Charlie Brown "School Pictures"

These pictures came to me courtesy of facebook. Apparently this is what Theatre kids do when they are waiting for the show to start. This really cracked me up! The pictures really capture the mood of the character!

Charlie Brown

Lucy

Linus

Sally

Peppermint Patty

Schroeder

Freida

Little Red Headed Girl

SNOOPY!

Peppermint Patty pics

I'm way behind on getting pictures of the last few weeks on here. The kids took pictures of kids college and someday I'll have to get them off their phone. The pictures, not the kids...they hardly ever talk on their phone, they have it for my sanity. Also Madi's Dancing through the Decades class did a really cute performance at the end of the camp and I recorded a lot of video with my camera. I also have Charlie Brown video that will need to wait for another day. In the meantime here are some pics from You're a Good Man Charlie Brown...

Español

¿Is cool, no?

Jonathan is starting Spanish 1 online and we had our "welcome call" with the teacher this evening. One of the first things he needs to learn is how to use accent marks. This is not something, we had to learn back in the old days when Spanish 1 was taught in a classroom by a greasy man who resembled a cockroach. In those days they used books and paper. Now it's keyboards, monitors, and a USB mircophone that we still have to buy. Jonathan learned the accent marks in about 3 minutes. ¡¡It took me much longer, but I've got it and there's no stopping me now!! ¿Do you think I'll ever be able to ask a question again without the beginning upside down question mark? ¿Ñó? The simplest things amuse me! I wish I knew more words that had accent marks so I could use them. Kind of like Jake would swear if he knew bad words. ¿Dó you thiñk I'll just throw them ín random places where they dóñ't bélong? ¿Sí o nó? ¿Do you thiñk I already díd?

¡This is definitely a time where I'm using the blog for my own personal enjoyment! I feel like I learned a new trick. ¡It's like a secret code! ¡You can expect to see much more of this!

¡Adíos!

Summer and Seinfeld

There are many ways in which my summer reminds me of anecdotes from Seinfeld. For example, I could call this the "summer of Julie" (like the "summer of George") because I do seem to have more time alone in the summer than other times of the year. On the other hand, it really could be the antithesis of that because so much of my summer days are being spent carting the kids back and forth to their various activities. For example I got gas yesterday after the last pick up at kids' college and have already used a quarter of a tank!! YIKES!! Plus during "his summer" George learned how to play "frolf", he didn't go to Daily Mass, the gym, dust the top of the refrigerator, and plan out the homeschool year for three children. Also, there's the episode where George decides to do and say the opposite of what comes natually to him, this is how he ends up working as the assistant to the traveling secretary of the New York Yankees. In the summer, I am often reminded that our lives are sort of the opposite of the stereotypical American family (if there is such a thing). Many families spend most of the day apart during the school year, and in the summer have much more time together. We are more like the "bizarro American family". We spend almost all of all our days together almost all the time, but in the summer we have some weeks where the kids are heavily involved in full day camps and activities away from home. Many magazine articles, blog posts, and podcasts this time of year are focused on how to keep the kids from being bored in the summer. Boredom has never been an issue for us anytime of the year, not when we are running like chickens with our heads cut off in the summer and not when we are together 24 hours straight for days at a time. We might nit pick or scream at each other when we are together all the time, we are normal afterall, just not typical. I imagine some people might say, why run like chickens with your heads cut off? Obviously, we don't HAVE to have such a busy schedule in the summer, it is our choice. These are good experiences that the kids are having, and none of us want to change that. We know these are the choices we have made, we made them! We love having choices, we are happy with our choices. Many families endure the summer, and look forward anxiously for the return of the schoolyear routine. In that regard, I guess I am like those families. This stuff is all a lot of fun, but I'll be happy to get back to our real life, as atypical as it may be.

I can't speak of Seinfeld and not mention that George Steinbrenner passed away today. While I am most definitely the OPPOSITE of a Yankee fan, it is the end of an era. Not to mention that it happens to be the one day of the year where I don't mind rooting for a Yankee or two (the All Star Game).

7 quick takes

1. The kids have been doing kids' college this week and are loving every minute of it. Jake is there for 2 classes in the morning, then he and I get some hang out time until it's time to get the other two (they have 4 classes each). I'm in the car a lot with this arrangement, but since my love affair with my ipod has not faded, it's not too bad.

2. I'm attempting to not talk on the phone while driving anymore. (It is legal to still do that here not like CT) My reason is this... we will have a new driver in the family fairly soon and he needs to plan on not talking while driving (EVER!), so I need to set a good example!

3. Speaking of phones... we've been planning for weeks to get rid of our home phone. It has actually been unplugged for about a month. We've adjusted well to not using it. The problem was our internet service (a major necessity around here) was provided by the phone company. Without the phone that cost was going to drastically increase. We aranged to get a different internet provider, but this would not be a quick take if I explained how that went, suffice it to say we are staying with the phone company, and basically the cost would be the same with or without the phone, so technically we still have a home phone (although at the moment it is still unplugged).

4. I really can't stand dealing with things like changing phone services. I love saving money though!

5. We also planned to get rid of TV service, but figured that would only be temporary. In the end we ended up with a much cheaper plan and has some pretty interesting channels on it, that we didn't have with our bigger plan.

6. Jake and I saw Toy Story 3 for the second time the other day. This time in 3D... I cried again!

7. Time to get back in the car for the afternoon pick up. Then we are attempting getting passports for the kids (we're hoping a cruise is in our family's not so distance future and the cost of passports in going up on Tuesday). Then Madi has rehersal for You're a Good Man Charlie Brown, she is Peppermint Patty.

Weekend in South Carolina