They're Gone....

The dog is gone to be boarded! He was NOT happy and promptly pee'd and poo'd on the floor as soon as he walked into the vet's office. The little kids are gone and started climbing on my lap... I had to get out of there. I suspect that there was great weeping and wailing and snotting. LOL! The little girl kept saying, "Come back and get me at 9 o'clock, kay?" I wrote notes for her, one to open every night before bed.

It is so weird and quiet with just 3 kids!!

Tonight we are having smorgasbord dinner to finish up the perishables. We have in the house:

1. one yogurt
2. 2 Babybel cheeses
3. 2 nutter butter cookies
4. 1 apple
5. enough Kashi Go Lean for 1 bowl of cereal
6. enough milk for 2 LOL
7. 4 hot dogs
8. 1 lunchable
9. 2 bananas
10. half a pack of graham crackers

My 7th grader thinks this is so fun!

Next post will be from the other side!

Peace!

It's Official....

We are packed! I had only wanted to take 2 suitcases, but ended up needing the 3rd one to keep the suitcases under 50 lbs. It is amazing how much stuff weighs and really the bigger suitcases weigh 25 lbs by themselves so trying to pack everything into to 2 big suitcases is less effective than just packing into 4 smaller suitcases. As long as the 5 of us keep it to 5 bags.



We ended school early. I was going to try to keep going until Wednesday...but I was not motivated and could not expect them to be so we packed it up.



We are taking the little kids over to meet the respite care provider tonight. I have written little notes to the 6 year old girl to open at night before bed while we are gone. I hope they will be okay.

Tell Me About Your "Junk Drawer"

This is a re-post from here.

I have a "junk drawer" in my kitchen. It is the drawer that holds coupons, birthday candles, extra twisty ties and a host of ketchup, honey, soy/duck sauce and salt packs. I go through this drawer often to clear it of "junk", but the junk just multiplies. I ask my self every time, "Why do we keep this stuff?" but then when the kids ask me what to do with said junk, I without thought tell them to "put it in the junk drawer." Why? My goal for the end of this year is to re-purpose the junk drawer. I will no longer keep packs of ketchup, mustard and duck sauce (that by the way, no one ever uses). I will keep coupons with the grocery list and will put just enough twisty ties in a zip lock bag and get rid of the rest.So, tell me about your "junk drawer".

**Update**

Yesterday I was looking for the mandolin that goes with my vegetable peeler and looked in the place I avoid and dread...the junk drawer. Imagine my surprise when it was still empty from the last time I cleaned it. I know I had stopped sending condiment packets to it and I guess the kids stopped stuffing things in the drawer and so here we are a year later with a still clean drawer. I still can't find my mandolin, but the not so junky junk drawer was a nice surprise.

We are leaving in 6 days and things are very scattered. Aaaarrrgghh. Trying not to sweat what can't be changed...

Box Tops & Labels

I am back to collecting box tops and labels for one of my little Rotties that attend PS. I am not good at remembering, but we are blessed with a family friend that gave us an envelope full of them this last week. We were able to fill 1 and 1/2 pages. Thanks Ms. Kim!

Counting Down

It's that time of year again where we are counting down, packing up and getting ready to go here...


Respite care has been set up for my 2 little Rotties, but I am not at peace with it. I am just telling myself that they will be okay.

Still not sure how much school we will take with us. I kinda really want a full vacation without teaching, but the task master in me says to keep pushing the train.

14 days

Miners Not Minors*

I am tired! I stayed up too late and woke too early this morning watching the miners being extracted from the mine.

~Sigh~


*One of my favorite lines from the movie "Gal *xy Qu* st"

A Glimpse of Our Handbook

When I first started homeschooling 6 yrs ago, my 1 and only student was the kind of kid that needed a very structured atmosphere. We actually ended up doing "school at home" for him. At the beginning, I created a handbook that listed expectations and school rules. We also kept using school uniforms as I had just spent hundreds of dollars on school uniforms for my then 6th grader and was not going to let them go to waste. I found that it offered a nice way to distinguish between school time and home time.

Over the years we have changed and in the last 2 years I have been able to relax quite a bit, but I still offer the handbook so that everyone has a written copy of school rules and expectations.

Front Cover