She's famous!

My nine-year-old daughter is now famous, as the kids like to say, since her picture was in the paper today and Friday for the store ad. She had on the long green dress and the two-piece outfit in Friday's ad, and is wearing the pretty green and purple dress in today's ad.

The ad was publicizing a sale on the dresses, and we went yesterday to take a look and get one for each of them for the upcoming Memorial of Jesus Christ's death on April 9. They picked out so many and the older one couldn't decide so I picked one out for her ... the long green one from the ad! Her sister picked out one that wasn't in the advertisement but tried on several that were.

Spelling bee

Today was the much-awaited (by me) spelling bee day for my daughter in the fourth grade. My daughter lost her enthusiasm for studying early on and decided she didn't want to be in the spelling bee. We told her she couldn't quit, gave her some tips and tricks, and encouraged her to try to beat her performance from last year. She was eliminated in the third round last year and I thought she could certainly beat that this year.

The kids dropped like flies in the first round this morning, and my little girl was one of the ones eliminated. Her word was "ballot," and she spelled "ballet." She was disappointed but quickly overcame it since I let her sit with me and help me keep her baby brother quiet. Last year's champion (a fourth grader in my daughter's class) defended her title against a fifth grader.

Photo shoot

My nine-year-old daughter had a photo shoot today and her photo is scheduled to appear in a department store ad in the newspaper the 27th and 29th of this month.

Her sister had a photo shoot on her sixth birthday and the photo appeared later that month in a department store ad in the newspaper. (Same department store, same newspaper.) Her little brother had a photo shoot this time last year and his photo was greatly enlarged for an in-store display (same department store) that stayed up for a good while.

She got her hair washed the night before and was quite excited about the prospect of getting her makeup done. She modeled a light green long dress, another dress she'd seen in the store already (bright green and purple) and a two-piece yellow and blue skirt and top set. She looked so pretty and really enjoyed herself. She went to school afterward and wore her makeup for everyone to see.

Character of the Month

My first grade daughter is the Student of the Month -- or as they say at her school -- Character of the Month -- in her classroom. She got to eat lunch on the stage today, so everyone got to literally look up to her as she was eating lunch and watching a movie.

I missed out on the honor because I didn't know about it. I didn't receive a note from school like I normally do. I was terribly disappointed because I always try to come out to the school for activities like that and have never missed a character lunch before. Turns out an invitation to lunch was made out for me but didn't make it home. My darling first grader not only didn't tell me she was the Character of the Month but didn't bring my lunch invitation home, either.

I'm proud of her anyway.

Clinic visits

My son gets to spend two days in a row in testing at children's hospital clinics. Today's visit was for allergy testing and tomorrow's visit will be for lung testing, a science guinea pig sort of thing.

It was our first visit to the allergy clinic so we didn't really know what to expect. We answered a lot of questions, and the doctor found out my son is healthy as a horse except for his bad eczema breakouts, possible seasonal allergies, and possible allergy to peanuts.

Then came the actual testing but it didn't turn out very well. He has had at least two doses of allergy medicine in the last week when I should have stopped all of it five days before the clinic visit. (When the doctor/clinic sends you paperwork about an upcoming visit, you should read everything and then keep up with it. Just FYI.) They put a histamine in his skin that should have made him break out but his medicine was still working. (Bad for the testing appointment but very good to know otherwise.)

They couldn't do the skin testing but drew some blood and will test it for allergies to peanuts, tree nuts (I'm allergic to brazil nuts) and other things and will let us know the result.

He didn't cry or even flinch when he got his blood drawn and of course the nurses thought he was adorable. The doctors enjoyed him too and commented on how nice-looking and well-behaved he is. My son just enjoyed the fish tank out in the waiting room and the Nemo sticker he got for letting the nurses take his height and weight.

The lung test tomorrow is part of a long term lung function study; we've participated in it before. We come in to the clinic and the baby gets something to make him sleep. The doctor and nurse use a breathing machine to observe and record how his lungs function. It takes a couple of hours during which I can come and go, and we are usually finished by 12:30 p.m. or so. We hope to make it out in time to attend his sister's quiz bowl competition.

After-school tutoring and other school activities

My fourth grader started after school tutoring today. It's more like homework/snack time after school. It's on Wednesday and Thursday afternoons from the time school lets out until 4:30 p.m.

