Things Every Kid Should Experience

I grew up in the country and I thought that my parents were so strict because it seemed like I couldn't do anything.  I bet at some point in our lives, we have all thought that about out parents.  As I grow older wiser, I know better.  My parents gave me all they could and that was what I needed.  Today I greatly appreciate everything they gave me.  Yes, even the things I didn't think were necessary.

I was scanning the web today (yes, like most days) and I ran into an article that said "8 Things Every Kid Should Experience".  I read over the list and I thought about my childhood years and all the things that I experienced.  Hmmm...I'm lucky I'm still alive!  LOL  


I would really like it if you would go and check out the link, but just in case you don't, I'm gonna list the 8 things here.

1. Being part of a team
So many kids today play sports and that automatically puts them on a team.  As for me, I grew up on a team.  It was called family.

2. Camping
Can you believe that some kids have never, ever been camping.  We used to camp out in the back yard.  We didn't have a tent but we would drape sheets or quilts over the clothesline.  And I have very fond memories of my dad packing up the car and us driving to North Carolina and camping out for a whole week.  I still have stories to tell about the panthers that were really racoons and the racoons that stole our mayonnaise.


3. Chores
Oh my gosh!  That is a very ugly 4 letter word.  Yes, the dreaded chores.  I had my fair share of them and so do my kids.  But...that's where the team comes in to play.

4. Snow
In Florida?  Once!  And I remember my sister and I chasing my dad trying to hit him with a very dirty snowball.  A real snowball.  Now my sister sees snow almost every year.  And for me?  I think it's snowed one other time here in Florida.  I can't wait to take the boys to see and play in their first snow.

5. Farm life
Pea pickin, garden growing, pig raising, egg collecting, the smell of cows and horses and so much more.  I remember shelling peas during my summers.  I shucked my fair share of corn and feed my fair share of cows and pigs.  But that's ok, I didn't go hungry in the winter either.  Kids should defiantly experience the farm life.  Especially the cow patty fights!

6. A lemonade stand
I don't necessarily agree with having a lemonade stand.  It can just be too dangerous because of inviting strangers to come around.  Ok, with adult supervision.  I think there are many other ways to earn a few dollars and to learn about buying and selling.

7. Flying a kite
Oh yes!  I wonder exactly how many of these I have flown over the years.  And, get this...I still love to fly them.  As a matter of fact, just last summer while we were vacationing at the beach, we flew a kite.

8. Bowling
Yes indeed!  And, ha - we did this about a month ago.  How awesome is that?!

Now it's your turn to tell me some of the awesome things that you have done or would have liked to have done.  It's not too late ya know!

What a life

I sure have to admit that I have an easy life. I go to bed latter than the rest of the gang because it's the only time the house is quiet. I'm not kiddin! LOL It seems like my kids just never shut up be quiet. I sleep late everyday.
You would think that living on a little teeny tiny farm that I would have to get up early and milk the cows and feed the chickens and on and on. To start with, we don't have a cow or any chickens. We do have 3 horses, 3 cats and 2 dogs. Of course the cats will scratch your eyes out if you don't feed them at the right time. And the dogs will bark until you can't hear yourself think if you don't turn them out of their kennels that they sleep in every night. Not to mention the damage that 3 huge horses can do in just a few minutes if they don't have their hay at the crack of dawn. Ok - I'm joking about the critters!

I really do sleep late every day. My boys are woke up by Superman. Once Superman wakes them up, he heads off to work. The boys do their chores and eat breakfast and then they sneak in and wake me up. Since the boys missed so many things that we all take for granted, I will let them crawl in bed with me in the mornings. After about 15 minutes of the covers being pulled this way and that way I have to say enough and run them out of the room. Now I take about 10 minutes to brush my teeth, make my bed and get dressed. I walk into the "classroom" and our day begins.

There are days when I just have to reward the boys with being done with school at lunch time. Summer is here now and I intend to keep their feet wrinkled from swimming. Yes we are still doing school but we are swimming too. We spend a few hours at the springs and then we head home to get dinner ready for Superman (and us).

I intend to take more pictures of the springs and our activities. I have lots to share now, I just gotta get em here.

What a life!

Peace Within

What has happened to me? Where is this coming from? I don't know the answer to the questions and I don't want to know the answer. All I know is that I have a peace within. It's awesome. After just about driving myself nuts, I have finally figured out that the best thing for me to do is to lighten up. Yeah!

