Conversations

The boys were playing on Xbox and Bickering! Bickering to HIGH HEAVEN!

So I call out to them:

ME: "GUYS!"

THEM: "Yah, mom?"

ME: " You are about 2 seconds away from... [pause]... something."

KI: "What?"

GAVIN: "FOOD!!?"

ME: "No. Something to help you learn to not bicker."

KI: "That'd be good."

ME: "As soon as I can figure out what would teach you to stop bickering....


I couldn't think of anything to teach them to stop bickering at the moment, so I dropped it. But the diversion was enough to divert them from bickering.

Later we all 4 biked to Trder Joe's. I decided to try the Coconut water. I chose MANGO. Ki decided he'd try some, too, and picked chocolate. Noww chocolate MILK sounds good, but chocolate flavored water? I went with mango because fruit sounds good with water and mango & coconut go to gather in fruit salad. Connor suggested Chocolate. But he won't even drink these I bet and doesn't want one either way.

Ki asked if we could get a Swiss Chocolate bar. I said yes.

At home I opened my mando coconut water. after I shook it well. Then I peeled back the foil tab and proceeded to drink a sp.
It about got SPEWED all over the table!!How can mango and coconut taste that hideously together??

Ki let me try his chocolate and it was fine. (not great, but fine enough)
Connor informed me that I should have listened to his advice on this topic.
Lesson Learned: Choocolate is a good choice in most situations.

Ki brought me a dollar to pay for part of the chocolate bar, since it was an 'extra snack'.

Somehow something whent right with these boys despite all my blunders and mess-ups.

****
Ivan Update:
I have downloaded some free books. Classics. The Time Machine, Treasure Island, Frankenstein, Ivanhoe.
And some crazy person put Pride & Predjudice on the e-reader free. I was barely tollerable with zombies, I can't imagine reading it 'as-is'.

I won a Gift Card to Amazon from LAZY MOM! YEAH! I got the e-book version of "Christian Theologes of Scripture"
somewhere I must have matured a little. Or grew horribly boring. As I am really enjoying this book with it's historical theology of Scripture.

THANKS, Lazy Mom

****

Connor's braces are GONE! He is happy!
The sent him home with a little gift basket. And just WHAT does the orthodontist send home to the child who just got their braces off?? Taffy, Jolly Ranchers, Lollipops, Tootsie Rolls...
It seems they are hoping for repeat business ..

Stars

Last night I dreamt that Brian was giving me Botox Shots in my eyelids! Close to my brow, actually. He had been watching this show all on Botox and decided my eyelids needing puffing out with infection. I was asleep, but not after the first shot! Then I was too scared to move because I couldn't have ONE fat botox brow, so I sat through the other side. I was SO STINKING MAD at him!!!

Another dream about my husband from last night... He had Chicken Pox. He was totally covered. But in my dream adult chicken pox only lasts 2-3 days. I think he got off easy for the Botox stunt.

Brian gets nervous when I tell hiim I dreamt of him.

Last week I finally write a blog that really is All About my Boys & Homeschool- the original intent f this blogg, and no one leaves a note, I guess the "all about me and my thoughts" is preferred.

I emailed the boys with their school for this week:

School Week:

MONDAY: Funday Monday! Doughnuts for Breakfast. Read 30 minutes. Let's do something fun. Shell Beach? Pirate Fluxx?

Tues-Friday  :
- 5 Word Roots total.
- 30 minutes reading per day
- Ki 2 Khan Science Videos a day or 8 total
- C&G ~ 5 total Chemistry Sections

DAILY- get 30-60 minutes exercise a day. ideas: Bike, walk, amtgard, lifting weights, parkour, scooters, yoga cards, Ninja WorkOut, Park, Frisbee Golf

The mot exciting thing about this week... I will not be making dinner, but am assigning that responsibility to my offspring. My youngest is making breakfasts this week, so I'll not have him do dinners. Just C and G will be making dinners.

