Distracted Crafter

Now that it's June,  I decided to make my first new post of 2011.  I just a little behind...

I'm thinking about changing the name of my blog to the distracted crafter.  It has been the theme of the year!  I'm almost finished with the paper mache letters I started painting for Kenzie in January.  I totally forgot the last day of Mother's Day Out and hurriedly whipped up a reusable shopping bag.  I made three shepherd costumes and three milk maid for Avery's school play, Bebop with Aesop.  I have started a mini scrapbook with pictures from Avery's seventh birthday (yes I know she'll be 8 in July).  I have been making beads and jewelry from polymer clay. I made several necklaces, bracelets, and earrings during this season of American Idol.  I'm sure there are more things in the works, I'm just too distracted to think about them :).

I wish I could say that this distractability was a recent development.  However, a few days ago I found a bag of fabric, cut out into some really cute outfits I planned on making for Avery when she was THREE.  I'm in the process of organizing my fabric, patterns, and notions.  I'm hoping that organization will help me stay focused on a project long enough to finish it!!!  I have a bunch of fabric from multiple donors that I just need to part with.   It is frustrating to find a pattern I want to use and then I go to my fabric dresser and can't find a single fabric suitable.

I have decided to home school the kids next year.  We will be using PACEs from Accelerated Christian Education (It is what I used for First-Third grade).  Avery has been taking the diagnostic tests and will begin in Fourth grade Science, Social Studies, and and Fifth grade paces to start.  Josiah will start with the pre-K program but should finish by Christmas.  Then, I'll start the Kindergarten work with him.  We are in the process of changing some rooms around so that we can have a separate classroom.  Walter has been putting off helping me move the furniture, so I may have to hire some movers for a morning.  I am painting all of the shelves and bookcases Valspar's Summer leaf which is a nice light green, and the walls are going to be Sweet Dreams which is a light blue.  The color palette should be called:  world map colors.  It should be nice, yet calm.

Hopefully I will remember to post pictures of at lease SOME of these items.  Until then, I'm off to start, um I mean, off to FINISH some projects.

I love Christmastime!

I am thrilled that three different local radio stations are playing Christmas music around the clock.  I can switch back and forth and never hear a commercial, just wonderful music to celebrate my most favorite time of year.  Today our special music was "Where is the line for Jesus?"  It is a song written by a man whose 4 year old grandson asked his Mom if we are celebrating Jesus' birthday, and there is a long line to see Santa, where is the line to see Jesus.  Profound!!!  (see previous post for the video)

Yesterday was Avery's dance performance.  She had a great time!  The kids worked hard and looked good.  Then, last night Avery and I went to Baltimore to see the Nutcracker.  It was a combination of children, teens, and professional dancers.  Avery was so excited that she kept bouncing in her seat and gave me about a hundred spontaneous hugs and kisses throughout the performance.  Her favorite were the mice, they were about 3-4 years old and ADORABLE!  I was sad that there was not a live orchestra, maybe next year we will plan ahead and get tickets at the Kennedy Center.

Here is one of two chairs I recovered.  The before, as the greenish fabric was stripped off the frame.  The after, woodwork painted silver and a beautiful new black chenille cover.  The picture doesn't do the chair justice!



I'll try to have Walter bring his camera home so I can get pictures of the Christmas trees.  They are so pretty!  I just love sitting in the living room with a cup of hot chocolate and a book, listening to Christmas music and glancing up to see the tree. 

I am surrounded by God's blessings!!!!

Becky Kelley - Wheres the Line to See Jesus

Christmas in May

I am so glad I did all of my Christmas shopping in May and left the gifts in Texas.  I have a few small gifts for the kids that we will put under the tree here, but are all anticipating opening gifts in Roscoe!!  I see all of the Black Friday commercials and am glad I have no need to brave the crowds for a 'good deal'.

I can hardly believe Thanksgiving is THIS week.  We are meeting some fellow residents and their families at Cracker Barrel for Thanksgiving.  This Friday we might check out the Jamestown settlement to learn how the Indians and Colonists gathered, prepared, and preserved food that would have been in the ORIGINAL Thanksgiving meal.  Maybe everyone else will be going shopping crazy and it won't be too busy!!!

