Spring 2013

Has it really been so long since I've blogged? Ah, I have fond memories of the days when this blog was a fun journal of our lives, detailing everything from family camping adventures to the mysteries of a Ladmo bag. I had fun following blogs too and miss hearing how all my friends are doing. But, time is a limited resource and regular blogging just isn't on the table anymore. Even when we're done homeschooling, my time will go to writing stories instead of blogging. ... Ah, doesn't THAT sound nice? :)

Well, for the sake of those of you who like to check in with the boys, here's another update.

They are doing just fantastic. They're still in counseling and we still go to grief group, but it's all really positive and they are doing so well. The holidays were really nice this year. They're enjoying all their activities. They're more settled and happy. I'm really proud of them.

Even though homeschooling has been completely exhausting and I literally felt like I was going to lose my mind a few times, it was worth it. It did what I needed it to do. Everyone's doing great. It was really fun to teach the boys this year. We did some fun projects and they're such smart little whips that they're easy to teach. What made it hard was the fact that it's just so time consuming. I cut back on the freelancing to make room for homeschooling, but I've had two book launches this year and the odd freelance deadline here and there. Not to mention the normal time it takes to run a household. It's been crazy at times.

But we're in the home stretch - four weeks and three days (who's counting?) - and they're all done with their standardized testing. Those are administered by the charter school for homeschoolers that we used this year, so I didn't have to worry about that. Anyway, all three boys did fantastic on their tests. That's a relief, cuz otherwise I would've worried that I screwed them up this year. :) 

John measuring his shadow. This was part of an Algebra lesson to determine the height of one of the trees in our backyard.

We traced a large outline map of Europe (this is about 3 feet tall) and colored in the countries as we studied them.

We read "Little Men" together this year. I was surprised how much they enjoyed such a simple, slow-paced, old-fashioned book. We made a "Plumfield House" box where we made notes about theme, setting, plot, vocabulary, etc. Then we made puppets for several of the characters with notes about each one. It was fun.

We stapled together several manila file folders to make a timeline of European history. We later added folders to show ancient Egyptian history so we could see how the two were related. Ben is in front of the section showing the Golden Age of Greece (blue line at the top) and part of the Roman Republic. From his knee to the edge of the picture on the right, this section goes from about 650 BC to about 70 BC.

This is how long the entire timeline is. It starts at 2880 BC and Egypt's Old Kingdom and goes to the present day. The Golden Age of Greece is not quite in the middle. It was fascinating to see how long the Egyptian Kingdoms and Roman Republic/Empires were around compared to Greece.

This goes from about 1170 AD to the present day and includes the last part of the middle ages (King John, Robin Hood, the Black Death), the Hundred Years War, the Renaissance, the Age of Discovery (Christopher Columbus, Magellan), the Protestant Reformation, the Scientific Revolution (Newton, Galileo), etc. ......   My lifetime takes up the last two inches of this timeline. Take the length of the top of the sunny spot at the end of the timeline, double it, and that's my life. Crazy!

Let's see, Chris has had not one but TWO procedures to try to correct that extra electrical pathway in his heart. Usually one procedure is enough, but the pathway grows back and reconnects in about 10% of the cases. Chris was one of the lucky 10%. Woot! Ugh. They don't do this kind of procedure in Boise (or anywhere in Idaho) so Kevin and I took Chris down to the children's hospital in Salt Lake City while my mom stayed with the other two here at home.

Getting ready for the first surgery.

Chris rode this little trike all the way from pre-op to the operating room. He barely fit on this thing! He cracked up the doctor and the nurses. That's my silly Christopher!

The plus to driving all the way to SLC was getting to see Uncle Travis (and the second time, Aunt Chelsea as well). That was a treat for Chris (me too!) and I'm just now realizing I didn't get any pictures of them together. :/ I've been so lax about pictures lately. I need to repent of that! :)

Anyway, the second time Travis came he brought a Lego set for Christopher. Travis claimed some guy on the street was just giving these away and Travis took one because he thought maybe Chris would like it. LOL. That's Travis. Anyway, Chris LOVED it. He wanted to take it to the hospital with him so he could work on it in the recovery room. Well, the recovery after the first procedure was NOT fun. Poor kid was so sick. Kevin and I didn't think Chris would be up for Legos. We let him bring them in the car but drew the line at carrying them into the hospital. We had enough to carry around while waiting for him to come out of surgery. I told him if he felt like working on them we'd go down to the car and get them. He insisted he would ask for his Legos right when he got up.

