Nicknames ...

These are my four kids. This picture was taken awhile ago -- probably around 2005. My oldest is twenty-two and my youngest is ten, so that might give you an idea how much they've changed. But, I love this picture because it's a rarity to get all four of them together at the same time.

My kids are my life. I adore them more than anything. Before Rick and I even began trying to have children, we hoped I'd be able to be a stay-at-home mom for as long as possible. Back in the late 1980s, I had no idea I'd eventually be homeschooling them. I wouldn't want it any other way.

When my kids were babies, Rick and I came up with nicknames for them. Nichelle was Shelley-Bellies. Nicole was Coley and Angel Baby. Nathan was called Mister Mister and Neil was Neily. All cute names, but obviously not ones that have really stuck with them over the years. That's okay, too.

However, when I was little, my mom and her boyfriend nicknamed me Pill the Tyrant. What the hell? I don't know if my mom came up with that name or if it was her jerk of a boyfriend. Pill the Tyrant? Seriously? Was I that much of a pain to them? Did they not like having me around? Wow -- what a nickname.

As a kid, I thought it was funny, but that was because I didn't understand what it meant. As an adult, it makes me mad. Sometimes I think of things from my childhood and I get so mad. Other times I just try to learn from it. My kids have never been a pain, or a pill to me -- never.

Did you have any nicknames?

Remember these?

A friend just posted one of those inspirational sayings on Facebook and it was shown using these black labels. For a second, I had a weird flashback. I couldn't even remember what the labels were called, so I looked them up and it was embossing tape. I'm assuming they still make these things, although I know a lot of them are electronic now.

I think I have my green Dymo somewhere in the office. I'll have to get it out and see if I have any tape. A lot of my old photo albums have these labels still stuck to them. It was like a necessary gadget growing up in the 70s. Now, with computers and smart phones, things like this just aren't needed as much. At least not in the home, although I'm sure people still use labeling devices in the workplace. I use mostly Avery labels in my office.

Anyway, it's funny how one little post can bring back a flood of memories!

Dilly, is that you?

Nathan read One Hundred Hungry Ants out loud for us today. We've had it for years. I think my girls got it when they were in private school through the Scholastic Book Club. It's always been a fun book to read, especially out loud because of the rhymes and repetitions. We've read it quite a few times, but we all got a good laugh today when we got to the following page ...

Dilly and his ratty relatives sure know a good thing when they see it!

I think I need a nap ... or a Valium.

Gosh, the past three weeks have been crazy. First, I wasn't feeling well, which threw us off school for a couple of days. Then the boys got sick. Then I had a bunch of doctor's appointments, which threw us off even more. Then the boys seemed to have a rebound sickness. It's just been insane. As far as school goes, we are keeping up okay. We're a little behind, but it will all work out in the long run. The boys will finish some of their shorter curriculum books before they finish the others, so we can make up the difference then. All this week we've managed to get the academics done, but have held off on extra stuff like extra reading, crafts, poetry, typing, and stuff like that.

Our cat, Denny gave me a scare yesterday at lunch. He was huddled in the corner and then began meowing at me like he was in pain. After that he got in his litter box a couple of times and just sat. Having worked in a pet clinic before, the first thing that came to mind was that he was blocked. That's common in male cats. CJ was blocked several times also. So, I called the vet and they said the soonest they could get him in was the next morning. I was really surprised by that because a blockage can be life threatening. Because of my past work experience, I saw how he was acting and decided to wait until his appointment. Later on he was running through the house like a goon. He was also eating and drinking. Then when I checked his box this morning, I noticed there was three piddle clumps. We have two cats, and I'm pretty sure Kitty didn't do all three, so I figured Denny was probably okay.

About an hour before his appointment this morning, Rick and I were watching him. He was lying on his back with his feet up in the air, purring like a madman. Rick goes, "Just look at him. He's miserable." Stupid cat! I figured he was okay, but we decided to take him in anyway. He was due for his check-up and shots, so I figured it was best to have him looked at. Rick took him in because I was at the doctor's office. Apparently, when they took Denny's temperature, he got startled and piddled a little on the table. Rick goes, "Well, I guess he's not blocked." Little goober. They got a urine sample and that looked fine, so I guess he was just having a weird moment yesterday. The vet did suggest he lose about a pound because he's up to 17 pounds -- the little porker! The tech loved him and carried him around on her shoulder to show him off to everyone in the office. Denny = Mr. Popular.

