Friday Feature: No Rest for the Weary

I've been gone most of the week, in Cincinnati on business from very early Tuesday morning until very late Thursday evening, so I didn't see most of the schoolwork that came home this week. Then, this morning, when I went to find what did come home on Monday, it had long since gone into the recycling bin and off to the city's central point.

Then, to top it off, John came home from school sick yesterday and was still running a fever this morning, so no school for him today, which meant no potential for anything coming home in his backpack today, either. Caroline got off the bus with a few things, but nothing that seemed Friday Feature-worthy.

Good thing we're the meanest parents in the world and made John do worksheets while he was home sick today.

If you are a parent, you know that kids don't know how to be sick. I mean, if I was running a 101 degree fever, I'd be on the couch watching SportsCenter and snoozing in between chapters of whatever book I was reading. But when the medicine kicks in, kids decide they're not really sick, and want to bounce off the walls until it's time for the next dose of ibuprofen. So we took advantage of one of those bursts of energy and made him sit down with Mommy at the kitchen table to work right alongside.

No rest for the weary in the Coussoule household. Until the medicine wears off, at least.

And so it begins

Last Friday night, I got to go to a party. And not just any party - a grown up birthday party. And, of course, not just any grown up birthday party - a FORTIETH BIRTHDAY party.

Greg in the limelight - not his favorite place to be!

Whoo. I just finished up the "my friends are all having babies" phase. That phase had directly followed the "my friends are all getting married phase" which of course was a logical consequence of having passed through the "my friends are all getting engaged" phase. 

When I found myself swiftly approaching 30, I had a little moment. A, what do you mean 30? moment. I decided I needed to do something big, something monumental. So I trained for and ran my first marathon. 

It's funny, though, how what seemed big and monumental at 30 is pretty much routine at 40. I mean, not just marathons. Things like, I am going to take a fun vacation this year. And, my kids said something funny or intelligent or totally unexpected. Or, my friends make me feel good about how I look. No catty remarks allowed. It's kind of like I was on a high wire through my 20s, and opinions, words, impressions and looks made me teeter one way or the other. Then in my 30s, I... Well, actually, I have been sleep deprived for much of my 30s. Two kids, demanding job, my newfound devotion to excessive running. 

I wouldn't change it, of course. Without the constant angst of my 20s or the relentless exhaustion of my 30s (so far), I don't think I'd be ready to face my 40s when they do finally arrive. 

So as I approach 40 - careen toward it, I like to say, as that sounds so much more fun than approach - I'm okay with this "going to 40th birthday parties" phase. I don't think the balloons should be black; I don't think the over the hill jokes apply. I also don't think 40 is the new 30. Forty is 40, and I'm glad it is. We've all earned the knowledge and wisdom we have, and are blessed to be starting a new decade. I have another year to go before I get there, but the company getting there with me is excellent. 

So once again, happy birthday to my friend Greg. Thanks for being the one that kicks off this phase of my life. And here's to 40 truly being fabulous. 

Friday Feature: Caroline's schoolwork

Third grade seems to be the year that learning begins to morph into something resembling what we all remember from when we were kids. Book reports, weekly spelling tests, learning about the three branches of government. Reading, too. Lots and lots of reading. In third grade, you are done learning to read - now, you read to learn.

They have been studying the U.S. Government in class, including the office of the Presidency. We've talked a little bit about it at home, but of course, most of my knowledge of the school day is shared in between bites over family dinner. And since half of those snippets of information pertain to recess or art class or lunchtime, I don't have what we could call a full picture of what their little brains soak up, day to day.

I loved this worksheet that came home in Caroline's backpack on Monday. Not only does it show in the first column what she's learned (I'll work on the Teddy vs. Franklin thing, don't worry), in the middle column, it also showed me what made her stop and think.

I'm happy that she wonders if a woman can be President at the same time it makes me sad that we still haven't had a woman to show her it's possible.

Keep wondering, Caroline. When we ask why, we make progress.

Halloween 2013! (It rhymes! Say it out loud!)

