The "Grand Blogging Plan"...

I had a great vision. I would blog. Daily. Or perhaps at least once a week. This would be my way of keeping family and friends up to date with our family's "happenings." I was so gung-ho with this plan that I printed this blog's web address on my Christmas cards.

Ha! You can see how well this plan has worked out. My last post was around Election Day!

So, if you've come here from our Christmas card.... :) I definately want to hear from you!! I'm trying to work harder at "staying in touch." But I'm better at e-mail than at blogging.... So send me a message at adarmieri@yahoo.com.

And Happy Holidays!!!

That's not what I thought he'd look like.

Today I received an e-mail from Joe Biden. Me personally. Ok, maybe me and a million or so of my closest Democrat friends.

Anyway. It contained a link to Barack Obama's speach last night in Florida. I played it with Mia looking over my shoulder. She says, "Is that Barack Obama?" And, by the way, her pronunciation of "Barack Obama" is dead on. Now it is, at least. Earlier on in the campaign his name was a bit mangled by the younger Armieri set. So I say, "Yes, it is." She says, "That's not what I thought he looked like." I say, "Why not?", thinking, oh dear, she's going to say something like, "He's black." Mind you, she called Akil, the little boy down the street, "that black boy" for quite while. Now she can remember "Akil." Not dissimilar to her calling "Bella", "that new girl in the blue house," until she could remember Bella. Anyway, I digress....

I say, "Why not?" Mia says, "He's not wearing a hat. I thought he was a cowboy."


http://origin.barackobama.com/photos/index.php?set=Barack_Obama&image=2

Another Week in Review

Monday We went back to Ganyard Farms (pumpkin picking, cotton picking, etc.) with a group that I organized of Chapel Hill Homeschoolers, THEA folks, and Girl Scouts. The hay pile with the huge black plactic pipe slide and tunnel was very popular with a bunch of friends. The kids also go to feed the cows (AKA throwing bits of smashed pumpkin over the fence to, and sometimes hitting, the cows.) The cows seemed to like this activity very much, as did the children.



Tuesday Dallas decided to skip his weekly gymnastics class/play with Trevin and came with me and girls instead. First we dropped Emma at "Kathy's Art Class". The plan was then to hit either Southpoint Mall or Best Buy to look for a birthday present for Brian (who's birthday is tomorrow.) About half way to the mall Dallas asks if we can "look" in a Webkins store (you know, Webkins, those $15 stuffed animals produced by the Ganz company that come with an access code to play your virtual stuffed animal on-line at webkinzworld.com!) And Dallas, being 9 1/2, really means "look" when he says "look." Mia, however, at age 5 yrs. and 3 months starts crying (over, over, over), "I want a Webkin!!." Now, I will admit, that the vast majority of the time, Mia acts like a 5 year old. But, little did I know that today was "Reversion to 3 Year Old day" Day. So Mom, after saying "No." several different ways, turned around and drove away from the mall, swearing that she would never, ever, ever set foot in a Webkinz store again. We ended up parking for a while while Mia asked, "Why won't you buy me a Webkin?" And, "No! Really! Why won't you buy me a Webkin!" (apparently not liking the original, much repeated answer.) And eventually, "I promise not to cry. Can we go to the Webkinz store?" And then "Can't we go get Daddy a birthday present?" At that point Mom wasn't going into ANY store. Mia eventually calmed down and we stopped at our regular Tuesday afternoon during Art Class "coffee shop", where Dallas and Mia had hot chocolate.



We then dropped Mia at her art class, and picked up Emma and Amabel, and met Christine back at the coffee shop. Emma and Amabel had their weekly hot chocolate. And Emma did some Cube Friend math and Amabel attempted to write a paragraph. However, having Dallas there was a tad distracting to Amabel. Finally, Christine told Amabel and Dallas to go to another table and for Dallas to dictate something to Amabel to write. This worked fabulously! I have not idea what he told her to write, but she ended up with a whole page.



