Pieces of Us

Ick

        Gabby is feeling under the weather. My brother was sick for a week last week and came down with it right after visiting us.  I don't feel so hot either so I suspect we may be all coming down with something soon.  Honestly I'd rather get it all over with before the holiday season is in full swing....

Photographing Kids

    Photographing kids can be a lesson in patience.  Today that was certainly the case.  I love taking photographs but snafu's like grouchy kids, too much sun and just plain old lack of creativity can make for a hard day. Today I set out to get some nice pictures of the older 3 girls.  All 3 have had birthdays recently and I wanted some portraits to remember them at this time in their lives. Of course I ran into all aforementioned snafu's leading to a very grouchy me. I took about 150 pictures and after editing I found that I actually had a  few that were salvageable.

Such as this one. It's a nice picture of Gabby. Gabby has one of the hardest complections to photograph. Olive skin can be really difficult to brighten and it often looks washed out. She is a little washed out here but cute nevertheless.

This picture of Maddy really pleased me. It is the quintessential Maddy. Everything I love about her I can see in her face here. She is wearing her favorite color, green. Her hair is wild across her face adding a touch of whimsy. It just says a lot to me.

Now younger kids are loads of fun...and frustration! Never tell younger kids to say cheese or you end up with a face like this...

Or perhaps this...

On second thought, maybe DO ask them to say cheese because the result is really funny. Sometimes you can catch a funny moment if you try not to look like you are taking pictures. If you look like you are kids will suddenly stop everything and pose. Sometimes the pose itself can be funny... I call this one Kung Fu Horse Groomer. Or maybe that is Caleb's boxing pose?

Little boys are hilarious to shoot. You can get really sweet close ups like this one.. 

Caleb was not a fan of that one.

When he saw me editing it he said, 'Mama, my head is too big! Make my head smaller!"

What can I say? I love his big ol' head!

Just for Caleb, I also have this one. See my sweet boy, does this make it all better?

Little boys are hams. Major Hams. When I look at this one I wonder what the heck he is thinking about.

I just love it when he looks plain happy.

Oh wait...that was another cheese face.

Can't help it, I love it!

Then there comes a time when they are having no more of it.

"No more pictures Mommy! I have work to do!"

Never discount little girls.

They are hams too.

Ginny is famous for her faces.

Like this Zombie face.

She also does some mean dance poses out on the lawn. Look out John Travolta!

She's quirky though. I think some people are scared of her intensity.

She's my sweetie though, and once she's done clowning I can usually get a nice shot of her lovely serene cuteness.

Babies can be the toughest of all to shoot. Although they can also be magic.

Today was not a magic day.

Jillian is crazy at this age and she wants to go go go, not sit and be sweet. I did get this shot and I think it is a nice one of her lovely face.

I find it hilariously funny that Dr's tell you to "immobilize the baby's arm for a week". Have these people ever had toddlers? Jilly's arm still hurts, she whines about it now and then and says "ow ow ow". However, a girl's gotta live. Maybe this is why it hurts still.

Adolescents are tricky.

They are like hot and cold. At the same time it makes for great photos because you can have a wonderfully broody shot like this one.

And a millisecond later..smiles bust out like sunshine.

This face is 100% her daddy.

I have pictures of him making that same face at me.

I cannot believe these two shared a womb. Even to this day. This picture is blown out too much but it was a really dark spot in the yard. Really I should post some of the original photos. The lighting was so bad.

When I see this photo I shudder.

Literally.

Like a goose walked over my grave. That was morbid. Sorry.

It's just that she looks so grown up and full of purpose. And she's my baby. She always will be.

Lastly, grade school boys...what can I say.

They NEVER stand still.

EVER.

If you think I am exaggerating you have never had one. I did get one shot of AJ. He's looking pretty grown up himself.

Growing up doesn't mean you can't swing around on the horse corral.

 

Fun time is over. The boys have work to do as they kept informing me. And sure enough they did. I know because I caught them at it.

Here are a few of the original photos. I am putting them here so you don't think I am making all this "bad lighting" stuff up.  I could probably use a little more camera knowledge- ok I know I can use some- but at least I can fix them up a little in PS.

Child Led Learning

    In our home school we don't require the kids to begin any formal lessons until age 5.  Generally they express an interest earlier and so we will work with them as much as they request but if they want to run off and play they can do so at any time. Recently Caleb has shown a huge interest in learning.  He wants to "do school". Even on Saturdays he wants to be on the couch working on his numbers and letters. I have started teaching him to read using the book I reviewed in an earlier post. It's so fun to see him actively engaged in learning.

