Playing At Monkey Joe's

We visited Monkey Joe's.

They boys had a good time playing

with home school friends.

This is my friend from work,
Jen and Baby Landon.
He is 3 months old.
Sister Brooklyn came too.
She was not crazy about playing with boys!

Chess Club

Kyle and Jarett play chess during chess club. We are the chess club organizers for home school group. We meet and play, allowing the children to teach each other.

Oh My . . . ELVIS!!

I have just been informed that my children like ELVIS. I did not know they knew who Elvis was. We are in Kyle's room and he has "Nothing But a Hound Dog" on Cd. It was a Cd from school when he preformed in a production to "Who Let the Dogs Out".
This all came out when I mentioned that I had ordered them 2 new Cd's, and they excitedly asked . . ."ELVIS!?"
I said . . . "No, Christian".
Well, that was okay, but according to Jarett, Elvis has "hound dog".
:) I can't help but laugh as we are now rocking to 'Hound Dog'!!! :)

Playing Around!

Today was the 2nd Thursday.

Yes, B&G's Club day.

While Kyle got the stink washed off . . .

. . . Jarett and I played with the camera.

(We had already washed our stink off)

Then, here's comes Kyle.

He thinks he's special because he

is almost as tall as me.

I still get to kick his bottom at random!!

Let Me Show You An Angel!

This is an Angel! What a precious gift.

He's still a precious gift when he wakes, the Angel just fades a little bit.

Secret Agents? OR Criminals? You decide!

NO! These are not Secret Agents.

They are Aunt Beth & Uncle John. For Christmas, they bought the boys a Go Kart! Yes, criminal they may be, but the boys love them!

Kyle waits as Jarett cuts the yard!

My yard is taking a beating. It's only grass - well, mostly weeds.

IN LOVING MEMORY OF . . .

LucyBoots May 2008 - Feb 2009

It is with regret we say Goodbye to LucyBoots. She came to live with us last summer and departed as quickly as she came. On spring day, she was on the deck, meowing away and we fed her. She was a joy. She greeted us each morning as we left for work (whatever the hour) and slept at the back door, watching over our home. She had taken an old coat of Kyle's as a bed and a box that we had from a tool purchase.

She had had some run ins with a cat from the neighborhood and had come home one day with a cut on her nose. Once, she was gone for a few days, but was back again. Then one day, her collar was missing. I had taken this picture to include her in our creatures. I had left her out during that posting. Little did I know, that this would be the last day we would see her. We purchased her a new collar on 2/13/09 and never got to put it on her. We had hoped that she was just out and about, but now have excepted the worse. Our neighbor reported that he also lost a chicken that week. We have had a hawk guarding our chicken pen and there is always a fox around. I dislike the thoughts of the worse, I only hope that not having her collar, she is alive and well, eating salmon and milk with someone that has offered her a home. Salmon skin hot off the grill was her favorite, with cold milk.

Goodbye Lucy!! We will truly miss you always.

Love

Us

Some of My Favorite Sites

I have added a few favorite sites . . .

. . . Absolute Organics . . .
We receive produce every 2 weeks from Absolute Organics. Check out their website. We have been happy with their produce and the honey is really good. Taste just like flowers.

. . . for Curriculum . . .
I like Sonlight's curriculum but order from Christianbook.com. They are faster and usually priced better. We started out this school year with A Beka. Big waste of time/money. I did not like the program. I thought that since Kyle wanted to use books this year, instead of SOS, it would be an easy program. It wasn't for us. It was just constant busy work. The boys were stressed and I had to make up test for Jarett. So, we totally switched curriculum. We went back to SOS math for both boys. We are using The Story of the World history, Njoy science, PE at the Y, Easy Grammar and Evan-Moor Daily Language, Bob Jones Reading and Wordly Wise spelling/vocabulary. I've just ordered a geography program, and new Bible program, and Anatomy program. My plans are to start and finish through the summer and then next year. I must admit, I getting tired of school myself. We have EOG testing May 5. We are using ATCED.com this year. They give the Woodcock Johnson test. I've heard really good things about them.

. . . for pictures . . .
I have set up accounts with Snapfish and Winkflash.

. . . Some favorite shopping . . .
Crate and Barrel and SurLaTable, I could spend hours in either's website or store. If ever shopping with me, keep me out of kitchen stores. Love it!!

Don't Throw That Snow At Me!!!!

Another snow day! The boys used the . . ."public school is off today, why can't we have a snow day?" Well, play now because tonight will be a different story. The biggest joy of homeschooling, sometimes, is you can have school at any hour.

It is very pretty outside today, but driving home from work last night was scary. I do not understand why this county can not have at least two plows. Or, the ability to have a plow on a county truck. Thankfully, I left work late, so everyone else had already gone and the traffic was at a minimum.

After PE Wednesday . . .

. . . we lingered a while. The boys had the

pool all to themselves. So, they swam and

had a good time. I watched and took pictures.

