Trivium Pursuit

A Whole New World

2012-02-10T10:00:00.000-08:00

While doing research on different cloth diapers and their care, I have come across a whole new world of things that I never knew existed. Here's a short list to show what I mean:

Tea Tree Oil: It is an essential oil often used in home made baby wipes solutions. It is antiviral, antibacterial, and anti fungal, and used for treating things like nail fungus, ringworm, athletes foot, dandruff, acne, and many types of infestations including head lice, mites, and mosquitoes.

Wool Dryer Balls: Add these balls to your dryer to get faster drying, fluffier laundry. It also helps eliminate static, though not completely. They effectively do the job of dryer sheets, except they are reusable for years and don't leave any chemical residue on your clothes.

Cloth Feminine Pads: Um, pretty self explanatory. They're like cloth diapers, except for the purpose of, and shaped like, feminine hygiene products.

Eco-friendly Detergents and Cleaners: Maybe I'm just blind, but I never knew these were out there, and in such an abundance! They are made from all-natural materials such as grape seed and fruit extract, coconut and corn, and other essential oils, and according to reviews, they work just as well as synthetic cleaners.

Diaper Sprayers: I did know about these beforehand, but I still find it part of a different world. These attach to the water supply on your toilet and are used just like the sprayer in your kitchen sink. Except, of course, it sprays into your toilet. I can think of lots of things other then diapers this could be useful for, but they're all kinda gross. I'd rather not list them.

Diaper Cloths: I already knew about cotton and wool. Cotton is very absorbent, and wool is water repellent. What I didn't know was that there are cloths made from hemp and bamboo. Turns out they are thinner and even more absorbent and highly prized by the cloth diapering community then the old standbys. There is also a fabric caller PUL (polyurethane lining) that is waterproof but soft, typically used for the outside shell on diapers, and microfleece and suedcloth used to wick away the moisture.

Reusable Bags: These include sandwich bags, diaper pail liners, dirty diaper (wet) bags, and mini wet/dry bags. Makes sense for cloth diaper users. They can also be used for other things like swim gear, makeup, feminine products, wet wipes, sunscreen, lotion, towels, etc. Just launder with your diapers or other laundry.

It's quite possible that you already knew of these things and I was just obliviouse. Oh well. In either case, now we both know.

Diaper Days are Coming!

2012-02-06T18:24:00.000-08:00

My ultrasound a couple weeks ago helped me realize I have a baby coming. Soon. Not too soon, but soon enough. And that realization jumpstarted a week + of figuring something out.

A couple years ago, while at the park with one of my friends, her little boy had his diaper changed. Exciting, I know, but it started a long conversation. You see, he was wearing a cloth diaper. And it was cute, not one of those hideous old-fassioned pre-folds with pins and plastic pants. I was interested. I've always been a bit of an environmentalist, but I also find frugality, aesthetics, and convenience important. My friend informed me that by using cloth diapers, I could actually obtain all four. Really?

Environmentally, cloth diapers are wonderful. They do not pile up in landfills, adding non-decomposing and toxic waste to the system. Instead, they get reused over and over, recycling for years, and putting the waste where it belongs (down the toilet).

Economically, it is also a winner. Over the period from birth to potty training, a typical child will go through over $2000 in disposable diapers. Seriously. Cloth diapering is much cheaper in the long run. It has it's up front costs (top diapering systems will run you close to $400), but then they are used over, and over, and over again. Those diapers are meant to last the entire 2-3 years and then some, often being passed down to younger siblings. That's even more savings!

As far as looks go, you can get some really cute cloth diapers now days. Just take a look at all the various kinds, from BumGenius, to FuzziBunz, to G Diapers, Flips, Best Bottoms . . . the list goes on and on. They aren't huge and majorly bulky like the old style cloth diapers, and some are even as trim as the current disposables.

As for convenience, there is slightly more work. You will have to do additional laundry 2-3 times a week, but is that really such a big deal? You're already going to be doing laundry for your little one and all of your other family members. Also, there are no more late night runs to the store in icy snow because you "ran out". As for putting the diaper on the baby, there isn't much more to it then disposables. For pocket diapers, you simply stuff a liner in the pocket, then snap or velcro it on. For all-in-2 (hybrid) diapers, you lay the liner in the shell, then snap or velcro it on baby. No more folding or pinning with these diapering systems. Easy. For clean up, pull the liner and cover apart, spray off pooh into the toilet with a toilet sprayer, and toss in the diaper pail to be washed later. Still pretty convenient.

So, with all of these facts and a baby looming in the horizon, I needed to decide if I was actually going try cloth diapering or not.

Lucky for me, my friend needed someone to watch her boys for almost a week, and her youngest is still in diapers. While watching them, I got to try out BumGenius, a pocket diaper, to see how I liked it. Well, I did. It was really no big deal to rinse the diapers, stuff a pocket, or put on her son. The laundering was easier then I thought (why I thought it would be any more difficult then normal laundry, I don't know). That tiny bit of extra work was way overshadowed by the economic difference, and the environmental and aesthetic ends were definitely an added boost.

In short, it looks like I'll be using cloth diapers this time around.

Five in the Snow

2012-02-03T10:21:00.002-08:00

It snowed last night. A lot. We seem to be getting a lot of snow dumps this year, not that I mind. The schools in the district got closed, though ours still happened (have to finish as much as I can before the baby comes). Oh well. We still got snow time, hot chocolate, and cookies.

Anyway, I've been watching two little boys for a friend of mine this week while their parents move house. It's been fun having them. For Blake, it's been like a week long slumber party. He's so happy to have boys to play with.

Lucky for us, we happened to have enough snow boots, pants, and gloves to go around.

Say Cheese!

The kids even helped shovel the driveway. Not a small feat seeing how thick and heavy the snow was.

It's been a good snow day.

It's a GIRL!!!

2012-01-27T13:13:00.000-08:00

Poor Blake, but he'll be OK.

We're planning to name her Alyssa Madison.

She's due June 15th, but I've yet to go early.

Have a great day!

Reading to Music

2012-01-25T14:54:00.000-08:00

I've started working with Blake on reading. We're currently on lesson 10 in Teach Your Child to read in 100 Easy Lessons where he is learning to sound out simple words like "sam" and "cat". He's excited and doing well. Oh please let it continue like this!

So, when and where do I fit in this 1 on 1 with Blake? First thing in the school day, of course. Sierra is busy practicing her guitar in the living room, Bailey is practicing her piano in the family room, and Blake and I are snuggled up on my bed "reading". Jingle Bells, Greensleeves, and "aaammm" "am" going on all at once. It's music to my ears.

Happy Belated Birthday Blake

2012-01-20T14:13:00.000-08:00

Way back when Blake turned 5, we were planning on having a party for him. Unfortunately, it was the Saturday before Thanksgiving, and all but one of his friends couldn't make it. So, we decided to move it. To January. When everyone could make it. When we weren't all busy with Christmas stuff. Ah, life. Sigh.

Anyway, we had a great time.

My kids made the monster cupcakes. The eyes were the best parts. Yum!

Happy 5th Birthday Blake!

Snow Day=Jammie Day

2012-01-11T09:52:00.000-08:00

It's cold outside today. And it's snowing. One of those days that you just feel like staying in your pajamas, curling up with a blanket, drinking hot chocolate, and reading a book.

Ah, but we have to do school today. Sigh.

Wait! We have school at home! We can do whatever we want, right?! Hee hee.

Let it be declared that today is a Jammie Day!

Hooray, hooray for Jammie Day!

It is currently 11am, and we are all snuggled up with our fuzzy blankets in the living room, clothed in pajamas, fuzzy socks, and bathrobes, doing our math. We just had grilled ham, cheese and apple sandwiches, and we're waiting for our hot apple cider to cool enough to drink. Warm baths are planned after school is over for those who want them, and then we'll watch the rest of Avatar's season 2. Chores, well, they just need to be done before bed.

What a wonderful way to spend a snowy school day!

Merry Christmas 2011

2011-12-24T13:31:00.000-08:00

My kids love taking Christmas pictures, especially the silly type. It makes it hard to take the standard "good" picture, but we always seem to end up with a lot of fun ones.

Have a very Merry Christmas! See you next year!

Christmas Letter 2011

2011-12-20T13:27:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone,

Yet another year has come and gone, as they always seem to do. Unfortunately, this year had been a hard one for us, both financially and emotionally. However, there have been many rays of sunshine amidst the gloom, and family and friends have been a great help to us. We’ve really appreciated it, so thank you!

Seth has been hit the hardest around here. His bankruptcy practice has slowed down drastically over the past 12 months. Apparently, most people who can file have, and everyone else is so poor that bankruptcy actually won’t help. We are hoping that things will pick up once the economy does, but in the mean time, he is looking at additional sources of income, from expanding his practice to include consumer protection cases to doing Japanese translation for law firms and other legal contract work that’s available. Job aside, he has been able to spend a lot of time with the family.

Misty has had a full year. Along with homeschooling the kids, she was able to do seasonal, part time work grading statewide standardized tests for 3^rd-11^th grade reading comprehension and math. She also started working on finishing the basement. She has been able to complete enough to do some wall boarding and hopes to have the walls and ceilings done by next summer. Misty also discovered she was pregnant last June, then miscarried at 10 weeks along. A couple months later, she was pregnant again, this time with twins. Unfortunately, at 9 ½ weeks, she lost one. The surviving baby is alive and well, happily kicking and dancing away. He/she is expected to make an appearance around mid June next year.

Sierra, who is now 9 ½ and full of ideas, is doing well. She’s learning long multiplication and division in math, reading longer chapter books, and creating her own books on the computer. She is also taking, and doing very well in, Guitar and Musical Theatre at Options (once a week public school for the homeschooled). She will be performing the part of Toulouse, the little grey kitten from the Disney version, in their production of Aristocrats this coming spring.

Bailey is now 7 and has finally lost her first two teeth. She’s so proud! She has graduated to reading chapters, and is currently on the Disney Fairy books. Her artistic abilities have flourished in photography, drawing, and sculpting, and will soon be giving her older sister a run for her money. At Options, among other things, she has been learning Spanish and a lot about animals, weather, and cultures.

Blake, our 5 year-old giant, still maintains the cleanest room in the house. That boy likes things to be just so! He started doing preschool work this year and loves writing his letters and numbers, drawing shapes, and doing dot to dots and mazes. “Use your fingers, Blake, not your fist!” His imagination has flourished as well as he plays pretend with his sisters and toys, and he also seems to have an artistic streak along with his acute spatial awareness.

Casper, our cat, somehow hurt his hip earlier this year, but it is slowly healing. Lately, he has discovered that he doesn’t like snow, so to alleviate his boredom when he’s trapped inside, he will lie down in the middle of the hall or kitchen to bat at anything that crosses his path. What a silly cat!

Yes, we’ve had lots of sunshine amid the gloom. We hope that you’ve had sunshine too. Happy Holidays, and may your new year be bright!

Chocolate Mice

2011-12-20T13:20:00.000-08:00

I can't really call this a "snack", but my kids love to make them, and they're pretty easy. Actually, the hardest part is by far finding maraschino cherries with stems. So, here's what you do:

Per mouse you will need:

1 marachino cherry with a stem

1 Hershey's Kiss

2 chocolate chips

melted dipping chocolate (almond bark)

First, dry the cherries off on a paper towel, unwrap the kisses, have the chocolate chips ready, and line a pan with waxed paper. Then melt the almond bark in the microwave, stirring every 30 seconds until smooth. (Be sure to stir, or the chocolate can burn.)

Pick up a cherry by the stem (it's tail), and dip it in the chocolate to coat. Scrape off any extra and place on the waxed paper with the "tail" off to one side. Place the kiss, flat side, against the cherry opposite the stem. The place the ears (chocolate chips), point side toward the cherry at the top of the kiss. Cool and enjoy.

During Tough Times, School Time is Tough

2011-12-14T12:47:00.000-08:00

When I was still pregnant with twins and completely exhausted, it was hard to get homeschooling done. I would often stay in bed or lie on the couch and have the girls come to me if they had questions. We also sometimes cut down school to only math, Sierra's guitar, and Bailey's reading, but even that was hard to do some days. I'm so grateful my husband was around to help.

Because he works from home, and business is slow, he was able to homeschool the girls on the days when I was just to exhausted. Especially when I started working part time in the evenings. He would also clean up, make the kids clean, make dinner, and let me rest all day. True, his standards are lower then mine, but it was by far more then I was capable of doing at the time. And I really appreciated it. Especially the fact that, because of him, we are still on schedule to finish our school year before the baby is born.

Well, now that work is over and my energy is coming back, we're easing back into our normalish routine. The house is getting cleaner, our meals are getting better, the girls have music, math, writing, spelling, grammar, handwriting, etc., and Blake does his workbook pages. We haven't added back the afternoon routine yet, but I figure we can do that after Christmas break.

So I guess, when times are tough, do what you must, and eventually things will get better.

Tree Time

2011-12-10T10:48:00.000-08:00

Once again it was time for our yearly drive out to the Red Feather Lakes National Forest above Fort Collins where we chop down our Christmas tree each year. It's a good 2 hour drive, but luckily, our kids are good travelers. Turn on Christmas music, give them notebooks and drawing/coloring supplies, make sure they have snacks and water, and we're good to go.

Since we went on a weekday this year (there was a lot of snow and really cold temps on Saturday), we had to stop by the forest service station in Fort Collins for our $10 permit on our way up. Turns out we weren't the only ones who waited for better weather. I think we saw a good 20 or so other cars in the cutting areas.

Anyway, once we were there, the kids threw themselves into the snow. Literally. Then we hiked up a large hill to the back of a clump where we started looking around for our tree. I got tired very quickly, but the kids had a lot of fun. The snow was a couple feet deep.

Eventually, Seth found a tree that we decided was a keeper. It was noting too impressive, but trekking through that deep snow was tiring for all of us, and we wanted to end the search sooner then later, before the kids got too whiney and cranky.

Then, we headed back to the car. The hike down was a lot easier, and since we brought a sled, the kids got to take turns sliding down through the trench like tracks all the way to the parking area. Time to tie the tree down, load up the car, refill water bottles, and feed the masses.

