Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Grow-A-Frog & an "A Yea Day"!


Here is a picture of our Grow-A-Frog, As you can see he has his back legs now. He has just gotten in his front legs, They are still very small hard to see in the picture. This has been very cool to watch him grow!


I had one of those moments yesterday..... Kelly & her father were watching a tv show about water and diving. On the show they were talking about how the lungs of a diver when they come up to fast from the bottom can get really sick. Out of nowhere Kelly says, We learned about that! She remembered!!!!!!! I went over and kissed her. It was great to finally here her tell back at another time something she actually learned from me! Yea!

Saturday, May 26, 2007

Moaning & Groaning.....

I have really had a tough week!
1)I knew homeschooling was going to be tough once my son (He is in public school) was out for the summer - Well it has been like pulling teeth to get Kelly to sit down for lessons, I decided about mid-week to just scrap this week and start next fresh....
2)I have been getting so much flax from my husband &kids about the dog breeding business latley! Right now we have a ton of puppies who are not sleeping very well, So it is keeping them up, then the adult dogs are barking too much, the puppies are bitting at their feet when they walk ect. ect.... My husband blew a gasket this morning - He littereally was acting like a huge baby, He was up on the couch jumping around & screaming "I can't go to work....". I hold my tounge because I know dog breeding isn't the easiest job most people think it is - I haven't been able to take a family vacation is years and it looks like I will not be able to for a number more years : ( It is alot for my family to have to put up with but it allows me to be home and make good money. My husbands painting business has been very spotty lately he took most of April & May off - So I really can't belive when he is the most vocal about the dogs since if we didn't have this money we would be up a river!
3)Then the fire behind our house - It was far enough away but still very close that we had top worry about evacuating. Now that was a stressful night!
4)My cat who is almost as old as my son - say about 16 years old is acting not well at all. I hope it passes because he was looking great lately and we told him so!
5)Needless to say with all the stress lately I feel like a wet door mat! With being up with the puppies a ton of times a night., That makes me cranky enough but then you toss in why isn't any of the laundry done and I am like a rocket ready to launch! My husband this morning between jumping on the couch was saying why wasn't the laundry done - He has no socks to wear..... Can you imagine, He couldn't work yesterday because we actually had a little bit of rain here and there. He came home had lunch and took a very long nap. When he woke up I asked him to go buy the horse & goat food, He said no. I had to put dinner on low and run off and get the food. Then he said, Has anyone feed the goats yet? I said no, He then yelled at my daughter to get out there and feed them - I had to go help her because the bags were still in the car (each one is 50lbs. and we had four of them). I am out there doing that when he was yelling at the dogs for something. I come in and feed the dogs/puppies cleaned out their playpens & did the dishes. I started a load of dark clothes in the washer & then finally sat down to watch a movie. I was plumb wore out and he says he's tired and going to sleep!

Okay enough moaning and growning, that get's you no where! It was great to post it though it helps to get it off my chest : )

Thursday, May 24, 2007

Speeding Ticket!!!!!

Can you feel the steam rising from my post!
Yes, that's right my son has gotten his first speeding ticket!
I can not tell you how upset I am about this whole thing..... Not so much about the speeding ticket (I do have to say here in our area alot of the roads are not posted very well and you have no idea what the speed limit is) but that I told him to go to his friend's house and back home - No joy riding! Now that gas is $3.19 a gallon and he has no job, I'm not paying for him to waste gas...... Well, where did he get the ticket, You guessed it - down by the beach! The tickets is (brace yourself) $210.00 - He was driving 56 in a 45 speed zone. We had told him in the past if he were to get a speeding ticket we would take his license away... he handed me his wallet when he walked in so I knew he was in trouble. but what get's me, He said "I'm sorry I screwed up" but yet had the "Oh well attitude" and said "Haven't you ever gotten a speeding ticket - I don't know why you are getting so mad". This is what is burning me up - He has a nonchalant attitude about it, not thinking what this does to your insurance (which is already skyhigh from adding him on to the policy in the first palce) and the $210.00 has to come from some where!
Kids, They sure are challenging sometimes......

