A Different Generation

My husband and I realized tonight that our children truly are from a different generation than we are.  In fact, they may be from a whole different world than we are. 

We grew up when cell phones weren't heard of, nobody had a computer at home, there was no such thing as the internet, books were made of paper, and we kept our to-do lists in notebooks.

Our kids have grown up knowing what cell phones are and knowing how to use them.  They've played the computer with confidence almost since they were old enough to sit up on their own.  They never knew a world that didn't have the internet.  They read books on ebook readers or on the iPad.  They keep their to-do lists on the computer or my cell phone.  (Ok.  Sometimes they use sticky notes.  You know--those electronic "sticky notes" on the computer screen!) 

Tonight we were playing a game together.  The boys' team (consisting of my husband and Noah, our 14-year-old son) was supposed to name 5 things in a category.  The category was "surfing terms."  Noah immediately blurted out "LOL" and "ROFL" and other internet slang!  Scott and I laughed, much to the confusion of our children.  Then we patiently explained that surfing terms would be words such as "hang ten" or "catch a wave." 

Yep, we're definitely from different generations!  :)  And that's ok. 

Game Night: Name 5!

Noah Celebrates a Victory



For Christmas, we got the kids a few new games to play.  We go through times when we play lots of games together.  Then other times we forget or get too busy and don't play much at all.   One evening this past week when the kids got bored, they asked Scott and me to play "Name 5" with them.  It turned out to be lots of fun! 

The basic object of the game is for each team to draw a card and name 5 things that belong in that category.  Sounds pretty simple, but it's harder than you'd think!

We played boys against girls.  Scott and Noah were on a team and Mary Grace and I were on a team.  Hannah (my autistic daughter) won't play games with us, but she enjoys being in the room and watching or doing something else she enjoys.  While we played Name 5, she played a computer game. 

Mary Grace posed for the camera after the game.

One thing I really liked about the game is that it's pretty good for folks of all ages to play together.  There were some categories such as "Name 5 sports team that use birds in their name," that Mary Grace and I couldn't answer at all!  But then the boys might get a question like "Name 5 Barbie movies."  That kept the odds pretty equal!  There were other questions, though, like "Name 5 green foods/drinks."  That one was really equally hard (or easy) for both teams.  It is surprising, though, how difficult some of those "easy" questions can be when you are under time constraints!  We had 30 seconds to give our 5 items.  Occasionally that was plenty of time.  Often we ended up just barely able to name our 5 items (or not able to name all 5 of them) in that 30 second time period.

We had a great time playing, and the rivalry (this time!) was pretty friendly.  It was definitely worth taking some time after dinner to play together. 

Even the two family cats wanted to get in on the action!  We tried to kindly discourage them, though, because they kept trying to eat the game tokens.  :P 

Do you ever have a family game night at your house?  If so, what are some of your favorite games?  Are they suitable for all ages or mixed ages?  I'd love to hear from you!

Tabby and Hazel asking, "Can we play too?"

Wordless Wednesday: David & Goliath's Cheeseburgers

Goliath's Cheeseburger (by 9-year-old Mary Grace)

David's Cheeseburger (also by Mary Grace)

Don't forget to visit the Wordless Wednesday blog if you'd like to see more submissions!

Simple Woman's Daybook Entry

FOR TODAY
Outside my window...
It is almost 6 p.m., and it's dark outside.  A few weeks ago, it was dark by 5 p.m., but it's beginning to stay light for a little longer each day.  During Christmas, I don't mind at all when it gets dark early because then I can see the lights on the Christmas tree better.  Now that we've taken the tree down, I'm enjoying it as the days begin to get a little longer. 

I am thinking...
I'm thinking that it has been a very mild winter so far!  We've had just a small handful of days that have been what we here in the South would call "cold."  There have been many days, though, that have been very warm.  I'm trying not to think about all of the fire ants and bees and other creepy-crawly things that aren't being killed because of the mild winter. 

I am thankful...
I'm thankful that I live near so many of my family members!  Now days so many people live far away from their parents and siblings.  I'm thankful that my husband and children and I live near both my husband's parents and mine.  We also live near his sister and both of my sisters. 

