The Larabian Times

Physics

2010-03-03T23:58:00.002-06:00

Alex is our little science guy. He just LOVES science. When we were coming to an end of our R.E.A.L. Science Earth & Space curriculum we decided to bump Morgan up to a middle school science curriculum. We found an online program for her. We then needed to find an elementary curriculum for Alex but with some challenge. While we loved R.E.A.L. Science it was just too easy for the kids and they don't have an upper level curriculum ready yet. So, we started researching curricula that I've heard about from other homeschoolers and we came across one we really thought would be a good fit for Alex (and me as the teacher). This is Noeo Homeschool Science . We picked Physics II. So far Alex is loving it and so am I. I really think we will do well with this.

In addition to this, we had signed up for PhysicsQuest 2009 . This is our second year. We had so much fun with it last year with our friends, Lori Sloan & her kids, Maddy & Quent. We got together with them today and started working on the quest. We did the first two experiments and will do the remaining experiments the week after I return from my workshop. Today we were figuring out the wavelength of our laser and the thickness of our hair. I tell ya, physics can be very complicated and it scared the daylights out of me in high school so much that I wouldn't take the class. I stuck to biology, chemistry, biology II and anatomy & physiology. It still is complicated for me but I love exposing the kids to it so early and at an appropriate, yet challenging, level. It takes the scariness out of it.

Money Tree

2010-03-02T20:09:00.002-06:00

Apparently, our van thinks we have a money tree in the backyard...or access to one. We were having some minor problems, or so we thought. We took the van to the mechanic and told him our complaints. He fixed those issues and it didn't break the bank. We were happy. Two days later after doing several errands I let Corey know that it seems something isn't right and I think it is connected to something that was supposed to be fixed. So we drop the van back off at the mechanic. Unfortunately, the problem we tell him about isn't linked to what was already fixed but is connected to a few other issues...that we hadn't thought were important & were just due to age & hadn't told him about. Turns out...blown head gasket....and hopefully not cracked heads. Ugh!! Thankfully, the heads weren't cracked and the mechanic was able to get everything all fixed up. Unfortunately, this is a labor intensive problem and that equals dollar signs. So within a week or less we put over $2000 into our van. We *had* to get it fixed. If we could afford a monthly payment we would replace it. We don't like putting this much money into it. We waiver on the whole "worth it" issue. This was about our limit to what we can & will put into it. Soooo.....we need to make room in the budget for a car payment in the future because that is coming whether we like it or not. Hopefully, hopefully, hopefully, we can get some more time out of this vehicle so we can get to that point more comfortably.

Olympics, Shakespeare...and Chester Comix

2010-02-21T01:27:00.003-06:00

We have been watching the Olympics and really enjoying them. Alex tries not to, I think, but does despite himself. So far I've noticed that the speed skating, luge & bob sledding seem to get his attention the most. Morgan likes most of it, although she was most excited about men's snowboarding because of Shaun White. She's taken a liking to speed skating too. However, she is getting into cheering on Team USA no matter what the sport. :-) It has been fun to watch the kids get excited about it. I just learned about this website from a fellow homeschooler. It is the Science of the Olympic Winter Games . It looks great and I can't wait to show the kids. Check it out for your kids if they are interested in the Olympics, science,etc.

We had Shakespeare Club Friday night and were performing a Readers' Theatre version of The Tempest. Morgan was Miranda and Alex was Trinculo. A few people were missing so I volunteered for a part and became Prospero. It was great fun and everyone did a wonderful job with their parts. This was the first time Alex took on a speaking role and did great. His comedic timing is pretty darn good. LOL! Next month we will be doing As You Like It.

We received our Chester Comix book from Lexi at Pink and Orange Coffee . I won a drawing she had for 2 extra books that she was giving away. We received The First Americans. I read through the first half and then handed it off to Alex to check out. I think he likes it so far. So far I think it gives some good information in a fun way. I'll let you know more of what we think when we finish it. :-) But, so far so good.

