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Love and Legos
Sep. 2, 2006
I'm not very consistent, am I?
So I haven't updated in a while, huh? Oh, well. I had a feeling it would go like that.
Some updates: School has started again! Stefan is in 5th grade, Benjamin is in K, Joel is still a preschooler and Lucas is officially now a toddler! Yes, he's walking around all over the place.
I've made new schedules for school this year, which I'll try to upload. I even have one for our entire day, and another for Saturdays. Boy did I make a list for Saturdays. Oh boy. You have to see it to understand. 
While i wasn't blogging, I was writing a couple of articles for Howtodothings.com. That was neat. They pay in gift certificates. Eric is writing too, and we've bought some homeschool books from overstock.com with our earnings. 
I'll update more in a little bit (what do you mean YEAH RIGHT?) after breakfast.
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Feb. 18, 2006
New Scientific Discovery: House Flies Can Teleport!
We've
had an awful fly problem since we moved into this house last
September. The number of flies we kill on a nice warm day is
unbelievable. In the hundreds. We've worn out 4 flyswatters
in 5 months, and tried various other remedies like flypaper (very hard
to get out of your long hair when you accidentally walk into one!) and
vinegar traps (turns out they work on the wrong kind of fly) and
ziplock bags full of water on the front door (the tape wouldn't hold
for longer than 10 minutes, and besides that I worried that if it
worked I might be practicing some sort of voodoo, which isn't a very
Christian thing to do).
And
we just couldn't figure out how they were getting into the house!
At first we figured it was because the boys were always leaving the
doors hanging wide open. But when we sealed the house and made a
law whereby anyone under the age of 31 had to be let in or out by an
adult, the flies still came. So we closed the glass doors on the
fireplace in case they were coming down the chimney, got rid of the
potted plants in case these were some sort of dirt-nesting flies, and
searched the attic for rotting 'possum corpses and secret entrances
through the ceiling, but to no avail. I was pondering whether
they could be coming through the thin openings on either side of the
brick fireplace, where you can definitely feel a draft on a cold day,
when by pure accident I found the answer.
I
was about to reheat something in the microwave oven when, just as I was
closing the door, one of the pesky critters flew right in there.
At first I was peeved at having to get a fly out of the microwave just
so I could continue on with life, as if it weren't enough that I had to
live my life with a flyswatter in one hand already. Then I was a
little impressed that a creature with no brain could make it through
the door with milliseconds to spare. And then I unimpressed
myself by realizing that if the creature had had a brain it might have
known better than to fly into a microwave that was about to be fired up.
THEN,
FINALLY, I wondered what would happen if I left the fly in there and
went about my business of fixing lunch. So after a tiny bit of
thought, but before I could begin to talk myself out of it, I turned
the knob and pushed the start button, and watched the fly very
carefully. Nothing happened. Seconds ticked by and still
nothing happened. Then, suddenly at about the 9 second mark,
something incredible happened. The fly disappeared.
Poof, he was gone. On the 8th second he was sitting there on the
glass tray seeming perfectly innocent (we all know better) and on the
9th second he was gone.
According
to this completely scientific experiment, I have deduced that a house
fly faced with certain doom is fully capable of teleporting itself out
of a crisis.
My
husband doubted my theory at first, asking why they don't simply
teleport out of the way of a flyswatter. But it's simple.
The life mission of a fly is to torment human beings. Being
swatted is apparently how a fly gets to Fly Heaven. They're
kamikazes. There is no glory in being microwaved to death, so my
Microwave Fly was completely justified in teleporting away from danger.
So now we know how the flies are getting into the house.
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Feb. 14, 2006
Busy Busy Busy! And Happy Valentine's Day!
What a busy few days it has been!
Saturday was a very busy one. Benjy and Joey were invited to a
birthday party at the Fire Station Museum, which included a ride on an
antique fire truck. We just about froze! And Stefan was
invited to another at the movie theater. The other boys and I
went to mom's house for a visit during that one, which was a nice
surprise for mom.
