Well, this is awkward...I haven't posted since December, and I only popped in today to say that I'm having a super awesome sale on my photography prints courtesy of Heartsy. Like I said, it's super awesome.
We've had a wonderful year. I'll tell you all about it sometime. xo
I have pneumonia and a desperate and immediate need to write a new blog post. They don't go together well. I have pneumonia and am wrapped up in blankets on the couch, listening to the oven make occasional clicking sounds because I haven't turned it off since I got the pizza out for lunch. I wheeze and sniff and feel sorry for myself and wish that someone would turn the oven off for me, because I don't want to get up. The clicking, though, is driving me crazy.
I think this is the part of homeschooling I don't like at all: getting sick and facing the option of teaching through it and doing a sucky job, or letting the kids do their own thing and knowing I'm going to be waking up to the sounds of epic Pokemon battles. Today I found a printable Periodic Table board game and we played that for an hour (their choice-they loved it) before I put on Mythbusters and burrowed back under a mountain of quilts and mumbled something about science being awesome, hooray. I think that's going to be my whole day.
So now, in order to cheer myself up (and possibly entertain you), I'm going to try to remember my favorite things we've done this year. It's been a very good one.
Williamsburg in the spring
DC in the summer (We saw Elena Kagan! We saw Elena Kagan!)
The Poe Museum in Richmond for Halloween
Halloween homeschool spelling bee + giant party
Our Awesome Women in History club
studying folk art and getting to go to ClydeFest, Whirlygig Fest, & meeting Sam "The Dot Man" McMillan. So rad.
4H! "My cow's named Buttercup. First name Butter. Last name Cup."
The Real George Washington exhibit
ice skate Tuesdays (except the weird music they play at the rink... Tim Curry's "I Do the Rock" + "Election Day" by Arcadia=total room clearers.)
our photography walks
hiking at the Eno
Science Fest @ UNC Chapel Hill
babysitting the bearded dragon (not a euphemism for anything)
4th of July in Raleigh, watching a naturalization ceremony AND a cicada emerge from its shell
Beatles lapbook
a trillion fun get-togethers.
I feel a little better about today being a total zero. Hopefully next year will be just as amazing.
making a 'zine about Amelia Earhart to go with the paper planes and charm bracelets we have made for Allie's AWESOME WOMEN IN HISTORY! club she started. It was a beautiful idea for her part and an insane amount of work for mine. Fourteen lovely little girls are going to be here Thursday morning, and so I don't think I shall get a second of sleep until Thursday afternoon.
trying to get Annie to feel better by Thursday. She's very sick and has her little weird cough she always gets that sounds so much worse than it is. And that sleep thing? I'm dyin' here.
still gloating over Ian's incredible paper tower building skills that enabled him to totally destroy the competition at this past weekend's UNC Science Challenge. We're all about the gold medals in science, people. We drove home with the windows down, the Modern Lovers loud, and the swag bag sunglasses that said "Time-Warner Cable" on the side on. Awww, yeah.
(Small-world side note: The weird guy who bought my Guided By Voices ticket (when I sold it on Craigslist because my dork friends waited too long to get theirs and then it was sold out and I didn't want to go alone because that would be a drag) was a volunteer at the first event at the science fair, the theremin building thing. He walked over and said, "Hey. I bought your ticket." And I said, "Huh!" )
thinking that maybe I should be actually working on that 'zine instead of picking riiiight now to get back to blogging. I'm in a mild panic already. That's how I always do...plan/panic/host/sleep. Repeat.
Did you know that this past summer (in the heat and mud, for several weeks) my kids (worked their tails off and) raised calves for 4H and took part in the first dairy show in Durham in forty years? We also went to Washington DC and Williamsburg and Kentucky and everything was magical. I wish I would've written about it then. I have pictures on my Flickr page you can check out, if you're so inclined. They're nice pictures...you'd like them. Especially the 4H pictures. They still make me melt and feel all happy and, a few months later, I can absolutely still smell that wonderful cow smell.
We had a long, very much needed summer break. Now it's time to get going again, and I'm so ready. School starts Monday. Monday is also my 35th birthday.
