Well, I'm posting twice in the same week--- did you pass out with shock?  LOL!  Actually I guess since today is Monday it is technically a new week, but I'll still understand if you are feeling a little faint from hearing from me again so quickly!

Yesterday my parents took the girls to see High School Musical Onstage.  They took R for her birthday last year and she had such a good time that they decided that they should take A this year too!  M and and cousin T will be going to see a production of Aladdin in a few weeks, which should be really fun.

Since my mom and dad had the girls and Hubby was working, that left me alone with the boys.  We had some shopping to accomplish in order to get the items needed for the birthday party in a few short weeks.  I took them to Target, the Dollar Tree, Walmart and then to the party store.  They were both really good listeners and awfully cute too.

For lunch we stopped at the food court of the mall.  I ordered Chinese for myself and McDonald's (or OLD McDonald's is you are the boys!) for them.  They were just absolutely adorable-- chatting with each other and with me, using their manners, etc.  Even a little old couple sitting near us was smiling and remarking on how cute they were!

With all of the kids here all of the time, I often forget what it is like to have just one or two.  It is so easy to only have two of them to worry about!  I don't know why most of the moms I know complain about how difficult it is to have two!  Even if I still have both boys, who are by far the most difficult of my bunch, it is still so much easier without the other two to worry about!

Last week we took just the girls out to see Harry Potter.  During the hour before the show started we had a great time talking and goofing around.  As mush as I love being all together as a family it is really nice to be able to spend some time in smaller groups.  I try to make a habit of having alone time with each of them even if it is just to run out to the store.  They like it that they can have my undivided attention and I love just being with them and getting a chance to really hear them without all of the background noise.

Anyway, just thought I'd share about my special day with the boys.  Back to your regularly scheduled nonsense.

I have no idea if I even still have any readers of my blog since I stopped checking my Stat Counter about 4 months ago.  I'd like to admit that I have missed blogging and will be back on a more regular basis in the near future, but alas, we all know that that is crap.  I've been hanging out with friends, new and old, on Facebook and can't seem to drag my butt here on more than an every four month kind of basis.  Eh, like they say on Jon and Kate plus 8, "you get what you get and you don't get upset". :shrug

So what's that haps, you might be wondering?  Hmmmm....  where to start?

C is nearly fully potty trained, even at night.  He wears big boy pants all day long (a pull-up that is usually dry at night) and rarely has an accident.  He got a potty chair for Easter, sat and peed in it, and has been making steady progress ever since!  We are still working on getting his poop into the toilet, but since he only turned 2 in March we are cutting him some slack.  As long as he gets it before he leaves for college it's all good in my book.  And every time he pees on the pot is one less diaper I have to change!  I just love my big boy!

We will be having a new addition to the family in the upcoming month.  (Did you fall over thinking that I'm pregnant??)  We have a German exchange student that will be joining our family next month for the upcoming school year.  She's arriving on August 27th and will stay until June of next year.  She is 16, nearly 17, and loves ballet, violin and piano.  We have been able to email back and forth with her for the last month couple of months and we have loved getting to know her.  Everyone is just so excited that she will here; the kids are already planning all of the fun stuff they want to show her while she's here.  She'd better rest up for her trip because it is a LONG list of stuff!  LOL!

Our summer is in full swing.  It's been rainy and crappy most days but we've still been incredibly busy!  A has been taking science classes at the local wildlife reserve, M went to a week long science camp, we all went to a week of Vacation Bible School ( the 3 big kids as students, me as a teacher), and I taught a kite making class at the Y.  R will be attending a week long science camp at the reserve in a few weeks, and we will be celebrating R and M's birthdays on the 15th of August.  I can't believe that she will be 11 and he will be 5!  Time really does fly!

I guess that's all I can think of to report tonight.  The kids had a sleepover with a friend and cousin T last night so everyone is exhausted and off to bed early.  Hope everyone's summers are going well!

A had her very first TKD tournament this weekend and look what she brought home:

She came in fourth place out of 9 girls in her division and won her very first trophy!  We were so proud of her!

And here she is in action:

Hubby and I actually got to go on a "date" together yesterday.  Our venue of choice?  Ruby Tuesdays (with a gift card) and a stroll through the book store without anyone crying, needing to go pee, or begging for books we can't afford.  It was an awesome afternoon!

I picked up a couple of books for my science class and a book called Amazing Word Power, 100 words Every 5th Grader Should Know.  I had flipped through the book in the store and realized that words like prodigious and reticent are lacking from my pool of knowledge.  Since anyone who knows me can declare that I strive to be smarter than a 5th grader, I figured we (as a collective family) could all use a vocabulary boost.

