Jul. 29, 2008 - Didja ever wonder what kisses were for???

 

Now you know.

See ya around...

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Jul. 25, 2008 - Sometimes they are just fun to look at...

Sometimes, when they are quiet, I find pure joy in just looking at them.  Seeing the soft, slightly fuzzy cheeks.  Marveling at the shiny curls.  Smelling the clean hair.  I pray I never forget these days.

See you around...

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Jul. 24, 2008 - Tough Day at the Library

We had a bunch to do yesterday...Lots of odd chores...Swim Team in the morning...and then a major library run.  Now it would seem that a day in the library would be a lovely thing, right?  Well, yes and no.

See first we had to go home, gather all the books (we never have less than 50), decide what HAS to go back today, what we want to keep, what we've already read even if it's not due, separate the piles into "stuff to go BACK" to Library A, "stuff to RE-check out" at Library A, "stuff to go BACK" to Library B and "stuff to RE-check out" at Library B.  Then we have to choose who is having which color library bag (we use reusable grocery bags), gather those up, make sure every one has water for the car, get buckled and go...well get buckled and realize someone has to use the facilities...AND then GO!!

At Library A...we have to deal with snarky librarians who A.) feel that we shouldn't be allowed to check out a book more than once (???HUH???), and B.) Don't feel that it's THEIR job to check the book back in so that it can be checked out again...said librarian WOULD RATHER that we checked the books in, put in a request for them and came BACK again...(um, I live approximately 30 minutes away, my thoughts are "Sure, no problem, sweetie, I completely understand that you would rather me drive away AND drive back so that you don't have to CHANGE SCREENS on your computer"...okay really thought, "GET A GRIP"). 

Anyhoo, during THIS lovely transaction, the girlies were checking out a COOL fish tank (thankfully) and so were none the wiser.  I DID get to recheck my library books and I DID make her go get my holds for me in the other room. After which I went to look at the fish with the girls.  Bean, understandably, got a touch bored with the fish and asked if she could walk into the children's department that shared a wall with the tank...basically it was on the other side and I'd be able to see her THROUGH the fish tank.  I said, "Sure, no problem"...off she went.  So we stood there for 5 minutes or so, checking out the wonders that a wall-sized fish tank hold for small children.  I decided it was time to go...waved to Bean and started to head out.  She came along at first, BUT THEN, Bear had another question or two and Bean thought she'd head back.  Well, I ANSWERED the question, grabbed Monkey Face's hand and said, "Let's go"...and we went.

This is the part that gets a little fuzzy.  I counted heads...walked away from the fishtank...then outside the doors to the little "friends of the library" shelves in the hallway outside the library, but still in the building. I counted heads again.  I told them I was going to see if there was anything of interest and turned to ask  Bean to hold hands with Monkey Face...looked again...spun in a circle like I was chasing my tail...she was nowhere.  So I dropped EVERYTHIHNG (library bags, books) grabbed the two I HAD and raced back inside...as she was RACING out.  Bless her little heart, she had been feeling SO independant and then well, not so much.

I discovered as we turned BACK around, all three children firmly IN HAND, that there HAD been another kid sort of WITH me...but it was just a little girl that was the same approximate size as Beanie.  At least I felt better that I wasn't losing my mind and technically we didn't LEAVE her...had she LOOKED out the door she could have seen me, but you know that sick feeling in the pit of your stomach when you think all is well and then realize that it's not...well she is still stickin' close to me today.  S'okay, with me, my heart dropped a little, too.

Now that we were all together, I was able to gander through the shelves...and I did find a little gold...Cyrus the Unsinkable Sea Serpent by Bill Peet (we love Bill Peet) in hard back and My Friend Flicka by Mary O'Hara for a quarter each.  WOO HOO.  And for just a little more icing on that cake, I found out that my library is having it's BIG sale in a week or so...WOO HOO...I LOVE BOOKS!  But I REALLY love CHEAP books.

Then off to Library B...where things went more smoothly with the staff, but where Bear decided that she had had ENOUGH and THEN decided that completely obnoxious was a personality she would try.  When I said, "Okay, no books, we're going home", she melted down.  Thankfully, I'd reserved some Strawberry Shortcake books for Monkey Face, so I didn't lose her, too. 

But I've learned my lesson...this is what happens when you do a BIG library trip after lunch and it crosses that 1:00 pm hour.  Now quiet time is NOT until 2:00 pm here...but apparently 1:00 has it's own special KIND of magic for little girls.  Bean was just glad that they FINALLY fell asleep. :D

See ya around...

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Jul. 23, 2008 - A Sad Day in Potty Training...

And I blame the parents...

Monkey Face the miraculous, potty-trained HERSELF some 6 weeks ago.  She noticed that Mom didn't care much for the activity and that both Sisters 1 and 2, being "Big Girls" seemed to accomplish the task with ease.  She set about a campaign to convince her mother that not only was she fully CAPABLE of going to the restroom at the proper time, she was willing to face the death-defying task of wiping herself if no-one was around.  This task made even MORE dangerous due to her dimunuative stature and slight build and the large, child-swallowing size of the commode put in by the builders of her home.  All these things were WORTH the danger, if only her mother would bestow upon her the trophy of pony panties.

