M+B=E2O2

just you wait

What a mess my identity theft thing has been....... gotta go to the Mexican consulate today, tried yesterday, but they are only open 8-1, and I've called at every different hour I can and every single voicemail box I can get to is full.  no chance of actually speaking to an actual person. 

wish me luck. I have to take all 4 kids with me, and I hear the place is crazy busy.

Hey a decent Homeschooling article

There  is not a word  in it that is discouraging and there are several links to helpful websites.  Yay for Dave Peyton!

http://www.tmsfeatures.com/tmsfeatures/subcategory.jsp?custid=67&catid=1425

Refrigerator Space

We finally have enough Refrigerator Space.  We outgrew our refrigerator oh, two kids ago I'd say, but it was only with our recent tax refund that we were able to get a new one. It is Bigger, Stronger and Faster. Ok, just bigger.  We put our smaller one in the garage so now we really have lots of space for all the food we consume.  I went to Costco a couple of days ago and spent most all of our monthly food money at once.   The cashier said I was the largest order of food he'd had for the day.  I packed both our freezers and filled the smaller refrigerator. The one in the house is full, but not packed to the gills.  I am just soooooo excited to have all this space.  Not to mention that the new one matched the stainless steel appliances that the house came with.  So cool.

Compost Adventure

A little known fact about me is that I love compost.  Yup-  it is something that just makes me happy.  When we moved into this house last May, one of the first things I did was wire off a section of our garden for a compost pile.  Last week I decided I was going to move the pile soon so I could reconfigure out garden to make it a bit smaller.  The bottom half of our pile is just about the most beautiful soil/compost you could imagine-  dark, rich, clean smelling earth.

Today I had the pleasure of sharing my joy with a group of local homeschoolers.  If my memory is right (which is not normally the case, but I'm giving it a good try here) there were 6 moms and lots of kids.  I won't even begin to try to recall all their names- I only hope that I get many more opportunities to meet with these moms and get to know them and their kids well enough to know them all by name with ease. 

Back to my nerdy obsession.

The families trickled in over the course of an hour-  giving the kids plenty of time to just play and have fun.  It also gave us moms a great chance to chat a bit.  Once  we had a good number there we all trooped over to the pile.  I gave a brief explanation of how my pile came to be, then dug out a part of it and exposed the aforementioned beautiful soil.  I hunted around and was quickly able to find  several big ugly grubs  and red wigglers to hand out to children willing to hold them. 

The moms asked me all sorts of questions and I think most if not all were about as excited as me about the whole thing.  We moms spent the longest time at the pile, kids came back and forth some carrying off grubs others coming to look, then go back to playing.  One of the moms brought a bag of Clementine's which the kids all peeled and ate, getting the chance to add to our compost pile with their peels.   Such a great way to show the whole process.  I can't say enough how pleasant the whole experience was.

As the mom's were getting ready to go, my neighbor several house down let his white doves out, so everyone was treated to their beauty.  They are out nearly every day around 4 for their afternoon exercise.

40 days

Today we begin our Lenten season.  40 days until Easter.  Being the good Catholic that I am I was reminded of the start of Lent by the Ellen Show yesterday.  Maria wrote a lovely post about the meaning of lent and a great conversation with her kids.  I was talking about it with Owen over cereal this morning.  I totally stole Maria's half of the conversation to do this. (thanks for being so eloquent)! Owen was thinking over what he loved enough to give up.  I shared with him that I'd be giving up coffee.  I love coffee.  Yes I need the caffeine it would seem- but also I just love it.  I love making it in my beloved coffee press.  I love drinking it from the mug Christina gave me.  I love having the taste in my mouth through out the morning.  So I will give it up.  My kids even know how much I love my coffee.  Heck they argue daily over who gets to push the plunger down.  So I have had two cups of tea this morning-  not the same- but gets me some of the wake up I need. But I digress- back to Owen.

First Owen decided he'd give up Guns.  Yes Guns. After the bookmark thing I'm sure you are not surprised. I asked if that might be hard.  He thought  moment and confidently answered "no- I don't really play with them very often so it won't be too hard." *sign*  I reminded him of my coffee.  He then thought hard for a bit.  I suggested that maybe he give up soda and juice.  Now my kids rarely if ever get either- however they love the idea that occasionally they can have some.  He thought on this but just couldn't come to grips with the loss of the juice box that might come up in the next 40 days.  We settled on soda only-  which actually tends to come up more often- but he could wrap his mind around giving it up. 

As a kid I always struggled with giving stuff up.  Not because it was hard to do, but because most of the stuff most kids gave up - candy, gum chewing, soda-  we couldn't have anyway.   Now I'm putting my kid in the same boat.  We don't have play station or anything like that. He only plays on the computer and occasionally on the v-smile- but it  is so rare that he'd not notice giving it up.  Emma gave up soda as well- again- not much of a give up, but I'm at a loss really.   

Now this 40 days also marks a countdown to another special event for us.  Easter Sunday our dear friends Timmy & Laurie and their daughter Emily are flying across the country to visit us.  We have not seen them since we moved away from Philadelphia nearly 7 years ago.   They've only met Emma in real life-  and she was an infant. They'll be spending a week with us and I can not wait!   This is their first time traveling more than 100 miles from their home. 

Did I mention I love coffee.  *huge big SIGH*

THE Bookmarks

Here are the bookmarks made my the kids that I told you about.

Here is Evan's-  nice well placed goofy feathered penguin and a bit of glitter:

Here is Emma's- front lots of crayon- not sure what Mr. Penguin is trying to do to the Polar Bear- but there you go-

she opted to fill the back of hers with glitter.

and here it is Owen's

enough said.

