that it has been so long since I posted an entry that some people think I died.  I am back to assure you all that, while I am tired and frazzled after a long week, I am alive and (mostly) well.

The last week has passed by in such a blur.  We have been firmly adhering to our new schedule, which includes me getting up and showering at 6:30 before Hubby leaves and the bulk of the children wake up.  Everyone has chores in the morning to get us "going" for the day and to keep our home running smoothly.  All of the chores are things that the kids have always been responsible for, but we let slide a little for the summer.  It is nothing too serious or painstaking and no one has died yet.  (Of course when they canceled Arthur at 7:30 in the morning, M almost did.)

In addition to our school/homemaking schedule, we have had a few other scheduled events.  We spent a fun-filled day last week at the beach with one of our homeschool friends.  The kids all had a fabulous time!  The highlight of that trip (besides being with wonderful friends) was finding a live star fish to examine.

Last night I went with my mother and sister out for a special girls night out.  We had a great Italian dinner and then went to see a production of My Fair Lady.  While not my favorite musical ever, (That'd be Les Mis) it was nice to get out and spend time with Mom and Sis.  The show would have been MUCH improved if it weren't for the ancient couple sitting behind us who, judging from their behavior, either had Tourette's syndrome or were just too old to care about being rude.

Tonight I have my first TEACH meeting of the new school year.  It is an exciting feeling to see many of these wonderful families again after the long summer break.  I also love joining with the group to welcome new homeschoolers and to remind each other (old and new alike)why we all sacrifice so much to do what we do.

WE are still having some church troubles.  I have mentally composed a blog entry about it several times and with many different outcomes.  My heart is really torn right now as to which direction we should be heading in church-wise, and Hubby and I have been prayerfully trying to consider all the options.  I'll write more and be more specific soon...

The classes that I am scheduled to teach all start next week.  I am (almost) thoroughly prepared for the American girl class, the toddler/preschooler class at the Y not-so-much!  I have vague ideas about how I want the class to go, but I am not entirely sure yet.  I have a week until the class starts and I always do work well under pressure, I suppose!

I am embarrassed to say that I have found a new vice.  I have been spending far too much of my free time on Facebook, reconnecting with old friends and playing on the 'I Can Quote Gilmore Girls In My Sleep' forum.  Not a very good use of my time, I know.

Well, that's all for now I suppose.  Off to bring A to TKD....

Michelle from JandRlearnathome is hosting a Day in the Life party and you are all invited! 

If you are a homeschooler (or just a reader of homeschool blogs) and you would like to participate, please leave Michelle a comment with your DITL blog entry.  Also, put a link in your own blog back to this entry so that your readers can see all of the DITLs, and maybe (hopefully!) post one of their own.

You can expect my slideshow one day next week.  I look forward to watching all of yours as well!

A has achieved a bunch of milestones this week.  First, she learned how to ride her bike without training wheels.  She was incredibly wobbly at first, but now she is an old pro.  After weeks and months of tantrums and hissy fits about how hard it is to learn to ride a 2-wheeler, she looks like she was born to ride.

Yesterday when I dropped her off at TKD, sa-bum told me that he wants to promote A to a yellow belt.  It has been 10 months since her promotion to orange belt and he feels like she is ready.  She is thrilled, and I am so excited for her!!

The kicker is that the qualifying test and the belt come at a hefty price; $550 to be exact!  That is an awful lot of money to spend in one sitting for only one child.  I know we will manage it somehow, but it really kills me that is costs so much!

Speaking of excessive costs, I took A in to have her palate expander put in today.  We need to crank it open everyday for the next few months (with a check-up in a few weeks) and then she gets to wear it for another 9 months or so after her palate reaches the desired position, then it will be time for braces.  I can't believe I am thinking of braces for a kid that isn't even 8 yet!  GRRRR!!

Since she is going to have the appliance for the next year, the dentist office has agreed to let us pay for it over that period of time.  (Of course our dental insurance won't cover it since they consider it to be a cosmetic procedure-- it doesn't even matter that she has a unilateral cross bite and NEEDS the wretched thing!  Anyway, I digress...)  It is going to cost us an additional $950 dollars over the next year.  And that isn't even including the actual braces yet!  :SIGH!:

So, it has been an interesting week for A and the rest of us.  I am proud of her and her achievements, but I just wish she wasn't costing me so much dang money!

My little samuri in action, fighting a yellow belt:

UGH!  We spent most of R's birthday all cooped up in the house yesterday because A was sick.  She had a quick Motrin-induced energy burst where she was able to play outside, go for a walk, and ride her bike, (with no training wheels--- finally!) but by dinner she had completely depleted all of her energy reserves and she crashed.

M woke up at 12:30 a.m. with a fever and he started vomiting about an hour later.  Luckily he seems to be past the throwing up, but he still has a fever and has been intermittently napping and moaning pitifully on the couch since he got up this morning.

R refused to eat breakfast this morning and said she didn't feel right.  Then she took a 4 hour nap.  She just made a beeline for the bathroom and her vomiting has begun.  At least she can always make it to the toilet or the bowl!

C is fever free, but just had 3 diarrhea filled diapers.  He keeps pointing to his diaper and telling me he is "stinky" right before he goes though, as if that makes it any better.

As for me, I am saying silent and not-so silent prayers that this will all clear up by tomorrow.  R's sleepover birthday party is scheduled for Friday night and I would hate to have to cancel it due to illness; I have a feeling that no one would come.  I am also busy running from one sick kid to the other, all the while juggling time entertaining the non-ill one.  It'll be a miracle if I don't come down with this as well.

Hope all of you are having a better day than I am!

There she is!  My beautiful 10-year-old birthday girl with her dazzling cowgirl hat tiara!  I can't believe she is 10 already!  Where did the time go?

So, in honor of 10 years of R, I'd like to post 10 facts about her!

1.  She has a special stuffed tiger named Niles (after the character on Fraiser) that she got when she was 10 months old.   She received Niles as a present from Papa D's cousin after they got back from a road trip, and she still sleeps with him to this day.  He is old and thread-bare and very well loved.  He is too fragile to leave the house anymore.

2.  When she was a baby she used to call milk "mong-ay".  She would stand at the refrigerator door and cry for "mong-ay, mong-ay, mong-ay" over and over.  We still tease her about "da mong-ay"!

