A Child's Hands

The weather has been gorgeous. Beautiful sunny days, a bit windy, but still great for going outside to play and watching all our bulbs that we planted in the fall coming up.

The kids have had lots of time playing in the sand table that Nick got for his birthday last October. And since most of the sand has gradually disappeared due to dumping and wind, I even consented this week to add water to the water side so that they could make a good mess.

It is amazing to watch these little hands at work. Katie carefully constructed a volcano complete with lava dripping down. Then she dug a hole through the side and made it a tunnel. Nicholas was content to make small hills for his cars and trucks to drive over, as well as just to mash and scoop and push the sand around. They are getting so big!

The Mud Pit

This is what a 2 year old looks like after playing all day in the backyard on one of the first nice days of Spring. Happily covered in mud and chocolate ice-cream.

Trust me...the 5 year old didn't look much different.

I'm On A Roll

So I may as well keep posting...

Many have posted "Why I Homeschool" topics lately. And while I would love to tell you why I have chosen to temporarily homeschool, I cannot. My reasons are many and varied, and I tend to get a little heated on the topic.

You see, homeschooling is not easy. I will not paint you a glorious picture of a well organized home, where the children sit patiently waiting for lessons.

I will tell you a little about how I have approached the past year of our homeschooling adventure.

I have always been "homeschooling" since Katie was born. I began talking to her in the hospital, reading to her the first week she was home, and singing her songs to relax and entertain her. As she has grown, so has our method of schooling. We have played peek-a-boo, games of I Spy - hunting for colors and shapes. We have read countless books. We have taken field trips to different zoos, parks, museums, and states. A brother was born, who also has taken part in this homeschooling experience.

I have used different curriculum, including your standard workbooks and flashcards.

I have found there are days that we fly through everything I had planned, and days that I can tell she just isn't concentrating at that moment, so we try again later. There are days that little brother wants to be on mommy's lap, and teaching becomes more difficult. There are days that are bright and sunny that beg for us to come out and play, and we do.

I have found the official title of Homeschooling to be just to cumbersome. So I am thinking of changing it to Loving Lifelong Learning (LLL to be short). For isn't this what in essence we are all trying to do? Create a desire in our child from birth to be a lifelong learner. Aren't we teaching from the day they are born in a loving environment? They learn to recognize emotion in our voice, the look of our blurry big faces, what words mean, what the color red looks like, and on and on...

Deciding to officially homeschool doesn't mean much to me anymore. I have been doing it all my life. The title just gets me strange looks from people who don't understand. They think it is a statement against their parenting, the local schools, or a crazy concept that leads to unsocialized children. They think I push too hard when in fact I think the opposite. I don't send my child somewhere to learn for 7 hours a day with a bunch of strangers, and concepts that at times are hard. I do what comes naturally for me and my children. I follow their curiosities, their abilities, and I have the ability to say, Okay this is too hard right now, let's try again another day. I have no standardized test to teach to. My kids love learning, and I love learning with them.

Like I said earlier, don't get me started on this topic...

I haven't even gone into all my reasons for LLL, and already I have ranted too long.

But I will say, I have loved every minute of watching them learn. I fully intend to send them to a traditional school in the future, but even then, I still hope that their father and I are the most important teachers in their lives.

What We Are Reading

James and the Giant Peach - Roald Dahl

Ms. Frizzle's Adventures: Ancient Egypt - Joanna Cole

Spot Goes to the Farm - Eric Hill

Easter Bugs - David Carter??

Dora Loves Boots - ???

Thomas Tells a Lie

Overheard While Driving

Katie (talking to herself): (Big sigh) How long does it take for a wish to come true??

Do I dare ask what she wished for??

My First Homeschool Convention

It ended up being an absolutely gorgeous day today. Mostly sunny, in the 70's with a cool breeze. A perfect day to spend outside. And spend it outside, I did, after attending my first and Cincinnati's first Homeschool Convention.

While, I didn't go to any of the lectures, I did manage to meander my way through the 2 exhibit halls of vendors. I had already received in the mail, the new Sonlight and Alpha Omega catalogs, and I had already gone through the Rainbow Resource catalog, so it was great to see all the products and page through them. Plus they had a lot of discounted items, and some other curriculum providers that I hadn't heard of before, that I found had some neat stuff. I did lots of browsing, and very minimal buying. I came with list in hand, and pen for writing, and I highly recommend both. I knew what I wanted to look at primarily, and then made notes of other items that I liked, but knew I could get for cheaper prices at Rainbow Resources online.

I ended up getting 2 books for Katie that were deeply discounted. Germs Make Me Sick, which is a Let's Read and Find Out Science Book, and The Big Balloon Race, which is just an easy reader that I thought she would enjoy.

