Get in Gear for .......Birds!

That's right everyone. It's already time to start thinking about this year's Great Backyard Bird Count. The dates are February 13-16. I'm going to start now getting the boys in gear by having them do at least one 15 minute bird watch each week. This will help us to get a bit of a refresher in identifying our birds. I will also be teaching them as we go along some of the rules of the count. For instance, that we only count birds in multiples in one shot. This means that if you see two cardinals at the same time you can count two. However, if you see a cardinal, it flies away and then 'another' one comes, you still can only count one cardinal. Make sense? This would be why we need to practice ahead of time. They can get easily confused. LOL

Last year the boys turned in one report each and I turned in several. It's so cool to be able to see how how well our area is represented by the number of reports turned in. Go to your area and check it out!

Don't forget to put a button on your blog as a reminder to everyone to participate!!!

Ok, I Give Up!

I've tried doing the winter walk post three times. The preview keeps showing me the way I want it but once it posts to blogger it gets messed up. I'll leave it to you to figure out which words go with which picture.

sigh.......I guess I won't try putting pics on the left anymore. Anybody else figure out the answer to this problem? Just always put the pics in the center?

Winter Walk--Photo Intense

After Pooh's Art class today we decided to go on a winter walk. The weather here lately has been very wet, so I should have been prepared for how wet the woods were. There was mud everywhere and oodles of puddles. Right up the boys' alley. Before we got to the creek area, I managed to squeeze in a bit of tree study. I was commenting on the different bark we saw and on the fungi that was growing everywhere. Funny how the fungi seems to flourish during this cooler weather.

Here are some photos of some of the different bark we saw:


The trees of love.



















This is Tigger with the piece of bark he found on the ground. I believe it is from the American Beech tree that I fell in love with. The Beech tree has great color for winter contrasts and would, I believe, make great black and white photos. It has a very light gray bark with some darker spots on it. Then the faded yellow leaves were still on the tree. If you look in the background of this picture you can see the only tree back there with leaves is the Beech tree.











Left: Anyone know what that one is? Very interesting bark. When you push it, it has a very spongy quality to it.

Right: The park labeled it as a Virginia Pine. (although I have my doubts from looking at the tree guide book I have.)






Here are some photos of the fungi we saw growing on the bark:

This pine tree had two seemingly different fungi growing on it. One a lighter green that was growing in between the bark pieces and the other was a moss growing at the base of the tree.

















Tigger with his stick on which we found bright orange colored fungi.












Another tree with the green fungi.

(Bet you can tell which one of the boys is the 'ham'! LOL)








Here are the photos of their favorite part-water play:





Right now, the thing they like to do best in the streams is to reroute the water. They clear out paths of debris (sticks and leaves) and watch the new route the water takes. They could play at this for hours if I let them. Especially Pooh. He's always loved the water.

Some other cool things we noted about the woods today, were the wind and the sounds. The wind was gearing up to be enough for weather warnings so the tops of the trees were really swaying. It made the trees have these eerie creaking noises. You could even hear one tree hit into another. I told the boys the trees were kissing. I got big smiles and "Eeeeewwwwww" s. LOL One of the pictures above was of two completely different kinds of trees growing right next to each other, as they tend to do. I told the boys that those trees were in love. :D

One part of the woods is very dense with trees. Somehow, despite all of them pretty much looking dead, it is very dark in that area. Tigger said it was 'spooky'. I started telling a little story about "A sad, lonely bear entering the deep, dark forest with it's muddly, puddly creek" a la Bear Snores On. I love those books. He even tried coming up with his own little description to fit the story. So cute! (no, i don't remember what it was. i have to learn to lock it away in a memory somewhere.)

The trail is about a one hour walk. I like the way it winds and the different kinds of areas it encompasses. It keep us eager to see around the next corner.

The Power of the Menu Plan

You know, I kept hearing people raving about how wonderful a menu plan is. My response has been characterized by: Uh huh. Whatever. I'll get to it one day. How great can it really be?

There's POWER in the menu plan. Amaaaaaazing power. I'm in awe. And I've only been at it for two days.

There are two powerful aspects of the menu plan that I've experienced so far. (My experience is very limited and there may be many more that I haven't discovered yet.) The first power operates on me. I can look at my simple list located on the frig and know what's happening. So simple and yet so profound! I'm not hunting down recipes an hour before dinner is supposed to be ready, wondering what on earth I'm going to do with the leftover ham. I know! I don't have to think about what I'm feeding the kids for snack. I know! It's so freeing! I have a different breakfast planned for each day. I'm using that butternut squash that's been sitting in the pantry for 3 weeks. I'm using the quinoa I've had in there for forever too!

This was all planned around food I already had in the house. No shopping or even last minute runs. If I didn't have exactly what I wanted, I substituted. My ham and potato casserole turned into a Ham and Sweet Potato casserole. (There's a lot of ham in our menu this week due to wanting to use all our leftovers from baking a spiral sliced ham on the weekend.)

