Big Sigh of Relief...

It seems the craziness from the holidays is starting to calm down a little. See... I actually have time to sit here and type something up for my poor neglected blog!

Work is slowing down, things returning slowly but surely back to normal.

Don't get me wrong, I love the holidays. It was fun. Just crazy.

Maya was quite a happy camper, she really made out this year... between Santa and family, she is now the proud owner of a Nintendo DS lite (red!) and 8, yes 8 games. I have shamelessly been hogging the DS quite a bit, I must confess.

There are also a whole variety of other various toys and games and doo-dads to keep her occupied. We've been playing boggle and have yet to try out the joys of cupcake making with her Gourmet Girl cupcake maker. It's nice having her home from school, but the poor kid has a pretty bad cold right now. Sipping hot apple cider and watching Nims Island. Great movie, by the way!

I'm also the proud owner of a new Fondue Set, which I have been wanting for, well, a long time. I'm thinking of trying chocolate rum fondue recipe for New Years eve. Yummy.

I haven't had a chance to read up on all my wonderful fave blogs recently, I plan on taking some time to do that today and tomorrow, but I do hope everyone has had a wonderful holiday, whatever and however you celebrate!

Bark At The Moon

So, tonight is going to be the largest full moon of the year, and I will be out and about Christmas shopping, out among the masses of already crazed people all trying to get that ever coveted deal of the century. Will the full moon make them even crazier? I can only hope not.

Going on a Friday night, 2 weeks before Christmas.. not so smart to begin with. But hey, it was pay day for the hubby and I, and my schedule doesn't allow me much freedom and flexibility. The stars aligned (albeit with the largest full moon of the year!) allowing a night off, alone time with hubby, grand parent provided kid-sitting and money in our pockets... all at the same time, on the same night. How could I pass up this opportunity?

The kiddo has requested the follow items from Santa, which will no doubt leave her one very disappointed little girl on Christmas morning:

A Laptop (Hahaha.. Santa has not yet finished paying off her laptop, and kiddo thinks she can get one? She is EIGHT!!!)

A Cell Phone. Yes, a cell phone. Once again... she is EIGHT!! Now, I do see the logic in kids having cell phones... safety concerns all that. But I'm thinking, maybe let her hit double digits first? I don't need a cell phone bill through the roof because she's downloaded 6,754 Hannah Montana and Jonas Bros ring tones. Besides, I am perfectly capable of providing my very own through-the-roof cell phone bills, courtesy of my new friend MoBlogging.

A Video Camera. HA. She is the daughter of an aspiring photographer who works in a camera shop! The kid already has a digital camera nicer than most kids her age have, AND it does shoot video, and she has a pretty little 4 gig SD card to go with it! So, ixnay on the ideovay ameracay.

Nintendo DS. Ah. Now this, I can do. Mainly because I want to play with it, too. If she lets me. Well.. she will have to sleep sometime right?

Happy Holiday Shopping to all, and... hey, wish me luck out there with all the werewolves and frantic shopping lunatics under the glow of the gigantic full moon!

Hi

I just can't keep up with this blog much anymore!! I don't know what it is.

I'm not saying I am leaving or quitting. I'm just saying... sorry, I must be going through a phase, but I know the phase will be over soon.

I do have another online journal, that's a bit more personal, but it's mostly friends only. So here's the deal.

If you have a livejournal account, leave me a comment or email me: java_mama@yahoo.com and let me know what your livejournal addy is and I will add you. If you don't, well... go get one. Haha.

Feel free to do this even if you've only been mostly "lurking" here.

I'm not leaving this blog, though. So stop by from time to time!

By the way... good news. Maya was asked to try out for the "team trainers" program at gymnastics, which is a pre-team training program. So, she did... and she made it!

So, now I will be diving into the world of competitive gymnastics. I'm nervous and excited at the same time. I have read so many good things, but so many bad things, about this level of gymnastics.

But, they seem to think she has what it takes, and she loves it more than life itself right now!

No Boyfriends Until You're 40 (Her Dad Says...)

Getting back to my "mom blog" roots...

Maya has a boyfriend.

Here's the thing. I want to be the kind of Mom she feels she can talk to about to anything. I want her to be able to come to me for support or advice, I want her to feel like she can tell me anything, I want us to have that close relationship.

She is only in first grade, 7 years old... but it starts now. The trust thing, we have to start building it with our kids from day 1. I firmly believe this and I have tried, in so many ways, to do this as a parent...

