Another year winds down

I cannot believe tomorrow is the last day of 2011. I recall growing up my Mom would always tell me as I got older the years would go by faster, to stop enjoy each day. She was so right. I look at my girls and cannot believe they are ten and eight. I look in the mirror and cannot believe I'm over forty! Time seems to be moving more quickly every moment.

2011 has been a year of firsts for us. The girls were in their first play. The first time I taught a taekwondo class as a black jacket. I taught my first taekwondo classes...on my own. The first time we camped out in the backyard. The first time we had a pool in the backyard!

Our year has been a roller coaster ride, full of ups and downs. Overall, I have to say it was a good year. I spent December not stressing or worrying. I even cancelled school for the last three weeks of December. No worries! I cannot wait to see what next year brings us. I know we'll see my parents more, so I can help out around the house and yard. I am excited about the chance to finally help out around there. So many new things and people are in our future. The future's so bright I gotta wear shades. :)

Happy New Year to all!!

Not sure how I should react to this

We went to Books-A-Million tonight. John and the girls had gone out a few weeks ago shopping and wound up there. They had vanilla creme frappes and John said I had to try one. So, while running some errands, we went over for a frappe fix. They were wonderful, but not the point of this post.

After we finished Jesse and I, headed over to the gardening section. Three teenagers were sitting in the chairs right behind us.  So, as I was browsing the titles I heard one of the boys say, "That is Princess Diana. On that book."

The girl replied, "Who is that?" (that one bothered me enough, just wait).

Then the boy proceeded with, "She was princess of England. And the night she became Queen, or crowned, or something, she was in car wreck and every one died."

Oh my word!!! This was only twenty years ago! Her son was just married earlier this year and all this was splattered all over the news! Seriously, boy follow a news channel or use Google!!!!!!

I admit I did not correct him. Where would you start?

Christmas 2011

I think I ended Christmas night still not feeling the full warmth of Christmas this year. Sad, but true. I have higher hopes for next year. :)

Of course, the girls were completely the opposite! I think at first Chloe was disappointed Santa only brought a total of four packages. But she didn't show it. John wanted them to open our presents before Santa's. I think he is a smart man. ;)  We got Chloe a new Betta tank; she was so happy! We gave Jesse, yet another, remote control car! She has received several over the years and something happens to make the stop working (i.e. John driving it off the front steps at full speed!) or it just never worked. Her last one she had to be within six inches for it work. The new one seems to be working great and she is very happy!

The girls opened their smaller package from Santa. Jesse thought Santa had a warped sense of humor by giving her a mouse pad, with Gerber daisies, for her "imaginary laptop". Personally, I thought it was hysterical. Chloe was confused as to why Santa would bring her a TV wall mount for her TV that clearly could not be hung on the wall. Oh, so much fun! Then they opened their big boxes. Jesse received a laptop and Chloe a brand new LED TV with a built in DVD player. Then Chloe excitedly exclaimed, "that is why Santa only brought four packages!!" Smart girl. ;)

By dinner last night, the laptop was up and running and the TV was hanging on the wall. Each girl in her own room doing her own thing. Okay, so that was my Christmas present...quiet. :) My parents bought me a cookie press and a Wilton turn table for cake decorating. Yeah! John bought me two pair of pajamas, Jesse gave me a Peanuts coffee mug and Chloe gave me a Peanuts notepad for my pocketbook. I was also surprised with a Mater and Zen Master Pitty cars. Pitty was MY favorite character in the new movie, especially how Mater related to him. So funny!! Everyone got a Mattel car this year!

Chloe bought Jesse a Stitch car at Disney World and I bought John a Indian Jones car. Jesse and Chloe both received two Cars 2 cars from Santa in their stockings. It was a Mattel car Christmas! lol

Jesse also made Chloe a scarf and Chloe added three more rubber ducks to Jesse's collection. I believe they were both thrilled with everything they received. My parents gave them the pajamas they had been bugging me about at Target (I knew they were getting them). Jesse wanted a pair with Scottish Terriers and Chloe wanted a pair with owls. Owls seem to be her new obsession. John keeps telling her she needs to drop an obsession before she gets a new one, because she is running out of shelf space. He is just too fun!

John had a great Christmas. He received Jenga!, a table top Cars 2 pinball machine, Big Buck Hunter Pro shooting game, a dart board and some chocolate! Oh, yeah. He is happy shooting at the aliens trying to steal his cows and trying to shoot Pappy!!! Poor Pappy!!

Everything said and done we had a great Christmas.

Our Christmas Eve Adventure!!!

I have told several people lately I was not in the Christmas spirit. I was starting to get into it yesterday afternoon. We decided to go to my parent's home on Christmas Eve this year. My spirits were lifted some by Christmas Eve afternoon. John was helping Mom with her laptop, in the office. The girls were doing something. I think they were watching TV, but I'm not positive. Dad and I were in the living room chatting, while I searched his Park Seed catalog for flowers and veggie seeds.

Then John and my Mom walked into the room, both with worried looks. I heard John say something about a man with a shotgun and a pistol in our yard. A what?! I was standing at that point right in front of their large living room window. I turned to look and there were two sheriff deputies with guns pulled crouching down in front of my mother's car...twelve feet from the front door and a lot less than that from the window. What does my Mom do?? She opens the door! Crazy woman!! I was fussing at her to close the door; okay, I was trying not to yell but I was loud for sure for her to be five feet from me. As soon as she opened the door, I saw the woman deputy shoo her several times. I finally (after three times of telling her) convinced my Mom to close the darn door! Then immediately I sent John with the girls to the back bedroom. This really could not be happening!! There they crouched for an hour, or more. Time stood still for quite awhile.

