All Things School.

Week 3 already. Wow this year is flying by.

Or not.

But we are getting in a routine. We start school. Hope prays with us and then screams off and on for the next two hours of morning school. Tyler puts his fingers in his ears. Becca beats her pencil against the table and stares off trying to concentrate on that word in the sky.....

Oh, wait. That was only one day.

It has been quite different doing school with a toddler on the prowl. One day before we have finished she smells rather strongly of Pleasures by Este Lauder. Other days, the kids school work is scribbled on. Or there's the day where she has bits of playdough in her hair and on her face. It's so educational . Right?
I have learned that coloring, music and blocks will keep her busy for 10 minute segments before I need to press the toddler reset button.

Teaching two has presented new challenges as well. Becca is a self-motivated learner. She does great with worksheet after worksheet. Which is great because Ty is a social learner. Notice the body language here. One is totally engrossed in her work. The other is trying to peek out of the corner of his eyer.

It is so much fun to watch how they are so different in every aspect. Ty learns by asking questions, touching, taking apart things so he can see how they work. Becca quietly observes, listens closely, pays attention to details that I sometimes even miss.

Three down, thirty-three to go.

It's Not New, But It's Good.

A few years ago, three year old Becca was playing house in the hallway of our home. She was dressed up in all her princess glory and had at least three babies and all the paraphernalia that goes along with them in the hall.

We had been visiting my sister and went to her Pentecostal church. The kids were enthralled with the music and dancing and came home full of excitement about the Holy Spirit. As she was playing I heard her voice change to almost a wail.

"I cannot do anything right. I cannot do anything good. The Holy Spirit has left me."

What do you say to that.

Last week I volunteered to go help my grandparents freeze corn. Well, not my grandparents, but my husband shares and lets me call them that. It was a long day, much longer than I anticipated. Maybe because I thought we were doing about 10 dozen ears and someone else had the bright idea of doubling that. And the very generous people at the farm threw in an extra dozen. I don't think I'll be writing a thank you note.

I failed to get any pictures of the actual work, because I was...WORKING (my rear off). When the work was done we headed over to the school yard across the street for some play time. I should probably mention this is the same playground where Becca fell and broke her arm in a nasty way a few years ago. Long story short, it's pretty much a miracle she regained full use of her arm. Needless to say, I was glad Daddy made it over in time to help me watch the three wild, crazy kiddos.

Becca was loving the slide at the first play area.

Hope's first time on a real swing and slide.

Tyler posing himself.

Nothing like Daddy pushing you on the tire swing.


Or hitching a ride on his shoulders.


Back to the house for some of Grandma's incredible mac and cheese. Yummy.

And this one melted my heart. Grandpa and his lone boy.

Upon hearing squabbling in Tyler's room, I went to investigate.

Tyler: "Hope's pushing cars on the top of my garage."

Me: "Tyler, Hope cannot hurt your garage."

Tyler: "But, Mom, she'll take the paint off it."

Me: "She can't do that, besides it's already been colored on."

Tyler: "I didn't do it."

Me: "I know you didn't do all of it."

Tyler: "Well, an(unnamed cousin) did the pink, and I certainly didn't enjoy that."

Moral, you can color on a my son's toys. Just don't use pink.

I Need Some Help.

No, not that kind. I may not always be fully sane, but most times there's still some sanity there.

The baby toes picture in the last post was a desperation shot. I tried and tried to get some cute pictures of my niece. The kind where it's perfectly framed, the lighting is right, her expression right. Marley was about a cute as a baby gets, but things on my end of it were pretty much wrong. See.



Even though it's not perfect, I love this one. Isn't she too cute!
Here's what I need to know. How do you go about getting great shots of other people's kids. I've seen a lot of your blogs and know you all do some pretty amazing stuff. And I'd kind of like to move from toe shots up to beautiful face shots. It will make it so much easier to decipher all those pictures in a few years if I don't have to say, "and who's toes were those?"

Just Because...

Baby toes make me so daggone happy.

The One Time I Didn't Take My Camera.

Well, not the one time, but you know what I mean.

Last weekend was hot, humid, and supposedly that last dry days we would see for awhile. Yeah, right. It's still hot, humid and DRY. What am I going to learn not to listen to those weather people. Excuse my ramblings.

So on that hot, humid Sunday afternoon we decided to pack up the kids and their bikes. We stopped for pizza and headed to an area park. It's a beautiful wooded park with lots of fun trails. We found a table and spread out for our picnic. That's where the hot, humid, fun day began to take a turn.

Swarms I tell you. SWARMS of mosquitoes came up from the grass. Being the less is more kinda girl I am, I took the natural bug repellent rather than the it might kill you, but it will definitely get rid of the bugs stuff. I immediately begin slathering my children and myself with the "repellent." The mosquitoes linger, but are no longer attacking so I sit down to eat again.

As I made the remark, "We should really do this more often." I heard a rather alarming buzzing sound. I looked towards the woods (and Becca) and see another swarm coming towards us. Only it's not mosquitoes. It's bees. Hope had bees coming towards her. Becca had three bees in her hair. We grabbed the food and ran to the car. Doug stood outside for a few minutes and then poked his head in to say, "I think it was the repellent." He didn't have any on and once the rest of us were in the car, the bees took off.

I think I might need to write a letter to the company. It might go a little like this.

Dear Burts Bees,

Did you know your insect repellent actually attracts bees?

Or is that too abrupt?

All that to say, I think I'm throwing it away. Because now that I look back on it, the other time I tried that brand of repellent I got chased by bees to. A mom ought to pay more attention to these things.