As a parent, the days are long…but the years are short.

It’s been three weeks since my last journal entry. I thought about just skipping over those weeks, but since this blog is also a way for me to keep a recorded history of our family life, I’ll be sharing stuff from the past couple of weeks.

In my life this week…
We have been abundantly blessed with plenty of activities!

The boys and I enjoyed our trip to the symphony.  We were seated in time to listen to the Organist give her sch-peel.  She is great!  I think she gives the same talk every time we are there, but it is always interesting to hear.  She talks about the differences in the size of the pipes, as well as, the differences in material used to make the pipes.  And, she always ends her time with us by playing the theme to the Addams Family show – everybody is snapping and grinning.  Lots of fun.

For a follow up on Hubby’s truck, the insurance company totaled it, like we thought they would.  The pay out for it was a little more than we were anticipating.  It was a blessing to be able to return the funds we used to purchase his new truck to our savings account so quickly.

The boys had their Cub Scout pack meeting for the month.  Both of them were so excited to earn so many belt loops and pins.  And – we prepared for the impending camp out…

We went to the first meeting of the Young Author’s Club with the homeschool group.  The boys had a great time, and I think they were encouraged to know that their mom isn’t the only one who requires writing to be done regularly.  And, I got a few ideas on how to make it less painful.

We had our first Cub Scout Camp Out.  We were at a city park on the lake.  I used my odometer to discover that from our driveway to our camp site was almost 3 miles.  Hubby was out of town at a competitive shooting event (he won 1st place!), so it was just me and the boys.  Woody pitched the tent with a little bit of help from Tigger (and me.)  The Webelo’s had several meals to cook, serve, & clean so they could earn some badges. But, the rest of the time Woody could be like Tigger’s group, free to roam and enjoy the great outdoors for the weekend.  For a brief time, the fire ban was lifted so we did get to have the requisite camp out  s’mores. Yum!

Another part of the Cub Scout weekend included rocketry.  The boys each assembled their hobby store rockets.   They each had three engines to try out and they had so much fun firing them off.  Unfortunately, Tigger’s rocket crashed after the first launch, but he was able to fire Woody’s rocket with his extra engines.  It was a good time for all three of us.

Other things we’ve done:

• Boys had homeschool day at the gymnastics place. They have soooo much fun every time they go.
• Hubby and I squeezed in a date night before our favorite babysitter moves away < sniff, sniff > I’m hopeful we can get one more before she’s gone.  Then I’ll have to face reality and try to find someone else…
• The boys and I went to see Oliver! at the local children’s theater.  Somehow I didn’t remember what a dark and gloomy story it really was.  Thankfully, the part that “stuck” with the boys is the song “Consider Yourself.”  They’ve been singing it for the past week.
• We had ANOTHER camping expedition. This time was with the local homeschool group at the state park. Since I am NOT a huge fan of camping, I was very happy that this was only one night.
• I had an appointment with an endocrinologist. Hoping to get some answers when I go back next week.

And finally, we had our second Boys Book Club of the school year.  This month we discussed “Treasure in Tahiti.”  We made treasure maps, found Tahiti on the globe, learned a little bit about Tahiti, did the sand water filter experiment in the back of the book, learned that the ocean around Tahiti is known as the shark capitol of the Pacific, learned a little about sharks, learned to encrypt and decipher a simple code, learned “The Baby Shark” song, and finished with a banana as a snack.

This coming week we’ll be saying good bye to our pals at Pirate Coffee Company.  They’re closing their Texas store and moving up to Oregon so they can be with family.  In the two and a-half years they have been in business here, they have become wonderful friends and they will be sorely missed.

In our homeschool this week…
Tigger finished his MUS Alpha book. Woo-hoo!

Woody has aced the timed drill for addition.  We haven’t done it for at least a month, and he was able to do it cold in under 5 minutes.  Tigger is NO WHERE near the 5 minute mark, so that will be his next challenge.  Next up for Woody is the speed drill for multiplication.

We’ve started Spectrum Spelling with the help of Spelling City.  I think this will work well for Woody.  He was able to spell “possible” a week later for an unrelated subject – which is a huge difference from when we were using Spelling Power.  I think the main difference is using Spelling City on the computer.