She really enjoyed herself today. The teacher she was assigned to for tutoring wasn't there, so she went to another teacher, who happens to be my first grader's regular teacher. She sat at her sister's desk and noticed that it was really messy inside (no surprise there). She worked on multiplication tables (good!) and had a snack.

The other kids and I walked to school after it was over to pick her up.

After school tutoring started back in November for any child in the school but I didn't sign her up. She's at school all day every day -- I figured that was enough and besides, her staying up there means I have to make another trip to the school two afternoons a week. That's not an easy thing when you are taking care of four to six other kids. But her dad suddenly announced last week that he thought after school tutoring would be a good thing for her. Boy was she happy to hear that. She's been wanting to go ever since it started.

She's been busy with other school things lately too. Her performance group has stepped up rehearsals to three times a week in preparation for their "tour" to other schools at the end of the school year.

She's got a quiz bowl competition this week. All of the students are participating. There is a heavy emphasis on African-American history (yay, I love it!). Her sister and I have been helping her study and we know the answers pretty well.

She's got a spelling bee next week; she'll start studying for that after the quiz bowl is over. She didn't do as well as she could have in last year's spelling bee so she's determined to advance further this time. I think she can at least make it to the final round this year. The words are fairly easy or will be if she'll study. Time will tell!

It's snowing! Wait, what? It's snowing?

It's finally snowing in our part of the world! Yay! This is our first snow of the winter I believe.

The bad part is (well there are several bad parts) that it waited until nightfall to snow, that it waited until the 28th of February to snow, and that it isn't sticking because it has been nearly 70 degrees two days in a row. Yes, it has been so pleasant here that I've had the windows open for two days and have walked the kids home from school.

Now no one can enjoy it. :(

The weather forecast this morning called for a 30 percent chance of snow, but I didn't believe them. The big round snowflakes outside proved me wrong. I just wish I had been proven wrong earlier in the day, maybe even earlier in the winter!

Field trip!

My daughters went on an honor roll school field trip to the movies today! They saw "Bolt" at the dollar theater, and my son and two nieces and I went with them.

The students who made the honor roll got to go to the movies. My two nieces — they are also on the honor roll but go to a different school — were home sick with me but not sick enough to make me miss this field trip, so they got to go too. I've missed so, so many field trips taking care of one child or another, mostly the baby and our diabetic and I really, really wanted to go on this one.

They rode to the movies on four buses and got a snack box of popcorn, a drink, and a stick of candy as they came in. We all enjoyed the movie and made plans to come back again to see it again before it leaves the theater. My girls went back to school on the bus and the rest of the kids and I went home for lunch.

That was it for my kids' field trip, but right in the middle of our lunch some important papers for my husband came in the mail and it was almost his lunchtime, so we took them up to him at work and went with him to tend some business. When the kids and I got back it was nearly time to pick my girls up from school, so we just went early and checked them out. We got to sit on on my older daughter's practice session for her school's performance group. The kids are chosen based on their behavior and grades and they go to a few other schools to sing and dance.

Believe it or not, my girls squeezed in two tests each at school, in between going to the movies, doing a practice session, and checking out early!

Report on parent-teacher conferences

The parent-teacher conferences from yesterday went really well with good reports for both girls. My first grader has straight 100s so far this grading period, and is reading on a second grade level. She's one of seven first graders who have a book discussion club and she gets other extra work as well.

My fourth grader has A's and B's; her grades have dropped even from the last grading period, when she had her first ever B's on her report card, but her grades are still good. She is capable of better so we'll keep working with her and encouraging her. It's not that she doesn't understand, it's mostly a matter of not paying attention to directions and details. She sometimes skips problems or does them incorrectly because she didn't pay attention to the directions or the details, and sometimes they throw in trick questions. I can look and see right away what happened, so I can see that it's not that she doesn't understand. Her teacher also pointed out that spring in the fourth grade is a time when "love" blooms ...

All the kids came with me to the school of course, and they played in the first grader's room while I talked to the teacher. My son loves it in there because there is pint-sized furniture in the reading corner and all sorts of things to dump in the floor in the math corner. They went to the pre-k room while I went to the fourth grader's class; they painted, played with blocks, played in the sandbox, and had all manner of fun. None of them wanted to leave when I finished so I had to gently encourage them to wrap things up so we could head home for lunch. They were very well behaved so I was proud of them for that.

