Today was the homeschool testing day. I don't think the kids find it to be a lot of fun, but I know I look forward to visiting with the other homeschool moms while  the kids are in there slaving away with their number 2 pencils.

It used to be that I would see lots of familiar faces each year, but this year most of the faces were new to me. So many of the homeschool moms I used to look forward to seeing now have kids graduated and they are at the end of their homeschooling years. I guess they stopped having little ones while we kept adding to the family. LOL. I miss them. But, it was fun meeting new homeschoolers. I got the word out among the group about next year's free online classes and hope a few will follow up with a visit to the online classroom and enrollment next fall. Our local homeschool group, of which I have been woefully remiss in being involved in lately, will have a Park Day on Friday. I plan to go since this is our week of spring break in the online classroom.

We are usually very cautious about cold and flu exposuure during the season. But this year, we were not successful at ducking it. I have found a few tips that may be of use to other families that might like to have a flu preparedness kit on hand just in case they don't succeed in ducking it eiither:

To fight deyhdration and cool a fever a bit - Pinapple Smoothy: This icy, fruity, smooth textured beverage gives the best "Ahhh!" that I have found here with the flu. You will need to have pineapple (canned would make it easy to store and easy on a potentially feverish mom). A package of Dream Whip (powdered, in the pudding section at the store), and ice. Just put it all in the blender for about 10 seconds.

Have Vick's Vapor, menthol, or euclptus on hand. I have found that It can get difficult to breathe when you have this flu. Something that can open things up a bit can mean the difference between feeling like you are struggling and feeling comfortable.

Of course, illness is a great time to have a few new family friendly videos to watch so everyone gets caught up in the story and forgets about feeling bad. We did a Pay Per View Ratatouli yesterday and it really was a great mood lifter. Nothing better than good laughs when you are sick.

If you are a family with a communal tothpaste, think about switching to everyone having their own tube. Little ones in particular are prone to contaminating the neck area of the tube. Don't forget to get new toothebrushes after recovery.

According to CDC, the flu virus is killed by anticeptics and it is an aeresol-based virus. When someone coughs the droplets are a prime vector to contaminate new family members. Try a disenfecting air spray of some type to reduce the quantity of live viruses in the air. Do remember that it can be difficult to breathe if you have the flu, so try to spray more throuroughly when the sick ones are out of the room and then more lightly when they are in.

Well, I am getting a tad tired and don't want to tire too much. I hope the suggestions are a help to others.

I remember how before Gregory started going to college I fretted about how we could possibly pay for it. I was hearing from other homeschool parents further down the road with the college phase saying that the average cost of a private college ran about $18,000 per year before scholarships or grant mony was figured in. A Pell would, at most, only cover less than $5,000 per year if a family qualified for the maximum amount. Every passing month as the college search loomed nearer, I was more and more nervous.

I am happy to say that Gregory is now a sophomore in college and all the worry was for naught. He got two schoalrships and a Pell which in combination not only covered his full tuition and books but also gives him stippend money to cover other school related costs such as gas, computer-related expenses (software for his computer applications classes, a MacBook so he could learn the Mac's operating system), graphing calculator, etc.

This is all on my mind because yesterday he got his updated awards letter for this upcoming sememster. Because of his continuing high GPA (all As and only one B so far), he has been bumped up on his Honors Scholarship by 59%. That means his stippend money will increase. In essence, he is getting paid to go to college.

Melody enters college next year. She is still deciding what she wants to do and therefore where she will need to be going. Two in college, that used to be a very scary thought. Now, I don't worry so much anymore.

Whew! It has been a busy summer and here we are heading into a busy fall semester. But We are all feeling really good and up to the task, so that is a blessing. It is that time of year when homeschool households around the world turn their attention to what courses will be pursued in the coming school year. we are no exception.

