Nakita Baby

So commences a new year. I somehow can’t believe how long this blog has been alive. Though I suppose I am not the best poster (child) for bloggers, but I vow to give it a better try this year. Today marks the third day of a horrific tragedy in Haiti. Record breaking earthquake has completely destroyed the capital and surrounding. So many disbelieving photos coming through the airways. Really has put things much more in prospective for our family. The kids have seen some of the images… lots and lots of discussions going on with each moment of the last couple of days. We have done our part and the kids seem somewhat better about being able to help children in Haiti who need it, but I also feel (and I do as well) that it just does not replace the fact that their parents are missing and/or dead. It’s just horrifically tragic there’s not much more that can be said. Hard to digest. Can’t even fathom what it might be to be living this.

My thoughts go deep into these tragedies. I ponder the ‘why’ to many of these massive life-changing events. Just a few days ago there was a full hour special on TV regarding the massive Tsunami that hit in the East. It’s daunting to see those details as well and hear from the victims and their stories. Many of them still so raw even five years later. Is this the earth’s voice to us? Is this the higher power? Is this natural fate? Why do certain people experience these things in their lives while others escape? What did they now know/see/do before this and what has changed for them now? There are just so many unanswered, and yet here it happens again.

Hmmmmmm.

Reflecting on our month so far, it’s been quite peaceful. And for this, I am feel quite lucky. The schedule will pick up soon. The classes will kick into full gear and our weeks will fly by so fast. New Year’s Day we trekked out to Wauconda to have a brunch with family. SBJ needed to work this day, so it was just me and the kiddos on this trek. I find these things challenging with out him around. But it was nice. Great G’ma was in town just a couple days, so this was to welcome her and the new year. P and J made it out there as well, and htat was nice to at least get to see them one more time before they headed back to CA. That weekend usually marks the day that we take down the xmas decorations. I always find this a catch22 day. It’s so great to get all that stuff out of the way. After 5-ish weeks of having the tree up and decorations in the window, it’s refreshing to get our view back. But on the complete flip-side if feels like “oh crap… it’s winter”. The start of winter is always so easy with the holiday stir, and then when it’s gone I feel harshly reminded that it’s winter… and… there’s still a good 3 more months of it to go. Yuck.

Ah, well, part of the reason to book the schedule though. Without the business I could very easily hibernate the whole winter. Their busy schedules gets me out of the house ; ) It’s good for all of us.

There was a fantastic EHE meeting that week. It was the small-group discussion which is always a nice way to get to know people a little more. This was after a day of sledding with friends. I think I was insane for giving into this notion. It was no more than 20… in fact windshield was probably well below. The wind wiped my face. It was painful and I had to recover from wind burn for the next 2-3 days. At least it went away! I was a little worried there for a minute.

We visited with Great G’ma again that week, our first open gym day, sledding, playdates and D’s sports classes started up. She is taking karate and gymnastics back-to-back on Saturdays at Robert Crown. She’s had her first round and just loved it. We then had a special date afterwards. Took her out for lunch and enjoyed her for a few hours to myself. Later that evening I was fortunate enough to have a special date with K as well. We went to see a fabulous show, As You Like It, that was put on by the local homeschool theater group, Thin Ice. It was fabulous and a great time with K. After that we grabbed a donut as DD and chatted for a bit before returning home. I love those opportunities to get one of them one-on-one. It’s special and I know they love it as well. It’s hard to be with everyone 24/7 and not get that time to spotlight. So that was a really special day for each of us.

I ventured to the NUG parents meeting that week and just so glad I did. It’s always been a group of really great women/families that I would love to get to know more. I need to make more effort to do so. It was such a great evening out and great conversation. Its experiences like this that make me realize how much I’m lacking in my needs in this journey and need to do something to adjust that, if even a bit.

Oh! I nearly forgot. That was our first day of our Trivia Mania class and Girls Club. Both were a huge hit, as well as the lunch afterwards. I feel it got off to a really great start, just a few nip and tucks here and there. Namely the lunch afterwards where complete chaos broke out. But the parents involved in the group are so incredibly supportive and lots of fantastic ideas thrown out about how we can change all of that. Looking forward to the next class!

G’pa treated us to a morning of bowling at this cool new place near his house. What an amazing deal for a mom/child bowling morning. Amazing $5 for per child, parent free, unlimited bowling and a buffet of fruit for the kids as well. It was a really nice time with him and Great G’ma as well. That was our last visit with her as she is heading back to FL this Monday. Looking forward to planning a trip down there to visit her … hopefully soon.

Today was our second open gym day and K is really having hard time with this class. It’s nice that it’s a free open space for them to create games and enjoy buring off some cabin fever and pent up energy. However, this too, can lead to some issues that’s harder for some to cope with. Hopefully with time and a supportive community this can change. Otherwise I can see him getting quite sick of it and dropping out as he has with other things in the past. Not to say that I can blame him much though. It’s not easy to feel like the only person wanting to play peacefully and respectfully with others, and then feeling like your friends are choosing sides (and not your own). Challenging in deed. And when I am trying relentless to help him keep his cool…. I could not blame him if he couldn’t one of these times.

