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.
----------------------------

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

I'm Weird!!

I love Scott Noelle's daily column (especially today's!!):
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THE DAILY GROOVE ~ by Scott Noelle
www.enjoyparenting.com/dailygroove::

Weird Is Good! ::Our culture is full of contradictions. For example, it's good to be unique and original, but it's not good to go too far off the beaten path... "Don't be *weird*!"

But aren't uniqueness and originality weird bydefinition? So let's settle this once and for all: It's *good* to be weird! In fact, the words *weird* and *worthy* have the same root. (Really!)

If you subscribe to "The Daily Groove," you're probably a weird parent. You don't *do* conventional parenting, and you probably get strange looks from parents who do. If you think they think you're weird, it's because they do! But only because YOU ARE! :-)

So get a piece of paper and write "Weird Things I Do" along the top, then make a list... a LONG list. When you're done, cross out "Weird Things I Do" and change it to "Things I Appreciate About Myself!" Now, whenever someone points out your weirdness, you can proudly agree and accept the compliment: "Thanks!" :-)
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The above was copied from Scott Noelle's daily e-mail column.

Wednesday

Sometimes I sit at the computer and draw a total blank as to what we did that day!

I'll try working backwards....

Right before dinner Dallas did his "reading". Currently this involves me setting his timer for 15 minutes, and his reading from "Reading Pathways: Simple Exercises to Improve Reading Fluency" by Dolores G. Hiskes. This approach to increasing reading fluency uses a "pyramid" format. Each page has a full sentence at the base of the pyramid. The reader starts at the top of the pyramid with a single word, usually the first word of the sentence. Then each line moving down the pyramid adds word or two.

Prior to this, we hit the "kid gym." "We" being Dallas and Emma, and the "kid gym" being a Fitwize4kids franchise in Cary. At Fitwize, a "coach" takes the kids (ages 6 and up) through a weights/aerobics circuit. They have kid-sized weight machines. The weights aren't heavy, just enough to keep them moving for about 45 minutes. Each time they go they get a least one "fitbuck." They can save the fitbuck to "purchase" fitness stuff like ripsticks (a type of skateboard with only 2 wheels) and tennis rackets. Emma wants a ripstick.

The "kid gym" thing is "mandatory" by order of Mom and Dad. We take them twice a week, currently Weds. afternoon and Sat. morning. I tell them that if they were in school they would be doing PE at least twice a week. Not exactly true, since a) many schools are eliminating/cutting back on PE and b) they get WAY more exercise at the "kid gym" than they would in an elementary PE class.

Prior to the "kid gym", Emma did her "reading." She's working out of the Explode the Code series of workbooks. She's in the middle of book 2. Mia did one lesson at www.clicknkids.com, an online reading program.

I'm not too concerned about Mia's learning to read. She strikes me as one of those kids who will just "get it" pretty much on their own. She's already well ahead of where Dallas and Emma were at her age. She picked up the whole idea of words going from left to right/top to bottom pretty early. Plus she would point to individual words and ask "What's this word? What's this word?"

What did I do today? I spent a while writing an e-mail to all the families in our Girl Scout troop asking them to donate to the Family Partnership Campaign. Here's my letter:

---------------------------------
Dear Girl Scout Troop 1152 Families,

I am Allison Armieri, mom to Troop 1152 Brownie Emma and Daisy Mia. I am writing with the hope of convincing you to make a donation to the North Carolina Coastal Pines 2008-2009 Family Partnership Campaign.

You might be thinking, "Huh? I just wrote a check for $XX.XX to pay for my daughter's registration and dues!"

Did you know that it costs our council around $150 to support one girl for one year of Girl Scouts? And the council does not collect that much from each individual girl. The balance comes from a variety of funding sources, including cookie sales; gifts from corporations, foundations, and individual funders; and from the Family Partnership Campaign. (The $10 membership fee paid when you or your girl registered is a national membership fee. This entire amount goes directly to Girl Scouts of the USA, which provides activity insurance, program enhancements, and management support to the council. The council does not receive any portion of this membership fee, all of it goes to Girl Scouts of the USA for maintaining the national viability and strength of the Girl Scout Movement. Troop dues stay within our troop and do not go toward the many other services that the council provides such as financial assistance, volunteer and girl recruitment,volunteer training and support, and upkeep of council properties including three camps and field offices in each of the 41 counties we serve. Your gift to the council supports these other services.)

