A book, a bucket, a shovel, and a magnifying glass

I don't know if people in other areas of the country have to deal with the widespread fundraising that public schools do. The elementary school alone has two fundraisers per year, and I have been hit up once by the middle school already this year. I do wonder how the PTA really feels about this prostituting of children by sending them out door-to-door in this age to earn money for their classes. What does it say about the education system?

I don't remember a single door-to-door fundraiser that I was sent out on as a child. We had book fairs, but those were at the school and the only people hit up were the parents. "Gee, mom why can't I have this 5-page Strawberry Shortcake sticker book, it's only $8?"

At the beginning of the school year each child is sent a list of materials to buy for that school year. The local stores also have copies available for each class. I picked one up last fall, just to take a peek of what a 1st grader needed. The thing was three pages - the first page was the individual child needs, which was way overkill in my mind. From notebooks, to loose paper, to construction paper and glue. I thought that they were making sure the school system no longer had to provide educational supplies at all. And, then the other two pages supplies that needed to be purchased for the 'classroom'.

I've spent less on my children, even buying some pieces of curriculum, than I would have buying materials for one child's classroom. And, yet, they still send these children around begging for more - or the parent takes the form to work so co-workers can feel guilty if they don't buy something.

All this so that the children can have a 'quality' education????

I've thought about handing one of the poor children that show up on my doorstep a nature identification book, a bucket a shovel and a magnifying glass and telling them to go outside. There is your quality education.

Peace,

Amy

Sunday Baptism

We had a crazy weekend - not my normal two days of laziness that I have instilled over the winter months. Junior's baptism was yesterday - wouldn't it be nice to share pictures - yeah I think so too, but I left the camera here, sitting next to the computer.

Mom came up Saturday since she couldn't get away earlier because of judging 'Battle of the Books" for her county public school system. So, we had to compress all the errand running into Saturday afternoon. We took MB & K with us and had a really good big girls time out. Mom treated us to lunch at the mall where I had to return an easter dress that didn't work for K. Then we hit Target for a sale they had on drinks and then we went to BJs for last minute supplies and a few staples we had run out of at the end of the week.

Mom doesn't have any warehouse stores near her, so she always tries to pick up a few things that are good deals for her. It took us about an hour to wander through there. And, of course I spent over $100 like I always do. But did get flour at $4 for 20lbs and 2lbs of bulk yeast for less than $4.

We brought the girls home after that, they were ready to go play with friends and we needed to pack up the food for Sunday and take it to the in-laws house. Mom and I went back out to Walmart and then headed over to the in laws where we visited without children for an hour or so. It was after 5:30 before we finally got home.

Overnight junior began coughing and snorting, and I started with some sort of back spasms that left me thinking I was going to die. I couldn't decide if I had pnuemonia or experiencing my first asthma attack ever. The muscle spasms were wrapping around from my back to my chest and I couldn't totally expand my lungs. It was so bad I started getting shocky before dh got me into a hot shower which seemed to help the pain. By the time I got out he had feed and changed junior and set him up in the pack 'n' play in our room, sleeping in his car seat. He had also set up the heating pad for me to lay on.

I think we fell back to sleep around 4 and then back up at 7 to finish getting everyone ready to go to church.

The baptism was fine. I'm sure I would have been more into it if I hadn't been concentrating so hard on just trying to stand upright. I really wanted all the girls to stand up there with us, but Em began screaming everytime we tried to get her to come into the sanctuary. I think it had to do with the fact that when she was first in there the grandparents & aunts kept trying to keep her from 'rocking.' She rocks for comfort. I tried to explain to them that she will stop if it hurts and just leave her alone - but the minister kept wanting me to actually concentrate on the liturgical review (like we havn't done this three times already).

Anyway, we were able to avoid the procession following the baptism (where junior is carried around the sanctuary and presented to the congregants while parents follow behind) and tradition I really don't get. I explained to the minister that junior had a cold, so beyond sprinkling with water the minister did not touch junior.

After the baptism I took junior out and picked up Em in the toddler room and we spent the service hanging out in the lounge area. I just don't think any of us were up for large crowds at that point.

We did lunch and hung out afterwards at the in-laws. My family; my mom & stepfather, my dad & stepmother and step-neice had all come up, left late afternoon. We finally scooted out after 4:30 and I came home and went to sleep for two more hours. I woke up to the sound of DH ordering pizza.

Like I said I would like to show pictures, but we don't have any. Because of junior's cold I took off the extremely light-weight outfit that was his father's, immediately after the actual baptism and put him back into a sleeper. So I have been assigned to put him back into the outfit once he is feeling better and snap some pictures for everyone.

Now that the baptism is over I can concentrate on getting things ready for Easter. And, right after that MB & K have two choir concerts that I need to make them black skirts for.

Its Monday and the weather is looking good for this week. So, I'm going to log off and try to get some things done.

Peace,

Amy

All Good Things Must Come To An End

Our beautiful weather week has come to a dramatic end with pouring rain all day and temps falling from 69 at 5:30 this morning to the '40s by this evening. I have not been inside much, and in fact trying to self-regulate the amount of time that I spend on the time-sucker that is a computer. I love spring, if for not anything else than the warm days and no bugs. Being able to open the doors & windows and let fresh air move through out the house. I really want to find a screen door to extend the days of open doors. It needs to be doggy-proof - Ginger dog is terrible on screens.

My spring garden is really coming along, seedlings, seedlings & more seedlings. Today's rainy weather should be a good blessing for it. The blueberry bushes have lots of buds and flowers, so we have not killed those, yet. The only thing I am disappointed in are the potatoes. I don't see anything yet. I can generally grow potatoes, by accident in the compost - but nothing here.

