FALL VIDEO
(mute the player in the right sidebar)
Dec. 1, 2008 Who's watching you? Nov. 25, 2008 Thankful Leaves
E's leaves:
My Family
Being able to pray and worship Jesus
Crunchy food
Health
The Bible
The New Baby
The Fruit of the Spirit
My Imagination
The Right to Vote
A good education
Friends
A free country
Mommy and Daddy
The ability to play the piano
A soccer team
Jesus Died for me
R.'s Leaves:
Jesus and God
My brothers and sisters
Balloons
Mommy and Daddy
The New baby
Soccer being fun
America
A.'s Leaves:
My brothers and sisters
The New Baby
The Day
The Bible
Soccer
Fall
The New House
Mommy and Daddy
Trees
Friends
Horses
Our home
Fish
Jesus
Birthdays
In the past we've done a Thanksgiving Tree and every night after dinner the kids would write on a fall leaf (paper ;-) ) something they were thankful for. We'd then hang it on the tree. We'd start the first of Nov. and by Thanksgiving, our tree was bursting w/ fall color and thanks.
This year, I didn't get the tree up due to a variety of reasons, running here and there, sick kids, my tiredness from being pregnant, basically, the general busyness of life. The kids would ask and I would think "Oh, I've got to do that" but never did "that". :-(
I had an idea last night of how we could still think about what we're thankful for and display our thanks, w/ only a few days before Thanksgiving. I still had some fall leaves from past years so I had the girls (the boys were playing outside) write on the leaves what they are thankful for, just like we did in the past, just write them all at once. :D I then took their leaves and strung them on gold thread, that we had on hand. I hung them from our entry window, where on this overcast day, they look quite appropriate.
As we prepare to spend time with family and friends, what are you most thankful for? Today, I'm thankful for my beautiful family. Thank you Lord for entrusting them to me. 
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Nov. 21, 2008 Friendship Friday
I did this once, several months back and never got around to doing it again. Mainly because most of the blogs were inactive and then I lost my "linked friends". LOL
I thought I'd give it another try and see how long I can keep it going.
I often visit other people's blogs but don't leave a comment. My goal with my Friendship Friday is to visit 4 blogs, leave comments and then share those blogs here with you all.
My first blog I visited today is from someone I know in real life! Kim and I met years ago when her oldest, now 9, was just a wee little baby. I have a picture of them in my backyard from a Welcome Tea I hosted, only I won't post the picture because I don't think Kim would like it. It wasn't taken of them, but of the general setting. The picture consists of her husbands profile, a glimpse of the little one and Kim's backside. LOL Kim's latest entry is videos of her kids in their tae kwon do tournament. You should go check it out, they did a great job! Love to Learn
The next blog I visited was Candace at His Mercy is New. Candace is one of the many women I've "met" through the Five in a Row boards. Her blog is full of things they do throughout their school day as well as things on her heart. She has a beautiful family.
I next journeyed over to my pal Kristina's blog at, My Family Life Rocks. We met on the FIAR boards as well, and through this last year I've gotten to know Kristina better. She is a beautiful woman, inside and out, with a beautiful family. Kristina is a runner and inspires me with her dedication and talent. (I've never been a distant runner, only a sprinter ;-) ). Kristina blogs about all sorts of stuff, cute pictures of her kids to video's of her pastors sermons.
I then journeyed over to Lynn at A Mother's Journal, and what a journey it was. Lynn's blog is a wonderful peaceful oasis in the busy wide world web. She loves nature and has oodles of pictures of her gardens and their nature projects. Everything about her blog oozes peace and tranquility. Lynn is someone that I also "met" on the FIAR boards, but got to know a little bit better when we were both part of a round robin letter exchange. She is someone I long to meet in person one day. She exudes such a calm demeanor, I'd love to soak some of that up along with her knowledge of herbs and flowers. :)
Well, that's four blogs, enough for today! After visiting Lynn's, I'm inspired to go on a nature walk with my munchkins. The weather is perfect, 77. Cool w/ a slight breeze but lots and lots of sun! First, I need to go leave a comment on Lynn's blog, I forgot. Old habits die hard. ;-)
I hope you've enjoyed journeying through some new blogs today. Maybe they are new ones, old ones revisited, either way, an encouragement to you today. Also, I hope I've inspired you to leave some comments along your blogging travels today. :-)
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With the days finally getting cooler (except for this week, but we won't talk about our 89 degree weather!!!  ) , I've pulled back a little on the schooling to let the kids have some free time outside. We've still been plugging away at our normal studies, only about half time though. We've added in some fun read alouds both from our public library and our home library.