Wednesday, October 22nd, Brian's Birthday! After breakfast Emma, Mia and I ran across to Harris Teeter and bought the makings for pecan pie. Dallas stayed home playing a computer game. "Us Girls" then made a pecan pie, including the crust! While the pie cooked the girls did their reading, Emma a couple pages of Explode the Code Book 1 and Mia 3 segments of lesson 10 of Click-n-Kids on the computer. After lunch Dallas did his reading, 15 minutes of the Reading Pathways book. We then took Dallas and Emma to work-out at Fitwize4Kids. From there (Cary) we drove straight to Chapel Hill and dropped all three kids at Jenny Warnasch's to play while I went to an appointment at the Women's Birth (where Emma was born!) and Wellness Center. We then drove back home and had turkey quesidillas for dinner. We had planned on going out to dinner for Brian's birthday, but since we had Walking with Dinosaur's tickets for 7 pm we opted to eat fast at home (including pecan pie with vanilla ice cream!) Then at about 6:35 we left for the show, figuring it takes maybe 20 minutes to get there. Well. Do you remember that NC State Fair thing we went to on Sunday? Well, it's still going strong. Until midnight each night. And the RBC Center is RIGHT NEXT TO THE FAIR GROUNDS! We pulled into our parking spot at 7:18 pm, ran into the building, and slipped into our seat with the big animatronic dinosaurs already circling the hockey arena. The show was pretty awesome. Worth the drive. And worth the money.



Thursday We arrived at Christine's at 9:30 am. She took Emma, Amabel, and Jaeger (and Kevynn....) to Arianna's art class in Hillsborough. The rest of us (Dallas, Mia, Luci and I) stayed at Christine's house. Dallas was listening to a book on my mp3 player. Mia and Luci played. I ironed Girl Scout badges and patches onto Emma and Mia's uniforms. Then I planned out some activities for the Daisy's meeting. Once everyone else was back we had lunch (fish sticks, mozzarella quesidillas with pizza sauce, and some pasta) it was time to head out again. Christine buckled Kevynn (age 7 mo.) into her carseat and then Christine got into my car drove off. Off to her dentist appointment (week 2.) I got in Christine's Suburban with SEVEN KIDS! and drove to the THEA park day at Herdon Rd. Park.



Friday The girls went to "Team Time" at the Chapel Hill YMCA, the first session. Dallas went to Trevin's house. I went to the dentist. Then to Girl Scouts. Then home.

Last Week

Tuesday Fairly typical Tuesday. Amber picked Dallas up around 12:30 for gymnastics with Trevin and Corbin, then back to their house to play. The girls had their art classes with Kathy Austin. During Emma's class, Mia and I went to a coffee shop for hot chocolate. I read her a couple books, a favorite being The Three Billy Goats Gruff. Then during Mia's class, Emma, Amabel, Christine and I went back to the coffee shop. More hot chocolate. This time chips and salsa for me. Emma did Cube Friends math.

Wednesday Dallas went to Trevin and Corbins (again) and the girls went to Jenny Warnasch's while I had a gyn appointment. One returning to pick up the girls, Jenny, Christine and I talked about ongoing Chapel Hill Homeschoolers "issues" -Just what constitutes "obsenity" for things posted to the CHH e-mail loop, etc. Wednesday evening Dallas did an "extra" reading lesson in anticipation of his sleeping over at Trevin's on Thursday night.

