Sorry I haven't posted since Monday. Late Monday night we discovered that Morgan had pinworms. We've been through this with Alex but it has been a while. Ugh, we are over them. Unfortunately even after taking the medication (1 chewable tablet) it takes 24-48 hours for them to start dying so you still have to deal with them. Not fun for a little girl at all...or her mother that keeps getting awakened several times a night. So we haven't had the most fun time. Thankfully she's been okay during the day.

Tuesday was art class and they covered Edgar Degas and water color backgrounds with a collage. They then created beach scenes. We loaded up on books at the library on Tuesday evening. Corey also made the official request to become a full-time WAH employee so we can make the move to TN this summer.

Wednesday the kids did math, science, and a lot of reading. Morgan didn't have her theatre class this week so we were able have a nice family night.

This morning we met up with some homeschooling friends at Busch Gardens. We had a great time even though Alex didn't want to ride any of the rides (kiddie or otherwise). He has recently entered a "scared stage"...think it is the age because I remember Morgan going through something like this. He is afraid of the dark (but has always gone to sleep in a pitch black, quiet room and now afraid of all the rides,etc. So he just hung out & got a lot of walking done today and enjoyed the company of friends. Morgan got brave (case of peer pressure?) and rode a roller coaster. LOL! My knees are aching but a small price to pay for a nice day with my kids and some friends. Our weather was GORGEOUS today too. :-)

Oooh...saving the best for last. Corey got the official word back that he can be a full-time WAH employee when we move to TN!! YEA!! Woo Hoo! So we can really start working on the move without worrying about "What if....".

Had a nice weekend around the house with Corey and the kids. We got stuff done like laundry (ooh exciting!) and grocery shopping and a Costco run. We went to Joe's Crab Shack for dinner Friday night but didn't hit peak time so didn't get to see the "show" the servers put on. Morgan & I were very disappointed. Corey started his week for the pager rotation this morning...oh boy...hopefully it will be an uneventful week. Today the kids worked on math, geography/history (discovery of FL, St.Augustine & Ponce de Leon), and reading. Morgan finished another book from the Dear America series. She just loves these books. She just soaks up history and can't get enough of it. Reminds me of my cousin, Alexa. Morgan was acting really run down today, almost fell asleep doing some math, and had a low grade temp so we took it easy. I hope she isn't coming down with something. She perked up a little tonight so maybe it is nothing. We started a game of Stock Market Tycoon while Corey and Alex played Sorry. We have art class tomorrow morning and hope to go by the library afterwards. I had to laugh at something she did earlier today. Alex has recently decided that he likes raw carrots. At lunch today he asked for 5 baby carrots to go with his sandwich (5 since he will be 5 he said). Well, Morgan glances over at him partway through lunch and gets this look of amazement on her face and then looks at me and says, "He is eating carrots...CARROTS!" Then she glances back at Alex like she just can't believe it. Cracked me up. I must say that I'm very pleased that they are both eating & liking more vegetables. Just proof that if you keep offering them with no pressure they will come around (at least on some of them). Yea!

We are *over* the weather here. Enough of the 80+ degree temps! Seriously now even in Florida we usually cool off in January and February. If it is in the 80's for January I don't even want to think about how horrible the summer is going to be. Ugh!

Happy Friday. I forgot to mention that yesterday Morgan and I saw the New Horizon Pluto probe launch. She was so excited and I must admit that I really enjoy the launches too. It is just amazing how fast that thing will be travelling and how long it will take to get to Pluto. And then after all that it will just be a 36 hour fly-by. Of course this is all assuming that everything goes smoothly over the next 9-10 years and everything works out like they hope. Morgan was amazed that she would be 16 when all this should be happening.

