Catching up

It's been a while since I posted. School has started and Kanga and Tigger are going to the same school know. For Peach Days they had a float with the school kids for the kid parade and Kanga hadn't had a chance to do it in previous years. I drove in to work so I could be home sooner and we got them loaded on the tractor trailer and they had fun. We gave Kanga a two-way radio so we could keep track of her and she had a little too much fun with it. They're behind the American flag.

We also celebrated Roo's and Angel's birthdays. He hasn't started walking yet, but he's getting bolder.  He is a delight most of the time, but he has gotten particular about how he sleeps. People talk about having a routine with your kids and he is so insistent on his that he won't go to bed any other way. He can be very funny when he is tired though.

 As per the tradition, I handed out the Lion House Cakes and Cupcakes book and Angel choose what I was going to make. Roo couldn't communicate what he wanted (and he might have shredded the book) so when Angel couldn't make up her mind between a couple, I just made one of her options into cupcakes. A co-worker asked if the the recipes in the Lion House book were difficult or complex. Not really. A lot of them call for a cake mix - Seriously. So Roo got devil's food cake cup cakes with whipped cream topping (I was also supposed to put toffee pieces on it, but figured he wouldn't notice if they weren't there). Angel, on the other hand got a chocolate cheesecake with Oreo cookie crust. That wasn't a mix and I was right proud of it. No picture of the cheese cake, I was too busy eating it every time it came out.

This Saturday, I was very domestic. I made pear honey - an equal mix of pear, pineapple, and sugar cooked until golden (in color) and bottled. The pears were from our own tree. I'm pretty bad at getting them when they are all ripe but the process softens up any of the harder ones. I worked on them all day, listening to an audio version of Pride and Prejudice, It was a good production and made the time go by a little quicker. After I ran the first batch I realized that I didn't have enough pint jars to process it all. I called a few people who we've swapped jars with in the past and even had Angel, while she was running errands pick up an extra dozen. In the end I had more jars then I needed, but I had it all done. I went through twelve pounds of sugar and about about about the same number of cans of pineapple in order to process my box of pairs. But we ended up with over 42 pints of pear honey.

This is just when when I had started and realized that I was going to need more bottles. My own mother used to bottle green beans, pears, peaches, cherries, salsa, and applesauce. A lot of times she would do it while we were at school, so I don't remember helping out very much. There is one year when she made it abundantly clear that we were going to help her bottle pears, no arguing. I wasn't prone to argue about helping her, but was surprised at her insistence. That's because pears are a lot of work. you have to peal and core them before you can do anything with them and they are a funny shape with makes things interesting. This year I felt like I got into a groove and think I found the best way to go about it. Wash the outside and cut it in half. using a vegetable peeler work right to left (I'm right handed) pulling the peeler towards you. Using the pear corer, which you can find in your local art/craft supply store under the tile of "clay molding tool" (shown below), remove the stem, core, and any pits or blemishes. Repeat on the other half. And repeat for the next pear, and the next, and the next, and the next..... You get the idea.

Amazingly my hand and back didn't ache like they have in past years. I made an effort to alternate sitting and standing at the sink and I was moving between the sink, stove and bath canner, which was on the deck on the propane stove. As I was in the the middle of it I told Angel that I thought that canning is one of the most rewarding work efforts you can do. It's also really cool when what your canning is your own produce. I gave away a total of nine pints to those that I borrowed jars from and still came out with over thirty-three pints. My dad, who introduced us to pear honey and gave us the recipe, said that it looked just like the way his mother's and grandmother's did which made me happy.

Proud of my little learners

We had Back-to-School night on Tuesday. I drove into work so I would get home sooner than I do on the bus. Good think too, we walked out of the school just in time to see the bus that I would have been on drive by, but I digress. Kanga is starting 2nd grade and is continuing in the Chinese immersion program and Tigger is starting kindergarten. They are both excited and we're looking forward to seeing their teachers.

Even though Tigger won't know which teacher he will have yet, they went by both of possible options' rooms. He might have the same teacher as Kanga did, but he might not. Angel told me that when he was talking with the other teacher she asked what subject he was excited to learn in kindergarten. He replied, "Science! Like volcanoes and space!" She smiled and told him that they won't be covering science in kindergarten, but that she was sure that he could tell her some interesting things about volcanoes and space. He started to immediately. I was also pleased with him when we went to visit Kanga's teacher. While she waited to talk to her teacher Tigger found something interesting.

The teacher had this math balance, fully loaded with all of the pegs on. Tigger, in his tinker, must-push-that-button kind of way took one of the pegs off and the scale tipped. Intrigued, he started shifting, removing, replacing, and adding pegs. He was experimenting with the pegs, not knowing the significance of the numbers on along the top, but clearly experimenting with the different positions and seeing what would happen. Tigger is very much into seeing what will happen, but unfortunately, it often lands him in trouble because what often happens is something gets lost or broken. I really, really don't want to stifle his curiosity, so watching him explore the math balance gave me some hope that we can help him explore in a safer way.

