Visitors' Day at Plantation Farm Camp & A WAY LATE Birthday Party

Finally getting around to posting some of the pictures from our afternoon visiting the kids at farm camp. They both did great: adjusting to life with a tent mate, meeting counselors from all over the world, and doing chores, chores, chores! Visitors' Day was back on June 30th, and Blondie went with us to see his big brother and big sister. He missed them a whole lot more than he let on.

We picked the kids up on the 11th, and on the 13th we had their joint, late, mini-golf birthday party. They had both wanted to wait till Vanesa was here from Argentina to celebrate their birthday, and they were willing to do a joint party to go easy on me. I was really impressed they were able to wait 3 months for their birthday parties. They are getting so mature and thoughtful.

Anyway, they decided a mini-golf party was something that both boys and girls would enjoy, so that's the theme we went with. We bought the favors on the 12th - their first day back home. They jumped right back into our family routine.

The party was a lot of fun and we were lucky it wasn't too hot at midday. We played "Never Have I Ever" while waiting for the rest of the guests to arrive. It's a great icebreaker that works for kids and adults. I had forgotten how funny that game is! {I lost because I've had many pets during my lifetime.}

Then they both showed off some mad golfing skills.

Cookie was in the game the whole time of course...

And then cake! This is supposed to be the green grass of a golf course with some tees and balls on it. Can you see that? The most awesome part was that it was one of those cupcake cakes so everyone just pulled out their own cupcake - no plates or forks or waiting to be served required.

Always a ham, Toto had to use the frosting as face paint!

So, yes, another year older and maybe, just a little bit wiser.

{pretty, happy, funny, real}

Joining in the fun this week because I had these adorable pictures to share!
{pretty}

Don't I look cool in Mommy's sunglasses?

{happy}

Sprinklers on a hot day make me happy.

{funny}

Daddy's little shutterbug

{real}

Do farm animals visit your dishwasher during unloading too?

See more photos of contentment over at Like Mother, Like Daughter.

How to Run Errands with Children (and making it count as Homeschooling, too!)

My method for training children to want to run errands is quite simple and takes only an afternoon or two.

The element of surprise combined with Mom's undivided attention.

I took them only one or two at a time at first, so either the nanny or my husband had to be home for this to work since I have four children aged ten and under. {A Grandma or helpful neighbor could help during "training" if you are lucky enough to have either.} Sometimes we were out grocery shopping at 8pm because Dad got home very late from work. Or we were out in the middle of the morning when the nanny could stay home with the sleeping baby. The ones who refused to run errands with me at first got left at home doing chores or whatnot.

My rules:

• I invite and expect at least one of them to accompany me each and every time I go out to run errands. 
• I do not create scavenger hunts or pack thematic snacks.
• I do not promise them ice cream afterwards - or buy them a treat from the store when they ask for one - ever.
• I do not promise them something fun to do after the errand.

My promises: 

• They will have 30 to 90 minutes of my (mostly) undivided attention 
• They can ask me all the crazy questions they want to once I am on the freeway.
• I will not take cell phone calls while driving so they can talk all they want without being interrupted.

Errands as Homeschooling
{It's carschooling without the clipboards and colored pencils.}

• Stuck at the dealership for 90 minutes while they diagnose the minivan's sliding door problem? Perfect time to discuss how to properly maintain your car and how to check the tire pressure.
• Need to go to the bank? Learn all about banking, checking accounts, wire transfers, ATM cards, and college savings accounts.
• Stand in line with me at the post office? You'll know how to address an envelope and understand why we have zip codes.
• Drive across town with me to buy our season passes since the park's website hasn't been working all day? You get to go on a few rides near closing time with no waiting.

How long does it take to train kids to *WANT* to go on errands cheerfully and willingly? 

One afternoon, two at the most. Come home with the ones who said yes and don't say a word about what you did.

They will take care of it for you. 

They will quickly learn that when Mom asks "who wants to go run an errand with me?" the correct answer is always Yes.

Follow Me Monday - Toddler Edition

If Cookie were to have a perfect homeschooling day, it would include trains, swimming, and fire. So we attempted to do all three for him on Sunday. 

As soon as he heard we were going out to breakfast on our way up to Niles Canyon to see the trains, he readied himself - grabbing his ba-ba, big brother's baseball helmet, and an old train base from the Thomas lego set that Mom has long since thrown away. 