I think I am going to by some seeds next payday and go ahead and begin my tomato and pepper plants indoor, if I can find a safe enough spot for them. I have a couple paper egg cartons and am saving a paper oj carton, they will make fine starter pots that I can just but in with the plant. Mid-april is when we can generally plant the warm weather plants.

Instead of schooling at the kitchen table (actually we are more of the sofa schooling school - but this is for point) we have schooled this week at the picnic table overlooking the backyard. MB even took some of the knowledge she has gained through the environment/ecology project and help our nine-year-old neighbor build a model habitat for his class project. I saw the finished project and I am actually giving her points for it in our school. They did a very good job with it.

I'm kind of glad that some of our 'outside' classes and co-ops are already starting to wind down for the year. I am ready to get back to some homeschooling. We always seemed so rushed, and then I have to spend my time entertaining youngins while MB and/or K do their class. We actually have less time for the fun things in homeschooling. I am really going to have to reasses what we do and if (fingers crossed) we homeschool next year we are going to have less regularly scheduled classes and just do occassional & field trips.

Today we will be inside, no errands to run - Yeah (took care of that yesterday during MB's Piano). I need to give the house a really good cleaning as my mom is coming up tomorrow morning. Junior is being baptized on Sunday!! Oh, and the ants are trying to make their yearly migration into our abode and time to wipe those silly creatures out. My plan is to put the kids to work (already seeing a fallacy) and knock it out. Then we can have a movie afternoon, complete with popcorn and everything.

Peace,

Amy

Who's That?

So, life is a journey of personal changes - yeah, I get that. Sometimes there are rapid changes in life; I fall asleep as one person and by the next day I am someone totally different (marriage, childbirth, buying a new home) and other changes kind of sneak up on me. What's funny is that even changes that I plan for, make goals about, changes I desire - still have the ability to sneak up on me.

A little over a year ago, after the selling the house fiasco and realizing that I didn't want or need a bigger, better house. And, coming to some idea of what I was searching for in my life at the time, I made up a list of things in general that I wanted to focus on in our life.

~ Pay off all of our debts and work from a budget (this actually took several months to get dh totally on board with it) we have about one more year until we will be free except for the house

~ Declutter and figure out what we really need to be happy. Prepping the house for moving and putting a lot of things in storage helped with this process. One, I found out I really, really need my books in the house on the books shelves (knick-knacks there don't make me happy). But we cut the toy load down, our clothing amounts, etc. We try to keep up with it, but paper reproduces like weeds around here.

~ Eat more foods naturally or from scratch. This came from two different motivators. First concern over my kids reactions to additives in their foods. And, secondly, cost. I wanted to get our food budget down. We are all really enjoying this new aspect. I have enjoyed being in the kitchen all my life - but their is real joy & relaxation in the kitchen for me now that wasn't their before. I love finding recipes & changing recipes. We don't buy cookies & snacks as a rule anymore - we like what we can make in the kitchen better.

So those were my big three from last spring that we have worked on and focused on. Along the way other new ideas and goals appeared. We tried new things and enjoyed them, found that they worked for us. It is wonderful, but I find myself stopping and saying "Who's That?" to myself now. I am, in practice - not values so much, a totally different person than just a few years ago.

Today I am 'home' centered. Very focused on creating the best home environment for us. Home crafts interest me like crazy and I love trying to figure out how to use something old in a new way.

I also care about where our food comes from, the pesticide & food-borne illness concerns aside, I want to support our local farmers. I like to see the ground that the food grew in, to understand the process that goes into growing the food that we eat. It has had the side affect of really teaching me what thankfulness for food is (and it isn't just because people in Africa are starving). Growing food is hard work, nature & God are involved in it. The fact that something as small as a seed grows a head of broccoli - I'm pretty thankful I get the chance to eat that food. I can't joina CSA this year, but am planning to next year. This year we are going to set aside at least one day, if not two to hit the farmer's market. And we are going to pick-your-own as much as possible too. All in connection with trying a larger garden this year at our home.

I am actually planning to store as much food as I possibly can for the winter this year. My neighbor has agreed to teach me how to can this year and I am really looking forward to that.

Composting has become second nature and we are actually getting a bin this year, to add to our make-our-own haphazard pile. I am also researching prices to add rain barrels to our house for garden watering.

Everytime we hop in the car I think about how many errands we can combine. I try to have as many stay-at-home days as possible. As the weather warms up I am thinking about ways that I can get us to all walk (safely) to the library & grocery store to save on those trips. As it it I have managed this winter to use less than $50 a month on gas for the van!!

I'm drying clothes outside on a clothsline, instead of burning energy in the dryer. There is something soothing about watching the cloths flap in the wind when I look out the back window. I am trying to wash dishes by hand more days than we run the dishwasher - reduce our water consumption. I find that to be a very relaxing activity, and one that I get a lot of help from the girls with.

Junior is getting the full effect of my changes. We are waiting for our supply of cloth diapers to arrive and will be trying that for the first time. And, instead of passively making some baby food as I went, I am actually planning & shopping to make a supply of baby food puree for him.

I would have thought that all these things would have been difficult or time consuming. But, I feel in my gut so at peace about everything that we are doing. I am enjoying it and don't feel pressured about my time or anything.

There are more things I want to do and try, but those acutally involve a substantital monetary investment (solar collectors, etc.). Maybe down the road when we get to our house & land.

I may not be the 'person' I expected to be ten years ago - I think I like this one, though.

