Barefoot Homeschooling

My sleep schedule is all wonky. The kids had their two best buddies (that happen to be siblings) over to spend the night Wednesday night. These kids are night owls, and my kids are used to getting up by 8am or so. Between both sets of kids we were up till 3 am and woke at 10am. I didn't get to sleep last night till 1am and I am up this morning at 7 and trying to get my schedule sorted back out.

We did have a wonderful time! The kids played and played and talked and watched movies and played computer games and ate ice cream and generally had a ton of fun. This is the third time we've had these kids come stay and it's always a blast, even if I do end up a bit sleep deprived.

So I am up, guzzling coffee, trying to get my brain in gear. The kids want to head to Whole Foods' story time this morning which means my time for coffee and quiet contemplation is limited. I need to grab a shower and get my kiddos up and moving. We've never done the Whole Foods story time so it should be interesting. If it's no fun we can always abandon the proceedings and raid the fresh-baked cookie case, which has to be my favorite thing about WF. Well, that and the coffee, of which I need more.  My Krups espresso machine rocks the fresh ground coffee, for sure.

I have been going over the available activities for homeschoolers here in Alabama and as usual there is way, way to much for us to take advantage of it all. I think we're going to end up taking a weekly drama class, a bi-weekly science class, letterboxing with the co-op on the weeks we don't have science, swimming at the YMCA, catching 2 story times a week (Whole Foods and one at a local library), and this year I SWEAR that I am going to get us signed up for at least one Children's Theater production. I say that every year but this year I really mean it, by golly. Maggie wants to join the 4-H horse club that meets monthly, and I still need to get the scouting situation sorted out. Then there are one-time field trips which are too numerous to list.

To keep up with all this stuff, I bought myself a pretty new day planner. Having been unable to find on at the dollar store, I caved and spend $18 on a Franklin Covey 365 classic sized binder from Target and it is so nifty! I am a bit of a paper-pen-notebook fetishist and I must say that having pretty planner pages with flowers and colors and whatnot in an attractive binder is very satisfying. I kind of just want to pet it and rifle through the pages a bit. If that's not worth $18 then I don't know what is.

In order to redo my kitchen, we are planning a visit to Ikea in September to price out kitchens and perhaps order it all. The architect is coming on Sunday to tell us how to alter our very poorly planned out kitchen in such a way that I have more than 18 linear inches of counter space at a go. My best plan involves widening the archway into the diningroom and bricking up a door, but we'll see if the architect has any better ideas. Anyhoo, going to Ikea involves going to Atlanta and we are going overnight and taking the kiddos and my parents. It should be great fun and we may end up visiting the Coca-Cola museum there. We've been once but it was super crowded. Going on a weekday might be nice. less crowds, more time to explore. It's been several months since we've done a fun overnight with the kids (not counting the beach trip in May) and I am really excited about going. I love doing stuff like that.

We also have the beach trip hammered out We're headed to Saint George Island in late October with my parents. It's been 3 years since we had a vacation with my parents and I have missed it. I am super excited that they will get a chance to play on the beach with my children. I realize that I am prejudiced, LOL, but as my kids have gotten older they have just gotten more and more fun, especially when we go on trips, and I want to share that with my parents. I suppose that makes me a total sap, but I don't mind a bit.

Progress towards adoption continues at a snails' pace. It's a boring process of saving money, being thrifty so we can save money, and working on getting the house fixed up. It's killing me to wait, because I have identified a little boy that really speaks to my heart, and it's hard knowing he'll likely be placed before my family is ready to start our own journey. It's better for him to placed sooner and I truly hope he doesn't have to wait, but it's hard to want to do something and not be in a position to do it. If there's one thing that parenting has taught me, it's patience, and this is yet another way to practice.

Too busy to update, yet again. What's it been, almost a year? We are still at the usual stuff, homeschooling and hanging with friends, staying busy.

