life

My oldest child is 14! He will be starting high school in September, he got into the high school of his choice, in Nyc. The girls will remain homeschooled for the foreseeable future. I am not sure how I feel about my eldest attending a public high school, it has been 8 years since I've had to deal with teachers and a school system. We shall see how it all works out...

I have been so busy with life, I have been neglecting this blog, I am not sure if I will continue to write much since I can't seem to keep it updated...

I'm debating with changing the format, to keep things fresh...

Life

Well let's see.. so far our summer is going okay.. decided not to enroll the kids in tennis this year since the past few years have been so hot they were not really enjoying it... F. is taking a class on the Civil War in the city....we've done a few field trips with friends.. went to the movies with F. and his friend Z. and his mom....actually finished a few books....went to the beach with some very good friends to celebrate one of A.'s friend's birthdays...girls are continuing dance class...went to a bridal shower at amazing vegan restaurant, held in honor of a good friend of mine from college.... saw the play The Civil War with the homeschool group.. attended a birth day party for my 4 yo. nephew....had a myriad of dr. appointments (all turned out fine)

I have no pics bec. I haven't remembered to take my camera and have no idea how to get the pics out of my phone... yeah...

To add to my highlights of the week... my back tooth that needed a root canal broke last week, it was actually the busiest week of the summer with something planned for every single day! So I had to wait a week to have it looked at, and decided to have it pulled out instead of dealing with a root canal and then having them try to fix it...since I have no insurance all that would have cost about $1800 vs. the $240 I paid to have it removed.. but oh the PAIN... I'm 4 and 1/2 days past the extraction and am still feeling very uncomfortable, but am finally not in any real pain and can get by with 1 advil every 7/8 hours or so...

On top of this I have been looking at possible high schools for my son... the 1 school that would be perfect for him (at least on paper) is the 1 he has the least chance of getting into bec. of the criteria of admission.. he is in the 4th level of consideration...

But I shall make all necessary phone calls in the new few months and we will do the school tours and see what happens..

A. has been reading a lot of books, and J. has been writing and creating a ton...

Summer has been so easy... I was looking forward to getting back to the grind of things come Fall, but now I am hoping summer drags out as long as it can :)  especially since the 2 week long heat waves are behind us...

We have had a busy few months.. nothing unusual :).  J. has started to make home made movies with iMovies software. Drawing, writing and editing a few 4 minute movies. She is also reading a lot more, fiction as well as nonfiction books. Writing reports on whatever she feels like it. Usually all types of animals and geology. She has actually started to enjoy doing math with MathUsee, we are still working on getting her up to 'grade' level in math, but what I am aiming for is for her to be good at math that she will need for the rest of her life. We try to do math lessons at least 3 times a week, but do all types of math on a need to know basis throughout the week. The girls have continued their girl scout meetings, went on a few field trips as well as volunteered at a park clean up day. They are also actively involved in trying to save their library from demolition. The girls took part in a press conference on the steps of city hall re: the library's fate.
A. has been creating models out of shoe boxes, writing stories, making a book on 'how to be green' with tips on how to save energy, water and be thrifty. Reading, finger knitting, and making clothes for her babies seem to take up a lot of her free time lately.
J.'s art class is over for the time being,  coyote tracks class is ongoing.
F. is continuing his writing and science classes until the end of June.  

A few weeks ago we went to the Intrepid Sea and Air museum in NYC with a friend and her girls. We had a great time exploring the museum, pretending to be astronauts in the capsule Gemini, pilots for the Red Cross during WWII, wounded soldiers being transported by the Red Cross helicopter back to base, sailors in a submarine, speaking with a WWII sailor about his experiences aboard a similar ship to the Intrepid. The kids, DH and my friend and her girls also experienced a 4D ride. I opted out :).

At the end of April we went on a 4 day family vacation to Niagara Falls NY.  It was so amazing to be so close to something to majestic and just breathtaking! The weather was perfect, it was actually 10 degrees warmer than in NYC for the entire 4 days. We spent the entire 2nd day at the falls, exploring Goat Island, taking the Maid of the Mist boat tour which brought us up close to the 2 waterfalls. The kids all had colds so we did not do as much as we planned for the 3rd day. But we did manage a tour of a carousel factory and have a family movie night at the hotel. F. who spent the whole 3rd day in bed, felt a lot better by the night time. The last day we went back to Goat Island to see the Horseshoe falls and relax by the water for a few hours.

Upstate

We took a trip upstate to see my step daughter and her son last week. Some of the most beautiful places that I've seen are upstate NY. We visited Thatcher State park and took a little hike to see Minelot waterfall. The view, breathtaking. The kids got a chance to 'mine' for some rock quartz. Explore some small caves, and even see an eagle's nest on a rock cropping. After the hike we all sat down and ate an early dinner then the kids ran around playing games. It was a beautiful day.

