Hailey

I can not believe my little girl is going to be 11 in a couple of weeks.  In some ways, she acts like she is way older than that.  But in other ways, she is still my little girl.  For instance, she still has this one baby doll named Hailey that she loves.  She doesn't necessarily play with her all that often, but occasionally I will find her holding her, or dressing her, or even pretending to give her a bottle.  I sometimes catch her playing doll games online, too. She has such a natural mother's instinct.  I believe she will be an excellent mother someday.

One of her favorite things to do is scour thrift stores for close for Hailey.  Her baby doll probably has more clothes than I do.  I try every few months to clean out her old toys from her room, and while she has gotten rid of things like Barbie dolls and building blocks, she refuses to get rid of anything related to Hailey.  This doll has a crib, and a playpen, and a stroller, and a car seat.  When she was a little bit younger, she used to take Hailey with her everywhere.  She would push a buggy in the grocery store with Hailey strapped into it.  These days she doesn't like to take Hailey in public, but she will occasionally ride in the car with us.

I know that someday she will be ready to get rid of Hailey.  But for now, I will let her continue to mother her.  I mean, why force her to grow up? It will happen on it's own whether I like it or not, just like it did with Ryan and Kasi.

Online Games For Kids

My kids spend a lot of time online.  Most of the time they are playing games.  I think they get their love of games from me, because, well, I love playing games.  I grew up with three sisters and a brother, and we were always playing board games.  I am sure if there were computers back then, we would have played online as well.

I think my kids are missing out on some of the things I loved as a kid, simply because we are living in a different time.  I used to be told to go play outside almost everyday.  My sister and I would hop on our bikes and ride all around the neighborhood.  These days, I don't like Brandi to go further than the sidewalk in front of our apartment.  I remember one time when I was little, I was riding my bike on our street by myself, and some guy in a car started following me.  He eventually asked if I wanted a ride, and I rode back home as fast as I could.  Scared me to death.  These days, I don't think people offer kids rides.  They just snatch them up.     I see so many stories on the news about missing kids.  Or kids who are hit by cars.  There are so many dangers out there!

So I am not opposed to Brandi spending time inside, playing music games online, where I know she is safe.  I know I can not protect her from everything, but as a mom, I will try my hardest!  Some day I will have to let her spread her wings and fly, but I am not ready just yet.  And I don't think she is ready, either.

Math Tricks For Division

Last night, Brandi needed help with her homework, especially math.  She is in fifth grade this year, and they are starting the year off doing long division.  Last year, she started learning the basics, doing simple long division.  This year, the problems are getting harder.  Her teacher gave her a "cheat sheet" with ways to figure out if certain numbers, like 2 or 3 can divide into a bigger number evenly.  You would think that giving the kids shortcuts would make things easier, but not for my child.  I had to help her with just about every problem, because it is hard for her to remember the cheats for each number.

For instance, we all know that if a number is even, it is divisible by 2.  Or if it ends in a 5 or a 0 it is divisible by 5.  Those are the easy cheats.  Trying to remember the others was hard for her, and to be honest, I didn't even know some of them, like the one that says that if you add the individual digits of a number together and that number is divisible by 9, then the number itself is also.  To me, it's just simpler to do the problem outright, but I'm not the teacher.

I want to be able to help her remember these tricks, as well as make sure she does well in all her other subjects.  She loves to be on the computer at night, and instead of being on Facebook, I may have her start doing some brain teasers for kids.  I love playing sudoku free online, and last year, her teacher taught the kids how to play that, so I may encourage her to play online too.

She is super smart, even testing perfectly on the hardest advanced placement test they have at her school.  I know it's just a matter of memorization to get her to remember the math tricks.  If only there was a trick to remembering the tricks.

A Mother

Written By Brandi

A mother is someone who supports
whether she is tall or short
Someone who gives birth
to a monster or a little squirt

A mother is someone who cares
helps when things get tough or life dares
Every moment she cherishes
whether it's nice or embarrassing

A mother is someone who loves
like an angel from up above
When bullies make us cry
you'll straighten them up, you're not too shy

I love you mom! You are so awesome and nice.

Home Schooling Is Not For Me

Every now and then, Brandi asks me to home school her.  She loves school, but she is at that age where all the girls in her class can not get along, and she is always asked to take sides when her friends fight.  It drives her crazy, because she has such a tender heart and doesn't want to have anyone mad at her.  She has one friend in particular who is especially mean to her, yet she forgives her time and time again.  I hate that she is going through this, but I guess it's all part of growing up.

