The Big Exam is Over!!!

LSAT - fall 2005
My father passes away - fall 2005
U of H Law - begins summer 2006
Third child born August 2006
Fourth child born June 2009
Law School Graduation - August 2010
MPRE exam - November 2010
Bar Exam - February 2011
Fifth child due - May 2011
Bar results available - May 2011

I am looking forward to getting to use our vacation time for vacation. Currently the spouse has negative vacation days because of the big exam, and he'll dip into the negative again when this next baby boy is born. I am not discouraged about that though. The fact that he can now attend the Cub Scout meetings, help with some evening/weekend activities, and babysit when I am ready to run again is HUGE!!!!

Life Upate

Seeing as how I have this blog I never post on, I thought I'd put out a few unintelligible utterings about some of what is going on.

Baby boy due May 9th - Yes, that makes 5.
Bar Exam for spouse on Feb. 22-24 - life has slammed to a halt b/c of this
Ceasing canoeing classes while son's asthma is not liking the cold
Playing the role of science teacher for a coop - Feb. is electricity
Quickly earning Johnny's Bear badge this month
(We missed a lot fo Cub scout meetings due to wrestling practice, and
we've had quite a bit to make up.)
Selling Girl Scout cookies
Jessica and Julia still dancing - ballet and hiphop respectively
CCE classes/homeschool PE classes
One computer crashed, and
another computer physically crashed by a 20 mo. old
Still playing the part of food allergy chef
I predict John's zombie car is holding out until John's last exam is complete to RIP. If it makes it into the driveway after that exam, it proves that miracles really do come true. :)

BTW - Our citrus trees I planted produced well this year. I'll try not to wipe that green speck off of my thumb. The squirrels ran off with our beautiful pecans though.

Pain

I came down with a nasty staff infection recently. I've been in pain all week. Last night I was tearing up in agony. The staff infection abscessed, and the doctor had to lance it. Thinking that the abscess was larger than it was, the doc didn't administer any pain killer. @%$&! The pain had me shaking for at least 10 minutes afterwards and shook me up for much longer than that. I do not wish to describe the lancing procedure here as the experience will haunt me for some time to come. I am feeling considerably better after the procedure though. Now I need to gather my courage. I have to go back again tomorrow. Hopefully there won't be anymore cutting.

Spaghetti Fun

Top - James's first spaghetti dinner.

Bottom - The instant before a black hole is formed.

I enjoy the spaghetti fun. Spaghetti is just one of those dinners where I don't mind all the mess even though I am dining alone with four children. I must confess that I am tempted to sling some cooled spaghetti across the table at my offspring for the sake of harmless fun, but I don't. My middle two children normally display some pretty rotten table manners and wouldn't be able to differentiate when it is and isn't okay to act this way. At many mealtimes I just have to leave the room and tell them I can't bear to look and just let me know if anyone is choking. Unfortunately for my sophisticated eldest child, she still has to eat at the kids' table with those noodle-heads.

Quick Compliment to My Library

One of the few places where I don't mind paying a late fee is the library. - Please no jokes about 10 cent fees. I've got quite a tab running that I am not willing to confess. (chagrin)

I Love Him

Preschool is Unnecessary

Okay, I'll confess that when I first moved to this house, I had my first two kids in Mothers Day Out two days a week. I knew nobody here and I wasn't aware of any play groups or homeschool groups. I didn't think homeschool groups really kicked in until you actually missed the school bus. I promptly removed my kids from MDO when I found a homeschool group to play with. Enough said about that.

Don't pay for preschool. It isn't worth it. Find a play group/homeschool group or whatever to meet others at the park. Your kid will actually get more time on the playground this way rather than being trained to mimic an older school age child at 2,3, & 4.

To teach your kid to count play Hide and Seek and Chutes and Ladders. Easy enough. You can count just about anything with your child too. Also if the TV must come on, put it on Sesame Street.

For colors talk about rainbows and jelly beans and play Candyland. Ask what color crayon they want to color with or what color shirt he wants to wear. My third child required no intentional color training at all. (She also indirectly learned the Sanctus prayer in Latin without my having "taught" her.)

For writing first let them scribble all over the lines on a coloring sheet over and over again. Then take notice when they draw an intentional - you'll know the difference - kind of "line". Have them draw lots of these almost-lines for rain or just to play. When they get the almost line, try some easy dot-to-dots with those numbers they know. Eventually you get to tracing, stick figures, and then the letters and numbers!!!

For the alphabet. Sing the song. Again and Again. Draw letters with sidewalk chalk. Ask what different letters are in the title of a book. Read, read, read, and read and make it fun. Have books to play with that are easily digestable as these also have to pass. lol Make letter pancakes and eat them into other letters. B to P to l. Or O to C. M and W can turn into V then if you eat it just right, you can get an 'i' out of it.

That is preschool and with enough reading they'll be reading before kindergarten.