Can this Tinkerbell fly? Her candy might weigh her down...
Say cheeeeese pizza!
Someone told Dallas he was a cute mechanic. He said "Hey! I'm Bob the Builder!"
The pumpkin's full, my feet hurt, it's late. Happy Halloween!
Mama loves u... 11:56 PM
Devin and Britt are taking the kids trick or treating with their friend Joey. Devin is a street fighter(?) Kallee is Tinkerbell and you know who Dallas is....(there is no way Britt would dress up, but she is taking more pictures thru the evening) I am staying home and enjoying the peace and quiet!
Mama loves u... 5:30 PM
Today was beautiful outside. A light breeze, lots of sunshine. We opened up our house and I told the kids they could play in the small pool. Its one of those blow up kind but is rectangular and pretty big. Anyway the big pool was to cold and turns out so was the little one . So I kept filling up buckets and buckets of hot water to dump in the pool. Kallee never did get in and Dallas stood in it for a while and that was the end of that. Britt layed out by the pool and the kids played on the lanai. Just a nice peaceful unevenful day...well until Dallas got mad at Kallee and threw big ole Teddy into the pool. At least *someone* went swimming LOL!
On the weekend we see many boats go by out back. While we don't know the people in them, we do see allot of the same boats and we have nicknames for them. Our favorite one is the Dog-Boat. It's a big white speed boat with hot pink streaks on each side. I'm guessing the boat is about 35 or so footer. And every time the guy goes out, his black lab is standing on the back of the boat, his ears blowing in the breeze and barking every once in a while. We see him go by before noon out towards the Gulf and come back around 5pm. So I decided today I was going to take a picture of him when they came back. So I had the digi right by the doors and when I heard the boats motors rumbling, I went out on the lanai. I waited til it got riiiight past my dock and I even had the zoom goin and had it right in my sight aaaand I hit the button. Only instead of the take-a-picture button, I pushed the turn-off-the-f-in-camera button!!! I. Missed. The. Shot. Til I got it turned back on and zoom this is what I got. Anybody see the dog? .
Mama loves u... 8:36 PM
Yay! My fav nite...add an xtra hour of sleep! Can we turn back 2?
Britt and I have been watching Viva La Bam. Those people are crazy! We laugh our butts off or cover our eyes LOL! Its always one or the other. Billy Idol was on. So funny to see him now yrs after he started. Brings back lots of memories from late teens and early 20's. Even more so for my husband. He hung out w/BI for a week in St Thomas. He lived there for yrs and BI came on vacation, they ran into each other and K showed them the places the locals go. He also took them sailing and they got so burnt b/c they didn't want sunscreen and were so white when they got there. Needless to say, there was alot of fun! I noticed that Billy's got the same crows' feet going on now as K does...
I forgot to mention yesterday (or did I?) that Britt and Kal emptied the koi pond and cleaned it.
They also cleaned Squirt-the-turtle's place. We have had that turtle for about 4 yrs and he has really grown! Its so funny b/c when you go outside on the lanai, he swims right up to the edge of his tub to see who's there. He's like a dog LOL!
Mama loves u... 11:58 AM
Devin brought over a pumpkin and let the kids each pick out a face. He drew each kid's pick on opposite sides. We baked the pumpkin seeds and I burned them just like I do every year! 
Mama loves u... 1:10 AM
My kids learn by living life. I started this blog to keep good records of what my kids were learning so that when homeschool evaluation time rolled around (every May) I could print out all the lists and daily schedules and 'prove' to the school board my kids were learning. Here's the thing, I am not organized. I do not work well with organization skills. I've gotten better but lets not push it. So I made this blog into whatever the day brings for me or my kids and our lives. It was when I stopped feeling bad that I wasn't listing stuff etc I realized the core of unschooling: You are always learning something because you are living.
That doesn't mean I don't want my kids to learn to read, write, add, subtract, learn about history or science etc. But rather that I want them to do it their own way as they are interested. Think about it. When I was in school, I would study and do homework, and got all A's and after that test for what ever it was had been done, if I wasn't interested in that subject to begin with, I would promptly forget about it. Now I'm not saying that a person uses nothing they've learned in school. And I am not saying they use everything they learn in school. I'm saying chances are that they remember it only b/c they enjoyed something about it. They can do that at home. Plus you don't have to raise your hand to pee, you just knock on the door and go. You study something as long as you want and whatever you want.
Also, my family does things on the spur of the moment...like travel, go to the beach. We sleep in, stay up late, go to bed when tired, get up when rested hopefully. Eat whenever. If there is something Britt wants to see on modeling or interior design and it is only on at 11pm or whatever, she can stay up and watch it. Kallee taught herself to read this year and she's 5. I didn't sit down and say ok its reading time. She started out by playing with the alphabet magnets on the fridge and graduated to messages on it and then I thought of the idea of taking a compositon book and wrote on the front "Kallee's Word Book" so that any time she asks how do you spell---, she adds it to the book. Then she can look a word up at any time and she even goes thru just reading them!
