So, we have decided to move to San Diego.  I've been packin' like a crazy fool.  Downsizing from over 3000 square feet to whatever we can fit into the minivan with mom and three kids!  It is truly a challenge.  FreeCycle in my town is hoppin'.  I post lists of stuff on there daily and have a steady stream of traffic flowing through my front patio where I park all the 'stuff'.  It's good.  I am feeling more free each day another box is packed and another bag of stuff is gone.  Life really is enjoyed more simply.

School?  We haven't sat down and did any proper school work in over a week.  I did sign up for one month of Time4Learning which has been great so far.  Maya (7) could sit at the computer al day if I allowed her, so she is thrilled to be on the web with my good graces :-)  It has taken all the stress off my conscience too about not giving her the full attention she deserves.

That's all.  I must put the kiddos to bed now and pack pack pack.  Great educational opportunities await us in sunny Southern California!

On the first day of home school my mother gave to me a caterpillar in a cocoon

On the second day of home school my mother gave to me twin sisters full of love

On the third day of home school my mother gave to me three fountain pens

On the fourth day of home school my mother gave to me four spelling words

On the fifth day of home school my mother gave to me five homemade slings (to market on EBay)

On the sixth day of home school my mother gave to me six copywork sayings

On the seventh day of home school my mother gave to me seven tadpoles swimming

On the eighth day of home school my mother gave to me eight crocheted stockings

On the ninth day of home school my mother gave to me nine lessons dancing

On the tenth day of home school my mother gave to me ten gourds for painting

On the eleventh day of home school my mother gave to me eleven minutes on Dance Mat Typing

On the twelfth day of home school my mother gave to me twelve months for studying

So, I turned our grades in to the school district last week and we revamped our school a little. 

Here is our new and improved smooth sailin' schedule that works like a charm...

ETC 3

LLATL Red (skipping all the terribly boring cutting and review)

Singapore Math 1 A (we're just about finished with this book)

SOTW I (Definitely the highlight subject for Maya - 7)

Evan Moor Daily Geography Practice

The Complete Book of Spanish (McGraw Hill)

Themes to Remember (learn and memorize 1 song per week)

HWOT 1st grade (her handwriting still needs major help at this point)

copywork of spiritual verses and quotes from spiritual leaders

What we would like to add but never can find the time or $$$...

Usborne Book of the Natural World

Piano lessons at home

gymnastics

We are both loving school more and more and the complaining is becoming less and less.

Blessings.

We will start out with:

Explode the Code 3

Singapore Math 1B

Miquon math orange book to supplement

Story of the World I with homemade CDs (did them this summer) and activity pages

Bastien piano lessons at home

State capitals study (We know 15/50 so far)

We might implement English for the Thoughtful Child

Usborne Encyclopedia of the Natural World (second half) and

Scholastic's Human Body book (with others)

Maya (7) will be attending our local public school (4 blocks from here) 50 minutes daily for:

Monday - Art

Tuesday/Thursday - P.E.

Friday - Media

She will also have gymnastics lessons one hour each Wednesday.  Classes started last week and there are only two children in her class so she is very happy (she gets frustrated having to spend so much time waiting while wanting so badly to participate).

We are both super excited about this year.  I am glad she went to the public school, because it gave her ideas on the 'seriousness' of doing your schoolwork and also it gave me so many new ideas!

I'll keep you posted...

Well, homeschooling took a turn for the worse last winter.  The twins neared their second birthday and became naughty.  I literally was (and still am, grrrr) following them around the house continually disciplining and redirecting them.  Believe me, I am not one to focus on the 'little things'.  I'm talkin' toys in the outlets, toys in the toilet, crayons on the walls, climbing on the furniture, scaling the kitchen counters, dumping bags of frozen food from the freezer all over the kitchen floor, you get what I'm saying here?  I still have to take the twins (2 1/2)  to the bathroom with me EVERY TIME because if not, I come back downstairs to some kind of chaos/danger.

Back to my original point...

I had no time for Maya (6).  It was literally chase the babies around all morning, put them down to nap, speed through Maya's school work with her, then chase the babies all afternoon.

