.  To say she wasn't enthusiastic is an understatement. Dave brought her to school later.  By the time I saw her, she had ripped out the hairband.  I think she actually really enjoyed the first day.

I got to wear my exciting and very large staff polo.  The upside was I didn't have to overthink what I was going to wear this morning.

It was great seeing all the students and meeting their parents.  Apparently, there are a few kids who are sad I won't be able to sub this year.  It's nice to be liked.  We shall see how long it lasts....

The morning went really well.  I had fun.  Thank God for my partner teacher.  I don't know what I would have done without him.  The students went home at noon.  I stayed for the new student bbq, met with someone to learn how to build my classroom website, and then met with someone from the math textbook publisher to learn how to use the new curriculum.  I love everything I've learned, but it's been a little bit of information overload.  I can tell it's going to be a great year for Linus, Eileen, and me.

It's been a crazy busy couple of days.  I barely got time to wish Dave a Happy Birthday yesterday.  He was the best partner today.  He knows how to make me happy.  He cleaned the kitchen, folded laundry, ran errands, played with the kids, and had dinner ready when I finally got home.  He's a keeper that one.

Surprise!.......I'm Teaching

I knew I wanted to be a teacher starting in 7th grade, specifically in a parochial school classroom. Life happened.  I taught 4th grade for a year in a parochial school.  We moved, I subbed, and then taught middle school math in the public school system.  People may knock public education, but I learned a lot during my time in the trenches.  I really value everything I learned about teaching and education while teaching math in an urban middle school.

Like any teacher, some years were rougher than others.  When Linus was born, I took the rest of the year off and returned part-time.  The following fall I was 8 months pregnant and managed to teach about a month before throwing in the towel and taking a medical leave.  I didn't know at the time that that leave would eventually mean more than 5 years.  

By the time I left, I felt beaten and worn down.  I have loved my stay at home mom gig.  I dipped a toe back into teaching when Robin was one, and started subbing.  Last year I subbed and also taught a section of 6th grade math.  I loved it.  It felt so good to be teaching.  My take away from the experience is that every body should take a sabbatical at some point.

The universe continues to remind me that as John Lennon sang, "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans."  I was so excited for the upcoming school year.  I was potentially going to get at least one day a week to myself.  After school drop-off, I might actually get to go work out.  I had no intention of taking a teaching job.  

Last week I mentioned to the principal of my children's school that I might be interested in some sort of benefited position.  He liked that idea.  Together we started to form a plan that would have me teaching math part time.  And then yesterday (Monday) everything changed.  Suddenly, I was not going to be teaching a little bit.  There was a need for a full time teacher in the middle school.  I did not hesitate.  I accepted a job teaching 6th grade math and science.

So here I am Tuesday.  School starts Thursday.  I was in meetings all day learning about teaching IB (our school is becoming International Baccalaureate).  I have never been so overwhelmed in my life.  There is so much to do.  As a planner, it is painful to not have everything perfectly organized and ready to go.  I know it will be there soon.  I have a super amazing group of students and an awesome partner teacher.  The staff have all been super supportive.

Teaching this time around will be different.  I've never really done the whole full time working mom thing.  It will be an adjustment for everyone.  I can't just go to morning meetings easily, I'll have the kids.  I can't simply go in early.  I have three kids to get ready and out the door.  I'm not sure how I'm going to handle the balance of Facebook and teaching.  I'm "friends" with several parents.  Do I make the blog private?  Teaching in your kids' school definitely creates some weird blurred lines.  Randomly, I am teaching the kids of the two teachers who have Eileen and Linus this year.  

For now, I've got lots to do.  So very very very much to do.  If you need me, I'll be in Room 6A (name plate still has to be changed).

From the Mouths of Babes in August

Eileen: O.M.Goodness!

Linus:  I used to be afraid of Dominoes pizza but it changed my life.  That garlic crust?  It's a beautiful thing.

Robin:  I only have puppy kisses in my mouth.  (meaning he can only lick people)

Robin:  Mama can we go to blue lake after we go to Greenlake?  (Robin is obsessed with the color blue)

Dave:  Do you like the babies?
Linus:  I wouldn't say like, more like love.

Linus holding his godbrother, Mason.  He did not want to let go for anything.

I was surprised to learn that Robin knows the entire first verse of "Lava."  It's hard to hear at times, but he really does have all the words.