Tomorrow is fun times with new friends. Feel blessed to have met them and have them in our lives. The evolving friendship is lovely and everyone here really appreciates everyone in their home. Very cool family and really enjoy spending time with them.

The weekend brings D’s sports classes again, and then Sunday brings meetings for me. I so look forward to the Parents’ Social, but it surrounded by work meetings. This makes me a bit tense. Hopefully I can help K get himself squared away for Trivia before then or Sunday could be really hectic!

This is a group organized to correspond around the world and back! I am a returned U. S. Peace Corps Volunteer. I served in The Gambia, West Africa from July 1997 through December 1999. During this time I participated in this amazing program called the World Wise Scools. I spent a long time corresponding with my own third grade teacher and her class back in the States. In fact, this was her last year before retirement and this made the correspondence even more special. Because of the impact it had on the kids in The Gambia, I felt it would be a great thing to do with my kids here in the States. I approached WWS to see if they would match us as a homeschool group and they obliged. This was about a year back, and since we have matched with a PCV in The Gambia, West Africa, as well as three others working and living in Morocco, Armenia, and Mongolia. It’s been a fabulous opportunity for us to exchange with these great PCV’s and the kids in their schools and their communities.

If you’d like to participate as well, please contact me with any inquiries. This is a very open and casual group. We gather once we have received packages from overseas. You can stop in any time and participate as much as your family would like.

Questions? Drop me a note.

At this point December is much a blur. But in a very good way. Not those kind of blurs where you are thrilled “that is over”, but one of those blurs that leaves you feeling pretty blissfully happy about life in general. Yea, that’s the kinda bliss that everyone strives for, and that’s the kind of bliss I strive for as much as my mind, body and soul will possibly allow. Heck, no one is perfect, and I don’t like the moments where the negative takes over, but deep breath. Deep breath again and you just might get back to that bliss sooner than you’d think.

So as I mentioned before the weekend after Thanksgiving SBJ is yet again sucked back into work and we are sucked head first into craft making! Oiy, oiye, yoi…. (if that’s how you even spell!) …. but yes, of course, we had known about this homeschool craft fair for months. Literally months. I think it was announced some time in the spring or summer, and here we are the week before getting ready. Of course. Such is my life. I am such a procrastinator. For me it tends to work well. I’m a muller. I like to mull these things over in my head for a long time. I’m like a crock pot! Yea, that’s it. I have beautiful end results, but it tends to always be at the very last second.

I realize, however, this is not such a great thing for my kiddos who just may not be that way. I really can’t quite figure out how K operates. He is much like SBJ, and SBJ, from what I’ve gathered, tends to stew quite a bit as well. He takes a really really long time to do things, and then just suddenly decides to do them. I see K much in the same way… not to far from what I do I suppose. D could work on things little by little for sure. She loves to do different things all of the time and really just a little bit at time as well. She’s not so great at sitting down and completing something in one sitting. But she loves to do anything you throw in front of her.

Ok. So at any rate, we are down to the wire and have one week to get it together. I had the ideas in my head, so I knew what we’d do. K and D and I had discussed them over and over and they were pretty excited about everything. We ended up making “rock dudes”:

And snow globes. Then some other little things. Painted picture frames, ornaments, put out the batiks from TG and a couple of Mei Tai’s I had not sold yet. (Would you believe I sold 2 of 3 that I brought! That was sooooo exciting for me. Really had not anticipated that. Even sold a few batiks!)

We worked around the clock on everything. All of the goods turned out fabulously and were WELL loved. We made a nice chunk of money and just had such a fun time with everyone at the fair. It was really a blast. A great experience for all!

Calculating the totals from the craft fair I was quite interested and pleased that the kids decided to save their share. They have been super duper at putting money away and saving it. I am not overly sure what they might be saving it for, but they think long and hard before money leaves their bank. It’s a great thing to see. They worked really really hard for that craft fair event and they really appreciated the wealth they came home with! It was such a great experience for us and can’t wait till next year’s!

Classes were winding down right around mid-December so things began to get quiet in that sense, but got busy with holiday stuff. D had her Girl Scout Investiture Ceremony which was sweet. She was quite proud of the entire thing and so pleased that SBJ could make it as well. She’s found herself a nice little niche there and I’m pleased that she loves it so much. It’s a beautiful group of families and their kiddos. I am quite pleased that she’s just so smitten.

Oh! But that day! They had the opportunity to enjoy a “first snow fall” just days before this. That night of the ceremony we had to drive out in this wintry, snowy, icey, blizzardy mess to get there. Wow! What timing. But it was well worth seeing her glow up there!