Gregory, our 19 year old son, has settled well into his job at the college. He is working in their computer and security departments. He ends up doing everything from setting up equipment for presentations by the professors to building and installing new computers and networks. This was his last week to do 40hrs. Next week he drops down to 25 hour work weeks to accomodate classes. He will be carrying a 13 credit hour course load this next semester with Psychology, Computer Maintenance II, Networking, and Word Processing.

Melody took the Compass exam and qualified for dual enrollment. She is allowed to take college composition while still in high school pre-diploma. She will get 3 credit hours. In addition to the college composition, she will have Algebra II, Trigonometry, Spanish II, Journalism, and Art II.

I have been teaching classes in the online classroom in which Timothy and Zachary have been students as well as children of other homeschoolers. Next week will be week 7 for Phonics and Math 1 for Zach. The Chem Prep class finished last week and Timothy has been enjoying the week off with designing 3-D computer models. Next week will be Orientation Week with VHSG online classes for the fall semester. This fall will be very busy! Tim or Zach will be in the following classes next semester that I am teaching in the online classroom:

8:30am  Literary Analysis (high school)

9:30am Phonics (1st grade)

10:30am Math 1 (1st Grade)

11:30am Composition (high School)

12:30pm Saxon Algebra I

1:30pm Chemistry

Tim will be doing a few classes independently such as continuing his studies on computer modelling and working on the second course in history (1600 to modern times).

Oh, I took the Compass test when Melody took hers instead of just waiting around doing nothing for two hours. I scored a 99 out of 100 in both reading and in writing. In Math, I scored into Trigonometry as a placement score. That was fun! I think I easily know more now than I did fresh out of high school. There is nothing like homeschooling for making you a life-long learner.

Melody had quite a bit of fun footage beyond what was used in the video she posted yesterday. She turned it into some funny out takes. This is another one to turn your speakers on for. It is hilarious.

Melody wanted her own digital camera for Christmas. Not surprising since she borrows the family one several times per week to get more great snapshots.

Well, the camera we got also can do videos. Here is the creative project that she has been working on over Christmas break. Note - if you have speakers, turn them on. The music is half of the story and shifts it between horror and comedy. You will love it:

We just got back from the scholarship award ceremony. Among the award winners are five of our own local homeschoolers. It was one of our own that won the highest award available. Yehaw! "Don't it just make you feel justified." hehehehe

You will find Gregory on the far right in his trademark brown eight-quarter hat.

Gregory is taking an online college speech class. Actually, nearly all of his classes are online ones because it is such a long daily drive to campus. The only live, on-campus class he has is Biology Lecture with the associated Biology Lab. Now, you have to wonder, how do you do a speech class online. Well, it is basically the same as a face to face one except that you need to record your speeches before an audience at home and send the recordings in.

We didn't own a video camera, so Gregory spent his own money and bought a little $50 (after rebate) camera to use for the speeches with some money had been hanging on to for college expenses. Well, the $50 price tag probably gives away the coming 'comedy of errors' part. By the time the camera arrived he was in the thick of a heavy 16 credit hour load and couldn't do much more than basic video to computer recordings until the speech due date was breathing down his neck.

Getting everyone rounded up to play audience had its intrigues and recording with a 5 year old as one of the members of the audience was interesting, but the recording of the speech went pretty well technically - with a little creativity and a few rubber bands to attach it to the tripod. The camera didn't come with a hole to attach it to a tripod. No matter, the rubber bands worked great.

Then came trying to get the recorded speech into the required DVD or VHS tape format. OK, we are now on day . . mmmm, I don't even know what day we are on. LOL He has spent days and hours that he doesn't have trying to get this speech recording past technical glitches.

First, the camera's cable format was not the same as the VHS tape player. OK, drop back and punt, we have a portable DVD burner, a bit particular in its tastes for disk media, but a DVD capable burner nonetheless. Well, it turned out that we didn't have the software needed to record video from the computer. It would burn data, not video. Gregory is techno-savy, so he located a trial version of videosoftware to do the job.

