Emily's Party

Suzy made this cake.


The bowling alley gave Emily a bowling pin for all her guests to sign.
These bracelets were our craft.

Weekly Preview and Review

Cirque Shanghai was FABULOUS! Suzy and I were amazed. Chinese acrobats - 10 young men and 6 young women skillfully entertained us with feats of balance, strength and beauty. Afterwards we went to Cici's Pizza Buffet, which I like very much. First time we went, but not the last!

Dental visits for the girls this week. Emily - no cavities. Suzy - two cavities. Hmmm.... The boys have their turn this coming week.

David finished his drivers ed makeup classes and passed both the tests in class. Now we visit the Secretary of State. He first needs to connect with his teacher and get his certificate.

Took Emily and some friends bowling today to celebrate her birthday. Had the party room at the bowling alley beforehand for cake, ice cream, gifts, and a craft. Then two games of bowling with 7 girls. I bowled too. One strike, lots of gutter balls for me. No gutter balls for the girls because they all used the bumpers. lol

After the party, Suzy, Emily, and I went out to eat and then shopping for Regency Ball shoes and then to the thrift store. Then a white-knuckle ride home in the blowing snow and on the untreated roads. Man, that was awful. The blowing stuff kept freezing on my windshield and I could not see.

I've been working hard on getting the yearbook done for Seeds of Faith and it's just about finished. Hopefully we can get it delivered before the next co-op. I want to get it ordered tomorrow.

Thinking about signing up for homeschool karate. We are about done with gymnastics, I think. Just this month left. But we are gearing up for soccer which should begin mid-April and run through the beginning of June. Do I want to do karate too? Well, since I can participate in the karate for free, I think maybe so. They are having a signup special, so I probably will take advantage of that.

A little lingering cough and wheezing is all that's left of my illness. The kids too are doing tons better. Only James seems to have a lingering cough.

On Monday, there wasn't enough work loaded, so I spent some time typing in some books I had set aside for sale. And I sold about $90 worth. So that was time well spent.

I finished reading Persuasion for my Austentatious class. Loved it this time through. Funny how the Austen grows on me. I disliked reading my first Austen a lot; it was Emma. I've since read it twice more and now I love it. Book club is reading another Gaskell - Wives and Daughters. I've started but I am still in chapter 1.

Sunday - Church?
Monday - WORK 5 hrs, Lessons, SOF meeting
Tuesday - WORK 5, Lessons, Homeschool rollerskating
Wednesday - WORK 5, Lessons, Dentist-D,J,S
Thursday - WORK 5 Lessons, Mammogram-L (funfun)
Friday - WORK 5, field trip
Saturday - Book Club Movie Night (Jane Eyre)
Sunday - Church, Contra Dancing!

Gotta work 5's this week to make up for 2 weeks ago when there wasn't enough work to keep me busy. And this is a busy week with something every day! Better take a deep breath on Sunday night. (And maybe start with a little extra sleep, eh?)

I also need to get moving on the soccer registration plans. It'll be here before we know it. Oh, and SOF co-op stuff for NEXT year already too. And make sure everything is in order for the Regency Ball.

Quite a few Regency Ball-related activities are on the calendar for March.
March 13 - Contra dance at Flint school
March 17 - Dance practice
March 21 - Persuasion Movie Day & Regency Hairstyle Practice (girls)
March 22 - Regency Portrait Day (wear your costume and do your hair!)
March 25-26 Regency Ball trip!

So, you can see, there's a lot involved. David and Emily and I will be attending, along with about 20 other people from our homeschool group. And it's in South Bend, so we're spending the night.

We'd love to see any of you at our co-op program on Friday, April 1st in the evening. David will be sharing a computer script he wrote. Emily will be dancing and in a skit. Suzy is doing a cheerleading routine. And James will have a very nice art exhibit. There will be other stuff too, but I'm not sure what all. And you won't want to miss my Austentatious class; they are doing Pride and Prejudice in 100 seconds. I get to play Lydia. LOL

A Little Free Time - finally....

Well, there is no work for me to do right now, despite me sitting down to do it. The client needs to upload some more for us. So, while I am waiting, a quick blog entry can fill the time.

