I'm Impressed....

This is what Sawyer does while we all sit at the table immersed in adjectives and articles and complete predicates.


It was a delightful surprise to take a closer look, once we untangled ourselves from the dangling participles. Sawyer! Can you say "symmetry"?

We Are Not Our Blog...

I just feel compelled to share that our blog has a lot in common with the evening news. I confess, I manipulate and edit coverage to best fit my needs.

But in doing so, I may have painted a picture of a family that takes obedience lightly or the cares and concerns of siblings less than seriously (a.k.a. "stolen Play-Doh"). So you can feel free to take all my posts with a grain of salt. And now that I write that, where in the world does "grain of salt" come from? If anybody knows, please share.

What They Made With Play-Doh

What you see is a spider, with earmuffs and a cowboy hat. What you don't see (yet) is that the "M" on the green lid stands for "McKenna". As in, THIS IS MCKENNA'S PLAY-DOH, and she is going to be REALLY MAD that they "ruined" it.

"These are helicopters." Complete with sound effects.

The Latest on Nathan...

The unofficial diagnoses is that Nathan's tumor is what they thought it was...
juvenile pilocytic astrocytoma. It is a slow-growing non-malignant type of tumor. They won't have an official diagnoses until the whole team of doctors signs off on this. Most patients see success with slow, low-dose chemo. Since the tumor grew slowly and was there since birth, the only way to kill it is slowly. This low-dose chemo does not cause you to loose any hair, so that's a blessing. The treatments will be once a week for a whole year.
Nathan will have to go in for another surgery next week to place a shunt in his chest for administering the chemo.
Please pray for this surgery.
Pray that the tumor will shrink.
Pray that it will not grow back in 5-8 years like it does in some patients.
Pray for wisdom for the doctors and for the parents.
Nathan is in good spirits and HAPPY to be HOME!

It Works!

It's time to study POETRY in our 7th Grade English curriculum. This is the promise it makes:
"Exploring poetry will increase your fluency and sensitivity to language...you will become aware of new relationships between people, things and ideas." Doesn't that sound promising? And a little unlikely when your students groan at the thought of it?
After reading several poems out loud to each other I decided poetry would end for the day.
"Time for Spelling!" I announced.
Without skipping a beat, Kiki began singing absentmindedly as she prepared for the next subject:
(Sung to the tune of 'If You're Happy and You Know It')
Spelling is so hard for-or me
Spelling is so hard for-or me
Switch-ing words, fluttering like the birds
Spelling is so hard for-or me!

That is the PERFECT description of dyslexia, if anyone ever wanted to know.

Mixed Messages

Here is Tristan sliding on the forbidden arm of the couch (while Mommy takes pictures,
hopefully secretively).


Here is Sawyer hearing Daddy say, "WHAT are you doing sliding off the arm of the couch?!" (while Mommy takes pictures).



Here is Sawyer in the throes of disappointment.


One kid: "There's nothing to do now!"


The other kid: "I'm going to make a cheeseburger bed! Here's the bun....


And the salad....


And the blanket for the cheese."

Controlling Closetland

I had one of those moments where you read something and try to make sense of it because it strikes you as kind of odd, but yeah, it could work. This is what Blogger had posted on my opening admin. page:
"Scheduled outrage at 4:00 PDT Find out more, here."
"Hmmmmmmmm," I thought, " It must be cool for everyone to complain about something in all the blogs at the same time. Should I do that? Wait, that's dumb. Do they want us to join a what-are-you-really-mad-about forum or something?
This was my reasoning.
Then I read it again.
"Scheduled outage" Oh, that I actually care about.

Note: There is only one person, possibly 4, who will know why the title of this post is appropriate. It's not that you are not getting it. It's a long story.

This is How My Day Started.....

"Mom, why are you eating the most burnt one?" queried Greyson.

"Because that's what moms do." I replied cheerfully.

"Why?" he asked again.

"Mom's can suffer through burnt cinnamon toast better then kids can."

The eating of it is easy, it's the realizing you've just wasted a loaf of bread, a whack of butter, and the time it took to make it that starts your day off wrong.

Nathan's Going Home!