Peace,

Amy

What's In a Name

I saw this over at Dy's blog. How did we decide what to name our children? Where did their names come from? I can't really say that it was all that difficult. DH and I tended to be on the same wavelength when it came to parameters. It was important to me that they could have 'child' names & 'grown-up' names. DH had to run each name through the playground test to make sure that they couldn't be made into anything to ghastly. I wanted to incorporate family names as much as possible. And, it could not be a name that every other child has - the horror of being one of 7 in my school class with the name "Amy"

Child #1 - we didn't know the gender, did not want to know. Start thinking about names around the time the stick turned blue. Came up with a boys name - Brian Michael fairly quickly. Good, strong sounding name. For a girl we actually picked the middle name first, Elizabeth, and then needed to find something to go with it. DH actually came up with Mary - I liked it - good, basic name. We could call her Mary Beth and then she could decide what to call herself.

Child #2 - Again, didn't know gender. Did not really care for Brian anymore and needed something to go with Michael. I suggested Camden (as in camden yards - dh's favorite bball team), of course we had to find something traditional. For a boy we threw out just about every possibility and were still arguing about it in the delivery room. Thankfully we did have a girls name picked out just in case. DH let me choose and I have always liked the name Katie. A Katie is spunky, but can be a little princess. But since we also needed grown-up name, we decided on Katherine Anne - good flow and as traditional as the first one.

About this time we started being asked if we were Irish Catholics with those names - No, but my ancestors were. My sister figured we had good names for when they grew up to join a southern college sorority. Anyway, we were done and didn't have to think about names again - good thing K was Katie - because we might still be arguing about the name.

Child #3 - A surprise! This time I told DH I wanted to know the gender. Just knowing that we were having another baby was enough of a surprise. So we did not even worry about names until after we knew EM was a girl. Good thing since we have more luck coming to consensus with girl names. I had thrown out Emma & Emily for discussion with #1, so this time just asked DH which he liked better - he chose Emily and I tacked on my mother's middle name for good measure - Emily Christine. A little less traditional, a few more of those floating around in the general public. But, still fits with our "southern" sorority theme.

Child #4 - One would think we could figure out where these things come from. I figured this one would be next to impossible to name - I had used up my girl name list & we never had come to consensus on a boy name. We found out that it was a boy and got to work. We knew Michael was the middle name, but needed something to call him. We went through Christian, Camden, Brian, Bruce, Samuel, Geoffery, Gregory. At the family reunion last summer I was glancing through DH's family tree and noticed that his grandfather had been named Robert. I asked him what he thought - we could call him Robbie. We actually agreed and were done!!!

I call Robbie 'junior' on here because it is leftover from his fetal name. K kept bugging me about what we were going to name him when we couldn't decide. I finally told her Bubba Junior, and it just kind of stuck, at least the junior part.

I love hearing about how people decided on names - family names, idol names, random pages in the dictionary, or darts thrown at slips of paper.

Amy

Spring Cleaning

I've been trying to tackle Spring Cleaning around here. The weather, except for yesterday, has been beautiful and warm - perfect for opening windows and shooing those germs out. I figured we had some time before the pine trees started dropping their pollen. I guess the 'mild' winter has started those trees out earlier this season. The minor cold MB & I had has morphed into pollen allergies. MB hasn't been able to sleep very well for 2 nights even taking her allergy medicine. Thankfully pollen doesn't seem to trouble K at all, Em has a minor runny nose and Junior is still trying to get rid of his head cold, although everyday he is better.

I have managed to clean, sort, reorganize the Family Room. A few more toys went to the give away box in the garage!! Yeah - beating clutter one toy at the time. It actually didn't look like a play room for one day. I also, after talking with the girls, moved EM back into the 'girls' bedroom. All three of them in there, with all the clothes & all the toys. It isn't as much of a nightmare as I thought it would be. And, the last two nights the girls have been really good about going to bed (thankfully we had enacted a staggered bedtime routine several months ago that helps).

This all means that Junior now has a room. And, I am not ready for him to go yet. We moved the changing station back into his room - but left the pack n play set up in our room. I figure we can start him off with nap times in his crib, but for a little while longer he can sleep in our room at night.

It is hard to believe that it has been five months since he was born! The time has flown by. Last night I gave him his first bit of rice cereal - he happily ate 8 spoons. The swallow reflex is all good with him, and I think the switch to solids will be pretty untraumatic. The poor boy needs the solids. Ever since his last growth spurt he takes 8 oz at a feeding (every 4 hours) and has started waking up again at night-hungry. I am already imagining the loan I will have to take out when he is a teenager to keep him feed.

My spring cleaning job today is to clean out the kitchen cabinets, if I don't procrastinate too badly. I figure we will knock out lessons this morning and then send the kids outside for the afternoon and I can have a few uninterrupted hours to take everything out and wipe it all down. Plus I can take an inventory of what we have in there, maybe stay out of the grocery store for a few more weeks.

Peace,

Amy

Outside - Stay Outside

With nasty germs floating around the inside of the house and temps knocking on 70 degrees, it is that time of year where thoughts of locking children outside become actual possibilities.

Since the garden did not actually get planted on Monday, see reference to nasty germs above, we tackled that project first thing Tuesday morning.



Here is K, in jammies (my most resistent one to leaving the interior confines) examining the straw bale. Along the fence line is the bed for lettuce & spinach.



My little 'helper'. No matter how many times we told her it wasn't a sand box she still insisted on playing there. Luckily I am not planting anything in that corner of the bed until later this spring. What I did plant in the bed were onions & broccoli. To Em's right, off picture, is a small potato bed and behind her along the other fence line is another potato bed.