My cable was out this morning, so no internet or phone. Therefore I could not work then either. So far today, I've managed 40 minutes of work between the cable outage and the no-work problem.

I took Emily out for her 13th birthday today - we had lunch at the Chinese buffet and then went to the thrift store and tried on clothes. She got 3 shirts, a pair of leggings, and a skirt and I got a shirt. Then we stocked up on groceries at Walmart. As a new teenager, we gave Emily permission to wear one item of makeup outside the house. She chose lipstick, so we bought her one of those and some hair stuff.

A new battery got my van going again, so I have wheels.

I have not managed to work out lately. I want to, but I just haven't made it a priority. Can't WAIT for warm weather so I can just go running in the AM's again.

All this working is quite stressful, to be honest. I can do it, but it's going to require a bit more restructuring than I had imagined. Hopefully the kids all step up to the plate and help out, or they'll be in school. The job is a necessity. When I worked before, Bob was home all the time. Now he's working 4 days a week too. Thankfully I can set my own hours.

Homemade pizza is being created now (not by me, you notice!) and soon we will have some gifts to open and cake and ice cream.

Bob is working at the homeless shelter tonight and I think the girls are going along with him.

I finished reading Remarkable Creatures and started Wuthering Heights.

I'm sure there's more I could say, but I better go do some other stuff so I can work later.

Weekly Preview

Saturday - Veggie Tales Premiere, Book Club
Sunday - Dreamcoat w/Janet
Monday - Spanish, START New Job (4 hrs daily)
Tuesday - Lessons, WORK
Wednesday - Lessons, WORK, Teach Essay Class, Art class (E,J)
Thursday - Lessons, WORK, Emily turns THIRTEEN!
Friday - Lessons, WORK
Saturday - ????

I am way behind on blog reading and SLEEP. LOL At least my Spanish lessons are already planned.

Gotta figure out Em's birthday plans.

Must write two (easy articles) today, do Tae-bo, put together some quiche, some laundry, get the kids moving on chores, get a (hot, hopefully) shower and get ready to head out to Veggie Tales and Book Club!

Slacker?

Me (pouting): I feel like a MEAN FAT SLACKER.
Emily (wanting to reassure me): You're a nice slacker. And you're not fat!

Emily's Sleepover

Emily had a gaggle of little girls over to spend the night Friday night and my good friend stayed the night as well. That was good as it upped the ratio of adults to children. :-)

It was a lovely warm afternoon so we walked down to the school playground and let the girls run around for a while. I served tacos for dinner and Emily opened many lovely thoughtful gifts and graced each giver with an appreciative hug. After dinner, we made book thongs (see Cornerstone for the details) and had cupcakes and ice cream.

Then they headed upstairs for games and movies while the adult women watched movies and ate popcorn. Lights out at midnight or thereabouts, but several girls whispered into the wee wee WEE hours of the night, leaving all the adults bleary with sleep deprivation. Morning came far too early.

Breakfast was some yummy goodies set out for the girls to serve themselves and they went back upstairs. I haven't ventured up to see the extent of the necessary clean-up, but all-in-all, it was a memorable and enjoyable sleepover party for my twelve-year-old!

An Even Dozen

Emily is twelve! She will be having a party on Friday, so today was our low-key family celebration. Gifts in the AM; pizza, cake and ice cream at dinner. And being twelve gives her a later bedtime, so she's thrilled with that new privilege!

Outlaws, Doctors, Barbies

Loving the Robin Hood BBC series! Will be posting more about that on Mirkwood soon. If I don't, call me on it!

David is sick - has had a persistent cough that got much worse yesterday. Today he woke up with laryngitis. I think I'll take him to the doctor tomorrow.

I need to find some paper for my co-op class this Friday. Will call a printer tomorrow and see if they can provide it.

The girls love the MP3 players they got for Christmas, Suzy especially. She uses hers every day! They look like Barbies and they can snap on and off the clothes and hair. Very nice item - I am pleased with it!

Fall portraits of the kids

Well, these aren't "school pictures" but they are the equivalent. :-)

Miss Finney

Emily was invited to an American Girl Mystery birthday party. The American Girl is Kit (1934). Emily had to dress up as Miss Finney, a nurse. She did her costume all on her own, except I bought the skirt at the thrift store and I put her hair in a bun and stuck her hat to her head. I think she looks awesome!

