Sorry Virginia.............

Well, the other night Edward informed Kirk and I that Santa was not real. I wasn't really shocked by this but Kirk was actually (and surprisingly) a little bit upset by this revelation coming from our 5 1/2 yr old son. To top it off, Edward has informed that the tooth fairy and the Easter Bunny aren't real either. I guess no one can ever say that we warped his mind in the sense that we had him believing something was real, only to turn around when he was older and tell him we lied point blank to his face about it.
Now, please don't think that it was us who told him. We don't make a big deal out of Santa (we do have stockings and get pictures with Santa....LOL....I asked Edward about the Santa's we get pictures with and he just said it was some man in a costume working a job) or the Easter Bunny (we do have baskets and find eggs) but we have always made a point to make Jesus's birth the main focus of Christmas and Jesus's resurrection the main focus of Easter.
Kirk asked him where he had learned such a thing and Edward said in Sunday School. He said that some kids were talking about the fact that there was no Santa (this when we went to the other church and Pre-K through 5th grade were in Children's Church together. Edward said that the teacher confirmed this by saying that Jesus's Birth was the reason we celebrated Christmas.
I was kinda shocked by Kirk's initial reaction because we together had always agreed that Santa and the Easter Bunny were not to be made a big deal of. I think that it was just the point that Edward was so grown up about the whole thing that upset Kirk. I think it made Kirk see that Edward was growing up and not a baby anymore....maybe even a little analytical.

A Yellow Candle

Edward was in his first Christmas Pageant this past Sunday. He was a yellow candle on Jesus's Birthday Cake (they held up a candle that was cut out of posterboard in the color that represented which candle they were to be on the cake). He did very well, a lot better than he did a few weeks prior at the Co-op Choir Performance. He spoke his lines very clearly and smiled. He was so cute. All the kids did great. The Older 3's and Pre-K were hilarious....they were enamoured with the huge screens feeding the live videos of them preforming. One little girl kept jumping up and down, watching herself on the screen and another little boy kept taking off across the stage. Way to cute and funny.

It Was SO Easy Daddy!

Lets see where should I begin.......

Two Father's Days ago, I bought a Wii for Kirk (thought he and Edward would have fun with it plus I saw some of the things actually got you up and moving). We looked at the directions and didn't install it because we wanted to put it in the room with the projector and larger screen. We didn't see how in the world we were going to be able to install the eye bar thingy plus to be honest it looked complicated to set up.

Then we had builders come in after last Christmas and do a remodel/renovation/add-on to our house. Well during that time, Edward had gotten into the boxes for the Wii and we thought for sure that some of the pieces had gotten lost. After the builders were done, we moved all the boxes upstairs to the new theater/play room. There the Wii sat until yesterday evening.

Last night, Edward without saying a word to me went upstairs. I thought he was just playing. He gets the phone and calls his daddy on it. Says to Kirk "Daddy. I have the W-i-i all set up for us to play in my room (he has his own tv)." Kirk had just pulled into the driveway at that time Edward called him. Kirk comes in, says to me "Do you know he says he has the Wii set up in his bedroom?" I say "No! How could he? I thought we lost all the pieces plus we couldn't figure the thing out." Kirk goes upstairs to have a look at what Edward says he has done. Sure enough our 5 1/2 yr old has successfully installed the Wii and has it working. The only thing that he did wrong was he had the disc in backwards. Oiiieee, he is way to smart and ingenious for us. He and Daddy played it last night and boy did they have fun. This is something that we may never live down, after all we were ready to ditch it or sell it. I guess that goes to show Edward will get the job done and work towards what he wants. That is a plus.

Gobble Gobble

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! I hope that today was a beautiful and blessed day for you and yours. We (Kirk, Edward and I) had a traditional Thanksgiving meal....well, pretty much traditional. We fry our turkey instead of cook it in the oven. YUMMY!!! It is a great time saver too. Took about 1 hr and 15 minutes to cook a 20lb bird. I made cranberry sauce for the time. It was yummy. Don't think I will ever go back to canned again. I also mad a Sweet Potato Casserole this year instead of the Sweet Potatoes we usually make. Of course we had pie for dessert. It was basically a nice simple meal. I can't wait until tomorrow when we get to have left overs in the form of sandwiches. We do miss sharing the holiday with our family though, that is the down side to living so far from home...can't just hop in the car and drive to grandma's for the extended weekend. All in all it was a great day.

Gratitude

I just wanted to post what I am thankful for (in no particular order):

1. God has blessed me during this season of my life with wonderful friends, that mean more to me than words will ever be able to express properly. They are older women (Titus 2 type Women) who have been there to help guide me through my first years of homeschooling, who encourage me and love me in spite of my faults (and trust me they are many). They see the "diamond" in the rough and know that it can one day be a thing of great beauty. God knew that I needed these type of women in my life and to me they are more precious than any gemstone. There are days I wonder where I would be without them.
2. I am grateful for my friends around my age also, ones are facing the same issues that I am. These gals also love me in spite of my faults, encourage me, and gripe me out when I need it. They too are my sisters that God has provided to me in this season of my life. Some I have known almost all my life and others just a few years, but still to me each is just as precious as the next.
3. I am grateful for my son, he is the light of my day. Homeschooling brings our relationship to a whole new level. We are together 24/7 and pretty much 365 days of the year. While we have our moments and our struggles, those could and will never out weigh the special moments of I Love Yous, Sticky Hugs, Wet Kisses, Quirky Stories, Rambunctious Games and Lazy Days. I dread the time when he will be grown and leaves the nest. Until then I will cherish each and every moment with him, even the rough ones....as they are all learning and growing experiences.
4. My Husband of almost 17 years. We have weathered some pretty stormy waters together, yet we still cleave to each other. I have been asked, how I managed to go through all that I did with Kirk when he lost his arm 4 years ago. I say it is love, devotion and taking my wedding vows seriously. I said for better and for worse and I meant it...plus God was there to help us each along that dark and storm path. Those days were some of the worst but we made. Trust me not every day is all roses, kisses and whatever you want darling. After all he is still him and I am still me, we are human and have our own faults, opinions and characters. We just strive to work it out when it gets rough.
5. I am also thankful for my extended family and their love for me, good health, that I have a roof over my head and healthy things to eat.

I challenge you to post what you are thankful for this Thanksgiving Day Week.

