7 Quick Takes - 1

--- 1 ---

I am trying a new Friday "thing." Seven quick takes that I might've, should've, could've written this week, but for some reason or other didn't find, make or take the time to write. Sometimes I might add pictures sometimes, not.

--- 2 ---

We are in Texas. This is a FIRST for me and the treekids. I am sitting in SanAntonio in a Marriott hotel with a balcony that overlooks the Riverwalk. Planning to visit some good stuff today and this weekend!! But, I have to step a bit out of my comfort zone to do it. Pops will be in and out of a veterinary conference all weekend, so I will be in a BIG city with my kids alone (mostly) which kind of makes me want to just curl up and hide in the hotel room. Mid-sized or small towns do not illicit the same response from me.

--- 3 ---

On our way to San Antonio, we stopped off in Austin, yesterday. My good friend from college just had her first baby - nearly two months old, now! We enjoyed stopping and visiting and snuggling the bundle of love. The treekids... enamored. Completely. Nice that she was a feather-weight! No one complained that she was too heavy to hold for very long (like they did with our Bump!!) Was great to see KQB and BBQ!! :) Hope to catch them when we are all up in Nebraska, again!

--- 4 ---

Bump talks. I didn't really know this might be a bit of a feat with three big sibs talking for him all the time. BUT, he says LOTS of words. Favorites: football, ball, kick, run, catch, back off, {family members' names}, soccer ball, no way, potty, poop, pot (yes, we are trying to teach potty training), yes, lemonade, milk, chocolate, candy (bribes MIGHT be involved), YAY!, hot potato, Buzz -n- Woo, shoe, sock, pants, me, Nebraska, Go Big Red, among others...

--- 5 ---

"Fancy" hotels kind of annoy me. I love staying at a regular plain ol' Holiday Inn Express - I like the newer, cleaner, updated ones best. They offer free WiFi and a nice breakfast to take your kids to that doesn't cost three legs and 6 arms. THis lovely Marriott has smaller beds, a smaller room, no breakfast, no Free WiFi ($13/day and I can't get an email sent out on it to save my life. Emails come in, web browsing works, emails will not go out of my mail program. Grrrr.) all for more than double the price. LOVELY!

--- 6 ---

We finished our First Unit in our History Study. It was good, successful, and the lapbooks and presentations for Pops seemed to go over well. Next week we'll get to working on Unit Two. If you homeschool and don't follow a boxed curriculum with lesson plans laid out for you, how do you know if you are pushing your kids too fast and how do you know if you aren't pushing them fast enough?? I just want to know if my feelings on it are in tune with any one else's!!

--- 7 ---

I hope to create a daily schedule. One for me, one for the kids - I hope that it will help us to better accomplish all that we need and hope to complete. Do you have ANY ideas on a good schedule or books to help me get there??

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

Settling in, again

in the Stillwater area. Seems some places take a little longer for me to get back to the blogging after we upset the apple cart than other places. Such is life. We are busy working through to the end of our First Unit for our History Unit Study. The treekids are antsy. They are creating these little pieces here and there and they cannot bear to be patient and want to show Pops everything every day. I tell them that the last day of the unit they will get to show/present the WHOLE folder in a fun family meeting. They are not on board yet. They keep trying to whisper all their excitement in Pops' ear. Rotten children!! We will be finished soon and ready to start up the next unit.

On a separate note, I was digging around my pictures to see what I haven't shared yet (which is a whole lot, actually! I better get busy.) and found photos from the last time we were in Stillwater! We visited a Botanical Garden on a VERY hot day. Maybe that wasn't the best day to go, but we enjoyed ourselves. It is an extensive grounds, so I won't share it all in one post. I'll share more later!

There we have Bump running and trying like the dickens to keep up to the bigger treekids. It was so nice of them to stop and wait for him to catch up a bit!

The first garden area was full sensory garden set about to entice all five senses. There were a lot of wasps and bees in the area and I didn't stick around to take a lot of pictures in the taste, smell and touch area. But, in the viewing area there was a kaleidoscope type tool in the garden. It was really pretty to look at some bright colors.

Of course, we were there when it was 116 degrees, so the flowers were mostly dead and or dying. SO, Bud's shirt was the prettiest thing to photograph!

A lovely xylophone to play in the garden was a treat for all. But cause for distress when Bump couldn't play with both mallets with a full audience!!

I am so glad that our return to Oklahoma has been filled with BEAUTIFUL weather! Yippeee!!