I also got this very cute book called, God and Me 2 Devotional Series for Girls 2 - 5. It has a short story a day that teaches a simple social skills lesson essentially, and then a couple questions, plus a second page that gives some kind of activity to go with it. They also had a book for girls 6 to 9, and one for 10 to 13 or something like that. I thought the 2 to 5 year old one really fit better for an older 3 year old to even a 6 year old. The 6 to 9 year old version was more bible oriented. I think Katie will really enjoy it.

I looked at the various math programs and have decided that we will most likely use Horizons 1. I also liked the A Beka Math surprisingly, since most of A Beka's curriculum is very workbooky (is that a word), and trendy in my opinion. All the other math programs were very number fact oriented, and boring, including the highly acclaimed Saxon and MCP.

I also liked the Alpha Omega Horizons Phonics Readers. I don't know that I will buy them, since I already have some others, but for those of you who may consider them, I highly recommend taking a peek to see where your child may be at. I thought that the Kindergarten readers were more appropriate to 1st grade, at least early 1st grade. So even though our curriculum will be mostly 1st grade, it just goes to show you need to look carefully when combining different publishers.

Evan-Moor makes a series of Science teachers books that I like. Each one is a thematic series on things like weather, the human body, animals, etc.

I also liked Usborne's First Encyclopedia of the Human Body.

There were several other things that I put on my list of items to consider, but I think these were the main points. It was definately an interesting experience, and a crowded one at that. It was also fairly interesting to see so many Amish people mainly working as vendors, but also doing some shopping. I forget that we are so close to a large settlement of Amish people, we so rarely see them.

Hope this gives all you homeschoolers some ideas and information, and that you in turn will pass on your "finds".

I Am Truly A Bad Parent

A very large spider was walking across the kitchen ceiling.

Both kids saw the spider, and wanted it gone.

I finally got up the nerve to get a kitchen chair and a large book and attempt to kill it.

I hit it with the first shot, but with the textured ceilings, didn't quite kill it, and it dropped down on a line about 10 inches, at which point I panicked and swatted it with the book and then threw the book down.

The kids kept asking where the spider went, and honestly I don't know. But rather than telling them it was dead and gone. I decided it was more fun to say it was crawling across the floor to get them. After all, I have had one less than delightful child today. So for now, I have two kids creeping around, watching for the infamous spider, and pretending they are killing it with books too. At least, Katie seemed to understand I was joking.

Kids Have Bad Days Too

Nicholas has been in an atrocious mood all day today. From the moment he woke up until even after his nap, he has been whiny and clingy and complaining about everything.

He wanted water with ice. I gave it to him, and got back an emphatic "NO, ICE".

We went to a neighbors to play where he spent most of the time lounging on my lap, unwilling to play by himself or with others. Instead he wanted food and home. So we finally left.

He woke from his nap, complaining and fighting with his sister.

I finally came to the realization that kids can have bad days just like us, and this must just be one for him.

It is rainy and yucky outside. I think he is getting his last 2 year old molar. And I know that I have a headache, so maybe he feels crummy too.

So we turned on Dora, and we were all rewarded later with lollipops. Katie for completing her work quickly and correctly. Nicholas for stopping his complaining temporarily. And mommy for managing not to yell and scream and threaten the children.

A Ban On Jumping

At least on other living things that is...

About 3 months ago, Nicholas jumped on the side of my foot while I was cleaning out our built-in shelves. It was quite painful and I lived with it until this Monday, when I decided this really was ridiculous. After seeing the doctor, who was quite certain it was broken, I had an x-ray and today found out it is not broken. I repeat - NOT broken! Good news and bad. Great it isn't broken, but why does it still hurt in the same spot. Is it just badly bruised and keeps getting reinjured by the constant stepping of little feet or is there something more wrong. So for now I am supposed to wait another week or 2, like after 3 months that will make a difference, and try some anti-inflammatory.

Then 3 weeks ago, Nicholas jumped off our fireplace hearth and landed on the dog, who jumped up also. He then spent the next two days limping around. Nothing funnier than a 2 year old with a peg leg. He got his x-ray, which showed just a very mild sprain, and 5 days later was good as new. Of course, when you are two, you heal faster, and don't seem to mind continuing to jump on the hurt foot. It does slow down your running though.

Now, several days ago, Katie came upstairs from the basement, where I believe she had been jumping on the mini trampoline with her brother. She had a huge black eye, and claimed not to know what happened. It is currently a lovely shade of green, but is getting better.

Am I doomed to constant injury with the mini-monster?? Should I propose a ban on all jumping while within 5 feet of another human or animal? Should I ban all jumping from now on??

My solution for now: Allow all the jumping one can stand, but be sure to stand back. You never know when the young parachuter might land on you next.

Happy St. Patrick's Day - Belated

Yesterday was St. Patrick's Day. And while I knew this, I was too sick to do anything with the kids. It was just allergies, sore throat, runny nose, but I still wasn't up for much of anything.

Today I feel quite a bit better, and having promised Katie we would do something for St. Patrick's Day on Sunday, we spent the early morning making Shamrock crowns. While Katie is proud to model the one she made, Nicholas decided crowns were fun for making but not for wearing.