I'm really just updated and catching you all up to let you all know that I'm still around and we are still home schooling and we love it.

Getting Outside

Yesterday and today I found myself outside. I did - Really!

There have been a lot of changes in my life. We have met our first anniversary with the boys. Can you believe it has already been a year. From no kids to 3 kids all at once was certainly a different world than what we were used to. Our world turned upside down! We wouldn't change it for the world. We love the boys as if they were our own. Ha - they are our own and they have been for over a year now.

Since I quit smoking (almost 5 months now) I haven't been at the computer as much. And for some reason, I don't even know what I've been doing. LOL It's ok though because life is good and getting better. Yes, you are gonna get to hear all about it. I know, I have catching up to do and lots of pictures to show. I'll get to it!

Is This Too Much

I was just wonderin if this template is too much. I really kinda like it but I think I need to play around with it a little and get it just the way I like it. I know I have to be careful and not zap it all. LOL

Today was a wonderful day! I just love the water and the sun!

You Want Me to Pay What?

Yeah - you read it right...You want me to pay what - as in how much? Do you feel sometimes like you are just paying for nothing? I feel that way lots of times. If you do the math and figure things out, you will come to realize that yesterday was my birthday. I know...I really am old as dirt. But it's ok - I feel better. Ha Ha!!!

I had no plans on celebrating my birthday in any certain way. As a matter of fact...I just wanted it to be quiet and peaceful. Now that I look back on it, I guess it wasn't as bad as it could have been.

I had a doctor appointment for my wrist. I dropped the boys off at one of our church members houses for a little project they had planned. Hugs and kisses bye and I'll see you in about 2 hours. 2 hours - yeah right. It was more like 4 hours.

My doctor appointment was pretty much like I thought - just a small co-pay and a very painful shot. Then off to some other place to get a brace made. I am not kidding when I tell you that when they told me the price that I would have to pay, that I got very sick to my stomach. The bad part - I couldn't even go outside and smoke! The good part - I don't smoke! Over 4 months now! The brace, $280 with my insurance. I called Superman and told him and he talked me into not throwing up. I didn't have the brace made because that price is ridiculous. I was thinking that I had some Popsicle sticks at home that I could mix with a little bit of tape and come up with a brace.

So if you can imagine me sitting here telling you this with Popsicle sticks and tape covering my right wrist. When someone sees it they just ask what happened and I smile when I tell them that one of our science projects failed.

Looking Back

Yesterday as I was enjoying the company of Granny Karen, she very casually pointed out to me that maybe just maybe I need to look back. Looking back is what I have been doing since she mentioned that to me. We have certainly come a long, long way. It seems as though every day brings a new challenge for me. I think that is because of what I have started doing. I'm not gonna break all out and start bible thumping on ya (not today anyway) but I am seeking God.

Are ya freaked out?! LOL I really am seeking God. Some people think omyshehaslosthermind.

Ok - so I have lost my mind. Not really, I am just walking a different path in my life.

I do have lots and lots of thoughts going on in my head and lots of things that I need to sort out. Don't give up on me, I'm here behind the monitor just sortin things out til the time is right for me to just bust on outta here.

So Far Behind

Have you ever? No, really! Have you ever been so far behind? I mean to the point that you just thought - hmmm....I think I'll just put everything in the garbage can and start over. I think at some point in our lives we have all been there. We have all thought that we are so far behind that there is no way that we could ever get caught up. But yet there are times when you can catch me sitting and reading something.

Reading something? Sitting and not doing anything? Ha - you can't be that far behind if you have time for that. Yeah, right! Think again. When you catch me reading or sitting and doing nothing - I am planning. I am catching my breath so that I can go on, so I can catch up.

One of my last post was stress. I told you then to look out (stay tuned) that I'm coming back. And I am! It's just gonna take me a little bit to continue getting things in order. I say things, it's really me. But you'll see, once I'm back full swing.

Oh yeah - I am going to try my very, very best to tell some of the silly stories that Superman tells.

I Know...

I know just what you are thinking. I should update my blog and stop talking about updating it and keeping it up to date and so on and so on. Blah - Blah - Blah! We've all heard it before.

Ok, I'll do better.

Now, where have I been...