Thursday We started the morning by driving over to Christine's. Christine then took Mia and Luci and headed to Whole Foods, I took Amabel, Jaeger and Emma to Ariana's Japanese Mythology and Art class in Hillsborough. Dallas and I then went to the new Weaver Street Market. Dallas had hot cocoa and did his reading lesson. We then stopped at a hunting/fishing store and bought Dallas a couple new archery arrows. After picking up the art class gang we headed back to Christine's for a lunch of cheese quesadillas. We then loaded up all the kids and head over to Cedar Falls park in Chapel Hill for our weekly THEA park day. Once Jenny arrived, Christine, Dallas and I (and Kevynn...) left to drop Christine at her dentist appointment. I then drove Christine's car (at which point Kevynn had fallen asleep) to drop Dallas at Trevin's for his sleepover. I then returned to the dentist office and planned Friday's Daisy Girl Scout meeting while Kevynn sleep. After Kevynn woke up I entertained her with keys, a carrot/apple drink, and walking around outside. After all that Kevynn was getting a tad fussy so I drove her around and around and around the Chapel Hill Bible Church parking lot (the site of Friday's CHH Friday Enrichment Classes). Finally, after her first ever 90 minutes away from Kevynn we returned to the park day.

Friday Today was the last week of Friday Enrichment. I sat in on Mia's ballet class's demonstration. Very cute. Should have some video since I had Merri White's video recorder. Then it was on to Girl Scouts. Then to picking Dallas up and on home.

Saturday I went to the gym. Returned home. Took Dallas and Emma to the kid gym. Mia and I got a birthday present for Bella at the Dollar Store. Returned home. Emma put on her devil Halloween costume and Mia her mermaid costume and headed down the street to Bella's birthday party.

Sunday I swam/biked/ran the Ramblin Rose triathlon in Chapel Hill. Finished 292nd out of 600 or so entrants.

In the afternoon we went to the NC State Fair. The kids played a lot of balloon darts. You know, the carnaval-type game where you (the Dad) pays like $2/dart for your kid to through darts at balloons. And you need to pop like 15 balloons to win the really cool BIG prize up at the top of the display. Emma is actually pretty mean with a dart! She walked away with a big stuffed red dragon and a big stuffed blue dolphin (or whale, depending on how you look at it...)

Monday

Last night Christine called to say that she would be at Peak Fitness to workout this morning around 9:30 am, after dropping her daughter Amabel at Deerstream (an enrichment program for homeschoolers.) We met her there. Peak Fitness is quite a value deal in my opinion. If you sign up for two years, which we did since Brian and I have been members for several years now, the price per month comes out to around $18. And for that you get up to 2 hrs. of childcare per day! Now we're not talking real quality childcare. Just a room with a bunch of toys, some coloring books/crayons, a TV, a bathroom, and one or two staff members to watch the kids. Recently, I've only been going regularly on Saturday mornings, when Brian and I both work out.

Today I lifted weights for about 45 minutes, took a shower, and the head over to Christine's with Dallas, Mia, Jaeger and Luci. Emma went with Christine to pick up sliced turkey at a deli for all of our lunch. The logic in Emma going with Christine was that Emma waited in the car with sleeping-six-month-old Kevynn while Christine ran into the deli.

We then all had turkey sandwiches at Christine's, the kids played for a while, and we headed home around 1:30 pm.

Once at home, Emma did her Explode the Code reading workbook, Mia did Click-n-Read on the computer, and Dallas read from the Reading Pathways book.

Brian was a little late in getting home for dinner, arriving around 7 pm. Monday night is "glass night" at Tyler's Tap Room in Apex. Each week one of their many, many, many draft beers is served in it's take-it-home-with-you brewery glass. We're acquiring quite a collection!

Yesterday

We visited Ganyard Hills Farm in Durham, NC. It was awesome. The farm is owned by Milton Ganyard, a retired entomologist. For a single admission price ($12.50/person) you get a hay ride on a former tobacco wagon pulled by a John Deere tractor, one pumpkin from a pumpkin patch, as much cotton as you can pick, a corn maze, unlimited play on a humongous hay pile, pick-your-own-corn, and access to a hand-cranked old fashion machine to remove the corn kernels from the cob.

Yes, they have a real cotton patch. Including a couple rows planted a few weeks ago to show what the big patch looked like in July (young plants with flowers). Farmer Ganyard personally showed us the new plants, and talked about the different stages of bud-to-boll development. He also told us about his work with the US Department of Agriculture to eliminate the boll weevil from NC.

