video YouTube... Catholics Come Home

video from www.CatholicsComeHome.org

H/T to Esther

.

My first baby turns 11 !

Celebrating J's 11th birthday today.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

YES you can go in the pool w/your clothes on.

The kids were so excited that I said "Yes" they could go in the pool with their clothes on.




File under: Me saying "Yes" to their requests.

Time for a funny story ......

H/T to Esther. I copied it from her.

Swallow your drink before reading.

MALE VS. FEMALE AT THE ATM MACHINE
A new sign in the Bank Lobby reads: "Please note that this Bank isinstalling new Drive-through ATM machines enabling customers towithdraw cash without leaving their vehicles. Customers using this new facility are requested to use the procedures outlined below when accessing their accounts."
"After months of careful research, MALE & FEMALE procedures have been developed. Please follow the appropriate steps for your gender."

MALE PROCEDURE:
1. Drive up to the cash machine.
2. Put down your car window.
3. Insert card into machine and enter PIN.
4. Enter amount of cash required and withdraw.
5. Retrieve card, cash and receipt.
6. Put window up.
7. Drive off.
*********************************************
FEMALE PROCEDURE:
1. Drive up to cash machine.
2. Reverse and back up the required amount to align car window with the machine.
3. Set parking brake, put the window down.
4. Find handbag, remove all contents on to passenger seat to locate card.
5. Tell person on cell phone you will call them back and hang up.
6. Attempt to insert card into machine.
7. Open car door to allow easier access to machine due to its excessive distance from the car.
8. Insert card.
9. Re-insert card the right way.
10. Dig through handbag to find diary;with your PIN written on the inside back page.
11. Enter PIN.
12. Press cancel and re-enter correct PIN.
13. Enter amount of cash required.
14. Check makeup in rear view mirror.
15. Retrieve cash and receipt.
16. Empty handbag again to locate wallet and place cash inside.
17. Write debit amount in check register and place receipt in back of checkbook.
18. Re-check makeup.
19. Drive forward 2 feet.
20. Reverse back to cash machine.
21. Retrieve card.
22. Re-empty hand bag, locate card holder, and place card into the slot provided!
23. Give dirty look to irate male driver waiting behind you.
24. Restart stalled engine and pull off.
25. Redial person on cell phone.
26. Drive for 2 to 3 miles.
27. Release Parking Brake.

study paleontology @ disneyland

I love this picture spot for the kids at Disneyland.
Paleontology, motion, friction, so much to study. he he ;)

(It is in line waiting for the Thunder Mountain rollercoaster.)

Nim's Island movie coming 4/4

Cute new movie coming out April 4th : Nim's Island

"Anything can happen on Nim's Island, a place where imagination runs wild and adventure rules."

From Publishers Weekly
Orr (Peeling the Onion) blithely throws credibility to the wind and inventively tweaks coincidence to create a fantasy tale as welcome as a breath of fresh tropical air.
Ever since her mother died when Nim was a baby, the girl and Jack, her scientist father, have lived on a remote island. When Jack sails off on a three-day trip to collect plankton, Nim stays behind with her three best friends: a sea lion, a marine iguana and a green sea turtle.
But a storm disables Jack's boat, and Nim remains alone for a full two weeks, in contact with her father only through notes delivered by a frigate bird. As the author describes the girl's daily routine of foraging for food, doing chores and playing with her pals, she neatly slips into her narrative slivers of information about the tropical habitat (e.g., Chica the sea turtle returns each year to lay her eggs on Nim's island, where Chica was hatched).
A story within a story emerges as Nim strikes up an e-mail correspondence with an author who begins writing an adventure novel set on an island that looks exactly like Nim's. With ample doses of suspense and comedy, and a pleasingly sappy happily-ever-after ending, the tale portrays the improbable so cleverly that readers will want to believe everything about the likable Nim and her idyllic isle. Pen-and-ink drawings that resemble Quentin Blake's bring these enchanting characters and setting to life. Ages 9-12

Homeschoolers in California support

I haven't written anything about the scuffle going on in California about homeschooling.
I'm waiting for the dust to settle.
We continue to do our day to day activities and follow the news.
The Governor vowed to help us keep homeschooling last week.
Here is some news today that there should be some clearer skies ahead.


