Halloween 2007

Crab, Zombie Skateboarder and our cousin, the soccer player- Think grandma will like these?

Happy Halloween!

I had to post the boys in their costumes because they looked so good! I thought DS12 did an excellent job on his zombie makeup and even though we couldn't get the crab legs to stick out, DS8 still rocked it. Now we have way too much candy!!!!

Real life Halloween story

Wisconsin is famous for our creepiest of creeps- Ed Gein, Jeffery Dahmer. I read this news story and couldn't help but see life imitate art.  How fitting this is on Halloween, just like the movie with Jamie Lee Curtis. I feel for his family.

http://www.channel3000.com/news/14473535/detail.html

International Crane Foundation

From 22 to 500

Yesterday we had the pleasure of visiting the International Crane Foundation in Baraboo, WI. It was a gorgeous day and we saw gorgeous birds! We learned there are only 15 species of crane left in the world and on our North American continent, only 2 species remain, Sandhill and Whoopping.

The ICF is trying to save these amazing birds and their efforts have helped the Whoopers grow from 22 to 500. But still, that's only 500 left in the entire world!! Yikes!!! The Whoopers have a beautiful habitat at ICF. You can observe them in a natural setting. It was very peaceful and moving for me, to be looking at 2 left of 500. My photo doesn't do them justice.

Most of the other species of crane are displayed in a fenced off enclosure. (Someday they hope to build more habitats.)  As we approached each species, they would come right up to us! I was surprised to see Sandhill cranes were gray not brown. I learned in the wild, Sandhills paint themselves with mud! Before they began building more homes next to us, we'd often see Sandhill cranes grazing on the left over grain. Since the homes went up, we've haven't seen the cranes anymore.

After our field trip, we enjoyed a picnic lunch and hiking at Mirror Lake State Park with our fellow homeschooling friends.

On our way home DS8 asked, "Mom, when are we going to see the cranes?"

"WHAT!!?? We just saw the cranes at the crane center!"

"No, when are we going to see the big, tall cranes that build buildings?"

DS8 actually had a great time at ICF for the most part. He kept our tour guide busy asking her all kinds of questions. At one point I was actually embarrassed, and I had to stop myself from stopping him. I'm still de-schooling myself. I was brought up to stay quiet and listen only. DS8 still has that desire to question everything. Thankfully our tour guide, Rita, was patient!

http://www.savingcranes.org/

Carving Jacks..

(Ok I can't figure out yet how to post more than one snap in a post. I tried to use photobucket but I'm getting a message I have to update and I'm too lazy right now to work through that. I'm going to just try this using Multiply.)

Except for me cutting the top off, the boys did everything themselves. In years past, I've got stuck scraping guts and making cuts. I think you can tell from the snaps, they had a great time. Give a boy a knife and how can they not have fun?!

 I love the picture of Yumi reaching out her paw to claw DS12. She thinks she's being sneaky, hiding behind the curtain! LOL!

Trick or Treat!

Here is DS8 trick or treating at Great Grandma's nursing home. It was very cute. They had many of the residents lined up, circling throughout the center.  The children paraded around in their costumes, stopping at each resident to get a smile and a piece of candy.  The staff  made sure each resident had candy and there was more than enough to go around. This was our first time trick or treating this way, and I'm regretting we hadn't tried this sooner. Of course this is our first Halloween with Grandma in a nursing home, but you didn't need to have family in the home to trick or treat there. The public was invited. It was such a great idea. If you have children and need a safe place to trick or treat, look into nursing homes in your area!

Thanks for accepting my invites!

I feel like the party's about to start! Thanks to everyone who's accepted my Multiply invites. Its great to see everyone here and to make new friends as well!

Last night we had our dress rehearsal. We discovered green is not the best color choice for zombie makeup. DS12 ended up looking like The Creature from The Black Lagoon. I'm sorry I didn't get a picture before he washed it off.

DS8's Lobster/crab suit needs some adjusting on claw length. They were dragging on the ground.  He still managed to crawl through the haunted maze at our friends' Karate school party. He really looked more like a crab when he was scurrying on all fours.

I headed into town once again to find blue and gray makeup so hopefully tomorrow DS12 will be more zombie like. I promise to take pictures this time.

We plan on watching monster movies, carving our pumpkins and popping corn tonight. I love fall!

Tomorrow its road trip time to K-town to say hello to Great Grandma in our costumes and trick or treat in her town.

