Sugar, Spice and Monkey Tales!

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Sunday fun day!

Yet another Sunday fun day at the Bramlett's. For the family and friends who did not know we officially and for good left the Mormon church. I have been a member of the church since I was 17 years old but went inactive because of various issues I had which I won't go into. 2 years ago however wonderful Missionaries came to our door while our marriage was going to a little bit of a crisis. Wanting to men fences I thought it would be a good idea to find a spiritual outlet and Tom agreed. He then joined my church thinking it would make me happy and I stayed because I have never had an extended family and they were that extended family. They did wonderful things for our family as far as fellowship and beyond (until we started having some issues which prevented us from going to church anyway then all our "friends" vanished) but in the end the issues I had with the church began to grow to the point I realized that I do not believe The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter days saints to be the true church as they claim. I am not 100% sure if I believe in the Book of Mormon or not but we do know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day saints is not the church Joseph Smith dreamed of regardless. The rest of this is a story for another day but for now the reason why I posted this tidbit of information.

Tom and I took the girls to a new non denominational church today as we both agree that there is no "true" church as we as Sacred Temples of God ARE the true churches and the only Temples in the world worthy of our Savior. In this we believe any church to hold the possibility of being the "true" church as it is in us that truth lives. On the other hand we do not want to reduce ourselves to the rules of denominations which have a tendency to deviate from scripture. A non denominational church offers us a place to worship our Heavenly Father while having a wonderful church family everyone should have. We went to a church not far from our home called Crosspointe and we absolutely loved it. The spirit filled all of our hearts. Miriam LOVED her Sunday school class , they said she talked to them, sang songs with them and played without having one meltdown. She PARTICIPATED in everything and those of you who know Miriam know this to be incredible! She loved it so much she didn't even want to leave. Sitting down and going limp about 5 times trying to leave..lol Georgia loved it before we ever showed up. Declaring to daddy when he rose late to join us for breakfast "we are goin to church daddy!!! Jesus loves you this I know!! gotta put on church dress". When we took her to her class and tried to hug her bye she said "no, I'm busy, in class!" She is such a character, we had to bribe her with the park in order to leave. And as for Tom and I, we sat in the chapel with miss Sophia. They have a nursery but we wanted to see how she would fair with us since she would have been the only one in the nursery and I didn't want to deny anyone service to watch her. She listened to us all sing modern church song (songs I love and listen to daily), read her little books then fell asleep in my lap. Not one peep out of her. It was great and we will definitely be going back next week.

After church we came home and made some egg salad sandwiches. We had originally planned on a picnic but decided we didn't want to ruin the day fighting the girls to sit down and eat so we all had our meal at home then headed to the park. We went to a new park here and had loads of fun. We had the park all to ourselves so Tom and I made equal fools out of ourselves sliding down the slides, swinging and playing with the girls. I asked Miriam once what she wanted to do and she said to me "I want to slide with you" which again, is huge thing for Miriam to say. She is usually a one word girl and many times will not answer questions.

Right now all of my family is passed out asleep after we came home to some yummy ice pops. I am enjoying the quiet baking a cake and getting ready to start dinner. Pineapple APPLE upside down cake with homemade corn dogs and homemade chili dip. We might even go for a swim later, to be announced!

God Bless you all!

Homeschool Prep!

As many of you may already know we are starting the very serious task of homeschooling Miriam this year. I have been like a mad person researching what needs to be done to prepare for this rather intimidating experience we have in store for us. From laws to groups to building a curriculum there is so much information that it is literally driving me into a frenzy. In fact if I wasn't the women I was ready to take on just about anything head first I would be preparing to camp outside the public school to make sure I get a choice seat in the assembly hall at orientation. I am SURE it isn't going to be as crazy as it seems, or is it? Considering there is a website just for first year home schoolers in Texas I am thinking I am right in being a little taken aback. I keep having to remind myself that it IS the BEST for my kids to home school them. Public schools are unsafe, lacking morals, cause self esteem issues and frankly do not provide the proper one on one learning environment a special needs child has to have.

At home, she gets all the one on one she needs along with the ability to build a solid moral foundation built on our christian values. Not that I want to force my kids into my beliefs because a mind of their own is another reason I want to home school. Public schools seem to be shying away from personal opinion more and more as the years go by. Anyone who knows me knows that speaking my mind is a big way I live my life. In fact I often get myself into trouble opening my big mouth so much..lol But hey, if we were meant to always be walking a straight line God would not have created mountains, oceans and thanks to the roundness of the earth we are always walking in circles. Might as well walk in a circle of my own creation even if that does mean sticking my foot in my mouth on occasion. Anyway enough about me and my wackiness and back to the subject at hand.

