Holly's photography

Holly is having a blast with her photography class. She was mildly interested at the time she signed up and is surprised with how much she's really enjoying the class. The teacher is a professional photographer with four girls of his own. He's pretty relaxed--Holly reported him wearing just socks in the classroom the first week. (Perhaps I should reword that--he had taken off his shoes and was walking around in his socks. ::snicker::)

The kids are taught specific elements each week and later e-mail their best shot to the teacher. He shows the photos in class on a video screen, critiquing and offering encouragement. Holly is much more creative than I am, and taking photos seems to come pretty naturally to her. She's done a great job at learning how to use the camera (the one I was afraid to try for a year--in fact, I've still never used it).

Here are some of her best photos over the past week or two.

From our trip to Denver.

And from skating last night. Of course, I can't remember who's who, but this girl in blue is Kimmie Meissner.

A great night for ice skating

I caught the pink glow of Pikes Peak again this morning. I've said it over and over, you can't really have a bad day after this!

Holly and I had tickets for the Ladies Short Program of the Four Continents Figure Skating Championships tonight. I'm not sure where the name comes from, especially since FIVE continents were represented. We also went last year and had a great time. Back then, she was skating twice a week; after tonight, she's again expressed interest in picking it up again.

We had wonderful corner seats just a few rows up from the ice. This corner happened to be immediately next to the skaters' ice entrance. There were just two rows of scattered "regular" ticket holders like us. The rest of our corner was a resting/drop in spot for the skaters, their coaches, family and friends. I don't know HOW we got so lucky, but it was a terrific vantage point!

We watched 26 skaters over the course of four hours. It only took me one hour to eat my 6 oz. box of Good n Plenty. (Cynthia, I'm saying this for your benefit, since you think that 3 cookies is "blowing it." I think three cookies is an amazing show of self control, a great topic for another blog post.) Holly practiced taking photos for her photography class this week--over 200 pictures tonight. When we left, the elderly couple behind us commented both on her batteries (we couldn't believe they lasted) and on how much fun she had with her camera. I haven't looked at her pics yet, but they are sure to be better than mine.

A couple of American skaters you might recognize:
Kimmie Meissner

Alissa Czisny
and Emily Hughes

A Canadian took first place tonight, with Emily coming in second.

After loading up on junk food, me with my Good n Plenty, Holly with a box of Milk Duds and a Mountain Dew, we needed something a little healthier. Hmm, Wendy's chicken nuggets, the perfect ending to our night! -- Make that MY night. Poor girl, I forget she has a normal stomach and this was not so perfect for her. No wonder she came home feeling a little sick.

If she's gonna hang out with me, she needs to toughen up. But the flip side is that I might have to share my junk food . . .

A very regular week around here

I think it's been better than "regular," very calm, mild, unremarkable--and that's a good thing. I need weeks like this more often!

This is the most spectacular time of the day, when the sun first hits Pikes Peak and everything glows. It's a great way for me to begin MY day, catching a shot like this!


Robert has been in the cooking mood lately. He used to enjoy cooking certain things a few times a week. For the last few years, work has been so nuts that cooking's been one of the things to slip. Two years ago, he started working 70+ hours a week. It lasted until a year ago, and it's taken him many months to get back into the swing of "regular" life. Other than being home more (for which I am very thankful!), the biggest noticeable difference is that he's cooking again. One of his specialties are chile rellanos, a recipe he's perfected over a dozen years. They are awesome!



The kids' second week of co-op class started yesterday. After some consideration, Holly decided to drop her horse class. It was a hard decision for me--I want her to keep commitments, see them through to the end; and yet I want to "rescue" her. I want her to continue to try classes that she chooses on her own, and I didn't want this to make her unwilling next time. It came down to some other circumstances involving the class that made me think this was the best option.

This was also a perfect fit to maintain my "balance." It gives us an extra hour in the morning at home each week--while that may not sound like much, it makes a big difference to me.

Although we've had temps in the 50s several times this week, we still have plenty of snow on the ground. This didn't deter Trevor and his friend from jumping on the trampoline yesterday. It was getting dark and a little chilly. I don't know what Trevor had to do to dig up SOCKS to cover his hands and feet--we have a box that must have 20 pairs of gloves and mittens, but NOOOOO, obviously that wasn't the answer . . . We do own coats too . . .