In the kitchen...In the kitchen, things have been interesting lately!  I've been trying to lose some weight, so I'm eating only lean meat, fruits, veggies, and maybe a small amount of bread or a few crackers each day.  (I don't think totally cutting out carbs is a good idea, but I have significantly cut down on them.)  My hubby and children still want to eat the "regular" foods that we normally eat.  For that reason, I've been trying to cook "normal" things for them while still making sure I eat only the food that fit into my "diet."  I've been doing pretty well most of the time.  Now and then I cheat a little bit, but not too badly!

I am wearing...Ha!  I hate to tell you what I'm wearing because I totally don't match at all!  I'm wearing pink and white striped fuzzy socks, navy blue shorts with white stripes up the sides, and a turquoise blue t-shirt.  I may not match, but I'm totally comfy!  :)

I am creating...
I'm not working on any sewing projects right now.  I'd like to start on a new quilt, so I may try to make a trip to the fabric store soon.  (The closest fabric store is 30 miles away.)  I love making quilts during the winter because I can stay warm while I'm sewing! 

I am going...
Nowhere! We don't normally have church on Sunday nights, so we usually stay home on Sunday evenings. 
I am reading...
EntreLeadership by Dave Ramsey.  I'm really enjoying it too!  I'm totally surprised that a book about being an entrepreneur and business person is actually entertaining! 

I am looking forward to...
I'm looking forward to going to Blissdom in February! 

I am learning...
I'm learning lots of new things!  I'm learning so much about social media (and hope to learn much more at Blissdom) and working with a team since my partner, Cindy Horton, and I became the new owners of Hip Homeschool Moms!  It's been wonderful so far, and the ladies on the HHM team have been great!  Most of them have been on the team for a year or more, and they know much more than I do!  They are wonderful to remind me of things and help me out as I learn what to do.  :) 

Around the house...I've been attempting to clean out and sort through some things.  It's slow going, but I'm making progress. 

I am pondering...
I'm actually thinking about how hungry I am!  (Sorry!  No deep thinking going on here right now.) 

A favorite quote for today...
My hubby teaches our Sunday School class.  This morning a man in class was saying that he has trouble believing that God actually forgives his sins.  (He knows that God does forgive him, he just has trouble understanding how God can do that since it's so hard for us human beings to forgive each other.)  My hubby told the man something like this:  "If you know that Jesus died for your sins, you can believe that God forgives our sins.  If you think God doesn't forgive our sins, then you're saying your sins are more powerful than Jesus' blood."  Wow!  I had never really thought of it that way! 

One of my favorite things...
One of my favorite things is being home with my kids and homeschooling them.  There are difficult days, but it's worth it!  (Please remind me of that next time I'm having a difficult day.)  ;)

So what's going on in your life?  Anything fun or special?  I'd love to hear about it!

Technical Difficulties

Hello, Friends!

Thanks so much to those of you who have visited my blog and left comments for me lately.  My blog has been having some technical difficulties for the last week or so, and I can't post responses to your comments!  In fact, I'm usually not able to click on your names and blog links so I can visit your blogs to leave comments there, either.  I'm trying to figure out what's wrong so I can remedy it.  In the mean time, please don't stop leaving comments!  I am reading them even though I can't respond right now. 

Blessings!

Is It Worth the Weight (Loss)?

About a month ago, I posted about my efforts to get my family (and myself) to eat healthier foods and cut out most of the sweets.  If you missed it, you can view that post here.  I'm trying to keep myself accountable, so I'm going to give you a little update.  Ok, I want to brag a little bit too.....  I apologize in advance.  ;)

First I have to tell you that I've had only limited success with my kiddos and my husband.  I have managed to get them to cut out some sweets.  They still consume more than I'd like them to, but at least they are doing better.  And I'm paying close attention to how often they eat sweets too.  I am strictly limiting it to once a day.  As I said in my earlier post, though, I don't really think they should be eating sweets every day.  But it's still an improvement, so I'm trying to look at it that way.

I myself have been trying to almost totally cut out sweets and fats.  I allow myself to eat one Skinny Cow ice cream bar once a week (100 calories and they are yummy!!) and no more than twice a week.  Other than that, I have given up sugar entirely.  That means no sweet tea (and this Southern Girl used to live on sweet tea!), no cookies, no candy bars. 

