I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas…

I remember having a White Christmas when I was small.† Kei has wanted one for years.† At first I thought that was a possibility but now the weather has changed once again.

White Christmas or not, it is upon us.† Things are different this year.† Last year was very hard for my family because it was the 1st Christmas without my Mom.† This year my Daddy is remarried.† Things change, seasons change, traditions change.

We made Christmas candy the other day.† It was fun, especially for Kei.† She adores anything bakey.† We made Chocolate Oatmeal cookies < which we always call the unappealing name of Doo Doo Cookies>, Oreo balls, Peanut Butter Microwave Brittle, Chocolate dipped Pretzels, and Chocolate Chip cookies.

Candy Good!
Candy Good!
Messy Goodness
Messy Goodness

I still lack a few presents.† I will do that Tuesday, maybe…I hope.

Christmas Girl
Christmas Girl

At church the kids did a little program while the band sang “Better Days” by the Goo Goo Dolls.† It is a great song for this time of year.

Faith and Better Days
Faith and Better Days

We want to go see the Christmas lights in the next couple of nights.† I hate driving though, I never can look at them very well when I have to concentrate on actually keeping the car on the road!

Happy Christmas,

K/K

It’s Beginning to Look A lot like Christmas…

christmas-magic

Christmas is upon us.

We have done some “Christmasy” things the last week or so.

We volunteered to ring a ling ding the Salvation Army Bell.† We did this with Heather and her boys and it was FREEZING!† The kids had a blast when they weren’t too frozen to speak.† Heather brought her violin which I am sure was a first for our town.

Me & My girl
Me & My girl
Frosty Kids
Frosty Kids
Maestro
Maestro

We also got some snow!† It never snows here in December.† It used to, but not so much now.

Snow in the South
Snow in the South

We decorated the tree, although in all honesty, Kei did 99% of this herself.† I can not believe she has gotten to the point that she can do our entire tree!

All By Myself...
All By Myself...
O Christmas Tree
O Christmas Tree

We went to eat with Gina and Bobby.† Gina made chili and it was so good!† We brought Brit home with us and they did their usual girl things.† Max and Rob and Johnny and Fang, oh my!

Da Girls
Da Girls

It is about 2 weeks until Christmas and no I am not ready.† But then again, I never am!

Stay warm.

The Greatest Gift…

Christmas.† I used to LOVE Christmas.† My brothers and I loved December and my Momma and Daddy made it a wonderful time for us.† Christmas meant presents and beautiful trees and huge family get-togethers and whispered prayers for snow.† Then I grew up.† In my teens, I still loved Christmas but not with the fervor of a child.† Then I got married.† I liked Christmas† and decorated every room in the house, put up a magnificent tree, bought enough presents for a small nation.

Then I became ambivalent toward Christmas.† Didn’t hate it, didn’t love it.† It just was.† I put up the tree and bought presents, but the magic wasn’t there.

The last almost decade, I have loved Christmas again.† Having a child makes you enjoy Christmas differently.† I love Kei’s excitement, her giddiness at all things Christmas related, her unshaken belief in Santa.† The way she gets more excited about what she gets me than what she is getting.† How her favorite part of Christmas is listening for Santa’s reindeer hooves on the roof.† How she understands the true meaning of Christmas.

Last Christmas was hard.† The 1st Christmas without my sweet Mother.† Kei helped me so much. Her presence made it bearable to survive my 1st Christmas alone, without Momma.

This Christmas I have been so worried.† Worried about money that I didn’t have to buy gifts.† I listened to Kei tell me, “Don’t worry Mommy, I am asking Santa for the things I want.† I don’t want anything from you.”† I worried and cried to myself and prayed.

Do you know there are angels everywhere?† They walk among us and show themselves in the most wondrous ways.† I have amazing people in my life.† People who don’t love me because I share their blood and they have to love me, people who love me just because.† People who have helped me to make sure my girl has a wonderful Christmas.† People who understand the true meaning of this season.† “Thank you” doesn’t seem like a big enough thing to say.† I am blessed, truly blessed to have you in my life.† I am honored to call you “friends”.† I have so missed having this kind of friends in my life.† Thank you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.† Bless you.

Merry Christmas all.

Is It December Already????

December 1st!† Where does time go?

I am not ready for December.† I am not ready for Christmas and presents and trees and decorations.

Kei is though.† She is more than ready for us both.