I've been to a couple of funerals. Dealt with those and moved on. I've rented an RV. YES, AN RV! Did we look like Robin Williams in the movie RV? I doubt it but I do have to say that we all rented the movie a few days before we rented the RV and went on vacation.

Our garden has done so well and provided us with so many veggies. I love home grown food. Home school is going well. Yes, we are still in school. There won't be very much of a summer break. Right now we are only looking at the month of August. We'll see what happens between now and then.

Catching Up With Alta

I sure hope that no one is upset with me. I know that it has been some time since I have been posting anything here. Things have changed so very much for me. I mean really - they have changed in ways that I never thought about.

Friday, March 28th 2007 was the first day that I had not smoked a cigarette in over 26 years. That is my official quit date. It hasn't been easy to get to where I am now. I had to pretty much give up my computer because I used to sit in front of the darn computer and smoke like a chimney. All I needed was a picture of a fire on the computer screen and we could have hung our stockings by it. Not any more - I am done with that. Been there - Done that!
Oh yeah! I still crave that smoke from time to time. I still want to run down to the corner store and buy me a pack and start smoking again. And there are days that I could run down to the corner convience store and buy a whole carton, sit on the curb and just light the carton on fire and smoke it like a musician playing a harmonica. But I just go on and get past that moment or those moments.

Since I don't know when, things have been changing for me. I think it may be because I'm growing older. Maybe it's because I'm growing wiser. Hmm...I might need to ponder on that a little bit.

The first part of this year I was drawn to read the Bible. I couldn't tell you why if you ask me. It was just something that I wanted to do, something I thought I needed to do. Get this - the plot thickens. I'll get to it before I'm done, hang on...

I talked with Superman about it and I told him that I had no idea why I wanted to start going to church or why I wanted to read the Bible, it's just that I had a craving for it all. My cravings got stronger and stronger. I am pulled by something. I'm being led toward or to this little church. Brother Andy is the pastor, he preaches words that I understand, words that I am thirsty to hear. I'll get more into this also, so hang on again...

May 2008 has brought me to a point in my life that I thought would never happen. This is my official and legal Mothers Day. What a feeling it truly is. I have my wonderful husband, my 3 boys and God to thank.

I'm gonna change the subject a little bit (sorry bout that). Our cat Dusty is now diabetic and has to take insulin shots. Yes he has cataracts like Jack. Dusty hasn't become completely blind yet but I do think that it will eventually happen. We are going to make Dusty as happy and comfortable as we can until he goes over the rainbow bridge. And just to let you know, if I talk about it anymore I'll be crying and snottin all over the place.

In the past 3 weeks we've had 2 deaths in the family. Both on my dad's side of the family - one of his sisters and one of his brothers.

Now that we are catching up with Alta (yep, that's me), I'll tell you about some power surges. I mean some real doozies too. Hot flashes! I personally call them Power Surges. There is no way in this world that what I am feeling is hot flashes. I'm way too young for that. Guess again! I have to schedule myself a doctor appointment. Somethings gotta be done!

I'll try to let you all know where we stand on home school in one of my next post. In the meantime hang in there...

School After Thanksgiving

Give em 4 days off for Thanksgiving and they forget how to read. What's up with that? I fear the summer if this is how it's gonna be. Speaking of summer - I think I will homeschool them through the summer, just not as many hours in the day. I'll think on it and figure it all out. Maybe! LOL

So now that the holiday is over, we are back to our normal routine of school work.

I am so thankful that Superman has returned to his line of work. Now he has more time off during the week to help with homeschool. It's not that he helps with the school work so much as helping with JD's attitude. I need help with that more than anything else.

JD can come up answers that are so out in left field. Example: How do humans get their energy? His answer was, "They get their energy from drinking soda". There is no way that was in his Science book. He just wrote something down to get to go outside. He just writes things down without reading or looking back in his lesson.
Because of answers like that, he must write the page number where he found his answer. We have tried taking all of his privileges away from him and giving him a few of them back at a time. He whines and complains and just sasses me so darn bad. Since Superman is home today and there were some issues, we have decided that JD will be sitting on his bed when he is not doing his lessons. That will remain in affect until he gets it in his head that he must read the lesson, answer the questions correctly and write the page number where he found the answer.
That is all I know to do right now. I really am about to pull my hair out when it comes to him getting his lessons done.