There were only a few hiccoughs in her crusade.  There was the Hiney-Dipping incident that really tested her metal and convictions.  There was the unfortunate "Toll Paper" incident...where she discovered that if you just KEEP rolling, all said "Toll Paper" will completely unravel...and if by CHANCE...it was a new roll...the paper will completely fill the waste basket and you will be forced to call on mom to help you extricate the proper portion with which to wipe. 

And then there was last night's incident.  She had somehow ducked mother's eagle eye and managed to go to bed in said "pony panties".  Also, she had managed to escape the mandatory evening potty duty prior to retiring for the night.  This, due to the he thought/she thought nature of the parent's supervision of the bedtime chores...he thought mom had done it/she thought dad had done it, Monkey Face found it easy to sneak through the communication cracks.

And sadly, Monkey Face awoke in a pool of...well...you know.

Hopefully she will take it in stride as just another lesson in the long road to potty freedom and the pursuit of pony panies.

See ya around...

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Jul. 22, 2008 - Was GONE - Now I'm able to GO....

Well...hmmmmph...I had every intention of doing more blogging, not less...I'm not even sure where I left off.

Oh well.  I did get a new computer.  It's a laptop...VERY exciting.  The first MODERN laptop that I've had since about 1995 or 1996 when I had one that ran Windows 95 and MS Office of the era and that was about it.  I'll have to ask my dad but I think it had about a 250 MG hard drive...it COULD have been 500, but I'm pretty sure it was not a GB,  because I REMEMBER my first 1 GB hard drive and it was on a desktop that I had at work at about that same time, 95-96...but they were expensive, so we didn't have them at home yet.

Let me say...THIS is better.  I am not in love YET.  I'm a little cynical to fall TOO hard for a shiny new case no matter HOW cool the computer...ESPECIALLY if the "cool" part includes a brand-new-to-me MICROSOFT operating system (this is usually BIG points off)...but I must say, being able to cart this one around is a definate plus...now I can curse Vista ALL OVER my house...at least until I figure it out.  The older I get, the less involved with the day to day tech stuff I am...the more I realize the truth to the cliche "Can't teach an old dog new tricks"...it's not that you CAN'T teach them...it's that we old dogs just don't wanna learn 'em.  Oh well, deed is done, better get off my XP high horse and see what this baby can do.

Ain't she pretty in the gloming light of morning???  I really like the turtle...but Vista doesn't have the "Aquarium" screen saver...(sigh) the girls'll be sad.

 

Hey, maybe I'll have a better chance at blogging.  Well here's hoping...

See ya around...

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May. 28, 2008 - TOG Week 2 Split

Well...harrumph.  Last week did NOT go as well as expected.  What is it with Monday holidays and homeschooling????

Here, whenever there is something major that blows out ANY OTHER DAY...we can still get it done...have an appointment TUESDAY...NO Problem...what about Wednesday, a three-hour tour???  NO Problem, nice break in fact...and Fridays are a constant source of, "Whoops there is a near WHOLE day off"...but Monday...OH Monday...

If the item in question; the meeting, the errand, the date, the trip to Scottish Rite falls on Monday...I may as well take the REST of the week off.  I think the biggest PROBLEM is that Monday is our set-up day.  It has ALWAYS been the day that I set up the goals of the week...go over the spelling words...the reading assignments...the science projects...the art.  I took Math out of the equation for Mondays in the middle of 2nd grade simply because Math was a big enough set up on it's own to throw onto a different day...but TOG is STILL a huge set up for Monday, even without Math in there.

Well CASPIAN was LAST Monday...and Memorial Day was THIS Monday...two killers in two weeks.

I really thought that Caspian wasn't going to be a problem...I really thought we would just start school TUESDAY and just do projects over the weekend...um nope.  First of all she LOVED Caspian.  She did notice the differences between the book and the movie...but she liked it anyway...so that is $5 well spent.  I didn't get to see it myself, so I can't give a full review...

So Tuesday rolled around and we surely did the setup and SOME of the reading...but the momentum was off...the girls didn't roll quite like I expected them to...AND it was BEAUTIFUL outside...can you say Spring Fever.  Anyway...I chalked it up to week 2 of a new curriculum and just kept a-going.

By Thursday, I knew this just was NOT going to fly...we were about 1/2 way through the spines...we had completely LOST King Arthur, Mountain Born AND 12 Dancing Princesses AND my cleaning lady was here on Thursday...which is much more of a distraction than it SHOULD be...but my girls LOVE Mrs. Melissa...and she is only here once every 2 weeks...so we invited her to lunch and took way too much time doing it.

Friday morning I decided, "Pffffft, this is going to be a 2 week week...no worries", because after all I knew that I was facing ANOTHER black Monday with Memorial Day...and so that is where we are.  Day 6 of week 2 that is GOING to take us 8 days...so I can't tell you what we've learned yet...but I'll give you a hint...when Boniface was introduced the giggles went up with "Bonny Face Bonny Face"...

