Tidbits and teething

I have been a total slacker lately, as far as blogging is concerned! Usually the only chance I get is when the girls are in bed, and I often use that time to check email, pack diaper bags, work on a quilt, write in my journal, etc.

Journaling is a biggie for me, I have kept one (one and off) since I was about 6 years old. The 6-year-old one is pretty hysterical. The handwriting is horrendous and the big news items are things like , "Joy pinched me today." (sorry Joy, but you were a pincher!) The high school journals are more interesting, and not quite as light of a read because high school was not the highlight of my existence to put it mildly! But it's interesting to look back and realize how much your perceptions of life and love have changed. And boy have mine changed...

My girls are doing great. Abbigail is crawling all over the place. Her form isn't quite perfect yet, sometimes she gets up on all fours and other times she uses an army-crawl that would do the special forces pround. She gets! She's also working on teeth numbers three and four, which I think is why she's been getting up like clockwork at around midnight and 4a.m. for several nights. It's like having a newborn again.

Arabella is pretty entertaining. She's discovered a flair for entertaining so in the evenings she gets on her "stage" and I have to say "Now presenting Bella!" and daddy has to say ,"The star of the show!" Once we have said these exact words with the proper accompanying hand gestures, Bella sings. Sometimes she makes something up, sometimes she sings a strange song called "Imagination!" that consists of repeating that word over and over. Sometimes she sings Victory in Jesus. She calls it "O Victory!"

By the way, that song was an important lesson for me on just how much kids pay attention to what we say! I happen to be a compulsive singer (not to be confused with a good singer!) so I sing around the house a lot. I was singing Victory in Jesus as I gave her bath one evening, not realizing she was listening to the words I was saying. Suddenly she looked up at me and said, "Why did Jesus plunge me in the flood?" (He plunged me to victory beneath the cleansing flood) So we talked about Jesus washing our sins away to help us be nice.

As for me and the hubby, we're just working along! He is counting down the days until our trip to Orlando in September and driving me crazy talking about the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. It's my fault, I got him hooked on the books!

I hate to admit it, but I am over this sweltering summer weather. I got my quilting things out a few nights ago to work on my Log Cabin quilt top. As I usually only quilt in the fall/winter, I was hoping to hint-hint mother nature into sending some cooler weather. Obviously she's ignoring me.

I did get a little Christmas in July, though. My sister recently got a Kindle. If you aren't familiar with these, they are wireless e-readers. The way it works is you go online via your computer or the Kindle itself, find a book you want, and it downloads to the Kindle and you can read it! The Kindle- depending on the version you get- stores over a thousand books. Anyway, once I saw hers I really really wanted one. However, I'm not the kind of person that goes out and drops $189 on electronics. Its thrifty, thank you very much! Anyway my dad said , "Maybe Santa will bring you one!"

But then I started thinking about those long drives we have coming up in September, because in addition to Orlando we are also going to Hilton Head Island. So I asked "Santa" (daddy!) if my Kindle could come early and what do you know, it did!

I love it! I loved it even more once I discovered that there are over 19,000 books that are available free! I think it has to do with a publication date before 1923 or something like that, so it's older books, but this includes Jane Austen (one of my favorites!), Alexandre Dumas, Lucy Maud Montgomery, etc. So I have five books already without paying a cent!

This concludes our advertisement for the Kindle e-reading device. For more information visit www.Amazon.com .

And now back to life. There is a pile of laundry to do, the beds need changing,.....and now I hear Abby crying so all that will have to wait!

Ready for my close up...

We recently had family pictures done in an outdoor session at the Laurels. I have been fortunate to have Rebecca Marr, a very talented local photographer, take pictures of our family since Bella was 3 months old. As you can see, she does a wonderful job. Here are a few of my faves from our shoot:


This is my absolute favorite. It's going on the living
room wall!

I adore this pictue of Abbigail. This captures her
little bright, sweet personality.



Arabella, all smiles!

God has blessed me with a wonderful family!

Now serving customer 972...

As you know, I've decided to homeschool Bella. To that end, I decided it would probably be better for both of us to ease into it and not wait until mandatory school age (which in TN is age 6) and then jump in headfirst with no clue what we were doing.

So I talked to lots of people and read books and looked at websites, etc. And one piece of advice that kept coming up was : find a support group! Turns out there are quite a few in this region. I sent some emails out and was kind of surprised that a lot of the groups didn't even respond. Which makes me think they aren't very well maintained and therefore couldn't offer much support, anyway!

But one group, TEACH, (Tri-Cities Education Association for Christian Homeschoolers) responded immediately, and I exchanged quite a few emails with different members. They seemed very helpful and encouraging, so I went to a meeting several weeks ago. I met some really nice moms.

So I joined TEACH. One of the things I like about it is that in the fall and spring semesters they operate a educational co-op at Boone Trail Baptist Church. They offer classes for each age group (Prek-12th) on Fridays. I thought that would be a great way to meet people, and also a good time for Bella to spend with kids her own age.

Thursday was registration for the fall semester. So me, Bella, and Abby went. I took the umbrella stroller for Abby, who has graduated from her carry-seat. After checking in there was a meeting to review rules, etc. Then registration began. You waited until they called your number, then signed your kid up for classes.

I have to add here that they put you in line to register based on the age of your oldest child. Which makes perfect sense, because you wouldn't want one kid to get in their classes (sizes are limited) and the other not.

It's just hard when your oldest child is three years old. And yes, in the entire co-op, I had the dubious distinction of having the youngest oldest child. I was the last person to register. Bella and Abby did very well waiting, although it got tiring for all of us. In addition, having an umbrella stroller in a church is no easy task when it comes to things like taking the older kid to the bathroom.

Anyway, everyone was very nice and helpful and in the end Bella got signed up for "Letter of the Week" at 9a.m. , "Before Five In A Row" at 10a.m. , and "Preschool Art" at 11a.m. One of the rules of co-op is that a parent has to contribute 2 hours to the co-op each week. So I will be helping in other classes part of the morning, then doing a "Homeschooling 101" moms class, which I am very excited about.

Next year I may make up a fictional 12th-grade son, and be first in line to register. just kidding.