I also made cupcakes with green sprinkles earlier in the week, so the kids at least had a special treat.

And Daddy was kind enough to read two books about the holiday to Katie last night.

Nicholas vs. The Sweater

Grandma E. made Nicholas a lovely blue sweater some time ago. It came with a hat and mittens, and is nice and soft and warm.

Grandma wanted a picture of Nicholas in said sweater, but to understand the following pictures, you must first understand Nicholas.

Nicholas does not believe in clothing. If given the opportunity he will take off all clothing including his diaper, and run through the house. He protests getting his jammies off in the morning, and then 3 seconds later protests getting clothes back on, even if it is the same jammies. He gets along fabulously with our 2 year old female neighbor who also has the same theory in clothing. "It is meant to be taken off!" Luckily she leaves her diaper on though.

So here is a story in pictures of my boy and his sweater picture session:

A Nice Compliment

It isn't very often that we hear compliments of our children's behavior when out in public. At least not from someone that isn't family. So last night when we were out eating pizza at a local restaurant, it was nice to hear the waitress say as she came to take our bill, "Your children are very well behaved."

Mike and I exchanged looks and told her thank you, but it really is true. For 2 and 5 they are usually well-behaved and polite. They say please and thank you without prompting, and sit relatively still and quiet during meals. Of course a lot of it has to do with us keeping them actively engaged in other things while waiting. The compliment also happened to come while the kids each had a mint in their mouth.

As we got up to leave, two children left the restaurant happily by climbing under the table, but other than that, there were no major behavior issues. And Nicholas at the ripe old age of 2 told the young high school girl who held the door for us, "Thank you girl."

The Magic School Bus

Katie is hooked on the Magic School Bus. It started with the books. I got her a dinosaur and solar system one at Half-Price Books. They were only 75 cents with our coupon, and she was in a dinosaur phase. She fell in love! We have now borrowed every available copy from the library, and half bought several more at the bookstore. We found the show is on TLC and Discovery Kids in the morning, so she usually watches an episode at 7:30 or 8:30 in the morning. She has taken to sleeping with her brother's toy bus. And Grandpa made the kids this cool school bus, while he was visiting recently.

I am most delighted with the amount of information that she is absorbing. She has always been a bookworm, and I have tried to implement a science and social studies curriculum that uses books with projects and other lessons to learn. She loves listening to stories. Even Daddy is impressed. How many 5 year olds can talk about echolocation, the blood stream, and butterfly camouflage all in the same day. Sometimes all in the same hour.

For those of you using or planning unit studies, make sure you check out these great books.

Spring Has Sprung

Spring has at least temporarily arrived!

The past few days have been gorgeous, and today is especially beautiful. Sunny and warm, so we are planning to go outside and enjoy the rest of the day.

The kids have been busy swinging, playing in the sand, digging in the dirt, and riding bikes and cars. Good News: Nicholas no longer screams in terror when any of the numerous children come riding by in their motorized cars. Bad News: He now likes riding and driving them. Which means I have a 2 year old behind the wheel. Which means my trees, bushes, sprouting tulips, and anything else that happens to get in the way are taking a beating.

My Daughter the Gymnast

Since I didn't want to disturb class, this was the best photo I could get of Katie doing her handstand. She is becoming quite talented. Besides this gorgeous handstand, which her teacher frequently has her demonstrate for the other kids in the class (Yes, I am proud), she finally has the cartwheel down.

I love watching her practice. She has so much fun, and has more energy than I could possibly even imagine. Today I watched her as she vaulted doing a handstand and a somersault, and thought to myself- WOW, and she is only 5!! Even though she is the youngest and smallest in her class, she makes me proud.

Pillow Fight!!!

Some days are just good days for a pillow fight!

If You Give A Nick Blue Ice-Cream

If you give a Nick blue ice-cream,

he will certainly stick both hands in it, and spread it on the table.

He will ask you for a napkin.

He will use the napkin to spread the ice-cream onto the floor and his shirt. He will then ask you for a new spoon.

When he uses the new spoon, he will manage to drip ice-cream everywhere that was previously clean.

When you are done wiping him and every other surface up, he will notice the blue spots on his shirt.

And when he notices the blue spots on his shirt, he will ask you for his blue ice-cream again!

Boys Will Eat Anything

I am a food separatist. I don't like my food to mix or touch. Everything should be eaten separately.

My 2 year old son is the exact opposite. We laughed as we watched him put the shredded cheese from his tortilla the other night into his pear applesauce, and eat it to the last bite.

Today it was pears dipped in ketchup. I am pretty sure that he would eat anything dipped in ketchup. For him it is a food group.

While some of the things he eats makes me gag, I am getting used to having this little boy and his strange eating habits. He continues to amaze me each day.

More Snow!!

We were supposed to get around an inch to maybe 3 inches of snow on Saturday. Instead, it snowed all day, and we got another 4 inches to add to the 6 or so we got before and then the ice that was on top of that, and the second does of 2 or 3 inches on top of that and the inch of ice on top of that.

