The fat cat sat on the mat....well, it tried to.

Bella and I have officially hit our first wall...figuratively speaking. Thus far our homeschooling journey has gone swimmingly, as far as academics are concerned. Then, came Book 1 of Phonics! ( Cue the music from "The Wizard of Oz" that plays whenever the wicked witch is near...)

We began our Explode the Code primers in August, and Bella loved them. We flew through books A and B, and finished up book C in November. We were doing at least four, and up to 10 pages per school day because she really enjoyed doing them. These books taught consonant sounds, reinforced writing the letter, matching to objects that began with that letter, etc.

So once we finished book C, I proudly produced Book 1 for her learning pleasure. Except it was not pleasurable for either of us! Book one jumps into three letter words without preamble. Hat, sat, cat, mat...you get the idea. Not particularly hard. But she is not getting it and she does not enjoy her workbooks anymore. We are pulling our hair out to complete one page. And I like my hair. I want to keep it. I do not want to be a bald homeschooling mother.

Anyway, I gave it one last try today with no better results so we are moving to plan B. I really have no plan B, but it sure sounds good to say it. No, since the material is not engaging her and is frustrating us both, I decided to just lay it aside for a while. One reason I chose ETC -besides the glowing reviews- was the economical price. I'm not out a lot of money and if we never touch it again I can sleep at night.

Today I ordered a copy of "Teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons", a book many moms in our homeschool co-op have used. Until it arrives, I'm just going to play some games and let her do some different activities.

I know she is only four, and we have plenty of time to learn reading. But I have to admit I'm so afraid I won't be able to teach her! I know in my rational mind that I can teach her this. I remember having this same fear about potty training, to be honest...and that turned out fine. Part of the problem is that reading came very, very naturally to me. My mom read a lot to us and to be homest I don't remember learning to read. Don't get me wrong, I'm quite aware that I didn't exit the womb with a copy Tolstoy. But it just....happened. I was the kid in first grade who the teacher had to keep saying, "slow down!" to when I read aloud. After my mom read "The Diary of Anne Frank" to my sister and I in middle school, I checked out every book on the holocaust from our local library. I'm pretty confident in saying I'm probably the only member of my graduating high school class who had read "Mein Kampf" -in English, of course. I read while I eat, I read in the car...I love to read.

So you can see why I'm a little anal about this. I really want Bella to love reading as much as I do. So I am going to relax a little bit about it, we are going to read aloud as much as possible, and we are going to formulate- and try- plan B.

Suggestions, comments, and constructive criticism always welcome!

Teachers Pet

One of the things I love the most about homeschooling is the one-on-one time I get with Bella. Granted, most days Abby is at the table with us or playing nearby, but it still provides a great opportunity for praise (and correction!) as we work together. The downside of this is that sometimes transitioning from "Mom" to "Teacher" is hard for both of us. I sometimes wonder if a "real" teacher (one at a public /private school who is paid to teach!) would get the same attitude I occasionally encounter....like today, for instance. Today was not the best homeschooling day we've ever had!

But it's for that very reason that I am immortalizing this day, that you will see pictured below. This day, she was happy to learn. This day, we laughed. This day, I had it all together. I was almost *gasp* an Alpha mom!


Here Bella is making "Pattern Trains" with linking cubes
for her Saxon Math K lesson. We had a lot of fun with this,
because after she "built" the trains she had to determine
which ones had an "ABAB" pattern. So I made an "ABAB"
tunnel out of a folder, used my arm as the crossing guard,
and we only let the "ABAB" trains go through....she loved it,
and wanted to play with her trains after the lesson was finished.

Here Bella is using her pattern blocks to cover an
animal shape.
She really enjoyed this math supplement.
Many thanks to my homeschooling friend and mentor,
Susan, for the idea!



Working on her Explode the Code phonics workbooks.
As of today is nearing the end of Book C, the last primer,
and I have ordered Book 1! She enjoys these workbooks.