Then Sunday was the 2nd Sunday of the month, which means it was my turn
to teach Children's Church. The kids were all very good this
week. Candace wanted to sing the hymn that everyone else was
singing as we left for class, so the first few minutes were spent
hunting it down in our books. That was nice, and it set the tone
for a happy, peaceful class.
Then it was home for a quick lunch and then lots of cooking for
Eric. He was in charge of several dishes for the Valentine's
Banquet. Everything turned out great, with the possible exception
of his cheesecakes. They tasted great, but because he couldn't
afford the brand name ingredients he usually uses, they looked all
funny. His broccoli and cauliflower au gratin was amazing!
So was everything else. It was a great evening out, and I'm proud
of all the boys for being so good in the nursery. And of all the
church teens, who did a terrific job of serving us during the banquet.
On Monday, the boys finished school in almost record time. I did
overhear friend Candace (age 10) giving Stefan a little advice:
"Just wake up and do all your subjects without taking breaks and you'll
have the whole rest of the day off." And he added that it helps
to just think about the task you're working on, instead of the whole
list of subjects all at once. It seems overwhelming to think of
the whole day's work!
After school, Candace came over to play for a bit, and then we went to
Mom's house and baked goodies with the cousins. We had a great
time baking heart-shaped chocolate chip cookies on sticks and eating
them as soon as they came out of the oven. Poor Aunt Jennie left
"for a few minutes" to buy Valentine presents for her little ones, and
was gone for hours. I can't believe how many people were out for
last-minute Valentine shopping! (We don't do Valentine shopping
at all! It just never occurred to me to buy stuff!) She
also picked up some powdered sugar to make icing for the cookies, but
the only cookie that was left by the time she got back was the one I
had to wrestle away from the kiddoes to save for her! They sure
were yummy. Yes, I ate waaaaaaaaaay too many myself.
The kids also had a wonderful time running around outside. It was
chilly, but that didn't stop them from chasing the goose and throwing
stuff in the lake. (Bread, I think!)
Mom got the kids started making caterpillars out of the egg carton,
after all the baking was done, and they really enjoyed that.
Then Aunt Jenny started a tickle fight. All those kids and all
that sugar soon got out of control, but not too badly. All in
all, it was a great day.
Oh, and poor old Daddy missed out, because he stayed home to do our
taxes. I sure hope he did everything right! Now to wait on
that much-needed check.
Okay, writing this has become difficult, because I'm having to read the
long words to 5 year old Benjamin, who is reading over my
shoulder. And having to explain things like Why I Put So Many A's
in the Word Way, up there in the paragraph about cookies...
So I guess that's enough for now. Besides, the spaghetti is
getting cold. Oh, but the boys still haven't cleared the table
yet!!!
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Feb. 8, 2006
Today
is going fairly well. Eric just came home from fixing Bebe and
Scott's (from church) computer. He gave them a 50% discount,
which I think worked out well both for us and for the Williamses.
I wonder if someone is spreading the news around church that we're in
need of money, because this is two jobs in two weeks. An awful
lot of people (three, but still...) in church mentioned needing
computer work this past Sunday.
Eric
was saying he has a really hard time discussing money. Especially
with people he knows. No trouble spending it! But trouble
asking for it. I wonder why that is. I think I'm the same
way.
While
he was gone, the rest of us finished the day's readalouds. Joey
has the sniffles, so I sprayed Zicam in his mouth. The look on
his face was priceless. 
Breakfast
was oatmeal and, later, toast with butter and honey/jelly/both.
Eric missed breakfast, as he was running out the door to the Williamses
house.
Lunch
was leftover Fish and Rice plus a chicken sandwich (me, and I shouldn't
have eaten so much) and leftover burgers (Eric) and the boys just
weren't hungry yet. They did have some homemade banana ice cream
that Eric made last night from a Good Eats episode. Bananas are
healthy, right? 
