Songs of comfort & worship

My friend, Angel at The Sake of the Call , has a friend who is suffering the unimaginable loss of her 3 year old son. He drowned yesterday in a pond near their home.

I know the family would appreciate your prayers.

Angel's other friend, Emily at The Learning Never Stops is doing one of the most awesome and amazing things I've ever heard anyone do for a friend who is grieving.

She bought Marsha an iPod today and is going to fill it with songs of comfort and worship, and then mail it to Marsha for her to listen to as she goes through the days and weeks to come.

Emily is asking for suggestions for songs. Go on over and give her some ideas. She'll even take your "annonymous" comments for those of you who are shy.

71 commenters too soon

I know you're all waiting to hear .....

I just went to Pioneer Woman's site ... one of her winners was # 14,620.

Drats. I was 71 comments too soon. My number was 14,549.

Wonder how many seconds I missed it by? Because when you get over 18,000 comments in one day ... one thing's for sure .... things are moving fast! Wow! I'm surprised we didn't crash her server.

Congrats to all the winners!

You gotta have dreams

Pop Up just said:

Sometimes when I have good dreams I wake up and want to tell you but I can't remember them ...

And when I have bad dreams I don't want to tell you those (he doesn't want to think about them again and stir up bad memories) ...

Then some nights I don't have any dreams at all ...

So that's why you don't hear anything about dreams from me

At least he tells me all his other dreams ... like how he's going to change the world one day. And as far as those dreams go ~ the sky's the limit with this guy! I have always been amazed by him. He's definitely an old soul and wise beyond his years.

I usually write these things down in a journal but don't have that handy right now and didn't want to forget this one. So parking it here was the next best thing.

Christmas in August

Look what the super nice Postman just brought me!! There was a sweet note in the box that said these are some of her favorite things:

Pop Up said: "Wow, she must have put a lot of effort into wrapping that!!!" BTW, no wonder she doesn't like camping. I mean, anyone who can make a package look like this really doesn't belong out there in the woods!! This was so beautifully wrapped and I almost didn't want to open it.

I said almost. Inside the above perfectly wrapped package was this Vera Bradley ID case/coin purse:

Look at those beautiful fall colors!

These are the goodies from the contest I entered on Kathi's blog, Tales from the Homefront. She was celebrating her 100th post. Oh my goodness, Kathi - I'm speechless- I can't wait to see what you do for your 1,000th post -- get writing, girlfriend! ;-) Seriously, thank you soooo much!!

And I also won a $15 gift card to Barnes & Noble from Ashley's site. Thank you, Ashley!! Just another reason why y'all should de-lurk and post a comment every now and then.

Still waiting to hear if I won the mixer from Pioneer Woman's contest yesterday. But when I hit the lottery (from the lotto ticket I'm going to buy ~ before my luck runs out ~ if I win said mixer) you might not hear from me for a little while. I think a cruise might be calling my name.

Thank you again, Kathi & Ashley!!!

Go to Pioneer Woman's site .... stat!

Pioneer Woman is giving away THREE of these beauties. You can choose which color you want. All you have to do is sign her comment section and tell her what your favorite dessert is. How simple is that?!

Good thing for the rest of you, she's giving away 3 of them ... because I'm on a winning streak. I won the last 2 contests I entered. If I win one of the mixers I'm totally going to buy a lottery ticket tonite.

Hurry! Pioneer Woman's Contest ends at 5 pm PST on 8/26 (today)!

Bunny rabbits in my laundry room

I am up to my EYEBALLS in laundry around here. Seriously. Where does it all come from? I'm even a weirdo who actually enjoys laundry. It's one of the few household chores I can tolerate, in fact. But this is ridiculous!

We are just a small family - of 4.

I can do 4-5 loads of laundry EVERY DAY and still just be treading water. I can barely get into my laundry room. I am NOT exaggerating.

I don't think there's anything unusual about us -- except for the fact that RV works construction, so he showers & changes when he gets home. That's 1 extra set of clothes, but not a biggie. And I just can't bring myself to re-use a towel or wash cloth. I'm sorry. I just can't. So I know that adds to it. But other than that - normal. The kids aren't messy and needing to change multiple times/day. They get dressed once.

How many loads do you do per day (or week) and what's your family size?

It's genetic

Pop Up just came in and announced:

"I know what I'm going to have for lunch today. Campbells Chicken Noodle Soup. I had it yesterday." Had to make it himself cuz mom was ... uh ... blogging. "And I discovered something. I like the chicken & broth now." First time he's had it since last winter.

Me: "Yep, you used to just eat the noodles, eh?"

Him: "Yep."

Me: "I used to do that, too." Fact is I still don't like the chunks of the so-called- 'chicken'!

Him: "Oh, so is that where I got it from?" as he winked, grinned and turned ... counting down the minutes.

