Prayer Request

Please pray for my grandma. She is 84 years old with bone cancer. She was here for Thanksgiving and went home with a cold from Emily. It's turned into bronchitis and she is in a great deal of pain. She didn't even want to tell me because she knew I'd feel horrible since it was my child who gave this to her.

Her immune system is very low and it will take her along time to recover from this. I love her greatly and am scared for her. She lives over an hour away so I can't check in on her regularly. She doesn't want to come here because she'd rather be sick her her own bed and who came blame her for that one?! Please pray for her. Thanks!

Sad truth about public school teachers

I received this as an e-mail from a friend and thought I'd pass it along. Sad but it's so true!

After being interviewed by the school administration,
the teaching prospect said, "Let me see if I've got this right:

You want me to go into that room with all those kids, correct their disruptive behavior, observe them for signs of abuse, monitor their dress habits, censor their T-shirt messages, and instill in them a love for learning.

You want me to check their backpacks for weapons, wage war on drugs and sexually transmitted diseases, and raise their sense of self esteem and personal pride.

You want me to teach them patriotism and good citizenship, sportsmanship and fair play, and how register to vote, balance a checkbook, and apply for a job.

You want me to check their heads for lice, recognize signs of antisocial behavior, and make sure that they all pass the state exams.

You want me to provide them with an equal education regardless of their handicaps, and communicate regularly with their parents by letter, telephone, newsletter, and report card.

You want me to do all this with a piece of chalk, a blackboard, a bulletin board, a few books, and a big smile.

You want me to do all this and then you tell me.......I CAN'T PRAY?"

Forgetful Emily

I've been around young children all my life, started babysitting at the age of 12, taught in a preschool for 5 years, got a degree on Early Childhood Education, been a child care provider in my home for 8 children and am the mother of 2. I have never met a child as forgetful as my five year old!
I don't question her intelligence. I know she's "all there", isn't ADD, or anything. She is just forgetful.
Case in hand, she has a special butterfly blanket that was made for her before she was born. She has loved this blanket immensely in her short life. However, she is not allowed to take it out of her bed. It gets misplaced and torn up too easily. When my grandma arrived last Wed., Emily took it into the guest bedroom to show her. At bedtime, when she can't find it, she claims she put it back in her bed. Grandma looked in her room and I looked through out the house to no avail. We couldn't find it. She went to bed and woke up with an ear ache (double ear infection) around 2 a.m. As I'm downstairs getting her some medicine, she comes down just as I turned off the lights. In the pitch dark, she has a melt down. She thinks that she left the door unlocked and someone came in and stole her butterfly blanket. "It's all my fault! Someone stole her!" She's in full blown crying mode now.
Thurs. evening, after our Thanksgiving meal and everyone has gone home, I go in search for this blanket. I look EVERYWHERE! Going upstairs, I stop on the platform and look behind the plant. There is a candy bar there. I ask her if she put it there and honestly, she said no. Rebecca says, "Yes you did, I saw you" After arguing (Rebecca and Em) for a minute, realization dawns on her. She remembers putting it there after Daddy told her she couldn't have it. So, she put the candy bar behind a plant on the stairs to hide it until later and forgot about it.
Back to the search for butterfly blanket, I am back in Grandma's room and Emily is retracing her steps. She still says she put it in her bed until I start looking in the dresser. I started looking in the bottom drawers because she can't reach the top ones. Then it hits her! She climbs on a chair and opens the top drawer. There it is!!! Oh my lands child!
The next day, she yells from the top of the stairs, "Why did I come up here?" I yell back, "To go to the bathroom" "oh, yeah"
Big sigh... this is only one of the many stories I have on her short term memory loss. On the other hand, her long term memory blows me away. The things she remembers from years ago! What, oh, what am I going to do with her?

Here are some of the many pictures I took at Luray Caverns. It was a beautiful trip there. The leaves on the mountains hadn't fully turned yet much less fallen to the ground. We live in a great spot. We are 2 hours from the beach and 2 hours from the mountains.
I was a bit disappointed that they had redone the grounds at some point of time in the last 11 years. Jay and I was looking forward to seeing the spot that he proposed to me at. Now there is a road in that area where the bench was. Oh well...
We had a great time. Afterwards, we stopped at my grandma's. I love spending time with her!