I
did talk to Stefan about his rotten attitude of late. His
constant complaining every time I ask something of him has to
stop. I told him that his sinful attitude is affecting the entire
family, and I hope he'll rethink things. It's hard to know how
much of it is the bipolar and how much is plain sinfulness, so I try to
attack it from both fronts. Nobody ever said parenting was
easy. 
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Feb. 8, 2006
3 year olds are weird, but you already knew that.
I
was just sitting here perfecting my Morning and Evening Routines, while
the boys sat at the table avoiding their schoolwork. Okay,
they're making "Toontown Cattlelogs", which means they're drawing all
the things you can buy from their "store" for your "house". They
keep asking me to spell things for them.
9yo Stefan: "How do you spell End Table?" (He really knows this but asks how to spell everything anyway!)
5yo Benjamin: "How do you spell watch?" (And then he labeled it an End Watch. ?!?!?!)
3yo Joel: "How do you spell Indifferent?"
Okay, I just reread this. ALL my kids are weird.
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Feb. 7, 2006
We live where???
Joey
(3yo) didn't want me to "cook" his oatmeal this morning, so I asked if
he meant he wanted me to microwave it instead. He did.
Benjy (5yo) remembered when I used to cook it that way in
Florida. Joey said, "This is Florida." I said, "No, now we live in Mississippi," to which Benjy replied, "No we don't!"
?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
"This is Mistersippi! Mississippi is the one for giiiiiiiirls!"
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Feb. 1, 2006
Slow day...
Today has been a slow, boring day. We didn't even finish school, but really should try to before bed.
The day after Stefan's sleepover at his friends' house, he told me their mom's eggs were even better than mine!  So I called her this morning and got the secret. She puts the cheese in after they're done (aaaaaaaaah!) so that's what I did this morning and got raves from everyone! Benjy even said he likes eggs after all, and so I had to make a second batch!
Then
school should have started, but I wanted to clean the kitchen
first. And one thing kept leading to another and....
We did workbooks but didn't touch the Core.
Church
is in one hour, and we start our Preceps course on I Kings
tonight. I am so thankful that the church is going to give Eric
and me the workbooks this time, because we just can't buy them.
I'm looking forward to the class. Oh dear! I just realized
I need to get out some binders and colored pencils, if the courses are
the same as they used to be.
Eric
is working on a novel. Right this minute he's out in the van somewhere
with his laptop working on it. Hopefully he is one his way home,
because Stefan just said dinner is in 5 minutes. Eric had put a
roast in the oven just before he left.
Today's meals have been:
-Bacon (Wright's brand) and eggs with (Kroger) cheddar cheese
-Apples
-(Hebrew National) salami and (Kroger) cheese sandwiches with butter on (Baker's Inn) whole wheat bread (just me and Stefan)
-Smucker's preserves on the same bread for Benjy and Joel - Eric didn't eat lunch
-toast (same bread) with butter and (Smucker's) preserves
Tonight
will be roast beef with rice and some kind of veggie. Hopefully
we can put together a dessert, because my sister, visiting from China,
is coming over to spend the night.
I
thought I should keep a log of what we're eating, including brand
names, to track these troubles with bipolar and see if I can connect
them with anything.
Oh,
and Stefan cleaned out the guinea pig cage today. He really had a
hard time, and we refused to help him with the work because we honestly
want him to get over the "It's too hard!" mentality. He learned
today that he CAN do it by himself. It ended up helping a lot to
just have Eric stand out there and be an audience. He did decide
that scooping it more often would have made the cleaning job much
easier. Hopefully he'll remember that.
Benjy and Joey filled it with hay and bedding when Stefan was done with
the cleaning. Benjy had started helping with the cleaning when Stefan
was having his, ahem, tantrum, but he got hurt right at the beginning
and I don't think he ever went back out and helped.
