K-State Tornado

Our college Alma Matter, K-State (Kansas State University), was hit by a tornado last night and several campus buildings and a fraternity were damaged. The news story covering the damage and listing the buildings damaged brought back memories for me.

Travis lived in an apartment building while he was in college right across the street from the Sig Ep fraternity that was damaged. Of course, we attended classes in most of the buildings damaged on campus while attending K-State.

I HAVE actually been inside the building housing the nuclear reactor! We put these little radiation counters inside our pockets upon entering the room with the reactor, then returned them to their key hooks when we left. The people in charge of the reactor monitor amounts of radiation picked up on the counters. The counters are also a reassurance measure for those visiting the reactor, as they show how minute of an amount of radiation the reactor puts off, even when you're standing right above it. I do remember getting a little nervous when we were touring the reactor. The reactor is insulated by water. In other words, the water "absorbs" the radiation the reactor is creating. I don't remember how many feet of water were between us and the nuclear reactor (as we were standing on top looking down at it), but I DO remember them telling us not to get too close to the water. They didn't want us to fall in and die. They described in detail what would happen if we were 1ft, 2ft, 3ft, etc. from the reactor inside the insulating water. Let's just say we all took a few steps back while the guide was talking.

Lastly, I am mourning the loss of all of the beautiful trees the tornado destroyed. You see, I was a "tree hugger" in college. No, I'm not a radical environmentalist. I took Woody Plants 201 and 301 while in Landscape architecture. We toured the campus three times a week as our teacher taught us about specimen trees planted all over campus. I have the scientific and common names of lots of trees and shrubs (we were not allowed to call them bushes!) in my brain. The campus had a live specimen of almost every tree in our books planted in the landscape throughout the campus. I bet my favorite, the Tulip Tree (tilia cordata), is still standing on the east side of campus opposite of where the tornado uprooted trees.

Here's a link to the news story and some pictures from a Wichita news station:

Pretty Princesses

Madalynn and Jillian love to play dress up! Jillian is the perfect model for all of Madalynn's cutting edge fashion designs.

Madalynn created this look from the flower girl dress she wore when she was three in Aunt Laci's wedding and the pretty blue bow that came with the blue dress that Aunt Holly had custom made for her in Thailand. The dress was just below the knee when Madalynn wore it. The dress just grazed the floor when Jillian put it on!

Monkeying Around on Monkey Mountain

We had an extremely fun day at the New Orleans Audubon Zoo with our friends, the Maggios girls, May 23.

My good friend Jennifer, her daughter Lilly (Madalynn's age/friend), and her youngest daughter Caroline (Jillian's age/friend) took a trip across the lake (Ponchatrain) via the Causeway and got to the zoo around 10:45 a.m.

We spent the morning checking out the animals, chatting, and taking pictures of our cute kids, of course! Highlights were seeing the elephants up close, one "waving" at us with one of his ears every time Jennifer raised her hand and said, "hi." We probably spent at least 30-45 minutes in the petting zoo area. Madalynn, Lilly, Justis and Caroline especially liked combing the sheep and goats. Jillian and Dawson put on Zookeeper shirts in the play area after they bored of combing goats.
We finished off the morning with a spin on the carousel. Jillian and Caroline did NOT want to get off when the carousel stopped! Then again, who wants to get off of a carousel when the ride is over?!

We miserly moms bypassed the expensive food served at the zoo by packing coolers with lunch. We found two huge oaks on the lawn in front of the zoo and had a nice picnic in the shade. We had all kinds of food, but one thing was evident. The kids all share a love of COOL RANCH DORITOS!! Justis, Madalynn and Lilly climbed the live oak branches near the ground and bounced up and down on them, laughing and laughing. We then packed up our picnic and went back into the zoo for the afternoon.

You can see by the pictures I posted that the day was a hot and steamy one. We sought refuge from the sun, humidity and heat several ways. Water misters and fans are available all around the zoo to cool visitors off. The kids lingered in the misters and fans every time we came to one.