Quick update, will post more later:

• I have lost 70 pounds and am taking a summer weightloss break. I feel great and have gone from a size 24 to a size 14. I am starting back in September and will lose the final 40.
• We have shifted from unschooling to doing math and phonics/spelling daily (I like it, the kids do too sometimes, lol)
• I dropped the Hindi classes after getting a severe arm infection that made it impossible to write and because I was on painkillers for close to two weeks
• Maggie dropped horseback riding after falling a few times. It suits me, as we are dropping Tae Kwon Do, too. Both kids are making the move to Scouting this fall, as it's cheaper and will disrupt our evenings a lot less, plus will be easier on us financially (more on this later)
• We've been to the beach again and didn't stay long enough in my opinion. I think we went last May. It was so nice. We might be going back at the end of October with my parents, we'll have to see
• Maggie went to her third week-long summer camp and Liam went to a science day camp. Both really enjoyed going.
• The kids have been taking art and drama classes and enjoying both. We are about to start the fall rush to get re-registered with our cover school, buy what curriculum we do use, and generally get settled for the new 'school year' (not that we take time off, but still...)
• In an effort to get out of the house we're living in my parents have deeded it to me and dh and we have taken out a mortgage to pay for renovations on both this house and the house my parents are living in. The proceeds from the eventual sale will go to them. This is a long story, but essentially my parents had to move in with my grandmother to help her during the later stages of Alzheimer's. This was very sudden and after several months of my childhood home being empty they asked us to please move in. They could not afford the time or money to fix it up for sale. Dh and I sold our house and moved in. It was supposed to be temporary. Six years down the road my grandmother has passed away and here we sit with no exit plan and two houses in need of significant repair and renovation to make them in a condition worth putting on the market. It's complicated from a tax and legal standpoint but my parents would lose tons of money if they sold this house now. I want to help, and I want out of this house (I've never liked it, even if the neighborhood is nice. I just hate this house). So we have it all set up and now we are working on both houses.
• We are moving towards international adoption through WACAP's Promise Children program. I think we'll have the money saved in six months to be able to cover the homestudy and immigrations costs. The rest we should be able to cover through a loan through WACAP which we will be able to repay through the federal tax credits available to adoptive families. It is also likely dh's work will donate some money- apparently the owner of the company is extremely pro-family. I'm not counting on it, though. We don't plan on telling much of anything till we are doing the homestudy which will be after Christmas, so if you know me in real life and are reading this blog don't say anything, until the homestudy is in progress and checks have been written it's all just a plan for now and we are especially not saying anything to our kids till things are more certain. Dh and I always wanted more than two kids and we have discussed adoption since before we were married. Lately the 'want more kids' feeling has been really, really strong for us both and we are very grateful that dh had a vasectomy or I'd unquestionably be pregnant right now, LOL, which is not the way we want to grow our family.

I think that's about it for now. I will try to post more often and keep updating my blog.

In the meanwhile, if you know of a blog that concentrates on international adoption, especially older children or adoption from India please leave me a link in the comments. I have been looking and looking for some blogs but can't find a thing.

I have been really busy and am neglecting my blog. On the upside, though, I have lots to blog about now!

Liam is doing well with his Tae Kwon Do and absolutely loving it. He's on his second belt and working very hard in class. He's trying to correctly count to ten in Korean and knows many of the terms that he needs to learn. I think he has found a real passion for something and it is so delightful to watch him enjoy the work, practice, and class time.

Maggie is doing very well with her horse back riding lessons. She has done vaulting, learned to post, and last week tried out an English saddle for the first time. She loves going so much that she will come early and help feed the horses or stay late and muck out stalls. Her confidence in riding grows with each lesson and it's gratifying to listen to her talk about how much she loves her lessons. I have a picture of her (I need to find the ones of Liam in his class, they are around here somewhere!) riding:

We have listened to all of Volume Two of Story of the World and it has prompted some great conversations. I am trying to convince them to go through it a little more slowly and for us to do the activities in the activity book but so far they have been too involved with other persuits. I'm not giving up, though- we have Roman columns to bake and devour, battle axes to assemble, and castles to build.

My trip to Portland went really well and I had a wonderful time with my dad and brother. We went to Mount Hood and to see Multnomah Falls and also went out to the coast. The Pacific Northwest is on my very short list of places I very much want to live and perhaps one day we will have the dough to make it out there. Shan had a great time with the kids while I was gone and is wishing he could do the stay-at-home-dad thing. If I had the earning power he does I'd gladly trade, not because I don't love staying home but because I'd love for him to get the chance, too.

My brother Jeremy is, of course, home and we are enjoying having his back. It's been 7 years since he lived here and he's getting reacquainted with the area. My kids are also enjoying having him around- he's a very cool uncle to have and play with and generally to hang around. He likes acting crazy and goofy and silly and the kids relate to him really well. The whole family is looking forwards to Thanksgiving, which will be the first holiday all of us are together for in 7 years.