We're still eating our Halloween candy, so the way I figure it, I'm not late with the Halloween Trick or Treat report.

And by the mere fact that we're still eating Halloween candy, you can easily skip to the not-surprise-ending that Trick or Treat 2013 was a resounding success!!

Halloween predictably began with costume shopping. Which is great when your kid knows exactly what they want to be. It can be not great when they know exactly what they want to be and the costume is impossible to find. But we got lucky this year - Caroline wanted to be Harry Potter, and Harry Potter she was. John was far less specific, but Clone Trooper was in the Star Wars universe, so of course, it was exactly what he wanted to be. Costumes - done.

The thing about Halloween costumes is that at this age, when they grow approximately an inch every eight minutes, there's no chance of using a costume twice. Unless, of course, you have parties and fall festivals and all kinds of goings on to celebrate a holiday that is a much bigger deal than it really should be, ifyouaskme. You didn't. So I'll get back to my story.

So Halloween arrives, Daddy saves the day by carving the jack o' lanterns while the kids are at school, Daddy also saves the day by getting all of the costume pieces together as well as glow bracelets for Trick or Treating, and Daddy saves the evening by having everything ready to go for dinner at 5:00 so that we can get Trick or Treating RIGHT AWAY at 6:00. Can't waste a minute, you know.

Halloween immediately became more fun for me when my friends Sarah and Jeff arrived with their own little Trick or Treater, Colt. We started this last year, and now that our kids have gone Trick or Treating together two years in a row, it's officially a Thing. Capital T Thing. This year, we also got to have our international student that we've adopted join us. Her first American Halloween! She shared with us that in Brazil, there are a lot more tricks than treats. Chalk another one up for the good ol' U. S. of A.

Christiane and the kids

Pizza eaten, costumes donned, time for obligatory pictures in the front yard.

And of course, obligatory Trick or Treat action photos. Which I only got a few of, because the "good" camera was completely out of space on the memory card. #momfail

Some of our neighborhood friends

The kids are still small enough that after about three or four blocks of hard core doorbell ringing and candy gathering, their little legs and feet have had enough. Which of course is fine with the grownups, so we headed home after about an hour or so out in the neighborhood.

New Halloween feature at our house this year: the sorting, counting, and categorizing of the candy:

Just enough to sort, not so much that we will have Halloween candy lingering at Valentine's Day. Halloween 2013 - we hit the sweet spot. (See how I did that?!)

Friendship. It's a Thing, too.

Conceptual Math is Elementary

It's kind of a running joke at work that math isn't my forte - I mean, I'm an English major, I never had a single business or accounting class at West Point (go figure), and selling is fundamentally painting a picture with words. With loads and loads of data behind that picture, but still.

The thing is, I love math. And I've always been really good at math. In fact, I was an A student in math all the way through school, including through my required courses in college, and when I first chose a major, I signed up for math. But I was sadly young and naive, thinking "We all have the same job when we graduate, anyway - why should I work so hard?" so I changed my major to English (via one semester of being a Russian major, but that's a whole other story).

Suffice it to say, I love math. I think math is important. And I'm determined that my kids will love math, too. I mean, you can sell laundry detergent with a math degree. But you can't build a bridge with an English degree.

So to that end, I'm forever encouraging my kids with anything math related. It saddens me that my children have so easily fallen into stereotypes: John (my boy) loves math, Caroline (my girl) "hates" math. Her words. Which I dispute every.single.time. she says them. I believe that parents are kids' best teachers, and I take developing a love of math in each of them very seriously.

Sometimes, though, it's really nice to have help. And for those of us lucky enough to live in a college town, it's incredible to have help in the form of a University professor with a PhD in mathematics.

Last Saturday, my two kids were super lucky - though Caroline might beg to differ - to be a part of the inaugural Fayetteville Math Circle meeting. On the first Saturday of every month, two professors from the Mathematics Department at the University of Arkansas host an hour at the local library for the Fayetteville Math Circle, a program dedicated to showing kids that math can be fun. Perfect! Because Caroline, of course, thinks math is booooooooriiiiiiiiiiiiiiing.