The longer the afternoon went, the less important seeing the animals became! Our priority was cooling off. We sat for about an hour in the shade of the Mayan exhibit, allowing the kids to dig in a huge sandbox to uncover "artifacts" permanently buried and re-covered each day for a fresh digging opportunity.

We concluded the day with the kids' most anticipated zoo "exhibit," Monkey Mountain. Monkey mountain is a huge hill in the center of the zoo with paths and boardwalks hidden in the trees and waterfalls that trickle down from the top with pools for the kids to play in. Jennifer and I decided a trip to Monkey Mountain would be worth a trip to the zoo in itself! Jillian and Caroline even got wet and climbed the pools of the waterfall with Jennifer and I.

I looked at cell phone and it was 3:45! We had spent almost all day at the zoo. Time flies with good friends! We decided to call it a day, dried off and passed by the sea lion exhibit (which just recently reopened) on the way out.

We hugged and parted ways to take different routes home. Jillian and Dawson were sleeping 1 block after the van pulled out of the parking lot. I was SOOOO thirsty that I actually went to Burger king and spent $8 on cold, bottled water. So much for being a miserly mom. Note to self: Pack water next time! I had a cooler full of Capri Sun and Pepsi, but all the water we brought was gone. We got home after Travis did that evening and the kids were out by 7:00!

Smart Kids!

Madalynn is now a second-grader and Justis is a first-grader. Our first year of home schooling is mainly wrapped-up and I'm already planning for next school year's materials. I wanted to share our excitement in what the kids have accomplished this year.

Madalynn started the school year from scratch, going back to square one with reading and math so she could benefit from repetition and solidify her reading and math skills. She now reads books at a written for a 2nd-4th grade level and can pick up a menu, card, or any book and read from it. She read a 55-page book to me two days ago! She also reads for information. She looks up topics in her children's encyclopedia/dictionary when she wants to know more about a word or topic. She shares books that she finds particularly special by reading them to the family before bed sometimes. Math and Madalynn get along as well as Madalynn and reading. She has her addition facts memorized, can identify, write and read numbers from 0-999. She is currently finishing up memorizing her subtraction facts. Here's the impressive part. She does the subtraction facts by using her addition problems and solving for the unknown in her head. That's right! She's doing them algebraically. For instance. When she is given the problem 18-9, she thinks "Nine plus what equals eighteen? That's nine." Needless to say, she is breezing through subtraction! Her math and reading foundations are being built strong.

Justis's reading/phonics progress has quickly and steadily gone from ABC's to reading thirty-some page books! He finished the Kindergarten level of Sing, Spell Read and write by November and is about 1/3 of the way through the 1st-grade level Madalynn is finishing up now. He couldn't even write and tell me the letter names when we started in the fall, but he now reads well above Kindergarten-level expectations. Justis thinks Math is a fun game. You think I'm exaggerating? He learned how to solve for the unknown two weeks ago. He was doing a problem when he said, "What plus five equals ten? That's five. This is a fun game, mom!" He should breeze through next year's math book, because most of it is a review of the "Primer" level he did this year. He also knows place value to 999, simple addition facts, skip counting by 2s, 5s and 10s and he will be finishing up by his telling time lessons in the next few weeks.

I have informally taught social studies and science through the use of "real" (not textbooks) children's books this year. I have a curriculum called Five in a Row that provides lists of excellent classic children's books with lessons in geography, science, math, social studies, literature, etc. to do based on each book. The kids have grown a LOVE of these classic children's books and being read to/reading. They have also learned about China, Italy, cranberries, monks, France, Boston, lightening, to watercolor paint, Russia and on and on. Justis can find Louisiana and Italy on a world map! Madalynn focuses more on the social and cultural part of the story, like what time period the story happens in and what the people do, eat and wear. Science has been painless. We have learned about weather, hurricanes, the human body, the five senses, the earth, space, electricity and water through a series of books called the Magic School Bus.

