just made our to do list in dry erase on my bathroom mirror

G tried to spell out the items I listed on our "mirror mirror on the wall, to-do's today- let's list them all

Reminds me of Baz Luhrman

My thoughts- although it's far past afternoon...

Whatever happened to UB40?

A baby's laughter is more contagious than a common cold.

Home is where the heart is. The heart is where family is. Family is where you need to be.

Sickness really is a sign you need to slow down and if you don't listen more will come in different forms!

I'm particular to fruit. I would choose it more often than most of the other food groups.

A baby's cry is more attention getting than a drill sergeant at roll call.

Everything can change in an instant. Change your perspective, change your world. Save the cheerleader...

ok getting a bit silly... well Random Tuesday was fun, thanks for the idea http://2toomanyhats.blogspot.com/

this morning at our house

G & S are working on a foreign money project with coins found in our tip jar

sent from my vzw envy

Blogger G

Grace wanted her own blog so we created a private "by invitation only" one on Xanga (because they have so many templates, and that is part of the appeal for her!!) - she will dictate her posts mostly right now, but I am hoping it will become a place to explore the wonderful world of words.

I'd love to give her prompts, but the social aspect is already providing that - click here. We'll see where it goes from here...

a large leaf mostly burned fell from the orange sky

Goodbye Ford

Shawn & Ford at the vet... his last moments...

Well it came quick- like pulling off a bandaid, I guess.

For the past couple of days he has been sick, actually for a couple weeks he's been different. It turns out he had massive cancer and arthritis in the spine. Due to his breed and size (the vet says he was close to 99 in human years) they think it came on fast and aggressive.

He could clear a room in seconds flat with his flatulant flair and he whined whenever we were separated, by even a screen door. He could destroy any dog-toy in mere minutes, and stuffed animals didn't stand a chance- once Grace gave the ok! He loved to run and chase slobbery tennis balls, and he lived for walks in nature. He loved the girls, and was a constant companion to Grace. He never outgrew the sweet, loyal puppy that came to heal our hearts.

Ford was a good dog. We got him just after Terry passed away and he was named after him. A few months later we got pregnant with Grace. He was the start of our family life- before Ford we were just a couple with a cat named Killer. He was mostly Shawn's dog, but we all loved him so very much.

Grace also mentioned that we will have to clean up our own messes now! Ford was always ready with his big pink tongue should a morsel fall from the table or a toddlers outstretched hand. He helped Grace learn to walk and even consented to her riding him like the horse he was. That amazing dog even handled our feline explosion last year- where we had 12 cats at one point.

I'll have to search for more photos, I know we took a lot with actual film in the beginning and put together a slide show the the wonderful 8 years that we got to share with the best dog ever.

Shawn got a job

Well the day has arrived.

He will be starting at TCS Foreclosures on Monday.

I am going to talk to Steve tomorrow about cutting my hours so I can be with the girls.

It's commission only, but he should do well- it is his field after all, and he has motivation to work hard, plus the timing just seems right.

Life goes on...

Today Grace wowed me with her astounding mathematical skills. I surprised her with a strawberry and a coconut cookie (and a Slush from Boba Smoothie -I love their Thai Milk Tea with Boba!) and she remembered that there was a third flavor. She said next time I should get 2 of each for myself, her, and her daddy. I asked how many that would be total. She walked herself through the solution- "2 for daddy, plus 2 for mommy, plus 2 for me is 6 of the coconut ... 2 strawberry for mommy, 2 for ... is 6 more, 2 for mommy ... of the green tea ... is 6 more..."

I prompted her with "...and 6 times 3 is...?" she looked at me quizzically. "There are 3 of us, each getting 6 cookies." I said. She just matter of factly said 18. Then she asked me how much they were. I replied, "4 for a dollar." She then solved that on her own in the most amusing way- to me anyway- it just reminded me that we all solve problems a little differently. She said "18 takeaway 4 is.... [squirm, murmur, wiggle].... 14," she held up a little finger, "that's 1 dollar, 14 takeaway 4 is.... [squirm, murmur, wiggle].... 10, that's 2 dollars," up went finger #2 and after counting up to $4 she matter of factly stated, "that leaves 2 cookies, which would be.... [squirm, murmur, wiggle] .... $4.50 for us all to try 2 of each flavor."

I almost popped with pride. I had no idea she could solve a word problem using all 4 mathematical processes that she is studying, all in her head.

I've been thinking her homeschooling has been light this year- but it's just because I'm not doing it, and her daddy takes a different approach. His method is working and it actually balances what I did in Kindergarten by being a bit more math and science based. Maybe we should alternate every year! I do feel that we have very successfully trasitioned to him being primarily responsible for her learning. By successful I mean- I don't hate that he isn't doing it my way! And of course, more importantly, Grace is loving learning again.

And he's doing all this while taking care of a quite demanding 9 month old- what an amazing man I ran off and eloped with almost 12 years ago. Our life together this far has been such a varied adventure.