Update

Oh, my goodness! It has been such a long time. I would like to tell you that I have been too busy to write, but that would be a lie. I really just took a long break. We took a break from homeschooling too.

A lot of things have happened this summer, I just don't write about any of it while it was happening.

My insurance covered my breast reduction surgery, and it has been awesome so far. I am still healing, so I don't know my size right now, but I was a 34G before surgery. Most of that I gained when I got pregnant with Jasmine. Unfortunately the neck and back pain was just killing me, every day was just a struggle. Right now somethings are still a struggle, I don't bend well yet, but my neck and upper back pain are gone. I still have some lower back pain, but I think it is because I am not used to sleeping on my back.

My mom visited before my surgery and my dad is going to visit mid-September with his brother.

A couple of days ago Jasmine came to me with this workbook...


and she did the first 20ish pages probably under 15 minutes. She has much better control now. We are using a triangle pencil like this...



but Jasmine's doesn't have an eraser. It was great that she has finally decided to write, but it did show me that she has problems with the half-circles for letters. We didn't continue on to the part of tracing the alphabet. Instead I bought some a writing tablet like this...



and made our own tracing lines. Like this...


Jasmine did pretty well with the straight lines in the workbook, but these are much smaller and will need more control, but if she does well with these too then I will just make the next page a workout of half-circles and circles for her to practice with.

I don't want to tire, bore or frustrate her (especially when she has finally shown interest!) so we'll probably only work on it every couple of days.

We are also working on numbers. Jasmine has 1-12 down solid, but when it comes to the 'teens she is very wobbly. She knows the names of the numbers, but not the order so she kind of mumbles and adds a 'teen at the end until she announces that it is suddenly 20. I got some flashcards and we have been playing games with beads. I hope that will help her out a bit.

The themed Muffin Tin Mondays started last Monday, but we missed it. Hopefully I will remember to do this coming Monday's theme.

Back from the beginning of the year, that Korean school I mentioned? Yeah, that didn't work out for us. It is intended for kids who already know and understand Korean, but are just learning to read and write Korean. I cannot teach Jasmine Korean, I do know how to read Korean, it is a phonetic language and very easy to learn to read, but I have no vocabulary at all. It is one of the few times that I wished my mom lived closer. There are a few other Korean churches that I will check out and see if they offer classes, but not right now.

I think there are going to be too many changes soon that adding another one right now would just be too much for Jasmine.

Jasmine will start going to a "child development center" aka daycare a couple of hours on Mondays and Wednesdays while I am in class. We think this will actually be a positive thing. All of the kids on our block are much older (middle school/high school age) so this will be a chance for her to make friends around her own age.

Faith co-op starts on the 9th and Jasmine will be in both hours of the preschool, but some times the kids are only in one of the hours of preschool (and it is only one day a week.) I think the kids in the daycare would be more stable. I really am hoping that she makes a good friend, 'cause she can be really shy some times.

This semester I am also teaching Journalism and crafts at the co-op. Should be fun.

Jasmine will start bowling on the 11th at Carson Lanes. We are having her birthday party there this Saturday. I'm really hoping that Jasmine will like it, it'll be another chance for her to socialize in her age group (3-6 year-olds is the bowling league she is in.)

We also have an appointment on Tuesday for Jasmine to observe a Tiny Tigers class. I'm not sure how well that will go, I think she might enjoy the class, but she doesn't follow directions well at all. So, we'll see.

I think that's all for now.

Update

I realized that I haven't written in a while what is going on here. Jasmine and I have both been sick on and off for a while, so we really haven't gotten much done.

I'm sorry if anyone got caught up in the spam one of the widgets I added to the page was spewing. If you have a blogger blog don't add the random word of the day in several foreign languages widget.

We went to Alabama for a weekend to attend a wedding. I would not recommend the Birmingham Zoo, almost all of the information on their website is incorrect. And after we complained to the supervisor/manager (even explaining that we were not local) all we were offered were free tickets, even after repeatedly saying that we didn't live in the area (but they are good for a year!) grr.

Today was the last day of Faith Co-op for the semester. I may get roped in (okay, I volunteered) to teach a journalism class next semester, and maybe a sewing/craft class. It could be fun, but nerve wrecking. I haven't had anything to do with journalism in over six years.

I have been working more and more to get Jasmine to write. We have done some painting at Crescent Moon's suggestion. I also found these...


at our local education store, It's Educational. The pencil is a little too big for Jasmine's hand, but she already has the idea of how to hold it. I picked it out for Jasmine because both my husband and I hold our pencils incorrectly. I probably spent kindergarten to 5th or 6th grade with teachers trying to correct my grip, but it never worked out.



What we are currently reading:
Jasmine's selection: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum


I am reading this to Jasmine at night. A friend of mine is a huge Oz fan, so we are planning to dress up as the witches and have the kids dress up as characters, I'll probably do movie Dorothy for Jasmine as I don't think most people know that the shoes are supposed to be silver.

My selection: The Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan


I am rereading the Percy Jackson series. We went and saw the movie on opening weekend. It was really good, Jasmine didn't like a few bits with the monsters, but she is 3 years-old, it would probably be fine with an older child.

Muffin Tin Monday - late

I've been sick the last couple of days, so our muffin tin is late.

The theme for this Monday was red. This is a small one, Jasmine ran off with the red cup that had orange juice in it, so I have a replacement cup in this picture. I cut cherry tomatoes into hearts, and idea that I found here at Eye Candy. I was going to try and carve a heart into the apple, an idea I found on another blog, but I just wasn't feeling up to the challenge.

