Around the House and Other Stuff

District Food Show

2009-02-08T21:47:00.005-06:00

I don't know if you remember way back in November the kids participated in the County 4-H Food Show. Emily won as a Clover Kid. They all win and don't go on to District. This is just for the younger ones to get the general idea of how to compete. However,Brandon won first place in the intermediate level, Bread and Cereal category for his fried rice. So, this last Saturday was the District Competition in Nacogdoches. Check in was at 9 AM. Which means we got up at 5 AM so he could make his dish and put it in a tote with the gel pack that keeps it warm and was on the road by 7 AM. Those who know me, KNOW nothing but sheer love could have me up at those hours! He was through being judged fairly early. Then we waited....waited...and waited. The awards ceremony was finally held around...I want to say 3 PM. It was all worth it though because he won a third place plaque and ribbon. He is very proud and ready to win first place next time.

Vivaldi's Ring of Mystery

2009-02-06T18:07:00.003-06:00

East Texas Symphony Orchestra

Classical Kids Live! Vivaldi's Ring of Mystery

The award winning series of Classical Kids recordings is brought to life on stage as actors join Per Brevig and the ETSO to present Vivaldi's Ring of Mystery. The story follows the young orphan Katarina, whose encounter with Antonio Vivaldi changes her life forever. The program features over 20 works of Vivaldi interwoven with the story. It's a concert your entire family will want to experience!

Emily and I didn't get to go to this one, but Brandon went with some family friends and really enjoyed it. I knew he would because he likes going to the Nutcracker each year and loves the Trans Siberian Orchestra.

Junie B. Jones

2009-01-23T18:05:00.002-06:00

JUNIE B. JONES - The Musical

Back by popular demand! In this musical based on the books by Barbara Park, Junie B. Jones readies for the first grade having just graduated kindergarten. Only new friends, a new teacher and new glasses can be very challenging. Even for the irrepressible Junie B! Follow her adventures as she writes everything down in her "top-secret personal beeswax" journal.

I took Emily to this. It was sooo cute. Very entertaining. It had a simple set but was really fast paced, funny, and had engaging actors and songs. There was not a dull moment. The kids just sat on the edge of their seats. It had them captured from the very beginning.

Our Dogs Are Nuts....

2009-01-22T11:51:00.002-06:00

Every three ring circus has a dog act and our household is no exception.
Here is a count down of exactly why I've decided our little pack of pooches are completely nuts.

4. Brandon's Chihuahua/Jack Russel will stand in front of you jumping 2 feet into the air repeatedly until you give in and let him in your lap.

3. My old little Terrier has spent the last 9 or so years sleeping on my legs but these last two years has taken to growling at me if I dare to move and disturb his precious sleep.

2. My daughter's Chihuahua/Min Pin ran around the house the other day screaming and yelping hysterically. I was sure it was seriously injured and would have to be rushed in to have a leg set or something. When I finally caught it come to find out it had swallowed some of Emily's hair (that it likes to chew on) and it was distressed by the dingle berry that it had caused!!!!

And the number one reason my dogs are nuts.......

1. My husband's Boston/Boxer gets startled very easily and is a tad... say....jumpy. Occasionally if she gets frightened in the back yard she'll jump up on this 6 foot fence post. Unfortunately once she is perched up on that post with all 4 feet she can't or won't jump down. So, she sits there crying until my dh misses her and goes looking for her. Now when she doesn't come in when called he automatically goes there to see if she is on the post.

Christmas

2009-01-22T11:42:00.003-06:00

Christmas was pretty much all about well...obviously Christ...but present wise for the kids it was all about American Girls and Archery supplies.

Also, Emily got a puppy. Because Yes By Golly we needed another animal around here. Both the girl and the dog are extremely high strung. It's either a match made in heaven or a friendship bound for disaster.

Look at those little faces...

Two divas and their nap.

Sugar Plum Fairy Castle

2008-12-13T14:25:00.003-06:00

Craft kit + hot glue gun + Mom + Daughter = Sugar Plum Fairy Castle

Christmas Goings-Ons

2008-12-13T09:47:00.008-06:00

We have been a blur of activities. Which is OK because that means the last two weeks of December should be free to shop and stay at home.

First, we went to a local area junior college's performance of the Nutcracker. The kids love this. The first year we went the talked on and on about it for weeks. We have the book too. This year I printed out some coloring pages and talked to them a little about what we were going to see the day before we went. This year all the homeschoolers got put up in the balcony which was new for the kids and slightly dizzying for me. First thing they said when we came out is that it was different from the last Nutcracker performance we'd seen. I guess they thought it would be exactly the same every year...

The performance we saw was more of a warm up for the real thing so it only cost $2.oo per person. Brandon was quite bummed to hear that if I'd take them to the "real" show he would have gotten a chance to hear a live orchestra, see the whole story not a section, and see special guest dancers. What 13 year old boy wants to see a live orchestra? A boy that has discovered the Trans Siberian Orchestra!

That evening I had a Mom's Night Out at a friend's house. We each baked 6 dozen cookies to exchange. So, we went home with a mixture of 6 dozen cookies. This is the first time the family has been all behind me going to be with my friends. They are just now finishing up all those cookies!

As for my friends and I.... we enjoyed a quite night in front of the fire with our original 5 core members of our homeschool group. The only thing that we seem to have in common on the outside is that all 5 of us is that we are all homeschooling Moms. Other than that we are each so different. I love the mixture but most of all I love that we have decided to love each other and value each other for (not despite) our differences. These ladies have become family to me and I always know I can turn to them when needed.

The next day we went to the family showing of Toyland put on by a local theater group. Some of the kids from our group were performing in it. This was such a cute musical! The story is of three sisters (the littlest of which is slightly naughty) that get taken to Toyland by the bed bugs. The bed bugs are working for the evil toy master Jack who turns out to be the littlest girl's discarded jack-in-the-box. In the end Santa saves the day! The kids work so hard practicing several times a week and did 9? performances in all. We saw it on family day (because our homeschool friends are family to us) and again the day our group went as a whole. Emily is still singing the songs from the play!

After Toyland we went to the Christmas parade. BUT not to be IN it. Brandon and Emily went to sell light up Santa hats, necklaces, braclets, teeth, etc to raise money for our 4-H group.

Sunday after church was the December American Girl Tea/Fashion Show with guest speaker. This was a really cute event. It was a "dress up" holiday tea for girls and their mothers. Girls brought their favorite dolls (American Girl or otherwise) to be part of a doll display, and the girls "walked the runway" for a fashion show. Our fashion show announcer was a proffesional belly dancer! LOL The kids got a real kick out of her. I hope she didn't over shadow our speaker too much!

Our special guest was a woman who has paved the way for others in the world of television. Joan Hallmark has appeared for over 30 years on KLTV 7 News in Tyler and her Proud of East Texas has long been an audience favorite. Joan has interviewed hundreds of news makers, including President Bush (both father and son), Nancy Reagan, John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, George Foreman, Hank Aaron, Carol Burnett and many more. She told us what it is like to be a real American Girl and encouraged the girls to believe they could be any thing that they wished as long as the worked for it!

After the AG Tea we headed to meet Brandon and Friends at A Journey with the Wisemen... This was put on by an area church. I was torn between wanting pictures and not wanting to ruin the moment with camera flashes. In the end I decided to skip the pictures and enjoy the moment. They did a really nice job of setting up a Bethlehem market place with animals, sales booths and the works. The show was guided by a Wiseman that walked us through town to witness the birth of Jesus, his crucifixion and resurrection. The emphasis was the true reason of Christmas. Kudos to this church and all the hard work that had to be put into building, acting, and praying for this endeavor.

We stayed the next 2 days with friends in an exercise of spending time with friends covered with the guise of saving gas money by not going home between events....

Tuesday was our group's Christmas party. We had a low turn out for us but we didn't let that stop us! We had several Christmas crafts for the kids to do, lots of good food, and a gift exchange. For the gift exchange we asked we family to bring a board game. One representative from each family stood in a circle and we read the Night before Christmas occasionally replacing a word with pass at which point they would pass the game to the right. When the story was over you got to keep what ever game your holding. Then each child got a stocking with a few presents. After the party our field trip for the month was to go to the Toyland play. We were supposed to go to our 4-H party that evening but considering that we did all the above events starting Friday to Tuesday I just wanted to GO HOME. I felt bad about missing the party. After the low attendance at our event I know how it feels when people don't show up but sheesh I was tired!

We had two days to rest...Well, almost Emily and I still had Awana on Wednesday night.

Finally, we wrapped up on Friday exactly a week from when all the action started by replacing our monthly park day with a showing of Prince Caspian in my church's youth building. Big Thanks to my youth director for setting it up just like our own private Movie Theater complete with popcorn, big screens, surround sound, cocoa and soda! Someone asked if we could do this every Friday! LOL Our youth leader Luke said no problem but I said may be next month for park day!

Brandon has a progressive dinner tonight with the youth group but other than that things our settleing down around here for the rest of December. I purposely made all our plans for early December so we wouldn't be rushing around the last two weeks building up to Christmas. I hope everyone is having a wonderful month! God Bless!

Polar Express

2008-11-24T09:28:00.000-06:00

Mr. Don and Mrs. Lisa took Emily to ride the Polar Express in Palestine. We bought her a special pair of warm fuzzy PJ's with feet in them to keep her warm. She stayed the night with Don and Lisa so when I saw her at church the next day she was bursting with excitement! They bought her the Polar Express book and the conductor signed it, she got a ticket with an "E" cut out of it, she saw candy land?, elves and Santa, and and and she got a bell from Santa's sleigh! She wove such a colorful exciting story of all she saw I'm not even sure how much was real and how much was in her head. I do know Mr. Don and Mrs. Lisa were some tired Children's Church teachers on Sunday morning...something about her staying up late, asking for bacon at midnight and kicking so bad Mr. Don had to sleep on the couch....

Awanas

2008-11-23T00:22:00.006-06:00

What is Awana? “Approved Workmen Are Not Ashamed.” II Timothy 2:15 AWANA is a ministry committed to reaching boys and girls with the gospel of Christ” The meetings are a mixture of games, memorizing bible verses, crafts and listening to bible stories.

Our church is offering classes for ages 3 thru 6^th grade. Each age group has it's own curriculum and cute name. It starts with Puggles: toddlers, Cubbies: preschoolers, Sparks: K - 2nd, T&T (Truth & Training): 3rd - 6th.

This program has been really great for Emily.
She is so proud to have earned her vest!

How did I know I'd end up being Stuffing?

2008-11-22T23:00:00.001-06:00

You Are The Stuffing

You're complicated and complex, yet all your pieces fit together.

People miss you if you're gone - but they're not sure why.

What Part of Thanksgiving Are You?

Mr. Trouble

2008-11-20T23:43:00.000-06:00

Remember Mr. Trouble? I promised I'd come back to him. I made this promise even before anything bad happened. Even though the country girl in me loved the idea of wildlife in the yard some how I knew it was gonna be trouble. Sure enough, about a week after the first sighting I let the dogs out to potty before leaving them in the house for the day and they made a beeline straight for the area the raccoon had been hanging out in. Right away I knew they were after the poor guy. So, I went to get them in.

Here is where I knew something was wrong. The coon was near a tree but just sitting there on the ground with the dogs harassing it. Also, it let me get pretty close while I was running the dogs off. I felt this was wrong but was running late and thought may be it was too scared to move? So, we went ahead and left for the day.

When we came home we had company coming right behind us so I told Brandon to let the dogs out to potty and get them put back up so they wouldn't bark at our expected guests. Guess what...yep, straight at the coon. This time Brandon goes to get them and came back saying the coon wasn't fighting back, just kindda laying on it's back that slapping at the dogs. So, I went over and it was sitting in almost the exact same spot that it was in before. Why wasn't it going to safety up a tree? I went and fetched the neighbor man because he is handy to have around at times like these and we get within say....3 feet of the thing and it just sits looking at us. hmm.... I called City Hall, nope, Animal Control, nope, County Sheriff's office, "Did it bite you or your pets?" Nope can't help you. (A friend pointed out I should have called Texas Department of Wildlife. Duh. I'm so rational sometimes.)

Everyone agreed that something was wrong with this animal. My fear. Rabies. So, the neighbor guy (God Bless his helpful soul) cages it. We know it is sick and want to keep it separate from our pets. We decided to quarantine it for 3 weeks. If it was well at the end of that time we'd release it. We didn't want to kill it if it was unnecessary. At first it ate and drank. We had high hopes.

Soon, though we knew it was dying. Neither of us had the means or heart to kill it. Finally, it died. We burned it's body for fear of the dogs digging it up. Meanwhile, I took all the dogs to renew their rabies shots.

The raccoon was hanging out on the empty lot next door. That is the same place the stray keeps having puppies that always all die. Plus, the lady that used to live there had 5 dogs that all died at once right before she left 5 yrs ago. My theory is that land is some how full of animal diseases. We are now keeping a very close eye on our pets.

Poor Mr. Trouble. I hope he doesn't have any relatives hangout next door. I think the thrill of wildlife in our yard has passed.

November American Girl Book Club

2008-11-15T23:09:00.000-06:00

1932
A girl of Depression-era America and Kit Kittredge's best friend.

Ruthie loves fairy tales-and happy endings. She'd also love to help Kit, whose family is struggling through the Great Depression. When Ruthie learns the Kittredges are having trouble paying the mortgage on their house, she decides to find a way to reach Kit's Aunt Millie in hopes of creating a real-life happy ending.

This month's AG Book Club meeting was really cool because we had a surprise field trip to the museum next door to the library which was built in 1904. The lovely lady who guided us started working there when it was the Tyler Library in the early 1940's. Not only that she used that library when she was a school child. Her name is Mary Jane and she was about 4 foot tall and packed with wit and knowledge. I absolutely fell in love with her on sight. This building was crammed packed, every inch with historical paraphernalia! However, some of my favorite things was the simple. Like the steps into the building were worn in the middle to a sway shape from the years of feet going in and out. I still say the best gem in building was Mary Jane herself. Wonderful story teller! I took lots of pictures of neat things but I'm going to refrain from posting all of them and just post a few of what took us to the museum in the first place which was the 1930's kitchen set up to show the girls, "No, really... they really did use stuff like this!" LOL

Opps, the photos don't exactly line up
for a perfect full shot of the room.
But you get the idea.

Ok, I had to post one of Mary Jane.
Isn't she precious!

PS. I you haven't seen the Kit Kittredge movie yet you soooo should!

November's Meeting and Field Trip

2008-11-11T00:43:00.000-06:00

We decided to do our monthly field trip the same day as our group meeting. It was kind of a emergency worker day. I was bummed that not more people got this opportunity because it stormed pretty hard that morning and both the meeting and field trip had low turn outs as a result. Those of us that came anyway were really blessed!

First, we had a couple of EMT's come talk to the kids for our meeting. They spent about an hour telling all about their jobs, what they do, how to become a paramedic, continued education, safety, what to do in different emergency situations, what happens when you call 911 and urged every one to learn CPR. To finish it off they let us look through the truck and sounded the siren. This was a great meeting. Very informative. The kids really listened and I could tell they were taking it all in.

After the paramedics were through for our field trip we headed over to the Athens Fire Department. These guys are great! We went a couple of years ago but had another event after them and had to leave when they obviously were willing to spend a lot more time with us. This time we didn't leave until they showed us and talked to us about EVERYTHING! These men were so patient. If a child had a question or an "um, one time my Mommy..." story they listened to it and answer it. They let the kids see everything from their bedroom to every single compartment on each truck. They let them touch stuff and try stuff on. After the tour they sat the kids down and went through fire safety, how to become a fireman, what it is like to be a fireman, what happens on a call, on and on. They had gifts for the kids and took the time to pose with the kids in pictures. I've always taught my kids to respect the police, fire men, and paramedics but I think all the kids came out of this day with a new awe of respect for these heroic men and women. I know I did!

Two Weeks with Grandma Snider

2008-11-09T11:45:00.002-06:00

Grandma Snider has been here for a two week visit. We've had so much fun. I haven't had time to post but I have been taking pictures, lots and lots of pictures. So here is a photo diary of our time with Grandma.

While she was here Grandma had her 77th birthday.
Emily helped bake her cake and decorated it all by herself.

Grandma enjoyed watching the kids making Jack-O-Lanterns. I took the kids to Walmart to get free Halloween pictures taken. Aren't those great? We have always gone to our church's Fall Festival but I begged out of working it this year so we could do something different. This year we decided to split up to better meet the ages of the kids. Cecil took Emily Trick or Treating. I think this was her first time ever. It was so sweet that she had her Daddy all to herself for the night. I took Brandon to meet some friends of ours and attended their church's Halloween party with them. The party was great, the hay ride was long and cold, her church folks are gold but I must say you truly know your partying in Texas when a rooster is strutting around your feet. After the party we all went over for Brandon's first ever haunted house. Ours is a fundraiser for the local fire department so that was a bonus! We made it home around midnight and Emily was still up waiting for us. Fun night. I think we'll all remember the year we did something different!

