CelestialFamily » Rachel

What’s the DIF?

Victoria — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 20:00:00 +0000

No fireworks, or potato salad for our 4th of July holiday. I spent my celebration of freedom peeling wallpaper from some stubborn walls at my parent's house. It is a funny thing that I, mostly, enjoyed the experience. I had several opportunities to talk with my mom and step dad, Jim, while we scraped away...well it was really banter. Silly jokes and going over old memories in a confined space isn't so bad when there is free ice cream in the pantry fridge. I would take a break and read my book about the Epidemic Investigative Service, so when I went back to scraping the wallpaper (just 2 layers worth) I created a story that I was releasing some toxic spores from the 70's. Depending on the validity of that story and differing periods of incubation I might be looking for a doctor and attorney in about 5 days to 10 years...

My parents have been taking care of the neighbor's house while her father is in hospice. They have been paying Aaron to cut her grass to earn money for Philmont this month. They also paid Aaron and his friend Alex to paint her shutters, front door and garage door. My mom has to break the news that termites are eating the wood on either side of her garage door. Mom and Jim would fix that too if they could. They are great examples of good neighbors.
:::::::::Noahism:::::::::

While I was stripping the wallpaper Noah ran by to ask my mom for something out of the pantry. So I asked him what he was foraging for (he loves to eat junk)in the pantry. He said: "Rachel wants some Pops."

Me: "What, are her legs broken?"

Noah: "No. Why am I getting them. She threatened to lick me, or she said she would give me a lickin'. There isn't much difference."

Noah is our germaphobe, so Rachel's threat to lick him was tantamount to a beat down.

Now...to help Michael fix some sheetrock at our house.

What’s Up?

Victoria — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 22:23:00 +0000

:::::::Zoo Trip from Last Week:::::

:::Book Reviews::::

Some bizarre and interesting facts mixed with some conjecture about creatures we live with on Earth. Some amazing adaptations and some that are rather freaky make me think that being human is not to shabby.
A sad, but necessary cautionary tale of human intervention in Florida has to do with people putting an abundance of bird seed out to encourage birds to visit their gardens, but it causes the birds to produce young too early. The adults can eat the seeds, but the hatchlings need grubs and larvae, so they often die of malnutrition.
One of my favorite stories was about the male lyrebird from Australia. The lyrebird's ability to mimic sound has me in awe!
Another great story is about sheep not being all that dumb. There are sheep in Yorkshire, England who would run and then tuck and roll to get over the cattle grates to raid the farmers gardens.
Another interesting fact that no eels have been witnessing reproducing in captivity. Eels...who would have thought they would be the masters of restraint?
A quick and enjoyable read.

::::::

Paul Yeager injects a lot of personality along with his informative book about weather. He dispels many weather inspired myths and clears up many queries on why the weather does what it does. He explains that though we Southerners perceive humid air as heavy it is actually lighter than dry air. He states, "It just feels heavier because we feel warm, clammy, and disgusting." (He speaks the truth about that perception, indeed). He also dispels the myth about "heat lightning"...(hint: there is no such thing). A great gardening tip from p. 198, "water the garden after it rains". This promotes deep root growth and conserves water. Yeager states that if you are certain on a light rain will fall you can water while it is still raining, "Ont only will it have the same effect on the garden, but it will give the neighbors something to talk about." A wonderful book for understanding our world.

:::::::::Piano Lessons:::

Eve is enjoying her piano lessons. She is experiencing some frustration with reading the notes consistently. The pattern is the same as we see with her with reading books. I have taken to sitting with her during her practices and trying some different strategies. I have her tell me what note she sees. I have her tell me what notes to play. Then she plays the piece. She goes through it about 3 times to play it consistently. Part of her reading problem has her recognizing the note immediately, then forgetting the same note a few measures over. I think it is part confidence part developmental delay. She gets claps, hugs and kisses with each success. I am having to remember the lessons I had as a kid. I could never get my left hand to play staccato correctly with my right, so I gave up lessons. Michael is our fallback since he reads music.
Eve also picks up Aaron's guitar... (it is a lonely guitar and likes the gentle stroking). Michael and I plan to trade it in and get a 3/4th size guitar for Eve as a Christmas present.

:::::::::::Dr. Who::::::::

Just wanted to give a shout out to Matt Smith for being, yet another, enjoyable Dr. Who. His take on the Dr. is pretty cool. Our entire family like his portrayal. We also like his companion, Amy Pond. Their was a collective sigh of sadness when Rory was absorbed into the crack in space.

Later, gators!

Save the Drama for Your Mama…

Victoria — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 13:51:00 +0000

...at least this kind is fun!