Snow & Chester Comix

2010-02-15T16:00:00.002-06:00

We are getting snow again. Thankfully, it isn't accummulating (yet?) so we can enjoy it without it causing any problems. I have to tell you that my children who have been begging for snow for years....are over it. Not because they aren't enjoying playing in it but because it is causing other activities to be cancelled and they do NOT like that. I've reminded them that we need to be thankful we aren't on the east coast this year where they've received over 55 inches of snow. LOL!

Now, on to Chester Comix. These are comic books about history. Cool! I had just learned about these books and was discussing them with Corey & the kids. I was looking into our library & another library to see if they had them so we could check them out before buying any. When lo & behold, a fellow hs'er blogged about having 2 duplicates and she was going to do a random drawing to give them away. Here is her blog about it Pink and Orange Coffee . I entered...and won one of the books! I will let you know what we think after we receive it and read it. :-)

CPR rhythm

2010-02-11T19:35:00.002-06:00

This morning I took a 4 hour Basic Life Support /CPR for Health Providers class at our local hospital. I need to have my certification for the midwifery assistant workshop that I'm taking in March. When you are doing chest compressions for CPR you are aiming for 100 beats per minute. We were told we could hum a song while we were doing those compressions to help us hit that 100 bpm compression rate. The song was...are you ready for this? Ok, Another One Bites the Dust by Queen. Yes, really!! Who knew? LOL! So, we hummed & compressed and sure enough we all got 100 bpm or just above. You are humming it right now trying to picture this, aren't you? We all found it hilarious. However, our instructor did ask us to please NOT hum it while doing CPR in case family/friends were around to overhear us. She said they might think we were pretty sick. ;-) She then told us the story about how she found out about the song...she heard someone humming it DURING a code! Afterwards she asked someone else "Was that Another One Bites the Dust he was humming??" And they told her about the beat helping reach the right compression rate.

So that was my fun this morning. The class went great. I got 100% on my skills and 95% on the written test (darn trick question that almost everyone missed).

Science

2010-02-03T13:31:00.002-06:00

Today it would seem is a science day at our house. Alex received a few science kits for Christmas and decided that he wanted to work with one today. He picked this one Electronics Lab with Fiber Optics . He worked with Morgan and the two of them set up the transmitter and receiver boxes and then started testing & experimenting. So far all of their experiments have worked...and only one was annoying. LOL! That was the "control sound with light" experiment. The brighter the light the higher pitched sound that came out of it. Omigosh, the dogs and I weren't happy with that one.

During all of this we received our package from PhysicsQuest . This year we will be doing lasers! Last year we did Nicola Tesla and light, magnetism, and electricity.

Mama goes to school

2010-02-02T19:08:00.002-06:00

We are adding something new to our typical family day. Mama will be going to school. Well, not registered back at college (yet)...but I will be taking a workshop. I will be attending a Midwife Assistant workshop at The Farm Midwifery Center for 1 week in March. I've done my required reading and am doing some extra reading...all the birth stuff I can get my hands on. :-) Next week I take a CPR class and then I need to make sure I have everything I'm supposed to bring. I will be staying in the dorm for the week with 7 other women taking the workshop. Corey and the kids will be on their own. Registering for this workshop was a big step for me and as it gets closer it has really been making me think. I've wanted to be a midwife for years now and that is what drew me to nursing...it was on the path to becoming a CNM (Certified Nurse-Midwife). I knew the steps to take to become one in FL. Well, many years have passed and things have changed...marriage, kids, moving to a few different states, and homeschooling the kids. My idea of becoming a midwife had gone by the wayside. Not that anyone was stopping me, other than me, but that I didn't feel it would/could happen...not the "right" timing. Soooo...registering for this workshop has got me thinking. I think this is all still possible. I am finding out what all I need to do to become a midwife in TN...and I want to do it. If that means heading back to the classroom than that is what I'll be doing. We will figure out the logistics and make it work. I want the kids to see that Mama has a goal and she's working towards that goal, doing what it takes to make it happen. I want them to see that learning is a life long process. There is ALWAYS something you will want to learn about. And...you are never to old to be what you want to be when you grow up. :-)

Last half of December...last few weeks of 2009

2010-01-03T19:55:00.004-06:00

We stayed busy enough for the last bit of the year that I didn't take the time to blog about it. I wish I had and I am aiming to do better in 2010. :-) Here is what went on the last few weeks of December...and 2009.

