M+B=E2O2

another Cootsie pic and other news

I just wanted to say thanks y'all for all the well wishes.  Here is a better picture of our Cootsie Pie.  She is doing great and has not slowed down a bit with that thing.  She looks so gosh darned cute limping around too.  Poor thing. 

Sadly our house has fallen upon the first ills of the new (school) year.  Or would it be the last of summer?  Hmmm well either way, Evan sounds like he has croup, Owen had a low grade fever for 2 days and now says he feels better but looks worn out.  Olivia is coughing a bit and Emma is starting to get glassy eyed and took herself to bed early. 

My first godchild is on the brink of being born,  Mama was having contractions at the baby shower today-  it is her 3rd and she was soooo looking like she was in the begining stages of labor!  I hope my kids are well enough that when my little God daughter comes into this world I get to go hold her!!  Keep your fingers crossed and send good labor vibes out V's way. 

I do have another request, I've been putting off writing about it.  Actually I still don't feel as though I can.  So please instead can you all just say big prayers for my uncle?  I'll post more later, I just don't want to get upset right now.  just good health vibes and prayers please. 

annoying article

Did you all ever read this article?

http://www.projo.com/opinion/contributors/content/SE_EDUCATION_WATCH4_02-04-07_SE47053.9585d7.html

it was in our local paper a while back- probably a long while, I may have even blogged about it... I don't remember.  Anyhow, I just came across it again and it annoyed me just as much the second go around as the first.  I just don't get her line of thinking.  I totally respect folks whose children take the traditional path.  I don't dog them, more power to them and I am glad that they have found what works for them.  I would never tell someone that homeschooling is the end all be all.  It is right for us, it is right for our family.  I would never tell someone that they would be foolish to do otherwise.  It makes my blood boil when someone is so sure they are right.  So sure that there is just one way to educate.  So sure that a reasonable alternative is scoffed at and the mom is essentially told that her idea is foolish.  bah.  Lame woman. 

So much for me being nice huh Jenny?

Little Pink Cast

I know the picture quality sucks- sorry bout that!  I can't find the charger for my camera and though we have a package of brand new AA's they seem to all be dead-  guess it is a dud package.  So I had to use my phone for this picture. 

After 2 hours we left the orthopod with this lovely addition.  He opted to cast her, since the x-ray did show a slight irregularity , though it is possible that there is no fracture there.  Oddly enough We've been through this near identical situation before and even more oddly it was mid August, but the year was 2002. 

Emma was jumping on a crib mattress that was on the floor and she jumped off it- maybe 2 inches off the ground, and hurt her foot.  There was no swelling, no point tenderness, but a definite limp.  It took two weeks to get the final DX but sure enough she fractured some weird bone in her foot that the doc had only seen fractured one other time in 20 years.  It took a bone scan to see it actually.  My Emma walked on a broken foot for 2 weeks!  Then she ran (and I mean that most literally) around in a hot pink cast for 3 or 4 weeks I think it was. 

The same doc saw Olivia and he laughed when I reminded him of Emma's situation-  He said that he guessed we are just not a black and white kind of family! 

So there will be no  trip to the beach tomorrow, no more park days at the beach park for the summer season.  No swimming in our friends pool for Not Back to School day.  Fortunately she gets it off before we head to Las Vegas to visit my folks.   I imagine it will still be baking hot there and the pool will be welcome. 

Thanks for the well wishes guys! 

Kris-  you forget we live in a beachy 'hood where the averages temp is in the low 70's.  As long as we don't get some random heat wave, Olivia will not have to deal with sticky hot yucks.  ;-)

Off to the Dr

On Sunday we were having a lovely afternoon.  It was a beautiful day,  warm with clear blue skies.  We were at the yacht club we recently joined,  having munchies and the free food they put out every Sunday.  We brought my IL's  and were sitting on the downstairs patio, Ben and his step dad having drinks, me and MIL watching them.  The kids were running and playing in the grass area- having a great time.

