Bob 2

Tom brought Bob2 (see yesterday's post if you don't yet know about Bob) home from work today....it was on the van waiting for him.  Alex was thrilled, so he has now relocated two bugs to our apple tree.  I thought it would be better if the new one was Bobette, so next year we"d have baby Bobs, but Alex insisted it was Bob 2.

Angiosperms and Gymnosperms

Today in science, we read about Angiosperms (which is Latin for seed container) and Gymnosperms (which is Latin for uncovered seed). 

My kids love to know Latin root words....we collect the ones we've studied, and I've even caught Cody carrying his collection around. 

They were thrilled to find out that all fruits were Angiosperms or Seed Containers.....so instead of grapes, plums, and nectarines for lunch, we ate SEED CONTAINERS....which they thought was funny!

Bob

Meet Bob

This is Alex's new pet.  He came home with it this morning and asked if he could keep it.  Of course I had to ask if he meant inside or outside.  We agreed on outside where Bob is currently residing in a paper cup.

Alex looked up what Bob should eat. 

Alex played with Bob. 

 Alex jumped and dropped Bob when he almost crawled onto his arm. 

 Alex tried to feed Bob an ant.

Bob wasn't interested. 

Alex decided that tomorrow he would release Bob, because as he seriously told me,

"It's the right thing to do, Mom." 

So tomorrow, Bob will take up residence in our apple tree, where I assured Alex that Bob would happily eat the bugs that want to hurt our apples.

Noah's Soup

Noah's favorite food is fruit (any and all kinds).  But when he gets to pick a main dish he always asks for "Cars Soup". 

Because Noah lives for Cars. 

He usually gets told "No".  Because I'm not paying $1.50 a can for icky canned soup for everyone.  It's just the principle of the thing....I can make a whole batch of yummy healthier homemade chicken noodle soup for much less than I can buy soup for everyone.  But I can't make it with Cars noodles.

So, today while Noah was an only child for a few hours, and we were grocery shopping, and it was on sale for $1, I bought him some.

Made his day! (maybe even week!)

I don't think he even cares what it tastes like.  But it has Cars noodles, so it is GOOD!  Personally I can't even tell what the shapes of the noodles are supposed to be, but the can says Cars, so they must be Lightening McQueen and Mater shaped.

Once I found Cars shaped pasta on clearance (a whole box of pasta for less than a can of soup!) and bought all the boxes they had.  And for a couple of months I was able to make homemade Cars soup.  And Cars Mac-and-Cheese.  Noah thought it was great (the other kids thought he was silly!).  But alas the pasta ran out and he is back to only getting a can of Cars soup once a year or so.

Hike

Thursday we took a hike up to glacier rock.  The kids thought it was great that we were going on a "field trip".  I liked that it was close and made them very happy for very little effort!  We've been studying Oregon history, starting with the geological features of the land, so seeing a glacier rock fit right it.  The trail is about a ten minute drive from our house.  Is only a quarter of a mile long.  And it has a paved path.  Oh, and the most important feature of the hike....I brought a snack to eat at the rock.

We stayed at the top for a while and the kids played "stay off the grass".  Which includes being allowed to only touch the rock, and path, and yelling at each other if they think you are cheating.....I didn't want to listen to the argument, so we left.

My favorite part of the hike was the fresh wild blackberries lining the path....mmmmm!  They were good!  When we got back to the bottom, Alex realized that he'd left his water bottle at the top.  So he, Faith, and Noah ran back to the top to retrieve it.

And in case you are wondering....you should all be very impressed by my ability in figuring out how to get more than one picture on here in one post....last time I wanted to do that, I didn't have time to figure it out....But now I did it!!  Hurray for me!  Maybe next time, I'll even be able get them to line up the way I want them!

Spider

So, I really don't like spiders, but this one was on the outside of our kitchen window screen this morning.  We watched it spin it's web which was pretty neat.  But, I could only live with it in my dish washing view for so long.  So my boys caught it's web string and played spider pinata until it fell off and then played spider hockey on the patio until it died.  If you look really closely in the picture you can see the web lines in front of the window screen lines.

Joshua 8:10

As we are reading along in Joshua we came to chapter 8, verse 10:

Early the next morning Joshua mustered his men.....

That was as far as we got and Alex exploded into laugher.

I knew imediatly what the picture in his head was.....Joshua spraying down his men with a giant bottle of mustard.....

Through my laughter I was able to explain to him what MUSTERED was and how it was spelled different than MUSTARD.

We all had a good laugh.  When the giggling finally calmed down, I started to read again, Alex's eyes met mine, and it was all over.  We both burst back in to laughter....tears running down our cheeks....it took a good five minutes before we could continue the lesson.

Don't cry over spilled milk

                                          But it's ok to laugh when it gets all over Alex!
                         Maybe next time he'll take things out of the fridge more carefully!

The Pink Goo in My Day

I want to take more pictures.  I like pictures.  My kids like pictures (usually).  So why don't I take more everyday pictures?

Because Life Happens.

Today for instance, I started out with good intentions of taking pictures of all the kids busy with their school work.  Good intentions which quickly went out the window.  I got distracted by three trips to the school.  A two year old with a serious case of temper tanturms.  Another child (who shall remain nameless) who told me he "didn't want to obey" and "was wasting time listening to me talk about school work".  Fights started because certain big brothers like to pester a certain little brother.  Teaching (again to the same child) the difference between proper and common nouns (and I don't think it stuck).  Timing math drills.  Cooking breakfast.  And lunch.  And dinner.  Wiping snotty noses.  Three loads of laundry.  The list could continue....