"Plus I pay for each council-sponsored outing!"

(Your payment to attend a council-sponsored event helps offset some of the costs associated with sponsoring the event. North Carolina Coastal Pines strives to keep the cost of attending council-sponsored events at a minimum so that all girls can fully participate in all that North Carolina Coastal Pines has to offer. There are many costs associated with all events – such as food, program activity supplies, and site rental fees – which far exceed the fee paid by the girl and her family. Also, the girls’ fees do not cover many less obvious costs such as staff time, clerical support, telephone cost, postage, printing, and insurance.)

You might think, "Huh? I support Girl Scout by helping my daughter sell cookies! And by buying cookies!"

And yes, cookie sales ARE an important part of fund raising for the Girl Scout. But Cookie Sales are only one part of our fund raising. (Product sales are aimed at the general public, a different audience from this fund raising effort. Our hope is to reduce the council’s dependence on product sales, at the same time significantly increasing funding from other sources. A diversified funding base is vital to our continued strength.)

Many of us are able to provide our girls with valuable, enriching activites. Some North Carolina families are not as fortunate.

Your gift of:
- $200 Sends a girl with financial need to a week of adventure at resident camp
- $150 Covers the cost of serving one girl for one year
- $50 Trains a troop leader in CPR and first aid, or buys a lifejacket for girls to wear while canoeing or sailing at camp, or ensures there's an American flag and stand for troops to use at meetings
- $35 Helps a girl with financial need attend Camporee with the other girls in her troop

Each family that gives $35 or more to the Family Partnership Campaign will receive a window cling to show their support!

More important than the dollar amount of your support, is the statement made by your family's support. When the NC Coastal Pines council approaches other donors, such as the United Way, one of the first questions we are asked is, "How many of you member families are donors?" Meaning, just how much do your own Girl Scout families value this experience. Do they value it enough to make a donation? With family donations in hand, our council can say, "Yes! XX% of our families made a donation to our Family Partnership Campaign." The bigger the XX%, the easier it is to convince corporations and foundations to support Girl Scouting in North Carolina.

When you give to the Family Partnership Campaign, 100% of your donation stays within North Carolina Coastal Pines' jurisdiction.

I think our troop is truely, truely blessed to have Lauralee Moran as our founding leader. She is committed to this troop. She is enthusiastic. She has a long range vision for our troop. I have no doubt that the girls who pass through Troop 1152 will be hugely benefited by the experience. They will be our future leaders. [Sixty-four percent (64%) of today’s women leaders in the corporate, civic, and entertainment fields were Girl Scouts. The overwhelming majority of these women believe Girl Scouting influenced their success.]

I believe in Troop 1152. I believe so strongly in this experience for my girls that I volunteered to be a Daisy Leader. Even though that means figuring out and jumping through all the Girl Scout red tape and paperwork and whatnot!

And.... for those competitive sorts.... there IS a trophy.... given to the troop in the Durham 10 area that collects the most money for the Family Partnership Campaign. The SAME troop has won it for the last couple years! And last year they only collected about $2,000..... ;)

Additional information on the North Carolina Coastal Pines Family Partnership Campaign can be found at http://www.nccoastalpines.org/home/support/family.aspx.
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Anyone reading this blog interested in donating to the Family Partnership Campaign on behalf of Troop 1152 can do so at https://secure.bpworldcast.com/nccoastalpines/home/support/donate.aspx

Tuesday

One of these days I'll come up with more interesting titles....

