I managed to get the Lauren video to work right...just 10 seconds, but since family doesn't live anywhere near here, I thought it would be nice for them to see her...
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Oh crap!
I was just rechecking my blog to make sure the set up came up right and I clicked on Katherine's picture....only to notice in the background, thru the blinds...a very naked Kimberly and Lauren playing in the dog's water bowl...I think this will NOT be listed as a major porn site, but oh my, the things I DON'T notice when I am taking pics!
Katherine..."Mom, what are you doing?"
I got a new camera and I am so excited! I am still trying to figure it out, but Katherine unknowingly was my first subject...this thing has so many buttons, I didn't know what I was hitting! She will not be happy with me for sharing this photo! I tried to also record a short video of Lauren making her pizza for dinner, but for some reason I couldn't get the sound to transfer...I have to work on that. She is heading out tomorrow to sit in on a short rehearsal of her aunt getting ready to perform the opera, "La Traviata."
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Busy Fall break!
Busy, busy, busy!!! Friday we dashed about town, visiting, finishing laundry, cleaning and packing. Saturday morning we headed out to Jeff Busby park for an overnight camping trip! It was a bit of a drive (little over 2 hours) but all we had to pay for was gas...no fee for camping sites! We got all set up, went on a nature walk, ate dinner and then headed out to the Rainwater Observatory/Planetarium in French Camp. It was about 15 minutes away from our campsite. The kids had to endure a bit of boring lecture on what NASA hopes to accomplish in the next 100 years, but then the kids and adults were given the opportunity to roam thru the building looking at meteorites,tons of gemstones and other interesting models and artifacts. There was also this curious blue substance called 'aerogel'...never heard of it before in my life. (When we came home I googled it...the www shows loads of info and cool pics, check it out!)
After purusing the barn, we headed outside. The scientist in charge had a light pointer that went clear into space...that got the kids' more attention than just about anything. To have someone point out the constellations and North Star was very education for me at least! We also got to peer thru telescopes set up around the landscape...one aimed at the moon, one at Jupiter (a few children, who shall remain unnamed lost interest at this point and I had to remove them from the scene). This I might add was all FREE!
After that "fun" (or I would call torture for a 7 and 2 year old) we came back to the campsite to roast marshmallows, keep Kimberly out of the fire and then retire for the evening into our respective tents (girls tent vs. the boys tent). Kimberly awoke in the middle of the night wanting her bed and blankie, but then fell back into a deep slumber within 5 to 10 minutes. We just went for one night as a "test" and it worked out well. Next time we just need to find a campsite that had more amenities for little ones, like a sandbox and playground....
We arrived back home a little after noon on Sunday and spent the afternoon cleaning up and then heading to Mass that night. We were surprised to see so many people we knew! It was nice to chat and catch up with everyone!
Monday I enforced school...even for those who "go to school"and a little shopping. I picked up a few new board games for the kids and they must have played scrabble over and over again for about an hour or two before the Creativity Co-op people showed. We get together with some other families in town and pool our creative resources. I teach about an aspect of art, or an artist and then we start in on a project to support what we learned. We do this for about 55 minutes, then switch to the next mom who teaches a 10 minute segment on Creative movement and then switch to our Creative writing mom who leads us in a subject related to the art and gets the kids brains thinking of writing! I must say I feel embarrassed at how good the other moms did and how lousy I was! I feel like a hermit that is just starting to get out into public again and I feel a bit uneasy and awkward right now. Since I was covering the beginning of art starting with the Greeks, Cari taught a little on Greek Mythology and got the kids to create their own myths...it was super! Becca won't share hers with me as she was still in the drawing phase, but Lauren, who was really struggling with the creative aspect (the cattail is a cattail....)I encouraged with some bits and pieces of info and she managed to draw it out to a full blown myth. Her fine motor skills aren't caught up with her brain yet though, so I am probably going to have to play secretary as she tells me what to write. Stephen's piece was very detailed, but I didn't catch the gist of it, other than he was explaining how ant hills came to be. I'll probably submit copies of those as they become available.
