A Fun Day

We started our day out early. Into the big city to take my mom to her doctor's appointment. Traffic wasn't too bad. At one point the boys ask if we were the only one on the roads. I guess for about a mile we didn't see any other vehicles. It was actually kind of spooky. The boys and I sat in the waiting room with my mom for a few minutes. I'm not one that can sit long without something really interesting in front of me. So outside we went.

The boys wanted to play on the bike parking area but I had plans. We walked in the parking lot and I explained how the drainage system worked. The parking lot has big grates in it where the water runs to the sewer. We looked at lots of plants and talked a little about each one. We found some pine cones and we talked about the pine cones. Of course we brought a few pine cones home with us. Right now they are under our Christmas tree. And of course the cats have been playing with them. But that's ok, I'm glad the cats are enjoying them.

On to hopscotch...I won, I won!!! We found a rock and I drew a hopscotch right there in the parking lot in an empty parking space. We each got a piece of bark out of the mulch from around the plants and we started our game. It was really fun! No - not because I won...Silly. It was fun because we played together. It was fun because we laughed and made fun of each other. Ok, because I won!

We made it home by 12:30. Not bad for a trip to the city. And I was able to get one errand done. The boys ate lunch while I checked my emails. JD had a little bit of History and Geography to finish. It just takes him forever (or so it seems) to get a task completed.

I finally managed to get all 15 windows cleaned, but only on the outside. That's a great accomplishment too. I had to move the step ladder from window to window on the back side of the house. On both ends and the front of the house, I had to use the extension ladder. I also started scrubbing our front steps. They get a lot of fungus from the oak tree that's close to the front door. WW and MJ managed to get our big farm truck washed. Actually WW had to wash it twice because he was responsible for the washing and the first washing really lacked. A valuable lesson learned for him.

Now I have to tackle the windows on the inside but that won't be too bad. I want to take down all the ugly blinds and either hang curtains or put up new blinds. Not sure what I'm gonna do with the windows. But I'll keep on thinking on it until I figure it out.

Friday, Superman is planning on taking the boys over to his dad's house to use the wood splitter. I'm supposed to get a few me things done. I'm really considering not doing the me things and just go with them to split wood. I might better sleep on that one and make the decision when I can think a little clearer. I'll let you know what I decide.

Old and New

I remember my grandmother wearing an apron in the kitchen and some days when she was doing some of her chores. I have been to several friends homes to find them wearing an apron. I look at some of my clothes and see the cooking stains on them. They end up in the work shirt pile because they are just not decent enough for me to wear away from the house. I think - hmm...if only I followed what my grandmother did (wear an apron) then I wouldn't have more work shirts than good shirts.

I have thought for several years now about making my own aprons. I look at some of the patterns and they just don't strike my fancy. Well you know what? I found an awesome website that has changed my mind. You will not believe the way the old and new have come together. You gotta check it out.

Domestic Darlings has some awesome aprons. They also have matching aprons for mom and daughter. How about a Halter Apron?! Lightweight cotton halter apron with ties at the neck and waist. Lightweight so you don't feel like you are wearing a coat while you are keeping your clothes underneath clean. Lightweight cotton headband. Decorative tie hides elastic. They are awesome. Go check them out, maybe even buy one for yourself or for someone special for Christmas. Stylish and beautiful. No more granny aprons for me!

Domestic Darlings not only have beautiful aprons, they have an awesome blog.One really cool thing is that they are a home-based kitchen and fashion design and production company.

If you are interested in entering in their Domestic Darlings Apron Give-away, then hop on over to their blog and enter today.

A Very Relaxing Saturday

I love days like today. It actually reminded me of so many years ago with all my family gathered at my grandmothers house. Dinner on the table consisted of a baked ham, green Lima beans, carrots, biscuits, tomatoes, pears and pineapple slices, cottage cheese and delicious sweet tea. Superman and I told a few childhood stories to the boys while we ate dinner this afternoon. Oh yeah - dinner for us is the mid day meal. We call the evening meal, supper. We told our stories and the boys would laugh and they really seemed curious and wanted to hear more.
One of our memories was how we would eat and eat until we just couldn't hold another bite. Not just us, but the whole family. Then we would all lay around and nap for about an hour. After our nap, we would all wander off somewhere in the yard. Some of the adults mowing the lawn or sitting in the rocking chairs chatting. At some point we all managed to get a game of Croquet going. Pappy was at least 60 or 65 and he would beat us all - every time.

After dinner today, we all pitched in (as usual) to get the kitchen cleaned up. Once everything was done, we all headed in separate directions. I managed to find myself in the barn. I love it! I was able to clean up around the barn a little bit and play with the horses for a few minutes.

