Happy Birthday, Nemo

WE LOVE YOU, ERIK!

Aunt Laura, Uncle Skippy, Goose, Bean, Kiddo, Paws, Bailey, Baby, Mouse, Hope, Rascal, Simba, Emma, and Kitty

Here are some pictures from Nemo's birthday party today.

And a GREAT TIME was had by all!

Out of the Mouths of Babes

I was random blogging when I came across one that made me remember something Steven had said to me not to long ago. We had just gone to pick up one of my daughters from work and she had not come out yet. While Steven and I were waiting in the car, I decided to call my close friend Sonya. She is 44 and I am 42. We talked about her move and then how so many things have changed since when we were growing up and, where we were now at this stage in our lives. I looked over at Steven playing his Gameboy and said to her, "I wonder what Steven will be like when he is our age?" Well, without looking up or missing a beat, but with a HUGE smile on has face he said................... "I WILL BE OLD!"

Kids...........you gotta love 'em!

My Two Diamonds

You hear me talk about Kiddo a lot because he is the one that I am hmeschooling. However, Skippy and I have two other children and I would like to tell you a little bit about them:

Goose is our beautiful, loving, mature, motherly, I have my whole life all figured out, daughter. She graduated high school in '05. She will turn 21 in February. She works full-time for a local fitness center and is also a full-time student. She has been working non-stop since she was 16. Three months after she got her first job, she had saved up enough money for a down payment and purchased her first vehicle, a GEO Prism. How wonderful it was for her to have just made her final payment on a three-year loan. Goose has also put herself through community college and will be graduating with an Associate's Degree. She then will go on to a university to get her Bachelors, then her Masters. Her goal is to be a child psychologist and the future Mrs. Tang. (not his real name)

Bean is our beautiful, loving, fiery spirited, , I don't have my life figured out, rebellious daughter. She graduated in '06. She just turned 19 in July. Working as a tour guide for the caverns here for about a year was interesting for her and she liked meeting people from all over the world. However, the walking 8-10 miles a day was wearing a little thin. After that, Bean moved out for a few months to NC. I thought I would die. It broke my heart and I cried for about a week. Two months later she came back and is home now where she belongs, safe and sound......PRAISE THE LORD!!!! After the caverns, Bean worked at Wal-Mart for awhile. She left there, and is now contemplating whether or not she wants to be an Interior Designer, Chef, or......hmmmmm, I'm not sure. One thing I do know is that whatever she decides to do, she will do it well.

I often wonder about what kind of lives they will lead as adults, but I am content in the fact that I know I do not have to worry, for GOD IS IN CONTROL!!!!!!

Settling In

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh......today was a good day. MUCH BETTER than Monday and Tuesday had been. Kiddo woke up before me, ate breakfast, then sat down at the computer and started doing his lessons on his own. WAY TO GO, KIDDO!!! He did not like the fact that he lost his game privileges both days because of his refusal to do his assignments. He said that I was the one who was being unfair by making him have to do school work.......BAD MOMMY!!!

As I have mentioned before, video games (POKEMON, Megaman, Donkey Kong) are his favorites. They are his fixation and he excels at them. (I excel at eating chocolate and drinking coffee) It's a good thing he is not fixated on taking things apart to see how they work! I know he would head straight for the coffe pot and then it would be every man for himself!

No one comes between me and my coffee!!!!!

HELP

Can anyone help me? I want to change my blog template to a beautiful one I found, but I can't get it to work. Is there something special I need to put into the template code? Any assistance you could give would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

Blessings~
Laura

Is it In The Water?

We all woke up this morning in great spirits, looking forward to a having a great teaching day. I wanted S to finish up the rest of his history lesson and then move onto doing some research and index cards for his Explorers report he has coming due. So after breakfast and a little bit of free time while I threw in a load of laundry, S sat down to start his school day.

Oh, my goodness.......The same thing is happening again. Today, it was around 2 1/2 hours on one question in history. The answer was easy to find IF he had read the passage. But, being Mr. Stubborn, he felt he didn't have to read it and that the answer should somehow miraculously appear on his paper! I asked him to read it aloud to me because when he does, he usually HEARS the answer, thumps himself on the forehead and says, "That's it!" Well today he was NOT going to read it to me.
Trying to get him to read to me was like pulling teeth! Before lunch, I sent my sister a text saying "I QUIT!", and asked her to pray for me that God would give me the strength to continue and NOT strangle my son!!!! Funny......she text me back and said, "Yes, and would you do the same for me!!! IS IT IN THE WATER?