Doesn't the whole thing just look fascinating ;) Dirt & straw - isn't it exciting! I think that kind of summed up MB's thoughts on the whole thing.



We did not make it to Choir yesterday as junior had been running a slight fever with his cold. We let junior sleep away most of the day in his car seat (the incline helps his breathing) to make up for the interrupted sleep he had overnight. I wish I could have joined him for most of the day.

Instead, I figured if I kept busy then I wouldn't notice how tired I was. We opened the doors & windows and I tackled cleaning the Family Room. I won't post any pictures of it - its not done and what was done, was basically undone by bedtime. Winter cobwebs were swept out and missing toys located. The rug was taken outside and beaten.

Seeing that heavy duty housework was being done, the girls disappeared into their 'bush' castle outside. Which led me to setting up the castle tent for them to play with. It kept them outside for most of the day - although several sets of clothes were changed after missions through the mud by my female knights.

I also got creative with fixing our mailbox. The wooden handle had fallen off, leaving industrial-sized stables sticking through the plastic door. Since I knew that USPS might object to being stabbed with these I figured it needed to be fixed.



My original plan had been to use an old cabinet pull, but couldn't find where we had stored them. Instead I made a handle using two small 'eye'screws and extra wire. Isn't it nice to have a junk drawer. Interesting and cheap - and we didn't have to go through the exercise of buying another mailbox and installing it. Anything to save me a trip to the store with 4 children in tow.

Amazingly enough, we did manage to complete our lessons for the day. We had night school. Everybody did their math and reading. We played several games of Memory, watched "Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader?" and read Perrault's Cinderella.

"Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader?" was interesting, although I have to say it is further proof of the uselessness of the type of education children receive in elementary schools. The memorization of facts that rarely have much bearing on our lives as adults. I did *better* than the two adults that were on last night (I'm not sure if the first guy was a set-up or not - to not get any question right on his own)as I only missed one question. This might not actually be a show that you want your kids to watch as they might wonder why they need to *know* all these facts when adults certainly don't.

And, finally, I had a thought after reading Cinderella to MB last night. I don't know why I have not ever wondered about it before - because I have read so many versions before. But what is the lesson from Cinderella for Cinderella and for us. More than the whole 'your prince will come' and if you are nice & sweet through hard times then good things will happen. The godmother could have taken Cinderella away from her 'life' at any time, made her a permanent 'princess' instead of just giving her one night and a chance that more might happen. But, Cinderella had to have faith that good things could & would happen - and the Prince had to make an effort for her.

I asked MB to think about why the story wasn't just over when Cinderella & the Prince met at the ball. Why is the glass slipper important, and not just because it is beautiful? Today we will talk about it more. I think it will be interesting to hear MB's thoughts about why.

Peace,

Amy

Garden Today!

Once the fog burns off and the sun comes out, it is supposed to be a pleasant mid-'60s day here. We put some manure into the garden bed on Saturday before it began raining so everything should be good to go.

The girls are excited that the day is finally here. They love our little garden patch and, like me, are thrilled that we are trying something new this year. I've arranged our school day, isn't it nice we can do that, so we can spend most of the afternoon outside. Can anyone say hands-on science. Saturday they helped daddy plant the blueberry bushes and kept talking about all the things they were going to do with the blueberries. I doubt we have a crop this first year - not to mention there are only two bushes and we will not be rolling in the blueberries. But, it is fun to dream. When we go to the mountains this summer I want to take them blueberry picking - they will enjoy that.

I'm just happy that we have 90% of the household population feeling back up to speed. Luckily it has only been a late season head cold, but one-by-one we all came down with it and spent a couple days each feeling gouchy and sleepy. Now, if I can just find the time to get my tooth fixed so that will stop wearing me down. This is the same tooth that I had something 'temporary' done to it in November - I wasn't supposed to wait until nearly March before going back.

While everyone has been under the weather I have taken advantage of some time to just sit. I finished another grocery bag - a little better than the first, but still needs work.



When I went out to buy some large knitting needles for my new project, the craft shop had my favorite cotton yarn on sale for $1 a ball. So I picked up 7 more in some Spring colors - new washclothes & more bags are coming.

Speaking of my new project. I am making a new rag bath mat from some older towels we had in storage. The heavy towel strips are difficult to knit, but it is moving quickly. So far I like it.



I think the size is going to be on the smaller side, but that is okay because our master bath is pretty small and our existing bath mats are so large they partially cover the air vent.

Better go start the day so we can have time for everything.

Peace,

Amy

Maybe the planets are aligned just right. Or, the gods could be smiling on me. Whatever it is - I like it. If this keeps up, I think that I might just be able to deal with K's sudden dip into obstinancy (her 1/2 birthday is next month, so that is what I keep telling myself).

Yesterday morning I had to take a shower. I had stayed up way too late Monday night watching Anna and the King and had to do research on the Anna in the story after it was over - so no shower for me. The girls were warmly snuggled down in the family room & junior was sleeping and I took the opportunity for a quick 5, 10, 15 minute shower.

As I was stepping out MB poked her head into the bathroom to ask if we could go ahead and do her HOP work for the day. After I picked myself up off the floor, I got dressed checked on everyone else and then MB and I snuggled in my bed and did 3 lessons. We only stopped because the other two started coming in and wondering when I might actually feed them.

After breakfast MB came to me again, this time holding her daily list, and asked if it was time for her writing. I got her squared away on the computer and then went to work with the other two. A little later she came into the family room looking sad and asked if I could help her - that her spelling didn't look right. I had told her that for creative writing exercises I did not worry about spelling, but she wanted my help - she wasn't getting frustrated and giving up. So I helped her clean it up then went through the steps of saving, printing and attaching to an email as she wanted to send it to her Mamaw.

