Mom Learns a Valuable Lesson

So it finally happened!  My 12 year old son enjoys writing stories.  Let me say that again.  My 12 year old son Christopher enjoys writing stories.  WOW!  It is truly amazing.  I really never thought I would see the day.  Writing has always been an area in his studies that he did not like to do.  Even the mechanics of writing since Kindergarten was difficult for him.  This is one subject I never pushed him.  I let him take his time with writing and took a very gentle approach.  We used Handwriting Without Tears curriculum through cursive.

So now in seventh grade he has excellent handwriting.  Still working on the cursive but it is getting easier.  Last year we started using a writing program called Teaching Writing: Style and Structure.  My main reason for choosing this program is that it teaches the parent how to help the children as well as teaching the child.  Plus it is very structured in its approach.  They know exactly what they are supposed to do and I know what I am supposed to be checking.  

This program has been a blessing and the kids love watching the DVD's of Andrew Pudewa.  I am sure this program had something to do with Christopher enjoying writing.  

One thing I do know for sure is that I have learned a valuable lesson!  Over the years I have worried and stressed when they struggled in an area whether it is writing, spelling, math, etc.  Sometimes I pushed and prodded to the point they were stressed out.  Now I think I have learned my lesson.  The gentle approach is better.  They will get it eventually so why rush them.  They need time, encouragement and love.  So just maybe they won't dread doing school and we all can have more fun.

Christopher the Poet

Christopher wrote me a poem and it is so sweet!  It goes like this:

Mom You Are Mine

By Christopher

Mom you are mine you are really fine

you are the light in my day because I never have to pay

you held me in your tummy and gave me food that was yummy

you love so much that no amount could replace me

except the love God puts in your kidney

you held me in your arms and took me to lots of farms

mom you keep me safe from all the evil in this place

you took care of me even when I pee

you really are mine whether you like it or not (but I think you like it)

I Love You

Looking at Houses

There are quite a few things going on in our family right now such as being pregnant with our fourth child and preparing our home so we can put it up for sale and buy a bigger house.  Well, we frequently look for houses that are up for sale on the internet.  Yesterday I discovered a house that said it was 3000 sq ft and just under an acre of land.  The house looked ok but not great.  The reason we decided to drive out and look at it was the fact that it was a foreclosure and the asking price was $80,000.  So just for the fun of it we drove out to see it.  All I can say about the house is that it is a dump and really, really ugly.  So we turned around to go back down the street and noticed a for sale sign a couple houses down.  I was curious because we could not see the house from the road.  So I suggested we drive up their driveway and take a peek.  The owner happened to be outside and started waving at us to come look at the house.  We almost left but on second thought decided to go look at it.  The owners were soooo nice!!!  And the property is SPECTACULAR!  It has eight acres and most of it is wooded with a river running through it.  I fell in love with it.  You feel like you are out in the country.  The house is not my dream house.  It only has two bathrooms which are small and the kitchen is smaller than I would like.  But it does have an extra room off the living room that can be used as a homeschool room that would be absolutely wonderful.  The view from the living room windows is amazing looking at trees as far as you can see. There are three bedrooms on the main floor and three bedrooms in the walkout basement.  We fell in love with this property, not so much the house but the property.  It was a dream come true.  Truly amazing.  Because of the property we can overlook some of the things we don't like about the house.  A few of the things we can change and improve on over time.  But one other problem is the price.  They are asking 330,000 which is above our budget.  We are hoping they will not sell it for a few months and we can offer them less.  We are praying and putting it in God's hands.  If this house is meant to be ours we will get it.  I am trying not to get my hopes up to high but I would so love to have this house.

