Are you going through withdrawal?

If you're going through withdrawal, and are wondering why I'm not posting on this blog very often, please feel free to take a look at a few of the things that are keeping me from posting:

I have spent weeks working on a webquest for 4th Grade Social Studies:

I have also been working on a formative assessment plan for a science unit:

There are other assignments I don't have links to, but I have been very busy with school and work as usual. Not to mention the other 'daily' life things I need to take care of! (dishes, laundry, feeding the kids, taking care of chickens and the dog, taking children to activities, trying to have some 'sane' time)

I hope to post some fun and entertaining blog content soon, but for now, this is what is keeping me busy!

Anderson at Blue Jay Point - the kids still get to do fun things, even when I'm super busy - thanks to some great friends who will take them on adventures for me!

Magic puffs slay the dragon!

I'm actually trying to stop feeling like a dragon-mom who is constantly breathing fire down my children's necks! Ok, so with a lead-in like that, who doesn't want to read this post? Right? In reality, this is a very serious topic if you're a parent (if not, you can go read another blog today). I've found that teaching my children to listen and be responsible while keeping my sanity is proving to be a hard thing to do. No kidding, right? I have struggled with this, as I'm sure all parents do (if you don't you're a lucky-duck of a parent), and I have found that I'm not happy with the way my kids are acting on a daily basis. I'm also not happy with the way my husband and I act towards them sometimes. I feel like I live with teenagers half of the time and toddlers the other half! (And not the responsible teen or the cuddly tot.)

By the way... my kids are nine and a half and five and a half. The struggle I have the most trouble with is getting the kids to follow directions (the first time!? - do any kids do this??? Really???)... that's my numero uno pet peeve. Numero dos is being a 'responsible citizen of the house'. Yes, another way to say that is doing chores, but I feel that doing chores is so much more than just getting things done and having a cleaner house. I feel that it creates habits and ingrains values while getting the house clean... it also helps kids have a love of good music.

Some background info: When I was a kid, my mom had two dishwashers... one named Emily, and one named Mary. We alternated weeks with that duty, and we also had other jobs around the house. When I was nine, Saturday or Sunday mornings were often spent sweeping the stairs/hallway and dusting the furniture (I love the smell of Endust!) to the soundtrack of James Taylor,Jim Croce,John Denver,The Beetles, or We are the World albums. We also had to vacuum, sweep the front walkway, rake leaves, or sweep the patio. I think the jobs just depended on my parents' mood or what needed to be done, there wasn't a 'chore chart' that I remember using to keep track of what we did. Mary and I did get allowances once we got old enough to want money to spend at McFalls (a drug store a little less than a mile from our house - we would ride bikes there), and I think that helped motivate us to get the job done.

I have tried doing that at my house, but so far nothing seems to work. I've had chore charts, motivational posters, sticker sheets for prizes, and just plain screaming, "You are a part of this house and NEED to help - I can't do everything myself!!!" (Not a good moment - Didn't really work long term, and only proved to raise my blood pressure.)

Since I was on winter break from my college classes at ECU recently, I thought I would peruse some 'mom blogs' and see if there were any cool ideas out there. Somehow (grace of God maybe?) I stumbled on a blog that hit the spot. Abby at A Feathered Nest had found a great idea of using puffy balls (1/2 inch colored puffs - craft store) to encourage her kids to do odd jobs around her place. I thought - Hmm... would that appeal to my kids' tastes? Couldn't hurt to try it... so I made my own chart and introduced the idea to the kids.

Taylor Anne thought it was awesome at first and couldn't wait to earn puffs for her jar - (she unloaded the dishwasher!). Anderson was a little lukewarm for a while, but then also got on board when I mentioned that he could earn money to spend at the Dollar Store or Target! The first few weeks, they didn't really earn many puffs. I honestly thought it might not work, but recently they have both found something they want to to buy, but it is something I don't want to spend money on. I tactfully reminded them they have the chance to earn money for a certain number of puffs, so they're off and running now! Tonight after school, Taylor Anne pulled weeds for 30 minutes, folded laundry, cleaned smudges off of the walls in the hallways, and took out the trash! Anderson helped her take out trash and clean the walls, then he 'recharged' the laundry on his own.

There's another interesting (and exciting!!!) thing I've figured out with this system. I can also use it as a discipline tool. As the kids can earn puffs by working, they can also lose puffs by talking back or disobeying. Right now it just takes a warning that they're about to lose a puff. The sassiness has cut in half at least! I'm not asking twice or three times or yelling near as much. "You keep that up, mister/miss, and I'm taking a puff!" is about all it takes. I think, "This is GREAT!!!" "But wait!", you're thinking, "How long do you think this will last?" Well, I really don't know if it will 'stick', but it has already lasted longer than the other methods I've used. I think they feel that they've worked hard to earn the puffs and they really don't want to lose them. (and I have taken some already - they are quick learners) So... now I don't feel like so much of a dragon (breathing fire all the time), and I'm getting some help around the house!

