Here ya' go....my new, old look. It's short, short, short...but all the fried, dyed blonde is gone. Arielle says it isn't quite the old look because in the old look it was down to my waist...but the color is ME....I, however, have some psychotic disease where I am SURE that I am a blonde. BreAnn will be happy to know that she is no longer the "only brunette" in the family. :::snort:::

QUESTION OF THE DAY

OK - lots of stupid questions because I no longer have access to SHS to ask questions. LOL

Mike bought me a cool 19" widescreen flat lcd monitor before he left. In fact, we got two. He left instructions NOT TO TOUCH THE SCREEN!!!

We live in the middle of the dust bowl down here....how do I dust these screens???? What do you all do....and what will happen if I touch the screen...because I've ALWAYS been the "toe over the line" type and now I'm wondering often...what would happen if I TOUCHED the screen?????

School Daze - Friday!!!

*The Little House* is a book I remember reading as a child. It was fun to share it with Arielle and Nolan today.

We finished up our study of the San Francisco Earthquake with *Earthquake! A Story of Old San Francisco* by Kathleen Kudlinski. We really enjoyed this one as well.

I was excited to give the Ruth Heller books a try. We chose *Merry-Go-Round* to be our first because we were trying to feature nouns and verbs this week. We LOVED the photos! The book was really good and I think I'd like to find the series to own. However, I think for the level of Arielle and Nolan - just being introduced to grammar the other series by Brian Cleary was better. They have much less information in the books. BUT the Ruth Heller books would "last" longer because there is lots of info in the book....not just what a noun IS but then collective nouns, possesive nouns, plurals etc. The children loved the pictures in Ruth Heller but agreed that they understood the words of the other series better. We have some of both for next week. I really like both series.

*Round Up A Texas Number Book* by Carol Crane is a fun book to learn basic numbers. The extra bennie we are liking from this book are the little TX tidbits in the side bars.

We got school done in good time and then headed to the park with friends....

WORKING AT THE CAR WASH!!!

One thing Mike always does for me, to show love and nurturing, is keep my van's gas tank full. OK that may not seem like much to YOU but I never seem to remember....and when it's 110* or -20* outside - nothing says ROMANCE and LOVE like keeping the tank filled. :::snort:::

Tonight both vehicles are sitting on "E". After dropping Rascal off we stopped for gas. I couldn't believe that Sam's was selling gas for MORE than the station across the street. We went across the street.

Then we drove past the car wash. I KNOW, we're strange; BUT if you keep your children sheltered from lots of television....well they don't become jaded. :::snort::: Our kids think a trip to the car wash is a great adventure! Stacia had never been to the car wash. Below are some shots of her first car wash. Quick thinking on Jamin's part to grab the camera.

Rascal Leaves our Home (photos won't load)

We knew it would happen. We'd been putting it off for a couple of months. It was time. We said goodbye to Rascal but she seemed to love her home.

Nolan asked if we could take some of her eggs and incubate them. I explained that we wouldn't get a new quail unless there had been a boy quail. Nolan asked why. I told him that God set it up for their to take both a boy and a girl to make a baby. Arielle said....:::snort::: are you ready for this? :::::drum roll::::: "That's the boring part!"

Then she asked me if there wasn't any way to have a baby without a boy. :::snort:::

Ode to the Telephone - featuring Stacia age 14 months

Yes, she's on top of the table. She got into the purse...went for the wallet and the phone. Josiah ran and called her.

Now this is new!

Really concentrating now...note the tongue

Not screaming here - but talking

She was so excited by now she was shaking

Mom, makes this look so easy...I'm sure I can figure it out!

"Hi!"

SCHOOL DAZE (figured out how to put photos on THIS computer LOL)

The kids work on our model "t" car. We need to finish this. We got stuck! Well I THOUGHT they enjoyed this but look at Arielle's face. Hmmm....maybe she NEEDS more workbooks and less hands on. :::snort:::

Arielle finished her math workbook - guess I need to find another one. I thought I could pick another up at Sam's Club but they didnt' have any. Meanwhile, we ARE doing lots of math: Math Reasoning 1, Family Math, Math games, and lots of living books on math...but she wants a WORKBOOK.