The kids were a little bored on the way back, but cheeseburgers and fries along with more lively Christmas music helped to keep them from going nuts. The whole trip took us about 5 1/2 hours. Not bad, really.

Then we set the tree up. It is huge! The thing takes up a good large chunk of our living room this year, but it looks better then we thought. Hooray for us!

Testing, Testing, 1 2 3 , Grade!

2011-11-30T11:39:00.000-08:00

I've been very occupied this last month grading k-12 standardized tests for the New England States. It's a part time, seasonal job I've picked up working 5 hour evenings Monday through Friday at a computer "lab" with hundreds of other people. During the spring, I graded New Mexico and Massachusetts tests for a few months. It's a lot of work, boring and tedious at times, but also a lot of fun.

This year, I got to grade 5th, 7th, and 8th grade reading comprehension where I learned a bit about Slinkies, Stonehenge, Anne of Green Gables, bees, Jane Austen, a number of folk tales, and other such things. It was very interesting to see the thought processes behind the kids answers, decipher different spellings and handwriting, and enjoy the quirks when we saw them. Some kids were very literal, while others were extremely conversational. A number of them wrote about personal opinions and experiences to make their points or relate to the story prompt. Some even made up their own stories and ignored the question/prompt all together. Occasionally, we even got a picture to look at.

I also got to grade 4th and 5th grade math. Apparently, you can tell a child's comprehension of math much better with an open, written answer then multiple choice. Often, you could see the thought process the child went through to get their answer, which was very interesting when a large number of kids got the same wrong answer to a question. We did fractions, estimation, number orders, graphs, place value, addition/multiplication sentences, dollar signs and decimal points, and so forth. I loved comparing where Sierra was to these kids, as she is currently doing 4th grade math.

So yah, that's what I've been up to of late. Glad it's over until next spring.

Phenomina

2011-11-20T17:21:00.000-08:00

I got to experience what is apparently a common phenomena first hand this last week or so.

I am currently 10 1/2 weeks pregnant, and last Thursday (at 10 weeks) I got to see my baby happily dancing away with a very strong heartbeat by ultrasound. Why the ultrasound? Maybe I should start from the beginning.

This pregnancy has been different from all of my others. My symptoms were stronger. I actually had morning sickness, cramping, and food cravings. What's more, I was very easily tired, often to the point of exhaustion where I'd spend a day or more in bed to recuperate. I thought it was probably due to me getting older, but at 7 1/2 weeks, something made me think differently. My uterus decided that it should be the size of a 10 week pregnancy. Twins?

By 9 weeks, it was the size it should be at 14-16 weeks and contained two separate, firm little lumps, one high and the other low. What's more, at 9 1/2 weeks, I started feeling fetal movement. Yes, that's early. Way early!!! I normally feel it at 12 weeks, which is still very early, but this . . . it seems impossibly early. Even so, I was definitely feeling it, loud and clear. I was having twins! I was sure of it.

Then the cramping started. Hard. No blood, but it felt just like labor. And it took hours to go away. I would have been very concerned if I couldn't feel the babies moving. As it was, it was past hours at the doctor's office on a Friday evening, and I knew from past experience, if I was miscarrying, there wasn't much that would or even could be done about it. There was no hemorrhaging, no blood at all, so there was no emergency. Rest and water. Eventually it went away. And since I still felt very pregnant, and the babies were moving, I let it go.

Come Tuesday morning, there was spotting. Very light and brown. Most likely from the cramping on Friday. I finally called the doctor, but again, I felt quite pregnant, so I wasn't too concerned. I'd come in if there was any more bleeding or cramping. I had a doctor' appointment in a week after all.

Wednesday, I started cramping again, not as bad, but bad enough. Now I was worried. Really worried. Was I going to loose the twins? My husband gave me a blessing, assuring me of a healthy pregnancy. That helped, but my anxiety wouldn't fully go away.

Thursday morning, I called the doctor and got an ultrasound appointment set up for early afternoon. Then it hit me. I was loosing/had lost one of the twins. My pregnancy symptoms were still there, but they wen't as strong. I had energy! I checked my uterus, and it was smaller then before. The lump on top had become hard. The bottom lump was busy buzzing away at my cervix. I had lost the top twin. Now to confirm it.

It was a relief to see my baby on the screen, kicking and dancing away. But there was no second baby. What there was, however, was a solid mass of . . . something. . . at the top of my uterus. Right where the other "twin" had been. I had experience what is called "vanishing twin syndrome". I had lost a twin.

Someone said it's like having a funeral and a birthday at the same time. It's so true. I'm very grateful for the dancing baby in my belly, but it hurts that the other was lost. A lot. A whole lot. I've wanted twins my entire life, and I'd been getting so excited anticipating it. All of it. Both the fun and the hard stuff. And then it was gone. I may never have the chance again. It's heartbreaking really. And then I feel my little one kicking, and I have to remember I haven't lost everything. I have a healthy baby on it's way, so why am I crying? I should be happy right? I am, and I will be eventually. Just give me time. But for now, I'm grieving.

Piece By Piece

2011-11-16T20:33:00.000-08:00

Yes. It's coming. Together. Slowly.

Slowly, but surely my basement is getting there. I thought you might like to see the progress so far. . .

Fall Festival

2011-11-03T19:39:00.000-07:00

This year, I decided to do a farm share with Miller Farms just outside of Longmont. I got to go fill a bushel sized basket every week from their farm stand at our farmer's market, choosing whatever I wanted from things like peas, rhubarb, asparagus, red peppers, watermelon, egg plant, basil, green beans, lettuce, hot peppers, tomatoes, zucchini, onions, corn, carrots, gourds, turnips, sweet potatoes, honeydew melons, garlic, spaghetti squash, pumpkins, and so forth. I've absolutely loved it, and we plan on doing it again.

In any case, as a part of out farm share, we got a free pass to Miller Farm's Fall Festival. The idea is, you go out to their farm, just miles down Hwy 66 from Longmont, play in their play area, go through the corn maze, take a hay ride, and pick your own vegetables. Sounds simple enough, but it was a lot of fun. I think our visit was over 3 hours long!

First off, their play area has a mountain of hay to climb,

Along with lots of other fun stuff.

There was a huge, inflated jumping pillow.

And you can't forget the chickens and goats,

Or the go-car track.

They even liked the corn maze, though they got tired of it toward the end, it was so big.

Finally, there was the hay ride and the vegetable picking. (We were allowed to pick 5 bags per person!)

I think we came home with 8 jack-o-lantern pumpkins, two bags of pie pumpkins, three bags of new potatoes, three bags of carrots, a bag of cabbage, two bags of onions (red, yellow and white), and a bag of popping corn. Quite the haul if you ask me.

The kids had a blast.

And yes, we'll definitely be doing it again!

Happy 7th Birthday Bailey!

2011-10-30T19:23:00.000-07:00

News From Longmont

2011-10-26T19:04:00.000-07:00

We got over a foot of snow dumped on us last night/this morning, and while our trees are basically OK, our neighbors have a number of trees that have broken because of it. One fell on our mail box, another in the swing set area,

one fell over our fence, and another on our driveway (my husband had the foresight to move the cars).

Nothing on our house, thank goodness. Seth was out during the night and for hours this morning knocking snow off of the trees in the neighborhood. Probably saved a good few. Lots of trees in town have broken due to the heavy snow, and some of the schools in the district were closed due to power outages.

So, here at home, we had a snow day. The kids played indoors with some new lincoln logs,

played in the snow outside, had hot chocolate,

built a snowman, and had a day off of school.

I got to shovel the driveway and walk and talk to our neighbor while Seth helped knock trees. It totally felt like a laid back holiday. The kids said it felt like Christmas because of the snow. It's actually been a nice day.

Dates

2011-10-22T18:40:00.000-07:00

Here's a conversation that I had with Sierra while looking at dried fruit in the grocery store. . .

"Mom, what are dates for?"

"They're for eating. Their really good."

"Eww. Grose. I don't want to be eaten!"

"That's right, if you go on a date you might get eaten."

"I'm never going on a date, ever!"

"I'm sure your dad would be happy to hear that."

"Dates are bad."

"Yes dear."

Everybody Wants To Be A Cat

2011-10-21T12:13:00.000-07:00

Or, at least, Sierra does!

Her musical theatre class had its tryouts yesterday, and we got the results this morning. They are going to be preforming Aristocats around the end of April, beginning of May. Sierra gets to be Toulouse, the little brown kitten from the Disney version. It's the part that she really wanted!

Congratulations Sierra, and we'll see your performance in the spring!

Fish Sticks

2011-10-07T16:32:00.000-07:00

We like to have fish sticks, or fillets, or whatever for snacks with veggies now and then, especially in the cold months when a hot meal is enjoyed. I'll put these in the oven while I'm working with Bailey and Blake before snack time. Then we get to eat them nice and hot with tartar sauce or catsup along with our carrots, cucumber, broccoli, or celery.

All Dried Up Snack

2011-09-30T15:41:00.000-07:00

I got a dehydrator recently, and I've since discovered some snacks that my kids really like. The best part about these is that you can eat them on the road, take them on field trips, or just have them lying around for whenever you want them.

Dehydrated Vegetables

Cut up any vegetable you want into bite size pieces, slices, etc., blanch, and dehydrate until leathery to crisp. Add sea salt if you like, though I don't find it necessary. My kids love these snacks, and they get a tun of nutrients with them as well. Their favorites are tomatoes, eggplant, summer squash, carrots, and zucchini.

Fruit Leather

Blend up any fruit to an applesauce consistency and pour onto oiled fruit leather sheets in the dehydrator. Dry until leathery. Dust with corn starch, and cut into pieces to store. We often just buy plain applesauce from the store and add things like berries, bananas, kiwis, peaches, plums, etc. Not surprisingly, my kids love them.

Beef Jerky

When I see those really good sales of ground beef, I like to make jerky.

Original
1 pound ground meat
4 Tbs soy sauce
4 Tbs worschesire sauce
1 Tbs tomatoe sauce
1 Tbs Gingeroot
1/4 tsp black pepper
and 2 cloves garlic.

Teriyaki
1 pound ground meat
1 cup teryaki sauce
1 tsp minced garlic

Mix ingredients together for the flavor you want, then press though a jerky press onto the dehydrator racks to dry. You can also marinade thin slices of meat in these for 4-6 hours then drain and dehydrate.

Paring Down a Bit

2011-09-29T11:09:00.000-07:00

With all of the stuff that we had planned to do this year, I soon discovered that it was a bit much. While being overly ambitious to begin with, I also found that my basement is taking up a lot of my extra energy. Reality hit, and I had to find ways of cutting back for my own sanity. So, here's what we've done:

*We now have history once a week, instead of twice, with science on occasion.

*The girls no longer have logic.

*Sierra's piano is no longer mandatory (though she likes doing it, sometimes that and guitar in one morning is just too much).

*Latin has been re-set to the beginning so that the girls are reviewing what they've learned last year instead of doing things new.

*We're skipping Blake's interactive preschool work for now, though he still gets to do his workbook.

*I've given up biking for the time being and mostly do walking with occasional swimming for exercise.

So far, it has made a huge difference. Hopefully, when I've got the basement done, we can add stuff back in, like Blake's preschool work, history twice a week, and regular science. We'll have to wait and see.

Quesdaillas

2011-09-22T15:37:00.000-07:00

A good ol' standby that we like to use.

Tortillas (we typically use corn, but any will do)
Cheese (sharp chedar is really good, so is the Mexican blend)
Salsa

Between two tortillas, put a handful of shredded cheese, then microwave until cheese is melted. Cool a bit, then cut into eight wedges. Serve with salsa.

Egg Food Yum!

2011-09-18T16:05:00.000-07:00

During that time where I am stuck in the kitchen, available for any questions my kids have for me during school, I often boil up a few dozen eggs, shell them, and put them in the fridge for eating whenever. I used to leave them in the fridge with their shells still on, but not only were they harder to shell as the days went on, but also I had to dye them to keep my youngest from grabbing and breaking the wrong eggs. Oops.

So, I often have shelled boiled eggs on hand, which make for some easy, quick snacks.

Egg Sandwiches (or eggs on toast, or eggs on crackers)

Take the egg(s), mash them in a bowl using the prongs of a fork, mix in some mayonnaise and mustard to taste, maybe some relish or pepper, and spread on bread (or toast, or crackers).

Deviled Eggs

They aren't such a big deal if they are already pealed.

6 hard boiled eggs
1/4 cup mayonaise
1 tsp Vinegar
1 tsp mustard
salt and pepper to taste
paprika and/or parsley if desired

Cut eggs in half length wise and put the yolks into a small bowl. Add the mayo, vinegar and mustard to the yolks and mash up with a fork, mixing well. Add salt and pepper to taste, then stuff egg whites with mixture. Sprinkle with paprika and/or parsley if desired.

Hard Boiled Eggs

Well, that goes without saying. :)

Finally, We're Getting There!

2011-09-15T14:50:00.000-07:00

I started back in December, and I've had to stop so many times. Things came up, exhaustion reigned, work got in the way, homeschool took priority, life went on, but finally, FINALLY, I've made it.

So what am I talking about? My basement. I'm finally wall boarding the basement. It's slow, hard work, but it is so rewarding. All that framing, wiring, fire blocking, insulating, and calking is done, and now I get to cover it all up, close it off, and have walls! Yay!

Now, we'll just have to wait and see if I can finish them off by the end of the year.

Wish me luck.

A Fair day for the Fair

2011-09-12T14:42:00.000-07:00

We went to Boulder County Fair again this year. Of course, we had lots of fun. We got to see the animals (rabbits, chickens, ducks, sheep, goats, pigs, etc.), view all of the different exhibits, make stick horses, learn all about honey bees, pick free books, eat lunch with friends, watch some equestrian competitions, and ride on the rides. Oh the rides! And I got a day pass on them this year too.

Graham Crackers and Milk

2011-09-11T18:27:00.000-07:00

One of the old standbys:

Graham Crackers
Milk
Fruit (we like bananas)

Pretty self explanatory I think.