SCHOOLS CHIEF JACK O'CONNELL ISSUES STATEMENT REGARDING HOMESCHOOLING IN CALIFORNIA
SACRAMENTO - State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell announced today that the California Department of Education has completed a legal review of the February 28 California Court of Appeal ruling regarding home schooling. O'Connell issued the following statement:
"I have reviewed this case, and I want to assure parents that chose to home school that California Department of Education policy will not change in any way as a result of this ruling. Parents still have the right to home school in our state.
"Every child in our state has a legal right to get an education, and I want every child to get an education that will prepare them for success in college and the world of work in the challenging global economy."
As the head of California's public school system, I hope that every parent would want to send their children to public school. However, traditional public schools may not be the best fit for every student.Within the public school system there are a range of options available.Students can take independent study classes, attend a charter school, or participate in non-classroom-based programs.
But some parents choose to send their children to private schools or to home school, and I respect that right.
"I admire the dedication of parents who commit to oversee their children's education through home schooling.
But, no matter what educational program a student participates in, it is critical that the program prepares them for future success in the global economy. I urge any parent who is considering or involved in home schooling their children to take advantage of resources and support available through their county or district offices of education."# # #


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PHONE:916-319-0818
March 11,2008
E-MAIL: hmclean@cde.ca.gov

we don't need chairs

a quick pic of the kids doing homework for art/history class.

no chairs or desks needed. table tops and floors will do.

Field Trip Thursday to Tidepools of Point Loma

Today's field trip was to the Tidepools at Cabrillo National Monument. This is at the end of Point Loma in San Diego.

Suzanne found a great handout for us.
Student notes for an Intertidal zone. We had a scavenger hunt!
Here is the link to the pdf file.
http://bioweb.usc.edu/courses/2003-fall/documents/bisc121-Tidepool_info.pdf
Have fun!



U.S.National Park Service Website

A Tidepool Study from SDSU

GORP website about Coastal Hiking in San Diego

CURR-Click Grand Opening!!

CURR-Click Grand Opening on Monday March 10th !!

The website formerly known as the "Homeschool estore.com"
will change over to CurrClick.com on Monday, March 10th.
As always, we'd love for you to help us spread the word.

Come by and check out the Grand Opening!

Curriculum in a Click!
EVERY week there is a FREE downloadable product!!

The Same great site and customer service … but better! Experience our improved previews of thousands of your favorite homeschool titles, easily and from the comfort of your own home!

Get 10% account credit on every purchase you make from March 10th-March 17th, add future purchases to your wish list, experience a more intuitive browsing experience that makes it easier to find what you’re looking for, send your wish list to friends and family members and find out what other people think about the curriculum you are considering, by reading our staff and customer reviews.

CurrClick.com is the only eBook and audio site specializing in instantly downloadable Homeschool curriculum. At CurrClick, you can choose from thousands of homeschool titles from hundreds of your favorite publishers, cheaply and completely free of shipping costs.

MY Favorite product from CurrClick.com is the LITERATURE POCKETS from Evan Moor.
James wanted to study Greek Myths and it was so convenient to go to CurrClick.com, download the literature pockets and be able to print out the pages on the paper we want, the color we want and as many pages as I need for my 3 kids.

I was also able to download a Guide for D'Aulaires' book of Greek Myths.

Disneyland Trip w/ Homeschoolers

We had an awesome trip to Disneyland for 2.5 days.
We were going to drive up leaving, hopefully at 6:30 a.m. Thursday morning to make the 9 a.m. class and I was stressed.
Geoff said around 10 a.m. on Wednesday to call the hotel and get another night and drive up Wed afternoon. YOO HOOO!!.
So we packed up quick. Loaded most stuff in the truck and dropped James off at Lissa's for Shakespeare class while the rest of us ran to wal mart for groceries.
Pick up James, say our goodbyes and stop by the house for the rest of the stuff.
We got on the road at 3:20. The drive up was absolutely clear. The traffic was null and we arrived at the hotel by 5. Checked in, unloaded the car and ran over to Disneyland for the evening.
One of our goals for the trip was to see Toon Town. Somehow the past few trips we either got there after it closed (for fireworks) or forgot about going there.
So we jumped on the train first thing at the front gate and headed back to Toon Town!

Oh, before the train we went into the Town Hall and requested a Birthday Badge for Katie for Thursday. We were the only ones in there so I chatted with the ladies behind the counter.
We let them know we were there for the next two days. We were going to take the Animation Class in the morning and go to the Minnie & Friends breakfast on Friday.
She gave all of us "Honorary Citizens" Badges to wear!
Then she had Katie pick up the phone on her counter and listen to a special Birthday message from Goofy.

In Toon Town we had a great time riding the Gadget Coaster. Derek was hesitant as we waited for the next train (there was no one in line in front of us!). But when the ride ended, he was the first to ask if we could ride it again.

Next we went to Mickey Mouse's House. We have never done that. We followed the rooms down hallways, past the barn, into another hallway and into a waiting area. We had no idea what we were waiting for. But the line was fairly short and I can imagine that in peak times those hallways and rooms we passed through are the usual waiting areas for this line.
In the end we were taken back into a room and had our picture taken with Mickey Mouse!
**See Photopass link below**

Next we walked over to The Nemo Submarine ride. The line was about 20 minutes. Better than over an hour that it will be during the daytime. The first time we rode Nemo I thought it was worth the 45 minute wait. I really liked it. This time it didn't seem as exciting. But I was paying more attention to the movie details this time to see things we might not have seen the first time we went on the ride.