They didn't laugh quite as hard when I made them find the Aegean Sea...Wait'll they try to find the Rhine...I already looked...on our modern map the markings are NEARLY nonexistent...Laugh at my mispronunciation, will you?

On the up side...since we have some extra time...we are TOTALLY going to the pool today...It is ABSOLUTELY gorgeous...AND the ps'd kids don't get out of school until June 4th...too bad for them...great for my kids first trip of the season...it'll get the "don't run into the pool"..."don't run away from momma"..."don't throw sand"..."put your face in and blow bubbles" etc pool training done without all the distraction.  Plus, let's be realistic, vanity TOTALLY plays a role...I'm FAR to chubby to be THIS white...this week gives me a chance to brown up at bit so I don't startle people next week...it's really for THEIR own good.

See ya around...

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May. 19, 2008 - Monday Morning blips...

Week 2 TOG...Well this week is EVEN more full than last week.  I actually started filling up the note section of my planning sheet.  It's making for a much busier form...I'm not POSITIVE that it isn't too busy and I'm afraid that I'll miss things in the turmoil of it.  Still I have my check boxes and my double check it book list.  One nice thing about it all in one place is that I can just HAND it to Bubba...he now has WAY more information than he has ever wanted...so he can stop wondering.  HMMMMM...hope it doesn't cut down on conversation...I'll have to snatch it back if it does...

Plug for TOG...This weekend I had a RED LETTER moment when I knew the date of the death of Atilla the Hun and Bubba didn't.  Now this may SEEM like childish competition...well, maybe it is...but I have NEVER....EVER...known the date of something that Bubba didn't know.  It's sort of our thing...I ask him dates and locations because I never know...he is also the time keeper...his own fault for wearing a watch if you ask me.  I get to be the food knower-abouter and the color guide...we all have our strengths.

Menus and Food...Since the beginning of the Girlie Trip (April 28th) we have eaten a bunch of junk food with a little good food interspersed...now my body HATES it when I do this...I get tired, crabby, gain weight...it's just not pretty.  So in the spirit of getting it all back together I give you 6 days of meals and links to the things that we are going to be eating this week.  I'm not giving you all the tweaks that I will make but generally if it calls for sugar or honey I either substitue stevia or xylitol or cut the sugar in half, I don't DO canola or veggie oil...or SOY, except naturally fermented soy SAUCE...and I don't personally do much grain (blood sugar issues), but there is one that just SCREAMS for something to sop up the juices and tortillas are easier than salads for the two littlest girls so my kids'll have a couple grain type foods.  Here you go...
Monday - Curried Chicken Satay with Fresh Mint-Soy Vinaigrette  and Sesame Snow Peas

Tuesday - Pork with Sweet Onion Marmellata (This one is PROBABLY too sweet for me, but I'm still making it because, well, it sounds yummy...I can at least eat the pork chop and "butter" it with a little sauce) and Asparagus with Vin Santo Vinegarette  (If I can find the wine, so be it, if I can't it'll just be steamed aspargus)

Wednesday - Curried Lamb (Substituting Beef which I have on hand) and a Green Salad.  The kids'll get tri-colored couscous with this one...curry just NEEDS something for soppin'.

Thursday - Tequila Chicken This will end up being kind of like a taco salad with lettuce, salsa and guac, maybe some cheese...the kids'll probably end up with tortillas.

Friday - Fish Tacos Here again this is going to be served with a salad of sorts...cabbage, salsa...the kids'll STILL probably end up with tortillas...maybe not...it'll depend on how I cut the fish.  Oh, I'm subbing Tilapia for this and I'll probably broil it or pan fry it...I have it on hand, Bubba doesn't have to be involved, etc.

Saturday - Burgers (gitcher own recipe), Caprese Salad (cut grape tomatoes in half and cut mozzerella (fresh) or monteray jack cheese into chunks about the same size as the tomatoes...in about equal portions...add some fresh basil if you have it...drizzle on some good olive oil and balsalmic vinegar, salt and pepper...voila...done!) 

Caspian...Bubba is staying home this morning to take Beanie to Prince Caspian as a belated birthday date for the two of them.  She has been waiting patiently for several months and knows the book six ways to Sunday (books on tape are GRAND).  I hope she isn't disappointed.

See ya around...

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May. 16, 2008 - End of Week One (TOG Year 2 Unit 1) This is LOOOOO-OOONG, sorry.

I told you that I'd be back with a review...

Before I do that, let me make a suggestion...do not embark on TOG the week you return from a two week vacation...before you have grocery shopped, re-organized the guest areas that were used profusely during the one week you WERE home during the vacation, and most especially NOT before you've completely unpacked.  This sort of thing will set up MANY road blocks to every other item in your day...and you will find yourself DAILY frustrated with wondering where on earth those colored pencils got to...what happened to that book...what ARE you going to eat...and what do you MEAN I'm out of underware.  This has been a public service announcement.

So...TOG!  I just love it. 