I decided to do some Thanksgiving project during
November. I got a really good (and really cheap)
book about the first Thanksgiving at Mr Ks bookstore.
We have been reading it, and I found the idea for this
art project on Pinterest (Thanks again, Susan!)
Bella had a lot of fun turning her handprint into a
Mayflower!



And here's the finished product! Boy, is she proud!

Cake Pops? Count me in!

So, I have heard a lot of good things about cake pops, but had never tasted or made one. So when I saw a simple recipe in a magazine, I decided we would give it a try! It was messy, and fun, and -most importantly- delicious!

Bella and Ashlyn help me crumble up a cake!
Abby crumbles with panache!

Rachel and the girls give our cake pops an orange coat!

The finished product! The pumpkin stems are green tic-tacs!

Which Craft?

Ever since Abbigail was born, my big sis and I have enjoyed getting together with our girls for crafty, cooking, sewing days! For October, I found some fun (and delicious!) activities. Here are some pics of the girls making Jack-o-lanterns. This is a craft I found in a Woman's Day magazine, and it turned out really well. All you need are glass jars, (I bought the globe ones with the scalloped glass at the top, but you can recycle an old salsa jar!), orange tissue paper (which is NOT easy to find in October!), black construction paper, and decoupage glue. I used ModPodge glue.

You cut the tissue paper into one inch wide strips. Coat a section of the glass with modpodge glue, using a foam brush, then apply the strips, letting them slightly overlap.

Then cut out a face and put it on, and apply another layer of glue.

Let dry, light, and enjoy! (From left to right: Bella, Abby, and Ashlyn!)

The girls had a lot of fun with this! I happened to have a cheap plastic tablecloth in the cabinet, so once we were done I just threw it -glue drips and all!- in the trash. Happy Halloween!

School Report!

So, here's a brief update on our homeschooling!

Our homeschool co-op started up so Bella and I are both enjoying our Friday mornings with other homeschool families. I especially enjoy a discussion group I attend with other moms, and Bella loves her PreK classes.

We are plowing through Saxon Math K, and right now we are right on track, maybe even a little ahead. Some lessons I skip because it covers a concept that I know she already understands. And some days we don't move on, because she needs to review a previous lesson- for example, we spent a couple extra days on ordinal numbers, because she had trouble with it....instead of first, second, third, fourth, she wanted to say "first, two-th, three-th, fourth..." Which was cute and a little bit funny. She finally got the hang of it. And just to be sure, today at lunch we practiced ordinal numbers as I handed her crackers! She's even worked her way up to "fifth"!

In phonics, we are on the third (and final!) primer workbook. Bella loves her workbook and usually wants to do several pages at a sitting. I am also trying to read to her as much as possible and we go to the library every couple of weeks for fresh books to try.

We are also continuing our Bible Story Lessons and memory verses. This month we are also talking about "Obedience" and memorizing 2 Corinthians 10:5 "...bringing into captivity every thought in obedience to Christ."

Overall, I think we are doing very well. Areas I would like to improve on in the future are: more arts and craft activities, even more reading, and more games and activities.

Sometimes, life's a beach...

In late September, we took our fourth annual family vacation to Hilton Head Island. I have to admit, the attraction for me is not so much the sand and the sun. It's the time with my family. There are so many things I love about this trip. I love the morning-of chaos, trying to decide who is riding with who and which vehicle will carry the "big cooler". I love that the big cooler always has my favorite cake inside, my Memmie's Hundred Dollar Cake. Chocolate, coffee, delicious! It is my own personal tradition to have a slice of this cake after lunch and dinner every day until it is gone.


I love that time sort of stands still while we are at the beach. The afternoons seem to last forever, long stretches of time sitting in the sun, punctuated only by snacking, sipping, or sun-screening the kids. Then, before you realize it, the sun has reached it's zenith and and it's time for lunch and naps and sitting by the pool.

I love that when the kids are in bed, I get to sit up and sew with my sister. I love that when I do go to bed, I get to cuddle with my hubby. I really love waking up to a huge pot of coffee in the morning.



This was Bella's fourth trip to the beach. She is pretty much a pro now. She knows to stay out of the deeper water, she knows not to eat the sand, she knows to run into the ocean to pee (*eye roll*).

