365 for 2011

  This is my second feeble attempt to do a 365 project.  I was kicked out of the first one. SURPRISE.  I had just had our fourth child and apparently couldn't hang with it.  So what makes me want to be a part of this project.  Well, I just received a Canon EOS T1i for Christmas from my wonderful hubby and children.  After pining for one during our Disney trip and more than hinting I wanted one, there it was under our tree.  So I hope to learn, be inspired and maybe even inspire someone during this.  More than anything it is something that brings me out of the everyday tasks and makes me look at what would make a nice picture.  So here I go I DO hope to make it until this time next year.  Happy shooting.  (With the camera of course)    :)

Disney clothes for our sweet princess

We are on the serious countdown to vacay. We have had shirts and jeans monogrammed, appliqued and ruffled (almost finished) There are also another pair of jeans which have been appliqued and ruffled which are almost done

We are waiting anxiously on the arrival of one our most precious pieces yet. We don't have it yet but are hoping to pick it up tomorrow. This is made by a dear sister in the Lord. Candi has some darling designs. She is doing a giveaway at www.houseofshelbys.blogspot.com

Won't she be sweet!!!

MIckey Monday on Tuesday

This Mickey was totally staged. Just so you know. Not much longer before vacation. Hopefully more creative Mickeys will follow

Hidden Mickey 1

This is my crazy take on the hidden Mickey phenomenum. People who love Disney and know the inside scoop look for these hidden Mickeys all over Disney World. We love finding them hidden in Disney but we also play at home. I promise I didn't pose these Cherrios. They just happened as I was consuming my breakfast. Really. Have a Magical Tuesday.

Confessions of a Mouse Junkie

My name is Allison Barraco and I love Disney World. Whew.... I feel better now. That may not come as a huge shock to some of you but my family and I LOVE the mouse world. We are planning another trip this year to Disney to see the Christmas decorations. I have my cool little vacation ticker on my blog helping us countdown.

We have been in November 05, April 07, May 09, Feb 10 and now Dec 10. So this will be my first time seeing Disney in lights. I've seen in pictures how beautiful it is and cannot wait to experience it in real life.

My family of 6 plus my mom, dad and nephew (18 yo) will all be there. We are staying at the Caribbean Beach resort (which have never been to) The children are so excited I don't know about you but I love looking in the eyes of children as they look at Christmas lights. The reflection is breathtaking.

We usually make a chain to help the children countdown. Yesterday we were at 60 days. Each family member wrote down 10 things they cannot wait to do. So everyday we take a link off the chain and read whatever that person wrote. It is a great way to countdown to ANYTHING fun.

It also helps the children to see what 60 days looks like.

So, to add to the madness every Monday I'll post our Hidden Mickey Monday picture. Kind of like Wordless Wednesday. (which I am not very good at) But this will be all about our hidden Mickey's. I hope you enjoy and if not NO NASTY COMMENTS. Have a magical day :)

She is 2 already

Why is it that children take NO time growing up? Well our Gianna (Anna Rose) is now 2. It really is hard to believe that. We love her. Nothing else to it. Rottenness and all.

Just this morning Grayson said "Mom, it would boring without Anna. Quiet but boring." Well said Grayson. Sometimes as moms we want them to just be quiet. A wise mom (who had 4 in high school and college) shared with me that she would love to step on legos every once in a while. I promptly invited her over. :) Her point was, it all happend so quickly. Children grow up wether we want them to or not. Anna, slow down. But in the meantime I love the beautiful chaos you bring to our life. We wouldn't trade it for anything.

Many of you might not want to be bothered watching the Smilebox, if not, fine. It's here for the Grandparents who aren't close by.

Enjoy if you choose.

This photo album created with Smilebox

We aint chicken

Cow Appriciation Day. There is such a day and it is celebrated at Chick Fil A.

Well. I can't tell you a year ago if I would have done this. But we will next year. What fun we had acting like fools and dressing up as cows for free Chick Fil A. Even Pat got in on the fun. I made Anna Rose a cow dress. The doll HAD to have one also. Don't you agree?

This is Gabbi and her friend. Very willing to look silly before we walked in the door. The minute they got their meals, the cow attire came off. Someone (her father I think )tried taking her chicken. Back off buddy.

Now that's better

The boys were way less concerned with how others looked at them. They had a blast. Horns and all. What a fun day to remember.

The recipe for a homeschooling summer

The alternate title to this post is "Why hasnt' Allison been blogging?"

If you know more than one homeschooler you know they don't always do things the same. Some school like a public school. Some whenever it fits them. We are the latter. This year, as last, we began school in February and will go until November. The summers are brutal anyway right? I haven't posted in so long for many reasons. Life has a beautiful way of getting in the middle of our life. Basically we have been living and not stopping long enough to update our blog. So here is what we have been up to. A queer mixture of life around the Barraco's. So how does one survive summer homeschooling 3 children and wrangeling an almost ( GASP) 2 year old... our recipe a homeschooling summer

• Begin with preheating your outdoor tempurture to 95 (heat index of 106) Summers in Lousisina





• Then get your ingredients (childen) Seperate your ingredients youngest to oldest.





• Anna Rose- eating watermelon. Does anything say summer more than that? Ok, homemade ice cream. mmmmm
  
  
  

• Next we add Gabe. This one is easy. Add root beer and whisk in a swimming pool. Happy child.