The kids are looking forward to putting our trees up this weekend.  Our trees this year will be:  a Texas tree in the playroom,  4 ft girly tree in Avery's room, 2 ft tractor tree in Josiah's room, and a purple/silver/black tree in the living room.  I can't remember if I have an extra tree for the playroom, may be the ONLY purchase made on Black Friday.

Tough Week

The day Mom left, Walter also left for Orlando.  He stayed there until Sunday night.  He was gone when I really needed him!!
On Friday morning, Josiah and I took Avery to school, came home and ate breakfast, and I started walking on the treadmill while he played with his trains.  All of a sudden I heard him behind me screaming.  I immediately turned off the treadmill, but it had already sanded his fingers down to the muscle/cartledge.  I grabbed him, ran upstairs, had him chug some Children's Advil right from the bottle, threw him in the car and sped of to the E.R. at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda.  We were both crying as we drove, I felt so bad for him because he was in SUCH pain.  On the way he said, "Remember how our car died?  Am I going to die too?"  It just broke my heart!  I just started praying out loud for his pain, our anxities, and that traffic would clear out of the way.  When we got to the hospital, they got us in to the doctor quickly.  At some point I texted Walter that we were at the ER cuz Josiah had hurt his hand.  The doctor started out by putting some cream on Josiah's hand to numb the fingers.  Josiah and I started watching Polar Express.  About 30 minutes later they came to clean his hand, but it was not numb.  It took three grown men to hold him down to give some injections in his fingers to numb them.  About thirty minutes later, they could finally clean his hand.  Then the doctor had to cut away all of the dead skin that was just hanging from his fingers...Josiah and I kept our eyes glued to the TV.  Once everything was bandaged up, they sent us to the pharmacy for antibiotics and I had a follow-up in the ER on Sunday morning.  Walter called me as we were leaving, "What's an 'er'?"  I wanted to throw the phone!!!  DUH!!!
On Sunday, we had to miss church and the kids and I spent the morning hanging out in the ER.  The doctor took her sweet time!  They decided to treat his injury as a burn, since there was no skin left.  They gave me a large box with silver nitrate cream, petroleom infused gauze, 'ouchless' gauze, wrap, and medical tape.   Monday morning, Josiah refused to let me bandage his hand after bath time.  I had to take him up to Walter on Walter's lunch break.  (He has cried in pain everytime we have to change the bandage.)  On Friday, Walter took Josiah to the pediatrician for a follow-up.  She referred him to a hand surgeon because she thinks he will need a skin graft.  Me and the little guy will go for the consult tomorrow.  There are two types of graft:  a synthetic one, and one that requires them to remove skin from another part of his body under anethesia.  Neither option sounds like a lot of fun!
In the meantime, my back has decided to spaz out.  I have been in so much pain that I can barely walk.  I have been very good frieds with Icy Hot and the heating pad, and the 800 mg Advil has done nothing to ease the pain.  I guess I should see the doctor, but that is on the back burner for now.

A little Sad

Mom came and stayed with us for 12 days...much too short of a visit.  There were tears all around when we dropped her off at the airport this afternoon.  We have to comfort ourselves with the thought that we will be in Texas from Dec 21st-Jan 1st.
We crammed in as much fun as possible while she was here.  We visited the park  to enjoy the colors of fall, went to Brookside Garden, went to Avery's Brownies investiture ceremony, Trunk-or-Treat, pumpkin patch, fabric stores, the B & O railroad museum and more.  We discovered that if you wait until the day after Halloween to go to the pumpkin patch, you get your pumpkins for free!!!  I introduced Mom to my favorite Thrift store and she made some purchases of her own!!  She recovered my kitchen chairs, sewed curtains, and helped recover some upholstered chairs for the living room.  We got the house clean and organized...including the terrible playroom.  She and the kids had several 'slumber parties' downstairs where there was popcorn, cupcakes, Uno, dominoes, and FUN!  We look forward to having more family come and visit, and we hope it is soon!!
Josiah and Avery both say their favorite thing to do with Mia, was learning to play Uno.

New Look

Okay, it's been 10 months since my last post. Ridiculous! I've given my blog a pretty new look to help motivate me to keep posting new stuff about my precious kiddos!