It just didn't feel fair to Maya (6).

I put her in public school after the winter break And She Loved It!

She finished off the year, made new friends, became extremely sassy, and couldn't wait for first grade so we could homeschool again. 

And here we are...

School started yesterday.

So we left San Diego at 6:25 PM.  Perfect timing.  Just enough time to get excited, eat the inflight meal, and go to sleep.  It all worked out perfectly.  Then we landed...

I made a plan with Maya (6) that she would remain on the plane with baby #1 (1) who was asleep in her carseat while I carried baby #2 (1) off the plane.  We waited patiently for all other passengers to exit the plane then I proceeded to the exit.  I found my stroller there (thank God!), opened the stroller with baby #2 in my arms, and placed baby #2 in the stroller.  It was freezing cold!!!  I carefully arranged her blankies around her and turned quickly to return for my other children, my coat, and our bags.  I asked the flight attendant to keep an eye on the baby to which she agreed and then just as I was about to board the plane, a man's arm blocked my passage.

"Ma'am, once you have exited the aircraft, you cannot board the aircraft again due to federal aviation regulations."

"But I have another child and a baby on the plane!"

"I'm very sorry ma'am, but federal aviation regulations do not permit you to board the aircraft."

"Excuse me sir, I have two children on the plane, what do you expect me to do?"

"I don't know ma'am, but you cannot board the aircraft."

We just stood there looking at one another listening to my baby screaming from inside the plane.

I was nearly in tears but truthfully, I was too panicked to even think of crying! 

I thought to ask the flight attendant to please help me, but they had all disappeared.  Thankfully, at that moment, a female entered the ramp from the stairway outdoors.  I quickly explained that my six-year-old was alone on the plane with my one-year-old baby and she entered the plane and retrieved the kids and all of our things.  At this point I was literally shaking and trembling due to a mixture of bitter cold and adrenaline/flight.  I profusely thanked the woman over and over.  I expected the woman to be disgusted with the man, but instead, they both very brusquely ushered me to the terminal.  I thanked the woman very kindly again for helping me and she shut the door in my face.

Heck, it was better then our outbound flight!

The adventures didn't end there though...

I rang my girlfriend who was coming to pick us up.  She answered and quietly told me she was in the car and was being detained by the police because she was a possible terrorist suspect!  She had pulled into a firehouse station near the airport and parked in the visitor's parking spot to watch a DVD on Islam as she awaited my phone call.  Someone had dialed 911 and said they saw someone suspicious outside the airport...

The officer arrived without her noticing and had reached the minivan and saw through the wondow that she was watching a 'questionable' video and there began her troubles.

The officer finally agreed to let her go but she put her phone up so I could hear the lecture he gave her about the importance of not participating in suspicious activity near the airport and the importance of paying to park in the airport parking ramp.

The drive home was wonderful!

Ninety minutes of uninterrupted adult conversation with a good friend...

Gotta love it!

Then we woke up the next day and the temperature never rose above the teens.

Not loving it anymore...

So my dd Maya (6) and I got a few groceries today then headed for the thrift store.  We stopped at an intersection where a middle-aged woman sat with her sign asking for any food donations while her son slept peacefully all hunched over in his stroller next to her.  I felt terrible and envisioned myself and my three girls in such a situation.  I asked dd if we should give them one of the two packages of graham crackers we had just bought.  She thought that was the best idea ever so I waved the lady over to the van and passed her the crackers.  "God bless you!" was her courteous and heartfelt reply.  Imagine my surprise when her son suddenly stretched and stood up off the stroller and it was a DOG!!!  We have been laughing about it for hours...

Today we spent a lovely day at Balboa Park.  We spent most of our day in the Museum of Man.  They had several different exhibits happening including:

1. Egyptian mummies,
2. Evolution of man, monkey, and robot,
3. Genes, DNA, and human development
4. Guatemalan weaving
5. Mayan culture
6. Human mutilation (tattoos, piercings, etc)

My good friend Kristen (who had earlier in the week inspired an incredulous interest in how man came from monkeys), our two friends Chaz and Nate, myself, Maya, and Trina and Lila all made a day of it.  We even had a fun picnic lunch out on the patio midday.  It was good.  Maya LOVED it!  Her favorite parts were dressing up in the Egyptian clothing in the childrens' area and taking photos and also the archaeological dig where we hunted for bones in the sand.  We took many photos and left exhausted after a nearly 5 hour stay!