As far as fats go, I've totally given up butter (we use real butter) as well as cooking oil, fatty meats, and any other greasy foods.  I've been either baking my meats, cooking them in the crock pot, or frying them with a tiny amount of fat-free calorie-free non-stick spray.  I have been very surprised at how good my meat tastes even when cooked without any fats or oils.  I've been using very lean meat too, so it doesn't have much fat in it to begin with. 

Another thing I've been working really hard on is eating lots more fresh fruits and veggies and cutting down on breads and crackers.  I found some yummy fat free, sugar free, low calorie salad dressing, so that has made it easy to eat lots more fresh salad.  (I use romaine because iceberg lettuce generally has lots of pesticides on it.)  I sometimes put diced apples and/or raisins or even dried cranberries or dried cherries on my salad.  I don't use a lot of the dried fruits, though, because some of them have added sugar, and they generally have lots of calories.  Dried cherries are a particular favorite of mine because they're chewy and very tart.  Yum!! 

I haven't totally cut out carbs because I really don't think that's healthy.  Once or twice a day I eat a piece of melba toast (I actually like that stuff) or one slice of whole wheat bread.  On rare occasions I eat two or three Sun Chips or a whole wheat cracker or two.  That helps to satisfy my desire for something crunchy and salty without overdoing it. 

In the last 3 weeks, I've lost about 7 lbs!  That really has made me aware of the terrible amounts of junk food I must have been eating!  I feel much better and have more energy (generally) than I've had in a long time.  I've been trying to cut down on calories, so once or twice I've eaten too few calories and have felt tired and draggy.  After that, I've been trying to cut calories but not so much that I feel bad.  I'm learning where the balance is.   

One thing I've learned just in the past few weeks is that, if I totally blow it and eat junk and sweets one day, don't get discouraged!  One day during the past 3 weeks, I did just that!  I tanked up on sweets, greasy pizza, and whatever else I "had" to have.  It was totally worth it!  Then the next day, I went right back to my healthy eating plan.  It did set me back a few days as far as losing weight, but it satisfied my sweets and fats craving!  Since then, it's been much easier to avoid those foods.  (Partly because I felt so awful that whole afternoon and night after eating that junk!)  So did you make a resolution to eat healthy or lose weight? How's it going?  I'd love to encourage you along the way!

Before & After

Sharing Books with My Kids

Do you love to read? Everyone in my family loves reading! I like to read all kinds of books. I enjoy mysteries, historical fiction, biographies or autobiographies, fiction, Christian fiction or other Christian books, and children's books. I do occasionally read a science fiction book too. Just about the only kind of book I don't care for very much is romance books. 
The children's books I like to read are those meant for older children and teens. It can be hard to find good children's books because there are so many books for those ages which contain questionable or downright inappropriate topics and events. I have managed to find some really good ones, though. As my children get older, it's nice to have read so many children's books so that I have an idea which ones are ok for them to read. Some of the ones on my list are those that I have read out loud to my children.

Every morning after our Bible reading, I read a chapter or two of a book out loud to my children. Even though two of them are teenagers now, it's still something we enjoy! In years past, we've enjoyed reading the original Dr. Dolittle books by Hugh Lofting.  These are the original books, not the more recent spin-offs which are not even comparable to the originals. 

Right now we are reading the Freddy series of books by Walter R. Brooks.  I came across these books about a year or so ago in a homeschool catalog.  I ordered the 3 books that they offered, and we all loved them immediately!  I've found more of them on Amazon or eBay.  I even found one at a used book store.

My younger daughter and I are reading (as part of her school work) the series of books about Laura Ingalls Wilder's daughter, Rose.  The series is called The Rocky Ridge Years.  She reads a chapter or two each day to me, which is so much fun! 

My son is reading a series of books that he wants me to read as well.  He reads each book in the series and then passes it along to me.  Our rule is that he can't tell me anything about the book lest he should spoil it for me!  Then, after I've finished each book, we can discuss it.  This works pretty well except for the occasional time when he accidentally lets something slip. 

