At Home With Jesus!

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Our Day at the Hospital

Katie's day at the hospital went pretty well today, even though they were quite 'behind' the schedule. (Her appt was for 8 am, and they didn't start the MRI until almost noon.) The whole procedure went WAY better than last time, and we thank you all for your prayers! The nurses today were great, and one even took a cute picture of Katie in her hospital gown. Katie was given the infamous 'pink drink' which made her really 'loopy.' It was actually quite comical to watch her watching Dora while all 'spaced out.' (That is the most intense I have ever seen her stare at a TV - LOL!) Our good friend "Dr. Joe" took great care of her and, as promised, she didn't have to get any "pokies" this time until she was well under the influence of some laughing gas. Unfortunately, the same hospital policy was still in effect, and so I still was not allowed to be with her when she came out of anesthesia.    Since it was after 1pm by the time her MRI was finished, (and I hadn't had anything to eat all day...) I took the opportunity to go get a bite to eat in the hospital cafeteria.  Not bad for hospital food, but I still wish I could have been with my 'baby'.... The nurses said that she did great though, and that she didn't even wake up crying, like kids often do.  I was finally allowed to go back to be with her after about 45 minutes, and she was groggy, but in good spirits....(at least...until she discovered the IV in her arm...then she freaked out and started trying to pull it out!) The nurses quickly removed the IV took her vitals, and discharged us within minutes! She is now home, resting comfortably, and watching more Dora.... Thank you again for all for your prayers, and I'll keep you posted about the results when we find out more! God Bless, Michelle

• Comments (6) • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

Monday, May 12, 2008

Big day tomorrow.

Tomorrow is Katie-Noel's MRI I feel much more confident going in this time,  as we know that our friend will be the one putting her to sleep, and I rest secure knowing that she is in the hands of our Maker! If you could remember her in your prayers tomorrow, we sure would appreciate it! We pray that she has no ill effects from the anesthesia, and that she is back to her lovable little self in no time! I'll post an update tomorrow after the procedure. Michelle

• Comments (4) • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

Monday, May 12, 2008

Mother's Day!

I had a wonderful Mother's Day, (and I pray that all of YOU did , too!!!) I told my family that they are all the gifts I will ever need... but they still showered me with gifts anyways. Some were hand-made (by Joseph at a Home Depot kid's workshop) Some were hand-picked (by the girls) And some were from my hand-some husband I feel so spoiled blessed! We had a nice relaxing day.... Starbucks, church, out for lunch, and browsing at the book store. What more could a mom ask for?! Happy (belated) Mother's Day to all of YOU!!!

• Comments (6) • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

Friday, May 9, 2008

Curriculum fair

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

The Kalahari

We just got back from the Kalahari! No...not the desert in Africa, the HUGE indoor waterpark in Wisconsin Dells!!! We spent the last three days surfing, splashing & swimming! (Last Christmas we received a very generous gift card to the Kalahari from my relatives... So a BIG thank you to them for making this trip possible for our family!!!) The Kalahari was wonderful!  Next to Disney World, it truly is one of the coolest 'theme' resorts I have ever been to.   Even the lobby is magnificent!  Ummm...Joseph...that's not what the statues are meant for! The waterpark had something for everyone! Julie loved the slides And she even tried 'boogie boarding' But her favorite was the wave pool! Joseph's favorite activities were water basketball.... And trying to 'cover' the fountains He also tried 'surfing'  (...with a little help from the life-guard ) Katie-Noel was a little hesitant to try some of the big slides, but she enjoyed the 'medium' ones And eventually she was brave enough to go on the "Rippling Rhino" with her sisters. It ended up being her favorite ride! And even little Annabelle found plenty to do! And Paul and I loved floating around the "Lazy River." I don't want to discourage my readers by posting photos of myself in a bathing suit, but just to prove that Paul and I were there..... here's a post-swimming photo of us It was a wonderful vacation, and it was so nice to be able to spend the time together with my family!  (Thanks again to my Aunt, Uncles and Cousins who made this trip possible!!!  - We love you guys!!!)

• Comments (10) • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

Saturday, May 3, 2008

Safety Saturday!

