Schooling Wrap-Up

Our school year is finishing up. In IL your homeschooling requirement is you have to have 180 days of school. We do not stop cold during the summer but do half days for a lot of the summer months. I have not in the past counted those summer days of school as official days of school. Therefore, even though we have done much more than 180 days this school year, officially, we have three days of school, this week, to finish up our school year.

After our 180 days are up we will take two weeks of rest and then start our summer session. We will do four day weeks and only work on Math, spelling, reading, grammar. But with our busy summer schedule, camp, and visits too and from relatives we will have lots of time off. I don't want them to get burned out and not get a break but I also don't want them to start all over again in the fall! It seems to work for us.

But the most exciting news is that the community pool opened this weekend so after they finish their morning work we are going to eat a little lunch and take a little break at the pool for a couple of hours before we work on our bird unit. I am totally spoiled by our pool. I don't have to take care of it, it is right up the street, and I can come and go as I like. This AZ girl is really itching to spend some quality time in the sun while the kiddo's swim!!

So, that is our week coming up.

Kristen

TISNF!!!!!

Is anyone else just completely tired of all the commercials on right now featuring the totally disrespectful and spoiled children and the idiot parents? The first one that comes to mind is for a cell phone company. The mom is tired of paying all the over charges for texting on her child's cell phone....

There are all sorts of problems that I can see with this scene, first the child appears to be maybe 11, she has a cell phone that her parents are paying for so that she can gab with her friends, she has time to send a ton of text messages to her friends, and finally when the child is confronted with the fact that she has been texting too much she is out of this world rude to her mom. She proceeds to argue with her mom and then when her mom, finally, takes her cell phone away she throws a tantrum and leaves the room. Seriously, is this at all a realistic scene. Maybe I am totally out of touch with reality.

Does anyone watch this commercial and think,"Thank goodness there is finally an answer to all my cell phone problems."?

Aside from the fact that the child is completely obnoxious the mother is an idiot. It started a few years ago with the shows that made the dads look like complete morons. Where everyone, including the children, just patted his head and did whatever they wanted behind his back. I thought that was horrible but now to be attacking moms!!

I don't think so.

Kristen

Masks Completed!!

So there you have it. They are finally completed! I think they turned out great! They worked really hard on them and spent a lot of time designing them and painting them.

Kristen

Thanks Paula!!

Let me tell you about Paula. She is one of the most incredible people I know. She is an awesome mother of three gorgeous boys, two of which are twins. She is very smart and creative (don't you have to be with three boys?). She is also kind, generous, loving, fun, caring, the list goes on. She is just the kind of person that when you meet her you just want to hug her and spend more time with her.

I met Paula about three years ago. She was the first person to reach out to me when I moved here. I know that God knew that I needed someone here to talk to and to be my friend. I had just left a huge support network of friends in North Carolina and I was really feeling pretty alone. She called me because Mike was at a conference in Texas and she wanted to bring me dinner. It was awesome and let me tell you that little gesture began an awesome relationship.

There are days that I don't know what I would do if I didn't have her support and love. She doesn't always tell me what I want to hear but she does tell me what i need to hear, and that is why I go to her. It is called wise council and if you don't have someone who can provide it for you, get someone!!

She is always finding ways to bless me and my family. Like this past weekend she took me to lunch and a day of beauty. I got a facial and manicure and we had a blast. I would never have done it for myself. She knows this and is really good at making it happen.

I love her kind heart. I thank God for her everyday.

Kristen

Two Crowns for Kristen

Yeah, unfortunately not that kind of crown. I had to have two crowns started today on my back molars. The dentist I have been going to is very good and gentle but I still hate going there. I had two giant fillings in my two back molars and of coarse since they are so old they are cracked and needed crowns.

So after it was over and I was making the appt. to come back for the permanent crowns and a filling that i have to have refilled, the dental hygienist told me that they must have made a mistake, because this other tooth that needs to be refilled actually looks like it may need another crown or even worse a root canal!! But they won't really know till they get int here. I have a problem with that. Because really once they "get in there" what can you say????