We had playdatesset up that week, and special time with Grandpa. He actually joined us on this Homeschool Roller Skating day that was a blast. D loved the skating. She was going to conquer it no matter what. K gave it a good try really. He is not the most sporty-type dude, but he gave it a great shot and was pretty okthat it was over when it was Then S just out-right refused to get on the floor. I got him to go around just once in his boots! He would not put on the clip-on skates, and he would not even ride in the play ride-on car they had out for the little ones. And when I went out to give it a whirl, he was pretty upset I abandoned him with G’pa. All-in-all though, he just loved watching it! He had no problem standing right up at the wall and watching the entire thing. He really seemed to have a blast doing just that. It was so much fun to have the whole place to ourselves and they played such fun music. I think we will have to give that a whirl again soon.

After that outting G’pa joined us for lunch and then showed us to Uncle J’s music shop. That was a very cool field trip. Uncle J took us in quite nicely, despite it being a big surprise visit. He showed the kids all sorts of things *and* sent us home with a flute! Very cool.

That weekend I finally got around to getting holiday cards together. It was not the easiest task this year. Time seems to be of the essence these days and I really debated on whether the effort would be put into it. I made only 15 ornaments this year, but sent out 50 cards. I think that was a pefect happy medium for me. I like doing the ornaments, but I know that it’s a ton of effort not always appreciated. So it felt like a nice balance for me. The cards were a collage of pix from the year. That was fun to paste together.

We had our holiday cookie exchange with the au pairs that weekend, as well as a gift exchange. It’s always a nice fun event. I think they really like it. They especially like the international cookies from all of the world. That’s just so much fun.

Speaking of international! I had scheduled a date for our International Pen Pal group that following week. I have started this group withhomeschooling families withthe World Wise School program withthe U.S. Peace Corps. It was a project that I participated in while in TG and just loved it a ton. It gave so much to me and the kids that I was working with. Not to mention the education and enlightenmentit provided the U.S. kids we corresponded with. So it was about a year ago that I had decided to reach out to WWS to see if they would match us as a homeschoolgroup. It was a bit unique, but they were willing. We started with a PCV in TG who is in here second year there now. And soon after I pushed for a few more matches. They then sent us PCV’s in Morocco, Armenia and Mongolia! It’s been really fun and we’ve gained a lot from it. It’s just beenreally tough on scheduling b/c we coordinate whenever we get packages form overseas…. this does not always mesh with everyone’s schedules.  But overall it’s been really fun for a core group of families and I’ve loved coordinating it.

So we had received a package from Morocco a bit before T-giving. I was waiting to see if anything else showed up in the mail and very soon after we received something from Mongolia. That’s when I scheduled our Pen Pal gathering. The day before our gathering we received a package form Armenia as well! It was fabulous. So we had all of these fabulous letters from all over the world and had fun reading them, chatting about them and writing back. The younger kids draw awesome pix to put into the packages and it’s just so much fun for all ages.

The very next day we trekked out to Des Plaines again for the homeschool classes they over there. That month it was Native American Clothing. I did not know exactly how K might take to it, but yet again, they did this amazing job on the topic and project at hand. He and D had a blast. G’pa joined us a well and he’s just so funny. When he joins us for these things he really let’s himself enjoy the event in full. It’s awesome to see him leave the “real world” and just enjoy with the kids. They were decorating (designing and dressing) their Indian paper dolls together. Sharing ideas, collaborating. It was great.

That week is still not over. We rescheduled our holiday train visit and this time around…. they said ‘hello’ to Santa! Well, I suppose I should say, “this time around we actually made it onto the train and were not interrupted by a trip to the ER!”  : D

We waited a long long time on the platform. I had looked at the schedule before we left to double check and yet when we stood there, I think about 2-3 trains came by us that were clearly not the holiday train. I was getting worried that I did not know something and the kids would be crushed yet again! AHhhhh…. the train, lights, Santa and all shows up. It’s running a bit late, but it came! Santa is hanging out on this open car in the middle of the train with a sleigh and reindeer. He waves to the kids as the board the well-lite train. Wow. They really do a fabulous job on this train. It was really pretty. We tookit up to Wilmette and got off at the end of the line. This year… K and D actually went up to Santa and shook his hand and got a candy cane! This is K’s first time ever! He has always looked from afar. D just followed suite. After he went up to him and shook his hand, he came back to me, took a DEEP breath and said, “phew…. I am just so glad I did that”. It was hilarious. We then boarded the train and rode back up to E-town. It was fun and they wanted to ride again. Alas, time slipped away fast during those last 2 weeks that we did not ride again. But we will be sure to do it again next year and this time we will take it to the city and back!

The following day we journey to the Ethical Humanist Society to see the homeschool production of the Jungle Book. It was quite cute and delightful. The kids dug out the movie when we got home, and S actually sat through the whole thing and loved it. It was quite fun. Got K’s juices flowing for the Princes Bride production (a class/show he will be doing this winter).

I again was blessed with my weekend tea with homeschoolin’ parents. It was a very nice turn out with super fun discussions on every topic imaginable. (I am very excited that another is coming up this week!)

We ventured to a new place called Jump Zone. It was really pretty fun. I was excited to get a nice discount. It would be great to be able to use that place a few more times this winter. I hope the prices are not staggering if we go again. Will have to track down a coupon or two. But they had such a blast on these enormous inflatables. It was a cool place. But hey… now that I think about… we trekked out in a blizzard to get there. What’s up with these events and the blizzards?!

