Jan. 27, 2008 New Blog Site Jan. 23, 2008 New Podcast!!!!
Yesterday right after lunch the Duke started having a bad headache and telling me he was freezing. Well, he had just eaten ice cream and McDonald's and it was really cold outside, so I figured that accounted for the freezing. I told him to leave his jacket on (we were doing school work in the library while waiting on the littlest Duke to get off Buster Bus). I was giving him a spelling test and after every word he would hold his head and cry of it hurting him.... I said it was weird how it hurt after every word! He has 40 spelling words so you can imagine how stopping after each word could get bothersome and prolong the test a great deal. I was doing my best to be patient though  because this child has never faked an illness before so I had no real reason to suspect he would this time. After the test I felt of him and he was very warm. I had him put his head down on the table while I did spelling with the Princess and he fell asleep! Ok, now I knew he really wasn't feeling well! He was also complaining of a sore throat. So, we made a Dr. appt. and he tested positive for Strep Throat! He still runs a fever even with the motrin, his head hurts, and his throat still hurts! I'm praying the antibiotic will kick in soon and he'll start feeling better. |
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Jan. 21, 2008 Organized Room
 These are the new cabinets we put in the boys' room. It really helps keep things organized. I'm hoping this will help chores move along more quickly. They always got stuck on tidy bedroom because they knew the stuff needed to be put up, but they didn't know where to put it. Now, they know where it goes
Happy dance! |
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 The promised snow alluded us once again and the remains of Thursday's snow is mostly gone, so we've moved on to bird watching! This hawk (I'm pretty sure that's what it is) has been perching in this same tree now for weeks. I finally discovered that my camera will actually capture a picture of it even though it is quite a distance away. I've seen this hawk in the daytime as well as evening. I'm enjoying watching it. Actually, I was driving on a road very near our driveway and a hawk swooped in from the right and landed in the road right beside of my van. It had a blue jay clutched in it's claws and needed to land to readjust its grip on dinner. I wonder if it was the same hawk?
These pictures were taken on different days, at different times, from my front door. |
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Jan. 19, 2008 More Snow Fun Pictures
 Here are some more pictures of us playing in the snow. This is our Princess, Duffy and a new dog that has claimed our home. She came up to Hubby in the snow shaking like a leaf. Hubby felt so sorry for her that he decided to pick her up rather than go get his paintball gun! She has since decided that this is her home - but hubby has still stated that she is only visiting? He asks her "So how long are you staying? When are you planning on going home?" But Chi-Chi (as we've been calling her) just looks at him, rolls over on her back, and warms her way farther into his heart! She really is a neat dog and the kids love her.
 I told the kids that you could make a little snowball and roll it into the snow to make a snowman, so they tried it. This is the littlest Duke's snowman he says it has "a big bottom part." Then rolled up so much of the snow that they hit the leaves and they're still learning that whole proportion thing LOL.
 These 2 have decided to build the biggest snowball ever! They ran out of snow though as it was quickly melting away today. All that is left today is a brown yard covered in leaves and with the remains of a couple large snowballs. We're expecting more snow today though - fun fun!
 Chi-Chi kept stealing the carrot off the kids' snowmen. The kids are convinced he's part rabbit, part cat, part dog, part kangaroo. Duffy had to see what this carrot thing was all about - he wasn't impressed he's tasted much better treats so he let Chi-Chi have it to herself. Chi-Chi still remains around our home - and when I call Duffy back in she comes running to the door -even when Duffy doesn't! |
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  Here are some pictures of our first snowfall of 2008! The kids had lots of fun tubing and sledding down Papaw's hill. I was watching carefully for fear they would loose control and go into the pond - but thankfully the Lord watched over them too and that never happened. They were very tired that night and the Littlest Duke went to bed on his own - and slept through Daddy hanging the new cabinets in his bedroom!  Check back for pictures of the boys new bedroom furniture - We're working on getting it all done today. |
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Well, we're back into the swing of things for the new year!!! Our first full week of school went wonderfully. We followed the Ambleside Online suggestion this year (mostly) of taking off the month of December. We still did some things scattered here and there, but we were really relaxed and enjoyed the holidays tremendously. I rather liked it and may just do it again next year. I fought feeling stressed over getting behind at the beginning, but I finally relaxed. The break did us good. We are off to a fresh start and the kids are working hard.