During this time we assessed the fact the road was blocked. We could see cars blocking the road in one direction, but not the other. We also knew there were two more deputies across the road in the between the trees on the hill. We also knew "our" deputies were looking across the street, but we didn't know which house: the preacher's house or the house next door. Nor did we know what was going on. I never thought I would fear for my children in a cross fire of bullets on Christmas Eve. I just wanted to know what was going happening.

Two Sheriff Deputies on Christmas Eve, leaning on Mom's car

After an hour, the male deputy left our yard the same as they had come in, just inches from the flowerbeds. He returned a little later with a coat, then left again. The woman officer then came to our door. She told us there was someone across the street barricaded in the house and armed. I asked which house. She told me and I said, "Not Archie." She replied, "Yes, Archie." (Mr. Archie is the preacher across the street that we have known since I was seven.) My Mom then replied something like, it isn't someone who lives there is it? The officer then informed us it was Archie was armed and dangerous. He was threatening anyone who came to the house. Are you kidding me?! Wow! I was so shocked I didn't even ask if his wife, Hazel, was alright. I hope she is. They did, within thirty minutes of that conversation, capture him alive. No officers were harmed from what we could tell as they all began to leave. Mr. Archie left on his own feet also.

Mr. Archie had (as my mother said) "gone crazy" a few years ago when he had a tumor on his brain. He had surgery and was fine. She is now worried another tumor may be there. I hope he and his family are safe tonight and he is getting the medical treatment he so greatly needs, and deserves.

More on our vacation

Okay, the truth is we took over 1500 pictures! I know. Crazy! There were a few pictures that reminded me of great moments and others the girls just wanted to share. This post is going to be more pictures with, hopefully, short stories to go with them.

Tom Sawyer Island at Magic Kingdom

This was actually the first time any of us had ever been on Tom Sawyer Island. John asked me why we had never gone over there before. I have no answer, but can tell you this is, now it is high on our list of things to do while at MK. This is the barrel bridge. The "hills" are actually barrels that hold the bridge up, but when you step on it the bridge dips all the way down to the water. And the trip is wobbly! I told a couple of friends the other day I got the giggles crossing the thing because that is the same feeling I was getting when I would get off the elevator. (Yes, I need to get to the ENT soon!) The entire island was a total blast. Next time we are going to pick up some lunch and take it over to eat at the picnic tables there. Can't wait!!

Phineas and Ferb with the girls

Our girls LOVE Phineas and Ferb. I have to admit I like it too. John even enjoys some of the songs and will sing them time to time. Seeing them was totally unexpected, but one of Jesse's favorite moments. They even had their picture taken with Duckie Momo!

Girls with the GIANT gingerbread house at the Grand Floridian.

We took another trip to see the gingerbread house. Chloe talked for weeks about getting a gingerbread cookie from the gingerbread house, then at the last second wanted a chocolate Mickey Mouse. :) 

John with Eeyore!

This was at the Crystal Palace (a character dining experience). Eeyore came up behind John and I said something like, "that would have been a cute picture". John replied with, "go ahead and take one". So, Eeyore leaned back in for the picture. John was so relaxed all week, picking on all of us, so I know he was in a good mood all week. ;)

Jesse, John and Chloe at Flame Tree BBQ, at Animal Kingdom.

Flame Tree BBQ is truly one of our favorite places to eat. I cannot believe that our friends, the Smiths (who love Disney as much as us) have never eaten there. John loves their ribs because they put a rub on it and really do slow BBQ the meat. Personally, I love the BBQ sandwich. My mouth waters just thinking about it. The girls meal grew this year! Instead of one chicken leg, they had two!! Disney gave us more?! We were all surprised, but happy.

John and Chloe on the bridge from the boat to the lodge, at Wilderness Lodge.

Chloe and Jesse with the Christmas tree in the lobby, at Wilderness Lodge.

One place John hopes to stay one day is the Wilderness Lodge. We visited on our way to the camp ground there, where we had dinner reservations. The tree was enormous!! There is even a water spring running through the inside of the lobby. And oh so many rocking chairs! I adore rocking chairs.

Jesse working on her mime skills.

This box was in the room you go through waiting to see Buzz and Woody at Hollywood Studios. Jesse loves to mime and I think she did a great job with this! Chloe is simply happy to be there. :)

Osborne Christmas lights at Hollywood Studios

When it came to planning our vacation (way back in July). John said he wanted to see the Osborne Christmas lights. He didn't care what else we did, but he wanted to do that. He also only wanted to do three parks (there are four, not including the water parks or Disney Quest). I told him he had to decide which park we would not go to. Our next conversation was John telling me he booked the vacation and we were going to four parks. He couldn't drop a park, each for its own reasons. So this was his moment. I have never seen so many lights in one place ever! This picture does not even begin to do it justice! This was just a tiny part of the lights that were there and they all danced to music!!

Entire family with Jessie and Woody!

Entire family at the Contemporary Hotel.

Just a couple of family pictures.

Jesse, Goofy and Chloe doing the robot!

I will admit I thought Jesse taking her robot pen to Disney was a bit odd. But, as usual, I was proved wrong. Many of the characters were taken by her pen. Jessie and Woody went a little crazy over it. Many of the characters had to show the photographer that was with them. They loved the pen! But Goofy was the best. He broke out into the robot, followed shortly by the girls. The photographer was laughing so hard and was very impressed by Chloe's robot. The whole line of people waiting to see Goofy was laughing. It was SO fun! Chloe keeps saying, "if they tell you you're good at something at Disney, you have to be good!"