I have been very involved in every aspect of her life (well, DUH, I'm her mother!), and obviously school is one of the most important aspects... so obviously, I have been very involved in this, also. I have volunteered in her library, her computer classes, class parties, book fairs. I meet with her teacher and we discuss her "gifted" status and the challenges her teacher gives her, I have a wonderful relationship with her teacher.

A few weeks ago Maya was Student of the Week. This means, among other things, parents get to come to the school and do a special project with the class. We made and decorated foamie sun visors, the kids loved it! Many of her classmates know me pretty well by now, I get a lot of "Hi, Maya's Mom!" comments as I walk through the halls.

I keep getting off point here. Anyway. While the kiddos were busy with their projects, Maya's teacher pulls me aside and says, "So, have you heard the news? About the romance?" I was like, huh?

So she proceeds to tell me that Maya and Devon have announced that they "like" each other and are now boyfriend-girlfriend. Whatever that means, to 7 year olds. At first I was a little freaked, I mean it's cute when it's someoneelse's kid... I asked the teacher if this was normal and she assured me it was, normal and healthy at this age. She got married in first grade. Hehe.

My next reaction was, why didn't Maya tell me?? Have I failed already?? At only 7 years old, does she already feel she can't tell me these things?

I didn't need to worry, though. While we were driving in the car, a almost an after thought, Maya says "Oh, hey mom! Guess what!" and I got to hear all about her and Devon, and how funny he is, and how nice he is, and how great of a climber he is on the playground equipment.

In other wonderful mom news... They have moved Maya up, from level 1 to level 3 in gymnastics. Skipped her right over level 2!

Also, I'm looking forward to her spring school musical show this month. These things are beyond cute. Their Holiday show was adorable and just awesome, and now they are going to have a spring show... A Year with Frog and Toad.

Obviously, I will have photos! :)

Weekend Snapshots

This weekend's Weekend Snapshots:





And now, I must go back to my couch and my soup, because I have a rotten case of Strep Throat :(

30 Tiny Moments

I've just joined a group over at Flickr called 30 Tiny Moments. From the group profile:

...to capture the little moments of daily life for 30 days, I have created this group so the rest of us can stop and appreciate the now...
...these photos are a collective memorandum to the tiny moments that so quickly escape us. They don't need to be perfect, just full of whatever you want to remember.

Sounds wonderful, doesn't it?? Special thanks to Frances for suggesting this to me!

My photo for today:

This N' That

I'm still here, I'm alive, I swear! I've been reading other blogs but no time for posting my own or leaving comments. Busy, Busy, Busy!

Maya's "little cold" turned into pneumonia and she was home from school all week. Poor kid. She is all better now, though! Just in time for her gymnastics class today. She takes gymnastics at Gymkhana and loves it. You should see the spark in her eyes when she's going to class, talking about class, coming from class...

She's actually really good, too. She may even compete someday! Yeah, I'm her mom and maybe a little biased but... I've seen her do things in class that the other kids couldn't do... anyway enough bragging from mom...

In other news, I'm still lovin' the job and thanks so much to everyone for wishing me luck on the interview and the congrats for nailing it. I'm learning so much and I love it. I'm also studying some photography on the side, I bought a few books and I'm even taking notes because, well, I'm a dork like that. I finally understand about shutter speed and aperture and fun stuff like that. Hopefully someday I will be able to afford a kick-butt camera... I want an SLR in the worst way. But I still love my little canon powershot.

Well... as always I will leave you with a photo, and there are new photos over at My Flickr Page and My Deviant Art Gallery.

As I Fall Asleep On My Laptop

It's almost midnight and I have to post because of NaBloPoMo but I'm exhausted and I have nothing to write about. So I will babble I suppose.

An overview of our weekend:

Easter egg hunt. Watching a building downtown being imploded. Easter baskets. Candy! "kids" hair dye... pink and blue streaks, oh my! A new microscope and the great hunt for decent prepared slides. Cool looking insect wing x 300!

Yes this is an incoherent post but hey, I did it and March is almost over. I am soooo not doing NaBloPoMo in April. Ha.

Happy Easter!

An obvious choice for weekend snapshot!

Smiling Faces and Muddy Shoes

Friday Haiku time! (Is it really sad that I almost forgot and my 7year old daughter had to remind me?)

