Mommio: Our Week

The week didn't go as planned again...no field trip on my birthday because we had a snow day! And Daddio toe started to feel bad again so we ended up going to another appointment and then another day of testing at the hospital.  We did manage to plant a garden and build a rat maze though, so it was still busy and fun.  Here's the plan for this week:
M- school, Poe unit study, house chores, Daddio doctor appointment
T- Nana Day, Connor Dr. Shapiro appointment
W- school, Poe unit study, visit Weaver's Bottom (see the baby goats), Max and Kiki yoga class with Nana
T- school, Poe unit study, Ava-Gabe-Marney yoga class, Connor-Mason teen library league
F- school, Poe unit study, art and music class with Weaver's, family movie
S- chore day
S- letterboxing

Mommio: All Grown Up

There aren't many "babies" left in this house.  The kids got together and came to Daddio toe to ask him to take the "baby music" (i.e. kids songs) off of their Ipods.  So, he spent the entire day yesterday loading adult music onto the computer and  a few of the kids used their allowance to buy new stuff (Taylor Swift- which I hear Avery singing at the top of her lungs right now).  They were all so happy- thanks Daddio!

Mommio: Planting The Garden

Yesterday was a beautiful day, so...Gabe and I hit Lowe's early to pick up the few plants we still needed for the garden.  And of course got many more than we planned on (like a Mexican Lime bush and a big tub container of strawberries)- he is fun to plant shop with and would love to just buy one of everything!  Then we all got to work mapping the new garden:

 And then planting all the transplants and seeds:

 After learning how to garden (thanks Weaver's!) and an entire year of gardening under our belt we are all feeling much more confident and are trying some new things.  Among other things, this year we are trying out grapes, russet potatoes and red onions.  Due to all our medical problems lately we are planting a few things a bit late and a few a bit early- but I figured we should take advantage of the time we have out there in the nice weather and get it done.  I am pretty optimistic about the garden, since we have been very successful so far.  We'll post pictures as things start to grow.  And watch for garden updates on by Gabe on our blog too!

Mommio: Rat Games

Yesterday afternoon our parkday with the Weaver's was shortened by extemely cold wind so we headed over to our house and set the kids up to build a maze for the rats.  Here's the gang who did the planning and building:

 First, Gabe and I showed them a pattern for a maze that we had seen on the internet a few months ago.  The point of the maze is to put different items at the end of each lane and then set the rat in the center and find out what he/she likes best by recording the frequency of visits to the end of each lane.  The kids liked the idea of this pattern:

 Then they came up with a list of what to put at the end of each lane and also a guess as to what each of the three rats would like the most:

 To build the maze we chose a big cardboard box.  The kids measured and we helped cut, until there were enough pieces for six lanes:

 After looking the pieces over, we all decided to make some adjustments to the patterns so that it would be easier to put together.  Here's the new pattern:

 But when we started setting the pieces up we quickly realized there was no need for space between the lanes, so the final pattern was developed:

 We helped the kids to lay out the pieces for a look at how to put it together:

 Then we walked away (literally) and let them get to the taping:

 They did such a great job, when we came back about 15 minutes later they were at this stage:

 After some extra taping for reinforcement we pulled out Bowser to test the maze for us.  He was great in helping us find little places that needed more tape:

 When the maze was finished the kids gathered the items needed and placed them at the end of each lane:

Then we gathered the audience and the rats were brought out one at a time.  It was really fun to watch, although in the end it turns out the rats were all much more interested in the kids and getting to them than in the items in the maze.  Here are the three trials:






In the end, we found that the kids had guessed right about what some of the rats would like the most.  Everyone was surprised by how much they all liked the rat poop...but we learned that the smell of their own home was what they were drawn to.  We also talked about how to improve this the next time we make a maze.  The most important thing to do differently is build the outsides of the maze higher so that the rats are not constantly looking over the edge.  And next time the kids want to work on building a real maze...should be fun!

Daddio: Better?

I feel much more reassured since the last visit to the hospital.  Both my doctor and the radiologist seemed confident that there was no infection- just a pocket of air and some blood.  The best news about this is that if I don't have an infection now, then it's probably not coming back.  So... this could be the end of it.  I'll stay cautiously optimistic.

Mason: Blog Of The Day

The Elephant

By Mason 

One day at the zoo the elephant is singing and he sees a scientist using his chemistry set to test experiments on animals.  He also sees a kid eating a dozen glazed donuts.  He sees other animals, like lions, tigers and bears.  The elephant likes to see what's happening at the zoo.