Thankfully my sore throat has been chased away by all the fruits and veg I've eaten along with lots of fluid and sleeping in. I feel like I've won this first battle but the war isn't over. Flu season is just getting started.

Oh! I had another bad dream last night! I was riding in a car when we hit a traffic jam. A man walked up to the car with a gun. I jumped into the back of the car and grabbed DS8 into my arms. The man moved around to the rear window which was partially rolled down. He pointed the gun at me and I begged and pleaded for him not to shoot. He ended up throwing up on me!! Gross, but hey, I wasn't shot. He became embarrassed and ran away crying. I was grateful DS8 and I were safe. Very weird huh?!

Well, I better start my crab leg alterations so I can enjoy the night time fun. Hope your weekend is going great!

Yumi

My flowers...

Walks in the woods...

Jared at Magnolia Bluff 8/2/09

Hiking photos

Nightmare

Don't you hate when you have a nightmare and it sets the tone for your day?

I was dreaming my children were for some reason at school. (Wait it gets scarier!) An ice/snow storm of the century was blowing in, and while I had the opportunity, I wanted to find my children.

I was at the school and found DS8. I then went to a gym class to find DS12. The gym teacher yelled at me and began to punish DS12. I stopped and yelled back, "DS12, You don't have to listen to her. You are homeschooled! You can come home with me!"  When we turned to leave, I noticed DS8 was missing.

The nightmare goes on with me trying to find my children, outside in the blowing snow and sleet.  I eventually end up at home, finding DS8 hiding under DH's bed.

So you can tell I have deep seeded issues with gym teachers and unconscious fears of losing my children. What makes this nightmare linger even more is now I have a sore throat.  Not a great way to start a weekend, but I'm going to start brewing the tea and make the best of it.

My First Thursday 13 on Multiply!!

13 things occupying my mind
come on inside.....

1. I'm going through library withdrawal. Its been over 2 weeks since we've visited. We've been so busy.

2. The Posse Rats are on their way over. (No school in town for the next two days :()!!!!!  For my new Multiply friends, the "Posse Rats" are the group of neighborhood boys that hang out in our basement. Its a love/hate thing for me.

3. Why does listening to Japanese relax me? For the past 3 nights I've tried to watch a movie and I keep falling asleep. I hope I'm learning Japanese subliminally?

4. Yumi's doing very well on her diet. She is also exercising more. Why can't I be more like my cat?

5. My Christmas shopping has begun. I want to be done before December 1st so I can enjoy the season without shopping stress.

6. A great way to keep your house tidy is to invite friends over. This seems to be the only way to motivate me to clean my house!  At least I'm rewarded afterwards.

7. DS8 has a Pyogenic Granuloma. That sounds terrible but its not serious. I thought it was a mole growing on the back of his neck but it was blood red. We have to see a dermatologist, but we couldn't get an appointment until Nov 13th. They may not even remove it at that appointment. I hope we can take care of this before Christmas. Even though its nothing to worry about, he's still my baby!

8. I haven't eaten one piece of Halloween candy. HONEST! (Of course I have been sabotaging myself with hot chocolate.)

9. Wall paper may not be evil after all. You may remember when I tried to remove the wallpaper border in my kitchen. It turns out it was probably the way the previous owners pasted it. Yesterday I helped a friend remove wallpaper in her living room and we were done in less than 1 hour!! We only used water. The outer paper came off and then we simply sprayed the under layer with water. It scraped off in huge sheets. She told me she had pasted the paper decades ago and she had primed the surface after sanding the walls smooth. I couldn't believe the difference. I still will never hang wallpaper though.

10. I think I'm going to make an emergency backpack if we have to leave the house suddenly. My heart goes out to all those families in California. My gut instinct would be to grab photos and then I realized, I have uploaded most of our photos to Winkflash. I do need to scan baby photos though and get those uploaded as well. It would also take me about an hour to go through our stored paper mess to find important  documents.

11. I have to start work early today and I don't want to. Its my last night this week though so I have the weekend to look forward to.

12. I have to figure out how to make a zombie face out of oatmeal. I'm thinking we can use an oatmeal paste on DS12's face and then color it green. He's going to make fake blood too out of corn syrup and red food coloring.

13. The Posse Rat that's related to me by blood just called. I guess my "me" time is over and I better go pick him up to join the fun.

Have a great Thursday! Peace and blessings!

