Monkey and I decided to get a little crafty this year for her valentines.  Her homeschool enrichment program meets on Mondays and Wednesday and they are exchanging valentines this week.  Her teacher encouraged the kids to get a little creative with their valentines and so Monkey and I looked around online to see what we could find.  We discovered Valentine’s Day Fortune Cookies on a blog I visit (thanks, Brandi over at Not Your Average Ordinary) and they were ridiculously easy to make.

First, you find some craft felt at your local craft store.  We tested the idea with paper but it just didn’t turn out so well.  Trace a circle on the felt and cut it out.  We used a bowl and it worked out nicely for size.

Take some pipe-cleaners and cut them to the same length as the diameter of the circle.  Glue with tacky glue or fabric glue.  I guess you can use a hot glue gun, too, but this is what we had on hand.

Then place the pipe-cleaner along the center of the circle.

Glue a small section across one half of the circle…

… then fold over like a taco.

We made lots of tacos.

Then Monkey spent some time hand writing her own messages on little strips of paper.  She even came up with “You’re a “dog”gone good friend” all on her own.  It was for a friend who really likes dogs.  Can you believe it?  I giggled about that all afternoon.

Then she used fancy cutting scissors to make them look neat.

We slid the strips of paper inside our little “tacos” after they dried, then we folded them back over the middle and made our little fortune cookies!  And a pipe-cleaner heart just because we could.

And there you have a basket full of red Valentine Fortune Cookies.

I have two beautiful, creative and competitive cousins.  We visited their family after Christmas this year for the first time in quite a while and it was wonderful to hang out with them.  It was quite a big gathering with all the aunts, uncles and cousins that were there and the kids – boy did the kids ever have a good time.  It was wonderful!  But back to the sisters who are my cousins.  The two Little Men got matchbox cars as part of their Christmas gifts and they would play with them for a while then run off to find some other trouble to get into adventure and leave the cars in the family room.

The sisters decided to have a little fun.

First, the younger sister tried to stack three  cars and a helicopter.

Well, not to be outdone, the older sister stacked a set.

This went on for a little while, going back and forth between the two, and although I took several pictures, not too many of them turned out nice enough for me to post.  I’m not so good at low light macrophotography just yet.

Finally, big sis did it.

She made the bigger stack.

Car stacking is a gift.

I have a new hobby.  It’s Creative Copy Challenge.

I have never considered myself to be a “writer”.  Narrator, perhaps, since I tell stories about our family and such, but not so much the creative writer.  This challenge, though, is quite fun.  The site administrator gives you ten seemingly unrelated words or phrases and you must incorporate all of them into a story.  Long or short, doesn’t matter.  I’ve even seen some people skillfully create one sentence using all the words.

One sentence for me, not so much.

I love the challenge, though, of stretching the imagination and finding ways to create a story using all ten words.

If you have time, you should go to the site and read some of the stories.  They’re all under the comments sections for each challenge.  You’ll be amazed at the variety you’ll find.

I typed this up on Friday, but since I had already posted about my overly enthusiastic son, I thought I’d just schedule this one to post on Monday.  Hopefully, by the time you read this, the constant pain in my hip will be a memory.

Today I’m bedridden.  Not for any serious health issues or anything, but it is doctor’s orders.  This morning I had the joy and privilege of getting an injection into my hip joint.  I don’t like needles.  I’ve mentioned this before when I talked about my appointment with the hip specialist.

I was at the hospital this morning for almost 2 hours for a 13 minute procedure.  Long time, I know.  The hip injection using a fluoroscope is treated very much like a surgery only there’s no general anesthesia.  Instead, they do a “local” using a small amount of a numbing agent to numb the skin where they do the injection.  They send in the dye to make sure the medicine is going in the right place, then they inject the steroidal anti-inflammatory medication.  It really was quite quick and not nearly the “needle of death” that I was expecting.  This was one of those situations that I can truly say, and believe myself when I say it, that the waiting was the worse part.

My hip has been marinating in cortizone since 10:00 this morning.  I hope it’s going to work.

Anyway, because they want the medicine to stay as close to the joint as possible, and because of the numbing agent they added to the cortizone inside the hip (to provide immediate relief from the pain while the cortizone works), the discharge orders were to “take it easy” for the rest of the day.

So I’ve been sitting in bed, surfing the internet, researching homeschool curriculae, finishing a book that’s overdue (The Apostle by Brad Thor.  In case you were curious) and basically enjoying not having to do anything for a while.  Oh, and I did manage to teach math and Language Arts to Monkey.  That was easy.