Guess what?

Yep. Recovery the second time was so much better. They used a different anesthetic so he didn't get so sick. Yay! :)

Here's a couple of cute pics of Chris before the second surgery.

You know, going into the first surgery, we were all a little ignorant about the whole thing. Before the second one, we knew just what he was getting into. That little guy was so brave though. He went into it with such a good attitude. He tried to look at the positive. He only got really nervous right before he put them under, but that's understandable. He did great. Kevin and I were both so proud of him.

So we get to see the girls every week, and they stay the weekend with us every two weeks. They live about 25 minutes away and we drive through farm country to get to them. Here are some pics of the kind of views we get to enjoy.

Isn't that lovely?

My oldest step daughter, Kira, was in the back of the van taking pictures of the scenery and snapped this pic of Kevin and I on the sly. I love it. :)

Kira's pretty fond of taking pictures of us on the sly. Here's another one I really like:

Ben's big thing lately is the Rubik's Cube. He watched some YouTube videos to learn how to solve it and has been playing with it every day since then. It's been several weeks. He's had to oil it many times and the red stickers are all faded with so much use. I think his fastest time solving it is 1 minute 9 seconds.

John is on the waiting list for the technological high school I mentioned in my last post. He's in a very good position though and we're hopeful he'll get in before the school year begins. :) This year John has really gotten into cycling. He's lost a lot of weight and is really starting to look like a teenager now. He earned his cycling MB, which involves several long rides including a 50 mile ride. A few weeks ago he and a friend went on a four hour, 30-mile jaunt around town. They went to the greenbelt, downtown, all over. It's so nice to live in a place where my teenage son can have that kind of freedom. :)

Okay, I'm going to skim through my photos to see what I've missed and just post things at random.

At one of our favorite parks in town.

Chris getting his Wolf.

Grandma and Grandpa Cook coming to visit.

Chef Bear

Day of the Dead

Trunk or Treat

Ben getting his Arrow of Light (and Indian Brave face paint!)

The cousins at Travis' wedding

Love this pic of Kevin and John

So cute. Ben and Chris on the grounds of the SLC temple.

Oh, for those of you wondering how the publishing/writing is going, you can follow my blog here: http://donnacookauthor.com/

It's been a lot of work trying to write and do the marketing at the same time. I've had some signings recently that went really well, and one of my short stories won Honorable Mention in IDAHO Magazine's Fiction Contest. The short story was inspired by some shoes I saw at the chocolate shop downtown:

Yum!!

Okay, there's a loooong update for you. Until next time....

A New School Year

Fall is in full force here in Boise and I've adjusted to the fact that it isn't still summer. After all, whoever heard of cool weather in September? :)

As I sit here to write my various updates, I realize I still have several pictures to download from my camera. As life is pretty busy these days, I know it's either write the blog without the pictures or put the pictures on my to do list and let the blog sit for an indefinite period of time. I'll just write.

School this year is a mixed bag. I'm homeschooling John full time through a charter school for homeschoolers. They're basically there for support, to make sure the standards are taught, and to provide curriculum materials. I still get to set the curriculum, pace, assignments, grades, etc, but they pay for approved materials, which is nice. They also have all kinds of extra stuff. John is in Drama Club and Future City Team club (I'm sure I'll blog more about that in the future), and he goes down to the school for a few hours every Friday for teacher-guided activities in science (including labs), history (including virtual field trips), etc. It's pretty cool. He also bikes down to the Y every day or two (the school paid for that membership as well), and has earned the Cycling Merit Badge in scouts (which included a 25-mile and 50-mile bike ride). He's down to a healthier weight and is looking and feeling good.