Morgan performed in a holiday musical at the Maury County Arts Guild. On opening night we came home and decorated our tree.

We didn't do a lot of other decorating because the morning after the final performance we headed to Cleveland, Ohio. Corey had a week of training up there and we decided to all go with him. We got to spend quite a bit of time with Amnon, one of Corey's co-workers from NY. The kids and I haven't seen him since we left NY (in Nov. 2002) so it was wonderful seeing him again. On the first day I took the kids to the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. We had a wonderful time.

On our second day in Cleveland, we did some school work in the hotel room and then went to lunch and then had playtime at Chuck E. Cheese. This isn't normally something we do but it was so cold & wet and I didn't want to do everything in the first day or two. On the third day we headed down by the river to the Great Lakes Science Center. They produce some of their own power with a wind turbine and a bunch of solar panels. Their cafe is very eco-friendly which thrilled us to pieces. We had a great time doing all the hands-on activities as well as watching an IMAX movie, Sea Monsters.

The kids really enjoyed the simulators for landing the lunar module and the space shuttle.

We returned to TN in time to celebrate Yule, the Winter Solstice. The kids each received 2 gifts. It was good to be home again. We took the kids to see Avatar one night. Oh my goodness, it was fabulous!! All four of us loved it. We managed to find time to make my grandmother's oatmeal cookies. Then we started putting together cookie tins and cookie platters. On December 24th we delivered the cookie platters to our local police station and fire station and the cookie tins to friends. We love continuing this tradition that Corey's mom started. It is great getting to take a little time while delivering the cookies to visit with the friends we are giving them to.

Late on Christmas Eve, Corey made a batch of homemade cinnamon rolls to be baked on Christmas morning. Morning came early, as usual. We had told the kids they couldn't wake us before 7am...they woke us at 7:04am. LOL! They dug into their stockings and then started with the presents. We were all very happy with what we received. We saved the best for last and had the kids open their big gift together. They were thrilled! We got them a trampoline. :)

Alex spent some time building the air rocket kit that he received and was very proud that he made the rocket blast off several times.

Early Christmas afternoon we headed over to GC's house to exchange gifts with GC & Uncle Michael and have Christmas dinner.

The day after Christmas we all headed outside to put together the trampoline. It wasn't as difficult as we were expecting (thank the gods) and the kids were able to start jumping on the trampoline before it got dark. Yea! They've been jumping on it several times a day since. However, they were very upset when it rained!

We hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season with their loved ones. We were blessed to be around friends and family the entire season. We are looking forward to 2010.

Vacation & Holiday Prep

2009-12-06T23:19:00.002-06:00

Corey has been on vacation for two weeks. The first week he took the time to relax with no obligations to get anything done,etc. He needed it...he works soooo hard to take care of all of us. After Thanksgiving he was ready to make plans and do some things. He started doing the holiday baking. Each day he has made at least one batch of something with the kids. They've made fudge w/pecans, peanut butter fudge, snickerdoodles, m&m cookies, and peanut butter blossoms. We got the tree, lights & ornaments and other decorations down from the attic. The kids and I got the tree up and the lights on. It stayed like that for a day or two. Morgan has been keeping us busy all last week with dance classes and rehearsals for the holiday musical. It opened Friday night and we all went to see it. She did great and the whole show was good. :-) When we got home we decorated the tree in our jammies. It was a really good night. I've been volunteering at the Scholastic book warehouse in Nashville this week. In doing so, I earn credit to use towards book purchases. I will be volunteering 3 more days this coming week. As a book addict raising little book addicts it is a wonderful thing. The kids managed to get their bedrooms cleaned up yesterday so they could have their little personal trees set up. Today, we all went up to Cool Springs and did some shopping. We had an early birthday lunch/dinner at Buca de Beppo for me with my mom and brother. Oh so yummy! Then we wandered around the Cool Springs Galleria, stopped by Krispy Kreme for some delicious, hot doughnuts and followed that up by watching a couple movies when we got home. The first one was Escape to Witch Mountain and we watched it with the kids. Then after getting them tucked into bed, Corey and I watched Spread with Ashton Kutcher. And thus ends Corey's vacation.

