Daley Ponderings

From an email written to my mom on April 4, 2015 at 7pm. Just after noon, Noah came screaming in from outside.  He was holding one hand with the other and blood was dripping.  I took him straight to the sink to wash off.  He couldn't tell me what had happened and there was... (More)

I'm very much behind on the blog.  But I have kept the pocket notes safely typed up in my email.  So here goes. In June, the kids and I made a trip to Florida to visit my parents, and my sister and her kids visited, too. 6/14 - Joy, "Mommy! I saw a dinosaur!"  (It was a... (More)

Got a bunch of spam comments and then when I was looking at posts, the boys pointed out that my last post was a month ago and I said "trip to DC goes in a separate post"...  So here we go. When we went into downtown to see the sights, we split up into smaller groups.  Jonathan,... (More)

2/15 - JPD walked up to me and hugged my knees.  He now does this often. 2/19 - JDD quotes from The Incredibles, with an Indian flair: "This is your automated captain speaking. Would you like more samosas?" 2/24 - JDD "What's the difference between lo mein and chow mein, and why isn't... (More)

I think I have found a key to living selflessly.  When there's an emergency, it's easy to serve.  I see the great need, and I know it's temporary.  It's hard to keep serving in the ordinary, mundane, because it feels like it will never end and the needs don't always seem so great.... (More)

11/8 - It was gusty and the maple seeds were being blown off our big tree by the thousands.  It was such an amazing sight!  The little helicopters were fluttering everywhere, even swarming like a host of grasshoppers or little birds.  The grand picture was the swarming, and then... (More)

The boys (and Heather has enjoyed it too - I haven't gotten to it yet) have really been enjoying Khan Academy this last week.  It is an educational tool, with lots of questions to test you on different skills.  Jonathan is especially motivated by the reward badges it gives you when... (More)

9/13 - A Friday. Jonathan had been asking me if he could read Harry Potter for a while.  I told him I needed to talk to Daddy about whether we thought he was ready, but I kept forgetting.  The strategy that worked was asking me in Daddy's presence so I didn't have time to forget. ... (More)

Thursday morning, we wake up to find mouse droppings and other evidence all over the kitchen.  Result: big kitchen scrubdown. Friday morning, Noah wakes up to find that the silly putty he fell asleep with is now melted into his pants, sheets, and blanket. Result: big fabric scrubdown.... (More)

Oh, yes.  It has been half a year since my last pocket notes post... 9/6 - Joy says "yum" and "yummy", "all done/gone" (sounds like ah-doh), "where shoe?", and "mine" (sounds like my) 9/25 - Faith reading the Bible to Joy: "When you want Mommy to cuddle with you but she can't, you... (More)

My due date was February 21. Jonathan, Noah, and Faith had all been exactly five days late. Joy was early, but we weren't sure of her date and the more we thought about it the more we figured she probably had been late as well. So we had Linda and Porter schedule their flight to arrive... (More)

How do I begin? Not really at the beginning. June 15, we sold the house we were living in and drove to New Hampshire in two moving trucks and a minivan. (A very hearty and grateful "thank you!" to Ron and Ron for driving the trucks!) The days preceding that day were extremely full,... (More)

4/11 - Jonathan likes to be creative with lunches.  He made dill pickle and mustard sandwiches that day. He liked it. As I was keeping track of rainbows I was struck by how many days were sunny.  April 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, 25 4/14 - Faith's first... (More)

More than a month's worth of notes... 10/3 - Joy's diaper was dry all night long.  She went in the potty three or four times.  This was exciting to me and so the next night I prepared to be diaperless.  I spread a waterproof pad, with towels on top.  But she and I are so... (More)

Jon was with a bunch of people we don't see often last night, and one of the men mentioned that his wife was discouraged by all these homeschooling mother-of-many type blogs where everyone has all their lives together and nothing goes wrong.  So I thought I'd post how my life is not... (More)