For several days, the kids have been looking forward to our "find your baby bat" demonstration for science. Mother bats can pick their baby out of a million others, based on smell. I had 20 cotton balls with different smells--everything from chloroseptic to vanilla to perfume to pickle juice. The pickle juice tripped Trevor up once, but he found his mustard baby pretty quickly. Holly found her almond flavoring baby at first sniff.


Tomorrow night, Holly and I have tickets to the ladies short program at the Four Continents Figure Skating Championships. We went last year too and really enjoyed it. I've already been plotting photo opportunities--while we have decent seats, flash isn't allowed, and it will be interesting to see whose camera catches better shots! We've been looking forward to this for a few months and it will definitely be the highlight, the out of the ordinary part, of our week.

Book Review - Pass the Poetry Please! by Lee Bennett Hopkins

After reading through this gem of a book, the biggest surprise is that I've not seen it in mentioned in homeschooling circles before. Pass the Poetry Please! is jam packed with wonderful information, in an easy to read, easy to follow format.

The writing style is reminiscent of Ruth Beechick, encouraging in a Charlotte Mason-way gentle but thorough exposure and teaching of many different sides of poetry. There is emphasis on "gentle" here, specifically avoiding analysis and other approaches that kill further interest to learn. (I need to take note of this.) The first section covers this is detail. Although the book is probably written to use in a classroom, it can also easily be used at home.

The second and largest section contains brief chapters of two dozen assorted children's poets, ranging from Robert Frost to Jack Prelutzsky. The author encourages you to pick and choose a variety that you think will appeal to your children. Each poet is afforded several pages, including interesting biographical information, interview excerpts, a brief poetry sample and further book recommendations.

This is followed by an inspiring chapter on "teaching" children to write poetry, again doing this gently, beginning with modeling (copying an existing poem with the child changing a line or two). A myriad of poetry styles is included. The final section is for bringing poetry activities to children in the classroom.

I found this book to be very comprehensive; I'm already requesting some of the books through my library. I want to have fun with this, no memorization, just fun reading, see what appeals to my kids, and encourage them to want to learn more.

Excellent book, and I can imagine that I'll check it out again a few times. I ready to pour through it again already.

Book Review - Garlic and Sapphires by Ruth Reichl

I'm on a reading roll here, and Ruth Reichl's Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise makes it worthwhile! I found this recommendation after finding Julie & Julia so disappointing. While I love reading about food, I don't put much stock in restaurant reviews, I would never go to the restaurants mentioned in the book, and I would certainly never eat 90% of the food Ruth adores. But the writing is FUN, and the story is fun--leaving me hungry for more (haha).

As the new food critic for The New York Times, restaurants are on the lookout for Ruth. She begins creating a variety of disguises and personalities to go with her "costumes." Along the way, she discovers hidden parts of her own personality coming through her characters. It's written in a story format and weaves in her personal life, family and friends. I completely enjoyed her writing style, and while I have no interest in the subjects of her other books, I might pick them up later just because she's a fun storyteller. She's currently the editor of Gourmet Magazine.

Although Ruth is focused on a lot of eating out during this time in her life, she also includes a dozen or so recipes from her own kitchen. Some of these look great, and I'll be giving them a try.

If you have nothing to read, if you like food, this book is recommended.

Book Review - I Asked, God Answered by Mark Taylor

Mark Taylor was shot during the Columbine massacre. This book caught my attention recently, and I was able to request it from my library. I was surprised how small the book is, slightly larger than my hand, just under 60 pages. The publisher claims this book is about forgiveness. One page mentions forgiveness, but the rest of the book focuses on Mark's injuries from the Columbine High School shootings. There was a brief five paged chapter about things Mark believes public schools should do differently. I found his list to be naive.

This is not a memorable book. If you want to read about Columbine, there are other options; additionally, while this book contained some poignant and relevant Bible verses, his testimony wasn't personal or moving, especially given the circumstances. I would have liked to read about Mark's personal recovery, his life now, what's happened in the years after the shooting, or even his life before. According to the book blurb, he now lives in Colorado Springs.