I'm still not used to reading/commenting on blogs with the iPad. So I am still behind on that.

Today's topic at church?
Song of Solomon Chapter 4. Sexual Intamacy.
Or otherwise entitled; "The fine art of blushing"
I like these topics to not be public conversation pieces.

I have some tinking to do tonight. Or maybe tomorrow.

and lots of laundry. Our washer was not working for 2 days. Then we were gone all day Friday.

think I'll go read now. I'm reading "The Stars My Destination." by Alfred Bester.
Speaking of STARS-- I downloaded a free App from NASA. It's pretty great!

Blogging 'Bout Boys & Books

I love me a little alliteration in the afternoon!

As 'quasi-unschool-eclectic-homeschoolers' we kinda do school Year Round. But not 'full-on-hard-core' all year. Well, not ever probably, but less in the summer.

Over this summer are kinda finishing up some Chemistry. Some days less than others. The boys are also doing Word Roots. A CD-Rom with games to learn Latin Word Roots. It only takes about 15-20 minutes for Word Roots.

This week is a little on the MORE side. I asked Gavin (17) how his school was going today. He said he was pretty much done with what he needed to do today, butt has some more Chemistry to to later today. (I give them a week goal- "Have X-amount done at the end of the week, so hhs 'enough for today'- is is own amount he thinks he needs to do daily yo keep on track and he much not have done 'enough'
earlier this week so wants to make up some tonight to be ready for tomorrow)

I reallly do just have a short point here, but it seems to require some extra explaining , so you understand what is going oon..
SO... Gavin says he is done for what he needs today but has some more to do later and he'll do it after church. I reply with a reminer that we'll get home around 9. He says; "I know. I figure I'll do my chemistry between 9 and 11 tonight."

Now, we come to my point in all of this. How much I love the freedom of this homeschool adventure and that is naturally leads my young men to figure out how to be responsible & independent. Some parents would not like if their child decided to wait until 10PM to do their school work. Or if they chose to spend the morning playing Magic the Gathering and going for a bike ride so they do school after dinner. Or when they choose to do no math Monday-Thursday and just do the weeks worth of math on Friday. I like that my boys plan their day and do their school when they see fit. As long ass it gets done in the end, it's good with me. My high school teacher used to say; "It's your baby. You deliver it!"- meaning 'as long as the work gets done, I don't care how- its your project/work- do it however it works for you.'

When the boys were little and it was getting late, around 9. I'd have them brush their teeth, get into PJs and play quietly in their rooms. I never told them it was Time to Sleep for them. Just time to be quiet in their rooms (lights off)so I could sleep. They could d play quietly unti they were reedy to sleep. It seemed like it would cause a lot less bedtime battles of "But I'm not tired, mommy! I don't want to sleep!"- then they force themselves to stay awake to prove a point. As they got older, they could turn their lights off on their own t 9:30 or 10 or, when older, whenever they were ready.

I have decided that this 'school year' I will have the boys create their own school schedules. It should be interesting. Ki is my MOST "Unschooler at heart" and the most likely to plan too much. I am looking forward to see how and what they plan.here is my guess:
Gavin seems to like to break his work down into daily portions. If they have to do "10 sections of something by End of School Friday" Gavin will do 2 a day, usually.
Connor like to either do it all at once or all on Friday. Having a free week and one busy day.
Ki gets OverAcheiver Syndrome and also when I assign something he is the most likely to say "well, can I do "such and such" instead"- and his suggestions are always good, they are just 'with a twist'

This school year they will all 3 be "in High School" . Not that it means much. Except I will be keeping High School Transcript for 3 kids.

Be on the Look Out for their personal school Plans! I'll have them do that in Early August, I think.