Man, last night was NOT a good night for sleeping. Corey and I were up way too late watching shows on the Dilley family (sextuplets) and other multiples. Then within 10 minutes of going to bed Alex came flying in. This is a very accurate description of what occurs. LOL! He comes running across the hall and leaps from the end of our bed and lands up near the pillows. Then he burrows under the covers, usually saying he is scared or cold and needs to snuggle, and then he is fast asleep again. I'm not sure he ever truly wakes up when he does this. So we settle back down (with cold toes being pressed against me) and I drift off. Next thing I know Morgan is at my side of the bed telling me she can't sleep and wants to scoot in and snuggle for "just a second". Yea right...I believe that one. I tell her there is no room, mommy is trying to sleep and she needs to go back to her bed. It is rather unusual for her to get up (other than a quick potty trip) so I was hoping she would just go crawl into bed. She tells me again she can't go back to sleep and so out of complete delirium & desperation I tell her to go back to bed or get her book & read if she has to but she needs to be quiet and close her door if she turns on the light. Oh dear...I really shouldn't talk to people when I'm 3/4 asleep. This morning Alex gets up first (as usual) and I hear Corey's alarm going off & the next thing I know I hear someone on the radio mention it is eight thirty something and realize Corey is still in bed. He had to go into the office today...yikes....LATE! Come to find out Morgan had come back into our room, going to Corey's side this time (smart girl) and crawled in. So all 4 of us in our bed...no wonder I was feeling like a pretzel! Thank goodness we have a king size bed. ;-) Later in the morning when I was talking to her she tells me that she read from 2:30-3:30am and finished her book. After that she got scared & came into our room.

Science class was today. Doug brought with him several different kinds of turtles (musk turtles, map turtles, painted turtles, yellow bellied turtles) and a small tortoise. The kids enjoyed seeing them, watching them run around & getting a good look at them. Then he brings out some African scorpions! Yuck!! Don't tell Doug I said that. 3 kids let him put them on their shirts...I think the moms were all dying. LOL! They aren't poisonous and actually just hung onto the shirt without moving around. And they are huge! Egads....brave kids. ;-)

Our temps are just horrible here. The high temp today was 81. I know we are in Florida but come on...it is January for goodness sake. Tomorrow is supposed to be about 83. Ugh!!

I got up this morning about 8:30am and jokingly complained about having to get up so early. Corey woke me up as he was *finally* getting up to go log in for work (work at home day). His smartie comment was that it wasn't *his* fault that I decided to play with media at midnight. LOL! He's referring to me insisting to figure out the whole movie thing late last night. Oh well... ;-)

Today was a better day so I think the "don't listen to mom" thing was a one day thing. Yea! We got some math, science (follow up from class last Friday), handwriting, and reading done. Alex got some PS2 time...actually a little more than he was supposed to so Corey stepped in to help get him involved in something else. I think because I don't ever play the PS2 when I lay down the law about it I become the bad guy. Corey plays it with him sometimes so him telling Alex "Ok, time to stop & you can play later" is accepted *much* better. We also had clean up time today for their rooms and neither one fussed too much about it. Alex asked for help because the mess, even though not that bad, just overwhelms him. So I just take a peek and then give him 1 thing to pick up at a time, "pick up the cars...pick up the Legos" instead of "clean your room". He did work on the computer some and did very well with an educational program he just got. Morgan had her dance class this evening. She's been practicing her cartwheels and her teacher was very proud of her. She told me she could tell Morgan doesn't like going upside down because even with a front roll she tenses up. They did jazz today and while trying a new combination Morgan fell twice. First time she cried quite a bit (fell on the hard floor on her hiney) and actually came out of the room to me. I gave her some hugs, made sure she wasn't hurt too badly & sent her back in to try, try again. I was proud of her because she tried it a few more times with help from her teacher & then again on her own...even fell again & this time just a few tears but nothing too big. After that she was done but did say she would practice at home. Her teacher showed them a picture of their costume for the recital and as expected these 7yo girls all squealed and giggled. LOL! The costume is a cheerleader type of dress...red/white/silver with the letter "M" on the front. So, of course, Morgan feels like the "M" is special for her. ;-) They will be doing a jazz routine. We can't wait.

Corey and I just finished watching a very odd movie. I swear he takes the cake on picking weird movies. I will admit to having picked a couple of weird ones but boy, he has a knack for it. ;-) The movie was called "Miranda" and had Christina Ricci. Just a weird movie.

Ooh...to answer Carla's question in her comment after watching the movie I put up. No, Morgan's theatre group isn't doing Rent. And right now they aren't singing "Seasons of Love" because they only have 4 girls and they need more voices. But she knows it...and Alex does too at this point. They will be doing a variety type of show in March.

I think I did it! I finally figured out the movie thing. LOL! It might be huge but I hope you can see it. Next I'll work on getting them up on our domain instead of the .mac homepage.

Morgan & Alex sing

Let me know if you can see the movie, if it takes forever to load,etc. Thanks!

Kind of a quiet day today. We got some schooling done, some playing done and quite a bit of "don't listen to mom" done. ;-) Things have been going very good lately so I figured it was just time for one of those days to come around. Again no launch of the NASA pluto probe, New Horizons. Morgan is so excited about seeing the launch and almost takes it personally when they delay it. LOL! She has a note on our big white board to check the NASA site to see if they are going to try to launch tomorrow.

