Julie A. Duncan

In order to be home in time for the bus and to make up time for my classes, I work through most of my lunches. There are definite disadvantages to it. Today, I had leftover Cajun Chicken Pasta from celebrating Melba's birthday at Red Lobster the day before. Wonderful pasta and even more wonderful cheddar garlic biscuits. Good stuff! However, I looked down and realized I'd eaten it all and didn't even remember it. I had been concentrating on my work so much that I hadn't even really tasted it, much less actually enjoyed it. What a sad waste! Tasteless leftovers.

Since we've been playing with money quite a bit lately, we've discovered that Charley loves to play with money too. We can toss a coin near the edge of the counter so that it makes a little noise. Charley head suddenly pops up from the chair she's laying in. She zeros in on the coin and quickly grabs at it with her paw, sliding it to the edge and down to the ground. She drops down to a pouncing position to watch from her perch just to make sure the coin is dead. Her ears perk up at the sound of another rolling coin on the counter and she's ready to play again. Get it, Charley!

The girls have been learning about money - all three of them. Hailey has to be able to identify a penny, nickel, dime, and quarter and tell how much they're worth. Jordan and Ashley have to be able to add money with them. We've been pulling out the big coin jar and using it for practice. I let Jordan count all of it and we guessed how much we thought there was. There was almost $25 in coins. I guessed only $20. Jordan guessed $24 and since she was the closest, she got to put her hand in and keep what she pulled out. Greg's coin jar

One of the neat things about my two classes I'm taking this semester is how well they have fit together. In my Liberal Arts Methods course, I had just finished reading the poetry chapter before my Creative Expressions class started on Friday. We did poetry in Creative Expressions that weekend, then did poetry in Liberal Arts the following week. Liberal Arts Methods: We had to write down as many "sh" words as we could think of. Then with all of those possibilities, we created an "sh" poem. Here's mine: The shark shot up the shore. Shirtless Shrek shuddered and shook. He shouted to his shipmates, "Stay sharp! Shake of your shoes!" What a shock to the shark That shower of shoes He shall shun that ship with a shudder. In Creative Expressions we did "Found Poetry" first where we took a copy of printed text from a book. We chose words to cover up with painter's tape, then made a painting on top. We took off the tape and...

Jordan on their trip to the mountains with Daddy while Mommy was in her weekend class: We packed a picnic. Then we started to drive to the mountains. It was a looong time to get to our picnic stop. Then we finally stopped after we picked a good spot for our picnic. Why we picked it is because it had shade. Then when we got out, Hailey got on a rock and pretended she climbed on a mountain. While we ate our picnic, Ashley and I didn't want to since it was too windy. So, we asked Daddy if we could go in the car and Daddy said that we could. Ashley and I got in and we ate there. It was still chilly so we closed the doors so it wouldn't be so cold. While we were watching, we saw a car coming in the window of the car. Then we decided that we were going to the Visitor's Center. We went inside and then Daddy asked us to write our names that we had come there. So we looked around. We remembered that they had this place where we could hear sounds of animals. So I looked inside and ...

After three days Ashley was still holding her stomach and moaning. She hadn't eaten any thing the entire time. None of the rest of us were sick that long, so I made an appointment and we headed to the doctor. We saw Dr. Legako. Dr. Stillick left last year to follow his dream of working with premature babies in Ohio. Dr. Legako said since Ashley also had diarrhea that it was a stomach virus and not the flu. He prescribed some medicine that they give chemotherapy patients for nausea. He also told us she needed to be drinking more than just water or she could still get dehydrated. She needed to drink Gatorade or something with electrolytes in it. So, off we went to Wal-Mart where Ashley stopped in the bathroom first because she thought she was going to throw up. Luckily she didn't and luckily no one was in the bathroom while she was trying. Wal-Mart told us there are only two places in town that could fill the prescription, Anderson's and the Walgreens on 67th. Off we went to...

