Happy 14th Birthday, C

From the moment C was born, I realized what true love was....the love that never fades, only grows. The love that I would do anything to save this girl from pain, I would die for her or her little sister without thinking. This oldest daughter of mine has been a blessing for 14 years. She is a joy to be with, to talk to. She has become a beautiful young woman, both inside and out. She works hard helping not only me, but everyone on the street. She gives of her time and her energy to do for others, from the littlest neighbor child, to the elderly, to every animal she sees. I enjoy every minute with her, whether we are just talking, or playing games, or working, or doing school.

C, until you have your own child you will never have a clue how deeply I love you. You are a joy and a blessing in my life. I hope you can have a wonderful birthday today.

Baby Shower

Yesterday was April's baby shower. It was very long, and she was exhausted by the end. Here are April and Dustin....the baby is due in 6 weeks:

There were lots of typical baby-shower games, and out of all the people there, BOTH C and E won prizes. E won a baby bottle filled with jelly beans that we had to see who could guess the amount of jelly beans in the bottle. C won "The Price is Right" baby shower edition....guess the cost of several different baby toys. C won a gift bag, but she had to go up front to get it. Well, C can not STAND her picture taken, and was pretty mad she couldn't figure a way out of getting the prize without her picture being taken. Since the expression on her face is absolutely PRICELESS, I figured I would make her even happier by posting this photo here on my blog ; )

E, however, has no such qualms, and loves to be front and center in everything. Here she sits right with her sister and brother in law as they open just one out of about 6,000 new baby boy outfits they recieved yesterday:

All in all it was a long, tiring day. I think the highlight was when C said to me sometime during the 3rd hour, "Mom, if I ever get pregnant, which I hope I DON'T, please do not EVER throw me a baby shower" LOL!!

Belated Vacation Pictures

As promised, here are more details and pictures from our vacation. I took the girls to my old house, where I spent much of my life, up on beautiful Lake Michigan.

And here is the smaller cabin on our old property. Although the big house is beautiful, I love the coziness of the cabin, and have fond memories of working my butt off with my parents to clean it up, and get it in livable shape.

View from my old front yard...

We also spent lots of time every day at the beach...

I have always loved lighthouses, and there happen to be two different ones within a couple of miles of each other that the girls and I went to. E and I climbed all the way to the top of this one:

See? She and I got stickers PROVING we climbed it, LOL.

Where is C, you might ask? Much to my shock, C has apparently inherited my fear of heights, and made it up one flight of stairs, before queasily going back down to wait at the bottom for us. E was my motivation; I, too, am terrified of heights, but she is not, and almost RAN to the top, and because I had visions of her falling off, I had to go, too.

We also walked a 2 mile hike to this very remote lighthouse. (and 2 miles back, through the sand dunes. )

It is so tall, I couldn't show both the light-keepers home AND the tower in one photo. It is also so tall that no matter how hard I tried, with E urging me patiently on each step of the way, (literally), I only made it 110 steps before giving up. E was SO mad at me because she was almost to the top, could SEE the porthole leading to the light and the outside walkway, but I just couldn't do it. C? At the bottom again.

I would like to point out...if you look at the above picture....you see that little tiny window, WAY up high, just below the walkway? Yeah. I was THAT CLOSE.

Every eveing, after swimming and playing in the dunes, we finished up beach time by feeding the seagulls. I always loved doing that as a child, and C and E now also love it. In 6 days we went through 18 loaves of bread, plus any scraps of leftovers we had.

And the VERY last thing we did around 10:00 every night, was walk or drive a block down to the infamous local ice cream parlour to have sundaes. Every. Single. Night. C was on a mission to ty as many flavors as possible, and E just loves ice cream. (No pictures of this)

I have always loved this area, and the great Lakes, in general. After my mom died when C was only 2 months old, we had to sell my mom's house, and I haven't been back till now. I saw some old friends, had some extreme emotions, from sadness at missing my mom, to blissful happiness most of the time just enjoying the beautiful scenery, swimming and hiking, and overall I can't imagine a better vacation. All 3 of us truly loved our trip, and hope to go back as soon as we can!

We Just Got Back From...

....the girls' first ever VACATION. We had the most wonderful time. We spent most of our time here:

And when I have time I will tell more about it....oh, and as you can see, I bought a new computer, and now have the capability to once again post pictures. : )

It RAINED!