I Can't Remember

Some days I can't remember my name much less anything else. Why? Well I'll tell ya why. I have 3 sons, 1 husband, 4 cats, 3 horses, 2 dogs, 1 mom, 1 neighbor lady, 2 nieces, 1 nephew, laundry, groceries, breakfast, lunch, supper, doctor appointments, birthdays, holidays, weekends, weekdays, phone numbers, drivers license numbers, tag numbers, math, science, history, geography and on and on...

Today I called MJ's doctor's office to see if by any chance he has a follow up appointment from his surgery. I couldn't remember the doctors name and I couldn't find the phone number. After calling several phone numbers that I found in the phone book, I finally managed to get the right number. That was after I had been transferred a dozen times, put on terminal hold and a few disconnected calls. Once I got someone on the phone that was actually in the right place, they ask me MJ's date of birth, I couldn't remember it. Shame on me. LOL I really need to memorize these things. Like the socials of all the boys and their birth dates. I know mine but no one elses. I make calls for my mom and Granny Karen that have to do with doctor appointments and they ask some of the same questions. Name and date of birth? I must have the blankest look on my face that they have ever seen. They look at me kinda like our little Schnauzer does - head tilted to one side and their eyes are almost crossed. It's the quizzical look. The one that says, "What do you mean you don't know the date of birth?".

Ok - I know it - I just forgot it. I mean I know it but you gotta give my brain time to process the info. My brain goes into over drive at that time.
I think like this...
Mom to dr on ____ at ___ time.
Granny Karen to dr on ___ at ___ time.
Pick up Janet at airport on ___ at ___ time.
Start supper at ____ time.
WW is in ___ grade.
Car has ___ tank of gas.
Today's date is ___.
My phone number is ___.
The whole time their heads are tilted and their eyes are crossed. My brain is going through the numbers in my head. And all I really want to do is just explode with laughter.
Finally, I find the right number. Darn it - why didn't they just ask me my drivers license number, I coulda given them that in a split second. It's almost as if they ask me to tell how long it takes the light from the sun to reach the earth. Naming the President's and their terms would have been easier. LOL

But once it comes to me, the I can't remember is done and over with. Well...until the next time they ask me a question like that.

Magic Is...

Magic is what you make it. Magic is looking up at the bright blue sky and saying wow. Magic is seeing all the stars that shine on the darkest of nights. Magic is opening up a gift and never imagining that you would ever own what's inside. It's sticking your feet in the warm sand on the beach and actually feeling the warmth cascade your skin and your soul. It's riding your bicycle without holding on.

Do you believe in magic now? Of course you do. If you don't believe then you have never opened your eyes, ears, nose or mouth. If you don't believe then you have never concentrated on what your hand is touching. You have to get lost in what you see, hear, taste or touch. The velvety touch of a cat as you pet it ever so gently. The smell of a horse, awww so clean and wild. The taste of warm coffee as it touches your tongue. The sight of a child's face as they laugh. The sound of a cat as it gently purrs in your ear.

Magic is what you make it. Believe and you will experience it!

Where Do I Start

Sunday - that seems like a great place for me to start. Rain, we got more rain. I went to paint class and painted an awesome oil painting. I love the Bob Ross wet on wet method. My instructor is awesome. She is just so wonderful that it is hard to describe her.

Monday - class went really well today. We finally managed to get our microscope out and do a few Science projects. The boys were just amazed at what they saw. These Science projects are 5th grade level but MJ did them with us. MJ is really zipping through his books. His reading has improved so much and we are so proud of him. Now if I could just get WW and JD to show more interest. JD used to have such problems staying awake in class when he went to public school. He doesn't get sleepy during home school. I keep them hopping, so they don't have time to get sleepy. I also get them in bed pretty early, that way they are sure to get plenty of rest. Every night (including weekends) I have the boys sit down for quiet time. The quiet time is used to read. Every once in awhile the quiet time will be used as coloring time. The coloring time is about once a week. They are now looking forward to quiet time.

Tomorrow MJ goes in for his surgery. It's a day stay surgery but I am sure it will take most of the day. WW and JD are spending the night with their Granny (my mom). I sent them off with 2 small coolers full of food for breakfast and lunch for tomorrow. Lots of good snacks too. They were really excited about spending the night with her. They really wanted her to eat supper with us tonight but she had other plans. MJ ask me all kinds of questions tonight about his surgery. He said that he is a little bit nervous and he wants me and his dad to be with him the whole time. I assured him that we would be right there with him as long as the doctors would let us.