The second power to be noticed was the one that was exerted over the children. Ahhhhh. This is something I've never seen mentioned in the accolades of the menu plan. This is a big secret. Are you ready?

If it's on the menu plan, that's what we eat.

No arguments, no griping. A simple "I'm sorry. Cookies aren't on the plan. It says we have to eat carrots for snack this morning." AND THEY DO IT! No kidding! They may say "ooohhhhh, I wanted something else" but it doesn't change the fact that we follow the plan. I think Pooh will even start reading the plan himself soon. He's kind looking there when I say "hmmmm, it says we're having waffles for breakfast". Pooh is also the child more willing to try foods and will at least partially eat things even when he isn't crazy about them. Go figure!!!

I'm not making two separate sandwiches for lunch. "Today is ham, tomorrow is tuna." I was amazed at how fast they ate. The only thing that didn't go over well was the Crockpot Oatmeal. That's because they both dislike oatmeal. I told them they needed to learn to like it. :D Today they had French Toast Casserole for the first time ever and gobbled it up. They ate the butternut squash. The quinoa was a bit iffy and so was the ham casserole on Tuesday's dinner. BUT, they're trying it and they are eating more than they would have if I hadn't done a menu plan.

So I consider this a success. Now I just have to keep it up. Consistency has never been my strong suit.

For those that wish to know, I'm including my plan for this week. It's only a M-F plan. Also, the meals are listed in this order: Breakfast, Snack, Lunch, Snack, Dinner. They usually have another snack before bed, but I didn't include that one because it's never an issue.

Monday:
Crockpot Oatmeal
Cheese n Crackers
Mac n Cheese
Carrots
Delicata Delish (allrecipes)

Tuesday:
French Toast Casserole
Carrots
Ham Sandwich
Fruit
Ham & Potato Casserole (with broccoli)

Wednesday:
Waffles
Pb crackers
Tuna sandwich
Yogurt
Split Pea Soup

Thursday:
Eggs & Bacon
Muffins
Mac n Cheese
Carrots
Pasta and roasted root veggies

Friday:
Hot Cereal
Smoothie
Hot Dogs
Muffins
Pizza

The Bed Post

I finally got around to finishing a post I started in October about the beds King made for the boys. I didn't know how to change the date on it so it's showing up in October's posts. If you want to have a look, go to the Home label. It's about the 3rd one down.

Anger

Anger issues are pretty common with autistic kids. Due to their inner anxieties and not understanding social 'rules', they can become rigid, inflexible, controlling and angry. This is what they use as a buffer to keep the big, bad, scary world from invading their world.

Pooh tends to have problems with this in phases. I haven't ever been able to pin down any specific time/reason for it. Currently, his phases are a couple of normal days and then a couple of grouchy/angry days. (Right now, my mood is swinging right along with him unfortunately which can make for one irritated mommy.) We use homeopathy with him and this can help him in many ways but it doesn't take it completely away. Pooh has never been on meds and I hope to keep him off of them.

I wanted to share this site for anyone who may benefit from it. I have been looking it over and it seems to have some helpful tips. In the For Kids section, there are little slide shows with audio that show some different coping skills and it has the children actually act them out while watching. It's something you'd want to do with your child. I did it with Pooh yesterday and he seemed to enjoy and get it.

I want to work on him accepting responsibility for his anger. The Teacher section has several articles that I'm looking over to help me help him. When he's angry, it's 'all our fault'. He has issues with us 'bossing him around'. Although he knows he's the child, that obedience is required, etc. he still acts out when we have him do/not do something. It's unknown what will set him off. You can tell him 'no' about one thing without a complaint, yet tell him 'no' about something else and he flips out.

A current example is a candy example. We were at someone's house who leaves candy out for when the kids come over. All of a sudden Pooh asks me if he can have a certain candy. I looked at him and knew he already eaten at least one so I asked him. He had eaten two. I told him "no, you already had enough for today." That set him off. He was mad about it for about 2 hours. Now, he's learned not to hit me or anything. However, he'll come at me with hands raised, growl, cry, whine, stomp his feet, slam doors and just generally be rude, disrespectful and obnoxious. Once he's there, there's no reasoning with him (unless you give him what he wants). I just have to remain calm, reiterate the rules, make sure he doesn't hurt others or anything and keep it to a low roar instead of a dino roar. ;D

I've tried teasing him out of it, fake crying (not always convenient in a crowd), being very stern and I'm sure several other things I can't think of right now. It just doesn't help. It makes him more angry.

