Can you believe this heat? Oh my goodness, I keep thinking if I walk out into my front yard I will see the equator singed into the ground! Oh my goodness!

Well to be the month of 100+ degree temps that we've been having the boys and I decided to make our own water sprinkler. I saw a post from someone on facebook one afternoon and thought – oh we can do that. I have to say though that it's important to have a good amount of duck tape. One little piece just won't hold that long! LOL I only had one little piece left on the roll so we did our best, but when Bug tried to pick it up the water pressure overtook it and “Ka-Plooee” it was over. But I got a new roll so I plan to reattach the bottle to the hose and try again. LOL – It really did make a good sprinkler!

Last week the boys went to SonSurf Beach Bash and I had a few hours each evening to do a little cemetery hunting. Well the first night I went up to Graves Cemetery in Rockett. What a sad little place this is.

You can see the beggar's lice that covered my shoe - oh what a mess!

Supposedly it's cared for, but the care is obviously not real well. Those storms last February knocked down several large trees and they are still laying precariously around the cemetery. One very large tree knocked down the Texas Historical Marker sign – right off it's post. It's really an odd place when you visit – no rhyme or reason to the layout...a few family plots, then one lone grave way off to the side. Strange to say the least.

Another evening I went up to Bell's Chapel Cemetery in Pecan Hill. This is quite a beautiful cemetery. And I was surprised but even with all the traffic on the road it's very peaceful. I enjoyed walking this one and took lots of pics for find-a-grave. Even though the heat was stifling I really liked the exercise.

Across from the main cemetery entrance I found quite a sight. Certainly brought a smile

to my face. Near the road is a sign that says Without prayer our nation will fail, then in front of the house is a flag pole with – get this – an American flag, a Texas flag and A COME AND TAKE IT FLAG! Is that not a hoot! Oh my I had a good laugh over that one. Those are my kinda people! This picture really doesn't do it justice, but I didn't have my long lens with me. You can see the red white and blue sign at the road – that's the prayer sign. Then on the flag pole the bottom, white flag – that is the come and take it flag. Priceless...

Last weekend was a busy weekend for us. Hubby and I went to the THSC conference in The Woodlands. We took to the boys to Cut-N-Shoot to camp with Memaw and Papa for the days we were at the conference. Then Hubby and I met up with them to spend one more night camping. It was a fun, busy time and we had a blast – both at the conference and camping! The conference was a delight I have to say...it was so good to meet up with like minded people and be rejuvenated and reminded about why we do what we do! Hubby and I attended several really good workshops.

We also loved going to the book fair. It was a little overwhelming at first, but we really enjoyed seeing all the great stuff that is out there and having a chance to browse and pursue certain items more closely! While in the book fair we actually found a new chore system that I believe is just really going to help our family. I like the set up and the fact that the boys are “earning” but it's not based on monetary gain necessarily. I also really like the way the kids are held more responsible for their work and that they are in charge of completing, settling up and refilling their chart – score one for me! I also really like the accountability of it...we certainly need that!

Another purchase was the pathway readers and workbooks for Red – of course he won't be using them just yet – but when we get there I will be ready! Woo-Hoo! They were so inexpensive and I was very excited to see the prices so low, plus I saved 15% by purchasing there. That was pretty awesome. For anyone who knows me and knows how frugal I am – I was overjoyed! Another thing I was looking for was a phonics program for Red...I haven't really found anything that I think will work well for him yet.

He is a very auditory learner and thus far I haven't found our niche yet. But I did get some good information at the Little Giant Steps booth – we listened to a mini-presentation about auditory processing and learned that if you cannot process info at a level 6 (which means you can not remember 6 things) then you will not be able to learn phonics. Well Red tested at a level 5 which is perfectly normal since he is 5...but it also tells me that I need to back off and not pressure him. I plan to get a digit span deck (which works on auditory processing) to work with both boys. The other cool thing is that while in the booth we signed up and Hubby won a $25 gift certificate! Well score on that one! Woo-Hoo! I really enjoyed looking over their products and was very impressed with the rapid recall math system as well as some of their cd's. I plan to put that $25 to good use! LOL Another perk of being in Houston (or near it) was the Homeschool House book store - they were literally 5 minutes from the conference and having a 50% off all used curriculum sale! Woo-Hoo! Hubby and I went over the Friday afternoon and I was excited to find several things that I could use - I was super excited! I was so excited in fact that we ran by again on Saturday before we left town. I am a planner and I am also pretty static in my resources so I actually have a box of curriculum K-6th that I started last year. As I come across books that I use for dirt cheap I buy them, trade them, etc and put them in my box. That way I figure even if I change up my sources I haven't invested a lot. Plus anything I decide not to use I can either list on paper back swap or sell. I have an ongoing list of things that I have in the box for each grade level and I was very excited to fill in a few holes for $1-$3 each! Can't beat that!