Tuesday we decided to catch the "free after 1pm" deal at the Pink Palace and then swooped down on Paul's sister, Julie for a quick, "hello!" Now it is Wednesday and I think everyone is exhausted. I am hoping tomorrow that I don't have to go anywhere!!! Katherine and Megan had to go back to classes today, but I did end up getting Megan as she was crying with a sore throat and slight fever. I think she is fine though, so I am sending her back tomorrow. My homeschoolers had to stay busy with work as well...no breaks for the weary!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks for keeping up with our busy life! Pictures will be forthcoming when I get the film developed....a new digital camera is on the way though!
After purusing the barn, we headed outside. The scientist in charge had a light pointer that went clear into space...that got the kids' more attention than just about anything. To have someone point out the constellations and North Star was very education for me at least! We also got to peer thru telescopes set up around the landscape...one aimed at the moon, one at Jupiter (a few children, who shall remain unnamed lost interest at this point and I had to remove them from the scene). This I might add was all FREE!
After that "fun" (or I would call torture for a 7 and 2 year old) we came back to the campsite to roast marshmallows, keep Kimberly out of the fire and then retire for the evening into our respective tents (girls tent vs. the boys tent). Kimberly awoke in the middle of the night wanting her bed and blankie, but then fell back into a deep slumber within 5 to 10 minutes. We just went for one night as a "test" and it worked out well. Next time we just need to find a campsite that had more amenities for little ones, like a sandbox and playground....
We arrived back home a little after noon on Sunday and spent the afternoon cleaning up and then heading to Mass that night. We were surprised to see so many people we knew! It was nice to chat and catch up with everyone!
Monday I enforced school...even for those who "go to school"and a little shopping. I picked up a few new board games for the kids and they must have played scrabble over and over again for about an hour or two before the Creativity Co-op people showed. We get together with some other families in town and pool our creative resources. I teach about an aspect of art, or an artist and then we start in on a project to support what we learned. We do this for about 55 minutes, then switch to the next mom who teaches a 10 minute segment on Creative movement and then switch to our Creative writing mom who leads us in a subject related to the art and gets the kids brains thinking of writing! I must say I feel embarrassed at how good the other moms did and how lousy I was! I feel like a hermit that is just starting to get out into public again and I feel a bit uneasy and awkward right now. Since I was covering the beginning of art starting with the Greeks, Cari taught a little on Greek Mythology and got the kids to create their own myths...it was super! Becca won't share hers with me as she was still in the drawing phase, but Lauren, who was really struggling with the creative aspect (the cattail is a cattail....)I encouraged with some bits and pieces of info and she managed to draw it out to a full blown myth. Her fine motor skills aren't caught up with her brain yet though, so I am probably going to have to play secretary as she tells me what to write. Stephen's piece was very detailed, but I didn't catch the gist of it, other than he was explaining how ant hills came to be. I'll probably submit copies of those as they become available.
Tuesday we decided to catch the "free after 1pm" deal at the Pink Palace and then swooped down on Paul's sister, Julie for a quick, "hello!" Now it is Wednesday and I think everyone is exhausted. I am hoping tomorrow that I don't have to go anywhere!!! Katherine and Megan had to go back to classes today, but I did end up getting Megan as she was crying with a sore throat and slight fever. I think she is fine though, so I am sending her back tomorrow. My homeschoolers had to stay busy with work as well...no breaks for the weary!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks for keeping up with our busy life! Pictures will be forthcoming when I get the film developed....a new digital camera is on the way though!
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Life is back to normal
I am well again, but I feel I've lost 6 weeks of my life! In my attempt to get caught up on everything today, I got done with nothing....isn't that how it always goes.
One bright thing that happened yesterday, is my 2yr old took my face in her hands, smoothed my hair back and said, "you're bootiful." Made my day!