Kanga, at this time was sitting quietly at her desk waiting for your Chinese teacher. She does not speak Chinese often to us, but we have learned a couple of phrases. I was a little anxious about how much she has retained. The teacher came up and started talking to her in Chinese and Kanga didn't even blink but responded in kind with confidence and comfort. They didn't talk long and I'm sure that it was not a complex exchange, but Kanga looked more confidant than many of the other students. She was also able to explain the conversation in some detail as we were leaving. Perhaps I'm just being influenced by my fatherly pride, but I am very proud of her abilities, particularly when it comes to Chinese.

I'm sure there will be challenges - I hope that we can get Tigger to complete homework for instance. But I am glad that my children love learning new things and are looking forward to school.

Studying under the stars

As I'm mentioned, I've had a lot of homework as I was finishing up my capstone project. I usually study in the basement, but with the nice weather I decided to take my studying outside. For my birthday, I got a Yeti 400 from Goal Zero, an impressive unit designed to run mid-sized electronics (laptops, small TVs, CPAP machines, etc.) and which can be charged from solar panels. My father introduced us to Goal Zero last Christmas (and is my supplier) and we've been very pleased with their stuff.

Anyway, there were a couple of nights that I studied on the deck with the yeti powering my set up (laptop, phone, and a small light or two) and it was kind of nice to change things up a bit. However, for my capstone I couldn't study in just a camp chair, I needed more room to lay stuff out. So, twice last week I pulled a folding table and chair out into the back yard and set up underneath our pear tree. a couple of lights hung from the branches and the laptop whirring contentedly and I was good to go. Both nights the weather was fantastic and only the second night had any bugs, but those were easy to deal with. When I was done, I turned the lights off and looked up at the stars. 

I remember giving my dad a bit of a hard time when he went to a scout camp and took his laptop with him. He was one of the organizers and he would have access to a generator, but I still gave him grief. Camping is about getting away from technology. However, the fact that I now have the means to power personal and professional electronics does change my view a bit. I'm looking forward to using electric lights I can recharge during the day in place of propane to play games at night. If I have an assignment due, I can still work on it if I need to. If there is an emergency I can charge my phone or personal radios. Even when not camping, we use our Yetis (we have a 150 and a 400) around the house to power supplement lighting, or the laptop. In an emergency we have light and power, albeit limited. Technology is pretty amazing and I'm thankful for the opportunity to study under the stars.

Birthday Musings

My birthday is this coming week. While at church today Kanga told one of the parishioners (the librarian at her school) that it was my birthday and then ran over and asked me how old I would be. Not wanting to discuss my age in public I replied, "Old enough to be your father." I wish I could claim that answer as my own, but my father has used it for years. It's similar to my grandfather's answer of "just tall enough that my feet reach the ground" when people asked him how tall he was. I don't feel my age too much. But When I look back on my life I realize that I have aged. When I look in the mirror I don't appear to have aged, but that's either luck or shortsightedness on my part. But regardless of how I look I know that I am older.

I don't think that one year to the next tells much. Every year will have similarities to the year before it and so they can blend into each other and look very much like each other until you look back over a longer period and realize that you are decidedly not where you were. I remember my father telling me that I would come to a point when I could look back over the last ten years and think about all that I did over those ten years. Then, he said, you will look forward and think, "I have X number of decades left in my life." and you will think about what you will be able to accomplish based on your past performance. I don't know if I'm at that point yet, but this birthday does mark ten years since I returned from my mission to South-west Russia. For many young men in the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day saints life is planned up to and including their missions. However, after the mission is a big unknown that is usual summed up in three words: school, marriage, work. Like most, I didn't have much of an idea about any of them.

I thought I had an idea about one of them. I had dated a girl through my first year of college and she had waited for me through my mission. The next step was to get engaged, which we did in about five months. But come to find out I didn't have a clue about it. We ended our engagement finals week of my first semester back. It was a mutual agreement and while there were still things to sort out the breakup was the right decision. I went on dates with many different people after that until I met Angel about ten months after my first engagement ended. This year will be our eighth anniversary and they have been wonderful years.

My schooling was very straight forward, as I already had my major and minor in mind. It was a very easy thing to get my classes and finish my degree. I regret nothing about the degree I hold. I do have to acknowledge that had I done more career planning and exploration I probably would have gone for a degree in management information systems. I'm found through my employment and through additional education opportunities that I tend to do well in tasks that utilize those skills. I've thought of doing a 2nd bachelor's in that area, but nothing concrete yet. I'm still putting together funding to finish the last three classes for my masters degree.

When I returned from my mission I knew I wanted to study history, but really didn't know what I could do with it. I wanted to work in education, but didn't want to teach high school. I'm very grateful for a wife that kept asking me what I wanted to do with my life. Partially through her encouragement and through an opportunity to work as a student advisor I was able to discover student services and identify my future career path. Like many working professions, I may en up changing at some point, but for the being, I've found a good fit for now with some mobility options. In the past ten years I have worked for three (technically four) different universities and in three different kinds of universities. I've made plenty of mistakes, but I've had some good success too.

