Wordless Wednesday - Peek-A-Boo

For more wordlessness, check out Live From Waterloo and the Wordless Wednesday hub.

Wordless Wednesday - Big Wheel

For more wordlessness, check out Live From Waterloo and the Wordless Wednesday hub.

He Knows

It's one of those days. One son alternates between obnoxious provocation and angry tantrums. Somewhere in the midst is the place of cooperation and motivation, though he's seen it only once today. At least to the best of my recollection.

I read a new cookbook while eating lunch. The boys are rude, dishonoring, and inappropriate. It's enough. I grab my meal and my drink and retreat to the studio. I will not spend my lunch with these unruly juveniles. They know clearly why I've left. I told them. Apologies are offered, yet it continues once I'm gone.

Lord, will these boys ever mature? Ever be friends? Ever make the right choices? Myopic vision keeps me in the here and now, unable to see a day when they'll grow beyond this childish nonsense.

Holy Experience has arrived in my inbox. I read the title of Ann's current post - When Life Heats Up and know that God sent this. He knew I would need this. Right now.

He always knows, doesn't He? He's omniscient, after all. He's GOD. There's nothing He doesn't know.

But I forget. I need reminders. I'm ever grateful that God is such a faithful reminder - through His word, His Spirit, His people, the internet, and so much more. He uses any and everything He chooses.

Thank You, Lord, for Your perfect timing as You brought me to my desk and to this post. I am, yet again, humbled and reminded that I need to let the pressure do its work. Give me the patience, the mental time-out, and the grace to stay the course.

Wordless Wednesday - Ladling Long

As ever, to see what others aren't saying, go here and here.

A Week of Stuff

If you're planning to participate in the Heart of the Matter Online Virtual Homeschool Conference, today is the last day for early bird pricing of $19.95! It's happening July 31 - August 3; just in time to gain some insights, ideas, and encouragement before beginning your new school year.

Click on the above image to register and to check out the speakers and schedule. If you'll include my name (Dianne - Bunny Trails) in the special instructions when you register, I'll get credit. I don't know what the credit is for, but it sounds good, right?

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Disclaimer: In the below post, I will ramble and ramble on about last week. If you care to follow all the way through, kudos to you. If you chose not to read my meanderings, I won't know nor will I mind. Sometimes I just have to clear my head of all this information so I can make room for new stuff. Feel free to click away someplace else should I drone on too much. And if you come back on Wednesday, I'm sure to have some pix up for Wordless Wednesday.
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Without further ado, I present A Week of Stuff

I was hardly home last week, although that really wasn't my plan. What is it that God says (and often reminds me of)? Oh yeah, Proverbs 16:9 "A man's heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps." That should really be my life's verse. Because it's definitely my life. I knew I'd be busy on Monday and Tuesday, but in my version of the story, that was it. Wednesday and Thursday, we'd spend the majority of our time at home. After all, we'd had a busy weekend and I wanted to stay home. And it's all about me, you know.

Crazy, Busy Stuff

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On Monday, we celebrated my neice's 9th birthday. In order for her (and my sister) to better enjoy some time at a local family fun center, my other neice, her four year old sister, came and hung out at our house for awhile. Most every time she comes over, she wants to draw. With markers. No crayons or pencils or anything else for this one. It has to be markers. While I did an incredible purge job on the instruments of writing recently, I did retain a couple sets of washable markers. Just for my neice.

She was happily playing with her teeny little toys, watching Tom & Jerry on the portable DVD player, and drawing pictures (with markers, of course) in our dining room. I stepped out to another room and when I returned, she was under the table. Looking a little, guilty, shall we say. I asked what she was doing and she didn't have a response. It was then that I noticed she had a blue marker in her hand. And on her hand. And her legs.

She was wearing the cutest little pink plaid outfit, and I didn't think my sister would be terribly thrilled with blue marker on it, so I had her come out from under the table. While at times she's a very loud and opinionated little girl, she was quite the humble child. She stood before me with her head hanging down and we had this conversation:

Me: M, where are you supposed to use markers?

M: (in a voice so soft, it was nearly inaudible) On paper.

Me: (holding out her very blue fingers) Is this paper?

M: (still using inaudible voice) No.

Me: (pointing to her lips) Is this paper?

M: (barely audible voice) No.