What is important
on this journey we are on
this journey called life

the smiles of our kids
all the innocence and awe
that they radiate



And remembering
that muddy shoes can be fun
more than a hassle



We went to a local park for a nature walk today. My hubby made fun of me for taking over 100 photos, haha. I only posted a little over 20 of them, which can be seen over here on my flickr page.

Photo Mania

Weekend Snapshots:

New toys are always fun!


Being cute and goofy...









Fun at Gymkhana:

Maya's Favorite Books

Well, I was all excited to post my photos for Weekend Snapshot and Photo Hunter but I left my camera's usb cable at my in-law's house. Bah!!! I will have to post those tomorrow.

Day two of NaBloPoMo and the theme for the week is lists, so I thought I would share with you a list of my daughter's favorite books.

First up, The Ramona Quimby series. Who doesn't love Ramona? What makes this so great is that I loved reading the Ramona books when I was a kid. Her and her sister Beezus... I know you remember! She has 5 Ramona books and wants the rest of them.




The Junie B. Jones series. She owns all of the "kindergarten" ones and most of the "first grader" ones. I love reading these with her. They are so, so funny. Junie B cracks me up!! This was the second book maya ever read on her own, Dr. Suess being the first.



Earth and Space. This photo isn't the exact copy of the book she has, but it's the only one I could find. She carries this book with her everywhere! She reads it constantly and spouts off facts about volcanoes, dinosaurs, the moon, you name it. I love it because it's educational, she is learning so much from it. The illustrations are amazing, too.


A classic that I remember from my childhood... Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No good, Very Bad Day. Who doesn't have days like this sometimes? I think it's a great book to help kids relate to Alexander. They can see that sometimes, things don't go so well. That it's normal and can happen to anyone. Plus, it is kind of funny, too.


Maya's World, a series by great auther Maya Angelou. I partly named my daughter after her! This series introduces children to other children from all over the world. Maya's favorite is the France one. Kids can read all about other countries, other cultures. It's wonderful!



Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! This is a hysterically funny book where the reader is in charge, and can't let the pigeon drive the bus... but the pigeon isn't giving up so easily! Your kids will love it! Maya loves to really act out the parts, which is really cool to watch her do!



If you don't know who Pippi Longstocking is, the you need to crawl out from under that rock you've been living under and head straight to the nearest library. I love Pippi. When I was a kid, I wanted to be Pippi. Now my daughter is following in my footsteps!




The Magic Tree House series. Amazing! They are educational and entertaining, and they allow kids to really use and expand their imagination. We've learned about dinosaurs, vikings, dolphins, the middle ages, and more. A brother and a sister find a tree house that whisks them away, through time and all over the planet... and beyond!



Last but certainly not least, Walter the Farting Dog. I don't think I really need to say much more about this book. I dare you to read it without laughing!






I have been an avid reader my whole life, and I have been reading to Maya since she was born. Earlier than that, even. This has sparked a love for books in her which was my main goal, and for that I am thrilled!

I believe this is also why she started reading on her own at a very early age.

This was a very short list of favorites, the list could go on and on!

Do your kids have any favorite books? I'd love to hear about them!

Maya's Art

Time once again for Haiku Friday!

The mind of a child
Through creative expression
An amazing thing

A showcase of some of Maya's artwork:













As a parent, it can't get much more inspiring than this!

Thursday Thirteen

For some reason I'm just not feeling inspired to write about anything else. I was going to make some witty remarks about American Idol, mainly about Garret's hair:



(DUDE, the 80's called... yeah yeah, you know how it goes...) but no, not tonight. Instead, I'm going to try out this Thursday Thirteen thing.

My list: 13 things that are coming up in my life that I am looking forward to.

1. Tomorrow I am getting a Flickr Pro account. Yay for more photos and albums!!

2. Sometime this weekend I am getting my hair done. The last time I got my hair done, I got it cut shorter in the back and longer in the front, dyed reddish, with blondish streaks in the front. I love doing new things with my hair!

3. This weekend I am getting a new sweater. It doesn't take much to make me happy, haha. It's a long one, with a hood... and I love it.

4. Maya is going to be in a science/art fair. For the science part, she is doing an experiment on whether or not music has an affect on our heartbeat. For art, she is going to make a sculpture.

