The Towne House - Homeschool Blogger

Halloween

Fri, 6 Nov 2009 09:22:00 -0600

Our church hosted a Harvest Party. The kids had a lot of fun, playing games & winning candy. :)

After we left (I had to bring Steve home--he had to work that night), I brought the girls to my friend Val's house to go trick or treating. This was the first time my girls had ever been trick or treating. And now I know why. I was exhausted by the time we were done & so were all of the kids! LOL

Here are some pics of the party:

The cookie that Patience decorated for me

Patience getting her face painted by Miss Heidi. I thought she would get a rainbow on her cheek or something...NOT.

The finished product!

Eli helped the little kids play games. He is growing up so fast!

Next!

Patience doing spin art

Maddie, getting her face painted. Quite frankly, seeing her made up like this was disturbing to me, so I didn't take a picture of the end result.

I didn't bring the camera Trick or Treating--it got dark pretty quickly. The girls had a great time (and for those of you wondering, Eli said he didn't want to come. Steve said he changed his mind 2 minutes after we left--oh well!).

TGIF!

Fri, 6 Nov 2009 08:14:00 -0600

It feels like it's been a long week! I taught Sunday School this past week--I enjoy it, but it's a lot of work. Then I had a show Sunday afternoon in Swansea, MA. A bit of a drive, especially if you're a native RI'er. :)

Monday, Patience started to cough. She's been coughing ever since. No fever, though, thank God. Steve had school Monday evening. We ended up cancelling Patience's piano lesson on Tuesday, and she stayed home from art lessons. I ran to the bank while Eli & Maddie were in art. Steve had school Tuesday night. Eli had writing class on Wednesday, and then I had a show in North Kingstown Wednesday evening (fun bunch of girls--we laughed a lot!). Yesterday, Maddie and I had our first knitting lesson with my friend, Ruth. Then we went to Stop & Shop and Wal-Mart.

Today I need to go to the bank. And tonight my friend, Val, is having a Lia Sophia party. Tomorrow I have an appointment with one of my new consultants, and Steve is working his overnight shift & Wal-Mart.

I cannot wait for Sunday--just church, nothing else. We can put football on and just relax!

Oh, I've been meaning to post some more pics of our cats, Moses & Selden. It's been weeks since Selden has been allowed outside, and he seems to be adjusting to having Moses around.

Here's Moses, playing in an empty Frosted Flakes box that someone was helpful enough to leave on the floor.

Sleeping together on the window seat

What? Was this seat already taken?

On the table together

Trying to get back into the CVS game

Thu, 5 Nov 2009 07:57:00 -0600

It's been absolutely ages since I've shopped at CVS and used Extra Care Bucks with any kind of regularity. All of the shopping I did there over last winter really helped. I think we just recently ran out of toothpaste.

Since Patience is sick, and I had to make a CVS run anyway, I got out the flyer and my coupons. Now, keep in mind that in order to get ECB's to use in the future, you have to spend some $ to start off. At least I've always found that to be the case. There were things on sale this week that I don't know that I would normally buy (i.e., name brand), but they were items that we use, and I could get ECB's back, so I went for it.

This is what I bought:

2-Dawn Ultra I saved $1.02 each with the sale, and had 2-20 cent coupons

2-2 liter bottles of Coke saved 49 cents each, and earned $1 ECB

2- 42 count boxes of Prilosec saved $4.22 each with the sale, had a $7 coupon, and earned $10 ECB

2- 5.8 oz Colgate Total saved $1.40 each with the sale, has 2- $1 coupons, and earned $2 ECB

1 package of Neti Pot premixed solution packets saved $2.49 with sale

2-12 count boxes of Nyquil & Dayquil (one box of each) hmmm, I'm just realizing I didn't get the sale price on these....I was supposed to save $.99 each, and I had $2.50 in coupons. Those plus the solution packets earned me $10 ECB. Although I had to go back into the store to get the $10 ECB's because for whatever reason, they didn't print out on their own--probably for the same reason that I wasn't given the sale price on the Dayquil and Nyquil. Not sure if I'll go back to get that $1.98.

2-8.5 oz Soft Soap handpumps BOGO saved $3.29

4-boxes of Kleenex They were BOGO (saved $4.78), and I had a $1 off 4 coupon

A SoftSoap handpump with a base refill I had a coupon for a FREE refill ($3.99 value), and I'm just noticing that that coupon wasn't redeemed. Did I drop it? Did the cashier drop it? Is it still in my coupon box? Grrrr. It's not here. He must have dropped it. Do I go back? I have a $3 coupon I could apply to this purchase. I earned $4 ECB by buying both.

