Jumping on that "Friday Feast" Wagon

Friday Feast
Appetizer:
Name 3 things that you think are beautiful.
Azalea blossoms, sleeping boy faces, and genuine happy smiles

Soup:
What was the last concert you attended?
Rock concert: Bon Jovi. Ha, ha, ha, ha
Music in general: a harp and organ duet

Salad:
What is one thing that frightens you about getting older?
Losing all the people who know my history. When my father died, my uncle, commented that he had lost his parents and both his brothers and that he felt so lonely. I understood the loss he was feeling.

Main Course:
Tell us what cookbook you use most frequently.
I don't. I don't know if that makes me a bad cook or just a simple one. I cook like my mom, MIL, and grandmother. I just throw it together.

Dessert:
If you could extend one month to 50 days (instead of the normal 28, 29, 30, or 31), which month would you want to lengthen?
April. The weather in April is beautiful: not too hot but warn enough to go out and enjoy the day. I love to keep the flowers around longer.

picture pages, picture pages...time to do your picture pages

time to get your crayons and your pencils.
I never got any Picture Pages but I can post some new pics of the boys.
We have Cub Scout bridging and little brothers at baseball.

First the little brothers.

This is S. He'll be 2 in July. He is a giant among 22 month olds with a powerful arm and mighty lungs. He also needs a haircut. He missed the last one due to his powerful arms and mighty lungs.

Here's A. He'll be 4 in June. He is hiding under an umbrella because it was very sunny out. ZooDad can just look out the window and get sunburned so he takes an umbrella to the baseball games. Notice that ZooDad doesn't get to use the umbrella.

Now the Cub scouts.


Here's M. He's 6 and just bridged up to Wolves. (hooooooooowwwwwwl) He is tickled to death. I am going to split my time next year between his and his brother's den. This makes M even more excited. He is getting so big. When did my babies get so big?


Oh my goodness. I am the mother of a Webelos. When did that happen?
Here's J (age 9) with our Scout Master. Our SM is on the bomb squad which is why he can grin like that through all the chaos.

Speaking of chaos.
Here's my new Webelos.

Now don't these boys look like they could give you a run for your money. If you're ever bored on Tuesday afternoon and you're in town...feel free to come on by and lend a hand.
I'm actually missing 5 in this picture. One is hiding. One was out sick. One was out at a church even and three were just plain missing. The front row is standing on the bridge. The back row are just tall kids. Six of these boys have been in Cub Scouts together for 3 years.

24

that's how many hours 'til my big sweetie comes home. He's been in AZ for 12 days. And for 12 long days it's been just me and the boys and all the stuff we have to do at"end of the school year time."

Let me tell you how great ZooDad is.
He doesn't enjoy eating at Burger King. He just doesn't like the food and the fact when he was stationed in Germany, all they had on post was a BK. So he got just abit sick of the food.
BK currently has the Star Wars figures. Try as I might...I have not been able to find any BK Star Wars toy for the boys. Not a single one.

ZooDad in AZ has found them. He has been to BK 5 times in the past 12 days to purchase 2 toys each visit. He knows the boys will love them and he has to eat anyway. He called to report that he got a wookie and an x-wing plane on the last visit. That is dedication.

One of the men he is working with in AZ, has just recently moved to our area. It turns out that they also homeschool. How did this come up? My darling sweetie apparently tells everyone that he has four wonderful boys and his fabulous wife homeschools them. He just volunteers the information.

Let me tell you something else. The man was willing to walk to Mexico (The rental car can't leave the state.) because I mentioned I might like a Mexican leather handbag. I told him that it really wasn't necessary.

So there you have it. I married and all-male siring, homeschool proud man who will force feed himself BK food and walk to Mexico to make his family happy.

I am so lucky.

May the Force be with him!

For Christmas, ZooDad bought me a 4 disc Star Wars DVD collection. These are the original episodes with Luke, Leia, and Han Solo. (I didn't ask for these so I fear they may have been a present for ZooDad.)

I thought it would be a good idea for the boys to watch these movies to prepare for the final episode. I explained that I was M's age when episode IV came out and J's age when episode V came out. They watched #IV with few questions but last night we watched #V and boy did we have some conversations. I laughed all night at the stuff they were coming up with.