We had to rush with dinner to get Morgan & I fed before leaving for her theatre class. This class went much better than last week...no fussing,etc. Morgan did really good with her dancing & singing. She had practiced her dances, she already knows the songs, but during the first run through she acted like she didn't know what to do & kept watching the girls who didn't seem to remember the dance either. I told her that we had practiced this and she knew it so to keep dancing...no stopping just because the other girls don't remember it. LOL! Now I have to give her kudos because after that she did good and then when they sat down & sang "My Favorite Things" she belted it out. Go Morgan! :-)

Corey found out today, in a round about way, that he didn't get the position he interviewed for months ago. They had called him back for a second interview and then kept him hanging on telling him that they hadn't made a decision yet & he was still in contention to please hang on. He recently contacted HR to find out what was going on with the position..at this point just to find out one way or the other. A co-worker happened to be chatting with him today, he works in the department that Corey interviewed with, and said they had 2 new employees in the department. Gee, how nice to keep people hanging on & not responding to their questions. I'm actually glad he didn't get the position if this is the way that manager handles things...very unprofessional & lacking in common courtesy. I guess I find it so odd because not only was Corey left hanging on a personal level but his whole team was in limbo waiting to see if they would assign new projects to him or if they could wait until they had a replacement for him. How does the manager of one department do this to another department in the same company? Anyway, he is fine with not getting the job, just glad to know either way. He's full speed ahead to work on projects with his team.

"Cold air" heading our way. LOL! The weather has definitely been a roller coaster around here. I don't know about the rest of the country but Florida just keeps bouncing from upper 70's (gross in January) to 50's...maybe 40's in the middle of the night. It would be nice if it would just stick around for a little while and let us enjoy it. Ooh...Thursday morning we *might* be down to 38 here.

Monday we participated in a service project with our Camp Fire group for MLK Jr Day. Corey had the day off so he got to come with us. Kind of reminded us of our APO days back in Potsdam. We picked oranges and tangelos at a local grove for a couple of food kitchens. We found out while there that the lady that owns it continues to grow the fruits strictly for food kitchens,etc. They are never sold to market. Isn't that cool? We picked a lot and then got to pick some to take home with us. We enjoyed a few in the grove fresh off the tree and I must say they were absolutely scrumptious...and so juicy! I've never picked oranges before so it was a really neat experience and fun to compare to picking apples in NY. Later we worked on math, reading, and handwriting. Alex just loves his math workbook and does several pages a day. LOL Then I started working with Morgan on cartwheels. Her dance class is a combo class (tap, ballet, jazz & acro) and she has balked at trying to do a cartwheel. She has never liked being turned upside down (even as a baby) and has been really worried about falling, etc. Well, her teacher asked her to practice and PLEASE learn how to do one. Morgan put it off and then jammed her finger last week. Her finger is doing much better so I decided now was the time to work on the cartwheels. She threw a fit as I thought she would but with some um....forceful coaxing....I convinced her to try 3 times to start. Of course, I didn't let her fall and she managed to attempt a cartwheel 3 times for me. She decided it wasn't the end of the world like she thought it would be. ;-)

Today we had Morgan's art class. They learned about Paul Sierra and oil painting. They used oil pastels on black paper to create pictures similar to Paul Sierra's paintings. She is really enjoying this class. After getting home we checked on the NASA launch. They were supposed to launch a probe to Pluto. Morgan was very excited and got very upset about the delays and then the scrub. We will be watching tomorrow to see if the launch is a go. After all of that we did some history from SOTW and reading. Morgan then asked to practice cartwheels! After trying several she proceeded to tell me that it was FUN now. She's improved quite a bit since her refusal to even try. Still not getting those legs up but she's getting there. I'm very proud of her for moving past this. Then she and I worked on her dance routines from her theatre class. She laughed at me for attempting some of the moves (they call them Cheetah Girl moves) but hey, we had fun. What is a mother for if not for laughs some time, right? The key is we had fun and she got her practice in.

Corey and I just switched cell phone service. We were supposedly getting a special rate through IBM (which is why we had stayed with the cell company,etc). However, he was offered a nice rate through the new company and it was a lower monthly rate but the same stuff we had. We checked out a few things & opted to go for it. Our previous contract was up so we made the switch. Our new phones arrived today and we are getting them all set up. We opted for a nice basic phone...no camera. Heck, we have a nice digital & don't need a lower quality camera in the phone. We are keeping our numbers as well so that is nice.