Call the Fire Department

Today is my 36th Birthday....hard to believe that 20 years ago, I was celebrating my sweet 16 on this same day. Where has the time gone? Anyway, I digress....Today Kirk wanted us to come to his work as they were having a lunch (I cooked about 4 chickens for the thing...2 whole chickens and then various pieces in homemade BBQ sauce). This morning he told me he would have a birthday cake for me. I told him that was okay but I would rather not. Well he did it anyway, claiming it was for Edwards benefit. I get there and he has a beautiful 1/4 sheet cake with red roses on it. It says Happy 21st Birthday again on it. However my darling husband, decides to be the funny man and buys 3 boxes of 24 count birthday candles. He puts all 72 on them (he says this way no one will know my true age unless they knew to divide 72 by 2). Yep, I know know what a blazing cake looks like. When he started to light the candles they were so close to each other some actually were lighting others. He has them all along the left side of the cake and in the right hand corner, so they were stuffed together on the cake. I asked poor Edwards to blow them out for me because poor mommy was afraid she would have an asthma attack doing so. There was so much smoke afterwards that you almost need an oxygen mask to breath. Bless his heart, guess that is why I love him so much. It is just his way of being sweet.

We Are The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything

Here are the pictures from Vacation Bible School back in July of this year. The theme was Pirates. Edward had a blast. It was his first time to attend VBS, he gave his heart to the Lord during an alter call at VBS. Doesn't he make a cute Pirate?

Fall

In Science Class, we have been learning about plants, trees, leaves, seeds and so forth. Today as a part of our science lesson, we played in the leaves out front of our house. Then we took a nature walk; collecting leaves, doing bark rubbings and talking about the differences in the leaves and that some still have chlorophyll, while others have already lost all their chlorophyll thus turning them, their beautiful reds, yellows, oranges, rust, purples and browns. We are very lucky that we live on a street that has so many different deciduous trees. When we got home with our leaves, we sent them through our lamenator, to preserve them for further study.

Plays and Concerts

We went to church this morning. They announced that the children would be doing a Christmas Play this year. We signed Edward up to participate. His part wont be a huge one but he will still get to be in his first play. I can't wait. I will let you know how it goes. I hope that the play wont be until Nana is here, she is coming for Christmas this year. This will be her first Christmas with Edward. He is looking forward to sharing Christmas with her. Last year was his first Christmas to share with a Grandma. Grandma Bev came and he loved that. Now it's Nanas turn. It is so hard being so far away from family, especially during the holidays. So much we want to share with them.

He will also be having his first Choir Concert on the 22nd of November. He participates in Choir classes through our homeschool co-op.

Of course Mommy will be there, at both with her video recorder. :0)

Going the Extra Mile

Friday night we heard Edward in the kitchen, running the washing and what sounded like he was doing the dishes. We asked him what he was doing. He came out of the kitchen in his little footie pajamas, with his sleeves pushed up to his elbows...hands dripping wet. He smiled and came over to me, took my face in his hands and said "Mama, I am going the Extra Mile like the Elephant." This past month we have been learning about Obedience and there was a story about an Elephant who was obedient and had gone the extra mile. Amazing how much he absorbs. Once again, God reminding me that he is a little sponge soaking everything around him up (yep good and bad things). He then proceed to tell us that he was doing the dishes and was stacking them on the counter for us to load into the dishwasher later on.

Future Republican

Today Edward and I (with some members of our homeschool co-op) went to a Republican sign holding. We stood on the corner in our town for almost an hour and held signs for the Republican party. Edward will be going with me to the polls on Tuesday to vote and we might even go to another Republican sign hold that day.

Moses

Edward went to Awana's dressed as one of his favorite Bible Characters for Favorite Bible Characters Night.

No Soccer This Fall

I really need to find a good place for soccer. Maybe I am wrong but I don't think that 5 yr & 6 yr old children should be practicing soccer at 7pm until 7:30 or 8pm. Edwards bedtime is 9pm and I don't think he should be doing an activity that winds him up right before bedtime. This is another activity offered through our rec center. Parents are the coaches, we didn't recieve a call about the first practice until 3 days before it. She could even give me at that time set days for weekly practices. With our schedule we need set days and preferably earlier times. So we just ended up dropping soccer altogether this time and will be asking around about Soccer Programs. Edward will of course be taking the British Soccer Challenge again this summer. That is through the rec center but I must say it is the best program I have ever participated in through them.

Our Trip to Las Vegas

Edward holding the Limousine Sign from the Airport

Us infront of the Las Vegas Sign

Edward having a Coney Island Dog at the New York, New York (he ate almost all of it)

Edward and Kirk at the Luxor (for those who do not know this, Kirk is sort of a Egypt buff)

Edward at the Luxor

More Pictures From Our Trip To Las Vegas

Edward with one of the M&M Guys at M&M World

Edward with the Coca~Cola Bear at Coca~Cola World

Kirk and Edward with the Wax Replicas of the Blue Man Group (we saw them in concert)

A Living Statue at the Venetian

Gondola Ride at the Venetian

It Might Be Hit and Miss

Edward will be starting school next Tuesday, we have a full fall ahead of us with 8 weeks of Tap Dancing Lessons, Homeschool Bowling League, 15 weeks of Kindermusik Class (this is 1 of 2 semesters that he will be taking this school year...next year will be his last year and then it will be some sort of musical instrument lessons...these classes will help him to make a very educated decision as to what instrument interests him the most), Homeschool Co-op Classes (2 of which I am teaching), Church, 6 weeks of Soccer and not to mention school lessons. With all these activities, my computer time is going to be very limited. I will try my best to keep up with everyone but Edward, his education and social activities take place over computer time. He will be my soul focus for the next 43 weeks. Of course I will be posting here as much as I can about Edward activities, homeschooling adventures, and life in general to keep you all up to date the best I can.
We are also off this weekend for one last mini family vacation. Have a beautiful Labor day Weekend with your family and loved ones.

Edward's Newest Endeavors

Today was a big day for Edward, he got his first official Library Card. We will be going to our local Library once a week, so that he can learn how the library system works and how to utilize it. He is so excited that he has his very own Library Card.

Edward's newest interest is Tap Dancing. We watched Singin In The Rain a few nights ago and he loved the tap dancing portions. Kirk asked him if he wanted to take Tap Dancing Classes, at first he said no but he has agreed to give it a try. We found a beginner class that is 8 weeks long (once a week) at our local Recreational Center. We figure this will be a great way for him to see if it is something he truly is interested in.

Also, he will be playing soccer for the first time this fall. He took a soccer camp this summer and loved it. He has been begging ever since then to play soccer on a team. We found a team for 5 yr olds/Kindergarteners, also through our Recreational Center. There are 6 games, this means it should be 6 weeks long weather permitting. Of course there will also be practices. This is where we could get into trouble and may have to drop this idea all together, as we have a pretty full week with Kindermusik and Bowling League, in addition to Tap Classes. Will keep you posted and of course there will be pictures of Edward tap dancing.

