Tuesday, February 9, 2010.

Christopher had a nice 9th birthday, even if it was a bit spread out! It fell on a Thursday this year, so we let him pick someplace to go eat (Cici’s Pizza) where we met Grandma Bonnie and Aunt Autumn. Then we all drove to Toys R’ Us where he picked out a toy. He got a Star Wars Voice Changer helmet, which he LOVES. He’d also gotten the Wimpy Kid books (the ones he hadn’t read yet) from Grandpa Charlie, Grandma Bea, and Grandma Bonnie. Aunt Autumn got him a stuffed manta ray that he named ‘Manta’ and sleeps with at night. When we came home, he blew out his candles on the chocolate cake I’d baked for him.

Saturday (1/30th) was when we’d scheduled a playdate for him. It wasn’t really a party, more of a playdate with cake. He was really looking forward to seeing Sammi and Christian and having the big cake I’d ordered from Mustard Seed. But things didn’t work out like we’d hoped (our basement flooded the day before), so we ended up having to postpone it to the next Saturday. In the meantime, I took him to Chuck E. Cheeze instead.

When Friday came, I confirmed his cake for the next day, and then we got hit with a snowstorm. Everyone was snowed in most of the day on Saturday. So after about 3 hours of shoveling our driveway, I drove and picked up our cake and take out.  \The playdate was postponed again. I think at this point, we’ll have to play it by ear. We’re getting another snowstorm today.

Next week though, he has a Valentine’s Day party. I would have been today except for (you guessed it) the snowstorm coming in. So it’s late, but it should still be fun. There are supposed to be a fair number of other Virtual schoollers there as well.

Until next time…Bye!

2010-01-13

Sorry it’s been so long, but things always get hectic around the holidays.  For New Year’s eve we went out to eat some Chinese food with Aunt Autumn, and then spent the night at her house.  We all played board games and video games until Midnight, as well as snacked on chips and salsa.

Both school and work picked up again for the new year.  Doug went back to working his regular hours, and Christopher began doing his Virtual school again. He’s been doing really well!

In fact, he’s been studying very hard for his first school Spelling Bee!  He’s been very excited and worked really hard to be able to compete.  In the car on the way, he knew so many words that we were very impressed with how well he was doing. He had a nice time. His friend, Sammi, won the Bee.

Students at Bee showing off their prizes!

For a treat, after the Bee we took Christopher to see ‘Astroboy’ (which he liked) and then went to eat at Cici’s Pizza.

We also had a Parent Teacher conference last week.  Christopher did well on all his quizzes (100% every one). His attendance is fine, but we need to adjust our course schedule.  So this week we’ve started restructuring the lessons, and he’s doing GREAT.  He’s such a great boy.

That’s all for now. Belated Happy New Year!

Where do I begin?  It’s been a busy month!  Christopher decided that he wants to enter both the Spelling Bee and the Art Contest for his virtual school.  He worked really hard on a drawing for the Art Contest, so I hope he wins!

We took turns with cold symptoms for the first couple weeks of this month, so Christopher really had to work hard to catch up with his school.  Both he and Doug have 2 weeks off (til New Year’s) for Winter/Christmas break!

I also started trying to edit my Nanowrimo novel, ‘Mortal Coil: The Afterlife and Times of William Shakespeare.’  I found a blog that has a day by day process for editing your novel, though I think it’s unrealistic to think I’ll be able to do it in one month.  I did the first week’s worth of work and had to lay off temporarily for the holidays.  The more I read though, I’m thinking I should take a short break, write a few more short stories that have been knocking around inside my head, and then go back fresh in the new year.  It’s hard for me to switch back and forth between more than one story at the same time.  Christopher will also need to edit his Nanowrimo novel, ‘Dragon Teeth and Chicken Wings,’ but I’m thinking he’ll do it after the Spelling Bee in January.  There’s just too many projects going on right now.

Christopher also finished up his Karate lessons this month. During the last class, the instructor gave him a certificate, a yellow belt, and told him, “You know what I like about you? You always come to class ready to learn!”  The next class starts fresh in January.