I wish I could have just kept going this morning, but we needed to actually dress everybody and get to Choir.

Home again at 2:00 and after a quick, late lunch MB sat down with her math book and quickly worked through the lesson of the day. And then asked if I could go ahead and do the History reading. I was so giddy by this time I really thought I was on Candid Camera.

We finished the work and I sent her out to play. Only for her to come home an hour earlier than normal so that she could help me make dinner. We got the spaghetti sauce simmering and she wanted to bake a cake while the sauce was cooking. And, she did do the cake, by herself. The only thing I had to do was turn on the mixer. Since we were using a silicon form I had not used in awhile we needed to keep checking the cooking time. Apparently EM did not think it was cooking fast enough, so the last time the timer went off MB ran in to check it and started screaming my name as she had been enveloped in a cloud of smoke. EM had cranked the oven to 500*. Ahhhhh - burnt cake anyone.

Honestly, I really expected a meltdown from MB at this point. She just doesn't generally take it all that well when something she has worked so hard on is ruined by someone else. But, she said she understood and she knew we couldn't make another one until Thursday with our schedule.

After dinner I decided MB needed a reward and took her out with me to run errands. She had been wanting to go by the library for a few days, ever since I had told her there was a book that could tell her the answers to all those questions that I don't know like, "What's the record for eating chicken nuggets?" So we tried to find a copy of the Guiness Book of World Records - no dice for the big one, but the juvenile section had a number of the smaller topical ones in so we checked out a few.

I was also able to grab some Fairy Tale books for our new literature unit. I finally decided on Fairy Tales, and have a fun companion of fractured fairy tale plays for us to do along with it.

We did the errand running and came home about bedtime. She asked for Bruce Colville's A Midsummer Nights Dream since we were reading about Greece earlier. It has been at least nine months since we had read this story, but proceeded to give me an extremely detailed summary of the entire story before I even opened the book.

This morning I am still waiting for MB & K to wake up. I have to go to an appointment this morning and a friend of mine is coming over with her kids and they are going to do 'school' together. MB actually has a 'math test' in her workbook to complete - it is just review of review of work she did in last year's book - so I am not expecting any problems there.

We also have K's Piano, Science Club and MB's soccer practice all this afternoon. So, I believe it will be a rather abbreviated day.

Peace,

Amy

Chinese New Year - at our house

I know Chinese New Year was yesterday, but that is what we spent today on. It was a fun day. MB first had to go to her Spanish Class, so I tried to spend the time working with K on her reading - but she had a non-cooperative day thing going. I just let it be for the day. After spanish class we came home to fix lunch and read 3 "chinese" stories: Tikki Tikki Tembo, The Story of Ping, and The Five Chinese Brothers. And, we also spent some time talking about the history/legend of the Chinese New Year. We had a lot of fun finding our chinese 'animal' with MB's placemat that she had gotten on a recent trip to a chinese restaurant.

After that we made Chinese Lanterns to hang in our family room.

Then we made Chinese Moon Cookies to go with our dinner.




For dinner tonight we had chicken fried rice with spicy beef & broccoli stir fry.

Not much of anything else was done. But we had alot of fun with the day. MB was totally into the day, although K was not so much. She just wanted to spend the day playing, actually jumping on the sofa cushions they keep taking off the sofa.

If you notice in the pictures MB's hair is down. She had me take the braids out last night. It took us three hours and this is what she looked like before she went to bed. She did give me permission to post this picture.


Does she remind anyone else of an '80s female pop singer?

Peace,

Amy

Saturday Picture Post

Here are some recent pictures that I have just managed to download.



Here's junior showing off his new trick of rolling about 3/4 of the way over. He loves to 'talk' to his lion.



Another picture of my big boy. He is over 12 lbs now!! And, is in the middle of a growth spurt. He is bound & determined to get into those 3-6 month clothing.




Speaking of growth spurts, these two seem to do nothing but grow up. MB has grown nearly 2 inches since early Nov, when we last measured them against the door frame. And, K is over 2 inches in growth during the same time. It better warm up soon or they really will be wearing "high-tider" pants.



I can't leave my little imp out. Not the best picture of her. But, when the girls see the pictures they will want to know where the picture of Em is.





And here is my bag that I am working on. For this first bag I am using up some leftover yarn from different projects, so it will be 'unusual' when finished.

And a big shout out to my dh, whom I just found out has been reading my blog at work - and sharing with his co-workers. The funny thing is that his particular office area is maybe 15 people and found out that the guy just down from him also hs his kids. See - not that unusual.

Peace,
Amy

Thursday was a much better day for us. Or at least me - the girls missed their sugar HI they had all day Wednesday. I almost blew it by forgetting the time for MB's piano lesson. Thankfully I happened to actually look at our calendar 10 minutes before class time. So, after getting everybody into the car with shoes in hand so they could put them on during the ride - we made it only 5 minutes late. Which is horrible for my child who does. not. like to make an entrance.

But, other than that we were able to stay home for the day. We needed (I) a slow warm up to the day. So, the morning we were pretty lazy. MB and I made pumpkin-spice muffins and I did a little financial figuring before just hanging out with some books. Which is probably why I totally spaced on piano.

Schoolwise we are staying on track and making some strides. Hooked on Phonics has actually been really good, especially for MB. My idea of having MB & K do it together has fallen out because MB wants to do 2-3 lessons a day, and she can do that many because right now it is all review for her. K is limited to about 10 minutes and we can spend two days on each lesson. K doesn't want to move as fast as MB and that is fine too. Generally after K's lesson she asks to play Starfall for a little bit - so she actually gets double phonics work.

