Tired?

Olivia's Top 2 Designs

End-of-the-Year Robotics Assignments: Share with others

Nyah's Top 2 Designs

End-of-Year Robotics Assignment: Share with others

Basement Easter Egg Hunt

 

On an adventure

Visitors! Visitors! Visitors!

We had my friend's 4 kids staying with us a few days. While it was a lot of work, and I definitely was ready for a nap on the last day, it was also lots of fun!

Easter Egg Hunt

Our homeschool group's annual Easter egg hunt.

I think they want a new dog

Jo snuggling with a substitute dog in the mornings.

Sophie took this leash on a walk and told me it was her dog. 

Interesting Thinks

Two Cardinal Sins That Prevent Success @ Life Manifestos

Family Work by Kathleen Bahr

10 ways you're making your homeschool day harder than it needs to be @ Simple Homeschool

Is Your Child Ready to Read? A Checklist @ mothering

A Mathematician's Lament by Paul Lockhart

To Advance Education, We Must First Reimagine Society @ Mind/Shift

A Child's Place is in the Kitchen by Laura Grace Weldon @ Culinate

Sunburn

My poor pale child.

Nose Job

Pre-op

Post-op

He's still pretty miserable, but getting better each day.

Elevensies at B&N

I think they are programmed to suddenly be dying of hunger as soon as we leave the house. and naturally, they don't want anything when we are in the house. 

Jolie-polie

Hey! you look funny! 

No, you look funny!

Stop laughing at me! 

No, you stop laughing at me!

Can we be friends?

No.

Oh, the torture!

I bought a 1000 piece puzzle thinking it was something we could do as a family.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

But Nyah and I did finally finish it. 

Sleep

My wild & crazy girls

Family Fondue Night

Update: Olivia & NF1

A problem is not a problem unless its a problem. 

That's my new mantra these days and it's especially applicable to Olivia & NF1. 

Olivia has had a busy month. 

Every time we meet with one of her specialists, we learn something new. They tend to say things like "And, of course, she has all these deep tissue neurofibromas, but I'm sure you knew about those." 

Um, no, not really. No, we didn't. 

"Well, we don't need to worry about them, because they aren't doing anything."

And they are right, a problem is not a problem unless its a problem. 

We met with Olivia's genetics doctor to go over the National Cancer Institute's (NCI) results:

Understanding the results: 

These images are of the plexiform neurofibroma in Olivia's left ear/neck area from the 3 MRIs she did in 2013. The plexiform is the brighter grayish area on the right side of the images.

(1) There was a 16% growth rate from 2/2013 to 7/2013. 

(2) There was a 32% growth rate from 2/2013 to 12/2013, or another way of looking at it, a 16% growth rate from 7/2013 to 12/2013. 

So it's growing and continuing to grow. But it's growing under 20%, which is sort of the cut-off rate of needing to do treatment, and it's not interfering with her airways, arteries, eating abilities, hearing, etc. 

But it is growing, continuing to grow, so another MRI in June.

And it seemed like she was having trouble with some tongue movements, so it's back to her ENT. The other ENT. Do people have 2 ENTs? She also has 2 opthamologists. So hard to keep up. 

Then we met with the oncologist to discuss possible treatment options. It was agreed that treatment is not needed at this time, but it's good to be knowledgeable of possibilities, even if they will probably change in the next year, 6 months, weeks, days.

Then we met with an opthamologist/facial surgeon to discuss a different plexiform above Olivia's right eye that also appears to be going through an active growth phase- again knowing that surgery is not necessary at this time, but it's good for the doctor and us to have an idea of where the baseline is at. 

But then I hear new things, like the one above.

Like this- "She has a slight turning in of her right eye, which may be caused by the optic glioma on her optic pathway tumor."

"But I'll let so-and-so and so-and-so (other specialists we didn't have any plans of seeing anytime soon) take care of addressing that."

And "she does seem to have a slight loss of vision in her left eye." 

"But again, I'll let so-and-so and so-and-so take care of addressing that."

 And so we have more appointments this summer with so-and-so and so-and-so.

And I just tell myself, "A problem is not a problem unless its a problem."

And I know, without a shadow of doubt, that Olivia is in God's hands. That he loves her and is watching over her, from little things to big things. 

Merry Christmas!

Interesting Thinks

Quality Education is Not Rocket Science @ The Imaginative Conservative

How to find your passion and your meaningful work @ Project-Based Homeschooling

Six Scientifically-Proven Ways to Control Your Emotions @ Life Manifestos

A Slanty Line Approach To Learning @ Laura Grace Weldon

Mom, Will You Homeschool Me? @ Jenni & Jody

I Refuse to Be Busy @ NYTimes: Motherlode

Poor Sophie

Sophie woke up with a kink in her neck one morning. She was pretty miserable and still looks a little crooked now, a couple days later, but she is doing much better.

Commonwealth: Sophie's Class

Field Tripping: Living Planet Aquarium

Austin has been working on his Oceanography merit badge so he and I made a quick trip to the newly opened, but not really ready to be open, Living Planet Aquarium. Many of the exhibits are still empty, but it still counts as an oceanographic institute to write a 500 word paper about and complete the merit badge. 

Austin was in charge of the camera