Mason: Blog Of The Day (yesterday)

In the picture Luke Skywalker is getting married to Princess Padamay and they invited everyone. Darth Vader got invited to the wedding too.  Everyone is having fun and they had cake.

Connor: Blog of The Day

 The Time Travel Adventure

By Connor

 Twelve days ago a mad scientist invented a time machine using sodium hydrogen and carbon from his favorite chemistry kit.  He had packed everything he needed, including a box containing one dozen glazed doughnuts. He stepped into his time machine and went to the time of King Arthur.  There, the mad scientist listened to a bard singing a wonderful song.  Later, he told the bard how much he had enjoyed her music.  Then the scientist and the bard went to the 19th century and met P.T Barnum.  Mr. Barnum had shown them his famous elephant, Jumbo.  Jumbo danced and bounced and walked on the Golden Gate Bridge.  Later, the scientist took the bard back to King Arthur. Then he went back to his time and read tons of history books that talked about P.T. Barnum.  

Gabe: Blog Of The Day

The Elephant Ate The Singer

By Gabe 

 

One day a singer was on the Nico Stage performing with an elephant in New York. He was singing a song about the elephant, called "Elephant, The Elephant, The Star".  The elephant was eating 12 glazed donuts on stage. The singer ate a chemistry set, it was part of his giant rock star act.  The crowd screamed because they loved the show.

Connor: Blog of The Day (yesterday)

In the picture Luke Skywalker and Princess Pademe  are getting married and all of the Jedi are celebrating. During this party, Darth Maul and Darth Vader are planning to kill all the Jedi there as well as take over the world.  Strangely enough there were only two Sith and I think Darth Maul was a ghost.  Darth Sidious wasn't there and neither were the other Sith leaders, just Vader and Maul.

Avery: Blog Of The Day

 The Scientist Who Was Bad At His Job

 By Avery

One day a scientist was doing an experiment that included a donut and an elephant. " Great! Now that I have my new chemistry set I can do my experiment!", said the scientist. Then he started putting wires together, making potions, and hooking things up to the donut and elephant. Since the scientist got 12 glazed donuts with his chemistry set, he decided to eat 11 of them while he did he experiment. "All done. Wow, these donuts are good! So ...... all I have to do now is put this potion on the elephant and this potion on the donut.", said the scientist. Then the elephant's brain was inside the donut! "Well, that wasn't supposed to happen. The donut was supposed the go into the elephant's tummy.", said the scientist as he wiped black stuff off of his face. Then the scientist put away his stuff and started singing a creepy song. " I love to do stuff. I always mess up. I am going to my house to sleeeeeeeeeeeeep!"

Gabe: Blog Of The Day (yesterday)

Two people were getting married at the White House in the grass.  At the  front of all the people, Darth Vader  and Lord Sith were getting ready to kill them.

Marney: Blog Of The Day

The Weird Elephant Zoo

By Marney 

A person was singing to an elephant at a zoo and the elephant threw a peanut at her.  The elephant was playing with a chemistry set and he didn't want her to bother him.  While the person was singing she ate a dozen glazed donuts and then she was full.  So the elephant grabbed her because those were the elephant's donuts.  The elephant wanted them back so she spit one out and the elephant ate it.

Kiki: Blog Of The Day

An Elephant Was Eating A Dozen Donuts

By Kiki

An elephant ate a chemistry set and then the elephant ate a dozen glazed donuts.  An elephant ate a person that was singing.

Kiki: Blog Of The Day (yesterday)

I saw people dressed up as Star Wars people. I saw people getting married.  It was outside.  It was good weather.  A lot of people were there.

Daddio: 2/26/10 Blog of the Day

Tell a story that includes the following things:  (1) an elephant; (2) a chemistry set; (3) a dozen glazed donuts; (4) someone singing.

Mommio: Daddio Can't Type

Still at the hospital...they did another CT scan with aspiration (pulled out some stuff with a big needle).  The radiologist thinks it looks like there was just some old blood trapped in an air pocket and that the pocket collapsed when it was poked with the needle.  Now we wait until Monday for the blood results to see if there is any infection, but it looks like there is not.  Yipee!  Daddio toe is in some pain though from the needle and all the poking they did.  He tried to blog himself but the IV is hurting him if he tries to type.  He needs to take it easy  and start a new antibiotic for a few days until we see the doctor again on Monday- in case it is a new infection.  So, now we are in recovery for a few hours and then on our way home...feeling pretty relieved and optimistic.  Here's Daddio in recovery, finally getting to eat for the first time today.

