A Cleaning Post

First, you have to make sure all the children are well contained and hopefully not doing something destructive while you are tackling a cleaning job. You could even send them off to do their own chores while you do yours! Wouldn't that be super efficient? Sometimes mine can sort clothes or other little jobs, but today I just let them lounge in the living room.


Meet my new friend. His name is Hoovey.
And that is my old friend, Clorox Wipe. If you haven't been well aquainted with Clorox Wipe he is pretty handy. You can even use him to wipe down your spotty toothpastey mirror and there will be no smears. He wins against other wipes. You can leave him in the bathroom and train your boys (and girls) to wipes down the toilet if they make a little sprinkle. Seriously good friend.

Mr. Hoovey is my new all-terrain carpet washing/vacuuming contraption. He also does hard floors. New toys make cleaning fun.
Look at how dirty this carpet was? Yikes. Who knew?



It's kind of amazing actually.

After the floors I spot clorox the rooms. You could also do this before you cleaned your floors. Either way.



Look at all the yuck on this door jam!


After!


Now let's do the kitchen floor. I let it get nice and seasoned to test the new machine.

Oh but first we have to dump out the dirty water from upstairs and then put in hard floor cleaner. Look at the gunk left! wow!


You can refill the hoover containers right in the sink unless you have a big tonka truck there.



Now, here is the dirty floor.


And here it is after the Mr.Hoover!



Definitely a success!

I had previously been using a hoover 'floormate' for my floor but its hose broke and it started leaking. I think the new hoover will do an excellent job with the benefit of being able to handle carpet. It definitely takes a few passes to get up those 'juice spots' on the kitchen floor so I will probably go back to pre-scrubbing it with a little water beforehand and then letting the machine suck up the water and do light scrubbing.

Coloring pages for Advent & Christmas

So today I am scouring the internet for some coloring pages and I've found some really good ones to share.

First let me tell you that one of the best purchases that I got this year for homeschooling was this laser printer (see image at the bottom). It's actually supposed to be wireless too but we don't exactly have that set up right now. Maybe I can get on Dan's tech schedule!

Click here to find this guy on amazon.


Having a laser printer means that you can now water color or BINGO marker and no longer will you have ink bleed!

Now for the coloring. You HAVE to check out the Tomie dePaola site for coloring pages! Specific look at this cool little Christmas ornament you can make. Click here for the PDF. SO cute! The directions are on a separate page so I'll clue you in that you cut this fellow out and then the top gets folded and becomes his hat! You can glue a cotton ball on the top and maybe just thread him through a little metal hook to hang him.

You can find Tomie's official coloring page here. I have to point out one more and that's the nativity that is listed on that page.

I'll add that for these projects I put a little heavier weight paper in the printer. Right now I'm using the stiffer "premium" drawing paper from discount school supply. It looks like it's just listed as "heavyweight" I guess. I wouldn't exactly call it the best paper (it bothers me that it is slightly off white) but it is a nice compromise for not buying super expensive water color paper.






Another 'trick' I've learned is to take out black ( and brown if you feeling extra confident!) from the water color tray. It makes sense to me because the black just destroys the other colors and it overpowers everything usually resulting in a blacky-green mush mess. You can even buy separate colors and just present the color combinations you want them to work with. You'll have to decide if this is stifling creativity or helpful herding =)

Simplifying

I don't think I'm going to do a lot og explaining on this blog but I am just stating for the record that I am a full on Hyperemesis Gravidarum sufferer while pregnant. It is making it nearly impossible for me to keep up with all the commitments and activities that I thought we would continue into the Spring. Hard decisions have been made and many extras are being cut. It has to be done because I need to be very careful about where I spend my energy. Driving around is really out. So we are refocusing, less stressing and turning inward to our little unit. I'll be spending the next few months focusing on household learning and using extra energy for the fun field trips I want to get them on. I'm really sad to see Max's preschool go but it is too far away right now and in the scheme of things.. I could have stayed home today and watched POLAR EXPRESS here instead of sending him to school to do it. I will just never understand showing movies at school to 3 and 4 year olds.

Turkey Roll Ups?

So... preschool is having Thanksgiving. I get the idea of simplifying it for the kids...but you know.. I remember having real turkey, mashed potatoes, and veggies at my Kindergarten Thanksgiving. My kid's menu reads like this:

turkey roll ups (lunchmeat slices rolled up), popcorn, cheese cubes, grapes, cupcakes and cookies.

I'm not entirely sure if I am so put off because I am PG or if this is really as heinous as it strikes me. Something in me really is opposed to this whole "lunch meat" thing. Isn't it just riddled with sodium and preservatives?

Guess who is bringing the turkey rolls ups? Yes, of course it's me. It was the only thing left on the list. So really it's all in my hands. If I don't want to bring lunch meat I guess I don't have to!

I'm wondering if it's really about 'food safety'? Like, lunch meat you sort of take from the store and its ready to eat so it should be safe. As in-- a parent cannot be trusted to cook a turkey because they might screw it all up!

I'm wondering if I could find some precooked strips of turkey. This should be interesting.

2 things

I actually have pictures of my kids to post but I don't have time to sit here and do that much work so I will have to post just this link and then comment on something that so bothers me.

First, check out this reform site for the CCHD. If you don't know what the CCHD is you'll have to click the link because I have no time to explain, but if you are Catholic there will be a collection THIS WEEKEND! The cool thing about this idea is there is a coupon to print out that basically shows our solidarity. Aren't you sick of our money being sent to organizations that do nothing for true social justice?? Check it out.