That gets us up to today's adventure. All loaded up and in-process we discovered that the trial version was crippled in precisely the tool we needed. So off to the website to buy a code to unlock the trial. I input all the required information to use the family credit card and am stymmied by a new security feature from my credit card company. I like security. Good. Except that even though I put in all the correct information, it still wouldn't accept my payment. sigh. Gregory had to leave to go on to Biology Lab. So, forgive me if I feel that I MUST find some way to get this speech published to prove that he really did do it. LOL. Here it is:

This was my first time to use YouTube (or any other online video service). It was pretty painless . . . and right now we could sure use some painless success. hehehehe.

Not to be daunted, we WILL get this to the required format and future speeches WILL go off without a hitch even if it means buying a video camera above the $50 threshhold to do it. :0)

No, I am not disgruntled about a human neighbor. I mean a real skunk. Hehehe. We have a family of skunk that live beside the creek at the back of the property. This year they are feeling quite comfortable with us and the cats - either that or the food is just too good to let a few two and four-legged critters slow 'em down.

The family casually ruts around the yard in the late afternoon and returns again about lights out to see if the cats left anything in their bowls. Needless to say, we have learned to look out the door before opening it after the cats are fed just to be sure we do not startle any of them. Startling a skunk is a very bad idea! Well, apparently no one explained that to Neighbor Opposum, because we caught a wiff about bedtime a few nights ago. Fearing that our normally layed back cats had caused an unwelcome rucous, we looked out the front window to discover the skunk finishing of the last sticky corners of cat food in one of the cat's bowls and the oppossum a foot away taking a long drink from one of their water bowls. Off on the other side of the porch (about 15 feet away) was mama cat with a sleepy, but annoyed expression about the smell the two panhandlers kicked up. Fortunately for all involved, the skunk gave only a wanring mist because it soon cleared away with no unwelcome residue.

Last night we FINALLY got rain. John went out to listen to it patter on the carport roof. He sat there in the dark on the proch steps just drinking in the welcoming cool, wet sound. He sensed something coming up beside him and assumed it was Lucky our affection-loving cat who thinks he is a dog. Fortunately for John, he glanced over before starting to send an arm out for a petting. It was our old friend skunk coming up the steps right beside John. John softly spoke a welcome and turned on the flashlight to warn the fellow that the porch was occupied. Our neighbor decided not to stick around to chat, but at least he didn't leave in a huff.

I guess I should stock up on tomato sauce for any potential future emergencies.

Here is a picture that John got of our skunk visitor. Yes, he is getting used to us snapping flash pictures of him and his family.

Well, it is official. Our first homeschool graduate, Gregory, is now a college student. He is registered and we have his books sitting right here on the homeschool room table. We had an amazing surprise. He got an academic scholarship that is covering 100% of his tuition. So long as he keeps his grades up, the scholarship will follow him till he graduates. Yippee! The Pell grant will completely cover his books, fees, and he will even get a gas stippend if I understand it correctly. That is good because the grand total for the books alone came to $679.69!

Gregory is dairy intolerant so we make our own goat's milk ice cream by mixing the ingredients and putting the bucket in the freezer. The idea is to stir it every now and again to keep the ice crystal formation under control and to whip air into it so that the texture is light. This task can be exhausting to the arm muscles, so Gregory suggested that we make our own electric ice cream beater. Here it is. Hope you get a laugh out of it too - yes, it is a drill with a mixer's beater in the chuck.

I have been blogging for exactly 1 year today! Happy anniversary to me. LOL. Though I began a year ago today on a Yahoo 360 blog, it didn't take but a few  days before I discovered Homeschool Blogger and switched over. In recongnition of blogging for 1 year, I thought I would repost this:

homeschooling and planning/time helps go hand in hand. A teaching mom needs to be as efficient as possible to free up time to be a mom and teacher first and foremost. Here is a quicky idea to make menu planning and daily cooking a snap.