Book Club

Friday was our very first book club meeting for the kids.  A few mom's in one of the yahoo groups I'm in meet up a couple of weeks ago and got the ball rolling.  There were only 3 of us there but hopefully that will change as we move forward.  The idea behind the club is to provide a reading experience for our kids- both the older (5-8 year olds) and the younger toddlers.  This first time we combined groups and did them all together.  The book we are going to read is Mr. Popper's Penguins - which I still need to get.  We read the first chapter as a read aloud and I think the hope is to finish it in the next two weeks so we can come  back together and have the kids talk about it.  Funnily enough the 3  of us that actually came to the book club had never heard of the book- the mom who suggested that it would be the first book couldn't make the first meeting.    So we had some lunch at the park then let the kids play for a bit before gathering them under the shade of a nearby tree to talk about all things Penguin.  After that we read the first chapter  to the kids.  Looks like it will be a cute book.  We then did a little craft with them- a simple book mark with penguin stickers and glitter.  I had to laugh at Owens- first he draws a giant sword, then a small handgun- with a bullet flying out. then he found a small penguin sticker that had a penguin with one arm outstretched- he placed it perfectly so that it looks as though the penguin is holding the sword.  At first he insisted that he was Not Going To Use Glitter- then he had the idea to only put glitter on the sword blade.  It's got  a penguin on it though- so it ties in.  I love it. 

The kids had some fun playing afterwards and we three moms got to chat.   I look forward to future meetings.  We (ok not me but one of the other moms) is trying to secure an indoor venue for us which will hopefully get worked out soon.  It happens to be an indoor skateboard park so we're hoping to get a class going for skateboarding  at some point to.   

Podcasts

I've taken to listening to podcasts on my little shuffle (not one of the cute new ones- mines the big and clunky original) while picking up around the house.  I listened to a bunch of CindyRushtan (www.momtomomradioshow.com)Monday.

grrrrrr I had a whole post with links and all for some of the neat podcasts I've been listening to- and it somehow got eaten.  I"ll have to try again later- we're off to the park now..............

Monday Monday

I have high hopes that at some point I will get out of my pj's and do something today. 

Or maybe I'll just drink my coffee and think on that a bit. 

Much Better Week

First let me say that Bungee has gotten much better.  He can walk now and is eating regularly- though not his normal food.  I appreciate all the positive thoughts and prayers from everyone.  We will likely have to take him to Tustin for an MRI-  seems that is the only place around SoCal for animals.  I'm guessing the drive is at least 3 hours away.  We'll have to see-  I will be talking to the vet next week to see where we are at and have Bungee reevaluated. 

Monday was a typical day for us.  It is our day at home usually. I catch up on laundry and house stuff that got ignored over the weekend and the kids play.  We did some copywork and played some games. 

Tuesday is the day we have knitting class.  This week the kids got to make their knitting needles.  It was pretty cool- and I totally forgot to take my camera.  Class attendance was low - a few kids were sick, some were out of town.  The class is held at a fellow homeschoolers house.  I love, Love her home.  It is the most peaceful house I have ever been in.  Even with a bunch of kids running around it- there is just this lovely, peaceful feel to it.  I really like all the moms that go as well- very nice bunch.  Next week  the kids will learn to cast on-  Owen is most excited.  He really just wants to Knit.  When he's been asked in the last two weeks how knitting class is going, he rolls his eyes and says "We haven't started Knit- Mom When are we going to Knit?" Funny kid.  Emma loved making the needles.  I was downstairs with the little guys, but Dineh the mom/teacher told me that Emma was the most patient one when it came to sharpening the dowel in the pencil sharpener.  She was very methodical and focused on the making of her needles.  Owen feigned exhaustion after a few turns of the dowel! 

Wednesday I had thought about going to the park day that we've been going to - but then remembered we had an appointment with the tax guy- so Ben stayed home with the kids and I started the tax process.  I took the kids to our neighborhood park in the morning instead.  It was a good walk and they had a great time- there were several preschoolish kids there- Owen lost no time in getting involved in whatever game they were playing. 

Thursday we went on a field trip to a Chumash Interpretive Center. Ben had the day off so he got to join us.  There were a number of kids- at least 20 school aged along with at least 10 or so younger sibs.  We went as a school group so we had someone give a talk and show the kids all sorts of nifty things.   Most of the group was youngish- 6-7, and the girl/teacher really didn't know how to change here spiel to cater to a younger crowd.  She would not could not  didn't recognize that she was losing half the crowd at times- she just plowed on  with her talk.  I think it will be a great place to go when the kids are 10 or so- they will get a lot more out of it.  That said, they did have a great time and they did learn stuff.  They learned how to play a Chumash game

and they got to go into the Chumash dwelling called an ap.

They also got to paint a rock.

   
It was a good three hours- we lunched there as well.
We also saw 2 deers and a peacock- so that was kind of neat.

Friday- um today I mean, we had gymnastics.  That is always fun.  After that I met with two moms at the park to discuss having a cooking club.   I offered to host it at our house since we have a great kitchen for that sort of thing and lots of room for playing.  It will likely be a monthly thing.  We are also trying to get a book club worked out- so we talked about that as well.

Ben is on call this weekend so I'll be single parenting most of the time.  Not sure what I'll do with myself  tomorrow.  Dog food is at the top of my list, so a trip to the pet store for sure!  It is supposed to rain I think so we will likely stick close to home and just veg.  The big kids are spending the night at their grandparents house tomorrow night.  Two of their cousins will be there too so that should be fun.  I'm curious to see if Evan will want to go too.

he's a picture of Olivia just because .....