God & Religion

The last time the girls went to Miss Lisa's (our daycare provider) she sent us off with the following little anecdote:  "We were singing Christmas carols and having lots of fun.  (This is the first year they've been exposed to them and really don't know that many).  We sang "Joy to the World" and when we came to The Lord has come, Ava asked, 'Who's the Lord?' "   I was both amused and uncomfortable.  I believe in God, but not necessarily in religion.  I have NEVER told my girls about God because...I don't know what to say!  I don't believe the human mind can fully grasp the concept of God.  It boggles my mind when I try to understand.  God is the ocean and we are molecules of water.  What do you say to a child?  Living in the South, the subject is bound to come up again...and again.  They  need to have some infortmation on the subject!  I ultimately want them to reach their own conclusions.  My son (23) has some pretty wild beliefs, and I have to take some resposibility since I was always open to new ideas as I raised him.  Whenever the subject of religion comes up, Hubby always throws the phrase "bible-based" in.  Although he went to church growing up, I doubt he could quote you a verse if you paid him $100.  He really knows nothing about the bible, but seems to feel that he should and the anything having to do with God should be "bible-based."  I don't take the bible as the only divinely inspired text.  There's the Torah, the Koran, and the Quitab-I-Aqdas to name a very few.   I find it a little offensive to think that the bible is the ONLY book in which God reveals him/her/itself or gives instructions for living.   I plan to introduce the girls to the Creator....soon. 

Tears For Teeth

I don't care what the lab test said, I think my hormones are out of whack! The silliest things get me all teary-eyed. Like Ava losing her first tooth. It had been loose for over a week, and we had been wiggling it daily. I even tried to twist it out that morning. But when she ran into the kitchen, all excited becasue the apple she was eating made the tooth come out...I had to fight back tears! I told her I was sad, and sweet nurturer that she is, she kindly asked "Why, Mommy?"
"Because this means that you really are getting to be a big girl."
"But, Mommy, if I get big, I can help you cook."
That is one of her highest aspirations. Although she already helps me cook...sometimes. Apparently what I let her do is not enough.
So if I'm crying over a loose tooth, Lord help us when we shop for her first bra...

Fall Photos 2009

At the pumpkin patch

Georgia Aquarium

Shelby

Ava

Delaney

On the Walking trail

One big happy family

Runaway butterfly

A Monarch butterfly, Tinkerbell, Belle

Still Working On the Kitchen

I was supposed to have worked yesterday, but got cancelled. I spent the day helping Hubby lay hardwood flooring in the kitchen. If you've been reading my blog for a while, you know he built me a new kitchen this year. It had been at a standstill for many months until I started gently and lovingly reminding Hubby that I sure would like my kitchen to get done. Honey does indeed attract more bees than vinegar (or is it flies?). As usual, he started all of a sudden and without warning me. You'd think he'd know better by now. Instead of bitchin' (OK, I bitched a little), I spent yesterday helping him get the damn thing done. He said he likes it when I help him with his work and that it makes him feel romantic! How sweet is that!? Today we were both sore and exhausted (yes, there was romance after the hard work).
Now we are planning the logistics of getting the floor sanded, stained and polyurethaned with three little ones in the mix. It looks like there'll be a least one night's stay in a hotel. We hope to get it done within the week as it's not wise to leave a wood floor unfinished with three rugrats running around. Good thing I don't buy red juices!
No word on my PC. Don't know if it's that serious, or if the doctor's just that busy.

Learning About Teaching

I know I'm not the first homeschooling mom to question her decision. There have been times over the last few weeks when I have asked myself "what was I thinking?" It would be so much easier if I didn't have to work outside the home. I have to stress that because I feel like I'm always working! Hubby has been sooo good about helping to clean. Thank God, because otherwise we'd be living in a pigsty! I've been managing to keep up with washing clothes. Folding & putting away...well, that's another story.

I have pics to post, but my PC is at the doctor's. Hubby has threatened to ban me from it since it's not the first time I've jacked a PC up. It appears that I'm downloading infected files....

So school is going well overall. Ava asks for lessons even in the evening, and I do not say no. Part of my stress is from GVA. There are deadlines to meet! I have mixed feelings about it, since the curriculum is pretty good, so far. We're testing out of a lot of the early math & science units, but I'm hoping it'll get a little more challenging down the road. Ava has her good days and her bad ones. I think she's a little envious of her sister's freedom. I keep telling her that she's a big girl and has to do big girl things. This usually works, at least for a little while. We are loosely using the Workbox System. it does appear to help keep the day moving and to accomplish more. I put fun things in there to break up the day a little. I'm learning that Ava is quite squirmy and I try very hard to let her move all she wants, as long as it's not distracting her. I'm not sure if she's an official Kinesthetic Learner or just wriggly.

My latest brainchild has been to use movies as a fun part of our geography studies (called history by GVA). Below is a list of movies that can be used to teach about the continents (feel free to add to it):

AUSTRALIA

Finding Nemo

EUROPE

Beauty & the Beast

The Secret Garden

Anastasia

The Hunchback of Notre Dame

The Three Musketeers

Don Quixote

Hercules

Ratatouille

Nanny McPhee

ASIA

Mulan

The Jungle Book

AFRICA

The Lion King

Madagascar 1 & 2

The Prince of Egypt

NORTH AMERICA

Pocahontas

An American Tail

The Incredible Journey

American Legends Series

SOUTH AMERICA

Ferngully

ANTARCTICA

Happy Feet

Penguin March

I don't plan to show every movie, but I think any of them will give a Kindergartner a sense of the continent being studied. My plan is for the kids to watch the movies over the weekend when I'm at work. Hopefully, they'll want to watch it again with me later in the week, but if not, that's OK.