We left the park when it closed @ 8 p.m. and were very hungry. We crossed the main road and there was an IHOP on the other side. The kids warmed up with hot chocolate and dinner.



THURSDAY
We met up with Disney Schoolers and attended the Youth Education Series (YES) class on the history of Animation called Disney Animation Magic.
We had a very animated :) young lady to lead our group of 22 children and a few parents.
The kids were able to:

• Draw a Disney character - Pooh - using simple geometric shapes.They were guided by a Disney Animator!
• Demonstrate storyboarding.
• Create a kineograph.
• Create a thaumatrope.

Class ended at 1:30. We went back to our hotel, the Fairfield Inn by Marriott and had Pizza Hut that was inside the hotel. This hotel is across the main street and a short walk down. We were very happy with the hotel. The first night was $129. The second night was $139 but included 2 medium pizzas and 4 drinks that we had for lunch.
There is a Mimi's Cafe next door. We went there for dinner.
And McDonald's is pretty much in the parking lot! Of course we went there... Derek's dream come true.

FRIDAY
I thought we had to be early at the gate for our 8:30 Minnie & Friends Breakfast so we arrived at 8:15 a.m. The gates don't open until 8:30.
It was exciting though. As they announced that it was time to open the crowd standing in lines cheered! The ticket takers opened the outside gates.
Then there was a countdown to the actual opening..... 5,4,3,2,1 and a cheer and clapping from the crowd. Geoff said, Wow he'd like to come to a job were everyone cheered as you started working!

The Breakfast was AWESOME! We can't wait to do it again.
I read up a lot about it on message boards and blogs so we would know what to expect.
It was very expensive, but this was my birthday present.
For the 5 of us it was $105. I wasn't sure what the food would be like... there were compliments as well as complaints all over the internet.
I thought the food was GREAT. The Mickey Mouse waffles were great. They offered syrup, strawberries, blueberries, whipped cream & butter.
We had made to order Omelets that were delicious. I had spinach, mushrooms, tomatoes, green peppers & bacon in mine, oh and cheese too.
Online I found that I needed to try the Latte. (I had 2) There is a machine with all the drinks... water, OJ, coffee, that you push a button for a latte or cappuccino or hot chocolate.

THE BEST PART of course was the Characters. As you see in my photo slide show.
Each Character really took their time with each child. Enough to sign each child's autograph book and take a picture. Then they would often take a group photo with all 3 kids.
They never hurried or felt like they had 100 other people to see when they were at our table.
We loved it!

Friday was crowded though. After breakfast we tried to get on Nemo with Geoff before he left to drive back to San Diego to go to work. The line was already an hour.
We went over to Space Mountain.... another long line. I got FastPasess and we all went into the "3D Honey I Shrunk the Kids". After the show we said Bye! to dad.

We've has great experiences at DL that we have never had to get Fast Passes before. The kids were confused. Did i have to pay for them? No. Why? Because we didn't want to wait in line.
It was a new thing for them. We have rarely had to wait in a line the past 5 times we have been there. So, Note to self, Friday's are busier than other days of the week.

We met the DisneySchoolers in front of the castle @ 2 p.m. for a group photo:
http://www.maiasphotography.com/images/disney_2008.jpg

Then we went on the sailing ship and sang a song about homeschooling.

The NEW thing I learned @ DL this trip is the Disney PHOTOPASS.
Next time you go let them take your picture as you enter the gate.
I avoided the photographers before because we would never buy the pictures or even go look at them. I'm not good at saying no when someone wants me to buy something.

But NOW they take your picture and hand you a Disney Photo pass card.
Every time you see a Disney Cast member carrying a nice camera let them take your picture, hand them your Photopass and they load all the pictures on the card. You can go to the Camera Store at the end of Main St. nearest the Castle, right before Plaza Inn Restaurant and see the photos on their screens.
OR
The BEST thing is you can come home and look at them at the www.DisneyPhotoPass.com

I won't be buying the $50 photo CD or photo book this time. There are only 48 pictures on there. Next time we may get a card and make sure to get LOTs of pictures on there.
The link is below, but we can only view them for a month. I think it is fun that you can email all your friends and post it on your blog for everyone to see.

http://www.disneyphotopass.com/share.aspx?share=6e6f653a-1343-46c7-9e5c-3dd3f22a07f6&site=DisneyLandResort

Thanks for reading about our fun trip. I hope I had some good tips for you.

"Liberty Kids" on History Channel @ 7 a.m.

Pass the word.........
“Liberty’s Kids,” is being tested right now on The History Channel at 7:00 in the morning.