We have kid size chalk boards that I bought at the dollar store and lots of paper and washable markers and crayons. Dallas loves video games and especially his Leapster. He is not the kid of kid that will sit down and trace letters or numbers, but he has learned to spell a few 3 letter words in the past few months. They count everything. Snacks ie: gummy bears. Also add and subtract them. They swim and play house, doctor's office, restaurant and things that make no sense to me but they're having fun!
We talk allot about weather and storms and hurricanes (look where we live) we talk about strangers and what to do, we talk about animals and have all kinds of books that name them and their babies and what they eat, how they live etc. We followed the news about the shuttle going into space and what space is and the moon. We talk about the war in Iraq. And since we made a friend who was there, things became allot more relevant and real. Obviously I don't tell the little ones stuff they don't need to know at such a younge age, but it has really opened Britt's eyes.
We talk about missing Natalee and the other girls/women and what situations they were in and what decisions they made etc. We talk about far away places and go to the library. We have pets that need taken care of and loved, we have traveled. They know what maps are and Britt is a great navigator! They live life. Britt bought a nice digital camera with her bday$ and takes pics all over the place, she loves to change around the rooms in the house. She has computer programs to design homes inside and out. She has become interested in what is going on in the world. This is the girl I pulled out of 7th grade b/c we fought every day to get her out of the house and to school and then I found out she didn't know her times tables! I fugured I certainly couldn't do any worse!
My wish for my kids is this: That they can succeed in the world doing something that makes them happy and provides the life they want. I'm betting thats what every parent wants, we all just go about it differently. I found some statements today that I wanted to post..maybe they'll make sense to y'all.
--Albert Einstein
"My mother taught us everything without teaching us anything," Quinn says. "Everything I know I've experienced myself, I've taught myself, I've learned myself. The whole childhood was magical."
Lundgren had rejected her Lutheran upbringing but discovered the ideas of John Holt, who began in the '60s to advocate what has come to be called "unschooling." The child directs his education, deciding when and if he wants to learn reading, math, science, anything or nothing.
"What I have learned to do is withdraw from the societal expectations that exist for my child and ask some basic questions," Lundgren says. "Does he seem happy with himself? Is he making inquiries into things he's interested in?"
Homeschooling's stepchild, the unschooling movement has quietly spread, especially in Texas, where there are virtually no legal restrictions against it. It produces either--as proponents contend--creative thinkers who are self-motivated to learn or, as critics maintain, illiterate young adults who can't read a menu or make correct change.
"If kids are allowed to learn how to research, to learn critical thinking, to question things, they can take those skills and apply them in the future to whatever they need to learn. They can conquer math in two months or six months or a year, instead of 12 years. They retain it. The difference is night and day."
Holt, a fifth-grade teacher, described the dynamics in most classrooms that inhibit learning, like kids terrified to answer questions for fear they'll get something wrong and be humiliated. He pointed out that little children learn an enormous amount by age 5, sometimes teaching themselves to read. At traditional schools, that enthusiasm for learning is stomped into the ground by mediocre teachers, peer pressure and curricula centered on boring stuff they couldn't care less about learning. What they needed: parents who could guide their interests without imposing expectations. In such freedom, they'd learn what they needed to learn when they needed to learn it.
Mama loves u... 7:30 PM
Yes today *is* Thursday, isn't it? Well, here's the thing: I was reading some blogs this am and came across this one for Way Back Wednesday and posting yourself in an old Halloween costume. Well it just so happens that I have one that matches The Kept Woman and I thought no one else would ever dress their kid as this...I mean really. Any way, I am tearing this house apart til I find the thing! I will be back....
Complete w/pie! I think this was for a costume party at church in place of trick or treat. I remember wearing it but not the details (my guess is it was too traumatic). Trust me, not my idea but my mom's...I do remember that much LOL!
Mama loves u... 11:40 PM
At the last minute Kelly and the boys decided to put the hurricane shutters on (i mean like @ 1 am) Over all the big glass doors and kids room windows. We had a big ole slumber party with both boys staying here as well as their friends' dog whom they were sitting. Champ is a great dog and was very well behaved, he can come visit anytime! Harley(Britt's yorkie) was very jealous, but Kiwi loved him. The cats just hid. Afraid of the storm and the new dog LOL!
We played cards, ate munchies and it was really nice to have the boys back home. I went to bed around 4 and I think our elec tric was out for good by 5am. The wind howled. I don't like these storms at nite b/c you can't see whats going on. Charley was during the day and we could see things flying by (like roofs) and watch the boats get tossed and turned. But at nite, you just lay there and wonder...