Back To School

After being away in Florida with DH's family, it was back to school on Monday. I have not had a day like this for a looooooooooooooooong time. S had to write a report on his M&M experiment he did while we were away and he did NOT want to do it. Not just that assignment, but he did not want to do ANY work. He wanted me to tell him what to write and I refused. I reminded him that he is 13 and in the 8th grade and there were some things he had to do on his own. He said he couldn't remember anything about what he did. Now ask him a question about POKEMON, and he can tell you everything there is to know about them, and every move he has made on his Gameboy game for the past 3 weeks......but he couldn't remember what he did with a bag of M&M's? Kiddo is very smart and has a memory like an elephant. He NEVER forgets. lol



Well, after 4 1/2 hours, a couple of snacks, numerous bathroom breaks and a few crying spells, (no that was not me.......I think I had around 6 cups of coffee and did a LOT of praying though during this time) I took his face in my hands and calmly said to him......."Honey, you have exactly 30 minutes to type up your experiment or you will lose your video games privileges for a week. The timer starts now!" Don't you know that little rascal had that report written in 15 minutes!!!!!! URGHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Kids...........................YOU GOTTA LOVE 'EM! I know I do!!!!!!!!

My Sister, The Officer

On our way home from Florida on Wednesday, we decided to stop in Atlanta, Georgia and visit with my sister B and my niece, M. We stayed with them until Friday afternoon. B is a second year cadet in The Salvation Army School for Officers Training in Atlanta. She will be commissioned as an officer in June 2008 and will graduate with the rank of Captain. B dedicated her life to Christ when she was 8, and to become as minister for the Army has been a life-long-dreams of hers. We are so PROUD of her and can't wait to see where she will be stationed. We are praying it will be in VA, but M feels that they will be sent to Florida. I hope WE are right. That would be sooooooooooooo AWESOME!!!! :>)

Our Visit With Grandpa

We left for Florida Friday evening around 5:00 right after DH got home from work. We stopped for gas, windshield washer fluid, the bank, and then to my dear friend, Becky's house to pick up the portable DVD player we borrowed for the trip down. THANK YOU, B! What a life saver. Then a quick drive thru at Mickey D's and we were on our way.The trip was loooooooooooooooong and uneventful. We had stopped off at a rest area to try and sleep for a few hours, but wound up leaving after a few minutes because it was way too hot in the car (and way toooooouncomfortable), plus that fact that Skippy didn't want us to sleep with the windows wide open. So, I drove for a bit while David slept. I HATE driving at night, but it was a good chance for me to do some deep thinking. (OUCH......it always hurts when I do that!)We arrived Saturday morning around 9:00, just in time for breakfast. My mother-in-law, Pat, made us bacon and eggs. It was wonderful after a long drive, plus not having to cook it myself, made it that much tastier........YUMMY!

When we arrived, D's parents were there plus one of his brothers, Sam. His other brother Norman was working and would not be home until after 5. David brought Steven's PlayStation 2 with us along with some of his favorite games, including SpongeBob Squarepants and Guitar Hero. D said, now you can, "Beat the pants off your uncles!" B looks very, very tired. He has lost 35 pounds in the last couple of months. I have never seen him like this, not even after his liver transplant. P said he looks a lot better than he had. I just can't imagine. It is so good to see him in spite of the circumstances. B and I are very close and it hurts my heart to see him like this. But, I know God is in control of this situation so I shall not fear! :)

We ran to the bank before it closed and stopped on the way back to get S a treat.....a Peanut Butter Cup milkshake from Dunkin Donuts. It was a good thing we did because it cost $6.58. OH MY GOSH!!!!! I asked her why it cost that much and she said, "Well, you ordered two donuts as well.” No, I did not I told her. She said...."Well, that's ok; I didn't charge you for them anyway!" ???????