Here is a funny about our trip. Thursday night after we took the boys to the campground, checked in at registration, attended a workshop by Sally Clarkson (so awesome!!!) we left the conference center starving! So we headed to our hotel to check in and find a Pizza Hut! Since finding out Red is allergic to cow's milk, pizza has gone by the wayside in our house...and sometimes you know how you just get that crazy craving for a good pizza...well Hubby and I had that very feeling going on! LOL It didn't take us long to get the pizza picked up and back to our hotel. (And up three flights of stairs) Where we could properly wash our hands and chow down! Yum!!! I think the even cooler part of the pizza was we packed the leftovers in zip bags and in the cooler and had cold pizza for lunch the next day! Oh Yeah! It was funny, as we sat chatting about what we had heard/seen/done that morning (while eating our cold pizza) we laughed and said hmmm...feels like we're in college again. LOL

Well while we were enjoying some adult time at the conference, the boys were having a ball at the campground with Memaw and Papa. Wearing them out that's for sure. They went swimming (every time Bug could drag someone to the pool) and fishing – a lot! LOL – I was very grateful for the slight decrease in temps last weekend. That made it possible for the kids to be outside and not stuck in the trailer. The pond was catch and release and the boys had a ball fishing with Papa. And it's a good thing Memaw likes to swim because Bug certainly kept her exercising in the pool! LOL When we got there Saturday afternoon the boys were more than ready to drag their Daddy to the pool and off to fish. It was a fun evening. Sunday morning we visited the Trail of Life Cowboy Church there in Conroe and came back to the campground for sandwiches and fishing and swimming before we headed home. Lots of memories made...

Okay so is anyone else ready to move to Alaska? I am so tired of the heat I just can't hardly stand it. We are going on something like 35 days straight of 100+ temps. It's the 4^th day of August and so far it has been 114, 115, and yesterday was 117. Oh my...it's already 113 out there today. Man oh man am I ready for Jack Frost to appear. We have been letting the dogs come in because it's just so blazin' hot out there. Even with the kiddie pool and the shade trees they are panting like crazy. Lady is so good...she already knows the routine (from winter) – she parks herself in the kitchen (in front of the box fan) and snoozes the afternoon away. The hounds are not so likely to park it in one spot. Sadie does a better job than “Chaos” as Daddy has taken to calling Scamp. He is like a tornado so the name fits him well. LOL They tend to wander around and try to nose into the rooms I do not want them in. Scamp likes the bathroom and I often find him lounging by the tub. (Or with his feet on the wall - crazy dog!)

The perk of letting them in I suppose is that it makes me sweep and mop the floors everyday. LOL – all I can say is you just have to get over it – I do not (on a regular basis) find the time to sweep and mop every day. I guess I did when the kids were babies, but it's been a long time since I had a little one crawling around on the floor. But with the hounds coming in (ugh) I find the need to sweep up and mop away the dog smell each evening. I am not a dog inside the house kind of person and Hubby isn't either, so this has taken some change on our part.

But we understand that it's just too hot out there and the poor dogs shouldn't have to suffer through it. We certainly aren't. The boys and I stay holed up in the house with the A/C and the fans going trying to keep cool. We have been venturing out to play in the yard after 7pm...and it's amazing that it's still 105 or more at that time of day...but the darkening sky seems to make it more bearable. We even went to McDonald's one afternoon just to have some run around time.

