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.

June, July and August

I don't remember the first time I heard the joke, I have heard many variations through the years. The essence goes like this: Q: What are the best three things of being a teacher? A: June, July and August.

Last summer I lost my job and became the teaching parent in our home school family. My wife went back to her career as a school psychologist. My kid's school year ended the week before Father's Day, my wife's last day was the Friday before Father's Day. We are now in the midst of what amounts to be an 8 week paid vacation provided by our school district.

I would not go as far to say that these three months are the best things to be a teacher. Having this time with my family unencumbered by non-family concerns sure make Summer my favorite season. Before this it was Paprika.

Our main exploits this summer have been gardening, swimming, biking and reading. In addition we've been on a number of outings; some as a full family, some in partial strength.

In addition to our weekly cleaning day we made a list if "bigger jobs" we wanted to accomplish this summer and are knocking them out about one every week. I also am taking one afternoon a week to prepare for the school year and the two classes I will be teaching at the co-op this year.

When I was the "paycheck" parent I enjoyed the summer and tried to get as much time off that we could spend as a family. Having all five of us all home for this extended family time certainly works for me.

To see what works for others go to We Are That Family. Next Time: Strawberry Picking With Emma.

Unbelievable (You want me to do what?).

I love blogging. I would probably blog even if there wasn't such a thing as comments. But I really like getting comments. Every once in a while (okay every other post) I get no comments. I'm cool with that. But I really like getting comments. What I don't like is getting derogatory, mean spirited comments. I haven't told my parents about my blog ,so I thought I could avoid that sort of thing. Just kidding!

The other day I received a horrible comment. I don't remember all of it because it was laced with profanity and I erased it as soon as I was able. The general idea was that I was a horrible person and the commenter wanted me to die a horrible death. So what could have caused so much anger? Did I offend someones religion? Did I make some ethnic slur or stereotype? Did I say that Lost was worse than Gilligan's Island? No. What I did was merely mention that my family and I were embarking on what we called No Junk Food June.

It seemed that the commenter was most upset that I would put my children through that. I was ruining their lives and they would end up hating me forever. Because we didn't eat sugar for a month? Because we didn't go to fast food restaurants for a month? Please!!!

Now two things I'd like to mention. One, if you read the post after the one you commented on, you would have read that my kids had plenty of sugar and junk food in June. We traveled quite a bit that month and I let the kids eat their regular diet when we were on the road. They also went to a major league baseball game, two museums which they all enjoyed and many other fun things in the month of June. Two, on this painful death thing, No Junk Food June is intended to increase my life expectancy not decrease it. I just lost a brother and while his death may not have been painful, it certainly was to those he left behind. My desire to shed some pounds, has something to do with his early demise.

My kids survived their "ordeal" quite nicely. We will probably attempt to do it again next June if I can avoid painful or any other kind of death until then. I wonder what that commenter would say if they knew our family was already in the midst of no television for the summer?

Next Time: June, July and August.