I'm
glad we have Stefan learning to do "hard" work. If we don't force
him to, I can see how he'd become very dependent on us.
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Jan. 31, 2006
Math Alert!
I found this on
the Sonlight forums last night and the boys love it. It's a
really neat and totally free game you can download, and it teaches the
multiplication facts. Stefan and Benjy are really enjoying
it. It's called Timez Attack. Be sure to check out the video.
It's just as cool for math as Starfall is
for phonics. If you haven't used that for your little ones, you
must! Joey plays the ABC level every day, and Benjy plays the
Learn to Read level.
I'd love more links to really good free online games for the boys! Anyone?
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Jan. 31, 2006
Update on the money problem
Well, it's technically a "lack of money" problem. I've been reading my devotionals, from My Utmost for His Highest,
and they've really been hitting home. We need to stop worrying
about this. God knows our circumstance and He expects us to give
Him all our worries. You know the verses. So did we, it's
just hard when you have NO money and the groceries are all but gone,
and the bills are late, and the income is no longer coming in...
Well,
we talked about it Saturday (after I had Eric look at the above link,
well the link for those couple of days) and just decided to not
worry. Eric is tossing around the idea of Firefighting. He
talked to Aubrey at church about it and they're hiring right now
(Aubrey is a firefighter). And now he's going to put an ad for
computer repairs in the paper. But we're going to stop acting
desperate and hopeless like we've been doing. I'm going to focus
on Eric and the boys and the housework, and let money be between Eric
and God for now.
After
church Uncle Bill (not a real uncle) asked Eric about a computer
problem and Eric went over to fix it yesterday. It took six
hours, but Eric never minds helping someone out when he can.
Then
Uncle Bill gave him $100! Of course, Eric didn't do it for money,
but he didn't refuse it, saying "I can't say we don't need the
money." Uncle Bill is awesome.
So
God just wants us to surrender. Not to try and make our own way
out of desperation. He has a way planned for us, we just need to
listen. We haven't been listening lately. Well
that isn't true. We've been listening to the people who say, "God
helps those who help themselves," and such like that. People who
mean well but don't quite understand where we are.
Now I'm off to make a grocery list!
By
the way, I highly recommend the above devotional. I put a button
on my taskbar that links to it (how clever of someone to put it
online!), so I can look at it several times a day and click on the
verses to read further, as I have time. This is a great change
for me. Books are hard for me to pick up, and equally hard for me
to put back down again. This is perfect for me.
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Jan. 31, 2006
Help! Attack of the flies!!!
The
flies are driving us crazy. We killed at least 300 in the house
yesterday, and today isn't nearly as bad, but we just can't figure out
why they're so bad. We've never had flies like this before.
We made a trap with vinegar, and they ignored it. I think that's really for fruit flies.
We bought sticky traps. I got my hair stuck in one.
I've even tried taping a ziploc bag filled with water to the
doors. The tape doesn't hold, so I've chosen to assume that it is
as ridiculous as everyone said.
Oh well.
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Jan. 31, 2006
Stefan's first sleepover!
Well,
he has had friends sleep over plenty of times, but on Sunday he spent
the night with his best friends for the very first time. Yay!
He
took Bunny and Bear, of course. And he didn't brush his teeth,
but that won't kill him. He said he had the "best time ever" and
"wasn't even homesick one bit". It probably helped that we were
all there until past bedtime playing Balderdash - fun game - and then
left so suddenly that he didn't have a chance to get all worked up.
His
bipolar flare up is over. Whew! It was a couple of weeks
this time, and I'm sure it was related to Pasquale's Pizza last Sunday
and... whatever else we ate the Sunday before. This week we did
Taco Bell, which is one of our tried and true safe places to eat out.
Anyway, we have our sweet boy, and my sweet husband too, back again. This is much better.
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Jan. 29, 2006
Just a thought...
