Emma's Favorite Day of the Year

The day after Easter is one of Emma's favorite days. This is because it blends in one of her passions with one we are trying to instill in her. The day after any holiday is usually a great time to get bargains on that holiday's merchandise. Which means that the day after Easter is a bunny lover on a budget's dream come true.

Some years we hit store after store for bargains. This year we just went to Walgreens where all Easter merchandise was 50% off. She got a really nice Webkins bunny. Also, she got her own real bunny back today as Smoky was being bunny-sat all of last week. It also didn't hurt that her favorite baseball team (White Sox) won their season opener today with her favorite player (Mark Buehrle) getting the victory.

All in all a great day for our bunny girl.

Next Time: By the Way . . .

Structured and Unstructured

Party! Party! Party! This weeks carnival of homeschooling is a party edition hosted by Misty at Home School Bytes.com. She has asked me to contribute an article, as I had submitted one last time she hosted.

I actually started this post yesterday, until I realized that it was my last day to blog about the book One Million Arrows (Which, by the way, tells some excellent stories about home schooled families.) That is what happens to the avid procrastinator, you put off Peter to meet Paul's deadline. Or in this case Peter is Misty and Paul is Julie. Well enough with the nonsense, let's get this party started.

I am constantly fighting between myself as to whether my home school personality/style should be structured or unstructured. I have always been a fly by the seat of my pants kind of guy. At times it has been a necessity. When I was a missionary in Russia, more than once I was asked to give remarks or a sermon 5 minutes before the service started. Doesn't the Bible say "always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you." (1 Peter 3:15 ESV)?

Ah! There's the key word, prepared! Often when I am unstructured, it is precisely because I am not prepared. I roll with the punches, rather than put a few jabs in of my own. Most people, like myself, who think they like getting things done at the very last minute are just fooling themselves. They like it because it's the only thing they've ever known.

Unstructured maybe a good style for some. but if unstructured is just a euphemism for lazy, then you have big trouble!

So here I am making a good argument to be structured. But here is the problem, when I try to be structured, I drive my kids and myself crazy. The problem is that when I structure myself, I am a very unforgiving master. If school is supposed to start at 9 and we don't start until 9:05 then the whole day is ruined! There are constant disruptions in our class day. It's the kind of thing you would expect when one of your students is nicknamed Destructo!

What I have been learning the hard way these past 2 years is that structure is good, but too much structure is suffocating. I think structured and unstructured can be on the same boat as Pete and Repeat, if you have good understanding of what structured and unstructured mean.

To me, structured means being prepared and unstructured means being flexible. This is problematic in our house as I have described my procrastination trouble in the past two posts and one of my student's has been telling me for years "I'm not flexible!". Problematic or not I see that I need to be prepared and flexible at the same time. Not unstructured because I wasn't prepared or structured because I'm inflexible.

I, like all of us, am a work in progress. On this past Friday, I got the idea for this post as I was both structured and unstructured at the same moment. On Friday, the last thing Emma does at the end of the school day is to work on her blog. The problem was she had just taken her spelling test and had not done as well as I would have wanted. We were running late (says the inflexible teacher), and I wanted her to move on to her blog, but I also wanted her to write sentences using the missed spellings words. That's when structured and unstructured were sitting in a tree s-c-h-ool-i-n-g. I told her to write a blog post using her missed spelling words.

Here is what my Bunny Girl came up with . . . (This is also available at her blog by clicking here)

I will create a story using these five words: allegiance, geometry, appearance, biennial, and disturbance. Get ready for a cool story about bunnies right now!

At school By Alice

Told by Jenny the Bunny

I was at school, during geometry when there was a sudden disturbance. "Jenny!" said my brother, Benny. " We just saw the appearance of Nero!" I whispered to him, " That cat is for show and tell. He is for the biennial of Whiskers!". Nero is my cat. He is a ancestor of Whiskers, the most famous cat in the B.S.B! I told Benny to bring me Nero after we pledge allegiance to the flag. Mrs. Honey told us to write a report of famous cat or the ancestor of a famous cat. She told us to bring a ancestor of a famous cat or draw one. After we pledged allegiance, Benny came in with a basket. A yowling basket! "Benny! What are you doing?!" I asked. Mrs. Honey asked me,"Will you please do show your show and tell please?" I looked in the basket, put it on the desk and said," Look in the basket. What do you see? The one in the middle is my pet cat, Nero. It looks like she just had kittens. Nero is related to Whiskers. And so are her baby kittens!"

