You. Me. Us.

My time is my own...

2012-02-18T11:26:00.000-05:00

Sort of. I'm back home now, and finally done with the tax thing. I will cover a day or two so Tracy can have a day off. And I will work for her when her mom has surgery in the next couple of weeks. But other than that, I'm out. :)

This week I tried to get caught up on things around the house. Since I have failed, repeatedly, all those housewife courses (heh), my ability to prioritize and get things done in a timely manner is non-existent. I start out with a list of things. Then I get distracted (I really, really, really needed to watch the almost 3 hour American version of "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo." NEEDED) and things just go down hill from there, lol. I did however, conquer Mount Laundry. Not only did I wash and dry the clothes, I even put them away! Yes, that is a noteworthy accomplishment.

Today we are going Bowling with Tracy's crew, then heading to Buford (about 55 miles away) to hit Archivers and MovieStop. The hubs could care less about either of these stores, but I'm excited. Tracy and I are picking up a really cool set of border punches from Archivers, then Scott and I are going to find our happy place at the movie store. Fortunately, there's Steak N Shake in it for the boys and Walter, so they are agreeing to my shopping trip. :D

Tomorrow will be spent grocery shopping (blech), then lounging with the boys. Hopefully.

This week, Bailey will finally start that homeschool writing curriculum I have been talking about. I was supposed to start him in January, but I really wanted to wait until I got back home more. He and I are both kinda nervous about starting something new at this point in our homeschool journey, and the fact that he has a "teacher" is making him wig out, lol. Anyway, knowing that I was going to be home next week, I signed him up Friday. Not thought about it. Did it. FINALLY. He got his login info, and his teacher's name and email, and he begins his eight week Middle School Basic Mechanics course on Monday!

Braeden doesn't have anything major coming up this week, but he will spend any extra time he has practicing his part in his end of the year performance at Masters. I am in awe at his improvement in reading this year. We started out the year still fending off those questions of "isn't he behind?" and "shouldn't he be reading more already?" Now, he had to read a half a page of script, and the only word he got stuck on was "ignore." YAY! :) He's getting more and more interested in reading, and he's starting to finally pick out books on his own, rather than just flipping through ones we pick out for him. Bailey had found some books by homeschoolers on the HomeschoolLiterature website I found, but I don't know that there are any in Braeden's age range. But I told him I would look, and if I found some, I would try and get them and put them on his Nook.

I can't believe that we are already gearing up for March. I signed the boys up for Spring soccer last week...feels like we just finished the fall season! They are excited, as always, for soccer. We are excited too, but we also kinda-sorta-a little bit dread it. We would never tell the boys that, lol. But it's expensive (both boys have to have new cleats this time, and those are NOT cheap; plus gas just keeps going up and we have a soccer obligation, be it a game or a practice, on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays every week) and fairly chilly, at least at the beginning of the season. And this year, the boys are going to miss their last week of games because we will be on vacation. Because both Walter and Scott have to ask for time off well in advance, we can't wait to make vacation plans to see what the soccer schedule is like. On the other hand, we don't want to boys to miss out on a 2 1/2 month soccer season simply because they will miss one week. Ah well, everything will work out fine...it thankfully usually does. :)

Hope errbody had a very special Valentine's Day this past week, and I hope that your upcoming week is just as sweet!

Old Movies...

2012-02-11T11:41:00.001-05:00

We love watching TV shows and movies. We aren't ashamed of that fact, lol. I know, there are those that say it rots your brain. But whatevs. Our brains seem to be in fine working condition, thankyouverymuch. Not only are we TV watchers, we are homeschooling TV watchers to boot. And still no shame in our game. :D

Speaking of brains, we really need to get caught up on the second season of The Walking Dead...

Last weekend, I had some down time (thanks to not feeling very well), so what did we do? We watched all three of the Star Wars movies. Yes, all three. No, there aren't six. The three newer ones don't count. The boys had never seen them all the way through, but knew all of the characters and the major story lines thanks to the last five years at DragonCon, lol!

We also watched The Lion King, and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. They had only ever seen the newer one, with Johnny Depp. When it was over, they both looked at me and said "that was SO much better than the remake." It was a proud moment. ;)

This weekend, we are at it again. What's on the schedule? Stand By Me and Poltergeist! YAY!

We watch all movies and shows, not just older ones. But it's been a lot of fun for the hubs and I to share those old favorites of ours with the boys.

Tax time is dwindling already, thank goodness. This week will see me returning home more and more, which is a great thing. The boys have honestly been doing fine this year; better than years past. Logically, that makes sense, since they are older and are used to having independent school time. But it's still a relief to know that things will be getting back to normal earlier than expected. Well, our normal anyway.

This week I will play catch up on some things around the house that I have put on the back burner over the last few weeks. I have to conquer Mount Laundry. Blech. On the upside, it's more of a "Stone Mountain" size, rather than a "Mt. Everest" size. Silver lining. :)

The boys are going to work on a little Valentine's Day unit study this week. We are not having our normal Valentine exchange at the homeschool group, and I thought it would be a good time to really explore more of the history of the holiday (thank you Wikipedia!), instead of focusing on those little Valentine's cards and the candy. They are both looking forward to this, as they have a natural and genuine interest in all things History. I will spend some time this weekend trying to find some activities to help Braeden with this...sometimes it can be difficult in getting my right-brained visual learner engaged in certain things.

Ok, off to climb that mountain...have a great week errbody! :)

Happy February...

2012-02-05T12:15:00.000-05:00

Already wrapped up the first month of 2012. Crazy!

This week at work was alright. The IRS, in their infinite wisdom, thought it would be a good idea to institute a new computer system at the START of tax season this year. I mean, really...wouldn't you think that would be the best time to try out something new?

Anyway, thanks to said new system locking down, and thanks to so many people trying to file in that first week of tax season, the IRS had a delay with the first round of refunds. Awesome. So we spent this week telling people about the delay and trying to direct them to news stories about it, and to the IRS website, so they would stop screeching at us for holding onto their money. Mad peeps. Understandably so, I guess...but it's not our fault. SO STOP YELLING AT ME. :)

**Side Note - You would not believe the insane amount of identity theft/social security number scams that we have seen so far this year! For those who may not be aware (and really, I honestly can't believe their are folks out there that don't know this, but...), there is NO valid organization that will call you and ask for your social security over the phone. NONE. ZIP. ZERO. If you are ever contacted by a school/organization/credit company/etc., they should already have your ss# if you are doing any sort of transaction with them. Verify the last 4 digits if necessary, but nevereverevereverevereverevereverever give out that information over the phone! Oh, and also...websites that are promising a "tax credit" or a "stimulus" of ANY kind are lying to you. Just so you know. **

Next week will be the busiest, craziest, worst week of the season. After that, hopefully my hours will start dwindling down and I can get back home. The boys are doing well with their school. Both of them have just about wrapped up their homeschool social studies and science portions of T4L for the year. Not surprisingly. That's what happens when they are left to their own devices, lol, they do the fun parts and skip language arts and math.

When I'm done with the tax thing, we will work on finding some new experiments and projects for them to work on. Maybe go back through the T4L activities and pick out topics that they enjoyed and expand on them.

This week will much the same. Work, sleep, whine, repeat. :D

The boys will push through with school. With Groundhog Day, Valentine's Day and President's Day in February, they are enjoying working on the special holiday word lists in their spelling curriculum. We had a lot of fun, trying to see who in the house (adults included, lol!) could come close to spelling "Punxsutawney Phil" correctly. We all failed. Braeden was very perturbed that we even asked him to try. "What kinda name is that anyway?!"

I do so love my kids. :D

50 Hours Later...

2012-01-29T10:56:00.002-05:00

50 hours at the tax office this week. 12 hours of drive time. Clients who have waaay too many questions to AX (heh). All of that equals one mucho tired Katie. Looking forward to a movie marathon with my boys today to unwind.

Anyway, even with the craziness of the tax thing, the week went okay. I was able to talk about homeschooling and provide some homeschool resources to a fellow scout mom who had just pulled her daughter out of public school. It's weird...for me to give advice. I always feel like such a slacker. I hope that she's doing well, and gets off to a good start though.

I honestly have NO idea what my own kiddos did this week, lol. The hubs said they did well, and gave no argument when he laid out plans. Bailey found some popular word lists on SpellingCity for both of them to work on (I'm sure by "work on" he meant "played games with"). That's good. At least it was something. I will eventually have to check their reports and see how they did, but not right now. Right now, I'm going to start a load of laundry (blech) and plop down on the couch.

Hope everyone had a great week, and the upcoming week is just as fabulous! Can you believe we are entering February already?! :)

Doesn't feel like January...

2012-01-22T10:59:00.000-05:00

...at least not weather wise. It's rainy. And while it's not necessarily warm, it's warmer than it should be this time of year. We have had a little bit of cooler winter weather, but not much. Going from warmish to coldish and back, makes for some stuffy wee ones (and a stuffy mommy!).

This week was full on "blarg." It was the first week of filing with the IRS, so there are always kinks to work out. I ended up working more than I hoped. I mostly whined all week, lol, but now that it's Sunday, I can step back and say that I'm looking forward to a paycheck with overtime. :D

This weekend Bailey participated in a Klondike Derby with his Scout troop. I'm guessing since this event is scheduled in January, involves a sled and is called "Klondike," that it would be best if we had snow. Since that rarely happens in these parts, we were lucky enough to have rain. Which means we had mud. Lots of mud. But the boys had a great time. They were cold and wet all day, but they did a great job. There are competitions throughout the day, all wrapped up with a "Great Sled Race."

Look! Pictures! Thanks to the hubs...

Soaking wet ALL day, lol.

The boys, pulling their sled like little dog sled doggies. :D

Tracy's dad helped the boys make their sled and it was AWESOME! I know Tracy sent me a photo of just the sled, but I can't find it. I will get her to send it to me again and I will add it. It really was an incredible sled.

**Updated...here is the photo from Tracy:

It eventually was varnished (I think that's the right word, lol), had wheels and lots of other extras. But you can see the wonderful workmanship of the sled.

In all of the competitions, their troop received 1st place in Nitro Carry (I have NO idea what this is, but all the boys came home in one piece, so it's all good, lol) and 2nd place in First Aid. They were doing really well in the race too, but at one point in the race, a boy from one of the other troops fell and got ran over by his sled. It was apparently pretty bad, with EMTs needed. But our troop stopped to offer help. For this, they received a Presidential Award of Merit! Everyone is SO SO proud of them. Even without the award, knowing that stopping would blow any chance they had to place in the race, they still stopped and did what needed to be done. Definitely worth bragging about! ;)

I didn't get to go the Derby because I had to work, but I guess if I try to find the silver lining in missing it, I'm glad I wasn't out in the chilly muck all day. We didn't want Braeden out in that either, so he spent the day at the office with me. He did well, but even with his gadgets he brought, nine hours is a looooong time for me, much less a 7 yo, to be stuck in an office. He had a few moments of "Please, PLEASE find me something to do!" Tracy and I let him shred a lot paperwork...cause shredders are cool. He would look over the papers and find the words he could read before loading them into the shredder. Fortunately, we are still working on his reading comprehension, lol, so even though there were several words he could sound out, there wasn't an understanding there. Not that he would have seen anything bad, I'm just glad I didn't have to spend the whole day explaining tax stuff to him.

**Another update...at one point Braeden also got to Facetime with Tracy's niece in CT. We all love her, and it was a special treat for him to be able to do this. :)

Big fans of iGadgets... :D

Today is our family day. It's still chilly and icky out, so we are about to go grab a few groceries then head home to have a movie marathon, all cuddled up on the couch. This week will probably be the same as last week, as far as the working and whining and working goes. :D The boys will continue on with school. Braeden is spending a lot of time on one of our online games sites, which is fine with me because that means that the hubs isn't struggling with him. Bailey is finally going to start one of the homeschool writing courses we have been wanting him to take. I have to sign him up tomorrow. Walter went through and decided this morning which course he thought would be the best for him to start with, and we are all excited (even Bailey!) to see how this addition to his school day works out.

Alrighty, that's all for now. I hope everyone has a great week!

Every Day I'm Shufflin'...

2012-01-14T10:38:00.000-05:00

That silly song is stuck in my head right now. It's not in my preferred genre of music, but I hear and it sticks around forever, lol...

This week was good. Busy, but good. Adjusting to different schedules is going alright. The cooler temps are moving in, for the moment anyway. I like the cooler temps. I actually like experiencing a little bit of ALL seasons. Here in the south though, we don't get much winter. It's like an extended, slightly more harsh, fall. Oh well, I'll take what I can get.

Next week we will continue on. Things will get a little crazier at work, as Tuesday is the IRS's first day to file. At home, there's nothing major to interrupt the boys' schedules. No Scouts. No sports. Just Masters on Thursday. It'll be nice for them to have a laid back week. They are going to focus a little more than normal on their vocabulary this week. Bailey will play some antonym games. Braeden will play some parts of speech games. Yes, "focus more" in this house usually means more game play. It works. They learn. I'm happy. I'm long past concerning myself with HOW they grasp a concept, I just want them to get it. :)

Today, Bailey is working on some Scout stuff and after I drop him off, I'm going to swing by the office for a little while. Tomorrow, Tracy and I are heading to the ATL for our first Dragon*Con Directors meeting of 2012. YAY!

Hope errbody has a mucho fabulous weekend, and a great week!

What a week!

2012-01-06T10:03:00.000-05:00

This was a big week for my family. My mom and her mother (my grandmother, Nanny) haven't seen one another in almost seven years. Families have problems all the time, I know. But this was difficult for me. I am close to my mom, but I am also close to, and live next door to, Nanny. I have always felt torn (even though neither of them pulled me or asked to be on their side of the issue) between them and to be honest, it has weighed on me much more than I realized. They recently spoke on the phone for the first time, and this week my mom came up to visit! It was awesome. There is a lot of sadness and pain, and that's not going to automatically go away, but relationships are re-building and that's a wonderful thing!

Here is my mom, nanny and the boys (As a side note, Braeden was only 8 months old when they became estranged, so he has NO memory of ever seeing the two of them together...makes this photo a little more awesome):

We spent a lot of time together, just talking over coffee and shopping...girl stuff. :) I think we all really enjoyed ourselves.

Thankfully, in the midst of this, my tax schedule didn't actually start this week so I was able to spend that extra time with them. I will however, start next week. You know what that means...

Weekly whining. Heh.

I will make a conscious effort to NOT whine. Just remember, I'm trying. It's not success I'm looking for, but effort. Keep that in mind.

This weekend we are going to spend a quick overnight with my in-laws. They live out of the country and were not in town for Christmas, so we are going down this weekend to have our holiday with them. The boys love being able to see everyone and spend time with their cousins, so even though it's going to be a short trip, we are all excited about it.

Next week, we are going to try again with the work thing. I have all of my laundry done. Yes, this is a note-worthy accomplishment. The house is clean and organized. Cleaned out the Cobalt (which I should be driving anyway, as it's better on gas). In year's past, we have never been this ready. Go us.

As far as grocery shopping and everything, that task falls to the hubs while I'm working (yaaaaaay! I know I should feel ashamed for putting that burden on him, but I HATE grocery shopping!). He and the boys enjoy planning our meals though, so I don't think any of them mind.

The boys were supposed to officially start back to school - as official as we ever get at any rate - this week, but with the unexpected visit, that was squashed. Oh well. Fortunately, we have got that "go with the flow" thing down. And since we aren't planning any mid-year changes to any part of our homeschool curriculum, I'm not worried too much about finding our groove again. Like I said before, we tend to take an unschooling approach during tax time anyway. I am behind on printing their progress reports, but that doesn't take too much time to fix. I don't keep these for myself...not for grading purposes or anything (remember, I don't like putting pressure on them...I want them to learn for the sake of learning). But, I do need them for their homeschool portfolios. Which is a fancy-schmancy way of saying "homeschool records," lol. I should get on that before the end of the school year actually rolls around...

One last thing. I said in a previous post that we watched two of the three Millennium movies last weekend. Well we watched the third and final movie this week. That trilogy, and the story it told, has got to be one the best things we have watched in a long time. I have had the books (for those unfamiliar with the Millennium series, it's the Stieg Larsson books: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest) for quite a while, but knew I wanted to watch the Swedish films first. I am so excited to start reading these now, and then seeing how David Fincher did with the American remake. What I am trying to say with all of that is, everyone should watch the films and read the books. It's so worth the time! It's dark and, at times, very graphically violent. But if you can find time, I don't think anyone would regret it.

Okay, that's all for now. Hope everyone has a fabulous week!

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T20:20:00.000-05:00

Holy clap. It's 2012.

We closed out 2011 and rang in 2012 with a great group of friends! Many thanks to the hubs and my boys, Tracy, Scott, Quentin, Zachary, Leigh, Lisa, Hank, Tyler, Pamela, Isobel, Mark, Maggie and Kevin for a fabulous weekend of laughs, games (Pass the Popcorn is really cool!), movies (two of the three Stieg Larsson movies, which are just phenomenal) and fun! We had a ton of pizza for dinner last night and this morning woke up with thick, yummy Belgian waffles and five pounds of bacon. No, you didn't read that wrong. Scott cooked five pounds of bacon. Nomnomnom.

The last of our peeps just left and honestly we are ready for bed, but we are so thankful for the wonderful time! Tomorrow finds us starting our Tax Time schedule. I begin at the office on Tuesday. The boys start back to Master's this Thursday. I will be working six days a week. The hubs will be growling. The boys will be having to take care of themselves, which means we switch to a more unschooling mode here at Casa de la Learnin, lol.

While there will be an insane amount of whining (mostly by me), everyone knows that it's temporary so we try to get through it the best we can and not be too miserable. I know, I know...why do I do it every year? Cause I'm greedy. And I want to make that extra money for vacation and DragonCon. But it's alright. Before we know it, the end of February/beginning of March will be here and I will be back home, trying to remember how to home school, and attempting to conquer Mount Saint Laundry. :)

I hope everyone had a safe but fabulous weekend and your 2012 got off to a fantastic start!

Pictures!

2011-12-30T11:47:00.001-05:00

Yay, more pictures! This is like...twice. In the SAME month. Whoa... ;)

One of my oldest and dearest friends, Katie and my "niece" Mariska with the Build-A-Bear dachshund the boys made her for Xmas. :)

Aunt Katie and Uncle Mike - who wasn't there because he is stationed overseas right now :( - got the boys an Xbox game they have really been wanting!

Bailey and my mom, in the kitchen. Even though she was sick, she spent a lot of time cooking for our dinner. Bailey helped her make SIX pies! :)

My dad, with the boys and my niece Brooklyn.

The boys love playing pool when they visit...

My little brother, Joey, helping Braeden out...

Brooklyn LOVED opening gifts! Once they were opened however, she was very willing to hand them over to someone else so she could continue ripping into other presents! :)

The boys got a few gifts from my parents, but this Skylanders game was #1 on both of their wish lists this year! Braeden accidentally (yes, it really was an accident, lol) saw this when we were down at Thanksgiving and he kept this secret for a whole month so Bailey could still be surprised! :)

My brother's better half, Emily.

The boys and Nanny. She loved her Thirty-One zipper pouch they got her, with them and her three puppies on there! :)

Excitement over yet another video game. But...they only got the three, so I'm ok with that. :)

Braeden and his new iPod touch he got from Mommy and Daddy. I love sleepy faces... :)

Bailey and his new iPod touch... :)

The boys and their gifts that Q (he is the one in the corner of the pic) handmade for them! Minecraft stuffs...

This pic is one of my favorites! All 4 of the boys got iPods this year and while we were waiting to eat at Tracy's parents house, we saw all of them staring down at their new gadgets. It cracked us up!

Tracy's parents got the boys Best Buy gift cards, which they loved. You can also see the Invader Zim shirts that Tracy's boys got them. :)

We had more pictures of our evening at Tracy's, but my camera was doing some weird, spotty, light-reflecting thing and I don't know why. So all of my pictures had spots on them. I will see if I can get a few from Tracy and I will post those later.

Can't believe we are closing out 2011 this weekend. Nuts. We will have a house full of peeps celebrating with us and we are thankful that we can close out one year and start a new one, with some of those that mean so much to us!

Hope everyone has fun, but SAFE weekend!

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T23:13:00.000-05:00

Can't believe it's Christmas already...just seems like I missed a couple, or seven, months somewhere, lol.

We stayed busy this week, I am very proud of the boys and myself for sticking with the baking we needed to do. We always say we want to give baked goodies for the holidays. Most years we even buy all the stuff we need. Then we just end up running out of time and give up before we even start. But this year we set our minds to it and got everything done. It took about 2 and half days to do it all, and we needed Nanny's help, but it was done and the boys were SO happy to hand out and gift their goodies to everyone.

We had several gatherings and enjoyed each and every one of them. Lots of smiles and laughter! We are so blessed to have the family and friends that we have. Even with the craziness of trying to be everywhere, and see everyone, all in one weekend...it was awesome.

Since we finally have a camera (and took more than 300 photos in the last few days, lol) I will have pictures to share later in the week. Honestly, I am exhausted right now. When we travel anywhere, we have a horrible habit upon returning home. We make it as far as the dining room table with all of our stuff and it sits there for days. But I need to really get everything put away and cleaned up before our NYE gathering here next weekend!

The boys got quite a few gadgety gifts and games, and they are looking forward to getting everything set up and to start playing with them all. Unfortunately, even though we are on a school break, they are going to have to compromise with me. If they want to spend an afternoon playing new video games or playing on their new iPods and tablets, they are going to have to spend a little time in the mornings playing some games that I want them to play. Learnin' games. ;)

My kids are so much like me, that they can get completely consumed in games and such...to the point that when they stop playing, they have this blank look on their faces like "oh...ummm...gee...now what do I do with my life?" Lol. To break that up, we institute a tit for tat thing. For every hour they give me with educational games, they can have a couple of hours for the noneducational stuffs. :D

Normally it's not an issue. They really do enjoy the games sites that we use, but I know it's going to tough for a few days with all of the new stuff they want to play with. They will probably stick with the easy stuff, like typing games and art games. Hopefully they will squeeze in some spelling and math...

Alrighty. Off to pick up my baby from the vet (we have to board our bigger baby when we travel, but fortunately, Nanny keeps our two little babies). Then to run by the grocery store, so I can get some food to break up the leftovers. :/

Look for some photos in a few days. Have a great week and enjoy the last of 2011!

Don't freak out or anything...

2011-12-21T12:08:00.000-05:00

...but I have photos to share. Photos that I didn't have to thieve from Tracy!

I know! Makes you wonder if Hell just placed a bulk order for parkas, don't it? ;)

These are just a few of the photos from that parade I told you about in my last post...the one where I said words can't really describe it...

I just love the little Shriner cars. :)

A giant, and street ready, Radio Flyer wagon. We actually see this on the roads during the holidays, lol.

The loooong line of tractors...

I don't suppose a caption is really needed for this one... ;)

The line of "Newer Big Trucks"...

...then later, the line of "Older Big Trucks." Yes, that's how they are categorized.

The hunters. They get their own group, lol.

This one actually had hydraulics. And it bounced. BOUNCED.

This was cute!

"Huh. We'll just make our own damn reindeer." :D

See? NO. WORDS.

We laughed. A lot. And it was a great day. Not being from the country, this parade probably makes me go "wth?" more than anything, but you have to appreciate people enjoying themselves!

We are busy baking cookies this week. Hopefully by the end of the week, I will have pictures to post of that too! :)

And the countdown has begun!

