Every Cloud. . .

The Coolest Laptop Ever

2011-11-23T07:47:00.002-05:00

I bought a laptop about 2 weeks ago. DisneyJunior.com simultaneously added new content to their website. Consequently, Maddie now thinks my laptop is the coolest computer ever.

My Thanksgiving Angst

2011-11-22T15:03:00.000-05:00

I was going to host Thanksgiving this year. It's something I've done only once before, and I was looking forward to it. But Angie woke this morning with a splitting headache, nausea and tummy cramps. She spent the entire morning retching, pooping and sleeping on the couch with a pillow over her eyes to block the light. (Tylenol didn't stay down long enough to do anything for her.) At noon, she popped up happy and playing, but the damage is already done. With Daddy's immune system compromised, we can't risk passing a virus along to him. But have a Happy Thanksgiving anyway...we'll miss you all!

Power To The People

2011-11-03T00:07:00.000-05:00

"We love you!" I shouted to the man walking down the street, long pole in hand to lift the power lines that hung too low for the big orange trucks to pass under. He raised a hand in salute as I plunked my purse down and announced to the children, "Well, I guess we're not going to get gasoline after all." While the children drew chalk crabs on the driveway, I watched the three giant trucks maneuver into position next to trees whose bent and broken limbs hovered over the power lines. As if choreographed, all three buckets rose high into the air, the men inside wielding their chain saws like scalpels. Branches dropped to the ground, some bouncing off the already beleaguered wires before landing with a familiar thud.

Nearly five days ago, Saturday, we stood on our front stoop and at the front windows watching a heavy October snow fall steadily, piling up on the autumn leaves that had yet to fall. And when the weight became too much to bear we heard the crack, as if from a rifle shot, and watched the limbs fall to the ground below, sometimes taking out power lines on their way down. The branches fell steadily for nearly 4 hours. And when all was said and done, the power lines had been ripped from more than half the houses in the neighborhood and we went to bed early, in the dark and cold.

Now I watched as the tree trucks quickly trimmed broken limbs from the trees, working their way around the block and out of sight, leaving almost as quickly as they'd come. Ours, one of the crew had said, was the worst neighborhood he'd seen so far. An hour later, six PSEG crews descended on the block, backing their trucks into driveways, propping ladders against the houses and pulling the lines back into place. Though it had taken five days for them to arrive, they worked with speed and precision. We watched the whole thing, grinning and giving thumbs up to any worker who happened to glance our way, and texting our working neighbors the good news. Like the tree trimmers, they quickly worked their way around the block, and then vanished. The lights were still out, and it was growing dark. "I guess we're spending one more night without power," Miguel said. He pulled on his boots and jacket, grabbed the keys and the gas can and headed out to procure more gas for the generator we'd managed to procure on Sunday afternoon.

I left for work as the generator roared to life; ours was the only house on the block with the steady glow of an incandescent bulb in the window. Just as I finished my session, Miguel called. The reception was poor and I could barely hear him, but I made out the words, "We have power!" I grinned all the way home.

Huh?

2011-10-28T13:41:00.001-05:00

Angie, marching into the dining room where I am holding Maddie in my arms: "Mommy. I just drank some pink lemonade." (Said with finality.)

Maddie, twirling my hair around her finger: "I would like to drink some pink lemonade when I'm naked."

Okay, then.

And Now We're Sick

2011-10-24T22:39:00.002-05:00

As a result of all that busy beavering, we've got a cold. Something's telling us to sloooooowwwww dooooooowwwwwwwwwn. Noted.

Busy Beavers

2011-10-20T20:37:00.000-05:00

We're on a roll with the out-of-home activities this week. Fall is often busy for us anyway, as we usually start some kind of activity for the kids. This year, Maddie's taking soccer classes, Angie's in gymnastics and both of them have Storytime at the library on separate days. But this week, we've added a trip to the Children's Museum of NJ, a visit to the "local" planetarium and a pumpkin picking outing. I'm tired just thinking about it.

Burnt Offering

2011-10-13T13:13:00.002-05:00

Angie: "Mommy, I think you burned the cookies. They're so brown."

Me: "They're chocoate cookies, Angie. They're supposed to be brown."

How to Cook Rice

2011-10-11T16:04:00.000-05:00

OK, so you're thinking, "Beckie, I've been cooking rice for years now. What could you possibly tell me that I don't already know?" I know. I mean, water, rice, salt, boil, steam, tada! But it's those darn proportions. Now, I grew up with 2 to 1 as the water to rice ratio. When I moved out, I couldn't get my rice to come out right for some reason, so I backed it down to 3 to 2, water to rice. But then I met some Puerto Ricans whose rice is moist, yet no two grains ever stick together. Ever. I love Puerto Rican rice. But I couldn't emulate it. No matter how I tried to follow the "art", it just wasn't something I could do. But now, I've got it. But only for 2 cups of rice. Don't ask me to make more or less!

2 cups of rice
2.5 cups of water
1 tsp salt
2 or 3 tbsp oil

Bring water, oil and salt to a boil. Add rice. Return to boil and stir once before covering and lowering flame to just barely there. Steam for 25 minutes.

Perfect Puerto Rican rice without the finesse.

Girls With Butterfly

2011-10-07T08:35:00.000-05:00

Jumping Beans and Other Fun Stuff

2011-09-29T22:09:00.000-05:00

Do you believe that the Dollar Tree was selling Mexican jumping beans? We bought some. They're noisy!

Remember those toys with the metal shavings in them and a picture of a face and you could move the shavings around with a magnetic wand to make hair and stuff on his face? I found one of those at the Dollar Tree, too. I was hoping for two of them, but no luck...

And, since it's Halloween season, they have Fairy Wings in a rainbow assortment of color. And since my 6 year old wants nothing more than to have wings, she's asked for wings in all colors for Christmas. At a dollar a pop, I bought one of each! She might not be able to fly with them, but it doesn't stop her from trying!

I Did It!

2011-09-29T08:58:00.000-05:00

So my garden, which was so lush and beautiful in the middle of the summer, succumbed to blight and is now a pitiful sight. However, we have gotten quite a few tomatoes from the garden, and the pepper and eggplants, which escaped the scourge, are just now producing. But, we have so many tomatoes that we can't eat them all, and I turned them into...

SAUCE!

And it's not just puree, it's actual sauce that, remarkably, tastes pretty good! I've never made fresh sauce before; I've always used Francesco Rindaldi, and occasionally Classico when it's on sale, so I'm quite pleased with myself. I do have more tomatos ripening on the counter, so I may need to get some more mason jars.

Chicken Dinner

2011-09-23T07:50:00.000-05:00

I brined a whole chicken overnight. I've never done this before, and I hope, when I cook it tonight, that it comes out as juicy and flavorful as everyone says. If it does, I'll share the recipe. I'm also going to try baking platanos (plantains) to see if they come out as sweet as baked yams. I hear all that starch converts to sugar during the baking process. I hope so. And I need some sofrito to make yellow rice. Then we'll have a lovely Puerto Rican dinner!

Effortless

2011-09-22T08:21:00.000-05:00

Miguel's mother crochets. You can't visit her without seeing a hook and thread in her hand. And do you know what she makes? The most adorable dresses for children and babies; vests; table coverings; doilies from the small to the extremely large; toilet tank covers; blankets. And all this without a pattern. I'm sure that she's done it so many times that it just comes second nature to her, but I am always amazed at how many different styles she can conjure with that hook of hers. At the moment, I have two vests that I'm set to embellish a bit for the girls; and they can't wait to wear them to Abuela's house, give her a big hug and kiss and say "Thank you!"

Things That Go

2011-09-22T08:16:00.000-05:00

We are fortunate, at this time, to have construction occurring on our street. We have been witness to the workings of back hoes (which we call "mushing machines" because of their penchant for tamping down dirt with their diggers), bull dozers, pavement rollers, street cleaners and even pavement eaters. I say we're fortunate, because we have something of an obsession with things that go in our house.

Two of our favorite books about things that go are Train Song and Dig, Dig, Digging. The meter in Train Song is so perfect that you feel like a chugging train as you read it. You can read Dig, Dig, Digging with meter, too, although you have to struggle sometimes to fit the sentences into the developed rhythm. But both books are a big hit in our house. We don't own them, we borrow them from the library, and that is part of what makes them even more precious to us. If I had to choose one to own, it would be Train Song.

Retention and Internalization

2011-09-16T11:27:00.000-05:00

The kids are playing with play-doh and making a birthday dinner for "Little Sister" (a.k.a. Laura) while Baby Carrie and Ma assist. Angie is playing the parts of "Big Sister" (a.k.a Mary), Ma, and Pa, and doing a perfect job of imitating Ma's calm demeanor and Pa's happy, hearty one. I guess she was paying attention to Little House on the Prairie after all :)

On Homemade Vegetable Dip...

2011-09-15T21:00:00.000-05:00

Madde: (peering into the bowl in which I'm mixing Knorr Vegetable Soup mix with sour cream and taking a big sniff) Ooooh. Smells like corn on the cob mixed with ice cream!

V-Cation Photos

2011-09-13T21:54:00.001-05:00

Angie and Maddie pronounce it "vee-cation" and refuse to say it correctly no matter how many times I correct them. We had fun. The weather was only semi-cooperative, but we ate fudge when we weren't supposed to; went on rides that made our tummies spin; soaked up the sun and a good deal of sand; splashed in the cool ocean water; got seasick on a dolphin-watching boat trip; slept in a cool hotel with lava lamps; spent more money than we should have on games and cheezy prizes; and ate dinner out every night (and dressed up, too, whether it was warranted or not!)