The End.

By the way, B.S.B stands for the Bunny States of Bunny world. Good Bye!

So what do structured and unstructured mean to you? What other interior struggles does home education bring out in you? Please fell free to comment and let me know. Also hop on over to my daughter's bunny blog (pun intended) and let her know what you think of her story. Then do the hop back to the party at Homeschoolbytes for the rest of this weeks carnival.

Next Time: More about One Million Arrows

Poetry

Poetry appreciated. Poetry demonstrated. Poetry Lucified.

We have been studying poetry in school for the past few weeks. Today I had Emma blog about two of her favorite poets who coincidentally have written several poems about bunnies. You can see her post by clicking here.


Charlie and I worked for a while to write a poem and finally since many of the poems we have been studying have been accompanied by illustrations. Charlie wrote and illustrated a poem about winter.

I like to ski. Wheeeeee!

Lucy really wanted to write a poem about flowers. So I had her dictate one to me.

Flowers are pretty

They're very nice

I picked them for my Momma

Flowers are beautiful

The pink and purple and red ones

and green ones and black ones and yellows ones

and roses and green ones

and orange ones and . . .

Now, she probably had a few dozen more lines to recite when I interrupted her by saying that's a nice poem let's draw a picture of a flower. Her response: I'm not good at drawing flowers let's draw a horse.

Then she decided that she wanted to draw a unicorn instead of a horse. I want to say that she wanted to draw a unicorn because I had read Shel Silversteins's "The Unicorn" earlier that day. But Lucy's motivations are generally much more random than that. Here is said picture . . .

Those are my six words for today. Head over to Show My Face dot com to play along at home.

Before you do, I want to share a small poem I wrote today inspired by Charlie. I had asked him to write a poem about winter and he was getting frustrated and being silly at the same time. He said something like: Winter winter Winter winter. I don't like winter.

I decided to write a poem from the perspective of a second grader assigned to write a poem about winter and does not want to.

Winter. Winter. Winter. Winter.

Winter is no fun.

Winter. Winter. Winter Winter.

Now my poem's done.

I say it's done

but Dad say no.

Who wants to write

when you can play in the snow?

Sledding, Skiing, snow ball fighting.

Winter's really quite inviting.

It's fun outside and in the home

but do I have to write a poem?!!!

Winter. Winter. Winter. Winter.

Now, my poem's done!

Next Time: Things This Thursday

A Great Drum

Hockey Lessons

Life Lessons from the 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team

This is the first post that I am publishing in it's entirety on both my blogs. The idea speaks to me on both a sports and home school level.

Mark Pavelich was one of the three young men who played on the "conehead" line for Herb Brook's gold medal winning hockey team. Named the cone head line because of the unique perhaps alien style the boys played with as an homage to the popular conehead sketch on Saturday Night Live at that time.

The book "The Boy's of Winter" does an excellent job portraying Pavelich as someone who loves playing Hockey but not the notoriety that comes with excelling. Pavelich is one of 2 NHL players to score 5 goals in a game. 1

That fact notwithstanding, Pavelich was much more comfortable getting the puck to other scores than scoring himself. Most familiar with the Miracle on Ice are familiar with Mike Eurizione's game winning goal. It was Pavelich who got the assist. Pavelich also got the assist on his line mate Buzz Schneider's first period goal that knotted the Russians at one. How appropriate that a player who liked being behind the scenes made the first and final assists in the most important hockey game in his countries history.

