366 Days of Pictures in 2012!-Day 31

Kind of a funny story about a raspberry. My son had to have a bone marrow biopsy today, obviously that isn't the funny part. Being that he was going to be administered anesthesia, he had specific instruction not to eat after  7:00am. At 8:00am the girl brought out a basket of raspberries. The boy plopped one in his mouth before thinking about the fact the he wasn't supposed to be eating. I really thought nothing of one raspberry, however told the nurse that he ate it anyway. Sure enough we had to wait over an hour longer then originally planned, all because of one raspberry.

The boy was very disappointed to have to wait longer because he had his heart set on Chinese Buffet after his procedure.  I think he'll remember that moment every time he eats raspberries. 

366 Days of Pictures in 2012!-Day 30

This little guy was hanging out on my road today. He was posing so pretty for the camera that I took several pictures before he got tired of me and waddled away. 

Not knowing much about pheasants I felt the need to look up some information on them to share with the wee ones. Here are the web sites I found most informative:

National Geographic

All About Birds

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366 Days of Pictures in 2012!-Day 28 and 29

I didn't get a chance to get on my computer to post pics yesterday, but I did take them, so today's post will be both Day 28 and Day 29!

Day 28

My hubby was driving ahead of me by about five miles or so. He called me and described the snow covered weeds, looking somewhat like stalagmites. 

When I came driving by I had to agree, and stop to shoot! Even though I was driving on empty.

When I pulled the shots that I took up on the computer I thought this one would look best in black and white.

Day 29

This is our very own Doc Holiday (Doctor Digs as the wee ones call him). He was trying to decide whether or not to venture out into the storm. In the end he thought better of it and came back inside where it's warm. I was still in a black and white mood when I brought this shot up on Photo Shop.

The week in review

            This past week has been fun, challenging, eventful, painful, stressful, and fulfilling all at the same time.  The hubby and I took the two wee ones to the Unschoolers Water Park gathering. Day 1 was a blast.  We met new friends as well as met up with some old friends.  We played at the water park until it closed for the night.  The only down fall to the evening was that the hubby came down with a nasty stomach bug that kept him out of the running for the half of the first day and the entire second day.  The second day was just as much fun as the first for the wee-ones and I.  We enjoyed more water park fun, then played with new friends and old, and watched Mr. Popper's Penguins in the Ball Room.  The girl even got covered with henna tattoos that unfortunately we had to wash off as soon as we got back to our room because she had some sort of reaction to the ink.

            Day three was a brighter day for the hubby.  He was feeling a bit better and was able to spend our last day with us playing at the water park.  The wee-ones were ecstatic to be able to hang out with their dad at the water park, I'm ok but I do believe they think he's more fun.  After all, he is a big kid.  

            After we were all sufficiently tuckered we soaked in the hot tub, showered, then headed on the long ride home listening to Farmer Boy CD (Little House)
on audio book.  The boy would've preferredHarry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Book 6)
 but the girl gets to finish her book before we start that one.

            Once we got home we read a couple chapters in Racso and the Rats of NIMH . Yes there is a sequel to the very loved Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh (Aladdin Fantasy), then we all crashed!
            In the middle of the night, the boy and I woke up with my hubby's stomach bug.  I didn't even ask him to share!  We spent a horrible twenty four hours commiserating with each other over our pain.  Alas, I will be grateful that it was only a 24 hour bug.
            Today we only experienced some fatigue and mild aches.  We were able to get back to work and get some school done!
            All in all it was a very educational, eventful, and yes fun despite the sickness, week!

366 Days of Pictures in 2012!-Day 27

I have taken many pictures of this little lake. Some with my kids in them, some just of the lake's wildlife.  Some simply of the lakes beauty in the changing seasons.  

This time of year this little lake is normally frozen.  There are even people who ice fish on it.  some of the local kids snow mobile on it, or just play on the ice.  Of course the last two things terrify me.  I fear that one day someone will fall through the ice.  

This year, this time, right now, the lake is just peaceful.  