Today, I was privy to a unusual sight, Paul pausing from the computer long enough to engage in a educated discussion with Stephen over exploration and the importance of which country sent who where...When asked, "where was Genoa?" Stephen replied, "Italy." Dad, "good...now where is Italy?" Stephen, "Isn't it that continent above Africa?" Dad, "okay, can you be more specific...and remember it they sailed, right, didn't walk." Stephen, "Well, I think they had to have walked, otherwise how would they have gotten on their ship?" He said this totally seriously....I however was trying hard not to laugh and Paul was getting frustrated as he thought Stephen was trying to be a class clown...Praytell, how can you be a class clown with only two kids in the room????? This is why mommy teaches and daddy works....he just doesn't have the patience for it....gotta love 'em anyway (although today i am just calling him the convenient sperm donor...it's been a bad day)!
One bright thing that happened yesterday, is my 2yr old took my face in her hands, smoothed my hair back and said, "you're bootiful." Made my day!
Today, I was privy to a unusual sight, Paul pausing from the computer long enough to engage in a educated discussion with Stephen over exploration and the importance of which country sent who where...When asked, "where was Genoa?" Stephen replied, "Italy." Dad, "good...now where is Italy?" Stephen, "Isn't it that continent above Africa?" Dad, "okay, can you be more specific...and remember it they sailed, right, didn't walk." Stephen, "Well, I think they had to have walked, otherwise how would they have gotten on their ship?" He said this totally seriously....I however was trying hard not to laugh and Paul was getting frustrated as he thought Stephen was trying to be a class clown...Praytell, how can you be a class clown with only two kids in the room????? This is why mommy teaches and daddy works....he just doesn't have the patience for it....gotta love 'em anyway (although today i am just calling him the convenient sperm donor...it's been a bad day)!
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Potty training
As I sit here typing, Paul sits in government hell. We needed a copy of a past tax return. After six weeks of waiting patiently for the mail to miraculously make it appear, he decided to drive to the IRS office in Memphis and just pick it up....that was over three hours ago. Lesson learned: Don't trust saving Turbo Tax info on your computer....it will crash and you will loose all your info! Print copies and save in a safe place.
Kimberly is successfully potty trained! I'd like to say I did it all, but it was actually Lauren who got her to finally poopoo in the potty last night--after two full days of not going. I took away the pullups as I realized she was starting to hold it all in waiting for that night pull up and then let loose! I finally decided the only way out of that quandary was to just remove the option. The first night she wet (my bed) about 5:30 in the morning...so she made it from 8 to 5:30. I got braver last night and put her in her own bed (I had figured if she awoke to use the bathroom that first night I'd be right there and could help her quicker). She made it from 10pm (okay, I had trouble getting everyone to go to bed last night) until about 9am! The bed and Kimberly were dry!! Hurray!
I really despise potty training. It is one of those things that really wears on my patience. Maybe loss of my hearing, taste and smell was the perfect combination to success...yes, that is right. I have hearing only in my left ear right now and haven't had the other senses for about a month now. Ever since I started in with the full blown sinusitis, stuffy head stuff it all disappeared. I actually heard my left ear pop and hearing return about a week ago. The coughing is still there, but at least that is better.
Back to potty training. I think as a young adult it seems absurd to hear grown adults use phrases like, "poo poo potty, yeah!" "make mommy a tinkle sound and then you can get down." or "put the stinky in the potty." I remember years ago my sister (unmarried, no kids) bought Katie the book "everyone poops." She was laughing so hard she couldn't even read the book all the way thru. 13 years later and it still that bad. Books don't seem to work and neither does anything else. Kids have to decide to do it on their own, but adults non the less try to make it an easy transition...don't forget making up stupid, silly songs that we always hope and pray will make potty training fun and enjoyable for the whole family! But let's face it...the worst is when they want to show you what they've done and they parade around the house with the little removable bowl from their potty chair as they look for you as you had to leave them for a moment to go check on the boiling water on the stove....urine dripped from the bathroom all the way to the kitchen....just what I want to deal at 10:00 at night! All the while smiling and saying what a big girl Kimmy is! Yeah!
