Showing posts with label Friday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Friday. Show all posts

Friday, July 1, 2011

Friday Madness



Many, many people like Fridays. I have nothing personal against them, but they tend NOT to be my favorite day of the week. Some Fridays, like next Friday, are First Lego League meeting days, which are a headache unto themselves (but I luuuuuv my team!).

Fridays in the school year are for our homeschool coop, which is great, cool, and helpful (that use of the Oxford comma is in honor of my Baby Bro!), but are at the same time a pain-in-the-you-know-whats.

Today was neither a homeschool coop nor a Lego meeting, which should have rendered it rather harmless, but alas! No, it was a pain-in-the-you-know-what, nevertheless!

The Monkey is having a tough week. Do three-year-olds teethe? Have mid-life crises? I don't know, but he is having issues of some kind. All week long has been one battle after another. Lots of fits. Lots of tantrums. Lots of madness. (Multiple episodes of "poopy-on-the-foot", which lead to episodes of  "poopy-on-my-floor", and the words "Mommy, you look like a cow", kind of show case my week...)

Which means this is going on day FIVE of having a headache for me. Ugh.

Today was going to be a big day. Today we were going to see Cars 2.
Okay, so this is too dark, but you can kind of make out the Monkey here...Pretend it is a Nintedo 3D, and hold it just right...

The Monkey's first big screen movie! He love, loves, loves Cars. We have watched it something close to a zillion times, and we own almost every Hot Wheels style car there is. So, I was all psyched up. The Monkey was not so sure. The noise, the darkness, the loud explosions....it was not the best of times, but it certainly leaned towards the worst of times! In fact, the Monkey asked to go potty twice during the movie, in spite of having a diaper on for the occasion. I told myself it was because he was progressing in his potty training, but the reality is, he just wanted an excuse to leave the movie. After two potty trips and an in-house fit, I gave up and took him to the lobby. The three older boys finished watching and met us later. Wrestling with a heavy three-year-old is like lifting animated weights. Can you say "back pain"?

In spite of my recent success on the South Beach Diet (whoo hoo), I ditched it all for some comfort food this afternoon. A pounding headache and a desire to auction off my preschooler led to a small feast on my part. There is a reason it is called "comfort" food. Ahhhhhh!
Found a stash of hidden candy from Easter. This might have saved my life today.

Friday Thoughts:
  • The preview for the new Winnie the Pooh movie looks so sweet! I am going to see it, even if the Monkey won't.
  • Smurfs looks s-t-u-p-i-d (Can't say the word. Gets me in trouble with the Monkey every time). Based solely on the preview, if you replace the Smurfs with small, talking chipmunks, I believe I have seen that movie already.
  • Ditto for the new Spy Kids movie.
  • The trailer for the new Muppet movie was clever! At first, I was thinking, why are they advertising a romance movie to the young crowd, but then Kermit showed up. Good one!
  • Cars 2 could have done without the political oil message. Just seemed out of place. Also, there were a lot of car "deaths". A little more mature movie than I was expecting. The big boys liked it, though (even the 13-yr-old!)
  • Do you know about Time4Learning? They have an amazing deal for new members right now - a huge savings! It is an on-line home education program that totally rocks! We have used it for years now, and love it. It is based on a monthly fee. We use it one or two months a year to supplement our curriculum, but it would make a great summer course to stop the summer brain drain our kids tend to experience! Check it out!
  • A facebook friend, Julie M recommended this link which I think is brilliant! Do you have an old or recalled crib you do not know what to do with? Consignment Mommies gives some really smart ideas for re-purposing cribs (love the chalkboard and the bench!)
  • Keep watching! Deep in the Heart has been invited to join the BlogHer network! I am super excited about this, and will be linking up in the next week! Whoo hoooo!
Have a great weekend!

Friday, February 18, 2011

Finally Friday

Thursdays are just heinous. Really.

I always know when it is Thursday. My enthusiasm for the week in entirely gone. My steam runs out. The kids drag through the day. I drag through the day.

But after Thursday comes.....Friday!!!!!

I love Fridays. Now that ArtGuy has taken over homeschool coop duties, that is. This is our 3rd coop Friday this semester. I spent the first two writing. Today, I think I may just sleep. And vacuum the stairs.

Friday, December 11, 2009

Yea, It's Friday

Ahhhh, the end of another week. Well, at least as far as school goes, that is! On Friday, I know I have survived another week of homeschooling. You would think that after seven years of this, it would be no big deal. Not true! I guess because the kids keep growing and changing our school keeps growing and changing.
   On Monday I start out with enthusiasm and big plans. Tuesday does not derail this at all. Yet somewhere between Monday and Thursday, something changes. I know it is Thursday each week, because that is the day I barely make it. Each week. By Thursday night, I am ready to throw in the towel, run away to Hawaii, and hang up my homeschooling hat forever.
   I know, I know. I chose this life. And I still choose it.
    I never meant to homeschool. When our oldest was a baby, ArtGuy and I talked about what we imagined we would do for schooling. We were were so poor, we knew private school would not be an option. Both of us were  public-school educated, and did just fine. I looked at my handsome husband and laughed, "Well, I know one thing we won't do - homeschool"!  We both had a good laugh.
    I can be very slow to learn in my life. One thing I realize now. Usually when I say I won't do something, God manages to bring it into my life, or challenge me in that area at a later date.
   So.....a few years later, we faced the question of kindergarten. Ironically, we had moved back to my home state, and to the very school district where I was educated. It is a good one. The Young Adult would certainly have gone to public school if all the kindergartens had not changed to full-day the year he began. The Young Adult had been in preschool, but we had concerns. He was very bright. So bright he was always far ahead of his class. He would get quite bored. He had always been in small classrooms, so the teachers found ways to challenge him. On top of that, he missed home while he was gone. So much so that when I picked him up from school, he would share nothing until I recounted everything that had happened in his absence.
   Our fears were that he would be bored in kindergarten and would end up in trouble. We did not want to see his bright, unique spirit bruised. So, realizing the full irony, I decided to homeschool - for ONE year, to give him time to mature.
  And that, as they say, is history! Somehow or another, we ended up deciding to homeschool each year. Until about five years in, when I realized it was no longer such a temporary thing, but our lifestyle.
   Homeschooling is hard, but very addicting. We have such freedom. Yes, there is a lot of work that goes into it, but we get to learn the coolest things! I have a seven year old who can't get enough of Ancient Egypt. How cool is it that when I was talking about the Pharaohs to my husband, I could turn to Romeo and ask him a question about Hatshepsut I didn't remember, and Romeo could explain at length.
  Yes, I have to spend a lot of time with my kids, but we like each other. We can handle it. And on days we can't, we take a break.
  So, all in all, by Friday I am glad for a break. But I will be ready again come Monday!


  Here are the finished pictures of our Annunciation art projects. I will post the lesson plan for any who want it. The Young Adult is no artist, and just read. But Cookie Boy's and Romeo's projects turned out great!


Romeo's statue interpretation of The Annunciation



Cookie Boy's crayon drawing of The Annunciation