Not Me! Monday!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

I did NOT allow my 3 year old to play soccer in the frigid morning air on Saturday. If I had let her play, I’m sure she would NOT have gotten dirty and her adorable pink shirt, jacket, sweats, mittens and hat everything would still be pink.

I, also, did NOT allow my 3 year old to eat hay on a hayride.

It did NOT feel like we were in a blizzard while on said hayride.

My 4 year old loves to have her picture taken. She would NEVER pout because things weren’t going her way.


It did NOT take 2 teachers to pry said 4 year old out of the van in the preschool drop off line this morning. This does NOT, at all, make me feel like a horrible mom deserting my crying little girl. (I’m soooooooooooooooo glad I homeschool after they graduate from preschool. I simply couldn’t do this to her everyday!)

It was NOT 56 degrees in my house when I woke up this morning. We're Clevelanders... we're tough...we don't need stinkin' heat!

On the Adventure Guides Car Scavenger Hunt, I did NOT add a few spontaneous clues so that we would happen to drive by our own home so I could make an emergency potty stop in my own bathroom.

Not Me! Monday!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

I did NOT, along with 2 nurses, hold my 4 year old down, while said nurses administered pain medication following ear surgery.

I did NOT bring my daughter home from her ear surgery and then proceed to take a very looooooong nap with her. Upon waking from the oh-so-delicious nap, I did NOT feel as if I was the one trying to come out of the anesthesia.

I have NOT mastered the fine art of bribery this past week in order to give Sarah ear drops and ointment 3 times a day. This bribery has NOT included dvds, ice cream, donuts, cookies, sleep-overs in mommy’s bed, new shoes, a new purse, trips to Mimi and Papa’s house and trips to Grandma and Grandpa’s house. This most certainly will NOT continue for the next 30 days!

I did NOT log on to my Facebook account to find that I now have literally hundreds of new friends. This would NOT be thanks to my dear husband, who plays a certain game ::coughvampirewarscoughcough:: using my account and needs to build up his clan to become more powerful and advance in the game.

Speaking of Facebook, I do NOT hold conversations with my husband via FB simply because I’m too lazy to walk downstairs.

Sarah Allison Steffee Center for Zoological Medicine

On our bazillion and one trips to the zoo, we have never ventured into the Sarah Allison Steffee Center for Zoological Medicine. This facility provides world-class care for the Zoo's 3,000 animals. I think it will probably be a regular stop from now on. Here, the displays feature hands-on interactives, tools-of-the-trade, and views to surgical suites where you just might be lucky enough to sneak a peak at a treatment procedure in progress! On this particular day we didn't have enough time to borrow an actual vet bag and become veterinarians for a day, but we did explore most of the other activities.

Rachel was busy preparing lunch for a Colobus monkey.

I think Emily may have been preparing her own lunch.

I mean, after all, you do work up an appetite taking care of animals, so if you do happen to get the grumbellies, just grab a snack.
We were able to open the cabinets and drawers (which were covered in plexiglass) to see what supplies and surgical tools were inside, use the scale and blood pressure machine.
This is the exam/operating room for large animals.

Smaller patients are cared for in this room.

Hands-on computers!!! Something the littles don't have much access to at home!

Uuuugh - Let's try not to think about the germs...
The stool was more fun for Emily than the phone because it had wheels... thus, the blurry picture.

We studied real xrays. This bird had swallowed 37 cents. They are quite attracted to shiny objects.

According to Rachel, this poor, unfortunate lemur had broken every bone in his body!

Have I ever mentioned how much fun it is to homeschool?

Sarah's surgery update

Sarah was the very first to bring home the Alphabet Bag in her preschool class. She was assigned a certain letter and had to fill the bag with items beginning with that letter and return it to school to share with her friends. Can you guess what letter she had?

Peek-a-boo! Guess who jumped into the picture! It's really too bad they don't love each other. And look at those gorgeous tans, which will be quickly fading!

Speaking of our little Sarah Bear, she had surgery this week to repair the hole in her eardrum. It was a huge hole - 40% of her eardrum! I guess you could say she had a hole in her head.

The surgery went well. Waking up after surgery, not so well. She wanted everything OFF!!!! The blood pressure cuff on her leg, the pulse oximeter on her toe, the band aid on her ear and the IV in her hand. And there was going to be no discussing it or trying to reason with her. It was all coming OFF and quickly!!!! Like five minutes ago! She was in pain and it took three of us to hold her down and give her the medicine. Poor baby! She didn't understand why we were doing this to her and kept asking WHY?!?!?!?! She even requested a whole new ear, rather loudly -*ahem*. So much for a quiet recovery room.

We have to give her antibiotics once a day, ear drops three times a day and ointment on her ear three times a day, none of which she enjoys. I'm getting lots of practice in the fine art of bribery.

Tonight as I was putting her to bed (in my bed, the result of tonight's ear drops/ointment bribery), she said, "I think my friends at school prayed for me because we always pray for our friends who go to the doctor." She had the sweetest smile on her face as she was thinking about it. In the midst of her discomfort, it was comforting to know her friends were praying for her. A hug from Jesus.

Down on the Farm

Last week we spent a beautiful, sunny, toasty warm afternoon at Lake Farmpark. Hard to believe that only one week later we are freeeeeeeezing, wishing we owned a pair of alpaca socks.

This was our first Homeschool Wednesday class at Lake Farmpark and we were not disappointed. The theme for this particular Wednesday was Harvesting. Our first stop was "Corn Binding" which I had never even heard of before. This horse-powered corn binder cuts the stalks and ties a string around 3 or 4 plants and then drops them to the ground.

These are the bundles of stalks that are left behind.