2011-12-17T11:00:00.000-05:00

Before I share about our week this week, I want to direct people to an article. Let me preface this by saying I'm not shoving this down the throat of any public schoolers. I have, nor will I ever, bash or judge those that send their children to public school. I don't think those people are weird, or cult-like, or that they don't want the same things for their children that I do. We just go about things a little differently.

I found this article on a friend's Facebook page and had to share it. I hate standardized tests. I would go so far to say that I abhore them. I don't believe those test results can tell you anything about a child, other than whether or not a child can test well under pressure. I can't even limit my blanket dislike to just standardized tests. It's all tests. I want my children to study to learn. To remember what they read about and worked on. To enjoy the learning process. I don't want them to study to test, then forget half of what they learned once the test was over.

Ok, back to that article. Here it is: When an adult took standardized tests forced on kids

With homeschool statistics showing us that more and more families are making the decision to homeschool, and more and more colleges and universities are accepting homeschoolers (even from those states where testing is not required by homeschool laws), I'm exceedingly happy that I don't have to put so much emphasis on testing around here.

Alrighty then. Just wanted to throw that out there. Now back to our regularly scheduled program. :D

This past week was good for us. I finished my Christmas cards AND got them in the mail in an appropriate time frame. We took the boys to see Arthur Christmas and really enjoyed it. They did their Toys for Tots shopping, and thanks to a GREAT Nerf sale at Target, we dropped $100 worth of Nerf toys, and two board games, in the local TfT box. The best, BEST part of that whole experience was walking out of Target and both of the boys telling us that they loved the feeling they had inside, knowing that they bought so much cool stuff for kids they didn't even know. I was so proud of them!

Other than that, the boys have been liking their "sloth days." All is well...

This coming week starts the countdown to Christmas. No, not so much emphasis on the gifts as just the pure craziness that is our life at Christmas, lol. We have four separate occasions to gather and celebrate. It's nice, but time consuming and very filling, lol, as we eat with everyone we see.

This week we are going Christmas caroling twice; with the Scouts and with our homeschool group. We are so looking forward to that! We are also doing some holiday baking for the first time. The boys decided that they wanted to make cookies for everyone this year. So we are going to attempt to make a gazillion dozen cookies. No, not really that many. At least I hope not. But I'm sure it's going to feel like that, lol...remember I don't spend a lot of time in the kitchen. :/

This week the boys won't really have a lot of time to do much, but they expressed an interest in Hanukkah, so we are going to try and learn something new about the Jewish holiday on each of the eight days. So instead of eight days of gifts, they will get eight days of holiday facts. :) The site we use for our homeschool spelling curriculum (yep..shameless plug, lol) has some Hanukkah word lists. I probably won't make them test on the words, but they can use the lists for game play.

Today we are finishing the last of our shopping. The boys wanted to make their two new cousins a Build-A-Bear as a gift (it's a tradition for new wee additions to the family that started when we made Bailey - now 12 - his first one when he was born!) so we are taking care of that. And then grocery shopping. Blech.

Tomorrow the boys are in a Christmas parade with the Scouts. We finally got our new camera so hopefully I will have photos to post! I can't describe this parade. Honestly. No words. So you guys will have to see the photos to understand why, lol. It's a country parade. Everything from high class floats to decorated lawn mowers and tractors (nope, not kidding) are in the parade. AND...people actually travel from out of state to see this. It's in the middle of nowhere! Not even a gas station. Nothing. And yet it's the most anticipated holiday event of the season for some. So freaking weird.

Ok. That was long. Too long. Hope some of you actually made it to the end. ;) I hope everyone has a splendid week!

And in case I don't get to say before next weekend, we wish you all a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!

This Week...

2011-12-09T12:02:00.001-05:00

I don't have a lot to say this week...funny, huh? The hubs and I were introduced the to TV show "The Big Bang Theory" this week, and have completely fallen in love with it. I honestly cannot remember the last time we have both laughed so hard, and so often, because of a 30 minute sitcom! I have already gotten seasons 1-4 and I expect we will blow through them at an alarming rate, lol.

We are almost done with our Christmas shopping which is pretty astounding. Usually I'm scrambling on Christmas Eve. Unfortunately, my neurosis are kicking in and rather than enjoying myself because I'm just about finished, I spend my days fretting and worrying about whether I have forgotten something/someone. *Sigh* At least I provide laughter for my family and friends with my crazies. :D

The boys are still on break. Yep, the flexibility of homeschooling really IS mucho fabulous. Bailey has finally almost finished the Lord of the Rings trilogy and will begin reading the Eragon trilogy by Christopher Paolini. He has been wanting to read those since he saw the movie, but his excitement about them really grew when he found the books on HomeschoolLiterature.com (the site we went to, to find books by homeschoolers) and he discovered the author was homeschooled. Since he likes to dabble in creative writing, this is very motivating for him.

Braeden is still working on reading The Polar Express. He really wants to finish it because he wants to watch the movie (No, we haven't seen it before. Crazy, I know.) and we won't watch until he's done.

This weekend the boys are doing their Toys for Tots shopping. They have made lists of things they want to give children, and are super excited about finally buying off of that list. After that, we are hitting a Build-A-Bear because the boys want to make one for each of their cousins, Brooklyn and Mariska. Aside from printing out photos and placing them in frames (of which I have already purchased, go me!), and picking up a couple of gift cards, that will wrap up our holiday shopping.

How. Weird.

That means next week, there is a small chance I will finish up my Christmas cards and get them out, kinda on time even...but then what the heck will I do with my time? ;)

Hope errbody has a fantastic week!

A Christmas Parade!

2011-12-03T09:38:00.000-05:00

We participated in the Athens Parade of Lights for the first time on Thursday and we had a great time! The boys got to ride on a float with the other Masters Academy children and they really enjoyed that. The theme of the float was "Hot Chocolate" so they got to hold giant forks with giant marshmallows on the end, and giant spoons to stir the cocoa. While they handed out candy like other parade participants, they also handed out packs of hot cocoa mix, lol. Everyone was color coordinated so the kids all matched...it was so cute! Of course, I only have a couple of photos that I took with my phone (and honestly I'm actually only using one of those, lol, the rest I stole from Tracy's facebook!), but when I get some pics from Tracy, I will try and post more photos. As a side note...we have a new camera coming, so hopefully this means my picture taking skills will improve. Maybe. Hopefully maybe. ... :D

Bailey and Braeden, on the float and waiting to start!

Q and Z, putting on some finishing touches...

Tracy and Scott, trying to stay warm. I'm not sure what Scott is doing...guessing his beard was cold? Heh...

The hubs and I. We couldn't believe how cold it was, especially considering that we were wearing shorts just a week ago!

This appealed to my inner geek...it's the 501st! We were surprised to see a legion in the Athens parade, lol...

So on to this week's plans...

I am working on my Christmas cards. I will be working on said Christmas cards until probably just after Christmas, lol. Ah well, it'll be like prolonging the excitement of the season, right? ;) The boys are planning on watching holiday movies on Netflix all week. Yes, really. I'm hoping they will continue with their reading (so far, so good) and I might be able to work in some spelling games. I'm sure there will be Christmas crafts at some point this week as well. The last couple of years, they have enjoyed making ornaments for our tree, and ornaments for family and friends.

Sometime later in the month, we will start on some little mini-studies we are wanting to do, to learn about other winter holidays and celebrations. We do celebrate Christmas, but one of the great things about homeschooling is we can do and study what we want. :) We don't use a Christian homeschool curriculum, or attend a church, but we are Christian in faith (shocking, I know, lol!) and celebrate as such. But we don't have to be Jewish to learn about Hanukkah, or Pagan or Wiccan to read about celebrating Yule. I like exposing the boys to different opinions/theories/beliefs. They can get a little understanding (and in a perfect world, understanding brings acceptance) of how other families and children celebrate this time of year. To be honest, I'm looking forward to what I'm going to learn, by helping them learn.

Not a lot else going on. I plan on watching one of my MOST favorite holiday movies this weekend (only the first time of many this holiday season, I assure you). National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. I love that ridiculous movie, lol! I will probably quote it all month long....

At some point, I have to finish shopping. Every year, I am buying something on Christmas Eve. Hear's hoping that's one tradition I can break this year!

Anyone else still have a lot of shopping to do?

I can officially listen to Christmas music...

2011-11-26T09:04:00.000-05:00

...now that we've had the turkey and done the shopping! That's the law that the hubs lays down. We have to get through Thanksgiving before we start decorating and everything. The music is all part of the "and everything." :)

Thanksgiving dinner with part of the family went well on Thanksgiving day. By 830pm I was in line at Best Buy, lol (even though I had ordered what I wanted to wait in line for from their website at 630 that morning!). It was actually a fun night. There were tons of people, so the people watching was fun. They had an outdoor screening of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 while everyone was waiting, and that was pretty cool. When we were finally let in at midnight, things were going VERY smoothly. Much more so that I expected. They were letting people in by groups of 30 so there were no trampling issues and they had maps they passed out beforehand of how the check out lines were going to work and where they started. We were impressed.

After Best Buy, we hit IHOP and found ourselves at Walmart by about 330am. It was basically dead and everything had been picked through, and I was on my way home (with seasons 3, 4 and 5 of Supernatural, yay!) by 4 or so.

Now, we are on the way to my parents for the weekend where we will have dinner and fun with them!

Next week is the boys' last day at Masters until after the New Year. After their last day on Thursday, the Masters' kids are in a parade of lights in town...that should be fun.

We are officially on break, so I don't really have any plans for them as far as school goes. At least not right now. Reading and spelling, but that's about it. We are going to look into which of the homeschool writing courses we are going to sign Bailey up for in January. I really wish we had done it sooner, but time and money are always factors in everything. At his grade level, they have courses in mechanics, paragraph writing, essay writing and more. I'm sure he will be taking more than one, but finding a good one to start with is important. Fortunately, we have a writer in the house (Shameless plug for the hubs: You can totally go download his ebook from Amazon for only $.99 right now! :) Click here: Celadonian Tales Vol: 1 Blood and Brass), so he is going to have a good bit of input on where to jump in.

I didn't know that the same website offers elementary online writing courses too. Even though it might be a little too much for him right now, we are going to toss around the idea of signing him up for the youngest course they have...if nothing else to help with grammar and sentence structure. We'll see. :)

Alrighty...off for more turkey! I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving with their loved ones! :D

Vocabulary, Thanksgiving and Black Friday!

2011-11-18T10:06:00.001-05:00

This week was a good week for us. I'm still sucking with my time management skills, but the boys had a good week. My grandmother had a couple of doctor appointments that I helped her with, and I spent all day Wednesday at our first tax meeting of the season (Aaaaahhhh, it's already tax season?!?!), so the boys, and the hubs, had a good trial run of what things are going to be like while I'm out of the house for those six weeks or so I'm at the office.

This week is our last official week of school, as we are on track to take our winter break from Thanksgiving until right after the New Year. We never do nothing for those few weeks, but it's entirely different. We focus on holiday studies (like mini unit studies) rather than our normal curriculum. They will work on spelling, but I will only ask them to play spelling games rather than do their normal spelling lists. They will still do their independent reading, but will more than likely spend that time reading holiday stories.

I have no idea what Bailey will read over the holidays, he hasn't decided. Braeden is going to tackle The Polar Express. He has improved SO much lately with his reading. We are loving it! Things are just clicking for him, left and right. A lot of the improvement came after we focused on helping him with his reading vocabulary. He concentrated on sight words in spelling, and played a lot of vocabulary games online.

We also tried to continue the vocabulary focus when we were away from computers too. One way we did this was by playing word games in the car (we spend A LOT of time in the car, lol). We started playing our own version of "The Alphabet Game." Most people play where you follow the alphabet...for instance, Bailey starts and he uses the word "ant." Then it's Braeden's turn and "b" is his letter so he uses the word "bat." And it keeps going. Sometimes you can lay down restrictions, like the words can only be animals or can only be foods.

We play that way, but our favorite variation is where one person starts with any letter of their choice but the next person's word has to start with the last letter of the previous word. So Walter uses the word "skill" and then I'm next and use the word "love." Then Bailey's next and he uses "eat." And so on. When Walter and I play, we don't try to choose only words that the boys know. We use whatever words come to mind and if they don't know what those words mean, then we explain them and use them in a sentence. So we're helping Braeden, but Bailey is benefiting too. :)

This coming week is going to be kinda hectic, much as it is for the majority of the country, lol. Tomorrow I am taking an entire Saturday for myself. Horrible, I know. I am spending the whole day, from about 9am until midnight, with Tracy and her SIL Jen. We will be scrapbooking at Archivers. I love these ladies, and Jen lives in Connecticut so I don't get to see her as often as I would like. I haven't really scrapped in a long while, and I'm so looking forward to it!

The rest of the week will honestly be leading up to Thanksgiving. We will be cramming in last minute school things before our break. Thanksgiving day we will have dinner with my grandmother and that night Tracy, her husband Scott, Jen and myself will head out for Black Friday shopping!!!! It's going to be so much fun! Best Buy is handing out tickets for something we are getting the boys as gifts, and they will start handing out the tickets at 10pm. Doors open at midnight and the frenzy begins. Last year we didn't really hit Best Buy. We did the Walmart thing. I wasn't going to buy anything, but I ended up with over $200 in $5 and $10 Blurays. This year, I'm not even going to pretend I'm not buying anything other than the boys' specific gift items. I'm almost as excited for the movie buying this year as I am about their gifts we are hopefully getting. Scott and I are the Bluray/movie addicts, so we already have our lists of what we want to fight over! ;) Once we are all shopped out, we'll go eat at IHOP and deliriously laugh over what we saw and how excited we are with what we bought, lol.

After shopping, we're heading to my parents where they host a huge Thanksgiving dinner that Saturday. About 50 people huge. It's crowded and crazy, but fun and there's tons of good food.

I have so much in my life I am thankful for, and each year, even through the craziness, I love being able to spend this time with family and friends and give thanks. I hope each and every one of you have a fabulous Thanksgiving with your loved ones!

Little Bits of Random...

2011-11-11T12:21:00.000-05:00

In reading some blogs this week, I came across a blogger who had a "random" post. She took many things she wanted to say, and just said them. Randomly. This idea intrigued me because so often, I have so much I want to say and I can't find a way to work everything into a post that flows. So, this week, I'm not going to try. I'm just gonna be random. ;)

* I can't believe it's November and I'm perusing the Black Friday sale ads. How crazy. Where have the last 10 months gone?!

* I loved, loved, LOVED this week's episode of Glee.

* The boys did really well with their online subjects this week, but fought me at the handwriting worksheets. Shocker.

* Speaking of handwriting... what does everyone think of teaching cursive writing? Still necessary, or gone the way of the Dodo?

* We're visiting my parents and MIL this weekend. Looking forward to seeing everyone. Getting some holiday pictures made with the boys and my niece.

* I don't sleep at night. I would like to say I don't know why. But the last two months, I blame it on Gilmore Girls. I had never seen it, but I have blown through seven seasons since Labor Day. :)

* I'm a sandwich meat snob.

* I'm making my own Christmas cards again this year. Every year about this time, I am very excited. I think up a design, pick up needed supplies and pat myself on the back for going through so much effort for my holiday cards. Then, about 4 days before Christmas, I'm cursing the damn cards and I'm swearing that I will never make my own again. Finally getting them all in the mail, half of them running a good chance of getting to their destination after Christmas, I calm down and pat myself on the back again. Heh.

* We have been talking about signing Bailey up for homeschool writing courses for a while, but as usual, I have procrastinated. We are finally going to let him start his first one in January, when I start the tax thing this year. January is a tough month for us because we are coming off a nice long holiday break AND trying to adjust to me being out of the house again. Hoping the writing course is a good thing; introducing something new to take the monotony out of things. Now, to find something similar to help rejuvenate and motivate Braeden...

* We have several movies we are looking forward to seeing over the next few weeks. The Muppets, Arthur Christmas, The Muppets, Happy Feet Two and finally, The Muppets. What? :P

* I try and start Christmas shopping early every year, but inevitably, my first purchase is on Black Friday. However, this year, I have already started and have 3 gifts ready to go under the tree. Yeah, 3 isn't a lot. But it's a start!

* It's no secret that I'm a rabid TV watcher. Some of my favorite shows are guilty pleasures...like total teen angst drama crap that I wait for every week but I never tell anyone about. My favorite teeny show? The Vampire Diaries. There is a whole lotta pretty in that show. :D

* I love the seasonal flavors of coffee creamer that are out right now.

* Next week, HomeschoolLiterature.com (one of our favorite resource sites) is hosting it's first ever Virtual Book Release Party. I have never been a part of a book release party, virtual or otherwise. Looking forward to it. If you check it out, you may even win a Kindle copy of the books being released.

* While thinking about books...I cannot believe that there's a new Sherrilyn Kenyon - Dark Hunter AND a Janet Evanovich - Stephanie Plum novel out that I haven't read yet. Darn Gilmore Girls. Guess I won't be sleeping much the next few nights either, lol.

* I love my iPad. Best gadget EVAR.

* I have thoroughly enjoyed my randomness this week. I would expect to see more little bits of random from me every few weeks!

Music, Art and School Pictures!

2011-11-05T13:15:00.000-04:00

This week we had our field trip to the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and the High Museum of Art. We had a GREAT time! Honestly, I was surprised at just how much we enjoyed ourselves, even if we did have to wake up at 6am (that's 6am in normal human speak, but that's the middle of the night in Katie speak!). Neither experiences were something that we had done before and it's quite possible we've found new interests to explore as a family.

At the Orchestra, we got to sit in the front row. This was super cool in so many ways, but it was a little limiting as far seeing the whole orchestra. Still, it was fabulous for the boys to say they were in the front row, lol. Besides getting to hear beautiful music, we learned a lot too! I had no idea a double bass was so big, what the difference was in a viola and a violin, or why being the "Concertmaster" is different than being "First Chair." After the performance, we toured the High. It was really cool...they were showcasing the artists Picasso, Pollock, Warhol; as well as few others. No, I don't remember all the names. Yes, that's shameful. Moving on... :) Our experience on Wednesday led the boys to come home and Google quite a bit. They wanted to see other pieces of art by the artists we saw, as well as more information about the orchestra. They also played some art and music games online. Yay for learnin'!

Thursday, the boys got to have their first official "school photos" made. I can't wait to see how they turned out! The photographer took several different shots, all outdoors. I love that there will be signs of fall in the background. We always take our own Christmas card photos (there's nothing wrong with that at all!), but I'm looking forward to being able to gift a different style of picture this year.

This week proved to be hectic, as I knew it would. Next week things will be as normal as normal is for us. The boys are going to work on a Veteran's Day mini unit study, which they are looking forward to. They have been playing a lot of science and math games lately, so I think I'm going to assign some different games...just to throw them off, lol. ;) Some geography games and some health games sound good.

I hope everyone has a great week!

Halloween Paaahty!

2011-10-30T10:49:00.000-04:00

Every year our friends, the Bells, have a mucho fabulous gathering for Halloween. Bonfires, man-dip (Sounds awkward and gross, yes. But it's yummy, lol.), and their special "soaked fruit." Good friends and good times! We look forward to it every year, and last night was the big night.

Before the Halloween party began, we had a 2nd birthday party for ISO!

The punch! :)

The "let's make sure the kids all get a sugar high" table. The Bells made homemade cookies and brownies, and put together a decorate-your-own-cupcake station. :)

Some of the adults around the bonfire.

Some of the kids around the bonfire.

It was a great evening, with lots of fun had by all! There are more pictures of costumes and such...I just have to get my hands on them. :)

Today we are taking the boys to see 'Puss in Boots', followed by some grocery shopping. Then I'm hoping for a quiet evening at home together.

This week is going to be great, but busy! We have our homeschool group meeting on Tuesday and a field trip to the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and High Museum of Art on Wednesday. Then, on Thursday, the boys are having their first ever "school pictures" made. The Master's Academy that they attend has a photographer come out every year to take the photos. Even though I can't say that school pictures are something I miss because they are homeschooled, I am still kinda excited about their experience, lol.

As far as schooly stuff goes, we will plug along as we can. We will have a lot of time away from the house this week. Maybe with our field trip to the big city of ATL (huh...funny...as I type the words "big city" I suddenly hear the Green Acres theme in my head...), we can do a little roadschooling. I love that term. It's fairly new to me, but I have to say that most homeschooling families probably practice some roadschooling. Especially since I have found that homeschoolers spend WAY more time away from home and on the road than anyone would think, lol.

Hope errbody has a great week and enjoys the first week of November (EEK! November already??!!). :)

October is just flying by...

2011-10-22T15:46:00.000-04:00

Halloween is only a little more than a week away and we are looking forward to the Bell's annual Halloween bash! With the end of October comes the end of the fall soccer season so we have a little more time on our hands. That's always good. Especially for me, since the passing of Halloween signals the official start of the Holiday season, lol! Yeah, I know for most people Thanksgiving may signal that. But I like to get a jump on the festivities myself. ;)

This week was a fairly average week for us. Scouts and soccer. And more soccer. Today is Braeden's end of season soccer party, so he's looking forward to that. Bailey has had a head cold all week, but seems to be on the up side of that now.

School is going well. They have been playing games online almost as much as they have been going online for lessons. I call the games supplementary enrichment. Sounds SO much better than "playing games" doesn't it? ;) They also have been using their Bamboo tablets more. Finally. Bailey is practicing drawing and using art programs. Braeden likes doing art, but he is using it more for practicing his handwriting. It's a computer-y thing, so it's naturally met with less resistance than a worksheet, lol.

This week will wrap up soccer for both boys. I know Braeden's party is today, but he has make up games (we had a lot of rain this season) on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. Bailey has his final make up games on Monday and Tuesday, followed by the championships, we hope.

Our plans for school should go along as normal, or at least as normal as we get. The boys are off from Masters this week for their fall break, so that's an extra day during the week we haven't had in a while. I'm going to try and look up some more homeschool authors for them to read. Of course I think reading is so important, but this week their reading time equates to a little me time. And right now, I'm completely and totally obsessed with watching Gilmore Girls! I knew I would like the show, even though I never got a chance to watch it when it was in it's original run, but I never thought that I would plan some quality downtime around seeing what's going to happen next with Luke and Lorelai or Rory and Logan! :D

I hope everyone has a great week, and a safe Halloween if you celebrate over the weekend!

Oh yeah, this is the final week in my Digital Scrapbooking Software Giveaway. It really is worth your time to enter...free is always good, right? Head over and enter now and I'll do the drawing on November 1st!

Charleston!

2011-10-15T12:17:00.001-04:00

We had a great time on our little trip to Charleston, SC last weekend. It was, of course, too short. But that's the way all vacations are, aren't they? While we got to see a couple of really good places, we didn't get to go everywhere we wanted to so we are already making plans to go back. I didn't get to see any of the plantations or anything, and that's something I would really like to do. We were able to visit Charles Towne Landing and Folly Beach on Saturday, and we went to Cypress Gardens on Sunday before we came home.

I don't have pictures of Cypress Gardens yet. Tracy was taking most of the pics that day, and I haven't gotten them from her. I can post those when I get them. We did however, get pictures from our Saturday fun, so at least that's something.

Thanks to a friend's suggestion, we found out that Saturday was Archaeology Day at CTL. It was cool; the boys got to do a little dig for fossils, they got to talk to a group of archaeology students who were actually working on a dig site and they did a little scavenger hunt throughout the park. Lots of fun. The most fun? Seeing their faces when we handed then the scavenger hunt clipboard and pencil. I know I'm evil, but mine should have listened to me when I said we were going to have some learnin' on our trip. :D

We saw and did so much. I really couldn't try and post all of the pictures, it would take all day to look through them.