Parent-teacher conferences

All the kids are here today since school is out for parent-teacher conferences today, and I have several conferences to attend. I don't think we are going to make all of them though. The girls' teachers want to see me at 10:50 a.m. (yes, both of them, wow that's cool that people think I can be in two different places at the same time) so I'm going to go to one of them a few minutes before that. Both of the girls are in a pull-out program for advanced students, and that teacher wants to see me at 9 a.m. for the first grader and 9:30 a.m. for the fourth grader. I'd really like to talk to her but I doubt I can get five kids fed and ready by that time, and I really don't want to think about keeping them under wraps for two hours, from 9-11 a.m. They'd be just fine, but I'd be nuts.

I'm expecting good reports for both girls as usual. They both have excellent grades and behavior. I hope to find out some ways we can help them improve.

I had planned on walking to the school with them, taking snacks and letting them have a picnic and play outside at school, but it turned cold again during the night. There is plenty for them to do inside the school building though. They like to visit their old teachers and go in the preschool room and play.

School is out again tomorrow for teacher's meetings, so all five will be with me all day tomorrow too. We'll just hang out at the house and maintain, and I do have some work to do.

Almost two!

My son is 22 months old today ... It's so hard to believe he's almost two years old. He's talking a lot now and loves to read books. He's a big handful but he's so entertaining and brings joy to everyone who sees him. We just thoroughly enjoy having him around.

Another lover of books in the family!

My son has joined the *We Heart Books* portion of the family! Right now his favorites are "Green Eggs and Ham" and pretty much everything by Dr. Seuss, "Are You My Mother?" by P.D. Eastman (he thinks this one is by Dr. Seuss too), one called "My First ABC Book" and another one called "What is My Shadow Made Of?" The part he likes in the shadow book is the part about airplanes.

His first book that he loved (to death almost) was "Ten Little Fishes" AKA "FISHIES!!!" but then he tore it up and ate it. *sigh* I have to get him another one.

He wants everyone to read to him all the time. It's so cute to see him sitting in his *big* big sister's lap, the two of them reading together. His *little* big sister also reads to him, and is reading easy chapter books herself!

Here he is in my bed reading one of his sister's books. It's called "Sugarplum Princess" or something like that. Right now he doesn't care if the book IS pink and about a princess!

House off the market

Our six-month contract with the realtor expired on Monday and he came this morning to pick up his sign. He worked really hard for us but there are so many problems with the market right now.

We've made a lot of adjustments in our already tight budget and have identified some financial/budget patterns. Our kids still have a roof over their heads and that is all we are worried about, so the current plan is to keep doing like we are doing. We would still like to sell and are most likely going to list it for sale by owner for now.

Back to school and work!

The kids have been out of school since last Wednesday and their dad has been off work since last Friday, but they all had to get back to normal today. They were all slightly reluctant but went to their destinations without much complaint!

My husband spent most of this short vacation working on our vehicles. He still has some more work to do and one more vacation day next week.

Another school break coming up

The kids just finished up winter break and here comes another one! They are out of school Monday (Jan. 19) for the holiday and the school has teacher workshops tomorrow and Friday, so they are now officially out of school "on break" until Tuesday.

I didn't check the school calendar so I wasn't aware of these two days they have out this week until they went back to school after winter break. If I had realized they had these two days plus the holiday after the weekend I could have tried to help my husband coordinate his time off work. He just took a vacation last Thursday and Friday plus this past Monday, the same days the kids are out of school except for a week ahead. He does have this Monday off on vacation so they'll all have one day off at the same time.

Update on the house-selling situation

Just as suddenly as our house became popular on the house-showing circuit, its popularity died down! After that rash of house showings a couple of weeks ago we haven't heard anything on interest or more showings.

Our realty contract is up this coming Monday; we've heard from the realtor and he'll be coming to pick the sign up. We have a "For Sale" sign with our phone number on it left over from the last house we sold that we'll most likely put up in its place. I'm looking into a few FSBO (for sale by owner) websites for possible listings. On a few of them you can list your house and put up a photo for free; for a really reasonable fee you can list the house for a year with up to 20 photos, plus they send you yard signs. We are talking about doing the one with the 20 photos and yard signs, and I'll probably look into some other avenues of low cost advertising.

