slacking...

Apparently, it's as hard to get back into the groove of blogging as it is to get back into the groove of school!! So let's see if I can remember what we did...

Tuesday morning we didn't get anything done. Why was that? Some big life altering catastrophe? Nope. We watched Alice in Wonderland. We went on that ride at Disneyland but the kids couldn't remember ever having seen it. I'm not surprised they didn't remember it since they'd only seen it once or twice. So they watched that and then there was just enough time for them to jump in the shower before we headed off to 4-H.

Our first order of business there was a community service meeting. None of the people who actually volunteered to be on the committee showed up, lol, however they all had very good reasons. BUT we did convince a few teens from the previous meeting to stick around and join us which brought some great ideas. We've decided to bake animal treats to donate to an animal shelter as a club project (Note to self: don't forget to call the Animal Shelter!!); to vote on whether or not we should use our club funds to adopt a zoo animal; and to clean up the 4-H center's badly neglected garden over the summer so that someone will be able to use it for a gardening project next year. All in all, it was a productive meeting but I don't feel like I really did anything as far as being the adult coordinator there. The two other (more experienced) adults did most of the work directing the conversation and actually identifying the questions that we needed to get answered during the meeting. I just kind of stood there with a dry erase marker in my hand going, "Uh huh, good point! What do *you* think?" Luckily Cameron can't read well enough to notice that I probably won't be volunteering us for this position next year. ;)

After that was the Arts & Crafts project meeting where we made felt dolls. It was a really fun project because it was easy enough for everyone and yet still interesting enough for them to want to do.

Cassia and I made a snake.


Cameron made a felt man.


And, after the kids were bored and off causing trouble elsewhere in the building, I made a butterfly.


It was a really fun project. I even brought home some extra wool and a felting needle so that I can get nice and addicted to it in my spare time. LOL, yeah, my spare time. (Read: leave supplies sitting unused on counter for a long time and then put them in a box meaning to get back to them soon and suddenly rediscovering them, untouched, 6 years later.) We never did get any actual bookwork done, but learning how to make those felt dolls really was educational on many levels. I don't feel guilty at all about calling that "school" for the day.

Wednesday, we petered the morning away as usual (what happened to our new determination to get things done early in the day?) and then at noon I suddenly remembered that we needed to get something done! So I pulled out the phonics book and we worked our way through "ie" and and "y" as the long /i/ sound. Then Cameron did a page of math where he had to draw pictorial representations of multiplication problems. You should see the one where he had to draw flowers to show 4 x 5 = 20, lol. I suggested that he use flowers in vases but he insisted on drawing a garden with dirt and grass. He worked diligently for a long time and when he proclaimed himself "done" I looked over and had to say, "OK that was *one* group of five. You need four of those." LOL. But the great thing is that he really gets the concept. DH was "quizzing" him over dinner and he was really surprising us with his ability to figure them out.

After his schoolwork was done (and I really need to make an effort to do some with Cassia. I am really neglecting her books.) we rushed off to Park Day. It was a lovely day and most of my favorite people were there. We played for a while and then got ice cream from the ice cream truck and then we had to rush off from there to go to the dentist and *finally* get my permanent crown put on. Thankfully that went off (or on, rather) without a hitch and we were able to then rush off to the ophthalmologist's. Somebody - and I'm not naming names here - hit me in the eye with the corner of a bag and scratched my cornea Tuesday night. OMG that hurt so badly. It was pretty much better by then but everyone insisted that I should have it checked out just in case. It is healing nicely and should be completely better in a couple days. And then we had to rush home so that I could lead a chat for an online playgroup. Busy afternoon!

Thursday is shaping up to be just as unproductive in the morning and then rushed all afternoon as well, lol. We're leaving to go out of town again on Friday for Easter so I have to get caught up on the laundry and the cleaning, etc. I guess I should get started on that or something??