Why is it that when school is starting again I can't sleep? I did not fall asleep until around 3:30 (last time I looked at the clock). I did nothing but think about Katie, homeschool, praying for someone who is evacuating because of the hurricane, and just worrying about everything. I know better than that. Worrying is wasteful of time and sleep. It can make you miserable.

Anyway, today I will be doing laundry, going to the library, finishing going through my books, I must have gotten rid of about 15 brown bags of books so far, figuring out dinner, straightening up the kids puzzles, and get clothes ready for church tomorrow. I would like Ben to wash the floors but that might be able to wait until Monday morning. Oh yes, I need to go into the garden for tomatoes and I'm praying that the zucchini grew. They were not doing to well.

Hope you all have a great day and enjoy it to the fullest.

Wow!

That's all I can say about this year's election. I am definitely not one to get excited about politics but I believe McCain has picked a great running mate. At first when I heard that it was a woman for VP I was not to sure. But after reading about her, (the little bit I have found so far), I am impressed. I will have to do a little more research on this. I am now starting to get interested in this "political scene".

Our Day

Quite a few days ago I had said that we started school. Well, not so. Since that day, we have had many things going on. Kids and dad going to the mountains, visiting friends, now going through books....which I did not want to :) So, school definitely has to start next week. I am excited...BUT,

I am starting to get a little nervous about this situation. I have been waiting for a letter from the doctor stating Katie's diagnosis so I can get the "medical card" and other things needed to get therapy. The letter is not here yet. I'm going to call tomorrow and ask if it is being worked on. I know it has only been about a week but I was hoping it would get here fast. I know we will then have to get interviews and stuff like that but I need to get her into something. I was hoping they would also get her into a swimming class or gymnastics ... just to get her to "maybe" relax by bedtime. Yes, In the information it says that the children can sometimes qualify for Y M C A or something of the sort.

Katie does not sleep well at all. She takes melatonin and another pill (which I think makes her miserable...so I've cut that out), and she still wakes up in the middle of the night. We are so tired! I cannot get rid of these dark circles under my eyes.

We started with the gluten free diet. I had made some cookies, which were very good. Everyone enjoyed them. This morning I made pancakes which also were very tasty and filling. I believe Katie had about 5. WOW!! I had ordered some cookies (like Oreo) and "pretzel sticks" for her also. She eats alot of fruit and salad so we are on our way. She is doing well today. No major melt downs like the past few days. They were horrible.

I did try to make bread in the bread machine...no go. Yuck! I searched the net for recipes and found some, but they will have to wait until next shopping trip. The gluten-free all-purpose will not work with these recipes. I have to get other flour like rice, tapioca, and bean. I found the gluten-free/casein free bread at Whole Foods. Oh my, is that expensive! I also got her gf/cf torilla wraps. She likes to eat them with almond butter on them.

That's it for now.

Have a good day.

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

HAPPY 3rd BIRTHDAY, ANA!

Gluten Free Diet

I'm on my way to changing Katie's diet to gluten free. She's already casein free. I just ordered my first batch of flour and a few, (very few) snacks for her. I'd rather make her cookies, cakes, etc. instead of paying alot for premade stuff. I use the premade snacks for when she goes to Bible class and if I need to give her something while we are out. So, that was my "big" spend today.

Growing up and Moving on

Well, Bobby left today to go back to school. This is his last year of college. Yes, I want to cry because by this time next year he will be married. He will be marrying his high school sweetheart, Bethany. Oh, how time moves so fast.
My Ana will be 3 on Tuesday. She was born on the day that Bobby had to be at college for his first year...over 11 hours away. She was born, he came over to the hospital within 1 hour to hold her and then left. Now if that wasn't emotional I don't know what is.
I'm so happy for Bobby and Bethany. I can't wait for the wedding and I know they are truly excited.
I Love You Bobby.

Fire In Our Neighborhood

This fire was at a VFW. No one lived there...thank God. This is the 2nd fire this summer in our neighborhood. The first was a church around the corner which took around 14-16 fire companies. Both are being investigated. No one was hurt in either fire.

Wordless Wednesday

Therapy

I finally did it. I found some where to get some therapy for my daughter. I have been putting it off for a long time but I know she needs it. She needs to learn how to play with toys and how to not "meltdown". AND, I need to stay in control. I just feel like crying. This is so hard for me but I know there will be many benefits for her through this whole thing. She's so beautiful, I just want her to be able to enjoy life to the fullest. This will probably help everyone else also.