It's close to midnight right now and we all have to be up early in the morning. I'm heading to bed - oh yeah - after I let Molly in, because she is barking at the back door. LOL
Night all!

Full Calendar

Have you ever wondered when it will every end? What ever "It" is. Well some days I wonder. This whole month has been a month from - yep - you guessed it. Oh yeah - and we are only 11 days into this darn month. What will the rest of the month bring?

Granny Karen has had her knee surgery this morning. MJ has surgery on the 23rd of this month. And my mom will be having surgery on the 31st. I have heard all my life that things come in three's. Will the surgeries are certainly coming in three's.

My October calendar is certainly full. And now I have to write more things on it. I think it may just be full after this. LOL And I just got a call from my sister saying that I need to pick her up at the airport on the 30th of this month. I knew about it but I had kinda forgotten. Just as long as I don't forget on the 30th I'll be ok.

Our weather was much cooler this morning. It was very nice to walk out the door and not feel like you're walking into an oven.

Yesterday the boys and I decided that we would have class on the road. We had a doctors appointment for MJ and from there I wanted to run by the book store. I couldn't find any books by James Patterson on sale. I did buy another "Wee Sing" cd for the boys. I love these little songs on these cd's. Once we left the book store, we decided to go over the Target and just look around. We have been looking for some Halloween cookie cutters and couldn't find them anywhere. We found them at Target, they were right inside the door and they were only $1 a pack. Pretty darn good deal.

We have been doing a little paper mache'. It is so very messy but so much fun. We are making pumpkins. I really have no idea how they are going to turn out but right now they look really cool. We started out with a balloon and then we started layering the paper mache'. We tied a string to the balloon so that we could hang them to dry. We are making them in a couple of stages because we want them to be sturdy. I'm excited about decorating them!

WW is baking cookies right now. He just said to me that he has never baked cookies before. I bought a roll of the toll house cookies and I got him started baking and off he ran with it. Chocolate chip cookies too! Yummy!

Even though our calendar is full, we are finding time to have fun and spend time with each other. It's very important to enjoy your family no matter how busy your life becomes or how full your calendar gets.

Our Lives Changed Today

Reading our local newspaper changed our families lives today. No joke! It really did. You finish reading and let me know if your life will be changed today.

By the time you've read this sentence, Americans will have thrown away over 15,000 plastic bags. They will have recycled about 150.

The simple plastic grocery bag is an amazing invention. Plastic bags are strong, inexpensive, and durable. They can be used to hold groceries, lunches, clothes (dirty or clean), prescriptions, trash and more.

But there's a problem with plastic grocery bags. Once they're made, they basically never go away. In a landfill, a bag may take over 1,000 years to break down. In other words, the bag you carried home from the store yesterday might still be there for your great great great grandchildren's great great great grandchildren to enjoy. What an heirloom!

Of course, many grocery bags don't go to a landfill. They end up polluting rivers, oceans, beaches, forests, parks, streets, parking lots, schoolyards, backyards, and athletic fields.

This pollution is deadly. Californians Against Waste claim that 100,000 turtles and marine mammals are killed each year by plastic marine debris. That's approximately one every five minutes. A cow in New Delhi died after ingesting 35,000 plastic bags, according to Indian media reports.

While yesterday's plastic bags sully the landscape and kill wildlife, more and more plastic bags are being manufactured today. According to Salon.com, Americans use over 100 billion plastic bags each year. That's 274 million plastic bags a day, or over 3100 per second.

Reuseablebags.com estimates that about 12 million barrels of oil are used annually to manufacture the plastic bags used in the United States. That's enough oil to create about 240 million gallons of gas, which could fuel over 500,000 cars with gas for an entire year.

We're swimming in a sea of plastic bags. If we don't act fast, we may drown. Fortunately, there are several easy steps you can take to help reduce the plastic bag waste you produce.

First, stop using plastic bags in the grocery store. Don't replace them with paper bags, which require more petroleum to manufacture than do plastic bags. Instead, replace them with reusable shopping bags.