Homeschooling and things

My son writing the name of his finished short story on the Story Wall at Writopia class. He submitted his story to the Scholastic Awards contest, a few hundred children in the 7th and 8th grade submitted this year. He did not win, but then neither did any other 7th graders... but he was so proud to be asked to submit his story.

Celebrating 3 Kings Day with much loved cousins, this was the first year that we actually did  big celebration and invited family. It was a wonderful experience and will be repeated next year. I made an authentic Spanish meal and had kings cake with hot chocolate for dessert. My kids and their cousins played all day and had a great time.

Winter fun at a close friend's house in PA. 

Model Magic creations.

J. received 2 huge tubs of model magic from my brother for X-Mas, so her and A. spent countless hours making things from it. These are just a few of their creations, J. also made a model horse that resembled something from Ancient Greece and a few more charms and various fake food for both of their 'kids'.

J.'s sculpture from art class

Dissecting sheep heart and lung at a friend's house. F. hung in there for a few minutes then bowed out of actually cutting anything and hung out in a different part of the house where he couldn't smell the specimens. A. and her friend L. did the work for a good 20 minutes with teacher Amy explaining the parts of the heart, while J. surprised all of us and worked on her heart for over an hour, fascinated by all of the chambers and the various parts of the lung etc... She had a great time, and really enjoyed learning about it all. Afterwards my friend Amy helped her to make a pretty realistic blood model with corn syrup, red hots, beans and 1 other thing ( I forget now what she used). It looked like real red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets. She kept it at home for a few weeks even after it started to dissolve. 

'Stepfather'  written by Erma Bombeck January 6, 1980   from her book: Forever, Erma  (1996)

In addition to imitation mayonnaise, fake fur, sugar substitutes and plastic that wears like iron, the nuclear family has added another synthetic to its life: step people.
There are stepmothers, stepfathers, stepsons and stepdaughters. The reception they get is varied.
Some are looked upon as relief pitchers who are brought in late but are optimistic enough to try to win the game. Some are regarded as double agents, who in the end will pay for their crimes.
There are few generalizations you can make about step-people, except they're all locked into an awkward family unit none of them are too crazy about.
I know. I've been there. Perhaps you've heard of me. I became a hyphenated child a few years after my "real" father died. I was the only stepchild in North America to have a stepfather who had the gall to make me go to bed when I was sleepy, do homework before I went to school, and who yelled at me for wearing bedroom slippers in the snow.
My real father wouldn't have said that.
My stepfather punished me for sassing my mother, wouldn't allow me to waste food and wouldn't let me spend money I didn't have.
My real father wouldn't have done that.
My stepfather remained silent when I slammed doors in his face, patient when I insisted my mother take "my side" and emotionless when I informed him he had no rights.
My real father wouldn't have taken that.
My stepfather paid for my needs and my whims, was there through all my pain of growing up....and checked himself out of the VA hospital to give me away at my wedding.
My real father.....was there all the time, and I didn't know it.
   What is a "real" mother, father, son or daughter? "Real" translates to something authentic, genuine, permanent. Something that exists.
It has nothing to do with labor pains, history, memories or beginnings. All love begins with one day and builds.
"Step" in the dictionary translates to "a short distance." It's shorter than you think.


Erma Bombeck is one of my favorite authors, I love reading her books about parenting, raising children, marriage and family life. She wrote thousands of columns from 1965 until her death in 1996.

I am a stepmother, I can honestly say that I love my step daughters like my own children. I wish the same things for them as I do my own. It is not easy being a step parent, my situation is a bit different than most I think, we do not live close enough to my step daughters (4 hours drive) to make as much of a difference in their lives as I'd have liked to. They are both adults now, the oldest one with  child of her own.
Reading this column in her book just struck a chord with me. Love takes time, effort and commitment.  You never give up.

3 Kings Day

Happy 3 Kings Day, or Epiphany!

The 36th annual 3 Kings Day parade was this past Friday in the city, so after an early breakfast we drove up to 106th str. This was our first year attending and it was just what we expected, it was really nice, and short which was great since it was a tad cold (34 F). The music, costumes and the camels were a nice way for the kids to learn more about this holiday that is celebrated in their father's native Puerto Rico.  Afterwards we drove down to a private class at Writopia with F.'s writing teacher so he could work on fixing/down sizing his story so it could be submitted for the Scholastic Awards.  He is excited, his teacher said his story is really interesting and written well, but there are a lot of 7th/8th grade submissions this year. We will find out at the end of the month if he won anything.

Saturday we spent the day running various errands, food shopping etc..

Today is cleaning, and more cleaning :) in preparation for my husband's niece and her family coming over to celebrate the holiday with us. This is the 1st time we are really celebrating this day and it's wonderful to celebrate it with some of the best people and their children. I am making a few Spanish dishes and we have a King's cake and will be giving them their X-mas presents.

DH is also make some Challah bread (which has nothing to do with the holiday). He just feels like making it :).

I am relaxing for a minute, to do this update. I have to say that this has been a great holiday season for all of us.