I do my recipes on 3X5 index cards. These store easily in a file box when not needed during that week and can be posted on the refrigerator for an at a glance menu plan during the week. If plans change, the cards can easily be moved about.

Here is how to set your refrigerator up for a menu planner. Use your computer to make headers to label the day of the week at the top of each column. I only needed six because I cook enough on Saturday to have left overs on Sunday, so I combine Saturday and Sunday together on one card. Make these no wider than 5 inches to match the 3x5 recipe card width.

For the recipe cards I place a small amount of clear tape on the back to protect the cards from tearing when they are placed and removed from the refrigerator. I attch the cards to the refrigerator door using a rolled piece of tape attached to that protective layer. The cards can then be easily taped up, moved, and taken down.

Now before grocery day, I just browse through my cards and tape them up what I plan to serve under the day's header and make a grocery list from what I post. As the foods are cooked and the left overs are refrigerated, I leave the card up or take it down to reflect if I have any leftovers from that card still in the refrigerator. This is a great way to monitor what needs to be eaten up and how long it has been in the fridge during the week.

Give this idea a try. I think you will find that it is a great system!

Melody has been considering doing this for a while. She did the research and selected 'Wigs for Kids' to donate some of her mid-calf length hair to. Here is a slideshow of the before, during, and after pictures.

Mmmm, the next school year's plans are firming up. Though Gregory will begin commuting to the community college this fall, we will still have a surprising amount of commonality to get to share.

Tim will have K12 Life Science. Melody will have Aplogia Biology, and Greg will have college biology at the local community college.

Tim and Melody will have world history at home and Gregory will be taking world history at the community college.

Tim and Melody will have composition at home and Gregory will have composition at the community college.

Tim and Melody will be doing high school algebra at home and Gregory will be doing college algebra at the community college.

Gregory is moving on into the college years, but for at least this year there is some unity still to hang on to for one year yet. :0)

Zach's first official school year will be this one. He is going into kindergarten. I will be doing unit studies with him - blowing the dust off of my 3X5 activity card system for KONOS and our past homemade units. It will be fun merging the unit studies, the 3X5 planner system, and notebooking this year. When I did KONOS with the older kids when they were little, we had not yet discovered e-notebooking.  We have already been working on the attentiveness unit some and I will time out the rest of the year's units as much as possible to dovetail with what the older kids are doing in their studies.

Well, the teen car has been dubbed 'Fang' for the way the bumper in the front sticks up like two overgrown canines. LOL.

John and Gregory have been quite busy getting it road worthy over the last few weeks - unfortunately, I got these pictures when Greg was not able to be around. It is a 1972 Maverick which a homeschool family gave to us to revive. It has been sitting for many years. John commented last night about how good it felt to take something that would have been beyond any hope in just a few more years and revive it back to life again.

It is officially road worthy now - after replacing the gas tank and fuel line which was rusted through, all four brake systems, 4 new tires, and all new hoses and gaskets. John picked up the tags yesterday and added it/Gregory to our insurance ($60/month more than we pay right now). Next will be the cosmetics - it needs some body work due to rust and a paint job, but it is useable for getting to and from college.

Here is a picture of John returning from the first official test drive. He will drive it to and from work next week to be sure it is solid and trustworthy before handing the keys officially to Gregory

Gregory has been doing well with his practice driving. He has driven us to and from town each trip. The trip home last night showed a marked improvement on him making smooth and easy stops. They were perfect. In a week or two he will get his first experience with interstate driving and we will be continuing to let him perfect his parking. Parking has been hard. But then, up to now he has been having to learn to park in a full-sized station wagon. Not the easiest vehicle to learn to park in. LOL. I know he will be glad he will have a smaller car in the Maverick to have to squeeze into tight college parking spaces.