Second, this is probably related but I have to say I am flabbergasted that this new B. Spears song is being played on air. If you don't know which one don't find out. you don't want to know. Where is our outrage as a people? I think the answer is we aren't because this is just more evidence of how far we've fallen from traditional Christian values.

Rainy Chilly Week

The rain has effectively rescheduled my week. A session that should have been this afternoon will be next week and that has freed me up a little today. I processed the senior pictures and now just need to get them on line and then tackle the family session. Have I mentioned that I have a terrible time with narrowing down images? You really get an amazing deal because when you get the digital package sometimes you might get twice the amount of images that you thought you were getting!

With all of this extra time I made 2 apple pies from a recipe Ginny gave me and I started a new england pot roast. I love pot roast and the whole house just smells really yummy with all the cooking going on.



Betty Crocker New England Pot Roast

We also got to meet our new babysitter. I'm sure she will be wonderfil and maybe she will even be able to help me out some in May. We shall see!

what's new

November November
Yes, I started Christmas shopping because it's apparently entirely unavoidable.
When we were at walmart maybe 3 weeks ago we saw these hamsters that all my kids wanted. They were so cheap. In my head I was all "yes! cheap easy gift that they will really play with for long periods of time".
You see, my kids are really into hamsters. They have webkinz hamsters and some off brand hamsters that they play with a lot. Max sleeps with a hamster. They all pretend to BE hamsters, complete with turning laundry baskets upside down so they can be in cages.
Fast forward to somehow someone in the media deciding these hamsters are the toy of the year. They are the new tickle me elmo. super. Now they don't have the darned things anywhere. We will see what happens.
I'm still thinking I want to get boats for the boys..well I guess Molly should have one too. We'll be able to get to the cool parks with water more once we are not doing co-op in the spring.

In other present inspiring news I'm already happily scheming with my mom about presents for the kids. In our family it's like Christmas is sort of a team sport. Parents get to do the work of figuring out what presents to get kids and then there's a trickle down so you assign some of these presents for grandparents. Everyone works together to get the list items. It's almost like a big scavenger hunt. If I see something someone is looking for for someone else I might get it and then they will just pay me back. It's a lot of fun and something I look forward to. So if you see hamsters and you want to play along give me a call and I'll tell you if I still need you to buy them!!
I'm really thankful for this organized aspect of Christmas shopping on my side of the family.

In editing news I am working on getting all of those galleries up this week. Then I have two new sessions that I'll edit hopefully this weekend or next week...and then I will be done!! No more sessions until March and I already have two people on the 'list' so I don't know when you will get pictures if you are reading this and want pictures. Maybe I can fit you in in July.

New Baby etc etc

Probably old news but New baby arriving via c-section sometime in the middle of May. Our 10th anniversary is the 21st but I doubt I can make it that long, plus I have a nice wedding to shoot in June so I won't complain about having to go early!


We had a great Halloween. It was a lot of fun to meet up with our neighbors and have the kids pal around together with their 'buddy system'. Of course we forgot the flashlights and at the last minute realized we didn't have enough pumpkin buckets for each kid but somehow we did it! Oh-- and Nathan did NOT want to dress up-- but in the end he realized people liked his costume (lamb) and he was wearing it quite happily.

Xander and Molly are now in Philly (although no one called me to say they arrived safely hmm) and that leaves poor Nathan and Max all on their own! They definitely missed their older siblings. I had to play 'the flashlight game', turn on basement lights for them, fix their trains, and stop Nathan from chasing Max with scissors. I don't think I've ever had someone running with scissors before. I don't think I ever imagine that one child would run after another child in such a threatening way with scissors either. The bottom line might be that it's way more work with 2 kids than 4?

=)

If you are sick, please stay home.

I did not make it through mass this AM.
At first I was really excited because the church wasn't packed and it was 1030! However, even with a lot of space around me and not having to be crammed next to people in a pew I started having a lot of anxiety over what seemed like an alarming number of people coughing and sniffling. I know the priests have been really on the ball lately reminding wayward parents to get the super noisy crying children to the cry room, but you know what is worse? Adults who have hacking gross wet coughs who just keep coughing. If you can't contain yourself to not coughing through a mass perhaps you should still be home? And if your kid is also hacking up a storm you can completely stay home and take care of them and miss mass and it's not a sin!
I ended up leaving and standing in the back by fresh air until herds of children (mostly tweens) started coming through like a parade for the bathrooms during the homily-- a homily where I might add Father began by implying how ridiculous it was that children in the 7am were running in and out to the bathroom like it was the latest thing.
So yeah please stay away from me if you are sick. I'm not doing well with handling all of your sicknesses in public.

