Yes, I am still here!!

Wow! Has it really been almost 4 months since I last posted an entry? Ummm, oops:) I don't blog much during the summer as we are usually crazy busy. However, I have had a special request to update from my favorite stalker, errr, faithful reader (you know who you are!). So, what have we been up to since March? Well, a lot. This may get long......

So, in April my sister in law and her husband moved from CA out here to TN. They stayed with us for a few weeks until they found a house. They have 3 children as well so we had a pretty full house for a while. It was crazy and chaotic, but fun. During that time my mom, SIL and her three kids, my other SIL and my nephew, and I took a trip to the Smokies. We stayed in a ridiculously large four level cabin with gorgeous mountain views. We stayed for 5 days and went to Dollywood, Cades Cove, the Dixie Stampede, and downtown Gatlinburg. Here's a group shot of the kids at Cades' Cove.
At this point, I gave up on school for the year. Our tutorial ended in May and we had finished our LA for the year. We continued on with math for a few weeks, but we were done by May. Therefore, we will be starting school again in August as opposed to September. I am actually really anxious about getting started. I have a ton of new curriculum just calling me name. Not to mention, I am actually organized well in advance. I opted to utilize a filing system this year. So, I spent a good week tearing apart workbooks, photocopying pages, assigning reading, and filing it all away into a weekly folder. For the ENTIRE year! I am beyond excited about this. I included everything they need for the week including craft supplies, books, extra paper, etc. Here's a visual:

So, the top picture is M (in red) and B's (in blue) work. The bottom picture is Navy Bean's crate. Hers took a little more room as preschool work consists of a lot more crafts and far fewer worksheets. Anyway, I am in love with this system and SO relieved that I have everything ready to go. No more hunting books, worksheets, supplies down at the last minute:)

Much of our summer has been spent at the gym. All three kids take gymnastics. We are there four days a week. Yes, seriously, 4 DAYS PER WEEK. It gets old, but they love it and do a great job. Here are some pics of what they have been up to in the gym this summer:


I realize there is no pics of B. He just moves to fast and every one I have is blurry:( I do have great video of him, but am not technologically savvy enough to post it here.

What else have we been up to? Well, we have been strawberry picking, blueberry picking, blackberry picking, roller skating, to Cheekwood, a few indoor play places, and have spent a lot of time swimming. July is going to be a crazy month. We have a big party planned for the fourth of July. We are having about 35 people. We have the go-kart ready to go, we rented a 16 foot waterslide, filled a pinata for the kids, tons of fireworks, and, of course, a ton of food. The following week the kids have VBS. I'm volunteering this year, so little Miss Navy Bean will get a chance to go to their pre-school program. The week after that is summer day camp for the two oldest. They went last year and are really looking forward to going back!

As for me, I have been dutifully keeping up with my 52 books in 52 weeks reading challenge. I am currently reading book 32. Well, and 33 if you can't the months I have been struggling through The Trial by Kafka. What a torturous, mind numbing book. Why do I continue to read it, you ask? Seriously, I don't know. Because it's a classic and I want to be able to say I have? Possibly. I am also convinced that there must be some redeeming quality that is brought to light at the end of the book. I am half way through, only able to read a few pages a day.

My husband and I also celebrated our ninth anniversary. DH rented ATV's for the day so we headed out sans kids to a 500 acre off road park. We thought we would be riding nice little trails through the oods. Ummm, no. They were rocky, steep, treacherous trail which almost caused both of us to roll over. It was challenging, but really fun. We had a great day!


Well, that's been our summer so far. Sorry this post is a little disjointed. I am in a hurry to get to Target:) Have to get some 4th of July shopping done! Happy 4th to everyone out there:)

Yay for beautiful weather!!!

It is so nice to finally see signs of Spring! The weather has been gorgeous (mid 70's), everything is starting to bloom, and I even had to mow the lawn yesterday!!! I am not a fan of cold weather and am not a bit sad to say goodbye to dreary, cold days!

Homeschooling on such beautiful days is a challenge for both me and the kids. Who wants to be stuck in the school room when you could be enjoying the sun? But, you do what you have to do.....just a little quicker:) So, we managed to get started with our school work a bit earlier yesterday so that we would have the afternoon to play outside. We finished up by 1 and were outside by 1:30. My mom was watching my nephew so she brought him over to play for awhile. The kids next door and across the street came over to play, and then two friends of mine brought their kids over as well. There were kids everywhere.....riding bikes and scooters, climbing trees, playing Star Wars, and even catching wildlife:) The kids found a baby bunny under our picnic table. I'm sure it was scared to death with 15+ kids hovering around it, but they managed to pick it up and pet it. Of course, being paranoid, I immediately went for the hand sanitizer! But, it WAS too irresistible to not pet!
Anyway, it was a fun day for the kids and their friends and nice for me to be able to sit out on the grass in a lawn chair and catch up with my friends!