As you might notice in my public service announcement...things were not perfect this week...no where near.  But the one thing I was (MOSTLY) ready for was TOG...I had all the books that I could get (there are some coming from various vendors and some I chose to do without)...I had a schedule...I had maps and teaching aides...and I was set.

My schedule turned out something like this...

MONDAY -
TOGETHER
Read all of one spine  (spine is a MAIN text for the class...TOG has a couple of "spines" for this unit that you read just a few pages or a chapter as overview to the more "literature-type" sections)...

Read one of the lower grammar picture books, "Brigid's Cloak" (there were 3 total)

Read most of "Who were the Romans" as background for understanding the state of the Roman Empire when the barbarians started defeating them regularly.  

LITTLE GIRLS (Bear Mostly, Monkey Face played with a puzzle at my feet...but both Beanie and MF climbed up several times to see pictures)

Read a picture book by Robery McCloskey "Blueberries for Sal" and another that I can't remember and a chapter in a junior novelization of "Barbie's 12 Dancing Princesses" (I know, I know, it can't all be top of the line...besides both Bear and MF LOVE it and will sit still...which has to be teaching them SOMETHING.)

TOGETHER
Then we worked on Geography Terms, River, Mountains, Deserts.  We found rivers; the Mississippi, the Amazon, the Nile.  We found mountains; the Rockies, the Andes, the Alps, the Himalayas.  We found deserts; the Sonoran or Arizona Desert, the Sahara Desert, the Kalahari Desert, the Gobi Desert.

BREAK  (Lunch and momma chores)

AFTER LUNCH
Beanie did Dictation
Bear did a reading lesson and a writing lesson

The little girls MOSTLY played in the 45 minutes after lunch...Bear's reading and handwriting take about 10 minutes total.  Beanie's Dictation is new and took probably 20 ish minutes to explain the concept, copy the dictation, go over the errors, pull out the spelling words and fix the errors.  So even with the lessons and the lunch time clean up they all got a few minutes to run around and play.

From 2 -2:30...I rested...it was MONDAY after I had had about 9 hours on the road on Saturday...and then stayed up way too late Sunday making sure that I had everything together to fly with TOG in the morning...it was necessary...pbbbbbbb.

ABOUT 2:30 (Little girls SLEEPING)
Bean and I set about reading the REST of the stuff scheduled for the day.  The stuff that was either too boring or slightly too graphic for the little girls.

We read one chapter of another spine (Story of the World) , 

Read about our Barbarian for the Day "Atilla the Hun", 

Started reading King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table...this took a fair amount of discussion because, well, it's not EXACTLY a happy story, is it?

We started reading Aladdin and other Tales from the Arabian Nights...very glad for the time to discuss quietly with my oldest girlie because, once again there are some things that need to make sense before you can move on. 

And then read another chapter of a literature book we've been reading called "Mountain Born",

Now if you've followed me THIS far...Tuesday and Wednesday are a breeze because we followed the same schedule, only the books changed...and Tuesday through Thursday are Math days, so that also was added.

Thursday was a touch different because by Thursday most of the REQUIRED reading is done...we are still working through our list of barbarians...We've done Alaric the Visigoth, Atilla the Hun, Genseric the Vandal...Thursday was Theodoric the Ostrogoth and Friday will be Clovis, who we have read before...BUT all the spines are done...all the lower grammar picture books are done, we are working on the upper grammer stories (King Arthur and Arabian Nights) but at this point it's just reading the next chapter...Dictations are now taking very little of MY time...I just read and correct, Bean knows how to do the rest.  Math is still what it is, but at this stage once she understands it, she is really at the MEMORIZATION phase of her times tables so again, it doesn't take a lot of input from me. 

So THURSDAY was our Art day.   We spent about an hour drawing.  We are using 1 2 3 Knights, Castles and Dragons...and yesterday the girls drew and colored a princess (of course) and scrapbook mounted them for their history folders...I really REALLY need a scanner.

Today, Friday, is review day...we are going to go over the Geography Terms one more time...slap some Barbarians up on the Timeline...paint a salt map of an imaginary land that we made the week before our vacation...finalize next week's spelling list from the dictation spelling words...Review all the math times tables and hopefully play our Timesattack video game. 

As for a review of TOG.  This has been a wonderful week of learning a bunch of things I never would have pulled together on my own.  Sadly, Bubba is the history buff and he is not that interested in teaching it.  I on the other hand am more of an English buff...(now don't go critiquing my writing) and enjoy reading and diagramming and spelling and that sort of stuff and a Science buff...I'm into bugs and slime and colors and chemicals and stuff.  History has RARELY been a consideration let alone a passion. 

But this is fun.  I've learned so many things this week...things I didn't even realize that I didn't know.  For instance...

1.  When someone SAID barbarian, the picture in my head was of the Mongols...I KNEW that there were some germanic barbarians...but didn't realize that MOST of the barbarians that destroyed Rome were of European (not Asian) descent.  That's what I get for getting most of my history out of historical romance novels.

2.  I did not realize that the 1001 Arabian nights stories were all from ONE story of the lady Shahrazad who TOLD the stories over 1001 nights to save her own life.