BUT. This book did make me think back to April 20, 1999. We lived 5 miles away from Columbine. Although Columbine isn't really "in" Littleton, the whole area has a small town feel. I knew several people who'd graduated from Columbine many years earlier; I'd worked with the parents of a few of the injured victims, and I later worked with an aunt of a girl who was killed. I knew the neighborhoods well, I'd been to the adjacent Clement Park, and I had even been in the high school library. I was working downtown that day, eating lunch with a friend when we caught the news. For the rest of the afternoon, everyone in our office kept glued to their computers and tvs, keeping up with the story.

I can't tell you what it's like to have something so tragic, so widespread, happen so close. It was similar to the feeling of 9/11--obviously on a different scale, but Columbine was so close, right there, our community. The next couple of weeks were surreal. Driving around, shopping, anywhere in public--everyone was somber. You didn't know who was affected personally. You didn't wish strangers to "have a good day."


The neighborhoods near the school had banners strung across their streets offering support and prayers. Public memorials were everywhere. Shortly after the shootings, I had an eye dr. appointment at an office right down the street from the high school. They had a marvelous view--of the school. I felt suffocated. As I left my appointment and headed home, I passed a full parking lot and realized I was it was the funeral service for Isaiah Shoals. I started crying and couldn't stop. As I'm writing this, I can't believe I'm feeling this way again, eight years later. It changed us, it changed our city, it took away our innocence, and it took away our feelings of safety. It was a long time before I could drive past the school and not feel just completely overwhelmed.

We've been asked if that had any influence on our decision to homeschool. No, not at all. I believe schools ARE safe. But now we know this can happen anywhere. Because it did.

* * *
My dad and Sherry on "Rebel Hill" at adjacent Clement Park in 2001 with Holly and Trevor. Holly attended Girl Scout Camp here both that summer and the next. As you can imagine, it was a little hard to come to grips with the location.

Take the Ultimate Bible Quiz!

You know the Bible 95%!

Wow! You are awesome! You are a true Biblical scholar, not just a hearer but a personal reader! The books, the characters, the events, the verses - you know it all! You are fantastic!

Ultimate Bible Quiz
Create MySpace Quizzes

I'm pretty happy about my score, although there's a little room for improvement. Thanks to Kathy for posting this on her blog. Click on the "Ultimate Bible Quiz" link in the box, take the test and leave a comment with your score!

We're havin' a heat wave!

Wow, two days in a row over 50 degrees! I can't tell you what a relief this is! I feel like I'm halfway ALIVE again! We continue to have much snow on the ground from before Christmas, even on our street. It's melting, but slowly.

Trevor is my walking buddy (or perhaps I'm his). It was actually nice enough to go walk around the nearby pond yesterday and today! There was still snow blocking many parts of the sidewalks, and there's snowpack across all the gutters when we were crossing the streets. The ice on the pond yesterday was evident; today it was beginning to melt, at least in the middle.

Holly came with us today. We spent a few hours running errands this afternoon, so we didn't go walking until later. It made for some great shadows though!






It's been an uneventful couple of days. We hung out, ate loads of junk food and watched the Superbowl yesterday. The game: so so. The commercials: not bad, we like to grade them. The commercials that I found most offensive were the repeated ads for upcoming network tv shows--they were inappropriately gory and violent, never ending, necessitating us to press the MUTE button constantly. I don't get why these commercials are deemed suitable for this audience. No wonder why we don't watch much network tv anymore. This stuff is just garbage.

Robert has been off three days in a row, and that's been such a treat! (Usually, his two days off each week aren't consecutive.) He spent several hours yesterday organizing "stuff" in the basement. This is a constant battle, we just have too much. One giant corner is being reserved for garage sale items. My job is to go through a dozen or more boxes of baby clothes, weeding out a few special things to keep and getting rid of the rest. Even the kids have caught the organization bug, clearing stuff out of their rooms, packing things away and setting some things aside to sell.

Tomorrow we will be back to our regular programming, with Robert going to work, and us back to a regular school day. I was hoping we might meet up with my mom and Mike at the Denver airport, but he's been sick for several days, not feeling any better at all. It's been a miserable "vacation" but on the positive side (because there is one), it's one more good reason that we didn't go to Steamboat. So we'll skip the airport tomorrow--it would have been great to see them, but it's 80 miles each way and would be just a much better idea if Mike were feeling good.