So Saturday while Daddy was at work, I went out once more to shovel the snow off the driveway so he could get his car up into the garage when he got home. I would never admit it to him, but I actually like going out to shovel the snow. There is something about it that brings me back to childhood. I like pushing the shovel from one side to the other and throwing the snow into a big heap. I like seeing the driveway relatively clean, except for the ice left from before, and the big mounds of snow on either side of the driveway. I laugh at the fact that we can no longer see our bushes in front, and that our mailbox is slowly being buried alive. I like coming in with a chilly body and getting warm inside our house.

And while Katie begged to go out, Nicholas refused to even think about stepping foot outside. Two year olds do have some common sense. So when the neighbor came over to see if Katie could go out and play, I bundled her up and sent her out. From the comfort of indoors, I watched as she sledded down the hill the neighbors had made off their deck. And later after dinner, she and I went out and collected icicles. She found them absolutely amazing!

And we even had our own science experiment. We all chose times as to when our Monster Icicle that we brought in would melt. I chose 9:30, Mike chose 8:30, Katie chose 10, and Nick chose 2. Nick won!!

The snow has been lots of fun, but the weather is supposed to turn warmer and rain is expected. I am looking forward to getting rid of the remaining ice, but I still like the snow!

Valentine gifts

The kids were very lucky to receive Valentine cards with gifts of money from both their grandparents. So after staying inside for 3 days of ice and snow, we ventured out to ballet on Friday, and then went to Target to pick out their presents.

Katie had no options, a doll was all she wanted. So she picked out a Barbie with a bed, and now Barbie sleeps in her very own bed on top of Katie's bed.

Nicholas is harder to shop for. At 2, he doesn't understand the concept, but he quickly decided on a package of playdoh with something like 24 colors and a whole set of tools to use with it. Best of all was the pair of playdoh scissors. He desperately loves scissors, and while his sister gets to use them all the time, he gets in trouble when he tries them out. So now he has his very own scissors that he uses with pride.

Mommy didn't get to pick out anything at the store, but she received this lovely bouquet of red roses that are absolutely beautiful for Valentine's Day.

The Twins

We are very excited to welcome our two newest members of the family. Bookcase Number 1 and Bookcase Number 2.

As we watched the previous bookcases begin to sag, we decided it was time to upgrade to some real furniture before the shelves broke and books hit the floor. These two lovely friends came from the Home Decorators Outlet, which is a subsidiary of Home Depot. While we did have to put them together, and that was a chore and a half, they are solid wood, and look gorgeous.

Here's to many happy books residing on their shelves!

Update

Ice is still here, but some is melting where the sun hits.

Driveway is 2/3 covered with snow and ice, Daddy has a semi-cleared route into the garage. No thanks to the snowplow that dumped huge chunks of snow and ice back at the bottom after I had just dug us out.

Mailbox was frozen shut yesterday, but I finally got it open. It looks picturesque with about an inch of ice covering it and large snow piles all around it.

Still huddled indoors. Kids in the neighborhood have a snow day for Day 3.

Running out of bread.

Plenty of ingredients for after-Valentine's day cookies. Maybe we will call them President's Day cookies.

Kids going slowly stir crazy.

Living room painted lovely sage green color, and looks gorgeous.

Twin bookcases to arrive later today. Good luck delivery guys getting them in our icy house.

Nick has cold, and for the first time no ear infection after 72 hours. YIPPEE!

Link to Autism Site

For whatever reason, blogger took off my link to Ali Edwards, so here is the link to her site.
Ali Edwards

Autism

This picture comes from one of my favorite scrapbookers sites. I get Creating Keepsakes magazine and Ali Edwards is one of the writers for the magazine. Her son, unknown to me until recently, was diagnosed with autism.

Autism has gotten a lot of press lately, but for me it has been a special passion since graduate school.

When contemplating what I wanted to do after getting my B.S. in psychology, I wanted to go into clinical child psychology, always saying I never wanted to work with kids with autism or anything that severe. Luckily for me, I fell into a program for counseling psychology at the University of Houston. Why, luckily? Because I had one of the best experiences in my life working at Texas Children's Hospital's Learning Support Center. There, I helped to do group behavioral interventions and evaluations for children with many diagnoses, but primarily PDD (Pervasive Developmental Disorder) better known as the lower end of the autism spectrum. I loved these kids. They were each different and had different abilities and personalities. But what I loved most was seeing them make real progress. They could learn to speak, use sign language, communicate and socialize, if only we worked with them intensively and playfully.

We followed a wonderful model by Stanley Greenspan, and for anyone who has children, not just autistic children, I highly recommend his book The Child With Special Needs. I hope that in the future I can make a lasting contribution to helping families and children diagnosed with autism. Until then, I hope that you will consider helping Ali in her effort to raise money for Autism Speaks.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!

To all of you, from all of us!

