The kids wanted to watch a Care Bears video tonight which I thought at first was a great idea - keep 'em busy while I clean up in the kitchen. After a while, Sean appears in the kitchen requesting a "Banana Milkshake". Then I realized that the video I had agreed to let them watch is called "Rainy Day Activities" and is just full of wonderful craft and cooking ideas for kids! Oh brother. Every time Sean watches this video he comes to me with a memorized list of materials he needs to make something he saw on the video. We've made "flutes" which didn't work very well, kazoos that worked a little better, but I always refuse to punch the hole in the two metal cans and tie a string between them to make a phone. Tonight, it was Banana Milkshakes. Thanks, Care Bears!

At first I told him that our bananas weren't ripe enough yet but then he found the one on the counter that was so ripe it was almost sliding out of the skin. I then told him we don't have any ice cream and he informed me we don't need ice cream, we just need bananas and yogurt. He described the process for making them which sounded kind of complicated so I got out our little food processor and began cutting up the banana. He told me they will just drink them from a jar (like the Care Bears, I suppose). I told him he would need a spoon for these because they were kind of thick with bananas. So, he told me I must not have done it like they said. Well, I wasn't the one watching the video, but the kids ate them anyway. Callie wasn't too fond of them. Sierra dropped hers and it went all over the wall in the dining room. Sean thought it was delicious and the greatest idea, especially since he thought of it. Ha.

Below is Callie teaching Sean and Sierra how to play Candy Land.

You know how math story problems can be a problem if you do not read them carefully? Well this week we had a problem that went something like this:
"Each square dance circle has 4 couples. There are 6 circles of square dancers. How many square dancers are there? (BE CAREFUL)!"

When I checked the problem and realized it was wrong (she put 24), I asked her if she noticed the "BE CAREFUL" in the problem. She said that she thought they meant for the dancers to be careful since there were so many of them. I'm not kidding.

I think God knows how important humor is for me to maintain my sanity (what little there is left) especially in this first year of homeschooling.

During poetry today, our conversation went kind of like this: "Is Edgar Allan Poe dead?" "Well, when was he born?" She looks it up and says "1809". So, thinking 'math', I ask, "How old would he be today?" After some impressive, in-her-head calculation, she answers, "198". Then I reply, "So, do you think he is dead?" :D
Just for the record, he died in 1849.

At Sean's preschool today, it was his turn for "Me" day. So they sang his favorite song "Little Rabbit Foo Foo", read his favorite story "Jonah and the Whale" and had his favorite snack of carrots and celery. His teacher said he was surprised that everyone did not like celery as much as he does. (Anticipating that, I did send Ritz crackers for those kids). I'm not sure how we managed that, but Sean and Sierra both love celery, carrots and even lettuce (esp. shredded lettuce). Callie will eat carrots, green beans and broccoli but isn't big on anything else that is green.

On the way home, Sean asked, "Mommy, is Jonah and the whale a true story or was God just joking?" Of course, I explained to him that everything in the Bible is God's true word.

Brrrr! It's a bit chilly here. We had 40s last night and supposed to again tonight. I cleaned some windows and screens today and thought I was going to freeze. The wind was so cold. I had to dig out winter jammies for the kids for tonight and scrounged around for some sweats for myself. Sierra thought her sleeper was really funny. I guess she doesn't remember wearing sleepers. It's actually Sean's sleeper from last year. Thankfully, she doesn't care if she wears jammies with dinosaurs, cars or sports balls on them. At least not yet anyway. I have learned that if Sierra is toasty warm, she will sleep longer in the morning. It's always good to make those kind of observations. :) The only way Sean will sleep longer in the morning is if he winds up in our bed sometime during the night.

Earlier today I overheard this conversation: Sean: "I want to be King." Sierra: "No, I want to be King". This went on a couple of minutes, then Sean said, "We can both be King." Then Sierra said, "No, I want to be King!" (I think Callie must have claimed the Queen position).

Jeff went back to work last night at 8pm and got home about 4:30 this afternoon. He was walking pretty slow. Well, time to put everyone to bed. I'm in the middle of cleaning out a junk room so I am hoping for a couple more hours of awake time.

Hi there. I thought I'd try something different and blog by journaling rather than just with pictures. This has been a hectic couple of weeks. Inventory at Jeff's work has pretty much consumed his time. As if doing it once every few months isn't enough, this time they are doing it two weekends in a row! Woo hoo! Last week, Jeff worked 75 hours in 6 days. I think about 27 of those hours were in the last two days. But inventory did not go well, thanks to a recent computer system change that messed up the way things worked. Those programmers! Can't trust them! (for those who don't know - my past career was as an analyst/programmer so I would normally be more sympathetic - ha).

Last week, Sierra "called" daddy on her "cell phone" and asked him to come over a few times. This week she is focused on trying to outbehave (is that a word?) her brother. As Sean has been in trouble, on probation, etc., she keeps reminding me that she is "obeying" me. She said today, "I'm not saying bad words. I'm not saying poop. I'm not saying boogers. I'm not saying pee". Hmm, I wonder where she got all that vocabulary? Could it be from her big brother?? What is it that makes those words so funny anyway?

Callie started band last week. She plays the flute. This is her second year on flute but her first year with the homeschool band. She really likes it. Her crisis of the week is her injured guinea pig. It seems gp's are not as agile as cats and they do not land on all fours when they fall. Anyway, we are hoping for a full recovery but in the meantime, Charlie is recuperating slowly.

In case you can't tell from the picture, Charlie is just a little bit spoiled.

Sean is challenged in the behavior department lately but he very much wants to have some Moon Sand. So, we cut a deal today. Good behavior for 7 days straight and he can have Moon Sand. At the rate he's been going, maybe by Easter he can accomplish that. He's not a bad kid, he just doesn't always deal well with change. In the past few weeks, we've had several changes - he has started preschool, Bible Study and we've been doing some homeschooling. He would do homeschooling all day I think. He loves to work on math. He is learning to recognize and write numbers in the hundreds. We've discovered a couple of new reading-oriented shows on PBS and he loves to go online and play the games. His favorite site I think is pbskids.org. He prints out coloring pages, plays the game, etc.

Well, since I had a tough time dragging out of bed this morning, I better quit and get some rest.

Sean and Callie posing with Sierra and her birthday cake. Her mommy made the cake.
Sierra like the ice cream the most.

Sean serenaded Sierra with some harmonica music. He's been studying the book Lentil this week (as part of Five In A Row) and has been practicing on his new harmonica. He actually sounds pretty good, that is the music he plays is enjoyable to listen to. Perhaps he has a musical talent. Enjoy the video of us singing "Happy Birthday" to Sierra.

Raelyn (niece) - Happy Birthday

LABOR DAY PICS

Sean bonded with Granny. He has a compassionate heart. He rubbed her arm and held her hand as she walked to the table to eat and wanted to sit next to her at the table.

So tired.

Sis and bro hanging out.