The kids didn't miss out on a social life this school year, either! In fact our social calendar has remained quite full even through the summer. PE, Home School Co-Op, field trips and play dates/trips with other home school families have provided excellent opportunity for social connections and real-world experiences. Madalynn has always been a natural in the social arena, but Justis has been hesitant until this year to jump right in to a social situation. His co-op classes WITHOUT Madalynn driving his social life gave him confidence in his own friendship-building skills and interactions with teachers and others.

Dawson did "school" for the first semester, until he lost interest for a few months. I didn't and won't push it at his age, so I let him play during school this semester. He started asking to do school again about a month ago, so I'm guessing he'll be ready to do practice the basics again next fall. I read all kinds of books to him, which is his favorite part of the day and possibly mine, too!

Jillian still naps or plays with Dawson during home school, although she LOVES to color. On an interesting note, she seems to be left-handed. That means Justis and I (right-handers) are in the minority with Travis, Dawson, Madalynn and Jillian being left-handed! Four lefties in a family! Wow, huh!?

The best thing I heard all year from my children was this comment from Madalynn a few weeks ago. We were driving to Covington for a doctor's appointment, when she said out of the blue, "Mom, I want to be home schooled forever. I like being home schooled and being with you and my brothers and sister all day." Justis chimed in with, "Me, too. I like home school." "Me, too!" Dawson said.

We will be addressing school arrangements with prayer and one-year-at-a-time while the kids mature, and we've never talked about how long we'll home school with the kids. Knowing Justis and Madalynn have experienced both a wonderful private school experience and a year of home school and ask to continue to be home schooled means a lot to me, not just as a home school teacher, but a mom. Without question, we will be home schooling again next year, though. We are all looking forward to it, but have plenty of summer trips and plans to keep us busy. After all, learning is a year-round process, right?!

Reality Blogging

The time is 1:15 a.m. I am sitting in the living room waiting on the washing machine to finish washing the throw up off of Jillian's beloved blankie and bed linens. Travis has throw up duty tonight, so he is sitting in the chair with Jillian snoozing with the bathroom trash can beside them, cocked and ready. This is reality, folks!

I decided to sit and write a blog about the kids school achievements at about ten minutes to ten tonight. I felt fine then. By 10:15 p.m. I was sick and in the bathroom. My stomach finally stopped cramping and I finally fell asleep in my own bed.

A blood-curdling scream came from Jillian's room a bit later. One of my mommy ears is always alert to what is happening while I'm sleeping, so my body's first reaction was to dart out of bed. However, my nauseated body went nowhere.

"Travis," I said, "Jillian is throwing up." I didn't have to go in and look to see what was wrong. Motherly intuition, I guess...or maybe this is the routine when the household passes a bug around.

Daddy Hero Travis rushed in to save Jillian from her ills, only to be thrown up ALL over before making it to the bathroom for the second round of tummy flips.

Travis yelled, "JAE! I NEED you in here!!!"

"Coming," I said, groaning and gingerly rising out of bed to prevent my tummy from doing a flip, too. I mustered up as much "stomach" as I had left and entered the bathroom to find Travis and Jillian covered.

"Let's go to the other bathroom," I said. "We'll give her a bath."

I started the water, afraid to look up again and look at or catch a sniff of supper (for the third time). I finally looked up. I reached out to get Jillian and smelled the smell. I stepped back, green from nausea.

"Do you need me to undress her?" Travis asked. My green face said it all.

Then we tag-teamed. Travis undressed her, placed her in the tub, and took care of the contaminated laundry. I gave her a bath and sat with her (she was still sick, but with help was making the bucket now) while Travis took a head-to-toe scrub down shower and put on clean clothes. Travis then graciously took Jillian to the chair to be the throw up helper/comforter/cleaner-upper while I re-made Jillian's bed and monitored the laundry AND my own stomach.

Travis and Jillian are now in bed. It's ten 'till 2:00 a.m. and the beloved blankie is now drying. Travis said his stomach is souring before getting into bed this time, and I keep hearing another of the kids getting restless. The dryer might finish tumbling just in time for round three tonight!

My stomach feels better now. Good night, y'all. Oops, I guess that would be good morning!

