Hannah's Achievements

A Follow Up to my blog post: All About Hannah

Hannah is doing well and enjoying 2nd grade. She has a very understanding and encouraging teacher who is firm yet patient with her 'issues'. She has had minimal anxiety when going to school in the mornings.  No more crying or throwing up and only a few 'I have a tummy ache' in the mornings which quickly disapate when she walks into the classroom.

She has had her last official session with her psychologist, Dr. Y.  The next time we see her will be on a need-be basis. It has been a year and 21 sessions with Dr. Y. and we all have learned a lot from her on how to help Hannah gain control over her anxiety in separating from me and helping her deal with difficult situations that cause her anxiety. She still won't let me volunteer in her classroom but she's been okay with me teaching at the school when I sub. She actually did well when I subbed in her class last week. (But I had to get her a 'big' prize!)

Hannah and Dr. Y.

Hannah has also completed her first piano book, John Thompson's Easiest Piano Course: Book One. She was so thrilled to be finally finished with her book that she asked "When do I stop taking piano?" I responded,"Why do you ask?" She said that she's already good so she doesn't need any more lessons.

Yes, my daughter, after thirteen 30-minute lessons has decided she is a 'real good' piano player now. She hasn't even learned the black keys nor played any notes together with both hands. I told her that she isn't 'that' good yet and there is still a Part Two, Three and Four to her 'Beginner' book series. Let's just say she was NOT happy to hear that. Let's see how long she'll last on the piano.

Hannah and Ms. Aimee

Lastly, she has not lost any additional teeth yet other than the two that were pulled. She'll be 8 years old in two weeks! But her dentist continues to reiterate that there is no problem and they'll come out when they are good and ready! In the meantime, she says that her two front teeth are loose.

Check out how her mouth has grown! Everyone thinks that her gap between her teeth was a place where she lost a tooth but it's not!

Thank goodness that her front teeth did not come out before school portraits.

Here is her 2nd grade school portrait:

They're Still Bad

A Follow-Up from blog post:  It's At It Again

The PAM on the baffle didn't work. Actually the squirrels chewed through the red plastic perch and opening. Emily threw the broken feeders away before I was able to get a picture of it but you can imagine what it was doing in this picture. So we have moved the feeders to better locations that squirrels can't get at it.

They are so persistent. I've watched them run back and forth on our lattice and up and down the tree to figure out what the best way is to get at the seed. Emily's put wider rimed baffles on the feeders so we'll see how it does with them. Apparently, these have been working. It can't stretch far enough to get a good grip!

One squirrel was trying to get at this lantern feeder but was only able to get a hold of the top lid. He was so frustrated that he shook and spun the feeder around. Seeds fell onto the ground. And he scampered onto the ground to feast on his deceptive actions.

The next time one got hold of the lid and shifted it open. Oh would I have loved a beebee gun at that time!

This is how I found the feeder when I came home from work one day. There was a ton of sunflower seeds on the ground.








Matthew put a baffle on it and a homemade seed catcher and moved it to the center but after a day at work, we came home to see this:

So Emily took everything down and instead she made some ground feeders. One came and it invited a buddy. Those horrible scavengers.

Also, it made itself right at home.. check out who's drinking from Emily's new water cooler (also from Matthew's sister's family).

 Shoot them all I tell you!!

I shouldn't say that. God made all creatures, even squirrels. What they are good for... I don't know.

Great Reads Part 2

A Continuation to my post:  Great Reads

I read a ton of Christian Fiction either contemporary or historical. I love the historical because even though it's still fiction it has some biblical truth.. it's just 'embellished' truth. What I like about historical fiction the most is that it gives me a better idea and understanding of what could have happened during Bible times. You can say it brings the bible to life for me. And since I am a visual learner, it helps me remember the bible better.

So here are my recommendations:

Francine Rivers: I have read all 22 of her books.
I met her in person in 2004 at a MOPs event. She was our guest speaker. I remember running out to the bookstore to buy one of her books to have her sign. I didn't know which book to buy because, honestly, at that time I didn't read any of them. My friend told me to get Redeeming Love. That's one of her popular ones. So that's what I did. After she signed it, I read it. And I was hooked. I LOVED that book! It is one of my favorites. 

She signed it "Romans 8:28 Francine Rivers"

After Redeeming Love, I highly recommend The Mark of the Lion Trilogy: A Voice in the Wind, An Echo in the Darkness and As Sure As the Dawn. This series is about faith, redemption and sacrifice.

Francine is able to take Biblical characters, explores their characters and places them into a context that is relevant to us today. She does extensive research into that time period so that the stories can be as historically accurate as possible.

The Last Sin Eater and The Scarlett Thread are two of my contemporary fiction favorites by her. Both are powerfully convicting.

