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The Family Dalrymple Page - 9 Diamonds

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News!

New postings under Articles and Book lists!

Michelle has published a book! Get my cheesy romance novel at http://www.lulu.com/content/465015

To see more of my musings, go to http://musewriting.blogspot.com/

What's up with the 9 Diamonds thing?

Diamonds refers to the Dalrymple Family Crest. On the crest's shield, there is a pattern of 9 blue diamonds on a yellow field. We've adopted it like we live on some 9 Daimonds Ranch or something.

Family Events - Disneyland

The photo shows an updated kids at Disneyland back in June of 07. The kids had a riot sriding all the rides and seeing all the characters - They had a blast. We spent the whole day there- and remarkably only had to wait in a long line for one ride. We just about walked onto the rest. The girls stuck to the smaller "kiddie" rides, but Aden was the terminator - he went on all the biggies two or three times and loved it. A daredevil at heart! He loved Space Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain, while the girls liked Dumbo and Snow White. We even got to stay at the Grand Californian Resort. They can't wait to go back!

Experiment of the day!

Baking Soda and Vinegar always work - even on a bad day!

 

Between moving into a new house and all the trappings involved therein, teaching another course at NU, and homeschooling, sometimes life gets the best of me. That is why we have "bye-week."

I comandeered this term when my son was in rocket football - it's the week your team does not have a game - the one week off. I took this idea and use it for our homeschool. At the end of each unit we work on, we have a bye-week to complete projects, play catch up, finish essays, whatever. It is less rigorous than a typical week, and the kids love the semi-break it provides.

This week, though, it was more than scholastically necessary; it provided me with a mental health/catch up week as well! I was able to do some cleaning, painting, wall papering, and decorating in the new house. Then, since I was beat, I was able to nurse my headache yesterday and today with light projects with this kids instead of hours of hands on work. Yesterday it was the paper mache King Tut - today we paint it!

Further, the bye week gives us extra time for those fun science experiments, and even though my head is killing me, I can alway rely on baking soda and vinegar for a bang with the kids! Today, we blew up a balloon with baking soda and vinegar - and it made a "heavy" balloon filled with CO2. Who knew? It made a cool experiment, especially since the kids ran like startled deer when the balloon actually began to inflate; they were waiting for it to explode! Not quite, but they were rewarded with a huge foam mess on the counter for their efforts, and a balloon full of air that was heavy. How cool is that?

When you have a headache, you can always count on baking soda and vinegar to work! Tongue out

Highlight

The backdrop:
We have homeschooled since my oldest was born. My dh is out of town for over a week, so I decide to take the kids to Boston Market for dinner (we have a coupon - yay!).

The scene:
The kids help get the trays to the table, get drinks, help each other with silverware, wait for help, say please and thank you, etc... All around good kids displaying the behavior we EXPECT when out to eat.

The interruption:
In the middle of great conversation with my 3 kids, a family with two little boys (3 and 4 or so?) and boy were they LOUD. Even my kids, who can be loud, commented on it. Plus the boys were running up and down the aisle and no listening to parent.

The foreshadow:
Also in the restaurant were an elderly lady and her mother, sitting across the center aisle from us.

What followed:
The parents of the loud kids finally got the kids under control and got dinner on the table - loud and annoying crisis averted!

The Climax:
In the middle of conversation with the kids, the elderly lady and her mother can over to me.

The Highlight of my day:
She said "I just wanted to tell you what beautiful and well-behaved children you have. You must be so proud of them."

Finally:
I thanked her profusely, and we agreed that well-behaved kids are better than the other option, and wished each other a nice day. Then mommy got all teared up that my beautiful and well-behaved were basically complimented by a total stranger for their mere existence. And all is right in the world, except daddy wasn't there to see it. But the kids did, and I think that was more important.

The end.