Owen stomped off and was sitting in a huff so I went to talk to him.  He was sad that no one wanted to play with him.  Of course the only other kids there were playing on the embankment which my kids are not allowed on (nor are the others but their mom was on her way over to deal with that bit).  Olivia fell and was on all fours in the grass so after pointing out  to Owen that he couldn't play with them anyway as long as they were down on the rocks I asked him to go check on Livi.  Evan and Emma had tumbled on the ground next to her, but it didn't look as though they hit or pushed her.  Well, when she wouldn't stop crying for her favorite Owee, I went over and picked her up.  She was standing amongst the little white weedy flowers that bees love so I thought maybe she stepped on a bee. (she was barefoot).   We looked all over both feet and I did find a stinger- but it was not in her foot- it was all intact too.  We couldn't find an injection site anywhere, but I went and got the bennedryl and left it at that.  She wouldn't walk at all,  her eyes would tear up if we tried to put her on the ground.  I gave here tylonol when we got home and we put her to bed.  Still assuming that it was a bee sting issue, despite the lack of site or swelling. 

Yesterday morning she woke up happily saying ** "Peek- a - choo Mommy, it's Peek-a- choo!"  then she rolled over to stand up and cried out "OWWW".    So I called Ben and then the ped and got her an appointment for the late afternoon. 

By the time we were heading out she would walk on it for a few steps, but mostly she was crawling around the house or just sitting.  Dr. B looked at her and couldn't pin point anything so he offered up x-rays or waiting a few more days to see how it played out.  We opted for the x-rays. Luckily so.  It appears she has a fracture on her fibula near where the bone meets the ankle.  We are going to see the orthopedic doc in a couple hours. 

Of course as soon as we found out there was a fracture  and were told to try and keep her off it, she  decided that walking was cool, that the limp gave her character.  * sigh* I've got her in front of the TV for now,  I think the car will be next, at least then I can strap her down.

Wish us luck.  If she gets a lovely pink cast I'll post pics. 

***note**
the kids play a Peek-a Choo game of their own invention- she could hear her brothers and sister down the hall playing and assumed that was what they were playing.

Family EXPO 2007

We had such a great weekend! This past weekend was the California Homeschool Network"s Family Expo.  When the dates for it were first announced a few months back I told Ben that I really wanted to go and sort of make it a family vacation with benefits.  That is exactly how it turned out. 

We left our home Friday mid morning and arrived in time for lunch.  We picked up our registration stuff and then went to one of the hotel restaurants to feed the kids.   We had decided to take a very relaxed approach to going to the various sessions, not wanting either of us or any of the kids to feel any stress.  In a perfect world I know I would have loved to go to a few sessions right of the bat- but as it was we both opted to hang out with the kids and forgo any sessions.  We were able to check into our room just after lunch so we did that and got our stuff all settled in.  Then we took the kids and went exploring. 

What a fantastic venue!  There was a whole section of the 3rd level that was exclusively for our group.  without a name tag one could not enter.  In this area were classrooms  and the lecture all.  Rooms that didn't have classes held activities for the kids. 

One room was a supervised area that the kids had to be check into and out of and they had to have a wristband if they were left in on their own (kids 3 and willing  and older could be left in there).  This room had art supplies, play dough, toys, blocks, books, a puppet theater, two teepee's, and I'm sure loads of other fun things.  All my kids had a blast playing in there.  The other kid areas were unsupervised so it was up to the parents to decide if their kids could wander through them on their own.  One room  had 10,000 Keva planks- this was Emma's favorite spot.  The structures that these kids were building were AMAZING.  Tall intricate building, full cities, boats, castles- you name it.  I loved peeking in this room to see what was being built!  Another room had tons of computer  and other electronic stuff for the purpose of tearing apart, banging, building, smashing whatever.  Owen spent some time in there doing who knows what with a screwdriver.  There was another room that changed from one day to the next, different activities were in there, Owen made a "game" out of a stick and some small twigs and twine-  not sure what the room was actually about, but it always had kids in there building.  There was another room that had dress up clothes and hands on directed actives- story time, small crafts, etc.  The atrium downstairs was full of large tables and tons of games- chess, etc.