We're still talking about what to do; right now the plan is to keep doing like we are doing and be patient.

As usual, my husband is making home improvement plans. ;)

Winter break almost over

The kids' winter break from school is almost over. It was actually quite pleasant as two weeks with a house full of kids is much easier to manage than two months. We had fun sleeping late, eating homemade pancakes (from scratch, Ma's recipe!) at noon, and playing outside.

The kids had a list of things they wanted to do (visiting family mostly) and it looked like it would all get done this weekend until a few relatives turned up sick. :( We hope everyone gets better soon and we'll try to visit everyone after they start feeling better.

My husband tried to take some time off work while the kids were on break but it didn't work out. That would have been great if they could have spent more time together. He was off two days during their break and we did enjoy some quiet family time together. He has a day off work in January that corresponds with a day out of school. Some days off work while they are in school means he can visit them at school, which they always love!

More house showings!

Suddenly our house is so popular. Hmmm ...

The preparation work for Monday night's showing went really well. I got the house clean Sunday night and the next morning I got the kids up early and took everyone over to my SIL's house before one dish could be dirtied or one toy pulled out of place! Other than it being a long day (the showing was set for 5-6:30 p.m.), it worked out wonderfully.

The next day we had not one but TWO showings! The realtor called my husband, who in turned called me at about 9 a.m. to let me know about the 1 p.m. showing. I had the kids be as un-messy as possible while I fed them and supervised them getting ready. My husband came from work to pick us up at 11:30 a.m. and we went with him to run errands. He treated us all to lunch at Burger King for our trouble. We were returning him to work at around 1:15 p.m. when the realty appointment office called to schedule an appointment for 4:45 p.m. that same day. Of course that was fine. That just meant that we would need to stay at my SIL's house a little longer, until it was time to pick my husband up from work.

We haven't heard back on the Tuesday showings, but we did hear Monday night that the person looking at the house decided against it. No word usually means the same thing.

Since then we haven't had any more requests but we are (read: I am) trying hard to keep things to where I can straighten up quickly and gather kids and leave quickly, just in case.

Our realty contract expires mid-January; we are still discussing the options.

Another house showing

We were notified this evening of another house showing for tomorrow evening. We had one last weekend after a very long time of no showings, so I had my work cut out for me cleaning the house from top to bottom. We managed to keep it pretty clean most of the week and then the whole thing just blew up in my face around Friday.

Everyone has been helping clean tonight, and it'll be all clean when I go to bed tonight. Tomorrow will be the tricky part, since there will be five kids here all day tomorrow. I'm thinking about getting up early and getting them up and taking everyone over to my SIL's house for the day. Of course that is much easier said than done, but if we can keep from messing up the entire house again tomorrow that would be wonderful for me.

We'll see how it goes!

Facebook nurse-in

A virtual nurse-in is being hosted at Facebook today. I'm participating!

Facebook removes breastfeeding photos, saying they are obscene.

To participate in the nurse-in, just change your profile photo to a breastfeeding one and in the bubble that says "What are you doing right now?" type in the words "Hey Facebook, breastfeeding is not obscene!"

My profile photo has been changed to this sweet one taken by my older daughter when my son was just several weeks old.

If you want to participate but are not a member, just go to www.facebook.com and sign up. If you do not have a breastfeeding picture, it looks like any photo of a mother feeding her young will do, according to the Boston Herald.

To find out more about the event, just go to this Facebook link.

I found a lot of interesting information by searching the name of the host group: Mothers International Lactation Campaign. In fact, the entire first page was filled with sites giving information about the Facebook nurse-in today.

One of the better sites I found when I searched was Motherwear's Breastfeeding Blog.

It's offensive enough that Facebook says a mother feeding her child in the way nature intended, but it's widely known that this social site allows all manner of lewd photos on their site. That is what is obscene, not a mother and child doing what they were created to do.

I joined Facebook about a month ago at the urging of a friend of mine, but I decided that it's a bit too social for me. I really don't need to know what my friends are saying to their other friends. Now with the knowledge that Facebook says photos of mothers feeding their children are obscene, I doubt I will frequent the site much at all anymore. I do hope the nurse-in moves them to change their policy and to apologize to all the users whose breastfeeding photos were removed.