I never thought I'd write a post about rain, but it has been over 2 MONTHS since we've had a drop! Not one drop! I've only mowed ONCE in 12 weeks, and I only mowed then (June 24th) to get the weeds cut down.There was no grass by then, whereas I normally mow every 5-6 days. But even the weeds have long since died off.

But I awoke to the blessed sound of thunder at 3 this morning, and jumped out of bed to open the curtains and watch a thunderstorm and pouring rain for about 40 minutes. It's, of course, nowhere near as much as we need. Even the lakes are drying up around here, and our trees are dying, and it's way too late for the crops, but it WAS rain, and more than just a sprinkle. Thank you, God.

What Have We Been Doing for School Lately?

Well, I know last post I said I wouldn't be writing again until I'd accomplished some of my to-do's for the month, but what else am I to do when I've been up almost 2 hours, and yet it's still hours too early to do anything else but write? Besides, I DID accomplsih SOME of my to-dos. I hooked my computer up. I just have to call the cable company and ACTIVATE my service. And I have spent more time researching new vehicles, and actually went out to car lots LOOKING at my top choices in person one evening, after the salepeople were safely gone. And the girls and I have our vacation all planned. I just have to call and make reservations and book the pets for boarding.

The girls have been doing 2 math lessons a week (for the past 2 weeks). E has been slowly working on math all summer, and just finished chapter 4 of her 4th grade book. She got an A+ on her test. E has also been doing flash cards with me, multiplication and division, working on improving her speed. C finished lesson 48 (out of 120) in her pre-algebra, and got an A on her test, only missing 1 problem.

Both girls have also been on an Art kick this week. E started it, by drawing, then coloring, a really cool picture of a thunderstorm. I was suitably impressed, so E then made snow-covered mountains on gray construction paper. When C saw me hang both E's picture's up, and heard me complimenting her on coming up with much more interesting pictures than the typical "rainbow, sun, and grass" artwork, she decided to get out her chalk kit, and made another picture to hang (in the living room, of course) of a beach. It turned out very well, also. Then she made a series of storm pictures, before, during, and clouds clearing up, that were very original too, but too many pages to hang up.

What's that got to do with school plans? Well, nothing. Other than both girls showed imagination, creativity, and initiative to use varying techniques and mediums to advance their knowledge and experience. And I didn't have to teach them anything; they figured it out themselves. And there is tangible evidence on my walls of art being done in our homeschool.

E has also been practicing piano again. She gave it a rest for a few months...but then, so have I. I play only very intermittently, and I've noticed when I don't play, she slows way down. When I play, she goes back to playing several times a day.

E has also been "working" on improving her chances for a career as a future rock star. She and her best friend have decided they will be rock stars together. So she is constantly singing along to her CDs in her room. And full blast on our front porch. (The neighbors must love us.) And...best of all....with her headphones on in the car, where only SHE can hear the music, and WE just hear her singing.

We've also all been watching the Olympics. I've paid attention to more TV in the past 3 days, than I do in a year, usually. I detest TV, although my husband has the stupid thing on 24 hours a day. (Seriously, 24 hours...we go to bed, and he LEAVES it on. For the DOG!) However, since we couldn't afford going to London, and the Olympics are only once every 4 years, we've all been watching TV. And paying attention, too. I've always loved watching the gymnastics and swimming stuff, and the girls are broadening their horizons. If I'm lucky, they even learn a little about the history of Great Britain with the little snippets of UK history the producers throw in between competitions.

We've been doing science, too. We have been avidly stupdying the drought, and it's effects and future
effects. We've seen a DRASTIC change in one of our favorite places to go...our local wetlans wildlife refuge has become COMPLETELY dry. NO water at ALL, which we have NEVER seen there, and how that affects the food chain. We've been paying particular attention to the corn, and discussing the effect THAT will have on virtually everything we produce, and the world-wide ramifications. We stole 2 ears of corn from 2 different fields. We almost couldn't find a second field with ears on the stalks, and I actually felt really guilty taking 2 ears, with the upcoming shortage. But, it's science, and my 13 year old was jealous that SHE didn't get her OWN ear of corn.

