i like to blog

i just wish i had more time to actually sit down and do it! school is going really well this year. i think my kids are settling into a routine.

the thing i love about our coffeeshop is the people who like to get coffee there. there is a man and his wife. she is iranian and they want to invite us over a meal. today, he was SO impressed that my 11 year old made an entire jewish meal last week. he is a professor at UC and so is his wife. i love being affirmed that homeschooling is the best choice for us. he loved that we teach the classical method and our kids learn history from the beginning not from the voyage of columbus! so, in all of my day to day frustration of actually pulling school off, i think my kids truly are learning. i just feel that on aidan's high school graduation i will be breathing a BIG sigh of relief and then four more to follow!

i know there are several people who read my blog. i would love to know who you are! leave me a line.....that way i know if i need to go private:). ha! straight up, i don't want to have to worry about offending anyone. so, please know if you read my blog i probably won't censor what i say. i want to be the kind of person who is who she is. damn it. like my husband. i just won't be able to look "mrs. mcafee" in the eye.......

i SHOULD be cleaning

but i'm not. my husband took 4 kids camping. aidan is here...but he can entertain himself. i made promises of a spotless house when everyone gets back. it's so nice to sit and post in the quiet!

my mom and i went to see "mama mia" last night. at the $1 theater. i really wasn't sure i wanted to see it. i am SO glad i did! it was really, really good.

i am loving the weather. the sky is perfect and the trees are beautiful. i'm glad i live somewhere that has seasons. for most of my growing up life we lived in florida. we moved to ohio my junior year of high school and i got to experience fall, spring and winter! i went to college in tennessee, then lived in georgia for a couple of years. i then found myself in kansas. kansas had winter, a short spring and fall and a summer that truly outlived any i'd known. there was less humidity, which made it bearable. the wind there was amazing. most of the time, there was wind. there were not many trees or high rises to block it. having moved so many times, i have to say i'm really glad we're settled. my husband grew up here. his entire family is still here. this is foreign to me. i did not grow up around grandparents or cousins. i feel that i missed out. my children are really lucky to have both sets here in town. the only problem is that about every three years, i get the urge. to leave. to take my family somewhere completely new. to go somewhere where no one knows us. to find new friends. it's quickly overridden with the reality that the grass is NOT greener. that here is the only place i should be. that this moment is the only place i need to be living. i'm happy to stay. i am fortunate to have great friends. my kids have lived in the same house for 6 years! a record for me. even when we lived in the same town for 7, we lived in 4 different houses. is this house my dream house? is this neighborhood perfect? absolutely not. am i happy my kids have stability? absolutlely. i want them to be grounded. familiar.

cleaning is calling. my eldest asked me if i like cleaning. not really. i think they think i like it because i do it all the time! funny. i'd much rather be hanging out on the swing in the back with a book. but i can't stand the guilt i'd feel or the true dirtiness of this house!!

some comments i heard today (not from my kids:))

"i'm voting for obama EVEN though he's black".

"i mean, the only thing that scares me is that he's not REALLY an american. he COULD let all those terrorists over there in."


yep. that's what i heard. people who say these things scare me. terrify me.

i kilt a spider

i worked ALL day cleaning the basement. sorting toys. putting away legos. HOW MANY LEGOS DO 5 KIDS NEED???? throwing away. ooops, did I just suck up some legos in the shop vac? dressing barbies. then promptly putting their big boobed, perfect waist, long legged, plastic bodies in a big purple, not clear rubbermaid. oh, did you want to play with the barbies? i'm sorry, i don't know WHERE they got to:). after everything was sorted, put away and thrown away, i vaccumed the rest. when i got to a corner of the room, i noticed a very large spider creeping along. in a effort to protect my 4th born child, who i would die for, i stomped with my big foot and crushed the very large spider. only then did i notice webbed in the corner...an egg sack. all of her little babies left motherless. alone. deserted. just like bambi. i was sad for about 2 minutes, thought of my OWN baby and her complete and utter fear of spiders, took the nozzle of the shop vac and POOF ended their tiny, little spider lives. ahhhh.

oh and to all of my friends who are grammar police....i spelt killed kilt on purpose:).

every night

before my 5 year old goes to bed, she asks "would spiders be asleep now?".

important question of the day

"do vegetarians eat animal crackers?"

my brain is full

of the ice age. of mesoamerica. of abc's. of algebra. of long division. of preschool and high school. did i really MEAN to have 5 kids? do i really WANT to homeschool them?! my fear is that it won't be good enough. luckily, i'm married to a scholar. he pulls up the slack. he checks the math at 10:00 at night. luckily, i have a GREAT co-op. all of the classes that i don't feel comfortable teaching (most of high school:)) can be taken there. in truth, i do love teaching my kids myself. i love seeing their enthusiasm when they learn something new. i crack up at my older son's ability to be smarter than me. i am challenged by my 6th graders questions. like, "i'm not sure if i can do this curriculum if it doesn't have a christian view point". HUH? you don't even go to church...what is your problem? the best part is that i am thinking more than i ever have. my brain is full. i get to re-learn all of those things i forgot. can i get a new transcript?!