I have also decided to go ahead and do swim 2 times a week! I didn't do that before Christmas because we were having to travel to town twice a week already for Buster Bus for the littlest Duke.......but, Duke 1 needed it twice to get in the exercise and build up his muscles for swim. I think it will help him feel better about his abilities and feel more at home with the group. I think all of them come 2 times a week and we were the only ones only coming once. So... when we go to swim we pretty much stay in town from 10:30-11:30 for swim, eat a bite of lunch somewhere (McDonald's or pack a lunch and go to the park usually) then go to Buster Bus at 12:45, then to the library to do school work while we wait on the littlest Duke, then pick up the littlest Duke at 2:30 and then home. We really aren't home much for school work but going to the library has actually worked great. We do our school work and look for books. The little Princess has read about all the Amelia Bedelia books they have, she really likes those. Her reading goal for January is 30 books - she wanted to set it at 200 but I talked her into less LOL! She does like to read but we are often busy on the weekends and she isn't always able to.
Hope you have a wonderful 2008! |
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Nov. 6, 2007 School Update
This was an old post that got saved as a draft rather than added to the blog - I only put it on now because of the links - these sites are great - check them out if you haven't yet.
School is going well here. I've been very pleased with Spell to Write and Read and can see improvement in both the Duke and Princess. They seem to like the program and I can tell it is challenging them. The Duke actually did some voluntary writing last night at church. (We had a speaker from Answers in Genesis and it was wonderful - you should check them out if you haven't yet.) Anyway, he wrote letters to me, his Daddy, the Pastor, and the guest speaker! I can see that this program really causes them to think and figure out how to spell. We are still using Ambleside Online
and enjoying it. |
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Oct. 15, 2007 Catching up part 2/ Relationships
So, school started in Sept. after our family vacation. The first week was busy but good. Then we got the very sad news that my husband's grandfather went home to be with The Lord and school stopped for a trip to Ohio. Family is more important than book work so school was quickly set aside as we packed and grieved the loss of Grandpa. I'll never forget when my oldest son came in from playing to quickly grab a toy, his friend still waiting at the door for him, and we told him the news about Grandpa going to heaven. He broke down and cried, and just couldn't go back out to play. He remembers going to visit with Grandma and Grandpa at their home in NC and he is also saddened for his Papa and his Daddy. He still forgets sometimes and prays for Grandpa. My husband preached the funeral which is a very difficult thing to do, especially when it is someone you love so dearly and have so many memories of. I was very proud of him and admire him for doing such a great job. I'm very glad to have known Grandpa and I'll always remember Grandpa's smile and laugh. He always enjoyed hearing my husband tell some funny story or joke. I'm also thankful that at least my oldest has some early memories of his great- grandparents. Not many children ever get to meet their great-grandparents- yet my children have been blessed to know and have relationships with 8 great grandparents (6 still living) and 1 great-great grandmother who is still living today. We take her and her roommate ice cream and visit with her at least once a month. She doesn't ever remember us having been there - but we make her smile for the time of our visit. She loves vanilla milkshakes and ice cream. Memories are worth the time to make. No toy, video game, or even the coolest gadget will be remembered more to a child than the times spent with family. I often fail to remember what's important because of the daunting To Do List of each day - I get hurried, stressed, short tempered and even grouchy when I feel the pressure to get things done. Getting through a reading list or spelling lesson isn't my goal in life though - Building lasting relationships and memories with my children is. I pray that I will learn to put that to do list aside and foster real relationships with those I love - Relationships are PRICELESS! My Sunday School teacher from the time I was in youth up until 2 years ago when he passed away always stressed RELATIONSHIPS. Our Relationship with Christ first and then with others - that's what is important in life!
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