Updates.

Elf has some beautiful handwriting, doesn't he? Go ahead and click on the picture to embiggen it. Now what do you think about his spelling work? Spelling is not Elf's strong suit, as this is the second week he is reviewing all of these words.

In other news, it's been hard to think of anything to post because of all the screaming in the background. Rose has discovered that she can throw her food at the table. This results in her being "done" with that meal, but it also results in our hearing her howl about how hungry she is at least two hours before the next meal, and before bedtime if she threw at dinner. She is *so* bright, but learning that "throwing food now makes me hungry later" is not quite her strong suit.

G has been on the track team and faithfully attends practices and meets. It looks like the discuses are he throws plastic, and not the metal ones I remember. I'm sure very serious injuries could still happen if one is hit in the head with a plastic discus.

D has been looking at realtor.com again and getting himself all attached to houses he knows good and well that we're not really going to buy. He even has our poor realtor... you know... the one we've been working with for FIVE years and never bought from?... working on giving him background information about various grand old houses in differing states of disrepair. The one pictured has a large unfinished ballroom. About 958 (give or take a few) times a day, D has to talk about "his ballroom" and everyone has to stay out of his ballroom, and we're all jealous of his ballroom... sigh. We could actually afford this place if Obama would promise-swear to pay our mortgage if D got laid off. Indeed, this is a beautiful house, and the immediate homes are all mansions and castles and whatnot... but beyond that... Well, we can afford it for a reason. But if we ever had to repair it, it would be a nightmare as it is "historic," which means cement, duct tape and plywood don't do as well there as they have in the past here. :]

I told him that if he bought it the ballroom is mine. We'd have 8,000 square feet of space to work with, but that would be my homeschooling room. I'd hang all the pictures I got from the Picture America package I got! Woo-hoo, but I have some gorgeous prints of about anything American you could imagine. Go ahead, look at all the stuff I got, but when you do, you must imagine the prints to be a yard by two feet. Laminated. With a very special spiral-bound teacher edition. And a portfolio to tote it in. Oh, yeah.

Soon, I'll be getting a new book. Custom-made just for Woodjie. It will be a lot of fun, but a lot of work as well. We will use a velcro notebook with PECS-type picture icons inside to help Woodjie communicate. Sorry to say, but he's pretty much non-verbal. I wish I could tell you we are making "progress," but we are not. At this point, I'm looking for something that is going to help him "say" something, just anything. We want to hear what he has to say.