Talk me into or talk me out of it.

I have been asked to apply for my dream job.
The local nature park needs an assistant part-time education coordinator.
Local as in less than 1 mile, if I don't take the shortcut, from my house through my neighborhood.
In fact, this park is my back yard neighbor. We walk down to this park almost every weekend as part of our family time.
My kids love the place!

The job is no more than 20 hours a week doing all the things that I am good at doing. Teaching classes, doing some wet land research, developing educational materials, and working on the website.

My degree is in Biology and my area of interest was botany and herpetology.

The hours are afternoons and some weekends.
Not a lot of work but still....it is time away from my family.
I would miss some games.
I would have to work around a "work" schedule.
I would lose some of my free time.
And we don't really need the money...but I would like to have little money of my own. (The SAHM's know what I mean.)

But, my kids could help with research projects. That's an incredible opportunity. And they would get to see me as something besides a mom.

I would make or rekindle connections in the "business" that I've lost in the 13 years that I've been out of the workforce. And I would finally stop those "you're not a productive citizen" letters that I get annually from the Social Security Agency. (I hate those letters.)

And I would be good for the park. I know my biology. I have worked on wetland research before. As my mom says, I can "identify every plant and animal out there." I love teaching science and I'm good at it. I could also get more homeschoolers involved in the classes at the center.

ZD says go for it. How often does your dream job open up close enough to bike to? He says that lots of parents miss an occasional baseball game and that our oldest son is plenty big enough to babysit while I work a few hours a block from our house. (With 4 houses nearby with SAHM available for any issues.) It's not like I do anything outside the house that doesn't involve the kids....plus they could come to classes.

But I worry. Is my dream job worth any chaos it will bring my family?

I feel it would be better if you minded your own business.

That's what I should have said when the women at Bi-Lo commented on my oldest son's tan. "He really should be wearing sunscreen. You don't want him to get skin cancer." Translate that into "Oh, you're a terrible lazy mother who doesn't care about her child."

Instead I told her that he does indeed wear sunscreen. He wears Bullfrog spf 36 spray. But he's tan because he spends a lot of time outside. A. lot. of. time. And he has inherited his mother's skin which tans very easily.

To which she actually replied, "He's outside all the time? Doesn't he play video games?'

I kid you not.

Totally Random

My youngest children will often spontaneously start singing. One will start with a couple of words then the other will join in seamlessly often without even noticing that they are singing.
More often than not this is the song they are singing this song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjcH2UmK1uo
(I can't embed for some reason.)

Oddly enough this song bothers DH way more than it bothers me. He seems to get upset when the two little guys launch into singing this in the middle of Lowe's

So who wants to come over and help me unpack?

We camped!
Friday we loaded up all the camping gear for our family of 6 and the food needed for dinner for 50 and we headed up to the lake for our Pack crossover camp out.
The weather in town was bad, but it was gorgeous at the lake.
We set up camp, had dinner, then the dad and older boys skipped stones on the lake while the smaller guys and siblings pretty much tossed rocks as far as they could to make the biggest splash possible. Then they explored every path they could find and thankfully, no one fell into the lake.
When the sun set, we started a campfire and gathered around it to make s'mores. After all the s'mores were eaten the boys all did skits, every scout and sibling was involved and most were quite funny. Oldest DS is a Boy Scout and he taught the Webelos all the skits that his patrol has done.

Saturday morning started out sunny. We had a flag ceremony, had a couple of hours of den time, and started playing some games with the pack. Storms rolled in around 3 pm and put a halt to our pack hike.
But it didn't stop the fun. The Assistant Scout master and a couple of parents started dinner under one end of the pavilion and the boys played other end. The played cards, practiced walking on stilts, and joked and laughed. My oldest taught the Webelos how to play poker. I cringed when I realized what he'd done but the parents found it funny. And the Webelos felt very grown up and were quite hysterical. When the thunder stopped, they went out into the rain and played stick ball, dodge ball, and kickball... on a slick field covered in slick Georgia Clay. If the level of filthiness is an indicator of the amount of fun they had, then these boys had a ball.

After dinner, we were supposed to have a big bonfire and bridge the Senior Webelos to Boy Scouts and the other scouts up to the next rank. But the rains didn't let up. So we moved the ceremony under the pavilion and it was just as wonderful and special. Every boy had a big smile on his face as he received his new neckerchief.
And because I wouldn't abandon the night s'more making, we fired up a propane burner and then the boys roast the marshmallows over the blue flame. (Which was much faster roasting than over a fire.)
Then we had more skits, some involving the Boy Scouts. All the boys sat in mixed groups. New Tigers with Wolves, Bears, and Webelos. The new Senior Webelos invited the new Junior Webelos to do a skit with them. (The younger boys looked so proud that I feared they might burst!)
Right before lights out, two Order of the Arrow Scouts shot flaming arrows over our meeting area and out into the lake....one arrow for the new Boy Scouts and one for the Cub Scouts.
Very, very cool!
Sunday morning we woke to more rain but everyone was cheerful as we packed up and cleaned the campsite.

One new Wolf yelled out his window as his Dad drove away, "When are we going camping again!" That question was echoed many more times before our family left for home.
I guess I'd better get busy planning the next one.

Almost.....

The camp out is almost here and pretty soon my life will be back to relative normal.
Until then here's a little update.
ZD has been travelling....a lot. In fact he's out west this week and is absolutely no help to me whatsoever. He'll be back in time for the actual camping.

We got a new cat. She's not here right at this moment because she was spayed today and is at the vet's under observation. Her name is Cleo and she was a stray on post. She's about 18 months old. She spent the last 4 months living at the Veterinary center in a small kennel...waiting for a home. She spent the previous 14 months trying to survive and having more kittens than her body could support. She's about 6 pounds and you can tell that she was malnourished during her formative months. She's sweet as can be and already fits right into the household.

Baseball is still going strong. We'll miss this week's games due to the camp out. Oldest boy took a hard pitch off his knee cap at the first game. It hurt him for a while but he's back to 95% now. Second boy is playing catcher and loving it. Third boy is getting a hit in every game...which shocks ZD and I. He just loves to play and is quite oblivious to any sort of competitiveness. And Sam, well, he hasn't knock anyone out yet. I'm glad he'll be moving out of t-ball next year. We really should have played him up this year.

Thankfully, we don't have games next weekend. ZD and I had planned a little couples retreat for the long weekend. With his work schedule and all my stuff, our weekends are full. We're so busy working and being parents that we don't have enough time to just be husband and wife. But, I overlooked an all day play practice for the boys so there goes our little trip together. (Seriously, who the heck schedules practices for Memorial Day Weekend. Especially in an area that ends school that week!)
I'm trying very hard to not be angry about it and failing miserably.

School is just about done. Then it's time for my favorite time of the year. PLANNING!
No, just kidding. I get to spend all day at the pool. Monday through Friday, from 10 am to 2 pm....if you need me, I'll be at the pool. This children are counting down the days until May 26th. The swimsuits are all located, the towels are clean, and we have new pool toys. All we need are snacks and sunscreen.
(Which reminds me....."theatre week" will encroach on my pool time. snarl I swear, next time someone says, "Oh come join the homeschool drama. It will be fun. Your kid will love it." Please smack me. Scouts takes up less time than this play has. Cub and Boy Scouts combined.)

Nobody bought me any peanuts

We had four baseball games today starting at the oh-my-gawd time of 8:30 am. That meant I had to get four boys in baseball uniforms, with gear and water bottles, out of the house by 8 am....on a Saturday.

We started with the littlest guy's t-ball game. Ha, ha, ha....it was insanity. Total chaos. Anarchy in team uniforms.
I can quite safely say that my kid was not the worst kid on those two teams. The hilarity was worth the early morning wake-up. T-ball games always end in a tie because they don't start getting out until mid-season.

