My yard

This time of year things start looking pretty nice around the Heart's yard. Here are some pictures of parts of our backyard. The garden shots are of my shade garden. I got some of the plants at Walmart, some from Jamaica Gardens, and the rest are perennials that are making their spring arrival.


Last year the pink flowering tree had only ONE branch that had any flowers at all. I seriously considered having it removed. This year it is making up for it's poor display last year.





The nasty bench under the tree is a treasure we found in a dumpster. It painted up pretty nice, but now it looks like it needs another coat of paint. It is pretty peely.

Crab-schooling

What is it about my kids, that on the days that I think "golly, I've really been making them do some boring stuff, how about something fun today, like making their own games, etc., they become the biggest crabby cry-babies?" What is it about getting away from the table to do something that I figure MUST be more fun than worksheets and drills and assigned reading that brings out the worst in my kids?

Does unschooling=crabschooling?

Apparently it does in my house.

"Why don't you play one of those math games for math today, instead of your workbooks?" I say.

"No." replies Ace, "she cheats."

"I do not" says Deuce.

"You do too." says Ace.

"No, you just don't like it when I win." says Deuce.

Sensing that this is spinning rapidly out of control, I suggest a cooperative game that it doesn't pay to cheat at. This seems to be okay until Deuce brings up a coop game.

"I hate that game." says Ace.

"But I like it," says Deuce, "and I won't play any other game."

At this point I am about to toss them both out the window. When Jack and Three pipe up that they also LOVE the game. Sighing in resignation, Ace sits down to play the game. "There's no rules." She announces triumphantly, for now they can't play the game. "I guess we can't play this game."

After a little rummaging in the box, Three comes up with the rules - "aren't these the rules?"

"Yes." says Ace, resigned again to playing the game.

The games goes along just fine til the end. Then the bickering begins anew. Jack shoves a chair into Three, Ace begins bossing around Deuce, who then starts bossing around Jack, who shoves the chair into Three again.

Luckily, the baby is sleeping.

sigh.

SSDD

The baby is sick. Not throwing up sick, but the runny-nose, coughing, fever, grouchy out-of-sorts, crabby sick. I was up with her all night last night, just trying to comfort the poor thing. Tylenol can only do so much. It seems like she could only sleep so long as I was willing to sit in a vertical position and hold her just so.

Today I'm dragging my tired butt around the house. Thank goodness it's Saturday, and I can let the kids play on the videogames guilt free, (like we don't have to do school work. Although we will still probably do some art - there's a homeschool art show coming up, and we have sort of let the electives slide while we focussed on the essentials. A bit like the public schools, eh?)

Speaking of art, the art book we are using is "Art Adventures in the Home." Level 2, although I think it is adaptable for multiple ages. Another one we use has the unfortunate name of "Let's Discover Crayon" but it actually covers the basics of art very well.

We've also been learning about Monet. Here is TOH's "Waterlilies" torn paper collage. It is from an Usborne art book.

Good Boy.

Yesterday we had to euthanize our dog, Bilbo. He was fifteen years old. The family is very sad, but so go those things. Here is a photo journal of our dog, from puppyhood to pictures taken on his last day.

Spring Cleaning

It's late for the Organizational Challenge, but I wanted to at least post pictures of my before and after of one of the cupboards in my kitchen. The kids keep their candy there, and the ants get in every year and just make a humongous yucky mess, eating and spreading the candy around. We also keep kitchen appliances there, so as you can imagine, this cupboard was a huge pile of ick.

This is the Before picture:

Anyway, after taking everything out, wiping it all down, sorting out the useless and unwanted and broken stuff, pitching the candy we had from 3 years ago (!!!!) and making a new shelf, this is what our nightmare cupboard looks like now. I'm doing the happy dance!!


This is the After picture:
I think you can agree that this is a giant improvement. Now I'm itching to get at another one, but it is so nice outside that I think I'll go outside and play for a while.

The Days Are Long, But The Years Are Short...

Ace just had her 11th birthday. Happy Birthday Ace!!

Another Food Porn Site

Okay Michelle!

Now that I got your attention - another site to make your mouth water!!

Bake Or Break

I haven't investigated it thoroughly yet though... but as Michelle so nicely said "it'll make you want to lick the screen."

My only wish is that I knew how to make my own cooking look so good, even in pictures! Food styling lessons anyone?