I love this picture!

They have a lot of funny cat pictures, too. Actually, if you can stand the bad spelling (which is on purpose, but still REALLY bugs me), they have a lot of funny pictures. For instance:



And this one:


see more Lolcats and funny pictures

It's possible that I am easily amused. So what? You're laughing too. So there!

Happy Mother's Day!

I hope you had a lovely day! I did. My children, even Isaac, all made me cards. I got to go shopping (for groceries) by myself. And, Todd gave me a wonderful blue Googles Webkinz, which I love. I took Abbie to the doctor for some awful bug bites, and then took their beds all apart and cleaned them and changed the sheets to try to get rid of whatever is biting her. I suspect spiders. It was, all in all, the day of every mother's dreams. :-)

My inlaws forwarded me this sweet video. Enjoy!

Cool Duck Story!

My inlaws forwarded me this story about ducks in San Antonio, TX. It's really, really neat. I hope you enjoy it!

Isaac At 18 Months

Isaac had his 18 month checkup last week at the pediatrician's office. He weighed in at 31 pounds, and measured 36 inches tall. He's the size of your average 29 month old child. They decided to call his breathing issues "asthma," and we will be using inhaled steroids with him for the foreseeable future, but other than that, everything is great!

Apparently in honor of this grand proclamation, he decided to start climbing out of his crib. I was not in the least prepared for him to do that, I have to tell you. The first time he did it, it was the middle of the night. I heard him cry out, then a thud, and then he started to scream. When I rushed to his room to get him, he had the lights on and he opened the door for me.

The next day, my good friend Jeni gave me her toddler bed. I had Todd take the crib down and I got that set up for him. He would not stay in it. So, I had Todd put the crib back up and hoped he'd scared himself well enough when he fell out that he wouldn't do it again. We considered ordering a crib tent.

The next morning at around 5:30 am, I heard his sweet little voice chattering away as he came wandering into our room. Clearly, my hopes were in vain that he would voluntarily stay in his "cage" once he'd figured out how to set himself loose.

At this point, I was in a dither. I knew he couldn't stay in the crib, but wasn't sure I wanted to go the tent route. Friday night he stayed in without incident, so my hopes were renewed - until he fell out Saturday at nap time and hit his head on the floor, giving himself a nice bump and a rug burn on his forehead. Clearly, we could not leave him in the crib, but Todd was not excited about taking the crib down again, either. We ended up taking one side off and putting up a bed rail, left over from when the girls transitioned into twin beds. I put a doorknob cover on the inside, both to keep him from escaping and also to prevent him locking the door, so that I don't have to search out that rotten little key in the wee hours of the morning.

It took a couple of nights of him waking up to play in the middle of the night, but he did start sleeping through again. He's still getting up much earlier than I would like, but the lack of screaming is wonderful.

Today, while I was telling some friends about our escapades with Isaac, he came trotting down the hall. I prayed that I had just left his door the tiniest bit open and went down to check how he'd gotten out. He had taken his little stool over to the door and taken the doorknob cover off. Bless his little pea-pickin' heart!

I feel like I should call professional baby-proofers, but at least he's sleeping again. We decided against the crib tent, because he's so tall, I think he would be able to unzip it. I'm still having a difficult time wrapping my brain around having an 18 month old child who is no longer contained in a crib, but I suppose I will eventually get over it. :-)

One More Word About Wednesday

Well, not really about Wednesday, per se, but you know.

Today the girls and I saw a Northern Flicker at our bird feeder! It was the first one any of us had ever seen. I'm nearly certain it was a female, because the males have a distinctive black stripe on their cheek that this one didn't have. It was only there for a moment, but I thought it was a funny-looking Red-Bellied Woodpecker until I looked it up in the bird book. I'm also fairly confident that it was of the yellow-shafted variety, because after reviewing the bird book, it's highly unlikely that there would be a red-shafted one this far east.

Isn't it fun when you get to add a new bird to your life list? Whee!

Wordless Wednesday

Wordy Wednesday

I am supposed to be using the 30-day trial of the Simply Charlotte Mason online planner, but I decided to blog instead while all the kids are sleeping.

We had a fun school day today. We've been reading Peeps At Many Lands: Ancient Egypt by James Baikie to go along with our history lessons, but I couldn't find it this morning. So, we got out The Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt (Landmark Books) by Elizabeth Payne, which we are supposed to be reading, instead. It was a good chapter on the turmoil that occurred after the Pharaoh Cheops died, and the priests and nobles decided to rewrite the Egyptian religion.

One thing we read that piqued our interest was their idea of what happened to souls when they went to the underworld. They had to face judgment before Osiris, and if they were found guilty of any of 42 mortal sins, "...a great beast would pad forward from the shadows, fangs bared - a beast part crocodile, part lion, part hippopotamus. The guilty man would be devoured on the spot, and that would be the end of his hopes for a life everlasting."

Kinda makes you grateful for Jesus, doesn't it?

Anyhoo, the girls and I thought it would be fun to draw a picture of such a monster, because we were having a hard time picturing a combination of those three animals that would work. I did a little Googling, and could not find anything on this creature. In fact, most of what I saw said that the beast was Babi, a baboon, who would come out and eat the guilty souls. I found pictures of the three animals instead and took them down for the girls to use in their pictures.

Naturally, by the time I got back down there, they were well into their drawings so I let them have at it. This is what they came up with. I think Emma and I had the same issues trying to come up with a viable version of this creature. Hers is named "Bestey" (a creative variant of Beastie):



Abbie had a better idea of what she thought it would be. Hers is named "Bessy the Very Scary Beasty," and has the head of a lion, body of a hippo, and bumpy back and tail of a crocodile:



Isn't homeschooling fun? I love this stuff!

Bird Sightings

Yesterday I had a fun bird experience. We've had this one bird hanging around that does not seem to be as afraid of us as the rest. When I let Toby out, and all the other birds fly away, it looks around and seems to say, "What? I don't see anything!"