Ashley was still very sick today. However, Jordan was feeling much better. She only had a headache and once she had some medicine for her head, she seemed to have plenty of energy. So, we had to get ready for her tests tomorrow. That meant practicing spelling, vocabulary, math, and rereading her story. We created a comic that used her spelling words and used legos to put the spelling words together since they were about prefixes. Then she and I presented her story about bringing three small kittens in from the rain as a puppet show for Ashley. We looked at the vocabulary in the story and took a practice vocabulary test. Then we did something on the internet to practice math. All the while, Ashley laid on the floor near us and moaned every few minutes. Poor girl. Jordan tries to catch up on school work.

Ashley came in our room at 1:30 this morning to announce, "Mommy? I just threw up." Then we woke up the next morning to find Jordan laying in their bedroom door holding her tummy and moaning. It was a stay home from school type of day. Ashley doesn't think being sick is much fun.

Our four day weekend is over and hopefully so is the sickness. This picture is from our morning routine. After I fix the girls' hair, they head downstairs to fix lunches and eat breakfast. Jordan and Ashley haven't eaten the school lunch since they started at Elgin. Hailey on the other hand prefers to eat the school lunch most days. We keep a schedule for her and she decides each morning. Some days, it's a definite struggle to get the lunches made and upstairs to brush teeth and get out the door to catch the bus. They haven't missed the bus all year though!

So, Hailey seemed to be doing much better yesterday. I was feeling better. So we planned to go to church and head to Norman after church. However....Greg woke up and immediately started throwing up. Greg stayed home and the rest of us went to church where we enjoyed an orchestra potluck lunch. The girls seemed perfectly fine and were running all over the place having a grand time. A couple hours after we got home, Hailey said she was tired and zonked out in the "train" created with the chairs. Greg stayed sick all day and Hailey woke up around midnight throwing up. Definitely an up and down day. Asleep on the train

Emily is Jordan and Ashley's best friend from Fletcher. They miss her a lot and really enjoy getting together with her when they do.

The girls were out of school today for a professional day. We desperately needed to buy some new jeans for Jordan and Ashley so we headed for a girls' day of shopping. We bought jeans and shirts at Old Navy. Then used their Reading Coupons for free personal pan pizzas at Pizza Hut. Then we headed to Wal-Mart for some groceries and birthday gifts for Emily Locklear. A final quick stop at the library and we headed home. Hailey and I both were not feeling well by the time we got home. It was a long day, but we did get everything done we went to do.  Reading at the library - one of my favorite things to see. Hmmm. Mommy, what do you think we should buy for Emily? Pizza. Yum, yum! However, next time Jordan wants the all you can eat buffet.

We've had Jazz since Fall Break in October. She was one of three kittens that had made Fern's house their home. Fern had been feeding them since their mother abandoned them at the end of May. They never let her touch them though. Greg loved Jazz and set his mind to catch her. It took quite a bit of doing as the cat was spooked easily. We finally had her in a cat carrier and on the way home. We thought she looked very much like an exotic princess so we named her Jasmine and called her Jazz for short. She hid in the garage for days. We should have named her Houdini. She could totally disappear. We would look all over the garage and finally find her in the smallest of places. Her favorite spot was inside the riding lawn mower. I don't know how she kept getting in it. She was covered in grease. She wouldn't come out any time we were out there. The next morning the food would be gone and we would clean the litter box. That went on for several days. Then Greg took Friday off ...

I met with Mrs. Martin, Jordan and Ashley's 2nd grade teacher, today. The girls are doing great in school. She showed me their work from writing and they seem to really enjoy it. They're doing a famous heros book. Each week they learn and write about a new person such as Martin Luther King, Jr., Mother Theresa, the Wright Brothers, and Eleanor Roosevelt. The first few weeks, Ashley was also reading some books that we had at home about the people. Her report for them had close to twenty or more sentences and filled the entire page. Mrs. Martin talked to her about choosing the most important details to write about instead of writing absolutely everything you learned. Her essays are about half that size now, but still quite detailed. They both are really enjoying that project. Jordan and Ashley "shopping" in Mrs. Martin's bookshelves during our conference.