Me: Well, we need to put the markers away now. Since you've used them in the wrong place, you can't use markers here for awhile.

M: (head hung low, still inaudible) Okay.

So I went and got a washcloth (after taking pix, of course), said a quick "thank you" to the Crayola Company for having the brilliance to create washable markers, and cleaned up my neice's little blue act. BTW, when they say "washable" they really mean it. She cleaned up quite nicely. There was only a tiny mark on her top, which I didn't see until later. But the legs and hand? Almost entirely non-blue. Well, under the fingernails is another story, but we didn't have time for a manicure at that point.

The rest of the day was filled with house looking, lunch eating, family fun center playing, dinner out eating, and cake & present happenings at my sister and brother-in-law's house.

Fun Stuff

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Tuesday was the day to go to the park with the homeschool play group. I always feel so funny saying "play group" in relation to my 14 and 13 year old sons. But they do have friends there and they always find something to do, even if it's just hanging together. There's a big, man-made lake at our local park and on one side, you're allowed to swim. It's kind of fun being in the middle of land-locked Colorado and getting to hang out at a beach. Being in Colorado, you also have to be prepared for those afternoon lightening storms.

Since I was gone all of Monday, I had to act fast to get everything together for an 11:00 start time at the lake. Hadn't been grocery shopping and bringing the requisite lunch would be a little difficult, based upon what we had in the house. So I made a quick jaunt to the grocery store. Of course, I remembered that we still wanted another set of goggles (2 of ours are missing), and some of that spray-on sun block would be easier than the lotion (although not as effective, I discovered), and I should really consider dinner since we'll be gone much of the day. Turned out not to be such a "quick" jaunt after all.

Once I finally arrived home, I threw together some lunch and drinks in the cooler, had ClayGuy get an extra camp chair from the shed, loaded up the van, and we were off. I think we arrived nearly an hour late. UGH! I hate being late. Besides, I was kind of moody. All the more reason to go to the lake and let the boys have some fun whilst I vegged in my camp chair on the beach with my friends.

Naturally, the boys wanted to play with their friends even after it was time to leave the lake (yep - the typical storm rolled in with dark clouds and lightening and chased us all away). So the Comedian headed off with his friend to the far side of our fair city. ClayGuy and I joined another family and went to our friend's house. Much frivolity was had by all. Most of all by the moms, though. We played MadLibs. We love MadLibs. If you've never played MadLibs, you should. They're cheap, easy, and enormously hilarious! They've been around for 50 years! Is that wild, or what? Not only that, they can be educational as you have to come with interesting adverbs, adjectives, nouns, and verbs ending in "ing."

We've often taken them to the ladies' retreat (when I say "we" I'm referring to the girls who carpool for the 2 1/2 hour trip to the mountains) because they're nicely portable and can be played in the van. Of course, it's usually not a good idea for the driver to write down the words. So the driver is limited to giving responses only. That, and pulling over to the side of the road when the laughing exceeds the limits of safe driving.

That evening, I participated in a long-distance Bible study on my patio. What better way to study God's word than with Carrie out in the Land of Eternal Flatness, hanging out on the patio until it's so dark I have to get a lantern, and enjoying my Dr. Pepper?

Good Stuff

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Before Wednesday had arrived, I let the boys know that we were definitely staying home on Wednesday. Don't even ask about going anywhere, playing with friends, etc. Oh yeah, there's a verse about that . . . but I digress. On Tuesday, ClayGuy had wanted to go over to Big D's house. It wasn't to be, though, as D's dad needed some help from him with the deck-in-progress at their house. Well, one of ClayGuy's favorite things to do is play with D. So I let him know that I'd be happy to take him over there on Wednesday. I mean, that doesn't mean I'll be gone all day, right?

Ha! Ha! Ha! Best laid plans, yet again. Since ClayGuy was playing with a friend, the Comedian wanted to do the same. So I arranged for him to play with someone as well. We dropped of the Comedian and then I took ClayGuy to D's house. In the meantime, my sister had called to say that her best friend from back in the day was in town and they were planning to meet for lunch. Plus her dad, his gal, her aunt, and her son would be with her. I haven't seen her in 10 years and she was always a part of our family. So sure, I'll swing by Souper Salad for a nearly 2-hour lunch.

I don't quite remember what happened to the rest of my day, but I believe it involved running around, picking up kids, and getting home later than anticipated. Oh yeah, I think we looked at yet another house that we aren't going to buy.

