Pics from the last 8 days

Son2 observing Son1 being "crushed" by the giant woolly mammoth (sculpture) at our local natural history museum. 


The boys frolicking near the Celtic cross on the church grounds after our all-ages evening vacation church school a week ago. It's all about the wall. Silly boys! 


This wasn't all on one day -- you knew that, right? I mean, it could've been, technically, but it wasn't. Anyway, check out the at-dusk visit to the snow-cone stand. Flavors: Son2 - peach. Son1 - toxic waste (it was grey, I kid you not). Dear husband - lemon lime. Me - brown cow (chocolate and coconut). 


For your viewing pleasure: a simple yet effective way to display books for the kids. Summertime only, believe me! Have I mentioned that we decorate in Children's and Family Activities?? On the left: ancient history and Olympics, with fiction in front. Middle: Vote! and related books. Right: a mix of mostly picture books. 

Let's learn to read... tshirts!

Lately Son2 (age 4 1/2) has been asking to read. I've brought out the Bob books that Grandma C gave us and we've worked through the first four books. After we've sounded/read through each book, Son2 reads it again to anyone breathing — Son1, Daddy, me. Daddy is very patient at teaching him to sound out the words.

Just now I heard Daddy patiently teaching Son2 to sound out "Nittany Lions" from the Penn State tshirt he's wearing. LOL!

We are a Penn State family (we met there in grad school, meteorology) -- or at least we grownups are. Son1 is seriously inclined to the local school, OU, to our chagrin (did I mention we're a PSU family?!?). Son2, well... obviously dear husband is working to avoid a similar fate for him, our sole Sooner-born offspring.

News flash: Son2 just ran to Daddy from the bedroom and showed off his Penn State tshirt. For now the indoctrination is working, heehee.

Meteors, ice cream, wash-n-wear house!

I LOVED seeing even just a few streaks of the Perseid meteor shower last night. I was up way too late yet again, but just before I went to bed (midnight!) I remembered the Perseids. For the first time in years, it was a clear night.

I turned off all unneeded lights in the house, and stepped out into the backyard. After about 10 minutes of meteor- and star-watching, I was able to see many more stars than when I first stepped outside. I believe I also saw the Milky Way! I live at the southern edge of our town of 100,000; there are only a few much smaller towns beyond us; our subdivision property backs up to a 7-acre park; the land falls away gently in that direction (southwest), and... it was quite lovely.

I'm thankful for "earthgrazing" midnight meteors, not too many lights, and a cloudless and starry sky.

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Recipe for a happy kids-and-mom moment yesterday: serve ice cream as snack and call it good. Son1 and Son2 were sooooo happy, and I love doing crazy things like that. Makes for joyful times.

I'm thankful for midday ice cream, "why not?" decisions, and happy kids.

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It was windy this afternoon, and the clouds looked suspiciously rain-showery in an unorganized way. Then! Suddenly! The skies opened and big fat raindrops drummed on all surfaces! I ran to close the open windows near books and carpet (all upstairs), and afterward got around to closing the front windows in the dining area. No worries, even though it had rained about two feet into the house through those windows. No problem!

Our floors in the living areas are finished concrete and there was no furniture or anything else near those windows. I got a cleanup towel, wiped the windowsills dry (and clean -- bonus!), and dried the floor. The concrete is our foundation, which previous owners had prepped, stained slate gray, and finished to a gloss that's not slippery. It looks good, feels great on bare feet in our hot summers, and stands up to anything. Spilled oatmeal? Play dough? Bright colored drinks? Ill children? Super easy cleanup, and no worries about stains or what stayed in the carpet.

I'm thankful for the gift of a wash-n-wear house!

Stuff update

News flash: if, after wayyyy more than 48 hours (and a sleepover, my excuse), the closet Stuff is still lining the hallway, the kids can help -- especially if some of it is their Stuff.

Here's how: keep drinking your coffee and reading when the kids discover that the row of containers on top have THEIR detritus from the last 6-12 months, and haul it off to their room to dump on the floor for seriously fun exploration. Let the floor remain covered in old kid detritus for two more days, then drag everyone's derriere in there, and start sorting.

A trash bag within arms reach is extremely helpful. Also, I made them put their sorted things in common. I.e., put Lego stuff in the Lego bin... huge pile of goofy little toys in a big bucket just for goofy little toys... stickers and animal-shaped erasers from Grandma C to the art and writing/doodling cupboards, respectively...