Our first words were reminisce and conclude; both words that we have seen and heard several times before.  We all took turns coming up with sentences and really beat those words to death!  It was funny to see how the girls could finagle the words into conversation.  A had a little trouble grasping "conclude", but she got the hang of it in the end, and the girls were begging for more words!

This morning we set off on a family adventure to Build-A-Bear Workshop.  C got a gift card for a BAB zebra (he LOVES zebras like Marty on Madagascar) for his birthday.  We told the other kids that they could each pick one of the most inexpensive bear friends to help C in celebrating his special day. 

C was quite overwhelmed by the sheer size of the store.  There was so much to see and touch, and then he saw MARTY!  So exciting!  He latched right onto the flaccid equine and would have been perfectly happy to take him home in his unfluffed state.  Poor C didn't know the fun that lay in store for him!

After all of the kids had made their choice, we filed over to the "Stuffing Station", where Marty and his pals were stuffed, sewn and filled with "love".  On to the "Fluffing Station" for some grooming and then the "Dressing Station" to finish things off.  C was so cute, not letting Marty out of his grip as he picked out a t-shirt for him to wear.  He ended up with a white one with red sleeves that read "Happy Birthday".  It was quite fitting for the event!

The other kids had fun too.  R picked out a High School Musical bear, complete with necklace and t-shirt.  She named him Teddy Roosevelt since he was instrumental in starting the teddy bear as a trend.  She has reverted to calling him Gabriella though, so I think the bear may end up with some gender confusion issues in the future.

A chose a koala that she named Coconut.  She bought her a green St. Patrick's Day t-shirt with a frog on it and put little white ribbons in her hair ears.  She also worked hard when we got home to turn the box she was sent home in into a real home for her new friend.  Then she used it as a robot mask...

M knew which friend he wanted as soon as he saw it.  He picked out a grey tiger striped cat with pink ears and a pink nose.  He instantly named him Sonic and will have words with anyone who calls him a cat.  It's not a cat, it's Sonic.  Duh.

We stopped and had Friendlys for lunch, which is always a huge treat!  Lunch in a restaurant and ice cream!  It doesn't get much better than that!  Hubby took some cute pictures of the whole adventure, but I'm having a hard time posting them.  I'll come back and try to edit them into this post later for all those who are dying to see how the trip went! 

Today started off normally enough.  I woke with the alarm clock at 5:30 a.m., just as I do every Sunday morning before starting our all-day church adventure.  I woke Hubby for work at 6:00 and went back downstairs for some breakfast and quiet time before I had to wake the kids.

The phone rang at 6:04 and it was the PD looking for Hubby.  I figured they were calling about available overtime, so I brought the phone to him upstairs where he had just gotten out of bed.  He took the phone with a puzzled look when I said it was work calling.   My curiousity and his confusion grew as I heard him say, "No, it's only 6:05!".   I caught his eye with a deer-in-the-headlights look and we both realized that we completely forgot to change the clocks!  In my defense, I thought daylight savings time began NEXT week!

Hubby ran down to take a record-breaking shower before darting out the door, and I took on the impossible task of getting five people up, showered, dressed, and fed in 25 minutes!  Sunday school started at 8 a.m. and we needed at least 30 minutes to get there!  UGH!

Luckily, we were only about 12 minutes late.  We probably could have shaved 4 minutes or so off of that time if we hadn't had to wait for the flock of 14 wild turkeys to cross the road. (The kids all pealed with laughter and chicken crossing the road jokes while I seethed quietly!)  The girls hustled into class and the boys and I settled into our routine of a video in the van for them and quiet time with a book for Mommy.  They finished their breakfast in their car seats, and I marveled at the fact that we had pulled it off!

Many of you may remember my complaints about M's former behavior in church.  I swear he saved every bit of bad behavior all week long to dish out to me in church when my disciplining skills were sorely minimized.  Recently he has been on his best behavior, revelling in the idea of acting like a big boy.  It certainly helps that he has reached an age where he can be reasoned with and he now understands consequences of his horrid behaviors.  He is now (usually) a pleasure to have in church.

Enter C.  I thought I was going to dodge a bullet with him, seeing as though he has such a different temperment than his brother.  Sadly, I was wrong, and leaving the house at 7:30 in the morning, driving for a half hour, waiting in the car for another hour and a half, and finally sitting through an hour of church, seems to be taking its toll on my little man.  He usually starts off well enough, with snack and toys and such, but by the middle of the service he is grumpy and disruptive.  Today I actually had to carry him out of the building and into the glass entry way to wait out his tantrum.  When he had finally calmed down enough to reenter the building so we could go back to our seats with the other kiddos, I accidently pinched his finger in the hinge of the door and his screaming started all over again!

