Where have you been?

We have been busy and I have been taking pictures-lots of pictures as a matter of fact. I have also been busy learning how to manipulate the software to do what I would like with the photos.

So, you ever get in your vehicle to head out on an adventure with your family and think, "Gee, the whole world smells like french fries!" Once you arrive @ your destination you of course realize it must be your vehicle. My truck doesn't have any trash in it @ this time. We have committed ourselves to taking everything out of it every time we leave it. It hasn't been vacuumed in months however. I am thinking I must have some stow away french fries between the seats somewhere!

We have been busy. This week we had some friends over and we visited some friends. We also watched Dinosaurs @ the newly renovated Imax near us-I couldn't tell it had been renovated. There was new paint! We have been pet sitting one of our friends' dogs. Our family has tiny dogs. Our friends' dog is much larger. He is still a puppy and very playful. He desperately wants to play with our little dogs, they however are extremely intimidated by a dog 10 times their size, go figure!

Mady had her first vet tech event to attend yesterday. The group visited a vet's office in a nearby town to learn about e-rays and sonograms. Dom took the girls shopping yesterday and to watch a movies. Once Mady was home she was excited to tell me all about the visit. The kids viewed e-rays and sonograms of dogs. She had pictures and the vet's office gave the kids the office web address so they could visit the site and read the information they had been presented with that day as well. There is a huge homework section, which, initially, I was concerned about. Mady seemed excited by it, good for her. Last week she thought she wanted to expand her pet siting business and this week she said she just wants to do one a month or so.

Niki signed up for soccer! We have been watching the olympics and discussing how much time, effort, dedication, and love of a sport a person must have to go so far. We looked up Michael Phelps bio and read it. He began swimming @ the age of 7 only bc his sisters were doing it. You should read his training schedule-now that is dedication.

In other news, our family has been talking a great deal about people around the world-spured on by the olympics. We have decided to attempt to meet people with more diverse backgrounds. We know many middle class, white folks, we think it is time to meet some different people and see how they live. What they eat, how they celebrate their country's holidays, their roles as family members, and members od society. I think we can meet many people @ the UU church about 40 mintues from us. We are planning to begin visitng next weekend.

In still other news, my sister gave us invitations to her graduation! I cannot believe it is already here! I am so proud of her. I am interested to see which direction she will go in the future. There are so many opportunities in the criminal field. She has always been interested in forensics, it fascinates our entire family. I think maybe bc our dad was a medical examiner when we were young. We were privy to pictures and stories most kids our age never thought of. I think many people are grossed out by stories of severed heads in vehicular manslaughter cases,for some reason, they were intriguing to me and my sister. Congratulations Aunt Jessie! I will be there with the camera!

The boys have been chatting up a storm. We read everyday, so I attribute their vast vocabulary to the 2 years of stories we have under our belts. Ezra is sitting here in my lap as I type this-maybe he will pick up on that soon as well! We have been playing scrabble often too. Yesterday the boys were helping me pick-up the pieces, after Niki decided she no longer wanted to play, and Ezra handed me a tile. As he handed it to me, he said "T!" I took the tile from his tiny fingers and was surprised to see the letter "T!" Maybe not so surprised. We have been playing it often with the boys around. I just didn't realize they had been paying so much attention. Ezra put on one of his dinosaur t-shirts the other day. When he walked out of his room he pointed to his shirt and said Trisaratops! Luke can count to 2. Anything he sees there are 2 of he has to tell us!

The learning is clearly happening. Still the issues with Dominic continue. I have agreed to meet him in the middle. The middle wasn't a problem. Now he is really pushing it. He wants to see papers. I think I am going to get some printer paper and begin making a portfolio. I am not going to subject the kids to sitting @ a table doing paperwork. I don't feel our children are going to be missing some vital skills in their adulthood bc they didn't sit @ a table and do papers. I feel they need to be incorporated in the "real" world in order to acquire the skills they need. Dom has agreed to take them shopping which will help with there math.