That is the end of our vacation. We are happy to be home and waiting for Christmas, but part of us is still there. While our next trip will be the mountains, the focus right now is what we want to do the next time we are at Disney. It sounds crazy I know. But like the Smiths' we cannot help talking about our next trip. Planning it is almost as fun as being there. Okay, not really. But we cannot afford to live in Disney year round. :)  So here is hoping you and yours have a "Magical" holiday season.

Yeah!! for vacations!!!

Yes, we had the most fabulous time on our vacation. And yes we went to Disney World...again. John and I were talking on our way home Sunday about people. The people who don't know Disney always think we do the same ole' things there, while other Disney people are always asking what new thing did you do? So for those Disney people (and those about to take their first trip - you know who you are) here is what we did.

We arrived Sunday at a hotel we have not stayed at before, Pop Century. The girls had been asking to stay there for a couple of years. Chloe really wanted to see the giant Foosball players, while Jesse wanted to see the Yo-yo stairs. I have to say the hotel was fun.

The golf cart at our hotel. It was too COOL!

Can you find Chloe?

Twister!!! Yes, this was at our hotel!

The gift shop was smaller than what we are used to and in the same room as the quick service restaurant, which was a bit unusual. That night we ate at Boma (Animal Kingdom Lodge) which is John's all time favorite. I think he asked me at least three times if we had reservations for our first night. He loves to start there. The food is awesome!! And the desserts are even better!

John and I at Boma (Animal Kingdom Lodge)

Monday was Animal Kingdom. Chloe was still too short for Primeval Whirl, but John finally rode it. He now understands what I mean when I say I love it and I hate it. That sucker whips you around curves like you would not believe! Jesse said it was going faster with me than it did when John rode it. Of course, just my luck. :)

It is a Santa Goofy!!!!

Tuesday was EPCOT. How we all love EPCOT. Chloe wanted to see the Santa's around the world. We had a chance to see a couple but not Pierre Noel (France), who she wanted to see the most. Our lunch and dinner reservations prevented us from all of those shows. She was sad, BUT she did see the gnome from Norway.

Norway's gnome (whose name I cannot recall)

We also saw Father Christmas (the UK). Okay. I have to tell you this story. So, Father Christmas starts his story. He gets to the part about the mistletoe and how each man will get his own from the woods. For each kiss he gets from a girl, the man will remove a berry from the mistletoe. So Father Christmas comes right over to me and puts the mistletoe over my head. Then he repeats the part about the kiss. John just stands there. So Father Christmas says it again. John kisses me! On the lips!! IN PUBLIC!!!! Most of the time, the man won't even hold my hand in public! I thought it was funny. Too bad we have no pictures of it. So the Christmas stories were new to us.

Jesse wanted to do something new too. She wanted to do the Kim Possible Save the World thing. Well, we started it in Norway then went off to China. We did the first clue in China. IT WAS SO COOL!! (the cricket for those in the know). But we had lunch reservations so we couldn't finish. During lunch she was thrown off the mission and we had to be reassigned. Our next was in Germany. Which again was WAY COOL!! I always wondered what was making all those things go off and now we know. John loved being in the know and watching all the other patrons looking around trying to figure out what was going on. Too funny!! We did get back to China, but it was a different mission. This time it involved the monkey! Chloe and I missed the monkey because we were in the gift shop.

We also ate at new restaurant, at EPCOT, the Coral Reef. It was wonderful! John and I both wound up with the lobster ravioli and it was delicious!! We also did a new ride, Journey into Imagination and we all loved it. The end caught all of us off guard! After you get off the ride, there are (it is hard to describe) hands on electronic devices where you make music. The girls loved them.

Wednesday was Hollywood studios. We did quite a few new rides there. We did the Little Mermaid show and the Behind the Scences and something else (I cannot think of right now). We also did what I've been waiting to do for three years! Yep, three years!! We finally ate at Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater. The tables are replicas (partial) of cars from the 50's and they face a big movie screen where they play bits and pieces of old concession comericials from drive-ins and really bad "scary" movies. I really loved it!

Thursday was Magic Kingdom! Our favorite park. In two hours, we rode four rides, saw five characters and saw one show. That is awesome for MK!!! Chloe got to meet Terrance (one of the male fairies) and she saw Tink again. John and Jesse rode a new ride, the Rocket Orbitor. Chloe refused, politely. ;)  Jesse said it was really fast, but she liked it. We also went back to the Crystal Palace for dinner. This is the place where Jesse, when she was two, decided she did not want to see the characters and faced out the window the entire time we were eating. I am happy to report she did much better this time. lol We also saw Pirate Goofy for the first time!!!! Yes, I AM a Goofy fan! I know you didn't know that.

Friday we went to O'hana. We were all looking forward to this breakfast. A friend told us the juice was excellent and it was!! John said we need to find something like that at home. I will start looking. :)  Chloe was happy to see Stitch because we missed him at MK. The food was wonderful. They just keep bringing it to you, including hot Mickey Mouse waffles!

Friday night was the best! We spent the evening with my college roomate and her family. We had such a good time. I hope we get to see them again before eight years passes again. Doug (her husband) was saying maybe they could come up for a short visit. I hope so. I'd love to see them all again soon.

Saturday we went around to the hotels we wanted to see Christmas decorations at. We did not get to see all of them we hoped for, but we'll put them on the next to do list. We still did not make it to mini-golf; one day we will though.

