First off I realized in my last post that saying I'm "pretty much against vaccinations" is really vague and wasn't really the right wording so if you really care to know what I meant by it you can ask me! :)

Secondly, Emeric had his neurology appt. and they upped his meds again. No other major news other than she wants an MRI repeated in December/January since it will have been a year. Basically she said the plan is to work on getting the seizures fully under control. I guess I thought that was ALWAYS the plan?????

We were driving along today and Kylie saw two dead chickens on the road and she said, "Mom, I guess those chickens didn't stay by the white line!" (She knows you don't cross the white line when you're on the side of the road while riding bike and now she knows what could happen if you do!) :D

I saw some people doing this on their blogs and I wanted to join in the fun! I'll start and I'll tag 4 people to also do this:


4 things I was doing 10 years ago...
I was just getting ready to enter my Senior Year of High School!
I was trying to decide where I would go to college.


4 things on my to do list for today...
Take Emeric to his neurology appt.
Pick the 10+ ripe tomatoes in the garden and figure out what to actually do with them!
Call and reserve a campsite for this weekend
Laundry!

4 things I love about my husband...
He puts up with my erratic moods! :)
He's an awesome dad!
He works very hard to support our family!
He loves me!

4 jobs I have had...
I worked in a grocery store for 5 years
I worked at a clothing store in the mall
I worked at Taco Johns!!!
I worked in the MRI unit at the hospital

4 movies I have watched more than once...
Apollo 13
Legally Blonde
10 Things I Hate About You
The Notebook

4 places I have lived...
My parents house
College Dorm
My brother and sister in law's basement
Random trailer houses

4 places I have been...
Costa Rica
Alaska
Seattle
Florida

4 places I want to visit...
Hawaii
Europe
Israel
New York

4 t.v. shows I watch...
Grey's Anatomy
Regis and Kelly
Oprah
Anything on Discovery Health Channel

4 things you may not know about me...
I'm a lazy perfectionist, lol...
I'm pretty much against vaccinations...
I use cloth diapers
I have a ridiculous number of allergies to food and environmental crap.

I tag:
Erin
Jessica
Anna
Cristina

I thought maybe someone else would be interested in these sites. They're pretty cool...
Brain Pop Jr. Is a really neat site for kids with lots of information on different subjects. You can subscribe for a free day trial to see if you like it. I think you would! :)

www.starfall.com
www.letteroftheweek.com

www.enchantedlearning.com
www.abcteach.com

http://www.first-school.ws/INDEX.HTM

Right now we've got lots of ideas for school but our "tenative" schedule is:

Everyday:
Fingerplays/Songs
Reading


Monday's:
Language Arts-Using our Oak Meadow curriculum
Science-Oak Meadow
Music-Piano Lessons
Craft-Oak Meadow

Tuesday's:
Math-Oak Meadow and Singapore Math
Bible
Social Studies- Country of the Week, Oak Meadow, World Vision sponsored child, www.worldatlas.com

Wednesday's:
Language Arts-Hooked on Phonics, Starfall
Science- Oak Meadow, National Geographic cards
Spanish

Thursday's:
Math
Social Studies
Bible

Friday's:
Homeschool group activities
Cooking

We've also got lots of other odds and ends we're incorporating in but we'll see how it goes. I have plenty of stuff to do, too much probably. I'm not pushing anything and my goal is 30-45 minutes of core subjects and the rest will be incorporated throughout the day including stories at bedtime that have to do with our letters or sounds for the week.

Monday's will be our big day because Emeric is out of our hair with his nurse so we'll try to get piano lessons done that day and our craft. I've got other ideas for that day too.

Tuesday's will be a quiet day...

Wednesday's the girls will have Awana's at a church in town. Kaydence will start Cubbies this year and Kylie will be in Spark's. I usually leave Emeric with Jake and take the 1.5 hours to myself which is a highlight of me weeks! :)


Thursday's we go to a Bible study in town at the same church the girls have Awana's at. It's great because they have nursery care for Emeric and Little Lamb's for 3-5 year olds. It's just a little over 2 hours and I enjoy getting together with other women.

Friday's the homeschoolers get together as a group. In the fall and spring they go swimming and in the winters they go ice skating. Emeric's nurse will be coming with us on Friday's and we're trying to get it set up so he'll have speech therapy at the hospital during part of that time. Kylie will also having swimming lessons during that time as well.

Our week sounds really busy but I plan on being pretty laid back in terms of "doing school". I really think Kindergarten should be a fun experience and that kids don't need lots of academics at that age. I also think learning is a part of life and that you don't need to call learning "school" in order for kids to learn. We aren't using workbooks or worksheets other than some of the math because Kylie enjoys that. There won't be any sitting at a desk-type learning and most of our learning will be games, reading, outside stuff, etc.

September is Hispanic Heritage month so we're going to start off learning a little bit about Spanish culture and learning the numbers 1-10 in Spanish. Kylie knows most of the them but Kaydence doesn't.

Now, for other news... Emeric has a neurology appt. tomorrow and blood work. He's lost some more weight so we've got to discuss what we'll do about his meds. Keep him in your thoughts if you don't mind! :)

It came and went...

So, I didn't ever mention to anyone here that I got a job. Yup, working at the pharmacy in town. And then as soon as I was told I got the job I realized I can't take it. Let's just say that health insurance in our country is majorly screwed up and in order for us to keep our health insurance we have to remain poor. Sounds about right huh? I thought if I got the job that would be a sign I should take the job and well, now I'm bummed because I really, really wanted the job. :(

The health care in this country is ridiculous. I don't think Universal Healthcare is the answer and I don't really know what is, I just know something needs to change. The way it's set up now is terrible for people that are self employed and basically keeps the poor poor.

