Last day of the year..

It's the last day of the year. Monday morning hubby goes back to work, kids go back to school and the rat race begins again (though I don't think it paused for me during the break). Instead of looking back over the past year (and being stressed/depressed), I'd much rather look at 2011. We're looking forward to a great new year with a couple of family trips already planned and being implemented. The kids are excited to be going to Washington, DC this year. We put in applications to see the White House, Pentagon, Capital Building and Library of Congress. They're ultra-excited to get to go on a Disney Cruise this year too.

Activities wise, we're still doing Boy Scouts and American Heritage Girls, bowling league, 4H and Georgia Cyber Academy. Both restarted Choi Kwang Do last year and will remain in it this year. My daughter will test for her black belt in March, my son is working toward his 2nd degree. Both want to get SCUBA certified. I'm looking in to options to getting them their Junior Open Water certification through PADI. My son will be able to get a merit badge in the process. If they get certified, then hubby and I can take refresher courses and the family can start diving. We also have to start worrying about summer camp a bit early, though I think the kids are really only looking at one specific one (troop for son, AHG for daughter).

My son has even been offered a 'job' for the summer. A good way for him to save up that money for whatever he wants. I have to monitor that, though, as he wants a lot of things, but some just don't make sense to purchase. He started November wanting his own laptop, which changed to wanting an XBOX360. I didn't do anything to change his mind from one to the other, but I have convinced him that purchasing an XBOX just to play one game doesn't make sense.

I still have to get renters into my parents house, which in this market is easier said than done. I've got my preferred prices posted and received inquiries. Not one has asked to negotiate (which in the right situation I will do). If you know someone looking for a home, this one is available for rent (with potential lease/purchase).

Other stuff coming down the road will be braces for my son. Whoopee. For some reason, he's excited about this. That'll change once they're on, though. They may happen for my daughter as well (oh, my wallet hurts). She's gotten a head start on the losing teeth game and getting those adult teeth in. We'll have to see.

Not to mention that my daughter will earn her double digits at her next birthday (10) and my son will officially become a teen (13). Both are rather scary thoughts that it's been that long. Me? I'll be 42 and can claim to be the answer to "life, the universe and everything". Don't understand that? Read Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.. or at least watch the movie. :)

For tonight, though, I'll simply try to relax and keep the dog calm. We tend to be homebodies anyway, but I'm not keen on getting out when everyone else is on the roads. So, we may watch the peach drop or we may go to bed. I'll figure that out later.

Semi-Review: ASUS EEE Netbook

I won one of these recently. I played with it for a while, but wasn't impressed. I discovered quickly that for US to do anything we'd want to do, I'd have to upgrade to the standard Windows 7.0 system. It comes with a Windows Starter, which is bare bones minimum. Given what this system is, does, etc, it's appropriate.. but you can't even change the background image on the system with the starter system. So, upgrade it we did.

I then evaluated it for what my son would want installed on it (if possible). None of it is possible, which further limits its use. Hubby wasn't surprised. I tried to call it a glorified iPad, he said it's not even that. Oh well.

With no DVD/CD drive, installing software is a pain. Best Buy put their 'application installer' program on there, which is one way to get stuff. However, if you already HAVE the disk, you have to create an image of it on another computer then 'mount' it remotely for installation. We've done this before, but still.

My kids have discovered that they can easily upload all their pictures to the Asus from their digital camera. They've also discovered the web camera and mike. They were talking about doing their own 'podcast' or other similar thing with it. I don't think they've done more than talk about it, though.

Given that my kids have found more use for it than I have, I have since turned it over to my kids to play with. They like to look at YouTube (yes, I monitor what they watch) and play games like Disney's Tinkerbell or Pirates of the Carribean. It works ok for those. It now lives in my son's room and is their 'laptop' to use. Next week when school starts back we'll see how well it works for the Elluminate sessions that my kids attend. My son has wanted to be able to 'wander the house' while in class, so we'll see if that works.

All in all, I think I'll stick with my "real" laptop. Though I dothink I'll try to win an iPad next and see what I can do with that. :)

Dads taking pictures

I don't know about other families, but when it comes to mine, it's probably a toss up as to who has the camera. There are days, though, that EVERYONE has the camera and it's a race to get all the pictures in from all of the cameras before whomever is being photographed gives up. This process of speed photos particularly applies to trying to get the younger crowd, those who rarely hold still to begin with. So for once, I turned the tables on the photographers. In this case, hubby, his dad and his brother.

I don't remember if they were photographing niece with caterpillar (yesterday's post) or my daughter with the newest McLure member.

Giant Caterpillar fun

We found this giant (10ft long by my daughter's measurement) caterpillar at Sam's Club and my first thought was that we had to get it for my youngest niece. I was afraid she'd be scared of it, but apparently that fear was unfounded..