School

We've had a really nice week of school. I'm impressed with Xander's math abilities. I feel like I practically don't have to teach him. He just smoothly moved from doing the multiplication to division =) He is a dream!
Molly is working hard on her spelling and word recognition. She reads a little but can get hung up on unfamiliar words. Right now I've decided to use the spelling lists to reinforce vocabulary. It seems like the big list we were working on with flash cards is too overwhelming so we are memorizing 10 a week and we will get there =)
My mom bought the kids some activity books so the little 2 were really excited about school. Even Max asks to do 'school' so the book really made him feel important!!
We start school during breakfast by listening and talking about our history on CD and move on to our books once the table is cleared =)






Oh and here is a picture of the cool 'simple' shoes I was able to score for $12 at the new saxxon shoe store in f'burg


and one more of Molly

Columbus Week

This week has been all about Columbus. I know he is getting the shaft in regular society, but you know, we have Catholic and European roots and he did DISCOVER America in as much as Europe had no clue it existed. I can't believe I read about school systems having classes put Columbus on trial and finding him guilty. I'm wondering what evidence they were considering! Yes, there are sour notes, but is it really productive to make him into a full fledged villan? It might be more educational to look at how exploration is different today- or imagine if Europe only this century had 'discovered' America- or what would have happened if America had discovered Europe instead =)

Thursday

A list of things we did today

Snow White
Division
Laundry
Experiments
Forts
chicken nuggets
pbj

Another sickee

So around 3am last night there's a knock on the door and Dan handles it... "Xander is having neck pain", Dan explains as he comes back to bed.
To which I reply..." Are you sure he doesn't mean that he feels like he's going to throw up?"
Dan is certain that it's a neck pain.
Maybe 2 minutes later there is a lot of running, a knock on the door and a frantic " I'M THROWING UP!!!"

So, we've been quarantined again. I just hate possibly spreading anything to my friends and neighbors! Thankfully a sickness like this is much better with an older child! No serious clean up needed. I was lysoling and wiping down things with Clorox wipes. He was definitely feeling better by this evening and we all got ice cream when the ice cream truck came =)

Naughty Nathan

Today Nathan got up at ohh... 5am and even though Dan told him (and the 2 other boys that also got up) to go back to bed until the sun came up, the minute Dan was out the door they were really all back up.
The result? Poor Nathan was really ready for bed at around 3pm!!! We did not let him go to bed early even though he kept asking! I am hoping he will sleep until 7am tomorrow. We shall see!

I finally delivered some long overdue pampered chef to one of my friends that I really don't see enough. Sure, it's like you need to leave a trail of breadcrumbs when you are finding her house but it's not impossible to get there. The GPS needs a workout every now and then.

We made a quick run to Ikea where I was hoping to find a dresser in the As-is. No such luck! I did however find one of the CD racks for a decent price. I have been wanting one of these for little kid shoes for years ever since I read about it in some magazine. I think it's probably been 5 years ago. Anyway at the time of the article the price was $20 for this cd thing... immediately after the article the new cd racks went way up- more than I wanted to pay and today they are around $50! Maybe I wouldn't have been so hung up on the price if I didn't know what the old price was. At any rate I now own one and I have one pair of shoes on it.
I'm thinking of switching around some other organization too. Shoes are a big problem and I like the thin hideaway faux dresser look of some of the shoe organizers so I will measure and think about it. If I get them then I need to relocate jackets... or maybe I can just find another spot for the shoes? I'm thinking about it.

We ran in very quickly to Pmills where the kids checked out one of the stands that sells puppets and those little battery operated creatures. Max definitely wants a hamster. We had seen the hamsters in the newly renovated and reopened library in spotsylvania last spring. That would be a big hit as a christmas present. hint hint and they are only $10 or some such.

One of the jumping dogs really startled Nate and he had to come hide behind me. The lady working there tried to reassure him by putting the tiniest cutest most unscary lion you have ever seen on the floor. It started waddling towards us with his silly little mouth open and Nathan just started wailing! There were shouts of 'no! no! no!' along with your basic screeches of terror. It was funny for the rest of us and the two booth workers (one for the stuffed animals and one who was just selling those magic shoulder bean bags nearby) got a real kick out of the whole thing. It struck me at the time of how terrorizing babies seemed to bring us all such joy.

While we were in H&M Max really went after Molly after he misunderstood some movement by her as an attack oh him. There was once again loud screeching but this time accompanied by Nathan shouting, " YOU ARE A BAD BOY MOLLY."
Nathan will probably have some complex because of everyone always laughing at him.. we were just giggling over his fear of a lion and now we were giggling over his heartfelt anger. Can't anyone take him seriously?

When we walked by pretzels he started hitting *me* --let me say he was on my back in the ergo at the time so I was reeeaaally helpless-- and saying ' I WANT THAT!!!' over and over... It was like the worst baby manners ever.

At home Molly came over with her friend Chloe. One minute Chloe is standing by the door waiting for Molly to get something from her room and the next the door is closed and Nathan is just standing there. "Where is Chloe?" I ask.
Nate:"She gone. She was mad at me" (making the terrible monster face)
Me: "why is she mad at you?"
Nate: "I tell her to go away"
Now I have to retrieve Chloe from the end of the sidewalk and tell her to come back and that she should most definitely ignore rude babies!!!
AND
While Dan was at soccer with Xander I had to break up an assault on Max. Nathan was pummeling him on the head with the computer mouse!!!

It was definitely time for bed. (after the naughty stool of course!)

what I'm working on

because you don't know what I'm working on all the time.

on a roll

how can I possibly be posting so much? Maybe if I can keep this window open I will remember to post more often.
Last night we were up pretty much constantly with poor Nathan vomiting. We can't really remember ever being up in the night with a kid like this. The whole fiasco continues into today. The real challenge was dealing with the carpet upstairs... I am really so not a carpet person. I finally had an epiphany this morning that we should set up the toddler bed downstairs so the hurling is contained to hard surfaces and an easy wipe down mattress. Its pretty nice to be able to go about our downstairs business and be able to keep an eye on him. His temp is 100.2 last I checked and he is at least able to keep things down for the stretches he is snoozing. Poor baby!!!
We have run out of PJs for him and there will be no progress on the mountain of laundry while we keep washing pjs and bedsheets...
Everyone else is quarantined and questioning why I won't let them go out into the neighborhood. I feel really stupid because Nathan was actually acting a little funny yesterday... just grumpy. I was attributing it to not wanting to hang out at co-op but in hindsight... he was probably spreading germs to all those kids. SORRY EVERYONE!