Next was the 7 year-old's machine pitch game. He was worried that he wouldn't get a hit, but he got two. He got left on 2nd base the first inning, and then got out at 3rd in the 4th inning. Other than his team's unfortunate team jersey color, everything is perfect. Great coaches. Fun kids. Wonderful parents. They won due to some creative base running and an amazing catch made by the 3rd base player. Every adult watching on both sides was cheering for this kid when he caught that ball.

My oldest two played at the same time so ZD and I split up. We kept each other updated on the cell phones. My "serious one" , DS2, was catcher and got 3 hits. Including one that rolled out to the fence. It wasn't enough to save the game and they lost by 4 runs. But he coach was impressed that he caught the whole game in almost 90 degree weather and never once complained.
DS2 has no depth perception at all due to some vision issues that have not been corrected even with numerous surgeries. ZD and I have stopped trying to figure out how he can hit a baseball so well. He just can.

Oldest boy was the clean up batter for his team. On his first pitch, he was hit right on the knee. The pitcher was a friend of his and he felt terrible. It was bad enough that he had to have a pitch runner who ended up scoring the first run of the game. After sitting out an inning, he was back out in center field. He kept ice on it while in the dug out and felt good enough to risk batting again. He managed to get a hit and score a run. It wasn't graceful though, that's for sure.
His team won by 5 runs.
But the umpire warned him that he would need to ice and elevate his knee after the game. I thought it was an over reaction until I got a good look at his leg.
Holy Cow!
The impact was enough to break the skin and he has an egg size lump on his knee. I'm sure glad I didn't know that during the game.
He's walking on it fine right now, so I guess it's nothing to be worried about. He says it doesn't hurt unless I poke it. (Mom's are required to poke things to see just how bad they are. It's in that long list of "things moms can do" that is printed on the back of their birth certificates.)

After all that baseball, we still had to get haircuts and go to scouts. Now I'm just downright exhausted. But at least I'm not sunburned like ZD is.
If he would have shared his peanuts....I would have shared my sunscreen.

Ok, I'm back on top of the pile

I made it through Monday and Tuesday. My first official Pack meeting at Cub master went well. The boys learned magic tricks from the ACM while I went over information with the parents, answered questions, talked about where I wanted to direct the pack, and encouraged everyone to get involved.
This morning a recently bridged Boy Scout parent who was at the meeting emailed me to ask for a small job that she could do to continue supporting our pack. That made my day.
The camp out preparations are coming along and don't seem as overwhelming as they previously were. I just need to figure out how to cook a spaghetti dinner outside in the woods for uh....100 people. No biggie, right?
I wonder if I can cook the ground beef ahead of time and freeze it?

If anyone has any ideas for games, activities, or a method for cooking garlic bread without an oven, please let me know.

I can use all the help I can find.

Pop!

At about 11:23 this morning, my head exploded.

You may have heard it if you live in the south east. But then again, you may not have. I haven't straightened my hair today so the hair poof may have muffled most of the sound.

At 11:35, I closed the laptop, took a deep breath, and tried to find my happy place.
Unfortunately, my happy place seems jammed with laundry, Standardized tests, camping gear, and a pack leader roster that is getting smaller and smaller.

Whew.

I have a lot going on through the end of May.
I have homeschooling to do. The boys are all playing baseball and 2 of them are in a homeschool play. There is Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts. I'm planning events with my local Homeschool support group and I have to oversee standardized testing. And I'm Cubmaster of a pack that has some burned out leaders who have been carrying too big of a load for too long of a time. I have to plan a camp out and bridging ceremony in less than 3 weeks. I have to meet with committee and schedule next years' activities and somehow convince people to get involved with some of this stuff so the same 5 people aren't doing all the work. And I have to plan tomorrow nights pack meeting. I just remembered that. (sigh)

Adding to my stress is ZD's new work and travel schedule and my mom's upcoming eye surgery. My sister is expecting a new grandbaby soon and will be out of town, which means I have to take care of mom's stuff. ZD is working so hard at the new job that he is not available to help even when he is town.

And there is tutoring and speech therapy. Yard work must be done. The house has to be cleaned. I need to pay bills. The dogs have to go tot vet. And darn it....I would like to knit some.

I won't have a day off until ...... May 24th.

So if you "see" me anywhere and it looks like I'm really not there ... it's because I'm sorting Scout information, or doctors appointments, or trying to figure out where I'm supposed to be next and how I'm going to get there on time.

Playroom adventures

The youngest two boys are involved in a battle of epic proportions.

Darth Vader in his Imperial Tie-Fighter is currently attacking a group of Playmobil Vikings.
Lucky for the Vikings, Yoda is manning the helm of the longboat.
A Fisher Price pirate ship is on the way over.
I'm not sure whose side it will be on though. The entire crew is below deck waiting for a surprise attack.

And I've just noticed that a Lego Harry Potter is also involved. He and Yoda are using the Force and magic to throw Lego rocks at Vader.
That hasn't stopped Vader from breaking off the longboat's mast.

I'm waiting for the Pokemon figures to get involved.

Oh crap....General Grevious just showed up. I think the Vikings will need a lot more fire power.

Somebody break out the "Pomp and Circumstance"

After 5 years of Occupational Therapy, thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours, daily exercise, and buying all kinds of therapy equipment....today the two middle boys had an OT assessment.

They have finally reached that elusive 45th percentile. (And actually higher in most areas.)

They have matriculated from OT.

Sure, there's still some work to do. But overall, they have made such progress. That little boy that couldn't walk from the waiting room to the therapy room without falling down 2 or 3 times.....he can hit a pitched ball and run the bases. The little guy who couldn't put his hand together to catch a beach ball....he can catch a baseball in his glove almost every time.

And his older brother who was once a collections of tics and twitches, can sit peacefully, write neatly, and I'll be danged....the boy can seriously hit. He roller skates and can pop a wheelie on his bike. And he makes the most beautiful beaded jewelry that you have seen from a 10-year-old. (He's started working with sterling silver.)

I'm so proud of them. I was told tht this day might never come but I knew it would.

Now whatever will I do with that extra 3 hours a week?

An unexpected day off

This morning, I woke with the realization that I was going to have a really, really crazy day.
I lie in bed going planning out my day mentally.
First, get all four boys up, fed, and started on school work. Then the two middle boys had speech at the local public school.
After lunch, we had to gather up the baseball supplies, order new cleats for the oldest boy (They don't sell his size in the stores.), and then head over to the sports place to buy a new glove, a new bat, and some baseballs. (I think the cat has been eating the baseballs in the off season. And you would think that with a dozen baseball gloves and a half dozen bats, that each child would be able to find one of each to suit them.)

After shopping, I would pack drinks and snacks for the evening then grab my great-nephew from school. Said school is half an hour from my house in the opposite direction of the baseball fields. Then turn around and drive 45 minutes to baseball practice. 5 kids with practice from 4:30 to 7:30.
Then I planned to pick up pizza before heading out to a meeting at 8 pm. (I planned on being a little late to the meeting.)

But speech was cancelled due to a meeting at the school.
All the children managed to find gloves, hats, and bats that they felt were appropriate. Everything was quickly packed into the truck along with chairs, snacks, and water bottles.

Then one by one, all four coaches called to cancel practices. The recent rains have flooded the fields and practicing on them would tear up the new grass growth.

At least I'll make it to my meeting on time.

I wouldn't have put money on it.

The youngest one is 5 and let's just say that he inherited his mother's talking gene.

Today is a beautiful ,albeit, windy day. It's also the first day of Spring Break and the neighborhood is infested with children to play with.

As I tried to convince the youngest boy to go outside and play, he told me that he couldn't go outside because of the bees.