AND THEN CAME THE PINK GOO

The house was finally quiet...three little kids napping, two big kids at band, and three other big kids quietly working independently....I snuck out of the living room where the kids were sleeping and noticed a pink puddle of goo oozing out from under the closet door.....GREAT.....Just What I Needed, Another Mess!
A bottle of dog shampoo had tipped over and lost it's lid....and dumped it's entire contents onto the closet floor.  Did I mention it was goo?  Actually more the consistancy of snot.  While trying to scoop it up with handfulls of paper towels, it would stretch and snap back to the floor.  Half a roll of paper towels and a garbage bag later, the floor had lost it's sheen.....and I was out of energy to even think about pictures.

Maybe tomorrow......

Excited about Milk

I'm thinking that I'm a little bit weird for being so extraordinarily excited about finding milk on sale.  But I did refrain from cheering in the aisle of Safeway.  (The kids would have been embarrassed) I could of cheered though....it was half off....with a sell by date eight whole days away. 

EIGHT DAYS!!!! 

HALF OFF!!!!

I paid just $1.19 per gallon.

$1.19!!!!!

I don't think I've paid that little for milk in the past 10 years.  (that makes me feel old to think I've been buying milk for over 10 years....)  I bought seven gallons.....they had a few more, but they wouldn't have fit in my second fridge.  But this will last us a week.  That's only a little over $8.00 for a whole weeks worth of milk for two adults, five kids, plus day care kids!  Okay, time to calm down and get back to my "to do" list.....just had to share my deal of the day!

It's Not My Fault

I try my best to be polite.

I know what's wrong and what is right.

But sometimes little parts of me

act up and bug my family.



My tongue sticks out.

My knuckles crunch.

My lips make smacking sounds at lunch.

My fingers poke and pinch and pick.

My feet jump out and trip or kick.

My mouth says words that aren't nice--

Today it spit... and tattled-- twice!



So don't blame me for what they did.

It's not my fault!

I'm just a kid!



by

Babs Bell Hajdusiewicz
 
 
I saw this poem and thought it was hilarious.....I don't completely agree with it's message, because I do think kids should be accountable for their actions, but it is a good reminder that kids will be kids!

Slugs

Last week, Faith came running in from the back yard asking, "Did anyone take a picture of the slug?"

"Ummmm....what slug?" I asked.

"The one by the play area."

"Were we supposed to?"  (I didn't even know there was one.)  But told her she was welcome to take a picture if she wanted.

Personally I was rather disgusted by it, but I am now the proud owner of slug pictures.

And in the end it all worked out for good.  Today while we were labeling a map of the Middle East, and Alex couldn't find the correct area on the globe, I pointed to the Red Sea on his map and told him to look for the water on the globe that was long and skinny with two finger shapes at the top.

"Oh!" he says, "the one shapped like a slug!"

Yep, that's the one....the slug-sea!

Yesterday was one of THOSE days....

Half done chores, attitudes about everything, children who only obey while they're being watched, bad choices, complaining.....I was sooo ready for 8:00 and room time!  Days like that make me wonder what I'm doing wrong.

Then today, they woke up helpful, courteous, and sweet.

When we picked up the Azure order, Noah and Cody offered to help load the boxes.  Cody was a gentleman and picked up the heaviest bag for me.  I only had to make a couple of reminders for them all to stay on task with their school work, and it was completed quickly and correctly.  Faith boned all the chicken for dinner with no complaints about the ickyness of it and did a great job, which allowed me to get the rest of the meal ready.  We walked to the bank and there was no pushing or shoving along the way.  Then they were calm and quiet while I did my banking.  I only made minimal reminders about getting chores done and they were all completed on time.

My only complaint is that they don't wake up like that every day!

Kids or Monkeys?

Thank You Jacob....for giving my children instructions on how to get higher in our tree.  Now I can REALLY be concerned with them falling out.  Faith can get the highest....from her vantage point she says she can see over our two story house.  I think she's spent more free time in the tree this week, than on the ground.

Taking these pictures was confirmation that I do need to take more everyday pictures.  When I went out to take them, Faith asked, "What did you come out here for?"  When I answered, "To take pictures of you in the tree."  She said, "You came out here just for that?  Thank You!"

"I will take more pictures" is my new mantra.....even if they don't all make it into scrapbooks....

Noah's joke (made up by himself):

If you are having a fit and get sent to bed, what kind of mattress do you need?

A Temper-pedic!

I thought that was pretty good from an eight year old.  As I was once told by a six year old "There are two kinds of jokes.  The kind that make sense and the kind that don't."  Usually from kids under 10 I get ones made up that fall into the second category!

First Day of School 2010

Some people have a "phone" voice.  I have a "teacher" voice.  Apparently, when I am trying to get a point across, my voice goes into lecture mode.  I don't do it intentionally, but it sneaks up on me, and I catch myself talking in a voice that isn't my own.  Today Cody said "Mom! You're talking really loud!"  And I was.  I guess "teacher" voice is louder than "mom" voice.

We started out our day with a hymn.  I want my kids to have at least some knowledge of the old hymns, and since we don't sing them at church, we are learning them at home.  I can see you cringing at the thought of me leading anyone in song, but lucky for me, at least none of the boys can tell the difference.  Faith on the other hand can tell that I'm off key.  She can sing quite well, but has to sing with the boys and I who really can't.  Jared picked the hymn for today "Christ the Lord is Risen Today".  The kids like the Alleluia parts of it.  I really think it's sad that hymns aren't sung much anymore.  Most have such meaningful words that really make you think.  We sing all the verses.  None of the 1, 2 and 4 stuff that I grew up with!

For our "together stuff" we got ourselves organized and talked about what we would be studying this year.  I plan on adding a little more actual work each day until we have our full schedule going.  Everyone got their assigned work done today, so I deem it as a successful day.