Normal stuff

I can't post something off the wall and not post something normal =)

We are in full gear around here with homeschooling, soccer, co-op and field trips.
On tuesday we went to see the disney train tour for Scrooge. Not exactly that interesting for kids I have to say but it was a big adventure.







Nathan told Dan when he got home.. "(mumble mumble mumble...) and then BOOM!!! Mcdonalds!"
that pretty much sums up his experience. He was asking to go home the whole time and was only happy when we went to mcdonalds for chocolate milk after the train.
Usually when we go to DC riding the metro is a big deal and everyone loves it. That didn't happen this time because the trains were sooo crowded since it was a weekday, I'm not even sure the little ones really realized they were on a real train.
We did survive our solo trip to DC which is an accomplishment sort of on the same lines as those people who do things like climb mountains or trek somewhere... we did it!

Co-op is going well. I'm teaching art and I have a great assistant who is actually running the show for at least the next 2 weeks. I was sort of a floater today and got to help out in a few places.

This weekend we have a couple soccer games and an unbelievable amount of laundry to do!!

horrible missionaries

I just have to post this so I can come back and remember when this happened. Occasionally we have LDS missionaries who come to our door. We always invite them in or at least manage to chat and be hospitable! Yesterday however we had THE RUDEST lds missionary ever. I think he said he was a convert which sort of explains his attitude problem... or maybe I am under a false assumption that lds are generally nice or at least appear nice. For the record this guy was a first class jerk. Mocking us and talking over us when we tried to share our viewpoints. Unbelievable. I should have taken a picture or at least written down their names. They needed a first class spanking by their missionary stake leader. Bottom line: pray for the doogie howser lookalike lds missionary and his sidekick.

September

I wish I could blog more like Ginny but I always forget. I need a bookmark for this page so that when I grab a minute I could write something. So many cute things actually do happen around here.

Nathan walking in with a silo on his head: "Mommy look at my happy birthday hat. Now where's my cake?"

He's also asking to call everyone on the phone and sometimes he will even talk to them.

Speaking of phones, I'm using google voice to do long distance. You just tell it which number you want to call and it calls your home phone or cell and then connects you. Super cool because I loathe talking on my cell phone and we don't have a long distance plan. www.google.com/voice not sure if you can just sign up or if you need an invite.

In other news I have been toiling away on angel costumes for a shoot on Monday. Lots of kids and having so many will be challenging but we will get it done. Huge huge thank you to everyone who has agreed to model for me. Here's a look at a test picture I took of Molly. Since the wings didn't arrive until today (canceling the planned shoot we had for thurs)I haven't finished them all yet and we will do fittings tomorrow afternoon and then I will finish them over the weekend. I just need to sew some trim in place and finish the edges on the sleeves.



Tomorrow is the start of Co-op and I have most of my stuff packed up but I will need to pack lunches and get all of this stuff into the car.. including costumes for fittings in the AM so.. I probably need to get up properly at 630 tomorrow =)

August

Today I mailed out our letter of intent for homeschooling and we actually started history. We are using

"The Story of the World" series.
Both Xander and Molly will be using the same books. I bought the audio cds so we can list to a narrator and then discuss the chapter together. It worked out really nicely today!
Yesterday the ice maker went bonkers and water was just flowing out onto the kitchen floor. Apparently this usually means the heater has died and the ice maker can no longer dump the ice so it keeps calling for water. Today that was fixed and I am waiting for ice to be made to prove it! The guy installed a whole new ice maker so I am thinking it should be fine.

Cast off

Today is the day the cast will come off.
We had book club last night which is always fun.
I'm glad I get to hang out with those ladies.
Meanwhile, I've read through the Vampire Academy series and I'm onto an even trashier read.
I never finished this because I got distracted

June 30th

Really boring updates:
I went to NC and took pictures for my cousin which was a really nice trip, while my husband went to CO with the kids to spend time with his parents and grandfather. I had a nice list of things I wanted to accomplish but I knew I wouldn't finish everything. I like to have a big list and aim high! I managed to paint most of the walls downstairs and then the hall walls upstairs. It turned out to be a little bit more involved because I couldn't get the paint to match exactly, which meant that instead of just painting over hand prints and blending into the upper wall I had to actually paint whole walls! Fresh paint is just immensely good for mental well being. I just did not manage to repaint the baseboards, but that is a project that I could potentially do once the kids are asleep. I also bought a bunk bed from ikea as-is for 50% off. It was a great find but It meant that I had to take it apart in sweltering heat and get it in the van, and then figure out how to reassemble it at home. I managed to do it but it was a chore. So the children's rooms are rearranged, reorganized and clean. The Molly & Nate room is working out fine. It did not work having Molly in a normal bed because Nathan would come over to her and hit her in the head or something to wake her up, but since she is on the top bunk apparently that temptation is out of sight out of mind?
I still need to finish up teen sessions and clean my office. I did make great headway cleaning out the garage but there is still a lot to do there and the basement needs tackling. I'm thinking I can finish these teen sessions this week. I really don't like having work stretch out for a month, although there is no way around it really because of the time involved!
Today I'm going to Old Town to meet up with some people and shoot things which should be interesting!

