Pepper Paints

Hike N Bike

This week is National Homeschool Hike And Bike week.  I know you all knew that and planned events in your cities too!  Just like we did!  Many families met at a park with bikes, scooters, skateboards and strollers.  We set off on the bike trail to hike and bike all in the name of homeschooling.  The weather was perfect as was the crowd.

These two crowds of large kids are a few of of the teens from our homeschool group.  They get bigger every week and they move in a pack.  On this day the pack decided not to participate in the festivities but to check out the river instead.  These teens have minds of their own and love to be together.  I am finding this to be a tricky time to be a parent.  The boundaries are stretched to the limit and friends take precedence over all else it seems.  Parts of parenting a teen are really enjoyable, having a discussion, laughing at the same jokes, working side by side, having a babysitter in the house!!  But these interactions are few as Jake heads out with friends, is on the computer or on the phone.  It all happened too fast- it seems as though those precious tween years lasted about 8.34 minutes.  Although in the thick of it I am sure I was thinking diferently.  Many of us parents were disappointed the teen group decided not to ride with us yesterday but that didn’t stop the rest of us from enjoying the day.

Even Cornelius Fudge joined us in honor of homeschooling!

Neverending To Do Lists

Well, with out kids I can’t very well conduct great, crafty art projects can I? Molly is on a 2 day bender with 3 of her friends. Sleeping at one house last night and tonight they are all at Abby’s. With all this social time, she is sure to come home possessed. Ginger spent a good part of the afternoon playing at Abby’s too. I tried to talk Jake into being my guinea pig and doing a project with me but he suggested we play video games instead.

So I had to change my afternoon focus from a fun project to “work.” Which is not an easy thing for me. I am not a plan B person. But my work list is long and the clock is always ticking. It seems as I mark of #’s 5 , 6 and 7 on that list I replace them with #’s 21, 22, and 23.

Anyways, the tomatoes are in the ground as are the peppers and the herbs that I have bought so far; a couple of pineapple mints, 6 basil plants, 2 flat leaf parsley, 2 dill and 2 cilantro-because I can’t wait for the seedlings to get big enough for cutting. I still need some garlic chives, and to get my seeds planted.

I was also able to run to the market, wash and hang out couple loads of laundry and make a double batch of Veg Chili-one for my family and one for a friend who just had the most perfectly beautiful baby girl. As great as it feels to knock a few chores off my never ending list, I always wish I had more time to read those library books that are due tomorrow, or finish that dress I have been knitting for Ginger since last year or has it been two years now! I often have the mind set that I will get to my own art, crafts or enjoyment after the work is done—but the work will never be done. It really is never ending.

I have been toying with the idea of setting up a schedule for myself. That way there will be time set aside for certain things and a time limit for other things, namely the computer. It seems like a good idea, I have tried it before. I was able to stay on top of my housework making time for other things. But after a few weeks it felt so stringent. But finding ,more hours in the day probably isn’t going to happen so I should choose the method that works.

Tomorrow we have a field trip planned and friends coming over afterwards. There will be kids here that I can manipulate into doing a project for candy or some other treat.  That means I will have a purpose to my post tomorrow, not just senseless rambling!  I better get to bed so I can be in a calm state as I rush around vacuming, packing lunches, getting the supplies together for our project and delivering dinner to friends all by 10:00-uugghh!

I am a good Mom, and I’ve got proof

First the few good photos I got from the circus Thursday night.

And if you look really close at this last one, you can see one of the two performers get shot out of a cannon!

Really, it was the highlight of the show.

Todays thrifting update…I of course I bought the most stuff, because as I told you in my last post; simplicity does not run in my veins!  I encouraged Dawn to buy out of her box and I am proud to say Abby is no longer a thrift store virgin…thanks to me!!

Now on to the heart of the matter…..That damn Abby tagged me for a meme, and it’s a hard one.  Name 3 things I do well as a mother.  As Abby said, I really am my worst critic.  I have that catholic guilt for all I don’t do and all I do wrong.  But there must be three good things…somewhere…hmmmm

1.  I try really hard to follow my children’s lead.    If they are interested in something, I go to the ends of the earth to supply the knowledge, books or materials that they need.   This actually drives my son crazy.  He says sometimes he’s afraid to mention he likes something for fear  of the goose chase it will send me on.

2.  I trust my kids feelings.  I consider myself a good judge of character and I can read people fairly well. I think that is a good quality to have.  I don’t want to take that sense away from my kids.  They seem to have been born with it-they  are a good gauge  of what is going on around them.   As long as I tune in, I can learn so much from them.

3.  I let my kids be who they are.  They are each so unique and from most peoples perspectives they seem fairly “normal” but they are each odd in their own special way.  I am so glad to nurture that strangeness and individuality in them.

and 4. because I always have to have more…I love to read to my kids.  Jake and I read soooo many books together,  I treasure those memories.  The girls and I usually have a chapter book going as well as picture books and then Molly and I have a book going and Molly and her Dad have a book they read together.  We learn and experience so much through books.   As well as a  great spark for our imaginations.  Plus all the snuggling the goes along with it–Not trying to top someone else who mentioned snuggling with their kids here!!