3.  When she was 5 she still had a hard time differentiating between blue and purple.  I took her to the eye doctor we found out that she has an astigmatism that changes the shape of her eye and makes it difficult to distinguish certain colors in certain light.  With her glasses she can see 100% better.

4.  She has one foot that is a half size bigger than the other.  That makes finding shoes incredibly difficult.

5.  She is the most caring child I have ever had the privilege of knowing.  She donates all of her money to church or Heifer International, she is growing her hair to donate to Locks of Love and she makes up posters to "Save the Polar Bears".  She is such a good humanitarian.  (A wanted me to add that R is also a great big sister who helps her when she gets hurt.)

6.  She wants to be a hairdresser when she grows up.  She wants to have a small salon in the back of her house (like our hairdresser) so that she can work part-time, but still be home to homeschool her kids.

7.  She is a creative free spirit and loves using her imagination.  She wholeheartedly believes in things like fairies and wizards.  She is expecting a letter from Hogwarts next year when she turns 11.  (Still don't know how I am going to handle that one..)

8.  Despite my best efforts, she is now interested in things like Hannah Montana and High School Musical.  Her interests are very diverse, however, and she never lets someone else discourage her from something that she wants to to like or do.  She is a leader of the pack, not a follower.

9.  She has her own sense of style and flair.  (Hence the hat in the above picture)  She likes to design her own hairstyles and outfits and luuuuvvvs to shop.

10.  She is very creative and enjoys putting on musical shows and dramatic performances for us all.  She can sing and dance very well.  She'd love to see her name in lights one day!

Well, there you go.  10 fabulous facts about my fabulous girl! 

Happy Birthday Ry-fry!

One party down, one more to go!

The medieval birthday celebration was a success!  The thunderstorms held out until the party was over and we only had a small scattering of rain.  The kids all had a grand old time having sword fights, making crowns and coats of arms, slaying dragons, and playing with the royal purple sand.

And now, for your viewing pleasure... a slideshow of pictures from the event!  Enjoy!

Hubby and I are notoriously bad car owners.  We drive on bald tires, never change the oil, and you could get lost in the trash that never gets thrown away.  Also, Hubby's general rule of thumb is that if you can still hear the radio over the noise the vehicle is making, all is good.  Combine all this with the fact that I am just a "stupid girl", and couldn't possibly know when something is wrong with the vehicle that I drive around on a daily basis, and the van doesn't see a mechanic very often.

So, after an incident last week with my power steering (think-- had none) I insisted that Hubby call and make an appointment for my van.  Today was their earliest appointment, which stuck me with 2 options; either be stranded in the house with 4 kids all day, and a mile long list of groceries and things to be done outside of the house, or take Hubby's van to do my shopping and errands.  I reluctantly chose the latter.

Now, if my van is in bad condition, Hubby's is worse by a thousand fold.  It is 10 years old and the air conditioning quit about 2 years ago.  It does have the benefit of having the low, low mileage of 88 thousand miles!

We are old rivals, this van and I, for it used to be MY van, before I got to upgrade to the newer model.  Yes, this van and I go way back, we have quite a history, including the day that I went to stop (while 8 1/2 months pregnant and with my girls, my sister and 4 week old T in the car) and found that there were absolutely no brakes.  Yes, what fun times this vehicle and I have had.

You can imagine how leery I am of driving (and having the kids ride in) this van, but today I was determined not to let my fears get the best of me.

The trip didn't start off on the best foot considering when I opened the driver side door there was a spider on the seat.  I think he was there for all of the empty leftover containers that littered the front seat, but what do I know?  I squished him and tried not to think about it too hard.

My next problem was the brakes.  Hubby insists that they are fine.  The guy at the garage insists that they are (finally) fine.  I, however, cannot forget that they found oil in our brake lines and that is why the brakes had problems for almost 3 years AFTER my lack-of-brakes issue.  I also think that the alignment is so off that the car pulls (jerks, yanks, almost rolls over) to the right every time you step on the brakes.  About 3 miles into our 30 minute drive I was already fearing for our lives!!

We made it to the grocery store and back home in relatively one piece.  My nerves are shot for the day and I still have to drive Hubby's death trap van to A's TKD class this evening.  Hubby called a little while ago and said my car in done, it is fine and there is nothing wrong with it.  (Go figure!  I haven't heard that one before!)  He is taking it to the tire shop for the 4 new tires that we knew it needed and I should have it back tonight.  Thank God!

So, after driving Hubby's van today I think it is seriously time to consider a new vehicle. Anybody want to buy our old one??  It is in great shape, I swear!

We've had a ton of stuff going on here this week and even more yet to come.

R spent the last 5 days at the Wells Reserve for the Junior Researchers science camp.  There she studied ecology, life cycles, water testing, animals, birds, and a bunch of other subjects that I can't remember at the moment.  She had an amazing time and has already asked if she can attend next year.  It was really hard having her away from the house for 40 hours this past week, but she got so much out of the experience.  I am happy that she was able to enjoy it so much.

On one of Hubby's days off we took the children minus R to the Wells Antique Car Museum.  It was small, but really fun.  There was a variety of antique Nickelodeon coin operated machines.  Player pianos, violins, and old fashioned arcade games that were a big hit with the kids.  The cars were pretty cool too.  M loved the model trains and Hubby, A and I got a kick out of the Delorean. (like in Back to the Future)

This up coming week we are going to an amusement park with my parents and preparing for R and M's medieval birthday party.  I think Michelle and her kids are coming up from CT so I am incredibly excited!  We have a great spare room and no one ever utilizes it anymore!  The last time she was planning to visit her kids were sick and the trip fell through.  Hopefully this trip will work out-- I haven't seen her in almost 2 years and she has yet to meet C!  (no guilt trip or anything though!)

The medieval birthday should be a lot of fun.  I bought gold goblets for all of the kids to drink out of, and we are going to "slay" a dragon pinata.  We are also going to have a jousting competition and possibly (if I can figure out how) we are going to have to try to pull a sword from a stone.  We'll also be making foam crowns and decorating coats of arms.  I just love planning parties!

R is spending the night at Sophia's house this week and she will be going back to Laudholm Farm for another one day science class.  Sophia is taking her to the class as R's birthday present and R doesn't know they are going.  She is going to be so excited!