Do you have any idea how many websites there are on homeschooling and how many different ways there are to home school? There are people who go to private home public school, those who do it from a book, those who do it online, those who do it out in the world and those who just do it! I am leaning more towards just doing it myself. Making a list of what we need to learn then fitting it into a days work. I would like to do a bit more than the schools in that I know she is ca[able of more than the school knows. By the end of the year my goals will not be for her to push a ball on her own or talk more. She does those things here. My goal is going to be for her to do them everywhere and not only that do them better. By the end of the year I want Miriam to sit down and:

1. tell me her ABC's upon prompting not just out of the blue
2. count to 50
3. use the potty
4. paint a picture ON HER OWN
5. say her phone number and address
6. know what the alphabet and numbers look like
7. Make something with her play-dough instead of just smashing it
8. Climb the swing set
9. Use her cane WELL
10. KNOW what braille is (I am starting my braille course to teach her)
11. Have a conversation instead of just half a conversation (I plan on devoting at least 30 minutes a day to SPEECH on top of the speech she will be getting from the school)

Those are only some of what I want. I know it seems like a lot to ask from a little blind girl but I know it isn't. I know everything on that list is possible. And with her not having to head off to a public school where the attention is not always on her and she is not always the student being taught she will get full attention. My plan is for ALL 3 girls to be in school with Miriam. We will have gym time, music time, reading, art, math, English, outdoor time and lots more in our day. I am not really sure on the times yet. Tom is telling me 7:00-1:00 but I am thinking more along the lines of 7:30/8:00-1:00 with breakfast about 7am.

I am also doing everything I possibly can to find a local home school group but since Tom and I decided to leave our church we are having difficulty finding one that is not "Mormon" based. I have no problems with Mormon groups other than all of my Mormon friends abandoned us (real Christian right) when we left and I don't want to be preached to the whole time. If worse comes to worse I will just officially start a home school group for the area. One thing we have always known was important when we started this was socialization. Getting together with other kids, going on outings and field trips is very important to learning. I am hoping when we attend the ISD's private school meeting (did you know in Texas our home is now a private school?) that I will be able to meet some other home school parents who will either tell me about a group or will want to start one up. Wish us luck!

For now, I better get dinner started, I just needed to clear my head of all the home school craziness overflowing. I think my brain is running out of room...lol

Ooey gooey goodness!

Last night I made a promise to my little Georgia in her sadness of being abandoned by neighborhood kids that I would bake her a lemon cake today. So first thing this morning I pull out the mixer and start baking with a happy Georgia declaring "YAY LEMON CAKE!!!". Upon making this cake came the decision of what frosting to make, butter-cream, lemon or my grandmothers favorite the old fashioned 7 minute frosting. I always hated 7 minute frosting growing up as it was the only frosting my grandmother ever made for any cake. When cakes rolled out I yearned for creamy butter-cream or whipped cream frosting over the marshmallowy topping that was the 7 minute. But even though history was screaming YUCK my heart was screaming nostalgia and I set out to make the frosting I remembered as a child. I threw all the ingredients into a pan, turned on the burner and broke out my hand held mixer to start the tedious task of 7 minutes of blending until those pretty peaks started forming. I must admit the idea of making 7 minute frosting has always intimidated me but I have to say it was somewhat refreshing to see those pretty white peaks form into a soft gooey mountain of marshmallow. Once I pulled that creamy goodness off the stove and added the vanilla my mouth was watering. And by the time it went on top of the cake I was having a sugar high from all the frosting that had already passed my lips because after all a good cook must sample! Of course the girls got their fair share of taste testing. I tweaked this frosting a little bit to change the texture, my grandmothers frosting always got a little crunchy film on top but I wanted my frosting to stay smooth and delightful. In the end the result was absolute perfection and I am sorry to say to my grandmother who was an expert 7 minute frosting lady that my frosting is so much better than hers. Shhhh, don't tell! Love you grandma!

For a different type of yummy frosting here is my grandmothers recipe with the cream of tarter tweak.

Blanche's 7 minute Frosting

2 egg whites
3/4 cup Sugar
1/3 cup light corn syrup
3 tablespoons water
1/2 teaspoon cream of tarter
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine all ingredients except for vanilla in a large sauce pot and blend with hand mixer on low speed for about 3 minutes then move the mixer to medium speed and continue. At 6 minutes add vanilla and beat on high for another minute or until peaks stand still. To tell if it is right take a spoonful of the frosting and turn it upside down. If it stays on the spoon it is perfect. Immediately frost your cake. Yields enough frosting to frost a 2 layer 9 inch cake inside and out.

The pull-up Gods are smilin!

