July 6, 2011

We got our new kitten over the weekend and she is very tiny and so adorable. She is currently living in the dad's office, as she is too small and young to let roam. When I have taken her out of his office she very cautiously went a few steps down the hallway and then quickly ran back to her room. This is actually working out very well because our 14 year old male cat, Dancer, needs some time to get used to her. He is slowly but surely adjusting, or so it seems. He is certainly progressing nicely but the question is whether he will ever get to the point where he accepts her. Eventually we'll see but, for now, they live in separate worlds, although they can see each other through the french doors into his office.

We are in sick city around here and have been for over a week now. Ben caught a bad cold virus which included lots of fever and strep throat. He started recovering nicely and was almost finished with his antibiotic when Nick came down with it. Nick seems like he is finally fever free today but he still has 3 more doses of antibiotic for the strep.

Nick hates, hates, hates any kind of medicine (quite the opposite of Ben). So trying to get him to take the antibiotic the last two nights has been a total nightmare (both the kid's liquid form and a crushed up tablet in applesauce). I was crying by the time we finished yesterday evening. Today I bought some Tic Tacs to see if I can teach him to swallow a pill. We have not tried it yet but will soon. I hope he can learn it quickly so this won't be an issue for him anymore. My heart really goes out to him.

We had a pretty tame 4th of July because of all of the sickness (did I mention that I now have a sinus infection and it will be a miracle if I don't end up with strep). The dad took the boys to see the fireworks display in our neighborhood, which is actually pretty good (we went last year). I stayed home because I was tired and not feeling well. They enjoy it and I enjoyed catching up on some sleep.

The husband has Thursday and Friday off this week, which means he doesn't work at all this week because it is his light week, so we are trying to get a few things finished up around here. I made a trip to my favorite large nursery today and bought a van load of plants, shrubs and flowers. I didn't count them all but it sure was a lot. That van can really hold a lot.

When I arrived at the nursery I thought it was closed because nobody was around. They weren't. It's just that nobody shops for plants in the July 100+ weather. I was the only one there, which is so nice because I get all the help I need and can get out quickly. It gets very hot in there. I brought all the plants home and unloaded them and placed them in the different beds, around where I think they should be planted. It looks nice and, once these are planted, we should be almost finished. There is a small bed back by the garage but we are not going to plant anything there until after our fence is up because the fence cuts right through it. So we have a few more things to plant after the fence is up and then we are finished.

We just received two quotes for the fence so I think we will be moving on that pretty soon. We are so close to being finished and I can't wait to be completely done....just in time to start weeding:). I am satisfied with the inside, although I still have about 3 or 4 boxes that have a bunch of junk (odds and ends) in them that I need to sort through. I will do that next and then I should be finished with the inside.

My next thing is really starting to prepare for starting Kindergarten. I follow The Well Trained Mind Forum and I am always seeing posts where people show pictures of their homeschool rooms. Some of them are so great that it makes we wish I could have had school there! I need to at least get organized around here. I had started it a while back but then some things came up and I have not looked at it since. So I have a bit of work to do in this regard.

As for our K work, we will keep it pretty simple and I am hoping to do about one to two hours of work, 4 days a week and then we will join the homeschool co-op on Fridays. I am planning to do an age appropriate Bible devotional with the boys and then we will cover phonics, reading (they each read aloud to me and I read aloud to them), spelling, math, learning to write their letters and then practicing through copy work and practicing the violin (we are taking a bit of a break for illnesses right now). We will throw in some crafts projects and some fun geography lessons here and there for fun, along with fun cooking projects. Additionally, they will still have their violin lesson once a week, swimming once a week and one other sport (soccer or gymnastics) once a week.

The other thing is that I have not had the boys doing any chores really since we moved here, other than picking up their toys. So I really want to make this part of our new routine when we start school. Simple chores like spreading up their beds, emptying trash, helping to put away dishes from the dishwasher and clean clothes, and also helping to clean up after meals and sweep the floors. I need to work on a chore schedule.

So, that's my plan but, you know, the best laid plans.... There is the plan and then there is the reality. What I have learned is that when I am teaching, things tend to take longer than I had thought they would. Hopefully this will not be the case when we start K but, if violin practice is any indication, I won't be holding my breath.

I suppose after the plants are in and the fence is up, the tree house might be next on the list of to do's. Possibly. The boys haven't mentioned it in a while because it has been too horribly hot to be outside much but, I know when it cools down a bit, they will be asking about it again.

Oh, and we should have the new camera up and running very soon so hopefully I can post some pics in the near future. We still have not found the old one.

So, that is about all I can think of for now. Until later then.