Abbigail is still busy, busy, busy exploring the beach. She has a sweet little sideways run, with her left arm crooked up and swinging hard, and her little legs flashing. Abbigail still puts sand in her mouth. She still wants you to take her out in the deep water and let her go. And, of course, she still ...goes right in her bathing suit. It's good times.

Well, mostly. We have a bizarre family habit of at least one child keeping us up all night at least once on every beach trip, and this was no exception. Abbigail pulled an all nighter one night, waking us up at 10:30, and 11, and 11:30...at 2:00 I took her downstairs to hang out on the couch and at somewhere after 4 she finally gave out and fell asleep on my chest. I dozed till 6:30, then woke up with an aching back, dying to pee, and a deeply asleep toddler laying on me! Needless to say, the first person to wake up that morning got Abby and I went back to bed!

Here are some pics of our trip.


Kenneth playing in the sand with our girls. He likes it
as much as they do...maybe more! He is a great dad!



Me and my precious girls at the beach. (and yes, this
is as naked as I get on the beach! 2 Timothy 2:9)

Bella digging to China!

Abbigail!

Yo ho, Yo ho, a Pirate's Life for Me

This year while we were at Hilton Head Island, my husband decided we needed a little piracy in our lives...so we loaded up our girls and my niece, Ashlyn, and went on a Pirate Cruise! Once the girls were properly tattooed (a temporary one, of course!), eye-patched, and armed with styrofoam swords, we set sail on the open sea - or at least around the harbor- in search of Stinky Pete the Pirate and his treasure.


Bella helps hoist the skull and crossbones flag.
Me, Kenneth, and Abbigail

Our three Pirates: Abby the Angry, Barnacle Bella,

and Blackbeard Ashlyn

By the end of the pirate cruise we had found Stinky Pete and bombarded him with water cannon, had a cup of pirate grog (the nonalcholic kind!), and found the pirate treasure. The girls had a great time.

A-bee-dale!

"A-bee-dale!" is the sound that frequently echoes through our house, when Abbigail is doing something big sis Bella does not approve of! She may be the smallest of our home, but Abby is bound and determined to prove that "the last shall be first".

She is bouncy (literally!) and full of life! She is learning new words and little phrases every day- the newest is "All done!" as she hands you her plate. She is sweet and loving, and at the same time fiesty and determined- just try to take her blankie from her! Abbigail is no pushover.

Last night I crept into her room to see if she was asleep, and instead found her lying in her crib peacefully, with her big browm eyes open. I whispered "Nite nite" and she whispered it back, and I watched her for a long time.

She is growing so fast, it makes my heart ache. Right now, this minute, she is still my baby. But sometimes I watch her as she plays, and I know that any second she will take one more step and one more breath and then...gone. She will be a little girl.

"For all good and perfect gifts come from above, sent down from the Father of Lights...."

So thankful.

School is cool!

Here's a litle progress report! We have completed one month's worth of lessons thus far! Bella is doing really well. Granted, there are days when we don't accomplish as much as I'd hoped. But then there are days when we plow right through our lesson! Today we completed Book A of the "Explode the Code" phonics program. Bella has learned the sounds for "b, k, t, f, m, and r". The really exciting part for me is not that she can recognize them when she sees them, but that she's starting to recognize them when she hears the sounds in everyday conversation! She's also started asking about sounds we haven't learned yet.

She is really enjoying Saxon Math K. She loves the teddy bear counters, pattern blocks, and linking cubes we use.

My favorite part of our lessons is our Bible story. Each day we read the next story in our book, discuss it, and then pray together. For example, if our story was about the Children of Israel having the sea before them and the Egyptians behind, we would pray and ask God to help us trust in him even when things don't look so good! It's amazing how simple Bible stories can still speak to us!

Here are some pictures from today!



Bella and her pattern block graph.

Phonics!

Painting a seahorse. Since we are leaving for the beach

next week, we have been looking at some books about

the ocean, and this weekend we are making an ocean

diorama (shoe box scene).

