The Christmas Card that Never Was

I have not sent real snail mail Christmas cards in years. I usually do the whole e-mail card with a picture of the kids. That's all family wants anyway... a picture of the kids. Well this year I took the pictures and started tinkering around with my card maker program, but just never finished. Anyway, here is the one I took for the blog. You can consider it your belated Merry Christmas card. LOL!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Favorite What?!?!

WARNING! Do Not read this post if you are offended by the use of names representing female anatomy!




We were out grocery shopping and the kids were in the back seat waiting and playing a memory game of "What's Your Favorite...?" They were discussing colors, music and foods. My 6 yr old foster daughter said in answering favorite food that she liked, "Vagina"  The boys moaned with disgust; the 12 year old goes into the "We don't talk inappropriate" speech and the 6 year old looks confused. She says, "But I like vagina; it's my fav-wit"  I ask her to describe it and she says it has noodles, cheese and "veg-tupples." I realize she is trying to say, "lasagna" and she says with the brightest smile, "Yes!!! Vagina!"

Uhhhh, yeah.

Easy Chains and Tough Pinata!

Every years we do the simple, yet surprisingly beloved activity of making paper chains. I am always amazed that they want to do this every year and still like to do them.

We put up our little "Cha*rlie Br*wn" tree and decorated the house. We have yet to decorate the tree; for now there are 3 gingerbread men on there. They smell sooooooo good.

The pinata.

 Let's just say it was not going to give up the candy without a fight. That little paper bag was so difficult to break. I kept putting starter holes in it and they kept whacking it, but it would not break. I finally had to puncture it all around and still ended up having to rip it more to get the rest of the candy out. It was a mad dash to the floor and I had to crack up because after all the candy had been gathered, there were stickers and other small trinkets left on the floor. No rush to claim those. Ha Ha ha! But the candy was clutched tight!

It was a fun, peaceful day. Our church Christmas program is tomorrow and then we have 3 more days of school before a short break.

Fashion Week

The Princess (aka, 7th grade, aka, Jordan) has a new hobby. It's cheap and keeps her happy (which keeps mommy happy!)

Princess Puppy

SNOW DAY!!!

So pretty much every school in my state was closed today. My 7th grader was watching the closing crawler across the television screen last night as if there was some kind of prize forthcoming. Then she went to get a piece of tape to write our school name on it so that she could tape it to the t.v. LOL! Most of the time I don't pay attention to public school snow days, but every once in a while we do. So they took today off, except 3rd grade, who worked for a couple of hours.

Jordan is very appreciative to everyone who responded to her personal need closet that she is starting. She is very excited and we will have our first distribution soon.

Peace

The Family Bid'Ness

The children have been working at a local food bank for about 2 years now and really enjoy it. We sing the "Workin' for Jesus" song as we fill orders and stock shelves. The families that are serviced are given an assortment of juices, PB&J, cereals (hot & cold), pasta/rice, canned goods, frozen meat, eggs and then coupons for fresh meat and milk. Sometimes people may donate some personal needs items that are set up on a table for families to get while they are waiting for their food. Jordan "mans" this table most times with the instruction that people can only have 1 item. This was very hard for her.

A few months ago, a family with many people came in and they had a large order. The mother of the large family picked up a roll of toilet paper and a bar of soap. The staff person told her, "Only 1 item" and you could see the mother literally weighing the items back and forth trying to decide which they needed most. It broke Jordan's heart and she began whispering to me, "Why should people have to choose between soap and toilet paper? I wanna start my own personal needs closet where people won't have to choose!"

And so an idea was born and we started planning, Entertaining Angels Personal Needs Closet. We approached the Pastor at our new church with a draft flier of our idea and he said he would get back to us. He scheduled a meeting with us for yesterday and Jordan typed up the agenda for the meeting. She had some really great ideas for the system of referral and service and he was impressed. He even made a donation right there towards the purchase of the prepaid cell phone that would be used as the closet's phone number. I was a proud mamma with how she ran the meeting. We plan to start off very small at first. We are excited!

