The Magic Pudding and Other Tales

Once upon a time, this vanilla pudding was new from Sam's Club.  As we were bringing it home, however, it was dropped and dented.  That was about seven years ago.  Since then, we've been using it as a door stopper.  Recently, good nutrition and safe food preparation was discussed in Elf's cooking class.  The children were (I kid you not!) told to go home and find the OLDEST, most expired food they could find.  Ok, so it was a fishing expedition.  I sent Elf in with a whopper of a fish, didn't I?  He won some sort of prize for having the most expired food.  Seriously.  I think they gave him a school lunch or something for it.  D got upset that his pudding can was not returned to him and so I made Elf go retrieve it.  I think they were planning on actually THROWING IT AWAY after the "Expired Food Museum" display was dismantled.  Nope.  We need that back.  Elf tells me he "forgot" to mention that we use it as a door stopper.  And in answer to your question, YES, our membership is current with HSLDA.

About a year ago, I purchased a large collection of what I would call "1980's girl going to church" hairbows in a ziplock bag from a local thrift store.  I washed them and dried them and put them away for about six months.  Now, Rose wears them all the time.  I didn't realize how HIDEOUSLY TACKY these things really were.  But she loves them.  To her, they are "princess" bows.

I pack all Elf's expired food into this lunch box before I send him to school.  Nom nom nom.  Ok, seriously?  He is having trouble talking with the other children during lunch in middle school.  It seems conversation must revolve around Lady Gaga or how awful Mrs. D and the other teachers are.  Elf says he really likes Mrs. D!  And so he has nothing to talk about.  Also?  Other kids say things like, "My dad is an alcoholic!" or "My mom is a lesbian!"  I thought surely not.  I asked a teacher about it (he is starting a "social skills" group soon as specified in his IEP and I was asked about specific social difficulties at school) and she said that yes, this is a normal conversation topic.  Incidentally, Elf learnt a new "greeting" involving his middle finger.  Some random kid taught him this, other kids got concerned and told.  Random kid got into trouble.  The vice-principal also (bless her!) talked to Elf a little bit about the "that's not a proper greeting" aspect of the bird.  Elf needs to learn social skills, I guess.  And plus, Elf's IEP mentions that he didn't have opportunity for many of these um, social learning experiences because of his homeschooling.  Sorry about that, society.

Yes!  It's me!  I finally figured out how to take a picture of myself AND make sure the mirror is clean AND make sure the flash is off!  Yay!  Please ignore the fact that I am taking photos of myself in the bathroom and then blogging about it.

Fred Learns Latin

Emperor teaches Fred the table blessing in Latin.

Woodjie @ The Kansas City Chess School

He needed a lot of help with his moves.  He tried to go to the bathroom in a closet but couldn't find the potty.  He wasn't quite up for a tournament-level game.  But hey.  He went and he had a nice time.

Child Killer and Enough

A guest post by Blondee.

There is no relationship that lasts longer in this world than the relationship of siblings. God's gift of best friends to us in life. Meet Lauren Belius and her twin sister Erica. Beautiful baby girls, aren't they?

The girls were inseparable, Lauren being the brave 'older' sister, and Erica being the shy little sister.

Older brother Nolan didn't just have to share the spotlight with one cute little sister, but two! These three joined our Taekwondo studio last spring. Busy little kids that we all got a kick out of watching as they learned their counters, kicks and kata's.

Lauren and Erica- blessings beyond words, beautiful memories made of first birthdays, milestones, holiday mornings and their sweet personalities.

Until one horrific morning in July of 2011.

David Trebilcock stabbed Lauren to death in her own bed as her twin sat inches from her in the very same bed, horrified and screaming for help. David had been plotting her murder, going as far as to lock the family dog in the garage and barricade the bedroom door with a dresser before approaching these amazing girls, naked- to fulfill his plan of killing a child.

By God's grace, Lauren and Erica's mom was able to break into the room and attacked David, incapacitating him so she could get her girls out of his evil clutches. Lauren succumbed to her injuries, tragically the little girl with the big grin left her family that day and went to Heaven where she would feel no pain, have no fear, and never be harmed again.

Now a little sister who was shy and dependent on her older, brave sister would be left to navigate the world alone. Her twin, her other half, torn from her right in front of her, torn from us all.

David Trebilcock admitted to murdering Lauren Belius. He did not take the stand in his own defense, instead pleaded not guilty by defense of insanity. He then requested a bench trial instead of a jury of his peers and last week was found NOT GUILTY of killing Lauren.