Bullet Points

• Connor gets his braces off today.
• I won't go with him. He'll walk there and back. Because I have acupuncture this morning.
• which makes me feel like a bad mom, but not being able to do anything do to migraines makes me feel like a worse mom.
• The best free app for the ipad..... the TIMER + app. So I can set the timer before I start to play PocketFrogs.
• Despite Ivan's drawbacks (no DVD playing and the email reader is weird) I really am happy with him.
• Ivan II is my iPad 2, in case you missed that.
• Ki was told to watch Chemistry Videos at KhanAcademy.com- for school- since we are doing chemistry stuff right now. He told me all about the videos he watched- Hemoglobin, Neurons, Oxygen, Sodium-Potassium Pumps.... I asked "Did you watch CHEMISTRY videos??" Ki said " Well, they were under Biology, but biology and chemistry are pretty much the same thing."
• I am glad I am not keeping a high school transcript for that one yet...
• Connor has his Learners Permit for driving. He is actually excited. Not overly, though. He says driving is scary and exciting at the same time. He was asking to drive since the day he got them. I said something about his desire to drive and his response was that "It's not that I REALLY want to, but I have to drive 50 hours with my learners permit."- Like he is asking to drive not so much ecause he wants to but because it is required.
• We got a Fry Daddy for Ki (mainly him as he cooks the yummy foods)- and we haven't gotten to use it yet. the first food to be cooked in it will be doughnuts.
• The tomatoes from our garden are yummy!
• I wonder if we can fry them in the Fry Daddy. Beer Batter Fried Tomato Slices...??
• My thighs will never be like they used to be....

~If you enjoyed my blog, please Click (you can vote daily)~

Ipad Carrying Case I made for Ivan

I saw a cross-shoulder carrying case for iPads and decided to make one. I had this fabric in the sewing room-->

I measured the fabric and the lining fabric, made straps and pockets and added a button- for decoration. I was gonna add a magnet snap thing, but wasn't sure if magnets were OK.

Because of the flap, I had to keep the strap not attached up at the top.- but it attached all the way on the back side. (having both sides partially unattached made it hang weird.)

I made the small front pocket with a skinny pocket for the Stylus, I keep lipgloss and the screen wiping cloth in the larger part of the pocket.

made gussets in the bottom- so it keeps its shape and looks more tailored and less- 'thrown together homemade'

The inside pockets were made for a credit card & Drivers license. - so I can just have 1 bag to carry when I'm going places.

If You Give a wife a Scrubby

A little poemy thing, written my me- many years ago.

If you give a wife a scrubby she'll feel compelled to scrub the sink and make it shine.

Before she can use her scrubby to shine the sink, she has to clear out the dishes.

Before she can clear the dishes out she has to unload the dishwasher.

Before she loads the dishes from the sink into the dishwasher she may as well gather ALL the dirty dishes from around the house.

After the dishwasher is reloaded she has to start the dishwasher.

When the dishwasher is reloaded and started, there are still dishes in the sink.

She uses her scrubby to hand-wash the rest of the dishes.

Before she can hand wash the dishes she has to rinse the sink and clean it.

Before she can rinse the dishes she has to clean the counter so there's a clean place to put the drying towel.

Before she can clean a place on the counter-top she has to remove all the clutter.

Then she has to get the clean towels from the dryer; which needs to be restarted as the towels are still slightly damp. Finally the dryer is done, the pantry is re-organized (while waiting), and the towels are brought upstairs to be folded.

NOW she can hand wash the dishes.

After the dishes are washed she can finally use her scrubby to shine the sink.

Before she shines the sink she should move the clean dishes.

Before she can put the clean dishes away she has to dry them.

Dishwasher emptied/reloaded/started. Counter decluttered and wiped clean. Extra dishes washed/dried/put away.

Time to Shine the Sink!

The sink is shined, now the floor is icky from all the dishes and clutter being moved through out the kitchen.

Before she goes to bed she HAS to mop that nasty kitchen floor.

Before she can mop the floor she needs to vacuum it.

Before she vacuums the kitchen floor she has to take out the trash, move the trash can and get the kids to move their toys.