So with the help of the articles from this site, I'm going to try teaching him more responsibility in dealing with it. I'll be there to help, of course, but only he can use the tools to calm down. I've tried the counting to ten and deep breathing before but he doesn't want to hear about it in the middle of his tantrum. To thwart that, we're going to watch the slide shows a couple more times, practice when calm, use the positive wording recommended ("I'm a good boy even when I'm angry") and maybe that will help. They also teach them places to tap while they use the positive phrasing that seems to be targeting the acupuncture points. I'll try anything. LOL

Frankly, right now I'm tired of dealing with the demanding nature of his anger. It's a "if you don't do what I want, I'll make you sorry/miserable" kind of thing. It works. But I'm not giving in. I may need an escape now and then. I may need to cry. I may need to step back and reroute our course. But he's not going to win by bullying us into being scared of making him angry. I want to help him, but he has to do the work too.

I'm sure you see the whole host of emotions that runs through me in all of this. It's par for the course when you're the caregiver of a special needs child. I'm sure they'll be more to come. This is what's on my mind now. In any given day, I can go from being very proud of him and what he's been able to accomplish to be sick and tired of being around him.

King and I watched the old Bill Cosby Himself video last night. I think I might need to do that more often. ;D



Proud Day! His first bible reading in the congregation.

No Flushing

Huh? you say. Yes, we did not flush our toilet all day today. Ewwwwwww right?

Wrong. We are saving gallons of water by using our bath water to flush the toilet. When taking a shower or bath, you keep all that water in your tub. Get a bucket, scoop some up and when you 'Go' you pour that 'grey water' into your toilet bowl. Bye bye pee pee. Bye bye poo poo. (anyone who's seen Once Upon a Potty will recognize that one. LOL)

I had a little instruction time for the boys this morning. I showed them how to lift the seat, pour two scoops of water in and then dry up any water spills. The scoops they use are with an old Tupperware container they use for bath playtime. I also put tape over the handle so it would remind us all not to flush. They didn't think too much of it. They just did it. I told them it was to save water and money and we were going to try it and see how it worked.

So far so good!!! Although, I doubt we'll have enough water to get through until tomorrow morning. Pooh accidentally let a lot of their bath water down the drain before he remembered to leave it in there.

Oh well, there's always The King's morning shower to look forward to. ;D

Our Life With Autism

I saw a mom on a yahoo list talking about her son with autism. He's five and she wonders if it's normal for the autistic kids to cry a lot more at five than other kids.

My son with autism is now 11 and he still gets that toddler tantrum cry. Noooooooooo! It hits your bones. It pierces the soul, just as the infant cry does. So to still be living with it (although it has decreased immensely over the years)can be tiring, depressing and many other emotions mixed in.

I do think RDI can help. Tammy has shown that with her daughter Pamela. I think I've seen it help in our home. However, truth be told, I don't "do" RDI anymore. Right now, we're just living our lives. This is my confession time I guess. I admire so much those families that are keeping up with it and I follow your emails and blogs with enthusiasm, cheering you on, cheering your successes and feeling your despair when things aren't working well. (That goes for all the families with special needs children that I know, not just those doing RDI.)

I was pretty much 'done' with therapies by the time I found RDI. I thought when I learned about it that I was ready to start again. Ready to embark on the next chapter with gusto. Ready to delve into what I could do as a parent to help my child.

I was wrong.

I got into it and it totally exhausted me. My life was once again taken over by the autism. Examining the goals (and believe me, trying to figure out what the heck they mean is just too mind boggling for me), then figuring out if your child has mastered it or not, coming up with ways to work on the goal, remembering to video it (and i still have an old computer and camera that means i have to mail vhs tapes!!!) editing the video, etc etc. I'm just done with all that for now.

As I said, we're just living our lives. Since I found Charlotte Mason and the AO information, school has been so much easier. Oh and finding Math U See too. Wow! What a difference. This also doesn't mean I have forgotten the principles of RDI. I do still think about how I phrase things. Making statements instead of constant questions. I'm sure if we were videoing I'd find a lot more I need to change in my communication style. I'm still on the RDI lists. I still read RDI blogs. I still think about RDI almost everyday. It has affected our lives, but right now I can't let it control my life. I found it very difficult trying to cut my very demanding younger child out of the picture while trying to concentrate on my older one. Very stressful for all of us. The King can't even fathom trying to read all the info he needs to read about RDI so we talk about it sometimes or at least talk about some of the principles of it, but it isn't there as pressure.

Everyone needs to do what's best for their kids and family. We're all trying to find the balance. It hurts me to see all that Pooh still has to learn. But I've seen so much progress over the years that I know it will get better each year. Yes, he's very unreasonable some days. Some days we just can't get through to him. Other days, we make these wonderful connections. And one thing I know about my son's autism is that he does remember things we tell him. It comes out in other areas that he's remembered little tidbits of those connections and he'll apply it in ways other than what we were referring to.

We can reach his heart and it's that that helps me get through each day.

So for those of you with the fight still in you, RDI can help. For others, just understanding the principles of RDI can help. I haven't 'given up', I'm just taking it slow and easy. I'm still learning to 'let go' of those parts of autism that I have no control over right now. It's not that they won't change, but that it's going to take longer. I'm done with examining everything I do to see if it's handled right or wrong. I want to just be. Be happy with each day and teach my sons to be happy each day.