We had a great time with wonderful weather. John said he never sweated once, which is probably why he was in such a good mood all week. He was being so goofy!! LOL  As his Mom told me years ago, the more he picks the happier he is. I tell you now that was one happy man for nine days!!

We have already started talking about our next vacation. We are wanting to get back to the mountains. John would love to have a cabin in the mountains. He speaks of it often, but winter in the mountains is really not for me and I think he would go a bit nuts too. We'll have to settle for visiting for now.

John's first Christmas present!!

John has been talking for awhile about getting a new TV. Yes, I know ours is old. I mean OLD! The thing has to weigh one hundred pounds! Ridiculous!! We rearranged the living room a few weeks ago in an attempt to see if we would like a TV where we were thinking of putting one. In fact, we moved the TV from our bedroom into the living room to try to get used to it. We loved it!

Late last week John found the TV he wanted for a good price. He had been watching the prices the last few months, so he would be prepared. :)  Last week he ordered himself us a new TV. It arrived yesterday morning and by 9:15pm everything had been downloaded and it was ready for TV viewing. It is not the largest television we could have purchased, but it fits the room perfectly! He also insisted on getting one that was already internet ready. The girls had fun last night going onto the Disney site and poking around with the new remote.

I know he loves the new set. He waited so long before buying one. I just know we are going to enjoy it...once I figure out how to use the remote. :)

Time changes everything

Sunday morning as we sat watching the news, I glanced over at John. His chair is now sitting across from the love seat where I was sitting. A perfect position to see the laptop on his lap. I admit I was confused...he was typing an email. The man does not email people, at least not at home unless he is working.

That is when I found out he had placed a Craig's List ad for the girls pink Cadillac. We (as in us and the girls) had been discussing selling the Cadillac since early this summer. The girls were all for it, especially since they knew the funds were going toward a vacation. :)  But I had no idea he had placed an ad the night before. Within three hours, the Cadillac had been sold and picked-up.

A nice young couple bought it for their two girls. I'm glad it is going to a family with two girls to enjoy it for years to come. Their girls are a bit younger than ours were when we purchased it, so they will have a great time with it.

Of course this had my mind reeling with memories. I searched our computer this morning and found these:

John was trying very hard to figure out where all those stickers were suppose to go.

They looked so excited!

The first of MANY times John was run over by the car. Looks like that hurt.

Here they were yesterday, just after it was sold.

Pictures!

I've been promising pictures of this and that and I finally had a moment this morning to get pictures downloaded. At 7:40am, everyone (but me) is still sleeping. I love the quiet. Shh! Don't tell. ;)

We'll start with camping:

Jesse and I played my first game of Farkle. My friend, Courtney, once told me her kids loved this game and it was very easy. So, when I saw this mini version on clearance at the local toy store I had to get it. It was fun! Very similar to Yahtzee! but different.

Can you find Rosie?

While Jesse and I played Farkle, John and Chloe had a game of Checkers going.

John wanted to go with us Wednesday so he could see Jesse work.

Chloe, of course, had to do some schoolwork. And of course, John was distracting talking about the drawings in the book. Chloe was right there to tell him all about "Whte Fang". :)

Thanksgiving afternoon we took the girls bike riding:

The quiet ended just as I was downloading the first picture, but at least I was able to finish. :)

Um...who am I?

Usually, I'm not so calm in the kitchen. The girls now know if I am trying a new recipe, the kitchen is not the place for them to be. I get nervous, especially if John is looking over my shoulder. He does this often, which is why I try to have dinner cooked before he gets home. The problem comes in when he is on vacation. :)

We started the morning with homemade pumpkin muffins. They are so good! I do love them. However, I was good, I only ate one. :)  After the muffins came out of the oven, the turkey went into the oven. I actually had time to sit, enjoy my breakfast and get ready. For the feast, I made green bean casserole (John's all-time favorite), dressing, and sweet potato casserole. We also had Hawaiian rolls and Mrs. Smith's apple pie. We are also finishing off the pound cake I made a few days ago.

The thing is I never panicked. I was calm while making breakfast and the feast. The question is how could I be so calm cooking Thanksgiving dinner and not dinner every day?! It is an interesting question.

John told the girls a few days ago he would take them bike riding today. After lunch, we loaded the van then took off to an empty parking lot near by. The girls loved it! They have never had an opportunity to ride that like before. This lot is huge!! We decided we would go again soon, with a picnic. I also really enjoyed the opportunity to take some manual pictures.

How does John keep up?

Last week, I was sitting on the couch (I don't remember what I was doing exactly, but that is where I was) when John asked, "What is going on with the library thing? I checked the blog and there is nothing there."

Of course I had to laugh. John keeps up with our daily activities by reading the blog. Therefore, when I don't blog for a bit he wonders what we have been up to. But this particular question, worded that way, cracked me up.

I had been telling Jesse she needed to ask Mrs. Paula, the librarian over the junior volunteers, if she needed to reapply for the upcoming semester. Jesse finally did ask, but we neglected to inform John of the answer. The answer is she no longer has to apply. Once you are in the program, you can stay as long as you like. They only ask the "regular" volunteers, which is now Jesse, to take the summer off because they get another sixty applicants for the summer months and want them to have a time slot to work. Jesse can let Mrs. Paula know what date she wants to start back in the fall.

I still think John is funny. :)

Camping in November?!