Christmas prep 2011

Whew! Winter Break time!!!

Before we're allowed out on winter break, the kids have presentations in their classrooms - Taylor Anne had Science and Social Studies research projects to show off, and Anderson's classroom sang some songs in Spanish for their parents. His classroom is a Spanish immersion class, so the kids know quite a bit of Spanish by this point in the year. (click on the pictures to see them bigger)

After the cute presentations were over, we were able to finally do some relaxing around here. I finished up my fall semester at ECU with all A's (4.0 baby!) and I'm so glad those classes are over! This has been the most frustrating semester taking online classes yet. I have a few weeks before the spring semester starts, so maybe I'll get to read a book or two... or maybe I'll get to do some knitting... or clean the house! We had our 'Cookie Day' this past Saturday. It was fun as always, and we made a good pile of cookies!

Taylor Anne has been able to have her riding lessons during the day (yay!)! It's so much nicer to be able to see her clearly while she's riding, and not have it so darn cold. I think she doesn't really care, but I like having her lessons during the day also because it makes it easier to get pictures! Check out this little horse rider:

Anderson hasn't been doing any extra-curricular activities since soccer ended, but he's enjoying the break too. He has 'slept in' past 8am every day this week! He's also gotten very creative and has decided to make use of the toilet paper tubes we have saved to make crafts of his own design. He surprised Mike and me one evening last week by walking into the living room with the cutest little animal-looking thing he had made with scrap paper and the stapler. He asked for a hole puncher to make it into an ornament for our sparsely decorated tree (our cats have been climbing it, so we didn't dare decorate it!). It is a reindeer, and has now made one (or a similar animal) for almost everyone on our list. He has also wrapped and labeled all of them himself.


I ran across the cutest paper ornament idea, and have enlisted Mike to help cut out the designs so we can give them along with some of our gifts. I'm thinking they would be cute in multiple colors, this was the first prototype. What do you think? Click here for the link!This is the first year I think I'm ready several days before Christmas. I am always rushing and rushing to get those final few presents... this year I think I'm really 'done'. I feel that some of this is due to the fact that I have a new 'smart' phone - and it has a great app called "List Master". I can create lists and check things off as I get them - it's wonderful for someone like me who will think of something, but then forget it if I don't write it down... and if I DO write it down, sometimes I lose the piece of paper! (I'm sure no one else has this problem...) Having the list on my phone is VERY helpful!

Happy Holidays, blog readers!
I hope you're all having a great holiday season this year!

Updates

Yes - we're busy. Here's some of what we've been up to lately (in no particular order):

Anderson completed his first soccer season with CASL. He had a lot of fun and really enjoyed talking with the coach and scoring goals!

Anderson is all about action! (is anyone surprised?)

Taylor Anne has enjoyed riding Maddie, and is now cantering and going over her first vertical jumps. She loves riding and really wishes she had a horse of her own so she could ride more than once a week. (maybe in a few years...)

We got to see the TIV2 (Tornado Intercept Vehicle 2) at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences. It was awesome, although a very cold day. We also met two stars from the show "Storm Chasers" and got to see a 3D Tornado movie!
Taylor Anne and Anderson with Sean Casey, the movie maker!

Taylor Anne as Princess Leia, Anderson as Bumblebee

I have been very busy at school with this group of 1st and 2nd graders. They're a handful and a half! It's fun though - on this day, we were on a field trip, visiting the NC Museum of History.

My co-leader and I co-directed the Junior Camporee this year - whew! Talk about a lot of intricate details and planning time involved!!! The weekend went well, and Taylor Anne got to climb the Alpine Tower at Camp Mary Atkinson! I was so proud of her and also surprised - she climbed all the way to the top and blew bubbles at 55 feet in the air!

Our Girl Scout Juniors also have been tent camping and hiking this fall near Falls Lake.

I'm still taking classes toward my Elementary Education degree at ECU. That, plus all of this other stuff has kept our entire household very busy these last few months.

Sorry for the lack of posts. I will try to update things when I can!

Am I crazy or what?

I had a little bit of 'free time' this weekend. Instead of cleaning the house or doing laundry, (which both sorely need to be done) I thought to myself, "I really love those caramels from Dillsboro Chocolate Factory, I can make those myself!" I haven't ever made caramels or worked with 'real' chocolate before, but I thought I would be able to learn and it couldn't be too hard.... right? The caramels I liked from there were squares covered in dark chocolate and sprinkled with sea salt. Sweet and Salty! Yum!