Pinata

I think for art tomorrow we are going to try to make a Christmas pinata. I have so many candy canes that different ladies at church have given the kids that I think I will just put those in with a few stickers and homework passes. Pinatas are fun, but they seem like a lot of work for a quick destruction. LOL! I will be sure to take pictures.

BTW ~ my foster child cut a large majority of her bangs and side hair off while at school yesterday. The teacher aid felt so bad because she had left the group during art time. Scissors in the hands of kindergartners without an adult = really short, lopsided bangs. Of course it was before a parent visit, so I had to rush home and try to even it out before taking her for the visit. Oh well, it could have been a jar of paste. LOL!

New Week

Not much other than school, school and more school going on this last week. Clipping right along.

We have a new chore chart that seems to be working well. I've had to re-vamp it from time to time in the past, but this one seems to be easier for everyone to complete the basic everyday chores that get sloughed off first.

We are planning to do $ Store Christmas again this year. We have identified the family that we are going to adopt and have started gathering presents for them. So fun! In the past we have had live Christmas trees, but for the last 5 years we have had a little plastic one. I offered the kids a live Christmas tree this year; even the chance to go cut one down. I was so very surprised when they said that wanted the little fake one instead! It's kinda "Ch*rlie Br*wnish", but they like it.

We had dinner guest after church yesterday. It is the first time we have had guest at the house in over a year and it was an unplanned invite. We had so much fun, baked and frosted Christmas cookies and chatted for hours. It was very nice to talk to another adult. I don't get much of that. 7th grade wrote a post about it here.

Our Current Favorite Video

Back in the Mix

We have a lot of books!! A lot!! We had a playroom downstairs, but with so many kids coming and going and so many toys coming, but not going as fast as the kids leave we had too many toys to even have room to play in the playroom so it became closet for toys and tons of books. I would trade toys and books out every couple of weeks to be upstairs.

This past weekend, I bought 3 new floor to ceiling bookshelves. I am so pleased with how they turned out. The kids and I built them together and it was fun. I complained a little cause the instructions were all pictures and no words. I need words. I love words. But it was easy and by the time we built the last one, we were able to do in in about 15 minutes. Now all of our books, encyclopedias, magazines and puzzles are upstairs. Shelves are divided by age/grade level which makes it easy for the Little's to find books for them.

Ahh the Smell of Pencil Shavings In the Morning

We took school with us on vacation. We did school for about 4 days. So we (and by "we" I mean me) decided to ease back into school by doing a couple of hours today and then a couple tomorrow before jumping in, full force Monday morning. It was not too bad. 3rd and 7th grade had a lot of letter to write and return by snail mail and I had both Kindergartners today which is actually kinda fun. I wish I could keep my foster child home for school too as she seems so much more relaxed here.

I survived a week of jury duty reporting without having to go. I would not have minded going. It's just maintaining the holding pattern for the kids that is minimally annoying.

Today I am thankful for my washer and dryer as all of my sheets are clean.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Twenty-Four

I am thankful that I can start and practice holiday traditions with my children. We do not do traditional Turkey dinner for Thanksgiving, but usually do this. This year, we are not even doing our "traditional" meal, but something entirely different. I am also redoing my shelving tomorrow as our collection of books has grown to a huge amount of reading materials. We do like our books!

Twenty-Three

I am thankful that yesterday is over! My day was great, but my evening was a "...Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad [evening]. I priced tickets to Australia!

My Birthday!

Today is my birthday. I am thankful for another year. My mother says I tell fibs because now I am 3 years older than her. LOL!

Home Sweet Home

We made it in last night and while it was cold and we could not hear the sounds of the waves crashing upon the shore (LOL) it was good to make it home safely. It was so easy to go through Customs that I can't even describe it as "going through Customs". It has changed oh so for the better. Only catch was that we had an air mattress that I accidentally referred to as a blow-up mattress. Ooops. Got a double take and a "What?!?" on that one...my bad!

I am thankful that we made it home safe and with all of our luggage.
Several years ago our house was broken into while we were on vacation. Nothing was stolen. The police officer that responded to my neighbors call said that as he walked through the house looking for damage or the intruder, that he could not help but note all the stuff that was still in the home, several computers, televisions, VCRs, stereos and jewelry. We just felt blessed that nothing was stolen and that we only needed to replace our front door. Before we left this time, I left a note hanging in the archway that said, "Dear Thief, Please clean up when you are done stealing. Love and kisses, Us!"  I had talked to my dad while gone as he was checking the house for us and he mentioned as we ended the phone call that he had cleaned a little cause he had stolen a little. LOL!