My "To Do" list is about 3 miles long.  I still need to shop for and prepare all the party food, buy the pinata treats and clean the house and keep it company ready for the rest of the week.  I had thought that we would start school again next week, but I don't think it is going to fit into our schedule.  We have our Felicity book that we will read, but I think that is the extent of the book learnin' that'll be going on.

I think that is it.  I don't know if you've noticed, but I have been writing less and less.  I guess I have been finding it difficult to write here recently.  Not for lack of blog worthy material, but because I feel like I always have to censor what I say in order to please my readers.  The stuff I really want to write about is the stuff that causes a stir and the day-to-day stuff seems so boring and uninteresting.  So I am faced with the question of whether or not to continue  on the path I am on.  Do I continue to censor my thoughts and feelings on my own blog so I don't offend people who may potentially be reading.  That's one of the big down falls of inviting the world (and everyone I know) access to my life and thoughts.  I have tossed around the idea of starting a second blog for the controversial stuff and keeping this one tame and boring for the general viewing public.  I haven't really reached a decision yet, I guess....

So, anyway....  I don't know if I'll be around much this week.  Maybe I'll have something more exciting to post about after that.

I am always up for a healthy debate.  I knew that my last post might cause a stir, but I personally feel that parents need to hear that their doctors may not have all the answers.  (Or at the very least, that there are some doctors that feel that vaccines are unsafe.)  We are taught since babyhood to respect people in authority so much that we forget that doctors, despite their years of training, are not gods and do not know everything.  (Hey, the same goes for teachers!)

I wanted to take the opportunity to respond to Sarah's comment about my vaccine post.  While I welcome everyone's views on any given subject, obviously we will have to agree to disagree.

(I also want to start off by saying that I try very hard not to use the word "immunizations" in place of "vaccines".  Vaccination does not automatically mean that a person is immune to the said vaccine, so the words are not interchangable.)

It's a situation where if everyone stopped vaccinating their kids, we would have a serious problem on our hands. When it's just a few, it's manageable. Maybe you are right, but maybe not.  As I said before, many diseases were on the decline BEFORE the introduction of vaccines.  There are many books and resources where you can acquire that information.

The other thing to keep in mind is that there are many communicable diseases that are just a plane ride away. It is easy to think that you are safe and cozy in a small town in Maine, but it takes one person from a foreign country with a disease to wander into a local convenience store and again: problem on your hands.   Many of the communicable diseases (many, not all) are very unlikely to cause problems to people with healthy immune systems.  And acquiring them naturally confers life-long immunity, contrary to vaccines that require repeated boosters to keep them active (if they even "take" at all)  However, assaulting a child's immune system with dozens of viruses and toxins puts them at risk for a host of other issues.  Many other countries have different vaccination schedules than the U.S. (some offer no vaccines until the child is 2 and their immune system has a chance to strengthen) and their rates of cancers and auto-immune issues are lower than the U.S.

It's my belief that many of these auto-immune diseases are around because our environment has become progressively more polluted.   You may be correct.  However, I feel that the pollution of your child's body with metals, chemicals and known toxins (even in minute amounts) cannot be healthy.  Throw in all of the antibiotics, pesticides and food additives in the typical American diet and you've got a real cocktail for success.  I agree that vaccines alone are not the sole problem.

And I also don't necessarily think autism numbers have gone up; it is just diagnosed more often.   I have heard this argument before.  If you are going to use that line of defense, then one could argue that the dramatic drop in polio cases was strictly the result of the manipulation of the statistics and the redefinition of non paralytic poliomyelitis and viral meningitis, a disease with symptoms similar to polio.  According to DR. Cave's book, after the Salk polio vaccine was introduced in the United States, changes were made to how the disease was classified, thus reducing the number of cases that would have formerly been known as polio. (page 175 What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Children's Vaccinations)  More diagnosed, less diagnosed.  Semantics, really.

There are many perfectly functional children who have received HFA diagnoses. It is believed that Albert Einstein had a form of autism, but that wasn't diagnosed when he lived.   I am not disputing that there are many high functioning autistics.  I am concerned about how they got that way.  What is a vaccine?  It is a dead or artificial form of the offending virus that is injected into children in order to "trick" the body into thinking that it had that disease so that the body will create antibodies.  Correct?  Then add in the fact that most shots are given in conjunction with others.  Throw in underlying illnesses or genetic factors that may not be known, but may be exacerbated by the onslaught of up to 9 "illnesses" at once.  Do the vaccines trigger an auto-immune response in some children that make them more susceptible to autism or other defects?  My point is:  NO ONE has the answer to that question.  The CDC and vaccine companies are constantly changing their recommendations because they JUST DON'T KNOW until it is tried out in millions of children.  Our kids are all the unpaid guinea pigs in their experiment.

Obviously, it's a really controversial topic, and it's nice that we as Americans can feel safe in making the decision to not immunize because we know that most people have.  You are right again.  It is nice to live in America, where we are free to make our own decisions.  However, most people don't even realize how brainwashed they are and that their decisions are not really their own.

It is not so nice to live in a country where vaccine/pharmaceutical companies are making billions of dollars from us Americans to shoot our children with known poisons.  But then again, Big Pharma would be out of business if all Americans were healthy.

 I personally wouldn't let my kids play with unimmunized children as a matter of principle, which is why homeschooling is a great option for people who choose not to immunize.   Do you have a questionnaire that you give to parents at every playground, karate, or dance class?  You don't mention if you are a homeschooler or not yourself, but I'd be willing to bet that your child/children are in contact with more children that are not vaccinated than you'd like to think.  They may be in your child's class at school even.  As far as I am aware, all states let parents opt out of vaccines for at least medical reasons.  Maine allows for religious, medical and philosophical exemptions-- and other students' parents need not be notified unless there is an outbreak.

Really though, if your stance is that vaccines are 100% safe and effective, you should have no problem playing with my kids.  Yours will be protected.

I have a friend who didn't immunize her kids...until her 4th child died of pertussis as a baby. She's changed her outlook. I am very sorry for your friend.  Just as I am sorry to all of the parents out there that lost a child to "SIDS" hours or days after vaccinations.

