Nice Weather in April

And it only took 29 days!

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Crackers to the rescue.

Wednesday was kind of a rough day at the old Izola Becker Home School. Rough on me at any rate and by the time lunch came around I was in a bit of a bad mood. It did not help my mood that I wanted soup for my lunch and we were out of crackers. I love crackers in my soup. I really do.

So, I decided to run out to the 7-11 which is less than a block from my house. I put my soup on simmer and gave Bunny a little more experience at babysitting.

Okay as an aside. Do any of you remember when saltine crackers were manufactured in a square with 4 crackers pressed together on a 2 by 2 grid? So instead of 4 towers stacks you had 4 more like cube stacks. I really liked when you could choose between the 2 styles. The tower stacks with the individual saltines were better for cheese and crackers. The 4 saltines in a square were better for soup. At least I thought so. You put the cracker in your bowl and then crunch it up into the soup. I was quite bummed when the 2 by 2 squares went away

So you know how saltine crackers come in 4 packages of vertical stacks of crackers? At 7-11 they were selling a box with 1 stack for $2.29 and a box with 2 stacks for $2.99 and they were not selling the traditional box at all. talk about paying for convenience.

Well, I decided to cross the street and see if the Mexican Grocery store sold crackers and the thing is they did. It was at a much better price.

So I bought these crackers . . .

And guess what? These were like the crackers of my old. Except instead of 2 by 2 squares of crackers, they were 2 by 4 squares.

So I broke the crackers in half and put it in a bowl.

Then I could break it up with a sppon just the way I like.

Eating soup the way you want can put a smile on any grumpy Dad.

COH Now and Then

Corn and Oil is hosting this weeks Carnival of Homeschooling. Along with the many other fine articles at this weeks carnival is Amy's excellent post, What About Finishing "School" Work.

Next weeks carnival will be right here at HSD. I am currently accepting submissions for next weeks fun. I will be commenting on my favorite 10 movies of all time between the home school stuff. So if and when you make a submission try to answer one of these questions in the space where you can make comments:

1) What is one of your favorite movies of all time?

2) What is one of your least favorite movies of all time?

3) What's a good movies you have watched in the last 3 months?

Click here to see all the details on how to submit a post. Or if you know the drill just click here to submit your post.

So have a good week, enjoy the current carnival and we will roll film here next week.

Just Call her A-Rol

Both my girls are fantastic readers, but Puppy is the only one who reads signs, magazine covers, and billboards aloud. Bunny Girl is too busy reading books at all times to take her nose out of one to read a sign or a magazine rack. The other day Amy and Puppy were at Walmart when Puppy saw this cover . . .

Here is a a transcript of the convo that followed:

Puppy: That is not true.

Amy: What's not true?

Puppy: She is not the most beautiful woman in the world, you are!!!

Amy: Thanks Puppy!

Puppy (Too worked up to accept thanks.) How can that magazine print stuff that's not true? What's wrong with them?

What's wrong with them, indeed? Puppy verifies what I have known for years. I am married to the most beautiful woman in the world. Now all she needs is an A-list nick name and we need a Bennifer like name for our marriage. How about Davmy? Or Amave?

Easter is . . .

Yesterday a neighbor came over and had the misconception that we did not celebrate Easter. This maybe because we do not always celebrate it with chocolate and eggs (We did this year.) Generally our Easter consists of the following . . .





A Family time.

Getting dressed up and going to church.

Playing games. (I guess d.v.d's still have Easter Eggs.)

Getting our families together.

A time for children singing.

These may be the activities of Easter. But the reason we celebrate Easter is in the words the kids were singing. Our Savior Lives!





I hope you all had a great Easter. We did!

What about finishing "school" work?

