July 22, 2011

Are you wishing for Christmas and winter weather these days? I don't know if it has anything to do with this extremely hot weather we are having but it seems like the boys have been talking about Christmas a lot lately. Today Ben was telling me what he thought would be a good Christmas dinner, beginning with a roast. Isn't that funny?

We are doing pretty well around here. We are all well now, after a couple of weeks of colds and some strep throat. The worst thing about that was that Nick seems to have developed an aversion to taking any medication. We have always had a challenge with this with him, while Ben, on the other hand, likes it too much. But this time was much worse than normal and we went round and round, trying to get him to take the antibiotic for the strep. It was not a good thing and, in retrospect, we should have just taken him in for a shot. We discussed it and he was very anti-shot too, of course, but, in hind sight, it would have been the lesser of two evils.

I bought a pack of orange tic tacs and tried to teach him to swallow a pill but he couldn't do it yet. He is the kind of kid that gets easily frustrated if he does not learn something quickly. Yes, I have my work cut out for me, in regards to homeschooling him. It will definitely be a growth opportunity for us both.

The weather here is so hot that we cannot really be outside much, unless we are playing in water. The good thing is that the boys are taking gymnastics twice a week and swim lessons once a week, plus violin lessons, so that keeps them busy. Between that and just generally running errands and grocery shopping, they are happy to be indoors at home, especially since they are sooooooo into Legos these days. They are definitely the number one toy in our house right now. As a matter of fact, the boys both agreed that we could give away our train table, tracks and the large collection of Thomas the Train trains that we have. They were all given to us so we will be happy to pass them on to someone else who will enjoy them. We have another set of tracks and Thomas trains where the trains run on batteries. It is a large set so it has to be set up on the floor. The boys like that one better so they said we can give the other one away. I'll be a little sad to see it go, on the one hand, because they have played with it a lot of the past couple of years. But, on the other hand, it does take up a significant amount of space so, in that regard, I won't be so sad to see it go. Now I just have to find another child who would like to have it.

The boys are almost done with their gymnastics lessons for the summer. After their lesson yesterday, we talked about which they would rather do, gymnastics or soccer. The dad and I had discussed it and we both felt that soccer would be best for them (cardio exercise, team work, staying competitive with their age group). When I first asked them, they both said they wanted to do gymnastics. I told them that the dad and I had discussed it and thought soccer would be best for them. I expected them to whine a bit or whatever but they both asked why we thought soccer would be best for them and so I explained what the dad and I had discussed and they both immediately said they wanted to do soccer again. So we drove right over and signed them up. They got to see their coach again and they are both very excited to get started. They will do soccer for three weeks in August and then they will be off for two or three weeks before starting again.

So, when we start K, they will have one swim lesson a week and one soccer time a week. This is why I really like the place where they play soccer. They meet only once a week for an hour. The coach spends part of the time going over drills and then they split up into two teams and they scrimmage for the rest of the time. But we don't have to go to other practices or games during the week/end. Eventually they may end up on a team that requires extra practice/games but, for now, this is really nice. We will also be meeting with our homeschool co-op at least once a week. I think this will likely be plenty for us to do, when added to everything else and just free play time inside and outside with kids in the neighborhood.

There is not much new going on around here. I am trying to get organized so I can be ready to start K with the boys sometime next month. I have not picked a date yet.

The new kitten is growing very fast. I can't believe how quickly she has grown. She is going through a phase where she is quite ornery. And poor Dancer. She just won't leave him alone. He bats her around pretty good and sounds real fierce but she just keeps coming back for more. He cannot walk through the house without her attacking him. He looks like he is biting her but I can never find any wet spots or anything on her afterward and she never acts hurt at all.... quite the contrary actually. He is probably not being tough enough on her. She gets very upset when we are eating at the island and she does not get anything. She climbs up on the back of the chair nearest the island and watches, while licking her lips. She hates that Dancer can jump up high on things and she cannot. I sure hope she settles down a lot when she gets a little older. I don't remember Dancer or Zoe acting as ornery as she does. We play with her a lot but she wants us to play with her all the time. If we get busy doing something, she will climb up and scratch and bite (playfully but it still hurts), trying to get us to play with her again. I have clipped her claws twice (which was not easy at all) but they seem to get sharp very quickly.

She has really made me appreciate Dancer all the more:). And I feel for him and do not like how she treats him. She also has very little time these days (next to nothing - one or two seconds) for being loved on and cuddled, which is a bummer. So, this must be like the terrible twos and I will be glad when they are over. She is currently climbing into the back of my recliner, as I sit and type this, and has been running all over me and scratching my chair. I finally put a sheet over the other recliner, as she has been scratching and biting it terribly. She is a little terror right now, but a cute one. For once I am glad they grow up quickly.

The new house is great. It fits us quite well. I changed the library around a bit again and I like it much better. It allows more floor space for playing, which is always nice. It is really a play room and a place to keep all of our books and homeschool materials. When we get our piano from my sister's house when it cools down in the fall, it will also be in the library.

I have gone around and around in my mind about where we will do what, as far as homeschooling goes. I think we will likely use the dining room table, the kitchen island counter and the living room couch for most of what we do. The boys will also probably do some reading in the library but I have stopped reading to them in there because the small loveseat couch is too small for us all to fit comfortably. I really want one of the large chalkboards on the wooden stand that is on wheels and can be moved from room to room. I think we would use it a lot. I also really want some maps that roll up into a holder, where you can hang it on the wall above the white board or bulletin board, can pull the maps down when you need them and then they roll back up out of sight when you don't need them. These are the two big things on my list but I have not been able to find used ones and the new ones are a bit on the high side. I am still hopeful though that we will eventually get them.

The funny thing about homeschooling is that I have been preparing for it for such a long time and now that it is almost here, I am a little nervous and dreading it a bit....but looking forward to it at the same time. Isn't that odd? And I know I need to appear confident in front of the boys, even if I don't feel it.... which makes me a bit more nervous. I'm sure after we get the first week or two down, we will fall into a good routine and everything will be fine. Right?