June

The June catch up:

Molly's arm is fine. She was even doing the monkey bars at SWOY last weekend before Mrs.Williamson rescued her. She did run into one lifeguard who wouldn't let her go on a slide at KD which made her a poor sad Molly. The cast comes off July 7th though so that is in just a few weeks..

Dan is switching jobs in 2 weeks...ie he gave his notice today. I'm just hoping the pay/ benefits is as close to what he has now as we think it is.
We have the big van in the shop for a check engine light. I want to drive it to NC to visit my cousin but I don't want it to blow up...! The other van won't pass the emissions inspection for VA because of it's check engine light, but it probably needs a new transmission. umm... not gonna happen. So much for thinking I had that van to use as a truck.

Today was Xander's birthday and we had a really great day. We started by going to chuck e cheeses at 9am. Yes, we completely beat the crowds and had the place all to ourselves. Then we went to TRU so Molly could pick something out for Xander. She had started crying the night before because she realized she hadn't gotten him anything. So cute! Then we went to the mall so I could return some things and costco where I got a lot of graham crackers and wheat things because I had a coupon. When Dan got home he lead the kids on an amazing treasure hunt. Dan had hidden these clues that were riddles all over the neighborhood and these clues led the kids to a buried treasure box (filled with tshirts and pokemon cards I think). Then we did mini cupcakes as requested by Xander because he liked my moms so much and ice cream followed by presents. The theme for this birthday has been 'well that's smaller than I expected'. All of these figures Xander put on his wishlist are teeeny tiny but $$$. Other gifts included the matchbox space shuttle set and the snap circuits set-- oh AND we got him a flip video camera. The kids really like making movies so we will see how this works out.

Yesterday, we went to my mom and dads to do this birthday, father's day combo cookout. It was great except I really could do without mosquitoes. The kids got to help take the quail hatchlings out of the incubator. We then took the box of baby birds over to the kitchen of an old farm house. If that doesn't make sense to you don't worry about it.

In homeschooling news I am feeling really great about the books and plans I have for starting the next 'year'. I also have this genius plan of using the back of my china cabinet as a 'blackboard'. I'm going to attach the dry erase to the back and put 'moving men' on the feet. This way I can swing it out when I need to and it is stowed away against the wall for most of the time!
I ended up getting my reading workbooks from Keller Books. 'Voyages in English' reprinted by Loyola Press. I also got Prima Latina. I'm still using Seton for Math and Spelling. History I am still thinking about and trying to make a final decision.

May

I'm so bad about blogging that I have no idea where I left off. I guess I could bring my own blog up and read it but that would be some extra clicks and then I would just say didnt have time to do that and keep putting off posting something new.
Maybe I'll be repeating myself, maybe not!
In May (i think) we finished our CAT testing and passed. whoohoo! I'm thinking about what to do next year. I'm still debating in my head over whether or not to do co-op. It's hard for me to handle these long term commitments where we have to be somewhere all day. I will probably just do it though since the kids like it? Or would it be 'enough' to go to other weekly activities? Anyway, I'm excited about the upcoming homeschool conference and making some decisions on curriculum. I'm still playing with the idea of doing the same social studiesish stuff with Molly & Xander. I had been looking at k12 but I am not sure. I could always add that in for 2nd semester or next year. I'm pleased with how Math is going. I know I've read that other people struggle with that and maybe we are just Math people but that is the easiest thing to get done around here and everyone 'gets' it so it is easy...
Xander is still not so 'into' reading and, after I showed him some books I thought he would like from the library, said in a really exasperated voice "more black & white books...nothing but black words!"
Molly would probably be helped by more flash card vocabulary words. She is reading Dick & Jane which is good for her I think. Nice pictures and good confidence building. I tried some more modern readers but there are too many bigger words thrown in and not enough repetition.
I've also started them on explode the code online to build phonics skills and that is still going well. It gives them a purpose for being on the computer and I can check up on what they have done by logging into my account. Very cool. I wish everything was as self guided as that.. or at least a few more things that they could do independently...
Dan and I went to Balticon for our 9th anniversary and I know there were a lot of naysayers out there but I honestly had a really good time! I went to borders and found field guides for the kids for $2.99 plus buy 2 get one free so hello, amazing!
I also bought a bunch of books to have on hand for me to read. I've spent like the last 10 years reading pretty much nothing but non fiction ...well even more specific, I've only been reading books on theology. I sort of threw fiction out the window because it was often so disappointing to read? So, now i'm having this fiction reassurance which started with Regina Doman's books. They are actually gateway books since she is Catholic so it was an easy hop into more fiction. It seems like reading fiction helps me gain perspective on my own life which makes me feel way appreciative of what I have and gives me a nice focusy feeling so it's totally good for my domestication (marriage & fam)!
Yes, I've read Twilight. No, I don't hate it. Yes, I like it. I'm also into Mormonisms so I had a great time analyzing that as I was going along.
I really devoured books growing up and my mom would always buy us books for the beach. We could go anywhere as a family if we had books. What good kids we were!
I read a lot of RL Stine and Christopher Pike etc etc. Very tame compared to a lot of current teen fiction I've skimmed.
So, while was on this anniversary trip I bought all the LJ Smith Vampire books that I read as a teen. They were all still very enjoyable and I wondered if LJ felt irritated by Twilight when she had already 'been there done that' so many years ago. No glory! I was struck by how similar some of the story line is in Twilight to LJ's. Oops! Subconscious? Coincidence? or Copyright violations? yikes! But so much fun.
So it turns out LJ updated the series with a new edition that came out this year. This follow up book is completely bizarro. So much so that I would love to have a book group devoted to it. It's the kind of thing that makes you long for the Twilight books and holding them side by side you can be like, look Twilight is so moral and good! Anyway, if you want something not worth your time reading you can skip the first part of the series and just read the last installment.. its like a campy, freako sci-fi movie you might find on cable- only it's a book. Your eyes may bleed. Or maybe the only bleed if you read the first 3 books and then realize how this fourth one in no way fits in.
We are 'watching' a long BOND movie which is how I am able to write such a huge page of nonsense.
Which brings me to the other big news: new computer. That's right. I have a new laptop and it is pretty sweet. I'll be using it for the upcoming weddings I have scheduled. So, now I can sit on the couch next to the DH with his laptop again and we are like 2 geeks on a sofa.
I have some stuff to edit and I'm thinking about doing that...tomorrow!
In still other news, Molly broke her arm in a fall from a trampoline. Tomorrow she gets a cast. I am just hoping they do waterproof ones. I really don't want this to mess up her fun at King's Dominion or just our own pool. The x-ray people seemed to act like there was no such thing as 'waterproof' but I know I met someone who had a waterproof cast last year and was in the pool. I thought I might have imagined it until I googled it and yes virginia there IS such a thing as a waterproof cast. take that so called medical professionals.

