Square Dancing

Circle Family, Forward and Back, Dosado, Swing Your Partner and Promenade....

That's what we are doing over here. Circling, Forward and Back. This past Wednesday, Holly went to sleep with a CUP and slept through the night. She was down to ONE bottle of toddler soy formula, at bed time, and one bottle of water in the middle of the night.

Making the leap to a cup of water was finally at hand. Goodbye Haberman.

But now, 3 days and a flu virus later, she is firmly back on the bottle formula all day and night, refusing food in any shape.

Circle Family, Forward and Back. I have got to break this cycle. Somehow. I can not wait to be rid of this Haberman for ever. Here's hoping by Monday we will be on a better track.

One Moment

Not long after we moved into this house, I remember calling a sister and saying "the children have been playing downstairs, by themselves for 10 minutes." It was a milestone for me. 10 minutes of peace and a little quiet (but not too quiet).

Today is one of those days. Anna and Lee are diligently working on their lessons. Bill and Holly are happily busy down stairs.

10 minutes. A milestone.

Just enough time for this: To all my friends, I want to share this prayer. Especially if someone you love is suffering with cancer.

Julie and Paul?

Nope. Mary and Jere.

Have you seen the movie Julie & Julia? We enjoyed the movie so much, I got the book about Julia's life in Paris. What a beautiful story, and more than Julia's love for good food and cooking, does her love for Paul shine throughout the story.

Just like my Aunt Mary and Uncle Jere. They both love to cook and share really delicious food, traveling and each other, alot! I love this scrapbook page below for many reasons. June happened to be a great month to celebrate that year, Father's Day, birthdays, anniversaries and my college graduation. And I haven't ever forgotten how special it was to have Aunt Mary and Uncle Jere host that party. What a great, great day.

Aunt Mary and Uncle Jere hosted the cookout at their home. We had such a terrific time. You can see Uncle Jere on the grill. (The picture of Lee grilling was from another June gathering). One of the few times the future in-laws would meet was at this party too.


I like to think I got my love of cookie baking from Aunt Mary and every Christmas I send a tray to her house and love to receive a tray in return. In case you are wondering, Aunt Mary's are so delicious, I am reluctant to share...but, you know, Christmas...so I do.

If you are looking for a good book to read, I recommend Julia Child's Life in Paris. And if you wonder "Is anyone really that happily married?" The answer is Yes, because I know some who are.

What's the big fuss about?

You'd have to be under a rock not to know about the uproar over President Obama addressing 4th grade students. So many drastic things have been said on either side. I, myself, first thought "What's the big fuss about?"

I suppose though, that it is not just this one action but the accumulation of a few recent headline grabbing things President Obama has initiated.

1. Government run health care already has everyone up in arms over too much government control over our lives.
2. That website to "report people who are questioning the health care initiative". I think the intention was good, to help people find out more about the plan. It just SOUNDS LIKE "report on your neighbor to the government."
3. Thrown in that public service ad that describes the President as "lonely" and ends with Ashton and Demi pledging to serve Barack Obama. If only, if only all these A-Listers had said "pledge to serve OUR COUNTRY." And if this video hadn't been in elementary school. Since it includes issues like stem cell research.

And that leads up to President Obama's address to 4th graders. His actual address will most likely be like all his other prepared speeches, charismatic and uplifting. (That's one of the reasons he got elected, he knows how to speak to his audience.) It's that darn teachers curriculum. Telling teachers how to teach kids how the should serve the President. Back to the previous point, its SERVE THE COUNTRY.

Oh, I know the curriculum has been changed now, to encourage children to set their own goals and reach them...but over 2000 internet articles too late.

I only thought McCain needed better advisers during the election. President Obama may need a few new PR people now.

A Little Bit of Sunshine

Holly enjoyed playing around and with water. Not so much in the water until just the last few days, of course, as the pool is beginning to close. Just one more weekend of pool days. At the beach Holly found this spot to spend lots of time in. I was happy she was in the shade, away from the high tide and a bench for me to relax a little too!

Can you click on these to make them larger? I hope so. I'm going to post this, then try it too. Ok, it works. You can click on the picture, then choose the View Menu > Zoom to make the picture a little smaller too.