Yesterday A friend of mine (Amber) is up in NY, so yesterday morning her husband dropped their son Corbin (age 7) off here for the day. And then Christine dropped of Luci (age 4) and Jaeger (age 6). I go SO much stuff done (paid bills, worked on some Girl Scout stuff). The girls played together. The boys played X-box Star Wars. Eventually Dallas got tired of Star Wars and set Corbin and Jaeger up to play against each other. Dallas then retreated to the basement and playing Age of Empires. Around 3:30 pm we all pilled into the car (aging Toyota minivan) and head to Christine's to drop off Jaeger and retrieve Mia. (That's right, earlier in the day, when Christine dropped off Jaeger, she took Emma with her to pick up Amabel from Deerstream....) We then headed to the Craig's house to drop off Corbin. And then home.

Today Corbin came over again today. This time he and Emma played Star Wars. Then he and Dallas played legos. Around 12:30 pm Corbin's dad picked him and Dallas up for their gymnastics class (Cary School of Gymnastics). And Emma, Mia and I headed up to Kathy Austin's for the "big girls'" art class. Kathy teaches a pretty basic "elemenary school" type art class. Emma has taken her classes for about 2 years. During Emma's class, Mia and I went to a coffee shop (hot chocolate for Mia) and I read a couple books to her. This is Mia's first year in the "little girls'" class (Mia, Luci Prisk, Sammy Reece, Olivia Reece, and 2 other 4-5 year olds..... I don't know how Kathy does it....). During Mia's art class, Emma, Amabel, Christine and I went back to the coffee shop and had our first "math class" with the girls. Christine had made the girls notebooks with "Cube Friends" worksheets in them. The basic idea was circling groups of ten, then counting by tens, circling groups of hundreds (ten groups of ten), and counting by hundreds.

Then we picked up Mia from art, Dallas from Corbin's house (where they'd returned after gymnastics) and headed home.

As I pulled in the driveway I saw our big green Town of Cary garbage can. And I remembered the magots. Yes, magots. Lots, and lots, and lots of magots. In the gabage can. Eating what? Dog poop. Yep. Well, I'm the responsible dog owner who actually picks up after her two Golden Retrievers (Sara and Kodi). I pick the poop up in those little poop bags that you can buy at Target. Then I double bag the poop-filled baggies before throwing them in the garbage can. Well, I guess they leak. Hence magotville.

So I hosed out the great green garbage can, trying not to gag. And washed the magots down the gutter. Which is where Mia saw them. "Mom! Why are you killing them! You're not suppose to kill animals! They're cute!" At which point she runs into the garage, grabs an old plastic fish bowl and starts collecting magots. Then Emma comes out. "They look like little caterpillars!" Nice. So we have about 10 magots, in a plastic fish bowl, with a duct tape/screen improved lid, sitting by the driveway.

Monday

Yesterday (Sunday): We visited the Greenlevel Gourd Farm, about 2 miles down the road from our house. The kids each picked out a pumpkin and we all road on the Halloween Hay ride.

Really Saturday

Ok. Now it is "really" the day about which I am "blogging."

A fairly typical Armieri Saturday. Dallas and Mia woke me up around 7:45 am, a decent "getting up" time in my book. Brian and Emma awoke soon after. Brian and I discussed whether we'd go the gym at the same time and put the kids in the Child Watch, or go separately. We decided that I would go first. I drove Brian's Miata down to the Peak Fitness in Apex, worked out (weighs) for about 35 min., and came back. When I returned Mia was playing a "horsey game" on the downstairs computer, Emma was watching TV, and Dallas and Brian were "missing" (which I correctly interpreted as being upstairs in the master bedroom with Brian reading to Dallas from the Deltora books). I commented to Mia that "Ni Ni and Claudia go a new puppy yesterday..." which sent her running down the street to their house. The same comment had the same effect on Emma. :) My evil plan had worked, which was to get them outside rather than "doing media."

Right now Brian is at the gym, Mia is down at Bella's house, and Dallas and Emma are here in the living room provoking each other.

Time for some lunch....

A Typical Friday

Today is Friday. Ok, it's actually Saturday and I'm trying to write and post what we did yesterday.

Friday means Friday Enrichment (FE), which is an 8 week series of classes offered by Chapel Hill Homeschoolers. Currently FE is two hour-long classes for 9-and-unders, meeting at the Chapel Hill Bible Church. Emma and Mia are participating, and I drop Dallas off at Amber Craig's house to play for the day with Trevin and Corbin.