J: What wrong with Yoda?
Me: What do mean 'What's wrong" with him?
J: Well.....He sounds like Kermit.

Hee, hee, hee.

The movie: We must destroy the son of Skywalker.
J: Hey Mom! Luke's last name is Skywalker?
Me: yep...Luke Skywalker.
J: What was Anakin's last name?
Me: Skywalker
J: So you do you think Anakin was Luke's Dad?
Me: Yep, Anakin is Luke's dad.
J: Well when did that happen!"

M: Mom, when you were little, was there Star Wars stuff everywhere?
Me: Yep, everywhere you looked.
M: Well, you'd think they'd come up with something new.
(You would think.)

J: Mom, if Anakin is Luke's father and Anakin is Darth Vader...that means that Darth Vader is Luke's father.
me: yep...you figured it out. but Luke doesn't know yet.
J: Ooooooooohhhhhh, that's whay all the show dramatically say..."I am your father!" (he says this in the "Vader" voice.) That's cool.
(That fills in some gaps in knowledge. I guess he didn't get all those references on Toy Story, Fairly Oddparents, or Jimmy Neutron.)


J: So how did they do yoda?
Me: what do mean?
J: Is he a robot?
Me: Nooooo.
J: Is computer drawn?
Me: No they didn't have that back then. He's a puppet.
J and M: a puppet??????
J: Well, he sure doesn't look like a puppet but it does explain why he sounds like Kermit.

M: So why didn't they draw Yoda with a computer, Mom? Didn't they have electricity when you were young?
(I was too busy laughing to answer.)

Smokin'!!!!!!!!

My internet access has been spotty. I unplugged. I reset. I restarted. No luck what-so-evah! I called and complained to a very nice gentle man who advised me to trade in my cable modem and scheduled a service visit for Tuesday. (He was nice so I didn't fuss about waiting until Tuesday.)

I got the modem today. (and a new digital cable box remote since ours is backless thanks to baby Sam's curious fingers.) I plugged that bad boy in and BAAAAAAMMMM!
I have internet.

I have fast internet.

I am Smokin'!

I should have done this ages ago. that was our original high speed modem. It was at least 4 years old. That's 40 in technology years.

The new modem is sleek and black with all sorts of pretty lights that do not flash.

Beautiful....and it works too.

We have to wait to start school

Last night I started reading The Children's Homer to the boys. This was after they watched the Tv movie Hercules...which I recorded for them. There was no way I was letting them stay up 'til 11. (We are slightly behind in our SOTW stuff. We've been on book I forever. I do own book II, if that counts for anything.)

I discovered that I had an illustrated DK Odyssey book in my stash of oh-so-cool-stuff. (I also remembered that I have an audible version of The Children's Homer also.) Well, J took my Dk book to bed with him. He went back to reading it when he woke up this morning.
When I told him that it was time for math, he answered...."Can I finish this chapter first? Zeus is trying the destroy Odysseus and his crew."

Of course you can buddy. Like I would interrupt reading The Odyssey for some division problems.

Sorry...had to remove it.

I had to take off the lovely art pictures. They were making my page go catty-wonker*** by pushing the whole side bar waaaaaaaaaay down to the bottom. You'll just have to go to the Met site and see them for yourself. In fact, that's an even better idea. Do a virtual trip to the Met.

Or go to the http://www.kopalnia-wieliczka.pl/english/index.html. We watched a show yesterday about this very cool mine. They mentioned my favorite artist and his Ghent altarpiece. Apparently, Hitler hid this piece in a salt mine during WWII.




*** Not that something being catty-wonker upsets me greatly. It is just that many things in my life are catty-wonkered most of tea time. Many of these things I have no power to affect so I just kind of deal with it and others I kind of like catty-wonkered. But I like my blog relatively straight and can somewhat do something about that. My own little obsessive compulsive corner off the world.