3.  I didn't realize that the Alps were the fuzzy cap on the boot of Italy.  Kind of like the snow boots that I wore when I was 7. 

4.  Those barbarians are VERY interesting characters...from Alaric who insisted on being buried at the bottom of a river, to Atilla who was told that he would die when he fell in love and then died the day after he was married, to Genseric the Vandal and all his Vandal nation who destroyed EVERYTHING in the cities that they conquered so that even NOW we call wanton destruction vandalism, to Theodoric who conquered and conquered the same guy (Odoacer) . Theodoric STILL managed to charm Odoacer into agreeing to be king WITH him, only to turn around and kill this co-king as soon as possible so that he, Theodoric, could finally be the ONLY king of Italy.  This stuff is facinating.  Where have I been????

5.  I knew that St. Valentine was a guy...but I didn't know that he was a healer and that "From your Valentine" was written in a note accompanied by a crocus...on his way to his execution Valentine gave this note to a jailer for the jailer's daughter whom Valentine was treating for blindness.  HIS portion was not a "LOVE" story per se...or at least not the type of love that we've come to associate with Valentine's Day...but the pure love of a nice elderly man (doctor) for a sick little girl.  He was executed February 14, 270.  Valentine's Day has been combined with a Roman custom that was celebrated February 15th where notes were drawn and maidens who had written the notes were courted...but that's not what St. Valentine himself was about.  I never knew that.

All that to say...I'm having a great time learning these things right along with them.  I like that I have the freedom to choose the books that we are going to read from a pre-determined EXCELLENT list of books.  I like reading and reading and reading and talking and talking and reading some more.  I like the kids all around me constantly...weird, because I already THOUGHT they were around me constantly...this is more.

Well, I'd best be off...there is much to be done.

See you around...

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May. 12, 2008 - TOG and Me

Well...hmmm...I have about 5 posts that I need to work on this week...and I'll really try to get to it, I will.

But for now, an apology for my absense to anyone reading...I've had one of those joyous months (well almost 2 months really) where all the good or exciting things happen at once.  One of these is that we decided to use Tapestry of Grace THIS year and not wait until Beanie is in 5th grade. 

So to that end I've been planning and organizing and trying to figure out how to pull it all together as soon as possible.  As I've done this, I been scouring many blogs and have been so thankful for the stuff people have put up to help me in my search...so in my own little inexperienced way...I thought that I'd put up something that I've been working on.

It's just the PLAN for TOG's revised Year 2 (unit 1 week 1)...I haven't put it into action yet, so I have no idea if I'm anywhere close on ability or actual time allowances...but I thought I'd throw it against the wall and see if it stuck this week...I'll try to give you an honest review of how it worked at the end of the week so those of you thinking of working with TOG have some idea and also for those of you that already USE TOG to laugh heartily at the new girl.  Ya'll try to do that BEHIND your screens, will ya???  But feel free to throw some pointers my way.

This form was not mine...I discovered it on the TOG forum (I'll have to find the link) and Bubba recreated it for me in word.

So anyway...here it is...

 I am OBVIOUSLY going to have to work on the resolution...but if you know what books are supposed to be there...you should be able to make them out a bit...I, sadly, don't have a scanner...just a camera...but it's a start...and of course an excuse for not writing more...

Well, I'm off for now...

See ya around...

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Apr. 2, 2008 - Canada, interrupted...

Got my camera back...WOO HOO.  But you know what, I'm tired, too.

See ya around

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Mar. 31, 2008 - This is only a test...

I have some html things that are just bugging me...

For instance...I can't figure out how to make a link on this blog.  I mean, oh sure, I can type or copy http://www.blahblahblah etc...but I WANT name the link so that a reader can click the word and GO to my link.

It should JUST be an " < a href > "  right??? (without the spaces, of course)

Well I can't make it work...see

http://www.starfall.com/">Starfall

Now I'm posting this because I'm suspecting that the preview screen isn't working...maybe it is...but I'm posting anyway...know that this is not a completed post...if you have some insight...PLEASE tell me what I'm doing wrong...but I'm probably going to yank this back out once I have it figured out.

EDITED TO SAY...It DID work...it did...it did!!!  Oh JOY!  Oh Rapture!  Hazaar!!!  Thank you to all who unknowingly allowed me to "view source" and copy and past to figure this thing out.

Telling Time Worksheet Generator
Make a Snow Flakel

EDITED AGAIN...No it didn't...OH DESPAIR!!!  The link doesn't work...and I'm out of time...GRRRRRRRR...well I'll be back...

ME EDITING AGAIN...So saith the wise MOMatHWTK ... use thee magic button.  Alas and alack...I have no magic button in my Edit Screen.  An email is on the wire to Ye Old Technical Support in hopes they can save this damsel!

