All is Well

Today was just one of those days...everything was perfect.

Ready

Back to school bangs and a snaggle-tooth to boot. Girl looks like a second grader.

Holy Mess Thursday

Short story simple: our A/C's drain pipe busted and flooded the house. Restoration crew got right to work tearing up flooring and trying to dry it up--with 4 large dehumidifiers that pump hot air (132 degrees Fahrenheit to be exact) round the clock to aid in the evaporation process.

I cannot recall ever stepping out into an August afternoon and thinking Oh my it's nice and cool out here! but today I did just that.

Things should be dry in the next 3-5 days and we'll be able to turn the A/C back on when the crew gets to work replacing our hardwood flooring--that's right all of it.

'Til then we'll be suckin' down Otter Pops as if our lives depended on it (and truth be told, it kind of feels like they do!)

The Deployment Gnome strikes again!

Know What Else Was Great?

This movie!

Good News Tuesday

SIXTY DAYS, YO!
and this girl's a fish.

What She Loves

"I love you Frankie."

"I love you too Maaaam. . ."

"and I love skunks."

Tooth

Going . . .

going . . .

not quite gone .

Five Great Things About My Childhood

1. Crest Grab-Bags
2. The Yellow Wallpaper (what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger)
3. Tree forts in the field off Apple Ave.
4. Playing Sardines for FHE
5. Grandpa Hugh's ancient Mac with the best games

Your turn! On your marks...get set...go!

Good News Tuesday

This man loves me.

Netflix

says "Your taste preferences created this row: Critically Acclaimed Violent Dramas"

What in the world?

I've been waiting and waiting for Nate to call. I just remembered that I asked him not to. I meant to go to bed early. Instead I watched Cold Souls and Ballet Shoes. Violent dramas indeed.

I can't seem to get caught up on the dishes.

Today was just a day. There is nothing to report.

A new-to-you photo. Isn't he handsome?

Do You Ever

tell your kids to stop whining about their food when secretly you know what they're eating is disgusting?

I do.

PS. Newman's Own Pineapple Salsa tastes like vomit. Literally.

Miley Fever

Frankie had us all rollin' with her almost verbatim performance of Miley Cyrus' "Party in the USA" at dinner. By the time I pulled out the camera though it had pretty much dissolved into a real case of the sillies.


"So I put my hands up they're playing my song,
the butterflies fly away,
Nodding my head like yeah . . .
It's a party in the USA"

Epiphany

Jensie is ornery, the other two are sweet.
But you already knew that. I've told you a million times.

Today it hit me--What if instead of telling everyone how rotten Jensie is, I focus on all of the good things she does?

Will she live up to the reputation of that person? Will my perception of her influence the woman she becomes? I think so. I only wish I'd seen it sooner.

Today Jensie . . .
got out of bed an hour before I did and served breakfast to her siblings,
pushed Frankie on the swing for a long long time,
hummed "Called To Serve" while I brushed her teeth,
let Asher and Frankie each take one of her books "home" with them,

and made me a twisty-tie necklace.

North is Not Always Up (Why We Chose Homeschool)

Has it ever struck you as odd, or unfortunate, that today, when the proportion of literacy is higher than it ever has been, people should have become susceptible to the influence of advertisement and mass propaganda to an extent hitherto unheard of or unimagined? . . . Have you ever, in listening to the debate among adult and presumably responsible people,been fretted by the extraordinary inability of the average debater to speak to the question, or to meet and refute the arguments of the speakers of the other side?
. . . And when you think of this, and think that most of our public affairs are settled by debates and committees, have you ever felt a certain sinking of the heart? . . . Is not the great defect of our education today--a defect traceable through all the disquieting symptoms of trouble that I have mentioned--that although we often succeed in teaching our pupils "subjects," we fail lamentably on the whole in teaching them how to think: they learn everything, except the art of learning.

--Dorothy L. Sayers
"The Lost Tools of Learning"

Pippa and June

Pearl died. We buried her in the yard with an X to "mark the spot." Something dug her up and ate her. The kids were cool about it though because the hatchery promised to send another little duck our way. They sent a bonus baby too, so now we have six.

Six ducks who'll lay an egg a day for about six years. That's 15 dozen eggs a month.
Holy guacamole!


The first four are growing like weeds. Look what a difference one week makes! Pippa and June look so teeny tiny in there with the girls.

We're working on getting them to eat out of our hands. So far they mostly just chirp and run for their lives whenever we get near them.

I could chase baby ducks all day. True story.