Reusable bags, often made of cloth or recycled plastic, are inexpensive, large, and sturdy. If each American household brought one cloth bag per trip to the grocery store, we would throw away 10 billion fewer plastic bags per year.

Reuseable bags come in all different kinds. You can get designer bags, such as the ones offered by Hermes for $960. Publix offers a less chic model for under $2. Better yet, look around your house and you may find a variety of cloth bags, backpacks or other suitable totes lying around. Stick them in your car so you don't forget them.

If you do forget your reusable bags, then make sure you bag your groceries carefully. Grocery baggers seem to operate on a per-bag commission, double bagging anything heavier than a loaf of bread. Ask the bagger to fill your bags up, and only double bag when absolutely necessary.
When you get home, don't throw the bags away. Bring them back to the store and drop them in the recycling bin. Experts estimate that only 1.2 percent of plastic bags used in the U.S. are recycled.

These simple steps alone could cut America's plastic bag waste by tens of billions of bags per year, saving millions of barrels of oil, thousands of turtles and marine mammals and preventing countless instances of unsightly litter and dangerous pollution.

Unfortunately, not enough Americans are taking these easy steps. If we don't clean up our act, then government may have to step in. In some places, it already has.

Several countries, including Taiwan, Thailand and South Africa, have banned plastic grocery bags. San Francisco recently followed suit, and other American cities are considering similar legislation. Such legislation is expensive, time-consuming and should be unnecessary.

Citizens need to stand up and act on their own to eliminate needless plastic bag waste.

In the time you took to read this column, Americans threw away over 900,000 plastic bags.

Whether by legislation, innovation or individual action, we must eliminate our dependence on plastic bags.

Do your part today.

I give full credit to Stuart Carlton. "Stuart Carlton is a Ph.D. student in the Interdisciplinary Ecology program at the University of Florida's School of Natural Resources and he Environment."

Especially the AMERICAN FLAG

Every week I like to read our local newspapers online. Tonight I start reading one of our local newspapers and of course I just have to go and read the editorial. The article that I am talking about just upset me. Why? If you are an American then you will know why. Please remember that I am posting this because I am an American and I believe in our country. This post is not meant to offend anyone!

Letters to the editor
Students banned from wearing flag
Editor:
It has come to my attention that the Levy County School Board does not allow Students, especially at the Williston Middle school, to wear any clothing with a Flag on it. Especially the AMERICAN FLAG!
I find this absolutely ludicrous. This is AMERICA!
Who are we going to offend? A Muslim? An anarchist ? An illegal?
I have also been advised that the Pledge of Allegiance is not pledged each morning in class. Is that true? Why not?
This IS AMERICA. The Land of the FREE. We Are “One Nation Under GOD” or have you bubble heads forgotten that under the guise of political correctness? Read the entire article here.

Sleeping In

Finally Saturday! I had some really awesome plans of sleeping in. Notice I said "I had"? There really is no telling around here what time one will get woke up or even how one will get woke up. It could be calm and gentle or it could be wild and wicked. Usually if you have plans on sleeping in, then you can pretty much plan on getting woke up by wild and wicked. Either one is ok in all reality, just as long as you are woke up. Because you sure don't want to miss the action.

Speaking of action.
Superman was going to get up early (not as early as usual for him) and he was going to take the boys and do a little welding. WW and MJ were the only ones allowed to go because JD just couldn't behave in class during the week. And you know my plans - yeah - sleeping in. So I'm laying in bed in my own little special dream land and in my sleep I hear "MOM!". I open my eyes and I see 3 boys standing beside my bed and JD is holding something. I hear "MOM, LOOK WHAT MJ FOUND"! Oh yes, they are all excited, I mean to the point that they might as well have just caught a leprechaun, except for the fact that it wasn't St. Patricks Day. Now I'm kinda squinting my eyes to get them to focus from being jolted awake. I see what's in JD's hands. It's a baby squirrel. No joke! I wouldn't have been anymore shocked if had been a leprechaun. The squirrel started hollering at that point. JD handed me the squirrel and I laid him by my neck, he crawled closer to me and just snuggled up to me and there he went to sleep. I talked to the boys about the squirrel and where MJ found him.
I laid there for about 15 more minutes and I just couldn't stand it any longer. I had to wake up Superman. I called his name once and he woke right up and I told him to look at my neck. My gosh - did he see a leprechaun too? Me - now I've raised a baby squirrel before and of course I was excited but not even close to the excitement that Superman and the 3 boys were feeling. I think I was more into the save it's life mode. Keep it warm and get it fed.