I let WW and MJ bake some cookies this evening. JD was playing with his matchbox cars in the dirt and he didn't want to come inside to bake cookies. I think it was because he knew he would have to get a shower and then not go back outside today. JD did come in and get a shower before WW and MJ were done with the cookies, so JD did get to help a little bit.

Tomorrow I am going to another paint class. I was going to cancel this one but Superman said that he wants me to go. I love that about him. One day I will take pictures of all of the paintings that I have done and put them on here for everyone to see. Yeah - one day. LOL

I think that right now I'm gonna head off to bed. First I have a date with the Tooth Fairy. Goodnight all!

Fall Like Weather

All of the professionals say that Fall is not in the air. Well, I am a native Floridian and I say Fall is in the air. At least we are having Fall like weather. I think it may be from several of the storms that have come and gone from the Atlantic and from the Gulf of Mexico. Today we had some much needed rain, which our family always welcomes.

Here in Florida, we don't have to much of the leaf changes. One day the trees have leaves and the next they don't. That's pretty much the extent of our leaf changes. I did notice today that the Sycamore trees have really turned their leaves to some pretty colors. We've had a breeze for the past couple of days too and that has been really nice. This is the kind of weather that I love to be at the barn in.

I love the smell of the barn. Hay all stacked up and it has such a country smell. The smell of the compost pile is so earthen. The smell of the horses when they visit me at the barn.

It may not be Fall yet - but we sure are having Fall like weather.

Living in the Real World

We all know that once the weekend is gone that Monday comes along. It's a fact. Not one that much of us like but it happens. And once again I find myself asking - where did the weekend go? I wonder where the weekends go because we stay busy. We always seem to run from here to there and back again. I'm not so much the runner in the family, it's more Superman than me. The boys are all fine with staying home or being on the go. I really think they prefer to stay home than running from here to there. However, there are times when they will ask if we are going anywhere. I try to post our schedule (appointments) on the calendar and I do a pretty good job of it. I just don't post things like buying groceries or horse feed or things like that.

Yes, it's Monday. I used to really dread Mondays. That's when I worked in the real world. Now that I am a SAHM (stay at home mom) and a WAHM (work at home mom), I don't dread Mondays anymore. Funny how I said the real world. What exactly is the real world?
For me the real world consist of rolling out of bed at a decent hour, doing the brush teeth and make bed thing. Next I'm trying to get things a little organized for our daily school lessons, while I am waking the boys up and reminding them to get their chores completed. They're pretty good with their chores, so that's the easy part. Doing this and that for all the critters, such as feeding, cleaning the litter boxes, opening gates for horses and so on... Next, I'm giving a bottle to our baby squirrel while making sure that the boys clean the table and do their dishes after they eat breakfast. Then we're off to school where we talk about Columbus sailing the ocean blue, counting from 1 to 200 and figuring out what number comes before and after. We work on growing plants, examining plant cells, work on cursive writing, figure out the plot, setting and characters of a story. We work on spelling words and telling time. We do addition, subtraction and we multiply and we divide. We do fractions and we count beans. We draw and we color. I think it would have been easier to just say there isn't anything that we don't work on.
Some days we all walk to the mailbox together. Some days we run errands and read road signs. Everyday we laugh! No matter how bad the day is - we still find something to laugh at.
We eat lunch and we clean up our mess. We add some more and count some more beans. We count coins and we try to talk in Spanish. We run, we jump and we sword fight. Some days I'm toting a cat like a baby trying to get them out of the bathroom while answering 900 questions. Some days I'm feeding the baby squirrel while trying to wash my hands. One just never knows around here. LOL

Schools out and we all run our separate ways. Me to the barn and then to the kitchen. The boys? Oh they scatter in all different directions.
We all sit down to supper and we laugh and giggle and we talk about our day. We all do the cleaning up from supper and then we all scatter again. The boys scatter off to get their showers and do any homework that they have. Then they find us and hopefully we all can sit down to a movie or to another family conversation or even for some quiet time to read a book.

Bedtime. For everyone except me. Of course I am the one that has the most problem going to sleep. I take the time that everyone is asleep as my quiet time, my time to relax and finally read my emails, clean off my desk, do a little dusting, maybe even some laundry. Now I'm thinking, just how many hours are in the day anyway. LOL

In the morning we start all over again. That brings me to another question. Isn't it time for me to get some sleep? Yeah - I think so!
Goodnight all!

Fall in the Air

For the last couple of weeks we have been able to really feel fall in the air. It has been cool in the morning, then warming during midday and then a cooler in the evening. Well I have felt it anyway. Superman says it just started like on Sunday. Yesterday and today there was no mistake that you can really feel Fall in the air. It even has a distinct aroma. I love this time of year. Usually it's hot this time of year but not right now. The weather people say there is some type of front that could or will cause some type of El Nino that will dump lots of water on us this Winter. Even enough to end our drought conditions. Well it better be a lot of water if it's gonna bring our water table back up to the normal range.