Spontaneous Stuff

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Thursday rolled around and I probably gave up on the idea of actually staying home. I mean, what was I doing, living in some fantasy land like that? Of course, I can't even tell you what I did on Thursday because I don't remember. Cause I'm kind of forgetful like that. Especially without my day planner and no calendar*. All I know is that I wasn't home. At least not much, if at all.

Forgotten Stuff

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The rest was Weekend/Holiday Stuff since hubby was off and Friday was Independence Day. And here I am. Back to Monday. Stay-at-home Monday. Except for the library trip we need to make. Really. That's it.

Unless of course, the Lord directs my steps out the door and someplace else. Ha! Ha!



* No day planner pages nor calendar, you ask? How can this be? (Or maybe I'm the only one asking) I use a Franklin day planner, and have for many, many moons. Like since 1994-95 or something. When I dwelt in the land of Corporate America, we even had a Franklin-certified trainer. So I got the full-blown, day-long, very awesome Franklin training. I've been a fan ever since.

Last week, I went to put my July and August daily page into my lovely leather binder, but alas! They were nowhere to be found! All I have is a monthly calendar. Where on earth will I write my daily tasks, appointments, and notes?!?!? Here I am, one full week into July, and utterly disorganized and discombobulated. I've been feeling a little woozy.

Not only am I lacking daily planner pages, but my kitchen wall calendar is no more. I have a small space where my calendar goes, so I can't accommodate regular, full-sized calendars. But Office Depot has carried a really great one (with pockets) that has worked exceptionally well for our family the past few years. Problem is the company decided to discontinue that size. Dirty dogs!

So I promptly downloaded a handy calendar template from the Microsoft Office website. I printed a few pages at a time - mostly because I didn't want to use all the ink needed in printing the pretty, colorful scenery included with the calendar. That worked well, and in April, I printed the next three months. Of course, I didn't anticipate needing this calendar format beyond June, since surely we'd have moved by then. Ha! Ha!

When I went to pull up my calendar and print out the next batch of pages, the file wasn't there. Oh yeah, I moved a whole bunch of files off the desktop. It's probably on a CD somewhere. Oh well, I'll just re-download from the Microsoft site. That sounded good in theory. Problem is that my version of Word (which is what I used for those calendar templates in the past) is from 1997. The powers that be at Microsoft apparently decided not to continue supporting such OLD templates. The available files are all for newer versions of Word. UGH! Guess I need to find my back-up CDs and pull out my old file after all. Why can't things be simple? At least once in awhile?

Annoying Stuff

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Whew! I guess that maybe I should post more often. Maybe then I wouldn't be so wordy all at one time. They (whoever "they" are) say that this type of post in blogging is very taboo! But I'm not always real good at following the rules of "they." If you're still with me . . . we'll you should get some sort of an award or something. I'll let you know if I come up with anything. Otherwise, just consider that you've put in your reading time today. And followed an adventure of non-epic proportions. Ha! Ha!

PhotoHunt 109: Free Week

I keep coming across these photos from a few years back of ClayGuy, the Comedian, and my neice that were taken in my parent's back yard at a 4th of July barbeque. I absolutely love them.

ClayGuy


The Comedian


My Neice

Bubbles

He's a boy in a bubble.


It grew right over his nose.


Need to get his eyes checked.


Cellophane kidney bean?

Old School?

My boys are in the other room, playing Super Smash Bros Melee on the Game Cube. I overheard my younger son, who is almost 13 say, "I'm playing old school."

WHAT?!?!

As I got back up off the floor, from serious bouts of laughter, I wondered what on earth he knows about "Old School?" How do you have "Old School" Game Cube plays?

Okay, it's back to the floor for me.

Wordless Wednesday - Kilroy

Enjoy more WW here.

I Won't Blame You

My 12 year old son was in the kitchen, obtaining something upon which he could snack. I asked what he was doing, and he said, "Nothing like having a healthy snack." So I asked what it was that he was having. He showed me a yogurt and remarked, "Peach." I asked him to bring it over to me, cause I know that all the yogurt in our household was purchased last year some time. Maybe in a month that doesn't end in "er."

I looked at the container and the "best if used by" date (whatever that means) is August . . . of 2007. Hmmmm.