Lots of unpacking and laundry today.

I picked up my little foster babies and aye-yi-yi   ~sigh~

I am not sure how much school we will do this week... I think I need a vacation. Ha!

It's Over

Time to say good-bye to the island life. It has been a GREAT vacation! I had the opportunity to meet Corey and her husband. I feel like I met a celebrity!

Next post....State side.

Peace

Night Swim

My kids love night swims! Every year we take pictures of them doing handstands under the water and then jumping into the deep end.

This was a face plant that made us all go, "Ywooooo!"

Too fun!

"Just A Tiny Bit"

James is my "bug guy". If a bug gets in the house, he's the guy to call to get it out. He is fearless and usually picks up the uninvited guest by the wing and toss them out.

Tonight I was alone watching T.V. when a moth flew into the screen...several times. The kids had just gone to bed, so I called out to see if James was still awake. He was not, but Jackson answered, "Yes Ma'am?" I was surprised that he was still awake and said, "I thought you were sleep, honey."  He staggered out to the living room, very obviously sleep and said, "I'm sleep just a tiny bit." Ha Ha! My little sleep walking, talking kiddo.

Eighteen

I am thankful that my 12 yr old offered to wash the dishes for me today without me even thinking of asking her.

Seventeen

Jackson has had 3-4 nights of not sleeping very soundly. He is a kid that really does much better with a rock solid routine. He is staying with my mom and she called to say that he was really struggling last night, thrashing in his sleep, sitting up and sleep talking. This morning he came to my unit to say, "Good Morning" and I ask how'd he sleep? He said with the biggest smile, "Good!!"

I am thankful for my 6 year old boy that wakes with a smile and a hug everyday no matter what.

Sixteen

I am thankful for left overs. Yummy rice and fruit for breakfast.

Fifteen

I am thankful for compliments. You never know just how much you need a warm fuzzy until you get one.

Running Theme

Doing "I'm thankful for..." post while on vacation in Nassau makes it interesting to think of something other than my current situation to be thankful for. I mean, I have so very much to be thankful for: health, family, housing, transportation... but today I am thankful for the ability to share time with friends from all around the world. Last night I had a great conversation with a man from Scotland that I have seen around for a few years, but never had the chance to converse with before now. We shared travel stories and recommendations. It was just a nice.

I am also thankful for the W's!

I am thankful for education, both mine and the ability to provide it for my children. I have actually started to think about getting my Ph.D.... not sure what has come over me as I did a really intense Masters program and thought for sure I was done with all that ed-u-macation stuff. Someday soon.

I am so very thankful for my good friend, "Auntie Moni"*. She is a genuine person. You can see that when you first meet her. She is one of those friends that is good for a middle of the night call and if you are having a tough parenting day, you can say how you really feel without judgment.... she gets it! She is invested in my children! That means a lot to me.

Thank you "Auntie" for your friendship and commitment to me and my children.

* My kids call her "Auntie" and I am "Auntie" to her kids.

I am thankful for naps with my children crowded all around me.


I missed a few days.... spotty Internet.

I am so very thankful for Ms. Kim who has been a dear friend in my mother's life. Ms Kim is a very sweet person who is giving, kind and thoughtful. Ms Kim has recently lost her sister and it is with a sad heart that we pray for peace and comfort for Ms Kim and her mother who remain to remember Susan. We are so very sorry for your loss and please know that we are praying for your family as you go through the task of laying Susan to rest.

Peace to you, Ms. Kim

Today I am shallowly thankful for the Internet as I did not have it for most of yesterday. LOL!

Yesterday I was thankful it was Thursday 'cause my brother took care of the kids for me for the day.

I am thankful for my parents who wanted a child and parented as such.

I am thankful for their pure joy!