When I let the dog out, the bird stayed on the feeder and I realized I couldn't see its face. It was asleep, and it didn't notice the door opening or the big, black dog thundering down the deck stairs. I was able to go back in and get my camera, and take some pictures. I even got to pet it, and it didn't wake up.

Here it is asleep:



And from another angle:



It did eventually wake up and look at me a tad suspiciously, but it still didn't fly off.



Finally, it decided to go eat some more and ignore me again.



I tried to take a picture of my hand petting it, but I'm not that coordinated. It was a cute bird, though. I think it might be a young pine siskin. I hope it's not sick, but I don't suppose I will get to know that definitively.

Such Drudgery for Ones So Young

One of the girls' jobs is to unload the dishwasher. They've gotten a pretty good system down by now, although I still hear occasional arguments about who is going to do the top vs. the bottom. I don't care, as long as it gets done.

They get to do this most every day, and apparently this has placed a great burden upon their dear souls. Emma expressed her displeasure to Abbie, who took it upon herself to take action. I found this stuck to the kitchen cabinet where we keep our glasses:



Then, I guess Emma decided she could take responsibility for her own displeasure, and I found this one the next morning:



Always good for a laugh, they are! And, yes, we are working diligently on spelling during our school work.

Spelling Silliness

If you know me at all, you know that I have a great fondness for fun and silliness. I love when we can have fun with our school work!

This morning, I was watching "The Golden Girls" on the Hallmark Channel while I was getting ready for the day. We don't actually have cable, but for some reason, the television in our bedroom gets the Hallmark Channel and one other station - go figure! Anyway, I love "The Golden Girls." They are always good for a laugh.

This morning, the girls were trying to put together a funeral for Old Lady Claxton, who lived next door to them but died of a heart attack when Rose took her to court for threatening to cut down a beautiful old tree on her property - just because she knew it would make other people unhappy to have it cut down. Rose felt guilty, of course, because no one had liked this woman so there was to be no funeral and she was to be buried in a Potter's Field.

So, they go to the funeral home, where the proprietor introduces himself as Mr. Pfizer - and the "p" is not silent. After a brief pause, apparently trying to decide if he is serious, Dorothy says, "Well, Mr. P-fizer, we are here to plan a p-funeral. I mean, funeral."

I don't know why this struck me as so funny, but I was still giggling about it when I went downstairs to start school with the girls. They asked me what was so funny, so I tried to explain it to them, and bless their sweet hearts, they decided it was funny, too. We spent much of the day incorporating vocalized "p's" into our p-words, even in our p-spelling p-work. You will p-see that they p-learned some p-truly exceptional p-spelling p-skills today. They wanted me to be sure to blog about it. The spelling rule for today was that I and o followed by 2 consonants may be long.







I hope you have at least a little p-chuckle from this post today.

Can anyone identify this bug nest?

I found 3 or 4 of these in my Spanish lavender (Lavandula stoechas) plants as I was pruning them today. I have no idea what it is. It resembles a lightly toasted marshmallow. If you have any ideas, I would love to know. I'm going to ask my dad, fondly referred to by my children as "the walking, talking encyclopedia" when he comes in a few weeks. I hope he can tell from the picture because it smelled a little oddly and I didn't want to keep it.

If you'd like to grow lavender in North Carolina, by the way, this is an excellent variety for the hot, humid weather we have down here. The other kinds don't like it as well. Believe me, I tried.

Training Up The Boy

My girls love horses. They spend a lot of time at home pretending to be horses, creating "jumps" indoor and out that they either jump over themselves, or try to get the dog to jump. Poor, sweet Toby is a good sport. Emma has made several sets of "tack" for him from yarn, even including a martingale. It's quite impressive, actually.

Lately, we've had some cold, wet weather, so they took my Swiffer and made a small jump with couch pillows in the living room downstairs. You can run all the way around the first floor of our house, from the front door, through the dining room, kitchen, on to the living room, so they would run around the loop and do the jump.

Here is Abbie:



Here is Emma:



And, never one to be left out, Isaac had to play, too.



I kept hearing Emma say, "Abbie, don't help him!" I finally had to tell her that while is trying very hard to learn to jump, he really can only get one foot off the ground at a time just now, so unless they wanted him to keep knocking down the jump, they'd have to help him.

It takes a lot of effort for Abbie to lift her brother, who is more than half her weight, but by golly if she can't do it!



It's a little easier for Emma.



Then, they both decided to help him because I was taking pictures. :-) Here they come around the corner!



First one way:



Now the other:



I have to say that Isaac enjoys this a lot more than Toby does. You'd never know we were in the hospital with Isaac 5 days ago, would you?

Wordless Wednesday

Home From The Hospital Again

Poor Isaac had to go to the pediatric ER again yesterday afternoon. I noticed on Saturday that he was coughing more and had green snot. By Sunday morning he was wheezing, so we started albuterol treatments again, but by the afternoon not even back-to-back albuterol helped so we were told to take him in.

It was a little scary, actually. He had retractions that were quite extreme, and it took a lot to get them under control. Several breathing treatments and about 4 hours of constant albuterol later, he was finally nearly done wheezing. We ended up in the PICU for a few hours, but we were moved pretty quickly to the regular pediatric floor, because by the time we were sent to the PICU he was much, much better and didn't really need to be there. They think he might have a touch of pneumonia, which probably exacerbated the problem. We now have oral steroids, antibiotics, inhaled steroids and albuterol in an inhaler with an aero mask, because it is much faster and more effective than a nebulizer.

He was doing very well at the hospital, but by the time I was taking him out of the car at home, he was wheezing again. The inhalers did help, and we have a follow-up appointment with our pediatrician tomorrow, so we'll see what they have to say.

I am very, very tired. The ER does not allow for much sleep for a mama, especially one who's in charge of keeping the albuterol properly aimed at a moving target.

Abbie told me tonight that her chest hurts. I didn't particularly want to hear that. I gave her some medicine and we'll see how she is tomorrow. I'm wondering if some allergy medicine might not help her.

One more thing.

I miss Gail so much. I really do. I have still not quite wrapped my brain around not seeing her again in this life.