I am not tagging anyone special but all Moms are special!!  So if you want to play along… go for it!

Arrival of the Animals

Today the circus arrived in town. We headed down the street after our circus class today to catch the Barnum & Bailey animals walk from the train cars that they arrived in, to the arena where they will be performing later this week. We waited about an hour. The kids passed the time by rolling on the front lawn of a business I later realized had a nice little green flag alerting the public of the recent application of lawn chemicals. Damn!! As the time past our excitement was building. Clowns, music, bright colors and festive atmosphere! Boy were we mistaken!

First there was the truck. Then there were the elephants.

Then there were horses.

Then there was the street sweepers and it was over. Damn again!

Thinking this may be an all day event, we were pretty sure we were going to miss Art class today. But after the quick animal parade we headed to another side of town for a group project of watercolors on plaster, broken into pieces to make a sort of puzzle. The results were really nice. On the way home we stopped at an old railway museum so Ginger and I could take some photos!

What were Molly and Jake doing you ask?!

Happy Birthday Jake

13 years ago I became a Mother for the first time.  You were so tiny with the biggest blue eyes.  I couldn’t believe “they” trusted us to take you home from the hospital and be alone with you. No book could have prepared me for the intense feelings of being your Mother.  The bond I felt with you was over whelming.  At times it was  like a secret language.  I innately knew what you needed.  Today as a Mother of a teenager I do not.   Motherhood was not easy then and it is not easy now.  But I wouldn’t change it for the world.

Happy 13th Birthday Jake.  I love you!!

Love,

Mom

Selling, Donating, Swapping and Shopping (a sad but true statement about my life!)

Well the garage sale is now just a memory! Saturday it rained until early afternoon. As soon as the skies cleared I ran outside to set up, when RockToWindAStringAround showed up to shop but ended up shuffling my goods from the living room floor to the front door step so I could feed the hungry shoppers! Sadly most of the goodies she eyed drove away with a starved shopper who left the buffet overstuffed and with a dogie bag!!! Thank goodness that guy bought as much as he did because about 1 hour later the skies opened up once more. So we tried again today and ended up selling a good bit of stuff. My pockets are full and my house clutter a bit lighter. We took all the leftovers to the thrift store drop box immediately after the sale so all’s well that ends well!!  Here is the sun setting through the wet palstic tarps that were covering our treasures.

But because I am such a pack rat I got up at O too early hundred hour to shop at a Swap. We scored a Video Now player complete with a Sponge Bob movie! A bit of yarn, a couple of vases, some art books and a nice set of wooden bowls for our nature table. I love stuff!! Especially free stuff!!

After the sale was all cleaned up we were able to grant Ginger’s earlier this week wish for a bike ride. She is now big enough for the tandem and is loving it! While out in the park we saw a group of people dressing up and playing instruments. They were definitely a photo op!! After retrieving our cameras Molly and I combed the park looking for them but didn’t catch up with them until they were packed up and headed to their cars. But a few of them were nice enough to pose for a sorry old lady for a couple of shots.

Molly and I continued to trek around and take lots of photos.

And roll down hills!!

This is Birthday week at our house. Both Jake and Ginger have special days that are fast approaching. Must shop soon!!!  Ugg, it’s a vicious cycle!

Building, Blocks

OK, pulling these out of my archives!!  As this is cleaning my house week.  Jake took these pictures a few years ago after he built this.

When Jake was younger he spent a good part of his day building.  We had and still have many types of blocks.  The large cardboard bricks-which are great for younger kids.  They are light weight and you can build pretty large structures and knock them down with out too much noise or pain!  I highly recommend a set or two of these-in this case more really is better!  Or if you are like my in-laws and use lots of kleenex,  you can use empty kleenex boxes!  Or cereal boxes covered in contact paper.

We also have many wooden blocks.  Now if you have the money or you have rich relatives these are wonderful!!  We have a large assortment of non splintering hard wood blocks.  I can’t remember where we bought ours, maybe a school catalouge.  Again more is better, more shapes, more sizes even better!!

Adding props to block play is a great addition.  Here Jake used army guys, but the possibilities are endless.

Adding smaller blocks, or colored blocks, “guys”,animals, cars, signs, shredded paper, popcorn….You get it, just about any thing will enhance block play.  Imaginations will run wild turning rocks into animals or the structure becomes a quarry.

We also have an enormous amount of legos, K-nex, tinker toys, lincoln logs, magz and I am sure several others.

Two books I recommend are THE BLOCK BOOK by Elisabeth S. Hirsch and by far my favorite book           Steven Caney’s  ULTIMATE BUILDING BOOK.  This is a great addition to any home library.  Tons of building ideas using all kinds of stuff you already have around the house; newspaper, toothpicks…Great for some summer activities.

One more thing-sometimes kids want to save their structures and it may not be possible;  clean up time or some other reason.  We  have a binder with plastic sleeves that  holds photos of the my kids creations with a few words jotted down about the structure.  A good way to document and revisit their work too.  Sometimes they try to rebuild or add on to the idea.

And this is for my husband-virtual flowers and a new car, because he ordered me a new laundry umbrella, (because ours snapped), and he finished installing a new faucet and reverse osmosis water system for us last night!  Thanks husband!