Gee...whatcha think they're looking for? :)

There was an animal forest where we got to see deer, elk, bison, vultures, turkeys, a black bear, a puma, herons and more. We tried a couple of times to see a river otter, but they were elusive. Little buggars.

There were several really cool monuments and statues. There were cannons and old buildings, like replicas of homes that the settlers would have originally lived in. There was an old merchant ship that we got to walk through.

These were bunks on the ship. So small...can you imagine sleeping in one?!

All in all it was a fabulous experience. We were shocked when we got there and discovered just how expansive this place was. When we got done, we felt like we walked more there than we did when we went to Kennedy Space Center! The boys all had a great time too. Braeden kept saying the whole way out of the park that he was so glad we came to "Charleston Landing." I kept correcting him, but I finally had to stop and show him the map and have a little lesson in the importance of spelling. Yes, Charles Towne looks very similar to Charleston, but you have to process the whole word, not just the first part, lol. Poor guy. He had extra learnin'.

When we left there, we headed to Folly Beach. You can't visit the coast and not see the ocean, right? We brought the swimsuits for the boys, just in case, but I honestly did not think they would want to get in the water because it was so chilly. I was wrong. Duh. ;)

While the adults were sitting on the beach, lamenting the fact that we didn't have our hoodies, OUR HOODIES, the boys played. Kids are so crazy.

Like I said, we went to Cypress Gardens on Sunday, but I don't have those photos yet. I will try and do another post with those once I get them.

The week after our trip was surprisingly uneventful. It rained from Monday to Thursday, so all of the soccer games were cancelled this week. The boys and I had some good, rainy downtime. This week we will, provided the weather cooperates, resume our normal chaotic schedule. Scouts on Monday, soccer games for both boys on Tuesday and Thursday, homeschool group on Tuesday and Masters on Thursday. School does happen in the midst of all of that, just in case you were wondering. ;)

Now I'm off to grocery shop. I hate grocery shopping. Not a little hate. Loathe kinda hate.

Once I get that out of the way, I can work on their plans for this week. Bailey discovered that their spelling website has literature based word lists for the The Hobbit, but we couldn't find any for The Lord of the Rings trilogy. So we are going to make our own. Pretty cool, yeah? Braeden doesn't really work too much on the literature lists, but he found some dinosaur lists, so he's happy with that.

Oh...one more thing...don't forget to stop by my MyMemories Review and Giveaway and put in your entry to win a fabulous digital scrapbooking software program!

Alrighty, that's it for now. Have a great week, errbody! :^)

I love flexibility...

2011-10-06T09:35:00.000-04:00

No, not the kind where you can put your feet behind your head and walk around on your hands like some freaky crab-human hybrid.

I'm referring to being able to be flexible with our time, and our schedules. This week we are taking a little four day weekend to Charleston. Leaving today. Why? Cause we can. :)

We have been to the USS Yorktown before, but we have never been to, and explored, historic downtown Charleston. So, we had an opportunity to go and we are going. How cool is it that we don't have to worry about taking time off work (the hubs has to take his work with him, so he doesn't actually get time off...but at least it's something that he can take with, lol), or worry about unexcused absences from school.

Flexibility.

It's a beautiful thing.

Other than our trip to Charleston this week, we had soccer, scouts, more soccer, soccer pictures and some soccer. Oh, and we may have had a soccer game.

This week the boys did their normal Time4Learning, but it was hard. Too much excitement I guess. And both of them will sit and do science and social studies for hours...then look at me like I'm Hitler if I tell them I understand they have been working for the last two hours but they still have to do language arts and math. Yesterday I did cave and tell them they could work on other things, rather than T4L. They played some math games, and some brain games. They also worked on compound words.

I absolutely love working on these with them! It's so funny to get them to try and create their own compound words, lol. Bailey actually thinks and comes up with words like "wormegg." Granted, that's not really a word. But at least he is trying to put together words that might, at least remotely, make a real word. Braeden, after a ten minute argument on why a butterfly is called a butterfly (butterfly was my example word to them) - "It's not like it has butter all over it. Why is it called that?!" - finally tried to come up with his own. I got "doggycat." It made me laugh...

As we are getting ready to leave for Masters today, they are very excited because they think they had a short school week. Little do they know that we will be "schooling" on our trip. Insert evil cackle. :D There is a lot of history in Charleston, and before we leave I plan to make sure we have some educational stops throughout our weekend.

Hope everyone has a great weekend. I'm not even going to try and promise to post pictures, lol. I will post them when I get around to them. Provided I get them. I still haven't found my camera that I put away when we were deep cleaning...

MyMemories - Review and Giveaway!

2011-10-03T15:20:00.001-04:00

I don't know that I talk a lot about my scrapbooking and card making; usually it's only when I have a big scrap day at Archivers or something. Anyway...I love it. It's surprisingly cathartic for me. Both the scrapbooking and the card making. I have never honestly given much thought to digital scrapbooking before, because I like messing around with paper, inks, stamps, my Cricut, etc. In my mind, the only reason someone would have a digital scrapbooking software program was because they wanted to create digital layouts and then just print them out and slap them in an album. No textures. No dimension. No adhesives. And there are those out there that know how much I love my adhesives, lol.

Recently, I was given an opportunity to try out and review MyMemories Suite; a digital software program used for digital scrapbooking, card making and so much more.

Oh...I don't generally do disclosures or anything, but for those who feel I should, here goes: I was given a free copy of this software in return for my review. Having said that, my opinion is my own and was not influenced by MyMemories in any way.

We good?

Alrighty.

I now know how wrong I was, about not having a use for something like MyMemories and that a paper scrapper/crafter such as myself really can use and enjoy something like this. :)

The software suite was extremely easy to download, install and get started. As soon as you open the program, you are asked if you want to design your own album or if you want to use one of the templates they offer. I will probably always design my own, cause that's just me. But I saw tons of pre-made templates available AND you can download more from their website (I saw lots and lots of free downloads on the site, and free is always good, lol. There were even more paid ones, and they weren't badly priced or anything).

I haven't had as much time as I would like to play around with this, but I really did like what I saw. There are papers to choose from, embellishments to use, shapes and word art you can add...just tons of stuff.

I worked on a scrap layout. It's fairly simple, but I love it! And something like this would be SO much cooler to post on my blog or on my facebook, rather than just posting the photo and being done with it.

Once I chose the layout, I was able to choose which parts of the photo I wanted to use. I really liked splitting the photo into thirds like I did, and having that right side to label the layout, and put a little description and date on there.

Isn't that cute? And it's not just for scrap layouts. Here is a little Halloween greeting I threw together:

I would rather post something like this on a friend's facebook page, instead of just saying "Happy Halloween." Wouldn't you? :) I imagine it would be super easy to move the cute little pumpkin and insert a photo of the boys and their costumes. That would be something nice to email to family, or even to print out and frame for myself or as a gift!

Ok, I know reviews should be more extensive. And as I have time, I will continue to play around and post what I think. But what is my bottom line opinion so far?

I like it. A lot.

It will never replace paper scrapping and card making for me. I don't know that I will ever use it to print a layout, but I can see me printing out a greeting and/or card for sure. And I can certainly see me using this program on my blog and on facebook! I really, really liked the scrap layout I did. It's the best of both worlds for me...I can paper scrap for myself, and digital scrap for those that don't get to see my scrapbooks. :)

Now, about that giveaway...

Would any of you like your own copy of the My Memories Suite? For FREE?? I would recommend buying this to my scrap friends, and to my blogging friends. But that "free" part is certainly appealing, isn't it? Well, MyMemories has not only offered me a copy of the program for my review, but they also offered me a copy to give away for free to one of my lucky blog readers!

It's easy to be entered in the giveaway. All you have to do is visit the MyMemories website at http://www.mymemories.com, find your favorite digital paper pack or layout, then come back here and leave a comment telling me which one is your favorite. I will randomly pick a comment as the winner. This giveaway will run through the end of the month. You can leave a comment right up until midnight on October 31st. I will pick the winner on November 1st.

If you know you want a copy of the software, and you don't want to wait until the giveaway is over, here is code you can use to save $10 on the purchase of MyMemories Suite, PLUS a $10 coupon for use in the MyMemories store, so you can buy that favorite digital paper pack or layout you found when you were entering the giveaway. ;)

If you want to check back here after the giveaway, those of you who didn't win can still grab this promo code for both of the $10 coupons!

The promo code is: STMMMS80524

Good luck!

Accessorizing and feeling realllly old. And homeschooling?

2011-10-01T11:22:00.000-04:00

If I could change my shoes and my handbag three times a day, I would. Don't really care as much about the clothes as I do the shoes and bags, but that's just me. Anyway, accessorizing is just what we ladies do. I think that same mentality should hold true for my blog as well. I'm sure you have noticed that I change the design of my blog every so often. Usually seasonally. From now until the end of the year are some of my favorite "accessory" changes! I may leave the Halloween one I have now up until after October 31. Or I may change it five more times before then. You just never know. This is your warning. ;)

So ... I know I talk all the time about how time flies. But sometimes things hit me like a ton of bricks. Example? This week marked the 20th anniversary of the release of Nirvana's Nevermind album. Otherwise known as one of THE best albums. Ever.

Whoa. Wait. What??

I know!

For those of you who remember buying that album as vividly as I do, I'm going to give you a moment to let that sink in.

Twenty. Freaking. Years.

I was 14 years old when I bought that album. And I knew every word to every song by the end of the first weekend with it. That album is still with me today. On my iPod at all times. Why? It's one of those defining albums for me. That one and Pearl Jam's Ten. I don't know that I could explain it; why they were so defining or why they're still with me. Other than just...music of my day?

Music of my day? Oh gawd. Listen to me. Pretty soon I'm going to be talking about these young whippersnappers today that wouldn't know good music if it fell out of the sky and landed on their face. ;)

Ok, moment over. Moving on...

This week was a great week for us. School is going well. Master's is going great. The soccer season is going fairly smoothly this fall. We have only had one rain out so far, lol. This week both of the boys won their soccer games! That's always exciting. With the return of soccer each season, comes the return of the small town introduction. No, that's not a "hello" like in most societies. Small town intros run like this "Now, what church do you go to?" or "Why don't I recognize your son from school?"

How I wish I was lying or being sarcastic. But this is true.

Since this is Bailey's 7th year playing with the recreation department, most of the families we interact with at that age range know us and know Bailey...so we don't have to do through the whole "we are heathen homeschoolers" spiel. But in Braeden's age group, no one really knows us yet.

So I explain. No, we don't go to church. Yes, I am a Christian (not the crazy Westboro kind), not that it's anyone's business. We just don't like the hypocrisy we find in church. Especially small town churches where the congregation is comprised of two families. No, I don't think I'm better than your child's teacher, or better than you, or that my kids are too good for the public school. Although, come to think of it, maybe I should say that. Then they would just ignore me all together. :D

Having said all that, it's not entirely bad. I am used to the questions and sometimes I get those questions that aren't condescending or criticizing. Sometimes people really do want to know how we make it work. Especially when I do look like a heathen (In rural communities, tattoos = the devil. The more you have, the closer you are to hell, lol), yet my kids can speak intelligently, and politely. Heh.

Anyway, those questions I love answering! So many people think they just can't do it. But why? Why has our society made them feel like teachers are the only ones who can teach? Take early child education. Technically that starts at home. Who teaches your child their first sounds and their first words? Who teaches them their colors and shapes. Who is the first person to read a book with them? More than likely YOU were the one that I did all that, not a teacher. That's homeschooling.

No, really. That's homeschooling. Sure, it's gets a little more complicated as they get older. But the principle holds. You know what's best for your child. You can see them and how they learn. You are the best person to help them get an individualized education; one suited for their learning style. If your child likes workbooks and textbooks, that's great. Find them, lol. If your child, like mine, lives and breathes computers, find an online program. Do some of both. Do neither. Even if your child is gifted or needs special education, you can still homeschool. You find what works for your children, and for you.

I would never say it's easy. And I will tell you that you have to want to do it, and do it correctly. But I can also tell you that it is one of the most fulfilling decisions I could have made, and I have never regretted going that route with our family. :)

Ok. I'm done. I talk too much, I know. Hope everyone has a great week!

Fall is here!

2011-09-24T09:00:00.001-04:00

Well, for the moment anyways. Georgia always has a warm front, or eight warm fronts, that move in after the official start of Fall.

The air is cooler. The leaves are changing. Pumpkin candles are lit. And my hoodies have been moved to the forefront of my closet. Woot!

Things are going smoothly here. Hopefully I'm not jinxing myself, lol. Scouts is fine. Soccer is great. The boys are absolutely LOVING Masters Academy. Which I'm thrilled about. I was really worried that the first week was a "oh this is cool and different" fluke. But they are a month in, and still just as enthusiastic about it so that's fabulous. November will see our first Masters field trip. We are going to see the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and we are visiting the High Museum of Art.

I'm enjoying the Thursday time for myself as well. Since it's a little too far to drop them off and go pick them up again, I just hang around Athens for the day. Lunch with friends, errands, shopping, pedicures...not a bad way to spend the day! :)

No problems with school. Yet. They are plugging along with Time4Learning as always. Braeden is working on 2nd grade Dolch words this week in spelling. Bailey is working on words from "Treasure Island." I'm hoping he enjoys that book... Both of the boys are playing US States games too. Kinda cool to try and memorize all 50 of the states. That's all I'm asking of Braeden right now, but Bailey is also working on the state capitals.

I'm still working on posting more Dragon*Con pictures. That will happen. I promise. I have to find my camera. :D This past week we spent days, DAYS, working on cleaning and thinning out the house. This is hard for me. Think "Hoarders." Anyway, we saw mucho progress and I am very pleased with what we accomplished. Having said that, I am notorious for putting things away when cleaning, only to lose them later. I really do thrive on that whole organized chaos thing. Once I locate the camera that I found a new, organized home for, I will post more pictures. :)

Hope everyone has a great week next week, and enjoys the first week of Fall!!

I'm always grateful that I am a homeschooler...

2011-09-17T09:39:00.001-04:00

...but this time of year really rams that home for me. :)

I'm sure it won't come as a great surprise to you to learn that I, as a blogger myself, like to read other blogs. I like all blogs, but homeschooling blogs are of a particular interest to me. I like to read how other families handle certain situations and what curricula/programs/resources they are using. Even though I am very comfortable with our current curriculum, I'm not opposed to adding or supplementing with additional books or programs.

I also like to read about current homeschool trends. We ended up homeschooling because I showed my butt and pulled Bailey out of public school in a fit of anger thinking (ok, hoping, but whatevs) that someone in that school office would call my bluff and bend over backwards to make things right for my kiddo. Obviously, that didn't go as planned. Heh. Having never thought about it before that, I hadn't given any thought to why people would choose to homeschool. Now, being much more secure in my decision, I find it fascinating to see why others make this choice. Is it a religious or spiritual issue? Are the schools in their area really that bad? Are other parents as selfish as I am when it comes to wanting to squeeze out every possible second of time with their children as they can? :)

Crap. I've digressed again. One day I'm going to be able to be focused and concise when it comes to my thoughts. One day. *sigh*

Back to being grateful. Why am I so grateful this time of year?

Because I know, at least mostly, what our year holds for us. I am not scrambling and searching through curriculum choices. We aren't trying a new program and having to adjust. I don't have a lot of hoops to jump through with the school board (In GA, we are very lucky. Taking a glimpse of other states' homeschool laws...all I can is yikes!). I have been reading other homeschool blogs and I see posts about changing curricula, AGAIN, because something was tried and didn't work. I see posts about homeschoolers having to submit homeschool plans and syllabi for school board approval. I see homeschooling moms kinda freaking out about how they are going to prepare and keep their homeschool portfolios for the year (this is something that I honestly don't have to worry about because Time4Learning has excellent record keeping... all I have to do is print off what I need, when I need it, and voila: portfolios! Lol.).

So for all of these reasons of me NOT worrying, I am grateful. :D

Post Con Sadface....

2011-09-10T13:41:00.000-04:00

With all of the build up for Dragon*Con, when the end rolls around, we are all left a little pouty.

Exhausted to point of drooling and stuttering, but pouty.

This year's con was good. The hubs had to work more over the weekend than any of us liked, but such is life I suppose. Going down a day earlier this year compared to years past was fun...the boys didn't know what to make of Atlanta without the 50,000 freaks and geeks. Arriving on Wednesday rather than Thursday (when most everyone else arrives) made checking in to the hotels easier, parking MUCH easier and we were actually able to enjoy a nice swim on Wednesday almost completely alone in the pool!

The new staff position this year was a BLAST. It keep me busier than I had expected, but not in a bad way. Got to meet some interesting people this year. There were name droppers (blarg) and butt kissers (blarg-er), but those folks didn't take away from the good stuffs and overall it was a fabulous experience. Already looking forward to next year!

The boys had a great time this year. They love the costuming and cosplay that goes on (during the day...nightime Con is usually adult only, lol) and they enjoy just wandering around looking at everything. I will have a lot of pictures to share. Eventually. This is what happens with me and D*C photos. There are hundreds (Nope, not a typo. Hundreds. As in multiple of a hundred) of photos to go through to decide which ones to share. Some, like the parade photos, look almost just like the parade photos I shared last year. And the year before that.

Anyway...here are few pictures that you guys can start out with. Sorry if they are blurry...I had to thieve them from Tracy's facebook, lol. I haven't even dumped them from the camera cards to my computer yet. :/

Costumes of 3 of the 4 boys... Bumblebee, An Empty Child (Dr. Who) and Aragorn

One of my FAV costumes from the weekend. Nope, have no idea what she is supposed to be. All I can tell you is she was fluffy. And pink. And fluffy + pink = awesome! ;)

Daddy: "See what happens when you misbehave? It's a wrench to the face for you!"

The hubs and I. And Jayne hats. :D

Bailey and Buck Rogers! No, seeing how he has aged does NOT make me feel old...

Jefferson Starship (who are ALL kinds of nice, btw)! Nope, still don't feel old... :P

The boys and Mark Sheppard! We totally accosted him in the hall on the last day of Con as we were leaving. The boys know him as Badger from Firely, Sterling from Leverage, Canton Delaware from Dr. Who and Crowley from Supernatural. Yes, they know him from *all* of those shows, lol.

What was my boys' highlight from this year? Meeting three of their favorite cast members from one of our most favorite family shows, Eureka!! They got to meet, and get autographs from, Jordan Hinson (she plays Zoe), Chris Gauthier (he plays Vincent) and Colin Ferguson (Sheriff Jack!). They were all incredibly sweet and from that little moment, the kids got their most prized picture from this year...

Aaaaahhhhh! While this was my boys' favorite photo op, this was also my total fangirl moment from this year! This photo is now my computer wallpaper. And that has *nothing* to do with how cute Colin Ferguson is. Nope. That's all about my boys. ;)

When I can sit long enough at my computer to sort through the rest of the photos, I will post some more.

As far as getting back to normal around here, that was a slow process this week. Tuesday I spent my day in a vegetative state, trying to start recuperating. The boys are being troopers about starting school. There was only a little bit of whining, and mostly that was from me.

7th grade started off good for Bailey. He had a little math anxiety when he started his first math lesson. But he did fine. I'm hoping that he starts to feel more confident about math. While it's not his favorite subject, he doesn't do poorly in it...but he still worries about it.

Braeden is off to a good start as well. It was apparent to him right away that the 2nd grade lessons were different than the 1st grade lessons, but it didn't scare him or deter him. He enjoyed doing his first real wordsearch...that wasn't on his nintendo ds. He definitely does not prefer the paper version over the handheld game version, but they don't prefer paper anything over the electronic gadget version, lol.

Ok, that's it for now. Hope errbody enjoys the rest of their weekend, and has a great week next week.

Tomorrow, say a little prayer for all of those who are remembering 9/11...the lives lost there, the families that are still grieving, and for the country that was changed so much by one awful, crappy day...

Back to School...

2011-09-03T09:23:00.003-04:00

Yep, finally. This week is our official start to our school year.

Nothing is really different than every other year we start back. I know I'm very fortunate in that. I have been reading a lot of blogs lately, and soooo many parents spend the end of summer struggling to find a curriculum, worrying about scheduling and revisiting that whole "pros and cons of homeschooling" thing.

We know we are good with continuing to homeschool. We know what we are using. We know schedules don't work for us (School schedules don't anyway. It's all I can do to keep up with the schedules of everything else going on with us), so we know that we really don't know how our day will go but we will take it as it comes at us, lol. We know about when we will take our holiday and planned breaks. I'm good.

How lucky am I? ;)

To start off, we are going to jump in one subject at a time. Years past, we would take time off in August, go a few weeks without actually doing anything, then WHAM!...back to school with a normal (haha, what's ever normal around here?) school day. This year, we were working on spelling throughout the summer, and did more reading than we have before. But I still don't want to overwhelm them and have 4 days of whining. Mostly it's me whining. But whatever. Still don't want it.

So, we are going to start with more spelling, but more formal spelling, rather than just game play. I have some spelling lists by grade that they will work on. Besides the spelling, they are only going to work on math this first week. Then next week, I will add language arts. The following week science, then social studies. As much as I don't want to overwhelm them, this is to also help with our new weekly schedule. With the extra homeschool group meeting and the weekly Masters program, I want to make sure that things don't get hairy before they even really get started. :)

By the way... I wrote and scheduled this to publish before we left for Dragon*Con (I like to try to keep up with a weekly posting if possible, otherwise, I end up pushing things back and I only post about once every 6 months, lol) so if this post is sandwiched in between some weird and freaky convention posts, I apologize. If you haven't seen a convention post before you see this one...don't worry. The weird and freaky is coming. :D

The End of August...

2011-08-27T10:36:00.000-04:00

...Already??!! Gah. I feel like just did a blog post about it being the beginning of August...

So this is our final week before life gets back into crazy busy mode. Finally made my way into town and registered the boys for soccer. That's our Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday evenings, as well as our Saturday mornings when games start. Scouts is in full swing. Let's see how I can be there on Monday nights AND at the soccer field 40 miles away. Our homeschool group went from meeting every other Friday to meeting every Tuesday. And Masters started! There's my Thursday afternoons.

Whoa. Reading all that is making my eyes glaze over.

Speaking of Masters...

The 4 boys and Dax, who runs the program. (We were hoping for a shot with everyone in their Masters shirts, but those haven't come in yet...will post once that photo op comes to be.)

...the boys had their first day this week. They were so excited! I knew Bailey would be fine for the day, but I was worried how Braeden would do in a group/class setting. With structure. He's a little bit of a talker (dunno where he gets that from, lol) and even he was a little worried about not being able to talk. At least he is aware of his difficulty in keeping his mouth closed, lol. He was also worried about me not being there to help him read something - he was a late reader, remember.

Of course, there was no need for worry. My brain still has issues with processing things like the fact that this is a group of homeschoolers. Homeschoolers who understand that everyone learns at different paces and everyone has different personalities. Not like public schools, where all of the kids are expected to act, think and learn in the same manner.

Both of the boys had an absolute blast and have already asked to make sure we sign them up EVERY year, lol. I told them to at least get through this year to decide, but they both said there was no need. They knew they were going to looooove it. :)

So what are our plans this week?

Braeden is going to read a whole "I Can Read" book. He finally found one he actually wanted to read on clearance at Borders (they are going out of business by the way...if there is one near you that hasn't closed yet, everything is 40%-60% off right now) and he's looking forward to going cover to cover. It's nothing big, but I think that if he can go from start to finish, even if it's only 30 pages, he will feel like he finally accomplished something major in regards to reading. He's improving daily, but I think finishing a whole book will boost his confidence even more.