Here are some of the books we've been reading:
Thanksgiving at the Tappletons' by Eileen Spinelli
Don't Eat too Much Turkey by Miriam Hoban
The Memory Cupboard by Charlotte Herman
Thanksgiving is Here by Diane Goode
Thanks for Thanksgiving by Julie Markes
Thelonius Turkey Lives! by Lynn Rowe Reed
Beauty and the Beaks a Turkey's Cautionary Tale by Mary Jane and Herm Auch
A Thanksgiving Wish by Michael Rosen
Turk and Runt by Lisa Wheeler
Fall Changes by Ellen B. Senisi
The Very First Thanksgiving Day by Rhonda Gowler Greene
The Thanksgiving Visitor by Truman Capote
Apples by Gail Gibbons
One Fall Day by Molly Bang
An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving by Louisa May Alcott
Thanksgiving is... by Gail Gibbons
Silly Tilly's Thanksgiving Dinner by Lillian Hoban
The Thanksgiving Door by Debby Atwell
Apple Picking Time by Michele Benoit Slawson
The Pilgrims' First Thanksgiving by Ann McGovern
When Autumn Comes by Robert Maass
The Thanksgiving Story by Alice Dalgliesh
A Turkey for Thanksgiving by Eve Bunting
It's a Family Thanksgiving! by Deborah F. Fink
Possum's Harvest Moon by Anne Hunter
If You Sailed on the Mayflower in 1620 by Ann McGovern
If You Were at...The First Thanksgiving by Anne Kamma
County Fair (my first little house books) by Laura Ingalls Wilder
What have you been doing to make fall extra special? Are you all tucked in for the cool weather or are you like us desert dwellers just breaking out of our summer hibernation?
Our years spent in Ohio made me appreciate many things. One was the changing of seasons. Fall was by far my most favorite. I loved the crisp cool air, the beautiful changing leaves and an overall anticipation of change in the air. Fires burning, piles of leaves to jump in, family and friends gathered together for hayrides and bonfires, all in preparation for hunkering down for the cold months ahead. Those times definitely kept you going through the long bleak winters where, come March, the anticipation of Spring was on everyones minds. It's harder to find the same feeling here in the desert, but it's there, if you look hard enough and ignore the near 90* temperatures! 
Over the next week or so I'm going to take my kids out in search of fall in our neighborhood. There are some trees that turn colors, although most have probably already peaked (peaking lasts about a day around here LOL). Other trees are budding and blooming thriving in the cooler weather. One big change is the citrus ripening. We've already picked some lemons from our tree. By Christmas the tree is in it's full yellow glory. Maybe that tree would be a good place to start for the kids to note the changes in their nature journals.
Enjoy your fall weather, while it lasts, wherever you live!
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I took my guy to the pediatrician yesterday to see if he could figure out what the rash was. Fortunately, our pediatrician had an opening, so we could see him. On Saturday when hubby took him in it was another pediatrician who focused strictly on ruling out strep and not much else. Had she only been a little more thorough, we might have had our answer before he broke out in the rash.
Since S's rash was only a trace on his face, and the rash on the rest of his body had begun to fade away, still very much there but it wasn't continuing to break out and was beginning to blob together like his face had, I almost didn't take him in. I thought for sure he would tell me "It's viral" w/ nothing more specific. I printed off the pictures I took of him the day before, at the height of the rash and brought them with me.
The dr. walked in admiring the pictures, LOL. He then asked me a couple of questions about him coughing, he wasn't. He listened to his lungs, then he listened to his lungs some more, then he listened to his lungs even more. I noticed the look on his face and could tell he was really concentrating on those lung tones. I told the other kids (because yes, they were all with me  ) to stop talking so the doctor could hear.