She can't vacuum and mop while the breakfast table is all dirty. (The dirt will just fall on the newly cleaned kitchen floor) So she de-clutters and cleans the breakfast table.

Then she vacuums.

NOW she can mop.

The counter-top needs to be wiped off again.

So the wife gets her scrubby out again and cleans the counter top, then rinses her scrubby and now she has to shine her sink AGAIN....

Random Cerebral Plundering

Location	Date	Local Time	Activity
EPZ, China	07/15/2011	12:43 P.M.	Departure Scan
EPZ, China	07/14/2011	2:22 A.M.	Origin Scan
China	07/14/2011	11:15 P.M.	Order Processed: Ready for UPS

My Ipad has departed China. Soon it will arrive at my home. It will join the Pining IPad2 Power Adapter and the Logitech Keyboard Case that are already here. it will be so wonderful to get to use my power adapter, finally. As it is, it sits alone and useless in a drawer next to my bookcase. It has purpose in life.
Did you see my son Gavin's Bamboo Tablet Art Video? It's linked up at Yesterday's blog entry HERE.

I recently deleted many blogs from the list of Blogs I Follow. I do not have the time for 130+ blogs. I went down to 45-ish. Some of those have very infrequent new posts. I think I will list my Most Frequently Read Blogs and a few New Blogger friends. Go visit and tell them HI.
are you a lazy mom, too? then go read STACIE @ IMALAZYMOM
got boys? like the Beach? visit ANGIE @ PEBBLEKEEPER
Fashion. Photographs. Food. Funny Dialog. AMBER @ SASSYCLASSY (composing mom)
Crazy is a Crazy Does. we got CRAZY here. Do you? GINA has her OWN BRAND OF CRAZY
Funny. Fifty. and a little bit Foreign. I give you CAROL @ FACING50W/HUMOR
do you homeschool? Got little ones? like Science? visit TRICIA @ ADVENTURES IN MOMMYDOM
MERYL @ DEPARTING THE TEXT a parent. a PhD. Opinions. on teaching and schools
Simple Life. Homeschool. Green. visit IS THERE A BATHROOM ON THIS SHIP
i actually need to go read 7 comment there. her blog was brried in the 130+ blogs and I kept missing it. YEAH for refinding favorites!
This is one for yummy recipes and cooking How Tos! MIKA @ MIKAS PANTRY
THAT IS ENOUGH TO KEEP YOU AL BUSY FOR AWHILE.I'LL LIST MORE LATER. THE 'BEYOND "M" BLOGS... SO IF YOU START WITH 'N' OR BEYOND- YOU'LL GET LISTED..."
that's all, folks.

~If you enjoyed my blog, please Click your heels together 3 times and say "there's no place like home,"~

Truth Is... Scrambled Pancakes are good

Truth Is..... I have had this headache since Saturday. Or maybe Friday. I forget. I am out of Fioricet.
Truth Is..... I am wondering if my husband's Vicodin from his surgery will work in place of Fioricet.
Truth Is..... I am too scared to try it, though.
Truth Is..... My son just brought me a bowl of Scrambled Pancakes. Breakfast in Bed. He 'scrambled' the pancake batter while cooking the pancakes, like one would scramble eggs. Then sprinkled them with Cinnamon Sugar.
Truth Is..... they were pretty good.
Truth Is ..... I don't like coffee at.all. But I do like espresso.
Truth Is..... I am a week late mailing a birthday card to a friend's daughter in Japan.
Truth Is..... I am thinking of having the boys make their own school schedules this year.
Truth Is..... Gavin spends most the day on the computer. Perfecting his art skills. Check out his Videos he posted today: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axYukjlbxHw&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39nZJUh21WI&feature=related
and here is the 3rd in his series today:


Truth Is...... Apple has inefficient shipping. I got my iPad Power Adapter today.... my iPad won't be here until next week. Apparently, Apple thought it was important to have the adapter with nothing to adapt to yet.. Now there is a lonely power adapter in the drawer waiting to be joined by an iPad.
Truth Is....... my iPad2 will be here next week!

