The Simple Woman's Daybook

This is a fun idea I've seen around several of my favorite blogs so I thought I'd join in. If you'd like to participate, please visit Peggy at a Simple Woman for the how-to.

FOR TODAY, Tuesday, June 17, 2008 ...

Outside My Window... The sun is shining, it's another beautiful Florida day.

I am thinking... about the project lists I plan to create today.

I am thankful for... my children, who can entertain themselves, without TV and without making too much of a mess while I'm working on household things. And that they are always (well usually) eager or at least willing to help out when needed.

From the kitchen... soup for lunch- leftover, but homemade- served with biscuits or Irish soda bread.

I am wearing... "cleaning clothes"- jean shorts and a grey t-shirt.

I am creating... an organized, clutter-free home (this creation may take a while).

I am going... to visit a friend, with 6 acres and chickens. We'll play outside if it doesn't rain and inside if it does.

I am reading... Snow by Orhan Pamuk

I am hoping... for a nice rainy afternoon but only after we visit the chickens.

I am hearing... my boys playing and dancing to some Irish music and a lawn mower a few yards over.

Around the house... it's clean-up time. I'd thought we'd try to get some schoolwork done this week, between vacation and VBS but I've now declared it a clean and declutter week- school will wait until the last week in June.

One of my favorite things... is a tall glass of iced tea, after working in the yard.

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week:
Cleaning, taking the boys to art class, going to the library and possibly to a class there on vegetable gardening in FL.

Here is picture thought I am sharing...



Everyone enjoy your day!!

On a Visit to My House...

You would see:

A green lawn, a product of Kevin's diligence and hard work; our new front door- arriving soon; a big, bouncy, big, barking, big dog, who's still a puppy and really glad to see you; and smiles on our faces to have you here.

We’d probably feed you:

Homemade banana bread (my best friend's recipe... really yummy!), but only if I'd known you were coming ahead of time otherwise we may have pretzels and nuts or cheese with crackers or another equally easy "snacky" thing that we could round up.

If you were staying for dinner I might make a pizza.

And offer you this to drink:

coffee, tea- iced or hot, herb or regular, water and maybe even lemonade

We’d undoubtedly ask if you’d read:

Any of the latest books we're reading for school and for fun- Prince Caspian, Misty of Chincoteague, Patricia Polacco books (if you had kids), Lord of the Rings and many others... we LOVE to read!

We’d want to play this music for you:

Probably the soundtrack from Prince Caspian... or maybe a Jack Johnson CD or even a Celtic music CD.

We’d want to tell you the latest about:

What we've been up to, our summer plans, our latest activities- summer art classes, our trip to VA, the free movies at the local theater...

We’d probably suggest a game of:

Something the kids love- like Clue, Apples to Apples or Monopoly- but I promise we wouldn't play a whole game if we chose Monopoly. If you bring your kids they could play and we could sit and chat.

We might show off:

Our new front door... if it's here by then- we're expecting it in the next couple of weeks. And we'd also take you out back to see our GIGANTICLY HUGE sunflower (look for a post on this guy later).

We might get on the computer and show you:

We probably wouldn't get on the computer but if we did it would be to show our latest photographs... a modern day dreaded slide show! Or perhaps a silly video from You Tube- the boys are always after me to watch silly videos... the sillier the better.

If it was a long enough visit, we might watch:

For manatees in the canal- we have a great view from our backyard. And if you came during a launch, we'd definitely watch for shuttle.

What would a visit to your house be like?

This idea courtesy of Jen at My 3 boys and I. Thanks Jen!

Girly Man

At the lunch table...

Sully: Nathan, don't scream like a girl.
Nathan: Well, I don't know how to scream like a man.

Home Again

We just returned from our spring trip north. I've been getting things back to normal- whatever that is- by cleaning and doing laundry, which is definitely normal at our house. We had a great trip but as always, it's nice to be home. I'll get some photos up soon.