It occurred to me last night in my Thinking Room (the bathtub!) that:
1. I like my little boy a whole lot more when he isn't in the middle of a bipolar rage,
2. But I love him more when he is.
Strange.
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Jan. 29, 2006
Okay, so maybe I should catch up!
I
thought this might happen. I start a blog and then can't think of
anything to write about. So now it has been a couple or three
weeks since my last entry. I'll try and catch up a bit.
Lucas
still has two teeth, is still almost crawling (but can swivel around
like a lazy susan pretty well!) but has added a new accomplishment -
sitting up with no help! Yay, Lukey! With his cute little
teeth, he has been enjoying homemade baby food once a day or so.
So far we've done butternut squash, carrots, peas, and sweet
potatoes. Besides those things made just for him, he has sampled
green beans and lima beans, a little bit of mashed potatos and probably
a couple of other things from our plates. It's about time to get
a high chair for the little man.
Joey
has been using www.starfall.com (a totally free and completely awesome
internet-based phonics program) almost every day, as well as the Word
Whammer he got for Christmas, which stays on the fridge. I think
he has learned most or all of the letter sounds already in the last few
weeks! Go, Joey! He's also experiencing a growth spurt, and
I've pulled out some nice clothes for him in size 4T from his Box, so
he's looking pretty snazzy on Sundays!
Benjamin
has been busy with his Miquon Orange book, so I've got the Red book
waiting for him now. At the pace he's going, he'll be ready for
Red in three or four weeks, probably. I also realized the other
day that he has progressed way beyond the Get Ready for the Code
workbook he has been slowly working his way through as he's felt like
it, so I've found him a copy of ETC book 1. I think it's a better
fit, so he'll start that on Monday. Well actually he did the
first page today. He also spends a lot of time on starfall.com
and has been reading his Bob Books (level A set 2).
Stefan
has found the Geronimo Stilton series of books, and is loving
them. Finally something he reads on his own, and asks for
more! His friends are loaning him their copies to read for now,
and I've made note of the ones they don't own, so I can buy those and
share back with them. I'm glad they're sharing books that
way. Stefan also had a friend sleep over the other night, which
was great.
We're not getting very far in Core 1 - I need to
push that a little harder, I think. We did a good bit yesterday,
so maybe I'll be able to get us on a good schedule. I'd like to
do 2 "days" of the schedule on the first day, the next 2 "days" on the
2nd day, and then the 5th "day" plus a week of science on the 3rd
day. That would get us through a week of the schedule every 3
school days. That probably made no sense whatsoever, but oh
well... It makes sense to me. 
Unfortunately,
the boys' behavior has been pretty rotten lately. I'm beginning
to get a handle on it now, but it has been a little discouraging
lately. It's probably coming from the stress Eric and I are
dealing with about money. Kids pick up on stress so easily, and
for some reason they're good at multiplying it a hundred fold!
Plus, for some reason the bipolar (both Eric's and Stefan's) has kicked
up a notch and I'm spending a lot of my energy dealing with that.
And if you want to know stress, try spending time in a household with
two bipolar people! (I haven't written about the bipolar yet, but
if you're interested just check back occasionally and I'll get around
to it.) I do know that we must stop
eating out because it's too risky, as far as exposing them to the
chemicals that for some reason set off their rages (artificial colors,
flavors, and preservatives. And also that we need to find a good
doctor within driving distance of our new home.
Well,
it's extremely late so I must get ready for bed. I'll try not to
disappear for so long this time. I'm hoping that I can share our
experiences, including updates on the bipolar, in hopes of helping
other families that are experiencing it. We have some ideas about
bipolar that we think need sharing. So if you're interested,
check back!
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Dec. 29, 2005
Introduction
Well, if I'm going to write about us, I may as well tell you who we are.
We're a homeschooling family in the Mississippi Delta. We've
moved around a bit over the years, but for now we feel like God has led
us back home to Greenville.