We hung around the rest of the afternoon catching up with each other then we all went out to dinner. After that, D's mom took us to Daytona, where she had a surprise for the three of us. They had gotten us a room for Saturday evening. It wasn't just at a hotel......it was a BEAUTIFUL resort called The Cover. We had a two bedroom suite with a full kitchen, washer/dryer, two full bathrooms with jacuzzi tubs and glass showers, a private balcony for each room, and three full screen TV wall units. They also had a pool, but, but not just any pool. It was a huge water slide with a lazy river and wading pool. S loved it and was so excited, that's all he talked about for hours. WOW!! Thank you, P & B!!!Sunday, we all met at 1:30 and went over to Gainesville where the hospital is to check in and to find the hotel we will be staying at until B is released. He has changed his mind many times about the surgery, flipping back and forth between I am not having this surgery to I know this is what I have to do. I really can't say I blame him with everything he has been through in the past. He has had to take frequent doses of medicine to clean his system out before his surgery tomorrow and it is causing him to be sick. Oh, how I wish I could take all this pain away from him!!! There is not much we can do accept all here with him to support him, get him what he needs, and tell him how much we love him!We are spending the evening at the hotel to get ready for tomorrow, but most importantly to just be together! B is already in his pj's and is trying to rest in between his many trips to the bathroom, poor guy, but he seems to be managing it all ok. What a trooper!! With all of the changes over the past few days, he has been doing so very well, but he is just not himself. B cried and told P that he was so afraid he was not going to wake up this time.Ok, going to get S his medicine and get everyone into bed. I will write again in the morning.

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Monday morning, B & P were up 5:00 and at the hospital b 6:00 a.m. DH and his brother S, were there by 8:00. They got there just before they brought him to surgery. P and I waited in the waiting room until about 12:00, when the Dr. came in. He was smiling from ear to ear. He said everything went very well, and he was extremely pleased. B was in recovery and we should be able to see him around 2:00. PRAISE THE LORD!!!By 3:00, B was in a room. He was hoarse and in pain, but was in good spirits. He slept on and off for awhile, waking up to get a drink of water. P, his wife, was by his bedside just doting on him. It was so sweet to watch! We left the hospital about 6:00 to go have dinner and then went back. They had decided to give him solid foods to B's delight. He had not eaten for 4 days. When we returned, he had eaten and looked a whole lot better and had some color to his face. B said he was feeling good! So, about 8:00, DH and I took S back to the hotel to swim for about a half hour before it closed, but S said the water was too cold, so we went back to the room to play video games. He LOVED that!Tuesday morning, P was up bright and early and was at the hospital by 8:00. We overslept and didn't get there until 12:00. When we arrived, B was in a lot of pain and he had been extremely nauseous all night and all morning. He was not able to eat anything accept jello. After while, P said that he looked funny and went and felt his head. She said he is burning up, so I went and got the nurse and they checked his temperature. It was 103*F. They immediately called the Dr. He said he was not worried at this point, that this was somewhat normal, but that they would keep a very close eye on him because of his medical history. They also want to make sure he drinks LOTS and LOTS of water so he does not get dehydrated.Skippy, Kiddo, and I are back at the hotel right now. B wanted to sleep, so P asked if we would go do something fun, so we came back to go swimming. Unfortunately, it started to rain so we are just relaxing right now watching tv, playing video games, and blogging, waiting for it to pass! I will update when we find out more information on B. He was supposed to go home tomorrow, but on that, we will have to wait and see.

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Wednesday morning, we woke up late. I hate those hotel curtains......they keep the room so dark you think it's really early......... BUT IT'S NOT! :>0 We arrived at the hospital about 12:30, where we then spent the next 45 minutes driving in circles in the parking garage looking for a place to park. When we arrived at B's room, he was sitting up in bed looking much better than he did when we left him the evening before. His color was better, he was eating some, his fever was gone, and he was generally just feeling better! This was wonderful to see. OUR GOD IS AN AWESOME GOD!!!!! Since B was doing well, we decided to get S home. Schooling has proven to be somewhat difficult while here under the circumstances, but we have had a chance to do some work. We even did the M&M experiment using probability, estimation, averaging, etc. Dad, Uncle Sam, and grandma had NO trouble helping him with this project! :>) (yummmmm!) Well, with things quiet and S getting ready for bed, I will take this opportunity to say thank you to everyone who had kept B and his family in their thoughts and prayers. He was extremely touched by all the people that were praying for him. Please keep B and his family in your prayers as he will be undergoing a kidney transplant once he has regained his health. Also, please pray for my DH. He has volunteered himself as a possible donor for his dad's transplant. He is praying that God give will give him the wisdom and guidance to make the right decision.

