Guidecraft Giveaway!

Go check out the Guidecraft Giveaway on the My Life on a Taffy Pull blog! Mrs. Taffy has reviewed Guidecraft's Animal Train Sort and Match toy, and will be giving one away to a lucky winner! I know it looks like something my Schmooey would enjoy. I poked around at their other toys, and there are LOTS of fabulous things on their site.

Walking with My Boy

Isaac and I took a walk around our neighborhood this morning. Our street is a circle, and it makes a nice walk, about 3/4 of a mile. It's been raining here, so there were lots of puddles. Thankfully, they were mostly small ones. He made sure he stomped in each puddle at least once.

On our last leg, there were several leaves in the road. He had to pick up each one and put it back on the nearest lawn, because, he said, "The weefs need to be with their fam'wies."

Conversations with Isaac, Who Is Very 3

Mom: Isaac, will you hop up please?
Isaac: NO! I DON'T WANT TO HOP UP! I WANT TO HOP DOWN!


Mom: Isaac, do you want some dinner?
Isaac:: NO! I DON'T WANT DINNER! I WANT CAKE!


Isaac (to mom): Do you know my name? [Is this a trick question?]
Mom: I think your name is Orglesnork.
Dad: I think your name is George.
Isaac: I'm not a monkey! I'm a BOY!





(It took me a minute to catch on to that last one. Let me know if you need a hint.)

Horse Camp

The girls went to horse camp this week, at a new stable for us that we found locally. Even though it was EXTREMELY hot, they were so happy to be back on horses, they had a wonderful time.

Emma rode a horse named Pilgrim, and she loved him.

Abbie rode a pony named Pepper, and had a great experience riding her, even though she was a pony. Prior to this week, Abbie took great offense at being asked to ride a pony when Emma was allowed to ride a horse. The thing is that Emma is adult sized, and while Abbie is tall for her age, she is still child-sized and can fit on a pony. Emma is really too tall for most ponies now.

Anyhoo, one of the neat things about this camp is that in addition to horse riding lessons, they were also exposed to driving. THey also got to do vaulting, which involves, I think, getting the horses to jump up onto something, and then back off. I *think* this is a precursor to actual jumping. They'd gone over some very low jumps in lessons at our old barn, crossed poles and the like, but this was a new experience.

Probably the best thing was that our new friend, Christina, was able to come to their end-of-camp performance and saw both girls ride. Getting to know her has made the girls' transition to our new home so much easier. It's wonderful to have a friend!

There's always a little...

There’s always a little truth
behind every "just kidding,"
a little curiosity
behind every "just wondering,"
a little knowledge
behind every "I don’t know,"
and a little emotion
behind every "I don’t care."

Got this little poem from the Generous Husband websiteI was gate-crashing the man version of the Generous Wife site, from whom I receive daily email tips) and thought it was worth pondering.

If you want daily tips on how to improve your marriage, I can recommend The Generous Wife. Not being a husband, I don't know about The Generous Husband, but he seems pretty savvy too. :-) I've found that while not every tip applies to me, they are nearly always thought-provoking, and keeping your marriage in your thoughts is usually a good thing.

Captain Jack is really a Little?

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Warning: Whining Ahead

Well, here we are, in our new home in our new town. It's a nice enough town, at least as far as I can tell from Target. People keep asking me how I like Hickory, and I tell them, "Target is nice!" It's not a SuperTarget. I was spoiled by the SuperTarget in Apex, but as far as regular Targets go, it's fine. They do carry the new Liberty of London stuff, so I go there frequently to drool.

We have very nice neighbors. Our next door neighbors brought us peanut butter kiss cookies, the first week we were here. They have been wonderful when I need to find something - like Urgent Care, when the Snort had hand-foot-mouth disease and strep all at the same time, and a grocery store other than Food Lion.

I haven't found the school books yet, so the girls have had quite a long break from school work. I am going to make a concerted effort to find everything this weekend, and if not, we're going to start something next week.