However, I did want to share one thing from the funeral. One of Gail's sisters got up to speak, and she shared that her 6 year old son had been very concerned for Gail's salvation. She finally told him to call Aunt Gail, so he did. He asked her if she knew Jesus, and he led her through the prayer for salvation.

What a beautiful, sweet child. He did what I was never quite brave enough to do. I don't know if she did it with him just because he called her and was so sweet; she talked a lot about God and I know she went to church sometimes. What I do know is that I will be seeing her in heaven and I am so thankful for that.

All this to say, every day, every moment is important. Don't waste a single one. And don't be afraid to ask someone if they know Jesus. God could use you to be the reason they make it to heaven.

Wordless Wednesday

The Day After

Gail's funeral was last night. It was a beautiful service. The pastor read several Psalms and other Scriptures, ending the readings with Proverbs 31 - The Excellent Wife. I'm sure that was for Bob.

She was cremated. I was glad. I did not want to see her in a coffin. I have a hard time remembering people as they were in life after I've seen them in death. I am so thankful that I will be able to remember her as she was when I knew her.

The girls and Todd came to the funeral with me. She was dear to all of us. It's the first funeral the girls attended, and it was hard for them. They both wanted to come, though, and both say they are glad they went. I think it was important for them to share in the end of her life. They loved her.

There were a lot of people at the service, but I wouldn't call it packed. The thing is, though, that Gail treasured every person who was there. We all knew how much she loved us. I would like to be the kind of friend she was - someone who spends her life loving other people and doing it well.

Today, I'm still trying to accept that she's really gone. When I last saw her, she was doing pretty well. It's hard to believe she went downhill so quickly. Once the doctors told her there was nothing more they could do, she was gone within two weeks. I can't express how much I regret not trying harder to at least talk to her. Isaac was sick and I was sick and there are lots of reasons, but now... she's gone. I suppose I was in denial too - I thought there would be more time.

I can't believe I will never hear her voice or see her smile again. She won't be at stitching anymore. I have to help her husband go through all of her cross stitch stuff. I'm sure it sounds silly, but it breaks my heart just to think about it.

If you're inclined to pray, please keep Gail's husband, Bob, in your prayers. He loved Gail with complete devotion, and feels like he has no purpose now that she is gone. Please pray that he will feel the love and the peace of God and that he will find a reason to keep going on. I'm very worried about him.

I'm sure I could ramble on for a while about Gail and how much I miss her, but I won't. I will go back to figuring out the next thing to do and keep on living. I will try to remember to live each precious moment the best way I can.

I was listening to Steven Curtis Chapman on my iPod the other day, and I heard this song, from his "Speechless" album. I will end with these lyrics. They've stayed with me and I find them more significant today than ever.

Five Minutes

I can reminisce about the already
I can worry and fret about the not yet
But when it all comes down, and
It really, really comes down to the right now,
So right now

I'm living the next five minutes
Like these are my last five minutes
Cause I know the next five minutes
May be all I have
And after the next five minutes
Turn into the last five minutes
I'm taking the next five minutes
And start it all over again

Every morning God is given is precious
Every heartbeat, every breath I take
I'll never have them back once they've left us
There will never be another right now,
So right now

This is the day
This is the hour
This is the moment God has made

I'm living the next five minutes
Like these are my last five minutes
Cause I know the next five minutes
May be all I have
And after the next five minutes
Turn into the last five minutes
I'm taking the next five minutes
And start it all over again
I'm starting all over again
Gonna start it all over again

One Year Ago Today. . .

. . . Gail was babysitting for us, so Todd and I could go out to dinner.

This morning, around 2:00 am, she passed away.

Go in peace, my friend. I'm glad your suffering has ended. I'll be seeing you.

She'll Be Leaving Us Soon

My very dear friend, Gail, was sent home from the hospital with Hospice last week. She's been fighting breast cancer for the past few years. I spoke with our friend Connie this evening, and she told me that Gail is in and out of consciousness, and that the end will be very, very soon.

I met Gail when I moved to North Carolina, 11 years ago this July, when I found my cross-stitch group. She's been a wonderful friend to me. When I was pregnant with Isaac, and couldn't go to stitching because it hurt too much to sit in the chairs, she came and spent Thursday evenings with me. She said she thought I needed her more than they did. Sometimes she brought dinner, and sometimes I cooked. She helped with the baby when she could. She adored my girls. We had such a good time.

When she told us she had breast cancer, all of us were very worried, of course. Gail did everything her doctors recommended, had every treatment, every follow-up, dotted ever "i" and crossed every "t." There wasn't much cancer when they found it, so we thought she was good to go.

The next year, though, her cancer returned, and it was already stage 4 when they found it. If you know cancer lingo, you know this was not good news. She still fought it, though, and has endured every treatment her doctors could come up with. She was able to get in with an excellent doctor at Duke, who specializes in pre-menopausal women with breast cancer. They would continue each treatment as long as it made a difference. When it stopped working, they changed tactics.

I knew she wasn't getting better, exactly, but I thought she was holding her own. Then, when we had our stitching group's Christmas party, she told us that she'd intended to give us all what she thought we wanted most for Christmas - babysitting for me - but she couldn't do it. She'd been blacking out, she said, and couldn't watch the kids, not knowing what would happen. Then we learned that the cancer had spread to her liver, and then to her spleen.

My friend Connie and our other friend Sandy went to see her a few of weeks ago, and she'd told me that Gail looked really good then. When I spoke with her last night, though, she said that Gail's abdomen had been very swollen from the cancer in her organs.

Last week, I had to call and say I couldn't come to stitching because Isaac was still sick. Connie told me then that Gail had been in the hospital, and had been sent home with Hospice. She told me that meant she'd probably be gone within 6 months.

Last night, I had to call and say I couldn't come to stitching because I am sick, and Connie told me that Gail has been in and out of consciousness, thrashing around some when she started to wake up or her pain meds started to wear off, so the end was getting closer.