Ooh...I had a required parent meeting at the dance studio this evening. After learning all kinds of tidbits about the upcoming recital we got to have a look at what the costumes will be for our kids. Morgan's is so cute...she's just going to love it! The recital isn't until June 3rd and 4th but they have to get things started early.

Hope everyone had a good weekend. We had some wonderfully cool weather here in FL....almost felt like January. LOL! The temps seem to be bouncing around a bit but hopefully we will keep getting some cool days here and there.

Friday we had our science class. It was mostly about nocturnal animals and he brought an opossum to share. Her name was Josephine and she's 8 months old. He hand-raised her (her mother was killed while she was tiny & in the pouch) and she's just the cutest thing. The kids all got to touch her after saying the 2 science words of the day...marsupial (mammal with a pouch) and prehensile (tail that can grab & hold onto things). Morgan said the words & had her turn at petting the opossum. Alex said the words but wanted nothing to do with the opossum. Poor little guy cried for a minute at the thought. Near the end of class we went out for a nature walk and all the kids were given a chance to hug a tree and feel the energy within it. Ah...thanks to another mom I have pictures of my little tree huggers actually hugging a tree. (Kelly forgot her camera)

Friday night I took Morgan to her American Girl event at the library. She brought Samantha (her AG doll) with her and had a wonderful time. The event was for Kirsten (pioneer girl) and they talked about the time period and the books. They did some games from the period and some matching games from the books. Then they did a craft (stenciled & painted a keepsake box) and had a smorgasboard of foods that Kirsten would have eaten (time period & from Sweden). Morgan actually sampled herring (not pickled) and ginger punch.

Saturday we all went to Ocala to visit family. We saw my dad, stepmother, sister and 2 of our nieces. My sister and her daughter are hopefully moving to FL from LA soon. My 2 brothers in the area were working so we didn't see them....maybe next time. We didn't have a lot of time to visit but it was good to see them. Corey had to work at 3am so we had to get home so he could get some sleep before then.

Today was veg-out day. LOL! Corey picked up Krispy Kreme donuts this morning after he got back up and we watched a little football. Our teams are out so we just keep rooting for the underdog or the team that hasn't won in a while. I got to get some mom time out today and went to an iLife class at the Apple store. I think I may have figured out how to get my little movies of the kids onto the web. Woo Hoo!! Check back to see if I really have. LOL!

Good morning and Happy Friday the 13th. It is also a full moon tonight. A full moon is such a beautiful sight. We always try to get the kids out to see it. They love watching how the moon changes through the phases.

Wednesday we had a great trip to the aquarium. The kids really enjoyed sharing the experience with friends. Morgan got brave and touched the sting rays (stinger clipped but not completely removed). I got a movie on the camera but still haven't figured out how to get the darn thing uploaded to our .mac homepage. I think I'll work on getting it up elsewhere. Then Wednesday evening Morgan had her theatre class. It was Morgan's 4th class, her last free one. I managed to get some of the dance routines recorded for her to help her practice. It seems that the 16yo is running the show and she quickly teaches a couple of new steps to one routine & has the girls go through it. Then moves on. They've learned new steps for several dances each week and then are supposed to practice them during the week. Not easy when they aren't shown the steps very well & they do several a night. Morgan has had trouble remembering which steps went to which dance,etc. Well, apparently she isn't the only one and they got "fussed" at. She actually told them once she taught them the steps it was out of her hands and their responsibility and that she didn't remember the routines after she had taught them to the girls....that she just wrote down the steps. HELLO? Is it me or is this stupid? You don't choreograph a dance, write down the steps, teach it a few steps at a time and say you don't know the routine yourself. Honestly now. BTW, there are only 4 girls that are in the group at the moment, 2 of them are new (Morgan & another girl)....it was their 4th night. They've learned 6-8 songs and 4 dance routines in the 3 weeks up until Wed night. And one of the girls has missed 2 of those 4 weeks. The girls are 7,8,10 and 12. I'm not very happy about the way it went Wednesday night and talked to Morgan about it to see how she took it. If it continues then we are done with this.

Yesterday we went to a story time at a local nature preserve. We meet some hs'ing friends there and then headed to the park for a picnic lunch and playing. Today was our regularly scheduled hs'ing group park social so we stayed at the park for that too. We had a nice time. Can you believe it was 78 degrees yesterday? What is up with this warm weather? Yuck. Morgan was playing catch with a big ball and jammed her pinky finger on her left hand. We think we got it pulled back out but it looks gross. I've never had a jammed finger or seen one so I have no idea if this is how they look. But she can wiggle it and bend it so hopefully all will be okay. We gave her some ibuprofen and iced it for a while. It was bothering her quite a bit so she didn't go to her dance class last night. She's still sleeping so I haven't looked at it yet this morning.