Here we are with the famous Wildwood beach balls (they're concrete).

And here, digging a big hole in the sand. This sand had an almost muddy feel to it, and there was this fine black grit that worked its way into the lining of our suits and was the very devil to get out.

This picture is not really very good, but I'm not in many of the shots, so this is what you get of me.

Clearly, this picture is out of order, because we're back in front of the Wildwood sign, with no sand to be seen on us anywhere.

In a reversal of roles, Angie is loving the water this year, looking like a real body-boarder,

while Maddie...

...Maddie is finally ok with walking where the water has been, but runs from even the most gently approaching wave. (You'd think, from that picture above, that a massive curl was about to overtake my baby, but no, the water swept oh-so-gently up the sand, reaching a depth of no more than a quarter inch.)

One of the hundreds of lava lamps at the hotel. This was our bedside lamp, which I thought would make a nice night-light, until I realized that the children were staring at it so intently they were not falling asleep. The ambient light coming from the windows was more than adequate anyway.

And here, in front of the Cape May Lighthouse. Did you know that there's an exit 0 on the parkway? It does this math teacher's heart good to know that they didn't start with 1. We can now proudly say we've been to the ends of the state and back.

Rememberance

2011-09-09T20:54:00.000-05:00

Even now my heart trips at the sight of low flying aircraft. They are soon on their way up to the heavens or down to the tarmac, but for one endless moment, I wonder.

Vacation

2011-09-04T12:16:00.000-05:00

We're going on our first vacation in nearly 6 years. We've plans to drop the guinea pig off at Anut Sandie's house and for a nearby relative to pick up our mail. We'll be down the shore for 4 days, staying in a hotel with a seasonally heated pool and 1 block from the beach, water parks and amusement piers. Angie can't wait and neither can I! She's got all her clothes picked out (including dinner dresses) and ready for the suitcases. Maddie's not so sure about the whole thing, but she really wants to go to the water park, so it'll be alright. The trip is about 3 hours, give or take; not too long for two little girls and their easily frustrated parents. I can't wait!

My Dining Room

2011-09-04T12:11:00.000-05:00

I don't know if I mentioned this, but right around Memorial Day, we embarked on a grand effort to redecorate our dining room area. We put down Pergo laminate flooring and painted the walls blue with bright white trim. I think the whole thing is beautiful and peaceful and energizing at the same time. Tell me what you think?

How to Pick a Cantaloupe

2011-09-04T11:59:00.000-05:00

Research suggests that a cantaloupe is ripe enough to pick when it separates easily from the vine with no twisting, pulling or cutting. The picking should leave a smooth indentation where the vine was and if there's any roughness to it, then it's not quite ripe. With most fruits, that's not terrible, because it will keep ripening off the vine, but cantaloupes have no starch in them and will not become sweeter with time once picked. So and underripe cantaloupe will always be underripe once picked, despite the fact that it may get softer over time.

Gone

2011-09-02T12:23:00.001-05:00

My tomato. My poor, beautiful, barely-ripe tomato. Gone. Eaten by some thoughtless animal in the night. The remains scattered in the yard. ::sniff::

Irene

2011-09-01T23:05:00.000-05:00

Hurricane Irene passed through Saturday night into Sunday and though the winds were not as damaging as we had expected, the rain was ferocious and our street experienced flooding, though not our house. The creek that runs through our backyard did an admirable job of taking the water away from us, but unfortunately, our neighbors 3 and 4 doors down were not so lucky. You see, they've been doing sewer improvements on our road and the road behind us and they covered up the little ditch in those yards. Of course, the water had no where to go and so several neighbors had water in their houses.
But that is nothing compared to the town of Fairfield, where Miguel works. That town has banned anyone who is not a resident from entering; all major and minor roads into town are flooded except for two, and they check licenses for residency. He hasn't been to work all week and we're on vacation next week. That is, if the Jersey Shore still exists.

And we're on a boil water advisory in my town as well. Any water that will be consumed must be boiled and cooled first to kill any micro-organisms. The plant that services our town was flooded and so water quality cannot be assured. So we boil water several times a day in order to wash dishes, brush teeth and prepare food. It's tedious, but I've learned that I'm capable of washing dishes with 2 gallons of water. Perhaps I'll try to keep that up once the water's safe again.

A Picture's Worth A Thousand Words or....

2011-09-01T22:57:00.000-05:00

I Got My New Camera!

You may have heard me mention that I have no camera with which to take pictures and share life with you. The first camera died by way of toddler, the second by way of absent-minded husband. But after a student of mine passed the high-stakes standardized test we'd been prepping for, I recieved a gift card to Amazon.com and with a few extra dollars, I was able to purchase a new camera. It's a Cannon, as I love Cannon cameras, and it's a breeze to work with.

So now, you will be innundated with photos of anything I deem worthy. And since my standarts for worthiness are not nearly as high as they ought to be, I suspect you'll be shaking your head alot.

And now, for a few photos:

Here we have my garden. You will note that the only red thing in the garden (despite the very many tall and bushy tomato plants over on the far side) is an errant celosia plant (we used to call them castles) that decided to sprout just at the outer edge of the garden. It has been growing larger and larger with no help from me or the canteloupe plants that are trying to strangle it.

Now, this photo was taken after the hurricane, so the garden is no longer as neat as it once was. But at least I've been able to pull the few weeds that managed to grow taller than the tomatos!

My one and only ripening tomato. But oh, there are hundreds of green ones! I only hope the good weather lasts long enough for them to ripen.

Our other produce. A few tiny green peppers and quite a few very large canteloupes. I'm not sure how to tell when to pick a canteloupe. Miguel and the girls plucked this one while I was away at work this evening. I suppose we'll cut it open tomorrow and see if it's edible.

My two home-grown beauties. Angie decided to pose for me, and you should see some of the other shots!

Proof

2011-09-01T22:40:00.000-05:00

Just in case you didn't believe me...

Exhibit A: The 40 year old Bambi rug

Exhibit B: The Sunset Cowboy cross stitch

Exhibit C: Megan's baby Quilt

Overheated

2011-08-31T00:01:00.000-05:00

I have a subscription to TeacherFileBox.com and I've used it plenty to print out stuff for school. But Sandie showed me how to get whole entire books from that site, and now, my laser printer is overheating. And running out of toner. Perhaps I should call it a night.

Fixing My Epson Printer

2011-08-30T20:53:00.001-05:00

My Epson printer has not been printing right for a while now. Oh, it started out well enough, but then things started looking washed out and not quite the right color. I changed ink cartridges, ran a print head alignment twenty times, performed a head cleaning eighty times and still nada. It would work for a day then back to yucky. So after a small amount of research, I decided that the print head needed cleaning. But since Epson print heads are NOT REMOVABLE, it wasn't going to be easy. Well, actually, it was.

First, I pressed the "change ink cartridge" button to move the print head out into the open. Then I just gave it a little push to reveal the pad on which the nozzles rest when the printer is off. And I put Windex on those pads, using a straw. The recommendation was "5 to 7 drops with a medicine or eye dropper". I put a bit more on. Then I removed the carttridges and swabbed the little feeder tubes with Windex and a Q-Tip. I reinstalled the cartridges and then -- and this is important -- I turned the printer OFF (to park the print head on the Windexed pads) and went to bed.

In the morning, I put fresh ink cartridges in and printed a test page. A few yellow nozzles were not working correctly, but I'd read that doing too many head cleanings can exacerbate the problem I was having, so I just kept printing pages thick with graphics. And after only a few pages, the print looked exactly as it should.

Yay for Windex! And now I plan to turn my printer OFF every night so that it doesn't clog up my nozzles again.

Slow Poke

2011-08-28T23:29:00.000-05:00

I went into the storage room looking for some fabric for a quick project and I stumbled across some cross stitches that I had begun ages ago. So I pulled one out, set up the frame and began stitching one night. It felt good, working on a project so long forgotten. So instead of sitting and reading while the children fell asleep each night, I spent the time stitching. And now, fifteen years after I began it, I've finished my Sunset Cowboy silhouette. It wants only a frame and some matting and a suitable place to hang.

I've also finished up a project forty years in the works -- the very green Bambi latch-hook rug that Mommy began before my eldest sister was born. Though neither of us has any room to display it, I love seeing the finished piece, despite its very green background.

Next up, Megan's baby quilt, though I think perhaps the recipient has outgrown it. Perhaps I can finish it before the new school year starts!

Sounds Like...

2011-08-13T21:43:00.000-05:00

With Maddie perched on my knee as I crouched down beside her, we watched one of the two black bears amble down the hill from behind the zoo's protective enclosure, our noses pressed to the glass. "Look," I teased, "she's coming to sniff your belly and see if she likes you!"
Maddie grinned at me. "No she's not," she said confidently.
"Of course not; black bears like to eat fruits and berries," I said, confirming her belief. I felt her tense as she turned her head towards me, her face serious.
"What did you say?" she asked.
"I said they like to eat fruits and berries," I repeated, puzzled. Her body relaxed and she grinned again. "Oh, I thought you said bellies!"

Natural

2011-08-09T22:35:00.000-05:00

I watched a Cicada Killer Bee kill a cicada yesterday. At first I felt sorry for the dying bug; then I looked it up online and discovered it was a cicada. And do you know that the bee picked up the carcas and flew away with it? Amazing.