I just called Gail's sweet husband, Bob, and he told me that she's likely to pass away tonight or tomorrow. He said it's all right for me to come see her, even though I have a cold. When I asked him if there is anything he needs, he broke down. Crying, he told me he just needs his wife back. He loves her so much. I don't know what he will do when she is gone.

I'm going to miss her so much. I guess I thought there would always be more time. I didn't think this day would really come.

Go in peace, my friend. Heaven will be a more beautiful place with your sweet soul in it.

Wordless Wednesday

Playing Outside in February - Crazy!

We've been having the most amazing weather - high 70's in February. Who would have thought? Actually, we often do have warm spells in February in North Carolina. It's just a teaser, though, and we will have some more normal, cooler spring weather soon.

In the meantime, we're taking advantage of this fabulous weather and trying to spend lots of time outside every day. The kids have a blast on the playset that the grandparents helped us buy a few years ago. I didn't think we needed one, initially, because we have a great park in our neighborhood. Once we started homeschooling, though, having our own playset in the backyard has been a tremendous blessing.

Emma and Abbie are such awesome sisters! They are always ready to help Isaac - maybe a little more than he needs. Emma was very cautious with him as he climbed up to slide down the slide:






He LOVED sliding! Don't you just love the tongue action?



Abbie loves to help him swing on the "big boy" swings, too. She never pushes him high at all, but he thinks he is big stuff.

Farewell, Dear Friend

My dear friend, Faith Vlcek, was killed in a car accident this morning on her way to work. I received an email this morning from another friend in Michigan. We both used to work with Faith.

The article I found online said the roads were slippery, she lost control, and ran into a fence. A piece of the fence struck her in the head.

I haven't seen Faith in several years, though we've kept in touch with Christmas cards and such. We used to work together at the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan. She was a sweet, kind, caring person. She was always willing to lend a hand and step in where she could.

I know her daughter, Beth, and her 2 granddaughters will miss her terribly. I feel like this must be happening in an alternate reality. Surely my friend isn't really gone, you know?

Rest in peace, Faith. I will miss you. The world was a better place with you in it, dear one.

My Budding Sous Chef

One tried and true toddler entertainment method is to give them a pot and a wooden spoon and let them bang on it. Isaac used to love to do that. Now, for noise making purpses, he prefers to crash two pot lids together. When I give him a pot, he gets vey excited.



Emma likes to put an apron on him. He's very serious about his cooking.






He's sure to taste his creations before offering them to the rest of the family.

This Week In Review

This was a pretty good week! I threatened the girls with losing horse lessons for 2 weeks if they didn't shape up, and amazingly, we got a lot of school done. My goal is to have school be a drama-free zone. [Insert hysterical laughter]

We started subtraction in math this week, after much deliberation about moving on before addition facts were mastered. We're still working on the facts, but they understand how to add, and it's just time to move on. Both girls told me they think subtraction is way more fun than addition. I'm confounded by this, but hey, if they think math is fun, I'm all for it!

We've also been working on our alphabet books for the girls' class with Mrs. Crane. They were due last week, but I didn't realize that in addition to their rhymes and pictures, they were also supposed to write a paragraph of information using the research they did on their animals. I helped them work on writing them. Actually, I wrote the paragraphs, and then decided that it would probably be pretty obvious that they didn't do them on their own - heh - so now we're working on them again. Abbie and I got her American Avocet paragraph done - probably a little more mom-like than it should be, but we got everything in there she wanted to say. Tomorrow we will do her Indigo Bunting paragraph, and Emma will finish hers so we can get them typed and they can draw their pictures.

We did some fun physics experiments with air this week. Next week I need to remember to have them draw some stuff for their science notebooks.

The Snort is feeling much better this week, thankfully. He's still working on cutting molars on top of having a cold (2 down, 2 to go) so we still have copious amounts of snot flowing around here, but no more fevers or scary breathing. He still wheezes, but my understanding of this RSV thing is that he could potentially wheeze for up to 6 weeks. Have nebulizer, will force him to sit and take breathing treatments.

I finished my first toe-up sock this week - that felt like a major accomplishment! Sadly, when I bound it off, it was too tight to get onto my foot. My very good friend and fellow sock knitter, Melissa, told me of a niftier and stretchier cast-off, so I undid mine. However, when I read the instructions, they are written for a K1 P1 rib, rather than a K2 P1 rib like I had knitted. I have not one clue how to adjust the technique to suit the rib I knitted, so I took it out and am in the process of knitting the K1 P1 rib so I can do the tubular bind off.

And, last but not least, I got a new cell phone! It is very cool, and very purple. I downloaded "Drift Away" by Dobie Gray to be my ring tone. Todd is working on getting the rocked out version of "Hedwig's Theme" for me - it's on the phone but we can't figure out how to make it a ring tone yet. I had a lot of fun playing with my new phone today, and the Snort even managed to make a call with it.

That's about it for us! I hope to get pictures of our snow days up soon. I am such a slacker blogger...

All The Pretty Little (Imaginary) Horses

This afternoon, the girls were out playing with our neighbors, having a grand time, I thought. At one point, Abbie came stomping up the stairs, obviously not pleased with the way things were going. I asked her what was wrong, and she informed me that she was being TORTURED outside. When I asked her what was going on, she told me that Emma had been yanking on her shirt and yelling at her, because they were playing something Emma didn't want to play. I opened up a window and asked Emma what was going on. Here is a record of our conversation.

Me: Em, why were you yelling at your sister?

Emma: I told her she can't ride any of my imaginary horses!

Me: Are you really telling me that you were hitting your sister because she was pretending to ride your imaginary horses?

Emma: I love horses! What's your point?

Me: Do you know how silly it sounds when you tell me you're upset with your sister for riding your imaginary horses?

Emma: SHE CAN'T RIDE THEM!

Me: If you can't play nicely with your sister, Sydney can go home and you can come in and take a nap. Do you understand me?

Emma: Sulky look, nods.

Me: You will say, "Yes, Mom, I will be nice to my sister."

Emma: (grudgingly) Yes, Mom I will be nice to my sister.

Me: (Still wondering if I am actually having this conversation)OK then.