Mom vs. Dad style unschooling

We have been going along for years now, unschooling. Its working great. Why my DH has all of a sudden taken to giving the boys assignments is baffling me!

It started a few days ago when he asked DS12 to find out where the very first Burger King restaurant was. The next day he wanted the goods on Wendy's. Today DS12 has to report on the history of the french fry.

Inside I'm screaming, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING!!!" As an unschooling mom, I don't give my children assignments. If they are interested in knowing who created the first french fry, I'd help them use the tools to find their answers.

I think DH may be doing this just to see if they can research and report. He is failing to realize DS12 does this everyday. He reads online and in magazines looking for gaming advice.

I also question why is fast food the hot topic? But that's really not the problem I'm having with these assignments. Of course how dare I get upset when I myself have been known to doubt the unschooling process. Although its been weeks since I've used the worksheet threat, I still worry sometimes when DS8 trips on the word, "that" but can correctly read the word, "operation."

Its natural to doubt unschooling when you were educated using the public school model. I will give my DH some slack and I'll probably ask him if he's gotten what he's wanted out of these assignments he's given the boys.  Its probably because he needs to feel involved in some way as well. 

I know. Its pathetic.

This is what you get when your mom sews only once a year on a machine built before she was born. I know he looks like a lobster rather than a crab. I can't get the legs to stand out. I'm using batting and newspaper since I don't have any wire hangers. Thankfully it gets dark around here shortly after we begin trick or treating.

Trust The Children

Rating:	★★★★
Category:	Books
Genre:	Parenting & Families
Author:	Anna Kealoha

This book never fails to motivate me to continue unschooling my children. Unfortunately, its out of print, but find a used copy if you can!

Monster Fest Time on AMC!!

I know we are going to watch too much TV this week, but its MONSTERFEST! The AMC network is showing horror movies now through Halloween.  I married a horror movie fan but its not my fault. I can remember being a little girl and my mother would ask on a Saturday afternoon, "Should we see if there is a monster movie on and pop some corn?" I loved to hide from the scary parts by climbing between the couch cushion and my mother's back, piggy back style. I remember she liked the classic Boris Karloff and Lon Chaney movies best.

I wasn't tramatized by a scary movie until I foolishly watched the Exorcist with my best friend Lisa. We were only 12, home alone. For two weeks I was convinced I would become possessed and I couldn't sleep.

I found out years later DH also had watched this movie when he was 12. His mom was on a business trip and he was home alone. (Relatives lived next door.) He had turned off all the lights but by that first scare, every light in the apartment was on! DH and I have told the boys this is the scariest movie on earth and they can't see it until they grow up!

I want candy!!!

My dentist appointment went very well yesterday- Thanks God!  I was prepared to do the visualization thing, but I didn't feel any pain what so ever. I was warned it could hurt, but they would rather not give me novacaine so I would be able to tell them if the crown felt good. I said a little last minute prayer and all was well, absolutely no pain. I really feel that I had indeed gave it all away to Christ at the last appointment.

For those who don't know me from 360ville, I had blogged about how after feeling anxious about having my tooth drilled, in prayer/mediation mode I saw Christ wrap a red blanket around me. When it came time for actual drilling, I could sense him tell me, "Each moment of pain passes, never to be felt again. Just give it to me." This got me through it. Knowing that each second of pain was over and I didn't have to relive it ever again really helped. I visualized myself giving away the pain, flowing from my tooth to his chest and it really worked. In fact I think it worked better than I had expected. I thought yesterday's appointment would be uncomfortable but it wasn't at all.

I thought posting this photo would be wonderfully ironic. We are getting ready to have fun on Halloween. We live in a neighborhood with lots of kids plus we get the farm families driving in. We go through at least 200 pieces every year. Its a wonderful night where all the neighbors are out walking their children door to door. People sit on porches to greet you and its very Norman Rockwell. We all look out for one another here. Its another reason why Evansville is "Heavensville" to us. We have the benefits of small town life with the convenience of not having to drive too far to experience the city.

See the giant monitor in the background. My sister got it from her work for us. It's bigger than what DS12 has now so he's excited. Of course its not a flat screen, but I like that its not going to a landfill.

Well, we're off to the Soybean fesitval! Evansville is officially the "Soybean Capitol of Wisconsin." We are building a plant to crush soybeans to make bio-fuels. The community is invited to learn more about this exciting new resource.