The past 2 weeks have been good.† We have done some really cool things in homeschooling.† We are still doing the American Revolution and also making a Grammar Lapbook.† It is a really fun one where you are a visitor from another planet and are trying to figure out the English language.

We have learned about the Brain and Kei made a brain hat. <this is so neat!>† She also did the Stroop test and thought it was so cool.† We determined which was her dominate side <left>.

brain-hat

The Girl with 2 Brains
The Girl with 2 Brains

We went to Heather’s for a GNO.† We ate pasta and sandwiches and desert and caramel popcorn and watched Momma Mia! on blue ray and trust me, it DOES make a difference.† Our girls were singing and dancing the entire time.† We don’t have 1 shy, introvert HSer among us! 🙂

"Momma Mia, Here I go again"
"Momma Mia, Here I go again"
MM Robot
MM Robot

Chan came and spent a few days with us.† We always love having her.† Her and Kei had so much fun.† They borrowed my camera and kept trying to get jumping shots of themselves.

girls-jumping

Yes, Kei still has her tonsils!
Yes, Kei still has her tonsils!

Thanksgiving we spent giving back to our community.† We went with our church to serve 1400 meals delivered to families and serve 400 inmates.† We love doing this each year.

Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better.  It's not.  ~Dr. Seuss
Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not. ~Dr. Seuss

Then we went to Gina and Bobby’s.† We had an AWESOME Chinese dinner.† The lumpia’s that Gina made were out of this world.† I am still craving them.

Thanksgiving Chinese Style
Thanksgiving Chinese Style

Kei and I had written down a thing that we were thankful for each day in November.† We made them into a chain and read each other’s Thanksgiving Day.† It was scary how similar they were.

thankful-chain

Kei and I spent the rest of the holiday weekend watching movies, playing computer games and board games† and laughing a lot.

But I am not ready for December!† EEP.

K

Time Marches On…

I have been really bad about updating. I need to blog more and I don’t even have an excuse. I like to keep a record, not for the 4, 2 people that probably occasionally read this, but for me and Kei.

Life has been…life.  Mostly good, sometimes bad, sometimes sad, more often happy, not enough money, but making it mostly.

We went to Esther’s for lunch and play. I love my friends so much and can’t imagine what I ever did without them. They are truly a blessing to me.

kids-esthers

Kei has been learning about the Human Body. She knows most of the bones and has blown me away with it. She did the skeleton below from memory. I also found a really great site for learning the bones and muscles. We have played and played this. WARNING: This crazy song will be stuck in your head for days! I have relearned them also. That is a benefit of Homeschooling!

bones

We are learning about the American Revolution and she has been doing cool ‘crafty’ things. Also we watched “The Patriot”.† It is bloody but ….it was a WAR! We love Evan Moor teacher’s file box. I use their “Pockets” for almost everything! It is the only monthly expense I have just for Homeschooling.

ar

Kei also made a “Save the Earth” poster. She is so passionate about that and just did it on her own. I have almost NO plastic bags now because she has been refusing to use them for a year.

earthKei and Vicki have spent hours playing on the balcony. And hours cleaning up the balcony.

kei-vicki-balcony

The other day when Kei was eating lunch she yelled at me “Mommy come look”. She was eating a cracker and said, “Look, it is Italy”.

italy

We went to our HS Skate Day and had a blast as always. Kei won a coloring award for her Squirrel picture.

kei-coloring

We went to Cathy’s for our 1st Annual HS Thanksgiving.† It was a WONDERFUL day of awesome food and conversation and lots of laughter. If you homeschool, I can’t tell you how important it is to find a group of moms for support. It is strange because I was homeroom Mom for Kei in K and 1st grade and I didn’t get to know any of the moms.† Now I can’t imagine my life without “my moms”.

Kids at HS Thanksgiving

Thankful for my Friends

Livvy spent the night with Kei and they wanted to have the upstairs for “their house”. They spent hours up there playing.† After listening to the CD with us about 100 times, we finally introduced Liv to “Dr. Horrible”. Of course she loved it!

We LOVE Dr. Horrible!

I am still playing WOW with my best friend.† I told Kei the other day that I am NOT letting her out of my life again! She sent us $25 Fandango bucks so we could go see “New Moon”. I protested and she said, “Oh please girl, I have to discuss it with you after wards like we always have”. Honestly, when it is all said and done, I truly believe that it is the people we surround ourselves with that matters.† And I have amazing people.