We hosted xmas eve here at our place. Uncle P and Aunt J flew in from CA that day and came over. G’ma was here. It was a super delightful day. The food, company, abundance. It was warm and fuzzy. Perfect.

That night however, S woke quite sick. And this was the type of sick that sends a mama into cardiac arrest. He was having trouble breathing and pretty congested. I had heard this once before when K was just about his age, however never with S. But I jumped right into action and treated him quickly. He got better quite quickly over the next 3-4 days, so it was a very quick recovery. I think (from what I’ve gathered and researched online) is that he had a mild croup. It was quick and not quite as lengthy as it’s described. However, the “barking seal” was him to a ‘T’. At any rate that completely altered xmas day.

We woke to open all of the stuff that Santa had blessed us with. Miss D is onto the whole idea. I am fairly certain that she knows, or at least doubts. But she would never say anything. Not only b/c her brother would out-right refuse to hear of it, but b/c she would not want the gifts to stop coming K, on the other hand, is a believer in and out. He loves the mystery of how this could possibly be, and he will always believe. He is much like that of the Polar Express dude… He loves the idea that the magical, mysterious, mythological could all be real.

Oh. So druingthe Santa opening we discussed what to do with S and the plan was that I would take SBJ, K and D over to G’pa’s for xmas day festivities. Then S would most likely fall asleep in the car and I’d bring him back home. I was so incredibly sad of the idea that I would not get to be with K and D during their holiday there. It was heartbreaking. Then… S fell asleep while nursing here. So at that point SBJ and I agreed that he would stay with S and I would run K and D over to dad’s. On the one hand… thrilled I could go with them and experience their xmas withthem. The flip side… it was pretty impossible to be thoroughly present and enjoy with SBJ at home with a very sick S. Part of me thinks that we should have just rescheduled our xmas with g’pa for another day. It would have been much better. But all in all… it was just fine. I was relieved to be back home and see that S was very chipper, happy, no fever, breathing was great. He was already recovering. Our afternoon and weekend (and week after) was so much fun and…. blissful.

We opened the rest of the loot back home and this year SBJ and I agreed was the year for the Wii. We went all out and they received lots of games along with it. Along with the masses of other gifts we had as well.

Bubble Wonders dude was at Morton Grove Library that week and we had lunch with Uncle P and dragged him to the show. He seemed to enjoy it. When then challenged him to some intense Wii sports before he rejoined Aunt J in their whirlwind tour in Chicago!

One of Seringe’s customers had given him tix to the Harlem Globetrotters performance. This happened that same week as well. SBJ and K really thoroughly enjoyed it! They were laughing and enthralled. It was super cool to watch them. D probably would have felt the same, but she’s just not a nighttime person. I have come to notice that she really could careless to stay up late. She’d rather crash and get her sleep. So it was hard for her to do this late-night thing. But she enjoyed it as much as she was able to in her half-wake-state. S on the other hand was only interested in the maskcot. We called him “the guy” and I would have him search for him over and over again. This did not last very long and eventually had to take him out a few times. We had amazing floor seats and so the kids could see absolutely everything. It was so great for them all!

That same week, GREAT g’ma came into town from FL. Well, actually she was in CO before coming here, but she’s residing in FL, so this is a big deal to see her and get to spend time with her. We rushed on over the day after she got here to spend the day with her at G’pa’s. Had a nice lunch with them, worked on a puzzle (that I am overly addicted to… good thing it’s in his house and not mine). New Year’s Day SBJ of course was sucked back into work and the kids and I set out to Wauconda to visit Aunt and Uncle J’s. They hosted a little brunch for G’ma being in town and P and J were able to attend as well, Dad and O too. So it was a big crowd. We had a nice time and it was good that the kids (and I) got to see P and J before the bowed out of town.

And LOOK! I have now done a full run-down of the last few months and just about up-to-date! Today’s the 10th that write this, so I do have to pat myself on the back for that one. I will take time to reflect on the last 10 days and get back to you soon. Here are a few lovely pix from events mentioned, but you will see many more in the lovely flikr assortments on the homepage!

Title: Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Date: 01/15/2010

That’s just about what it was… kicked off with daylight savings right at the start of the month. I’m not sure who took that change harder, the kids or me? I may be still be recovering!

I always love my EHE meetings. It’s quite lovely to be able to escape one evening a month, all to myself with a group of grown ups that all homeschool their kids. It’s wonderful to have adult conversations (a lot about our kids!) and escape one single bed time routine for one night of the month. I look forward to reconnecting with people I don’t see in the regular routines, and I enjoy being a part of a larger community. Not feeling like you are the only people on the earth home/unschooling is essential to personal sanity! Fortunately, November kicked off nice and early with an EHE meeting that very first Monday. Fabulous, fabulous. Of course at the moment I struggle to recall what that month’s topic actually was! Ah… but I know it was interesting!