Thank you for all the encouragement, thank you for your blogs, thank you for sharing your trials and triumphs. I hope that as I continue to share our lives through our blog, it will help others and give a realistic view of life with autism.

Brrrrrrrr!!!!!

Yep, it's cold. Cold everywhere. This morning was 20F here with a windchill of about 2F. My greenhouse door, although 38F inside, still had an icy layer on it. It's supposed to be even colder tonight. Yikes!

All last week was cloudy, dreary and rainy. You know it's bad when your autistic son (Pooh) asks, "Mommy, are we ever going to see the sun again?" LOL The next day he says to me, "Boy, it sure has been raining this week!" I agreed wholeheartedly. ;D

This past Thursday I planted some seeds in the greenhouse. I knew that Friday was supposed to be almost 70F and decided to get the seeds in so they'd have a blast of nice warm, germinating weather. Yesterday, I saw some lettuce seeds sprouting. So, I thought I'd better make sure they didn't freeze. That meant turning on the heater we had installed in the there. We have an old baseboard heater that I set at about 42F to keep the little things from freezing. Thanks to our getting the roof fully sealed this weekend, it worked.

The King started working on some shelving that I needed. We were given what I think is old baking rack set on wheels. However, it has no shelving. So we bought some cedar wood to make sliding shelves for the racks. This is where I can put trays of seeds. Vertical is always good for saving space. I also used two window boxes for my seed planting and they are on the shelf too.

Our whole house has baseboard heat. It was in the low 70's in the house last night so I decided to turn down the heat in the basement (we only use the basement heat most of the time because heat rises and keeps the rest of the house warm). My goal was for the house to be 68F. A little chilly, but not unbearable when you wake up. (FYI-I'm trying to see where we can cut back on expenses little by little.) Well, this morning I knew when I woke up it had to be colder than 68F in the house. Sure enough, the upstairs was at 64F and the basement at 63F.

Needless to say, the heat got turned up this morning.

This week we're only doing school today and tomorrow. Wednesday and Thursday are The King's days off and Friday is just going to be a free day for a change.

Hope everyone stays safe and warm and if I'm not here before, have a great week!

The Way to Cure Hiccups (or Not)

As we're eating dinner, I all of a sudden got very terrible, deep hiccups. It was right after taking a sip of The Latin King's wine.

Next thing I knew, he had slammed both his fists down on the table. The glass went flying! Wine spilled on the floor, on his clothes and splattered the pantry doors.

He did it to surprise me into losing the hiccups.


It worked!!!!! ;P

A Day in the Life....

Today was Art for Pooh. I usually run errands or do other 'out from home' type stuff on Art days so that my trip of 45 minutes each way is useful in more ways than one. We started off today with getting up and going with our Morning Routines and Chores.

Last night I had done some prep work for today. While my pasta water was heating up for dinner I cut up veggies for our Armenian Lentil Soup and added all the ingredients to a crockpot. That got stored in the fridge overnight so all I had to do for dinner today was remember to put the crock in the base this morning. That was done! I also did our bills last night and prepared a deposit for the bank.

On our way to Art, I remembered to call about a lost book (I know I was driving and talking, bad mommy!!!) I also hit the bank on the way there. While Pooh was in Art, Tigger and I headed to the health food store to stock up on our dairy-free products and a few other items. I got sushi for lunch for me and picked up Wendy's lunch for them. Then we headed to Lowes Foods for the specials I had also prepared for ahead of time. Lowes Foods has a new layout on their website. You can sign up to have specials emailed to you each week and you can add stuff to your shopping list. I shop there for loss-leaders mainly. So I had that printed out last night to help me on my search today.

Once that was done, we headed home for the unloading and putting away. The boys always have the job of bringing in the groceries. (That's great proprioceptive work for any SID kids out there.) I got the stuff put away, gave us all a 30 minute break then decided that before we started our regular school work for the day, I would pull out the Walk Away the Pounds DVD that I have. I've had it for months and it was still unopened. One of the workouts is only 18 minutes (1 mile) so I did that, got a glass of water and started school. (That workout helped me wake up as I was feeling very sleepy.) School is done, listened to Mozart for 10 minutes, then the boys started their Alvin and the Chipmunks movie they borrowed from the library. I call the library to set up a homeschool function, start bread from scratch and rice to go with the soup. (The King, being Latino, enjoys rice with everything!)

Now I've been checking email, blogs and blogging for all of you! I also did an extended swish-n-swipe of the bathroom. I'm off to eat dinner and do some more cleaning. Then it's time for TV and laundry! (TV is such a time waster that I like to have an excuse for watching TV sometimes and doing laundry at the same time makes me feel better. LOL)

Have a great night everyone!

Term 2......Finally!

Well, due to my being in a 'funk' for a few weeks (which is over for now, thankfully), we were behind schedule as far as our AO Year 1 goes. Pooh had also gotten cranky, probably as a reaction to my crankiness and school was a bit of a struggle. We've been successful lately in getting going with minimal complaints and have officially finished week 13. So, due to this delay, I'm not sure we'll finish Term 2 by the end of February but I'm sure going to try.