We arrived at Cafe San Jose minutes later - we could have

biked there really. Before our food had even arrived, Cookie was unable to sit in his chair. At one point, he moved his chair over to the center of the room and attempted to stand on it so he could try to reach the planes hanging from the ceiling. 

Mom and Cookie spent the rest of breakfast in the parking lot.

Once we were in the car, we made a pit stop at Starbucks so Icould have a coffee and a muffin. We had a quick drive up to Niles Canyon, though we saw two bad accidents on the other side of the freeway. Bill had pre-printed our tickets and confirmed the correct station several times, so we were able to board early and get the best seats on the train. Right behind the steam engine!

You could not get any closer to steam engine 2472!

It was loud. It was exciting. It was everything a toddler's first train ride should be.

The little red caboose.

Here is Sweetpea's photo proving we were right behind the steam engine. This is the first puff, before it turns dark grey and starts to smell of burning coal. 

We ran into our old Los Altos History Museum friends {who volunteer at the Niles Canyon railway}. Here is Doug answering questions on the train while Laura manned the coloring table back at the station.

They each got a new glow-in-the-dark steam train t-shirt as a souvenir. Cookie has never had one of his own before, always hand-me-downs, so he was very excited.

On the car ride back home we tried {unsuccessfully} to convince him to take a nap so he could join the big kids with swimming at the swim and raquet club.  While everyone else went swimming, he stayed home with Mom and took a "nap" that started at 4:45 pm. 

After swimming, Bill went to the store to buy the blue cheese and ground beef for the burgers, and still Cookie slept. 

He slept through the blue cheese burger lessons that Sweetpea gave Gordo, through the orzo salad assembly, through the fire-making and burger grilling with Daddy, and through our al fresco dinner.

At 7:45 I checked on him again and he was still sound asleep. He slept through the Chocolate Cherry S'mores that Olivia invented, and avoided the whole Gordo burning his foot on a hot coal incident. 

At 8:45 we started watching Monsters, Inc on our new TV (the one that's going into the cabana) and he missed that too. 

He slept till 7 am the next day! All the train excitement had been more than enough for him.

Be sure to check out the rest of the homeschoolers at www.creatingsomethingbeautifulhs.blogspot.com

She's closing up shop for the summer, so look for new links come August!

Well, howdy!

Just popping in to say hello, and I'm alive. I have been sick and cranky and so low in energy that I'm just barely able to get through the day, let alone do any blogging. I missed blogging oddly enough. 
We've been having urgent meetings with accountants and tax lawyers and doing a lot of praying and asking St. Matthew to intercede for us. Apparently, God has heard our prayers because it appears there was an error on our tax return but it was in our favor. Bill is so scrupulously honest about things like taxes that I had no doubt it would all work itself out, but I dreaded going through the audit process. Now I can say it and mean it, "Thank you God for letting us get audited!"
To add to the general excitement and my anxiety level, the Nanny that had been coming to help me in the afternoons just up and quit on me with no notice. {Something about not wanting to pay income tax....well, thanks a lot.} The kids and I had really started to get attached to her and liked her quite a bit, I could not believe someone would do me like that. I really expected more from her. In any event, I've started interviewing new candidates, and I hope to have a new Mother's Helper lined up by the end of May. Oh, and just for kicks, Bill got the stomach flu and was out of commission for 2 days this last weekend which was no fun for anybody.

In the last three weeks, we also had two kids birthdays to celebrate and I tried to get some Origami Owl orders in. 

Origami Owl is so swamped that their system is not able to keep up so I wasn't able to get all my orders in and be assured that they would be processed and charged properly. They really were not prepared for how much demand and how much growth they would experience so quickly. It's one of those good and bad things. I hope things calm down a bit so they can bring their customer service up to par. The product is adorable, but they have to get the systems in place to support their designers in giving great customer service to the ultimate client. Right now a lot of designers are frustrated, but everyone is trying to help each other out to get orders filled which is great to see. Instead of worrying about "the sale" they are worrying about satisfying the customer. I haven't posted anything about the lockets lately because I'm not confident I can deliver the product in a timely manner. 

We celebrated the two big kid birthdays quietly at home, and they've agreed to do a joint birthday party next month. They've decided on a Miniature Golf party which will work out great for boys and girls and for a wide range of ages. It was fun to have two 9 year olds in the house for 10 days; now they are 10 and 9 years old! 