I have a skylight above my bed and I keep wondering if it would collapse on us. It didn't even leak. YAY! The next day(24th) It was very windy and rainy for allot of the day. I got some pics when the rain stopped and the wind stayed rough til evening. 
The elec was out for a bout 12 hrs and the cable/internet for almost 2 days. Can't complain. The people across the street just got their elec back late last nite. And lots still don't have it (including Devin and Shane's Apt) they say it could be up to 2 wks. I hear the damage is wide spread in Naples, Everglades City and Opa Locka etc. Haven't left the house yet except to walk around my yard.
The kids and I picked up all the coconuts and palm fronds yesterday afternoon. 
The cold front has come in and it feels wonderful! We are actually chilly! LOL! well, for us it is...in the 60's is sweater weather. I know that somes pathetic...I was born and raised a yankee but I cannot handle the cold like I used to LOL! 
Anyway, we made it thru and the other house (the one we own and want to sell) had some roof damage and leaks but it is getting a new roof anyway, so when done, it will be fine. I heard downtown Ft Myers had some substantial damage to the buildings and they think a tornado touched down. I am anxious to go down to our beach and check things out. Kelly will prob get there before me tho.
Mama loves u... 11:57 PM
I think I've messed up every one of the 5 kids at one time or another, but this one was truly not my fault! Now Devin's was defitiely my fault...when he was little I trimmed off the top of his ear. It only bled a little...and he doesn't look weird at 20....
Mama loves u... 5:43 PM
Mama loves u... 5:41 PM
I sure don't know!
We're hearing more towards Naples, but could be Ft Myers. We are west a teeny bit of Ft My on the Cape. Its cloudy but no rain. Some of our neighbors have the storm shutters up, some don't. We'll make a decision in the next few hrs. They're just too heavy for me to carry and the boys should be here later today. Plus they are a PIA and you can't see outside once they're screwed in so you don't know whats coming. A cat2 isn't high enough to put em up I don't think. Thats only half of a hurricane Charley! No big deal...
Just now they're saying on local news closer to Marco Island. Thats farther south of us than Naples, so thats good. Plus its always good to be on the west side of the storm instead of the east. Normally we are on the east, so YAY for that!
I'll be updating as long as we have elec/cable. And that'll only go if the winds get too high. Also will be taking pics today outside for before and after as usual.
What the kids are doing: Kallee made a beauty salon stand. She is set up and ready to paint nails, do hair, even massage feet! Sign and everything. Dallas made a potato stand? I have no idea. But the pic he drew was of a big potato and he taped it the a table. That didn't last long and he's now having a picnic w/Teddy(the bear). Now the play doh is coming out....
Britt slept in her contacts and her eye is killing her. :( Now they hurt *and* she can't see. Plus her team isn't playing today (the Bucs) but the Cowboys are!
Happy Birthday 20th Amanda! We love you!
I'll be back in a while...~mama
Mama loves u... 12:15 PM
Mama loves u... 12:27 AM
Mama loves u... 12:11 AM
This is just me. And this post is about one of K and my favorite songs from years ago.
http://peaceofemme.blogspot.com/
Mama loves u... 1:52 PM
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/storm_graphics/AT24/AL2405W5.gif
Hopefully not across the Cape! Looking like it may go a little south of us. But allot can change, so for now we watch and wait and make plans A, B and C. The storm shutters are here (tho not up). And Nanny and Grampy live 2.5 hrs north so there's that...depending on the track and avail. gas and traffic. For Charley, we weathered it out and then went up to their house the next day. I am sad to say, I could only last less than 24 hrs w/no elec, water, etc. Way too hot here! Guess I wouldn't survive in Iraq? I am so not the camper!
So we'll be watching the weather on all the channels and see where Wilma goes...
Any prayers for all in volved are greatly appreciated. Not just for us but all those in Wilma's path.
Mama loves u... 1:53 AM
By last evening I thought the whole rightside of my head was going to blow off. In fact I would have welcomed that because then I wouldn't feel it any more. I couldn't keep anything down for more than 24 hrs etc. I didn't want to go but I started to wonder if there was a bigger problem since it was only one complete side front and back. Devin took me and I asked Amanda to come hang out with Britt. Not b/c Britt couldn't be alone, but b/c she had been taking care of the kids for 2+ days since I have been sick and I knew she could use a break and some company. Shane was working. They gave me an IV which I hate worse than being in labor. The 1st one collapsed my vein, the 2nd was in the hand. They gave me fluids and meds. The meds took the edge off the ehad. But my hand still hurts today. They did a Cat scan, found nothing and are sending me neurologist. Its starting to hurt again now but not as bad.
Mama loves u... 1:54 PM
So I was the only one laughing...
Mama loves u... 12:49 PM
I love this picture! This was taken at "The Farm" we had.
Mama loves u... 12:30 PM