I delivered Meals on Wheels Wednesday and boy oh boy did I notice that people have been stuck inside and not out and about to see others. Usually the boys deliver with me, but it was so hot I really didn't want to drag them in and out of the car over and over so they stayed home with Dad. Everyone wanted to chat – which I normally do not mind at all...except that it was about 108 and I was sweating like I don't know what. I was drenched by the time I was finished. It was also the day that an elderly man (at the apartment complex on my route) was having car trouble – when I asked him if I could help, he asked if I could give his battery a jump with my car. I was worried about him being out in the heat – I had been there about 10 minutes already and he'd been at his car the whole time. I encouraged him to go inside for a bit, but he said he was alright he just needed to get his car going. So I proceeded to move my car next to his...which meant moving the dumpster so I wouldn't hit it. :/ Then after I had pulled up next to his car I had to crawl out the back passenger side because I was blocked in. ha! So I get out and he looks at me and says “Uh, Ma'am where is your battery?” At this point I am completely dumbfounded...uh under the hood where any normal battery would be right? Um No, my car has the battery under the back seat – what??? LOL So after looking in the manual for where the battery is and how to get to it we discovered it was under the backseat along with markers, various tiny toy pieces, popcorn, cheerios and many other unidentifiable objects. Yeah! How embarrassing! I apologized profusely for the state of my under-seat to which the gentleman laughed and said - “Well Ma'am looks like you have kids”. Whew...thank goodness for that. Now don't get me wrong, I am not a “cleanie” by any means, but I have to say that in the 3+ years I have owned the car I have never vacuumed deeper than what I could reach through the seat belt hole. (Which usually holds a wealth of treasures.) LOL But anyway after we found the battery and figured out how to get to it we figured out that I would have to back into the tiny space for the cables to reach. Fun – I do not profess to be a great backer-upper, but I got the job done without running over the man, his car or the dumpster...yeah me! So after we got his car going, he was so sweet to tell me he would get my seat all back together for me...lol...I declined saying – it gives me the go ahead to vacuum under there. He chuckled and thanked me again. I encouraged him again to get out of the heat. Boy was it hot and we'd been standing out there for 20+ minutes already. So it was an eventful and very hot day in the world of meal delivery.

Let's see what else is new around here. Oh I know, I found a dehydrator in the Aldi's ad for $19.99 – so Hubby picked one up for us to try our hand at drying foods. I was quite excited. I love dried cranberries and cherries and they are so darn expensive. I also want to try and make fruit leather and jerky and granola. Oh the plans are big already! LOL – I started out my first batch right away – I put in some cherries and a banana.

Well I don't have a cherry pitter and I couldn't find one at Wal-Mart the other day so I thought well I will tough it out and just do them by hand until I find one. Well this is what happens. Purple fingers...wonder how long this will last? LOL – oh well. Cherry pitter is on the list! LOL My Cherries turned out great. I think I may have over dried them a bit because some of the edges are a little crispy, but they have a great flavor and are nice and chewy. I used some Northwestern Cherries that I got on sale with an ad match!

I also did one banana – just to see how it would go...not so great with the banana – it didn't turn chip like it's really chewy instead. What's funny is it has a really concentrated banana taste (like baby food bananas). I am not giving up though! LOL

If you are into geocaching (www.geocaching.com) you will have to check out our newest hide in Midlothian – it's at the city cemetery – the name is “You won't find the hare here”. It's just a log, but the container is just precious and it's a fun hide. Don't forget to log the Woodman of the World markers and the home made headstones while you are here.

Yesterday we decided to give the hounds a bath. They were not real excited let me tell ya! I tried to dry them as much as possible before letting them out of the bathtub, but apparently that didn't satisfy either of them. Since they were not allowed out of the house (to roll in the dirt) they decided to roll on the hardwood floor (no way was I letting them near the rug). It appears that bathing them released twice the amount of hair as usual – yuck. It was a good thing that we had waited until later to bathe them, as soon as they dried - I sent them out. The sweeping and mopping began!

Sadie looked as if we were torturing her! LOL Poor baby!

She went down the hall shaking her tail at us...I think she was a little perturbed! ;)

Scamp was very offended...he looked at us as if to say "How could you take away my hound dog stink? I worked hard on that!" Poor guy!

My school planning is going well. I am sorta old fashioned and like to hand write my plans (I know I know they are in the TE's, but it makes my mind work better). I have most all of the subjects lined out and now I am working on setting up my workbox system. I haven't found my perfect containers just yet. Of course the state of the school room is terrible...looks like I let tornado scamp in there. LOL – I keep telling myself one thing at a time. I need to get my workbox cards and schedule sheets laminated. I am planning to use the schedule book – I found this method on a blog and I really liked it – it seems like a lot less set up time each day on my part which I think will help me stay on track and use the system more. I like the thought of the boys working more independently through their day. I guess we will see how it all goes.

Well I guess I better get this uploaded and on with my duties for the day...

