New Jeans

I needed a new pair of jeans and found this website. I bought a pair of Levi's 542's upon their suggestion. They're grrrr-eat!

Contemporary Art

Our family went to the art museum yesterday with a local homeschooling group (organized by Laura). We had a really nice time. The girls particularly enjoyed seeing paintings by Picasso and Georgia O'Keeffe, as we have been reading about them and mimicking their artwork.

As we were browsing the contemporary art gallery where the Picasso and O'Keeffe paintings are located, we admired many contemporary paintings (much like the one above). Claire turned euphorically to her sister and said "Lily! That looks just like your paintings at home! We could do this Mom!"

I wish I understood contemporary art. It is beautiful to look at, but to me, Claire and Lily do paint just like this. The Olivia-like mentality is perfectly understandable.

What To Expect

When I was pregnant with Claire, my doctor handed me a copy of What To Expect When You're Expecting. I should have never accepted the book. It had a ton of information, but it caused me more grief and guilt than a new mother should feel. I read that book cover to cover many times over, fretting over the lack of fiber in my diet. I thoroughly convinced myself that because I didn't eat enough folic acid during the first few weeks of her development that she was going to be born with spina bifida. I worried about the extra-hot shower I took during week 9 that might have raised my body temperature to dangerous levels. I was concerned over weight gain and sleeping positions when I should have been enjoying my belly and the kicking machine inside.
I have decided that the title that should sit next to What to Expect on my shelves is The Well Trained Mind by Susan Wise Bauer. She is a classical homeschooling genius, but she makes me feel overwhelmingly inferior. The woman's maiden name is "Wise"--this should be a big clue! I think that she has lots of fantastic ideas (much like the amount of fiber pregnant women should eat), but at the end of the average day, should I feel horrible that I did not spend 90 minutes discussing ancient history with my 5 year old? Probably not.

Pride

Lily wrote her name (legibly--with all of the letters in the right order) today. I am so proud.

Snowy Day

Pink Kids

I have pink children. Well at least the two big ones are pink. The pink "rash" waxes and wanes depending on body temperature, time of day, etc. Claire is pretty normal looking today--but she was pink yesterday. It is called Fifth Disease. The pink skin is the only symptom, their spunky attitudes and energy are still top notch.

Plant Killer

For my lack of green thumb skills I could very easily be called a plant killer. It stems (pun intended) mostly from my laziness to water plants on a regular basis. To be honest, the only reason I have house plants at all is because after a trip to visit then newly-weds Kristen and Charles I noticed houseplants all around the house. This meant that Charles had houseplants as a bachelor, which meant that I was a housewife who didn't have houseplants, and I should probably try to nurture something green. (I bought two plants the week after my trip. I checked the spikey labels and looked for the most drought resistant varieties. Miraculously, they are still living.)

This plant killing can be directly contrasted with my passionate love for flowers. I really love flowers. If I would win the lottery (which is fairly difficult when you don't purchase lottery tickets), I would have fresh flowers delivered to my house daily. The more colorful the blooms the better. Flowers always make me feel better when I am in a bad mood. How can you be mad when you have a daisy in your face? Isn't a daisy the epitome of a happy flower?

All of this is my very long-winded explanation of the best poinsettia plant I have ever purchased. I buy and kill a poinsettia plant every year. I can't help but buy one--they are so pretty and the stores have clever retail tricks that make them even prettier in the store and they send out subliminal messages (which are extra potent to those of us that are floralphiles) that say "Buy me and take me home with you! I am a poinsettia and I am pretty and I help spread Christmas cheer!" This year I fell for the tricks, again. I brought my red flowers home...and my husband laughed.

I can't kill it. The spikey label instructs me to let the soil dry throughly before re-watering. The hybrid-poinsettia-scientists had me in mind when they bred this one! So, for the other plant killers out there: The poinsettia variety for you is the Jester Red.

So, I have a question. What do I do with a poinsettia in mid-January? Should I sabotage the flowers and give them a little non-MiracleGrow blue juice?

Funny Videos

My friend Lauren forwarded me a link to the following website. Check out "A Homeschool Family" and "Cletus Take the Reel". They are pretty funny.

Caught

I thought it was Lily playing the "unroll the toilet paper" game (again), but it was the baby--she's a pretty good player.

New Blog

I have been putting pressure on my sister Kristen to start writing a blog for a while now...I think that she has finally agreed that we all should be able to see more pictures of fat-baby-James. She is currently accepting suggestions for a blog title.

Since the titles of our blogs have to live up to the clever-genius of Susan's "Susan's Pendulum" and Jane's "Indiana Jane", she is requesting only "good" suggestions.

My vote goes for "I-Kan-Blog"...look for a link in the coming weeks!

Lots of Blue Fleece

Matching blue, scottie dog pajamas...a thoughtful gift from grandma and papa! Thank you!

Rose Period

I am currently in homeschooling bliss. I am fully expecting to hit a reality "wall" in the upcoming weeks...but for now, we are having the grandest time.

This morning included snuggling on the couch reading books...reading book lesson...a little cleaning...packing away Christmas decorations...a math lesson...and a Picasso project! So fun.

***Just for clarification: It's a necklace, NOT a gruesome neck injury.

Spinach Fettuccine

I made Claire's favorite dish yesterday when Jeannette and Dave and all the cousins were visiting. It's too complicated to make everyday but it is worth the extra effort! FYI: I love Cooking Light magazine...but I rarely use the "light" products they recommend and use the plain old, high fat and high calorie stuff instead.

Homeschool Stuff

Wondering minds have asked me what I am planning to do everyday with Claire. Here's my tentative-lets-see-where-it-takes-us-plan:

(1) Reading - Finish the book Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. (We are on lesson 53.)

(2) Math - My sister-in-law Jeannette suggested Singapore Math instead of Saxon. She brought her curriculum for me to look at yesterday. It is just as substantive, but visual and LOTS LESS EXPENSIVE than Saxon. I have to look at their website and "test" Claire to see which textbook I need to buy (rainbowresource.com).

I also ran into the website Math Fact Cafe which is a pretty neat resource.

I will probably also buy the The Story of the World series by Susan Wise Bauer to read to the girls. I've heard great things about them from so many people.

Other than that I plan on doing many trips to the library and reading a plentiful and eclectic assortment of books to the girls. We'll see where that takes us!