My World History education

When I was in school, I really didn't pay attention to history. My first history/geography memory was learning states and capitals in 6th grade. In 7th grade we had geography, and I had to learn all the world countries. I can remember taking weekly quizzes where we had to label the countries on a world map. Once we got a 100, we could stop taking the quizzes. I don't remember anything else from that year.
8th grade was American History. I had a grumpy teacher that hated that the the gifted kids missed her class one a week. I was one of the gifted kids. I remember her annoyance but I don't remember anything she taught.

I finally learned something in 9th grade World History. Mr. Hadden, who looked exactly like that blue eagle from The Muppet Show, inspired me to pay attention. Not really inspired....I wanted to do well ont he test because that made him happy and I wanted to make him happy.

I really didn't care about the history.

But I did eventually learn about World history and it was in a very stange place.

It was an Art History Course.
We started with the caves of Lascaux and Chauvet and we went through renaissance (We even covered one of my favorite artists... Jan Van Eyke.)

The professor would show slides of artwork and then explain the history that led up to these pieces. He told us the stories behind the artwork, explained the social aspects that the cultures held when these pieces were created, the kings, the leaders, the wars, the conquests. He took us back to the people who created these pieces of art.

So I learned history through art.

I am going though SOTW and teaching my on children. I feel disconnected when just reading the words. I need pictures. Sargon the Great? Oh I recognize that line drawing... that's the bronze bust of Sargon. Let me find the picture. Do you see the hair? His wair was long and curly, but look at the top of his helmet. The artisits fashioned the waves of hair in the metal and that shows how proud they were of their hair.

The Vikings? Oh... the intricately carved metalwork. You should see it. thier swords were carved down the entire blade.

The Mayas....stone carvings, regal and symbolic.

Imagine my joy when I stumbled upon the Timeline of Art History from the Met. This is my kind of history. We use this site every day.
Make sure you visit this place daily. You can find everything right there. Lists of rulers. Artwork. History.

But let me warn you... once you get there...it'll be an hour before you leave again.

Key update

I forgot to tell you Thursday...I found my keys. Not my spare, spare keys. Not even my spare keys. (those have been gone for months and months) But my REAL keys. I looked it up and I lost these keys in February. A found them in the Imaginext castle box. I guess it's been a while since they played with that one.

I am so happy.
I can now unlock my car remotely. YAHHHHHH!!! I didn't realize how much I missed that. And all my grocery store discount tags.

Baseball, bike crashes, and "byes"

Saturday was another day at the baseball field. I was so proud of M and the rest of my T-ball guys. They actually threw to a base other than first. Yes! We got three outs: one at first, one at second, and one at third. Of course, outs don't count in t-ball...But the boys actually made plays.
WOW!!!!!

J's batting is improving. He gets a hit with every at bat. He doesn't keep team score. He's just happy when he scores a run. And this year...He's pretty happy.

Until today...He took a spill on his bike. He and M were riding down in the cul-de-sac with a few other kids. I've been wary to let them ride bike in the street but it is a quiet loop and there are lots of other kids...So for the past few weeks, I've let them ride down there as long as someone was in the yard.

J overcompensated and fell off his bike on the asphalt. (For the uninitiated, blacktop is a smooth black surface. It is great for skating. Asphalt has rock in the surface. Bad for skating..bad to fall on.)
The kid looked like he fell on a cheese grater. He got both hands, an elbow, and a massive scrape on his knee. He took off a quarter size section, about an eight inch deep.

It bled. Thankfully, I already had large and medium stretchy bandages, peroxide, and triple anti-biotic ointment on hand. M ran to get ZooDad, who had to carry J home. Then M brought back both bicycles while the two littlest boys freaked out about their biggest brother being hurt.
All seems to be well now. But I am going to keep a sharp eye for infection. The boy was tore up!

After all the cut and scrapes were doctored, I had to pack Zoodad for a two week trip. He's off the Arizona for a bit. He left at 2:40 and he's already called home 3 times. He's a bonafide home body who hates to leave his little zoo cage. If he could work from home...he would. And he'd never leave unless forced. Unfortunately, he has to travel.

So I am hobbling along with the 4 boys and no helper. My foot is doing remarkably well. I grocery shopped today. No small feat for my banged-up foot. This week will be busy. We have yet another physical therapy session for me plus A's Wednesday stuff, the last den meeting for scouts, the last t-ball practice, the last baseball practice, and then the very last games on Saturday.