One thing I like about homeschooling is that my husband Dave, and I are in charge of what we teach our children. Sure, we are making sure the reading, writing, math, history, science, etc., are getting learned. However, there are more important things to be learned. Namely, turning their hearts toward Christ. Serving others. So when we "take time off" to help grandpa, I don't see that as "time off of school." I see that as integral to educating our children. We really want them to become accomplished, capable people when they grow up. But more importantly, we want them to follow Jesus, lead others to Jesus, be examples of Jesus, etc. And that means right now, we need to teach them to love others, serve others, care for others, put others above themselves, etc. So when my dad asked me this week if I would consider sending the children to "real school," I almost started crying at the thought of it. Sure, they would cover the academics, at least some of them. There would have to be so much reteaching and unteaching, it wouldn't be worth my while. And I would feel that we were sending the kids to the wolves by sending them to "real school." Nobody else has quite the agenda we have in mind....

Why I blog.

This might more appropriately be titled why don't I blog, as I have been essentially asleep at the blogging wheel for several weeks now. So considering my recent blog output (or lack thereof) it was kind of interesting that I was one of 5 bloggers speaking downtown Chicago at a round table discussion of blogging. The round table was held for sales executives at Feld Entertainment who produces events like Disney on Ice, Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus and Monster Jam. As you may recall Feld gave me two tickets to see Monster Jam with Spider Droid in exchange for posting about the event here and here.

The purpose of the round table (For the purpose of full disclosure: It was actually two rectangular tables) was for Feld to pick our brains to see how better to partner with bloggers to promote their events. The event helped put my blogging in perspective.

As I left the meeting and realized that the building we met was next to the the Tribune Tower across from WGN Radio and directly above the Billy Goat Tavern.. Here is a video of a SNL sketch based on the Billy Goat.




Here is a you tube video of the actual Billy Goat.

I ventured downstairs and went to the Billy Goat.

I was early for the lunch rush and was the only non employee in the place. The man in the video took my order. I ordered a Cheeseburger and a coke. The place was starting to fill up as I left. i went up the stairs crossed the street to the WGN building and saw the booth where they broadcast their programs.




This reminded me of why I blog. Not to get free tickets or to post give-a-ways on my blog. But because life is an adventure. An adventure I like to share.

Anniversary Dinner

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Bus Station

Sometimes When Amy comes home from work and the whole house is out of order, especially when the chairs aren't pushed in to the table, she says the place looks like a bus station. 2 weeks ago for April fools day we turned the place into a real bus station.

Puppy pic and flowers

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Puppyism to start the day

Life can sometimes fall into a pattern of responsibilities, routines and interruptions and sometimes among all of those are gems of enjoyment. This morning I was checking my e-mail when the first interruption occurred. Before I can get to my email, my computer produces a list of people and events that are in the news. I try to ignore this list, but sometimes curiosity gets the better of me and I click on someone's name and instead of catching up on my e-mail I am reading about some celebrity. This morning, I saw the name of SNL Alum Amy Poehler and clicked her name and saw the same thing you will if you click on her name now. As I was reading about her coming speaking engagement, I was reminded of 3 quick things about my youngest daughter: 1) She was right next to me. 2) She (although a preschooler) reads and 3) She has a unique perspective on life. Here is a transcript of what followed. Puppy: Hey! There is only one Amy and it's Mom. Me: No, there are lots of people named Amy. Puppy: Then they need to have a restaurant named Famous Amy's where all the Amy's can go to eat. Like they have a Famous Dave's where you and all the other Dave's go to eat. Background: For (at least) the past two years the restaurant Famous Dave's have had a promotion where on a certain day Dave's can eat for a penny or a dollar (I forget which). Last year we went as a family and puppy started to think that that was the restaurant where Dave's go to eat. Thanks Puppy for pulling a gem from that interruption!

Fun at the Old Ball Park

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From Z(oo) to A(choo)

Zoo Tuesday. We’ve been sick on & off since. Took SD to see first Cubs Victory. Be back posting soon. Have pics from zoo and game. Ciao.

Six Word Saturday

Six Word Saturday: Opening Day and White Sox won! For more Six Word Saturday click here.

April Fools Joke

Made ya look!