Why I love having three boys

THREE BOYS=BROTHERS

When it is a Sunday afternoon and you are grounded from video games, movies, tv AND you have to be completely quiet because there is a 2yo napping, it's amazing what you can actually accomplish!

I was in the kitchen and heard a frantic knocking on the front door.  I opened it to find Tank (5yo) with a helmet on his head and hopping up and down like a spaz.  He ran to the driveway where he and Dash (7yo) proudly showed me this fantastical accomplishment (I was COMPLETELY shocked and surprised!-- just ignore the sound of my dorky laugh, k?):

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Nothing like a big brother to show you the life skills necessary to be a proper young man!  *sigh*  I can't believe my little middle man knows how to ride without training wheels.  Up to this point, he just didn't want to learn.   

 

 

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PS  Since this is Dash's bike, Tank's feet cannot reach the ground when he's on the seat... So when it was time to stop, he would brake, hop off the side and let the bike crash down.  Didn't we ALL do that when we were little?! :-)

7 Weird Things about Me

Christine (aka www.homeschoolblogger.com/ladyhawk82158) has tagged me.

Hmmm...only 7?!  Let me see... I may have posted some of these before, so excuse the repetition!

1.  I am double-jointed in my elbows.  This means that you can twist my arm all the way around and it doesn't hurt.  It also totally messes up my bowling game as my arm will twist right before I release the ball.

2.  I love to eat canned mackerel!  It is YUMMY!  Drain the juice, plop it in a pan, add some soy sauce, crushed red pepper flakes, and hot bean paste (found in your asian market)...bring to boil and then simmer for a bit.  Eat it wrapped up in lettuce leaves with rice.  Mmmm...

3.  I am a bit OCD with things needing to be perfectly parallel, perpendicular or in a row.  If you're like me, you know exactly what I'm talking about!  I can't help fiddling at a counter, desk, kitchen, etc.-- even when it's someone else's!  Line em up, straighten it out, even-steven's.

4.  When I was little, I used to love riding my bike around the block without holding on to the handlebars...and twirling a sparkling baton... (Yes, it sounds completely dorky and embarassing, but it was FUN!).

5.  I love boxes.  Trinkety boxes, hat boxes, gift boxes, fabric covered boxes, wooden boxes...  I wouldn't want to keep anything IN them-- since you can't see what's inside (gotta have clear plastic bins for that), but I just love the look of them and just having them around.  BUT since I hate clutter, I don't actually BUY these boxes, but I will spend waaay too long at a store just staring at them!

6.  I grew up thinking Miracle Whip was mayonnaise.  (I have my dad to thank for that! Grrrr...) ;-)  So imagine my pleasant surprise the first time I had REAL mayo.  I remember asking What is this?  Our mayo never tasted like this!  This was in HIGH SCHOOL, mind you!  All those years eating icky Miracle Whip and missing out on Hellmann's...  *sigh*  It's time I can never get back...

7.  Even with my previously horrid experience with the tangy zip of Miracle Whip, I do keep a small container on hand for the sole purpose of eating on a fried bologna sandwich.  This also means that I must (on rare occasion) buy a loaf of WHITE bread instead of wheat.  Actually, that sounds really good right now.  I think I'll send hubby out for a loaf of white bread so I can have one for lunch!

Anyone else want to join in on this tag?  If you do, let me know so I can read how wierd you are!  After all, normal is BORING.  And I don't want any "normal" friends!!! :-)

Helloooooo??? and something FREE!

Hello.  My name is Marsha and I have been AWOL for almost 2 weeks now.

We have actually been pretty busy here in the Drews household.  Initially, we were supposed to attend my grandma's 80th birthday party in San Angelo this past weekend (HAPPY BIRTHDAY G-MA!).  The forecast of ice and freezing weather, however, forced it to be rescheduled until June. :-( 

Buuuut, since my sister Lele already flew down from New York (she stayed for a WHOLE WEEK!!!) and my brother bought a ticket from LA, the familia converged on my humble abode.  My other sister Bobo and parents came down as well for the weekend.  We had such fun staying up way too late, eating too much, drinking too much coffee and generally having a good time just being with each other!  *Sigh*  I wish we could all live in a compound together...  (Anyone have a bunch of land for sale? With several houses?)

Now David's folks are in for a few days and the kids are playing all the board games they got for Christmas.  Since we haven't had lessons in a while, can I count that as school?  They are adding, counting and spelling... (Monopoly Jr, Scrabble Jr, Chinese Checkers, etc)...

Speaking of learning...and FUN learning Hands of a Child has a FREE gift for all HSB readers-- a FREE copy of their engaging, hands-on unit about the Moon!  Yup, a FREE science unit!!!

This 74-page project pack is complete with a 14-page research guide and 20 hands-on activities to help your student complete a lapbook of the Moon.

 

So, check out Part 1 and Part 2 of Katie's informative series and enjoy a free trip to the Moon.   http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/HSBCompanyBlog/The+Experimental+Zone/

The way to a little man's heart

Tank (5yo):  Mommy, you are SUCH a good mommy!

Me:  I am?

Tank:  Yup.  You are so good I don't EVER want to get rid of you!

