I am sure this will not continue.

Most the time when I clean, my kids try to help. As most parents of young children know...they are very well intentioned, but the end result...sometimes not so great. Also it takes a job that could be finished in a short amount of time and turns it into a lengthy procedure. Which I have come to realize that this is a learning experience for them and if I will just let them help, maybe it will build life long useful skills.

So now when Izaac asks to help clean I try really hard to make it possible for him to so. This picture shows the results of me "letting go" just a bit. I came into the room and he had stacked every toy, or box that was on the floor onto a higher surface and had commenced - a - cleanin'.

I am quite sure that this kind of help will not last, so I need to ignore that it might not get done exactly the way I want it and just let him help.

Ivy does the same kind of thing. Unloading the dishwasher is her favorite. I have learned that I just have to stand by the cabinets and let her bring the dishes to me...one at a time....very lengthy procedure, but at least she is helping:-)

So this blog is dedicated to my children...may they always want to help me clean (yea, right).

New Creature

This is JoJo. He is a refugee from one of my students. For awhile I had her guinea pig, but we swapped. I have never been a big fan of the reptile family, but JoJo is super cool! He has been making weekend trips home because we do not have a timer for his lights....but it turns out he really does well at our house. He will spend almost all day outside, if it is sunny, and he turns this shade of teal green. But as soon as I take him back to school he goes brown. I think he gets spoiled during the weekend hanging outside in the crape murtle trees:-) and gets anoyed that I take him back to the classroom.

Do not know what my students plan is for him for the summer...I am hoping that she will let me keep him. If you come visit, he is cool to hold and watch! His eyes go in different directions and he has only two "toes" on each foot.

Texas State Rail Road

During Spring Break, we made a day trip to Rusk, Texas to ride the Texas State Rail Road. We went with Mr. and Mrs. LaBauve and we were able to bring along cousin Emma.

Rusk turned out to be much further away than we planned for so by the end of the day we were all very tired.

The train trip was very soothing. We got to ride in an open air car, and luckily it was a beautiful day. Not too hot and not too cold. The kids got to enjoy hanging their heads out to catch the breeze, even though that was against the "rules". At the end of the first leg of the trip we stopped at the Palestine train depot where we were able to enjoy a picnic lunch and stretch our legs. On the way back the kids all fell asleep, but it was okay because it was the same trip just in reverse.

I would do the trip again, only the next time I would turn it into an over night trip.

Slightly Tired

I love this picture!

WALL.E and the Kids

I had added this photo to the last blog, but of course I pushed the wrong button and it was gone. So I thought I would add it today.

I mislead some of you:-) This was actually Tobie's design and project. Izaac did help him, but it was with the leadership of Tobie:-)

They are going to send the picture into the Lego magazine to see if they can get in. We went back and looked and noticed that most of the pictures had a name of a kid...and the Dad who "helped".

WALL.E

This was the result of a night of Lego building. I was amazed to see what actually could be built just from random Lego parts. Knowing a lot of Izaac's sets I can see parts from his Batman set, his construction crane set, and if you look very closely WALL.Es hands are made from Lego people legs.


And to think, when I was growing up all I could build with Legos was a stair case:-)

A Few Updates...but still no pictures:-(

I have not written in awhile because I was determined that my next post would have pictures on it...but that is not to be.

Anyway, Izaac's teacher meeting went OK. I don't feel like rehashing the whole thing, but I do feel that she thinks Izaac needs medication to concentrate on his work and to be less impulsive. I listened and considered things and with much discussion with Tobie, family and friends will not be going to "see" the doctor until his normal 6 year old appointment. He is doing very well academically and I wonder if this is causing some problems. So for right now we are taking things one day at a time. We have decided that unless he does something really bad at school, he is not going to get punished a second time at home. It did not seem to be helping anything, so now we are just trying to reward hard work and excellent behavior. And his report card was really pretty good, seeing that with all the bad reports I got home, he only received one "N" in conduct and it was for concentrating on his work, everything else was listed as "S" . So I am done worrying about it now...9 weeks left anyway.

Last weekend was pretty much a nightmare. Tobie awoke Saturday morning with what we think was a migraine...he suffered all day in bed trying many different medicines to help. Around 6:30pm after a miserable day, he decided that he needed to go to the ER. We got seen in a fairly decent time for the ER and he was actually getting worse while we were waiting so it was a good thing we went. After two doses of pain meds we finally made it home around midnight. The migraine lasted for awhile longer but at least we were able to help keep it under control with pain meds. What a way to spend your birthday:-(

So we are now on the hunt for a family doctor in the Friendswood area...If you have any suggestions please feel free to let us know, we are taking recommendations at the moment:-)

So we are hoping this weekend will be very uneventful.