Homeschooler

John and I have been thinking about homeschooling lately, because so many people that we know and respect have seen the benefits of it. Firstly, we don't like the idea of public schools indoctrinating our kids and undermining our authority as parents. Secondly, I think all kids learn differently and that public schools don't properly address that fact. Thirdly, I think our kids might learn faster and develop a sense of ambition early on, which will help them pursue a secure path in life earlier. Lastly, all the other benefits of working around our own schedule/curriculum.

    The deciding factor for us, will obviously be whether I am focused and patient enough to follow through. Lucas is difficult to keep focused and motivated, and his speech although greatly improved, still needs work and he gets very easily frustrated. He is very quiet, hands-on and technical...he likes to figure things out on his own quietly, a great critical thinker, great at games (especially video games), and coordinated physically.

    Olivia is very different. She demands all of your attention and sympathy. She is very intelligent and articulate, but snotty and defiant as well. She won't let anything slide, and likes to rub it in Lucas' face when she can do something he has trouble with. When she is bored with something, she will demand to move on to something else. Her constant questions mean she thinks A LOT about things, and remembers EVERYTHING you ever tell her, but the unending question eventually come to things that aren't easily answered/understood.

    Fortunately, their Godparents Eileen & Chuck have been successfully creating and finishing their own curriculum for years with their 2 children, and have given us some pointers. They also let us know that the rules regarding homeschooling are very lax in Texas and you have more freedom as a parent in how and what you want to teach them. Pretty much all you are required to do is have your kids pass a test like a GED once they are done with high school---homeschooling is treated as a private school.

    At their advice, we will be purchasing these 3 pre-k books to try it out with:

 I am excited to witness them learning and be in control of what they learn. I am just scared I am not persistent or patient enough to follow through. John knows I will need one-on-one time with them daily, and that Frankie is going to add another monkey to the bunch, but he is getting more and more excited about the idea of homeschooling and we are both devoted to trying our best this first year, and judging what our next move will be come next summer...we'll see!

Finally, The Savannah TX House

We've been in the new house for almost 2 months, and I just now got around to taking pictures and video to share. While I was on facebook, I had a folder that had pictures from back in February when this was still just an uneven plot of land...it was great to see the whole process and play a part in choosing some of the customization. There are things we will still need to buy and do to make the house feel more "home-y" or lived in, but it's a start. It's a lot of square footage to fill and I've never been very good with home decor. I think it's a combination of my being cheap, and picky. :P

   Well here's a video of the house (and at the end Lucas shows how to write his name, and then how to dance like a badass):

And pictures:

Slate Article : "You Are Not Trayvon Martin"

I am as tired of hearing about this sad case as anyone else. But I think this writer's perspective on the case is as most like my own.
Click the quote below to read the article, or listen below to the author read aloud, his excellent article from Slate.com

"Almost everything I thought I knew about Zimmerman was wrong."


I have no idea why this case out of many horrible tragedies that happen daily in this country, had to be so highly publicized, to the point that the White House and DOJ are trying to get involved, despite the findings of the FBI, a jury, and police reports. (Don't get me started on how backward and wrong the idea of "Hate Crime Legislation" is...or the term "white hispanic") Not many people even care about the current trial involving the obviously intentional murder of 13 people by Fort Hood's Hasan. Frustrates and saddens me that many celebrities, media and politicians seem to be following along with all the assumptions, and fostering without shame, feelings of hatred, racism and vengeance, such as twice D.C. mayor Marion Barry proudly stating that the "good news is Zimmerman will never be at peace."

I pray for healing for the Martin family and for the safety of the Zimmerman's but mostly that the world have more mercy and compassion in their hearts instead of vengeance.

As Perverted & Selfish As It Gets

http://hotair.com/archives/2013/07/10/are-you-bro-choice/

This is a link to an article referring to a political action group blog here in Texas. In response to the Fetal Pain Bill (HB2) passing in the Texas House on July 10th (after failing to do so on June 25th due to a crazy woman with a pee bag who filibustered the bill past the midnight closing), many ugly intentions have come to light and it gets more disgusting every day.

   First, lets look at what the bill actually does.

  Namely, the fetal-pain bill has moved the gestation limit for abortions, from 24 weeks, to 20 weeks, which to any sane person makes sense, as babies are being born earlier than 24 weeks and surviving, much less are being proven capable of feeling pain. In light of the gruesome horror that is Dr. Gosnell's neck-snipping-of-a-"baby-big-enough-to-walk-him-to-the-bus-stop" legacy, and Houston's Dr. Karpen's baby-neck-twisting, there is much more awareness of the lack of any oversight in many clinics across the country. And thankfully the line between innocuous 'choice' and undeniable murder is getting more blurry.

 
Next, the bill requires---get this----that abortionists must have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital! Wow, how evil of us pro-life people. It seems women like Wendy Davis and the rest of the "Hail Satan" idiots bused into the capital to disrupt the House (paid "activists" of PP, NARAL, Move On, mind you..), not only think mob rule is more American than Federalism, but they also prefer their murderous doctors not to have privileges at nearby hospitals, should their uterus be perforated, their bowels be pulled out, or they have a piece of "choice" left inside causing a septic infection and need emergency care.