I hit the wall last week as far as over-load goes. You know the kind that comes from doing what you love to do but finding that there isn't enough of you to go around to cover all the things you truly want to do. Getting over-tired and feeling like you are dropping 2/3rds of the balls you care very much about juggling and juggling well. No one coerced me insto saying yes when I wanted to say no. I wanted to say yes, yes, and yes. So many things I absolutely want to do. So many people I want to bless. But I have discovered there is less of me than I thought there was.

This week I have taken a step back and tried to get my balance again. It has been very helpful to have the work load lifted for a bit. I feel much better and it has given me time to recharge my batteries a bit physically. I let myself get way too tired over the course of the last 6 months labor with VHSG. Emotionally, I needed some readjustment time as I face the fact that VHSG will not be far enough along by the fall term, a mere five weeks away, to consider it sustainable this go around. I cannot keep the pace I was running at and looking at what additional load was staring me in the face with teaching 3 levels of math classes, a new e-notebooking class, a phonics class coming online, a local family looking to get that last summer biology co-op in, another wanting an algebra class to come online for fall, and my own kids needs taking the back seat over and over. Too much to teach much less have to build from the ground up in course material. Too many needs and too little help for all that was needed and would be needed.

During this rest I have had the pleasure of watching my son learn to drive first hand. John's shop is down due to a column on the press breaking so he will be there well past supper. Today he drove all the way to John's work and back home again, about 50 miles round trip to take John something to eat. This driving practice session included starting, backing, driving at highway speeds, and lots of curves and hills. He did super!

Zach and I had a great time having a squirt gun fight which turned into scrubbing the car with lots of bubbles. I am going to post about it on Zach's blog tonight.

I also visited with the local art gallery to show my paintings. I have stopped in often but never had anything with me to share the work I like to do. I was in town anyway to take Melody to a birthday party, so I decided to actually bring some pieces in. I don't want to place them with a gallery; though, college expenses a mere 4 to 5 weeks away I have to admit to feeling that fishing for the possibility in the future is wise however unwanted the possiblity is. The gallery commission is about 40% of the total sale which is a pretty typical rate. It doesn't leave much though once the artist considers materials, time, and framing that comes out of the artist's share. I do not want to go gallery if I can help it.

Beginning to do commision work again will take a lot of time that I feel is needed for homeschooling. Zachary is going into learning how to read and I want to bless him with the fun that the older kids had when they were his age and doing KONOS. KONOS is lots of hands on and lots of mommy being there to have the fun hands-on with. We hadn't discovered notebooking back when the older kids did KONOs, but with Zach I want to e-notebook his adventures so he has them to treasure. 

So, I am praying that tuition, gas, and car insurance coverage for our first year's experience with college will come without having to give up that time with him. I did quite a lot of commsision work while doing KONOS with the older kids; however, I am not as spry as I used to be. I remember full well how much it took in time and energy to juggle a home business and homeschooling when the older kids were young. After coming out from hitting an over-commitment wall just this week, the clouds on the horizon of doing commissions make me feel like I am destined to be breathless again. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love painting and I have missed not having time to do any except the few weeks at Christmas - my Christmas gift to myself while the kids are off for the holidays. It is just the busy-ness of business where I have to work every minute to keep all the balls in the air that I am dreading.

Well, this true rest this week will be an important refreshing to fill my tanks back up for whatever the near future holds.

Our local homeschool group hosts an end of year presentation night for the kids to show what they have worked on all year. Homeschool seniors get special recognition for reaching the significant milestone of graduation. It is such a wonderful atmosphere. The kids are not missing anything by not marching in a cap and gown parade. It was a close, loving gathering where God was acknowledged in every presentation and in how the seniors were honored and prayed over. Almost more like a gathering dedicating missionaries than the typical school's long speeches and gowned formality. God's presence was truly there with us. It was palpable.

Here are some pictures from the evening.

Above:  The three homeschool graduates get their diplomas. Gregory is on the far left, Hannah in the middle, and Nathnael on the right.

Prayer and dedication of the graduates.