5. Maya is going to be in a chess tournament! She takes chess classes now, and she is good.

6. I got invited to Ravelry which is an online knitting community, and I can't wait to check it out some more!

7. The weekend is ALMOST here! Yay.

8. Sometime soon, we are going to go downtown and to station square, and I can't wait to take tons of cool photos.

9. Hubby and I are goig to get a fancy schmancy hotel room. Once in a while it's nice to have some alone time!

10. I haven't been to Yoga class in a while, and hopefully this thursday I am going to go back. I love it. I go to The Yoga Loft. It's awesome.

11. I'm super excited that I am almost to number 13 because wow, coming up with 13 things is harder than I thought it woud be.

12. OH I know! Spring. Spring is just around the corner. I hope. I mean, it's almost March, in like a lion out like a lamb, right? I like to see the glass as half full.

13. Our income tax check comes tomorrow! Yay!!

Whew, that was tough. Next week I will try to be a little more creative!

P.S. Thank you to everyone who left me such wonderful and supportive comments on my Homeschooling post below! Also, Thanks everyone who shared with me what the daily zen meant to them. Very deep thoughts and great interpretations! I will try that again sometime!

The Decisions We Make

Time for Haiku Friday!

We all want the best
When it comes to our children
But how do we know?

The decisions we make for our children can affect them for the rest of their lives. At times, this can feel like too much pressure, and you may doubt yourself and second guess. In the end I think the very fact that we want what is best for our children counts for something. Counts for a lot, actually. We're all going to make mistakes, and sometimes there is no right and wrong, sometimes there's just too much grey.

Right now I'm having an inner battle with myself over my daughter's education. Here's a little background, and please don't take this the wrong way, I'm not trying to brag.

Maya has always been extremely bright. She knew her alphabet and was speaking in complete sentances at around 18 months old, has been reading fluently since before kindergarten, soaks up information like a sponge. She has a photographic memory. She can read a whole chapter out of a book and then recite it back to you, word for word.

I never "pushed" her, but she always asked questions and just loved learning, so of course I went with it. Last year in Kindergarten, her teacher could not get over how bright she was. She got perfect scores on standardized tests, and was going to be in that schools gifted program starting in first grade. We moved to an area that has a much better school district, one of the best in our state. After she started first grade I asked to have her tested for this schools gifted program and she didn't make it. Her teacher was shocked, and so was I. I fought with the school over so many things already... I fought so that she would be allowed to check out chapter books from the library, instead of the easy readers they're suppose to get in first grade, for example.

Now I am running into a major issue... she is bored and losing interest in school altogether. I am going to speak with everyone I can, her guidance counselor, the head of the gifted program, etc. I've been in close with her teacher for some time now already.

I'm just so afraid... I would love for her to go to a private school, but I can't afford it. I feel like... she is being held back. Her potential stretches so much farther beyond what they will let her do in school, school is in essence holding her back. I work with her at home on things she wants to learn that they don't teach her in school this young, like Spanish.

I have toyed with the idea of homeschooling. I love the concept and I have so much respect for those brave parents who do homeschool. It scares me to death, though. I don't trust myself to be able to give her what she needs, I'm afraid of her missing out on the social aspect of school, I'm afraid she will miss her friends and she will feel she's missing out on "normal" life, I don't know. I don't really know any homeschoolers personally, so maybe that's why I'm afraid.

I have been looking into Agora Cyber Charter School and I have to admit, I love the sound of this. But still, the fear is there. It's a huge decision. I do work off and on as needed, and due to financial circumstances will most likely have to work a lot more, so then how would I go about doing this? There's so many issues, so many questions.

For now, I will continue to fight for the education she deserves, do my best to work with her at home, and see what happens. If the situation escalates I will have some major thinking to do, and one of the hardest decisions of my daughter's life to make.

Weekend Snapshot

My first weekend snapshot, not sure if this is allowed but I got a little crazy with the photo editing!

Maya ~ Serious



Maya ~ Serious ~ Warhol-esque

Maya Sings Hannah Montana

I took this video at my in-laws house... trying out the video option on my new camera!

The Next Chess Prodigy?

Maya and I went to our first chess class today. I wasn't too worried about how she would do, I was really more worried about myself. It was actually really fun! It's a 9 week class, and right now we have only learned how to set up the board, and how pawns move and capture. She loves it so far. I'm just happy to be playing something other than Hannah Montana Girl Talk!

Um.. Honey... That's a great idea, but...

My daughter has announced that for her first science fair project, she would like to clone our dog. Hmmm.