Thursday, May 1, 2008

The Recital

The recital went very well last night, although due to a mistake on my part, we almost missed it! We went to the high school where it is usually held, and found our way to the music room where there was, indeed, a piano recital going on....just not OURS!    The teacher of THAT group of kids said...I think that recital got moved to your church!   (This was at 6:15 and our recital was to start at 6:30!) Thank goodness our church was only a couple of miles away and we STILL made it just in the nick-of-time! The recital was held in the "teen room" of our church.  It is a recent addition to our church and it was a beautiful place for the recital.  I thought it was great because all of the couches, tables and chairs really led to a casual more comfortable atmosphere for the kids.  They set the piano up in front of the stone fireplace and I just thought it was so cozy! Julie played her piece beautifully - and both duets went very well also! Here she is playing  "Sonatina" by Manus This was Julie's 3rd year of lessons, and she loves to play!  I am so glad that she enjoys music as much as I do! Poor Joseph was a little nervous (...even more so since he said..."I have my piece memorized I don't want to bring my music."  Then when we got there he saw that all of the other kids had their music!)  He did play his piece from memory, and although it was a little 'tentative,' he played the notes perfectly! :-) His piece is called "Parade" This was Joseph's very first year of lessons.  I think he has done wonderfully! After the recital we took some photos of the kids by the fireplace.

• Comments (8) • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Two down....

Today is a BIG day for Julie and Joseph! It was our last day of Co-Op, and they earned their yellow belts in martial arts! (Unfortunately...their instructor didn't bring the belts to class...and so they will have to wait a couple of days when we can go pick them up.) Tonight they have their piano recital! Each of them is playing a solo piece, a duet with their teacher, and their duet together. (I'll try to get some video of their pieces and post tomorrow.) Julie is an 'old pro' at this since this is her 3rd year of lessons, but this will be Joseph's first recital.  Neither of them is nervous at all...which I am so happy about.  (I always had horrible stage fright when it came to piano recitals - I even locked myself in my bedroom one year!) I am thrilled that they had the opportunity for lessons this year, (both Karate and piano,) but I am SO relieved that they are done and we all can have a break for awhile. Now all we have to finish is Katie's speech sessions, and we are done with obligations for the year!  I am seriously considering skipping swimming lessons this summer just so our schedule is 100% free! I have dreams of spending a lot of time on our backyard 'porch' swing, drinking lemonade and watching the kids swim in the pool!

• Comments (6) • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

A family reunion of sorts

We had a very nice weekend! Saturday, (after the rummage sales,) we went to see Paul's dad. Paul's folks live in Florida for 1/2 of the year, and although they come back to WI for the Summers, they spend much of the time on the opposite side of the state, and so we don't get to see them much.  This weekend we got to see them twice! On Saturday, Grandpa called to say that Grandma had gone shopping with her daughters, and that he was all alone.  So ...we drove down to spend the afternoon with him.  We had a nice time visiting, and we all went out for ice cream, (although I think hot chocolate would have been more appropriate due to the weather!) Boy did they pick a bad week to come back from Florida! Joseph also had to ask Grandpa about his time in the military.   (I just hope Grandpa wasn't too offended when Joseph asked,  "Grandpa...were you in the Trojan War?") On Sunday our niece was Confirmed. Paul's sister held a party/lunch in her honor, and so we all went to their house. The kids were SO excited to see their step-cousins!  We don't see them very often, but when we do the kids are just thrilled!  (Especially since Julie and Joseph both have cousins that are only months apart in age.) We also took a photo of the whole family (...and wouldn't you know it...my eyes are closed.)

• Comments (4) • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

Monday, April 28, 2008

R.S. season has begun!

It's my favorite season of the year! (No, not Spring... it's Rummage Sale 'season!') Paul and the two older kids got up bright and early on Saturday to hit some neighborhood sales. Our goal this year was to find a bigger bike for Joseph, (and not have to spend a fortune on it!) I'm so grateful...we found one our first day out!  (Thank you LORD!) It's in great condition, and it's just the right size - 20" (compared to the 16" he had been riding!) He's a little nervous about learning to use hand-brakes.... but I'm sure he'll get the hang of them in no time. It was very cold on Saturday morning when they all went out, so I stayed at home with the little girls. Maybe that wasn't such a good idea.... considering Paul's OTHER purchase for Joseph. Julie was also happy with her find. I can't wait to go R.S. 'shopping' myself. ALL of the kids could use new play clothes, and I LOVE to shop for kids' books!

• Comments (6) • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

Friday, April 25, 2008

Got milk?

I asked Katie yesterday if she knew which foods came from certain animals, and I said..."Okay... chickens give us eggs... do you know who gives us milk?" ....and she said..."Jesus!"   (Well......He does supply our every need!)

• Comments (6) • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

Thursday, April 24, 2008

TWO years......

That's how long Joseph has been looking forward to today..... Two years! Why?  Because for the past two years Julie has been able to go to "Take Your Child To Work" day with Paul... and now that Joseph is 8 he finally gets to go, too! Here they are...all ready for work! The 'littles' were pretty sad that they didn't get to go... so I tried to make the day fun for them, too. We took a trip to the library, (and hit Starbucks for me,) and we did some fun activities at home, too .... like finger-painting!