Oh yes I did......

I'm not gonna lie. I got the Botox. Yup, right on my crows feet and frown line. Was it totally necessary at 33 years old? Probably not. Am I glad I did....heck yeah:) Apparently it takes two days to see the full effect, but I swear, my crows feet are almost non-existent right now. And, best of all, I can still move my face:) I take that back, best of all is that I didn't go blind! Yeah, that was my main concern after seeing it as one of the small risks....yikes! So, my forehead is a little bruised and I have a dull headache going on, but i'm really excited about it. I will tell you, though, getting the forehead done is NOT fun. You actually hear a little crunching noise when they insert the needle. Apparently this is "just your muscle"......*shudder*. It's pretty painful as well. The eyes weren't so bad. Tiny little pricks and you're all set. Would I do it again.....ummmm, yup! Not to out my mom, but she had a few procedures done herself today. She had the same Botox injections I had, but also had juviderm (sp?) around the mouth. They had to numb her for this with four shots to the gum line. See, now that would have made me cry. She agreed that the forehead was the worst. Anyway, just thought i'd share my experience. I know it sounds strange, but it was a fun mother/daughter day:)

It's a Toucan, of course!

Alright, so it takes a bit of imagination to see it, but this is the Toucan mask we made for geography group today. As I mentioned in my last post, we are currently studying Belize. And what does a toucan have to do with Belize you ask? Well, the Keel Toucan is their national bird. So for group today we talked a bit about Belize....it's location, Mayan roots, landscape, and national symbols. Then we spent a good hour creating these beauties:) Overall, group went well despite the rain cutting playtime short. Over the next two weeks the kids and I will be preparing their presentations for our next meeting. B is going to make a replica of Altun Ha, the Mayan Ruins we visited, and M is going to make a house that has been affected by it's location on the water table. Pics to follow, of course:)

We are finally getting back into the swing of things. Last week was a bit of the struggle. The kids weren't too excited to be back to work after a week long cruise. By Friday, however, they seemed resigned to the fact that they had to get their work done. We were able to double up in math and language to get caught up. We are still a little behind in science though. We didn't do anything too exciting as we were really hitting the books to catch up. So, nothing really to report on there. We did get a few laughs courtesy of Navy Bean. I asked her to help me with spelling. We use Sequential Spelling and so I will read the word and then use it in a sentence as there are frequently homonyms in the same list. Navy Bean was to give a sentence after I said the word. Here's how that went:

Me: Don't
Navy Bean: I don't like to share my toys.

Me: poker
Navy Bean: I want to "poker" in the eyeball.

So long Carribean:(

It's back to reality for us. We spent seven wonderful days on a cruise through the Carribean. I could write pages after page of fun moments, funny stories, and things we did and saw, however I will spare you all of that and summarize as best I can.

Day 1: Travel day. I hate travel days. I hate, hate, hate flying. To make matters worse, the bar wasn't open before our flight (too early), so I couldn't even have a beer to quell my nerves. And, yes, I would have had a beer before 7 AM if I were about to go on an airplane. Flight, transfer, and boarding were pretty uneventful.Day 2: Day at sea. Poor little B spent the first night with a high fever. I took him down to the medical center in the morning. Strep had returned, accompanied by a bad ear infection. Antibiotic prescribed....as well as an order to stay out of the sun because of the fever. Nothing like staying out of the sun on a tropical vacation:( But, he was a trooper and stayed with my parents (who spoiled him with ice cream and presents from the gift shop) while we took the girls to the pool. The water was freezing so Navy Bean spent her time in the hot tub while dh and I took turns on the waterslide with M. B was feeling better by the afternoon so we enjoyed a nice dinner.