Another Thompson Family Update

I just noticed that it has been 15 days since I have blogged....like others I use my blog to communicate with family and friends who live a great distance from us and are unable to share in our daily lives. I also use it as a way to keep record of our lives. I plan to print out my entries and make keep them for Edward to share with his children and their children.

We have been very busy this month preparing for the upcoming school year. Edward will be starting Kindergarten in just a few more weeks. Public School officially started here (also in OK and TX) last Thursday. I think that it is just to hot out and still to summery for kids to be cooped up in a class room. We will start our school year the day after Labor Day. Edward is looking forward to school. We will be using Sonlight this year for our curriculum, along with Horizon's Health (K), Math-U-See (primer), Character First (series 1), and A Reason For Handwriting (K). We will also be learning some Spanish this year using Teach Me Spanish CD. Next semester we will be learning some French using the same series. Then I plan for him to learn Hebrew the first semester of 1st grade. We aren't learning to write any of these languages yet, just what they sound like in familiar childrens songs. When Edward gets to 3rd Grade we will use the Rosetta Stone Homeschool Series to learn these languages more in depth. We will also be working on America Sign Langauge this year too. We are also going to be using Tatras to an extent to learn to read, this is also known as Vertical Phonics. I have heard good things about this. Thank you Renee for showing me this program...you are always so kind to share.

Edward starts Kindermusik Young Child 1 tomorrow. He starts Homeschool Bowling League on the 4th of Sept (he rocked during summer league...he bowled a high game scratch of 105, a high series of 196 and his game average was 81...he was 2nd highest in game average and in high series, would have been in high game scratch if he would have just bowled a 107 or better game. Not bad if you ask me). This will be our last year for summer bowling league. Next summer he and I will go bowling once a week together. He will be moving up that fall to the Batnam's League which is sanctioned and doesn't allow bumpers. We will be working during the summer to get use to bowling without bumpers, with out the distractions or pressure of being on a league. Plus there were somethings that I saw during summer league that I just don't want Edward to be around or see. I think a break will do us good and we will see about doing a summer league in 2010.

Our Homeschool Co-op starts on Sept 5th. I will be teaching 2 classes this semester. A Arts and Crafts Class for Pre-K to 2nd grade and an A to Z Animal Science Class (this is a curriculum that is through our local zoo) for K to 2nd grade. My Arts and Craft class is only 6 weeks long. The A to Z Animal Science Class is actually 2 semesters long, so I will teach that class all school year long. I am looking forward to it.

I just have to share what we are having for dinner tonight....stuffed head of tenderloin (as seen on one of Edward's Favorite Food Network Shows; Good Eats), this is stuffed with crumbled blue cheese....Kirk's mouth has been watering ever since he saw the show so I thought I would fix it for him. We will also be having Parsley and Chive Mashed Potatoes, Broccoliflower and Purple Cauliflower (we haven't had either of these so I thought they would be fun to try), butter and egg dinner rolls, and for desert petite strawberry shortcakes. Is your mouth watering yet? I will have to let you know how this dinner turns out. One night I also plan to make Swedish Potato Balls (Kroppkakor) for Kirk. His mom's parents use to make them when she was a kid and he remembers eating them when he would go to visit them. He has been talking about them. I also have Swedish on my side of the family, I think it would be great for Edward to taste some Swedish style foods. There a Swedish Community here in Kansas (Lindsborg....aka Little Sweden) that has a Swedish Festival (Svensk Hyllningsfest) once a year, I am hoping we will be able to go in either 2009 or 2011 (it's only done every uneven year). It is in Mid-October.

It is different with Sebastian gone, we all miss him so much. Thank you all for the well wishes and condolences. It has taken some getting use too. So far Bear and Storm seem to be dealing with it well.

We are off here over Labor Day weekend for a mini family vacation in Nevada. Pray everyone comes home in one piece and no one tries to amputate any of their body parts.

We wanted to wish Happy Birthday to Jim, Mom T (Kirk's Mom), Oma Du (my Grandma), Paige (our beautiful neice), and Charlene, who all have birthdays in August. Also Happy Anniversary to my brother and his wife.

For those praying for us, please remember that Kirk goes at the end of next month to see the Urologist. Will keep you posted.

In Loving Memory

Today was a very sad day in the Thompson Household. We had our almost 12 yr old Beagle, Sebastian, put to sleep this morning at the vets. The house is a little quieter, a little lonelier, just different. I guess it will feel that way for a little while. Kirk isn't dealing well with this, as Sebastian was his dog (mainly). Kirk is already talking about getting another dog. I said I don't want to right now. I have reasons, for 1 I don't want Edward to think that loved ones are replaceable and that you can't have time to mourn someone before someone new comes into your life. I want to give everyone (including Bear and Storm) time to adjust to the fact that Sebastian isn't here with us anymore.

Edwards Big Night

This week was VBS....the theme was Pirates. Edward has been enjoying himself. Tonight there was an alter call for anyone who wanted to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Edward raised his hand and went up. He was the first child to go up. He prayed that Jesus would come into his heart and be his Lord and Savior. PTL! Yes, I had tears in my eyes. I know that Edward knew what this meant because he stated afterwards that this meant he would get to go to heaven and not to the bad place where Satan was. After Edward was done, it was like a flood gate was opened and about 10 more kids followed suit and got saved.

4th of July

This 4th of July, we went to a picnic at church. We had fun.

Swimming Lessons

This year Edward took swimming lessons again. This year was one step of where he was last year (this year he was a Goldfish). He did awesome. He will take this class again at the beginning of August. He has improved so much over last year. Even would jump into the water or go under water.

British Soccer Challenge Camp

In June Edward participated in a British Soccer Challenge Camp, he loved it. It was his first time to play soccer. His coach said that he was good on the defense. He had a great time making new friends. He says he wants to play soccer again. He seemened to enjoy it alot more than he did playing Blast Ball.

Let Me Count the Ways...........

Myspace Comments @ DazzleJunction.com


I thought it would be fun to share a dozen ways that I love summer and then hear yours:

1. The Smell of Hawaiian Tropic Sun Tan Lotion

2. The taste of Sun Tea

3. The sound of children splashing in a pool

4. The Feel of Running through a sprinkler

5. The sound of the Ice Cream Man coming down the street

6. The look on my sons face when he's eating a chocolate dipped cone

7. The fun of an inpromptu water balloon fight with my husband and son

8. The freedom to have old fashion fun summer seems to give to children of all ages

9. The smell of fresh cut lawns

10. The taste of so many lovely fruits combined together in a summer fruit salad

11. The smell of bar b ques cooking all over the neighborhood

12. The feel of floating down a lazy river

Our Parents Rights are in Jeopardy.