After I finished this interesting discussion with Emma, I told Abbie that she should stop trying to ride Emma's imaginary horses. I suggested that she make up her own horses to ride, since we both knew she was doing it to push her sister's buttons. She grinned at me and went back outside. That was the last I heard on the issue.

Trip to the ER

Poor Snort has had a tough couple of weeks. Two weeks ago yesterday, we were at the doctor because he had a cold, and was wheezing with retractions. They loaned us a nebulizer, and we got some Albuterol, and he was better in a couple of days.

Then, Wednesday, the snot production went up exponentially - not much like a tiny boy getting over a cold at all - and his eyes had green goo in them. Back to the doctor we went, because he'd been waking up at night too. They didn't find anything wrong. Yesterday, though, there was more wheezing and retractions, and lo and behold, the doctor found an ear infection, too. This time we got to purchase a nebulizer. Thank you, God, for good insurance! And, the doctor said we get to come back next week and talk about an asthma plan. She said people who wheeze when they get colds are called asthmatics. To quote one of my very favorite children's books, "This did not make his mother happy at all." I don't want my boy to have asthma.

But, I digress. That evening, I'd laid him down to sleep for a while. He woke up around 9 pm with a 104.7F degree fever, breathing very quickly and his poor little heart was beating like a drum. He woke up crying, "All done, all done!" It just broke my heart. A breathing treatment and ibuprofen didn't improve the situation, so after a couple of calls to the after-hours nurse line I took him to the pediatric ER.

Naturally, when we got out into the cold air, he perked right up and chattered all the way to the hospital. He was still having pretty good retractions when we got there, though, so we got in to see a doctor pretty quickly. They gave him acetaminophen, oral steroids, and another breathing treatment. Withing minutes, he was jumping on the bed and using the raised head as a slide, saying "Whee!" On the other hand, I could barely keep my eyes open. I was glad to see him feeling better, though.

The ER doctor diagnosed him officially with RSV. We were there for quite a while, because even though he looked and acted better, his blood oxygen levels just wouldn't come back up. Finally, the nurse put the little monitor thingy on his other toe, and the levels came right up so they released us. He was much better today, no more scary fevers. Phew!

The Eagles - Long Road Out Of Eden Tour - Greensboro, NC, January 17, 2009o

Todd and I went to see the Eagles in concert last night. The show was FABULOUS. I have to say that I was struck by how old all the guys looked - they are all 60 or 61 (I looked it up). I asked Todd if he could picture our dads up there rockin' out, and we both giggled at the mental picture. It made no difference to the performance, though.

The band came on stage wearing dark suits and ties. It was not what I would consider typical concert attire, but they did look sharp and it was perhaps appropriate for men in their 60's. After the break, they did remove their jackets.

Here is the playlist. I had to Google it, because I didn't have anything to write on. Here is the link to a pretty good blog review of the show I found (aside from some spelling errors and the fact that Don Henley announced the break, not Glen Frey).

1. “How Long”
2. “Busy Being Fabulous”
3. “I Don’t Want to Hear Anymore”
4. “Guilty of the Crime”
5. “Hotel California”
6. “Peaceful Easy Feeling”
7. “I Can’t Tell You Why”
8. “Witchy Woman”
9. “Lyin’ Eyes”
10. “Boys of Summer”
11. “In the City”
12. “The Long Run”

Intermission

13. “No More Walks in the Woods”
14. “Waiting in the Weeds”
15. “No More Cloudy Days”
16. “Love Will Keep Us Alive”
17. “Take It to the Limit”
18. “Long Road out of Eden”
19. “Somebody”
20. “Walk Away”
21. “One of These Nights”
22. “Life’s Been Good”
23. “Dirty Laundry”
24. “Funk #49”
25. “Heartache Tonight”
26. “Life in the Fast Lane”
27. “Rocky Mountain Way”
28. “All She Wants To Do Is Dance”

Encore
29. “Take It Easy”
30. “Desperado”

What a show! It was 3 hours long, and we still felt as if they'd just gotten started when they were done. I missed hearing "Wasted Time," "Best of My Love," and Don Henley's "Heart of the Matter." Todd and I also thought it was interesting that Glen Frey didn't do any of his solo stuff. In the past, we've heard "Smuggler's Blues" and "You Belong to the City."

The Eagles are known, I believe, for their amazing harmonies. They didn't disappoint last night, particularly with their acoustic set - they sang five songs beautifully, as only they can: “No More Walks in the Woods,” “Waiting in the Weeds,” “No More Cloudy Days,” “Love Will Keep Us Alive,” and “Take It to the Limit.” Interestingly, Glen Frey sang "Take It to the Limit," so they had to change the key for him. How do I know this? I really like to sing along to that song, and I had a hard time - the key wasn't low enough for me to take it up an octave, and it was too low for me to sing comfortably along with them.

For some reason, we don't yet own the album for this tour, "Long Road Out Of Eden." According to our program, it's the first album they've released with new content in 28 years. Doesn't sound like a big deal, perhaps, but I really like to be able to sing along and there were several songs I didn't know due to this oversight. Todd ordered the album today and I will be learning the lyrics shortly. (This is important so I can sing along when we see them next time - you know, when they're all about 70. Heh.)

One of the most fun parts of any Eagles concert is Joe Walsh. When he came up to sing "Life's Been Good," he said to the crowd, "This is the song your parents played all the time when you were growing up. It's why you're a little bit odd. Wanna hear it again?" The whole crowd laughed. He likes to make up new lyrics, too, and this time he sang, "I have a limo, ride in the back; My rubber duck, it doesn't go quack!" Good ol' Joe.

I did have a new experience for me at this concert. It was the first time I saw a crowd of people whip out their cell phones rather than their lighters for a song - I think it was "Desperado." I have heard of this phenomenon, but had not experienced it previously.

I took some pictures with my cell phone, and Todd's, and I'm working on getting them off to see how they look. I hope to post a couple. I know I got a pretty good shot of the "Hotel California" stage background, and I think some pretty good ones with Todd's phone. His phone has zoom, but I did not know that until he gave it to me for the second half of the concert. My phone does not, so my pictures are a bit questionable. We shall see.

