It's Going...sorta

So the first week of homeschooling has been challenging.  For me.  I still don't really have a curriculum and I feel as though Emily is suffering because I don't really know what I'm doing. 

Emily gets bored very easily and loses interest rather quickly, so I have to be on my toes, which I'm not.  I'm frustrated, but I know with time I'll get things going better for her. 

We have been working on coins and what each coin is called and its value, something that she previously refused to even talk about.  So that is progress!  She's getting really good at counting coins.

We started an experiment with re-growing green onions.  I cut the ends off of store bought onions I was using for a salad and put them in a jar of water.  However, our little project went sour.  Literally.  We were getting some growth, which was very exciting, but I think after a day or so, they need to be in dirt.  The water really started to stink, and today during a lesson on plants and roots, I picked up one of the onions and apparently stirred the water.  If the stink had a color, it would have been a greenish-brown, the color I imagine body odor to have.  Gross, gross, gross!  I threw it all out (outside) and left the jar outside to dry out in the sunshine to hopefully get rid of that stink. 

Avery is doing some school work, but mostly she is a distraction to Emily.  Avery likes to play with whatever toy Emily really wants to play with, so when she does this during a lesson, Emily gets mad and all of the attention I had with her is gone.  I haven't really started any school work with Avery - just mainly alphabet pages or a hidden picture worksheet. 

Our New Journey: Homeschool

Emily has had nearly twenty sick days this year.  Mostly because of diabetes-related issues, some because of sicknesses that affected her diabetes, and some were just plain 'ol sicknesses. 

Since we've had so many days where her blood sugars are out of control (and since she'd just end up in the nurse's office anyway to get her numbers back in range), we decided we'd homeschool Emily, even on the days when her blood sugar was high and if she had ketones. 

Plus...Emily is a very spirited child.  She has it in her mind that she will do something, and if you try to get her to do it another way, or maybe not at all, she gets very upset.  VERY.  She will end up refusing to listen to you, or her teacher, and just get in trouble and not get anything done.  I decided that this was something we needed to address at home.  It is not fair that her teacher had to deal with this issue, especially if it was something that should have/could have been avoided by something we did/didn't do at home.  So, there's another reason she's being homeschooled.

And soon, Emily will be getting a pump.  She's not keen on new and different things that are attached to her body.  She will probably get pretty cranky and belligerent and I feel that this is another thing we can help her with at home and avoid her getting into "trouble" at school.


DAY ONE:

Emily is drawing one of her Skylander creatures.

 Here are all the books we have for her learnin'.

 Emily was given a subject to write about and illustrate.

 "Me on Television"..."I am on television.  I am in a fairy movie.  I said a magic word.  It's Pippi.  The End."

 And then she did some addition problems.  I think these were a bit easy for her, but we'll get it right soon.

 I used a page protector so we can reuse the book when Avery is ready!

So there it is.  We're homeschooling.  Emily is very excited.  I'm scared and unsure that I will be able to do this.  I don't know what I'm doing.  But it is going to be done.  We are going to have battles, we are going to hate each other, we are going to have to learn new ways of doing things, but we are going to do this.

In a Funk

I just haven't blogged lately.  I'm in a funk.  I hope I can get out of it...

Here are a couple of photos I've taken of SPRING!!!

This first one I took the other night of the moon and a couple of bright planets. It was so cool!

 Dandelions!  They're everywhere!

 Peach tree blossoms!  This is something I love to see.  But they go away so quickly!

Orzo Salad with Spicy Ranch

I found this recipe on Pinterest (where else???) and added it to this week's menu.  We ALL love orzo pasta at our house, along with black beans and corn, so I thought this would be fun to try.

I made the pasta first, planning on letting it cool in the fridge while I made the dressing.  As soon as it was drained, Emily wanted to eat it.  So I gave her some of the plain pasta.  She kept coming back for more!  I was afraid I wouldn't have enough for the actual salad.

I didn't make the spicy dressing in the recipe.  I made my own by making some ranch dressing and then adding several dashes (as in, I didn't measure) of ground cayenne pepper and some more dashes of chili powder.  YUM-O!

Then I added the dressing to the pasta and tried putting it in the fridge to cool and set, but Emily wanted MORE.  I was curious to see how she'd like the dressing, so I gave her some.  Avery wanted to try it, too.  And they both LOVED it!  I went ahead and put in the drained beans and corn and gave them each a bowl, and they chowed down.