• Comments (4) • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

The Domes

As I mentioned previously...we took another awesome field trip this past week. On Saturday, our family drove to Milwaukee where we spent the afternoon at "The Domes." I though that, since we studied gardens, this would be an awesome way to see many of the plants that we read about in our garden magazines and seed catalogs.  The Domes are basically three giant terrariums. Each one has it's own 'climate'  - There is a 'tropical dome which is very hot and humid and contains many plants and flowers found in the rain forest.   There is an 'arid' dome which is full of cacti and succulents, and there is also a 'show' dome - which has gorgeous tulips, roses, irises, pansies and other 'flower garden' type plants. Here is a photo taken from the show dome - but you can see the other domes in the background. First we went to the tropical dome! Inside we saw orchids, palm trees, banana trees,grapefruit trees, cacoa plants, banyan trees, and a giant kapok tree in the middle of the dome.  (This is MY favorite dome!) Next was the arid dome ( Paul and Joseph liked this one best.) And finally the show dome...(the girls all liked this one the best!) We took some beautiful photos in here! Photos of flowers and photos of family! We had such a great time that someone didn't want to leave........

• Comments (6) • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Peter Rabbit recap

Well, our unit on Peter Rabbit was a huge success! Here are some pages from our FIAR scrapbooks from last week. We learned about the author/illustrator, Beatrix Potter, and her life growing up in England. (and...we still are hoping to watch the Miss Potter movie - but it wasn't available at the library this week.)   We were also thrilled to find a bunch more of her stories at our Goodwill this week! Next we learned more about England - (the home of both Peter Rabbit and Beatrix Potter!) We learned about the flag, and how England is a part of the United Kingdom of Britain. We also learned about some famous landmarks of England... We observed the British custom of 'tea time' and had tea and biscuits (aka cookies) for a snack one day,  (...and of course it was chamomile tea...which is the kind that Peter had to drink before he went to bed.) And finally, we learned about some of the differences in British vs. American English For science, we studied many different things... First we learned about rabbits, hares, and pikas... how they are  lagomorphs, which are in a different order than rodents. We also learned about gardens - and Julie and Joseph are both planning/drawing their own  'dream garden' based on photos and information they found in a seed catalog.  (Their drawings are both 'works in progress,' as they are quite large!  I will try to share the drawings when they finish.) And the third thing we learned about for science is our immune system. We learned that when our bodies get cold, our immune systems are weakened, which is why poor Peter Rabbit got sick after he got wet and cold. Other things we learned : -Vocabulary words (implore, exert, sieve) -Adjectives and descriptive writing.  (Julie wrote several paragraphs with examples of descriptive writing) -Showing motion in art.  (We looked at several illustrations that showed motion - Peter or Mr McGreggor running, etc.  Then we tried to draw some examples of our own.) And we took two awesome field trips: 1) Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary in Green Bay 2) The Milwaukee Botanical Gardens in 'the Domes"  (I'll share photos from this trip later this week!) It was a great week, and it was a great 'pick me up' from the monotony of our workbooks. It almost makes me wish we had just done FIAR as our main curriculum for the year... and it really makes me look forward to using a unit study approach with My Father's World next year!

• Comments (6) • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Milestone moment!

Katie-Noel lost her first tooth tonight! She was SO excited! Congratulations Katie!!!

• Comments (7) • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Only in Wisconsin...

I had a good laugh today when I was talking 'music theory' with my oldest kids. We were going over the names of the notes, and then, they  told me the mnemonic devices  that their piano teacher taught them to remember the lines and spaces for the upper and lower musical staffs. I wasn't at all surprised by the treble clef...... E (very) G (ood) B (oy) D (oes) F (ine) and F A C E (the word 'face') Then I asked about the bass clef They had the usual answer for the spaces A (ll) C (ows) E (at) G (rass) but it was their answer for the lines that made me crack up.... No it wasn't..... "Good Boys Deserve Fun Always".  Instead they both shouted out G reen B ay D oes F umble A lot Only in the 'frozen tundra' can we relate music to football!  Oh yeah...and speaking of which...we also drove past this yesterday!

• Comments (5) • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

It's days like these.....