Okay, nuff of that...maybe my template is messed up because I really don't have that button...and I never have...I've searched high and low for a button like that here on HSB because I've used that button on several message boards.  You'd think, though, that I could at least TYPE it in...but I'm using the same code that you printed for me (thank you very much for that, I truely thought I was losing my mind...glad to know I'm not.)  If I use a double quote (") after the "a href=" _fcksavedurl=""" _fcksavedurl=""" _fcksavedurl=""" _fcksavedurl=""" then the link doesn't show AND it doesn't work...but if I use a single quote...then the link shows correctly (only in the final posting, the preview screen just lists the code) but clicking on it doesn't work at all.  Thanks MOMatHWTK!!!

Any further insight would be greatly appreciated.  And when I hear back from technical support, I'll post again.

EDITING, ONCE AGAIN:  I was mistaken...it is ABSOLUTELY there...it is just dimmed UNLESS I highlight the word...I'll bet I've got it now...let's see...

Starfall  
Telling Time Worksheet Generator

EDITING...OH FOR PITY SAKE...they are pretty...but they don't go anywhere...NII-IICE!

EDITING...WAITING for someone to tell me they do...cuz starfall still does NOT from here...oh wait..."edit link"...pfffft there is nothing in the link portion...okay...does it work now???

Still doesn't work here...pffffft.  Well I guess I'll never EVER get to link to star fall anyway.  Does it work for anyone else?

See ya around...

 

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Mar. 21, 2008 - Leg Perthes Progression Pictures

We went back to Scottish Rite on March 10th.  Bean is identified as a FULL "C" designation.  That means that this is about as bad as it can get with Legg Perthes.  HOWEVER!  Because she is INDEED a "C"...and because it is very controversial whether surgery actually HELPS a "C" designation with best outcome...they do NOT want to pursue surgery at this time and OUR surgeon doctor said considering that she WAS a "C" it was not so bad that we hadn't done the surgery after all .  On top of all of that...they don't want to see us for 9 months!  Can I get a PRAISE THE LORD???

No offense to Scottish Rite...they are AWESOME...but I don't WANT to go there.  I don't like it.  It makes me stressed and scared and doubtful and brings me face to face with my biggest fears for several weeks before our trip.  Nevermind the emotional turmoil that my baby girl goes through.  The fact that they think she is stable enough to wait 9 months to see her...makes my heart glad.  No, we still don't know what else will happen.  Yes, if she has any injury or if anything comes up, we are to call immediately...but other than that, they are happy to let it run it's course...

I did get the X-Rays and thought I would give you a progression of the hip from the time Scottish Rite first saw it in April 2007...we were first diagnosed in March of 2007...but had probably had it for a couple months prior to that...her first chiropractic adjustment due to the limp was in February 2007.

Here is the first X-ray in April 2007.  Notice how much smaller the left femoral head (the ball in the socket there) is than the right.  The separation in the femoral head that looks like a crack is actually her growth plate...those will close as she grows but in a 7 year old kid (at the time) she still has a lot of growing to do.

In May the femoral head is a little bit smaller...but notice how strange the growth plate looks...I didn't really notice it while we were looking at the first time...but knowing how far we are NOW...it looks suspiciously unstable to my slightly more trained eye. 

Due to several botched appointments we didn't get back to Scottish Rite until December of 2007...and this is what saw...and what spurred my distress.

Notice that the top portion of the femoral head is basically gone...there is some excess bone in there, but it is virtually to the growth plate.  Also notice that what is left is sitting slightly outside the socket...it was/is causing poor outward mobility...no side kicks for Beanie.

And here we are in March...it's hard to see in this version of the X-ray...we had to crop a bit because even in an X-ray the pictures of the entire pelvis are too graphic...but the extra bone is pretty much cleared out and we are AT the growth plate.  Our doctor says that it can't break down much farther...so hopefully we'll start rebuilding bone in this next 9 months.

So that is where we are.  We will continue to supplement minerals in hope that her body will have the nutrients that she will need to regrow this.  We will continue to keep her back as straight as we can so that she can have the most comfortable recovery possible and we will just keep praying.

Please keep us in your prayers.

See you around.

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Mar. 9, 2008 - Early March...the 1/2 month the blog forgot...

Well, hmmm...March, let's see, what was up with March...

Well it snowed...TWICE within 1 week of each other

The second time it snowed these HUGE, GINORMOUS flakes...and it snowed enough that it lasted all night and we got to walk down by the creek / lake and take some more pictures which was great fun...



We discovered that a laudry basket does NOT make a good sled, even with Dad pushing it...very sad!

And Monkey Face REALLY needed her little gloves on...

The Snowball Fight


And here is our snowlady...her name was Mrs. Snow Strawberry and sadly, she expired in the night...

This was the next day...we got a bunch of pretty naturey shots...but I don't think those are as interesting as the ones with the girlies...

This is a little dock that is over a very small man-made lake.  People do fish in it, but all we do usually is throw cheerios to the turtles, frogs and fish...oh and throw horse apples (bois d'arc tree fruit) in it in the fall.

That brings you up to about the 9th...

See ya around...

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Feb. 18, 2008 - Some stuff happened in February...

Wouldja LOOK at what fell out of my sky...and landed on my roof???  The roofers tell me that we will need an entire new roof due to tears in my shingles. 