Dinner

Tonight we had grilled chicken breasts that were marinated in: Brags Liquid Aminos, olive oil, white vinegar, raw honey, chopped garlic, chopped regular onion, black pepper, and ginger. I had a recipe from http://www.allrecipes.com/ but of course I changed it as usual. :0) We also had a cucumber/tomato salad that Ed really likes. It has tomatoes (try to get all the seeds out), cucumbers, red wine vinegar, olive oil, celery, regular onion, salt, pepper, and cilantro. And I made some plain white rice. Every thing was good.

Challenge for Today

Do you ever have days where you feel like you don't want to deal with or talk with your husband because he seems to be extremely grumpy? You feel like you would like to push him away...literally? You feel like you want to bombard him with "words". And while you are not around him you feel the urge to think badly of him. Well, I challenge you to try and not do that and walk up to him and give him a small kiss and/or a hug and tell him you love him. Also ask God to soften your heart towards him. That's it. Nothing major. Even though he may be very grumpy at the moment I'm sure that would soften his heart and lift his spirits.

About your children. If they are driving you crazy, stop and take a good look at them. they are so precious even though at the time they may be making you quite angry...making messes, spilling things. Not listening, doing their own thing....unrolling the toilet paper just to do it ;0) .
The messes can be cleaned and the spills wiped up but their little hearts can be "broken" easily by harse words. We've all been there done that. So we all need to ask the Lord to soften our hearts to them and remember what it was like to be a little child.

Psalm 34:13 Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile.

1 Peter 3:10 For He that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile:

Have a nice Sunday.
Margarete

P.S. While you blog THINK about what you write...will it hurt your husband or children or someone else? Does it look like you're husband bashing? etc.....

Baking

I did some baking this morning. I made the Zucchini Chocolate Chip Bread and also tried making some zucchini bread with rice and oat flour. That fell in the middle. I'm going to keep trying because it tasted wonderful. I also made a banana brown rice flour bread with chopped almonds. That was pretty good but just a little bit dry. Next time I will add about 1/2 of a banana extra.


Ana is not feeling to well. She feels hot and had some kind of rash today. She still played but you can tell she is just not acting right. She also fell asleep pretty quickly...unusual.


Becca is on a weekend missions trip. She was excited.


Ben's on his way home from North Carolina. We all miss him. It felt like weeks since he left. It was last Saturday.


It is now very quiet..how nice is that? That is not usually the norm.

I AM A CHRISTIAN

This morning I just wanted to say, "Yes, I am a Christian!" I Love the Lord Jesus with all of my heart and am not going to apologize for that. I'm tired of hearing about christianity not being allowed in schools, having to "warn" people of christian content in your posts on internet boards, etc. If someone doesn't want to talk to me or read something I write because of the christian content, it is their loss. I love people and always go out of my way to try to make people happy. I stay away from many discussions because I do not like to get into arguments. But, For Jesus Christ, I might have to start speaking a little louder.

Also, I might not have all the Bible verses memorized or I sometimes am not able to go to church every time there is a service, but that doesn't make me less of a christian. I might struggle in reading my Bible every day, and struggle in my daily life, but that doesn't mean I'm not good enough. Jesus loves me the way I am and he knows that "I Love Him with all of my Heart".

Oh, no one has said anything to me or given me a hard time. I thought it was time that I write this.

So, maybe this blog will be good for me. It will enable me to say things "out loud" that I have trouble saying. You can't get "tongue-tied" typing, I HOPE NOT !! :0)

Have a good day.
Margarete

Visiting Friends

We went to my friend Michele's house today and had a great time. The kids played and swam while we just talked. She is so cool. She is easy to talk to and a great friend. We met through my husband, he works with Michele's husband. They are a beautiful family. Tom and Bryce became "best friends" when they were 3 years old. They met at an office picnic and hit it off immediately. I think the little ones think their 3 boys and daughter are an extention of our family. :0)
Michele has worked extremely hard to become a nurse. Katie and Ana know this so now they do not want me to fix their boo boos they go to her. They know she has her 'special' first aid box.