Kei wrote her letter to Santa.† She still mostly believes in Santa but for some reason she thinks he will only come until she is double digits. <she will be 10 in January>† It was so bittersweet to read her letter and watch her put it in the mailbox.

Letter to Santa:

Hello Santa,

I know this is probably your last time to come so I wanted to say Thank you so much for all the stuff you have gotten me over the years.† Just so you know, I will always believe in you.† So I can’t wait till my kids will give you milk and cookies.† Please stop by my house sometimes for milk and cookies and carrots even though you won’t be bringing me anything.

Oh tell Dancer I say ‘hello’ and tell Mr. Baggledrum <she got a letter from Santa last year about Mr. Baggledrum and how he kept the elves happy> thank you for keeping the elves happy.† Santa I only want 5 things for Christmas this year so here I go…..

She then ends with :

Santa you have been so nice to me so thank you.

I love you,

Keilee

My sweet girl…

Letter to Santa

So time is marching on.† I can’t believe it is almost Thanksgiving.† Daddy has made some progress cleaning out the house, but it is like a drop in a vast ocean.† Maybe after the first of the year.

Life is good,

K

Save

Bump in the Night…

Halloween has come and gone.

Kei loves Halloween!† Almost as much as Christmas and her birthday.† Remember when we actually looked forward to birthdays? 🙂

We started the Halloween week by going Trunk or Treating at our friends church.† We had a great time.

Then Kei made a witch nose and finger with Play Dough.

I'll Get you my Pretty..
I'll Get you my Pretty..

Saturday morning [Halloween] we went to our church for a Halloween celebration.† It was awesome!† We ate hamburgers, hot dogs, potato salad, baked beans and all the trimmings.† Our church rocks!

epic-corn
Epic Corn Hunt
Epic Train
Epic Train

When we got home my brother brought us a pumpkin.† We then carved it.† Ok I am not the best carver in the world.† Kei wanted a vampire.† What she got was…a big mouthed something or other.† She did better on the eyes and nose than I did on the mouth!

Vampire?
Vampire?

Saturday night we got Kei decked out in her Mother Nature costume and were off to get candy!† Some of the people around here really get into the Halloween spirit so there were spooks, Mass† Murderers, scary music and fog at every turn.

Mother Nature
Mother Nature
Don't fool Mother Nature
Don't fool Mother Nature

When we had collected our fill of candy and half freezing to death we went out to my brother’s house where he had a Scavenger Hunt for the kids.† Heather and I drove the kids around to various locations for clues.† You haven’t lived until you have been to a graveyard on Halloween night with a full moon!† Also did you know some people put lighted crosses on graves?† I couldn’t believe it.† The kids loved it and the only complaint was that it was too short.† Thanks Eddie for inviting us!

And now it is November.† EEP!

Enjoy,

K

Vivaldi…The Four Seasons

vivaldicover

While listening to Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons” Kei was to write what each season made her feel, taste, hear and see.† I have always thought I was a semi decent writer, but I don’t really remember writing things like this so young.† Maybe it is because I wasn’t homeschooled. 🙂


Winter

I see the white blanket on the ground,

I feel the cold, sharp air on my tongue and the white, wet snowflakes,

I hear stillness around me; for the animals have fled and so will I, go back to my den and I feel calm and happy.

Spring

I see the bunnies eating the fresh vegetables,

I feel the new pansies on my legs,

I hear ‘tweet tweet’ and ‘thump thump’ as life begins again,

And I taste the cool, moist air.

Summer

I see the water, the bathing suits,

I feel the water, splash, splash, splashing on my face

I taste the hot, sticky air

I hear people laughing and screaming

Fall

Cool, moist air lies on my tongue,

I see the red, yellow and orange leaves on the trees.

I hear the wind ‘whoosh whoosh’.

I feel the leaves falling on me.


Happy Fall, Happy Friday,

K

October is Creeping By…

It has been a good week.

Kei got a new box.† It is amazing what you can do with a box, where you† can go, what you can be.

Step Into My Parlor...
Step Into My Parlor...

It is a window to imagination…

Complete with Homemade Curtains
Complete with Homemade Curtains

My Daddy has millions of acorns.† Kei and went over there and got some and painted them orange.† [Which is harder than it sounds.† Anyone know a better way to anchor these little guys while you are painting them?] Then she drew pumpkin faces on them.