So, we’re all on a 2 week break now through New Year’s day.  At the beginning of the break, we went on an overnight trip to Dayton (Ohio) to visit the Air Force Museum there ( Doug got a special deal on the hotel room, which was a really great suite with a kitchen and living room area).

At the Museum, Christopher was really excited by all the planes, especially the Stealth bombers.  I really loved a prototype hovercraft they had that was modelled on the UFO’s from 50’s B movies.  I think Doug just loved everything!

Christopher in front of Stealth bomber

For Christmas, Doug really wanted to get Christopher a Wii game system.  But Christopher also really loves legos, so we were kidding around about a ‘Lego grocery store’ and how great it was.  He kept asking about it, and we kept leaving hints and clues about how his big gift was the ‘Lego grocery store.’   He was excited too, but you should have seen his face when he opened the box that he thought it was in and found a Wii instead!  He kept going, “Am I dreaming? I must be dreaming! I must be dreaming.”  It was adorable.  He was completely surprised!

He also got more legos (which is great since he plays with them constantly), a Nerf machine gun, and a whole bunch of other cool things! His stocking also had plenty of sweets.

Christmas morning before the storm

This year, since he’s in the Virtual school, he didn’t go to the school ‘Christmas store,’ so I took him the the Dollar Store instead. He used his allowance that he’d saved, picked out and paid for presents for everyone.  He tried to make everything personal.  It was very thoughtful!  I mailed Grandma Bea’s and Grandpa Charlie’s presents (from Christopher) to them, and they really appreciated them!

Grandma Bonnie admiring her new scarf

Everyone was very happy with their presents. Doug’s present was mostly the trip to Dayton, but I did get him a copy of the newest ‘Star Trek’ movie (which proves how much I love him)…hehe! Doug got me a keyboard, and today I’ve already learned 2 beginner songs! Everyone loves the Wii, and we’ve been playing tennis, bowling, and even boxing. We’ve watched some Christmas movies, visited quite a bit with Grandma Bonnie and Aunt Autumn, and just generally taken it easy. It’s been really, really nice.

Christmas morning after the storm

If I don’t get another chance to write before January, Happy New Year!

Saturday, November 28, 2009.

This month has been very productive and fun for us, except for the fact that Doug had to work so much! Christopher had a great school/playdate with another little girl who also schools from home. They had so much in common, and they can’t wait to get together again. We’re considering making it a weekly meetup since it went so well.

We also did some other mini trips on our own. He met with a playgroup from Massillon at this incredibly nice indoor playplace. We also went as a field trip one day to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Through the school, he met other kids at the Fall Festival and Book Fair (where he met his teacher). He also created several wonderful pieces of art for school. Check the *gallery* for the photos.

We both finished Nanowrimo! Christopher finished a week early, and I finished one day after him. I have more details posted *here*.

For Thanksgiving, we visited Aunt Autumn and Grandma Bonnie. We had a nice lunch and watched our DVD of The Office (season 5). It was a nice relaxing day.

That’s all for now. I need to go make breakfast. Have a great weekend!

Sunday, November 8, 2009.

The past couple weeks have been pretty good for us. Aunt Autumn invited Christopher to come with her to Boo at the Zoo, and she showed him around while he Trick or Treated. Normally, after he’s finished Trick or Treating, he trades in his non-vegan treats for a toy or other treat. This year, he picked a huge Nerf style gun toy. He loves it. He went through all the foam bullets quickly, so he even used his allowance, HIS OWN MONEY, to buy more bullets. I’m so happy he likes it.

We also went Trick or Treating a couple times before that. Once at the grocery story, and once in the mall with a playgroup. He made out pretty well both times. Of course, we trick or treated around our own neighborhood too, so he made out like a bandit, even after trading in the non-vegan stuff.

Last week, he created a great painting for his (school from home) Art class.

Last Sunday, November 1st (2009), was Day 1 for Nanowrimo (National Novel Writing Month). Christopher pledged to write a 2,000 word novel for Nanowrimo Young Writer’s Program, and I pledged to write a 50,000 word novel. So far, we’re both well on our way to meeting our goals.

