We're BAD!

In our family we are very silly. To say that we joke around a lot would be a huge understatement. I think there is rarely a time when someone is saying something serious in our family without a silly comment being made after it.

When Puppy was around 6 months old, Monkey was a bit tired of having a little baby around. During a crying time for Puppy, Monkey says, "He is the baddest baby we ever had!" LOL!

This has turned into the saying, "He is the sweetest baddest baby we ever had!"

So now the nickname of Bad Baby has stuck. It is a term of endearment and we just love him so much, but he truly is very obstinate at times.

The other day, Monkey was in the bathtub and Puppy was looking for him. When told he was in the bathtub, he gets exasperated.

Puppy - "He is in the bathtub again?"
Mama- "Man, he just lives in there, huh?"
Puppy - "Yeah, he is a bad bad bad Monkey, in a bad bad bad world!"

HUH? LOL!

Play Ball!

Last night was our first night of Pitching Machine baseball. It is kind of scary to see a machine whirling balls toward your little guy, but Monkey never flinched. He did quite well. He did not get a hit, but that was expected. I am sure he will do better. I am considering askking the neighbor boy (who is an all-star player) come over and pitch to Monkey. I have zero skills in this department, and Andrew's shoulder is shot from a zip line injury last year.

Puppy woke up dry last night. That is amazing. We will see if it transforms into potty training. He is showing some interest. Mostly his interest is in being obstinate about it unless it is his idea.

FUN School - Arabella Week Two

Week one of Funschool was very fun. We did not get to everything on our plans, but we did most of it. Some things we will try to catch up on this week. Especially studying the Great Barrier Reef and storytelling.

Monday:
Social Studies - Relationships & Learning - Island Life - Review Australia
Science - Build an Island (Volcano building)
LA - Storytelling

Relationships and Learning: We will discuss why it is important that we learn things in stages. Building one idea on top of another. This will also be taught in a spiritual way. Heavenly Father loves us and teaches us in stages. Using Isaiah 28:9-10

Island life - I used to live on an island, Crystal Beach, TX, it was fabulous. We will talk about the pros and cons.

Australia Review - Where is it? What animals live there? etc.

Language Arts: Storytelling
Mouse wrote the story to a boy, a dog, and a frog. It turned out quite nice. She is trying hard to write so she can be "published"! I have seen a huge improvement in her writing lately.

I will have Monkey narrate his story to me later.

Science: Islands
Mouse wants to make an island as part of our study. Being the new and improved homeschooler that I am we are going to do it! We read a book from the Magic School Bus series on volcanoes and how an island is formed. This will be fun. We are going to make a volcano, and then if she wants to make a dirt island outside we will do that too.

Tuesday:
LA - Descriptive Sentences/Lists, an extra for Mouse: Parallel Construction
Science: The Great Barrier Reef

We will use some books I found at a library sale to supplement our study of the GBR. We will learn about coral, and the fish that live among it.

Wednesday:
Art - Medium - Watercolor
We will paint nautical scenes on real watercolor paper. It should be fun! I was thinking of tying this in with the GBR study and painting coral, or saltwater fish.

Thursday:
Applied Math - Parts of a Whole in Real Life
Science: Clouds

Friday:
Science: Tides

Dinner will be seafood po boys.

Pictures will come as they happen!

Mommy Logic goes Spring!

Ok, I was tired of the cozy feeling. I needed to feel like grass was growing and bees were buzzing all about the blog world.

I am working on the white background. Right now the graphic I made with the help of clipart from www.pccrafter.com is creating a hideous white square around the oval and I can't figure out how to fix it! So we are doing white until I can get something figured out.

Happy Spring everyone!

FUN School - Arabella Week One

The next two weeks are an attempt to make our homeschool fun again. We got a little focused on workbooks, and just doing the basics and it got B-O-R-I-N-G! This involves hands on science all week. (My kids idea.) Also I have to step up the art lessons.

This is what we are doing with the Five in a Row book Arabella by Wendy Orr. This book is a story about a boy and his grandfather and the model ship Arabella. The model gets lost at sea during a storm, and the little boy goes after it. The boy makes it safely home with the Arabella but learns that his grandfather values him most of all the things in his life.

Monday:
Social Studies - Discover Australia
Science - Weather Observation

A while back a friend from the FIAR boards sent us this book as a surprise. It is signed and there is a note to the kids from Wendy Orr. Very nice. It was shipped from Australia, where Wendy Orr now resides. So we are studying Australia.

Today we completed a Highlights Top Secret Adventure that cover Australia.

We are also going to make a bottle thermometer, a barometer and a wind speedometer from the instructions in the Usborne Big Book of Experiments.

Tuesday:
Language Arts - Simile, Storytelling, Vocabulary
Science - Rope and Knot Tying

We have the book a boy, a dog, and a frog by mercer mayer . This is a wordless book, and both Mouse and Monkey will write a story for this book.