My weight loss is going very well, too. I am down a total of 45 pounds and I am feeling great! I have started pilates and really enjoy it. I am getting bored with my current workout dvd Crunch Pilates which really is an awesome workout complete with a hip young guy playing drums in the background. Still, you do anything often enough and it gets dull so I need something new. I've started jogging just a bit and it's not as fun as I thought it would be. My muscles have stopped protesting (which is a great feeling) but I can't figure out a way to breathe that doesn't dry out my throat. I'm only jogging about a quarter of a mile at a go but still in that short amount of time my throat gets so dry that I feel miserable. I'm gonna have to figure something out.

My Hindi classes are giving me a new respect for children trying to learn to read. I frequently feel like a bit of an idiot in class because I just freeze up about which letter makes which sound. These 6 year old kids in class are just rattling things off and I sit there just feeling my brain in vapor lock, LOL. And reading a word written in Devanagari makes my head ache because I literally have to sound things out a letter at a time and double-check to make sure I have the letters pronounced right. I have no memory of learning to read (I was reading at three) so this is all quite new and surprising to me. I guess with practice I will improve. Still I am fascinated and grateful to be experiencing this because how often do you get to learn to read as an adult and really *see* what it's like for children? Very cool and humbling at the same time.

We have a temporary new addition to our family. My best friend called Tuesday and said that a cute little dog had wandered up to the fire station where she works and was obviously a stray and did I know anyone who needed a great little dog? Which we all know is suckerese for 'come get this dog and feed it up and find it a home' LOL. So I went and she came home and I have a 10 pound ball of wonder we are calling Gia bounding around the house. The vet thinks she's about a year old which explains her puppyish behavior. She is very very intelligent and so far very easy to train. I could tell she'd never been in a car, been in a house, seen a cat, had a chew toy, been on a leash or anything like that. But she's adapting amazingly fast. I'm using the dogs' traveling crate to aid in housebreaking and even though it's been less than a week I really think she's got it down. The only accident she's had in three days was due to human error. I've contacted a local rescue to help in placing her and hopefully they will call me back today. She's healthy and heartworm negative and on flea and heartworm preventative (poor baby is flea-allergic and has chewed up her skin in places :() and generally just doing really well. I'm sure with her delightful personality and easy train-ability she'll find a home fast. I wish I could keep her but she's pretty high energy and my middle aged lazy dogs are finding her to be a handful. Percy copes just fine but Lola is feeling completely unbalanced by the little ball of energy that is Gia.

The last two months have also seen us going to Pump it Up homeschool days, fishing derbies, Native American festivals, ice cream socials, game days, India night at the local library with dancing and yummy food, story times, science classes, pumpking picking at the local pumpkin farm, movies and I don't know what all else. I guess that's about it for now. I will try and update more faithfully and not be such a stranger.

I'm reading:

Nothing of note

I'm listening:

Bollywood Hindi Hits via live365

I bought a spiral-bound calendar for my purse. I'm really going to need it because this fall is going to be, for us, very hectic. Yesterday I got my McWane schedule, the library event publication, several print-offs from local homeschooling groups, Liam's tae Kwon Do schedule, and a few other items and spread out over my new dining-room table (which I am still enjoying immensely) to try and plug events into my calendar. I've gotten a good bit scheduled out but still have several things to go over. There's so much to choose from, so many homeschool groups offering trips and activities. Plus the classes that we'll having going on like Liam's Tae Kwon Do and Maggie's horseback riding lessons. It's a good problem to have- so much variety to wade through!

I am loving my Hindi classes. Leela, one of the other adults taking the classes, speaks English and Telugu. Telugu has an identical vowel and consonant setup as Hindi, but with a different alphabet and different vocabulary. So Leela was able to show me a couple of ways to organize the 12 vowels in Hindi in such a way that they make more sense and are easier to study. There are enough adults in the class that the teacher is going to work with us before the kids' class so we can work at a faster pace and more adult level. I don't know if this is a good thing or bad thing, LOL, I kind of felt comfortable with the pace for a 6 year old. But it'll be good to be challenged, so I'm all for it.

