Skirts

When I was little I wanted to be Laura Ingalls, right down to the skirts and bonnets she hated most. I remember wearing a lot of skirts in 6th grade, and not only skirts but layers of skirts. A little later in middle school I even made my own hoop skirts out of wire coat hangers and wore them under a full jean skirt to church. I also borrowed some of my mom's dresses from college and wore them with aprons when I felt like learning to bake. I love the feel of skirts around my knees and ankles, I like the swish, the movement of air, the freedom of movement. Somewhere along the way though I lost the love of skirts and I think it was due to the overwhelming desire to fit in and be popular; for awhile it trumped the desire to be myself and wear what I love and little house on the prairie skirts just weren't popular in the 90's in my middle/high school. I've grown up a little since then and now that I have a daughter of my own who wears nothing but skirts I feel that old tugging to layer on the skirts. My mother laughed at me the other day when I told her my goal in life was to wear more skirts and aprons. I understand, it sounds kind of odd. It's not THE goal of my life but in general I would like to wear skirts and aprons more. Every time I see a picture of a lady wearing a skirt and apron and rubber boots heading out to her garden in a magazine I pause and think, "Oh, I like that, I could do that." And with my new found love of hanging clothes on the line to dry it seems a little more practical; cotton skirts dry faster than jeans.

Adventures in Schooling

I was looking back over my recent blogs and suddenly shouted out loud at my computer (inciting strange looks from my children), "How did I miss blogging about that one!"
HANNAH IS READING. We've been working on our short vowel sounds and last week we blended some sounds together and wah-la! a word read entirely by Miss Hannah. Then another and another. Hannah is getting better and better and faster and faster everyday and really liking it. Ivan is attempting and can do it if he decides he can but most mornings he decides it's too hard and gives up. I'm not pushing him though, he's 4, and I'm just letting him work as he wants. I want learning to be fun for him. He does really enjoy Starfall.com and has been playing on there reviewing his letters and sounds. We've also been playing around with learning the Alphabet in sign language. Clayton is even trying to join in the fun and sing the phonics alphabet song though it usually ends up as "A, a, apple, b, b, ball, a, a, monkey, a, a, noodles, b, b, cat". I'm quite impressed though, he can almost count to 10.
I'm finding schooling more enjoyable every day (well, everyday that we do it). We still take a few days off every now and again but usually the kids are asking to do schoolwork, my only rule is that I get a few minutes to myself in the morning to check e-mail, facebook, blogs and drink my coffee. Some mornings I drink it slower than others and this morning it is now gone so I must get to work.

Yard/Garden Work

My brain is trying to motivate me to get outside and work in the yard some more but my body is begging to just sit in front of the computer while the the youngest kids are sleeping. It's finally light enough to jog in the morning again and so I started last Thursday and Friday thinking I would have the weekend to recover (it's been a while) but alas it wasn't raining to much on Saturday so we started in on yard work. For the first part of the day we made the kids work picking up pieces of the hose the dog chewed up (this was their punishment for being exceptionally naughty Friday night) while Erik demolished the gazebo and I pulled nails out of the salvageable wood. Then I dug post holes (wet sand is really heavy) and started to re-fence the garden. Then we came in and had lunch and hot chocolate and played Chutes and Ladders, Ivan won, and then headed back out for more work. The kids learned how to hammer nails into scrap wood and built a "bench" and we got the garden re-fenced and 2x4 boxes built to be my garden beds this year. Then I did a little more work Sunday afternoon with getting the boxes set a little ways into the dirt. Needless to say, my body is sore today and just wanting to rest. I am very excited though to be working on my garden earlier than normal. Usually it gets to the end of May and I realize, "Oh wait, I should have planted already." Not this year, this year I'm actually planning ahead. I'm also trying new things in my garden, like potatoes. I read a great article on growing potatoes in hay and I'm excited to try that, only everyone I tell about it nods their head and says, "Oh yeah, I knew that" or "Of course, that's the way I do it" and I'm left wondering why I only just found out about it. So am I missing anything about spinach or cabbage or onions?

Read Any Good Books Lately?

I finished another book last night. I've been reading quite an eclectic array of books lately so I'm not sure what I should pick up next. A few weeks ago I went on Alibris.com and found the Jan Karon Mitford books that I needed to complete my series. A few of them I hadn't read yet so when they came in the mail I stayed up way to late finishing them up. Next I read all 5 novels and the story in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Then I picked up a book in our church library on the archeological excavations of Masada, Israel that were done back in the 50's. Last night I finished "The Moon Is Down" by John Steinbeck. I have to admit to not really liking John Steinbeck so I don't know why I picked this particular book up but this one I liked. Actually I think I'm two for two, I disliked "East of Eden" and "Grapes of Wrath" but I really liked "The Moon Is Down" and "Travels With Charley" so I'll probably continue to give him a chance until the dislikes outweigh the likes by a fair margin. I'm sure my book loving friends are curious as to my reviews of each book but as the water is now boiling for the noodles I'm making for dinner you will just have to wait; or come visit for tea and literary discussions. (Am I being too pushy with the tea invitations? Not a one has taken me up on the offer, okay one has but she doesn't even read my blog so it doesn't count.)

