My 8 Kidlets - Homeschool Blogger

Alexandra news

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 11:19:00 -0500

Warning -- Alexandra has a driver's license! Please email for her driving times so that you can plan accordingly to stay home during those hours!
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She got her haircut today and doesn't like it because, "It makes me look old! I look like Mama!" Thanks, dear.
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And I will leave you with one final, unexplained quote from Alexandra. (To try to give you context or explanation would take too long and wouldn't be funny anyway. Just let it stand alone. And know that trying to understand Alexandra is sometimes impossible!)

"God gave men shoulders for bearing burdens and women hips for bearing children!"

Skating, Sickness and Service

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 11:26:00 -0500

Quick note on my health to start. Thank you all for your continued prayers. My rheumatologist has given up on me and advised I see a pain specialist. She worked with me for over two years. But either the meds did not help me or, most often, I had side effects and could not continue with her prescriptions. But my hope was never in her anyway - I will look unto the hills from whence cometh my help. My hope is in the Lord. If painfree is not His best for me, then I don't want it.
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Yesterday we finally took Abigail out for her chosen birthday activity with Daddy and Mama - ice skating! I know what you're thinking and you are absolutely right! We're a little late, Abigail's birthday being in July. But this was more difficult to arrange, requiring a free Saturday afternoon (ha!) and me feeling well enough (a bigger ha!). (As a matter of fact, we did better with Abigail's than Sophia's. She had wanted an afternoon playing in the park with Daddy & Mama. That required all of the above plus good weather. Sadly, after months, she changed her request to dinner at Olive Garden.)

This was only Abigail's and Jay's second time ice skating. Abigail went at the beginning of this year and was doing quite well yesterday. She has not yet perfected stopping. She's content to bodyslam herself into the boards! I was teaching her how to stop properly but we had to leave before she got it. Bummer. I had hoped to move her on to skating backward. But she really had no interest at all in trying that yet.

Jay says he & I went about 23 years ago - his only other time. I don't remember that. But that's also the last time I had gone. We were both nervous. That first step out was shaky, but I quickly remembered the basics and coached him on finding your center of balance on ice skates. I was easily able to skate all around, even backwards. But as the afternoon went on, I realized that that and slowing/stopping was about all I remembered. I had taken lesons long enough to have learned quite a bit more. I was not adventurous enough to try any more right now, though!

Jay did quite well for his first time. All right, he did fall 3 times but he only told us at the very end of the day that his skates were bruising his ankles terribly. He should have tried relacing or gotten a new size. Poor guy. He though they hurt only because it was all new to him. I'm amazed that he did so well under those conditions! When I first stepped on the ice, my ankles hurt like that and I was seeing stars - and I had had a large dose of painkillers to be able go out at all! A re-lace fixed it all for me. I so wish that I had known how much his hurt. It would have been so easy to fix.

Instead, he needed frequent breaks and we had to leave sooner than planned. Afterward, we went to Steak n Shake and ate decadently! Burgers, fries and shakes - Mint Oreo, Butterfinger and Snickers. It was way too good!

Right now, Ethan, Alexandra and Emma have a bad cold. At church yesterday, they announced that a terrible stomach bug was going around there (about 1/2 hr from where we live) and that the schools were having 25% absentee rate. That spread around here last year (or was it the year before). I told the kids that if anyone brought it home from church, they'd have to sleep in the garage!!
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I have begun once-a-month cooking again. Tried it decades ago, but did not have the $ to buy all the groceries at once. And now, I also have lots of helpers. Our first cooking day was exhausting. But I learned much about how to improve the next one. It has been wonderful to have fresh, home-cooked meals all the time with so little work each night! We have to learn to plan ahead a bit better, though, and thaw a few days in advance.
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And for a final groan: Madeline plans to start Christmas cookie baking this week.

Ummm - that didn't sound right!

Thu, 3 Sep 2009 13:36:00 -0500

(Grrrrr! This is the third time I writing this entry - my computer has already eaten it twice! It amuses me less each time I write it.)

Last night, we were discussing this poll, What Do You Think About
Males Wearing Pink? (see www.homeschoolblogger.com/carpebanana). Madeline tried to explain her answer with a real life example. "I saw a really ripped waiter wearing a pink shirt and he pulled it off!"
Much hilarity erupted, as Madeline brightened to a lovely shade of pink!
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Another one of those, 'Did-I-really-just-say-that?'-moments --
Me: So then she looked at me like I had just grown a third head!
Eliza: Uh, Mama, does that mean you had already grown a second one?!
Huh. I say that all the time, but had never thought about it before. It most definitely begs that very question!

[I then had to research it - to prove to myself that this was indeed an English idiom used by others and not another symptom of the senility that continues to annex more and more of my poor, old brain.

The best explanation I found linked it to the ancient Greek mythological monster, the hydra, a many-headed beast. If a head was cut off, a new one promptly took its place. In addition, one of the heads was immortal. All of which made it a tricky enemy. Hercules managed to vanquish it, though, by cauterizing the stumps after the head-ectomies and burying the immortal head. I am guessing that the idiom references the shocked bewilderment of the early hero-wannabes as they watched that third head (said by some to be the immortal one) regrow.]
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Emma: Hey!! Who was that? (getting blank stares, she continued) A man just walked through our yard and went toward the garage!
Looking out the window, we see no one.
Emma: I know I saw him! He was wearing a hat with safety pins all over it!
Now we all look at Emma *like she just grew a 3rd head!*.
Emma: (with a simple grin) Oh please don't take my delusions from me! They're quite delightful!
Jay: Now, Emma, your mind's a dangerous neighborhood that you should never go into alone!
(Just Like Heaven)
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Exciting things are happening!

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 13:20:00 -0500

First, let me reassure you that I am not letting Alexandra type this entry! She suggested that I begin with "dirt don't eat dirt" or, should I not like that title, "flying pigs are tasty"! Now, aren't you glad that she's not writing any more than that?!

Next, Andrew & Sarah are all moved in to their new place - only 3 hours from us! ( I am sorry that it is not closer to her family, for her sake and for theirs. Been there, done that, doing it again. ) And to top that off, Andrew called that very night to tell us, "God just dropped a job in my lap!" Work was a very big concern for them and this is exciting news. Please pray with us that God will also provide quickly for Sarah. She has applied for a Financial Aid position there at the seminary. That would make things so much easier for both of them.

And finally, in a surprising development, Miss Madeline is a'courtin'! Jesse F. requested permission from both the young lady and her father to court her. Both happily consented. Yes, they are young, 18 & 19. So this is to be a long courtship, unless the Lord leads either to bow out. I hope their family is as happy as we are. I do know that some of his sisters have been scheming for this very thing for years!! They especially seem to be a very good match spiritually, both very eager in their love for the Lord and their quest to grow in holiness.

Jesse is from our previous church so this will be long-distance. For the time being, any trips made will probably need to be undertaken by the young man as I do not foresee being strong enough to travel that far for quite some time. Right now, we are trying to stop the daily migraines I've been having for the past 6 weeks or so. My, how the Lord keeps me dependent upon Him. Anything He uses to that end, though it involves much pain, is still a good thing and I thank Him for it!

My parents have been here for about 10 days to help while the teens were at Worldview Academy. They surprised us since I had asked them not to come. I did not want them to make that long trip, particularly since they just got back from Melissa's in CO. But I am very glad they came. It has been wonderful to have their help and company! We hate to see them go.

The musings of a sufferer

Sun, 12 Apr 2009 17:57:00 -0500

I have oodles of fun stuff to tell you -- but not tonight. Instead, I just have to say something that is very hard to say and may be very hard to hear. All of you, except for the random blog-surfer, know that I have been dealing with the chronic pain of fibromyalgia for years. Recently, God has seen fit to add cervical pain (arthritis and a bulging disc) also. I very much appreciate all your prayers and encouragement over these difficult months. (I am over the bout of exhaustion that hit after a whirlwind holiday and wedding season. Yea!)

I do not like pain. Who does? It has been very, very difficult for me to accept that, unless God intervenes, I will be in pain every day for the rest of my life. Most of my days are "tolerable" with Vicodin. I never wanted to start with pain meds, but without it, I can't function. Even with it, I have to scale back my activities. That frustrates me. But my comfort in all of this is that God is in control, that His love for me is boundless and that all of my circumstances are for my good and for His glory!

But on the really bad days, nothing helps. On those days, which are only a few times a month, I am tempted to despair. And my life looms in front of me as an unending sea of pain. At those times, I feel like a caged dog surrounded by horrible, hate-filled little boys who sadistically stab at me with sticks. I run round and round in my "cage", trying to find some escape or some refuge. But there is none. The pain continues with no help in sight. I long to be pain-free again. Sometimes I forget what it felt like.

I have thought long and hard about it all. It has made heaven all the more real and wonderful to me. I wonder how glorious that first moment will feel. I believe that I will be amazed at how great I will feel, having gotten used to living in pain. I think that my first thought will be, "I didn't realize how much pain I had every day!" But then I think that perhaps I won't give my physical body any thought at all, that I will be too enraptured by the Love, the Joy and the Glory of my Savior and King!

The really bad days have also led me to ponder the reality of he** - an eternity of unbelievably bad days that defy my imagination here. Real physical pain that never eases, never abates. There will be no such thing there as finally having paid for all your sins and getting out. The torment of he** is not based on how good or bad we've been here. God's requirement for heaven is, always has been and always will be perfection! Justice demands that an offense against the infinitely holy, infinitely good, infinitely righteous God deserves infinite punishment. We can never work that off in this life or the next. That's why we need a Savior - we have all earned he**! We can never save ourselves! Only by believing that Jesus, God the Son, lived a perfectly holy life, pleasing in every way to God the Father, and died in your place, can you get into heaven. The Bible speaks of it in accounting terms. All of Christ's perfection can be transferred to your account. And in return, He has taken on all of your sins. And paid for them by dying on the cross. God will exchange your "account" for Jesus', stamping "Paid in Full" on your bill! You can appear at heaven's gate having been declared perfect in God's sight!

In the midst of great pain, on those bad days of mine, I think constantly on this. My heart aches almost more than my body. I actually feel it, my chest is so heavy. I know that my bad day will end. I know that there will come a day when I will be set free from this body of pain; this body of sin. I hate, hate, hate that tormented, caged dog feeling. I hate knowing that I will never be free of my pain in this life. But, oh so much more, I hate thinking that anyone I know would ever have to face an eternity of inescapable pain! I just can't tell you how much that thought hurts!!

Hard words, I know. How much I would love to pretend it was otherwise. But that would not change who God is or what His Word tells us is Reality. I am not thinking of anyone in particular ~ only God Himself, and yourself, can know your heart, can know if that "account exchange" has taken place. His love for His children is overflowing! All we have to do is ask!

I did not want to talk about this; especially not on this blog. I have said from the beginning that this would not be filled with my thoughts and musings, only with the antics of the children. But all of this was becoming too much to keep inside any longer. And Easter brought it all out! The joy of Christ's death for me, for my children and for my husband, the glory of His victory over death in His rising from the dead actually hurt as they were juxtaposed with knowing that most of humanity will not choose to accept His free gift; will end up enduring endless pain far beyond mine, rather than humbly and gratefully "trade accounts" with Him. I know that that might include some of you. And so I weep and I beg you now to think long and hard about this, pray about it and maybe even read the book of John or Romans. And talk to me, to any of us, if we can help! We pray weekly for all of you; we'd love to pray with you, if you'd like.

If anyone has actually read this all the way through -- thank you!!!! Oh how I pray for God's greatest blessing on you. And I know that anyone of you might be upset by this. I hope not. That was not my intent at all. But I could not live with this burden any longer. There may be someone who needed to read this. I love you.

Johnny Horton

Wed, 4 Mar 2009 19:47:00 -0600

Madeline (as Johnny Horton's Battle of New Orleans played): This is the very first song I ever made up an interpretive dance for!

Abigail: Yeah. And I was always the alligator that got its behind powdered!!

The Craisin

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 19:15:00 -0600

This is Alexandra. This is a poem that I wrote. I parodied it off of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven". As with all proper parodies, this poem is almost entirely sputtered forth from my own mind, but you can try to pick out the lines that I left in there from the original poem.

EDIT

I've now attached a link to the real poem here: http://www.heise.de/ix/raven/Literature/Lore/TheRaven.html so you can see the difference.

Once upon a midnight funky, I woke up and got the munchies

My stomach was grumbling so I went to the kitchen quietly

While I tip-toed, nearly soaring, suddenly I heard a snoring

As of someone gone exploring--exploring out loud their own dreams

" 'Tis my father," I muttered. "Snoring loudly in his sleep."

Only Father--Certainly

Ah, distinctly I do recall, it was the hottest month of Fall

'Cause as I opened up the fridge, the chilly air felt good to me

Eagerly I wished the morrow;--really I thought just to borrow

From my mom's supply of food oh--food enough to set at ease

My stomach couldn't wait a few more hours 'till breakfast to eat

"Just a small snack, Certainly!"

The fridge was humming like a bird, but the snoring now became absurd

Thrilled me--filled me with fantastic terrors! I was jittery

So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating

" 'Tis my father entreating breathing rather noisily

Surely Father's entreating breathing rather noisily

This is it, Certainly!"

Presently my soul grew stonger; hesitating then no longer

"Dad," said I. "You're snoring loudly again and it's bugging me."

But the fact is the snoring, the noise I was ignoring,

Was so faintly decerned at first, that I thought, "My dad indeed!"

I was very much mistaken. It came from the kitchen, see?

It came from there, Certainly!

Back into the kitchen gliding--making food; still slinking, hiding

Hungry, cooking things no mortal dared to cook or eat

But the pie that I was hacking, much ingredients was lacking

And the only food that I would allow to fill my tummy

Would be Peanuts, Chocolate, and Crasins: in the oven--yummy!

Trail mix pie, Certainly

Grinning, to the cupboard turning, my poor stomach in me burning

Soon I heard again the snoring, somewhat like a whiney wheez

"Surely" said I. "Surely that is the hinge on the cabinet

Let me see, then, what thereat is, and what this all must be

Let my heart be still a moment, and what this is let's see.

'Tis the oil, Certainly!"

Open here I flung the cupboard, when, with many a flirt and flutter

The bag of craisins spilled upon the counter, the one nearest me

And the least wrinkled craisin, the biggest, reddest craisin,

Rolled most smoothly to the oven, 'till the force of Gravity

Or something like Inertia, caused him to stop effectively

He stopped short most Certainly

Then this scarlet fruit beguiling my sad fancy into smiling

By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance wore he

"Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou," I said "art sure a craisin

Ghastly grim and ancient craisin, wandering from the nightly sea

Tell me what thy lordly name is on the night's Plutonian sea!"

Quoth the Craisin, "Certainly"

Though it's answer little meaning--little revelancy bore

Much I marvelled this ungainly food to hear discourse so plainly

For we cannot help agreeing that no living human being

Ever yet was blessed with seeing food upon his kitchen scene

Snack or feast upon the white stove resting in his kitchen scene

With such a name as "Certainly"

But that Craisin, sitting lonely on that placid stove, spoke only

That one word, as if his soul in that one word he did plea

Nothing further then he uttered--'Till I scarcely more than muttered

"A craisin's a craisin, buttered or battered, tastes good to me

And I wonder how he'd like to be in my pie specially?"

Then the Craisin said, "Certainly!"

Startled at the stillness broken by reply so aptly spoken

"Doubtless," said I "what it utters is the only word knows he

Caught by some unhappy farmer, whom unmerciful the charmer

Followed calm and followed calmer, 'till his wrinkles sunk in deep

'Till the dirges of his Hope, the wrinkles sunk in way too deep

Of a certain--Certainly!"

But the Craisin still beguiling all my sad soul into smiling

Straight I wheeled a wicker-seat in front of food and stove and me

Then, upon the wicker sinking, I betook myself to linking

Fancy unto fancy, thinking what this wrinkled mess of history

What this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt, and wrinkled mess of history

Meant in croaking, "Certainly"

This I sat engaged in guessing, but no syllable expressing

To the snack whose firery eyes now burned into the heart of me

This and more I sat divining, with my head at ease reclining

On the pokey wrickety seat that kept slicing, goring me

But that pokey wrickety seat I think I'll throw out Tuesday

I shall pitch it Certainly!

Then, methought, the air grew smokey, wafting upwards made me chokey

Coming from forgotten oven--my pie was burnt hopelessly

"Wretch!" I cried. "My pie is ruined!--My midnight snack is ruined!

Burnt to a crisp and completly unfit to eat, even by me!

Burnt to a crisp and blacker than the blackest of ebony!"

Quoth the Craisin, "Certainly!"

"Aw man!" said I. "It's your fault!--You made me forget!

I should never have opened the cupboard. Curse my curiosity!

Desolate yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted--

On this home by horror haunted--I implore--tell me truly

Were you--were you the snoring one? I implore--tell me--tell me!"

Quoth the Craisin, "Certainly"

"Aw man!" said I. "It's your fault!--You made me forget!

If it wasn't for you--you Craisin!--I could've been full and happy

Tell this soul with sorrow laden, if within the distant Eden,

It shall clasp some food not eaten--that's the future I shall see

Clasp a rare and radiant dinner--that's the future I shall see."

Quoth the Craisin, "Certainly."

"Be that word our sign of parting, fruit or fiend!" I shrieked upstarting

"Jump then up into my clenched fist and do see to it speedily!

Leave no grease spot as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken

Leave my loneliness unbroken!--Quit the stove and away from me!

I'll eat you! I don't care if Mom needs you in a recipie!"

Quoth the Craisin, "Certainly"

Since the Craisin tasted so good, I ate the rest of his neighborhood

Now my stomach--full and satisfied--has finally let me go to sleep

To my parents I am seeming to be very happily dreaming

But my mind to me is screaming this wise suggestion--That we

Next time, upon my stomach's pain, to order pizza simply

Stay in bed! Certainly!

Beau Brummel?

Sun, 23 Nov 2008 08:14:00 -0600

Ethan's shirt was very wrinkled this morning as we got ready for church. Not having time to iron it, I handed him his jacket. "Guess you're wearing this today."

Ethan: ~sighs~ The last time I wore this, everybody kept saying how nice I looked! Cooper even said I looked like I wsa wearing a tuxedo! I was like, Dudes!! It's just a jacket!

Me: ... Have you ever heard of the saying, 'The clothes make the man'?

E: No.

Me: It means that people think good things about you when you wear nice clothes.

E: (disgusted) Well, I don't want people talking about me like that!

A request for information!

Mon, 3 Nov 2008 16:26:00 -0600

First, for Linda C - Hi! I lost your addresses when our last computer died suddenly. Can you email me? I'd love to reconnect with you guys!

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Secondly,

Alexandra is very interested in computers. She took Andrew's very old, very dead one and took it apart and resurrected it. But she did it all through a kind of instinctive trial and error. She doesn't know what she did or why it worked! We'd love to get her some guided, hands-on experience.

Any ideas? -- some kind of "kit" or book? a class? I am hoping that someone can help us out from their own experience because we are all technologically ignorant and really don't know where to start.

Thanks!!

Ethan's Book

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 03:16:00 -0500

As the oldest 4 are writing novels for English this year (using the great curriculum Learn to Write the Novel Way), everyone has decided to write books! (I think I may need to open a separate blog just for their stories!)

Here is one that Ethan just finished. Everything is exactly as he wrote it. You should also know that each section is on a separate page.

Ethan's Family Book

dAddY

Encoregis me to do my scoolwork

*****

MAMA

cook's good food

*****

ANdREW

let me play with his star wars legos

*****

MAdALIN

is vary funny and wierd thats wy I like her

*****

ALEXANdRA

bey's pop-corn (Im a cub scout)

*****

ABIGAL

sings nice songs

*****

EMMA

trise to make pece in the famale

*****

SOPHIA

say's some word's rong like oun time she said america lincon evrebody lafged

*****

ELIZA

shard her birthday gifts with evre oun

*****

EtHAN

I am the oun hoo rohtge this book I hope you like it