We jetted out of church after Communion, and about 10 minutes early, because of C's behavior.  He fell asleep about 5 minutes (he lost an hour of sleep thanks to Mr. Franklin!) into our journey home, but has been a little crab all afternoon.  I am really just at a loss as to how to handle this whole church debacle.  It is important to me to go faithfully, but it is like running a marathon every week!

There must be something in the air, because my normally well behaved children are all fighting and miserable and dragging me along with them.  The only good thing I can think of about today is that it'll at least be one hour shorter!

Well, I'm back online temporarily on an old desk top computer that my dad was able to put back together.  My lap top lasted all of 15 hour after I re-christened it at home and I fear that the end has come for it!  I am so relieved to be able to compute at home again that I am not even going to complain about my lack of mobility and the keyboard keys being too high.

As usual, we have been really busy and I don't know where all the days have gone.  The 3 big kids are outside riding bikes in our muddy driveway right now, trying to soak up some vitamin D while they can.  I can barely see them over the 3 foot snow piles on either side, but I can hear them talking and laughing through my open (yes, Michelle, I caved) living room window, so I know they are alright.  I am not looking forward to the state of my newly washed floors when they decide the have had enough outside.  M has already come in with mud up to his elbows from making "hand put-frints" in the driveway.  Ahhh, Spring has almost sprung!

My little man, C, will be turing 2 on Friday next week.  I can't believe how fast that time has gone by.  It seems like he has always been a part of our lives, and yet it seems like he was just born too.  Time is moving just too fast for my liking these days.  The kids are all getting older and they are dragging me with them by default!  

For the last month or so, the boys have been sharing M's bed because C thought he was too big to sleep in his crib.  He was so happy to be sleeping with "Mammie" in a big boy bed that we decided to take the bunk beds apart to allow each of them to have their own bed.  It is so sweet to see them sleeping side by side in their beds, but now C has full range of the house in the middle of the night and we have resorted to reinstalling the baby gates upstairs.  He is usually pretty good and just comes to find me in my room in the middle of the night.

The girls are doing great.  We just finished a study of the rain forests and they both did a project about rain forest creatures.  R made a large collage of animals and A made a diorama of a tree frog on a mushroom.  They both came out really cute, and I made them each write a little description of what they made and why.  Our schooling is progressing nicely, and I'll have a ton of stuff for the portfolio reviews in a few months.

A is going to be entering a TKD tournament in a few weeks.  It is the first one she's entered and she is really nervous.  She will still technically be 7 (it is 3 days before her birthday), so that puts her in the 5-7 year old category, which I think will be more beneficial to her than the 8-9 year olds.  She is such a little peanut of a thing that she will be much better matched with a child that is younger.  I hope she does well enough to give her a little more confidence, and I hope that she has fun!

As I mentioned, A's birthday is also coming up.  We are having a family party for her and C on the 21st, and I am trying to plan a friends' party on April 4th.  Afte the disasterous party from last year, I feel like I have a lot to make up for.  I just want to see her happy on her special day, surrounded by her friends, and having a great time.

Well, chaos is starting to ensue.  Apparently, 54 degrees is still too cold for an extended playtime outside. 

(I have to preface my story by explaining my lack of computer communication.  Our computer completely died and I have only been able to get on at the library to check email and such.  Nothing cures a Facebook addiction like going cold turkey that's for sure!!)

I dropped the girls off at a friend's house the other day.  They were going to leave with their friend to attend a party at her local library to make Valentine's Day cards and have a small party.  The mom was going to bring them home after the event, so that just left me alone with the boys, which is a rarity.

We stopped on the way home at the Toms of Maine toothpaste store.  My family is really picky and only likes a certain flavor of toothpaste that can only be found in the flouride-free version at the factory store.  So, I brought both boys in and they were fablously behaved.  It is amazing how when I have time to focus just on the two of them their behavior (especially M's) makes a complete change.

C fell asleep after our stop at the toothpaste store and M sat quietly in his car seat daydreaming and gazing out the window.  He was wrapped tightly in a green fleece blanket that he uses instead of wearing his cost in his car seat, and I just drove and enjoyed the quiet moment.

I was just thinking to myself that he was so quiet that he must have fallen asleep as well when he anounced that he had "a green one" for me.  His voice was all high pitched and excited and he kept insisting that I take the "green one" because it was for me.  I assumed that it was a fuzzy off of the blanket he was wrapped in because he tends to have a fuzzy-fetish, so I reached back and let him drop the "green one" into my hand.

Let's just take a moment to remember what they say about those who assume, shall we?

