Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

We've had a wonderful vacation together - I am bummed that we only have one day left. We've got more family time and couple time than we have in months! I have a short two and a half weeks left of my long-term work assignment, and I'm really looking forward to spending more time with Ethan and Esme.

Lisa and I braved the Black Friday sales to get new computers, so Ethan and my gift to each other is a brand spanking new laptop. (Thank you Staples!) We are loving being able to access the internet, our music, and our pics anywhere in the house!! It is changing the way we use the internet in general. I also got a free printer, and tonight I am going to try printing photos on it for the first time.

I haven't done too much scrapping since I've been working full time, but now I am happily getting back into the swing. Ethan got me an ATG for Christmas and I am feeling inspired to stick lots of little pieces of paper together. Stephanie invited me over to scrap and I did most of a couple pages over there. I have so many great photos to work on - Esme at Christmas, Charles and Kim's wedding, etc. Hope to post more pages here soon.

I can definitely say this has been my hardest week as a sub. Hasn't been an easy landlady week either I'm afraid. Also, with the holidays coming lots of friends and family seem to be freaking out - we're all overtired and overbooked and it doesn't bring out the best in most of us.

Luckily I am so excited about Christmas that these problems seem insignificant next to the joy of celebrating with my family and giving Ethan and Esme their presents! On Christmas Eve Esme is going to be in her very first pageant! She even gets to do a special dance! I can't wait to see her on stage! Also Ethan and I are very lucky to be on vacation together and have a chance to see each other for the first time in weeks! Also I love making the big meal for my family, and having everyone over to our home.

Sewing turned out to be hazardous to my health. At least to a small part - my fourth toe on my left foot. A few days after finishing the nightie pictured below in progress, I dropped a needle onto my carpeted bedroom floor and couldn't find it. I meant to go back and vacuum it up to find it later, but I got distracted and didn't find it until I tripped and fell and it got jammed into my foot. I yanked it out and went about my business. When I woke up the next morning (11/26) my toe was swollen and hurt like heck. I went to the doctor - he gave me a tetanus shot and an antibiotic to get rid of the infection. I hobbled around painfully for a week and by Sunday I realized part of the needle was still in there. Tuesday night I couldn't take it anymore and went to the emergency room, where a physician's assistant tried to get it out in the office unsuccessfully and referred me to a podiatrist. My podiatrist turned out to be awesome - he's a great doctor! But he couldn't get it out the next Thursday (12/6) because since I'd had xrays at the emergency room on Tuesday, the needle had moved. I had surgery with a live xray and sedation to take it out on Friday. All this trouble over something so stupid!! Now I have to wear a surgical shoe, I'm on my third round of antibiotics, and the doctor says I only have a 5% chance of losing my toe. My mother in law offered to bring over the sewing machine and teach me how to make doll clothes but I had to say no thanks - it sounds like it is probably too dangerous for me.

Learning about Mammals

Esme has been very interested in learning about ocean mammals. We concentrated on whales and dolphins, and used Counting Fish. We've been using Beanie Babies to sort mammals and other types of animals.

We're still here!!

Yes we are still here and homeschooling! Esme was quite sick so we took a little time off for recovery and celebrating Thanksgiving, but we are back and learning all kinds of new things! Esme is in her second week of learning about the Ocean. The first week we did an overview of oceans. Along with our usual language and math studies we compared ocean water to tap water, and read Atlantic, a book about oceans written from an ocean's perspective. This week we are concentrating on fish and our book of the week is Big Al. We are doing a sight word review to make sure Esme has a good grasp on the ones we've done so far. We spent a few weeks really working on fine motor skills so now we are branching out into writing again along with the focus on further developing those skills. Thanks to everyone who has and continues to support us in homeschooling, and check back for more frequent updates!

I recently started trying to hand-sew some outfits for Esme's dolls. I was inspired because I found a Bitty Baby at our local flea market for $1, and I thought she'd like to have some clothes for her to wear. This photo is the beginning of the first nightgown I made all by myself! I took photos to get advice from a friend on how to do the neckline.