I found this on another persons CafeMom webpage but I feel it is exteremly important to get post it here, especially since Barak Obama is a huge supporter of the CRC. We need to put our foot down and stop this before we have NO SAY in how our children are raised. I personally have read the preamble and the 54 Articles that accompany it. Here is a link to the preamble and its 54 articles under this act : http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/k2crc.htm When reading it some of it sounds great and I would support certain parts of it but not the CRC as a whole. It has to many loop holes that allows the government the right to come into your home and tell you how to raise your children, giving the child the right to say how they should be raised and allowing them the right to basically tell you to drop dead, they don't have to do as you say. We need to be praying and praying hard that this act is never put into place in our country. We need to take action as parents to insure that it wont happen. Please do what you have to, to insure that our rights as parents are not taken away from us.

From http://www.parentalrights.org/
October 15, 2007

WITHOUT OUR CONSENT: The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
In 1995, President Clinton signed the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), an international treaty which requires that all decisions regarding children - whether made by the government, the community, or the parents - should be decided based on the "best interests of the child." According to Geraldine van Bueren, a principal drafter of the CRC, "best interests provides decision and policy makers with the authority to substitute their own decisions for either the child's or the parents."
Under the CRC, parental involvement essentially assumes secondary importance because the CRC places the primary responsibility on the state to ensure and protect the rights of children. Parents lose their ability to make decisions for their children, and surrender that authority to the government.

"THE SUPREME LAW OF THE LAND"
Under Article VI of the Constitution, treaties that have been ratified by the U.S. Senate become the "supreme law of the land." State laws and federal statutes are both subservient to a ratified treaty. The only law that can supersede a treaty is the Constitution itself, and the rights it explicitly grants to its citizens.
Thankfully, the United States has not ratified the CRC because no President has ever sent the CRC to the Senate for approval. But even if the CRC is never explicitly ratified, America could still be subjected to its provisions, under the anti-democracratic legal doctrine of customary international law.

WHAT IS CUSTOMARY INTERNATIONAL LAW?
Customary international law is comprised of the customs and norms that have been generally accepted by the world society. Customary international law creeps into American society as an unwritten law and is compiled every year by a committee of international jurists and law professors who meet together to survey what they consider to be the significant trends in international law. Unlike treaties, which are drafted, signed, and ratified by sovereign nation-states, international law is simply imposed by judges.

IS THE CRC PART OF CUSTOMARY INTERNATIONAL LAW?
There is mounting evidence that the CRC is being co-opted into customary international law. Two international tribunals - the European Court of Human Rights and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights - have both used the CRC to interpret other international treaties, and to define the responsibilities that the state has toward children. In its 2005 decision of Roper v. Simmons, the U.S. Supreme Court stopped short of declaring that the CRC had become customary international law, but it did cite the CRC as evidence that the United States now "stands alone" in its support of the juvenile death penalty.
If the CRC is co-opted into customary international law, the results will be severe. The CRC's emphasis on the best interests of the child allows the government to invade the private sphere of the home in ways that American law has never allowed. For example, the CRC empowers the government to:
Ensure that every child has the right to make their own decisions about religion and to decide who they associate with - even over the objections of their parents.
Require all teachers - whether public officials or private individuals - to teach certain "core" principles in their classrooms, including a love for diversity, adherence to the principles of the United Nations, and respect for the environment.
Collect private information - including medical records - and place it into a government database, to ensure that the CRC's requirements are met.
Remove a child from his or her home if the government deems that the parents are not making decisions based on the child's "best interests" or "evolving capacities."

MAKING OUR VOICES HEARD
Once ratified - or co-opted into customary international law - the CRC will become part of the "supreme law of the land," even though its provisions have been crafted and defined by the United Nations and foreign judges, not by our duly-elected Congress and President. The only way to prevent international law from injecting the state into the family is by amending the U.S. Constitution to guarantee that parents - not government officials - have the right to guide and direct the upbringing of their children.
Together, we can shield our children from the threat of international law. Join with us by encouraging your friends to get involved in the battle to protect parental rights. Forward this email to your friends, and encourage them to join the campaign today and sign the petition at http://www.parentalrights.org/pages/public/petition.aspx?071015.
SOURCES
Geraldine van Bueren, International Law on the Rights of the Child (1998)
UN Convention the Rights of the Childwww.ohchr.org/english/law/pdf/crc.pdf

Get Your Pink On!!

Okay Girls & Guys;
June 23rd (always this day every year) is National Pink Day! Get out there and wear some pink. National Pink Day, a day where everything should be basking in pink splendor! It's easy to enjoy and to participate in National Pink Day. Bring your pink elephant out of hiding. Wear pink, and show off everything you have that's pink, from clothing and shoes to other possessions. Be creative. Use food coloring to make pink meals. Pink frosting on a cake or cookies will be a big hit today. There is no known creator, or the origin of this day. There is no known documentation confirming this to be a "National" day.....but since I love pink and you can find National Pink Day by doing a search on the WWW .... I am running with it as far as I can take it.
I LOVE PINK!!

National Childrens Day!

Did you know that today was National Childrens Day? NCD is the 2nd Sunday of June. During this time you are asked to make a commitment to your child(ren) or the child(ren) in your live. An example of that commitment is: As a parent/guardian, I will commit myself, in the coming year, to love, cherish, nurture(physical, mental, emotional, & spiritual needs), and affirm...
And No Kids this doesn't mean that there are presents involved except those that your parents have for you on their commitment cards. To me those are the best presents of all that a parent or someone that loves you can give to you.

Watch Out Edward is at the Wheel

Thought that you would enjoy this picture of Edward behind the wheel of a Go Kart. This if the first time that he has ever driven on by himself. He usually rides double with Kirk or I. He was so excited about this adventure. BTW, this was at Kirk's Works Company Picnic Yesterday.

Hold Your Children A Little Tighter

Please cherish every moment the Lord give you with your children because you never know when it might be your last. Yesterday morning I received a phone call from the head of our homeschool Co-op letting me know that one of my fellow homeschool moms passed away this morning. She was about my age (35) and had 3 beautiful children (a 12 yr old, a 8 yr old and a 4 yr old (approximate ages of the children)). Her name was Desiree also. There was no know reason for her passing this morning. I don't know when we will know. All I can do right now is think about those 3 beautiful children and the fact that they will never have their mommy tuck them, kiss them, laugh with them, cry with them, hold them when they hurt or rejoice with them when they accomplish something. Please keep her husband, their children and the extend family in your prayers at this time. Please hug your children and let go of the small stuff. Time is just to short.