On top of our water table being really low, I read in our local paper yesterday that some important people or company wants to create a huge pipe line that will send our water down to South Florida. Hmmm...Now exactly what are we going to drink when this happens? I guess they aren't thinking about that. Shoot, most of the swimming holes and fishing holes that were full when I was a kid are all pretty much dried up now. Will Florida become the next dessert? It kinda looks like it.

Today we have had a light drizzle of rain. The horses were running around all frisky and playful. They are so beautiful to watch. The weather means the boys have to play inside a little more, but that's ok too. They still get to play outside but not when it's cool and raining.

I'm off to do a little surfing and a little reading. I have more news to post, so don't run off.

80 Miles Round Trip

Yes the round trip from our home to our home school group meeting and then back home is 80 miles. I know it seems like a lot and some days it feels like double that. I had thought about not going to the meetings anymore then I get reminded of how important they are. I also get to thinking about what we learn on that drive.

We learn things like this:
Time, distance, careers, patient, money, laws, reading, direction, manners, spelling, history, geography, language arts, math, science and my goodness, so much more.
On one of our little trips we watched men working on clearing under the power line. They were using heavy equipment and putting limbs into a chipper. We talked about why they were doing it, how they were doing it and how dangerous it could be.
On another of our trips we talked about the train that we saw. The cars on the train were full of coal. That started a conversation about electricity, coal miners, our planet and more.
Yesterday - oh yeah - yesterday!

Yesterday on the way home I saw smoke. I mentioned it to the boys and tried to point it out, but with the trees in the way it was kind of hard to see. We came to an area that is farmed and I could see it really well and pointed it out to the boys. As we drove we kept looking for it. We were getting closer and closer. Excitement was building. Oh my - it's in our neighborhood. What's really cool about is that MJ is studying about neighborhoods, helping and sharing (such as neighbors, fire departments and such). Oh the boys were all paying attention now and the excitement was getting more intense.

"MOM!!!" Yeah I know. It's getting fun now. I pick up my cell phone and dial 911. The fire was huge! It was running across the tops of the trees. It was burning on the ground. It was growing and growing. I'm on the phone with 911 and the boys are excited. The dispatcher was asking me question after question. I was giving answer after answer. Something you may need to know about cell phones - when I dialed 911, my cell phone was still on the tower that dials into another county 911 center. I was giving the address and the dispatcher was telling me that it didn't exist. I know I wasn't going crazy.

Finally - transferred to the right 911 center. I knew I wasn't crazy! LOL I've been a 911 dispatcher and I know how all this works. I should have known before the dispatcher ask me what county I was in. I was amazed that no one had called in this fire yet. It was pretty darn close to a house too. And get this - the house that it was close to had cleared some land, piled up the brush that they had cleared (right next to the woods). Now I don't know and I am just assuming, but who ever lives their had to have set that fire. They were actually inside the house, we found that out once the fire department arrived on scene.

Less than 5 minutes after my call to 911 the Forestry Department and the local Fire Department were there. I was very impressed. A total of 5 brush trucks, 1 Forestry truck and dozer, and one tanker truck showed up. One of the brush trucks was from an adjoining county and the tanker truck was from the adjoining county. The tanker truck was there to refill the brush trucks. The boys were able to see all of this happening. They thought it was the coolest thing and they could hardly wait until their dad got home from work.

What an exciting 80 mile round trip!

Fourth Week of Home School

We are on the last day of our fourth week of home school. It certainly has been a long 4 weeks. We have had our ups and downs but there have been more ups than downs.
WW started out kinda like this was a horrible chore. Now he is wanting to start as soon as he gets up every morning.
JD hates school. He's also defiant. As I said before, I have my hand full with him.
MJ, well he is just excited about everything. He is really zipping through his school work and doing very well.

If I remember correct, yesterday was our 5th home school group meeting. We missed last week but our fearless leader caught us up to date. We meet at Rum Island Springs, it's a county park and a pretty darn neat place. Yesterday we took a walk up the river. We talked about plants, animals, the Florida Aquifer, protecting and respecting our planet. And so much more. The kids were also allowed to swim and enjoy mother nature.

Our little group is really growing. I mentioned to Superman the other day that I had thought about us not going to the meetings anymore because of the drive. I sensed from he that he really didn't think that was a good idea. I am really glad that we discuss things and can communicate so well with each other. Ok, I'm convinced that we will go to the group meetings each week. We all enjoy them very much, it's just that the drive is 40 miles one way. But then I think about all the educational things in the 80 mile round trip ride. And I have something really great for you in just a few minutes. The boys remind me every week that we have our meeting on Thursday. I like that they do that. Our group now has started what we call "Game Days", we will meet on the 3rd Monday of each month for educational games. How can I not want to go when we have so much fun?!

