great back

Did this cool tree for a girl the other day. Beautiful on her. I thought it came out great and it was fun to do something so different. She loved it.

before and after

I am amazed, impressed, and happy. To look now at the before photo of my feet and what they were for so long, it is strange, and gross! I am so happy that I had the bunion surgery. I am 6 weeks from the first surgery, and three weeks from the second. My first foot is doing great, and the second one is getting there- still tender and not really flexing, but slowly but surely it is coming along.
I am looking forward to wearing some nice shoes, without having to compensate for ugly bunions- nice sandals, and more. I will be getting my ski boots tweaked alot to fix them for the new shape of my foot. Skiing should be alot less painful next winter. Yeah!!
I am certainly happy that I didn't get swayed by all of the horror stories of bunion surgeries! Great surgeons exist, and my physical therapist is really wonderful too. How nice to have a good base to stand on.

best friends

I am sad that Emmett will not be going back to his school next year. His best friend of the last three years will be sad too, but he doesn't know yet. His mom doesn't want to tell him yet, as she knows he will be devastated. They have been best friends for the last three years, and in their short lives, that is half of their time here, and most of their memories.

Emmett knows he will be going to the public school nearby, but I don't think it has occurred to him the impact that it will have of being away from his hard and fast bonds he has. He is also not happy about the prospect of having homework next year. I agree. First grade should not have homework. He needs time to be a child. He will get home at 4pm, and he heads up to start his bedtime routine (stories, etc) by about 6:30. That is not much time to play and just be a kid.

I have enough issues with the amount of homework that is given to his brother in 5th grade. I certainly have issues with homework in 1st grade! I think the whole schooling system in this country is not focused well, and there is far too much teaching to the testing. I don't really have any alternative where we live, so it is off to public school for my kids. I often hear people say, "oh, you have such good schools in your town"... I always respond with "what does 'good schools 'mean?... the test scores are good?" so what. Does that really mean that we have fully educated our kids? It doesn't mean the kids are well rounded or confident or able to express themselves on different levels. it just means that they have had certain things drilled into their heads, and can spit it back.
I also have issues with the fact that our school district teaches the "everyday math" program, which has been shown to be detrimental in the long run, as the kids don't really learn the breakdown of how and why they are doing things. And the other thing I have an issue with is that they have to learn cursive. To me this is archaic. As my older one said... "why do we need to learn a different font?" hmmm... doesn't that just sum it up a bit? More on that some other time.
In the meantime, I am glad that both of my boys got the good base in their early years. I am sad that it will no longer be part of their day. Things will change now on many levels.

little cozy ones

they like to all sleep together in a lump. Eli found them like this inside his comforter the other night when he was ready for bed. They really have been such good pets for the boys. So glad we didn't get hamsters!

These little ferrets have been more than entertaining for almost 2 years now. It is so good for kids to have a pet (or a few). I grew up with such a menagerie- cats, kittens galore, a dog, pet mice, guinea pigs, hamsters, and even my horse (although that isn't really a pet, but she was right out the door). There was always a plethora of four legged things at our house. I like having the boys learn to be kind and care for something that can't care for itself.