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Our ~*Grow-A-Frog*~ Project




In today's mail (5/22/07) we received our tadpole. We were worried to open the packaging it came in, the last time they sent us a tadpole is wasn't alive. This time the little fellow seems to be doing just fine : )

Scary Day Yesterday!


Sometimes something happens and it just brings you back to reality.

We had one of those days yesterday - My daughter went out to feed the goats and came running in, saying "Fire"! My heart jumped into my throat, It is so dry here in Florida that any fire is a major concern... Sure enough a large fire was buring pretty close by to our house. Even though living in Florida we feel we are pretty prepared for anything, When a fire pops up it catches you so off guard. I scrabbled around trying to remember what I need to take if we had to evacuate. You should have seen me ripping through the closets getting my families photo albums (I still have them in the plastic tubs from when we evacuated to Alabama for one of those past hurricanes). I was a wreak and almost in tears, I talked a number of times to the people at the non- emergency phone number, To be honest they were of no help. Being that I have a ton of animals (especially the horse) I need to have a little idea if or when we would need to leave.

Anyway, I hardly slept last night, but the fire seems to be "contained" this morning - Just think the hurricane season is only like two weeks away!!!!!
Special Note: When Kelly was running around packing her backpack with things she wanted to take just in case - I noticed that not one of the new school books were packed : (

Saturday, May 19, 2007

Sunny Saturday


Well my son has one more day of school left of 11th grade then he is off for the summer.... You don't know how sad I feel when I think of him starting his senior year in August! I know most mom's would be happy for their kids but not me, I just feel that the time has just passed WAY to quickly. My mom always said that you wake up one morning and your children are going to kindergarten, you wake up another morning they are teenagers, wake up again they are graduating high school, then getting married, then having their own babies..... she always said that I will not belive how quickly time flies by to not worry about all the little things to just enjoy the children while they are with me! Of course while your going through life it is hard to stop and "See the children", you worry that they aren't speaking yet, when will they be potty trained, walking, then you go through the whole school thing, then first boyfriends/girlfriends, driving a car ect..... It seems a blur when you think of it and it's hard to enjoy it while you are living it. But I so understand what she ment when she said you will wake up one morning and it will be all gone and you won't know where it went - I am at that point with Kristopher, He drives, has a girlriend & will be a senior in highschool! Where did my little man with the big belly laugh go?

He had a football game last night against Mainland, in Daytona Beach. He played alot but not all of the game, He was a bit disappointed about that. I really am not sure why they take him out of the game, he does very well I think.... He loves football - I don't know how he sticks with it though when his football coach tells him he will be playing both sides of the ball and then he doesn't even play the whole game!!!! They do this to him every year, and it looks like it will happen again this up-coming year too! here is the story about the football game: http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/Sports/Headlines/sptFBH01051907.htm

Friday, May 18, 2007

~* The Nile River *~







Here are a few pictures of our "Nile River". This is one of the projects from the Story of the World Book #1. We seemed to have a terrible time "overflowing" it.... We couldn't get the water to go over the banks : ( Kelly then really went crazy with the water and we totally flooded it! We haven't had much luck with any of the projects we have done so far..... But we will keep trying : )

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Homeschool Horse Field Trip


Kelly & I went with two other families from her Homeschool Horseback Riding Class to see our horse trainer's new baby minature horse. She has the little guy and his mom at a stable over by Cody's Cornor. It was fun to see about 30 horse that were there - two of the females are very pregnant and ready to pop any minute. Most of these horse are only for breeding, It is alittle sad that they look at you with those eyes like they want some lovin....

The trainer's little man is just too cute! He has one blue eye and one brown eye - I took a picture of him with his mom, In the picture is also Kelly's horse back trainer and one of the other gals in the class.

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Homeschooling Groove.......

I have been putting alot more time into getting ready for Kelly's school day. I think before I was just to overwhelmed and didn't really have a vision on where we were going. I feel really excited that I might have found something we can run with : )
Of course we have really only been doing http://www.amblesideonline.org/index2.shtml for a few says now but I actually have Kelly's attention...... Yea! We aren't doing the program exactlly like they state but close to it, We are also using "The Story of the World" series http://peacehillpress.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=2 & The Apologia books http://www.jeanniefulbright.com/apologia.html In each of htese programs they have experiments and projects to go with the learning which is soooo Kelly. It really helps keep her motivated to sit and listen if she knows we are going to to a project or experiment in the near future!
I'll keep you posted on how it is going!!!!!

