Have you heard the news?

Tabatha and Lena of Bella Gypsy are having a contest! Here are the details:

Get their new Autum's Artistry kit (only $5 at ACOT) and create a 4x6 recipe card LO of your your favorite harvest season recipe at 300dpi. Email your entry by October 1st to contest@bellagypsydesigns.com with Bella Gypsy Delights in the subject line. Everyone winds up a winner because all of the entries will be compiled, zipped and uploaded, a link sent to each contributor. How cool is that....and oh so very simple!

What are the prizes for this contest, you ask? Well, let me tell you, they sound awesome!

First prize: $100 Gift Certificate to Bella Gypsy store!

Second Prize: One month of free downloads (for Bella Gypsy, that's an average of 6-8 kits!)

Third Prize: 3 kits of your choosing!

Judging will be done by a panel of 10 and will be based 75% on overall design and 25% on your recipe!

For all of the entry details, please visit the Bella Gypsy Blog.

So, since I am short on time, I won't bore you with all of my latest layouts. If you are interested though, you can see them at my RAKScraps gallery. :) Feel free to leave some comments there if you would like. ;) Here is the link: http://www.rakscraps.com/photopost/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=4756

I figured it was time for a school post again. I am horrible about posting about our school days, which was one of the original reasons I started this blog. Inhaven't had any real cool ideas come to me this year. I sort of became the boring teacher that I didn't want to become. The "Get your math book and do this page...great, now let's do phonics" kind of boring teacher. I don't know what happened after summer break. I lost something. When we went to our school eval last year and the teacher mentioned specific text books, something happened. Something in my brain sort of shut off and the creative side of me went in that direction. We haven't done a single lapbook yet, and our timeline notebook has yet to be started. I really need to think this all over again and get back to what was working so well last year. At this point we are just doing school because we have to, and I hate that. It is so totally opposite of the way it was before.

Jacob is doing great regardless of how boring it likely is for him. We are working in a 3rd grade Math book right now, and he is having very little trouble getting through it. His problem is simply taking forever to actually do the work. LOL He gets bored and then distracted. I'm probably going to start taking random problems off of the pages and actually go through more than one lesson a day on the topics he seems to get with no trouble. Phonics is a breeze as well, but he hates the writing. I can't really take that away though, because he needs to work on the handwriting quite a bit. When he had his 1st grade eval, the teacher said his handwriting was typical for the age, so I am not concerned about it. I think it looks like typical boy handwriting for sure. ;)

Bible lessons are going well. We have been reading about Adam and Eve this week from Jacob's "Kid's Devotional Bible". Then he does worksheets and coloring sheets. He still hates doing word searches, but the true and false, fill in the blanks, maze, and crossword puzzles are huge hits.

Jacob has also been attending a weekly art class with our homeschooling group. So far he has made a pinch pot that he will paint in the next week or two. Last week was a watercolor painting that was based on a story the art teacher read about the seashore. The teacher and I were talking a little and she said if she could get more of the older kids around his age to come than she would love to teach more technical aspects of the drawing. I know he would love that!

Joshua is doing really well also. He does surprisingly well with his math. He's better with subtraction than addition, which I did not expect. I have been taking large addition flash cards this week and laying them on the floor. Then we take a huge basket of cars and he sets up the problems in a visual manner next to the card. He gets the answer almost immediately. He doesn't seem to get that he can do the same thing with his fingers, but I think we will get there in a few more weeks.

We also have been using the magnetic letters for phonics. He is starting to make more reading connections. I take some cards for him to copy a word from. We then make new words with the same sound by changing one letter. After a few times, he reads a word or two on his own. Hopefully it will start clicking sooner with him.

We did a science experiment today on sinking and floating objects. We started off by reading a short one-page story from "Discover and Explore" ( a Timothy Goes to School book). We went in all of the rooms of the house and grabbed some objects to stick in his basket. Then filled the sink and made a chart. He had to choose an object from the basket and tell me if he thought it would float or sink. We'd mark down his prediciton and then mark what actually happened when he placed the object in water. He had a blast since he loves playing in water. He also has been telling me the weather this week, so we are going to make a weather chart later today.

Cassidy has been going to art classes with Jacob and really enjoying them too. She had a blast with the pinch pot, but when we did the painting I didn't think we would ever get to leave. She is VERY independant all of a sudden. We had to wet the paper before painting and she was soaking one little spot and avoiding the rest, so I tried helping her with the brush. You'd have thought I was ruining the thing. I was plainly told she wanted to do it by herself. Eventually I did get the paper wet for her and then she had a blast mixing the colors on the paper. We have both her and Jacob's paintings hanging on the living room wall.