************** UPDATE ***************added June 11, 2008******************
Desiree had been having some issues with fainting and her heart, they aren't sure if this is what took her life. I haven't heard about the results of the autopsy yet. A correction about her age she was 32 (born on Dec 1975...). When I was reading her obituary in the paper, I found it odd that not only did we both share the same first name, but our grandmas did too (Sylvia). She will be greatly missed. Please continue to keep her family in your prayers as they are facing some huge adjustments in their family right now.

Just Attended My First Homeschool Convention

Wooooo whoooo!! I went to my first homeschool convention this past weekend. I was unable to attend any of the workshops but that is okay because I was able to buy them on CD to listen to at my convenience. I can not wait to get started on that...I have 21 of them to listen 2 plus to others that I bought at a speakers booth on some subjects not covered at the convention. I was able to see so many products and pick the things that look right for us to use this year. Edward is now officially signed up to use the Sonlight K curriculum. Just purchased it. We are also going to be using Math U See (Edward is already begging to start this and I think we will), Character First, A Reason for Handwriting and A Reason for Spelling. I bought the newcomer on the Sonlight so the items I don't intend to use, I will be selling next year at the used book fair that our co-op puts on. I just had to share. Next year I plan to go both days and attend the workshops, Edward will be old enough to attend Adventures In Character that they have for 6 to 12 yr olds at the convention.
A Side note, Edward just started up his Summer Bowling League today. He is doing awesome. He got a 69 and a 74 today, that included 1 spare and a couple of very close other ones.

No Bump My Bumper Car

Instead of opting to stay home this past Memorial Day Weekend, at the last minute we opted to take Edward to Kansas City, MO to go to Worlds of Fun and Oceans of Fun. We had a blast. We are so glad that we decided to go somewhere after all then staying home all weekend. Trust me there were things around the house we could have gotten done but we needed a little time away as a family too. Edward has a blast. He rode lots of rides and we played for hours in the water park (Oceans of Fun). He loved riding on the Go Karts with Daddy and the kiddy bumper cars. He absolutely was funny on the bumper cars, He was a very cautious driver and didn't like having other "bump" into him. He would actually "chew" them out for bumping into his car. All he wanted to do was "drive" not "bump" the car. Needless to say we all got a little to much sun this weekend and I am the one paying the most for it. Yes, I took sunblock I just forgot the first day when I changed into my swimming suit to put reapply the block the the areas covered by my t-shirt when I orginally applied it. Trust me, I remembered the 2nd day. Well now we are back home and ready for a unusually busy week with 2 doctors appointments for me, a homeschool seminar and convention. I think that they only day I don't have something going on personally is Friday. Next week Edward starts back to bowling for the summer.

5 yr well child check up

Edward had his 5 yr old well child check up today. He weighed in at 43lbs (in the 63rd percentile for weight) and 43 1/2 inches tall (in the 61st percentile for height). His hearing is great. He was able to complete all the tasks that were asked of him, even a few with a little comedy added on his part. They told him to look at a eye chart and he was closing his eyes to think of the shapes instead of looking at them. Then when told to cover one of his eyes, he covered both while squeezing his eyes shut. The worst part of this was the 4 shots he had to receive at the end of the visit. Good news is that these were the last of his immunizations and he will not require any others until his tetanus shot at 10 or 11 yrs old. He was happy to hear that.

Caught In The Cookie "Jar"

I had to make cookies today for the Homeschool Co-op Graduation on Saturday. I had about 2 1/2 dozen cookies cooling and on plates ready to be packaged. I had ran upstairs to get some information off the computer. I come back downstairs, and find an entire plate of a dozen cookies missing. No Edward in sight. I call for him, no answer. I call outside for him and no answer. Then I see him walking from behind the garage, headed towards the neighbors house. I tell him to come back into the house. He makes his way very slowly back towards me, I see that in his hand are about 3 cookies. I ask him where the rest are. He refuses to answer. Kirk is on the phone with me. He asks to talk to Edward. He is telling Edward to tell me that they (the cookies) just jumped into his tummy and disappeared. Edward is say no daddy that is lying. However when asked again he still denies that he ate them when there are clearly some missing (about 3 in all total...he had laid the rest of the cookies back on the empty cooling racks). Finally he fesses up that he ate them. Crazy kid. He was upset, I told him that that was okay all I wanted to know was what happened to the cookies...then I reminded him that mommy had told him to ask before he took anymore because she needed so many of them to take in the morning.

Please Pray For the Chapman Family

If you are not aware of this, on Wednesday 21, 2008 while in the driveway of her parents home, 5 yr old Maria Chapman was ran over with a vechile. She died at the hospital from her injuries. Maria was the youngest of the 6 Chapman children. She and the 2 other youngest girls were adopted from China by the Chapman family. Please pray for this family during this difficult time. Reports are that it was a older sibling who accidentally struck Maria with the vechile, please pray for this young person. They are in the greatest need of our prayers as this will effect their entire life. Maria just turned 5, 10 days ago. This little girl will be deeply missed by her parents and siblings. Pray for healing over this family and God's guidance during these difficult days ahead. You can find out more by going to www.stevencurtischapman.com, there you will find places to donate in lue of flowers and a message board link where you can leave a personal condolence message for the family.

Feeding Giraffes

In case you don't know Giraffes are Edwards most favorite animal of all. He absolutely loves them and has for a couple of years now. Not sure why he does, guess one day I will have to ask him that. Anyway we had his birthday party at the zoo this year but were unable to tour the zoo personally after his party was over. We had friend up from out of town and wanted to show off our remodel. Edward lucked out because I decided I would take him back in a few weeks. Well I took him today and went you know it by the time we got to the Giraffes it was when you could pay a dollar to feed them. I so wanted to do this as part of his party but was unable to get it lined up. So today we got to feed the giraffes and what an experience that was. Edward says it was yucky because they liked him and got his hand all slobbery. But I could tell that he loved personally being able to get so close to his favorite animal of all time.

Urgent Prayers Need for a Toddler

There is a toddler in our church (under 2 yrs of age) that is the in the hospital for Type I Diabetes. His parents (Denny and Shanna) took him to the doctors and found out he was Diabetic, if they had not taken him, he would be in diabetic coma. His blood sugar levels were over 660, over 6 times what it should be for a child that age. Please keep this little one in your prayers and his family too. I will keep you posted as I found out news.

