It is sooo easy to lose track of my days when my husband is home.  We did personal work and then we read some text on writing from Writers Express.   I also picked a writing topic...If you woke up on Thanksgiving morning and found out that you were a turkey.  How would convince everyone not to eat you?   I found this on a free lapbook from www.liveandlearnpress.com Of course I found this lapbook after I bought the HOC lapbook.   It is a good site to check out because if you join their yahoo group you can receive other free lapbooks.  

After schoolwork we headed to theatre.   Did I mention that Twin1 is doing backstage work?   So cool for him.   The other kids did great as usual...my husband picked up the other kids except Twin1 so I could stay for chorus.   I mentioned before that I did not have a part and how I was drooling.   I watched Twin2 say a few line with another boy in front of a huge jack in the box. The other boy is supposed to crank the box and then a woman is supposed to jump out of the box and  Twin2 and the other boy are supposed to be really surprised.   My boy does not seemed to act very surprised...I thought I would LOVE to have an opportunity to jump out and surprise the heck of my boy.   Well....I was back stage and I heard a commontion about how the lady in the box would not manage with her bad knees.   Yikes my opportunity to jump!   I ran over and told the director how I would love to scare my boy.   So now I am a silly jack in the box.   I am kinda hoping that Twin2 does not find out until I jump out.   Boy that was a longer story than I intended.

Daybook
11-23-09
Outside my window...foggy...I can't believe how warm it has been...it caused Thanksgiving sneak up on me...maybe winter will seem shorter too.
I am thinking...I need to go to the chiropractor today, but I really need to stay at home
I am thankful for...my husband being calm in spite of upcoming heavy decisions about our housing future.
From the learning rooms...The kids haven't started yet....they are supposed to right now!
From the kitchen...I am going to make cornbeef and cabbage!
I am wearing...my puppy pajamas
I am creating...a cleaner house
I am going...to the chiropractor, then to Target to get my daughter a purse and to pick up stocking stuffers.
I am reading...The Magic series that I was reading last week only book 2.
I am hoping...I get a lot of silent auction donation for La Leche League
I am hearing...Our hottub running....I need to hear children starting to work!
Around the house...Of course broken needing repair
One of my favorite things...Except for my husband my X-mas shopping is pretty much done!
Here is picture for thought I am sharing...

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Friday:  We did personal work and read "The Magic Treehouse Thanksgiving book and then they did Ondemand cartoon drawing..then watched a netflix movie called Life of Mammals.  We did not have to rush because my daughter did have gymnastics.   We did have some contractors come over and evaluate our basement and septic.   Not such good news.   They think that the basement is surrounded by clay, not sand and since our yard is constantly wet it is pushing the walls.  They need to dig all around the house and replace the soil.   It would not be so bad but they would have to dig under the garage and living room since they were added later to the original house.  Pricey!    Our septic might have to be converted to a mound system, but the health inspector needs to come out first to deal the final verdict! *sigh*

Saturday:   I cleaned the house and then I read and relaxed.  Planned our Thanksgiving meal without an oven.   I think it will be okay.   Someone from Lowes came out and measured to see if we could fit a new 27" oven.   He said it would look great.   I guess that is good news.. We will be able to upgrade our oven to a convection oven.   I feel a little bad though about spending extra for an oven when we have such huge expenses going to the basement.  The kids played games and I got to take a nap...boy what a stressful week!

I think I am a pretty calm and usually do not get hysterical.   I do not give into temper flares, but when I took Twin1 to the dentist to get his teeth pulled..I am afraid I lost it.    I know I partly to blame for the situation but I would do it again if I had too.   The dentist has a no parents in back with the kids policy.   I knew that but kinda forgot....I let the kids go back for their cleaning by themselves..no problem...they know the rountine...but Twin1 never had any teeth pulled and certain never had a shot before...soo I knew that they were about to give the needle so I popped on back and asked Twin1 "Hey, how is it going?"   The dentist promptly told me that no parents were allowed back and that I needed to return to the waiting room...well...it is all a bit fuzzy in the following comments...I remember saying I will not return...I think he said "Don't you trust me?"  Ummm...nothing personal...no? He must have said something about overprotectiveness because I could hear myself spouting off statements such as:  "Don't dare criticize me or any other mother for care about how their child is doing!"  "Do YOU understand?"   Anyways...he asked to talk to me outside and he said that of course I could be with the boy, but he didn't like that I asked my boy "How are you doing?"   And apparantly after he told me to return to the waiting room.. I said that I just wanted to stay and make sure that he is okay thru the needle... (I don't remember saying that, but I was starting to get peeved at that point)  The dentist informed that they don't use the word needle and talk baby talk to the kids...LOL!   He said I was going to scare him!  

I will laugh about this someday...right?  I am sooo embarrassed that I yelled at the dentist and right on top of Twin1. I am sure he wanted to crawl in a hole.   I returned to the waiting room(after I watched the shot being given)  and I asked my daughter if she could hear me talking in the back and she said no...so perhaps I wasn't screaming at any rate.   Stay tuned for future dramas with the dentist because when Twin2 and Rattlesnake get their teeth pulled out for the first time...I AM going to check in and make sure they don't need anything!