(And yes, if you look closely, she is wearing Christmas pants and a Christmas shirt. But the shirt did have 2 candy canes in the shape of a heart and did say SWEET HEART on it.)

(Also, to all clothing manufacturers: the majority of us live in cold weather in February. It would be nice if you made Valentine clothes in long sleeves and long pants.)

What We Are Left With

A layer of ice, a layer of snow, a layer of ice, a layer of snow...

And this is what we are left with this morning. A stunningly beautiful, sunny day, where the trees are glistening with ice covered branches. The snow covered ground has a swirled pattern ingrained due to the layers of ice, and it truly is beautiful to look at.

Luckily for me, I still have power to my house, aka heat, and I don't have to go anywhere.

Hopefully everyone else will make it safely through what is left of this storm on the East Coast, and everyone traveling today, including Daddy, who went to work, will arrive home safely.

Of course, arriving home safely will be an adventure for our Daddy. Where we live, Cincinnati is full of hills. Beautiful, large, rolling hills in the summer. Treacherous, hard to drive on hills in winter. And for those of you who have seen our house, you know this means Daddy somehow has to try to get his car up our very steeply inclined driveway.

We were out last night at 9 P.M. trying in vain to de-ice the driveway. With ice a half inch thick, it proved to be impossible. We shoveled off what loose ice was on top, and applied our driveway heat, but it was useless. It was fun to listen to and skate on though. In the quiet of night, with no traffic going by, the driveway heat crackles like rice krispies, and Mike the ever comedian pretended for a moment to be a hockey goalie with his shovel in hand, skating at the bottom of the driveway. Katie of course, wants to know where we can get a pair of ice skates. She is desperate to try ice skating.

I will try one more time while Nicholas naps today, and see if I can find our driveway for him once more...

Schooling woes

When did schooling become so complicated?

I never had choices about where I went to school until high school, and then it was a matter of the public high school or the Catholic one. Having gone to Catholic school all my life, that is what I chose.

Now I look toward my daughter beginning her first year of official school. Yes, this year I chose to work on a kindergarten curriculum at home with her. She was too young to begin official kindergarten, missing the cutoff by 2 months. But she was ready to learn, and learn she has.

She reads slowly but patiently and is using many of the skills she has gained from Alpha-Phonics to try words she hasn't seen before. I am astonished when she reads things I know that she hasn't seen before.

She is mastering many math skills, except for that pesky counting by 5's things, and can use a number line to add with ease. She also has mastered adding 0 and 1 to any number up to 100.

She has learned about dinosaurs, Ohio, plants, senses, communities, and most recently penguins.

But the most important thing is that she has had fun! And so have I! When people ask her where she goes to school or if she is in school, she proudly answers, "My mommy teaches me."

Now we must decide where she goes from here. Do I homeschool her another year and see how it plays out? Do we send her to public school kindergarten, which is only for 2 and a half hours, and still school her at home? Do we send her to Catholic school kindergarten for a full day? Do I try to have her tested into first grade at either school?

The options are many, but what I feel called to is primarily to continue teaching her at home. I feel that it has been a wonderful experience thus far, and that I would like to be a part of her learning longer. I already have planned to go to the Cincinnati Homeschool Convention in March. And have also looked at the Dayton Catholic homeschool convention, which I believe is in May. I figure I will gather more information, plan a first grade curriculum for next year, and plan to continue to teach her. At the same time, I would like to let her "test the waters" so to speak in kindergarten at our public school. For such a short period each day, she could see what it is like and so could I.

Nothing is ever written in stone in life. Just because I start her in kindergarten in a public school, doesn't mean she has to stay there if it isn't working. And the opposite is true as well. If homeschooling stops working at some point, or becomes too difficult, the public school will always be there.

It is hard being a parent. I find this out more and more each day. And yet it is so rewarding.

As my husband says, "God knew what He was doing. Kids are so cute because otherwise we would eat them."

Winter Weather Preparations

When waiting for cold weather to go away, and preparing for a WINTER STORM!! take the following preparations:

1. Go to Walmart and stock up on the necessities.

- diapers

- drinks

- ingredients to make chicken fajitas, tacos, chili, baked ziti, stuffed peppers, and several cans of soup

2. Make Hawaiian chicken with rice and pineapple and dream of a tropical island while listening to weather reports of 3 to 8 inches of snow.

3. Bake delicious funfetti cupcakes and frost with strawberry and chocolate frosting and valentine sprinkles.

4. Dig in - you aren't going anywhere!!

Housekeeping Meme

From Michele:

APRON:
Nope. Don't have one, and probably wouldn't use it, even if I did.

BAKING:
Love to bake anything and everything! I prefer the easy cookies vs. anything requiring pre-refrigeration, but anything else is fine by me.

CLOTHESLINE - Y/N:
Banned by the home owners association. YEP, can you believe it?

DONUTS: Have you ever made them?
Forget it. Never tried making them, never intend to. I would rather trek to the local Dunkin Donuts.

