Loveliness of the Seashore

Elaine is the beautiful hostess for The Loveliness of the Seashore Carnival.

I send my entry in very early so that I would not forget.

So I got to be #1 on her list. :)

Come for a Dip and refresh yourself without getting sandy!

I have other posts about going to the beach in Hawaii in Dec 2006, Dec 2005, and going to the "Lake" here in San Diego (Really the reservoir).

Favorite New products

I never drank coffee until Frappacinos were invented when I was over 32. It was about the time I was pregnant so decaf was fine. But there was something addicting about that stuff. Nowadays I think about a cafe au lait when I wake up in the morning. I never liked coffee, but always loved the smell of the beans and brewing coffee. I like milk with a little coffee. So I was very happy (and my wallet) when I could bring the *$ (starbucks) home for less.
It is still about $7 for a 4 pack, but I can drink 1/2 a can a day. That's better than the Dulce de Leche drink at the store for $4.


Now for something healthy.........................
I've been enjoying Bear Naked for a while now. I love to mix some granola with vanilla yogurt for breakfast.
For a while... the Banana Nut has been my favorite!
The Fruit & Nut, and the Protein flavors are good too. But now my very Favorite is the Triple Berry Crunch. Added plus is the low sugar! The dehydrated berries are big and crunchy and delicious.

We've been seeing the commercials for the cereal straws for a while. I found them 2 for $5 so I bought them as a surprise for the kids.

The Cocoa ones are the best, but they are VERY cookie like. So they do not seem like a breakfast item at all.

The kids are having fun with them. They really do like using them as straws, but it has to go quick because they Don't like the cereal once they get soggy. I like them dry out of the package, but again, I think of them more as a cookie.

Kids on the trampoline

Lapbook cutting or What did you do all afternoon & night?

7/27/07

What did you do all afternoon & evening?

I was printing out lapbook mini book pages and started cutting.

I flipped the channels and found the movie

"Mystic Pizza" I peeked around the bookcase and listened to the movie while I worked.

Then "Pretty Woman" was on. I always like that movie.
I moved all the pages and scissors and recycling paper can over to the sofa and sat and cut all through the movie.

First it was the Horses lapbook from Hands of a Child (HOAC) for Katie.

Next, the Shedd Aquarium Lapbook HOAC for Derek.

I was on a roll, so I moved onto the Apologia Zoology 2 lapbook pages.

This lapbook is from Live and Learn Press (LLP)

Chapter 1:
Chapters 2 & 3:

I continued cutting into the night and finished cutting out chapters 1 to 6. As I cut them I put them into this divided folder (made for coupons or checks I got at Target for $1) by chapter.

One child done..... one more to go.

I organized a Zoology 2, (oceanography) science co-op with 3 other moms. There will be 7 kids in the group aged 7 - 12 - (and 3 littles including Derek)
Derek & T.S. will be doing the Shedd Aquarium Lapbook.
I mapped out 32 weeks meeting on Thursdays. We'll be doing a couple chapters and then going on fun field trips.
San Diego is awesome for places to go - La Jolla Seal Beach, tidepools, Sea World, the Aquarium at Scripps Oceanography and their tidepools, the Chula Vista Nature Center and the SD zoo.
I'll be posting about everything as it happens.......

banners from Kids Klub

Banners that Katie (l) & James (r) made at Kids Klub.

Loveliness of Summer Reading

Sarah @ just another day of Catholic pondering is the hostess for the Loveliness Fair: Summer Reading.

check out what everyone is reading for the summer.

She included my (late) entry about my great find at the used book sale at the library on Sunday. :)

Grandma's new puppy - Bear

My mom went to Iowa to visit her sister and returned with a new dachsund puppy. His name is Bear. (Moxie is from Iowa too, 2006)

Free Bee unit study and coupon codes

Homeschool e store is offering FREE this week a unit study about Honey Bees.

http://www.homeschoolestore.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=16677&affiliate_id=14136


Here are 2 coupon codes for Christianbook.com

251437AB 10% off a $35 purchase through 8/10.

229766AQ 10% off of $35 purchase don't know exp. date have to test it out.

