Our First Snow of 2009

Well, we started getting ice on Monday evening about 6. It didn't quit icing until Tuesday night about midnight. Sometime after that it started snowing...and then quit by morning! LOL We got about 3-4 inches of ice packed in underneath 3-4 inches of snow. Wowee! Made for some good sledding today for the kids! But it made for some interesting driving and digging-out this morning for the adults that had to go to work! It took Terry nearly an hour to get out of the snow that was up to the bottom of his car!

Well, I had Terry get some snow from outside in bowls for me so I could make some snow ice cream later. That's one thing the boys have looked forward to...and is a tradition I hope to continue from my childhood onto theirs. But the boys had no idea that it had snowed last night. They knew it had been icing yesterday, but they knew they couldn't play in the ice. So when they finally realized there was snow (about an hour and a half after they got up!) they decided to come up with a picture and a song for me to tell me they wanted to go out and play. Here's the picture:

The song was like this, to the tune of "Jingle Bells":
Christmas time, Christmas time,
It's Christmas time outside!
Snow has fallen, let's all cheerin',
Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah!

LOL Whatever! They had fun. So I told them that we'd get to go outside, but it would be only after.... And they knew, "We finish our school work." So they took off to the schoolroom and Brent was done with all of his work in like an hour...totally amazed me! When there's motivation, it's amazing what can get accomplished!


So we ate lunch and bundled up and headed outside. I was wearing a pair of boots of Terry's (cuz I have no heavy shoes to speak of) and decided his coat was warmer than mine, so I wore one of his coats. The boys laughed at me cuz I 'looked like Daddy.' :) Here are some random shots of our time outside and some explanation where needed.


Of course, Brent took advantage of the fresh snow to make a snow angel...




At the top of this one on the left you can see his finished angel. Then on the right, they wanted to make a 'path' with their shovels....



Clayton found this large block of snow and decided to offer me some of his 'ice cream'...when I didn't want any he said, "Fine, I'll eat it myself!" and I got a shot of him just as he ate it! Then he went off the porch and decided to clock himself in the head with it! LOL



Clayton decided to start throwing snow up in the air and have 'snow showers'....it covered all of us!



In this one below-right, Brent was getting ready to take a bit of snow when Clayton was starting to throw it in the air...Brent reached up and blocked him...but shoved the snow in Clayton's face! ROFL! He was crying, I was laughing. I know...I'm a great mom!



I have a couple video's to share too...the first one is Brent sledding down our hill. He discovered that he really likes sledding! He kept going down and up, down and up...over and over. Clayton wasn't having any of it. He would watch and laugh and yell, but wouldn't do it himself.





Finally, I convinced Clayton to sled. The first time, I helped him so much that I couldn't get a video of it. Well, he was sitting so far to the back and was so light, that he was FLYING...literally. He was bouncing and popping up off the snow as he was going down. Well, he enjoyed it enough that I convinced him to do it again. This time....



Well, of course, he was crying and very upset. I finally got to him and calmed him down and asked if he got hurt. He said no. Did he get scared going too fast? No. So I had him look at me and tell me what was wrong.... He said, "Why did those people have to put that building there....if it wasn't for that I could have gone farther!!!" He wasn't hurt...he was mad cuz he had to stop!!! But then he refused to do it again! Weird child!


Anyway, Brent continue on sledding and they went on to other things. Then Brent decided to go to the other side of the house and sled down that side of the hill... Clayton decided he wanted to ride down with Brent! So, I helped them get set up and gave them a push....

Grade posting

I have graded Brent's workbooks for Units 1 & 2. Here is a summary:

Unit 1:
Phonics - 96% - A
Reading - 94% - A

Unit 2:
Phonics - 97% - A
Reading - 92% - A

So far so good! :) I don't have much on math yet...will get Social Studies done soon.

Ice and more ice

We're finally getting a winter here, but it's not the kind of winter we want! Instead of snow, we're getting ice. And LOTS of it. Oddly, it's coming down in pellets instead of the freezing rain stuff that we had last year...so this doesn't seem to be sticking to trees and power lines, just cars and roads! LOL Right now we're at about 4 inches of ice and it's still coming down. We're supposed to have snow on top of this but that depends on how low the winds blow the snow-storm. Who knows....

The boys of course are not getting a snow day off of school. :( They are grumpy about it, but they are living with it. Brent keeps asking me when they will get a day off school and I told him they gets days off all the time, I just don't point it out. Hmm..perhaps I should? :)

No word yet on the job front for Terry. Right now things are just status quo. Hopefully, they will stay this way...if they do then all will be okay. If they change again, that's when things will get really interesting.