Yep, that was his explanation."Because of the bees. I can tell the difference. Not the boys from the girls because they all look alike. I can tell the bees from the wasps. And those are bees.....plus it's windy."

I paused to register all this explanation and he continued, "The wind is blowing really hard and a bee might just get caught in the wind and blow into me and sting me. Even if he, or it might be a girl...even if she didn't even want to sting me."

Now, we don't have a bee problem. There are bees in the area because there are flowers. We don't have bee hives nor have I seen a mass migration of stinging creatures, so I'm not sure where this worry comes from. So I told him to take his chances and go outside anyway.

Wouldn't you know it, as soon as he stepped outside, a bee was blown into him.

She didn't sting him. Thank goodness. I would have never heard the end of that if she had.

Watch out for bees. Flying or wind-borne.

Day 1: Sea World

Day one of our vacation to sunny Florida, had us visiting all the critters at Sea World. (And let me point out that the ticket price for Sea World is insane! We would not have gone if not for the "Salute the Heroes" tickets.)

We got to pet the dolphins.

This is the dolphin nursery. There were a couple of juveniles and several round "Mommies." The momma dolphins would occasionally do a trick or two which was so sweet.

Here's one of the Busch Clydesdales. These horses are huge! I heard the "clop, clop, clop" behind me and was completely gobsmacked when I turned around. The guy handling the reins was over 6 feet tall.

Last time I was at Sea World, I saw a baby sea lion born in this very tank. The keepers had to jump in and grab him because all the female sea lions started fighting over the new cub. Now you can buy fish and feed the sea lions.....none of my crew wanted to touch dead fish so we just watched.

We did touch these though.

These are cownose rays and are quite a bit bigger than the ones at the Georgia Aquarium. Sam was the most prolific "ray toucher." They seem to go out of their way to swim up to him.

Did you know that Sea World now has rides? This is the Kraaken.

The orange shirt in the second to the last seat is the oldest boy. This was his first roller coaster.....ever. It was a bad choice.

The things scared the heck out of him. He used it to compare every ride afterwards, "It wasn't as bad as the Kraaken."

And in an even worse moment of judgement, we took all the boys on this ride.

The Journey to Atlantis. Even I freaked out because I thought it was just one drop and that was the whole ride. Nope.

There's three drops...all about this high. And there's a roller coaster part inside the building...in the dark.

I'll have to scan the picture of us from the ride to show you the children's looks of abject terror.

I felt so bad afterwards. But they were able to ride a lot more stuff in WDW that they would have because, "it's not as bad as the journey to Atlantis."

Then we visited the star of the place.

There's Shamu. And this was the last picture my old camera ever took. Right after this one, Shamu's Daddy came out and did a lap in the show tank.
Let's just say that....that whale can splash a lot of water with that tail of his.

And just for your information, 52 degree seawater does not have a good effect on video devices. I dropped the camera in my lap and covered the little ones when the water hit. (But at least I was better that the lady they featured on the jumbo tron....she hid behind her baby....who was small enough to wear a onesie. She's never going to live that one down.)

On our second day in FL, we had that freak weather that hit the southeast. It was too rainy to go to the parks, so I set out to buy a new camera.

So now instead of having lots of pictures like this.I can take pictures like this.

Cool! (That's uncropped and unedited....just straight off the memory card.) His eyes are really that pale grey.

He did it

This is the baby sporting his relatively new glasses and playing around with my old camera that I gave him.
"It's new to me," he said before setting out to figure out how to take pictures with it. He couldn't just let me show him how to use it.

Isn't he just the cuteness. (Y'all ignore my voice on there.)

Hey Y'all

Guess where I've been?

We took the boys on vacation to someplace warm and sunny. Well, a little warmer and somewhat sunny.

We had a fabulous time and I managed to get a new camera out of the experience. (More on that later.)

So to start the story....we have to begin in the van.

Day one: the drive.

Can anybody guess where we're off to?

Please excuse the crappy photography. I was driving while being chastened by the GPS to take the right exit but stay in the left lane. And attempting to dodge a dozen motorcycles.

Anybody recognize the skyline?

How wrong is it.....

That my 7 and 5 year olds are playing with their playmobil Roman coliseum and the figures from the playmobil Nativity set.....at the same time.
Yep, it's The Holy Family, a shepherd, two of the wise men, some Centurions, a few gladiators, and ....of course....lions.

In the sense of full disclosure, Santa Claus and a couple of pirates are also involved.
At least Noah and all the his folks are safely ensconced in the ark upstairs.

Laugh and the world laughs with you

Get really sick...and the world runs away screaming.

You remember that "cold" that I had. Well, it never really went away. It just lingered until I got so sick that I couldn't function. And then to add insult to injury....I got sicker.
Because ZD had to stay home and care for the minions, my wonderful sister took me to the ER in her brand new car with leather seats....and she didn't even require me to take a bucket with me.
After some IV drugs and some fluids, I felt almost human again. Almost. I had the same ER doc that I always get and he remembered me. (He even asked how my ankle was doing.) That doesn't really reflect well on me that ER doctors know who I am.

The next day, I went to my physician who chastised me for not coming in sooner. Honestly, I thought it would just go away and that I was being a big baby.
There I discovered that I have a low grade fever, fluid in my ears, heavily congested lungs, and am still dehydrated. Hmmmm....that would explain the shortness of breath and general malaise...and the ear ache. (I have an ear infection....what am I? Four years old?)
ZD spoke to him over the phone and he filled the doc in all the stuff that I would avoid mentioning. (No energy, not sleeping, sleeping too much, no appetite, forgetfulness beyond my normal amount.) Apparently, ZD has gotten concerned about my well being.
So doc did a whole bunch of blood tests and put me on 2 weeks of antibiotics. I go back in two weeks to see if I am better or need more stuff done.

I hate getting medical care but I don't want to be sick when we take of for the Happiest Place on Earth.

Why my children don't go to school.

It seems like every time I turn around, I am reminded why my children do not attend public school.

Today's reason centers around my 2 middle sons who have asperger's syndrome. They are funny, witty, wickedly smart, but disabled children. They have issues. I am honest about that. But their issues are due to a problem that has existed since birth and not due to character or parenting issues.

In other words, they do the very best that they can.

Today I read about 8-year-old Evelyn Towry and realized that if my boys were in school, that could have easily happened to either of them. Both of them go into a primal state when they are overstimulated. For them it is similar to the reaction of someone with a deep seated phobia that has been triggered. They will do whatever it takes to get out of the situation.

I know this. The boys' therapist knows this. Even our school therapist knows this. But I can guarantee that all the rest of the teachers at the school we are zoned for, do not know this.
I can see this happening at just about every school across this nation.


And that is wrong.


Our autistic children are not going away. We will not institutionalize them for being different. We will not hide them from the public. We will not allow them to be treated as inferior people just because they want to wear a cow sweatshirt. They have the same rights guaranteed int he constitution as every other person in the is country.

Aren't we supposed to be embracing diversity these days? Aren't we all supposed to be more enlightened nowadays? And just how threatening is a cow sweatshirt anyway?


Bev, an autistic adult whose blog I read faithfully, co-oped the diddy:

We're here.

We're weird.

Get used to it.

Coughing, achng, stuffy nose, fever....these kids won't let me get any rest

Actually, I am feeling better today. I started a cough and that's not fun.

But I also discovered that ZD pays more attention than I realized. He gave me a stash of chocolate for Christmas. I ate the Godiva chocolate first. (of course)

Then I ate the little Ghirardelli squares. (I like to freeze the caramel ones.) After that, I alternated between Hershey kisses and frozen Milky Way bars.

That left me with this little gold wrapped candies from Dove.

Today, I tried one of those and found that they are creamy milk chocolate with caramel in them.

I would have eaten them before the Kisses if I had known that.

I got a blog award. Actually....I got two blog awards. First, Michelle at Whimsey Way gave me this award last month when I was swamped by Christmas.