The dr. then asked a few more questions, I told him how last week he had been complaining of a pain in his upper abdomen and chest area. All sort of in the middle with no real specific area rotating his hand above that area.
The dr. then told me what he strongly believed to be the diagnosis and why. We also went through all the typical childhood rashes and why they didn't fit those patterns, which is what we had figured in our research as well.
My little guy has Valley Fever. The rash was "textbook", his symptoms of pain in his stomach/chest go along w/ the pneumonia he most likely has as well because yes, he heard crackling in his lungs.
He sent us for a chest x-ray, where they confirmed fluid on his lungs. Poor guy. No wonder he's felt so miserable. :(
So now I wait for the Peds office to get back w/ me on what we're supposed to do next. The good news is he's not contagious, he's getting better and being a healthy kid, he should get better fairly quickly w/o complications. His rash might scare a few people while we're out, but he's cleared to be out in public. 
Unless you live, or have lived, in an area that Valley Fever is present, you probably have no idea what I'm talking about. LOL For those of us here in the SW desert, it's so common anyone who has lived here for an extended amount of time has probably contracted it. Typically the symptoms are really mild and you don't even know you're sick. Our ped. told us that he had just diagnosed a 6 year old a few weeks ago as well. You can read more about Valley Fever here.
Thanks for helping us working through this and for your prayers. He still needs prayers to clear his lungs quickly and w/o complications or long lasting effects, but for the most part, my guy is on the mend.
The hardest part now is keeping a 5 year old boy from running around non-stop all day long!
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E. has always loved to spell. She's a natural speller and enjoys having people give her challenging words to spell.
Tonight was our support groups Spelling Bee. There were two divisions, K-2nd and 3rd-8th. In our Bee the oldest kids participating were 5th graders, E. being one of them.
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Nov. 2, 2008 We're seeing spots
My 5yo is sick. :( He has a high fever and now a rash. Poor little guy is so miserable. Here are some pictures of his rash.
 Last night as the rash began to spread
 Stomach last night
 This morning
 His stomach this morning
 His back this morning
Anyone have kids that had spots like this? We're guessing it's one of the many viral rashes you can get. It doesn't fit any of the "known" rashes in it's presentation. He still has high fevers, it's itchy (but not miserably itchy), he has no spots in his mouth, but there are some on his palms and soles today.
Wouldn't you know we went to the Peds yesterday morning to rule out strep (neg on the rapid and we'll hear about the culture tomorrow). Too bad the rash hadn't manifested at that point.
Being pregnant, hubby wants me to stay away from him as much as possible. We're praying that tomorrow, when he goes back to work, our little guy will begin to show signs of getting better.
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Oct. 24, 2008 Nature Study Oct. 21, 2008 Mommy and Me
You know how they have classes for toddlers and preschoolers called "Mommy and Me" time? I never invested any time or money in them when my kids were little, usually because I had more than one "Me" I was toting around. ;-)
Now that my oldest is turning 11 (tomorrow!), I decided to take a few days and spend some special Mommy and Me time with her. I asked her where she wanted to go and we would see if we couldn't make it happen. We've been planning this for a year now, btw. ;) She loves the beach and anything to do with the ocean so it was no surprise that she picked going to the beach.
A few months ago Hubby and I decided we needed to make some plans and reservations if this was going to happen. Since I was just ending my months of HG, I didn't have a lot of gumption to plan anything beyond my next breath. Fortunately, Hubby had enough gumption for us all and made me sit at the computer and figure it all out. He knew that October would come quickly and if I hadn't planned anything, I would be mad at myself for disappointing E.
