I actually needed to make myself a things-to-do list to get me through this morning.  I had two packages to mail to out of town Avon customers.  There were videos to return that we rented over the weekend, which were Brave and RENT.  I had to take Avon books to a new customer.  Then, I had to go to the bank to make deposits for both Avon and twirling.  Then, I needed a few things from the store.  THEN, I needed something to drink, because all of that running around made me thirsty.

  As soon as I got home, we got ready for our homeschool Girl Scout meeting.  At Girl Scouts, we worked some more on our magazine page bowls, and had a little planning session about the children's magazine that the girls want to start.  When we got home from Girl Scouts, I took Melody to work and then we worked on Abbey's conservation course.  In the process, we discovered that Abbey only needs to pass 5 more lessons and then she will be finished with this.  She said that she wants to take the veterinary assistant course next.  We read out loud from Mere Christianity, which opened up a great discussion about the birds and the bees. After that, Abbey worked on some of her other lessons independently.  Then, it was time for Abbey to go to archery.  While Abbey was at archery, Tarja watched Peter and the Wolf on youtube, and I heated up smoked sausage for supper.

While I fixed supper, Ivana had to be confined to her high chair, because she has figured out how to climb up on, out of, into, and on top of just about everything.  None of her baby furniture keeps her safe except for the high chair, and I caught her as she nearly tipped THAT over.  I know that it's not nice to compare, but my other children all could talk quite clearly by the time that they were as old as Ivana.  None were as physically active as she has been.  The only word that Ivana says is, "Num!" when she is eating something that she likes.  The rest of her day is spent getting into, onto, out of, on top of, and under, everything that she can find.  Needless to say, we have had some crazy days around here.

Have a Great Day!
Laurel Santiago

Wednesdays, fortunately, are kind of an easy day for us.  We don't have any scheduled activities.  After doing our usual routine of running errands, I helped Abbey with her Forestry course, read a chapter aloud from Mere Christianity, and then read from a book that contains two minute Charlie Brown stories for Tarja.  Do you remember Charlie Brown?  I LOVE Charlie Brown.  Tarja did time4learning.com, which we refer to as "Ed Mouse."  Tarja has a love/hate relationship with Ed Mouse right now, because he gets to be more of a challenge as we go along.  Later, Tarja and I read some fairy tales together, and THEN, we watched Tubby the Tuba and Peter and the Wolf on youtube.  She thought that was completely amazing. 

Quite a few blog posts ago, I had started the grapefruit diet, and then the baby ended up in the hospital for a week, and that ended that.  I'm back in the saddle, and have enlisted the help of ACE, the dietary supplement that everybody is advertising on facebook.  So far, everything is going great. 

Have a Great Day!
Laurel Santiago

This morning, Princess Melody and I had to run to the next town to pick up the pictures that we had made last week of the four of them together.  It was a nice little drive.  Then, we came back, picked up Princess Abbey's broken wii, and took it to the computer repair shop.  The man seemed confident that he could fix it, so let's hope.  THEN, we had to run to a local church, that had said that they would help our twirling team with an indoor practice area for the winter.  The lady that was to let us into the building acted like she was very annoyed with me, because I did not call her before today, when, in fact, I had tried to contact her over and over......and O V E R again.  She basically called me a liar, but she put us on the calendar, and at that point, I was too happy to be upset.  I thanked her so much that I bet she was even more annoyed with me, but being able to keep twirling lessons going during the winter months is a dream that I once thought was impossible.  All of this took place before lunch time.  After lunch, we had school work and twirling lessons, which doesn't sound like much unless you are the one doing it.  We did finish up a chapter in Abbey's Forestry and Wildlife course.  She made an 85 on the test, which I thought was pretty good, but she wasn't too thrilled.  Anyway, onward to the next part of the course tomorrow. 

Have a Great Day!
Laurel Santiago

Yesterday, we had our homeschool Girl Scout troop meeting.  The Princesses cleaned the cage of our half moon conure, Pitbull, and put the California king snake in a smaller container so that they could show them to the rest of the troop.  Therefore, for our troop meeting, we had those two pets to play with, and we began making decorative bowls out of magazine pages.  We worked on using our good manners throughout the activities, which goes toward their Manners Count Patch, and we discussed how making something out of what would normally be considered trash (old magazines) goes along with the Girl Scout law of "using resources wisely".  It was a fun time until the snake died.  We don't have a clue as to why he died.  Princess Melody was heartbroken.

After the meeting, we took the snake to the pet store, so that they could properly take care of his remains.  Melody went to work, and Abbey and I got to the task of working on her Forestry and Wildlife Conservation course.  Abbey went to archery class, and Tarja and I worked on her time4learning.com activities. 

In between those things, I turned in a large Avon order, which made me very happy.

Have a Great Day!
Laurel Santiago

I have been off of the blogging track for the past week, because I started off with jury duty.  Usually, court is cancelled, but this time, I was told that I had to appear.  I made the decision not to claim my right to stay home with the kids, because I do have two kids that are old enough to babysit, and I really didn't think that they would pick me, anyway.  After all, I would get $10.00 just for showing up.  We could have a princess lunch at McDonalds for $10.00.  Yay! 

When I went for my appointed time to appear for jury duty, according to the summons that I received, I found myself waiting for nearly an hour before we were called into the courtroom for questioning.  We were told to sit in a certain order, and only the first two rows of seats were questioned.  I was on the second row.  Each person before me was questioned extensively about his or her family life and background.  I was questioned very little.  The attorney remarked that he had never had a twirling instructor before, asked me a little about what the king does for a living, and moved on to the next person. 

We were dismissed for a break while the attorneys decided who they would choose for the actual jury.  I was ready for the names to finished being called so that I could go home.  THEN, they said it.  "Laurel Santiago."  What?  Were they kidding?  Everybody else was dismissed.  The other 11 jurors and I were given a cute little badge, some instructions and sent home for lunch.  Court started right after lunch and kept me busy for three days.  At any rate, I believe that God chose this jury, and I hope that decisions were made for the benefit of all concerned.

Be that as it may, we missed our weekly Girl Scout meeting, but Abbey did make it to archery and we had our twirling lessons.  Then, Thursday, we had a photo shoot of the girls together in the next town.  That was a fun time.  Today, we have done as little as possible.  There was even a nap involved.

Have a Great Day!
Laurel Santiago

Thanksgiving Princesses

I am so lucky to have been blessed with the experience of being the mother of these precious people.  Our lives together have not and are not perfect.  We've been through some terrible things as a family.  We've also been through some lovely, miraculous things together that maybe nobody else would understand.  Our lives have been full of art, music and great literature.  We have created our own opportunities, and we value God and family far more than we value standards and norms of society.  If God be for us, then who can be against us?

Today was one of those days that felt sort of like a let down after all of the commotion from Halloween.  Even so, I am glad that Halloween is over, and we can move onward to Thanksgiving. 

There wasn't a lot of actual school work happening today, because the Princess chambers were ghastly.  Instead of school work, I had them clean up their room.  To give you an idea of how bad it was, you must know that they will have to continue this project tomorrow.  Anyway, cleaning up one's living space is actually a life lesson as well as a lesson about health and home making.

We did have our twirling lesson today, and the photographer delivered our pictures. I wish that I could post them, but we aren't allowed to scan any of her work. 

I'm too sleepy to type anymore.

Love,
Laurel