We drove home in snow last night and woke up to a beautiful winter scene. Unfortunately, the schools didn't think it was enough to stay home so we all had to leave it. It was amazing how fast the girls got ready this morning though so that they still managed to have quite a bit of time playing in the morning. Then there was still some left after they got home so they played in it until they were almost frozen snowmen themselves. That's when we took a nice warm bubblebath!

Ashley shares about her first time skating First, Jordan and I had to try getting shoes. We asked for size 13 but those were too small. We had to wear ones. First it was hard to skate. I went around the rink one time and then I found how to do it and I got better. If someone fell down, a teacher who didn't have skating shoes would help them. Jordan and I first got to hold hands with one of the teachers to balance while we were skating. Then we skated with a third grader and she kept falling down and then getting back up. Jordan and I both fell eleven times. Sometimes we caught ourselves with our hand before we fell on our bottom. We first went on a car. There were not many people and we played games. We sat with the third grader that we skated with. There could be three people in a seat. We started a story, but you could not have people dying in the story. But the boys in the back really wanted to do that. People got to buy things, like we got nachos and a Hershey bar we shared. ...

My second class this semester is a weekend class called Creative Expression. Basically I get to spend three weeks painting, singing, dancing, acting, and generally creating. How cool is that? We did some rather interesting things this weekend. One of them was round robin painting. We had a piece of paper for maybe 30 seconds to just over a minute. Then the instructor would shout, "Change!" and we had to change papers with another person in the class. It was really neat to see how the pictures ended up and how most of the time it was close to what the person who originally started the idea had planned on. Another project we did was with Eric Carle's art. First we painted several pieces of paper with various colors and trying to add texture with different brushes. Then we created a collage by cutting out the pieces and making animals. Eric Carle actually paints on tissue paper we learned. Then he draws on tracing paper and cuts both out to piece his art together. It's g...

One of the nice things about our new car is that it has an auxiliary input. I can download electronic books to my ipod or tablet and hook it up to listen to as I drive to work. The library also has these things called "playaways" that are electronic books. I just finished up Nine Dragons, a Harry Bosch novel by Michael Connelly.

Today was our coworker's last day. Chase Bailey left for a better paying, fewer hours, and fewer demands job so that his wife would be able to stay home with their new born son. You have to admire him for that. But I sure hated to see him go. I don't remember when Chase Bailey started working upstairs with us. It was right before Banner though so was that maybe around 2007?? All of the migrations just blend together now. Anyway, Chase has worked with Greg for several years and they just seemed the perfect fit. They both have easy going personalities and seemed to think alike in many respects. He was like Greg in that he had that computer science mind that could tackle issues and create solutions. Chase was one of those guys that the entire campus liked. He'd originally been with the help desk and lots of people continued to call him because they knew he would help them. Our campus won't be the same without him. I admit it. I actually cried trying to say good-bye. He w...

My girls really inherited artistic skills from their grandparents and dad. I think they got their creativity from me. It's a great combination. This is Hailey's picture she did in art. It's a triad drawing. The first panel is nighttime with a moon. The middle panel is daytime with the sun and the last panel is sunset. The story is about some butterflies who were caught and died that night. All of us thought it was a sad story, but I pointed out that not all stories end happily. I was really impressed with the passing of time represented in the sky. I asked if her teacher suggested that and Hailey said it was her own idea. Very neat.

Yesterday, when the girls got home from school I told them they HAD to clean their room so we could actually walk into it. They went right to work. Not even complaining. And they were done in less than an hour! And what's better, is it's still clean today! Plus, at supper, we talked about doing another chore schedule. They signed up for what they wanted to do and we've decided they would do it all week rather than trying to do things on different days. Here's hoping!

