For today...the last day of June 2010.
We are going...to South Carolina later today for a long 4th of July weekend.
I am thinking about...finishing packing.
Madi...has an acupuncture appointment before we go (an hour in the opposite direction).
Jake...can't seem to find his purple light saber and that is all consuming to him right now.
Jonathan...is still in bed.
Mike...is at work until we leave.
I...am on a good reading, organizing, and workout kick. It's amazing what can be accomplished when you aren't attempting to educate your kids.
I...finally read The Hiding Place about Corrie ten Boom, why it took me 40 years to read this book, I'll never know! I am now finishing Rediscovering Catholicism by Matthew Kelly and will start House Rules by Jodi Picoult later today. I also downloaded the audiobook of Pride and Prejudice on my ipod...another classic that has taken me 40 years to get to!
I...am still enamored by my ipod! My taste in music is as varied as my taste in books, and I workout so much better with my music on (sometimes ABBA, sometimes Elton John, sometimes Casting Crowns, sometimes Train...sometimes all that and more!)
From the garden and yard... a lot of the sod that we worked so hard on last year is now dead and weeds are taking over. This yard is a major pain...too big to handle, too small to just let go! We are still getting tons of cherry tomatoes everyday. The rest of the garden is once again the compost pile, until it is time for the fall planting. Jake and I saw a hummingbird this morning. It's only the second time I've seen one in our yard this year. It took so long for the flowers to come back after the cold winter...though it is hard to remember the cold winter in this 98 degree heat!
From the kitchen...we are addicted to a new, not terribly unhealthy treat! Melt 12oz of chocolate chips with 1 Tbls peanut butter. Stir in one bag of Fiber One Cereal (there are two bags in one box). Plop on wax paper by the 1/4 cup...refrigerate...YYYYY--- UUUMMMM!!
From the game closet...as a family we are still hooked on Five Crowns. We've also been playing a good amount of Whoonu. Jake and I are getting back into Skip-bo, which had been left unplayed for a very long time. I overhauled the game closet last week and anything that doesn't get played with this summer needs a new home.
From Netflix...I can sit and read for hours, but I have a hard time sitting still for a movie. We did watch the Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Night at the Museum 2, both were good. At the movie theatre we LOVED Toy Story 3!! Jonathan and Madi are hooked on Cake Boss. They've also watched some Leave it to Beaver and Dick VanDike.
Jonathan...has one more chapter in science and a lot more Algebra 1 (this counts as high school and is an obvious prerequisite to all other math, so it needs to get done).
All three kids...are doing kids' college next week. They are all taking some Harry Potter classes. Jake is also doing basketball, he's only going for half-days. The other two are going full-days, so I will be doing a lot of driving. Jonathan's got 3Harry Potter classes and a lego class. Madi is also taking a "dance through the decades" class and I think a myth-busters science class.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
June pics continued
Camp Allegro...
More Camp Allegro...
Hiking and wild horses...
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Chess at the homeschool convention...
Chess in Micanopy...
More Camp Allegro...
Hiking and wild horses...
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Chess at the homeschool convention...
Chess in Micanopy...
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
June pics
We camped in the town where the movie Doc Hollywood was filmed.
We squeezed in a little more time with friends before they moved away (and a friend who already moved away, but was back for a visit!)
Jake at last week's sports camp.
Jonathan and Madi are once again participating in an awesome free golf program. They are there right now, but stopped because of thunder and at any moment I may have to leave to go rescue them.
I got the call, the golf game was cut short, so I'll continue with June pics later!
We squeezed in a little more time with friends before they moved away (and a friend who already moved away, but was back for a visit!)
Jake at last week's sports camp.
Jonathan and Madi are once again participating in an awesome free golf program. They are there right now, but stopped because of thunder and at any moment I may have to leave to go rescue them.
I got the call, the golf game was cut short, so I'll continue with June pics later!