Yep! We went camping last night. Don't worry, we were only in the backyard. ;)

Since we missed our opportunity to camp with the homeschool group. And since we had a brand new tent. John decided Sunday that Monday night would be a perfect night for camping in the yard. I admit I was not overly excited. I mean I was there for the last camping trip. lol 

We started our night with John grilling some BBQ chicken. We ate on our "camping" plates, in our folding chairs, out by the tent. Then John and Chloe played Checkers, while Jesse and me played Farkle. Then we all huddled around the laptop to watch Disney's "Robin Hood", the animated version.

I admit I did not expect Rosie to be as scared as she was. She was shivering all night, it was not that cold so I don't think she was cold. Then ALL the dogs in the neighborhood started barking, with the crickets and frogs in the background. And somewhere in all that I heard a cow moo too. Not sure what time it was but it took awhile for it to get quiet. But let me tell you! A few minutes later it suddenly became silent. Nothing. Not a single sound. I went back to sleep then. :)

The girls enjoyed it, but Jesse now knows you want to sleep in the middle so other people can get dripped on by the condensation at night. Yep, we had fun!

Note: I'll add pictures tomorrow.

A ruined Thanksgiving

Alright, I'm sure it will turn out okay. But far from what we thought it would be. You see I made a mistake. I adore my husband, you know that, but he has been bugging me all season to get the girls a flu shot. They did not want a shot but were willing to do the nasal mist. Last Wednesday, I took the girls in for their annual check-ups and they received the FluMist. The staff asked several times if we lived with someone who was compromised. Well, no. I assumed a week would be sufficient for us to visit my parents for Thanksgiving.

Saturday morning the girls woke up with low-grade fevers. I got on-line to see if I could find out if they were contagious or not. Low and behold I found out they were for 21 days! Realistically, it is the holiday season and I really felt the doctor's office should not have been so concerned about "living with" someone compromised, so much as "visiting anyone in 21 days" who is compromised. I am happy to report that particular doctor's office is changing the questions the ask their patients. However, that does not help us.

With Dad's white blood cell count so low (fluctuating between 1 and 2) we cannot visit them this week. I am very sad, especially since Dad was too sick to make the drive down last year. Which is the reason we were going up there this year. I'm sure the food will be good and we will still enjoy the parade, but it is not what we (I) thought it was going to be.

Climbing the Soapbox!

Can anyone tell me what has happened to the news media? Probably not. I remember when the news was news. When your favorite reporter told you all the things about this country and the world that you needed to know. When to find about your favorite actor/actress you had to turn on Entertainment Tonight. These days the the news media and the entertainment shows are all running the same reports. How can this be?

Last night John turned on The Cobert Report. Occasionally, I watch this show with him. I do find myself laughing at the absurd, which is almost always accurate. However, last night was a different story. No one in our bedroom was laughing. In fact, there were not any sounds. Cobert was telling a "funny" story about the super committee. How they are looking at finding, at least part of their 1.2 trillion, budget cut in TRICARE. TRICARE is the medical insurance for the military. Really?! That is what they want to cut?! Insulting does not begin to cover the mere thought of this crap. To cut the medical coverage of those families who sacrifice their family time, not to mention their health, to do a job most would never think to do (defend this country, with your life in necessary) is deplorable!

The part that I find most unsettling is the "regular" news media has not touched this. I have spent the last hour searching ABC NEWS's website in search of any snippet about TRICARE being cut and found nothing! What has happened to the news?! WHERE is the news?! How about ya'll get off your high horse and find some real news. Yes, Mrs. Gifford's recovery is amazing. Yet, I do not wish to hear about it every night. I'd rather hear that Congress is trying to cut our medical coverage, as I'm sure the other millions of military families would like to hear about it too.

Okay, now I'm offended

I'm the first to admit there are grammatical errors floating all over my blog. I am a homemaker, homeschool mom and taekwondo instructor; I do not always have time to read and reread my posts. I do try to hit spellcheck, but sometimes time is lacking.

Now that I've stated the obvious I will move on to my point. I never put much thought into not being "offered" an honors class in high school. I never wondered how much more work they were doing compared to my own classes. I suppose I was too caught up in my own world of homework to think much on the subject. Well, times are changing.

I realized this week both my children will finish their English program in 9th grade. I fretted over what to do. Should I slow their pace down? Why? They are both doing well in English. Should I add another program in 10th grade? If so, what program? The one they are using is supposedly the best. I went to my favorite forum and posed the question to all the wonderful homeschool mom, and dads, who reside there. Overwhelmingly, they said go onto literature, which honestly was one of my thoughts (and John's too).

Today, I spent much of my time (while the girls were working) surfing the web looking for lists of books for an honors English class. I was wondering if the girls could handle such a thing. Wow! I admit now I am very offended none of my teachers believed I could perform well in this class. Yes, you have to read an entire book! Oh, my! Really?! I found one school where they only read four books in an entire year. I've read most of the books on that list in one day, so I'm not really seeing the Honors aspect. Yes, there is writing involved. Did you know I exempted out of Writing 1 with my college aptitude tests? Probably not, but I did. Yep, I am offended none of my English teachers had enough faith in me to "invite" me into the folds of Honors or AP English. My children will not know that offense. They will have Honors English and I think (after talking to them today) they are excited about it.