Christopher has been writing steadily almost every day. On Saturday, we went on a family drive to Salem, and he asked to borrow my laptop to work on his novel. It’s called ‘Dragon Teeth and Chicken Wings,’ and it’s about Dragons ()from space and they’re coming back from…Vacation. He’s written over 500 words so far, and he’s typed them all himself. He’s doing great! His style has really improved too. I loved his novel last year, but this year’s book is better by far.

My novel is plugging along. Some unexpected things are popping up, though I feel like more should be happening at this point. I’m over 20,000 words (40%) in at this point, but I think I might write past 50,000. As long as I still finish before December 1st, I’m still on track.

Last week, Thursday, I went to my first Nanowrimo Write-In. A bunch of writers doing Nanowrimo got together and talked about our novels and had word wars. It was a lot of fun, and it was also very productive, for me at least. Christopher got to spend the night at Aunt Autumn’s and Grandma’s house, so he was thrillled.

This week is going to be a little hectic, since we have a few things planned. Doug’s work schedule will be out of sorts again, so that will throw things off a bit too. But I have 2 events planned for Christopher. One is through the school and one is through a local playgroup. I would have had more, but there were scheduling problems and some things conflicted; so I just had to pick which would work out better.

I’m sure that I’m forgetting something, but it’s late and I’m tired. We have school in the morning, so I really need to sleep. Bye for now!

Monday, October 26th, 2009.

Sorry that it’s been a bit since I was able to update, but today (Monday) officially begins our 3rd week of Ohio Virtual Academy. Our son was having some trouble in school, and we  thought that a lot of it was because his needs as a gifted student weren’t being met.  We also knew that the school was being taken over by the state, so things were not likely to get better anytime soon.  We knew we needed to make some sort of change, and we figured (since he’s in an earlier grade now and the school year wasn’t too advanced yet) this was the best time to try.

Since I’m used to completing my work around the house while the little guy was in school during the day, I’ve had to learn to manage my time a lot differently.  That, plus the fact that he’s starting after the beginning of the school year, has made the transition a little bit crazy.  It really hasn’t been too bad, except that for the first few days I didn’t have all of our supplies (or a teacher) yet!  So from Monday through Wednesday of our first week, we did mostly online things.  That Wednesday I talked to our teacher, our computer got set up, and we received our school books and materials.  Over the next few days, Christopher had to do some testing to show what level he should be taught and I got more organized.  I started talking to another local OHVA mom, and she gave me some pointers.

Week 2: We really started our first “regular” full work week.  Christopher had an online virtual (math) class with his new teacher.  He told me during the lesson “This is SO COOL!”  So…he approved.  We started trying to get our schedule down better. Most days we’re “in school” from about 9 – 2 (or 3)pm depending on how fast we complete the lessons.  Some days are shorter and others longer.  We also can go to “Family Fun Days” and anything else education-related (trips to museums, etc) and count that as attendance.  If he goes bowling or takes Karate lessons, that counts as P.E.   Last week (week 2) we went to a Family Fun Day event.  Christopher got to meet other kids in the program and go bowling. It was pretty cool.

Since he’s doing Nanowrimo’s Young Writer’s Program again this year, I asked his teacher about that.  She said that if he works on that or goes to a YWP writer’s group, it can count as attendance for Composition.  The other mom I’ve been talking and emailing has a little girl that’s interested in YWP too.  We’re thinking of maybe getting them together to work on it.  That way they get some social interaction as well as school attendance.

Saturday, October 10th, Christopher went to The Enchanted Forest at The Wilderness Center.  It was his first Halloween event for this year.  He picked out a werewolf mask he loved, plus he brought a sword.  So he called himself a Werewolf Jedi.  We walked through the forest and met people dressed as the forest animals.  They all told us about themselves and how they lived.  One of the “animals” really liked Christopher because she asked if he would do something (eat animals like her maybe? I don’t quite remember), but Christopher told her that he wouldn’t because “I’m vegan and I don’t use any animal products!”  She hugged him and made much of him in front of the other kids, which of course he loved.