Kimberly is successfully potty trained! I'd like to say I did it all, but it was actually Lauren who got her to finally poopoo in the potty last night--after two full days of not going. I took away the pullups as I realized she was starting to hold it all in waiting for that night pull up and then let loose! I finally decided the only way out of that quandary was to just remove the option. The first night she wet (my bed) about 5:30 in the morning...so she made it from 8 to 5:30. I got braver last night and put her in her own bed (I had figured if she awoke to use the bathroom that first night I'd be right there and could help her quicker). She made it from 10pm (okay, I had trouble getting everyone to go to bed last night) until about 9am! The bed and Kimberly were dry!! Hurray!
I really despise potty training. It is one of those things that really wears on my patience. Maybe loss of my hearing, taste and smell was the perfect combination to success...yes, that is right. I have hearing only in my left ear right now and haven't had the other senses for about a month now. Ever since I started in with the full blown sinusitis, stuffy head stuff it all disappeared. I actually heard my left ear pop and hearing return about a week ago. The coughing is still there, but at least that is better.
Back to potty training. I think as a young adult it seems absurd to hear grown adults use phrases like, "poo poo potty, yeah!" "make mommy a tinkle sound and then you can get down." or "put the stinky in the potty." I remember years ago my sister (unmarried, no kids) bought Katie the book "everyone poops." She was laughing so hard she couldn't even read the book all the way thru. 13 years later and it still that bad. Books don't seem to work and neither does anything else. Kids have to decide to do it on their own, but adults non the less try to make it an easy transition...don't forget making up stupid, silly songs that we always hope and pray will make potty training fun and enjoyable for the whole family! But let's face it...the worst is when they want to show you what they've done and they parade around the house with the little removable bowl from their potty chair as they look for you as you had to leave them for a moment to go check on the boiling water on the stove....urine dripped from the bathroom all the way to the kitchen....just what I want to deal at 10:00 at night! All the while smiling and saying what a big girl Kimmy is! Yeah!
Saturday, September 27, 2008
sorry about a whole month away!
Well, it has been a long month for me. I started getting sick the end of August (the 24th to be exact). Megan and Katherine started with separate but I now believe the same virus. In August, Megan's symptoms manifested as a pertussiss infection and Katherine's as sinusitis. Both recovered quickly after antibiotics. Next was Lauren with severe cold symptoms, but she did run fevers off and on and seemed much more sick with this virus. Two days before I took her in to the doctor, I noticed post nasal drip and "swallowing glass" sore throat symptoms in myself and Rebecca was reporting the same. I thought I was so much smarter than my kids and that I WOULD follow thru with all the natural stuff I told them to do and of course they didn't take everything and ended up in the doctor's office with prescriptions...needless to say, just the past couple of days I have been able to function for longer than 2 hours without needing a nap. Rebecca and I both did everything we could to stave it off. Rebecca was well within three days, me....one month?! I did end up resorting to antibiotics, 1) for the sinus infection that left me dizzy, in pain, and looking like someone beat me with a bat (what I said to the doctor was..."look at my eyes...this is not normal and is not the result of abuse!"). Then Wednesday I started with the bronchitis/pertussis treatment as I was coughing so hard I was throwing up...not too good when I am so fatigued already that I could hardly get up in the morning and then had to go back to bed for 2-3 hours after doing school with the kids for 2 hours. It took us ALL DAY to do school for the last month. Thankfully this week it is better!
We now also have a computer upstairs so now I can try to keep up with my blog better. Thank you all for your prayers for us this past month. I could really tell they helped me regain my strength. I actually took the kids on a short walk yesterday to try to exercise my lungs...I still have a bit of a cough and some chest congestion, but it is sooooo much better!
Well, I need to get Kimberly to bed.
Love and blessings!
Kris
We now also have a computer upstairs so now I can try to keep up with my blog better. Thank you all for your prayers for us this past month. I could really tell they helped me regain my strength. I actually took the kids on a short walk yesterday to try to exercise my lungs...I still have a bit of a cough and some chest congestion, but it is sooooo much better!
Well, I need to get Kimberly to bed.
Love and blessings!
Kris
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