I made some changes in our writing program. MB was fighting me so much in doing her writing exercises - not cursive practice - but writing stories & sentences. The problem she told me is that she doesn't like her handwriting because it is too messy. Where she gets that I don't know. I keep telling her how good it is and show her work from last year to show how much she has improved.

On Monday I told her that she could do her exercise on the computer. She had to spend twenty minutes playing with all the different type of fonts. But, after that, proceeded to do her lesson without problem. Yesterday she wrote a letter to her Granddaddy to thank him for the trip on the computer. I think we will keep going with it.

My main school issue right now is finding our next bit of literature to read. So far she doesn't like any of the ones I have suggested or started. That is our hole right now. I could force her to listen to something but, don't want to turn her off permanently, especially since I think that she will enjoy them later.

Other things going on, I have began my grocery bag. I only picked up the crochet hook this weekend for the first time. I practiced a few days and then decided to just jump into the project. It is going together really well. I am so excited about how nice it is looking so far. I will try to post some pictures later.

I've heard back from a organization I sent a bid/proposal for a project to. They want me to look over some details and take a transcription test (I'm a little worried as I havn't done transcription in 5 years). It would be a long-term project, but not too many hours per week. It would really fit into my life better than anything else right now. The money would be great in helping us get out of debt that much faster and begin our addition or house hunt that much faster.

Today is some errand running, a little school and some needed down time.

Peace,

Amy

Valentine's Day

Let's see - how did I spend day of 'love'

- Driving across the county to the big hospital to have junior's development checked. He is fine, just a follow-up from his birth issues. Unfortunately it wasn't an appointment I would have scheduled - the hospital upon check out did, for first thing in the morning. Which meant I had to drive through rush hour traffic, in the rain, to get there and have them tell me they were already 1 1/2 hours behind schedule (at 9am).
- rushed back home to pick up Em who was with her g'mom and then go pick up the big girls who were at a V-party.
- Stopped by McDs for lunch, yuck, because we only had 10 minutes to make it to K's piano
- Came home and had 1 1/2 hours before soccer - managed to finish work from yesterday. Why it did not get done yesterday, I don't remember.
- Went to MB's soccer practice, chased Em around the very dangerous, yet interesting (to a 2 yr old) indoor soccer facility.
- Came home, changed a nasty 2 yr old diaper. Put said 2 yr old in bath.
- Cooked Mac 'n' Cheese for Valentine Dinner
- Girls are now eating dinner and watching Cinderella III, again
- I'll see DH about 11pm tonight, if I make it that long

Poor junior spent just about the entire day in his car seat unless I was feeding him. I am glad our Wednesday is finally over.

Peace,

Amy

MB has returned back to us. Well, I think she has.




The child I got back has grown up alot in 10 days. The self-confidence she has gained from the trip is wonderful and well worth it. I think I may send her on a cruise every year for this much change in a short period.

The hair-thing is temporary, I am sure. She says it hurts to sleep on, but she wants to show all her friends before she takes them out. Her features look really nice with the hair pulled away from her face. If I can just get her to let me fix her hair more often. I was told that this active child sat for more than 1 hour to let them fix it.

She remembered to buy gifts for everyone and was excited to give them out when she came home on Saturday. We have just been enjoying the family thing this weekend. Nights in front of a fire, cuddles and reading books. Last night we had a movie night to watch Cinderella III that my mother gave them for Valentine's Day.

I did manage to finally finish my shawl. I did not complete it before MB came home, but finished it that night while MB and I visited and she told me about the trip.


Now, I am trying to teach myself how to crochet. I want to be able to make grocery bags like this. The free pattern can be found at the Lily site.


I am at that stage where I am trying to figure out why people say crocheting is easier than knitting. Way too many things to have to try to hold on to and my fingers don't quite want to work right. It is good for me to let MB see me struggling with learning something new. She can see that things don't always come easily, but when you don't give up things do become easier.

We are trying to get back into the school groove again, and my break is over. I just wanted to share that my family is again back under one roof.

Peace,

Amy

My quiet week is coming to the end. At some point today MB will set foot back onto US soil, and Saturday morning she will be back in the house. And for good & bad MB being gone for a period of time does change the mood in the house. Apparently, MB is our energy bank upon whom we all draw our daily energy levels (she has enough to spare). Without her we have tended to be very slow and lazy in our days. There isn't a sense of urgency to anything we do, and well sitting around and cuddling, me knitting and them playing with little people seems to be just fine. And, also, K still likes an hour or two of quiet time in the afternoon without MB around to energize her. And, who knew that K, who generally stays up until 10pm, will actually pass out before 9pm if she is just left alone.

But, I do miss someone to talk to during the day. K & EM don't feel the need to talk very much unless they need something. And, while Jr will talk as long as someone is looking at him - I don't really understand infant coos all that well (just that he is happy & comfortable)- and I am a little self-concious of the running commentary I keep up with him.

Without MB here I don't feel complete, my schedule is off, my routine is out of whack. I've enjoyed the quiet, but don't feel as needed by all the rest of my children put together as I do in one day for just MB. That may not be a good thing. But there it is.

I miss the routine of homeschooling that we had developed recently. K's routine is so short and simple - read a little bit, play some games that incorporate math - and then let her go and be free in her learning. It is good and age appropriate, and I wish I had done more of it with MB at that age, but doesn't feed my homeschool control issues like MBs larger range of studies. And, I am not looking forward to next week and getting back into routine, yet again, this year.