My older daughter is autistic and non-verbal.  She loves to hear books read out loud.  She is a very good reader herself, but I suppose that since she can't use her own voice, that causes her fascination with other people's voices.  She sometimes reads books alone, but she very much prefers for someone else to read aloud to her. 

There are so many simple ways to share books with your children!  What are your favorites? 

The photo I used in this post is from:  http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=2926

Things I Love

In no particular order, here are some of the things I love:

Jesus

Eating dinner with my family at the table together

When my hubby comes home from a business trip

My 3 wonderful kiddos!

Vacations at the beach or in the mountains or.......

Books!

Babies  (Especially other people's babies!)  ;)

Chocolate

Music

Living close to my parents and my husband's parents

My 2 rotten kitties

Christmas

Homeschooling

Playing the piano

Spending time with my family

When my house is clean

My sisters!

Thundershowers

Flowers

The smell of freshly cut grass

Mint tea (freshly made, of course!)

Ice cream

My many cyber-friends

My church family

Hugs

Hearing my children laugh

Watching my daughter do ballet or my son play tennis

Taking photos

These are just a few of the wonderful blessings in my life.  I could add many more, and I may do that later.  What are a few of the things you love?

Wishful Thinking

Big News!

I have a really exciting announcement to make!!  To see it, you'll need to click on this link.  Then I'd love for you to come back and tell me what you think! 

Last Year's Book List

As I've visited other blogs for the last week or so, I've noticed that many people are posting lists of books they want to read in 2012.  Since I love books and reading so much, I find that it's lots of fun to read other people's lists to get ideas for books I might want to read.  I also like to write down the book and author after I finish each book.
Since 1994, I've kept a list of all the books I've read each year.  (I know!  I'm such a nerd!)  I'm sure I've forgotten to write some down here and there, but it's a pretty accurate list.  I don't know what made me think to begin my book list all those years ago.  I'm glad I did, though, because it's fun to go back and look at it.  It's also handy sometimes when I can't remember a book's title and want to reread it or recommend it to a friend. 

I'll list some of my favorites from 2011 in case you might like to read them yourself.

CHILDREN'S BOOKS

Little House on Rocky Ridge by Roger Lea MacBride
Little Farm in the Ozarks by Roger Lea MacBride
In the Land of the Big Red Apple by Roger Lea MacBride
Freddy and the Bean Home News by Walter R. Brooks
Freddy the Politician by Walter R. Brooks
Freddy and the Ignormous by Walter R. Brooks
Freddy's Cousin Weedly by Walter R. Brooks
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
Basil of Baker Street by Eve Titus

OTHER BOOKS (ALL CATEGORIES)

The Me Project by Kathi Lipp
Like Dandelion Dust by Karen Kingsburg
Me, Myself, and Bob by Phil Vischer
Becoming a Little Woman:  A Novel about Louisa May at Fruitlands byJeannine Atkins
Heaven is for Real by Todd Burpo
Book of Days by James L. Rubart
Choosing to See by Mary Beth Chapman
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
Have a New You by Friday by Dr. Kevin Leman
Steve and Me by Terri Irwin
The Martyr's Song by Ted Dekker
Little Woman by Louisa May Alcott

Did you read any especially good books last year?  I'd love to know what they were.  I might add them to my "to be read" list for 2012. 


The photo I used in this post is from:  http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=2079

 

What You Can Do with a Lightbulb

To see more Wordless Wednesday posts, go here http://www.wordlesswednesday.com/newhome/.   Enjoy!  And don't forget to leave me a comment!  :)

Communicating and Autism

I am so excited!  I am getting ready to try a new method of communication with my autistic daugher!  Hannah is 16 and is totally non-verbal.  She spoke when she was about a year old and was able to say 10 or 12 words appropriately.  After her 12-month vaccines, though, she had a horrible reaction.  After that, she developed more and more symptoms of autism and gradually lost all verbal communication.  By the age of 18 months or a little later, she had lost all spoken language.

For years we have tried to interest her in various methods of communication.  Some of them were mildly successful, but she wasn't much interested in any of them long-term.  We tried sign language; we tried teaching her to speak; we tried a picture system; we even tried an electronic communication device made especially for autistic people and others who can't use spoken language because of cerebral palsey or other problems. 