Now to look forward to the next ten years. I would say, we'll see what's in store, but I know I need to be more proactive than that. I'll see what I can make.

Back to school

Working at a university means that back to school is a big deal every year regardless of whether I'm taking classes or not. My schedule at work fills up, my office becomes more hectic and the bus and the parking lots become a lot more full. I was always excited about starting a new school year or semester myself, which is one reason I've wanted to work at a university. But this year Kanga started kindergarten, so we've had an extra reason to be excited. We live close to the school she goes to and we drive by it almost everyday. Since she turned five earlier this year every time we drive by the school she would ask if it was time to go to school yet. We had to placate her by saying that school had start before she could go.

We attended Back to School night on Monday and met her teacher. It was fun because I used to work for the university she graduated from and knew her advisors. It's her first semester teaching (after graduating) and looks to be a good teacher. I was filling out some paperwork and felt like I should be in kindergarten because I had to keep crossing things out because I would put the wrong information in the wrong place. They gave us a list of learning objectives that they will be working on during the school year. I was excited that with our regular nightly reading Kanga can already do some of them, and that with a little focus there were many others she would be able to do. It made me feel like a proactive parent.

Over the last couple of months, as we've been preparing Kanga for school, I've learned a horrible truth about myself. I am ashamed to admit that I am a helicopter parent. I hover, ready to help at a moment's notice and hoping that I can teach her something as she goes through life. Working with college students I've seen my fair share of helicopter parents, both good and bad. I was at a conference and one of the keynote speakers compared some helicopter parents to "armed blackhawks, ready for war. And you're the enemy." I've complained about, mocked, joked about, and generally lamented most helicopter parents and so when the realization hit that I was hovering I was quite shaken. As they say, the first step is realizing you have a problem. I just hope that I'll be able to step back enough that she can learn how to learn, but stay close enough that she doesn't feel alone or without help.

Ah, tis a narrow line we parents walk.

Just like old times

In addition to it being my birthday and Mother's day this week also marked a much awaited date in my life. I have finished another semester in my Master's program. Another down, two left (if all goes well). This semester was multicultural and career advising. Summer is students with disabilities and fall will be administration and college students and college environments. I'm hoping to complete my capstone project in the summer.

Anyway, my wife is wonderful. In a brief Mother's day tribute I present how lucky I am. In addition to Angel being beautiful, smart, and witty, she is also very patient with me. Saturday I had one final project due for my multicultural class - a personal portfolio that was designed to demonstrate my multicultural competencies that I had gained from the course. Because of a variety of things including: another final paper, my birthday, being ill, and really, really not wanting to do it - I found myself tackling the project the morning it was due. With 13 hours in which to do it, Angel kept our daughter, Kanga (because she mothers her brother and tends to hop all over) and our son, Tigger (for obvious reasons) occupied and let me lock myself in the bedroom to finish it. See, my wife is very patient and a very special woman.

It took me about 5 hours in all to write the 13 pages with sources. I was pleased with it when it was over. This is not the first time I've had to do this for my Master's program. Just the second. I did it once in my first semester when both the kids were younger. My undergrad had a few of these kinds of day, but not as many as some would think. I think I maybe had one a year. The most memorable one was an assignment to write a paper critiquing the Kyoto Protocol that the USA signed back in 2004 (I think). It had to be 4-6 pages with 5 sources and include a 15 minute presentation. It took me 16 hours straight and I finished it between 2 and 4 am. Clearly I was not thinking and so I can't remember the exact time - just that it was early! The professor gave me 93/100 and wrote "surprisingly good" at the top. When I asked him about it, he said that the first paper and presentation was usually the worst, but that my was, "surprisingly good." I told him I was a history major and writing papers, "is what I did."

In my defense, I try not to procrastinate papers and generally do a very good job of not. I can write a paper long into the night, if need be, as the thought process that engages when I write keeps me awake better than anything else.

I am glad that this week is over and very glad to be able to celebrate Mother's day with my wife, her mother, and my mother. I don't know how I got so lucky to be surrounded by wonderful women, but whatever I did to warrant such a blessing must have been huge. Each of these women have taught me valuable lessons. More importantly, none of them have "bumped me off." Heaven knows I've deserved it on occasion. Alright... I'll concede the point. I've deserved it most of the time. In addition to their much appreciated patience with me, they are all very intelligent, love their families, and are very strong in many ways. I can't even begin to describe them each in detail because it would take forever - and also because words don't even come close to describing my wife.

I hope that all of you women enjoyed Mother's day. This week we have Tigger's birthday. He's turning 3. I sincerely hope he makes it to 4. With the speed that he can pitch a fit and the violence of said fit you would expect him to be in professional baseball. We love him anyway. He enjoys anything with wheels so we thought that we might take him to Promontory Point, the location of the transcontinental railroad meeting. I'm going to try to figure out how to make a train cake.....

Update (May 23/2013): I got 99 out of 100 on the project.