Liam is still loving his Tae Kwon Do and works hard in his classes. He loves to listen to the instructor and do his best. It's great to see him so focused and responsive- Liam has a tendency to be impulsive and headstrong (don't know where he gets the headstrong from, wink wink) and I'm hoping that this'll help him settle a little bit.

Maggie's riding lessons start next Wednesday. I finally called to make sure I wasn't missing anything and they've got her down for the right start date and time. She is beyond excited and has been wearing her riding boots everywhere we go. I can't wait to see her on a horse!

I've been writing stories for Liam to help him practice his reading. I used to do the same thing with Maggie. I write a very simple but very silly story and draw pictures to illustrate each page after Liam reads it. It works really well to motivate him to read because I draw like an idiot, LOL. We usually get to giggling over my attempts at illustration and it makes it a lot of fun. Plus I make the stories as goofy as I can. Yesterday's story was about a crab named Sam who was mad at his claw and ends up putting it in a variety of things, including a pie. What can I say, it's silly fun and Liam loves that he has 'his' books that he can read us.

I finally have nailed down my dates for Portland. I'm going with my dad and we're leaving on Friday the 29th and returning Oct. 3rd. I am so excited- I love to travel. I would say that after having a family, travel is my highest priority in life. Of course, Portland is hardly an exotic and unexplored destination, but for my budget and time frame it's just fine. Plus I'll be spending some quality time with my dad and seeing my brother and getting a 5 day 4 night mini-vacation so I am just thrilled. I've never been away from my family for so long, I am both excited and apprehensive about going. Shan and the kids are going to have a blast, though. Shan especially is really excited because he is going to take some time off of work and stay home with the kids and play stay at home dad. He is going to get to sleep past 6am for a change, and be able to cook, watch movies with the kids, take them out to do fun stuff, and generally just have a good time. It's a nice change as we all need it. I am going to miss them like crazy, though.

Last Friday I took the kids to a local Parent-Teacher store and we picked out project boards- the kind you use for science fairs. I told the kids that they are doing a project, and it can be about anything they want. This week we're going to pick a topic and next week we're going to start doing research on it. So far Liam has wanted to do volcanoes and outer space, but hasn't settled on anything specific. Maggie wants to do something about W.I.T.C.H., which is apparently a cartoon about 5 girls and their magical powers. Maggie's seen the TV show maybe once or twice, but what got her pulled into it was the graphic novels. She owns and has read them all and is fascinated with them. It'll be interesting to see how she approaches that in a project form, though in true unschooling fashion I imagine it'll take her in unexpected directions. We shall see.

The bento boxes have arrived. Packing Shan a lunch is ridiculously easy now- I just pop leftovers into his containers and stash in the fridge. He heats them up before leaving in the morning and he has a piping hot lunch 6 hours later. Yesterday was a couple of curries and an egg and rice dish. Today it's crab fried rice, udon with chicken, and dumplings with seaweed furikake seasoning over the top. Yum.

I'm reading:

Nothing, because I need to go to the library.

I'm listening:

Punjabifm.net

I am *so* over the 90+ degree temperatures, the 90% or better humidity, and the overall lack of rain. I am an Autumn person through and through and it's taking *forever* for it to roll around. I am ready to throw my windows wide and feel the cool breezes, to watch for migrating birds, to want coffee in the mornings (it's too hot for coffee now). I want it to cool off enough for me to work in the garden without getting heat stroke, darn it! Autumn can't get here soon enough.

I am a bad blogger. What's it been, three weeks? Too long. Where did I leave off? Our weekend in Atlanta was fun, the kids enjoyed the hotel immensely. We didn't get to try the pool due to thunderstorms, but it was otherwise great. Ikea was insanely crowded but we got Maggie's new loft bed, which she loves, plus desks and bookshelves.

Liam has started his Tae Kwon Do classes and absolutely adores them. The system that they have set up keeps the kids engaged and interested, and every 2-3 classes they earn a new stripe. After 3 stripes you move up a belt, and after I think 6 belts you graduate to the older kids' class. Liam is so focused and involved in his class and is eager to learn to count in Korean. He was counting to himself in the tub last night- he's so cute! Watching his class of 4 and 5 year olds practice is a bit like watching drunken monkeys practice- someone falls over about every third move, someone else ends up upside-down at some point in the proceedings, and the jumping jacks are truly something to behold. I love watching Liam and his class- the cute factor is through the roof and I am enchanted with the way they are all trying so seriously to get the moves down, and how excited they are when they succeed.