Fare warning blog readers, it is time for a rip roaring installment of the super fun future teenager embarrassing POTTY TALK. Really it is our first REAL potty time blog but I think it is far time that we celebrate the wonders that is potty training because our Georgia deserves some talk! For the last year we have been "trying" to potty train her but have not had much luck in doing so. We have heard all the "they have to be ready" talks but at the same time we have people like Nana shoving the "it is time, it is wrong not to" down our throats making us look like bad parents. I now know any parent should ignore anyone who claims it is time as if you are doing something wrong in not potty training because it is 100% up to the kid. After Georgia's 3rd birthday I put my foot down to pull-ups and started Georgia wearing panties all day then hitting the bathroom every 30 minutes. This was not our first try at this routine, in fact this is how we have always done it, but it was the first try I didn't get a screaming kid declaring war on the bathroom. Georgia decided it was time to start using the potty without any issues all on her own. She wasn't ready at 2 but at 3 she is a big girl! And now thanks to her being ready for this potty training adventure she is using the potty in each way (1 & 2) even asking to go potty when out and about at public places. Which truly is an amazing breakthrough because she does in fact wear pull-ups in public. A small price to pay to avoid embarrassment for all parties involved. Now days if we don't go out we use one pull up per day at bedtime, some days even if we do go out it still remains 1 pull up because it is back to panties when we get home. I am so happy to see my middle monkey working so hard to be a big girl on the potty and I know daddy is happy to see the 100 bucks a month going back into his pocket slowly but surely.

My biggest prayer in all of this is that Georgia will be that extra hand I need in helping Miriam learn to potty. I have a goal of having her finally trained by 6 years old. She still has a fear of the potty sometimes but is willing to sit on it and on occasion will use it. But for now, yay for Georgia!

We tried!

Today has been such a disaster! I woke up ready to do my chores then decided it might be fun to take advantage of Tom being home an extra day to do something fun with the girls. We have not been to a movie in forever so I figured since "How to train a Dragon" was at the dollar cinema that we would give it a shot and catch a flick. But since Tom decided he did not feel well it ended up just being myself and Georgia. By the time we got to the movies (15 minutes early mind you) the show had sold out. Since the movie was on 2 screens, the next showing was at 5:00 just an hour and fifteen minutes later. Given that we drove half an hour to get there we hit up the McDonald's for some ice cream and time on the playscape. After half an hour it was time to hit the movies, only problem was that I ended up having to literally drag a shoeless Georgia out the door kicking and screaming. This should have been a sign that I should just cash my tickets in and head home but no, I kept trucking.

Let me tell you that we picked the dollar cinema half an hour from home to economize but instead ended up spending close to what we would spend at a better theater. The movie which was advertised on the website as being 75 cents on Mondays was actually full priced and the popcorn and soda was dollars more than any other theater I have ever seen. None the less we paid the price because who can see a movie without popcorn and a drink? ;-) So we watched the movie with Georgia talking the entire time which at first did not bother me. She was so sweet when asked what was wrong when she just could not seem to sit still , she replied "nothin mama, I am just soo happy". Only an hour into the movie she decided it was time to have a full on conversation then announce to the theater that she needed to "pee". We went to the potty, went back to the movie only to have her throw a kicking screaming fit in the aisle because she wanted to play video games instead. Of course, I am not giving in to a 3 year old and her fits so we left the theater and went home.

Once we got home, she refused to eat because the neighborhood girls decided to come play. Against my better judgment at letting Georgia play with older kids I let her go out back to be with them. Tom had already told them they could play with her while we were gone and I did not want to second guess him. But no more than 5 minutes (more like 3) after being outside with they all strolled in proclaiming "we are leaving", no more explanation. Poor Georgia came inside so sad asking me "where girls go mama, wanna play with girls!". We then decided to let her and her sisters go play, we also let her ride her bike with daddy out front but she got mad so they decided to practice rollerskating. Nothing worked to cheer her up, she went to bed exclaiming how sad she was that the girls left and did not want to play with her. Needless to say these little girls will never be coming to play here again.

We did get some cute pictures of Georgia rollerskating with her daddy out of the deal. We tried to make a good day out of it but I guess every once in a while you just have "one of those days" that you should have stuck to the plan. I just wish today was not the day Georgia learned how rotten other kids can be. "I" wasn't ready for that!

Independence day

This 4th of July we decided to say to heck with the crowds at firework celebrations and stay at home. We had a nice family dinner and let the girls play outside in our "homemade" water park. A simple set up of the pool and the kid scape..lol You would have thought we had a million dollar water park in our back yard the fun those girls got out of it all. Even Sophia was climbing and sliding fearlessly into the pool exclaiming "Yay!!" every time she successfully made her way into the water from the slide. It was so cute! Besides all the fireworks being shot off at 1am by neighbors hitting our house we had a wonderful Independence day.

And here is a little video of Sophia's first slide by herself. :-)

Just like Daddy!

In preparation for today's activities we had to get the yard in tip top shape. Which included a much needed tightening up and restaking of the swingset. Our sad swingset has endured years of fun but has been shaken apart and is about ready to fall. So Tom doing his duty as the man of the house set his sights on his trusty wrench. Georgia being the "helper" she is insisted on her own tool so she could get in on the action. She "tightened" up the screws on the stairs and made it tip top once again.