Summer Reading

I just finished reading Marley & Me by John Grogan. My mom passed it on to me after enjoying it on the plane ride to Iowa. It was very cute & heartwarming. I laughed outloud many times.
I never thought ahead to "the end" until it was time to read about his illnesses and old age problems. He was over 13 and started developing things that happen to dogs: deafness, blindness, hips going out. It took quite a few pages and a few tears to get to the end of the book.

Alice G. of Cottage Blessings left a comment on our Boating at the Lake Trip that it reminded her of the book Swallows & Amazons. I have never heard of that book. After looking it up on Amazon to see what it was about, I was happy to find that the El Cajon Library had a copy available.

Thanks to her, when I went to check out Swallows & Amazons from the library, I found a used books 1/2 price sale - I couldn't pass it up.

Look at all the books I found for $2.75

A Horse Called Dragon & National Velvet. Horse books for Katherine.

Paddington at Large, for Derek.

Robin Hood and Ghost in the Mirror for James.

A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Minver. This is for James & me. The kids are studying Medieval period next semester so this will fit in. I'll read it first, but it should be great for him. I was very happy to see that the author is E.L. Konigsburg who wrote a favorite book From The Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler.

Otherwise known as Sheila the Great and Fudge-a-Mania - classic Judy Blume books.

For me What a Girl Wants (some chick lit) and Under the Tuscan Sun. (for summer armchair travelling to Italy)

For homeschool and novelty: Illustrated Games and Rhythms for Children: Primary Grades Frank H. Geri, Director of Playgrounds, Bellingham, Washington; 1955
The illustrations are so cute.

I'll write more later. The kids are ready to go swimming.

Hands of a Child - BIG SALE

A Very Special Special! Moving Sale @ Hands of a Child Lapbooking online store.

"We have always said that In the Hands of a Child has the best customers
and this just proves it. You've supported us so well that as we approach
the beginning of our 5th year in business we've outgrown our space . To thank you
(and to help us have less to move) we are offering you substantial savings. But
hurry this sale is a once a year type event and will not be repeated or extended
so please get in on the deals while you can!
What's on sale? Everything!* If you can find it on our site you can save
money on it. This sale is over a week long, but you have to get in early to get
the biggest savings!"
The sale begins Friday morning July 20th at 6 a.m. EST and here's how
it works:

40% off on July 20-July 21
30% off on July 22-July 23
25% off on July 24
20% off on July 25
15% off on July 26
10% off on July 27
*Custom created Project Packs are NOT included in this sale! The discount percent will change at 11pm EST on the end date listed for each sale day.
Use this code: MOVING and remember to CLICK THE UPDATE BUTTON before proceeding through checkout!

I'm ordering: North America Continent Study, Shedd Aquarium, Disneyland and Sharks.

Recalls-Easy Bake Oven, Listerine, Veggie Booty

Thanks to other vigilant moms in the Yahoo Groups I found out about the

Easy Bake Oven Recall - There are severe burns and a finger amputation. :(
We have another model so we are OK.

Listerine's Agent Cool Blue Plaque Detecting Rinse. marketed primarily for use by children after testing revealed contamination by microorganisms.
We have this, I've printed the refund form.

Veggie Booty a number cases of salmonella were traced to the seasoning used to make Veggie Booty.
We haven't bought any for a while, but we know it is a popular snack for kids.

child's height predictor

Your son will be 6' 3'' tall.

This is a fair predictor.. the Dr. predicted that Derek may be 6'2" at his 3 yr old checkup using her chart.
So he will be towering above the rest of us.
Both James & Katherine may be 5'7"
Geoff and I are 5'8"

Try it out at Parent Zone

Butterfly Release in Balboa Park

7/20/07 Balboa park on Saturday @ Noon
Butterflies being released in the newly renamed "Butterfly Garden" in the formerly and still also called Zoro Park which is next to the Science Center.

This is where they will hang Chrysalis. There are a couple on there.

The crowd was very anxious waiting in the HOT sun for the event to start. Sadly, people were cranky and impatient when there were several speakers before they actually released the butterflies. When they announced the hostess, the park ranger, the artist, the garden designers there were loud groans and sighs. People.... you came.... wait it out.... it will come.....