Time With Family

2009-11-29T22:39:00.002-06:00

We are very blessed to have family close enough to celebrate the holidays. Two of Corey's brothers live about an hour and a half from us and my mom and brother live about 20-25 minutes from us. One of Corey's brothers invited everyone to their house for Thanksgiving. Everyone chips in with the cooking...and thankfully we are all very good cooks! We had a wonderful time and it was great seeing everyone again. Last year one of the boys couldn't make it but he was there this year. My brother brought along his camera & tripod so we were able to get a family picture.

Here we have everyone (l-r, b-f): Marcus, Jon, Jody, Aricka, TJ, Laurie, Patrick, Ryan, Joyce, Beverly, Matthew, Carol, Alex, Corey, Kelly, Morgan, and Michael

Here is my little family of four.

Friday we had my mom over for dinner and Corey taught us (a refresher for me) how to play Queen of Spades, a card game he grew up playing. And this weekend we've just spent lots of time together as a family relaxing, playing games, watching football,etc.

Corey has another week of vacation. So this week we will be putting up Christmas decorations and....wait for it....baking cookies!! I will also be volunteering at the Scholastic book warehouse some. Yea!

Happy Thanksgiving

2009-11-25T23:58:00.002-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving to all our family and friends. It is our hope that you will take the time to reflect on the blessings in your life. We aren't teaching our children the story about the "first" Thanksgiving. We don't believe it went anywhere close to how the stories go. So while we don't celebrate it with that in mind. We do celebrate and think about all that we are thankful for in our lives. We should do this more than one day a year, don't you think?

We are blessed to have you in our lives. Thank you for being you and being a part of our life.

Edible Book Contest

2009-11-14T21:35:00.003-06:00

Today was the Edible Book Contest held at our local library. The kids have participated the past 3 years. This year they decided to do separate entries for the first time. They each picked a book and started working on their projects Friday night. Morgan worked on her own with very little input from anyone. She had her idea and was running with it. :-) I was helping Alex put
his idea into place. We were all done and had put aside the projects for morning. I didn't take pictures because I normally do that at the library at the time of the contest. About an hour later Morgan tells us there is a problem in the kitchen and we discover that Alex's project has collapsed. There was no way of fixing it. :-( Poor kiddo was so upset! We came up with a few alternatives for him (since we didn't have enough materials to redo his original book) but he wasn't happy with any of them and just said he would not enter. We asked him to sleep on it and we would be glad to help if he picked something else.

This morning we heard Morgan talking to him as they started pulling things together to make an entry based on one of the suggestions made. He pulled it together very well! We are so proud of him. :-) There were several very good entries in their age group. Morgan placed 2nd. Alex was a little frustrated because he had to do his twice but he handled it very well. Here are their entries.

Alex's entry: Vacation Under the Volcano (Magic Tree House)

Morgan's entry: The Abominable Snowman Doesn't Roast Marshmallows (Bailey School Kids)

We are very proud of both of them for working so hard and being so creative. It isn't easy representing a book (title or story) in an edible fashion. The entries must be 95% edible materials.

Kelly & Alex go to Georgia

2009-10-22T14:16:00.003-05:00

Kelly's mom is working at a school in Decatur,GA and invited us to come along. Morgan's schedule is pretty packed so Alex and I decided we would go. Corey had more vacation days to take so he took this week off and is spending lots of time with Morgan.

Monday was a travel day...we drove from Columbia,TN to Decatur,GA and dropped GC (Kelly's mom) off at the school. Then we went to find the hotel, check in & get unloaded. After that we explored a bit and found a park, the library, and a science center to visit later in the week. We picked GC up from work and we found a local pizza place for dinner. It was very yummy. We noticed a partial Greyhound Bus Lines sign up in the building and wondered about it...my grandfather drove for Greyhound for years & we have a lot of Greyhound memorabilia. After seeing the sign we talked about my grandfather & how much we missed him. The sign must have been a sign from him...somehow.