That boy loves to eat. I'm surprised he'll stoop so low as to eat canned soup. He's got some serious filet mignon taste buds going on there. And he likes to eat ON time. Somewhere along the line, he decided that 12:00 was the optimal lunch hour. So, like clock work, he hops up from whatever he's doing at 11:58 (he's so much more disciplined than me) so he has time to make his own: sandwich, pizza, or now ... soup. Cuz you know, mom's usually ... uh, blogging.

Only 98 minutes until lunch prep begins around here. And then he'll start thinking about dinner.

Discovery Streaming ~ SAVE $136!!!

I am SOOOO excited about this! I don't know how I'll sleep tonite ;-)

It seems everywhere I turn for the last 2 weeks or so ... clicking here, going there, checking that ... in preparation for the start-up of another school year, I've been reading about Discovery Streaming and how phenomenal it is.

They have over 40,000 video clips and 4,000 educational videos on everything under the sun. You think I'm joking? Check this out ~ they have full length videos, video clips, teacher lesson plans & other info on:

Science, History, Health, Human Body, Social Studies, Language Arts, Visual & Performing Arts, World Languages, English, Stories & Games, Math (+, -, x, and division review) and new in '08: Inventions (Bill Nye the Science Guy), Decisions that Shook the World and other things that I've forgotten.

They partner with: PBS, Scholastic, BBC and other educational resources, as well as the DISCOVERY CHANNEL.

But here's the best part. Thru the Homeschool Buyer's Co-Op (a FREE co-op that pools its resources to bring us some of the best deals around) ... you can get a year's subscription to Discovery Streaming for OVER HALF OFF!

Teachers in over half the schools in the US use Discovery Streaming.

I've rambled on enough ... now I'll just give you the info I sent to some of our local homeschool support groups:

The Homeschool Buyers Co-op has extended their Group Buy for Discovery Education Unitedstreaming (thru 9/30/08). You can save $136 on an annual subscription, but only through the Homeschool Buyers Co-op. Go to http://www.homeschoolbuyersco-op.org/23627459/ for more information.

price through Homeschool Buyers Co-op: $129
SAVINGS: $136
(reg. annual subscription price: $265)

They also have a 30-day-free-trial at http://www.discoveryeducation.com/.

So, what are you still doing here? Go check it out!

The Talking Olympics ~ Gold Medalist

Those of you who know him will appreciate this. (and don't let him know I blogged about it or he'll quit saying all those cute things!!!!!!!! ... ahem, Grandma ;-)

We just turned on the Olympics for the closing ceremony.

RV asked Pop Up "What's on the Olympics?"

Pop Up replied: "Talking"

RV: "The Talking Olympics?"

Pop Up: "Yeah, I could win that one for sure!!!!"

mmmm hmmmmm ! FYI he never takes a breath ;-)

I can't believe I'm a winner! And what is Cornhole?

(oh boy, I've been waiting for an excuse to use that new color-coded block feature!!!)

Kathi at Tales from the Homefront had a contest yesterday and I won!

Go check out her blog (link above) -- her entry on the great state of Maryland was priceless! And the one right below it re: camping was a hoot! Even though I don't know what "cornhole" is. Jenny, do you? Card game? Guess I'll have to go Google it ~ then I can put it on my sidebar ;-)

Thank you so much, Kathi! And I'm with you .... I wouldn't be tenting it, either. Even my 10 year old knows that - his suggestion for our blog name was: "We weren't made for a tent 'cuz we use up a lot of electricity!" Got that right. Such a smart boy.

ADDED - just to clarify, I didn't win Cornhole (I'm not sure yet what I won, but will let you know) ... Kathi just mentioned playing it recently (in her post) when THEY went camping and it so intrigued me that I decided to investigate what it is. BTW, I think we might have to start a "great cornhole tournament" on our annual Memorial Day camping trip with friends. And without further adu, may I present to you "cornhole". I've already Googled it for others of you who don't know what it is ... all you have to do is click below:

****************************************************** What is Cornhole ? ****************************************************

check out the link below for more Cornhole info. Who knew there was an American Cornhole Association?????

What is Cornhole? from American Cornhole Association website

Is Cornhole a regional thing??? Or does everyone except for me know about it?

The $12 haircut

There's nothing particularly blogworthy about a 10 year old getting a haircut .... UNLESS you're a blogging maniac who's dying to play around with a new collage feature.

Top middle: shaggy boy

Middle right: oh great, she's got her camera out again!!

Bottom left: "sitting" on the bench, reading the comics, waiting during his brother's haircut

Bottom middle: freshly cut ~ all is right with the world. No more fear of those pesky hairs damaging his eardrum. See yesterday's post.

Bottom right: lunch afterward, balancing a marachino cherry on his nose. I snapped it 1/100th of a second too late. Good thing I'm not in charge of the timer for all those Michael Phelps' events!

And THANK YOU, A Little Loveliness (her site IS extremely lovely!!) for telling me your collage secret! I totally heart all your DISNEY collages!!!

To make your own collage: download Picasa for FREE and start clicking away!