Below: Pictures from a few of the presentations. I wish more of the pictures from the speeches and performances had turned out. We had some really amazing talent displayed! Most of the photos of the children's display time came out nice.

Eat'n & Greet'n:

Zachary is finally getting to sleep in his new loft bed. John began working on it last Saturday and has put in a good bit of time each evening after work. It isn't finished yet, but by the end of the weekend it should be. Last night, he got the side rail on, so Zach got to try it out up there. He is still on his toddler bed matress, but tomorrow we are due to get the new twin sized mattress.

As soon as the bed is finished, it will be time to organize his toys again. They are in chaos while we had to have room to work on the bed construction. To see pictures of Zach and Tim helping with the painting over this last week, see Zahary's Learning Journal/blog.

Zachary is five and a half now. He is immersed in the tumults of understanding and expressing his feelings these days. Of the four children, he seems wired (must be the Scotts/Irish and Germanic genes) to feel with intensity and because he is fairly extraverted, unlike the other three kids, he has no problems letting the rest of us know what he is going through inside. LOL.

He was having quite a time with his temper for a while. We have been gently guiding him to learn to catch it, acknowldege it, and turn to a more calm thinking mode before acting on it. He has made much progress. When he gets frustrated you can see the wheels in there spinning by the expressions on his face. He is doing a terrific job of turning powerful emotions into possitive behaviors. But that doesn't mean that he doesn't get mule stubborn sometimes still.

Last night, he asked to be allowed to cut paper with scissors. He had not asked to do that in a while, so I knew that he would have fun with it again. I gave him the permission with the attached promise that HE would be the one to accept the responsibility of the paper gibbles cleanup detail. He happily agreed and set to work making a mound of confetti. Fifteen minutes later he drifted away and began to watch a special on TV with John and the bigger boys on modern weapon design. All the fellows find engineering type shows to be fascinating. Melody came through and asked if Zachy was to have cleaned up the paper pieces. She let me know that he had not. Fortunately, the timing was perfect as the show when to commercial break. Zachary however, went into a crying fit that he didn't want to miss the show. No matter how insistent I was that he wouldn't miss a thing if he got right to it during the commercials. he dug in his heels. To make a long story short he ended up missing at least ten minutes of the show by being stubborn about it.

Here is how the discussion went during that ten minutes:

Zachary: You can do it faster.

Me: It will take you less than ten seconds to put the paper in the trash can. That is no great hardship. Plus, you agreed to be the one to clean up when I gave you permission.

Zachary: You make me sad.

Me:  It would make both of us sad if you didn't keep your side of the agreement, and then I would have to say no the next time you ask for scissors.

Zachary: You make me sad. You make me not love you anymore.

Me: Well, even when you make me sad, I still love you very much. That is what love is. It is loving even when someone makes you sad or mad. (Note: We have had this discussion before about being mad)

Zachary: I don't want to pick up the paper.

Me: That's the problem. It's not that you can't pick up the paper. It's that you won't pick up the paper. That is disobedience; worse yet, it is breaking your side of an agreement that you committed to. So that is why I will not pick up the paper for you.

Zachary: But I will miss the show.

Me: That is your choice. You could have already picked up the paper during the commercials and not missed a bit. Now you are missing a lot of it because you will not pick up the paper.

Zachary: (goes over and puts the paper in the trashcan - it took not more than 10 seconds)

Me: OK, now you may go see the show.

This morning:

Zachary: (Comes and crawls in my lap) I love you even when you make me sad.

Me: (big hug on my little man who is growing up) I love you too.

Our church youth group spent this last weekend camping and canoing down the Caddo River. Melody joined in on the fun. I was so proud to hear that she paddled non-stop for the full 5-hour canoe trip. It would have been easy to paddle a bit, complain of blisters and sore arms, and let the youth leader in the boat do all the work. But she didn't. She is sore not only from the paddling but also sunburn. She had sunblock on, but I guess sweating must have washed it away on her face and on some parts of her arms. As sore as she is, she hasn't complained a bit. My little girl is growing up. :0)

Here is a picture taken just before they began canoing the Caddo. Just click the thumbnail to see a larger version of it.