Not so good at blogging

I mean to blog but then I forget.
We have finished school, done the CAT and I'm waiting for the results.
I'm thinking about curriculum for next year. I might want to do the k-12 online stuff and maybe explode the code online too.
I'll just continue to think about those things while we take this break.
I'm pretty disappointed in the weather for this week. It's cramping my style! I had envisioned this being a week of field trips...!
We still made it to the Marine Corps Museum which is incredibly nice! The docents are really amazing.


Sewing.. I have to get this in...

http://sewmamasew.com/blog2/?p=65

http://sewmamasew.com/blog2/?p=791

Easter Update

After 2 weeks of illness we finally made it to Easter. We went to the Expo center again this year but I really missed going to vigil! I really should have gone to vigil at SWOY. I thought it was great that we just happened to run into Ginny so we could coerce them to sit with us. I miss going home and being reunited with all of my aunts, uncles and cousins during mass. It was always such a triumphant feeling to take up a whole back quadrant of the church. I took a few pictures and had to chaperon 2 bathroom trips. I think the trees inside the expo failed to live up to my expectations over last year. Last years trees were flowering with cherry blossoms and much taller than the trees they found for this year.

I took Nathan to both the urgent care AND our regular practice. He had a rash after that illness and it still looked fierce last night after his bath and Dan was a little concerned. The Urgent care had no idea what to do or if to do and just wanted me to make a regular appointment with our DR. They suspected maybe windburn on his face. So, I think while the rash was fading the windburn moved in from that looong co-op meeting we had at the park yesterday.
At our Drs appointment this AM, they still had no idea what was going on with him. This morning he has a blister on the bridge of his nose. It's probably the size of a pencil eraser now. I think he looks better since this morning. I put aquafor on his face. The DR gave me a script for a steroid cream for his back and leg and she suggests giving him claritin syrup to keep him from feeling too itchy.

I am off to my own drs appointment that will probably be uneventful but I'll be getting a pelvic ultrasound to see if I have a twisted ovary, some obstruction, or maybe a huge 20 lb tumor? ha

videos

BOX

We have been so sick. It's been miserable but really I am not too unhappy because we seriously haven't been sick at all since last summer! Unbelievable! So I'm so grateful for that but impatient with this bout of sickness.
It's actually sort of a good one in that it's making us tired. Everyone is sleeping, taking naps. Nathan climbed into his crib himself last night around 630 and just went to sleep. How sad is that? A baby putting themselves to bed.
The rest of us were doing 'family laundry' which is the new strategy for getting laundry done. Dan couldn't believe we had the mountain of laundry sorted AND put away!

so..what have we been doing with all of our time stuck here at home? Why, playing with a box of course! This is actually the diapers.com box.
I may never buy diapers from anywhere else again.
As you can plainly see, this box is actually a spaceship. 3 out of 4 kids were in this box together. I have not seen Max in the box. He has been napping on the couch or playing trains during the 'box episodes'. I missed Nate being in there with
them... ooh! And Xander lost BOTH top teeth in the past week.

Diapers.com $10 off

LXRI5834

$10 off your first order from diapers.com

Spring!

