I saw this very cute and very true video over at Generation Cedar this morning. It covers one aspect of the socialization issue that homeschooled families are frequently questioned about.

This is not necessarily an argument for homeschooling or against public school.  It’s simply answering the socialization question I am oh-so-familiar with.

In truth, we don’t hold socialization to the same level of importance that the general population does.  It just isn’t a biblical concept. 

I know, I know.  Some of you may not agree and that’s fine. 

However, in our efforts to raise our children to have good character, to be able to respectfully and comfortably interact with a community of people of all ages, and to have an overall desire to serve God; peer to peer socialization, the sort that is seen in the average public school, kinda takes a backseat.

That being said, we have been blessed to live in a country and time period that does allow our children terrific, beneficial friendships and play time with other kids, even though we have chosen to keep them away from public school doors. 

And I know because of how we have chosen to raise our children we have friend’s and family who are concerned about their friend situation. Let me put you at ease.  Here are pictures of the friends they’ve managed to make without any prompting or pushing from me.  Friends that range in ages, backgrounds, and beliefs. 

This is my daughter’s large group of very close friends. Some of her friends are missing from the picture.  Joe is slowly moving into this group, too.  Or at least that’s the goal.  These kids are great.

These are my boys’ friends – all these kids live within a half a block of our house.  They play outside together just about every day.

My grass is dead because of them.  The landlord isn’t exactly cool with it and it’ll cost us some money to repair it.

But I’m okay with that.

I had to make another quick run to Publix tonight for dog food ingredients.  We make our dog food from scratch – just to explain.

Anyway, I’m at Publix minding my own business and I see this guy.  This man who appeared to be well into adulthood.  This grown man who was sporting just the smallest dusting of gray hair…

I’m just sayin’.  The guy didn’t appear to be some young, lazy college kid. 

He was pushing his buggy in Publix wearing these brightly colored pajama bottoms with comic books characters all over them.  Apparently he’d forgotten to change into respectable attire before making his trip to the local grocer.

I just had to shoot a picture.  I tried to be sly, hoping he wouldn’t notice.

Wait. Isn’t that….

Hey – I know this guy!

I’m actually married to him!

This kind of silliness isn’t unlike my husband.  Not long ago he went to Walmart in a friend’s kid’s wig.

I didn’t go with them that time but Daughter did.  She shot this picture of him looking stellar in the office supply section.

I thought the hat and sunglasses were a nice touch.

Everybody is working to clean the house right now.  They’re all up doing jobs - even Jesse is helping out by standing watch with his eyebrows drawn and wielding his plastic sword.

It lights up.  It’s very intimidating.

The walls are getting cleaned, the kitchen floor is getting mopped, the laundry is getting put away.  The kitchen chairs have all been given a thorough wipe down.  The worker bees are working hard.

Except me.  I’m sitting on the couch blogging.

I’m like the queen bee I guess. My job is to eat and have babies.

Contractions started up this past week.  While this is very normal for me – and actually a few weeks later than they normally start up, it can be very uncomfortable and I have more of a need to sit.  Or stand sometimes - whichever the belly is requiring at the time.

Plus, growing one life from scratch while sustaining another can be quite exhausting.
I’m saying that I’m tired again.

I am getting pretty darn good at milking this.

It smells like bleach.  Kait’s got this thing about disinfecting.  Sometimes it drives me crazy but it does cause her to be a more thorough cleaner.  And I can appreciate that aspect of her mild germ-phobia. The kitchen floor is now clean enough to eat off of. 

At least until one of the boys realizes it’s clean.

Our boys take issue with clean floors.  They would never admit to this, of course. But Kait and I find it quite obvious.

They also take issues with clean walls.  And clean clothes. And clean anything, really.

Boys are just dirty.  Sometimes mine get so dirty I have to look hard to tell them apart.  And they think the word fart is a bad word that is only acceptable to use at the dinner table.  In its proper context, of course. 

I’ve got 6 of these little guys.  I know a little about this.

Once upon a time, a long, long time ago, I instituted rules against dirt and farting. 

I am so naive sometimes.

…was what I’d call a less-than-blog worthy day. 

We went to the new church, ate good food, came home.  I missed our old church more than usual today.  But for some reason our new church was pretty darn good anyway. The people are nice and the pastor has shown his undeniable love for The Word and for his congregation.

But still. 
I miss home.

Ryan and I ran back to Publix this evening.  We filled up our 5 gallon water jugs so we didn’t have to drink pool or soap tasting water.

Like I said, there isn’t much interesting to tell.
There was no run to the nuts and bolts isle.  No crazy biker guy.  No giant food.  No talk of women’s unmentionables.

It was just a good, relaxing Sunday. 

Once today when I wasn’t looking my daughter hijacked my blog to tell me, and I guess all of you guys, too, how awesome a mom she thinks I am.  She is an amazingly sweet almost 16 year old - and I’m so glad she likes me. 