The boys have been writing in their journals every school day.  For the first 10 days, I gave them topics and they had to fill a lined notebook sheet.  I told them I didn’t care about spelling, grammar, mechanics – they just have to write about the topic.  Some days were easier than others, but they got it done.  After they wrote, I let them read it out loud.  They really enjoyed sharing their writing.

Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share…
This is something I learned this week.  I checked out several books from the library about sharks to take with us for the book club kids to look through.  I wanted to leave them in the car, so we wouldn’t forget them at home for the meeting.  Woody and Tigger have poured over those books as we’ve been running errands or driving around town.  Every few moments, one of them will pipe up with “Hey, Mom. Did you know….?”  I think I’ll be doing this on a regular basis.

Another thing I learned this week from a guest speaker at our church.  He said something we all know, but I don’t think I’ve heard it said this way, so it has stuck with me.  He said, “You invest in what you value.”  He’s right, of course.  If you value season tickets to the Rangers, you’ll spend the money on it.  If you value “bling”, that is what you’ll buy.  If you value knowledge, you’ll spend your money to get it from books or people or experiences.    Somehow hearing this takes away any of the guilt I felt about the money I spend on various school curricula, classes, and field trips.  If I see it as investing in my children’s education, which it is, it is one of the best ways to spend our money.

I am inspired by…
My friends.  Each person adds something to my life. I am grateful for each and every one of them.
Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…
We will be working on more academic Cub Scout badges, making our regular trip to the library, and delivering Meals On Wheels.

My favorite things were this week was…
playing 10 Days in Europe with the boys. What a fun board game! Even Hubby enjoyed it, and he’s not one to like board games. When I told him that there are other versions (10 Days in Africa, 10 Days in Asia, 10 Days in the Americas) and that once you master one, you can combine them.  He was excited and said to go ahead and get another one. So now we also have 10 Days in Asia.  So far we’ve just played it as a stand-alone game, but I think we’ll be able to do a 20 Day game soon.

We are not sports fans.  But seeing that the Texas Rangers were in the playoffs we decided to use this time to teach the boys about baseball.  As we watched the last 10-or so games of the season.  They’ve now learned about innings, strikes, balls, walks, outs, runs, hits, errors, etc.   The way the boys were rooting for the Rangers in the last game, you’d think they’d been lifelong fans.  Unfortunately, the loss hit Tigger pretty hard, but it provided an excellent learning point.  I was able to remind both of them that this is why we don’t put our faith in men, we put our faith in the One True God.  People will often let us down, even if they don’t want to.  But our God is one we can always count on.  While we can’t celebrate a victory with the Rangers, we can celebrate the victory we have in Jesus.

What’s working/not working for us…
Getting out of our routine a bit.  This week I let the boys play Angry Birds.  I figure they’re getting a bit of geometry and physics practicing all those angles, figuring out the acceleration, speed, etc.  I also got out the Loom and Hook so they could weave a couple of potholders.  The fine-motor skills needed to complete them are great finger workouts for the boys.

Questions/ Thoughts I have…
I am so excited to have a week with very few outings.  I feel like we need to stay home and get some work done for a couple of days.

Things I’m working on…
I’d like to do some more quilt piecing.  I have some coupons to clip and organize. I need to stock up on a few items. I need to make a meal plan for the week.  I really need to go through both freezers and see what needs to be tossed and what needs to be cooked up this week.

I’m reading…
library books about quilting and thyroid disease.  I’ve been listening to The Girl Who Stopped Swimming.

I’m cooking…
White Chicken Chili for dinner.

I’m grateful for…
children who are eager to learn.
a roof over my head.
a warm blanket on my bed.
and a relatively full pantry.

I’m praying for…
our friends who will be moving cross-country this coming week.
smooth travels for Hubby this week.
answers from the doctor.
that the Lord would order my steps.

A photo, video, link, or quote to share…


After the rain, the boys dug up some of the clay under their fort and created this sculpture.

From the Cub Scout Camp Out: Moths to a flame, like boys are to water.