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366 Days of Pictures in 2012!-Day 26

My picture of the day today almost didn't happen.  The boy and I woke up this morning to severe stomach pains.  Yup, the bug hit us too.  We've taken turns with the bathroom.  Aches and pains have consumed us today.  I did, however, want to stick to the goal that I set for myself and get a "shot" in.  So I waddled over to the rain soaked window, looked out, and there it was.  Despite being sick, which of course is no fun, the rain is feeding and nurturing the trees.  I'm sure the rain drops will turn to ice when the temperature drops even further over night.  Normally it's snow on those tree limbs this time of year.  

Hoping everyone stays healthy and warm.

366 Days of Pictures in 2012!-Day 25

Our last day at the water park. Thankfully the hubby was feeling at least most of the way better and able to play. We tried to make the most of our last day and went on every ride in the park at least once. 

The kids did start out the day playing freeze tag with some of the new friends that they met. That, however, was quickly replaced by the water park! Even I rode all of the rides (you won't see any pictures of that though).

A fabulous time was had by all! At the end of the day I'll be glad to be sleeping in my own bed tonight though. The time we had, even despite the hubby's sickness, will be a cherished memory in my heart forever!

We all can't wait until next year's Unschooler's Water Park Gathering. We had such a great time that I do believe we may even make another trip to Kalahari before then! 

366 Days of Pictures in 2012!-Day 24

Another day at the water park with the wee ones! The hubby, unfortunately is still sick. We're supposed to be heading home tomorrow (I'd like to stay another  day but it's not looking promising), so hopefully he'll be feeling better and able to play before we go. 

I'm not quite sure what the look on his face was for in this picture but I did think it was pretty funny. 

After a long time at the water park, the boy headed over to play some mini-golf. We topped off the evening with the kids playing some interesting games then watching Mr. Poppers Penguins with the unschoolers group.

366 Days of Pictures in 2012!-Day 23

We have the extreme pleasure to be sitting here at a hotel/indoor water park resort for an "Unschooling Water Park Event"! After a long day at the water park, the wee ones and I are relaxing, playing some cards before retiring for the night. 

Unfortunately, my hubby has some sort of stomach bug, or maybe food poisoning. Either way, he is so sick. he loves water parks, so it really is a bummer in more ways than one. He's definitely the funner parent in places like these, but I'll do my best. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day for him.

366 Days of Pictures in 2012!-Day 22

We spent most of the day today at the boys first tournament that he's wrestled this year. This photo was taken at the end of his second match. He finished the day with two wins by pin and an 8-5 win to put him in first place! 

We finished off the day with pizza and movies. All in all a very successful day.

366 Days of Pictures in 2012!-Day 21

Her name is Tinker Bell. She is a beloved friend and a part of our family. She is only 10, however she suffers from extremely bad arthritis. She is on two different medications from her ailments. Even though she experiences so much pain she still loves to play with the kids. Then she pays for playing which makes us sad for her, but I think that's what she lives for, playing with the kids. We will always love her and love that she loves us. 

366 Days of Pictures in 2012!-Day 20

I had 2 previous posts about my most recent puzzle endeavor. This, my 2000 piece puzzle, that took me nearly two weeks to put together, met it's fate today when I took it apart. Back in the box it went to collect dust until one day, probably years from now, I take it back out to tackle the task again!

366 Days of Pictures in 2012!-Day 19

I was watching the wee ones (from the safety of my heated home) play in the snow today. While they thought that I wasn't watching they were trying to sled down the slide in our back yard, probably not the best of ideas. Fortunately, they thought better of it before I had to say something (and before someone broke a bone). Once they boy realized that I was watching (and had my camera) he had to try to look cool. He took off the snow hat and gave me "a look". Gotta love a boy who's 8 going on 14.

While fooling around with the picture on photo shop I thought it looked nice in black and white, however I also liked the red of the sled.

As much as I'm dreaming of sunshine and warm weather, I do value this time that they like to play in the snow together.

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366 Days of Pictures in 2012!-Day 18

So today I must say was the first time in a long time that I can truly say that I was lacking inspiration where photography comes into play. Normally I have a plethora of things to take pictures of. By 6:00pm this evening I hadn't taken one picture and was fearing that I would be taking some random picture of just about anything just to get my picture of the day. I went from dance class with my daughter to pick my son up from wrestling and my daughter spotted some deer running through the woods. By the time I switched my lens they were gone, or at least too far to shoot. Then I looked up to the sky and realized that the sun set this evening was actually nothing less than spectacular. With the trees impeding my vision I didn't think it would really make the best shot. While looking at the clouds in the sky I felt that they looked a bit ominous, however beautiful and started shooting. Who would've thought that my inspiration would have come from sitting in a car outside of a wrestling room!