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Summer mode
We are deep in summer mode around here. The kids are doing an awesome camp for kids by kids in the mornings this week. While they are gone, I am organizing and purging (except right now 'cause I'm blogging!). In the afternoons we are attempting a new system of quiet time, reading time, and chore time. Each week this summer will look a little different so this system is not a set in stone thing (good thing since we are not schedule set in stone people anyway). So far this week, Jake has done some reading (he's still into Berenstain Bears), a few chores, and a lot of quiet playing in his newly organized (and purged, but I don't think he realizes that yet) room. Madi's quiet time has involved saying the rosary (with the aid of my ipod--gotta love that thing!), lots of reading, lots of chores, and lots of crafts projects that have been hanging around that she never got around to during the busy schoolyear. Jonathan's afternoons are still focused on math and science, but science is almost done. After this week, he'll have one chapter left. He helped me clean out the game closet yesterday. He did a lot of running for me ("go put this with battleship" "separate these cards and put them in bags" etc). Good thing we're a game playing family because we have TONS of games (though not as many as we had yesterday:)!) In the evenings this week Jake has another camp from 6-8:30. It is a mega-sports camp and he is playing baseball. It isn't so "mega" though because there are only 4 other kids playing baseball. For some reason all the camps and VBSs around here are this week and combining that with the fact that this is vacation week for many of our friends, it's a little lonely over there. The first night Jake was a little disappointed, but the last two nights have been more fun for him (believe me we'd know if it wasn't), so it's been a good chance for him to sharpen his baseball skills since sqeezing in Little League into our jam packed spring didn't happen.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Thoughts
I generally go back and read old posts that I have written and inevitably find spelling errors. I always go back and correct them, so you can be assured if you read something like "elictric" on my blog, if I find it, I WILL correct it! If there is spell-check on blogspot, I don't know how to use it. I've never been much of a spell-check person. I also generally keep phone numbers in my head instead of in my phone. Although, in my advancing age, keeping things in my head isn't working as well as it used to.
We just got back from a long weekend of camping. We even went on a hike and saw wild horses! Pictures will come eventually. We are hooked on the game Five Crowns right now. We were playing the other night in the camper and there was some typical family banter going on. I have no idea now what it was even about, but it was on the idea of "did not, did too, did not, did too." As the frustrated mom, I made a comment like "why can't you stop fighting/ why does it always have to be like this/ blahblahblahblah........" Jonathan in his infinite wisdom replied, "this is what all families do." The moral of this story is. I like to keep it real around here. We are definitely real. If your family doesn't banter like that at least once in a while, I don't want to know about it.
I often wonder what the headlines would've been if some major event hadn't taken place. Like for example who would've been on People magazine last week if Gary Coleman hadn't died? Today's front page news story was about female "castmembers" at Disney not having to wear panty-hose anymore. I'm not even sure if that word is hyphenated or what because I certainly don't wear them. It is good news though because it means there was no big bad news story to bump them from their spot! Another front page story was about a 16 year old girl assisting in the birth of her baby sister because they couldn't get to the hospital on time. Generally speaking I dislike the news. I know that doesn't sound very good, and I truly like to know what is going on and I see the value of being informed. I just think news is generally bad for you. Today, it was pretty good. I mean most people probably don't care one way or another about what Disney workers wear on their legs, but I think we should all be thankful that nothing terrible happened yesterday that would be front page news.
Some really great friends are moving out of state this week. I hate that! They are the eighth (I think) really close friends to move away from here. By really close, I mean like "have the whole family over for dinner close." All my life before living here, I was always the one to move away. I moved away after 1st grade, after 8th grade, in the middle of 10th grade, I transferred to a different college after my freshman year, etc... I was always the one leaving. Some of those times I was really sad about the move, but I, at least, had the new adventure ahead. Now once again, we're going to be here and there's going to be a hole where our friends are not.
I think we are going to get rid of our home phone. I've not wanted to do this in the past because it seems like a weird thing to do, but truly we don't need it. We get more calls for people that are not us than we do for us anyway. It's just one of those things from the past that we're just hanging on to, but it is really outdated and unnecessary. This kind of came about in a "if you give a mouse a cookie" sort of way. The thing is, we are planning on getting rid of our satellite TV. There are many reasons for this including there being so many better ways to spend time other than watching TV, too much news is bad for you, and with Netflix, the internet, the library etc...we can watch whatever we want to watch whenever we want to, so there is no reason for the channel surfing and/or just watching what's on because it is on. So... with a free trial of Netflix, we decided no TV, eventually we are going to want at least network TV so we then started leaning towards regular basic cable, with that we will switch our internet from DSL to cable and eliminate the need for a home phone. Just while typing this, I've discovered another thing about the phone. I think it is just something that we are used to. Houses have phones. Sort of like babies drink from bottles and sleep in cribs and kids go to school. We've managed pretty well to be functional and fairly mainstream without those other things, do we really need a home phone? It's not like we'll be unreachable, we have our cell phones. In the process of switching all this stuff we will add one more phone to our family plan, so Jonathan and Madi won't just have the shared phone anymore, and if someone is home a phone will always be too.
