Ava, Attorney at Law

I always say Ava us going to be a lawyer some day. She can be argumentative and is very good at putting two and two together to figure things out. So on the day after we put our Christmas tree up, she and Shelby had a hard time keeping their hands off the ornaments. I had to tell them repeatedly NOT to touch the ornaments.
Shelby: Mommy, Ava was playing with an ornament.
Ava: No I wasn't!
Shelby: Yes you were. I saw you.
Ava: Just 'cause you saw me do it doesn't mean it was me!

Church Ettiquette

Hubby's great-aunt passed away last week. On our way to the funeral service at the church, we realized the girls had never been in a church before. We decided against explaining the whole death thing right now, but did tell them that they had to be really quiet inside and not to roam all over the place. So after listening to the eulogy for a few minutes, Ava leans over to me and whispers, "Is he telling a story?" "Yes, kind of," I answer. She listens for a few more minutes and says, "When do we clap?"

Frugal Fashion

Here are the girls with their cousin Q. I bought the dresses at Goodwill for $2.60 each. The green one is embroidered velvet, the purple one's skirt is velvet, not sure about the bodice fabric. When I bought them, they looked like they'd never been worn!

Atlanta Children's Parade

Books and Reading

There's a school of thought out there that says you shouldn't teach a kid younger than 6 how to read, or any academics for that matter. I disagree! I learned how to read at age 4 all by myself! I would look through other kids' readers and it just made sense to me. Granted, Spanish is my first language and the fact that the vowels have just ONE sound each made things easy (at least for me). So I can't imagine not knowing how to read.

My girls know all their letters and their sounds, but reading is a different story (it is English, after all). I've been working on it with Ava (4), but she just doesn't get it. Hakuna matata I say. But it does boggle my mind how she knows the following on sight: Kroger, Walmart, McDonald's (of course), Wendy's, Home Depot, and Lowe's among others. We went to see Sam the Lovesick Snowman (a really cute story about a snowman who falls in love with a stove) at the Center for Puppetry Arts today. Ava has a fascination with buildings, especially tall ones, of which there are many in midtown Atlanta. So on the way home she points to a building in the distance and says, "Mommy, that building with the red letters says 'Coke.' " It was, in fact, the Coca Cola building (and it says Coca Cola, not Coke), but my point is, how does she know??? We rarely buy sodas!

Another quirk my children have is that they like to sleep with books. OK, stuffed animals and books. If it's one we've read that night that they especially enjoyed, they fight over who gets to sleep with it. And not under their pillow, but next to them. I don't know how it started, but it's kind of peculiar, don't you think? Does it mean they'll have a life long love of books? I sure hope so. I remember back when I used to read *sigh*. I love books, too, but I don't sleep with them! I hope this means I can look forward to all of us sitting around reading or discussing books we've read. One day, when I'm not so exhausted at 9pm, maybe I can start reading again...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SHELBYLICIOUS!

On the way home from the birthday party, we heard a little voice from the back of the van: "It was a beautiful birthday celebration that we went to." How cute (and articulate) is that?! Yes, it was Shelby and it made me want to cry.
We decided at the last minute to have a special day for Shelby. The last 2 birthdays were acknowledged during Thanksgiving with the whole family, so it felt a little lumped together. It was at Chuck E Cheese's and she was so surprised and excited when we got there! We were all a little sleep deprived from the previous middle-of-the-night's disruptions. Delaney wouldn't settle down, Ava wet the bed, and I don't know WHY Shelby decided to get out of bed. We were all awake at 3:30 am! Everybody eventually settled down, but the girls were up again before dawn. If it wasn't for DH, I wouldn't have gotten ANY sleep!
Delaney had an allergy test (positive for milk) earlier, and I wonder if she wasn't still itching from it. Daddy told me this morning that he ended up giving her some Benadryl because her skin felt rough (she has eczema) and she was scratching. My poor baby! Shelby's birthday cupcakes were vegan due to her allergies (eggs, milk, fish, peanuts). She and Ava helped me make them and they weren't too bad! We got the recipe from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World.

Fall Frolic

Halloween Pics

2 Mermaids and a soldier (cousin Cory)

Mermaid Princess #2

Mermaid Princess #1

the girls' costumes: made by me.

!!YAY OBAMA!!

Life has gotten in the way of me posting more regularly. There are bloggers out there who homeschool, work, cook and keep up with their very interesting and informative blogs. How they do it I don't know. I really really wanted to post something about the Obama win, but in spite my emotion, just couldn't find the time. For now, let me just say how proud I am. Not just of him for winning, but of our country for voting for him. I really think he'll do a good job, but let's not expect miracles early on, people. And if he does a bad job, it'll be an improvement over what we've endured over the last 8 years. Sometimes I get all emotional when I think about this historic event. Being biracial myself, I can really relate to Barack. Not that I'm anywhere near his league, just that whole racial identiy thing. He has not let race be an isuue in his life, and I just love love love that!

It's A Wrap

My latest creation, a baby wrap. You can buy one online or at a baby store for $40-$60...or you can make one for about $4. I'd had the pink fabric for years and finally decided I was going to make a mei tai baby carrier. It ws going to take more time than I have, so I opted for the baby wrap after reading a few reviews and watching some videos about them on youtube.com. It took just a few minutes to make, and Delaney LOVES it! I have 2 maya wraps, but the limit the mobility of one arm, so they're not always practical when your baby wants to be held and you have things to do. You can wear your baby several different ways, but I've only mastered the facing in and facing out positions.

So after a couple of weeks of negotiating schedules with DH, I finally get the chance to go vote and at the same time sport my new wrap. We got to the place at about 11am and the line was out to the parking lot of the huge shopping center. There must have been upwards on 100 people in line! It's heart warming to see the interest in the elections this year! Delaney started out in her car seat on the stroller. As expected, she started to fuss after about 10 minutes. So I take her out of the car seat and put her in my nifty wrap. Y'all should have seen the looks of puzzlement and interest in the folks we were surrounded by! I don't usually like to call attention to myself, but this time it was kinda cool. Delaney and the wrap got numerous compliments.

So after an hour in line (thank God the weather was pleasant: cloudy but breezy) I get told that even though I've lived in this county for 2 years and even though I distinctly remember registering to vote AND getting mail telling me where I'm supposed to vote, they have no record of my registration, so I have to go to my previous county to vote. I wasn't as upset as I might normally have been. I got showered with compliments and a needed break from the two wild ones at home.

Us and Ours

Our Lovely Daughters

My sweet Delaney is FIVE months old!

Shelby at gymnastics

Amicalola Falls Camping Trip

3 girls and 3 bearsShelby and her ketchup mustacheAva

Us girls at the falls
Amicalola means "falling waters"

I got teased for insisting we bring

the inflatable mattress. Here's

Delaney enjoying it.

Papa Bear and Baby Bear

Enjoying breakfast al fresco

The other homeschooling families

My family at the falls

425 are SOME of the steps

A member of one of the Yahoo homeschooling groups I belong to organized a group camping trip to Amicalola Falls State Park. Not all the families that signed up went, but we enjoyed our first camping experience nevertheless.

County Fair