Later today we have our science class. And then tonight Morgan is attending an American Girl event. They are doing Kirsten the pioneer girl. Morgan is so excited about it. They discuss the books & the girl, the time period, do a craft and a game from that time period. And have a snack (usually mentioned in the book) from that time period. Really a lot of fun for her and the couple that organize these are just fabulous!

Morgan has received support on her math-a-thon from several people but she isn't at her goal yet. They can start working the math book this weekend and have 1 week to finish it. I think she will do great! If you haven't pledged or made a donation and would like to please contact us. She really would like to raise $100 for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Every little bit will help her get to her goal.

Here is a picture of Morgan's water color painting from art class on Tuesday. She titled it "Beautiful Life".

It seems that I've missed a couple of days. Monday while doing school I started organizing the cabinet under the TV in the entertainment center. It was stuffed full of that we had won at an auction when an educational store went out of business. My bid was low but won and it was a lot more stuff than I even thought I was bidding on. LOL! I had good intentions to go through it before and did a little bit but still had way too much leftover...so just put it away. Anyway, pulled out everything we could use and stacked up all the duplicates & things we wouldn't use. I'll be taking those with us on park day so other hs'ing families can go through it to see if they can use it. If not, the leftovers will be donated. We found a Kindergarten math workbook and Alex was all excited...sat down & did the first 9 pages. LOL! Next because the cabinet was now empty I moved all of the games, puzzles & cards for the kids down there. This way they can get them whenever they want & can put them away when done. Definitely better than Mom having to get them off the top closet shelf & having stuff fall on her head. ;-)

Tuesday morning we were up and out of the house pretty early. Morgan started her art class. It combines art history with art and she loved it! She did a really nice water color painting. I'll have to take a picture of it. We knew 1 family that would be there but were really surprised to see we knew everyone there except 1 family. Alex had a little girl to play with (another younger sibling). He went over and talked to her when he saw her working out of a math workbook too. He had brought his so this was his "in". He cried a little when we left and told me that he was going to miss her. I told him that he would see her 2 times next week, at CampFire and art. He was happy again. Morgan did a lot of reading and almost finished a book she started on the way to art class. One of the moms organizes Scholastic book ordering and we all got a bunch of booklets/catalogs to look through. OOOH....books!!

This morning we will be meeting up some friends at the Florida Aquarium. The kids are excited and we'll be leaving soon. Then tonight Morgan has her theatre class.

Ya-ya! Oh wait...got carried away a little bit there. LOL! Corey and I just finished watching "Devine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood". Being from a southern family it speaks to me. ;-)

Today we watched football, lazed around, tried out the new software we got yesterday (see Corey's page for Morgan's artwork, post "A budding Artist"). The kids had made a pretty decent mess of their rooms and actually picked up the first time asked and without a fuss. *phew* It is almost a rare thing these days...they have to make a fuss about everything it seems. I'm working on getting my new organizer all set up. Somehow I lost my address book (computer version & paper version) and was really scrambling when time to send out Christmas cards. So I'm trying to get them all together again. I'm also getting our activities & such into the calendar and hopefully will have birthdays down too.

I know we have months before our projected move but I tell ya, I am so ready to just start packing. I feel this need to just pick a room, closet, bookshelf and just start sorting it and packing it. Still just a little early for that. But we can start planning our trip up to TN in Feb. That won't be too far away.

This week should be a little busier than last week since we have more activities starting back up. But should be fun.

Take care. Let me hear from you. :-)

Weird weird weird. That is all I can say right now. My lovely husband and I just finished watching War of the Worlds. Weird movie! I'm not sure I liked it...the verdict is still out. It was very intense but then just ended. Oh well...we've seen it now. We watched The Wedding Crashers last night and both thought that was funny & pretty good.

Today was pretty much a lazy day. We headed out to go to International Plaza (local "ritzy" mall) so we could hit up the Apple store. On the way there we saw one of the Washington Redskins' buses with the police escort heading to the stadium. The mall was *crowded* and we finally figured out that so many people were just wasting time until heading to the game. The stadium is across the street (from a side entrance) to this mall. We went by Build-A-Bear also. The clothes fit Cabbage Patch Kids and Morgan wanted to look for an outfit. She picked out a pink ballerina outfit complete with ballet shoes. She put it on her new doll (from Aunt Heather) and she was so proud of herself. She used her own money to get it. We got me the photo software that I've been wanting and the kids 2 mac educational cds. Several of their educational cds aren't compatible with mac at all..ugh. They each played them as soon as we got home.

