Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Sigh of Relief

I spoke with my Dad tomight. I had called him earlier to check on our family in Texas. Everyone is safe and accounted for. And amazingly enough....the beach house is still standing. I guess the west side didn't get smacked near as hard as the east side did. We're counting our blessings that everyone is safe!!!
KKS

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Christmas In September

I always find it interesting to see what others order for the year. I just put a big order in to Rainbow Resources and wanted to record this stuff for my own records. Part of our school day on Friday was looking through our Rainbow catalog to get some cool ideas of what we wanted to study this year. Caleb said: physics, more about the great outdoors, Maine history and geography. Lundi said: how money works (economics), geology, horses, more Shakespeare and writing.Harrison said: rocks and crystals, more ETC, microscope observation and dogs. Lauren said: nature, more ETC, babies (don't need to order anything for this one) and crystals. With this in mind, here is what I ordered:
  • Cartoon Guide to Physics
  • Exploring Physics
  • Physics and the World Around You
  • Explode The Code (x5)
  • Spectrum Phonics
  • Shakespeare for Young Readers
  • Any Child Can Write
  • Writing Warm-Up
  • Pet Tornado
  • Geology By Design
  • Cave Book
  • Rocks and Fossils
  • Break Your Own Geodes (x2)
  • Glow in the Dark Geodes
  • Smithsonian Crystal Growing Kit
  • Sticky Stones
  • Fossil Collection
  • Pocket Full of Pinecones
  • Knot Tying Game
  • Oh, Wilderness
  • Spotters Guide to Birds of Prey
  • Spotters Guide to the Night Sky
  • Spotters Guide to Rocks and Minerals
  • Spotters Guide to the Weather
  • The Way Babies Were Made (not for Lauren)
  • Where Do Babies Come From? (not for Lauren, either)
  • Engineering the City
  • Historical Who-Dun-Its
  • The Smithsonian Giude to Horses
  • A.O.P Switched on Schoolhouse /Maine
  • Whatever Happened to Penny Candy?
It should arrive in about a week. We're all excited, we love getting our new homeschooling stuff!!!

All I have left to get are our regular consumables (math, grammar, history and writing) and we are......good. to. go!

KKS

Friday, September 12, 2008

Funny Conversations




I was in the office yesterday printing out some stuff for school. Lauren found a picture of Mike holding Caleb when he was a new born. She starts to giggle and be floppy (for her, these two always go together). So I asked her "What's so funny?" She said "Papa looks like a boy." (as opposed to....? I thought.) "What do you mean?" I asked. "Well....his hair looks like a boy." she said. Then I said, "Well, if he looked like a boy then, what does he look like now?" After a whole minute of more floppiness and giggles, she finally says...."A Papa."



Tonight we were leaving to go to the shop to retrieve the van. It was dark and I had forgotten to turn on the outside light. I said to Lundi "Come here and guide me." She said "I can't Mom. I am black blind, too!"

Mike was taking the boys to boys-night-out the other night when he had the following conversation with Harrison.
H: "Well, I'm not going to smoke or drink when I grow up, but I'm not going to be a Mormon, either."
Mike: "Why not?"
H: "Because I don't like to always sit still and be reverent."