While I am blogging I figured I'd try to get a family update in as well. :) As always we never

slow down around here and certainly do not lack for activity and socialization! :)

For Bug's RA's group he is currently working on his Discoverer 2 patch. One of the requirements for Nature Craft is to create an object out rock, paint and glue. Bug

decided to create a car. He ended up making two because he couldn't decide

between rocks. LOL We did a lesson on using a chisel and how to chisel gently to make the "wheels" a little more round. He did well - it was fun to see him work so hard to find rocks that were similar in size then try to make them "rounder" than before. LOL

Here you can see him painting them.

I thought I got a finished pic - but I guess I didn't. I'll have to update later.

I have been working on the rearranging project again. Tackling the school room has turned into quite a job and mess and battle and ugh. But I know when I get it finished I will be quite proud of my work, so I will persevere! LOL Here you can see (embarrassing) some of the mess the room was in before. We are planning to put up some shelves for the the boys keepsake stuff - trophies, banks, art projects, etc. (Hopefully soon!!!)

Here you can see the computer desk as it was shoved into the room when we began working on the boys bedroom. This is where it sat for several days. And yes that is a string of Christmas lights - Bug wanted lights in his room so Dad hung them - and they stayed because he liked them as a "going to sleep light". LOL - yes they are now in the Christmas light box where they belong. ;)

Okay here you can see it sorta coming together. I decided to use a corner desk for the computer so it would save some space.

And here it is with the computer in place. I couldn't find Dad's electric screw/drill thingy so I was unable to hang the bulletin board, but it will eventually go on the wall above the desk. That's Bug's school desk you see there - piled with junk that didn't have a place just yet. :)

Okay so that project is not done, but slowly I am putting it together...will post more pics soon.

Red and I were working on the geoboards yesterday during math. He liked this lesson. Yeah! I think he enjoyed using the rubber bands a lot. We made a K as well as various shapes and lines. Fun!

Pictured here you see Hulk Hogan, Rey Mysterio, Edge and The Big Show (from left to right). LOL

The boys and I went to Michael's for the Easter Make and Take event (FYI - no one goes on weekdays morning events so it was very low key and one on one - and we got to make 2!) The boys enjoyed creating their little egg chicks. You can tell by the names that Wrestlemania is still foremost on their minds!

Well that is all for now...I really must hit the sack! Until next update - be kind and love one another!

Wendy

Well I attempted to get it all into one blog, but that didn't work. LOL - I remember (too late) that I had pics from my camera that I hadn't downloaded. :) So here goes, another update!

Here is some of Red's latest work. I am really proud of him. He is one of those kids that gets really mad if he doesn't do it just perfect. So we have been working on that. He often just won't try again - just would rather thrown down the pencil and give up - than make another attempt. So we've been working on that - he is coming right along with his writing and I am so proud. He seems to slowly be warming up to "trying again" rather than just throwing in the towel (or pencil int his case). Although he still gets quite frustrated, I am really seeing some maturing going on.

I mentioned in my last update how much Bug loves Ms. Dena's drawing class at ECCHO - well he has been so excited about it that I decided to look for some drawing books at paperbackswap.com. I came across this Drawing Reptiles book and order it - he was just ecstatic when it came in. I have to admit, I had not realized just how much he likes to draw.

He immediately went to work and just draws all the time now! So I looked up another and came up with the dog one - which I knew he'd get a kick out off because Bug is a dog lover to the MAX!

Here is some of his drawings he's done:

Boston Terrier

Dachshund

German Shepherd (like our Ladybug!)

Bulldog & Boxer

And from the reptiles book:

sea turtle

alligator

snake

crocodile

Below you will see an update on the garden. It's all planted now, although it's hard to see since the plants are so small yet. Hubby is putting in the last of the veggies there - red cabbage. The boys have been working hard with Daddy out there - tilling, weeding, hauling rocks (and more rocks), planting, watering. Science has taken root in the garden this spring. I love seeing my Hubby get into the whole "teaching spirit". I got some great pics of him with the boys and the neighbor boy planting peppers and tomatoes. It was awesome. I do believe my Hubby has a Montessori style heart or perhaps he's watched me do it so often that it's just taken root. He used the three part lesson to teach the boys how to plant the plants correctly in the ground. It was so cool to see them in action. I show you, you show me, now recall what you just did. I love it! Hubby just finished up the hoses today, so I think it's all in place. Now just to keep the birds away so they plants can grow big and strong! He laid soaker hoses throughout the garden - we are hoping this will prove to be a more direct - less water wasting - watering tactic.