Thankful November

Sheri, over at Ain't That Sheriffic, started thankful November. I really liked the idea and wanted to join in as I could. The plan is to list one thing you are thankful for each day in November. Join if you are so inclined...



I am thankful that today is my oldest child's 18th birthday.

We're here....

and the weather is fantastic and it is good to see old friends. Of course the kids were in the pool within 5 minutes of checking in. One of my favorite parts of coming here is seeing friends that we have known for 18 + years, but 1 of my favorite moments is the taxi ride from the airport when we come around the bend and see the ocean! It takes my breath away every time and I say the same thing every time, " Thank you God for letting me see this 1 more time!"

Pictures and stuff to come.

13 ~big cheesy grin~

They're Gone....

The dog is gone to be boarded! He was NOT happy and promptly pee'd and poo'd on the floor as soon as he walked into the vet's office. The little kids are gone and started climbing on my lap... I had to get out of there. I suspect that there was great weeping and wailing and snotting. LOL! The little girl kept saying, "Come back and get me at 9 o'clock, kay?" I wrote notes for her, one to open every night before bed.

It is so weird and quiet with just 3 kids!!

Tonight we are having smorgasbord dinner to finish up the perishables. We have in the house:

1. one yogurt
2. 2 Babybel cheeses
3. 2 nutter butter cookies
4. 1 apple
5. enough Kashi Go Lean for 1 bowl of cereal
6. enough milk for 2 LOL
7. 4 hot dogs
8. 1 lunchable
9. 2 bananas
10. half a pack of graham crackers

My 7th grader thinks this is so fun!

Next post will be from the other side!

Peace!

It's Official....

We are packed! I had only wanted to take 2 suitcases, but ended up needing the 3rd one to keep the suitcases under 50 lbs. It is amazing how much stuff weighs and really the bigger suitcases weigh 25 lbs by themselves so trying to pack everything into to 2 big suitcases is less effective than just packing into 4 smaller suitcases. As long as the 5 of us keep it to 5 bags.



We ended school early. I was going to try to keep going until Wednesday...but I was not motivated and could not expect them to be so we packed it up.



We are taking the little kids over to meet the respite care provider tonight. I have written little notes to the 6 year old girl to open at night before bed while we are gone. I hope they will be okay.

Tell Me About Your "Junk Drawer"

This is a re-post from here.

I have a "junk drawer" in my kitchen. It is the drawer that holds coupons, birthday candles, extra twisty ties and a host of ketchup, honey, soy/duck sauce and salt packs. I go through this drawer often to clear it of "junk", but the junk just multiplies. I ask my self every time, "Why do we keep this stuff?" but then when the kids ask me what to do with said junk, I without thought tell them to "put it in the junk drawer." Why? My goal for the end of this year is to re-purpose the junk drawer. I will no longer keep packs of ketchup, mustard and duck sauce (that by the way, no one ever uses). I will keep coupons with the grocery list and will put just enough twisty ties in a zip lock bag and get rid of the rest.So, tell me about your "junk drawer".

**Update**

Yesterday I was looking for the mandolin that goes with my vegetable peeler and looked in the place I avoid and dread...the junk drawer. Imagine my surprise when it was still empty from the last time I cleaned it. I know I had stopped sending condiment packets to it and I guess the kids stopped stuffing things in the drawer and so here we are a year later with a still clean drawer. I still can't find my mandolin, but the not so junky junk drawer was a nice surprise.

We are leaving in 6 days and things are very scattered. Aaaarrrgghh. Trying not to sweat what can't be changed...

Box Tops & Labels

I am back to collecting box tops and labels for one of my little Rotties that attend PS. I am not good at remembering, but we are blessed with a family friend that gave us an envelope full of them this last week. We were able to fill 1 and 1/2 pages. Thanks Ms. Kim!

Counting Down

It's that time of year again where we are counting down, packing up and getting ready to go here...


Respite care has been set up for my 2 little Rotties, but I am not at peace with it. I am just telling myself that they will be okay.

Still not sure how much school we will take with us. I kinda really want a full vacation without teaching, but the task master in me says to keep pushing the train.

14 days

Miners Not Minors*

I am tired! I stayed up too late and woke too early this morning watching the miners being extracted from the mine.