I like looking at my garden and seeing the fruits grow bigger and rounder. Though the garden is too full, it looks wonderful. Tomato plants growing taller than their 42" cages, all crowded together in a dense forest of fragrance. Canteloupe vines twining around the other plants, up the fence and even over the nearby lawn. The large, showy leaves of the eggplants, which have yet to flower. The small-in-comparison bell pepper plants just beginning to bud. Had I realized that ALL of the plants were going to survive I might not have planted so many of them. But it is wonderful to look at! (And I'm not really fond of eggplant, but since Sandie went through the trouble to start them, I thought I ought to at least let them bear fruit! Besides, I have relatives who'll eat them; and neighbors too! (I mean the neighbors will eat the eggplants, not that the relatives will eat the neighbors.))

Goodnight.

High Praise

2011-07-19T13:57:00.000-05:00

Said 12-year-old Josie: "See, I like this house because there's always something to do here. At my house there's nothing to do and so I just watch TV or play on the computer or well, that's it. But here, there's crafts and games and stuff and the TV is never on. "

Broccoli for Breakfast

2011-07-15T09:44:00.000-05:00

"What shall we have for breakfast this morning?" I asked Maddie as she dogged me during the morning chores. "Broccoli!" she declared. "But Maddie, broccoli is not a breakfast food!" I exclaimed.

"But Mommy, can I pet the broccoli?" she asked, hoping I'd take it out anyway. The children like the fuzzy look of broccoli and often try to pet the broccoli in the grocery store despite repeated admonitions. But this week, we brought home two cute fuzzy broccoli crowns to keep as pets...I mean to eat for dinner. But apparently Maddie wasn't willing to wait for dinner. So I pulled out the broccoli for her to pet and then inspiration struck.

"How about broccoli and sausage omelets?" I asked.

"Ooooooh, yes!"

And so, we had broccoli for breakfast. (It was yummy, too!)

Good Hair/Bad Hair

2011-07-08T21:47:00.000-05:00

I'm growing my hair out again, and most of the time it doesn't look half bad, but occasionally it looks downright pretty. That's usually right before I step in the shower on hair washing day. ::sigh::

On Death and Dying

2011-06-28T23:41:00.000-05:00

"Maddie, go wipe your mouth on the towel in the bathroom," I admonished as she sauntered into the kitchen with toothpaste ringing her mouth. She walked out and was back in seconds, face clean.

"Did you wipe it on the towel?" I asked skeptically.

"No," she said, "I wiped it on this," and she held up the hem of her shirt.

"Maddie, you can't wipe your mouth on your clothing," I said in exasperation. (Yes, Mommy, I know.)

"But Mommy, when you are dead and when Papi is dead and when Angie is not dead and she is with me and when we are grown up, then can I wipe my mouth on my shirt?"

"Yes, then you can wipe your mouth on your shirt." Discussion closed.

Weird Science

2011-06-27T21:44:00.000-05:00

"And I made two baskets by throwing the way Maddie was throwing, but she didn't make any baskets except one when Papi lifted her up on his shoulders." Angie finished telling me of her trip to the basketball court with Papi and Maddie as I made appropriate sounds of praise and congratulations. "Mommy," she added, "Papi says that some people get really really tall because they have a disease. What kind of disease is it?" And now I had to explain genetic mutations to a six-year-old. I paused, looking for the right words.

"We all have inside of us instructions that tell our bodies how to grow. The instructions tell our bodies what color hair and skin and eyes we'll have; how tall or short we'll be; how fat or thin. But in some people the instructions get messed up and the body follows the messed up directions. So the instruction that says that you should only grow so tall might get changed so that the body thinks it should just keep growing."

"Oh, " she said, nodding her head in understanding. Then she skipped over to the door and put on her sneakers to go outside. She stood up and looked back at me. "But Mommy, they're not like instructions written on paper, right?"

I smiled at her. "No, they're not, sweetie."

She giggled. "I didn't think so. That would be silly, wouldn't it." And she raced out the door to dribble the basketball some more.

Bang!

2011-06-22T06:30:00.000-05:00

The 4-foot diamter kiddie pool in the back yard just might be the best seventeen dollars and twenty-two cents I've ever spent.

Girl With Flower, by Angie

2011-06-11T16:17:00.000-05:00

This is Angie's first attempt at art with MS Paint. We're putting it here because she wants people to be able to print it out when they search for it on the internet.

Nutritional Advice

2011-05-29T21:56:00.000-05:00

Maddie was playing in bed, trying hard to fall asleep, when she heard the jangle of keys in the door. "Papi's home!" she half-yelled, trying to be quiet in the darkness, but not succeeding. I leaned forward in my rocking chair, watching as she popped out of bed. "Mommy! Papi's home!" I scooped her up as she ran to me across the floor, past her sleeping sister, and carried her downstairs for hugs and kisses. She talked excitedly about her day as he carried her back upstairs and snuggled in her bed with her. My job finished, I snuck downstaris and served up a bowl of well deserved ice cream, opened my book and enjoyed both.

A few moments later, Maddie was downstairs in Papi's arms. "She's hungry," he said.

"Would you like some yogurt?" I asked, indulgently. She nodded. As I walked to the fridge, Maddie spied my bowl. "Hey, Papi!" she exclaimed, "Mommy has ice cream! That's a treat and she shouldn't have a treat if she didn't have regular food first. It's not good for her! Right?"

You would never guess that she actually knew that rule from the number of treat-requests she makes in a single day.

For My Mommy

2011-05-26T20:15:00.000-05:00

Because she takes the time to notice what you stock your home pantry with and makes the effort to have those same well-loved items in her own home. A visit home is truly a visit home. I love you Mommy.

Quick Thinking

2011-05-26T06:40:00.000-05:00

Maddie woke up and called to me. Obediently I fetched her from her bed and carried her downstairs. "Mommy," she said with a smile in her voice, "I had a dream with me and Angie and Katie and Josie and Sarah and Aunt Sandie in it."

"Oh really?" I said.

"Hey, me too!" Angie piped up.

"Both of you had a dream about Aunt Sandie and your cousins?" I said with exaggerated incredulity. "That must mean that we need to go visit Aunt Sandie today!" I exclaimed. "How does that sound?"

Both kids nodded their heads. But Maddie stopped.

"Wait, Mommy? I had a dream about the mall," she said earnestly.

We'll be stopping at the mall on our way home from Aunt Sandie's house.

The Storm

2011-05-21T22:11:00.001-05:00

I tossed wiffle balls in Angie's direction and she enthusiastically batted them past me, running the "bases" after each home run. As I collected the spent balls, I glanced up at the sky. Ominous clouds loomed just to the north of us. Then my eyes fell on the back fence.

"Hey," I called, "the fence looks purple, doesn't it?" Angie and Maddie laughed and agreed; Miguel continued running the skill saw across a piece of old fencing. I lobbed the collected balls towards Angie's waiting bat, but before I finished, the wind kicked up, blowing over the lighter toys in the yard.

"Uh-oh!" I called. "Looks like a storm!" In seconds, we felt light drops stinging our bared arms. Hastily, I moved to the patio table, where the remnants of our dinner sat undisturbed.
"Come on, we'd better get this cleaned up before the wind blows it away." I got the dishes inside when the first fat drops of rain started pelting us. The children, heedless of my request, dashed into the yard, running in laughing circles in the rain before dashing back under the relative safety of the picnic umbrella. I snatched pots off the table and dashed into the house with them as Miguel made forays into the yard to secure toys and cover his tools, while the children continued to frolic in the rain.

But as the wind grew stronger and the rain heavier, Maddie decided that the storm was not so much fun after all and hugged Miguel's leg under the umbrella. I scooped her up in one arm and with the last pot in my other hand, made a mad dash for the house, Angie close on my heels. Soaked and laughing, we tumbled into the house and watched the storm safely from the windows.
"Hey, this reminds me," I said, and rummaged through the bookshelf. Pulling our a volume of poetry, I read,
"The storm came up so very quick,
It couldn't have been quicker.
I should have brought my hat along,
I should have brought my slicker.
My hair is wet, my feet are wet,
I couldn't be much wetter.
I fell into a river once,
But this is even better!"

(Spring Rain by Marchette Chute)

The children laughed at the poem, understanding it now as they hadn't before. And after a single rumble of thunder, the rain subsided, the sun returned and we happily savored our spring rain. Almost as an afterthought, I remarked, "Well, I guess it's never good when things change colors outside!"

Good Books

2011-04-27T06:30:00.000-05:00

I stayed up late picking out titles from the library's online catalog related to the topics we'd be studying in the near future. So when we went to the library the next day, I was prepared with my list and systematically picked books from the shelves. The kids and I sat at one of the big tables and previewed them, deciding to return some to the shelves that were not appropriate for us. And then I remembered my quickly jotted list of read-aloud chapter books that I'd wanted to nab today. As I scanned the shelves for Mr. Popper's Penguins, which turned out to be a great read, I accidentally came across a book of Raggedy Ann stories. I snapped it up, even though it wasn't on my list, because I remember Raggedy Ann the doll, despite never having read or heard any of her stories.

I have not been disappointed. The Raggedy Ann stories are so wholesome and winsome and gentle and filled with love and sunshine that you can't help but love them. There is absolutely nothing in them to make you feel anything but good. Angie is devouring them and even Maddie sits to listen. We may even make our own rag dolls, despite having too many stuffed toys to begin with! Apparently this author, Johnney Gruelle, wrote a good many Raggedy Ann stories. We'll have to see about getting some more when we finish this book!