Unsure if they would want more, I put the other ingredients (which the girls do not like) in separate bowls so Rob and I could add what we wanted to our own salads.  I didn't add the cilantro (I'm not a huge fan) and I didn't have cherry tomatoes, but regular ones worked fine.  I think grape tomatoes could have worked great.  

So, in the words of Emily:  "This is the stuff!"  

Orzo Salad with Spicy Buttermilk Dressing (recipe from Little Birdie Secrets)

• 1 cup uncooked orzo
• 1 cup frozen whole-kernel corn, thawed and drained
• 12 cherry tomatoes, quartered
• 3 green onions, sliced
• 1 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1/4 cup low-fat buttermilk
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro, divided
• 3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 2 tablespoons light sour cream
• 2 tablespoons canola mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 peeled avocado, cut into 8 wedges
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

Preparation:

• 1. Cook orzo according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain and rinse; drain well. Place orzo, corn, and next 3 ingredients (through beans) in a large bowl; toss.
• 2. Combine buttermilk, 2 tablespoons cilantro, and next 8 ingredients (through garlic) in a small bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Drizzle over orzo mixture; toss. Top with avocado; garnish with remaining cilantro and parsley.

Connect

As each new year begins, I mentally make plans of what I'd like to accomplish in the new year.  It's a fresh start, a new beginning, a virtual clean slate just waiting to be filled with great things.

And it seems that each time a new year rolls along, the things I had planned never come to light.

"Broken resolutions."  That's what they're called.  Sort of like broken promises to yourself.  Nothing like breaking promises to yourself to make you feel like a chump.

This year, instead of a resolution (or a promise that's going to get broken in about a month), I'd like to create a theme for the year.  My mom has inspired me to do this.  She chooses a word for the year and works on things with herself and with relationships with others that go along with this word.  This year I'm going to do this (even though I've chosen a word in previous years and then did nothing with it).

And this year I'm telling you about it.  I'm telling you because I want to share it with you.  I'm telling you because I'm going to be stepping out of my comfort zone a bit and I hope you can have patience with me.

The word (or goal or theme or promise) of 2012 is CONNECT.

I hope I can keep my promise to myself and I hope I can share some of what I'm doing with you!

By the way, if you'll scroll down a bit and look on the right at the blogs of my friends and family, you'll see a blog called Mom's Point of View.  I was a guest blogger today!  :)

Making Things

I'm still trying to be crafty. It is a struggle! But it makes me happy to have made something.

I made these advent calendars for the girls.  I've been wanting to do this since Emily was a baby, but I felt she wasn't ready to eat just one piece of candy each day.  I wasn't sure if Avery was ready either, but she did great!  In fact, she went several days without eating candy and then had a day where she'd play catch up and eat several pieces at once.  Emily didn't think it was very cool that Avery saved her pieces and at a bunch all at once.  She tried to save her candy but just couldn't do it.

See that little stocking on the right of the fireplace?  That's my childhood stocking!  My mom made each of us kids our own stocking.  This is something I'd like to do for the girls this year.  That way there won't be any "Hey, that's MY stocking!  No, that's yours, this one's mine!". 

Another thing I worked on is a way to keep my earphones untangled.  I have this one pair of earphones that came with my iPod that work just fine, but Avery chewed off one of the speakers, so it only had one working ear piece.  I usually only used one anyway, so no biggie.  I use them in my laptop at night when I can't sleep and I watch shows.  I lay on one side and put the earphone in the other ear. 

Anyway, these things got TANGLED!  It was a mess. 

On Pinterest, I found where someone had taken their earphones and used embroidery thread to create a sort of cover for their earphones.  The cover made it so the phones were less likely to tangle.  It was a bit of a flashback to junior high when I saw that the pattern was basically a friendship bracelet pattern.  This particular pattern was called Chinese Staircase. 

I received a new pair of earphones for Christmas and that day I began making my cover.  The girl that posted the picture of her earphones said it took her less than a day to do this.  Apparently this girl has no kids or laundry and doesn't eat or make food for others because this thing actually took me a week to complete! 

Looks cool, eh?  It was fun, challenging, and a learning experience.  Next time I do something like this, I'm going with ONE color.  Less to think about.  I'm still trying to figure out how to finish the edges to it doesn't all come unraveled.  I've got glue on the knots I tied, but I'm too scared to cut off the ends in case it all comes apart.

New Year's Eve Sunshine!

The girls have been getting cabin fever.  I don't blame them since it's hard for me to get out of the house and with the weather being so pretty (sunshiny and above 55°). 

Emily rode her scooter

Avery balanced on the curb (in her Native American pants, lol)

I love my girls!