Go visit her blog. She is an incredible homeschooler with way more creativity than I can muster on my very best days. I always learn something when I'm there and she has great music.

According to the rules, and I'm really bad at the rules, I have to link back to my awarder and then pass this award on to 5 others. Easy Peasy. I chose people whom I'd love to get together in one room, just to hang out. Y'all come on over.

First off is Kathy Jo at Barefoot Meandering. Boy mom, homeschooler, and knitter. I'm saving her a piece of land in our "Galt's Gultch." If nothing else, I'll get great joy from seeing Ernie in his Castro hat.

Second is Dy at Classic Adventures. If you want to see peace and love, then go visit the Forever Home. Even Dy's most chaotic moments, are incredible. I don't know how she does it all.

Third is Tammy at Tammy Knits. Who has 5 boys. Five of them. She knits beautifully, seriously beautifully. She posts pictures of them too. And she has a thing for Dr. House....which is another plus.

Fourth is Seanna, my IM buddy and go to girl on all political matters. She doesn't knit or homeschool. But I like her because she is the stuff of PTO nightmares and she's all crafty.

And lastly is Lisa at Hopewell takes on Life. She never gets down. She just keeps on going through whatever life throws at her. She's a teflon mom.

And speaking of Lisa, she gave me an award too. Talk about an embarrassment of riches.

Ok....so I decided that I would give award to the people who inspire me...that make me say "Gosh, I wish I could do that." Y'all can come over and hang out too. Hurry up now, the brownies won't stay warm forever.

First is Tish at Hoosier in the Hive. Tish does a lot of camping in incredible places. I envy her so bad because I am still here. And she is funny as heck.

Second is Jennie at Far Beyond Pearls. Jennie is the most amazing mom blogger. She just exudes peace. Really. I feel calmer when I read about her day.

Third is Becca at Foward Motion. Another knitter and homeschool mom. She's also a military wife. Since we don't get to travel anywhere, I can live vicariously through her. I wish she'd find out where we're going soon. Or at least help me score some Wollmeise.

Fourth, is Donna "Booshay", I'm sure that most of you have been to her blog. She has the most beautiful pictures and has such a warm spirit. I enjoy my daily peek into her life.

And lastly is Sadie at It's a Boy's Life. Another boy mom and uber creative homeschool mom. You know all those salt dough maps and other creative stuff? She does it! Amazing!

This post has been disinfected.

I am sick.

Really sick.

And I don't get sick. Sure, I might get a little sniffle or two but never a real "cold."

I have one now though. Ugh! And it's a bad time for me to be sick. We have stuff going on every weekend and most of the week days. Stuff that I can't get out of either. I just have to suck it up and drive on.

I have learned a few valuable things so far this week.
1. I cannot take Tylenol cold medicine and expect to stay vertical. It does alleviate my symptoms but has the unfortunate side effect of making me feel like a bobble head.

2. I cannot take Benadryl at night....not and sleep anyway. Adding further insult, the Benadryl makes me unfit to knit and doesn't help my cold at all. So I'm still stuffy but also jumpy, unable to sleep or knit.

Vicks vapor rub has been my dearest friend, but you can't go out in public reeking of Mentholatum. I'm hoping that ZD will bring home a wonder drug that will help me sleep, function, and get better quick.

For his sake as much as mine. I've sufficiently germ'ed up the entire bed, blankets, and all the pillows. And he's the only one in the house that has escaped this little virus.

Word for 2009

So, I'm jumping on the "Word of the Year" bandwagon and picking a word that will be my goal for the year. A word to remind me of what I should be doing.

My word for 2009 is Order.

Order in my household. Order in my parenting. Order in my priorities. Order in my activities. Order in my family life.

Order so I can find the time to do all the things I want to do for myself and my family.

Guess what I'm doing?

I'm posting from my new toy. ZD got me an iPod touch. How cool is that!
And it syncs with my outlook calendar and contacts.
Also very cool.
I've been drug into the 21st century.

By the way.....

I've chosen my "word of the year" for 2009. I'll unveil it on New Year's and I'm trying to start living it now.

I know y'all will be sitting on pins and needles until the 1st. ;)

Getter better

I want you all to know, we survived the Holiday lights/Visit to Santa. It was cold. Way to cold to be on a hay ride but we hay rode anyway. We met a few family members there and had a great albeit cold night. When the guy running the hay ride asked how many people were in our party, I told him we were a small horde. He smiled and replied, "A horde? Like a horde of barbarians?" I told him we were just like the Huns only slightly more peaceful and less tolerant of the cold. He glanced over at one family member, who is quite tall, who wore a pointed knit hat and covered herself with several blankets...one of which was brown and furry looking.

"Some of us are more like the Huns than others," I told him.

One day to go folks. If I don't get all the presents wrapped soon it won't matter. The boys are quietly excited. Which is infinitely better than wildly excited.

brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

OMG, I am so cold!
It's finally warmed up to 39 degrees here at 3:30 in the afternoon. I understand that might be practically swimming weather for some of you, but for me....it is freakin' cold!
And to make matters worse, we have to go to Lights of the South tonight and see Santa. I think I'll have to layer the clothes just a bit.
Oh.....you might want to turn down your speakers if you click that link or you'll start your children singing.

Where's the pause button?

Are you all aware that it is FOUR days until Christmas?

FOUR DAYS!

I have wrapped nothing, baked nothing and barely decorated. We have done no Christmas crafts, seen no Christmas plays or concerts, nor visited Santa. I haven't even gone grocery shopping...good thing I don't have to cook Christmas dinner.
I am running out of time.

And what am I planning to do today? ZD and I have to install a new mailbox because ours fell over. I get a new mailbox for Christmas. I think I'll put a bow on it.

Y'all better get ready because Christmas is coming.

Another little hamster grave

My oldest boy's hamster died today. He was suffering from tumors and a bad case of "wet tail" that he just couldn't shake.
My oldest did his very best, even offering him cola lids of water and medicine every hour day and night. But the little fuzzy guy couldn't get well.
It was all so very sad.

Cornflake was probably the sweetest hamster that I've every encountered. His friendliness was a testament to my my oldest son's dedication to him. That little ball of fur loved his owner and thought that his cage or Oldest boy's hands were the be places on earth. His cage was left open one night and he didn't even try to get out. He just sat waiting at the door for the treat that he knew had to be coming. Why else would the door be open?
He never bit or swatted at fingers.
He loved be held and picked up.
He was a good little fuzzy thing and his passing brought my man-child to tears.

I gave him the speech my father always gave me: "He lived a good life and you did right by him. You did every thing that you were supposed to do."

Cornflake was the last of our hamsters and he will probably be the very last hamster. he was worth knowing though.

In which Sheila considers male chastity belts and is thankful for alarm systems

I meant to share this yesterday but I forgot because I spent the day preparing to put up Christmas decorations. (Preparing because the house is currently overfull of all my other stuff and I have to move that stuff out and replace it with all my evergreens, berries, creches, and little trees.)

Tuesday night is pizza night. This was born out of the fact that if I have a meeting or a class to teach or the boys have sports practice or some other obligation....inevitably it will be on Tuesday night. ZD is not a big fan of pizza so I usually swing by his favorite Chinese food place and pick up Hunan Shrimp or Egg Foo Yung. (Both of which Andrew adores. He used to call them "Human" shrimp and Egg "food yum")

I thought I'd kill two birds with one stone and send my oldest boy, Jacob, into the store to grab some cokes while I picked up the Hunan shrimp. I left the other three boys in the van to wait. Oh....yes that led to discovering another cool thing about the new van.
Apparently, there is a anti-theft system. If you lock the van with the remote, which I did, the system automatically turns on. I knew this but I forgot until the alarm went off as I walked out with ZD's highly coveted shrimp.
My van has a very loud horn. Seriously loud. So loud that it set off the alarm on the car two spaces away from it. I knew before I opened the door what I would find inside: two laughing boys and one in tears.
It turns out that, while there is no motion sensor in the van, if the alarm system is activated...unlocking any of the doors from the inside will set off the alarm. Which is exactly what my youngest child did. He won't be doing it again, now that he knows that everyone in the parking lot will know what he's up to.

