A dirty job...

Yesterday, Savannah and I were sitting at the table doing school. Sebastian wandered out into the backyard. He was CLEAN when he wandered out there. I peaked out and saw he was fine. After a little while, he came back in... well... NOT CLEAN. He simply sat down in his chair and went back to eating his lunch the way he had left it. When I started to laugh at him, he gave me this look - like "What's with you?" I let him eat his lunch - yes with dirty hands! Adds flavor! Then I put him in the bathtub. We actually had to scrub the tub when he was done. He was that dirty! I showed Tim the pictures when he got home from work and he asked me why I was letting these kids tear up his yard! Okay, he was kidding - I hope!

Savannah wants to drive a truck...

I read this blog from this other homeschool mom. Her name is Ree and she live on a cattle ranch in Oklahoma. It is a great blog and I have thought about posting a link here, but then I was afraid you would never come back to read my blog. She takes amazing pictures of her ranch and family. Today's post is about her two daughters helping with the work around there. They are 7 and 10 and they were driving REAL TRUCKS! I showed it to Savannah and now she wants to know when she can drive a truck! Ummm... I would be terrified to drive these trucks towing what they are towing... I don't even want to think about Savannah doing it. So, here is her blog -The Pioneer Woman - Please come back and read mine though... no, no, I am not insecure!

Homeschooling is a journey...

Somebody posted this on the homeschooling board I read. She posted it as a reminder that we don't homeschool to just get to a finishing point. We homeschool for all the adventures along the way. I went to lunch with my friend and former boss on Friday. She asked me if I was going to homeschool Sebastian. I told her that I just didn't see any other way. When we got into this it was because of a need that Timmy had, but now it has become our lifestyle. I told her that was part of the HUGE reason we decided to move to South Carolina - so I could continue to homeschool. This little video reminded me of that decision. Timmy is all done with school with me and it went quick. Savannah is in the process and Sebastian has yet to begin formal schooling. I have to remember it is the journey that is important!

The book is done.... that is all...

Okay, not really, but I can't say anymore until my mom has listened to hers on cd and my kids have read it. Sorry. I really enjoyed it and that really is all I am going to say.

The end of an era...

Last night marked the end of an era for me and for many other people. Some might think we are silly. Some might say too much is made of this. I don't care. I took a nap from about 10pm to midnight. Tim quietly asked me if I was going to get under the covers around midnight. I woke up and looked at the clock. Then I said, "No, I have to go get my book." He laughed quietly at me. He laid his head on my side and waited to see if I would fall back asleep. I did a little, but I kept thinking about getting my book. Again he asked if I was going to crawl under the covers. This time I woke up all the way. I got up and traded my pj bottoms for jean shorts. I grabbed my purse and headed to Walmart. I got there around 12:25am. The parking lot was full and people were coming out with their book. I walked in to find a happy lady handing out bracelets and posters. I grabbed them to take back to Savannah and also picked up a copy of the the first Harry Potter movie on DVD. We had gotten that on video originally. I went to one of the designated line and waited to collect my book - well actually - I grabbed some gummie bears first! I chatted in the line with the people around me. Behind me were two teenagers getting their copies and a copy for their boss. Ahead of me was a mom with her teenage daughter. Everywhere I looked I saw all different people. It was not a single age group or gender or anything specific. There were young and old and everywhere in between. There were men and woman and girls and boys and all sorts of teenagers. It was exciting! Sort of like the feeling you get when you go shopping really early in the morning the day after Thanksgiving. And, yet, even more exciting than that because that happens every year. Someday when I read these books to Sebastian, I want to tell him about the night his mom went to a plain old Walmart to get the last copy of this series. I want to tell him that it was exciting to see so many people want to read a book. Not play a video game or watch a movie, but read a book. It was nice to hear from the mom who started reading with her daughter when she was in 3rd grade. It was fun to hear from the teenager behind me saying she was going to read all weekend. It was just all good. I collected my copy and headed home. When I came in, Timmy was sitting at the laptop. He needed to get to bed because he had to be to work at 6am this morning. Then he asked me if I would read the first chapter aloud to him. My 18 year old, 6'2, fully grown young man asked me to read the first chapter aloud. At first, I just wanted to read. And then it hit me... what I have been thinking and writing about. This was the end of our era of reading Harry Potter books together. It seems like it was just a minute ago that I sat with him on the couch and read the afternoons away. And now he is all grown up. It has been a whole year of realizing he has grown up right before my eyes. I opened the book and I read aloud. I read the first chapter and then he asked if I would read the second chapter. I did. I would have kept reading, but my grown up son had to get to bed for work. He will read the rest on his own and so... the end of a wonderful memory...

Counting down to Harry Potter...