Finally, I would like to make a suggestion to those folks sitting behind us last night. If you're thinking about coming to another rock concert expecting to sit down through the entire thing, you should consider staying home and renting the DVD when it comes out. At the very least, try to get tickets in the "old fart" section, because that's where you should sit. My mom assured me today that if she and my dad had not had me to educate them about rock concerts, they would not have known that people like to stand up, dance and sing and that expecting the audience to sit through everything is just silly. You have been duly informed.

Update!

Wow, it's been a long time since I blogged about anything! Audrey made my beautiful new blog, and everything, and I've been ignoring it. I need to finish posts about Emma's ballet performance, Thanksgiving, and Christmas, among other things, but I haven't organized the photos yet. I will just post a quick note about what's going on this very week.

Last Sunday after church, our van decided to die in the BJ's parking lot. We were just turning into a row of parking spaces when the van seemed to go spontaneously into neutral. Todd had to get out and push it into a parking spot - or, at least as close as we could get to one. Nothing we did made any difference - it would not go into 2nd, or 1st, or reverse. We tried turning it off and on several times. After many phone calls to see who might be available to rescue us, my Tonna came and took me home to get the Mountaineer, while Todd waited with the kids and the BJ's haul for the tow truck. Once they came and took the van, he walked over to Moe's Southwest Grill, where I met him for lunch. Come to find out, the transmission pump shaft failed. After a week at the Ford dealership and much discussion about whether we wanted a different car altogether, Ariel Mermaid (our 2003 Ford Winstar) is safely back in the driveway. Emma is relieved, because she was traumatized at the thought of getting a different car.

The girls had 3 days of a creative writing class this week, under the expert tutelage of Mrs. Carol Crane, who taught their previous class. They enjoyed it very much, and are excited to work on the A is for Animal book the class will be writing together. They have to decide which animals they want to use for their letters (Abbie has A and B; Emma has O, P and Q) and research them over the next week when the class doesn't meet. When they get back together, they're going to put together their book with rhymes for each animal, including illustrations. I think it will be a wonderful project.

Isaac has contracted some kind of nasty virus. We were at the doctor's office twice yesterday. He has had fevers, and sounds wheezy, and has generally been cranky and not at all like his sweet little self. At our first appointment, the doctor checked his blood oxygen level, and it was fine. He told me to watch for retractions, which would indicate he was having trouble breathing, and sent us home. Not too much later, I noticed said retractions, and when I called the office, the nurse told me to bring him right in. His blood oxygen level was still pretty good, but they gave him a nebulizer treatment, and sent us home with the nebulizer and a prescription for albuterol. The breathing treatments have really helped the wheezing, which makes me feel a whole lot better. He seems to be better today, with much less feverishness and slightly better spirits. He did throw up twice this morning, thanks to copious amounts of snot and a sensitive gag reflex, but overall, I think he's on the mend.

I am working on my very first sock knitted from the toe up. I am using the Widdershins pattern from Knitty, without the cables for at least the first sock. I may try the cables on the second one. I had a heckito of a time getting the first sock started, and after a snafu with the cables, I decided to just figure out the toe-up sock thing and not get fancy this time. I'm still looking for the perfect patterns for my Harry Potter sock yarn, my very favorite Christmas gift from Grammy and Papa! Many of the patterns I like are knit toe-up, and it is a good way to make sure you knit a sock that works with how much yarn you have. I have, however, found some top down patterns that I like as well, and given how much angst as this toe-up sock has caused, I may stick with top down. We will see.

That's about all the scintillating news from our house this week! Hope you're all doing well! I will try to get some new pictures up - I have some great ones of the Snort and noodles.

Recitation and Tea

This year, we're taking part in a wonderful co-op based on Charlotte Mason's principles of teaching. We meet twice per month, and each time one of the mothers presents a lesson on their chosen topic in a child-friendly way. It's been a lot of fun.

Today, we had our Recitation and Tea presentation. First, each child presented a piece of their choice, and then we had a lovely tea party with all kinds of treats brought in by some of the moms.

The girls each chose to recite one of the Psalms we've been memorizing for school. Emma did Psalm 1, and Abbie did Psalm 134. I'm going to try to post the videos of them. They both did an excellent job. Neither one seemed nervous when we talked about what they were going to do, so we just practiced a lot and I thought everyone was ready to go.

When it came time for Emma to recite, however, she looked at me with huge, terrified eyes and told me she wasn't going to do it! We had a brief, intense, whispered discussion, ending in the compromise that I would stand up with her. I thought she was going to faint, or cry, or throw up; possibly all three of those things. However, in true Emma fashion, she came through with flying colors. She clung to my hand for all she was worth, but once she started speaking, she said her piece perfectly. She didn't even falter when someone's cell phone started ringing. I am so proud of her!



Abbie went up by herself to recite, but you can probably tell from the video that she was quite nervous, too. Her face was very pale. She did a fabulous job too, though. I am proud as can be! Abbie is an amazing kid. First of all, when I told her she needed to select something to recite, we'd just started working on Psalm 134. She looked at it, told me that's what she was going to do, and then proceeded to have it memorized in less than 5 minutes. Also, she's my introvert, and she gets *really* nervous about anything involving being in front of other people. She never complains, though, and somehow knows how to get through it and do what she needs to do to get the job done.

Check out my Halloweenies!

The kids had a great time on Halloween, I think. We ditched school for the day, because we were all so excited that Todd was coming home, and also we were SO over staring at each other, it wasn't worth it. I did take them to Learning Express, where they chose to spend their gift cards from Grammy and Papa on what else but new Webkinz? Isaac got some magnetic gears with his.

I had to do a little work on Isaac's costume, even though we bought it at Target. The elastic in the hood was so tight, it squished his poor little face!



He did not think he should have to wear it.



Once I got it fixed, though, he was cute as could be!