Two Weeks

2011-04-23T10:09:00.000-05:00

Two full weeks of illness here. Last week it was Angie with rotavirus and a 3 day stint in the hospital for rehydration and potassium. That rotavirus is a scary one, let me tell you. You wonder how you can keep your little one hydrated with the amount of fluid coming out of both ends. Obviously we couldn't, so we ended up in the hospital.

This week, it's Maddie with a fever that won't quit. It started quite suddenly on Thursday morning and though it responds to Tylenol and Motrin, it hasn't abated until this morning. It's accompanied by chills and last night Maddie shivered so violently that I was nearly in tears holding her hot little body. But this morning is better.

Sunshine, Flowers and Magnifying Glasses

2011-04-11T21:56:00.000-05:00

While that sounds like a recipe for arson, in fact it was a beautiful science lesson. With the sun shining brightly and temperatures topping out above 80, it was the perfect day for outdoor learning. So, after a lunch of hotdogs and macaroni salad, we pulled out the magnifying glasses and began examining the flowers blooming in our yard. Some we planted apurpose and others just happen to be sprouting where they don't belong, but it was wonderful to watch Angie examine them all and find the common characteristics. We even got blue pollen on our fingers as we studied the flowers in the front yard. And then we wrote about the experience and what we observed. Maddie, however, was not content to study flowers and instead played in the sandbox. As we took off her shoes in the front entrance later on she exclaimed, "Look, there's a beach in our house!" Indeed. I'll have to check to see if there's any sand left in the sandbox.

Nightmares

2011-03-30T22:05:00.000-05:00

I'm reading The Time Traveler's Wife for the second time. I've stopped reading it before bed, though, because I've been dreaming of time traveling...which is neither pleasant nor restful. And since I can't read it before bed, I've basically stopped reading it. I'm going to have to find some alone time in the bathroom, it seems!

Differentiated Learning Games

2011-03-29T15:34:00.000-05:00

I often struggle trying to find educational games that Maddie and Angie can play together. After all, Angie is reading at a second grade level and Maddie is just sounding out CVC words. Angie is doing sums up to 18 and Maddie is identifying numerals and counting. How can you incorporate two such different levels into one game?

Our first game was Math Race. Each child stood at the designated starting line. I stood at the finish line with two decks of flashcards in my hands -- one for Angie with sums and one for Maddie with numerals and objects to count. I would call a child's name and show her the flashcard from her pile. If she answered correctly, she advanced one step. If not, she retreated one step. In this way, each child was answering questions related to their own abilities, but each had a fighting chance to win!

We did the same thing with words on the stairs. On a small whiteboard, I would write a word for Angie to read. If she did it correctly, she moved up one step. If not, she moved down one step. For words that I deemed "tricky" or "advanced" a bonus step was awarded for correct answers and incorrect answers received no penalty. Then I wrote a word for Maddie and did the same thing. The one who reached the top first was the winner. Again, each child was working on things specific to her skill set, but the chances of winning were equal.

This can be extended to any game that uses a deck of cards to control play. If each child has a deck specific to his/her abilities and skills, then the children can play together when the normally wouldn't be able to!

Unexpected

2011-03-22T07:23:00.000-05:00

I'm standing at the window in the dining room, gazing out at the spring snow that is falling and covering the street, the trees, the bushes and grass while I chat with my husband on our customary 9:30 phone call. As we talk, Maddie wiggles impatientlyl beside me, eager for her turn to talk with Papi. She too gazes at the snow. Finally, I say, "Here's Maddie," and hand the phone to her.

"Hi Papi," she says and I hear him respond at the other end. But she doesn't wait for him to finish. "Papi, Be careful, Ok?" she says. I smile a little in surprise, understanding immediately where her thoughts are going, but amazed because her first questions is usually, What time are you going to be home Papi?

"Be careful?" I hear him ask. "Be careful of what, baby?"

"Because the roads," she explains, "the road looks slippery because there's snow on it Papi. So you have to be careful when you drive so that you don't break the truck."

He's awestruck at the other end of the line, and I am too, because I can't believe that this little tyke is worrying about his safety. They chat for a moment longer and then she abruptly hugs the phone, throws a kiss down the line and says loudly, "Bye-bye Papi!"

Happy Day

2011-03-17T15:10:00.002-05:00

The sun is shining, the breeze is warm, the birds are flocking and the children have spent the better part of the day outdoors.

Word Games

2011-03-16T13:16:00.000-05:00

I've covered quite a bit of phonics with Angie and she's doing a stellar job of reading and writing. She can spell any word that has a single short vowel in it, and now we've got to start thinking about more complex spellings. So I'm trying some games with her to get her thinking about the different sounds that vowel pairs can make.

Word Eggs: We have these plastic Easter eggs that we used one year with Angie before she was old enough to appreciate coloring eggs and searching for them. And now we use them to hold all sorts of things. Currently, I fill them with plastic letter tiles that spell a word. Since they're scrambled, Angie has to unscramble them to spell a word using all of the tiles. Then she records the word on a page. I stick to 4 and 5 letter words right now. But if we're working on the oo sound, I'll put words in that use the different vowel pairs that make the oo sound. And then I'll put in a couple that use other sounds that we've already covere. For instance, today we were reviewing the long O sound. So her words were, cold, goes, slow, goal, toad, throw, home, stone, pain and zoom. I chose zoom because she needs to practice writing her z's and we just did the oo sound yesterday. I did pain because I wanted to see if she remembered that ai make a long A sound. Sometimes the letters can be arranged into a different word than what I intended, and that's ok. As long as she finds a word. (I gave her raft the other day and she came out with fart and a lot of giggling!) She had trouble with throw and so I reminded her that when we see a t and an h we should think about putting them together if nothing else is working.
Scrabble: I haven't tried this yet, but I'm going to make a scrabble board on paper and we're going to write in words as we think of them. I'll put in the first word, then Angie must fill in a word that uses one of my letters. Since we're not playing with tiles, any word she can think of will do. It eliminates the pressure, I think, of having to deal only with the tiles you have. When we've tried to play scrabble before, I'll hear her say, "Oh, I want to make bus but I don't have a B!" So this will let her be creative with her words without confining her to the tiles yet.
Letter Swap: We use tiles for this game too. I'll start with a word and she has to change one letter to make a new word. Then I have to change one to make a new word and so on. So we can go from TOAD to LOAD to LOAF to LEAF, etc. I try to make changes that will lead to her finding a word that she knows, but sometimes we get stuck.
Word Searches and Crossword Puzzles: I make up my own simple crosswords with clues that I know she can read. These were tricky to create in the beginning when she only knew three letter words and a few blends, but it's becoming easier over time. I like word searches because they promote logical thinking, too.

Construction Paper Flowers

2011-03-16T08:49:00.002-05:00

While browsing through some blogs for some arts and crafts ideas, I came acrross this post which explains how to make felt flowers in a rainbow of colors. I loved them instantly, and though we don't really ever have felt on hand, I thought, we can do that with construction paper. It won't look quite as cool, but the kids'll have fun!

And so I went about making a template (see image below) and printing it off on trimmed down construction paper. Can you tell that I'm thrilled about being able to print on construction paper? It makes template making so much easier!

I cut out all of the paper flowers so that they'd look nice and neat, but if you have older children they can do it themselves. We started by twist-tying a small pom-pom at one end of the pipe-cleaner for the center of the flower. Then, we began poking the other end of the pipe-cleaner through the centers of the flower petals, with the smallest one first and graduating in size. Then we arranged the petals in a pleasing way and voila!

I made 11 different colors of flower petals and it took me about an hour to cut them all out. So the prep work for small children should probably be done in advance. I did it while the kids watched a movie and then we began creating immediately after that.

It's fun. It's cheap and it can be a nice gift! The only thing I would change, I think, is that I would braid a few pipe-cleaners for a stiffer stem. Or maybe wrap it around a popsicle stick or something. They're a bit floppy. But I love the way they look! Oh, and as you can see in the pictures, we didn't just do rainbows. We made patterns too, which is good for littles who are exploring patterns.

Have fun if you decide to make these too!

A Roll of the Dice

2011-03-13T15:04:00.000-05:00

When I was pregnant with Angie, Miguel bought me a leather coat for Christmas, one that would fit over my expanding belly and still fit me well in the years following birth. It was a fawn colored suede and oh so lovely. But it's been six years since he bought it for me and I've never once had it cleaned. You can imagine what it looks like. Soiled cuffs and collar, elbows and pockets. There's ballpoint pen markings in a few places. It's a lovely coat, but it costs so much to have suede cleaned; almost more than Miguel paid for the coat.

I looked online to see if you could launder suede leather in the washing machine. Some sites said yes, no problem! and others said absolutely never! But I figured, I can't really wear the coat as it is, so I might as well give it a try. What do I have to lose? It turns out that you can launder suede leather. I thought it was going to come out darker, since they say water stains suede, but it didn't. I even used an oxy stain remover spray and a toothbrush to work on the ballpoint pen markings without incident. Though the leather feels stiffer than it did, I do have some suede/leather conditioner that I can try on it.

All in all, I'm pleased with the results. The coat is not back to "like new" condition, but it certainly better than it was, and now I know that I can wash it when it needs it!

An Easter Project

2011-03-12T23:36:00.000-05:00

I know, Easter isn't until the end of April, but this idea struck, and I had to implement it before it got away from me. First, I'll show you what we did:

We made Easter eggs that hatch chicks! The kids loved making these, and even Maddie can do it, though she needed help cutting out her egg and chick parts.