A Successful 1st Day. . .I Think

2011-09-10T16:35:00.000-07:00

The girls got to go to their fist full day of Options Thursday. They were so excited.

Sierra set her alarm clock, and the girls got up early, before me around 7am, so that they wouldn't be late. They ate their breakfasts, got dressed, made their lunches, and got their backpacks ready all before I was out of the shower. We had plenty of time to spare, except Blake wasn't dressed, nor did he have his lunch put together. And we had to find his shoes.

Well, with all of the girls preparation, and my helping Blake, we got there right on time with only a minute to spare before announcements started. Apparently we'll be doing the Pledge of Allegiance first thing from now on. That's new. Other then that, everything proceeded as normal. Sierra knew where her classes were and in what order to go, including when to switch her backpack for her guitar, etc. Bailey took off with her teacher, and all lights were go.

I took Blake grocery shopping and did some other errands. Then I crashed. Hard. My husband came in to our bedroom at 3pm asking when the kids were supposed to be picked up. I was so out of it that I didn't have any clue what he was talking about, and by the time that I finally understood, he was out the door on his way to picking them up. (He was taking pity on me because I'd been under the weather for a couple of days due to a bad cold.)

When I finally wandered out of bed later that afternoon, Sierra told me that her Art teacher said she wasn't on the attendance roll. I'll need to get that fixed. Otherwise, according to my girls, everything was great. They had a lot of fun. We're off to another good school year.

Bailey's Portfolio

2011-09-05T14:00:00.000-07:00

On the 4th of July, while we were waiting fo the parade to start, my little six year old asked if she could borrow the camera. Here are most of the pictures she took. What do you think?

I seem to have a photographer on my hands.

Refried Beans

2011-09-02T16:21:00.000-07:00

Another snack we enjoy:

Canned Refried Beans
Salsa
Shredded Cheese
Chips

Mix the refried beans and salsa in a bowl and microwave to warm. Add cheese and stir. Scoop with chips and enjoy.

Options 2011

2011-09-01T20:22:00.000-07:00

We now have our Options schedules set for the year.

Sierra:

1- Colorado History

2- Rapid Math Skills

3- Guitar

4- lunch

5- Art

6/7-Musical Theatre

Bailey will be with the 1st grade class all day learning math, science, art, music, spanish, reading, etc.

Apples and Peanut Butter

2011-08-27T16:16:00.000-07:00

Here is another favorite snack.

Apples/pears/peaches/bananas cut up
Peanut butter
Plain yogurt-optional

If using the yogurt, mix 1 part yogurt to 2 parts peanut butter. Dip your fruit in the peanut butter (o double dipping) and enjoy.

Stubby Pencils have their Place

2011-08-25T15:38:00.000-07:00

In Blake's preschool book , they have been having him draw circles, lines, squares, triangles, and so forth around different objects. I noticed that he was clenching his pencil in his little fist while doing these things, which gives very little dexterity and makes handwriting very difficult. Knowing that, I wanted to fix this habit as soon as possible, but how?

I vaguely remembered reading in The Well Trained Mind that there is a relatively easy way of correcting this, so I decided to try it out.

I bought a couple of those chubby preschool pencils and cut them into six 2 to 2 1/2 inch pieces with a serrated kitchen knife. Then I sharpened one end of each piece, giving Blake six little stubby pencils to write with. And you know what, it worked!

Blake could no longer hold them in his little fist and still write with them, so he had to use his little fingertips instead. He is still trying to use all of his fingers to grip the pencil, but that will fade in time as he gains more control. At least he is no longer using his fist.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that he loves having these tiny pencils.

It's a win win situation!

Hummus Without Tahini

2011-08-23T20:35:00.000-07:00

My kids like hummus a lot. Serve it with Pita bread, crackers, or toast and add in some veggies or fruit to balance. It's really quick, and because you don't use Tahini in these recipes (which incedentally, my kids don't like), it can be quite inexpensive as well.

I got the first recipe from Allrecipies.com. I can't remember where I got the other two from.

Hummus Without Tahini

1 (15 ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained, liquid reserved *
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon olive oil

In a blender or food processor combine garbanzo beans, garlic, cumin, salt and olive oil. Blend on low speed, gradually adding reserved bean liquid, until desired consistency is achieved.

Garlic Hummus

1 (15oz) can garbanzo beans (chickpeas), drained, liquid reserved *
2 Tbs roasted garlic **
1/2 Tbs lemon juice
1 Tbs olive oil
1/2 tsp dried oregano, crushed
1/2 tsp salt

In a blender or food processor combine ingredient. Blend on low spead, gradually adding reserve bean liquid, until desired consistency is achieved.

Sun-dried Tomato Hummus (I like this one warm)

1 (15oz) can garbanzo beans (chickpeas), drained, liquid reserved *
3 Tbs sun-dried tomatoes in oil
3 Tbs roasted garlic **
2 tsp dried parsley, crushed
2 Tbs olive oil
2 Tbs lemon juice
1/4 tsp salt

In a blender or food processor combine ingredient. Blend on low spead, gradually adding reserve bean liquid, until desired consistency is achieved.

* 1 3/4 cups cooked chickpeas can be used instead. Use water instead of reserved liquid. (Be aware the salt content will be lower this way.)

** You can microwave fresh garlic for 30-60 seconds to create a quick roasted effect.

Snack Time

2011-08-21T18:01:00.000-07:00

I thought it might be fun to write out a few of the snacks that we have during school. I find that it gives my kids the extra energy they need to focus on their school work, and it keeps them from asking when lunch is.

Anyway, here is one of our favorites:

Tuna and Crackers

Canned tuna fish (white chunk or albacore is fine)

Ranch dressing (we use light)

Crackers (we like the Ritz Vegetable ones)

Vegetable(s) for the side (i.e. baby carrots, celery, slices cucumber etc.)

Mix the ranch into the tuna to taste and spoon some onto a cracker. Enjoy with your veggies.

2011-2012 Schedule

2011-08-20T15:17:00.000-07:00

We started school this week, and this is what our schedule seems to be settling into. We just move from one subject to the next until we are done:

9am (M,T,W,F. Thursday is Options)

All:
Stretches, calisthenics, yoga, biking, walking, etc. 15 minutes

Sierra (4th grade):
15 minutes guitar
20-25 min. piano (with Dad on Monday)
-SNACK-
Math (Horizon's Math)
Handwriting (Zanner Blosser)
Grammar (Easy Grammer)
Spelling (Spelling Workout)
Logic (Building Thinking Skills)
Typing (e-mail and blogging)

Bailey (2nd grade work):
20 min Piano (with Dad on Monday)
Read a book to Blake
-SNACK-
Math (Horizon's Math)
Handwriting (Zanner Blosser)
Spelling (Spelling Workout)
Copy Work (that I have written)
Logic (Building Thinking Skills)

Blake (Pre-K):
20 min preschool work with Mom
Read a book with Bailey
-SNACK-
Workbook page (generic preschool stuff)

Mom:
20 min. Preschool work with Blake
Help Bailey read to Blake
-SNACK-
Baking, banking, cleaning, etc. while stuck in the kitchen/
help the kids where needed

2pm (M,T,W. Thursday is Options. Friday is playgroup.)

All:

M,W-History (Story of the World)

T-Science (Adventures with Atoms and Molecules/Physics Experiments for Children)

Sierra:
Read 30 minutes/One chapter
Latin (Rosetta Stone)
Cleaning

Bailey:
Latin (Rosetta Stone)
Read book 15 minutes
Cleaning

Blake:
Clean

Mom:
Clean/Read/Rest/Whatever

Misscarige

2011-08-02T15:13:00.000-07:00

Thought i'd let you all know that I had a miscarriage this weekend. It's OK. I'm doing fine. I've gone through the guilt, the depression, the denial, and all of that fun stuff. I'm sure I still have some time to go before I'm completely done with the morning process, but right now, I'm very much at terms with it.

For those of you who want to know what happened, in diary/story form, read on. But if you don't particularly want to know, I won't feel bad if you stop reading here. Just know that all is going well.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

I had my first appointment Friday morning. Everything seemed fine. There was no heart beat, but that's nothing unusual at barely 10 weeks. Then late that afternoon, I started to spot brown. There wasn't much at all, so I didn't worry about it. Maybe my cervix had been bumped or something. It disappeared, and I went on with my life. Saturday it happened again, but again very light. Still I wasn't too worried. I'd tell my doctor at my next appointment.

Then on Sunday, right before church, I started getting cramps. Oh boy, and they were strong too! It got my attention. Then during sacrament meeting when I had to go to the bathroom, I discovered the the spotting was now pink. . .

Needless to say, I went home and called my doctor. Since it wasn't an emergency, he told me to call Monday morning and set up an appointment for an ultrasound so that we could find out what was going on. OK. So I went back to church and remained understandably distracted.

The cramps, now moderate in intensity, continued off and on the rest of the day, and the spotting turned back to brown. But I started noticing other things. My breasts were no longer tender. I wasn't exhausted. In fact, physically, I was feeling great.

When I woke up Monday morning, I felt completely "normal", as in "not pregnant". I knew then that I had miscarried, but there was still no proof, as the spotting was still both scant and brown. I went on a walk, called the doctor and set up an appointment for 3pm, and started in working on my basement.

The work was good for me. It was a welcome distraction and I was able to get a lot done. I'd had to put off a lot of things because of my previous exhaustion, and it was actually a stress relief to be finally working down there. It also kept the cramps at bay and my mind occupied.

I told the girls what was going on. Luckily I had told them of the possibility way back when I first told them I was pregnant. They took it rather well, though they hoped the baby was OK.

Finally I showered, went to the store for milk, then headed to the doctors.

Everyone there was both sympathetic and optimistic. I was emotionally distancing myself so that I wouldn't cry. Ihate crying in public.

I finally got in there for the ultrasound, and the doctor couldn't find anything with the normal abdominal method. Lucky me got to do the other one. When we finally found something all there was was the gestational sack. Nothing else. I was almost relieved to finally know for sure that I'd miscarried. My uterus and ovaries looked just fine.

The doctor was really nice, distant and professional, just how I needed it. I got to get a Rhogam shot (I'm RH negative), and then we went in to talk. He reassured me that it wasn't my fault. That there was nothing that I could have done to either cause or prevent it. That my chances were the same as for everyone else my age, and the next pregnancy would be the same chances, etc. Then he gave me the option of letting nature take it's course, taking some pills to help things along, or going in for a D&C. I chose the pills. We wrapped things up, and I went my merry way.

Did I mention that I hate crying in public? I had a hard time keeping myself together, but I managed. I called Seth once I got in the car and told him I'd been right. I asked him to tell the girls for me then said I wouldn't be home for a while. He understood.

So where did I go? My favorite store, Home Depot. Once again the basement came to the rescue. I was able to distract myself and calm down while being engaged in my favorite pastime, planning. I know, I'm weird.

When I got home, I took the pills, and within minutes the cramping picked up and I started spotting red. Good. Seth got dinner for all of us, and I went to bed early. I was tired, mostly from all of the work I'd done that morning. I went to bed early and slept well.

This morning I passed some red tissue. The cramping has subsided, and the spotting is still red. Nothing heavy. Nothing Motrin can't handle. Emotionally, actually I'm doing great. And as luck would have it, I've been busy all day putting together and teaching a cupcake decorating class for the Activity Days girls.

I'm sure I'll have a good private cry at some point, but for now I'm keeping busy and feeling fine. The girls and Seth are doing fine too. Blake remains oblivious.

And so, life goes on.

Happy 9th Sierra!

2011-04-01T09:03:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was Sierra's birthday, so we invited a bunch of her friends over from church and Options to help us celebrate.

They did a lot of playing outside, make believe, boys vs. girls, and chasing bubbles. Then it was time for cake and ice cream.

Sierra chose the design of the "cake". The strawberry was actually made out of rice crispies and frosting, and Sierra and Bailey made the cupcakes. Oh, and that green stuff is coconut.

Next up : Want to know how to get the wrapped attention of 14 kids? Tell them that someone is going to be unwrapping presents. (Sierra is hiding behind that small bookshelf opening her gifts).

And just as we were finishing with the presents, parents were showing up. Good timing! And lots of fun.

Thanks to everyone that came!

Latin Shmatin

2011-02-26T11:38:00.000-08:00

We've been doing Latin this year, and it's actually going really well. I'm thinking that we'll be doing it next year too. But here is the reason: I love Rosetta Stone!

Oh, we've tried a few different curriculum for the subject.

The first, Prima Latina, a work book type approach, was rather dry. It would have been OK for Sierra, but it would have never kept Bailey's interest. Also, it required a lot of work on my end. Not the happiest thing for me.

Next, due to a fluke in ordering through Options, we tried Power Glide. This curriculum uses audio stories to teach words along with a workbook for visual learning. The girls loved it! They listened to the stories, picked up the words easily, and were able to do it with very little help from me. It was a good program, but there were some big draw backs. I personally found it annoying to listen to as the stories were very much aimed at kids and the voice acting was sub par. Not a problem for the kids, but I also wanted to learn Latin. The other was that it really didn't cover a whole lot. We finished the program in two months. It was a very nice introduction actually, but that's about as far as it went.

Finally, after the fluke order was fixed, I got my hands on Rosetta Stone, a computer program using both audio and visual. It didn't take long for me to be highly impresses. All of the stuff that the girls had leaned with the previous curricula was covered in about three lessons. Now, grant it, the girls would take a few days to cover each lesson, but they still learned it faster (in a couple weeks vs a couple months). And they were just getting into the program! (It will likely take them over two years to complete the first level.) Oh and I enjoy it too.

How Rosetta Stone works is, you look at the pictures and hear the words. Then you match the pictures to the words. Next, they give you a picture and the printed words, which they read to you. Again you match. For older students, they then give you the printed words, and you have to match them with the picture without audio. The only down side is that they never actually tell you what the words mean. You have to guess. A Latin dictionary can easily solve that though. Oh, and if you want to learn grammar, you'll need to either get their accompanying workbook or some other text to teach it to you. But still, for a 3rd grader and a Kindergardener, it's fantastic! And I'm learning a lot too with seemingly little effort.