As it turned out, I was DONE allowing them to pile up every semi-demi-hemi-precious object in their small "it's mine" boxes. Instead, all cars together, all Lego together, and if you can remember which is yours, enjoy the thought while you play. Extra-special stuff may still be squirreled away, but let's discriminate a bit as to what is "special," shall we? I ought to write that thought on my arm in pen for my own Stuff!

Now, to finish the ex-closet Stuff. Perhaps I ought to direct the kids' attention to the other containers of their Stuff. Or, now that I've gotten rolling, drag the trash bag over and deal with it myself, eh?

The last part of this Stuff turns out to be kitchen Stuff that I've lived without for 15 months. I'm putting 90 percent of it out for the charity pickup that's coming next Wednesday. My goal: a HUGE pile for charity, and get the nooks and crannies of the house clear once again!

Off to school soon enough

As of yesterday noon, both boys are enrolled, registered, paperwork-all-done for starting school in two weeks (Son1: 3rd grade. Son2: afternoon preK). I've started a mental to-do list for school stuff, such as checking their clothes and see what if anything we need to get. I realized that, for me, this is the beginning of the end of summer. The time when I start to look and plan for what's about to happen, and let go a bit of what is ending. Last week was still full summer; this week I'm antsy to find out which teachers my boys will have, and who their classmates will be.

Many friends are really looking forward to school starting. I know my kids are looking forward to it. I have mixed emotions, because I would love to homeschool them. I feel as though we've just gotten de-schooled (decompressed) at this point in the summer, and right about now would be a great time to add Prima Latina and some Singapore Math, to ease us into homeschool.

Instead, I've pulled out the Cuisenaire rods, the 1-digit addition/subtraction with C. rods book for Son2, and the multiplication/division with C. rods book for Son1. We keep reading along happily in The Story of the World Vol. 1: Ancient times. The kids and I continue enjoying plenty of play time and reading time. Summer is almost gone, but not quite. School is starting, but not yet.

Limbo, yet in motion. En route.

Sleepover hangover, or somethin'

There was a sleepover. It involved four boys age 8 1/2 or so. It involved 3-5 hours of sleep for said boys. It was two nights ago. It was at someone else's house. Our entire family is just now recovered!

How is it that a fun Friday evening cookout with three families, in which two families leave their boys for the night and return the next noontime to pick them up, somehow sucks all of the energy out of the weekend? Not in a bad way, but it's completely amazing.

Son1 had his first sleepover, spent the evening 'til late playing in their pool, went to bed after playing a 'civilization'-like computer game and a midnight Yu-Gi-Oh tournament (he reported). That night Son2 went to bed immediately upon arriving home -- about an hour late -- and dear husband and I both stayed up wayyyy too late.Son1 slept poorly 'cause he was cold -- so it goes -- and played in the pool again after breakfast. We picked him up just before noon.

Half an hour after we got home, he dragged himself off to bed. I sung him to sleep as always (sung prayers from church), and he slept for two hours. During which time dear husband laid down for a nap. Son1 got up and dear husband continued sleeping. Son1 read, watched TV, drank a bunch of water, and went back to bed a couple of hours later, then both sleeping guys got up for dinner -- ?!? Son1 and Son2 went to bed agreeably at their regular times, and I went to bed not too late; no idea what dear husband did. Son1 is still tired today, but seems to be somewhat caught up on his sleep and eating and drinking of water.

So Saturday was really odd for us, with half the household in bed at any one point in the day (or so it seemed). Son1 had a wonderful time with three of his best pals from school, and yet appreciated being back in his family routine. I'm not sure what I think of all of this!

Book stack reshuffled

I returned Hillary Clinton's Living History, unfinished. Amazing how oddly freeing that is. Better to return it when the interest wanes, and know it's available to check out another time to finish, if I get interested again.

The books in the sidebar, well, I'm in a bit of a lull right now re. longer books. Most of them are being IGNORED for the moment, in favor of:

Homeschooling, the Middle Years: Your complete guide to successfully homeschooling the 8- to 12-year-old child, by Shari Henry. Finished this today. I love reading interesting tidbits about other people.

How to Talk to Your Child About Sex: It's best to start early, but it's never too late, by the Eyres. Read the under-10 parts today, skimmed the rest, and it's ready to return. It's pretty good.

Next I'm going to read the next several books in Son1's "The Young Underground" series (kids' adventures in WW2 and post-WW2 Denmark). Pure fun, and that's what I want right now. Maybe I'll peek at Son1's The Magical Worlds of Harry Potter: A treasury of myths, legends, and fascinating facts, by David Colbert. He gobbled it up.

I reserve the right to dump all books in the library's return bin when I lose interest, no matter how long I waited for my request to be filled. Freedom!