::::::::Drama Camp:::

The theme for this year was Myths, Legend, Monsters & Heros. The title of Rachel's skit was, "The Golden Apple".
It's Basically a mixed up version of the Story of the Golden Apple. Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite are attending their friend Thereus's wedding when Eris the Goddess of Discord throws an apple at Thereus's head. Written in it's skin are the words: For the Fairest. The three Goddesses fight over the apple and turn to Zeus. Zeus doesn't want to be given the responsibility of choosing the fairest amongst his family so he gives the burden to a handsome sheep herder named Paris. Who is tricked by Eris to pick her as the fairest causing Aphrodite the one with the biggest ego of the three stays behind crying. Thereus comes in and tells Aphrodite that life isn't fair.

~Rachel Taylor

Rachel T.:Hera, Julia B.: Narrator, Thereus, Brenna M., Charles: Paris, Camille G.: Eris, Sabrina F.: Athena, Lydia P.: Aphrodite, Lauren S.: Jupiter. Counselors: John Fiscian, Alexis Osenga.

Rachel, Alexis, and Brenna:

Rachel and Lydia:

Julia and Rachel:

Sabrina, Rachel, Lydia, Lauren, and Brenna:

The finale:

Aaron congratulates Alexis on a good performance:

Michael having fun behind Rachel's back:

Alexis teases Noah:

We drove to Steak and Shake for a celebratory lunch. Rachel got chili cheese fries. Noah loved his chicken tenders and wanted to order more, but we said no. On the way home he was playing his dsi in the back seat. When we pulled into the driveway he got out of the car went up on the porch, turned around a puked over the railing. He had gotten car sick. He is so calm when he is sick. My other kids cry out, not Noah. He is rather matter of fact about things. He was able to rest up before cub scout camp. He had a great time. Lesson learned for the day...Noah can't read or play games in the car without it making him sick.

I love reading this series out loud to my family. It is a great one to read to yourself, as well. Michael Buckley's flawed heroines and hero, two young girls and a funky (I mean smelly) boy fairy take the reader on quite a bumpy ride through the Book of Everafter to save the girls' baby brother. There are fairytales familiar and unfamiliar, but different characters are called on to explain each tale so no one is left in the proverbial dark. There is even a scrapbooking reference that I found hilarious. The dialogue is quick and clever and the descriptions of the settings and characters are rich. I was so happy to see the phrase "...to be continued" at the end of the book. YEAH!

::::::::::Plans for Saturday:::::::

I hope to be able to give blood tomorrow. If you would like to donate and live near Tucker send me an e-mail and I can get you the details to donate too.

Smiles!

You Blogged That, Mom?

Victoria — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 15:01:00 +0000

Life with Evey:

This morning Eve was telling jokes, which she found quite amusing.
I told her, "You know you are a legend in your own mind."

Eve replied chirpily, "I know. I hope I get a statue!"

::::::::Here Comes Science:::::::

The verdict is in...we love it! The cd is fun all by itself, but what a cool addition to have the dvd. The dvd has cartoon drawn characters to segue to each song. Noah sings the Palentologist song the most. Eve can be heard singing about Photosynthesis, Roy G. Biv, and the blood mobile. I love the shooting star song. I like that they included a follow up song to one they did about the sun that had new scientific information.

We are off to see Rachel and the other Drama Camp performers at Parkview. I will post photos soon. Time to go get celebratory flowers!

Thursday

Victoria — Thu, 06 May 2010 16:57:00 +0000

Surreal Moment of the Day:

I tried to open my front door by pressing the door open button on my key ring. It only took a split second for that Duh moment to pass, but I may want to check into getting a sonic screwdiver.

These pages are from an event in February:
One of the moms made a comment that our troop is the F Troop of Girl Scouts. I had a good laugh at that one. Our girls love to put on skits and they call themselves the Drama Queens. We are a diverse and quirky bunch. I have a great time with them.

My Flick Pick of the Day:

A blast from the, not too distant, past is the hilarious movie Jimmy Neutron. There are so many things to enjoy with this movie. Sheen and Carl are the best, mostly clueless, friends of Jimmy Neutron the boy genius. The evil aliens voiced by Patrick Stewart and Martin Short keep me laughing with their pomposity (is that a new word?). Jimmy and his friends build spaceships to reclaim their abducted parents when they realize they do, indeed, miss them. The sound track is fun to sing and dance to even if your kids try to physically restrain you from doing both (yes, that happened to me only this morning!). So, if you are looking for a fun family flick for Friday (oohhh, that was cool) try this one:

~~So much time and so little to do!~~

For My Mom…An Early Mother’s Day Present…

Victoria — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 11:18:00 +0000

Welcome to the first Eveism:

This morning while helping the kids get ready for school:

Noah: "Hey, mom did they have the Pink Panther when you were a kid?

me: "Yes."