Count Down

The end of this week we will be signing all of the paperwork on our new property. Our closing day is Friday the 7th. 40 acres! I am trying to contain myself and not get all giddy, but it really isn't easy. As I say that, I think - hmmm....I don't get giddy very much. I always remain pretty darn calm and level headed until things are all over with. Just my nature, I guess.

Did I say giddy? The boys wake up every morning this week and instead of saying good morning, I hear "5 more days" or "4 more days". WW wanted to start packing 2 weeks ago. He is one that has to plan ahead and be prepared. It's almost like Christmas around here with the excitement.
I don't think that the boys will get much sleep the night before we go to the airport. Instead of Santa flying in, we will be flying out.

It's hard to have class when the boys are all fired up. WW is so concerned that he will get put on restriction or make a bad grade and not be able to go swimming while we are in Missouri. I have tried and tried to explain to him that I rarely have any trouble from him. Today he explained (after making a C on a practice spelling test) that he was really worried that his dad was going to be really upset with his grade. I explained to WW that he should not worry that nothing bad is going to happen and his dad would not be upset. I explained that his dad would just tell him that he needed to study a little more. Now if you remember, our boys are adopted and their past memories are not very good ones. It's very natural for all 3 of the boys to think the worst. In time, I believe that those memories will fade and they will have more good memories than bad ones. Superman and I will do everything in our power to make that happen.

Ok - now you can join us in the count down! We fly on Friday in the early am. Less than 3 days and counting...

Because We Can

The boys took a vote and decided to have school on the holiday. We will be out of town starting on Friday and I talked to the boys about doing school on Monday (the holiday) and not having school on Friday or take Monday off and do school on Friday. They voted and decided to take Friday off. I am glad that's the decision they made. Superman will be off from work on Monday, and that will make it a lot easier on me with the boys and their school work.

The boys all have test tomorrow and we have been having them study the last couple of days. JD always wants to study in his room, but he has no self discipline and he starts to wander off from his books (studies). WW and MJ know that they need to study and they both work really hard on it. If I could give them both a passing grade just for how much they apply themselves, then I would.

Tonight Superman helped me out with the boys by asking them a few questions that would be on their test. He also made a few suggestions of a few things that I could do. Very good suggestions too. One of them was with the test that is coming up. It is fill in the blank and there is no way the boys are ready for that. So...Superman suggested that I make a multiple choice sheet to go along with the test. I just finished creating it, double checking it and printing it out. I think it will really help the boys.

I'm not giving them the answers by no means. You have to understand that these boys have been held back because of their history. They have no idea how to take notes or study for a test. They just have not been exposed to general things dealing with everyday life. We are hoping that at some point they will just take off, but if they don't that's ok too. We're all here for each other.

Why - Because we can.

Kitty Found Us

Friday -
School didn't go very well for JD. Well maybe I should say that JD acted out and had to spend some time in his room. He just does not want to do anything that is related to school. He does not want to read. JD will just write down any answer. The question ask "who" and he puts down a date that he remembers from the book. He scanned over the reading and saw a number and that was it.

Finally much later in the afternoon, I had reached my limit on the amount of whining that I could listen to. I had an errand to do, so I loaded up the kids and off we went. Walmart was so crowded and the customer service was horrible. I waited in the pet food section for 22 minutes and numerous times of having someone paged before someone finally showed up to help us. Yes that just added to my frustration.
On the way home we all laughed and sang. That way I was able to get rid of some of the frustration.

Sometime before supper the boys were outside playing and one of the neighbor kids ran in the house and said that JD had found a kitten. About that time JD showed up at the back door with the kitten. I grabbed the kitten to help protect him and calm him down. Everyone gathered in the laundry room to see the new critter. Why do all the critters stop at our house? Maybe they know that they will be taken care of. I told everyone that we could not keep him. We have enough to take care of and there is no way that we can keep another cat. Yeah - right!
The kitten somehow managed to get into our back yard and JD saw him climbing a tree. So JD ran over to rescue the little fellow from Rocko. We now know that Rocko really doesn't like cats.

The kitten is safe in MJ's bedroom, all set up with food, water and a little box. This little fellow is so extremely lovable. He loves to sleep right beside you and snuggle with you. We guess that he is about 4 months old.

Not keeping him! We thought that the kitten may belong to the neighbor that lives behind us. It's not their cat. We found that out today. So.....

We're keeping him!

Keeping Track of Time

What day is it? The computer tells me that it's Sunday. This morning it was sunny and we all had planned on working around the barn and re-doing the fence. I started some laundry and managed to get one load hung on the clothes line and then the thunder started. So much for that. We all sat down and watched a movie. And we all pitched in and did more laundry.