Yes, I am a self proclaimed Harry Potter junkie. It all started with a free book from Smarterkids.com way back in 1999. They were sending out a free copy of the first Harry Potter book with each order. I hadn't really heard of it at the time. I read the back cover and decided that Timmy may like it. At the time, he was in 5th grade. It was our first year of homeschooling and he hated reading. He was intimidated by reading. I had decided to read all of our books together that year. He would read one page and then I would read 2 or 3 pages. It helped him to get over the fear of reading an ENTIRE book. I slipped the book into his stocking and I even have him on video saying, "Harry Porker, what's this?" I corrected him. He really wishes that was not on video tape. After Christmas break we sat down to read. I had no idea what to expect. We were hooked! Even Savannah sat and listened. She was only 2! We read each of the books aloud over the year. I will say this - these books - are my favorite memories of homeschooling Timmy. It didn't matter how much he was whining over his writing assignments or struggling with math or whatever. When we sat down to read, we were happy. Now the last book is here. I am excited and sad all at the same time. Timmy is 18 now and barely ever home. I would never be able to get him to sit and listen to me read 800 pages! He has already said he is going to read it himself. I could still read it aloud to Savannah, but I just want to read it all before somebody leaks all the good stuff. So, my plan is to read and read and read as much as I can over the next few days. If I didn't have a toddler, I would probably completely neglect my family. I would get some good snack food and read. Unfortunately, I have a toddler who will not TOLERATE being NEGLECTED! I will have to read as much as I can while he is awake and then read even more while he is sleeping. And since I am here and talking about Harry... and since this is MY BLOG and I can write whatever comes to MY MIND... I don't get the whole Harry Potter is not for Christians to read thing. Don't get it, won't get, will never get it. If you don't like ANY magic and don't read or watch ANY magic, then... hey... Harry Potter isn't for you. If you watched or read Lord of the Rings or Narnia - HELLO??? Did you happen to notice all of the magic and good vs. evil? Ummm... don't knock Harry until you have really looked at all the other things that you watch or read with magic. Also, ummm... none of my children have tried to ride a broom or place a spell on me yet. I don't think I have damaged them. Actually, I am pretty sure reading Harry Potter with my son was one of the best school decisions I have ever made. Okay, I am off of my soap box now. Now, what should I do for the next 7 hours while I wait to go get my book?

Friday Feast (its been a long time, huh?)

Appetizer
On a scale of 1 to 10 (with 10 being highest) how much do enjoy watching sports on television?

1 - I really only watch NASCAR and usually the Superbowl.

Soup
If you could completely memorize any one work of fiction, which one would you pick?

At the moment, I would be happy if I could remember all of the details to the Harry Potter books because I am getting ready to read the last book. I have forgotten lots of "important" things since reading the first book like 8 years ago.

Salad
What is your favorite breakfast food?

I don't really have one. I don't usually eat breakfast. If we go out to eat or if Tim is cooking - I like pancakes, eggs, home fries and bacon. I also really like these homemade cinnamon rolls I have a recipe for.

Main Course
Name something fun you can do for less than $10.00.

Go to Barnes and Nobles, pick up all the scrapbooking magazines and a few other celeb magazines, carry them to the coffee bar, order some chocolate thing, sit down with Tim, eat chocolate while flipping through magazines. Ummm... he reads DIFFERENT magazines! LOL! One of my favorite cheap dates!

Dessert
How long does it usually take you to fall asleep?

About 10 minutes - as Vickie says to me, "You have a Sebastian!"

Freezing in Florida...

We had an Open House this weekend. We decided that the vast majority of people don't think 79 degrees is really all that cool inside. We woke up and decided to crank our thermostat down to 75 or 76, I can't remember which. By breakfast time, my kids were wearing COATS and telling us how cold they were. Actually, I should back up... Tim had turned the temp down the night before. Sebastian woke up telling me he was "cold". I turned the temp up because I really like sleeping and not being woke up by a little person telling me how cold they are. I guess you can tell my kids are Floridians, huh? Oh and yes - that is MY blanket behind Sebastian. I was cold too!

Math Lessons

As I said in the last post... we started school last week. We started with a new math program this year. The first few days are basic review of addition and subtraction. Somehow, my lovely daughter has forgotten how to do this. She took SEVERAL hours to do a couple pages of triple digit addition. I really thought I might lose my mind waiting for her. I decided to go ahead and clean for the Open House. After all, she didn't need my help doing this basic math. Somewhere in the process of doing math, Sebastian wandered into her area. Apparently, putting tiny pony tails in her brother's hair was much more exciting than doing math. He came in and out of the bathroom I was scrubbing several time. It wasn't until like his 4th visit that I actually looked up from the bathtub and saw Savannah's work! I just busted out laughing! Sebastian loved that! He was so pleased with his new hairdo! Ahhhhh... what siblings can do to their other siblings! She never did finish that math that day. I had to make her finish it this morning.

What is going on here and why I haven't written a thing...