During our 'funk', narrations had gotten to be a chore. Pooh wasn't concentrating on the readings and therefore wasn't able to do even a simple narration. I was frustrated and showed it which made him even worse. That has changed as well. The only person freaking out right now is Tigger. He's been having a little trouble with Math. We need to work on counting to one hundred and continuing counting by fives. We use Math U See and he's on lesson 23 now.

I'm anxiously awaiting tax season. I even have my appointment set for the first Friday in February. ;D We usually get a nice chuck of change that enables us to survive the rest of the year. I know they say you shouldn't let the government have that much extra money. You're supposed to change the dependents so that you get more money each month. Whatever. I prefer to use it like a little savings account that I can't touch. Maybe like a CD. I just don't earn interest on it. (which would be negligible anyway.

We have several purchases to make:
1. We'd like to buy a tent for family camping. It's the only way we'll ever be able to go on vacation again. We just can't afford the hotels. We'll also need to get a new cooler a few other odds and ends. Oh, yeah, and sleeping bags. LOL Can't forget those.
2. A bike for Tigger. Last spring was Pooh's new bike due to his finally learning to ride without training wheels. Well, Tigger learned to ride without the training wheels not too long after Pooh. So, now it's his turn for a bike. I'll be scouting Goodwill as well as the sales.
3. Gravel for our garden paths. I've decided to switch to gravel because it doesn't have to be replenished as often as mulch. This will involve a few other purchases as well, like landscape fabric.
4. Some school supplies. We'll need to buy the next levels for math, Sequential Spelling, HWT workbooks for both and a Caps and Punctuation book for Pooh. He needs a little reinforcement besides his regular copywork. I also need a little help with the instruction 'rules'. Explode the Code for Pooh. He'll be going into books 4 and 5. I'm also scouting for any books that I'm missing for AO Year 2.

That's it for now. Hopefully, nothing major will pop up to mess up our plans. (You know, like the King being Laid Off!) I'll be putting some of our Refund into savings as well. Just. In. Case.

Lately I've been trying to weatherproof my Greenhouse. We built a little 10 x 10 one off the side off what used to be our garage (now a big basement family room). I can't really grow anything in there during the winter right now because it needs to be insulated. I've insulated around the door but now the door won't shut like it's supposed to, so that's got to be fixed. Keep in mind that this thing was built out of scrapes. The door is an old storm door I found for $10 at the Habitat for Humanity's Restore. We used old windows for the sides, leftover vinyl siding from someone's house project around the bottom and those poly sheets for the roof and front section. I'll have to take pics and post them so you can get a better idea. Anyway, too much air is getting in there. There's some stuff the King will be doing to the roof to seal up there and I've used Great Stuff around some cracks and seams. We also have to clean it out again. The one bad thing about it being so close to the house is that sometimes it becomes a catch all for storing things quickly. Then they never seem to want to leave.

I'm trying to check for drafts in the house to, to winterize it a little better. There's air coming in around our basement door that needs to be taken care of. I'm putting those foam thingies behind the light switch and outlet panels to keep drafts from coming in that way.

Hopefully, all this work will pay off to save us some money in the long run, the garden stuff included. The King was freaking out a bit about spending money on the garden again so I had to remind him of what we did save this last year.

1. No fear from eating our tomatoes. (Remember the scare from this summer?!?)
2. Plenty of peppers instead of paying $1.50 for one green one. (what's that all about!!!!)
3. We have tomatoes canned and in the freezer.
4. Eggplant--eaten and some in the freezer.
5. Grapes--eaten, made jelly and grape liqueur (i haven't tasted the liqueur yet so hopefully it's drinkable.)
6. Asparagus. I never buy it. Just eat what grows.
7. Buckets of strawberries. For all that we grew and ate it would have cost us a lot more than the $10 i paid for the plants--of which i don't have to buy this year--they'll still produce)
8. Zucchini, squash, beans, herbs, etc, etc.

You get the idea. I had to give him an idea of what we've saved because, frankly, he has no idea of what things cost. All he sees is what it costs in time and money in the garden and doesn't know the long-term savings. It worked. I calmed down his anxieties. ;D

That's what's been going on here. Hopefully, my funk is gone for a while and you guys will here a bit more from me over the next couple of months.

Although, I make no promises. :D

The Great Compromise

Last night I pulled out a little wooden ship kit that I had found for a dollar at Ben Franklin's. The purpose was for the boys to put it together with Dad's help. So last night they did the gluing and know that today Dad will help them finish it. This morning there was a 'discussion' going on in their room about where the ship would be put--on Tigger's shelf or on Pooh's shelf. Here is roughly how their conversation went....

Tigger: Hey Pooh, we have to decide where we're going to put the ship. You always get the ships.

Pooh: No, you have 5 and I only have 4. We should both have 5.