Bailey is always in the middle of a book, so I don't even know what he's reading right now. If he's reading...I'm trying to tear him away from the Scott Pilgrim vs. The World movie. He and Braeden have watched it about 50 times! I wish I were exaggerating. Bailey informed this week that not only has he watched the movie repeatedly, he has watched all 4 versions of the commentary at least twice. Each. /shaking my head

In his defense though, it's a really good movie...

WE ARE SEX BOB-OMB!

Ok, where was I?

Braeden will be working on compound words in spelling. These are always fun. Homeschool (har har, I know that one was too obvious), Firefly (yes, that should be capitalized as I'm referring to the TV show, not the bug) and birthday are some of his favorites. Bailey has some geography games on his agenda. Hopefully. We have a short week this week, so it's hard to get them motivated to do anything other than talk about next weekend.

What's next weekend? Just a little thing called Dragon*Con. I might have mentioned it before. Maybe. But only briefly.

What? It's not like I've referenced it in just about every blog post for the last month and a half or anything.

We are heading to the A-T-L a day earlier than normal, so this means we will be arriving Wednesday instead of Thursday. I am so looking forward to this new staff position this year and just hanging out with everyone. It's going to be so different not being at the store and with 95% of our group not being on staff, but I think it's going to be a blast!

I downloaded this nifty blogger app for my phone. I'm hoping this will make it easier to do a quick post or photo from the con....can't wait!

Hope errbody has a wonderful week and safe, fun-filled Labor Day weekend!

12, 11, 10, 9...

2011-08-20T09:00:00.001-04:00

Only 12 days until Dragon*Con! Yeah, yeah, I'm sure errbody is getting tired of hearing about it. But it's a big deal for us. A really big deal. Sure, we love our annual beach vacation. But this...this is DRAGON*CON. It's 4 days of family and friends, 4 days of celebrity sightings, 4 days of costumes and fun, and 4 days of just hanging with 40,000 of my peoples. :D

The boys got their costumes this week and they are super excited about that. Bailey is going to be Aragorn (sigh...he's from the Lord of the Rings trilogy for you non-geeks, lol) and Braeden is going to be Bumblebee. I know, Transformers aren't so much what you'd think for D*C costuming, but he's 7. So we go with it.

Besides being so excited about D*C, this Thursday is the first day of Masters. And this week is soccer sign ups (I was supposed to do that this past week, but I'm a slacker). Our homeschool group has resumed meeting as well and we are going to try and change things up. We are changing our meeting days and have a new location where we are meeting...a very nice recreation outreach center. Hoping these changes bring about new families and great year for our little group!

Still not ready to jump into our school year, but we are baby stepping. We'll continue working on spelling and vocabulary on VocabularySpellingCity (almost love this site more than T4L and that says a lot!!! Lol). Braeden will be working on syllables ("but really Momma...*why* is it si-lent instead of sil-ent?!") and Bailey will be working on some science vocabulary, which is actually a new addition to the site and something different for him.

This weekend holds a trip to Atlanta for Tracy and I (last D*C staff meeting before the con) and maybe a family movie date on Sunday. Rise of the Planet of the Apes looks good. PG-13 is not automatically off limits to the boys. And dear lord...maybe if we bribe them with a semi "grown up" movie, they won't sucker us into seeing Spy Kids 72...or whatever number they are up to now. ;)

Birthdays and a New Arrival!

2011-08-14T11:30:00.028-04:00

We have a TON of August babies in our family (both immediate and extended) so there are lots of reasons to celebrate. Shall I list them out for you? Yes I shall...

My neice, Noel - August 6
My dad - August 9
My oldest, Bailey - August 11
My youngest, Braeden - August 13
Scott and his best friend Tyler also on August 13
My little brother - August 17
Mark - August 18

And our newest August baby? My brand spanking new neice, Mariska!!! She made her arrival, fashionably late I might add, on August 12. She is absolutely beautiful, at 8 lbs, 11 oz and 19 inches long. Her mom Katie (Yes, same name, lol) is one of my oldest and dearest friends. She has been "Aunt Katie" to my boys since the day they were born, now I'm finally "Aunt Katie" to her child! I got stuck in Atlanta traffic on the way to the hospital and was afraid I was going to miss her grand entrance, but I got there in time and I am SO thankful I did! Considering that Bailey just turned 12 (funny how she had her right smack in the middle of my boys' birthdays), you could say I've been waiting 12 years to meet this wee one. :)

Yesterday we had a fabulous birthday party for Bailey, Braeden, Scott, Tyler and Mark.

The yummy cakes that Tracy's mom made for all of the birthday boys. I think Q and Z helped her too! :)

The 5 birthday boys, getting ready to blow out their candles. :)

It's always good to hang out with the gang, and considering that the plague hung around here for two weeks (TWO WEEKS! UGH!), it's been far too long since our last gathering. Some Rockband and some birthday cake...good times!

This upcoming week we are going to start getting ready for everything we have starting/coming up at the end of this month, and next. They haven't really done any online summer school work, even though they have been reading and working on spelling. I may make them log in to Time4Learning and just see what their new grade levels hold for them.

August 25 they will begin their first year at MAFA (Master's Academy of Fine Arts). We have been looking forward to this for a couple of years now. Bailey is super excited! Braeden is excited but really anxious. Even though it's been a while since Bailey went to public school, Braeden has never stepped into a classroom of any sort before. It's only 4 hours a day, once a week, but I think it will be really good for them both.

Soccer will also start back up at the end of August! Seems like we just got done with the Spring season, lol. Every season, by the end of the season, we are ready for it to be done. Then every season, at the beginning of the season, we are ready for it to start. :)

The beginning of September finds us at Dragon*Con. Have I mentioned that before? ;)

Then of course, right after D*C, we will officially be starting back to school. 7th and 2nd grades. Crazy how time flies...

August 13, 2004

2011-08-13T08:00:00.021-04:00

Seven years ago today I had the little man that filled a whole in my heart that I didn't even know was there. I was terrified that I couldn't possibly love another child as much as I loved Bailey. I will never forget the first time Braeden was placed in my arms. I remember the very first thought I had when I gazed at his little face (besides Sweet Jesus, that HURT! - I ended up having him naturally where as I had an epidural with Bailey that worked perfectly, lol) was "Oh there you are...I've been waiting forever for you!"

While Bailey changed me, Braeden changed all of us. One of my sweetest memories was Bailey placing his little hand on my gigantic tummy before the birth, asking me if I thought he would be a good big brother. I remember telling him he would be a fantastic big brother...and he has been. Braeden absolutely idolizes "Booboo," the affectionate nickname he still calls him, even though he can now say Bailey.

I love this picture! I had made a little onesie for Braeden that Said "Bailey's Little Brother" and a tshirt for Bailey that said "Braeden's Big Brother." The nurses even put Braeden's little footprint on Bailey's shirt for him. Both of them wore these out of the hospital. :)

Funny...I thought my little family of three was complete. Turns out, my little family of four was *just* what I needed.

Happy Birthday, Braeden! I love you, baby! :)

August 11, 1999

2011-08-11T08:00:00.008-04:00

Holy clap! I can't believe it was twelve years ago today that my life changed in ways I could have never imagined.

I love both of my boys, so much more so than I could ever put into words. But my oldest holds a very special place in my heart. He didn't just change my life, he changed me. I didn't just become the girl who had a baby boy named Bailey...I became Bailey's Mom. While some people have problems giving up their identity, I didn't. From that moment on, and to this day still, there is no greater feeling for me than to be known as his mother.

The last twelve years have gone by so fast. There are so many firsts I remember, and so many firsts I'm looking forward to.

Happy Birthday, Bailey! I love you, SON! :)

It's Hot.

2011-08-06T13:26:00.001-04:00

Yeah, I know it's August. I don't know how it got here so darn quickly. But I know it's August and it's supposed to be hot. But gah...

The boys' birthdays are next week and they are still trying to decide what they want to do. I think we are leaning towards a bowling party, which is something we haven't done for their birthdays before. I keep wondering if this is the year that they look at us and tell us they are tired of having a shared party/get-together (with birthdays two days apart, it's hard NOT to combine them, lol), but so far they still enjoy celebrating with one another. Yay!

With the beginning of August, comes our official countdown to Dragon*Con. SOOOO exciting! The boys are working on their costumes and the hubs is really looking forward to this year. While this will be my 5th year on staff, he decided that he wanted to take this year off and just be a con-goer. I'm really looking forward to the guests this year (though sadly, none will ever be able to replace my Nathan Fillion/Alan Tudyk and James Marsters moments, lol). The three main characters from the American version of Being Human will be there, as will some key characters from Eureka, which the boys are happy about. Of course my favorite authors, Sherrilyn Kenyon and Charlaine Harris (any excuse to say "Sookeh" hehe) will be there again. Adam Baldwin - Jayne from Firefly - is on the schedule. I hope he actually comes this year. I wear my Jayne hat every year as an homage to "Ma Cobb." And even though I'm not a real trekkie, it's cool to know that Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner will appear together again. They did it a couple of years ago and according to many (even those who aren't fans of Star Trek), their panel was one of the funniest of the con.

That's the reason we don't start our school year until after Labor Day. With D*C that weekend, it's hard for us to plan for that AND plan for the start of our school year. Hey...I have to prioritize. ;)

This week, we will continue as we have. Honestly on summer break, but with a little spelling. Braeden is working on sound-alike words, or homophones. Not surprisingly, but and butt are his favorites. :/ Bailey is going to work on some new spelling/vocabulary words from shark week this week. I am also going to try and throw in some handwriting worksheets for both of them. Fingers crossed they won't try to stab themselves with their pencils to get out of doing them...

Hope everyone has a good week and stays cool! :^)

I'm baaaaack...

2011-07-29T15:27:00.000-04:00

Been a while, hasn't it?

Wanna know why?

My mom got her transplant!!

I know, isn't that wonderful news?! Ok...let me back up a minute...

I have mentioned a couple of times since May that my mom's health had gotten worse and that her liver was failing. She was placed on the transplant list fairly quickly, but they told us basically to hunker down and wait. People can be waiting on an organ for months, even years.

Back to my happy dance...

We were so surprised when we got the call about 930pm on July 13. I mean, she hadn't even been on the transplant list for two full months. So anyway, call came through and they said that it was a 50/50 chance it was a match and they needed to head to the hospital. About 4am my dad called and said that it looked good and surgery was going to start around 6am. So I headed to the hospital to wait it out with my dad and my little brother.

Surgery was finally, FINALLY done about 345pm. Can I say that could be the longest day evar?!

The transplant went great and her recovery thus far has been even better. I spent quite a bit of time with my mom, staying with her at the hospital and enjoying some girl time, lol. The doctors have all said that she has been amazing. She was even sent home just six days after the transplant! She has a few months of more medications than you count and several visits a week for blood work. Then she has a lifetime of a couple of medications for anti-rejection. But she has a second chance. And we, as a family, have been blessed beyond measure!

What else has been going on around here? A buncha nothin.' Kinda hard to follow up a successful organ transplant, isn't it? ;)

It's really hard to get back into a routine when you take an unexpected week off from things. I think the boys very much enjoyed my absence. When the hubs is in his office working, they pretty much have free reign, lol. They didn't burn the house down though, so things must have gone smoothly enough.

Our "school year" won't officially start until after Labor Day, but next week I will have them ease back into things with working a little bit on stuff like analogies, math vocabulary and more spelling. Always with the spelling around here...

I would like to thank those that sent prayers, happy thoughts, good juju, etc out to my mom and the fam. Mucho appreciated and most definitely not forgotten! :D

Hope everyone enjoys their weekend. Can you believe that come Monday, it will be August? AUGUST already! Sheesh.

We are done!

2011-07-09T11:49:00.000-04:00

For all intents and purposes, we are done with our school year! Turned in our last attendance records for the year this week. Yaaaaay! But as most homeschoolers know, we are never really done, lol. There is always some learnin' going on...we find it in just about everything we do.

I like giving them (and myself!) a break, but there are some subjects that we just simply cannot NOT do for an extended period of time. Spelling is most definitely at the top of that list. We can make so much progress, but if we skip a week or so, words they both just learned go right out of their heads.

Having said that, I don't want them to hate spelling. So we try to make it fun. The boys will play Words with Friends with the hubs and I, and we like table games like Bananagrams and Boggle. The boys also enjoy online spelling games like Hang Man and Hig Pig. Bailey is enjoying one in particular, Word Unscramble, which is kinda like Boggle.

We will sprinkle in some math here and there, I'm sure in game form, but mostly we will do a lot of reading and concentrate on spelling.

This week was good for us. I got some "couch time" here and there. We starting watching yet another SyFy show called Eureka and we are enjoying it so far. Yesterday, the four of us sat around the TV and watched the final shuttle launch. It was really cool. The boys, having just visited Kennedy in April, were really excited to talk about everything they were hearing and seeing...things like when the shuttle does a "twang" right before lift off. They also remarked on the necessity of the water that shoots out and the sparks that are ignited in the instant before lift off too. It's nice to know they do listen sometimes, lol.

This week will be busy, but not because of school or because of a lot of things on our schedule. We have some deep, DEEP cleaning to do around the house. By cleaning, I really mean throwing out. This is the time of year that we go through all of our junk (Clothes, toys, even dishes, kitchen stuff, some books, etc. What? So I have an impulse shopping problem. No biggie. That's why we give stuff away, lol) and give what we can to Goodwill, Salvation Army and local thrift stores. What we can't give away (if it's not completely unwearable/unusable, it's always given away...I don't do yard sales), we toss. I always hate doing it, but once it's done, I'm glad we did it.

Today, we are headed to a very special Arrow of Light ceremony. Zach (he's one of Tracy's, but we claim each other's boys as our own) has worked really hard, as well as a couple of other boys, to earn this award this year in Cub Scouts. Once tonight is over, those three will officially be Boy Scouts.

We are hoping to play a little Rockband after the ceremony. Our band is in need of some serious "US" time. :D

Ok, until next time. Hope everyone has a great weekend, followed by an even greater week. I want to leave you with something. Something with profound, deep meaning to me, and to my family...

ONLY 54 DAYS UNTIL DRAGON*CON!!!!!!!!!

;)

I'm like...totally on a roll!

2011-07-07T13:50:00.000-04:00

MORE pics, can you believe it?! ;)

Just a few more though...it's really hard to sort through everything. This handful is more from our Kennedy Space Center visit.

Family shot at the entrance.

Full size replicas. Hard to really gage how big they are, but it was cool. :)

This was one of the neatest things...when they re-did mission control, rather than throw out the old stuff, they put it in the Apollo museum. So this was a full and complete mission control station from back when they had the Apollo missions. They even did a real (real is in a real-time, audio recording) from an Apollo launch. We got to see all the stations light up and hear what they said and how everything went during a launch. Super snazzy!

This is like *the* building. The one you see in movies and stuff. The one you generally picture when you think of NASA. :)

On our way out to the launch pad observation area. This is...well crap...I don't remember what it's name is. But its the honking big monster that carries the shuttle from the building you saw above, to the launch pad. It's massive. And SLOW, lol. I think they said it takes like 8 hours to travel the 3 miles from that building to the pad.

A better picture. And it's called a Crawler. I googled. ;)

The launch pad, with Endeavor.

Kinda hard to see...but there in the back is a big rectangle thing. That's the barge (is that the right word?) that goes out when they go recover the rocket boosters and the fuel tank from the ocean. That big mamma jamma is what they use to bring the fuel tank back in. :)

Taking a breather...my boys absolutely loved spending as much time as they could with this little cutie.

Settling in to watch Hubble 3D in the IMAX there.

This was a shot specifically for my youngest son. Braeden is obsessed with shoes, especially boots. Much to the chagrin of my "if you can only wear 1 pair at a time, why do need more than 1 pair?!" hubby. Heh. Anyway...of all the things that we saw, this was the one thing that had Braeden all giddy. Nose pressed, both palms sprawled on the glass kinda giddy. He walked around almost in a state of wonderment, repeatedly saying how he wished he could have space boots. So he got a dress-up/play pair from the gift shop. Best souvenir EVAR! :D

I love sales and specials...

2011-07-04T09:46:00.000-04:00

I know I have talked about our curriculum, Time4Learning, and how much we love it. I'm not going to keep you, talking about the why's and how's...I do that all the time, lol. But I did want to just throw out that they are having a special this month. Big savings! Just click on that cute little graphic above to find out more.. :D

Happy 4th!

2011-07-02T09:33:00.000-04:00

I can't even process that it's July already. Just crazy...I hope everyone enjoys their Independence Day with their loved ones! :)

So did you see my pictures that I posted this week? Aren't you proud of me? I hope it won't be another four months before I post more. I have plans (really, really, really going to try and stick to these plans) to try and post a few pictures each week. I know I don't need to showcase every photo from every event, but I would like to share at least a few from each thing.

Last night we went to see some fireworks with friends. That's always fun! We are so country, lol... the actual firework show is at the lake. There are TONS of people always there and it's not so bad, until you want to try and leave. Then it takes hours to get out of the park. Anyway, we try to avoid that. How? We are a few of many who, rather than go to the lake, go to the pasture behind the lake. The show is just as good, you can still hear the live music and the crowds. It's just...it's a pasture. :D

Tomorrow we are going on an eight mile kayak trip. We have been going kayaking, at least once a summer, for the past couple of years but we have only been doing the four mile trip. This year we are doing the longer one and looking forward to it. Going to see if logistically we can pack a little lunch, and we can stop about half-way down the river to just hang out and eat.

Ok. I have to interrupt for a second to share this little tidbit that I'm sure you all just wanted to know...to this day, every time I say the word "river," I still hear Chris Farley doing his "IN A VAN, DOWN BY THE RIVER" bit from SNL. Hehe.

Alrighty then, back to it...

We don't have a lot of plans for this week. Thank goodness. I'm needing some sloth time. We all are. Since we did the 4th thing last night with the fireworks, we will probably hang close to home on Monday. We may try and make it to a movie. We have seen tons of movies lately, but the one that has eluded us (and we really want to see in theaters) is "Super 8." Lots of people have recommended it, so hopefully we can find it still in a theater.

School will be light this week. We are in the home stretch now, for our end of year, and I think I'm only going to make them do a couple of days.

Braeden is going to concentrate on spelling. I like to browse through some popular word lists and see which ones are age appropriate for him. This week we will work on 4th of July words and maybe summer fun words.

Bailey is working on some fictional writing outside of his normal T4L stuff. The writing process for him isn't what it is for most writers, lol, but he is only 11. He gets ideas, sits at his computer, and jots everything down. He has really grown as far as sentence structure, grammar, character development, etc. It's awesome. He still has a lot of work to do with basic things like punctuation...but it's hard for me to be too critical, as I normally suck with that (anyone who has seen me chat in IM or text knows this). Every time I write, I just go with it, then go back and make corrections. Sometimes I catch everything, sometimes I don't. I guess I need to work on that too. ;)

Oh hey... look at me...actually posting photos...

2011-06-30T12:45:00.001-04:00

I know. Weird. So here are a few shots from our vacation this year. Why only a few? Cause between the 4 cameras we had clicking all the time, we have thousands of photos. Thousands. Well ok...maybe not thousands. But still. A lot. :)

Our vaca group this year. Loved it! This was our one touristy-like photo op. Glad we got this shot of everyone...

Hard to see, but that's the Endeavor on the launch pad behind them. Pretty damn cool, yeah? ;)

Touching a moon rock...

We love our underwater camera! I thought I had a shot of all 4 of the boys under the water, but that may have been from last year...

Yep. She really *is* that cute!

Ready for a beach day...

Really, really ready... :)

Not so much ocean time for the wee one (at least...not intentional ocean time, lol...there were a couple of "oops, fall down" moments), but she enjoyed her little water/sand hole. :D

Nope, that's not the 6yo, lol... Bailey loved being at the ocean's mercy... ;)

Love this shot...this was Braeden every time he was near the water!

Future boyfriends beware. She *will* have an armed guard. Seriously. ;)

I will try to have more posts, even though they will be sporadic, with more pictures here and there. But this was a good start for me! :^)

Trying to get better at blogging...

2011-06-26T18:52:00.000-04:00

When I first thought about starting a blog, I thought I could totally do this. How hard can it be?

Lemme tell you...it's harder than I thought it would be. The writing isn't hard. Stuff happens in life, you document it, it's a blog. Kinda. Where I suck is in the picture taking. Not only do I have a hard time with remembering to even grab a camera (never mind that my phone has a camera), I have a hard time getting photos off of said camera if I do get a chance to snap a photo or two.

Sigh.

I will try harder. We have a lot of things that have happened lately and I need to play catch up. Vacation, summer camp, day camp...all of these things have accompanying photos (thanks to Tracy, lol!), I just have to find time to go through them and post some up.

I'm hoping to do that this week. Or at least start on it this week. Now that all of our trips and camps are done for the summer, and our homeschooling is in "we will homeschool, but we will do it less cause it's summer" mode, I might actually have a moment or two to work on something like that.

In the mean time, here is a photo of one of our afternoons after camp last week. The boys had a good time relaxing in the pool after a long day...

Birthday dinner...

2011-06-22T19:12:00.002-04:00

Today is my grandmother's 77th birthday! The boys and I came back from camp for the evening so we could all take her out to dinner to celebrate.

Happy Birthday, Nanny!!! :)

Losing a week...

2011-06-18T13:15:00.000-04:00

Does anyone ever have those moments where they look at a calendar and realize they have lost a day (or in my case, a week)? I had so much planned for this week, in preparation for my day camp next week, and I can't seem to recall what happened on Monday. Or Tuesday. Or Wednesday. Or Thursday. No, that's not true. Thursday I got a swanky new phone. Yes, that sticks out in my head over anything else. I'm sure I've mentioned the whole gadget junkie thing before, so this shouldn't surprise anyone.

So now I have this weekend to get all of the final stuff ready. Fortunately, this is the 6th year I've ran this day camp, so I'm pretty comfortable with what is expected of me and what I have to do. I just wish my time management skills were better. :)

The boys stayed pretty occupied this week. More accurately, Bailey stayed occupied by trying to keep Braeden occupied. It's so nice to have my 11 yo trained to parent, and educate, my 6 yo. What? Isn't that why you have more than one child...so the older one can take care of the younger one? ;)

Even though we all seem to live on our computers, I really wanted the boys to try and actually do something non computery in their educational play this week. No, everything they play is not educational. But I do want them to have a designated time set aside for learning games. These can be online, or offline. Generally, I don't have a preference as to whether they are on the computer or not. However, since they have spent so much time on the computer lately, I wanted them to get away from their desks and simply hang out with one another. Actually interact with each other, and us..which is something us computer geeks have a hard time doing, lol.

So, what did they play this week that I deemed educational?

Bananagrams is a new favorite in our house. I don't know why I seem to prefer this so much more than Scrabble...other than it's just quicker. We have a normal set, but you can pick up double sets and even a spanish set. This helps them not only work with spelling, but also with vocabulary. All of us learn new words, lol. My new word? Qat. Yep, it's a word. AND it gets rid of those darn Q's. :D

They also played Monopoly, and even got my grandmother (she lives next door to us) involved in that one. I really think Monopoly falls in line with social studies games. It teaches geography (ok, well the game itself doesn't, but they always want to know about the places on the cards, like Illinois Avenue and Park Place) and it teaches economics...kinda, lol. Since I convinced them to play the normal version instead of the Spongebob Bikini Bottom edition, it ultimately satisfied my desire for learnin'.