I think we are floating

It is far better than sinking. ;) lol

School is still going great. John is off most of next week, so family time is coming. The wrinkles we've had seem to be working themselves out. At least, I hope they are. :)

Taekwondo is going well. Master Mike is taking on a new job, so he will be able to teach now on Tuesdays. I've been put out of a job. :(  I knew the first degrees would be happy but I didn't expect their cheering to be quite so loud. I thought I was doing okay; I suppose they had other thoughts. Oh, well. I did my best. Master Mike was talking last night about January classes. I'm not sure where we are going (who is teaching what), but I have a feeling changes are still in his head. Just not "out there" yet.

We are having a "special" graduation next Saturday for one of our students. He is off to college now and will not be able to make our scheduled graduation. When the black belts heard this last, they all sighed. (At least they were sad about something.) I am hoping a few of them can come on Saturday to watch as Brady gets his fourth degree. Seems like our students get their fourth just as they are leaving for college. Jesse will be different (and Chloe when she gets there). They will still be fairly young, so they will be able to train with Master Mike.

The girls are both mid-terming with their weapons, both are on double weapons so it will be fun to see them. I am getting my third degree black belt. Wow. I just cannot believe I am there still. I am still teased about quitting. I used to look at the people doing the form above me an say "I can't do it. I quit." Of course, I didn't quit I was right there after graduation learning more and learning the form I felt I couldn't do. Now here I am teaching those same forms!! What a twist of fate!! Because I've been teaching and I have a black belt recommended, I have not practiced my own form. And with my inner ear issues I am having problems staying upright with my spinning kicks. Not how I want to perform as an instructor, but I also don't have much choice. I am hopeful this second round of antibiotics will do the trick, but only time will tell.

Always so much, so fast

Seems like in our life, as most I'm sure, so many things happen in such a short amount of time. I wanted to come back to post about our Nature Class last week. Probably one of the best ones we've had in awhile. I will try to post soon, including some pictures too.

Last Wednesday night, we started rearranging living room furniture at eight o'clock. We sat there looking around the room until nine o'clock, then moved it again. Thursday night we rearranged again. I think I like it, at least it is growing on me. I told my friend Julia last week the funny part is we did all the rearranging for the new TV we don't have. Something tells me John is not going to wait until March to get that new TV either. :)

School work is going well. Though I admit I have quite a few history tests that need grading. Chloe is loving her chemistry, nothing but experiments and reports for her this year. I think she likes it that way. Jesse is enjoying the nature aspect of biology but not so much the human body part. They are both enjoying reading, especially if I allow them to pick their own book. Unfortunately, Jesse has not had that opportunity lately and really disliked her last two books. I'm a meany, what can I say. :)

Jesse is still loving working at the library. I gave her the chance to take a few weeks off at Christmas, but she doesn't want to. She knows she'll get the summer off; and she is trying her best to get in the fifty hours she needs to attend their summer party for the volunteers. I think, at two hours a week, she has no worries.

The girls are preparing to audition for another play at the Columbia Children's Theatre. I will admit I am worried about the auditions now. They are no longer having multiple children play the same character (which will be less confusing), but that also means far fewer spots. They have been talking about "Beauty and Beast" for months, so I'm hoping they get a spot.

John has been working hard around the house doing lots of little projects. I believe he is getting ready to do some painting (furniture, not walls) soon. He is excited to have some things to do and eager to start them.

I believe we are all looking forward to our December break though we are not really "breaking". We are taking some time off, but not three weeks like we usually do. We are going to have school when John is working. For two weeks, we'll have school three days. They are still getting five days at Christmas and, I believe, four for New Year's. They are good with it. They may even be over the 90 day mark when December is done! That will be a first!! They are currently poised to end school the last week of May, maybe even the week before. They are thrilled knowing it will be that much more time in the pool.

HAPPY DOUBLE BIRTHDAY

Happy birthday to my Mom!!! Hope you have a great dinner out with Dad.

AND happy birthday to our nephew Tyler...the big 21!!! I am going to pretend I do not know what you are going to do tonight. I prefer it that way. :)

Love you both!!

I'M SO EXCITED!!!!!!

We just got back from Nature Class a little bit ago. I have to say I am totally thrilled after my conversation with Mr. Tim about next semester. Okay, so I don't know what the classes are yet. However, he did send them to the IT people so hopefully it will be on the website very soon.

For the past couple of weeks, my kids were kind of bummed. We had heard we were not going to have our Nature Classes anymore. I mean they were bummed. So was I. I've learned a lot from these classes right along with my children. So today I asked Tim about it. He said we were kind of "grandfathered in", so we will still have classes. We continued talking about the topics and the length of the classes. At one point I had him up to an hour long class (down from the current two hours, but up from his forty-five minutes). We were still debating the age thing.

He is wanting all the students to be within a few grades of each other and we (as homeschool Moms) have been kind of fighting that one. Well! Today, Tim and I came to a fantastic agreement!! This is where my excitement is coming from (along with actually keeping the class!) we are going to split the class into two groups. Both groups are going to learn the same topic but one will be geared toward the younger kids and the other to the older kids. LOVE IT!!!!! This way Mr. Tim gets what he wants: fewer grades in one class; and we Moms get what we want: all our children the opportunity to learn the same things. I am so excited!! The girls are too! They were full of questions all the way home this afternoon. The two moms who were still there with me were pretty excited too.

I cannot wait to email the group about this one. I hope they will be as excited as I am. This also means we can have double the families there because we are breaking off into two group for forty-five minute classes. Have I said how excited I am? So excited!!! This also means each group will have "play time" before or after their class. Something our kids have been asking for. Its a two-for!!!!! So exciting!

More amazed!

