Love and Legos - Homeschool Blogger

I'm not very consistent, am I?

Sat, 2 Sep 2006 09:46:00 -0500

So I haven't updated in a while, huh? Oh, well. I had a feeling it would go like that.

Some updates: School has started again! Stefan is in 5th grade, Benjamin is in K, Joel is still a preschooler and Lucas is officially now a toddler! Yes, he's walking around all over the place.

I've made new schedules for school this year, which I'll try to upload. I even have one for our entire day, and another for Saturdays. Boy did I make a list for Saturdays. Oh boy. You have to see it to understand.

While i wasn't blogging, I was writing a couple of articles for Howtodothings.com. That was neat. They pay in gift certificates. Eric is writing too, and we've bought some homeschool books from overstock.com with our earnings.

I'll update more in a little bit (what do you mean YEAH RIGHT?) after breakfast.

New Scientific Discovery: House Flies Can Teleport!

Sat, 18 Feb 2006 09:32:00 -0600

We've had an awful fly problem since we moved into this house last September. The number of flies we kill on a nice warm day is unbelievable. In the hundreds. We've worn out 4 flyswatters in 5 months, and tried various other remedies like flypaper (very hard to get out of your long hair when you accidentally walk into one!) and vinegar traps (turns out they work on the wrong kind of fly) and ziplock bags full of water on the front door (the tape wouldn't hold for longer than 10 minutes, and besides that I worried that if it worked I might be practicing some sort of voodoo, which isn't a very Christian thing to do).

And we just couldn't figure out how they were getting into the house! At first we figured it was because the boys were always leaving the doors hanging wide open. But when we sealed the house and made a law whereby anyone under the age of 31 had to be let in or out by an adult, the flies still came. So we closed the glass doors on the fireplace in case they were coming down the chimney, got rid of the potted plants in case these were some sort of dirt-nesting flies, and searched the attic for rotting 'possum corpses and secret entrances through the ceiling, but to no avail. I was pondering whether they could be coming through the thin openings on either side of the brick fireplace, where you can definitely feel a draft on a cold day, when by pure accident I found the answer.

I was about to reheat something in the microwave oven when, just as I was closing the door, one of the pesky critters flew right in there. At first I was peeved at having to get a fly out of the microwave just so I could continue on with life, as if it weren't enough that I had to live my life with a flyswatter in one hand already. Then I was a little impressed that a creature with no brain could make it through the door with milliseconds to spare. And then I unimpressed myself by realizing that if the creature had had a brain it might have known better than to fly into a microwave that was about to be fired up.

THEN, FINALLY, I wondered what would happen if I left the fly in there and went about my business of fixing lunch. So after a tiny bit of thought, but before I could begin to talk myself out of it, I turned the knob and pushed the start button, and watched the fly very carefully. Nothing happened. Seconds ticked by and still nothing happened. Then, suddenly at about the 9 second mark, something incredible happened. The fly disappeared. Poof, he was gone. On the 8th second he was sitting there on the glass tray seeming perfectly innocent (we all know better) and on the 9th second he was gone.

According to this completely scientific experiment, I have deduced that a house fly faced with certain doom is fully capable of teleporting itself out of a crisis.

My husband doubted my theory at first, asking why they don't simply teleport out of the way of a flyswatter. But it's simple. The life mission of a fly is to torment human beings. Being swatted is apparently how a fly gets to Fly Heaven. They're kamikazes. There is no glory in being microwaved to death, so my Microwave Fly was completely justified in teleporting away from danger.

So now we know how the flies are getting into the house.

Busy Busy Busy! And Happy Valentine's Day!

Tue, 14 Feb 2006 19:05:00 -0600

What a busy few days it has been!

Saturday was a very busy one. Benjy and Joey were invited to a birthday party at the Fire Station Museum, which included a ride on an antique fire truck. We just about froze! And Stefan was invited to another at the movie theater. The other boys and I went to mom's house for a visit during that one, which was a nice surprise for mom.

Then Sunday was the 2nd Sunday of the month, which means it was my turn to teach Children's Church. The kids were all very good this week. Candace wanted to sing the hymn that everyone else was singing as we left for class, so the first few minutes were spent hunting it down in our books. That was nice, and it set the tone for a happy, peaceful class.

Then it was home for a quick lunch and then lots of cooking for Eric. He was in charge of several dishes for the Valentine's Banquet. Everything turned out great, with the possible exception of his cheesecakes. They tasted great, but because he couldn't afford the brand name ingredients he usually uses, they looked all funny. His broccoli and cauliflower au gratin was amazing! So was everything else. It was a great evening out, and I'm proud of all the boys for being so good in the nursery. And of all the church teens, who did a terrific job of serving us during the banquet.

On Monday, the boys finished school in almost record time. I did overhear friend Candace (age 10) giving Stefan a little advice: "Just wake up and do all your subjects without taking breaks and you'll have the whole rest of the day off." And he added that it helps to just think about the task you're working on, instead of the whole list of subjects all at once. It seems overwhelming to think of the whole day's work!

After school, Candace came over to play for a bit, and then we went to Mom's house and baked goodies with the cousins. We had a great time baking heart-shaped chocolate chip cookies on sticks and eating them as soon as they came out of the oven. Poor Aunt Jennie left "for a few minutes" to buy Valentine presents for her little ones, and was gone for hours. I can't believe how many people were out for last-minute Valentine shopping! (We don't do Valentine shopping at all! It just never occurred to me to buy stuff!) She also picked up some powdered sugar to make icing for the cookies, but the only cookie that was left by the time she got back was the one I had to wrestle away from the kiddoes to save for her! They sure were yummy. Yes, I ate waaaaaaaaaay too many myself.

The kids also had a wonderful time running around outside. It was chilly, but that didn't stop them from chasing the goose and throwing stuff in the lake. (Bread, I think!)

Mom got the kids started making caterpillars out of the egg carton, after all the baking was done, and they really enjoyed that.

Then Aunt Jenny started a tickle fight. All those kids and all that sugar soon got out of control, but not too badly. All in all, it was a great day.

Oh, and poor old Daddy missed out, because he stayed home to do our taxes. I sure hope he did everything right! Now to wait on that much-needed check.

Okay, writing this has become difficult, because I'm having to read the long words to 5 year old Benjamin, who is reading over my shoulder. And having to explain things like Why I Put So Many A's in the Word Way, up there in the paragraph about cookies...

So I guess that's enough for now. Besides, the spaghetti is getting cold. Oh, but the boys still haven't cleared the table yet!!!

Wed, 8 Feb 2006 13:55:00 -0600

Today is going fairly well. Eric just came home from fixing Bebe and Scott's (from church) computer. He gave them a 50% discount, which I think worked out well both for us and for the Williamses. I wonder if someone is spreading the news around church that we're in need of money, because this is two jobs in two weeks. An awful lot of people (three, but still...) in church mentioned needing computer work this past Sunday.

Eric was saying he has a really hard time discussing money. Especially with people he knows. No trouble spending it! But trouble asking for it. I wonder why that is. I think I'm the same way.

While he was gone, the rest of us finished the day's readalouds. Joey has the sniffles, so I sprayed Zicam in his mouth. The look on his face was priceless.

Breakfast was oatmeal and, later, toast with butter and honey/jelly/both. Eric missed breakfast, as he was running out the door to the Williamses house.

Lunch was leftover Fish and Rice plus a chicken sandwich (me, and I shouldn't have eaten so much) and leftover burgers (Eric) and the boys just weren't hungry yet. They did have some homemade banana ice cream that Eric made last night from a Good Eats episode. Bananas are healthy, right?

I did talk to Stefan about his rotten attitude of late. His constant complaining every time I ask something of him has to stop. I told him that his sinful attitude is affecting the entire family, and I hope he'll rethink things. It's hard to know how much of it is the bipolar and how much is plain sinfulness, so I try to attack it from both fronts. Nobody ever said parenting was easy.

3 year olds are weird, but you already knew that.

Wed, 8 Feb 2006 11:43:00 -0600

I was just sitting here perfecting my Morning and Evening Routines, while the boys sat at the table avoiding their schoolwork. Okay, they're making "Toontown Cattlelogs", which means they're drawing all the things you can buy from their "store" for your "house". They keep asking me to spell things for them.

9yo Stefan: "How do you spell End Table?" (He really knows this but asks how to spell everything anyway!)

5yo Benjamin: "How do you spell watch?" (And then he labeled it an End Watch. ?!?!?!)

3yo Joel: "How do you spell Indifferent?"

Okay, I just reread this. ALL my kids are weird.

We live where???

Tue, 7 Feb 2006 09:55:00 -0600

Joey (3yo) didn't want me to "cook" his oatmeal this morning, so I asked if he meant he wanted me to microwave it instead. He did. Benjy (5yo) remembered when I used to cook it that way in Florida. Joey said, "This is Florida." I said, "No, now we live in Mississippi," to which Benjy replied, "No we don't!"

?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

"This is Mistersippi! Mississippi is the one for giiiiiiiirls!"

Slow day...

Wed, 1 Feb 2006 18:00:00 -0600

Today has been a slow, boring day. We didn't even finish school, but really should try to before bed.

The day after Stefan's sleepover at his friends' house, he told me their mom's eggs were even better than mine! So I called her this morning and got the secret. She puts the cheese in after they're done (aaaaaaaaah!) so that's what I did this morning and got raves from everyone! Benjy even said he likes eggs after all, and so I had to make a second batch!

Then school should have started, but I wanted to clean the kitchen first. And one thing kept leading to another and.... We did workbooks but didn't touch the Core.

Church is in one hour, and we start our Preceps course on I Kings tonight. I am so thankful that the church is going to give Eric and me the workbooks this time, because we just can't buy them. I'm looking forward to the class. Oh dear! I just realized I need to get out some binders and colored pencils, if the courses are the same as they used to be.

Eric is working on a novel. Right this minute he's out in the van somewhere with his laptop working on it. Hopefully he is one his way home, because Stefan just said dinner is in 5 minutes. Eric had put a roast in the oven just before he left.

Today's meals have been:

-Bacon (Wright's brand) and eggs with (Kroger) cheddar cheese
-Apples
-(Hebrew National) salami and (Kroger) cheese sandwiches with butter on (Baker's Inn) whole wheat bread (just me and Stefan)
-Smucker's preserves on the same bread for Benjy and Joel - Eric didn't eat lunch
-toast (same bread) with butter and (Smucker's) preserves

Tonight will be roast beef with rice and some kind of veggie. Hopefully we can put together a dessert, because my sister, visiting from China, is coming over to spend the night.

I thought I should keep a log of what we're eating, including brand names, to track these troubles with bipolar and see if I can connect them with anything.

Oh, and Stefan cleaned out the guinea pig cage today. He really had a hard time, and we refused to help him with the work because we honestly want him to get over the "It's too hard!" mentality. He learned today that he CAN do it by himself. It ended up helping a lot to just have Eric stand out there and be an audience. He did decide that scooping it more often would have made the cleaning job much easier. Hopefully he'll remember that.

Benjy and Joey filled it with hay and bedding when Stefan was done with the cleaning. Benjy had started helping with the cleaning when Stefan was having his, ahem, tantrum, but he got hurt right at the beginning and I don't think he ever went back out and helped.

I'm glad we have Stefan learning to do "hard" work. If we don't force him to, I can see how he'd become very dependent on us.

Math Alert!

Tue, 31 Jan 2006 13:04:00 -0600

I found this on the Sonlight forums last night and the boys love it. It's a really neat and totally free game you can download, and it teaches the multiplication facts. Stefan and Benjy are really enjoying it. It's called Timez Attack. Be sure to check out the video.

It's just as cool for math as Starfall is for phonics. If you haven't used that for your little ones, you must! Joey plays the ABC level every day, and Benjy plays the Learn to Read level.

I'd love more links to really good free online games for the boys! Anyone?

Update on the money problem

Tue, 31 Jan 2006 12:41:00 -0600

Well, it's technically a "lack of money" problem. I've been reading my devotionals, from My Utmost for His Highest, and they've really been hitting home. We need to stop worrying about this. God knows our circumstance and He expects us to give Him all our worries. You know the verses. So did we, it's just hard when you have NO money and the groceries are all but gone, and the bills are late, and the income is no longer coming in...

Well, we talked about it Saturday (after I had Eric look at the above link, well the link for those couple of days) and just decided to not worry. Eric is tossing around the idea of Firefighting. He talked to Aubrey at church about it and they're hiring right now (Aubrey is a firefighter). And now he's going to put an ad for computer repairs in the paper. But we're going to stop acting desperate and hopeless like we've been doing. I'm going to focus on Eric and the boys and the housework, and let money be between Eric and God for now.

After church Uncle Bill (not a real uncle) asked Eric about a computer problem and Eric went over to fix it yesterday. It took six hours, but Eric never minds helping someone out when he can.

Then Uncle Bill gave him $100! Of course, Eric didn't do it for money, but he didn't refuse it, saying "I can't say we don't need the money." Uncle Bill is awesome.

So God just wants us to surrender. Not to try and make our own way out of desperation. He has a way planned for us, we just need to listen. We haven't been listening lately. Well that isn't true. We've been listening to the people who say, "God helps those who help themselves," and such like that. People who mean well but don't quite understand where we are.

Now I'm off to make a grocery list!

By the way, I highly recommend the above devotional. I put a button on my taskbar that links to it (how clever of someone to put it online!), so I can look at it several times a day and click on the verses to read further, as I have time. This is a great change for me. Books are hard for me to pick up, and equally hard for me to put back down again. This is perfect for me.

Help! Attack of the flies!!!

Tue, 31 Jan 2006 12:38:00 -0600

The flies are driving us crazy. We killed at least 300 in the house yesterday, and today isn't nearly as bad, but we just can't figure out why they're so bad. We've never had flies like this before.

We made a trap with vinegar, and they ignored it. I think that's really for fruit flies.

We bought sticky traps. I got my hair stuck in one.

I've even tried taping a ziploc bag filled with water to the doors. The tape doesn't hold, so I've chosen to assume that it is as ridiculous as everyone said.

Oh well.