Monday night Josiah asked if we could move to a new house. I asked if he wanted a new house in Maryland. He looked quite disgusted and said no, he wants to move back to Texas. Poor baby, I do too! Mom will soon be coming for a two week visit. I'm hoping that will help us all with our homesickness. San Antonio today is 80 degrees and clear, and here it is 55 degrees and pouring! My fingers are quite frigid as I type, but I don't want to give in and turn on the heater this early in the season! We are not really appreciating having an Autumn. I'm afraid that winter might just do us in!!!

There are a lot of good things here. We have found a great church and joined a Monday night small group. Josiah and I joined a MOPS group and are looking forward to our meetings and play dates. Avery is taking ballet, tap, and jazz at the Community center and taking Spanish after school. She joined Girl Scouts (Brownies) and the two of us went on a camping trip with them this past weekend. Walter is doing well in his residency. He is looking forward to the annual American Prosthedontics Association's conference in Orlando this Nov. He is hoping to see both professors and classmates from UTDB.

Josiah and I went to IKEA this morning and people were amused at him chanting I-K-E-A through the store. I love the As-Is section where I bought $120 worth of curtains for a mere $9. I now have enough for the wall of windows + sliding door in the playroom. The kids want to go with a Farm theme in the playroom, but right now I believe the theme would best be described as Chaos!! Maybe Mom can help with that when she is here.

This is about the time of year when I usually start stressing over Christmas gifts. It feels great to know that all my gifts have already been purchased! It was one thing I made sure to do before leaving Texas in July. The gifts are all waiting in Roscoe! Now I can focus on crafts, sewing, and scrapbooking. Fun! Fun! Fun!

Well, I just heard Walter walk in. I'll bee back soon.

Snuggie, Sweet Baby, and Americans

We had a great time over the holidays, but I'm glad they are over and we are finally back into our routine. For a while, I was too busy to post, and then I couldn't remember my password =). Now, I'm back and have several funny stories about my kiddos.
A couple of weeks ago we went out to eat with some of our friends after church. They have a precious 5 month old girl named Julia. Avery was talking to Neil and Raquel about Julia. She told them that she really wished Julia could be her sister, but that since she couldn't then they could just be sisters-in-law. Then she told them that when she was a baby she slept on her daddy's tummy a lot. She said, "he is really furry so he kept me real warm, he's kinda like a Snuggie." Gotta love it!!!
Josiah and I were running errands one day while Avery was in school. He told me he wanted a sweet baby. I asked if he wanted a baby brother or sister. No, he said, he wanted a SWEET BABY. I told him that he is my sweet baby, that we don't need another one. He was quite put out with me that I was not understanding him. "No, Momma! I wanna sweet baby. In the box. Under your arm." So, I opened the console to see if I could figure out what he was talking about. He has a great memory! He wanted the box of Sugar Babies...I don't know how long they have been in there. I gave him the box and he was a sweet boy!!!
Avery has had a great time at school. She has made a lot of friends and has done very well academically. She has never mentioned the racial difference between her and her classmates. But, they got new homework folders this week. Each folder has a cute little kid on the front. Avery was highly indignant that all of her classmates have brown people and she has a white one. She said that she was upset, so Mrs. Shackelford told her that it was because all of her classmates are something-Americans and she is just regular American. She said that made her more upset. I asked if Mrs. Shackelford said they were African American. "Yeah. Why can't I be African American too?" "The only way you can be African American is if you move to Africa!" I told her. She seemed to accept that answer, but she is probably still scheming...trying to figure out how to be something-American.

Brady--My Guest Blogger

Next election I am not going to really vote for any candidate as much as I am going to vote against all current politicians in my district. Cielo Rodriguez just secured one vote against himself by voting in favor of Pelosi Care. I know my one measly vote doesn’t matter too much, but if enough measly votes are added together then it does matter. He’s outta here!!!!!!!!!!!! So here’s some democratic party irony. If this bill becomes law, then refusal to acquire health insurance could result in imprisonment. The whole agenda here is to make me, a healthy young person, have to get insurance in order to offset the cost of my old degenerate neighbors across the street. The way to reduced health care premiums is to enlist more low-risk candidates, essentially make a bunch of really healthy people have to pay for insurance even when they don’t think they need it, so that those who do need it won’t have to pay their own way. Their cost will be offset by the younger healthier generation. Now here comes the irony. In Texas, the average inmate costs the state somewhere in the neighborhood of $21,000 per year. Sending somebody to prison is not cheap. So let’s do some math. Currently I pay for health insurance for my wife at the rate of $98 per month, a total of $1,176 annually. Under the new legislation if my wife refused to continue paying for health coverage she could possibly face going to jail. If the average cost of imprisonment is $21,000 per year in the sate of Texas, then the daily cost is $57.53. Therefore, if my wife was required to go to jail for 30 days for failure to pay, it would cost the sate of Texas(taxpayers) $1,726. How is this going to save taxpayers any money at all?
Brady