They finally did the release, however, it was not a fanfare of butterflies exploding into the air.
Those sleepy winged beauties took their time coming out and stretching their wings.

We had to move closer in to the crowd to see them on the flowers. But they were extra friendly and Katie held one on her finger for a very long time. Finally I got her to transfer it to Derek's finger, then back to Katie.

James found one to sit on his finger. I had to make him put it on a plant when we were ready to leave.

What famous work of art are you?

I was hoping for a Monet. But Georgia will definitely do!!

I love the title and the flowing blue colors!! I clicked on feeling "reflective".

You Are Best Described By...

From the Lake, No. 1 by Georgia O'Keeffe

What Famous Work of Art Are You?

H/T to Cuggle Corner

New blogs I visited this week

Tater tots and Ladybug Love
They got to visit the Jelly Belly factory and meet Alice and her kids from Cottage Blessings!

The Journey of a Mother's Heart
She has a similar title to her blog as I do. We also share that we both have adopted and biological children.

The Crib Chick
Funny pictures of what toddlers will do when you are not looking.

Bow of Bronze
She posted coupon codes for ChristianBook.com hours after I placed my $97 order with no coupon. :(
I tried out the "How tall will your child be?"

Cuggle Corner
I'm going to do the "Which famous painting are you?"

Mission Bay fun in the sand & water

Our St. Therese MOMS group had Beach Day this afternoon.
The kids had a blast in the sand!

This picture doesn't show how many kids were actually there. There were at least 43!

The girls collected hermit crabs and created a sand castle for them.

Guess Where we are today ??

Chuckie Cheese! Thanks to SS for treating us!

blogging helps me be a patient mother

7/16/07
set the scene: We just returned from costco, i'm carrying in loads of items. Derek can't wait for the goldfish. I tell him to please cut across the top of the bag, instead of straight down like last time.
I'm in the garage getting another load and i can hear the CRASH and the waterfall sound of goldfish hitting the floor.

See I'm a better mom since I blog, because I went for the camera and kept my cool instead of yelling at him for the big mess.

Coco on the trampoline!

I looked out the kitchen sink window to see Coco INSIDE the trampoline!
It was not only funny that she was in there all alone but she was chasing her tail, around and around. Until she saw me taking her pictures. Then she came out on the edge and looked at me through the window.

Annual Check up & !#@%^! Tuberculosis

Katherine & Derek had their annual check ups this week.
I hate it when they ask if they are getting shots. I can't lie. So I had to say yes for sure to Derek but I didn't know for Katherine. Derek's was also his Kindergarten checkup and after 2 kids you know they get a lot of immunizations for that.
Of course, they didn't want to go. Going to the Dr. is so hard. I hate needles, and what mother wants to subject their baby (oh those tiny 2 & 4 month olds) or even your 4 & 7 year olds to shots. I know there's a huge anti-immunization group out there, and I held off for a long time past the due date for James' chicken pox shot. But I go along with the immunize the kids program.

Derek had 3 shots, the MMR included the new Chicken Pox booster. I hadn't heard about that one. But I wasn't feeling up to arguing about it or postponing it. So that was one shot for Katherine. She would have gone home with none if that didn't exist.

However, last year at James annual check up in April 2006 his PPD - Tuberculosis test came back positive. Then mine came back positive. YUCK. That was not a fun month. Both of us had chest x-rays and we were fine. But the routine is that we had to take antibiotic medication for 9 months! Isoniazid (INH) it is called.
Derek had been tested the month before - but there was no writing on his shot record - - so I don't think I brought him back in for the check..... duh! If I did, which I hope I was responsible, I may have forgotten the shot record and so the results were not recorded. SO he was considered negative and it was too early to retest. Katherine & Geoff's tests were negative.

I explained all of this history to the Doctor and we agreed that Derek & Katherine needed to be retested.
Since I'm writing this much later I can tell you that 2 days later we spent 3 hours at Kaiser on a Saturday because Derek's test turned out positive (WHINE) & Katherine's was negative again (YEAH!)

Derek had his chest x-ray which was fine, and then we had to do the see the doctor routine for a checkover and discussing the INH medication that he now has to take for 9 months. BOOO!!