The kids have been remarkably well behaved.

Trey has been wonderfully helpful when I’ve needed it (and he’s cooking dinner tonight, too – yum!)

Maybe getting the hip injection wasn’t so bad after all.

Little Man has a new thing.  It’s waking up happy.  No, that’s not right, not happy – elated.  No, that’s not right either.  Ok, so maybe I can’t my words right, but I think you get the idea.  No?  Well, here, let me explain.

Three mornings ago, he burst from his room, running down the hall yelling something.  I have no idea what.  It could have been “BONZAI” and it would have totally fit.  Normally, I hear him rustling in his room as he’s waking up, turning on the light, that sort of thing.  Oh, no.  Not this morning.  Why bother with such trivialities as lights when life is waiting for you?

Two mornings ago, I heard him before he reached his closed door.  ”Wah HOO!  Wah HOO!”  He opened his door and practically danced into our room, chanting “wah hoo!”  I asked him why he was in such a good mood and he tells me, quite frankly and in that how-can-you-really-ask-me-that tone, “Because it’s morning-time.”

This morning was a duplicate of two mornings ago.  ”Wah HOO” echoes down the hall and Little Man celebrates another day.

Shouldn’t we all be that way?  Shouldn’t we all wake up with joy in our hearts and celebrate the new day?  It’s another gift; another opportunity to get things right; another opportunity to connect with a friend or family member.  For this is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.  Right?

I think tomorrow I’ll shout “Wah HOO” when I wake up.  Especially if I see 6 inches of snow on the ground

Can someone out there please explain to me the boy’s obsession with crashes and explosions?  Everything Little Man touches ends up in some kind of exploding crash.  Supersonic Bad Guy Blasters are made from Legos or even Lincoln Logs.  Spit flies from his lips as the sound effects flow freely for those exploding bad guys.  Did I tell you that over Thanksgiving, one of his teachers asked Little Man what he was thankful for?  Spiders was one and exploding bad guys was the other.  Yep, all boy.

I can’t even begin to tell you how many times he’s broken parts of his transformers while in the middle of some tirade against an invisible enemy.  Good thing they’re built to “break” at the joints.  I’m guessing the prototypes of the toys actually got broken a few times before the powers that be designed them to literally come apart at the seams.

He’s such a nut, that boy.  I just wish he’d quit exploding and crashing things in the loudest parts of the house.  They’re hurting my ears….

It’s January and remarkably close to February.  I’ve been a homeschooling mom for about 5 months now.  I don’t think I’ve ruined Monkey yet, but there’s still time.

I have learned a few things about myself during this time.  I’m not very good at following through on some things.  My lesson plans aren’t so much plans as they are just the idea of something I want to get done at some time or another.

Thankfully, the enrichment program that Monkey is attending handles many of the tougher subjects for me like music, science and yes – art.  Ironic, I know.  I have a degree in art.  I should be able to teach art, but I’m no so good at it.  So, I’m thankful that part of her education is taken care of at the enrichment program.

Monkey is a voracious reader.  I’ve been keeping a list of all the different books she has read since we started school back in August.  Admittedly, I have missed a few and didn’t write them down, but I have listed over 125 books.  The cool thing is that these are not simple books.  These are articulate chapter books and non-fiction books.  I love that she loves to read.

She’s getting a very strong math and language arts base, learning about ancient world history and we practice a little writing.  Right now, we’re using the Writing With Ease curriculum, but I’ll be honest, people.  I’m not completely sold on how this program will teach Monkey to be a creative writer.  She wrote better stories last year with her original first grade teacher.

We’ve started a new ongoing project, though, that I’m kindof proud of.  I’m sure it’s not original, but it’s getting her to read biographies and remembering some of what she reads.  She reads a book then writes in her notebook 5 facts she remembers about that person.  In my mind, it’s helping her learn about important people in history and teaching her to glean important information from what she reads.  Whether or not it’s actually working that way remains to be seen.

I still worry, though, about gaps in her education.  Is she learning everything that she’s supposed to be learning right now?  How will she perform on her scholastic test in 2 months?  Is she really comprehending all that she is reading?

I guess we’ll find out in a couple of months, huh?  Like I said at the beginning, there’s still time yet for me to ruin her.

Some of you may recall my ongoing issue with my hip.  I’ve been through physical therapy for it, had an MRI for it and just yesterday was seen by a hip specialist.  Here’s the deal.  I have arthritis.  I’m 38 years old and this mess started 4 years ago.  Really???  Aren’t I a little young for this?  Apparently not.