S was still in music class at the time, so he had that every Tuesday that month. His dear, sweet music teacher was diagnosed with a rare form of breast cancer over the summer. It’s been a journey we’ve traveled with her, and I find her remarkable for her endearing personality. She is always so wonderful with the children and parents alike! She has just recently taken a break from her teachings to do her round(s) of chemo. We hope to rejoin her teachings during her spring session. I just can’t quite figure out how to schedule it! S has moved up in the Kindermusik world, being 20 months now, and nearly 2 when the class is on, so the schedule changes. If I can manipulate all things, we will be there singing with her. She is a gem and I think of her, her struggles, health, and family nearly every day.

We had alternating weeks of Animation Class and Girls Club through the rest of November. I have to say… by the time November roller around, I was a bit drained by hosting these classes every week in our home. I am not sure what it was. Not really the idea of doing the class, but doing it in our home. I was definitely ready for it to end and ready for a little hiatus.

S had a well-check in November and I always find those kinda fun…. except for this time around. Somehow we did not have the ‘gee-gee’ with us (pacifier). He typically is not an all-day-er with the gee-gee, but when he’s in a new place, over-stimulation, or needing a little more ’security’… the gee-gee plays a big role in those instances. So showing up at Dr. E’s with no gee-gee…. ugh. Nightmare. Not such a pleasant visit and really not so fun for S either! He is, of course, growing immensely. I can’t get over how tall and solid he is. He is “all his own”…. I hear that a lot about him from several people. And that just seems to sum it up in a nutshell… he is ALL his own. Funny lil’ guy.

Wow…. so we did try to squeak in 2 more park days that month. I think we must have been pretty desperate to hang on to every last second of outdoor play we possible could. That very last one was the very first snow flurries and we all said, “ah, not so bad”. Of course with in 20-30 min of the flakes flying in our faces, we all headed home. So thrilled to have the open gym now to burn off that winter cabin fever at least once per week.

D had a few more sports classes left. She was doing this introduction to soccer and basketball. Each week alternating between the two. She really seemed to dig that class a lot. The only issue I had with it was that being the oldest in the class, she had to do a lot of waiting on lil’ 3 year olds that were not in the listening-mode for class. I get that they are not developmentally there yet, but I did not feel it was fair for them to accept her into the class with that being the case. She could have easily moved into the next class with the majority of fiver year olds and done fabulously. She probably would have learned more as well. What’s important is that she love it. And got to do lot’s of running! She is a great runner!

We squeezed in a lot of playdates here and there. Meeting some newer families to EHE has been really fun this year. The kids have really taken to some of the newbies and it’s been faboo for me too. It’s just always such a fabulous thing when you love the parents of the kids your kids love to hang out with! Very cool. We met people at parks, the library, and homes and enjoyed each and every visit with old and new friends.

I had an all day work meeting in the middle of the month. CCAP came into town and we met. It’s always nice to reconnect with the office staff and the LCC’s in Chicago. It’s very hard to be away from family on the weekend though! But they had lots of new developments and it was great to hear the news first hand. That was back-to-back with my au pair meeting that month. We hosted an International Potluck for a little Thanksgiving feast. It was fun to see all of the great dishes and hand out the thankful greetings to the au pairs from their host families.

That happened to land on the day of the parents’ social as well. Yet another lovely afternoon, once per month, that I get to escape for a few hours. Reconnect with friends and relieve myself of the 24/7 duty I otherwise tend to have. I feel so blessed that my hubby supports my needs to get out of the house on occasion. OK, so it’s only what, 2-3 times a month. Well…. ok 2 are for pleasure. If there’s more it’s for work. In my book, work does not count as “time out”. But I do know some that don’t necessarily have that same support. And it’s a blessing to me that he not only supports it, but encourages it. He is a gem!

We trekked back out to Des Plaines for that cool Homeschool Class they over monthly. That month was mummies and we mummified limes and built their sarcophagus! By far one of the coolest. I think that one and Day of the Dead were tied for first at this point. They do such a great job over there! It’s really fantastic to see some communities supporting homeschooling in such a large way. I see next-to-none of that here in Evanston and that really shocks me. A huge contingency of homeschooling families live around here and north Chicago and yet it’s rare that you’ll see Evanston stepping up that notion. At times, when I’ve attempted to coordinate homeschooling programs, I really feel like I am not only spoon-feeding, but *force*feeding the crews. Let me get on my soap box just to organize a homeschool story time at the library! Ick! I really get annoyed that people are so slow to bat when it comes to embracing homeschooling families and their needs.

Ah. So the week *before* Thanksgiving the kids were already pushing for xmas decorations! Yea… I gave in. And really my motive was selfish. I still had not brought the Halloween stuff down to the storage by then! Ha. Yea… it had been sitting around the back door for about a month at this point and I thought, ‘well…. gotta bring the halloween stuff dow there, I’ll bring up the xmas stuff’! But we have three large boxes of stuff, so it was not like it could just sit around awaiting for us to decorate! So, week before Thanksgiving….yep…. we are decorating the tree and putting up the decorations. That’s always SO much fun when you are doing it. It’s always so pleasant to sit and gaze at the pretty lights. Reminisce over each and every ornament on the tree. But then that single second after the presents are opened on xmas, I’m ready to tear it down and put it away! I’ve had enough…. give us back our space now. Over-well-done!