Tuesday..We did personal schoolwork and the garage door people came and fixed the big spring.   It distracted me and set me way behind in schoolwork.   We ended up not really doing reading time because my twins were not being careful in the words they were using and they were having a hard time not dwelling on all things negative..so we had a writing assignment for all subjects.  They had fill a piece of paper with all the postive things in their life.   I think we all need to do that every once in a while...sometime it is soo easy to focus on the negative and we really need to realize how we have so many blessings.

At 4:30 I took Cindy and Twin2 to theatre.   The play is going so well.   The director is awesome and the kids are amazing.   I can't wait to see the show!  My husband picked up the kids at 6 pm.  I stayed to participate in the chorus.   Today we worked on the stage.    I am right in front because I am so short.   I hope that I sing okay.    Most everybody in the Chorus also have speaking parts in the show.   I joined to late so I do not have a part.   It is sometime hard for me to watch because I love to be involved...I wanna a part tooooo!  The kids watched WWII movies with Dad to catch up on the fact that I did not read to them!

Wednesday...we took a day off from school and did all the yardwork.   I had a big bonfire.   Twin1 started to cut the grass to get rid of the little leaves and give the yard a finishing touch and he bent the blade...so maybe my husband will fix it and he can do it later.   After all the leaves were gathered and burned...we got out hotdog and marshmellows and had a cookout.   My arms hurt soooooo bad though!   I have never been that sore before...ever!   Pain!   I feel better now...whew!  

I have been wanting to post each kids personal schoolwork for a while...one thing that I will do more of..is lapbooks for Science and History.  I need the ebook resource because it gives us a finish line.  I print out the reading and put it in a paper binder and we are good to go!

Art: Sketch journal.   I have books that they use for directions.

Math:  Bob Jones book 4..almost 5!

Science:   Hands of the Child? Veteranary lapbook

Writing: Personal Journal

History: Iroquois and Native American studies.  We basically take notes from books and then she will write a report at the end.

Music: violin if I can find her a coach!

Foreign Language: Rosetta Stone

Spelling:  Spelling Power

Saturday...I cleaned my cleaning schedule and I read and chilled.  I am officially able to run a solid ten minute mile....Yay!   My goal is 8 minutes.

Sunday...We did personal schoolwork and we read the bible and we did a math lesson.   I used the dry erase board and we learned place value and how to read number up to the trillions and we also wrote them in expanded form.   After the math lesson we watched Joyce Meyer's http://www.joycemeyer.org/ourministries/broadcast/ I like a lot of what she had to say!   Then the kids had free time which they used to wash the dog and run amuck downstair in the basement.

Monday...My husband did NOT have to work.   I cleaned my cleaning schedule and the kids did their personal schoolwork.   Then we looked at the Art book which lead us to the discussion of timelines.   Then I tried to read some history from "What your Fourth Grader Should Know?"   We did not get too far..then we finished the veteran's day lapbook.  Except Rattlesnake..he did not think he could do it...he can and will..later!   Then we headed out to look at oven prices...Sears was way overpriced...Thomas seemed to be the best.   But our broken oven is 24" wide...apparentely they do not make 24" oven except in standard blah style.   Next size is 27" and that comes in convection and the next size 30"  wow! that size had all kinds of toys..including a probe indicator so your oven will shut off when your meat has reached a certain temperature.  I dont if you can tell but there is not much space for the 27"   Do you think we could make it work?  That is our refrigator on the right!

After shopping we ate at Outback Steakhouse....my steak was soo tender.   My husband was a little stressed with the realization that the kids are starting to get too old for the kid menu.   Could we afford 3 more adult meals?!

When we got home my husband joined Netflix.   My kids watched a movie called Alaska.   I love that there were soo many educational shows that I could queque up instantly on the tv...way cool!

Daybook
11-16-09
Outside my window...Night time
I am thinking...I hope that raccoons do not come in our house since our garage door is broken and WIDE open.
I am thankful for... being able to make my own choices
From the learning rooms... very messy workbaskets..the children are snoozin' now
From the kitchen... decision making is taking place about what kind of oven to buy!
I am wearing... grey turtleneck and black pants
I am creating...  hmmm...I guess I made a little clay pot when the kids were working with clay.   I have not knitted or scrapbooked in a while.
I am going...  to sleep soon
I am reading...  still the books of magic and Sanctuary by Beverly Lewis
I am hoping... nothing else major breaks..the oven and the garage just recently.
I am hearing...  the TV
Around the house... broken stuff?
One of my favorite things... feelin' the connection with my kiddoes
Here is picture for thought I am sharing...

This is not a rainbow!  No rain and just whispy clouds..somekind of prism?  I had never seen anything like that!