I would love to home school her, and I know there are many resources out there available for parents who do. From Kindergarten Printables to high school classes that are available online for free, she wouldn't be lacking in information.  The only thing lacking is the time it would take for me to actually home school her, and the patience I would need.  I love her, don;t get me wrong, but I'm not sure I could handle having to be responsible for her education.

So, I simply tell her to be sweet, and when her friends fight, she needs to stay out of it.  I tell her to be careful about what she says, because words are hard to take back, and I make sure she knows to treat other people the way she would want to be treated.  What else can I do?

Brandi's New Glasses

Recently, Brandi got glasses.  She was having a hard time reading books, which is really odd for a child her age.  The eye doctor said she is very far sighted, and gave us some exercises to do with her eyes to help her learn to focus on objects close to her face.

Boo looks adorable in her glasses. She is on Medicaid, so the selection of glasses we got to choose from was very limited.  She wanted something colorful and funky, but they didn't offer anything like that.  I told her we would check out the eyeglasses on zennioptical.com to find her a pair she likes.  She had fun looking through all the choices, and finally decided on these:

They are cute, and I think she would look great wearing them.  The best thing I like about them is the price.  They are only $12.95! At that price, I told her she could pick out two pairs.  I also like the idea of having several pair of glasses for her, just in case she loses or breaks one of them.  I am not all hesitant about ordering from zenni, because I know several people who have gotten glasses from them, and they all have only good things to say. Plus, the glasses themselves are not cheaply made, which is what I was thinking since they are so reasonably priced.

Have you ordered from zenni? If so, let me know what you think.

Picmonkey

I am sure most of you know that picnik, my favorite photo editing website, will be closing down this week.  They suggested trying picmonkey to edit photos, and I love it! Right now, everything is free, but I have a feeling they will soon implement a membership, just like picnik did.  I was playing around on picmonkey, and they have a lot more options.  I love the way the picture above came out!

My Munchkin

A few weeks ago Brandi was in a play at school.  The 4th, 5th and 6th graders put on The Wizard Of Oz, and Brandi did great! That picture above was taken as she waited to go on stage.  The munchkins were encouraged to wear bright clothes, and Boo looked perfect in her heart dress and bright blue tights.  I was so proud of her performance, and I truly believe that this was the first of many plays that my child will be in before she graduates.  She is a full on drama queen, and loves being in the spotlight.

Smile!

I've had my camera for almost a year now.  I never read the book that came with it, and every now and again I discover a new feature I didn't know about.  A couple of weeks ago, I was at my moms, and the girls and I were messing around, taking silly pictures.  I pressed something on my camera, and it suddenly started taking pictures all by itself.  After checking out what setting we had it on, I discovered that my camera is pretty smart.  I have a setting that will take a picture automatically whenever it detects a smile.  It's the coolest thing!

It captured this smile pretty well, didn't it?

Christmas Money

I am desperately trying to come up with ways to make a little extra money in the next couple of weeks so that my kids will have a few more gifts under the tree Christmas morning.  I know there are odd jobs to be found, my problem is finding something I can fit into my already tight schedule.

A friend of mine does house cleaning, which sounds like it would be an easy way to make extra money, but I honestly don't know if I have it in me to clean a stranger's bathroom.  I mean, I used to have to clean the restrooms when I worked fast food, so I guess it's not that much different.  Right?  I also know someone who cleans office buildings at night, which would be okay if I could find someone to watch my kids.  There are places like green cleaning oklahoma city who hire people to clean commercial businesses, but I think I would want to find places on my own, that way I am paid directly.  Does anyone know if businesses do that?  Hire people off the streets to vacuum their floors and wash their windows?  You might need to have some type of license or something.

I know Christmas is only a little over two weeks away, so I am probably out of luck.  I do have gifts for the kids, though not as many as I would like.  The good thing is, none of my kids believe in Santa anymore, so they understand that I did the best I could.  In fact, Brandi found my stash of gifts and admitted to me that there wasn't a lot there.  When I told her I wished there was more, she said to me, and I quote, "Christmas is about family, not presents, so it's okay, mom".

I seriously have the sweetest kid in the world!

The Birthday Boo!

Quite a beauty, huh?