And just to point out, by doctors' own admissions, your child is not fully "immune" to any given disease until all of the shots are given.  That means that a child under the age of 2 months (before DTaP-- the pertussis vaccine, is given) is the most suceptible.  So, if the full round of shots isn't finished until 15 months- 2 years, then ALL children are in danger of contracting pertussis, (and unfortunately dying) not just unvaccinated children.

**I'd also like to add that extended breastfeeding can reduce the likelihood that the child will get sick and the intensity of the illness if they do.**

I would encourage you to keep educating yourself as much as possible. I'm a chemist by profession and believe that there are a lot of people posting mistruths on the internet in an effort to scare people away from keeping their kids healthy.

If that is your argument, then let me point out that doctors use scare tactics and down right lies to bully parents into complying with what they want.

My daughter A was sent to an allergist to try to determine the cause of the 2 bouts of pneumonia that she has had in the last 2 years.  The allergist found out that we no longer vaccinate and ordered a blood titer for Hib, pneumococcal disease and tetanus (among other blood work).  The office called back 3 days later and informed us that all of her blood results were fine.

A week after that I got a disturbing phone call from the allergist himself claiming that A had NO (as in zero, zip, zilch!) immunity to Hib, Pneumococcal diseases and tetanus.  I pointed out that she hadn't actually had any of those shots since she was 2, so it didn't seem unreasonable to me that she would have low immunity levels.

He responded that she didn't just have LOW immunity to these diseases, but NO immunity.  His "concern" was that there was something wrong with her immune system, which is why she wasn't still immune from her baby shots. 

I countered with the idea that one of the reasons we choose not to vaccinate is that aside from all of the chemicals and what-not found in the vaccines, they are not 100% effective.  A was a prime case of vaccines not "taking".

Of course he disagreed.  He claimed that she should still show immunity, that's why she is getting sick.  Pneumonia is vaccine preventable.  I was quick to point out that if she was sick from Hib, etc, she would have SHOWN immunity to the diseases on the blood tests.  Natural immunity, duh.

We bickered for about 20 minutes because he insisted that she needed to be immediately vaccinated for those illnesses and then re-titered 6 weeks later to "make sure" that the vaccines took.  That would prove that her immune system was working fine.

Again I disagreed.  Of the 3 shots that he was proposing (Hib, Prevnar and Tetanus) 2 of them are not recommended for children over the age of 5 (unless you are elderly; over age 65).  That information is straight from the Vaccine Information Sheets that they give you in the doctor's office.  He stammered and stuttered and told me to "think about it."

So what were my choices?  Of course if there is something wrong with my child, I want to fix it.  The doctor had wanted to scare me and let me tell you, it worked!  I was terrified!

So, rather than blindly following what this doctor recommended, just because he is a doctor, went to medical school and I didn't, blah, blah, blah...  I got a second opinion.  With the blood results in front of her, the second doctor's results were:  Not only were ALL of A's blood results normal and indicated that her immune system was functioning properly, but she HAD shown immunity to all 3 of the diseases in question.  Everything he had claimed was a FLAT OUT LIE!!!  Scare tactics to try to bully me into vaccinating her.  If I was a less informed mom I probably would have fallen for it just like 95% of the rest of the country.

The entire point of my original post is that parents need to feel like they should do their own research and not just be swayed by a person in a white coat that claims to have all the answers.  These are YOUR children we are talking about, not the medical professionals.  They don't have the same stake in their health and safety as you do, so get a second opinion! 

There are many doctors out there (I personally know 2) that refuse to vaccinate their own children because they feel that they are not safe.  There are many reputable doctors out there that have written thoroughly researched books on the subject.  Not all information is just mistruths off of the internet.

Warning!  Vaccine post ahead. 

I never thought I'd be on the same side of a debate as Jenny McCarthy.  I was perfectly happy to let her stance on the autism/vaccine debate go uncommented on, but in light of Amanda Peet's latest parasitic opinions, I felt the need to open a proverbial can of worms (no pun intended!)

Now, let me say again that we have chosen to cease all vaccines for our children.  R is currently up-to-date and fully vaccinated.  A has received everything up until her 5-year-old boosters.  M received a selective few shots until we wised up, and C has been given none.

Our choice on this matter was made after months of agonizing reading, research and investigation.  We didn't just read about something random on the internet, nor did we continue to blindly accept the information provided on the Vaccine Information Statements provided by the medical professionals.  Taking these sheets at face value does not make you an informed parent.

My problem with Amanda Peet is where she chose to get her information.  The pediatrician that she refers to is Dr. Paul Offit, a member of the CDC advisory committee, vaccine patent holder and paid representative for Merck, a major vaccine distributor.  Conflict of interest much?  Can we find a more biased opinion?  His greatest concerns are his pocket, not the children who are being needlessly injured by the Every Child By Two campaign.  The vaccine injured children are just casualties of war in this crusade against "vaccine preventable diseases".  Maybe "Dr. Profit" would be a more appropriate name.

Speaking of vaccine preventable diseases, studies have shown that the rates of many of these infectious diseases were in the decline BEFORE the advent of the vaccines.  A book by reputable doctor Robert Mendelsohn, points out that if vaccines were responsible for the waning of disease in the U.S., then why is it that the same diseases declined in Europe around the same time despite the lack of mass European vaccinations?  Dr. Mendelsohn's book was published in 1984-- this is not new information!!!

Dr. Mendelsohn is not alone in his plight to stop mass vaccination.  Dr. Stephanie Cave's book also makes the point that while these diseases are becoming obsolete, we are trading them for increases in autoimmune disorders, such as cancers, rheumatoid arthritis, Lou Gehrig's, lupus, and Guillane-Barre syndrome.  That isn't even taking into consideration the increases in diagnosed cases of ADHD, allergies, and the ever-debated autism.  Something is causing these drastic increases and doctors want parents to turn a blind eye.  In the 1960s the rate of autism was 1 in 2,000.  In 2000 it was 1 in 200.  Today in 2008 it is 1 in 150.  That is really scary.

Are parents of children with autism just looking for a scapegoat for their less-than-perfect children?  Possibly.  But there is no disputing that all of these afflictions are on the rise during the same period of time that more and more vaccines are being added to the recommended schedule.  (32 conjugates by age 2) Coincidence?  Maybe.