I just remembered why I have lost track of time. It's because we all went out and played yesterday. Even Friday is kind of a blur. But when I really, really think about it - I start to remember what we did Friday and Saturday.

I will put it all in another post.

Hump Day

We all made it to Hump Day! What a relief.

I have got to get out of the house more though. I am spending way to much time inside and our yard is really suffering from it. I need to pick up a few things and tidy the whole yard up. It really isn't too bad, but it isn't nice and neat like I prefer it to be. Since Rocko came to live with us, he has taken to laying in two places. Of course those places are right up against the skirting on the house. Right now it is just pushed in just a little but if I keep on putting off working on it, then it could get pretty ugly. I like to keep up with things like that so they don't get to far out of hand. It is one of the easiest things to fix too.

Speaking of getting out of hand. Yesterday I had the horses grazing on the yard. I hear a really weird noise in the den. I walk into the den and I can tell that the noise is coming from the window. I open the curtain and what do I see...Shadow looking back at me. Shadow is one of our horses. She has the screen from the window in her mouth. No joke! She pulls on the screen and it comes out of the window, then she drops it. Once she drops the screen, she starts licking on the window. What's up with that? She is just being her silly little (1500 pound little) self. And now I have a screen to fix. But this is just one of the things that happens around here from time to time.

School wasn't bad today. JD did have a small issue with a sassy mouth, but I just don't put up with it anymore. I just tell him in a very calm voice to go to his room. When he is ready to do school work and put his mind on the task at hand, then he can come back to the classroom. Today was just one of those days that he needed sleep. He gets that way from time to time. He went to his room and slept for over 2 hours. He knows that he cannot come out of his room without my permission, so after his nap he opened his door and called me. I didn't jump up right then, I waited a minute or 2 and then I went into his room and ask if he needed to go to the bathroom or get something to drink. He wanted a drink and then he ask if he could do his school work. He started on his school work and there were no problems at all the rest of the day. I really think that he is having some sleep issues and at some point they are just catching up with him. Superman and I are paying attention and we are trying to put things together and figure out ways that we can help him.

Tomorrow is our weekly field trip with our home school group. The boys look forward to it every Thursday. I have a few more emails to read and then I am off to bed. I refuse to stay up to late tonight.

Have a great evening!

Empty Bottles

Last night I thought that I would spend some relaxing time in a hot bath. I walk into the bathroom to start the water and Captain (as usual) thinks the running water is for her drinking pleasure. Much to her surprise, her tail ended up soaked and the cat hair flew as she took wing and hovered above the water for a brief second before finally finding her wings and flying across the bathroom. Well that's what it looked like in the blink of an eye. Cats sure can move fast!

With the bath water all steaming and ready for me, I eased down in the water and instantly could feel my skin start to cook. Ok - a little to hot! It's too late to back out now. I lean against the back of the tub and try to relax. I see empty bottles (now why didn't I close my eyes). The empty bottles are shampoo bottles, liquid soap bottles and heavens knows what else. I just looked at them and wondered how did they all come to live beside the tub. Oh, now I remember! (That comes directly from one of the boys sayings.) I buy the large bottles, because it saves money, and I refill all the bottles around the house. Once the bottles are low enough, I turn them upside down and put them by my tub in order to use them and not waste a single drop. I even put a little water inside them when they are completely empty, just to make sure that not even one teeny tiny drop is wasted. I managed to empty the shampoo bottle, the soap bottle and the conditioner bottle last night. Now around my tub looks all nice and neat again, no skeletons standing around upside down waiting for their brains to spill out.

So far today I have managed to get a little cleaning done (Karisma, this is all your fault). I hate housework! I really do. There is no doubt that I had rather move horse manure all day as to spend 1 single hour cleaning house. I always keep the house fairly tidy, because we all pick up behind ourselves. I can promise you that if I find a pair of socks laying around, I will attach them to the floor with a nail and a hammer. Well not really, but the boys think I will. I have them convinced and that is what's important. During the day we are all individually responsible for our dishes. You mess it up you wash, dry and put it away. After supper we all pitch in and do the dishes. Laundry, well I wash everyone dirty underwear. Isn't that a lovely chore? I know I do it because there is a certain way that I want it done. What can be so darn difficult about doing laundry? Nothing, absolutely nothing. It's just something I do. Ok - the boys help out a little. They fold their own clothes and put them away.

Since I have dial up and it's slower than molasses in January, I am able to do a few of these things, while I was waiting for a few (dozen) windows to open on my computer. Here are a few sites that I found that I will be saving in my favorites folder, for later use. DIY Ideas, Garden Ideas, Kitchen and Bath Ideas. I think these sites may be what put me in the cleaning mode and not Karisma. Ok Missy - I'm sorry to blame it on you!