Potty training is going so well with her now that I can't believe it. Cassie even pottied in the store bathroom on Sunday. I am so proud of how well she is doing. I set up a potty chart and it seems to be the final push she needed. The stickers weren't doing any good apparently until she saw them being gathered on a piece of paper.

Elena is keeping up just fine with the others. She makes sure she is included in every activity they are involved in. Her favorite phrase is "Fun-ny" right now. She giggles all of the time. That's one huge difference between girls and boys.....girls giggle a LOT. She pretends to read, plays dress-up, does "school", and still dances up a storm. She freezes when the new Barbie movie commercial comes on - the 12 dancing princesses or something like that. It cracks me up to see her. We got the Barbie Swan Lake DVD from the library a few weeks ago and her dancing reached a whole new level with that one. We have lots of arm movements and leg lifts to go with the spins and sways now. It is so cute watching her, because she is so serious. And there are times where there is no music so she will sing her own little tune to dance to. Absolutely adorable. :) So, there is no telling what she will be doing when she sees the new Barbie movie. LOL

Not much else to tell, I guess. Scrapping has been very slow. I hit a slump and have had little time the past couple of weeks. I've done very little scrapping most nights. I do have a few new pages, and I will post them when I get a chance to do so. I got a Wacom tablet for my birthday, and I am still playing with it and trying to figure out all of the nifty things it does. I have been using the pen as my mouse to try to get used to how it moves and feels. It definitely will take a lot of practice. It seems to be causing some of my tools in PS7 to not work now, so I have also been trying to figure out my way around those issues. I'm sure it is a simple fix that I just need to find time to figure out, but goodness, there are not enough hours in a day to do everything I need to do AND the things I want to do. LOL Maybe this weekend will slow down a little and I can play with it. :)

Jacob update

The ped called me on Monday to let me know that Jacob's urinalysis came back fine. They were going to go ahead and do a culture to be sure, but she didn't expect anything to show up. I asked why in the world blood showed up in their office, and she said he may have had some irritation down there or it could have even been some ink from their little dipsticks came off and caused it. Needless to say, she could have handled things a little differently, and I think if she had kids of her own she would have done so.

Today I took Jacob in for his hearing test. I need to give you a little background before I tell you what happened today, so you can get the full effect of what we are dealing with here. It will be long, but the info is kind of critical, as you will see.

When Jacob was 18 months old he became severely ill with his first ear infection...it was so bad that the "eardrum" burst. Not the actual eardrum, but something else. For a month the doctors could not get antibiotics to work, and along with the ear never getting better he had extremely high fevers. I continuously told the doctor that I was concerned about meningitis because he just seemed to have so many of the symptoms, but she would move his neck and say she really did not feel that was it. Eventually he was hospitalized because he had a febrile seizure, which led to an ER visit, which led to tons of bloodwork, which led to a blood culture, which led to the eventual hospitalization, spinal taps, other tests, and eventual cure. Thank God, because sepsis can be deadly if it isn't caught soon enough and the symptoms resemble so many other things. So we are released and given an appointment with an ENT the next week and tubes a few weeks after that. We were on a priority list and were bumped in front of kids who had the tube surgery scheduled for three and four months, that is how concerned they were in getting this done quickly.

So, that was done at 20 months of age. Normally, the tubes fall out on their own and cause no trouble. As we all know, things are far from normal in my home. LOL Jacob's tubes fell out and got themselves stuck in wax deep in the canal. So, 3 years ago, we go to the ENT and after a 40 minute or so struggle the guy gets one tube (the left ear - remember this because it is important) out and then refuses to try removing the other explaining the ped can do it in her office.

So, I explain this at EVERY SINGLE VISIT, and my ped tells me it is still too hard to get the thing out, but it appears to be moving further towards the opening and eventually we will get it. She doesn't want to probe too much because she want's to be sure she doesn't damage the ear.

OK...