Tuesday, we took GC to work and then came back to the hotel for breakfast, showers and schoolwork. Then we headed out to get haircuts and pick up GC for lunch. We found this place called Piece of Cake that sells all flavors of layer cakes, cupcakes, and cake by the slice. Oh my goodness...we all got some and it was delish!! After lunch, Alex and I went to Fernbank Science Center and had a great time exploring. The best part was when we were walking through the Fernbank Forest and came across a juvenille copperhead snake on the path! Alex almost stepped on him before we saw him. Woah! We took a few steps back and just watched him finish crossing the pathway. When we got back to the science center we tried to find out what kind of snake it was but they couldn't tell from the screen on my camera. The minute we got back to the hotel I uploaded the pictures and went searching online for snake identification. Sure enough...a copperhead (venomous) but a juvenille. Pretty cool...at least we think so.

Wednesday morning was pretty much the same as Tuesday (minus the haircuts) and after lunch we headed on another adventure. We went to meet some old new friends...or new old friends. LOL! I joined an email support group when I was pregnant with Morgan. All of us were expecting and due in Sept '98. Through the years we've managed to remain together, supporting each other through pregnancy, deliveries, infant years, toddler years, other children, divorces, cross country moves,etc. It has been almost 12 years and there is still a good number of us active in the group. I've met a lot of the moms & children over the years thanks to our travels. Well...I got to meet another mom and her kids (9/98 "baby" and younger sibling). We had a great visit and the kids had a good time playing. I wish Morgan had been with us but that gives me a good reason to plan another visit. I hope that one day we can get all of us (or most of us) together for a major meetup!
Ooh...and remember the sign we saw at dinner on Monday?? Well, I mentioned the name of the place to my friend and she said that it was in the old Greyhound Bus station. That explains the sign! Man, that was definitely a Pop Pop (my grandfather) moment if ever there was one. We felt you Pop Pop! Miss you.

Thursday started waaaay too early! It started at 3am when the police knocked on our hotel room door to let us know that mom's car was broken into and ransacked. Whee!! Mom had to go check it out and they filled out a report. Apparently several cars were involved. We slept in a bit this morning and then took her to work. Alex and I picked up breakfast, got the car washed (all that fingerprint dusting powder makes a mess), and then came back to the hotel for showers & schoolwork. We had a misadventure for lunch...the place was in the opposite direction from where we thought it was and we ended up almost in downtown Atlanta, the food wasn't very good...Alex didn't eat at all. :-/ Oh well...at least we are willing to try new things. :-) Tonight GC has a thai restaurant planned for us.

Tomorrow we head home when she finishes up with work...early afternoon'ish. We've had fun & adventures...but are ready to go home. I'll write another post about what Morgan & Corey did while we were gone. :-) I'll post pics from our adventure then too.

Books

2009-10-16T00:43:00.003-05:00

Our little family that loves to read has been reading even more. There is just something about curling up with books when the weather outside is chilly and damp. In the past we read The Giver by Lois Lowry and went to see the play at Nashville Children's Theatre. We learned from friends that she actually wrote 2 more books to go with it. A couple weeks ago Morgan got Gathering Blue from the library, the 2nd book in the trilogy. When she finished it I decided that I wanted to read it as well. Good book. I'm not sure I liked it as much as The Giver, but a good book. Then Tuesday evening, I got Messenger, the 3rd book, from the library. I finished it last night...very good. It followed up Gathering Blue very well. The ending caught me off guard. I wasn't quite ready for everything that happened.

Morgan has been devouring books lately. I can't begin to list them all but a few of them are the Leven Thumps series, Gathering Blue, and Number the Stars. There are a bunch more, I'll have to get the list from her. She is currently reading one that I recently finished, Runemarks. I read it on recommendation from a friend...and a librarian. Very good, especially if you enjoy Norse mythology.

Alex and I are reading Peter and the Shadow Thieves. This is the second book in the Peter and the Star Catchers series. We are really enjoying it. He has also been reading The Timespinners, some new Flat Stanley books (global adventures), and a few others.

And while I'm talking about books I have got to share a review with you.
http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-24964-Hartford-Yoga-Examiner~y2009m10d15-Seven-Sprials-A-Chakra-Sutra-for-Kids---a-book-review

This review is about a book written and illustrated by 2 very dear friends of ours. Check it out.

