Happy 1st Birthday, AJ!

AJ is 1 year-old today!! This year has flown by as probably all of us can attest to. AJ had chocolate cake for breakfast and clapped after we sang for him the Birthday Song. Korri said that she wanted to have a birthday today, too (smile!).

I know it was hard for her to see him get the attention, but it was also good for her. AJ's not walking yet, but it's a good thing because I am not quite in the condition to chase him around because of this cast.

How did I end up with a cast??

Can you believe that after 3 weeks of crutches and sitting around with my foot propped up I am still in denial that I broke my ankle?! I suppose if I put it in writing I will have to admit the truth so here goes... I broke it sledding one evening with Korri after the Northeast got a bunch of snow this past February.

The pain was indescribable but the worst thing about it was that I could feel the bone snap under my weight. I landed on it wrong, plain and simple. So I am here on the couch again...(last year I was carrying AJ on bedrest). It's amazing how reflective a person can be when she is suddenly unable to work or care for her family. I feel helpless and it's not a feeling that I want to become too familiar with again. But, such is life...

Fortunately, I can still get down on the floor and play with the Birthday Boy and Korri. I've actully gotten to know my little girl really well lately. She is very nurturing and takes care of me quite well for a four-year old. She sweeps up all the food that ends up under AJ's highchair after meals. One morning while she was sweeping, AJ took aim, and purposely dropped his sippy cup on top of her head and she screamed! (Sigh...my son is not like my daughter...)

Korri and I have still managed to do school. Mostly it's on the couch and mostly it's workbooks, but practicing reading is really what I want to make sure she gets a lot of. The highlight of her world is that she has begun piano lessons and is picking it up just fine. She also has two new hermit crabs. She named them "Korri" & "AJ"! (surprise, surprise!!)

Homeschooling Korri

5/25/06 - There is a trout hatchery on the campus of Milton Hershey School. The boys in the student home signed up to release the trout at a nearby stream (Manada Creek). These photos are of Korri and some students releasing the fish. She really enjoyed herself (0nce she learned how to walk in the boots!).



3/3/06 - I started homeschooling Korri the beginning of the 2005-2006 school year after the birth of our second son AJ in March. She is four years-old and going through the K4 ABEKA curriculum.

Our fall was spent watching the leaves change and antcipating the holidays. She is learning time through months, weeks and days. Here Korri is dressed as an indian girl before going to a Thanksgiving Feast that she participated in with our MHS Homeschool Co-op. The children shucked corn and made popcorn over an outdoor fire, Korri also made a bow & arrow, baked her own loaf of bread and creamed butter. After the food was served, the children sampled many dishes that were thought to have been prepared during the first Thanksgiving. Korri learned that the first Thanksgiving Feast happened by "accident" about 400 years ago. There were approx. 90 Wampanoag Indians and 50 settlers at the first harvest feast in 1621. Here is a website that dispels many of the myths surrounding the First Thanksgiving: http://www.plimoth.org/OLC/index_js2.html

Presently, she is beginning to read (yeah!) and just finished studying and observing Painted Lady Butterflies. We sent away for the baby caterpillars from a certificate she received for Christmas at www.insectlore.com and they came in the mail marked-CAUTION: LIVE CATERPILLARS!

• We watched four caterpillars eat and grow for about 7 days. During the weekend of Feb. 20-22, they formed their chrysalides while we were away with the student home on a Racial Reconciliation Retreat in Ocean City, MD. We came back and found the caterpillars at the top of the lid of the container and they were in their silky wrapping. There was one caterpillar that did not form correctly, so we began to suspect that it may not transform into a butterfly.
• After about 7 days we saw the first butterfly transform. Korri named it "Korri" (how very original). The next day the second butterfly emerged, Korri named it "Mommy". The last butterfly to emerge took place a day later. I tried to catch this final emergence on videotape but I ran out of footage. It was named (you guessed it) "Daddy". What about the 4th one, you ask? It did not emerge because the chrysalid was not formed all the way. Still, Korri named that one "AJ" but told everyone that "he didn't make it."
• It has been amazing to watch these butterflies eat with their probiscus as they suck the juice out of an orange slice. They are quite amazing. As I watch them I cannot believe that they were once fuzzy caterpillars. Our God amazes me!
• It's been wonderful teaching Korri the life cycle of the butterfly and the word butterfly in Spanish--la mariposa. She cared for those insects like they were her own children. She also shed tears when we flushed them down the toilet; after she held the last live one, of course. Her tiny fingers held the body while she watched the wings fluttering rapidly. It's refreshing to see how much children enjoy God's Creation!

Welcome to Hershey, Pennsylvania!

Welcome to our new web log site! We are excited to be able to communicate to so many of you this way! This site will contain most of what we do here at Milton Hershey School along with many of our latest family experiences and memories. Let this be an online scrapbook for you, our family & friends! C'mon and check it out...

Presently, we live in Hershey, Pennsylvania in a student home on the campus of Milton Hershey School. We are in student home Harpers with 12 middle school-aged boys. They are full of energy and test us constantly. However, Andy & I have never felt more suited to this job. We love it!

We have two beautiful children, Korri Faith Kay & Andrew Jeremiah "AJ", (both of whom were carried via bedrest during the 2nd & 3rd trimesters). They love growing up here in Chocolatetown, USA, and riding the new roller coasters at Hersheypark!

If you want to find out more about our lives here and what we do, click on the various links of Milton Hershey School and our student home links. Also, you will find links to Korri's Home Schooling adventures and our life as a family. Have fun!!

Deanna