Here's another art project Bug came up with. We found several bags of precut Texas shapes in the garage last weekend when we had our garage sale. I had brought one in thinking we'd come up with something to include in our Texas Geography Boxes. Well Bug found them on the shelf and decided he wanted to paint some for ornaments, so paint he did. We didn't have white, so he used silver in it's place. I haven't added the strings yet as they weren't quite dry. I think these will be a great addition to our boxes!

Well I have a lot of pics posted on this one. We had a round of some weird fever/stomach virus go around our house and it threw me way off my little "schedule" I had recently worked out for myself. LOL But anyway I am going to try and catch up on my posts tonight!

We've had a busy spring already - not that life is ever slow around here! Between school, the garden, various reorganizing/rearranging projects, a garage sale, sickness and extracurricular activities it's been crazy. It doesn't look like it will slow down much either come April!

Here is one of Bug's latest creations...his name is Plank. Can you see his eyes (made from nails)? Funny. Bug loves to build and decided he wanted to make a man...so he did. ;)

Below you can see the bird nest a little brown sparrow built in one of the bike hats. What is funny is it hangs right next to the back door. I think it's some sort of house sparrow. She is small and brown with little dots on her back. I sneaked in to take a pic of her nest - I am just amazed at how birds manage to be so detailed without thumbs and fingers...I mean really! Well a week or so later I noticed she had laid eggs. So I sneaked a pic using the long lens. I promise to leave them alone now...well I am sure you will get a pic of the babies, but until then no more peaking! ;) I just can't resist I love them.

This is a funny one...can you tell what this is?

A few posts back I told ya'll about that crazy horn that Red came home with...the longhorn - well this is the inside...complete with it's own bird nest. LOL Another little sparrow thought this would make a perfect nursery to hatch her babies I guess. I had noticed her flying off when I opened the back door a few times and finally caught on to where she was coming from. We actually watched her build this over a few days, it was neat to peek in and see it come together. She has a nice little den in there now. I actually used a bungy to tie it to the top of the porch bench which is where it was sitting when she took up residence. (I mean really now what in the world was I supposed to do with this thing!!!) I was afraid that the horn might slip though and fearing the worst for the sweet little Momma I decided I had better tie it down for the season. No eggs yet...perhaps soon! :)

Here is some interesting pics from a recent math lesson. Bug and I were discussing lines of symmetry and used paint to demonstrate. The first set is the red and blue simple prints - I did the blue (Bug thought it turned out like a shell) and Bug did the red - which he thought was super cool since it looks like a heart. :) Then we used various colors to create a picture to see how it came out. We even tried writing our names to see what would happen - I think he enjoyed the "mirror" effect. It was a neat learning experience - complete with paint on the top bunk of the new beds. How brave am I? LOL

Oh I just had to share this one. Look at this awesome handwriting. Bug has really ta

ken off in his penmanship. He is being so much neater and cleaner these days, I am really proud!

These next few pics you will see are of our Tennessee geography box we received from our swap partners last week. I admit we haven't delved much into the whole geography lesson about Tennessee, but it's a great resource to use and we were very excited to get it in the mail. The boys especially liked the bubble wrap! Funny!

The box was really awesome and included some really cool stuff - a live iris (the state flower) hats, lots of brochures and literature about the state. Also Tennessee caps - the boys had to put these on right away! Our swap family also included a picture album which I thought was an awesome idea! It had so many cool pictures of places they had visited and things in Tennessee - I am going to steal this idea for our future boxes! They also included some real tree samples and seeds. And - I love this - a box of little Debbie snacks and a box of moon pies! Did you know that Moon Pies originally came from Chattanooga, TN (the town where our swap family lives). I didn't know that! And Little Debbie's are from Tennessee too!

Pictured next you will see some of Bug's latest

artwork from his ECCHO art class - they worked on animals and houses. He is becoming such a good little artist. I am so excited that he is finding something he really enjoys. He really like's Ms. Dena's drawing class. She draws up on a large white board at the front of the room and the kids draw at the table - I am impressed!

The House That Bug Drew...

Kitty Cat

My Peanut Butter has been working so hard on his RA's Character Curriculum. I am so proud of him! We spent a week going on "nature walks" and taking pictures of some of the things we found. I got the pictures printed and Bug put together a Nature book. This is part of his Discoverer 1 patch. This was actually the last requirement for this patch. I am so excited for him. We are going to set up a date with Mr. Jeff to "present" his patch to him so that Daddy can be there too!

He did a great job on the cover of his book and his penmanship inside is spectacular! I am so excited for him.