Panama City Beach Vacation 2009

The girls on the balcony
The giraffe and I

Shelby & Delaney

Ava & the lemur

Delaney striking a pose

Shelby & the bird

My Lovely Ava at sea

On a boat ride to Shell Island. We saw dolphins!

At the Marina

Breakfast in the condo

Cuddly sisters

Beach beauties

The pool at night

"The Shores of Panama"

Answering Questions With Questions

Kindergarten has officially started! It's been mostly good. We enrolled in Georgia Virtual Academy at the last minute. I was seduced by the FREE, pre-organized curriculum. Not too thrilled about having an assigned teacher, although she sounds nice enough. There are hoops to be jumped through and that may be what makes me decide against it for next year. The material so far has been pretty easy for Ava--almost too easy. I'm thinking it'll get more challenging as the weeks go by. She's asking to do lessons at all hours, even if we've already "done" school that day, so I usually oblige her.
One of the things about my child that I find a little aggravating is her penchant for taking a simple question and not only going on and on with her answer (she gets that from her daddy) but the off track questions she sometimes asks. If we're looking at pictures of houses in a magazine and I ask her which house she likes best, she's not just gonna say, "The blue one." No, she's going to ask where the house is, who lives in it, do they have pets, and if there's a Mexican restaurant nearby. Sometimes I go along with this (there has to be a name for it), but usually, I just go on to the next question or comment.
So last night, I'm doing her hair and she is being particularly wriggly. I ask her, "Ava, why can't you sit still? You got ants in your pants?" The response: "Red ants or black ants?"

Atlanta Summer 2009

In looking for the planetarium, we ended up at the wrong Fernbak Museum

We read Who Owns the Sun, a Five In A Row book. It's mostly about slavery, but we learned mostly about the sun, the planets and the drinking gourd (Big Dipper). The Science center has a planetarium, where we enjoyed a show about the constellations. The girls were able to make the connection between the drinking gourd form the book Follow the Drinking Gourd and the real night time sky.

Back yard fun

Miss Independent at the Olympic Rings Fountain

Going there was a last minute decision, but lack of proper swimming attire was not a problem

Centennial Olympic Park

Imagine It! Children's museum. Hubby took pictures of Ava & Shelby with his phone, but I have yet to get them. He decided to join us at the last minute, and thank God. I don't know what I would've done with all three at the museum by myself! Keeping up with Delaney was challenging enough!

Kids and Craziness

Hubby teases me becasue I like to watch reality shows about big families (I quit Jon & Kate because of their divorce). As a kid I loved Eight is Enough and The Brady Bunch. I don't know why I'm so fascinated by big families, but I know this: three is sometimes too much! The reason I haven't posted in so long is because they keep me so busy! Sometimes, all I'm doing is holding the baby, but that keeps me form accomplishing other things like laundry and dinner. I know one thing that might make a difference is getting up earlier, but I don't want to ! (*whine*). Over the last few weeks, I've been having some major insomnia that I attribute to perimenopause. Yes, there IS such a thing. My periods have gone from like clockwork to schizoid since I weaned Mr Huggie (Delaney). That never happened after the other babies. I've also been kind irritable, which is sooo not like me (really, I'm not being sarcastic). I've also been trying to get ready for school. We enrolled in Georgia Virtual Academy and school officially starts on 8/17. We'll be on vacation that week, so I'd like to start in the next few days. GVA is called public school at home by some. Just the fact that it's at home makes it sooo much better than public school. I'm really liking what I've seen so far and am excited to get started. But first, I need to not be so busy all the time....

Delaney at 14 months

At the Pool

These pics are from last week, but this is where we spent part of our Father's Day. I was a nervous wreck watching the girls while Daddy went to the giant slide. Shelby is much too independent in the water and Ava is finally loosening up. Delaney it quite at home in it. They all had a great time and we were all worn out at the end of the day.

Goin' on a bike ride with Daddy

Courtney took back the bikes we'd bought for the girls, because they just weren't figring out the whole pedaling thing. He thought the hook-on bike would help teach Ava the concept. She pedaled backwards throughout the ride.

Garden Progress

We have 2 kinds of tomatoes, okra, hot peppers, bell peppers, cucumber, squash, zucchini and 2 kinds of beans. Still have room for more, but we haven't decided what else to plant. I'm thinking peas and a second planting of beans.

Playing in Cow Poop is Fun!

The kitchen redo has kept us from pursuing other items of interest. One of them was starting a vegetable garden. After reading Mel Bartholomew's Square Foot Gardening, I decided to give it a try although it was kind of late in the season.

Hubby pouring the ingredients of Mel's Mix

Our big helpers (above).

When we had all the ingredients of Mel's Mix in the van, Shelby (who is very smell conscious) asked, "What is that stinky smell?" I told her it was cow's poop to which she replied, "EEEEEWW!"

Here we all are, mixing the mix per Mel's instructions.

Once it was all mixed and her nose had acclimated to the smell, Shelby announced, "Playing in cow poop is FUN!"

Our Square Foot Garden