While all this was going on, my oldest was over in the grocery store being preyed upon.
"I'm not going to be able to go in there anymore. I'm developing a reputation," he told me as he got in the van. I asked him what gave him that idea. "The cashier said, 'Oh, I remember you.' when I went through the line."
I'm in this store a lot so I start in my head down the list of cashiers. "Was she young or older?"
"She's 16," he answered and I swear he had a on a poker face.
So that got me wondering why in the world he would know how old the cashier was. He wasn't gone long enough to get into life stories.
"She told me she was 16."
"Did you tell her you were 12?" It was dawning on me what exactly was going on in the Bi-Lo.
"Yeah, and she said 'Well, you don't look 12.'" and then he smiled kind of sheepishly. "I told her that I get that a lot."

The girl was flirting with my boy! Holey smokes! Those girls are bold these days. I would be put out but I know she had to be horrified when she found out that he was only 12. (Even though he's close to 6 feet tall and wears a size 15 shoe.) So that kind of evens it out for me. I knew which cashier he was talking about, a tall pretty blonde that works nights. I don't think you can be a cougar at 16.

I wonder if they make chastity belts with the same alarm features as the one on my van?

Crazy news people

A quote from Matthew as he watched the news with me:
"I don't understand these news people. They talk about something really important then they jump to something that doesn't matter at all. First they talk about the astronomers finding proof of a black hole in the middle of the Milky Way and then they start talking about something Barack Obama is doing.
So they start out with something that could destroy the whole galaxy compared to something we have to put up with for a few years."

I find it funny that he views the President-elect less dangerous than a black hole in the middle of our galaxy. When you look at it that way.... I guess he's right.

Saturday's recap

Today was an insanely busy day for a weekend.

We got in late last night after digging some post holes, stringing some electric fencing, and eating MIL's meatloaf for dinner.
So the plan was to sleep in a little today.

That was the plan until I remembered what I actually had to do today. I hate it when plans interfere with my sleep schedule.
We started the day by getting our (including mine) scout uniforms ready. My Webelos had a tour of the Federal Court house. Very, very cool. Not many people get to see the federal court house and I'm hoping that we'll only go there for field trips and not for legal matters.
Anyway, the court house was built in 1915 and is covered in marble and beautiful hardwoods. The doors to court room are covered with leather.
Gorgeous! But I don't think that most people in the court room are there to admire the architecture.
We got to meet and talk with a Federal judge (they are appointed for life by the POTUS), a county judge (they are elected by us voters), a State Marshall, and a county deputy.
And we were served cookies and hot chocolate by the Federal Court Clerk and given napkins with the court house seal embossed on them.
I'm not making this up.

When I got home it was time to drag out my 700 pounds of Christmas decorations. I'm not kidding about that either. I have 11 totes of decorations. 2 full sized trees and 6 small ones. One of the full sized trees and the 6 small ones went straight into the back of the new van for use later. (new van fact of the day: when I put the van in park, the driver's door unlocks automatically)
And the boys unloaded all that firewood that they cut over Thanksgiving weekend. Including a huge stump of fat lighter. (Woooooooo.....fat lighter!)

After sorting through decorations and cleaning out the garage it was time to take the two cub scouts to decorate the Christmas float. The parade is tomorrow, but we have to get everything set up ahead of time.
We had a great turnout. I think the parents had as much fun as the kids. Our theme is "Christmas camp out." The dads set up a tent and a fake fire with a dutch oven hanging over it. The kids put together my big tree and decorated it with yellow and blue garland and cub scout patches. Then we added the 6 smaller trees as a little forest. (It really is a small forest of little evergreens.)

Once the trailer was festooned with ribbons and garland, and all the little trees had been decorated and nailed down so they wouldn't fall over during the parade...we were off to Wally world where I had to buy more garland for the boys to use in decorating their bikes. They'll ride those in the parade tomorrow and they have to have a festive ride. I bought a pair of blinking reindeer antlers for me to wear. ;)

Then it was home to cook breakfast for dinner. I think I ate a half pound of bacon myself and now I'm feeling a little ucky about it. Bacon remorse is a cruel thing. It's not nearly as bad a Krispy Kreme doughnut remorse.

Tomorrow, we'll get up and decorate bikes then set off on the Christmas parade adventure. 2 vans, 3 bikes, 6 water bottles, 2 mobile phones, and 4 and half hours counting wait time.
It should be a fun, fun, fun day.

Soapbox moment

On a homeschool board I posted the following:

"Yes, homeschooling is better. It is better for the family. It is better for the children. It is a better system of learning that is the standard of human evolution. The school system is a poor mimicry of that standard. (Said by a former school teacher)
I won't apologize for seeing that truth."

Someone took offense that I said that homeschooling was better for the whole family. So I typed up a very rare statement about homeschooling. Rare, because I very seldom preach about the pros of homeschooling. I just live my life and let everyone else live theirs free of my opinions.

But I wanted to post my reply here because this is my soapbox. And since it's a homeschool blog...expect posts on homeschooling.
My repsonse:

I said that and I believe it. Let me tell you why. You might want to get a mug coffee for this post. I think I feel a ramble coming on.

I taught school before and right after my oldest was born. I got up at 6 am, and rushed to get dressed and pack up the baby so he could go to daycare and catch every known disease in the world. Then I spent the day at work worrying that he was being taken care of properly.
After work I rushed to pick him up and then went home to cook, clean, and grade papers. My life was extremely stressful and the kid was only 12 weeks old. I had only a few hours a day with my son and my husband.

I can't imagine what my life would be like if I had to do all that with four children who had homework, projects, sports practice, and therapy on top of that. Plus I met those teachers. I worked with them every day. I knew them well and there weren't many of them that I would even want babysitting my children, much less teaching them day after day.

Sending your children to school is stressful. You are now accountable to someone elses whims. (I tutor PS highschoolers. Some of those whims are are total timewasters.) Your entire family has to follow someone elses schedule, no matter what your family needs. You have limited time with your children. And therefore even more limited time with your spouse.

I have four boys. Two of them have Asperger's syndrome (a form of Autsim for those unfamiliar). They have spent many years going to speech and occupational therapy. If they were in school, they would spend all day in school and the rest of the day either hanging out in the waiting room or going to therapy.
Their father is in the Army. He was deployed for most of 2006 and 2007. And now that he's home, his schedule doesn't exactly mesh with the public school system.

Since we homeschool, we're able to set up our schedule to include him. Our holidays are based on his holidays and not what the public school decides. We were able to spend our full two weeks with him when he came home for R&R.
Our therapy and doctor visits are scheduled when we need them to be. The boys have school school in the van and the waiting rooms. It helps make our days peaceful instead of harried and stressful. And the boys form a bond that I don't see in the siblings of their PS friends.

There is no bus to get up and wait for. They eat breakfast as they do math. They work at their own speed instead of pace of the average learner. I don't have to get permission to take our spring break in March because that's when my husband can take vacation instead of in April when the school system does.

It is better for the family. I'm happy. The boys are happy. And my dear husband is much happy since he actually gets to spend time with us.

Homeschooling is hard. I know this. It consumes your whole life. But it also gives you a freedom that other parents don't have. It gives your the freedom to put family first. It gives you the freedom to make the family the center of your life and not public school calendar. That is an incredible gift.