(bunny trail here - for more of my perspective on expiration dates, read this)

I told him it had expired, but let's see how it looked. We opened the container. It is hermetically sealed, after all. Or something like that. Looked fine to me. Smelled fine to me. Smelled like peach to my son. So I said, "It should be okay . . . I guess."

He walked away with the yogurt and his spoon and said, "Don't worry, Mom. If I get sick from it, I won't blame you."

So glad I'm off the hook.

Wordless Wednesday - Red

To see more Wordless Wednesday photos, go here

Back to School

Well it's time for a new post. A huge THANK YOU to everyone who left sweet comments about Cody. I really appreciate it.




Yesterday we started back to homeschool. Our first unit (KONOS) this year is Cooperation - Bees. It seemed like a fun place to start and the boys can always learn more about cooperating! We sampled various flavors of honey on toast for breakfast which was fun. Among other things, they're both creating bee pun & joke books, which has definitely brought some laughs.

We'll be heading to a local nature park that has an awesome new bee habitat - the bees come in from outside via a tube and you can check out their honeycomb and all the activity. Should be fun!

I got a new printer today - woo hoo! Our old HP printer/scanner/copier died at the end of the last school year, so I've only had my Canon (no copying or scanning) since then. It wasn't a big deal until it was time to start school and I need a copier again. I really didn't want to have to run to Kinko's on a regular basis (nothing personal) and there were some awesome deals on printers this week. I ended out with a $149 Photosmart printer for $69. Sweet.

Not much else happening. I've just been getting plans together for school. I'm hoping to squeeze in some scrapbooking time soon. I'm having creativity withdrawals.

Wordless Wednesday - Fun at the Skating Rink

His Ways

I'm quite familiar with Isaiah 55:8-9 which says,

"For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
nor are My ways," says the Lord.
"For as the heavens are highter than the earth,
so are My ways higher than your ways,
and My thoughts than your thoughts."

Yet here I sit - humbled, convicted, and blessed - all at the same time. My youngest son has earned (courtesy of his dear mother) the nickname Oblivious Man. There isn't much that he can't overlook or ignore, whether it's shoes in the middle of the floor, a gallon of milk he left on the table, or a stranger trying to walk past him as he blocks the Lego aisle. In keeping with the rules of "The Good Mother Teaching Manners to Her Sons" manual, I am forever harping on reminding him to be aware of other people and his surroundings. After all, if we are to live according to God's word, we really do have to be conscious of others. It is my hope that he will grow into a man with a heart for the Lord.

He is also the boy who prays mostly for things like playing video games, getting video games, getting to buy a new pack of Pirates, etc. Yes, he gives thanks also, but it's often for similar things. In all fairness, he does pray about getting along well with his brother and such things. It's not all about temporary things.

In elementary school, he had a friend for a number of years and they often had a somewhat tumultuous relationship. They were both quite strong-willed and didn't always demonstrate tactfulness in speaking towards each other. Surprisingly, though, they had a lot of fun and seemed to be good friends. Something happened their last year at the school (5th grade) which demolished their relationship. While I have a little idea of what took place, to this day, I am not entirely sure what happened. Ironically, my son doesn't really know either. There were times in the 5th grade where this former friend would call him names, threaten him, hit him, and try and turn other classmates against him. We prayed about it, he hung in there, and completed 5th grade. But the friendship was gone.

I was grateful that my son would be home with us for homeschool the next year. If he had continued in public school, they'd have been at the same school and I really didn't think that would be a good thing. We already lived a mere block apart, so the less exposure, the better, in my mind.

Every so often, he mentions this boy and talks about how much he enjoyed their friendship. As his mom, it was heartbreaking that their relationship had soured. He really missed it. My son is a very social young man and he doesn't like playing by himself. He's only 17 months younger than his brother, so his life has always involved another child. He's the one who is always asking to play with someone - a friend, his cousin, his brother.

Fast forward to this evening after church. He comes over to me and asks for $13. I promptly tell him that he can't have it. Then I ask why he wants it (I know, that makes no sense - see previous post). He wants to buy a small Bible.

He wants to buy the Bible for the former friend.
The one who became his ex-friend.
The one who bullied him.
The one who hurt him.
The one of whom he has only fond memories.

I ask why he wants to buy him a Bible.

"Because I don't want him to suffer."