I like all these "lasts."

You dropped the bomb on me...Baby

Well, a little bomb. Two little bombs. Maybe not even real bombs since the thoughts had bee lurking in my mind before anyone else said it.
Today was speech and occupational therapy day for A.
His Occupational therapist wants him to see an orthopedic specialist about his "toe walking." The kid has always walked on his toes but apparently he also turns his feet inwards. That might make it a Orthopedic issue and not just a sensory issue. Of course, we'll go.
Anything he needs...We will do. It's just one more thing to worry about though.

I really shouldn't complain because I know so many other parents have such bigger problems to worry about than mine. I'm just wondering when this kid is going to catch a break.

Then the speech therapist wanted to talk about A's lack of interest and the fact that he may have reached a temporary plateau. He's also resisting doing speech exercises at home and at therapy. She asked me to consider a two month break from all speech therapy. I've decided to compromise with trying just once a week for the summer with the option to go to every other week if he's still resisting.
The guy has been in speech twice a week since October 2003 with only the occasional miss. So maybe it's time for a little break. I'm just worried about him not making further progress.

I also went to the dentist today. Yes, I went and lived to tell the tale. My teeth were cleaned, yet I did not die. So that part is good, huh?

My PSA

I'm in a linky mood. Here's some cool stuff I feel obligated to pass on to those who may not have stumbled up them.

The new The Lion, The Witch, and The wardrobe is coming out in December. J will be so happy. So will I. I hope Hollywood did as good a job as The Lord of the Rings. Because if they've messed it up...I'll be soooooo mad!
Here's more info.


Free Art lesson-y kind of things. J and M LOVED this site...Destination: Modern Art from the Museum of Modern Art.



And then there are free book plates and other cool stuff at My Home Library


And the last little gem of the day....Mr. Donn's Lesson plans. Very cool history stuff.

All my cool stuff must be on the upstairs computer. I'll have to go up there next time I'm feeling linky.

Enjoy!

An actual post about Homeschooling

A IRL friend is taking a poll on which science and history programs different homeschooling moms use. I guess spring is in the air and everyone's mind is on the same thing....what should I use next year.

Here's what I am doing:
I am, at best, an eclectic, neo-classical homeschooler. I like chronological history but I see the need for a "social studies" program. Why? Because at 9 years old, my son had never heard about Martin Luther King Jr and his work for Civil Rights. (BTW, he couldn't get his head around discriminating against someone due to the color of their skin. It sounded like one of those stupid "old" ideas like burning whale oil for light.)

So here's what we'll be using:
Story of the World and Kingfisher History encyclopedia for the chronological history. We actually do more of a notebooking kind of study using the timeline and notebook sheets from Hold that Thought.
These are beautiful time line figures and the maps on the history CD's are very nice. I use these instead of the SOTW activity guide.
(If any IRL folks would like to see these, just give me a holler.) Then I supplement about 30 minutes a week with a school Social studies book. We just go over it and it usually sticks. We aren't talking complex information here but it is stuff that isn't in "history." I got the textbooks at Insights for a dollar each. Don't spend more for school books. LOL

For science, I actually use another School text as a guide. Addison Wesley called "Destinations in Science." I am not a textbook science person, but these are really great books. They were probably rejected for inferior texts, which is quite sad. We add to it like crazy but there is a good bit of stuff packed into these little gems. I also own Singapore Science. Another good science book. But it has a few unusual foods and plants in it. (Singapore children eat a lot of rice and don't have the same fruits and veggies that we do.) the bones of it are sound though and it does promote scientific thinking. It is not grammar stage science though.
More later....we have to head out to speech.

YAH!!!!!!! She made it!

Dy has finally arrived in the new home state. I'm giving her a special shout out because moving that far with 3 kids is a big deal in my book. She did it so gracefully too. I'd be bundle of nerves and a ticking time bomb. Sorry to 'dis' you girl but I'm glad it wasn't me. I wouldn't mind disappearing for a week and having my whole house painted and thoroughly cleaned. But I could not, would not pack up and move. (I seem to have a Dr.Suess thing going on these days.)

