eternally chaotic

The kids are challenged by their school to read, read, and read even more.  All in an effort to get them reading at or above the state mandated reading recommendations for their age group and class.  The program is called “Read to Succeed” and requires the kids to read six hours of material over two months.  We take the program a step farther and turn reading into a nightly bedtime requirement.  Thirty minutes before lights out the CoTC head up to their rooms, grab their latest chapter book, board book, Lego magazine, game manual, or whatever might float their fancy for the evening and partake in some serious forced leisure time.  More often than not they pass through several books during this time and certainly rack up more hours than required by the program.  The reward for this challenge is a free ticket to Six Flags Over Georgia.  That is quite a great deal for us as well since kids tickets run $45 and adult tickets are $54.  Lump that into a quick buy one get one free coupon for Carol and I and we end up getting a day of fun for something we would enforce regardless of the program requirements.

Our family outing to partake in combating Georgia heat exhaustion while getting our thrills happened to be this weekend.  Everyone was excited and pumped to go.  We spent the evening prior with the boys watching various rides on YouTube so that they knew what they were getting into if they decided to ride some “real” roller coasters.  Isaac thought there were all cool but wanted nothing to do with actually riding one.  Jacob adamantly wanted to ride the Mind Bender.  The girls had recently been to Kings Island in Ohio with Grandma and Grandpa and were psyched as well to see what Six Flags had to offer.  Weather checked, bag of snacks and water packed, sunscreen applied, we headed out toward adventure.

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On a recent occasion I had the pleasure of greeting the kids after school when they got off of the bus.  Nothing special or unusual as the big yellow Twinkie pulled up and spit out its contents of three speed wired kidos ready for the weekend.  It was Friday after all, and the Friday before spring break at that.

Each in their own time ran up to, past me and into the house.  I was standing on the porch, leaning ever so comfortably against the railing, enjoying the spring air.  Piper however slowed as she approached and with a wry twist of her expression looked upon me as if I had materialized into some creature from ether origins.  She look not directly at me but above and beside me.  To be certain I was curious.  As she approached, ever slowing her stride with each step until she stopped before me.  Her eyes had grew large and her mouth had dropped open, a small pointy finger came up from her side and aimed at the location for which she was so quizzically focused.

“Daddy! Watch out!  There is a spider on your shoulder!  Watch out!”

All said with such despair that this thing, this monster, this wicked forbidden creature at which she peered had bared its venomous fangs and was about to end me.

I jumped to the side that rush of adrenaline surging through my veins, flushing my cheeks, focusing every sense to a heightened tingle.

Then a giggle, followed by another.  Then those monumentous words said with sheer delight that can only be delivered by a kindergartener that just got the best of her dear old dad.

“April Fools !!! Ha Ha!  There is not spider silly !!  April Fools !!!”

I definitely fell prey to a viscous creature but thankfully it wasn’t a blood sucking venomous eight legged one – although i am not sure which is worse.

Sitting at the island while I poked around on the laptop the kids were playing in front of me in the living room. They were all edgy after doing homework and getting a snack and had not really settled into any type of comfortable evening routine. Anytime one of them did something another did not like, a wartime skirmish would break out on the living room floor – Lego, PlayMobile and horses be damned.

It was during one of these particularly conversational skirmishes that I intervened, trying for the sake of sanity only to add some sort of reasoning to the seeming mindless bickering so it could be solved in a civilized manner – silly me. Piper stood up and said, “Daddy, I am not whining. I am debugging.” The statement was said with direction, strength and finality, as if there was no further explanation necessary and this was not only a sufficient response but obviously the only one required.

Carol and I couldn’t help but turn our backs and laugh quietly to each other. The debug system (love it or hate it) is something they teach kids in school these days as a way towards conflict resolution without resorting to the sticks and stones that we grew up with.

I was enjoying some quite time watching a chick flick – Last Song – when the house started shaking and music started thumping from the second floor.  I figured Jacob was just jamming out to some music but after a while I decided to head up and see what he was up to.  I peaked into the room only to find Jacob dancing like Vanilla Ice and M.C. Hammer.  I went in to be supportive (he could be up to worse things…) and danced with him for a few minutes.  I left to grab the camera and ninja’d back up to get a video hoping he would not stop or get embarrassed.  Instead he got cocky and danced harder (just like his mother….grandmother!!!).  I did get a good video from the door and another from his room (after editing supporting cast out of the video) of him jamming to his favorite tunes….High School Musical 2.

The day has passed now and since been replaced by a dizzying array of southern winter weather.  We have had ice, warm rain, lightening, 75° weekends, slush, wind, downpours and pretty much tiny slices of everything else since that snow.  It was a fun day for us though.  It started late in the evening, past the point where we needed to be out, and continued throughout the night.  I don’t know what the official “inches” were but I would guess that it was four to six, maybe even a touch more.  Once we were bundled up and the kids were anxious to head out into the blizzard and play.  There were certainly snowmen out there that needed building and snow balls that needed targets and they were bound to oblige.

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Nobody likes to argue with their kids.  I know I certainly don’t.  Last night was different, at least for one conversation.  I was making the kids’ dinner and while waiting they became heatedly engaged in a conversation about precisely when Darth Vader had died.  I am by no means any sort of expert on Star Wars or Darth Vader but like many others grew up as a science fiction fan and Star Wars was certainly a topic always near the surface, regardless of my interest.  I was curious about what they were saying though and a thought hit me:  Did I just hear right?  Were the Jacob, Isaac and Piper discussing the finer details about the timeline of Star Wars?  Now granted that Piper has only recently come into this phenomenon, but the boys are knee deep in it.

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Fall is here…although sometimes I think fall actually skips the southeast and winter tries desperately to blow in early, dragging wind and rain with it.  Such was this particular day.  With winter…fall, comes the annual Dahlonega Gold Rush festival.  This was a new festival for the girls and I.  We have been to the Duluth Fall Festival and the Norcross Art Festival but hadn’t ventured out much beyond.  It was fun from the beginning and much, much larger than the others – not to mention more organized.  There were certainly some planned destinations as well.  Carol and Bonnie wanted to eat lunch at the “Smith House“, watch the parade on Main Street, and checkout the goodies offered by the hundreds of vendors.

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Amused and a little reminiscent, I found Violet eating with Uno tonight.  She came running into the kitchen with a mouth full of something and after a few minutes of scraping mush out of her mouth I was not sure what it was.  I chastised her and sent her on to play.  A few minutes later I heard her in the dinning room screaming “mine, mine, mine…”.  Upon investigation I could only laugh as I watched her push Uno out of the way so she could get access to his kibble.  She already had another mouth full and proceeded to fill each hand – once stocked for the road she took off toward her playroom.  Curious to see what she would do I just watched.  I figured that she would chew it up a bit and spit it out, much like she does everything else.  Surprizingly, she finished what she had in her mouth as well as both hands and likely would have went back for more had I not convinced her dinner was ready.