Here's a video she shared with me today. This is so funny...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W95Y8hNQiH8

Have a great night.
Margarete

Shopping Day

We had our shopping day today. I usually go to at least 4 grocery stores. That is due to the fact that I have to find gluten-free, diary-free items, etc. It usually takes us up to 6 hours for this!! Yes, that's what I said. I think it is because when we go, it is usually 5 of us and the little ones always have to go to the bathroom in every store!

We went to US Toys and the kids had so much fun. They were trying on the different hats, like egyptian and others. Also, they were trying to scare me with plastic rats. LOL!!! When we were getting ready to leave I turned around to look for Ana and she had a basket overflowing with handpuppets!! I started laughing. That was so cute. Of course I had to put them back. :( At least she didn't cry.

Tonight, for the first time, I made cookies with Quinoa flakes and Rice Flour. I added the dairy/gluten free chocolate chips and they are good. (I hid them in the freezer so the other kids will not eat them..they are for Katie). I'm going to get the Adhd for kids cookbook and then start shopping for the flours and other items I need. We did just get a chest freezer, so I have somewhere to store these. I might be change my eating habits to the way Katie has to eat. It is so much more healthy. Not everyone in the family is thrilled about changing so this should be interesting...cooking 2 different ways. It will not be to bad. I've slowly changed some things over the past few months and no one even knows. HA! ...I know you are reading this Ed :0)

Good night everyone and have a great Friday.
Margarete

Health Issues .... (Wordless Wednesday Below)

We had the kids to the doctor today. We were there for over 2 hours...ugh! While we were waiting for one of the drs., the kids went outside to run around. They came storming back in and very loudly said, "There's a snake out there!" By the time they got back outside it had gone down into a hole. Becca said it was right by her foot and it's head "went back" as if to strike. I thank the Lord it did not.

Katie has some things going on with her "gut" and I'm starting to feel overwhelmed with this. She doesn't sleep well even after starting the melatonin. We will now be giving her an additional supplement for sleeping. She will be taking another 'B' supple. and another. I asked about a sleep study but the dr. would like her to try this extra supplement first. She is taking so many...my medicine cabinet seems like it is overflowing. The doctor wants us to start the wheat/gluten free diet. (She already has been off casein). OK, this should be interesting. We have already tried some gluten free noodles and they are good. I need to get some good cookbooks for this and I need to find recipes for bread. I do have 4 (yes, 4) bread machines to work with. AND, I need to keep the money part as low as possible.

I'm getting tired of people saying that there is nothing wrong, she's fine, I say of course she 's fine, but take away the supplements, give her the foods/additives she's been avoiding and they can take care of her for a week. It wouldn't last....she would be back...very early. :)

Another child has some issues that could be serious and is now on supplements and having more tests done.

This word "mitrochondrial" is showing up alot lately. So, I guess I'm going to have to find some books and do some searching about this.

I also am trying to find 'play therapy' that will not cost anything. Not 'play' as is hand/eye coord., running around. I mean the kind to sit and play with toys.

I'm now going to do some searching. Have a Happy day!

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

School Started

We started school yesterday. It went ok. Katie has done a few pages of Adventures in Phonics A, Coloring, and counting. She also has My Big Sticker Dictionary which she really likes. You read the pages which are set up like a dictionary and then add the sticker for each word. Ana is following along with that and also with the counting and coloring. She already says her abc's and counts to about 12. They have gotten out their Thomas the Tank Engine tracks/trains so that keeps them busy also.
Thomas has a hard time with math but he did very well today!! He did word problems which he likes. He enjoys his Prima Latina and Lingua Angelica. We are going to do SOTW 2 today.
Becca started her studies and she has volunteered at a nursing home. She goes 3 times a week. Now she did ask me to find out about volunteering at the YMCA. I believe, if you do that, you can use the facilities for free. I'm going to call today to find out. Maybe she could do the nursing home 2 times and the Y 1 or 2 times a week. We will see.
I started doing my house work at night. Putting the dishes away, filling the dishwasher, laundry and vaccuming (has to be done every day at least twice because of the dog hair). I'm also going to start making the lunches at night. That is if we have something like sandwiches.

I have neglected my reading so I have to get myself on track.

These are pictures of the dictionary Katie likes and the tabletop pocket chart which I found at W-mart. It was cheap...around $6 -$7. I have another with the alphabet. Each also have the cards with pictures on them to match with numbers and letters. I have seen charts like these for over $15. That is way to much money.

