Here I Am...

Well I seem to have gotten lost in cyberspace somewhere but I'm going to try to post a bit more frequently again (more frequently than once every six months is really setting that bar high, huh?!).  But I find myself awake at previously unknown to me hours and so I'm thinking perhaps I can use that time to continue to record the crazy life in our household. 

Our world has been rocked.  Turned upside down.  All we ever knew has been tossed with yesterday's garbage and replaced with today's adventure.  Four of the kids are now in Public School - that evil place I swore I'd never make my children attend.  My day now begins at the ridiculously early hour of 6am.  Gone are the days of sleeping until 9:30 and starting our day at 10:30.  I now have four kids on their way, laundry started, dressed, email checked, baby fed dressed and returned for a morning nap and my breakfast eaten by 7:30 am.  Who IS this woman?!

It started with JT.  He's been bugging us from the beginning of Time to play soccer for our local high school.  Daily reminders that several Baltimore Blast players got their starts at this school coupled with endless repititions of WHY can't I go to school? earned him a tryout for the team.  Well, he made the team and thus earned a seat on the Big Yellow Bus since MD law prohibits homeschoolers from playing sports on public school teams (I won't even begin on that one....).  Sooo....one down...why not some more?  He was followed by Philip at the same school, then Ruth at the middle school and most recently Andrea at the high school.  Miriam is my last hold out and her attitude about it changes by the hour.  She'll turn 16 next month and will get a big graduation from homeschool party and then it's on to Public School for her whether she likes it or not...but most likely she will.

Once Miriam boards that short bus for the first time we'll have JT plus all of our special kiddos as card-carrying members of the Public School Club.  That sure does make the Homeschool Club look verrrry different and we are loving it!  Honestly, I'm not sure why I didn't make this decision sooner except that I know I needed to feel confident that I had taught those four all I could possibly teach them before passing on the baton.  Now our days have gone from one therapeutic goal to the next to an endless realm of adventures in learning with those who CAN learn leading the way, sprinkled with the usual Adventures in Toddlerhood.

It's a whole new world in the Klopcic household these days and we are looking forward to a new homeschooling year like never before.

The Missing Pieces

Besides being terribly behind on blogging about birthdays and family trips and the usual Tali antics and Davidisms,  I have also been remiss in reporting a few other small details of our lives....like starting a family business...and, oh, having another baby. 

The business came first - an idea inspired by Ben's chance comment about his future in the entertainment industry.  "Mom," he said to me one day while standing in the kitchen, "I want to be the guy who shows up at the party with the moonbounce and the magic act and the cotton candy machine."  A lightbulb went off in my head, my ears literally perked up (they can do that you know, if sufficiently aroused) and I said, "Cotton Candy!  Hmmm....."  And thus was born Squeaky Clean Entertainment, the proud peddlers of old fashioned party entertainment and all natural NatureSpun cotton candy.

For years I've been feeling a pull to start up a family business - something all the kids can be involved with, something that will be there for them as they get into high school and college and need to earn money, someplace where our more compromised children can find a niche, a laboratory for the arts, science, math - the Uber-Homeschool Project.  And now here it is - hawking cotton candy and marketing party entertainment. 

We thought this would be a great time to start up a business.  Having lost years of our lives and the dream of owning and living on a farm to the mess of a church from whence we came, we were beginning to talk redemption - reclaiming what we lost, moving forward, putting ourselves on a fast track to long-neglected goals.  And we were resting from having children.  Twelve was a good number.  Long ago, Tad said he'd get to twelve and consider the contract (I said I thought we'd end up with 16 but I granted him his considerations).  So we started off on monthly monitoring and a whole slew of other nonsense intended to temporarily cease any new fetal development.  In true Klopcic fashion, however, it wasn't long after our business was adopted into the family that number 13 showed up in my womb.  Yes, we know how *that* happens but really I have no idea how it happened this time around - we had it all figured out - or so we thought....and now we have a wee one due on or about April 1st.  God's joke on us - a wonderful, glorious joke!

Dear October,

Please stop acting like June.  The internal temperature of my pregnant body is already high enough without you flirting with it and egging it on to go ever higher.  Besides, you know I'm trying to change all the clothes over to our Fall and Winter wardrobe and you are making this much more difficult than it needs to be.  You're not funny - so just get on with it please. 

Regards,

Mairs

Happy Birthday Little Man!

Nathan's twin finally caught up to him in age - just a few weeks late...He invited his very best friend Gabby over and her little brother Benjamin. The two of them fit right into the chaos and loved every second of running around with all the kids.  They made their own pizzas together, had cake and then Miah enjoyed opening his presents. Although, I'm not sure who enjoyed some of the presents more... 
Happy Birthday Little Man!!

Boys and Tinker Toys

I love these things!  They've always fostered such creativity in my kids.  Now they're getting high tech too.

Today's Excitement

So today this little fella was running about on our driveway and in our garage.  I took this picture with my cellphone sans zoom - I really got this close and still the little scamperer didn't even flinch.  Ben found him and the little thing immediately latched onto him and began to follow him everywhere.  Ben went out to the driveway, Baby followed him, Ben went in the garage, Baby followed, Ben climbed up a tree, Baby scampered up about two feet and then got stuck there. Everyone who went outside today was privy to his shenanigans.  He just would not leave our family alone, as if to say "Look, you already have a gazillion, don't you want me too?!"  A bit worried about his behavior and not at all familiar with juvenile squirrel antics, I put in a call to Animal Control.  Mr. Animal Control guy arrived and identified our little friend as Orphaned Squirrel - round about age 4 weeks.  He suggested Mama Squirrel probably met up with a car somewhere and left little Jr abandoned to the wild world.  He captured Orphaned Squirrel, put him gently in a cage, had me sign a paper saying I was the owner of Orphaned Squirrel and I was willingly relinquishing him to the care of Mr. Animal Control and then set off in his van to deliver Orphaned Squirrel to a local rehabber who, he promised, would carefully care for Orphaned Squirrel for the next two weeks and then release our little friend into the wild.  So long little friend!  May you fare better than your poor mum!

It's Official...

I now have a son taller than me.  I tried to squish down those dreadlocks but it just didn't work.  He has me by at least a half inch....sigh...

Tali A-Go-Go