Keona's Blue and Gold Masterpiece

I just love this!

A New Shock in the Kiddie Lit World

We took our weekly trip to the library the other day. I'm encouraging Keona to pick out his own books and in he was trolling down the isles throwing books in the basket in his own discriminating method at a pretty good clip. I noticed one go in about a fire truck which is the topic of the week at school, so that's can only be a good thing, right? Well, hold on to your fire pole because this book isn't just about fire trucks. "Fire! Fire!" Said Mrs. McGuire by Bill Martin , Jr. (Apparently this is a re-do of one written by his father in the 60s) First, it was your typical women can do anything book; the message was loud and clear which is fine. Anyone doing anything important in this book was a woman. A good lesson for my budding young stallions. They will respect the women of the early 21st century. However, I was taken aback by the appearance of Mrs. Votter, who needed water. She appears in a very short, red tank-top dress and stiletto heels while all the male fire fighters are completely useless as they leer at her like a bunch of addlepated teenagers. I mean really, is this the kind of thing you want to read to your 4 year old? I guess they are trying to entertain the reading fathers in kiddie lit because apparently these days they can't put aside their own entertainment needs long enough to read to their children!? Give me a break! This one is going back, unread.

The Grammar Patrol has Arrived in My Life...

Since my brother has all but stopped reading and pointing out all the grammatical deficiencies in my late night postings, I've been resting on laurels and thinking myself rather fine....until yesterday when Big K piped up from the back seat....to make a correction. We were talking about a fire truck making its way home. I said something like "he's" on the way home (referring to the truck, I think) and K says, "No, mom. You have to say "they" because there is more than one person on the truck. " I hung my head in shame all the rest of the way home. I could hardly face my grammar class that night.

Rain, rain....

Come and play...Kalani and I enjoyed a romp in the rain today. It was great fun, but Keona did not come and join us. He no longer likes to play in the rain, so he sat in the door and chided us. Neither boy made use of their brand new umbrellas purchased only minutes before. Kelani's plans were obvious. His umbrella stayed in the car. Keona spent his time on the way home trying to figure out how he'd get his umbrella in the house WITHOUT GETTING IT WET. I couldn't help but laugh, which of course made Keona ask why. I told him we bought the umbrella to keep HIM dry. He said he didn't want to get it wet because he wanted to take it inside to play with. I gave up and told him to put it under his raincoat.

Look who's cooking now...

Move over Keona! There's another chef at the counter.

Watch Out Harry Potter....

You may not be top dog for long!!!!!!

Waiting, Waiting, Waiting....

The boy could not wait for preschool to open this morning. He was ready a full half hour before me, patiently waiting, waiting, waiting. He had picked out his clothes last night. The LARGE backpack was purchased yesterday. The school wants a large roomy bag to transport treasures back and forth. Before going he wondered if his teacher would like his shirt. For some reason he had some fear that it was too small and that his teacher might not like a shirt that was too small. LOL! Then when we got there, he began to get a little anxious and told me he was going to hide behind my butt. I told him that I needed to take it with me and he said, "no, leave it, so I can hide behind it all day..." Anyway, in the end he went right into the classroom with no trouble, leaving my butt intact. So the adventure begins..... I'm glad we waited until this year, but it appears to be the right thing now.

A Big Decision....

Taking many things into consideration, We came to the decision this week to put Keona into preschool. I cringe even writing this, not because I think it's a bad decision; it is right for now, but because I don't want to be distracted from my goal of homeschooling.
He is looking forward to going to see his school and meeting his teacher tomorrow. I have chosen A school very close to our house. Not from extensive research and comparison, but because of high compliments of a friend of mine who has sent two children there and loved it. It's close. And oh yeah, they have space. Also, their philosophy is "play and learn", so I can be assured he won't be doing endless reams of worksheets and mindless drivel. My main focus is that he learn to be part of a group and participate AND LIKE IT. ; ) I think it will be a great adventure and one that will enhance what I hope for future.

Car Henge

I forgot to mention one of the last amusing things we saw on our vacation. We were driving through the middle of nowhere in Nebraska....looking, looking, looking for signs of civilization...looking, looking, looking....when out of nowhere popped this little place. A replica of Stonehenge made from cars-- Carhenge. You have to love artistic ingenuity! Or perhaps after a while all those wide open spaces do get to you. ; )

It's really hard to say who is more excited....

Mommy or the boys. Lately, we've had a great time building our GeoTrax trains. You would think Kalani would be the destroyer, but he has discovered the joy of taking his train around the track. I love the building and Keona is always waiting for the moment when he can be GoNzilla and rip apart the track!

We've had great times with friends this summer...

One of the highlights was the return of the Kelsos from the "wilds" of Atlanta. We are so happy to have them back in the state! The buds are separated no more............now if we could just talk them into homeschooling!

The Beach was Fun too....

once we knew it was safe to go in the water! K2 first saw a suspicious fin...

but we soon knew it was a pod of friendly dolphins!

And we swam and dug and played in the surf.....

Our flat friends enjoyed themselves, too.
Snowman on the beach!

Our attempt at gardening was............

for the most part, SUCCESSFUL. Now I knew I wouldn't have the time to devote to it that I should, but it felt important to get started. While the zucchinis and summer squash produced a few HUGE specimans, they were not prolific plants. But it was fun for the boys to see such a big ones. The tomatoes produced a lot...and we have been enjoying them. I made a tomato casserole that was wonderful. Go ahead, try it. Trust me, it's DELICIOUS. Kalani loved, loved, loved the tomatoes. He ate them like candy and would just go snatch them off the vine and eat them like apples. Our watermelons put out two tiny fruits and stopped. Next year, it'll be better! ; )

Finally, the report....

We've been back for over a month, but I just haven't had time to go through the aproximately 1500 pictures we took while away. The beauty of digital photography is that you can take all the pictures you want; on the other hand, you then have to come home and decide which ones are worthy of your scrapbook and/or your blog. What I really love is that my screen saver constantly displays pictures from all those on my computer: the good, the bad, and the ugly... I love watching my screensaver! Anyway, back to the trip. I'll break the trip into three or four chunks and display a few pictures from each. Anyone interested in more can stay tuned for the link to the slideshow which will contain more--- but most definately not all 1500.

I think the most fun was watching the boys eat up all the new sites and spend precious time with their Carolina cousins. They really love those kids and I think Keona had a grand time hanging out with his big boy cousin Tony. The strong connection became really apparent after we got home and noticed that Keona was sporting a lovely, thick southern accent. We pondered it a little while until K explained that he was talking like Tony. Duh uhhhh! It really was pretty obvious. Kalani spent his time just trying to keep up with them all. I was a little dismayed watching them climb the steep hill next to our cabin in Custer...thinking that Kalani would just stand at the bottom crying at being left behind. However, I looked up a few minutes later to see not left behind, but trudging right up the hill just fine. If he had a past life, he must've been a sherpa! I don't know why I was surprised because I've felt the strength of those little legs many times. He did take some spills down the hill over the next few days, but nothing that stopped him from going right back up. We had to admire his spirit.