♪ A Spanish Guitar and The Black Cat ♪

The boys had their piano recital tonight.♫
Their teacher rocks.♫ ♫ ♪

Their recital was at a church about ½ a mile from my house! How is THAT for location, location, location??!

Beau played, "Spanish Guitar," and Champ played, "The Black Cat."

Angel... sat on my sister's lap as she was trying to record this. You will see her menancing!!!!

And then, as the piano teacher played the violin for us, Angel fell in the seats and totally distracted Janelle. :P ► Insert mortification here.◄ :P

I tried to upload the 90 second video, but I could not. :( :P

For the last few months they have kept record of their practice time. For every half hour of practice they earned a raffle ticket. For every half hour of other musical instruction, or going to a musical performance, they also earned credit. So they each had a TON of raffle tickets to put in for prizes. Beau came home with some Magnetix, some candy and a little handheld video game. Champ came home with a beanie baby, a double basket ball set by Nerf, and a Mickey Mouse Photo Album.

Champ particularly blessed us tonight. He put some of his raffle tickets in for items he knew Skeezix would love. He didn't win them, but we were so touched by his spirit of generousity. He also threw in a few for a handheld video he knew his brother wanted and said, "If I win that I am giving it to [sic] Beau."

♥

Checking in...

It has been tremendously busy at our house. I have been working a lot the last three weeks, and I just finished a five-day-in-a-row stretch of working.

I am exhausted. The shifts have ranged from 4½ to 12½ hours. The last three nights I didn't leave work until 12 AM and didn't get to bed until almost 1 AM. In between working we have squeezed in Father's Day, Seabreeze, preparing for vacation and a smattering of school. I commented to a friend yesterday how I believed I had exhausted my coping skills and was running on fumes.

My kids have been excellent. I am so blessed to see how God has used my unusual schedule to reveal some fruit in them. The evenings Mama has worked the kids have been directed by Daddy to get up and play quietly in the morning until Mama got up.

They have done awesome.

This is what I was rewarded to see in the girls' room when I went in this morning.

They were doing school with their stuffed animals! See how each one has a book to read? My heart was so warmed. Isn't that cute?

Speaking of reading - Skeezix is really taking off with reading. I am so grateful.

Supercat!

Skeezix created "Supercat," over a year ago. This heroic feline has an ever-developing storyline which includes a super-hero costume and some super friends, including her sister, "SuperBob," who is also a cat, [I don't claim to understand that one] and "SuperBunny," who is her friend LaMB.

One day in the spring, Skeezix needed something to do, so I directed her to make some pictures of Supercat for her birthday invitations for this year. Her birthday is just a few weeks away, so I dug them out and pasted them into cards.

Isn't "Supercat," super?

Rainy Day Play

The boys opted to play out in the steady sprinkles.
The girls took advantage of the chairs I had parked out in the family room whilst I mopped the kitchen floor.

They are going on a bus.

Don't you remember playing that as a child?

Then they were pretending they'd reached their destination. Under the kitchen table.

Look at how FILTHY the edges of the table are!!!!!!!

At least the floor was just cleaned!

Strawberries

"Kids, I was thinking I'd like to pick some strawberries today. Who wants to go with me?"

Four enthusiastic voices said, "Me!"

We picked more strawberries than I had money to pay for!

Washed and hulled about 40% yesterday.


Made my first attempt ever

at strawberry jam.

We will see if it thickens

in the jars,

or if it is going to be runny.

If so, we have lots

of ice cream topping!

OY!

Another haircut for Angel

Before...

The boys needed a haircut, so I took Angel along, as well. My hairdresser and friend was reassuring that some kids don't lose their baby hair until they are four or five. :( Not much I can do except keep it out of pony tails, clips or anything else that will break it off.

I think her new hair cut makes her look more like Daddy!

And a bonus picture of Skeezix.

I don't know what she is doing but it made her laugh.

I can't not post these!

This impromptu hug blessed me deeply.

And as a good blogger... I had my camera right near me in the kitchen!

Summer made a brief appearance...

Monday we saw some sun and we had a beautiful day at Seabreeze with some friends. The place was very quiet and the kids were able to ride over and over on some of their favorites. While the water was still pretty cold, us Rochesterians know enough not to let a nice summer day pass us by! We enjoyed the water and the sun and had a fantastic day.

Now I am going to go build an ark... :(

Help me...

Champ's birthday is in 20 days. He counted.
I have no idea what to get him. Seriously. I have no ideas.

Please make suggestions. He will be 7.

Skeezix's birthday is in July also, and Beau is in August. I am open to ideas for group gifts. [We love group gifts and in the past have gotten them a bounce house (all three) and a sand/water table (boys when younger).]

Any suggestion is appreciated.

Outdoor fun:

Our friends, the Skoorbs, came over for a quick visit yesterday.

Angel gave Bear a ride.

And Beau was asked to pose for a photo...

He is certainly a little boy, huh?

♥That's my boy.♥

Do you see what I see?

(Ignore the date on my camera!)

I got about four feet away and it picked it's head up to look at me. I warned it all about staying out of the road and to not eat anything out of JB's garden. I saw no sign of Mama. As I turned to walk away it startled and took off toward the creek.

I am such a bad blogger

Or busy Mama... take your pic!

