Weekend Wrapup

I know most people do a Weekly Wrapup, but this weekend just needs to posted about.  First, the hospital visit for Matthea.  If you didn't read the last post, Matthea has a feeding tube and we were going Saturday to see if she was ready to have it removed.  Well, we saw a doctor who agreed that it was time and told us that we'd probably need surgery and referred us to the surgeon. We saw the surgeon on the same day...btw, can you believe THAT?  Amazing I know...just across the waiting room from the doctor. Anyway, more amazing things to come. The surgeon took a look at her sight and told us that she probably would NOT need surgery.  Yes, you read that right...so I took out the last feeding tube EVER from my daughter and she threw it in the trash herself!  We didn't have a camera...we had no idea that Saturday was going to be the DAY!  We do have a follow up appointment with the surgeon on Wed. to make sure the sight is healing correctly. If all looks good...we are cleared!
So, for a last minute unplanned celebration, we walked in the drizzle (which we could care less that we had no umbrella) to TGI Fridays and went crazy with food orders!  There WILL be a planned party at our house later after we get the cleared checkup and I'm even going to have a Celebration Giveaway to celebrate as well. More details to come!

Can't top off that, now can I?  So, I won't....I'll just add some pics of other things we did this weekend for fun.

Listened to The Pond for a few hours. We have their cassettes.
I know, cassettes? Yes, we got them free from a library that
was upgrading...

Built a scarecrow together..well, minus Matthea.
She was Scared.To. Death.

Made a pumpkin jar craft together. Matthea tearing paper.

Final product. Got the idea from here.

Homeschool: Coats and Scarecrows!

This week we finished up our Fall Theme. I'm kind of sad, because we so enjoy making fall crafts. (Ok, I really enjoy making fall crafts!)  But, we must go on. I'll probably do some more fallish things when US Thanksgiving gets closer.  

Bible:  We looked at Joesph's life.  I had her make a colorful coat out of paper. First, I had her cut strips of paper into little squares. Then she glued them onto a coat shape.  We then glued the coat onto black paper.  This was a two day activity as she was tired after cutting. So, day two was gluing.  

You want to go out and buy one just like it, don't ya!

I met with the PT this week and she gave me some specific goals for Matthea to work on.  I'm excited because, well, I'm doing some already. I don't need to add too much.  The other reason for excitement is a clear direction. So, next week I'll make my lesson plans more around her goals.

Scarecrows Theme:  This week we looked at some scarecrows. We made two different kinds. The first is made with felt glued onto the back of a tin can lid. This was really to difficult for her as the felt and glue were just too sticky.  But, he still turned out cute...I just have to say that I did most of the work. Oh, I plan to put a magnet on the back for the refrigerator. 

The other one was with a paper plate. I didn't have just plain white paper plates, so I used the backside of a "Dora" Birthday Plate.  I think if I was going to do it again, I'd go and buy white plates. But, it still worked.  I precut out shapes and then she glued them on. I helped with placement.

This one is a girl scarecrow. I braided her hair.

We still are working on numbers 1-5 and practicing saying them.  Also, working on the concept of two things.

Also, still continuing with saying the uppercase letters and matching lowercase a,b,c,d to the correct uppercase.

Writing: still working on the tracing concept.  But, will be changing this up a bit next week.

We also met with a ST this week. She is from the States and has been a huge help in directing us in speaking. We are working on /m/, /p/, /b/ sounds adding vowels to it. An example is /bah/, /ba-by/, /bye/, /boo/, /bee/, etc.  She does well with all, but the /oo/ is the hardest. The ST also told us we could go to the next horn in her horn therapy.

Thursday, Matthea got to participate in the Storybook Parade at the Son's school.  If you didn't get to see pics of that click here.

And tomorrow we will go and visit the surgeon to see if Matthea can remove her feeding tube.  If you are curious about what it looks like and what I'm talking about click here.  Since that post we saw the surgeon and he wanted her to not use it for six months. During that six month time, she has had one pneumonia episode that was NOT related to aspiration. And nothing else until a few weeks ago when the weather changed and she tried to empty out the swimming pool in Taichung. She came down with bronchitics. She is better now.  The other issue was weight.  She hasn't lost any weight, but she hasn't gained any either. So, I'm a bit nervous as to what this surgeon will say.  I do want what is best for her and am prepared to have to wait another six months...but, I'm also hoping to have a huge celebration.  So, for now while I wait...I will just trust in the Lord to show us what is best for Matthea. Because, He loves her and knows her better than I do.  

Storybook Parade

Today was The Storybook Parade at the Son's school. Matthea got to participate as well. Below are some pics of them...books and costumes, ya just gotta love it!

Matthea, the Fierce Lion!

Reading her book while we waited for the classes to come to the gym.