We knew we were going to go to the beach, but what beach was the question. Having frequent flyer miles on Southwest made getting there, wherever there was going to be, easy. We thought of all the different beaches in CA. Should we go to one we've been to before, try something new, go to one by an Aquarium (I'd love to take her to Santa Barbara's aquarium ). After thinking about it, we decided to try to go someplace where we wouldn't need a car. I can drive on CA freeways but I don't want to if I don't have to! LOL
I started researching Coronado remembering when I stayed there years ago (can it really be 20???) with some girlfriends. I remembered we didn't have a car and were able to get around the area and even venture into San Diego w/ little effort. I wanted to stay at a place within walking distance of the beach, the stores and the restaurants. There is, of course, The Hotel del Coronado or "The Del" as it's known to locals. But, that one is a little out of our price range.
 Even though we couldn't afford the Del, we could walk around the beautiful grounds and lobby!
   There were no trees on Coronado at the time the hotel was built. All the lumber to build the hotel came from trees up in Northern CA and floated down along the coast to Coronado to build this incredible hotel
 Inside the lobby
 A close up of the ceiling
We were told to check out the Crown Room if it was open. They were having meetings the time we were there so we never got to see it in person. But, we did see a picture of it on their digital picture frame! Very cool. Here's a link to some interior pictures, including the Crown Room. the ceiling is all carved, curved wood.
 The Dragon Tree, planted at the turn of the century
 
I found an ad for a hotel that got great reviews right across from the Del, Glorietta Bay Inn. They had some specials for mid-week and we decided to stay there for our Mother/Daughter get away.
 Front of our hotel
Glorietta Bay Inn is the original home of John D. Spreckles a sugar baron. The hotel has since been renovated and more rooms added on, unattached, to the original mansion. We were able to get a room in the mansion, which was really neat.
Here are some pictures from the hotel:
 E. wanted her picture taken by the rose. :)
 Our Window/balcony (you couldn't go out on it). The window you can just make out on the side was our other window.
 Marble staircase going up to the rooms
 This is at the landing of the stairs. You can see it in the last two pictures. There was no access to this spot, you might be able to tell that it's about 5 feet higher than the landings floor. I don't know what it was originally used for.
The following are pictures of our room. My 7 year old wanted to know what it looked like.
 Here are those two windows I was talking about from the exterior shots.
 This shows the old "ventilation" system. See the transom over the door? :) I love these old houses with all the great architectural detail. Huge ceilings, lots of moulding, carvings, etc. It's so beautiful and incredible craftsmanship.
 The Bathroom
 The bathroom skylight. E. took this picture by laying on the floor. I love the rounded ceiling treatment.
 The skylight outside of our room.
These are pictures from the "parlor":
 The ceiling treatment.
 Zooming in on the carvings. Isn't it incredibly intricate?
 They had a player piano that would play in the afternoons. E. was disapointed that she couldn't play her piano pieces. She loves to play any chance she can get, a grand piano is always a nice bonus. :D
The main thing E. wanted to do was hang out at the beach. I convinced her that she would also enjoy going on a Trolley Tour that would take us all around Coronado and major tourist areas in San Diego. Knowing she would be back in time to spend hours on the beach later, she was all for it. We really enjoyed the tour. The guides were awesome, entertaining and educational all rolled into one 2 hour ride. We decided to get off at Balboa Park and go visit the Science Center. We spent several hours there, E. running all over from one exhibit to another and me trying to keep up. LOL
Balboa Park is such a beautiful city park that has so much to offer. I love looking at all the architecture and was able to take a few pictures as we walked to the Science Center and before the trolley took off again to take us to Old Town. When we go back to San Diego I've convinced Hubby we need to explore Balboa Park. He's looking forward to it.
Originally built in 1915 for the Worlds Expo, all these buildings were supposed to be temporary. Obviously, the decided to keep them and they have all been renovated and brought up to current building and earthquake codes. Thank goodness! It would have been a shame to have all this destroyed. :)
When we first arrived and checked into our hotel, we headed out to get lunch. We ate at a great seafood restaurant. E. ordered shrimp. They were the largest shrimp I've seen. They looked more like giant prawns. She could only eat a couple of them!