After Superman and I (with the baby squirrel) managed to crawl out of bed, we all went about our daily routine of brushing teeth and getting our other little chores done. Me with a squirrel in the pocket of my t-shirt. Superman, WW and MJ went off to weld and JD and I went off to PetSmart.

Don't Tell Dad

Yeah right! LOL We all skipped school today. We were supposed to go to our home school group meeting but the weather just wasn't quiet right. It was extremely cloudy and it rained almost all day yesterday. The boys just knew they were going to get to go swimming after our meeting today and they really wanted to go swimming. We've all had this summer cold thing going on and I really don't think they should swim right now.

When I told the boys that we weren't going to the be with the group - Whoa and behold! I thought I was going to have to fight them off of me. Ok - Ok! Here's what we'll do...We will go to Walmart and pick up a few things and we'll see what the weather is like. They were ok with that until we parked in the Walmart parking lot. Once again - here I am...defending myself and fighting them off. LOL I used the beep beep phone and called Superman. He agreed with me (of course) that it would be best if we wait at least one more week on the swimming thing. Ssshhewwww! I barely got through that.

Once inside the store the boys wanted to walk around while I shopped. I don't usually allow that with out our little walkie talkies. I said ok but you must mind your manners and stay together. I was free! Yeah for a whole total of 10 minutes. But that's ok with me. When they are with me, I know that they are safe and that is the most important part. We did our little bit of shopping and I had to buy some pencils. On the pencil isle, JD spotted some of the felt coloring things. I thought - what the heck...we missed drawing today at our group meeting and the boys can't go swimming - so why not just buy them each one. They all 3 picked out the picture they wanted to do and we were outta there. Easy as that!

Everything put away and now Art class begins. Skipping school - ha - that's what they thought. When we were driving home, I starting singing a little diddy about skipping school. Just something I made up off the tip of my tongue. WW commented that he didn't want to skip school. JD said we could get in trouble for skipping school. I just had to say that we couldn't get in trouble when mom was with us. Me, of course. Then I hear "Don't tell dad". It was really cute! Then the JD and WW say "Mom, you already told dad because you called him when we were at Walmart". They know that their dad and I talk about everything. There are no secrets in our house. In all reality, I think the boys like that about us.

Just remember, when you skip home school...Take mom (or dad) along with you. That way you have a driver and someone to keep you out of trouble.

Family Life

What in the world has happened to the family life? What every happened to sitting at the table every night for supper? Well at our house, we have family life. We all sit at the table for supper at least 6 times a week. The other day that we don't sit together at the table is because the boys have youth night at church, Superman could be late getting home from work or maybe one of the boys is spending the night with one of their grandparents. Not only do we sit down at the table as a family, but we discuss things as a family. We talk about our day, no matter what we did. Superman shares stories from his work and we share stories about school, grades, critters, field trips and more.

Television - better known as TV. I can honestly say that I have not watched TV since 1994. I am extremely proud that I am not programed by TV. Superman hasn't watched TV since 2001. We have a TV in our home but we don't subscribe to any programming. It's way to expensive and there is more junk on it than anything else. If I were to watch TV, I would either watch the Discovery channel or the History Channel. I actually wish that we had those 2 programs for the boys to watch. I would be very selective in what they watched on them though. I just think that TV is way over rated. Way to many people spend so much time being a zombie to the darn thing.

I remember when I was a kid only having 2 channels to watch. It was ABC or PBS. I remember watching PBS more than anything else. PBS is the channel that me and my sister liked to watch the most. We would watch Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers Neighborhood. I grew out of that way before my sister did. At 4pm every weekday we always watched Dialing For Dollars. They would have a 2 hour movie on and during the breaks the host of the show would call a phone number, if the person that answered the phone knew the dollar amount then they would win that money. If they didn't know the dollar amount then it would roll over to the next call. I don't remember how much money it was or how the jackpot grew. I know that we didn't have a phone, so it really didn't matter to us. LOL

I believe that homeschoolers are bringing back the family life. I believe they are bringing back the values and the morals that every family needs and wants. Material items have become more important in day to day life. Not in our family. Family life is the most important to us.

Keep the Family life home fires burning!