Thank you, Fairy Blogmother!

Wait! Stay! You've come to the right place - it just looks a little different. And it's all thanks to Darcy.

Some might call her a Fairy Blogmother, but she's also nothing short of a miracle worker! Not only did she take me from plain white to ALL THIS ~ in just 3 days .... but she also convinced me to upgrade my browser and clear out my cache, as well as a myriad of other technical stuff. Geek Squad ain't got nothing on her. She walked me through every step of downloading, uploading and sideloading. Ok, there was no sideloading, but I bet she did have her hands on the side of her head, shaking it back and forth more than once, thanks to the student she had to work with.

Check out her other fanBLOGulous stuff at Graphically Designing! She's truly a-maaa-zing!

I'm still working on filling in all the sidebar stuff, but it'll get there eventually.

Thank you, Darcy!!!! I couldn't have done it without you. Well, duh!!!!

Oh - and I must give props to Holly for coming up with the new title and the whole idea for merging 2 of my passions: life on the road and blogging. Thanks, Holly!

He never has been subtle

Pop Up just came in and said:

"If I had $12 today, what do you think I'd spend it on???"

Me (clueless): "I don't know. What?"

Him (bellowing): "A HAIRCUT!!!!!!" and with that he made a disgusted face and did an about-face into the other room. Hmmm, and here I was going to guess Legos.

He HATES when his hair gets long enough to touch his ears. I can only HOPE his fettish lasts long into his teen years. And while I'm at it, let's pray he always hates that "pants hanging around your knees" teenage fashion statement. So far, so good.

LOL -- I just sent him to wash his hair so the barber will have something better to work with and he said "See this little flap? It's curling into my ear ... pretty soon it will be touching my drum!!" He always has had a flair for drama.

FYI ... lest you think I'm some sort of neglectful parent ..... his hair is currently about as long as it is in his solo picture on the sidebar to the right. He just likes it short. I should just give him a crew cut and save the aforementioned $12, but I can't stand the thought of losing all that beautiful red hair. Which is probably WHY he wants it short, now that I think about it - all the little old ladies are always pawing him and "oohing" and "aahing" over it. Poor guy. He hates that.

Noah & Eeyore

Pop Up has been working on these (he drew them freehand) since bringing home more "How to Draw" books from the library a day or two ago -- one on drawing Bible characters and one on Disney characters. Two great tastes that go great together!?!

Really feeling the pressure to find him an art class. I found one but the only opening is on Mondays from 11:15-1:15 and it's a 40 min. drive. I guess I might bite the bullet. The teacher has a stellar reputation. It's just such a bad time for us - because it'll be hard to get much done in the morning before we have to leave and when we get home it'll be after 2:00 and none of us will want to hit the books. Oh, the dilemma.

3 Cheers for Dad!

YEAY! RV got home at a decent time tonight, so he took the young'ins to the Tractor Pull at a nearby county fair. He should get Father of the Year award - it's the first night he's had off in weeks and he turned right around and took the kids out.

I get to stay home and do some lesson planning. Oh boy ... where to start????!?!?! I wish I knew how to use that "lesson planning software" I bought (countless) years ago. Or where it is, for that matter. Oh, EduTrack ...... where are youuuuu?

Nothing but the whir of the dryer, the swish of the washer and the slosh of the dishwasher -- the house hasn't been this quiet in months!

Determined to at least start the year with a road map,
Me

SCREECH! Halt the presses!

I got a call from a friend who used Tapestry of Grace last year and shared some of her experience with it. She said it's good stuff, but might be more intense than what I'm looking for right now (thank you Jenny for your trusted advice!!). Maybe I'll re-visit it in a few years?

So, now I'm looking at Truthquest. I think that will be a better fit this year with our learning styles. Until we get a tad more maturity under our belts. You know ..... boys!

And I think I might go with their American History (the boys would totally love learning about that and we could go on some really cool nearby camping adventures to Williamsburg, Jamestown, Gettysburg, Philadelphia!). 'Cuz I'm all about road-schooling and hands-on, real-life learning.

Perhaps I'll supplement it with a Christian world overview on ancient history via The Mystery of History.

Today the postman should be bringing me: Jr. Analytical Grammar, Teaching Textbooks Math and I know there was something else I ordered .... so I'll push off the 1st day of school until NEXT Monday. Well, that - AND the schoolroom isn't quite up to par just yet.

Since RV is working late again, this afternoon/evening perhaps we'll go to another nearby county fair for a Tractor Pull, then tomorrow the boys have swimming evaluations for that once/week Friday swim class I mentioned before, and then on this Friday, we'll be at a Communicators for Christ 1-day public speaking class. We went last year and it was absolutely PHENOMENAL!

So ... even if I go back and forth as far as history curriculum ... at least one day they'll be able to speak in front of an audience AND swim ... that's the anti-me because I can't do either :-( Yep. Life skills. That's what I'm talking 'bout. Now watch them grow up to be history professors just because they're like that.