Sign language may be a good option for some autistic folks, but Hannah has very poor motor skills.  Because of that, sign language was very frustrating for her.  She would do a few very simple signs, but other than that, she just didn't have the motor skills necessary for signing. 

Teaching her spoken language was equally difficult.  She has poor muscle tone in her entire body--including the muscles needed to produce speech.  She can make a few sounds, but either it's just too difficult for her to produce speech or she chooses not to speak.  I truly think she just isn't able to speak, but of course I can't know for certain.

She was mildly interested in using a picture system, but she quickly got tired of it.  I don't really know why since she couldn't explain, but she just never "warmed up" to the picture system we tried.  It got to the point where she would actually get upset when we tried to get her to use the picture system, and we didn't want her to feel negatively about communicating, so we gave up on it after a while.

Finally, we tried a communication device.  We loved the device, which we called her "talker."  The main problem with it was that the system was very complicated!  Hannah would press a certain sequence of keys, and the device would speak the word (or words) out loud for her.  Hannah was able to remember the sequences of keys she needed to use most of the time.  Advanced communication, though, required more and more difficult sequences to be used.  After a while, it became frustrating to all of us!

About a year ago my husband told me about an app he'd learned about from a friend at work.  This app is actually a picture system, but it's used on a device like an iPad or iPod.  The person touches a picture on the touch screen, and the iPad or iPod speaks the word.  The pictures can also be programmed so that a complete sentence is spoken when a picture is touched.  For example, if Hannah touched the picture representing a book, it could be programmed to either say just "book," or it could be programmed to say, "I want to read a book."  This way it can be individualized to fit the user.

Hannah loves computers and feels very comfortable using them.  I'm praying that her love of computers will help her feel favorably about this new way of communicating.  We considered buying an iPod and having her try the app on it, but her poor motor skills would cause her great difficulty on such a small screen.  For that reason, we ordered an iPad for her to use.  The app we are considering is only available for iPads and is not going to be made available for other tablets--at least not in the foreseeable future. 

The good news is that, if she won't use the app to communicate, the rest of us can still use it.  So at least we won't have spent the money on the iPad for nothing.  I desperately hope, though, that she will use it!  Sure, the rest of us would love to have a new iPad to use for work or games or homeschool.  It's much more important to us, though, for Hannah to be able to communicate with us. 

I'd love for you to pray along with my family that Hannah will understand how to use the device and that she will be motivated to learn to communicate with us.  It will probably be later on this week before the iPad reaches us.  Then I'll probably have to work with it for a few days to get the app downloaded and customized.  (Get ready to hear from me, Tech Support!)  Hopefully it will ready in a week or so for her to begin using.  In the mean time, I'll keep praying and looking forward to that day!

Speech & Debate

Does your homeschool support group offer speech & debate classes?  Mine does, but I've never had my children participate in them until the 2011-12 school year.  My son, Noah, is 14 years old and will be 15 soon, so my husband and I felt like it was time for him to do speech & debate classes in order to help him be a better speaker (and hopefully a better leader) as he grows up and when he is an adult.  Men and women need to be able to stand up for themselves and their families.  They need to be well-spoken.  They need to be confident speakers and leaders.  They need to be able to stand up for their beliefs and to tell others about God.

We had a practice speech & debate tournament a few weeks ago, and it was great!  It was so much fun and so interesting!  I was absolutely amazed at the poise and confidence shown by the students.  I could tell that most of them had prepared really well ahead of time by looking up information, writing speeches, memorizing speeches, making visual aids, and reading their speeches and debate information over and over to friends and relatives until it felt natural. 

The students were of various ages.  The youngest one was about 8 years old, and the oldest was probably 17.  It was so much fun listening to these students talk to each other about their information and negative or positive evidence.  I heard lots of good-natured teasing (especially among the boys!), but I also heard the students support and encourage each other.  I was really proud of all of them!

It was neat to see how the older students helped the younger ones know where to go and what to do.  I also loved watching the younger children who weren't in speech & debate serve as timers.  That made the younger children feel so important and needed, and they really were performing important jobs!  By serving as timers they were also being exposed to the other students' speeches and debates, so they were learning what they will need to do when they participate in the future. 

