Brain Freeze

by Amy

One time, probably about a year and a half ago, my kids spent the night at Uncle John and Aunt Rachel's house. After dinner, while enjoying some ice cream, Uncle John introduced my kids to the concept of "Brain Freeze." (You know.... you eat too big of a bite of something cold and your head hurts....) I'm not exactly sure what crazy things Uncle John was doing and saying, but it made a lasting impression on my kids.

Fast forward to today....

Since Peter and Alex are finished with their 100 Easy Reading Lessons, we've been having "Reading Class." In reading class, we just read an easy book together. But, before we read, I review (or teach) some words/sounds they'll come across. Today, we were going over the "ai" sound. So, I wrote several words on the board and had them take turns reading them. Alex - nail. Peter - pain. Alex - train. So far, so good.... Then, I asked Peter to read "brain." He sounded it out, and pronounced in correctly, but slowly. I wasn't sure he knew what he had said, so I asked, "Peter, do you have one of those?" "Uh...no?" he responded. "Sound out again," I said. "See if you can figure out what that is." "br-ai-n...brain... Oh, I know. It's that thing that hurts when Uncle John eats his ice cream too fast!"

Clearly, I need to start teaching a basic science class!

Savannah Read 1000 Pages

... over three months ago!

by Amy

Yes, she met her reading goal in AUGUST!! When I set that goal for Savannah, back in early June, I was sure it would take her unitl mid-September to read that many pages. As you may remember from a previous post, my friend Rachel, made a rock path that lead to something under the rainbow [paper]. For every 5 pages Savannah read, she got to color a rock. Every 200 pages she got to look under a bolder, tree, or bush next to the path to undcover a princess. She also got a small prize. (A new book, a date with me or Brad, etc.) I thought the rock path would help Savannah be motivated to read on her own. I had no idea that it would work so well! She ended up reading 1000 pages in about 2.5 months. That rocks - no pun intended!

So, since I expected Savannah to take so long, Brad and I decided we'd use this reading goal to tell Savannah (and the boys) about an upcoming trip we had planned to take in October. Giving 2 or 3 weeks notice before our trip would be plenty of advanced notice. And, we wouldn't be asked multiple times a day when we're leaving. So, where did the path lead? To a castle that stated...

"We're going to America!" The "windows" of the castle had pictures of people we'd be seeing. Grandma, Papa and Nana, as well as the Kimbell kiddos. My kids were absolutely in shock!! They were so excited!! And, yes, for the following 7+ weeks we were asked repetedly when we'd be leaving. But the anticipation was fun. To be honest, I don't think I could have waited until mid-September to tell them.

I'm sure most of our blog readers knew we went to the States, but just in case you didn't.... we spent the month of October in Texas. My mom's Alzheimer's has been progressing pretty rapidly. She and my dad came out here to visit us a year and a half ago, but my dad didn't feel like she could make that trip again. She gets really confussed when she's away from the familiar. So, my dad used his air miles to fly our whole family back for free! And, since the purpose of this trip was to see our family, we didn't publicize it. We also decided that the time was too short to take a trip to Colorado and/or Kentucky, even though we so long to see our dear friends in both places.

So, now the cat's out of the bag. Now you know the real reason I didn't blog for over 6 weeks. Our time in the States was great. We had so much fun with family and friends! We have some fun pics that I'll be sure to share in the next few posts.

Happy Thanksgiving!

by Amy

Happy Thanksgiving! Today I made a list of what the kids said they were thankful for:

Peter:
Aunt Becky and Uncle Kevin (I think Becky is Peter's first crush. It's pretty cute!)
Papa, Nana and Grandma
Mom and Dad
snuggle time
home school
toys
snow
Heaven

Alex:
forgiveness
friends
Christopher Columbus (can you tell who we're studying in history class?)
memorizing the Bible
fun times
our family
movies
that God helps him to read
legos
the Vaughns
Jesus is coming back!
Fundazzel
our home

Savannah:
God
friends
family, including grandparents and aunts and uncles
snuggles
Jesus' peace when we're afraid
Pilgrims and Squanto (we've talked about them a lot too in home school!)
home school,
toys and slides
Heaven
thankful hearts

The Lord is faithful and worth to be praised! Happy Thanksgiving!

Alex's Big Decision...

by Amy

This last Friday night, our friends John and Rachel came over for dinner, three precious girls in tow. With that many people at our house, (6 kids and 5 adults - including another friend) we usually have the kids sit at the school table in Savannah's room when it's time to eat. So, I went in to Savannah's room to clear the tables and see a distressed Alex. So, I quickly ask what's going on. This is our conversation:

Me: Alex, are you OK?

Alex: Yes, it's just that three people want to marry me.

Me: (smile) Really? Who are the three people?