Happy Annunciation =)
I'm gearing up for spring. It looks like I have a lot on my plate in the next few months so I'm just trying to stay on top of it =)
I had some great sessions last week (see slideshow)
Right now I'm trying to figure out the best way to order diapers in BULK with coupons and free shipping. I'm not sure there are the best deals going on right now...
The kids are so close to being done in their books for the year. I think we will keep the plan of continuing on with school during the summer, just not doing lessons everyday.
Everyone around here has been playing so well together.
Making elaborate train tracks with the geo stuff and Nathan in particular is really becoming a playmate companion for the kids instead of a baby who just destroys things =)

The Howard Zinn Book Issue

Meg's Interview
ABC News Story

Letter to the Editor

Fredtalk discussion

Zinn was going to call in for an interview

Jeff Branscome wants your opinion

The book on Amazon. Check the reviews

Big Love

Amy Welborn on Beliefnet with thoughts on the upcoming Big Love episode that people are talking about
http://blog.beliefnet.com/viamedia/2009/03/revealing-the-endowment-ceremony.html#more

Running Late

I like to be on time if not EARLY to appointments etc. Yesterday I had a few errands to run so we could get home in time for lunch and then run back out to pray n play. As we were loading up I could not find my glasses. I have a terrible time putting them somewhere and not quite remembering where... usually all I have to do is check 3 major spots or a 4th if they have fallen to the floor and they are found. Yesterday I was driving myself crazy looking for them. I finally had to use a backup pair that I also had a little difficultly finding-- and they were just 'lost' inside my purse! I had even tried to enlist the kids to help me, telling them "we can't go anywhere unless mommy has glasses!!". I even called Dan at work asking if he had any inklings as to where they could be, but no one could remember seeing the glasses.

flash forward to maybe 10pm when Dan and I are headed to bed.

For the last two days Molly has been making "Easter presents" where she wraps found items in copier paper and leaves them laying around for you. The other morning as I checked my email I had 2 such packages. One contained my deodorant.
You've probably already guessed as to what awaited me that evening climbing into bed. Two wrapped packages that were left while I was in the shower. I had seen them while I was dressing in the morning but I had been in such a hurry I had not stopped to open them.
Of course what was inside one of them was my missing pair of glasses.
There's a moral in there somewhere.

Girl's hair!!

You have to check this out if you have girls!!

http://cutegirlshairstyles.blogspot.com/

Owl and lamb pictures

More Eastern shore pictures....
I have to catch up with some pictures I hadn't posted...


(I previously blogged Jen's stuff) I saw my cousin Jen and took some great pictures of her that you can see on the photography blog.

My dad showed us the screech owl that is in one of his bird boxes and I got some great pictures!!










We also got to see the lambs at the farm across the road. Nathan was especially sweet with them! I wish we could have brought a couple home with us but our HOA has a ban on livestock! What a shame!!

"Artists"

What does the Church have to say?

In His 'Letter to Artists (1999) JPII makes an important distinction that God alone is the true Creator. He alone creates out of nothing, while we are all craftsmen. We take items and make them take form. Everyone of us does this in some way. It's our hearkening call to God, how we are made in him image. Is not our deepest longing for Truth and Beauty?

1999 Letter to Artists

Ash Wednesday

I love our priests and how they are so much *real shepherds*.
I'm thankful for how they acknowledge that people may present on Christmas and Ash Wednesday who are not in full communion with the Church and they so sincerely welcome them to come back.

I have really great memories of Ash Wednesday as a child and how privileged it felt to get to miss part of the school day for mass. I'm grateful to my mother for making sure we went.

Laundry Piles

So, my washer broke last week and there was just no way to survive that. I THINK we have a lot a clothes..until the washer breaks and the child who is potty training has just donned his 4th pair of undies and pants and it is only 11am.
So..off to my mother's! She so kindly let me totally take over her laundry room.

We had a great week there that was really made possible by the new van. I just stashed my whole laundry (3 bag) sorter right in the back, brimming with laundry and then another whole washbasket of mine besides. 2 large suitcases and each child had their own small suitcase...a portable potty...one basket full of snacks...one for drinks...cups..and plenty of room!!

We visited with my grandparents just about every day. Max and Nathan both amaze me with how friendly they can be now. They will both chatter with all the family and Max even asked if he could go to Gran's when we were out at walmart getting more chocolate milk.

I hunted down a $10 for 100 token coupon for chuck e cheese and took them there one morning! What an experience. We lost a cup, won balloons and cotton candy. Max cried when I took him out of another family's picture in the photo booth.

We went to the beach and I found some great deals on clothes. Who can beat a shirt for $1.97 and a $4.97 pair of GAP prarie boots???

I also got to see my cousin and take some maternity pictures for her. I am so grateful that she was willing to play along with me. It was unbelievably cold!

random stuff

This week the dishwasher broke and we had that repaired. Now the washing machine 'lock' is broken and it needs to be fixed. This is actually semi-convenient as I was already planning on visiting my mom. So, now I will just take her a lot of laundry.

This morning we made last minute valentines for co-op. I took my dirty cloth diapers over to Ginny's. THANK YOU THANK YOU! I will come pick those up tomorrow? When we were there I heard Max tell Seth "I am Maximilian Kolbe...". That's the first time I have heard him say his name and then we got home he was also telling Xander his whole name as they played. --back to the wash-- Max is down to three pairs of pants. I am just trying to save one pair for mass. At the moment he is pantsless.

I went to target and got a little stand for the bathroom to put the shampoo and some towels on. Seventyfive % off.

I came home and ordered the envelopes that I THINK I need because I THINK I get to photograph first holy communion? That was a 2 hour ordeal because the design template I downloaded from the site did not seem to work.. but I designed the heck out of that thing anyway.

I also updated E-Z pass with the new van plates. We are E-Z pass DE members. NO FEES

Now I just have to clean house, make pies and dinner. I am going to go watch my soaps and see if Mrs. C's DNA test has come back!!

Van test

We gave the van a big test today! It's about as windy as it can get and we did not in fact blow over because it is so tall. I know that was a concern for people. I actually didn't even 'feel' the wind. In the minivan I could "feel" being pushed a little.