Time flies, sort of. But it also drags on and on. Depends on the day.

We're still hoping our friend Vanesa will be able to visit from Argentina next month. I haven't heard from her in a while and I hope she's okay. She had gotten mugged while in Calcutta. She was still enjoying her time with the sisters at Mother Teresa's convent and racking up lots of cool lifetime memories. 

Last weekend we went to a neighborhood party at our old house. We had started a spring soup party tradition in our old neighborhood that had gotten quite popular over the years, and the new owners agreed to keep the tradition alive and invited us over to the soup party.

It was fun to see everyone again for one last hurrah. The house still looks great. It definitely has the new owner's stylistic touch now, but it still looks like the same "bones."

Sweetpea getting her hair done for the Soup Party

We were all surprisingly unemotional after the experience. I thought the kids would be weird about it, but they weren't. They were so excited to play with their old neighborhood friends and to be remembered. I think that's what they worried about, that people wouldn't remember what we had done for that house and for that town. But they do, and they will, for a long time to come. 

But now I'm more than ready to invest emotionally in our new neighborhood. We've met some nice families on our street and our next door neighbor is the best.neighbor.ever. Super helpful and friendly without being intrusive. If there were an award for best neighbor, I would nominate him for it.

The kids had a great time at Toto's Hit-a-Thon on Saturday. He had the shortest hit, but the biggest smile. He has an amazing personality, always so happy to be participating. He raised quite a bit of money by asking for pledges door-to-door. I was really proud of him for doing that, few kids do that anymore. I get requests on Facebook from parents all the time, but I rarely see the kid actually making the "ask." The Hit-a-Thon event itself was really well laid out; the kids could go wandering about safely, with lots of activities for them all to do at different ages and ability levels.

Toto upside down on the Velcro Wall

Trying to dunk Coach Ben

Markie getting red, white, & blue crazy hair - because Toto plays on the Cubs.

Here he is dancing with Daddy.

Each of the big kids won enough coupons at the pitching booth that we won $ 6 off our lunch bill! We were all pretty happy about that!

Needless to say, we stayed much longer than I had anticipated. I tend to hate those types of events, but this one was a lot of fun for all of us.

Our chickens are getting huge! They are great fun to watch and we've now let them out to roam at the same time as Stuart the rabbit and they get along just fine.

The Cabana project is really starting to come together. We had our first inspection, the fireplace and the windows are in, and the front door stoop is framed out. It really makes it look like a little cottage. It is turning out great. Bill has already got the TV and audio hook-up all wired and decked out of course. 

I've been having a heck of a time finding a pool contractor. I was really excited about one that my neighbor recommended, he's from Argentina and everything, but we can't even get a call back from him. Business must be good if you don't have to return calls from potential clients! But I have to keep trying. 

I promised the kids chickens, a play structure, and a pool of our own when we moved {the three things we couldn't have at our old house} and so far I've got two out of three in flight. I need to get the pool project going so we can use it this summer. It is already HOT here. It was 89 today, yup, on May 1st. It's supposed to be even hotter this weekend. I'm not complaining, I like it hot and not humid, so it's perfect for me. 

Happy Feast Day of St. Joseph the Worker today! 
If you have a job, be grateful for the blessing of your work, and if you are looking for a job, blessings on your search. 

Week in Review/What Reallly Happened

• Got to STAR testing for two oldest kids on Monday and Tuesday mornings on time.
• Gordo had his After School Adventures afternoon on Monday - they took a field trip to a nearby park and he got to buy an icecream from the Icecream truck.
• I forgot to cancel Toto's Vision Therapy appointment for Tuesday :(
• Bill and I toured the Cabana as it is all framed out now and, as is my custom, I had to change something. I got out there with my Easter egg chalks and re-drew the bathroom, making it quite a bit smaller. 
• The workers were able to re-do the framing in one day, so not too bad.
• Sweetpea made it to Little Flowers, so she had to miss Girls on the Run training. But she'll go Friday.
• Toto had a baseball game on Monday night.
  