At noon today, I have to pick up my wonderful husband. Then we are heading down to MIL's farm to help replace the cattle fencing. She needs it done fast before the cows escape. DH is relieved because he can help his mom instead of just worrying about her.And the boys never turn down a chance to go tooling around in the "gator" with Daddy.
We'll be studying electric current today as well as some carpentry skills. They might even get some driving lessons thrown in and I'm hoping to get firewood out of the day.
It's nice that we don't have to ask the principal for permission to do that or wait until after the school bell rings.

Merry Christmas to me

Sure it's a little early. A month early to be exact.
On November 25th, ZD and I signed the papers on my brand new van!

Oh, I love it! I love, love, love, love, love it! Even ZD loves the van. We ride around in it just grinning at what a great van it is.

Every day I find another little thing that makes it such an awesome ride.
Today, I discovered that the windshield wipers slow down when you stop and then speed back up when you start driving again. Now that may not mean anything to you, but I find that brilliant design.
Yesterday, I learned that when you put the van in reverse, the read wiper starts up even if you don't have it on. How stinking cool is that!
I also discovered that those heated seats are the most decadent thing in the world. I wish all my seats were heated. I want a heated couch and heated kitchen chairs, and heated bed.
I can listen to Fox news in the van! ZD is psyched about that. I feel so spoiled.

Y'all should come over and we'll go for a ride.

almost ready, but not quite.

My sweet, darling, and totally self-less sister came over to watch the boys while ZD and I went out. (2 of the boys are sick, hence the self-less part.)

We spent a lovely evening together......... at the car dealership.

It looks like I might get a new van after all. I'm giddy with anticipation but I don't really want to get my hopes up just in case something happens.

I'd be fine with that if it happens. My old van is only 8 years old and it hasn't even hit 100K miles yet. It still looks good even though the inside is currently (ashamedly) trashed. And it has been behaving so I have to praise it when due.

So we looked at new fancy schmancy vans. Fancy schmancy vans that cost about the same as my old one did 8 years ago. Man, we got ripped off!

The van I test drove is absolutely decadent.
power side doors and rear hatch door.
DVD entertainment center with wire less head phones and 6 disc CD player
XM radio and a dock for my ipod
a rear camera for backing up. (Holey smokes!)
leather seats for 8 (woohoo) that slide and come out and do all kinds of things I didn't know van seats could do.
second row windows that roll down and have little sun screens to protect my light sensitive boys.
a plug for the boys video games. They can play game cube in the van on trips!
all kinds of little secret compartments for legos, Star Wars figures and baseball gear.
heated front seats
eleventy-billion cup holders
and the cherry on top..... a moon roof.

OMG!!!!! A MOON ROOF!

It's so stinking wonderful that I can't imagine taking it home with me. It has everything I could dream of and they have the color I want for exterior and interior.

My dream car with no concessions at all in any way. No "well, it's a good enough color." Or "I don't mind this interior." Or "I guess this feature is a bit excessive we could save money without it."

Nope.

Now, I just have to let myself deserve it.
Oh, and I also have to check out the other dealership to see if I like the other van better.

I don't know when I got so fickle.

They are fine

I just got a phone call from ZD and Matthew. They are on their way home albeit through a route that was not on their travel plans.
Matthew started the conversation, "Hi Mom. Dad thinks we're lost." Turns out they were. I, however, who spent many a weekend in my Grandmother's station wagon wandering around a four state area, knew exactly where they were.

I relayed directions to ZD so he could relax a bit. (I guess this seals the deal for the new van I want. It has voice activate GPS mapping.) They will be home in a hour or so.
Now I can relax.

Worried sick....literally

ZD and Matthew are camping this weekend at a Webelos-ree. If this was normal November weather, they would be sitting pretty.

But it's not.

We are having record cold this week. For those of you in colder areas, lows in the 20's is no big deal. But our normal lows for November are in the 50's. February might get in the 20's but we don't go outside in February other than the amount of time it takes to go from building to car and back again.

We certainly don't go camping.

But that's where they are....camping beside a lake in a park north (colder) of where we live. I'm sure the temps were around 20 degrees last night. And the winds are 10 to 15 mph.

They have a propane heater, but you can't run that while you are sleeping. They have sleeping bags and tons of blankets including old wool Army blankets. They also have jackets, coats, hats, and gloves.
What they don't have is cell phone coverage, so I haven't heard from them today. I know they got there safely and were doing fine at 7:30 pm.

I have been immobilized with worry today. My only comfort is that if they had died of hypothermia or carbon monoxide poisoning....someone would have certainly called me by now.

So ZD must be taking good care of our little "Eeyore" son and they are just too busy earning those 7 Webelos activity badges to get somewhere with cell phone coverage.

Right?

cold feet, cold hands, warm hearts

ZD and I are cold weather wimps.
Really.
We both hail from deep in the South where the coldest nights are in the high 20's. And believe me...we are miserable for both nights.

I am the worse of the two of us. I can't seem to keep my extremities warm, my feet especially. ZD teases that I could get a job at Gitmo. Forget water boarding. All I'd have to do is put my ice cold dogs on them and those folks would confess to anything.
Woolen knitted socks are my dearest friends.

This evening the current temperature is 43 and ZD and I are fretting because he just let the fire burn out so we could go to bed. I know the people who live near here are thinking, "You had a fire going today? It was barely chilly."
Why yes we did. My oldest boy made the fire about 7 am and we kept it going all day long. It was so nice and warm in the house, that I actually went barefoot.

Thankfully, we have access to lots of free firewood. MIL had a clear cut on a few dozen acres. There are lots of little leftover trees that will make great firewood. ZD and the boys will spend Thanksgiving weekend cutting and splitting several cords of firewood.
I'm sure glad of that. My feet will be quite thankful.

Now I just need a fireplace insert like our first house and I will be the happiest warm footed gal in the state.

Sim City

My 10-year-old just walked in to tell me about his current game on Sim City.
I tried my very best to maintain a straight face until he left the room. The basic conversation was this:
"I built this city with lots of parks and nice stores. Then all these robbers and hippies showed up. The robbers stole things and the hippies wouldn't let anybody else use the park. Everybody in the city was mad at me and complaining about getting robbed all the time and the hippies using everything up. So I built some SWAT team buildings ant they took care of the robbers and hippies.
Now all my people are happy. Those hippies are worse than hobos."

I guess we should all keep a look out for the robbers and hippies.

A situation in which the ants win.

ZD comes in the kitchen to talk to me:
"We may have to get you a new car soon."
That perked me up, "Really?" Linda Blair, my oddly behaving van, is close to 8 years old. She looks good even though she's been hit three times. And currently, she's behaving except for one door that won't unlock. (No reason why. It just won't.)

"Yeah, with the economy the way it is....we should get a good price. Plus since we have good credit and actually have money for a down payment, we'll get a good interest rate too."
Not to mention that ZD has a pretty secure job. Wow, I wasn't expecting a new car right now. We tend to drive our vehicles until the break down permanently. And I'm not going to get my hopes up, just in case ZD comes to his senses.

"But it will have to be your Christmas present. You're not getting a new car and a PDA."
I guess I'll have to make do with my paper calendar. I'm not holding my breath though. If I end up with the PDA, I'll still be thrilled.

Some days, it's good to be an ant.

BWa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha

I am wolf den leader.
I have 17 wolf cubs.

That's 17 second graders!

Thankfully, I have an incredible assistant den leader and 15 sets of the most wonderful parents in the scouting community.

And I have 17 great little wolf cubs who make it all worth it.

But I can't be happy with that. Nooooooooo

Guess what I may be doing come February.

There's a large chance that I won't be a den leader anymore. I'm looking into being Cubmaster.

Yeah.

Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha (wipes tears)

Time and Math

So we've made it through the first quarter of the school year and I thought I'd post a little about what's bugging me so far.

