Hemotology results back in. I'm cured! -read bottom of this entry for more on that.

Since my last update, I've had toothpaste on my bathroom scale, and I mean about 1/4 a tube of it spread evenly:) Lipstick on my wall, that may be a repeat, a spider bite on Silas' leg, which as a side note I've found out if you shred a red potato, skin on and pack in on an infected site, works for blood poisoning and streaking too, it pulls the poison out. So I seran wrapped Silas' leg the next night to keep the potato shreds in place. They stayed neatly in place all night(next to the wound, not on it, argh, but it did help). Silas also got a burn on his arm, looks like a frying pan mark, sounds bad, the idea of it is worse than the burn. Lawrence doesn't remember any incident, and I don't either, so that's even scarier. The only good thing about burns is they are great teachers about listening and staying back when told "This is hot, stay back". Poor guy.

OK that's all for now. The blood from falls ranks at honorable mention.

Home school is going well, though I thought I was quite clever getting a tape player for Caleb and Malachi to go listen to books on tape somewhere to increase quiet in the house and education. Well, our lovely 2 year old has un-strung 2 audio tapes and 1 video tape from the library, quite possibly making this one of our more expensive memberships. As of now, tapes are no longer allowed in any way shape or form from the library. I am planning to get a microphone and read books myself, that way, if Silas ruins them, it will be frustrating, but not as expensive. We are working on the anti-2 year-old-defense-system, but have not perfected it yet.

So for the curious amongst you, I have been settling into homeschooling, gaining my own philosophy and style. For someone like myself, this had to happen. Me not having an opinion is like a fish living out of water. Although, opinion is not really accurate. I have been learning about finding what works for me and each kid as I go without expecting this is best for everyone, and this, my friends is new and fabulous.

I loosely subscribe to classical education as follows:

Classical Education is based on 3 stages of learning, the first stage is the Grammar Stage when you input facts into the sponge AKA child. This stage is K-4th grade. The other 2 stages aren't important to me yet, so I can't remember them. With classical education, most subjects are taught by reading, reading, reading relevant material. History taught by historically accurate fiction, or non-fiction in story format as much as possible(at this point anyhow). Math, not done by reading:) Writing, we are doing Sing, Spell Read and Write, although we are at an impasse at this point and have wandered into working at our own pace on vocabulary for a while. Caleb's handwriting has improved considerably since last year, although, writing is far from his favorite thing to do.

We will be doing science with a few friends, and will be doing Mandarin with another friend. I'm looking forward to leading science but will not be teaching any Mandarin, shock and amazement, I know.

We are learning a memory verse a week, reading Emigmeyers Bible daily, read alouds (what ever books they choose from a bin I have set out). Doing math, vocabulary, which means I sound out a word ie. mmmmm aaaaaa nnnnnnn. Caleb/Malachi figure out the word and write it down. They know the phonics, so write the sounds. I write it down and then compare, making corrections. Ok, that may be interesting to 1 of you, so enough tedium.

I'm tired, and just realized I never mentioned the results of my hemotology appt. For any of you who made it this far.......... I'm healed!! That's what the Oncologist said after 4 hours of wating around. I took a blood test when I arrived for my 1230p appt. After that I waited for hours.......then my blood results came back normal, my white cell counts back to normal. Must have been off due to Castlemans, which was cured when they removed the lymph node 'tumor'. Not enough research on Castlemans, so who's to know, but seems to be the case for me. No, they don't want to use me as a study case, too few people to make it worth studying.

Congratulations if you made it to the end of this entry. This serves as 2 weeks worth!

A photo journal for today

Paparazzi catch an exclusive look at this falls latest footwear fashions. As seen in this early photo of Spidy, he has always been concerned with oral hygiene.

It's good to be loved.

Taking a break from all that fun and fun and running around with friends.

You've heard of horseback riding, riding camels, even elephants, well, now you've heard of and seen auntie EB back riding!

How serious are you about your fiber? You could take a lesson here. Malachi checking the underside of auntie EB's pedicure.