As a NHL player Pavelich was known for his poise on the ice, his practical jokes in the locker room and his desire to be and completely comfortable in who he was as a person. Who he was off the ice was not a social butterfly or a clotheshorse. There are countless stories in "Boys of Winter." showing Pavelich's preference to be withdrawn and only comfortable outside of the rink when He was fishing, hunting or other outddorsy tasks. His New York Rangers teammate Nick Foitu described him thusly, "He dressed like a mountain man from the backwoods of Minnesota. Then he would come out on the ice and play his heart out." 2

Joe Devaney a close friend of Pavelich's summed him up this way . . . "He's completely happy and content with what he does. He marches to his own drum and it's a great drum." 3

I really liked that quote because it makes an important distinction for going against the status quo. Some people march to a different drum just to be contrarian. When they hear toe-may-toe they have a knee-jerk need to say toe-mah-toe. Unfortunately, being different just to be different doesn't usually make a difference.

Amy and I march to a different drummer when it comes to educating our kids. We home school our children and we don't do it to be different. We do it because, for us, homeschooling is a great drum. Like Pavelich, we are happy and content with our decision to homeschool.

As a parent I also see the quote about Pavelich as an opportunity to help my children find their drummer. All our children seem to be on their way to establishing their own paths. Emma, the literary giant and animal lover. Charlie, the scientist, explorer, super hero. Lucy, the 1 man wrecking crew/ballerina with an unusual take on about everything. I recently told her that over Christmas Break I wanted her to memorize three state capitols. I suggested Indiana, Iowa and Missouri as they border Illinois. She responded back that she wanted to memorize the capitols of Kentucky, Bethlehem and Arkansas.

As Amy and I help them find their drummer we realize it doesn't have to be the road less traveled, we just want the path they take to be a great drum.

Next Time: Christmas Eve at the Bowling Alley

1. Wikpedia article on Pavelich

2. The Boys of Winter. Coffey, Wayne. p. 167

3. Boys of Winter, P. 169

Library Week

Six Word Saturday

Library Week with my Intrepid Reporter

Twice a year we have library week as part of our home school activities. We generally spend 5 days going to various libraries. Since Amy gets two weeks off at Christmas time we have decided to take two weeks to visit libraries.

Our first library chose itself as Charlie was invited to a afternoon birthday party 30 minutes from our house. While he sleds and has general merriment with the Bioncle and Star Wars set, we went 600 feet (thanks GPS) across town to the local library.

I have assigned Emma with the task of reporting on each library. I am actually posting this while visiting library #1.

Here is Emma's report:

Name of Library: St. Charles Library. St. Charles, IL.

Something I liked: I liked all the Animal Ark Books they had.

One thing I didn't like: They didn't have one of my favorite books, Bunnies in the Bathroom.

A book I read while I was there: 2 Minute Mysteries by Donald Sobol author of Encyclopedia Brown.

Dad asked me to ask the Librarian a question. Lucy said she would, so I followed her with my notebook.

Lucy: Knock Knock

Librarian: Who's There?

Lucy: Emma

Librarian: Emma Who?

Lucy: Emma Kayrene (My Middle Name)

It's time to pick Charlie up from sledding so thus ends the first installment of Library Week

Head over to showmyface.com for more six word fun.

Next Time: Hockey Lessons

It's Not Even Thanksgiving!

The apple doesn't fall too far from the tree, so they say. In our house, if the tree is of the Christmas variety this phrase is especially true. Over the past few weeks there has been a proliferation of Christmas decorations everywhere our family has been. They always bring out the same reaction from my oldest daughter, "It's not even Thanksgiving!" Now our youngest daughter has joined in on the refrain.

On October 1st I blogged here about how Halloween displays had been up since early September. It seems that holiday preparation (read commercialization) extends every year. Today, I heard long time Chicago radio voice Garry Meier talking about how it is too early to play Christmas music and suggest to hold off playing them until the Friday after Thanksgiving. He is absolutely right! I was glad to hear someone other than my own family members suggest it.

I don't have the exact dates but by mid to late July the back to school sales had already begun near me. Labor Day was September 7th, and I saw Halloween displays on the 10th! As soon as those Halloween displays were removed they were replaced immediately with Christmas! I often see Easter displays a week before Ash Wednesday. 40 days isn't enough to sell a Holiday?!?!