I am working on this diet thing....again. I've added exercise into my routine, which is really hard for me. But I'm working on it. I've lost 1 lb. 1 measly pound. It's depressing, but I'm trying not to let it get to me.

Apple Dumpling Gang

Just posted about the Apple Dumpling Gang on my Review Blog. :)

They fixed it!

Recently, our credit card was charged over $600 to a Walt Disney World vacation...a charge we certainly didn't do! Granted this caused some stress and worry over our CC having been stolen, possibly having to change it, etc. Terry called the company and talked to them about it and they let us know they would launch an investigation into the situation, but that it would be around 30 days until we heard something, cuz they have to contact the merchant to confirm the actions. Okay, we were fine with that as long as we wouldn't be charged any fees or interest while it was happening.

Well, today, we got a phone call that all is well! The merchant let them know that there was no paper record of that charge, and so therefore, the credit card company would refund our account that money and show it as a zero. We are so very grateful that this didn't turn into something more frustrating and time consuming than it had to be.

And as Terry says, this is why he loves credit cards as opposed to debit cards....he can fight this without having to pay for it first. Where as with debit cards, the money is gone and then you have to fight it and try to get the money back.

At least it's all figured out! :)

Back to the daily grind...

Things are getting back to normal a bit this week. We're back to doing school daily (which I'm thankful for!) and Terry is back to work. He did find out on Monday that he will be working 4-day work-weeks starting with next week. He will have to use vacation time for that 5th day until his vacation time is gone. After that, I don't know what will happen. ?? *sigh* We're doing lots of praying right now, working on budgets, and trying to decide what to do with our house. Do we sell? Do we not sell?

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I haven't posted much about Clayton's latest issues....tummy troubles. He had the flu back in November and ever since then, hasn't been the same. He's been eating very oddly: only a few bites before saying he's full, only to come back within 30 minutes being hungry again. Then he would get so that he'd be literally sick to his stomach...to the point of feeling like he was gonna throw up. That was around Thanksgiving. We decided to take him to the dr in mid-December cuz his eating was just not right, plus he was getting really constipated. The doc put him on a laxative, took blood, and took an x-ray to see how "full" he was. The x-ray showed he wasn't impacted (yet) but he was very full. :( So we started the laxative and were supposed to do that for a month and come back.

THEN, over Christmas, we were in Salem and C hadn't gone to the bathroom from a Sunday to a Saturday (even on the laxative!) and he wasn't eating at all. We started getting concerned and started feeding him prunes and increasing water and other fruit, but he just wasn't eating much....cuz he was FULL. LOL Well, I massaged his tummy for a while (which he said hurt, of course) and he was finally able to go. He was better after that, a little, but was still having issues.

Well, thankfully, he had his one month appointment with Dr Mark and we explained what all happened. Dr said that there are some kids who have this problem that have to be on a laxative for up to 6 months!! (The reason being is that by being constipated for so long, they have stretched their colons and using the laxative keeps things regular and being on it for that long gives the muscles time to 'repair' and go back to the normal size.) He took another x-ray and did one more blood test (poor kid keeps getting stuck!). The x-ray showed that his colon is still full (which kinda confuses me) and that his TSH (thyroid) is within normal range.

(**SIDE NOTE** His TSH they said was in 'normal' range. However, normal range is .3 to 5.5...C's TSH was 1.3. Yes, that is within normal range, but it's on the LOW side of normal, right? I mean, on a scale of 0 to 5, 1 seems pretty low. Is his something to pursue???)

Anyway, we are going to continue with things the way they are for another month and see what happens. We're increasing water intake for him and really working on watching what he's eating.

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I have a couple videos that I have tried uploading (of Christmas) and something is up with Blogger...they aren't working. *Sigh* Maybe sometime I can get them on here! LOL

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I have a dear (and VERY patient!) friend who asked about my filing system I use in my school room/office. Well, I have meant to take pictures for... well, for a VERY long time...and have just gotten it done! I am posting them below to show you how I was taught to file things. Now, this filing system is just for myself...this is not the system we use for our family files (like budgetary stuff). Those are in a small file at the desk. This file cabinet is basically my personal file cabinet which contains all things school related and all Bible class material that I have and anything else I want to file for personal use. This system I now use was shown to me by a friend who is a born organizer! LOL She came down about 2 years ago now and helped me organize all of our school room. It is actually a system that I have maintained (meaning that when I clean the school room up, I still use this system) and I really do like it.

First is the files:
These first two below are an over-view. You can see that there are first, hanging files with all tab-names on the left. Each hanging file is labeled with some subject that is easy for me to remember. This would be custom-created for each person who is doing this. So, for instance, you can see that some of mine are Art, Clayton (he and Brent get their own files), Convention Notes, Coupons, Crafts, God/Father, Holidays, Holy Spirit, etc. (On God/Father and Holy Spirit: Holly (my friend) said that if there is a few specific areas that I am interested in and find myself collecting articles on or studying on more often than others, to start a separate file for those topics and when I have an article about it I can just drop it into that particular file. Otherwise, all other articles, notes, or thoughts, go in a general "Spiritual" file.) These files are all in alphabetical order, too.