Have a great weekend! Peace and blessings!

Fall at the park

Lake Leota

But its fun day!!

It's Friday. Funday. At least it will be once I can get past my dentist appointment this morning. I'm scheduled for my final crown fitting. Ahh, the things a Queen must do.

To reward myself for my time in the chair of pain, I am planning on stopping at our used book store. They are offering a special teacher's discount that homeschoolers qualify for. Don't worry. My boys will be able to drag me out. (I'll be sure to kick and scream.)

Its been really stormy but the weekend looks like it will be nice. I just hope there are some leaves left on the trees to enjoy. Of course, I guess we could always enjoy them on the ground too!

I won't be able to spend all my time outdoors. I have to sew the crab suit. I will have to dust off my sewing machine which is probably as old as I am, and hope for the best. I'm ashamed to say the poor Singer only gets to play at this time of year and maybe once again around Christmas. If I had room, if I had a SEWING room, maybe I'd use it more. Having to drag it out of the box and set it up on my kitchen table takes away from the fun.

My mom has an awesome sewing room. Half of their basement is finished and she has multiple machines set up. Of course she is a quilter. It looks like a fabric store actually. Speaking of mom, I've got to call her before we head out today.

Have a great weekend!! Peace and blessings!!!

I'm still getting used to Multiply

I'm trying to keep up with posting here and posting at my 360. I'm not ready to give up my 360 yet because its familiar. Multiply isn't for me yet.

I haven't quite figured out how I can find Multiply friends like I can in 360. I really liked clicking on my favorites in my Lists and being able to find others who enjoy the same things. For now, I've been trying to find Multiply friends through other friends.

I also have to figure something out regarding the email updates I receive in my Yahoo mailbox. It seems I'm getting quite a bit of mail even though I have very few friends right now. I'm sure there must be a way to fix this. I thought I had asked for only daily updates, but I get those in addition to each and every individual update or post. I like how on 360 I just go to my "Home" page and I can see all my friends'  updates.

I also miss playing with my avatar. Multiply won't support "Twinky" with the browser I use.

I guess I have to be patient and I'll figure it all out sooner or later.

Are you kidding me!!

I just have to vent. Every now and then I'm reminded how many morons they are. I work at a swimming school. A few weeks ago we began our fall session. One of our teachers taught 2 classes and then called in sick. With a doctor's ok note, she came back to work for a few more classes, then one day she didn't show up- no phone call. We couldn't reach her for 3 days and we were legitimately concerned for her. We eventually had no choice but to replace her. When you are dealing with young children, you need reliability and consistency!

Last night she called me at work and asked if she could pick up her paycheck. I told her I didn't see a check for her, but if she wanted to stop by, I'd look in the boss's office. The boss came in and I told her this ex-employee was stopping by for her check. My boss wanted to speak with her before giving her last paycheck. She wanted an explanation as to why she completely ditched us along with all her young students. Well Moron girl never showed. She probably saw Ms. Boss lady's car in the parking lot.

As soon as the boss left, in walks Moron girl. I told her she had to make an appointment to pick up her last paycheck with the owner (boss). She freaked out saying, "She can't do that! Everyone else is getting paid! I need that money to pay bills!!" I wanted to remind her all our other instructors haven't walked out on their students and if she needed to pay bills, maybe she should have tried to keep her job! I kept my mouth shut and simply told her, "If you want your check, call K.." 

I realize we all make mistakes, especially when we are young, but this girl had no clue. Maybe my boss shouldn't have held her check like that, but she deserves an explanation.   

Christmas Trees

Getting ready for Halloween

Halloween is coming and I have to start sewing. I'm not really good at sewing, but I give it my best try this time of year. DS8 wants to be a crab this year. DS12 hasn't yet decided what to dress up as. Last year I made this Whoopee Cushion costume and it was a big hit. I saw a picture in a catalog and just winged it, without a pattern. Here in WI it helps to have costumes that fit over winter jackets!

Velvet Revolver

Start:

Oct 11, '07 7:00p

concert

Something new

Multiply... Hmm... A new place for blog fun? Thanks to Tiina for introducing me. We'll see how this goes. I've been through Blogger and Yahoo360. I'm not sure if I'm ready to leave 360 yet, but I can't resist trying new things. So far this seems pretty easy but I may miss playing dress up with my avatar. Plus, I wonder if my 360 friends will follow and how many new friends I'll make over here.