New Fiddles

Darn kids keep growing. :) Both Colin and Robyn have out grown their fiddles. Robyn got her new one this week and Colin's new one is at Duree's getting all fixed up with new strings and a new bridge and such. When you buy cheap fiddles off Ebay, you have to figure on needing some work. We got the last two the same way and they have been AWESOME little fiddles. Straight from Great Tunes they stink! But for another $60, Duree at Shiverick's violin fixes them up just great. With new strings and remodeled bridges, they hold their tune and everything.
When Robyn got her new one back from Duree, she played it for the first time and said, "Wow, It's really loud!" It is amazing how much more sound comes out of a little bigger violin.
Raylene asked them to play their violins in the Primary program this fall. We will start learning "Families can be Together Forever" next week. It would be fun for them (and much better for me) if they got to play in the program this year. I did it last time and it is scary! We will see how it goes.
They have a little group that they play with and they are supposed to be performing at a Nursing home next month. Colin struggles with playing with the group because he likes to be "first fiddle" and it bugs him to have to follow another lead fiddle. His teacher was trying to get him to do his songs like the group is supposed to do them and he didn't want to. She explained that his way the songs are too short and that people will want to hear longer songs. He said, "what if they are in a hurry and only want to listen for three minutes?" That boy has an answer for everything! We need find some classics on humility to study. She just told him that if he wants to play with the group, then he has to play like the group plays. I told her that was just what I said to him. Our goal is love of fiddling and he has his agency to choose how and what he plays. If he chooses to be lazy, he chooses to not play with the group. I think that he will choose to play with the group in the long run because it is so fun to jam and perform. He may have to sit out a few performances before he gets his act together though. They are planning on playing in a few parades on a float and doing some shows during the various community days in the parks this summer. It should be lots of fun. I hope I can keep up with a new baby and all.
Keri, if you are interested in interning this summer as a homeschooling mother, I just may have an opening. The pay stinks, but the experience will be priceless. Hint, Hint.

Lost addresses - please email

Randy and Colin have been busy with the computer. Randy switched our operating system from WIndow Vista to a Linux based one. I don't mind the switch except that I lost all my email addresses in my address book so I need everyone to email me again so I can rebuild the book.
Colin has spent some time on the computer teaching himself all about the features of the new system. He figured out how to burn his CDs to the hard drive first thing, then he showed Randy and I. He still hasn't figured out how to upload pictures though. Hopefully he will soon so I can post some new ones here on the blog.

Summer fun in February

On February 6 we had our Cub Scout Blue and Gold banquet. We had a Hawaiian luau and we as leaders had a lot of fun with it.
Kalyn and Jamie were in charge of decorations and they did well. What creative women. They turned the volleyball standards into palm trees with a little brown paper for a trunk and some green paper leaves.
I was in charge of entertainment. That was very easy as I called Raylene who happens to take her girls to Hula lessons every Saturday and she took over the program. It was awesome! She recruited a few more girls from the Hula School and they hula danced for us during dinner. Robyn said, "Mom, I can't even eat because I can't stop watching the beautiful dancing."
Dinner was easy - each of us leaders cooked a pork roast in the crock pot and brought a big pot of rice. We let the families of the cubs bring the salads and for dessert we had the cakes from the annual father-son cake decorating contest.
The dress was Hawaiian. Some dressed up more than others, but most had on at least a lei. Mom took care of me by mailing me her muumuu. Can't tell you how beautiful I looked with my round belly in a muumuu. :) Goodness! My girls wore bright pink and purple dresses and Colin wore a hot pink shirt with shorts. We went to Zurchers earlier that day and bought flower leis to wear. Randy didn't have time to dress Hawaiian but he did put on the very colorful lei that Robyn picked for him.
I think everyone should have a luau in February. Fun stuff.