Day after we got those lights glowing SBJ was back at work. Yet again putting in a weekend day! It was a bit draining at this point, but there was at least a light at the end of this long long tunnel. He has just hired someone and was in the process of training him to be prepared to be on his own. So we were excited this would soon be over. But as much as I say that, we were bummed that we would not have him with us as we boarded the Holiday Train (L) that Sunday.

I park the car, and get all excited that it’s Sunday and I don’t even have to feed the meter! Found a spot right next to the L station and was thrilled about that as well. I’m struggling to get S in the back-pack carrier, get the camera and a couple of bucks to board the train. K and D are running up and down the Metra ramp and I’m feeling a little frazzled. It was fairly empty in terms of people traffic, so that was at least a relief. But I really did not want to see one of them topple from the grassy incline next to the walkway!

Ok… car locked, children gathered, and we take just one step from the car and the phone rings. I recognize the ring and know it’s SBJ. I let K answer and I hear K say something like “you broke your leg?” I’m thinking… what’s going on. K hands me the phone and says that daddy says we have to go get him b/c he broke his leg. I get on the phone and SBJ is in clear agonizing pain. I’m thinking he dislocated a knee (from what he’s telling me). So we stop the Holiday Train adventure, hop in the car and race off to Deerfield to get him to a hospital. We had no more than pulled up in front of the store to find he had called 911 for himself and he was being hoisted away on a stretcher. Ugh… sometimes this man just really jumps off the deep end!

We follow him off to Highland Park Hospital where he is x-rayed and nothing found wrong. They say he could have dislocated and knocked it back in somehow. That there was tearing of ligaments while this happened, but there not much more they could do at this point. They got him all immobilized, taught him how to use crutches and we were on our way. With our trip home he was feeling much better. With in 48 hours, we was not wearing the brace any longer. Go figure. He clearly did something harsh, but what it is no one knows. Workman’s Comp is now asking him to go for follow up though. So maybe an ortho will fill us in on details. But he’s back to regular usage without complaint. All’s well.

K and D took advantage of a 1-time magic class that was being offered and they seemed to have a great time in it. It was great to see them come home with all of these cool tricks that they could do for me and SBJ. That same week we dragged ourselves out to the Evanston Tree Lighting. Ha… well maybe I should say the kids dragged me out to the tree lighting! SBJ was not up for the walking/stairs with his leg recovering, and I was not 100% on board. It was *pouring* rain. Gross outside. Cold and wet…. worst combination ever. But they just desperately wanted to go! Ok… I said I’d go if they dragged along canned foods to donate to the food drive they were having over at the Rotary. They were very excited about that. They even wanted the gentleman there to tell them where the food would go and who it would feed. Quite cool. We stood out in that outrageous rain awaiting Santa on the ladder fire truck. I tell ya, Santa jumped of that truck, did his 360 around the group to the trip, flipped the switch and ran to the Rotary in about 60 seconds flat! Quite hilarious. Guess I was not the only not really wanting to be out there!

Thanksgiving was at mom’s again this year. Uncle P2 came by this year and that was a shock. A pleasant surprise, but a shock nonetheless. Nice dinner had by all. We ended up leaving kinda early b/c D seemed to have some reaction to Uncle P2’s dog. Not totally sure how/what happened, but her eye started to swell and it was not pretty. Benedryl brought everything back down, but then she was wiped out from the Benedryl!

SBJ had to work on his b-day this year. Black Friday never provides him a day off. But we drove out to pick him up and celebrated his b-day back home. That weekend was the cast of major craft making in our house. Of course 6 months notice for the homeschooling craft fair, and we wait till the weekend before to plan, organize, craft and craft! I have my children well-trained already to be procrastinators. Not sure it’s the best things in the world, but we always have fan-ta-bu-lous results when we do.

Go figure.

Awaiting Santa… in the rain

Santa’s 5 seconds of fame in Evanston!

Proof that at one time or another, D had two missing front teeth! Remember that song, “All I Want for Xmas is My Two Front Teeth”?

Happy Birthday SBJ!!!

For homsechooled girls ages 5-7 years old gather weekly to explore each other interests. This is a community run group (not a drop-off) in which the parent/child participating each get one week to choose interests, plan activities and implement them during Girls Club. Activities included vary from storytime, coloring, arts and crafts, puzzles, games, dress up, tea parties, baking, acting and more! There is no limit. The girls each get a week to plan the activities and their parent helps implement. It is a wonderful opportunity for the girls to connect and the moms as well.

When? Mondays from 10a -12p, Jan. 11 through March 8, (no class Feb. 8th)

Where? The Unity Church in Evanston at 3434 Central Street

How much? $15 per child for the full 8 weeks

QUESTIONS? Drop me an email!