Mouse will do the Vocabulary words in the FIAR Vol. 4 book. Monkey will learn about similes.

Andrew will be teaching us basic knots during Family Home Evening on Tuesday. We are pretty excited about that. I am sure I will "tie" in a demonstration on how family unity can be represented by a rope. I am sure the Godhead will be demonstrated also as they are 3 individuals united in one purpose.

This is the Double Half Hitch knot:

This is the Sheet Bend knot:

Wednesday:
Art: Model Ship Building
Science: Parts of a Wave/Reefs (The Great Barrier Reef)

We are going to build models of ships from toothpicks. We will also make the Crayola models of The Black Pearl and The Flying Dutchmen from Pirates of the Caribbean. I found them at Goodwill for $2.

Thursday:
Applied Math: Parts to Make a Whole
Science: Blood Cells

We will find real life fractions. This will not be intense. We will keep it light and fun. They get a ton of fraction practice in their math curriculum.

We will look at this website on blood. We enjoyed learning about how our blood is such a help to our body. We watched the Magic School Bus show Inside Ralphie. Note to me: It is so much better to study something then let them watch the movie. We discussed and reviewed it as we watched. Very good!

Friday:
Science: Sailing
Field Trip to a local marina.

We will talk about sailing concepts, and the general principles of aerodynamics and the use of simple machines. (straight from the manual)

We are using many books to aid in our studies this week. Our "Learning Library" is full of fun and interesting books on all topics we will cover over the next two weeks.

I will update with pictures as they happen.

What have I been doing?

Well...I hate to admit this. I really do.

I have been watching tv shows and movies. We got a subscription to Netflix. I love Netflix. I love the no late fees, and I especially love the new feature of instant watching with streaming video.

So my new obsessions have been:

• 30 Rock, very funny show, I paced myself, only one or 4 a night.
• Anything to do with Jane Austen, almost done with that.
• Heroes, yes, I am very ashamed of myself.

Now, let's talk about Heroes. Andrew and I are watching this together, which is fun, but also drives me insane because I have to wait for him to watch the next one. He is home this week, so we are getting a lot done in this area. We completed Season 1 last night, and watched 2 episodes of Season 2.

I cannot stand how much gore there is on this show. I would love it completely if we didn't have to watch Sylar cut someone's head open every time. I have smartened up enough to see it coming, and close my eyes. But seriously, how much blood do we really need to see. I would be fine if they just showed someones horrified face as they yelled, "Oh my gosh, his head is cut open and his brain is missing! Must be that darn Sylar again!" Apparently, this is not what is hot in today's TV.

I have also enjoyed an educational documentary or two. The Life of Mammals was great!

What exciting thing did we do Spring Break 2008? We watched TV!!!!

For My Fans...

OK, so last Tuesday, while I was in another part of the house, my sons were in the kitchen. Puppy was on the counter, his new favorite pastime, and Monkey, being a good brother, was trying to help him get down. This kicked in Puppy's defense system and he started flinging things. One of those being a wooden pepper grinder. I hear a lot of screaming and as I come into the living room, Monkey is running towards me with a death grip on his forehead.

Just for the record. I don't do blood. I do stickers/thorns. I do bruises. I do burns, but I do NOT do blood. I get a little frantic.

So, I realize blood is involved here and Andrew is not home. I get Mouse to fetch a washcloth, yes it was my best one! And you know what's going through my head at the same time as "I hope this doesn't need stitches"? "Well this is going to make some great Easter pics!" LOL!

Then I make this awe inspiring speech every strong leader makes when there is a crisis, "Ok, look we have all got to calm down! I am trying hard to not freak out, and you guys need to help me, so I don't THROW UP! So, can we all chill out???" Yes the inspiration and respect on their faces was evident at this point.

So anyway, I take the quickest peek. I see just enough to know it is going to need stitches, but not enough to know how big it is. We all have another slight freak out. Then we all get it back together as I try to call our pediatrician's office to see if we need to come there, or can we go to the ER. They are closed for lunch. So I quickly try to find a place for the other kids, so I can go to the ER.

I call Andrew. Tell him what is going on, and that I am bringing the other two children to him. He is fine with that, and then I have another thought. He works on the opposite side of town...I will call my friend who lives on the way to the ER.

See the post about my good friend Margaret...yeah, she can watch them...She is very calm, and that helps a lot.

We get to the ER, they get us right in, and they glue that cut shut! We were very happy that it did not involve stitches. My Monkey boy would have been very traumatized by that...not me...him! From the time of Puppy's first blow to the time we walked out of the ER was almost exactly one hour. Gotta love a small town!

So anyway, the cut turned out to be at least an inch wide. It is healing nicely. He will have a scar, but he is all good with that.