We are getting ready to head out to the Drive-In. It's part of our Father's Day plans. Dads get in free tonight (Hey! I'm not "cheap!" I'm just "budget-savvy.") and on Fridays and Saturdays, they have a double feature - two movies for the price of one. Tonight, it's The Green Lantern and X-Men: First Class. Yay!

Hope all the Dads out there have a fantastic weekend with their loved ones.

"It's only when you grow up, and step back from him, or leave him for your own career and your own home - it's only then that you can measure his greatness and fully appreciate it. Pride reinforces love." ~ Margaret Truman

We Survived Camp...

2011-06-12T12:14:00.000-04:00

Well, we mostly survived. I whined a lot (that's not surprising, now is it?). Bailey really struggled with being homesick. He stayed the week, which I am super proud of him for. He stayed under duress. And I had to bribe him. But whatevah. He stayed. ;)

He enjoyed his classes that he took, he just didn't like the evenings and the nights. I guess that's understandable. He's never been away for that long. Ultimately, he was glad he went, but even more glad to be home.

Up next for us is Braeden's day camp, which starts a week from tomorrow. That is always a lot of fun and he's really looking forward to that again this year. I'm looking forward to it, but I'm really looking forward to camps of all sorts being done for the summer. We could use all of these weekends to hang out together, with family and friends. I could use a little time to play Rockband and a few more scrapbooking weekends. :D

Speaking of scrapbooking, I think I am going to look at something different for this upcoming school year. I know I've said in the past that I don't really need to change a lot, and I don't feel like I need to change anything. But I'm interested in seeing what the boys think of lapbooking. Lapbooking is kinda like scrapbooking, but your lapbooks focus on what you are learning about, one concept/topic at a time. They aren't super big, or super lengthy. It just provides the boys with an opportunity to spend a little more time on what they are learning about, outside of a traditional book report, poster project, etc. They both seem to enjoy the artsy stuff, Bailey A LOT, and they have shown interest in helping me scrap. I'm interested to see what becomes of this. They may work on one and never want to do another, but that's what tying new things is all about, right?

Right now, I'm listening to Bailey trying to help Braeden play a spelling game called Unscramble. No, not of his own free will. It's Sunday. You would have thought that I asked him to go outside and lick the mud off of the car. I'm glad that me ~~begging and then threatening~~ asking him, worked out so well. We are waiting for the hubs to emerge from his office so we can go see a movie. I thought it wouldn't hurt for them to work on that together for just a little while....but I could have been wrong, lol.

Hope everyone has a great week!

HE'S HOOOOOME!!!!!

2011-06-03T20:41:00.000-04:00

Yep, picked up the hubs today from the airport! Can you tell I'm supahappy about that? ;)

We got to the airport about 20 minutes before his flight was scheduled to come in. The Greenville airport is SOOOO different than Hartsfield, lol. There is a cute little courtyard outside at the gates. We sat there and while watching the really cool real time flight map on my iPhone (and you wonder why I'm a technogadgetjunkie), we waited for daddy to land. Once the plane landed, we ran inside and waited for him to ... what's the correct term? ... de-board (?). The boys just about knocked him over when they saw him. I got one look at his face and promptly burst into tears. What? I'm a girl. There are allowances made for hormonal emotion.

These last two weeks were really loooooooong. Neither of us does well away from the other. I guess I should be ashamed that I'm so co-dependant, but I'm not. And it pleases me that he's just as bas as I am. Heh.

Tomorrow we are going to take the boys to see Kung Fu Panda 2, which they have been desperately wanting to see since it came out last week.

Then on Sunday, Walter is dropping Bailey off at summer camp.

Gulp.

I'm trying to be alright with this, lol. I know, I know...he'll be fine. He's extremely excited about it. It's just...that's my child. And I'm clingy. :D

My anxiety is so bad though, that I'm not even taking him to the campground. I'm afraid I'll be "that mom." The one that a couple of big burly guys have to drag away from the camp, crying for my baby. The one that would cause so much emotional trauma for my son, that it would take years of therapy for him to deal with what I did to him, that one time at camp.

So Tracy (who is also having a son dropped off at camp) and I are going scrapping. Yep. I'm going to try and bury my extreme emotional duress at Archiver's.

Sigh.

Ooohkaay, moving on...

With Bailey gone this week, Braeden and I are going to have some good one-on-one time with school. He's not going to be as happy about that as I am, but I'm looking forward to really working with him on his reading. While I wouldn't think, at least not yet, that he needs any sort of remedial reading programs, he did get off to a slow start with reading. He is making some terrific progress, but it will be nice to focus on some things that are giving him trouble. Like sight words.

My child... oh man, I love his logic:

Me: "Braeden, what's this word?"
Braeden: "SAYed"
Me: "No honey, that word is said."
Braeden: "If the word is pronounced SED, then why isn't is spelled S-E-D?"
Me:" I don't know Braeden, it just is."
Braeden:" That's crazy. How am I supposed to read, if words aren't spelled the way they sound?!"
Me: deep sigh

This is his way of dealing with the world. It's like writing something. To him, there's really no need. I mean, he can speak afterall. And he can type. Quite proficiently. ;)

We will also work on his reading comprehension. That's a tough one, I know it can be hard to actually remember what it is you are reading, if you're having to stop and sound out more than half the words. But, we will plug away. He loves reading kids books on the nook color, since some of them can be interactive (basically that just means that he can touch the touchscreen I usually tell him not to touch), so that helps...

Well, I hope everyone one has a great week next week. Remember to pray for me on Sunday. If you've got a prayer to spare, you can send one up that Bailey has a great, but SAFE time. Oh, and that he can find it in himself to shower, at least once, that week. ;)

Memorial Day Weekend

2011-05-29T11:46:00.000-04:00

I cannot believe it's the end of May. For reals. I'm still having a hard time remembering to write 2011 instead of 2010. Yet, we're five months in. Sheesh...

So we have made it through the first week of the hubs being away. It was hard. But, we've survived. I only had one mishap with the coffee pot and I've only drawn blood once (so far) loading the dishwasher. Yay for me, lol. ;) I knew there would be an occasion when I regretted failing all of those housewife classes...

Now we are on the downhill side of his trip, and we get to pick him up on Friday!!! All four of us are super excited about that!

To help us kinda get out of the house and stop counting down the days, we decided to come spend a long holiday weekend with my parents. We got to spend a day hanging out with my mother-in-law, my sister and brother-in-law and my nieces, which is always fun. My SIL and her family were visiting from Saint Kitts, where they live for the time being. They were back in the states for a couple of weeks, but unfortunately, schedules prevented us from having more time with them. But, we had ALL day Friday and we enjoyed it.

Yesterday, my mom and I got to spend a great day together, getting pedicures and just doing some running around. Today, we are going to help my other niece celebrate her first birthday, which is so special! I don't get to buy little girlie things that often, so I may have went a little overboard with the gift buying, lol.

Tomorrow, we will be heading home, but not before taking part in some Memorial Day celebrations with my parents at their American Legion. The boys will also get to see an offical flag retiring ceremony tomorrow, so that's really cool.

This week, we won't have a lot of time to miss the hubs. We will be spending all of Tuesday and Thursday finishing up Bailey's requirements for camp, and Wednesday he will spend the day earning his First Aid merit badge. Busy, busy...

As far as school goes, we are winding down nicely. Braeden has just about finished all of his 1st grade lessons. Bailey has more to do, but he has time since we don't have a formal "end of the year." I think this week, Bailey is going to have another "scout work = school work" kinda week. I don't feel even a little bit bad about that...you wouldn't either, if you knew just how much he has to do before he leaves for camp next Sunday!

Braeden is going to concentrate on math this week. He's going to work on some first grade math vocabulary and play some math games. He's also going to be helping Bailey work on his scout stuff. He has NO idea that he's not an 11 year old, lol. But I think Bailey would appreciate the extra help, and he takes his role of Big Brother pretty seriously, so I know he will enjoy playing the instructor. :)

On Monday, remember who it is we are honoring that day. Even though it's a day to commemorate those soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice, we still have brave men and women putting their lives on the line every day. If you see a soldier, thank a soldier.

"And they who for their country die shall fill an honored grave, for glory lights the soldier's tomb, and beauty weeps the brave." ~Joseph Drake

Season Finales...

2011-05-22T12:27:00.003-04:00

I'm a big TV fan. I know, TV watching rots your brain. Whatevah. Still a fan. My DVR and I have a very healthy relationship and I'm just not afraid to admit that. This is season finale time for most of my shows. I'm alright about them I guess, if they aren't cliffhangers, lol. Sheesh...nothing like waiting 3 or 4 months to see what happens next.

Here's what I have thought about the season finales I have caught so far (no spoilers...at least, not direct spoilers...if you don't want to risk figuring anything out, I wouldn't read, lol):

Castle - I looove Nathan Fillion. For real. Love. Met him even. I know, go me. :) Watched him in Buffy, Firefly (Woot Cap'n Tightpants!), Slither, Waitress, Dr. Horrible and now Castle. I don't know that he could do anything I wouldn't like. Castle is a whole family show. While I watch a lot, the hubs watches very little. The boys watch a few of my things with me. Anyway, Castle was good. It was a cliffhanger and had some points in the show that I thought were handled very well. Happy, happy that it was picked up for next year.

Criminal Minds - This is probably my favorite of the crime shows. Even though I miss Mandy Patinkin ("Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die."), I love the cast and really like how well they work together. The finale wasn't a huge cliffhanger, but there was a little surprise at the end. It was less of a surprise though, thanks to the episode description on my DirecTV guide. :/ Looking forward to it's return next year.

The Mentalist - This is another family show. We all love Patrick Jane! I was very pleased with this finale. There's not a lot that I can say without giving everything away. I will say that it seemed to wrap some things up nicely...seemed being the operative word. I'm suspicious, lol.

The Vampire Diaries - Oh don't even. We all have our guilty pleasures. And really, have you seen Ian Somerhalder? Ok then. I liked the finale. I was kinda sad, kinda happy. I really don't feel like anything was wrapped up. On the other hand, I don't feel like I was left gasping. It was really good and I'm looking forward to it's return.

Smallville - *sniff* I love superheroes. All of them. Nope, I don't really read the comics. I just like superheroes. This was Smallville's tenth and final season. Hence the sniffling. It was a nice goodbye.

Bones - Wha huh?? When the hell did that happen??? That's all I've got, lol...

Fringe - Another whole family show. We have liked this show from the beginning. When this season started, we all had the same reserved opinion. We couldn't say that we disliked it, but we really couldn't say we liked it either. But it kept us interested. As the season progressed, however, it got better and better. Definitely a cliffhanger.

Supernatural - Oh, those Winchester brothers. *sigh* We can't watch this finale yet because we didn't get a chance to watch it before Walter left for TX. So we have to wait until he gets back...

House - This one is Monday. Looking forward to it, but it's another one that we have to wait for Walter to get home.

Glee - I absolutely love this show. It's a drama. It's a comedy. It's a musical. YAY! This season finale is coming up on Tuesday. I'm looking forward to it...I want to hate Finn a little less. :)

I told you I watched a lot, lol.

This time of year isn't all about finales though. Doctor Who ("Come along, Pond.") started, True Blood ("Sookeh") is starting next month. Dexter should be at some point this summer. It's not all sad making. ;)

Ok, enough about TV...

Dropped the hubs off at the airport yesterday. We all had sad faces for a while. But I'm sure the two weeks will go by quickly. And we are really hoping this training and these new job responsibilities are a good thing for him, and for our family.

This week we will have plenty to do to keep busy, and hopefully help with missing him. We are still plugging away with the Scout requirements Bailey needs to finish before camp. I am hoping to do a little more school than usual...just because I know June is going to be so sporadic. I will have some spelling printables to help with handwriting, spelling and vocabulary. I keep waiting for the day when handwriting isn't such a battle here. That day will come, right? *crickets chirping* Right??

I had a cool moment at Braeden's soccer party yesterday. Our county's last day of school was Friday, so the topic of how excited everyone was to be out of school was a hot topic of conversation. Of course, it ends up being mentioned that we are homeschoolers. Well, after the party we were walking to the car and one of the parents who we honestly had very little interaction with this season actually tracked me down to ask me about homeschooling. I was surprised! In our area, homeschooling isn't exactly a rogue, underground movement, but it's not a hugely popular thing.

Anyway, she stopped me to ask me what curriculum I use! I usually volunteer that information because I love it. Seriously. Life saving it was. But it was great to be able to tell her there was an alternative to a workbook/boxed curriculum. She admitted that she homeschooled her other children, but there was a large gap in the age difference between them and her youngest now, so the internet wasn't as much of a resource then as it is now. I was able to tell her we use Time4Learning as our core curriculum, but that it was great for supplementing, summer schooling or even online tutoring. It felt nice to be able to really recommend something. :)

Alrighty, I have rambled enough. I have to grocery shop now.

Oh...still asking for prayers for my mom. She is doing alright, but hasn't been placed on the transplant list yet. She will have some repeat tests this Tuesday, then God willing we will find out if she is physically able to finally be placed on the list. Thanks for the prayers and happy thoughts already send up and out! Would greatly appreciate it if you kept 'em coming. :)

Have a great week!

May 15, 2011

2011-05-15T23:05:00.000-04:00

I think I'm done playing "vacation catch-up."

Well, almost done.

Ok...maybe almost kinda done.

Mt. St. Laundry is trying to defeat me. Whatever. I'm trying. ;)

This week is going to be spent getting the hubs ready to be away for two weeks. That is not happy making for us. But it's got a little bit of cool to it...he gets to finally meet the people he's been working for for the last 3 1/2 years.

The boys are working on some Scout requirements this week. Bailey much more so than Braeden. This means I have to pull him away from the art games he's been enjoying, lol. Bailey has several requirements he has to complete before summer camp. He also has to earn the first aid merit badge. These are some of those times that "scout time" and "school time" end up being the same "time."

Yaaaaaay for a super flexible homeschool curriculum!! :D

Soccer season drew to a close this weekend. Even though both of the boys love to play, no one is really ever sad to see the end of a season. Four nights a week for 6 weeks can do that to you. Having said that though, by the time fall sign-ups come back around, we are all more than ready for it to start again!

Not much else going on in these here parts. As you can tell, I am failing (again) in my picture posting duties. BUT, I did finally get the vaca photos off of the hubs' laptop and onto my computer today. See all that progress??

As I leave you, I would like to selfishly ask for something. I found out this week that my mom needs a liver transplant. This came about rather suddenly (dealing with a liver problem for a while, but the rapid onset of failure took us all by surprise). I would greatly appreciate it if you would send up prayers and/or send out happy thoughts. She's going to need a lot of both of those, as will the rest of the family. Thank you!!!

Needing a vacation from vacation...

2011-05-08T10:35:00.000-04:00

You know that period of time when you return from vacation, where you spend untold hours playing catch up from all that was not done while you were away? It always makes me feel like I need another vacation to recuperate from coming back from the first vacation, lol.

We had a wonderful time in Florida, even though it seemed like it went by quicker than usual. Spent a lot of time just relaxing at the pool or playing at the beach. We did have one tourist-y day...we spent an entire day at Kennedy Space Center. And it was awesome!

I haven't even gotten our photos off the hubs' laptop yet, but when they finally make their way onto my trusty computer, I will post some of them and share our good times with you all. :)

Now it's back to our daily grind.

The boys are going to get back to work on this school year. I'm going to make Braeden concentrate on some Dolch words (before I started homeschooling and realized they actually had a name, I called them "sight words") to help with his reading. Bailey is Bailey and he just keeps plugging along. He will be starting 7th (holycrapwhendidthathappen!) grade next year, and I think we are going to add some math to his school day. Our homeschool program offers an algebra curriculum. I don't know that I need to worry about it in 7th grade; I could wait until 8th grade. But, since he struggles with some math concepts, it might be good to give him more time to get through the algebra stuff.

Soccer season is winding down this month. Next weekend I'm going to see Bon Jovi in concert for the second time. Super excited about that! The following weekend, the hubs is headed to Texas for two weeks for job training. In our almost 16 years together, we have never been apart that long. We're both kinda anxious about that. The job training is for new job responsibilities...praying and keeping our fingers crossed that these new job duties will be a good thing for him, and for us. :)

The first week in June Bailey is going to his first Boy Scout summer camp. Six nights away. Gulp. I know he will have a great time. But GULP. Braeden has his Cub Scout day camp (Cubs are too young to have over-nighters, so they get a day camp) during the last week of June.

Lotsa things coming up, but we're looking forward to them. Well, most of them. ;)

Happy Mother's Day to all the mommies!!!!!!

Just Do EEET!

2011-04-27T09:01:00.000-04:00

Go check out this new blog. Just go. You'll be glad you did... great new blog helping to teach our wee ones about nutrition and the importance of eating healthly. :)

Nutrition for Healthy Kids

"We're leaving, on a jet plane..."

2011-04-23T09:36:00.001-04:00

Well, not really on a jet plane. But we are leaving! Our annual multi-family jaunt to sunny Florida starts later today!!!!!!! YAAAAAY!

This will be a much needed vacation for all of us, especially the hubs! It happens every April (homeschooling benefit 713: going on vacation before the rest of the kids in the country get out of school for the summer), but this year it really feels like it snuck up on us. In a good way of course, but snuck up nonetheless.

I have no idea where the month of April has gone and how it came to be that we are leaving today. I still have packing to do, which means that I will be in a stupid rush and forget something. Then the first stop we have to make once we reach our destination, is to the local department store to BUY the things I shouldn't have forgotten in the first place.

Ah well...at least I know this about myself and budget a teensy portion of our vacation fund for the forgotten items. ;)

We are all so excited about this year. We are always happy to go and just relax. Normally it's just beach days and pool days. No big trips or touristy type activities. However, this year we made arrangements to go to Kennedy Space Center! The B's have been before, but it will be the first time for Walter, the boys and myself. Even more exciting is the remote possibility that we get to see the Endeavor launch.

How freaking cool would that be?!?!?!

The launch was originally scheduled for the 19th of April, but got pushed back to the 29th. We can't go to Kennedy to see the launch, but we are hoping to take the boys up the coast a little bit to Cape Canaveral or Cocoa Beach so we can all see it. Fingers crossed that it doesn't get delayed or anything. :)

As far as school goes, I'm sure we won't get much accomplished. Sure, our curriculum travels (online = awesome) and we never go anywhere without a plethora of laptops, netbooks, etc., ... but it's vacation. Everybody deserves a break. Even me...err...them.

The drive down is about 10 hours and they can only watch so many movies before they are fidgeting and squirming in their seats. Bailey will be able to read on the way down (oh hey, that can count as "school"). Braeden will be able to play some of the games that he likes, like the online music games and art games (oh hey, that can count as "school" too). The hubs will be snoring at some point. Thankfully, I will have my 90's alternative music to wail along with, courtesy of my trusty Sirius radio.

I'm hoping to post some pictures or something while we are down there. We all know how well I keep up with pictures and all.

*ahem*

If nothing else, you can check out my facebook and see what I've posted there. Or what Tracy has posted and tagged me in. :D

Hope everyone has a fabulous Easter weekend with their loved ones!!!

Big, Ugly Words. Math Words...

2011-04-16T09:57:00.000-04:00

That's right. Math words.

I've said many times that math is a mostly disliked and often struggled with concept in this house. The hubs has never liked it and he will be the first to admit that he sucks at it. Sucks. As in, sucks so bad he's forbidden to have a hand in the boys' math studies, lol.

Bailey definitely struggles, but he doesn't struggle across the board. There are some concepts he just catches onto really quickly. Then, there are others that take a little extra time. Or a lot of extra time. One of the things that was the hardest when he started learning math, was learning what math words meant.

You thought math was just about numbers, didn't you?

Of course the action of math is numbers. But if you are asked to multiply numbers, you have to know what multiply means. Equations, variables, denominators... all key words in mathematical functions.

A website that we use for vocabulary and spelling recently added a math vocabulary section. Even I was surprised at how many terms I saw that we kinda take for granted. The site allows you to use the words in vocabulary lessons or spelling lessons. You can use them in handwriting worksheets, have flash cards with them, even play games with them. It's really cool, and more importantly, not as tedious or as time-consuming ("yes, I realize it's been 9 1/2 hours. Yes, I realize you have only written down 4 words. Yes, you still have to write down the other 6 words.") as our older way of just simply writing down our spelling words in a notebook.

Both of the boys are benefiting from those math words, as they have some for every grade level. They also make it easier on me. And easier on me is never frowned upon. :^)

Busy. But how?

2011-04-08T11:51:00.001-04:00

This week has been really busy...without necessarily having anything to show for it. Don't you love when that happens? You run, run, run and at the end of the week you kinda look back and go "really? what did keep me so busy?"

We finally had a chance for soccer practice, at least part of the week. The boys are excited about their teams and they each have their first games of this season next week.

Our homeschool group is starting to wind down for the year. We generally take the summer off, but may occasionally meet for a field trip or a play date. Everyone stays so busy in the summer, it's hard to keep a schedule for meeting. At our last meeting, we discussed some pretty big changes for the group. Exciting changes I think! We are going to try to go from a bi-weekly meeting, to a weekly meeting. We are also hoping to bring in some students from a local college who are studying education and/or physical fitness to run a PE program of sorts for us.

It's really cool. I would have never thought that a practicum could be done for a group of homeschooled students. I always thought those things had to be done in schools. I guess with homeschool trends growing the way they are, times they are a-changing. :)

Our school year isn't even close to winding down. But that's normal for us. We go through the summer. We'd rather take our breaks in the other seasons (vacation is this month! yippeee!) than in the summer. When it's 100 degrees outside, with a heat index of like 407 degrees, the boys don't really want to go outside. I don't blame them, lol.

I was hoping to get Bailey started on at least one of the homeschool writing courses I wanted him to take by now, but our schedule just hasn't cooperated. It may be something we do this summer, replacing a part of what he would normally work on with the writing.

Benefit #972 of homeschooling? Being able to adjust our school schedule to accommodate changes like that. :D

Oh! One last thing...

Look! My wee one lost one of his top teeth, FINALLY! Isn't that face just the cutest??

April Showers...

2011-04-02T09:54:00.000-04:00

We only just started April, but we have a reaaaalllly good jump on that "April showers" thing. There has been so much rain! You know, it's really hard to complain about though. Sure, everything is a muddy mess (country livin' ya know), but honestly the rain is the only reason I can sometimes almost occasionally breathe out of my nose. :) The pollen count has been ridiculously high, and everything else is blooming as well. This week the boys missed all of their soccer practices, but considering that it was quite chilly, on top of wet, they weren't horribly disappointed.

April is a busy month for us. We have a crazy soccer schedule, a few scout activities, we're visiting my parents and my mother-in-law for the first time since Christmas (super excited about that!), we have a play we're attending, taking a trip to the Ga Renaissance Festival AND leaving for a much needed Florida vacation! Whew.

Oh... and... my birthday is this month. Yep. That got a line all by itself. Nope. No shame in my game. It's the 16th. Birthday wishes welcome. ;)

It's a good thing that our homeschool schedule is so flexible. And portable, lol. Since we travel with iPads, iPhones and laptops, the boys can hop online anytime they need (and anywhere we have wi-fi and/or cell service. God, I love technology) and work on some stuff. Of course, we find "learnin'" everywhere. Can you imagine what their homeschool day is going to consist of when we go to the Ren Fest?

When we go on vacation, we probably won't make them do any lessons. But we will make them read. That's our thing. There always has to be reading involved. Since we are such gadget junkies, we can load up an ereader with books now, rather than loading up a duffle bag with books.