    Every day I have found him somewhere in the house with my ginormous copy of An Echo in the Bone in his lap. He has it open and is following the words with his finger.  He can't read them yet but he will sit there for 20 minutes just following left to right. Of all my kids I would say he has started the eagerness to read at the earliest age. I am so looking forward to the day when he can read me a page or two. My little guy is growing up!

Pulling a Fast One.

    For weeks Mike has been planning to surprise AJ with a special day at Magic Mountain    .  This morning we got up and Mike told AJ that he was going to go run errands and to get on his shoes.  AJ did so and off they went.  A little bit later I got the cutest phone call from AJ.  He was so excited when I answered the phone.

"Hi mom!" he said, his voice about 5 octaves higher than normal, "We're at MAGIC MOUNTAIN!"

They should be home in about an hour and I cannot wait to hear how their day went. Special times like these I know he will remember for a long long time and so will his daddy.

Love

" Hi Pretty!"  Caleb said to me.

"Sometimes I call you pretty because you always wear yipstick!"

I love that sweet boy!

Addicted to books

    It's a fair assessment to say that our whole family is addicted to books.  One can surmise that just by stepping into the living room.  There are bookshelves in every room, even the bathroom. What can I say, we love to read. Mike and I both love to get into a good book when we have the time and our kids have always observed this and picked the habit up themselves.

    Maddy is known to be our most avid reader.  She is always reading, in the kitchen, the car, the line at the grocery store.  Usually she is in the middle of about 4 books at once. Currently she is firmly entrenched in the Warriors series . No kidding, it's a series about warrior cat clans.  But she loves it and it keeps her reading so we enjoy seeing her devour them.  Other favorites are Nancy Drew, which are probably her top pick, Harry Potter, Maximum Ride, Inkheart series and Redwall.  It's obvious that fantasy and mysteries are her main choice.

    Gabby is not far behind her.  She is also an avid reader. She enjoys books with an animal theme and also is into the Maximum Ride series. She also enjoys classic books as well. She is the child who finishes a book and then insists that I must read it too because it is SO GOOD. Usually I do and she is correct, it is that GOOD.

    AJ is a lover of books despite his reading struggles.  I am determined that dyslexia will not make him hate reading and so we read together every day and he is really improving. We have found that reading graphic novels and comics really help him in his reading mastery.It's ben a tough road for AJ but the fact that he really WANTS to read helps him move forward, It's a pleasure to see him move past decoding after all this time and actually read.

    Ginny is known for getting the most obscure books at the library.  This is just SO Ginny. These are the books that no one else has probably thought of checking out.  The ones that have been sitting there in the library for years. But Ginny gets them and we end up enjoying them together.  She has found a lot of tresures this way. She is well on her way to independent reading and I am certain that the girls room will soon have all three girls burning the midnight oil each night.

    Caleb is at the age where he enjoys his favorites read over and over.  Mike Mulligan and his Steamshovel, Make Way for Ducklings, Olivia, Curious George, Harry the Dirty Dog...these are all frequently read around here. Caleb has surprised me and done really well during our regular reading time.  He sits and colors or draws quietly while I read and pays close attention to the story I am reading.

    And that brings me to Jillian.  Jillian is so different from my other kids.  She shows no interest at all in television and has never sat and watched a tv program. She will sit for hours and look at books with one of us however.  I couldn't be more tickled. She begs each night for "more stow-eeeees". She likes books with animals or brightly colored photographs, books that have soft places to tough, books with flaps.  She is an 'active' reader. She is not fully patient with hearing the story but we talk about everything in the pictures and she points out all the things she sees.  This makes her very happy. I actually distracted her from nursing today by asking if she wanted a story. She jumped right up and ran to her bookshelf. This pleases me very much because I can see that she is growing up into a full fledged toddler.

    So there you have it, a legacy of reading in our little (or not so little) household.

Where do we go from here?

OK ponder with me. It seems I always have to do my own diagnosis on my children because Dr's always get it wrong. This happens to us all the time. Here is the deal.. I took off the sling from Jillian's arm to observe it awhile. She was complaining a bit. I squeezed her supposedly broken shoulder and ...nothing.