Change of Pace

2011-02-21T11:04:00.000-08:00

It crept up on me over a long period of time. It actually took me a while to notice. Things were not going how I wanted. I was loosing control of the situation, and it was stressing me out.

School was taking forever!

Why? Well, the biggest culprit was that the girls, Bailey specifically, would take forever to do their chores in the morning before school, sometimes a couple hours for something I could do in about 15 minutes. It would set the whole day off to the wrong start. They would be hungry (because it was almost lunch time) before they started doing their school work, making that take longer along with a lot of whining. Blake would be bored. I would end up chained to the kitchen, which also made me edgy. And so it went.

Then, one day while complaining about this to my spouse, he suggested that I do the cleaning last. I resisted at first. I've always done cleaning before school after all, but then I started seriously thinking about it. I decided it wouldn't hurt to at least try it out.

My husband was a genius! It has made a huge difference. We still start around 9, but I've added a short 15 minute workout (calisthenics or yoga) at the beginning of school. The kids like that. It helps get their wiggles out and helps them focus. Then Sierra is off to piano while I work with Bailey on reading and Blake heads out to play. When I'm done with reading, I fix a snack for the kids, which they eat, and then I busy myself cleaning the kitchen while they are doing their school work. I even make lunch. Then the kids are free to play until 2 when we have our afternoon school work. When that's done, they are sent off to do their chores, and they can't play until they are done.

It has made vast improvements to out family life. I, who am a control freak, can keep the schedule I want. I can also make a lot better use of the time that I am stuck in the kitchen. Both of these help keep my stress levels and annoyance way down. The kids get to do their school work when they are still energized and in a good mood. Blake isn't left alone for as long. Another surprising thing for me was that the house is nice in the morning because it was cleaned after all of the days activities are over.

As an added bonus, if Bailey wants to take two hours to clean, it doesn't bother me one bit. It's only her time that is being waisted now. Not mine. Not Sierra's. Not Blakes. What a relief. I think I'm going to like this.

Chatting with Dad

2011-02-18T10:35:00.000-08:00

A couple weeks ago, my oldest became interested in e-mail. Oh, she has had an account for sometime now. I made it about a year ago when I had the idea that she could write e-mails to her Grandparents and stuff. That was a no go. She was still way too intimidated by the computer. However, after taking a computer class at Options this year along with learning typing, things have started to change. She is loosing her inhibitions, and what's more, now she has a friend who also has an e-mail account. Tada! Sierra now does e-mail.

Well, a few days ago, her friend set up a "google chats" date. I didn't mind. It was for after school and all, but Sierra had no idea how to do one. So, of course, I helped her out right before the "date".

"Huh? What?" Sierra whined. Anything new. . . .sigh. . . Really!

To my amusement, my husband chimed in from the next room saying that he would help out. After all, he was in the middle of google chatting one of his friends. So, Sierra went over to Daddy's laptop and watched as he showed her what he was doing. Then I pulled up a chat box with him from Sierra's account and had here come back over. She got it this time.

What fun! She was chatting with her dad!

They kept at it for almost an hour. He sent her song and video clips from shows that she likes, telling her from the next room how to view them, and they bantered back and forth. It was a slow moving conversation, but they both had a lot of fun.

Oh, and her friend that set up the date? Well, she forgot. Oops. Oh well. Next time Sierra will be ready.

It Has Begun

2011-01-19T18:53:00.000-08:00

The biggest project I will probably ever take on in my life (other then my kids that is) has finally begun. It has been three weeks already, and it's showing some progress. But it is going slower then hoped for.

What am I talking about? My basement. I am currently in the process of adding/finishing two bedrooms (including closets) and a rec room to that large space down there. I'll finish the bathroom and laundry room some time later (probably in another year or two).

So far, I have yet to finish the framing. Oh, the walls are put in, floating ones and all, but I still have the ceiling. (I have to lower it by 2 inches with furring strips to avoid all of the pipes running along the beams). Of course, part of the time consumption was because I had to fix a number of issues caused by previous owners, mostly improperly framed doors. I have discovered that fixing a problem takes a whole lot longer then simply doing it right the first time. Oh, and I hate nails. They are so annoying to pull! Screws are much better.

After the framing, of course, comes all of the wiring, then insulating, then the wallboard. I was hoping to be done with all of this and be painting by Spring Break, but it looks like it might be as late as mid-summer. Oh well. At least it's getting done.

Christmas Pictures (a little late)

2011-01-09T18:29:00.000-08:00

It's so hard to get three kids to sit still all together and look good. Oh well, we had fun trying, and some of them actually turned out pretty well.

Family Christmas Letter 2010

2010-12-16T19:44:00.000-08:00

Greetings to all,

This year has been a rather eventful one in the Rogers household. We finally bought our first home, the one we had been renting for the past four years. Sierra turned eight and was baptized and confirmed as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints. Seth and Misty had their tenth anniversary (spending a “second honeymoon” in Breckenridge CO during the off season-very nice). We added a new addition to the family, a wonderful, black, male cat names Kasper. Bailey officially started school. Blake moved up into “the big kids bed”. And, saving the best news for last, everyone in the house is now toilet trained.

As far as individuals go, Seth’s practice is going along at a good clip. It keeps him busy most of the time. During his “down time” he has continued his work on interfaith dialogue through bloging and fielding email questions about the LDS Church for FAIR. He is also currently serving as the ward’s executive secretary and singing baritone in the ward choir.

Misty has been busy this year. She has tiled the main bathroom floor, resurfaced and painted the bathroom walls, painted the exterior of the house, learned the sopranino, soprano, and alto recorders, started learning the clarinet, typing, and Latin, and continued in her endeavors to homeschool the kids. She was finally released from teaching in the ward and is now on the Enrichment Committee for a short rest. Misty has once again picked up jogging and continues to read, crochet, walk, and plan.

Sierra (8) is now in 3^rd grade and in her second year at Options (a once a week public school for the homeschooled child) where she is taking Computer Skills, Piano 2, Art, Math, PE, and Drama. At home she is learning Math (including multiplication, decimals, and very soon, division), Grammar, Typing, Spelling, Cursive, Dictation, Chemistry, Latin, and Renaissance History as well as reading some abridged classics including Gulliver’s Travels and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. In her spare time, she has also started to learn the soprano recorder, and she really wants to learn to play the guitar. Sierra continues to be very artistic, using everything from tin foil and plastic grocery bags to cardboard and watercolors for her projects. She is a very happy, responsible, creative, obedient, and social child, though she still has some problems when confronted with anything new.

Bailey (6) is now officially in Kindergarten, though she is doing a lot of first grade work. She is thrilled to finally be able to go to Options where she is learning Reading Skills, Math, Music, PE, Art, and Science. At home, she is doing Reading at a second grade level, Math, Handwriting, and Spelling at a first grade level, and Chemistry, Latin, and Renaissance History along with Sierra. She continues to be interested in whatever Sierra is doing, a quick learner (especially in anything language oriented), attentive to detail, stubborn, astute, manipulative, charming, and cute as a button. Things are never boring when she is around.

Blake (4) is starting to learn his colors and ABCs. He loves watching Leap Frog’s Letter Factory whenever the girls go off to Options. He has also started drawing (on everything, including the couch and walls), cutting (luckily on mostly paper and cardboard), putting puzzles together, and creating things from Legos, bristle comb blocks, and Trios. He is surprisingly good at looking at the pictures and building what he sees. He also likes sword fighting, posturing, grunting, and all of those other boy things. Blake knows what he wants and is very capable and independent for a four year old. He also keeps the cleanest room in the house. Go figure. Logical, methodical, pragmatic, perfectionistic, independent, and sweet. That’s our boy.

Kasper (8 months), our furry black cat, is a bundle of fun. He loves the outdoors, staying out as much as possible. He is also a very social kitty. He will say “hi” to anyone he sees: the mail lady, kids walking home from school, random guys walking by. Anyone. He’ll even search out our kids to play with, even when they aren’t so nice. His favorite places to sleep are on Seth’s office chair, Seth and Misty’s bed, and snuggled up with a sleeping Bailey. We’re really glad to have him.

It’s been a good year, though stressful at times. We hope all of yours have been good too. Best wishes to all, and Merry Christmas!

Lots of Love,

The Rogers Family

Oh Tanenbam

2010-12-13T18:07:00.000-08:00

We went up into the mountains again this year to cut down our Christmas tree. Sure, we don't get the best looking tree possible, and when you factor in gas, the cost is about the same as buying one in town. But the memories are so worth it.

On the drive there:

At Read Feather Lakes National Forest Just north of Fort Collins Colorado:

We found our tree

and cut it down.

Then we had to take it to the car.

Getting ready to head home:

Time to decorate:

Not too shabby, ehh?

Blake is 4

2010-12-08T14:09:00.000-08:00

Happy 4th Birthday Blake!

He had owl cupcakes. Blake was so excited.

The girls helped him make them. All I did was bake the cupcakes and make the frosting. The kids did all the rest. Not bad, huh?

Cat Fight

2010-11-16T19:36:00.000-08:00

Well our cat, Kasper, has come home with his first set of war wounds. He's got a nice scratch across the "whites" of his left eye. It's not across the retina, so he should be OK. But we still have to watch it to make sure it doesn't get infected. Poor kitty.

Bailey and the Nickel

2010-11-12T06:08:00.000-08:00

A couple mornings ago, Bailey found a nickel while cleaning. She was so proud of it. She showed it to me, and I told her she could keep it. Grins from ear to ear. How cute!

Ten minutes later, she was wailing.

She'd swallowed it.

I wasn't too panicked. My brother had swallowed a 2 inch quilting pin when we were kids, and the doctor had told my mom to simply check his stools for the next few days and wait for it to come out. I figured we'd have to do the same.

I went down stairs to tell my husband, then came back up to calm Bailey down and try calling Grandpa (a family doctor). No luck there, and I didn't have his pager number. Sigh.

Seth came up stairs and told me he had googled "my daughter swallowed a nickel". His answer was right there at the top. Google's amazing! Anyway, it said the same thing that my mom's doctor had told her all those years ago. Check the pooh.

So we did.

I am happy to report that this morning, two days later, it finally came out. Hooray!

Lesson: don't put nickels in your mouth.

Bailey is 6!

2010-11-07T17:07:00.001-08:00

Bailey had her 6th birthday recently. Her and Sierra decided what her "cake" would be, and they helped make it. They decorated the cup cakes and made the mice. I made the cat on top. Cute huh?

Happy Birthday Bailey!

Trick or Treat

2010-10-30T16:36:00.000-07:00

Sierra is a black cat.

Blake is Link from Zelda's Wind Waker.

Bailey is my little witch.

Realization

2010-09-23T09:23:00.001-07:00

I have come to the unavoidable conclusion that my house would be, and remain, a lot cleaner if my kids went to school every day.

School for Me!

2010-09-22T09:37:00.000-07:00

My kids aren't the only ones doing school this year. When they started learning Latin, I said "Me too!". When Sierra brought home a typing program, I said "Me too!" again. Oh, and I've also started teaching myself the clarinet (I played the oboe for 6 years, but I don't have an oboe. I have my husband's old clarinet instead, so I figured, why not make use of it?)

So now, while my kids are doing their school work, I happily busy myself for 10-15 minutes learning to type correctly. I never actually learned before, and while I can easily type 20+ words per minute, I'm not very efficient and have to continually look at my hands.

After typing, I go off to my room and practice the clarinet while the girls continue their school work. (They come and find me if they need me, but this way I don't distract them.) Since I have prior band experience, I'm flying through the lessons. It's somewhat nostalgic to see those old songs that I used to have problems with in junior high. I can easily whip through them now on a new instrument because all I'm really learning are the different fingerings and ambusher (mouth positioning). I don't have to learn all of the mechanics over again. Makes me want to try other instruments once I have the clarinet down. (I'm seriously looking at relearning the piano-I only played it for 2 years-and eventually want to learn at least the trumpet and flute).

Later, typically toward the end of morning school or while the girls are having down time, I get back on the computer and do Rosetta Stone Latin. So far, so good. It's interesting how many English words are Latin based, making it easier on me in the long run. Feline, canine, elephant, aquatics, ambulatory, etc are all very similar to the Latin root.

It's kinda' fun learning along with my kids. Now, hopefully, I keep it up.

1st Day Success

2010-09-14T17:11:00.000-07:00

The girls got to go to their first day of Options (a once a week public school for home schoolers) yesterday.

Sierra set her alarm clock to go off at 7 am just to make sure they wouldn't be late, and when the girls got up, they quickly ate breakfast, got dressed, helped put their lunches together, double checked to make sure they had everything (Bailey's water bottle was missing so she borrowed mine), and declared themselves ready to go ten minutes early. Needless to say, the girls were excited.

As for the last ten minutes before leaving, I took out Sierra's class schedule, drew a map on the bottom half with room numbers, etc., and went over her room changes a few times before we packed up into the car (we had also gone over the rooms in order during orientation a couple weeks ago, so I hoped it would be enough).

This year, instead of driving all the way up to Loveland (a 20 minute drive), we only had to travel about a mile (3 minutes) to get to school. Nice!

We showed up at about 8:10. School assembly starts at 8:15, so everything was going well. We sat on the bleachers in the gym, taking pictures and saying "Hi" to friends until we had announcements. Then the girls were off to their classes. Bailey lined up with her kindergarden class and teacher to go up stairs, and I took Blake and Sierra up stairs to Sierra's first classroom (math). I once again reminded her to follow the map and schedule that she had and to ask an adult if she needed any help.

Honestly, I found it amusing/interesting that I was making such a fuss about Sierra when it was Bailey's first time ever going to school. Really, it's because Bailey is so easygoing, and Sierra, who still has anxiety attacks and freaks out about things on occasion, had such a terrible first day last year. It's not hard to understand, but I had to wonder what Bailey's Kindergarden teacher thought as she watched me simply smile and wave goodbye at Bailey while acting like an overly protective, anxious mother toward my 3rd grader.

After dropping Sierra off, Blake and I headed back down the stairs to drop supplies off and pick up the Latin curriculum that we had checked out for the year. Then we were off.