Tigger: Look, you have all those ships. I want it on my shelf. How about the first day you put it on your shelf, the next I put it on my shelf and the next day you get it back.

Pooh: Oh no, that's not a good idea. We'll have to think of another idea. How about we flip for it. I'll get my Lincoln penny. pause pause I can't find my money jar!

Tigger: Poooohhhhh, it's right here. You left it over here.

Pooh: Oh. Ok, I'm heads.

Tigger: I'll be tails.

Pooh: It's heads!

Tigger: Oooooohhhh, you always get all the ships.

Pooh: That's ok, you can get on my bed and look at it. And you can get it down to play with it.

Tigger: Ok.



Momma is so proud. Of myself too. I managed not to butt in when the really neat idea of alternating days came up. I was afraid this was going to turn into one of their all out battles. They managed beautifully to come up with a system on their own where they are both happy. Whether I think it's fair or not doesn't come into the picture. They think it's fair and that's ok by me.

Making Beds

Tigger's New Bed

The King has been home this week busy with making a loft bed for Tigger. The boys share a room and we decided loft beds would be a great way for us to use the space. They can have their own private areas underneath with their books and all the other paraphanalia that kids seem to collect.

A couple of years ago he finished the one for Pooh. We painted Pooh's a navy blue in keeping with their ocean/boat room. Pooh loves it and usually refers to it as his 'ship'.

Tigger wanted us to paint his black and white like a lighthouse. LOL I told him "no way", that would be too cycadelic for me. ;D However, we have agreed to have a red and white striped area just below the railing area.

Making these beds takes The King a lot of time. He finds raw, free wood that a company near here just tosses. It's some type of pallet wood. He then cuts it and puts it together. After that, he takes it apart, shaves it smooth, sands it even smoother, puts on two coats of primer, then finally, two coats of paint.

What we do for our kids!!!

Pooh's Bed

Their new computer desk that sits between their beds. The King made this one too.

Beneath each bed is a short bookcase and one of those convertible chairs. They convert into mini beds. Tigger also has a little dresser under his bed. They each have a shelf above their beds for their boats and whatnot. They are small shelves and we plan on adding more for their little collections. Tigger's bed still doesn't have a real mattress. That will be coming soon. Right now there are these thick pads someone had made for them to sleep/camp on the floor on his bed. He manages to be quite comfy with those.

I really wanted them to learn to share a room. I think that it can teach so many life skills like getting along, compromise and respect. For the most part they do great. Every once in a while someone will complain about a light being on or someone won't stop quoting movies (wonder who that could be lol) or whatever. I love to hear how Pooh will read to his little brother sometimes or how they work things out. All in all, I believe it's working and hope that it continues to do so. We'll take it year by year.


They are both responsible for the appearance of the room and they tidy up daily or it would be a disaster area. Sometimes I have to do a major clear out. That's where I dig up all the little things that crowd in corners and books that are put in the wrong way and I lay them all in the middle of the floor. Then we put things away the 'right' way. I recently had to cull Tigger's drawers because he just couldn't fit all the clothes he had in there and they were a mess. I wash, dry and fold. They put away. It's on their list of morning chores each day to check their baskets. I don't have too many complaints about messes unless I don't check it for several days. Then it's every man for himself in there! ;D

(Note: This post has been sitting as a draft since October. I finally got a few pictures taken to share!)

Van Gogh Sunflowers

This term we are studying Van Gogh. Why did we choose him you may ask? Well, last year Walmart had a bunch of prints for $1 each. They are a print about the size of a 5 x 7, but look more like an 8 x 10 with the border, that are on a piece of cardboard. I've left them in their sealed plastic for protection and ease of use. I think I have about 7 different Van Gogh pieces and a few from several other artists. I'll work my way through the artists whose works I have before moving onto others.

Sunflowers is the first print we studied. I had them study it one week by looking at it and telling me what they saw. Colors, what kind of flower, etc. All during that week it was hanging on the front of the fridge. Then the following week, we did our own Sunflowers using watercolor crayons. I really enjoyed the way these turned out. You use the crayons to draw and color first, then take the wet paintbrush and go over it afterward. It wasn't runny but blended nicely. In order from left to right the artist are Pooh, Tigger and MasterpieceMom. I think we did pretty good for a first go around. Pooh very nicely arranged his flowers, Tigger added a dramatic splash of color (very Van Goghy) and Mom did surprisingly well with the flowers on the right side of the pot. (I wasn't happy with the left side. LOL)

Van Gogh painted something like 16 different portraits of sunflowers. I have no idea which one this is.

Since then we've also done chalk pastels of Van Gogh's Roses but I don't know that they'll show up very well as the colors are so light and I've covered them in saran wrap to avoid having chalk dust everywhere. I wasn't so thrilled with that idea. LOL If I manage to get some decent photos, I'll post them separately.

Autumn Tree Focus #1

(This is Tigger's rendition of the neighbor's apple tree.)