Finally Friday

I made it! A whole week of Home School! I did think that it would go a little easier than what this first week was like, however, I also knew that it wouldn't be easy.

I know that our children have issues from their past, I know that there are things that they remember that they should have never been put through. I know that I love them and I know that I will never, ever, give up on them.

Today was kinda a mixed up day. We had to run 2 errands in the same town. Thankfully it was our little town and not the big city. We started out with me taking the boys through our little drive-thru burger joint for breakfast. They loved it! Then we sat down at home and ate our breakfast and then we hit the books. Yes there were some issues today, but nothing like earlier in the week. JD once again drug out a 20 minute assignment and made it over 2 hours. Not only is he hurting himself by doing this but he is hurting his brothers. But then again - they are all learning lessons from this too. They are learning that if they do not apply themselves to their school work that they loose privileges. Had I known that JD was going to act out again in class today, I would have probably skipped the breakfast thing. But then again - he knows that he must not act out in class if he wants to do breakfast like that again.

There have been a couple of days this week that I have really been at my wits end. My mind races to act quickly but to act properly also. In time, with experience, I think I might get the hang of it. Regardless of me getting the hang of it or not - I am not quitting!

We weren't able to finish science today. I need to refraze that. I ask all 3 boys if they wanted to skip science today and do it tomorrow (reminding them that it will be Saturday). JD and WW were ok with that but MJ wanted to do his science today. That worked out really good because I was able to work one on one with MJ.
Superman will be teaching science on Saturday! Let's see how far JD can push his dad.

Thursdays Fieldtrip

We met with our Home School group again. Yeppers - back at the springs. I don't remember if I told you the name of the springs or not but anyway, we meet at Rum Island Springs. The kids get to swim and interact with others of all ages, even adults. The park admission is free on Thursdays. We had a great time (as usual). Our coordinator couldn't stay because she had to take her oldest son to the doctor. An email from her today said that her son is fine and on antibiotics.

We had 2 new parents and 3 new children join our group in the last week. Great people! I think the group is really going to grow.

I will tell you all about JD a little later. Ok - I'll tell you now. He was not allowed to swim because of his behavior on Wednesday. He sat at our table and complained about his work. My gosh - he only had 7 questions to answer. It was open book and the answers were on 2 pages. Ok - enough of that for now.

When we left the springs and went into Gainesville because as usual, I try to save time and gas and get everything done while I am out and about. We stopped by The Learning Path and the boys loved the store. I thought it was ok - well better than ok but I think it is more focused on Public School than Home School. There really are some wonderful things for the classroom, if you are into that sorta stuff. Once we left there we drudged across town and into the University traffic. Yeah - what a blast that was. LOL Barnes and Noble bookstore. One of my very favorite stores. The boys had read some books during the summer and for every 8 books that they read, they could get a free book. WW and JD was able to get 2 free books and MJ was able to get 1 free book. Pretty darn neat idea! I had 2 gift cards, one from Mothers Day and one from my birthday that I wanted to use to get me a couple of new books. I walked around and around and I looked and looked - no books for me. I know - how can I not find a book for me in a darn book store? Because I shop the bargain books. I generally buy my favorite author's hardback books for less than $10. That way I can get more bang for my bucks. Or more books for my bucks! I love a bargain! I did manage to find 2 wonderful wall maps for our classroom - one is a World map and the other one is the United States. I managed to get them for $6 and that was with my 20% Teachers Discount (more about this in a minute). As I was walking around looking for my books, I found a table with some school info on it. There was an application for a 20% Teachers Discount - It includes Home School. I'm all signed up for my Teachers Discount! Yee Haw! You really need to check it out!

5 O'clock traffic! Oh no! And to top all the traffic off, WW started screaming like a little girl! And crawling across the back seat and coming out of the shoulder harness of his seat belt. A teeny, tiny spider was on his seat belt. Boy, oh boy - You would have sworn that a giant man eater had jumped in the car with us. I had to stop the car and have a talk to him about spiders and they are not man eaters. It certainly made an interesting topic at supper.

Ok - now will you please pass the Xanax!

ps - JD finally finished his school work and the munchkin made a 100!

Rah Rah Sish Ka Bah

Ok I admit it - I have boys. They are all boys too! Today after class JD wanted to play softball or was it baseball. I can't keep them separate - they are both played with a bat and a ball. LOL WW and MJ didn't want to play softball, they wanted to play Frisbee. JD tried his best to tell me that I needed to enroll them in, in, something - he just couldn't get it out. I spoke up and said "You mean I need to enroll them in ballet?". "Yes mom, then they can stand around and jump and cheer and say Rah Rah Sish Boom Bah"! He was making fun of his brothers and calling them little sissies. It got a good laugh out of us all and JD and WW ran around the house cheering. But soon this got old and they ran outside. Only they know what they played, I tried to stay out of it and have my time.