My dear, tender-hearted son doesn't want this other young man to step into eternity without a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

Wow!

God's working in my son's life. And it's changing his heart. Right before my very eyes, even though I don't always see it. Yes, my son is listening to God, even when he doesn't listen to me. And isn't that the ultimate goal? That he would learn to listen to God, obey His word, and live a life that glorifies and honors God. I think God is smiling tonight because a 12 year old boy bought a Bible for a former friend (yes, I recanted on my you-can't-have-$13 position).

When we got home, he sat down at the computer and typed a letter to give him with the Bible. He told me this was the first evangelistic thing he had done.

Thank You and praise You, Lord! I'm glad Your ways are so far beyond me.

Edited to add: If you know my son, please don't mention this to him - he would probably be embarrassed.

Glue on the Stairs

Now that my boys are 13 & 12, it's often hard to pinpoint ages from their "Little Boy Adventures," so I'll just wing it. Either that, or I'll pull out my old Franklin pages for more specific details.

However, having no Franklin pages available at the moment, I'll just plod on through. I believe my oldest son was around 4-5 when he wanted to use some glue.

Me: "Where are you going with the glue?" as he heads out of the living room/dining room, and more importantly, out of my sight.

Son: "I'm going to use the glue."

Me: "What are you using it for?"

Son: "I'm putting it on the stairs."

Me: "Why are you putting glue on the stairs?"

Son: " So I can have my brother come sit on the stairs and stick to them."

Gee, I should've guessed as much. How convenient to stick your little brother to the stairs. That would definitely keep him out of toys, out of the way, and out of your hair!

Once again, Mom steps in and foils the plans of her sweet little boy. Ha!

Tarzan Son

When my oldest son was about 3ish, he had tossed a tiny little rabbit (toy rabbit - he doesn't throw real bunnies) up in our living room and it conveniently landed on a swag hanging over the entry door to the room. He quickly assessed the situation and formulated a brilliant plan.

1. Stand on the back of the couch (perpendicular to said door & around 6-7' away)

2. Hold strings to the shades at the window behind the couch

3. Go to far end of couch (even more feet away from swag over door)

4. Run along back of couch and swing (Tarzan-style) over to the swag and rescue little rabbit

Sadly, his mother walked into the room just before step #4 commenced (or maybe it would have been sadder had I not). Needless to say, there was no Tarzan yell or wild swing in the living room that day. I was kind enough to rescue the rabbit, so everyone was safe and sound.

Wordless Wednesday

OUCH!

Wordless Wednesday

Miniatures in Clay

When I first began homeschooling my oldest son (fall 2005, he was just 12), we did a KONOS unit on Pottery and Sculpture which is a part of the HONOR character trait. One of the activities was for him to create his own sculpture. I purchased some Sculpey III for him and he was off and running. Little did I know that this would likely turn into a lifelong hobby and possibly more.

Yes, that's a ruler behind the dragon, he's just under 1" tall.

This is one of his recent creations. The variety of what he designs is pretty incredible. He's made adorable little bunnies, gnomes, elves, and bears. He's made wizards and dragons. After watching Flushed Away, he created slugs and Le Frog. After watching Wallace & Gromit in Curse of the Wererabbit, he made numerous bunnies. There is also furniture, baskets of eggs, a bowl of pasta, a carrot (minus a bite - you can see the teeth marks), a snowman, mice, even a tic-tac-toe game.













This is a statue he created of George Washington for a Drive Thru History America project. The color may seem odd, but it's actually just his scrap clay. He didn't even bake this one, so after it was shown at class, he just destroyed it and played with the clay.

Last spring, we created a stop-motion film short using a mammoth, a seal, and a penguin that he had created. They weren't yet baked so there was some flexibility for the video. We had such a blast doing that. He wants to do more and it should be a little easier now that I have a digital camera.








One of his earliest creations was a sweet little girl bear in a lavender outfit with a little sign hanging around her neck which reads, "To the greatest mom and teacher." He set it on top of my computer monitor for me to find. Definitely one of those precious moments forever imprinted upon my heart.











One of the things that amazes me about his sculptures is how little they are. This sheep is about 1/2". This son has always had a penchant for teeny, tiny things. He's getting quite tall at 13, but he's lean and flexible and can fold himself into the space of a toddler. So I suppose it's only natural that he creates in miniature.