Mommio: At The Hospital

Right now Daddio toe and I are sitting at Seton hospital waiting to hear what comes next.  So far the day has gone much more smoothly than the last time we were here- mostly due to our luck in having a very capable lady register us this time and cut out some of the ridiculous steps they put us through before.  So- Daddio has had an IV put in and a CT done.  They found some fluid, but not enough to drain so now we are waiting for the radiologists to talk to his doctor to find out if they should do another CT with aspiration (where they stick a needle in and pull the fluid out).  We don't really know what any of this means yet...except that the good part of it is that is sounds like there is not enough fluid in there to send him home with another drain, he is happy to hear that! In the meantime we are testing out taking pictures and emailing them from his new phone.  Here he is with his IV in the waiting room...

Marney: Bolg Of The Day

At a Star Wars place there was some fun stuff.  And a thing where you get a picture with Star Wars.  And you walk under the swords. 

Avery: Blog Of The Day

Luke Skywalker and Princess Padamay got married at a park! They got everyone there to celebrate, including Darth Vader! Too bad Princess Laya wasn't there to watch the wedding.  I wonder what the wedding cake looks like, I think it has people fighting with light sabers. Oh, and they should watch out for the light sabers. It can really hurt to be hit by one. If they did get hit by one, I think they would have to cancel the wedding.

Mommio: And it goes on, and on...

Yet another visit to urgent care yesterday!  The mirror on the back of our bathroom door fell off when Connor was closing the door, broke into lots of pieces and landed on Connor- slicing the side of his ankle open in a nasty cut that went deep enough to see bone and hit an artery so that blood was pouring out everywhere.  It sounds worse than it actually was---four ugly stitches (and almost $400) later he is just fine.

  Now onto the hospital again today with Daddio toe for more testing to find out if his infection has returned. 

Daddio: 2/25/10 Blog of the Day

Describe what's going on in the following picture:

Mason: Blog Of Day

Chocolate Cake

1 bag of cake mix

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups soy milk

1 Hershey's bar

chocolate icing

1. Set the oven to 350.

2. Get a bowl and put in the cake mix, then the eggs, then soy milk.  Mix together.

3. Put a broken up Hershey bar in the bowl, then stir it.

4. Spray Pam on a round cake pan then pour in the batter.  Then put the pan in the oven for 30 or 35 minutes.

5. Take cake out of the oven then let it cool. Then put the chocolate icing on it.

6. Eat it.

Mason: Blog Of The Day

Mommio I love you because you are nice to me.  You are funny. You are a great mom and you are an awesome mom.

Connor: Blog of The Day

Rolled Sandwiches

sliced lunch meat

sliced cheese

hot dog (optional)

1. Put meat, hot dog and cheese on top of each other in whichever order you want. I would suggest that you roll the meat and cheese over the hot dog.
2. Eat it up, simple as that.

Avery: Blog Of The Day

Marshmallow Cream Cake

2 boxes chocolate cake mix

one jar of marshmallow cream

2 Tbs. vanilla extract

4 eggs

2 cups milk

1 cup sugar

2 Tbs. vegetable oil

1- Preheat the oven to 350.
2- Put 1 box of chocolate cake mix in a big bowl.

3- Add 2 eggs, 1 cup of milk and 1 Tbs. vegetable oil. Stir until smooth.

4- Put your mixed cake mix in a greased 13x9 pan and put into the oven for 34 minutes.

5- While your cake is in the oven you can start to make the cream.

6- Put the whole jar of marshmallow cream in another bowl.

7- Mix in 2 Tbs. vanilla and 1 full cup of sugar. Make sure your sugar that you are putting in the bowl does not have chunks in it. Stir it until smooth.

8- Put your cream in the fridge for about 45 minutes.
9- When you are done making the cream the cake in the oven might be done baking. If it is put it on a cooling rack and let it cool off.
10- In another bowl put in your second box of chocolate cake mix, 2 eggs, 1 cup of milk, 1 Tbs. vegetable oil. Stir until smooth.
11- After you stir it, pour into a greased 13x9 pan and stick it in the oven.
12- After everything is done baking and the cream is out of the fridge, set the first cake on a plate. Then spread half of  the marshmallow cream on top of the cake. After that, put the other cake on top and spread the other half of the cream on top of the cake.
13- Let harden for about an hour in the fridge. Then eat it up.