We do find ways to amuse ourselves. We have a huge back yard, and a nice playset left by the previous owners. Everyone enjoys going outside to play. There is even a nice bench swing for the adults. The kids can ride bikes and scooters in the garage and driveway. I can let Isaac "scoot" in the garage while I'm making dinner, if the girls don't want to be out there with him, as long as the garage door is closed. That's quite handy.

We go to town a lot. As I mentioned, Target is a frequent destination. We have also found PetSmart and Petco. We have been to the mall a couple of times, for sheets for Isaac's new bed and in search of things to put in our new house. Sometimes we even go for ice cream!



This week was quite productive. We found a preschool for Isaac right near our house, and he can start next week if we want him to! That's very exciting. My homeschooling friends will think I've lost my mind, but you know, it will be good for him. The classes are small, the teachers are wonderful, and he will get to play with some children his own age. I'm pleased about that.

I also stopped by the local hospice facility and picked up a volunteer application. I should be able to take the training in the middle of May, and then start working with patients.

We went to the library and got library cards today, the girls and I. They are excited to have their own cards! The librarians were really nice, and it looks to be a good library. They have lots of audio books, as well as movies and computer games. Their children's area has Legos, a fish tank, and lots of tables for small people. Isaac loved it, and when I caught him running around barefoot and asked him to put his shoes back on, he said "No! I just walkin' in the libraries!" Hard to be stern in the face of such cuteness.

After the library, I took the kids to Barnes & Noble. We can't check books out at the library yet, due to the red tape requirements, and I was in dire need of reading material. I have lots I could read to improve myself, but that's no fun. I didn't really know what I wanted, but managed to have a nice conversation with the young woman working in the children's books.

You know what, though? I'm lonely. I believe I have reached my quota for loneliness. Being here every day with only the kids for company is starting to take its toll. They are fabulous, but I crave some adult company. My heart says I can't take too much more. This either means I am stronger than I think I am, or God is about to bring some wonderful friends my way. Here's hoping it's the friends option.

See, I told you there would be whining.

Junk Posse Giveaway at Into the Streets of Ethiopia!

Wow, it's been a long time since I posted! Since Todd accepted his job offer from Apple in December, I've been pretending we weren't moving, then looking for houses, then pretending we weren't going to move, then buying a house, then pretending we weren't moving, and then finally saying goodbye to friends and moving over to western North Carolina! Well, more western than we were, anyway; I think there is a fair amount of NC still to the west of us.

Anyhoo, my friend Susan brought this lovely giveaway to my attention, and I would like to enter, and you should too!

First, take a look at Into the Streets of Ethiopia. The Portilla family has started this mission to help street children living in Ethiopia. My dear friend Susan and her family adopted the most fabulous little boy from Ethiopia, and since then have been working to educate everyone around them on the needs of the people, specifically the children, there. The motto of Into the Streets of Ethiopia is "Tackling poverty and loneliness one child at a time." After just the briefest of glimpses into what life is like in Ethiopia, thanks to William and Susan, my heart goes out to the people there and I would love to be able to help them. I hope you will take a little time and read about Into the Streets of Ethiopia.

Now for the giveaway! Tracy at JunkPosse sells a lot of beautiful adoption and Africa-related original silver creation on esty.com. After reading about Into the Streets of Ethiopia, she has donated $80 in credit toward a necklace (your choice!) with FREE shipping for Into the Streets of Ethiopia to give away so that they can get people looking at the site and HELPING these kids! (I completely plagiarized Susan's paragraph.)

So, click on over and take a look at the jewelry! It's lovely stuff. What a great conversations starter, eh? My favorite is this one:



It's called Circle of Hope. It's lovely. Go enter the drawing! You know you want to!

Simply Sweet

Check out the fabulous giveaway at Kari Gibson's "My Crazy Adoption" blog!