Bring your muscles to drag the bundles to the 'main teepee'. Oh, and you might want to wear long sleeves because I heard they can be itchy and maybe a little ouchy.
Voila! Thirty to forty bundles are made into these lovely corn shocks to allow them to dry out. Next, they will be shredded and stored in silos for animal food.
Next, off to harvest the potatoes. We are planning on saving these potatoes and using them to plant our own next spring. Stay tuned to see how that plays out!
Luckily, we found a hand operated water pump so that we could have sparkling clean potatoes, which Benjamin kept calling tomatoes. C'mon, city kid! Get your veggies straight! Actually, though, after a quick google search, I discovered potatoes are neither vegetable nor fruit. They are tubers. They are the root of a flowering plant related to Deadly Nightshade, as is the tomato. The tomato by the way is classified as a fruit.

Next stop: The 3 acre corn maze on the side of a hill. There were corn-related questions to answer at the forks in the path to help you find your way. It was all a scam. We finally ditched the maze and took the emergency exit out the side of the field. It appeared to be a well-traveled exit, so I think others had the same problems we encountered.

We worked up quite a thirst in that endless corn maze, so we were quite happy our next stop was cider making. It's quite simple. They use a magical combination of three different types of apples, put them in the cider press and squeeeeeeeeeze the juice out of the apples and there you have it! Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to taste that cider because it had not been pasteurized. They did have some cider from another farm for us to sample. YUM! See this turkey? Yeah, he looks innocent enough, but if you're holding an ear of corn..... WATCH OUT! Let's just say he gave us a good run for our money on our way to learn more about the many uses of corn.

Professional corn grinder.

Before leaving we got to take a peek at the many people preparing for the largest indoor display of balloons in the country! That is an oak tree made entirely out of balloons!

The kids used to think I was pretty cool because I could make a dog, sword and hat out of balloons. Someone always has to be 'one upping me'! It was pretty amazing though.

Wordless Western Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Not Me! Monday!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

The littles were NOT the least little bit excited to start preschool this week!

People do NOT look at me in a strange way when they find out I send my kids to preschool but then homeschool them after they graduate from preschool.

I did NOT allow my children to dig around in a display at the zoo trying to find a hidden letterbox.

I did NOT send the oldies on vacation to Kentucky this week with my parents and forget to pack their tennis shoes. I mean, you wouldn't really need good walking shoes to visit a zoo or an aquarium, would you? Flip flops and crocs should suffice!

Speaking of a trip to Kentucky, I do NOT consider it an internal vacation when 2/4 of my children are under someone else's care for the week. Nope! Not me!

Wordless Wednesday

Emily June Carter Cash College Carpenter

That's what we were going to name her. But then we decided that might cause problems for her down the road.

No more crib...

No more high chair...

No more bottles or sippy cups...

No more diapers...

No more itty bitty babies in my house. Whatever will I do? Maybe get a good night's sleep? Well, at least a semi-decent night's sleep. Children in this house still like to play musical beds at night. I never know who I might wake up next to. (Wow, that would sound bad out of context!) I do know that most mornings I awaken, clinging to the edge of my bed for dear life, thankful for any little spare corner of covers they have graciously shared. Honestly, though, I do love to snuggle in bed. They aren't allowed to start out in my bed, but I don't mind if they show up during the night. Steve, on the other hand, might have different thoughts on this. Ahem.

This little ball of energy turned 3 last Saturday.

She is the climber, in constant motion, always doing things her way. She does things the others never even dreamed of doing. Like what? I'm so glad you asked! Walking across the kitchen table and reaching up to the light and making it sway (aka swinging from the chandelier), climbing the entertainment center, walking on the wrong side of the foyer railing, to name a few. Oh, and we must not forget about her potty gymnastics! She is full of personality, to say the least!

This precious girl of mine is always so happy and she is one tough cookie! If she cries after a tumble, you know it's a bad one. She doesn't pout very often because she can't go that long without smiling or laughing. I absolutely LOVE the sweet, sweet smile she has just as she is about to fall asleep. And those curls! They're to die for! People ask me if I curl her hair. That makes me laugh because we all know Emily would NOT be able to hold still long enough for that!

My baby girl is growing up!

But she'll always be my baby.

"No, Mommy, I big girl!!!!"

Amen!

Sarah, my 4 year old, asked me today, "Mommy, is prayer when you talk to Jesus?"

Oh, how I would love to hear the thought process going on inside her head! I love it when they put things together and it starts making sense to them!

Adventure-ette Day

Late Sunday afternoon we decided to head to the shores of Lake Erie for a Mini Adventure Day outing to close out summer vacation. Not to say this ends the fun, for we ALWAYS have fun at the Carpenter house, right? We just wanted to squeeze a few more drops of fun out of summer before we start hittin' the books again. It was quite chilly though, so it certainly didn't feel like we were celebrating summer. Downtown Cleveland can be seen to the right of the family and if you pull out your magnifying glass you will see something sticking out of the water to the left of Steve. We think it might have been the Loch Ness Monster?!

Looking for Canada... maybe it's warmer over there.

Cloudy with a chance of meatballs some glimpses of the sun made for a beautiful sky. I could stare at the lake and those clouds forever, except I was too worried Miss Emily might be swimming before long. She's in constant motion, moving rather quickly. I need roller skates to keep up with her these days.

Next stop the playground at Lakewood Park!

"The Climber" in all her glory, making momma EXTREMELY nervous, daddy playing it cool all the while.

See, it was worth the climb!

Now that's what I call a tire swing!

Our Adventure Days always seem to end with ice cream...and there's NOTHING wrong with that! You feel like you're stepping into a story book when you sit in the Lakewood Malley's ice cream parlor.

What a little lady sitting so nicely and waiting patiently for her vanilla shake.

If messy = yummy, Mommy's Hot Fudge Sundae was the BEST!

Good to the last drop!