Below, is the main hanging file labeled "Holidays". Within that file are manila folders with different holidays listed on them (right): Halloween, Christmas, Easter, etc. This way when I get a craft idea or a decorating idea on a particular holiday, I can stick it in here. When that holiday comes around and I'm doing school and thinking, 'It'd be nice to have a craft for this,' then I can go to that file instead of the arts and crafts file, since I am wanting a craft about a specific topic.

Now, let's say that the Christmas folder gets really full...and is almost too full to contain in the Holidays hanging folder (which is a conceivable happening, since Christmas is my favorite holiday and I save just about everything regarding Christmas!). When this happens (for any topic) you just start a new hanging folder for that topic (Christmas) and transfer all things in the Christmas folder to the Christmas hanging file.

Another for instance, my science hanging file is HUGE, containing topics from earth science to animal science, to trees, to food. It started out that we had one hanging file for Science and manila folders within it for all the different kinds of sciences. Once we saw how much was in each manila folder, we decided to split them out. Now, I have one complete section (at the end of all my hanging files) just for Science. That section has given each type of science it's own hanging file labeling it Animal Science, Earth Science, Space/Astronomy, etc. Within Animal Science, there are manila folders labeled things like snakes, land animals, water animals, etc. Within Earth Science there are manila folders labeled dirt, trees, rocks, etc.

I also have a regular Science hanging file in the regular alphabetized hanging files for other things science that I run across that don't have a specific area yet in our system.

Below, is the Bible Class materials drawers. Each topic that I had information for or each Book of the Bible that I had information for got it's own hanging file and these, too, are alphabetized. Within each file are the lessons and worksheets that I have collected over the years for them. So when (if) I'm teaching again and I'm teaching on the Beattitudes, I have a file just for that topic that is filled with worksheets and lesson ideas.

On our bookshelves are the curriculum books that I use and browse through throughout the year and the reference books that we use. However, there are also a lot of 'containers' on the shelves. See, I used to have piles of glue bottles and nowhere to put them. Boxes of crayons (or half-boxes was more the case) and no good way to store them. TONS of pencils and pens and nowhere to store them. Markers, sticky notes, paper clips, etc. No good way to store any of it except in a big messy box. Well, Holly suggested putting all like things in a plastic container with a lid (so it's stackable) on the shelves.

First, she put all the markers in one container, all the pens and pencils in another, all the crayons in another, all art supplies in another, all glue (from stick to bottle) in another, and all paper in another (I had construction paper, loose leaf paper, tablets, and kids lined paper everywhere!), and all these things she stacked on the shelves. WOW! I now knew where everything was! :) **One thing to note here is that these containers need to be clear and see-through so that you know which one to go into when you're getting things out.**

Next, she got some of those stackable rolly-carts with different sized drawers for the desk supplies that I had no room for at the desk. Within these drawers were storage trays and dividers for things to lay neatly in. In them is everything from tape (scotch, packing, duck, masking) to Sharpie markers to sticky notes to paper clips to staples to highlighters to rubber bands and more. There are even battery drawers at the very top where we segregate AA's, AAA's, C's, and D's. Now we know (or I do!) where to look for anything.

Like I said, this system is one that I have been maintaining now for about 2 years. Granted, there are many times where you could walk into my school room and it doesn't look like anything is maintained except chaos!!! LOL But whether clean or dirty, the system still is what it is and I can still find things. And we're getting better at putting it all back where it goes when we're finished. That is something we're working on! LOL

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That's all for now...but since it's taken me about 3 days to get this typed out, I will have to say it's enough! :)

"That's not cornbread!"

The other night, I attempted to make (again!) ham and beans. For some who know, this has been a many-year-long process for me to learn how to make ham and beans....cuz, they either end up a complete mushy mess or they end up fine on the outside and still hard and crunchy on the inside. *sigh* So, after soliciting the help of some online friends (thanks to Sunny and Sis and others!), I think I have figured out a way to do this! First I soaked the beans for about 3-4 hours in regular water, then rinsed them, and put them in a pot with water and brought them to a boil. I continued to cook them in the same way that I have always cooked them, and they were GREAT! :)











Well, I made some cornbread to go with it, and was busy when I started to smell it so I asked T to check on it for me. Brent jumped up and went to open the oven door....he shouts: "That's NOT cornbread!" I just figured he was thinking it wasn't brown around the edges and looked funny. Terry looked at it and said there were bubbles on the top....I told him it is sorta like pancakes where the bubbles come to the top and pop as it's cooking. He said, "Well, maybe so, but I've never seen bubbles like this!" So I finished what I was doing and went to check....