I pulled my hand into the front seat again only to find a bright green, slimey booger attached to it!  M was soooo proud as I shrieked and tried to find something to wipe it on without careening us into the field we were driving past!  He kept saying, "I found a green one for you!", and I think his feelings were a little hurt that I wasn't responding in a more appreciative manner!

I laughed about it with him (after I managed to scrape it off) and we talked about how he needs to keep his boogers to himself and no matter how tempting, he isn't to share them.  I don't think he gets it or cares, quiet frankly.  he just knew that he found a special treasure and he wanted Mommy to have it!

Next time I think I'll question what his surprise is before I willingly accept it.  Lesson learned!

So, I took a job at our local YMCA back in September so that we could afford for the kids to continue taking classes there.  Between paying for all of the classes for 4 kids, and the $600 membership per year, it was just becoming an unnecessary expense.  I was thrilled when the director of the Y approached me with a deal I couldn't resist:  Teach a class (or 2)for toddlers and preschoolers, and recieve MY membership for free (knocking our family membership down to $200+ per year), get $8 per class that I teach (so $56 total for teaching one class for 7 weeks, pre-taxes) and get 50% off of all classes for everyone in the family.  Since we were paying over $100 every 7 weeks for classes, that was an awesome deal!

So this morning, in addition to my paycheck (a whooping $44 since I am now teaching 3 classes!!) I recieved a note which detailed the Y's new employee discount plan.  Starting immediately all part-time employees will only be able to recieve a 25% discount on class fees.  Grrr!

Now, I took the job strictly so that we could save the money on the kids' classes, which was getting a little out of hand in addition to dance, TKD, piano, violin, etc.   I wanted my "paycheck" to eventually go toward paying for these lessons so that I wouldn't even have to tap into Hubby's paycheck for this money at all, and now I'm right back in the same spot. 

And when you factor in the minimal amount I get paid for my efforts, the fact that I show up a half hour early to set up and stay late to clean-up and don't get paid for it, prep time, and the fact that I purchase materials on my own dime and never ask for reimbursment, taking this pay-cut is really irritating me!  I know the Y is trying to save money by rescinding this offer to employees, but really it is just going to end up costing them money when I stop taking classes all together. 

I also feel really unappreciated for the job that I do there.  I mean, it is like they are just saying that they really don't care!  All of the teachers of the classes that the kids take are part-time workers.  I wonder how they feel about being told that they are worth less?  I was hired thinking that I would have 50% off and now they dropped it down to 25%?  I wouldn't accept a 25% decrease in pay for any other job!

I'm mad and I'm venting...  I don't know what I am going to do just yet.  I told the executive director and the program director what I thought of this situation and they are looking into it.  I can't imagine that I am the only part-time employee that is effected and offended by this course of action.  I think maybe this is the incentive that I need to make a break from our lives at the YMCA.  It is a shame to leave this way after 8 years.....  I don't know what to do...

(I tried to post this yesterday when it would have been Wednesday at the very least, but between the fact that the Kodak gallery wouldn't upload my pics and the fact that my computer had only 28% battery power, things didn't go as planned.  I'm going to try again, so here goes nothing!!)

Yeah, yeah, I know that I broke my resolutions.  So sue  me.  I am working with a crappy laptop that can't seem to hold a charge for more than 20 minutes, and since my Facebook addiction typically takes longer than that, it doesn't leave much time for anything else.

On to the pictures.  These are from last night when A broke 4 (yes 4!) boards with her fist and feet!

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• Check out that kick!
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• Breaking a board
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• The TKD girls!
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• Unfortunately I have about 12 more pictures I wasn't able to upload!  I also have no idea where the dots came from and why the font is all weird.  Ah, anyway, isn't A amazing?  We were so proud of her!!!
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I thought I'd blog tonight!  LOL!  Seriously though, I have been doing well about waking up (relatively) early and the rest of my resolutions are a work in progress.

Hmmm.....  Let's see?  What's up? 

*R finished a book on the Revolutionary War that she was reading for a research paper. 

*We all re-did our gummy bear experiment and now have 9 cups full of oversized gummy bears.  (Note to self:  vinegar made them expand the most, not the least like we predicted) 

*C has a cold and a fever that is bumming us all out.  We are all upping our vitamin C intake in hopes of warding it off!

*I gave M a (much needed, albeit fairly bad) haircut

*We had our friend Deidre over for a fun-filled afternoon of Wii.

*I have over $11 in fines from overdue library books and movies, but I just took out another 30 books (on R's card) about rainforests, water cycles, and winter weather.

*Our new school topic is rainforests.  We are reading the Magic Treehouse Research guide on the subject.  (in addition to the dozen or so books I just got on previously stated library trip)

*Dance costumes are in and have now cost me $212 for 4 costumes  (not counting tights) and a bucket.