Saturday, October 17th I was able to attend the Pre-Nanowrimo Meetup for our area! (click on link for the photos)

It was fun to meet other writers that were going to do Nanowrimo this year, but I don’t know if I’ll be able to attend any other Meetups.  I did get info to possibly connect to other writing groups though!

I’ve been participating in Friday Flash at Twitter for a couple months now.  It’s a writing excercise to help me improve, and so far most of the comments have been pretty encouraging.  I want to keep posting flash fiction on Fridays through November without interupting my novelling for Nanowrimo.  I’ve prewritten several stories to hopefully carry me through.  If you’re interested, look for them on my ganymeder blog every Friday.

So…other than starting a new school, completely rearranging our household (did I mention that I’m moving the furniture around to organize for the new school?),  and getting ready for Halloween and Nanowrimo, there’s not too much going on (Ha ha).  I think we’re both finally really getting the hang of the new schoolling system, and it’s getting better and better.  I think this is going to work out really well.

Bye for now, and Happy Halloween!

Monday, October 5, 2009.

Last night, after I posted the latest update, even more cool stuff happened.

First, Doug had set up a spare computer in Christopher’s room for him to do his Lego Mindstorms Robots on. He’d gotten the Lego MS kit a couple Christmases ago, but after an initial splash into Robotics they hadn’t created many robots. Christopher has been asking about it, and Doug was able to set everything up in his room so he could read about it and create the robots himself. Basically, he takes the lego parts, builds robots and programs simple instructions for them on his computer. Almost completely by himself, he did 3 different programs last night and 1 more just before he had to go to school. We’re so proud of him!

(Click *here* to watch video)

Also, I can’t believe I forgot to put this in yesterday’s update, but Doug and Christopher have been building a T-Rex together this weekend. So far they’ve completed the head, and next they’ll work on the body. I hope they finish soon so I can have our dining room table back!

Also, Friday, Christopher brought home his school photos which came out GREAT, so those will be in the mail shortly!
Bye for now!

Sunday, October 4, 2009.

Sorry that it’s taken me awhile to update this, but things have been rather hectic lately. Doug’s work continues to take up much of his time, Christopher has been having a little trouble in school, and we also have been looking into educational alternatives.

First of all, last weekend (Friday 09/25 – Sunday 09/27) Doug unexpectedly was able to have the weekend off… WooHoo! We went to Columbus for the annual Linux fest! It’s something that Doug has been wanting to do for YEARS.
(Photo below* my boys at Linux Fest first thing Saturday morning)

Everyone got up early to go to the Linux fest because, in Doug’s words, we would “get the best ’swag’” that way. Hehe Well, I think he was right! Shortly after registering, we got our Linux bags which we added to with each booth we visited. The first booth gave Christopher a squeezable zebra (we each got one), the next booth he got an stuffed lizard (but we didn’t…poo), then we all got assorted stickers, etc. There were lots of interesting booths there. I was very interested in one where they were podcasting, since that really interests me (though the subject of the podccast did not). We went to several talks about Linux, but the last 2 Doug picked out especially for Christopher because they were about either teaching programming to children or graphics for gaming.

On Sunday, still in Columbus, we went on a tour of a realistic replica of the Santa Maria (photo below).

Afterwards, we stopped at Pattycake vegan bakery as a special treat on the way home (click *here* for their homepage). We loaded up a bit on cookies, muffins, and vegan “cheezecake.”

We started looking into homeschooling options, or more specifically public schooling from the home. We talked to Christopher’s teachers about his grades and behavior in school. He’s such a smart little boy, we want to do whatever’s best for him.

Thursday (10/01), I set up a Factory Farming display (materials courtesy of Farm Sanctuary) at our local library. I wasn’t able to take a photo then, so tomorrow I’ll take one and post it below.