Today we had the opportunity to tour Greenpeace's largest vessel "Esperanza" which was docked for a day at the Broadway Pier here in San Diego, CA. 

We were shocked to learn about the phenomenon of trash vortexes in the ocean's currents.  Apparently, Greenpeace scientists and workers have just toured one such vortex right off one of the Hawaiian islands.  These are naturally occurring vortexes created by the ocean currents.  In these certain spots, trash (plastic to be exact) is just swirling around in giant masses.  The vortex off the coast of Hawaii is larger then the state of Texas!!!  I just can't even wrap my brain around that one... 

We got to see photographic images taken by the crew during the past year's voyage which were strung up on both sides of the ship.  One side of the ship showed us the beauty and splendor of the sea and it's creatures, while the other side showed the destruction, the pollution, and the tragedy.  It was really sad.  One photo that stands clear in my mind were the contents of a dead albatross's stomach.  We could make out several different colored plastic soda lids, different shapes and sizes of broken pieces of plastic something or another, a plastic wheel from some sort of toy, and a little plastic toy soldier!

We also learned of the deaths of whales and other plankton eating creatures due to the ingestion of such large quantities of the aforementioned plastics in the sea.  All that plastic trash in the sea breaks down into the tiniest bits and fragments which then become part of the swirling mass of plankton.  Sea animals which live off the plankton are digesting this plastic in such amounts that they are literally dying of starvation due to lack of nutrition.  Other animals are choking to death on bits of plastic.

Although I try to live as ecologically as possible, I am ashamed.  What a travesty of justice to the sea.  It is truly disgusting.  What an eyeopener.

Great news!

Our good friends here in Ocean Beach took us thrift store shopping all over town on Saturday.  I found a nice double stroller for $29.99.  I took it up to the counter and it was 25% off so I ended up paying $22.50!  Take that SunCountry!  I reupped on a better stroller and will walk away with $37.50 for my troubles.  Like I always say, "Everything always works out in the end".

P.S.  The weather is great!

So, thinking I had such successes with the last two flights we embarked upon, I decided to fly solo with Maya 6, Trina 1, and Lila 1, from Minneapolis to San Diego.  The flight is but 3 ½ hours, and the way I think about it, they are only 3½ hours out of my whole entire life.  My oh my, how 3 ½ hours can last and last and last... I was lucky in that the worst for my neighbors was the non-stop kicking of two of their seats (I apologized in advance) and one fourth of a grilled cheese sandwich hurled across the aisle and up one row to a grumpy old man.  He lived.  The twins were unruly.  They didn't want to sleep, they didn't want to sit with Mom, they didn't want to keep their voices low, they threw pretzels, Triscuits, and grilled cheese everywhere... It wasn't pretty.  We finally arrived (as the flight attendants gathered the empty vodka containers of most everyone around us!) and waited patiently to be the last ones off the plane.  I (with my purse, two carry-on backpacks, and a carseat in hand) pushed my tribe up on ahead of me trying to reach the exit ramp where our double stroller awaited us.   Lo and behold... No double stroller (can you feel my heart sinking?).  I helplessly search around for help and find the lone flight attent who had served (or shall I say endured) us the entire flight.  I told her our double stroller was MIA.  She opened the door to the outside ramp to speak with the baggage carrier who promptly carried up my stroller in one hand and the front left wheel of my stroller in the other hand (Now can you feel my heart sinking?).  Now, imagine me balancing two crying 1 year olds in a broken stroller, carrying a purse, two carry-on backpacks, a carseat, and trying to get my 6 year old to stop dawdling all the way to the baggage claim.  Can you?  Can you imagine?  So, I get my bags off the conveyor belt, then I leave my friends who have come for us with my bags and the babies in the stroller as I head for the damage claim center.  Suddenly, I hear my babies screaming bloody you know what!  I turn back, and the stroller has tipped on it's side and the babies are fallen over the edge yet stuck by their feet in the stroller!!! 