*Hubby's contract negotiations are not going well. 

Thst's it.  I'm out of interesting (or at least mildly interesting)info.   I promised at least one blog post a week, but I promised nothing to do with keeping you from falling asleep while reading it. 

Take what I give ya, okay?

When PBS changed the morning line up of shows back in October we had a major problem.  M was used to waking up every morning and watching Arthur and Curious George while eating breakfast, and then all of a sudden, Arthur was a half hour earlier, followed by Martha Speaks (a queer show about a dog who can talk because she eats vegetable soup) and THEN Curious George.  (That's just WAY too much TV nonsense for us in the morning!)  And then, for our viewing pleasure, PBS threw in two new shows; Sid the Science Kid, and Super Why, both of which M adores when he is lucky enough to be allowed to watch them.

In the beginning I liked Sid the Science Kid, now I just find it annoying.  The songs pierce though my ears and make my brain bleed, and it kills me that 4-year-old Sid isn't in the right kind of car seat in his Grandmother's car, but the science topics are pretty cool.  M is completely enthralled with the show so it gave me an idea.

I proposed a new class to my boss at the YMCA; a Young Explorers science class for preschool age children.  She liked the idea and I was psyched!  I really miss teaching preschool and all the stuff it involves, so this was a very happy medium for me.

So, today was my first day teaching the science class.  My happiness was a little shrouded by the fact that I currently only have 3 kids in my class, one is M, one is my niece T, and the other is one of T's friends, a little girl named Allie.

I, ideally, would have liked at least  5 kids, but things worked really well for the first class.  Our theme was mixing colors, so we read the book Mouse Paint by Ellen Stoll Walsh, sang a color mixing song (Red and yellow always make orange...) and then came the really fun (aka messy) part!  We used eye droppers on coffee filters with primary colored water to make beautiful tie-dyed looking patterns.  The kids marveled at the colors as they mixed together and LOVED the end result.  When they were finished, we mixed all the colors together and ended up with a murky brown that they found pretty fascinating.

After our color mixing experiment, we sat and sorted a bag full of miscellaneous items that I had brought by colors.  Some of them were difficult to sort because they had more than one color, so it was interesting to see how they decided which item made it into which pile.  After sorting, we used the piles to make a graph of how many of each color we had.  They each took a turn coloring in one color of the graph and then we discussed the outcome.  It was so fun!

We finished up the class by "writing" about our experiences in our science journals.  The 2 girls did a nice job drawing and writing about the class, M, on the other hand, just colored his page yellow (his new favorite color) and stated, "I used yellow!!".  It was pretty cute.  Overall, I'd say the class was a success!

At home, we decided that Tuesdays are going to be science days.  We pulled out our brand new science book (we focused strongly on history from August until December) and started with the first experiment. 

Our first lesson was about osmosis, and the experiment was to "grow" a gummy bear in a cup of water.  We measured (all of us, the boys included!) the bears before submerging them, drew pictures of them, made predictions, and took notes.  M, again, just colored his paper yellow and called it "a gummy bear".

We were supposed to wait overnight to see results, but it became apparent rather quickly that things were not going to end well for our little wet bears.  Rather than expand like we were led to believe, they have started dissolving in the water.  We researched the experiment and it seems like we did it correctly, so I don't know what we are doing wrong.  If we didn't chow down on the remainder of the bag of bears, we could try the experiment again, but alas, those bears never stood a chance!  We are going to pick up another bag tomorrow and try again in a few different ways; less water, salt water, distilled water, etc.  It will give the kids something cool to document and I am curious to see the results.  It should be interesting!

So, that was our day.   Please note me making good (so far) on my New Year's Resolution to blog more frequently. (I am doing well on all the other fronts too!)

I'm sure many of you out there made your New Year's Resolutions this week.  I can safely say that so far I have managed to keep mine! (Yes I do realize that it is only January 5th!)

So I thought I would share some of my (boring) resolutions for this year:

1.  Spend less time on the computer.  I have already been achieving this goal.  Since we changed internet providers, the laptop can only be set up directly in the middle of my couch so it makes leaving the computer on all day (and checking it periodically throughout) nearly impossible.

2.  Get up before Hubby leaves for work every morning, shower, and get ready for the day.  Our day runs soooo much smoother when I am up before all the kids.  This is going to take some willpower, but I am up to the challenge.

3.  Be a better housekeeper.  I have a really bad habit of letting the laundry pile up and clutter accumulate.  I should be able to stay more on top of those things by getting up earlier.