I have Maggie registered for her riding lessons, they've cashed my check, but I still don't have an equipment list or any other information yet. If I don't have something by Thursday I am going to call. Her first class will be on September 6th if I am understanding things, and I don't like leaving things till the last minute. If she needs specific things I need to know.

I finally found a Hindi language class that accepts adults. I knew the local Hindu temple had classes for kids, but it turns out that they will allow adults in as well. One of the moms in my co-op is a Hindu and attends the temple, and she told me about the classes and that she was enrolling her daughter and that she herself wanted to take classes. So we went and signed up last Sunday and had our first lessons. It's a hoot to take a class with a bunch of 5, 6 and 7 year olds- we grownups ended up sitting in the back so as not to disturb the kids (we were a bit of a novelty). There's another adult taking the class as well- she took Hindi as a second language in highschool but speaks Engligh and Telugu. She was really relieved not to be the only adult in class as well. So I am tickled pink to be able to learn it formally, because the book I have is pretty intimidating. Well, the whole thing is somewhat intimidating, because I'm having to learn a whole new alphabet with 12 vowels and 20 odd consonants. It's giving me a new respect for children that are learning to read- this stuff is hard!

I have also discovered bento boxes. Shan is really tired of cold foods and sandwiches and the like. After 7 months I would be, too! So I did a little digging and found an insulated bento box that will work perfectly for Shan's lunches. I want one, too, because we'll be pretty busy this fall and it'd be wonderful to be able to pack along good food rather than spend the extra money for buying junk out. So I ordered two Mr. Bento brand bento boxes from amazon, along with a set of extra inner bowls from Zojirushi to make packing lunches easier. Shan can take leftovers or I can whip something together relatively easily. I am loving the recipes and ideas at Cooking Cute - I'm geeking out on the idea of making anything that fun looking and yummy. I ordered some onigiri molds, too, so that there'll be more variety. We'll see how it goes.

Gosh, what else? I redid the guinea pig cage to make it easier to clean thoroughly, I finally uncovered the livingroom (it was our Ikea landing pad for all the stuff we bought), put together the kids desks and bookshelves, am in the process of reorganizing Maggie's bedroom, got the new table and it's in the diningroom (I LOVE IT!!!). A friend of mine hired the kids to cat-sit for her this week and they are having great fun doing that. They didn't know they were getting paid till they got there for their first day- they just thought it would be fun to do. So bonus surprise for them!

I'm still working on my weight loss and am down 35 pounds so far. I'm feeling great about it but still have a ways to go. It's getting to the point that I am going to need new clothes soon- I have two pairs of jeans and one denim capri that still fit, and all my shirts are very baggy but I'm managing. I'm doing a 2.5 mile Walk/Jog Walk Away the Pounds DVD 5 times a week and watching what I eat. So far, so good.

I will probably be heading to Portland, OR at the end of September to go see my brother. I haven't been up there in 6 years and am looking forwards to going. I'll be going solo, or maybe with my dad, but coming back with my brother. He's moving back to Alabama after 7 years out there. It'll be lovely to have him here. My kids love him and vice versa and they haven't had nearly enough time with him. He's a fun uncle to have.

I'm listening:

The soundtrack to Krrish

I'm reading:

Hindi Primer, vol. One

Well, we are headed to Atlanta tomorrow for a weekend of relaxation and a wee bit of shopping. I just finished baking a batch of pumpkin-oatmeal muffins to snack on for the trip (I added a few mini M&M's just for fun) and I'm making a lowfat chicken salad for rollups to munch on. I am so looking forwards to just hanging out with the family and swimming and relaxing.