EVERY DAY: One homemaking thing you do every day.
Dishes, dishes and more dishes! And I despise doing them.

FREEZER: Do you have a separate deep freeze?
Nope. Couldn't even imagine what to do with one. I like freshly made food.

GARBAGE DISPOSAL: Y/N?
YEP, but ours has been known to eat occasional silverware as well as food.

HANDBOOK: What is your favorite homemaking resource?
Friends and family are the best sources for recipes and information.

IRONING: Love it or hate it?
Neither. I don't mind it, but I also don't do it that often. I love the smell of ironing though and the nice clean look it leaves. Usually, I only iron a few shirts and material for quilting or sewing projects.

JUNK DRAWER: Y/N? Where is it?
Not anymore. We used to have 2 of them in our old house in the kitchen. Since we moved, I have managed not to have one. I bought little organizers for the drawers for scissors, paper clips, etc., and everything has a home.

KITCHEN: Design and decorating?
Right now it is brown and dark with a weird Deep brown fruit border at the top. I love my cabinets which are a golden oak, and intend to get hardwood floors installed this year sometime. I would also like a backsplash, and someday better counters. Still have to figure out how to redo the walls though. Brown is not my color.

LOVE: What is your favorite part of homemaking?
Hmmm. Redecorating, and baking.

MOP: Y/N?
Not as often as I should. Lots of times, my hubby does this one. Another dreaded chore along with dishes. Seems I don't like water related jobs.

NYLONS: Wash by hand or in the washing machine?
Neither if possible. I rarely wear them, and if I do, I tend to rip them easily and just buy new ones. If I do have to wash them, they are hand done.

OVEN: Do you use the window or open the door to check?
The door. Who can see through those windows??

PIZZA: What do you put on yours?
I love Veggie Pizza!! The rest of the family are strictly cheese people. So I tend to make cheese pizza, no sauce for Katie, and always with some garlic. YUM!

QUIET: What do you during the day when you get a quiet moment?
Nap! I love to sleep and never seem to get enough. I also like to read.

RECIPE CARD BOX: Y/N?
Nope. Recipe books. Recipes on computer. And some cards that are all with the recipe books.

HOUSE STYLE:
Traditional, whatever that means. In a state of flux inside. Some rooms have been decorated in our style and some are still in the style of the previous owners. So we have drab browns and rusty oranges, mixed with dusky blues and sage green, and of course pink for my girl.

TABLECLOTHS AND NAPKINS: Y/N?
Only on special holidays, if I have a holiday tablecloth. Napkins are paper towels or paper napkins.

UNDER THE KITCHEN SINK: Organized or toxic wasteland?
Another much improved area since moving. Organized with only a trash can, dishwasher detergent and dish washing soap, trash bags, and a dust pan. I even vacuum it out every couple of weeks to get those unsightly crumbs and bits that miss the trash.

VACUUM: How many times per week?
Daily. But not every room. I do the downstairs rooms 3 or 4 times a week, and the kitchen floor almost daily. The bedrooms get done once a week. The stair are currently out of luck. Houdini took off with my vacuum attachments and I haven't been able to locate them.

WASH: How many loads of laundry do you do a week?
It varies by season. In winter, I do about 6. In summer it is more like 4. Bulky clothes take up a lot of room.

X'S: Do you keep a daily list of things to do and cross them off?
Nope.

YARD: Who does what?
Mike does all the lawn work. I do the gardening and flowers.

Zzzz: What is your last housekeeping task for the day?
You just never know. Most days, cleaning all the odds and ends of toys and other things off the floor.

I tag Melissa.

Did Someone Say Snow???

I know I mentioned it was cold outside with no snow, but this is just a bit ridiculous.

7 or 8 inches managed to come down yesterday afternoon in only 6 hours. Luckily for us, we have wonderful neighbors who cleaned our driveway for us twice. They were rewarded this morning with chocolate chips cookies fresh from the oven!

Katie loves playing in the snow, while Nick was content (post-surgery) to hang out in the house with Daddy and watch Wonder Pets. He got to see this cute little show on Monday while he was recuperating and has since requested it several times.

Daddy went in late to work, which was a nice way to start our morning. He needed the break - his normal half hour commute took him 2 hours last night with windshield wipers that refused to work. I had to drive his car into the garage, since with our steep slope of a driveway, he couldn't get it past halfway. This morning his car was coated in ice chunks, and had some 3 inch icicles hanging off the bottom. I imagine the bright sunny sky will help melt it off.

And last of all, our beloved snowdog.

He did not appreciate sinking into the snow, and tried to leap over the snow covered step, back into the house. Instead he slid on the kitchen floor and landed in a heap.

Poor Hodge!

Lego Tower

Quite an impressive feat for someone only 3 feet tall!

BRRR!

I know I said I wanted to come back to cold weather, but this is just a bit ridiculous, isn't it. When the temperature is below 0, and you are cold inside even when the heat is on, and there is no snow on the ground, there is something wrong with the picture.