Eve: "Wow, it's really old then."

A few minutes later Noah and Rachel got into an argument because Rachel kicked him in the butt. He was howling that it really hurt, so Rachel came down to explain how hard she had actually kicked him. She was Air Butt Kicking (kind of like Air Guitar) to show that Noah was exaggerating. I was brushing Eve's hair at the time and she piped up happily, "Use me, Use me. I need someone to kick my butt in the morning!" (Truer words, people).

Let’s Get Together…Yea, Yea, Yea!

Victoria — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 20:57:00 +0000

Spring has sprung and an opportunity to get together with aunts and cousins. Michael and I took the kids down to my dad and Alice's house for Easter. Saturday, the girls helped me bake and decorate a cake for my sister, Tracy's, birthday, the kids hunted eggs, and my dad grilled hamburgers and hotdogs on the Big Green Egg.

Here are Rachel and Haley's toes after a spring inspired pedicure:

Haley and Rachel made and decorated cupcakes for Easter:

They also decorated some hard boiled eggs:

Rachel and Haley hanging out:

Rachel and Haley help me make fondant decorations for Tracy's birthday cake:
Me coloring some fondant:

Rachel and Haley cut fondant to make decorative spheres:

Here are some fondant flowers drying:

Here is the strawberry and devil's food cake frosted with chocolate:

Here is Tracy's birthday cake:

Michael blows bubbles waiting for the kids to start hunting eggs:

Michael snuggles up to my dad:

Dad, you aren't uncomfortable...are you?

Aaron isn't hunting eggs, so he poses with a plate of chili. Noah, Haley, Rachel, Eve, and Tyler are ready to go:
Aaron gets whacked with a confetti egg:

Haley:

Rachel runs away from Aaron:

Tracy and Tyler with the cake:

Dig in:

Happy, slightly early, Birthday, Tracy! Happy Easter, everyone!

For Sale?

Victoria — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 16:22:00 +0000

That flair was posted because it made me laugh and I thought I should pass it on.

***Conversations with Noah:::

A brief history to put this conversation in perspective is that Aaron and Rachel were staying with their respective friends over the weekend. Setting: Sunday morning.

Noah: "Where is Aaron and Rachel?"

Michael: "We sold them."

Noah: "I thought you would have sold Aaron and Eve."

Michael: "Oh, we're going to sell you too, but we just haven't found a buyer yet."

Noah: " Well, I have a bid in to Ebay for some new parents."

These exchanges were quick and matter of fact. Being the bystander in this offered several minutes of laughter.

This morning the estrogen anomaly we call "Rachel" was having breakfast and I was putting butter on a blueberry bagel for her and I stated glibly that salted butter was food of the gods. She quickly said that the food of the gods was curly fries. I repeated my assurance that it was salted butter to wit she replied, "Don't try to reason with me. I've made up my mind."

:::::::::Working on a short video for scouts, so later, peeps!

Cookies, Milk and a Good Book

Victoria — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 18:13:00 +0000

Rachel, Noah and Eve went in for their yearly check-ups last week. Only Noah needed a shot. He got the Chicken Pox booster. I told him he could squeeze my hand if he needed to. I watched his mouth pop open when the needle went in, then he shut it. I looked at him and asked if it hurt? The nurse had the bandaid ready and was looking for the puncture, but wasn's finding it and asked Noah were it was. Then Noah said, "If shots were as painful as they are rumored to be you think I would be able to find it."

Everyone is growing well and pretty healthy. I asked about Noah's ever present bumps on his face. The doctor said it is a hereditary condition called pilaris keratosis. He also has patches on the back of his arms. The doctor recommended Lac-Hydrin. Noah wondered if that meant he could stop washing with the acne wash I had for the kids. I told him no. His skin has a harder time naturally sloughing off cells, so he gets some acne too. Some treatments list Retin-A, but Eve is allergic and so is my nephew Tyler. It leaves red burned patches of skin where the ointment touches, so that idea is out for any of my kids. The doctor said the condition should lessen as he gets older. Noah seemed to get the majority of the attention on this visit. We had him show the doctor how he can pretzel twist his fingers together in a really disturbing, yet interesting way. I wondered if this was a contributing factor to his poor fine motor ability, but the doctor didn't think so. He said that Noah just appeared to have very lax joints. We joke with Noah that he has little paws, and old man ear lobes, so we know his just has lax joints and connective tissue. Hmmm...interesting.