Secret

As we are in the throws of football season, I thought I would share my newly made up Secret Celebratory Gesture. You must be a member of my circle of trust to get in on my secret, and I will be most happy to share it with you! Since you are here... you must be part of my circle, as this is a low circulation blog. So - without further ado, here's what you do:

1. Chest Bump
2. Spin
3. Jump to Facing (I can't quite make a 360 spin, you?)
4. High Five
5. Criss-Cross Fore Arm Bump - right then left
6. Right Fist Bump ... Explosion
7. High Five -swing down to backwards Low Five
8. Raise both arms and Fist Pump the sky 3 times
9. YEA!!!!!!!!

Perhaps you wonder what is so exciting that I made a special Secret Celebratory Gesture. Here, I will show you.

This was the weather forecast for Lincoln, NE Sep 14 - Sep 17 (We were there for Bud's b-day on Sep 14, and left the morning of Sep 15):

This is yesterday's 5-day outlook for Halstead, KS (near Hutchinson, where we are currently):

And this my friends was the 10-day outlook for Stillwater, OK (where we will arrive on Sunday, Sep 18 in the afternoon!):

Insert Secret Celebratory Gesture HERE!

I love the cooler weather. I mean, I LOVE the cooler weather!! The highs AND LOWS in Nebraska: overnight in the 30s! The cool weather in Kansas is nice, as we are planning to enjoy some outside things. The "cooler" weather in Oklahoma... while fairly warm in the 80s is cause for celebration. The last time we were in Oklahoma, we had the unfortunate opportunity to experience temperatures at 119 degrees. I was crabby. That is all I need to say about that... infer what you will about my crabbiness. Temps in the 80s means the treekids can run and play outdoors in the sunshine! We brought the bikes back out of storage and they will love riding through the park! Yippee for reasonable weather!! {Insert another S.C.G. here!}

P.S. - I am sure that all 'real' sports folks will think that I am a nutcase. And while that is a real possibility, I am just so thrilled about the weather - even with the rain. I like rain, too. Rain and grey skies. Cooler weather... finally.

Double Digits

My big boy is ten today. I can barely believe that he is old enough to even SAY that! 10!! He has really been looking forward to turning ten. It is a big deal when you're a kid to move from single digits to double and he is ready to go!

However, I AM NOT READY for him to be 10!! So, I will reminisce with some old pictures and look back at some great times throughout the past several years...

Ah... the baby face of Bud. We went to the hospital around 10 pm on the 13th and had to wait clear 'til around 1 pm on the 14th for him to be good and ready to arrive. We still seem to be waiting for my boy... he lives life in enjoyment and nothing is a very big hurry. Slow, slow, slow and {sometimes} steady wins his race!! We love this boy and will continue to wait for him to catch a ride on a whirlwind! Happy 10th Birthday, Bud!!!!!!

RV Life: Dining and Living

We dine in a booth and relax on a sofa. It is a simple life! We work on MacBooks on either "TV Trays" or the dining table. We "school" here, too - sometimes sprawled on the floor, sometimes at the table or on a tv tray. Occasionally, the TV trays go in the bunkhouse and they sit on their bed with the tray. It is functional!!

Here are Branch and Bark...and a sneak peek of a part of the kitchen and the "hallway" to the rest of the "house"!! There are lots of cupboards and a flat screen TV that is on a swing arm that allows it to be pulled out and directed toward the sofa. But, we don't watch much television! There is so much better stuff to spend our time doing. The child locks on the cupboards are not to keep the kids out. It is to keep the "stuff" IN when we move from one location to the next!!

How to bathe a toddler

...when you live in an RV and said toddler's "fun" in the kitchen sink makes the ma and pa a wee bit nervous with the amount of potential water splashing AND when the RV ma and pa chose does not include a bathtub with the shower.

Plop toddler in a cleaned out plastic tote that you were storing baseball helmets, balls, mitts and a bat. Make sure to add plenty of warm water and bubbles for toddler to soak the dirt off in. (Oh, it also helps to have a really nice day - not too hot or cool!)

You will need a cup to rinse the bubbles out of his hair or off his chest.

Toddler will prefer one with pictures of "Buzz an Woo" and their friends.

The toddler will be happy that you give him the cup...

after you finish pouring all that water over his head.

The cup will become the play toy...

As will a couple of small balls his siblings will bring to play with.

OH, MY! Those are fishing bobbers the treekids brought to the toddler! Hmmm. Seems that they worked just as well as any other... Eventually, you will need to convince the toddler that he is wrinkly like a raisin and needs to be removed from his little pool of fun. It might be challenging. I am confident that the squeals of disapproval will quiet down as he is dried off, diapered up and slid into some soft t-shirt and shorts. Just a hunch anyway... it might help if you have a small football for him to hold as you get all that business completed!!

