Wordy Wednesday: High School May Kill Me

One is a sophomore in high school right now.  I still haven't put together her 9th grade transcript.  I'm a slacker.  I also need to check into drivers ed for Two.  Sigh.  Since I'm stuck in bed today (cold, or allergies, or just this crazy weather system...who knows!) I am doing research on transcripts and "graduation requirements," drivers education, and dual enrollment info for the community colleges near us.

The biggest question in my head:   when did I get children this old??

Here you go, for anyone else with children suddenly almost adults:

HSLDA Recordkeeping Page  has examples of transcripts as well as blank printable templates you can use.

All the rest of my research is pretty state specific, so not of much use to many of you.

Two for Tuesday

15 Awesome Science Experiments for Older Kids

My Science Board on Pinterest

And a bonus:
15 Science Experiment You Can Do With Your Kids


We are about to embark on doing science experiments!  Enjoy!

Sunday snapshots

For 1st grade co-op this year, we've been working on Spanish a lot.  They did mariposa coloring sheets.

Enjoying a beautiful day at the park while Two had her guitar lesson.

After guitar lesson, the other homeschooled kids in our neighborhood came down and they all hung out in the yard.  My favorite part of this pic?  The kids are 18, 15, 14, 11, 7 and 4.  And they all spent a couple hours hanging out.  

My Friday night date.

Saturday afternoon date with Four.  We took a trip to the Durham Museum of Life and Science.

We had to read all of the educational boards on the Dinosaur Trail.

He is super sensitive to smell!  LOL

This was probably his favorite thing.  He is steering a sailboat on a pool of water.  You can just SEE the joy.

And playing a little music before we go!

Every now and then, my kids do random things that are so "me!"  This is one of them.  His feet up on the dash, just like mama.

Sideways Saturday: Capirotada

Mexican Bread typically made for Lent.

We've begun our "Around the World" travels.  We started in North America (since this is the most familiar.)  We discussed our Easter traditions, as well as Mexican Easter traditions.  To wrap up our N. American studies we are making this bread.

Four was helping me with the syrup and you can see our toasted French bread cubes. It was yummy and liked by all (I did try it, although, only two bites--I'm mostly paleo, and this is bread and sugar. )

To cover Canada as part of our studies, we tasted some fantastic Canadian chocolates sent to me by a DEAR friend who lives on the West Coast of Canada. 

Three having a chocolate. Four is not a fan of chocolate, but he did try them too. 

Lazy Housewife

This week I've been working on the task of re-writing our family chore lists.  Why?  Because the current system doesn't work.  For one, my BIG children (almost 16 and 14) never remember to DO the chores.  I have to remind them.  Every.  Single.  PROFANITY. Day.

I'd like to just ask them "Do This..." but I always get attitude about how they don't know how (Even though they've been shown, and I've told them I will show them again.) or "That's HER chore" because the other one actually LIKES doing it or DOESN'T like the way the other one does it.  Even with the current chore lists....they switch off.  One claims to not know how to load the dishwasher, so Two ALWAYS does it.  One hates the way that Two puts away their clothes, so One ALWAYS does it.  This is not the point of the chores.  The POINT of the chores was/is to make sure you know how to do "all the things!"  When you are a single gal on your own, or when you're a roommate, or when you're a girlfriend/fiance/wife....you will KNOW how to take care of the house stuff.

Ugh.  *bangs head against keyboard*  kahsduhfwieuahgfiuew4hrt893wygadsjun

My POINT goes out the window when they just switch things up.  I'm thinking of using a different system, but again, I will have to be responsible for the system, and as I pointed out in my first paragraph I get tired of having to remind them EVERY DAY.  I feel like they are almost grown.  They KNOW what needs to be done.  Why do I have to point it out to you that you don't have any clean clothes and you might want to do some laundry?  Why do I have to point out to you that the bathroom is disgusting and you should probably clean it up?  It's maddening.

However, I need/want them to pitch in, and once they don't live with me and therefore don't have me reminding them...they will probably live in filth.  But I will have done my best.  Damnit.  Since I need/want them to pitch in, I'm moving to a different system.  An "odd/even" system.  On Odd days One has to do ALL the chores I ask.  On Even days Two has to do ALL the chores I ask.  This also means that there are some more opportunities to get Three and Four in on this chore action.  Honestly, have you tried to write up 4 chore lists before?  I couldn't come up with enough stuff to do.  Maybe I wasn't trying hard enough.

I'll try to report back in a month about how my new slave efforts are going.

Two for Tuesday

We'll be moving on to South America in our "Around the World" unit.  Here's a link:

South America

Some ideas for cooking during this unit:

24 Traditional Brazilian Foods You Need to Eat Right Now

Manic Monday!

I will be teaching TWO Zumba classes on the Monday following Easter (read:  a sugar filled coma inducing holiday.)  It's one sure way to burn off all the crap I've consumed over the holiday weekend.

I wasn't THAT bad truthfully, since I only bought the kids candy without food dye in it, I've only eaten:  One Buckeye, about a half dozen jelly beans, a small slice of cake, and three butterfly gummies.  I went out on Good Friday with my sister though, and I drank quite a bit.  I also, however, danced for at least 2 hours of the time we were there and feel like that balances out the sugar/alcohol consumption.  Let me live in my fantasy people.