We now have the ability to connect with anyone anywhere anytime. I am now facebook friends with my girl scout leader. I think we adapt to change easier when it is adding something new and harder when it involves taking something away. That is why it was a fairly easy transition for people to get cell phones and harder to let go of the home phone. It is easier to be the person moving on to a new adventure than it is to be the one left behind.
We just got back from a long weekend of camping. We even went on a hike and saw wild horses! Pictures will come eventually. We are hooked on the game Five Crowns right now. We were playing the other night in the camper and there was some typical family banter going on. I have no idea now what it was even about, but it was on the idea of "did not, did too, did not, did too." As the frustrated mom, I made a comment like "why can't you stop fighting/ why does it always have to be like this/ blahblahblahblah........" Jonathan in his infinite wisdom replied, "this is what all families do." The moral of this story is. I like to keep it real around here. We are definitely real. If your family doesn't banter like that at least once in a while, I don't want to know about it.
I often wonder what the headlines would've been if some major event hadn't taken place. Like for example who would've been on People magazine last week if Gary Coleman hadn't died? Today's front page news story was about female "castmembers" at Disney not having to wear panty-hose anymore. I'm not even sure if that word is hyphenated or what because I certainly don't wear them. It is good news though because it means there was no big bad news story to bump them from their spot! Another front page story was about a 16 year old girl assisting in the birth of her baby sister because they couldn't get to the hospital on time. Generally speaking I dislike the news. I know that doesn't sound very good, and I truly like to know what is going on and I see the value of being informed. I just think news is generally bad for you. Today, it was pretty good. I mean most people probably don't care one way or another about what Disney workers wear on their legs, but I think we should all be thankful that nothing terrible happened yesterday that would be front page news.
Some really great friends are moving out of state this week. I hate that! They are the eighth (I think) really close friends to move away from here. By really close, I mean like "have the whole family over for dinner close." All my life before living here, I was always the one to move away. I moved away after 1st grade, after 8th grade, in the middle of 10th grade, I transferred to a different college after my freshman year, etc... I was always the one leaving. Some of those times I was really sad about the move, but I, at least, had the new adventure ahead. Now once again, we're going to be here and there's going to be a hole where our friends are not.
I think we are going to get rid of our home phone. I've not wanted to do this in the past because it seems like a weird thing to do, but truly we don't need it. We get more calls for people that are not us than we do for us anyway. It's just one of those things from the past that we're just hanging on to, but it is really outdated and unnecessary. This kind of came about in a "if you give a mouse a cookie" sort of way. The thing is, we are planning on getting rid of our satellite TV. There are many reasons for this including there being so many better ways to spend time other than watching TV, too much news is bad for you, and with Netflix, the internet, the library etc...we can watch whatever we want to watch whenever we want to, so there is no reason for the channel surfing and/or just watching what's on because it is on. So... with a free trial of Netflix, we decided no TV, eventually we are going to want at least network TV so we then started leaning towards regular basic cable, with that we will switch our internet from DSL to cable and eliminate the need for a home phone. Just while typing this, I've discovered another thing about the phone. I think it is just something that we are used to. Houses have phones. Sort of like babies drink from bottles and sleep in cribs and kids go to school. We've managed pretty well to be functional and fairly mainstream without those other things, do we really need a home phone? It's not like we'll be unreachable, we have our cell phones. In the process of switching all this stuff we will add one more phone to our family plan, so Jonathan and Madi won't just have the shared phone anymore, and if someone is home a phone will always be too.
We now have the ability to connect with anyone anywhere anytime. I am now facebook friends with my girl scout leader. I think we adapt to change easier when it is adding something new and harder when it involves taking something away. That is why it was a fairly easy transition for people to get cell phones and harder to let go of the home phone. It is easier to be the person moving on to a new adventure than it is to be the one left behind.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
I. Can't. Keep. Up.
It has been way too long since the last time I posted (I mean besides a few minutes ago!) This means I have way too much to catch up on!!
