Urgent care for my Uvula
4 years ago
This morning we all woke when we felt like it. From my bed I could see Brent cleaning his room. Something we had all agreed the day before needed to be done. Callie was already watching Anime. I nicely reminded her about the decision to clean our rooms today and she quickly began. Brent reminded me that we were going to practice for the 5K walk this morning, so him and I headed out to map a 3.11 mile route. After we got back JT had coffee made and Brent went and grabbed his bike. Callie decided to sit this one out and work on her room. JT, Brent and I headed out for a very pleasant walk on a beautiful, quiet Sunday morning. Who says you need to be at a church to feel God's presence. Brent is getting much better on his bike. We only made it 2/3rds of the way when the call of breakfast was overwhelming.
JT started cleaning the meatball mess from the night before and I headed to the store; remembering that we had just tossed my broken electric skillet. I currently don't own a frying pan. I got a cute new griddle. Yes, kitchen appliances are cute to me. I got home to a clean kitchen and soon the house was filled with the smells of bacon and french toast. Brent was on the computer and JT was catching up on what he missed of yesterdays draft picks.
Half way through cooking, Callie popped her head in to let me know her room was clean and ask if I needed any help. She unloaded the dishwasher and set the table on the back patio for breakfast. I am frequently astonished with how helpful my kids are without the tension of actual chores. I am pretty sure they do more now and are much happier about it.
Breakfast was lovely with lots of chatting. Everyone helped clear. After breakfast we all sorta did our own thing, sharing with each other anything interesting. There was napping, video games, computer time, TV, movies, cups of coffee, meatballs, reading, writing, drawing, cuddling, gardening and more.
Nice day. We have a lot more of them now that the kids are out of school.
Brent seems to have the music bug too. He has been sitting at the keyboard more. I want to find a nice poster or something so he can see what the notes mean while he plays.
The kids have been on a Spongebob binge. New episodes don't happen all the time, so there are Spongebob marathons. I got to see my favorite bad word episode, so I was happy.
Callie and I went to the post office today to pick-up her new violin. She was so excited! The cats were just excited about the box. The violin is pretty nice, needs a better set of strings, but overall not bad for the price. And after much playing, we figured out how to use the clip on digital tuner. Callie was picking out "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" by the end of an hour. She does have a new appreciation for professionals. Not as easy and sitting at the keyboard and playing a tune! Callie tried playing the violin "cello style" then moved on to something a little more traditional.
I have been homeschooling a little over a year. I am currently loving Sandra Dodd's website. http://www.sandradodd.com/unschooling I feel like it all makes perfect sense. When I implement artificial constraints on the kids, they resist and though learning does occur, the ability to remember what was learned is lost as is the love of learning. Also they seem less happy. I have spent the last 3 weeks or so learning everything I can about this homeschooling method. My husband has teased me about the constant emails on my phone. During this time we were mostly on vacation so it was easy to allow the kids to take a break from school and just do what they wanted. No surprise to a more seasoned homeschooler, but the kids didn't become mindless lazy little people. As the return to school time approached my hubby and I had several talks about the kids choosing what they wanted to learn. He agreed to give it a try, knowing change was needed.
Sandra's site has been very helpful at allowing me to see what the method really is. For me, the name unschooling was frightening, I saw it as unlearning. I was nervous and the site reassured me. Now my kids are reassuring me. Callie is completely passionate about music and is more excited about the arrival of her violin than an upcoming holiday. Brent is so interesting and intelligent, I couldn't force him not to learn.
So Monday came and went and no major back to school moment occurred. The kids are still filling their time with what they want and a whole lot of learning is going on.
We haven't seen Liz or Grace since we moved to New Mexico; add my sister's separation and this was a very special visit. Gracie has grown so much and she is a delightful little girl. The kids played well and Grace seemed to enjoy all the attention.
We went for a walk around the property, which was truly beautiful. Especially on a sunny spring day. She house sits on 2 1/2 acres. The "trails" are well maintained by the landlord. What a wonderful place for Grace to grow in.
During the walk, Grace seemed very attached to Callie.
Grace wore Brent out with the race game. Up and down and up and down. She thought it was very exciting, Brent not as much, though he had fun. I told him that was what it was like for Callie for years. He was completely out of breath by the time they stopped. I will forever be in awe of the energy of preschoolers! The kids had a sleepover, Gracie's first!
I absolutely love manga.I just finished fruits baskets and it was great!! I'm reading One piece now and it is about a pirate named luffy which is actually pretty good! I got it from my aunt Heather because she got it for my cousin Noah and he doesn't want to read it, so now I have it! I thought it wouldn't be something i was interested in but i really like it so far.(I'm on the 8Th volume)
We got a text from are friend that there was a bow tie for my baby James Bond.
I went immediately to Walmart to get it!
J.B was not as thrilled as I was though.
The second half of our trip was spent at my sister in law's house. It was a very nice visit. Heather was nice enough to put up with JT's request for a party. I heard they had a good time. I avoided the party by spending the night with my sister. The kids love all the laptops and have been asking and planning how to get their own now. It was nice seeing everyone. Noah has grown so much! Heather's house is beautiful. They seem to be nicely settled despite the flood thing. Everyone headed back to work/school Monday and we headed for home on Tuesday.
We were fortunate enough for the first half of our holiday to stay with Jeff. He was a fabulous host and we are very grateful. The kids love going to Jeff's, aside from Jeff, who they think is great, they get to visit Ms Mouseytongue, jump on the trampoline and lay on their old couch.
Jeff used to dive, his kids do too. He also has done some coaching.
Callie has expressed an interest in starting the violin. We have spent some time talking about it and we ordered one today. She is very excited. We are also hooking up our keyboard for her to learn some music on. Brent says he would like to try the guitar, but not yet; so we will see how that goes.
On our way to Seattle we drove over the Hoover dam and into Las Vegas. It was a really pretty morning.
The kids were a little cold, but we all enjoyed stretching our legs a bit after being in the car all night.
On our way past the bridge construction on the other side of the dam, we notice they have two porta potty's on the crane.
The bridge construction was fun to watch. The workers were all tied down. We all decided this was work we could never do.
We drove past some of the hotels on the strip on our way to the kids favorite breakfast place, Black Bear Diner.