Day 2: First stop: Grand Caymans! After a long, hot wait in the caged waiting are (for lack of a better way to describe the area they made us wait in for our tour), we took off to the Turtle Farm. We saw some seriously gigantic turtles and were even able to pick up and hold a few of the smaller guys. Then we walked over to the Dolphin Encounter. Everyone but my grandpa got in the water to play with the dolphins. We pet them, kissed them, danced with them....everything but riding them:) I enjoyed this, but it was a little stressful with little Navy Bean freaking out when she noticed there were little tropical fish swimming around in the pool. She was okay with the giant dolphin, but not the little fish...hmmmmm?!?! So, she sat on the edge for the last half. B ended up getting out as well because he was cold. I'll admit, the water WAS freezing....but, seriously, how often to you get to play in the water with a dolphin. I guess kids just don't appreciate that kind of stuff when they're 8.
Day 3: Next stop: Isla Roatan, Honduras! We spent the day at the Mahogany Bay Beach. It was absolutely gorgeous. We had two cabanas for the 8 of us, complete with bar and food service, an air conditioed hut with couches, lounge chairs, hammocks...the works. We took a chair lift to get to the beach and had an awesome view of the coastline. The kids loved spending the day playing in the water, snorkeling, and building sand castles. My favorite memory of this day was the reggae singer that approached our cabana with his microphone. I forget the first song he sang....but do remember the uncomfortable look on dh's face as the guy had his arm around him singing:) Then he asked my grandpa for a request. I forget the song my grandpa requested, but what he sung was NOT it. He kept saying "Okay mon, I got it. I got it". Then he busted out with "Like a Rhinestone Cowboy". Maybe because we said we were from Tennessee? I don't know, but it was hilarious. The look on my grandpa's face=priceless!
Day 4: Belize. No exclamation point for Belize. Yuck. We anchored at sea and had to take a long tender into port. That was probably the prettiest thing about Belize. Once we got to the dock we were told not to leave the caged area unless we had a tour. We did, but we had to leave the "safe" are to find the building as we had booked a private van to take us to Altun Ha, the Mayan Ruins. After being harrassed by some lady wanting to braid all of our hair, we found our driver and quickly hopped in. We had about a 45 minute drive out to Altun Ha. It was bad. Talk about poverty. Even the homeless in the US don't have it as bad as most of the people there. It was so bad that B asked if there was a place we could go on the internet to find a way to donate money. It was a good lesson for the kids, but very depressing. Altun Ha, however, was beautiful. Well maintained, clean, and comfortable (well, we were as comfortable as you can be when there are military men walking around the park with machine guns). The ruins were amazing. Our guide was a wealth of information. I don't think this was the kids favorite excursion, but hopefully they learned a little something. We are actually studying Belize for our geography group this month and we are planning to do our presentation on Altun Ha. Anyway, we climbed an insanely tall building with Navy Bean and B. There were no rails and the stair were very steep....almost staright up. Going up wasn't so bad. But once we started to head down, I panicked. I didn't realize just how steep it was...and we had a 3 year old with us! So, we had to go down on our bottoms. I think I would have gone down that way even if the kids hadn't been with us. Scary stuff, but gorgeous views. Back on the ship that night, we took the kids to the show "Far From Over" after dinner. It was a tribute to the 80's! Yeah, I know, how lucky can a girl get?!?! Dh wasn't as impressed and my dad wanted to know why they didn't play any good music.....

Day 5: Cozumel, Mexico!! This was a FUN day:) We rented two jeeps. Dh drove one and my dad drove the other. We followed our tour group through the streets of Cozumel....which was strikingly beautiful in contrast to Belize! Our first stop was at the "PeePee Station". Love it. There was a public restroom and a little store. The guy tried to rip me off, but that's okay...I got my bracelets in the end:) Next we headed to the beach. It was a little cloudy and windy, so we didn't do any swimming. M sat lounged on the beach and got a henna tattoo on her ankle. Navy Bean and B played in the sound, gathered shells, and splashed in the water. We stayed about an hour and a half, got back in our jeeps, and headed to another shopping area. Here we bought a fresh coconut so we could try the coconut water. Despite the fact that I HATE cocnut, the water was pretty good. M and I were the only ones that took more than one sip, but at least the kids can all say they tried it. After our tour we walked around the tourist are near the dock. The girls got their hair braided (and the lady didn't have to stalk me!), we bought a few souverniers, and had a delicious lunch at Fat Tuesdays....complete with balloon hats for everyone:)
Day 6: Last day at Sea:( This was the last day of our trip. B was crushed. He spent most of the day whining about not wanting to go home. We had planned to spend the day at the pool since B hadn't had much time in it, but the waterslide was closed due to high winds and, as I mentioned, the water was freezing. So, we ended up letting Navy Bean go to Camp Carnival for an hour (the only hour spent in there), got B a skull airbrush tattoo, took M to a Michael Jackson dance class, played around in the arcade, and took all three to a bear making workshop. That night we had a cake for B's bday, did a little dancing with the kids, and spent another hour down in the medical center. Oh yes, we did. M had gotten staph infection from a bug bite. What made it even more awesome was that by the time it was really swollen, the medical center was closed and we were fortunate enough to pay the after hours fees. So, $211 to look at her foot for one second and confirm what I already told them I thought it was. Ugh.
Anyway, we had a great time and can't wait to go on another cruise!!!!

Yeah, it's been a while

We've been pretty busy around here with schooling, illness (strep and flu!), and planning for our cruise. There have been many days where things have happened and I thought "Oh, I want to blog about that!". But, then things get crazy and I don't find the time. And, of course, when I do find the time I forget what I planned to blog about in the first place. Anyone that knows me well knows that I have an extremely limited short term memory. And long term, for that matter. Anyway, I have a little extra time this morning (well, technically I should be getting ready for the school day by making photocopies, etc., but, well....ummmmmm, that doesn't sound as fun), so I decided to do an update.