Abby participating in art!

*please note that the above art project was not nearly as peaceful

as the pictures portray! We had a few minutes of wild rumpus during

which one of us was a fiddler crab and had to scuttle sideways with "pincher"

hands, and the other person was a fish and had to "swim" away!

Meet my daughter, Arab Ella

So, now that we are homeschooling, I've been working with Bella a little on her handwriting. Mostly just having her practice her name, as she tends to either write it in a mixture of capitol and lower-case letters, or her name starts on one line and drifts down through the next two before she gets to the end. Her phonics workbook has her practice the letter we are currently learning the sound of, so I don't do too much else. She's only four, I'm not pushing the penmanship.

But, as is often the case in parenting, sometimes the little boogers don't want to cooperate. So quite often Arabella does not want to write her name. Part of this is my own fault for giving her an eight letter name. I figured it was only fair I one-up my parents. Hey, I did give Abbigail an eight letter name, too. I'm nothing if not fair... Anyway, I don't push the issue for now.

But in church last Sunday I happened to glance down the pew to Bella, who was sitting beside my mom (Nana). Nana had given her a little spiral notebook and some crayons. The notebook was small - and her writing is large- so she was filling page after page with different colored versions of:


Arab
Ella


I had to smile.

Wait, while I pencil in your bowel movement on my day planner....

Okay, I know this is a strange title for a blog post. I'm really just having a laugh at myself. When Bella and I began homeschooling, I jotted down a tentative schedule. Not too specific, just an order in which we would do things. I goes like this: Math, Bible Lesson, practice our memory verse, reading, and art activity.

That, of course, did not include the many adventures of Abbigail Skye. Here's how Saturday went:

Math. Abby gets up. Clear Math from table. Dress and feed Abby. Clean table again. And floor. Bible Lesson and Memory Verse....what's that smell?! You guessed it. Change Abbys diaper. Reading, Art.

I love my girls.

Pleasantly Surprised

Bella and I have now completed our first few days of homeschooling, and I have to admit, I am surprised....but probably not like you think. See, I didn't decide to homeschool on a whim. I didn't wake up one morning and think, "Oh, maybe we'll give that a try." Nope. I did my homework. Literally.

I read books (lots of them!), I emailed people, I joined a homeschool co-op, I gave my patients who homeschool (a surprising and growing number!) the third degree, I went to a convention, etc. So I had an idea of what to expect.

I expected the extra time I would spend each night, getting the next days' lesson ready.

I expected the extra patience I would need!

I expected the difficulty in keeping Abbigail pacified during lesson time.

I expected to have to develop more of a "morning routine".

I expected to make a commitment to have a learning atmosphere in our home, not just "school hours".

What caught me off guard is how much I would love doing it. It's such an awesome thing to teach your child! It's so wonderful to be there to see that little "aha!" moment when the light comes on. Its so thrilling to watch - biting your tongue the whole time!- as they do a phonics page all by themselves...and get all the answers right!

I know we are just starting out on what (hopefully) will be a long journey. I know there will be tough days, and we will both probably feel like throwing in the proverbial towel more than once. But I'm SO thankful I chose this, and I pray the Lord will give me the patience, the wisdom, and the resources to raise godly children.

"A journey of 1,000 miles...

"...begins with a single step." -Lao Tzu , Chinese philosopher (and clearly a homeschooler.)





Today was our first "official" day of homeschool. Official as in I am keeping attendance records, Bella has had her school immunizations, and we are using curriculum. I am calling this year "K4". Kind of a run-up to official Kindergarten. So here's how our first day went:

We got up at seven and had our chocolate milk / coffee fix. Then I fed the girls breakfast and we got dressed and brushed our teeth. We started off with our Saxon Math K, then went over our "Character Quality". This month it is Truthfulness, so we read the definition of truthfulness and also read Ephesians 4:25. Then we read our Bible story, and ended the day with phonics. Bella really liked Explode the Code (ETC), our phonics program. Today we talked about the letter "F" and the sound it makes. We ended the phonics lesson by reading "My F Book" by Moncure. Our art project for today was, of course, a f-f-frog, which we painted green. Tomorrow we will add eyes and a ribbon hanger.

