Eight Below

We watched Disney's "Eight Below" the other night and loved it.  Though I love animals, I usually don't care for how Disney handles animal movies (like "Air Bud", "Snow Dogs" or "Shaggy Dog".  "Eight Below" was different.  It is the story of the survival of eight sled dogs in Antartica, and their trainer's attempts to rescue them.  The scenery is spectacular, the dogs well trained, and minimum anthropomorphism is thrown into the movie.  The way the movie handles scientific research is a bit shaky, but not too syrupy.  The best part was the maturity of the characters.  Unlike alot of Disney films, you don't see the characters throwing fits, repenting and then changing later in the movie. 
So I obviously liked it.  But what about the kids?  The 10yr old was glued to the movie, the 8 year old fairly interested, the 5 yr old not at all.  Oh well.  I guess that means we will just have to see it again in 5 years when he is ready for it!

Lego creations!

 

I am constantly amazed at the creativity my kids display.  Here are a couple of their recent lego creations:
This is H's "Shark Mobile".  Notice the clear compartment in which the shark-man can ride.

This is my middle son's "Roman villa" complete with a patio on which he can grill dinner.

Gluten Free Lunches/Snacks

A while ago Kate at Gluten-Free Gobsmacked asked about the type of gluten free lunches people take to work, being tired of mainly salads herself.  I sympathize with her plight as there are many times I would LOVE to be able to just grab something as I run out of the house and not have to plan ahead.  So I was thrilled to see these GOPICNIC boxes at my local Target. 

I first encountered GOPICNIC at a small airport when I was desperate for anything gluten-free.  The GOPICNIC box I found was fun, delicious, and safe.  Since then I have been asking all of the local grocery stores to carry them and I guess Target finally listened!  I bought as many gluten free GOPICNIC varieties as they had in stock.

At this point I should qualify that I am only planning to use these in an emergency.  At $4 a box, they are too expensive for me to use very often.  But just knowing they are in the pantry makes it easier to plan a regular lunch-to-go.

And that brings me back to Kate's request: what do I plan for lunches?  Here is a picture of some of my regular supplies:

The one I turn to most often is peanut-butter rice cake sandwiches (do not add jelly or honey to these; however nutella works well).  A close second (not shown) is a scrambled egg-and cheese quasadilla.  I also like to freeze fruit like peaches and berries when they are in season in muffin tins.  Then I store them in gallon bags, for an easy addition to some homemade yogurt (the frozen fruit keeps the yogurt cool until lunchtime).  My protein muffins are a favorite as well, but there are rarely enought leftover from breakfast to take for lunch.  I also love to bring some soup or casserole in a thermos if there is any available.  And with any lunch I add either some fresh or dried fruit, and maybe some nuts, cheese or pepperoni for an extra bit of protein if I am famished.  If it is going to be an extra-long day I might throw in some chocolate milk or pineapple juice for a pick-me-up.

There are some occasions where I need to travel for a few days and I like to bring along a meal as a "just-in-case" provision.  My favorites in those situations are Pacific's soups and ready rice, rice cakes and individual packages of peanut butter, and oatmeal with nuts/dried fruit.

As a final note I want to mention desserts.  The longer I have been gluten-free and eating healthy, the less satisfied I am with the typical M&Ms or candy bars.  So for a small bite of something sweet I take along a piece of quality dark chocolate or one of these fortune cookies.  There is something about a ridiculous fortune that tops off a meal perfectly.

Happy gluten-free eating!
'Chelle

Progress (or not) with Integrated Listening

On the advice of H's therapist we started a program called "Integrated Listening".  We have been doing the 1 hr of listening and the 15 minutes of exercise every day for the past three months.  I had noticed some signs of maturity in H lately, but also times of high emotions.  During the latest parent-teacher conference we were told that H's attention span in class is no better, and she has started to act out a bit more.  Unfortunately all the news is bad this time.

So is the Integrated Listening not working?  It is hard to say.  First of all, the company says it takes 6 months before there are benefits.  Second, we haven't actually been doing it every day, or doing the exercises every time we listen.  It has taken us 2 months to get through 40 sessions because every time you miss a day you have to repeat a lesson (some lessons we repeated 4 times because we kept forgetting a day).  Third, H is almost a preteen and might be experiencing some hormonal swings.

Our plan for now is to continue the listening program and the exercises.  We will try to become more disciplined and do it exactly according to the instructions.  We will continue to encourage H and help her the best we can with school.  And we will pray, pray, and pray some more. 

If anyone else has experience with Integrated Listening, good or bad, I would love to hear from you.
Thanks,
'Chelle

Science (Physics) Valentines

I created these valentines for my physics class.  You are welcome to print them off and use them as well.  Please just link back to this site if you repost them elsewhere.  The inspiration for these are the valentines cards at the evilmadscientist.com.  However some of those were a bit much for high school students!

Parent-teacher conference

We had our first school-wide parent/teacher conference day this past week.  I went into it feeling pretty good, since H has brought all of her grades up to C, B, and even a few As.
So I was pretty shocked when the teacher told me H is not adjusting to 5th grade.
Her comments mainly seemed to center around the fact that H does not catch much from verbal instruction.  And most of a classroom is verbal instruction.  Her comment, which I thought was very accurate, was that H's mind is like a carosel, turning roung and round.  She only catches what is said when the carosel of her mind is turned forward, which is seldom.
In the end, I was actually okay with the situation.  We know H does not listen well.  That is why we have started the Integrated Listening.  And while the teacher is comparing H to the students around her, and seeing how far behind she is, we are comparing her to where she was 2 years ago and seeing how far she has come!
So I am still hopeful.  We are continuing what we were doing, and at the same time telling H to make sure she completes her math and writes neater (two additional complaints the teacher had).
I will keep you up to date.
Chelle

School again-good news!

H. is doing well at school!  She has brought all of her grades up to a A or B with the exception of spelling, where she has (barely) a C.  She is doing much better about writing down her assignments and completing her assignments, though I have to stay on top of her about that.  She is still having trouble following verbal instruction at school, and still gets bored easily (maybe because she isn't understanding most things?).  Because of this we are starting the Integrated Listening system which her therapist recommended.  It was pricey, but it has the complete program which is about 2 years worth of therapy.  And it isn't too hard.  She listens to a program for an hour a day, and spends 15 minutes of that hour doing some exercises (one of which is a balance board, which she LOVES) and some time getting a massage.  Other than that we just have to tell her she can't wrestle with her brothers while having this expensive equipment attached to her :-)
I'll keep you updated as to whether it seems to have any affect.  One of the frustrating things about this and similar programs is it is hard to find reviews on them that aren't company sponsered.  Maybe this blog will help.
'Chelle