Oh well, at least they're not bickering ....

They were SUPPOSED to be vacuuming and dusting the schoolroom ... but when I didn't hear the typical "Moooooooooom ...... he's not helping!" I went to investigate. Here they were, quiet as church mice:

Perusing the vast array of Kids Discover magazines we've accumulated over the years.

If you need a little quiet in your house, you can visit Kids Discover .

In the meantime, I just heard from RV that he'll be working until at least 9:00 tonite and until midnight tomorrow night. You KNOW I don't feel like cooking (remember, I'm sick. yeah, that's the ticket - I'm sick!) so I guess we'll go see what we can find at the local sub shop. If I can get my act together tomorrow with my list of needed school supplies, we can venture into town for dinner. Because even if I am feeling better, I'm not thinking I'll feel up to cooking just quite yet.

100th Post

I was supposed to have something exciting to report on today ~ like maybe the 1st day of school, per chance? C'mon ... you know it couldn't be THAT easy!!

Yesterday Pop Up was sick and I've been miserable with a cold since Saturday. He's feeling a little better but not up to par and neither am I. So, we'll have to ease into it this week. Guess that's just as well - to start full throttle on Day 1 would be a shock to all of our systems, after lollygagging around for 6 weeks.

So, instead, we can celebrate my 100th post on my blog today. Actually, this is post # 101, but who's really counting? Time goes by so fast, doesn't it?

And with that, I'll wander back to the schoolroom and try to make more progress in there. I did get some new math curriculum ordered earlier today .... baby steps. I also need to start putting together a supply list and get myself to Staples, Office Depot & Target - I LOVE this time of year when the new notebooks, school supplies & such are out in all their glory. Why is all the really cute stuff only available this time of year??? Hellooooo ... suppliers .... we do sometimes run out of things mid-stream or want to spruce things up in the dead of winter, a little extra something to keep us going until springtime. Could you toss us a bone? Just try finding a cute Disney binder (for me, not them) or cute composition book in January.

Thanks for stopping by and sharing the past 100 posts with me. Here's to thousands more. The more words I use up here, the less RV has to hear when he gets home. Cuz you know me -- I'm just a little chatterbox. Actually, I'm pretty quiet - but once you really get to know me - look out! Hmmm, maybe I DO save up all my words for him. Lucky him.

ARTistic Pursuits ....

I've been looking over this curriculum:

http://www.artisticpursuits.com/. It looks interesting and teaches about the time period of various artists, has their bio and info on their lives, shows samples of their work and also gives techniques for different art mediums. Only thing holding me back is -- WHEN will we find the time? Although, if they can learn to eventually teach themselves (isn't that the goal of homeschooling - to teach them how to think on their own?) maybe I'll dive in. And besides, it looks fun. Who doesn't need a little more fun in their weeks?

In the meantime, yesterday's trip to the library yielded these books:

Pop Up chose this one:

Not bad for just opening up a book, grabbing a piece of paper and a pencil, huh?

And this is Travel Trailer's choice. He's all about dogs (and sheep?):

As an added benefit ~ our house has been much more peaceful since they've had something to occupy their minds!! You'd THINK I'd have learned this, oh ... say ... 10 years ago? I'm a little slow.

And it just goes to prove - you don't need to be an expert in a field in order to help your children learn about it, because there's no way I can even draw a straight line. I'm in awe of my students!

08.08.08

08.08.08 ..... the Olympics begin in Beijing. I remember a blurb on the Today Show on 08.08.07 announcing that they were a year away. That sure went by fast!

We aren't big into the Olympics, but it might be fun for the boys to see all the pageantry of the opening ceremony ~ although they may get bored - they won't even patiently sit through the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade ~ what's up with that? Don't they know I used to sit through 3 days worth of the Jerry Lewis Telathon, just for the experience of it? They must take after their dad.

Anyway, I think we will tune in tonight and either go out for Chinese or order in Chinese for dinner. Kind of turn it into a family night thing. Just seems like we should, since it only comes around every 4 years. RV says their family tuned in for it when he was a kid. So, maybe they'll sit through it afterall - cuz you know they want to be JUST like Dad!

Could turn it into a geography lesson, too ~ and see where some of the 205 countries are that will be participating ... now that I've at least unearthed the globe in the scary schoolroom! When I run out today maybe I'll swing by the library and see if there are any books on China - although they might all be checked-out already. I'm always a day late .....

.... speaking of China - did you know that after battling infertility and then 3 miscarriages, we were in the process of adopting from China when along came Travel Trailer? Yep. The day we turned in our paperwork and met with the social worker was the day the pregnancy test turned positive - this time with a keeper. FYI, our Chinese daughter's name was going to be Hope.

Making Progress ....

Despite my terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day ......... this:
Became this. I do believe I see a teacher's desk emerging from under the rubble.
Although these dinosaurs have GOT to GO! They haven't been used for 2 years since we transferred all the data to my new (now very slow & old) computer ... so why are they still sitting here taking up valuable real-estate on MY desk?? Perhaps RV will take them to the computer graveyard in the basement tonight and once again prove why he's my knight in shining armor.