• Chickens got lots of love all week long.
• Baby M's new train set arrived. It is based on the BBC show: "Chuggington." It's the Thomas & Friends of the new generation of boys. The train sets are adorable and affordable and something new for our family. We were all a little sick of Thomas after nine years. The day that the 3 sets and 5 trains arrived we spent about 2 hours setting it all up for Baby M and he was so excited. He skipped dinner, refused a bath (which he loves), refused ice-cream (which he loves) and stayed up 2 hours later than normal because he wanted to keep playing with it over and over. We have another train maniac in the family! The older kids had never seen an episode of Chuggington so they watched a couple of episodes on my laptop. Unfortunately, Chugginton episodes are not available on Netflix and that's the only way we get TV anymore.
• I had such a bad migraine on Tuesday that I could not drive to the grocery store. Thank goodness Safeway delivers!
• On Wednesday we made it to homeschool playgroup for Handz on Sports. Nobody had practice or a game that night because of Spring Break for the area schools. Didn't realize till later I missed my own doctor appointment in the morning.
• I bought Gordo a new mattress because his old one was quite battered after years of nighttime potty training. Enough said.
• On Thursday the science tutor came as usual. The two older kids had choir practice and I remembered to call ahead to cancel a doctor's appointment.
• Bill and I had an urgent meeting with a tax attorney. Nothing like an emergency tax visit to ruin your week. St. Matthew, Pray for us!
• On Friday we had our Field Trip to the USS Pampanito submarine in San Francisco. Bill came with us and the kids had a great time getting up close and personal with a piece of WWII history. {Though I think the hamburger at Zuni Cafe may have been their favorite part of the day.} I forgot to reschedule Toto's Vision Therapy appointment again. Apparently, you actually have to look at what you write down in your calendar for it to have any effect on how your week goes.
• Friday evening Toto's baseball game went past 7 pm and as the sun was setting it dropped down to 52 degrees and there I was in flip flops and a t-shirt. Brilliant.
• On Saturday, Sweetpea has a softball game in the morning.
  

• After Sweetpea's softball game, we took a field trip to Hidden Villa and Cookie got to see all the farm animals he's been singing about lately. He loved the baa-baas, the moo-moos, and especially the chickens and oink-oinks. The weather was great and we had the place practically to ourselves. Bill actually got a picture of the three boys when they all looked pretty happy.
• This picture of Cookie looks a lot like the same picture we have of Sweetpea standing on the same tree stump when she was two years old.
  
• Afterwards we went to dinner at Frankie, Johnny, and Luigi's and then headed over for a visit with Grandma Ann. The kids were pretty hyped up, but at least they had a lot to tell Grandma Ann about. I wish we could have more days like this!
• Bill and I were both a bit cranky today after dealing with this tax issue {on a Sunday no less} so I took the kids for a break to Jump Sky High. They burned off some energy and Bill got a little break. By the time we got home he had made us Mushroom Risotto for dinner, so the week ended well, though Bill says he is getting sick again. I hope he doesn't spread it to the kids; I don't think I could handle another month of family sickness right now.

What Really Happened/Week in Review

Alleluia! Happy Easter week to all!

• We celebrated Easter with my mother-in-law at Sunny View and then headed to Easter dinner at Mark's Godparents house. Hid 9 dozen hard boiled eggs for the kids to hunt for. Fun!
• We went on a field trip to the Moffet Naval Air Base to hear our old neighbor Fritz Trapnell give a speech about his Dad, "Trap", a very famous test pilot who even has Trapnell Field in Maryland named after him. The kids didn't like the speech very much (I did) but they enjoyed the museum tour. Turns out Bill is his 9th cousin. You can tell Bill spends too much time on Ancestry.com!
• Kids had a regular week of baseball, softball, and choir practice because it seems many of the schools around here have off the week of the 8th instead.
• The kids science tutor still came on Thursday and they started keeping a weather log.
• I had a bit of a flare up and was feeling "off" for two days, I feel better now.
• Our dog snapped at the baby and I had to figure out what to do, it was a very stressful few days of separation, vet visit, taking her to doggie boarding hotel, etc. 
• Gordo finished his Kindergarden math workbook and we celebrated with a Burnt Almond cake from Dick's Bakery. He is glad to have finished early. The next day he asked me to play a phonics game with him because he says he wants to learn how to read now.
• We got 3 chicks on Saturday! Pictures to come! 
• Bill and I went to a Marriage Enrichment Group meeting while the kids went to the San Francisco Zoo with our nanny and his family. They had a great time! {And so did we.}
• By Sunday night we were all so tired we had cereal for dinner, first time in 10 years I've gotten away with that!
• I told the two older kids on Sunday night they had to do STAR testing on Monday and Tuesday (part of our duty as public charter school homeschoolers). I figured if I didn't tell them till Sunday night they'd have no time to get anxious about it. We'll see how it goes. 
• Bill and I still haven't made reservations for our 10th anniversary trip, but we've narrowed it down to France.