Just 2 Days....

Esme has read many Halloween books, done some cool crafts and fine motor skill activities, and even our annual outings have become field trips! We're taking the end of the week off to eat our Halloween candy prepare for our new Ocean unit, which we'll begin next week.

I visit my gargoyle friend once a year in October.

I am currently a second grade teacher! From a couple weeks ago til the end of January I have my very own class in my first ever long-term sub assignment. I am so lucky that it is at one of nicest schools in the district I work in! I am so lucky to work with super supportive teachers and an awesome para too! I never thought I would want to do a long-term gig, but this one is definitely a great fit.

I am currently reading Uncle Tom's Cabin and not getting much scrapbooking done! I am toying with the idea of entering HOF this year, but I'm not sure I could ever actually get all those assignments done while working every day, so I might just save my good ones for MMM this summer.

this week in homeschooling

This week's book of the week is A Very Brave Witch. We're using it to compare and contrast, and to learn about fiction versus non-fiction. Esme is also starting her very first addition lessons! Words of the week are you and love.

the start of Halloween lessons

Ethan and Esme started studying Halloween this week. They are reading a book about the history and traditions behind the holiday, and the words of the week are in and out.

Eric Carle Museum

To celebrate finishing our bug unit, we visited the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art today. In the last six weeks we'd used The Grouchy Ladybug, The Very Quiet Cricket, The Very Lonely Firefly, The Very Clumsy Click Beetle, and The Very Hungry Caterpillar, so we thought this would be a fitting tribute. We saw the process he uses for his illustrations, saw some work by Leo Lionni, heard Rosemary Wells speak, visited the library, and made our own magical creatures in the art studio.

This was a wonderful first unit for all of us. Using the bug lessons by The Mailbox made planning the lessons easy, and we were lucky to have so many books we love on the subject. We're taking two weeks to study Halloween, and after that we'll move on to studying the ocean - Esme let us know that is what she is interested in next.

Thanks to everyone who has supported us in our homeschooling adventure so far!

Esme can count to 30!

We've surpassed our first kindergarten goal. Before we started homeschooling Esme could count to 10 or 12. The kindergarten goal is to count to 20. Since we decided to do most of our counting practice at calendar time, we decided to go for 30. I am so proud of her!

I finished The Red Badge of Courage. I am not surprised I was not motivated to read this book in high school. I found it very unsatisfying. Henry Fleming had difficulty holding my interest even as an adult. I can say begrudgingly that I was somewhat enlightened on how it felt to be a soldier in the Civil War, but overall I can't say I liked the book very much.

I also just finished reading a new book (against my current policy of reading classics), The Wreck of the Medusa. The story of a nineteenth century shipwreck wouldn't normally catch my interest, but this book told the very interesting story of the wreck, the after-effects on the survivors, the life of an artist who did a famous painting of the life raft, and French politics of the time. It grabbed my attention right away and kept it through the entire book! My description does not do it justice. It was a compelling story and I finished feeling a little more educated about art and French History. If you enjoy history at all I highly recommend this book!

Amazed by Butterflies

We ended our study of butterflies last week with a trip to the butterfly conservatory. What an amazing place! We saw many different kinds of butterflies, and got to reinforce all the interesting things we learned last week. Esme and I were delighted that one landed on Ethan and started to walk around on his head, until it walked into his eye. Shouldn't have taken those glasses off! Ethan has recovered but I think he may have been a little traumatized and I'm not sure we'll get him near any kind of bug conservatory anytime again soon.

This week we are studying Spiders. Our book of the week is The Very Busy Spider and our words of the week are to and said.

Week 4

Our book of the week this week is The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. We are doing two review words - she and not. Esme is progressing very nicely. She knows eight sight words and spots them in almost every book we read. She knows all her letters and their sounds and is in the early stages of learning to sound out words. We are working on her fine motor control so that writing will be easier for her. We are in our fourth week of our bug unit, and we're concentrating on butterflies. We're hoping to visit the butterfly conservatory near here at the end of the week. Since we've been using so many Eric Carle books, we're also hoping to visit the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art at the end of this unit.