There is one bonus though.

THE ELECTRIC BLANKET!!!

We put it on the bed this weekend, and have been luxuriating in its warmth ever since. Turn it on 5 minutes before bed, while you get ready, and hop in a nice, toasty bed. No more waiting 20 minutes to warm up.

Thanks Mom and Dad! The best Christmas present ever!!

Surgery

Nicholas' surgery is over!!

This morning we headed for the Cincinnati Children's Outpatient Center in Mason. We checked in and were quickly seen by nurses and discussed his surgery. He then was supposed to change into a child size hospital shirt, socks and pants, but promptly rejected that idea. Instead he opted for the diapered bottom, no socks, no shirt look. He happily returned to the play/ waiting area (giant buckets of toys and blocks and a TV), sporting his new look in 0 degree weather. He eventually put the shirt on after realizing it was a bit chilly.

After a few minutes of playtime, we accompanied him back to the anesthesia room, and played with him as they put him to sleep. It was definately a sad and somewhat scary experience, but the doctors and nurses were great and kept him entertained as he drifted off.

Literally 5 minutes later, the ENT told us the tubes were done, and another 20 minutes later the urologist had finished.

We met him in recovery, where he was still asleep, and out of all the kids, I think ours was the only one not to cry hysterically. He fought the bandages and monitors which the nurse quickly removed, and then slept off and on in my arms for a while, as we waited for the doctor to come see us.

After daddy heated the car for us and pulled up, we came home and along the way we got requests for McDonald's, pudding, water, apple juice, etc... He quickly devoured a pudding, and happily started playing playdoh. He's been running around and creating general mischief ever since. With just occasional complaints of something hurting when the Tylenol wears off, he is our same old Nicko!

Still bulldozing objects with the toy stroller, still throwing assorted toys, and still fighting with his sister, who has been relatively kind to him all day.

Mr. Clean Magic Eraser

Yes, it really is magical!!

It removed some all too carefully done marker or crayon (not sure which) that a certain 2 year old boy had applied to our masonry on our hearth. He even managed to stay in the lines of the cement.

Of course, since cement and the Mr. Clean are not meant to be used together, we did go through 2 sponges. Since then I have taken stock in 2 more boxes.

I am sure that this is not the end of the artist formerly known as Houdini.

Dinosaur Unit Study

Knowing that many of you reading this are homeschooling as well, I thought it might be fun to share our self-made unit studies from time to time. That way, we can share a whole week's worth or two sometimes of lesson plans.

I opted to do a dinosaur unit with Katie for the last week and a half. I planned for just a week, but since she was so interested, we continued a little longer.

Here are some of the titles I used for good coloring pages, ideas, and sorting/ matching cards:

Learn About Dinosaurs Coloring Book published by Frank Schaffer.
Dinosaurs from the Primary Theme Series by Creative Teaching Press.
The Mailbox January book for grades 1-3 by The Education Center.
- this book also has ideas and pages for Martin Luther King Day, whales, polar animals, and penguins. We will next be doing a unit on Arctic animals, so it will come in handy again.

Books to read-aloud:
Fossils Tell of Long Ago by Aliki
Digging Up Dinosaurs by Aliki
What Happened to the Dinosaurs? by Franklyn Branley
Did Dinosaurs Have Feathers? by Kathleen Zoehfeld
Dinosaur Bones by Aliki

Dinosaur Hunters by Kate McMullan

Dinosaur Babies by Kathleen Zoehfeld

Dinosaurs Big and Small by Kathleen Zoehfeld

Where to Look for a Dinosaur by Bernard Most

It Could Still Be a Dinosaur by Allan Fowler

Dinosaur Time by Peggy Parish

My Visit to the Dinosaurs by Aliki

The Day of the Dinosaur by Stan & Jan Berenstain

Dinosaurs Beware by Marc Brown

Dinosaur and other Prehistoric Animal Fact Finder by Michael Benton

Craft Ideas:

We sculpted dinosaurs from Crayola Model Magic. And also made fossils with seashells and other objects in flattened model magic.

We planned to do dinosaur dioramas, but Nick broke the shoeboxes, so maybe we will make Arctic habitats once I can get my hands on some boxes.

We made dinosaur tracks by taking dinosaur toys and putting their feet in paint and then stamping on paper.

Other ideas:

We played matching games with dinosaur cards that I reproduced and then colored.

We also sorted these cards into dinosaur categories: plant eater/ meat eater. Small/ big.

We had a map where we marked where various dinosaur bones were found.

We played lots with dinosaurs that we had in the house. Katie liked grouping them by type and giving the bigger mommy dinosaurs matching baby dinosaurs.

Thy Will Be Done

I've had a lot of time on my hands to do some thinking and praying recently. With Nicholas' end to nursing, I have spent my nights, rocking him quietly in his room until he is relaxed, and what a perfect time to be thankful for my many blessings.

