We're Back!!

I would like to start out with a big apology to Meesh and Maria for not calling when I was in town. Greyson's cough did subside by Wednesday but by Thursday I was popping Sudafed and Tylenol like candy. Blech. Seems like the first time we met I ended up infecting everyone with a nasty virus so I thought I would spare you this time, lol. I hope Emma's birthday party was fabulous.

We spent the week with MIL and step-FIL for his 70th birthday party. It was a nice time despite the colds and the little spat DH and I got into because I didn't bring Cameron's schoolwork with us. Well, he said he was just "making a comment" and I got defensive. Whatever. Anyway, he said that he thought it was important to keep up the requirement of school everyday to instill structure and blah, blah, blah. He said, "I thought the main benefit of homeschooling was that you could do it anywhere?" I said, "I thought the main benefit of homeschooling was that you didn't have to wait for public school breaks to go on vacation?" Then he said that it seemed that we had been taking a LOT of breaks since Christmas and that's about the point where it crossed the "comment" and "discussion" line for me. Annnyyywwwaaayyyyy... I don't mean to be airing dirty laundry, I just hate when suddenly it seems like you're not on the same page anymore. I think we left it at him thinking me hormonal and me thinking him a Neanderthal. And we never brought it up again. ;)

I did make a point of pointing out all the educational stuff that we were actually doing though. For example, Cameron was watching me doing my Sudoku book and wanted me to teach him how to do it. He even asked if they made kids' versions of it and if we could get him one! Math puzzles? How can I resist?!? So of course I went out and bought him one (and found a great $1 sale and got a bunch of "100 Things You Should Know About..." books and a copy of the Atlas Maior of 1665 for a dollar each). It was really great watching Cam struggle with the puzzles and then finally figuring them out. He was really surprised too at the elated feeling you can get when something seems so utterly impossible at the beginning and yet you still manage to do it. He also drew me a wonderful picture of the solar system... Darn, I just realized that I left that there! I wanted to keep that one. We spent time with their cousins and I don't know about you, but I think that spending time with one's extended family can be extremely educational! They also watched Black Beauty for the first time and loved it which has me thinking that it might be a good read aloud.

All good stuff. I think the problem with DH is that when he is home, he (and so they) spend a lot of time playing video games and watching movies so he assumes that if we're not actively doing schoolwork that we are just being lazy and goofing off. I guess it's just hard for him to be so removed from our lives at times. Anyone else have that problem? But I also made a point of having the kids show off a bit for one of DH's cousins. She was complaining about the lack of English grammar skill among the students in the college courses she teaches and so I started in with, "Even my 4 year old knows English Grammar!" and had them pipe up with the definition of a noun and a pronoun. And then Cameron impressed me by spouting off the entire three part definition of a verb. I don't even have that one memorized yet! That led to a bunch of poem recitation, including The Five Vowels by Cassia and Work by Cameron which led to a discussion on work ethics and the importance of always doing your best. Basically, they ended up looking like a couple of brainy, little smartie pants and I was very proud of them. I didn't even bother to say anything smug or I-told-you-so-ish to DH. It wasn't necessary. I just smiled and didn't give another thought to our taking "too many breaks."

Our last day there we went to the Griffith Park Observatory. That was a real treat. We saw the most amazing planetarium show. I don't know how they crammed so much information into a half hour and yet kept it so engaging. It was really a delight and both Cameron and Cassia loved it too. DH was kind enough to stay outside with Greyson while we watched. Greyson spent the time running up and down all the stairs in the building, lol. The Observatory also had these random little "classes" all over the place. We'd just be looking at an exhibit and suddenly someone would come over and ask any interested parties to have a seat and hear a little lecture on whatever the subject was. They really want you to love what they're offering. I like that. Like I said, we had a fabulous time and you can't beat the price... FREE!

Now at home, I'm trying to find the bottom of suitcases underneath all that dirty laundry. We had a 4-H project today and made little animals out of recycled paper egg cartons. They came out surprisingly cute and everyone had a good time making them. Cassia made a feathered fish, a bunny with a cotton tail longer than its body, and a cat with a curly gold tail. Cameron made an airplane with eyes. Funny how Cameron is the one in 4-H and Cassia is the one who really gets into all the projects, lol. Afterward, several families met up at Baskin Robbins for ice cream and the ever elusive socialization, lol. I really needed the socialization - I don't see nearly enough adults that I actually enjoy talking to. ;)

While we were chatting, I found out that even if I had wanted to hide my pregnancy it is now impossible. We were talking about breastfeeding and I mentioned how I wished Greyson would wean because it is killing me and MomM looked over at me, looked down at my belly, and exclaimed, "Oh! You're pregnant!!" She is convinced, regardless of what the u/s says, that I am having twins because I am showing so much already, lol. I hope she is willing to offer some nanny services if her curse turns out to be right. ;)

We finally got home around 4 after much ice cream, playing, and a couple of mad dashes toward heavy traffic by an unnamed little maniac. Said maniac and I took a quick nap, C&C watched a couple episodes of Little Einsteins and then we all got up to finally do some schoolwork. Cameron learned about words ending in "le" for Phonics; listened to and narrated back "The Three Little Kittens Who Lost Their Mittens" for Grammar/Language; did several workbook pages on the phases of water for Science; did 2 pages of Spelling; and 1-1/2 pages of review for Math. He was supposed to do 3 pages of math to finish off the workbook but he just didn't have it in him so late in the day. I was happy with the amount of work we did though. It was much more than our usual lately. Cassia also learned another line of The Consonant Rhyme and then wanted to work in her workbooks but I had to tell her no so that I could make dinner. I will make a point to spend some time with her doing workbooks tomorrow. We don't have anything going tomorrow except grocery shopping and the library so we will have lots of time to spend. Will we have the patience after the grocery store? Only time will tell, lol.