So, "Baby Basil" outgrew the nursery over the weekend as well and we moved it outside to live next to "Baby Dill". It rained every day for the past 5 days and I think the Basil drowned!! Are you kidding me? Next time, I'm just going to keep it on the windowsill in the kitchen so Bean can monitor the water intake.
Wow, I can't believe it's only two weeks until we get to visit my parents. Bean and I are so excited!! Our new LL Bean backpacks came in the mail yesterday, so I'm working on finding stuff to put into Bean's so she'll be occupied on the flights. Mine, of course, will be filled with all my meds, glucometer, contact lens stuff and a "few" books. I have to say, these backpacks are much more roomy than they looked in the catalog. I hope I can find enough stuff here to make Bean's look "not too empty".
Not much else going on around here. All of Bean's dance classes are gearing up for the recital next weekend. I'm desperately trying to get the steps to the Treble Reel up to speed for my recital dance. Pray for me!!
TTFN~
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Friday, May 25, 2007
Done with 6th grade!
Great news! We wrapped up 6th grade this morning with 5 Daily Grams (yeah, yeah, I know it isn't supposed to be 5 a day, but it was all we had left!), a final exam in Botany (Bean got 100%! WOOHOO!), a completed IEW composition and the last few chapters of The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis.
Her composition was one where she had to try taking notes out of her own head. She chose Irish Dance as her topic and did two paragraphs: one about how frustrating it can be and one about how much fun it is in spite of the frustration. I thought she did great!!
We had a great year and are SO looking forward to our next year in homeschool. I can't believe we've finished six years already!
TTFN!
Her composition was one where she had to try taking notes out of her own head. She chose Irish Dance as her topic and did two paragraphs: one about how frustrating it can be and one about how much fun it is in spite of the frustration. I thought she did great!!
We had a great year and are SO looking forward to our next year in homeschool. I can't believe we've finished six years already!
TTFN!
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Baby Dill outgrew the "Nursery"
The good news is that Bean apparently didn't inherit my black thumbs, but did inherit my mom's green thumbs!! WOOHOO!!
Her light hut experiment for Botany worked out so well!! The peppermint never did come up, but the dill and the basil are doing great!! And, I've heard, that basil is supposed to be hard to grow. Way to go, Bean!! This week, the dill finally got too tall for the light hut and had to be moved outside. I think Bean will need to repot it to a larger pot before we leave for Texas. Hopefully, dh will not forget to water it!!
Bean says she wants to grow some more herbs in the light hut. I think we'll try to get some new peppermint seeds while we are at home and plant them when we get back.
TTFN!
Bean says she wants to grow some more herbs in the light hut. I think we'll try to get some new peppermint seeds while we are at home and plant them when we get back.
TTFN!
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Book Club!!
For the past four weeks, Bean has been participating in a homeschool book club run by one of the other moms in our local homeschool group. The first book she chose for them to read was Island of the Blue Dolphins. One of the things I love about this club is that the leader assigns each kid a project to do based on the book. Bean's project was to write a report about a real-life survival story. She chose to write about Bethany Hamilton.
Soul Surfer
Surfer Bethany Hamilton, 13, lost her left arm to a vicious tiger shark attack in Hawaii. She went surfing October 31, 2003, with her friends in the “tunnels,” a great place to catch up to 80 foot waves. She was on her surfboard lying parallel to the waves when the ravenous 14-foot tiger shark chomped off her left arm and took a big bite from her board in 2-3 seconds. Bethany told her friend, Holt, that she was attacked by a shark; he didn’t believe her until he saw the blood in the water. Holt swam towards her and used his rash guard as a tourniquet. All she could do now was pray, while her friend’s father rushed Bethany to the hospital. Fortunately, Bethany’s father was going to have a routine knee surgery there and she took his place in surgery. Bethany lost 70% of her blood volume that day. It was her favorite board, with the Scriptures she had written on it, that got bitten. Within a month of the attack, she was back on her board and within three months, she was competing again. Bethany has chosen to overcome her circumstance through the power of Jesus Christ. 2 years ago, she visited the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center to pray for and talk to the wounded troops. She has written an autobiography of her life titled Soul Surfer and this year a movie is being released on DVD about the attack and her recovery. She is Bethany Hamilton: a soul surfer without a left arm.
Bean has been working very hard on incorporating what she has learned with IEW into her other writing assignments. I love to see how her confidence has grown in this area!! Last year at this time, if she had been asked to write a report, she would have tried to convince me to let her drop out of the book club. When she was given this assignment, she didn't even bat an eyelash. She knew right away what her subject would be and just went about it like she'd been writing reports for years! I'm so grateful that homeschooling affords us the option to try different things so that kids can overcome their difficulties (instead of being faced with a lifetime of failure!). I love homeschooling!!!