Shorter Days ~ Bring 'Em On!!

I LOVE that the days are getting shorter. I know, I'm weird!

I also know that part of today's behavioral problems were due to sleep depravation. The kids have been getting to bed WAY later than usual (pushing 11:00 most nights) - with last week's Fair, whatever was going on the week before that, 2 weeks of vacation, and whatever was going on before THAT ....

Last night they got to bed after 10:00. That's late for my guys "usual" routine ~ we usually aim for 8:30-9:00. So, tonight they were in bed at 8:45 (and it's DARK out! yahooie!!!). Do you know how hard it is to get kids to bed when its still daylight?

I don't know how many minutes of daylight we're losing per day now, but I'm totally loving it! Sorry for all you daylight lovers.

And when it gets dark by 5:00 near Christmas, and I can turn on the candles in my windows for 6 hours (or 7, 8, 9 hours - depending on when I go to bed in the wee hours) .... then I'm in heaven!

Hoping 2 boys that I know wake up on the right side of the bed tomorrow!

Cats & Dogs

Cats & Dogs get along better than my 2 kids today. Usually they get along fairly well. Usually. But today is far from usual.

Arrrrrrrrgh! I've. had. it. Even resorted to crying. Me, not them. Actually, all of us. Mmm hmmm - it's that bad. If Daddy knew what had been going on around here today, he might just want to work late. Ha!

One of them is extremely selfish. Especially toward his brother. Sweet as pie toward the rest of the world. I keep telling him what a very undesirable character trait that selfishness is in a person. I need to dig out some character building books off of the shelf. And the Young Peacemaker series. http://www.peacemaker.net/ Haven't read it yet. Really? Umm, yeah, by the very un-peaceful status of our house today, that's a no-brainer. I bought it years ago at a convention ... you mean it's not going to seep into them by osmosis? We actually have to sit down and work at it? What a novel idea. I think I'll try it. Maybe I'll even learn a thing or two myself.

So, my attempt at cleaning has come to a screeching halt. I'd even rather be cleaning that than dealing with this goop. It's like a food chain: rather blog than clean, rather clean than deal with children's conflict, rather deal with children's conflict than .... hmmm .... nothing coming to mind as to what could be worse than that, though I know there has to be something.

No wonder this place always looks like a pig stye. Siiiiiiiiigh.

And I've decided that their boredom = we'll start school on Monday ....... oh, stink. Buh bye summer. It's sure been nice knowin' ya. Well, you know ... 'cept today.

UPDATE: When I just now saw that RV was calling on the phone, I answered and asked "is this my earthly savior?" Many-a-time when PUp was a colicky infant RV would rescue the day by coming home and sending me out for a sanity break. He replied by saying he "figured it was a bad day when the kids called him earlier and said they had been banished to the yard." That's not so bad is it? RV has told me that he & his 4 siblings spent many-a-summer outside (isn't his mom smart? they had a tiny little house and 5 rambunctious kids just wasn't gonna cut it). RV turned out ok. I suppose mine will as well. Kids, I don't know what's wrong with these kids today. Don't mind me while I break out in song ....... it's either that, or, you know, cry. Oh, that was fun - putting all those commas in one little sentence fragment. Yep, I'm losing it. ;-)

Greg Laurie's son

I just heard tonight, that Greg Laurie's son, Christopher age 33, was killed in a car accident on 7.24.08. He leaves behind a wife, 2 year old daughter, and a daughter that is to be born in November.

http://www.harvest.org/chris/

Brontophobia, anyone?

Anyone know what "brontophobia" is? No? Me neither.

Pop Up just ran in here and said "Brontophobia! That's what I have!"

He tried to think of the word about 3 weeks ago when we were eating ice cream outside in Maine with my dad.

Smart mom that I am - I had NO CLUE what this was, so Googled it. I need to put a column on the sidebar with all the things I Google each day - that would be interesting, wouldn't it?

Brontophobia: An abnormal and persistent fear of thunder that causes undue anxiety even though sufferers realize that thunder itself poses no threat to them.

I learned something today. Kinda makes you wonder who's the teacher and who's the student, doesn't it?

added: I forgot to mention earlier, he also said "I wonder if that's why they called a brontosaurus "thunder lizard" ... cuz it made a big boom when it walked ... get it - ~bronto = thunder and ~saurus = big lizard"

Isn't This Supposed to Get Easier?

Ok, we've been homeschooling a long time now ...... isn't choosing curriculum supposed to get easier?

As I'm plowing through stuff in the schoolroom, I'm wondering ....... what to do next year??? Ok, I've BEEN wondering for a long time now - I'm not THAT much of a procrastinator! Well, for now, we'll be finishing up some of what we didn't get to last year before we have to send the Bob Jones teaching DVD's back. We leased them for a year and will be returning them whenever we finish up. The boys liked them well enough, but there was SO MUCH to cover each day .... we never felt caught up. (edit: LOL - after looking over the schedule I laid out below, I'm thinking it's not going to be any less stuff to cover. sigh!)