The Grand Giveaway Winner will receive-

* 2 Simply Love T shirts (you choose!)
* 1 Free Pass (Courtesy of Disney) to the NEW Princess and the Frog movie.
* Autographed copies of the Best Seller Redemption novel series (5 book set) with Karen Kingsbury & her dad, Gary Smalley.
* Kisses From Katie handmade Ugandan beaded necklace (extra-long & beautiful)
* Her 2 Children’s books- Mookie Series
* 1 dozen Krispy Kreme donuts (Zoie’s favorite)
* Sugar Cookie mix & mit for kids.
* Chick Flick- Julia & Julia (Meryl Streep rocks in this DVD)
* $20 Starbucks Gift Card

You win a value of $180 in gifts! This is a wonderful blog of encouragement and support for families considering adoption.

This is fun!

Homeschooling with a 2-Year-Old

You know, I thought our homeschooling experience last year was interesting, with Isaac being mobile and all.

It had nothing on what this year is turning out to be! Last year, he was fairly content to play by himself with is cars or whatever I had out, as long as I was in the same room. Sometimes I'd find him, say, standing on the dining room table, if I hadn't been paying close enough attention, but for the most part, it wasn't so bad.

Fast forward to this year, and it's an entirely different ballgame! He is not happy to play with his toys when his big sisters are doing something that is clearly much more interesting. In fact, he seems to think he can do a better job of teaching than I can. He seems to be particularly fond of math.



He does an outstanding job with the story problems, too.



Truthfully, I believe the appeal lies in the white board and markers. I finally gave him his own little white board, and that keeps him busy for at least a little while. It's not easy to keep him contained when he can climb out of the Pack n' Play and pull the baby gates open. Good thing he's so cute.

U2 360° Concert!

My friend Micki and I went to the U2 concert last night! We had a great time.

A band called Muse opened for them, and while I had never heard of them and couldn't understand what they were singing, I enjoyed their set. To tell you how clueless I was, I had no idea there would be an opening band, and had a discussion with Micki about whether Muse was the title of U2's latest album or not. I insisted that they did not have an opening band and it must have been the name of the album. She showed me our tickets and wondered why, then, it was called the 360° tour. I told her it was because the stage was set up in the round. I do like to be right, you know, and I can make things up effortlessly. Come to find out I was wrong on all 3 counts and had to ADMIT IT, too, because Micki also likes to be right.

The stage was really interesting. I had no idea what it was supposed to be until Bono explained that it was a rocket ship and they were going for "intimacy on a grand scale." Sure enough, the four green legs looked like a launch pad and the rocket was on top! It lit up and everything. They also had a ramp all around the circular stage (playing on the whole 360° thing) and then mobile ramps that went from the stage to the outer circle, so the band could get closer to the crowd. I've seen concerts in the round before - Def Leppard comes to mind - and it's really a cool thing. We were sitting on the side of the stage, but we got to see everyone in front of us at some point in the show (although we were up so high, it didn't matter, and we were dependent on the screens).

U2 did some really neat stuff with the crowd. Bono pulled a young man, probably around 12 years old, up on stage with him while he sang... something. I can't remember. But he ran around the outer ramp with him, and gave the boy his Cyborg glasses, and I'm sure that young man will remember that for the rest of his life. Bono also gave the microphone to someone in the audience and let him sing a verse of "People Get Ready." I read another review that panned those parts of the show, but I thought it made for great crowd connection - seeking that intimacy.

Micki and I were fortunate enough to sit by a dedicated U2 fan who did know all the words, and she answered my questions a time or two when, say, I wasn't sure if they were actually singing a U2 song. She looked at me a little strangely, but she was very nice. I felt like a goober for not knowing what was going on but my curiosity got the best of me and I had to know.