It took several hours over the course of two days. Mine aren't perfectly square or exactly the same type of caramel, but they're pretty darn good.
I'm not sure I will ever do it again...
Well, maybe for a very special occasion...

Just a few favorites from the Family Reunion!

This is just a glimpse into the wonderful time we had at the Hemlock Inn!

Lemonade Stand!!!

One of my young friends has made a wish for her 8th birthday - she wants to raise $208 for the children in La Lemonada, Guatemala. She's been involved with Lemonade International with her family for years, but this year she decided she wanted to do something herself as a birthday present to others. Please follow the link below and see her story and please consider donating toward her cause! We will be at the Lemonade Stand in person to wish this special and thoughtful little girl a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!



Megan Jolley's Lemonade Stand

EOGs

Because Taylor Anne is in third grade, she took her first 'End of Grade' exams last week. I'm super excited and proud that Taylor Anne was only 'a little' nervous about taking the tests, and really glad that she came home feeling confident that she did well.

These "EOGs" are the state standardized tests that tell if the student has learned what the state wants them to learn (curriculum-wise) in Reading Comprehension and Math (one test with a calculator, the other without) by the end of whatever grade they're taking them in.

Our state has EOGs in grades 3-8 and then again at grade 10. These multiple-choice tests aren't a whole lot of fun... they're stressful, and in many cases a source of great turmoil in students, teachers, and parents.

Students are scored using four levels of proficiency:

• Level 1 performance means insufficient mastery;
• Level 2 is inconsistent mastery;
• Level 3 is consistent mastery (at grade level); and
• Level 4 is superior mastery.

Most students believe that if the have a low score (1 or 2 out of 4) on the tests they'll be 'held back' next year and will have to repeat the grade, many teachers believe that if their students don't get a 3 or 4 on the tests they're a bad teacher and didn't do enough to help their students learn that year. While either of these things can be true, the test isn't the one tell-all for either holding a kid back or figuring out if a teacher is effective. I'm not a fan of standardized tests as a strict measurement of student learning or teacher success.

All that being said, we got the results back today, and Taylor Anne's teacher told her that she got a score of 4 in all 3 tests! Way to go Taylor Anne!

Couldn't be prouder!

My Girl Scout Troop ROCKS!

Yesterday, we headed up to a local Girl Scout camp because it was Camporee weekend - something we've planned to go to for months and one of the highlights of the Girl Scout year. There were severe thunderstorms forecast, and although many of these were producing tornadoes, the girls still wanted to go and participate. There are safe places for campers to go in each unit and other places around camp, so we felt that we would just give it a 'go' and be brave. The morning was drizzly and breezy, but relatively calm. I was working at the Tie-dye bandanna and Pirate hat station, so I didn't get to stay with the girls the whole time, but my co-leader, Martha, was taking them around to the stations. I knew I would be well informed because I had set up the WRAL Weathercall system to call me if there was anything dangerous coming our way. We got through the first 3 sessions, then had lunch together at our unit house.

Many of the other troops who originally had planned to stay the night were talking nervously during lunch and decided to go home after the last session, or in time for them to be home before the storms if possible, whichever came first. Martha and I talked it over, and decided that we wouldn't want to be driving in the stormy, unpredictable weather - and since it would be over by dinnertime, we didn't want to abandon our camping plans. We also knew where the safe places were and had already gone over 'the plan' with the girls.

In the afternoon, we completed the 1st of two sessions, and at the end of that session, we were told by the event director to pack everything up and make final decisions about whether to stay at camp or try to go home because there was a tornado in the storm system that was moving our direction, and we only had about an hour until it was at our location. I packed up the tie-dye stuff and all of the newspaper and paint, and jogged back to the unit.

Martha and the girls were at the unit house already, and we still decided to stay. We told the girls that pretty soon we would be going into the storage room, and they could bring a blanket or a pillow, and we got out our bag of games. There were two other troops that joined us in the storage room. At first we all huddled together and just chatted, some of the girls were scared and cried a little. A few asked if they could call their parents. (no...) Martha asked if any girls would like to play a game to pass the time, and she introduced the girls to the card game called "Spoons." Some of the girls got into the game, others still huddled and were very dramatic.