Top 10 things we plan to do in 2012!

While doing a little blog hopping today I came across Oh Amanda's Top Ten Tuesday. I thought it would be fun to join along. So here goes! Being that we've just started a new year I decided to make a list of the top ten things that my family plans to do in 2012 (not necessarily in order).

1. The Unschoolers Water park Gathering. We are super excited about this event! The kids of course are mostly looking forward to the time that'll be spent at the water park. I'm looking forward to the actual scheduled events at this gathering, as well as meeting new homeschool friends.

2. My hubby and I are doing a 5k (my first) run to benefit a congenital heart center at a children's hospital. I'm a little scared, but pretty excited also. I've never done a 5k so that's a bit intimidating. I've always wanted to do one so I'm jumping in with both feet. It's for a great cause so that makes it much more worth while.

3. Finish our school year by July at the latest! I guess that's more of a goal. It is a plan that I have, however all plans can be subject to change.

4. A family camping trip that includes all 6 of my kids! We used to camp several times a year. Over the past two years we just haven't been able to fit it in so this year I have told the family that I'm gonna make it happen!

5. We're taking a family, and when I say family I mean our entire family, my mom, my brother and his family, my sister and her family, my oldest daughter and her family, and of course our immediate family, trip to Cancun this summer! It's going to be a blast! We can't wait! Of course pictures will follow!

6. Get a nice family picture taken over the summer that I can use for my Christmas picture so I'm not scrambling at the last minute to decide on pictures that I'm going to use. This was our card for 2011.

7. I'd like to lose at least 10 pounds. I say that every year, I'd like to actually achieve it this year! I feel like every year older I get, I have to give up more yummy food that I like. That saying "a moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips" really seems to be ringing true for me now.

8. I plan to try to be more organized. With that plan I've tried to trim down some of our outside the home activities so that hopefully life will be a bit more manageable. 

9. I plan to have the kids and I take all of July off from "school" this year. Last year, because of so many of our outside the home activities, we didn't quite finish all of our projected in the home work. We wound up "schooling" through the summer. 

10. Most importantly, I plan to make it my mission to make sure that our little family here at Casa Chaos embraces and appreciates each day that we're given here on this earth.

So what kind of Top Ten list would you like to make?

366 Days of Pictures in 2012!-Day 17

The boy practicing the guitar after we finished our other school work today. He's been playing for almost two years now. He sure has come a long way since he started! He would really like to be playing electric guitar but we've insisted on him learning the acoustic first. I like that classical sound, not to mention he can bring his guitar anywhere without the equipment of an electric. Do your kids play an instrument? 

366 Days of Pictures in 2012!-Day 16

Sibling rivalry is not just reserved for the human race here in Casa Chaos. It is not beyond the furry variety to argue over who should get the next popcorn kernel thrown to them.

The cat normally wins!

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366 Days of Pictures in 2012!-Day 15

It took me two weeks, but I finally finished the puzzle that the boys and I started  just after New Years. It's  been difficult to find the time to work on it. Sundays have been my most productive puzzling days. I do like to puzzle, in an often busy world it's very relaxing.

366 Days of Pictures in 2012!-Day 14

We took our little Cat Girl out to breakfast while the boy was at a wrestling tournament (he wasn't wrestling at this one, just managing this time). 

She worked very diligently on a picture for the waitress. The waitress very kindly hung her picture up in the entryway of the restaurant. 

366 Days of Pictures in 2012!-Day 13

With the final coming of winter my wee one couldn't resist some time out in the snow. Personally, I'm a bit allergic to the cold so I stood right inside the door watching while she threw piles of snow up in the air.

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Top 100 Educational Websites are in!

             Being that we are well into January now I suspect that everyone is back to at least somewhat of a schedule, or at the very least "back to school". That being said, with the start of a new year who can't use a little resource refreshment? Being forever a project in the works over here at Casa Chaos we can always use new ideas!