4.  Be a better homeschooler.  We are so overwhelmed with extracurricular activities that I am going to have to write a schedule and really stick to it.  I am more of a fly by the seat of my pants kinda gal, so this is going to be really hard for me.

5.  Pray more with the children.  We pray together before our meals, and I encourage them to pray by themselves throughout the day, but I want to make a bigger effort to pray together as a group.

6.  Blog on a more regular basis.  I used to love blogging as a cathartic release, but it kinda got ruined for me a while back.  I found a new outlet for my thoughts, but strange circumstances made that unappealing as well.  I want to get back to my routine and blog about our lives at least once a week.

7. Let things go.  I tend to harbor resentment and hard feelings, and don't even get me started on guilt!  I want to work on not sweating the small stuff and letting go of things beyond my control.

Well, that's all I can think about right now.  I hope everyone else is keeping their resolutions.  I'll let you know how I am doing with mine!

Since I have been horribly remiss in my blogging lately I thought I'd update you on what has been keeping me so busy.  Of course I can't do anything the way a normal person would, so for your reading pleasure, I have created this song for you.

The 12 Things This Season That Have Kept Me So Busy

The first thing this season that's kept me so busy:

Someone cyber-stalking me!

The second thing this season that's kept me so busy:

"Wrapping" extra presents (Wonk, wonk!*) and

Someone cyber-stalking me!

The third thing this season that's kept me so busy:

Too much procrastination

"Wrapping" extra presents (Wonk, wonk!) and

Someone cyber-stalking me!

The fourth thing this season that's kept me so busy:

4 days without power

Too much procrastination

"Wrapping" extra presents (Wonk, wonk!) and

Someone cyber-stalking me!

The fifth thing this season that's kept me so busy:

A SMALL KITCHEN FIRE!

4 days without power

Too much procrastination

"Wrapping" extra presents (Wonk, wonk!) and

Someone cyber-stalking me!

The sixth thing this season that's kept me so busy:

A quilt for the in-laws

A SMALL KITCHEN FIRE!

4 days without power

Too much procrastination

"Wrapping" extra presents (Wonk, wonk!) and

Someone cyber-stalking me!

The seventh thing this season that's kept me so busy:

Devouring the Twilight Series

A quilt for the in-laws

A SMALL KITCHEN FIRE!

4 days without power

Too much procrastination

"Wrapping" extra presents (Wonk, wonk!) and

Someone cyber-stalking me!

The eighth thing this season that's kept me so busy:

Too much time on Facebook

Devouring the Twilight Series

A quilt for the in-laws

A SMALL KITCHEN FIRE!

4 days without power

Too much procrastination

"Wrapping" extra presents (Wonk, wonk!) and

Someone cyber-stalking me!

The ninth thing this season that's kept me so busy:

Teaching all my classes

Too much time on Facebook

Devouring the Twilight Series

A quilt for the in-laws

A SMALL KITCHEN FIRE!

4 days without power

Too much procrastination

"Wrapping" extra presents (Wonk, wonk!) and

Someone cyber-stalking me!

The tenth thing this season that's kept me so busy:

Going to Confession (don't laugh!)

Teaching all my classes

Too much time on Facebook

Devouring the Twilight Series

A quilt for the in-laws

A SMALL KITCHEN FIRE!

4 days without power

Too much procrastination

"Wrapping" extra presents (Wonk, wonk!) and

Someone cyber-stalking me!

The eleventh thing this season that's kept me so busy:

No heat in my car

Going to Confession (don't laugh!)

Teaching all my classes

Too much time on Facebook

Devouring the Twilight Series

A quilt for the in-laws

A SMALL KITCHEN FIRE!

4 days without power

Too much procrastination

"Wrapping" extra presents (Wonk, wonk!) and

Someone cyber-stalking me!

The twelfth thing this season that's kept me so busy:

Trying to kill Santa (these kids can't take a hint!)

No heat in my car

Going to Confession (don't laugh!)

Teaching all my classes

Too much time on Facebook

Devouring the Twilight Series

A quilt for the in-laws

A SMALL KITCHEN FIRE!

4 days without power

Too much procrastination

"Wrapping" extra presents  (Wonk, wonk!) and

Someone cyber-stalking me!

*Michelle, that was for you!  Can you believe that my spell check actually let "wonk" pass as a word??

Happy Holidays to All!

I recieved this in an email from Hubby today and wanted to share it.  It was written by a student in Arizona, but I don't have a name to give credit to.  If anyone out there knows the source, please tell me so I can give credit where it is due.