In my opinion marketing these holidays for such a long time has a number of adverse effects:

1) It takes away from the meaning of other "lesser" holidays. Thanksgiving has been changed from a day to thank God for his provisions and has now been marginalized to an old McDonald's ad slogan: food, folks and fun. Actually it's more like food, folks and football. I ate dinner at an excellent restaurant last night that was advertising their Thanksgiving buffet. But instead of the traditional cornucopia and the like, they are already dressed in full Christmas mode, tree and all. One would hope they won't be piping in the Frank Sinatra Christmas album as they were tonight, but one can never tell.

2) It takes away from the meaning of the holidays they are promoting. The over saturation is so much that some people are ready for it to end weeks before it gets here. I can understand that in a political campaign, but when celebrating such special events as Christ's birth, resurrection or the founding of America we want the days to be special not something to be endured.

3) Running from holiday to holiday creates more stress than good will. Rest is good. A few weeks between celebrations is a good thing. Rest gives us the opportunity to celebrate holidays all our own. Yesterday Lucy declared to Amy you're the best Mom ever. Tonight is Mommy night. When she woke up this morning, Lucy furthered her proclamation and decreed today Mommy Day. Mommy Day so far consists of Lucy coming in our room every few minutes with a new gift or card for Amy. The latest was a folded up piece of blue construction paper which Lucy called a laptop. This freedom also gives us the opportunity to celebrate something equally important, everyday life.

Next year I plan to post about what in my perfect world is the best way to celebrate each holiday as they occur. Let me just say now that getting back to traditional observances and time lines would be great. Advent generally runs from December1st to the 24th. I would be perfectly fine if I didn't see any decorations or hear any carols before then. I would also be okay if "Black Friday" was the official "unofficial" start of the season. Any sooner and hey I've got daughters to contend with! etiquette

The write thing at the right time.

The day after Keith's Funeral I was having a rough day. Here is an excerpt form my blog of how my Daughter Emma lifted my spirits on a very difficult day.

Today has been a difficult day. I started teaching the kids today and it did not go really well. I went shopping after Amy came home and started crying about three times in the five minutes I was in the store. Purchasing refried beans usually does not have that effect on me. Keith has been on my mind all day.When I got back in the house I started crying again. Emma was finishing a writing assignment that Amy gave her last week. She asked me what was the matter and I said that I wasn't feeling very well today. She handed me her finished assignment and said "here, I hope this makes you feel better." It really did! She gave me permission to share it here.

My Dad! By Emma R

A man like Dad is hard to find. If you looked for someone like him in a 1,000,000 men, not one would be just like him. That is because my dad is the best dad in the world! But not the best father. Just kidding!

That is because he is silly, helpful, kind, nice, funny, and crazy! He likes to say "llama". Once he said I'll give you 5 cents for every time I say llama!" Boy! Did we get a lot of money!
We used to get 50 cents for allowance. Now we get $2.00! He even lets me be paid for some jobs.

He always prays for Lucy and sometimes lays down with her. He loves playing games with us!
When Lucy has sticker time, he lets her choose. When she has computer time, he does exactly what she wants. He makes Lucy's school fun. He takes our neighbor to the store, because she does not have a car.

He used to visit our uncle at the hospital. In conclusion, my dad is the best dad in the world because he is nice, kind and crazy.

I just gave a eulogy yesterday. The problem with a eulogy is that the person you want to tell all these great things about is not there to hear them. Emma's paper seemed like a eulogy that I was able to receive.

What happened in school today

Charlie Reads, Emma Writes, Lucy Abstains.

Teaching is not all about breakthroughs. Some days are just ordinary days where, if you measure progress with graphs and charts, nothing changes. I have many days like that.

In many ways, today started like that. Charlie and Emma worked on their Bible, Math, and Art with the same strengths and weaknesses they exhibited yesterday.


Then Lucy bought me a pile of books she wanted me to read to her and I got an idea. I called Charlie to join Lucy and me at the couch. He thought that I was just inviting him to listen to the stories, which I often do. But I had other plans.

Charlie is not reading to his second grade level. One could almost say he didn't read at all. In fact, early this summer we were afraid if he didn't start reading soon, at some point we would need to enroll him in public school for special education. This summer we engaged a teacher friend of Amy's to tutor Charlie twice a week.