Here are some pics Daddy took while Mommy worked Saturday.
He and Angel built some shelves.

She handed him the nails and the boards!

Convention successes

My pants got ironed and I made it to the Leader's Dinner just in time. It was fun to sit with some of the other board member couples as we rarely get to do that. Dinner was rather quick and off we went to the sensory-overload known as Vendor Exhibit.

JB and I made quite a team. First we beelined for Math-U-See and got Skeezix her first math book - Primer, Champ his new book - Beta, and the whole Delta set for Beau. I left JB in my wake, paying the man behind the counter as I jetted over to Rod and Staff to buy English 4 for Beau and the English 2 tests for Champ. JB caught up with me and began our checking out as I was finishing my selections. As he finished up paying I scooted over to the next victim... I mean the next vendor, ABeka. For the third time in 20 minutes I made selections and left JB to make the purchases! Are we a great team, or what? By now our suitcase-on-wheels was getting a bit heavy, but we were ready to slow down, anyway. Now was the serious browsing time. In search of some science for Beau for next year, I started the hunt with the king of homeschool products: RAINBOW RESOURCE.

We had fun making selections, seeing friends, and just enjoying the amazing feeling that you can't help but get when you are roaming through a building with so many other homeschoolers. At this point I remembered why I come to this place. FELLOWSHIP!

I don't want to iron...

Tonight is the first night of the L.E.A.H. Convention. L.E.A.H. = Loving Education At Home and it is New York State's Christian Homeschool support group. Fortunately for our family, the annual convention was moved to the Rochester area last year, after many (?) years at the NYS Fairgrounds. We went to that location once... in the rain... with a new-ish Angel. It stunk. So I, for one, am glad it has come to a drier/indoor AND closer location.

But here is the kicker...

I don't really know why I go.

What I discovered that first year was that I don't really enjoy listening to speakers. Unless someone is an outstanding, charismatic speaker, I don't sit still well. I knew this from years in medical conferences. But since most of those were necessary for my degree or for CEUs I just learned techniques for getting through them. Doodling, making grocery lists, thinking up baby names for future children, or seeing if I could name all 50 states. If it was a really long conference, I'd work on the state capitals. But I never got very far with those.

These days I could name the 50 state rather easily, and I bet I could do the state capitals, as well. But the idea of driving downtown to do that seems preposterous. And while the speakers seem like REALLY, REALLY nice people, I don't feel like what might have to say will really speak to what I need to improve my homeschool. I am much better reading text than sitting for a speaker.

Many people go to the conferences for encouragement and support. I am so glad that the convention offers that for them. I wonder if I don't feel like I need that type support because I belong to such a fantastic L.E.A.H. chapter and I have a number of women who I lean on and lift up in turns.

Aside from my lack of interest in speakers there is the very real trouble of overstimulation and the nagging feeling that I am not a good enough homeschooler. See - you need to picture this ENORMOUS hall FILLED with vendors. And very, very few of the vendors, if any, sell junk. No - the room is filled with all kinds of great curriculum and projects and videos and crafts and manipulatives and if I had 25 kids and homeschooled until I was 99 I would never need to use all of it. Last year I wandered into this hall after our L.E.A.H. Chapter Leaders dinner. It was at the end of a long day, after five long and busy weeks. I was tired and all I saw was all the things I WASN'T doing for or with my kids. Thankfully, as the feelings of worthlessness and self-doubt crept in, I recognized them as nonsense and I asked JB if we could go home. I went home and returned the next morning after good sleep and good prayer. I was equipped to make selections we really needed and continued to pray that God would turn me away from what was not in His plan for my family.

So back to the question: Why do I go? Well, for one, as much as I try to prune off this particular sin in my life, I operate under a lot of guilt. And that guilt goes a long way on this subject. First, I wonder if some day I *might* need what the convention has to offer. I want to do what I can to support its continuity. I particularly want to encourage it staying in Rochester. Secondly, I know it serves others and I want to contribute to it financially so that others who might benefit from it's existence NOW won't see prices elevate to make up for low census.

The other reason I go, is that while I do know most of what I want, it all needs to be ordered. And S&H costs add up. I figured out last year the S&H costs on my Math-U-See and Rod and Staff English alone almost covered the admission fee. The dollar or two difference made me feel better about visiting this vast marketplace, which was good, because I don't much care for internet shopping. I enjoy flipping through books completely, as opposed to making decisions based on the 5 or 6 pages a company MIGHT have available to look at online.

So why am I writing all this? Now?

Because I don't want to iron. I have some lovely white pants I want to wear tonight to dinner [and probably again tomorrow to serve as a greeter (oh yeah - that is more guilt!)] and they are wrinkly and I hate ironing.

Do you like to read a good blog entry???

Click here, to see my friend Darci's latest entry.
I am on CLOUD 9. Actually, I am on clouds 9, 10, and 11, I am so excited!

Aquarium of Niagara ~ Field Trip with friends

Sadly, my pictures are lacking.
The battery was dying in my camera, so I didn't get shots of the penguins feeding, the sharks lurking or the rays raying...

But I got these cute girls jumping, "Weddy, set, go, jump, Sare!"
They were waiting for the show to begin.

Can you tell the boys loved it?

I can't believe I had never been there before.

My Seneca Park Zoo pass got me in for free.

All it cost me was the money for the tolls on the Thruway.