So, let's see, school is going really well. We had to take about a week off early February due to illness, but we have since caught up (by doubling much of our work). So, we are right where we should be for the year. Now our social life, on the other hand, has been pathetic at best. With everyone taking turns getting sick it seems like we've been stuck in the house for months. Even when we were healthy we haven't been able to get out much due to the crazy weather we've been having. Two field trips I had planned to take the kids on were canceled due to snow. Not only have we had more snow than usual, it has just been too freakin cold to go anywhere outside. I am more anxious for Spring than usual! We've also been avoiding indoor germ infested playlands, bouncy places, etc. because it seems my kids catch something every time they leave the house this year! So weird....that's not usually an issue.

Anyway, the best homeschooling related news I have to share is that Miss M has not only learned to add efficiently, but can now do double digit addition with carrying over!!! Yes, she is 14, but with her LD's academics are a serious hardship for her. So, how did we finally master these skills? Did we find a wonderful new curriculum? NOPE. There is just not a curriculum out there that works for her. So, instead of wasting even more money to try to find that perfect fit, I have created my own methods to use with her. I have taught her the basics of TouchMath (where you put the dots on the numbers to act as a sort of manipulative). This is the way I was taught to add in school and, though I disagree with it's use in the general education population, I think it is FABULOUS for those with LD's. Now, there is an actual TouchMath curriculum you can by, but it's a few hundred dollars and, well, I already know how it works so why spend the money? Once I introduced the dot method to her she began to progress rapidly. I thought we would never get past single digit addition. Once she was able to do single digit addition relatively quickly, I introduced double digit with carrying over. Again, I didn't use a curriculum to teach this. We worked for days with the Math U See blocks. What we did was to add the numbers in the ones place, take the corresponding one blocks, line them up, and then see if our ten block would fit over the row. Obviously it did as we were practicing carrying. So, then I explained that the left over ones had to be left in that ones column, while that ten wanted to move out with his friends over in the tens column. Once she grasped this, I took away the manipulatives and we worked out dozens of problems on paper. And, guess what, she is doing it on her own now!!! I say all of this just to point out to other parents of children with LD's that there may not be that perfect curriculum out there for your kid. You may need to come up with a method on your own and then just use the Internet to print off free worksheets. I wish I had stopped searching for the perfect curriculum years ago. A lot of time and money was wasted when I could have just jumped in and tried a bunch of different methods for free. Live and learn.

Now, a little update on my 52 Books in 52 weeks challenge. I have surprisingly kept up (and then some). Here's what I have read so far this year, in no particular order (you can link to all of these books on my shelf):
1. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs--AMAZING book
2. The Almost Moon by Alice Sebold
3. Torn by Amanda Hocking
4. Switched by Amanda Hocking
5. Ascend by Amanda Hocking
6. The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford--loved it!
7. Sarah's Key by Tatiana somethingorother:)--first half great, second half sucked
8. The Book Thief --a must read, absolutely loved it! Favorite this year!
9. Without Pity by Ann Rule--just alright
10. The Lost Boy by David Pelzer
11. Jane Eyre by Bronte--great story but the girl can go on and ON....I prefer Austin
12. Escape by Carolyn Jessup--fascinating look into FLDS
13. The Lightening Thief by Rick Riordan--read this aloud to the kids and we all loved it
14. Hollowland by Amanda Hocking--page turner with a bad ending
15. One Second After by William Forschten--loved it
16. The Help by Kathryn Stockett--so, so good! I miss the characters:)

So, i'm about 8 weeks into the challenge and averaging two books a week. This challenge has really reignited my passion for reading. I always considered myself a mystery lover, but I am know finding that I really enjoy historical fiction and a lot of non-fiction memoirs. This next week I plan to read the Kite Runner. It will probably take me two weeks to get through as we will be on vacation for a week.

And, that's about it for us! Here's a few funny kid quoted to make you smile:

B (7): " Did you see that sign at Ross? It said they execute people for shoplifting!"

Navy Bean (3): "I'm not little, I live in a tall world"

M (14): in a text to her Grandma "I have to watch Vampire Diaries alone. I can't stay with you. C'mon grandma, i'm no fool" (yeah, makes little sense, but that's why it's funny:)

A random thought

A short while ago I started up the vacuum in the kitchen. I knew before I even started it that it's sound would be met with high pitched screams and squeals from the kids. Why is that? Why do the kids scream every time I turn it on? No, that is not a rhetorical question....I seriously have no idea why they do this. I mean, these are not toddlers we are talking about. In fact, I am pretty sure the toddler learned it from the 7 and 14 yr. old. It's not as if I have tortured them with a vacuum cleaner in the past. I really don't get it. It drives me completely insane. That's all.