Week 4

I am going to start this week's blog off with a little ditty. Get ready everybody. Put your 2Pac hat on. Imagine yourself on Euclid...and sing with me..

California...knows how to party. California...knows how to party. In the citaay...city of L.A... In the citaay...city of Compton. We keep it rockin...we keep it rockin.

That song was for my sister. She gets a song because she is special and one of my few readers. She sings the California part to me everytime she answers the phone. No "Hey Katie". Nope, just 2Pac lyrics. Well, I am keepin it rockin in California and I hope all you readers out there are keepin it rockin too.

Sorry about my intro; to most of you that is just mumbo jumbo.

Home Life...



California has its moments. Mark caught this one.



Presley got a new sword.

Presley in character.."Commodus from Gladiator"  I miss Joaquin Phenoix. I remain a loyal fan even though he appears to have gone nuts.

Senior Picture warm-up.

The frog will do when Sam can't find socks or a rag.

 num nums

I tried to give her a cracker instead.

cute

Home School...

I really should take this section out of my blog until I figure things out, but for accountability reasons, here goes...Homeschooling is a complete disaster. I am doing all the learning not Presley. Here is what I've learned this week..

• I am a control freak...serious. I do not want to be a control freak. Control freaks are scary people. But, I am learning to "let go" for obvious reasons like, I can't completely control Presley. I can only attempt to put information into her brain, but I can't make Presley connect the dots or talk or smile or have fun or like learning or like me (especially when I act freaky and say "What does a  B say?, What does a B say?, WHAT DOES A "B" SAY?)  Application: Stop being freaky.
• I don't need a homeschool room. Presley learns more at the kitchen table, on the floor, outside, anywhere, but in the homeschool room. She isn't ready for learning to be so formal. Application: Give Sam her room back.
• I should play with Presley. Crazy idea right?  While playing, she is more willing to receive information and actually talks much more than when I ask her to produce words. Application: Play with Presley. Teach and stop testing. 

More application to this week's homeschooling trainwreck..Be controlled by love instead of schedules, agendas, plans, curriculums, and activities. If I am grinding my teeth and ready to flip out, then my motive is not love. I know this because, love includes things like patience, gentleness, and self-control, and I believe it even has a bit to do with "not easily angered". Note to self...if eyes start bugging out of your head then your engine is using the wrong fuel.

I'll stop now, I'm sure this is common sense to most. Here are some homeschooling pics anyway...

Field trip lesson #1 Which one is the "ugly duckling"? Very important stuff.



Zoe builds her name while Presley pretends (for the 10th time) to need a rest.
Me, "Lets build your name Presley, come on! It will be so fun!" Presley, "na-nights"



Home Cooking...

Chicken Pasta



 Preheat oven to 375. Cut 2 chicken breasts in half. Drizzle breasts with olive oil. Season with some Italian seasoning. Never say Italian with the long i sound, only the short i sound.

The white stuff on the right is garlic. I didn't wipe off my knife.  Cook chicken for approx 30 min until done...don't undercook because chicken is disgusting...don't overcook because dry chicken is gross. Also, cook some penne pasta and set aside somewhere in this process.



 

 Saute garlic, onions, and peppers in extra virgin olive oil.



Add a can of diced tomatoes. Italian style if you have them.

 

Throw some marinated artichoke hearts and kalamata olives in the mix.

Give it a stir.

Cut your chicken like this

Add chicken and penne. Make sure everything is hot. Nobody likes cold pasta. Waa Laa. Chicken pasta.



Home Woody...

Woody suffered an injury this week. His head was pulled off.  Horror. We'll let you know how the gorilla glue works out. True horror.

Ariel had a tough week too. She was thrown from the car, but saved by Dad in the nick of time.



Home Flashback...

Little Peanut.



Week 3

Home Life...

My weekly blogging didn't happen on its scheduled Friday. Sorry I'm late for all you readers. It was a tough week. Plan on some light reading in the Home School and Home Cooking sections of this week's blog; not a productive week in these areas. But, you can always count on the Home Life section to have some content; no escaping that. We are here, everyday. Lets start with Zoe.



This is my little Zoe. She was very busy this week. She if full of creative energy. She loves to make machines, artwork, and well anything. This week's focus was fashion design.



To get this look ..
1. Grab your baby sister's swaddle blanket. 2. tuck corner into neckline. 3. secure in back with hair clip. 4. wear it all day!





To get this look...

1. steal your older sister's best pajamas (even if it makes her cry). 2. find an appropriate headband to re-purpose into a coordinating belt. Waa Laa.





For this look...
1. Wake up before mom and dad. 2. Grab a non-washable purple marker (why do I have those in the house anyway?) 3. Apply purple marker to eyelids to get that oh so special look. 4. Scare everybody.

Moving on to Sam's Town...