Madi's extreme hard work and determination in 4 years of T&T in AWANA culminated in her being recognized as "clubber of the year". She got a trophy (for finishing all four books), a bouquet of flowers, and a beautiful quilt with squares made by all of the girls. In addition to finishing all four books, she did every single "silver" and "gold" extra credit. This involved hours upon hours of Bible memorization and other projects. Not bad for my little Catholic girl! Great job Madi! I couldn't be "prouder"!
Jake was also recognized for finishing his second Sparks book. This involved quick memorization of his verses on the 3 minute ride to AWANA each Wednesday. He especially shined on stage when he stuffed his hand into the plastic cup he was given and proceeded to smack himself in the face with it. Jake, you make me proud and humble!
Jonathan was a "leader in training" for his second year, and everyone had great things to say about him. The general sentiment was that he is such a great helper, it was hard for some people to remember he's not truly an adult yet...although if you listen to his voice, you'd totally think he was! The thing that especially makes me proud about Jonathan is that this activity is not his heart's desire, but still he did it all year because he is such a good, giving boy!
We've been loving babysitting Landon, our little Theatre baby, any chance we get...
We had a great day with friends at the beach this week. There is only one pic of Jonathan because I am a picture stealer and I rely on other people to take pictures for me. Jonathan did eventually turn as red as his bathing suit...bad mom that I am!
Last night, we had a great time watching Disney's amazing summer princess and pirates fireworks display and the Electric Light Parade.
I'll be stealing more pictures when I can get my hands on them. We got home at 1:37am needless to say I am really tired today. Jake woke me up this morning wanting waffles. Since waffles at our house no longer involve a yellow box, this meant work from me. And in case this natural eating stuff, annoys you, don't worry we had $1 hot dogs and other freebies at the new Publix Grand Opening for lunch.
I am truly in love with pandora! My favorites right now are Air Supply radio and Train radio! Jake is right back in the thick of veggie tales. He is conducting numerous surveys to find out everyone's favorite veggie tales silly songs. He's casting his veggie tales show. We visted a local nursing home this morning with some friends from Church and sang a few songs for them (and passed out May baskets even though is is June 10th). Jake really enjoyed it. If the curtain ever truly opens on one of his shows, I just may have found a captive audience! (if you have "Jake age kids" be prepared to hear more about this!)
Madi's extreme hard work and determination in 4 years of T&T in AWANA culminated in her being recognized as "clubber of the year". She got a trophy (for finishing all four books), a bouquet of flowers, and a beautiful quilt with squares made by all of the girls. In addition to finishing all four books, she did every single "silver" and "gold" extra credit. This involved hours upon hours of Bible memorization and other projects. Not bad for my little Catholic girl! Great job Madi! I couldn't be "prouder"!
Jake was also recognized for finishing his second Sparks book. This involved quick memorization of his verses on the 3 minute ride to AWANA each Wednesday. He especially shined on stage when he stuffed his hand into the plastic cup he was given and proceeded to smack himself in the face with it. Jake, you make me proud and humble!
Jonathan was a "leader in training" for his second year, and everyone had great things to say about him. The general sentiment was that he is such a great helper, it was hard for some people to remember he's not truly an adult yet...although if you listen to his voice, you'd totally think he was! The thing that especially makes me proud about Jonathan is that this activity is not his heart's desire, but still he did it all year because he is such a good, giving boy!
We've been loving babysitting Landon, our little Theatre baby, any chance we get...
We had a great day with friends at the beach this week. There is only one pic of Jonathan because I am a picture stealer and I rely on other people to take pictures for me. Jonathan did eventually turn as red as his bathing suit...bad mom that I am!
Last night, we had a great time watching Disney's amazing summer princess and pirates fireworks display and the Electric Light Parade.
I'll be stealing more pictures when I can get my hands on them. We got home at 1:37am needless to say I am really tired today. Jake woke me up this morning wanting waffles. Since waffles at our house no longer involve a yellow box, this meant work from me. And in case this natural eating stuff, annoys you, don't worry we had $1 hot dogs and other freebies at the new Publix Grand Opening for lunch.
I am truly in love with pandora! My favorites right now are Air Supply radio and Train radio! Jake is right back in the thick of veggie tales. He is conducting numerous surveys to find out everyone's favorite veggie tales silly songs. He's casting his veggie tales show. We visted a local nursing home this morning with some friends from Church and sang a few songs for them (and passed out May baskets even though is is June 10th). Jake really enjoyed it. If the curtain ever truly opens on one of his shows, I just may have found a captive audience! (if you have "Jake age kids" be prepared to hear more about this!)
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