Ok, so here's how we did it. First, I drew an Easter egg shape and printed it onto construction paper using my inkjet printer. I just had to cut the construction paper down slightly so that it would fit in the paper feeder. We each chose a different construction paper color for our eggs. Then, we decorated our eggs, being careful not to decorate too closely around the midline of the egg, as that is where we had to cut it in half. We used marker, jewels, foam shapes, buttons and whatever else we could lay our hands on.

Then, we made the chicks. An oval shape for the body. Two wing shapes and an orange triangle for the beak. Marker for making the eyes. Of course, your chick can be any color, but we chose yellow. Then we glued our chick "inside" the egg by applying glue to the bottom half of the front of the chick and adhering it to the top of the back-side of the bottom half of the egg. Got that?

Finally, we overlapped the edges of the two halves of the eggs, pierced one corner with a brass paper fastener or brad and voila! A chick hatching from an easter egg. A fast and easy project, but one with many different outcomes!

Washed Out

2011-03-12T21:51:00.000-05:00

Though we're not in a flood plain, our backyard tends to fill up and become a mucky mess in the spring. This spring is worse than others -- we had above average snowfall this winter that melted within the last 2 or 3 weeks and we've just had two very major rainstorms that flooded many of the rivers around here. With the weather so beautiful today, we wished we could spend some time in the backyard, but about half of it was too sodden to walk on. So I started investigating.

We have a man-made gully that runs through our backyard to help drain the water that comes off the mountain behind us. And in the springtime, it runs like a river. It starts several houses uphill from us and runs through the yards of several more houses downhil from us before it empties out somewhere.... But much of the water is not making it into the gully and instead is spreading through the left side of the yard -- then flowing into the gully by way of a depression that runs from the edge of the house back towards the gully -- and the back end of the yard -- where the water just sits, with nowhere to go. Since the water is coming from uphill, I gingerly made my way towards my uphill neighbor's fence and peered over.

Lo and behold, his yard was flooding too and the water was rushing not through the gully, but down towards his raised cement deck, then along its base and straight for our yard. I traced the flow of water backwards and found its source at the far fence, just below the "mouth" of the gully in his yard. Somehow, the water is missing the gully and finding other ways to drain. I called Miguel over and showed him my findings. "I'll talk to Pete about it tomorrow. I'll tell him that I'm perfectly willing to do the work to fix it because it'll help our yard as well as his."

Then I worked my way to the farthest corner of our yard, up a small incline, behind the cement slab that once was the floor of a dog kennel and now supports our pergola, past the terraced garden we created almost three years ago. I looked carefully through the dried marsh grasses, compacted leaves and fallen tree limbs. And there I saw it, another small river cascading down from the mountain, undirected and straight into our yard. Once it hit our little part of the hill, it spread across our gardent plot, then down and out, encompassing nearly the entire back end of the yard. Once again, I called Miguel over to assess the situation. "Maybe we can get Pete to create some kind of a trench to direct the water into the gully," I said dubiously. Pete is not known for his love of yardwork. And the area in question is a tangle of tree roots and marsh grasses and other woodland debris.

We studied the flow some more in silence. Then I turned and surveyed the yard again. "What if we stop it here, by digging a trench along the edge of the garden and down to the gully. I mean, look," I said pointing, "it's already flowing down past the back edge of the cement slab somewhat. If we can catch all of it and redirect it that way before it has a chance to spread out, we can solve the problem ourselves."

Without a word, Miguel headed for the shovel and began digging a narrow but deep trench at the edge of the garden. He worked his way backwards from the front edge of the garden to the rear fence-line, digging through the sucking mud and trying not to fall into it. The trench immediately filled with water, which began flowing out the corner of the garden and down the rocky hill towards the edge of the cement slab. I grabbed a hoe and began defining more clearly the path the water should take in its trek to the gully. We repositioned a few large rocks to ease the flow and before long, the garden area itself began to look less wet. The slab, whose front end had been consistently we for the last few days, began drying and over the next few hours we saw definite improvement.

It remains to be seen, on the morrow, if our handiwork has succeeded. At its best, it will have redirected all of that water and given our yard a chance to soak up all of the remaining water and perhaps even firm up a bit. If it has, then we just need to make the trench a bit more permanent, so that in future years, we have nothing to worry about.

Milestones: Maddie's First Book

2011-03-11T09:19:00.000-05:00

Maddie often works in stealth mode. She's paying attention when I don't think she is and she's ready to do things before I think she's ready. About a month ago, Maddie started sounding out three letter words. I had shown her how to blend the sounds multiple times while playing with the alphabet building blocks, but she never seemed to be paying any attention or even to be interested. Then, one day, she watched my lips as I made the individiual sounds in w-i-g. After two sounding-outs from me, she exclaimed, "wig!" She's been on a word-making kick ever since, both blending and segmenting words, even ones that are too complex for her to actually read or spell.

And so, after a month of practicing simple three-letter short-vowel words, she was ready for her first Bob Book. Yesterday she read "Mat" to me. We had a little party afterwards and there were stickers in abundance. She also recited her first poem, which was memorized specifically for recitation purposes. I discovered she was ready for this when she began reciting a poem that Angie was learning. We work on tracing letters and making patterns and counting things and arranging the alphabet in order and putting numbers in sequence...

It's interesting for me to go back and do this all over again. I've already done it with Angie, and so I've forgotten some of the things we did together that pave the way for future lessons. I really should have written this stuff down, so I could remember the activities we did. But it's ok, because Maddie's listening to all fo Angie's lessons anyway.

Chemical Dependency

2011-03-10T07:58:00.000-05:00

I've lost the battle, friends. I drink at least two cups of caffeine laden tea every day just so that I don't succumb to that three o'clock nap. Yessir. For me, a three o'clock nap just wouldn't cut it since I have to be out the door at four on many days. And three o'clock is dinner prep hour for me. So, caffeine it is!

Conversations with Kindergarteners

2011-03-10T07:46:00.000-05:00

I called to the back of the van, "Are you warm enough back there?" The car had been cold when we set out, and though I was nice and toasty in my heated seat, I didn't know how the rear of the car was doing.
"I am now," Angie said. "But I was cold last night. Mommy, someone kept taking off my covers!" she said in disbelief. Then she paused. "Or maybe it was me."

Angie: "Mommy, I had a really funny dream last night."
Me: "You did?"
Angie: "Yes. There were lots and lots of Sophia's!" (Sophia is the guinea pig.)
Me: "Oh my! And you had a scary dream last night too, remember? You came into our bed."
Angie: "That was the scary dream. There were so many Sophia's and I had to take care of them all!"
Me: "I can see how that could be scary."

A Reminiscence

2011-03-05T22:27:00.001-05:00

In sixth grade, my favorite author was Lois Duncan. The Witches of Worm was my first introduction to the genre of supernatural fiction, and I was fascinated. I read as many of her books as I could, A Gift of Magic, Killing Mr. Griffin, and I Know What You Did Last Summer just to name a few, and when my reading teacher, Mrs. O'Reilly, took us to the library, I immediately headed for the D shelf, hoping to find one that I hadn't already read. One day, though, I was being hurried through the browsing process, and I snatched a title that I hadn't seen before, A Summer to Die. I checked it out and returned to the classroom, where we spent the period in silent reading. After the first chapter, I was puzzled. So far, there had been no hint of any supernatural tendencies in the characters, and the writing style was not at all familiar. I checked the cover and sure enough, the author was NOT Lois Duncan; it was Lois Lowry. Annoyed, I flipped back to Chapter 2 and continued reading. After all, you're supposed to finish what you start, right?

This book was about a girl whose sister had frequent nose bleeds. Having my own sister who got frequent nose bleeds, I thought maybe I could relate. But this girl's nose bleeds often sent her to the hospital because they wouldn't stop. I don't recall the full thread of the story, but I do know that it didn't turn out well. One of the trips to the hospital ended with the girl's death, as the nose bleeds had been a sypmtom of some hidden and insidious disease.

I spent the better part of a year fearful of Sandie's next nose bleed. Though hers were never so severe as to send her to the hospital, I couldn't help but think that maybe they were getting worse or more frequent or less controllable or that she really should get checked for hidden and insidious diseases.

Today I Was Successful...

2011-02-23T19:09:00.001-05:00

...in rising early to do the chores that always seem to take up the most important hours of the day.
...in sticking to the schooling schedule, despite multiple phone calls and distractions.
...in keeping chidren happy and occupied and melt-down free!
...in finishing a project that should have been fninished weeks ago.
...in fulfilling my husband's wishes in a timely manner.
...in getting things done without rushing or sacrificing.

(It helps that I didn't have to work today, too!)

Maturity

2011-02-02T00:08:00.000-05:00

I never really outgrew acne. Oh how I longed for the day I would enter adulthood and suddenly my pimply skin would become smooth and unblemished. It never happened and I was always disappointed in the appearance of my skin. I was resigned to that and as the years advanced, other concerns drew my attention and I relegated skin-care to the back of my mind. Then, one day, Miguel surprised me with a gift certificate for a facial. If you've never had one, it's a startling experience.

First, the technician massages oils and moisturizers and creams of all kinds into your face, soothing you into a deeply relaxed trance. Then she shines a gestapo light in your face, pulls out her 10x magnifier and begins callously squeezing oil and dirt and acne goo from your pores, jolting you from pleasure to pain. And finally, when the torture is over and your skin is as clean as a whistle, she begins the massaging all over again, coaxing you back into that relaxed oblivion.

