Catching Up...

This weekend has been spent catching up...
on laundry, school planning, sleep, outside chores, inside chores and letting the dogs play for extended amounts of time outside. 

Here are a few pictures from the week gone by.



Easter dinner with family.  (Little one likes to use the high chair when at Grammy's.)




Pacific Science Center Star Wars Exhibit with Friends.



Checking out the cool models.



Hanging out with Papa.



And this is my hallway closet that is begging for organization. I'm posting this picture to hold myself accoutable to making this space look organized once again.

Collar Bone update...

We met with Dr. Holstine today.  It was short and sweet and my boy will not be having surgery.  The doctor assured me that the Professor had youth and health on his side and the bone would fill in the gap and as he grew the area would lengthen out and look pretty normal.  He assured me of this a few times as I had a most disapproving look on my face.  He told me I really didn't want my son to have surgery and I had to agree with that. 

There will be no physical therapy.  He said kids don't normally need physical therapy. 

So I guess I'm a wee bit more comfortable with all of this but I still shiver every time I look at the x-rays. 

Update...

It's been a full week since the Professor fell off a slide and broke his collar bone.  Today, we went back to the doctor and had another x-ray.  The bones have "telescoped" the doctor says and we need to see a bone specialist.  This means that instead of the bones lining up on their own and growing back together they have slipped past each other.
So, I'm a bit stressed out.  I'm not a happy camper.  Thankfully my guy is not in pain and he is doing well other wise.
Friday, we will see the specialist and he will give us his opinion of the best course of treatment.  The doctor today said our two options are probably going to be surgery with pins to hold it in place and he added that would leave a scar or an uneven collar bone.
Ummm, not happy with either one especially the uneven collar bone option!  So, I'm grumpy and my laundry is piling up and the dogs are not being exercised and school is not getting done and I have a cold to top it off.

The Last 24 hours...

My husband loves the show 24.  A fast passed, suspenseful show that I can't watch.  I just don't do suspense.  My last 24 hours have not been suspenseful but they have been fast passed. (I apologize for the lack of a connection.)

To make a long story short...

It ended with the Professor (10) and a broken collarbone. We are home now and we are all resting.

Tree update...

There it is.  Not quite as pretty as it once was but much safer.  I wonder how many years the other side has left.  I see a few analogies that could be drawn from this.  I'll let you form your own.

 The Yoda hut is still there.

 

We'll have to clean up those jagged splinters on the top.

It looks like a big water stain mark on the inside.  

The tree came down last night around 7:00 when we were at a Cub Scout Pack meeting. I had no idea it had happened until I went onto the porch this morning and saw it.

Matthew Chapter 3
10 And now also the ax is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.

Teach us to Number our Days...

I'm not sure if the title of the post will match the content but it keeps rattling around in my head as I think about these pictures.

This tree will soon be only a fraction of itself.  Half of it is rotten to the core.  It stands adjacent to our backyard and is one of the largest non coniferous types.  

The problem is this large, gaping, cave like hole in the bottom.  The tree experts tell us that there is not much substance holding this tree up on this side.  

Light shines through from the other side.

Thankfully the tree is two trunks and the tree cutter will only be taking the left side portion.  Hopefully leaving the Yoda like cave and also giving the boys a large flat base on top about 6 feet up.

This tree is scheduled for a felling any day now or maybe in two weeks.  I just had to get pictures before its drastically altered.

An Ode to Grandmothers...

I've said it before and I'll say it again, and again, and again...
We are so blessed to have Grandmothers who enjoy spending time with us and who take time out of their week, every week, to help out in our little school at home.

On Tuesdays, Grammy comes to visit.  She arrives at 10:00am and after the hustle and bustle of welcomes from kids and dogs she sits down and becomes a Study Buddy for an hour and a half.

On Thursdays, Grandma Patty comes to visit.  She arrives at 10:00am and is greeted with cheerful hellos and dogs barking.  When order is restored she sits down and becomes a Study Buddy for an hour and a half.

The Scientist loves the variety of his week and often asks me in anticipation "who is working with me today Mom?"  These few hours each week are my chance to have one on one, interruption free,  instruction time with my older boys. 
I'm so very thankful for the support, dedication and time our family shows to our little school at home.

Signs of Spring...

A few signs of spring. 

A tree in pink blooms.

A purple flower.

 

A blue sky.

 

A boy in the woods.

Little Marigolds...

What do I do with a hundred Marigold starters?

It may not look like it but there are a hundred little plants there.

An outdoor cub scout activity didn't get the attendance I had anticipated due to heavy rain so I was left with all these little Marigold starters. 

We didn't want them to go to waste so my oldest son and I started transplanting them.  We had everything we needed; soil, 

Dixie cups...

It's still too cold to have them outside so they will be in my kitchen for the next couple weeks.

I suppose then I'll be saying, "what am I going to do with a 100 Marigold plants?"

Science Time...

I've finally arranged our school day so that we are consistently getting our science and history done.  I use to save it for the end of our school time but that was not working out.  The boys were ready to have free time and rounding them back up was difficult. (Rounding them up is always difficult.)

Now, I start our mornings off with group science or history and we get it accomplished before we split up into individual work time.  We're making great progress this way and it gets everyone focused for the day.  Simple changes, big results.

When we work together as a group I usually always have something for their hands to be doing.  Coloring, map work, thinking putty... today it was Wikki Stix.  

We haven't played with this in months and months so it was exciting to bring out.  I asked the 5 year old to make a meteoroid or space rock.  

 This quickly progressed into him building a comet and then the other boys wanted to as well.  

 All the while I'm reading and discussing with them the difference between Meteoroids, Meteors, Meteorites and Asteroids.   

When you see them, ask them the difference.  I'd love to know if they are retaining any of this.

Dixie Cup Update...

The Architect was determined to get the tower built all the way to the top. 

Busy Building...

The boys have been busy building with Dixie cups.  This is not the first time but it's the first time I've taken pictures of them.   Thank goodness I have a Costco size bag of them.

 They are still trying to make it to the top.

Story of the World Crafts...

It seems like we do a lot of crafts around here but I don't really think we do.  I haven't done crafts from "Story of the World" in months but this last week we did two.  We made paper Chinese lanterns and paper hats. 
It's so true that kids connect and retain a topic so much better when they can do something hands on surrounding what is being studied.

We're all signed up....

Adventure Getaway Chore Camp here we come! 
We'll get to take out the trash, clean up other people's messes, make beds, wash dishes and weed the garden.  I can hardly wait!

Needless to say, the boys were not as excited and the Professor caught my April Fool's Joke.