It got windy, and started raining, and eventually I got the phone call from WRAL Weathercall that there was a tornado approaching our immediate area. Of course the leaders had to keep a lookout since it didn't really seem stormy at that immediate time... when it got windy and the hard rain started coming, we closed the door to the storage room, kept playing cards and chatting until the winds and rain died down. We stayed put in the storage room because due to the advances in modern technology, two of the other leaders had radar on their cell phones and we could see that the storm wasn't over yet. We got a second call from WRAL, and did it all over again... watch and wait... go in and close the door... it all passed. Once the second storm passed, we looked again at the radar and could see that there was a little more rain, but nothing 'serious' coming our way, so we let the girls walk around and stretch their legs. Pretty soon the sun came out and the girls were so happy to run out in the rain and sun combination! The other troops left once we got the "All clear" from the event director, and we made dinner and had a wonderfully fun evening at the Junior Bridging Bash! We even roasted marshmallows at a neighboring unit's campfire!






Today, on our way home, the girls were looking for storm damage, but didn't see any. I told them that there were many families that had a lot of damage, and some families even lost their homes. They really wanted to do something to help. I told them I wasn't sure what we could do, but maybe we'll find out later the best things we could do. When all the girls had gone home safely with their families, Mike drove our family over to the west about 3-4 miles to see the tornado damage. It was awful! There was one house which had the entire front that had caved in, and the chimney had fallen over into the house. There were many barns and sheds which were destroyed. Taylor Anne was very concerned about the animals, of course. We passed by a mobile home which had trees that had broken and fallen on it, splitting it open into pieces. One of the worst things we saw was a mobile home which had been blown over, it looked like it had flipped onto it's side and the walls split away from the roof. Taylor Anne could see furniture and mattresses as we drove by, and she remarked about how awful it would be to not have a home anymore. She was very touched by the devastation, and again asked what we could do - could we stop and help the people? Could we help them pick up the branches in the yard? I told her that I was sure their neighbors were helping them, and that I wasn't sure how else we could help.

Once we got home, the answer came in an email from our Girl Scout Service Unit. There was an emergency shelter set up nearby, and they needed things like towels and toiletries, baby things and clothing. I told Taylor Anne, and she thought it would be a great idea for our Girl Scout troop to help the people that way. We called another Girl Scout in our troop, Haley, who lived close by, We picked up Haley and her mom and we all went out shopping at WalMart. We delivered close to $400 worth of various toiletries, diapers, toothbrushes, toothpaste, baby food, formula, underwear, socks, and other various items we had from home like toys and clothes to the shelter near our house. The people there were very grateful. Taylor Anne and her friend were SO excited to set out the items we brought, show the kids the toys, and talk with some of the other volunteers. There was a little girl who was crying when we arrived, and Taylor Anne walked over and showed her a Barbie that Haley had brought to donate - the girl stopped crying, took it, and started playing with it - smiling at Taylor Anne and Haley. The volunteers that were there gushed over the girls and praised them for their thoughtfulness and generosity.

One of the local news stations was there when we were leaving, and they asked if they could interview our girls. OH MY - the things the girls said about helping the community, and feeling so sad when they saw the houses that were destroyed made my heart melt. It was ALL I COULD DO not to burst out crying during their interview! Such sweet girls, and such big hearts!

I am so proud.

Good Job, Silver!

We got home from our trip to Greensboro for the memorial service today. We were very excited to check on the little broody hen we had in our back yard. You see, we bought 6 fertile eggs from a local farmer we met at the Tractor Supply store here in town. One of our hens, Silver, had been broody for a few days, so we set the eggs under her in the nesting box and waited to see if she would stay. Luckily she stayed put, but the other hens kept laying more eggs which she would promptly shove under her belly too. We decided to set up a separate enclosure for her to 'set' so she would be separated from the other hens in our flock and they wouldn't push her off of the eggs or lay their eggs in with her. One night after all of the 'girls' had gone to bed, we took Silver and her clutch of eggs to the new 'nursery'. She stayed on those eggs faithfully for 21 days! We only saw her out of the nest about once each day. Well, I never saw her out, but Taylor Anne said she did. Mike and I candled the eggs at seven and 14 days, but we really couldn't see a whole lot, because the shells were so darn thick! We did see some veining on day seven, so we knew they were at least doing SOMETHING.

Well... when we got home this morning, Taylor Anne ran straight to the little nursery pen we had set up, and started screaming "They hatched!!!!!!! They're already hatched!!!"

It was SO exciting! Although we have ordered and picked up chicks in the mail, and we have hatched our own using an incubator before, this was so neat to see! The mama, Silver, was sitting in the nest, and a couple of fuzzy little chick heads popped up through her wings to peek at us!

They are all different colors. We have one black, one tiny light yellow (bantam sized), one almost orange, another reddish one and two that have chipmunk coloring with brown and tan stripes and spots.

They'll live in the nursery pen until they're old enough to go in with other chickens, or we decide to sell them. Since it is unknown whether these six are girls or boys, we'll have to just 'wait and see'. We're so excited about our newest additions!