So, that brings you to last week's 7 year old check-up where I voice my concerns over Jacob's hearing. He just seems to be having more and more trouble. Today we head over to get the whole hearing test bit done and lo and behold he seems to have perfect hearing in the lefft ear and the right tests in normal range but he seems to show some issues with lower tones. My little lightbulb goes off and I mention how interesting that is considering the tube is still stuck in wax in that right ear. Sure enough, wow, mom is right. So the new ped to the office tells me I need to go to the ENT and get them to do it. I told her if they want to send me that's fine, but he refused to mess with the second ear since Jacob put up such a fight and he told me to get the ped to do it, and for three years NOBODY will touch him, so what am I supposed to do? I asked that we be given a referral to a different ENT, she tells me usually the doctor that puts them in wants to be the one to take them out, and I say "Well, that's just great unless they decide to refuse to do it because the child won't stop screaming. For a pediatric ENT he sure as heck was NOT child-friendly, and I don't really care that he put them in, he sure doesn't make me want to go back to see him with my kid. And I know for a fact I am not the only parent of a patient that was far from impressed with his personality and bedside manner." She was a little surprised and decided she would go ahead and try doing it herself.

So, she barely gets the little ear cleaner things up to his ear and the tears start rolling and the screaming like he is being killed begins. She couldn't get to it, takes out another tool and tries again with no success. Then she decides to flush his ears. OMG, if he wasn't already just about to have a heart attack, he was now. He was scared to death and shaking. After 5 minutes and getting NOTHING out, she says that's it, we need to see the ENT. He can't say she didn't try. And then she tells me the worst part-

She said she has taken tubes out in the office before and it is really no big deal. She is afraid that it is so hardened in there and has been in there so long, that it might have skin growing around it now and could cause all sorts of problems if they were to pull it out. OMG, I am SO ANGRY! Can you believe this?

So, we are being referred back to the same jerk that we went to before and we have an appointment or October 26th. Needless to say, he'd better do his damn job this time or else. I don't care if he has to freaking sedate the boy, the tube needs to come out this time.

We also are being referred to a behavioral psychologist to rule out his being on the autism spectrum. I'm ticked about that too because Josh's psych that is so awesome is not covered under the new insurance we will have as of November, and they don't appear to be as willing to work with the single case agreement. So, that is our update - bad day all the way around.

You must be a saint if you read all of that. LOL Thanks if you did.

Rosemary A. Smith

September 11, 2001. We all remember where we were and what we were doing when we found out what happened on that horrific day. I was home with my two children and had somehow managed to sleep in. I rarely turned on the TV in the mornings, but for some reason I decided to do so that day. I remember flipping through the channels and wondering what in the world had happened. I called my mother who was also in shock. I got the kids ready, picked up my mother and we headed to a church to pray.

I did not personally know anyone who worked in the World Trade Center or Pentagon, but it certainly did not stop my concern, thoughts, and prayers for all of the people who were and still are personally effected.

Now, however, I will never hear about 9/11 without thinking of 61 year old Rosemary A. Smith. Ms. Smith lived with her daughter, also named Rosemary, and son-in-law Kevin. She had two granddaughters, Kyley and Kamy. She was also loved by her brother Charles, sister Georgeanne, and sister-in-law Marianne. Along with those were cousins, friends, neighbors, co-workers, and a host of other acquaintances.

Rosemary worked in Tower One for Sidley Austin Brown and Wood, LLP as a switchboard operator for 12 years. She had been in the tower during the 1993 bombing and had gotten out despite leg and breathing problems. When many refused to go back, Rosemary still returned to work. She was on the 57th floor of Tower One on September 11th, and was the only fatality her firm had.

Rosemary Smith was known for two things: a wonderful smile and her homemade chocolate treats. She even dreamed of one day having her own candy making business. Her chocolates were often requested for holidays and special occasions, and from everything I read, she would have been a huge success. When not making her popular candies, she enjoyed bowling, crafts, and reading, and she adored spending time with her grandchildren. She always looked for the good in others and everyone said she had a heart of gold.

Though I may not have known Rosemary A. Smith personally, I feel very privileged to have been chosen to write about her. I will never forget Rosemary, and her name and the way she touched everyone who knew her will stay with me. Each anniversary of September 11th, Rosemary A Smith will be who my mind turns to immediately. She will never be forgotten.
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Quilt square is from the "United in Memory" quilt.
Sources of info:
Legacy.com
SILive.com
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I am honored to one of over 3,000 bloggers paying tribute to one of 9/11 victims. To see the list of links to other tributes, please click HERE.

More medical issues arise

I took Jacob to his late 7 year check up expecting for some reason to have it go smoothly like Elena's 2yr did on Tuesday. The only concern I felt needed to be looked into was his hearing.

So, we go in and we talk and I mention the hearing as a concern. She listens to his chest and says that he has a slight heart murmur, but because of the way it sounds she feels it likely is nothing to worry about.

