Circus, Circus

The circus came to town yesterday. I took JT and Luci to see the tent go up. We had visions of elephants pulling the thing up, but we didn't see even one elephant! Very disappointed. Luci was hoping to see Dumbo. Oh well, here the tent is before: during:
and after: There are 2 men on the top of the tent! Yikes!
We saw a little girl who couldn't have been more than 6 years old helping her dad put up a smaller tent. She pulled ropes like a pro.
Many of the kids from church were there! It was a nice visit for all the moms and dads.

Hippo! Luci and Kalyn were more impressed by the rope keeping them out.
Friends forever! Luci and Kalyn. We met Kalyn and Kathy and Kathy's folks to watch the tent go up. Sorta disappointed in the way the tent went up. It was really nice seeing Kathy, though, and the girls got along much better than they did the last time. (Turns out Luci taught Kalyn a new "game" the last time they were together. The game is called, "MINE!" and is played by two girls, arguing over a doll.) Don't they look like good friends? So sweet yesterday!
My favorite picture of the day. Grandma Millie walking with Kalyn and Luci.

Did You Feel It?

There was an earthquake in southern Illinois early this morning. It woke JT up! The rest of us slept through it. The quake was a fault line connected to the famous New Madrid fault (that's where the little square is, to the southwest of the big square measuring today's quake).

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Our family has a tale to tell about the New Madrid quakes of December, 1811, through February, 1812.

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"In 1811-12, a series of quakes along the New Madrid Fault in Missouri, near the border with Tennessee, measured 7.8, 8.0 and 8.1, which is 10 times more intense than the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. They devastated the sparsely populated area, and reportedly caused the Mississippi River to flow backward for a time." (quoted from this article.)

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A great-great ancestor of my family was traveling with a wagon train from east Tennessee to points west. When the wagon train got to central Tennessee, near the Lebanon area, one of my family members became ill. My family dropped out of the train and the others carried on, to end up in the Reelfoot Lake area. The quakes hit, and Reelfoot Lake was a central part of that disaster. My family never heard from those folks again, leading my ancestors to assume they had died in the quakes.

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So glad that someone got sick!

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In this article, there is lots of information on the New Madrid quakes of 1811-1812. One item quoted is a letter written in 1816 by a gentleman with the surname Bryan. Might be a relative! Dad says probably not...but maybe it is!

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Here's a fun site to check out...The Earthquake Map of the USA, by the US Geological Survey.

Post by John

Camping Trip

Calling Mom. I love it!
Bradley and Bryan
JT, Troy and Bradley. Wake up, Bradley!

Double click on collage above to make it larger.


JT and Troy--JT, why aren't your feet in SHOES? It is cold!!

John took Bryan, JT and two of their friends camping Sunday night and Monday. John's learned that the boys have more fun if they each have a friend along.

Luci's Story

Yesterday I asked Luci to tell me "her story." Here it is, in its entirety:

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I was a baby in China.

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Now I'm home.

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That's my story!

Military Brats

Finally, some relief for military kids who get moved around a lot because of their parents' vocations. This article says that two states, Kentucky and Kansas, have approved a compact that makes it easier on military schoolkids who must change school districts throughout their school career.

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Military brats attend 6-9 different school systems during their school careers. (I went to 5 different districts, just from 1st through 7th grade. OK, so one we went to twice--but there was a year in Cheyenne--6th grade--so we entered Meridian's district twice. Janet had fewer schools, the boys all had more than I did.)

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Ten states adopting this compact would make it operational--it "is intended to prevent children of military families from needlessly repeating courses or being denied access to extracurricular activities. It would provide alternative coursework options for districts that do not waive graduation requirements for students. Compact members would work to create uniform standards of practice, including the transfer of records, course placement and graduation requirements."

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Hooray for Kentucky and Kansas for starting things up! Those two states have nearly 50,000 schoolkids whose parents are active military. My family surely could have benefited from this.

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That photo above? Mom with all 5 of us, at Laughlin AFB, TX. (If you had 5 kids, you'd look like that, too.) In age order, oldest to youngest: Mom, Charlie (aka "Buddy"), Tommy, Sammy, Susie, Janet.