Just a fun afternoon after school. They actually didn't have any homework today! We obviously have way too many things of nail polish!!

Guest bloggers regarding their love of Michael Jackson's songs: Jordan: It's really fun to dance to it because it's very good.My favorite is the scary one. It starts with a movie where Michael Jackson turns into a werewolf and the girl screams and she runs from him. And he gets her. Then we don't know what happens because the song starts. Then the girl wants out of the movie place because it's too scary and Michael Jackson comes with her. When they pass the graveyard people come up from the graves. Then when they get really close to Michael Jackson, he turns into a zombie. The girl is scared and she runs to a creepy house and blocks the door. They crash through the windows and get the door open. They crash everything. When she wakes up, she finds out it was a dream. But it wasn't cause when he looks back at us, his eyes turn red! I like it because it's fun and exciting. Ashley: Michael Jackson's songs are good. I like Beat It. It has lots of action ...

I went to a women's fellowship today. I must admit that I don't do that too often. I tend to keep to myself a lot. God's been working on me that I need to open myself up more, become vulnerable, and be a friend. We went to the Olive Garden for lunch first. There were about twenty or so of us there. The food and fellowship was fun. Afterward, about a fourth of us went to see Joyful Noise . It was a pretty good movie. I'd like to see it again or just write down some quotes from it. There was some cussing in it, but it was typically from non-Christians. Once though a daughter cusses with her mother in a rebellious outrage. The mom cusses at her right back and then spouts out something like, "See? I can cuss too. It's not classy but it IS easy." The one thing I liked about the movie is that it showed Christians being real, not perfect. They were dealing with the same issues that other people deal with and just holding on to their faith. That's not somethin...

Ashley LOVES Indians. She would love to be one. Her favorite moment of piano was when she finally reached the song in her first book called The Indian Song and she got to perform it at one of the Saturday Piano Labs. She had heard one of the other students play it at her first lab and had been chomping at the bits to play it ever since. She likes to pretend she's an Indian and loves to read books about them. Today she woke up coughing really hard and nearly throwing up. She looked and sounded awful so I made the decision to keep her home. A breathing treatment and two teaspoonfuls of medicine later and she was perfectly fine. It's not in my nature to let them just watch TV all day if they're home sick (unless they're really sick and laying on the couch sleeping off and on really is the best thing for them.) When they're home for asthma issues I try to make good use of the times in between when they're feeling okay. With Ashley, I brainstormed with her what ...

It's time for recital and costume fees. I'm always amazed how much costumes cost. Jordan's gymnastics fee was only $60 and also includes a leotard and an award. (Does that mean a trophy or something??) I've never been to a gymnastics recital so it should be interesting. They are supposed to learn a small dance/gymnastic routine set to music and then to their gymnastic skills. It's the same weekend as Arts for All. Hopefully, it won't conflict with anything Hailey or Ashley will be doing at Arts for All. I'm thinking that's going to be a very busy weekend. Hailey's fees were also due today. We've already paid a $25 recital fee and today paid half of the costume which is $74 total. They're recital isn't until the end of June which will be kind of nice. May is always so busy with the end of school. Hailey's the oldest in her class and I think she will do really well at her recital. Mom helped me measure her for her costume. I can truth...

Jordan has really been asking questions about becoming a Christian the past few months. Today she hit me hard. She said three of her friends at school are Christians. She wanted to know more. We talked a little about sin. I mentioned that part of sin is knowing to do something and not doing it - like reading your Bible. She said that she didn't have enough time. I told her that most adults say the same thing but that's what being a Christian is about. You make God a priority. You have to ask yourself which is more important - watching another movie on Netflix or reading God's word and listening to Him. She didn't quite get the listening to God part. She still has a lot of questions. I have questions too. How do I know when it's the right time? How do I know that she doesn't just want to "become a Christian" so she'll be like her friends or because she thinks it's cool to be baptized and participate in the Lord's Supper? I know. I've b...