A fun and busy weekend. On Saturday morning I joined Rachel, Julia, Hannah, and Julia's mom, Karen in front of the Wallsmart to sell Girl Scout cookies at a booth sale. It was chilly, but we enjoyed being silly together. Sometimes people would walk out of the store with their carts loaded with different items and we would yell happily about how well that item went with cookies. I made Karen lose her train of thought when I yelled as a man passed by that cookies went great with Bud Light. Later, Rachel told a customer that cookies went well with birdseed. Hey, we worked with what we had. The girls made up a song to the old "Camp Town Races" tune:

C-o-o-k-i-e-s, Cookies! Cookies!
C-o-o-k-i-e-s, Cookies are our friends! Whoo!

We sold most of our wares with just a few dosidos and trefoils left.

Then, we went to Steak and Shake. I called Michael and invited him to bring Aaron, Aaron's friends Jeremy (who slept over) and Shafer. The place was packed so we had to do two nearby booths. Rachel and Julia crumbled a couple of samoas into their vanilla shakes.

The rest of the day I hung out at my mom and Jim's house and kept an eye on my brother so they could go out to a church activity. Michael stayed with Aaron and Rachel. I was able to finish The Lightning Thief by Riordan. Noah begged me to read this book. He gets very animated when he talks about the series and wanted to be able for me to understand what he was so excited about.

I saw the movie before reading the book, which is not the order I like to do things. I was rather stunned as each chapter rolled by that the only thing resembling the book that was in the movie was some of the main characters and the book title. I was less than unimpressed by the movie, but was willing to give the book a chance. The book is directed at the Middle School aged audience, but really hits the mark for the 4th-6th grade set and hovers there. The perils and adventures in the life of Percy Jackson are explained away as the whims and petty jealousies of the bickering Greek gods. I can see why young kids would find this book quite a lot of fun, but I found it rather tedious and am curious its literary staying power.

On a more positive note about this book series, it lit the flame of reading under my reluctant 9 year-old, and for that I am thankful to Mr. Riordan. I find Noah perched (yes, he perches when he reads. I'll have to post a picture of it some time)reading all the time now. He finished every book in the Percy Jackson series and is reading a Mythology book from his teacher's collection. He is also into the ,Animorphs book series.

Another Book Review:
I am absolutely amazed by Navajo Code Talkers. Thanks to Noah's teacher, who lent me this book of historical fiction of the invaluable contribution of the Code Talkers during WWII, I was able to learn more about their struggles.
I agonized over the way the government tried to strip the tribal peoples of their language and culture. The Navajo, along with other tribes, were physically harmed if they used their language or ways, then were called upon to use that same banned language to assist the war effort with their unbreakable code. They were unable to talk about what they did for the U.S. and freedom until the lifting of the top secret status in 1969.
I found it fascinating that they were very suited to the strenous life of a Marine, except for the cultural mistrust of water, which they overcame. Their stoic nature made it difficult for them to get help for the post traumatic stress that the horrors of war brought to them. The war gave them the opportunity to prove that their language is valuable and if the government and bigotry had won out, than that same government may have sewn the seed of its own destruction. I think these cautionary tales need to be frequently read. We can use this story into other facets of our life to realize the thing we destroy today, or disregard its value is the very thing that may preserve our lives tomorrow.

This is the first in the series of books set in the dystopian world a few hundred years from now when the "Rusties" have left some of the world in desolation. There are cities that rose from the rubble with advanced technology and the desire to stop future aggression and destruction by making everyone virtually the same. You are an "Ugly" until your 16th birthday, then you get an operation to make you physically attractive and almost impervious to illness. You also become rather docile. This life of perfection is the thing that most uglies desire. Tally Youngblood, the main character, looks forward to her operation, but in the mean time likes to do "tricks" to pass the time. Tally learns that there are people in "The Smoke" that want to live the rest of their lives ugly.

The book is aimed at the young adult group and really hits the mark. I thought the ideas were a great extension of an old Twilight Zone episode. The book is fast paced and interesting throughout. The character of Dr. Cable is a good foil for Tally's character. A good start to the series.

The second in the series finds Tally "Pretty". She finds friends in a clique called "The Crims" who did a lot of tricks during their ugly days. She lives in a world of beauty, parties, limitless food (with calorie purgers), yet is visited by feelings of inadequacy and longing for something she can't quite remember.

This series is like watching a chess match. The interesting thing is that Tally Youngblod's character seems to shift from pawn, to queen, to pawn again. Again the pace is fast and the pretty language is kind of Valley Girlesque, but appropriate. A solid sequel. I look forward to the third book.

The book I'm reading now is, Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell.

*****************
Well, Michael made a yummy late lunch of scrambled eggs, bacon, and sweet potato/russet potato hashbrown, so I'm ready to curl up with a book. Two kids are in timeout for fighting and the other two just got out. There is an air of peace in the house, so maybe I could slip in a nap too?

Later!

Some Snow Fun

Victoria — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 22:33:00 +0000

Just a few pages of things the family has been doing lately:

Book reviews later. Smiles!