Relaxing after Remicade

Ha ha ha. You thought I was relaxing there for a minute, didn't you? 

My Remicade infusion today was rather uneventful, no allergic reaction, although she did have to use my right arm because the veins in my left arm were not cooperating as they usually do. I hate it when the veins roll or crumple and I try to make conversation with the nurse to avoid crying, but it still hurts. By the grace of God this happens very rarely with this nurse.

Because I was congested with a cold and on the border of yet another sinus infection, the nurse loaded me up with Benadryl right at the start. I was passed out cold before the real juice had even hit my veins. I woke up about 3 hours later as she was getting ready to start my saline flush. 

The good news is, I had slept through lunch and wasn't even hungry. The bad news is, I had to get gas in the van on the way home because the light turned orange as soon as I put the key in the ignition, and I grabbed a candy bar instead of a real lunch at the station's snack shop. The nanny had taken the kids out for a long walk so at least the house was quiet when I first got back home. 

I "rested" throughout the late afternoon up until dinner time by: listening to the sweet sound of jack hammers blasting all the aggregate concrete out of my backyard, mopping up 2 inches of water in the guest bath because somebody left the tap open and it flooded over the lip of the sink and onto the floor and about 2 ft into the carpeting of each adjacent bedroom, dropping the nanny and the boys off at a local park, taking Sweetpea to a softball game about 30 minutes away, picking the boys and nanny back up at the park on my way home, organizing the recyclables with the boys in the garage, picking up dog poop in the back bedroom (note to self - don't feed human leftovers to a 120 lb Mastiff), starting the Chicken Noodle Soup, yelling at the boys to turn off the TV and to do their chores, talking the toddler through a tantrum and training the nanny on how to distract him, emailing my husband the address of the softball game so he could bring Sweetpea home, and then finding my bed, finally, at around 6:30 pm so I could rest until the nanny finished up the soup for us and the boys started yelling at me to come for dinner {about 11 minutes later.}

So, yes, thank you God, for a wonderful and caring nanny and a husband who can afford to pay for one, and for the health insurance that pays for these ridiculously expensive infusions every 8 weeks. 
It's time for bed right now. 
The jackhammers will be back at 8 am and I am *really* going to owe my neighbors some brownies very soon for being so cool about the construction. A nice neighbor is such a valuable thing - just one good neighbor can keep me going even amongst a bunch of negative nellies. I think people with good, kind, and helpful - but not intrusive - neighbors don't appreciate the gift those people are in their lives enough. 

So be nice to your neighbors this week; Jesus did say something about Loving our Neighbor as I recall. It's the least we can do for Him.

End of the Week Review/What Really Happened

March 18th through 24th was a blur. I ran a lot of errands on Tuesday and started to get a bit over-confident. I started having Crohn's symptoms on Tuesday night and was up most of the night back and forth to the bathroom. Wednesday was pretty much a train wreck because I was so tired I was barely functioning. 

What did get done

I got the kids to most of their activities during the week, sometimes even on time and to the right ones.
Everyone ate three meals a day, vegetables and fruits each day.
The construction permit was issued and demolition on the cabana began.
Made it to both vision therapy appointments.
I got a guest blogger to write on the blog for Thursday. 
On Thursday night I made it to a talk at a friend's house on "The Method" a guided meditation for use during the Mass.
On Friday night, I drove up to San Francisco to have dinner with a friend who was here from Houston for a conference. It was great to see her, but two late nights out may have been my undoing.
Saturday we were up early for baseball/softball games, and I had to take a nap at midday.
Saturday night we drove up to my parents house for a visit and went out for an Italian dinner. We hadn't seen them in 7 weeks just because of the crazy sports schedules.
By Saturday night, Toto was getting sick again. :(
By Sunday morning, so were Gordo and Sweetpea. The big boys skipped rugby to stay home and rest. Sweetpea rallied for an hour to get her softball team pictures taken Sunday afternoon.
By Sunday night, Bill and I were fatigued and sick as well. Bill was kind enough to go get Pho for dinner and buy milk and bread because we had run out.
No one made it to Mass on Palm Sunday. :( I don't think I've missed a Palm Sunday Mass in 15 years. 
After eating the Pho soup, we made the kids go to bed early and collapsed on the couch. 
Waiting till Monday morning when we can "relax" - him at his office and me with a nanny here to help.