I know I have been semi-silent again. We started school this week - well, does it count that we already took a day off? We tried to start school on Monday and we did. We even did school on Tuesday and Wednesday. On Thursday, I ran errands and left my kids with my mom for the morning. Oh... I can't tell you how wonderful errands ALONE was. I thought I would come home and do school, but as much of my life goes, other things took over. Suffice to say, school did not happen. My hope is to accomplish it all today including much of yesterday's missed things. In between all of this we went to meet Daddy for lunch on Tuesday followed by stopping by Miss Vickie's to see her huge pool hoisted over her roof and installed in the gigantic hole in the backyard. I wanted to take pictures, but I didn't get to it. Sebastian got in a tussle with her dog and got bit. He is FINE, FINE, FINE!!! Miss Vickie is probably one of the sweetest people I know and she is greatly upset by this. My sister-in-law asked if I was going to post pictures, but I don't really want to since I know it will make Miss Vickie sad. AGAIN - HE IS FINE! Then in between all of that, I have been making about a zillion phone calls on a whole bunch of stuff. It has just kept me busy. Today will be cleaning from top to bottom for our Open Houses scheduled for Saturday and Sunday. We put in the paper and hopefully somebody will come buy my house. I hope! I will post a in detail list of school curriculum at some point for all you curriculum junkies out there.

Walking and stuff...

Okay, I didn't really push a car up the hill - just Sebastian in a stroller!

FLAT FLORIDA

I am getting ready to go cut my grass on my very tiny Florida yard. It has been growing so fast and as much as I normally like cutting the grass - I haven't really felt the enthusiasm for it lately. We did a lot of things in SC while we were there. Some were things we do here normally, but there were quite a few things that we found to be different from our Florida existence. One of those things was WALKING! Yep, I do mean walking. First of all my new house is a split level. That means when you come in - you either have to go up stairs or down stairs. Or if you want to get something you will soon find that is on the opposite floor of where you are thus leading to going up or down two sets of stairs. My brother-in-law's house is a split level too. Add to his stairs the fact that, Ranger, their rather large Golden Lab, lays in front of the door and doesn't move. Next up is my sister-in-law's Karen and Jennifer. They live across the street in a ranch style house. Should be easy because there a no stairs, right? Ummm... nope! Their yard and drive way is a monstrous hill that is even more work than stairs. But - I can deal with all of these things. I will probably find I don't even notice it after a few months. Then there is walking for exercise. Something I have done for like 18 years. I really enjoy walking. I have taken each of my children on probably thousands of walks around our FLAT neighborhood over the last 17 years. We have a fairly small neighborhood with no hills. I walk around the same way 2-3 times. I don't really vary it. I just walk and say hi to the neighbor dogs and cats and am content. Karen asked me if I wanted to do for a walk while we were there. Sure! I got Sebastian in his stroller and she got Nakia (their dog) on her leash. We headed down by the lake since I hadn't really seen the lake that actually connects to my yard at the very back of it. Next we took a path to the neighborhood on the side of of ours. There were a few hills prior to this, but I did okay. The hill UP out of the neighborhood nearly killed me! Okay, I am exaggerating. I was just extremely out of breath. It is something that will take some getting used to. As hard as it was to do - I enjoyed it! Crazy, huh? It was so pretty looking down the hill on our way back and it is so quiet compared to here. I really am looking forward to these walks even if I won't be able to breathe!

House pictures finally...

Okay, we got to SC on Saturday evening and began working. If you didn't see what the house looked like before we bought it - Click Here for BEFORE pictures. Oh and ignore the floor plan pictures in that link - that was the other house we were thinking about. As you can see from those pictures - the house was COLORFUL to say the least. It looked like it needed work, but when we actually came back to see it - it looked worse. Why? Well because my wonderful brother-in-law, Keith, sister-in-law, Karen and good friend, Dave, had begun the prep work. That included tearing out the carpet and mudding every single rough spot on the wall. Whew! What a lot of work for them to do for us! We were amazed and grateful! It was quite scary to see it though. Then the ceiling was painted by Keith and that sorta added more dimensions to the side walls. You really had to know it was going to get better or you would just have to sit down and cry! The first pictures below show some of the prep work that was going on. Then there are the finished (or almost finished) pictures, followed by two video clips. The video clips do NOT really show the colors right because of the low lighting. I just wanted to get a more glued together view to show my mom. We still have to finish the flooring. There are a few more boards to lay and moulding to go down as well as the shoe trim all the way around the walls. We didn't have a compressor and were running out of time. We also, of course, have to install the kitchen when it arrives. It really does look so much better - amazing what paint, carpet and flooring can do for a place!

We still need to paint his floor and finish the window trim.

We are back in Florida...

And I am TIRED! We got up at left at 8am. The drive really did go well. Really, really well. The kids were great, the traffic was not bad, I survived the rain. But, I am TIRED! I do have pictures and mini-video of the house improvements. I do plan to get them on here soon. I really do plan to do it. I also have to call about a zillion places because since I have opened the mail and email from being gone - I have found a zillion problems that need attention. Be patient - the pictures are coming. Oh and could you just pray I have the patience to deal with THREE DIFFERENT INSURANCE COMPANIES on THREE DIFFERENT MATTERS? I would really appreciate it! Thanks!