The trick-or-treaters started coming before we even turned on the porch light. I was still finishing up sewing on Abbie's cloak. It wouldn't be Halloween if I wasn't sewing until the girls were walking out the door, you know. Emma got Isaac into his costume, and he toddled around while the girls were getting ready, fully expecting to be included in the plan, whatever it might have been. Needless to say, he was NOT impressed when they left without him!



After a little while dealing with the kids at my door, I decided to put the candy on my porch and take the Snort on a little trick-or-treat adventure of his own. He was so happy to be outside walking like a big boy. We started out next door with Papa Louie, who was visiting from Ohio, and was handing out candy for our neighbor, Dave. He was appropriately adoring of my tiny punkin and spent a lot of time telling me how cute he is. I do love Papa Louie! We went on to a couple more houses, and Isaac was sure each time that we were going inside for a visit, rather than just collecting loot and moving on. It was pretty funny. We ended up sitting and chatting with a couple of neighbors at the 4th stop we made, until the boy was too tired to take any more, and then we headed home. My candy bowl was empty - woo hoo! - so we went inside, turned off the porch light, and went upstairs for a bath.

Todd and the girlies went out with our neighbors, Mike and Terri, who also have 2 girls around Emma & Abbie's age. Todd has a much better time when he can talk to other adults, and the girls, of course, love anything involving friends. Todd got comments on wearing his Redwings jersey again - who knew people would remember what he wore out last year? He wears it as a jacket, but clearly it's a handy excuse for a costume, too.

Here are the girlies in their costumes:



Emma was a traveling princess, and Abbie was the fairy Silver Mist from the Disney fairies. I made Emma's entire costume, and Abbie's cloak.

Here is Emma at the Halloween Parade in our neighborhood:



Here is Abbie with her wings on, which she refused to wear after this one time because they "dig into her pits:"



They got more candy than they will ever be allowed to eat. I believe a good time was had by all!

Oh my goodness!

I have begun knitting in the last couple of years - I've posted a couple of projects here and there. I did try knitting socks this summer, and was delighted to finish one... only to be faced with knitting the other one. It didn't do much for me, I must confess. I've knitted a couple of pairs of baby socks, and those were fun. They were quick to knit up and so cute when they were done! My Norah Jane got one pair that was too big for the Snort, and my Joshua got the other pair that were too small for him. One of these days, I will manage to knit a pair for him that will fit.

My lovely friend Melissa is addicted to knitting socks, and recently told me about a nifty pattern on Knitty called Widdershins, which is a toe-up, gusset-heel pattern that sounds like it would solve some of the inherent issues I've had with knitting socks.

And... I found THIS.

You have to go look. Really. It's so worth your time.

Harry Potter sock yarn! Yes indeedy! I love all the colors, even Draco (and I really hate him). I've been listening to the audio books again, from the beginning, and I'm up to book 6. That's probably why I feel inspired to knit HP socks. I thought about knitting them for other people, but you know, I can't think of anyone who would truly appreciate them and I want them all.

Phew.

I might qualify as a slacker mom this week. With Todd in San Jose, I had thought we'd do lots and lots of school, so that we'd have something to do and be distracted from missing him. Instead, I find myself hiding upstairs a lot playing Safari Scrap on Facebook. I've made them do math and handwriting, we did read a little history, and we even did spelling today. Woo hoo! Tomorrow and Friday, we will be getting out THE LISTS so we make sure we get to everything. I can't ignore school just because I miss my sweetie.

Isaac has been so funny this week. As I watched him in the bath last night, he reached for his bar of soap. I said "No, no!" because I didn't want him to eat it. He didn't pick it up though. He just rubbed it, then rubbed his hands together. He rubbed the soap again, and rubbed his tummy. He was washing himself! It was adorable.

Also, when I unpacked the big box o' diapers and put the extra packages under his crib, he dragged the box over and proceeded to pull them out and put them back into the box for me. Wasn't that nice of him? He's so helpful.

He also likes to play with the dishwasher. If one doesn't pay attention while one has the door open, one might find him standing on said door. He loves to get his little spoons from the silverware basket, and lately has taken to pulling the entire basket out so he has better access to it. He loves to put things into and out of it.

And, wonder of wonders, he's started saying "Mama" all the time! He has been able to say it for a while, just wasn't terribly interested. He is so not a show-off yet. He *can* say lots of things and has several cute tricks - he just won't do them on demand. It's no fun to be able to tell people that he can High 5 when he won't play!

Last week and the week before, the girls took a creative writing class with author Carol Crane. She is such a neat lady! First of all, she is from Michigan, which makes her fabulous from the get-go. Also, she has an amazing way with children. She helps them see how much fun it is to put their words in writing, and really encourages them and makes them feel so good about their work. She spent a lot of time with each of them, and gave them each a book she'd chosen out for them at the end of the class.

I'd wanted Emma to take the class, particularly, because she is my perfectionist who doesn't want to write anything down ever in case she makes a mistake. I hoped that working with Carol would help build her confidence. It really did! She got to write about the things she loves - horses and ballet - and found it to be fun, too. She's been willing to write in her "journal" - one good thing each day. I have to remember to remind them to do that, come to think of it...

Abbie took the class too. Originally I didn't think she would, because it was supposed to be for ages 8 and up, but really, she's the one who loves to write. She's already written a book about a snooty butterfly who got turned back into a caterpillar for being snarky. She *loved* the class, wrote copiously, and was so proud when I typed out her story and poem that she was to read at the presentation. Interestingly, she was quite sad after the readings. She felt that she didn't write as much as some of the others and didn't think Mrs. Crane called on her to read as much as the other kids. I tried to explain that she was one of the youngest in the group, and of course the older kids wrote more! She did excellently for a 7 year old and I'm so proud of her! I am not sure what the sadness was about. Maybe just letdown from the class ending? She did tell me she wished it could be all the time.

We're looking forward to Halloween. Emma's costume is finished and I need to get Abbie's cloak sewn in case it's cold. Isaac's costume is snuggy and warm so he should be good, if Daddy is brave enough to take him out for a bit. We'll see.

All right - I am DETERMINED to make it to bed on the early side tonight so I'm going to sign off. May the force be with you.