Only the baby is still well. I can't believe we are all sick again. I just finished 4 weeks of antibiotics on March 17th.
At least on Tuesday I get my Remicade infusion so my intestines will start to calm down again.
I think I'm going to send out invitations to my Pity poor me party.

An Embarrassing Library & Another Picture Book Giveaway

Greetings on this most happy day - the Installation of our new Pope Francis and celebrating the Feast of St. Joseph!

St. Joseph has been our family's patron saint for a couple of years now, and as I looked for the book The Song of the Swallows to read aloud I realized, to my dismay, that I own TWO copies of this book by Leo Politi. One is a vintage copy showing its age, and the other a more modern re-print but still showing some wear and tear. 

Well, that's good news for you because it means I'm having another Picture book give-away! And lest you think that these picture book give-aways all of a sudden are just a fiendish plot to drive readers to my blog....I confess....all these picture book give-aways are a fiendish plot to rid our homeschool library of duplicates or lovely books that we just don't need anymore. {And since I am too lazy to sell them at a used curriculum sale, we'll have another giveaway soon :) }

Are you familiar with the story of the Song of the Swallows? It tells the story of Juan, a young boy who observes the swallows returning to the Mission San Juan Capistrano every year on March 19th (or thereabouts) - the Feast of St. Joseph and his sweet friendship with the gardener of the Mission, Julian. This is based on the true story of the swallows' migration{although less swallows come back to the mission each year nowadays.}

Mission San Juan Capistrano is one of the 11 Missions we dragged  toured our kids through last summer on the way back up from Legoland. It is by far my favorite in terms of physical beauty. It really is in spectacular condition.

The book does not go into this detail but, get this - each year the swallows return to San Juan Capistrano for St. Joseph's Feast Day from - anyone, anyone?

Argentina. I kid you not.

So how could I not give this beautiful picture book away today in honor of St. Joseph and Pope Francis of Argentina?

The details to enter this give-away for The Song of the Swallows, which won The Caldecott Medal when it was first published in 1948, are below.

Check out all the giveaways going on at Hip Homeschool Moms for more fun chances to win.

God Bless You and good luck!


And honk if you want Pope Francis to come visit Mission San Juan Capistrano! 

How perfect would that be?

Just another manic Monday & plans for the week

Sorry, I just couldn't resist. 

With the time change, everyone slept in late this morning, and I wasn't complaining. Bill left at 6 am for a flight to Boston and we just kept right on snoozing. Even the baby didn't get up till 8. The boys next and Sweetpea rolled out of bed around 10:30 am. 

Needless to say, the schedule for the week got off to a very bumpy start. I sent Sweetpea out with the Nanny to buy new running shoes this morning before GOTR this afternoon because her old ones had a whole in the toe and this morning, she lost one of the sneakers. Seriously?! The house isn't that big, how do people lose shoes? Kids losing things drives me up the wall. I keep hoping that the more settled in we get the more organized they will get and the less they will lose stuff, but it's just not happening.

Toto took a math test and got a 95% so I know he's on track for his math tutor meeting tomorrow. Gordo packed his lunch and his "homework" - phonics and math worksheets - so he could go to his new kindergarden after school program. I know, I know, we homeschool, so why am I sending him to an after school program. He was getting too bored in the afternoons while the other older two are running around to sports practices/games and he was getting in the bad habit of always playing video games or watching TV unless I was actively engaging with him every.minute.of. the.day. So, frankly, I needed a supervised place for him to get some school work done and socialize and meet some kids in our new neighborhood. He wasn't happy about going, but when I picked him up at the end of the day he was beaming. The teacher said he had a fabulous first day. At bedtime, he said he was happier about it than I thought he was. He needed a chance to do something that was just his, and a chance to develop a little bit away from his siblings. So these two afternoons a week for three months will be just the ticket. I'm basically paying for part-time afternoon kindergarden on my own terms and I like it.