~Sigh~


*One of my favorite lines from the movie "Gal *xy Qu* st"

A Glimpse of Our Handbook

When I first started homeschooling 6 yrs ago, my 1 and only student was the kind of kid that needed a very structured atmosphere. We actually ended up doing "school at home" for him. At the beginning, I created a handbook that listed expectations and school rules. We also kept using school uniforms as I had just spent hundreds of dollars on school uniforms for my then 6th grader and was not going to let them go to waste. I found that it offered a nice way to distinguish between school time and home time.

Over the years we have changed and in the last 2 years I have been able to relax quite a bit, but I still offer the handbook so that everyone has a written copy of school rules and expectations.

Front Cover

Impromptu Field Trip

Today was supposed to be our “Friday Y Day” and we were all dressed to go shoot some hoops when there was a knock at the door. It was a young man telling me he was from the tree cutting company to cut my neighbors tree and they wanted me to move my car to keep it safe from falling limbs. This somewhat perplexed me as my driveway is right next to my house and the same limbs that could fall on my car would only have 2 feet to fall on my house, but I moved the car. I must admit, I was concerned about leaving the house and decided to stick around a bit to see what safeguards this company would take to protect my house.

IT WAS SO FASCINATING!!

We actually moved our chairs out in the front yard (under the protection of our very large pine tree) and watched them take the tree down. They were very skilled and in fact, my kids actually applauded a couple of times as there was some impressive bouts of team work to be seen. We learned that the tree was a Silver Maple and it had very heavy limbs that someone had years ago put chains around to keep the limbs from falling. Well those chains had grown through the tree making the limbs very week. We ended up watching for the whole thing; actually made sandwiches and ate outside when the guys took their lunch break.

I was very impressed with this tree company. The owner was on site and actually did the tree climbing and cutting. The guys did not use fowl language at all and it was not that they had to censor themselves… They just didn’t. In fact, they shouted such great words of encouragement and praise to each other that it was a teachable moment for the kids. They owner came over to talk to us to tell us about the tree and how he got started in the business. The guys offered us free wood and cut it up into perfect size pieces for us.

I took over 60 pictures and about 5 videos. I will share just a few here.

We will miss that old tree, the shade it provided and the shelter if offered to birds and squirrels. I do however feel safer knowing that the next ice storm will not invite that big ole maple into my living room.

The Human Metronome

This morning 7th grade has guitar lesson and I had the metronome on to help her with a new piece. The 2 year old is walking around, clicking his tongue with perfect tempo! LOL!

Ending With Fun!

For review sake:

Kindergarten is able to count ordinal numbers up to the thirty-first consistently and seems to understand it. He can spell and write the days of the week and write his numbers up to 100. He has completely learned the Pre-Primer list of Dolch words so I have moved him to the Primer list. We are moving slower in Science and Social Studies as the lessons are very short and I am trying to figure out how to bump it up some.

Third Grade has completed several of his test with scores in the high 90's. He is struggling with mental math that includes carrying so we are doing some math drill sheets to help him with the basic addition part so that it takes some of the work out for him. James is a child that does well with memorization, but struggles with transferring information to other situations. He picked up some books about cheetahs from the library and really enjoys reading anything about animals. His school behavior has really improved in that he stays very focused and on task.

Seventh Grade is ahead in all of her subjects. She has several essays that she is working on at the same time for 3 different classes. I may have to delete some of them as it seems to be too much ( and I think so as the person who has to read and grade them.) Her music and guitar class is going well... I broke her E string this week and when we went to go have it replaced, the guy tuned and then played a real fancy song on her guitar. She and I both cracked up and said we did not know that guitar could sing like that. LOL! I read a blog by Christie and she was describing a research project called a "delight directed" project. I totally stole (err I mean borrowed) the idea and Jordan is doing her project on the history and making of French Toast. I can't wait to taste/grade her project. ~Smile~

We went out for a ride in the country yesterday and stopped at one of the local small farms to get pumpkins and gourds. We are looking forward to making some pumpkin muffins, pancakes and toasting the seeds. Not sure what we will do with the gourds.

Today we went to the YMCA and it was pretty quiet there. Had the pool to ourselves.