Overall it went really well and I am pleased. I am going to add in our weather chart in a couple days. The biggest challenge was Abbigail, who was pretty fussy this morning. I plan on going to the dollar store in the near future and fixing her a basket of "school time only" toys to play with as she sits at the table with us.

Here are some pics of our first morning of homeschool!

You have now entered the twilight zone...

The other day, I got a terrifying package in the mail. As soon as I saw the plain, brown box on my front porch, I broke out in a cold sweat. The day I dreaded had finally arrived. With a pounding heart, I carried it inside and opened it with trembling fingers. It was just as I had suspected.....

...Bella's math curriculum had arrived.

Okay, okay, so I 'm being a tiny bit melodramatic. But honestly, anyone who was close friend of mine through high school (and lets be honest, that was a small group!) knows how I abhorred math. I groaned and complained my way through every math class my school offered, from Probability and Statistics to Algebra III, and I never learned to like it.

And I'm going to teach my daughter math. And I'm going to do it without ever letting her know how I truly feel about it. I can do this!

The good thing is we are starting at the very beginning, so we can learn (and re-learn!) together. If I were jumping into Algebra II, we would have a big problem. I think I can handle kindergarten stuff. (Please, Lord!)

In the end I decided to go with my first choice, Saxon Math. I'm pleased with the parts of the text I have read over, and I think Bella will LOVE the manipulatives.

For phonics I chose Explode the Code (ETC) and I am really excited about it. I also purchased the ETC wall chart, which is made of felt with a pocket for each letter. There is a little felt item (such as a fish for the "F" pocket) that goes with each letter.

So, I've marked August 4 on the calendar as "D"-day. Yes, that is a Thursday. But due to my work schedule were going to have odd school days. I feel a bit overwhelmed about it right now, but I think once we get a few days under our belts, I'll feel better.

Hot Dog! Its the Fourth of July!

I have to admit I always feel a vague forboding as the 4th of July approaches...not because I'm afraid I'll eat too much (check!), or that at least once during the annual Ayers/Edmonds fireworks display I will fear for my safety (check!), but because it seems once the 4th comes and goes, summer is almost over.

All said and done, we had a great time. Here are some pics:

Me, Bella, and Abbigail at the Jonesborough 4th Parade.
We go every year, although K had to work this year so
Nana went with us. Bella loved the horses, but thought
the marching band was too loud. Abbigail love the snow
cone we ate while we waited!

Sweet cousins! Bella, Kaley, and Aly had a great
time running, playing, and lighting sparklers!



Ashlyn and Bella cool off at Nana's before my
family's cook out.

Bella, Abbigail, and Ashlyn in the patriotic outfits!

Abbigail plays corn hole with Memmie Miller

Other notables that I did not get pics of were the fireworks! When I was a kid my sister and I were thrilled with a few Roman candles, some bottle rockets, and a sparkler. My husbands family, however, buys the kind of fireworks that look like mortar shells! They seem to get better each year, and the whole neighborhood comes out to watch. Freedom Hall? Please!

Another memorable event was my niece, Ashlyn, singing "God Bless America" for us at my moms cookout. She remembers the entire first verse and chorus, and does such a great job!

"God Bless America, my Home Sweet Home".

Decisions, decisions...

This past weekend, I was fortunate to be able to attend the Smoky Mountain Home Education Association's (SMHEA) Family Resource Fair. My mom went along for the ride, and we headed down to Crown College in Powell, TN on Friday morning.

The fair featured an exhibit hall and several workshop sessions. We attended one for "New Home Educators". It was very interesting. The speaker is a mother of three (ages 12, 18, and 20) whose oldest two children were homeschooled k-12 and are now in college. Since I have read pretty extensively on the subject of homeschooling, different approaches, etc, some of what she said was review. But it was still good to hear, and so awesome to be in a room full of like-minded parents!