Today we are going to go see Over the Hedge with the co-op, and perhaps afterwards visiting a Mexican grocery store. We may skip that part- I have a lot to do before we leave tomorrow. Not much housework got done this week- we were without A/C for so long and I will be darned if I'm going to mop or vaccum in 90 degree heat *inside* the house. Speaking of A/C, I added a new skill to my resume yesterday- I can now clean the coil on the unit *and* put it back together again, all in a crawlspace filled with dust and cobwebs, while unable to stand completely upright. The serviceman came out yesterday and informed me that the coil was covered in gunk and that's why it was freezing up. It's not covered by our handy-dandy home warranty and it's $250 for him to do it. I must have looked really pitiful when he said that because he was kind enough to show me how to do it myself and how to put the unit together again. So I got out of it for $55 and some really gross, sweaty work and a wrestling match with the unit's housing. My arms are still sore! So anyway I now have a ton of housework to do and sitting here blogging isn't getting it done any faster

Yesterday we made no less than 4 library runs (mostly to turn things in), ran errands, and went swimming at the rec center. I also got a *fantastic* deal on a new diningroom table! Ours is falling apart and I've needed a new one for ages but didn't want to spend a ton of money. I found a table almost exactly like this one (this may actually be it, but I'm not 100% sure):

at World Market for under $300 including tax! It was the last one they had, too. I am really happy with it- it is very solid, and is not a veneer. When I tried to shake it it wouldn't budge, so I know it's strong. This is the first piece of brand new furniture I've ever owned (other than my mattress) so I am really excited! Goofy, I know, but I guess little things are all it takes sometimes.

I'm reading:

Nothing again, because I forgot to get stuff for myself at the library

I'm listening:

Asha Bhonsle

My A/C is low on Freon. This means that the unit is frozen up (literally!) and has to thaw before they can charge it and I can turn it back on. This means more than likely 24 hours with no A/C (possibly 48) in 95+ degree heat. Ugh!

We are just puttering along here. Maggie and Liam are busy with puzzles, Leapsters, art and fun. Liam has (finally!) decided he wants to learn to write. He selected this awesome faux snakeskin diary and is practicing his letters in it off and on. He also asked me for a math workbook, and while we were at it he wanted a reading workbook. So we got a first grade level math drill workbook and a first grade sight words workbook and he has been playing with both. He loves asking questions about math and addition and even a little multplication but so far it's all been oral. He feels compelled to put pen to paper now and hopefully he'll keep it going.

Maggie learned how to jump off the diving board- it's long been a sticking point with her. The diving board was the Big Bad Ugly of the pool, but Saturday my mom took the kids to her sister's house and Maggie went off the board there and is so proud! She plans on showing me tonight at the rec center pool.

I have graduated past the simple workouts that Walk Away the Pounds offers and today I did the 2.5 Walk/Jog combo. It was a great workout! If I keep that up for a couple of months I am positive I will be ready to start jogging. After a frustrating almost three week plateau, I have lost another 4.5 pounds for a total loss of 29 pounds since June 3rd! I wasn't eating enough, and my body wasn't budging with the weight. I am eating 1800 calories a day now and working out to the tune of 300-400 calories 5 times a week and my body seems a lot happier with that. I'm inching closer to needing some new clothes but I'm going to hold out as long as possible before buying new ones. I'm down about a size but I can make do for a while longer. I am amazed at how much better I feel just having lost 30 pounds- I can only imagine how great I will feel in another 70!

This weekend Shan and I are taking the kids for a weekend in Atlanta. If he doesn't get out of town he has a tendency to work so we are going to go hole up in a hotel and swim and play and be together. Maggie needs a new bed so we will probably take her to Ikea and see what she likes. She says she wants a loft bed which is my first pick, as we have officially reached a space crisis in her room. The guinea pig cage has to be redone and it's gonna take up a good bit of floor space, plus we're adding a desk. Her room is fairly small so a loft bed would go a very long way towards solving her floor space issues. We'll have to see.

I'm reading:

Nothing, because I need to go to the library.

I'm listening:

punjabifm.net

We had such a delightful day at the wild animal show at one of the local libraries yesterday. Safari Greg came out and really performed for the kids. He only had a few animals, but he himself had every child present rolling in the aisles with his jokes, pranks, and silliness. He really was charming and funny and it was a wonderful show.

Today I am calling the Tae Kwon Do place, doing our grocery shopping, and hitting Old Navy and The Children's Place, as both are having big sales. Maggie and Liam have both had big growth spurts recently and I'd be surprised if much fits them from last fall, and it seems like thrift stores lately don't offer much in their sizes that are worth a darn. They don't know we're going and they LOVE going clothes shopping, so I suspect we will have a fun day today!