And just in case you are having a less than stellar Monday, following a LONG holiday weekend filled with sugar and dye and heavy foods:

Snapshot Sunday

This is going to be jumbled and cover the course of a month-ish since I've been terrible about posting. 

First, this is a picture of me and a guy I LOVE.  A lot. Today is his birthday. This was taken last June (on MY birthday, and is one of only two pictures I possess where he isn't making an intentional weird face. It was his gift to me. 

A fantastic picture of my kiddos.  From right to left:  4,2,1,3. 

The boys helping make rice Krispy treats! 

Enjoying: 

Cleaning up spilled Krispies. 

One and Two's bio-dad got a puppy. Here he is with my giant old man....they wore each other out. 

Working on their "Around the World" unit study. 

One and I went to see Miley Cyrus as an early 16th birthday gift. 

The Easter Bunny visited. 

One helps Four with his Lego set. 

And lastly, and solely because there must be retribution for swiping your moms phone to take 100 selfies:  

 (I'm not sure why they are holding up magazines for this picture..that's One's newest Seventeen mag with Miley AKA HER QUEEN! on it, and Two with the special People issue with Kurt Cobain since she is currently all about Nirvana.)

Wordy Wednesday: You, Part 4

Today's continuation:  More about relationships.  This time:  Your NUMBER ONE relationship (spouse, lover, boyfriend/girlfriend.)

This is probably the most important relationship in your life.  You should be working diligently at making it a GREAT one.  Now, we all get lazy.  I'm just as guilty as everyone else.  But, at the end of the day, THIS relationship is the one that counts.  THIS relationship is your "soft place to land," the one that helps you unwind and decompress and holds your shit together.  It's also the one you hope will be around after your kids are grown.  Nurture it.  Every.Single.Day.

Every day?  I can hear some of you groaning already.  Yes, every day.  Even if it's just one simple small act of kindness directed at your number ONE.  Every day.  Ask if there is something you can do for them.  If they seem hurried, or stressed...offer to take something off their plate.  If you know they are stressed because of work (which, mostly likely, you can't help with,) pick up an extra "chore" or two at home that is normally delegated to them.  If you both work, this still applies.  You normally cook, and they clean up after the meal...but you know they are stressed about something--let them sit and read, or watch some mind numbing TV, or go for a walk, or take a shower...whatever THEIR thing is, let them do it, with no guilt, while YOU do the required extra work.  Relationships are a give and take, and when YOU are the stressed out one, they SHOULD jump in, too.  If your relationship is not give and take, I suggest you stand up and bang a gong and get that number ONE's attention and reset your scales, establish some balance.  Now, maybe doing the dishes will make your number ONE feel better.  It's important to note that I speak from a place of my number ONE being an "acts of service" love language fella.  If it sounded like I switched to greek there, I recommend you read this article.   And check out The Five Love Languages Book.  Learn HOW to tell your number ONE that you love them.  Sometimes, YOU think you're doing it because you are doing things in the way YOU would want them done.  Maybe your spouse speaks a different language.  It's at least worth a shot, right?  What is there to lose, truly?   My love languages are physical touch, and gifts.  I love presents, even little tiny ones (post-its...my number ONE leaves me post-its.  It's the most wonderful gift.  A note that just says "Smile," is hard to ignore.)  My number ONE's love languages are physical touch (we really lucked out there, that our number one way of communication is the same, phew) and acts of service.  Pitching in and doing something for him, or asking what I can do...goes a long way (and sometimes, he doesn't even WANT me to do anything...but he's always pleased and glowy feeling just because I ASKED.)

It's also a good practice to throw in a little of ALL the love languages.  Touch your number ONE.  Tell them they look nice (my number ONE is great at telling me he thinks I'm sexy...at random times, not just when he's trying to get laid.)  DO something FOR them.  Buy them a small gift that made you think of them.  Leave them a note.  My number ONE is superb at this.  But it hasn't always been that way.  We've been down the rabbit hole.  We hit a 7 year rut (a little early..) and I thought it was toast.  I was waving my white flag and packing my toys to go.  By some miracle, and a lot of hard work on our (mostly his) part, we have righted the ship.  I would be hard pressed to come up with any suggestions for making our relationship better at this point.  Do I think it will always be this way....with a lot of maintenance, yeah.  Will it have slumps?  Yeah.  Will we have to pick it back up after driving into the ditch again?  I hope it never gets that bad again, but if it does, we'll give it a go.  ;)

I know some of you have been married a long time.  Things get 'off' sometimes after so many years together.  Heck, things can get off after only a few months together.  You get into a rut.  You fall into a routine.  You like the routine.  You resent having to change it.  Knock that shit off.  Despite what you may think, or may have been told...you aren't the center of the universe.  If you're going to be IN this with someone else, you're going to have to be IN it.  Give and take, babe.  Give and take.

Two for Tuesday

Easter Egg Money Hunt a cute game that puts an easter egg hunt together with money counting.

Easter Egg Glyph