Angela Hunt: I've read all but two of the 25 books she has written.
She mainly writes contemporary fiction but my favorites were her historical fiction trilogy: Legacies of the Ancient River: Dreamers (Bk 1), Brothers (Bk 2) and Journey (Bk 3). This trilogy focuses on the life of Joseph as a slave (Dreamers); as Pharaoh's right hand man (Brothers) and the life of his two sons (Journey). A captivating story and makes me appreciate God's word even more.

Her contemporary fiction is great. She wrote The Note which was made into a TV movie. But I really enjoyed The Truth Teller: a story about a boy who could sense who was telling the truth and who wasn't. Is it a gift? Or a curse? Hummm....

Charles Martin is my next favorite christian author. I read all of his seven books.
His writing is very similar to Nicholas Sparks.  One of my favorites is When Crickets Cry: a story about a little girl needing a new heart and miracles.

Robert Whitlow is, I think, a Christian John Grisham. I read nine of the eleven books he has written. The List is an awesome thriller. His books' usually incorporate attorneys, issues of right and wrong, a mystery and a twist.

A new author I've just found is Kristen Heitzmann. She writes similar to Angela Hunt. I've read nine out of the ten books she has written. Her stories have love, intrigue and usually a mystery to be solved.  Halos had very unique characters with lots of history to them. Makes a great story with their hidden backgrounds.

Actually all the writers above usually have a twist in the their stories which is what makes it such a great read! You can't put it down when you start.

We Got It!

A Follow-Up from the blog post:  Because of the TV

We got a cool 40" flat screen TV. It's a Samsung LED. It was so light. Our old TV was probably twice as heavy and twice as small.

Matthew originally purchased a Toshiba 40" LED at Costco. But Matthew's brother surprised us with this Samsung one he got for him as a surprise birthday gift for him. (Thanks Dai! We love it!)

Matthew was so excited to watch his favorite TV show on Sunday (check out what that was below).

So all our new furniture is all set in the house.

Next to tackle...closet organizers for all the closets!

Busy Backyard

A Follow-Up to my blog post:  My Bird Keeper

Emily got some more feeders for her birthday, one of which was a hummingbird feeder from Matthew's sister's family. I never saw a hummingbird up close and in person before until this feeder was hung up. It's right in front of our kitchen window so it's amazing to see them fly to the feeder and take long sips of sugar water. They are beautiful birds!

Emily tells me that the males have red on their necks while the females are all green, so they can easily camouflage themselves to their surroundings. The males have the red to attract females to their 'handsomeness".

They love Emily's feeder so much that whenever she takes it down to clean and refill they get impatient and eat out of the ant guard!

Matthew added a tray for the finch sock because they are very messy eaters and a ton of seed fall on to the ground. Did not want to waste that expensive seed!

Some like to sit on the tray to eat the seed when the sock is empty. It takes only 6-7 days for the sock to be emptied.

We also have a gathering of mourning doves that come and sit on the lattice or fence.
Emily also told me that they puff up their feathers when they are cold.

She got two more feeders (one squirrel proof one that can hold 6 lbs of seed from her grandparents) and this beautiful lantern one from my brother and his wife.





Annoyingly, the most colorful bird is the most irritating one also.. the scrub jay is a loud bossy bird who swoops into the backyard and squawks at all the other birds to go away..

 and if you yell at it.. it gives you a dirty look before it flies away.

The last thing Emily got was her seed containers, seal-tight ones, that usually hold pet food. Matthew cleared out half of his shed to accommodate all of her bird supplies.

She also noticed that with all the seed that falls onto the grass.. it's been sprouting!

Emily went out to pull the sprouts out and found a praying mantis! Can you see it?

Great Reads

"The more you read, the better reader, writer and speller you will become!" This quote is written on top of Hannah's reading log assignment every week. I'm not sure about the spelling part (thank goodness for spell check) but reading definitely helps me write better and it increases my vocabulary.

I am an avid reader. I always have been since I could read.  I loved going to the bookstores (they are pretty non-existent in my town now but remember B. Dalton?) and to the library. As a child, I wanted to be a librarian. I love the smell of new books. Old books.. I could go without. I actually have two friends that are librarians. One of which is a children's librarian at our neighborhood library.

But I am not reading now. I am stuck in a reading rut. I have plenty of books piled high to be read but do not have the urge to pick up any of them. Ever since I started blogging in June, I want to write not read.

But when I do read, I read until I'm done with the book. Sometimes I finish a novel in one day. It's that good of a read.

I read mainly secular and christian fiction, sci-fi (Star Trek only), and teen (as a teacher I try to keep up with what they are reading).

When I find an author I really like, I try to read all of his/her books. And there are quite a few that I love to follow.