This weekend is the changing of summer to winter clothes bonanza. Woo Hoo!! Fun times...

He is Entertaining

Our little dog is a nut! He is 10 months old, loves the kids and super loves playing outside. This is his favorite past-time ... fighting with boxes.

Fall...

Saturday was a great outside day. I actually was wrapped in my Snuggies and tried to read some, but the kids were cracking me up. They played with a box, sticks and leaves for almost an hour. I love their sense of imagination. That box was a boat at one point, a moving truck, a Bulldozer and I can't remember what all else.

Later we removed the drawers and shelves from the fridge for cleaning and all I can say is....uuggghhh. We used to do it every other Saturday, but that kind of fell off. Let's just say it is back on the MUST DO schedule.

Week In Review

Good week where everyone stayed on schedule. It was a low key week with only 2 appointments on Tuesday. This week in Bible, Kindergarten did the letter D for Daniel

3rd grade is learning dictionary skills and 7th grade is still doing integers.

In art this week we colored pictures of leaves and glued strips of colored paper in fall colors on the back of them. We finally took down our butterflies from last spring and put the leaves to hang in the doorway and on the sheers.

I was scheduled to work this last Wednesday and again on Saturday (tomorrow) but my client cancelled so I was able to get some laundry folded that had kinda backed up on me.

I finally found airline tickets for vacation. I kept waiting for cheapo flights, but I don't think there is such a thing anymore.

Have a good weekend.

Peace

A Quiet Moment...

One of those rare quiet moments where the 2 year old is not stuffing Lego's in the toilet and the puppy is not eating someones shoe WHILE.THEY.ARE.WEARING.IT!!!

Dinner Helpers

We had a very simple dinner tonight, made by the kindergartners: Sandwiches, carrots, chips and milk. 7th grade went to a function with our home school group and momma's not feeling well or hungry, so the 6 year olds decided that they would help with dinner. It was so cute watching them work together and they were so proud when I asked if I could take a picture of the finished product. Jackson said, "For the blog?!" with the biggest, cheesiest grin on his face.

So here it is folks!! Don't crowd!!

Box Tops and Book Orders

Now that I have a child in PS I am back to collecting box tops, bar codes and sending in Scholastic book orders. I like Scholastic. I have assigned box tops to my 7th grader to cut and save.

We have 6 weeks before we leave for vacation. Looks like we may have to take some school with us, but the crew seems to be fine with that. I am still trying to find another rash guard swim suit for James. He is fair skinned and we have to re-apply sunscreen often and he finally outgrew his last one.

Next week is a calm week for school. No extra appointments so far.

Our school emblem

Yum!!

These all came off of the vine this morning. They are sweet and juicy and plentiful!

Dirty Baseboards

I have said in the past that you can tell how things are going in my house by looking at the baseboards in my kitchen. If the baseboards are sparkling clean, then that means someone has been making bad choices and earning extra chores like washing walls, cabinets, door jabs and baseboards.

I guess I can say that I am the proud owner of dirty baseboards.

Things have been pretty good over here. Our schedule is chocked full of appointments this week, but it seems to be a fairly calm week so far. Tomorrow the kids have to work at the local food bank which they enjoy immensely!

We have 6 weeks before we leave for vacation!!! Hope to get very far ahead so that we don't have to take school with us.

Virtual Refridgerator

Confession: I am a collector and I love the art and work that my kids complete at school, daycare, children's church, etc. This presents a fridge and wall space problem. So I started taking pictures of the kid's art and filing and posting some here. We review the original and say how beautiful it is and then we toss most of it. I still keep some very precious ones, but this system has saved space.

This week in Bible class, Kindergarten made these things:

A dove and booklet about John.

I searched long and hard for a Bible curriculum for kindergarten that would fit our needs and I finally found a great workbook called Bible Stories from A to Z. I like that I can make up to 5 lessons per week if needed (even though we rarely school 5 whole days per week). Here are 2 examples of the pages:

It was kinda funny because I was going to just use some tissue paper to tear into pieces and glue onto the dove, but in looking for my tissue paper found some really old art feathers that were left over from my student teaching days in 1986. They were still soft and in really good shape.