The Boys!!!

I am amazed sometimes watching my boys. Besides the fact that, of course, Jarett is in his undies, they amaze me at what they know. Just watching them play chess today was incredible. I thought, these are the little ones I sometimes want to string up!! But look at how they are playing and thinking at a game I don't know how to play. I watched their moves and the way they each studied the board and could not imagine the thoughts and processes running through their minds. Jarett is 7, and I've mentioned his ability to outwit and challenge me daily, but I guess I still see him as my baby and 'clingy' child. But then he's playing chess and keeping up with big brother. Kyle has always been a wonder. He knows lots of stuff but is still such a 'little' boy sometimes and I think, . . . are you 2? Maybe you have found yourself watching your children and wondered . . . how can you do that? . . . What is your little mind thinking? Well, I was there today and thought I would share the moment. If you haven't noticed your family today, I hope you are floored later by something special, or a moment they share with you.

A Visit From Dixie

Dixie came for a visit yesterday. Apparently, she was

mad with Miss Vicki (our neighbor) and Bell (our neighbor's Dog).

So, she came to our house to calm down and

munch on some clover.

Kids . . . what is a Mother to do?

Milkshake Unloading Her Favorite "Sweet Mix"

Miss Milk had been out of her favorite "sweet mix" for a few days. The boys and I went to get more and look . . . Milk is trying to help unload, or eat out of the bag. She is such a DIVA. But very cute isn't she.

Downed Tree!

We had a tree fall last night, during all that wind and rain.

Thank God it did not fall on the barn.

That would not have been fun.

Since the drought, we have lost 4 trees.

I plan to plant a pecan tree in this spot now.

So, for now, it's a new toy.


Follow the leader!

Milkshake loves to climb. Who will have more fun, the Boys or Milk?

The Pick Up

Look, they had so much fun. I was not even missed. Now, they are rushing me to get home to eat candy. Well, we'll see.

My 2 Hours Without the Boys

This is what I did. I went with other homeschool mom's to the coffee shop. We didn't talk about kids, school, or curriculum. We talked about 'diva cups' and 'glad rags' (females google, males - just leave it alone) to homemade laundry detergent. The lady knitting, is a whiz at this stuff. We talked about the new Ikea opening and chicken eggs. We shared blogs and other 'stuff'. What FUN!

The Drop Off. Will I return . . . ?

Well, dropped them off at the B&G's Club. Kyle informed me that I dressed them the same. Oh well, should have dressed yourselves. I really didn't realize it.

Smile boys, this is also your time without me.

Making Valentine's

After PE today at the Y, we went to Party City and bought wonderful Valentine Day craft stuff. Although pink will never be my favorite color, the boys and I sucked it up and went with girly pink to make Valentines for Boys and Girls Club tomorrow. (We actually started our Valentine's in the car at gymnastics.)

Anything but PINK!!

Ladies, isn't he a cutie??? Little pizza sauce on the cheek only pulls the girls on in.

Over all, we had fun.

The real fun for me comes tomorrow. I get 2 hours of 'by myself time'. The problem is, you take away the angels and I have no clue what to do. In the past, I have found myself slowly walking through Lowes; up and down every aisle. I seem to just go slower when I'm by myself. But, for 2 hours, every second Thursday, it's 'me time'. It's not a lot, but sometimes you take what you can get. The boys say, ". . . we know, it's by yourself time . . ." when I drop them off. For some reason, I can't help but giggle and smile as I drive to the B&G's Club.

Our Creatures

These are pictures of Jarett and his egg basket. We have 20 some chickens, 2 roosters and 4 guineas. Jarett collects most of the eggs and had to have a basket for the task. It took quite a while to find the perfect basket. But now he's off to collect eggs and torment chickens! If anyone would like some eggs, the boys would be more than happy to collect you some fresh for $1 a dozen. Jarett, having learned about a baker's dozen, may throw in # 13.

Miss Milkshake is sharing her pen with her new friends. She, being the diva she is, has no reservations bucking her roommates if not getting her way. While spending most of her day out in the yard, grazing, she is the leader of the roost at night. While away, the guineas are the dominating force. The boys are learning lots of interesting tidbits about our lovely creatures. There is always something going on. And if our animals are not enough, we have regular visits from our neighbors donkey, Dixie. She comes over and eats Milkshakes food out of the barn. I don't mind as long as she makes her 'deposits' at home. So far, so good.

Shiloh got a new dog house at Christmas. He spends his days outside and his nights inside. He still has to stay on the chain because he will not stay out of trouble. He is calming down, so maybe in time.

First Snow Day 2009

First Snow Day 2009!

It snowed on 1/20 and was so peaceful and calm. Then, as usual, the sun melted all the snow it touched. But the boys got to play while it lasted.

We had school before playing and a little school after, so we will not have to make up any days. There was hot chocolate at lunch after a warm bath.