Bailey has a Nook ereader that he loves. LOVES. We have a list of things that we are going to make sure are on there before we head out. He hopes to finish the Lord of The Rings trilogy before we leave (*sniff* I'm so proud! *sniff*) so we will have to get some new ones for him.

He's already enthralled with books BY homeschoolers (like Christopher Paolini's Eragon series), but we are hoping to find some books ABOUT homeschoolers for him. Any books that he's read over the years about school children involve kids who go to public/private school. He wants to give a book a try that involves kids that stay at home for school. I have to admit, until I found the Homeschool Literature website, I had no idea there were so many books by and about homeschoolers. I'm really hoping we can find one at his reading level. And about boys. I tried to suggest "Little Women," but that didn't even get me a response from him. He just blinked at me.

Braeden doesn't have his own Nook, but he does have my NookColor at his avail. He has made such a great improvement in the last few months. Part of that is his wonderful reading curriculum. The other part of that is he finally reached the point where he was tired of asking everyone to read something for him. Oh, and then there's that part of him that thinks once he's a fluent reader he will get a cell phone to text with. I've tried to tell him that won't happen for a few years, but whatever motivates him, right? The NookColor works well for Braeden because there are some cool interactive kids' books you can buy and download from Barnes and Noble. These books the kids can read themselves, but there is an option for the book to be read aloud to them if they want. Kids can also touch on pictures throughout the book and find little bits of info. Since anything with a touch screen is appealing to my boy, this is exciting enough to keep him sitting with the ereader for a while. :)

This weekend is going to be so exciting for the boys. Bailey got tickets to Wrestlemania for Christmas. The hubs hates wrestling, but he's a trooper for going, lol. It's actually a group of them going, so I think both of them will have so much fun, even if Walter won't admit it. Braeden is a little young for that, so he and I have a special day planned. We are heading out to see the movie "Hop" and then playing at Chuck E Cheese for a little while. *shudder* Hop I can tolerate. The Chuck E Cheese thing terrifies me. But we do what we do for our kiddos. ;)

I want to leave you with an image. It's an image that makes me so emotional, it's hard to put into words. An image that makes me want to yell "YAAAY" and burst into tears, all at the same time. And It's an image that has been 10 years in the making...

EEEEEEEEEEEEEP!

;)

Just Stuff...

2011-03-19T10:25:00.000-04:00

Last weekend I was away at a weekend long training. I run a day camp for cub scouts in the summer and I had to be re-certified this year. We spent 14 hours on Friday doing some learnin', and 14 hours on Saturday. And I had to sleep in dorm bunks (we had the training at a campground facility) with women I didn't know. AND we lost an hour to daylight saving time. Bah-larg.

But enough whining... (I could probably do more whining, but I think I've reached my per-post quota.)

While I was gone, the boys had a great Saturday! The scouts held their pinewood derby. Both of the boys did really well and they MADE THEIR OWN CARS.

Why is that in all caps? Because I am a firm believer in that if it's a Cub Scout Pinewood Derby, then the derby cars should be made by the Cub Scout. For some reason, the dads get way too crazy about this race. They make 2 and 3 cars each...and then present them like the boys did them. Really? Your six year old, the one that's picking his nose right now (hey - I'm not judging, they all do that), made that car that looks like Spongebob? The one where the painting is so precise, it could be a sticker? Lol...

Bailey technically wasn't going to race this year since he's no longer a Cub. But he and the other boys in their troop decided they wanted to make cars so they held their own Boy Scout Pinewood Derby. Bailey enjoyed working on his car. Here it is here:

Bailey's is the one that says "Need for Speed."

He came in 3rd!! This is a big accomplishment for him because in prior years, his cars didn't do so well. Not only was his car 3rd, but between the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place cars, there was only a .10 of a second difference!!!

He was SO proud!

Braeden had just as much fun making his car and was really looking forward to this race. His first race was last year, and the pack had decided that they would have a trophy for every boy that participated. Since they couldn't have more than a 1st, 2nd and 3rd, they had a lot of trophies with cute little phrases. Braeden ended up with a trophy that read "Best Fuel Economy" with this under that: (slowest car).

Of course, that was probably deserved. It wasn't a fast car. But that trophy TORMENTED him for an entire year, lol.

Anyway, he felt like he had to redeem himself this year. So this is the car he thought would do that:

See that big blue splotchy thing? That's Braeden's pride and joy. :)

Braeden decided he wanted an RV instead of a car. So rather than cutting out a car shape, he rounded the corners and left it as a big rectangle. :D

You know what? That must have worked. Guess what he did?

HE WON!!!

He was so excited he couldn't stand it! There were only 2 scouts in his age group, but that didn't take away his joy (nor should it!). Not only did he win 1st in race, he also won a ribbon for Best Block of Wood, lol!

The rest of the week went well. There was some recuperating from the weekend at the beginning of the week. By recuperating, I mean staying in our PJs and piling up on the couch. :)

The boys got to work on some St. Patty's Day themed spelling words this week. The site we use for spelling and vocabulary has some great holiday spelling lists laid out by each month. Since we love ALL things Irish around here, we enjoy that particular holiday!

I have also been playing around on the homeschooling forums for our curriculum. We have made some changes from groups to forums and I'm excited for the changes.

That's about it for this week. Soccer practices have started, so our evenings are pretty much spoken for until sometime in May, lol.

I would like to leave everyone with a request. My heart is breaking for the people in Japan. And for those in Hawaii...everywhere that has been affected by the earthquake and tsunami. I'm asking for everyone to say a prayer for those people. Don't care what God you pray to. Just ask for faith, courage and healing for everyone. If you feel like making a donation, you can do so several ways. You can visit the IFRC. You can visit the American Red Cross. Or you can do what I did - text the word REDCROSS to the number 90999 and make a $10 donation that will show up on your cell phone bill.

Thanks everyone! Hope you guys have a great week!

Hearing about other homeschoolers...

2011-03-13T18:26:00.000-04:00

I love to hear about other homeschoolers and how they do things like set up their schedules, what programs they use, etc. I don't know why. We are happy with what we are using and how we are using it, so I don't know that me reading about other homeschooling families would really change a lot with us. But still... I find it interesting.

One of the best ways to read about others is by going to forums and online groups. Time4Learning has those and I find a lot of information there, but there are other forums and groups too. You can find homeschool websites with forums, and Yahoo / Google Groups are a good way to meet and hear from homeschoolers. You can find secular homeschooling groups, Christian homeschooling groups, Unschooling groups, Waldorf homeschooling groups...you get the picture. :)

Why do I like hearing about other homeschoolers? Sometimes it's the only way for me to know that I may not actually be failing my boys, lol. Finding out that another parent spends half their day staring at their 6 year old because he refuses to write ("why should I write when I can say what I need to say??") makes me feel much less alone. :D

It's not just about me being comfortable, or about behaviors. It's also about information. I have no idea how to homeschool a 7th grader. Why? Because my oldest is currently a 6th grader. I learn as I go. He's going to be doing more involved writing and language arts, starting to do algebra online; things that I have to learn (well technically re-learn since I was a 7th grader once, in a galaxy far, far away) as he learns.

The fact that I can ask questions and share experiences with a group of people who may be going through, or have already gone through, the same struggles is such a blessing!

"We don't need no stinkin' tests"

2011-03-05T12:49:00.000-05:00

Ok. Maybe that's not entirely true. But a girl can dream, can't she?

I don't spend a lot of time thinking about testing. Not your average school-type tests, not your standardized tests and not your SAT tests. Why? I loathe testing. It puts too much pressure on kids. Why should they learn to test? They should learn to learn.

Am I saying that I don't test? Nope. Laws require me to do so. Stupid laws. Am I saying that they won't have to take something like the SAT in their future? Nope...unless they don't want to.

I'm just saying that I don't let the thought or the fear of testing consume my boys, or myself. When the time comes and we are forced (yes forced! lol) to test, we do. I'm a worrying type by nature, so generally everything worries me on some level. But in this one area, I'm good.

It helps to know that I can find resources to help me when it comes time for the boys to take a major test. Our curriculum has an excellent help section on test prep. This helps to me to see what we can expect and how I might be able to help them prepare. Bailey's got another test coming up at the end of this school year. I may take some time to help him get ready, but honestly... I probably won't.

Instead of making him worry about it before hand, I will more than likely just hand him the test and have him get started. If I don't make a big deal out of it, then he won't make a big deal out of it. And it when it's over, it's over. No nerves waiting on the results or anything. :)

The writing courses that Bailey is going to start taking this month will help him with testing in the future as well. Even though his desire for taking these courses is to help him with his creative writing, they are helping him to be able to write in general. Over time and through the courses, he will learn about compound sentences, sentence fragments, run-on sentences and more. As he gets into high school, he will learn about essay writing and will even be able to take some SAT writing courses.

See...I so have all of this covered. ;)

Hope everyone has a good week! Can't believe March is here...

Art and Music for Homeschoolers...

2011-02-27T10:49:00.000-05:00

Both of the boys seem to have some natural abilities that they would like to expand on. Bailey likes to write creatively. He also likes to draw and paint. Braeden likes all things music. As parents do, we are trying to work on helping them explore these natural abilities.

Bailey really enjoyed the art curriculum that he worked on with Time4Learning. So much so, that he went through and it completed it twice! But we are trying to find a new program for him to start on. Easier said than done, especially when you live in the boonies.

While we keep looking, the educator's discount at Barnes and Noble has come in very handy. They have a decent selection of "How to Draw" type books. There's also eBay and Amazon.

Braeden's a little harder to work with. Finding a homeschool music program is harder than one would think. Makes sense though, since you really need a lot of one on one time with instruments and instructors. We did find a good website with some music games, however. He plays around and is enjoying it so far. We will try to fit music lessons into our budget, when he finally decides what instrument he would like to try, lol.

I know this is short and not really updating you on us or anything, but we all have the plague. Well...I don't think it's really the plague. But we all feel like it could be. All four of us are hacking and coughing and sneezing. We've gotten to the point where we are kinda harmonizing our "achoos" and our "hacks," so at least we're humoring ourselves...

Proud Mommy and Wife Moment...

2011-02-20T12:33:00.000-05:00

Here is the link for everyone to read Bailey's first attempt at creative writing. The hubs posted it on his blog...

The Kings Life – A Guest Story By Bailey

Oh hey...look at me...plugging both the son AND the hubs. :D

Wait... Spring???!!!

2011-02-20T12:28:00.000-05:00

Yep. Feels like Spring here. I'm not complaining, the weather has been beautiful and we have enjoyed it. But what the heck happened to January and February?

Anyway, like I said, we are enjoying the warmer temps. It's nice to have the doors and windows open. The boys are finally playing outside. After the wonky winter we had (waaaay more snow than normal), it's nice to put on a pair of shorts for the afternoon.

Soccer sign ups are happening this week. I swear we just finished the fall season but both of the boys are looking forward to playing again.

Oh! Big news...we did something we have been wanting to do for a few years now but haven't been able to financially. We signed the boys up for Masters Academy of Fine Arts!!!! We are super excited! They will start this fall. MAFA is a fine arts program for homeschoolers. They will meet once a week and the kids are separated by age range. The boys are excited about the music and drama, but they are really looking forward to the opportunity to meet other homeschoolers. We know other homeschoolers now, but this is the first time in a long while where we will be meeting homeschoolers for the first time. It will also give Braeden, who has never been to public school, a feel for a little structure and a classroom type setting.

Braeden is feeling better and better about reading and spelling. It takes a little prodding every now and then, but he's working on it. A good spelling curriculum helps. We are starting with sight words (I hate sight words. I really wish we could spell everything phonetically. Just saying.) and will progress from there. He's got some basic words down. Cat. Dog. Spongebob. :D

Bailey is working on his creative writing. He has finished his first story (I am going to post a link to it in just a bit) and we are SOOOOOOOOOO proud of him! I know it takes a lot of courage to put something like that out there for the world to see, but he wanted to do it. He is already working on ideas for another story too. He is going to take a writing course starting next month and he is going to work on some grade level vocabulary, to build on and improve his skills. Simply awesome!

Hope everyone has a great week...

Valentine Weekend...

2011-02-13T10:18:00.000-05:00

So this past week went really well. I worked fewer hours and had more time at home with the boys. We all were very pleased about that!

Bailey has been reading like a fiend!! Before he got his nook, I think it took him 6 months to get through the first half of the first Percy Jackson book. Just since Christmas, he has finished all 5 of the Percy Jackson books, he's finished The Hobbit AND he's almost half way through The Fellowship of the Ring.

Yes, for real!!!

The Lord of the Rings!!!!!!!!!!

Yaaaaay for miraculous transformations (and gadgets...I have to give credit where credit is due...)!

Braeden is even making improvements. He thinks as soon as he learns to read more efficiently, he's getting a phone to text with. We've tried to tell him that isn't going to happen, but he's still trying, lol. We probably will get him his own nook though.

As far as school goes, they are still doing the "mostly child-led with a little prompting from us" thing. They are getting better with the self-motivation. We don't really encounter as much as resistance to the online work anymore. Even though the "child-led" thing is going on, we try to encourage them to do some homeschool printables.

They don't dig this as much, and I can't blame them. I'd rather do everything on the computer too. But if they can make it through a couple of handwriting worksheets (which is the most tedious for them), then I'm happy.

Yesterday I had a much needed scrap day. I know, it sounds selfish to take a day for myself when I miss the boys so much. But scrapping is about the only way for me to give my brain some time off. Tracy and I spent 14 (nope, not a typo) hours at Archiver's, minus some time for dinner at Steak N' Shake, and had a fabulous time!

Today we are having our family Valentine thing. Every year, rather than the hubs and I celebrating by ourselves, we do a family thing. The past couple of years it's been dinner and a movie. We are keeping with that tradition this year. The boys have been begging to see Gnomeo and Juliet so we are taking them to see that. The title of the movie alone makes me giggle, so I'm hoping Walter and I can enjoy it along with the boys. :)

Hope everyone's Valentine's Day is filled with love!

A Lazy Sunday...

2011-02-06T11:17:00.000-05:00

What a week... 55 hours later and I'm home today and planning on spending the entire day in my pajamas!

Fortunately this past week was the big bad as far as tax weeks go. Things are still going to be busy, but not crazy. Should start having my weekends back, and even a few extra hours at home during the week.

I know I was supposed to do a drawing for the blogging 101 giveaway today, but I think I'm going to give it one more week and do the drawing next Sunday, February 13. I want to give everyone more time to enter the contest. It really is a great program for anyone who wants to know how to start a blog. I know I make it look so easy (*wink*), but that's because I took the same course. :)

Remember, the course won't be teaching writing necessarily, but it will offer a lot of information. Things like how to market your blog, blogging safety, sidebar gadgets and widgets, and more. Go comment on the Blogging 101 Giveaway post now. I'll wait...

Really. I'll wait. Go there now.

All done?

K, thanks. :)

Have I mentioned already that I'm going to be spending today in my jammies? Can you tell I'm excited about that? Wanna know what else I'm excited about?

It's Super Bowl Sunday!!!!

Not really as excited about the game (Go Packers!) as I am about what's on after the game... a new episode of Glee!

Yaaaaaay! I've been having withdrawals. I don't think my work mates appreciate my 10 hours of Glee Soundtrack every day...

Reading Fun...

2011-01-30T10:36:00.000-05:00

I've said repeatedly that the hubs and I are avid readers. I've also said repeatedly how much we wish the boys were more like us. :)

Well we are quickly getting there with the boys. Bailey finished his 5th Percy Jackson book in less than 3 weeks!

These are not huge books, but it used to take him a month to read ONE Magic Tree House book, lol. So this a fantastic improvement. To describe us as thrilled would be an understatement! He is already making a list of what he wants to read next. The Hobbit, The Chronicles of Narnia, and the Harry Potter books are just a few he's told me about. He's also really interested in reading books by Christopher Paolini and Victoria Kasten, who are both young adult, homeschooled authors.

What brought about this almost instantaneous change?

A Nook eReader.

Really...does that surprise anyone? Just another gadget junkie in the making...

I got a Nook last year and immediately fell in love with it. Well this year for Christmas, the hubs upgraded me to a Nook Color. So we talked to Bailey and asked if he would like my old Nook, to see what he thought. His initial reaction was more "why would I be excited about that?" than I would have liked, but once I loaded a few books on there, he slowly started getting more and more interested.

Then all of sudden he's carrying the thing everywhere we go and staying up until all hours of the night to read.

YAAAAAAAAAAAY!

I know it sounds funny. And it's hard to explain why having an ereader would make such a big difference. There are so many benefits though. The size is the biggest. You can hold it one handed, it's not heavy and if you are reading a 700 page book, you aren't even remotely intimidated by the size. :)

Braeden is also improving each day. He's been playing some online spelling games, which of course he's fine with cause it's not "school-y," lol. But you want to know his real motivation for learning to read?

He wants to be able to text message.

Yeah. That made me guffaw too. But then again... everyone knows how much gadgets please us. :D

This week should be the last super-crazy-stupid-busy week at work. I don't think it will be my last week at work, but as long as I have shorter weeks and shorter days, the family handles it better.

I'm looking forward to being at home more.

I'm also looking forward to having a scrap-day with the girls.

And I'm looking forward to our annual trip to Florida with the B's.

Hey look at that... me being positive and looking forward to things, rather than me being whiny. Who woulda thunk it? ;)

Who Says You Can't Get Something For Free...

2011-01-26T11:50:00.001-05:00

I am hosting my first blog giveaway and I'm so excited about it!

I actually took this course a while back and enjoyed it. There was a lot of information about blogging safety (yes... I know some of it is common sense, but there was information that I never would have thought about), but also about building a blog that people actually wanted to read. Not just a blog that people read cause I force them to. :D

Blogging 101 is a fully automated 8-week online course that covers everything you need to know to plan, start, write, and build an audience for a brand new blog. The eight units of Blogging 101 (which can be completed in less than eight weeks, if you choose) include:

1. Introduction to Blogging (all the basics for the beginning blogger)

2. Laying Your Cards On The Table (blog titles, platforms, and start-up instructions)

3. It’s All About Me (blogging safety, “About Me” pages, and blog design)

4. Build That Content and Make It Snazzy (writing quality posts, commenting, and adding media)

5. It’s The Little Things That Count (sidebars, widgets, categories, and static pages)

6. Mi Blog es Su Blog – - Building Community (growing a readership, blog promotion, and blogrolls)

7. Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained (more blog promotion strategies and monetizing your blog)

8. Looking Back and Looking Forward (tips and strategies for continuing to grow your blog after the course)

For only $25, you receive access to the Blogging 101 course for eight full weeks as well as downloadable links and resources for you to keep as long as you want. This is an incredible bargain, and you won't find any other comparable course on the web at such an affordable price.

Now I think that $25 is a really good price, but errbody likes the free stuff. So thanks to www.BlogWritingCourse.com, I am able to offer one of my readers an opportunity to take this course for free!

Simply leave a comment on this post and tell me why you want to take this course. One comment will be randomly chosen as the winner. If you want to have some extra entries, post a link to this post on your Facebook or Twitter account, or on your blog. If you post on FB,Twitter or your blog, come back here and post another comment with the link for me to check that out. So that's four chances to win...

The winner will be chosen on Sunday, February 6.

YAY! :)

I need a TARDIS...

2011-01-22T20:10:00.000-05:00

...or maybe a DeLorean?

I just need something that can help me do the tax time thing now so I can pay off my credit card, then travel back in time to make up for the time I've lost with my boys.

Or a better idea I suppose, would be to travel back in time to before I accrued said credit card debt and snatch the darn thing outta my hands, lol.

Regardless, I'm in full-blown tax hell. I really shouldn't make it sound bad, but right this very second it's awful. It's a Saturday night and I've only been home a little while. I'm grateful for my time off tomorrow, but still...whine, whine, whine. :)

And this year has started off so different. New tax changes (there is no longer a Rapid Refund program anywhere because Obama said it was predatory lending) and companies that appear to be holding onto their W2s until the LAST possible second, make for some crabby clients.

This was the first really busy week. I'm always extra whiny during the first busy week. I will stop whining eventually.

I normally try to chat about something school related. But honestly, I don't have anything this week. I don't even know what the boys have done this week...I sat down here before I even had a chance to ask them. Skimming through the RSS feeds from blogs I follow only makes me feel more guilty. You know it's January and already folks are talking about standardized testing?? Sheesh...I'm just hoping my boys will be able to answer the question of "what grade are you in?" when asked. Can't even imagine worrying about testing right now!

I mentioned last week that Bailey is about to start an online writing course. That's still on the table. He's not so much excited about the essay writing, but he's looking forward to learning how to improve upon his creative writing. Other than that...I really don't think we have anything school-y planned out. We are letting them take a break from "normal" school stuff to have some cooking and sewing time with Nanny.

She is a wonderful cook, as most Grandmas are, and is looking forward to showing the boys some stuff. They are also excited about it. They don't know what to make of the sewing thing. It's "girly" is what I got. But it's important to at least know what to do with a needle and thread. Being able to stitch up the gash in your brother's head so mommy and daddy don't know you were swinging that big stick we told you not to swing, could come in handy.

Hitting a Wall...

2011-01-15T11:12:00.000-05:00

Well, tax time officially started yesterday. It was the IRS's first day to file.

Every year, I go through all of these emotions about tax time...

- Grateful that we are in a position where I don't have to work outside the home full time.

- Sad because I miss my home and my boys so much during my 27 hour days. (What? You didn't know there were 27 hours in a day??)

- Really disappointed in myself because if I had just left that damn credit card alone at Christmastime, I really wouldn't have to worry about working during tax time, lol.

- Frustrated because the school thing doesn't go well at all.

This isn't my first year doing this. I've done it for several years now. You'd think that, even though no one here likes me doing it, everyone would be used to it. And everyone would adjust.

But nope.

Walter tells me every night when we go to sleep that he hates it. Then he tells me every morning as I walk out the door that he hates it. Then he tells me every evening when I finally get home that he hates it. Every year, he says this is the last year that you are doing this.

Then every year in the fall (Hellooooo Dragon*Con) and at Christmastime, neither of us curbs that extra spending that we do. :)

The boys basically just shut down when I'm gone. With Walter holed up in his office every day, they are left to fend for themselves. They do alright. It's a good thing eating and bathing are SO overrated.

Even though I miss all of my boys, I get to work with friends...and that's never a bad thing. It's also funny. Every day, I will have another funny story to tell when I get home.

I never breach confidentiality rules. I will never reveal a name to anyone outside the office. I don't tell my hubby who that McDonald's lady was...the one that flagged me down in the drive thru to ask me if her check was ready.

But I do share some great stories. :D

As far as school goes while I'm away...well that's tough. Even the online educational games that I can normally get Braeden to do are met with a scrunchy face.

Last year, I always had Starfall as a backup. He loved playing around on Starfall. But he has pretty much exhausted everything on that site, so the interest isn't there as much. I think this weekend I am going to see if I can find some of those Jump Start games we can load on his computer. It would be something new...

Bailey on the other hand, is really taking us by surprise. He got a nook e-reader for Christmas (ok I got a new nookColor e-reader for Christmas and handed down my older one...but that still counts, lol) and that has turned out to be the BEST thing to get him to read more. He's been interested in reading for a while now, but was often very intimidated by the size of the books he wanted to read. 700 plus pages can be hard to hold and maneuver.

Anyway...since getting his nook, he has gone to bed every night asking to read and all last week, he read for about an hour each morning before he even got out of bed. Yep...rolled over, grabbed his nook and started reading. Before breakfast, before cartoons, before anything! We were beyond giddy. The most astonishing thing EVAR? Walter told me yesterday that he even opted to read over playing on his computer. Absolutely awesome!!