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Mom, I hope you're not mad. I love that photo!

What Kind of Punctuation Mark Are You?

I don't know if I like this one...sounds like a bodily function! (but I do like that "brilliant and incredibly learned" part)

You Are a Colon

You are very orderly and fact driven. You aren't concerned much with theories or dreams... only what's true or untrue. You are brilliant and incredibly learned. Anything you know is well researched. You like to make lists and sort through things step by step. You aren't subject to whim or emotions. Your friends see you as a constant source of knowledge and advice. (But they are a little sick of you being right all of the time!) You excel in: Leadership positions You get along best with: The Semi-Colon

What Punctuation Mark Are You?

Learning to Read!

Luci has begun the wonderful journey into reading. She has shown such interest in "doin' my schoo-work" that I got a new Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. I used this book for the boys, too. Well, not this book exactly. I must have sold my old one, not knowing Luci was coming, so this one is from Amazon.com.

Here Luci is learning the sound that s makes. So proud of herself!
Here's the book. We are taking it very slowly, making sure Luci truly understands. So far, so good!

Coffee Shop Catchphrase

The Doughnut Experiment reminded me of this. My siblings and I heard this story often. When my Dad walked to and from school (through the snow, uphill both ways--and barefoot!) Dad passed by a coffee shop that had this saying painted on the wall:

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As you go through life, dear brother,

whatever be your goal~

keep your eye upon the doughnut

and not upon the hole!

It's GREEN! (also, Goofy Bryan)

The Backyard
One Week Ago: Today:
Bryan was trying to get the TV remote to work. He thought this would help. He reminds me more and more of my memories of Tom when he was a teenager--nice, gentle, and goofy.

Woo-Hoo! Will Won!

Thanks for voting, friends!! Moniker Madness Champion story is here. Will is playing for the Portland Beavers.

The article says that Will can claim he has the best name in Minor League ball, but with competition like Dusty Napoleon and a guy named Rowdy, I don't know...I think it had a lot to do with his mom Alison (way to go, cuz!), and the fact that Will has about a jillion cousins all across the country. (And, we all have friends who were kind enough to vote!)

Will's silly picture, above, came from the Portland Beavers website.

Experiment: Failed!

What was I thinking?

The premise was cute. A lesson on fractions and percentages, using two dozen donuts. And a coupon for a free dozen glazed donuts from Krispy Kreme.

Aaargh!

So, where's Luci's picture? Just imagine you have x-ray vision and can see under the table--after half a donut, she hid out under there acting hyper.

I should know better. After all this time on the Feingold Diet, and I introduce artificial flavorings, colors and preservatives. At first, the only reaction we could see was the drool (slobber, slobber). Quickly, that escalated into short tempers and inability to multiply simple things (100 x 7 =??). Before it was over, Luci was under the table, kicking her feet. Bryan was telling JT some not-nice things about JT's brain power. JT was nearly in tears because he couldn't remember math facts. And I won't say what my reaction was, but it involved a lot of yelling.

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Three things I learned: 1) Now we know, and I will never go to Krispy Kreme again. So much for "free" donuts. 2) I was able to put all of our that nervous energy to use, cleaning up the living room. (Boys! Get in here! Clean up! I had vacuum duty.) 3) Next time, we'll use homemade donuts.

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The remaining donuts went into the garbage can.

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If you think you have a hyper child, you might want to check out the Feingold Diet. It is much easier to deal with finding clean foods than it is dealing with out-of-control children.

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PS--yes, JT is officially done with his schooling this year. But he gladly got out his pencil because donuts were involved. (and I did the ~~~ because the dopey blogger is not spacing correctly--again.)

J.T. Has an Announcement!

JT finished up all of his schoolwork for the year! He hasn't stopped rejoicing. Luci joined in today. (What we lack in pretty grass, we make up for in GREENness!)

We hit our mandatory number of school days yesterday. JT still had a little math to complete, as well as finishing up a handwriting workbook. He put his cute little nose to the grindstone and finished it all last night! Woo-Hoo! Good for you, JT!

Bryan still has Driver's Ed to complete (yes, you can homeschool a real Driver's Ed course! Google "Driver's Ed in a Box.") as well as his math. When those are complete, he'll be done for the year, too.