No reaction. Then I touched her elbow and she came unglued. I looked closer and it looked puffy, also felt hot. I measured and around her elbow it's 3/4" bigger than the other side so it's swollen for sure.
So what the heck? A dr, a tech AND a radiologist all looked at the x-ray. However they barely did any checking on her actual person. It was the middle of the night and they were busy. But I think they really missed something here. I think the elbow is broken. It could also be a bad sprain. But all in all, I don't think her shoulder is hurt at all.
I'm glad we're going to the Ortho though, I just wish it were tomorrow and not Thursday. Should I call and try to get her appointment moved up? They said they were full until Thurs. but this is a baby with a broken arm/elbow/shoulder/something.

I just spent the last 2 hours getting her to sleep but not due to pain.  She was wired!  This switching to a bed thing always takes a few days to adjust. I guess I will be calling the Ortho again in the morning for advice.

Define Irony...

    I mentioned in a previous post that we had decided to move Jilly's crib out and put her in a toddler bed. We did just that yesterday.  Hauled the crib off to the dump (it's been through six kids and was really not a good item to be handed over to anyone), and set up the cute little bed.  I even got her a new sheet. Here she is so excited to nurse her "baby' in her toddler bed.

 

    Look how sweet and happy she is!

    Fast forward to the evening.  She jumps into my lap and gives me a quick kiss and scampers off. Not five minutes later I hear her cry in her room.  Ginny and the boys were in there and I went in and asked what happened. "She fell off Caleb's BED!" they shouted.  Now honestly, as I looked at her and saw her clutching her arm I had to choke back a snort of hysterical laughter. SERIOUSLY?  The day we try to make her safer she breaks her arm? IRONY.

    I watched her for a bit and she was not calming down or letting go of her arm and I knew we had to go in to the ER.  The very last place I ever wanted to be during this particularly nasty flu season. But we had to go and be responsible parents. We got there at about 8pm and waited.

 

And waited....

 

And waited...

Thank goodness for comfort objects! She did not want to let go of her baby.  This picture was about hour 4 of waiting.

And this picture was about hour 6.

 

Finally she had fallen asleep and of course then they had to come in and take her to Xray.  We went in and the tech was real quick and let us look right away.  The forearm films showed a perfectly adorable little arm with no breaks. We were sent back into the room to wait again and Jillian fell asleep only to once again be awakened to do another xray of the shoulder.  They were all shocked to not see a break in the first films because of the way she was acting.

    After another while they came back and said it looked like her shoulder was broken but a radiologist needed to be consulted and they had to email him the films.  Another hour wait...

 

    Finally the radiologist faxed his report which was basically that it was possibly broken but hard to tell. There was an abnormality in her growth plates but no real way to tell if that is just 'her' way of growing. In either case the treatment is the same for break or sprain, a sling to immobilize her arm.  Once again we are stuck waiting.  A WHOLE hour just to have a strip of bandage tied around her arm and neck.

 

    At this point it had been about 7 hours and I was losing my mind I was so tired.  I hadn't eaten dinner either and that was not helping matters. At least Jilly was asleep and not in pain. Finally she got her bandage and we made our way home and into bed.  Jillian slept her first night in her new "safe" bed with a broken shoulder (well maybe broken. ;)). Today she was in a pretty good mood and was using her arm a lot despite me trying to keep it in the sling.  She only whined when the Tylenol would start to wear off. Still not sure if it's broken or not and we likely will never know for sure.

 

One thing is for sure, she is a total trooper!

A really big post.

    It's time to kick off NaBloPoMo.  In other words National Blog Posting Month in which I will entertain you with at least one blog post per day for the month of November.  Today (although the day about which I am posting is actually Oct 31, the post itself is posting on November 1.) proved to be a very busy day chock full of many things to post about.

    This past week I sent Maddy and Gabby to Grammy's house for two nights. They thought they were going to just go and have a few days of Grammy all to themselves.  A nice little respite from all the hubbub and activity here. What was really happening was that I was getting them out of the house.  I needed them gone so I could gut their room and completely redecorate it for their birthday gift. For many months they have been pining over various room decor and I have emphatically said that I just did not have time to work on it.  In reality I had been planning this big change up for over 6 months. The younger kids all went over to their other grandparents and stayed for a couple days so the room could get my full attention.  It took me exactly 24 hours to do the room from start to finish and then another day to plan the surprise party that went along with it. 