Esme learned the story of creation in Sunday School this week. Her teacher was impressed how fast she picked it up. The class has 7 pictures representing each day of creation, and Esme learned their order almost immediately. She will get her first medal for learning this story.

We are also hoping that our Daisy Troop will start up soon! Esme is really looking forward to being a Girl Scout and I am really looking forward to being her leader!

Have you ever visited Scraptalk? It is my favorite scrapbooking site, and I am lucky enough to be be on the DT. The message board is the friendliest one I've ever been a part of, and they have a great gallery too. If you haven't ever been, check it out.

This was a tough week for me emotionally and it culminated with an unpleasant incident Saturday night. I am so glad this is a new week and full of new possibilities. The one thing I was really excited about from last week was that my crazy altered flamingos were picked up for publication! They will be in the Paper Trends February/March issue.

this week in homeschooling

Words of the week are a and he, and our book of the week is The Very Lonely Caterpillar. Esme is also learning what authors and illustrators do, and is perfecting counting to 30.

My entry for Last Scrapper Standing! I printed my photo on a transparency, used a transparency for the journaling box, used a Hambly screen print, a 7 Gypsies transparency, a Heidi Swapp silhouette flower, covered a photo corner with mica, used clear buttons, and acryilic letters.

Did this page this summer - I love those polka dotted Primas!

Ethan and I have been reading a lot lately. He wanted to read Finn, so to get ready we both ready The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. I hadn't read Huck Finn since college or maybe even high school, so it was such a pleasure! I had forgotten how compelling Huck and Jim's story was. I loved this book! On the other hand, I hated Finn. I knew that Pap was not likely to be a very pleasant or sympathetic kind of guy, but I found the whole book unnecessarily gruesome and violent and disgusting, and found myself unmoved, unchanged, and very disappointed in the end.

After finishing both of those books I decided I would like to go back to Mark Twain and read The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, which I had never read before. I loved this book also. It's a lot different than Huck Finn, but you know reading it that Mark Twain really remembered what it was like to be a young boy. It's full of adventures and was a delightful read.

Since I've had better luck lately with classics than new books, I've just started The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane. I was supposed to read this in high school - one of the Four Classic American Novels - but I'm ashamed to say, I never actually did. Sorry Mr. Sullivan!

A Week of Ants and Exciting Realizations

We are doing a five-week bug unit and this week's theme was ants. Aunt Lisa did a special ant activity with Esme and the girls that explores the roles of different ants in the colony, and the next morning made Esme ant-shaped pancakes! This photos is of Esme observing some ants in our yard. We found some under a brick, at Dylan's advice.

This week Esme realized that she is really learning to read! We were reading a bedtime story and all of a sudden she said, "Look, Mommy, look!" She pointed to one of the words and said, "the! It's the!" Her biggest concern about learning to read is that we will still read stories to her, even when she knows how on her own. We reassured her that we will!

So excited that my next pub will be out next month!!

We are reading several Eric Carle books because we are studying bugs! This week's book of the week is The Very Clumsy Click Beetle. Words of the week are it and one. We will also be studying ants, reading poetry, and making our first simple graph. Esme also had her first Godly Play Sunday School lesson this week.

It seems like so long since I have just sat down at my scrapping table and worked on some photos of Esme!! I had so much fun doing this page!

R.I.P. Crickets

Sadly our brand new crickets passed away this evening. I am sooo sad! Esme was so enthralled and immediately loved them! I don't know if my jar just wasn't adequate or what exactly happened, but they both died. Esme is taking it well. Here is the documentation we did this afternoon, while they were still alive.

Welcome Molly and Polly

Two crickets came home with me today - part of studying bugs is to observe the real thing! Esme fell in love with them right away and I had to explain that we will indeed be releasing them in a few days. Esme's observations have already included that she loves them and would like to kiss them. Luckily she's also noticed that they're brown and need food and water and air.