One afternoon we took Grandma over to the Texas Freshwater Fish Hatchery . After wards we went for a picnic at the East Texas Arboretum. I didn't get any pictures there because my camera is eating batteries like crazy!

On the way home we stopped so I could vote. We live in a small town so there is virtually no wait. The kids have always been able to go with us and watch the whole thing. This time Brandon sat in the car with Grandma. Although he likes to talk about politics he has kind of been there done that on watching us vote. So, I just took Emily in with me. I voted on a machine. So, I let her punch in my code and hit enter when it was called for. She was so proud to vote. I hope they both always remember what I've taught them about being an American, our freedoms, and how important it is to VOTE.

On another day we took her the Brookshire's Wildlife Museum. This is a neat little place and completely free of charge. As you might glean I forgot my camera this day so your stuck with my tiny little camera phone pictures. This museum has a lot of real animals that have been stuffed so you can get really close. The polar bear really makes me feel tiny. It also has a neat little 1920's store and a nice playground. This is a small museum but crammed packed with neat stuff. Grandma said she liked this place best of all. Emily and Brandon like it because I always buy them a giant jawbreaker in the gift shop.

The day we came home from the Brookshire's Museum our dogs treed this guy. This story is actually on going and I'll surely address Mr. Trouble in a blog in the near future.

Right before Grandma went home she also got to go the the 4-H food show to see the kids compete. Brandon made fried rice and served on out of a Japanese dish w/ chop sticks displayed on a Japanese tapestry. All three items sent to us from Japan. Emily competed as a Clover Kid in nutritious snacks. She made a peanut butter and honey tortilla roll up. As a Clover Kid Emily automatically won for participation. Brandon also won for his age group in his food category. He will be going to district to compete in February.

Grandbaby's First Picture

2008-10-24T20:47:00.000-05:00

CSI:Live

2008-10-24T20:11:00.002-05:00

Mad Science Productions presents "CSI:Live!," an exciting interactive journey through the fascinating world of crime scene investigations. Based on the popular television series, CSI: Live! incorporates cutting-edge forensic science, unparalleled audience interaction and amazing visual effects into a fast-paced, mind-blowing production. With tons of audience interaction, cool technology, and thrilling special effects, this 60-minute adventure will entertain and educate its audience like no other production.

Brandon and I went to the much anticipated CSI Live show today. I forgot my good camera so I just got these few shots with my wimpy little camera on my phone. Still they are better than nothing. This was a neat show. Brandon and I are true science nerds . I had long ago let him start watching CSI. Some of his other faves are Mythbusters, Dirty Jobs, Most Extreme, Smash Lab, and something called Destroyed in Seconds.. Point is this show was right up our alley. Forensic science is so cool! OK, well.... we think so anyway. If this show comes your way it was only $6.00 a person and well worth it if your into this kind of stuff!

Basic idea was they start the show off with a crime. Relax Mom & Dad the victim is just hurt not killed and there is no blood or gore. This show is directed for children. Any way an investigation ensues with audience participation. The cast (a whole two people) sticks around afterward for meet and greet. Good stuff and fun had by all.

HSM3

2008-10-24T20:00:00.000-05:00

A friend and I took our little Divas to HSM3 today.
HSM3 Senior Year. *sigh
Is the journey really over?
Will our girls recover?
Exactly how many more times will I end up seeing this movie?
Were the Divas really as excited to see it today as their Mothers?
Only time will tell.

Check Up

2008-10-22T21:00:00.001-05:00

Brandon and Emily went in for their 6 month dental check up and all was good! Now if I can just get Emily to let me pull the tooth that has been barely hanging on all week..... And don't even get me started on her keeping the teeth. She insists on writing notes to the tooth fairy asking her nicely to leave the money without taking her precious teeth.

First Year of 4-H

2008-10-20T21:15:00.000-05:00

This is our first year in 4-H and sometimes I feel a little overwhelmed. To tell you the truth I don't think I could do it without my friend that already knows the ropes. She is practically leading me by the hand. However, we are really enjoying it.

First of all, it has given Brandon archery which he has really just thrown himself into full steam. Brandon has always been easy going with not a speck of competitiveness in him. He is truly content at doing a so so job at just about anything. This the first time I've seem my son actually willing to do whatever it takes to excel. In short, he has found his "thing" and I'm really proud of him. But there are so many more opportunities!

Here is a picture of recent community service: The kids donated stuffed animals to the hospital to
help when they have to draw blood from scared children.

Here are pictures of Brandon & Emily at Archery:

Perhaps she shouldn't shoot straight UP? Ya think?

Daddy came to Archery this time. It made Brandon's day.
I forgot to take pictures at Rifle this time and it is only once a month.
So, I guess you'll just have to wait to see...
yet another shot of Brandon's back as he uses a weapon. LOL

Here are the kids at Food Fun Night:

This was more or less a food and nutrition class. They also learned about food safety and comparison shopping. I was really impressed that Emily sat and listened so well. They also learned about a Food Show that they will participating in; in early November. Originally I just signed Emily up for this project but Brandon asked if he could do it too. I didn't even think about how much he loves food! Duh, this project is just a natural for him!

Still coming....who knows what. Emily is supposed to do Clothing and Textiles at some point and our group is really holding out for a Dog Care project. I know one thing there are 101 ways for a child to learn, grow and be active in their community through 4-H. If your worried that you don't own a cow, stop worrying and find a local group for your children!

American Girl Book Club

2008-10-18T22:39:00.001-05:00

Details: Very Funny, Elizabeth
A girl of Colonial America and Felicity Merriman's best friend

Emily meets a friend no matter where she goes. It was this little girl's first book club meeting. She had just moved here apparently and Emily not only stuck right by her for the book reading, games, craft and snack. She even let her hold one of her "daughters" through the meeting because she didn't have one. So sweet! If only she was this giving all the time. Just joking but her unselfish behavior this particular day really was a proud mommy moment for me.

This meeting actually was one of my favorites so far. It was pulled together so well. I think next month is Ruthie. They are doing the "friends" books this year. We don't have any of those books so we'll just follow along best we can. We're really looking forward to December. From what I hear we will have a real American Girl (woman old enough to have lived history) to come talk to us, a fashion show and a tea! I'm having so much FUN having a daughter! I plan to make the best out of every second we have together!

What the Pumpkins Are Up To...

2008-10-14T18:59:00.000-05:00

At our last ACTS meeting the kids painted pumpkins and took them to a local nursing home to donate for decorations. They worked hard on them and seemed proud to give them away. The activities director introduced us to a couple of ladies that could really use visitors and the kids did their magic. It was so sweet to see the happiness the kids could dish out by just passing out a hug! I plan to try to take them to visit their new "grandmas" soon.

History Fun

2008-10-11T15:18:00.000-05:00

This year we are using The Mystery of History II. Brandon seems to be enjoying this curriculum more than all the other history curriculum we've used in the past. Dare I say, we've finally found the perfect history curriculum for us? Gee, it's only taken us 5 years of homeschooling to hit pay dirt!

Here is his Time Line. I followed the book's advice and just bought a package of historical figures. He really likes this method better. The time line will fold up to for an easy put away...say, under the couch...or you can hang it on the wall to work with it. I just leave it up on the wall.

He has done a few little projects already this year. Nothing big but he has enjoyed them and I do feel confident that this is a curriculum he "gets" with very little necessary input from me. That kind of makes me sad because I love history and think I'd enjoy this study myself but at least I don't HAVE to help him which means he can do history even if I'm busy. I guess I could catch up and read the lessons in my spare time....LOL

Any way, here are a few of little things he has done along with his lessons:

When he studied the Dead Sea Scrolls he tried to duplicate the environment the scrolls were found in so you'd see how the salt preserved them. He boiled salt in water and left the paper in a tray of the salt water in the sun to evaporate. So, the paper ends up covered in salt crystals and stiff. Also by accident he found that it was also at least slightly fire proof! How about that?

Here he made a copy of the Apostle's Creed and then made the paper look aged by crumpling, soaking in strong tea water, drying it out and burning the edges. Around this time is when he discovered that the sea salt paper wouldn't burn. We then mounted it under self sealing plastic to put in his notebook.

This is a topographic map of Israel made of salt dough to remind him of the Salt Sea. The little flags are places where important things that he has studied so far this year have happened. It's not supposed to be quite so flour-y but we had a hard time with the dough sticking to us and not the cardboard. This was messy and not quite perfect but a nice break from the ordinary map worksheet.

Cherokee Trace Safari & Tiger Creek Refuge

2008-10-07T16:23:00.000-05:00

Daddy took some time off work recently and we took some time off school (surprise, surprise). We used this time mostly to catch up on things that were falling apart around the house. However, we did spend one day together just having fun. First, we went to a close by drive thru Safari, Cherokee Trace. It mostly contains deer and cattle type wildlife, very few what most people would consider exotic. Still, it was often just jaw dropping to see these animals up close. I was surprised how hard it is to get good pictures because once the animals surround the car they are too close to snap shots of! Many would run to the car and simply beg. A few could care less that we were there. We never saw the kangaroos (which was disappointing). I was prepared to love the llamas (which we did of course). I was not prepared to fall in love with the bison. The pictures do not do them justice and I didn't get many of them because they surrounded the car and Cecil made us roll the windows up. They are amazingly cute! Their noses kind of stick up a little like a pug or pig and their eyes seem so sweet and innocent. Any way, Loved loved loved the bison!

After the Safari we went over to the Tiger Creek Refuge which some of you might have seen on Animal Planet's show Growing up Tiger. It is a small-ish place but they are trying so hard to love and care for these animals and are working on building larger habitats. The guide took the time to let us know about each cat, their special personality and how they came to be there. Even though we all know that these are savage beasts that can turn at the drop of a hat it still was hard not to see a little of our cat Snowy in them. This was Brandon's favorite stop of the day.

Well, I have more to post on recent events and activities but we're currently running behind on getting ready to head out to Awanas. So, I guess it'll have to wait until the next time I can steal a few minutes to myself to post.

Emily's Extra Curricular Activities

2008-10-03T03:08:00.003-05:00

Our church has finally gotten an Awana's program! Emily is a Spark! This is a wonderful program and I think Emily will love it! Here is a picture of her at game time during the very first meeting.

I also have her signed up for All American 4-H. Her projects will be in Food and Nutrition and Clothing and Textiles.

She will be going to the monthly American Girl Book Club at a local library.

When we remember them we'll go to the Home Depot and Lowe's kid's clinics. She loves those.

I haven't decided if she'll do children's choir this year.

I've also gone to a local dance studio and checked into the price of putting her in tumble and ballet. We just have to talk Daddy into it!

Brandon's Early Christmas

2008-10-03T01:40:00.005-05:00

Even though I haven't really mentioned here lately, we have indeed started our "school" year. Brandon has some really great curriculum and I have high hopes for this his seventh grade year. However, he personally is most excited about our newest extra-curricular activity we added this year. We joined the All American 4-H group and he is doing Rifle and Archery. He is doing so/so in rifle and I think it has dampened his enthusiasm a bit. He doesn't like the prone position they make you start out in and he can't move up to standing until he conqures prone. I think with more practice at home and better scores, his interest will rise back up for rifle. Now, on the other hand Archery he loves! So much so, that we went ahead and made the investment in buying him his own bow. Yes, he is a very proud boy! He even gracefully accepted that this meant he would not get much for Christmas.

Wordless Wednesday?

2008-10-01T22:36:00.000-05:00

A Drama Queen and Her Bubba

2008-09-25T19:49:00.004-05:00

Things can get pretty irritating around here. By that I mean why in the h-e-l-l-o do these two kids have to fuss and fight and pick and whine 24/7!?? What happened to that extra special super close bond they were supposed to build being at home together and homeschooling? Yesterday they were right in normal form until when about 1/2 way through the day I decided I had had enough.

Let me set up the scene: I was busy (ok preoccupied....ok obsessed with fixing my blog's template) and asked Brandon to help his sister with her school work. Now I know she can be let's say.....a brat... at times especially to her big brother but he in turn has developed this habit of growling at her. He just talks so roughly and snaps at her it seems constantly. As I sat in my room I kept hearing this over and over and finally I had had enough. So, I called him into my room and asked him to find the paddle. (It seems I spank my children so often that the thing can turn up missing for weeks without anyone knowing it was gone.) While he was looking for the paddle, because it was indeed no where to be seen, he would pass his sister and growl at her for getting him in trouble. See... they thought he was in trouble for not helping her to do her work not realizing that it was his attitude that had sent me over the edge.

So, here he is all mad stomping around the house looking for the object of his impending doom when Emily came into my room. She had her serious face on and I could tell she meant business. She walked right up to me and took my hand in both of hers so as to have my full attention. She looks me straight in the eye and says in a tiny little voice,

Emily: "Mommy, you shouldn't spank Bubba because it's not his fault."
Mom: "It's not. Well, then who's fault is it?"
Emily: "It's mine. He tried to help me do my work but I told him to leave me alone."
Mom: "So, he shouldn't get a spanking?"
Emily: "No. "
Mom: "Well, who do you think should get the spanking?"
Emily: "I should."
Mom: "You think you should get a spanking instead of Bubba?"
Emily: "Yes Ma'am , It's all my fault. Don't spank him. Spank me."

Now, at this point her bottom lip is sticking out a tad and trembling, her eyes are red, silent tears are trickling down her face. Sweet wispy strands of hair have worked loose from her braid and are sticking to her wet face. Her tiny little nose is kindda swished up. She is SO sincere. She is breaking my heart! About this time Brandon came into the room looking suspicious. I could read his mind, "What's this monster done gone and done to me now." So, I called him over, put my hand under her shaking little chin to tilt her head up to his face. I asked him to look at her in the eye. As he did I saw his countenance visibly soften. Then I dropped the bombshell.

Mom: "Brandon you see this little face, this little face that you have snapped at and growled at all day long?"
Brandon: "Yes, Ma'am." said a little humbly.
Mom: "This little face just asked to take your spanking in your place. She said it was her fault and not yours."

Brandon's eyes tear up a little, his hard shell is dropped. He is broken.

Mom: "Now, is this is the same person you yell and growl at. Do you think now may be you can see what I'm saying and quit being so dog gone mean to her? She loves you."
Brandon: "Well, I love her too."

Emily throws herself at her Bubba and they hug and kiss and declare they love each other....... but as they leave the room I hear her pipe up in that dramatic gasp-y voice she uses sometimes,

"You should be grateful! I just saved your life!"

Lessons Gone to the Dogs

2008-09-25T19:43:00.002-05:00

Dobie: "Dude, the book is upside down.
I can't make any sense outta this.
What is it written in human or something?"

Sassy: "Just lay back. The boy will read it to you."

Template

2008-09-24T02:01:00.003-05:00

Hmm....I had a really cool template loaded but it needed tweaking....reverted back to old template to work over the new one and now I can't get the cool one back......This stinks.

Edited to add I got the cool template back, but it still needs tweaking.

A Teen

2008-09-23T15:52:00.006-05:00

Oh signs have been coming in for a while now. I had to break down and buy Proactive. He had to start using deodorant and Axe body spray. A faint mustache is forming on his upper lip. He began to like a girl. He now cares if his clothes match... Yes, it has happened, my boy has become a teen. September 14th he turned 13 years old. Ah, the big one three. I had originally planed to have one big bash to celebrate his birthday with style and then move on. You know what they say about the best laid plans, right? This was the birthday that wouldn't die.

First, his Me maw set us up at a Log Cabin style resort for the first week of September. Yep, just one week of the school year in and we took a week off. Regrettably I forgot the camera. It was a nice cabin, fully furnished, dishes, towels, etc. It had a bed room downstairs, 2 beds up stairs and a pull out couch. We had some friends come hang out with us. The kids spent most of the day walking the trails. It was an enjoyable week. BUT I had to come home on Friday to prepare for Emily's party the next day. Then Brandon's was to be the next Saturday.

As I said Brandon's party WAS to be the next Saturday. However, Hurricane Ike had different plans. I doubted seriously that anyone would want to attend a Luau in a hurricane. So, I canceled his party. On the 14th we did take him to pick out his MP3 player. He got a Creative Zen. It was second to the ipod nano and so far we really like it.

My Mom also came over with her presents. Lots of clothes! Yeah! I'm so grateful my children are finally at an age that they like to receive clothes for presents!

His party was tentatively rescheduled for this last Saturday but we all fell ill. Especially Cecil. Brandon had a hacking cough. I just couldn't see it making any sense to have people come to our home just to get sick. So, I canceled again. Then Friday a trip to the doctor's office said we weren't contagious just having severe allergies. *sigh WHATever!......after two days of med's we all felt fine so I went ahead and invited a few of his friends over just so he could at least have his cake!

While we were out Daddy and Emily decorated the house, baked his cake and started supper. When we got home supper was ready. We all ate, then had cake and ice cream. We got him a new game for his Wii (Star Wars: The Force Unleashed). His friends got him a Beatles t-shirt. (He has since had me download a ton of Beatles songs onto his MP3 player because he didn't really "get" who they were. Now he likes his shirt even better.)After cake and ice cream came the silly string war, the sack race and balloon race. I think his birthday is finally over.....