As I submitted to this process, the technician offered her sage advice, and I took it. I'm probably the only person she'd ever seen who had never used moisturizer on any kind of a regular basis. I'm also probably the only person she'd seen with no loyalty to brand of facial cleanser. Both, she informed me, were poor skin-care choices. Skin, she said, takes up to 3 months to adjust to the formula of a skin-care product, so you can experience acne breakouts everytime you switch to a new brand. And skin needs moisture. If you're washing it, you're probably drying it out and it needs moisture.

And so, as instructed, I have been using the same face soap and moisturizer for quite some time and I am happy to report that I've finally outgrown my skin problems. If I do feel a blemish coming on, (I can't abide the word pimple), I take Julia Roberts' advice and dab a bit of toothpaste on it and it dries right up and disappears. I'm confident in my appearance now and it only took a tiny change in my habits to accomplish it!

A Good Read

2011-01-31T23:45:00.002-05:00

We started Charlie and the Chocolate Factory on Sunday night and Angie's been begging for more. We're already six or seven chapters in and she's absolutely enthralled. I had forgotten how good this book is. We tried James and the Giant Peach, but it was a no-go for us. This one is much much better.

Tot School

2011-01-27T22:36:00.000-05:00

I hadn't planned it out in any kind of detail. So as the kids played and dressed and made their beds upstairs, I pulled together a few activities that I thought Maddie might be interested in. A shake-the-plastic-easter-egg-and-guess-what's-inside game; a set of objects from which one would disappear and she'd have to figure out what was missing; and a game that we later called "delivery" in which Maddie had to transfer 12 of those plastic easter eggs from a basket to an empty egg carton using a pair of tongs. (It got it's name because after carefully filling the egg carton, she went to deliver it and I "tripped" her, causing her eggs to crash to the floor and "break" and her to giggle uncontrollably as we tried to clean up the "mess" without touching the eggs with our hands (spoons and tongs were involved!).) Maddie and I spent about half an hour together while Angie played computer games, enjoying each other and doing things that we normally wouldn't do. It's hard to get that one-on-one time with your little one when most of your attention is focused on teaching the big one. But I think Tot School just might help us out!

Bedtime Story

2011-01-27T22:30:00.000-05:00

"Mommy, can I read another Frog and Toad story?" Angie asked as she undressed for her bath.
I cocked my head and gave her my best are-you-crazy? look. "Of course you can read another story. You never have to ask me if you can read, baby."
"Before bedtime?" she asked, just checking.
I nodded my assent. "You can read me a bedtime story," I said. "And then I'll fall asleep and you can wash the dishes and clean up the living room and plan tomorrow's lessons and..."
"No," she squealed, giggling. "I'm too young to do that, Mommy!"
But she did read me a bedtime story. And I still stayed up to do the dirty work.

To Grandpa, With Love (from Maddie)

2011-01-10T21:54:00.001-05:00

"What's Grandpa's favorite color?" Maddie questioned one day.
"Burple," I said, without hesitation. Since we were little, Daddy always told us that was his favorite color. I always imagined it to be a cross between brown and purple, and I once even had a pen that wrote in burple colored ink.
"Huh!? What's that color, Mommy?"
"It's the color of burps," I replied. Which led to a minor inquisition about what color burps were.
Periodically, Maddie and I would repeat this conversations, until one day, Maddie burped. It was a new experience for her, since she's never been much of a burper. She immediately giggled over the strangeness of it and then, after a moment's pause, she exclaimed, "I made burple, Mommy! I made burple for Grandpa." Now, with each burp, Maddie proudly declares that she's made burple for Grandpa and we lovingly send it his way....
So Grandpa, if you suddenly come across a cloud of burple, it's from Maddie!

Losing Our Minds

2010-11-02T23:12:00.001-05:00

"...and now for the favor part of this phone call," I said as I chatted with Sandie earlier this week. "Can you come over early on Friday and watch my kids while I go to a meeting and then when I get back you can leave the kiddos for a sleepover and take Anna and yourself home for some much needed rest?" I asked with enthusiasm, trying to make the deal sound better for her than for me. After a pause, she said, "Yes, I think that will work, but you'll have to remind me because I never have to be anywhere in the mornings, so I tend to forget appointments until I've almost missed them. Or actually missed them."
"No problem," I responded. "I'll e-mail you Thursday night."
"Ok. And then call me Friday morning," she laughed.
"Ok, I'm putting reminders on my phone right now so I'll remember to e-mail you on Thursday and call you on Friday morning." I was serious, even though we laughed about it. And even after writing this tonight, I'll probably nearly forget to e-mail her. Yep, this is how I roll... (Is it any wonder that Miguel continually asks me how I get through the day?)

Happy Halloween

2010-10-30T12:01:00.000-05:00

It's not Halloween yet, but we've spent a productive morning trying on our costumes (witch and mickey mouse), carving our jack-o-lantern and toasting pumpkin seeds. Along with some leaf-raking outdoors, we've got our Halloween weekend off to a very Halloweeny start!

I Forgot

2010-10-26T21:20:00.000-05:00

I sat down at the computer because I had something really funny to share. But then I checked my e-mail and responded to a couple of tutoring requests and checked my calendar to see where I could fit people in and then I did a quick check of the blogs I follow and well... you can figure the rest out.

Conversations with Toddlers

2010-10-26T07:47:00.000-05:00

"Mommy, what dat?", says Maddie pointing to the wine glass sitting on the counter.
"It's a wine glass. I had some wine last night."
"Oh. While you was goin to sleep or while you was sittin on da couch?"
"While I was sitting."
"Hey Mommy, dat like cryin."
"What do you mean it's crying?"
"No, dat like cryin. You know, like when I cry, like waaaah, waaaah."
"Ohhhhhh. Yes, it does sound like whine, doesn't it."

Oh, Yeah. I Have One of Those.

2010-10-01T23:09:00.000-05:00

The kids like to "pretend cook", you know, mixing together various ingredients that no one in their right mind would ever combine and pretending it's a delicious soup or batter. The last time, though, too much oatmeal and farina made it down the drain when I disposed of the mess. My poor sink was sloooooooooow. I dumped almost a full bottle of Liquid Plumr down the drain to no avail. "I think you need to take the pipes apart under the sink and see what's clogging it," I told Miguel. After a week or more of very slow moving water, I contemplated doing it myself. Just after I reminded Miguel of my sink problem he asked, "Hey, don't we have a plunger or something? If I can unclog my mom's sink by pushing on the drain with my palm, I'm sure a plunger would work."

Oh yeah. We do have one of those.

Manager of the Home``

2010-09-17T17:11:00.000-05:00

I was scooping poop from the guinea pig's cage while Angie and Maddie were off in the kitchen fetching food for the little piggie. Maddie came back with the red bowl full of pellets and I instructed her to set it on the sidetable until I'd finished cleaning the cage. Angie came in, empty-handed and tried to help Maddie put the pellet bowl into the cage.

"Angie," I snapped, because this was not the first time this morning she'd not completed a task I'd set for her. "I don't want that in here yet. Put it down and go get Sophia's lettuce and carrots." As she headed for the kitchen, I called after her, "And bring back the hay, too!" A moment later, I followed her to the kitchen to throw away the bag of droppings I'd collected.

"Bossy, bossy, bossy," Angie was muttering as she tore romaine lettuce into the bowl. She turned around and jumped about a foot into the air when she saw me standing there.

"So I'm bossy, am I?" I asked, brow raised. Sheepishly but honestly, she nodded, not certain of what I'd say.

"I guess I was being bossy," I admitted, "but hey, I'm the mommy!" After a hug and a kiss I sent her back to the guinea pig's cage laughing behind her as I followed.

Hidden Talent

2010-09-12T14:00:00.001-05:00

Maddie can yodel, apparently, as she so sweetly demonstrated to Grandma yesterday. I didn't even know she knew what yodeling was!

Inexplicable Laughter

2010-09-08T09:15:00.001-05:00

I sent her to the kitchen to clean up the guinea pig pellets she'd dropped on the floor while filling Sophia's bowl. Within seconds the most beautiful giggles floated from the kitchen. Smiling, I called, "Angie, what's going on in there?" She came running into the living room. "Mommy, these socks are really slippery! Just like New Socks!" That's something worth laughing about for sure!

Conversations with Toddlers

2010-09-03T08:03:00.000-05:00

Maddie: "Oh. We eatin in the dinin room. I will carry my plate into the dinin room and I will not drop it and you will say good job maddie and I will hug your leg and then you will say thank you maddie and I will kiss your tushy."

Me: "Help me carry your plate into the dining room." carrying plate together and putting it carefully on the table. "Good job maddie." Madie hugging my leg. "Thank you Maddie." Maddie kissing my tushy while giggling.

Maddie: "Mommy, I carry my plate into the dinin room an you sayed good job an I hugged your leg an you said thank you an I kissed your tushy. That was funny. Wasn't that funny Mommy?"

Occupied

2010-09-02T07:23:00.002-05:00

If Maddie is being too quiet, I can be sure that she is off somewhere putting a puzzle together.

Late Night

2010-08-25T01:11:00.000-05:00

Do you know what I'm doing awake at this hour? Neither do I. Its two a.m. and I'm still going strong and I haven't even had any caffeine. I did take my vitamin two days in a row, though, so maybe that's helping out. The question is, what will tomorrow be like?

Waiting

2010-08-22T21:55:00.000-05:00

I'm waiting for Sandie's baby. Mostly because I can't wait to have that little newborn in my arms for a few minutes, hours, whatever I'm allowed. And because I can't wait to see the excitement on my nieces' faces. And because newborns are just so sweet. But also because I get to pass on our baby stuff and get it out of our storage closet! And if it's not a girl, well, Good-Will, get ready!