I do believe homeschooling was a good decision for John this year, and I'm glad I decided to do it. He's definitely still healing and how I run schooling with him keeps that in mind. I am, however, hopeful that John will be ready to go back to the public school full time next school year. Homeschooling is time-consuming and I have to manage the schedule carefully to keep from becoming a burned-out lunatic. ;) There's a technological high school here that teaches computer programming, web design, etc and John is very interested in attending. We've talked to several people who go there (along with their parents) and I hear nothing but good things about it. It seems like a good fit for him, so hopefully he'll get in (they have a lottery) and he'll enjoy it and do well.

Ben started at the Math and Science school and enjoys it, though he's adjusting to being so challenged. I had thought he could attend the junior high (which is on the same campus) for his humanities classes, but that school is in a different district than the one we live in and they don't start junior high until 7th grade. Ben is in 6th grade. I didn't realize we had this issue until we got back from Arizona. I spent a few harried weeks trying to figure out what to do with him for the first half of the school day, and ultimately decided to homeschool him in the mornings. That turned out to be an excellent decision. Because John and Ben are so close in age, it's easy to teach them both English and History using mostly the same curriculum. It's been really fun having Ben with us in the morning and I think it's made the overall experience more positive.

Chris started at a new charter school that is, unfortunately, a 20 minute drive from the house. I truly don't mind the drive, but then I realized I'll be making the drive in the snow a handful of times and we have to come off the hill so I'm not looking forward to that. Fortunately, winters are pretty mild here. Anyway, Chris LOVES his new school. He's already made friends and has a new best friend, with whom he's already had several play dates. His friend lives on 5 acres with cows and chickens and trampolines and the whole nine yards. Boy heaven. These two are so cute together. Chris also loves his teachers and the academics side of the school as well (I'm happier with this school for that reason too and it is SUCH a relief that my little Chris is no longer being bullied). Chris even gets to do homework on the computer. How high tech kids are these days! He's coming out of his shell more and more. It's nice to see the old Chris again. He's doing really well.

So that's the craziness we have this year. We're still going to grief group (which started again just a few weeks ago) and everyone's in counseling. Between that and scouting, we're kept pretty busy. Some people have mentioned to me that they keep my boys in their prayers, and I can't tell you how much I appreciate that. They do need it and I'm sure it helps.

A Few Things About Ben

First, he would like me to tell you that his nickname is "Cookie." It started when he made friends with a boy named Ben. Apparently that boy is "Bendy" (from Ben D.) and my Ben is "Cookie" to avoid confusion. :) Ben has requested that I call him Cookie. Not happening. ;)

In other news, he was recently awarded the Presidential Academic Award.

While I was proud of Ben for earning this award, I was far more proud of the attitude he had about it. I didn't see the slightest bit of arrogance or conceit about it. He didn't brag or make a big fuss. He simply went to school, accepted the award, humbly showed his family the medal and certificate, wore the medal under his shirt the rest of the day, and that was that. He's a sweet boy who has managed to overcome several years of painful shyness. He's an outgoing, friendly, confident kid who has come to accept himself for who he is, while accepting others for who they are. It's a wonderful combination of traits and that's what really makes me proud.

His grade also put together a really fun performance all about America. They sang songs, played a verse on their recorders, and recited tales about American history. It was really fun.

Well, Ben's elementary years are over. Middle school starts in 6th grade, so off he goes. Egads.

Before I Check Out for the Night

Okay, that's about all the updating I can do for now. I have more coming, hopefully sooner rather than later. Before I go, though, I thought I'd do some update cheating and give you links to personal posts I wrote for my America Jane blog. Since these are more personal, I'll share them here too.

The first link is to my book review of Tear Soup, an amazing book on grieving for kids. This was given to us by a friend. If you follow the link, you can read what this book has meant for the boys.

The second isn't really about the boys, but since you guys are my friends too you might be interested. :) Thanks to my dear hubby, I've now tried my hand at painting and drawing. This post is about my first painting workshop. There will be a drawing post forthcoming. Eventually. Here's a sneak peek at one of my drawings in progress:

Lastly, I want to give a big plug for Ben.

