Down on the Farm (horse farm that is)

One of the pharmacists my dad works with has a horse habit. She invited the kidlets out to ride this week. They LOVED it. First thing to catch their eyes were all the cats.



Then they met some peacocks including this albino one.






Next up was brushing JellyBean the horse and putting her saddle on.





Finally they got to ride a trail horse and groom another beautiful horse.

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Zoo Quilt

Here's a quilt top I completed this afternoon. It is based on a cheater panel that was a part of my guild's challenge two years ago!

Life got in the way but I've finally got it done. Now I'll have to slink into my guild meeting to deliver it. All the challenge quilts go to the local children's hospital.

I think I'm going to put some red chenille along the curve. I'm also thinking of using a black and white zebra stripe for the binding.

Mostly, I just wanted to knock this out so I can move on to actually quilting it!
I think some kiddo will really enjoy this creation.




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Greek Camp

This year Aunt Patti and Uncle Jerry gave the kidlets a week at Greek Camp. They absolutely LOVE it!!

Today the Spartans (BirdMan and RocketMan) battled the Athenians (GooseyGirl). They made fighting tunics, shields and swords. This camp was put on by the local classical academy and they are getting so much out of it.

As you can see from the picture, the Spartans and the Athenians took many casualties but, in the end, the Spartans won. Do you see the wise but forlorn look upon the battle weary RocketMan? (that was my giggle for the day)

At camp they are learning the Greek alphabet, performing plays based on Greek myths, and learning how to write their names in Greek.

Tomorrow they will have their own Olympic Games. It is the last day of camp and they wish they it wouldn't end. They all agreed that this birthday present was one of the best ever.


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Camera Fun

RocketMan and GooseyGirl were playing around with my mom's camera.

I'm told that the following picture was entitled, "Surprised in the Shower."

I believe this does qualify as bathroom humor since it clearly takes place in the bathroom but, thankfully, doesn't involve the potty in any way...yet.


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Happy Birthday Yogi!

You may have noticed a bunch of fireworks across the country on July 4. GooseyGirl would like to thank all of those who helped her celebrate Yogi's Eighth birthday with family gatherings from sea to shining sea.

GooseyGirl wrapped up some kitty treats in a custom decorated box for his birthday party. We then put on kitty headbands and watched Yogi open his present.

Yogi was very impressed. He celebrated as only a cat could. Zzzzzzzz.......
In other pet news, I took JoJo to the vet yesterday. Her blood sugar was down to 360 which is still high but not off the charts like the 700 blood sugar from last week. I still don't know if she's going to make it. She has had a good day today. Yogi is sharing his birthday kitty treats and she seems to really like them.



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Delectable Mountain Quilt Top

I've been working on this top for a while. It went together really fast but life didn't give me a bunch of opportunities to work on it for any long stretches of time.

The pattern is from Eleanor Burns' Delectable Mountain book with ruler.

Plus, all the fabric came from my stash- no new fabric purchases! Yeah me!




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Top Ten Things In Your Heart Right Now

Katherine over at Our Report Card posted yesterday about a question she pose every now and again to her children. She wrote, "Every so often I ask the children to "list the top ten things in your heart right now."

I thought it was a wonderful idea. But it didn't turn out quite like I'd hoped.

I started with GooseyGirl because she is so connected to her feelings. She sighed and said:
1) Yogi
2) JoJo
3) all kitties
4) Momma
5) brothers
6) drawing
7) playing with friends
8) "Am I done yet, Mom?"

Unfazed, I moved on to BirdMan. I was hoping he would have some heart felt items to share.
1) Apollo
2) all birds
3) trees
4) Momma
5) "can I have more Doritos?"

Finally I asked RocketMan. You must remember that RocketMan is legalistic. He is VERY uncomfortable stepping outside his well defined box. He likes precise words and finds it hard to converse in nebulous ways.

Here is RocketMan's list:
1)skateboarding
2)climbing trees
3) this chair
4) My PJs
5) a cat brush

I cut him off at this point because he was just naming everything in the room. I tried to explain it again but got the same result. I've decided he's gonna make a good engineer.

I decided I needed to participate as well.
Here's the MommaChick's list:
1) the crisp delicate edge of new grass
2) GooseyGirl's big brown eyes
3) BirdMan's soft warm hugs
4) RocketMan's long lush eyelashes
5) My ailing kitty, JoJo's deep story-filled green eyes
6) Rev. Sky St. John at Unity in Hawaii
7) My Dad's delight with our bird, Apollo, each morning as he feeds him a raisin
8) My Mom's out loud laughter complete with a loud clap
9) the tiny little baby growing inside my close, close friend, Juliet
10) Quilts, quilts, quilts

I'm celebrating my new independence on this Independence Day! Are you? Share your top ten things in your heart!

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Second Grade- The Series

In May we had a party to celebrate the end of second grade. My kidlets thought that summer would be a time of blissful forgetfulness.

That is...until today.

I started seeing the classic symptoms last week. The diagnosis was easy: Nintendo has sucked their brains dry.

So this morning I welcomed them to Second Grade, the Series! We did some light school to get their brains ready for third grade. Everything was going fine until handwriting time.

The door bell rang.

Oh no- Neighbor kids.

I cracked the door just a hair, trying to prevent my children from being sucked away from my "Son of Second Grade" experiment.

"Can the triplets come play?", asked two innocent boys from across the street.

"No, they are doing their handwriting right now.", I said.

Oops... As soon as it slipped out I knew I was in trouble.

"They are doing what?", the two exclaimed as if I was admitting to some sort of social debauchery.

"Um, they'll be out in about 45 minutes.", I said as I quickly shut the door. But it was too late. The neighbors knew. My secret was out. It is July and we are doing... SCHOOL!!!!

Call the authorities!!!

So this morning was homeschool light. I always start with a brain booster. Today it was from the book Analogies Ready to go reproducibles.

This book is an easy way to slide into schooltime and wake up their brains. Occasionally you even learn something about the kiddo in the process.

I read one of the examples aloud, "Okay, kids, here's the first one. Flour is to *blank* as Tools are to Carpenter."

Birdman shouts out, "Millner!"

There was utter silence as we all tried to process the word "millner".

Rocketman looked at him incredulous and said, "Why would you put flour on a hat?"

Birdman's face was a blank stare. He had no idea what RocketMan's problem was. That's when I realized my southern accent had slipped out without me noticing.

After all, a Millner would use a FLOWER on a hat just like tools are used by a carpenter, right?

Bwah-ha-ha-ha! BirdMan gets an A today!

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