The exhibit hall was honestly a bit overwhelming! There are so many resources, it's hard to know where to start looking! There was a little bit of everying, from Spanish language programs to athletic associations to academic curricula. I got lots of brochures and talked to several people.

I did refrain from buying anything, though, because the last thing I want to do is make an impulse purchase! In fact, prior to the fair I had made up my mind to use Saxon Math. No question. I was sure! This was the one! Then I happened by a display for a program called Math U See. I had heard of this before, and know a mom who uses it, so my mom and I stopped to look at it and talk to the representative. We both really like the system, it uses a approach that is very hands-on and uses written worksheets for review. So, now I am undecided again!

I did purchase the phonics program I decided on, "Explode the Code". I plan on beginning it with Bella in the next two or three weeks, simply because she is ready. I'll let you know how it goes!

Ready for the Show!

One of my and K's favorite places to go has always been Barter Theatre in Abingdon, Virginia. This year, he decided it was time to let Bella in on the family tradition, especially since there was a production of Beauty and the Beast. We saw it a couple of years ago and really enjoyed it, so we arranged for Nana to keep Abbigail, and off the three of us went! After stopping for lunch, we arrived at Barter early enough to take a stroll around town, and tour the Martha Washington Inn.


Me and Bella!

Me and K, who as per his unspoken rule is NOT

smiling good! (I love him anyway!)

Bella, (our own little Beauty!) waiting for the show to start!

We all really enjoyed the play! At almost three hours long (with a 15 minute intermission), it was almost too long for a wiggly four year old. But she did great. The theatre has booster seats for the little ones, but they aren't very comfortable. So after about twenty minutes she ended up in my lap. But that was okay. She loved the singing, and even though she was a little leery of the beast at first, that soon wore off. We look forward to more trips to Barter, especially when little Abby can come with us!

What else is new?

Well, it will shock no one when I say I am (yet again!) way behind with this blog. I really should just give it up, but I really do enjoy it when I have the time to do it! Anyway, the summer is flying by and it has been (mostly) business as usual for the Edmonds. I continue to work three days a weeek (Mon-Wed) as a dental hygienist, Kenneth is working his crazy 12 hour swing shift at Eastman, and the girls are growing like crazy. Their wonderful Nana (my mom) and Mommy Beth (my aunt) take fabulous care of them when we can't.

So far this summer we are trying to enjoy the sunshine, stay out of the heat, and away from the gnats. Sheesh, I almost just left the "g" off of gnat. We have snuck away for a weekend in Pigeon Forge / Gatlinburg this summer. We spent two nights and crammed in lots of activities, including Dollywood, the Aquarium, a hike to Laurel Falls, some shopping, good food, and a ride on the chairlift. Needless to say we came home worn out! But it was lots of fun. Here are some pics:


This is at the overlook at the top of the chair lift. Abbigail
was too interested in the slushy to pay any attention to the
nice lady taking our picture. Thats my girl, food trumps photos
any day of the week.

This is me and Abbigail going back down. I admit I

was a bit nervous about holding an 18 month on my

lap, even though it is a chair lift and not a roller coaster.

The solution? Goldfish on the way up, slushy on the way down.

Happy, content, and still baby.

Yes, it was very hot. Yes, she had lots of hydration.

My hubby, valiantly pushing a double stroller up

the (mostly) paved path to Laurel Falls. Abby fell

asleep on the way up and missed the whole thing,

but it was beautiful.

Bella walked a while, rode on the double stroller, and

then rode my back for a while. Best excercise I've had

in a long time!

Spring 2011

Well, spring has sprung! I can tell, not so much from the beautiful flowers and verdant hills, but from the yellow coat of pollen on everything and the fact that wondering into the great outdoors without a respirator brings on the mother of all allergy attacks. There is nothing subtle about Mother Nature.