As for me, I had my pre-op junk today. I had an exam with my doctor, who suggested we add another procedure onto the one I'm already having done next week. So, maybe this will help take care of the problem even more. Afterwards, I went to the surgery center to check in. My surgery isn't until next Friday, so I thought it was odd they had me check in a week early. And wouldn't you know it, but they said it was too early to draw my blood, so they asked if I could come back sometime next week. GRRR! They're the ones who set up the stupid appointments. Now I have to go back Wednesday for bloodwork. The actual surgery is Friday morning. So anyway, Denny and I are both a little cranky today, having been poked and prodded at too much.

Pony Strings is out!

I received copies of my newest picture book, Pony Strings & Critter Things today. They look awesome. Ginger Nielson did a great job keeping them along the same line as the first two books in the series, illustrated by Nikki Boetger. I've been so fortunate to have all of my books done by such great illustrators like Ginger, Nikki, Stephen Macquignon, and Lisa Oakman.

Pony Strings & Critter Things is the third in the Critter Series. The link above takes you to 4RV Publishing, LLC where you can see all three books. The fourth, Rhino Crashes & Critter Classes will be out soon also. These are fun rhyming books that teach animal congregations. The reading level is 4-8 years, but kids of all ages will enjoy them, especially with the fun, colorful illustrations by Ginger and Nikki. Please check them out!

Pony Strings & Critter Things Book Trailer

Nathan's Cow

We're studying some of the more modern artists this week and one of them is Salvador Dali. He was a Spanish surrealist painter. He was born in 1904 and died in 1989. Well ... to make a long story longer ... we didn't exactly get to the lesson plan of Dali in our book Discovering Great Artists. The boys have been sick, so we skipped that lesson for the time being. However, I had drawn out a silly sketch on our dry-erase board. Every day I write the date on the board and usually draw some silly picture for whatever we're studying that week. In the Discovering Great Artists book, they had an example of a child's work depicting Dali's work. It was a cow in a hula skirt. The cow's head had been cut from a magazine, and the child had drawn the rest.

I hadn't taken the time to read the assignment to the boys yet, so they had no idea what the project was. Nathan just saw my silly cow. So yesterday afternoon he comes up with a piece of paper and tells me he did his own project for art. He said he didn't know what the assignment was, so he just drew a cow in a hula skirt. It totally made me laugh and I knew I'd have to scan this one. The facial expression is classic. Click on it to see it bigger. The assignment is called Dream Photos, so I imagine will get to it this week. But for now, I'm really enjoying Nathan's hula-skirting cow!

Happy Valentine's Day!

If you celebrate this day, I hope you're having a wonderful time. Today is our 24th wedding anniversary. As of right now, we don't have any plans to do anything. As fun as it was getting married on Valentine's Day, it's not the best night to go out. Most restaurants are packed. We usually go out before or after our anniversary, if we go out at all. Next year will be a bigger one, being the 25th, so maybe we can do something special then.

It seems people either love Valentine's Day or they hate it with a burning passion. I've been seeing a lot of anti-Valentine's Day posts on Facebook today. I don't get that, but to each their own, I suppose. I mean, I don't celebrate Kwanzaa, but don't go out of my way to announce it to people. Okay, so I just did now, but that's an exception. I understand that some people are sad or lonely, but why bash it? How hard is it to show a little love to someone, even if they aren't exactly the love of your life? 

I'm not very materialistic. I don't expect flowers, candy, jewelry or anything like that. Rick bought me those boots yesterday, so that was a big treat. Besides my wedding, I have fun memories of Valentine's Day as a kid. I loved bringing in cards for my classmates and having a party at the end of the day. I'm assuming schools still do that, right? I am really bummed that my boys are still so sick, though. They got invited to a Valentine's Day party by one of our homeschool friends. We really wanted to attend, but the boys are just coughing and sniffling too much. I feel really bad they missed it.

Happy Valentine's Day!