The little boys, particularly Adrian, never wanted to get out of the bath when bathtime was over. So we came up with a solution. Each boy scoops up some bathwater into a plastic cup and leaves it on the side of the tub. The next night when it is time for their bath, they add that little bit of yesterday’s water. That way, according to the little guys, their bath never has to end.
That’s Harry Potter and The Doctor having a wizard lightning battle.
Awesome shirt for a kid who loves Life of Fred and says when he grows up his “work name” will be Fred.
And, of course, as the nerdfighters say, don’t forget to be awesome. So fun finding all the jokes on this shirt.
The me of 3 years ago would hate the me of today. Back then I was so adamantly against ereaders and stubbornly for paper books only. Then, after a trip where I forgot to take more than the book I was currently reading, I started to think they weren’t so bad. Eventually, I decided to get one (I started with a Sony). I loved it! I read much faster on an ereader. It’s kind of weird how that works. A few months later I tired of finding free epub books and transferring them via a cable so I got a Kindle.
Oh, how I love my Kindle. It was so fabulous on our trip to Ireland. A month away from home and just a light little Kindle to carry around with a library full of books on it. I even bought a couple books while we were there and they magically appeared on my Kindle ready to be read. Amazing.
I have my books organized into categories. It’s kind of scary because between my “To Read Eventually” and “To Read Soon” and “Reading Now” folders I have over 300 books waiting to be read, plus the paper books I’ve gotten for practically nothing at library sales sitting on my shelves (and, yet, I keep buying more books… I just can’t help it).
So, currently in my Reading Now folder I have:
Isaiah for Airheads by John Bytheway – I am using this one for part of my personal scripture study. At the beginning of the week I read the Sunday School and Relief Society lessons, but the rest of the days I read Isaiah for Airheads and use my Gospel Library app on my Fire to read the verses and make notes in my scriptures.
The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale – I am reading this along with the author in her Squeetus Summer Book Club. She did Princess Academy last July. She reads a chapter each weekday and posts her thoughts, tidbits about writing the book, and answers questions. This is the second time I’ve read this book and it’s even better this time.
Dinosaurs Before Dark (Magic Tree House #1) by Mary Pope Osborne – I read the Magic Tree House books to the big kids several years ago. Now it’s Fritz’s turn. He’s reading this aloud to me, one chapter a day. It’s actually a little behind his reading level, but he’s loving it. I call Magic Tree House the gateway book to Doctor Who (which he loves). After all, what is the tree house but a Tardis for little kids.
Eragon by Christopher Paolini – Cameron is reading this one aloud to me, at a speed of much less than one chapter a day (more like 2-3 pages). Cameron needs the practice reading, but books on his reading level are rather boring to him now. So I let him pick any book and he chose this one. He’s actually doing a pretty good job, much better than I expected given the difference between his and the book’s reading levels.
LDS Scriptures – I use the Gospel Library app on my Fire to read the scriptures myself (and to use at church), but when we read scriptures as a family in the evenings, I use this version on my Kindle. It’s very useful there since I can easily make the font size big for when it is Fritz and Adrian’s turn (Fritz reads his verses off my Kindle, for Adrian I point and say each word one by one and he repeats them and occasionally there is a word he knows and he reads those himself). We’re in Leviticus right now. As a family, we’ve gone through the New Testament, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price already. Now we’re in the Old Testament which I’ve actually never read straight through before.
Call the Midwife by Jennifer Worth – I love the BBC TV show Call the Midwife so I got the three books the series is based on. I actually haven’t started reading this book yet. I just moved it to my Reading Now folder from my To Read Soon folder because I plan to start reading it today or tomorrow.
Adrian will start kindergarten this fall. I asked him what he wants to learn there. He replied, “How to hold my pencil correctly.” He must have been paying more attention than I thought he was when his pediatrician said she wasn’t worried about him not holding pencils correctly yet because he’ll learn how in kindergarten.
When I was 13 I took the CTBS (Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills) and Ani, at 13, took the full battery CAT (California Achievement Test). They both have the same sections.
| Subject | Ani | Heather |
| Vocabulary | 97th | 92nd |
| Comprehension | 93rd | 90th |
| Spelling | 75th | 88th |
| Language Mechanics | 96th | 99th |
| Language Expression | 94th | 91st |
| Math Computation | 93rd | 88th |
| Math Concepts and Application | 88th | 96th |
| Study Skills | 74th | 91st |
| Science | 99th | 90th |
| Social Studies | 88th | 66th |
| Total Battery | 96th | 96th |
Ani has gotten occasional really bad headaches since she was little. In February she started having headaches pretty much daily. They seriously were interfering with her ability to be a normal kid, so we took her to Urgent Care where they diagnosed her with migraines, gave her a medication to knock her out, and said to see her regular doctor. We saw her regular doctor who agreed with the migraine diagnosis and said to see a neurologist.
At that point we were getting ready to leave for a month in Ireland followed soon after by a nearly 2,000 mile move so we decided to wait until after the move to go to a neurologist. We got here and Ani saw her new regular doctor who agreed that she has migraines and referred us to a very awesome neurologist.
Last Thursday Ani saw the neurologist. He started practicing in 1965! He truly loves being a doctor and has a fabulous bedside manner. He also agreed that she has migraines. And so now we have a game plan on how to deal with these things.
For 10 days, Ani is taking 4 Aleve a day (2 in the morning and 2 at night). For 5 days she is taking one Topamax at night. Tomorrow she will increase the dosage to one in the morning and one at night. 5 days later she will increase to one in the morning and two at night. That’s the dosage where she will stay for now.
After she’s been on the Topamax for a month, we’ll go back and see the neurologist. Hopefully by then she will have some days with little to no headache. If she does, she’ll keep on with the Topamax and add a medication for when she starts feeling a migraine coming on. If she doesn’t, we’ll have to put her in the hospital for a couple days to have an IV medication administered. We just really need to stop the daily migraines.
So far, since she’s started the Aleve and Topamax, she’s having more time with little to no migraine than time with a bad headache, so I am hopeful that this will work. Since Ani’s starting public school in 6 weeks, being able to concentrate without a break being possible and to not be in pain is extremely important.
Fritz used to get a sick a lot when he was little. He’s had more antibiotics in his life than the rest of the kids combined. Usually, he would get sinus infections. He hadn’t had a sinus infection in a couple or three years.
Moving most of the way across the country, I knew we’d probably get a lot of illnesses. Foreign germs and all. I didn’t think it would be quite so bad. Fritz has been sick pretty much the whole month and a half we’ve been here.
Mostly it’s just been colds, but of course Fritz never gets “just a cold.” Thankfully he has outgrown the whole croup thing. You can still hear croupiness in his cough, but it’s not scary anymore. Right now he’s on antibiotics for a sinus infection.
Cameron had a cold a few weeks ago. Adrian and Jamie have colds right now. Jamie even called in sick to work today. He must feel miserable. I can’t even remember the last time he took sick leave for an actual illness and not for a dentist appointment. So far Ani and I have stayed healthy. I’m hoping that lasts.
Smaller on the Outside 