KKS

It's Been A Crazy Week

Mike has been working, plus getting some training at work, so he only had Tuesday off this week. Today he went to what is called M.O.A.B. I'm not sure what it stands for, but he came home and demonstrated some of his newly acquired skills. He learned about what to do during an attack of a whacked out patient. Some of the stuff was really funny....like when he threw something on the floor to distract the bad guy. We all laughed when he took down the oh-so- aggressive-floppy-giggly girl Lauren, but she was the only willing participant.
The car was in the shop on Monday and Tuesday, then Tuesday evening we took the van in to be repaired. So I have been without a car all week. Needless to say, the kids have been stir crazy!!
Did I forget to tell you that I was backing up with the door open, hit a huge rock and bent the door way back, ruined the hinges and made big dents in the front panel and on the drivers side door? We were at the cabin for FHE and all the kids decided they had to potty before we made the 40 minute trip home. Well, the port-a-potty is down this narrow path (just barely wider than the van) with trees and rocks on either side. I had taken the van down to the potty so that I could shine the lights for them. We didn't have any flash lights. Anyway, after we were all done, I was backing up. I had my door open, thinking I was safer because I could see better. (It's hard for me to see while backing up in the woods. Maybe I am "black-blind" as Lundi calls it). So about five feet before the end of the path we all hear this huge CRUNCH! (Insert 4 screaming, freaking-out children here). I get out to survey the damage....it was not good, even in the dark. I then try to close the door, it closes all of 6 inches, which means it is still open about 10 inches. Oh no, am I just going to drive while holding the door closed? Time to turn this disaster over to Mike, I thought. Harrison immediately suggests a prayer, says one and every one calms down. Mike comes over, fiddles with the door, manages to get it closed. (Prayer of thanks is said by all). So the next week, we get an estimate from our insurance company. They quote us $1800.00 for repairs, minus our deductible. Oh dear, it will put us in a pinch to come up with the deductible, but we have to get it repaired. You see, with our impending arrival, our plan is to trade it in for an eight passenger come December.
Then Mike had this bright idea to ask our regular mechanic of he did body work. Turns out he does. Even better, he did it for 1/3 the price we were quoted. No out of pocket expense for us. Better than that, we had enough money left over to get the car fixed and inspected, and I was able to get our homeschooling stuff for the year. Another blessing in disguise. The Lord is good to us. Oh....and the results....well, let's just say it looks perfect. You can't even tell, except for the fact that the "new" door is red and the rest of the van is silver. Just kidding. It really does look just like new. Thank You again, Pete Winslow. (For all of you locals, he is the BEST mechanic in Franklin County.

KKS

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Ain't This the Truth?


My Aunt Kathy sent this to me and I just had to share it.
KKS

Friday, September 5, 2008

Recent Outings


Last Saturday we went back to Camden for the Wind Jammer Festival. Yes, the schooners were there again, but not nearly as exciting as last year. But...this year, we got to ride a ferry out to a navy ship and have a grand tour.







It did (actually) feel like we stepped onto an island. The ferry ride was very....um....moving, in many ways. Liam has yet to develop his sea legs and realized quickly that it was in his best interest to sit on his pockets. As soon as we stepped onto the ship, Lauren asked "Are we in a building?" It is amazing that those ships can be so heavy and still float.
Mike worked on Monday, so we had family home evening in Tuesday, instead. For our activity we decided to try our hand at Geo Caching.
It was so fun, we decided that this is going to be a new family hobby. For those of you who want a better definition than what I can give, go here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geocaching On our way to the Gea Cache, we found many more treasure along the way. We found the work of some VERY busy beavers. This tree was more than a foot in diameter. We were all amazed at their work, and wondered......how do they know which way the tree will fall???


















Lauren found a squirrel's house with nobody home. She assured me that the occupant "must be over at the oak tree gathering acorns for the winter."

The hunt began......









Caleb was the one to find the cache....












....although everyone enjoyed the treasure.



We took some treasures, left some treasures and signed the log book.








This post will be continued....I must get some sleep. We will be out the door bright and early on the morrow to go to the air show tomorrow to see The Blue Angels. YEA!!!!
KKS
KKS

Fast Track to Delivery

Did you notice that I just got a whole bunch of days taken off my sentence...I mean, pregnancy. (I have yet to ask Marie how to do that crossing out thing.....I think she is such a cool blogger.)
Anyway, I went to where the widget was created and put in the actual birthday of our little pink caboose. So the number it says is actually how many days until I am one person again.
Then again.....who is counting (besides me)?
KKS

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Baby Report

I went to the doctor yesterday. Everything looks good. I spoke with her about the upcoming surgery. We can't take the baby too early because the diebetes often causes slower lung development, and we can't do it to late because we don't want me to go into labor. This would most likely result in a ruptured uterus. So, the (hopefully) happy medium is December 18th, 2008. Way too close to Christmas for my liking....but hey, gotta do what's best for baby.

KKS