[wipes away tear]

I’ve prayed for Kait’s teenage years since she was a little bitty thing. God has answered by growing her into an unbelievably delightful young lady. 
I’ve prayed for her soul since she was a toddler. God has answered by guiding her to Him and giving her a heart to serve Him. 
But it never occurred to me to ask God for Kait to like me when she was a teenager because that’s just unheard of, right? But we do genuinly like each other. And that, in this country, in this day and age, is a gift from God.

So bonus!

I guess in the end today was most certainly blog worthy.  Kait reminded me again how blessed I am as a mother.  That even in my imperfections God is working miraculously in my family.

And that makes this one undeniably incredible day.

Hey Mom. This is your daughter. I’m hacking your blog cause I want to tell you something:
You are awesome. Definitely the best mom ever. If anyone was smart, they’d give you an award.
I’m not sure how you’ve put up with me all these years. Im sure it takes great talent. GREAT talent. Like “great” as in lots. Of talent. I’m sure I could never do it.
Anywho. I’ll dispense with the pleasantries.
You’re amazing. I’m so glad God saw fit to bless me with a mom as dear and loving as you. You’re such a dork, and I’m sure that’s where I get it from. I’m glad.
I love you so much and I hope one day I can be as good a mother to my children as you are to me.

Thanks for being awesome.

Your daughter,
Kait(y)

So, here we are at this party I didn’t want to go to.  I don’t know these people.  Everybody is kinda looking at us like we’re party crashers who don’t belong.  Lots of double takes and squinty eyes.  I guess they aren’t all really squinting at us, but more because they are trying to place us. 
Plus, I’m always tired at night. And sometimes, with little warning, I throw up in the evening.

I’ve been talking a little too much about vomit on here lately.
Sorry. 

And just like any proper church party, there is food.  Lots and lots of good food.  Meatballs.  None of which I could eat of course. And there were a bunch of grandma types who didn’t understand why I wasn’t eating.  Like I was starving myself or something. They blamed my husband and said things like, well he really should get you a plate of food.

I was THISCLOSE to going into great detail about why I couldn’t eat right then.  You know, just to make them understand.  But I didn’t.  Probably a wise choice considering we were still those people we don’t know who may or may not be party crashers. 

There were around 50 people participating in the exchange. As if guided by an unseen force, Ryan moved from a comfortable spot on one side of the over crowded room to the complete other side where there was less space.  I followed him. I didn’t know anybody yet. 
As it turned out, the side Ryan and I had moved to was the more rowdy bunch.  Though it wasn’t until after the game started that we realized this.  It had to be pure providence that we ended up on the appropriate side.

I smelled alcohol on somebody.  I learned later that there was some secret drinking going on in the Mickey Mouse room. 

It’s okay though.  They’re Presbyterian.

At one point I was purposely standing up on the outskirts of the room where I was constantly scolded and commanded to sit, sit, sit.  To which I said I really need to stand right now, but thanks for offering the chair.

Apparently I was talking to somebody who couldn’t hear.

After we’d convinced enough people that we weren’t party crashers the event got considerably more awesome – even though I was constantly being parented about food and chairs, which turned out to just add to the humorous quirkiness of the evening. 

The rise in the level of awesomeness might have had something to do with the people we were sitting near for the gift exchange.  They were hilarious and sometimes a little too rowdy.  If ya know what I mean.

So much for my ‘stuffy’ view of the Presbyterian crowd.

We spent most of the evening laughing with them.  So much so that once Ryan almost fell out of his chair for it.  And that was over the gift that we brought, which made everything even more awesome.

At the end of the night the older, great grandma type lady who really, really wanted me to sit down, asked to take a look at the glittery ornament I got in the exchange because she couldn’t see it well from across the room when I opened it.

Me, trying to be polite, held out the glitter shedding atrocity and said, it’s this pretty little ornament.

Then she said, with a look of disgust on her face, Oh my Lord.  That’s possibly the ugliest thing I’ve ever seen.  Maybe you should just wrap it back up and carry it to your next gag gift party.

Since I’m completely against anything with glitter, I bonded with her over that statement.  Glitter would definitely go into my don’t-like book if I ever wrote one.  So, I laughed with her and she was instantly forgiven for trying to force me into one of her little fold up chairs.

Oh – and the gift Ryan ended up leaving with… 
3 tall stemmed votive candle holders with humming birds on them. 

He thought they were some kind of weird fancy shot glasses – as did a number of the rowdy crowd men.

And that was awesome.

How to fool somebody when you’re only seven, and he’s, like, a really smart dad person.

Dad: Child, why are you going outside without your shoes on?

Child:  My shoes are in the backyard.  I’m just now going outside to get them.

Dad: How did your shoes end up in the backyard?

Child: Well, yesterday I was playing outside in the backyard. And while I was walking around my shoes just slipped off my feet and I didn’t realize it.  Then it was time to come in.

Dad: Your shoes just slipped off your feet without you noticing and right afterwards you had to come inside?

Child:  Well, they slipped off.  Then later we had to come inside and I forgot they had slipped off.