At first it seemed like he wasn't gaining any ground. By the end of the summer we could see him making a steady progress. Once the school year began, he seemed to reach a wall and the progress ended. About 2 weeks into the school year, I tried a new approach and he began reading better every day. It was so exciting to see him progress. Last week with some help from a very kind librarian I found a website that suggested books based on your child's reading level. I checked out some of those books and Charlie has been reading to me from them this week.


The bunch of books Lucy gave me included a title that was a favorite of Charlie's at Lucy's age: Go Dog Go by P.D. Eastman. I asked Charlie to read it to her. He did awesome! Now, Go Dog Go is not hardest of books to read, but for a kids' book it is rather long:64 pages. He just barrelled right through it. Now as part of our Friday schedule Charlie is going to read to Lucy. I am so proud of him!

My daughter Emma, is a reading machine. She read two of the Laura Ingalls Wilder books in less than 1 week. She is always reading. Writing is a different story. She is taking a Chronicles of Narnia class I am teaching at our home school co-op. The assignment this week was to write a 5 paragraph essay on the Magician's Nephew. She finished it yesterday and typed it up today. It is the story of the Magician's Nephew from the perspective of Polly, a young girl from late 19th century England. It is not the best paper in the world and it is certainly not the breakthrough that Charlie is having, but it may well be an early step on a path to a breakthrough that is yet to come.

Before I share that story with you, let me tell you about my youngest's achievements. She went a whole day without drawing on the walls. This is an achievement in itself. She loves drawing and is prolific in how much much art work she can put out in one day. The problem is the world is literally her canvas. She draws on paper, sure. But she also draws on tables, walls, computer screens, floors, books and herself. I fear for our bunny. We hide all the markers and crayons and yet she finds them. I have included a picture of the masterpiece Lucy colored on her wall last week and another of her washing off said masterpiece. Last Saturday she lost all coloring privileges (among other things) for a week. This week, since coloring seems to be her love language, I have eased the coloring restrictions to crayons only as long as she was supervised. Today, she did get a hold of a marker, but chose to use it on paper rather than on her usual victims.

So that is how my day went reading, writing, and no vandalism. Before you head back to Six Word Saturday at Show My Face Dot Com or just go on with your day, I invite you to enjoy my Daughters Essay:

Polly's Adventures

By Emma Roller

My name is Polly. My friend, Digory and I had many adventures together. These are some of them: We got into other worlds. We found the witch. We found Narnia and had adventures inside.

One day, Digory and I were in the rafters when we found a door. We walked into the room and the big chair moved. Digory’s uncle stepped out and he offered me a yellow ring. I vanished when I touched it. Digory came after me. Then, we realized we could get into other worlds.

We found ourselves in a ruin of sorts that I did not like. In another room, we saw lots of people. Digory liked this lady so much, that he called her a queen! I called her a witch. She was a witch and a queen!

Later we found ourselves in a empty world. Then a singing began that seemed to create the world. We liked the song until we knew the singer was a lion named Aslan. After he made the animals, he sent us to get a special apple. When we came back, he took us home.

That is my story. We got into other worlds. We met a witch. We found Narnia. I learned a lesson: Do not take yellow rings from old men! The End.

Today's post is part of a special 200th anniversary of the Carnival of Homeschooling hosted at Consent of the Governed.

Next Time: In Praise of Out Walking.

Happy 10th birthday to our Bunny Girl

Today is my little bunny girl's 10th birthday. As far as bunnies go she is not very fast. She went form zero to ten in ten years!!!

We gave her her very own bunny on Saturday as her present. You can read more about said bunny by clicking HERE To commemorate her birthday I am giving her a revised copy of a short story I wrote for her when she was 3. It was a Christmas present at the time. I will share it here also. Let me present ...

The Forgetful Bunny

My name is Billy Bunny and I have a sad story to tell. It all began the Thursday morning after Easter. Thursdays are some of my toughest days. They are so close to Fridays you can feel it, but they are still deeply rooted in Mondays. This particular Thursday was the Thursdayest! I woke up late and all my bunny brothers and sisters had used all the hot water, so I had to have cold water for my shower. On top of that, all the yummy carrot porridge was gone and I only got a woeful amount of twigs and berries. Twigs and berries are okay for some, but when your mouth wakes up expecting carrot porridge, twigs and berries just won’t do it.