I was sitting here a few minutes ago waiting patiently for the beep of the dryer, so I could change the loads of laundry out. Then it dawned on me how quiet it was. My next thought was how well school work is going today. Jesse is almost finished (one more subject) and it is only 10am. Chloe has two more. She works a bit slower and did her hardest subjects first.

My kitchen is still, relatively, clean. The laundry, including all the sweaters, is almost caught up. The living room, well, the "dining" table never seems to be put away but it looks fairly good too. The girls have kept their rooms mostly clean for almost a week now. I did remind them John would be home on Friday, so there would be no time to clean on Friday, or tomorrow either really.

I almost feel at peace. I feel like things are slowly coming together here. Yes, there are days when it does not look as though I am on top of things. And honestly, there are days when I am not on top of anything because everything seems to be falling apart. But today I feel the calm of knowing things are getting done. Yes, we have Nature Class this afternoon and I have a few things I need to do around the house, some school work I need to deal with and emails for taekwondo. But things are happening. And they are happening in a cleaner house with happier people.

Daylight Savings Time

Just saying that phrase makes most people go into a panic. I am the first to admit I do not like the time changes. Mainly due to my eating habits. I am not on any medications, thankfully, for my hypoglycemia. I control it mostly by my food. I eat my meals at certain times of the day. If I'm late eating, prepare thyself for crankiness! So when the times changes I find myself hungry WAY before meal time. In a week or so my system will adjust, until then I have to be very aware of when I ate last and how I'm feeling.

Time changing has other effects. My girls are waking up earlier. This morning school began at 7:30; they had been up for almost an hour!! They even saw John before he left for work! Amazing!! The really great thing about starting school early is finishing early. They were both done about one o'clock, with a little over an hour break for lunch. Love it!! I hope the rest of the year goes as smoothly as today has gone. I know it won't but it sure would be nice.

The Year of Change

I believe I am going to refer to 2011 as the year of change. So many of them have happened this year.

I started 2011 as a brand new taekwondo instructor. By May, I had my own class (white/yellow belts). Then in September I had to take over all the classes on Tuesday, or close the school. I would consider all of them major changes.

Our homeschooling has changed. Not so much in what we are doing, but the feel has changed. Both girls work more independently. Jesse is now doing most of her work in her room, when we are not upstairs altogether. Chloe still stays in the room I'm in, mostly. But sometimes she'll take her reading to her bed too.

Our biggest change is coming though. Last Monday, my Dad had a bone marrow biopsy. Unfortunately, it did not go smoothly. They took two biopsies and my Dad's bones crumbled. He has osteoporosis, and from the two failed biopsies we can tell things are not well there. The third biopsy the doctor was finally able to get some bone, but he was not convinced it would be enough to test. So the wait began.

The doctor called my Dad Friday night to let my Dad know he was leaving town until maybe Tuesday (due to a family emergency). He did tell Dad the preliminary report confirmed my Dad has myeladysplastic syndrome (MDS). Basically, he has a very low white blood cell count and very high count of platelets. This used to be called pre-leukemia. Not everyone who has MDS will develop leukemia. My Dad is in the early stage of MDS. Well, all of that is just going by the preliminary report. We'll get more info this week.

Last week, before the report came it, the doctor's office was telling Dad his treatment was going to start this week. (It may still we don't know.) But the word chemo had been tossed around. Dad had been talking to John about the two of the BBQing before Thanksgiving. Well, John decided he would split train this weekend, so we could go to Charlotte Saturday. He and Dad cooked some fantastic BBQ! The girls, John and myself raked most of my Dad's front yard. So much fun playing in the leaves!


John waiting for his turn to chop the BBQ.



HEY!!!!!



Girls raking for Grandpa!

We also celebrated my Mom's birthday...a bit early. We surprised her with a cake from Tiffany's too.

We had a great weekend. Dad is tired, and not feeling great, from his shot last week. We are not sure if he'll have to continue getting that particular shot; but I'm hoping now that they know for sure what is going on that shot will go away. But we don't know yet.

The theatre from a different point of view

This morning the girls and I are going to the theatre. Yep, another YouTheatre show at Columbia Children's Theatre. The different aspect comes in the fact neither of my girls are in the the play. One of my taekwondo students is in this play, "Annie Jr.". We are going to cheer him on! I'm sure once we get there we will see lots of people we know. In all honesty, we have missed the theatre this semester. The girls actually broke out into a medley of "Music Man" songs yesterday in the car. They are excited to see the show this morning. And I cannot wait to see Zack as Mr. Bundles. Should be a great show!

In fact, I read the other day the girl playing Annie just received a callback from NYC to play Annie ON Broadway. Wow! This should be good.

Update: The show was fantastic. The girl who played Miss Hannigan stole show in my opinion!
And here is our Zack!! with Miss Hannigan. ;)

Complicated

I seem to be using the word complicated a lot lately. Homeschooling the girls is getting more complicated. Taekwondo, with me teaching all the classes one night, has gotten very complicated. Friendships, too, have gotten complicated lately. There are other complications, but we are not discussing them at this time. Soon. My attempts at keeping a clean house are not complicated, they are just failing miserably.

In the midst of all the other complications, we are starting a new (not complicated but) detailed list and new requirements for the girls allowances. It starts tonight. They are going to be required to keep their rooms clean. Yes, they were suppose to have their rooms cleaned before. We are just tweaking the process. They have to have the floors clean, beds made, closets organized AND under their bed clean and organized. They are going to start getting allowance every Friday. On top of cleaning their rooms, they have to help me with whatever I ask of them without whining or looking at me crazy. That one will be more difficult I'm sure.