Today I finally got around to starting our tree focus for this year. I had to really think about how I was going to do it. Tigger is all about nature. He loves it and revels in it. Pooh, however, hasn't shown much interest in the nature world. There are things he notices and enjoys (such as the neighbor's chickens. LOL) but when I've tried to interest him in trees in the past, I tend to just get a "Yeah" with whatever I'm declaratively pointing out. I looked over Barb's posts and several other nature bloggers and decided that I was going to use a series of questions to draw them out. (These can still be considered RDI-ish due to the fact that they are viewpoint questions. No wrong answers.) Here is what we started with for today:

Q: What do you know about trees?

Tigger: They're different. They have pine cones and needles. They have branches and the bark breaks easily when you hit it.

Pooh: There are different kinds like apple trees, acorn trees, pine trees and other trees.

Mom: I know that some are tall and some are short. (This then caused them to add as follows:) Tigger: some are smooth and some are rough. Pooh: some are fat and some are thin. (I had to help with some of the opposite words.)

Q: What's your favorite tree?

Pooh: The apple tree because it has fresh apples.

Tigger: The apple tree because you can throw the apples and they break apart.

Mom: The oak tree because I like the acorns and it's one of the best climbing trees. (This sparked a discussion on how they would love to climb an oak tree. Pooh also realized that Oak was the proper name not 'acorn tree'. Although I love the name Acorn Tree myself. ;D)

Q: What's so great about trees?

Pooh: They're cool because they get high.

Tigger: When you cut trees they grow again.

(From Pooh's sketchbook.)

After this discussion we talked about how pine trees are what we have in our yard. We picked off some of the needles and counted how many are 'stuck' together. We did a bark rubbing. We examined a pine cone and tried finding the seeds by smashing it with a hammer. (didn't work by the way LOL) We then used our tree book to figure out what kind of pine trees we have. We think they are Loblolly Pines. The boys then informed me that the neighbor has an apple tree. "Really? Well, you can do a bark rubbing of the apple tree and bring me an apple." So off they went! They came back with the apple which I cut in half sideways to show the way the seeds grow in a star shape. We each then tasted a part of it, avoiding the wormy part. Ewww!

This method seemed to work well for Pooh especially. He enjoyed it and was enthusiastic about it. Even going so far as to climb a bit of one of our pines to get some needles to examine. He also liked trying to figure out which kind of pine it was. He was the one who did the rubbing of the apple tree bark, which meant that he took his sketchbook with him all the way over there.

(Pooh's Apple Bark rubbing.)

Tomorrow, after art, we'll probably head to the park again and do some tree study there as well. Since we are a bit limited as to what's in our yard, I want to expand our studies to other areas. Tigger already enjoys collecting the seeds of trees so we'll probably start categorizing them soon. He's been itching to use my hot glue gun so tree seed study will be a good excuse to get it out. ;D

Fight Nature Deficit Disorder October 11-13th!!!

The National Wildlife Foundation is hosting the first ever 'Make Tracks' A family Trail Weekend. The purpose is to get you and your kids outside rediscovering nature. I think these initiatives are great. I love the Great Backyard Birdcount in February. I would like to start collecting these different nature programs for everyone to keep track of. If you know of other ones (no matter what time of year), please let me know and I'll compile a post and hopefully get them on my side bar too.

We should be able to participate in Make Tracks. Actually for the next two weekends we will be at state parks barring bad weather. We will be heading to Pilot Mountain State Park this weekend for a homeschool hike. Our homeschool group has an Athletic group where the kids sign up to participate in different activities (hikes, bike rides, field day, etc) and they will receive a badge for each thing they accomplish. Cool, huh!?! The following Saturday, we have a family day and I believe we will be heading to Stone Mountain State Park. It should be beautiful because the colors have started to change.

My next job is to get our Tree Study underway. I think we'll be starting it today and expanding on it tomorrow after Pooh's Art class.

I better hop to it! ;D

Bad Mommy!

All because I won't let Pooh 'chase' the chickens. It seems that the neighbor said it was okay, but when I vetoed that idea all 'feathers' broke loose.

Pooh is currently tying his model boats into a red bandanna and attaching them to his walking stick. I asked him if he needed any help in tying it on but he told me to 'leave him alone'.

He's leaving home. Anybody want to write him a goodbye note? :D

P.S. Anybody that in the southeast, watch the skies around 8pm to see the International Space Station. It's only going to last about 5 minutes. Those of you in other parts, sorry I don't know your schedule or if you'll be able to see it.

Fungi & Other Misc. Nature

On our nature walk yesterday, we saw dozens of fungi. Recent rains have caused an explosion of them all over the place. Here is an example of one we saw called a Gymnopus dryophilus. Fancy, you say! Well, yes, but I only know because this website told me. ;P

I love how mushrooms come in so many colors. There are wonderful bits of color in their shady world! Here are a couple more pictures of ones we saw:

This last picture is how you can take a mushroom and create a 'spore print'. You cut the stem off and lay the top, gill side down, on a piece of paper. Cover it with a jar or bowl and let sit for 24 hours. Ours is sitting under a bowl on the kitchen table right now. I'll let you know how it turns out.

