Thursday, June 3, 2010

catching up and another "Punk kid" story.

I apologize for the long silence. We've been very busy here. We now have 3 yellow belts in the house and 2 more chomping at the bit to get started. Baseball season has also been going, and it's been a painful season. J's team has only won 2 games this season and of course, I missed them both. But, Dad was there.

On the homeschooling front we've made it through our first round of standardized testing. We passed. I was terribly humbled from my original attidude of "the standard is so low?" to Thank you that the standard is where it is and it's been enforced to me the error in using these tests to judge a child's education.

We did enjoy our long weekend for Memorial Day. We celebrated K's b-day with a beach party. She loved it and it was a lot of fun getting to hang out with the grown ups while the kids played in the water. I'm trying to convince J to do the same...so far he's resistant.

On Monday we went to our favorite beach at Ft. Monroe. After swimming and sandcastle building, we moved to the "fishing side" of the beach and explored the rocks and collected a container full of sea life. We found hermit crabs of all sizes, baby crabs, a jelly fish, lots of shrimp, and some type of fish that we have yet to identify. I spent way too much time trying to get a picture of the big hermit crab coming out of his shell. Many thanks to my friend who let me use their camera!

Summer is starting, but my kids will be still working through their math and grammer books. And throwing in some History and Science (mom's fault). Maybe they'll finally listen when Momma warns them about putting things off. It'll be hard when their friends get out in 2 weeks and they'll still have to finish book work before they can play. (maybe it'll help keep them motivated during the next school year?)

Oh, I did have another "find my children's missing toy" encounter in the neighborhood. My very first blog post recounted my hunt for the kids missing playhouse. Well, after a weekend at Great Wolf Lodge, S was missing his bike. Frustrating, but, the child needed a new bike. He'd outgrown it and the chain was constantly falling off. However, there is still that annoyance that someone would steal another child's bike. Forward a few days, I'm driving K somewhere and as I'm going down the street see three kids huddled around a bike, S's Bike! I slam on the breaks and jump out of the car. I ask the kids, who are trying to figure out how to put the chain on, where they got the bike.
Kid 1: "It was the missing kid's bike".
Me: "what missing kid"
Kid 1" The cops said this bike belonged to a missing kid"
Me: "it's my kid's bike, and I know where he is"
Kid 2 " Ummm"
Me: "so, do you mind if I take my child's bike back to him?"
Kid 3 "No"

So, I picked up the bike and threw it in the back of the car. S was glad to have his bike back and learned a lesson on making sure that it's put up, at least I hope that he learned the lesson since he was recently blessed with a new bike!

Blessings!

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