Another good day for homeschooling. I never did get my little thing made with the pockets on it. I have an idea in my head about it, but I just can't get it out of my head. Once it's ready to come out, well I suppose it will come out.

I managed to catch the boys studying 2 times today. JD had to take all of his books to show his dad and he had to tell his dad all about class. WW and JD sat down before bedtime and had their books out and was going over them. I was impressed, shocked and proud. I certainly hope this keeps up.

After supper tonight, I walked around the yard and believe it or not, I actually took the camera with me. I sure did! Aren't you proud of me? So with that said and done, I have added a picture of our pound puppy - Rocko. In case you don't want to browse over and read about Rocko, here is a great silly picture of him. We were told that he is about 2 years old. We seem to think that he is younger than 2 years old, because he just acts immature and silly. More on the puppy side. He is wonderful with the kids and they sure do love him. Every once in a while he wants to herd the horses but our horses don't have much to do with that. They just kinda stand there an look at him as if to ask "You want us to do what?".


Now this is Molly, she is the queen of Beagles - better known as Daddy's Little Girl. What she has under her chin is a dog toy that was given to us when we first got Molly. She nurses on this thing, it's her pacifier when she wants to settle down and go to sleep. We call it Rudy - originally it started out as a Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer with a tennis ball in the end of it. Molly has never tried to tear it up at all, but some of our other inside dogs have teased her with it. You can tell her to go find Rudy and she will search the whole house until he has been rescued.



Mindy is our Schnauzer that came to live with us from a dear sweet lady that living in the Villages which is South of Ocala. It's a huge retirement community that is getting bigger and bigger by the day. Ms. Martha (90 something years old) couldn't care for Mindy anymore and ask her caregiver to call me because she knew that I would take care of Mindy. When Mindy came to live with us, her pads were as gentle as a new born pup. Not anymore - she isn't a city dog now. LOL I mean just look at her. She is dirty from playing in the pasture with Rocko. And she is in terrible need of a hair cut. She's as happy as she can be! And that's what counts.

OMG! I just looked at the time. What happened? It was just 9 o:clock. Ok, I'll have to show off the horse pictures and the club house and the 4 wheeler trailer another day. As for me - I'm off to bed. TTFN

Rambling Again

Once again I sit in front of the computer just rambling away about our little family. Our 3 boys have put us through a few test and I am sure that they will continue to test us as they grow older. Shoot - what are kids for anyway. And of course, Superman and I put each other through test too. But really isn't everyday a test. Don't we test ourselves. I know I certainly test myself. And if I were my best friend - there would be days that I just couldn't stand to be around me. The important thing is that we should be able to recognize those moments or those days. Superman and I had a little talk with the boys last night about such things. If we are having a difficult time or just a plain out bad day - admit it. If you can't see it in yourself and someone says "are you ok" or "did you get enough sleep" or even "wow, you sure are kinda grumpy today", take it with a grain of salt and take a better look at yourself. Maybe you are having a bad day or just not feeling very rested - say ok, I think I just might need a few minutes or even a little nap.

As I was typing this, my computer just decided it needed a little break. Imagine that! So while the computer was taking it's break, I was able to wash a few dishes and clean the litter box. I guess that was the computers way of saying HEY, this needs to be done - NOW.

Speaking of the litter box, how in the world did that ever become my chore. Who assigned that to me. I guess I just got the short end of the straw that time around. It's probably best that way because one time I ask WW to clean the litter box and no joke - he showed up with a clothes pin on his nose. Is it really that bad? Well any cat owner can tell you how bad it is.

Tonight at supper we talked about our first day of school and a few other things that we did. Supper was late tonight because Superman brought home a few tools so that he could take down a couple of boards in the barn to make more room for more hay. The boys really enjoyed using the hammer, the drill and the huge pry bar.
We don't have dessert after supper every night but when we do it is a big treat for all of us. Tonight I brought out the left over cup cakes from JD's birthday. I think the icing on them was at least an inch tall. WW was sitting there babbling about something while he was eating his cupcake and I looked over at him and I just couldn't resist pushing the cupcake into his face. I think he had icing up his nose but he started laughing so hard it didn't stay there very long. MJ thought it was funny too and when he gets to laughing, it's almost impossible for him to stop. Once the shoe was on the other foot or should I say the icing was in the other face - Yes, I just had to send icing up MJ's nose too. What was so darn funny about his face was his little Hitler mustache. How in the world can all that icing not stick except the little black part on his top lip? Of course I had to do it again after all the laughter cleared from the Hitler mustache. I just thought it was so fitting for the wonderful day that we had.