Amanda Peet points out that you shouldn't be swayed by what celebrities (namely Jenny McCarthy) think.  Ironic, really, since she is now doing a PSA for vaccinateyourbaby.org.  Ahh, celebrity is, as celebrity does, I suppose.

Amanda's advice to parents is to check with your child's doctor for vaccine information.  Sound advice, as long as you remember that doctors often get freebies and kick backs from vaccine companies.  (Formula companies are the same.  That's why doctors have no problem telling you that your child will be just as healthy on artificial milk as on breastmilk.  Just FYI)  Also, doctors don't know everything (even though they often claim to).  The doctors and pharmaceutical companies proclaimed that vaccines such as Rotavirus and DTP (before DTaP) were safe, and they succeeded in claiming many lives before they were pulled from circulation. 

Oral polio is another great example.  It is no longer recommended in the U.S. because it contributed to the ONLY cases of polio in the country in the last 40 years.  But doctors swore it was safe.

Look at chicken pox as well.  When R was a year, and it was time for her cp shot, I hesitated.  It was so new and I was concerned that it wouldn't confer life-long immunity.  The doctor assured me that all the test subjects had life-long immunity so no further booster would be necessary.  Now what?  Boosters at age 7.  How long until an additional booster is needed? Now a disease that is harmless to children is being pushed closer to adulthood and mass vaccination has made it impossible to acquire a natural case.  That's just fabulous for my girls who will have to face the decision of whether or not to be vaccinated as adults before they become pregnant!

I did actually ask our pediatrician his stance on vaccines and I was surprised by his response.  He said that polio is eradicated in the U.S. so he does not recommend that vaccine.  He also said that Hepatitis B is a sexually transmitted disease, and not something that an hours-old newborn, born to a Hep B negative mother, has to worry about.  So why do we give a vaccine to newborns that is primarily a problem for sexually active individuals and drug users?  Don't even get me started on Gardasil!

Well, per usual, this post went off on a tangent of its own.  This is something that I feel so passionately about.  Most parents don't know how they are putting their children at risk by injecting them with these toxic cocktails.  Am I a parasite for leaching off of their children's herd immunity?  Probably.  But, since their children are fully vaccinated, and parents and doctors refuse to acknowledge that vaccines could be faulty in the least, then what do they have to worry about?

So, my message tonight to Amanda Peet is:  Stick to what you DO know.  I'm sure the X-files movie will be fabulous.  My message to parents:  Don't just trust the doctors.  Do your own research about vaccines.  The truth IS out there.

That's all we've had to eat for the last 2 days--- BLECH!!

We are back from our trip to Mattawamkeag (Population 132... including the moose!) a day earlier than anticipated.  Violent thunderstorms hit us last night, including hail, and more were on the way tonight.  No one (except for M) got any sleep last night, so we opted to head out early. 

Never fear, my friends.  I documented the ENTIRE trip with both words and pictures to prove to you all that I did, in fact, spend more than 24 full hours in a place without running water or electricity.  If you have no interest in the finer details of our trip, you can feel free to skip this post and look for a slide show of pictures later.

July 28, 2008  7:45 a.m.

And we're off... almost!  The van is packed to the gills and the doors barely shut, but we managed to cram everything (and everyone) in.  Everyone is all potty-ed and ready to go--- except Hubby.  If he could only find his wallet, we could actually leave the garage.

8:20 a.m.

Coffee and doughnut break.  Everyone is much happier--- especially Hubby!

9:10 a.m.

M is playing his Chicken Game (aka Leapster) and the girls are watching Hannah Montana.  C is falling asleep.  Ahhh, a peaceful start!

10:48 a.m.  Orono, ME

Making good time.  I have been writing down all of the different state license plates to see how many we see on the trip.  (14 states and 4 Canadian Providences at the end of the trip!!)  It is becoming something of a sport for me and Hubby.

10:50 a.m.

C is awake and grumpy and throwing water from his sippy cup over his car seat and hitting me in the back of the head, M is screaming that his car seat is too tight.  Hubby pulls over to stretch his legs.

11:10 a.m.

The girls have become Hannah Montana zombies.  C is screaming my name over and over.  M is yelling, "I think it is NOT FUNNY!" because C keeps putting his body parts in M's car seat.  What were we thinking?????

12:00 p.m.

Bathroom stop.  Last chance for a real toilet!

12:45 p.m.

We made it to our destination and I am going to have a heart attack!  The "road", if you can actually call it that, is nothing but a mucky tree lined trail is the driveway to the camp!  Hubby stopped long enough to check the status of the "road" and we actually drove through the stream!!!

Okay, so my first impression was not great.  It is dark, dirty (think mouse poop on the counter) and there is a weird smell.  It is a little more... rustic, than I imagined.  I set to work sweeping and bleaching everything in sight while Hubby empties the van.  R has a not-so silent panic attack about the bugs and dirt.  I tried with every fiber of my being not to join her!

After unloading, Hubby set up the port-o-potty that we had brought along.  We had both decided that the outhouse would be pushing it for all of us!  (The port-o-potty worked out great!  I think R would have held it for the whole time if she had to use the outhouse)

Lunch was an experience, but fun.  (Check out the slide show later, I took pictures of every meal!)  We had packed a huge cooler full of supplies to prepare on the propane stove.  I managed to prepare ham sandwiches and only slightly burnt grilled cheeses for the kids.  The kids were stoked to have Cheetos for the first time.

After lunch, everyone was happy.  The boys had been enjoying themselves from the time we arrived--- so many places to crawl, poke and explore.  The bunk beds were a HUGE hit--- a jungle gym right in the house!

We played outside together for a while (the girls are really good at Freeze Tag), but the bugs and rain drove us back inside.  We had to wait out our first thunderstorm of the evening.

We pulled out some art supplies for the girls and Little People for the boys.  The girls also worked on the journals that I packed for them. (gotta get some writing in where I can!)  We listened to book one of The Children of the Lamp series on CD through R's I-penguin and disc man.  Thank goodness for batteries.

After all that activity, it was only 3:15.  Time moves so slowly there!!

We had dinner at 6:00--- hot dogs and buns, pierogies, chips, cut-up cucumbers, yellow peppers, carrots, and applesauce.  The kids all enjoyed using the pump to pump up water from the stream.  I am so glad that I didn't listen to Hubby when he said we didn't need to bring water.  That stuff is NOT drinkable.  It had sticks in it!