My girls were in an extremely "cook-ey" place in February.  As I looked over my pictures from the month, I discovered that time and time again, cooking was the topic...here are just a few.

Mudpies are grand...and yes that is some sort of nettle on the top, Beanie had to pick it with gloves on...mmm mmm good for ya too!

And then there was the restaurant...there must have been 3 or 4 days of this...but here are a couple...
The patrons looking over their menus

And here are the waitresses with the entres of the day...

And in the same spirit...on Bear's birthday weekend, she got to make her own cake...

Bear is ACTUALLY doing the mixing, Beanie is just steadying the beater...Monkey Face is simply keeping her hands COMPLETELY clear lest Mommy shriek at her again.

Here is little Miss 5 year old and the glorious, pink, heart shaped cake... I believe that this is the second year for the heart shaped pans...bargain...maybe I will get my money's worth out of them.

See ya around...

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Feb. 2, 2008 - Since I'm catching up...

We had a day, not too many days ago that was pretty cold for us southerners.  It was too cold to play outside for sure...especially since Monkey Face has decided to be a dainty child...if we could get some more fat on those little legs...ah well...but I digress.

Here is our handy, dandy, thermometer, barometer, clock dealie...yes, I AM sure that is what it said on the package...No, I won't google it for you.

As it worked out...we also had no school to do, because we had originally intended to be going to our homeschool co-op and had completely finished everything, including tests on Thursday...

But...see...Monkey Face had enough of a cold that I didn't want to take her...AND...it was supposed to freeze so Bubba was supposed to work from home and he was going to watch MF while we went to co-op...but then it wasn't QUITE cold enough so he needed to go...so there we were, no school planned, sick-ish baby and too cold to really go play.  What to do...What to do????

Cool Whip on the counter!  To those of you who know me and wonder why, ON EARTH, I had cool whip in my house being that I am make-it-myself, eating raw milk and cream when I can get it type gal.  Chalk it up to serendipity!  I don't know when it got into my freezer...but I was glad to find it.

After that got cleaned up...we started the fire...and put together various puzzles...I was much more involved in the USA puzzles...the girls can pretty much do the states...it's the water and Mexico that just don't fit quite right...

While I read Peter Pan, the little girls decided to play LEVER-baby...well I think it's a lever...maybe a pulley instead...either way...I just want to be very clear that I have never transported any of MY babies in this fashion...so they didn't get the idea from me.

And then, while I was making lunch the doctor / dentist / chiropractor office was installed on the now warm hearth...

This is the computer...yep, a green box and an old keyboard on top of the box on the hearth...the amazing thing is...it is STILL smaller than the Compaq Suitcase that my dad called "portable" in the 80s.

Here is the examination table...note that the fire had been out for awhile at this point, so the glass was no longer hot, but the bricks were still a touch warm.  Cozy!

Here is an example of the dental work that was performed that day...

And here is the SURGERY portion of our day.  See, we'd been to Scottish Rite recently and so it was the topic of much imanginary play.  This is the "slicing off the skin portion" (um...blech) ...notice how well the anesthetic appears to be working in our little patient.

So many blog posts to do...so little time...

See ya around...

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Feb. 1, 2008 - Broken Glass to Scientific Study is as Lemons to Lemonade

Well my VERY favorite glass, pyrex, 4 cup measure has gone on to recycling heaven...Very sad...it was the one that stacked properly.  It couldn't have been my Pampered Chef 4 cup measure that doesn't like nesting with anyone and cost way too much to PURPOSELY throw away...oh no, not THAT one.  But as they say, that is the way the cookie crumbles more often than not.

Alright now...I am ALWAYS amazed when breaking a relatively small item made of glass, the sheer VOLUME of tiny glass shards that are produced...and seriously could anything without technology, made by man, for the KITCHEN travel farther????

I tried to show how long my kitchen is here...but even this shot does not show that the measure fell off the counter there on the left, across from Bean...this is a juncture position in my kitchen...if Bean takes a step back ward she is in a hallway...glass shot ALL the way down that hallway and around the corner...all the way to the windows beyond the last chair that you can see and all the way to the wood floor two or three steps behind me.  Amazing!

Well we bought a microscope for JUST such an occasion as this...Here is Bean sorting through to find the best pieces...


And here are a FEW of the things that we saw...(mouse over for captions.)



See ya around...

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Feb. 1, 2008 - Reason 442 that we USUALLY tomato stake our children

Tomato Staking Children (for those who have never heard the term) -  Comparison to a tomato plant...you stake a tomato plant so that as it grows you can gently guide it round it's support system, nipping the suckers that come off at the wrong angle, nuturing the good fruit, fertilizing and feeding nourishing things so that the plant will produce an abundant crop of good fruits.  As opposed to NOT staking a tomato plant, allowing it to grow where it may...falling to the ground to spread...allowing weeds to grow up under it where they can not be taken out without damage to the plant...allowing pests to hide among the overgrown leaves to injure the plant's ability to grow healthy...allowing the fruits to fall to the ground and rot, unacknowledged... 