Teasing

Recently a question was posted on a cleft site about how to handle teasing on the playground. I thought about replying but others did. I'm posting a few of my thoughts here. My first thoughts were to ask are these children strangers? class mates? family? children of friends? I mean how much effort do you want to put into resolving the situation? Talk just to your child, try to talk to the other children, parents or teachers? This is no one-sided issue.

But then I realized that maybe all the years of difficult "playground" situations I have encountered have just been preparation for what may come for Holly.

My other three children are not cleft effected. But every single one has encountered teasing to down right bullying on the playground, classroom, school pick-up line. There is nothing outstanding or unusual about any of my first three children. Just your average kids, if your looking for a reason to single some one out, I can't think of why my children have been picked on. No glasses, no buck teeth, not over weight or under weight, not slow learners or over achievers... (of course, I am proud of my children for many reasons) but as for a bully? Why? I don't know.

Holly on the other hand may very well encounter children who mention her lip, her nose or her speech. Maybe not. In case she does though, here's "All I needed to know about teasing I learned on the playground"

1. Sometimes children don't know better. They are growing and learning how to behave just like my kids are still learning.
2. Life seems to be more like D.W., Emily and the Tibble Twins than like Arthur, Buster, Francine and The Brain.
3. The best thing to do if someone is teasing you is to walk away.
   
4. When some one says something untrue and unkind about you, do not believe them.
5. Even your really best friend will have a bad day, forgive them.
6. Sometimes we will never know why children say or do the mean things they do, our job is to forgive them, pray for them...and stay out of their way. Especially if the teasing turns to bullying.
7. Jesus is always your BFF. No matter what.
   

It is hard enough to know exactly what to say to your child in difficult situations. Especially when the parents or teachers involved don't DO anything to help.

My first prayer is that Holly will not have to live through the experiences of her brothers and sisters. However if she does, I know we will all be here to encourage her, to reassure her and love her.

Ahh! The view is terrific.

My friend, Michele, loves to use actual scenery as the background pages for her scrapbooking. When I saw this umbrella on the beach, I knew I had to try. I love the finished page and took two other "scenery" shots to use on other pages.

Traveling Light with The Lion

Food Lion that is. My oldest is 14 now and we have tried every trick to making travels as hassle free as possible.

I've tried:

• packing snack bags for each child & stopping only at rest areas
• winging it with fast food joints
• shopping super frugal and bringing all our groceries with us
• splurging with pre-made entrees and spreads (think pimento, chicken salad, lasagna)
  

All these approached have different positives and some obvious negative (fast food, hello!)

But my Simple Solution to Traveling with a crowd this summer is Food Lion. Here's what I liked about this plan for our summer vacation:

• Food Lion prices are the same everywhere. I knew what to expect.
• The Lion is located in almost every community we passed on Hwys 52 and 74. About time for a break and just like the commercials say, Food Lion is in the neighborhood.
• The bathrooms are clean and not crowded.
• The walk from the car to the back of the store was "just enough" for a break.
• Everyone could pick out one piece of fruit for a snack and a individual juice (on sale!) near the milk section.
• No packing coolers and cramming the car.
• No hauling now crushed and man-handled food all the way back home.
• Most of the stores offer coffee by the cup!

Once we got to the Oak Island, the Food Lion there is super nice and clean. We bought what just we needed for the few days we were there and didn't bring back too much (laundry detergent and cereal).

The plan worked for us this great this summer and I think we'll try it again on our next trip.

Oak Island

Loved this trip. Wanted to share a few quick photos and am hoping this link will work. If not, I post more later. The weather was great, the children enjoyed the time we got to be at the beach. Even Holly did remarkably well. Slept two whole nights, am trying to replicate the success by lowering the temp in our house here at home :-)

Oak Island is such a terrific family destination. Really, it's you and the beach. Not much else there at all.

Hope the link works!

If you give a baby the car keys...Part II

Found them. Whew. In the cushions of the recliner.

I'm pretty sure I didn't put the keys there.

Thank you St. Anthony.