The set list for U2 is as follows, which I snagged from this site:

1. Breathe
2. Get On Your Boots
3. Mysterious Ways *
4. Beautiful Day* / C Moon (snippet)
5. No Line On The Horizon
6. Magnificent
7. Elevation
8. In A Little While
9. New Year's Day*
10. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For* / Stand By Me (snippet)
11. Stuck In A Moment
12. The Unforgettable Fire
13. Mofo (snippet) / City Of Blinding Lights
14. Vertigo
15. Crazy Tonight / Thank You (Falettin Me Be Mice Elf Again) (snippet)
16. Sunday Bloody Sunday / Rock The Casbah (snippet) / People Get Ready (snippet)
17. MLK
18. Walk On* / You'll Never Walk Alone (snippet)

Encore(s):
19. One* / Amazing Grace (snippet)
20. Where The Streets Have No Name*
21. Ultra Violet (Light My Way)
22. With Or Without You*
23. Moment of Surrender

I have to confess that while I normally spend a lot of time listening to the right music to gear up for a concert, I didn't do that this time, and I do regret it. I love to know all the words and be able to sing along, because that lets me really connect with the music. The songs with asterisks in the list above are the ones I actually knew - a total of 7. The acoustics were awful, which I suppose goes along with it being held in a football stadium, so I couldn't understand what they were singing and frankly they sounded like a grunge band (which was my first indication that something might be up with the acoustics).

I couldn't find a list of songs for Muse, which is too bad, because I liked them too, and they sound a lot different on iTunes! A woman I spoke to at the concert, who really likes Muse, told me their sound is like Queen meets... she was at a loss for words. They sounded nothing like Queen at the concert and I thought perhaps it was her beer talking, but when I listened to some of their stuff after I got home, I could see what she meant.

All in all, it was a great concert. I'm glad I went, and I'm glad I can say I saw U2! My only regret, like I said, is that I didn't spend more time listening up before the show. Lesson re-learned.

Crash, but not Burn

Yesterday, I was in a car accident. Someone pulled out in front of me, I swerved, missed her vehicle... but rolled my car into the ditch. I know the van only tipped over onto its roof, but it felt like long enough for it to roll several times. Those slow-motion scenes you see on television do a pretty accurate job of representing how things seem to your brain, I think, during highly stressful situations.

While this was not an experience I would care to repeat, the hand of God was on me the entire time. I have never felt like a walking miracle before, but I do now! Let me tell you why.

First of all, my children weren't with me. Since we homeschool, this almost never happens. I am so, so grateful that they were not hurt, and don't have to suffer any of the psychological after effects of being in a car accident.

I can only guess that the other driver was picking up children from the school near our house. Since I didn't hit the other car, no children were involved in the accident at all. And, since I didn't hit the other driver, she wasn't injured, either.

I got to experience my first ride in an ambulance and first visit as a patient to the emergency room, but I could have walked away from the accident. I have "whiplash," a black eye, and some cuts and bruises, but that's it. As my friend Ginny said, there are many people who have experienced a lot less accident and received a lot more injury.



The other driver took full responsibility at the scene. This may not seem like a big deal, but in the world of insurance and liability, it really is.

Poor Ariel Mermaid didn't survive the crash, I'm afraid. I don't think most cars do, when they end up upside down.





She even had some guts hanging out, poor thing.



The girls are so sad that we lost our van - we really did like having her! We're on the hunt for a new car. Used or new? Honda? Toyota? Who knows?

Three Children's Books We Love

I have a passion for children's books. There, I've confessed. The primary reason we have so many, aside from homeschooling, is that I love them. It's a bonus if the kids like them, too.

I've been reading two books to Isaac lately that I wanted to share. The first one is called Hush, Little One.