Bye, Bye, Binkie

Jillian is officially a "big girl" now. She's weaned from the binkie. Praise the Lord (on behalf of all of us)!

Jillian, our little firecracker, screamed most of the first seven months of her life. She found comfort in using a binkie to pacify herself (from what, we still don't know), and the rest of us felt sane when she was comforted. I swore I would never have a child whom used a binkie. Can I just say one thing here.

Motherhood has truly humbled me. Everything I said I would "NEVER do with my child," I've done or has happened. I would see a child with a binkie stuffed in his/her mouth and think, "Tisk, tisk. Shame on that parent for allowing the binkie. They don't need a binkie. They need to learn to go to sleep without relying on something." Well, Madalynn, Dawson and Justis never needed a binkie, so I thought my "judgement" was correct. NOT! Jillian came and I have never passed judgement because of binkies or other parenting choices since. I pray for God's for every parent, because I've been there and that's what God has given me...grace!

Back to Jillian. I will say God had his hand in the miracle of her giving the binkie up. I didn't know how or what to do to put the binkie behind us, so when I went looking for a binkie for Jillian's nap one day and came up empty handed, I just said, "Jillian, the binkies are all gone (I made the sign language for gone). They are all lost and we don't have any more. You're a big girl and you don't need a binkie anymore. Do you want to hold your dolly and read a book?" I gave her a doll and book, kissed her, and left the room. She cried for a minute and fell asleep. She asked for the binkie three more nap/bedtimes, and I responded the same way each time, telling her they were all gone. She accepted that (she had to) without fuss and JOYFULLY (that's the miracle) went to sleep on her own!

A week after the binkie was a distant memory to her, I found a binkie cleaning. She saw it and motioned that she wanted it. I gave it to her, she put it in her mouth, she then took it out and laughed like it was silly. "No." She said, giving it back. I went and threw it away and that was that!

Who would've thought it would be that easy. Just the right timing too! She has a mouthful of teeth that have just come in the last few weeks!

One Year in Louisiana!

We were living out of boxes and adjusting to the shock of the "new world" of Louisiana last year on this day. May 30 marked our one-year anniversary of moving to Louisiana.

Using mapquest to find friends' houses (you can't just see houses off the road here on account of the trees), learning how to drive in the organized chaos of Louisiana roads and highways, living with BIG and STRANGE bugs and critters, the humidity and translating southern language has become second-nature to us now. Immersion into a new culture is certainly the best way to learn it!

Many of you are probably as surprised as we are that we have not moved yet again with Travis's company. Travis and I talked about this last night. We WANT to be somewhere, ANYWHERE, for a few years! There is as much value in stability as there in the flexibility of moving. We'd just like to try the former for a change. Only God knows where our journey will lead, however.

Travis still has plenty of safety "reform" to do here in the Louisiana Mississippi (River) Gulf ADM locations. The Mississippi Gulf locations' turnaround will take time, as the grain division just purchased the facilities last year. Travis and his assistants have made phenomenal headway in the last year, however, and he's starting to see his ultimate hope for the facilities come through. He's seeing more and more employees taking safety personally and seriously and it is becoming a working lifestyle for them, not just a formality for OSHA or documentation purposes!

We have been slow to find our "fit" in the area, but "fitting in" was worth the wait, as we've slowly but surely made some fantastic friends. We think we've finally found the church where we "belong." We attended our first church here for six months before deciding we needed a better "fit" for the family. We also now have doctors and dentists established, Louisiana tags on our vehicles AND the ever-so-important FLOOD INSURANCE!

We still miss our families and friends in Kansas and wish we could see them more often. Travis's regional managerial responsibilities and three weeks of vacation make getting away for a significant amount of time as often as we'd like very difficult just for the fact that getting to Kansas takes two whole days. We are thankful for our families coming to visit us here and for the couple of times we've visited my family in Kansas. We are looking forward to a Davis visit/family reunion this summer! Yeah!

God bless Kansas and God bless Louisiana! We love you both!