Ouchies

Since before Labor Day I have been experiencing sbdominal pain. The doctor couldn't really figure out the source of the pain. They took about a gallon of blood to run mulitple tests, and found nothing abnormal. They did an abdominal CT scan to check for apendicitis, diverticulitis, kidney stones, etc...and they found nothing. Dr. Balat treated me for a small ovarian cyst, but the pain persisted. Tuesday I underwent a laproscopy/hystroscopy in order to try and find the source of the pain. I know there must have been lots of people praying for me because I found myself completely calm and at peace, even through the bloodwork and the start of the i.v.
What they found in the procedure was an ovarian cyst that was stuck to my pelvis. They removed the cyst and put the ovary back where it belongs. Then, they found endometriosis. They removed all the scar tissue and started me on hormone therapy to slow down/prevent the growth of new endo problems. People's insides are not used to being poked, prodded, scrapped, cleaned and filled with air. They protest greatly when this is done to them!
I have two small incisions that are healing quickly. I still can't lean over and am fairly sore around the incision sites. However, by Friday I no longer needed any pain medicine and could drive starting yesterday. My follow-up appt will be this Friday and we'll discuss the surgery and our treatment plan. I am so thankful that the doctor found it quickly, that is is nothing serious, and there is an end in sight!
Thankfully, my Mom was able to come on Tuesday afternoon. She was Josiah's care taker, Avery's chauffeur, the laundry maven and house cleaner. We were SOOOO glad that she was able to come and take care of us. She took Josiah home with her on Friday and he is enjoying being in Lakehills without Avery. This is the first time he has been away on his own. I think Mom and Dad are enjoying having Josiah, too!!
Avery is enjoying playing with her paperdolls...something she can't do when he is around. Since school started, I think she has felt a little left out because Josiah stays home all day with me. So, she and I have been busy. We dyed her costume fabric, bought more fabric and thread, and have cut out her costume. Tomorrow she will help me sew. This afternoon we made cookies, complete with icing and sprinkles. Avery will have a tummy ache if she eats anymore of them!! Now, she and Walter are going to watch Monsters vs. Aliens.

So Exciting!!

Josiah was so excited. Kept jumping up and down and could hardly tell me what was so great. "Mommy, guess what? (up and down) I did it, I did it. (up and down) I finded the scissors. (up and down) I used the scissors. (up and down) I cut my hair. (up and down) Now I just like Daddy."

I had to get out the clippers because he had cut huge clumps of hair here, there, and everywhere. Now his hair really is like Daddy's...not much there!!!

And we're off....

Today we dropped Avery off at school, went and got my haircut, went to Half Price books and Ross for some birthday shopping, went and picked Avery up from school, showered while cooking lunch, dressed and are ready to go to Avery's Open House. When we're done at Thompson we will go pick Walter up and I he and the kids will drop me off at the doctor. He will grab a quick supper for the kids, pick me up, and we'll take Avery to her first soccer practice. After soccer, we will drop the kids off at the church for KPNO (Kid Parent Night Out), we'll go grab some supper for ourselves, and meet our sunday school class at Hermann park for food, fun, and free mosquito bites. Whew, I'm tired just typing about it!!!!

Gotta go...

Bird Update

Lots of rain has coincided with Josiah's bird fear abating. Why? His umbrella. It is like a protective shield, hiding him from the bird. So now, with the rainboots he has insisted on wearing daily for months, we have to carry his umbrella with us everywhere...rain or shine.
So if your toddler ever has an irrational fear of birds, go and buy an umbrella for protection!

Another First

Today Avery woke up and said, "I'm not going to school today." She apparently had a bad day yesterday, mostly because she was exhausted. You know it's bad when she comes home and takes a two hour nap!
Why was she so tired? On Monday we took the kids for a surprise visit to Sea World. At the Believe show the orcas were having a bad day. They did about 2/3s of the show and then refused to come back into the stadium and perform. Someone later said they had to cancel all subsequent shows due to their lack of cooperation! We had a great time, and all came home tired.

Tonight is Avery's first night for Children's choir and AWANAs. I'm washing her AWANAs vest and am hoping she has a great time again this year!!!

Busy Busy Busy

This is a busy week for us.

On Monday, Walter tried out our membership to the YMCA with an hour-long workout. The kiddos get to stay downstair and play while we trek up the stairs and work, work, work.

Today was Avery's six year check-up. She was scared that she was going to get a shot. They gave her a nasal spray Flu vaccine, so she calmed down! She is going to see the Pediatric Opthamologist for a full eye exam. She is also going to have an OT follow-up, to make sure she is on track. She is heathly and growing faster than I can keep up with. I'm pretty sure she was 42" at her 5 year check-up and today she is 48". Girlfriend is tall!!

Tomorrow is my Mom's birthday, she is a very special lady! Avery wants to go to her house to have cake, I told her we could make brownies instead =). I also have a dr. appt for routine blood pressure monitoring. I somehow missed my appointment last Monday in all of the back-to-school excitement!! Tomorrow evening is AWANA/Children's Choir kick-off at church. Avery did such a great job in AWANAs last year, and is excited to be going back. She has always loved choir. After two years with Ms. Jennifer, she is kind of sad to be going to a new class. I'm sure it will be fine though, she seems to adapt very well!!!

Thursday the only thing going on is Walter's Bible Study.

Friday is when Avery gets out of school early. We will have to grab a quick lunch and then head over to the dental school. She has an appointment with Walter for a cleaning and a filling. Once that is done her 'case' will be closed and he gets all of his credits for working with her. That night we are planning to go back to the Y.

On Saturday, Walter is going to take the kids swimming at the Y. We have to buy some fencing at Lowe's because Oreo has become an escape artist. I guess we will be working on that for a while and then relax!

My Baby is now a school-girl!

This has been a life changing week for us. We had prayed all summer about whether to continue homschooling or to send her to school. Walter and I neither felt that we had a clear answer. So, on Thursday I asked Avery what she preferred and she said she wanted to be in a classroom. On Friday we spent the day buying school supplies and uniforms. On Monday Avery started first grade at Thompsom Elementary. Her teacher is Mrs. Shackleford and she is loving school. Patrick, Cedric, Katie, and J.D. are her new friends and she loves lunch and recess because that's when they get to talk. She gets out at 12:45 on Fridays, which I think is pretty cool!

Josiah has handled her being gone very well. We have done lots of building with legos! AND He has watched The Incredibles every day this week (which is much better than Chitty Chitty Bang Bang that Avery insisted on watching everyday at this age)! Around 2:00 Josiah usually says, "I wanna see Avery." When I tell him we have to wait until she's done with school, he goes and gets his shoes and tells me, "Let's go pick her up." Since he has shoes on, I send him out to play with Oreo for a while and he seems happy with that.

Today Josiah has been afraid of a bird. What kind of bird? I have no idea. It's about to drive me crazy. A sample of how our morning has proceded...
Me: "Get out of the car."
Him: "No, the bird will get me."
Me: "Come sit at the table and eat."
Him: "No, the bird will get me."
Me: "Can you go find your shoes?"
Him: "No, I scared. The bird will get me."
Me: "Do you want to eat lunch at Sonic?"
Him: "I no go outside. The bird will get me."

Where do kids get these strange fears? When Avery was afraid of her closet, we would spray her room with Strawberry airspray--ALL Monsters are afraid of strawberries you know! So, maybe I need some Bird spray...or maybe he can use an umbrella for protection. Any ideas???
(Recently Avery saw the can oF Strawberry airspray. "Mom. There aren't really any monsters in my closet are there? And monsters aren't really afraid of strawberries are they?" I told her that there were no such things as monsters so they CAN'T be in her closet. I asked if the using the spray used to make her feel less scared. She said, "Yeah." I said that was all that mattered. I just didn't want her to be afraid.)

Wow! Where does the time go? How is is already July? We had a week of VBS. Then we did Sea World Camp. Avery was such a big girl, going off to camp without Mom. She had lots of fun there and really enjoyed Sting Ray day. She also had a mini-crush on her camp leader--Patrick. Her group was the Otters, but they joined rank with the Flamingos and became the Flamotters. We had the Gober family reunion in Lampasas and had fun dancing and getting to know everyone better. We went down to Memorial park and watched two different fireworks shows on July 4th. Avery loved it and Josiah kept saying, "They broke. Uh, oh." Then, Avery had theatre camp and made an adorable Sea Horse in the Rainbow Fish play. We have had a busy and fun summer.

Yesterday I met Mom in Luling and dropped off my kiddos. They are going to stay with Mom while Walter and I travel to Connecticutt. Walter has a five day externship at U. Conn and we're celebrating our 10 year anniversary. My only sadness is that I'll miss my Babygirl's birthday. I sent gifts with Mom for her to open on her special day.

Mom and the kids are in San Angelo right now. They met up with some of her ex-coworkers at the Airport Cafe. (Yum...I love thier lemon chicken!!) Then, they are heading to Roscoe for the Ladies Weekend. Avery and Josiah are both excited that they get to see all of their cousins. I hope they have lots of fun and don't have time to miss us!

VBS

Our Churches' VBS theme is Boomerang Express. They are "in" the Australian Outback. When I told Avery they were going to be having an Australian theme she was quite worried. "Mom, I don't think I can go." I asked why not. She said, "I only know English. What language to they say in Australia?" I reminded her that Dawn's friend that went to the Blue Bell Factory with us is Australian and she speaks English. After that, she thought she might could go. When we got to church this morning and she saw her friends she forgot to be worried and had a great time!!
After VBS I made sure to run a lot of errands. Next week at Sea World camp she will be there from 9-3 and I'm trying to build up some stamina.

Motivation

Homeschooling has been an interesting process. We have tried several types of techniques. I know she has learned a lot this year, but I keep thinking "there has to be a better way". It is sometimes very hard for me to get Avery motivated to do anything. I have tried positive reinforcement with stickers, candy, and Polly Pockets. I have tried taking away privileges like computer time, t.v., stuffed animals, etc... It has been a challenge to find a currency in which I can deal with her. Then one day she saw my charm bracelet. She LOVES all the charms on it. She wants a charm bracelet of her own. I had finally found the motivator I've been looking for.
So, I ordered the PACE program that I used in Private school in First, Second, and Third grades. I cracked up when I got the curriculum, the pictures have not changed in 24 years!! Now, for every five PACEs Avery finishes, she will get a charm for her very own bracelet. She has had fun browsing the Internet looking for charms and making a wishbook.
I had planned on this being the last week of school because this is the last week for H.I.S.D., but Avery keeps asking when we can do more school. As long as she is interested, I'll keep reading to her and helping her with her work. Next week she will have Vacation Bible School in the mornings, so we can do school in the afternoons.
The week after that we will be in San Antonio so she can attend Sea World Camp. I think that will be enough of a learning adventure that I won't bring the PACEs with us. I have a bit of trepidation (okay a lot) about Sea World Camp. It will be the first time in her life that she will be with complete strangers for more than a couple of hours. She will be at Camp from 9 a.m.-3 p.m.--I'm sure she will be fine, but I may need some Prozac!! She has already informed me that she will try not to talk too much! I guess she knows her strengths and weaknesses!!!!! The counselor will be posting what her group is doing on Twitter, so I guess I need to figure out what that is and how to use it!

Babies are Gone

Mom came to Houston on Sunday and took my babies home with her yesterday. The house is so quiet with them gone!! Last night Walter and I started talking about the kids and he said, "You do realize they've been gone less than 24 hours and we already miss them!" It was nice to sleep all night without a little one climbing in bed with us...if only we didn't have to get up early.

Walter had a Dr. appt in Clear Lake this morning, so we spent the day there. We went the doctor, Goodwill to donate some goods, Scrapbook Junkie, Mamacitas for Lunch, the movie theatre to watch Mall Cop then came back into Houston and picked up Walter's prescription at Target. Now I need to fold laundry so I can pack a suitcase cuz we are going to San Antonio sometime tomorrow. Brittney's birthday is today and she and Brady are having a party on Friday night. Brady needs Walter's help in constructing an outdoor drink stand for the party.