Wednesdays With Toddlers

Hubby and I were eager to help with "Toddler Duty" this past Monday and Wednesday as their Dad started his last semester of college. As excited as we were to watch them, it made us realize, even more, how fortunate we are to have kids long past toddler stage!

Don't get me wrong, the kids were GREAT! Never fussed or cried and had a great time while they were here, but one often forgets how much attention they need at such a young age! Especially when I am trying to home school 2 teenagers! The toddlers LOVE their teenage cousins and I often found them in their laps as they were trying to do their schoolwork.

But, never fear... Hubby came to the rescue. He had such a fun time with them and tried to keep the occupied while we were doing studies.

In fact, when he came up the stairs on Monday, Buggers saw him and said "Hi!" and waved her hand at him, then went right to him and gave him a hug. Then Bubby followed with an "Uncle Dan" and gave him a big hug.

At one point, they all put on hats like Uncle Dan and piled several on his head. He wore them around for a while before realizing he had on more than one hat! But the absolute cutest moment was when he put on a movie for them and got them both settled down on the couches with pillows and blankets and settled in himself on the love seat, when Buggers came over and crawled up next to him and lay down to watch the movie. TOO CUTE!!!

Sir Edmund Hillary: May Your Spirit Fly

I was very saddened tonight to learn of the death of one of my greatest heroes, Sir Edmund Hillary. Sir Edmund was the first to conquer Mt. Everest and was known to the world as a great philanthropist and overall compassionate human being.

When I read the news of his passing I had to post the following to the AOL message board:

"Sir Edmund, you were truly one of my heroes. May your body rest in peace, may your soul take flight, and may your spirit live forever in our hearts. For all of us who think we will never reach the ultimate summit in our lifetime, we must remember all the good you did after your mountain conquest. With your splendid example, may we all have confidence that our own quest may be not material, but personal. You have shown us that you mounted many summits in your lifetime. Everest being just one of them. May we all conquer our own summits in honor of human kind. Bless your soul, you dear man."

It is no secret that I will never conquer the mountain the way he did, but perhaps I can conquer more attainable mountains in my lifetime. He was a great man that did great things for the kids in Nepal and around the world. He was an outstanding mentor who gave us all a chance to hope, even if for a brief second, for something that only seemed out of our reach. He was a great teacher of humanity in his demure way of being "just a beekeeper".

What an extraordinary man that lived in our lifetime. One who we can be proud to have shared time on this earth with. One who's legacy will live on for every adventurist, giver, dreamer, and human for a lifetime to come and beyond.

Rest in Peace, Sir Edmund. You will always be my hero.

Homeschool Mama

After several months of pitiful grades, apathetic teenagers, and non-responsive teachers, Hubby and I decided it was time to pull the oldest two out of mainstream school and place them into online courses, thus making me a homeschool mama!

Rea did the online prep school last year and finished her Freshman year with a 3.8 GPA. Not too shabby!! She worked really hard and we were so proud of her! Yet, when she finished, we re-enrolled her in her local public High School. Emphasize "High" in High School. When she went back she told us that the drug use at the High School was overwhelming and the peer pressure was too much to bear. She ended up failing most of her classes and admitted to us that she failed on purpose so that she would be placed back in her online classes.

That was just the tip of the iceburg. Even though she had failed most of her classes the first 6 weeks and continued to fail the 2nd 6 weeks, we had nearly NO communication from her instructors, even though we emailed and called wanting to discuss her grades. It seems that the High School has a policy to hold the kids COMPLETELY responsible for EVERYTHING they do. The teachers stand up in front of the class, teach their lesson, then expect the kids to either know what they have been taught, or find an outside tutor. This is appauling!!!

Regardless, we pulled Rea out of public school and put her back in her wonderful online High School.

Meanwhile, Bubsy was having the same problems with his grades and classes. Even though I was in CONSTANT contact with his teachers and even met with ALL of them, plus the counselor, he continued to bring home failing grades. We were just not willing to let him go down the same path as Rea, so we yanked him out of the school we thought was one of the best in the state, and decided to homeschool him as well.

Even though I call them "homeschooled" they are both being taught by a group of highly educated and experienced teachers and they both complete all of their work online. Bubsy will finish 7th grade in April, then he will enroll in the same prep school that Rea attends for his 8th grade year and beyond.

I can't say enough about the online courses that they are taking. They are very challenging and the one-on-one instruction that they are provided is second to none. It is costing us a fortune, though. However, we both feel it is worth the price to give them the education that they deserve.

Snow Slide

Holiday Club Lighting

Our neighborhood had it's annual Club Lighting tonight, complete with a snow slide, arts and crafts, ice sculptures, a train ride, horse drawn carriage and even a visit from Santa. My big sister and her hubby came up to join us and we had a good time! The biggest hit of the evening was the snow slide. Usually they make a huge mound of snow for the kids to play in, but since some of the older kids thought it would be funny to pummel the adults with snowballs, they decided to go with the snow slide this year. It was set up and run by students from A&M University. All my kids went down it and loved it, but it wasn't the same without being able to dive into the huge pile of snow.

The Decorators

I really wasn't in the mood to decorate this season, but the kids quickly changed my mind. One of the reasons for my hesitation, was the thought of putting up the 12' tree that I purchased last year. I really don't know what I was thinking. This thing is massive and came in not one, but 2 huge boxes. Luckily my brother-in-law offered to come to the house and help me put it up. Another problem for me is that I'm afraid of heights, so decorating this thing was only possible up to a certain point. Luckily Piggy was eager to put the ornaments on and Rea climbed the 10' ladder to reach the top section. The tree looks BEAUTIFUL!! With that done, and all the inside decorations in place, all that was left was the outside decorations. I planned on putting garland on the porch and maybe putting up the deer, but Bubsy had other plans. He did the entire outside decorations himself, with a little help from Piggy. He strung lights all the way around the driveway, helped put up the garland, set up the lighted trees and deer and got all the cords organized on remote controled outlets. It looks GREAT! Here is a little preview of their work.

More Oklahoma Photos

Piggy & Clyde




Bubsy, Clyde & Sarah





Bubsy & Piggy






Us with Sassy & Her Grandparents