For the next ten days we need to get the word out to people like you who may favor putting an award winning animated series about the America’s Revolution on the air. As you know, this series was done with PBS and has received Emmy nominations (Two for Walter Cronkite’s rendition of Benjamin Franklin) and features an all star cast. This is a great show but it is hard to get shows like this on TV when so many toy and game supported shows fill up the network time.

This is an important opportunity for us to let The History Channel know that they will be rewarded by bringing this type of programming to kids.

Thank you for your time and please let others know that we are on the air for the next ten days at 7 in the morning (except for Sunday).

Sincerely,Mark Bennett<> http://www.dicentertainment.com

This is only a test marketing of the show. The History Channel needs to know that this is the kind of programming, we as parents want for our children. So, tune in and watch, then contact The History Channel and let them know how much you and/or your children enjoy the program. If the show does well, the producer's are prepared to create more programs highlighting other historical eras in American History.
How to Contact The History Channel
The History Channel doesn't exactly make contacting them simple so, here are the steps to follow, in order to send your comments about Liberty's Kids.
Visit The History Channel website using their contact form.
Select the following...
Step 1 - Scroll down to "Programming"
Step 2 - Select "Program Comments"
Step 3 - Select "Where do I send comments about a specific show?"
Click Submit
A new page will open, select "Contact Us", which will open a pop-up form for you to fill out.
On the form select "Programming/TV Listings" from the menu and complete the rest of the form.

I briefly stated "Thank you for running Liberty Kids. Please continue."

Friday Field Trip.... The Aquarium

In Honor of Leap Day..... we had a fun Friday Field Trip to The Aquarium.
My 3 kids + 2 friends. A RockFish. My flash washed him out but you can see his eyes and his mouth - with lots of tiny dots around it.

A Jellyfish
Derek with a giant lobster and 3 eels
2 different types of Shark egg cases
with 2 shark pups in the tank too (but you can onlysee their spotted tails)

Here is a site with more information about Shark reproduction. Some sharks are oviparous ("egg birth"). Like the egg cases above, the shark lays the eggs and the case is soft. It hardens in a few hours.

Some sharks are ovoviviparous ("egg live birth"), the shell is often just a thin membrane. The egg stays in the utuerus.

Some sharks are viviparous ("live birth"), the yolk stalk that connects the embryo to the yolk grows long in the uterus.

a seahorse.

Sled Dogs Lapbook pictures

Here are pictures from James' Lapbook on Sled Dogs.

COVER

Unschooling Catholics Postcard Exchange

Derek is showing off the 21 postcards we received from around the world in our exchange with other Catholic homeschoolers/unschoolers.
2 are from Australia and 1 is from New Zealand. Others are from: Texas, Florida, California, Colorado, Ohio & Illinois.
Which reminds me to show the picture of us at the post office when we mailed our 27 post cards out to the world. We had to buy airmail postage for the 3 out of the country. Derek wanted to do the special stamps. After we did those three I moved on to the others. I said that we mailed the cards by dropping them in the slot.
Derek, had no idea we were standing at a counter and he dropped the cards in...... the Trash!
We had to go back to the busy counter, get the clerks attention and have her send someone with the trash door key to dig through the trash... how could they have been buried in 20 seconds?



Now we are in front of the mailboxes where we mailed our cards from the San Diego Mission.
It was The First Mission established in California by Fr. Serra. There are 23 Missions in total in California.

Derek was still a little flustered so he didn't want to show his face when I took pictures.

INFP Personality Type

Try your personality Type and Multiple Intelligence tests

Recover deleted Digital photos... on HP camera

Imagine you leave for Disneyland on Wed afternoon, visit the park that night and stay until Friday night taking TONS of pictures.

You arrive home exhausted Friday night after driving 2 hours and sit down to view pictures.

You place SD card in the reader of my laptop ..... and 14 pictures come onto your screen. 14? 14!?

Your heart drops, your stomach aches.
Check the camera... it has some internal storage.... maybe the card didn't catch them but the camera did..... "0" pictures in memory. Try the memory card in the camera again.... Nope.

I'm tired, I can't think. I have to go to bed. Lying there wondering what could possibly happen to the hundreds of pictures I took. The breakfast, the characters, the fun, the rides..... gone?

Use google to find software for recovering memory card data.
Don't they always say that computer data is never really gone? It's on the disk and you just have to know how to get it?

I found a message board where a mom had a similar problem and the moderator suggested some online software. I load the software. It says that it will look and see if there is data to recover before you have to pay for the software.
The software cannot find my memory card or my camera (now attached to the laptop with the cord that took me about 3 hours to find.)
I'm devastated. I check the software description and it says it can find all memory cards but then lists some camera brands, and HP is not in the list.
Well it is an HP camera, it is HP's fault.
I go to HP's website and click on "Chat with Customer Service"

She says hello, how can I help.....
PLEASE help me recover 3 days of Disneyland Pictures!!!!!
She walks me thru downloading a FREE Software program

http://www.download.com/Art-Plus-Digital-Photo-Recovery/3000-12511_4-10513647.html?part=dl-ArtPlusDi&subj=dl&tag=button

and VOILA!!! My pictures are RECOVERED. All but 3, but from 140 pictures, I'm not complaining!! It took about an Hour to look and recover the pictures from the memory card.