First of all, I'm not happy with my schedule. Things are just too busy for me. Mondays are science classes and tutoring. (And soon, Boy Scouts) Tuesdays are speech at school and then tutoring another child after school. Wednesday is two hours of OT and another hour of tutoring. Thursdays are speech at school and the PE for the boys. Fridays, thank heaven, are free. Saturdays are scouts, sports, and whatever else comes up.
I wish I could drop all the tutoring but two of the afternoon are family/close friend obligations. Science classes, PE, scouts, and sports all benefit the boys so I feel a need to continue those. Speech and OT are non-negotiable.
Then add in seasonal sports practices, parties, social events, play practice, camp outs, family obligations, and my hospital board position.
But I guess we'd be running around as much or more if the boys were in school and I worked. So i should not complain.
Still.....I'm homebody at heart.

As far as school goes, everything is unchanged with the exception of my oldest math program. I had planned to use Lial's math program and Jacob's Algebra.
But I hate the Lial's Basic College Math book. Really hate it. Words can not express the loathing I feel towards this book.
So he's using Dolicani pre-algebra now and both of us enjoy it. I went ahead and bought the Algebra 1 and 2 texts and TE's. Surprisingly enough, I used that same Algebra 1 text when I was in 8th grade.

Hmm...... I had a great text book. Looking at it now, I see the level of math required and that it is a very intensive program. I had the Teacher of the Year for SC as my instructor. I worked with her as an adult, so I know she is serious about math education and is an excellent instructor.

However, even with a great teacher and a great textbook....I really struggled through algebra 1 and subsequently every other math with the exception of geometry.
I want better for my sons. I want them to understand math. I want them to feel confident in their abilities.
I want them to be better than me.

Which is going to be hard when I'm teaching out of the same books that I barely squeaked through as a student. (In my household a "C" was unacceptable. In high school, I got 5 "C's" and "B" one quarter and I seriously considered running away. I cried all day, scared to death to go home. So when I say "squeaked" I mean I got a "B" or "C" for the year.)

Thankfully, I have four incredibly math minded boys, the TE's, a lot more math experience, and ZD to encourage me. (And the fact that ZD uses all that complicated math on a daily basis.)

"I always thought my math teachers were smart," he told me when the package of books arrived. "It turns out they just had all the answers."

Well, at least it's over.

I voted yesterday without having to wait at all. In fact, when I walked in, ever poll worker looked up expectantly. One even asked, "Did you bring the crowd with you?"
I had not.

I'm glad it's over even though I'm not happy with the results. Oddly enough, I'm not depressed like I was after Pres. Clinton's election. I guess I'm better prepared.
And maybe I'm curious to see what happens when you give people exactly what they asked for.
In my head, I liken it to my grandmother who was finally annoyed to frustration by my repeated requests to eat the apples from our tree, even though they weren't ripe.

"Go ahead, child. Eat all the little green apples that you'd like."

I hope our country fares better than I did.

Whatever you call it

I was thinking about our pet names for each other and all the lovey-dovey things that get said around here.
ZD and I are very verbal about our love for the boys and each other. So are both sides of our family.

I call the boys, "Monkeys." It started when I would sing "Four little monkeys jumping on the bed."

ZD calls the boys "Pumpkin" or "Pudding." Both names are endearing to me because his father called him Pudding and my father called me Pumpkin.

Zd calls me "Hun" which is short for Honey and not an implication that I am a 5th century barbarian.

I call him "Love." Which suits him because I know he'll always love me and there nothing I can do to mess that up.

But most touching to us was Andrew's 5th word ever...."bo-bas." When he couldn't say much else, he would call for Mama, Dada, and bo-bas.

Which Horror Movie Could You Survive Your Result: Hero You'd Scare Michael, Jason and Freddie. Your confidence and lethal abilities are matched only by your wits.Your favorite movie is probably Silent Rage!
Sidekick
Comic Relief
Clueless Supporting Character
Man/Woman at gas station
Which Horror Movie Could You Survive Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

That's why ZD married me. Not only do I know how to triangulate with a map, a compass and straight edge, but I'm also fairly competent at handling the big guns. As a bonus, I'm not the slowest runner.

Aspergers and the "new thing"

My middle sons are as different as night and day but they both have the same diagnoses. Aspergers syndrome, Sensory Processing disorder, Dyspraxia. A serious of words that describe what makes them act the way they do. But does little to explain who they are.

This year, the two middle boys are in Scouts. Matthew is returning to the program. He was a Tiger and Wolf cub. Andrew is starting out as a Wolf.

Both approached as they usually do. Matthew is quiet and reflective. He waits in the background to figure everything out. He is reluctant to just jump into conversations or activities. But by the end of the event, he had made friends with two of his den and could tell me their names. And he pointed out that these particular Webleos had the Wildlife Conservation patch that he has been coveting since his oldest brother was a Tiger Cub. (It's a patch with a panda on it. Matthew loves all things with pandas on it.) And as a bonus, the other Webelos viewed his quiet nature as a sign of maturity. Instead of seeming stand-offish, the thought he was cool. Plus he was wearing the new tan uniform with the vents and shoulder pockets....adding to his coolness level.

Andrew, on the other hand, never meets a stranger. He is constantly moving and can talk to anyone about anything. I'm his den leader, so he feels very comfortable. Plus about most of the den is just a wiggly and talkative as he is.
Really.
All of them are bouncing around, touching each other, and talking non-stop. So he just fits right in. Wow....a whole den full of Andrew's. I'm going to be totally grey haired by May.

Army Brat

Asked by Andrew at his first Cub Scout pack meeting after participating in a flag ceremony.
"Sir, do I have salute the higher rank Cub Scouts?"

It took the Cub Master, who is retired Army, a second to process the question. When he finally "got" what Andrew was asking, he did his best to stifle his laughter before informing the new Wolf cub that he did not have to salute the Bears and Webelos.

Good-bye Goldie

Your little owner is very sad that you have passed. He really liked you even though you were the meanest hamster in existence. He fed you every day and tried to pet you...as you tried to chew his finger off. But he never got angry. He thought it was his fault instead of your bad personality.

You were fun to watch. You loved your wheel and the hamster ball. And you were great at climbing the tubes. You never, ever escaped or tired to. That is a big plus for hamsters. You were also a very good mother. Your son and two daughters are very good pets.

And most importantly, you did bring smiles to a little boy who doesn't smile nearly enough. So rest in peace little Goldie. I hope you like your place in our little hamster cemetery.

Stop the ride....I'm ready to get off.

So Andrew still has his staples in his head. It's the talk of the elementary school gang. At least 3 children that I do not know, have stopped by just to see Andrew's staples. ZD and I have gotten quite a giggle over the reaction.

Speaking of ZD...he's on crutches for at least the next 4 to 6 weeks. He fell and messed up his knee. He goes back to the Ortho this week, but they've already scheduled surgery for this Friday.
Tonight he'll have an MRI which means that I have to get the boys to football practice and team pictures. And I'll have to miss both the Scout Committee meeting and Mother's Night Out.
(sigh)

And let's not mention the mountain of laundry that I need to do.


Aw shoot....and team uniforms that have to be washed and ready by 5:20.
Wonderful.
I have to find them first.

Something new

Picture this....I'm sitting on the floor reading the newspaper at the end of the evening. ZD is sitting nearby and telling me about his day. Dinner has been eaten and the kitchen is clean.
The boys are outside playing in the last bit of light of the day. They and the neighbor children have been playing with the marshmallow shooters, playing basketball, and riding bikes.

Suddenly, the door opens and my oldest staggers in carrying his 7-year-old brother who is crying with a terrified tone....blood is dripping down his face.

Yeah....that's how I responded too.