Sunday, May 13, 2007

Happy Mother's Day!

Since my mom passed away Feb. 5, 2002 - I have hated each "Mother's Day" that has rolled around! I wake up with a saddness each year - I miss her terribly. So many times I hear people talk about "Oh, there mother this and that" they don't know how lucky they are to be able to complain about their moms.... You just can not know the feeling unless you have lived it! I lost my mom in 2002 and then my dad passed away 16 days after we moved down to Florida in Sept. 2003 - I know I have said it before but there is no love like your parents love and when it's gone it is such an adjustment to make.....

Saturday, May 5, 2007

Fires & Accidents.....

We have a nasty wild fire here in Flagler County that is getting me a bit nervous! It's not too close yet but when you here how quickly it is eating up acres and acres of land it makes you worried.... It seems that if we aren't worried about hurricanes (Which starts June 1st.) then it's fires here in Florida. It really striks me as ironic because one of the reasons we moved down here was to get away from bad weather (snowstorms & cold). I just pray that this fire or any others that might pop up stay away from our area... With so many animals it would be very gut wrenching having to evacuate without the horse, goats, chickens, turkey's! I pray that my daughter would never have to live through that!!!!!! There are so many things to think about when faced with evacuating - Our main problem is getting all the dogs into the van. I have been very slack this year because when some of the dog crates cracked I didn't replace them which could cause some major issues if we need to leave fast. I really should get on that today - See really what we would be faced with.
Anyway, In other bad news one of the boys who played football with Kris last year was in a terrible car crash. The football coach who went to see him said he had been thrown out of the car during the accident, he said that it looked like the young man had no ears.... and would have major scars on his face. This boy was so handsome and so smart too - It is just such a darn shame this had to happen, he had just lost his father only a short time ago! His mom must be beside herself! It really brings home that you just never know when things like this will happen.... I think we all need to rethink things. I feel so blessed to be able to have Kelly home with me (I just hope I am doing her justice by her learning). Our kids are with us so little time if you really think about it - Then they go off to start their own lives.... Hold them close while you can : )

Wednesday, May 2, 2007

Where did that month go?

Well a whole month has passed since I last posted! Yikes, Where does the time go...... It seems like the days just run into each other and it is the same day over and over.
It is crazy here, We had a few litters of pups which have been keeping me busy as a beaver. I am finding it harder and harder to balance work with homeschooling - It seems just to easy put off schooling when I am over loaded with the dogs : ( I am working on trying to do the schooling in the morning and then my dog work in the afternoon but when you have puppy families asking for up-dated pictures of their babies it's hard to not to get on it..... This morning I was up at 4:30am - Yikes! That is why I am dragging all day and need a nap or two to make it through the day.
My husband has been out of work pretty much all of April and nothing is in sight. That has me in knots, He always feels things will come through but here in the Flagler Beach area things have really slowed down in the building area. It never seems like we can have a good money year, Something always comes up......
After our episode with Oak Meadow and Kelly not really getting much out of it (Her recall of what we worked on was pretty bad), I cancelled that and we have started http://www.amblesideonline.org/index2.shtml
It is something I had looked at before and decided to give it a go. I am buying all the books necessary for the year because with gas prices going skyrocketing, I don't want to have to go to the library for the books.... (Have you noticed not many people complaining about how high the gas is? I find this so strange. Our gas here is almost at $3.00 a gallon, I can't belive it, I never thought I would see it that high. Here gas keeps going higher and higher but paychecks are going lower and lower). Back to the new program we are using, I am adding a bit here and there with things I think Kelly will get a bit more out of, for example one of the books is inventors - I know she would be bored to death with that. We will see how this works out, I have been spending a ton of time setting up a schedule - I really think that is alot of our problem, we just kinda wing it.....
Well till next time......