A Pirate from Salty Dog

And, well, couldn't leave out our Diva. She
wasn't able to go because she is in Chinese
school...but hopefully, next year we'll see what
her favorite book is....

Another WIP Day

WIP: Work in Progress
Not a great week in this area for me. In fact, I've been feeling rather guilty for not looking at some of my smaller projects and getting them mailed off.  Got to make a list and stick with it. *smile*, I love lists.
As for the novel...I decided to start on it during the NaNoWriMo contest.  I can continue to pre-write in the journal before it starts. Plus I could do a little on chapter outlines, that way I would stay focused on the task before me.  I have 5 days left before the challenge starts.  YIKES! I need to get on those chapter outlines....and my goal to get two articles out in the mail before the writing frenzy begins.

QBR: Quick Book Review
I finished two books this week.  The first was Masterpiece by Elise Broach and the second was The Tales of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo.
Masterpiece by Elise Broach was a good fiction read about James, a boy, who can't draw and a beetle that can. Their adventures all start when James' mom discovers the drawing and believes it is James'. And the adventure continues when James is asked to draw a replica of one of Albrecht Dürer's drawings. The story is not just about art, but about friendship among two very unlikely beings. It did have a bit of a slow start, but I was hooked after the third or fourth chapter. I'm thinking about reading it out loud to the Son once it hits the library shelf.

The Tales of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo was wonderful. I did read this out loud to the Son. I loved the author's voice in this story. To read a lengthier version of this review, click here. It was on my FitG list.

TGC: Tips Giveaways Contests
Tip of the Week comes from Amy at The Green Bathtub. She highlights the idea of retyping your novel into a different document.  Go here for more details on this editing tip.
Giveaways:
1. Marcia is offering her October Critique Giveaway. Two lucky winners receive a manuscript critique of up to 1000 words of a children's magazine story, mid-grade novel, YA. Go here for more details.
Contest:
1. Only a few days left for NanoWriMo and PiBoIdMo.  Which I need to sign up still....
2. Susan Field's Back From Hiatus Contest.  She is offering free non-fiction books on the art of writing. Go here for details.

Intriguing, Yet Incredibly Nasty

The son has been complaining about his ears. So, today we went to the ENT doctor.  I wish I had taken the camera...next to his chair were all these metal instruments. One was "L" shaped and was a tongue depressor of sorts. I was thinking... medieval? They had a stack of these, just like the ones in the picture below.

Image via Wikipedia

He has narrow car canals, the doctor informed me, we need to go into the other room to use a machine.

I wanted to ask, Is that why he can't hear me when I'm calling him to set the table?

We go from medieval to modern technology. I'm. Not. Kidding.  The son lays on his side while the doctor uses these binocular like camera that shows a picture up on a flat screen TV.  I sat and stared at the inside of my son's ear. I saw the ear drum! The real ear drum. Of course, I wouldn't have known had the doctor not told me...but I saw it.  Isn't that so cool?

But, I also saw all the yellow sticky discharge. And I witnessed that sticky substance getting sucked up in a tiny vacuum. GROSS!!!

It was like a live shooting of Discovery Channel.

So incredibly nasty, yet too intriguing to look away.

So, the diagnosis? He still has a bit of an ear infection, but we now ear drops. Yay and Goodie!

When Three Halves Make a Whole

We've been watching "Jon and Kate Plus 8" recently. We've never watched it before. I'd heard of people chatting about it on various social medias a few years back. But, I live overseas and it is just now airing...I'm not even sure what season this is.  I do know that, sadly, they are split now.

But yesterday's episode reminded me of our family a bit. One of the older daughters proudly shouted, "I and Daddy are the only Asians in the family."  I cracked up because, well, all eight of those kids are Asian.  But, it reminded me of some family moments...

1. When Marcus was 3 he was convinced that he had black hair and brown eyes.  This belief did not change until he was probably 5.  He would argue with us daily.  By the way, he was totally blond hair with green eyes...

2. He also has informed us in the past that he is half American, half German, and half Chinese.  I know, I know...his math is a little off...but here is where he gets it.... I'm from the US, Uwe is German, and Marcus was born in Beijing and has lived in Asia his entire life.  Now that he is older he just says he's part German, part American, part Chinese.....it's a TCK thing.Go here or here to learn more about Third Culture Kids.

3.  Megan, my youngest, is now telling us the same. By the way, she is adopted from mainland China.

4. And then just this morning Meg tells me that her skin is white!  I cracked up because well, it's NOT.  Just a year ago she figured out that she was Chinese...or at least that the Chinese had the same hair color that she did. You can read about that here from an older post.

And just for fun, here is a fairly recent pic of my half German, half American, half Chinese crew....again, it's a TCK thing...