I have never seen cornbread do this before, so I had to take these pics! LOL I had mountains in my cornbread!!!

Well, I was going over the way I made it in my head after that and realized I forgot to put baking powder OR salt in the recipe! DOH!! So, we have truly unleavened cornbread Saturday night for dinner! :)

Just goes to show that the baking powder really does make a difference!

Miscellaneous of the Boys

Just some random shots of the boys showing off their "muscles" and their mean/scary looks:

One afternoon as we were putting our Christmas decorations up, mom and I were chatting in the kitchen. The boys were taking a break from helping and we caught them doing a Sudoku on the couch together. Brent was helping Clayton figure it out and they were just so cute together I had to get a couple shots!

"I told you not to do that!"

A while back when we were painting (before Christmas), the boys and I were at the paint store and the boys were acting like the paint machine. To do this they have to jump up and down and shake all over.... Well, I told them that they were gonna get hurt or possibly hurt something else if they didn't quit, but of course, being boys, they felt they had to continue! Next thing I knew, I heard B crying and Clayton came running to me, "I didn't do anything, Mom! I promise!!" LOL I get over to the paint machine (I was maybe 5 feet away looking at paint brushes) and already there is this swollen bump-line on Brent's head...right between the eyes! It was swelling and was bright purply-red. Oy. So, after questioning him, I find out that he slipped on something on the floor and crashed his face into the corner of the metal cabinet that the paint machine is on! Of course, I had to do that "I told you not to do that!" speech, but all was well!


Anyway, here are a couple of shots of it for your pleasure!

A School Funny

Okay, so I'm grading papers/workbooks this week...um from Unit 1...and we're getting ready to start Unit 3. Yeah, I know: I'm behind! LOL What else is new???

Anyway, as I'm grading Brent's reading comprehension workbook, I just started laughing and told Terry that Brent is SOOOOO a Schafer and VERY much his engineer-father's son! Throughout the book there are times when it asks a question and wants them to find it in the reading and write a sentence or phrase for the answer. He's done this and has typically done it well. As I'm looking at about Lesson 14, there is a question that says: "Native Indians were a very clean people. Find three instances in your reading that showed their cleanliness. A. B. C." and then some lines for him to write the phrase or sentences. Did he do that??? N.O.P.E. Here is what he wrote:

A. Paragraph 10, sentence 3
B. Paragragh 13, all
C. Paragraph 5, last part.

LOL, okay...that just made me laugh. His logic and reasoning sometimes is good, others times it just creates more work for me! Oy.

Another Christmas Update

Well, we are finally done with all our Christmases! We had a good time with all our families and have really enjoyed the time we got to spend with everyone. But it's been a crazy-busy time for us and I have to admit that we're glad to be done traveling and be done with the busy-ness. Which isn't to say that we aren't busy anymore....HA! Far from it! We're still busy, but we are going back to our "normal" busy stuff, if that makes any sense!

Mom, Dad, my sister and her family were all here over the last week and we spent a fun 5 days together eating, playing games, visiting, watching movies, eating, playing games, eating some more, and playing more games! But I have to say that the 3 AM nights really got to me....I'm SO tired this week!

I plan on posting pictures soon....I have a ton to post and a couple videos still of the boys from our family Christmas that I want to share. It's just been so nice to get away from the computer for a few days and just enjoy the time with my boys...all three of them. Terry goes back to work next Monday and I'm really hoping things will go even further back to normal when that happens. LOL Hopefully in the next few days I can get some pics posted....

Till then....

New Appliance

Brent got his new appliance today....a palate expander. :) He was nervous, excited, apprehensive, and scared all at the same time. But the expander went on well and was cemented like it needed to be. Now he has to work on relearning how to talk and learning how to swallow (and not slurp!)! It will take some days to get used to it and begin the process, but I know he'll make it just fine. We go back in a month to recheck everything, but we have to turn it every other day, which means I have to be on top of things! LOL

The only down part really of the whole thing is that Brent is quite upset that he can't have a huge list of items while he has the appliance.... no gum (!), no chewy candy (caramel, skittles, taffy, etc), no suckers or hard candy. He looked at me after the assistant left the area and said, "Now I can't have dessert for 6 months!!" I said, "You can have ice cream." He was quick to point out that we didn't have any ice cream at the house....so I guess I will be getting some today! LOL He also told me that no one else in the family could have gum for 6 months...cuz it wouldn't be fair for us to have it and he couldn't. We'll have to see about that! LOL