Ok - I gotta run, I am going to work on a little wall hanging with pockets for our classroom. Coming from public school, the boys know what it means to pull their tab (we're using clothespins). If they get their clothespin pulled 3 times during class they have to deal with their dad when he gets home. As the boys often put it - "It's not gonna be pretty". LOL

We Survived

We survived the first day of home school. Maybe I should say "I survived". Actually we all had a wonderful time. We talked and expressed ourselves, gave ideas and ask questions, we drew and we added, we talked about fractions, we talked about fish and water. We spent the first hour in class without any of us realizing that an hour had went by. For our first break we played Frisbee. I even showed the boys that their mom had a few moves when it came to Frisbee. I still got it! LOL
Once we returned to the classroom the next 2 hours went by extremely fast too. We went over our LifePac books and a few of our lessons. The last 30 minutes the boys reviewed their books quietly while I did a few things. They worked independently and quietly. Can you belief it?! Neither can I. LOL

I was certainly surprised that the boys did so well on their first day. Very little back talk - almost no back talk. A huge improvement from our (now) 12 year old (JD). He was very, very helpful in class. We completed class today at 12 noon and off ran the boys to play or to eat lunch. I ran to the bedroom for a little nap. I ask the boys to wake me up at 1:30 and we would head to the springs.

At the springs we worked on our diving, back flips, taking turns and snorkeling. I think we snorkeled more than anything else. We saw Gar Fish, Bream and Snapping Turtles. They all suggested that we learn more about the fish and the turtles. What a great idea!

When we finished swimming and headed home the boys were all talking about how cool home school is. They talked amongst themselves and I heard each one of them say that they never wanted to go back to public school. I hope they keep that attitude once we get involved in the books more. We won't go swimming every day that is for sure, but there is no reason that we can't end on a positive note. I kinda look at it compared to the time I was horse training and take a few training lessons. Always end on a positive note.

Our Weekend

All in all we had a wonderful weekend.

Saturday
Yes - we had a birthday party and it was a blast. JD is now officially 12 years old. Oh if you could have seen his face when he saw all the gifts on the table. He had a special chair that he sat in (my computer chair). They all love to sit in moms computer chair.

Superman sent me and WW shopping early Saturday morning for a few groceries and to pick up the birthday cake. JD and MJ stayed with their dad up until it was time for JD to go over to Granny Karen's. When we got back from shopping the house was spotless! I mean spotless too! What a neat feeling. And to think that I felt quilty for spending $250 on groceries. But it was 2 buggies full. Ok, so I don't feel so bad since I had 2 buggies full.

The party was a wonderful success. JD's facial expressions were so true of his feelings when he opened his gifts. The joys of being a parent and seeing their faces light up is worth the trials and tribulations that the children can put parents through.

Sunday
Do your children creep into your bedroom or open the door really quietly? I mean like they don't want to wake you up. And then they say "Momma?, Momma?". Mine do. LOL And they do this to ask me if they can watch a movie. My goodness boys, you know the rules, do all of your morning chores and you can watch a movie. It's pretty simple. You don't have to wake me up to ask.

We had spaghetti for lunch and it was delicious. I had taken some jar sauce Thursday night and put in a little onion and some ground chuck, cooked it and put in the refrigerator for Friday night supper. We didn't eat it for supper on Friday night, so today I heated it up, added more onion, garlic, oregano and some sausage that I browned. Served over angel hair pasta with toasted garlic bread - mm - mm - good. Ice cream for dessert.
Everyone washed, dried and put away their own dish and I ran off to take a little nap.
Superman woke me up and ask if I wanted to go with them to the springs. Of course I do. So this afternoon at 4pm we headed to the springs for the boys to swim. MJ had to do his famous back flips and show off for his dad. We gave him thumbs up from across the water. He just smiled, climbed the ladder and did another flip. We stayed about an hour and there wasn't any fussing from the boys about leaving. All 3 of them thanked us for taking them.

On the way home I heard JD say to his brothers - "I don't want to go back there because there's too much cussing". There were a lot of teenagers there today and they use such foul language. Now if you remember - JD is the one that had the cussing problem when we first met the boys. Times certainly have changed for the better around here. I explained to the boys that it was pretty crowded there today because of it being the weekend. They remembered that when we go during the week that there are less people there, including foul mouthed teenagers. And now JD wants to go again. Bless his little heart!

I am excited about tomorrow! It will be our first day of home school. I have big plans and high hopes. Tonight Superman and I talked to the boys a little about what to expect tomorrow and this week. We let them know what we expect out of them and ask if they had any questions or concerns. They were all 3 fine with everything and said they are ready to get started and believe that home school will be fun.

I have a few more emails to check on and a little more research to do before I head off to bed. I am sure the boys will be up at 7am tomorrow morning and I am sure that the door will creep open as they try not to wake me, only to say "Momma?, Momma?".