Audrey gave my blog an award!

Isn't she the sweetest? Not only did she fix it up all pretty-like with sunflowers, she gave it a prize.



Here are the details of the award: “This blog invests and believes, in ‘proximity’ [meaning, that blogging makes us 'close' - being close through proxy] "They are all charming blogs, and the majority of them aim to show the marvels of friendship; there are persons who are not interested when we give them a prize, and then they help to cut these bows; do we want that they are cut, or that they propagate?" Then let’s try to give more attention to them! So with this prize we must deliver it to eight bloggers that in turn must make the same thing and put this text.”

So, here are my nominees:
1. Susan - because she and William are making the world a smaller place by bringing Benaiah home from Ethiopia.
2. Leslie-Jean - because she is nifty cool, and also has brought two girlies home from China.
3. Anj - because she's so much fun.
4. Melissa - because I heart her! And she knits the coolest socks.
5. Sarah - because she can knit anything, work on her doctorate, and STILL homeschool.
6. Jessica - because her blog is an inspiration to homeschoolers.
7. Remudamom - because I love her horses (and my girls do too). And she's FUNNY. And fun.
8. Jill - because she's a hoot!

Creative Writing Class

The girls had a wonderful opportunity over the last two weeks to take a creative writing class with Mrs. Carol Crane, an author for Sleeping Bear Press. She is a lovely woman. She's from Michigan, so that wins her some cool points right off the bat. She also writes wonderful children's books. She was so good with the kids - very encouraging, and knew just how to critique their writing so that they would want to fix it instead of feeling hurt. Anyone who can accomplish that with my girls is a miracle worker in my book!

Carol had each child write a story about themselves, and a poem. If I have time and I remember, I will come back and put them in here for you. They were so cute.

On the last day of class, the girls got to give their presentations. They cracked me up with their choices in outfits for the occasion - pants, athletic socks and their church shoes. Bless them, they are so cute!

Here is Abbie showcasing her unique sense of style:



Emma had a good time reading her stories, too:


And here is a picture of my girlies with Carol. She did a fabulous job with the class.



Abbie was quite disappointed when the class ended. She told me she wished it could be every day. Both girls are looking forward to taking the next round of their creative writing class with Carol in January.

And, just for fun, here is a gratuitous Schmooey picture. He was so funny. Everyone looked forward to seeing him when he came to class!

El Greco To Velasquez - Or, Fun at the Art Museum with a Toddler

We went on a field trip today to the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, to see the El Greco to Velasquez exhibit. The art is from the 1600's in Spain, during the reign of Philip III. It was during the time of the Spanish Inquisition, so the art is very Catholic and mystical. El Greco was known for painting his people tall and thin, almost ethereal.

But I digress. When we got there, I learned that I would not be able to take the stroller in for the baby, nor would they allow me to put him in the backpack. That discovery was a bit disconcerting. It had not occurred to me that I wouldn't be able to contain him in some fashion. (For the record, the museum does have this information posted on their website, and my friend Betsy who organized the trip also told us in her email. I did not read either of these pieces of information. The situation was entirely my fault and I do accept responsibility.) Oh well, I thought, I will just hold his hand, or pick him up when we stop to look at a painting.

When we got to the door, the very nice docent told us that there were lines on the floor that told us how far away we should be from the painting. Lines on the floor? Um - okay. We went in and sure enough, there were lines approximately 18 inches from the paintings. Some of them did have low, stretchy wire barriers around them to enforce the distance rule. Most of the paintings were not covered in glass. I had visions of priceless artwork covered in toddler slobber.

It quickly became apparent that Isaac was not interested in holding my hand. When I would try to grab his, he would flap his hands in the air and move away from me as fast as his little legs would go. When I tried to hold him, he said "NA NA NA NA NA NA!" in a loud, so-not-interested-in-quiet-perusal-of-fine-art tone of voice. He seemed to view the galleries as large, fairly open obstacle courses and took delight in careening around the other patrons, most of whom were older, child-free, and attempting to listen to the audio guide for the exhibit. When I noticed a (very kind) security guard following us, I decided it was probably time for Isaac and I to find something else to do.

Betsy, bless her, took her 2 boys (and her baby who still fits in a sling), my 2 girls, and our friend Neve's 3 boys through the exhibit. Neve and I took Isaac and her 2 little girls out to play in the grass and sunshine in front of the museum. I was delighted to have paid $15 for my ticket to play in the grass. Heh. Actually, I think it worked out to be a good thing. Betsy had done a lot of research about the exbhibit, because she'd presented on it to our co-op the previous week. And, I am not really a museum kinda gal (as you could probably gather from my cluelessness regarding the stroller situation). I did purchase the "book" - which has pictures of the art I missed plus a lot of history. We've enjoyed looking at it and discussing what we learned. Or, what they learned.

Changing Tradition, and Not for the Better

My girls surprised me today by singing some alternative lyrics to "Jingle Bells." You remember the ones we used to sing, right? The version I learned went like this:

Jingle bells, Batman smells
Robin laid an egg
The Batmobile lost its wheel
And the Joker got away!

For some reason, Jingle Bells was in my head this morning so I sang the regular words, jingling all the way in a sleigh and all that. The girls serenaded me with this verse:

Jingle bells, Batman smells
Robin laid an egg
Shot a tree and made it pee
In 1983

Now, those words are clearly just wrong. I told them they are not allowed to sing it that way.

I made them change it to 1988 so the rhyme felt right. So there.

Check this out!

Someone on the Well-Trained Mind board posted about this very cool tie chair. Here is a blog post where you can enter to win one - drawing is tomorrow, October 23! I think everyone with small, wiggly children should have one of these. It would make going out to lunch, dinner, etc. so much easier, wouldn't it? And Schmooey would love to use it at home, because it would allow him to sit in a big chair like his sisters. He thinks he's just all that when he gets to sit at the table with them. What a fabulous invention!

Just in case you live locally, and you don't happen to be the lucky winner of the drawing, The Green Pea Nursery in Apex sells them.