After exploring for a couple hours we went down to the vendor hall and man was that a fun filled place!  So many different curriculum's, so many different subjects, toys, games, crafts- it was fantastic.  We both found this we likes but only purchase one thing that day-  Pre Level one Chemistry.  Ben is super excited to read this with the kids.  It is a really neat book, well laid out and takes topics that kids don't usually see until high school and breaks them down so that a young child can understand it.  It has experiments to support it- most look like ones my kids should be able to do.  Anything over their head and we'll just come back to it later. 

We had dinner back in our room then got into bathing suits and hit the pool.  Actually just me and the 3 big kids, I forgot Olivia's swim diapers so  Ben walked her around while the rest of us played.  It was so much fun- there were sooooo many kids and it was just so neat to know they were all homeschoolers.  After swimming we went back to the room and got ready for bed then went down to the family story time with Jim Weiss.  WOW! what a fantastic story teller!!! If you've never seen him and an opportunity comes up- do what ever you can to go.  He is just fantastic. We ended up buying 6 of his 38 CDs and I suspect we will be getting Story of The World done by him too.  I am waiting on the library copy which I think was read by a woman- but I have vol 3 that he did so I will be able to compare the two and see if I like the series first of all and if I prefer Jim over the other reader (Barbara something).

After the kids crashed out Ben and I sat up and looked over Saturday's schedule and laid out our game plan for the day.  The two big kids had a tennis lesson in the late morning, so I took the kids upstairs to play while Ben went to work out in the gym, then we met at the tennis courts to watch them play.  Owen is ready to take lessons, Emma would rather do something else.  Good to know.  After lunch I left for my first session "The Worry Of Unschooling".  It's not so much that I worry now, but I can see that creeping in as they get older.  It was great to hear success stories and I did gain several little bits of info that I will store away until I need it.

Next Ben went to a Math session and I tried to leave Evan with his brother and sister in the check in kids room.  Olivia was asleep in the sling so I figured I could sneak in another session.  I ended up in a preschool session, it was mellow and I felt like I was able to contribute to it.  Evan only lasted a half hour before the called me so I went to pick him up- and check out all the kids, Emma wanted to go build in the Keva Plank room and Owen wanted to smash take apart computers.  Evan sat with me in the preschool session and also went down the hall to find dad and hung out with him for a bit. 

After our session we went back down to the vendor hall to buy more fun stuff.  Ben said that was his favorite part of the whole trip!  We got two different globes, one is a stuffed one, safe for Olivia, but geographically accurate. The other is more of a tradition globe, but it rests on a stand, it isn't one of spinning kind.  We also found a physical science program that is computer based but has some cool hands on experiments that they can build.  We also got a math program- it is one that several of our homeschooling friends are using, so our hope is that we can encourage the kids to play the multitude of math games included in the series together.  I think that is all we got-  there was a phonics program that looked pretty good, but I'm not forcing any reading (this is a whole different post that I won't get into now) at this point so maybe next year or not.

Saturday night was spent the same as Friday- dinner, pool, story time, bed. We bought swimmies for Livi so we all got to play.  It was great.  Sunday I had one session I wanted to do- Lapbooking.  I took a lot away from that one and look forward to giving it a try this year.  We left Sunday afternoon and listened to Jim Weiss stories the whole way home.  Once home Ben offered to sit with the kids so I could go get a pedicure- he's the best!!! With my newly painted coral tootsies we went over to his parents house for dinner and had a nice night back home with them.

