Olivia keeps me on my toes! Yesterday, I started a new "character training" lesson. I wanted to encourage the children to obey when I asked them to do something, without complaining. For example, if I say, Isaac, would you please help Anna Grace open the door?" It is so nice if he says, "Yes, Ma'am" and does it. So, yesterday I started rewarding those types of responses with an M&M. I put them in a bowl, and they got to eat their goodies and dinner time. It was so pleasant around here! So, when it came time to eat the goodies, Olivia put and M&M in her mouth and promptly spit it out. She got a napkin and started wiping her tongue to get the taste off. She said, "I do not like M&Ms Mommy!" She typically loves all candy, and she has always gobble up M&Ms. I suppose that motivational lesson has lost its effectiveness!

Olivia's newest obsession is playing on the computer. She heads there as soon as she gets up, and wants to play every chance that she can. Part of the problem is that Isaac and Bailey love it too! I did not know anything about computers until I went to college, and it amazes me that my three year old can turn it on, put in her own game, use the mouse and play the game! Her favorites right now are Green Eggs & Ham, D. W. and Freddy Fish.

Today, Olivia decided she wants to let her hair grow out to her toes! Whenever I tell her that I love her, she says, "I love all my family and all my people." I love my Olivia!

Anna Grace

Anna Grace is such a cutie! I really enjoy this age (almost 18 months). My wise friend Connie said this is the age when you start to say, "I could have another one!" Anna Grace is constantly coming out with new words that I had no idea she could say. One of the joys of her life right now is watching the ducks and the geese on the pond behind our house. There is a group of six ducks that stay together, and then another mamma duck with her two little babies. The two groups do not mix (there may have been a scandal in the duck community that I am not aware of!). Several times a day, she stands at the back door and watches them. The two baby ducks sometimes wander into our backyard, and Anna Grace loves it! She also loves watching the Wiggles. She goes and stands in front of the television or computer and says, "E. O. E. O." (her version of D-O-R-O-T-H-Y, one of the Wiggles' songs). I love the fact that little things thrill her heart. Life is certainly more exciting when you see it through the eyes of an almost eighteen month old!

Water Day

We went to "Water Day" at the church property this morning. The children had a blast! It could have also been named "Mud Day" (we had a massive downpour yesterday, that left quite a few mud puddles), but that did not seem to bother the children one bit! Some lovely ladies from church set up quite a few very creative stations, and the children rotated through each station. The toddler crowd splashed in a couple of wading pools and a sprinkler. We finished up with a lunch of sandwiches, chips and homemade ice cream (made by the children). On the way home, Bailey asked why Water Day only comes once a year. I explained how much work went into it and how there were still ladies there cleaning everything up. I really appreciate the wonderful things our church does for my children!

Our First Week of School

It has been a busy week! We started school on Monday. I wanted to start early, so that we would have more flexibility throughout the year. I have two "official" students this year. Isaac is in first grade, and Bailey is in Kindergarten. It is more accurate to say that I have four students, because Olivia and Anna Grace are not about to be left out! In fact, Olivia is constantly asking, "What about my school?"

Monday's school went pretty well. We started with breakfast in bed -- green eggs and ham. This is becoming a tradition (if two years in a row can be considered a tradition). We ended with lunch at McDonald's. It was our weekly Mommy & Me outing, but Isaac and Bailey thought that everyone was coming to celebrate their first day of school!

It will take me a few weeks to learn how to juggle everything and get us set up with a good routine. I had planned to homeschool four days a week, for about an hour and a half a day, for the rest of the summer. I have decided to change that to three days while we still have summer activities. I tried to school on Monday before we went to Mommy & Me and then again on Wednesday before we went swimming, and it was just too much -- I was getting very stressed! Sometimes I greatly overestimate how much I can get done! So, we are going to try doing school on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday for a week or two and see how it goes.

So far, the curriculum we are using seems to be a good fit. This week we have focused on math, reading, handwriting and Bible. We also started Charlotte's Web. I will add in history and science next week. Isaac is enjoying his reading lessons. I had pushed him pretty hard last year, and it seemed to be a bit over his head by the end of the year. He has been able to read the first few lessons easily this week, and that has been great for his confidence! I had started a new math curriculum (Math-U-See) towards the end of the year, and we had gotten about a third of the way through. We had to review a few concepts this week, and we are ready to move on. Bailey is using the Kindergarten Math-U-See program, and she loves it. I think that it has been her favorite part of school so far. Olivia and I have been working on some preschool skills. I want to encourage her love of learning!