He has also written his first fantasy story. Complete with dragons, knights and epic battles.

You can tell it was written by an 11 year old, but it was really good. Walter is a writer and even came out of his office with a flabbergasted look of joy and awe on his face.

To help him with this particular interest, we are definitely going to sign him up for an online writing course. I've mentioned it before, but we always kinda hedged on it. We knew we would want him to do the course later, more for essay writing and SAT prep if he wanted to take it. But I think with this new found interest in writing, and the natural talent he could very well expand on, it would be good to start the course now.

This upcoming week will be hard for everyone, but It will go fine, I'm sure of it. Power of wishful thinking and all... :^)

Learning a Foreign Language...

2011-01-09T12:23:00.000-05:00

When I was in school, we didn't start learning a foreign language until we were in high school. I look back and wonder if that hurt us a lot more than it helped us...

Braeden is still really just getting a grasp on the English language, lol, so I'm going to let him continue with his alphabet games and watching Dora. Hey, don't knock Dora! She and Diego have already taught both of the boys more Spanish than I ever knew! (I took German in school)

Bailey is interested in Spanish, and he understands that Spanish will probably be the most beneficial for him as he gets older (thinking job market already), but he doesn't know that he really wants to take a few years of Spanish. He finds German as interesting as I did and he agrees with his dad and I in that Latin would be a really cool language to learn.

I want to find a good program for teaching a new language. Most people recommend Rosetta Stone, and in my research, it does seem to be a successful program. It's pretty costly though. Since we aren't even remotely above trying to find free stuff and the web is our most favorite place, we are going to let Bailey hang out a little on a fantastic website we found for learning languages.

He can play around for a little while, and see which language he wants to jump into. On this site, I see Spanish, Latin, German and French. The main ones you see in public schools. So he will have a few options to try.

Of course, we won't limit him to these languages. He can do additional research and decide which one (or which ones) he wants to try and learn.

I have deep desire to learn Sign Language and Gaelic. I want my boys to learn Sign Language as well and I know the hubs would be happy to learn Gaelic... so maybe we will have some household language learnin' going on soon. :)

It's Tax Time...

2011-01-02T21:08:00.000-05:00

Sigh.

Really? Already? How is that possible? It can't be...

That's what I am getting from the hubs and the boys. They hate tax time. Walter told me this weekend that he feels like a single parent for 2 months. That made me feel crappy. I told him I don't have to do the tax thing. But it is certainly nice to get that extra money for a couple of months. It comes in handy to pay off that Christmas debt...

Normally I would have a little more time after the New Year to get ready, but circumstances are different this year and I'm starting tomorrow.

The homeschool thing usually goes alright while I'm gone, but there's not a lot of extra stuff that goes on. They log in and do their Time4Learning, but we don't really get a chance to do many projects, experiments or field trips. I might get Bailey to read some homeschooling books, and they got a cool geode kit for Christmas...I'm sure they will enjoy cracking those open and seeing them. They also got these cool tablets that hook up to their computers. Bailey is really excited to use his tablet to work more on his art. I'm hoping Braeden will use his tablet to help him with his writing/printing, since he can't stand holding a pencil and using paper. :D

I'm hoping we can make up the lack of extra activities to them in the spring. I have been wanting to do this Atlanta City Pass thing for a couple of years now. For one price (a pretty good discounted price too!) you get admission to 6 different attractions in Atlanta...like the aquarium, the zoo, Fernbank, World of Coke, CNN Center and others. Cross your fingers that it happens this year finally... :)

Fortunately for us, we are neither new to homeschooling or to the tax time thing. We know it's going to be hard, but we also know it's for a short period of time and then our world will go back to normal.

Hopefully. :)

Family Time can bring about Question Time...

2010-12-26T20:39:00.000-05:00

I love getting to see family and everyone, but with me homeschooling, we inevitably get questions about what the boys are doing and if they are "where they are supposed to be." I don't mind the questions really. I guess I could look at it as if they didn't care, they wouldn't ask.

Braeden, my youngest monkey, is 6 and in first grade. However, he is really struggling with reading. My mom was asking him something and he told her he couldn't read. Of course, this made her question me. She didn't think it was funny when I looked at her and said "Ohmygawd...I'm supposed to be teaching him to read?!"

He can read more than he gives himself credit for, but this has recently been a big issue for him. So with his insecurities, he simply says he just can't.

This is one of those areas where I refuse to freak out. I truly believe that he will get this on his own time. I know saying that may come across as way too nonchalant, but his father and I have always, and will always, do what's best for our boys.

I have absolutely no shame in admitting when I can't handle something or if I need a little help with something. If there is ever any point where I start to wonder if he has any learning disabilities whatsoever, the people in my life should know that I will do whatever I need to address those.

Right now, we are giving him some time. He is making small steps, but we are comfortable with those steps for the time being.

Anyway...

It was a great visit with my parents. We got to spend a couple of nights with them and the hubs and I took the boys to see Yogi Bear on Thursday. They laughed all the way through it. Even I giggled a few times and thought it was ok. Walter was pretty miserable the whole time, lol. I don't expect to see it on an "Oscar Watch List" or anything, but it's a movie about a talking bear. His expectations were obviously higher than mine. :D

Christmas Eve was filled with great food, love, laughter and lotsa presents! :) My next post will be about the holiday fun, as well as our visit from Santa, Christmas morning, our sleepover and playtime in the snow.

Yes. SNOW. :)

Right now, I need to sleep. I don't know that I've done that since Tuesday. Even though we have fun with everyone when we aren't at home, none of us sleep very well. Certainly not as well as we do in our own beds.

This week I have a lot to do around here. All of this loot has got find a home and I have a pretty large amount of housework to do before our New Year's Eve gathering next weekend.

I can always hope that we will accomplish some school related stuff, but truthfully... I doubt it, lol. I might be able to get the boys to play some spelling games or something, but with all of the new play stuffs they've received over the last few days, I don't know that I will be able to get them to eat or anything. Much less do school. :)

Sickness and Surprises...

2010-12-19T12:22:00.001-05:00

Two weeks ago, Braeden (my wee one that always gets sick!) got his flu shot. This did not please him. Not a shocker...

But he has been having more and more problems with his asthma and the doctor really thought that it would be a good idea to give him the shot. I don't always do what the doctor recommends (I hate over-medicating and/or doing something just because a doctor said to do it), but I got the flu last November and I really didn't want him to go through that. Sooo, he got the shot.

At the time, the doctor said that I could bring Bailey in when I got a chance and he could get one too, just as a precaution. Considering that Bailey gets sick MAYBE once a year - and even that's a high estimate - I was in no mad rush to get him back to the office.

Guess who has the flu?

Am I the best mom ever, or what?

Of course I just knew that when the doctor confirmed this at his office, he really wanted to wag his finger and tsk at me for not getting Bailey in sooner.

It has not been the best week, but better this week than next week. Hopefully he will be feeling back to normal before Christmas.

He has been sunken into the couch for several days. Watching Christmas movies or surfing through and seeing what Netflix had to offer. This has not been happy times for Braeden. When Braeden feels fine, he wants everyone to play with him, lol.

I've been trying to get him involved in things so he can leave Bailey alone. I tried suggesting logging into his curriculum and just doing one or two things. I really wanted him to do this so he could sit at his computer while I was working on mine. This way we could talk and interact, but I could still do what I needed to do. He was willing, as long as he didn't have to do anything in the math program. Some days he doesn't mind math, and others he simply doesn't want anything to do with it. Since it's technically a break (really... it's always a break here, lol... we are trying to dip our toes into the "unschooling" realm, as I've mentioned before, and honestly the boys respond so much better when they have more control of their day), I haven't pushed him.

Now for the surprise part that the blog post title referred to...

I have been introducing the boys to other websites. I know I've talked about sites where they can play educational games. Bailey is so competitive that works for him. It works for Braeden because ... well it's a game. He'll play anything. :)

On one particular site that we enjoy, Braeden always wants to play the preschool games. He's in the first grade... it bugs me that he wants to play those games. When I ask him about it, he says he likes those cause he always does well. Duh, lol...

I'm trying to persuade him, without pushing him, to try and branch out. He will do some of the spelling games. He has enjoyed some of the animal games. Even some of the keyboarding games.

That's about as far as I can get him to branch. But the other day, when I was suggesting other games for him to try, he shocked me by agreeing to try one of the science games and give some math flash cards a whirl!

I was thrilled! The science game was good, but I don't know if he got anything from it...I heard a lot of mouse clicking but he couldn't really tell me what he was doing, lol.

He did well with the multiplication x 1 flash cards, but after that he was done. I could have tried to get him to start on the x 2 cards, but I was so pleased that he at least spend a few minutes on a math activity, I let it go.

Maybe next time he will try again...

This week is going to be so crazy. I'm sure it will be for most families. The hubs is working his butt off trying to get everything done so he can have Friday off. We have a lot of things to do around here. I have wrapped one, ONE gift. Blah. I have many more to wrap. I love gift giving. I hate gift wrapping. We are going to go down on Wednesday to spend a couple nights with my parents and Walter's mom (they live in same subdivision - how convenient is that?!). We will be heading home on Friday, just in time to wait for Santa!!

Sending wishes for many blessings and a joyous Christmas to everyone!

I went Christmas shopping today...

2010-12-11T22:37:00.000-05:00

... and I made it home alive! Yaaaay!

Normally I love shopping. I only get bothered when I'm trying to shop for someone and I have NO idea what to get them. I end up wandering around, aimlessly, for hours...only to end up with a shopping cart full of crap that I didn't go to get in the first place, lol.

Add to that the fact that today was the next to last Saturday before Christmas and you can imagine how my aimless wandering went. It wasn't pretty.

But I went. I shopped. I made it home. All is well. I have a few more things to get, but I'm pleased with everything so far.

This time of year is always crazy busy for us, but this year it seems worse. This week the boys didn't do anything school related. At least I don't think they did.

The fact that I don't even know really should put me in the running for that homeschooling-mom-of-the-year award, huh? Geez...

We have been "relaxed homeschoolers" for quite a while. Most would even call what we do borderline unschooling. Well this week, we definitely fell into that unschooling catagory. :)

I had planned on the boys doing a little something school-like this week. If nothing else, I was hoping to pull some words from Time4Learning's list of online spelling words for them to work on. But even that didn't happen.

Tuesday I got a new desk. Of course it had to be put together right away. It ended up taking ALL DAY. Naturally.

Wednesday I had a little meeting at the tax office (holy clap...tax season is just around the corner too!) and that lasted longer than I had planned.

Friday our homeschool group did our annual Christmas caroling at the nursing home.

Weeks like this, I'm glad my kids can at least make themselves a bowl of cereal and some Easy Mac so I know they didn't starve. :D

Tomorrow we are taking them to see the new Chronicles of Narnia movie. We are all excited about that.

Hopefully this upcoming week will go a little smoother...but I'm not planning on it, lol.

I need to rant a minute...sorry. :)

2010-12-07T11:09:00.000-05:00

As a word of caution, this blog contains my opinions. Shocker. Every now and then, I may post something that many will disagree with. Another shocker. Please feel free to leave a comment if you want. But remember, it's MY blog so can I delete those comments that I don't like. ;)

Every year during the holidays, I encounter people of many different belief systems. I'm fine with that. I love that! I don't believe I shouldn't be allowed to say Merry Christmas, or celebrate Christmas in the way that I want. Nor do I believe people should be forced not to say Happy Hanukkah or Season's Greetings or celebrate THEIR holiday in the way they want. I say Merry Christmas. That's the holiday I celebrate. But that doesn't mean that I don't respect those that do not.

Why do I celebrate Christmas? Because I am a Christian. No, I don't go to church. To be perfectly honest, and I'm sure this will piss people off, we simply have not found one that isn't full of hypocrites. Church should be about worship, not cliques and social standings within the church. Church should be full of people who live by their faith EVERY day of the week, not just on Sundays. But that's a whole different rant...

I'm sure that surprises people who thought we were weird heathens (we are really...there's just a teensy bit of good in us, lol *wink*). I don't know a lot about my faith. I was raised in a Christian household, but I don't think I truly found my faith until I was an adult. I pick and choose parts of my faith that I live by. I know that's wrong, but that's how I roll.

I don't judge. Or at least I try not to. Yeah, yeah, there are lifestyles and actions that many have interpreted the Bible as saying are wrong. I'm not saying that those things are wrong or right, I'm saying that they have been interpreted as such. If in fact they are wrong, then that's something that each person, at the right time, will address with God. Why do we feel it's our place to place criticism upon them now? I'm not saying you have condone or accept that which you think is wrong. But if you truly feel that they are going to hell, then why they can't at least have a nice time while they’re here, lol?

I also participate in what many Christians consider pagan practices. My kids dress up and go trick-or-treating, so I guess that means we “celebrate” Halloween. Does that mean we celebrate paganism or the devil or whatever by sacrificing animals and casting spells? Well of course it does, but that’s beside the point.

Really, I had to google why Christians were even opposed to Halloween. My entire life, I thought the only meaning it had was playing dress-up and getting candy. For reals.

Does that mean that I scoff at Christians who hold “trunk-or-treats” at their churches, rather than go trick-or-treating in their neighborhoods? Absolutely not. I respect the differences in everyone’s beliefs. I do wish that those same “trunk-or-treaters” wouldn’t scoff at me for letting my boys ~~worship the devil~~ trick-or-treat.

I understand more about Easter and Christmas. Those days have significant meaning for Christians. Do I think those holidays should be about, and only about, the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus? That depends on what they bring me.

Of course I don’t! My boys participate in both heathenistic (is that even a real word?) practices, but they can still tell you what those holidays are about and why we celebrate them. My boys can come up with a wish list a mile long for Christmas, but they will tell you why it is that we exchange gifts on Christmas.

Why can’t our children experience a little fantasy and wonder in their holiday? People say “well if my kids found out I lied about Santa, then they will wonder if I’m lying about God.” Really? I guess I can respect that argument. I disagree, but I can respect that.

However, when I found out that there was no Santa, I did not immediately think “well that’s just great…if there’s no Santa then there most certainly isn’t a God.” My parents were responsible enough (yes I’m being mean and that’s a dig at people) to explain to me about the Santa thing. They made sure I knew Santa was not, nor should he be, compared to Jesus. Santa’s a thing of fantasy and excitement during the holidays. It’s also a fabulous bribing/blackmailing tool for kids… “If you do that, I will tell Santa.” Oh wait…was I not supposed to admit that?

For as long as we “believed” in Santa, we never got a gift from my parents, or at least not much of one. You know that look on your child’s face when they opened or received a gift that they had been wanting for SO long? That feeling of sheer happiness when they looked at everything around the tree and you could tell that, at least until next year, this was THE best Christmas ever?? Yeah, well my parents sacrificed that for our wonder and joy.

When I found out that there was no Santa, I was not heartbroken or sad. I was grateful and appreciative. My parents could have shared in some of that gift giving glory, but they didn’t.

I am not as good of a parent as mine were. I’m selfish. That ONE thing, that one big gift that my boys have been wanting? That comes from us, lol. Santa gets to bring a lot of stuff, but that “best Christmas EVAR” moment? That’s all ours.

Back to the “if you lie about Santa, you lie about God”thing…

Is the big fat man with a magic sack full of presents real? Well, no. But he is BASED on a real person. Yes, we’ve changed him around a bit. Ok, a lot. But that fact is, there is history and truth behind St. Nick. He’s based on a real individual. There’s no belief there. There’s fact.

What about God? Well, if you ask me, I see God every time I look at my boys’ faces. There’s my fact. But truthfully, there isn’t any “proof” is there? The whole point behind your faith..is…well, it’s faith. Faith means believing in something regardless of whether or not there’s proof.

I know this kinda went all over the place. I’m not sure what I’m trying to say, I just needed to get this off my chest. I guess I’m tired of people professing to be true (insert my awe at their perfectness *ahem*) Christians, then turning around and judging or criticizing the actions of those us they deem not Christian enough.

My participation in the Santa thing does not make you a better Christian than me. It does not mean you love God more than I love God. It doesn't mean your kids are better than my kids, or smarter than my kids, or that they will grown up to better individuals than my kids.

My boys are good boys. We are teaching them to be respectful and kind. We are teaching them that they need to treat others as they want to be treated. We are teaching them that there are consequences for their actions. We are doing the best we can.

As I’ve stated before...even if I disagree with them, I still respect those who have different belief systems than I do. I respect their opinions for choosing to take part in, or choosing not to take part in, certain traditions/celebrations. I don’t scoff at you and your family. Or at least I don’t scoff within your earshot. ;)

All I’m asking is for people to have the same respect for myself and for my family.

Post Thanksgiving Update...

2010-12-05T20:55:00.000-05:00

I actually took some photos of our Thanksgiving weekend.

Of course, that does not mean that I have put them on my computer yet so I can post them here, lol. But I will...

Our weekend was great and we enjoyed seeing family. I even braved the Black Friday shopping fiasco with Tracy, Scott and Tracy's mom. I left the house at 930pm on Thanksgiving night and got home about 5am that Friday morning. It was CRAZY! After some mad shopping, we had a 3am snack at IHOP. :)

The boys are enjoying the holiday season. We have put up our tree and what few odd decorations we have. They love, love Christmas music...which absolutely thrills me!

As far as school goes, I was really hoping to be more break-like by now, but alas, we are still working on a little school. Braeden is pretty much on a break. He may hop on his computer and play some online math games or something, but he's not really working too hard. :D

Bailey is doing more of his normal schoolwork than he would like. He would be doing less if it weren't for the fact that has done waaaay more of his science program than his language arts and math, lol! He will gladly log on in the mornings without me asking him to, but he always does the science and social studies first.

You may think that this wouldn't be a problem, but there is about twice as much math and language arts as there is science and social studies. Sooo... on his "break" he is working only on language arts and math.

He isn't entirely happy with this, but without those 2 subjects his day is shorter. It could be worse, lol...

We have a busy month ahead. A few scout functions, a visit to a nursing home to go caroling with our homeschool group, and of course multiple family gatherings. I love this time of year!! :)

Testing. It's like a swear word, isn't it?!!

2010-11-28T18:11:00.000-05:00

I hate testing.

I did well on tests when I was in school. That doesn't mean that I enjoyed taking them.

There was so much pressure involved. I knew the material, yet would have this massive build up leading up the test. When test day finally arrived, I would sit down, take a deep breath...then freak out and start to hyperventilate. I couldn't help it. It didn't matter that I knew what was on the test. The only thing that mattered was that my grade was high enough.

I know, I know, if I knew the material then the test should have been easy. But it's one of those things that happens when you're under pressure...your brain just freezes up and locks down.

Homeschooling benefit number 491? Very limited testing. I wish I could say NO testing is done around here, but the school board will come get me if I say that. ;)

The boys have their quizzes and tests on their curriculum, but there is no pressure involved. They don't have to be a part of a grading curve, or feel bad if they don't make as high as their classmates.

We are supposed to have a standardized test every 3 years, just to make sure they are progressing. It can be very daunting. But not for the boys. Oh no, they are fine with it. It's ME that has to have a honking big margarita just to make it through the thing. :D

I know other homeschooling parents who feel the way I do...I'm totally (ok, marginally) confident I am doing alright by my boys in regards to homeschooling. Except when it's time to test. I am always afraid that when their test scores come back, they are going to prove I failed.

Even though it's only partially comforting (even the honking big margarita doesn't erase ALL my fears, it just makes me giggle at them), it's comforting nonetheless to find information and resources online.

Just to shamelessly plug our curriculum, Time4Learning, I was surprised and thrilled to find information on standardized testing by state on their site! The wonderful thing is, you don't have to be a member of the program to benefit from the information they have there! They go over what type of testing is done, as well as what you can expect to find on the tests.

Besides the icky standardized tests...hey, I said I was grateful for the info, didn't say it made me like testing! ;)...there is the big daddy of all tests, the SAT to worry about. Yay for not having a high schooler yet. I have a few years to mentally prepare the boys and myself. And to discover what size margarita is bigger than "honking big."

Even though my boys are no where near the age of prepping for their SATs, I would definitely suggest that my homeschooling friends with high schoolers go visit T4L's SAT courses information page. I remember (surprised I can remember that far back, lol) that the writing part of the SAT was the most intimidating for me. I would have definitely liked to have had an opportunity to take an SAT writing course to help me and ease some of my worries.

Ok, I guess I'm not promoting now. :D

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday, I hope everyone else did too! I am hoping I will have time this week to post some pics from the weekend.

Now, where did I put that Christmas tree...

Omagosh...the holidays can't be here again! Can they?

2010-11-21T11:52:00.000-05:00

Why is it that the older we get, the faster the holidays roll back around again. When I was little, I used to think that Christmas would NEVER get here...surely there was a 5 year wait between one Christmas to the next. Now, it's like I close my eyes and take a deep breath to enjoy the peaceful "after Christmas" feeling, only to open my eyes back up and realize that it's a month away again. A month. And I haven't bought the first gift yet. Gulp.

Even so, I love this time of year. I love the lights and decorations. I love the Christmas music. I love gathering with my family and my friends. I love watching my boys opening gifts and discovering that Santa brought them exactly what they asked for. ;) I love the spirit of Christmas. And yes, I love what Christmas truly is about.

Fortunately, we follow a year round school plan and we have a flexible holiday schedule. Very flexible, lol. The summer around here is too hot to really spend a lot of time outside, so the boys don't mind working longer into the summer, if it means they get more time to bake and make candy with Nanny. And they get to visit family. And go Christmas shopping with mommy. :)

We don't completely avoid school during the holidays...we just do it less. Braeden is blazing through the first grade, much like he did with Kindergarten. I'm pretty sure he will be able to take a nice break from his normal curriculum. I'll let him work on spelling and handwriting, because those are things that he is currently struggling with and I don't want him slacking off on those. :) In addition to spelling and handwriting, I'm sure I will let him play some of the online games that we've found recently... like math games, vocabulary games, art games etc.

Since Bailey's sixth grade curriculum is harder and more involved this year, I don't know if he will be able to take as much time off as he normally does. We honestly have to play it by ear and see what comes up. Of course that isn't going over well with him, lol, but he's a trooper.

Extra-curricular Activities / Lessons...?

2010-11-12T20:11:00.000-05:00

I don't know how we managed to reach the ages of 11 and 6 without the boys asking us for some type of artsy or musical lessons. Really. But we did.

Braeden has enjoyed playing online art and music games on a great website, www.learninggamesforkids.com. He enjoys playing any game on the computer, but he's really taken a shine to the music ones. He loves playing Rockband (we play this as a family but we also got the boys the Rockband 3 game for their DSs) and really enjoys just listening to music. He does really well with remembering lyrics and a while back starting requesting music by artist. He has an awesome, eclectic taste. He likes a little bit of everything, but right now he is as obsessed with the Glee soundtrack as I am, lol.

He has a small guitar that he got for his birthday a couple of years ago and has enjoyed playing around with that. On this year's Christmas list, he has been begging, begging for these new things called Paper Jamz. Personally, I can't imagine these lasting more than an hour because they are made out of paper. Well, cardboard actually. But they really do play. They have guitars, drums...even amps.

At this point, we are kinda thinking we want to explore his musical interest more. We are talking about trying to find him some music lessons, but he's struggling with pinning down just one instrument right now. I'm not opposed to him playing more than one, most musicians do, but we have to start somewhere. And I don't want to have to sell an organ to pay for music lessons for multiple instruments at once.

Fortunately for us, we have a local music store where people can take lessons. I also have my dad (if Braeden wants to play a guitar), when we get a chance to see him.