When we got home we fed everyone lunch and then got some snacks for the game. Bucs were hosting the playoff game and kick off was 4:30pm. So we had to be ready. LOL! We also made lasagna for dinner. OMG it was delicious! Mr. Skinny Man had 2 helpings. Unfortunately our Bucs lost but at least we got to the playoffs this year.

Not sure what we'll do tomorrow. Our upcoming week is pretty full so we might just take it easy.

Wooo it is chilly outside! We might even having *FREEZING* temps tomorrow night. The kids and I ran errands today, played bookstore (will explain further in a minute) and some math games. Morgan's math-a-thon packet came in the maill today and she was ecstatic! She has about another week to work on pledges before starting to solve the problems in the book and she's dying to get started. LOL! I'm glad she's so excited about it. We've talked a lot about how much St. Jude's does for sick children and their families.

Now about playing bookstore. Thursday Morgan commented that she thought she would own a bookstore when she grew up because she liked books and being a business owner wasn't hard work. ROFL Well now... So we had a nice little discussion about some of the things a business owner does. Her writing assignment yesterday was to name her bookstore and tell me things about it and tell me where it would be located,etc. Then today she played it out and created a bookstore in Alex's bedroom. They were too cute. She set up silent auctions for book sets (where did she hear of those?) and Alex was offering all the customers free hot chocolate with marshmallows or whip cream and hot coffee. And I was offered a gift card for future purchases because I had been such a nice customer. LOL! Now don't we wish that stuff happened. She created signs, the silent auctions, hired Alex & had him offerring beverages and such. Corey has "assigned" her to build on her 1st assignment and write more about her bookstore. It will be interesting to see what she comes up with.

We went out for dinner tonight because I wasn't in the mood for mahi & didn't take it out of the freezer. Bad me! I had a yummy steak, sweet potato and asparagus. YUM!!

I'm starting to get bummed. I still haven't heard from my dad and I was hoping we could get together this weekend. The cell number I have for them isn't working so I can't get ahold of him.

Time to end it for tonight. Need to give the bunny & kitty their treats and head off to bed. Good night and take care all!

Last night was hectic so no posting. Morgan had her dance class last night so Corey took her. Alex and I returned some movies & books to the library and stopped at Walgreen's to pick up their Singulair prescriptions. Strange thing they had 2 for Alex...one chewable tablet (which is what he takes) and another for oral granuales. The pharmacist just said "Oh I guess someone made a mistake & made both." Weird! Anyway, Alex got a candy bar for himself & Morgan. He wanted the new PBC with caramel but they didn't have them so he settled for Crunch bars. We came home and started dinner so we could eat as soon as Morgan and Corey got home. We sat down to eat our taco salad and we put in The Polar Express. The kids got it from Netflix and we all wanted to see it. Morgan only ate part of her dinner, most unusual, and then proceeded to get sick! Poor thing threw up quite a bit. She was so upset. Afterwards she said her stomach hurt and she had a headache and she just wanted to go to bed. So Corey & Alex continued watching the movie while I took her to bed. She started drifting off about 2 pages into her chapter but wanted me to keep reading. Poor thing. At least she didn't throw up anymore!

The day had gone pretty good. We had a slow start since Alex had decided to wake up in the wee hours of the morning & watched TV for a bit & then came back to bed. Since he was still sleeping, Corey let me sleep in as well. Yea. It was nice but made for a slower start to the day. We got in handwriting & writing practice, reading, geography, vocabulary, and math. There was also a lot of play.

The "cold front" has officially hit Tampa. Our high today should be about 58 and our low around 38-40. Yea! LOL! I know for anyone further north this is nothing. And the temps are nothing for us for winter too having lived in NY. But living in FL you come to really appreciate the cooling off as the best it gets. LOL! So even though the rest of you are getting freezing temps and/or snow...we are just thrilled to be able to open the windows & enjoy the coolness.

I hope to hear from my dad and stepmother today. We really want to meet up with them and are hoping they call us today so we can make some plans.

Have a good one!