We read Stand Tall Abe Lincoln and talked about his life in comparison to how we were living.  The girls worked on workbooks (A- reading, R-geography) by oil lamp light.  Funny how school work is more fun in the dark!

Everyone was exhausted so we tried settling them in bed around 8.  We had gotten up so early to leave for camp that I thought they would all just crash.  A conked out right away and M shortly after that.  Hubby made a little tent for R that she read in for a while.  C, the little Energiser Bunny, ran around the cabin for an hour before he nursed himself off to dreamland.

At around 9:30, a giant thunderstorm, complete with lightning and hail, rolled in.  The periodic lightning provided the only light (hence air) in the cabin until Hubby got up and lit a candle.  The next 3 hours raged and roared and woke everyone except M.  C was terrified and clung to me  like a spider monkey.  A woke up and ended up in the twin bed with me and C.  M slept through the ENTIRE thing while the rest of us prayed the cabin didn't get struck by lightning!

I lay in bed hoping that the road didn't wash out and wishing that I had taken Michelle's advice to pack a carbon monoxide detector!

July 29, 2008

C got up at 6 and was raring to go.  He crawled from our bed to Hubby's to snuggle with Daddy.  Hubby and I discuss the night and wondered if we can convince the kids that one night was enough.  Everyone is tired and cranky and we are expecting more thunderstorms later in the evening.

After a yummy breakfast of bacon, eggs, apples, bananas, red potato home fries, and orange juice, the kids made place mat pictures (with smelly markers) to use for lunch.  It was raining again (still?) but we decided to try to take a hike anyway.  The big kids had a great time on the trail.  M wanted a piggy-back from Hubby, so I ended up wearing the backpack containing C.  He fell asleep before we decided to turn back and slept for another 2 hours upon our return.  We took advantage of the the quiet time and read and rested while the big kids watched a movie on the portable DVD player.

After the movie, R asked to do the Model Magic we had packed.  We all sat and created little masterpieces that the girls decided to leave behind to decorate the camp.

We packed up after lunch (macaroni and cheese and leftovers) to head home.  More storm clouds were approaching quickly.  I think the last thunderstorm scarred C for life!

The ride home was interesting.  The weather changed drastically from bright blue skies to torrential down pours.  We got detoured 15 miles out of our way and it took us almost 7 hours to get home!

For all of my comments and complaints, the trip was wonderful, and just long enough.  We all enjoyed the camp and the togetherness and the kids are looking forward to another trip next year.  I am, however, so relieved to be back to civilization, running water and electricity. 

I am off to upload all of our pictures to make a slide show!

Well, I guess the phrase "gone camping" is more appropriate. 

I will be incommunicado for the next several days while the family and I are roughing it at Hubby's family's camp.  I am bringing a journal to keep notes from our trip, and I will surely have much to share upon my return.

Don't miss me too much!

I can't believe it has been a week since I posted last.  The time just flew by!

Let's see, what did we do this week? 

Monday we spent the day with my mother and sister.  We had planned to go to the beach but ominous looking clouds made us change our minds.  We ended up shopping at Mardens, having lunch and then heading over to the Y for open swim.  The pool was really crowded (apparently the Y camp field trip to the beach was also canceled), but we had fun anyway.

On Tuesday Hubby and I took all the kiddos to the Y so that we could workout.  I have been doing really well about making it there to exercise 3-5 days a week.

On Tuesday afternoon I took R and her friend Sophia to Get Fired Up, the paint-your-own-pottery place.  For Sophia's birthday R had given her a homemade gift certificate promising a trip to paint pottery.  R painted a plate with a monkey on it to match the mug she made last time, Sophia made a trinket box and I painted a travel mug.  I painted it with really girly pink and purple hearts so hopefully Hubby will keep his filthy paws off!

Wednesday was a busy day.  We met with Hubby's family to get group pictures taken.  Everyone looked great so I think the pictures will come out nice.  The photographer even managed to get some shots of both boys smiling!  I can't wait to see them!  After the pictures we all went out to The Olive Garden for lunch.

Wednesday night I went out with MIL, SIL, and GMIL to see Mamma Mia.  MIL had made a copy of the CD for M (who has an affinity for Broadway musicals), so I knew most of the songs.  It was a good show and it was nice to be able to make some sense out of the music.

Thursday was C's doctor's appointment.  Nothing too fabulous to report about there.  He is 24 lbs. and 1 oz. and 31 1/2 inches tall.  It was pretty uneventful and I think we are going to skip anymore appointments until he turns 2.

We stopped on the way home from the doctor's office to visit my mom at work and to run around at the beach.  We were only able to park in the half hour parking lot so it was just a quick trip.

Friday was another busy day.  I hit the Y in the a.m., came home and showered and then went to the playground.  We had been hoping to meet up with some friends, but it didn't happen.  The kids still had a good time with the other children there though.

We worked in the afternoon on A's giraffe lapbook and we finally finished it!  She is SOOO excited and can't wait to show EVERYONE what she learned.  I am just happy we got it done!  Now we have something to add to her portfolio for next year!

Friday evening we had an early dinner and then went back to the Y to go swimming with Hubby.  We all had a blast!  M is turning into a little fish and the girls are just amazing!  R practiced swimming underwater without taking breath.  She couldn't even make it 1/4 of the way across the pool, but Hubby showed her and went the entire length!  A worked on doing somersaults under the water.  It is amazing to see the progress they have made.

Last night C and I both got about 4 hours of sleep.  He woke up at about 12:30 and thought it was party time until about 4:30.  He has already napped today too, so I don't foresee a nap in my future.  UGH!

Today we are packing, shopping and preparing for our trip to Hubby's family's camp.  3 days in a log cabin without running water or electricity and 4 kids should be a blast!  I packed the kids' Leapsters and bought some fun art things to do.  We are going to read about Abraham Lincoln tomorrow so that we can talk about living in a log cabin.  We are actually all really excited about going.

This week R has read books 1 and 2 of the Spiderwick Chronicles.  She is about half way through book 3 and she is loving it!  She thinks it is so funny that all of chapters start with, "In which..."  I am so relieved that she finds pleasure in reading now!