TTFN!
Bean has been working very hard on incorporating what she has learned with IEW into her other writing assignments. I love to see how her confidence has grown in this area!! Last year at this time, if she had been asked to write a report, she would have tried to convince me to let her drop out of the book club. When she was given this assignment, she didn't even bat an eyelash. She knew right away what her subject would be and just went about it like she'd been writing reports for years! I'm so grateful that homeschooling affords us the option to try different things so that kids can overcome their difficulties (instead of being faced with a lifetime of failure!). I love homeschooling!!!
TTFN!
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Paris!!!
We just got home yesterday from our family trip to Paris. It was delightful!! We stayed at the Holiday Inn at Disneyland Paris. It was inexpensive and had free parking. Disneyland Paris is laid out much better than Walt Disney World because the entrances to Disneyland, Walt Disney Studios, and Disney Village are only a few short steps from each other. AND, there's a train station right there at the park entrance, so we were able to take the bus from the hotel to the park, hop on the train to Paris and see everything we wanted to see for a low daily ticket price.
We spent Wednesday at Disneyland. Here are my very own Beauty and my own (cuddly) Beast standing on Main Street U.S.A. (in Paris!) in front of their castle 
Next stop was Adventureland to see the Pirates of the Carribbean. The ride was slightly different, and not just because the pirates were speaking French. LOL
We also hit Frontierland (Big Thunder Mountain) and Discoveryland (Space Mountain: Mission 2, Star Tours and Buzz Lightyear). Hearing Buzz say "To infinity and beyond!" in French was a hoot!!
On Thursday, we went to Walt Disney Studios. There wasn't much to do there. They are opening two new rides based on Cars next month, so hopefully that will spice up that park a bit. Bean says she doesn't feel we need to rush back for the opening of the Twilight Zone: Tower of Terror, though. I guess riding that once at Disney-MGM was enough for her. We finally did catch up with our favorite mouse there, though.
It was too bad the character and the cast members all acted like Bean was too old to be wanting her picture taken with Mickey! I think you're never too old for that. Bean was very surprised to find that is she is now taller than The Mouse. After lunch, we headed back to Disneyland and re-rode our favorite rides for the rest of the day.
On Friday, we took the train into Paris. Our first stop was the Louvre. Luckily, one of my best friends (hi Michele!) gave us a tip about getting the Paris Museum Pass. It made getting into the museums so much quicker. Once inside the Louvre (which is HUGE and very confusing!), we headed right for the Mona Lisa. Everyone had told me she would be smaller than I expected, but she is really tiny! They don't let you take pictures in her gallery or the surrounding salons. We also checked out the Venus de Milo and Michelangelo's Escaping Slave. We talked about how the Greeks loved to have the sculpture twisting to give the impression of movement. Bean preferred the older statuary:
We ate lunch at the cafeteria under the pyramid. It was very tasty. I highly approve of the French approach to sandwiches: everything starts with bread and butter. No mayo! WOOOHOOO!! After lunch, we headed out of the Louvre and started our trek up the Champs des Elysses.
We found a crepe stand in the park and let Bean try her first Chocolate Crepe. Ooh la la!
Once we reached the Arc de Triomphe, we climbed the 300+ circular, non-ending stairs to reach the top. There were great views from every side of the Arc. Here you can see down the Champs de Elysses with the Louvre at the end.
Once we had all caught our breath from the climb, we went back down, found the Metro station and went over to the Tour Eiffel. There were a TON of people waiting to take the rickety-looking elevators to the top for 15€ each. I still had a knot in my calf from our climb up the Arc, so paying 4€ each to climb the just-as-rickety-looking stairs didn't really appeal to me either. We just took pictures from the ground. If you look closely, you might be able to see me, Bean and Paris Minnie there at the bottom.
On Saturday, we again took the train into Paris and headed for Notre Dame.
It was too bad there were about 50 people already in line to climb the 422 circular steps to the top, so we had to skip that. We did go to the Archeological Crypt to see the ruins they have found from the settlement that pre-dates the construction of Notre Dame.
Our final stop on our whirlwind tour of Paris was at the Musee d'Orsay which features artists from the Pre-Impressionism and Impressionist movements. I got to see my favorite Monet there:
We had a great time!! Bean and I plan to go back again and spend more time at the Louvre. Plus, Michele told us about this great place near there to get Hot Chocolate: Paris style. I can't wait!
TTFN!
Next stop was Adventureland to see the Pirates of the Carribbean. The ride was slightly different, and not just because the pirates were speaking French. LOL
We also hit Frontierland (Big Thunder Mountain) and Discoveryland (Space Mountain: Mission 2, Star Tours and Buzz Lightyear). Hearing Buzz say "To infinity and beyond!" in French was a hoot!!