Mondays are typically cleaning and grocery days, and yesterday was no exception. Blake happily played by himself putting together and pulling apart his new Toy Story puzzle while I cleaned the house. I guess I'm odd, but I had forgotten how much I liked cleaning by myself. I'm such a "fairness fairy" that I can't stand cleaning up while others sit around and do nothing, but it's so annoying having to ride herd on my kids to keep cleaning until they're done. Anyway, after cleaning, showering, going to the library, and three stores, I ended up with only about an hour to chill before heading out to pick up the girls.

I got there a few minutes early and was able to talk to some friends before the kids got out. Bailey had a huge grin on her face and promptly showed me the picture she had made during art, told me that she had three teachers (Kindergarden, Art and PE), and pranced around as we waited for Sierra who had to come all the way from the other side of the building to meet us.

To my relief, when Sierra found us she was smiling, though she looked a little uncertain. She found all of her classes and had fun, but she was still a bit tense. I think she'll be more relaxed next week now that she knows exactly what to expect.

And when we got home, we all chilled.

All in all, a very good day.

Our Schedule, So Far

2010-08-15T19:00:00.000-07:00

Here's what our days look like so far this year (including what we plan on adding when Options starts):

Monday:
Options from 8:15-3:15
Sierra: PE, Drama, Science, Computer Skills, Piano, and Art
Bailey: K program combining Science, Art, Reading, Math, PE, etc.

Tuesday-Friday Mornings:
starting around 9am and going from one subject to another until complete, usually in this order
Sierra: Cleaning, Piano, Math, Handwriting, Dictation, Spelling, Grammar, Computer Work
Bailey: Cleaning, Math, Handwriting, Spelling, Copy Work, Reading

Tuesday Afternoon:
Together: Latin
Sierra: 30 minutes reading

Wednesday Afternoon:
Together: Latin and History
Sierra: 30 minutes reading

Thursday Afternoon:
Together: Latin and Science
Sierra: 30 minutes reading

Friday Afternoon:
Homeschool Playgroup

Boulder County Fair

2010-08-15T17:29:00.000-07:00

A day to remember. The kids got all day passes on the rides, and were loving it. We did see the animals, art exhibits, equestrian competitions, and such, but the rides are what the kids loved most. No surprises there.

Believe it or not, Sierra actually went on this ride and loved it!

Bailey was too short to go on the older kids rides. She was so bummed. She still had fun anyway.

Blake was scared and practically cried the first time he went on the pirate ship. He got over it though and it became his favorite.

Daddy had fun too.

Sierra got to go on a lot of the older kid rides with one of her friends. They had a lot of fun together.

Back to Normal-FINALY!

2010-08-12T19:07:00.000-07:00

We started school this week.

It's really nice to have a semblance of routine to our days again. I didn't realize before how much I appreciated that. Really.

These last few weeks have been listless blahs. Cleaning, shopping, cooking-they all went haphazard. Oh, there were fun days too, like when we went to the fair, but most of it was spent sitting around being very unproductive. Reading binges, anime binges, playing at the pool. . .it all gets boring after a while.

Don't get me wrong. Vacation is very nice. I've just realized that there can be too much of it too.

I'm thinking next summer we'll only take one month off. Two, while nice, was way to long.

Let's Get Organized

2010-07-27T17:21:00.000-07:00

Our summer vacation time is swiftly coming to a close, and we're starting to get exited.

Yesterday morning, the kids and I went to the store and got all of our school supplies; binders, crayons, pencil boxes, pencils, paper, etc. They were so excited by it all that we were soon pulling packaging apart, putting school boxes together, coloring binder labels, and having a grand old time. I even went so far as to put together their math and language arts binders, an activity which involved pulling apart a number of 100+ page workbooks, hole punching them, and organizing them with deviders. I even made and printed out and hole punched a bunch of experiment pages for science. It took me a good few hours. Before we knew it, it was time for dinner!

I still have to get History ready, which involves pulling apart another workbook, scanning the pages, making a disk, printing them out, and hole punching them all. We also need to finalize our daily and year-long schedules, but there's still time.

We start school the second week in August.

We're almost there.

Vacation is nice, but we're getting ready for life to be normal again.

Kasper

2010-07-20T09:22:00.000-07:00

Every time we go out to visit my family, I ask if I can have my brother's cat, never really expecting them to give him to me. Oh, I pout, act cute, and eventually grin when they don't take me seriously. But seriously, I love my brother's cat! He's one of the best kitties I've ever met; social, good with kids, laid back, doesn't bite or scratch, and isn't needy.

So, I got a surprise when I asked if I could take him home with me this time.

Turns out, a friend of my niece found a stray kitten and asked my niece if she could take care of him until the girl convinced her mom to let her keep him. Well, my sister consented, but then the girl wasn't allowed to keep him after all. Unfortunately, my sister already had three cats, the maximum allowed by city ordinances, and couldn't keep him either.

So, with us being in town and knowing my adoration of my brother's cat (who the kitten resembles in personality), they asked if we would take him.

Long story short, we now have a kitten. His name is Kasper. We don't know exactly, but I think he's somewhere around two to three months old.

It's almost strange how naturally he has fir into our house. Seth and I both grew up with cats, so having one seems so, well, natural. He's good natured too. He loves to play, explore, go outside, be around us, and sleep in the window sill in the basement and on Bailey's bed. He gets along well with the kids too and even our rats (though we have to be careful when they "play").

I like having a cat. I like it a lot, and it's a decision that I seriously doubt we'll regret.

Mint.com

2010-07-06T11:58:00.000-07:00

After deciding to get my finances in better order, I started to look for a program to keep track of my spending. I've used Quicken before, so I went to their on-line sight first. Turns out they have a free on-line financial tracker called Mint. It acts similar to the old pre-2004 Quicken programs, which is what I used before, plus the added on-line capabilities. Very basic, but very useful.

Pros:

It's FREE

Easy access from any internet linked computer

Works with my Mac

Quicken style program

Create budgets

See data in chart and graph forms

Track your spending/income/net worth

Automatically downloads bank info

Info/advertising for other financial opportunities without being obnoxious

Cons:

No immediate downloads of transaction data (this may just be my bank)

Transaction data can take a few days to download

Information is all on the internet

It is only a basic program without all of the bells and whistles

Anyway, I like it. It covers all my basic needs and then some. Very nice.

I definitely think it's worth checking out.

Dry Night

2010-06-29T16:22:00.000-07:00

Blake, for the last few nights, had been insisting on taking his diaper off to go pee in the toilet. Very annoying for us, because we had to then put it back on and deal with his whining.

Well, after a bit of debate (we're leaving for vacation in less then a week), we decided to let him sleep in underwear. He loved the idea. And what's more, this morning, he woke up dry!

I guess he was ready.

Now lets hope that vacation doesn't ruin it.

The Money Book

2010-06-26T10:37:00.000-07:00

My husband, who is self-employed, came across a book on a financial blog geared toward those of our kind. It's called The Money Book for Freelancers, Part-Timers, and the Self-Employed: The Only Personal Finance System for People with Not so Regular Jobs.

Since I am the one who does the finances in our house, I had already come to realize that the traditional methods of saving weren't the ideal method for us. When your income flow is unpredictable, it's hard to save x amount predictably. So, I was interested, and, after reading the reviews, decided to get it.

I must say, I like it. It's easy to read and understand, and the authors use civilized humor which makes the reading enjoyable as well.

The plan works off of percentages instead of flat sums, really, really, really emphasizes prioritizing emergency savings, taxes, and retirement as well as paying off debt, and helps you find ways of prioritizing and saving for other things you want. It does all of this while understanding where the self-employed, etc are coming from (a non-stable income flow, business taxes/deductions, lack of good/any medical coverage, absence of a 401K, etc.).

Also, being a homeschooling mom, I thought about how I would like my kids to know these things. After all, don't most high school/college students fit into this category? Babysitting? Working at McDonalds? Lifeguarding over the summers? These aren't exactly stable, benefits producing jobs, but they can learn how to save according to their earnings. And, what's more, the percentage of people who fit into this category is growing rapidly. The odds are that our kids will be faced with this kind of work at some time or other in their adult careers.

In any case, especially if you fit this category of employment and even if you do not, I think it is a very enlightening and helpful read.

Summer Project

2010-06-23T16:55:00.000-07:00

I'm almost done. Almost. Just a bit of touching up here and there. . . .

Here's the before:

Three weeks, 13 tubes of caulk, 8 rolls of blue tape, 6 gallons of paint, 1 gallon of primer, and over 50 man hours later, I've got this:

Big difference.

Sierra Made Pancakes

2010-06-08T07:36:00.000-07:00

Ever since Blake was born, Sierra has been in charge of making her own breakfast and Bailey's. SHe used to just do cereal for the both of them, dumping it in a bowl and adding milk. Last year I taught her how to boil water so that they could have instant oatmeal and hot chocolate.

Well, this morning I supervised while she learned to make pancakes for the first time. I showed her where to turn the temperature on the stove to, had her measure out the pancake mix and water, stir it, spray the pan with cooking spray, and make the pancakes. She did a really good job. I was impressed, and the kids were thrilled to have something different for breakfast.

Yay Sierra!

Oh Yah. . .

2010-05-29T12:31:00.000-07:00

Did I froget to mention that school is out for the next two months. Woohoo!

Green

2010-05-27T13:11:00.000-07:00

I painted our kids' bathroom.

Do you like the color?

Well. . . .

My kids do.

And that's what matters.

Score!

2010-05-27T12:28:00.000-07:00

Driving past a garage sale last week, I found a nice dresser and a head board for $25. Not too shabby! Blake was in need of a new bed after all, so I got them. Unfortunately, we still needed to get him the mattress and rails, and I wasn't too keen on him having free reign with the dresser. It was great for an older kid or adult, but not so much for a three year old.

So, inspired by my good fortune, I decided to browse Craig's List to see what I could find. Most of the stuff was junk, either really ugly or not very good quality. But then I found something. Someone was trying to get rid of their old bunk bed and dresser that their eighteen year old had finally grown out of. And they were throwing the mattresses in too! It looked really sturdy, and the design was very similar to the new furniture I had my eye on. Price wise, they were asking for less then a typical dresser. I was interested.

Well, when I went over to check it out, I discovered that it was not only sturdy, it was one of the most solid beds I'd ever seen. Same goes for the dresser. Yay!!! I was sold.

It took me two trips in our SUV to bring it all home and all morning to assemble. The kids are ecstatic. Blake loves his new "room". The girls are jealous. And I didn't have to change the light! (Good thing we never put the ceiling fan back up!)

As for the headboard and dresser from the garage sale, we'll just keep them around for whenever we end up finishing the basement. They'll be perfect for one of the planned bedrooms down there.

Butting Heads

2010-05-24T19:05:00.000-07:00

Sometimes life is rough. Sometimes you bring it on yourself. And sometimes, your mother is just plain more stubborn then you are.

This morning, while pulling out Bailey's math page, I discovered, to my chagrin, that she has been putting her incomplete papers away claiming to be done. I'll admit right now that part of it was my fault. I hadn't stood over her shoulder making sure that she did all her work, and I had not double checked her work for some time either. But she was still in BIG trouble. She had cheated. She had lied. And she hadn't done what she was told. BIG BIG trouble!

I found almost 12 pages of math work that she had not completed. Most only had a few blank problems here or there. Some had a lot. One of them, she hadn't done anything but draw pictures.

So, I decided that she had to do all of them. Plus todays math page. And nothing else until she was done. Harsh. But I was pissed.

It's now almost bed time. She's been sitting at the table all day, mostly griping that it's not fair. Honestly, if she had actually focused instead of played around, she could have been done in a little over an hour. But no. She was being stubborn and wouldn't do the work. Three simple problems of "what number comes before" took her an hour and a half. Then, when she thought I wasn't looking, she slipped some of her undone papers in with her finished ones and claimed that she was "almost done". The girl was not happy when I looked through her stack and found them, placing them back in her "not done" pile. She also got in trouble for lying again. No video games for a week.

Oh, did I mention that she didn't get to come with us to the store today? She also didn't get to watch a movie with Sierra and Blake, and she didn't get to have story time with daddy either.

As it stands, she still has two pages left, each with a lot of problems to finish. She'll be sitting at the table tomorrow until she finishes them plus her new page for tomorrow as well.

It's been a real pain. I feel bad for her, but I can't just let this one slide. I hope she learns from it. If she doesn't, she'll have an even harder time in the future.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1!!!

2010-05-23T17:26:00.000-07:00

The countdown begins.

Five more days of school, and then we are off for two whole months! The reason for that long of a break is because I decided I wanted to start school around the same time that the school district in town was. That way there's less confusion, I can capitalize on the back to school sales, and I won't have to start using the Options curriculum part way through the year.

So what are we going to do with all of that time?

Swim.
Paint the house.
Camp.
Visit Family.
House projects.
Read.
Denver Science Museum.
Relax.

It's going to be a great summer!

2010-2011 Longmont Options

2010-05-17T17:10:00.000-07:00

Well, Sierra and Bailey have both made it into the Longmont Options program for next year. They will be attending regular classes starting Friday, September 10, 2010 and continue most Fridays from 8:15-3:15 until Friday May 20, 2011.

Bailey's classes will include:
-Science
-Language Arts
-Math Skills
-Art
-Music
-Spanish
-Physical Education

Sierra's classes will include;
-Art
-Spanish
-Drama
-Science
-Piano
-Computer Skills

Both girls are really excited. We are looking forward to another fun year of Options.

He Did It!!!

2010-05-08T16:39:00.001-07:00

Blake did it. He went number two in the toilet! Finally. And he did it all by himself. I only found out after the fact.

Way to go Blake!

Sierra's Baptism

2010-05-08T16:20:00.000-07:00

Sierra was Baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (aka. the Mormon Church) on Saturday, May 1st by her father. Grandpa Rogers gave a talk on Baptism. Grandma Felt gave a talk on the Holy Ghost. Grandma Rogers and Grandpa Felt both offered prayers. Aunt Leah conducted the music, and Sierra's piano teacher, Kelly Meilstrup, played the piano. Bishop Haddock welcomed her into the Ward, and Sister Workman welcomed her into Primary.

