Skulls for All Hallows Eve or Dia de los Muertos

A recent foray into Michael's Craft Store yielded some wonderful paper mache skull masks. The kids and I had a wonderful time decorating them.

Ant Swarm in our Front Yard!

Two weeks ago we found hundreds of ants in our front yard. To see a better image click on the pictures. These ants were getting ready to swarm.

Into the lion's den....or... how to organize a kid's room.

My poor son. His room is a disaster. The way I see it, there are several causative agents and they will be addressed today!

a) he has a hard time letting go of things.  This means I need to go with him piece by piece through his possessions and help him evaluate what can go and what means enough to keep.

b) lots of stuff and not enough storage. Once we evaluate what stays we will decide what storage he needs.

c) his clothes closet is a small walk-in and the floor is so strewn he can barely get in. Time to clean up.

d) the shelves are too high and he has a hard time getting to them to hang things back up again.

e) he has no place to keep worn clothes he will wear again.  It's time to get a peg rack and let him hang his stuff.

f) a hamper for dirty clothes. We have a chute just a few steps between his and his sister's room but for some reason my kids and their dad find it nigh impossible to utilize.

g) due all these problems he has trouble maintaining a habit of tidying up effectively ever day. Hopefully this will be remedied once we are done fixing his room today.

Unfortunately the kids went to bed late last night and then Bear woke me up at 3 AM crying that he couldn't sleep. So I tucked him into my bed to sleep alongside his dad while I went to sleep in his bed. Sounds awful, huh? Not really. His twin bed without headboard and very firm mattress reminds me of the bed of my childhood. So I sleep really well on it. I got up at eight (yes, I did sleep in too) because Archie needed to go potty. Besides, I so love my quiet mornings.  Yes, at nine am everyone is still being a slug while I am itching to get at my son's room and start. I will take before and after pictures to document the proceedings.

A Must-Read-Blog Entry at Parentatthehelm.com

http://www.parentatthehelm.com/6666/homeschooling-parent-responds-to-disneys-teacher-of-the-year/

I found a link to this post on the current CoH. I strongly recommend you take the time to read this well worded and thought-out response to Disney's Teacher of the Year article.

Rhythms and Routines

As many of the nights are starting to get cool and translate into crisp mornings, the rhythms of the world around us change. Birds are beginning  to seek each others' company and flock. Overhead we hear the call of the geese which brings to mind the changing seasons. Tomorrow is Labor day, our unofficial end of summer here in the US. Early risers will notice that the morning hugs its dark cloak just a little longer, reminding us that we will rise in the dark in not too long a time. Children are seen running, back-packs bouncing, to school and we too have started our new school year.

This will be our third and possibly final homeschooling year (more on that some other time). Our first year was fairly regimented and strict and I wasn't much into lesson planning, unsure on how to proceed.  The second year was laissez-faire and while satisfying in a creative way, not very satisfying in an academic sense. This year I have our academic day planned out with the help of a free, academic software called Skedtrack.

Click on this image for a screenshot of Missy's Math Lesson Plans

What we all love about the year (so far) is the predictability of the day. We can run school pretty much on auto-pilot. Each morning, when we log in we can see at a glance what is on that day's menu (so to say) for both children. Having a clear visual has had another benefit. The kids take ownership of their learning and love to click the completed button when they have completed a lesson. I am able to plug in our school year, include vacation and holidays and personal days, as well as sick days. The time it took to customize it and enter the lesson plans for two children was labor intensive for sure, but what I spent in time and labor then, I save now when I most need it.

I have left my blog to it's own devices these past months having been very busy with a multitude of responsibilities. Summer came, a new puppy came. Then, mid August my husband left on a month long trip. He is expected back in a few days. In his absence (and he took off from work in July) I had to increase my presence at work. All of this left me little time for blogging. But looking at all my favorite blogs many of you took a hiatus of sorts as well. I look forward to blogging more in the coming months. I have also started a small cooking blog. My little food blog is more designed to be a record of my recipes and fiascos for my children some day (I pdf the files),  than something that would ever make it to foodgawker.  But I am having fun with it and that is what counts. My biggest challenge is the photography aspect of it. I borrow my daughter's dinky point and shoot and I don't have good light in the house either. Yet another challenge to overcome. 

One of nature's  rhythms is calling right now.... time to walk the pup. 





Archie Revisited.

This is Archie. He is a 4½ month old Airedale puppy. His favorite activities include playing, eating, playing, eating, bugging us for food, eating paper products, goosing people in the rear, jumping and play biting (which still hurts).

 

Big teeth and these are just the milk teeth.

 

Trying hard to sit still for a nano second.

Airedales have classic large noses.

It's hard work to drive Mommy nuts.

 

Swimsuits shrink when exposed to water - HONESTLY!

So, in a moment of insanity I decided to take the kids to the pool today. We diligently applied sunscreen and wriggled into our swim attire. That is, the kids wriggled. I on the other hand wrestled. I hadn't worn my suit in 2 years and the last time I handled it I sent it through the washing machine. And even though I followed the manufacturers directions explicitly (I think) the darn thing shrunk. It must have. There couldn't be an other reason (stop snickering!). Of course we got ready just to find out the pool wouldn't open for another hour. I decided I needed a lengthy visit to the bathroom. After all, bloating was most likely the reason I looked and felt like a overstuffed pork sausage in its casing. After my visit to the porcelain temple I felt I could actually breathe a little (stop laughing. OK, really.... stop laughing!!!!). Thankfully we are not going to a club pool but a little, dinky community pool. I am sure I'll look just fine.

See? I told you it would work out....

Oh, well, fine.... this isn't really me. It's close though. Really close. Honestly. We could be twins.


A woman can dream right, even if she is a mother...