Why so early? We start up in July, doing a day here and a day there, and by August we are in school for real--it all adds up!

Too Cute!

Luci's shirt says,

Save the Earth...

because there are no princesses on the moon!

It's as politically correct as I get.

Luci's trying to cross her eyes.

The photo doesn't show the shirt off so well, but the model looked too cute!

Vote for My Cousin!

My Cousin Alison (the prettiest cousin, by the way) has a son in Minor League Baseball. He's at the very end of a contest called Moniker Madness. Please vote him as the rookie with the oddest/funniest name...and Alison, aren't you glad that cousin MaryAnn doesn't have kids in this contest? Who would we vote for then?!

Vote HERE for Will Startup.

Click on the dot next to Will's name, and then the little green button that says, "VOTE FOR ONE."

When I voted earlier, the webpage didn't change but later I noticed that it did, indeed count my vote. So just click anyway!

The voting may only last a day or two, so thanks for trying--

Will's photo taken from here: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080407&content_id=381418&vkey=news_milb&fext=.jsp

Terrific Tuesday

We could have called this one "Tiring Tuesday," as well. We chopped more weeds today, and the front garden is looking more like a garden.

Here's Luci showing us how to "be a cheerleader" with her hands full of weedy pompons. (And it is pompon--I looked it up. Pompom is an automatic antiaircraft cannon. Check it out here. She definitely is not holding one of those!) Don't you love how she gardens in a pretty, pink dress?

By the way, the weeds behind Luci are all gone now--the boys learned that their momma is no slacker when it comes to chopping weeds! (Don't let my Mom and Dad hear that, ok? They think I complain and whine when asked to pick weeds. I don't want to upset their memories of my childhood!)

And, a photo Luci took of "Something Important."

Monday Mania

John's on a trip this week. We are keeping busy here! We hope to have the weeds out of the front garden before the rain hits. All three kids worked pretty hard yesterday, but there is still lots more to do.

View from the front porch....Carry on, Children! No, I was not drinking iced tea while they worked.
Skating party with our church group Monday night. JT invited Hannah and Tyler (homeschool buddies) to come, too. Hannah and Luci.

JT, about to crash into the wall. I love this picture.
Luci had fun trying to play the video games without any money. Momma's cheap.
Troy and JT acting up.

At the end, Luci was tired, tired! but didn't want to take her skates off.Bath time!

Home Education Week

It was Home Education Week last week. I missed it! That's the story of me--finding out about things late. Find out about the whole deal here.



I am taking the April Fool's idea from Principled's site as my springboard for this post. Share your greatest challenge. Or one of those terrible, horrible no good, very bad days where the only thing there is to do seems to involve moving to Australia.



This past year has been our greatest challenge as a homeschooling family. We've had our years where things didn't go as we planned:

• September 11 brought a year of uncertainty as John volunteered to "go" and go he did--in March, for a 12 month stint with Enduring Freedom. Big, Wild Year for us. But school was not the challenge.


• When that year finished, surprise! baby #3 was on the way, then miscarried. Shock, depression, but school carried on.


• The next school year was John's 6 month tour to Afghanistan. Scary, but school carried on--this was school year #3 messed up because of terrorists. But school went on, and went on well.


• The year after that, we paper-chased for Luci and got our house ready to sell.


• Next school year, got Luci, sold the house, moved to an apartment. No big deal for school.


• Stayed in apartment until Thanksgiving the following year, then moved into new house, school was fine!

Then this year hit: No new wars for John to go to, no new baby in the house, no new house to build. But--The 15-year old all of a sudden has Plans for his future, he knows More than we do, and Disciplining him is all different. And the Plans he has involve mathematics that is looking like he might not ever understand!

Homeschooling this year has been one big fight after another--mostly between the boys. FIGHT. FIGHT. I hate it! I saw my brothers act this way (like brothers) and it was rough. My boys are carrying on in that family tradition. Nothing seems to help. The 3 year old thinks her job is to tear the house apart while the rest of us try to learn something. She'll learn some with us and play learning games, and color, but she's just as likely to be climbing and getting markers (Have you seen Luci? Find her!) and grabbing the safety scissors and cutting her hair (did you know that safety scissors can cut HAIR?). This is not what I envisioned homeschooling to be like.