I just have to start out tonight with an "OH MY GOODNESS!!" comment about something new. LOL! On the way to Morgan's theatre class we stopped for gas, drinks and we picked up a new yummy. Reese's Peanut Butter Cups now has a PBC with caramel in the center. We tried it on the way home (didn't want her singing after just eating a PBC) and it was eye rolling back in the head good. LOL! We split a 2pk in the van and brought home a 2pk for Corey & Alex to share. Corey had his tonight and thought it was pretty good. But he's a skinny guy and he just doesn't have a relationship with chocolate or an understanding of the chocolate/peanut butter combination...so don't trust him. Now Alex on the other hand TOTALLY has a relationship with chocolate and totally gets the whole chocolate/peanut butter thing. The boy was born with the chocolate gene! He doesn't get to try his until tomorrow because he was already asleep when we got home. He's going to love it I just know it.

Ok, on to other stuff. The kids did pretty good today. Corey worked from home and will again tomorrow so I'm not sure they were expecting that & it threw them off a bit. Alex thought about giving me some trouble this morning but settled down pretty quickly and was eager to do some school. He had some more handwriting practice with N words and started on telling time. We started with the hands & what each means and then started working on figuring out the hour. He did really good with it. He did some reading with me and Morgan and we watched Magic School Bus - 3 water episodes and talked about it for science. Our science classes start back up next week. Morgan did language arts, writing, reading, telling time (hours and minutes) and the science from the Magic School Bus. She also did some reading to Alex. She had some educational computer time today as well. Alex helped her practice her songs for her theatre class and I got them on digital video singing "Seasons of Love"...too cute. Now to figure out how to get it online! LOL! I have a Mac page bookmarked with instructions I just haven't tried it yet. Morgan's theatre class was tonight and they are so cute. They need more girls so I told the instructor that I would gladly pass on info to the homeschool groups I'm involved in to see if we can get some more girls. The group is just for girls 7-16.

Ooh Aunt Heather....good news...the lost package arrived today!! Apparently our wonderful mail lady found it at the annex and slated it for redelivery. Yeah! I tell ya, the loss never would have happened in the first place if she hadn't been on vacation. The kids were SO excited and tore into the box. They love the CPKs & ponies! We were all dying with the matching western outfits. Are they twins? Anyway, very cute and well received.

Has anyone seen The Chronicles of Narnia yet? If so, what did you think? How does it compare to the books (if you've read them)? We took the kids to see it on Monday, Jan 2nd. We all 4 loved it although there were a couple of intense scenes that Alex slept through or covered his ears/eyes for. Both kids have been playing Narnia since coming home from seeing it. I thought the kid actors were great. Morgan can't wait to read the book.

Welcome back to the U.S. for my dad and stepmom. They live in Saudi Arabia and have since 1991 (think that is the right year). Thankfully they get to come back to the US a few times a year so that we can all see each other. The kids love seeing their grandparents and they get to see more aunts, uncles & cousins when we all get together. Makes it fun all around. We are hoping to get to see them this weekend.

Oh, Morgan sent out her emails for her math-a-thon. If you didn't get one and are interested in supporting her to raise money for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital just let us know. She's so excited about this and has some donations already. Right now they are just getting supporters and then they will have 1 week to do as many problems in the math-a-thon math book or on the math-a-thon CD as they can. They can get support per correct math problem, per page or a flat donation. I'll keep you posted on how she is doing. Right now she's stalking the mail lady waiting for her math-a-thon package to arrive in the mail. ;-)

Take care everyone and Goddess Bless the families and loved ones of the 12 miners that died and the lone survivor & his family.

I was kicked out of bed a few minutes after 8 this morning. The kids had been up, as usual, and Corey was heading out the door...back to the office with him. Alex was sad that Daddy wouldn't be working from home. I think we all got used to him being around for the past 2+ weeks. I figured I had better get the day going since this was Alex's first day of homeschooling and I really wanted to set a routine for the most part. The kids fight when given too much free time together. They do much better when busy! So we got everyone breakfast including Parker bunny and I had them get dressed. Morgan kept asking where we were going. LOL! Nowhere, but Alex thinks pajama days are do *nothing* days and I didn't want him thinking that. We got started right away with some writing...letter practice for Alex (N week...where they left off in preK) and copy work for Morgan. She picked a poem & copied it down after reading it. Then she had 30 minutes of independent reading. She started The Magician's Nephew from The Chronicles of Narnia. We moved Alex on to reading the N alphabet book and writing a couple of N words. Then Alex got some educational computer time while Morgan did history (SOTW 1). We then took a break for lunch & free play. After our break they did math. Morgan did a couple of pages from her math workbook. Alex did a couple of counting & pattern worksheets. Then both did a Christopher Columbus' ships color-by-number worksheet. I wrote the answers to the math problems for Alex because the space was small but he solved all of the problems himself. :-) Morgan got some educational computer time. Then we finished up the day with a little more reading.