Ground Hogs and Raccoons

Last week Colin and Robyn went over to the Garcia's to play with their friend Maddie. Raylene (Maddie's mother) is the Primary Chorister and she was working on songs for Sunday. Colin was helping her while Maddie and Robyn played quietly upstairs. Raylene wanted to sing a Spring song. Colin told her she would have to wait until the next day to know if it would be okay to sing a Spring song because the next day was Ground Hog day. He searched the internet and found a website to tell them about Ground Hog day and then took her to reederhome.net where Randy has a program he wrote using weather.com to tell the weather.
While they were busy learning about Ground Hog day and such, the little girls were VERY busy. The girls got into Raylene's make up and used her water proof mascara to make themselves very beautiful and liberally applied her body spray. Oh my! When it was time for Raylene to go get her big girls for school, she noticed the little girls. She didn't know what they'd gotten into and tried to scrub it off with water and a paper towel. She had to give up and just send Robyn home looking like a raccoon and smelling VERY powerful so she wouldn't be late. I couldn't help laughing when I saw her - my goodness. Unfortunately we were also in a hurry so I didn't get a picture. I had to hurry and get her in the tub to get rid of the powerful smell so I could stand to take her in the car to the library for Colin's robot creations class. We had to work pretty hard to get the mascara off - I hope she learned a lesson. We did have a quick discussion about our asking law. Hopefully she will remember the asking law next time.
Reminds me of the only time I ever saw Nancy get mad - when two little girls played in her make up many years ago. I believe I went home so fast that I forgot my shoes that day. :)

Bad News. I got my blood titers retested on Wednesday and the numbers went way up. I am working on getting an appointment for early next week with the specialist. So much for ideal plans. Anyway, I am trying not to freak out too much. Pray for me.

January is flying by! (I am not complaining a bit. I don't particularly care for January or February. I am all about SPRING!) We have been keeping very busy with life and learning.

I have been reading The Chosen by Chaim Potok and Randy has been listening to it on audiobook as he drives to work and class and back. It has been very fun to discuss it together. We actually went on a date last weekend and talked all through dinner!

Randy and I have been really working on using our leisure time more wisely to get a classic education since last summer. It has been very good for us. The other day we had a good discussion on some stuff he was learning in Plato about whether virtue is something that can be learned and whether knowledge can bring more courage. We decided that knowledge does bring more courage as in the case of 9/11. The guys on the last flight had the knowledge of what the terrorists' plans were via cell phone conversations which gave them the courage to bring down the plane. Perhaps if the passengers on the earlier flights had been given the same knowledge, they would have been just as courageous.

I firmly believe that the Prophet asks us to study and learn for a reason. Even if we never "need" to know the things we study, being able to have meaningful conversations as a family does strengthen family relationships and we all know how needed that is.

Since President Hinckley asked us to finish the Book of Mormon in 2005, we have seen the promised blessings. We have been able to have more meaningful scripture study as a family. We have read the BOM twice since then and started again this month. We have again hit the Isaiah part of the BOM that "makes no sense." This time we have decided to actually learn the stuff and try to understand it instead of just muddle through again.

In reading The Chosen, there is a part where Danny is trying to read Freud in German and can't make heads or tails of it. It drives him crazy until he remembers how he had to start learning scripture in the beginning. He used commentaries and study aids to help him understand it - he didn't just push through, he studied one line at a time until he understood it. Now he easily understands his scripture study and has much of it memorized. He realizes that that is how he needs to study Freud if he wants to get it.

Randy and I, in our discussions of The Chosen, realized that we are not going to "get" Isaiah by just pushing through it and we have been looking for commentary to help us. We have found the Old Testament manual from institute days and W. Cleon Skousen's work to be helpful. I found a big book at Seagull Book yesterday called Understanding Isaiah by Donald Parry, Jay Parry and Tina Peterson that I intend to get into today.

It has taken us three days to get through 1 Nephi 20 which compares to Isaiah 48, but we are getting it now. The reason that it is so hard to understand is that each verse is a different topic that could fill a sacrament meeting.

Goodness. How does a girl journal what she learns in a whole chapter of Isaiah in one paragraph?!!

This morning we learned in 1 Nephi 20: 18-22 that if the Israelites had obeyed the commandments, they would have had peace and have had a larger population. The Lord will always provide for his children, but if those children are wicked, they will not receive. It is not because the blessings are not being given, it is because the blessings are not being received.

How many times have blessings been available, but I have not received because of "wickedness." Even if the wickedness is just lack of self discipline that keeps my kitchen too messy to have neighbors over. Or blessings I have missed being too busy to play legos with my kids because of poor time management. Or blessings in my marriage that I have missed by not starting dinner quite on time so I am stressed and cranky when my darling husband comes home. Since my morning sickness has abated, I have really been working on doing better at receiving these blessings. Maybe that is why January has been so much more tolerable this year. It really works! Wow!

Boys and their toys!