I'm Reading:

The Thralls Tale still, but the heavy prose-style of the writing is really, really grating on my nerves. This would have been a much better book if the author had dropped all the flowery phrasing. It's making me want to read more about VIkings, though- anyone have any good fiction suggestions?
I'm listening:

mydesiradio.com

Last weekend was a lot of fun, with various activities, but I think the favorite was picking sunflowers at Jones Urban Farm. For a donation you could pick all the sunflowers you like, and Maggie and Liam fell into the job with much gusto.

Oh, and check out Maggie's new glasses, which she selected herself:

We had a blast. I have a ridiculous number of sunflowers in vases on my diningroom table now. The kids picked every last one of them, too.

This week we're going to watch a free showing of Wallace and Gromit (don't know which one), and see a wild animal presentation at one of the local libraries. We saw one last week which was great, and this is another group which ought to have different animals. We're meeting friends at both events so that should be fun for the kiddos. The rest of the week is largely going to be hanging out indoors (away from the gross heat), swimming, housework (I am on a mad organizational kick), and watering my garden enough to keep it from dying in the drought. Exciting stuff.

I've gotten the kids signed up for the McWane science classes for the fall, I am just a couple of weeks away from ordering my curriculum, I've almost got Maggie signed up for her horseback riding lessons (true signup starts in August but I got all my info together), and now I just need to get Liam's Tae Kwon Do lessons in place and we are good to go for the fall. This year I think Liam is old enough to sit through the performances at the Children's Theatre, so I am planning on adding those performances to our calendar, and this year I am also hoping to attend more organized field trips with the local homeschooling groups. I think it's shaping up to be a fun and eventful year!

Shan and I are looking at what we want to do for our fall vacation with the kiddos (we're thinking beach, if I can find something that doesn't cost an arm and a leg) and our anniversary trip this Christmas. It's going to be our tenth anniversary this year and instead of Chattanooga I think I'd love to go to Helen, GA to the Alpine village there. Anyone out there ever been? Got any tips, pointers, or good places to stay? Any must-see attractions or super restaurants?

I'm Reading:
The Thrall's Tale by Judith Lindbergh

I'm Listening:
The mellow sounds of Israel Kamakawiwo'ole

Life in general has been keeping me from blogging. Just general busyness, nothing spectacular. Maggie and Liam are keeping busy with their heroclix, a new addiction started by Shan. www.wizkidsgames.com/heroclix/marvel Maggie and Liam are fascinated by it and have bought a whole bunch of figures. They want to play on the weekends and as soon as we get a free Saturday Shan and the kids will be heading to the local comic book store, where they have games open to whoever wants to play.

Maggie has also really gotten into these graphic novels about the W.I.T.C.H. cartoon. We've never seen the show, but something about the girls battling evil scenario really has captured her imagination. She's found a couple of audio books about it as well (there are a bunch of chapter books available) and has been listening to them. It's not the most erudite fiction available, but she loves it. She's also been listening to the Silverwing sequels (Sunwing and I think Firewing), the Lionboy sequels, and Trumpet of the Swan. Liam has been enjoying some of the Arthur audio books, Some Magic Treehouse, and also W.I.T.C.H.

I'm still plugging away at my weight loss with a good degree of success. I injured my knee and had to stop using the recumbent bike, which is my workout of choice. So I picked up Leslie Sansone's Walk Away the Pounds 1 & 2 mile combo and have been doing that daily. I am down 26 pounds since the beginning of June! I'm starting to give serious thought to learning to jog once I ditch some more weight. I think that jogging would be ideal for me as a way of maintaining good health because it doesn't require much brain power. I prefer to just set my body a task then then kind of 'check out', which is why I love the bike so much. I can watch TV, read a book, listen to music, whatever while on the bike. With the excersize video I am forced to pay attention and while it's a great workout, I don't want to *think* about what I'm doing while I'm doing it. If I'm jogging I can listen to audio books and get a good workout in 30 minutes. Or that's the hope, anyway.

I'm also gearing up for the new 'school year' inasmuch as we 'do' school. I am *not* going to do my usual 'oh, no, fall is here, better start doing something!' because it's largely an excersize in frustration. We are 'doing' things every single day and I am really seeing that how we do things works. But fall seems like a good time to introduce new things and I have my Rainbow Resource catalog and I am making a list. I'm also trying to get Maggie's horseback riding lessons and Liam's Tae Kwon Do lessons in place.

Really, that's about it. Summer has been full of rec center swimming, playing with friends, leapsters, movies, great books, and cool trips. Who could ask for more?