Good Luck with YOUR next RV Toddler Washing!!

(or when your tot is too dirty to even think of bringing in a house!)

Kids Say the Darndest...

Yesterday, we drove out to Pops' folks' home to go to their church bazaar. We arrived in time to buy a few raffle tickets in hope of winning the high prize of $350!! Each treekid had a ticket put in the drawing with their name and they were so excited about the possibility of winning BIG! A little while after their names were entered, Blossom asked Grandma, "When will they do the coloring?"

HUH? WHAT? Who is coloring what?

{Uncle and Blossom sit in Uncle's NEW ginormous tailgate chair bought at the bazaar auction}

Oh, she wanted to know when they will hold the DRAWING to hopefully call out her name as the big winner!! No winner, winner, chicken dinner in our family. Bummer. She should have won the coloring contest!!

Roll Over

That's what we did this past week! We rolled over from last year's school to this year on September 8th! We don't take the whole summer off from school. We take the opportunity to learn all year long, taking breaks when WE need or want them instead of when the rest of the general public takes their breaks (which makes for great opportunities to vacation without the masses!!).

The treekids were excited to start fresh, to start some new things. So, we headed outside right away after they got up and dressed (while Bump was still sleeping) and took some "1st day of school" pictures! HA!!!

Those are my "little stair steps!" And it looks like Blossom has really sprouted some legs this past summer! I think that skirt (thank goodness for the shorts that are sewn in underneath!) is going to make it into the give-away pile very soon!!

9 yrs old ~Bud~ 4th (or 5th) Grade

8 yrs old ~Branch~ 3rd Grade

6 yrs old ~Blossom~ 1st Grade

After the photos we took the last of the muffins out of the toaster oven and woke up Bump to enjoy a beautiful breakfast of Blue Blueberry Muffins!

Then, before our studies began, I gave each of the treekids a "Schultüte" - a German School Cone - filled with special treats to celebrate the beginning of this school year! I am so glad that this is the first attempt at this and that they have nothing to compare it to, as I didn't have the supplies in the RV that I would like to have used, so I made them in a fairly sloppy way! But, they were so excited to have a fun exciting treat that they didn't seem to care about my sloppiness!

And away we go!!

GO BIG RED!!!

Last weekend, on Sept 3rd, we had the fun opportunity of taking all the kids to the Husker football game. Of course, we were not able to all sit together... but Branch, Blossom, Bump and I had four tickets together right behind the team on the 25 yard line, two rows from the field! Yes, we were excited!! To top it off, we were right next to the band!! Yes, there IS a reason that the band members had little ear plugs in! HOLY SMOKES they are LOUD!

After all the fun at the game, we stopped in at Grandmother's Restaurant for supper... some people didn't make quite to that hour, like others did who enjoyed a coloring page or two!

Of the 85,000 people at the stadium, there was not a single soul that I saw that I knew for the whole game while I sat there with my three youngest children. After several people left their seats empty around us, I texted Pops that he and Bud should join us in our "posh" seats. So, after they arrived in our section and there was 5 or 10 minutes or so of the game I saw a familiar red head of hair bobbing along in front of us. I NEVER am the one who sees someone that we know, and I spotted her in a wave of people walking along trying to beat the exit rush! Yes, it was Pops' Aunt AnnMarie - the spokesperson of Nebraska Beef - and her two little girls! Fun to sit and visit with her for a bit - well, when the band was quiet off and on!

We had a GREAT time and if you'd like to see some of the fun... here are the little videos from the game! Have fun - it looks like they did!

A While Back...

it was blasted hot in Oklahoma.

Humid, too, in Oklahoma.

Hot and humid makes springy curls!

But, long springy curls on a chubby, little, fair-skinned, toe-head boy does not make for a boyish appearance.

We plopped him on Pops' lap and looked over the carnage that ensues when a busy boy roughs around a lot.

It sort of looks like a rat's nest, no? So, a little bit of

SNIP, SNIP, Snip, snip and he sees the curls in his hands.

I think that the shorter hair had to feel so much better there in the heat of the summer.

He, however, was just so excited with this curly soft fluff!

Can't you just feel the excitement from this boy??

Shout it from the hills, boy...

Short hair feels great and is sooooo fun!

"What? You want me to do what?"

"Oh, ...CHEESE!"

Look at all that glorious soft fluff everywhere!!

The pudgy toes with the baby locks... sigh. All that shorter hair stays curly when he is wet out of the bath, when he is all hot and sweaty or when the humidity is high!

Now, my baby has a big boy look about him and it still is a bit curly or wavy even when it dries out! Oh, for the love of baby curls and pudgy cheeks, toes, feet...