Congratulations, Sierra!

Dad Saves the Day

2010-05-07T16:48:00.000-07:00

I botched it. I really botched it, and I had no idea how I was going to be able to fix it.

A week ago, while we were getting ready for all of the family to come, I decided to replace the fan light receptacle in Blake’s room where my sister and her girls were going to be sleeping. The fan box was sagging into the room because it was no longer able to hold the fan up like it should. I didn’t like the idea of the fan possibly falling on my niece's head while she was visiting, so I set to work.

What I thought would take an hour or so ended up taking longer. Much, much longer.

I got a new receptacle box that attaches to a bar which wedges between the ceiling joists, just like I was supposed to. Then I proceeded to take the fan down. No problem. With Seth’s help, we had the fan down in minutes. After that was when the annoyances started.

There were four sets of wires (with one white, one black, and one ground each) that were all coming through different holes in the old box. I had to untangle all of those wires before I could remove the old box. OK. Only about five to ten minutes. Then I had to take the old box support out. Slightly annoying, but not too bad.

After that, I spent almost 20 minutes inadvertently knocking down bits of ceiling and insulation just to locate the ceiling joists that I had to attach the new support bar to for the new box. Then I had to install the new bar. Another 20 minutes with more bits of debris.

When I attached the new box, I found that, because I was threading the wires through the top holes, the wires ended up being really short and hard to work with. Fine. I decided to add splices (extension wires). Finally I was ready to attach the fan. I replaced the fan mount and Seth held up the fan while I tried to connect the fan wires. Yah, right. Those wires did not want to connect. I had all of the blacks in one clump and all of the whites in another. The wire nuts just didn’t want to screw on. Both my and Seth’s arms were getting exhausted, so we quit for the time being.

That night, Kristi and her girls showed up, needing the room to sleep in, so we waited until the next day to try again. Same results. Fine! We decided that maybe we should just get a regular light for the room instead.

Seth and I left the following morning for our anniversary vacation, apologizing to my sister for not having fixed the light. The day after we got back, I went out and bought a pair of flush mount ceiling lights. By mid day, I had everything hooked up and went to flip the breaker switch.

Zap! I somehow shorted out the circuit. I turned it off and tried again. Still no current. What had I done wrong?

Sigh. I tried rewiring again that evening. No luck. I was out of ideas, and was about ready to call an electrician. But there was still some hope. My Dad had come out to visit us with the others.

So, when Dad came home from his romp in Denver, I asked if he could take a look at it. Within a matter of minutes, he was able to tell me part of what I had done wrong. One of the white wires (the one coming from the light switch) was actually a black. So he separated that from the other whites and did something else before hooking up the light fixture. Yay! The circuit was working! I hadn't blown it completely! But when we went to flip the switch to the light, we got nothing. Absolutely nothing. The rest of the lights on that circuit worked, but not the one we were working with.

Dad undid his work and spent the rest of the evening (until the kids went to bed) trying to figure out the wiring, and explaining it to me, with no success.

He worked on it all the next morning too, until all of the other visitors were ready to leave for Utah. He had removed the new box and was testing all of the wires. No success. He felt awful that he hadn’t been able to fix it for me. I told him it was OK. I was the one who had broken it in the first place. It was my fault, not his. I could tell he still wanted to fix it for me, but he had to leave. Everyone was waiting.

Even so, Dad had given me hope. I now knew that one of the white wires had to be separate from the others and that I hadn’t completely fried the circuit. So, I thought I’d have one more go at it before calling in the pros.

This time, instead of threading the wires through the top of the box, I pulled them in from the sides. That gave me a good extra inch of wire to work with all around. Good. Then I separated that one white/black wire, hooked the remaining three whites together, connected all of the ground wires together, and connected all of the blacks together. Finally, I attached the light fixture, white wire to the clump of whites and black wire to the white/black wire. And what do you know. It worked!!!!!! It actually worked.

I was so excited that I had to call Dad up right then and there and tell him that we did it. I could have never figured it out without his help.

Thank You Dad.

Happy Birthday Sierra

2010-04-19T12:12:00.000-07:00

(If you're wondering, that's supposed to be a koala bear.)

My Kids Love YouTube!

2010-04-10T10:48:00.000-07:00

Every time my kids hear any sound coming out of our laptop, they come running to see what it is. See, we've trained them. A little too well.

Seth likes to show them old Disney Clips, interesting videos, funny songs, and even movies on YouTube. And I'll admit, I do the same. It's fun, and it's fun to share.

So when there's noise coming from the laptop, 9 times out of 10, we're watching something, and the kids know it. Go figure.

Easter Egg Hunt

2010-04-10T10:34:00.000-07:00

Get Ready!!!

Get Set!!!

And GO!!!

If You Want Something Done, Give it to a Busy Woman

2010-04-05T13:08:00.000-07:00

I think it was Steven Covey, the creator of "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" who introduced this notion to my husband, who has since passed it on to me. If you want something done, give it to a busy person. They're more likely to get it done and with much greater speed.

On the other end, those who are not busy tend to take forever to get things done. That's me when I'm on vacation, or at least, on my last one. I was supposed to do all of my spring cleaning last week. Did I? Nope. What did I do? Um, not much. I cleaned a bit on Monday. The rest of the week I crashed out. Oh, I did go with my husband and kids to the airport to meet one of his blogging friends who had a layover in Denver. And we did go out for dinner on Sierra's birthday. Anything else? Ummmm. Nope. I didn't even have my Easter shopping done until Saturday night. What's worse, I felt awful almost the entire week because I was getting bored and stir crazy. Go figure.

So, I've decided that this week (our second week of Spring Break), I'm going to be busier. I'll make sure to go on my walks in the mornings, clean for at least a couple hours a day (I'm still determined to do that Spring cleaning), go to the library, get the grocery shopping done, actually make healthy dinners, and so forth. And so far, things are looking much better.

I think, in general, I'm happier when I have a lot of things to do.

Toileting Troubles

2010-03-20T17:03:00.000-07:00

Poor Blake. We keep trying to work on his toilet training, but things keep coming along to interrupt. First, he came down with bronchitis. Then I took over the bathroom when I tiled it. Oh, and did I mention the bout of tummy troubles caused by (we later discovered) him drinking all of the juice boxes in our food storage?

So, even though we've been working on his toileting skills for almost two months, we haven't gotten too far. He pees on command, so much so that if he's really got to go and you tell him "Blakie, go pee" it starts dribbling down his legs. Poor kid. I try to tell him to go before that point though. He does usually stays dry for nap time, which is a bonus, but he still won't go number 2 or on his own. Oh well. He's still much easier then his sisters were. So far. Let's hope it stays that way.

How I Spent My Week off of School

2010-03-19T14:03:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago, we took one of our scheduled breaks from homeschooling, and instead of relaxing, I went into overdrive.

I had discovered, to my chagrin, that my kids had flooded the bathroom one too many times. Luckily nothing was really damaged, but the vinyl floor tiles were pulling up and no longer protecting the places where the old linoleum no longer covered the particle board flooring underneath. Yup. Particle board. Oh, it had some sort of tarpaper like coating on top of it, but that was tearing away in places. So, something had to be done. And soon.

First I had to fix the small are that had been softened by the frequent flooding (no mold, luckily). Wood putty, sanding and sealer did the job. That was all done the week before in preparation for my "big job".

Yup. I tiled the bathroom floor over my week long break. Fun, huh? Well, actually, it kinda was.

Monday, I was pretty sick, so I spent it in bed preparing for the major work I knew I was getting myself into.

Tuesday I took easy and only tore apart the flooring, trim, and heater and washed everything down.

Wednesday is when it kicked into high gear. Seth helped me remove the toilet, then I set about preparing the floor for the backer board. I had to cut it to the right size (the boards are 3'x5') and maneuver them into place (not an easy task in a small room). Then, after dry fitting, I had to get back under them and smear the adhesive all over before laying them back down and screwing them in every eight inches.

Thursday, after taking Sierra to Options, I started working on the tile. There was a lot of cutting, nipping, and dry fitting to do. The nipping took the longest. I think I spent almost an hour alone on the tile that went under the toilet. I also had a lot of tiles that only needed 1/2 to 1 inch cut from the end, and because the rarely cut all the way, I had to nip those as well. By the end of the day, I had given my poor hands a couple of blisters, even though I had been wearing gloves. I was nipping the last pieces as Seth was putting the kids to bed. Once they were out of the way, I started mixing the thin mortar adhesive. Because I already had everything laid out, it didn't take too long to set the tiles, only a little over an hour, I think.

Friday, I was babysitting for a friend of mine who was out of town. Because I had her kids (the youngest only 1) all day, I didn't do too much. I just worked on preparing the baseboards for reattachment. One had to have a notch cut to fit the stop valve to the toilet. Another had to be recut to replace one that had split. I also repainted them while I was at it. Oh, and I finally found my camera. Then, after my friend's kids were picked up and mine were in bed, I grouted the floor. Took maybe half an hour. I was so pleased with myself.

Saturday. The day of caulk. I calked everything! There was the edge along the tub, the area under the heater, the spot under the toilet, and all along the walls and vanity. (We had previously had problems with the flood water dripping through those wall cracks into the basement, and I didn't want that to happen anymore.) Then, later in the day, I put back all of the baseboards.

Sunday, because I was tired of my kids using my bathroom, we put the toilet back. Yay!!!

What a week. But I must say, I'm quite proud of myself.

A Plate of My Own

2010-01-31T12:30:00.000-08:00

About three weeks ago while I was at the store with the kids, we saw some of those character dinner wear sets. You know, the ones with Dora, Disney Princesses, Spider Man, Cars, Toy Story, Hello Kitty, etc. Well, my kids REALLY wanted them. Hmm. I actually had to think about that one.

In the end, I decided to buy the sets-Dora for Bailey, Hello Kitty for Sierra, and Toy Story for Blake. We made the deal, however, that they would have to take care of their own dishes, or I'd take them away. Sierra readily agreed. Bailey was a little more lukewarm to the idea of taking care of her stuff, but if it got her what she wanted. . . Blake, well, I didn't really expect him to wash his own.

Surprisingly, it turned out to be one of the better purchases I've made. In the past three weeks, our dish load has decreased by more then half. My kids, because they now know exactly who's cup is who's, only use one cup a day instead of three. Same goes for bowls and plates. We used to go through all of our cups and bowls in about two days. Now, we still have an almost full cupboard after three days with barely enough dishes to fill the dish washer. Very nice! And if my kids leave their stuff on the table, I know who to make clean it up. Oh, I help out a bit here and there, but even Blake cleans out his dishes as best he can. It's gotten to the point where I've decided to claim a cup, bowl, and plate of my own, and I'm even contemplating getting individual silverware sets for everyone as well (we go through spoons like mad).

I guess there's truth to the saying that sometime more is actually less.

Multiplication Sensation

2010-01-20T16:04:00.000-08:00

It's late in coming, but I promised to tell you what I thought about the Multiplication Sensation CD and Book by Kid Clever. I found their Listen In Addition set at our local library and was so impressed that I bought both sets, hoping that the multiplication one would help Sierra in math.

Well, it's helped. A lot! We started listening to the CD in our car about two weeks before Sierra's math program introduced multiplication. I'm so glad we did! Sierra, instead of having a complete mental breakdown on being introduced to something new (her standard reaction), found herself only mildly uncomfortable. That feeling went away quickly, and in the three weeks since, I've yet to hear a complaint out of her as she does multiplication work. It really is amazing.

As a bonus, Bailey's become proficient at counting her nickels and dimes, something she'd been struggling with earlier.

What's even better is that both of my girls like showing off what they know. They can now do skip counting with 2s, 3s, 4s, 5s, 6s, 7s, 9s, 10s, 11s, and 12s, multiply by 0s, 1s, 2s, 5s, 10s, 11s without much thinking, and figure out their other times tables with a little thought. Not bad at all for 5 and 7 year olds.

And only one of the songs drives me crazy. It talks about a dragon dentist who likes to pull teeth. . . squirm.

It's been an absolutely wonderful find. Highly recommended.

Bon Appétit

2010-01-15T18:20:00.000-08:00

I was exhausted today. So exhausted, in fact, that I took a long nap on the couch after school and woke up much too late to cook the dinner I had been planning on (stuffed green peppers and rolls). Eesh!!

But what else could I make for dinner? I wracked my brain for something quick and easy. Hamburgers? Sure, but that would still take some work on my part. Spaghetti? No. That didn't appeal to me either. Hmm. OK. Fish sticks. Yes! We had some in the freezer. Oh, and there was also a bag of salad in the fridge too! Sigh. That was easy enough, but I still didn't want to move. My body felt like lead.

Then I had a wonderful idea!

"Sierra," I called from the couch.

"Yes?" She peeked around through the kitchen door at me.

"Do you want to make dinner?"

She got really excited, chittering with her hands up by her face like a squirrel . "Uh huh. What can I make?"

"Fish sticks and salad."

"OK!" Then she stopped and thought for a second, her eyebrows furrowed. "But how do I open the oven?"

So, from my comfortable spot on the couch, I told her how to turn the oven to the right temperature, which she proudly did. Then, on her own, she busied herself getting the fish sticks from the freezer, spraying a pan, and laying them out. I told her that she had to wait for the second light to turn on before putting them in the oven, so while she waited, she set to work on the salad.

Sierra got out a bowl and the bag of salad, pulled down a can of olives, and went down stairs to get a can of mandarin oranges. She needed a little help with the can opener, but other then that, she did it all herself. And during the middle of this, she put the fish sticks in the oven and set the timer.

Well, the food was cooking and the salad was ready, so my almost eight year old then decided to set the table. That's when Bailey came in to help. They chattered away as they got enough plates for everyone.

And there I was still lying on the couch. Pathetic, I know. But the girls were happy. I did eventually get up to pull the pan out of the oven though.

Then, when everything was ready, I had Bailey go and tell her Daddy it was time for dinner. It was a good dinner. Especially when you consider it was made by an almost eight year old.