Flu hermits...and a yummy treat

2009-10-12T20:10:00.002-05:00

Today was Day 3 of being flu hermits. So far Corey, Morgan and I are symptom-free and are taking our preventative Tamiflu. Alex is doing amazingly well for someone on day 3 of the H1N1 flu...thanks to H1N1 being "mild" and Tamiflu being started early. This morning I was one happy mama when he wanted something for breakfast. I made french toast and he ate 2 slices. This from the boy that hadn't eaten in 2 days (just like his father when he gets sick). He had some jello as a snack later in the day and even ate a little bit of dinner. He asked for a scoop of ice cream for dessert but only ate 3 bites. But hey...this is big for him. If he is eating at all I know he is feeling better. Yesterday he was pretty perky during the day but wasn't eating and then it all hit him about 5-6pm. Today he's been pretty perky and eating...and is still going strong. I'm sure he will sleep well tonight. ;-) Corey took Morgan with him to his bowling league tonight so she could get out of the house. He has to go to Smyrna tomorrow to take some certification tests at a testing center for work. Then there is Harry Potter Club tomorrow night at the library. Morgan can go but Alex will still be on "medical isolation" or a flu hermit as I call it.

Now that I've caught everyone up on the little sick guy. I have something fun and yummy to tell you about. :-) I've been reading this food blog for a few weeks. Today she is holding a yummy giveaway for gourmet popcorn! How yummy is that?? Here is a link directly to the post about the giveaway, Megan's Munchies .

We have...

2009-10-11T17:52:00.002-05:00

H1N1 in our house. Poor Alex is the one that has it. Late Friday night and Saturday morning he had a light case of sniffles. With the weather changing, all the rain and subsequent molds everywhere we thought it was allergies. He wasn't quite feeling himself Saturday morning and then within a 2 hour time frame he developed a sore throat, headache, body aches, chills and a temp. Our thermometer read 102.6 so we gave him some ibuprofen and called the on-call Pediatrician. She said it could be strep or flu,etc and she didn't want to diagnose over the phone. We decided to take him to a walk-in clinic. Amazingly enough in our town most of the walk-in clinics are Mon-Fri. Insert severe eye rolling here. We found a place connected with the hospital that was open and we headed over. When Alex was seen (about an hour after the dose of ibuprofen) his temperature was 103.6 and they gave him a dose of Tylenol right then. He was given a Rx for Tamiflu and so were the rest of us, to take as a preventative. All my research has shown that H1N1 is highly contagious, spreads very quickly but has a low mortality rate and the majority of the cases have been mild. Alex took his first dose of Tamiflu within a few hours of his symptoms hitting. We are alternating Tylenol and ibuprofen for him and so far he's doing pretty good. You can tell he is sick but he is much perkier than you would EVER think a kid on day 2 of the flu would be...should be. :-) Hopefully no one else gets it. We are planning on keeping things subdued around here for a few days.

And the results are...

2009-10-09T11:14:00.002-05:00

Science lab results:

The water expands when it freezes and CRACKS the rock! Over time this results in weathering and erosion. Some of the cracks are pretty big so you can imagine if it happens time & time again that the pieces would break off.

Morgan's rock

Alex's rock

Audition results:

Monday evening Morgan & Alex auditioned for a christmas musical at Maury County Arts Guild . The cast list was announced late last night. Morgan was cast, Alex was not. I am very proud of both kids for auditioning and for how they handled the results. Alex handled it much better than I thought and I am VERY impressed at the strides he is making lately. My little guy is growing up. We will be sure to let everyone know when performances are scheduled.

Science Lab

2009-10-07T13:20:00.003-05:00

Our current science lab is finding out how ice can weather rocks. You put some water into a balloon (about the size of a tennis ball) and tie it off. You then coat the outside of the balloon with plaster of paris (store bought or homemade - flour & water mixture) and let it dry completely to make a rock. Then you place your "rock" in a bowl and into the freezer overnight. The following morning you check on your "rock" and see what happened to it when the water inside froze. This is what happens to rocks when water seeps into the cracks & holes and then freezes when the temperature drops.

Here is Morgan covering her balloon.

Here is Alex covering his balloon.