Excel

Brandi is in the gifted program at her school. It's called Excel.  The district she was in last year before we moved had a similar program, and they met once a week for two and a half hours.  At her new school, she goes every day for about an hour.  She loves it!  I know she is my kid and I might be a little partial to her, but she is super smart, and gets bored in her regular classes if she isn't being challenged.  I went to an orientation when school started about the Excel program, and I was impressed with what the teachers have planned for the kids this year. 

As usual, the teachers asked us, the parents, to help keep their classroom supply of teaching tools stocked.  Now, I am all about making sure my kid has what she needs to do well in school, but I don't have the money to be shelling out for community supplies.  Now, I know that sounds bad, because I know my kid does use the supplies that other parents send in.  My point is, I think each parent should be responsible for what their own kids use.

That's how it was when I was in school, and it worked just fine for me.

Trying Out ~ And Not Getting In

My daughter Brandi is in 4th grade this year.  She started a new school, in a new district, so everything is new.  Not just for her, but for me as well.  In their old district, kids could join chorus if they wanted to.  They didn't have to try out until they were in 6th grade.  Brandi wanted to join chorus this year, and had to try out.

She didn't make it.  What made me furious was that they didn't tell the kids at school if they made it.  Each child had to bring home a letter last Friday.  My poor child was so excited to open hers, only to find out that she wasn't good enough.  Saying she was crushed would be an understatement. 

In her old school she was in the gifted and talented program.  They told me at registration this year that she would be put in this districts gifted and talented program as well.  Last week, they had their first class, and she wasn't included.

Are you kidding me?  She was crushed once again.  I am not kidding when I say that she is super smart.  She would do math manipulatives for fun if I had some.  Yesterday, she brought home her pass scores, and she scored at least 100 points above her goal in every subject.  How could she not be included in their program?

I ended up calling the school and asking, and was informed that they have to wait for her transcripts from her old school before placing her in the program.  It's been three weeks.  My question is, what is taking so long?  We moved acroos town, not across the country.

I'm hoping by next week things will be straightened out.  This girl needs some acceptance in her school right now.

Babies

 Brandi loves to play with her baby dolls.  This comes as no surprise to my long time readers, who know all about Hailey, and how people always think she is a real baby.  Since the move to the new place, Hailey has been neglected, because the girls still have not unpacked their room, which means that all of Brandi's toys are still in boxes.  That includes all of her baby accessories.

You would think that at 9 she would be outgrowing the playing with dolls stage, but instead she is asking for more.  She used to have the swing, playpen, stroller, and high chair, but over the years they have gotten broken and were thrown away.  Out of all of those things, I think she misses the high chair the most, so I went online trying to see if I could find one that would last longer than the last one, and I found a site that sells amish toys, doll furniture.  I found the cutest little wooden high chair that I think she will love. Check it out:

Cute, right?  Now I just need to find the money to buy it.  Maybe I'll just start saving now and buy it for her for Christmas.  Is it too early to already be thinking about Santa?

It's Triplets!

My daughter is going to need to start using an infant hip carrier if she continues to take her babies everywhere we go.  Let me introduce you to, front left to right, Hayley Brooke, Hazel Brianna, and Hannah Bridget.  Aren't they adorable?

Yes, she named each one herself.  I love how they are all Ha first names and Br middle names.  She's pretty creative like that.  I can't wait to see what she names her real kids one day.

Yesterday, we went into our local Goodwill store looking for a bunk bed for the girls room.  Brandi took one look at the little baby clothes and begged for new outfits for her babies.  I didn't have any money on me, so I told her we would go back when I did and she could pick out a few outfits. 

We went back today, and she picked out about five different outfits, three of which the girls are wearing in the picture.  She tried to convince her dad and I to buy her a stroller, too, but we didn't.  She has a variety of baby carriers already.  It's the fact that she can only carry one baby at a time that has her wanting a stroller.   I have written before about my rule that she can only bring one baby into the store with us, and most of the time she picks Hayley, and that people think she is a real baby.  I wonder what they would think if I let Brandi carry her babies in baby carriers backpacks?   People would probably do triple takes thinking I let my nine year old carry my baby on her back.  

Out Of Brandi's Mouth

Last night, the girls and I were watching Biggest Loser.  At one point during the show, they show the contestants running on the treadmills.  Brandi turns to me and says,

"Treadmills are kinda like hamster wheels for humans, right?"

Yup, they sure are!

Brandi's Kaplan Experience

Two months ago, I signed up to test out an online tutoring program through Kaplan.  I signed Brandi up for it, knowing that she didn't exactly need tutoring.  She needed to be challenged, and through Kaplan, she was.

