Happy Breakfast!

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile. Life has been busy!

After our walk this morning, my 3rd son announced he wanted pancakes! We had two large ones left from the other morning, and luckily I had saved them. I warmed them up and decorated them for #3 and #4, just like IHOP, so my 2nd son said!

We are having thanksgiving dinner with friends... my birthday is this weekend and we always celebrate my birthday on thanksgiving. I was born on T-day the year I was born... (196...?). Then, Friday, we'll leave to go camping in Waco, and attend the Homestead Heritage Children and craft Festival (www.homesteadcraftfair.com). We'll be breaking in our "new" camper (new to us). We had a bear of an "old" one...huge thing, weighed in at 12,000 lbs. fully loaded! This one is 3500 lbs. empty, so should be about 5000 loaded. Much easier to pull. Well drive down to Belton, TX on Sunday to visit some old friends. He is a preacher at the Belton church of Christ.

For my birthday present, I am hoping to go to "Stamp Salado" in Salado, TX and shop. I love to shop in rubber stamp stores!

Time to go fold laundry.

Pictures of....

my oldest son. He discovered that my mac laptop has a built in camera. Here's the result.

Homeschool Frustration

Homeschooling can be a frustrating experience. I have four kids, two of which are schooling full time, one of which is learning to read, and one that just is along for the ride. My oldest is barely on grade level, and because of his AS is slightly behind on some subjects. My second is ahead of his peers, doing 8th grade math, 9th grade science, and 9th grade spelling and vocabulary (he's 11, technically 6th grade). I say all this not to brag, but to point out how differently all kids learn and at what different rates they all move. I started both boys in the same science book at the same time. My oldest is just now finishing it (2 years later). My second one is two books beyond, three lessons into biology (also considered a 9th grade subject). He loves to read, and it has helped him excel in his studies.

Today proved to be a frustrating day for #2. He's stayed up LATE reading (without permission) several nights in a row, and now he's paying for it. He is sooooo tired, and very grumpy, and finding it hard to concentrate and decipher his math. Algebra is hard enough, but when your brain doesn't want to think, it's worse. I tell him, if *I* can do this, I KNOW you can (I'm not exactly a math genius, but I have definitely improved since I began homeschooling my kids!). He's so tired, he asked to go to bed at 7 pm! Lucky for him his lego robotics class got cancelled (there was a fire at the studio where it's held), so until another location is found, there isn't any class. So he has that option of going to bed early. Hopefully, he'll get a nap this afternoon, too.

Here's a picture of my 2nd son and his best friend. My son is the one on the left:



Just as a side note, when they were kids (we've known his friend's parents for nearly 20 years...long before any of us even thought of having kids!), everyone thought they were twins. They look alot alike except for one having blond, and one having reddish hair.

I wanted to add some more pictures... I think I am finally getting a handle on this! This first pic, the B&W one, was taken by a friend on a camping trip we took in May. This is my youngest son, who will be three in February.


The second pic is my 3rd son, who is now six. I love that shirt, but unfortunately, I think we left it at the campsite, because it hasn't been seen since! It was so befitting his personality.

I'm Not Shy

Can you tell by the picture below that I'm not shy? My 2nd son can't believe I'd post that pic, but my oldest says "what a great picture, Mom!" I think it's funny, and it reminds me not to be too vain. I'm not a pretty sight to wake up to!!

Now that I can put in pics:
here are some pics of my oldest son...


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He's such a fun chap, eh?

I Hate Being Sick

Woke up this morning with a sore throat, chest congestion, and a cough. Ugh. I hate being sick, and why do the children automatically assume that if Mom is sick, then it's a free-for-all for them? My son (14) asked "Why do I have to get dressed? Why do I have to quit reading Calvin and Hobbes?" I said because you still have school work to do!! Goodness!

On top of this, I have a library informational meeting to take care of this evening. It will be our first. I have a real passion for working with new homeschoolers, and did Smoothing The Way for two years, but the possibility of moving led me to turn my group over to another lady (hi Marci!). So now, since we're NOT moving north like orginally thought, I am going to stay here and work in another capacity. I'll be working with HSCN (Home School Communication Network) to do informational meetings here in the CL area.

Well now I"m feeling better... but not perfect. I think I still have a fever, though. Tomato soup helps a lot. I like the new Campbell soup labels (pink for breast cancer awareness). Am I just too Andy Warhol or what? I always notice strange things like that.