After we determined the injury and got the bleeding down to a manageable level, we turn our concern to the neighbor child that was also hurt.
I threw Andrew in the van and headed down to the circle to find my neighbor and her daughter in the street. We checkout each other's children and determined that they both needed to go to the ER.
Andrew with a deep gash in his head. Her daughter with hunk of lip hanging and bleeding.

So we headed to the children's ER. I've had numerous trips to this ER. The boys have been there for croup, stitches, high fevers, sprains, and a swallowed steel ball. But the neighbor didn't even know that we had a pediatric ER in the area. She was quite thankful for the level of care and that they were so quick to begin treatment.

The doctors joked about the two parts of the accident coming in together. And all were touched by the children's concern for each other. (Andrew kept asking how neighbor girl was doing. Neighbor girl kept asking about Andrew.)

The evening ended with stitches for the neighbor girl but thankfully no damaged teeth. Andrew left with 3 staples in his head.

Staples....that is something new. The first boy to get staples.

What we did for labor day Weekend.

We all went down to Grandma's farm to visit with ZD's family. BIL took the older boys fishing. BIL caught 1 fish. J &M caught 5. (Guess what we ate for dinner.)
Everyone hopped on the gator that was loaded with more than it was ever meant to carry, and rode out to fallow table garden.

Where the boys (ZD and BIL included) dug up a couple of rocks.

Yep, a couple of very big rocks. Very big goethite rocks to be exact. The boys have brought home many of these rocks over the past years. But these are by far the biggest that they've ever found.
Each weighs about 700 pounds. So they are still sitting in that excavated hole until ZD and his brother figure out how to get them out. I'm sure it will involved a tractor and possibly a wench.

BIL also found this (Look very carefully below.)
I took this picture will standing at the rock digging site. That is a paper wasp next that is about the size of two basketballs. If you squint you might make out the hole at the lower left side above the point. That was left by the rock that BIL threw.
The boys learned that wasps are not at all appreciative of goethite rocks that are flung into their home.

The digging was interrupted by this little bit of weather. It blew up all of sudden and lasted for the rest of the day. I was glad that it didn't turn into very serious weather but thankful that the tractor and wench portion of the rock excavation was rained out. (There's the fishing pond right in front of that small group of trees. Look how green everything is due to all the rains we've been having.)

So what did you do for Labor Day?

I have to buy new glasses

But not for me. My old ones are doing just fine.

Not for Matthew. His are old and worn out. They look terrible. But he found out today that he will be out of glasses for at least 2 months. His vision is doing great after his third eye surgery. (He's up to 20/25 without glasses. He started out at 20/80 when he was 4.) His alignment is off a little though but is actually better without the glasses.

Nope, the new glasses are for the baby. (I know he's 5 but he is my "baby.") Two weeks ago, I noticed that his eye were crossing. I tried not to freak out and scheduled an appointment with the ophthalmologist.
Today we found out that Sam is crossing his eyes because the boy is pretty far sighted. Holey Moley! I just checked his prescription and he's +5.00 and +4.50!
I can't read without my glasses and I'm only +2.50 and +2.75.

Poor guy. No wonder he has been having a hard time catching a ball. He couldn't see the stinking thing. I hope that this will be the quick fix that the doctor thinks it will be. I hope he can avoid all the interventions that his older brother has had to go through. (patching, various prescriptions and three surgeries.)

We go tomorrow to pick out the new frames and order lenses. He's not as cooperative and responsible as his older brother who started glasses at age 4. I'll have to get the super extended warranty.
Fun, fun, fun.

Palin!!!!

I'm doing my happy dance. If I was ever Governor/VP candidate, I would want to be Sarah Palin.
Way to go, girl!
Edited to add: Even with all the recent announcements.... I want to be the kind of mother/wife/leader/person that she seems to be.
I hope that if I am ever in her circumstances....that I could show the grace to my boys that she has to her daughter.

My Poll

Ok, I asked for opinions and then decided to just do what I wanted after all. Hee, hee, hee.

I'm leaving my knitting blog intact. I did add the link over there.
<----------------------------------------- and thanks to Blogger's new blog roll widget, you can see if I've updated and click over to see my pretty new socks if you want to. And if you're not interested, you won't be bored by the sock knitting tutorials that I'll be posting soon.

Cool.

And the non-homeschool folks won't get offended about me ranting about the local school system like this: one of the highschoolers that I tutor (my extra son) missed two days of school, with a doctor's excuse. His science teacher sent him home with the lab sheets from his missed class and told him to "just google it and write up the information." Thankfully, I had the materials for the lab and we did the experiment at my house so he could actually learn the material.
Insane!
If the lab took all of 10 minutes to complete. I'm sure he could have done it quickly while the kids were doing busywork, before school, after school, or during lunch time or homeroom. It would not have taken a huge sacrifice of time on the teacher's part.

And for the homeschool moms, the one thing the highschool student said that he wished he had more practice in before high school..... writing. He is overwhelmed with the amount of writing that he has to do. So get those kids writing!

We've reached that point.

You know, that point that all homeschool mom's dread....

Oldest boy, 7th grader, walks in the room and says, "Inverted sentences sound like Yoda. 'Great is the power of God.' So the predicate adjective comes first in an inverted sentence?"

I was washing dishes at that very moment so I just kind of noncommittally agreed with him. I think I may need to start my own grammar lessons.

Yep, we're at that point....if not dangerously close to it.

We'll never see the sun again

It's been a week of cloudy days. I don't mean lightly cloudy. It is dark outside!
I am not a "dark" person. I love the sunlight. I like bright lights. That's why I bought a west facing house with tons of windows on the east and west sides of the house.
Great big windows with only valances and blinds for privacy. And I open the blinds every morning.

But for the past week, it's been nothing but clouds. And Fay hasn't even really gotten here yet. We're due for more clouds and rain thought Sunday and maybe beyond that. I can't even cut the grass since it doesn't dry out enough for the electric lawn mower. By Sunday, we might not be able to see the house.

At least I don't have to water the grass or the driveway.
Yes...I'm supposed to water the driveway. It helps with the curing.

I'm ready to go to bed. All this darkness makes me sleepy.
BTW, I'm updating my knitting blog. I have a few of my summer socks up with only 3 more pairs to go. Check the link over on the left.

The upcoming week

I just want to get all this out there so I can remember what teh heck I am doing this week.
Sunday: Clean house, prepare lessons, prepare class lessons, wash clothes, prep ZD's uniforms, and tutor one of the 9th grade twins.

Monday: homeschool the minions, teach science classes from 12:30 to 4 pm.

Tuesday: Speech therapy, homeschool minions, get door measured by a trained tape measuring guy, more tutoring, 3 boys have football practice.

Wednesday: homeschool minions, tutor twin A, tutor twin B, clean house.

Thursday: Speech therapy, homeschool minions, clean house, go knit.

Friday: Homeschool minions. Woo hoo....a veritable holiday.

Question of the day

Why do people who are enrolling their kids in school ask homeschoolers if they are making the right decision?

Each year, I wonder about this. It happens in homschoooling communities across the world and the Internet.
Why do this on a homeschool community? That's like going to a breastfeeding community and asking if you should stop breastfeeding and switch to formula. Or going to a cloth diapering community and asking about Huggies.
Or....going to a teachers' online community and asking if you should homeschool.

I understand self-doubt. I'm full of it myself some days. But when I visit a homeschool support group, I expect people to encourage me to homeschool.
I don't expect them to tell me that sending them to public or private school is OK.

And yes, I'm not fond of public school. If I thought it was the best option for my kids...I would send them. But I don't so I don't.
I don't belittle any parents' educational decision. Each parent is charged with making the best decisions for their own children. Wow, what a responsibility!
It was hard enough to decide what I wanted to do with my own children. I sure don't want the task of choosing for others.

But if you ask me for my opinion... I would say that homeschooling is better. For us.