I'm THINKING for next year:

Tapestry of Grace ~ http://www.tapestryofgrace.com/ ~ I've always thought of attempting a unit study and this one seems to get rave reviews, now that they've re-vamped it to make it more user-friendly. User-friendly is good. Ok, sold! The sales woman at the convention booth said one of the activities in the book that her family still talks about is when they went to the backyard and spraypainted the dimensions of Noah's Ark. None of them could believe how BIG it was. This curriculum covers: History, Writing, Literature, Geography, Fine Arts & Activities, Bible & Church History, Government & Philosophy. Whew.

Math ~ We're going to finish the current books we have for Math U See and then might investigate Teaching Textbooks (http://www.teachingtextbooks.com/) I've heard a ton of good things about it. It's like having a math tutor - they talk you through and explain EACH question in the book.

Spelling ~ We started using Sequential Spelling/AVKO ~ http://www.avko.org/ ~ shortly before we took a summer hiatus and the boys REALLY liked it. They begged to do at least 3 lessons/day. Yep, sounds like I should definitely stick with that one!

Science ~ Maybe Jeannie Fulbright's series on Creation ~ http://www.jeanniefulbright.com/. We own most of her books and the boys love the ones we've dabbled in.

Creative Writing ~ Institute for Excellence in Writing (IEW) ~ http://www.excellenceinwriting.com/ ~ we'll do a co-op with other families twice/month.

Piano ~ Do you hear my kids moaning even as I type? Oh well, they're not going to quit like I did. One of those "do as I say, not as I do" lessons they need to learn.

Latin ~ We have unused Latin curriculum from last year. Guess we'll dive in. It's supposed to be good for you. Did you try it? I'm not gonna try it. You try it! Sorry - I went off on a Mikey/Life Cereal tangent there :-)

Art ~ Pop Up is dying for me to find an art class for him. When we were at the health food store today (buying dog food - hahaha! Pup Tent eats better than we do!) Pop Up was reading the bulletin board and tore off a phone number for a local art class. He is SO creative, I really need to find an outlet for him.

Swimming ~ The local Rec Center is offering homeschol swim lessons once/week on Friday afternoons. I think they also offer Tuesday/Thursday classes, but I'm feeling like maybe once/week will do for this year. If we can even squeeze that in.

And then there's the 4-H Club that they're begging me to investigate, since they had such an awesome time at the County Fair last week. Their piano teacher told them that her girls both won Blue Ribbons for their sewing competition that they entered. The boys could enter that. And she also mentioned that there's a Cooking Club. PUp wants to be a chef. But the one that TT is really drooling over is the "non-ownership Sheep Club"! He has this notion that he wants a sheep. One of the houses we drive by every day has a sheep farm and he thinks they are just the cutest little things. I'll have to agree that the newborns are stinking adorable. But I'm thinking that they probably do - well ...... stink! Along with other things. Hmmm, a non-ownership club sounds right up our alley.

I'm exhausted already and I haven't even opened the first book for the year. I think I need an energy bar, or something. And I'm wondering ..... just exactly how many hours in a day do I think we have???

If I get even HALF of this done, I'll really feel like we've accomplished something!

Schoolroom Update: picture # 1

LOL! RV just said "oh, that looks much better! Are you sure you didn't take the 'after' picture first and then throw everything on the floor??" Oh, isn't he cute?

This afternoon, this:
Became this:
Yeay me! Behind the pedestal on the right are rolled up maps - but they're tucked behind the pedestal that holds the big globe (not the small Rubix globe pictured) so I'm ok with that for now.

I really need to go through and clear out some of the K thru 4 stuff that is occasionally sprinkled on the shelves. In my spare time. Tomorrow I'll tackle another couple of bookshelves and a desk or two.

Lysa T. is so influential, isn't she?

Oh, that Lysa TerKeurst ..... she's just so influential, isn't she? I read her blog every morning and after seeing this on Friday:

http://lysaterkeurst.blogspot.com/2008/08/food-glorious-food.html

... when we shopped at "AFAR" on Sunday, I found myself needing to buy this:

They look like little oven mits, don't they?
Although, TT who thinks he's eating gourmet when he gets a corndog instead of a hot dog, loved them .... and PUp, my exotic foods loving guy pouted and cried over having to eat it. What? He LOVES anything from the sea. Salmon, lobster, tuna steak, squid (blech!), octopus (blech again!) and even crayfish (at the risk of repeating myself - blech!) don't stand a chance when he's around ... he just doesn't like whitefish he says. Oh well. He can eat it again and again until he learns to like it. Shhhh, don't tell him that half the pack went in the freezer. Try, try again worked with roast beef sandwiches from Roy Rogers. I couldn't begin to guess the amount of times we bought him a plain bun because he wouldn't eat the meat. Now he finishes one whole sandwich and asks for another. And eats the meat that falls off of ours.
What goes with fish, anyway? It's a new one around here for us, and since the fish only took 10 minutes to bake, we had to whip up mashed potatoes and veggies real quick. But it just doesn't seem like they really go together. I guess maybe they do. I dunno? The salmon next to the tilapia in "AFAR's" fish case might make it to our table next. So tell me what you serve with your fish?