Emma is taking Lynn's Science class. Lynn is a former Mad Science employee who is now offering science enrichment class on her own. Emma's second class is an Art Class taught by Susan Holland.

Mia is taking ballet with Miss Kyra (I think I have her name wrong....) and then Lynn's Science class.

Given that both girls are taking classes and that Dallas is otherwise occupied, I am left with two hours of free time! Yesterday I went jogging. As I was ready to leave, Christine (Prisk) says, "Want to take Kevynn with you?". "Sure!!", I say. Kevynn is the Prisk's six month old daughter. The advantage of taking Kevynn was that I could put my cell phone and Savannah in the pockets of the jogging stoller. Kevynn slept the whole way. And Savannah guided me on a looped run/walk. Savannah is our Gamin GPS. :)

After FE it was on to Girl Scouts. Since today is the first Friday of the month, the meeting was a Leader's Meeting. Emma and Mia went home from FE with Christine. I headed, via McDonald's for a pair of cheese burgers (I just LOVE McDonald's cheese burgers), to the Westminster Presbyterian Church. We met at a table on the porch of the Scout Hut (a free-standing two-room plus kitchen and bathrooms building owned by the church). "We" being Lauralee Moran (our fearless Junior's leader), Michelle Lewis (junior leader), Kesslyn Tench (Brownie leader), Charlotte Dungan (Brownie leader) and me (Daisy leader). Our second Daisie leader, Merri White, was on her way to Georgia. A good chunk of the meeting involved sorting through badges, awards and such in preparation for next Friday's Induction/Investiture Ceremony.

On picking Emma and Mia up from the Prisk's house, Christine told me that Emma and Jaeger (age 6) had "gotten married" and "had kissed." Emma is now pointing out that this was "for pretend."

Tuesday at Nags Head

Today we went over to Jockey's Ridge State Park with the Craig's, Barcus's, Chickos's, and Searles-Bohls's.

www.flickr.com adarmieri's Nags Head '08 (Armieris only) photoset

Monday at Nags Head

This house is incredible! It is an older, single story, 4-bedroom beach-front house, connected to a larger, three-story 9-bedroom house. It even has an elevator! There is an indoor pool, an outdoor pool, and a hot-tub (although this does not seem to be working).

We are here with:
Pam and Mike Campa (Pam is the who organized this shindig)
Marina Campa (16 yrs.)
Amber and Jeff Craig, and Trevin (age 10), Corbin (age 6), and Alexa (age 14 mo.)
Deanna Overmann, and Paulie (age 9)
Rachel and Steve Mehalek, and Chelsea (age 16), Steven James (age 17), and Jay (age 9)
Jim and Cathy Chickos, with TJ, Gideon, and Connor
Libby Searles, with Halle (age 13) and Liam (age 10)
Peter Barcus, with Halle (age 6), Salem (8), Sawyer (10), Logan (12) and Tanner (14)
and a couple other "old time" THEA people that I don't know.

Nags Head

Today we are heading to Nags Head on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. We will be staying in a house with a number of other THEA families. THEA (which stands, I think, for The Home Educators Association, or something like that...) is a homeschool group with weekly Thursday park days, plus a Yahoo group for communicating with each other.

I am very pleasantly suprised to find that the drive to Nags Head is only 3 1/2 hours. In past we've headed to Corolla, NC, also on the Outer Banks, but as far north on the Outer Banks as you can go without entering Virginia. It has taken us 5 hrs. to get to Corolla. The logic in going to Corollas was that the house, owned by Brian's "boss" Steve Blough, was free!

Marching at Bennett Place

www.flickr.com adarmieri's Bennett Place '08 (Armieris) photoset

Last week Dallas, Emma and I visited Bennett Place with a group from Chapel Hill Homeschoolers. Dallas is wearing a black t-shirt with a skull.

My very, very first blog...

Ok. This is a test. I've never blogged before. Trying to figure this out. Most interested in adding photos from flickr....