Oh, but it wasn't over yet. Sierra, elated by her success, decided to put all of the dishes away from the dish washer. Wow! Maybe I should have her cook more often.

Merry Christmas

2010-01-03T12:42:00.000-08:00

Oh Christmas Tree

2009-12-17T17:47:00.000-08:00

This year, because we were sticking around for the holidays and Blake was supposedly old enough to not nock it over, we decided to get a real Christmas tree. We thought it would be fun to make an event of it, so I started looking around for different options. There were tree farms, tree lots, the over abundant parking lot lots, and even the store lots. Well, OK. Nothing too exciting there. Then I stumbled upon the National Forest Christmas tree cutting program.

Every year, the National Forests give out permits for people to come and cut down their own Christmas trees during the first full week of December.

To do so, you have to have either 4 wheel drive or snow chains, and you can only cut down trees in designated areas with trunks less then 6 inches in diameter. Oh, and chainsaws aren't allowed. But it's quite inexpensive (only $10 per tree), and you can feel good about helping to thin the forests to a healthier level.

I was thrilled. I knew we probably wouldn't get that wonderful of a tree. After all, it would be natural, not pruned to grow a certain way like all of the farmed ones (though I did hope for something better then the Charlie Brown variety). Still, to go into the mountains, cut our own tree, haul it home, and set it up as a reminder of our trip was something that seemed totally worth it. Besides, you couldn't beet the freshness.

So, the first Saturday of December, we all got dressed in thermals, snow pants, snow boots, hats, gloves, and coats, loaded a couple sleds, water bottles, lunch, saw, ax, rope, a book on CD, and ourselves into our SUV, and headed off for the mountains. The site we were going to was north of Fort Collins near the Boy Scout Camp, a good hour and a half drive.

Our kids are good travelers, so there wan't much hassle on the drive. They even let us listen to NPR's Wait Wait Don't Tell Me program for the first half. Then we listened to Listen In Addition until we got there, eating lunch the last ten minutes or so of the drive.

At the "entrance" we were given a map of the cutting site, an activity book for the kids, and a chance to use the johns. Then we headed along the one way, snow packed road to find a likely spot for tree hunting.

There were a lot of people there, taking advantage of the warmer weather break between two ice storms. Site A was really crowded, and so was site B. We kept going to site C, where cars more spread out, found a small shoulder, and parked.

The kids were really excited. Once out of the car, they ran all over the place through the two foot deep snow. Bailey liked to be pulled on the sled I was dragging, but it was hard to maneuver due to all of the fallen logs and brush scattered all over. Eventually I just made her stay off. Blake and SIerra were running all over the place, getting stuck on occasion and having the time of their lives. It quickly became apparent that One of us would have to look for the tree while the other watched the kids. Guess who got which job.

Seth came back ten to fifteen minutes later with a few possible trees in mind, so we gathered up the kids and took a look. Most of the options were very bare on one side or more, or the wrong height. One had two trees growing from one trunk, which I really liked, but the base was too large to fit into our tree stand at home. There was one, however, that, though not perfect, we rather liked. It was about nine feet tall, relatively uniform in shape, and a softer pine variety. The kids were also starting to get tired and whiney, so we decided to claim it.

Seth took the ax to the base, which was only about two inches in diameter, and quickly cut it down while the kids sat close by to watch. Minutes later we were back at the car stripping off boots, coats, hats, and gloves, tying the tree to the the top of the car, and getting everyone situated. Then we followed the road to the exit where we once agin took a pit stop and payed for our tree.

Because it was our drowsy time of day, we put in a book on CD, The Frog Princess by E.D. Baker. Blake fell asleep quickly, but the book kept the rest of us suitably awake for the return drive.

We stopped at the McDonald's drive through in Fort Collins for an early dinner (Blake barely even twitching) and made it home close to 4pm.

We set up our tree soon after. After the lights and string of beads, we hung pine cones on it and simple plastic ornaments (though not too many). It's a bit sparse and has a bit of a figure 8 shape to it, but I like it a lot. I think it's grown on me. Now, if only I can remember to water it every day. . .

Happy 3rd Birthday Blake!

2009-12-17T17:45:00.000-08:00

The New, Improved Battle Plans

2009-11-17T10:51:00.000-08:00

Things have changed a bit since we started the school year, adding in things like swimming lessons, piano lessons, the Options program, and so forth, so I thought I would give an update on our daily routine. Hope it makes sense.

Mon. Tues. Wed. & Fri.
7:30 am- I go exercise for about 30-45 minutes rotating between swimming, jogging, and biking.

9:30 am-School begins. From here, we just keep going until we're done with the morning work.
Sierra & Bailey Step 1- Clean up time. Bailey usually takes longer on her chores, so they go at their own pace from here.
Sierra Step 2- 15 minutes piano practice, Alfred's Basic Piano Library A-1
Sierra Step 3- Math, Horrizons 2nd grade
Sierra Step 4- Zanner Blosser Handwriting, 2nd grade cursive
Sierra Step 5- Spelling Workout

Bailey Step 2- Math, Horrizons Kindergarden work
Bailey Step 3- Zanner Blosser Handwriting, Kindergarden printing and copy work
Bailey Step 4- Headsprout online reading program

Everyone, next Step:
Monday- Grocery Shopping
Tuesday- Swimming lessons by me at Rec. Center
Wednesday- Library
Friday- Homeschool Playgroup

Lunch

2:00 pm Blake goes to bed
Monday- History
Tuesday- Science
Wednesday- Sierra Piano lessons

Thursday we have Options
8am- take Sierra up to Loveland (School starts at 8:30
10am- Play group with Church

Lunch

2pm- Blake down (unless I have to take him with me at 3)
3pm- Leave to pick up Sierra (School gets out at 3:30)

Sierra and bailey will both be going to the Longmont Options next year, not the Loveland one. I Signed Sierra up too late for Longmont this year. It's a very popular program, and the Longmont one is run very well.

Listen in Addition

2009-11-11T10:23:00.000-08:00

I've been looking around at the multiplication CDs, trying to find something to help Sierra, but had yet to find something that didn't drive me crazy. Almost all of them are very monotonous with little more then repetition of numbers and equations. And while they will help you memorize the facts, it will drive you batty in the process.

Well, at the library yesterday, I cam across an addition CD called "Listen in Addition". It had a CD and board book together, and since my kids were busy playing on the library computer, I popped it into the library's CD player and listened in. I was surprised. It was actually fun! Julie Scott, the author, has a fun song to go along with each addition set. Half of the song is fun made up stuff, the other half is the addition facts, and it's repeated twice. The book also is nicely done, showing pictures to match the songs while presenting the addition facts. There are no words to clutter the pages, just the numbers and fun drawings. This really helps those audio-visual learners put the music facts on paper.

The first ten songs cover the addition problems from 1+0 to 10+9 (each set, 0-9, getting it's own song). The last two songs go on to the addition facts that add up to ten (such as 7+3 and 6+4) and doubles (6+6, 5+5, etc.). I'll admit, they're not the best songs in the world, but they're better then everything else I've come across. I'll be able to listen to them repetitively without going nuts. Check out the web link above to hear some samples. You can also check it out from your local library (although you living in the Longmont area will have to wait until I return it).

I was able to find the multiplication equivalent, Multiplication Sensation, on Amazon (our library doesn't carry it), and I'm excited to try it out. It also comes with a book to help the visual learners. They do skip counting as well as the multiplication tables, a very useful skill, and the book is paperback instead of a board book. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Happy Halloween

2009-11-01T07:28:00.000-08:00

He's a Cowboy Blakie (aka Woodie from Toy Story)

Bailey is an Ice Princess.

Sierra is a Butterfly Farie

We started the evening by having a little Halloween Party at out place, then we went Trunk or Treating at our church.

Afterwards, the kids went trick or treating on our street, went home and watched It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown and The Nightmare Before Christmas while eating their candy. I think they had a good day.

Swimming Lessons

2009-10-26T16:45:00.000-07:00

Last spring, when my girls were in swimming lessons, I noticed that they were not improving much. Sierra had reached the level (3 to be exact) where she needed a good teacher who pushed technique and distance (something that is in short supply until you reach swim team level). She swam on her back just fine, but on her front, she still doggie paddled. To make swim team, she has to be able to swim all the way across the pool on both her front and back. Bailey, however, was barely putting her face in and wouldn't float on her back at all. She was showing almost no improvement after four or more month long sessions. So, I decided to take things into my own hands.

I used to teach swimming lessons when I was in high school, so I figured I could teach my own kids. Plus, we have a family Rec. pass. Why not use it? But I needed a way to get Blake off of my hands while I taught the girls. He's a complete handful, not afraid of the water or anything. Luckily, there is a toddler swimming class that meets once a week where I don't have to get in with him, so that became our swim time. Ready, set, go!

It's only been a couple of months, totaling about 6 lessons, but there has been a vast improvement. I worked on Sierra's technique (breathing to the side, pointing her toes, long arms, straight legs, etc.) and she's looking a lot better. When she really tries, she can now swim 15 yards without stopping on her front. When she's tired though, all of her old habits resurface. The idea is to eventually get her ready for swim team, so we've still got work to do. But it's going quite well.

Bailey was actually a bit of a surprise. The first time I had her in the water, she was very reluctant to put her face in. I knew she could though, so I made her do it anyway. Now, she's doing glides out to me and even "swimming" a few feet with her face in. She can also do a back float all by herself!

The funny thing about it all is that I had previously decided that I would never teach my kids how to swim. Why? Because it was something I could pay someone else to do. That's got to sound really strange coming from a mother who homeschools, but it's what I thought. I'm still quite willing to hand them off to someone else (one less thing for me to worry about), but it's really hard watching when I know I could be doing a much better job for less money. I'm going to be teaching Sierra until she reaches swim team level. As for the other two, we'll have to wait and see.

I plan on having all my kids on swim team one day.

Pop Beads

2009-10-19T15:31:00.000-07:00

Last week, while I was at Target with the kids, I saw some pop beads that I thought they might like. The kids held very little interest when I showed the beads to them and continued to play with the other toys at the store. OK. So they weren't interested. But I couldn't shrug the idea that they would really like them if they had them. Since Bailey's birthday was coming up, I thought it was the perfect opportunity. And, since Bailey loves figuring out shape puzzles and working with beads, i figured she should like playing with pop bead too, right?

So, with some trepidation, I got the beads for Bailey's birthday. Again, she wasn't too interested in comparison to her other gifts, until I had some of her friends show her how to play with them (I knew that they had the same beads at home, so enlisting their help was easy). From that point on, they've been the only toys my girls have really played with. Every day and all day long. I know they'll eventually loose interest, but they're having more fun then I even hoped for. Blake has even tried playing with them, but he has a hard time popping the beads together. So, instead, he just plays with the creations the girls have made. Sierra has been really creative, and Bailey happily copies her sister's creations. It's really cute.

On the down side, I'm already finding stray beads around the house, even though I'm constantly having the girls pick them all up when they're done playing with them. Oh well. It's something I don't mind putting up with. Not when they're enjoying them so much.

Happy Birthday Bailey

2009-10-17T12:12:00.000-07:00

Bailey had her 5th birthday this week. She got some presents in the mail from her grandparents. She got to go with Daddy to the store to pick out a present and have some ice cream. She got to pick a restaurant to go to dinner at (McDonald's, of course). And, the next day, she got to have a birthday party with her friends. I made her a present cake-my first time using fondant. We had some snack food. The kids played, opened presents and ate. Good times.

Neurology #2

2009-10-14T13:46:00.000-07:00

I went in to see my neurologist again on Monday, and things went a lot more smoothly. I didn't get lost. I arrived with plenty of time to spare. My heart rate and blood pressure weren't skyrocketing. And I didn't cry, even once. In fact, except that I was tired (still getting over the swine flu), everything went perfectly.

Since the last time I saw the neurologist, most of my symptoms had gone away. In fact, before I came down with the flu, all I had was slight pressure in my pointer fingers and occasional hyper sensory in the abdomen (usually in conjunction with illness, stress, or anxiety). There were those occasional weirdnesses, like the corner eye sight in my right eye blurring for about twenty minutes and getting tiny muscle twinges all over my right leg for about a week, but other then that, things were looking good. When I came down with the flu, however, things started coming back. I now have spots of minor numbness in my right leg and the top of my right foot and my right hip is aching again. But the neurologist said that was nothing to worry about. It's normal to have reoccurrence with a big illness.

So, she checked me out, though not in as much detail as last time. I got to have my eyes, reflexes, muscles, cognitive processes and sensories checked. Everything was normal, again. No anxiety this time. She was pleased to hear I was cross training again (though taking a break while recovering from the flu). We talked about my recurring symptoms, how nerves can take 6-12 months to heal (if my nerves were even damaged), and that, although my grandmother had MS, it's not really hereditary. She also said that an MRI isn't necessary. It would be nice, but probably wouldn't help much-definitely not worth shelling out $2000 from my own pocket. Really, all there is for me to do is wait and see what happens, contacting her if anything new/weird comes up.

That's it. That's all. Right now, and possibly forever, there's nothing to worry about. Definitely good to hear.

Swine Flu?!!

2009-10-06T12:12:00.000-07:00

I'm really sorry if we got anyone sick. Really.

You see, after going to bed Friday night, I came down with the flu. At about 2 in the morning, I woke up with the chills. Luckily, my husband was in bed by then, so I snuggled in. That helped. Two hours later, I woke up feeling ill. Was the queasy stomach just my supposed ulcer acting up again, or what? I fell back asleep, waking around 6. It was freezing. I went to turn the house thermostat up. . . oops, I mean on. The house was at 60F. No wonder I was so cold! But I still felt awful. My head hurt, and I ached all over. I checked my temperature. 101.9!!!

Time for a hot bath.

I ended up staying there for over two hours. It was the only place where I wasn't shivering and my poor aching muscles could relax. I would have stayed longer if General Conference wasn't starting. We were watching it by internet in our family room, so I curled up on the couch, warmly dressed and generously blanketed to fall asleep after the first speaker. I might have heard a total of four talks that day. Maybe. I was out, hard.