Organized

2010-08-22T21:50:00.000-05:00

I'm a pretty organized person, or at least, I used to be. I'm very good at categorizing and ordering and keeping lists. Or at least, I used to be. Since having children and leaving teaching, a profession that somewhat demands organization, I've let my organizational skills slip, and that means that I don't accomplish what I'm supposed to when I'm supposed to. The relevance?

Angie is starting Kindergarten/1st grade this year. And I'm homeschooling her. There's a lot to accomplish and I need to make sure I'm on top of it all so that I don't have to struggle daily to figure out what we're doing next. Since I work from 4 to 9 or 10 each night during the week, and of course, I'm still responsible for housekeeping and meal preparation and pet care, it's really imperative that I get our year organized before we start.

And that's the problem I've had. I haven't been able to figure out how to reign in the massive amount of stuff we're going to cover and get it all organized. See, I tend to try to streamline processes as much as possible. So charts and tables that get everything in one tidy place are just up my alley. But I haven't been able to focus our goals in any meaningful way by doing that. So I decided to go with inefficiency and it's working.

I've made a one-month grid, with days from Monday to Friday labeled at the top and 5 empty weeks below. I can number them for any month and label the top with month and subject. So, for September, I have about 8 pages, one for each subject, with the plans laid out in detail. Each day's objective for each subject is listed, along with any materials I need to create or assemble. Then I can collate them for daily use. By separating each subject on a different page, I've allowed myself to focus only on that subject and refine our plans. I'm not worrying about how much other stuff is going on each day, though it is loosely in the back of my mind.

And since we're using a modified workbox system, I can get boxes loaded quickly for the next day by having all of my materials ready.

Now, I just need to get all those materials going!!!

Found...

2010-08-09T06:52:00.000-05:00

... my spring-loaded, super-sharp, never-touched-a-piece-of-paper, Fiskar fabric scissors.
(You have no idea how hard it is to cut chiffon with dull scissors.)

Good Things

2010-08-07T22:37:00.000-05:00

An impromptu visit to the local zoo for pony and carousel rides.
A brief but leisurely shopping trip alone with my eldest daughter.
A late afternoon nap for a toddler who's going to be up until almost 11 for a birthday party.
Family and friends gathered together in celebration.
Loud music to dance to and uninhibited kids to dance with.

Shorty

2010-08-06T14:38:00.000-05:00

I started growing my hair when my husband proposed to me. I wanted to be a long haired bride with an updo and curly tendrils framing my face. It was a little over a year from proposal to marriage and I was indeed a long-haired bride with an updo and curly tendrils framing my face. We were married in April of 2004, so that means my hair's been growing since late 2003. I did cut it fairly short on a couple of occasions, but not back to the spiky do I had pre-wedding. And finally, after 7 years of long or longish hair, I've chopped it all off again. I'm not back to spikes, but it is pretty short and I can do a mesy kind of a style that takes little or no effort to look good.

I can't say that it looks too much different than my long hair, because I always had my hair pulled back in a pony tail or similar style. But this is a nice change and now Maddie can't pull it out of the pony tail all the time. And now for some gratuitous photos of kids.

Day at the Fair

2010-08-04T21:58:00.001-05:00

Miguel's been taking half-days at work on Wednesdays for the last few weeks, coming home by 10 in the morning so we can have a family fun day. We've spent such days at the beach, the water park and the zoo. This week's adventure was the Warren County Farmers' Fair which also happens to host the Annual Hot Air Balloon Festival. Though smaller than the Sussex County Fair, it was also much more affordable and we had some fun.

The kids enjoyed a few rides, (after all, what's a fair without rides?) and some arts and crafts and magic in the Kids Corral. We walked the livestock barns and sheds with enthusiasm. The horses were gorgeous and the bunnies and chickens adorable. We even saw baby goats that were as cute as can be. But the best part was the balloon launch.

We wandered over to the balloon field at a bit before 6:30 and watched the teams lay out their balloons -- massive lengths of nylon streched out and inflated before our very eyes. We saw every pattern imaginable, from standard V shaped designs to horizontal stripes and checker boards to elephants and dinosaurs. There was even a strawberry. It was amazing to watch the ballons fill with heated air and then rise above our heads, floating ever farther from us.

I took more pictures than I probably should have, but that's the beauty of digital photography. You can delete the excess and pretend it never happened!

Though we had fun, I think we'll try the Sussex County Fair next year.

Normal

2010-07-09T21:45:00.000-05:00

There we stood -- Sandie, Mommy and I -- making lunch at the kitchen counter while the children slurped up watermelon at the table. Slapping peanut butter on bread, I sang a series of weird and completely tuneless sounds, as Sandie raised her voice to speak above me. Then she started laughing.

"I'm so used to talking over the strange noises that kids make that I didn't even realize that was coming from you, Beckie."

I grinned back. "I'm so used to making strange sounds to amuse kids that I didn't even realize I was with adults!"

Letter Fun

2010-04-10T12:16:00.000-05:00

I'm a country music fan. My children request songs like "International Harvester" and "Song of the South" as often as "The Wheels on the Bus" and "Mary Had a Little Lamb" before bedtime. So it was no surprise when Maddie started belting out the words to "All My Exes Live in Texas". After a few repetitions of the title line, I interrupted.

"But where do your P's live?" I asked jokingly.

"Um, I don' know, in my baby potty!" she exclaimed.

She's right. There's pee in there. Guess I should go empty it.

Heard Around the House

2010-03-14T11:56:00.002-05:00

In the car on the way home from lunch with Papi, Angie slumped into her seat, proclaiming, "Oh, I think I have a little headache." Maddie chimed in. "My head have a little bellyache too, Mommy."

This N That

2010-03-12T21:45:00.003-05:00

Potty Training: Yes! We're fully potty trained! It took lots of marshmallows to convince Maddie that the potty was the place for poopin', but it was worth it. The $3 we spent on marshmallows nets a monthly savings of $50 in diapers. Not a bad fiscal move, if I do say so myself. And the half-bag of size 6 diapers goes to my friend and student Sabine, whose 3 year old son has yet to master the toilet.

Bath-time Fun: We keep a bottle of bubbles near the tub. Not bath bubbles, but blowing bubbles. I seldom let the girls use it because I'm usually anxious to get them in and out and off to bed. But tonight they played with them and had such fun that I couldn't resist taking a few photos. Ok, more than a few. Fine, about forty or fifty. But I just couldn't resist those giggles!

Maddie giggled each time she caught a bubble so infectiously that

we all laughed with her.

If it looks like she's trying to eat the wand, it's because she is.

She hasn't figured out how to blow it yet!

This is the calm before the storm. In the next frame, Maddie has popped

Angie's bubble and well, you can imagine the rest.

Spring Learning: Angie has been anxious to take pictures of birds and make a bird book of her own for about a year now. I'm fleshing out plans for a bird filled spring and summer, including bird feeders, nesting boxes, bird houses and flower. We may need to borrow a telephoto lens if our little camera doesn't work out. And we'll have to learn patience and quietness, a task that will be much easier to accomplish while Maddie naps!

Smarty Pants: Both girls astonish me with their intelligence. Angie has suddenly become a fluent reader with the bit of phonics she has under her belt. She no longer sounds out the words in painful progression from one sound to the next and is picking up spelling along the way. She's eager to read stories and can even figure out words that she's not learned rules for yet based on context. And Maddie is quietly learning her alphabet using the Fridge Phonics set from LeapFrog Learning. Ok, so it's not really quiet, because that thing blares out silly songs and sayings almost constantly, but she's learning which letters make which sounds and what they look like without a whole lot of help from me.

Sister, Sister: It is wonderful to see the children playing together, mimicking one another and loving each other. It's not so wonderful to see them arguing over a toy, pushing each other away from a game or screaming at each other...but we're getting over those things bit by bit. And before too long, they'll be the best of friends!

At The Zoo: We've a zoo near us that we have a membership for. As soon as the weather turned nice enough to go out in a jacket, we were there, watching the animals, riding the carousel and trying not to be eaten by a giant snake!

Really, she enjoys the carousel. Really. She just doesn't like

the really loud buzzer that sounds to announce the

beginning of the ride.

Does this expresion need explanation?

Can you see that giant snake? It's a good thing it's behind glass

because it could swallow Maddie whole.

As soon as we stepped up to the window, this guy scootched up out of the

water to give us a sniff. Thank goodness for the glass!

Twins

2010-03-06T22:17:00.000-05:00

The Usefulness of Bad Weather

2010-02-26T14:23:00.000-05:00

This snow storm we're having is doing wonder for our potty training. We can't go anywhere, so we spend our time at home, learning when to tell Mommy that you have to pee and building up our courage to poop on the potty. Things are going pretty well, but we need more than 6 pairs of training undies, I fear!

Poopin' Party

2010-02-04T16:56:00.000-05:00

Yep, we had our very first poopin' party today in celebration of Maddie's very first poop on the potty, complete with chocolate chips and high fives all around. We started the potty training a few weeks ago -- I'd take Maddie to the potty as soon as she woke up in the morning because she was so predictable. Then we started trying at different times during the day. Though she likes the sound of her pee going into the potty, she still doesn't understand that she's supposed to tell me before she has to pee so that we can use the potty. We've eschewed the training potty this time around too, in favor of the cushy tushy seat for little bottoms on the regular potty. Less clutter in the bathroom and less grossness for me to deal with.