We had a week that was very interrupted, but still productive. Next week we have so many appointments that they barely fit on my dollar store dry erase board. LOL!

Pancake breakfast tomorrow!

Have a great weekend

Kind Enough to Stop By...

But over an hour late to pick her up!!!

The bus driver did not show up until 9 am this morning after telling us to be ready by 8 am. After about 30 minutes I called the bus garage who radioed the driver who said she would be here in a couple of minutes....

25 minutes later after standing in the driveway watching school buses speeding by, she showed up very apologetic and frazzled. By then, school had started and my kid was going to be late. We followed the bus to school where the driver had to sit for another 10 minutes waiting for someone to take the kids from her bus into school. We went ahead and took our kid in to see the class and meet the teacher. She was everything we had been told!

Hopefully tomorrow the bus will be more on time.

Not Even 1 Hour?

For the past 20+ years, my mom given my brother and I the Labor Day tradition of making a pallet on the living room floor to watch the Telethon. It was always a contest to see who could stay up the latest. In the morning, we would then drive to the local fire station to make a donation in the "boot".



I have offered this to my kids, but they are just such creatures of routine that they can not stand the thought of sleeping in the house without going to their beds. I mean I had popcorn and snacks and they asked to go to bed after about 1 hour! James did try to hang in a little longer, but he only lasted another 15 minutes or so. Wimps! LOL!

More At Ease

I have a 6 year old foster child that is to be enrolled in a special ed kindergarten program for this year by her last year's preschool teacher. Now back in the day when I worked outside of the home (in a land far far away) I had worked as a therapist with a few families that had children enrolled in this particular school. It was not a pleasant experience. In fact, I remember saying at 1 point that I would not even enroll my dog at that school.

So today I talked to the social worker that has been working with my kid in some capacity over the last 3 years while she was with her birth family and she gave very glowing reviews on the teacher of this special program. She described the teachers style and reports that she has been teaching this class for over 10 years. This class operates semi-independent of the rest of the school, but does some activities with the regular kindergarten classes. Finally, she reports that the principle of many many years has retired and there is a new guy in the office. He does not believe in sending problem kids home as an automatic and encourages teachers to deal with behaviors in the classroom. BONUS!!!! I am feeling more at ease about sending her.

The social worker contacted the transportation department and within 3 hours, the bus driver came came to our home to introduce herself and to let me know an approximate pick-up time. Good.

The Princess speaks...

Another Car Show

This weekend we are at another car show featuring classics and customs. What a treat as some people really do their cars up! Lots of monster trucks, fancy paint jobs and hydraulics. The crowd was great and we had an excellent parking spot to watch the parade. I am using a friends computer, so I can't upload pictures.

The town we are staying in has a real drive-in theatre. I so wish I could let the kids experience it, but there is nothing playing that I would let them see. We did drive by it so they could see what it is like.

Introducing 7th grade Princess Puppy

Heaven for Little Boys

Today in our town, the annual Touch*A*Truck event was held and the boys were in Heaven! I mean... the girls liked it too, but the boys were walking around with this dazed, goofy smile that had me cracking up the whole time. There were about 30 trucks: school & city buses, backhoes, tow trucks, firetrucks, ambulances, police motorcycles, sheriff r.v., old fashion milk delivery, 18 wheeler, utility and garbage trucks.

The drivers and operators of the vehicles were so very nice and there were many freebies: construction hats, re-usable canvas bags, beach balls, bubbles, stickers, water bottles, Popsicles, candy, pens and paper. The kids spent a great deal of their time on the backhoe and then the firetruck of course. I had to laugh though... as my kids were walking around...they got into and onto every truck except the public school bus. When they came to show me more of their goodies, I asked them why they did not get into the school bus and my 7th grader said with a turned up nose, "All them germs?!?!?" Uppity homeschooler. LOL!

As the kids were in line to get into the ambulance, they suddenly got a call and had to take off. They were shooing people out of the back and saying, "Sorry, gotta go to work!"

** Updated to answer a comment.

Many cities across the US have these events... some are sponsored by Ronald McDonald House, the Chamber of Commerce or as ours was... the local police, YMCA and school district.