In order to plan to try to have a productive day today, I laid out my clothes before I went to bed, and this  morning I got up & got dressed all the way down to my lace up shoes (a flylady tactic, but I think it really does help me not be so lazy, LOL!)
At breakfast, we started a new devotional.  We had been doing this one:

Character Building for Families Vol. 1
http://www.rainbowresource.com/proddtl.php?sid=1153807373-1803522&id=000655

However, Matt felt it was a bit much for our kids at this time (and some of the scripture references he didn't feel were appropriate for the ages of

our children & their innocence, which we feel is our God-give duty to protect.)

A few weeks ago, I picked up some short little books at Lifeway Christian Stores for $2.99 each in the kid's section.  I tried to find them online but

was unable to do so.  Each book contains 31 days worth of devotions, with an accompanying scripture verse.  There aren't really any Bible

passages to look up, but I preferred to have our Bible handy to look up the verses in our preferred translation (NIV) as well as Elizabeth's Bible,

the NIrV:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0310926564/sr=8-9/qid=1153809323/ref=pd_bbs_9/104-7637258-0274326?ie=UTF8

The one we are starting now is titled "Promises for Kids."  We also have "Questions Kids Ask," "Ten Commandments for Kids" and a variety of

"Little Book Devotions" about various character traits, such as obedience, honesty, sharing, forgiveness, self-esteem, self-control, attitude, kindness and patience.

Each volume is geared toward lasting 31 days, which I like since looking at a book of devotions isn't so overwhelming.  I like these books

because the daily lessons are aimed more at younger listeners.  They are short enough that we don't lose their attention halfway through the

lesson.  And they are really just nice discussions.  Each day seems to have a Bible verse, an explanation, a tip for kids, a relevant quotation (for example, from a famous person), a tip for parents, and a prayer.

On to other areas, this morning it appeared that Elizabeth (and maybe Katie?) dressed Michael.  He is wearing the only outfit I have ever sewn (in spite of my good intentions to get more done, somehow life just happened and I never did yet get around to any more sewing).  It is a favorite though as I made it when Elizabeth was a toddler and all three children have worn it.  It is red overalls with an animal print.  The girls put it on him backwards but since it didn't really matter, we didn't worry about it.  And he went around all day with the snaps in the crotch unsnapped since we never did get around to fixing them up after Elizabeth said she couldn't do them (though I think she could have if she'd just tried).  Anyway, he still looked awfully cute today and it didn't really matter since we didn't go anywhere today.

After breakfast, around 9 p.m. we got started with our "seatwork."  First of all though, I got out a bag of sea creatures to occupy Michael on the

floor.  Katie worked on 1 & 1/2 pages of her Explode the Code phonics book.  She is working on the short "a" sound as in cat.  She's a bit young

for this really but she likes it & wants to do it.  They both worked in their Handwriting Without Tears books.  Katie is learning how to form her

capital letters now (today she reviewed R and began N) and Elizabeth is writing words and lower case letters (today she did words and also d).
Next we said the Lord's prayer and I prayed for our day (good thing, as my patience was already beginning to wear thin)  We said the pledge of

allegiance & discussed the fact that today was Monday, July  24, 2006 (which Elizabeth later wrote on our dry-erase board).

Yesterday I had rented a carpet cleaner, so during this school work time, Matt picked up our bedroom & vacuumed to prep for the cleaning.  The

kids were getting kind of cranky & I was getting fed up, so Matt took a break from the floors to help us out.

Matt helped Katie with her new Math U See Primer lesson (today she is starting to learn her addition symbols & the basic meaning of addition). 
Elizabeth & I watched the Math U See DVD lesson 8 on solving for the unknown, then we took our small dry-erase board and our box of math

manipulatives (blocks) into the living room to work on the lesson.  I had her work about 5 problems for me, then I had her pretend to be the

teacher showing me how to do the problems, and she made up a few problems for me.  Then we went back to the schoolroom & she completed one page of her workbook.  After we finished our seatwork, Elizabeth picked up Michael's toys from off the floor.  She is becoming very helpful when she wants to be, which makes me proud.

The children watched PBS (Reading Rainbow and Between the Lions) while lunch was being prepared by me & while dad was cleaning the

carpet in our bedroom.  While the kids ate lunch, I took a much needed break.  Afterward, Matt & I put dinner in the crockpot.  We put in it

porkchops, minute rice and some various "cream of" soups, plus some flavorings.  It turned out nice later on.

Matt left around 1:30 to go clean some carpets at his mom's house & run some errands (to take back the carpet cleaner, take some clothes to

the cleaner's, and the library).  The carpet cleaner was due back to the store by 3:30.

While Matt was gone, I spread out a blanket on the living room floor & got out a quiet toy (bristle blocks) for the kids to play with while I read their

chapter book.  We read chapters 5 & 6 of the mouse & the motorcycle.  I allowed the kids to eat grapes in the living room (even though the

carpets had just been cleaned) as they stayed on the blanket.  As I was reading, I would stop periodically to quiz Elizabeth to make sure she was

paying attention.  We had to take a break halfway through when Michael came back from the other room smelling a stinky finger from where he'd

stuck it down in his diaper (making me wish I'd fastened the snaps on his overalls earlier!)  The girls were very helpful to help me quickly gather

up what I needed to change his diaper, then after he was cleaned up, we got back to our book.  Around 2:30 the girls watched clifford while

folding towels, while I cleaned the kitchen.  (Michael had fallen asleep on the living room floor.)  I paid 2 cents for each washcloth or bib, 3 cents

for hand or dish towels, and 5 cents for bath towels.  Elizabeth earned 46 cents & Katie earned 65 cents. 