If the above link doesn't work here are 2 other ways to get there!
www.artplus.hr/cgi-bin/cgiwrap/artplus/dl.cgi?dl=DPR
or
http://www.artplus.hr/adapps/eng/dpr.htm

Stay tuned................. my pictures are soon to be posted on the blog!!!

And all about our days @ Disneyland. Also some new things to do and new tricks I learned about Disneyland.

a Book Meme......... I'm tagged

My new blog pal, Rachel @ "Unscripted", tagged me.
Here are the rules:
1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people.

The Sonoma Diet
p. 123
Do your kids a favor and downplay those foods, reserving them for special treats. As a parent, your job is to buy healthy food and have it available for them. The children's job is to choose from what is offered. (4th line) If what is offered is all healthy, the kids have to choose from only healthy food.

Am I supposed to comment? This is about NOT having snack foods, processed foods, etc. in the house.
MY comment??? Hardy, Har, Har. Good luck. Actually I'm working on it.
I don't buy chips, except tortilla chips. I haven't been buying soda, ice cream, fruit snacks, candy or cookies (well I did get some cookie dough, but it is gone as of about an hour ago, James made cookies for dessert later). I haven't been buying this stuff for a long time. DH isn't "with the plan" so it still appears in the house. And more excuses .... the holidays, birthdays, parties, Oh my!

I tag whomever has never done this .............. or if you did it a long time ago.

St. Valentine's Day Party

Our homeschool moms put together an awesome Saint Valentine's Day party, in spite of the the rain! Everyone brought yummy food, delicious desserts and we had very fun games.
The kids decorated enormous heart shaped sugar cookies with frosting & sprinkles.
A bag was decorated by each family and filled to the brim with cute and holy Valentines.

It's been 82 degrees here for a week and wouldn't you know it .... we woke up to rain and it poured all day. Now it rains here in San Diego very seldom. And when it rains it is usually for a little bit of the day and that's it. Not today. It poured buckets all day and was 45 degrees!

We moved our Park Day party to a hall of the Catholic Church.... thanks be to God!
And had a wonderful party. Thanks Carla!

Valentine's Day activity sheets FREE downloads

Happy Valentine's Day!
Here are a few fun, schooly activity sheets to do today! Math, graphing, word search.....

http://www.teachercreated.com/free/activities.php

Go down to the middle of the page and they are "Winter Activity" and "Holiday Brain Teasers" books but both are only pages for Valentine's Day.


From the SchoolExpress Newsletter.
Two Free Thematic Units and Two Free Activity Fun eWorkbooks Every Month.
This week we have a Valentine's Day Activity eWorkbook and Thematic Unit.

Click here to download the FREE Valentine's Day Activity eWorkbook.

Click here to download the FREE Valentine's Day Thematic Unit.

Enjoy the week. :-)Staff at SchoolExpress.com
Your may forward this newsletter to anyone you think might want to access these free items.

In case you were looking for a Geography program: "GlobalMania" From KnowledgeQuest
Learn Geography in 7 months by studying one Continent a month.
http://www.knowledgequestmaps.com/globalmania.htm

Saint Homobonus - my patron saint for 2008

This is Marianne's third year in assisting people pair up with their patron saints. This year she has a blog "The Patron Saint of the Year" I read about it on Esther's blog.
Email Marianne and she will let you know which Saint "Chooses YOU" for the year.

12/15/07 The saint that chose you is St. Homobonus!

Don't forget to take time to "google" your saint so you can get to know them and will be better to see all the intercessions that will be comingyour way! The more you know about your saint will also enable you to understand why they "chose" you and what both of you will be able to accomplish in 2008!

Stay in touch and let me know how things go between you! Enjoy your heavenly walk! God bless! Marianne

Saint Homobonus (d. November 13, 1197) was a merchant from Cremona, northern Italy. Born Omobono Tucenghi, he was a married layman who believed that God had allowed him to work in order that he would be able to support people that were living in a state of poverty. His name is derived from the Latin homo bonus ("good man").
Homobonus was able to pursue this calling in life easily as a result of the inheritance he received from his father, a prosperous tailor and merchant. He practiced his business at Cremona with scrupulous honesty. He also donated a large proportion of his profits to the relief of the poor.
Homobonus was a frequent church attendee that would partake in the Eucharist everyday. While attending mass, prostrated in the form of a cross, on November 13, 1197, Homobonus died. Two years later Homobonus was canonized by Pope Innocent III. During Homobonus's canonization Pope Innocent III said that Homobonus was a "father of the poor", "consoler of the afflicted", "assiduous in constant prayer", "man of peace and peacemaker", "a man good in name and deed", "this saint, is still like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in our time."
He is the patron saint of business people, tailors, shoemakers, and clothworkers, as well as of Cremona itself. He was canonized in 1199 at the urgent request of the citizens of Cremona. His feast day is celebrated on November 13. (Italian: Sant'Omobono, German: Sankt Gutman)
The church of Sant'Omobono in Rome is dedicated to him.