Then next she tells me Jacob had some blood in his urine and so they are going to send it off for more tests because the hearing and kidney problems could be connected. I was sitting there in shock. I don't know what the heck has happened to my routine and quick planned visit at this point.

So, we talk some more throughout the visit about his development and if there are any other concerns I have and I said other than the hearing not really. She asks him questions throughout, and when she gets to the actual ear part of the exam he starts shaking uncontrollably and tears start streaming down his face. He was petrified and I have no idea why other than the fact that he has always had a fear of doctors. So I hold his hand throughout the rest of the exam.

Next thing I hear out of her mouth is "How does he do with other kids? Does he play with toys normally?" I explained that I knew what she was getting at because I have an autistic child, and though Asperger's has been at the back of my mind with Jacob, I also realize that autism is a social disorder and he does not have problems with social skills with other kids...Is he petrified of doctors? Heck yeah, but other kids he is fine with. I even explained how he did at art class yesterday and how he gets along with everyone except his brother. I told her I do see where there appear to be signs and have felt something is going on with him, but because of his social skills I figured the hearing was what could be causing it.

She said she can tell I am intuitive and that I know the warning signs to look for and though the social areas are ok he may still be somewhere on the spectrum since he does have some of the signs and there is a sibling on the spectrum and it tends to be a hereditary link in most cases. However, she wants to rule out all other organic reasons for the hearing problems before jumping into a psychological eval. She said the good thing is at least I know what services are facing us if necessary in the future since I have already been this route.

So, needless to say I am a bit concerned about my sweet guy. We are having his hearing tested at the ped office on Thursday and will get the results of the urinalysis then as well. I'm trying so hard not to worry, but this was a bit shocking to say the least. I've done a good bit of crying today.

To top it off, on the 21st is Cassidy's appointment and I am dreading it something awful, because I do have some concerns. She has always been ahead of the game and is also showing some signs of being on the spectrum. I don't know what in the world we will do financially if I have three kids on the spectrum, because therapy is expensive and we just found out yesterday we are having a change in the insurance as of November. So, any prayers you guys can spare will be gratefully appreciated more than you can know.

Sorry that this probably was jumbled and made little sense. I'm still trying to wrap my mind around everything myself.

The weekly update

Jacob did a great job on his first math test for the year. He totally aced it, which was surprising given the fact that the day before he was acting as if he had no clue what place value was, let alone how to figure it out. We will be starting art classes once a week this week, and he is really excited. A couple of friends and I have decided we will have our own little homeschool group since our kids are all around the same age range. I think it will be loads of fun. We'll do the art class, the letterboxing, possibly some concerts at one of the local universities....there were lots of fun extracurricular stuff that we came up with.

I have been posting layouts at ACOT for the Bella Gypsy team. I really like it over there now that I am starting to learn my way around a bit. I posted an intro and in one of the responses I was given instructions on how to find their homeschooling board. Someone posted a neat little site for testing reading comprehension: Book Adventure. I had Jacob take a couple of the quizes on books we read last year and one we just completed, and he did pretty good. I saved the pages with the scores so we can print them and stick them in his portfolio later.

I have been scrapping as usual when the kids are in bed at night or during their rest time during the day. I got my CT assignments out at Scrappin' Secrets and completed my first set of layouts yesterday. I used ErinShannon Designs' "Grandparent's Day" kit. It was fun to play with. The first layout is my in-laws. Aren't they cute? :) We took the pic in Disney World when the entire family went. My other layout is Silas' grandmother. The photo was taken at Elena's birthday party earlier this month, so it is recent.






I also did one tonight using Wendy Nelson's "Retro Diva" kit. This kit is HUGE and is so fun to play with! I can't wait to do another LO using it. I decided to use it to scrap a photo of Cassidy's painted toes. She is such a girly girl. My mother asks me all of the time how I got her to be as girly as she is. I have no idea. I think she just has an inner diva. LOL


Finally, I have to show you the LOs I made using some of Bella Gypsy's kits. I LOVE their stuff....have I mentioned that before? LOL If you are wanting some great freebies and to get a little taste of what Lena and Tabitha's stuff is like, make sure you visit the Bella Gypsy blog. Those two are full of surprises and have lots of exciting things in the works.

Credits: Bella Gypsy's "Dressed for School Dude" kit.











Credits: Bella Gypsy's "Dirt Magnet" kit. Template by WDS- Tonje...it was actually for the Technique challenge at Scrappin' Secrets.









This is one of my favorites. I've had this picture of Elena and have been waiting to find just the right kit to use. :) Credits: Bella Gypsy's "Dressed for School Diva" kit.