I also bought a package of gummy vitamins for the kids and a bottle of CVS hand sanitizer.

Once I got home from CVS, I found an online coupon for $5 off a $30 purchase. I went back to the store yesterday evening (hence my hesitation to go back AGAIN), and they allowed me to apply it to my transaction.

SO.

Before sales & coupons, my total would have been $146.36.

I had $4 ECB's to apply to the order. I used $17.90 in coupons.

I paid $92.78, and I now have $27 ECB's to use next week.

I have to admit, it's a little frustrating to see where the cashier messed up and I didn't catch it. I need to pay more attention! If I had caught the mix up on the Nyquil/Dayquil price, and realized that he didn't use the Softsoap coupon, I could have saved an extra $6. I did save $54, though, and that's nothing to sneeze at.

Hello, lover

Wed, 4 Nov 2009 10:27:00 -0600

I'll see YOU after my show tonight.

I went to a public school! gasp

Wed, 4 Nov 2009 10:21:00 -0600

LOL Yeah, it's been a while. But I went to not one, but TWO public schools today, and I'm okay.

I had to hand in the consent forms for the H1N1 flu vaccine. Steve and I haven't decided completely if our kids are going to get it, but if we decide to, the consent forms need to be there.

The shots aren't being administered until the 2nd week of December, so who knows? Maybe we'll have already gotten the flu, and built up our own immunity! (I'm just kidding--I really don't want to get the flu!)

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 08:58:00 -0500

Happy Birthday, Abigail

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 00:28:00 -0500

Fourteen years ago, at this exact moment, I was sleeping. And still pregnant with my daughter, Abigail.

Almost exactly fourteen years and 5 hours from now, my water was breaking.

Fourteen years and 11 hours from now, I was giving birth to Abigail Louise. Five pounds, one ounce, head full of black hair. Perfect little fingers.

Fourteen years and 13 hours from now, she died.

I can't believe it's been fourteen years. How do you survive fourteen years without holding your child in your arms?

I've missed her every day for fourteen years. My eldest, my firstborn, the child who made me a mother.

Most days I'm fine. Some people don't even know that I have a child who died. Mother's Day is hard. Her birthday is hard. Some years not so much, but tonight I find myself unable to sleep, just missing her so much.

Hating the fact that I don't know her. What would she look like? What would her interests be? Would she be tall and skinny like Eli & Maddie, or rounder, shall we say, like Patience? What color were her eyes? Would she be into sports? Crafts? Cooking? Science? What would her voice sound like? Her laugh?

She would be in high school this year. How is that possible? I am not nearly old enough to be the mother of a high-schooler! At least, I don't feel mature enough to be one.

I've been so blessed. I have three gorgeous, funny, brilliant, sweet children upstairs sleeping right now. My husband is asleep in our room. Just the fact that our marriage survived losing Abby is incredible. Although........it's hard when you're at different places in the grieving process. Maybe it's because I'm a woman, a mom, a little dramatic, ME, but I still have moments like this, and he doesn't. At all. In fact, I tried to go to bed earlier, but I was crying, and it woke him up. I asked him if he missed Abigail, and he said not really. That he's at a point where he just looks forward to seeing her in Heaven.

I can respect that, but....how can he not miss her? I can still feel her little body in my arms, her little cheek against mine. She was so tiny, and I wanted to hold her so tight against me, to not let go. How do I stop missing her? I've accepted that it happened, and I don't question why, and I'm not mad at God, but I still grieve what what I'm missing here on earth. The relationship that I didn't get to have with her. Hearing her call me 'Mommy', teaching her to walk, homeschooling her.....in two years, she'd be old enough to get her license!

I have been incredibly blessed with friends who remember Abby's birthday every year. They let me know they're thinking of me, and remembering her. It means so much to me.

I'm trying to count my blessings tonight. To remember and see God's faithfulness in our lives. But right now, just for this moment, I wish my girl were upstairs sleeping.

Abby, I miss you so much, and I hope you know how much I love you. Happy Birthday, baby girl. xoxo

Sigh--Facebook woes

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 14:03:00 -0500

It looks like (for the first time) my Facebook account has been hacked into. I can't access it, as my password has been changed. I'm working with The Facebook Team to resolve it.

Grrrr......

Okay, I was able to get back on last night and change my password. Good. Got on this morning, and said hello to a few friends. Went to check FB at noon time--couldn't get on. Got home after a long afternoon, now I can sign on. Yeesh.

A room re-do for the girls

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 19:27:00 -0500

The girls share a room. And will for the forseeable future (read: until one of them moves out).

They have been sleeping in the bunk beds that my dad made for my sister and me, back in the day. It gave them a bit more room in the bedroom, but they were ready for a change.

My fantastic dad came over and cut the bunk beds in half for us. The girls LOVE their new set up!

Here they are when they were first old enough for bunk beds:

And here they are now! I do love these girls!

Completed Project

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 19:20:00 -0500

Earlier this fall, I started a cross-stitch project. Usually projects will take me a year or more, but this one was smaller than the patterns I've done in the past. I worked on it while the kids were in art class & writing class, and in the evenings.

I got the pattern out of the November '08 Cross-Stitch & Needlework magazine.

Here it is, before I back-stitched it

And completed

So what should I do with it? Make a pillow? Frame it? Some other kind of wall hanging? A table runner? I just don't know! I'd love to hear your ideas!

Seventeen years ago today....

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 19:09:00 -0500

Steve and I went out on our first date. He still claims that it was a "just as friends" date, but don't let him fool you. He's just embarrassed to admit that he thought I was hot. That's right--HOT. And he is 8 years older than me, so he feels a little bit funny admitting it. We got engaged exactly 6 months later, so he must have gotten over that. LOL

We went to see a performance by the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra. It was lovely. And I was so excited to be out with Steve. I had had a crush on him for ages (I was only 18 at that point, and never thought Steve would ask me out, so that crush had not prevented me from dating other guys. LOL).

Seventeen years ago, my happily ever after began. When next year rolls around, I'll have been with Steve for half of my life. I am so blessed!

Thursday update

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 13:28:00 -0500

It's been a busy week so far. Monday we had school, but Steve didn't have to go to school in the evening. Tuesday was school in the morning, piano at 1pm, art from 2-3pm (and grocery shopping while they were there), then Steve had school. It was also my parents' 37th wedding anniversary! Yesterday was school in the morning, then Eli's writing class in the afternoon, then Eli's friend Joshua came over to play and he stayed for dinner. After we brought Josh home, Eli went to Wal-Mart. (Side note: I keep forgetting to buy a new shower liner-ACK. I hate it when I do that!)

We ended up going to TWO Wal-Marts because I wanted to buy a small, compact (but large print) Bible that I knew they carried. Of course, it wasn't at the first store. Sigh.

I'm really excited because I've started a new Bible Reading program. You can find info on it, here: http://www.4shared.com/file/84820158/92ad7a9e/professor_grant_horners_bible_reading_system.htmlx

It's embarrassing to admit how long it's been since I've read my Bible on a consistent basis. Doing consistent devotions is something I've struggled with my whole life. But lately I've really been wanting to get into the Word, and a friend posted this on the FIAR message boards.

So, I bought the compact Bible, knowing that it's small enough to pop into my bag and carry with me. I'm done with day 2, and I love it. You'll have to look at the link to understand what I'm saying, but one of the things that I love about this (already) is that it's not one of those "read through the Bible in a year" programs. I usually only go a week on those, and then I have massive guilt when I get way behind. And inspired Word of God or not, I just cannot make myself read 20 chapters of Leviticus to catch up. So I really like that if you miss a day on this program, big deal. Just pick up the next day where you left off. But if you don't miss any days, you'll have ready the whole Bible (which I've *never* done) in 250 days. And in that 250 days, you'll have read Proverbs 8 times. And the book of Acts 8 times. And read the epistles multiple times.

I'm very excited.

Today was supposed to be our first day of knitting lessons with my friend, Ruth, but Maddie has a fever. I'm trying not to panic, what with all of the H1N1 info flying around. She's tired, a bit achey, and a little bit stuffy. So we're staying close to home today and tomorrow. We'll see how the weekend goes.

Happy Birthday, little one

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 08:55:00 -0500

(I just had this who post typed out, and then lost it. I don't know if I have the time or patience to type it out as well again, but I'll do my best.)

Almost 11 years ago, I was an anonymous egg donor. I saw an ad. I was young and fertile. I liked the idea of helping a family have a baby. And they were paying me $2500. We had a young family, and that check was going to help a lot!

At the time--fall of 1998--I had a 2 year old, a 6 month old, and we were almost 3 years out from Abigail's death.

The process to become a donor was much more involved than I had anticipated. Full physical, reams of paperwork, psycological screenings. The hospital even had Steve come up for one of my appointments, just to be sure that we were on the same page. I had to go on the Pill, so that the hospital could regulate my cycle.

After all of that had been done, a family chose me to be their egg donor. I started administering hormone shots to myself every day. (Steve says I was very hormonal, but I don't remember it!)

After months of preparation, the mom was ready to accept the eggs. I had to have a huge shot in my backside (my mom's friend, who is a nurse, gave this to me--there was no was I could have handled it, and Steve wasn't volunteering!), and the egg retrieval was scheduled.

January 20, 1999

I don't remember the retrieval, since they knocked me out, but I remember waking up and being very upset. Apparently, two families had chosen me (I probably knew this ahead of time, but I don't remember anything about the 2nd family), and the doctor was hoping to get enough eggs for both families. Well, they could only reach one of my ovaries, so only the first family got my eggs. I remember crying so hard--I was so sad for that 2nd family.

I was told that I could call in a few weeks, and they would let me know if the mom had gotten pregnant. And I could call after her due date, and they would let me know if the baby had been born, the gender, weight, height, but (obviously) nothing else.

Now for those of you thinking that I spent the next 9 months wondering about this baby, guess again. By June of 1999, I had Eli, who was 2.5 and toilet training, Maddie who was 15 months and just had started walking, and guess what? I was pregnant! AUGHHHH. Totally unplanned. But you know the rest of the story--Patience Elizabeth joined our family on 1/25/00, one year and 5 days after I donated eggs. So life was full and busy.

Summer turned to fall, and I did call to find out if the family had had their baby. Almost 4 years after we had lost our daughter, another family had added a daughter. She was born on 10/19/99, weighing 9 lbs. 7 oz. She is 10 years old today.

Why would I do this? How was I so sure that this was the right thing to do? Well, I certainly loved the idea of helping another family & we did need the money. But the incident that sealed the deal was a conversation that Steve and I had with the program psycologist. We were telling her how much we missed Abigail, and how much we loved the idea of helping another family. How we knew the ache of wanting a child, and the thought of easing that ache for another family was fantastic. She said, "I don't usually tell the donor much about the egg recipient, but this mom is in her 40's and already has another daughter, who was also born using a donor egg. Her daughter's name is Abigail."

It may sound like just a coincidence to you, but for me, it was like God said, "See, this is the right thing to do. You are helping to give their Abigail a little brother or sister."

Maybe someday I'll meet her. After talking it over with Steve, we put in the paperwork that if this girl wants to meet me once she's a teenager, they can contact me. If you're wondering, I don't consider her my daughter. I view egg donation along the same lines at adoption. She belongs to her family, and I don't have or desire to have any claim to her. I'm just thrilled that this anonymous couple was able to add to their family after struggling with infertility.

Happy Birthday, little one!

I hate

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 08:51:00 -0500

How slow this site is moving. That when you scroll down, it takes so long that you accidentally hit the wrong thing, and lose a long post that it just took an hour to type out.

Well, hello there!

Sun, 18 Oct 2009 18:25:00 -0500

We were leaving to go to piano lessons a few weeks ago, and look who decided to drop by!

Amanda and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Haircut

Sun, 18 Oct 2009 16:48:00 -0500

Okay. I'm American. I get it, the whole "you get what you pay for" thing. But seriously.

We're blessed every month to be able to take the kids to a local Super Cuts, where on the Thursday and Friday of the first full week of each month, they give free haircuts. The haircuts are free because they are given by stylists who are *just* about to go out to a Super Cuts and start working for them. Some are stylists who have just graduated from beauty school, some are more more veteran stylists who have just recently been hired by Super Cuts. You never quite know what you're going to get! But like I said, it's free. How can you complain? If you get a bad cut, it's hair, right? It will grown back, right?

Sigh. I got a girl who had only been out of school for about five months. She was pleasant enough, but her hands shook during the WHOLE haircut & blow dry. Shook like she was either in the early stages of a neurological disease, or she needed a caffiene fix. But, being the nice person I am, I don't like to be discouraging. So I didn't say anything. I told her than I need an all over trim, about 3 inches, if she could do that.

My friend, Sue, (who had initially told me about Super Cuts) came in with her son, and we started chatting. And it was during this conversation that the stylist gave me BANGS. What could I say? The damage was done with the first cut. It's not like you can say, "Oh, gee, I didn't want bangs at all! We'll just let that one hunk grow back and leave the rest!".

To say that I was upset is the understatement of the world! I wanted to cry every time I saw my reflection in the mirrow. I have curly hair! Bangs do not work! The bangs were curling up like goat horns on the front of my head. Just awful.

I poured out my woes to my Facebook friends. They offered sympathy. They assured me that it couldn't possibly be as bad as I thought. Au contraire. It was worse than they thought! I told a friend that it was definitely in my list of top 5 worst haircuts. Steve's voice floated in from the other room..."Top 3....". Aughh!

My friend, Nancy, who has incrediby cute hair (although straight as a stick) offered me the number of her hairdresser. I called the next day. The woman wasn't working. I was in a panic. Eli's birthday was in 2 days, and my IN-LAWS were coming over. I managed to restrain myself from just pulling a Britney Spears, and called the next morning. God Bless Lynn--she could fit me in at 12:30pm.

I brought Eli to a birthday party, and zipped over to Lynn's salon. I had a bit of a wait, but it was well worth it. Lynn has curly hair herself, so I felt very comfortable having her cut my hair. In less than 10 minutes, she had fixed the haircut. It's much shorter than I had wanted, but it's manageable. And actually looks pretty cute.

CRISIS AVERTED!

Now the question is, do I try to get another family photo done for our Christmas cards??

My boy is 13!

Sun, 18 Oct 2009 16:47:00 -0500

Just yesterday, this was my boy.

Sigh. Where did the time go?

Eli turned 13 last weekend. THIRTEEN. Sigh.

Double Sigh.

His grandparents came over for cake and ice cream, and ice cream cake (we wanted to cover all of our bases!).

Eli enjoying his new Lego's.

The ice cream cake (which came out very well!)

Make a wish, Eli (not for more Lego's!)!

My friend, Julie, also came over. And requested an ice cream cake for HER birthday. :)

Eli's Nana (Steve's mom) ended up coming by on Wednesday night to see Eli. So we got to see all of the grandparents this week!

I cannot believe my boy is a teenager. He's such a great kid, really. We're so blessed to have him!

Apple PIcking

Sun, 18 Oct 2009 16:46:00 -0500

Every year, our church family goes apple picking together at Dame Farm & Orchard in Johnston, RI. This year, in our new building, we were able to picnic on the front lawn before we headed to the farm. It's so funny to me, the difference between apple picking with toddlers, and apple picking with big kids. When the kids are little, it's fun, but such an ordeal! Do you have snacks packed? (Wait, that hasn't changed too much....) Will the stroller be able to roll through the orchard? Is apple picking interfering with naptime? Are there any trees small enough for the kids to reach the apples? Will my back break lifting the toddler to pick apples that he can't reach? LOL

Now, we're done in 20 minutes. 23 pounds of apples--done. Then they mill around with their friends. Until we drag them away. And insist on a family picture. :)

Sit up straight for the pic, Patience!

I love these kids

My friend's daughter--is this face not priceless? LOL

Little girls having a conversation

Ahhhh

Mmmmmmm.....

Our family--man, but we're blessed.

Mom! Why are you still taking pictures???

Fall in New England--there's nothing like it.

Steve carrying apples to the car

I can't believe Eli shut his eyes! I knew I should have taken more than one shot of them in front of the corn field!

We headed home to watch the rest of the Patriots game, and fresh apple crisp was ready within an hour. YUM. A wonderful autumn day!

Spirit of America

Sun, 18 Oct 2009 16:45:00 -0500

On September 25th, we were blessed to be able to attend a Spirit of America show. My friend, Vanessa, ordered tickets for us (it is a free show, but she had to send away for the tickets! Thanks, Vanessa!). Unfortunately, we drove separately, and didn't realize until we arrived that it was general seating, not assigned. So we never did find our friends!

The show was awesome, though. It give a history of our armed forces, from the Revolutionary War through modern times. I'm sure I can't do it justice--please check out their website! Here are just a few pics that I took that night.

It was an amazing evening--I'm so proud to be an American, and so proud of our men and women who serve in our military! God Bless America!

Last Beach Day

Sun, 18 Oct 2009 16:33:00 -0500

It's officially too cold to go to the beach anymore. I certainly don't mind autumn, but we're trying to hold off on putting the heat on until 11/1. We don't usually make it. :) The downstairs baseboards are all dusted, vacuumed out and ready to go. I still have to do the upstairs baseboards.

We did manage one last beach trip the last week of September. I'm so glad we went now that the chilly weather is here! It was a really windy day, and the waves were huge!

Eli, jumping a wave

Trying to get a pic of the waves

My girls

Being silly

Eli takes a break from the waves with a book (he's currently reading the Lord of the Rings series)

I was trying to take a picture of the kids while I was driving (don't try this at home kids!).

Needless to say, the kids were not cooperating!

Patience took this picture of me in the rear view mirror.

We were only there for a few hours, but I'm so glad we went. It's such a blessing to be able to take time to enjoy beautiful weather when we have it! We'll have plenty of days (like today!) when the weather is crummy, and we need to stay inside!