For school, we're working our way
through Sonlight's Core 1 wuth PreK on the side, usually our bedtime
stories come from PreK. We use Miquon Math, Singapore Early Bird
Math, Explode the Code, Wordly Wise, Handwriting Without Tears, and I
just ordered some Developmental Math to supplement with. And then
we also use Rosetta Stone for Spanish and Stefan is learning to type
with Typing Tutor Deluxe. A lot of the time, though, the boys are
learning by working on projects, like designing game levels with some
computer program, or playing with computer animation or modeling with
programs like Maya. I like to see them working with K'nex and
legos and tinkertoys and lincoln logs and all sorts of wooden blocks to
build elaborate worlds for their "guys". Occasionally I'll sneak
a Math U See tape into the VCR and watch it draw them in, or a tape
from the Animated Stories from the New Testament series, or a
Schlessinger video from the library. I don't think a kid needs to
be sitting at a table with a stack of textbooks in order to get a good
education. I'd rather surround them with interesting things to
learn and do, and watch them grow in skills and knowledge that
way. Right now I'm looking for a good deal on a Snap Circuits Jr.
set or a technical drawing book that I saw in the Timberdoodle
catalog. I love Timberdoodle. And Rainbow Resources.
For income we're running an eBay store under the name Stebenjoe Books
and Stuff, and we did very well in November and part of December.
We're at the point now where we need to decide which direction to go
with the store: toys, books, miscellaneous stuff from yard sales,
inventory from wholesale suppliers... We've praying for God's
direction and guidance, and so far He has been there opening doors for
us along the way.
I'm Michelle, the learning
coordinator and chore overseer. Eric is the Dad and resident
chef. We have four awesome little boys: Stefan is 9,
Benjamin just turned 5 in December, Joel turned 3 right before that,
and Lucas is the baby, almost 6 months old now. Four blue-eyed
bouncing baby boys. They're all great kids.
Stefan is
our designer guy. He loves designing things with legos, K'nex,
computer programs, pencil and paper, just about anything you can design
with. He also likes to play Toontown and Everquest 2, and hang
out with his buddies. He's a good guy.
Benjy is our
mathemetician. This week he has been figuring out the factors of
all the numbers from 1-11. He used to follow me around asking
"What is 1+2? What's 1+3? What's 1+4?..." And he went
on and on, and asked different patterns like "Mom, what's 2 ones plus
1? What's 2 twos plus 1? What's 2 threes plus 1?..." on up
to 2 twenties plus 1, or more! I think he has a good deal math
figured out, and has been making a math map in his brain since about
the time he turned 4.
Joel is a little artist. He
started drawing way before he was 2, and is pretty good. At that
age he was focused on birthday candles. He would draw dozens of
birthday candles a day. Then he moved on to fire hydrants.
Maybe one of the candles got out of control or something. He wore
out his magna doodle thingy many months ago and I really should have
replaced it. I think he could be a great artist if we keep him
supplied with the right tools. His great passion right now,
though, is cooking. He is in the kitchen, usually sitting on the
countertop, for every meal preparation, start to finish. Lots of
father-son bonding happens in our kitchen these days. With his
artistic skills and love of cooking, he might be the winner of one of
those Pastry Chef Challenges on Food Network someday.
Lucas
isn't even 6 months old yet, so he mostly drools and tries to capture
everyone's attention. He has two teeth and is very close to
crawling, I think. He likes to lie on his tummy in the middle of
the living room and scoot here and there, finding things to put in his
mouth. Lukie loves people. He craves attention, and can
draw a crowd of people with his charming coos and sweet smiles.
He loves Alan Jackson music the way Stefan loved Garth Brooks at that
age, and he thinks he can talk.
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Dec. 29, 2005
First Entry
So.
This is blogging. I think I can do this. Hopefully, I will
periodically come back here and write about our daily adventures, the
cute things little boys come up with to say and do, and maybe I'll add some pictures once
in a while if I get in a photographic mood. This might actually be fun!
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