            Many of my homeschooling friends subscribe to the ever informative and resourceful homeschool.com. Every year homeschool.com asks "product testers", which are regular homeschool parents like you and I, to check out websites as well as products and give a list of their faves that they've reviewed to be compiled into one big list containing the Top 100 Sites of the Year. Homeschool.com was probably the first homeschooling resource site that I found and used when I started my homeschooling journey. Every year I normally print out the list of Top 100 Educational Sites to be able to use at my leisure throughout the year.

            This year homeschool.com has added a new category to their list, BLOGS! Personally, I thought that was a great idea given the fact that over the last year or so I've used BLOGS as a huge resource in our little homeschool here at Casa Chaos! Blogs give such a diverse perspective to the possibilities that homeschooling brings! I was very pleased to see a few of the blogs that I already frequent on the list, as well as a couple that were unfamiliar to me. I will be rectifying the unfamiliarity by heading over and checking them out!

            One of the things that I've realized about being a parent to a large number (6) of kids is that one person never knows EVERYTHING, and that everyone can use fresh assorted ideas that they may not have thought about on their own. That's one of the many things that I like about homeschool.com. I always tend to come across some new adventurous inspiration that I can implement into our own little homeschooling voyage!

            So for my homeschooling friends out there, happy homeschooling! Head over and check out the new Top 100 Educational Sites list!

366 Days of Pictures in 2012!-Day 12

The girls (all three daughters and my granddaughter) and I met my hubby for lunch today at an all you can eat Chinese Buffet restaurant. This is daughter #2 helping my grand baby admire the Koi in the very cool indoor pond complete with waterfall.

My oldest daughter is married and daughter #2 just finished college so neither live at home anymore. I love that they are still nearby so we can have these times together!

366 Days of Pictures in 2012!-Day 11

My little Lu getting ready for dance. This is her first year of jazz but fourth year of ballet!

366 Days of Pictures in 2012!-Day 10-A Mournful Good-Bye

I know that I've already posted a picture of the swans that have so brightened my day and my drive on so many occasions. My kids and I will stop just to watch them even if I don't have my camera. The family of swans has brought so much happiness and even hope to so many people that drive that particular stretch of rural road. I say hope because of the emotional loss of the family of swans that used to reside on that exact pond for years before their untimely and devastating deaths in 2009. The swan family was found dead by the side of the road near the pond that had been home to the parent swans that came back every year for many years to bare and raise their young. That corner had been so vastly photographed  by people who lived near and far because of the beauty of that swan family. Their loss brought so much sorrow.

This past summer when a pair of adult swans showed up on that little pond to nest and raise a family it brought immeasurable delight to all who admired the previous family as well as the people who had only heard about them upon their death. I believe, for myself at least, the arrival of the new adult swans brought hope. The hope that even after such tragedy their can be beauty. Over the last several months I have taken numerous pictures of our new little swan family that had taken residence. The attentively loving parents raised 5 cygnets to near adulthood. While we've thus far had unseasonably warm weather I have been very surprised to still see them on the pond so late in the season. Last Thursday when I photographed them I was a little concerned to only see two of the babies but thought that the other three might just be elsewhere on the pond. Yesterday however, I heard some very disturbing news. In early December (I haven't driven that route due to our Christmas break taking us in different directions) two of the baby swans were shot to death by hunters. One of the cygnets was simply missing with no explanation.  I fear what that means. After hearing this heartbreaking news I found myself with cause to drive by that pond again today. It was quite a majestic however lonely sight to see the two parent swans by themselves gliding across the pond without their babies that they so diligently and lovingly cared for over the last several months. I'd like to think that the two last cygnets that were so serenely bathing in the pond with their parents simply took flight to start their own adult lives, however the recent events leave me skeptical.

So I now mourn the deaths of those beautiful creatures that have made me admire, smile, laugh, and now cry. 

I have looked forward to seeing them every time I pass that way and will now sorely miss them. 

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366 Days of Pictures in 2012!-Day 9

My son had the privilege of leading the warm up drills at martial arts today. You can tell by the smile on his face that he was very proud to be doing it too.