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UPDATE: The little boy might have been able to go home yesterday. This family is in urgent need of your prayers. They have 4 other children, they are concerned about insurance costs. He will have to receive insulin via shots, the mom is concerned about the caregiver of the little boy as she is afraid of needles. Please pray that God give her the peace to be able to do this for the little boy and that the insurance costs aren't to overwhelming. I will keep you updated as I find out more.

Why Is It????

Why is it that as soon as people hear the words "We Homeschool", they look at you like you are an alien from outer space? They instantaneously judge you and think you are a weirdo for wanting to homeschool. I hear comments all the time like "He wont be socialized", "What about College?", "Won't he miss out on the "normal" things", "How will he make friends his age", "Why don't you cut the apron strings and let him go to real life school?" and so many more. Yes, he is socialized probably far better than most kids his age. He is able to interact with people of all ages, not just children his age. Yes, he can and will go to college. Homeschool Children get High School Credits and Diploma's just like those who attend public and private schools. And guess what, they get to have a real graduation too. "Normal" things, not quite sure what is meant by this statement but if it means do I want my son going to school every day having his back pack checked and sent through a metal detector just to get into the school building...then NO I don't want him to go through those "Normal" things. If by "Normal" things, they mean introduced to drugs, bullies and peer pressure by 4 yrs old, then NO I don't want those "Normal" things for him either. If "Normal" things means having lables slapped on him by adults who are suppose to their to guide them through the most important time of their life, then NO I don't want that for him either. Now please don't get me wrong, not all public and private schools are bad, there are great ones out there ( I do feel that the public school system as a whole though is in great need of a major over haul). Not saying that there aren't any locally either, just saying that I choose to educate my son at home....where he isn't just learning Reading, Writing and Arithmetic, he is learning about God (no I don't believe that it is the churches place either to be responsible to "educate" my son in Christianity....where in the Bible does that say that....it is us, as their parents, responsibility souly to do that....church is a corner stone in that foundation of Christianity that you are helping your child build), Family Foundations, Good Ethics, A adventurous love for learning, Freedom to learn what they want and how they want, Freedom to learn they way they want (and if necessary, in a way that is souly individualized for them and their learning style), and most of all being Loved and Guided by a adult who truly loves and cares for them and their what their future will hold for them. As for making friends his own age, he has plenty of them through Homeschool Co-op, Kindermusik, Bowling League, Monart, Church and various other activities we do with him. It's not like we have him locked up in the house 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Yes, I am well aware of the fact that some homeschool families are very strict about interaction and so forth. But do not judge me and the fact that I choose to homeschool, based on them. Just like I don't children who are public or privately schooled, to be hellions, rebels, wild uncontrollable children. I know some great children who are in public school as I speak. I love them for who they are not how they are educated. We have just educated ourselves, looked at all the options, prayed about where and what God had in store for us in the means of Education and went where He led us. I live in a country where this is a FREEDOM, it is My CHOICE not that of those around me. This is a FREEDOM I am grateful for each and every day. I do not take this FREEDOM light and neither does any of the homeschooling families I personally know. Each of us have chosen to homeschool because that is what God has called us to do for our children and our families. As for "cutting the apron strings" I think I just answered that question. My son, is not going to be any less of a man when he grows up because he was homeschooled by his Mom, I pray that homeschooling him will make him that much better of a Man and a stronger Christian.

My Baby's 5 today!

Well it is official, Edward is 5 yrs old. I want to cry. The time just seems to be flying by. Of course the last 48 hours, I have been going through my typical where I was and what was happening at the time of his birth mode that I do every year. He had a wonderful birthday party this past Saturday at the zoo with his friend (my laptop is down so pictures might take a while to follow). Today his Grandma (who is here from WA state to share his birthday week with him), his daddy, myself and Edward will be having an all day party to celebrate him. God truly blessed us with a miracle when he blessed us with Edward. I am ever so thankful that even with my PCOS that I was able to experience giving birth and that the product of that was my son, my blessing, my miracle, my gift from God. He was well worth the wait we had to endure. God knew the perfect time to send him to us, we love him so much and are able to enjoy him. THANK YOU GOD FOR EDWARD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Chef Edward

I got this cute little Personalized (it says Chef Edward) Chefs Jacket and hat online for Edward. He loves to help me cook and we watch cooking shows together all the time, so I thought it would be cute if he had his own Chefs Jacket and hat. We just got it today, so I wanted to take a picture before he got busy really cooking in it. Yes, this picture was taken in our new kitchen.

Rayon Blankets

This is just a little warning. I bought a beautiful rayon throw blanket for our guest room, due to all the dust from the construction I had to wash it. Well low and be hold, washing it in the machine caused it to leave little "duck" feathery things all over the rest of the bedding in the machine. Then when I put it in the dryer it over filled the lint trap about 6 times in the time it was in the dryer. I finally had to take it out and let it finish drying on it's own. I made the mistake of not reading the tag and treating it like any other blanket. It should have been washed on the hand wash cycle and then laid flat to dry (yeah who in the world does that with a blanket).

One Week Later...

Well it has been a week now since the house has officially become construction worker free. We have been busting butt to get things back into order around here, and I must say that it is coming along nicely....however slower that I would like. A dear friend from Church came on Saturday and helped for a good part of the day....bless her heart. It was very helpful and nice having the extra set of hands. Things defiantly will not be prefect for my mother in laws visit however I will not have to worry about her trying to squeeze down the stairs or tripping and falling on a box. Plus we will have somewhere to sit, that is a huge plus right now, and she now has a room to sleep in where she wont have to climb over boxes to get to the bed. I have been working on the living room all afternoon (since we got home from Kindermusik....could have gotten in 3 more hours on it, if it wasn't for that....but I LOVE Kindermusik class and so does Edward so it was worth the detour in the cleaning). Tomorrow is all the houses, as is Thrusday. I was able to put off the maids until Friday afternoon. Which is a huge plus. Trust me, we need them to get rid of this dust. I had Kirk take Edward to the park for a little while, poor thing has been cooped up in the house all day and is very restless. Edward and I were both so exhausted last night that we were in bed by 8:30pm and still slept until 9am. Granted I didn't sleep that well all night long...haven't been able to do that for some time now. My plan of attack is to get the frontroom, dining room (which is 75% less homeschool stuff now...moved most of it into what was left of the old kitchen....still need to get a good deal of it put away), and the kitchen all in order by Friday when the maids come. Edwards Bedroom, our Bedroom and new Theater/Playroom can wait until after grandma leaves. Will have to have the maids back again once the house is completely back together that is okay, want to get rid of all this yucky blucky dust. Well, the front room is calling my name, better get back to working on it. I promise after my Mother In Law comes there will be pictures of the finished areas....just dont want to ruin the suprise since she will be the first family member to see what we have done.