Here is what I have been sharing with St. Homobonus
1. I pray that my employment (wife, mother, homeschooler) was given to me by God which he believed was the reason he inherited his father's business.
2. I want to attend daily Mass more often. So far it's on Tuesdays.
3. I would like to re-learn sewing and teach sewing to Katie. We bought material for skirts & pajamas.
4. I want to be better at Charity. I am terrible at giving away money to charity.
5. (the big one) I REALLY hope to travel to Italy .... very soon! Yohooo, St. Homobonus, can you work on this one for me?
6. homo=man bonus=good. I truly hope I am a Good Woman. ?? FeminaBonus

Free Mary Cassatt Lapbook from Homeschool eStore

Check out Homeschool eStore.com's Free this week:
Mary Cassatt Lapbook

Mary Cassatt was an American painter during the late 1800’s. Your student can complete a lapbook on one of the first impressionists in history with the Project Pack from In the Hands of a Child. This 56-page unit includes a 9-page Research Guide with information about Mary’s childhood, family, and her experiences as an artist as well as examples of her work. In addition, you will find 17 hands-on activities to help your student learn about this famous woman!

Free Geography games

The kids were given the "Purpose Games" websites for studying Countries of South America & Asia for their Art/History class.

Easier Version K-3
ASIA> http://www.purposegames.com/game/1729
SOUTH AMERICA> http://www.purposegames.com/game/7e5021a7

Regular versions 4th+
http://www.purposegames.com/game/countries-of-south-america-quiz

http://www.purposegames.com/game/countries-of-asia-quiz

A while ago we were using Seterra's gamea. Check them both out. They are both Free and FUN! (a little addicting.. in a good, competative way!)
You do have to download their software, but it is free.
Learn Geography of the world.
http://www.wartoft.nu/software/seterra/

Seterra is a challenging geography program with 70 different exercises. Learn about countries, capitals, flags and cities in Africa, Europe, South America, North America, Asia and Australia, using outline map exercises!

reconsider going to see the exhibit

On the Catholic Parenting w/ Love yahoo group I responded to a post asking about the b o d i e s exhibit that is going around the country.

Re: Our B o d i e s Exhibit, thinking about it?

A group of us were going to see the exhibit until I found this article:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07175/796418-109.stm

The article shows there is no evidence that the humans dontated themselves by choice to science. They may have been people who were murdered or executed, and most likely, they were prisoners that died by one of those reasons.

I decided that I did not feel the dignity of the humans was upheld and will not give my money to support this exhibit.

Our Lady of Lourdes

Our Lady of Lourdes

Monday Meme... 2 memes about my name

This one is from: Wendy's blog "Well Mannered Frivolity"

The game is called scattergories. Use the first letter of your name and find words with that letter. The number of letters in your name determines how many people you can tag.


What is your name? Laurie

4 letter word: Love

Vehicle: Lorry (it’s what they call a truck in Britain)

City: La Mesa

Boys name: Luke

Girls name: Linda

Movie: Last Holiday

Occupation: Lawyer

Something you wear: lacy undergarments

Celebrity: Lindsay Lohan

Food: Something found in a kitchen: linguini

Something found in a bathroom: lotion

Reason for being late: Long time in bathroom

Cartoon character: Lucy from Peanuts

Something you shout: Leave that alone!

Animal: Lion

Body part: legs

Word to describe you: Lovely



This one is from Esther's Blog "A Catholic Mom in Hawaii"

Here are the rules:

1. You have to post the rules before you give your answers.

2. You must list one fact about yourself beginning with each letter of your middle name. (If you don't have a middle name, use your maiden name).

3. After you are tagged, you need to update your blog with your middle name and your answers.

4. At the end of your blog post, you need to tag one person for each letter of your middle name. (Be sure to leave them a comment telling them they've been tagged and that they need to read your blog for details.)

• C: Christ Centered
• A: Artistic
• T: TV lover
• H: Homeschool Mom
• E: Emotional
• R: Roman Catholic
• I: Internet addicted
• N: Novel reader
• E: Eats a lot of chocolate
  

I tag you!

Slacker moms reveal yourselves!

