Phone Calls and Stripes

I walked through the door tonight with the usual chaos. The boys were excited about their Taekwondo testing, their loud voices bouncing off the hardwood floors. Maya was following me around saying, "help me...help me...help me", in her most pitiful voice--little tears running down her face. This girl doesn't use typical phrases like "up" or "hold me" when she needs me. She goes straight to alarmist language as she says, "help me!" Through the din, I heard the phone ring. I struggled to answer it as I was poking at the fire, trying to appease a two-year-old, and simply remove my coat. A faraway voice said, "hello" and I realized it was Andy! We miss him. I miss him. As I was struggling to hear him, he said, "I hear that you are really busy. Call me back when things calm down." I agreed since I could barely hear a word he was saying. I did catch that he had a presentation today. We hung up and I went back to cooking dinner while placating a toddler.

So, now it is 9:45 California time, but it is 12:45 New York time. Sure it's calm now, but there will be no call today. Sigh...

I really do love Wednesdays though. We have N. here all day. The kids love doing their homework with him. They all spend a lot of time outdoors. Maya almost always takes a nap on the days he is here because she is so excited by his presence that she remains in constant motion until she's worn out. I also get to run on Wednesdays. I have two responsible young men to hold down the fort. It works out great.

Today's news is that Airon has completed his EPGY math course and has now been moved forward. They've placed him in pre-algebra. We may add in regular Algebra and/or Geometry as needed. His last course really was pre-algebra even if it wasn't called that. It will be interesting to see what new material he will cover. N. said that from now on, he would call Airon "super genius". I think Airon is secretly pleased with that idea.

Soren spent his school time on the times tables and on Secrets at Sea. This is a great game. You get to be "Ace" and solve the mystery of why the population of resient killer whales is declining. It uses an interdisciplinary approach to go backwards through the food chain to find the culprit. Soren had a good time. Airon did this game a few years back, and something jogged my memory about it today, so I looked it up again.

Because they were all so content, I had time for a little photography today. It's still gloomy here. The good news is that gloom makes excellent lighting for outdoor photos. This was my first attempt at over processing. I really like it. I have some others I did that were not as highly edited, but for some reason I just really liked this one. Spring is coming!
These last two photos are of the boys getting their first stripe on their green belts! They did such a good job today. They really snapped their moves, and they all have very powerful kicks. I enjoy watching them test up each month.


Tomorrow is a school day. The kids have a three-hour block class. I'll do some grocery shopping during that time. During their afternoon classes, I'll push Maya in the jogger and run while she naps. Tomorrow is also the final night of basketball. Airon has had a lot of fun, and he has been so confident. This is his last year, and we are all a little sad. He is growing up.