Monday
Bill leaves for Boston
Sweetpea to catch up on Little Flowers
Toto to do math test
Sweetpea to GOTR and Toto to 1st Little League game in full uniform
Gordo to 1st day at Kindergarden after care program
Open entire pile of mail

Tuesday
Vision Therapy
Math Tutor & chess class
Sweetpea Softball practice
Finish Science lap book
Read next bit of American History 
Do next bit of Michaelangelo Picture Study
Pray for conclave, post Cardinal locket photo
Place Origami Owl order for two lockets plus re-stock inventory

Wednesday
Sweetpea to catch up on Bravewriter class assignments
OLOP Mass & Activity
Toto Little League - snack shack shift? Can't remember
Meet with Homeschool Mom about group newsletter

Thursday
Vision Therapy
Science Tutor
Do 5 a day math
Sweetpea special trip to visit old 3rd grade classroom
Cantabile choir practice
Order black t-shirt for Cantabile missing from last week

Friday
Gordo needs to pack lunch & homework for After School Kinder
Actually look at mail and pay some bills
Baseball & softball I'm sure
Bill returns from Boston.

Saturday
Baseball & softball I'm sure
Sweetpea has a St. Patrick's Day party to go to

Sunday
Go to new parish as a family
We have a birthday dinner for a friend - need to get a sitter

What Really Happened

Monday
Meeting with architect and contractor to revise Cabana plans to deal with city bureacracy Done
Need to find and press Cantabile Choir uniform for concert Not done till Friday, and never pressed, but done.
Sweetpea has first Girls on the Run meeting, monthly Little Flowers meeting, and softball practice all at the same time She decided that it was most important to make the first GOTR meeting so we said no to the other opportunities
She made the first GOTR meeting and made it to softball late BUT I completely messed up the calendar and forgot about Toto's baseball practice. We made it because Team Mom emailed me.

Tuesday
Toto has Vision Therapy 
Math and Chess tutor here for all three children for 2 hours
Sweetpea - 90 minute softball practice late afternoon
Toto - first Little League scrimmage game of the season, at same time, I will do half & half 
All this got done, but Toto did NOT have a game, so clearly I am losing my mind

Wednesday
Homeschool Playgroup at OLOP, no activity planned-Skipped I needed a stay at home day

Thursday
Field Trip to see the San Francisco Ballet. Made it,15 min late
Sweetpea Cantabile Choir practice from 5 to 7 pm
Toto Choir practice from 5 to 6 pm Made it to both choirs
Me to chiropractor while they're at practice Done

Friday
Toto Vision Therapy Done
Grocery shopping - It's $ 5 Friday at our local Safeway Not done till Sunday night after Mass, remembered coupons

Saturday
Sweetpea had Cantabile Choir practice from early morning on with a performance in the afternoon at Palo Alto JCC
Toto went to the last Basketball game at Campbell Rec Dept

Bad Mom alert: Bill was at basketball game with Toto and saw him make his FIRST free throw of the season at the last game. I was supposed to pick Sweetpea up by 3 (missing the performance). Bill came home and found me asleep at 2:45!!! He flew out of the house like a bat out of you know where and got to her at 3:15. Luckily, she had my new business card with her and had the Class Mom call me so I knew where she was and she knew we were coming for her, but man, did I feel guilty. I had taken migraine medicine and thought I would sleep, "just a little bit," yeah. right.

I also did not pay a single bill. Eek gads. The pile of paperwork is reaching epic proportions around here. I wish I knew how other homeschool Moms stayed on top of the bills. After all the homeschool paperwork, the last thing I want to do is open & sort mail & pay bills.
I did play one board game with the kids. And Bill did play Risk with them.
Sweetpea did do a lot of math, in the evenings, for fun.
I still don't get the Math on the Level Spreadsheet. :(

Beautiful Sunday & Plans for the Week

We had a beautiful Sunday today, boys busy with a Rugby match, Sweetpea and I at a Phi Mu Founders' Day Tea. We were there for over 5 hours, chatting and enjoying tea sandwiches and sweets. 

I had quite a bad relapse of my cough/fever/cold yesterday and wasn't able to bake anything for the party. But Sweetpea saved the day by baking a batch of brownies this morning for us to take to Bebe's house.

They were the best brownies I have ever had.