Stories to Tell My Children

In honor of Valentine's Day I thought I might sicken you with cute stories of togetherness and love. Okay, not really. It's actually just a coincidence that I blog this now and it's Valentine's Day. I spent my day working in the yard and then visiting with a girlfriend this evening for a few hours. It was a lovely day. Tonight we were telling stories of how we met our husbands and I got to thinking about when I actually "knew" that he was "the one". Well, this was the first inkling at least.
Erik and I went to Ecola together and through a series of adventures and mishaps arrived at the conclusion that we liked each other but it being Bible School and all we entered the awkward stage of "praying about it" but not actually dating. We realized that if we termed it "dating" it would become really serious and we weren't too sure we were ready for that. Well it did get a little too serious and we decided to back off even the praying about it stage and try to remain friends.
We hung out together the rest of the year, I completely oblivious to the fact that he was still pining away for me. The day of our graduation was also the day we had to move out of our dorm rooms and as I was packing up I remembered that I still needed to pay him back for my yearbook (he had kindly offered to pay for mine because I didn't have the money at the time). I went in search of him and found him climbing the stairs to the Old Ecola dorm. I met him at the top of the stairs and handed him his money as these thoughts raced through my head; now keep in mind that I refuse to live in drama (the climate is so unpredictable), I really don't even like passing through the region of drama, even more so as I mature (read ma-tour, it sounds better) but for this fleeting second in my history I was firmly planted there and these are the thoughts, thought with much passion, that passed through my mind as I gazed into his blue eyes, "I'm not ready to say goodbye, if I don't see him ever again I might die." Or something very close to that; his eyes are so very blue...
A few weeks later I caught the bouquet at Josh and April's wedding and there were raised eyebrows and loaded questions about prospects (seeing as Erik and I kind of attended the wedding together but with a group of friends). With a few blushes and furtive sidelong glances in his general direction I attempted to pass these off with a smile but no definite answer. (I don't think I've ever perfected that skill). But needless to say I've never needed to catch another bouquet and we will celebrate our 7th wedding anniversary in June and his eyes are still very blue.

Short Sands

The sun has been shining for three whole days! (Okay, not really three whole days, it goes down at night...) We've loved being outside playing and soaking in the rays while we can. Yesterday the kiddos and I headed to the park and then went up to the overlooks on Neahakanie to look down at Manzanita. Today we joined MamaGriffith and her clan for a jaunt down to Short Sands. I don't remember ever being there before. She took pictures, I forgot my camera but luckily I have an artist in the family and Hannah came home and drew some pictures of our fun.

What's In a Name?

There were times I disliked growing up an "Emily". Not that I dislike the name by any means, it just happens to be a common name which invariably causes some confusion if only a first name is given. Maybe it had something to do with having to use my last name or having to use my first and last and middle initial: Emily A. Horr. This is why I have a sense of humor and why I married young. (Dad and Mom, I hope you know that I love you and am slightly in jest here.)
I haven't thought much about being an Emily lately as I happen to be enjoying a time where there are none within the social settings I find myself in, that was until today.
About a month ago I received a text out of the blue from a friend's husband asking if I could babysit their three kids on the 6th of Feb. from 2:30 in the afternoon until 10:30 at night. I thought this an odd request but as I had nothing going on that day I figured "What the heck? What's 7 kids running around?" So I texted back, "Sure." Only I made sure to type my name at the bottom just in case he had a wrong number. But he texted right back with, "Great, contact you again when it gets closer." Two days ago I received a text, "We still on for Sat.?" "Yep." was my reply. Then we worked out exact time and payment for said babysitting, all through text messaging. Today, Feb. 6th at 2:35pm I received a text message that said, "Are you still coming?" This is where my brain started throwing question marks against my skull. "I assumed I would be watching them at my house." "We are just eating lunch and one is sleeping, can we make it here?" At this point I wasn't sure what to say, should I go with, "Well, I have two sleeping"? and then throw, "and banana bread in the oven?" in there as well for good measure or...I went with "This is Emily Dante...? I'm slightly confused."
That's when my phone started ringing, it was my friend calling and apologizing, apparently their regular babysitter is named Emily and somehow in both her and her husbands phones we had been mixed up and in my original text I had only typed my first name and not my last. I offered to still babysit seeing as it's a little last minute but they did find someone and I'm now looking at an evening with nothing going on, and here I was all prepared for chaos.
On a side note, as much as I hate using the telephone and calling people, even people I like (maybe more about this in a later post) I think I might just have to suck it up and call people for important events like dates and such.