Tonight the girls and I are going to my sister's house to watch a 3-D Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus concert.  It'll be a late night with yummy snacks and fun music.  The girls can barely contain their excitement!

So, I guess that's all that we've been up too.  Next week is going to be crazy because of our trip, but I will try to post all about it when we get back!

So, yesterday was the last day of VBS.  To celebrate, all of the children and their parents were invited to attend a special mass and a potluck lunch and slide show after that.  Hubby and C and my sister and N met us there for the big event.

The teacher, Jill, was on her best behavior for most of the day.  The one thing that stands out in my head is when she expected the kids to sit and color and paint for a half an hour.  When M got bored of this and started running around the room, she picked him up and wouldn't put him back down until he was screaming and crying.  Little stuff, you know.

I had been warning Hubby and Sis about this woman all week and I think they thought I was exaggerating.  I was concerned when she seemed to have toned things down since the parents were all there, but she didn't fail to come through.

She spent part of the half hour that the kids were painting laying out the prayer journals that they had been working on all week long.  Some of the kids hadn't finished adding their stickers to the book, so she made sure to put those with the prayer journals too.

The next thing I saw was that she had put a little gift, splash balls in the shape of animals, on all of the prayer journals.  All of the preschoolers got two splash balls and the teenage helpers each got one.  All except for M, his prayer journal was empty.

I called my sister over to show her just as Jess, the teacher's daughter, questioned why some of the kids had two and some only had one.  Her response (and I kid you not!) was, "Well, I like some of you more than others!"  My jaw hit the floor, like I am assuming your just did as well!

Without missing a beat, Hubby (my hero!) said, "What does that mean for M, he doesn't have any?".  Then she actually blamed it on M, saying that he must have taken them.  Hubby said that he had just come back in from taking M outside and he had been watching M ever since, so that obviously was not the case.  She didn't even apologize for slighting him or accusing him.

This whole thing has left me feeling so sad for M.  And I thought it was just kids that could be so mean and hurtful!

*****Oh, to answer your question, Michelle:  Jill has two daughters: ages 16 and 13.  I feel bad for them!

It's been a long time since I posted a Thursday Thirteen but it seemed justified this week.

Thirteen Things That Have Made Me Regret Taking M to VBS (and most of them are not his fault!):

1.  Snack.  So far this week the kids have had: sugar cookies frosted with vanilla icing and topped with M&Ms and orange wedge candies, chocolate pudding and vanilla wafers, and root beer floats.  Nothing like pumping kids full of sugar and artificial ingredients and expecting them to sit still for the rest of the day.

2.  The student teacher ratio.  The preschool class only had 3 kids on the first day and there were 6 "adults" (3 of which are goofy, giggling 7th grade girls and one 17 year old boy) in the room.  We are now up to 6 kids and 6 "adults" and we are tripping all over each other.  None of the kids know who is in charge and the teenagers keep getting the kids all wound up and in trouble.

3.  The preschool teacher is INCREDIBLY disorganized. She spent the kids' outside time in the grass sewing books for a craft and ignoring the rest of us. She never has anything set up and has been preparing the activities while the rest of us entertain the kids.  But since she is the one in charge (hence, she has the curriculum that we are following) it is making it difficult for the rest of us and the kids to know what is going on, not to mention what to expect next.

4.  The teacher obviously has no idea about working with preschoolers.  Aside from having no plans, she has no transition activities and then gets irritated that the kids (especially M) are all wandering around with nothing to do.

5.  The teacher obviously has no idea about working with preschoolers.  Yes, I wrote that twice.  On the first day, the teacher pulled out a pack of 100 straws (remember there were only 3 kids, M, my niece T, and a little girl named Kyra that day) and when M asked for a red straw, after the teacher handed a red one to cousin T, the teacher snapped at him and said, "You'll get what I give you!".  (Anyone who has ever worked with preschoolers, or who has had preschoolers, or who has been a preschooler themselves, knows that with 3 and 4 year olds everything has to be the same.) 

Then she proceeded to give them all a bowl full of bubble mixture and paint.  Wanna guess what M did?  Took a big ole swallow of the mixture and proceeded to throw it right back up all over himself, my hands, and the floor. (the red fruit punch they had had with snack and the pink paint that the teacher had added made for a lovely shade of pink!) 

 M spent the rest of the day spitting bubbles, while the teacher reminded him that if he hadn't drank them it wouldn't have happened!   What do you expect an almost 4 year old to do with a straw and no explanation of the activity??

6.  The teacher talks about the parents when they are not there.  We got a set of brothers on the second day; Andrew and Graham.  When the teacher introduced them to the group, she called Graham:  Graham Cracker.  The mother, very politely, said that he didn't like to be called that name, so the teacher corrected herself.    Also, when one of the teens made a name tag for Graham (he is 3 BTW) she spelled his name without the H.  When the mother came to pick him up, she pointed out that his name was spelled with an H.  The teacher responded with, "Oh, well that's how he told us it was spelled!", which was a complete lie!

This morning the teacher was telling another person that according to Graham's mom she couldn't do anything right and that she had yelled at her.  WHAT???

7.  The teacher has pegged M as a "bad boy".  She has started disciplining him even when he is doing nothing wrong.  She brought out a bucket of water for a sink/float experiment and even though M was sitting there with his hands in his lap, she turned to him and said, "M, NO SPLASHING!"  Sure lady, let's GIVE him some ideas!

8.  The teacher is nit-picky about stupid stuff.  If a child is sitting quietly on the circle time rug and not bothering anybody, does it really matter if he is sitting criss-cross applesauce or not.  Just be thankful that he is sitting still and quiet and not hitting other kids!

Obviously I was talking about M.  The teacher stops whatever she is doing to make sure that M conforms to what everyone else is doing, even if he is behaving.  Then he freaks out and scampers into my lap crying because he is getting spoken to when he didn't do anything wrong.

9.  M used the bathroom and then locked the door behind himself when he was done.  This one was his fault and I had to find someone with a key to unlock it so that other people could use it.  That wasn't embarrassing at all!

10.  Speaking of the bathroom, this teacher never wants to deal with potty breaks.  They are 3 and 4!  M and T had to use the bathroom twice in one day and I thought the teacher's eyes were going to roll out of her head!