Homeschool: Applesauce, Rain, and Pumpkins!

It's Friday again...REALLY?  We've had a complete week, which is something we've not had in a while. So, I warn you....lots of pics.  We just continued with Apples, Noah's Ark, and Pumpkins this week since we've missed a few days here and there.  

Apples: We finished a project that she actually started last week, but got tired of doing. First I prepared red strips of paper and made large lines. Together we cut the strips into squares.  We use the safety scissors for my safety and hers. She is able to use them ok. I have to hold the paper though and direct her cutting. She gets a little too excited. Of course, no pics of this since I'm holding paper with both hands. 

After she cut all the strips. She glued the pieces onto an apple shape. I just drew out a simple apple shape on white paper.

Gluing on the squares. It's a sticky job and she loves
it.  Notice my apple has some extra lines...

 After she finished gluing all the squares on, I cut around the apple shape..extra lines disappeared. *wink* I gave her a stem piece and a green leaf that I cut out of paper. She then glued these together to make an apple. Of course, I helped with placement. But, she had a pretty good idea of where it was suppose to go.

The materials.

The finished product.

 On Wednesdays, I try to do something in the kitchen with her.  She learns about steps and following them to make something to EAT!  We made applesauce!

Washing the apples. We used 4 parts water
to 1 part white vinegar. She loved spraying.
Needless to say, the apples were not the
only thing that got washed. 

She watched me peel and cut the apples up. She
got to practice patience as she waited.  Then she
put them into the blender.

Then we turned on the blender. Notice my hand
ready for any action! 

She had fun with this part!  We saved some for
the Sibs when they came home from school.

 Another activity we did with apples is making prints with them.  This was not as easy as I had thought. I think that when I cut them in half I should have used a large knife and made one straight cut.  Anyway, she had fun with it. We used tempera paint, so of course no pictures of her in the process due to her excitement with paint.

 For Bible, we just continued with Noah's Ark. This was a great week to study Noah's Ark and the rain. It seriously has been raining nonstop for at least 5 days now. I wanted to build a real boat to go out and pick up kids from school because a stroller and an umbrella just didn't cut. I still got soaking wet.  The mega typhoon, MEGI,  that hit the Philippines missed us this time, but still dumped water on us like water thrown from a bucket...(and still is as I'm writing).
I cannot take any credit for this activity, except for changing the scenery.  I got the idea from Mama Jenn's blog. She used the raindrop effects with umbrellas. If you want to check that out go here.

First, I precut the boat shape. Then Matthea glued it onto blue paper.

Using a white glue, you make drops on to the
paper.  I only had the really thick glue, so I added
some water to help thin it out.

Then we hung it up on the board to drip and dry.

And there you have it.....rain. *smile*

Remember the large Ark we built last week and hung on the wall. It needed a rainbow to help finish it off, so we painted one. Well, actually I painted it and then let her help add details. *wink*

This is what we used. I LOVE this. I had forgotten that we had
it and just found it in the closet last week. It worked perfectly
and she had a blast doing it. I still have two sheets left, so I think
I'll have both girls painting this weekend since it will still be raining.

The brushes were just a perfect fit for her. And it was "mess-free",
which I LOVED! The color only appeared on the paper.

Our rainbow and a bit of sunshine on the wall.

Then today, I read Pumpkin Patch Parable by Liz Curtis Higgs.  Matthea just has this thing for pumpkins...so we made a pumpkin patch of our own. I got the idea from this website.  We used fingerpaint and had much fun.

We still are working on speech development through flashcards and any words that have the /m/, /p/, /b/ initial sounds.  We started using the Horn Therapy again and are on horn #3.  She was able to do the appropriate amount of toots today, so will probably go to horn #4 next week.  If you are interested in this type of speech therapy, you can go to Talk Tools website here.
Numbers: We are counting to five, using flashcards for recognition, and trying to understand the concept of "How Many".
Letters: She recognizes all uppercase letters and tries to say them. We've started on lowercase and only at the letter "d"...this is not as easy.
Fine Motor: we've continued with coloring circles and tracing lines.
Gross Motor: we are working with her PT on balance issues.  Going up and down stairs are still something that she has to be watched carefully with, but she has improved so much.  She likes to dance the "Hokey Pokey", so that has been fun with using her legs...I usually have to hold her hand, but I've seen a slight (very slight) improvement with this.
Eating Issues: We've been working on self feeding. I've let her use a spoon and she is getting better...still have messes, but that is ok.  And, we see the surgeon on the 30th regarding having her feeding tube removed. I'll keep you all updated as to if and when that happens.
OK, I feel like I've just given my IEP for the world to look at.  I won't bore you all with that every time, but probably every few months I'll post it to help me keep looking forward and moving forward in the direction that is best for her.