With all the sickness that has been passing through this house the past month, I found myself praying each night that nothing else would happen. That my children and family would become well. That everything would all turn out okay. But I also found myself thankful that we were having nothing more than ear infections and stomach viruses.

I have pondered the words of the Lord's Prayer, "Thy will be done", over and over, and truly wonder how many times I have said them and not really meant it. For me, control is a big issue. I have this need to control all parts of my life. How hard it is to give that control up to God. Yet, I know that in order to find that inner peace and ultimately relax more, I need to leave what happens up to God. He won't test me beyond what I am capable of handling. I know this.

So for now, I am continuing my nighttime reflections. And especially focusing on those 4 difficult but special words. For me, this is a challenge, but a worthwhile one.

The First Big Snow

Finally!!

After several wintery months, we have had our first major snowfall of the season. While Katie greeted the snow with great JOY, Nick was less than thrilled with the white powdery stuff on the ground and flying in his face.

We did manage to get a few sled rides with him, as well as interest him in a little shoveling before he wanted nothing more to do with the hat on his head and declared he was ready to go in. So lucky mommy, got to take him inside where he immediately stripped down to his long underwear and happily watched THE WIGGLES!

Daddy and Mommy got to have some fun sledding down our nicely sloped driveway as well. Even Hodge got a turn, a little unwillingly. The true meaning of the phrase dog sled!!!

Later while Nick took his nap, Katie had lots of fun playing in the backyard with the neighbors and making snowmen, snow angels, snow balls, and more sledding.

More Illness!!

It seems like we will never be well again. After suffering through the stomach bug the first week of the New Year, we have now branched out into the land of ear infections and viruses.

Katie started a fever and runny nose on Friday. Nick had a follow-up on his ears on Monday. The doctor checked them both and said so far no ear infections but both kids had fluid in their ears. If they continued to run a fever over 100, bring them back on Wednesday.

Guess What??

Fevers continued between 100 and 104. So today we marched back to the doctor's office. Katie has an ear infection in one ear. Nick again gets a double whammy. And to add to the feeling of hopelessness that he will never get better, he is scheduled to see an ENT on Friday to see if he needs tubes put in. After all, it has been about 5 months of ear infections.

So now it looks like he may be having a double surgery in February. The good news being that they will only have to put him under the one time, and they should be able to do both surgeries at one time.

Poor Nicko!!

So we continue on here, with both kids on antibiotics, and both parents trying to fight off the same virus that knocked out the kids.

Hopefully better news will be coming soon.

Finally!! An Update

We have been busy around here. Not just busy, but BUSY!!!

First we had the pre-holiday mad dash to get presents finished. I stayed up late several nights, finishing some homemade gifts that I will BLOG later with pictures. And of course, there were all those yummy Christmas cookies to be baked - and eaten. Presents to order and presents to mail and presents to wrap...

After Christmas, my parents stayed until Thursday, which the kids very much enjoyed. Nick still asks for Grandpa and Grandma several times a day, and can't figure out why they left the dog with us. He thinks Grandpa forgot his dog.

Then the following night we went out for pizza at the mall, and some light shopping. After putting the kiddos to bed, we were alerted to Nicholas crying around 10:30. Not an unusual occurence since he hasn't ever slept all night yet. I found Mike in the bathroom with Nick and lots and lots of throw up everywhere. Needless to say, he was hit by the stomach virus and hit hard. He continued for 3 days unable to keep much of anything in his system. 4 pounds lighter and very weak and lethargic, I finally called the doctor's office New Years Eve and got some advice as well as the welcome news that their Urgent care clinic was open until 8 that night. Turns out we never needed to go. He slowly came back around and now is making up for lost time by eating everything he can get his hands on. He had some goldfish, a bowl of cereal, and 6 oz. of yogurt this morning before 7:30. We have finally branched out of just starchy foods and have put everything back in his diet again.

This also means that since he wasn't keeping anything down for 3 days, we quickly ended his nursing. He had a hard time while sick, but I couldn't give in or he would be sick again. So FINALLY, after 26 months, he is done. I was always willing to nurse him until he was 2. Extended nursing is highly recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics, doctors, and any people knowledgeable about the subject. Unfortunately it is also highly frowned upon by the general public. I always felt weird when people found that I still nursed him, but it was his way of settling and going to sleep. It was a comfort thing. And while I still take the same time every night to cuddle him and rock him until he is almost asleep, I can't say that I don't miss it in some ways.

Moving on... Now Katie is sick with some version of a cough, cold, and fever.

I think I am going to take out stock in tissues, tylenol, cold medicine, clorox wipes, purel, and soap.

While I try to contain the latest illness for the New Year, here is hoping the rest of you have managed to start 2007 healthy.

Christmas Celebration

Katie with one of her many, many presents.

Nick with one of his GeoTrax, that he loved.

Nick on Katie's scooter from Santa.

Pre-Christmas pics

Katie in her pre-Christmas spirit.

Nick waiting for Christmas.