Location	Date	Local Time	Activity
EPZ, China	07/14/2011	2:22 A.M.	Origin Scan
China	07/14/2011	11:15 P.M.	Order Processed: Ready for UPS

Frankly, dear....

Frankly, dear - I missed Truthful Thursday-AGAIN. Julianna's post reminded me of what I forgot.
Frankly, dear - it's been a week since my last post. I guess I need a more interesting life about which to blog.
Frankly, dear - I can't find the battery charger for my camera- so no interesting pictures. Maybe I can find an older picture to re-use.


Frankly, dear - we played around too much and didn't get through Chemistry, so it is our Summer Course. I took the boys to Panera for their test. chapter 3. Yes, we had that much fun doing other things during the school year.
Frankly, dear - though I like Panera's pastries, I do not like their chai or lattes, so I walk 3 doors down to Starbucks for my chai or latte and take it to Panera to eat with my pastry.
Frankly, dear - we are very spoiled Americans
Frankly, dear - I enjoy having my offspring on Facebook. what an easy way to send them assignments and online links for research, or to share YouTube songs! Gavin is researching predestination (to be able to talk about what he believes with his youth pastor). So I opened my Facebook Chat and messaged him with some Bible Verses and stuff to help his research.
Frankly, dear - It made my heart smile to get this from gavin (on Facebook) " i already have 4 pages & bible verses and what I think of them. I may have 10 by Sunday and i think thats a good amount. Do you mind if i stay for longer to discuss about it? if james is free and ready?"
Frankly, dear - I am tired of Halo Reach in the house. But it has lessened the Starcraft game I don't like....
Frankly, dear -I love that Ki just randomly thinks of things to do. He's almost 15. We comes walking out of his bedroom with some clay and says he's going to make a caterpillar. It's cute. light green and dark green with pink feet and yellow eyes. He made a leaf for it, too. Now he's killing things on the Xbox.


~If you enjoyed my blog, please Click (you can vote daily)~

Catan by Ki

Ki made a new Catan Map. He fashioned it from the picture on the back of the card. I added a 3-tile island under the dessert region. At first I wondered if it would be too difficult with the resources clumped, but it turns out, if you build at a 2:1 port for your Main Resource then it works pretty well. Since the only ship route was to that 1 small island we didn't bother with the pirate.

We also had a change in rules; which made the game interesting, but got Ki to participate.

See Ki up there? He played the Robber and the Banker. So we called him the IRS.

When someone rolled a 7 they placed the Robber marker. Then Ki (robber/banker/IRS) took a card at random from one of the players on that hex tile. When we were losing 1/2 our cards on 7, Ki got those cards.

We were doing play testing. We found that people were getting so many cards after a while and Ki seemed to always choose Gavin when he could and Ki used his resources for development cards- So I had a turn, the Robber got a play (but no roll), then it was Gavin. We decided that the player before the Robber should instigate "Special Builds". So after I took my turn, I called "Special Build" and the players could build with their resources one last chance before the IRS swooped in and devastated them.

They asked to play to 15 VPs, but it was too long that way. We ran out of Cities and stacked settlements on boats- as a City. Then I ran out of roads and used boats. SO- 13 VPs should have been the limit.

All in All, it was fun. Next Time:

-only 13VPs

-Start Special Builds earlier

Our other rule was if the robber got up to half the settlements/cities as the players, he had to become a player. Ki just built 1 settlement on a GOLD. Actually in the beginning we said if he got to 2 Settlements/2 Roads- b/c that is about what we had. But I think the rule for that is when the Robber has 1/2 the Settlements/Cities as the players (the least)- then he becomes a player.

In order to get to play games we have to do crazy things like this- let him change everything all around with future options.

**Actually, Connor made our first 'made up map'. In the Seafarers, he took all the tiles (land & water) in the normal game map, but shuffled them and put them out randomly. That was fun!