And the pumpkin patch is real pumpkin plants! Not the loose pumpkins set out in mowed grass field, like many of the area's "pumpkin patches." We found a single small orange pumpkin in a well-picked-over field.

I was so impressed with Milton Ganyard and his farm that I'm planning a homeschool trip for sometime in the next week or so.

http://www.ganyardhillfarm.com/

Saturday

Emma woke me around 7:15 am. I had some coffee. No half-n-half, had to use Brian's whipped cream.

Why mention the whipped cream? A can of no-sugar real cream whipped cream is our family's favorite after dinner (or anytime) sweet snack. Sometimes the kids will eat it out of a bowl with a spoon, usually it's just squirted right into our mouths.

Yesterday
Yesterday was a rather typical Friday. It's was "Allowance Day", so no "reading" (at least no formal, Mom-forces-you-to-sit-down-and-read). The kids think this means we don't do any "school" on Allowance Fridays (every other Friday). Little do they know that I consider pretty much everyday to be a "School Day." There's something to be learned in everything we do.

In the morning we dropped Dallas at Trevin's house and then headed to Friday Enrichment. During F.E. Christine and I ran by Bed, Bath, and Beyond (gosh that place is SO full of every gadget possible that you really don't need... but so tempting. I was particularly intregued by the counter-top aquaculture herb/veggie unit). We then picked up McDonald's for lunch. Have I mentioned that I LOVE McDonald's cheese burgers?

I drove Emma, Amabel and Mia over to Westminster Presbyterian Church for Girl Scouts. Brian arrived around 2 pm for the Induction and Rededication Ceremony.

Then we all headed home. Brian did some work from home. I made dinner, stir-fried beef, veggies, and rice, plus a kale frittata. Brian ate frittata and beef in a low-carb wrap.

After dinner Brian wanted Goodberry's (local NC-made frozen custard) since the "flavor of the day" was pumpkin - particularly tastey mixed with chocolate chips.

Then Brian read to Dallas until 9 pm, while the girls watch PBS and I finished Nicholas Spark's novel "The Lucky One" on my Kindle (my Mother's Day present this past May.)

The kids went to bed. Brian and I watched the much-anticipated-by-Allison-arrived-today-from-Netflix season 2, disk 2 of Dexter. Dexter is a Showtime-original series starring C. Michael Hall (no, I don't remember names of actors, I had to google it....) of Six Feet Under fame. Six Feet Under was an HBO-original series that ended a year or so ago. I Six Feet Under, Michael (or do you call him C.?) plays a gay funeral home director. In Dexter he is "America's favorite serial killer."

Today
It's now 9:35 am. Dallas is downstairs on the computer. Probably playing one of the Lord of the Rings computer games. Huh, probably should prompt him to eat breakfast.

The girls are playing together. Some dialogue:

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Mia And you saw I was shaking my head. Meow, meow, meow. And then you were like "a ghost was in the house."

Emma "a ghost was in the house?"

Mia I want to get out.

Emma It's not locked, kitty. Now kitty you are trained, so come out.

Mia Now you accidently ripped my collar off and you're like "ok, you don't have to wear it right now."

Emma Ok, you don't have to wear it right now.
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And now Mia heads outside to knock on Ni Ni and Claudia's door.

This afternoon Emma, Mia and I headed over to the Duke University campus for a Girl Scout event with the Duke Dance Team.

Things on Allison's "To Do" List
1. Figure more healthy things that Emma will eat

Questions to Research
1. Are dogs carnivores? Are they biologically still wolves?
2. How to dispose of dog poop without ending up with a garbage can full of magots!
3. Determine the actual relative risks of the following activities:
a. Trampoline, horseback riding, bicycling, riding in a car
b. Homebirth, hospital birth, birth center birth