On Thursday, we went to Walt Disney Studios. There wasn't much to do there. They are opening two new rides based on Cars next month, so hopefully that will spice up that park a bit. Bean says she doesn't feel we need to rush back for the opening of the Twilight Zone: Tower of Terror, though. I guess riding that once at Disney-MGM was enough for her. We finally did catch up with our favorite mouse there, though.
It was too bad the character and the cast members all acted like Bean was too old to be wanting her picture taken with Mickey! I think you're never too old for that. Bean was very surprised to find that is she is now taller than The Mouse. After lunch, we headed back to Disneyland and re-rode our favorite rides for the rest of the day.
On Friday, we took the train into Paris. Our first stop was the Louvre. Luckily, one of my best friends (hi Michele!) gave us a tip about getting the Paris Museum Pass. It made getting into the museums so much quicker. Once inside the Louvre (which is HUGE and very confusing!), we headed right for the Mona Lisa. Everyone had told me she would be smaller than I expected, but she is really tiny! They don't let you take pictures in her gallery or the surrounding salons. We also checked out the Venus de Milo and Michelangelo's Escaping Slave. We talked about how the Greeks loved to have the sculpture twisting to give the impression of movement. Bean preferred the older statuary:
We ate lunch at the cafeteria under the pyramid. It was very tasty. I highly approve of the French approach to sandwiches: everything starts with bread and butter. No mayo! WOOOHOOO!! After lunch, we headed out of the Louvre and started our trek up the Champs des Elysses.
We found a crepe stand in the park and let Bean try her first Chocolate Crepe. Ooh la la!
Once we reached the Arc de Triomphe, we climbed the 300+ circular, non-ending stairs to reach the top. There were great views from every side of the Arc. Here you can see down the Champs de Elysses with the Louvre at the end.
Once we had all caught our breath from the climb, we went back down, found the Metro station and went over to the Tour Eiffel. There were a TON of people waiting to take the rickety-looking elevators to the top for 15€ each. I still had a knot in my calf from our climb up the Arc, so paying 4€ each to climb the just-as-rickety-looking stairs didn't really appeal to me either. We just took pictures from the ground. If you look closely, you might be able to see me, Bean and Paris Minnie there at the bottom.
On Saturday, we again took the train into Paris and headed for Notre Dame.
It was too bad there were about 50 people already in line to climb the 422 circular steps to the top, so we had to skip that. We did go to the Archeological Crypt to see the ruins they have found from the settlement that pre-dates the construction of Notre Dame.
Our final stop on our whirlwind tour of Paris was at the Musee d'Orsay which features artists from the Pre-Impressionism and Impressionist movements. I got to see my favorite Monet there:
We had a great time!! Bean and I plan to go back again and spend more time at the Louvre. Plus, Michele told us about this great place near there to get Hot Chocolate: Paris style. I can't wait!
TTFN!
Tuesday, May 8, 2007
Salzburg Feis
We just got back from the feis in Salzburg. Bean did SO well!! Here she is in her dress (yes, it's bright! no, the reflection isn't from the dress! LOL), heavy shoes and wig: 
She placed really well in all her events. Her best placement was 4th in the Beginner Hornpipes. She's doing so well for someone who is new to competing in dance.
One of the highlights of the trip was meeting Dean Crouch. His Irish Dance CD is our absolute favorite, especially the Reel Medley 1. It was actually that tune that inspired me to finally polish up my Primary Reel! If you think Dean looks like a baby, you are right! He is a former World Champion Irish Dancer, has 2 CDs of music available and he's only 17!!!
Because of long hours at the feis, we didn't get a chance to do too much sightseeing. We found this lovely fountain as we were walking to a restaurant on Saturday evening:
After dinner, while walking back to our hotel, we happened across this site. It is the graveyard that inspired the cemetary scene from The Sound of Music!
There will be another feis in Salzburg around this time next year. Bean and I plan to go up a day early and actually tour the city a bit.
TTFN!
She placed really well in all her events. Her best placement was 4th in the Beginner Hornpipes. She's doing so well for someone who is new to competing in dance.
One of the highlights of the trip was meeting Dean Crouch. His Irish Dance CD is our absolute favorite, especially the Reel Medley 1. It was actually that tune that inspired me to finally polish up my Primary Reel! If you think Dean looks like a baby, you are right! He is a former World Champion Irish Dancer, has 2 CDs of music available and he's only 17!!!
Because of long hours at the feis, we didn't get a chance to do too much sightseeing. We found this lovely fountain as we were walking to a restaurant on Saturday evening:
After dinner, while walking back to our hotel, we happened across this site. It is the graveyard that inspired the cemetary scene from The Sound of Music!
There will be another feis in Salzburg around this time next year. Bean and I plan to go up a day early and actually tour the city a bit.
TTFN!
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