P.S. E won 3rd place in the science fair.

I'll post a picture to prove it if only I can find the digital camera.

Kuddos for Children's Hospital (Reader's Digest Edition)

My first born is brilliant. Yeah, yeah, I know, everybody's kid is brilliant. But really, E, is very smart. He's particularly fascinated by science, and he "get's" abstract concepts almost without effort.

There is a flip side to this "coin" however. E struggle with fine motor skills and coordination. Handwriting would be his purgatory. Since he is so bright, people tend not to take me seriously when I'm looking for help. He's great at finding clever ways to get around his weaknesses. (For instance, He's done his math homework in Roman numerals so he didn't have to form the numbers).

After several dead ends, I got a referral to Children's Hosptial's Occupational and Physical Therapy Department. I cannot say enough good about my experience with them. So far, E has been evaluated by the Physical Therapist. She was wonderful, and personable . She made E feel comfortable, and asked all the right questions. She quickly honed in on the kind of kid my son was. She understood him.

The PT said she could help E with a few things, but that the OT would probably be of the most benefit to E. Already, the few exercises that she has us doing are helping. E is improving, and he is so encouraged. We are too.

We have been praying about getting the right help for E for a long long time, and this is definitely an answer to prayer. I highly recommend Children's to any parent who is struggling to get answer for his or her child.

I've got more than 2 cents to say about this topic - a buck fifty, at least. But, alas, my children are outside making mud balls and will shortly require a bath.

An Easy Dinner Idea

I'm always looking for a good, healthy, quick dinner idea. I just made this one recently. It's yummy, easy, vegetarian, and a good summer dish. Hope you like it:

Corn and Black Bean Salad

2 cans of black beans rinsed
1 can (or so) of sweet corn
2 diced tomatoes
1 diced avocado
apx. 1/2 c. minced cilantro (or to taste)
salt and a smidge of cayenne pepper
1-2 tsp minced garlic ( or to taste)
1/4 c. fresh squeezed lime juice
1/3 c. olive oil.

Mix it all together and enjoy. I used this as a main dish (its hardy enough) but it would also make a nice side for quesidillas, or grilled chicken. Obviously, I approximate when I cook, so you can adjust these basic ingredients to suit your tastes.

Bub

Bub is our littlest. (No we didn't really name him that) He's a pain, pretty much a royal pain. I adore him. He's hysterical. And naughty. Last week we called it a day and went to the park after Bub found a black marker and did a little "face art". I was afraid of what he'd do to my house if we stayed indoors. I don't scare easy, but I had good reason to be nervous. You should see what he's done to our walls, and his sisters hair, and the carpet, luckily the dog is fast.

Last week I was out with my girlfriends and Eddie was cleaning up dinner when he heard screaming from upstairs... our bathroom to be more precise. Caleb was standing on the counter peeing. Yuck. Glad I missed it. Eddie made Bub clean it up - just punishment.

Last night at church (we do home church) Caleb was in the basement twirling on an office chair. Apparently, he started feeling a little woozy. He came upstairs and interrupted prayer by vomiting into my awaiting hands.

I know...I know... he sounds like a pill. He is. But he so cute, and funny and cuddly. He tells hilarious stories, complete with sound effects and I couldn't love him more. I'm so glad God gave him to us.

Jesus and a Good Therapist

Forget a college fund, what my kids really need a is a good therapy fund. They'll need it when they turn 18 and discover all the ways that my husband and I screwed them up:
-No pony for 5th birthday - scarred for life
-Excessive chores - permanent disability
-Forgot to make them brush after breakfast -dentures at 25
- Allowed them to be seen in public in cowboy boots and a leotard - body image issues

My good friend, Julia the Indomitable, has passed on this profound bit of parenting wisdom which I will now pass on to you, dear reader. It goes a little something like this, "You're gonna screw up your kids. Get over it. It's nothing Jesus and a Good Therapist can't fix."

Do you think you can get some kind of tax deduction for a Therapeutic Savings Account? It's a little like a Roth IRA don't you think? Maybe call it a ROTH TSA, just an idea....

On your marks, get set...damn.

I was a track star once, okay maybe not a star. I was in seventh grade. I was great, well marginal. But you get the point; I ran. I experienced what it feels like to hear,"runners to your marks, get set, BAM!" The adrenaline, the training, the feeling like everybody's counting on you, there is nothing like it. Except for maybe the fost adopt process (well the first part at least).

We've completed hours of training, we've prepared our home, we're ready...."runners to your marks". We're certified as an official foster care home...." get set". ............ ............. .............. Nothing. No calls. No kid. Nada. Zilch. DAMN. We're suspended in this weird waiting stage. We know that eventually we'll hear the "BAM" and the race will begin, but for now we are on the blocks, positioned, ready, adrenaline pumping. It's exhausting; I want to just start already.

We could get the call in the next 5 minutes, or it could be 6 months. How do you plan you life around that? Not to mention that we don't know if we'll be picking up our daughter from the hospital at 2 days old, or if our daughter will be 18 months and coming from another home.

Faith "smaith" -this stuff is hard. I don't like patience, or long suffering, or trusting or any of that spiritual stuff. "BAM" already.

Maybe I do like Homeschool

I'm feeling a bit scattered about homescooling lately. We've set aside our normal Konos curriculum to focus on science fair these last few weeks. And our schedule has been off since November, when I officially gave up on Caleb taking naps. I feel like we "wing it" a lot, and for the most part its working. But ahh...the guilt, shouldn't our schooling be more scheduled, rigorous and spiritually enlightened? Okay, okay this is not pre-med; we're talking a 3 year old, a 4 year old and a 6 year old. Who needs rigourous, let's go to the park...and that is exactly what we've been doing. Come to think of it that is exactly why I like homeschooling. We can go to the park, or the museum, or the library, or watch 3 Popular Mechanics for Kids (yes they have those - on DVD, no less) So lest, I lose hope I'm listing the reasons I like homeschooling:
-I like that my kids pretend play "geologist", and experiment with prisms - for fun.
-I like that if we feel like eating blueberry pancakes for breakfast I can make them and we just start school 20 minutes later.
- I like that my 4 year old can read - and likes too!
-I like that I don't have to herd kids into the mini-van to make it to school in time
-I like learning about things with my kids
-I like that E not only knows how to add and subtract, but knows when to - he's great a word problems
-I like that I can pick curriculum suited to meet the needs of my kids, that I can set the pace for how fast we move through concepts based on my kids mastery
- I like that I don't have to follow anybody elses dumb rules (yes-we comply w/ Colorado Homeschool Law)
-I like the tangents, and rabbit trails that take us way off course, but allow us to stop and work on character issues, or fun topics.
- I like teaching my kids to read - its fun to watch them "get it".
-I like children's literature
- I like that my kid's have "white space" in their lives, and they have time to be children...play with bubbles, legos, play-dough (okay I sort of like play-dough - its so dang messy)

So there really are great reasons to homeschool. My kids are learning, and loving to learn. Homeschooling isn't what I expected its much easier and much harder than I thought it would be, but I'm happy with our choice - today.