FIVE little PUMPKINS
FIVE little PUMPKINS

We had to punt the Edward Scissorhands idea.† Too expensive for this year, so she is going to be Mother Nature.† Which is very apropo for her.† We went to look for ideas at the Halloween store in town.† They have some of the coolest stuff!

kei-creepy

We had to, of course, take the required ‘I’m so scared’ picture.

kei-scream

Today she was playing with clay and made this cute little clay family.† I thought they had a Gremlin ‘flavor’.

Do Not Feed After Midnight
Do Not Feed After Midnight

All in all, a very good week.† Of course, it is supposed to RAIN tomorrow.

Stay dry,

K

Delicious Terror…

That is what my Mom always called it.† She loved scary movies, and scaring us to death.† She didn’t grow up in an era of Halloween and Friday the 13th and Saw.† She loved things like The Bad Seed, and Alfred Hitchcock.† I remember being very small and rushing home from school to watch Dark Shadows with her.† [See I was a vampire girl from wayyyyy back]

Last night we went to Gina and Bobby’s for food and fear!† We had a blast. Their house was pimped out in true Halloween fashion.

RIP Brit, Kei crying, Cody way too happy!
RIP Brit, Kei crying, Cody way too happy!

The food was yummy and we enjoyed eating with friends so much.† Then it was movie time.† Poltergeist was the thriller of the night.† Kei, Bobby and I had seen it, Brit and Cody were newbies and Gina had never watched the entire movie.

We loved it and there was a lot of hugging together from the girls.

Then we loaded up the car and went to Cry Baby Hollow.† This is a bridge that is a local legend.† I had been there when I was a teenager but Kei had never been. The legend I had always heard is that a woman threw her baby off the bridge and at night you can still hear the baby cry.† Also if you leave candy on the bridge, the baby comes and gets it.† Another part of the story is that if you put your car in neutral it will either roll forward or backward or rock back and forth, and sometimes there are little baby hand prints on your windows!!

So off we went.† It was cold and drizzly, a perfect night for ghosties.† We turned off on the ‘road’ and it was perfect; dark and spooky and raining and DARK!† The bridge is very short; about 8′ and has no side rails.

the-bridge
I wanted to get in Gina's lap but Cody got to!

When Bobby put the car in neutral, it ROLLED!† There were squeals of delight and fright from the car.† We had to turn around and do it a few more times and each time it rolled.† The best time was when it rolled backwards! Up an incline! <insert Twilight Zone music here>

Then we got out and walked to place the candy.† Did I mention it was raining?† and DARK?† The kids placed their candy and Brit swore she saw a shadow in the rushing water below.

We Aren't Scared!
We Aren't Scared!

I the kids were very glad to be back in the car.† On the way home Brit and Kei decided the entire “Rock-A-Bye-Baby song was written for the Cry Baby Hollow Legend.

We had a blast and stole Brit to come home with us to protect us from ghosts spend the night with Kei.† Thanks Lackeys!!!† We loved it.

Happy Saturday,

K

Learning by Doing…

We have had a great week in HSing.

We are studying about Colonial Times and have watched a series on PBS called Colonial House. It is like a reality show with modern families having to live like Colonists.† We ordered it from Netflix.† We both agree that we wouldn’t really care to live during those times. We read a book about an average day and the little girl in the book put on 16 items of clothing every morning.† Kei tried it with skirts, stockings, tulle skirts and various things.† She kept it on about 10 minutes and then I found pieces of clothing like Hansel and Gretel’s bread trail. 🙂

colonial-16

She also did a poster on Seed Dispersal.† She loves hands on activities and I really think she retains more than just doing a worksheet.

seed-dispersal

I never throw away anything electronic that breaks.† Kei loves to take things apart.† Here she is taking apart our poor dead DVD player.† The funniest part was I heard her talking and I said, “Please don’t talk to inanimate objects” and she said, “I am pretending I am a doctor doing surgery on it”.

taking-apart-dvd

This is a picture Kei made of our gorgeous plant that Gina gave us.† It has done so well!† Especially considering I have a JET BLACK thumb!

kei-purple-flower

All in all a good week.† Now if it would only stop raining.† It is supposed to cool off this weekend.† We have our electric blanket ready to go.

Have a snuggly next few days!

K

Jesus, a Mother, a Daughter and a Dog….