I almost missed the bus and when I got to school, my best friend Jeremy Jumping Hare was mad at me. On Monday, Jeremy had come over with all his Easter eggs and we had played with them until we went out to play bunny ball. Jeremy left the eggs at my house. When it began to get dark, Jeremy went right home because his house is very close to the bunny ball field.

Jeremy told me don’t forget to bring the eggs to school tomorrow. But you know what? On Tuesday, I forgot! Jeremy understood cause he knows I can be a very forgetful Bunny.

I forgot again on Wednesday and this time, Jeremy was not so understanding. I promised him I would not forget on Thursday. But Thursday morning was so Thursdayish, I clean forgot!

I gave Jeremy my best shrug and was right about to promise that Friday, carrot porridge or no carrot porridge, he would have his eggs back. But before I could begin he said:

“Listen, Billy Bunny! If my eggs are more important to you than being friends, you can keep them! But we won’t ever be friends again."

That is my sad sad story. Jeremy Jumping Hare doesn’t want to be my friend anymore. He and I have been best bunny buddies since we could hardly hop. If I can only have one friend over to stay the night, it is always Jeremy. When I buy bunny ball cards, I always give my doubles to Jeremy, even if he doesn’t have any good trades.

It is still Thursday, I just got home on the bus. I got aninvitation to Emma Roller’s bunny party, but I don’t even want to go. Jeremy will be there. and we’d usually hang out and have lots of fun. What fun is a party when your friend isn’t your friend anymore?

I know what I’ll do! I’ll march right over to the meadow and find Jeremy. I am sure he is jumping in the high clover. Jeremy always jumps in the high clover when he’s mad.

Here I go march, march, march. I see Jeremy and give him the eggs and say:

"Even if we can’t be friends any more I want you to have your eggs."

Then I give him my only Roddy Rabbit bunny ball card. Roddy Rabbit is the best bunny baller ever! His cards are harder to come by than either Hop Harrelson's or Sweet Bunny Brown's .

Jeremy takes the eggs and the card and says we can still be friends. I’m going to see him tomorrow at Emma’s party!

Not a bad day, even for a Thursday!

We love you bunny! Happy Birthday!

Special Thanks to Write Anything for including this in the October Carnival of Creativity.

Next Time: Agua only August

A Bunny at Last

When my oldest daughter was 4 months old, my mom gave her a red stuffed bunny for her first Christmas. She named him red bunny and he became her favorite toy and started her life long love for bunnies. Not only would she sleep with it, each and every night, she would also suck on its ear, as if it was a pacifier. She did this so much that the ear became black and her teeth started getting black marks on them. We tried to have her switch ears to no avail. In the end, we had to cut off the bunnies ear making him Vincent Van Bunny.

Now she has had a couple of dozen stuffed bunnies over the years, none of them as important to her as red bunny. Until, I should say, a few years ago at her cousin's birthday party at build-a-bear when she brought home Alice. Alice became her new best friend and bedtime companion. The great thing about Alice for us was that she was the best consequence we could ever use to discipline her. When we'd ask her to bring Alice to us, and she knew we meant business!



Soon after she got red bunny, she became enamored with real bunnies and especially the possibility of owning one. She began to learn the ins and outs of the bunny business. When she was almost 3, she taught me that baby bunnies are called kittens. When she was about 5, to curb the requests for a bunny, we told her that when she was 10, we would get a pet. Well quite honestly, we never quite expected her to become 10. But 5 +5 is alas, 10 and today I bought my bunny her first real bunny.



About 6 weeks ago she and I went bunny searching at the Kane County Fair. We encountered a girl who had 6, 2 week old bunnies and was willing to sell one to us after they were weaned. Emma was keen on getting a girl bunny and the seller was pretty sure that at least one of the kittens would be a girl. Earlier this week, I contacted the seller and alas, all 6 kittens were boys. She did have a 6 month old doe, and she was willing to sell her. Bunny decided that she would rather have an 8 week boy than a 6 month girl. Yesterday we bought all the needed equipment and today we bought the bunny, a grey jersey wooley, which Bunny has named Smoky. In a future post, I will put up pictures of the 3 most significant bunnies (stuffed and otherwise) in her life. But the most significant bunny in MY life is my little bunny girl!