I absolutely love Christian fiction, but there are some secular writers that I follow that write as if they are Christian. Bottom line, there is no foul-language in the books. That's a big turn off for me. Although I may make an exception or two if the story is really enticing and well written.

Here are some of my Recommendations:

I'll start with the Secular Fiction:

Nicholas Sparks: (all of his books are great reads)
Some of his books were made into a movie such as The Notebook and The Last Song. The books were way better in my opinion.  He's a very young author (46 yrs old with his 17th book published this year). His writing is down to earth and his characters are always relateable. He writes as if he is a believer but his books are never promoted as Christian books. A Walk to Remember is one of my favorites.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo; The Girl who Played with Fire; The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest Trilogy by Steig Larsson
These books have language and violence in them. No doubt about it but they are such an incredible story you cannot put the book down after you start. When I first started with Book #1, the first 75 pages are dry dry dry... basically he's introducing the characters and the background. I almost gave up on the book but I stuck it out and it was a quick read after the problem was introduced.

The Shack by Wm. Paul Young
Same with this book: fast forward to Chapter 5 where the great conversations between Mac and God start. But don't skip the first five chapters. It sets you up on why the book is called The Shack.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett
So eye opening and engaging on what it was like for black ladies' as maids in the early 1960's. Excellently written. And yes, they made a movie out of this book also.

Teen:
The Twilight Saga: Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer
Absolutely loved these books; I'm a sucker for a good love story and I'm not afraid of vampires. (Loved watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer). Loved the movies also but I digress..

I'm planning to read The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins. This is becoming a movie also.

Science Fiction:
I loved watching Star Trek: TNG. It was my favorite out of all of the ST series. I enjoy reading cross-over stories that bring in the captains and crews from all the different series into one big storyline.

Star Trek: Tales From the Captain's Table by various authors

Nine captains share about their adventures when they come together at a bar to hang out.

Star Trek: Destiny Trilogy by David Mack

Gods of Night (Book 1),  Mere Mortals (Book 2), and  Lost Souls (Book 3)

This trilogy takes place a year after the fall of Practor Shinzon. There's an ancient mystery which three star fleet captains get involved to solve through space and time. 

STNG: Imzadi & Imzadi II by Peter David

I loved Troi and Riker so it was fitting to read their back stories in these two novels.

Star Trek Titan Series

At the end of the STNG movie, Riker married Troi and eventually got his own ship: the USS Titan. This series focuses on their adventures. Different authors write these books and some are good and some are just okay. It's interesting to see where they go from here. I guess if they could make another TV series this would be the logical choice.

Didn't realize how long this post was getting. I'll continue on my favorite Christian reads in a future post.

A Beautifying Brunch

I love to eat.
I love to eat homemade food.
I love to eat homemade food that I did not make.

So I loved going over to my dear friend, Grace's, home for a delicious brunch. She enticed Susana and myself with a huge pot of peach tea...

... delicious buckwheat soba noodle salad...

... yummy cranberry buttermilk scones...

... and apricot scones...

... to go with the piece de resistance... lemon curd! They were soooo yummy!!

I always felt that the best times of reconnecting and deep conversation was over a meal or a cup of tea. I don't get to see these two friends enough and when we get together we try not to talk over one another (because there is just so much to catch us up on). We listen, laugh, eat, listen, respond, respond and laugh and eat some more.

It is those times that I feel that this is what friendship is. Connecting, listening, responding, encouraging and loving each other.

I also loved the drive down to Grace's house. Mind you I don't like to drive and I don't like to drive in traffic to a city that I'm not too familiar with. (It took us almost an hour to get there with traffic.) But I really enjoyed talking to Sus about what's been happening in our lives. Catching up with one another one-on-one with no interruptions. I told Matthew that it was real precious time for me with her.

Other than eating, Grace also pampered us with her new interest: beautifying ourselves.

Yes, we are at the stage of needing to use 'anti-aging' products. Actually, I was told that you need to start using 'anti-aging' products when you're in your 30's. When the wrinkles and age spots come, it's kind of too late to do anything significant about it. Oh well.. better late than never.

No, we are not using Oil of Olay but Grace showed us some of what she was using and recommending to her friends: Mary Kay products.

She showed us a lotion and scrub for our hands that helped soften our cuticles. Our hands get a beating with all the things we do with them.

We got to clean and beautify our faces with moisturizer, mineral powder, eye shadow, blush and lipstick. I'm not big on makeup.. less is more for me, but I loved the powder brush.

I personally am using Arbonne anti-aging skin care products and am happy with it but it's interesting to see what other lines have to offer. 

The big thing I came away with is the need for eye cream (I have some but keep forgetting to put it on) and taking better care of our hands.

If you are interested in any products from Mary Kay, Grace would love to beautify you. Just contact her.