Alex: Rachel (Kimbell) Clara (at our house that night) and Emma (Clara's best friend.) It's such a big decision, Mom, I don't know who to pick.

Me: Well, it's OK honey, you have a long time to make that decision....

Peter pipes up from the other side of the room: Yeah, you have like 15 years!

Me: Hopefully more than that!

I'm Back....

by Amy

Sorry.... I get on these blogging kicks. I sit down and upload a ton of pics and write post after post and schedule them to appear every four days or so. Then, I stop. Posts are posting, but I'm not doing any work... Then, they stop. Sometimes, I pick up and do it all over again, and sometimes I don't. Sometimes I so swept up in life I just can't seem to find the time to email, much less blog. So, sorry. Yes, the date on the post before this one is Oct. 8. That's a good 6+weeks ago! Hopefully you Morello Madness readers use Google Reader, so you haven't been clicking on my blog for the last six weeks, staring at the same title.

The only purpose of this post is to say, I'm back! I'm going to start uploading pics and writing posts again - maybe even tonight! So, stay tuned.... the last 6 weeks have been full of fun and adventure!

A Deeper Appreciation....

by Amy

The older I get - and the older my kids get - the more I appreciate my mom. Being a mom is a wonderful job - probably the best one there is! But, it's definitely not the easiest job around. And, as I fight a selfish, complaining attitude that occasionally creeps into my heart, I think of my mom and her example. Now that I'm a mom myself, I realize that my mom probably didn't actually enjoy pooper-scooping the yard. But, I can honestly say, that I never once heard her complain about it. Can my kids say the same thing? Did they ever hear me complain about cleaning up after the bunnies? I also realize that it was probably difficult for her when my dad went out of town, but again, I never heard a complaint. And, we often did extra fun things - like play games, go out to dinner, stay up late, or have a slumber party - when he was gone.

One of the things I remember my mom saying to me when I was in college and she looked back on our "growing up years" was that she wished she had played with me and my brother more. In her opinion, my dad was fun and she was always busy. I can honestly say that is not how I remember things. But, I often think of that in relation to my own kids. Do I take the time to play with them? Do we do fun things together? Do they know that I enjoy being with them? Or, am I too busy cleaning up, cooking or doing my own thing that I don't cherish the time I have with them?

I praise the Lord for the great example my mom was to me. She was hard-working, supportive of my dad, loving, gentle, quick to speak an encouraging word, ready to listen, tender-hearted, and so much more. Watching her battle Alzheimer's now breaks my heart - even thousands of miles away.

Good For Nothing

by Amy

If you remember back in March, we had two bunnies, named Rosie and Daisy. Daisy was sweet and cuddly. Rosie was squirmy and naughty.... Well, Daisy died about 3 months ago. Savannah was heart broken. I was not. Having two bunnies is not like having twin boys.... (When the boys were little, I often commented that having twins took more time, but not twice as much time.) It is not so with rabbits. Instead of just having twice the mess to clean up - it was like having 4 times the mess! So, I'll confess right now, I'm a bad mom -- I was not sad to see Daisy go. Although, I was sad to see my daughter so upset. And, if I had to chose one to die, it would have been Rosie, not Daisy.

Well, for the last few months, we've had Rosie. Rabbits typically are very fragile (which is why we've been through so many!) You need to watch what they eat, how far they jump down, etc. That was not the case with Rosie. She would jump off Brad's shoulders while he was standing up and be just fine. She would eat all the crumbs under the table, and not have any issues. She was also very stubborn! She could jump up on to my kitchen table!! I HATED that! I didn't want dirty bunny feet on my kitchen table!! (PTL for Clorox wipes - hard to find and expensive over here but worth it when a rabbit is hopping on the table!) We had a spay bottle that we'd spray her with when she got up there. She didn't like the water, but she'd keep coming back. Then, Brad resorted to "baptizing" her. He'd dunk her under the running water, then throw her back in her cage. When that failed, he began putting her "in jail." Bunny jail is a plastic trash can with small holes on the side and a weight on top so she can't get out. She didn't like it, but she continued to jump on my table.

One day Brad said, "I finally get it! My dad used to always say my pet cat was 'good for nothing'. Now I understand what he means - This bunny is Good For Nothing!"

Well, I'm not sad to report that not too long ago, Rosie died. We have no idea what happened to her. Brad had moved her to a bigger cage and she got stuck between the slats a few times, so maybe she got injured. We're not sure, but I will say, Brad and I weren't too heart broken. Savannah again was pretty upset, but also expressed a thankfulness that she got to live with us for so long (6 months).

So, there's a good chance that the bunny phase of our life is over.... Next spring when they're being sold all over the streets, we'll see if we have that same resolve!