Next Time: 7 Word September

Life Sentence

Last week I discovered Six Word Saturday. My words for this week:

Picking berries and preparing for bunnies.

We have a berry bearing tree which we picked this week. We also are going blueberry picking as a family this weekend. Our oldest turns 10 in early September and we have been promising her a pet bunny on her 10th birthday for 1/2 her life. So we have been in full bunny prepmode around here. Hitting the county fair and talking with all manners of people. We have even been offered a free one. We are trying to make a decision in regards to which bunny and when.



To see other people's Six word summations are share your own head on over to Show My Face.

Next Time: Happy Birthday Grandma.

Strawberry Picking With Bunny Girl

Kids grow up quickly, I dig that. What I don't get is how this kid is now almost 10. It seems like yesterday that this picture was taken, and now shes just a month and change away from a second decade.

A few Saturdays ago, I read on my facebook page how a friend of ours had gone strawberry picking. I quickly went on the Internet and found a place that still had strawberries about a half hour from our house. Amy was in the midst of a recipe but I gobbled up Bunny Girl and off we went on an adventure. Much to her joy, they also had sugar snap peas available.  We spent an enjoyable hour picking both.

As we picked I was telling her how much I enjoyed just spending time alone with her. She looked at me and said I am going to remember this day for the rest of my life and when I have kids I will take them strawberry picking.

Now while pictures may be worth thousands of words that one sentiment was worth thousands of pictures, strawberries and sugar snap peas.

Next Time: A Life Sentence.

The write thing at the right time.

Today has been a difficult day. I started teaching the kids today and it did not go really well. I went shopping after Amy came home and started crying about three times in the five minutes I was in the store. Purchasing refried beans usually does not have that effect on me. Keith has been on my mind all day.

When I got back in the house I started crying again. Emma was finishing a writing assignment that Amy gave her last week. She asked me what was the matter and I said that I wasn't feeling very well today. She handed me her finished assignment and said "here, I hope this makes you feel better." It really did! She gave me permission to share it here.

My Dad! By Emma R

A man like Dad is hard to find. If you looked for someone like him in a 1,000,000 men, not one would be just like him. That is because my dad is the best dad in the world! But not the best father. Just kidding!

That is because he is silly, helpful, kind, nice, funny, and crazy! He likes to say "llama". Once he said I'll give you 5 cents for every time I say llama!" Boy! Did we get a lot of money!

We used to get 50 cents for allowance. Now we get $2.00! He even lets me be paid for some jobs. He always prays for Lucy and sometimes lays down with her. He loves playing games with us!

When Lucy has sticker time, he lets her choose. When she has computer time, he does exactly what she wants. He makes Lucy's school fun. He takes our neighbor to the store, because she does not have a car.

He used to visit our uncle at the hospital. In conclusion, my dad is the best dad in the world because he is nice, kind and crazy.

I just gave a eulogy yesterday. The problem with a eulogy is that the person you want to tell all these great things about is not there to hear them. Emma's paper seemed like a eulogy that I was able to receive.

Next Time: Putting the fun back in funeral.

The Kids Bike

2-4-6-8 who do we appreciate cyclists! Cyclists! Go cyclists! It was Tuesday afternoon and my 7 year old and I decided the training wheels needed to go. So I took them off and I've been riding without them ever since. Kidding! They were his training wheels.

We took them off and went to the church parking lot, down the street. There was quite a bit of falling and after a while my sad, dejected son wanted to give up and go home. I told him 3 more falls and we would go home. The next time up he got it. Here is some footage.

When my 9 year old, also still in training wheels, got wind of Charlie's achievement, she wanted to be part of the act. So here she is earlier today.

They are getting better and better and I am really proud of both of them. We plan to do a lot of biking as a family this year sans training wheels will be best.

Next Time: Next Time