We also discovered a bone out by the river-that-isn't-much-of-a-river-anymore. The bone is a tibia of a deer, although I almost had the girls convinced it was human, and we could be part of a forensic investigation. Even after I proved it was a deer tibia, not human, C insisted it was human, and we could help solve a murder. The bone was fairly fresh, probably between a week and 2 weeks from the death of the deer, as it still had lots of soft tissue on it. I'd like to thank my husband, M, for letting us soak it for 2 days in his kitchen sink till I got around to scrubbing all the stinky stuff off. Now we just have to figure out how to get the bone open so we can see the marrow. Most bones we find are way too old to still see the tissues. (Yes, C has a huge collection of bird bones, squirrel bones, and almost an entire skeleton of a cat she semi-exhumed.) Small bones, especially hollow bird bones, are easy to break open. This bone is HEAVY and THICK, and I don't have access to a bone saw. Or any saw. So I think we will try to crack it with a hammer.

So...the only OFFICIAL school we've been doing is math. But we've all been learning and studying many new things. With all the classes the girls took, we've actually gotten quite a lot done this summer school-wise, considering we've barely looked at any textbooks. Which I'm not going to be using much of for the upcoming year anyway. Which, if I ever get around to posting the typical homeschool mom blog post on curriculum plans I will tell you all about.

This is Summer "Break" ???

Another year of softball is finished for C and E. This was C's 7th year playing, and her team finished up in 2nd place. She pretty much played shortstop this year, alternating to 3rd base and left field.

E's team finished in 1st place. E also alternated between shortstop and 3rd base. This was her final year playing in "C" league; next year she moves up.

While the girls love playing, and I love seeing them play, I am glad another season is over. So many unexpected things to do have come up this summer, that I just am not finding enough time in the day to get everything done. Not having to have early baths and supper to spend the evenings at the ball field will free up some much needed time.

Both girls also completed 2 sessions of their college enrichment classes for children:

*C took and earned a certificate in Babysitting and Child Safety.
*C took 2 science classes, one of which she greatly enjoyed, and the other she found very boring, telling me every day, "I already knew all that. We've already done that at home for school."
*C took a Spanish class, which was very fun and unformative.

*E took 2 art classes, and brought home DOZENS of examples of techniques and artwork.
*E took a dance/tumbling class, and performed a choreographed routine with her class. She did so well, and impressed me so much, that I hope to enroll her in some sort of dance or gymnastics class through the school year.
*E took an "Outdoor Games" class, which was mainly for fun and to burn off energy.

*BOTH girls took a Self-Defense class. It was NOT either one's first choice, but it ended up being their favorite class of them all. They learned a TON of information and skills to defend themselves, but the main focus of the class was an introduction to Tae Kwan Do (sp). They enjoyed telling us all they learned and demonstrating their new moves. They are now entitled to 2 weeks free classes at their teacher's martial arts school, which we will take advantage of soon. Seeing how much they learned, and how well they remembered and performed, and hearing them excitedly tell us everything their teacher taught them was amazing. This went from a last choice class to both of their favorites.

All in all they had a lot of fun, and learned a ton this summer. We've been so busy, not only with the classes and softball, but with the MANY extra things that keep popping up (extra doctor's appointments for both a father in law and April, extra pet care and volunteer work due to a negligent neighbor, a death in the family, and ongoing legal issues with the girls dad, who needs prayers, btw)...we just have NOT gotten much school done, nor have I accomplished ANYTHING I'd planned to get done during our summer "break".

I DO have all, but our science materials ordered and at the house....most of them still sitting in boxes in my living room, barely glanced at. I DID buy a computer....I just haven't had time to get it hooked up to internet yet. I HAVE kept up with yard work....but as the drought has made it so I've only had to mow ONCE in two months, that entails only weeding, watering, and keeping bushes trimmed. How do the weeds and bushes keep growing when the grass and trees are dying?? I HAVE kept up with housework....once a week maybe. We HAVE done SOME school.....2 math lessons for C, I believe, and 5 or 6 for E.