Snow!

We travelled up I75 Sunday to visit with this lovely lady.. for a family Christmas with her and hubby's family. Due to snow/ice, most of the family didn't make it, but that's ok. We had a nice time any way. The snow up her way was gorgeous to see, though watching some of the other drivers on the road had me worried. This is a view from the front of her home toward a field.. This, on the other hand, is the bird bath in her back 'yard' area.. Travelling home, it was snowing again. You can't see it as well as I would have liked, but the gray in the picture is all swirling snow. For those that live with snow, this is no big event. However, for Georgia it's ALWAYS an event. Especially since we haven't had a 'white Christmas' since 1882. Our yard, unfortunately, was sparse of snow due to trees.

Merry Christmas!

Review: Sir Rowan & The Camerian Conquest

Sir Rowan & The Camerian Conquest by Chuck Black.

A Camerian tournament knight discovers that he has a bigger destiny than he thought. Once content with being a highly decorated and celebrated tournament knight, he discovers betrayal, love and a greater purpose. His land is being threatened by a tyrant and he has a part to play in its survival. His Prince requires his service and even though Sir Rowan strays from his path, he learns the faith and love that leads him on.

A wonderful book that leads you on a journey through a life that is ultimately dedicated to a greater purpose. Sir Rowan's journey shows all the courage and love that goes with it. Something of a mirror to the story of the Prince (Jesus) triumphing over the tyrant (evil) in the Bible. An easy read for both children and adults to enjoy. A good way to explore your own feelings of faith, worth and honor.

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

Georgia Aquarium

Well, after my scheduling faux pas, here is a selection of the photos I took after I met back up with my family. My pictures of the baby sea otters were blurry (they don't hold still well) and I didn't attempt the belugas.

Giant Grouper

Sea Star holding on to the side of it's exhibit with most of it upside down..

New sea horse exhibit in Tropical Diver. Many varieties of fish in there as well.

Green sea urchin upside down.. see the mouth in the center?

The green sea turtle was holding still and watching the people.

This is an upside down jelly.. new on exhibit in Tropical Diver.

Albino Alligator up close and personal.

The Weeki-Wachee Mermaids are at the Aquarium for a very short time. I wasn't as impressed with this as I could be, but many guests found it fascinating.

Of course, it being the holidays, Santa was taking a break and helping our divers to feed the fish. Check the Aquarium schedule, he may still be around some more this week.

Man am I off..

I managed to mess up the dates on two different weekends. Last weekend (11th-12th) I had written down that I needed to pick up my Angel Food order. I wasn't actually supposed to pick it up until this past weekend (18th). Fortunately, all I did was wake up early to go before I figured out my mistake. THIS weekend, I had written down that I had a meeting as an Ambassador for the Aquarium. That was actually last weekend (12th. I didn't realize the second mistake until I actually went to the Aquarium for the meeting. Can I say "oops"? The sad thing is that I got the bright idea that since I had to be there, my family should go and check out the aquarium at the same time.. At least they enjoyed checking out some of the new animals. Let's hope the holidays help me get my schedule back online and me back on time..

Giant Pacific Octopus

This is at the Georgia Aquarium today. I couldn't get a good photo of the octopus and got this video instead..

Reflection on the first half of the school year

We've been in school now since August and I thought it was time to reflect on how well we've done. We've definitely had our road hazards, but we've managed to conquer most of them. My son enjoys being able to work at his own pace and get things knocked out quickly. Math has (to now) been a breeze. At the rate he's going, he'll start the 7th grade curriculum in March and will finish with Social Studies about the same time. The Web Quest he had to do was a definite challenge. He didn't want to start when it was assigned and left himself a week to get it finished. Last friday was turn-in date for us.

My daughter on the other hand has struggled with math at times, though she's finally getting in to the swing of it. She's written two portfolio assignments. Their method for that worked well for it. As an online eluminate session where the teacher provided timed guidance for getting it done. I knew for a fact that she wasn't going to edit beyond the session, so it worked well that when the teacher said 'done', she was finished.

We've gotten to go on some school field trips. The Kennesaw Train Museum, the Atlanta History Center, Tellus, and most recently we went to Rock Eagle as part of 4H and GCA. We've missed a few that we were going to do as well when the kids didn't finish their work in a timely manner. The flexibility in the schedule has been great for both of the kids, for both the ability to get work done as well as to get to go places with/for school.

So, now we start our holiday vacation and take a break. We'll also prepare ourselves for the challenges for the next year.

Dry Ice Fun

I received some meat via fedex the other day. It was packed with dry ice, which I let my kids play with. It became the kitchen experiment of the day. My hubby even put a sliver into his glass of coke to show what it looked like. Of course, then he had to drink a flat coke as all the fizz was gone at the end, but it was funny to watch anyway.