The Inspiration (Embarassment??) That I Need???

OH. MY. WORD. I can't EVEN believe I'm blogging about this, but since I'd rather blog than clean, well, here I am. Actually, I'm hoping to shame myself into action. This is nasty stuff, y'all.

Below: This is our (potentially) lovely (ahem) schoolroom. Kids computer desk is in front of the big window. Usually the shades are drawn, to prevent the distraction of ultra exciting things like trash trucks going by. When we first moved in, it was the excitement of the dump trucks and excavators zipping down the road that kept them from looking down at their desks.
Below: This is my desk with windows behind it. I usually keep my shades drawn too ... I guess ADD runs in the family. Actually, I wisely got top-down/bottom-up shades, so I can lower the shades from the top and let the light in without any of us sitting there all day with our chin in our hands & elbows on the desk. Shoot - this just reminded me that I never fixed the curtains after the painters came back through for our punch list items. Guess it's one of those things that I just walk past and don't even notice anymore. Will fix that in time for our "after" shots.
Below: These windows face the front of our house ... the 8 shaped things above the whiteboard are from LAST September! Oh me, oh my. They are from the homeschool convention where we heard Dianne Craft's awesome seminars about boys & their brains & learning & fattening up their cortex with fish oil. Shame on me. I've forgotten all of her stuff - and it was SO insanely good. I need a refresher course at http://www.diannecraft.org/. The tall bookshelf on right has our history & geography materials.
Below: These are the shelves behind Pop Up's desk that house all of our science & math goodies. Under the window is the shelf where all of our library books are SUPPOSED to be.

Below: My desk with grammar, creative writing, Latin, some Bible and music stuff on the shelves behind it.
Below: Closer inspection of my desk. Oh, and just FYI, this is NOT the desk where I am currently seated -- all this stuff ran little ole me right out of MY desk and I have now taken over a spare desk in RV's office. When I worked full time I often had piles of stuff (not this bad) but I knew EXACTLY what was in them and could put my hand on EXACTLY what I needed in a nanosecond. Mmmm, it's not quite like that anymore. I'm older - maybe my reflexes are slower??
Below: Oh heavens!!! I actually had NO idea this little corner was THIS bad. Jeepers, what exactly were those kids doing when I was recuperating in bed for a week, post-surgery?? Goodness, they're not 3 & 4 anymore. This is just so wrong. LOL!
June? June!!? Really??? (gulp!) Well, I did have surgery in June and then July was a blur with our trip to Maine and Canada.
Well, June's over and it's (past) time to flip the calendar to August, boys. You know what that means!! Back to school!! I can never think of that without the old Staples commercial running through my head with Christmas music "It's the most wonderful time of the year ........." - the dad is dancing through the aisles and the kids are tripping over their pouty lips.

There. Now that I have thoroughly embarassed myself, it's time to dig out the shovels (and trash bags!) and get to work in here. My motivation will be to come back here and post presentable pictures. Oh - well, if that's all it takes well then maybe I should post a "before" picture of me and hope that I'll embarass myself into losing some weight so I can post a nice, beautiful "after" picture. Bahahaha. Oh, I tickle myself. Sorry - not gonna happen!

So, off we go to tackle this mess of a room and restore it to some kind of order. If you don't hear from me for several days, send in the cadaver dogs.

Update: Mercy. After looking at these pictures I needed some Zoloft. Actually, I don't really know what that is. Is it anti-depressant medication? (I don't have any). So I had to go in there and take a picture of one thing of beauty. May I present to you my favorite thing in the whole room? My red ceiling fan ........

After we moved into the house, we were at Lowe's looking at ceiling fans. I fell in love with this red beauty but was lamenting the fact that I had nowhere to put it. My very wise (at the time 7 year old) son suggested the schoolroom. Well, duh! I did have a red/white/blue Americana theme going on in our old schoolroom. I guess it's just a good thing that gravity prevents anything else from jumping up there and cluttering up my 1 thing of beauty, or else I'm pretty sure we all know what this picture would look like. Ok, back to the trenches I go ........

Farmer Pop Up

He LOVES gardening. Each morning he runs out to the garden to see if anything has grown overnight.
The first harvest of the season was today. We'll try the yellow tomatoes for dinner ~ they came in a "tomato mix" packet of seeds. I have NO idea what to do with banana peppers .... anyone? I guess they looked fun to grow. update: oh, my bad ... RV says he LIKES banana peppers. Who knew? He says he developed a taste for them thanks to Fuddruckers. And more recently, Subway on those rare occasions when I don't make his lunch. Is the sarcasm coming through loud and clear? Sorry honey, no lunch today - I was blogging last night. Shocking, I know!