Colin started a Robot Creations class at the library last Thursday. He had so much fun that Randy wanted to play too. Of course the Lego Mindstorms kit they bought last year didn't quite have all the features of the new version so it was listed on ebay and Lego Mindstorms NXT was purchased. They played Lego Mindstorms all weekend and Colin has had it on the brain all week. Randy has been too busy with work, his class, scouts, taxes........ to be too preoccupied with the robot but tomorrow is Saturday again. Happily for the budget, the old version just sold on ebay for almost as much as it was originally purchased for.

More Happy Day news!

Today is a very happy day. Robyn just read 41 pages of Are You my Mother? without needing very much help and no freaking out! Wahoo! Grace has been wearing big girl underwear all day - the same clean pair! Double Wahoo!!!
The best news is that my midwife just called and I don't have to go to the specialist just yet! My titer numbers went down to normal - no problems! Triple Wahoo!!!

She called me last Friday to say she was referring me to a Perinatologist or some such thing - a specialist in Maternal - Fetal health because my blood work from five weeks ago showed antibodies to Rh+ blood cells. She sent the records over, but the ladies at Maternal Fetal health did not get it reviewed in time for me to get any information before they all went home for the weekend. Needless to say, I spent last weekend trying not to freak out as I studied all I could about Rh disease and all the horrible things is can do to your baby. On Monday the ladies from the office called me to set up an appointment for an ultrasound and a consult. I do not like ultrasound because the studies have not been done to see the ultimate effect on the fetus. I did not get any ultrasound with Grace - no fetal imagining, no doppler (we used a fetoscope to hear the heartbeat), and no external fetal monitoring device. I just barely read an interesting article called "Questions about Prenatal Ultrasound and the Alarming Increase in Autism" by Caroline Rodgers in Midwifery Today Winter 2006 issue. Then I spent the weekend reading that the doctor was going to do up to 17 ultrasounds to monitor the blood flow through my babies brain starting around week 20. I asked the ladies what the ultrasound was for because you cannot monitor Rh disease by ultrasound until at least 18 weeks and I am only 16 weeks along. They told me they like to just check everything, not just what was referred to them. That is fine and all for the rest of the world but not me and my baby. I still have a 50% chance that this baby is Rh- and will not be bothered at all by my antibodies and here they wanted to start off cooking his brain! I went ahead and made the appointment like a good patient. Then I freaked out. I immediately called my current midwife with the information I had gathered and we decided to do another titer before the appointment to see what was going on with the blood. I would have been perfectly happy to go straight to the specialist if they had made the appointment for a blood titer (which would be useful to monitor the condition at hand) and a consult. Then I emailed the midwife I had with Grace and she went above and beyond the call of duty to get me nutritional information and what has worked for others. What a woman! I started the periwinkle tea right away and was already doing everything else she found. I had more blood drawn yesterday and my midwife just called to say the number has dropped by half back into the normal range and we can go ahead and just monitor with blood titers monthly for the time being. Wahoo! Needless to say, the appointment has been postponed indefinately.

Thanks to the Grandmas for thinking of putting my name in at the temple and all of Robyn's prayers since the beginning of this pregnancy.

Classical Education in Action!

Happy day! This leadership education stuff is working. Today while the kids and I were wrapping Randy's birthday present, Colin started making an obnoxious noise. Robyn ran away screaming, "Siren!" When he quit and she came back, I casually mentioned that in Homer's "The Odyssey," a Siren is an enchantress that sings a beautiful song and anyone who hears it gets trapped and dies.
I also said that it was in one of the Great Books. A little while later, Colin brought me the Great Book of Homer and asked me to find it. I was surprised that he bothered to find the book and I was even more surprised when I was able to find a little bit about the Sirens in the book. We read a small part that Odysseus was told to put melted wax in the ears of his men so they wouldn't hear their song and if he wanted to hear it, he would need to tie himself to the mast tightly so he couldn't get trapped by their song. Odysseus was warned that if a man became enchanted, he wouldn't be able to return to greet his wife or children. Colin wanted to know how a guy could get away after he had been enchanted, but they can't get away once they are trapped. I think their ships get wrecked on the rocks near the island and they drown, but some people think that the Sirens are cannibals and they eat the men. We then talked about how sin and following Satan could be like listening to the Sirens - once you hear it/try it/ see it... you could get trapped in it and it could keep you from your family just like the Sirens would trap the seamen so they couldn't return to their wives and children.
It was an interesting conversation. The Sirens can be likened to many things so I am sure that the discussion will continue. Too bad I haven't read the Odyssey since AP English and I didn't learn quite as much as I should have back then. Anyway, discussing it with my son motivated me to keep studying the classics.