The doctor said he was doing so well, they could release Nathan tomorrow!
The new finding is that it looks like there is a second small cyst that was hidden by the one they drained. It is in the optic nerve area so they will not be able to remedy it. The chemo may shrink it.
In three weeks, they will put a shunt into Nathan's chest area (this will require another surgery) to administer the chemotherapy. He will have chemo once a week for a whole year to shrink the cyst and the tumor.
Nathan is somewhat melancholy and very tired. Pray for strength and joy along with healing.

Hit the Jackpot with This Fieldtrip

This was at a wildlife reserve near out house. We found so many unexpected things.



A puzzle?


A really big ship.


Beaver teeth.


A composting toilet....

Complete with instructions.



Gravel hills for sliding....


And jumping.



Mr. Crane.


Mr. Snake, with a hurt tail.


"Can I touch it?"






Lot's of woolly bears.


We had to stop to record it all.



WAIT, there was one last thing....


A fox skin.
Wasn't that a productive trip?

Goodbye Vanilla

This morning Kiki found her hamster had met the end of his days.

We all said goodbye.

"Mom, who killed Kiki's hamster?" asked Sawyer

I had to explain about dying from old age.

I think Sawyer's been watching too many Monk episodes.

Her other animals enjoy a good life. This is "contentment" in bunny language.

This is "tolerance".

This is "curiosity" with contentment in the background.

This is bathing, and "Hush! I can't hear what's going on".

They also do "furious" and "shunning", but they were in too good a mood to get those shots.

Operation Recovery

Nathan is in ICU. They keep saying "he is doing really, really well". Darlene said he even got out of his bed and walked a little! He is alert and may be able to eat today.
The surgery was successful and they will get the results of the biopsy by Thursday. Over the next three days he will have swelling, a really black eye, and some headaches. After 3 days those symptoms will start to decrease.

Current Prayer Requests:
Nathan will have another MRI today, or tomorrow. It is an hour long and he is dreading this.
Pray for healing, no infection, no blood clots, and no refilling of the cyst.
Pray that he would eat and drink today.
This is day 4 that Nathan, Darlene, and Aaron have had no sleep. Pray for rest.

Nathan News

Some of you are keeping up with news about Nathan. I've added a label on my sidebar with his name. If you click on "Nathan", all of the old posts and the newest news can be accessed.

A Duplo Economy

Guess what it causing more fights in my house than anything else?




This red Duplo half-brick. Apparently it is the ONLY way to build one of these....







Or one of these......




It is the gold of the Duplo economy because there are only 3 red half-bricks.


I almost threw this Duplo set out because I thought the kids had out grown it.


But they've been happily occupied for 3 weeks now. So Lego will have to rewrite the the Duplo Box Label which states: Ages 1/2 - 5.


Here you go-

"DUPLOS! Good for 4-12 year olds. Extra half-bricks not included."

Update on Nathan

The surgery went well. They were able to get a biopsy of the tumor and drain the cyst. Nathan will be coming into recovery in ICU within the hour.
Pray for no blood clots, and that the drain for the cyst will not get blocked.
It will take a few days to examine the biopsy, get a second opinion, and determine the next course of action.
Thank you Lord, for your provision thus far!

Today's the Day....

At 12:30 Mountain Time they roll Nathan into a 5 hour surgery. Please pray.

Look What We Found!

What's that yellow thing, up in the tree?

Could it be.....


YES, it's a dandelion.


We are not yard people, but we did grow a 10 foot tall weed.

Fall Kick Off

This is their favorite way to celebrate the start of Fall.....










Planning his next move.....


How long does it take a Munch to eat a whole caramel apple?
He's still workin' on it.

Why Are They StirCrazy?

The kids have been in the house for two weeks. They can't go in public, so we opted for a nice drive, just to DO something. Here they are enjoying the scenery in the country...

The chicken pox are just about over, but not tame enough to go anywhere public. Some of you have asked how bad they got it....Can you guess who got the mildest case?

This is on the healing side, I spared viewers from the most inflamed eruptions. It was just too sad. Only a few more days, and they'll be able to entertain the neighbors again with their outdoor shenanigans.