Thank you again!

Blessings~
Laura

My Father-In-Law

My father-in-law, B, is a wonderful man. He has been through so much in his life and the fact that he is still here is truly a testimony of what God can do!

Back in 1988, our oldest daughter A was around 1, and I was expecting our second daughter, B had to undergo triple by-pass surgery. No health problems up until that point that I remember. After surgery, B recovered rather quickly. He was up walking around the same day....AMAZING!

Then, shortly after the birth of our son, S, B was diagnosed with a liver disease, and was put on the transplant list. After a few agonizing months of watching his health deteriorate, there was a donor. That was wonderful news for us....but what about the loss that another family has to go through for B to live...the sorrow!

Things were going well for B health wise for a good long while. Then he was diagnosed with Diabetes (I don't remember what year) and went through a long battle with that. Trying to regulate his sugar and other health problems that coincided, proved to be very taxing on B, but with the healing power of God, he gets through it ok and we have another span of pretty good health. Thank you, God!

Ok, now we are in the early part of 2007, I think, when we find out that B is in poor health again. This time his kidneys aren't functioning due to the meds that he has been taking for his heart, liver, and diabetes. He is now on the transplant list for a kidney. (Ok, Lord, you are in control!) The scheduled a huge battery of tests to make sure he is healthy enough for the transplant, when the doctors find out that B has prostate cancer. They did more tests to find out if the cancer has spread and thankfully, it has not. So, before they can do the kidney transplant, they have to remove his prostate. Through all this, B has never lost his sense of humor or his faith in God. B, you are truly AMAZING, and I love you!

My DH, S and I will be leaving tomorrow evening and are driving down to FLA to be there for his surgery on Monday. Please pray for B and P, my DH and his 2 brothers, and for traveling mercies for us.

Blessings!
L

The 14 Days of Homeschool

I read this recently on OldPathsMom's blog and I just had to share it with you. All of the links you will find will take you to the website A to Z Home's Cool Homeschooling where it contains an article(s) on that particular issue.

The 14 Days of Homeschool
(sung to the tune of The Twelve Days of Christmas)

On the first day of homeschool my neighbor said to me, "Can you homeschool legally?"

On the second day of homeschool my neighbor said to me, "Are they socialized, can you homeschool legally?"

On the third day of homeschool my neighbor said to me, "Do you give them tests, are they socialized, can you homeschool legally?"

On the fourth day of homeschool my neighbor said to me, "What about P.E., do you give them tests, are they socialized, can you homeschool legally?"

On the fifth day of homeschool my neighbor said to me, "YOU ARE SO STRANGE! What about P.E., do you give them tests, are they socialized, can you homeschool legally?"

On the sixth day of homeschool my neighbor said to me, "How long will you homeschool, YOU ARE S0 STRANGE, what about P.E. , do you give them tests, are they socialized, can you homeschool legally?"

On the seventh day of homeschool my neighbor said to me, "Look at what they're missing, how long will you homeschool, YOU ARE SO STRANGE!, what about P.E., do you give them tests, are they socialized, do you homeschool legally?"

On the eighth day of homeschool my neighbor said to me, "Why do you do this, look at what they're missing, how long will you homeschool, YOU ARE SO STRANGE, what about P.E. do you give them tests, are they socialized, do you homeschool legally?"

On the ninth day of homeschool my neighbor said to me, "They'll miss the prom, why do you do this, look at what they're missing, how long will you homeschool, YOU ARE SO STRANGE!, what about P.E. do you give them tests, are they socialized, do you homeschool legally?"

On the tenth day of homeschool my neighbor said to me, "What about graduation, they'll miss the prom, why do you do this, look at what they're missing, how long will you homeschool, YOU ARE SO STRANGE!, what about P.E., do you give them tests, are they socialized, can you homeschool legally?"

On the eleventh day of homeschool my neighbor said to me, "I could never do that, what about graduation, they'll miss the prom, why do you do this, look at what they're missing, how long will you homeschool, YOU ARE SO STRANGE, what about P.E., do you give them tests, are they socialized, can you homeschool legally?"

On the twelfth day of homeschool my neighbor said to me, "Can they go to college, I could never do that, what about graduation, they'll miss the prom, why do you do this, look at what they're missing, how long will you homeschool, YOU ARE SO STRANGE, What about P.E., do you give them tests, are they socialized, can you homeschool legally?"