Bunnies

Thought I'd share a pic of James, Suzy, and Emily with the bunnies. Zeus is on James' lap and Suzy is holding Patches. They get played with every day and seem very happy.

Is This Your First Piercing?

For Emily's birthday (at the beginning of March), our gift to her was ear piercing. However, it took us this long to actually get it done. (Yeah, we're those SLACKER PARENTS you read about.)

I took her last Thursday when she got her new glasses. (She didn't want me to post about it until Grandma saw her ears as it was to be a surprise!)

The clerk at Claire's said, "Is this your first piercing?" LOL Why yes, it is.

Emily was nervous.















But it was over soon and she was pleased.



By the way, this is one of her new pairs of glasses. The other ones are very similar to her previous ones - wire frames. I will try to have a pic of those soon.

DPW Pix

A friend took some pictures at the DPS field trip and emailed them to me. Here are a couple. Yes, that's my Emily in the bucket in the first pic!

The second pic is one of the presentations we listened to, the only one that I can remember us sitting for. We were watching the worker climb the "tree". (I'm on the far end of the first row. Don't I look interested? lol)

Two Pair

Have 3 minutes for a quick update.

Took Emily to a cheap glasses place today because hers are broken and her opthamologist can't get her in until July. The place I took her offers an exam and 2 pairs of glasses for 69.95. Everyone was friendly and professional. The eye exams seem just like every other one I've ever sat through. (Which are quite a few!) The place we went was: America's Best Eye Care.

If you need glasses and don't want to spend a lot, I recommend them! (I guess maybe I should wait until the glasses come in, lol. 2-7 business days, I think she said.)

We also went to Office Depot and Meijer. Came home in time to unload the groceries, put my hair up, change my shoes, type for 5 minutes, and head out again.

Happy Birthday, Emily

Emily with her 11th birthday cake













Emily thanking Suzy for her gift

Emily Turned Eleven and Misc. Other Stuff

Art class was cancelled today due to snow - at the teacher's home which apparently is south of us. We didn't get a lot of snow, not even what was forecasted.

We also did not go to the creation science seminar. It was raining Monday and I was not inclined to go anywhere. Since the kids did not complain, I was happy to just stay home. You might not believe what a homebody I've become since I HAVE to leave the house Monday-Friday for work.

Emily's 11th birthday was Tuesday. I have pictures, but they are still on the camera. We had a cake and ice cream for lunch and pizza! After lunch, she opened her presents - Suzy had wrapped up some little things for her, and I had a gift for James to give her. I had chosen a jewelry box for her gift from her dad and me. I also chose a small selection of jewelry to put in it. She is also getting her ears pierced.

I have to type in the stuff I have written on the new novel! I have quite a few handwritten pages done in my notebook. I think I have a handle on my main characters now - that was my struggle before now. They were not real to me. What I needed was their motivations and now I have it.

I have also written a synopsis of Forget-Me-Not (my first novel, in case you forgot). It's way boring though, and I need to tighten it up and make it more compelling. Synopses are apparently required for submission to either a publisher or an agent, rather than the actual novel. Then comes the query letter and off it goes!

I am LOVING Pandora internet radio. If you have a high speed connection, check it out. It's free.

Installed the second RAM card into the computer, so now I have 1GB RAM. It took all of maybe 5 minutes from the moment I opened the package to the moment I restarted the computer. And it was less than $30. I highly recommend this upgrade as something you can easily do yourself for cheap!

Have been listening to Pride and Prejudice in the car. Was called a 'nerd' at work (in a "loving" way, heh) for reading the humongous doorstop volume entitled The Annotated Pride and Prejudice. Also there was much derision from the men toward the movie version, especially those men whose girlfriends or wives had forcibly requested them to view the movie with them. LOL I need to post David and Emily's 'reviews' (for lack of a better term) of the movie. Will do that on Cornerstone Academy blog, I think.

Oh yes, here's something interesting. A police detective knocked on our door this morning. Apparently someone with a car like mine robbed a bank in a nearby town the other day. He showed Bob a picture of the bank robber and asked if we let anyone borrow the car. Um. Nope. And no, we didn't rob the bank either. lol