Mom has now had her second chemo treatment. The enevitable began to happen; her hair began to fall out. But, as you can see, nothing dampens Mom and Dad's spirits. Dad shaved his head to match. In determined good spirits, Mom is making the adjustment by refusing hats and the wig she has at home in a closet. They stopped in for a visit today and we go this photo.

We celebrated last Saturday, but today it is official. Tim is 12! When asked how he felt to now be 12 this was his response.

Mom had her first chemo this last Monday. Dad was able to be in so he took her to the appointment. They gave it to her in a four hour IV drip. It hasn't slowed her down a bit. She and Dad even went back out on the road driving the big rig within hours of leaving theclinic. LOL. They will have to swing by every three weeks for the next treatment. Her blood levels have to be checked every week, so they will either have to make it by here or stop in at hospitals along their driving route to have it done. Multiple hospitals is problematic as far as paperwork and charges go, so my guess is that they will make it by here weekly.

I appreciate everyone's prayers for her.

Ok, my posts are starting to sound a bit monotonous - it is a sickness post yet again. Everyone now has had this bug, now counting me, except Tim. I need to get over it super quick through. Mom starts chemo next Monday and I am to be taking care of her. Her immune system will be down, so she is not allowed to be around anyone who is sick. I have been downing the vitamin C like it was candy, staying in out of the cold and rain, and slurping the soup. I absolutely must vanquish this before Saturday afternoon or scramble to find a last minute replacement nurse.

I need prayer and get well fast tips everyone, please, please. Maybe pray that Tim will not be taking his turn with this stuff during his IOWA standardized testing next month. This bug seems to have been programmed by Murphy - Gregory had it during his ACT testing. Now it is trying to coincide with me helping mom. It just seems determined to plan on hitting at the worst possible timing. LOL

John's side of the family has plenty of Irish to claim. Aye, you should 'ere 'is ackcent 'e puts on soomtime. LOL

His mom's family was McCoy of the McKay clan. Yes, the very same McCoys that are famous for the Hatfield and McCoy fued - but back several generations. LOL. Every once in a while we get a Hatfield and McCoy reunion invitation. Now the two families are great friends I guess.

His grandfather, George W. McCoy, was the editor of the Asheville Citizen Times and was best friends with Thomas Wolf. George W. McCoy wrote several books which we have in our family collection. He had a passion for writing about Appalacian history. One book is a booklet called Asheville and Thomas Wolfe. A few years ago there was a fellow writing a biography about John' grandfather. We were asked to send some information for research, but now that we live half a country away, we are little out of the loop on how the book is coming along. It reminds me to e-mail and ask. It might already be published for all I know.

Nothing like St. Patricks Day to get you thinking about the Irish side of the family.

Mom has a bit of a stretch from the last doctor's appointment (yesterday - labwork) to the next one on the 27th (starting chemo). I know she is glad the colonoscopy is over with - not a fun exam to say the least. She bounced back immediately from the twilight sleep and wanted to go eat out at Golden Coral right after we left the hospital. LOL.

She is taking advantage of this stretch of time without doctor's appointments to get back out on the road with Dad again. I know he has missed his driving partner. She was also getting worried that her job might be risked if she didn't try to get some road time in.

She enjoyed visiting for a few days with some relatives in the Dallas/Ft.Worth area. She brought back a framed photo of my great-grand-parents. She wants a pencil portrait of it done before returning it to her aunt. I guess I had beeter get busy because I still have one or two ahead of hers yet to get back to work on. Now that mom is back out on the road, most of the testing is finished, and the kids are FINALLY all well, maybe I can catch up on all that I am behind on.