For any homeschooling families that need a pit stop between classes, or would like to come on out to have lunch with other homeschoolers, join us Mondays from Jan. 11^th – March 8^th from 12pm to 1pm for lunch! It’s a BYOL event (bring your own lunch). You do *not* have to participate in Trivia Mania to come on out and have lunch with homeschooling families. There is a kitchen to utilize if you need to warm anything up. Tables set up, and space to move around a bit. No cost! Just come on out and enjoy others for a once-a-week lunch!

When? Mondays 12p - 1p, Jan. 11th through March 8th (no lunch Feb. 8th)

Where? Unity Church, 3434 Central Street, Evanston

QUESTIONS? Drop me an email

SEE YA THERE!

The fun objective to this class will be for your child(ren) to come home with a handmade, from scratch, cooperative Trivial Pursuit game to play with friends and family!

Your child(ren) will be involved in creating all trivia cards for the game, as well as designing their own game board, pieces, and instructions for the game.

The first 4 weeks are focused on trivia building. We will gather in a study group style at our home and focus on designated topics of the week (see schedule below). Each child is responsible for bringing books related to that week’s subject as well as a designated number of interesting facts on the subject. (We want them to bring what is most interesting to them and what they enjoyed learning about the topic!) We will discuss them and create trivia cards as the four weeks elapses.

The second 4 weeks is where even more fun comes in because we begin working on a cooperative game board, game pieces and directions to their games! SO much fun to be had designing cool magical lands, tasks, and adventures for their game.

All games are meant to bring home at the end of the class. Trivia cards will be mass produced for each of the kids from a master set made from the first 4 weeks (In other words, I plan to take dictation during the first 4 weeks and mass produce the trivia for them.) Schedule to include:

Jan. 11 – TOPICS

1. world history

2. animals (wild or domestic, but living… we touch on extinct later on)

Jan. 18 – TOPICS

1. science

2. world cultures and/or religions (can include anything to traditions, foods, histories, holidays, etc.)

Jan. 25 – TOPICS

1. astronomy

2. prehistoric times (to include big-bang theories, first life forms, evolution of animals and humans as well as ice age+ )

Feb. 1 – TOPICS

1. mythology and mystical creatures

2. “wild card” – can include anything to math, reading, problem solving, languages, art, geography, transportation, etc. ** child’s choice! Be creative and have fun!)

Feb. 8^th – no class

Feb. 15^th – March 8^th – Let the game-building begin! Gather each Monday for 4 Mondays and your child’s imagination will come to life in the game-building sessions.

Join our family for a fun-filled class of trivia acquisition and game-building!

Mondays: January 11, 2010 – March 8, 2010

No class Mon. Feb 8^th

10:00am – 12:00pm

Cost: $30.00

Ages 7 years +

Location: The Unity Church, 3434 Central Street, Evanston

Homeschool Open Gym is underway!

Having just started up last week, it’s the place to be every Thursday throughout this (yuck) winter season! I just know your kids have to be bouncing off the walls (if not… what’s wrong with mine?? ; )

Where? Chandler Newberger Center, 1028 Central Street in Evanston

When? Thursdays, now through March 25th, from 11:30am to 1:30pm

How much? $3 per adult and $1 per child, 1 year and older

It’s not a drop-off style gym. This is a homeschool family gym where kids get to come out, run around, burn off energy, organize games, sports, etc.. Parents get to do the same, or also hang with the other homeschoolin’ parents and chat about life in general.

Questions? Drop me an email!

SEE YA THERE!

So here it is… the low down on what’s been going on at Jarjusey Kunda. It’s been busy to say the least… I mean to have gone nearly 3 months without posting… that says it all. I think I ended at about mid-October when we were so ready for Halloween! The kids second or maybe third favorite holiday…. First being xmas, and then between their birthdays and Halloween there is a close 2nd and 3rd. We had been to nearly every Halloween store with in a 15 mile radius. And of course each one we went to I was told how we just did not do enough to celebrate Halloween. Ugh… as much as I love that holiday, we are in an apartment, so there’s just only so much we can do to decorate! This year’s additions included several spiders, and window decals. Two huge poster-type window displays that really spooked out a couple of our younger pals who’d come to play or visit our place! Oh, and this creepy door hanging that we choose to hang on the bathroom door, but each time someone would come in and out we’d here this *loud* cackling! Kinda hilarious, until the day I found out just how much it creeped out one of our lil’ friends (minor pee accident ; (

Mid-October and through lots of November SBJ was working tons of weekends. He was super-low staffed, trying to hire and train new people not proving to be easy. It was a rough time. Felt like we never saw him! Many a weekends where we were still hanging out without daddy and missing him. (Fortunately… and knock-on-wood… that all seems to be worked out so we will again be able to see him more!)

So let’s see…. we attended one weekend, a Lego Building class at a local library for free. That was super fun event, and all agreed one hour was just not enough! I was able to enjoy a Parent’s Tea that same weekend. It was a pleasure to get out and enjoy some time for myself, but catch-22 with SBJ working so much that he was home doing kid-duty and I was out enjoying myself. I did need the break and it was backed right up to an au pair meeting I had that day, nonetheless, it was his day at home and I did not get to see him much.