I love the post @ Well Mannered Frivolity: Keepin' it real, bro. I cracked up at the Tom & Jerry classical music reference! Growing up I remember hearing most classical music from Bugs Bunny cartoons! Remember the Elmer Fudd one with the musice from Barber of Seville? (you can google it if you don't remember)

Well if her post is a "slacker mom" checklist, we are doing the same at my house, and I'm a slacker too!

I have to add that we all go to bed when we want to. Some members of the family falling asleep in front of the tv. And we all get up when we want to. Well not the hubby, he does need to arrive at the office at a reasonable hour. As for me.... please do not call my house before 9:30 a.m.!! unless you want D to answer the phone. He is the earlybird around here usually up by 8 a.m. Luckily he knows how to work all the electronic babysitting devices.... tv, dvd, video games and Webkinz. Just this morning he said he couldn't find a "friend" to play a game with. I rolled over and said "That's because it is 8 a.m. and kids are either at school or still sleeping."
How about everyone being in their pajamas all day? I try to get dressed by 11 a.m.

Tons of TV around here. We've been much better about keeping it off during the daytime. But it is usually on during wake up, drag yourself out of bed time & breakfast time. And in the evening there are 2 tvs going as well as the DVR taping something. There are so many shows on my DVR it is almost always over 85% full. Then I just copy them onto a dvd disk to watch later.

Did I mention the Webkiz, all day, everyday? For Video games we have gamecube, 2 DS, 1 gameboy and a Leapster.
Our Field trip last week lasted for 3 days at Disneyland! Hey we took a Youth Education class called Disney's Animation Magic.

We eat fast food almost every day, lunch or dinner. What slacker mom wants to cook? and all those dishes, gag... We have already decided on Pizza for dinner... cheese for Friday.
Hubby invited us downtown to his office building deli for lunch, but it is Friday and we dont' eat meat and the kids only each chicken nuggets. So we took a pass. Besides we are still in our pajamas and today is Park Day with a huge group of Catholic homeschool familes. Our Valentine's party next week has 25 families and 92 kids. (See we do leave the house) And we have a trampoline and just put in the pool for exercise. Oh and I just got a treadmill for my birthday :)

I love reading blogs and fun stuff on the internet! Did I mention I play the kids' webkinz too.. I answer the quiz questions to earn them Kinzcash "money"!

I hope all the closet Slacker Moms Have an AWESOME day! Leave a comment and reveal yourself!!

I want to live like everyday is Saturday!!

Divine Mercy #296

St. Faustina Kowalska's Diary - Revelations of Divine Mercy #296

+O Supreme Good, I want to love You as no one on earth has ever loved You before!
I want to adore You with every moment of my life and unite my will closely to Your holy will.
My life is not drab or monotonous, but it is varied like a garden of fragrant flowers, so that I don't know which flower to pick first, the lily of suffering or the rose of love of neighbor or the violet of humility. I will not enumerate these treasures in which my every day abounds. It is a great thing to know how to make use of the present moment.

Mardi Gras = Candy Tuesday!

HAPPY MARDI GRAS!

D says..'"Fat Tuesday!"... we should call it "Candy Tuesday" because we can't have candy tomorrow!

art for today... Linnea in Monet's Garden

Today's art lesson and story: Linnea in Monet's Garden.
We borrowed the DVD from blockbuster and we own the book.
The dvd had an interactive quiz which was fun.
It was an animated movie of Linnea and Mr. Bloom travelling to Paris, museums of Paris, Monet's home and the Gardens of Giverny.
Mixed in with the animation are true photographs & video of Monet's artwork, photos of him and his family, the garden, flower close-ups and video of Monet's dining room.

40 ways to get more out of Lent

another great article: 40 Ways to Get the Most Out of Lent!
By: Dr. Marcellino D’Ambrosio, Catholic theologian and speaker

This, of course, is not an exhaustive list of Lenten ideas, activities and devotions. But it’s a start! Many of the Lenten resources mention here are available on our website at www.dritaly.com or can be found by visiting our links page.

Doctors of the Church

In preparation for Lent we started reading from our Loyola Treasury of Saints by David Self.

K chose to read about St. Catherine of Siena. She is a Doctor of the Church. I explained that there are only a couple (i was thinking 5) .... to then google to find out who the others were and find that there are 33.
I found this concise article by Marcellino D’Ambrosio, Ph.D., Catholic Theologian and Speaker. (He is also one of my professors from U of Dallas when I got my M.A.)

DOCTORS OF THE CHURCH Definition and List (click to read article)
He lists the 3 requirements and then breaks the Doctors up by time line periods.

Here are the books we used to read about St. Catherine of Siena. Each has a page or two biography.

All you can eat pancakes @ IHOP

Tuesday, Feb 5th, Mardi Gras, is All you can eat pancakes @ IHOP.

Odyssey books

J has finally, finally found something he likes to read. He's 10 and picking up a book is akin to torture.
The Odyssey series of stories about Odysseus by Mary Pope Osborne of "Magic Tree House" fame.
I ran across this series at the library and brought home the first 3 books. There are 6 in all.
He actually looks forward to reading them, narrating to me and writing book reports.
I tried to renew the books, but someone else wants them... so off to amazon.com and I ordered them. J said he would re-read them and they will be great to own for the other 2 kids later.
Amazon is having them buy 3 get one free. That's a good deal. I bought all 6 and 2 of Mary Pope Osborne's Research study guides: Greece & the Olympics and Knights & Castles.

Mickey on our minds.

We have Mickey on our minds. Couple more days to go................
I looked thruough some Disneyland books from the library. I didn't learn any "secrets".... but check in with me later.... I have some for you. I learned a lot of new things on this past trip!

Fun pancakes! Make all the big circles for the heads first and then go back and make the ears.


I got the books & dvd from the library. The kids & I enjoyed this dvd a lot. There was a lot of old black & white footage. We got to see Walt Disney and how he designed the park. Opening Day and the early years are on film.
After you watch the shows there is a fun interactive quiz that takes you around the "Lands" of the park and asks some pretty tough questions. Some we knew, some we guessed and some were quite challenging.

Happy Birthday Geoff!

Happy Birthday Geoff. Let's just say.... enjoy your last year of 1/2 a century! I don't know how the kids came up with 7 candles.
Kids & I baked a yummy cake that was white with red & green sprinkles mixed inside, chocolate frosting & mini chocolate chips.
The night before we saw a red lobster commercial.... well it worked on us.... We saw the yummy shrimp and decided to take dad there for his birthday dinner. We love their cheese biscuits and the shrimp was yummy. I had a most delicious drink that tasted like Hawaii to me. I forget the name of it but it had coconut rum, pinapple juice, grenadine & cranberry juice... I hope I can duplicate it at home.

my birthday ice cream cake

Yeah! I didn't have to bake my own birthday cake. G&K picked up an ice cream cake while they were out and surpirsed me after our dinner out at Trophy's Restaurant.

Hey, hey its your birthday, Well it's My Birthday Too, Yeah!

Hi to all the wonderful visitors to my blog.



Of course the 2 weeks I've had the most visitors ... ever!.... we've had the flu-turned-into-chest colds-- around here and I've fallen far behind on blogging. But there's not much to say... we've just been keeping the cold medicine and TV people in business. Boy, have we watched a LOT of TV.

This morning it was a Spongebob marathon. Derek & I watched for quite a while. When Geoff remembered it was my birthday he jumped up with Katherine and they ran out to the store.
They brought me a cinnamon dulce latte and blueberry coffee cake from you know where.
He arrived home in time to watch the Charger Game. Cindy & Andre were supposed to come over, but they were not feeling well. Now we are watching "Little Bear". I love that show.
James used to watch it for hours on VHS tapes I made to watch when it wasn't on TV.
I remember we used to travel and take the tapes with us he loved it so much. Derek didn't think he liked it, but I put some on the DVR and we've been watching a few. Right now it is the Mermaid shows. I love mermaids.


Well, Have a wonderful Sunday. I guess I'll have to go make my own birthday cake. I think we'll be going out for dinner later. We're going to Disneyland for 2 days in a couple weeks so that's where I want to "celebrate" my birthday. We are going to take an Animation Magic Class inside Disney and go to a Minnie Mouse Breakfast with characters.

Go Chargers!

Friday Field Trip.... Science Museum

We were off to the Ruben H. Fleet Space Museum today.
As Aquarium members the admittance was free! And the movie, which was the real reason for the trip, was discounted.

It is the National Geographic movie "Sea Monsters"

Still pretty expensive, even with $14 off.... $29 for the 4 of us... Yikes!

After the movie we explored the Science museum and came across this Experiment table where we were welcomed to join them and build a motor-driven-propelle-on-a-cup surrounded by markers........... Here are the pics and videos. Sorry there are 3 of them if you feel like watching them they are only a few seconds each.

next video

Happy Birthday Coconut!

Today is Coco's 2nd Birthday.
We were out of dog food so dh picked some up at the store and
also found this cute porcupine squeaky toy. (I think it is a hedgehog..but whatever)
She loves it.
It is easy to throw for her since it is shaped like a ball.

Night spa & pool

We have been using our spa a couple nights a week. We can get it up to 101 degrees in about half an hour. It is fun to sit out in the hot spa and look up at the constellations.
Even though the pool is in the low 50s, Geoff, Derek and Katie have been jumping in, quickly jumping out and running back into the spa.
I think they are crazy. Here's Derek listening to the countdown....3, 2, 1 JUMP.
and I snapped just before he hit the water and it looks like he is standing on the water!

Epiphany 2008

Happy Epiphany 2008! The kids have travelled not so far to see the Christ Child in the Manger.

Our annual photo of the kids with the Nativity scene at The Immaculata.