Week Wrap Up

I have been posting all week about our vacation but this week definitely has not been uneventful.  So here is a wrap up of this past week.  On Monday I took Emily and Christopher to the pediatrician.  That day they were seen by Dr. Kutskill.  He basically said that they just had colds and thats it.  So we left the office with $80 less in the bank account.  As the days progressed Christopher started coughing worse and worse to the point were he only had time to breath.  Thursday morning he literally coughed for three hours straight.  We tried EVERYTHING from honey, to hot tea, Vicks Vapor rub on the chest and feet, Mucilex, etc.  Nothing worked that day to even slow his cough down.  So I called the pediatrician and made an appointment.  Again we were seen by Dr. Kutskill.  He was willing to swab Christopher for Pertussis and wanted to do a chest x-ray.  He also said he would give him a prescription cough syrup.  But he wanted us to WAIT to treat Emily.  Why did he want to wait so he could get more money out of us?  I demanded that he treat and test Emily too.  We were there, she had similar symptoms and I am due to have a baby in five weeks.  I told him considering the circumstances we need to treat her as well.  He was very rude and made us wait for a very, very long time.  I was soooo mad at him.  He definitely has added to my dislike of pediatricians and is on my short list of people to avoid.  So Emily and Christopher have both been tested for pertussis and Christopher has had a chest x-ray.  We probably will not find out any results until Monday or Tuesday next week.  So we wait.  In the mean time we are going to miss out on getting together with my family for Roch's 50th birthday and Christopher was supposed to go to the Great Wolf Lodge with his friend Jonah.  He was pretty disappointed.  They started antibiotics on Thursday so if they have pertussis they will not be contagious after Tuesday.  Which means he will probably miss basketball practice on Monday.  So we are staying home this weekend and getting some cleaning done.

On a lighter note we signed up for Door to Door Organics.  Some of my friends have been using them so we decided to give it a try.  It is organic fruits and vegetables that get delivered to your door.  We are trying to eat healthier which includes switching to organic.  It will be a slow process but we are working on it.  Our first delivery should be coming on Wednesday.

Tennessee Vacation 2010 continued...

Well, here are the last great memories from our vacation.  This is our traditional picture at the Great Smoky National Park sign.  We love this park.  It is so beautiful.  This year we were unable to do any hiking because of me being pregnant and not being able to walk much.  But next year will be a different story.  Can't wait to get back to hiking the trails.  And who knows we might see a bear or two.

 I think this is such a sweet picture of Emily and Christopher.

 And Amber of course dressed like Snow White at the park sign.

Even me and Mike had to take our turn in front of the sign.

We did go on a short walk along a nice stream.

 Mike insisted on having a picture taken by this tree!  It is kind of weird looking.

 I never get tired of this view.

Since Christopher and Emily went go carting, we decided to let Amber go on some rides too.  Here she is on the swing which she loved and did twice.

Here she is riding the carousel.  I think she liked it!

Amber on a train ride.

The view driving towards Kentucky.  We will miss you Tennessee!

Tennessee Vacation 2010 continued...

Friday of our vacation was a very exciting day for the kids.  We met up with the Cox family at the Ripley's aquarium.  They had so much fun!  Here is Christopher standing in front of a fish tank that has all kinds of fish and sharks.

This is one of the many sharks.

Christopher is trying to pick up a horseshoe crab.

 Christopher, Jonathan, Rachel playing with horseshoe crabs.

 Christopher picking up a really, really big horseshoe crab.

 Big Shark Teeth!

 The kids being silly.

 They are so cute!

 They are inside the penguin habitat having lots of fun.

 

Tennessee Vacation 2010 continued...

Here are pictures from our visit to Parrot Mountain.  This bird and the two next to him were so funny!  We really got them excited. This one kept flipping upside down.  Another one kept bobbing his head and raising the feathers on his head and they all were making a lot of noise.  It was hilarious.

Another attraction was the lorikeets that we were able to feed.  They just swarmed us.  Here are two sitting on Amber's head.  She was not quite sure if she liked that or not.

Here is Christopher with the food in his had and all the birds trying to get at it.  I think he was laughing and saying "ouch" at the same time.

One of the birds landed on my shoulder and pooped down my arm!  Gross!

Emily was to scared to feed them but did come in the cage with us.  One decided to check out her hair.

 This bird was so nice and friendly.  It never tried to bite so Christopher decided to have this one sit on his shoulder.

We also played a couple rounds of putt putt while in Gatlinburg.  It's a tradition.

Tennessee Vacation 2010 continued...

This is a view of our chalet while standing on the porch.  I love this porch and the rocking chairs.  There is also another porch on the lower level which has two swings, the hot tub and a fooze ball table.

This is a view of the side of the chalet.  I can't get the front because it is on the side of a mountain and surrounded by a lot of trees.

 Tuesday Christopher was not feeling very good because of a bad cough so we decided to take a drive out to Cades Cove for a driving tour to look for bears.  It is a very pretty area but takes about 3-4 hours to drive to there, go through the Cove loop and than drive back.  Unfortunately we did not see any bears but we did see horses,

turkeys,

 beautiful scenery,

and on the way home a waterfall.

We also went for a short walk in the woods.