After all these years of talk I finally did it! I completed the first page for my heritage album! I doing it in 8 and a half by 11 size so that I will be able to easily color copy the pages for my brothers. My first page is one of my all-time favorite pics of my grandmother.

This week's book is The Very Grouchy Ladybug and words of the week are she and not.

Looking for Circles

Part of Friday's lesson was a circle hike through our neighborhood. We found manhole covers, electric meters, fire hydrants, doorknobs, traffic lights, signs, satellite dishes, tires, and more.

P.S. Yes, Esme did choose her own outfit.

tracing work

I told Esme she could choose one paper she's done so far this week to post on her blog and this is what she picked - she traced her first and last name, the date, and each of her sight words three times.

Not Back to School

Today was our first official day of homeschooling! Esme and I worked together for approximately two hours and I was amazed how much we did in such a short time! Her book of the week is I Can't Said the Ant and her sight words of the week are I, said, the, and ant. She did not like the activities around her sight words. She did like reading along with her books on tape, tracing words, sorting her attribute blocks, and drawing a picture to record how she sorted the blocks.

I've been making tags! I decided to make one for each of my Pink Lady friends at Scraptalk! For several days I've been trying new and fun things! Here are some that I've done!

We are having car trouble. Two weeks ago our "good" car starting belching white smoke whenever we started it or drove any distance. Our friend Wolfgang advised us not to drive it until we could get it looked at, and a mechanic we trust told us it sounded like a costly repair. Because summer is our very lean time, we decided to try to make the most of our older car and drive it exclusively. On my way to visit a cousin, my older car stalled and wouldn't start again. We begged the mechanic to do whatever it took just to get it on the road, so that Ethan would be able to go back to his job full time next week. Fortunately for us, they did it quickly and not too expensively, so we were back on the road again in a day and a half. Thank goodness!! Hopefully within a few weeks we'll be able to get the other car back on the road too.

I had Stephanie over to scrapbook yesterday. I hadn't seen her in a long time and it was so nice to spend an afternoon scrapping together. She has a very distinctive style and I love her pages. Esme was happy to see her too, and spent a fair amount of time with us.

Dylan loved the Merry Go Round

Happy Birthday Kaitlyn! My sweet little honorary niece is 4 years old!

We had a great time camping! We went to Hopeville Pond for 3 nights and the DAR State Forest for 3 nights. We had a party at our site at Hopeville with 17 of the people we love most. It was a good thing my mom brought some emergency hot dogs because we almost every bite we cooked was eaten! We got to swim and go out on the boat while we were there too. Things at DAR were more laid back - and a heckuva lot colder. Due to the elevation, it's several degrees colder there than it is here. The first night we had to have Esme come sleep with us and bring her blankets. Despite the colder temperatures Esme and I still went swimming two of the days we were there. We made the major error of putting the edges of our air mattress up against the side of the tent though, and on our last night there we got a bit wet. I don't mind a little moisture, but I do not like my pillows wet!! We had a great time but due to the rain we were very glad to get to our dry home. We're hoping we can head out into the wilderness a couple more times before Columbus Day!

Esme and I are on a cardmaking tear. I had no idea how much she'd enjoy sitting down with my old, unloved patterned papers and a glue stick and a little glitter. For the last few days she's been sitting at her little table and I've been sitting at mine, and we've been going to town. Here are a few of mine!

Some time ago my mom gave me an old roll of Kodak 126 film that had never been developed. I put off taking it in to be processed because I was afraid I wouldn't get anything back. When I went to get a new flash card today I finally took it in, and amazingly, got some pretty cool photos back! These are the best two - they're all very grainy and my mom isn't big on photography, but these two alone made it worth it for me! They were both taken on what I'm guessing was around my 7th birthday. The first one is my grandmother and me - she passed away in 2003 just a couple months before my daughter was born. On her lap is her poodle, Joy. The second is me with my parents - they divorced about 4 years later, and I've been estranged from my dad for about 5 years. I love two things about this photo - my dad is smoking a pipe, and my mom has an expression on her face that looks so much like my daughter.