They were quite creative during their play today. Morgan is very excited that her activities start back up this week. Her theatre group starts back up tomorrow and dance class on Thursday. Then next week art class will start up on Tuesday and science on Friday. We received notice that there is an American Girl event at one of the libraries. They are doing Kirsten. Morgan insisted on me making reservations right away. Other than that not a whole lot going on. Morgan helped make dinner tonight while Alex and Corey solved their video game. They defeated Kingdom Hearts. On to bigger and better things I'm sure.

There was a funny I meant to tell about on January 1st but forgot to until after I had posted. Our cat is 16 years old. She has always thought she was more human than cat. I've had her since she was 1 day old and had to bottle-feed her. Anyway, the older she gets the more human food she takes a liking to. On New Year's Day we were eating our dinner and she comes over to visit me (read "beg") so I give her a bite of ham. Well then I decide to try a blackeyed pea. She not only ate the first one I gave her but several others and then ate the peas & rice that I left in my bowl for her NY treat. ;-) I tell ya...don't know about that cat. Either she has decided she is human and anything we eat is fair game or she's senile...not sure which. She really likes donuts, has eaten pineapple off our pizza, mushrooms, peas, beans, bread, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes...you name it.

For all our family reading this....I forgot to mention that Morgan is now 51 inches tall. She definitely got the tall gene from all you tall people in our families. LOL!

The news just had a bit about the 13 trapped miners. I hope they find some of them alive. They've already reported that they found 1 body. That poor family. I know miners have a dangerous job even under the best of circumstances but this mine has been sited over 200 times for safety issues and there was absolutely no excuse for these men to have been in there under these conditions. This was a preventable incident. Right now I'm concentrating on the trapped men and their families but I hope in the future there are some serious repercusions for the mining company & owners.

All in all I think it was a good first day of 2006. Not an exciting day but not a bad one either. I managed to get all the pictures off the camera & onto my iBook. Then I put a few photo album pages up on our .mac homepage. I will work on getting them linked to here. Corey got a phone call from his good friend, Loren. He is a childhood friend and they've kept in touch. We saw him back in July during our summer vacation but he wanted to get all caught up and let us know of the date for his upcoming wedding. Yeah! Congratulations to Loren and Karen.

We made blackeye peas & ham for New Year's day dinner. A tradition passed on to me by my maternal grandmother. It is supposed to be good luck for the year. It is a southern thing I believe. I know others have a tradition of different foods. Do you have a food tradition for New Year's day? What is it?

Morgan did some reading on Christopher Columbus and Franklin D. Roosevelt today. She also created a couple of acrostic poems today all on her own. First she did her name & Alex's name but had some negative words in them. So I asked her to do 2 for me using family and Morgan. She wrote Fun, Active, Modern, Independent, Lovely & Young to describe family. Here is a picture:



And she wrote Musical, Original, Real, Giggly, Artistic & Nice to describe herself. Here is the picture:



Alex and Corey are playing a video game, Kingdom Hearts, on the PS2 so she decided to read the 2 books on maps (map scales & map keys) that we got from the library. She is now working on creating a map for me. She won't tell me what it is but it is self-assigned. You just gotta love it when they take an interest and run with it.

Good morning and HAPPY NEW YEAR! Welcome 2006. Here's hoping it is a better year for everyone. The kids were up about 7AM as usual but played pretty good and let Corey & I sleep in. Now to get some caffeine and breakfast in us. When we told Alex "Happy New Year" he told us it wasn't "new year" yet. We explained to him that today was January 1st and the year had changed to 2006 and he was just amazed that yesterday it was 2005 and today starts 2006. We had talked about this before but he is only 4 and I think he thought there would be a bigger transition marker. If that makes sense. Of course, since he doesn't get to stay up until midnight to mark the occasion he doesn't even have that. Maybe next year since we will be near a lot of family we can have a family friendly NYE celebration to mark the occasion.

Today will just be a nice easy day. My dad and stepmother will be coming over to the United States on Wednesday and are flying my half-sister and her daughter in as well. At some point while they are here we will see them as well as my step-brothers and their families. It is fun getting together with all of them.

I think I have the site feed thing set up right. Let me know if it works or not if you decide to try it.