Hopefully I will be feeling better for next week's theme, orange. Oh, and if anyone wants to join MTM, you don't have to make the tins on Monday, you are just supposed to post them on Monday.

Muffin Tin Monday

This week's theme is ABC/123. Jasmine has one slice of 배 (Asian Pear), two chunks of banana, and three carrots, three slices of cucumber resting on a bed of corn. The numbers were written with Wilton Sparkle Gel in Black. I love that stuff, it is very easy to use.

In other news, Jasmine is back at the preschool co-op this year. It started on the 14th. She is taking both hours this time, although she missed an hour last week. We left early because it was snowing so much, I was worried about getting back up the hill to Carson. When we left I noticed that the chains and snow tires sign was flashing, most of the drive was done at 25 mph and took a lot longer than it should have.

EDIT: Who knew that sparkle gel would be so popular. I got mine at the local Wal-Mart. It is normally in the aisle with the cake mixes, but some times it is in the aisle with the cake pans. I've also seen it in several grocery stores.

Slowly losing my mind

So, once a year for about three years, my dad has driven from Oklahoma to Carson City, NV. He piles his car full of boxes of my junk. This last July he brought the last of the boxes. Well, when I moved from Oklahoma to Los Angeles I took my sewing machine with me, but for some reason I didn't pack the peddle/power cord in the box with the sewing machine. I thought that it had to still be in Oklahoma. Well, today I went and opened the last two boxes (unless there is a box heading some where.) No power cord. I don't know what to do. I've been telling my husband to not buy me another sewing machine because I was sure that it would get here eventually. Now I have no idea what happened to it. Well, (un)fortunately I have rejoined the SCA and I want to make some things for myself and Jasmine, but I have no power to my sewing machine. I don't really want to buy another one, but I really want one. I might see if any second-hand stores have a decent one, eh... but I am so picky. This sucks. I want to make things. Now!

Bye-bye crib

So, for almost three and a half years Jasmine has slept in a crib. She has never tried to climb out. I don't know why. Today I finally converted her crib into a toddler bed. I figured I might have an easier time if I did it while my husband was away, I don't know why and can't even follow my own logic.

Here's a picture of her crib:

There's a stuffed Max and Stitch in there.

And here is the bed now:

I put her old crib bumper back up. There is supposed to be a wooden board that runs in front of the mattress, so it won't slide off onto the floor, but for some reason there are no holes drilled in the left post, so I couldn't put it up.

EDIT: I checked on Jasmine earlier, she was awake, but in bed! I just checked on her now and she is asleep, but still in bed! Most of her toys are in my closet right now (time to go through them and give away the ones she doesn't play with), but there are several piles of stuffed animals she could have gotten up and played with. She went to sleep with her door closed, but I opened it, so if I am not awake by the time she wakes up in the morning she can come into my room and either wake me up, or make a mess (I still haven't finished sorting through all of my craft supplies and they are in a ring around my bed.) I'm excited. I'm not sure for how long she'll stay in bed before she realizes that she can just get out, but I am hoping for a long, long time. I also hope she doesn't fall out of bed tonight.

Resolutions

So, when my husband asked I told him that I didn't have any resolutions and I guess that is a lie.

One of my resolutions is to write more. More journaling in my book to Jasmine, more posting on this blog and more creative writing. The last part is going to have to happen, I signed up to take a class at the local college and if I ever want to finish my Masters I will have to finish writing a book.

My second resolution is to finish more craft projects this year (and to remember to take photographs!) My husband said that I needed to finish some, but I really did finish quite a few last year. I know he was teasing, but really, grrrr. There are a few things that have been sitting around for a while (years) that are close to being finished, so hopefully they'll get done. For some reason thought I am already planning next Christmas' presents.

My third resolution is to take more pictures! We are so bad about taking pictures, it doesn't matter where we go or what we are doing, there is rarely a picture of it. I don't even have a Halloween picture of Jasmine for 2008. So, here are some for now.

This is my bed right now, luckily my husband is in Little Rock, AR, or else he wouldn't have a place to sleep tonight:

I am trying to organize my craft stuff, I know where everything is and what needs to be finished.

And here are two paintings Jasmine did while I started the great sorting:

Done in water paint.

and:

Done in paint dot markers, basically bingo markers.

Finally home - from 12/29/09

I can't even begin to explain how relived I am to finally be home.

The end of the year always seems difficult for me, but this year (2009) seemed worse than normal. Our funds are running low, we did some home maintenance and unfortunately a lot of travelling this year (2009). I'm not sure if 2010 is going to be any kinder to us, my husband is already going to be gone for half of January. So we are going to try and budget our spending, we would like to take Jasmine to Disneyland, Sea World and the San Diego Zoo after Labour Day, which is about two weeks after her birthday.

Plus there is a Korean school in Sparks that I would like to enroll Jasmine in. It is $100 for the first 3-4 months, and then after summer break it is $80. I know that is a lot of money, but my mom didn't start me in Korean school until I was 14 and it was really embarrassing sitting with a bunch of preschoolers going over the same work every week. I didn't learn anything. And since I'm not fluent in Korean myself, and my pronunciation is atrocious I can't teach Jasmine myself.

But, I know the things we have to worry about are minor, I just wished we didn't have to worry about them at all.

I also don't know where I want to go with Jasmine's homeschooling, she knows most of her ABCs, she has a little trouble with "i", "j", "m", and "n" but for the most part has everything down. She has mastered 1-13 and is working on 14-20. She knows her colors and shapes. So, I don't know if I want to continue with Letter of the Week. We haven't even gotten very far on it, just to letter "E." So I might find some harder things. Maybe we'll work on muscle control for writing, she is getting better, but still kind of wild with a crayon.