Coincidence? Yes.
It's going to be a wonderful day.
Check out those pictures. They're truly beautiful.
We were in Kentucky for a while, where I honest-to-God had no internet. Days and days were spent with no internet. I didn't even take my computer this time because I've learned that apparently nobody uses routers on my family's street, and you just can't steal what's not there. It was difficult, but I somehow managed, spending my time with my grandparents, listening to family stories, grilling out, showing the kids where I grew up (they were as interested as you'd think), buying too much UK junk, and eating too much Giovanni's. Now we're back, and oh, seriously, we are so happy to be home. So, so happy. I'll fill you in later, but right now I'm in charge of spinning the Twister spinner, and I can leave my kids tangled up for only so long before they start complaining. (Or before it's considered abuse.) Left hand, green!
I had to coax Ian into the house with the promise of cookies, which he could have only after he answered the following questions. He liked the cookies, but does not appreciate having to stand still to answer questions.
Listening:
Reading: Lloyd Alexander's Book of Three Watching: Pokemon, Black Cauldron Eating: chili Liking: going outside, playing, riding my bike, Clydefest, seeing the symphony on Wednesday (At this point, he runs outside to stick a crushed water bottle over his back bike tire. He rides off, his bike making the most painful, grating, awful sound I've ever heard. He rides back and I ask him more questions. "What are some things you want, Buddy?" I ask, trying to stay out of his way. He rolls his eyes. "I'd like to stain the deck. I think I'll have to cut the grass this weekend, too," he replied. And then he fell off his bike. "HA!" I said. Parents always win. And so the questions continue...) Wanting: To ride my bike, play in the grass Thinking: the new Ben 10 is on tonight, thinking about reading my new books School: Greek, Latin, archaeology class. I like it all.
(Sorry about not updating much this week. We really did go to Clydefest! And we saw the NC Symphony orchestra and make stuff and did things like we always do. It's been just fine. My computer is wonky and my router died, so I'm sitting in the floor against a wall so I can connect my husband's computer to the modem and LIFE IS SO HARD. I'll catch up soon.) (Did I mention that I stopped buying chocolate and cookies and stuff because I thought it would make me thinner and happier? And now, all I have is two empty tubs of weird tasting, possibly European sugarless gummy candy? I am not thinner, and certainly not happy.) (Did enjoy The Shaggs article at Sweet Juniper! today. A Music Tapes reference always makes me smile, too.)
A friend shared this link with me, and it's just the most beautiful & coolest thing. It was so nice and so soothing to wake up to on a quiet, foggy, peaceful morning, and I found myself getting excited to hear the sounds of Neptune and Pluto. (Hooray for including Pluto!)
This is what 8-year old Al is into this week. (It makes me miss being eight.) Listening*:
(Paying-attention parent note: instead of "sleep," we say, "eat peeps." Happy?)
Reading: The Wizard of Oz Watching: The Black Cauldron ("I like the creepy stuff," she says.) Eating: spaghetti! Liking: coloring, shopping with Daddy, looking for creatures (frogs, bugs, etc), ClydeFest, riding my bike Wanting: a kitty and a turtle and another dog. To go to Kentucky. Thinking: Ice Cream. Ponies. School: I like fractions and our online archaeology class.
I just want to say how very surprised and very happy I am to be part of the group of finalists for the Pioneer Woman's macro photography assignment. I love her challenges and have so, so much fun with them...they make me take the time to stop and look around more, search for textures and light and colors, and push my little Canon point 'n'shoot as far as I know how to take it.(Thank you, husband, for buying me the little p&s after I dropped and destroyed the camera you had just gotten me the week before. I couldn't have done it without the always-forgiving and generous you.) I absolutely love looking at all of the submitted pictures...some are just jaw-droppingly incredible...and I never imagined myself in the same league. (Still don't, honestly.) I'm so gleeful right now, I'm unbearable.
We're off to ClydeFest! I'll tell you all about it when we get back. Have a memorable, sunny, giddy weekend, y'all.