After our late lunch we walked over to a bookstore a couple of doors down. Bookstores are probably E's favorite place to hang out. The library is a close second. :D
 Yes, she's in the little kids section. She still loves touch and feel books! LOL It's that sensory thing, ya know. :) However, the book she picked out to buy was The Mysterious Benedict Society (which she finished in a few days). Definitely not a little kid book. ;-)
So, finally, after lunch, the bookstore and the store for some water, we hit the beach! We spent a lot of time at the beach. These are all a mixture of the two days we were there. The beach in Coronado is rated as the best family beach in the country. The sand was incredible. Even finer and nicer than the sand on the Gulf Coast. We had a blast playing in the waves, looking for shells (we found tons of sand dollars), digging in the sand and just playing around. E. really enjoyed our moon shots. ;)
 The Beach, FINALLY!!
 Playing in the sand with The Del's famous turrets in the background
 She liked making "quicksand" and sinking in as the waves buried her feet deeper and deeper.
Here we are goofing around:
 She may be small for her age but my, she sure is strong. ;)
 Holding up a Cruise ship!
 The moon!
 She wanted to see if I could hold up the moon too. ;)
 One finger even.
The moon coming up over The Del.
We had a great time while we were away. Traveling with one and that one being old enough to do things for themselves was such a novel experience! LOL No naps, no diapers, no whining from being overtired. It was fabulous. It was actually relaxing. We had time to just talk and joke together. We both enjoyed ourselves and it was difficult to leave. I know that we will both look back with many fond memories of our special time away together.
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Oct. 13, 2008 Beautiful Packages
Christina at quietcajun has another blog and job/mission. She makes beautiful afghans that she crochets with love and prayer. As she's stitching along, she is praying for the recipient of the blanket. One of her specialties is baby blankets! Since we're having our own little bundle in a few months, I ordered one of her beautiful blankets.
After picking out the colors and discussing w/ her about design, I patiently (or not so patiently ;-) ) waited for the blanket to arrive.
The other day I saw a box outside my doorstep and I was very excited, especially when I saw the return address! :)
Here's is our beautiful package that I can't wait to bundle my precious package in in a few more months. :)
Thank you so much Christina, we love it! When the baby comes, I'll send you a picture of our little gal all bundled up. :)
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What a delightful sound. 
Some pictures of the rain moving in.
Do you see those large circles? (how can you miss them LOL). They are not UFO's nor are they bubbles from a bubble machine. Somethin' got on my lens and I need to figure out how to get it off! Note to self, remind kids to not touch the lens!!! I'm hoping I can get whatever is on the lens off. |
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Goodbye my good and faithful companion. sniff, sniff
And now, introducing, my new best friend!
Colds are never fun, but having a trusty "friend" to stand by you, how can you measure their worth? 
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Sep. 22, 2008 Look back at Summer Sep. 20, 2008 How my son greeted me this morning
We joined some of our fellow homeschoolers on a fun filled field trip today! We went to the Narnia exhibit at our local Science Center. If you ever get a chance to see this exhibit, go! It was really neat and well done. You can't take pictures inside the exhibit, so I don't have any of that to share. But, I can tell you that in the exhibit, you will walk through the wardrobe straight into Narnia, just like Lucy, complete w/ snow and pine trees. There are clothes and other props from the movie. If you go here, you'll be able to see and read about this awesome exhibit.
 Outside of the museum
Anyway, the kids had a blast playing and experiencing the exhibits, and I do have photos of our time outside of Narnia. :)
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Sep. 15, 2008 National Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week
**This is a sticky that will remain at the top until the end of the week. Scroll down for new entries**
Did you know there are millions of people who are suffering from a Chronic Illness and you'd never know. These sufferers can be your friends and neighbors, people you see and talk to every day, yet you'd never know they were sick. Millions of people suffer from what is called an Invisible Illness. Which means, to look at them they look perfectly healthy. You wouldn't know they live their lives in chronic pain or fear or anxiety or are so dizzy, that it's hard to get up in the morning.
Next week, September 8th through the 14th, is National Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week.
My friend Jen, challenged me to participate and dedicate my blog this upcoming week to bring awareness to the challenges people that suffer with invisible illnesses face, sometimes on a daily basis.