As relates to children Tomato Staking means keeping a child near you MOST of the time, living life, playing, teaching, laughing, correcting, enjoying each other as they learn and grow, so that none of their fruits go unnoticed and most of the character issues that could cause them harm later in life can be weeded out before they can take root and form a habit.

All that sounds pretty serious...but really, I just didn't want anyone to think that tomato staking involved wire cones or those little green twisty ties.

This is what happens when you have a brand new, hunky dory, yellow highlighter WITH flags for your bible study that you leave on the table to use the NEXT time you open your bible...and you have a 2 year old who is bored because momma is sick and doesn't feel like chasing her.  You can't see the floor or the book case but trust me she used EVERY.SINGLE.FLAG!  I hadn't even pulled ONE yet. 

Serves me right for watching the Dog Whisperer!

See ya around...

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Feb. 1, 2008 - Ice in Texas...(catching up on my pictures)

Courtesy of my neighbor who left his sprinklers on the night it froze...

We all went out and "skated" on the frozen sidewalk in front of his house until the littlest girls both said, "ENOUGH"...So Bean took the camera out and snapped many MANY of these...sadly the sidewalk pictures didn't come out...but the standing ice was very impressive next to the section of completely DRY sidewalk...the ice was probably close to 1/4 inch where it did form.

See ya around...

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Jan. 31, 2008 - You say tomato...I say ??? Toenail??

This just in...heard in my house...

Bean (8 yo) "Martha canned two quarts of toenails.  How many pints of toenails did she can?"

YEEE-AWWWW GROSS-ME-OUT!

I had to check it out...indeed she was being lazy in her reading and just assumed a T-word would be toenails...well...of course she did.

Cracked me RIGHT up!!!

See ya around...

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Jan. 22, 2008 - Coughing Lazarus

Before you read this entry of mine please familarize yourself with John 11:1-46, the story of the death and resurrection of Lazarus of Bethany, the brother of Mary and Martha.  (you can read it online http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%2011:1-46;&version=49; ) That is where this story starts...

So Bean decided yesterday that nothing must do but that all the sisters act out the story of Lazarus as she had done in church on Sunday.  Monkey Face was to be Lazarus, Bear was Mary and Bean was  Martha, various men on the way and, of course, Jesus.  Now I won't remember it all, as I was giggling...but here is a highlight.

Bean:  "Now, Monkey Face, you are Nazareth"
Mom:  "Honey, his name was LLLLLLazarUS"
Bean: "Ok, you are Nazarus."
M.F.: "No, my name is Eric" (another whole story, I'll get to that later)
Bean:  "Okay, your NAME is Eric but can you PRETEND to be Lazareth?"
M.F.: "Yes"
Bear to M.F.:  "You're dead"
M.F.:  "I not dead, I Eric"
Bean: "She's not dead YET, she has to be sick first, can you pretend to be sick?"
M.F.: (no idea what she's talking about...does nothing)
Bean: "Can you lay down here and pretend to cough?"
M.F.: cough cough cough...cough cough
Bear:  "oh she's VERY sick"
M.F.: cough cough
Bean: "okay, now pretend to be dead"
M.F.: (again, NO clue what she means)...cough cough??
Bear: "She doesn't LOOK dead"
Bean to M.F.:  "Can you pretend to be asleep, you know close your eyes?"
M.F.: (dutifully closing her eyes for her big sister) COUGH COUGH COUGH!
Bear: "she shouldn't cough"
Bean to Bear:  "just pretend"
Bear: "poor dead Lazarus"
M.F.: coughing for emphasis
--- then there was a bit of an interlude where we cut to Jesus on the road...He LOOKED AT HIS WATCH and said something along the line of "gotta go" to various gathered imaginary people...and rushed back to Mary (Bear)...but with Bean acting as Jesus...there was no Martha...we think she MIGHT have been cleaning something...okay back at the tomb with Lazarus coughing periodically and playing with her Ariel polly pocket to pass the time...
Bean: "MOM, can we wrap Monkey Face in Toilet paper???"
Mom: surveying the catastrophic living room, "Uh, NO"
Bean: "okay, pretend you are all wrapped up"
M.F.: cough
Bean: (as Jesus) "Hey Lazarus, GET UP!"
M.F.: (pops off the couch with great exuberance)
They all jump around shouting "Lazareth, Nazarus, Lazarus is ALIVE!!!"  (I'm sure that had Martha been there it would have been more seemly.)

As to Monkey Face adopting the name Eric.  That occurred as a result of playing with Bear earlier in the day.  See they were playing princesses...but see Bear was being Ariel and she was getting married and SOMEBODY had to stand in as Prince Eric.  Monkey Face embraced the role SO much that she BECAME Eric yesterday and if you, by chance, called her by her given name she would state loudly, "My NAME is Eric."  Even late last night when I asked Bubba to run downstairs and get Monkey Face some water, she called "My NAME is Eric"...so I had to ask him to get Eric some water...Bubba's reply, "Well, I always DID want a son".

See ya around...

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