Go Cubs Go!

Our Daddy-O was out of town for ALMOST six weeks...he arrived back in Illinois on Friday - just before Momma was hauled off to the funny farm where life is beautiful all day long!

Momma went out on a limb & got some cheap-o Cubs tickets on Ebay, with the hopes that Daddy-O could take the day off Tuesday...and prayers were answered with a winning bid on the tickets and a Daddy's Day off on Tuesday! Game day called for t-storms, but the weather held out & was gorgeous, mid-70's, PLUS our Cubbies SPANKED the Mets and got the series sweep!

Behind-The-Scenes at the Vet's office!

The patient awaiting treatment...

Learning to put stitches in



Yesterday the kids, along with grandma K & daddy-o, attended a "behind-the-scenes" tour of the veterinarian's office! They had a great time meeting the recovering patients, seeing the x-ray room & some x-rays of weird stuff in dogs' stomachs & intestines
(they really will eat anything, won't they?)
They also learned (on a stuffed-plush, not the real deal) how to put stitches into a patient, got lots of cool freebies for our pets & were able ask questions about veterinary sciences.
VCA Naper-Ridge does these open-houses yearly -
check one out if you can, or ask YOUR vet about a tour!

Grassroots Homeschoolers Family Formal Dance

Lovely little girl in her $7 gown! Gotta' love Goodwill

Above, the boy & I take a quick break from the dance floor.

Below, daddy-o & the little girl at the dinner table.

Funny guy...

Last night we attended the first of what we are hoping will become an annual event with our homeschool group, Grassroots Homeschoolers. A great time was had by all, and I heard through the grapevine that the D.J. was astonished by the great behavior and friendliness of our kids! He said they were the nicest group of young folks he'd ever encountered - and was amazed at how kids of all different ages got along so well & had so much fun with one another! You can see more photos HERE.


My fellow homeschoolers:

Feel free to use this example the next time you get the

"But what about SOCIALIZATION?" question!

David Albert is my hero!

Last week I had the true pleasure of spending the day with homeschool author & speaker David Albert. I'd met David a couple of years ago at the InHome Conference, and he made a bigger mark on me than any other speakers that year...The Many Rivers Unschoolers brought him back to Illinois for two days of talks, the first of which I had the pleasure of attending. David's talks are wise and funny and challenging and, for me personally, a big-ol'-shot-in-the-arm ! I urge those of you who are on this wacky and wonderful homeschool journey to check out his writings, and if you ever get the chance to hear him speak, please RUN as fast as you can to secure your spot! David's website is http://www.skylarksings.com/ ; you can order his books and some he recommends, plus read a selection of his essays - a recent favorite being on spelling ; it's absurdity, origins & societal role! Get yourself a cup of tea, sit back & click one of his essays...Let me know if he's your hero, too!

Pond Critters Field Trip

The kids with Gary the Naturalist...
The leggy guy is a mayfly baby...
One of the first crawfish found...
This one might even be good 'eatin!
The little girl and Ms. C. looking at a netful...

On Friday we braved the approaching c-c-c-cold weather & headed down to Pilcher Park in Joliet for a POND CRITTERS excursion. We had a group of about 20, and the weather actually held out for us until about the last 1/2 hour of the event, which was when we headed in to see the indoor critters anyhow! The kids had an absolute blast netting in the pond & finding all kinds of little life forms, including worms, larvae of all kinds, fish, snails both large and small & CRAYFISH - which you'd have thought from the squalling were made of gold. Every time they pulled one up the kids went crazy. It was an excellent day! If you've never been to Pilcher Park, I HIGHLY recommend it! Let me know if you'd ever like to meet us there for lunch! Particlulary if the weather EVER GETS WARM...

Girl and Boy Cardinals

A Girl and a boy visiting our very primitive birdfeeder!

Kids made recycled milk jug birdfeeders on Wednesday...We've yet to hang due to the torrential rains...
Wonder if this cute couple will enjoy the milk-jug feeders as much as the old plate left over from my pre-married days...

Aren't they cute?

ps(as a bleeds-blue CUBS household, these are the only Cardinals we tolerate in our yard!)

It WAS Spring...It REALLY was!!!!!

The girl has been wanting to set up lemonade stand since she could say "Lemonade"... We got a dozen lemons last Friday, and squeezed them up on Sunday morning, for the 65 degreeish weather...
Spent $8 on lemons, and made $7...
We did cost it out!!! At 50c per cup we'dve made a 10c profit per cup, had we sold both pitchers...not enough foot traffic in our non-foot-traffic-friendly subdivision!
We did sell a good handful of candybars benefitting our homeschool group, Grassroots Homeschoolers ... and little did we know it would be the last nice day in forever...sigh...
Cold, NASTY rain ever since! Blah!!!!!

I know I'm getting old, because I look at these photos and imagine my children and grandchildren some day looking at the "old car" in these photos...Never thought about that sort of thing pre-35...