The Past Month (or so) in Pictures

In no particular order...

The boys were in their biannual play- this one was called "The Slingshot Heard 'Round the World" based on the story of David and Goliath and was Sully's last official play for Kids Klub. He'll go back next year as a helper and may get a role here or there if they have a role for someone older. He played one of Goliath's brothers... Go-Rilla... and yes, that's him in the full beard. The first photo includes one of his favorite friends also playing one of Goliath's brothers who's character's name was Go-Fish. The photos following include his "big number"... a swing dance with a girl!!!










Here he is singing at Relay for Life. His chorus teacher is a cancer survivor and the kids were there to take the survivor lap with her.




We've had quite a few interesting backyard happenings-
A cardinal keeps visiting our porch- I think he finds it a good place for a meal... I just hope Duke doesn't get wind of it or the cardinal may BE a meal!



This season wasn't quite as good for tomatoes as last but we did get a few. I should have tried this one on e-bay... too bad it's so far after Valentine's Day.




Another visitor was this tiny frog. Nathan was very adamant that I put these photos on the blog, especially since we'd posted the photos of the toad last year.






And the last visitor photo, this one came to our garden... a black racer heading out- he was fast and the dog was barking ferociously and I almost didn't get his picture at all.




During my mom's visit, we discovered that Sully is taller than Grandma ... well, we already knew he's be taller since he's taller than I am and she's about my height but this was the first time she'd had to look up to him.



Nathan was also in the play but was one of the Israelites... he was a good guy. On opening night the lights failed, the mikes failed and several other problems presented themselves but the kids, in true professional form, did an outstanding job overcoming the obstacles. Nathan was down on one side of the stage in the shadows when it came time for him to say his line. Without microphone OR spotlight, he belted it out clearly for everyone to hear. I also got some good shots of him singing and dancing when he WAS in the light.







This is what happens when you stay up all night with your friends and can't stay awake... Your mother will take a picture of you crashed out on the floor and post it on her blog. (A leftover from the day after the birthday party)



Nathan received his tiger badge and was very proud.






The first photo in this group almost deserves its own post titles "Don't they know that the terrible face pics make the best blog posts?" These are the pictures he looks back on and regrets... maybe by the time he's 30 he will learn NOT to make faces at the camera.
The boys are receiving a certificate for finishing the semester of co-op classes.



One of Sully's classes was a cooking class and here he is presenting the cookies that they'd made for the end of semester picnic. YUM!!



Nathan's Karate class did some demonstrations- this is called "scratching tiger"... okay maybe it's not called that but he's asleep right now and I can't ask him what it's really called.



And here he is in cupstacking fury... that was a fun class!




Since I've been neglecting even getting these into the computer... much less posting on the blog... I decided to go ahead and bombard a single post with WAY too many photos- thanks for plodding through them all. I aim to be better over the summer... Unless of course, I'm not.

Here Comes the Rain

We are very close to the parts of FL that have been on fire and while we were in no direct danger from the fires, we could smell the heavy smoke daily and have friends who were affected. So, with the long awaited rain hitting my roof this afternoon and the news that the fires are 70% contained, I'm praying that the worst is over. We are also praying for the people who's homes were destroyed or damaged.

Evaluated

We've completed our end of year evaluation and have procured the letter we need to remain in the good graces of the school board. This is the first year we've participated in an "evaluation party". We got together with several friends, brought food and invited the evaluator over to evaluate and eat... does that count as bribery? Only kidding! She was very easy going and the boys were not at all intimidated- for some reason I thought they might be a little nervous... that of course was me. Our group of "evaluatees" consisted of 3 boys and 3 girls- the differences were amusing to watch. The girls, each in turn, had LOADS of things they wanted to show and talk about and the boys did their obligatory "hellos", answered the necessary questions and hurried back out to play. I don't suppose that will change too much in the future. It's good to have that over with for another year.