Welcome Home!

In the name of security, blah blah blah, I have restrained myself this week from blogging about the fact that J has been gone since 5 am last Sunday morning. I saw him off and climbed back into bed.

I'll skip the early morning with kids details.

We are all so, so excited that he is coming home this afternoon! We're heading out very soon to pick him up from our local airport--whoo-hoo! The poor man will have been traveling for more than 12 hours. He woke up at half-past midnight, our local time.

Eight hours later he got an actual meal in Dallas (I hope, oh I hope so).

Did I actually refer to him as "poor man"? I think the actual term is "hero." Why the shenanigans and crazy flight times and three connections? To be back in time to spend the afternoon with us. Maybe we'll even get to see Pixie jump off of the diving board this afternoon!

Assuming he can keep his eyes open.

I've been feeling pretty chipper this week. In case you're wondering why, it has everything to do with this:

That's Bud falling in the middle

That, and the fact that probably dozens of people were praying for me. I like to think that many of those prayers were answered by...soccer camp. Pixie and Bud spent the mornings, lunch times, and after-lunch water play times with friends...running, kicking, shooting, tackling, talking, and heading.

Then they came home and had quiet time.

Then we played or whatever until supper.

Then they went to bed.

Repeat. Every day this week.

Wombles and I went to the park, Costco with friends, and the zoo. And the park again. And on a picnic.

Because of church on Sunday, this was the first morning I had them all at home!

So, this morning felt a little hectic, but we had a project. The kids came up with it last night at supper. We started it early this morning!



Aren't they great?


The week went really smoothly. So well, in fact, that I can wholeheartedly encourage J to do this again next year. I do think it's really important for him to be able to continue learning and discussing and seminar-ing with other political theorists, historians, philosophers like he did this week. He sounds energized. I feel not one tiny bit overtaxed, bitter or resentful. It's a miracle!

Welcome home, J!

Ivory & Ebony

One of the crafts we did last year related to learning about bas-relief...I think in the context of Assyrian temples, or something. And so I bought Ivory soap for us to make our own bas relief sculptures.

I wonder where those are? I must have taken pictures of them.

Anyway, the point is that I had Ivory soap in the pantry.

And then one day recently, J found this:


And who might the culprit be? I don't know...you get three guesses. Or one.

Plein Air

Most of the time, I love homeschooling. Sometimes I worry about what my kids are missing out on from the public schools....then on other days, I'm thankful for what they're missing. I'm not concerned about their academic progress.

Unless you count yesterday, with Bud. I was showing him online the phonics books I was ordering. I showed him how you could look at pages inside. It randomly opened to a lesson that falls around where I'd scheduled to be around Christmastime. He gleefully did the activcity aloud for me on the spot. I'm so proud. And so bummed that I have to start my phonics planning all over again.

Anyway. That's MY problem.

This year I am hoping to have a little more fun with school be a little more flexible, take advantage of the benefits of having them at home--you know, things like flexibility and pursuing interests and working one-on-one at their individual paces & not wasting time jumping through hoops.

Oh, how I love those hoops.

At least, the ones set suitably low for me to jump through. I pretend the other ones aren't there.

I also would like to branch out a bit more and, since I'm not stressed about how they are coming along in reading or math, diversify a bit. This should keep my friend M. from turning me in to the authorities for not having a proper P.E. curriculum. I'm pretty sure she's kidding.

Hey, I bought a tee and some balls yesterday. And soccer cleats. I'm on a roll!

Another area where I think we've not been up to scratch is the art department. This is probably due in large part to my aversion to making messes on purpose--our house gets messy enough as it is. Seriously, introducing PAINT into a room with three children? Actually, maybe if I initiated art time more often the boys wouldn't feel the need to sneak paint from the office closet, and then it wouldn't wind up all over the office carpet. Just a thought.

Hey, I bought several sets of watercolors yesterday! And many markers! And an unconscionable number of crayons and colored pencils and construction paper and glue sticks! I LOVE back-to-school time at Target! I've been looking forward to it for months. The optimism! The possibilities! The boxes of 24 crayolas for a quarter!

So, art is high on the agenda...both appreciation and skills. And online I even found a possible solution for my mess-phobia:

Plein Air

As PW explains, Plein Air is just French for "Open Air," and refers to the practice of painting outdoors. Hmmmm.

I tried it a few weeks ago.



It was a hit. I loved how Pixie sat out in the sun, and how she wanted to mix some of her colors together to match the subject she was painting. Usually her representational art comes from inside her head, not a subject, so this was new and fun.


Besides the gladiolas and zinnias, Pixie painted the ground--complete with gopher hole.

I know not everyone can paint outdoors year-round, but unless it's raining it's something we're able to do. I'm hoping for more Plein Air in the future!

And maybe we'll play Tee ball this afternoon. You never know.

Obsessed

I can't help it. They make me crazy. And this was the biggest one we've had yet, I think. J used his high-tech Black Widow hunting skills and found her--right on the front porch next to the door. Under a cat.

And here she is, covered with poison. Ick. I have no idea why I subject you to our updates on BW's. We're having a banner year--8 or 10 terminated so far? One was in the kids' Cozy Coupe.


At least I'm not showing pictures of trapped gophers. Over which there is also much rejoicing.

"They'll Know Normal When They See It"

The title of this post is a transmogrification of one of our favorite quotes from Calvin and Hobbes. We usually use it to refer to our poor children, forced to grow up in the strange environment we inflict upon them (Plain oatmeal and the wild hedonism of weekends, anyone?). However, this time I'm thinking of our neighbors. Who, come to think of it, probably know normal already. Which means they have a different word for us.

You know, standard play-in-the-yard wear.

Any guesses what these outfits are for?

That's right. Whiffleball.

What could be more natural?

It's Been a Quiet Week

Not here, but "in my hometown." Can you name it?


What a great show, and we got introduced to Sara Watkins and Nickel Creek. Hooray!

What I do all Day

You know why I don't have much time to blog? Because this is what I do all day:


Seriously, I think you have no idea how fabulous that chair is. We had friends who found some in the classifieds, but the guy was selling four and they only wanted two. they stopped J on his way home from work and asked whether we might be interested. So we got the two others--sturdy, comfortable loungers. I they were double-sized I would probably move our bed out there. YUM!

Thank you, J, for the fabulous chairs!!