Here is a screen shot of her progress with the program:

You can see that she started the program with 44% of 3rd grade reading skills mastered, and she finished at the same percentage.  This had a lot to do with her liking the math better, and pretty much ignoring the reading.  She started the math at 22% mastered, and ended at 43% mastered.  She even started working on some 4th grade math skills, which I am sure she will master if we decide to continue the program.  There were several times I found her sitting at the computer with a pen and paper, taking notes as she did her math.  she was so proud of herself when one day at school, in her advanced class, the teacher started talking about fractions, and she already knew all about them thanks to Kaplan.

As the kids work on their skills, they rack up points that they can spend in the reward zone.  Brandi chose a room to decorate with her points, and so far, this is what it looks like:

 

She  still has several hundred points to spend, but she prefers to do the work instead of playing in the reward zone.  Weird, I know.  She loves to learn.  I love her for that.  

All in all, I am very impressed with the program.  Once I showed her how to log in, she was able to do it herself.  I would recommend this program for all kids; the ones who do well in school and the ones who are struggling.  The program can tell when a child is struggling with something, so they focus on that skill until the child masters it.  Or if a kid like Brandi uses it, the program challenges her, and lets her learn at her own pace, which is just a little faster than what she's doing in school.  

If you would like a free one month trial for your child, simply go here, select "buy program now", and use the coupon code FB1MO on the account setup page.  You can find out more information here.  You can also find Kaplan on Facebook.  For every page of theirs that you "like", and there are several, they will donate one dollar to the Make-A-Wish foundation, up to $50,000.  You can find out more information about that here.

Let me conclude by saying that I think Brandi had an awesome experience with Kaplan.  She learned a lot, and enjoyed it.  I believe that when a child enjoys what they are doing, even if it is leaning, they will want to do it more.  Kaplan makes learning fun.  I think Brandi is going to be begging us to continue her membership. 

And we just might.

I wrote this review while participating in a Test Drive Program by Mom Central on behalf of Kaplan and received the products necessary to  facilitate my review. In addition, I received a gift certificate to thank me  for taking the time to participate.

It's My Sweet Girl's Birthday

Today, my baby turned nine.  My baby!  It is so hard for me to believe that it has been so many years since she was born.  She was my hardest pregnancy, simply because I was working at the time (I didn't work with Ryan or Kasi) and I was always tired.  By the time I went on maternity leave, I was swelling so bad I was falling.  That's right.  I could be walking a straight line and simply fall over.  I had a tendency to do it in parking lots, in front of tons of people.  It was so embarrassing!  After I had her, my feet swelled so bad I couldn't get shoes on my feet.  But, she was worth every second of pain and discomfort. 

In her nine years of life so far, she has shown everyone who knows her that she is a super smart, caring and compassionate little person.  She worries about everything, and is a perfectionist to the point of being anal sometimes.  She is a mommy's girl, and I love that.  She shares her birthday with her cousin, Kevin.  They are exactly one year and eight minutes apart.  I try to get a picture of the two of them every year, but my sister hasn't been down to visit this year.  Maybe next year.

Anyway, I want to wish my beautiful baby a very happy birthday!  I love you!

Nation What?

Have you guys seen this commercial?  It's only 30 seconds or so...

Last night, it came on during Survivor, and Brandi turns and looks at me and sang,

"NationBrandi is really handy!"

I about feel off my bed I was laughing so hard.  She's pretty clever for an eight year old.

Brandi's Birthday Party

Now that Ryan's birthday party is over, I can focus on Brandi's birthday, which is coming up the first week of December.  Usually, I only do a family party for her, because I learned with Kasi that at that age, the kids from school don't show up for birthday parties.  Thankfully, the few close friends I invite have kids her age, and she also loves having her cousins come.  

Right now, her favorite singer/actress is Selena Gomez.  We saw some Wizard's Of Waverly Place party supplies at Walmart recently, and she decided that she just has to have them.  They had plates, napkins, cups, table cloths, and even treat bags.  Next thing you know she is going to request having Selena Gomez herself at the party.  I am sure that would be just as hard as if I tried to Book Kesha for the party.

I am going to try and find a Selena Gomez pinata, too.  I know the kids loved hitting the pinata at Ryan's party, so I am sure they will enjoy doing it again.  I have already informed my mom that she has to make a Wizard's cake, and I am looking forward to what she comes up with.