We started this experiment on Monday. Unfortunately, our homemade plaster mixture was too thin and would not stay on our balloons long enough to dry. So this morning we tried again. We made the mixture thicker and it seems to be doing much better.

Here is Morgan's balloon.

Here is Alex's balloon.

Once they dry (we put them in the sunny, kitchen window) we will put them in the freezer and check on them tomorrow. What do you think will happen?

Morgan's 11th Birthday Party

2009-10-04T00:03:00.003-05:00

Morgan had the party for her 11th birthday at Young Chefs Academy in Brentwood. She invited her brother and 4 friends to be her guests for a "Fundue Party". They made a cheese fondue with dippers and then a chocolate fondue with dippers. Ms. Beth and Ms. Lori were the chefs and they were wonderful! Morgan had a fabulous time and I think everyone else did too. :-)

This is what greeted Morgan in the kitchen. What a cute sign!

Morgan, Derick, David, Quenten & Alex with Ms. Beth

Alex and Quenten chopping vegetables with these cool rolling cutters.

Derick works on the broccoli.

David works on cutting peppers too.

Morgan, as the birthday girl, got to do the cooking. Here she is stirring the cheese fondue.

It looks good, doesn't it??

Here are some of the dippers.

Alex tries his first bite of cheese fondue. He liked it!

Alex, Quenten, Morgan, Madison, Derick & David...all enjoying the cheese fondue.
The dippers were french bread, pretzel rods, celery, bell pepper, carrots, and broccoli.

The cheese becomes stringy as it cools. Here is Alex trying to get some on his pretzel rods.

Quenten is instructed to pull UP as he winds the cheese. LOL

Now time for dessert...chocolate fondue, that Morgan made, and dippers, that everyone cut.
The dippers for dessert were angel food cake, marshmallows, pretzel rods, banana, strawberries, and oranges.

Morgan shares with Daddy.

Derick and David enjoy their chocolate fondue.

Morgan & Madison focus on their chocolate fondue.

In lieu of a cake (we will have one next weekend w/family), they put a birthday candle in the angel food cake cubes and sang "Happy Birthday" to Morgan.

Her favorite dippers were the strawberries, oranges, and pretzel rods.

Morgan, Madison & Derick are enjoying the last of their chocolate fondue.

This was their best "serious/good" picture.

Morgan, David, Madison, Derick, Quenten with Alex in front.

Then they got silly.

And sillier.

Vacation...gone already?

2009-10-01T23:38:00.004-05:00

Almost! Corey's vacation is almost over and then he will be back to work AND on call. What a first day back that will be. His week has flown by but I think he's managed to enjoy it and actually relax. We got the lawn mowed (after all that rain it was beyond needing it), he spent the day with my brother working on some projects & hanging out...just the guys, spent time with the kids & I...had a nice lunch out one day, going to the library,etc. Today he worked on a friend's computers to see what all was wrong. He figured out the problem with Alex's laptop and his UB Funkeys. Alex was very happy! He's been able to sleep in some, enjoy the cool weather and just slow down. Hopefully, recharging his batteries. :-) He will have 2 weeks off in November and still has to figure out when to reschedule the 4.5 days that were put back on the books when they sent him to OH for the training last week. Gotta get that in before the end of the year...but around already scheduled vacations of co-workers,etc. Eeek! :-) He works from home but we will miss him when he goes back to work on Monday. He will have to give his attention to work instead of us.

We weren't able to go away for this vacation but hopefully it was enough for him to unwind so he can get through the busy days ahead.

We love you honey! Hope you had a good vacation!

While Dad is away...

2009-09-27T20:45:00.002-05:00

Corey was out of town for business from Mon-Thurs last week. We had a busy week with school, dance, tumbling, writing, SRL practice, helping Mom & MJ out with the dogs 1 night, and a field trip 1 morning. We managed to get through just fine. Maybe even better than fine considering the number of late nights (for my kids) and a couple of early mornings. We even dealt with *no* internet connection the whole time (darn router) and Mama having a stomach bug the 1st day. There is nothing like a crazy week to make you really appreciate a wonderful, actively involved partner when they aren't here. You realize just how much their support and co-parenting really means.