So, since per the usual I am way behind on the blog, I'm going to lump all of "Spring 2011" (to date!) in this one. First things first, I turned the big 3-0. It was definately weird. Not so much because of the number itself. Or the fact that several females (lovingly) assured me that 30 hit them a lot harder than 40. But just because it got here so fast. Sometimes I look around me and say to myself, "I am thirty years old. I have two kids. I am married. Heck, I am a grown up!" Anyway, we had a pretty low key celebration. Dinner at my moms one evening with a chocolate cheesecake for dessert (after all, lets take full advantage of my swiftly declining metabolism. Thanks, mom. Especially since you are most often the one to point out the effects of said metabolism) Then the hubby took me out another evening. The gang at work threw me a little surprise luncheon of Italian food, which is one of my faves! Why does everyone insist on feeding me! Can't they see I need lettuce, water, and several hours with a personal trainer?! It was very nice.

I didn't take any pics of my birthday, so I just threw this one in. This is (thirty year old) me and my Memmie, Lola Jean. This woman is the poster child for graceful ageing. She looks exactly the same as she has my whole life, with the exception of hair color. I love her a whole, whole lot.


Next in our busy Spring was Easter. Some genius in retail marketing decided we should celebrate the birth of our Saviour by buying new dresses for our kids. Obviously he had a relative in chicken farming who threw in the egg dying and there you have it. I'm not complaining, I go along with it too. Although I did make a point to read Bella the real Easter story and stress to her why we celebrate it.

So here are Bella Reece and Baby Precious in their dresses, which my mother bought.

Next on the agenda: Bella turns four! Sheesh, now THIS was hard for me. She is four. Thats one more than three and right behind five. Where did that come from? Shouldn't I get time to prepare? Can't we ease into this or something? That worst part is, this year she KNOWS she is older. She's already making comments like, "I can do such and such, 'cause I'm four now."

Since instead of crying over it, like I kind of wanted to do, we had a party at the park. Cinderella, Prince Charming, Castle in the Clouds, and all that. Here she is, blowing out her candles.

And here is the amazing cake, made by Mr. Tracy Hoilman of Erwin. (www.tracystreats.info) It tasted even better than it looked, if that is at all possible!

Preschool Update

I am still very excited about my decision to homeschool Bella, and later Abbigail. I began doing some preschool work with her in the fall and she did really well with it. This spring we have been a lot less structured, mostly because I have been very busy! I practice dental hygiene Mon-Wed in a general dentistry office, and I am an adjunct faculty in the ETSU Dental Hygiene Clinic on Thursdays for the Spring semester. On Friday mornins we do attend our Homeschool Co-op, which we both enjoy very much.

Despite the fact that we are a little more unstructured at this time, Bella is learning by leaps and bounds, as all children do at this age. My mother and I have both been working with her on math skills and pre-reading. She has preschool workbooks that she really enjoys, and in the past couple of days she has started doing simple addition problems! I can ask her to tell me what five and four is, and she will count it out on her fingers and tell me nine! I am super proud of her, especially since math is definately NOT a strong point for me.

She has also learned to recognize all the upper case and most of the lower case alphabet, and we are working on some of the sounds. I'm not pushing it, she isn't even four yet. She is also practicing her handwriting, and can write her name. My goal for the summer is to have her learn all her lower case alphabet, and do lots of reading aloud. She loves to be read to, and right now she is very interested in volcanoes, thanks to a Discovery channel program she watched with her daddy. We have checked out several books on volcanoes from the library and now she can tell you all about them! We are also working hard on obedience and manners.

My plans for fall ("Man plans. God laughs!") are to begin Saxon MathK and also a reading program. I am still looking into reading programs and talking to other homeschool moms.

Now, I'm sure some people are wondering (because I didn't know much about it until I became interested!) about homeschooling, if it is legal, how expensive it is, etc. Homeschooling is legal in all fifty states, with varying degrees of regulation. For example, Pennslyvania is one of the strictest states to homeschool in, with lots of accountability and documentation required. Other states just require you to notify your local school district. For more information and to see the homeschooling laws for every state, you can visit http://hslda.org/ .

As far as expense, homeschooling is about like anything else in life: you can get the cadillac or the used Honda! Both will get you where you are going! There are many, many resources available for free online and in local libraries. You can buy used curriculum on ebay or craigslist. Just google "homeschool curriculum" and you'll see just how many products there are to choose from. You can choose a "boxed" curriculum, which is pretty much everything your child would need for a particular grade, or you can pick and choose different subjects from different publishers.

