We'll Keep Him Anyway

This is the face of a little person who decided to keep his aged parents awake until 5am for the second time this month.  Me thinks you'd be happier if you slept at night, little buddy!! 

A little while later, he had definitely rebounded...


The face of ornery...  keeping us young!  or something...

July News

July News...

Much is happening, and not much, all at the same time.  Is that possible? 

The garden is growing and producing!!  Yay!  This is the best garden we've ever had, thanks to a garden manure I tried (maybe?) and a summer of lovely, mild, just-right-amount-of-wet weather.  I tried a new strategy for planting, too, so that will be another post...

The 4H Fair came and went.  Each July, you'll find us scrambling around to finish projects.  It's usually a couple of intense-ish weeks, followed by the satisfaction of displaying projects at the fair and the exhilaration of winning prizes (sometimes... and sometimes not...).  It's a great exercise in doing your best and letting the chips fall where they may.  One child came away with 2 reserve champion awards, which is very exciting, while the others had a mix of red and blue ribbons.  I try to emphasize that any ribbon at all means they completed the project, which is a worthy accomplishment in and of itself.  I'm not sure they buy that line of thinking, not yet, anyway....

Joy's Recycling project, made from 2-liter bottles.  Super-cute. 

Kid118's 'Do Your Own Thing' entry.  He consolidated his ongoing bird research (a daily affair for the past several months) into a display on what he considers the smartest birds around.  I have lots of pictures of this one so you can see his original artwork...

Spike won a blue ribbon for his Sports poster on the Miami Heat.  As soon as we finished the poster, LeBron James decided to switch teams.  Fortunately, the judge didn't hold it against him.  :)  He also won a blue ribbon for his healthy poppyseed muffins!!  I forgot to take a picture before we ate them!

Kid118's Fine Art project - a juvenile, female snowy owl in flight.

Joy's Child Development poster on "The Importance of Making Believe."  I love the quotes she chose to include and the photography of her siblings.  She won an Honor Class ribbon.

Yoyo is still in the Mini category, so she's not yet judged.  Here she is, though, with her sewing project.  She opted to stitch this sweet pillow by hand.  I love the cheerful pattern, which will be perfect on her bed. 

In other news, the kitties are getting bigger and feistier every day.  They really are a lot of fun, even if a bit of a pain in the you-know-what.  The main struggle has been keeping them separate from our Tomcats, who were a bit aggressive toward them in the beginning.

 

And speaking of our Tomcats....  this is how Hammy likes to spend his days, for the most part...

Have a great week!!

{pretty, happy, funny, real} the front porch edition

{Pretty}
Joy did a photo shoot with her little sister the other day for a 4H project. Love this one...

 

When we moved into this house 3 1/2 years ago, it was mid-winter, so I parked Mary by the front door.  She's still there.  Since I never put her in a garden, we just bring a little garden to her.  The  flower pot on the left belonged to my maternal grandmother.

{Happy}

We have a litter of 6 kittens.  Oops.  But, they are so cute, and make the kids (especially the one shown below) super-happy. 

On our anniversary last month, I came home to find new rocking chairs on our front porch!!!

I love them, love having a place to watch rain fall under cover, love my husband who thoughtfully picked them out for me.

 

{Funny}

Somebody was overjoyed to 'help' his sister clean the front porch. 

This funny kitty is our big, fat Tomcat. He loves nothing more than to snuggle on somebody, anybody's lap and purr his big, fat heart out.  His name is Hammy (short for "Hamlet").  He once had a 'sister' named Ophelia, but she died.  I guess that's not very funny.

 

{Real}

More pictures of our furry little friends.  Note the crumbs  and pencil shavings on the floor.  That is definitely the reality of my kitchen. 

 

Linking up at Like Mother, Like Daughter today!!  Happy Thursday! 

Reason I Homeschool #6589

I sometimes wonder how it would feel to actually send a child away all day long for kindergarten (or any grade for that matter).  I always assumed I wouldn't like it very much.  I now have confirmation that I was exactly right about that. 

A few weeks ago, Joy and Kid 118 spent all week at a junior master naturalist day camp (now they're actually certified through the DNR and everything... pretty cool...) and Yoyo was supposed to go, too.  But, they ran out of room, so she and one of her buddies got bumped to the next week's camp which was a 'survival and fishing' camp. 

The first morning, I picked up our little friend and drove these 2 little girls off to their big adventure.  They proudly marched in to the nature center where I signed them in.  There were lots of kids with backpacks settling in, but my little be-boppers were by far the youngest. 

I signed them in, walked them to the circle of chairs and said goodbye.  Then I stood off to the side and watched for a little while.  I waved again.  Yoyo took it like a champ and waved back, blew me a kiss.  I stood there a bit longer.  Her little friend began to look confused as to why I was still hanging around.  I decided I better come up with a reason, so I suggested we go to the bathroom real quick.  They dutifully did so, and went back to the circle of chairs.  There were still a few stragglers checking in, so I waited... again...  in the corner of the room.  Finally, there was only one parent left:  me.  So, I said several prayers to our guardian angels and walked away.  It was tough, but I resisted the urge to stop back later and check in.

They did fine and had a great, and exhausting, week.  It was a fun experience but I sure am glad I don't have to do that all the time.

Baby Says

Crash was a late walker.  He's still not the steadiest little fellow, but he's picking up speed as he half runs/half stumbles  all around.  He speaks quietly until he's really in need of something.  So, much of the time, I'm sure we're missing some really great things he's saying.  Sometimes we make a point of all keeping quiet so we can hear his words.  And when we do, we are not disappointed.  Here are some of the highlights we've heard from him in recent weeks:

"Take your medicine !  Get in the car!"

"Don't bite Mommy."

"Shep - er-deez" (strawberries)

"I-keem " (ice cream)

"Car says...  Mommy says... (Etc.)"  followed by all manner of  sounds and utterances.  He can keep himself entertained for an hour in the car with this recitation.

" looka dat big truck" ( or car or butterfly or Jesus or Mommy)

 Calls the name of the nearest sibling (or daddy) when he's hoping to be rescued from a diaper change.

"Reads" his books, usually sounds something like, "ooh, looka dat dump truck."

"Go night night."  "Go outside."  "Mack (snack). "

And my favorite, "Hello Mommies."   (Everything is plural, never fear.)

Have a nice week!