Right now my son really does not appreciate being in the class.  He enjoys being around the other kids in our homeschool group, but he's not thrilled about the "extra" work.  (By "extra," I mean the work that he would not have to be doing if he wasn't taking the class.)  I can see improvements in him, though, since the class first started in September.  He has learned to do better research, to organize his thoughts in an orderly way, to enunciate more clearly, and to speak with confidence in front of others.  Of course he still has a lot to learn and much room for improvement, but I'm thankful to be seeing regular progress. 

I'm very grateful to the moms, dads, and teens who are helping to teach the class too!  They are all doing an impressive job, but I've been particularly impressed with the maturity that the teenage teachers have shown!  Sometimes there are activities and commitments that I wish we hadn't signed up for, but I'm very glad to have been a part of our group's speech & debate class so far this year, and I'm looking forward to the remainder of the year!

Pictionary Fun with the Family

A day or two ago, the kiddos and I decided to play the Pictionary game that I got for Christmas.  If you haven't read about my Pictionary Incident from years ago, you can do that here.  In spite of my sordid Pictionary past, they still wanted to play, so I gave in. 

I have always loved to see how different people draw and guess when playing this game.  I can tell a good bit about a person's past experiences and where that person "comes from" by observing his or her drawings.  Of course this time I was playing with my own children, so I already know their backgrounds.  It was still a lot of fun, though!  I thought it might be fun to include some of the pictures we drew during the game.  The first picture is one that I drew.  Can you guess what it is supposed to be? 

The next picture was drawn by one of the kiddos who prefers to remain unidentified.  I was the "guesser" on this one, and I never did guess correctly!  I gave it my best, but I'm a very concrete-literal thinker, so sometimes it's hard for me to guess what something is if the idea I formed at first glance isn't correct.  I thought this was a face of some sort, like maybe a ghost or a "smiley" face with only eyes.  I assumed the drawer was in a hurry and didn't complete the face.  The arrow, of course, I recognized, but I wasn't sure of the 3rd drawing.  I thought it must be some strange kind of baby bottle to feed the little ghost.  (I know!  I know!  Kind of a crazy idea!  It was what came to me at first glance, though!)  Have any idea of what this actually represents?  Maybe you'll do better than I did!

What about this one?  Have any ideas?  I drew this one too.  Nobody ever guessed it correctly.  Sometimes, after drawing a picture for the others to guess, I just don't have any additional ideas for drawings to add to help them understand better and guess what it is.  This was one of those times.  Maybe you can figure it out! 

And the last one here was drawn by me as well.  (My kiddos didn't want their drawings included!  I thought they did a great job, but I'm respecting their wishes.  At least I did get to include one of my kids' drawings.)  Of course when I drew the picture it didn't have the words at the bottom.  I added those later so I wouldn't forget what my son said in response to my drawing.  I was attempting to draw the word "shield."  I drew what I hoped looked like little Vikings with shields.  Then I drew an axe in the hand of the Viking on the right.  When that didn't help, I drew a gun in the hand of the other Viking.  See the little bullets he's shooting? 

Well, when my son gave up guessing and asked me what it was, I explained.  He was indignant!  He immediately said, "Oh my goodness!  You don't use shields with guns!"  It was so funny because he was so appalled by my terrible drawing!  I laughed until the kiddos started laughing along with me.  Then we were all laughing but weren't even sure why!

Sometimes it's terribly difficult to make myself stop and play games with the kids, but I'm (almost) always glad that I did.  Nearly every time we play a game together, we end up laughing and having a really great time together.  In fact, perhaps that should be one of my New Year's resolutions (which I really don't make, but I might make an exception for this one!).  At least it would be an easy and pleasant one to keep! 

So what about you?  Do you have any board games that you like to play together as a family?  I'd love to hear if you do! 

NOTE:  If you're wondering what the pictures are, I'll list them here: 
1.  The first one is "ballerina slippers." 
2.  The next one is "button down collar."  That weird thing that I thought was a baby bottle was actually supposed to be a dog wearing a collar! 
3.  This one is "hike."  I was trying to draw people hiking up a mountain.
4.  The last one, as I already mentioned, is "shield." 

So how did you do?  Were you able to guess any of them?