So...this next month or so is reserved for catching up and completing tasks I've had planned for all summer. Dentist visits, sorting books and getting organized, setting up and actually GOING to get my estimated taxes done (UGH!!!!), getting my computer actually hooked up, trading in my old vehicle, and buying a new one, taking ALL pets to the vet for shots and grooming, and also boarding while the girls and I take our first-ever VACATION! I've been longing to take them to my childhood summer home on the Great Lakes, and I intend to DO it sometime in mid to late August. I have not been on a vacation since C was a toddler....10 or more years ago! I grew up traveling all over, and I feel my daughters' education is sorely lacking not being able to see new places and experience all that our country has to offer. I have tons of places to go on my "travel wish-list", but taking them to where I had so many years of enjoyment and learning experiences is tops on the list.I may have done very well in school, but I attribute everything I know to 2 things... TRAVEL and READING voracious amounts of books.

Obviously, our busy summer is not over yet, and I don't intend to write much on here. Hopefully, next time I write, I will have gotten much more done. I'm completely overwhelmed with stress, but we are slowly, but surely making progress.

Oh...and for anyone who cares....3 1/2 months till I'm a grandma : )

Excuse me in advance for any typos. I'm not going back and proofreading. I don't have time1 LOL

The Girls are off to College this Week...and a Prayer request for April

The local community college has a program every year for children in 3rd through 8th grades to take enrichment classes. This will be C's last year participating, and it is E's first. It runs from 8:30 in the morning until 3:00, with lunch provided. Each girl is taking 3 classes.

C is taking Spanish, which is surprisingly advanced. She is also taking Babysitting/CPR, and wants it to be known she is only taking it because I am making her. LOL Her afternoon class is a science class. She has homework assigned...last night she was to write a resume about herself for the babysitting class, and to study her spanish vocabulary words, which we all made a game out of, and ended up "studying" until 10:30.

E is taking 2 different art classes, and a dance/tumbling class, all of which she loves. E loves them so much she wants to sign up for the session in July, and take 3 MORE classes.

As the girls are in softball this time of year, too, it makes for a very tight schedule this week...get them up at 7:30, do chores, leave at 8:15, pick them up at 3, run home, do all our pet care, have supper, get 2 baths done, (this is where it comes in handy that my husband and I have 2 seperate houses....one girl bathes at our house, one at step-dad's, lol) and get to the ball field by 5:30 for warm-ups and games till either 8 or 10, depending on the night.

Yesterday was REALLY tight, because April had a surprise doctor's appointment I had to take her to at 2. She is having what we hope are minor heart issues. She spent 5 hours in the emergency room last Thursday, and if she is still having them next week when she goes for her regular pre-natal appointment, she will be sent to a cardiologist. They have already had her hooked up to a heart monitor for 3 hours, done extensive bloodwork, (and more yesterday), given her IVs, ran an EKG, and done an ultrasound. There are a few dangerous heart conditions that normally are asymptomatic until pregnancy, but then again, there are several possible causes that are completely harmless. We're just not sure which she has yet. So, while I am trying to not scare April, and am focusing her on the "It's-probably-nothing-but let's-find-out-because-of-the-baby" aspect to her, I would appreciate prayers for this dear daughter and her unborn child.

Maternity Clothes

April is now over 4 months along. She has always been a petite girl. She has only gained 2 pounds, although it looks like far more because she has the cutest little baby bump. I think she shows more because she is so small. However, the past couple of weeks she has just been in misery because she only has jeans to wear, and they haven't buttoned for quite some time. The zipper has been cutting into her middle, yet when she stands up to walk, her pants will slide down if not buttoned. Last week we decided enough was enough.

When *I* was expecting, I owned exactly 1 dress, 2 pairs of slacks, 2 pairs of shorts, and 3 shirts. They lasted me for both my pregnancies, and are actually still hanging in my closet in hopes that I would someday have a need to wear them again. However, being 6 inches taller, and much "fuller figured" than April, there's no way they would be of use to HER.

So yesterday the girls and I had lunch at Applebee's, and then bought proper maternity clothing. (and she STILL wears sizes "small" and "extra small".) She now has enough to last her, and I must say the clothes NOW are much cuter than they were 14 years ago.

Happy First Anniversary

I may not mention my husband much, but that is because he is a very private person, and does not wish me to write about him online. However, today is a special occasion, and I at least would like to publicly tell him, "Happy Anniversary" !

I love you so much. Congratulations on putting up with me an entire year. I look forward to many more years together.