I asked Katie if she would wipe the table and she said no.  I asked Elizabeth if she would do it for a nickel and she agreed.  Katie got mad and started saying she wanted to do it.  I realized I wasn't being fair because I offered to pay Elizabeth but not Katie.  So I let them split the table (w/ only a bit of squabbling over what exactly constituted each half) & they each earned a nickel for doing a thorough wiping of the table plus 3 chairs each.  When they were done, I had them check each other's work for missed spots.  At some point in here, I did have to send Elizabeth to her room for 6 minutes for an ugly attitude that made no one want to be around her.  The girls watched Cyberchase while I finished in the kitchen & put away the towels they'd folded.  I had plans to do a bit more school in the afternoon but it didn't work out that way (well, we had some education

experiences, but not what my plans were for the rest of the day).  It's okay though as it is nice to take advantage of natural opportunties & lessons

from lifeee.  After Cyberchase, I did let the kids have some free play time for the afternoon as it was good for their imagination, plus they also

needed a break.

Matt got home a little before 5 p.m.   While he was still gone, there was a bug on the ceiling that I thought was a walking stick.  When Matt got

home, he caught it in a jar so we could examine it more closely.  He thought maybe it was a praying mantis.  It was hard to tell though, so we

looked it up online via google & I asked a science email loop I'm on if they knew anything about it.  I got a couple of helpful sites:
http://www.whatsthatbug.com
http://bugguide.net/node/view/15740
I printed out a couple of coloring/info sheets on praying mantis and walking sticks. 

All on her own volition, Elizabeth went into our school room & brought back a few books about insects that she started looking through.  She

found a praying mantis in a magic school bus book.
We finally identified our bug as a grass-like mantis, Thesprotia graminis.  The site said it is found in the south & often confused with walking sticks.
http://whatsthatbug.com/mantis.html
In fact, another site said another name for it was  walkingstick mantis.

Matt took the kids outside to watch the wind blow as some dark clouds were coming in, and had them chasing after leaves.  Matt & the kids

made jello w/ fruit.  Supper was served up, and Matt & the kids ate on the back porch.  I did not join them as I'm not much for eating outdoors
(I don't like bugs).  We had a bit of rain, and then as Matt was taking the food out, he saw a beautiful rainbow that arched across the whole sky,

and we had a perfect view from our back porch.  That rainbow faded while they were eating.  Then it rained more and another huge rainbow

appeared with a secondary rainbow, with the colors in reverse order.  It was beautiful.  Matt explained a little about the science of the rainbow to

the kids.  It started to rain lightly again (no thunder and lightning though) so the kids & I went out to play in the rain & gaze at our beautiful scenery. 

We started to rinse our feet off and ended up playing in the hose & we all got soaking wet but had a blast.  The kids even sat in their kiddy pool a

bit.  We were dressed but didn't care.  We were just having fun and acting silly.  Katie broke the small pumpkin and I put it on top of the fence

and recited humpty dumpty.  Then we did "where is thumbkin" and had to explain to Elizabeth why a certain gesture with the tall man finger was

inappropriate.  Matt didn't want to get wet, though I tried to encourage him to "let his hair down" (figuratively speaking of course) and relax & have

a little fun & not be so "stuck in the mud."  He did end up getting wet also but didn't seem all that happy about it. 

We all had fun running around the yard with the hose though.  At one point, I got a couple of fire ants in me & hopped into the kiddy pool to get my feet wet quickly.  Out of the blue Katie started singing, "The Ants Go Marching One by One, Hurrah, Hurrah!"  We all laughed so hard about that.  I wanted Matt to record it so he went to get our camera so we could re-enact it.  We all had fun acting silly for the camera.  After a bit we all rinsed off our feet, came in, bathed & got into PJ's.   The kids took forever to clean the living room & their bedroom but it had to be done as someone is coming to clean tomorrow & I don't want her to have to pick up their clutter or work around it.  We did a reading assessment on Elizabeth (same one we've been using) and from mid-May to now, she's gone from a 3.0 level to a 4.5 level!  We only have one lesson of Reading Made Easy left.

She loves reading & seems to have taking to it well & can read some really challenging words, but she still lacks confidence & gets intimidated

by pages with a lot of words on them or without a bunch of pictures.  Right now she is reading a Clifford Chapter book though.   It was very late &

the kids were going to eat their jello but Katie fell asleep on the couch before she got to it.  Michael ate his & then went to sleep on the floor in his bedroom.  Elizabeth took her Clifford book to bed with her but I don't think she read much before she fell asleep as it was so late, so she was very tired.  We didn't get to our new Five in a Row book (Mike Mulligan and his steam shovel) so we will begin that fun adventure tomorrow instead. 

Today seemed to hold enough adventures of its own.  :) 
I might come back later & add a few relevant pictures to this entry.  Please excuse any typos due to the lateness of the hour.  If you read this long entry, bless your heart, and have a blessed day!