Gabe: Blog Of The Day

Gwad Dip

15 cups of gas

1 giant oak tree

5,000 nails  

50,000,000,000 lizards

Puree up the ingredients into a giant bowl and stir. Then you have Gwad Dip.  Serve with Gwad Chips.

Marney: Blog Of The Day

Jambe 

 3 socks

900 Tbs. dust 

1 family-size bag chips 

5 clocks

 1 door 

3 jars jam 

1 flat screen TV

12 beds

Put the socks in a blender with the dust and chips and the clocks and a TV and the beds and a door and the jam and that makes jambe.  Drink it up!

Mommio: The Snow Day

We ended up having a real snow day yesterday!  I'm sure that to our friends and relatives who live in colder places this is pretty funny- but to us three inches of snow and all day snow falling in central Texas at the end of February is really exciting.  It's the most snow we have seen in the ten+ years we have lived here.  The kids had a blast playing in it..snowballs, snow angels, snowmen and all.  They used ever single inch of snow in Nana Toe's yard. Go check out our album of snow pictures!

Daddio: 2/24/10 Blog of the Day

Create your own recipe for a brand new amazing dish of your own invention.  Then post up the recipe.  Make sure you start with an ingredient list, then give step-by-step directions on how to make the dish.  For example, here's our recipe for Mostaccioli, but remember, your recipe can include anything you want, like earthworms, unicorn hooves or stardust:

Mostaccioli
26 oz Whole Wheat Penne
2 lb Extra Lean Ground Beef
4 cup Chili No Beans
2 lb Stewed Tomatos
21 oz Soup, Campbells Tomato
2 tsp Oregano, Ground
16 oz Tomato Sauce
1 1/2 tsp Anise Seed
2 cloves Garlic Clove
1/2 medium onion White Onion

1. Boil noodles.

2. Brown and meat, onions and garlic together.

3. In a separate giant pot, mix all other ingredients and simmer for a while.

4. Combine meat and sauce. Continue simmering.

5. Add cooked noodles. Continue to simmer to allow to thicken.

Kiki's Blog for the Day

I love Mommio.  She teaches me school.  She helps me prints stuff.  I like the art stuff she lets me do.

Mommio: Snow!

It's snowing...on my birthday...IN TEXAS!

Avery: Blog Of The Day

I think that Mom does everything great. She will never mess up. I also like that she will let us make food with her and that she will always be there when we need her help. She is the best mom ever!

Connor: Blog of The Day

Dear Mommio,   I love learning about all kinds of things from you. If it's from Shakespeare or Edgar A. Poe it is always interesting.  My favorite unit was about Homer's epic poems.  To me you are the best teacher evermore.  I will go to Public school nevermore.  I love you Mommio.
Love,
Connor

Marney Blog Of The Day

Mama is the best.  Mama is awesome.  She did let me make dinner with her.  I love mom.

Gabe: Blog Of The Day

Happy birthday mom. I love you.  I remember last year.  you are awesome.  Thank you for moving the rats.

Mommio: Big Boy Pants

Yesterday was the first day that Daddio Toe was able to get out of sweatpants and into jeans since before Christmas...that's a long time!  As you can see, he has lost a lot of weight since then and already needs some new big boy pants again.

Nana's Haiku Birthday Wish

Jenny is the brains,
and the family is glad.
That is why we work.

Popo's Haiku Birthday Wish

Wonderful woman,
Happy Birthday Mommio.
We love you a lot!

Daddio: 2/23/10 Blog of the Day

It's Mommio's BIRTHDAY!

In honor of your mother's birthday, I want you to write her a letter for her birthday telling her three different things.  The things can be anything you think is awesome about Mommio- your favorite memories of her, the funniest joke she ever told, the sweetest thing she ever said to you-- whatever you want.

The Toes: HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOMMIO!

 

Click here for the full-sized picture.

We love you a ton, Mommio.  Happy birthday!

Kiki: Blog Of The Day

Slider

By Kiki 

I will miss Slider.

He would go around my neck

when I would hold him.

Gabe: Blog Of The Day

I Wish You Didn't Die

By Gabe

I really did love

watching you eat a big mouse.

You were a great snake.

Mason: Blog Of The Day

I'll Miss Slider

By Mason

He was a great pet.