So the next week I will be focusing on helping others understand how some of these millions live day to day. How can I bring awareness? I happen to be one of the millions. I suffer from Ulcerative Colitis, one of the two Inflammatory Bowel Diseases. The other IBD is Crohn's Disease. I also have Chronic Sinusitis, which would probably also qualify as an invisible illness. It has definitely stopped me from participating in and enjoying activities that I otherwise would have loved being involved in, but due to severe headaches, I'm left at home trying to make the pain go away.
Rest Ministries has a website devoted to National Chronic Illness Week. Take a look at the website throughout the week. They'll have guest bloggers and seminars posted throughout the week.
Jen suggested taking 5 minutes from your day and praying for those with chronic illnesses. It's like a family on the FIAR boards and Jen has set up a prayer board on her blog for us to know who amongst us that is suffering from an invisible illness. If you can take just a few minutes and check out the needs of some fellow homeschooling moms who, get it done regardless, your prayers and thoughts would be much appreciated.
If you are one of the millions that also suffer silently, leave a comment and tell us about yourself. I'd be happy to add you to my list of fellow sisters to pray for.
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Sep. 8, 2008 What is Ulcerative Colitis?
Ulcerative colitis (UC) is an inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) that causes chronic inflammation of the digestive tract. The inflammation usually affects only the innermost lining of the large intestine (colon) and r*ectum. The inflammation occurs in continuous stretches of the colon.
There is no known cure for UC, but there are therapies (another word for drugs LOL) that may dramatically reduce the signs and symptoms of UC and can bring about long term remission.
The symptoms of UC can vary, depending on the severity of inflammation and where the inflammation occurs. Based on those factors is how UC is classified.
- Ulcerative proctitis: Inflammation is confined to the r*ectum and often r*ectal bleeding is the only sign of the disease. Others people may experience r*ectal pain, a feeling of urgency or an inability to move the bowels in spite of the urge to do so.
- Left-sided colitis: Inflammation extends from the r*ectum up the left side through the sigmoid and descending colon. Signs and symptoms include bloody diarrhea, abdominal cramping and pain, and weight loss.
- Pancolitis: Affecting the entire colon, pancolitis causes bouts of bloody diarrhea that may be severe, abdominal cramps and pain, fatigue, weight loss and night sweats.
- Fulminant colitis: This rare, life threatening form of colitis affects the entire colon and causes severe pain, profuse diarrhea and, sometimes, dehydration and shock. People with fulminant colitis are at risk of serious complications including colon rupture and toxic megacolon, which occurs when the colon becomes severely distended.
The course of UC varies ,with periods of acute illness often alternating with periods of remission. Over time the severity of the disease usually remains the same. Only a small percentage with a milder condition, such as ulcerative proctitis, go on to develop more severe signs and symptoms.
source: Mayo Clinic
There are no known causes for what triggers UC. It used to be thought stress caused UC. That is no longer believed to be a cause, however, stress can aggravate UC symptoms. Currently, thre are two popular opinons as to the cause of UC, Immune system and heredity.
- Immune System: Some scientists think a virus or bacterium may cause UC. The digestive tract becomes inflammed when your immune system tries to fight off the invading microorganism. It's also possible that inflammation may stem from an autoimmune reaction in which your body mounts an immune response even though no pathogen is present.
- Heredity: There seems to be a higher incidence of UC in families, which suggests genetics could play a contributing role. Currently studies are being conducted to see what genetic mutation might increase a persons susceptibility to UC.
Risk Factors for Ulcerative colitis.
- Age: UC can strike at any age, but, usually, people develop the condition when they are younger, teens to twenties.
- Ethnicity: UC can strike any ethnic group, but Whites have the highest incidence of the disease than any other ethnic group. Those from Jewish and European descent are four to 5 times more likely to have UC.
- Family history: Higher risk for getting UC if a close family member has the disease.
- Geographical location: Urban, industrialized areas in Northern climates have a higher population of people with UC.
Ulcerative colitis is usually not a fatal disease. However, it is a serious disease that left untreated may cause life-threatening complications.
All information came from the Mayo clinic, linked above.
Tomorrow I'll talk about testing and complications as well as how UC has affected my life.