Labeled for future cataloging, if you look closely you'll see Malachi in Red on right cheek(your left) Aquino on forehead, and Philip on left cheek. Yes, he is missing a tooth.

Artist or Work of Art? That is the question.
Window art as a sport for 2008 Olympics?

washing windows is more fun than making the artwork sometimes.

All in a days work

I've decided that I'm going to make my best effort to behave as though I am physically normal, being careful, not cautious. My fist day going out on the town without a chaperon, OK to the park, was documented by ABC, channel 7 news. A piece about the poor air quality we suffer from in this hot weather. The link may change, but as of now it is http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/front Then there is a picture of kid/s on swings. The title is 'Effective Ways to Avoid Breathing Bad Air'. Our second time this year to make it into the news. CBS, channel 5, filmed the boys up on Mt. Diable during a snow flurry, I'm not really sure the proper terminology, lots of snow, it was coming down in clumps instead of flakes. I had no idea snow did that. Not much experience with it. Usually I've seen it in Tahoe when it's about 70 degrees out:)

Toddler antics since my last post... RED play dough all over living room carpet. Yes, the same carpet that was recently given a face-lift. Time for another one, so soon. Silas turned 2 yesterday. With all the fun stories, some of you may have been able to guess his age.

After our day out at the park, we stopped at the thrift store to get rid of 4 big bags of stuff, then went in, gotta get rid of 'stuff' to bring 'stuff' in. Some days there just isn't much, today wasn't one of those days. It felt like Christmas. I spent 20 bucks on some great books, fun strap to your arm, electronic shooting sounds... and pirate swords. Nice puzzle of the solar system, Battleship! Yay! And a few gifts for a gift box(AKA gift closet) I'm starting. A very busy day, and yes I was VERY tired when I got home.

Silas starts his first day of BSF(Bible Study Fellowship) tomorrow with Malachi and Grammie. He's such a big boy now. He is excited about it. He has done a lot of crying at the door when his brothers left him behind.

More Toddler Tales

This week has more toddler tales for your enjoyment. One of the days, Silas put his body through the railing bars. His head was too big, so if he fell..... I pointlessly tried to pry the bars apart, remember, I have less strength than normal, thought, should I have the fire department come and pry them apart? That would take too long. So I grabbed Silas' diaper, angled him as best I could and just pulled the poor kid out. He had bar marks on his chest and back. He wasn't too pleased, but better to be out than in! Lots of cuddling for quite a while. I think it really hurt him:(

Next toddler trick, he smelled like ketchup... I took him to sink, washed him off, took off his now red shirt. Didn't walk into kitchen or look for that matter. Later, I walked into kitchen and saw he had done finger painting on the floor! Could have been worse, it could have been all over the cabinets and the walls.

I'm doing better each week. Sometimes I take a step or 2 back, depending on how many times I have to get on my hands and knees and clean the floor! :-o I went to my regular doctor Thursday, got cleared for driving, and saw my Thoracic Surgeon yesterday. I shouldn't be seeing her anymore, got my walking papers. I was sore from all the bumping and long car rides 2x in a row.

We took the kids and went to Giradelli Square, saw how they make the chocolate yesterday. Then went to see the sea lions afterward, Pier 39. Caleb cared more about the break dancers. He's looking for some new moves:) Fun to be a tourist now and then in our own backyard. It drained my energy. I actually fell asleep on the way home. This is quite a feet, since I can't sleep in cars, on planes, even when we used to travel 1st Class international, couldn't sleep. Well, my head was flopping around just like one of the kids yesterday on the way home. I even opted to stay in the car once we got home to sleep some more with Silas until he woke up. So my stamina is not what it used to be!!

I have a hematology appointment next month, maybe this month by now. Monday the 10th at 12 or so, gotta verify. I have low white blood cell count. Why? Hoping the Hematologist(blood Dr) can tell me. One more set of prayers before leaving the special medical prayers behind and going into 'normal' life prayers of survival, cleanliness, teaching, attitude, discipline.