Grammy and Papa gave Abbie her first copy when she was a toddler, and we went through two of them. The girls and I were even in a magazine add for Concordia Press after I sent them an email telling them how much we enjoyed the book. It presents the Gospel to children in such a sweet, gentle way, and you can sing the rhyme to the tune of "Hush, little baby, don't say a word, Mama's gonna buy you a mockingbird." Remember that song? Of course, you can read it, too, if you don't like to sing. Sometimes the girls would ask me to sing it, and sometimes they wanted me to "talk it." Emma used to say, "Emma's prayers by Jesus are heard!" It just melted my heart.

I will tell you that I prefer the hardcover version, published in 2002. That's the one Abbie had. I found the board book for Isaac at Lifeway, and while I love being able to share the book with him in a format that he's less likely to change the story, the rhyme has been revised somewhat and I don't like it as well. I'm sure it's primarily because I expect the first version, but I do prefer the way the first version refers to Jesus rather than Christ as they do in the board book; it seems more personal to me. I think it was rewritten to fit better with the rhythm of the song, as I look it over, but I still prefer the original.

Another book that Isaac and I love is Where is the Green Sheep? It's a fun little book by Mem Fox. (I am partial to Mem Fox. Another of our favorite bedtime stories is Time For Bed.)



This little book shows lots of neat things. It has opposites, colors, shapes, and familiar activities. Isaac's favorite is the "slide sheep." He always says "Whee!" and traces the path of the slide with his finger. He likes "sheepies" right now, anyway, so I make sure we take this book when we go out and always have it ready at bedime.

Last, but not least, I must tell you about one of my all-time favorites.



I found this wonderful little book in Borders in Ann Arbor (the first Borders, ever, by the way) and bought it for my niece when she was little - she's now a sophomore in high school. I try to give it to everyone I know when they have children. I have read it more times than I can count, and I still love it! It's called Sheep in a Jeep by Nancy Shaw. It is so funny, and so fun to read, if you haven't read it yet, you should at least get it from the library.

There you have them - Book recommendations by Beth. I just thought of some more, but I'll save those for another day.

Hedwig Sock #1

This is the sock that Beth knit.



This is a foot, cozy and warm, wearing the sock that Beth knit.



This is a foot, sad and forlorn, out in the cold and suffering scorn, for it has no sock that Beth knit.



This is the yarn, ready to go, wishing to cover the other toes, and match the sock that Beth knit.

Birthday, Beeps and Books

Today, my baby turned 2 years old. I don't know where the time has gone!

We actually started his birthday on Saturday, when Daddy put together his nifty John Deere tricycle from Grandma and Grandpa. He loves it! He doesn't really get how to pedal just yet, but he will walk it around, and put things in the bucket for dumping later. I learned that day that his favorite things to put in the buckets are flowers picked from our neighbor's mailbox flower bed, and that his sister seems to think it's fine to let him pick them...

We were supposed to go to the beach today. Isaac LOVES the beach. He's been asking to go to the beach with Grandpa for several days now, in fact. When we looked at the weather forecast for Wilmington last night, it showed a fairly nice morning, but thunderstorms for the rest of the day. We thought we'd still chance it, and even if we spent the afternoon at the aquarium, it would still be a good day.

However, when we got up this morning and checked again, it looked like thunderstorms had already started, with no sign of letting up all week. Todd and I decided we needed to revise the plan. Three hours is a long drive for the aquarium, when all a tiny boy wants is to go to the beach.

We started off with Hopper's House, a nifty jumping place in our neighborhood. All three kids had a blast, and Isaac was not interested in leaving when it came time for lunch! However, once we got to Moe's, he ate his lunch, part of mine, and some queso and chips. Then, it was off to A.C. Moore with a coupon for a new "Thomas." Isaac does love his "too-tooch."

After making our final Thomas selections, we headed home for a nap. I got in a little knitting time and Todd got to play with his new Mac software. :-) I was able to take Abbie to gymnastics and watch her, which was a big treat for me! Todd stayed home and played trains with the boy, and even took him outside for an hour or so, which was another big treat. Isaac loves to be "outside sunshine."