I don't typically talk about politics on my blog, or in real life for that matter.  I purposely avoided writing a whole lot about the election because I feel like it is really no one else's business how I choose to vote, and I don't really care about who anyone else picked either.  I'm not one of those wild fanatics that'll try to convince you that my candidate is the best, and calls you a moron for disagreeing.  I may THINK you're a moron, but I don't usually resort to calling people that to their face.

Ahhh, I digress...  Since I only have about 4 faithful readers left, you will have to just bear with me and feel free to skip this entry if you rather not feel your blood boil....

I voted for John McCain.  Now, I TOTALLY don't agree with him on all of the issues, and I think Sarah Palin was a piss-poor choice as VP, but my vote was fueled by his stance on the issues that are most important to me.  I had to vote with where my morals lie and his views lined up the closest to the points that are close to my heart. 

Of major concern to me, and what made my decision a no-brainer, is that Obama's stance on education states that everyone should be entitled to equal opportunity in education.  He is against vouchers, and although his own children go to one of the most expensive and "best" private schools in the country, he wants regulations on education so that no one child has better opportunities than anyone else.  That severely effects homeschoolers!

So, on top of the fact that we have a Democrat heading to the White House, we also brilliantly elected a heavily Democratic Senate and Congress last night.  This can only spell trouble for us homeschoolers!  Democrats = No choice in education. 

How long will it be until our new government officials come up with more regulations for us homeschoolers, more laws?  Will they be able to come in to check up on us at anytime, they deem necessary and interfere in our lives in ways that threaten our status as parents?  Will we be forced to choose between going to jail or losing our children or complying with these new, stricter laws?  What if these law makers decide that since homeschoolers have too much of an unfair advantage over common public schoolers, that homeschooling should be illegal altogether?  We all watched in horror at what happened in California.  What if that threat becomes nation wide?

I am no political expert, but I can read between the lines with the best of them.  When Barak Obama says that he wants an equal education plan for all children, what he is saying is that no one will be able to be the best or receive the best.  It doesn't matter how poor our nation's education facilities become, as long as everyone is subjected to them.  Heaven help us!

As a friend of mine so aptly stated recently, if the Democratic party wants me to keep my nose out of my neighbor's uterus and bedroom, what gives them the right to interfere at the goings-on at my kitchen table?  I see scary times ahead for us homeschoolers in the next few years. 

For all of you out there that helped to vote this man in to his new position, I hope the "change" that he brings about in YOUR home is worth it!

My kids are some of the luckiest children that I know.  Not only do they have both sets of grandparents in their lives, but they also have 4 great-grandmothers and 2 great-grandfathers.  And until today, they had a great-great grandmother; not many kids can say that!

My great-grandmother was 93 years old and lived a long and full life.  I keep trying to remind myself of that when I start to feel melancholy. 

She holds a special place in my father's heart for numerous reasons.  I know he is hurting right now because he wasn't with her at the end.  We knew she was getting close, and he had planned to leave to see her this afternoon after a doctor's appointment, and she passed away early this morning.  I am glad that she just slipped away peacefully in her sleep and that she is now living it up with Jesus, but it is still sad nonetheless.

We made a special trip down to CT to see her shortly after C was born and I am so glad that we did.  It is sad to think that that visit was our last, but I take comfort in knowing that she got to see and hold all of my children in her lifetime.

I am having some problems figuring out how I am going to make to CT for the wake and funeral.  Hubby has to be away all next week for training, and although he can miss 8 hours, that means we can't go to both the wake and funeral.  Since that is unacceptable to me, I don't know what to do.  A 4ish hour drive, alone with 4 kids is not my idea of a fun trip.  And when I get down there I still need to find someone to watch the kids for the 2 events anyway.  *sigh*  Say a pray that it all works out for me to be there for my family.

Here is a picture of our last visit with Great-Grandma:

I am so glad that my kids and I had the pleasure of getting to know this wonderful woman!

That is what this blog has become! :(

I think I have sucessfully pushed away all of my readers due to my inability to keep up with this blog.  Life just seems to be happening to us these last few months and there is not much time at the end of each day.

So, on to the b*tching and complaining!

Hubby is out of town this whole week and next.  Well, more accurately, he will be gone from early Monday until late Friday on both weeks.  This weekend is my birthday and we will be taking an all day trip to Salem together, just the 2 of us!  We have never left all of the kids for so long before (14 hours!) so I hope things go well!  We also have Sunday school, church and a birthday party to attend on Sunday, so that pretty much kills Hubby's weekend at home!  Bleh!

I hate the infant and toddler class that I am teaching!  The parents seem to want nothing to do with interacting with their kids, which wouldn't bother me so much if they weren't BABIES and it wasn't a parent participation class.  I already told the director that I really don't want to teach the class again in January, and I proposed teaching a preschool "Young Explorers" class, which will focus on early math and science activities.  I am going to discuss it with her tomorrow, but I really hope it flies.  THAT is a class that I would enjoy!