Grayson is up next. Oh my. Caterpillar, butterfly mania remains. So here is Grayson doing his thang. Well, it's not Grayson but his butterfly that we rescued from Grandmother's enclosed pool area. What would that butterfly had done if Grayson and I had not freed it? Here he is... my sweetie

Gabrielle. Sprinkle in some silliness, friends and loving her sister. What more could the mother of a teenager ask for. Marnitate that until she is 18. :) She is such a sweetie. I love her.

Finally, stir in mom and dad who are just LOVING life with children. I never could be thankful enough for these sweet gifts. Bake all this goodness and enjoy. Oh, no good pictures of me just daddy and his baby girl. ;)

Monarch Madness

Madness. Webster's 1828 dictionary states the definition as distration; a state of disordered reason in which the patient raves or is furious. Well, I don't know about Grayson being furious but distrated. YES. (me screaming while pulling hair). Let's just say that schoolwork has been spotty all but reading about caterpillars, butterflies and moths. This is a new fastination of his but man, has he got it bad. We bought some milkweek from the nursery and it had 2 caterpillars on it. Wow. What a gift. So we brought it home, planted it and watched the little creatures grow.

Here, Grayson is studying and drawing the caterpillars. Dedication I tell you. But isn't that the beauty of homeschooling. One of them at least. Well, after watching them grow for about a week Grayson went to go check on them and one was gone. He was heartbroken but I assured him it was the beauty of how God made them. I said "Gray, isn't it amazing that they just know what to do. I mean they don't have to go to Home Depot and take a class on how to build their home." Grayson didn't find that amusing. But he still had ONE left. That ended the next day. Two caterpillars gone and one little boy whose heart was broken.

Fast forward to this morning. I told him I'd help him look around our ONE ACRE of land for a chrysalis. AAAAAAGGGGG. I read that they don't go farther than 30 feet so off we go. All day we looked. Finally after 3 this afternoon Grayson finds one under the fence post. What? Only him. Awesome Gray. Here it is

Wait. He found the other. On top by the eave of our gutters. What a blessing. Now we're off to buy more milkweed. Wouldn't you?

Planting love

Sisters.
What a blessing they are. Gabbi waiting "Forever" (in her words) for a sister. With two brothers back to back and my hubby one of 5 boys with only one sister, we weren't sure our last pregnancy would produce another girl. Well she has been here 19 months and I don't know what we did without her for 13 years. Gabbi and Anna Rose have a special relationship (as all sisters should). Gabbi is Anna's second mom. The only one other than me that can put her to sleep. You know, really important stuff.

The other day Gabbi was planting some sunflower seeds and Anna had to help. Then it turned into "smoochy" time. Don't you love those puckered up lips.

Sweetness. I love my girls.

The face of Tourette's

What does Tourette's look like? Well....my son Gabe has Tourette's. There....I said it. I used to be so scared to even think he had it. Our journey with this disorder has, looking back, about a year in the making. Gabe started just popping his head back. Which aggravated me to no end. I took it as him just having a habit. Then the noises came. Tics is the proper medical term. We took it as him just being a boy. Boys make noises. Great noises I might add. I don't know how they do it...I digress.

It wasn't until I woke up in the middle of the night in December that it hit me. I remember a friend of mine telling me her her daughter was diagnosed with Tourette's. I knew it. I knew he had it. Well, a couple of days after that dream Gabe has his appendix removed and I told myself "I'll make that neurologist appointment soon." I didn't. I didn't make it until after our trip to Disney in February. His tics were so bad when we got back. During our appointment the neurologist told us that tics get bad with lack of sleep and excitement. Well that is Disney in a box. :)
Gabe cried in the office saying, "Mommy I can stop the noises." Then I cried. The Dr. said he could for a while but it was like a hiccup. It would have to come out eventually.
Where are we now...Well. We are researching some vitamin/food therapy choices. We won't cure it. We just hope to make it better for him. Being home schooled others don't have access to him. That is good now because kids are just mean. I thought about if he were in school how would kids tease him. He is getting ready to play baseball. I want him to have fun but pray he doesn't get teased. My momma claws just might come out.
But one thing I do know...God made Gabe for His glory. Tics and all. So my prayer daily is "Lord save my sanity with this child" (he has ADHD tendencies which is cocktailed with Tourette's) then I smile and say "I love you him Lord but you love him more." I pray that I am enough of a good mom to care for him and give him what he needs to be all the Lord has for him. So the beautiful chaos just got kicked up a notch. I still wouldn't trade it for anything....

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Our Sneaux Day 2010

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Menu for this week

Don't go into cardiac arrest. I am posting agian after 4 months for two reasons. First, I want to. Second I haven't had a digital camera in that long. I'll be posting on our most recent trip to Disney. The second one in 9 months. Sickness. Yes, we need a suppot group. I needed something easy to get me back into posting so here goes the menu..

Sunday- Superbowl dinner with the D's. Chilli, potatoes and LOTS of snacky foods. I also made chocoltae lovers cheesecake. YUMMY. No pictures to post.
Monday- Club sandwhiches, sweet potato fries, green beans and cupcakes
Tuesday- Chicken parmisgana, pasta, califlower
Wednesday-Turkey Gumbo, french bread, salad
Thursday-Tacos, yellow rice, corn
Friday- Three pizzas in honor of the Olympics, salad.