Our relaxing week of no school for Rebecca has been wonderful. Unfortunately, and I knew this would happen, Emily hasn't been doing much in the way of schooling either.
Tues., the girls got to play with Brysen all day and watch a movie. On Wed., they had a class at a state park near by and then went to a friends house to play. It was quite relaxing for me too as I was off of "mommy duty" for a while. After an errand, we had time to eat dinner and then go to church. Today was a gloomy day and would have been a great jammie/ movie/ curl up with a good book kind of day. But, we had co-op and then ran to Walmart for some fabric. Tomorrow, we are heading out to Lurray Caverns. I am excited as well as the girls and Jay. My mother in law is going with us too so it'll be lots of fun! I have been since I was proposed to in May 1996. It's only a couple of hours away, I'm not sure why we haven't been back????


Well, my main reason for posting today is to update you on Rebecca's testing. She doesn't have to test with us being religious exempt but it's always good to know where I stand as her teacher. Rebecca is 7 and supposed to be in second grade. She tested 4th grade in both English and math. She really wants to skip a grade but the curriculum she uses is advanced. Technically, it's 4th grade work with a third grade title. I'm so glad we found a good fit with Landmark.

Emily is going to stick with Abeka math and english for now but I'm incorporating other things in as well. We have done a study on the human body and Sacajawea. It's so much better than what Abeka offers. Once we finish our lessons on Jamestown, I think I'm going to teach her about Virginia history. Of course Becca sits in and participates in these lessons as well so she gets double the school.

That reminds me of something that happened yesterday. We were at the girls' friend's house and it was absolutely beautiful outside. The girls, same ones from Henricus park and co-op, were playing in the yard. Becca and Samantha came up on the deck with some type of leaves and said they were tobacco. They proceeded to dry them out and then traded them to the natives (Emily and Taylor) for other wares. Rebecca got a diamond necklace and Samantha got medicine. It was funny watching them play out the things they have learned in co-op as well as our trip to Henricus park.

Jay is visiting with his step dad today and is going out to eat with his family tonight so the girls and I are on our own. I'm strongly leaning on getting a nice hot shower, putting on my jammies and crawling into bed with a book. Although, I still have yet to buy a single item for Thanksgiving dinner so a trip to the grocery store is really needed. Decisions decisions...

Fall Scene From the Our Home

When I opened the drapes today to let what little sunlight that is out there in, I was amazed at the colors of the leaves. Here are a few taken from upstairs. Actually, the photos don't do the trees justice. They are very bold yellow, orange and red.

This first one is taken from one of my bedroom windows. I thought the trees looked beautiful behind my neighbors houses. Actually, I took this one after I had taken several. I happened to look down and realized one of my neighbors waving at me from the bus stop. She doesn't know me but must have seen the flash. Wonder if they think I'm a weirdo now. LOL

This is also taken from my room.
The photo below is taken from the hallway looking into the schoolroom. Nice view huh?
This was also taken from the school room.

WAHOO!

Rebecca is done with second grade!

She is on her winter break and will start third grade Jan. 2, 2008.

She will do some follow up testing but for the most part, will enjoy her much deserved 6 1/2 week break.

Emily is still having to do her K5 school work.

She loves it though and begs me to do more with her each day.

*Ahhh...that's Becca's brain sighing a sigh of relief.

Emily's friend, McKenna had a birthday party today. I brought my camera as usual and took a ton of photos. The party was held at the Playroom. I think it was more fun for the adults though. There is a large blow up thing with 2 vests attached to one end of the wall with a bungee cord. The purpose is to run as fast as you can to touch the other side before the cord pulls you back. It was hilarious!
Another one that the adults loved was the obstacle course. I only got a couple shots of the big slide at the end.
We also finished soccer season today! It was in the 40's and absolutely freezing! Good thing the season is over because I don't think I could endure another day out there in the wind.
To top a busy day off, at some point, Emily broke her little toe. She's in pain but is handling it like a trooper.