We also loaded the kids bikes in the back and headed to the park! I am SO happy that this works! It's just impossibly unflat here at the house and I want the kids to be able to ride bikes SAFELY!

The bad news was that the park was closed. Very strange but we went to another park and the kids rode bikes, played in the mulch, played on all the playground stuff, AND we flew kites. Pretty cool. I love homeschooling so much! It's really great to do this stuff when no one else is around! It's like we have the whole town to ourselves during the week =) Who knew that Molly can already tell time? That chapter was done pretty quickly! ;)

Molly's interview

Last week Molly was really saying some good stuff about Coraline that I wanted to tape, so I interviewed her to see if I could get anything cute =)

Beyond Sadness

In case you are not an apologetics groupie, Michael Dubruiel unexpectedly passed away on Tuesday. His name might sound familiar from OSV or if you've picked up any of his books. I send out his "How-to Book of the Mass" quite often to people. You might know his wife, Amy Welborn from her books and pieces that show up in the diocesan newspaper...
I won't go into any specifics.. you can read Amy's original post here.

But-- one of the reasons I wanted to blog about this was because of her post last night. Amy just received the last column that Michael wrote which will be published this weekend... I am at a loss for a words. What a twist of pain wrapped in joy? I don't know if you can read what he wrote and NOT believe that God had moved his hand to do so... I am struck by how God takes such gentle care of us even when we are facing enormous suffering... Please remember Michael, Amy, their children, and parents in your prayers.

The Last Column

While in Washington, D.C. several weeks ago, I ran into an old friend, Father Benedict Groeschel, CFR, with whom I have collaborated on several books. We met after a Mass for pro-life leaders at Trinity College. It was exactly five years and 10 days from that night in Orlando, FL when Father Benedict nearly lost his life in a tragic accident, and almost four years to the day that I spent a week with him in New York, assisting him in putting the finishing touches on a book that he co-authored with Bishop Baker.

Working with a very frail Father Benedict at the time, I was reminded of an interview that he had given some years earlier at EWTN with Doug Keck on Booknotes. During that interview, when Father Benedict’s book Arise From Darkness was first published, Doug asked Father Benedict to elaborate on something that Father had called the “big lie” in his book. The “big lie,” Father Benedict said, (and I’m paraphrasing him at this point), is to think that if we say all the right prayers and live correctly, then nothing bad will ever happen to us. Sadly, there are many good people who have lost their faith by believing such a lie, and that makes it a big one indeed!

One only has to think of Jesus Christ, the sinless Son of God, and how much He suffered on the cross, to correct one’s view on this matter. In our own day, there are many whom we know have lived saintly lives, many who have prayed much, and yet have suffered too.

This brings me to another incident that I learned from Father Benedict while working with him four years ago in New York. I was waiting for him to make some corrections on a text when I noticed what looked like a wedding program. I asked him if it was for a relative or a couple he had married. He replied that it was neither, but told me the story of the person behind it.

Diana was a young Puerto Rican woman who grew up in a very faith filled home. Even though they were poor, her mother taught her at an early age to trust God above everything. By the time she was old enough to go to college, Diana found a way to pursue her education - again something that she credited to her strong faith - and became the first member of her large family to graduate from college. She then married and was hired by a large investment firm in New York.

Even though her job kept her busy, she found time to attend Mass everyday. When her friends threw parties, Diana made up goodie bags for them that included candy and make-up, but also a prayer book and holy water. When a member of her family couldn’t pay their bills, Diana secretly paid them. When someone in the family got into trouble she bailed them out of jail.

One night Diana had a strange dream. In the dream Jesus appeared to her, dressed in a white robe, standing on a cloud of smoke. He was beckoning her to come to him, telling her not to worry, that he was going to take her with him. Then it seemed to her that the whole world disappeared from beneath her and she awoke. She told her husband about the dream the next morning, but he didn’t want to hear about it—it scared him.

The next few nights, the dream repeated itself. She told her mother, who wondered what it could mean.

A month later on September 11, 2001, Diana was at work at her investment firm in the World Trade Center on one of the top floors. She phoned her husband and mother on her cell phone after the second plane struck the tower below her. She reminded them of the dream, just before the tower crumbled.

What is the opposite of the “big lie”? Trust.

When questioned by an English journalist about the future of the Religious Order that he co-founded, Father Benedict gave a simple reply, “We have no plans, except to be led by God.”

None of us knows what the future holds, but hopefully we can embrace what is inscribed in our coinage, “In God we Trust.”

Modest Clothes

I have a few off beat places that I get clothes from.

I wear layering stuff from Modbe Clothing a whole lot. Got a dress with an annoying deep V? Think someone might be able to look down your front? Will holding a baby leave you disheveled and exposed? You might need some of these layering pieces! they wash up great and are all long and don't roll up. If you are in doubt go a size larger. Some pieces are meant to give a 'skin fit' so you will be ok especially if there's any shrink factor in the wash.

There's also Shade Clothing . I haven't ordered from them but it seems really similar.

When they have sales you can get very good deals!

They also have maternity, tween, child!

Other stuff I have to pass on

Basically, Patrick Madrid has some cool stuff on his blog.

Patrick talks about population

He also links to the Carmelite Monk site so I will too!

http://www.carmelitemonks.org/

BIG Van LOVE

I got my birthday present today! I don't know how odd it is for a lady to feel so excited over a monster size van but maybe it's not so uncommon in my circle ;)
I think we have enough room now =) To my darling husband: thank you thank you thank you!!! I love it!!!