ACT Test for Gregory:

Greg ran four days of high fever the weekend just prior to his ACT test and had not regained his stamina by the testing day. I decided to go ahead and have him do the test and see what happens. His score came last week. He got a 26 on the English, 21 on math, and 25 on reading. But Gregory said that considering how hard it was for him to concentrate and keep his brain actively engaged due to being so tired, he wants to retake the test to get a more accurate score.  I haven't rescheduled though because he has relapsed with whatever it was that he had the first time around. John took him to the doctor this morning. We have started him on antibiotics and prescription cough medicine. I am hoping he will be feeling better soon. He just hasn't been himself for almost a month now. Melody started running a fever last night, so it looks like she too will be down with round two of this stuff.

Update on Mom and Chemotherapy:

I took Mom to the oncology appointment last week. We were all geared up for chemo to begin but the oncologist wants a few more tests run and for her to get her diabetes under better control. They are going to do a mammogram, coloscopy and pelvic exam, and lots of bloodwork yet. Her next appointment (next week) is coinciding with Timothy's standardized testing, so she will have to go to that one alone. I am guessing that chemo will begin on her March 27th appointment.

Timothy's Testing:

Tim had stage one of his testing last week. It was the essay portion of the exam  - two written essays over two days testing. When he came out of testing the first day I asked him if he had a good prompt to work with. He said that he was supposed to write about a teacher. He wrote about the teacher he had last year for testing. I was puzzled why he didn't write about me instead of a lady he hardly knew. His response: "But you're my mom." ...sigh.... The next phase of testing is next week and will cover grammar, reading, and math. Next month is the IOWA.

Christian Teen Conference:

Gregory and Melody went with the youth group to Ft. Worth, Texas for a Christian teen conference. Fortunately, they were both healthy at the time. They have since relapsed, so I guess the two day conference wore them down enough to compromise their immune systems. They really had a great time and will always cherish the memories, so I am glad they went even at the expense of having another round of fever.

Well that about updates everyone on the Moore happenin's of late. I will be so glad when illness, testing, and the doctor's appointments for mom settles down a bit. I feel like I am on standby all the time. We get no more than a few days of normalcy at a time these days. I long for normal!

Well, it is 6:45 am and in 20 minutes Gregory and I will be off to ACT testing. He is still pretty wiped out from the flu. His fever finally broke after 4 days early in the week, but he has a hacking cough and tires very quickly. I hope he will hold up long enough to get through the test. Murphy's Law would have predicted the coincident flu and critical test's bad timing.

Income taxes are done and that means arrangements for a teen car is on the horizon. John knows a guy at work who is going to be selling a pickup in a few weeks. It looks promising. John will use the pickup and Gregory will use the Honda. Melody is old enough for driver's ed, but I don't really think I am ready for her to have wheels until she is a good bit older. It is a scary thing when you reach the place where your children are driving. Oh, don't get me wrong, I think that they will be excellent drivers. It is just my imagination imagines the worst senarios. LOL.

Mom goes up to Little Rock on Monday to have the surgical staples removed. Staples, it just seems so barbaric to use staples. They look like something out of Frankenstien's Monster. Mom will go up with my Aunt Ruth - the one that I mentioned at Christmas time that ...

Opps, out of time. I will edit and add to the entry later. Wish Gregory luck on his ACT. :0)

I wanted to update everyone. Mom is out of the hospital and doing well. She stayed with us Monday and Tuesday. My aunt made it safely down from Illinios Tuesday and her son and his family drove down Saturday. We only briefly had a chance to visit with my aunt haven't had a chance yet to see my cousin and his family. The kids picked up the flu (probably from the hospital visit last Saturday) and the planned visit with them has been put on hold. So far today, no fevers and everyone's internal plumming seems to be back to normal. I am Lysoling and hoping for a healthy family and relatively germ-free house for the rescheduled get together here on Wednesday. With all that is happening I finally relented and gave the kids this next week off. I know we all can sure use the break right now.