USA .... OLYMPICS ....USA

WAY TO GO USA!! HOW AWESOME!! THAT SWIM MEET WAS EXCELLENT!! WOOHOO!!

Relaxation

Today we are going to be able to relax a little. We were invited to a friend's house. The kids can swim and we can eat. I've "shared" some cookies with all of you. :0) These are oatmeal raisin with a hint of chocolate.

I also, made Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread. Do you know how terribly hard it is for me not to sit here and eat the whole thing!? I will share these with you also. :0)

Have a good day everyone.

Margarete

Yesterday

I took Ben, Katie, and Ana miniature golfing yesterday. We had alot of fun. Katie and Ana cannot sit still for what it's worth. But I did get some pictures. Ben is usually off with his friends or school or church so I really looked forward to this. Katie looked like a natural golfer. All in pink and even a pink ball. Ana could not figure out how to hold the club. Their feet and hands were in all different positions. It was funny. They keep asking to go back. Probably in the next week or 2.

Our Day, Yesterday

Wednesday was yucky. But, later on I read some of the book "Dinosaurs by Design", Tom and Katie started the lapbook for this and then they colored. Very easy. I think I need to get a divider so they can't look at each other! I have these pictures to share.

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

August 5, 2008

Hopefully and prayfully this day will be calm. So far I have had to stop Katie from taking a running start across my bed and leaping across the room. Throwing things at me, teasing Ana, and yelling.

I'm going to take them for a nice long walk and then have them play in their pool. This should "sort of" tire them out. Ana always likes to sit on the porch and play with her toys while Katie is running around. I'll have to get some papers out or her painting supplies to keep her busy.

I spent yesterday on the computer looking for mother of the bride/groom dresses. Bob and Bethany are getting married in May so I have some time. I found alot! Now I need to find a store around here that has them and try them on. They are on the plain side but I don't like the dresses with the jackets over top or all beaded. That makes the dress feel heavy. The dresses I found are all modest, believe it or not! Most dresses today have no sleeves or are cut so low that you might as well not wear anything. I can't believe that people would wear these dresses in a wedding. Just thinking about walking down an aisle in a church wearing these would be embarrassing.

Going now to get ready for our walk. Enjoy your day.
Margarete
(P.S. This little note is for Ed....I know you are reading this, so have a wonderful day, I Love You!)

August 4, 2008

I do believe that today I will do some cleaning of ceiling fans. Not my favorite but it needs to be done. You know, as soon as you turn the fan on the dust flies all over the room. :) I wonder if anyone else has this?? I will also be cleaning the outsides of the refrigerators.

Becca has a friend over so the little ones are in their glory. Someone else to bother. :0)

I also need to renew library books, again. I had taken out alot for Tom to read for SOTW. But I do believe he is getting tired of knights.

Oh yeah, yesterday the girls walked outside and on the light post were 2 of the cicada shells. They were so excited. They ran to tell me to hurry and get the camera so that I could take a picture. So here it is. So exciting for them.

Happy Birthday to ME!

Yes, today is my birthday. Becca and I went to my parent's home for breakfast. Right now they are in an apartment waiting for their house to be built. It is a long story. Anyway, Nothing much is going on today. Eddie and Bobby are working. Jon and Ben are playing softball with church against another and Becca, Tom, Katie, and Ana are just hanging around at home. It's been a little rainy but the air is cool today.
Ed and I are supposed to go to a party for someone Ed knew a long time ago (about 25 years ago or more!!), but I'm not to sure we are going to make it. He has the toilets taken apart! Yes, that's right. A piece in each of them broke so he has the great task of fixing them. We might go out later (just the two of us for my bd).
I received some money so I went and bought two books and now I'm deciding if I would like to get another one....'Autism and Your Church'. This sounds really good and the reviews are good. I'm trying to use this money for myself not anyone else. I usually take care of everyone else for things they need...I always do that.
Have a good day everyone.
Margarete

.

Bug...Cicada?

On our walk this morning we found a Cicada, we think. The kids were fascinated. It must have just come out of it's exoskeleton. Now, I read that cicadas are reddish orange but obviously this has green instead. I will continue to look for this...I do not have an insect book so I will do a search.
Here are two websites so far.

http://www.ivyhall.district96.k12.il.us/4th/KKHP/1INSECTS/cicada.html

http://search.enchantedlearning.com/cgi-bin/uncgi/search?key=cicada
This is for coloring, labeling.