My hip is showing some cartilage damage, enough that there are fissures – or cracks – in the cartilage where you can see bone peeking through (grade III out of IV).  Thankfully, though, the MRI showed that all the muscle, most of the tendons and the bone is healthy and getting good blood flow.  There is swelling in the marrow but that’s typical of bone injuries and I guess this counts as one.  The doctor didn’t seem too concerned about that.

There is some fluid in the hip joint which is typical of inflammation and the tendons on the outside of the hip (they’re attached to the extensor muscles) have micro tears in them; which is why it would be painful to lift my leg out to the side.

The doctor tells me no hip replacement surgery.  Was this really an option???  Again, I’m only 38!!  If my MRI and xrays had shown some kind of genital defect, like hip dysplasia, then he would be a little more inclined to try it, but thankfully, none of that here.  Plus, can you imagine the ribbing I would get from my friends?  Hip replacement surgery?  Hip dysplasia?  Yeah, it would never end.

So, the next option is both therapeutic and diagnostic.  I get to go get a cortisone injection in my hip.  Oh, goody.  And this is no ordinary “go see the nurse or PA” kind of hip injection.  This is the “go to the hospital and get in the fluoroscope xray thingy so the doctor can actually SEE the needle going into the joint” kind of injection.  Not so much fun.  I don’t like needles anyway.  I have no idea how I survived all the blood draws I had to have during my pregnancies, the Alaskan pipeline of a needle for the amniocentesis or any of the IV’s I had to have while hospitalized for, during and after my c-section.  I don’t like needles.  This is NOT going to be fun.

According to the doctor, if the pain goes away for a short time (a few weeks) then returns, diagnostically speaking, we know the pain is coming from something more than just inflammation.  That’s the diagnostic part.  If it takes much longer for the pain to return, that’s the  treatment part.  I can get these shots no more often than every three months.  I was hoping for not ever.  I guess we’ll see.  My injection is scheduled for next Friday.

I’m soooooo not looking forward to it.

I’ve noticed something lately.  In yet another way have I become like my mother.  I have been driving around without the radio on, asking – no, instructing – the children to not talk.  Shocking, I know.  But with the noise my kids make, working with other people’s children twice a week, noise of everyday life, I feel the need for some quiet time where ever I can find it.  So lately, that’s my car.

Have you ever noticed just how noisy life has become?  All around you there’s noise, NOISE, NOISE! (Am I the only one who heard the Grinch just then?)  Cell phones, TV’s, radios, cars, horns, alarms, dogs, cats, engines, ipods, sirens, construction, computers.  Noise is everywhere.  I mean, right now, Little Man is upstairs kicking the table while he eats his snack.  Monkey can’t seem to keep from talking.  Ever.  Except when her nose is in a book or her DS game.  The dogs are continuing their growling debate over who’s in charge.

Even at night, after the kids go to bed, there’s the noise of the TV and the supersonic boom of the commercials that just can’t seem to keep their volume control controlled.  Have we all become so… what’s the word?  Sedate?  Nonchalant?  in our lives that we have to have our eardrums pounded with noise just to grab our attention?

Maybe it’s because I live in the city, but I’m tired of being surrounded by noise.  Ok, wait, that’s not entirely true.  Some “noise” I like.  I like to hear children playing in the neighborhood (even though we don’t have many in our ‘hood); I like to hear Little Man and Monkey playing together – that is, right up until they start screaming at each other and somebody ends up crying – usually Monkey.  I don’t mind the sound of the rain falling or a fire crackling in the fire place.

But sometimes, I want to be out in the country, on my screened in back porch, rocking along and reading, listening to the “silence” that can only be found outside city limits.  I even like the cascading noise of the cicadas.

But in the meantime, don’t ask to listen to any music in my car and if you want to talk to me you might have to ask me to take out the ear plugs first.

“I left my patience at home.”

“I’m over it.” Over what? “I’m over all this driving”

“Mommy, that’s the last hug you get” Why? “Because I stole all your hugs….  Weeelll, maybe I have a few more.”

(and from a three-and-a-half-year-old – Little Man’s little cousin)

“No, my dad goes to Thailand to fly with strangers.” His daddy has done mission work in Thailand.

“I got my flu shot at the animal clinic.” They take donated stuffed animals to a health clinic.

“You people are giving me a nervous breakdown.”