{Please stop reading if you gave up sweets for Lent}

For the rest of you, I offer this as a free Public Service Announcement because these are the best and easiest from-a-box brownies I have ever had and they can be made by a 9 year old girl. You should buy a box today. Go right now. Reading your other friends' Facebook status updates can wait. Seriously, go. 

She used Ghiradelli Dark Chocolate Brownie mix. She modified the recipe as follows (because she's independent that way)

• used a 9 x 13 glass pan instead of 8x8 or 9x9 square so the brownies were a little thinner and more chewy - leaning towards crunchy. The corner and end pieces were orgasmic I forgot for a second this is a family-friendly blog
• buttered the glass pan instead of using baking spray
• used olive oil instead of vegetable oil
• added 1/2 cup chopped walnuts to the batter because she said chocolate tastes better with walnuts, and saved 16 walnut halves to decorate the top

Other than that, she baked them at the recommended temperature, took them out at the minimum baking time, and allowed them to cool completely before cutting into squares. 

Next time I go to the store I am going to buy several boxes to keep on hand in the pantry because this is going to be my go-to brownie mix from now on. No brownie I have ever made has tasted this good. 

{You can start reading again}

It is incredible to me that I have a daughter old enough to enjoy these sorts of "girlie" things with now. Our relationship has improved so much since we started homeschooling her in kindergarden. I actually enjoy spending time with her now, instead of feeling like I am walking around on eggshells waiting for her to explode. She is calmer and nicer to be around, plain and simple.

How I'm Doing, Really
-I am already feeling inflammation and pain in my knees - could it be that my Remicade is wearing off?
-I need to talk to my doctor about switching antibiotics because after 10 days I do not feel better at all, maybe even more feverish than when I started with this sinus infection
-I should probably get a flu shot so I don't risk getting sick again, my immune system just can't handle another upper respiratory infection this season
-Bill is not traveling this week so I'll have his help in the evenings with bedtime routines
-I will have a nanny/housekeeper here each day to help me
(yes, I'm lucky we can afford help - though with my health status it is more of a necessity than a luxury.) Financially, it's a wash, since we aren't paying tuition for three kids in private Catholic school. 
Sadly, it's actually cheaper and I never feel guilty about needing a full-time nanny and not working outside the home.

Plans for the week
Monday
Meeting with architect and contractor to revise Cabana plans to deal with city bureacracy
Need to find and press Cantabile Choir uniform for concert
Sweetpea has first Girls on the Run meeting, monthly Little Flowers meeting, and softball practice all at the same time She decided that it was most important to make the first GOTR meeting so we said no to the other opportunities
Tuesday
Toto has Vision Therapy 
Math and Chess tutor here for all three children for 2 hours
Sweetpea - 90 minute softball practice late afternoon
Toto - first Little League scrimmage game of the season, at same time, I will do half & half 
Wednesday
Homeschool Playgroup at OLOP, no activity planned
Thursday
Science tutor to be rescheduled because we are going on a Field Trip to see the San Francisco Ballet. So excited! Baby M will stay home with our nanny while we meet up with homeschooling friends in the city
Sweetpea Cantabile Choir practice from 5 to 7 pm
Toto Choir practice from 5 to 6 pm
Me to chiropractor while they're at practice
Friday
Toto Vision Therapy
Grocery shopping - It's $ 5 Friday at our local Safeway
Saturday
Sweetpea has Cantabile Choir practice from early morning on with a performance in the afternoon at Palo Alto JCC
She will miss the last Basketball game of the season
Toto will go to the last Basketball game at Campbell Rec Dept

I have a list of things to do a mile long, and I have a few lockets to put together and mail, but I should be okay since my Crohn's isn't flaring right now and JIMINY CRICKETS 

Daylight Savings Time returns next weekend. 

Oh happy day!

I will feel a little bit better no matter what just because of the extra sunshine in the evenings. I can't stand eating dinner in the dark. 

I wish we could start Daylight Savings Time in February, it would probably eliminate the dreaded February drudge of every homeschooler. 

You can tell I'm giddy happy about this. I'll leave it at that. 

If it's snowing where you are, I am sorry. Sort of. 

I pay ridiculously high prices for real estate, gas, property tax, food, dry cleaning, child care and every other g.d. thing to live in California and I've decided the extra costs are just a Sunshine Surcharge and I'm willing to keep on paying it.

Have a wonderful week!