Apparently, Bailey came down with the flu that day too. She curled up at my feet for Conference, copying my every word, and sleeping through the second session. After that, I checked her head. Yup. She had a fever, and now we were both coughing as well. Not the "tickle your throat" kind but the "rip your esophagus to shreds" kind that does nothing to nice to your headache. And our appetite, even with all of the treats that we'd gotten for Conference, was gone. I almost had to force-feed myself.

Sierra had slept through the second session as well. She's had a cough for a few days, but because she never had a fever or anything else, I had just thought that it was leftover from a cold. Nope. We'd gotten the flu from her-and I'd sent her to school on Thursday! Sorry!!!

So, I Tylenoled all three of us and told my husband to call his parents and tell them to not come visit as planned the following weekend. The boys had yet to get it, and I had honestly never remembered feeling so awful in my life. And, due to the severity and the season, I figured it was likely to be the Swine Flu that we had. My mother in law, who works under Utah County's Health Department in the Emergency Preparedness section, seconded the likelihood. Yay.

Well, Sunday was a little better. I was able to stay awake until the very end of the first session anyway, and I did get about half of the second. My fever was also slightly lower, and I no longer had the chills. Bailey was still going strong though. She seemed to be about half a day behind me. Sierra's cough was still there too, but it seemed to be getting better. To late, I started making Seth stay away from all of us. The last thing we needed was for him to get sick, though we pretty much assumed it to be inevitable.

Monday, Blake came down with the flu. Bailey was feeling a bit better, and so was I, though we both still had fevers. Sierra felt fine, except for her cough. Seth had a court hearing in Denver and a signing meeting that day. I made the girls do some schoolwork (there would be little else to do then watch movies all day, and since their brains weren't fried, just their bodies. . .) We spent the rest of the day veging in the family room in front of the screen. The kids watched their movies while I streamed ones for myself from Netflix onto the new laptop. (I love Netflix. It's helped me out a lot in times of need.)

This morning, Tuesday, Seth came down with the flu. Well, we were expecting it. Luckily, he has no out of home appointments today or tomorrow. He has a court hearing on Thursday though. Hopefully he'll be feeling well enough by then.

It's been four days for me, and I've still got occasional surges of cough and fever. Bailey's acting mostly normal with a very small fever. Blake is cranky and hot, and Sierra is just chilling while she waits for the rest of us to feel better. I told her we can't go anywhere until I haven't had a fever for a whole day. Bailey and Blake aren't leaving the house until their fevers have been gone for a day either.

Sierra's taken it well enough. I told her we'd get her a new Disney Fairy book when I'm better. She's read all of the ones we have already. That made her happy. Hopefully, that won't be too long from now.

True Books

2009-10-01T15:29:00.000-07:00

For science, we don't have any one book that we use. Instead, we pick general topics, then find books at the library about those topics. Last year, for example, we studied animals. So, we would go to the library and pick out books on, say, giraffes, bring them home, read them, write a short report, and color a picture about giraffes. The next week, we'd pick another animal, and so on. This year, we're studying earth science, and we've found books on volcanoes, mountains, oceans, tornadoes, earthquakes, etc.

With all of these books that we've gone through, I've come to really like one series in particular. They've got books on almost every subject (even if our library doesn't carry them all), and they're the perfect length for second through fifth graders (they can be a bit long for the attention span of a first grader). I've yet to find a series that I like as much.

They're called True Books. They've taught my family about tornadoes, hurricanes, tsunamis, mountains, gemstones, dinosaurs, oceans, caves, volcanoes, and the list goes on. And you can find them on other subjects as well, like ecosystems, the solar system, different countries, various animals, etc. Luckily our local library caries a lot of them. They're very helpful and informative, with vocabulary words and often additional information. And best of all, they don't talk down. What more could you ask?

Back in the Saddle

2009-09-25T10:25:00.000-07:00

I'm cross training again. I didn't realize how much I missed it until I was on the treadmill doing jog/walk intervals and watching the swimmers in the pool below. It felt good to be doing that again. I hadn't been jogging since all of my neurological stuff started happening three months ago. I hadn't been biking much either for the same reasons, but two weeks ago, I felt ready to try it again. Oh, I've been walking regularly and swimming on occasion, but I wanted to get back on the bike and go jogging. I think I got a little addicted to the speed, slow as I was.

This time, though, I'm taking things slow. I was pushing myself a little too hard last time. I don't think that I was quite ready to do the triathlon, and with all of the outside pressures and stresses, I think I did a little too much.

Well, now I have a good 9+ months to get ready, and I've already built a small foundation. It's been a lot easier this past couple weeks starting up again then when I started almost a year ago. My body remembers things that it had to learn last time. (After all, you never do forget how to ride a bike.) So far, it's been really easy. And if all goes well, I'll be planning my triathlon debut next summer. Wish me luck.

And for those of you who are wondering, most of the neuropathy is gone now. I only notice it, very mildly, every now and again-it's almost like it isn't there any more. Hopefully it's going for good. I get to go in and see the neurologist in a couple of weeks, and I'll give you another update then.

Update on Options

2009-09-18T19:12:00.000-07:00

Thursday was Sierra's third week of Public school, and things are going well. Almost as soon as I pulled up, she came bounding over to the car with news about her day. They had made "flubber" (a putty like substance that was supposed to bounce when I dried out completely) in science. They had made "gack" as well. It was "Topsy Turvie Day", so she also told me about some of the weird outfits the kids had been wearing. Sierra had put her own hair up into three ponytails and had her shirt on backwards. Some of the other kids had worn their shoes on the wrong feet, had their clothes inside out, and had their hair up in goofy styles. One girl had even colored her hair blue.

I had agreed to help with take down for the next six weeks, so we headed inside. (The kids have school at a church, so they needed help putting things back in order for the Sunday services.) We helped Mrs. Ford, the science/writing teacher, put away all of her chairs and tables and moved the couches back in place. She talked happily the whole time about the science projects the kids were doing and how the day had gone. Then we moved onto the other classrooms where the teachers had already left, and arranged the room according to instructions. Another mom and grandmother were helping while their little ones were running about. It was fun to socialize for a but, but then we were done, and it was time to head home.

On the drive home, Sierra happily munched on her leftover lunch and chattered away. I think she's going to have a great school year.

Our System is Down

2009-09-16T17:11:00.000-07:00

A number of days ago, I went to use my iBook laptop, opened it up, and it flashed blank, never to turn on again. The poor thing was getting close to four years old, which is a good long life for a heavily used laptop, and luckily, nothing of great importance was lost. But still... I never knew how much I used it! I've had to revert back to our six year old desk top PC, re-learn Windows, and re-find most of the web pages I had bookmarked (this one included). And really, I can get over the desktop's slowness, but I hate not being able to carry it around with me. I was so spoiled! And my husband, Seth, used to take it to his court hearings (he's an attorney) instead of lugging all of the printed out paperwork. Poor thing. He had to use paper like everyone else last week.

In any case, Seth, has been eying a new MacBook Pro for his home office because his PC laptop is getting ready to call it quits as well. What's nice is that all the new Macs can run Windows and Windows programs using its Intel chip and one of two software programs (Parallels or Fusion). Eventually we'll replace our old PC desktop with an iMac as well.

So, we went to the Mac store last week and were blown away at how big the screens have become. The smallest laptop has a screen the size of my PC monitor's, and the smallest desktop is four inches larger then Seth's 2 year old iMac! Geesh! Oh, and the Memory and Hard drive space on the lowest end computers were much larger then my old beefed up laptop. Go figgure.

We could upgrade major time! But for now, we're going to settle with getting a lower end MacBook Pro for Seth's office that I can snag every now and again.

Maybe next year we can get that iMac for the family room. . .

Fashion Show

2009-09-03T16:32:00.000-07:00

My girls got into my fabric yesterday and made their own gowns all by themselves. I was surprised at how well they turned out, so I decided to do their hair and take pictures. Sierra looked like someone from Ancient Greece, and Bailey was a princess. I told Bailey she looked like a Roman Princess though that wasn't really the case. It pleased her though because the Romans conquered the Greeks.

So, Bailey proceeded to pretend a war with Sierra and started telling her what to do, because she conquered her and all. Sierra didn't like that at all, and told me what was going on. I had to remind Bailey that the Romans were good conquerors and not bad ones (Especially for those days), so she needed to be nice. If she wasn't, she'd be a bad conqueror. Well, she didn't want that, so she started being nice to her sister instead, asking Sierra what she would like to do, etc.

I just knew all of those lessons on history would come in handy some day.

First Day Drama

2009-09-03T15:09:00.000-07:00

Poor Sierra. She was so excited about going to "real" school for her first time today. So excited, in fact, that she was bouncing up and down in her seat at the short assembly before the kids were to go off to their classes. When I left her, after seeing her to her first class, she seemed eager, shy, uncertain, and still excited.

Fast forward seven hours. When I came to pick her up, I had no idea where to find her. Was I supposed to wait for her to come find me, or go find her myself? After a few minutes, I decided to go find her. When I did, she was with Mrs. Gresham, the music/drama/math teacher, who was trying to calm her down. Then Sierra turned around and saw me, threw herself into my arms, and, burying her face, tried to hold back tears.

Mrs. Gresham explained what had happened, and soon Mrs. Ford, her science/writing teacher, came out and explained the rest. They could tell she'd never been to school before and promised to keep special watch on her next week. They were very nice about it really.

Turns out, Sierra had gone to the wrong class, twice. She mixed up her music and PE classes as well as her writing and science classes. It was also a lot longer of a day then she has ever experienced (her longest school day to date being a total of 2 1/2 hours). And to add insult to injury, she got hit in the head twice with a ball. Sierra had had enough. School hadn't turned out at all as perfect as she'd expected.

So, I held Sierra's hand as we walked to the car. She didn't want to talk. In the car, I babbled a bit, then asked her what she did in PE. No response. I asked again.

"We ran around the room," was all she said.

"Anything else?"

"We played with a bean bag."

Her sniffling was easing up, and she was starting to look a little better. Good. "What did you do in art?" I asked.

"I drew a picture."

"What did you draw?"

"I don't know." Her lip started to tremble again. OK, steer away from that subject. (I later found out she'd simply forgotten what she'd drawn).

"Did you make any new friends? It's OK if you don't remember their names."

"Yes."

"Did you have fun?'

No answer.

"Did you eat lunch with all of the kids or just the younger ones?"

"They were all my age," she replied. Then, she finally started offering information. "They have lots of rules at lunch. Don't hit anybody. And I'm glad I didn't bring any peanuts. One kid forgot and had a peanut butter sandwich". There is a family who is VERY allergic to peanuts, so we were asked not to bring any.

"Do you remeber any more?" I asked, trying to keep the conversation going.

"No. They were just mostly about being nice to people." I nodded my head. She continued, "it's OK the first time, but if you do it twice, the call your mom. And if you do it three times, they have to sit with someone".

"Like having a time out", I commented.

"Mm hm. And there was this girl my age who had a little brother. He was mean. He threw the ball at my head on purpose".

"Are you sure it was on purpose. It could have been an accident".

"No. He tried to do it a second time, but he missed".

"I thought you got hit twice," I said.

"Yah. A older boy hit me. It was an accident. He didn't really mean to".

We were getting close to home at this point, so I just reminded her that next week would be much better because she would know what she was doing, and I wasn't going to let her stop going until she'd tried it out for a good couple months at least. She complained that she had never had a hard time in preschool, and I reminded her that yes, she had. On her first day she'd been scared stiff, even though Teacher Wilson is one of the nicest ladies I know. She didn't believe me, so I told her all about her first day of preschool. I think I was able to finally convince her.

When we got home, I pulled out her schedule and room map showing her where she's supposed to go when and for what. That seemed to reassure her. I think she'll be fine next week, and if it doesn't, then maybe the week after that. She'll eventually get the hang of it, and when she does, she'll really start enjoying it.

P.S. For those of you who are not aware, Sierra is going to a publicly funded Options school designed specifically for homeschoolers. They meet once a week and have things like group activities, arts, drama, PE, and so forth. The rest of the week she is still at home with me as her teacher. I like it because it gives her that social aspect of school in smaller doses, gives her the extracurriculars I don't teach, leaves me in charge of her main education, and has small class sizes (there are only about 13 second graders). And because it's through the school district, I don't have to pay for it.

Back to the Land of the Living

2009-09-02T15:21:00.000-07:00

August was one heck of a month. I think I did my darndest to hide from it. Stress, anxiety, depression, sickness, more neuropathy (thought that's getting much better, almost unnoticeable), an over busy and stresses/sleep deprived husband, and a trip to Utah spell out what August was to me.

Why all of the stress, anxiety, and depression, you ask? Turns out, I have way too many "pre conditions" to get better medical insurance. We got to pay all of those lovely medical bills from my trip to the emergency room. I've had to pick up the slack around the house because my husband has been going nuts with all of the work he has to do. The brakes on our car need to be fixed. The only vacations from school I had all summer were spent in Utah for weddings (nice and all, but not relaxing, meaning I was burnt out). I've come down with another sinus infection. . . I could go on, but I think you get the gist.

So what did I do to cope with everything? I started obsessively reading book after book. I think I read over 20 this last month. Some were good, a lot only OK, and even more I'm almost embarrassed to mention. The better ones were: Ella Enchanted, Princess Academy, the Percy Jackson series (Lightning Thief and all), Enna Burning, and two of my favorite repeats, the Witch of Blackbird Pond and Mara, Daughter of the Nile.

But, yesterday I had to teach a class on cupcake decorating for the women in my ward, so three days ago I had to pull my nose out of my books. It's almost a relief, I'd been obsessed so long. I cried the first day because all of the pent up emotions I'd been suppressing came flooding back, and I had to finally face them. Luckily, I'd actually been subconsciously processing them all along, so it wasn't as bad as I would have been if they were still raw. I'd also taken last week off of school, so burnout was at bay.

And today, I'm feeling fine. A little harassed from my kids, but that's normal-I really hate taking all three of them to the store now days.

Oh, and the cupcake thing went really well. Thank you Sarah. I just needed something positive to plan.