The built in censor feature here is why I needed to be creative in my spelling. ;)
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Sep. 7, 2008 Summer Update Continued
Continuing from where I left off last night brings us to...
JULY
July brought more Monsoon Storms where we had lots of wind and rain. These storms can be quite dangerous, they are fast moving and pretty wild, filling up normally dry washes in minutes turning them into raging rivers. Despite their violent nature, they provide some of the most dramatic skies for photographing.
 I like the way the sun is shining on the mountains in this picture. You can also see that the wind is blowing by looking at the palm trees. The storm hadn't hit our house yet.
Daddy reading to J and S. S. has a new favorite book he likes to look at and have us read to him, Science, Year by Year.
 The Girls and I made BIG chcolate chip cookies. Yum. A and R are wearing their Keepers aprons. :)
July is when our state Homeschool Convention happens. This year it coincided with my sweet A.'s 9th birthday. I attended the convention alone on Friday, while hubby and the kids had a hotel room right across the street. Even though we live in town, we rented the room so I had a place to go rest if I needed to during the day, which I ended up needing by the end! The kids love to go and swim in the pool and hang out in the hotel room. The rates are cheap here in the summer, add on the discount from the convention, and it was a pretty good deal.
Also, since A.'s birthday was the following day, we treated her to a special night spending the night in the hotel w/ just me. Daddy took the rest of the kids home after dinner and A. and I had the room all to ourselves. We laid down on the bed and giggled and talked for awhile. Then, I totally surprised her by whooping her on the head with a pillow. An all out pillow fight pillow fight ensued, which brought peals of laughter from my gal! She is such a sweetie. She knew I wasn't feeling very good that night, so she was content to just hang out in bed together.
The next morning I drove A. home, our babysitter came over and Hubby and I went back for the morning sessions of the convention. I felt bad leaving A. on her birthday but, she had a great day planned. Grandma and Grandpa watch my sisters kids so they can go to the convention. Since it was A.'s birthday, Grandma thought it would be fun to bring all the cousins over to spend the day together while we all were at the convention. It was perfect. We don't get to see them very often, so this was an extra special treat. We came home from the convention around 1:00, watched A open her presents and enjoyed cake and ice cream. My sister and bil came back from the convention around 6:00 and took the cousins home.
A. had so much fun w/ her cousins, I think she hopes the convention falls on her birthday every year. :)
 E. made this special dalmatian dog for A. for her b-day
 Opening presents
My sister has 9 kids. Four of them are old enough to attend the Teen Tract sessions of the convention. The five youngest were the ones who came over. We had 10 kids total ages 11 and younger over. No wonder she had so much fun! The ages here were 11 (my nephew), 10 (E), 9 (my niece), 9(A) (A and her cousin are 6 months apart), 7(R), 6 (my niece, she's 4 months younger than R), 5 (S), 3 (my niece), 2 (J) and 2 (my niece, who is 2 weeks younger than J). Busy, busy house. The kids all did really well and had fun.
The next pictures show more monsoon weather. This was a storm that caused a lot of damage on the east side of town. These clouds were huge, moving fast and full of lightening.
We always have beautiful sunsets during monsoon season.
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owl in our eucalytus tree
E. is in the brown shirt
Waiting to spell
At home w/ her certificate.
After
First lost tooth
Watching the combustion demonstration
Waiting for the "Forces of Nature" experience to start. This was a really cool exhibit. You stand in the center of a ring w/ large screens showing various types of storms. While they had the video playing there would be "interactive" special effects like wind blowing, the ground shaking, heat representing a forest fire and volcano. There was even rain! Yes, we got wet. :-)
A. playing with virtual sand. Another really cool exhibit.
The boys making music with light. Although, all the J liked to do is push the buttons, which didn't make music. Instead it just made a really obnoxious noise. LOL
A. morphing her face.
Making metal files "dance".
R. watching sound waves in action.
Playing at Water Works. 
J. being cute
S. asleep (how do they do this?)
I thought maybe I could take one this week and years from now, we'll never know that it wasn't our first day but rather our 50th day (or something like that)! 