I've been thinking of taking the week of Thanksgiving off from school to organize my crafting/art space. I really want to organize my stamps and make some lists of what all I have. I'm starting to duplicate.

I also want to finish a cool tryptych I started YEARS ago...

Off to get my toddler back inside, it's raining and he's naked....we're potty training.

Creativity...

I got my new copy of Somerset Studio in the mail yesterday. Someday, I'll put myself to the task and actually make something to submit for that magazine. There is so much to admire in there. **SIGH**

Yesterday, I went to Hobby Lobby and purchased a new "scrapbook" (Photo album) to transplant my great-grandparents pictures into. When my grandmother died in 2000, I inherited a ton of pictures, many from the late 1800's (yes good for collage, but copied first), but specifically a photo album that begins with pics from 1917 and ends around 1924. It includes my grandmother's baby photos. I am simply removing them the rotting album and repasting them into the new album. I really don't want to alter it much from what my great-grandmother did... I am cutting out any writing and layering that on acid-free paper so as to not damage anyting any further. Unfortunately, my great-grandmother did not label much (some pictures have very vague identification written on the back) and others have nothing. Funny part is, I have NO idea what my great-grandmother's name is! She was dead before I was born, and my grandmother could not stand her mother, so never talked about her. By the time I was old enough to pay attention, my great-grandpa had remarried, so that was the lady I called "granny". How weird is that?

There are some hilarious pictures though... my great-grandmother in a bathing costume (no bikini's back then!!) frolicking at the beach. I would really like to find more about them. I had never been interested before, but now... I don't even know where to start.

I am finding some cool blogs to read. I'll add them to my blog list as I find them.

I'll take some pics of my art work too and add those here also.

It's a beautiful day!

God has blessed us with a beautiful November day today. Clear, sunny skies, high in the mid-60's. I love these kind of days. They remind me of so many things in my childhood. On a day like today, my step-dad and my mom would have loaded us up and taking us fishing out on the Texas City Dike. We would fish and crab for hours, running up and down the dike and playing games. It was so much fun.

Today, my husband announced we were going to head off to H&H Music to look at keyboards. They are going out of business, due to some ridiculous law suit. Anyway, we have been wanting to get the kids a weighted-key keyboard, and Nathan (who already plays the violin) wants to learn the piano also. We got a great deal on a Roland HP-1. Under $500! and all their music was 60% off, so I got all the Bastien books I could get... Primer A and B for 5-7 year olds, Primer and Level 1 for 7-11 year olds, and the Level 1 for "Older Beginner Students" (ages 12 and up). I thought I might try to learn more myself. I took two years of piano as a child, but quit (of course) and regret it. problem is, my left pinkie is very weak, so it's hard!! The kids are very excited. This is a big part of their Christmas.

Anywhoo.... I'll snap some pics of the kids soon playing and post them here.

Black Belt training began today for Nathan. He will be testing for his 1st degree black belt next July. Tom got his this past August. Nathan will be going to a class of some kind almost every day. Today, they worked on their "P.R.'s"... their personal records. They ran a 3-mile run, and worked on their sit-ups, push-ups, and other physical fitness essentials. Nathan will be ahead of the other kids, because even though he wasn't getting his belt, he went through all the testing with Tom this past year, so he's ready for this!!

Just another day

The past few days have been insane around here, as you can imagine with four boys. My third son is the challenge. He is very strong-willed, and wants everything his way. Lately, I've been battling him for first time obedience. That may seem a bit much, but I believe children should comply when asked to do something, the first time asked. My third son is six, and old enough to understand this. But if it doesn't suit his wants or needs, then he rebels, screaming and whining at the top of his lungs. Discipline of any kind just escalates the matter. Consequential discipline often impacts the whole family (such as him not going somewhere because he misbehaved. Often, it would end up in none of the family going if we did that).

Well, after much advice, we are trying something new, and so far, so good. I am doing everything not to yell. Yes, I am a yeller. We are also trying to phrase things in the positive. Instead of "Get out of here!" we say "Please go in the living room" (thus, instead of telling him what we don't want, telling him what we want). So far, not a fit has been thrown today, and no screaming or whining. We also praise the good behavior enthusiastically!

Off to play around with my blog some more.

Back to blogging

I am new to this blogspot... but have a blog elsewhere, which I cannot figure out! So I am going to try moving it here. Please stay tuned for more. I'll add my old blogs here too.