Abbie and I brought home the pizza and the cake. Isaac at a little bit of his pizza, but he was really holding out for "cake-cake." I don't know why he likes to say it twice, but it's pretty cute. I think he blew the candles out twice before Todd wised up and held him back so we could sing and take a video.

After cake, we gave him his presents, which were comprised of books and "beeps." Isaac has called vehicles of any type, really, "beeps" since he started talking a few months ago. He does call buses "b-bus," airplanes are "air p'dane," and boats are "booooot" with a lovely U.P. accent. In general though, they are collectively known as beeps. Anyhoo, he got enough beeps to keep him busy for a good long while, I think.

The one thing we didn't get out was his new scooter. If the weather holds tomorrow, we will get that out and play "outside sunshine."

The New School Year

Well, we were supposed to start school this week, but we all have colds, so I'm putting it off until Sept. 1. My birthday was today, and Isaac's is next Monday, so I think we will just wait until all the celebrations are over and then buckle down.

I'm excited about our curriculum for this year! We're using Living Books Curriculum Year 3, which covers Ancient Greece and Rome for world history, and Westward Expansion for U.S. history. The girls will also learn Bible, storytelling and science from our LBC materials. We will do picture studies of ancient Greek and Roman art, as well as art in early America. We will do composer studies of ancient Greek music, Palestrina, Vivaldi, and Bach. They also start Shakespeare this year.

Since Emma is in 4th grade this year, I have to teach North Carolina history. I would rather teach Michigan history, but I suppose there will be time for that after we meet the requirement for NC. It will be good for us to learn about North Carolina, since I've lived here for 11 years now and the kids are natives. :-) I have a North Carolina history textbook, as well as some other, more fun things to use. I'm also hoping to include a few field trips.

We will still use Math U See, and I think it will be a lot of fun. We're going to spend a lot of time on math this year, so that we can get caught up. The girls are both good at math - time for the mama to stop worrying about it so much!

We will use Simply Grammar for language arts, and I'm thrilled with that. It looks excellent. It includes everything I would want to teach them, but wouldn't know where to start. They should be able to do it independently, too, which is great. I need them to start being a little more independent so I can keep an eye on Isaac and still get some school done.

We're also still using All About Spelling. I love this program! The girls do really well with it. It's funny to see that they do so well when we're specifically working on spelling, but when they're writing on their own, they forget to apply what they've learned. It's also pretty funny that Emma looks at Abbie to spell words for her! Emma just doesn't want to think about it herself, I think. She's such a perfectionist.

We're going to start Latin studies this year, using Lively Latin's Big Book of Latin I. It looks like a lot of fun, and will go along nicely with our studies of ancient Rome.

My plans include a lot of language arts, and we may end up backing off some of them. I'll have to see. We could probably let go of other grammar and stick to Latin, for example, but I hate to do that. Anyhoo, these are the plans as they stand today. I hope the girls are as excited for school to start as I am!

Great Board Book!

I found this book yesterday at Borders in Apex for $2.99:





Isaac LOVES it, and it's very cute. Anything that makes noise is good in his world. The little frogs stand out of the book similarly to the ladybugs in Ten Little Ladybugs, which the girls both loved at this age. Additionally, the frogs have little levers on their back which you push down to make them croak! I'm fairly certain that was the big selling point for the Snort.

For those of you who are, shall we say, more educationally inclined, the book takes the frogs and other pond critters through the seasons, and it rhymes. I love rhyming books. It makes the reading go faster, which is important when you read the same books over... and over... and over...

I would like to get the other book by this author:



I don't remember seeing it on the bargain books rack, though. Maybe I will go back and check - it would be an inexpensive birthday present for my almost-2-year-old! In fact, I may go back and get copies of the frog book for all my toddler friends for Christmas. Just wanted to let you know it is there - it's a great little book! If you happen to have a small child to whom I am likely to give a gift, please don't buy it. :-)

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!