On the thirteenth day of homeschool I thoughtfully replied: "They Can go to college, yes you can do this, they can have graduation, we don't like the prom, we do it cuz we like it, they are missing nothing, we'll homeschool forever, WE ARE NOT STRANGE!, We give them P.E., and we give them tests, they are socialized, AND WE HOMESCHOOL LEGALLY!

On the fourteenth day of homeschool my neighbor said to me, "How can I get started, why didn't you tell me, where do I buy curriculum, when is the next conference, WILL PEOPLE THINK WE'RE STRANGE? I think we can do this, if you will help us, we'll join a sports team, and we'll homeschool legally."

Way Behind.....But Why?

I started this blog for quite a few reasons and I PROMISED myself that I would write something down EVERYDAY. It didn't matter whether two lines or fifty. Whether it be talking about my relationship with God, about the different aspects of our first year homeschooling, (which I am COMPLETELY enjoying by the way, and so glad that we did) the kids, my feelings, my DH, my need for coffee and chocolate, just venting, getting great science experiments from others, etc. (breathe, L)

But have I done this? NO! Why, you ask? She must be very busy? NO! Is it that we are really bogged down with school work? NO! Is it that there is too much laundry, or too many dishes? NO! She is out mowing the back 40? NO! Then would could possibly be the reason?................THERE ARE TOO MANY WONDERFUL AND INTERESTING BLOGS OUT THERE ON THIS WONDERFUL SITE!!! I will start to leave a comment and happen to notice a comment made by someone else that either touches my heart or makes me laugh, which then takes me off to another blog....and the rest is history!!!

Well, I am not going to make that same promise again knowing that I will not be able to keep it, but I will promise to make the best effort I can to keep this updated.

We have been in school now for three weeks and we are just LOVING IT!

Fall Back Into Homeschool Giveaway

The contest is over and we are waiting for the winner's name to be announced. You can check to see who won by going to:

http://hskubes.blogspot.com/2007/09/fall-back-into-homeschool-giveaway.html to enter the drawing.

They gave away the following items:

A set of colored pencils

A set of drawing pencils with erasers

A personal size pencil sharpener

A spiral sketch book

A set of pretty notecards

A homeschool bumper sticker

AND

A years subscription to Birds and Blooms magazine

COOL!

Sick Kids : > (

Today was a laid-back kind of day for us. Not a lot of work, just some reviewing. We also watched a video on Albert Einstein as we just did a section in science on him. Kiddo is not very much into watching anything unless it is VeggieTales, POKEMON or cartoon related so this proved to be a somewhat difficult task. However, I did throw in some popcorn and that seemed to ease it somewhat.

A good majority of Asperger's Syndrome (Autism) kids have a fixation of some sort. Kiddo's is on video games. He can repeat the dialogue and mimic every move on these games verbatim. How he can memorize things is just incredible to me, when half the time I can't even remember my own name!!! He definitely does NOT get that from me! One of his favorite games is Guitar Hero. I really like it too....It is waaaaaaaaaaaaaay cool!

Kiddo was not feeling well today. It started out with a sore throat 2 days ago, then came the fever, now a runny nose and an earache as well. Poor guy! (this is where the laid-back part came in) It actually worked out well for him not to feel well today because a teacher friend of mine just started back to school and her daughter got sick as well. Soooooo they spent the day together. Which, by the way, worked out great because all he wanted was to have a friend over anyway!

Aut-2-Be-Home

HURRAY!!!! Another week of school under our belt and it is going so well. On our trip to the library on Wednesday, we found out they have a homeschool reading group that meets once a week and so far there are only 3 kids involved. (Kiddo and my sister's 2) But as Kiddo said......"That just means that we get more of the M&M's the Librarian has!" (hey, do you think they would notice if a 6'1" blonde sat with the group? )

You know, many people have told us that we should not be homeschooling S for one reason or another. He has Asperger's Syndrome (autism).....He needs socialization......he needs too many accommodations.....you are making a big mistake.....etc. Are they right? ABSOLUTELY NOT!

My Skippy Man and I feel that this is what God has called us to do and with his guidance, we CAN accomplish this awesome opportunity. What better learning environment for any child, than a "school" filled with a love for God, a love for learning, and love for each other!

This is where S needs to be......he Aut-2-Be-Home!