No just leave the nerve exposed.

Really.

So I have to go back in a month and I am praying for just a simple refill. Heck at this point I would even take the stupid crown.

Today I am very numb and I have a feeling that this evening when the Novocain has worn off, yes I had to have that many shots, I am going to be feeling it a little. But Mike is home and good for some sympathy!!

Kristen

Native American Masks

Yikes!! Paper Mache is a mess!!!! They did such a great job on their masks!! I can't wait till they are painted and I can post a picture of them.

The boys' masks have crowders....I wonder why?

All i have to say is that it is pretty difficult making a goatee out of newspaper and paste. And that is all I am going to say about that.

Faith my sweet perfectionist who has NEVER liked getting her hands dirty jumped right in and did a great job. I guess if it is an artistic endeavor it is okay to get messy.

Kylee who has never had a problem getting anything messy did awesome and had fun.

All the masks are so creative.

Next week when they are painted I will post them.

Kristen

Crafts, Crafts and more Crafts!

This Native American unit has been so craft intensive. We have made Navajo rugs, head warbonnets, pottery, and Faith sewed a doll like the one I got when I was a little girl living in Arizona. Today we are talking about the False Face Society and we will be using plates, cups, and paper mache to make masks.

I think it is going to be a huge mess. But I think they will enjoy it and I am sure they will remember the lesson about the Iroquois people. That is what matters.

Now that we have talked about a lot of the tribes of North America and some of the important chiefs these last two weeks, next week they will be expected to take what they have learned and feed it back to me. They will have the next week to research more thoroughly a topic from this unit and pull together a research paper. Seth obviously will just pick a topic and write what he learned about it. Kylee and Faith will be expected to dig a little deeper. They have already picked their topics at the beginning of this unit so that they could be thinking about it this whole time.

I did our Japan unit this way and Faith wrote the best paper.

I have my big giant Sunday newspaper just waiting to be shredded.

Here I go.

Kristen

Happy Birthday Handsome Husband!

Today is my gorgeous husband's birthday!

The kids and I will be working on making sure he is the King tonight when he gets home from work. Dinner, cake, and birthday surprises.

I always try to make a special cake on birthdays for my fam. Can't decide what this one will be but I am sure it will involve chocolate.

I know that lots of wives think they have the best husband but I really do. And today, I thank God for the blessing he is to me. I thank God that He sent him to be raised by his loving parents and that He gave him to me to spend my life with. I pray for him today to have a great day with encouragement and kindness and love all around him.

Happy Birthday Baby!!!

Vapor Feet

I just found a cure for night coughing that has changed my life. I got an email a couple of weeks ago from an old friend and it told of this night time cough cure.

Here it is: Rub Vicks Vapor rub on the bottom of your feet and put on socks.

Ok, I read this and I thought RIGHT!!!! My first instinct is if this is so easy why doesn't every one know about it? My second reaction was I kind of wished someone would get a cough so I could try it....

I got my wish. Joshi got a cold. Not a big deal. No fever just a little summer cold. But along with it is the most annoying cough. Every couple of minutes a dry, non productive cough followed by me telling him to cover his mouth every time he does it.

So the first night after his cough started I broke out the Vicks and rubbed it on his feet. I put a pretty good layer on them and covered them with socks. No other meds. Put him to bed and not a sound!!! Second night same thing, no coughing. Last night was our third night and I heard him cough a couple of times but no big deal.

I am sold!!! The article said that the person had tried it on an adult and that it worked so I now have the cold and I will be rubbing some vicks on my feet soon. I'll let you know.

I just really wish someone had told me this 10 years ago when Faith was little. Think of all the sleepless nights we could have avoided!!

Kristen

Pictures from the Museum

Thought I would just post some pictures from our trip to the Native American Museum yesterday.

Kristen