Dad: Are we talking about your converse?

Child: Yes.

Dad: Your converse slipped off your feet.  Did you have them tied?

Child: Yes.  But they came untied before they slipped off.

Dad: So let me understand.  This is what you’re telling me.   You had your converse on your feet and they were tied.  Then they came untied and slipped off your feet without you noticing.  Then you came inside and forgot to bring them in. Is this what you’re saying?

Child: Um…  
               Um…
               Yes.

Way to go son!  I think you may have pulled the wool over his eyes on this one!

We’re so proud.

We’re off to the Lowes this time.

Guess Ryan was too fast at Home Depot. Forgot to pick up some brand spankin’ new shiny metal pieces.

It’ll be the nuts and bolts section for me again.

There will be no living with him after this.

That was the original end to my post. 
But wait…

*an oh-my-goodness edit – there is this biker dude, um, not my husband, in the nuts and bolts isle who is mad! Not crazy mad. Angry mad.

Well maybe a little crazy mad too.

They don’t have the bolt he’s looking for.  He’s expecting them to poof it out of thin air I guess. 
I would suggest he ask Santi Clause but something tells me that won’t help the situation. His wife keeps asking him to just calm down, it’ll be okay, and can we please just go to Walmart?

Biker guy’s response: no, it’s not okay and no we’re not going to Walmart!

I give serious kudos to the employee helping him. He’s being extremely kind and professional.

We should have gone to Home Depot, I think. Or maybe not. This employee is really being exceptional.  He’s making my opinion of this store grow. In a good way.

I really want to take video. 
Well, Almost.  I’m just a little sure that might not be right.  You know, being that I’m a good Christian girl.

And there is also the question of what if he finds out he’s being captured?  He’s a little scary.

Not in a hurt me kind of way, I’m absolutely sure my husband could take him.

But that might be after biker guy crushes my phone. 

And then how would I blog from the nuts and bolts isle again?

In the tool section of Home Depot this time.
This is me being the good wife again.

Nobody is greasy today. But the balding guys are wearing their favorite winter caps.

Cause it’s like 50 degees outside. I guess that could make a hairless man a little chilly.

The only women I see are the employees. One solicited clean water to us. I wonder how she could tell by looking at us that we were toilet water drinkers.
It was a little weird.

We’re actually at the checkout now!
This was our fastest Home Depot trip ever – I wonder if Ryan has a fever or something.

Ooohhh… Maybe now we have time to stop at Walmart.

Ryan surprised me by taking me out to dinner last night because, well, he’s like awesome. 
We ended up at this little mom and pop bar and grill that resembled a made-over barn called Murray’s Grille.

On biker night. 

We didn’t know it was biker night till we were getting out of the car because there was only one bike in the parking lot.  It wouldn’t have mattered anyway. 
2003 Harley Road King Anniversary Edition we lovingly call Miss Schaffer.  Yeah - my husband is a biker.  

The man can fit in anywhere, I swear.

There were some very loud big guys sitting at the bar.  I couldn’t hear what they were saying but they were laughing hard and loud so it was funny anyway.

The gal working the seating asked us how many.  Ryan said dos por favor. Seater gal stopped chewing her gum, looked at him with a blank stare, and asked how many? again.

Ryan said, just two.

It was very down-home if you know what I mean.

I ordered fried green tomatoes (my favorite), fried okra, and the bristol burger.

I don’t think the burger was named after the Palin kid though.  That would make it a little too down home.

The fried green tomatoes were quite satisfactory.  It was actually one fried green tomato.  One tomato sliced, battered, and fried to perfection.  However, it was $7.  We paid $7 for a tomato.  I thought that was a bit steep.  I had expected more when I saw the price.

But they served us the cutest little rolls that you ever did see for free. 

Then it happened. 

I saw it coming from across the room.
I didn’t pay attention because there is no way I ordered that.  It was just way too big and I don’t do big food.  I’m 72 weeks pregnant. Big food makes me nauseated.

But it was mine.

And it was huge.

I added my sauces and went to work trying to get the bun to stay on top of the burger.  This required some muscle as I had to squish the top down on to the burger with some force to make it small enough to fit in my hands.

Here’s a post-squish picture.

I took this picture with my phone and it’s almost awesome
I’m gettin’ there

I was seriously having trouble holding the massive mound of food with one hand while I took the picture.  And by the time I was done with preparing it for consumption, Ryan was just about finished his meal.

He got the pulled pork.  Which was absolutely delicious.  But a tad less blog-worthy than it.

I ate 3 bites.  Then asked for a box.

Now it’s sitting in my fridge.  I’ll be nibbling on it all day long.  Because it is really, really good.  Seriously good. 

It’ll probably really take all day for me to eat it too.  My stomach is the size of a grape.  You know those huge green ones they’re selling at Walmart right now that are so perfectly sweet and delicious? 

No, not one of those - one of the regular sized ones.

I may have to make a run to Walmart this morning.