We also collected some more tree seeds for Tigger. Has anyone done or seen a neat way of organizing tree seeds? I don't want to put them in their nature notebooks because some we have collected are quite large and fat. I'd like them to be on cards and labeled. Maybe just put them in a shoebox? Let me know if you've discovered any cool ways that aren't too complicated. *I* peter out when things get complicated.

Another cool thing we discovered yesterday was a snake skin. Tigger saw it under a little wooden bridge. (Yes, that meant he was hanging over the side upside down. LOL) He asked what 'that skin' was. I thought he meant the liner of the stream. He insisted I get down and hang over the bridge myself. So, like the good mother I am, I did it. I was just glad there was no one else around to see my rear in the air. When I saw what he was talking about, we fished it out with a stick. It had been caught on a rock in the water. We talked about how the snake grows and sheds it's old skin because he has a new one. I have no idea what kind of snake it was, maybe one day I'll figure it out.

After we did our exploring, we took snacks, drinks, blankets and our nature bag (filled with our sketchbooks, color pencils and HNS) and hit a nice resting spot. I read from the HNS about fungi and we all did a little sketch of the mushrooms we saw. Pooh did two of the brown mushrooms with all three of us in the picture. Tigger did an amazing job (the best he's done of a nature study) with his orangy-yellow mushrooms. Oh and that was his new color discovery of the day-orangy-yellow. ;D I did my sad job of the different colors I saw and then I did an adequate job of copying the diagram with labeling from HNS.

Oh and I almost forgot. The kids had passed me by, but I made an interesting little find. Chipmunks must have some type of mating call in the fall. I heard this repetitive noise in the brush. I thought it was a new bird I hadn't seen or maybe a strange sounding frog. (shows how much I know. LOL) But, no, it was a little chipmunk sitting on a dead tree trunk, using it's whole little body to make a fast, repetitive, throaty call. I can only assume he was calling his lady friend. Another thing to investigate. :)

It was a lovely afternoon. Perfect temps, nature and my kids. What more could you ask for?

Onward, HO!

Life has been going along at quite a brisk pace lately. I was gone from the house for three days in a row which tends to be me on the couch in a zombie-like state. I'm okay when out of the house but by the time I'm home, I have serious function issues. ;D So finally, today I feel a little more normal.

Thursday was me and two other moms listening to drama auditions and deciding on who gets what parts in the three different plays we're putting on this year. They will all be performed at our End Of The Year meeting-otherwise known as the EOYM. lol There are 3 so that we can separate all the kids according to age. These are the plays we'll be performing. Peggy the Pint-Sized Pirate ---Tigger will be performing as Captain Soggy. And I believe that Pooh will fill in for a missing role as Grunt. The second play is From the Elephant Pit --Pooh will be performing as the Snake. Then the final play for all the older than 13 kids is Ever After. The boys are excited every year at what we do in our drama club. Pooh especially, loves being on stage. Usually by the end of the year, he has everyone's lines memorized. LOL The upside of autism. ;P

I also had a meeting with my Field Trip Committee where we discussed how we're going to use the money we raised with our fundraiser. What a privilege to be able to provide the kid's entrance fees to between 4-5 field trips! We're planning more fundraising events too!

Friday we were able to visit Old Salem in Winston-Salem, NC. This is definitely worth a drive. They had special homeschooling days this month where the entrance was only $8 each--quite a bargain compared to their regular prices. There will be another homeschooling event in February of 2009 for anyone in driving distance. The boys love to dress up in all types of period clothing which is what they got to do in the Children's Museum. Pooh was very impressed to find out that George Washington spent two nights at the Salem Tavern. :) We were at Old Salem all day and still didn't see everything, so there is plenty to do next time we want to go.

Saturday, my Latin King, wanted to go to a Spanish festival in the area, so we did that as well. It was soooo hot, though, that we didn't stay for too long. We did get to see some dancing in the style of the Aztecs and another style from a region of Mexico that produced the Mexican Hat Dance.

Saturday night we camped out in our front yard. The King and I slept on long long chairs by a little fire pit we have while the boys slept in their 'clubhouse'. It was fine except for the neighbor's rooster waking us up at 5am in the morning.

So by Sunday afternoon, I crashed while the King took the boys fishing. Even yesterday, I was exhausted although I did manage quite a new feat for me. I spent the afternoon pureeing fresh pumpkin from the garden and making two pumpkin pies. Oh My! they are good!!! This is the recipe I used. Instead of soy milk, I used a can of coconut milk. Pumpkin pie is very hard not to eat. It just sits there, tasty and yet not too sweet, waiting for you to eat it. Mmmmmmmmm.

Excuse me, there's something in the kitchen that needs taken care of. ;D