On DH's job front it looks like we will not be going anywhere. With the time to think about relocating for work since they have brought it up to him, he has come to decide that he wants to stay here - surprise, surprise. He passed on Illinois & Indiana already (but with the recent cold weather snap - I'm glad). His bosses like him here and his family is all here. So, here we stay.

I can't believe that it has been a year since we put the house on the market and almost moved. It seems so much farther away in history than that. We are still happy with where we are. I am still leaning towards one more bedroom, with some type of small addition. We are trying to make things simplier in our lives and have achieved a bit better lifestyle. Our debt load, while not tremendous, has been a stumbling block - and that is our goal this year. Paying on debt each month is actually causing more debt - basically a bad case of living above our means leftover from when both of us worked. So, we are baby stepping through The Total Money Makeover.

I am glad we put the house on the market for the experience and the awareness we got. And, I am glad we didn't move. I can put my dream of having a mini-homestead back on the list. Because, if we just work towards it we could eventually end up there.

I have also, along the way, re-discovered my love for cooking. Cooking things out of boxes, what I did a lot of when I worked and for the past few years - just totally sucks away the joy of cooking. It just becomes another chore. But, for some reason baking bread, babysitting a stew pot and creating menus so that we actually use leftovers is not a chore. So, we are eating less expensively, food that is better for us, and it brings a great deal of creative joy to me. What could be better.

So this post has gone from MB will be home in a couple of days to ramblings about the past year for us. I cannot stay on topic.

I am going off to think about some type of special welcome home activity for us to do for MB - any ideas.

Peace,

Amy

It is so strange around my house. We've reached that magical point where MB is no longer on a short little trip to visit grandparents, but that she has gone further and is away longer than ever before. It is also the first time, on a trip away, that she or we just can't pick up the phone and check in. How is she doing? Is she having fun? What has been her favorite thing so far? Or, even better, she hasn't climbed up the railing and fallen overboard into the sea?

K asks us daily "how many more sleeps until MB comes home?" Em last night was calling for MB as we put her to bed. We are just so used to being together, it is unusual for anybody to be gone for very many days.

I am getting lazy with MB gone. Not in the 'laying around eating bon-bons' kind of way (but wouldn't that be nice for a change). But, K & Em are so happy playing together or by themselves, that I can sit off to the side and read a book or knit for longer periods of time. And, if they are so happy & cooperating why interrupt with any sort of 'organized' activity. My mom had me check out some books from the library for her that her library doesn't have. So, I am trying to read those before I give them to her when she comes back this weekend. My shawl is actually about 3/4 of the way done - and I could actually have it done by the end of the week.

Some of our activities have been canceled this week - so it is a good week to just hang out. Take a February 'blahs' vacation. I feel so guilty - but it does feel really good to not be 'on' every minute of the day.

Peace,

Amy

MB left on Wednesday for the coast to avoid this

Not quite as impressive as a couple of weeks ago. But, instead of waking up to it - we actually got to watch it snow this time - which is picturesque. K & Em are not all that impressed with snow, so they were only out for 15 minutes or so before they want to come inside and have hot chocolate. I tried having a fire and spent about 80% of my day from 9am until 3pm trying to keep the darn thing burning. For some reason it just didn't want to burn. Thankfully, we don't have to depend on my firekeeping skills for survival - thank you PSNC.

About this time, MB should be at my father's house packing up his suburban for the drive to Florida. She is so excited about the trip. They actually leave on the cruise tomorrow morning out of central Florida. They are going to visit the Turks and Caicos Islands and then stop in the Bahamas. Some day I might actually get to visit some of the places my own daughter has gone.

Since MB is gone DH and I have actually been able to have the 'school' discussion that has been on the back burner when MB is around. We already know how she feels about it - but the adults needed to have the discussion without input.

I was pleasantly surprised by the discussion. I *know* that DH wants MB to go to school next year, but in the discussion I actually was able to get a better feeling about the whole thing. First of all he doesn't want her to go to school because he is unhappy with how things are going here. In fact he is very, very happy - which is great since he originally was hesitant, but willing to give it a try. No, he thinks MB should be given the chance to try school - since she is so adament about wanting to go. But, should we have any problems or MB want to come home after the first semester - then we will bring her home. He does want me to go ahead and have the WJIII test administered this Spring. We would not actually have to do this since we have a year from her 7th birthday - but he wants to have some idea where she is before she goes to school. I think he thinks that the school will actually work with her ability levels in certain areas - he has such an optimism about public schools.

Although I would prefer to not even get caught up in the whole school system, I am very happy that this isn't the end and if we are unhappy MB will come home. And, the kicker, I asked if he wanted K to be registered for school also since she will be in Kindergarten this coming year. He doesn't want K to go to school this year. He wants me to be able to take some more time to work with her, and K has no interest in going to public school. So, we will still be a homeschooling family.

I guess the thing that makes me the happiest about this is that DH was so hesitant about trying homeschooling and he faced a lot of grief from his family, but he has converted to the idea and philosophy of homeschooling. Even though he wants MB to try ps, and I understand his wanting her to try it sooner rather then later, he believes that homeschooling works and I truly think he expects us to be homeschooling for a long time.

Peace,

Amy

Short Week

We seem to be having a lot of 'short' weeks around here right now. After this trip, though, we will buckle down until Easter when we take a short vacation for what I hope to be some outdoor learning.

MB leaves either Wednesday afternoon or Thursday morning - depending on whether we have weather move in. By weather, I refer to that wintery stuff that we southerners do not know how to drive in. Therefore, my mother will not be on the road if there is a 30% chance of it.