    Halloween morning everyone was instructed to be here at 11:30 to take part in the ordeal.  Even Ahma, the girls great grandma made it to watch although she has just had open heart surgery.  No one wanted to miss it! At noon the girls arrived home. I answered the door and they were all dressed in costume for their last performance of Mad Scientists in Love. They walked in looking confused and I said, "Surprise!  it's your birthday party!!"  They were all smiles and of course they thought at this point that it was just a party. I told them that before we started the party they should go put their suitcases away in their room. When they walked in they were stunned, totally speechless.  Gabby just stood their with mouth gaping and Maddy was at a loss for words.  It was SO changed that they just were taking it all in, smiling and looking around.  I enjoyed thier understated reaction because I could tell they were just so surprised.  After awhile they had seen most of it and were squealing about how much they loved it. 

    After they had taken in thir new dwelling we had them open their other presents from family and we had a pumpkin pie and a cake.  For the first time we decided to sing to them seperately which was so nice!  They had their own candles to blow out and their own song.  Their own moment to shine.

    We didn't get to linger for long as it was time to head to the performance.  We did hair and makeup and jammed to the auditorium. The play went so well even though Gabby had some incidences with her blood sugar.  We brought the younger kids in their costumes and there was a costume parade at the intermission.  Each kid was allowed to walk across the stage and speak into the microphone stating their name, age and what their costume was.  Ginny was stinking cute as she spoke very properly into the microphone and said, 'Hello.  My name is Ginny and I am six years old. And I am Shirley Temple for Halloween."  She sounded so mature and grown up.  Then Caleb stepped up and the microphone was so high.  He stood on his tiptoes and just reached it and said loudly. "HI, I am CAYEB and I am a KNIGHT for HALLOWEEN!" I was so pleased that they were not shy in front of all those people.

    When the play was finished Caleb and Ginny brought roses to our little performers and then we headed home for a rest before we were off to the Halloween carnival and then for a small amount of Trick or Treating.  They all love the carnival and this is the first year that Caleb could really participate fully.  Jillian enjoyed a few games but she would not say trick or treat.  Instead she kept saying, 'I got my bag!" It was so funny. She also ate quite a bit of candy.  She really hasn't eaten candy before other than one smartie or one M&M now and then so she was in heaven digging into her candy.  We allowed it for a little while until it was time for bed.  It took a long time for everyone to wind down but they are all asleep now. 

    And to conclude this long post I leave you with a slideshow of the great room remodel.  I enjoyed it so much and I think I will do the same for the boys room in March. They have requested a Space theme so I better get brainstorming.

Curly Top

    Women like to change their minds and Ginny is no exception. As I was unrolling her hair this evening preparing to make her hair look like Little Orphan Annie she gasped and said, "MOM!  I look like Shirley Temple!  I wanna be Shirley Temple!" Well that was easy enough, the hair was already done.  So I looked around in her closet and found the perfect party dress that had been handed down to us from a friend. She is so stinking cute!

Here she is all dressed up.

And here is a little video we took before bed. Hang on, it's black in the beginning few seconds.

A week from now

   

Just one week from now and I will be the mom of two full fledged adolescents. Maddy and Gabby will be 11 years old and even over the last few months we have already begun to see glimpses of the young adults they are becoming. Today I stopped myself when I began to feel the words "little girls" come out of mouth when I was talking about them.  It struck me enough to make me silent for a moment.  I cannot call them little girls anymore.  Although physically they are little people at least in stature, they are emotionally, mentally and spiritually maturing beyond a child's level.  They will always be my 'babies' and my 'little girls', but in reality they are not.  They are growing up and I couldn't be more pleased with how their progress towards adulthood is going.  Now that is not to say that we do not have our struggles, and I see a lot of headbutting on the horizon.  As much as that scares me, I embrace it because I know that this is how they will learn who they are. I see them already trying to make their place in the world, forming their belief system and figuring out who they are. I know it will be years most likely until they figure that out but I am going to enjoy the ride.  Even on the hard days, I remind myself that they are gaining independence so that someday they can take their own place in the world and I will be able to sit back and watch and know that we did our best and then let them take the reins.

What Mama Wants

    I don't often have a list of things I want for Christmas.  Although I would like a place setting of the Lemongrass Fiestaware. However one thing has caught my eye this year and I am hoping to grab my lovely families attention for a minute while I gush over the one thing I want most right now. ;)

Introducing the Nook.

 

The nook is the new e-reader from Barnes and Noble and I cannot think of anything more fun at the moment.  Even a barrel of monkeys would not compare. I love that it has a color screen, that it is not backlit so it gives a real 'page reading' feel.  But I also love that I can take a library of books with me anytime I travel or anywhere I go.  Since I spend so much time sitting around at various practices this thing would be a gem. I also think it's pretty cool that there are over 1,500 FREE titles to download.

