If you are still sending emails I would love to see this. mbsrrs@hotmail.com

This is what we have used as well.

My brother lives in Base Housing and was evacuated tonight. It is horrible what is going on. I am praying for all of Colorado. We have family in Fort Collins where another large fire has been too.

We used pin hole boxes and watched as much as we could see here in Central Texas. I really wish we had driven to Lubbock (Family lives there) but my husband was not in the mood to drive 7 hours after driving to the coast and back last week. Here are a couple pictures I took. One is behind my son and you can see the light in his box. I also have a photo of my shadow children. LOL We went to the school down the street in order to see past the tree's.

My oldest is just now starting phase 1 and she is 8 1/2. She has several issues. Cross bite, huge underbite, big teeth, overcrowding, narrow palate (top and bottom), and receding gums on bottom jaw. Our orthodontist is almost puzzled at what to do and she is the best in the area. We are getting her expander for the upper palate put in next week. After 6-9 months of that the Orthodontist is thinking about putting braces on the upper top four teeth because the two front are almost sideways. She thinks this might help the others straighten out on their own and the lower jaw fall in line. Regular braces will not come on until she has loss all her baby teeth. My daughter already had 4 baby teeth pulled to see if this would help and it only encouraged more baby teeth to come out. I am PRAYING we don't have these issues with my other two children. My oldest also has almost no enamel on her front two adult teeth. She will eventually have to get them capped. This is something she was born with and has always had since these two teeth came in. Our dentist said it is rare to only see it on two teeth but so far the other adult teeth have enamel. My answer is ... start early for orthodontic work.

We do a service project every month with the kids. For November we will be doing Operation Christmas Child and collecting toys for Brown Santa. For December we are adopting a family. In September we got items for some homeschooling families in Bastrop (near us) and distributed them. In October we did a "Treating" at a nursing home. We try to think of things the kids can help with. Each child gets a month that they choose what our service project will be.

Not really a weekly report but a post on our service work today.

My mom made I Spy pillows for my kids one year and they loved them. For my youngest she added a strap to it so that she could carry it around like a purse. Here are a few blogs and links that talk about them. http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=261769.0 http://www.squidoo.com/I-Spy-Bags

I updated my blog post but we finally changed out our salt mixture on day 5. It did not smell other than alcohol. So far everything is going well.

We have had our Mummy for 3 days. The first post is on the blog but I need to put updates. So far no smell and I have not changed the salt mixture yet. I figure I probably will need too tomorrow though.

Pinky Pye is our current read out loud.

90 minutes a week

Formal Science and History ... no. It usually comes up daily in the books we read and discussions we have. I try to just do each 2x a week. Ancient History -1x (we listen to our SOTW CD's in the car though) American History- 2x Geography/map work - 2x (this is a short 5 minute lesson) Science-2x

Do a science experiment or two that you normally would not tackle just because you don't have the time. Create a whole Ancient civilization out of boxes or something else creative in history.

My first two were without epidurals and my last one was with one. I never started pushing until I felt the urge. Even with that though it took me 2-4 hours of pushing with each one. My pelvic bone is built such a way that I have a hard time getting them past one part. With my first I had no idea what I was doing so that was part of the problem, my second was my biggest baby and shortest time pushing. Once I got him past that bone he was here. My third I had an epidural and the first contraction after I was at a 10 and felt the urge to push. I held off for about 10 minutes but I needed to. So it took me 3 1/2 hours to push her. I did my best pushing with her because I was more relaxed but her positioning made it harder on me (I broke my tail bone and she was only 6 lbs 14 oz). I think it really depends on how your body is made. I have never really had directed pushing other than once I start they count with me to help me keep pushing. I started though when I felt the urge. Also with my last we tried every position imaginable because she was so stuck. With all of my babies though once we got the shoulders past that bone in my body, they came out in 2 pushes. In fact with my first they tried to stop me from pushing and almost did not catch her.

I have done many things. I have worked full time outside the home, worked full time inside the home, worked part time outside the home, worked part time inside the home, worked part time outside and inside the home (lol) and just been a SAHM. It all depends on my husbands schedule and our financial needs as a family. Currently I have no jobs outside of the home for the first time in a long time. I currently just do part time work to earn money through my blog/website. That is it. So basically I am a SAHM. I also though am caring for my grandmother who is in a nursing home due to a massive stroke she had 3 months ago. I go and visit her almost daily and am working with my brother to get her house sold, and her finances more secure. At one point I worked 2 part time jobs outside of the home and one part time - full time (seasonal) job from home. I worked about 60 hours a week, had three kids at home, and homeschooled 1 of them at the time.

link for wordless Wed (then I made a separate post lol)

We do all that and more. The key for me is planning, planning, planning. I also have short lessons. I do not know what your expectation is for hours in a school day but we typically do 3 hours a day for my 6 and 8 year old. That is with some sort of project that takes us time. If you look at my siggy I have a link to my lesson plans and how I do it. We complete weekly: math x 5 days logic x 3 days spelling x 3 days reading x 5 days hand writing x 5 days writing/grammar x 5 days vocabulary x 2 days World history x 2 days science x 2 days social studies/ American History x 2 days geography/ map work x 3 days Spanish x 4 days Music Theory and appreciation - x 3 days Piano x 5 days Recorder x 5 days (yeah my kids wanted to do this and it reinforces theory) Art x 2 days Read Out Loud by mom x 4 days Memorization x 5 days PE/life skills/ Health x 2 days (even though they play everyday) Bible x 5 days Then I schedule Field trips and games on my schedule to throw them in. My kids normally don't want to stop school at the end of each morning but I am exhausted. We quickly work through everything and review weekly with quiz/test every 2 weeks (just so I know where we are not for grades). We do lots of hands on activities and games. My kids usually write quite a bit each day in subject journals but do not always fill out their worksheets. We do a lot of work out loud or on the dry erase boards.

It is up! Just a few shots of the kids reading in odd places. This is why we are called the "School of Monkeys".

School Blog- http://schoolofmonkeys.blogspot.com/ Kids books/toys/clothes deals that I find http://smartmonkeydeals.blogspot.com/ My caring bridge site for my grandmother http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/wilmabarrett

Mine is up and this is Week 1!

This was me too. I would rather have my finger nails pulled off and eye balls poked out than be 14 again.

Added Da Vinci Kit. This is so worth the money.

Hopefully this makes since because I am on a high dose of prednisone (day 5 of 12) for asthma issues. My brain is not working great right now. LOL I just started taking this but am not sure how well it works. I did have two periods this summer though after only having one in a year. I take two pills a day. In the past I have had luck with fenugreek but it bothers my stomach. I only use it when trying to track ovulation (past that stage in life). Limiting carbs, exercising daily or at least 4-5 days a week helps with my insulin resistance. Limiting salt and drinking lots of water helps with any water retention for me as well. I do not drink soda's and limit caffeine since I also am hypothyroid. Good Luck! I do not take Metformin because it does not work well with my body. Garden of Life Minami Nutrition PlusEPA Mind Formula | Like 1316760253 false 1 0 0 0 (0) List Price: $41.21 Price: $37.41 & this item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping. Details Deal Price: You Save: $3.80 (9%)

Is she still on Metformin? I would have her endocrinologist look at that and see if it is causing issues? I have Hypothyroid, PCOS and am insulin resistant. I could not take Metformin. I passed out 2 times before the doctor realized it was the medicine (this was before I had kids). The first time I was working a carnival at my church and woke up with people all around me. The second time I was in a hardware store. The second time is when I was taken seriously. With Metformin my blood sugar would go high and then drop quickly so I would pass out. Good luck to her. I know how frightened she must be.