Even though that was 5 days ago, I still haven't started making him take it. I'm avoiding the battle. The first 2 days I was waiting for his immunizations to feel better. They were so red and swollen and hot I was giving him Tylenol. And he had these weird spots on his legs which the doctor looked at on Saturday and thought they were an allergic reaction to something and wanted me to wait out 3 days to see if they went away -- it took 4 days.

So now you're wondering...... how did we get exposed to TB. Well that is a good question and believe me it kept me awake for weeks with worry and wonder.
TB is out there, everywhere. My first guess is the airplane ride to Hawaii. You're stuck in a box of recirculating air from hundreds of people for 6 hours???
But it could be from a sneeze in an elevator, a cough in the grocery store, a movie theatre, at church....... Because we live near Mexico it is prevalent in San Diego.
Even though we never travel there nor are acquainted with anyone living there.
We did spend 7 months in and out of 3 nursing homes and hospitals when we were taking care of my father. These are all possibilites.
A bigger question is for that sick person .... what the heck are you doing out of bed, out in public spreading your dangerous germs...... arrrrghhh! And spreading them to me & my kids Oh, &^%$#@! curse words.

The weirdest thing though is that the kids & I all travel together. It was unusual that only James & I reacted last year. It was not that unexpected that Derek would react once he was retested. Now it seems an anomaly that Katherine has escaped all of this.

What does it mean? Well, not to speak down to anyone, but this is how I explain it to the kids.
The bad TB germs jumped onto us and entered our bodies. This is good education for washing our hands and keeping our hands off of everything they walk by :)
Thank the Lord, our bodies were great and strong and healthy and the good cells in our bodies were able to fight off the bad germs and we never became sick.
However, since there are possibly still bad germs inside of us, we have to take the medicine for 9 months to make sure all of them get killed.

What about the future? The 3 of us can never be tested by PPD again. It is possible we would have severe reactions. If a TB test is required, especially when the boys are adults and in their careers (teachers, nurses, police) they will always have to have chest x-rays for their testing.

SO more than you ever wanted to know about me & my kids and Tuberculosis!

Baking Cookies

Today's fun activity was baking sugar cookies. Even though it was probably 85 degrees and the last thing we should do is turn on the oven.

Oh well, they smelled divine! and we had fun using the animal shaped cookie cutters.

Derek is moving the pterodactyl and a bat onto the cookie sheet.

James made a shark, fish & seahorse
octopus, crab, alligator, kangaroo, seahorse, seal, teddy bear, fish, shark, dinosaurs.

Ratatouille - The movie

The neighbor boy invited James to go see Ratatouille with his family.
Not surprisingly, once my other kids heard about it, that meant all of us were going to go.
Neighbor boy's mother didn't know her son was asking James to go with them, and she didn't really want to take 4 kids (she has 3) to a movie. So we invited ourselves to go with them. :)
A spontaneous adventure!

The movie was excellent. I laughed a lot.
I did think that the old lady shooting the shot gun and reloading to shoot more was a little much. There was some more shooting guns later on too, but it was shorter.

There were 3 scenes where rats were running en masse, like a gray wave across the floor and out the door that gave me the willies. I shuddered at the thought of a rat wave running by. eeeek!

H/T to Dawn at By Sun & Candlelight for this link to a Ratatouille Activity Book.
It takes a while to download.... it is 19 pages. But there are great coloring pages and mazes.

Check out the birthday party in the Ratatouille Theme for her son. Super Cute!

Boating at the Lake

We had a great day boating at the lake (formed by a dam).

Geoff & James went out early and James brought his neighbor friend Chris.

Katie, Derek & I joined them later about 9:45.

Geoff was eager to get in the water and wake board, I was finally there to drive him, so he went as soon as we left the dock.

I went next. We got the boat in Aug 2001. I water skied all of the years until 2006 - last year I finally tried wake boarding

So I needed to practice that again. Actually I like it much better. The falls just don't seem so hard.

You still get your sinuses cleaned out though.

I finally got up on the 4th try. And did get up on a few more tries. I had to quit after about 4 rides though my sinuses couldn't take it anymore.

Then we went ashore and the kids played in the sand while we blew up the tube.

The rest of the day was fun whipping the kids around, and I had one turn, in the tube.