Paper Mache' Animals

The school the kids are with have an art exibit with one of the local art museums coming within the next couple months. The theme is wildlife animals. All the local kids from the Lookout Mountain Area have been asked to create several art creations to submit for this exibit.

The first project we have started is paper mache' animal creations. These animals are in the very early stages and I will post more pictures throughout the creation process. We will possibly do clay creations, rock paintings, as well actual canvas paintings.

The beginings of Chantelle's Lion face mask (or tiger) she has bounced back and forth on what this will be

A plate mask. Since everyone else was using paper mache' she had to cover her plate too. The nose is made from an empty apple sauce container.

What started out as a dolphin and has tunred into a butterfly for Zach

Jairons iguana. He started out with an allagator, but some how it became flat as a pancake so he decided to make an iguana out of balloons. Now the next step is to take all sections together and do another layer of paper mache' and let it dry again then begin to paint his critter.

Peacock by Corbyn

Jade working so studiously on her bumble bee. The one with just her hands is one of my favorite pictures.

Celidah's tiger to be. The leg kept falling so he had to let it dry and take a break.

Poppi is in the Hospital

I just got a call from Nana. She told me that Poppi has been admitted. They are not sure if he has had a TSA or mimi stroke is starting to have another major stroke. So they are keeping him at least over night to watch and treat as needed. Please pray for them. Pray for Poppi for a fast recovery and for Nana for peace in the stressful time.

COVA Zoo Trip

Today the Denver Zoo wore the kids out. Not only did the kids get to meet others who are new to COVA, they met teachers, and they walked all over the zoo exploring. They learned about the animals. Their favorite part was the babies. We saw baby giraffes, a baby seal, and several other babies. The baby tigers were not out yet. We did not make it over to the baby gorilla.

All six kids together

Mom and baby peeking out of the water

Another mom and baby

Look at this cute baby!

Just chilling

Showing off for everyone!

Such pretty colors!

Denver Botanical Gardens

We decided to escape the house for our history, science, and art lessons. Once the kids knew we going to be leaving the house they worked very hard to get their essay outlines finished. Once the outlines were finished, lunch was packed and my gas card was found off to the Denver Botanical Gardens we went.

During the trip we talked about the north-south, east-west directions and freeway-highway differences. We found vowels and numbers in the signs, and the kids helped to navigate the way to our distination. Before heading inside we reviewed our science and art objectives for the day, then went in.

The Denver Botanical Gardens has a new Children's Garden with running stream, a place for digging, and a soon to be lake. Lots of places to explore and play. Soon the kids found the mountains then the running stream. Jade and Jairon were able to learn about the water cycle. We found all four cycles happening for Jairon. For Jade we were able to see the diry water entering one area and coming out another area cleaned. Corbyn was able to watch dragonflies in the Children's Garden.

Later we went into the main garden area and explored the Japenese Garden. The kids LOVED the stream there and the lake with the Koi. We stopped on a dock and did our art lesson. For art the kids drew the Koi in the water. While they were drawing the fish they all got excited when they saw a turtle pop up a couple of times.

On our way back to the car we headed into the kids favorate area, the Rain Forest. They love looking at the plants, talking about the how look different each time we go. They love the rainy areas within the Rain Forest room.

Today is one of the reasons and days I really love about homeschooling. The last minute feildtrips and how many objectives can be taught all at once. They really seemed to enjoy the combined history, science, and art lesson today.

Wow Suprised my site is still here!

I was looking around and discovered that this site that I created several years ago is still around.

We are in a new chapter in our lives. Frank has deployed overseas. Corbyn STILL has ITP and his platelets continue to drop. His last count was at 18. However I suspect they are lower right now he has petechial rash and nose bleeds again oh and not to mention the bruises that are popping up all over the place.

Another change is we have all the children home and are homeschooling through COVA Colorado Virtual Academy. An online public charter school. So far this first week has been challenging. We are still playing around with the schooling schedule and trying to fugure out how to get through more than just the core subjects. There are days we are lucky to get through just the math, reading, writing, literacy, spelling, and vocabulary. Not to mention the history, science, art, music, and soon to be French lessons.

This year I am teaching preschool, 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 8th grade material to the kids. Not to mention my masters level college work. I know once we get things figured out better things will be much smoother. But for now we just need to figure out how to work with each other again...

Been forgetting to post updates here...

I have been forgetting to post the updates here as well as at the CarePages.

Since I last posted here we found out that Nana had to have emergency surgery on her kidney, that she has a uterus filled with fibroids (yet has no uterus), and her kidney issues may be ongoing for sometime.

Jade has been having dizzy spells so we took her in today and the dr thinks she is having syncope spells. We need to increase her water and salt intake. If that does not do the trick then she will need further testing. At this point she is to eat something salty before activity especially dance or PE.

Corbyn's platelet levels are not changing. They are still sitting at 5 (5000 per unit). The normal amount of platelets is 150-500 (150,000-500,000). 100,000 platelets per unit is what he needs to return to in order to go back to dance or scouts.

Today has been a very busy day at Children’s once again. Our day started at 9:00 with the ITP hemo specialist. Corbyn’s platelet level is currently sitting at 5000 per unit. He has a long way to go to meet the minimum 100,000 platelets per unit. Right now, his numbers are going up and down and he is continuing to bruise very easy.

Jade is doing very well and is about 45% for height and 10% for weight. Her dancing has helped her to gain weight through building muscles. She did very well and does not need to see her doctor for 6 months. We then talked with the dr again about Corbyn and his issues with school. Both doctors we saw today for Corbyn and Jade feel that he is taking to long to process and they feel that he needs a complete learning evaluation. They want to see if they pinpoint just where his processing issues are coming from and the best way to help him.

The doctor feels that the reason Corbyn is spacing out is he is being bombarded with to many details and to much information for him to continue absorbing all the information throughout the day. She really feels that his staring episodes are due to him not understanding what is being said and his refusal is not exactly refusal but information overload.

We will be getting a complete learning evaluation, possible OT evaluation, and if the evals do not show exactly what is going on then we will add a neuropsychologist to the team to work with him.