What I thought it would be: I'd have my beloved children cocooned with me on the couch, listening with rapture, their adoring eyes drinking me in while I read Classics to them. Then they would gather their writing books and pencils and write me a story to rival the one I'd just read. With perfect penmanship. Then we'd all go outside and marvel at God's handiwork and draw the minutest detail of the wild violets in our biology notebooks, and sketch that lovely bird we just saw soar overhead. Then the boys would write (in that gorgeous penmanship) the Latin name for the bird. Afterwards, we'd luncheon on my homemade bread, which was slathered with organic peanut butter and homemade mango jam.

WHAT?! Life's not like that?!

It's more like a three-ring circus. John knows that I can either teach the kids well, make a grand dinner (called supper at our house) or clean the house. Sometimes, if he's lucky, he'll get two of those. Almost Never have all three happened in the same day. And homemade bread? Pullease! Never.

After lots of soul-searching this year, we've found a new approach to learning for our family. It's just new to us, as it's been around for quite a while. Weaver Unit studies. They begin with the Bible, and all things are built around the Scriptures. First and foremost is Bible study. We are not out to build boys (and Luci!) who are grand test-takers. We are out to build men and a young lady who love God. We will, of course, guide them towards the career that we think (and they think) God is calling them to do. That might involve needing to be the best test-taker in town. That is super, for that one winner, but usually life goes on for the rest of the population.

I am excited about next school year. Getting to spend the time we have left with Bryan and JT before they fly out of our nest, doing fun things together (science experiments, field trips, maybe even sketching that bird!) and reading lots of books that go right along with Scripture, instead of trying to fit the Holy Word into what we are studying. Luci has a while with us yet, and I am hopeful that this is a going to be a great way for her to learn about God and His world.

The Willingham Shortcut

Double click on the comic to make it larger.

Two Vastly Different Anniversaries

from the Times Daily: Today in History: In 1887, In Tuscumbia AL, teacher Anne Sullivan achieved a breakthrough as her blind and deaf pupil Helen Keller learned the meaning of the word "water" as spelled out in the Manual Alphabet. Helen learned 30 words that day, unlocking her genius. Ivy Green is only 24 miles from our home. Helen's story is a great one! It is possible to visit her home and go up to the original pump, even now. I love going there. It was a lot of fun showing Ivy Green off to my parents and nieces a couple of years ago, and attending The Miracle Worker. Helen and I share the same birthday, but not the same year! She was born in 1880. I was born a little later.
The other anniversary: The Battle of Shiloh took place on April 6 and 7, 1862. Shiloh National Military Park is only 47 miles from our home. Dad first took us there 'way back when and now John and I take our kids. John has a stepbrother named Frank who acts in Civil War Reenactments and has appeared at Shiloh.

Photo of Helen Keller taken from here.

Photo of the pump at Ivy Green taken from here.

Shiloh print taken from here.

How Bryan Made Our April Fool's Photo

Bryan wrote directions for how to photo-shop your own silly photo on the kids' website. Here is their blog, just click here: The Man Cave OR Sports.com OR Pretty Princess .

Our original April Fool's joke is here.

Gymnastics, Rain, and Devotionals

Luci is such a monkey (Year of the Monkey was an appropriate year for her to be born!), that we started her in gymnastics at the YMCA. Not my place of choice for gymnastics, but since we are members, it is in the cost range for me (free if you are a member). Yesterday was her first class. She did fine on her "tricks," but was otherwise so hyper. The Feingold diet is definitely what she needs!