Time to get down and dirty

Well the construction is pretty much over with. Everyone is gone and it just back to me & Edward. I have been BUSY unpacking and finding places for everything in the kitchen and new playroom/theater room. I can say that the new bathroom is pretty much put together. I just have to cartons to unload for the bathroom and it is completed. I have all the cartons for the kitchen unloaded now too (just finished that a few minutes ago....felt I deserved a break). Still have things though in the kitchen to clean and put away. I still wish we would have rented one of those Pods, trust me, we will the next time we do any major construction. A friend from church is coming over tomorrow to help me out a little. That will be nice, at least I will have someone to chat with. I think we will conquer the school room and dining room, since most of the school stuff can now be moved into what is left of the old kitchen. Saturday the same little gal (a daughter of one of Kirk's co workers ) will be coming to help me. I am hoping that we will be able to finish up the playroom/theater room and Edward's bedroom. I am getting that. I have to have the whole house put back together by a week from tomorrow as I have The Maids coming in to do the deep yucky dusty cleaning work since I can't do it because of my asthma and allergies (have already been kicking up enough of that junk as it is). Kirk has been under the weather all week. I need him to get back to normal so we can empty the guest room of all the boxes from the old craftroom that is now the new washroom and help me take them up to the attic for the time being. We hope to in a couple of years redo the basement and turn it into a large craftroom for me, but until then most of it has to go up in the attic (unless it is heat and cold weather sensitive, then I have to find someplace else that is safe to put it for the time being). I can not wait for this house to get back to normal, sometimes I look at it and think it is never going to be that way again. This week is also hectic with Edwards schedule...he had Kindermusik this morning, he has his Homeschool Bowling League Awards ceremony tomorrow afternoon and we have blastball practice in the evening, then we have co-op and Monart class on Friday. Somewhere in all of this I need to get things ready for his birthday part that is a week from Saturday. Oie Vey where in the world has the time been flying too? Well that is about it in a nutshell.

Not Dealing With Life Well Right Now...DEPRESSED BIG TIME

Lately I haven't been dealing with life issues very well. To much here at home going on with the remodel and renovation (feeling overwhelmed), Kirk's mom is coming for a week, Edward's 5th Birthday Party is less than 2 weeks away, and then yesterday when I got to church I noticed someone was pregnant (or at least looked like they were...trust me it isn't that I am not exstactic and over joyed from them, I am...I am being selfish and demanding God tell me why it isn't me). Lately I find myself being overly selfishness and distrusting God that He knew and was doing what was right for our family when my heart wants something else so badly. It is so hard sometimes, I know I have to trust and have faith in God, even if the answer is no or later. It just seems that later isn't the answer either given time lines, and to be truthful it breaks my heart to think of Edward being an only child...I know one day (if the Lord doesn't come first) that Kirk and I will leave this earth and Edward will be all alone on it (I know of course he will have God to lean on and care for him). I know that one day he will marry and have a family of his own but he wont have siblings to love and support him, to remember his growing up times with or his parents specialness. I also see him around littler children and I see how much of a great big brother he would be and it breaks my heart that I can't give him that. I hate having PCOS. It sucks so much but I know that there is a reason for everything and it is all in God's plans for us. I think partly a lot of this has to do with Edwards birthday, the fact that he is getting older and how much of an age difference there would be between him and another child now. I just need to be thankful and grateful that God has given me Edward and quit dwelling on what probably will never be. I feel by not trusting that it will happen in God's timing or accepting that He might have already given us the answer in the form of No, that I am not be faithful in him. Does that make sense? Well, at least I got a good cry out of confessing and write this entry. It is so hard, I feel sometimes as if I am all alone and no one understands (especially family).

New Pics of Edward and I

These pictures were taken at The Picture People when we were up in WA state last month. They even had us sign a release so they could use the pictures in their studio as examples. I particularly do not care for the jumping on. My favorite is the second one. However everyone just seems to get a big kick out of the jumping one.

Coaching? ME?

Here is one for you, if you know me you know will know why this is so ironic, I will be coaching Edward's Blastball team this year. Yep, me! They couldn't get anyone to take the position (a whopping 4 weeks plus one practice). So because I said I would be willing to do it in a pinch, I get to be the lucky one. For those of you who don't know what Blastball is. It is an introduction to T-ball. The children hit a ball off the tee, and run to 1st base only. There is no other bases to run and every child gets one turn up to bat. Once the whole team has had a turn at bat, then you switch with the team in the outfield. You play for 45 minutes then the game is over. No score is kept it is just a great way to help little ones get used to batting off of a tee, playing outfield, and running to bases. The bases they run to honks. It is cute. Edwards birthday happens to fall just right so he was able to play this year and last. Next year though it will be T-ball if he wants to continue with baseball. The reason this is ironic (me, coaching) for those who don't know me, is because I don't like sports. My son bowls and I like that, we roller skate, ride bikes and go for walks but I am not a sports person, they aren't even allowed on in my house. However that is me (and well, Kirk too....except for boxing) and not Edward. He is too young to know what he will like, so we are encouraging him to try all different types of sports out. He has taken Swimming lessons (will continue with those this summer), played Blastball (2nd year this year of that), is on a bowling league (since June of 2006 basically). He will be trying Soccer out this summer at a week long soccer camp for an hour and a half a day for 5 days. I want him to try Tennis, but that might have to wait until next year. I am not so sure about football or wrestling (those of course will be sports he will try in a few years maybe). Basketball I am still trying to find out when he can try that one. I also want him to try a few different types of dance classes like tap and jazz. I know Kirk would like for him to give boxing a try when he is older. The only thing we will not let him try is Martial Arts unless we can find a class in that with a Christian Approach to the philosophy. Basically I want to give him the opportunity to try things then make up his own mind as to what he wants to pursue. The only thing that might not be an option is bowling because that is a Physical Education Credit for him in Homeschool. I take this approach with him on other things too, like food....just because I don't like it doesn't mean he wont.

There is a Light At the End of the Tunnel! PTL!!!!