OK, enough rant for the day. I've got a bazillion phone calls to make so I'm off.

Day by day, and with each passing moment,
Strength I find to meet my trials here;
Trusting in my Father's wise bestowment,
I've no cause for worry or for! fear.
He, whose heart is kind beyond all measure,
Gives unto each day what He deems best,
Lovingly its part of pain and pleasure,
Mingling toil with peace and rest.

Every day the Lord Himself is near me,
With a special mercy for each hour;
All my cares He fain would bear and cheer me,
He whose name is Counsellor and Pow'r.
The protection of His child and treasure
Is a charge that on Himself He laid;
"As thy days, thy strength shall be in measure,"
This the pledge to me He made.

Help me then, in every tribulation,
So to trust Thy promises, O Lord,
That I lose not faith's sweet consolation,
Offered me within Thy holy Word.
Help me, Lord, when toil and trouble meeting,
E'er to take, as from a father's hand,
One by one, the days, the moments fleeting,
Till with Christ the Lord I stand.

Emeric's Birthday Party!!

I like seeing pictures of random things from people's lives so here are some random pictures...


The first picture is of our backyard and my garden. You can sort of see the garden through the trees. The other picture is also of our backyard which obviously isn't finished yet! :)







I refer to this as Emeric's Pharmacy. These are the meds he takes everyday. And you thought a teaspoon of Amoxicillin 2x a day for 10 days was bad!?!? :)


Here's some corn and tomatoes from our garden and a few lone gladiolas that are blooming!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY EMERIC!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY EMERIC!!

Emeric is 2 years old today! Here are some pictures in no particular order:

More pictures...

Words of Wisdom...

Teeth are so pointless to me. I mean sure without teeth I couldn't anything hard, crunchy, or chewy very easily but I don't think it'd be so bad to live off smoothies for the rest of my life. Or malt o meal... I guess pizza wouldn't take very good pureed but I'm not sure I care at this point.

I just got home from the dentist. When you sit for 1.5 hours with the blood rushing to your head and your mouth open wider than the Grand Canyon and your face is getting sprayed with water while a cement drill rattles your brains it makes you realize that hey, maybe pulling all these teeth would just be the best option.

Do you know that having good teeth is mostly genetics? It isn't how much candy you eat, how much pop you drink, or how much you brush your teeth. Sure, those things play somewhat of a part but really it's mostly your family that gave you bad teeth. Or good teeth if you have them. But we're not talking about good teeth because I'm envious and irritated with those that have good teeth.

You know what else plays a part? Breastfeeding. You give your baby the healthiest start possible and in the end you pay for it with drills, and synthetic materials, and nasty smells, and pain. See, if you're like me and you don't take prenatal vitamins while you're pregnant than you too will have the vitamins sucked from your teeth(and bones). I don't think it happens right away but I spent a total of 31 months breastfeeding and apparently it did me in.

So your lesson for today is eat, drink and be merry. Because in the end it really doesn't matter anyway.

P.S. Wait to drink until the novacaine has fully worn off though. That way you won't end up with water running down your face and a wet shirt.

Our classroom

Here are some pictures of our homeschool classroom so far. Minus the walls, sheetrock, carpeting and other non-important materials! ;)

There's still LOTS of work to be done but it's coming along and it will work fine. In the summer it's nice and cool and in the winter, with the floor heat, it stays warm. So not having carpet will be ok for a while!

I was starting to get worried that I didn't have what I needed and then this weekend between garage sales and thrift stores we collected a globe for $1, a chalkboard for $3.95, some big books of fairy tales and Children's Literature for $1 each, and a few weeks ago I got that big black book shelf for free!! I also bought the table and chairs from a lady in Fargo last week. I love them!

I included a random picture of Emeric and I because it's very rare I get a picture taken of myself with any of the kids!!

Well, I had a huge long post written and it was lost. UGH! So for now I'm just sharing pictures of our Epilepsy Walk and one of my nephew Jaymen that my sister took because I thought it was cool!

Epilepsy Stroll

We went camping this weekend with our church. It was pretty fun and the sleeping arrangements went much better than expected! We played volleyball, 4-square, went swimming, and sat by the fire. It was relaxing and nice to get out of the house and away for a couple days. Someone actually gave Jake a pop up camper but they needed it one last weekend which just happened to be the weekend we could've used it! Oh well, maybe we'll get another camping trip in before summer is over. Who knows where we'll store the thing though!

I've been cutting beans all morning and plan on canning them later once I run to town and buy some lids for the jars. I think I'll have about 20 qt's. Beans grow at ridiculously fast speeds! I'm glad I only planted 1.5 rows!

We're gearing up for homeschooling around here. We got a table and chairs and a bookshelf. Now I just need some more shelving and a few other random things and we should be set!

I also forgot to mention a big happening in our house... Kylie learned to ride her bike without training wheels yesterday!! She was pretty proud. Initially she told me she'd learn when she was 6 but I took them off yesterday and she didn't mind!

Video of the girls singing "Jesus Loves Me"

My Montage 8/7/08

Well, Emeric's VEEG went well. We met with the neurologist and he's still having a lot of seizures. We started him on a new medicine so maybe that will help some. He has started having partial seizures that end up as generalized seizures and the right temporal lobe is slower than the left. These are new changes that weren't there 6 months ago so that has me concerned.

Anyway, not much else going on here. We're getting ready for school. Jake is working on getting the room in the basement finished and then we have A LOT of cleaning to do!

I'm not in a writing mood so here are some pictures instead...

I gave the kids some beans to play with and as you can see they had fun making a huge mess:


Emeric at his VEEG:


I canned beans for the first time ever and they turned out well!