Saturday (10/03), Christopher and I drove to Cleveland for the Walk for Farm Animals (by Farm Sanctuary). We dropped Doug off at work (poor guy!) and then drove to a library in Cleveland to meet the other walkers. Christopher and I raised $65 online from my online friends at Vegan Represent (Thanks again, guys!).

(Me and Christopher at the Walk)

Usually, the annual Walk is sort of Mommy-son time, but this year Christopher made a new friend. They were inseparable throughout the walk. All I heard was continual talk about Goosebumps, Scary Stories, Legos and Chaotic cards!
(Christopher talking with his new friend)

Since Doug had to work later, we were able to stay and listen to the guest speaker before we had to leave. She wrote a book, ‘The Inner World of Farm Animals: Their Amazing Intellectual, Emotional, and Social Capacities,’ that sounds absolutely amazing. She told a couple stories about researching the book and read a couple passages from it.

(Guest speaker, Amy Hatkoff, reads from her book)

Today, Sunday, has been our day of rest. Both Doug and Christopher have to go back to work tomorrow…Doug at his job and Christopher at school. I have a ton of things to do also.

Oh! Also, for the past few weeks, I’ve been writing some flash fiction (stories less than 1,000 words) for #fridayflash at Twitter. I figure it’s good practice, and the weekly discipline will help prepare me for Nanowrimo (National Novel Writing Month) in November. I’m still editing (about 1 chapter a week) my Nanowrimo novel from last year and entertain ideas of possibly publishing (either self or not) if I ever bring it up to snuff. In the meantime, I’ve been thinking up new ideas for the next Nanowrimo, but I haven’t decided which one I want to focus on yet. I can’t wait for November though!

As far as Christopher and I studying Esperanto, we’ve tapered off in the past couple weeks, just because things have been so hectic. We still review a little and speak a little around the house, but our lesson schedule has been less strict. I do think it helps him, especially with the parts of speech in his English lessons.

Until next time, Bye!

—Cathy

Today was very special day for Christopher.  He had been waiting for today for a very long time.  We have frequently been visiting Build-a-Bear Workshop at the mall, checking things out.  He as been doing very well in school so far this year, so we wanted to reward him.  Grandma then made a deal with him that she would pay half to build a bear.  And finally today arrived and he got to go and make his bear.

First he had to pick out what kind of bear to make, or, in this case, what kind of snow leopard.

Next, he had to pick a voice.

Next, his snow leopard had to be stuffed.

Then, Christopher had to very carefully place the heart into his snow leopard.  But something as delicate as this can’t simply be done, a ceremony must take place.  The heart must first be warmed in the hand, then kissed for love, then very carefully placed into the snow leopard.

Following some careful gentle stitching, a new snow leopard has entered this world.

But, the new addition has to have a bath.

Now, nice and clean, it’s time to pick out an outfit.  First, this is one cool cat and he needs a pair of shades.

Next, we need to pick out some fashionable things to try on.

As everyone knows, a snow leopard is not complete unless he has a skateboard.

Now that he has clothes and a skateboard, its time to print out his birth certificate.  Meet Tony the Snow Leopard.

My (Doug’s) Aunt Barb has flown up for a visit, so we are spending much of the Labor Day weekend with her, as well as my mother and my sister Autumn.

We decided to take a trip on the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad.

This is a nice train ride through Cuyahoga Valley National Park.  The tracks parallel the Cuyahoga River, the old Ohio-Erie Canal and the Tow-Path trail used by the canal boats when the canal was operational.

We caught the train at Akron Northside Station, which is right behind one of our favorite vegan restaurants, Vegiterranean, which happens to be owned by Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders.  The train goes all the way to Rockside station and back.  This takes several hours and leaves lots of time for talking or napping (which is what I did).  You can get off and explore (we didn’t) and it is a nice way to spend an afternoon.  What I would really like to do sometime, is to repeat the trip in the winter time with a good covering of snow on the ground.

We finished off the day with dinner at our most favorite restaraunt, Bombay Sitar, which serves the best Indian cuisine I have ever had (and I have eaten at Indian restaraunts all over the country).

Here are some more pictures from the trip.