Having Hubby gone totally sucks!  Not only do I hate being all alone at night, but the kids are all in a funk.  I am pretty tired of them and they are very tired of me.  It is hard to never get the break that comes when Daddy walks in the door.

My house looks as if pipe bombs were today's science lesson!  (They weren't.)  The kids seem to be under the impression that since Daddy isn't home, no one needs to listen to Mommy, pick up after themselves or keep up with their chores.  I am trying to cut them some slack, but everyone is pretty much tap dancing on my last nerve at this point!

I still don't know what everyone is going to be for Halloween and it is only 9 days (and counting) away.  R is having a few problems figuring out how she is going to make herself completely blue to be Smurfette, I have to blow up 72 balloons for A's costume, I need to make a headpiece for M's costume (and pray he doesn't change his mind again) and I have to convince C to wear ANY costume at all.  Just a couple more things to add to the to-do list.

And my final complaint for the evening is this:  Hubby and I had just gotten C to start off the night in his crib, which we moved into M's room.  C would be put to bed at 8:00 with everyone else, with minimal complaint.  Since Hubby always handles the bedtime routines, and he is away, things have not been pretty!  *sigh*

Well, to any of you out there that still stop by to check out our regular goings-on, I offer my sincere apologies.  I'd offer to try to be more consistent in my posting, but you and I both know it would be a lie.  I'll just have to see ya when I see ya!

Since I don't particularly like either candidate, I thought I'd make it easy on myself. 

Your Issue Profile: 56% Obama, 44% McCain

Truth be told, you're not really satisfied with either of the candidates. You could vote for either of them. You are the typical coveted swing voter. You may want to narrow yourself down to a particular set of issues in order to pick your president. Or start looking at third party candidates. One of them might suit you better.

I am not sure if these results accurately show how I really feel.  I think maybe I SHOULD get some more info on the third party candidates!

Check out this quiz to see how YOU should be voting!!  LOL!

It was a beautiful day in Maine today.  Sunny, clear and 72 degrees; nothing like the cold fall weather we have been having.  To take advantage of the nice day, we decided to meet some of our homeschool friends at a local playground.

The kids, despite their age differences all played really well together.  Since this playground is completely surrounded by trees, shrubs and other greenry, a favorite pastime is making fairy houses.  In the past, the girls have used some (what we assumed were) wild grapes.  M, since he has never shown much interest in fairy houses only noticed the grapes today.  Would you like to guess what happened?

Yes, M ate some of the grapes.

Now, we were at the playground with Larissa and her two girls, and she, unlike me, tends not to be a worrier.  Her opinion was that he was probably okay and since he seemed just fine, I pushed it to the back of my mind and tried not to worry so much.

I started to worry about it again when we got home from the playground.  After consultation with another worrywart friend, and googling "wild grapes in Maine" and coming up empty handed, I decided it was time to call poison control.  I was fairly confident that they would assure me that everything was fine.

I was NOT expecting the nice man at the poison control office to tell me that sometimes other seriously toxic plants can mimic the appearance of wild grapes!  Plants that can cause high blood pressure, rapid heart rates, and sometimes death!  O!  M!  G!  His advice to me was to get a piece of the plant and have it identified.  If we didn't know exactly what it was, there was no way to tell me what problems may arise.

I quickly dropped A off at TKD and headed back to the playground, dragged the other 3 kids back to the bush, and tugged off a couple of good-size pieces including the actual "grapes".   Then the problem was finding a place that could identify it at almost 5:30 in the evening.  The poison control guy had suggested a plant store.  Uhhhhh, okay!  I went to our local Agway in hopes that since they sell plant supplies, they could be of some help.

Unfortunately The folks at Agway couldn't identify the plant.  They could, however, give me the name and address of a man who could.  They called ahead so that Mr. Johnston would expect me, and I got directions to his house.  Mr. Johnston met me outside, took one look at the plant and assured me that it is just wild grapes, will not cause lasting damage to M, and probably tasted like crap when he ate it!  Whew!  That was a relief!

Okay, so that wild goose chase ended happily, but how many more times will I have to call poison control before this child makes it to adulthood?  What will he eat next time that may be potentially fatal?  It is not as if I don't watch him!  But I never would have anticipated that he would find grapes growing on vines at the playground and think they were fair game!

Ahhh!  It probably doesn't bode well that I have poison control on speed dial does it?  I wonder how many times you can call them before they report you to CPS?

And just in case you are wondering, here is a picture of what M ate:

Looks like grapes to me!