Warm weather, light schedule, great week ahead!

An upside down jelly donut day

For the last six months, we've been planning to spend this weekend up at Steamboat Springs with my mom and Mike. They've been up there all week with a large ski group. That trip was supposed to end yesterday, but the were staying longer, hanging on to the condo. We were going to head up and visit for several days in this giant, 2500 sf "condo," with 4 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms. Holly and Trevor were going to try snowboarding, and of course it would have been wonderful to see my mom and Mike.BUT this is Colorado, and the weather isn't always as cooperative, no matter how much I try to pretend that it is. Road reports of 200 miles of bitter cold, blowing snow, icy roads and snowpack over several passes were enough for us to decide this wasn't a trip we should make, and we cancelled our plans yesterday morning. Holly was okay about it; Trevor sobbed for 30 minutes. I couldn't win either, feeling like both an ungrateful daughter and a mean mom.

In a moment of brilliance (of which he has many), Robert decided we'd head up to Casa Bonita in Denver. It was a beautiful drive, and here are a few extra photos for my friend KM, all between Monument Hill and Castle Rock.





Denver.

Finally we arrive at dum, dum, dum, DUM!!!!! Casa Bonita!!!! NOT just another Mexican restaurant! It's been around for a loooong time. Robert remembers going here as a little boy. This pink tower is 85 feet tall, covered with 22-karat gold leaf and topped with a freaky little statue of Quahuatomec, the last great Aztec emperor.

(I'm torn here. Do I regale you with the glories of Casa Bonita, or do I let my sarcastic side show and tell it like it really is? Okay, Pollyanna wins.)

There are two main dining floors, with some tables on a third level. Last night, 43 employees were working. You don't come here for the food, but it was better than usual last night. They also serve awesome sopapillias for dessert with giant squeeze bottles of honey.


The attraction of Casa Bonita lies within its palm tree and wicker, Mexican resort-fantasy decor, its three story waterfall, its cliff divers and myriad other entertainments throughout the 52,000 sf building (yes, 52 THOUSAND square feet). Almost every seat (and there are 1100) in this place has an incredible view of the waterfall. Every 15 minutes, a new entertainer comes out. There are cliff divers and old western shootouts.


If you look behind the palm fronds in this picture below, you'll see the diver climbing up the wall.
You can walk behind the waterfall too, a favorite place for taking photos.
After you've had your fill of food and watching water fun, you are free to explore the rest of the restaurant. There are puppet shows,pinatas, traveling mariachi bands, "Black Bart's Secret Hideout" haunted cave, a gift shop, several video arcades and more.


After two and a half hours of fun, we headed for home. South of Castle Rock, in the middle of nowhere, we were caught up in a giant, 12 mile long traffic jam that took 45 minutes to drive through.

Loads of snow had blown across the highway, melted and re-frozen for several miles leading up to Monument Pass. We didn't see an accident, but I've never seen a mess like this before. On the plus side, we didn't have to be anywhere, no one was dying for the bathroom, and it was a good reminder that we HAD made the best decision in cancelling our drive up to Steamboat Springs. We could imagine being trapped in a mess like this for 100 miles, YIKES!

Scary pregnancy photos

In an effort to make our loopy friend Lisa feel a little better, someone posted a bit of a challenge on my hs list for us to post our scariest pregnancy pics. Of course, Lisa looks terrific, and to rub it in a little more, she looks like she's about 23. (At least she's NOT!)

This scary pic is from 9/94, when I was 8 months pregnant with Holly. You can't tell which end of me was pregnant.


This was a few days before she was born. Gotta love that belly button sticking out. Overall, I gained about 40 lbs.


Here I am in '98, 7 months pregnant with Trevor. I ate a LOT of ice cream every single night, so after I gained 40 lbs., I stopped weighing myself. Just like a whale, the only thing that felt good was swimming. Trevor loved it too; he would turn somersaults while I was in the water. But I thought pregnant women were supposed to get chests . . .


Trevor was my 10.1 lb. baby. I'm not into pain and had an epidural--but you know I'm from peasant stock. I could have easily been working in the fields until minutes before his birth. Two pushes from me and Trevor FLEW out, no swelling, no pain, no nothing. You remember that nerf-football feeling after giving birth? I skipped that too. It comes in handy when babies are born during harvest time.