We went to see The Adventures of Tom Sawyer at Nashville Children's Theatre on Thursday morning. What a fabulous show! I know I sound surprised and I'm really not. We have yet to see a show that I didn't consider fabulous. LOL! :-) This show runs through October 11th. So if you are in the Nashville area, go see it.

Corey came home exhausted but is currently on vacation. He definitely needs the break as they've been working like crazy for a while. I'm hoping we can get some relaxing family time since we can't go anywhere.

Schoolhouse Rock Live wrapped up today. They had a great run. The kids & adults involved did a wonderful job and put in many hours of hard work. It paid off. :-) Morgan is already talking about the next auditions. We will see...

Book giveaway

2009-09-19T20:44:00.002-05:00

They are on the last book giveaway and they are good books. :-) Check out
On My Bookshelf to read about the books and enter the drawing for the books. I particularly like this giveaway for the green guide.

How do you kill chicken noodle soup?

2009-09-17T23:23:00.002-05:00

I've managed to do something that I didn't think was possible. I killed homemade chicken noodle soup...a whole crockpot full of homemade chicken noodle soup. Talk about a tragedy. The waste! It still makes me sad/mad thinking about it. I put in a whole chicken, vegetables, salt/pepper, and stock into the crockpot this morning. Several hours later I pulled the chicken out to get the meat off the bones, removed the "dead" veggies...they had given their flavor to the stock, and put fresh veggies & the chicken meat back in...let everything continue to cook. About 4:30pm I add a whole bag of egg noodles to it and head out to take Morgan to her writing class & Schoolhouse Rock Live rehearsal. I get home about 6pm and scoop up bowls of soup for dinner. I notice that the noodles aren't very noodle-y. Hmm....okay. We sit down and take a bite...Oh the disappointment! The noodles had turned to MUSH...seriously "wet bread" type of mush, ick! The flavor seemed to be completely missing. I was so sad, mad, and disappointed. A whole day, 1 chicken, carrots, celery, noodles, stock...all for naught. How can you do this? How do you screw up chicken noodle soup in the crockpot?

Let me tell you how. You forget the onion, garlic and HERBS (darn it Kelly!), you put the noodles in TOO early, and most of all....you assume that you can NOT screw up chicken noodle soup in the crockpot so you don't double check yourself. Yep, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, this will get you every time!

We could see no way to save it. With great sadness we dumped it. And then made grilled ham & cheese sandwiches for dinner and ate them with heavy hearts. I will make a delicious, homemade chicken noodle soup this fall or winter. I will! I am determined.

Book give-a-way

2009-09-14T15:00:00.002-05:00

I was just introduced to this blog that celebrates books. The 2 co-bloggers, Allison & Holly, are giving away books on their blog for BBAW (Book Blogger Appreciation Week). You need to stop by, give them a read and check out their book give-a-ways. On My Bookshelf .

It is starting to feel like...

2009-09-13T21:56:00.003-05:00

Fall. No, it isn't officially Fall yet and our weather has warmed back up after our Fall teaser...but it is still starting to feel like Fall. You can just feel it coming on the wind. Football season has started..NFL, college, high school, middle school and pop warner. I saw pumpkins at farmer's stands today while out & about. My husband made chili in the crock pot today and the kids are starting to ask for "warmer" foods...soups, casseroles,etc. I *love* Fall. It is my favorite season of the year and I didn't even know until I moved to NY in November 1997. Living in NY for 5 years allowed me to fall in love with Fall...the weather changing, the leaves changing colors (oh the glorious colors!), going apple picking in wonderful apple orchards,going to a real pumpkin patch and picking a pumpkin out of the farmer's field, and starting to wear jackets to keep the chill out.

This year I can add knitting to my list. I'm starting on my second little project, another washcloth. But having completed one and it looking good, I have confidence. If I complete this one with no messed up stitches (slipped off & not p/up correctly...I think) then I'm going to start working on the purl stitch. Look out world, I'm knitting! :-) Morgan is on her 3rd little project and has less messed up stitches with each one. I'm trying to get her to slow down so her stitches will be neater and she might not make the mistakes she is finding later. Once I feel okay with the purl stitch than I'm going to make a scarf. That will be my first "big" project.