Not knowing exactly what to expect but assuming it would be awesome (because it's math), I was just a little bit blown away that their first topic was conceptual number theory. That's right. Number Theory. For elementary school kids. But in a simple, visual way that the kids had no idea it was officially and formally number theory.

That would be Dr. Harriss of the UofA Math Department
Teaching my kids Number Theory
For Free
BOOM

It's simple, really. Close your eyes and think of numbers. Count them in your head, and then open your eyes.

How many different ways can you make 1? 2? 3? and so on until 17. I wandered in and out - it was 15 kid-free minutes at the library, after all - but I probably should have stayed. It looked like fun.

John is all in with this one - again, stereotypical boy. I hope that this helps Caroline truly learn that math is fun - and colorful, and creative. Because she is already both of those things. She's good at math, too - she just needs a little convincing.

Fall in the Ozarks

If I had every available color pigment, in every imaginable hue; every artistic tool of every shape and size; and the ability of the masters throughout history; I still don't think I could paint anything that comes close to the beauty around me in this breathtakingly beautiful Ozark fall.

Fayetteville routinely comes out on "Most Beautiful" lists. Truly, Fall in the Ozarks is wondrous. After four years living in the Hudson Valley and two years in Massachusetts, I naively assumed I would never see the kind of riotous color of a New England fall anywhere else. This year, though, I admit I was wrong. This may be the most glorious, vivid, words-can't-really-describe-it fall color I've ever seen.

We got our first glimpse of the extraordinary palette to come with our train ride a couple of Sundays ago from Springdale to Van Buren, Arkansas.

The Arkansas-Missouri Railroad has scenic tours along the rails in NW Arkansas, and we've wanted to take the kids since we moved here. Justin planned this one perfectly - the leaves were approaching peak; the weather was glorious; and the layover in Van Buren was just long enough for lunch but not long enough to get bored in the three-block-long Main Street.

We were upgraded from the Club Car to the Vista Dome - and oh, what a view we had.

All Aboard!

 We were on board with the local Photography Club, so the train made several stops on the way down there. While we weren't able to get off the train, it did give us the chance to get some great photos of our trip and the view from the train:

That was a week ago, though - and in the seven days since our adventure on the rails, the colors have REALLY come out. This is one of our little maple trees in our backyard:

That's just the warm up...

That glorious blue sky!! I told the kids to enjoy it - I think Saturday may have been the most perfect Fall day of my life. I got this great shot of Old Main from the Library terrace:

We were at the library for the inaugural session of the Fayetteville Math Circle, yet another amazing thing about living in a University town. After the session, we headed over to Wilson Park for some fun with a friend:

Climbing on the castle at Wilson Park

Such a gift to have a Fall day like we did on Saturday. I don't really know where to begin to describe the leaves this year, and these pictures are just pale imitations of the real thing.

Wish you were here!

Friday Feature: Daddy's pumpkin artwork

Every year for the last... hmmmm... probably ten years, I've carved our jack o' lanterns. In fact, I can remember sitting on our front step in Maryland the day after my very first marathon, pretty much sore from head to toe, scopping out pumpkin guts and carving a jack o' lantern smile, determined that we would have a sign of the season on our front step.

This year, though, things just worked against me. Work has been crazy busy; the kids' evening activities have been one after the other; and to top it off, Halloween was on a Thursday. With the warm weather back, it wasn't like I could carve the pumpkins over the weekend. I've seen a rotting pumpkin, and if you haven't, trust me - you don't want that on your doorstep. Besides, we were busy all weekend, two full days of activities. So I convinced myself I'd find time to do it on Monday or Tuesday evening, and all would be as usual for the Coussoule Halloween.

Except, of course, that didn't happen. Monday night, I ran out of steam. Tuesday night, I think I ran out of steam again. Wednesday night, we had tennis lessons and went out to dinner afterward.

Daddy to the rescue.

He scooped the guts, let the kids pick out their patterns, and got the job done.

Too bad my photography doesn't do his artwork justice. Still, our pumpkins say just what we wanted them to say. Happy Halloween!