End of story.  We make it home, I file a claim, and SunCountry gives me a lousy $60 toward the purchase of a new double stroller.  So here I am, no husband, no car, three small children, a check for $60 which will arrive in 2-4 weeks, and no stroller.  It was 70 and sunny today though.  Things could be a lot worse.

Well, we recouped most of the money from her first prize winnings at the  Halloween party we went to this afternoon!  FUN!  I love it when good things happen to her.

This afternoon my dh asked me to buy more of that new white cheese.  I told him I hadn't bought any new white cheese that we had the same old mozzarella and cheddar I always bring home.  He insisted, then pulled out an empty wrapper of cream cheese from the trash bin to show me.  He emphatically told me, "I made quesadillas last night after work and they were sooo good!" 

I'm sure it is pleasing eating a full pound of cream cheese...

Here are my responses to Ponderings from My Heart's thoughtful questionnaire.

1. How long ago did you start blogging and why did you start?

I just started this month.  I started because I have three empty baby books (one for each child).  I'm just not motivated to write with a pen.  I thought maybe I could try to get it all done on the keyboard.

2. How did you come up with your username/URL address?

LisaLovesMaya - I love my 1st dd Maya (I might have to think about changing this before dd 2 and 3 get a complex!)

3. What do you enjoy most about blogging?

Revisiting the best and worst parts of my day.

4. What makes one blog stand out to you from all the others?

Humor and unique perspectives.

5. On an average how long does it take you to write a post for your blog?

5-15 minutes.

6. What has changed in your life since you started blogging?

I have something new to look forward to everyday!

7. Does your family support you (if so how) or do they think you're a blog addict?

My dh believes I am addicted to the computer.  I just might be.

8. Have you ever gotten a negative comment?  If so, how did you deal with it?

I have never gotten a comment period!

9.How often do you check your blog for new comments?

Everytime I post a new entry.

10. Do you have a blogging tip you can share?

I love the concept of blogging because it truly is 'writing about what you know'.  You can't hardly fail writing about the life and times you share with those you love and enjoy.

If you answer the secret question that's here but not written out, you get entered twice!

I am definitely a late night blogger!!!

Have fun!

I have always marvelled and wondered at women who tell me about their children up all night puking all over their bed, their pajamas, and themselves.  One woman actually told me that she layered the childrens' beds like casseroles: mattress pad, fitted sheet, mattress pad, fitted sheet, mattress pad, fitted sheet.  I couldn't even wrap my brain around that one.  My dd who is now six has never puked in her bed.  I couldn't even imagine what I would do?  Well, now I know. 

I will take off the soiled sheets, the wet mattress pad, change the nasty pajamas, wash up the dirty face, remake the bed, put clean pajamas on the child, then lie the child down with clean blankets, bless the child, and turn off the light.  Then after throwing all nasty items into the washing machine, I will return to the child's room, strip the dirty sheets, take off the soiled mattress pad, remove wet pajamas, wash dirty puked on hands, and pluck off puked on blankets.  I will the  proceed to layer the crib like a casserole:  mattress pad, fitted sheet, mattress pad, fitted sheet, mattress pad, fitted sheet.  Put double pajamas on the baby and skip the blankets altogether.  Poor little thing.  I think it's going to be a long long night...