Our community has been devastated by the murder of this sweet girl, a family broken forever, and a mom has been left to look over her shoulder the rest of her life for a man who made statements that make us all concerned that her other children may be in grave danger when he is released. This man had the foresight to lock a family dog away from the girls it would have fought to protect. He shoved a dresser in front of a door that would have allowed these girls to escape. This man is not an insane man, he's a cold, calculating murderer who just worked our system and has been freed of all charges by Judge Dwyer of Oneida County.

Our laws need to be changed!

There should be NO plea of insanity if you murder a child, and there certainly should be no bench trial demanded by the murderer!

 

David Trebilcock can be out in the world amongst you and me in 12 months!! A man who admitted he had intercourse with a 12 year old child. A man who admitted to having drug problems in the past. A man who hid his past from others and left other states when he knew he was in trouble. The very same man who murdered Lauren in cold blood.

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Allison, Lauren's Mom is asking for help in spreading the word of this injustice. PLEASE, I am asking all of my readers to help me spread the word! Repost this on your own blog. Make every community aware of what our laws really do. Help us gain national exposure to get the ball rolling and make it so David Trebilcock and other child killers can not get away with this!

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Please do not just link to this blog...too many readers ignore links. Please cut and paste! Right click to copy the photos.

I thank you for your help.

Lauren's Mommy thanks you for your help!

Blondee

Obnoxious.

I sure wouldn't appreciate if YOU took my picture while I was sleeping and posted it on the internet.  Somehow, though, the cuteness factor makes it all morally OK.  Miss Rose no longer falls asleep on the couch downstairs with Woodjie and has Dad carry her up around 11:30 pm.  Mom insisted:  new room, new routine.  (Bad enough Woodjie has such horrific troubles with bedtime; we had gotten into the habit of letting Rose do what Woodjie does.)  But now, we brush her teeth, read a book, and then Rose is free to read books in her own bed and turn out the light herself when she is ready.  :)

An Assorted Post

I thought I'd share with you this little dandy a friend posted on facebook.  It's about how to unschool, but I think it really does speak to parenting in general as well.  Do you like it?  I just found it sweet and comforting.

In my internet travels today I spent some time finding out about lamingtons.  Looks more like poundcake with Hershey syrup, coconut sprinkled on top.  Which would be really great were it not for the fact that I hate coconut. 

For no apparent reason at all, I am including this recent picture of Woodjie EATING RICE AND CORN.  Yes.  It's on a plate.  Yes.  His knees are up on the table and he is almost always sitting oddly.  But he is eating the rice and corn.  It deserved a photograph!  :)

Ok, here's a link about unschooling.  It involves some chick's ex-coworker friend's sister's son, so you know right there it's a really totally like absolutely scientific post right there.   :/

Rose's Room Makeover!

She's four now.  For her birthday, I'd looked in all kinds of stores and even on amazon for something she would like but doesn't already have.  And honestly.  She doesn't need another puzzle or another book or another toy.  So I just began making her room a "big girl" room.  I thought it would be fun to doodle and paint a tree.  Not too babyish, but still whimsical, I think.   Because I can't lift over 40 pounds any more, I did have others remove the old area rug from this room and I got a much smaller new one.  Plain brown.  I didn't want bunches of other patterns to compete with my creation, though I did buy Rose a tall decorative horse at Pier1 (my new favourite place to shop for stuff I don't need).  G moved the furniture around to my liking and I've brought some books up and gotten her a silky window treatment.  I'm including the heart-tree photo today because it's Valentine's Day.  Ok, I'm not.  I just was finally able to finish the painting last night and so am including it in today's post.  Rose is enjoying her new room very much.  :)

My Weekend Project

One of the larger Hobbits of the house loves his new cloak.  I simply extended the pattern about four inches in the sleeves, a foot in length, and one inch all 'round the sides and it fit together just fine.  This Hobbit is almost 6ft 4 inches tall and with a bit of tweaking, McCall's pattern 2854 in a new colour gives him a more... forboding look than the small children are able to present in their getups.  :)

Stuff. From Pier One.

Recently I went shopping with my friend Melissa at Pier One.  I bought these knobs for $4 each.  D must like them a lot but just not know it yet because he says he doesn't hate them.  He says well, at least with your Polish pottery you could claim it has some retail value!  Ha ha!  Here's a picture of the upper knob "before."  I had to run out and get a very special metric backing for the upper knobs because the wood is so thick they didn't go all the way through. 

Ta-da!  Finished.  C'est magnifique!  PS.  They let me open a charge account.  If I spend $9,000 I get $20 off my next purchase!  Ok, I only got that so I could have more than one credit card.  What-ever.  :)  And PPS. In case you are wondering the wood is "cherry wood" and ages strangely.  When I bought it new it was much lighter actually.