We hope to be out of diapers before the month is up, but we'll see about that. Even cheap diapers are expensive and it's hurting our purse. Right now we're using a combination of diapers and pull-ups (which I'm calling undies to make her understand the difference and try to keep them dry). Hopefully we can try a day with undies in the near future to get the hang of telling me when she has to go.

But still, yay Maddie for poopin' on the potty!

A Bit Of Everything

2010-01-30T13:51:00.000-05:00

Maddie's down with a cold. She woke up Friday sounding congested and it wasn't long before we were carrying a box of tissues around the house with us. Fortunately, it hasn't kept her from sleeping. We're laying the Vick's on pretty heavily to help clear her up. But she's happy in spite of her sniffles.

Angie created her very first popsicle stick box. She built it log cabin style with a solid floor and lid. After the glue dries, she'll paint it and put some little toy set or another in it. I have a felling we'll be seeing lots of these in the near future.

Mommy gave me a "number juggler" a while ago to do math with Angie. It has weighted numbers that you hang on each of the juggler's outstretched arms. When you hang numbers on each side that equal the same thing, he balances and you've got a correct equation. I hadn't quite figured out how to use it with Angie until just now. I gave her a page of simple addition problems. As she figured each one out, she checked it by hanging the addends and the sum on opposite sides. If it balanced, she was right if not, she had to go back and try again to get the right answer. It's great because I don't have to check until the very end!

I've been trying to use workboxes to get our schoolwork organized, but I'm finding it to be overwhelming. It takes a long time for me to get stuff in there and make sure it's interesting and teaches what I want to teach. Also, most of it is stuff I have to do with her, so I have to find a way to entertain Maddie if she's awake while I work with Angie. Maddie's naptime is usually spent in getting other things done. Perhaps we'll have to look at our schedule a bit more closely.

Midterm exams are over for the school kids, so my tutoring schedule should return to normal now. That's good, because we need the money!

Morning Snow

2010-01-28T13:47:00.000-05:00

We woke to the sound of the snow plow clearing a quarter inch of snow from the road. "It's snowing!" Angie cheered as she ran to the window to peer out. Over the next two hours the snow continued, big fat wet flakes, accumulating to about an inch of groundcover. So at 10:30 we put on our snow clothes and went out to make snowballs and snowmen. The snow was perfect packing snow and in no time we had a snowman.

But we could see the snow melting on the ground in our footprints and snow angels. The temperature was rising fast. I cleaned off the driveway quickly, so the sun could do its job well. Now, it's a balmy 38 degrees and there's hardly any snow left on the ground, but we had fun while it lasted!

A Recipe Worth Remembering

2010-01-11T22:02:00.000-05:00

just in case i forget and want to know later on:

1/3 cup soy sauce
2/3 cup water
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup pineapple juice

cut chicken breast agains the grain in 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick pieces
marinate chicken breast 3 hours in fridge
stir fry with any veggies you like
thicken sauce
serve with rice

i guess it's essentially teriyaki sauce, but it tastes really mild and good. the kids devoured it. i'm feeling very lower case tonight.
g'night.

On My Own

2010-01-08T23:50:00.000-05:00

Eight-thirty-six. Twenty-two degrees. I'm driving to the grocery store, alone, for the first time in months, possibly years. I'm relishing the thought of moseying through the aisles, comparing prices and looking for foods that would usually fly below my radar. Who has time, after all, to shop adventurously with children in tow? The lot is crowded when I pull in ten minutes later, full of Friday night movie-goers who have parked as close to the theater as possible, leaving the spaces near the grocery empty. The only customers in the store are working moms, parents of newborns shopping tag-team style, and the lone bachelor with an oven-roasted chicken wafting it's delicious smell from the rolling basket he pulls behind him. I smile at the near-emptiness of the store, pull out my shopping list and begin my journey. It's not until an hour and a half later that I roll up to the checkout, having procured every last item on my list and remembered the two items requested immediatly before my departure. I laugh at the debit machine when it asks, "Amount OK?" No, I think, it's just a bit too high. Could you bring it down for me? Chuckling at my own humor, I press the green button and sail out of the store and into the chilly wind. It's ten-thirty, and the lot is mostly empty, now. A few teenagers laugh raucously outside the still-open pizzaria, but the movie crowd has thinned, leaving my car virtually alone. I breathe the cold air into my lungs and hold it there. I won't have this experience again for a very long while.

It Got Me

2010-01-08T23:00:00.000-05:00

Yes, it got me too. I slept for about 18 out of 24 hours Thursday. But we all appear to be on the mend. Here's hoping...

Three Down or Don't Come Near Us

2010-01-06T22:00:00.001-05:00

It started with Angie, vomiting for 5 hours on Sunday night before I dragged her off, at nearly midnight, to the ER, where they injected her with Zofran, Pepcid and saline to stop the retching. Monday morning, Maddie, whose immune system seems to be more robust than Angie's, had a few episodes, but they were minor and she was happy and smiley in between. After only one episode on Monday night and a clear day on Tuesday, with only minor fevers betwixt the kids, we thought we were coming out the other side of this viscious bug. But today we're back to nausea and diarrhea, and now Miguel has it too, all at once. I'm taking advantage of what little time I may have before I too succumb. Wish me health!

"Gafries!"

2010-01-06T21:54:00.002-05:00

Ever since New Year's, we've been showered with playing cards, foam craft shapes, and even pipe cleaners, accompanied by an exuberant, "Gafries!". I have a sneaking suspicion that Maddie likes confetti.

Did I also mention that we're still finding confetti in the strangest places?

Working on a Resolution

2010-01-05T23:59:00.001-05:00

Yep, it's a problem alright, and I've started working on the resolution. I used to be quite fit and healthy and now, not so much. But I bought a video -- The Firm: 30 Minute Power Workout or something like that. Three days into it and feeling alright. Muscles pleasantly sore, but not so sore that I can't go back and do it again tomorrow. The first day was "exploratory". I spent a lot of time exclaiming, "You want me to do what?" They ask you to to three things with your feet and 4 with your hands while sucking in your tummy and your butt and smiling at the same time. I'm getting the hang of it though. I didn't feel nearly so spastic tonight, though I did have to do some random bouncing while I studied the moves. And sometimes they cut away from the legs to show you the arms and then I get lost. But don't worry, I can handle it.

I'm just thankful that my husband saw fit to leave me to it without an audience!

The Next Holiday

2010-01-01T22:53:00.000-05:00

Though the stores have their Valentine's candy and cards already on neat display, the next official holiday is Martin Luther King Jr. Day. I'm just wondering, when is it appropriate to teach a child about Dr. King and his contributions to our society? As of now, Angie doesn't recognize any difference between African Americans and whites -- except perhaps their hair color; (at a restaurant recently, Angie remarked that almost all of the waiters and waitresses had black hair -- she made no mention that they all also had dark skin.) We live in a very diverse community and we have neighbors and friends of many different ethnicities, with no distinctions made between any of them. So, since she doesn't make any distinctions, I don't feel that I should. I could just skip this holiday entirely and not mention it. It won't be hard. And perhaps in the future, when it seems more appropriate, we'll discuss it.

Happy New Year

2010-01-01T22:45:00.000-05:00

Well, a Happy New Year to you and yours. If you're like me, you spend a lot of time cataloging the things that you'd like to do differently, but you don't ever solidify any plans. I'd like to be more organized. I'd like to get fit again. I'd like to return to the thoughtful person I used to be before I became overwhelmed with the daily tasks of living. I'd like to fix my multitude of character flaws. I'd like to have time to meditate. None of these things will happen, though, because I've no plan of attack and no willpower to stick to my resolutions.

In the next week or so, I plan to sit down and outline how I'm going to attack each of these goals in small bites. Because that's how we can accomplish things, bit by bit. Thoughtful and conscious living, is the root of it, I think. If I can manage to think about what I am doing, I'm more likely to do it the way I want to and not just the way I'm used to.

It's just too bad that not thinking is so easy!

Recycling

2010-01-01T22:39:00.000-05:00

We have probably 30 or more birthday and christmas themed gift bags stored away under the bed. The gifts resided inside the bags for less than 24 hours each, and so the bags are in pristine condition, mostly. We always think we'll put gifts in them and reuse them, but it never seems to happen. We wrap gifts, because it's more fun to tear paper off than to peer into a bag. So what do you do with all of those gift bags that are too cute to throw away?

This New Year's, we found just such a use for our sparklier bags. From a bright fuscia metallic bag, we cut 10 inch tall numbers for 2010. By gluing the front to the back of the bag, we created double sided paper ideal for decorations. We had enough leftover from this bag (it was a very large gift bag!) to cut out stars and moons and other fun shapes that we strung together to make hanging decorations. One birthday bag had circles with balloons and stars inside of them. We cut and glued those to add to the hanging decorations. And a striped and glittered bag added variety to the mix. And the leftovers? Confetti! Tons of confetti which Angie delighted in throwing for the hour after the New Year officially arrived. Amazingly, because of the heft of the bags, cleanup was pretty painless (and done by Angie!).

We figure on making birthday decorations and cards with the other gift bags. We celebrate a lot of birthdays around our house, not just Angie's and Maddie's, so decorations always come in handy. And if we ever run out of gift bags, the dollar store sells 'em cheap!

The Shots That Didn't Make It Into The Chrismtas Cards...

2009-12-11T16:58:00.001-05:00

And there are more...oh so many more!

Hope you enjoy the "best of the best" when you get your Christmas Card!

Because I've Been Remiss

2009-12-06T12:38:00.000-05:00

Self Portrait by Angie (can't you see her extended arm?)

Loving Sisters