While I'm doing that I need to say that *if* we *did* move anytime soon...I hope darling ZooDad could be as cooperative and entertaining as PuppDaddy has been. I don't think he'd come close. I'd also want to bring Alaska along to paint for me. In fact...Forget the move. I cordially invite y'all to come on down to the sunny South and bring all the puppies. They'd mix quite well with the Zoobys and the Family Y will open the new waterslide/pool complex soon.

So there it is. A big "WOW..HOW CAN YOU DO ALL THAT" for the moving homeschooling families that I know.
I stand in awe of your determination.

Left foot, left foot, left foot, right...

Feet in the morning.
Feet at night.

Yep, it's Focus on the Feet here at the zoo.
I went to the physical therapist on Friday. She says I have a grade 2 or 3 "Syndesmotic Sprain." commonly called a high ankle sprain.

Grade 2 means that I have partially torn the two affected ligaments. Grade 3 is tearing them all the way through. We aren't sure which since the swelling is still pretty bad. I've also pulled a couple of tendons and just pretty much busted everything up.
Currently, I have about 4 degrees of motion in any direction.

No half-baked ankle sprain for me. No sir-ree. I gotta go all out.

My insurance pays for 20 physical therapy sessions. The therapist says that "by then" I should be able to do the exercises by myself until I fully heal.

Hellooooooo???????

20 visits is 5 months right. I planed to be fully healed within a month.
I'm being a good girl. I wearing the wrap and ankle brace. I'm using the crutch most of the time. I'm staying off as much as *I* have time too. I'm also doing that cold water plunge thing that is oh-so-enjoyable and doing all my little foot exercises.

Why am I doing all these torturous things? Because I do not have 5 months to sit around and baby this silly foot. I do need to be healthy to walk by September when we go to Disney World. And it would be nice to be able to enjoy the mountains when we go in June. So I will jump through all the appropriate hoops and get my money's worth on the PT.

On a positive note: Today, I wore two shoes for the first time in 11 days. Granted they were flip-flops but both feet were covered and that's all that matters. M was a bit freaked out by my purple bruised toes.

Watch those ankles! It turns out that they are quite useful afterall.

Bad sounds in the Zoo

Since I'm not that mobile anymore, I've taken to "listening" for trouble.

This is what trouble sounds like in our house.


"Honey, I'm home from the grocery store. Did you give me a list?"


"ha, ha, ha, ha." Sound of running feet "ha, ha, haha." thunk


Sounds of laughter and jumping in the upstairs room...thunk....Silence.


"Um...Mom? Can you come here a second?"


Sounds of jumping in the family room....thunk....."oooooooooh"


"hee, hee, hee, hee, snicker, snicker" coming from any bathroom.


"Um....Mom? The toilet water just keeps going up."


Some boy:"Mooooooooommmmmmm" in a tattle tale tone. Some other boy who can talk: "Shhhhhh....Mom is resting."


Um...Mom? Would you like something to drink?"


CRASH Me: "What was that?" Some boy that can talk: "Ummmmmmm....nothing?"


And my all time favorite:
"ow, ow, ow, ow" said by one child with all the others following him until they realize that they are now in the same room I am in. Me: "What is going on?" All children involved looked at each other and then reply, "ummmmm.....nothing?"


Oh yes, trouble...I can smell it. I just chose not to deal with it.
It's been a week and so far, no one is dead or seriously hurt.

More foot news

I saw my doctor and an orthopedic on Friday. So far it is a really bad sprain. I sprained both the upper and lower ligaments. So not only does my ankle hurt like nobody's business but the top of my foot feels like some one is slicing it with a steak knife.
The swelling is subsiding but the bruising is going full force. Nasty would be the best description. I would take a picture but it makes me nauseous to look at it.
I've also learned that I am never going to win a crutch race. Just making it across the parking lot is a wondrous feat.
sigh

I start Physical therapy on Thursday. Then I follow up with the orthopedic the next Friday.

All my plans just screeching to a halt.

And it hurts too.
Gripe, moan, gripe, moan, gripe, moan.
;)