Bailey enjoys listening to music, but that is a new found thing for him. Where Braeden has been loving music his whole life, Bailey just really started getting interested in it a couple of years ago. His tastes aren't quite as eclectic as mine or Braeden's, but he does like a decent array of genres.

Music lessons probably won't come into play for Bailey. He likes it, even enjoys playing Rockband, but he doesn't seem to want to go any further than having color-coded keys. I don't blame him there, lol...

Bailey's passion is in art. He loves painting and drawing. He has some "How to Draw" books that we've picked up for him and last year, he really started to delve into painting. My sister in law is an incredible artist. No, I'm not just saying that. She's amazing, but she doesn't give herself the credit she deserves. Anyway, last year for Christmas, Bailey wanted some paint and a desk easel. Grandma got those things for him and Stacy (the SIL) was able to show him some great techniques, like how to make trees and blending colors.

It was a great start and I'm thinking he has some natural ability. Here is a painting he did of a character from a webcomic that he's been reading:

He also completed the animated art program that our homeschool curriculum offers. He enjoyed it so much that after he finished it the first time, he went through it again. If he only had the same enthusiasm for the other subjects...

If we find music lessons for Braeden, it would only be fair to try and find some art lessons for Bailey. I have been doing a little research online, and have found a few things. All of them are in Athens, which is almost an hour away, but we go there often enough we could find a way to just combine trips or something.

Stacy would make an excellent art instructor and I wish we were able to have her give Bailey more lessons. Unfortunately for us, she's living on a tropical island at the moment. Yeah...hardship, huh? ;)

Given our soccer and scouting schedules, I'm not sure when we would squeeze these lessons in, but we do what we do for our kiddos.

If anyone has any ideas about either music or art lessons, feel free to share! :^)

Moments of GRRR...

2010-11-07T11:13:00.000-05:00

I love teaching my boys. I have no regrets about our decision to homeschool and I don't long for the day I get to put them back in public school.

Having said that, it's not the easiest thing I have ever done.

It's hard to break down how to teach a wee one to read when reading is something I honestly take for granted. I feel like I've been reading since birth and can't remember far enough back in my life to a period where I couldn't read.

Science and history are not my areas of expertise. I love watching shows like Mythbusters and How It's Made, but that's as far into science-y stuff as I go. History is certainly important for any child. For that matter, any adult. But still...I struggle with those subjects. Even though I completely understand their importance, it's hard to retain information and be excited about something that, simply put, bores me. I know, I know. I should be ashamed.

Our homeschool curriculum works wonderfully for us and because it's online, it prevents me from going crazy trying to plan out lessons. There have been a few times we need to supplement it, for something specific, but overall I am fairly burden free.

The hubs is professionally a writer and an editor, so he is an excellent resource for the boys and I when it comes to literature and grammar. His most favorite subjects are science and history (depending on the time period) so he helps out (ok..pretty much manages) those subjects when needed.

So why do I say it's not always easy and why am I GRRR-ing?

Math.

Generally, if I'm growling at something school related, it's because of math.

Walter is flat out prohibited from helping the boys with math. He's one of those mathematicians where 2+2=5.

Think "Rainman" more than "Einstein."

You don't have to feel like I'm talking bad about him...he admits this fact quite readily. And don't feel bad for him. I can comfortably say he is one of the smartest individuals I know. Except for math.

How do I feel about math? I'm fine with it.

Mostly.

I don't struggle with it the same way the hubs did, and still does. I'm quick to pick up a calculator, but that doesn't mean I can't do it in my head if need be.

My issues with math come in the form of what I think are useless concepts. I fully realize it's not my place to judge whether concepts are useless. Even if I feel that way about them, I don't skip over them in the course of a math lesson... but it frustrates me to see my kids frustrated over things that seem pointless.

Venn diagrams.

Did you have to go google that? Most of you probably did, lol. I did. Tell me something...when was the last time, as adult, you used a venn diagram for something? Those of you who work in the math field, or in a lab somewhere, you are excluded from answering.

What if someone asked you what a multiplicative identity was? Could you answer? Again...you math majors and lab peeps...you just sit back in your genius-ness and shush, lol.

We had a rough week with math this week, and not even harder math like that which Bailey is doing. Braeden is doing first grade math and we were struggling. Why?

Here is a sample question: "What is the fewest number of coins needed to make 23 cents?"

Should my 6 year old be able to identify coins? Absolutely. Should my 6 year old be able to count out 23 cents in one way or another? I would certainly hope so. Should it matter if he used 2 dimes and 3 pennies versus a dime, 2 nickels and 3 pennies? This is where the math gods somewhere say yes and I say emphatically NO. I just want him to give me my 23 cents. I don't care how he does it.

Then we have what he called the "trick questions."

Sample: "Which of the following makes 43 cents using the least number of coins?"
a. 1 quarter, 1 dime, 1 nickel, 3 pennies
b. 4 dimes, 3 pennies
c. 1 quarter, 2 dimes
(these were pictures of coins, not the words)

Braeden is sitting there answering "c" because that's the fewest number of coins. Of course he doesn't stop to think that "c" doesn't even equal 43 cents. His response? "Well if it doesn't equal 43 cents then WHY is it in a question asking me to make 43 cents????

His logic isn't wrong. Not to me. :D

When I first started homeschooling, I wish I'd had a magic homeschooling guide. One that assured me I was doing the right thing and one that pointed me in the right directions. We had a whole lot of trial and error moments. It would have been nice to skip those.

Now I wish I had a different guide...one that told me it was perfectly acceptable to tell my kids the answers to those stupid questions on those stupid quizzes about those stupid concepts.

:^)

Family Weekend...

2010-11-02T11:55:00.000-04:00

After slamming down massive amounts of meds last week, this weekend found me feeling pretty good. We were supposed to go camping with our cub and boys scouts, but as the weekend drew near, we all had a moment of ... well... of "No, I don't wanna!"

Nothing against our scouts, by any means! But we have had so much on our schedules lately (our fault, I know), that every time we had some time or a spare moment, there was something planned for us. Soccer game, scout function, something. We just looked at one another and said "let's do something that we planned instead, rather than do something that was planned for us."

Let me say, just to clarify, that I don't generally condone shirking responsibility (yeah right, I'm a shirker by nature, lol), but this weekend was a much needed shirk.

The weather was supposed to be gorgeous and it was the last weekend of Oktoberfest in Helen, something that the hubs has always wanted to go to.

So Saturday morning we got up, grabbed Nanny (my grandmother) and took off. On the way to Helen, we made a spontaneous detour through Cleveland so Nanny and I could go to Babyland General Hospital...the Cabbage Patch Kid place...

Nanny and the boys.

The boys were good little troopers and suffered through the tour of the place while Nanny and I oohed and aahed over the dolls.

After that, we were back on our way to Helen. I spent many summers hanging out in that town, tubing down the river and just getting to know the shop owners when I was younger. The Dutch/German design of all the buildings is cool to see and the atmosphere is usually pretty good.

Unless it's Oktoberfest.

Good grief at the people! We expected busy, but to be honest it kinda blew our mind. And the town has gotten much more tourist-y over the last few years. Many of the handmade candle stores and candy shops have been turned into one of only 50 or so different t-shirt and gift shops. Even though we were enjoying ourselves, we were disappointed.

After taking a couple of hours to walk through all the shops, we headed over the fest hall where the Oktoberfest festivities were going on. We sat around and listened to the German bands they had, watched the people dance around in their lederhosen (is that how you spell that?) and drink German beer.

Well, we watched the majority of the people dance around in their lederhosen with their German beer. There were a few small groups of people we saw dressed up in their mini-skirts walking around with pitchers of Miller Lite. Really? C'mon people! German beer and lederhosen, and you guys want short skirts and flat, domestic yucky?? *Sigh*

Even with the disappointment in the tourist-y town, we really did have a great day! The weather stayed beautiful and we really enjoyed not being on a time restraint or having someplace else to be!

They love these photo-op, prop thingies...

The hubs snapped this photo while Bailey was
trying to patiently wait for his lunch.
I absolutely LOVE this shot of my eldest! :)

He's 6, so of course that's really Heineken
and not Nanny's diet coke.

Sunday we had a big day planned as well. Besides it being Halloween, it was Rockband 3 day for our band!! :D

We headed over to Tracy's place with mucho excitement. Well, I was mucho excited anyway. Rockband is my favorite video game! I was raised around music. I love music. My dad is a musician and I always wanted to learn to play the guitar. Unfortunately, I could never "play through" the callouses and the owies on my fingers.

Then came Guitar Hero and Rockband. And I discovered I could finally play! As long as there were colored keys anyway...

Two Christmas's ago, Tracy's gang got the first Rockband. Since then, we played as often as we could. Rockband 2 came out and we were giddy. The Beatles Rockband made an appearance and we were giddy still. Now there is Rockband 3 which brings additional instruments into the mix. We had a keytar!

Hehe... I love saying keytar. Like git-fiddle. Just one of those words that makes me go "tee hee."

Anyway, the adults popped in our shiny new game and had a great time for a couple of hours. We eventually let the 4 boys play, albeit begrudgingly.

The "next big thing" you say? Quite possibly.

Soon it was time to dress up and hit the streets looking for candy.

Q dressed as a cool-beard-goggle thingy.
Braeden as a dragon with a leopard paw.
Bailey as a weird zombie/wizard hybrid.
ISO as a bouncing bunny.
Z as a butcher...with serial killer tendencies.

Initially we were really glad that they were going to do trick or treating in town on Sunday, since Sunday was in fact Halloween. That gladness went away slightly when we found out that because it was Sunday, it was starting at 4pm. Yeah...doesn't sound like ideal light settings for a goulish evening, does it?

After about an hour and maybe a dozen houses that were actually handing out candy, we all gave in to our hunger and headed to the pizza buffet in town. Buffets, of any type, can be hit or miss. Sometimes there's not enough selection, sometimes it's gotten cold. But I love them when the restaurant is packed and busy. There's always plenty of hot and fresh on the buffet!

I think they enjoyed it!

No one seemed too bothered by the lack of "treating" so after dinner we headed back to Tracy's for more Rockband fun.

Normally, our band consists of Scott on vocals, Tracy on drums, T on guitar/bass and myself on guitar/bass. With the addition of the keyboard, we even got Walter and P in on the fun that night! There are some great songs on the new game and we all really had a good time and are very much looking forward to our next jam session! :)

Walter got a 95% on the keyboard.
Tracy got a 99% on drums at the hard difficulty.
Scott got 99% on vocals on hard - but he always does great...
And see that...that 100% on expert? That's me baby! What did I tell you? I really am the next Jimi Hendrix! ;)

(We don't have to acknowledge that those scores were achieved on what is quite possibly the easiest song EVAR, m'kay?)

All in all, I couldn't have asked for a better weekend with my family and friends! I hope all of you enjoyed your Halloween weekend as well!

Taking Steroids...

2010-10-31T22:26:00.001-04:00

Yeah, no. Not those kinds of steroids.

I've been sick this week. I'm a whiner, so many of you may think "yeah what else is new?" But I actually went to the doctor I was so sick. That I don't normally do. The diagnosis? A massive sinus infection.

Awesome news, no? So I was given a steroid shot and sent home with antibiotics and even more steroids to take over the next week.

What have I learned this week because of that? Steroids make you pee. A lot. And apparently, they can make you just a teensy bit emotionally unstable-ish. But just a bit.

Fortunately, medicinal side effects aside, I'm on the mend.

So while I was learning something new this week, did the boys?

No.

Sucks to admit, but no.

They played a lot of learning games for kids online. I think they may have even logged into their normal curriculum a few days this week, lol. The eldest spent a little bit of time on a homeschool literature site, trying to find more books written by homeschool authors (he still loves the fact that Eragon was written by a homeschooler!).

Tomorrow starts a new week. Hopefully the sicklies have come and gone and we can have a good, normal (har har) week. At the end of the week we have a science fair with our homeschool group, a very special first birthday party to attend and finally, our last end-of-season soccer party.

Oh...and also...can I just ask: How is it November already???!!

Guest Post: Where Are the Books About Homeschoolers

2010-10-25T09:32:00.000-04:00

Hey Guys! I've never done a guest post before, but my friend Kerry (also a fabulous homeschooling mom!) really had something great to say and I wanted her to share it here....

Where Are the Books About Homeschoolers?

by Kerry Jones

When I was growing up I knew maybe two people who were homeschoolers. When we first started homeschooling ten years ago, there was already a homeschool support group in our local area with 200 families in it. Today? There are at least five local homeschool support groups, and if I throw a rock in any direction from my house, I can probably hit the house of someone who homeschools. It is estimated that homeschooling is growing anywhere from 5-12% annually, and is now bordering on being considered a “mainstream” style of education.

When my sons and I head to our local library during the school day, it isn’t unusual to see at least four or five other homeschooled kids reading and doing school work or research there. As I watch them poring over the books, I begin to feel a question forming in the back of my mind: Where are the books about homeschoolers? Upon researching the answer to this question, I’m sad to report that the world of books has not nearly caught up with the reality of the growing world of homeschooling.

If you peruse just one shelf of your local library or bookstore’s children’s fiction section, you will find multiple books about school hi-jinks, school frustrations, school humor, and even school science fiction. But almost nothing about the adventures of your friendly, neighborhood homeschooler!

Why is that??

I don’t know how often you attend your local homeschool support group activities, but if you frequent them even a little you can probably agree with me that homeschoolers are interesting folks. In one single field trip, I can be picking pumpkins between a Rastafarian who raises Shetland ponies and a former missionary from Kenya. No, the lack of homeschool protagonists can’t possibly be from a lack of fascinating characters.

So what then? No talented writers among the homeschooled? Pshaw, I say! I don’t have to read very far into any newspaper to find some mention of an academic contest with a homeschooler as the victor. My guess is that some of our most talented writers of the next generation will have gotten most of their writing education at home.

That leaves me with a couple possible scenarios, then, for why more books aren’t written about homeschoolers and homeschooling. Either book publishers are rejecting homeschool-friendly submissions or homeschoolers aren’t making enough noise about wanting them. My guess is that it is a little of both. If homeschoolers don’t let publishers know that they are interested in more books that represent them, then publishers will just assume there is no real market for homeschool-centric reading material.

If that is the case, then there ought to be an easy fix for it, right?? We just need to make ourselves heard! And thankfully, there is even a remarkably easy way to do just that. HomeschoolLiterature.com, a website featuring books about homeschoolers and homeschooled authors, has a whole page of contact links for the most popular publishers of children’s books. They even have a sample letter that you can use as a guideline when contacting each publisher.

My children and yours deserve to have more books with characters they can relate to on a real basis. Let’s make our voice heard so that no more people have to walk through the aisles of their local library and ask the question, “Where are the books about homeschoolers?”

Kerry Jones is a freelance writer and online marketing consultant in North Carolina. She has two sons, and has been homeschooling since 1999. She writes extensively about homeschooling and technology, especially the integration of assisted technology for homeschoolers with special needs.

Just stuff...

2010-10-24T10:35:00.000-04:00

Yesterday Braeden had his end of the year soccer party. He had a good time eating pizza and cake with his teammates, and getting his trophy. He loves trophies, lol... but I guess everyone does. :) While Braeden is sad that this season is over, Walter and I are giddy. Sure, we love watching him play. But it's nice to know that our schedules are winding down.

Bailey's last regular season game was yesterday as well, but his age group has a championship tournament at the end of the season and their first elimination game is Tuesday. Depending on how that goes, we may have another week or so of soccer, but after that we are through until Spring!

School is still going well. We are in the process of kinda restructuring our day...not really sure how things are going to pan out, but hopefully we will all get settled into a better routine. We have a very relaxed approach to homeschooling (meaning we don't replicate "school at home" with desks and set times for starting and finishing, etc). That has been working really well for us. It's not not working anymore, we are just seeing areas where I think the boys, especially the oldest, are taking the "relaxed" thing a little too seriously, lol.

Our curriculum for homeschooling is still suiting us; I don't see that changing for a while. But we are adding some workbooks this year for the first time in several years. They are more just for reiteration and practice, but it's changing up their routine of sitting in front of the computer for the majority of the day. In addition to the workbooks, we are adding book reports for Bailey. I know, we probably should have done this sooner. But better late than never I suppose. Since he is reading longer books now, we are going to make him do 2 shorter book reports on each book. One for the first half and then one for the second half. Don't know if that will work, but we will see. I'm also not sure how many book reports we are going to require him to do this year. I would like him to enjoy reading and telling us about what he's read, rather than read because he HAS to...

With the addition of the book reports, we are realizing that we haven't really expected a lot from Bailey as far as writing projects go. We are considering adding some writing classes to his schedule. There is an expense involved for those writing classes (albeit not a large one), so we are going to see when we can make that work. We may have to wait until after Christmas and I start the tax thing (that extra money is always handy), but I feel pretty confident that those will happen before the end of his school year.

That's about it for now. Even with the soccer seasons coming to a close, we have a full schedule. Scouts will gladly fill up any holes that soccer left behind, lol. Oh...and this week I have jury duty! I didn't even try to get out of it! The mature responsible adult in me (yeah, she doesn't make an appearance very often at all) wants to see if they pick me and see what kind of case I get assigned to. The other, much more prevalent adolescent in me, wants to see what kind of ridiculous answers I can come up with to all those questions they are going to ask me. :D

Progress...

2010-10-16T09:20:00.000-04:00

I am so glad that cooler temperatures are moving in, but man...the fall season really does kick my butt. We have had a few weeks where we had a soccer obligation (be it a game or a practice) four nights a week! Then of course with the cooler weather comes the sniffles and colds. We all have been congested for a good month now, lol.

As far as school is going, we are doing alright. Not making as much progress as usual, but we really had a couple of big breaks for Dragon*Con and for the Connecticut trip.

Braeden is doing well. He's being Braeden, which means he doesn't want to write anything because he can just type it or more importantly, just tell me things. But he is doing a little better. I am trying to find a good handwriting program, workbook, lesson, etc. One that is solid, but fun so it will hold his interest. Just practicing letters over and over isn't cutting it...

Bailey is also doing well. Science, Social Studies and Art are still his favorite subjects. Not a shocker. One of the areas that we both were struggling with a couple of months ago was contractions. I was having a hard time trying to teach contractions (it's one of those things that once you learn, you never really think about again and take for granted), which made it hard for Bailey to pick on them.

Fortunately, the concept has gotten easier for him. He's doing much better with forming the contractions correctly (do not is don't, have not is haven't, etc). One area we need to work on is using the correct contraction. Unfortunately, and I know I'm going to sound horrible here, but our location isn't helping with that. I can't tell you how many people around here, ADULTS - not just kids, say things like "He don't want to go." Grrr.

Finding things like contraction games is good because when we practice with them, it's not a repeatedly writing or saying the word type of thing. I'm hoping that I can keep that "game" momentum going and I will able to find other games to help with other concepts when the time comes.

So, like I said...progress is going well. Soccer season will be done in a couple of weeks and we will have a few weeks without as many distractions. Hopefully... :)

The Connecticut Trip: Part Two - POPEY'S

2010-10-14T14:55:00.001-04:00

The 4 boys, sitting outside Popey's.

Popey's is an ice cream shoppe and restaurant that Tracy's aunt and uncle have owned for several decades (If I'm not mistaken). It's actually named after Tracy's grandfather; they called him Popey.

We have been hearing about Popey's ice cream for as long as we've known the B's. I can't tell you how many times we sat down with a Blizzard or ice cream treat from somewhere and the B boys said how much they wished they were eating Popey's instead. Honestly, I thought DQ was pretty darn good when it came to ice cream. I didn't doubt that Popey's had good ice cream necessarily. I just thought maybe their deep and abiding love for it was more of a family loyalty thing. :)

We got to CT on a Monday afternoon and Popey's is closed on Mondays, so we had to wait until the next day for the B's to have Popey's again and for us to have it for the first time. Tuesday morning, that was the first place we went. We had some shopping and running around to do, but we stopped there first.

They have some good hard ice cream, but what we all really wanted was the soft serve. They had vanilla, chocolate and swirl. Along with that, they had a wall of toppings. Yes, a WALL of toppings you could put on your ice cream. If you wanted it, they had it. Fudge and caramel sauces, candy, candy bars, cookies, etc...it was all there.

To make it even more special, each of the boys got to make their own little masterpieces.

Braeden at the machine with Nana (Tracy's mom).

You think he likes it? ;)

Ok, I have to stop for a minute here and tell you about the cherries. I'm crazy. But it's alright. My neuroses (all of them) are accepted and mostly tolerated by my loved ones. Some of my neurotic tendencies have manifested in each of the boys, but with my little munchkin here, they seem to be cuter and more funny. We had Popey's several times over the course of our stay in CT. Every time, Braeden wanted cherries on top. Didn't matter what flavor he had, or what other toppings he had, he wanted cherries. The funny thing? It had to be 4 cherries. Not 3 cherries. Not even 5 cherries. But FOUR cherries. And for the sake of all that you hold holy and sacred, you best not put your digits on one of those 4 cherries, as Tracy can attest after she thought he would willingly split a cherry (not even a whole damn cherry...just half of one!) with one of the other boys so they could taste it.

So that's a glimpse into one of my wee ones neuroses. Back to the rest of the Popey's visit, lol...

Bailey taking his turn at the machine with Nana.

His first glimpse at the Wall O' Topping-ey Goodness. Hehe.

Bailey had a hard time choosing which topping to put on, and after much thought and permission from Nana, he decided on a couple, or 5, different toppings. That's the way it went for the remainder of the visit. Never choosing just one...

Q was hiding from the limelight this go around, but Z had a turn at the machine, then so did I.

Z, an old pro at this by now. :)

My favorite mix? Hot fudge, caramel and Oreo pieces. :D

So after all these years hearing of everyone talk about Popey's ice cream, what did I think of my first taste? Best ice cream EVAR. If I were an ice cream god, Popey's would be my Holy Land. Or at least my happy place. ;)

Favorite Subjects

2010-10-09T08:44:00.000-04:00

You know those kids that say they don't have a favorite subject; that they they like all of the subjects in school?

My boys are not those kids.

They both understand the importance of language arts, literature, grammar, etc. They enjoy reading, or in Braeden's case right now, being read to. Bailey doesn't like math at all most days. Braeden doesn't really have an opinion about math yet...he's still in the "everything you can add and subtract is counted on your hands" phase of math. His stance might change once he progresses past his 10 little fingers.

History and social studies are areas that Bailey is showing a real interest in. Fortunately, the hubs is like a walking history book, especially with certain eras. He can pop off with some of the most obscure tidbits of information and knowledge. It's impressive. Especially impressive considering my retention is limited to what gadget is going to hit the market next, where the best shoe sale is going on and what's coming up next on Glee. Learning about specific people, like Ben Franklin and Alexander Graham Bell, appeals to the boys. But that's no surprise given the fact that we are all gadget junkies. :)

If asked their favorite subject, I know that both of the boys would say science. Well, Braeden would probably first ask if Wii was a subject. But once that's cleared up, he'd say science, lol. We all love doing fun experiments, some we even do repeatedly. Like the Diet Coke and Mentos one...that one doesn't ever get old. Some of our favorite things to watch on TV are the shows "How It's Made" and "Mythbusters." (Let's not forget that super cool moment where they met Adam Savage this year!)

Do I wish that my kids professed a deep love for all things school? Nah. I'm good with who they are and what they like. Walter hated most aspects of school, but still did well. Me? Well, my favorite things about school were the after school activities. Unless I had a cute teacher. Then that was my favorite subject for as long as I had him. :D