  The bill also requires abortion clinics to follow the same health/safety standards required of (non-murdering) surgical health-care facilities in the state of Texas. So you know, they can't have years of dried up blood covering their non-sterilized equipment, they can't re-use one-time use utensils, they have to wear gloves, they can't have a roto-rooter guy on speed-dial for "choice"-clogged toilet pipes, and preferably not collect baby feet as choice-y keepsakes. Oh, and the real kicker, only the abortionist is allowed to actually administer abortion drugs... How offensive and outlandish, and impeding on women's choice to have dirty instruments and Hepatitis C infected untrained staff 'treat' them.

    And now aside from these crazy women opposing this bill on the grounds that they "want Republicans out of their vaginas", (obviously they prefer to ignore the actual bill provisions..) we have this from the pussies ("a weak or cowardly man or boy) at Burnt Orange report, reportedly "Texas' largest political group blog":

Your sex life is at stake. Can you think of anything that kills the vibe faster than a woman fearing a back-alley abortion? Making abortion essentially inaccessible in Texas will add an anxiety to sex that will drastically undercut its joys. And don’t be surprised if casual sex outside of relationships becomes far more difficult to come by.

 Can I think of anything that kills the vibe faster than  respecting life...well, I guess this guy has no problem thinking about his current lay, later paying to dice, burn,or suction his own child out. How inconsiderate of me to not acknowledge how difficult one-night stands might become if murder actually became illegal.

The Magic Bullet

We decided to use some saved up Kohl's cash for a couple home appliances; we bought a Shark floor steam cleaner (to use on all our tile...swiffer wasn't doing the job) and a magic Bullet thingy.  I primarily wanted the bullet to chop up shrimp finely so I could use it for my Lumpia. We found a huge Asian market chain called "Super H Mart" that has so much stuff we've never heard of but want to try. Produce was fresh and cheap as well.

We found the perfect lumpia wrappers--generally the wrappers carried in most stores are too thick to make lumpia properly--with a thin crispy texture, not bubbly:

I had made a batch of them with ground turkey/ ground pork, but wanted something more flavorful. The rolls were quickly eaten up by John, myself and Norman, but I froze half to fry fresh later. We also were able to find the yummy dipping sauce:

I was a little disappointed with my bullet as far as dicing the shrimp; it sorta pureed some and left other shrimp whole. So I didn't do that many with shrimp. I also made a few with cream cheese, and think I'll try using crab next time.

    But the bullet does come in handy when I want to make smoothies for the kids without using the huge blender, which takes up a lot of space in dishwasher. The kids each get their own cup and drink it all too! It's great since we have been stocking up on fruits from Costco, and I don't want them to go bad. For these smoothies I used mango, raspberry, strawberry, banana, carrot and a little orange juice. Makes me feel like a good mom for a minute :)

Amazing Use For Social Media

Reading this article touched my heart, and I would've called had I heard about it earlier. I hope more agencies and churches use the internet to save lives and prevent abortion. John and I still look forward to adopting in the future. :)
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/jul/9/hundreds-call-to-adopt-down-syndrome-baby-save-it-/

Almost a Year Later..!

Although I have quit using Facebook, I decided to get back into blogging to share events, pictures and articles with family and friends who want to stay in touch but live far from us :)

I won't go into too much detail, but after a month of failed closings on the house we built in Savannah TX (north of Dallas), our lender and builder were finally able to get it done on May 31st. We quickly moved and are settling in. My brother Norman is staying with us and works overnights at Target, and my mom and brother James now live in an apartment in Dallas. 

 We have been buying things for the house here and there, but still need some things. We are more intent on getting all the baby stuff we will need this fall; oh, by the way, we had to get an ultrasound about a month and a half ago and found out we are having a "proud" boy! I didn't know what the tech/dr meant by that til they showed me little Frankie's undeniable anatomy ;P I am about 21 weeks now...and already gained too much. I can't wait to lose weight again---it pains me to think about how much progress I made last year in Humble when Alexandra got me into spin! I can do it again...

We really love the house and neighborhood and all the space we now have. We just got our ID cards so we get to use the clubhouse and the gym and pool.  On the music front, I have essentially "put in my notice" and will be finishing off my last 6 gigs this month. It has been fun and a great way to make extra $, but I am getting too pregnant to be able to haul all my equipment and the drive is a little further from the new house. 

Anyway, I will take pics/video of the whole house soon. I hope any and all of you family and friends can visit sometime--we have room to host you! 

For now, here are some pictures and video from yesterday when we celebrated July 4th! First we went to the pool and the kids loved swimming. 

Then we came home and tried our some poppers and waited until it was dark. Norman had to go to work, so he didn't get to do fireworks, but we did a few...we were told by neighbors that the cops cracked down on Savannah last year since we are within 5,000 ft of Little Elm, and are not allowed to do the fireworks that actual go up in the sky...we did some anyway, hoping to plead ignorance if any cops came. 

Then this big black truck pulled up and we thought we were busted...it was a neighbor and his friends from down the street asking to join us--they had boxes full of the big ones! So they joined us in front of the house. Then the cops came by and said we have to do them on our property...but I didn't want them too close to our new house, so we waited and walked down by one of the ponds and shot the rest off there. Olivia was scared, Lucas loved it. Boys are so fascinated by fireworks it's funny. :)

Hope you all had a happy 4th of July! It's funny to think the last time I blogged, was when Norman was still in high school and came to visit us in Houston with Susan. He graduated early this year and is doing well. He is establishing residency with TX so he can get take his driving test and eventually go to school. 

      We are all so excited to see little Frankie, who so far has been as inactive as Lucas was in the womb (Olivia was crazy, and remains very active and demanding to this day..) so I hope Frankie is a baby who likes sleep!