Cast Free!

Isaac went for a follow up visit for his arm, and they took his cast off! It has only been three weeks, but it is healing nicely. He still has some restrictions on what he can do (no contact sports, skateboarding, wrestling, etc.), but he can get back to swimming. We go back in three weeks for another x-ray to make sure that it still looks good. He has a brace to wear if he is going to be in a situation where he might get knocked about. He is very apprehensive about being without his cast. Bailey was the same way when she broke her arm a few years ago. She wore a blanket wrapped around it for a day or two, until she got used to life without a cast. I am so thankful that God made our bodies so resilient!

Saturday Morning Happenings

I got back in the garage sale saddle today. It had been well over a month since I had been, and I was having withdrawal! I was not too impressed with the sales today, but I enjoyed looking. My first hit was a yard sale that was advertised to open at 6:00. They also said, "Early birds welcome, please knock!" I arrived a few minutes after 6:00. There was a groggy looking man standing out front. He came up to my van and said, "There is no sale, my 'friends' played a practical joke on me." When the "early birds" had knocked, he had answered the door in his boxers and demanded, "What do you want???" The "friends" had brought their camera and caught the whole thing on film. The victim did not seem to find it too funny! From there I went to about seven or eight other sales. I bought a $3.00 bike. I am hoping to be able to use the training wheels, and pass the bike on to someone else. I also bought a few flashlights (my salute to hurricane preparedness), a toy box for Olivia and Anna Grace's room and a couple of things to put back for Christmas.

I stopped by the bread store while I was out that way. The bread store is a great place! I can buy bread for 1/3 to 1/2 the cost, and I can also get cheap flour tortillas. I usually buy enough bread for a week or two, and put some in the freezer. Now it hurts to pay full price at the grocery store. I also had the added benefit of interesting conversation with the lady who works there. Today she was telling me how much she would like to move back to Knoxville, TN (I understand). She and her family had evacuated there after Katrina and had been really impressed by the beauty of the place and the friendliness of the people. She is hoping to move there in a couple of years. She went on to tell me how she thought that the entire Gulf Coast would soon be under water, and she wanted to move north. Interesting!

I popped into Winn Dixie and Albertsons to take advantage of some deals, and then finished up at Walmart. Thankfully, all three of these place are within a couple miles of my house. I really treasure my Saturday mornings "adventures". A big thanks to my wonderful husband for "holding down the fort" so that I can go!

Our lovely garage

I started attacking the scary place that we call our garage this morning. We do not have attic storage in our house, so anything that we do not know what to do with gets put in the garage. It is a keeping place for yard tools, baby items, bicycles, strollers, toys that are being rotated out, and lots and lots of junk! We do manage to have room to pull our van in, but there is not much room to walk. It gets unbearably hot in there, so I decided I would try to work a few minutes a day, until I can see a bit more of the floor.

I started with our shelves. I am amazed at how many products we have to kill bugs. We can spray them, dust them, bomb them, or swat them. If that does not work, we can put poison in our spreader or mix up some concentrated solution to zap them. I think that if the whole engineering thing falls through for Mark, he may have a future in pest control!

I found a box of yearbooks from middle school through the years that I was teaching. I still have not quite figured out what you are supposed to do with these ten pound books. I did enjoy looking at the pictures and reading the things that people wrote. I have notes from middle school friends that said things like, "I will never forget you." I have forgotten them -- I have no idea who they are! I enjoyed looking at pictures from the eighties and early nineties. I was made for those hair styles! I also chuckled at the description of me in the 1994 yearbook of the school where I was teaching -- "Miss Jones enjoys exercising(???) and reading."

I also unpacked a box of dishes that belonged to my grandmother. My parents mailed them to me before we moved here, but I had not gotten around to opening the box. I really like the pattern on the dishes, and I am looking forward to using them!

The children discovered the box of toys that I had been accumulating in the garage. Whenever I start to get frustrated with toys that are not being picked up, I begin secretively packing a few away. I always choose the ones that nobody is playing with. It was almost like Christmas when they started pulling those toys out of the box!

Our garage still needs a lot of work, but it already looks better!