Mommy’s Little Impressionists

One of the advantages of homesschooling is that you can put as much time and efforts into the arts as you feel is necessary or appropriate. Unlike the public school system, we are not subject to budget cuts, although we are limited by household income.  Recently, we studied the impressionists, Particularly Monet. We combined this with a study of color and lights, in particular, tints, and how they are created. The following photo shows the Ortega girls interpretation of Monet’s “Water Lilies”. The background is made of tints of blue, green and purple and the lilies are made of construction paper. Skylar decided to go for a 3-D effect.

Is permanent marker really permanent?

The pertinent questions of childhood; how many rocks can you stick up your nose? Where can you hide your dinner if you don't want to eat it? And, is permanent marker really permanent? My four year old, known as Pickle to family and friends has been on a quest to answer these and other important questions. This is what she has come up with so far: How many rocks can you stick up your nose? Only one, and it hurts! Furthermore, it requires a trip to the emergency room, during which you mother will alternatively act hysterical and embarrassed. Question number two: Where can you hide dinner items you don't want to eat? Answer: Nowhere...the family dog will always give you away! Question Number three: Is permanent marker really permanent? Answer: Well, it would appear so. Pickle colored her toenails with black permanent marker in an attempt to find the answer to this age-old question. After several attempts with nail polish remover and numerous scrubbings, her toenails have faded to a murky sort of purple, but we are unable to remove the color.
(BTW, anyone who knows how to remove permanent marker from toenails, without the use of harsh chemicals, please post it here or send me an email)

Lil' Sis Roni

Since I'm on roll, I'm pretty proud of my baby sister, Veronica, too. She will be graduating with her AA this spring as well. She has worked very hard, through her first labor and childbirth. (She and her hubs Nesto are wonderful parents, by the way)While a student at Cerritos College, she was also an officer for Phi Theta Kappa. http://www.cerritosptk.org:80/html/officers.html Through her hard work maintaining a high GPA, and her service, she managed to make the All-California Academic Team! http://www.ccleague.org/files/public/032608_PTKRelease.pdf

Alvin graduates!

I know it is not nice to brag, but I can't resist! I am so proud of my son-in-law, Alvin, that I could burst! Not only is he a terrific son-in-law and awesome husband to the perfect wife, but he just graduated with his Bachelor of Science after five years of hard work. Not only did he do this while working a full time job, but he completed his studies with new born twins keeping him up all night. As if that weren't enough, he graduated class valedictorian. Wouldn't you want to brag, just a little bit?

Christopher is going to Hawaii!

Christopher got a huge surprise...he is going to Hawaii for his 19th birthday! This is a joint gift from his Uncle Dave & Auntie Teri, Ani & Alvin, and Mom. Ani and I did want to wait until he was actually getting on the plane to surprise him, but Dave didn't think it would be very fair. Still, I think he was pretty surprised...what do you think?

Swimming in the AV

Skylar started swimming lesson today. She was so excited! She did take "Mommy and Me" swim lessons a few years ago, but we didn't follow up on it. Skylar started in Level 1 swim at Eastside Pool here in Lancaster. It's a very nice pool, indoors. She had a terrific time, laughing and smiling through the whole class. She declared her instructor, Ryan, "full of fun". We can't wait until the next lesson!

Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve

We took a trip to the Poppy Reserve. In the 7 and 1/2 years that we have lived in the AV, I have never seen such an abundance of wild flowers. Even at some distance, we could see brilliant splashes of yellow and orange on the hill sides. The Joshua trees are in full bloom, and we saw tons of poppies, goldfields and pygmy lupine. It was a very windy day, and we enjoyed running and playing among the gorgeous flowers. We finally got so cold, that we had to leave.