My kids played 'Avatar: Last Airbender' with it for a while too. Cheap and easy entertainment for the evening.

Choi testing

This past friday my son took his test for a new il-dan color stripe in Choi Kwang Do. Most of my pictures were attempts to catch him doing a kick. My camera isn't quite fast enough to catch him in the act. I either got him just before or just after.

Not very non-traditional

I've been watching the BZZAgent thread on facebook and they started a thread about non-traditional music for Christmas. Thinking over all the music I've heard and enjoyed over the years, I have come to acknowledge that, at least as far as music goes, I'm not non-traditional (how's that for a double negative?). However, my very favorite song for Christmas is this one by Bing Crosby & David Bowie..

Followed very closely by Mary's Boy Child by Boney M.

Max Max

I managed to agitate my macaw the other day (not as hard as it may seem) and then tried to take a picture of him. I can't say he was overly appreciative and my camera is happy I'm faster than he is. It was quite funny at the time, though.

What's in your media player?

I'm apparently so eclectic in my taste in music that my husband occasionally accuses me of having no taste. HA! So, just out of curiosity, what do you have to play on your mp3 or in your media center?

My mp3 player has too many to list, but my laptop has:

Aerosmith
The Beatles
Billy Joel
The Black Eyed Peas
Bob Acri
Bon Jovi
The Charlie Daniels Band
Chris Cornell
Crazy Frog
Creedence Clearwater Revival
David Bowie
Disney
Eric Clapton
Go Fish
Gwen Stefani
J.Nolan
Ladysmith Black Mambazo
Matt Kenon
Off Kilter
Pink
The Rolling Stones
Shania Twain
Sting

4H GCA day at RockEagle

My kids are members of the Gwinnett 4H, as well as students of the Georgia Cyber Academy. We were lucky enough to get to go to Rock Eagle for an afternoon for the kids to take classes. We were able to wander a bit before going to the dining hall to eat a great lunch and then separate out for classes.

My daughter took a cooking class while my son and I hiked out to the effigy. Both of my kids took a herpetology class as their second class. These are some of the animals they were able to see. They were able to hold a king snake and a hog snake, a yellow slider turtle, touch a gopher tortoise and a baby alligater, and observe a spade frog.

My kids had a blast and were able to hang out with some fellow GCA students.

Angel Food @ McKendree UMC

I found out about this mission from a fellow American Heritage Girl leader. At McKendree United Methodist Church in Lawrenceville, they have a ministry called Angel Food. It's a cool idea that provides quality food at a substantial discount. It also provides the church with a donation for each package that it delivers. It's definitely worth checking out if you're in the area. For those that eat Gluten-free, there's a gluten free option for you too. The menu changes month to month, so you have to check back each month for what's offered.

The deadline for ordering for December is this Sunday 12/12. Pick-up on 12/18. You can find more information about it at the McKendree Angel Food page.

Operation Christmas Child

My daughter's American Heritage Girls troop sorted and donated items for Operation Christmas Child as donations in kind. The girls were able to go to the warehouse and tour it to see how the donations are put to use and the boxes checked. It's a great way to donate your time (there's only a week left) and kids 13+ can help.

Fernbank's Water exhibit

Over Thanksgiving break we went to Fernbank's Museum of Natural History to check out the new water exhibit. Actually, hubby had wanted to see a particular IMAX movie which had apparently left the week before. We didn't discover that until we got there, so we went ahead and explored the new exhibit anyway.

I have to admit that compared to many of the other exhibits we've gone to, I wasn't as impressed with this one. I understood the point it was making, but I think they've done better. Of course, it may be that the fact that we were there when a couple of bus loads worth of school kids were there as well had a distinct effect on my attitude too. I was, however, glad we're members and didn't pay 'extra' to go see it.

Nerf-Day

My son and I decided a great way to celebrate his 12th birthday was to have a nerf battle. He has a variety of nerf guns and very few kids in the neighborhood to have battles with. So, we invited some of his good friends over to have a nerf battle. The battle didn't happen like we'd planned, but that was ok. They had fun anyway.

Thanksgiving Feast

We had 2 Thanksgiving dinners this year. One hosted at my home, the other at hubby's grandmother's home. I actually cooked instead of going by Honeybaked and getting premade. No pictures of the 'feast' at my home, though I do have one of the other. Hubby's grandmother and mom worked for a couple of days to get everything ready. That included multiple pies to be sent home with family members.

Dinner included mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, broccoli with cheese, mac & cheese, cranberry sauce, orange delight salad (whipcream type), dressing, turkey, ham, rolls, corn, baked beans, chocolate cake, pumpkin pie and more. All in all a very good dinner with a good visit with family. I don't think I'll need to eat much over the next week or so as a result.