The meeting was a Halloween Party for the au pairs, who most were very excited to celebrate this very American tradition. They were all dressed in costume and we had activities for them. It was pretty fun! At the start of that week we had a fun visit from our friends who just recently moved out to Portland. They were in town visiting family and for work reasons, but we were able to sneak in a quick little visit. They sure are missed! I hope we make it out there soon to visit their (new) neck-o-the-woods!

Grandpa had swung by that day and something that has not happened before happened…. you may want to brace yourself before I break the news on this one. It’s quite shocking, really. S was down for a nap and K and D were itchin’ to get to the park. G’pa took the older two to the park for the entire afternoon! AND… b/c S was sleeping, was able to get my work done during the DAY! I know… told you… it’s a shocker. I still relieve that moment with the anticipation that it will soon, at some point happen again in the future. Will this great fortune cross my path again some day? I sure do hope so!

He did stick around for dinner that evening. D and I headed off to clay class that evening and it was a great day all around! Only to be followed up with a really fun field trip to the Shedd Aquarium the next day. That was super fun as well. I think I must have been living in a hole for the last year b/c I had never heard anything at all about remodeling at the Shedd…. Low and behold… things were a bit different! Especially with the dolphin show. But that too was a fun adventure for all. We did end up playing outdoors more than in that day. For whatever the reason, they were not that psyched after about 2-3 hours there. They usually can stay the whole day, but they were done earlier. And maybe for the best…. because then comes some more news!

That afternoon we were hanging out in Museum Campus strolling around, rolling down hills, having lunch and taking some fun pix:

And I finally connected with the owner of this company I was interviewing for. Ah! Since my super duper great friend had just resigned and put in an amazingly fabulous, great recommendation for me, I was a shoe-in! I was hired that afternoon and started pretty quickly there after as the Chicago Editor for Famplosion! It’s been super duper great for me. It’s a really fun gig. I really enjoy seeking out the fun family activities and posting them up there, designing, arranging and rearranging. Informing Chicago families of the awesome activities out there for them to explore as a family! It’s been wonderful. I just can’t say enough you lucky I feel to be a part of it!

Amidst starting up a new job, alongside my Cultural Care still in full-gear, we had lots more going on that week. We made it out to the Des Plaines class which the topic that month was the Day of the Dead. Very cool class. K and D enjoyed it thoroughly. G’pa even made it out there with us and he had a blast. We of course had to visit the Choo-Choo that month. Grab some food delivered on the train. That’s just such a great place.  It’s super fun for the kids to watch that train go around, and it has such a feel of history to the place. I don’t know who wouldn’t love it. Word has it they want to tear that place down to build a police station! So please help save this phenomenal family-fun place!

We had Animation Class that week at our home and went to see Where the Wild Things Are (movie…. hmmmm…. my review is not that great). It was so incredibly well-done, but it really was just so sad in tone, meaning, story… just about everything. K even said to me that he felt it was a very sad movie. He even seemed to have a hard time watching it. Yet another one of those where we spent the bucks to be in a theater and were just not overly thrilled to be seeing it on big-screen. Ah well… live and learn.

Later on we K had his math class with a group of homeschoolers which he was totally digging. It last till the end of October and he just really thoroughly enjoyed that class a ton. D had her sports classes as well on Fridays throughout October and November. She really loved her activities (what luck! : )

D started up Girl Scouts at the end of Oct. and she took to that so quickly it was not only a blessing, and thrilling, but als heart-breaking. Of course… mama’s heart-strings tugging when she ventures off and thoroughly enjoys without a care to my whereabouts. This is a drop-off activity for her, and it’s her first. She just adores her Daisey troop, her new friends, her Daisy sister, and Big Sister. She’s achieved several new badges and is just blossoming so quickly before my (teary) eyes. Ahhh… let’s take a moment:

(Her ceremony that was later on in early December.)

Hmmm…
So we were able to squeeze in just one more park day that month before the cold hit. Well, heck we even tried to do a few cold days in November, but we all quickly realized how insane we were for even attempting! And the of course… Halloween hit. We had so much fun. They had a blast, and collected more candy than they could even fathom. The Friday before we made it to G’ma’s K-town to do a round of trick-o-treating up there. And then the day of, we did a round around here in Evanston. OH… that Friday S had fallen asleep kinda later in the day, so me…. thinking I was OH-so-wise…. brought K and D out to G’ma’s house without him. OH what a HUGE (monumental) mistake. Once he woke he was so intensely upset that K and D were gone (with me) and that he was at home. SBJ called to say we really needed to come home. That’s been a huge (interesting) development lately. He has absolutely no issues being home with SBJ with K and D there (like if I need to run out to a meeting or something). BUT if I were to take the older two out without him… OH, hands down tragedy will strike. He just does not and will not be left behind! He really is one funny little dude.

So here I must end for the evening and I promise to come back strong with updates with our November happenings. I will leave you with some fun Halloween pix: