Bye Bye Buggy

Summer has arrived.  Yes, that is what I said.  After a non-existent winter, we have skipped spring.  Temps this week have hit near 80 degrees.  We are all loving it!  Bike rides, chalk art on the sidewalks and hunting for new buggy friends. 

Yesterday Will found a box elder bug in the house.  He quickly became "Buggy" and Will was playing with him, speaking sweetly to him, and letting him crawl all over him.  That night he put him in the window before bed and let him sleep there.  This morning was more fun with Buggy.  He let Buggy sit in on his Math lesson, and spent quite a while constructing him a little home.

Will asked if we could find out what he liked to eat.  We found out they like Silver Maple leaves and Box elder Tree leaves.  We went walking to see if we could find any.  Since there are no new leaves yet, we opted for last falls leaves.  Will put the leaves in the home for buggy.  We went on with the rest of our day, and buggy was safe and sound in his little house.

A few hours later we were getting ready to eat dinner and Jack opened Buggy's house.  Will quickly found him.  He began to cry "Mom!  Buggy has no grip, he isn't moving!"  Our Buggy had left us.  Buggy loved his little home, but we forgot he was in the Lego house, in the south window, on a sunny day.  Buggy was crispy, he just got too hot.  I explained to Will that they aren't meant to live very long, that's why God made so many.  But Will was beside himself.  He was sobbing, genuinely devastated.

I love that kids soft heart.  I commended him on the job he did of taking such good care of God's creature.  I told him we could have a funeral for him after we were done eating dinner.  Will requested a candle during the ceremony.  So after dinner, we took Buggy out to the back yard, and dug a little grave under a landscaping rock.  I laid Buggy in his hole and asked Will if he wanted to say a few words.  "Yes" Will said through tears.  "Buggy, you know how much fun we had today" then a long pause as he cried "I'm sorry you got too hot in your Lego house."  Another short pause, "okay, I'm done talking."  And we laid little Buggy to rest.

After I was done with dishes we found the mother load of box elder bugs and now the boys have a new habitat with three new friends.  Jack has already told Will we are not having any more bug funerals. 



One more thing, just so I don't forget.  We were walking out of the grocery store the other day and out of the blue Will says "Mom, I'm like car insurance, because I save Money."  ....Alright then.

Ug, its dirty AGAIN???

I've been stuck in a "no cleaning" rut.  Trying to do school with Will, cook healthy meals for the family, and clean just seems like too much some days.  So, priorities take over and the cleaning stays on the "to do" list.  Sitting there, bugging me, I hate a list that never gets done.  But, I also like flexibility for those days that I'm over ambitious and feel like I can conquer the world, and for those days I just can't seem to pry myself off the couch.  Hey, they happen to all of us. 

I was ready to conquer this beast.  I've recently been motivated by other websites that are encouraging us to "organize your entire life".  Great endeavour, but it almost seems impossible.  Luckily, she is taking it slow.  First things first, our daily schedule, and cleaning.  We have a pretty good daily schedule we can all live with, so I'm focusing on our cleaning.  Also, keeping in mind that my kids are old enough to help.  They will be able to take care of most of the "daily" clean-up tasks.  Phew, I knew there was a reason I had those little buggers around. *wink*

 Knowing I dive deep into the prospects of planning, over enthusiastic, and setting unrealistic goals; I decided to make this as flexible and realistic as possible.  I know there will be times when things just won't get cleaned as much as my list says.  That's okay, I have a plan and a decent way to keep track of things that have been done this month, and things that haven't.  If they get skipped over this time, it will be first on the list for the next week. 

I added to my existing monthly schedule.  The top portion is for the family, doctor apps, church activities, sports practice, ect.  The bottom half is one week at a time; errands, chores, dinner plan (although its been taken over by my cleaning schedule).  I have a monthly meal plan posted on my fridge, so its a bit redundant anyway. 

 I took an idea from "modern parents messy kids" and used my beloved paint chips. (LOVE paint chips)  I first made a list of everything I'd like to get done in a week and month.  (Eventually I will have quarterly and yearly tasks)  I quickly realized this would have to be an every two week endeavour; after taking 3 hours plus hours cleaning yesterday, I was not about take that much of my life everyday to cleaning.

From there I wrote each rooms tasks (one for weekly and one for monthly) on a paint chip.  With some sticky tack they will fit nicely onto my wall planner chart.  As I finish a task, it will go from my planner to the "done" portion of my cards.  I have put a start date, so I know roughly when I started my monthly tasks.  If I finish early, I get the rest of the month off.  If I take too long, well hey, I'm the only one who is counting.  Same goes with the bi-weekly lists.   

This is a list of the daily tasks we already do.  I can "see" them and dole out duties as the kids have time.  I try to take care of the kitchen duties, as that it my space. 

So, that's my plan.  We'll see how it goes.  But at least I have a plan.  Better to have a plan and not always use it, than to find a man eating dust bunny under your bed.  Happy Cleaning!

Addition with Carrying

This is probably pretty self explanatory, but I had to share.  Jack's class has been working on addition with carrying, his teacher said a lot of the kids were having a hard time with it and any practice at home would be helpful.  That's all she had to say.  I was scouring the Internet and found this idea.  I thought it was brilliant.  I made a chart and put it under our handy little wipe off learning board.  (Thanks mom! for the board, and thanks God for Divine inspiration.  I know I couldn't do it without a little help)

I reviewed the tens place and one's place.  The first few times we made dots next to the ones side.  As we counted 10 dots, we circled it and wrote down(in the ones column) what was left.  After he got the hang of that we moved on.

   After he understood only ones could stay in the green column we could just add that side first.  Get it, Green for go, so that's where we start.

 Again, reviewing ones spot stays on the green, tens spot moves up to the red.  After doing a few of these he was confident in the process.  He even said it was fun and thanked me for teaching it to him.  Wow, warmth in a mother's heart! 

The end process.  We don't write the arrows every time, but it was needed to show him the first few times.  He really likes writing on this board too. 

Tomorrow we will try it without the board to see if he can remember what he has learned. 

Just what have I been doing.

I almost feel silly even trying to write anymore.  But I guess the "better late than never" mantra comes to mind.  I guess I don't feel so bad as I'm quickly reminded why this IS so hard.  Ella always wants to help me "check" my mail.  So, thus far, I have already deleted several of her additions.  Thanks Ella.  Not to mention the fact that I have been busy schooling Will, doing the extras with Jack that the school just can't manage to teach him.  Really, its a school, but anyway.

So I guess that kind of introduces the last several months.  Thanksgiving and Christmas were stuck somewhere in the middle and the winter that wasn't.  We have been enjoying an amazingly beautiful season, very little snow and way above average temps.  We get disappointed if the high isn't above freezing.  So strange.

I'll start off with our little princess.  She has begun to declare she is the "dancing princess".  She sings a lot in there too, she adores singing.  She will do it everywhere, and she has to make sure everyone can hear her.  She loves the spotlight, and luckily for her, she has an audience. 

Just before Thanksgiving Ella decided she would potty train herself.  I made sure it was all her decision and gave her lots of choices during the process.  "Do you want to wear a pull up or underwear?" or "Do you want to use the little potty or the big potty?"  Pretty much anytime I could offer a choice, I did.  After a while, I had realized that she had been dry for four days!  Wow, I LOVE girls!



Will has been busy learning all I can teach him.  This kid is a sponge.  I'm really quite jealous that I can't remember things as well as he can.  But we each have our own gifts.  I don't want to brag, but I'm pretty proud of him.

We thought really hard about homeschooling him so he would stay challenged, but the school assured us that they would place him at any grade level he was performing at.  We'll give it a whirl, he is so excited to be in school with Jack, and I think the daily interaction with friends will be a lot of fun for him.  He likes to be social, and its hard to get it in as often as I should. 


Jack has apparently become the "cool kid" in his class.  I'm not sure how this happened since I was the one hiding under the slide at my school.  But I'm more than happy that he has friends and is confident enough to talk to girls.  I don't think its by coincidence, I pray daily for his friendships and the favor of the Lord to be over my kids.  Thank you Lord for answering prayers. We do talk about how this position of favor allows him to encourage and include all kids and not single certain kids out and how God would want us to use our status in society, not to abuse it. 

There are always tears in the midst of rejoicing.  And we have had our own struggles with Jack.  He has always had trouble reading, and the issue has only gotten worse; despite the schools extra help last year, and our time at home.  We went around and around with the school, trying to find help for him, contemplating homeschooling, and finally settling on an amazing tutor who is offering her services free of charge.  Yup, free.  Another answered prayer, other tutors were thousands of dollars!  Um, yeah, how is that going to work out?  No need to worry, God has it figured out. 

He has been disappointed with the weather.  There are plenty of sidewalks for skateboarding, but no snow for his new snowboard.  Just another chance to try to look at the silver lining, something we are trying to focus on.

Lewis has been plugging away on his hot rod project.  If you are interested in more details on that you can check out here.  As for me, well, those previously listed have kept me pretty busy, and I'm loving it.  Most days :) 

Brain Covers

A while back Will and I were driving home from church and he was telling a very detailed memory that I didn't share.  I commented on how well he could remember and that when you get older, sometimes your memories sneak out. 

He replied very matter of factually, "yeah, I know, its because I have brain covers." 

Me- Really?  Where did you get them?

Will-  I was just walking around and I found them laying on the ground.

Me-  Do they go over your ears or something? 

Will- No, they go right here.  (pointing to his temples)

Me-  You know, I forget a lot, do you think you could find another pair for me?

Will-  I did, but they were made our of cement and I couldn't carry them.  Mom, my memories can't sneak out.  They don't have arms, they are just words. 

     He will still regularly comment on his brain covers and when we are learning something challenging and he is able to figure it out, he refers to his "ant home brain."  Your guess is as good as mine. 

Season of Eternal Evening

We are in the throws of Autumn, the season of the eternal evening.  The dusky shadow encases the sky in a quiet mysterious way from dawn to dusk.  The shadows are ever long, the sun's heat is loosing the battle to warm the earth.  While the afternoons are still warm, the mornings are crisp, and the evening warmth looses quickly.  The wind whips up the dust of the earth and carries the leaves in a swirling fashion bringing squeals of delight from playing children.  There is no need for store bought toys this time of year.  The trees produce enough entertainment as we try to catch the falling leaves, and pile the ones on the ground into various formations and giant heaps.  The earthy smell the broken leaves sets time still to remember the seasons of years past.  I'm tempted to walk all day in anticipation of the sound of the crunching leaves under foot, to take it all in one last time before God sets his winter blanket upon us.  You can almost see it looming in the air, the sky looks closer in this season, almost as if I could touch it.  A reminder of the shelter God provides through the winter and the warmth He will keep in our homes.

Its that time of year.  The leaves have begun their yearly show, the sweatshirts are hung for their morning run, and the pumpkins are lined up in rows, waiting for my kids to show up. 

A family in Crofton were selling them for a $1 each, we got a HUGE one.  I'll have to get a picture of the kids with the ones we brought home.  It was hard to use self control, I wanted multiples of each, but we left with 5, and 10 smaller gourdes for painting.  I love orange, so pumpkins are kind of my favorite.

He really got into it too.  The kids kept picking them up and putting them in the trunk with out even telling us.  Good thing they were cheap.

Ella and Becca taking advantage of the photo opp.

Later that day we went up to Lake Henry in Scotland and went fishing with Grandpa and Grandma McCarthy.  The boys always talk about fishing with grandpa Dean, so this was quite a treat.

The fish were pretty active.  They boys were excited they got so many bites.  This helps them like fishing even more, I don't think they've ever had to experience the true patience of a fisherman.

Before or trip fishing we stopped by the Menno Power Show.  Our yearly fix of all things old.  The kids love the tractor trains.  They are so cool, so noisy, and so old.