They are also going to be more responsible for their laundry. I mean if they insist on wearing two outfits a day, not including pjs, they should be partly responsible for cleaning the clothes.

I have been reminding them for a week this was going to start. Ask me if they have started cleaning yet. Go ahead, ask. Of course not! I'm not sure about those two. Jesse did work on her room one day last week, but honestly it had nothing to do with this new idea. I originally thought it did and was so proud of her for not waiting until the last minute. Then I found out she and John talked. We were going to redo their closets, but John said if she could find a way to redo her room without spending all the money on a closet system, then maybe she could have the laptop she has been wanting. Now, that makes senses; she really wants a laptop!

This morning I have more complications. Do I let them spend the day working on their rooms, while I clean the rest of the house? It would be nice for everything to be clean, because of the upcoming complications mentioned, but not discussed earlier. Do I rework the entire school schedule I worked on for one-and-a-half hours at the library? Why does that always happen?? I have yet to decide and Chloe is already awake. Breakfast still needs to be made. Maybe I will think on it while I cook our waffles.

Wish us luck!! We'll need it today no matter what is decided.

Have you ever noticed...

you don't have a camera when you really want one?! Today was that day for me. The girls had Nature Class today and I did not realize I left the camera until we parked. Of course that is also when I realized I had no phone either.

Nature Class was fun; we learned about vermi-composting. Mr. Tim answered all my silly questions (I really need to find a good book on the subject; okay look for a book on the subject). The Children's Garden has a vermi-compost bin. I didn't know that?! Maybe I forgot. I don't know, maybe I just didn't know. Either way it was cool! The kids were playing with all the worms and we even found a tiny baby worm. Of course, Chloe had to hold that one!

After the worm lesson, we went through the corn mazes. I didn't know there were two. The kids had fun running through the corn. Along the way, Mr. Tim stopped to show us several things. He made a track pit so we went to see what had been in the area: deer, coyotes, and a doodle bug (which is not a bug). I am so amazed by what my children know. I really need to pay more attention sometimes.

Chloe brought in wings for trading. She thought she knew what they were from, but she was off a bit. Mr. Tim said he could see why she thought what she did. The wings were from a bird grasshopper. During our walk, Mr. Tim found a couple of them, but we were not able to catch one. Of course, after he left the kids found a huge one! It had to be close to three inches!! It was beautiful. And I had no camera. Of course!

Well, hello!!!

I suppose we'll be saying "hello" to the tooth fairy again tonight. That loose tooth finally came out!! It had gotten so loose she could push it to where the top was facing outside her mouth, but it should would NOT let go. Okay, not the best description, but I never got a picture of that though I thought about it last night. Chloe came out this morning and said her tooth was hurting. Well, it is not suppose to hurt when it comes out. Feel strange yes, but hurt, no. So I looked at her tooth. It was taller than all the others, well, that is strange. When I went for a tissue her eyes bugged out. "Just calm down. I'm just looking at it." I went to wiggle it, then looked at the tissue and there it was. She didn't even know it had come out! :) 

Halloween 2011

The girls had a great Halloween this year. I believe it is the first time, Chloe remembers, they have been through a neighborhood trick-or-treating in a very long time (since Edgefield, really). It was crazy over there! I have not seen that many people in a neighborhood in quite awhile.

April invited us and Wendy's family over to trick-or-treat in her neighborhood. I was worried about keeping warm, because I had left my coat at home. All that walking kept me warm though...no worries.

Yes, Jesse's costume is the same from last year, but made to keep her much warmer. Tempatures from this year and last year were very different! In all honesty, we were not sure if we would be trick-or-treating this year or not. John's work had given us this week as a possible date for him to be in D.C. After seeing the snow that fell there this weekend, I'm thankful that did not happen.

Many comments were made about Chloe's costume. She was a ladybug at the Halloween party and Scooby Doo for Halloween. Jesse was Scooby quite a few years ago and for the last couple of years Chloe wanted to be Scooby right up to the last minute. This year will be the last year she would be able to wear the costume, it is getting too tight. So this year she decided she was going to be Scooby Doo, because next year it probably will not be a choice. She was adorable! And Jesse just looks to grown up!

Conversation turned this weekend, as I tried to convince them to stay home and not go out for Halloween. I even offered them two bags each of their favorite candy! Chloe pointed out that soon they will not be able to go trick-or-treating. She was sad about it. I told her that is when we start having Halloween parties with their friends. Now, they are a little excited about the change when it happens.

Wishing for more hours in a day

The girls have convinced me to take them to a friend's house tonight for trick-or-treating. Knowing my camera's memory was full I started loading pics/videos onto the laptop this morning. Wow! There were pictures in there as far back as Jesse's birthday! There is just not near enough time in the day to get everything done.

This is going to my catch up on pictures post. And believe me there are going to be many!!

We had another Ice Cream Social this year. It turned out that many of our friends could not be there due to family vacations and sickness. It was a very small group, but the kids had a blast. I think the Mom's and Auburn did too.

I never posted a picture of John on his birthday. Here he is. Like the new haircut? I do! It took the girls some time to get used it. They still don't love it. I think he's sexy.

We also had Nature Club, something new April wanted to try. I had thought about skipping Nature Club because I was still upset about the passing of Betty Grey the day before, but I went. Sometimes I wish we could go back in time and change things. The girls had a great time, but I spent most of the time thinking. Anyway. Here are a couple of pictures:

The group!

I had forgotten I had taken this one. Now it has such special meaning to me. Love you both!

I can say nothing more.