I have been researching homeschooling for over a year now, and am still learning a lot! I am out of time for now, but maybe in another post I will list some books / websites / resources that have been helpful to me.

Hodge Podge

As usual, I am woefully behind on my blog posting. However, I am happy to report that my laundry is (mostly) caught up, the house is clean, the children have been fed and watered, and in general things are pretty quiet!

As some of you may recall, we went through a difficult period with Bella when Abby was born. (I've taken to referring to it privately as The Slough of Despond) Anyhoo, we have recently had a recurrence of "the uglies". We had several bad episodes and a couple of very diffucult bedtimes. One meltdown occured smack in the middle of the Johnson City Mall. I had never experienced the uglies in public before and let me tell you, I never want to again! We got a lot of stares, some sympathetic and some not, as I pulled a screeching daughter through the mall by her hand. I found the best thing to do was just smile at everyone like nothing was wrong. It was so bad a one point, a sweet little grandmother saw fit to intervene on my behalf. Now, normally this would annoy me to no end, but at the time I thought, "Lady, if you can do something with her, be my guest!" She walked up to Bella and said something to the effect of, "You're an awfully pretty little girl to be acting like that. I'd take you home with me, but I don't let little girls who act ugly come to my house." It actually worked for about 3.5 minutes, then the uglies reared their heads again.

I'm happy to report that the past few days have been much, much better. We have learned to intervene when we see the uglies coming, and steer her attention in a different direction. We went to visit friends with a new baby just yesterday, and the new baby's grandma actually complimented Bella for being so polite. I just smiled sweetly and thought, "Lady, if you coulda seen her ten days ago...

As for Abbigail, she is 15 months old now, which I can hardly believe. She is not incredibly verbose at this time, but she definately gets her point across nonetheless. She says " mama", "dada", "Bye bye", and "bite". She also can point to her hair, tummy, toes, nose, etc. She also screeches ,"neeneeneenee" whenever I am doing something she doesn't like, such as washing her face. She started walking at just over 10 months, so by now she has graduated to bigger and better things, like climbing on top of the kitchen table. I'm so proud.

I really love this age, because her personality is really coming out. But she is still my baby. My favorite time of day is after bath time. I lay her on her changing table and smother her in baby lotion, then the games begin. She has learned how to unfasten her diaper, so as soon as i get one side on she will start giggling and wiggling and kicking and trying to take her diaper back off. This game ends only when I have managed to corral her into her jammies.

Is there anything better?

Isn't it romantic...

This weekend me and K celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary! Our wedding anniversary is my favorite holiday (except maybe Christmas) because it means we have successfully put up with each other for 365 more days....I'm just kidding. But it is really important to me.

This year I decided we should have an anniversary getaway, so (as he usually does) K went along with it and booked us a cabin in Pigeon Forge called "Eagles View". So we drove down on Thursday as soon as I got off work at ETSU.

Oh, and in case you are wondering, no we did not take Punkin and Precious with us.

Our cabin was definately well named. What a beautiful view from our front deck! It was sooo nice to go out in the chilly mountain air and jump into a luke-warm hot tub. (That dripping sound you hear is my sarcasm). Let me rephrase: Once we called the maintenance people to come adjust the hidden thermostat in the hot tub, it was sooo nice to go out in the chilly mountain air and jump in to a hot tub! The cabin also had a small sauna room that was lots of fun.

We did some shopping, too. I had been saving up my spending money for quite a while, and of course spent the majority of it on the girls. We had a wonderful time, but in the end decided that two nights was just too long to be away from our girls. At least twice an hour one of us said, "Bella would love that", or "Abby would have so much fun doing that".

I think "grown up" time alone is very important, though, so you can reconnect. But our children are an important part of what connects us! One of my very favorite things about being married to K and having children is when they do/say something funny and we just look at each other and smile.

Happy Fifth Anniversary, Sweetheart.