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Daybook
11-13-09
Outside my window...Warm and Sunny!
I am thinking...I wish my kids would do what they are supposed to do, so we can watch a Wrinkle in Time movie!
I am thankful for...Having insurance for the moment for my daughters orthodontics
From the learning rooms...I am hearing procrastination.
From the kitchen...Since we got the light fixed in there..I see lots of wore out cabinets, stove and appliances!
I am wearing...Aqua hooded shirt and black pants, my hair needs to be washed today, but it actually doesn't look greasy.
I am creating...hopefully emotionally balenced children
I am going...to take Cindy to gymnastics soon
I am reading...Lots of WWII books and The Books of Magic by Carla Jablonski...Twin1 is reading this and I reviewing it.
I am hoping...We still have full coverage insurance this new year!
I am hearing...fast paced music to motivate me and a sad child that I told that his room still isn't clean.
Around the house...One thing fixed..electric and many, many, many more!
One of my favorite things...Feeling on top of things..not the case lately!
A few plans for the rest of the week: Cleaning and finishing X-mas shopping,
Here is picture for thought I am sharing...(add your picture here)

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Wednesday...

We did our personal schoolwork, but I still have a lot of emotional parenting going on and I am starting to feel worn out.   We read a lot from "What Your 4th Grader should Know"  Each kid put together a Veteran's Day lapbook...they still have not filled it out.  I don't think that Rattlesnake finished glueing his.   Then we started to read from a science book, but we ran out of time...like I said emotional parenting..ugh!  Rattlesnake had a piano lesson.

Thursday...

We did our personal schoolwork.   And I read some short stories from "What Your Fourth Grader Should Know"   During all subjects....the kids wrote letters to various relatives.    I was very impressed with how well they wrote and how the spelling mistakes were reduced...we were supposed to do Math, but I could not fight writing inspiration!  We stayed up late and watched "That Darn Cat" because Dad had D&D.

I did fall a little behind in posting and right now I want to go to sleep, but I want to make sure that I keep up on keeping records.  

Saturday...I did a cleaning day, but I really dragged my heels and it took me a large part of the day...I took a lot of breaks reading.   Twin2 had a birthday party to attend...I think he had fun...they went bowling and hung out at his house.   The other kids had a video game day.

Sunday...I did my Monday cleaning...I hustled on that day though and got done and read some of the Bible to the kids.   Then we raked the front yard and loaded up the leaves in paper bags and put them out the road for the recycle truck.   The kids worked extremely hard...It took about three hours to clean up the front yard and one side yard and a large portion of leaves in the backyard.   I remember it would have taken me six hours to do that job by myself.   I told them I would give them spending money for their effort.   After that we raked we did some of our virtues study.

Monday...We arrived at the orthodontics at 8:30am....Cindy is going to get fitted for braces this Friday and Twin1 is going to get two baby teeth removed so his adult will have room to grow in straight and not push against the roots of his permanent teeth.  Twin2 teeth were crowded also, but not as bad as his twin..so no teeth removal....Bad news...maybe...right now we have full coverage on ortho, but only until the end of the year...then my husband employment is switching insurance and noone knows what that coverage will include...lovely...at least I  $500 covered on Cindy molds and fitting...and more when she gets the braces on.   The total cost for braces on a kid for two years is about $5600...pray for full coverage!!!!!!!!!

After the appointment we headed south for an hour to a homeschool Morley's Candy factory tour.   We made it just in time!  The tour was okay.   We had to observe behind glass and it was very hard to see the equipment.  I don't think the kids got too much out of it and they did not allow pictures.   I was going to head straight home and finish the yard work and do schoolwork, but my friends were going to McDonalds and gave me sooooo much heck about not going...I stuck to my guns and said no (I got stuff to doooo) and I felt REALLY irritated that they did not respect my decision.   Than after I got in my van I realized how lucky I was to have friends that maybe would WANT to see me so, I drove to McDonalds and plooped my booty right down in that chair and visited!  I still managed to finish the schoolwork that I want to do with the kids.  We read some history and watched a video on the Colorado River.  I picked up Quizno's subs for dinner...I decided to milk the oven is broken to get out of some cooking days!

Tuesday...The electrician came and fixed a lot of wiring...Yay!! we have ceiling light in the kitchen.  He was there all day...He drilled downstairs and vibrated the upper level floor which caused the dog to freak out and piddle.   Rattlesnake followed him around sharing his six year old philosophies.   The electrician even helped out  when the timer beeped for the switching of the subject he would yell out your mother wants you to switch subjects...cracked me up!  Rattlesnake finished book 5 of Explode the Code...congrats to him...he got to pick out a prize from a prize bag.  He got blue moon sand.   About 4pm I went to sign Cindy for her new gymnastics class.   Her competitive class now meets Thurs and Fri 4-7.   She can not wait!  Then I dropped Cindy and Twin2 off at theatre and then dropped off a huge armload of books to the library.  I rushed home to settle our account with the electrician and then went back to the theatre.   Stay for an hour and helped make sure all the parents signed out their children before leaving and then ran the kids home because my husband had a conference call with Korea.   I felt kinda bad leaving him with four kids and running off to chorus practice.  I think it worked out though!   I am getting better at singing!