I sound just like a commercial don't I?

Now I will never give up my beloved 'actual' books.  But there are times when I want my whole library with me or I don't want to lug around an 800 page novel.

Enough gushing praise.  I am off to Barnes and Noble soon to see it in person.

Opening Night

    Opening Night of Mad Scientist In Love  was a great success.  The kids all had a fun time performing and they are great little actors.  This was AJ's very first performance and he is just a natural.  I always knew that ball of energy was going to be put to good use someday.  He has a knack for delivering a line and it never seems forced or memorized.  Maddy and Gabby were their fine selves as well and looked adorable to boot.  I am so proud of them all! there are still 4 more performances and I have tickets available should anyone want to come.  And you should come!  What better way to spend your time than by supporting Local Community Theater?

Review

    I don't do a lot of home school talk here on this blog as it's not my primary purpose.  But once in awhile something comes along that I feel merits a post. This post is a bit of a book review. For years I have used Teach your child to read in 100 Easy Lessons.  While not a fan of the stories in the book, it proved to do what it was meant to do and my kids learned to read from it.  One problem I had with the book was that it really didn't explain a lot of the rules so once the basics were learned I had to begin by teaching those in addition. Also each story had a picture which often prompted the kids to guess at the story.

    Recently I was turned on to a book that uses a similar style but with a lot more emphasis on the rules. It's simple, concise, and broken down into short 15 minute lessons much like 100 Easy lessons is.  The book is called. The Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading.  I cannot recommend this book enough!  There are no pictures which is the first big plus.  Secondly, the font is much easier to read and is not quite so large in the beginning like 100 EZ, it makes it easier for the child to progress. It teaches RULES.  Did I say that?  You can begin with the youngest child who is ready to learn as the first 26 lessons focus solely on vowel sounds and consonant sounds.  After that it moves into short words, blends and then subsequently onto digraphs eventually moving into multi-syllable words.

    I am using this book with 3 of the kids right now. Caleb is at the beginning learning the letter sounds.  Ginny is about in the middle reading digraphs and blends and short stories.  AJ is towards the end but I sometimes flip back and have him review some of the earlier lessons and it has really helped with his dyslexia. He still makes a lot of classic dyslexia blunders but they are much fewer now.

    There are 229 lessons in The Ordinary Parents Guide as opposed to the 100 lessons in 100EZ, but this is necessary as the depth of reading is much more complex by the end of the former book. The back also contains tips for fostering a love of reading in your children as well as how to manipulate the lessons according to your child's learning style.

In conclusion, this book gets two thumbs up from all the readers and soon to be readers in this household.

   

She's ready!

Conversations

A.J. to Gabby:

"Well you know Blu-Ray is the best, everything is on Blu-Ray now."

Me:

"What are you talking about you guys don't even know what Blu-Ray is."

Gabby:

"Mom!  It's High Definition DVD!  You can use the menu functions while you watch a movie and play games at the same time the movie is on."

AJ:

"But you have to have a Blu-Ray Player."

Gabby:

"Yeah and the disc has 4 layers so it's harder to scratch!"

Me:

"Well ok, I stand corrected, you are both techno geeks."

On Your Marks....

   Maddy and Gabby are preparing for their first swim meet. Finally we are able to attend one as the last two were on dates that didn't work out for us.  I am so excited to watch them compete and give it their best. I am still in awe when I watch them swim now compared to how they were swimming when we started in August.  Back then they could barely swim a 25 and now they are doing 800's and swimming for an hour with only little 5 second breathers. Even their little bodies have changed, they are so strong and muscular, when I hug them they feel unbreakable.  Maddy will be swimming the 100yd breaststroke, 100yd backstroke and 50yd Freestyle.  (I think).  Gabby will be doing the 50yd butterfly, 100yd breaststroke and 50yd freestyle.

This is what happens

When your little boys sneak off with the camera.  I found all these hysterical clips on my memory card.  It's a little dark on You Tube for some reason, but listen closely.  It's my favorite.

Presale

I have Presale tickets for Mad Scientists in Love available.  They are cheaper than at the door. $15 adult. $10 Student. $10 Senior. If you are planning to attend the performance let me know and I can sell some to you.

Revamp

    Maddy wants to get back into blogging but thought her site needed a new look. Her blog has a new name and a snazzy new header.  Check it out!

Sitting in my treehouse