Thursday

This morning started out beautifully. It's COLD, getting colder, and ended up snowing lightly most of the day. BRRRR!


The day was uneventful for the most part, just plugging along happily. My loopy buddy Emily posted a recipe for Greek Soup that I tried tonight. Robert was working late, I figured the kids would scrounge up something.

* * *

GREEK SOUP

6 c. chicken broth
1 cube chicken bouillon
1/3 c. rice, uncooked
1/2 c. celery, finely diced
1/2 c. carrots, finely diced
1/4 c. onion, finely diced
1 c. chicken, cooked and cubed
2 T. butter
2 T. flour
3 eggs
3 T. lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste


In large pan, combine chicken broth, bouillon cube, rice, celery, carrots and onion. Bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Stir in chicken. Remove from heat and set aside.

In small pan, melt butter and stir in the flour. Cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Gradually add into broth mixture and cook until thickened, stirring constantly.

In a bowl, beat eggs until frothy. Beat in lemon juice. Slowly add in 2 cups of thickened broth mixture. (This is so the hot mixture doesn't cook the eggs.) Slowly add egg mixture to rest of soup mixture in large pan, stirring constantly. Heat gently until soup thickens enough to coat spoon. DO NOT BOIL. Serve when hot. Adding pepper will soften the lemony taste.

* * *

Imagine my surprise when Holly asked for a bowl. Then she had a second and a third. Trevor had already eaten, but he tried this and had a bowl. Robert, who isn't a lemon fan, especially in soup, had two bowls. I ate two bowls too and would have had more--but it was all gone!

Thanks, Emily, for a great recipe that we will definitely make again. It was easy and pretty quick to make; the ingredients were on hand; and most importantly, everyone loved it!

Book Review - Stolen Lives by Malika Oufkir

De'Etta had posted her own review about Malika Oufkir's autobiographical Stolen Lives: Twenty Years in a Desert Jail. The author's father, General Oufkir, worked closely with King Mohammed V of Morocco. The king offered to adopt Malika and raise her as a playmate to his young daughter. This was a difficult offer to refuse, and Malika grew up away from her own family, as part of the royal family.

The king died, and his eldest son Hassan II became king. Malika continued to be raised as a "sister" to the princess, and treated as a younger sister of the new king. In 1972, her father led an unsuccessful coup and was assassinated. His family, including his wife, eldest daughter Malika, and five younger children were sent to an isolated prison.

The book details their imprisonment, for the most part under utterly horrifying conditions. The climax is their escape after they dig a tunnel with their bare hands; however, they are captured five days later. During their brief freedom, they were able to contact French authorities and gain international attention. Although they remained imprisoned for another four years, conditions were vastly improved.

The only negative about this book, imo, is that it was listed at Oprah's Book Club. That in itself was almost enough to make me not read it. I would have missed out on a fascinating story. I've already requested Malika's sequel from my library and eagerly anticipate reading the rest of the story.

This book is definitely recommended.

The nitty gritty truth ain't pritty

(Gotta get in my Peak pic of the day.)
For the past three months, I've been impressing you all with my dedication to the education of my children, espousing the wonders of Latin, good literature, true phonics, and chronological history. I've bemoaned failed science projects and shared my happiness with our current math curriculum. Don't believe it. Not a word.

And you know all of those "school" photos I've posted? They're fakes, every single one of them.

Tonight I'm exposing THE TRUTH. Here's a REAL picture of our day.

Everything in this picture is what school at my house really looks like.

The 12 yo reads beginning reader books like Arthur and Cat in the Hat. The 8 yo has finally memorized the book I began reading to him at age 2. The table is covered with papers and Christmas coloring books. For lunch, these kids eat double chocolate cookies (store bought of course) on paper plates. Actually, Holly doesn't even have a plate, she's using a piece of paper from what's available on the table. See that dog running down the hall? He's cleaning up the food that got dropped on the floor.

And let's not forget the beer that they're both swilling.

They've already run out of smokes.

In fact, the only UNusual thing about this picture is that they are actually dressed. (But they slept in their clothes.)

In fact, I'm not even sure these ARE my kids, God love 'em.