The Great Books are a 60 volume collection of the Great Books of the Western World from Encyclopedia Britannica. Randy and I got them off Ebay last fall and have been working on studying them since. It is supposed to take ten years to get through them all, but at the rate I am going it may take 30 or more. Randy is reading Plato and I am working on Shakespeare.

Randy has also been working on learning about salt water aquariums, teaching himself the guitar, and learning more JAVA with the websites he's created and the Lego Mindstorms robot. He is starting a 3 credit class at BSU next week. Somehow he still finds time to work a 40+ hour week, keep up on the honey do list, run races, and spend time with his lovely wife and children. He's amazing!! I have been reading for my 5 Pillar group (a book club of sorts that studies the Classics and leadership education). We have read Animal Farm, Pride and Prejudice, Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, and The One Minute Teacher since I started attending in September. We have both been trying to get the lessons read for Sunday School and Relief Society/Priesthood before church each week so we get more out of the lessons. All this study sure keeps us busy, but all our studying makes for great conversations at our house. I love it.

As a family we have been reading the Book of Mormon before we start the morning Children's Miracle Music (I still LOVE these CDs!), a bible story after the night CD and then listening to classics before bed (either book on CD from the library or me reading). We have read Little House in the Big Wood, The Best Christmas Pagent Ever, and we will finish Little House on the Prarie tonight. We haven't decided what to read next, maybe another Little House book. The discussion that results from our reading is really cool. I love the questions that the kids ask. I especially love the Little House books because they cover soooo much - geography, history, homemaking skills, manners..... When the kids are not using their manners, I can say "Children are to be seen and not heard" or "no singing at table" and it's a fun gentle reminder because of what we've read and discussed. I don't really expect my children to follow all the rules that Mary and Laura had to follow - they are welcome to talk and ask questions, but they are not welcome to be annoying or rude. The Best Christmas Pagent Ever was great to learn the Christmas story in a very memorable way. We read the book and then watched the movie and talked about which was better. We added a few "Sha zams" to Christmas story in Luke 2 when we read it on Christmas Eve. The scripture study has been a real blessing in the discussion that results as well. We recently studied the Sermon on the Mount and talk about the wise man and the foolish man. (Even Grace knows the Wise man and the Foolish man song.) Now when something comes up all I have to say is, "Where are you building your house?" It really helps me to not get upset and the kids (especially Colin) to not get defensive. That's the beauty of classics! I am finally getting the "liken" part of scripture study as well as anything else we learn.

I have to run, I am using all my study time to blog!

We had a wonderful Christmas. Colin was very happy that no one got coal from Santa. I am not so sure why he was so worried, we didn't discuss coal from Santa much and, to my knowledge, no one deserved it. Perhaps he knows something I don't. :)

The Saturday before Christmas we went to Great Grandma Reeder's annual Christmas party. She always wants each family to share a talent after dinner and this year we were finally talented! (Ok, so anyway, we had a talent to share.) Colin and Robyn each played their fiddles and Randy accompanied Colin with his guitar. Colin and Randy played Jingle Bells, Boil 'em Cabbage, and Shortenin' Bread. Robyn played Jingle Bells all by herself. She was so brave. I was very proud of all of them. Colin doesn't have to be brave to do stuff like that, he likes it. Robyn gets very nervous, but you couldn't a bit that she has that tendency. Uncle Jeremy and Uncle Jack each played their guitars and Great Grandma read a poem. No one else voluteered a talent - good thing the Larry Reeder branch of the family made a good showing. \

After the talent show came karaoke - Colin's absolute favorite part of the entire year. He loves to do karaoke at the Christmas party. He was very good at not being a microphone hog this year, but no one else really wanted to give it a shot, so he got plenty of time on stage himself. He talked his cousins into singing a song with him once, but Santa came in the middle of it and they all left to follow Santa. Colin stayed and finished the song, then went to find Santa. It was funny.

Grace was very brave. She climbed right up on Santa's lap, gave him a big hug, and said "Merry Christmas." It was very cute.