So, three weeks ago, dd 6 found THE PERFECT cat costume at Walmart.  I was in a hurry and didn't want to spend the full price on the costume and promised her we would get the costume later when the price dropped.  Well, after several weeks of trying to talk her into using some existing leotards and such to create our own cat costume, we finally had to go get a costume as we had a Halloween party today.  We went to every store in town and none of them had any cat costumes.  I was getting a little worried at this point, because I still didn't want to spend the $18.86 on the original perfect costume, and we hadn't found anyting!  The Halloween party was in 2 hours.  We finally ended up at Walmart by default.  I was grumbling to myself about spending so much money on such foolishness.  Imagine my surprise when we couldn't find the cat suit anywhere.  They had sold the entire rack of them.  Dd wandered from rack to rack more and more gloomily, head drooping more and more, slouching and moving more slowly.  I felt terrible.  I asked her what she wanted to do and she replied, "I guess we'll just use the black leotard like you wanted, Mom."  Just like that.  Not sassy nor rude, just defeated.  My heart sank.  We slowly walked toward the exit of Walmart not saying a word, shuffling along, when we noticed one last rack of costumes just in the entryway of the store.  Dd fingered some of the costumes as we passed them, her face blank and void of emotion.  Suddenly, she straightened up and her face lit up like nothing I've ever seen before!  "Mom!!! Here it is!!! Oh, Mom, I love it so much! I'm so glad we found it!"  Everything let go and relaxed inside me. 

It was the best $18.86 I have ever spent.

We miraculously made it to the party on time as well.

Imagine my cat (dd 6) and my two little bees (twin girls - 20 months) bowling...

It was a hoot.  Thank goodness for bumpers!

It has been a long week full of quarreling.  My dh and I, my dd and I, my dh and dd... The twins (20 mos) have just recently become quite naughty to top it off!  Or maybe that is the original stress which has enflamed the quarreling!?

This week they have intentionally ripped off my plastic window weatherproofing on several windows, poured water into the heat register, on the floor, and into numerous plates/bowls of food, pulled chairs to the kitchen counter to get knives out to try and cut up their own apples and watermelon, pulled the coffee table to the TV to reach up and knock the VCR off the top of the TV, unrolled the entire roll of toilet paper numerous times, used kitchen chairs to get up onto the kitchen counter and into the cupboard to open a box of crackers which they deftly scattered all over the floor in one smooth motion, and did I mention turning on the gas on our stovetop allowing it to run all night long?  This last act is what set off the quarreling.  We could have died.  It was all my fault for not watching them.

Instead I was arguing about math with dd 6.

She thinks math is boring.  Not boring because she understands it and it is therefore easy, boring because she is not interested in learning new math concepts.  We have tried several different curriculi, and even gave up on formal curriculi and just measured and talked about numbers in our day-to-day which actually was just fine.  But... I'm attached to the curriculi so we tried Miquon one more time - just to be sure.  All of a sudden we came to a FUN page!  I'm not sure what made it so fun, but dd was super excited and quickly finished the entire lesson then was super duper excited to see the next two pages conained the same style of exercises!

Bravo!  We had fun with math tonight and she can't wait for math tomorrow!  I just hope the rest of the book has that same exercise over and over and over and over...

And that the twins wake up in the morning to the Voice Of Reason!

We had a blast at HistoryFest last week.  The twins got to stay with Grandma and Grandpa for the day, so sweet Maya girl got Ma's full attention for the day.  We got to see a real covered wagon and see how people carried their tools and belongings.  We got to see how butter was made and took our turn at shaking the container of cream.  We saw a knight in shining armor.  We enjoyed a bellydancing performance although Maya could not be persuaded to join their bellydancing mini-class.  We walked across a troll bridge and Maya crawled through the troll tunnels.  We saw how candles are made, but didn't get a chance to practice ourselves.  We took a lecture on gun safety and saw a real rifle fired in front of us with real gunpowder.  Maya took her chance at throwing a tomahawk.  We pumped water from the river using an old-fashioned firemens' water pump then Maya got the chance to put out the real raging house fire.  Struggling with an 8' long saw, Maya and I sawed off a chunk of a log then had the blacksmith burn a shamrock symbol into the wood for us.  It is now in our yard!  We also had the opportunity to throw the AtlAtl which was used to hunt wooly mammoths back in the day!  What a wonderful opportunity for all our kids here.  We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves until our toes were numb.  The day was about 42º, sleety/snowy, and windy.  It was excellent nevertheless.

A good way to shake off the stress of the sad loss of our faithful 1999 Saturn car that took such good care of us for so many wonderful years.  We love you, Baby!