He was just so fun to hold

and I will miss him.

Connor: Blog of The Day

 Might King Snake

By Connor

The mighty king snake

slithers all around his cage.

He loves being held.

Marney: Blog Of The Day

I'll Remember

By Marney

I will remember,

he was a very good snake.

He was very cute.

Avery: Blog Of The Day

Memories

By Avery

You were a good pet.

You had an aquarium,

But now you are gone.

Daddio: 2/22/10 Blog of the Day

Create a haiku poem about Slider the Snake. Remember that a haiku poem is three lines, the first has only five syllables, the second has seven syllables and the third has five syllables. As an example, here's my haiku:

An Exercise in Frustration
A Haiku for Slider
By Daddio

You climbed up and tried
to push the lid off your cage,
but never escaped.

Mommio: Poe Live!

We are focusing on The Raven this week in our Poe unit study and I thought this was really cool!

Mommio: Our Week

Okay- so last week I was feeling so defeated by the ups and downs of illness at our house that I didn't even bother to post "Our Week", feeling sure we wouldn't stick to it anyway.  Boy- was I right! But now I am ready to take the plunge and commit to a weekly update...and am even feeling like we might actually do most of it.  Here goes...
M- morning school, Poe unit study, house chores, last family yoga class
T- My Birthday!, field trip to the Witte Museum in San Antonio (or a possible snow day if the forecast is right)
W- morning school, Poe unit study, play and help garden at Weaver's Bottom, D&D
T- morning school, Poe unit study, art, Ava-Gabe-Marney yoga class, Connor-Mason Teen Library League
F- morning school, Poe unit study, art and music class with Weaver's, family movie
S- yard chores (plant the garden), game night
S- family day (letterboxing), date night

Mommio: School Plan

We have also streamlined our actual school time a bit to start with the new daily schedule.  We cut out a bunch of smaller things the kids did each day and are going to focus more on the big, basic subjects.  I think they get more than enough of the other stuff in our non-structured school time.  So, four days a week the kids will each do math, reading, writing and Spanish.  They will also spend a few minutes each practicing their yoga and music.  Art, history and science are all fit in through out the week and on weekends....just not in the everyday 8-12 school time.  Here is a sample of what our daily assignment sheets look like right now:

Mommio: Mason's Archery

Mason and Nana completed their archery class yesterday.  They loved it and learned so much that Mason is getting ready to teach Gabe a six week archery class on his own.  Way to go Mason!

Daddio: RIP Slider- 2001-2010

Our king of a snake, Slider, has passed away.  He was the most awesome pet we ever had.  He never asked for much other than fresh water and a thawed mouse every couple of weeks.  After the first few months, he never minded being held or handled by us or the kids.

We saw it coming.  He's been acting sluggish and has refused to eat for many weeks.  When we woke up this morning, he wasn't moving.  In retrospect, considering that king snakes are native to central Texas, he lived a lot longer with us than he would have in the wild.  He was almost ten years old, but in the wild probably wouldn't have lived more than a couple of years.  So we can be proud that he lived a long happy life with us.

So when we think back on Slider, I want to remember his as the young, quick hunter-- like in this video where he fearlessly hunts down and ingests an already dead mouse:



Rest in peace, Slider.

Mommio: Daily Schedule

Here is a copy of the new daily schedule around here, the yoga classes don't all start right away but will soon.  The last part that got cut off is just family movie.  A few changes...more yoga classes, Mason is going to start teaching archery to his brothers and sisters (Gabe first), we have added another "school day" into the plan but the hours of "school" have been shortened so that our days are free after lunch (That will be great when it is hot enough to swim again!), we will be doing art and music at our place instead of Weaver's Bottom and Nana Day is being transformed into a field trip day with Nana.

Mommio: Spring Gardening

Today we started to get our garden ready for some spring planting.  The garden had been pretty neglected since last November so there was a lot of cleaning to do.  Here is the before picture:

 

Here's Gabe pulling up the broccoli that has gone to seed. The flowers were actually really pretty...

Kids weeding...

 

A friend Avery found in the garden this morning...
 

We have decided that we need more garden space now that we know what we really want to produce for eating (2 small rows of carrots just wasn't enough for 10 people!) so here are the kids making some new rows...

And after a few hours of hard work, here is the after picture of the clean garden ready to plant...

 

We still have plenty of lettuce, spinach, onions, mint and herbs growing right now.  Planting will begin next weekend!