11.  M is obviously too "out of the box" for this teacher.  Since the teenagers did the entire craft FOR  all of the other kids, and I just let M glue his stuff on how he wanted, she had a silent hissy fit and tried to rearrange his work.  I took it from her and said that he would finish it on his own however he liked.  I also had to give him back his glue because the teacher decided that he had used too much and couldn't have anymore.  He's a maverick, that one!

12.  The teacher has unrealistic ideas.  For some reason, the teacher and her teen daughter showed up for VBS on Wednesday with a life size bear named Sampson.  Of course the group is going to want to touch him!  Most of the kids were able to touch him, but when M did he was too "rough". (because Sampson had been given to the teacher by her husband before they got married so he was really old)  Poor M was the only kid that was not allowed to touch Sampson, so I finally picked him up and put on a high shelf.

13.  The teacher doesn't seem to understand that the more she gets in M's face, the more he is going to freak out.  Now, I know that some people find it rude when children don't answer adults.  I, however, find it rude when adults think they can touch my kid even when he doesn't want them to and get right up in his face because he won't respond to them.  But that's just me, I guess.

I really thought that this experience would be good for M and it is turning out to be a nightmare.  I have been pretty good about holding my tongue with this woman, and I am not sure how much more I can take.  M is tough to handle sometimes, but he is not always at fault for everything! 

I am so glad he doesn't go to school and have to deal with people like this on a regular basis!

I don't even know where to begin with this post, so I am just going to write what I am feeling right now.  Read at your own risk and try to forgive the rambling that you are bound to encounter.

About 3 years ago, our church merged with another church in a neighboring town.  The 2 churches were able to vote on the situation, and the majority voted that because of the priest shortage, the marriage of the 2 parishes into one was inevitable, and in the best interest of everyone involved.

After the 2 churches merged, we assumed a new name for our new parish, and the idea of building a new church to replace the 2 run-down old ones was broached.  Again, we voted and it was decided that we would set the ball in motion toward building a new church.  Our 2 church buildings were put on the market to be sold.

Around Christmas time this past year, we were visited by a member of the Capital Campaign committee to discuss how much money we would be willing to give over the next 5 years to support the building of the new church.  We made our commitment and have been faithfully paying monthly.

When the Capital Campaign committee members were making their rounds, a piece of land was being investigated to use in our building project.  We were all lead to believe that, providing that all of the testing for the site came back fine, this is where our new church would be located.  Conveniently enough for me, it would have made our church about 5 minutes closer to us.

We found out a few weeks ago that we lost the property.  We would have had to removed several buildings, pour an 800 foot driveway, and it would have just cost too much money.  They also disclosed that they grossly underestimated the amount of money that would be needed to build the new church.  Also, the church that my family has been going to for the last 13 years was sold out from under us and we only have 3 weekend masses left.

A letter came out to all of the parishioners this week stating that there would be a brainstorming session to discuss the future of our parish.  There has also been talk of combining our 2 former churches with another church farther away.  This means that when we do finally build, we will be looking for property closer to that town and about 20 minutes further from my house.

Now, I have complained a lot about my drive to church, and how early we have to get up, and how waiting for R and A at Sunday School with the boys in the car stinks, but it is nothing compared to this!  I make a conscious choice to do all of those things, but this is too much to ask.  I can't commit to this project and know that I will have to drive 50-60 minutes to attend mass each Sunday.

I wasn't the only person at the meeting this evening to bring up the fact that this drive could make it impossible for some of us to keep attending this church.  I thought things were going fairly well, and everyone thoughts and feelings were being taken into account, until Fr. Joe stood up at the end.  He told us all that this new phase of our church's life mean that we have to sacrifice.  (SACRIFICE?  7:30 a.m. EVERY Sunday-- with 4 kids BY MYSELF!!  How's that for sacrifice?)  He said that if the drive is too much for SOME of us to handle, maybe that is our problem!  Real Christian attitude, if you ask me!

So, I have been seething about this for the last hour.  I just want to know that if we continue to support the Capital Campaign, that we will actually be able to utilize the church once it is built.  Do we cut our losses now and shop for a new church?  Or do we stick this out and potentially lose out because we can't possibly drive the extra distance each week?

There is actually more to this story that I don't feel comfortable posting here right now, and I am feeling too angry to put it all into words anyway.  I'll let you know what we decide.

What a crazy day we had today!

We started off the day at a birthday party at the Y for one of the girls' homeschool friends.  It was a surprise party, so that was soooo exciting!  The guests all hid behind a big curtain until Sarah came in, and then they ran out with the big SURPRISE!  The kids had a great time swimming and decorating T-shirts, and even the boys were included in the fun.

It was a pretty low-key party, just some family and friends and no presents.  My kids had each made a nice card and we attached a pack of stickers, temporary tattoos, and coloring sheets to them. 

I have to say that the no present thing was pretty nice.  The girls took such care to make their cards-- they wanted them to be so special because that was the main gift.  I really like that we got to focus on something other than the material stuff for a while!

We headed right from that birthday party to another one 30 minutes away.  Well, actually, we got about 3 miles away and had to go back to the Y for the girls' bags that they forgot.  R needed her bathing suit for the second party as well as the first, so she had packed 2 suits and towels.

The second birthday was for a girl that R knows from Sunday School.  I thought it was sweet that Katelyn had invited her to the party since they don't see each other outside of church, and they weren't even in the same Sunday School class this year.

R had a BLAST!  There was a bounce house and it was a High School Musical theme-- how can you go wrong???

While R was at Katelyn's party, A went over to play with my friend Jenifer's daughter Katie.  It was great that A was able to have a playdate just for her.  She said that she had a lot of fun playing LIFE, building a tent, playing hide-and-seek and sledding down the stairs on sleeping bags!  (OMG!!)

A and Katie have known each other since they were infants and they are both second children.  They also both tend to be a little shy and want to test the waters before jumping in.  They got along really well today and she was just so thrilled to be a big kid with a playdate!

M and C slept for most of the time that the girls were gone.  I should have done some tidying of the house or something equally productive, but I kicked back and relaxed and watched reruns of Gilmore Girls.  The quiet in the house was amazing!

So, that was the gist (I thought it was jist, but my spell check rejected it) of our busy day.  Hubby is still at work so I am off to tub everyone before bed.