Me:  Really?  Not even if I'm mean to you?

Tank:  No, never!  You're a good mommy.  Do you know why?

Me:  Why?

Tank:  Because you make such good food.  VERY good, actually.


Moral of this story?  The way to a man's heart, whether big or little, is most definitely through his stomach!  At least in this family! >D

I'm still here and school update

It's been a while since I've posted so I just wanted to drop a line to say HOWDY!  I'm still here, just busy.

We started back with lessons on Dec. 26th and then we've been dealing with sick kids here (just like everyone else it seems).  Coughing, fever, snotty noses, chest congestion...  But I think we're getting better so that is a blessing!

As far as what's going on with our HOMESCHOOL (which I never seem to post about!), here are a few notes:

*  Dash is doing great with Math-U-See Beta.  Tank finished the Primer this past fall and is zipping through Alpha (a lot of repeat from the Primer).

*  We are still struggling with handwriting with Dash.  It IS legible but not as nice as I would like.  Maybe my standards are too high for a 7yo boy?  Plus, he absolutely despises the physical task of writing.  Up until now, I've taken the approach of minimal writing on paper, using whiteboard when we can, narration, etc.  But it's time to switch gears!  I ordered a book of copywork for boys from Queens Homeschool Suppies (www.queenhomeschool.com) and we really like it so far.  Once he gets used to writing the way you are supposed to write as opposed to the way he wants to write, we can move on to actual cursive writing (Getty/Dubay Italic).

*  We use Sonlight as our main curriculum and just love all of the great literature that goes with it.  We just finished reading Mr. Popper's Penguins as a read-aloud-- my boys really enjoyed it!  I hate to think of missing out on all of the fun and interesting books we've read in the last couple of years with Sonlight.  Some favorites from the past have been: Boxcar Children, My Father's Dragon, Dr. Doolittle and Missionary Stories with the Millers (which still makes me cry!).

*  We are learning about waterways through plants right now.  We have in the kitchen three sets of white carnations that we've placed in jars of water.  To the water, each child added their choice of food coloring.  It has been neat to track the progress of the dye manifesting itself in the petals of the flowers.  I took a few pics and hope to post them later (don't I always say that?).

*  David has the week off so the boys have been outside quite a bit.  Dash (7yo) actually got in trouble yesterday for chopping down an oak tree with a SHOVEL.  Oh, and Dozer (2yo) burned a giant hole in the seat of one of our best patio chairs.  The most comfortable things ever, even without the cushion!  He scooped up a bunch of ashes with a shovel and dumped them on the chair.  Oh well...better a chair than a brother!  Tank (5yo) is a pleaser and rarely gets in trouble. :-)  It's a nice break from the usually craziness!  hehehee...

Okay, it is waaay past time to start lessons so I gotta go.  Man, you know it's bad when the teacher is tardy!

I started the New Year off right...

...by actually remembering to exchange Dash's second tooth for a dollar last night!  I have redeemed myself!  mwhahahahaaa...

Actually, I must confess.  Dash sleeps on the top of an L shaped bunkbed and I just couldn't quiiiite reach all the way to his pillow.  So I enlisted dh to do the dental duty. :-)  

He came back downstairs with this ziploc bag with a tiny itty-bitty tooth in it.  *sigh*  Now we just wait for the awkwardly large teeth to come all the way in.  Is it just me, or do y'all feel sorry for the poor kidlets who have to grow into their gargantuan teeth?  Kinda like TOUS's.  Teeth of Unusual Size.  Usually the front two.

This morning, Dash and I talked about the tooth fairy.  I was surprised that he actually thought (at least a little) that there really was one.  He honestly didn't care when I told him there wasn't... I just said that like Santa and the Easter Bunny, some parents like to pretend with their kids.  But since we've always been truthful about these things, we wanted to make sure he understood that mommy and daddy are the ones who exchange his fallen tooth for a dollar.  I told him that it's fun for us to try to sneak in there when he's sleeping and get it without waking him up... Like super-spy's!

Speaking of teeth, this reminds me of the Dental Health Pack from HandsOfAChild (http://www.handsofachild.com/shop/index.cfm?action=ViewDetails&ItemID=11) Bear with me on the link, I've not been able to do hyperlink's lately...even with my pop-up blocker disabled...  Anyhow, this was a pretty neat unit study we had started last year but were not able to finish.  I think we'll try again very soon since we have a sincere interest in all things teethy right now!

I guess before I sign off I should say something New Years-y.  HAPPY 2007!  We had a great day at church yesterday, fellowship dinner last night and then over to a friend's house for hot chocolate and fireworks.  We headed home about 11pm in anticipation of all the drunks that would be on the road right after midnight.  Actually, they were out before dark!  Scary.  There are a lot of bars between our house and our church. 

I am thankful that we got home safely and were able to tuck our children into bed before midnight!  Before long, they'll be able to handle staying up and playing board games until the wee hours of the morning.  I can't wait for that!  It will be such fun to play some of the more interesting and difficult games-- a momma can only take so much of Chutes & Ladders and Candyland!  Although I do really like Hungry Hungry Hippos...

So what did y'all do last night???