Is This What a Tween Looks Like?

I took these pictures last night ... and it really struck me how grown up TT is looking these days ...

Here he is with his best friend (and mine!) in the whole wide world ......
He has such an incredibly close relationship with his Dad ... I hope it always stays that way!

My Little Thrill Seeker

Since I won't let him drive a Demolition Car or ride a Buckin' Bronco .... this will have to do for my little thrill-seeker. He's next to the guy in the orange shirt:

Afterward, telling Dad all about it .........
Could he look any happier??????????

Crockpot 365

This blogger posts a crockpot recipe every day of the year. (just scroll past the post where she uses it as a foot bath for the REAL recipes):

http://www.crockpot365.blogspot.com/

Just in case you LOVE cooking as much as I do ...... ;-)

The Rodeo ~ Coming to a Town Near You?

Jenny asked me to pass along other Rodeo info if I came across any. See yesterday's post for the awesome time we had. I'll keep looking and update this post when I find more, but for now:

http://www.loudouncountyfair.com/
Rodeo (2nd night): August 2

http://www.pwcfair.com/
Prince William County Fair
August 8-16, 2008
Rodeo: August 10 @ 7:30 pm

http://www.clarkecountyfair.org/
Clarke County Fair
August 10-16, 2008
Demolition Derby: August 12
Tractor Pull: August 13
Bull Riding: August 15 -- shoot! We'll be in Annapolis that day for Communicators for Christ. Darn the flies! (I have no idea what that means, I once saw someone write it on a Disney message board and thought it was funny. If it has an offensive meaning, please let me know ;-)
Bucky Covington: August 16 -- when they have David Cook, I'll be there!

A Rodeo That'll Preach

The boys and I had the BEST NIGHT EVER!!!! I don't remember when we've ever had that much fun, just the 3 of us. Poor RV had to work (still not home yet at almost midnight) ~ he's put in 18 hour days since Tuesday -- a project that has to be completed by Friday has everyone pulling double shifts. The boys miss him terribly, and no matter how many times I tell them how fortunate they are that their daddy doesn't have to travel for days, weeks or months at a time, like some do, it's not bringing them any comfort. On to happier stories .....

I've never been to a rodeo before, so if you've been attending them all your life, forgive me while I gush. If I wasn't a happily married woman, I'd totally be a rodeo groupie! In fact, as soon as I'm done with this post I'm off to find when the circuit is coming thru town again.

They announced all the cowboys: Then the announcer turned into a preacher!!! This was a beautiful sight! The announcer all but gave a sermon. He prayed that the Good Lord would keep all the riders safe tonight, that they'd hang on until the ride was over, then he said some other good stuff, and at the end of his prayer, he told everyone in the audience that one day, their ride will be over as well and that they need to be ready. Good stuff. There's a sermon in there somewhere. My sunglasses were hiding the tears that were welling up. Preach on, Mr. Announcer!!

Here's a closeup, just in case you can't believe your eyes. Beautiful, I tell ya!
There was one rider who tarried long after everyone else stood. He kept on praying for many more seconds. And throughout the night, every time he got off a bull, he'd take a knee and pray. Stay tuned till the end of the story .....


This rodeo clown reminded me so much of RV's brother. Actually, both brothers! And I mean that in the best possible way. His jokes and mannerisms were just like both of my BIL's. He totally cracked me up ~ just like they do. Some of the banter that went on between him and the announcer:

Announcer to Clown: "When are we going to get a real clown around here? Clown to Announcer: "When we get a real announcer."

Clown: Did you know WV invented the tooth brush? Yep. You know what it'd be called if it were invented in VA? A teeth brush.

Clown: You know why they call that bull Davey Crockett?
Announcer: No, why do they call him Davey Crockett?
Clown: Because that's his name, Dummy!

There were so many other jokes but I can't remember them. See the resemblance?

Adding to the fun of the evening .... as each cowboy rode his bull, they played some rockin' 80's music. So much fun to sing along and get my groove on. I knew all the words, not like that stuff they play today. And all the songs FIT the mood so well - singing about cowboys & rodeos! Wooooooo doggie! Who knew there were so MANY of those songs?

And this man:

The cowboy who prayed longer than all the others. The one who prayed after he was thrown off each bull. The one who had a big ole cross engrained on the side of his chaps. This cowboy won it all. Oh yes, he did! What a great discussion we had on the way home about that.

So, now I'm off to check all the other nearby county fairs and see if the rodeo is coming to them. Cuz if it is, so are we! Good, clean, family fun. Next time you have the chance to sit thru a rodeo -- do it!!!!!

Oh, and just in case being a Demolition Derby Driver isn't dangerous enough ....... yep, you guessed it ...... now Pop Up wants to be a Rodeo Rider. Sigh.