Days like today are what make me so thankful that we are homeschoolers! It was a beautiful sunny day, (It actually reached 70!!! )  and so I decided that (in honor of Beatrix Potter).... instead of spending the day indoors reading about nature, we needed to spend the day outdoors.... observing nature! So, off we headed to the wildlife sanctuary! First we went to the wonderful nature center there.  There are many exhibits and hand-on activities.  The girls loved the live birds, fish, butterflies, geckos and fossils,  and Joseph loved...well...um...the poop. (They had an exhibit with the droppings of all different kinds of animals.) Here are some photos from inside the nature center. (The kids decided that these were the bones of poor Peter Rabbit's father - who had been caught by Mr. MacGreggor) But....as I said it was too nice to stay inside... so we went to the pond and bought some corn to feed to the ducks &geese.   There weren't a whole lot of them yet, (it's still too cold I think,) but we did find one 'mother goose' on her nest! The others on the pond were HUNGRY and they were really fighting over the corn.  (It gave new meaning to the term 'back biting!') Next we hit the trails....... We saw owls, hawks, eagles, foxes, martins, turtles, chipmunks, geese, and a cougar. But our favorites were the timber wolves and the coyotes.... The kids decided to write about them in their nature journals. (Okay...maybe Annie just drew lines and circles..... but didn't the other three do a great job?!!) (Julie) (Joseph) (Katie-Noel)  This was Katie's first attempt at nature journaling! It was a glorious day...but out of all of the sights we saw today... THIS was my absolute favorite.......

• Comments (9) • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

My son thinks he's Dr Seuss....

And.....THIS is what happens when an 8 year old has too much time on his hands! Gives new meaning to the phrase 'The Cat In the Hat' doesn't it?!?!? (And the silly cat just sat there purring and soaking up all of the attention!)

• Comments (8) • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

Monday, April 14, 2008

Plans for the Week

We are going to be rowing The Tale of Peter Rabbit  this week. We all need a little break from the workbooks, and the weather is supposed to be nicer, so I though a tale about bunnies and gardens would be appropriate. Julie and Joseph were giggling because they think that this is a 'baby' book. (They haven't seen my lesson plans..... heh, heh, heh.....) Bible: -Biblical references to gardens ( Eden, Gethsemane, the garden where Jesus's tomb was, etc.) -Obedience   (Peter Rabbit was not obedient!)     -God's Law     -The 10 Commandments     -The 'Greatest Commandment' (Matthew 22:37-39)     -Ephesians 6:1 (obey your parents) -Submission to authorities (Titus 3:1) Science -Rabbits (and other lagomorphs)     -research (compare lagomorphs to rodents)     -observe (we have several in our own backyard)     -write a report -Gardens     -study/compare various flowers, plants and garden vegetables     -plan a garden ( research climate zones, which plants are sun/shade loving, etc.)     -plant some seeds! -Natural enemies (predators vs. prey) -Health (catching a cold, germs, etc.) Social Studies Geography  - England     -locate on map     -culture (food, customs, government, etc.)     -famous landmarks Language Arts -author study - Beatrix Potter -descriptive language (adjectives, adverbs, write a paragraph using descriptive words) -onomatopoeia -vocabulary   (implored, exert, sieve) Art -watercolors -nature journaling ( Beatrix Potter kept a nature journal since age 9!) -showing motion/movement in art Math -definition of a 'fortnight' -CLE math  (math is the one area that I think FIAR tends to we 'weak' in... at least for the ages of my children) If anyone is interested in finding out more about Beatrix Potter (her life, her art, and her books) here is a darling website!  It also has many activities for children ( coloring pages, puzzles, online games, etc.) World of Peter Rabbit

• Comments (9) • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

Saturday, April 12, 2008

A tiring week.

Whew... what a week! Annie and Julie were both sick with colds, ( and when Annie gets sick her asthma flares up.) Also, I had to go to the dentist ,(yuck! )  and I took Katie in to talk to out family doctor to discuss her recent  problems.    We are both concerned that the neurologist can't/won't see her until June... and so our family physician said to bring her in for a 'check-up' and then she would see if she could use her influence to get Katie in to the neurologist sooner.  (Unfortunately, she couldn't...) Still, it was good to meet with her and discuss what is going on with Katie.  A few things that she pointed out (that I hadn't even noticed) were the fact that Katie is showing tremors with her head, as well as her hands, and also that her calf muscles are very tight (she used the word "tonic," I think?) because Katie walks mostly on her tiptoes.     It turns out that we still can't see the neurologist until June, but..... the two doctors have decided that Katie needs another MRI.     (Remember how traumatic the last one was?......For ME!!!) This time I will be prepared, though!  We have a good friend of the family who is an anesthesiologist, and so Katie's doctor said that I could coordinate it with him that he could be the one to put her to sleep this time.   I pray that things go better, and that we hopefully will get some answers....

• Comments (4) • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link