Speaking of MB's trip, my dad called me this weekend to ask me what educational benefits I was expecting or thought MB would be experiencing on the trip. I had not really planned anything beyond - take pictures and we will write up an experience journal afterwards - because then I will find out what she actually took from the trip. You know this is 'life' education. Anyway, they were searching for ideas because my step-neice has to have a lesson plan and educational benefit document given to the school before she can be excused from school. Thankfully, the administrator of MB's school (me) rearranged the vacation schedule.

Practical learning experiences could include:
~ cruise ships - those are a world/country all their own
~ government workings - customs
~ various tourist cultures
~ geography

This is my dad and stepmother, the kids are going to be enjoying shopping the straw markets and swimming.

Basically, I have a three day week. I am going to take a vacation along with MB the week she is gone. Do some early spring cleaning, finish prepping the garden for the spring crops and just in general enjoy my down time.

I also have to 'register' MB for publik skool. I don't want to - but I agreed to at least register her this year. Then I have to spend the next few months coming up with my arguments for DH of why ps basically sucks. Sorry, I just know that as hard as I find hs right now, ps will be five times worse. Bus stop at 7:00am, or drive to school at 8:00 (in both cases I have to have all the little ones up too), expected parental volunter times - 10 hrs monthly (sans other children), PTA fundraisers, homework, all extracurricular activities after school, more $ for clothes, socialization the ps way (*shiver*) and the bane of my existence, testing.

Sorry, for all the ramblings I cannot wake up this morning and get my brain clicking on all cylinders.

Have a good one,

Peace,
Amy

Glimpsing the future

At this time homeschooling is so very intensive. Two children whom have very little to no independent reading skills and a toddler who is into everything, not to mention the baby who has suddenly 'woken' up and is no longer content to sit still for very long (even in the sling). Not to say it isn't one of the most joyful experiences I have had. But, I am exhausted at the end of the day.

Reading is the big kicker - they cannot work independently until the reading skills are there. I can give MB math and have a little time to work with K, and I can give K a coloring/cutting activity and work with MB. But, for the science and history activities that require reading I am right there. Reading the chapters, reading the questions and writing the answers. The spread between what MB 'gets' and her reading is just such a huge gulf. It is what makes finding little chapter books for her to practice reading with difficult.

Yesterday, we had one of the successes. Moments that I can see that it will get easier. We are reading a chapter in one of the science topic books and then answering a few questions that I had made up. When she couldn't recall the answer to one I tried to prod her memory with "it was the last sentence I read." Low and behold she didn't just respond with 'tell me', but instead took the book and flipped to the last page I read and sounded out the sentence to herself & got the answer. We high-fived and hugged. And she felt so very good about herself - she read to find the answer to something.

She so often is low because of her reading and I feel like I have failed with her reading. It is so great for her to take some success, no matter how minor. I could glimpse down the road a time when MB can have assigned work that she doesn't need me to sit right there and read to her. That she can eventually go off and do her assignment and bring it back to me.

Speaking of successes; K has given me every indication that she is ready to read - NOW! Daily we are on the computer playing with activities on Starfall. She loves to read Dr. Seuss with me so that she can fill in the sentences. Everytime I turn around she is writing little notes for me or copying words she sees on pieces of paper.

So, I have two very different children when it comes to reading. I made the decision and bought the 'store' version of Hooked on Phonics. We are working through it together, as a group activity. MB needs more reinforcement of basic skills, that for whatever reason she did not grasp in 100 Easy Lessons and K wants to be able to read right off. So, with the accompanying CD, they are enjoying doing the lessons together. I've told MB that she does need the review, but she is also helping K learn.

I kind of like being able to teach one lesson to two children. We have been having alot of fun with that this year.

Peace,

Amy

I took a little blog break with our mini-school break. It was a nice, relaxing weekend. We enjoyed the kids that were home and MB enjoyed her skiing trip with my SIL.

I expected so much more resistence to school today, and was happy to find that everybody was geared up and ready to go. I purposely made the lesson plan a little lite today, but we got so much more accomplished.

MB pulled out her snap circuits and had a good time. We did an impromptu lesson on the difference in conductivity of fresh water vs. salt water.

And, after reading A North American Rain Forest Scrapbook by Virginia Wright-Frierson, we have decided that the next time we visit my sister on the west coast we have to go up to the Olympic Peninsula. If you have a chance to read books by this author, do it. Her illustrations of nature are beautiful.

K, since getting a boo-boo the other day, has been enthralled by how the circulatory system works & why. So, we spent some time going through books we have on the human body. MB surprised me by stating that even though she 'lost alot of blood' when she scrapped her hand the other day, it is all back because of her bone marrow. I did not even know she new how the body regenerated blood. I was impressed.

The day wasn't totally about science, either. MB and K pulled out some "How to Draw..." books that were mine when I was a kid, and spent nearly an hour working on cartoon characters & faces. I was impressed since we have spent no time on drawing skills. They won't when any prizes, but with DH & I as their parents they do start out with a disadvantage.

We did math and reading and writing lessons too. And, managed to find some time to bake brownies before going out to science club & soccer practice.

Here is a fun game to play in the car: pick a Classic Disney CD (those color ones - blue, purple, red, etc.) play it in the car and try to guess which movie which song is from - it is fun. I can't decide whether it is good or bad that my children can recognize so many of the songs from so many different Disney movies. We had alot of fun with that one driving today.

That is a quick recap of the day - we have about a week before MB leaves for her week-long cruise. So, going to be busy trying to get everything in.

Peace,

Amy