We are both already looking forward to next years Expo- you can bet I"ll be among the first to register again!  It was fantastic to see so many like minded  folks all in one space, the venue was perfect, the talks I made it to were great, the pool was fun, food was fantastic, the kids play opportunities were amazing ing. The only thing I would have liked more of was time to chat with other parents- but that will come as my kids get older or when we can bring the grandparents with us (who don't have to register or pay for the event- it is free for the grandparents). It was also great to see so many friends from home- as well as meet and talk to new folks.

 

Maybe it's because it is summer

I can't believe what a struggle it seem to be to get here to post. There are many factors involved really-  but I do miss writing.  I have for the most part been able to keep up on reading my favorite blogs-  It helps that I have finally set up google reader and I have made igoogle my home page on both our computer and the kids.  So it takes but a quick second to see who has updated their blogs.  Problem there is that I can read from the google reader page, but not comment- so the extra steps involved in commenting seem to keep me from sharing my 2 bits worth of anything.  That is sheer laziness on my part I know. 

Right now I should be getting dinner arranged- or at least figured out-.  I haven't given it a thought honestly.  But the kids are quiet - wonder if I should be worried?  Anyhow, I am stealing this moment of time to do my own thing here. 

The goings on around here have been busy to say the least.  We  have spent some time at the yacht club we joined- it has been informal and fun.  The average age of this particular club is close to 60ish I'd have to guess- so the 30 & 40 something crowd is happy to have help in lowering that particular fact.  I haven't had a chance to take the kids out on the little boats again, but they've been asking so I hope to soon.  Ben & I need to get our own life jackets now so that we can borrow the clubs boats. I have a friend from high school -swam with her- and her husband- who I grew up sailing with- as friends there.  We spent last Friday night  with them at the Friday night dinner.  It was a date night for them and we came and invaded them with our kids (they have 2).  I think they didn't mind too much though.  We had a great time talking to them and getting to know them. 

The last two weeks have also been very schoolish.   The kids have been really into doing "school".  To the point of building a word wall on our dining room wall, compiling a insect/bug notebook, putting up a huge map of the US and sticking pins where people we know live and  math worksheets have been done.  95%  of this has been completely child led.  This  week they big kids are in Vacation Bible School, so the schooling at home has definitely slowed down.  I've started to keep a spiral notebook on the counter to jot down what things they do in terms of "school"' subjects, since I file us as a private school and just on the way off chance someone should ever question us I have a physical record of something.  Jenny has reminded me that I really should keep track of attendance- since it is required of me, but I haven't done anything about it yet.  I think I am going to print up a calender that fits on one page and attach it to the inside of my spiral notebook- then maybe just cross off the days that "school" stuff happens (as noted in the notebook itself) and call that my attendance record.  hmmm yeah I think that might work for me.  So for purposes of the State of California DOE our 2007-2008 school year has begun.  Cool!! I got sidetracked and found this and have it printing as I now type )and I wonder why it takes me forever to post a single post!)

As for me I am down another couple of pounds.  I have been super aware of what and how much goes into my mouth.  I have been eating a lot of almonds and nuts-  it really helps satisfy the crunchy salty cravings and is both filling and um well I'll just say that my fiber count is waaaay up and I'll leave it at that.  I now really want to combine my food habits and exercise- because honestly I haven't done nearly enough of that this last month.  I have great new walking shoes, and a great bike in my living room so I have no excuse.   If I can lose 3 lbs in the next 2-3 weeks, I will be 15 lbs away from my goal and in a number series that I haven't seen since I got preggers with Owen.  Kris you are my inspiration to  exercise, I do need to frequent the sparkpeople page more often,  I like the site  and read the emails all the time. 

Ok well I had to leave here for 20 minutes so I'm sneaking back up to close up and sign off.  I know my blogging  is pathetic, but it is what it is and I hope to make it better.  Don't hate. (am I hard or what?)

PS Jenny I totally forgot to email you that we wouldn't be able to make the tar pits- I so want to go there too- I've never been and we have a annual pass too (it comes with our LA natural history museum pass).  I hope we can see you the next time you are down!