I have a huge PRAISE THE LORD!!!! We have a light at the end of the construction/renovation tunnel. We are only DAYS, yep...that is right I said DAYS away from no more construction workers being here and getting our house back in order. A good thing too, my MIL is coming for Edward's 5th Birthday in just a few weeks. I have a ton of organizing, cleaning, putting things away in their "new home". I also have The Maids scheduled to come at the end of the month to get things clean, deeply clean. Let me tell you I have never seen so much dust. I am paying a couple of gals from Kirks work to come and help me put things away in the new kitchen. I spent this afternoon working on Edward's bedroom. I will continue with it tomorrow. Then move on to another room hopefully in the afternoon. I really need to work on our guest room, because right now there is no place for my poor MIL to sleep, as the room is wall to wall boxes from moving them from the craft room (now the new laundry room) to the guest room. So much to do and time is running out. Well it's off to bed I go. Have a great night.

A truly sweet sound

Edward has recently been singing to the radio that we hear daily (we are avaid listeners of K-Love) and even singing songs that he has been learning in Sunday School. A few of his favorites are This Is The Day and Petra's We Need Jesus are just a few. Hearing him sing these songs are the sweetest sounds to my ears. Hearing his praise and worship to the Lord is breath taking and truly moving.

Changing

Well after much thought and prayer, I am going to be utilizing a new curriculum this coming year for Edward. I am leaning towards Sonlight. I am also interested in learning more about the Weaver Interlock curriculum. I like the Sonlight one and real feel God has laid this curriculum heavy on my heart but I still want to look at the Weaver one before I make a final decision. Iam going to my first homeschool conference on the weekend of May 30th. I need to have down what I want and need so I can get the good deals. I am so excited about attending this year even if it will just be for the shopping portion of the conference. I hope that next year I will be able to go to some of the workshops.

Kirk's New Car

This is Kirk's new Jaguar. I teasingly tell him, he should get a personalized license plate that says Midlife Crisis (as you may or may not know he just turned 40 in Feb).

Our Other Babies

This is Bear (AKA Bear-Bear). He is our youngest. He just turned 6 in February. He is so sweet, though granted he isn't the brightest light bulb in the box. He does even temperament and is a easy going , laid back sort of guy. He is great with Edward and warns Edward a trillion times that he is pushing him to far before he will put Edward in his place. Bear is part Chow Chow and Wheaten Terrier. He is the only one of our "babies" that we didn't rescue. His was a planned "birth" so to speak. He recently took the position of the alpha dog (or at least does when Storm will let him) in the group. We have had Bear for 6 years as of this month.
This is Storm (AKA: Stormie Girl, Lil Girl, Sister, Stormie Mae). She is our Middle "child" of the 3. Trust me she has all the middle child qualities too. She just turned 10 yrs old. We aren't exactly sure when her birth date is but we figure it is sometime in Jan. She was rescued by a little old lady (who already had a house full of pets) when she was found wandering out in the street. The lady tried to find her owners but they never came forth, so she placed an adoption add in the local paper. We wanted a companion for Sebastian after we had to put our cat to sleep, so we made an appointment to visit Storm. I must say that Storm adopted Kirk, we actually were just looking at her. We had not really decided if we were going to take her or not, when we left she cried and kept trying to get to Kirk. Of course we are huge suckers and took her. Actually she is our best dog of the 3, she has had 1 accident in the house (and that was just recently when she was locked in and couldn't get out after hours of holding it...this was just at the beginning of all our construction and renovation on our house....she tried to tell me she needed out to go but I thought she was trying to get out so she could make one of her infamous houdini disappearing tricks....so I told her to go lay down and be quiet....I know bad MOMMY!!!) the entire time we have had her. She pottied trained Bear pretty much. She is afraid of vacuum cleaners. She is an extremely healthy dog. She does have "issues" where she is very needy for attention pretty much non stop. She recently has become a lap dog. She is two different kind of terrier mixes. She is a smart dog. Kirk says she looks like a bat without wings and that she is so ugly she is cute. She pretty much has maintained her puppy looks except for the white that is now creeping in around her face. We have actually had construction workers during our renovation and remodel say they want to take her home with them. Of course Edward will have none of this. Storm is his buddy. I think he likes her best now because she is small and he can manipulate her better than he can Bear and he would never try those things with Sebastian because they have an understanding between them. Storm will have been with us for 10 yrs as of this coming August.
This is Sebastian (AKA: Seb, Old Man, Fat Boy (granted he has lost some weight and is looking a ton slimmer here lately....2 weeks at a kennel with no table scraps or little boys around will do that to you.....maybe that is what I need to do to loose some weight). Sebastian is our oldest. We believe his birthday is somewhere around December. He just turned 11 yrs old. He was another rescued dog. He has become pretty docile with old age. He has a touch of Arthritis and has slowed down tremendously. He was found wandering in an apartment complex parking lot. The people who found him posted adds all over the apartment complex and even in the newspaper trying to find his owners. No one claimed him. They brought him by Kirks Work (the husband worked with Kirk) to see if anyone wanted him. Let me tell you Kirk has always wanted a Basset Hound since I have known him. Kirk fell in love with Sebastian as soon as he saw him. Sebastian doesn't have the traditional brown eyes of a Beagle, he has these green eyes that just show his soul (so to speak). The first thing that people notice about him when they see him is those eyes of his. As far as we know and what the vets can tell is Sebastian is a pure bred Beagle, however mostly likely the runt of the litter (meaning he isn't show quality). Sebastian will have been with us 11 yrs come this July. We absolutely love him. We cherish each day with him as he has quite a few health problems over the years and scares us at times. We almost lost him when we had him Neutered (he doesn't clot), then he got some kind of immune disease where his body was attacking itself (kinda like Doggy Lupus) and we almost lost him then (PTL he has been healed, we didn't loose him and he doesn't seem to have that issue anymore...yep we had everyone we knew praying for our guy), he has severe ear issues and is almost completely deaf now, he is allergic to fleas and of course the arthritis that I mentioned earlier. We dread the day that we loose him to old age.

House Update

New Mini Bar Area (we don't drink but it will be nice to have an extra sink in the kitchen and one low enough for Edward to reach).
New Kitchen Office Area for Mommy's computer to link up so she can get awesome recipes to use from Foodnetwork and other sites.
Our new Natural Slate Bathroom Floor in the downstairs bathroom.
New stairwell to second floor so that in case of a fire Kirk has a safe way to exit the house.

Well here we are still in the middle of Construction and Renovations. They claim it will be done (mostly just very minor things to wrap up) with by tomorrow. I can tell you I am not holding my breath on that promise. It should have been done at the end of February. The upstairs addition is the only thing completely completed. As I said in my earlier (from yesterday) entry I have been busy putting it together. I can't wait until my house is extra person free and I can get busy. I always feel as if I am in their way, not that they are in mine....preventing me from getting done what I need to get done. I have some new pics to post. I will add them to the top of this post but please note they were taken before I left for Vacation in Mid March.