Sam's favorite snack this week is rags, rags, and more rags. Hope she grows out of it.



For now, Sam doesn't mind Zoe doing her hair.



Big week. Sam pulled herself to standing.

Last, but never least...Presley. The girls started dance a few weeks ago. Presley loves it!

 





Someone once said (I just can't remember who) "It is so hard to say goodbye to the mirror!" Presley gets it.



Home School...

I can report. Zoe consistently writes her name. That was harder than I thought it would be!

On the home school front, we've discovered a bit of an attention and motivation issue with Presley. I'm working on it. We are backing off a bit to find a new strategy. Today, I'm' thinking maybe learning needs to revolve around movies. Instead of "B is for Bird Week" maybe "T is for Tangled or Toy Story" or "C is for Chucky" or "S is for Snow White" That is what I am thinking. More to come on that. We'll see. For now we have a big fat motivation problem and Presley is stubborn. Really Really Really stubborn.

Oh Woody...

 Presley tricking me. I really thought she was asleep. She looks so sound.



Woody had the best week around here. No abuse. Just love.



Week 2

Home Life...

I think Sam may have red hair. Does it look red in this pic? I've dreamt about having red-headed children ever since I attended Girls State. Girls State was really boring but it was a resume builder back when I cared about a resume. The most important things I learned at Girls State... 

•  Rebellion can be fun. I experimented (for the first time) with deliberate willful disobedience against authority.  Me and a few others (Naomi) would lock ourselves in our room and actually skip the mandatory Citizens' Forum meetings. Kind of a big deal and completely out of character, but very exciting to be such a rebel for the first time. Rebellion later in life didn't work out so well, but a seed took root.
•  Red hair is cool. One of the elected officials attributed her win to having red hair. She said, "everybody remembers me because I have red hair." I concluded...I want to be remembered. I want red hair. I want to marry a man with red hair. All of my kids should have red hair too. Red hair is so cool. Another seed took root.

Well, now that you can see my lack of maturity at age seventeen, at least you know why I wanted a child with red hair.  I'd like to believe I am more mature now, but I never stopped wanting children with red hair. This is an example of how thoughts can start to control you. Luckily, I did a little reasoning and decided not to go around  hunting for only red-headed men to marry. I should have done a little more reasoning on the rebellion front, but only so many thoughts can be taken captive in such a wild and crazy environment such as Girls State. Who knew so many seeds would be planted? Regardless, Go Sam (if you have red hair)! If not, that's cool too! Don't let your kids go to Girls State!

Flowers I received from Zoe. Flower clips attached to Tinker Toys put into a Nalgene...she is a tinker.

Snuggling is important.  

Home Cooking... 

 

Keep it real. If you really really don't want to cook, order pizza.

If you really really don't want to do dishes and don't have paper plates, tear up the box lid. Keep it real. Or,

A salad made from leftovers...yes!

1. Make this http://allrecipes.com/recipe/sweet-mustard-chicken-bake/detail.aspx for dinner and make extra chicken and sauce so you have leftovers. Then for lunch the next day...

2. Make a pretty salad with lettuce, cucumbers, carrots, and red onion or whatever.

3. Cut left-over chicken into pretty strips.

4. Take extra sauce from bottom of pan and add olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and rice vinegar. Whisk together and pour over your pretty salad. It makes a great dressing and salad. Very left-over style.

Home Schooling...

B is for Bird week. All about Birds. Singing about birds. Finding Birds. Collecting Bird Feathers. Making Bird nests with glue and yarn (so messy, don't do it). We also are working on sight words. This week "see". I "see" that I hate making bird nests. That sort of thing. I am finding that as I teach Presley to read by seeing pics, she really is talking more. Down Syndrome causes many learning difficulties, but one strength is visual learning. She can read words that she doesn't ever use in speech. I am trying to make it meaningful in hopes she will carry these verbal skills into oral communication. After all, the main goal this year is to get her talking more . So, we learn to read words like Buzz (starts with a B).

The girls painted these bird houses. The lovely bird came from the dollar store. "In" was the learning theme here for Presley.

"Buzz" an important word around here.



Lots of important B words for Presley



Oh look! A bird is hatching.

Our bird habitats...not really.

home speech therapy

home occupational therapy



"see" it looks like Presley is cooperating.



She was planning her getaway. Sometimes she doesn't like homeschooling.



Homemade nest for the purpose of counting eggs. We tried.

More accurate depiction of our math lesson. Presley escapes under her desk. So fun.

Home Woody...

I didn't think Woody would make another week in life or in blog, but he did...

home physical therapy

Science lesson from Dad.
"spying glasses" as Zoe calls them really do kill ants. The same ants that killed my garden squash.
 Zoe, "Look mom, they are smoking!"
 Dad, "boom"

Then, Woody mouthed off.

He's okay. Just a little scar. My husband also goes by "Sid"