Here she is in her "ballerina dress" which is the only little outfit I found that covers up her tushy area (pee-gu in Mandarin!), was in my price range, and was one piece. She loves twirling around like a ballerina in it, and posing like she is now--what is that, a pli·é? And, doing a back bend.
The boys got their hair cut yesterday. It was a rainy day. Luci fell asleep in the van, so I sat in the parking lot and waited for the boys. I had fun watching the sign on the salon door, being warped by the raindrops on the windshield. (I am easily amused. And yes, I take the camera nearly everywhere we go.) Edited to add: We've had 2.39" of rain at our house in the past 24 hours! The tornado in our county developed after that part of the storm passed us; it was very close.
Sometimes on Wednesday nights, we stay home and have a devotional here instead of driving the 20 miles to church. Here Bryan is reading the scripture to us (before his haircut, he wants you to know).
JT and Luci looking on, so sweet.

Top April Fool's Jokes

I found a site that tells why April Fool's is celebrated (maybe tolerated would be a better word?). Look for that information here.

One of my favorites on their "Top 100 April Fool's Day Hoaxes of All Time" is the

Taco Liberty Bell

In 1996 the Taco Bell Corporation announced that it had bought the Liberty Bell and was renaming it the Taco Liberty Bell. Hundreds of outraged citizens called the National Historic Park in Philadelphia where the bell was housed to express their anger. Their nerves were only calmed when Taco Bell revealed, a few hours later, that it was all a practical joke. The best line of the day came when White House press secretary Mike McCurry was asked about the sale. Thinking on his feet, he responded that the Lincoln Memorial had also been sold. It would now be known as the Ford Lincoln Mercury Memorial.

I Forgot! Both Boys Did Fool Me Yesterday...

JT took the batteries out of the TV controllers and watched me push buttons, slap the darn things (the controllers, not JT!) and shake the controllers silly. Good one, JT!

Bryan stopped me as I passed by the computer and asked me, "Is this important, Mom?" He had typed out a long, computer-ese sort of list that looked like programming code...and it said "abort," "system failure," and other dreadful things. When you scrolled down to the end, it also said, "April Fools, Mom!" That was a bad one, Bryan!

April's Fools

Yesterday, April Fools, was interesting. Usually I pull a prank on my Mom and Dad by telephone. This year was more high-tech, with the post from yesterday. All the kids were in on it, and thought the photo was hilarious.

Luci was easy to trick--just tell a 3 year-old that there's a giraffe in the back yard, and she'll look every time. After about the fifth time, you begin to wonder about the 3 year-old's intelligence. Or maybe she just trusts me and I am letting her down?

But I could not think of a prank to pull on my boys.

After much badgering from both boys (Mom, when are you going to pull one on us?) I finally told them, with a sly look, "just don't eat the mashed potatoes at supper." So, at supper, they cautiously tasted the spuds and found them to be, well, normal. Disappointment!

Mom, when?! "Well, son, be careful you pick the right bottle of shampoo when you take your shower." But nothing happened then, either--JT was first in and figured out nothing was in the shampoo. I pulled JT aside and lathered his hair up with hair mousse, and we told Bryan there was Elmer's glue in the shampoo. He believed us and so spent an extra 5 minutes in the shower rinsing out his hair.

At bedtime, JT was quite angry with me because I didn't pull any tricks on him. Quite angry! I reminded him of the old joke:

6th-grade Boy: Mom, how do you keep a 6th-grade boy in suspense?
Mom: I'll tell you tomorrow!

After the boys went to sleep, I got on the internet and went to Family Fun's April Fool's site. I found a good one, and this is what JT found in the morning when he got dressed:

His underwear sewn together in a long string! (The color came out odd on that! They really are white.) He was a little disappointed. I think he wanted to be scared by his trick.

I did the same to Bryan's underwear so he would not feel left out.

I am thankful that I did not get a prank pulled on me all day long!

Next year I am looking on that Family Fun site in March so I don't blow it again. The wrath of a young redhead boy can run pretty deep.

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Today: Here's Luci, biking in the house. She has a nice little racetrack, going through the kitchen, living room/den, front hallway and dining room. Fun!

Adopting Again!

We have entered the adoption arena again, and we are so excited!


Below is a picture of the little darling who has captured our hearts. There's just something precious about her that has drawn us to her...can you believe it?


Isn't she adorable??


There's something so, so familiar about her. We think she fits right in with our family.


Please let us know what you think! We are looking for names right now....

If you are still reading, April Fool's!

Do you recognize Luci's hair, JT's nose and mouth, and John's eyes and moustache?