Chances are, most of you have already been contacted by Ben about this. If you haven't, or if you just need a reminder (hint hint, LOL), please follow the link to learn about Ben's upcoming trip to Washington, D.C. and how you can help him raise the funds for his tuition. (It ain't cheap.)

We have a week to go and every little bit helps, truly!

You can sponsor (100% of the donation goes to his tuition) or you can buy raffle tickets for the 70/30 raffle where 70% of funds raised goes to his tuition and the remaining 30% goes to three winners.

Even if you can't make a donation, please do check out his page anyway. It's a pretty neat experience he's going to have. :)

Ben's Baptism

I meant to get this post up shortly after the last post, but I was without the internet for a couple of weeks. I got a few things done on remote computers, but this wasn't one of them.

Anyway, Ben's baptism! This cute little bugger finally got baptized and it was a great thing to see. Aunt Kelli gave the talk on baptism, I gave the talk on the Holy Ghost, Uncle Nathan baptized him and Grandpa Cook gave him the Gift of the Holy Ghost.

When I asked Ben what his favorite part of the day was, he said, "All of it!" Such a sweetheart. Congratulations Ben!

Random Stuff

Random Item #1

This is Ben checking himself out after getting his eyes dilated.

He wasn't super crazy about the glasses he had to wear to protect his eyes from the sun.

This kid's eyes are (in a word) terrible. His prescription is strong even for an adult. John will be getting glasses soon too. Apparently no one wanted to inherit their mother's perfect vision. I suppose Chris could end up having my good eyesight but I'm not holding my breath.

Random Item #2

Brian and I attended the stake's Marriage Relations Class the last couple of months. I hear there's a stigma attached to these classes, that it's only for folks with marriage problems but that's not true. It's a great class for anyone to take. Good stuff.

Anyway, the last class is held at the Pierson's home where they feed us a delicious steak dinner. Very yummy. Poor Brian had to miss the class because he was short-staffed at work and had to dispatch (for Pete's sake), but I decided to go without him anyway. I'm glad I did. The food was excellent and the last lesson was helpful.

Plus, they have this cool slide in their house. It's for the grandkids and goes down to the basement. It's a tight spiral all the way down. You know I had to try it out!

Now that was fun!

Random Item #3

I'm learning there's a lot to launching a website. I'm getting all kinds of bugs worked out. First, it took awhile to get the site approved through Norton Safe Search. That's the thing that puts a little green check mark next to your site when listed on a Google search. The technicalities of getting that done was a bit of a pain, but it's all taken care of now.

Then I used a free credit I had for an SSL certificate, not really realizing that I do NOT want that on my website, because first of all, I don't need it and second of all, when that certificate expires in a year people browsing to my site will get a warning saying my certificate has expired. Well, I don't want that, so I called and cancelled it. I figure, better to take care of it now while I'm getting pretty much no traffic instead of having that kind of glitch after I've been promoting the site for awhile.

Well, unfortunately my Internet browser's cookies and history was remembering the address for the secure site, so when I tried to pull up my site it wouldn't work.

Now, that's not something I wanted to see.

I called GoDaddy (I've been on the phone with them A LOT the past week) and they told me I had to clear my cookies and history. So that's what I did. And now I can see my site again. Thank goodness for that!

Meanwhile, I discover that if you type "personal progress honor bee" into Google, I'm now on page one of the results.

Victory!

But the link wasn't working.

Not good.

One phone call later and I learn what the problem was. I'd changed the name of the file for that particular page of the site, which Google doesn't like. So I changed it back and now the link works.

WHEW!!!

So glad I decided to go live with this site before it was all the way done, so I could get all these bugs worked out BEFORE I started promoting it to death.

Meanwhile, I've had zero problems with the America Jane Speaks blog, so that's my favorite site. Nice and easy. Ahhhhh!!!!!

Speaking of which, I thought I'd spread the word about a contest I just blogged about. If you know anyone who has a teenaged daughter, Jo-Ann has this contest for girls that sew their own prom dress. There are several prizes, but the grand prize is $50,000 for college and a $1000 Jo-Ann gift card. How cool is that???