A boy and his Dad.

A boy and his Dog.

A boy and his friends.

American Girls

2008-09-23T15:00:00.006-05:00

Not only did Emily have a way cool party where she really cleaned up on some great new clothes but she got to celebrate her friend Macie's birthday with her too. For Macie's birthday we went to...........American Girl. Is there really need to say more? Does it get better than this?

Now, last Christmas I bought Emily a faux Julie doll to see if I really wanted to hand this child a $100 doll. Not only has she taken excellent care of her, she also sleeps with the annual AG catalog that comes in the mail, she finally watched the Felicity movie (I'm planning on buying all the ones they've made for Christmas.) , I've been reading her the AG books (a wonderful friend loaned us a beautiful set), and she has been to the AG book club at a local library several times. Yes! It was time. She was ready for her very first Real American Girl Doll! She got Samantha! We are currently making a "game plan" on who to buy next and which accessories are necessary, etc.

Her mouth just dropped open as we entered the store.

The dolls can get their hair done while their "mothers" shop.

At the Bistro the A girls get their own highchairs and menus.

A girl and her shopping bag. This was a good day folks!

She fell straight to sleep that night and
didn't even ask once if she could sleep in my bed.

Hurricane Ike

2008-09-22T12:25:00.005-05:00

We were blessed. A few hours without electricity, had to boil our water for a week and a few limbs down in our yard. In fact about half way through the day we went out and sat in the gazebo to grill steaks and baked potatoes. All and all we know we were very blessed to have enjoyed a storm that wrecked havoc on so many others. As we count our blessings, we will also remember others not so lucky in our prayers.

As you can see the trauma of the storm really shook Emily up.

Emily is 7!

2008-09-22T12:14:00.003-05:00

No doubt about it Emily is growing up! Of course it had to be a princess party! Duh! It was fab-u-lous darling!

Bonus: My friends do love me. She got nearly all clothes as presents! No T O Y S! Yes! I felt like it was MY birthday!

Family Sillies

2008-07-29T13:35:00.004-05:00

While going through the old family photo box I found these gems from almost ten years ago and couldn't resist posting them. This was the summer of egg fights and wedgy wars... ah those were the days....

Daddy: "See kids this is why we don't play with
shaving cream in the house!"

Heather: "Please, Daddy, please oh please!
We promise not to make a mess!"

Josh: "You do realize they are both nuts, right?"

Me: "Oh, honey we's gots to do something with this hair!"

Little Boys Grow Up

2008-07-29T11:36:00.004-05:00

Some of you may vaguely remember that I went to my nephews wedding way back in March and said I'd blog more about it later. Yes, I've admit I've put it off, not because I didn't want to write about it but because I wanted it to be special. I wrote this blog several times mentally and with a little reminder from Heather I finally decided to put fingers to keyboard. Forgive me this post will not contain wedding pictures or descriptions of the cake and bride's maids dresses. This is about the boy that became a man and got married.

See Patrick is not just a nephew to me. He was born when I was just a preteen and Norma and Clayton lived with us when he was little. He was my first baby boy. My first slobbery baby kiss all over my face, my first chubby arms wrapped around my neck, my first mischievous giggle, my first "do it again" and my first realization that I wanted nothing more than to be a mother when I grew up.

Patrick had HUGE brown eyes, blond hair with big loose curls when allowed to grow out, big dimples, his diaper always seemed to sag even if it wasn't dirty, he loved to play with toilet paper, he spent an enormous amount of time hanging off me (my hip, my back, my head, etc.), his favorites toys were his teenage ninja turtles and his toy guitar, he loved the Girls, Girls, Girls Motley Crue video and could bang his head at the age of three, he laughed all the time and I don't remember him ever throwing fits, he was sweet, kind, gentle, obedient, had a strong sense of justice, and most of all affectionate. When that child looked you in the eyes and said, "I love you" he said it with an innocent honesty that came straight from his heart. If he had faults I'm sure they were admirable but I don't remember any. He was a perfect little boy and I fell in love the first time I set eyes on him.

Patrick has grown into a fine young man. He has grown up and out, his hair has darken, he stills gets frustrated with injustice, he is a teddy bear that still loves with all his heart and I can still see my first baby boy when I look at him.

I too have grown up and I've had a little baby boy of my own. Over the years I've often seen his cousin in him and have enjoyed the reminder of the first. My little boy is twelve now handsome, kind and loving like his cousin. At Patrick's wedding I couldn't help but swell with pride and my two boys. One is a man and one is on his way. Thank you God for blessing me with my two little baby boys.

And for those of you dying to see actual wedding photos
here is a link to an album.

Patrick's Wedding

My Granny

2008-07-23T10:10:00.003-05:00

I woke up around 4 AM to potty. I stayed awake because my sinus's woke up and I laid in bed blowing my nose and sneezing until almost 5 AM. Seeing I was not going to return to slumber and that I was depriving my dh of his last precious moments of sleep before he had to get up and off to work I decided to go ahead and get up.

Now getting up early is a rarity for me. I prefer to rise around 9 or 10-ish. However, when I do get up early it is because I'm restless so I normally get straight on the house work. So, I put on the coffee and decided to make biscuits, bacon and eggs. As I fussed about the kitchen...my granny's kitchen...the kitchen I've spent hours watching her work in I couldn't help but to think of her. So I started making a mental list of what I remember best about Granny.

She was always up before dawn, worked until lunch, napped during the mid-day heat, then cooked supper and was in bed by no later than 9 pm.

If you slept past 8 am she would wake you up and ask if you were going to sleep all day.

She made everything from scratch.

She wore aprons when cooking and/or cleaning.

For at least 10 years every week she saved the cartoons from her newspaper and put them away for when my cousin visited because he once said he liked to read them.

She sewed her own clothes.

Her home was a smorgasbord of yarn colors (mostly burnt orange, mustard yellow, and olive green. YUCK! LOL) bought from garage sales. She crocheted dolls dresses, arm chair covers, rugs, dish towels, throws, afghans, you name it and she could crochet it.

She once made me a quilt from scrap fabrics and I recognized several patterns as being from pairs of my grandpas old boxers.

She used to make me lay on the counter once a week so she could wash my hair in the kitchen sink because she didn't believe I washed it when I bathed.

She had her own green house and could grow anything. And knew the name of any plant you could point at.

She could also can, or make preserves or jam of anything.

She once sewed me a little ruffly top with a matching pair of bloomers from a pink fabric with little strawberries on it. I ruined it the first time I wore it by sitting in the middle of her strawberry patch and eating all her strawberries staining it with the juice and she didn't even get mad.

She spanked with a fly swatter but was known to hit with whatever was handy be it a flip flop or her cane.

She once beat my ex-husband about the head and shoulders with her cane and the last time I saw him he was still afraid of her.

She called any woman that paid too much attention to my grandpa a "Hussy".

She once tried to shoot grandpa for talkin' to a "hussy".

She believed wrestling was real.

She always shared her ice cream with her dogs.

Her dogs were always over weight.

The oldest girl of 12 children she quit school after 3rd grade to help her mom with her siblings.

She wrote every thing the way it sounded to her so that her letters were like deciphering code. This also meant that for years she wrote my maiden name as Wallass which always made me laugh.

Despite her lack of education she managed all the house hold bills, ran her home like a drill Sargent and read her KJV front to back several times in her life time.

When company left she would strip the guest bed, wash it's linens and remake it. Then when she knew company was coming she would strip the guest bed, wash it's linens and remake it. I never could figure out how it got dirty in between guests.

She had Osteoporosis, Parkinson's, Rheumatoid Arthritis and eventually had both knees replaced but never stopped working in the yard or home.

She used to pretend that hugs and kisses frustrated her and she'd shoo you away but couldn't quite pull it off because she'd always giggle.

She had 2 miscarriages and out lived all but 3 siblings. She outlived her first husband (my mother's father), but God spared her when at the age of 80 she died in a car accident just months before her second husband lost his battle with cancer.

When I picture her I either picture her working in the yard in the morning or sitting in her chair crocheting at night.

My Granny was a true Southern woman cut from a special clothe. I just wonder as her generation with it's talents and skills die out...will people in the age of computers and cell phones ever realize what they've lost?

Wildlife Speaker

2008-05-31T08:50:00.007-05:00

Our home school group's last meeting of the "school" year had Cory Mason of the Texas Department of Parks & Wildlife as a guest speaker. This is the second year he has been our speaker. I am told he brought bones of various animals indigenous to our area of Texas last year. I didn't get to make it to that meeting. This year however he caught some wild animals for us to see.

He brought snakes....

Which actually made our group's second snake lecture because we had a lady from the TDPW speak to us last year. She had allowed the kids to hold a corn snake that they have for educational proposes. The is no way to properly express how I feel about snakes. The words Hate or Ick are not strong enough. Still I appreciate that the have their own purpose designed by God and if you can get past the "ICK" of the whole thing they can be seen as pretty in their own way.... I endured it last year because it is very important here in the country for the children to learn how dangerous snakes are and to identify which ones are poisonous. Needless to say, I was not thrilled to have to be around snakes again...and these were wild snakes NOT the program used to being handled kind of snakes. (Note: no one handled these snakes but Mr. Mason)

However, Mr. Mason was a great speaker and I'm sure the kids could do snake a review and reminder with it coming up on summer.....OK Honestly, the kids could see the snakes yearly again and again and not mind a bit......I have issues.

BUT....What I was really excited about was the other animal he caught for us to see! And I DID pet it! I petted it gingerly and not without jerking my hand back a couple of times and holding my breath a little but I DID pet it.

Isn't it cool!? A little alligator! Now this was a new lecture for us and we really did enjoy learning all about the alligators here in Texas! Gee.... I wish my oldest Heather was here. She Loves Alligators!

This was ribbon snake was the one snake I didn't mind so much. It still gave me the ibby-jibbies but I could also admire it's beauty.

Soccer is Over

2008-05-30T12:09:00.005-05:00

Well, our soccer season has come to an end. Now, I'll have to hear my children's constant question, "When does soccer start again?" until next season. Here are Emily's and Brandon's pictures from the awards party. I noticed I made two glaring mistakes with these pictures: 1. I'm in them. 2. I let the kids play before they received their awards.

PS. Note the nifty soccer bead necklace Emily made me especially for the party?

Wind Chimes

2008-05-09T10:37:00.002-05:00

Brandon and I made these copper and bamboo wind chimes a while back. We made them with green bamboo. I've been waiting for the bamboo to age before posting a picture of them. They have a lovely sound. Only the center piece doesn't seem to be quite big enough to make it sound often unless there is high wind. Right now it is a fat piece of bamboo. If I can find a piece of wood that is not too heavy but wide enough to make it clink (can't really say they chime) more often then I'll replace the center piece.

Ancient Greece History Lap Book

2008-05-09T10:10:00.005-05:00

Brandon worked too incredibly hard on this lap book to not at the very least post pictures of it. We downloaded it from CurrClick http://www.currclick.com. This lap book by www.knowledgeboxcentral.com is crammed packed with info and huge by our standards. Three file folders and over 28 little booklets of information! I really appreciated the detailed instructions with pictures on how to assemble it that were included. They also included articles for him to get the information to fill out all his little booklets so he didn't have to scourer the internet. Every thing you needed was right there in the Acrobat file! All in one is a big plus for me. (I believe I've mentioned my lazy streak before, no?) It took a long time for him to complete but if he didn't learn anything else this year I am confident he learned all about Ancient Greece. I downloaded another one from the same site by the same company about Ancient Rome just a couple of days ago. Hopefully, it won't take him as long to complete but if he does as nice a job on it as he did this one it will be worth it!

PS. I confess I colored the cover page. I also colored all the pictures on our Ancient Greece bulletin board. So what? I like to color. Big bonus of having children ... having an excuse to still do things children like to do!

PSS We also made this really cool Medusa mask: http://www.clevelandart.org/Kids/art/mask/index.html

And....

Got the recipe and supplies to make our own Baklava. I'll have to let you know how that turns out.

Garage Sale Find

2008-05-09T10:02:00.002-05:00

Emily's room has been over crowded for a while now. The obvious answer would be to purge 1/2 her toys and have her Daddy stop buying them. However, since neither of them seem to agree with me the next best thing was to get rid of her full size bed and replace it with a cute little day bed. I found this one at a garage sale last weekend for a steal! Of course we have no twin size sheets for it but they will come, oh yes they will... Step one in mission redecorate Emily's room complete. I will have my way on this one....Oh, yes I will.

Tadpoles & Drums?

2008-05-09T09:28:00.003-05:00

Mom's little "pond" in her back yard has become a breeding ground for frogs! She brought us these tadpoles. A lot of them already had back legs, but it seems we have a few in each stage of development. We even have a couple bigger ones that are obviously completely different kinds of frogs from the others!

When Nannaw brought us the tadpoles she also brought a set of drums for Brandon that she found at a garage sale. They didn't have a bass pedal with them so I've ordered him one along with some drum sticks and a Book/DVD set titled Drums for Absolute Beginners. Pray for me.

Relay for Life

2008-05-09T09:21:00.001-05:00

Last Saturday the kids and I were blessed to participate in the Relay for Life. It was at a local school track from 7 PM to 7 AM. It was really cold and damp so I didn't feel too incredibly blessed all night long, but it was a blessing. Our family honored cancer survivors Ward Dixon (local home school dad) and Luann Dodd (my mom). We also honored our family members lost to cancer Bobby Parker (my grandfather) and Jerry Dodd (my step-dad). The luminaries were beautiful all lit up around the track and touching to see how much work went into some of them. The luminaries on the bleachers say Cure. Earlier in the night they said Hope but I missed that picture. The night consisted of walking around the track for pledges and bundling up in blankets. Each booth also sold things so they were earning money for the cause all the way to the last moment. They had lots of fun themed laps to keep things going, they also played music, and had other games. My favorite as you can see in the picture was the "Dude Looks Like a Lady" Contest.

Confessions of Hair Gone Wild

2008-05-08T12:47:00.006-05:00

This post has been a long time in coming. I post the above picture not because I look particularly good or I want you to know exactly how much junk I keep on top of my fridge, but because the hair in that picture has a story to tell. See, I'm in the throes of bad hair.

I did go in March for my nephew's wedding and get a fairly expensive hair cut. When the stylist fixed it I looked sassy and sheik. However, I haven't been able to do a darn thing with it since. That makes the second cut I've gotten that doesn't take me back to that one perfect cut I got about 2 years ago where my hair almost fixed itself into a nice trendy look simply by blow drying it.

By nature I am a lazy person. A lazy person with the desire to have hair that looks like I've spent hours on it when in truth I'm slightly hair retarded and it wouldn't matter how long I spent on it, it would still look bad. So, I've been tossing around the thought of getting a body wave to release me of my hair won't style woes. (Even though I've sworn to myself to never ever expose my hair to such harsh treatment again.) In this line of thought I decided I'd see what my current hair cut would look like curly.

Yes, I came upon the perfect plan. See, along with being lazy I'm also chronically late (due to being lazy) therefore I would speed up my Sunday morning routine by bathing at night, rolling my hair in foam rollers, then popping up in the morning, letting my hair down to a fabulous do and skipping off to church looking like a million bucks. No fuss, No muss, no stress! Perfect plan.

Now I've never been good at rolling but this time my hair almost jumped on the rollers themselves. I've never slept in rollers but made it through the night with out being too uncomfortable. I worried that my hair would still be damp and the curls would fall out when I took the curlers off, but as I sat at my desk reading my emails (due to all the spare time I had since I didn't have to wash, dry and style my hair) I could feel as I pulled the rolls out that each piece of hair seemed nice and dry with a curl. So, I get all the rollers out, start running my fingers through to loosen the curl and go into the bathroom to see how it turned out.

OH MY WORD! NO words can describe this do!

I tried spritzing it with water to see if the curls would loosen... I brushed... I combed... I pulled out the straightening iron...I was late to church. Yes, the above picture of a plain simple hair do has a story, a story that began that morning like this:

Caution the coming picture has been known to frighten small children. You might want to ask the kiddies to leave the room...

Moral of this hair's story...If the cut don't fit, go back to the stylist again and again but whatever you do, don't try to do your own do!

Wrapping Up the School Year

2008-05-01T13:59:00.002-05:00

I started to explain to a friend my lack of posting and she summed it up nicely with one sentence. "So, it is Spring in a Homeschooling family." Yep, I've been trying to swing group events, friendships, housework, and most of all FINISHING UP THE SCHOOL YEAR. So, far here's Brandon's school year is wrapping up like this:

Math: Completed Saxon 65 math, have been doing 76 math drills to stay sharp, thinking of starting the actual book and just doing odd numbered problems through all the easy part of the book as long as he keeps a B average for about 3 days a week through out the summer. If his grades drop then we'll slow down and make him do all the problems.

Reading: Just Finished The Pilgrim's Progress Curriculum. I was worried when I first got this that it was too complicated for him but he says he really enjoyed it. He even said he'd like to go back and read it with out having to stop after each chapter and do a worksheet. LOL I think this one grew him up a bit.

Science: Just Finished Apologia's Zoology 1- Flying Creatures. He is dying to start Zoology 2 - Swimming Creatures. However, right now I'm holding him off to get through the other subjects for this actual "school" year before we start getting into Next year's curriculum. However, asap I'll let him start it and do it through the summer if it is his wish. Who am I to stop a child from learning? I also just bought him Zoology 3- Land Creatures which he is really pumped about.

Spelling: We have been hit and miss in actually doing spelling this year. And although he has improved he is still not a great speller. I have noticed that if he misspells a word in a paper that if I ask him how the word is spelled, he can spell it correctly. He just doesn't seem to bother to think about the correct spelling when writing. Then again he still has handwriting that is nearly unreadable so I guess he has bigger issues with expressing himself on paper than he does any other problem. Any way back on topic we've been cramming in about 4 to 6 lessons a day when we do work on spelling only stopping and slowing down on lists he has problems with. Right now he has about 20 more lessons in Sequential Spelling 2 and then we'll do crash courses all the way through Sequential Spelling 3 through out the summer. If he still needs helps I'll order the next two Sequential Spellings.

History: This year's history curriculum (Ancient History and the Bible) expected a lot out of us. It was researched based. We have a small local library, and a small budget. So, finding and buying books were just not an option. OK, I confess I'm also too lazy to hunt extra books. I highly recommend it to anyone with more time, money and energy than me. However none of those previous qualities allude to me. So, we have done this very slowly with a lot of online research. It really has required me to be hands on. Which I like but also put off on busy days. So, starting with Creation we have only made it to the Ancient Greeks. We are wrapping them up. This curriculum goes all the way through to the Resurrection of Christ. Then we we'll be through with it. For next year I bought The Mystery of History. This works because it does pick up where this last one left off. More of the meat you need is there so there is no hunting for more resources, it has actual quizzes and tests and it has the hands on stuff I like to do when we have time.

We ditched grammar again this year. I just don't get it. He reads good literature on a regular basis and writes in a journal. There are just more important things to learn than diagramming sentences. I think I'll ignore it until right before his SAT's and teach him to the test. Is that awful?

OK, I've already mentioned most of his curriculum line up for next year let's see it will be journaling daily, Saxon 76, Sequential Spelling 3, Apologia Zoology, The Mystery of History, and I've ordered a Lifepac for British Literature. The Lifepacs are a new step for me. I hope they work out. If so after British Lit. we'll do American Lit. in them.

How is Emily's school year wrapping up? It is not. She will school all through the summer. She will still use Explode the Code (which I've come to realize I haven't really been making the most of), Saxon Math 1 and other various workbooks for other skills. A friend loaned me BJU First Grade Heritage Studies and a couple of other books for history. I always read her all kinds of little books that have science. We have a plethora of animal books and stuff like that for her. She is progressing but needs more one on one time with me to really excel. Hopefully the school through the summer program will give her that.

April 18, 2008

2008-04-28T14:34:00.001-05:00

April 18 was a really busy day for us.

First, was a field trip to the Depot Museum in Henderson. http://www.hendersontx.us/index.asp?nid=61

This was a really nice field trip. It was a slight drive for us, but well worth the trip. For a very low price there was tons to see. I wish there were more opportunities like this near by. Here are just a few pictures.

I actually took over 70 pictures of this field trip. Right now it is a toss up to as whether I was just happy to finally remember to bring my new camera to an event or if there really was just that many cool things to take pictures. I decided to spare you the whole album and just give you a general overview. They also have a nice little pavilion that we were supposed to picnic in after the tour. But lo and behold 98% of us did not bring a picnic to eat! We may have a nicely diverse group but one thing we have in common is the reality that effort is just not fun! We went to Mickey D's instead! ROFLOL

Afterwards we got home just in time to freshen up, load supplies into the car, drop Emily off to her Daddy and Brandon & I went to our first ever Homeschool Barn Dance! I was a working it not an attender. However, I did make Brandon dance with me twice. The coolest thing about this event is that is was a fun raiser for a group member that has been fighting an expensive on going battle with cancer. OK, that was really runners up to seeing all these homeschooling kids that didn't know how to dance try to figure it out. The whole time we were planning this the big question was, "Will they dance?" Yes! They did! It took a lot of families to pull this off and it turned out wonderful. Big Kudos to all involved! I won't bore you with a bunch of pictures of kids you don't know trying to dance but here is a good picture of Brandon. I think I'll call it this year's school picture!

Busy? Ya think?

2008-04-08T23:05:00.014-05:00

When I posted my last blog I thought it'd probably be a while before I blog again I might as well give them a peek as to why I'm not around! Sure enough I haven't blogged. However, I truly do have a ton to blog about. I guess that happens when you go a whole month with out a peep. Just give me a moment or to organize my thoughts and I promise I'll catch ya up to all we've been up to. Let's just address them in order.

Beth Moore Bible Study:
This is wonderful! But then again it is BETH MOORE for crying out loud! So, that is really a given.

WLBC Food Bank:
Brandon is still doing this the first Wednesday of every month, but will miss the next two due to soccer.

Patrick’s Wedding
We actually stretched this trip and stayed a lot longer than we originally planed. This will get it's own post with pictures and all.

Pick up Josh:
Josh actually drove up by himself and spent a few days with us. It was nice to have him around.

Dentist Appts.:
Brandon: 1 filling
Emily: 2 crowns where she already had fillings that just weren't cutting it.

EASTER PICNIC
Easter was wonderful. We did the homeschool group picnic. Then the family egg hunt on Sunday. As it was time for our family egg hunt children from the neighborhood mysteriously appeared in our yard. So, we had quite the gathering for it too! LOL

I had the family wear blue this year for Easter Sunday but alas didn't get that elusive family photo. Here is a picture of Emily and Brandon:

MONTHLY FIELD TRIP
Where: ---- Zoo
This was a nice outing. Great spring day for it. I forgot my camera but if you've seen one giraffe you've seen them all, right?

ACTS SPRING SOCCER
What can I say? As much as I hate physical exertion I might become a soccer mom yet! Soccer Wednesdays are my children's favorite day of the week. Not only do they get to go to soccer but I count it as our free day. I know we won't get any school work done on Wednesday so it is open house day. This is the day they are allowed to invite their homeschool friends over to play. We go to soccer, come home and picnic with friends, and the last one usually leaves around 6 PM.

Other random thoughts.....

In all we had a two week spring break and I've been trying to play catch up ever since. This week in particular I've knuckled down. I see summer around the corner and we are no where near wrapping up our school year.

We got a new puppy Dobie.

I've planted some flower beds around my gazebo and of course it then snowed. Snow in East Texas? I'm pretty sure this was all about me and my tulips.

Finally Spring has sprung and the yard is looking pretty.

And last but certainly not least I just have to tell ya'll about the new lawn mowing service I've hired. These gals really love their work! They don't want any pay and are absolutely meticulous that they get every little blade of grass. The one draw back is that due to their size and dedication to detail they are rather slow.

To those of you that have already seen this picture, it's cute. Surely you can stand seeing it one more time!

OH the Randomness. I have so much more randomness I could share but I need to get to bed because tomorrow is SOCCER! I'll post some soccer pictures tomorrow after the game. See you then!

Springing Into A Busy Month!

2008-02-29T13:19:00.004-06:00

March is going to be a busy month. I've marked out the locations of the Home School Group's Events to protect my members privacy, but this is our Family's March Calendar that I just emailed my husband. I know we won't make it to every event but I'd like him to know that these events are available. Plus, I'm kinda thinkin' he'll see how many events we actually DON'T participate in and be grateful enough to let us go to the events we really desperately want to attend. I know, I know, I'm a conniving sneaky little wife! LOL

Funny thing is another home schooling mom recently looked at my calendar and commented that she wished her schedule was that sparse! OH MY!

Family Schedule:
Beth Moore Bible Study: Sunday Evenings, 5 PM, March 2 - ?
WLBC Food Bank: Tuesday, March 5, 10AM - 2PM
Patrick’s Wedding, Lubbock, March 13 - 16
Pick up Josh: March 17
Return Josh: March ?
Dentist Appts.: March 28, 12:30pm

ACTS Schedule:
PARK DAYS
Fridays, 11:00 A.M. - 1:00 PM
Location: -----------

PARENTS NIGHT OUT
Our first Parents' Night Event.
A chance for the Dads to get to know each other!
Saturday, March 1st, 6:30 pm
Dinner: El Charros
Afterwards Movie: Possibly “The Bucket List”

MONTHLY MEETING
Tuesday, March 11, 10:00 A.M. - 12:00 P.M.
Located at -------
Meeting: John Billings

Mr. John B. is excited to teach our kids an art lesson! Please be prepared to consider a love offering to reimburse him for the paint and painting supplies which will be used by our students. Thus far calculations and estimates are about $5.00 per student being prepared. If possible RSVP so he can prepare to have the right amount of supplies.

MONTHLY FIELD TRIP
Where: ---- Zoo
When: Tuesday, March 18th, at 10:00 a.m.
How Much: Adults (13 & up) $6.80
Children (3 to 12) $4.00
Infants (0 to 2) Free
Other Details: Bring a picnic lunch or plan to purchase food nearby for a lunch outing at the zoo. I will need a headcount by Monday, March 10th to finalize our group reservation. Please reply herein or send me an email to ladyhawk82158@yahoo.com including the number of adults & children within your family party.

EASTER PICNIC
Location:-----
Friday, March 21
11 AM - 1 PM
More details TBA

ACTS SPRING SOCCER
Location: --------
Clinic: Saturday, March, 22, 2008 at 10 AM - ??
Games: Wednesday mornings at 10 to 12 beginning March 26 going through to May 14. With the end of season party falling on May 21. Wednesdays will consist of one hour of practice and one hour of play.

TEACHER'S LOUNGE(MNO)
Thursday, March 27th
More details TBA

COMMUNITY SERVICE: LSF VICTORY BOXES

We are collecting school supplies and personal hygiene items to be mailed to Lt. James "Donny" Payne in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Donny distributes these items to children as a gesture of goodwill from Americans. To learn more about this project please visit http://victoryboxes.com.

How To Help
Donate the following: School supplies being collected: paper, tablets, pencils, crayons, colored pencils, erasers, sharpeners, markers, etc.
Personal hygiene items being collected: shampoo, toothbrush, toothpaste, combs, brushes

Donate $8.95 to mail a box

Please bring items to LSF during regularly schedule meeting times or to First State Finance, 300 Madole Street, Athens, TX

Thanks so very much Angie and the folks at Living Stone Fellowship for bringing these opportunities to us!

Other Local Events of Interest
HOME DEPOT: KIDS WORKSHOP
Saturday, March 1, 2008
9 a.m. - 12 p.m.
This month's craft: #20 Race Car

LOWES: BUILD AND GROW
Saturday, March 8, 2008
10 a.m. - 11 a.m.
This month's craft: Periscope

LOWES: BUILD AND GROW
Saturday, March 22, 2008
10 a.m. - 11 a.m.
This month's craft: Goofy Golf

AMERICAN GIRL BOOK CLUB
Tyler Public Library in Taylor Auditorium
10:00 AM to Noon
March's Meeting will have a possible change of location or date/time due to book sale being held at our normal meeting Location on that date. Details to be Announced...

CAMP FORD CIVIL WAR REENACTMENT
Starts: Saturday, March 29, 2008
Ends: Sunday, March 30, 2008
Description: Saturday and Sunday March 29-30 (10-4). Captain James P. Douglas Camp and Battery, The East Texas Brigade and Reenactors present living history and Civil War reenactment at Camp Ford Historic Park. Camp Ford Historic Park Hwy 271 and Camp Ford Parkway. FREE but donations are appreciated. 903-581-7891

FOUR WINDS RENAISSANCE FAIRE
Starts: Saturday, March 01, 2008
Ends: Sunday, April 20, 2008

Description: Every Sat. & Sun., March 1 thru April 20 (10am-7pm). Experience a fun-filled day of swashbuckling, exotic wares, fair maidens, court intrigue and fun and games for the whole family! Adults $12, Children ages 5 to 12 $6, Age 4 and under FREE. 338 acre Vizcaya Ranch, 21778 CR 2138, just 11 miles south of Loop 323 off Hwy 110 S. between Whitehouse & Troup. For more info call 903.839.5271 or visit www.fourwindsfaire.com.

Educational Toys

2008-02-28T15:26:00.005-06:00

My children have plethora of toy/play paraphernalia. It seems their father wants to buy them a toy every pay day. Holidays & Birthdays are insane with gifts. I do appreciate his generosity but let's face it the kids are rotten. Not only that, but it is also difficult for them to clean their rooms with the abundance of toys. I have purged and purged, bought totes and added shelves all in the name of organization and cleanliness. However, last pay day he brought home an ever so welcome educational toy for each of them. Now I'm not going to lie and claim that it is my children's deepest desire to acquire educational toys but they really liked these.

The Garden Girlz Rose Bud Cottage

This is a little cottage that comes with a little girl, ladder, bed, couch, mail box, a couple packets of seeds and sponges. It is pretty self explanatory. You soak the seeds and sponges for 12 hours before planting them in the plastic cottage. We planted her seeds Sunday and they've gotten this big already. I don't know how long they'll last.

Test Tube Alien
This guy is pretty cool. He starts out an egg in a test tube. You add water to the test tube and the egg fizzes away to reveal the alien. You feed him and keep him in just the right amount of water, regulate just the right amount of sunlight and darkness and he grows. He has sensors built in and is suppose to relay information to your computer once you register at it's site. I am hoping the site will have some explanation as to why the egg fizzes away, how it grows, and how the sensors work/get power. We haven't registered there yet, but so far it's a big winner around here.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

2008-02-28T14:29:00.007-06:00

Close Up of Collage

Emily has been feeling a bit neglected school wise lately. I believe her exact words were, "When you do school with Bubba you don't have time to do school with me." (I'm pretty sure she was using the word Bubba as a curse word in this instance.) This statment, if not a little rude, also rang slightly true. So, feeling only a little guilty I looked around for a project to do with her, so she would no longer feel like her education was being ignored. I came across this cute lapbook A Hungry Caterpillar at the Homeschool estore that is based on Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar. She has always loved this book so it was right up her alley. This lapbook was pretty easy and covered multiple subjects. It included a collage, a poem, counting, days of the week, colors, life cycle of a butterfly, opposites and healthy foods vs. junk foods. We finished it in one sitting. It was fun and affordable at only $7.00 but priceless in the aspect that it made Emily feel special that I sat down and did this with her.

Front Cover

The Inside

Being Kind, Is It Really All That Hard?

2008-02-18T16:32:00.003-06:00

I've been thinking about kindness a lot lately. In the handful of different types of leadership positions I've been in I've come into many situations where I was just shocked that people think it is OK to talk to or treat other people the way they do. However, not being mean is not enough (though it certainly helps). Being kind is more than that. It is taking a moment to think about someone else. Have you ever watched someone after they are tossed a smile or compliment? They light up, if you are blessed you may even get to watch them passed the infectious joy on to someone else. Along this same line I recently read the short devotional Give Life With Your Words by Jon Walker. I love his devotionals because they are short, to the point and nearly every single one of them cause me to think and self evaluate.

This particular devotional brought to mind a lady from my church, let's just call her Mrs. V. Mrs. V lights up a room when she enters it. Sometimes I could just swear that she honestly is emitting a soft glow! This is clearly the Holy Spirit just shining in her. If I was going to pattern myself to be like any living woman I would want to be like Mrs. V. I'm careful not to put her up on too high of a pedestal but I do admire and love her dearly.

Besides singing her praises I bring up Mrs. V because of this funny habit she has of gushing over people and complimenting them. She can think of something kind to say about anyone! I've come to think that she can't control herself, that kindness just gushes out of her without her control. For instance once she came knocking on my door unexpected on one of those days when the house is a mess and you haven't bothered to bathe or get out of your PJ's. Picture greasy hair, stained t-shirt with holes in it, and baggy boxer style sleeping shorts.... I kid you not when I opened the door the woman's face lit up, she smiled, hugged me then looked me up and down and declared, "I love your slippers!" Needless to say, I've come to take her compliments with a grain of salt.

I am a cynical type of person. I don't take compliments well...to be honest I usually feel like your pulling my leg. However, I've come to the conclusion that it doesn't matter if you believe it is sincere, it stills feels good when someone takes that tiny little effort to make you feel special. Which brought me to the realization that just as I'm not good at taking compliments I'm not good at giving them either. Even though I'm generally a loving person I can be thoughtless. I simply don't think. I may think you look nice today but never think to voice it. I may be impressed with your skills but never think to say it. I get caught up in my own life and forget what a long way a smile could go to someone feeling out of place. I feel the strain of the responsibility of my children's education to the point that while pointing out their errors I sometimes forget to praise their achievements. Children don't understand your worried that you are failing them, they only know that you are telling them they are wrong. Do you remember to praise them when they are right? Ouch. I don't always remember that.

While feeling the conviction from the devotional I read it dawned on me that sometimes when I remember to praise my son for good work soon afterwards he'll spontaneously bounce on me with a hug and declare, "I love you, Mom!" All from just a little scrap of attention from me. At first I didn't know whether to feel bad that he seems that so desperate for my approval or to use it as an example of how easy it is to give joy to others and how wonderful the rewards can be from doing so. I've decided to apply it both ways. That "Wow that looks great Brandon!" takes so little effort and his undying affection means the world to me.

On the flip side sometimes it is more than being thoughtless or forgetting to pass out well deserved praises. Sometimes people are just flat out cruel to each other. Words are painful weapons that can cut and scar a soul. Obviously, I can't do anything about people being cruel and thoughtless in their actions to one another. It is particularly painful at times to watch Christians do this to each other or run people away from God's house with their judgmental attitudes and tearing people down. I can't control others actions, but I can be more aware of my own. I can remember to encourage a sister who is stumbling, accept people where they are for who they are, build up others that feel torn down, criticize less, forgive with all my heart, smile more, laugh louder, share my joy, have more empathy, chose my words carefully when tempted to be unkind and most of all love my fellow man because God loves them and He would have me love them also. It just takes a moment to think of others and that moment could carry someone through a whole day.

Valentines Party

2008-02-18T14:28:00.004-06:00

Friday was our home-school support group's Valentines Day Party at a local bowling alley. This was the kid's and I first trip to a bowling alley and we discovered bowling for real was a lot different from the Wii. We had a blast. There was a turn out of about fourty with parents, kids and all. The kids were pretty well behaved but... you know one mother just had to bring her husband... and you know what it is like trying to get them to act right in public.

I've Been Given an Award.....

2008-02-13T22:04:00.005-06:00

My friend Lady Hawk has given me and Award! I'm very touched. I enjoy blogging, although I admit to sometimes feeling a little "less than" when I read some of my friends' informative and entertaining blogs. So, I am just happy someone enjoys the way I share a little bit of me through my humble blog.

By accepting this Excellent Blog Award, you have to award it to at least 10 more people whose blogs you find Excellent Award worthy. Thank you out there for having such great blogs and being such great friends! You deserve this! Feel free to award people who have already been awarded…

Let's there are a lot of great blogs out there. Here a few of my favorites in no particular order.

Just Call Me Jamin!
Our Homeschool and Other Such Happenings
Big Momma
2nd Cup of Coffee
A Family Runs Through It
Because I Said So
This Ain't New York
Rocks In My Dryer
Simply A Musing Blog
Shoe Princess
A Happy Life

And here I was worried I wouldn't be able to come up with 10! Now, other than posting this, how do I pass this on? Garsh, I guess I have got to go and tell all these folks how great I think their blogs are, huh? Let's see it only took say... 10 days to get around to acknowledging I had been given an award....so... if I take ten days per person to let them know they've won the award... I should be through by mid to late May?

I'm Back!

2008-02-11T10:05:00.000-06:00

Then again you didn't know I was gone did you?

My run of the mill blah home-school/housewife life, that makes my friends and family, that are not homeschooling housewives, bored to tears when I start talking has been pretty busy lately.

First, I decided to merge my homeschooling online support forum with another area homeschooling group that has more events than my group tended to plan. This has been awesome because if I may say so myself my forum is W-O-N-D-E-R-F-U-L. What a blessing to get to share it with more people! The ladies there are truly quality people, each one is completely different from the other. So, when you go there with a problem you can get advice from so many unique perspectives! Plus, they make you laugh. Laughter IS the best medicine when you are sitting hip deep in laundry, your son has wandered away from his math work to play video games and your six year has climbed the fridge and eating a giant chocolate bar for breakfast.... Just kidding my house never looks like that! LOL (if your not looking)So, in combination of what I have been advertising as an unparalleled support forum we now have another leader who can juggle events schedules like you wouldn't believe! May I take a moment to be as humble to say that I think the marriage of our two groups could just possibly be the perfect home-school family group ever? Long story short, it is great but the actual merge process was a bit more work (pleasant work, no complaining) than I took a moment to think about. So, I've been juggling that while trying my darnedest to keep the house looking like a home instead of a zoo (which I'm told by many is a useless cause with all our animals)and at the same time attempting to actually educate my children. Can I do it? Yes, many families are juggling way more than that. I've just never been that entertaining of a juggler. Which is why I'm so totally syked about having someone to do the schedule juggling for me now!

Then just about the time I thought I had a handle on the merge and was ready to really throw the books at the kids (not literally, well may be...) my oldest daughter called on her way to the ER. Turns out she has a very painful fairly large ovarian cyst that they seriously thought about removing by surgery. So, off to Sugar Land we go. We got there Tuesday, Cec came home on Wednesday, the kids and I stayed, Heather came home on Wednesday night, and we stayed to take care of her while Aaron worked. There really wasn't anything I could do for her but keep track of when she could take her meds and fetch her drinks. Once her husband came home there was a flurry of requests for his care (much more desired than MY care apparently, LOL), meds, drinks, food, running of bathwater, rubbing her back, aid in walking, etc.... Young married couples are so cute to watch. Cecil came back to Sugar Land on Saturday and we all spent one more night. We came home last night.

This week I'd like to say we are finally really going to hit the books....however, tomorrow is our first group meeting as a newly improved merged home-school group and I promised I'd be there to explain what I offer through my forum and how to use it for those not very computer savvy. (Thursday our group is going to a nursing home to pass out V-day cards, but I doubt we make that.) Then Friday is our bowling alley Valentines party. Saturday is American Girl Book Club at the library, and Sunday is church then a birthday party. To top it all off after we got home last night Emily was complaining her neck hurt (pointing to her throat) and she was running a low grade temp. Did I mention that roughly half the people I know have had Pneumonia or the Flu (some have had both) within the last two months or so?

There is roughly the last two weeks in review of my hum drum boring home-schooling housewife life.

PS I almost forgot to mention that some time before the trip to Houston and after the merge that I spent a day ripping out a wall in the tub, removed the old faucet system, installed a new faucet system, re-sheet rocked the hole and reinstall the plastic bath tub liner?

You know nothing is too big or too small in the life of a housewife.

Behind

2008-02-04T16:51:00.000-06:00

I am behind.

I am behind in the house work.

I am behind with the kid's school work.

I am behind on my Home School Forums' maintenance.

So, dear dear Blogger do not feel left all alone. You are in good company, left behind with all the other things I have yet to do.

Hair!

2008-01-17T15:02:00.000-06:00

Must be that time of year. My great cut has all grown out (and looking BAD) and I've noticed serveral others in blog land are also seeking their next great hairstyle. I've been looking around online for the last few days for my new dream hair do. I need a hairstyle with the ease that a boring housewife needs that distinctly does not look like a boring housewife-do. These all look very simular to my last do but I did really like it. The only problem I really had with it is you need to go back and have it maintenanced and I usually only make it to a salon once may twice a year......Oh, well it never hurts to dream.

I Have To Drive 55....

2008-01-17T10:27:00.000-06:00

OK so I got this speeding ticket and it really gets under my skin. First of all, I admit that sometimes I speed on purpose being a chronically late individual. If you are speeding "on purpose" then you have made a conscious decision to take the risks involved. However, this particular time I really didn't even realize I was speeding. I don't know why that makes a difference to me...but some how it does...

Second of all, speeding is breaking the law. I've taught my children that breaking the law is the equivalent of sinning. You obey God's law, you obey your country's law (unless it breaks God's law). So here are my sweet children sitting in the car terrified because Mommy has broken the law all the way around! LOL Poor warped little guys! Actually only my more Dudley Do-Right son was too terribly upset. Emily was pretty excited that the trooper smiled and waved at her.

Third and the thing that really sticks in my craw, getting a ticket is a truly STUPID way to throw money away. Tickets are expensive and run your insurance up. I mean I'm one of those folks who needs a tangible object to show for my money. That money could have bought any number of solid real touchable items with long term benefit items!!!! I could really rant about this. But... I guess what's done is done. I can kiss what ever nice tangible object that could of been good bye and pay my ticket.

One thing the ticket did buy is a paranoid about her speed driver. I mean I just can't just go around throwing money out the window like that! So, the next time your driving down one of those rural country roads in Texas where every one but every one always drives 5 to 10 over the speed limit (and we all know there really are stretches of road like that)and you get stuck behind some idiot going EXACTLY the speed limit...that'll be me. Please just do me a favor and extend ALL of your fingers upward when you pass me and wave .... and have pity on a greedy woman that wants "things" for her husband's hard earned cash!

Body by Emily

2008-01-14T19:38:00.000-06:00

Forget Miss Victoria and her secrets! Keep the Plastic Surgeons away from me! I don't need you and your shape shifting ways because I have a 6 year old daughter! If you are wondering what miracle I've discovered that actually makes giving birth give you a better figure let me clarify with the following.

I believe in attachment parenting. I didn't know what I was doing had a fancy name until long after I was already doing it but sure felt smart when I realized what I was doing had a nifty title! Any way this basically means my kids are always up my hinney.;-)

I truly eat, sleep, and bathe with my daughter. (BTW I did stop bathing with my son at a much much younger age.) Obviously there are certain things that children are bound to notice sooner or later when you bathe with them. Sooo, when my dd starting noticing my breast I was very honest with her. I calmly explained they are called breast (not boobies or anything else) and that God designed them to feed babies. Needless to say the idea of mom carrying milk around on her body and babies actually being able to eat there A-M-A-Z-E-D her! We had lengthy conversations about how God created a lot of animals that feed their babies the same way, how no milk is there when there is not a baby to drink it, etc. So, FINALLY I think her curiosity has been fed and she'll move on when this happens:

We are in the bath the other day and my dd looks up and says, "Mommy I think you have milk in there." (Pointing at my breast) So, thinking... oh, great here we go again I tell her, "No, Emily. Mommy doesn't have a baby to feed. So there is no milk in there." Here is the part that is bound to make any woman feel better about her body.... "Well if they don't have any milk, how come their hanging down like that?"..trying not to let my pride get the best of me I replied, "Emily they just grow like that." So, my sweet precious daughter who has always but always been Momma's little helper says to me, "OH here Momma, I'll help!" and reaches up to push both my breast up into a... let's say... slightly higher position on my body! She then looks down at my tummy and proceeds to use one hand to push my gut in!!!!!! Then she looks at me and says, "Sorry Mommy I don't have enough hands!" OH MY LORD IN HEAVEN TAKE ME NOW!!!!! I didn't know whether to die or die laughing!!!

On top of this story this same wonderful child didn't like the realistic mii character I had made for myself on the wii. So, she made a new character for me that we all now affectionally call Skinny Mom that is simply beautiful. I'm not sure if this how she truly sees me or if that is just what she wishes I look like, but just for pride's sake I'm sticking with the former.

Aquarium Newsflash!

2008-01-10T09:13:00.000-06:00

Oh wait just minute! In my rush to sum up the multitude of days in which I failed to post I forgot to mention one of our recent exciting aquarium happenings. I can't believe I dared to let this go by with out reporting it sooner because I know dear blog readers that this kind of juicy aquarium talk is just what your looking for when surfing for reading material! Now to the topic at hand. Seems to me every female in my tank looks pregnant at all times. Although I had never seen babies being born there has been three different times that I've found a lone survivor from a batch of fry. I had long since given up trying to watch for signs of imminent birth in order to protect newborns. So here I am refilling up my tank after a cleaning and I notice a fish that looks distressed is being harassed by all the other fish in the tank. Come to find out I apparently shocked her into labor with all my work on the tank and that the others were chasing her around eating her babies as soon as they were being born! I finally got to see baby fish being delivered! At any rate I have no idea how many she had in total. I did manage to save 13 and put them in a nursery tank. There were more but I was tired by 13. Besides 13 is a large number of fish which I will at some point have to add back to my regular tank. I would post a picture but right now they are so small that they basically look like orange rice with eye balls. I don't think I could take a picture where you could see them clearly. Ok, now take a deep breath, calm down as I know this exciting news is bound to have you all worked up, and resume your life as best you can.

Christmas and New Years

2008-01-10T08:33:00.000-06:00

We had a great holiday season this year. Ironically it started out with Cecil having pneumonia, then it seemed like nearly everyone we knew had pneumonia or was sick in some way. However, most everyone started feeling at least slightly better by Christmas.

Mom stayed Christmas Eve night as always. A far as presents go I think this was by far one of our better years. Emily got a 4 foot tall Savanna doll house for her Barbies, Brandon got an air soft automatic rifle, Cecil got a mini battery powered generator, I got a black wool pea coat and Beyond Paradise perfume, and the family got a wii.

We took off from school in total around 4 weeks between illnesses, Christmas and New Years. If fact Monday was the first day back since Dec. 11 according to my grade book. We throughly enjoyed our time together though. We had friends over for New Years which was a nice change from me and kids staying up alone. (Cecil always poops out.) We did the whole lots of food and fireworks thing that night. Our friends left before midnight and we starting playing wii. Cecil even stayed up! Around 1:30 AM I looked at the clock and realize we had missed the new year coming in! OH well at least we know we were having fun as a family when it did.

Heather and Aaron didn't make it in until this weekend. I hope they had a good time. We had lots of snacks, good meals, game playing and fireworks. I think the highlight of the weekend was the 7 shot aerial that fell over. One in the air, one under the trampoline, one at the storage shed, two at the house( I think?), one right past me off the roof of the car just missing Bran and exploding by the roof, and one that was headed for my husband and the kids car which my SIL blocked with a kick to have it explode within about 4 feet of him. As scary as it was no one was hurt and nothing was damaged. I think the funny parts was what was said in the confusion. It was pretty quite except for the explosions. At one point you hear in this wavering voice, "Daddy" and it wasn't Heather or Emily but me. Where was my brave hero? Then Brandon who has been hit before in a similar incident goes, "Oh, snap" in a really not me again kind of voice then pops up from behind the car to shout "I'm alright!". And Heather then deciding perhaps it was time to call in her husband since Daddy wasn't playing hero called out "Aaron" but sounded like she changed her mind about the time hubby takes a kick at the aerial flying at him. We laughed for quite a while afterwards but definitely decided we were through shooting off fireworks for the night. Heather has requested that Daddy buy more fountains and fewer aerials next time.

Other than lots of laying around, tons of late nights with movies and video games and way too much junk food that is our last 4 or so weeks in a nut shell.

Fair Well to Casanova

2008-01-10T08:19:00.000-06:00

Our beloved golden mystery snail Casanova has passed away. Our theory is that he "loved" himself to death. I looked up online to see exactly how long a snail was supposed to live any way and discovered that the more active a snail is the shorter it's life span. Needless to say it was no surprise then that Casanova had such a short but happy life. Luckily we have his many children to remember him by. Children which soon after his death began eating him. Concerned that it might upset my kids I asked them if they'd like me to take him out so they could bury him. Much to my husband's dismay they said, "Nah, lets just watch his kids eat him." I've tried to reassure my husband that we'd never ever eat him...but he still seems a little apprehensive.

Merry Christmas From The Sniders

2007-12-19T22:24:00.000-06:00

Christian Glitter by www.christianglitter.com

Christian Glitter by www.christianglitter.com

Twin Lakes Dairy Farm

2007-12-13T10:57:00.001-06:00

This month our field trip was to a Dairy farm. Twin Lakes is a grass based dairy farm. This is good because the cows only come up twice a day to milk. They are not confined all the time. They have 2000 milking jersey cows, a few good bulls and currently about 500 calves! The main dairy building is on 500 acres but they have their cows spread out on 2,500 acres. It took us about 3 hours for the full tour. I felt a little sorry for the owner, Laurie Hannon. She was a wealth of information and very patient. We Moms had a million good questions for her. The kids however only had eyes for the cows, calves, open fields and best of all the HAY BALES!!!!! I know that the kids had a blast and Laurie claims it was good fun for her and her workers too. So, I'd say the Dairy Farm was a win/win situation.

We were able to see the containers the milk is stored in until the truck comes to pick it up, the cows being milked, the cows in the feed line, the newborn baby calves, the older calves in their hutches, the older cows enjoying the grass in the field, and we also caught the truck while it was there to pick up milk.

Huge drum of foamy fresh milk! Yum!

Aww... a newborn. They were so sweet.
Some would even try to suck on your fingers!

Mom, Can I have a hay bale for Christmas?

Got Milk? Cliche I know, but in this post
don't you think it just had to be said somewhere?

Hat and Scarf

2007-12-03T10:35:00.001-06:00

Emily models the chenille
hat and scarf
I crocheted for
her this weekend.

.

Emily's Christmas Lapbooks

2007-12-03T09:41:00.000-06:00

Emily has been hard at work making Christmas lap books. First she did this free Nativity Lapbook: http://www.scribd.com/doc/524998/Nativity-Lapbook

She drew a nativity scene on the front cover all by herself. Can you see baby Jesus there in the middle and the star in the sky? She loved this project. She likes to take all the people out of the pocket and set them up in the manger scene.

Next she made a free symbols of Christmas lap book from here: http://www.homeschoolhelperonline.com/lapbooks/christmas_symbols.htm

I put the Title on the front for her but again she drew a cute little nativity scene up by the star all by herself. She really enjoyed this book also. I read to her and talked about the meaning behind each symbol. I'm not sure how much sunk in but hey now she has this little book to remind her!

Now Brandon says he is ready for another lapbook. He collects wooden nutcrackers. He gets a new one every year and I think one of his favorite things about decorating for Christmas is setting these guys up. So, he wants to do a lapbook on nutcrackers. I have no idea if I'll be able to hunt down a free lapbook on nutcrackers, but I guess I'll give it a try.

Pirate Ships!

2007-12-03T09:28:00.000-06:00

Last month Home Depot had Pirate Ships for their Kid's workshop! Bran and Em loved them. Some of the kits we've done in the past were a bit tricky but these were pretty easy to put together. They kid's did an awesome job painting them don't you think? Can you tell which one is who's?

Home School Moms and Dads check out your local Home Depot and Lowes for their kid's workshops. They are a lot of good ol' family fun!

Spindle Farm Field Trip

2007-12-03T08:37:00.000-06:00

Since we are about to go on another field trip to a Dairy Farm I should probably finally post the pictures from the field trip we went on last month! You think?

November's field trip was to a spindle farm. I had no idea what a spindle farm was when I signed up but knew it sounded cool! Sure enough it was. They raise sheep, goats, and even rabbits to use their fur for spinning. Mrs. Judy the owner of the farm was just awesome and a born teacher if you ask me. She graciously showed us around her home answering our questions not only about her animals but even her plants! LOL After petting the animals she took us in to show us how hair is spun all the while talking about how it used to take a whole family to make the clothes. It was a family affair. One would spin, another knit, may be another would work a loom or sew, and all the while another one would read usually from the Bible. She has an absolutely gorgeous loom that was over 100 years old! Her goal is to have the 4-H shows at the fairs to include spinning and home made objects made from animal fur. She said they have always had a problem with kids being heart broken after raising an animal to show at the fair and then realize it would be killed. She has a 4-H group meetings at her house where the kids learn to work with the wool. I know my kids had a blast! For the first time I seriously considered joining the local home school 4-H group!

Brandon with a pretty little black sheep.

All the animals were a hit but this baby goat stole the show!

Judy explains how any hair from any animal (even humans) can be spun then can be made into clothes or blankets while she demonstrates spinning for us.

Catching up.

2007-11-29T10:28:00.000-06:00

OH my gosh I'm so behind on blogging! We had a great Thanksgiving despite a few sad moments. It was great because we just have so much to be Thankful for. I was talking to my husband about all that has gone wrong lately (dryer breaking, pipes bursting, etc.) and he pointed out how well I've been taking it all. He said these things would have effected us more 5 years ago. I guess we are finally growing up and have learning to be grateful for all we have.

We've been trying to stay on top of school work through all the distractions. Emily was slipping for a while (entirely MY fault by not being consistent) but she is doing better now. I've just got to make sure I don't let several days go by between lessons.

The puppies we were blessed/cursed with came down with what I believe was parvo. We could not save them though we tried. They first showed signs of being ill the night before Thanksgiving. The last one was buried Sunday. To lessen the kids loss we have agreed that after we bleach the house and yard and wait about 6 months or so we'll get a puppy. However, it will have to have all it's shots before it ever comes home. I can't stand the thought of helplessly sitting by watching another animal just slip away.

We started decorating for Christmas on Thanksgiving as is our tradition. We've already watched a couple a Christmas movies and listened to some Christmas music. I have every reason to be in the Christmas spirit but something is missing. May be it is just too early. It may just be that I haven't been able to go buy anyone a present yet. Nothing puts the spirit in me like picking out that something special or better yet giving to someone in need. I love to buy clothes and toys for my kids but then their rooms reflect that. Nothing compares to the joy you can get from giving to a child that doesn't have a lot. We are far from wealthy but around Thanksgiving I realized we have so much more than many. We are truly blessed and I'm looking forward this year to sharing our blessings with others. Hmmmm... may be I am feeling the Christmas spirit more than I thought! LOL

Since the last post the kids have done a couple of crafts and other photo worthy things. I'll try to get some pictures of those posted soon. For now I just wanted my blog friends and family to know I haven't permanently stopped blogging!

Our Very First Lapbook

2007-11-09T18:37:00.000-06:00

This last week Brandon an I made our very first lapbook. Did I read instruction? Did I give instructions? Well, not really. We just kind of printed a bunch pictures and information off the internet and well we winged it. I did however find this great lapbook that I used bits and pieces of at Our Homeschooling Expedition.

If any one is looking to make an Ancient Egypt lapbook I highly recommend printing hers out and actually following the instructions! Here are some pictures of what we ended up with.

OUTSIDE COVER

INITIAL INSIDE VIEW

VIEW ONCE YOU FLIP OVER INFORMATION PAGE ON PYRAMIDS AND ENVELOPE ON HIEROGLIPHICS

THEN EACH LITTLE SECTION OPENS UP AND HAS INFORMATION

Lots of scissors...
Lots of glue...
Lots of work...
Lost of fun....
We'll definitely try our hand at lapbooking again.

Bulletin Board

2007-11-09T18:24:00.000-06:00

Way back when, when I first started homeschooling Cecil brought home this really nice bulletin board for absolutely free. Naturally I was over joyed. Oh I was going to keep it decorated so cute! I would display all the children's precious work. I just knew I'd buy all kinds of wonderful seasonal decor to put on it! Then I became a real homeschool mom. I came back down to earth. Needless it say it often goes several months with no change at all. I really do at least try to keep it seasonal but not necessarily with all the great "store bought" bulletin board decorations from the teaching store.

However, this week I decided it was just a shame to have something so great in my reach and not utilize it. Yes, we've updated our bulletin board. And you are here for the great unveiling. Don't you feel so blessed to be here for this grand event?

To the left is Emily's Thanksgiving Theme.
To the right is Brandon's Ancient Egypt Theme.

The Poopies

2007-11-06T13:07:00.001-06:00

Those of you who follow along my blog may remember I mentioned we rescued some sick stray puppies awhile back. Well they are healthy little rollie pollies now. I haven't been able to find homes for the last two. I call them the Poopies. The black one is Luke and the white one is King Tut (AKA Tutters). The family has voted 3 to 1 to keep them. They are sweet and adorable but if a good alternative home magically appears you better bet your bottom dollar I'd kiss them good bye and tell the familial to suck it up and move on! LOL

Halloween Picture

2007-11-06T12:59:00.000-06:00

Pumpkin mask = $1.00
Princess Ballgown + accessories = $20.00
Family Fun had at Church Fall Fest. = Priceless

PS Once at the fall fest the cape, hood, and mask got in the way. Within say 15 minutes of arrival he was simply boy in black! LOL

The Positive Side of Things...

2007-11-01T11:45:00.000-06:00

Oh Ok I've already typed one very grumpy, cranky, people shouldn't even have to read it blog today elsewhere. So, I'll try my best to spare you. In fact I'll try to post the positive side of things here.

1. Although I can't find homes for the puppies we rescued and I spend a great deal of time trying to keep my floors sanitary. They are healthy, growing and cute.

2. Although I was late to the fall festival due to many many things going wrong at the last minute. Due to the fact that I was late my booth was given over to a youth member to run leaving me free to enjoy the festival with my family. Cecil was late but did make it in time to eat with us and play some games. The festival was even bigger than last year and had a great turn out of non church members which is our goal. It truly was a wonderful community family friendly event! Kudos to the awesome woman who organized this!

3. Although I've had/have a lot of issues with my neighbors...the list of their deeds would make the average neighbor shudder... (I am really praying for strength to continue to stay on friendly terms for witnessing and ministry's sake.) However, last night really took the cake. I took their daughter to the fall fest with me because they were taking their son with some friends to a haunted house several towns away. I knew they would be late which was really fine. If they were too late I'd just let her stay the night and send her home in the morning in time to get dressed for school. But around 11 PM we got a call that they and their friend had been arrest for PI and DWI. Could I come pick their son up? Well yeah! It was more like how fast could I get there! No kid should have to be sitting at a jail while their parents are sitting in the drunk tank. So I went to get him. We didn't home until around 2 AM. The bright side of this? He was ok. He was alive. They didn't wreck. And someone cared enough to come get him. Hopefully what I did will have more of an impact than what his parents did.

4. Cecil has been promoted. He has done this job before with no pay increase and been demoted due to lack of a college degree. When offered the position again a couple of times before he has been leary. However, we talked and prayed about it when it was offered again. This time it does come with a pay raise and bonus package. He has also been promised a lightening of his work load so he can once again join us in a family life. I pray this was the right decision. It sure sounds like a good thing. I guess time will tell.

5. Lately with just life stuff I'm feeling a strong need of the Lord for strength and guidance which no matter how that may sound is actually a good thing.

Snails, Snails, and Puppy Dog Tails

2007-10-16T10:27:00.001-05:00

Remember the mystery snail egg clutch I was so thrilled about? Well, they hatched and.... so did the second clutch that the snails laid and... we are still waiting for clutches 3 and 4 to hatch. Needless to say after the first 100 or so baby snails some of the excitement has died down! We are raising the first two batches in a separate tank to protect them from being eaten. However, I told the kids that the next two batches can fend for themselves. In fact I got caught last night feeding a few baby snails to the fish! LOL I've tried to explain to the kids that this is good food for our fish and... Where on earth are we going to keep 100 grown snails anyways??? It goes with out saying that any new egg clutches will be removed before the children know about them! LOL However, I am still glad we had the wonderful experience of hatching our own snails.

You want some irony? I decided it was time to clean my son's tank in his room and discovered that he had an infestation of wild snails clogging up his filter system! As I was scrubbing out his filter to remove all the snail eggs and little wild snails (I guess they came in some of the food or something) I just couldn't get over the irony of carefully raising one set of snail eggs in one tank while unknowingly having an unwanted colony growing in another! LOL

Did I also mention that we caught 2 baby fish in the living room tank and that they are doing fine? Hopefully they will be big enough to put back in the big tank soon. Meanwhile I think one of my platys is pregnant. Babies, babies everywhere in my aquarium!

Here is the icing on the cake. As if we didn't have animals/baby animals running out of our ears around here a stray dog had a litter of pups under the vacant house on the lot next to mine. Well, I got worried that we'd have a pack of wild dogs running around if something wasn't done. Plus, the last person that lived on that property had 5 dogs which all died because the fleas where so bad on that land. So I had my son and another neighbor hood boy catch them. They were so infested with fleas it took 2 baths to get them off. They were weak and terrified of people. I wormed them and fed them and we loved on them. It has now been just over a week. They are now very healthy lovable pups. I've found a home for one. My family wants to keep one, ugh. But I still need a home for the last one. If I don't find a home soon I'm going to take it to the pound. I'm afraid if it takes too long to find it a home it will never leave.

Animal count at my house at this moment:
1 cat
4 dogs
1 rabbit
3 guinea pigs
1 aquatic frog
16 fish
3 adult snails and around 100 hatched baby snails with 2 egg clutches.

Ouch! I wonder if I can apply for farm aide to feed this herd? LOL The bad thing is we were at a stand off. My husband and I were firm. NO more pets. This was it. Unless some of these passed on. Which with this arrangement should have meant no more new animals until at least 4 more years based on most of these pets life spans. Then the puppies came. Guess who wants to keep one puppy? Daddy. Sucker!

Bird Watching

2007-10-15T00:31:00.000-05:00

For Brandon's first semester of Zoology he is studying Flying Creatures of the Fifth day. To that end we have been making our yard more bird friendly.

Of Course Humming Bird Feeders are a must. We had about 20 HB zooming around fighting over the feeders for weeks but I think they've moved on now that it is cooling off a little.

We moved our bird bath under my wisteria vines and Brandon made a bird feeder from the pattern out of his science book.

This last one was fun. We made our own Suet! The recipe was made up of lard, peanut butter, oats and bird seeds. Then you freeze them into blocks. Our batch made up 7 blocks of feed. The book made it seem like the birds would be flocking to this thing like crazy! Although I have seen birds eating at it so far we've had no really eating frenzy! LOL

Ode to Moms

2007-10-03T09:13:00.000-05:00

Where was this when I was having such a crappy day? LOL

How Was Your Day Dear?

2007-10-02T19:25:00.000-05:00

Do I really have to say more?

Mystery Snail Eggs

2007-10-01T11:46:00.000-05:00

We've been waiting and waiting and finally the magic day came! I went to feed the fish Saturday morning and what to my wandering eyes appear? But a tiny little egg clutch! Yeah and Hooray! One of our snails crawled up to the top of the aquarium and laid her eggs. Now we just got to wait... hope the eggs stay out of the water but stay moist enough not to dry out ..... and in 2 to 4 weeks we can have anywhere from 30 to 100 baby snails! SO COOL! I mean so cool it might be KEWL!

Honestly, what is more nerdy than a homeschool mom with an egg clutch to show off?

These are our three snails. One on glass, one on tree, one in rocks. Two are blue mystery snails and one is a golden snail. We had 2 of each but one of our golden snails suffered from an unfortunate incidence. I have no idea who Mommy and Daddy are but aren't they cuties!

Well Now What?

2007-09-28T10:56:00.000-05:00

From the beginning I desperately wanted to install the love of reading in my son. I bought his set of Dr. Seuss before he was born. I've always read to him. My husband has finally stopped looking at me like I'm stupid for buying him books instead of toys for Christmas and Birthdays. You know that look that says, "Yeah right, like a kid wants a book for a present!" accompanied by the sarcastic eye roll. I remember his Kindergarten Sunday School teacher was so impressed with how well he knew his Bible stories. "Well, duh he had only had me read his whole Toddler's Bible to him a few 100 times!"

He has always read well enough but preferred me to read to him. This was mostly due to his desire for meatier novels that were above his reading level. Together we've read Eargon, all the Chronicles of Narnia, all the Harry Potter books (well, almost finished with book 7), 5 of the Redwall series books, and Black Beauty plus a few more books here and there. Lately when different friends or family members have heard Brandon ask me if I will read to him I've been getting this response, "Why doesn't he just read it himself. He is old enough!" I'm thinking that they think he can't read well on his own which is not the case. He has read several chapter books on his own and even a couple of larger novels. However, that is not the point. We enjoy the time together. He enjoys being read to and I like the books too! Has it bothered me that he doesn't read much on his own? At times. But I felt it would come with time. And it has....

Some of our new curriculum has forced me to look high and low for books to supplement our lessons. So first to our local (very small) library. Here he got two very decent sized books all his own even though he was still only half way through the last Harry Potter book. Then to a larger library in a near by town where he got two more books. Lastly we went to a used book store where I remembered I had some credit. Here he got 8 more books. Actually he gathered up 14 and I made him cut back a bit. Now these last were Goosebumps books (not exactly quality novels) but hey the kid is excited about reading.

Yup, I've installed the same love of reading that I have myself. Why, I was up until 1AM myself last night just because I couldn't put my book down without finishing it. I woke up a tired Mommy and decided I just had to suck it up and do school any way. After all I knew I had to get up early and I stayed up reading anyway! So, I had my bagel, sipped my coffee and bravely woke my little students up ..... Only to discover that my boy decided to stay up until around 3 or 4 (he's not sure) in the morning reading!!!! So, I have installed the love of reading. It's nearly 11 and my son is still in bed. Now What? I guess we'll do school when he gets up. You can't educate a zombie.

What's Up in Ancient History

2007-09-24T12:53:00.000-05:00

This year we are using Diana Waring's Ancient Civilizations and the Bible. So far I'm spending quite a bit of time worrying that I stepped way outta our league. We've always done the formula of read, do vocabulary and worksheets kind of history. And because of this we've always hated our history curriculum. So, I stepped out on a limb and got a curriculum that requires more from us. One of my biggest challenges is finding the additional sources and materials for him to use. I've always used curriculum that had all we needed to avoid this problem. We have a very very small local library. They don't have a single thing we need and when I asked about them borrowing from other libraries she said, "Well that is usually so slow you'd be better off going to the other library and getting it yourself." Hmmmm.... alright.

For Brandon the hardest challenge has been no worksheets. This curriculum is all free thinking, logic, researching, and writing reports. These are not Brandon's strong points. So either he will fail history this year or he will develope these valuable skills by the end of the year. He has plenty of imagination. This is more about learning to harness it into something useful and workable.

Four weeks into the school year and we are still in Unit One which covers Creation and the Flood. It basically starts out with an article, then we listen to a couple of CDs (What in the World's Going on Here? and True Tales) with interesting information, then we have a discussion, Research and report (He wrote a paper about the Behemoth and his belief that it is a dinosaur), then more researching and reporting (Writing is not his favorite past time so instead of a hand written report this time we got the information off the internet and he attached it to a large poster board for a presentation. It was over metallurgy.), then there was indeed some vocabulary, then a time line and a map, then it goes on to add Art, Science, Music, and Cooking into the picture, ending off with Phase 4 which has the children express themselves in any way they chose in order to get across what they learned in this Unit.

We've only gotten as far as Art. To go along the same path that he was already on with his Metallurgy presentation we chose to work with copper. The point to this project was that with actually working with the material he would think about early man and how clever he would had to of been to be able to make things with copper, bronze, and iron. Much less consider that they first had to mine these metals. Again, I am not so sure how much thinking about early man Brandon did while working on this project but he did learn that working with metal wasn't as easy as he thought it was be. He started very enthusiastic, thinking this was going to be all fun and games. He was going to make all kinds of things. Being Mom I quickly crushed his dreams and pointed out all the problems he would encounter with each project he proposed. As I said great imagination very little logic going on. He'll do great things one day when he gets those two skills to line up. I finally got him talked in to a project I thought doable. He didn't seemed too thrilled starting out to abandon all his wild dreams that he had for the copper. However in the end he seemed very proud of the work he accomplished.

I wish I had remembered to take some before shots. I always forget that! Any way for the basic idea Picture a really old mail box hanging off (nearly falling off) a old rotting post with the numbers clumsily painted on so that the UPS guy can find us. So first he went out and took a few swats at the mail box to knock it off the pole. Then I painted the post dark green to match our trim.

He hauled the mail box up to the house painted what we couldn't cover. Then covered the box with copper sheeting using screws, nails and prayers. The trickiest part was removing the old flag set up and building and adding the new flag. The stage shown in the pictures was Bran's favorite part. He torched the copper to make it different colors.

After we finished the mail box we started to paint new numbers on the post but then decided that it would look better if we made them from copper wire. Let me tell you the copper wire was pretty thick and not all that easy to bend! If you attempt this let me advise you that the number 4 is hard to make! LOL Believe it or not reattaching the mail box to the post was the hardest and our least favorite part! But we got it done.

However, before I show you pictures to that... I want to give a heartfelt plea not to look at the un-kept yards shown in the pictures. One is the neighbors so I can hardly be blamed for it's condition and our's well....I worked on a mail box all weekend with my son instead of the yard. I'll mow, weed eat and such some time this week I promise!

Yes, I know the post leans a little. (OK ALOT) First off on the other hand it is firmly in the ground. Second off I didn't want to dig it up to straighten it. Third I have no post hole diggers with which to dig another hole to replant it. And Fourth in Brandon's own words, "I kinda like it leaning, Mom. It matches our house. It wouldn't look right if it was perfect and I don't really like perfect anyways."

So we have a new mail box... kinda. And it is now firmly attached to the pole... that is leaning a little (a lot).... And we love it!

What about the boy?

2007-09-24T12:26:00.000-05:00

No dear friends and family members I haven't forgotten to post about Brandon's birthday. He turned 12 on Sept. 14 and yes, I did take pictures. Happy Birthday my precious first born son! What a little man he is turning out to be! I had little video of him blowing out his candles but I couldn't get it to load this morning. Grrrr...it bee's that-a way sometimes, ya know? I'll try again later.

He seemed to enjoy his birthday. I'm sure his favorite part was trying to open the presents I wrapped with masking tape! Muahwahahahah! LOL

He too got a home made cake. This time it was marble cake with white icing. I tried to make it special for him. Don't laugh I'm no baker and HE liked it which is what counts!

Stumbling Through Week Two of School.....

2007-09-12T13:59:00.000-05:00

Ok let's evaluate this week in a nutshell.....

Monday- Emily's birthday, nothing much (school wise) accomplished

Tuesday- My Mom came over, Emily did school,
Bran only did math...no mom can't come on a day we are already planning on taking off that would be entirely too convenient for me.

Wednesday- So far today Emily has finished school for the day. Today was a really hard day for her. We are getting past the easy stuff that was review and touching on new concepts like time, money, adding, and learning new words that don't end in -at. Not automatically knowing the answers and getting a few these wrong really seemed to derail her. Poor Hopie being a big girl is tough.

Bran has only gotten through his journal and math. We are taking a lunch break. When I get off here I plan to try to do about three days worth of Science, History, Spelling and Reading with him to get him back on the schedule I want us to be on.

Thursday- I plan to go to story time at the local library at 10 AM. I know, I know that will get us started late on school work for the day but we haven't got any field trips or other homeshcool events planned for this school year yet.

Friday- Bran's birthday. No real plans to school this day either.

Not a stellar week of Homeschooling but then I figured it wouldn't be with two birthdays in one week. So I don't know why I'm disappointed. I just I just don't want to start slacking off so early in the school year. Plus, I know both the kids have some really challenging work to do this year that would be better learned applied daily not here and there. Am I the only one fretting so soon? Why is kindergarten and 6th grade stressing me out so much more than past years? This year just seems so pivotal for both of them to me. Emily will learning adding, subtracting, how to read and so much more this year. Next year Brandon will be starting what is junior high in public school. Is he going to be ready to be work at that level by the end of the school year? Is he writing at 6th grade level now? Do I coddle him too much? Can he work independently on a project without Mommy giving him step by step advice and instructions? (short break for complete nervous break down here)

(Now in getting a grip mode.) It's not really that I doubt my ability to teach them or their ability to learn, it's ... it's.... oh what is it... my fear of too much slacking off or not enough dedication...? I can't put it in to words...OH, I know! It's being a mom. A worrying mom. A not praying enough mom. Put it on the alter mom! Give it to God and move on! It's only the second week of school for crying out loud! Alright, I'm OK now. Don't worry about me.

Happy 6th Birthday Emily!

2007-09-10T21:58:00.001-05:00

Uncle Bobby joined in singing Happy Birthday over the phone.

She seemed to really like her gifts.

She asked for a home made cake. Chocolate on chocolate with sprinkles.

Southern Gals Can!

2007-09-08T14:18:00.000-05:00

I don't know if it is being raised in the south or growing up poor, but I hate to spend money on something I think is unnecessary. When something breaks I just can't stand the thought of throwing it out and buying a new one with out first at least trying to fix it. My cheap little southern mind just can't wrap around spending a couple hundred on something new when you may be able to fix the old one for just a couple of dollars (sometimes just a few cents)! I mean really that money could buy....like...shoes and hair stuff! LOL

Which finally brings me to my newest crisis in which my husband was going to spend money that I didn't think was necessary. Not being blessed with central heat & air we cool our house with window units. A couple of days ago we had a slight cool front with the rain and all so I turned my bedroom unit off for a little while. BIG mistake. When I turned it back on it commenced to make a rattling sound and shoot water out into the room. We've had problems with water not draining out of this unit properly before so I assumed that was the problem.

Well, I spent the next few days telling my dh that we needed to take the unit out of the window to clean it out and was getting all the response of talking to a brick wall. I could see the writing on the wall. He had written this unit off. He was going to spend money on a new one with out even trying to fix this one. This is his normal response to broken things. This goes against every fiber of my being. I was raised in the lap of southern ingenuity. I swear it's like no one ever introduced this poor boy to duct tape and bailing wire! Since with no air it was too hot to sleep in my room I spent three nights sleeping in my dd room which was a huge drag 'cause I just now got her to stop sleeping in MY room. Any who, I just couldn't take it any longer. I knew I was going to have to fix this problem on my own before he spent money that.... well, could be better spent on me. (Just kidding we have 4 kids with birthdays this month.)

So.... I tried to turn it on one more time. May be it fixed itself, right? LOL

OH MY LORD IN HEAVEN THANK YOU FOR ALLOWING ME TO LIVE THROUGH THAT STENCH! I kid you not, I've smelled dead things, litter boxes and hundreds of other filthy things that did not smell that awful!! (Pardon me here while I say, "OH HELL NO! This thing had to go!") With Brandon's help I got the unit out of the window and slipped out out of it's casing. I will not get into details here but I will say that something definitely was rotting in there. I deserve like...House Wife Of The Year or something for cleaning that thing up. After a liberal use of Lysol and a power hose I finally felt that it was clean enough. I turned it over all different directions to make sure all the water was out and leaving the casing off I plugged it in. As I wasn't about to haul this thing back up into the window if it wasn't fixed. Sure enough it now was blowing cold non-stench like air without throwing water but... the rattling noise was still there.

I thought the rattling noise had been caused by the fan hitting the water in the bottom but that didn't seem to be the case.... The noise was more near the front. Sooooo... I leaned over and sure enough encased in that compartment in the front there was yet another fan and it was rattling. "Well, you've already taken it apart this much what's a little more, aye?" Getting this compartment open actually involved unhooking a wire and moving the digital box off to the side a little. Hey, I figured, "It's already broken what more damage could I do, right?" You would not believe what I found in there. It stopped just slightly short of being as gross as whatever the rotting thing was..... NO WONDER I have to have allergy shots sleeping in a room where the air came from this evil source!!!! OK More very liberal amounts of Lysol and power hosing. Turning and dumping water out..."Opps, I think water got inside that digital box... Yep, it did. OK open the digital box. Really what have you got to lose now?" I ended up blow drying out the digital box plugging in again and...

Ta Da it works beautifully! It runs just as quite and cold as a new one. I nearly killed myself trying to get it back in the window....But hey it's fixed and didn't cost a cent. I tell ya if anyone can figure out how to fix things things themselves to save a buck, Southern Gals Can!

Emily is Reading!

2007-09-07T13:14:00.000-05:00

I have to tell you I was very nervous about teaching Emily to read from scratch. Brandon learned to read in PS. I didn't start homeschooling him until 2 grade. So, I just improved his reading. But Emily .... Emily is all my responsibility. What if I don't give her a good foundation in reading? I mean really, in my mind, if you can read you can do just about anything! The how-to is only a book or internet site away! Emily has known all her alphabet sounds for ages. I've just put off actual reading while I tried to figure out the best way to get started..... I had bought How to Teach your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. But she hated it. So I sold it.

This school year I was still floundering and just had her working over some kindergarten workbooks. Finally I pulled out the Explode the Code and Bob Books that I've been sitting on for a while and decided to start her on those. OK like 2 days into them and she reads her first book all by herself!!!! Not only that but she read it over and over and over.

"Mat.
Mat sat.
Sam.
Sam sat.
Mat sat. Sam sat.
Mat sat on Sam.
Sam sat on Mat.
Mat sat. Sam sat.
The End."

OK, not Shakespeare, but hey it's her first book!

Then she demanded to read the second Bob Book and when I told her she wasn't ready to read it yet...she ignored me and read it anyway. Could she read it? Yes! She stumbled in a couple of places but she did read it! I guess it is time for momma to get out of this child's way and accept that she can do anything once SHE wants to do it!

Love Them! Love Them! Love Them! They go great together! I already have the Explode the Code books 1, 1 1/2, 2, and 2 1/2. I only have set one of the Bob books (that I picked up at a garage sale) but as excited as Emily is about being a reader I think I'll need to look into buying the next few sets soon!

Lift and Drag

2007-08-31T12:11:00.000-05:00

We are using Apologia's Zoology 1 Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day for our first semester of science. I am doing this with both Emily and Brandon. Even though Emily is just in kindergarten I thought she'd enjoy learning about animals. However it starts out way over her head with classification, air pressure and aerodynamics. I was glad today was something she could get into a little.

Today was experiment day. We made two planes exactly alike except one had long narrow wings and one had short wide wings. Which plane will glide further?

Brandon and I hypothesized the wide wings because we thought it would have more surface to get lift. We were wrong. It was the long narrow wings because it experienced less drag. Either way at least the kids had two planes to decorate and play with and that is what really matters, right?

PS Ever notice how serious and pouty Brandon looks in school pictures. You'd never guess he is really a playful ball of cuddles. Must be the deep thought he is putting into his studies! ROFLOL HA! I slay me!

Shh! Don't tell ...

2007-08-23T14:18:00.000-05:00

Keeping presents secret has always been hard on me. I hate buying presents way ahead of time because I always find myself wanting to give them early. I got these for Brandon. They've already came in the mail. Now I just got to wait for his birthday to give them to him! I just hope he full appreciates what a wonderful mother he has! ROFLOL

Amazon.com review

Equal parts droll and gorgeous nostalgia book and heartfelt plea for a renewed sense of adventure in the lives of boys and men, Conn and Hal Iggulden's The Dangerous Book for Boys became a mammoth bestseller in the United Kingdom in 2006. Adapted, in moderation, for American customs in this edition (cricket is gone, rugby remains; conkers are out, Navajo Code Talkers in), The Dangerous Book is a guide book for dads as well as their sons, as a reminder of lore and technique that have not yet been completely lost to the digital age. Recall the adventures of Scott of the Antarctic and the Battle of the Somme, relearn how to palm a coin, tan a skin, and, most charmingly, wrap a package in brown paper and string. The book's ambitions are both modest and winningly optimistic: you get the sense that by learning how to place a splint or write in invisible ink, a boy might be prepared for anything, even girls (which warrant a small but wise chapter of their own).

Book Description

The bestselling book for every boy from eight to eighty, covering essential boyhood skills such as building tree houses, learning how to fish, finding true north, and even answering the age old question of what the big deal with girls is.

In this digital age there is still a place for knots, skimming stones and stories of incredible courage. This book recaptures Sunday afternoons, stimulates curiosity, and makes for great father-son activities. The brothers Conn and Hal have put together a wonderful collection of all things that make being young or young at heart fun—building go-carts and electromagnets, identifying insects and spiders, and flying the world's best paper airplanes.

The completely revised American Edition includes:

The Greatest Paper Airplane in the World
The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World
The Five Knots Every Boy Should Know
Stickball
Slingshots
Fossils
Building a Treehouse
Making a Bow and Arrow
Fishing (revised with US Fish)
Timers and Tripwires
Baseball's "Most Valuable Players"
Famous Battles-Including Lexington and Concord, The Alamo, and Gettysburg
Spies-Codes and Ciphers
Making a Go-Cart
Navajo Code Talkers' Dictionary
Girls
Cloud Formations
The States of the U.S.
Mountains of the U.S.
Navigation
The Declaration of Independence
Skimming Stones
Making a Periscope
The Ten Commandments
Common US Trees
Timeline of American History

From School Library Journal

Gr 4-8-Beginning with a warning that "this book is downright disgusting," Masoff presents a delightful compendium of facts about things that are gross, putrid, and stomach turning. Covering more than 50 topics from A to Z, she reveals the truth about some unsavory mysteries of the human body, such as acne, body lint, eye gunk, farts, halitosis, snot, and vomit. Odious creatures such as cockroaches, lice, maggots, rats, and slugs are also discussed. Other subjects include "Cannibals," "Gross Grub," "Mucky Medicine," and "Toilets." Ranging from a couple of paragraphs to several pages, the entries offer a great deal of information in a hilarious tongue-in-cheek manner. The author also provides pronunciations and definitions, historical perspectives, and advice on how to deal with each of her revolting topics. Amusing cartoons and well-chosen, black-and-white photographs with humorous captions support the text. A section of "X-Periments" (e.g., build an exploding pimple, mix a batch of make-believe mucus) makes an appropriate conclusion to the book. Guaranteed to improve the quality of the lunchtime chatter of all but the most squeamish, this delightful volume will be enjoyed by fans of grossness everywhere.-Cynde Marcengill, Horry County Memorial Library, Surfside Beach, SC

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Frog Stories

2007-08-23T12:38:00.000-05:00

If you have read my blog in the past you may have read about some of my misadventures with what was supposed to be an science experiment. It all started when I bought a tadpole for Bran to watch it's metamorphosis in to a frog. After which I intended to set it free. Little did I know it would turn out to be an African Clawed Frog which is aquatic, can't be set free, and is the subject of several posts. So with many froggy experiences already under my belt I was tickled pink to read my blog buddy Marsha has had her own little frog adventure that only a little boy can give you! You should click over there her boys are just too cute!

Her story reminded me of something that happened here once...

*insert harp music and a fuzzy spinning fade away to days of long ago...

It was before the carnivorous escape frog and Brandon was may be say 7...

I'm in the laundry room taking clothes out of the washer to put in the dryer. I've grabbed a hand full and thrown them in to dryer already and reach in to grab another hand full... and let out a scream...not that I'm scared of frogs...I was just startled to find one sitting amongst my freshly washed laundry in my washing machine.

Brandon came running in (ever my little hero)
Brandon: "What happened Mom? Are you ok?"
Mom: "Yes, I'm fine. I was just a little startled. There is a frog in the washer!"
Brandon: "OH, so that's where it went!!!"

Apparently at one point it was in his pocket??? And I must have grabbed it when I got his laundry.... And I washed the poor thing!!!! Any way it seemed fine... and ... well rather clean when we let it go in the flower bed.

Summer projects

2007-08-23T09:32:00.000-05:00

Sorry, I have once again slipped off to no posts land. Cecil has been taking a lot of vacation days and we've been spending time as a family and doing lots of little projects.

I don't know about you but our little projects seem to grow as we work on them. See first, Cecil bought me this cute patio furniture set with a deck box to store my chair cushions in so the would not get ruined by weather. Then he bought me this metal and canvas gazebo.

So we promptly set it up and had a tea party.

However after we set the gazebo up I wanted a floor in it...So we laid one. Cecil bought me a fan and I strung up some lights... It was really cozy.... But then there was this out door fire place on sale that Cecil had his eye on....so I told him to buy it... of course we had to lay more stone for that because we couldn't put it under the gazebo... and all that stone made me think....wouldn't it be nice if I had a nice stone walk way to the gazebo...so I made me a little stone path...last night as we sat admiring our handy work I started thinking about planting flower beds on each side of the path...or wouldn't one of those little ponds with a fountain look cute there in that space between the path and the front flower bed... Cecil pointed out that we need another area the same size as the fireplace floor to put his new grill on.... I think he plans to buy more stone and sand today....he mentioned something about a TV but I put my foot down and told him absolutely no TV in the out doors! LOL Here is what we have so far.

The Patio Floor

Cecil's Fireplace

My cute little path...

Whole set up.

Pretty night time shot.

So we've been busy. And despite all the mowing, trimming, burning, weed eating, floor laying, weed pulling and various other yard slave work we've been doing the yard still calls. I am beginning to think the more work you put into making something nice the more work it will take....Did that last thought make sense?

PS Notice in the picture of the whole set up that we also managed to get the house re-roofed with pretty green shingles to match my green trim!

PSS The path does have two different stones in it but all the rest of the stone is the red stone. It looks different colors in the picture because we use sand as a kind of mortar between stones and the fire place area hasn't had all the sand cleaned off the top good in the picture as it was just laid late last night.

PSSS If you click on the pictures in the post you can see them in full size.

It is a mouse, no it's a rat, OH NO! It's a snake......

2007-08-23T08:46:00.000-05:00

I woke up hearing my guinea pigs very upset. There was a lot of cage rattling going on. At first I thought they had emptied their water bottle and were shaking it to get someone to refill it. So, I stumbled into the living room to hush the little demanding things up. Then I realized they were no where near the water or food. Two were scrunched up in a corner shrieking in fear while the third bravely fought something on the far side of the cage by the wall. All it was really managing to bite the wires on the side of the cage....

I thought a mouse must have been attracted to their food, was trying to get a bite to eat and instead was getting a bite from Leia the warrior guinea pig. Actually,at this point though not thrilled with the idea of a mouse in my house or the idea that I was going to have to get it out of my house... I kind of snickered at the idea that it thought it was getting easy pickings out of the guinea pigs food and was now under attack from the fearless one.

Then It moved trying to run away (it was kinda smushed against the wall and the wires of the cage) and I saw it was really big (longish, too long to be a mouse).... and I thought "OH, gross it's a rat! A rat in my house!"

Mind you, I stopped half way across the room as soon as I saw there was something moving on the outside of the cage that the guinea pigs didn't like. Then the light hit it's shinny smooth slick head....

(PARDON MY OUTBURST)....

"Holy crap! It's a snake! A snake has gotten in the house and is trying to eat my piggies!".... Now I hate snakes...love my piggies... so I inch forward to investigate how to get this snake....AND......

It was not a snake.......

Praise the Lord it was not a snake......

Victory dance here.....

Instead it was......

Are you ready for this?

My son's African three clawed frog!

It finally managed to get out of it's aquarium. We had always heard they were wild tank jumpers. After all this time (about two years ago?) she hadn't jumped out of her aquarium ....I just thought well may be we don't have to worry about this one. Not only did she make it .... she was three rooms away from her aquarium ... and in a lot of danger... on top of Leia the warrior princess, there was also a cat and two dogs in the house! Close inspection showed very few scrapes on her. We rinsed her off and slipped her back in the tank. Mission one today..... find something to seal up opening in back of tank so explorer frog is kept homebound!

Backyard Camp Ground

2007-07-23T09:46:00.001-05:00

Does this happen at your house when your boys ask if they can pitch a tent in your backyard? No? Oh well, I knew we weren't normal.....

A Fish Tale

2007-07-21T09:19:00.000-05:00

The Royal Frog

Once upon a time a family had an aquarium and in their aquarium they had a giant frog and a giant gold fish. One day the Queen decided that the giant gold fish would be happier in a pond. So the family released the gold fish into the great wild to live out it's life in the freedom of a pond. But this made the little princess sad. So, the King and Queen told the princess she could get several fish to replace the giant gold fish. At the kingdom's local pet store the Queen carefully explained that the tank still contained a rather large-ish frog but the clerk was sure the fish picked would be safe. So the royal family happily installed their new pets into their little tank. Sadly the next morning they found that 6 of the new 9 fish were gone....and they had a very happy frog. Not too easily discouraged the family returned to the kingdom's local pet store and bought larger fish. Alas the next morning a couple of the new fish were gone including the largest one they bought! The royal decree? The royal frog got to have the 20 gallon tank all to itself and it's buddy the huge sucker fish. Also the monstrous duo were banished to the prince's quarters for the rest of their days! And the Queen and princess threw a royal fit until they got a pretty 29 gallon tank to keep all their pretty little fishes in!

New Fish Tank

Moral to this little tale?
So what if your freaking gold fish is huge!
At least your stinking frog can't eat it!

Em's Surgery

2007-07-19T22:00:00.000-05:00

Emily's surgery went well. We got at the hospital around 8 for pre-op. She went into surgery around 9:30 and got out around 11:00 but we had a bit of hard time with her after surgery coming out of anesthesia. So we didn't leave the hospital until around 12:30. The dentist was pleased with how it all went. He said the four front teeth that we were so upset about removing were already loose and he feels their replacement adult teeth will start to come in by Christmas. That was wonderful news because we were worried it could be as long as 1 to 2 years. She was VERY mad about the Doctor taking her teeth and feels she is ugly now. She refuses to smile. Poor baby, I hope the Dr. is right and those new ones come on in soon.

Daddy promised her a trip to Toys 'R Us for being good. She slept for another say 4 hours or so that afternoon. When she woke up she didn't remember going to Toys 'R Us and picking toys out. So she was really excited to see what she got! LOL

Dance, Dance, Dance

2007-07-18T20:40:00.000-05:00

And Daddy doesn't think we should put her in Dance class?

Summer Crafts

2007-07-14T08:54:00.000-05:00

Where do I even begin on all the crafts we've worked on this summer? Air dry clay figures, painting wooden letters that spell their names, painting pre-made figures, homemade cork boards, latch hook, gluing puzzles together to make posters, weaving loom pot holders and dishrags, etc.... I don't know if the kitchen table will ever be the same again! LOL

This Is The Day That The Lord Hath Made!

2007-07-11T08:59:00.000-05:00

I couldn't help but catch myself singing this as I baked, did dishes and laundry this morning! You see for a couple of months now (or really for as long as I can remember). I have been sick. I've walked around feeling daily like I had a cold or the flu. It was just my allergies and I medicated and medicated with all sorts of OTC meds. I took Benadryl, Tylenol cold and sinus, Mucinex DM, Alavert, and Claratin all to no avail. I couldn't think straight, I fell asleep every time I sat still, I had trouble waking up, I spent the first 2 hours of every day sneezing and blowing my nose, I had head aches and a sore throat daily, wheezed and coughed. I'll stop listing symptoms now and just tell you I was miserable! I finally decided that I just couldn't live like that anymore. So, I woke up yesterday and told my DH "NO MORE! I'M SICK AND TIRED OF BEING SICK AND TIRED! I'M GOING TO THE DOCTOR. GIVE ME PRESCRIPTION MEDS OR GIVE ME DEATH!". DH politely looked at me like I was crazy and quietly said he'd deposit some money into my spending account to pay the doctor and buy my medicine. I nearly kissed the doctor when he said he give me a shot to give me some immediate help in breathing! In fact I think I scared him a little with my excitement because he then carefully pointed out I could only come in for shots every three months. LOL On top of the shot he gave me prescriptions for daily allergy medicines (Allegra and Nasacort). Together here is it just the day after and I feel like a human again! What an amazing difference!

Completely Random

2007-07-11T08:49:00.000-05:00

Just a couple of completely random thoughts this morning:

1. It really cracks me up the way that us buying my husband a grill with the change the kids and I had been saving up has really changed him. He used to fuss and fume about the way we stole change and how not a nickel could be set down with out us snatching it up. Now he leaves his change on the dresser for us every day! LOL

2. The other day I was reading one of my favorite blogs and the writer was joking around about even the flags in Texas being bigger. She went on about the huge honking American Flags that our car lots have. It cracked me up not only because the funniest things are those that are true but because my husband just attached two big ol' flags to the front of our house (one American and one Christian). I pointed out that we didn't have a Texas flag and he said that I was right and he'll see about getting one ASAP! LOL

Could you pass 8th grade science?

2007-07-10T09:39:00.000-05:00

I scored a 92% but I have to admit if it wasn't for having studied most of this stuff fairly recently by homeschooling Branflake I don't think I would scored so high!

Two 1/2 Weeks of Fun and Trial

2007-07-05T11:34:00.000-05:00

The problem rears it's ugly head:
Last time I wrote I told you my MIL was coming to visit and I was trying to get the house clean. Well, I did finally manage to get inspired enough to get my unmanageable house manageable enough to let someone in for a visit. However, while preparing for Grandma's stay Emily began having tooth aches and running a grand fever of 103. Of course this started on a Friday night because you never fall ill on a Monday morning when it is nice an easy to pick up a phone and make an appointment. So, we went through the weekend with cool baths, mouth rinses, gum number and fever medications. (Read little to no sleep for mom and child here.) Much to my relief Monday did finally come but they couldn't see her until Tuesday. (Read another night without sleep here.)

( Brandon is a side note here. Monday I did manage to get his new Social Security card with his bran spanking new last name on it. Now I just got to get his birth certificate changed and he is all set up. All his legal documents will call Cecil his Daddy. Yeah! )

The dentist appointment:
That Tuesday was Emily's first ever dentist visit. Honestly, I had put it off hoping her bad baby teeth would fall out before they were a true problem. She has always hated doctors and has to be held down by multiple people to get a shot. Plus, poor Brandon had a very traumatic dentist appointment at what was supposed to be a great dentist's office that I guess scarred me as much as him. So, I picked one of if not the best pediatric dentist in the near by larger town and convinced her this was going to be like going to Kid's Zone. When we got there I discovered it nearly was a trip to Kid's Zone. It was a very kid friendly atmosphere with toys and video games in the waiting rooms, great friendly and playful staff, awards for good behavior and TVs with headsets playing kid's movies above every exam table.

The diagnosis:
Her x-ray's did show that her 4 bottom front teeth do have the adult teeth under them about to come up. So she should be losing them soon. All other teeth in her mouth need work to be done to them. As they began telling all that would have to been done I sat nodding, clear up infection "yes please do that", extract these molars "yes, I see that needs to be done", resin composite fillings for cavities that can be seen "yes, I hate those ugly silver caps and crowns", have to put silver crowns here because these are weight baring teeth "yes, well that makes sense", this kind of extensive dental work would be too traumatic and take months of dentist visits to do in office we would only do this kind of work under general anesthesia that way it can be done all at once and she won't even remember it being done "OH praise the Lord! YES! Do that." See I want the best for my daughter and I should have gotten her in sooner. So at this point I wanted to make sure every little thing she needed to get done was done. Plus, that is why you pay out the rear for insurance right?

The Bill:
From here the news goes sooooo down hill right to spiraling out of control. Then the shuffle us into a little office to go over billing and scheduling the surgery. Now my husband was on his way back from Oklahoma with his mom in the car when I call him to ask what on earth we are going to do. The bill was going to 4,183 for just the dentist, plus the hospital operating room (around 5,000), plus the anesthesiologist (350). Our dental insurance tops off at 1,000 and will not cover the work she needs for baby teeth (they only cover that for adult teeth)!! Finally after multiple calls to my husband who still in transit it was decided that we'd call them back to set up the surgery as soon as we figured out how to get the funds. I was still in shock when leaving and actually forgot to stop at the counter and pay my payment for that day's visit.

In the Mean Time:
The antibiotics didn't start to help for a few days. She seemed OK during the day but at night the tooth aches and fever would kick in. (Read little to no sleep for mom and child here.) I was thankful to have the prescription pain killer because children's Tylenol didn't touch her pain. Grandma got here Tuesday night to a very tired and stressed out family from the dentist visit and looming debt problem. Thankfully I had made a two week menu and had done the appropriate shopping before she got here so that took the stress out of figuring out what to cook for dinner each night. Cecil took the first week she was here off (even though he still worked from home on the computer as usual, but not nearly as much as he normally does). It was wonderful to have Grandma and Daddy here. I am blessed with one of those really agreeable non demanding mother in laws. So we had a really relaxed daily routine worked out. Coffee and breakfast and talking at the dining room table in the morning. Reading, a puzzle, a movie, sitting on the porch watching the weather, a little yard work or cleaning, may be a craft with the kids,or may be a nap in the afternoons. Then meet back in the kitchen to visit while cooking supper, eating and cleaning up afterwards in the evenings. Crawl in bed when we realized we'd stayed up too late and do it all again . While she was here I got to know her better and shared with her some of my favorite things most of which fell in the realm of food or beauty products. We also shot off a few fireworks before she left. We were hoping to have her here for the 4th but it didn't work out that way. Cecil's brother came to get her on Sunday night. The kids started missing her before they even left the drive way. We think she may come stay with us awhile again in Aug or Sept for the kid's birthdays.

The Solution:
After the initial shock of the huge bill that had to be paid upfront for Emily to get cared for wore off we started thinking of our options. Cecil had already taken out a loan on his 401 when we needed to get Brandon's room basically rebuilt a few years back and it still needs a year and half to be paid off. But he thought he could get a medical hardship withdrawal from it. So I called his Human Resources department at his job and began the work of trying to get that process started. After several phone calls, visits, and faxes between his work, the dentist office and myself it finally got worked out and Cecil went up to sign for the withdrawal from his 401. Here I owe a big thanks to the wonderful woman in his Human Resources department and the woman in the billing office of the dentist. They were both very kind and helpful. So, then we sat on pins and needles waiting to see if the request would be approved and a check sent. When the check finally made it in (on a Saturday evening so we had to wait until Monday to deposit) we called on Monday and asked them to schedule the surgery asap so our girlie could have this all behind her.

The New Problems:
As soon as I get off the phone requesting that they schedule ASAP Cecil calls to say that the bank put a hold on the 401 check because it was so large that we'll have to wait for around 5 days before we can have access to that money. GRRRRRRRRRR! Ok well no problem because soon after that the lady from the dentist office calls and says the insurance company medical department will not let her pre-certify Emily for surgery because they don't cover that procedure. GRRRRRRR! So I called the insurance company and after about an hour and half most of which was spent on hold and after telling the first three representatives that their answer was not good enough to please give me some one higher up I finally reached someone just under a manager that said her manager said, "Yes, for any child under the age of 7 oral surgery in a hospital is covered as long and a doctor says it is for health reasons." To which I said, " and your name, extension and rank are what and this conversation will be noted where?"

The Schedule:
We now have been able to schedule Emily's surgery. She has to have a physical on July 16 in order to have the surgery. Then if all goes well she will have surgery on July 19. She will have 6 teeth removed (4 front top teeth and 2 bottom very back molars), 7 composite resin fillings, and three children's root canals with stainless steel crowns. The four front teeth were a hard decision for us. One option was to have root canals and resin crowns put on them. The other option was to remove them. Our first instinct was the crowns but they are not covered by insurance and was going to cost us 800 out of pocket. Finally the dentist told us that these are teeth that would really only be there for 1 to 2 more years tops (if that long) before they came out to be replaced by adult teeth. Our decision was really did we want to spend that kind of money on teeth that may not be there soon. I feel bad that she'll have that gap for a while but it was what we finally settled on. This will be an out patient surgery at the hospital (not the dentist's office) with the hospital anesthesiologist (not a dentist tech) administering the anesthesia. Being at the hospital goes a long way in making me feel like she will be safe. It should take about an hour for the surgery and about an hour for recovery from anesthesia. They promise that baby teeth do not get dry socket when removed and that there will be almost instant difference in how she feels and eats.

2007-06-22T10:55:00.001-05:00

You Are 85% Real

There's hardly a person on this earth more real than you are.
You have no problem showing people who you are, flaws and all.
For you, there couldn't be any other way. Because it's way too stressful to live an inauthentic life.
You're very comfortable with yourself. And because of this, you're able to live an exciting, interesting, and challenging life.

How Real Are You?

WELL I ALWAYS DID THINK I WAS PRETTY MUCH A "REAL" GIRL. WHAT YOU SEE IS WHAT YOU GET KIND OF GAL.